The UFC has been making a strong effort to expand UFC Fight Pass to its audience. We got to see a great card over the weekend with Anderson Silva vs. Michael Bisping headlining a ‘Fight Pass’ event. Now, the UFC has released a preview for Diego Sanchez…
The UFC has been making a strong effort to expand UFC Fight Pass to its audience. We got to see a great card over the weekend with Anderson Silva vs. Michael Bisping headlining a ‘Fight Pass’ event. Now, the UFC has released a preview for Diego Sanchez (25-8) vs. Jim Miller (25-7).
Sanchez and Miller will be headlining the UFC Fight Pass prelims for UFC 196 this Saturday night. Both fighters have been known to be highly entertaining fighters over the years and have a combined 11 “Fight of the Night” bonuses. Sanchez is 2-2 in his last four fights. Meanwhile, Miller has only won once in his last four bouts. Check out the preview for the fight below!
The highly regarded amateur MMA gold medalist talks with MMAmania.com about his rise, working with UFC talents like “The Eagle” and the entire KHK Fight Team, preparing for his professional debut against Travis Taylor at Titan FC 37 this weekend and more!
Widely regarded as the world’s most accomplished amateur mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter, Jose Torres is ready to prove himself in one of the sport’s premier promotions.
Torres (12-0 amateur, 0-0 pro), a former two-time IMMAF Bantamweight gold medalist, will make his professional debut against Florida’s Travis Taylor (7-5 amateur, 0-0 pro) at Titan FC 37 this Friday night (March 4, 2016) in Ridgefield, Washington.
Torres, 23, is hardly an amateur, having submitted his last two opponents. The Chicago, Ill., native was courted by many well-known gyms and organizations, but he ultimately chose Florida-based promotion Titan FC.
Find out more about the aggressive and entertaining Torres in his recent discussion with MMAmania.
We started off our conversation by talking about the year that was for the new Titan FC star. Torres stepped into the cage a total of six times in 2015, including multiple bouts in the same week.
After gaining notoriety in IMMAF, he then joined powerhouse MMA team KHK, which is funded by Bahrainian Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and lead by coaches Renzo Gracie and John Kavanagh. It was in his training there with the likes of UFC contenders Frankie Edgar and Khabib Nurmagomedov, where Torres honed his skills for a month.
“I was finally able to meet Khabib Nurmagomedov. He’s a phenomenal guy. He’s very hard to get off on top. He caught me in a top crucifix and I just couldn’t get out. He’s just punching me in the face and I’m looking up at the clock like, ‘Oh man, I still have three minutes.'”
Make no mistake about it, Torres is no slouch and he is giving up a significant strength advantage to the Dagestani fighter. The two-time Pan-American Kickboxing games gold medalist also learned quite a bit from “The Eagle,” who holds a Master of Sports in Sambo.
“I’m a Japanese jiu-jitsu fighter so I’m in more of an attack base, as opposed to a defensive base like in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. So we went back and forth. I’m fast enough to move my head side to side, so now I’m dodging and countering more, which Khabib taught me.”
Torres didn’t get to roll with “The Answer,” but was complimentary of how the New Jersey native has carried himself throughout his UFC tenure.
“He’s a very humble guy and a good business man. Frankie has been a phenomenal person and a huge role model for me, mainly with the weight cutting aspect. Even now at 145, he barely drops any weight. He weighs 160 naturally and trains every single day. That’s the same aspect I live by.”
Traveling has become the norm for Torres, so he always needs a gym to help him perfect his skill-set. Torres went from Bahrain to San Diego then Missouri and now he’s finally home in Chicago, where he’ll close out training camp for his upcoming tilt against Taylor at his longtime base camp, Combat-Do.
Interestingly enough, the New York native was not the first choice on Titan FC’s wish list of opponents to face Torres.
“Even some Titan guys don’t want to fight me already, which is humbling. They don’t want to fight a 5’4” Latino guy from Chicago? I can be cocky at times, but even though I’m the best in the world amateur in my weight class, I’ve never stated that.I’m glad they were finally able to find me a fight and when I say finally, it took them forever. They were trying to find me a proper fight.”
Torres, who continues to represent himself in contract negotiations, has worked with esteemed nutritionist Lou Giordano to make sure his first weight cut in Titan FC goes smoothly. If all goes well, and he fulfills the expectations that are sitting on his shoulders, a drop to Flyweight could be in his future.
