The UFC will travel to South America for the final show on its 2014 campaign.
With it, the promotion brings a former UFC light heavyweight champion and former middleweight title contender in Lyoto Machida to take on rising middleweight C.B. Dolla…
The UFC will travel to South America for the final show on its 2014 campaign.
With it, the promotion brings a former UFC light heavyweight champion and former middleweight title contender in LyotoMachida to take on rising middleweight C.B. Dollaway.
The matchup poses quite a step down in competition for Machida, whose last fight saw him standing across the Octagon from middleweight champion Chris Weidman. But while Machida is taking a step down, Dollaway may benefit from the rise in competition after securing a two-fight winning streak with victories over CezarFerreira and Francis Carmont.
Swipe through the pages as we break down the UFC Fight Night 58 main event.
Frank Mir did not take his decision to come back lightly. After a unanimous decision loss to Alistair Overeem in February, the former UFC heavyweight champion gave himself plenty of time before he came to the conclusion that he would return …
Frank Mir did not take his decision to come back lightly. After a unanimous decision loss to Alistair Overeem in February, the former UFC heavyweight champion gave himself plenty of time before he came to the conclusion that he would return to fighting.
Mir, who has lost four straight, told Ariel Helwani on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour that he did consider retirement for a time.
“I did if I wasn’t able to have a proper offseason and see where I could get my body’s level of fitness up to,” Mir said. “Then I would have considered it just because at that point I don’t want to go in there and have a bad performance, keep getting worse and worse. It wastes people’s money and at the same time it wastes time from my family. If you can’t perform at a high level or at least an optimal level, then it’s time you have to call it.”
But Mir said after taking some time off and speaking to those close to him, that the consensus was that he should continue competing.
“You take as much output from everybody around you, but I think that’s a decision you have to make on the inside,” Mir said. “I told everybody that I wasn’t going to make any decisions and just train without going left or right. Just train and be in shape and see how I felt.”
The 35-year-old Mir (16-9) will make his return against Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva at UFC 184 on Feb. 28 in Los Angeles. It’ll be yet another bout against one of the elite heavyweights in the world. Mir’s last four losses have come to Overeem, Josh Barnett, Daniel Cormier and Junior dos Santos.
“I haven’t fought the easiest opponents,” Mir said. “You can show up at your best and still not come out on top.”
One of the best heavyweight grapplers of all time, Mir is very confident in his ground game against the multi-dimensional Silva, also a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt. “Bigfoot” is coming off a knockout loss to Andrei Arlovski in September.
“I think he’s very confident with his ability on the ground, which is usually one of my best weapons,” Mir said. “When people are wary about fighting on the ground, I have a more difficult time. The fact that ‘Bigfoot’ feels he has a skill set [there] could work for me. It plays well into what I want to do.”
Mir also gave his opinion on the UFC’s controversial signing of former WWE star CM Punk, which was announced during Saturday’s UFC 181 event. Mir has some experience with professional wrestlers — he welcomed Brock Lesnar to the UFC in 2008 and later fought him again in the main event of UFC 100.
“I’m all for CM Punk becoming a part of the organization,” Mir said. “I think his background and training in martial arts, he should be capable of handling himself and doing well. And bottom line is, people are going to tune in to watch and that’s pretty much the bar of getting into the UFC, if you can sell tickets. It’s an entertainment sport to make money, so people are definitely going to tune in.”
As for the rumors of a Lesnar return, Mir is taking a conservative approach. While he said he would like a trilogy fight, he isn’t sure if Lesnar, the current WWE champion, will actually make an MMA comeback.
“They’ve been going on for a while now,” Mir said. “It’s one of those things now that when I hear it, I kind of shrug. OK. I’ll believe it when I see it.”
Henry Cejudo finally made his UFC debut and looked fantastic in earning a unanimous decision win over Dustin Kimura.
Fighting at bantamweight, the former Olympic gold medalist pleaded for one more opportunity to make the flyweight limit. Whether C…
Henry Cejudo finally made his UFC debut and looked fantastic in earning a unanimous decision win over Dustin Kimura.
Fighting at bantamweight, the former Olympic gold medalist pleaded for one more opportunity to make the flyweight limit. Whether Cejudo fights at 125 or 135 pounds, the UFC has an interesting new prospect who showed he can compete in the biggest promotion in mixed martial arts.
Here are five potential fights, three at bantamweight and two at flyweight, that would be captivating matchups for Cejudo‘s next bout.
Alistair Overeem was able to get the job done at UFC on Fox 13. The former Strikeforce champion was in need of a win to avoid going 2-4 in the Octagon. His win over Stefan Struve will keep him employed for the time being, but he still has a long way to…
Alistair Overeem was able to get the job done at UFC on Fox 13. The former Strikeforce champion was in need of a win to avoid going 2-4 in the Octagon. His win over Stefan Struve will keep him employed for the time being, but he still has a long way to go before being able to make his way towards a shot at the UFC heavyweight strap. With that goal in mind, here is a look at five men who Overeem should be paired with next.
