According to UFC president Dana White, UFC welterweight champ Robbie Lawler is expected to defend his belt vs. Tyron Woodley at UFC 201 or UFC 202. UFC president Dana White was in attendance at RFA 37 on Friday night filming “Dana White: Loo…
According to UFC president Dana White, UFC welterweight champ Robbie Lawler is expected to defend his belt vs. Tyron Woodley at UFC 201 or UFC 202.
UFC president Dana White was in attendance at RFA 37 on Friday night filming “Dana White: Lookin’ For A Fight” and during the broadcast, he told AXS TV commentators Pat Miletich and Michael Schiavello that UFC welterweight champion Robbie Lawler’s next fight will be made official soon.
White said that Ruthless will likely fight top contender Tyron Woodley at UFC 201 or UFC 202. Neither pay-per-view card has an exact date at this time, but they’re targeted for August and September, respectively.
Lawler most recently defended his belt for the second time against former interim titleholder Carlos Condit by decision at UFC 195 in a Fight of the Year contender. Lawler won the belt in a rematch with Johny Hendricks at the end of 2014, and followed that up with a TKO of Rory MacDonald last year.
Woodley has been out of action since a January 2015 split decision victory over Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 183. Woodley has been campaigning for a title shot for nearly a year and it appears that his wish will finally come true later this year.
An official announcement from the UFC is expected in the coming weeks.
Fight Of The Night: Omari Akhmedov vs Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos Performance Bonuses: Michael Chiesa, Glover Teixeira • The first fight of the evening between Omari Akhmedov vs Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos took home top fight honors. Zaleski dos Santo…
Fight Of The Night: Omari Akhmedov vs Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos Performance Bonuses: Michael Chiesa, Glover Teixeira • The first fight of the evening between Omari Akhmedov vs Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos took home top fight honors. Zaleski dos Santos claimed the victory by a third round TKO. • Michael Chiesa’s win by submission against Beneil Dariush, the fifth submission victory of his UFC career, earned him the first of two bonuses this evening. • Glover Teixeira’s first round demolition of former champion Rashad Evans in the 1st Round earned the final performance bo … Read the Full Article Here
TAMPA No title fights? No problem. Fight Night Tampa’s card sustained multiple shakeups over the past two weeks. But the outcome still left us with fights that have significant impacts on divisions and future title shots. Glover Teixeira, Rose Na…
TAMPA No title fights? No problem. Fight Night Tampa’s card sustained multiple shakeups over the past two weeks. But the outcome still left us with fights that have significant impacts on divisions and future title shots. Glover Teixeira, Rose Namajunas and Khabib Nurmagomedov all took care of business to remain in line for a future shot, while Michael Chiesa and John Dodson earned finishes that assure them big fights in the near future. Here are the Fight Night Tampa Talking Points.More from Fight Night Tampa: Full results | Postfight bonus recap | Watch: Dana White has final say on Fig … Read the Full Article Here
Former light heavyweight champion Jon Jones’ long-awaited rematch with current champion Daniel Cormier may have been unceremoniously scrapped from next weekend’s (Sat., April 23, 2016) UFC 197 from Las Vegas exactly two weeks ago, yet even though ‘Bones’ will now take on Ovince St. Preux, it would seem as if at least some of his
Former light heavyweight champion Jon Jones’ long-awaited rematch with current champion Daniel Cormier may have been unceremoniously scrapped from next weekend’s (Sat., April 23, 2016) UFC 197 from Las Vegas exactly two weeks ago, yet even though ‘Bones’ will now take on Ovince St. Preux, it would seem as if at least some of his focus is still fixated on ‘DC’.
With MMA finally being signed into legalization in Jones’ home state of New York this week, the illustrious but troublesome legend not surprisingly aimed for the UFC’s anticipated New York debut at Madison Square Garden as the location of his inevitable grudge with Cormier, who is dealing with a foot injury for the next two months.