“I wrestled there all five years in college. I know I can do it. It just comes down to whether I’m healthy. Being at 125, I know I felt a little bit more confident having the height advantage. I would be in the average height game. There would be no huge reach advantage.”
To check out the entire Titan FC 37 fight card, visit their website here.
The highly regarded amateur MMA gold medalist talks with MMAmania.com about his rise, working with UFC talents like “The Eagle” and the entire KHK Fight Team, preparing for his professional debut against Travis Taylor at Titan FC 37 this weekend and more!
Widely regarded as the world’s most accomplished amateur mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter, Jose Torres is ready to prove himself in one of the sport’s premier promotions.
Torres (12-0 amateur, 0-0 pro), a former two-time IMMAF Bantamweight gold medalist, will make his professional debut against Florida’s Travis Taylor (7-5 amateur, 0-0 pro) at Titan FC 37 this Friday night (March 4, 2016) in Ridgefield, Washington.
Torres, 23, is hardly an amateur, having submitted his last two opponents. The Chicago, Ill., native was courted by many well-known gyms and organizations, but he ultimately chose Florida-based promotion Titan FC.
Find out more about the aggressive and entertaining Torres in his recent discussion with MMAmania.
We started off our conversation by talking about the year that was for the new Titan FC star. Torres stepped into the cage a total of six times in 2015, including multiple bouts in the same week.
After gaining notoriety in IMMAF, he then joined powerhouse MMA team KHK, which is funded by Bahrainian Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and lead by coaches Renzo Gracie and John Kavanagh. It was in his training there with the likes of UFC contenders Frankie Edgar and Khabib Nurmagomedov, where Torres honed his skills for a month.
“I was finally able to meet Khabib Nurmagomedov. He’s a phenomenal guy. He’s very hard to get off on top. He caught me in a top crucifix and I just couldn’t get out. He’s just punching me in the face and I’m looking up at the clock like, ‘Oh man, I still have three minutes.'”
Make no mistake about it, Torres is no slouch and he is giving up a significant strength advantage to the Dagestani fighter. The two-time Pan-American Kickboxing games gold medalist also learned quite a bit from “The Eagle,” who holds a Master of Sports in Sambo.
“I’m a Japanese jiu-jitsu fighter so I’m in more of an attack base, as opposed to a defensive base like in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. So we went back and forth. I’m fast enough to move my head side to side, so now I’m dodging and countering more, which Khabib taught me.”
Torres didn’t get to roll with “The Answer,” but was complimentary of how the New Jersey native has carried himself throughout his UFC tenure.
“He’s a very humble guy and a good business man. Frankie has been a phenomenal person and a huge role model for me, mainly with the weight cutting aspect. Even now at 145, he barely drops any weight. He weighs 160 naturally and trains every single day. That’s the same aspect I live by.”
Traveling has become the norm for Torres, so he always needs a gym to help him perfect his skill-set. Torres went from Bahrain to San Diego then Missouri and now he’s finally home in Chicago, where he’ll close out training camp for his upcoming tilt against Taylor at his longtime base camp, Combat-Do.
Interestingly enough, the New York native was not the first choice on Titan FC’s wish list of opponents to face Torres.
“Even some Titan guys don’t want to fight me already, which is humbling. They don’t want to fight a 5’4” Latino guy from Chicago? I can be cocky at times, but even though I’m the best in the world amateur in my weight class, I’ve never stated that.I’m glad they were finally able to find me a fight and when I say finally, it took them forever. They were trying to find me a proper fight.”
Torres, who continues to represent himself in contract negotiations, has worked with esteemed nutritionist Lou Giordano to make sure his first weight cut in Titan FC goes smoothly. If all goes well, and he fulfills the expectations that are sitting on his shoulders, a drop to Flyweight could be in his future.
“I wrestled there all five years in college. I know I can do it. It just comes down to whether I’m healthy. Being at 125, I know I felt a little bit more confident having the height advantage. I would be in the average height game. There would be no huge reach advantage.”
To check out the entire Titan FC 37 fight card, visit their website here.
Fight week is once again upon us, and we have a blockbuster event coming to us this weekend. UFC 196 is slated for March 5, 2016 live on pay-per-view (PPV) from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The main event features a highly-anticipated welterweight showdown between featherweight champion Conor McGregor and outspoken
Fight week is once again upon us, and we have a blockbuster event coming to us this weekend. UFC 196 is slated for March 5, 2016 live on pay-per-view (PPV) from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The main event features a highly-anticipated welterweight showdown between featherweight champion Conor McGregor and outspoken bad boy Nate Diaz. Newly minted bantamweight queen Holly Holm will also defend her title in the co-main event against former Strikeforce champion Miesha Tate.