LAS VEGAS — It’s possible Rose Namajunas got a little bit ahead of herself leading into her historic bout with Carla Esparza on Friday night.
Namajunas fell to Esparza by third-round submission (rear-naked choke) in the UFC’s inaugural wome…
LAS VEGAS — It’s possible Rose Namajunas got a little bit ahead of herself leading into her historic bout with Carla Esparza on Friday night.
Namajunas fell to Esparza by third-round submission (rear-naked choke) in the UFC’s inaugural women’s strawweight title fight at The Ultimate Fighter 20 Finale here at the Pearl at the Palms. Namajunas was the chic pick to win the fight and become the face of the new division.
“I was very excited to go in there and win it and take it all,” Namajunas said in the post-fight press conference. “I just gotta go back and really just ponder everything and try to evolve and learn from this and grow as a woman. I kind of felt like a kid in there. I just gotta take that and grow from this just like my last loss.”
Esparza used her wrestling to essentially dominate the second and third rounds. Namajunas came out extremely aggressive in the first and landed big punches and knees. Esparza ate all of them, stayed composed and executed her game plan perfectly.
Namajunas, 22, is still extremely young. This was only her fifth career pro fight and her first was just last year. Maybe all the hype surrounding her — like UFC president Dana White saying she was the next Ronda Rousey — will one day come to fruition. It just won’t be this weekend.
“This is just an investment in my future,” Namajunas said. “I’m gonna tweak some things, I’m gonna work harder and I’m gonna be back.”
Namajunas rolled through the competition on The Ultimate Fighter 20 relatively easily, submitting Alex Chambers, Joanne Calderwood and Randa Markos en route to the finals. As the victories, all impressive, piled up, so did the hype. Even though Esparza was the former Invicta FC 115-pound champion, Namajunas spent a long time as a favorite in this fight at the sportsbooks here in Vegas.
Did Namajunas feel any of the pressure of all those headlines about her? Maybe. She wouldn’t give that a straight answer.
“It always adds pressure,” Namajunas sad. “It’s just a matter of when you get in there, is it gonna be too much or is it just enough? I found out tonight that I just gotta be patient and take my time with this. I got a lot of time.”
LAS VEGAS — For the second straight UFC event, a fight ended as the direct result of an eye-poke.
On Friday night, K.J. Noons caught Daron Cruickshank with a finger to the eye in the second round of their The Ultimate Fighter 20 Finale bout. Cruickshank was blinded and unable to continue. The fight, which was shaping up to be one of the most exciting of the night, was called a no contest.
Just six days ago, Urijah Faber poked Francisco Rivera in the eye on the prelims of UFC 181, also in Vegas. Rivera couldn’t see and Faber pounced, leading to a neck crank submission victory in the second round. Rivera, who was performing well in the fight, has appealed the result with the Nevada Athletic Commission (NAC).
“I don’t know what to do about eye-pokes other than the refs telling them to close their hands and there has to be harsher penalties,” UFC president Dana White said Friday at the post-fight press conference. “If you poke a guy in the eye, you have to lose the round or something. There has to be harsher penalties and it will make guys and girls keep their hands closed.”
Cruickshank tweeted afterward that he had a torn tear duct and posted a photo of the cut. White said doctors told Cruickshank that there didn’t appear to be any damage done to the eyeball, but he will need further tests and surgery on the tear duct.
Rivera will also need surgery to repair a cracked retina. It’s unclear when either Rivera or Cruickshank will be able to return to the Octagon. Both are clamoring for rematches. White said he would consider granting one to Cruickshank, who won the first round on all three judges’ cards.
“That was a fun fight,” White said. “I was excited for that fight, actually.”
LAS VEGAS — For the second straight UFC event, a fight ended as the direct result of an eye-poke.
On Friday night, K.J. Noons caught Daron Cruickshank with a finger to the eye in the second round of their The Ultimate Fighter 20 Finale bout. Cruickshank was blinded and unable to continue. The fight, which was shaping up to be one of the most exciting of the night, was called a no contest.
Just six days ago, Urijah Faber poked Francisco Rivera in the eye on the prelims of UFC 181, also in Vegas. Rivera couldn’t see and Faber pounced, leading to a neck crank submission victory in the second round. Rivera, who was performing well in the fight, has appealed the result with the Nevada Athletic Commission (NAC).
“I don’t know what to do about eye-pokes other than the refs telling them to close their hands and there has to be harsher penalties,” UFC president Dana White said Friday at the post-fight press conference. “If you poke a guy in the eye, you have to lose the round or something. There has to be harsher penalties and it will make guys and girls keep their hands closed.”
Cruickshank tweeted afterward that he had a torn tear duct and posted a photo of the cut. White said doctors told Cruickshank that there didn’t appear to be any damage done to the eyeball, but he will need further tests and surgery on the tear duct.
Rivera will also need surgery to repair a cracked retina. It’s unclear when either Rivera or Cruickshank will be able to return to the Octagon. Both are clamoring for rematches. White said he would consider granting one to Cruickshank, who won the first round on all three judges’ cards.
“That was a fun fight,” White said. “I was excited for that fight, actually.”