Blasting the champ during today’s (Fri., April, 15, 2016) UFC 197 media conference call (via MMA Fighting), Jones threw a barb at ‘DC’ by saying while he probably wouldn’t fight him in New York, he’d be wiling to take him on anywhere:
“Yeah, I would be honored to main event against Daniel Cormier at Madison Square Garden. The question is, you know will Daniel Cormier accept that fight. Daniel Cormier has had a lot of mental struggles when it comes to me and uh…” (laughs) “…that’s just one more thing that he doesn’t need. I’m sure he doesn’t want to fight me in my backyard, because he needs all the mental breaks he can get.
“So, who knows. I doubt he’d fight me at Madison Square Garden. But like I said, I’ll fight him wherever. The Oklahoma State wrestling room, his living room, whatever.”
Jones then turned his attention to the expected hot topic of his legal troubles outside the cage, where he was arrested on felony hit-and-run charges in Albuquerque last year before landing in jail for violating the probation he received for the first offense by supposedly drag racing after practice recently.
The decorated champ, who lost his belt only due to his personal trouble, showed a bit of confidence — or arrogance, depending on your point of view — by stating that he’s already a hall of famer who can only stop himself be getting into hot water outside of the Octagon, a view that is hard to argue with:
“Only thing I need to do is just right things outside the Octagon,” he said. “I could never fight again and be put in the hall of fame. I’m not saying that to sound arrogant, but we all know it’s true. I have to do the right things outside the Octagon. That’s it. Nobody hearing my name in the news ever again, that’s a huge victory for me, and I’m going to try my hardest to make sure that happens.
“Outside of that, when it comes to actually fighting, I don’t really feel like I have much to prove to anybody. I’ve done some pretty amazing things in this sport, and fighting is a journey. You have your ups and downs, you have your wins and losses, and fortunately I’ve never lost. But wins and losses at this point in my life doesn’t really define who I am. I think I’m a champion the rest of my life. What goes into defining who I am is how I get my life under control outside of fighting.”
Rose Namajunas tries to get revenge on Tecia Torres for a three old year fight this weekend in Florida for UFC on FOX 19, and here are the three things you need to know. A rematch between two of the better TUF participants in recent memory …
Rose Namajunas tries to get revenge on Tecia Torres for a three old year fight this weekend in Florida for UFC on FOX 19, and here are the three things you need to know.
A rematch between two of the better TUF participants in recent memory continue their fight narrative this April 16, 2016 at the Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida.
Women’s Strawweight Rose Namajunas -230 vs. Tecia Torres +190
3 Things You Should Know
1. That Rose win over PVZ wasn’t just about PVZ’s development. It was also about Rose’s arrival.
While a lot of bandwidth was devoted to Paige Van Zant being “exposed”, or not being “ready against the elite”, the narrative zigged instead of zagged. Sure, there’s some fun to be had at Dana White’s aggressive marketing of fighters without belts. But I don’t think people appreciate who PVZ is, as a fighter. She’s a developing fighter with a wicked rhythm who ran into a superior fighter with a authoritative rhythm. Rose looked better than ever, and not just for drawing comparisons to Furiosa.
2. Tecia may not be lighting the world on fire with her style, but you better believe she’s a player in the division.
Torres doesn’t have a lot of cache with fans. With a style that is active, but not pleasing for those craving a little more blood in their fight diet, she doesn’t offer much. And her time in the cage has occasionally been wasted, like finding out whether Angela Magana stood a chance in hell. But she’s playing the quiet game in the division, not asking questions, but just winning fights. Her perfect professional record is no accident.
3. This fight will look nothing their first bout, but it projects to be just as competitive.
It’s quite clear who has developed quicker. Namajunas is just 23 years old, which is easy to forget given the stage she’s fought on. The biggest change to Rose’s game is her rhythm. Where before, she was looking to pour the offense on her opponent, now she drizzles in the most violent way. As in, she’s not trying to win every different way all at once.
Her striking is unique in the way she doesn’t need to fire wild shots, or explode into punches to stun opponents. She chambers each strike with conviction, and moves on. Like a female Joachim Hansen, her long limbs make for some readily usable knees to compound her arsenal. Defensively, her wrestling could use more work, but it’s to her credit that I use the word “more”, as she’s improved upon this aspect big time. Of course, part of this is aided by her threatening, active submission work.