Along with fight week comes the UFC’s Embedded series with the first episode being released tonight (February 29, 2016).
McGregor can be seen training with his infamous movement coach, Ido Portal, early on before enjoying a steak dinner as he doesn’t have to worry so much about cutting weight.
Holm takes a day off from the gym, also receiving a visit from teammate, former light heavyweight champion, and pound-for-pound king Jon “Bones” Jones.
Tate, on the other hand, goes on a light night run in order to prepare her mind and body for fight day.
Check out the full episode below courtesy of the UFC:
Veteran referee Herb Dean responds to Michael Bisping’s blame regarding UFC London’s mouthpiece controversy.
Middleweight contender Michael Bisping may have walked out victorious against Anderson Silva during last weekend’s UFC Fight Night London, but he did so with a busted nose and stitches on his face.
The bulk of the damage that was inflicted upon ‘The Count’ happened during the dying seconds of the third round when he dropped his mouthpiece. Bisping motioned to referee Herb Dean, notifying him about what happened, but Dean instead let the action continue.
Silva then capitalized on those few moments of inattention by throwing a flying knee that landed squarely on Bisping’s face, immediately opening a deep gash.
During a post-fight interview, Bisping pinned the blame on Dean, questioning the latter’s abilities as a referee. Dean has since responded to the fighter’s remarks in his recent appearance on The MMA Hour.
“Well, I don’t know, maybe he’s not aware of the rules. A lot of fighters, most of them read the fouls but they don’t read all the rules on the mechanics,” Dean said. “Maybe he wasn’t aware of that. But the rule is to replace the mouthpiece during a lull in the action.”
Dean also explained why he let the fight carry on, despite Bisping’s motions to get his attention.
“That’s the way the mechanic works, is that you replace the mouthpiece during a lull in the action. And [Bisping] signaled once, and Anderson was actually in the process of attacking him,” he explained. For a lot of reasons that are pretty evident you can’t stop to replace the mouthpiece during a heated exchange, and that qualified as a heated exchange.”
“If we were doing that, we’d have guys getting their bell rung, spitting out the mouthpiece to get a little extra time or sometimes you’re feeling a little tired, just spit your mouthpiece out,” Dean continued. “So obviously we can’t do that in the middle of an exchange.”
As far as determining whether or not Dean should’ve stopped the fight after Bisping was knocked down, he said Bisping wasn’t unconscious when he fell.
“Well, [Silva] hit him with the knee and dropped him, and then he walked off and started to celebrate,” he said. “He had been dropped, but you know, in MMA we don’t stop the match just because someone gets dropped. I saw that when he fell he was not unconscious. He was facing Anderson. Anderson didn’t give him a threat to protect himself from, but — I don’t want to start playing what if, what if he attacked and whatnot — the bottom line is he didn’t attack. The round ended and, because Anderson was celebrating, there was some confusion as to what was going on.
Veteran referee Herb Dean responds to Michael Bisping’s blame regarding UFC London’s mouthpiece controversy.
Middleweight contender Michael Bisping may have walked out victorious against Anderson Silva during last weekend’s UFC Fight Night London, but he did so with a busted nose and stitches on his face.
The bulk of the damage that was inflicted upon ‘The Count’ happened during the dying seconds of the third round when he dropped his mouthpiece. Bisping motioned to referee Herb Dean, notifying him about what happened, but Dean instead let the action continue.
Silva then capitalized on those few moments of inattention by throwing a flying knee that landed squarely on Bisping’s face, immediately opening a deep gash.
During a post-fight interview, Bisping pinned the blame on Dean, questioning the latter’s abilities as a referee. Dean has since responded to the fighter’s remarks in his recent appearance on The MMA Hour.
“Well, I don’t know, maybe he’s not aware of the rules. A lot of fighters, most of them read the fouls but they don’t read all the rules on the mechanics,” Dean said. “Maybe he wasn’t aware of that. But the rule is to replace the mouthpiece during a lull in the action.”
Dean also explained why he let the fight carry on, despite Bisping’s motions to get his attention.
“That’s the way the mechanic works, is that you replace the mouthpiece during a lull in the action. And [Bisping] signaled once, and Anderson was actually in the process of attacking him,” he explained. For a lot of reasons that are pretty evident you can’t stop to replace the mouthpiece during a heated exchange, and that qualified as a heated exchange.”
“If we were doing that, we’d have guys getting their bell rung, spitting out the mouthpiece to get a little extra time or sometimes you’re feeling a little tired, just spit your mouthpiece out,” Dean continued. “So obviously we can’t do that in the middle of an exchange.”
As far as determining whether or not Dean should’ve stopped the fight after Bisping was knocked down, he said Bisping wasn’t unconscious when he fell.
“Well, [Silva] hit him with the knee and dropped him, and then he walked off and started to celebrate,” he said. “He had been dropped, but you know, in MMA we don’t stop the match just because someone gets dropped. I saw that when he fell he was not unconscious. He was facing Anderson. Anderson didn’t give him a threat to protect himself from, but — I don’t want to start playing what if, what if he attacked and whatnot — the bottom line is he didn’t attack. The round ended and, because Anderson was celebrating, there was some confusion as to what was going on.
More fights are coming to Fight Pass and FOX Sports 1 this weekend (Sat., March 5, 2016) when UFC 196: “McGregor vs. Diaz” kicks off from MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. MMAmania.com’s Patrick Stumberg kicks off the UFC 196 “Prelims” party with the first installment of a two-part undercard preview series.
More trash than Oscar the Grouch’s spring cleaning.
Two of the most vociferous punchers in Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) do battle this Saturday evening (March 5, 2016) as Featherweight champion Conor McGregor steps up in weight to face late replacement Nate Diaz in the Welterweight pay-per-view (PPV) main event of UFC 196, which goes down live from inside MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
In addition, women’s Bantamweight champion Holly Holm makes her first title defense against Miesha Tate, while Gian Villante takes on Ilir Latifi in a clash of Light Heavyweight punchers.
The seven “Prelims” undercard bouts include three on Fight Pass and the rest on FOX Sports 1. Let’s dig into those first three below.
155 lbs.: Diego Sanchez vs. Jim Miller
Once one of the Lightweight division’s toughest outs, Diego Sanchez (25-8) is just 2-4 in his last six appearances, both victories blatant robberies. His last fight saw him test the waters at 145 pounds, only to lose a decision to perennial contender Ricardo Lamas.
Sanchez stands two inches taller than Jim Miller (25-7) at 5’11.”
Last July, Miller snapped a career-first two-fight losing streak with a hard-fought unanimous decision over Team Alpha Male’s Danny Castillo. In Dec. 2015, he put on an entertaining scrap with Michael Chiesa before ultimately tapping to a rear-naked choke in the second round.
He has submitted 14 professional opponents.
Sanchez, at this point, is almost painfully bad. He no longer has any notion of set ups, range or fluidity in his striking, instead just throwing powerless arm punches from way too far out. His fight with Gilbert Melendez is chock-full of ludicrous moments wherein Melendez simply ducks back, slams home a right hand, then ducks back again as Sanchez flings out punches without moving.
Miller’s going to earn a win, is what I’m saying.
Shopworn though he may be, Miller is the better striker by a fair margin at this point and Sanchez no longer has the wrestling prowess to grind him down. The only question is whether the judges will see fit to score the fight by lost brain cells again.
Prediction: Miller via unanimous decision
155 lbs.: Jason Saggo vs. Justin Salas
Jason Saggo (10-2) opened his UFC career with a first-round technical knockout of Josh Shockley, his fifth-straight stoppage victory. A split decision loss to Paul Felder followed, after which a torn ACL kept the Canadian out of action for all of 2015.
He has never gone the distance in victory, submitting eight opponents.
Justin Salas (12-6) captured the Victory Fighting Championships Lightweight title with a decision over Joe Ellenberger, then out-dueled Anton Kuivanen in his Octagon debut to extend his win streak to six. He has since alternated losses and wins, starting with a knockout loss to Tim Means and currently ending with a technical knockout loss to Justin Edwards.
Like Saggo, he missed all of 2015.
The outlook is not great for Salas, who has struggled to find his footing in UFC. His wrestling has proven rather ineffective and his movement-heavy striking style lacks defense. The style match up seems to heavily favor Saggo, who ragdolled Shockley and seriously hassled the hulking Felder with relentless takedowns.
To win this fight, Salas will have to keep Saggo at range for all 15 minutes, a difficult proposition considering the Canadian’s grappling prowess. More likely, Saggo wrangles him to the mat and chokes him out within the first five minutes.
Prediction: Saggo def. Salas via first-round submission
145 lbs.: Julian Erosa vs. Teruto Ishihara
Julian Erosa (15-2) became the sole member of Team Urijah Faber to reach the semifinals, only to fall to Artem Lobov once there. “Juicy J” squared off with Marcin Wrzosek at The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 22 Finale, ultimately taking home a split decision over “The Polish Zombie.”
He is five inches taller than Teruto Ishihara (7-2-2) at 6’0.”
Ishihara fought his way through Road to UFC: “Japan” to earn a spot on UFC Fight Night 75 opposite Strikeforce and UFC veteran Mizuto Hirota. Despite a strong start, the young power-puncher could not keep up with “Pugnus’” pace, ultimately escaping with a split draw.
“Yashabo” has knocked out six opponents, five of them in the first round.
I’m not sure what it is about “Juicy J” that makes him so unimpressive to me, but I’ve got Ishihara for the upset. I felt Erosa deserved a loss in his fight with Wrzosek and he shows a worrying lack of defensive acumen.
Considering Ishihara’s history of knockouts and the fact that he managed to drop the iron-tough Hirota, that’s trouble.
Erosa desperately needs to learn to better utilize his height. Hopefully, getting his block knocked off by Ishihara will be the impetus he needs to tighten up his game.
Prediction: Ishihara via first-round knockout
Four more UFC 196 “Prelims” fights to preview and predict tomorrow, headlined by a fun scrap between @elterweight knockout artists.
More fights are coming to Fight Pass and FOX Sports 1 this weekend (Sat., March 5, 2016) when UFC 196: “McGregor vs. Diaz” kicks off from MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. MMAmania.com’s Patrick Stumberg kicks off the UFC 196 “Prelims” party with the first installment of a two-part undercard preview series.
More trash than Oscar the Grouch’s spring cleaning.
Two of the most vociferous punchers in Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) do battle this Saturday evening (March 5, 2016) as Featherweight champion Conor McGregor steps up in weight to face late replacement Nate Diaz in the Welterweight pay-per-view (PPV) main event of UFC 196, which goes down live from inside MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
In addition, women’s Bantamweight champion Holly Holm makes her first title defense against Miesha Tate, while Gian Villante takes on Ilir Latifi in a clash of Light Heavyweight punchers.
The seven “Prelims” undercard bouts include three on Fight Pass and the rest on FOX Sports 1. Let’s dig into those first three below.
155 lbs.: Diego Sanchez vs. Jim Miller
Once one of the Lightweight division’s toughest outs, Diego Sanchez (25-8) is just 2-4 in his last six appearances, both victories blatant robberies. His last fight saw him test the waters at 145 pounds, only to lose a decision to perennial contender Ricardo Lamas.
Sanchez stands two inches taller than Jim Miller (25-7) at 5’11.”
Last July, Miller snapped a career-first two-fight losing streak with a hard-fought unanimous decision over Team Alpha Male’s Danny Castillo. In Dec. 2015, he put on an entertaining scrap with Michael Chiesa before ultimately tapping to a rear-naked choke in the second round.
He has submitted 14 professional opponents.
Sanchez, at this point, is almost painfully bad. He no longer has any notion of set ups, range or fluidity in his striking, instead just throwing powerless arm punches from way too far out. His fight with Gilbert Melendez is chock-full of ludicrous moments wherein Melendez simply ducks back, slams home a right hand, then ducks back again as Sanchez flings out punches without moving.
Miller’s going to earn a win, is what I’m saying.
Shopworn though he may be, Miller is the better striker by a fair margin at this point and Sanchez no longer has the wrestling prowess to grind him down. The only question is whether the judges will see fit to score the fight by lost brain cells again.
Prediction: Miller via unanimous decision
155 lbs.: Jason Saggo vs. Justin Salas
Jason Saggo (10-2) opened his UFC career with a first-round technical knockout of Josh Shockley, his fifth-straight stoppage victory. A split decision loss to Paul Felder followed, after which a torn ACL kept the Canadian out of action for all of 2015.
He has never gone the distance in victory, submitting eight opponents.
Justin Salas (12-6) captured the Victory Fighting Championships Lightweight title with a decision over Joe Ellenberger, then out-dueled Anton Kuivanen in his Octagon debut to extend his win streak to six. He has since alternated losses and wins, starting with a knockout loss to Tim Means and currently ending with a technical knockout loss to Justin Edwards.
Like Saggo, he missed all of 2015.
The outlook is not great for Salas, who has struggled to find his footing in UFC. His wrestling has proven rather ineffective and his movement-heavy striking style lacks defense. The style match up seems to heavily favor Saggo, who ragdolled Shockley and seriously hassled the hulking Felder with relentless takedowns.
To win this fight, Salas will have to keep Saggo at range for all 15 minutes, a difficult proposition considering the Canadian’s grappling prowess. More likely, Saggo wrangles him to the mat and chokes him out within the first five minutes.
Prediction: Saggo def. Salas via first-round submission
145 lbs.: Julian Erosa vs. Teruto Ishihara
Julian Erosa (15-2) became the sole member of Team Urijah Faber to reach the semifinals, only to fall to Artem Lobov once there. “Juicy J” squared off with Marcin Wrzosek at The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 22 Finale, ultimately taking home a split decision over “The Polish Zombie.”
He is five inches taller than Teruto Ishihara (7-2-2) at 6’0.”
Ishihara fought his way through Road to UFC: “Japan” to earn a spot on UFC Fight Night 75 opposite Strikeforce and UFC veteran Mizuto Hirota. Despite a strong start, the young power-puncher could not keep up with “Pugnus’” pace, ultimately escaping with a split draw.
“Yashabo” has knocked out six opponents, five of them in the first round.
I’m not sure what it is about “Juicy J” that makes him so unimpressive to me, but I’ve got Ishihara for the upset. I felt Erosa deserved a loss in his fight with Wrzosek and he shows a worrying lack of defensive acumen.
Considering Ishihara’s history of knockouts and the fact that he managed to drop the iron-tough Hirota, that’s trouble.
Erosa desperately needs to learn to better utilize his height. Hopefully, getting his block knocked off by Ishihara will be the impetus he needs to tighten up his game.
Prediction: Ishihara via first-round knockout
Four more UFC 196 “Prelims” fights to preview and predict tomorrow, headlined by a fun scrap between @elterweight knockout artists.
With HBO and Showtime going head-to-head on Saturday night, respective headliners Terence Crawford and Leo Santa Cruz both came away with 5th round TKOs in their title defenses. HBO and Showtime went with dueling live cards on Saturday night…
With HBO and Showtime going head-to-head on Saturday night, respective headliners Terence Crawford and Leo Santa Cruz both came away with 5th round TKOs in their title defenses.
HBO and Showtime went with dueling live cards on Saturday night, even at the exact same start time of 10 PM ET/PT. The HBO main event saw WBO super lightweight (140 lbs) champion Terence Crawford (28-0, 20 KOs) successfully defend his title against Hank Lundy (26-6-1, 13 KOs) with a 5th round TKO win at MSG Theatre in Manhattan, while WBA featherweight champion Leo Santa Cruz (32-0-1, 18 KOs) pulled off the same feat against Kiko Martinez (35-7, 26 KOs) at Honda Center in Anaheim.
The highlight at the top of the page is of “Bud” Crawford’s win over Lundy, which was a fun bout for what was otherwise a mismatch on paper. Lundy came out strongly in the opening round but Crawford figured him out as the fight wore on, and he recorded a knockdown in the 5th round before forcing a standing stoppage against the ropes. The Nebraska native is slowly picking up a following as a potential star in boxing, but he definitely needs better competition down the line, even if it means heading up to 147 lbs.
Santa Cruz and Martinez had a hell of a first round, with LSC twice flooring the Spaniard inside of 3 minutes. Martinez rallied well and arguably scored a knockdown in round 2 when Santa Cruz’s glove touched the canvas, but it was ruled a slip. Despite Martinez’s best efforts, he was worn down by LSC’s ridiculously high workrate and punch output, and in round 5 he was hurt against the ropes and Raul Caiz Sr. eventually stopped the punishment.
Highlights of that fight, plus the astonishing 51 second knockout win for Hugo Ruiz (36-3, 32 KOs) against Julio Ceja (30-2, 27 KOs) in the Showtime co-main event, can be found in the video below. Ruiz is the new WBC super bantamweight champion, having lost to Ceja by knockout in their thrilling first meeting last August.
One other fight of note, Carl Frampton (22-0, 14 KOs) unified the IBF and WBA super bantamweight (122 lbs) belts with a split decision win over Scott Quigg (31-1-2, 23 KOs), in a fight that aired directly opposite Anderson Silva vs. Michael Bisping. Unlike Silva vs. Bisping, this fight was terrible and there are no highlights to show you.