Tecia is a very X’s and O’s fighter. She enters the pocket with combinations, and exists the pocket. Rinse, repeat. Despite her height, she uses every sweat bead’s worth of length, throwing side kicks to command control even in the center of the octagon. It’s the part of her game that makes her so durable. She’s powerful in top control, but she has to work extra hard to close the distance, where her athleticism usually takes over.
Prediction
The issue I have with Torres is that Rose is no longer so easily brought down. Not only that but the timing of her strikes has greatly improved. I don’t think Namajunas should be the substantial favorite. Torres is tough, and won’t allow Rose to just enter the pocket like PVZ did. But this version of Namajunas would have beaten Torres from three years ago, and Torres isn’t the substantially different fighter. Rose Namajunas by Decision.
The UFC’s first trip to Canada’s capital city didn’t take long to sell out.
The UFC’s business in Canada hasn’t exactly been strong lately, but there are encouraging signs here and there. One of them came up today, as the promotion’s first trip to Canada’s capital city sold completely out in under two hours.
UFC Fight Night: McDonald vs. Thompson, which goes down June 8th at TD Place in Ottawa, sold over 10,000 tickets. That’s the largest arena show in TD Place history.
The promotion put out a press release touting their success:
UFC® announced today that UFC FIGHT NIGHT®: MACDONALD vs. THOMPSON, taking place at The Arena at TD Place, on June 18 is sold out. The event will be headlined by two of the best welterweights in the world as No.1-ranked Rory MacDonald (18-3, fighting out of Montreal, Quebec, Canada by way of Quesnel, B.C., Canada) meets No.2-ranked Stephen Thompson (12-1, fighting out of Simpsonville, South Carolina, USA) in a bout that could determine the next title contender in the competitive 170-pound division.
With more than 10,000 tickets sold, UFC FIGHT NIGHT®: MACDONALD vs. THOMPSON will be the largest arena show in TD Place history. It also marks the fastest sellout at The Arena at TD Place.
“We couldn’t be happier with the reception we’ve received from Ottawa fans ahead of our debut card in Canada’s capital,” said Tom Wright, UFC Executive Vice-President and General Manager, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. “Ottawa deserves a stellar card and our athletes will deliver on fight night.”
The co-main event of the card will see Donald Cerrone taking on Patrick Cote in a welterweight bout. Here’s a look at the full fight card:
The UFC’s first trip to Canada’s capital city didn’t take long to sell out.
The UFC’s business in Canada hasn’t exactly been strong lately, but there are encouraging signs here and there. One of them came up today, as the promotion’s first trip to Canada’s capital city sold completely out in under two hours.
UFC Fight Night: McDonald vs. Thompson, which goes down June 8th at TD Place in Ottawa, sold over 10,000 tickets. That’s the largest arena show in TD Place history.
The promotion put out a press release touting their success:
UFC® announced today that UFC FIGHT NIGHT®: MACDONALD vs. THOMPSON, taking place at The Arena at TD Place, on June 18 is sold out. The event will be headlined by two of the best welterweights in the world as No.1-ranked Rory MacDonald (18-3, fighting out of Montreal, Quebec, Canada by way of Quesnel, B.C., Canada) meets No.2-ranked Stephen Thompson (12-1, fighting out of Simpsonville, South Carolina, USA) in a bout that could determine the next title contender in the competitive 170-pound division.
With more than 10,000 tickets sold, UFC FIGHT NIGHT®: MACDONALD vs. THOMPSON will be the largest arena show in TD Place history. It also marks the fastest sellout at The Arena at TD Place.
“We couldn’t be happier with the reception we’ve received from Ottawa fans ahead of our debut card in Canada’s capital,” said Tom Wright, UFC Executive Vice-President and General Manager, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. “Ottawa deserves a stellar card and our athletes will deliver on fight night.”
The co-main event of the card will see Donald Cerrone taking on Patrick Cote in a welterweight bout. Here’s a look at the full fight card:
