The MMA world is still digesting Michael Bisping’s controversial decision win over Anderson Silva in London this past Saturday (February 27, 2016), and for good reason. ‘The Count’ undoubtedly pushed the pace on ‘The Spider,’ throwing and landing far more punches with his superior work rate to sway the judges, but it was also clear
The MMA world is still digesting Michael Bisping’s controversial decision win over Anderson Silva in London this past Saturday (February 27, 2016), and for good reason.
‘The Count’ undoubtedly pushed the pace on ‘The Spider,’ throwing and landing far more punches with his superior work rate to sway the judges, but it was also clear that Silva landed by far the most damaging shots with a huge third round flying knee and a fifth round front kick, both of which rocked Bisping.
Many are still arguing that Bisping was finished at the end of that third round, but he appeared to collect himself just quick enough for Herb Dean to allow the bout to go on. While Silva could have easily capitalized and potentially finished Bisping in the fourth, he perplexingly showed little output until a low blow actually gave ‘The Count’ more time to recover and win the pivotal round.
The bout ultimately came down to a close unanimous decision, and again, many, including Silva’s manager Ed Soares, who called for an immediate rematch at UFC 198 in May, still believe ‘The Spider’ deserved the nod. But there were also several key things that Silva didn’t do but should have, and those aspects most definitely helped ‘The Count’ win according to the rules in place.
Let’s take a look back to what Silva could and should have done to sway the scorecards in his favor or finish the fight outright.
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) recently updated its official fighter rankings to reflect the results of its UFC Fight Night 84 mixed martial arts (MMA) event, which took place last Saturday (Feb. 27, 2016) inside O2 Arena in London, En…
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) recently updated its official fighter rankings to reflect the results of its UFC Fight Night 84 mixed martial arts (MMA) event, which took place last Saturday (Feb. 27, 2016) inside O2 Arena in London, England.
As expected, Michael Bisping (No. 4) climbed a few rungs up the middleweight ladder after his upset win over Anderson Silva across the pond (highlights). “The Spider,” as a result, tumbles from No. 5 to No. 6. Also losing ground was Thales Leites (No. 12), while Gegard Mousasi held steady at No. 9.
That’s not all.
Here’s what the latest ranking field looks like courtesy of UFC.com. Note: (+/- = movement in rankings, *NR = Not previously ranked).
POUND-FOR-POUND 1 Jon Jones 2 Demetrious Johnson 3 Conor McGregor 4 Dominick Cruz 5 Luke Rockhold +2 5 Fabricio Werdum +1 7 Rafael Dos Anjos -3 (punished for breaking his foot!) 8 Robbie Lawler 9 Daniel Cormier 10 Jose Aldo 11 Chris Weidman 12 TJ Dillashaw 13 Holly Holm 14 Frankie Edgar 15 Joanna Jedrzejczyk
FLYWEIGHT Champion: Demetrious Johnson 1 Joseph Benavidez 2 John Dodson 3 Henry Cejudo 4 Jussier Formiga +1 5 Ian McCall -1 6 Kyoji Horiguchi 7 John Moraga 8 Zach Makovsky 9 Wilson Reis 10 Dustin Ortiz +1 11 Ali Bagautinov -1 12 Justin Scoggins 13 Louis Smolka 14 Ray Borg 15 Sergio Pettis
FEATHERWEIGHT Champion: Conor McGregor 1 Jose Aldo 2 Frankie Edgar 3 Chad Mendes 4 Max Holloway 5 Ricardo Lamas 6 Cub Swanson 7 Charles Oliveira 8 Dennis Bermudez 9 Jeremy Stephens 10 Hacran Dias 11 Darren Elkins 12 Brian Ortega 13 Tatsuya Kawajiri 14 Nik Lentz 15 Clay Guida
LIGHTWEIGHT Champion: Rafael Dos Anjos 1 Eddie Alvarez 2 Khabib Nurmagomedov 3 Anthony Pettis 4 Tony Ferguson 5 Nate Diaz 6 Michael Johnson 7 Beneil Dariush 8 Edson Barboza 9 Donald Cerrone 10 Al Iaquinta 10 Dustin Poirier +1 12 Bobby Green 13 Evan Dunham +1 14 Michael Chiesa -1 15 Rashid Magomedov
WELTERWEIGHT Champion: Robbie Lawler 1 Rory MacDonald 2 Stephen Thompson 3 Tyron Woodley 4 Carlos Condit 5 Johny Hendricks 6 Demian Maia 7 Matt Brown 8 Dong Hyun Kim 9 Neil Magny 10 Tarec Saffiedine 11 Rick Story 12 Kelvin Gastelum 13 Hector Lombard +1 14 Thiago Alves -1 15 Albert Tumenov -1
MIDDLEWEIGHT Champion: Luke Rockhold 1 Chris Weidman 2 Jacare Souza 3 Vitor Belfort 4 Michael Bisping +3 5 Lyoto Machida -1 6 Anderson Silva -1 7 Tim Kennedy -1 8 Robert Whittaker 9 Gegard Mousasi 10 Uriah Hall +1 11 Derek Brunson +1 12 Thales Leites -2 13 Rafael Natal 14 Dan Henderson 15 CB Dollaway *NR
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT Champion: Daniel Cormier 1 Jon Jones 2 Anthony Johnson 3 Alexander Gustafsson 4 Glover Teixeira 5 Ryan Bader 6 Ovince Saint Preux 7 Rashad Evans 8 Mauricio Rua 9 Jimi Manuwa 10 Antonio Rogerio Nogueira 11 Patrick Cummins 12 Corey Anderson 13 Gian Villante 14 Jan Blachowicz +1 15 Nikita Krylov *NR
HEAVYWEIGHT Champion: Fabricio Werdum 1 Cain Velasquez 2 Stipe Miocic 3 Alistair Overeem 4 Ben Rothwell 5 Junior Dos Santos 6 Andrei Arlovski 7 Travis Browne 8 Josh Barnett 9 Mark Hunt 10 Frank Mir 11 Roy Nelson 12 Antonio Silva 13 Matt Mitrione 14 Ruslan Magomedov +1 14 Alexey Oliynyk
You can expect these standings to change by next Monday as the UFC 196: “McGregor vs. Diaz” pay-per-view (PPV) event lights up MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, with key positions at pound-for-pound and women’s bantamweight at stake.
Until then, let us know what you think of the latest rankings movement in the comments section below.
Referee Marc Goddard found himself in a bit of an unusual situation at UFC London, when he decided to take a point, without breaking up the action of a fight, over repeated glove grabs.
You don’t see that many point deductions in the UFC. There are more than enough fouls to go around, but actual penalties, at the end of the day, end up being pretty rare. That could be because of the nature of MMA’s three round structure. Lose a point in a twelve, ten, or even six round fight and that’s bad, but over three rounds? An MMA fighter who gets a point taken doesn’t have a lot left to work with if they want to get a win.
Perhaps that’s why UFC referee Marc Goddard felt such a strong desire to explain his actions via Facebook and get rid of what he called an “unsettling angst” after taking away a point from prelim fighter Marlon Vera during his bout with Davey Grant at UFC London on February 27th. After a somewhat lengthy explanation as to just what being a referee meant to him, Goddard got down to brass tacks on why and how he decided to take a point:
“I had a very interesting and action filled evening when working last night at UFC London – in particular the bout between Marlon Vera and Davey Grant. I start the fight in my normal fashion and true to form with my sole intention on my next word being ‘stop’ exactly 5 minutes later. At a point in that first round you will hear me warn Vera for holding the fence, short concise and in normal fashion. Grant also communicated to me before my first intervention that his glove [fingers inside the cuff] was being held but I can only react to what I see. You will then see me stop the action when Vera was on his back and Grant stood in his guard for the same finger in cuff glove holding Grant was signifying to me earlier. Only this time I did see. I do not stand the fighter [Vera] up as that would be of detriment to the standing fighter who was not committing the foul – instead I issue my warning and allow the fight to continue.
“In the second round you will hear me interject again – as the same fingers in cuff process happened once more, this when I decided to stand the fighters at the same point anyway. So now that’s three warning within one and half rounds [on top of my pleading in between rounds]. People remark upon my tone at times – please think of this. It’s a fight, in an arena, with 16,000 people. It’s not a doctors waiting room. When a fighter may not be taking note of your prior warnings your natural instinct may be to escalate your tone – its called authority, I’m a referee – not a mother. I’m there to be listened to and obeyed [only when prompted to speak] and at times my tone and message will be stern. That’s my job. We move to the third round and for the third time in three consecutive rounds the same foul was committed. My verbal call out of the point deduction was again in the same fashion of referees talking during fights – we only want to break the action and alter the potential flow of the fight when absolutely necessary – so when the top fighter is the one being fouled stopping them, standing them up, issuing the warning again and deducting the point is the wrong course of action as any experienced referee would agree.
“A couple of points of note – people commentated on me asking for the translator at the end of round two. This was a deliberate act out of consideration for the TV and watching audience as I didn’t want anyone to think that Vera was at a disadvantage from my communications – he wasn’t as he understands, spoke and speaks great English just as we did between each other in the dressing room in my fighter meeting rule debrief before the fights began. It was a consideration call I was making. People also remarked again about my stern tone and my comment of ‘I’m in charge’ again back to the repeated warnings issues, it’s a fight, its loud, and prior warnings are not being adhered to – remember I’m a referee! ☺
“People often ask ‘what is the role of a ref’? and ‘what do you actually do’? and I tell them – its simple, I travel the world to get shouted at! ☺ you may have heard me refer to the fact about referees often being damned if they do, damned if they don’t and in super charged atmospheres like last night with multiple interventions of a referee being called upon it provides a great example, discussion and learning point. What if I had chose to not act upon repeated fouls, what if the same action led to an arm being dragged back in for a fight ending submission, what if the same repeated fouls went unpunished and said fighter had won a super close razor thin decision? What if that had happened? What position/discussions would I find myself in today?
“And now the part that no one sees, that no camera picks up. The young man in question Mr Vera approached me after the fight backstage to apologize for his conduct and that I had to act. I tell him that he doesn’t have to – as I certainly don’t need one, I certainly don’t expect one, all I want is this talented young man to think, be more considered in his approach and allow his skills to give him the fairest possible outcome in his fights. He accepts and we shake hands and my heart goes out to him as I recognize so much. The actual acts he was committing can be instinctual form years or training in a Gi – gripping and holding ‘something’ and I recognize this but I am forced to act when a repeated warning [not a single act] are not adhered to. Its not always so clear as signifying the ‘intent’ in ‘intentional’ !
“I hope that you found this useful, helpful or insightful in some way. I hope that I can update or offer such insights once more – but I do contribute and write on a regular basis for Fighters Only magazine where such instances are broken down in detail. Remember we are humans, I strive for perfection and aim for it every single time. The need for improvement and review remains constant and believe me there is not a harsher critique in this world of me than myself! Again my apologies for the lengthy content but I hope that you can appreciate, and its not every day!”
“My closing words are of thanks to both Mr Vera and Mr Grant for a fast paced action packed and exciting fight totally regardless of any interjections that I had to make. That was a super display of modern day mixed martial arts. I look forward to you both excelling in your forthcoming careers.
“Many thanks.”
So, if you were looking for a more complete or thorough explanation of just what was going on during that Grant/Vera fight that caused a point deduction and how it all went down, now you’ve got it.
Referee Marc Goddard found himself in a bit of an unusual situation at UFC London, when he decided to take a point, without breaking up the action of a fight, over repeated glove grabs.
You don’t see that many point deductions in the UFC. There are more than enough fouls to go around, but actual penalties, at the end of the day, end up being pretty rare. That could be because of the nature of MMA’s three round structure. Lose a point in a twelve, ten, or even six round fight and that’s bad, but over three rounds? An MMA fighter who gets a point taken doesn’t have a lot left to work with if they want to get a win.
Perhaps that’s why UFC referee Marc Goddard felt such a strong desire to explain his actions via Facebook and get rid of what he called an “unsettling angst” after taking away a point from prelim fighter Marlon Vera during his bout with Davey Grant at UFC London on February 27th. After a somewhat lengthy explanation as to just what being a referee meant to him, Goddard got down to brass tacks on why and how he decided to take a point:
“I had a very interesting and action filled evening when working last night at UFC London – in particular the bout between Marlon Vera and Davey Grant. I start the fight in my normal fashion and true to form with my sole intention on my next word being ‘stop’ exactly 5 minutes later. At a point in that first round you will hear me warn Vera for holding the fence, short concise and in normal fashion. Grant also communicated to me before my first intervention that his glove [fingers inside the cuff] was being held but I can only react to what I see. You will then see me stop the action when Vera was on his back and Grant stood in his guard for the same finger in cuff glove holding Grant was signifying to me earlier. Only this time I did see. I do not stand the fighter [Vera] up as that would be of detriment to the standing fighter who was not committing the foul – instead I issue my warning and allow the fight to continue.
“In the second round you will hear me interject again – as the same fingers in cuff process happened once more, this when I decided to stand the fighters at the same point anyway. So now that’s three warning within one and half rounds [on top of my pleading in between rounds]. People remark upon my tone at times – please think of this. It’s a fight, in an arena, with 16,000 people. It’s not a doctors waiting room. When a fighter may not be taking note of your prior warnings your natural instinct may be to escalate your tone – its called authority, I’m a referee – not a mother. I’m there to be listened to and obeyed [only when prompted to speak] and at times my tone and message will be stern. That’s my job. We move to the third round and for the third time in three consecutive rounds the same foul was committed. My verbal call out of the point deduction was again in the same fashion of referees talking during fights – we only want to break the action and alter the potential flow of the fight when absolutely necessary – so when the top fighter is the one being fouled stopping them, standing them up, issuing the warning again and deducting the point is the wrong course of action as any experienced referee would agree.
“A couple of points of note – people commentated on me asking for the translator at the end of round two. This was a deliberate act out of consideration for the TV and watching audience as I didn’t want anyone to think that Vera was at a disadvantage from my communications – he wasn’t as he understands, spoke and speaks great English just as we did between each other in the dressing room in my fighter meeting rule debrief before the fights began. It was a consideration call I was making. People also remarked again about my stern tone and my comment of ‘I’m in charge’ again back to the repeated warnings issues, it’s a fight, its loud, and prior warnings are not being adhered to – remember I’m a referee! ?
“People often ask ‘what is the role of a ref’? and ‘what do you actually do’? and I tell them – its simple, I travel the world to get shouted at! ? you may have heard me refer to the fact about referees often being damned if they do, damned if they don’t and in super charged atmospheres like last night with multiple interventions of a referee being called upon it provides a great example, discussion and learning point. What if I had chose to not act upon repeated fouls, what if the same action led to an arm being dragged back in for a fight ending submission, what if the same repeated fouls went unpunished and said fighter had won a super close razor thin decision? What if that had happened? What position/discussions would I find myself in today?
“And now the part that no one sees, that no camera picks up. The young man in question Mr Vera approached me after the fight backstage to apologize for his conduct and that I had to act. I tell him that he doesn’t have to – as I certainly don’t need one, I certainly don’t expect one, all I want is this talented young man to think, be more considered in his approach and allow his skills to give him the fairest possible outcome in his fights. He accepts and we shake hands and my heart goes out to him as I recognize so much. The actual acts he was committing can be instinctual form years or training in a Gi – gripping and holding ‘something’ and I recognize this but I am forced to act when a repeated warning [not a single act] are not adhered to. Its not always so clear as signifying the ‘intent’ in ‘intentional’ !
“I hope that you found this useful, helpful or insightful in some way. I hope that I can update or offer such insights once more – but I do contribute and write on a regular basis for Fighters Only magazine where such instances are broken down in detail. Remember we are humans, I strive for perfection and aim for it every single time. The need for improvement and review remains constant and believe me there is not a harsher critique in this world of me than myself! Again my apologies for the lengthy content but I hope that you can appreciate, and its not every day!”
“My closing words are of thanks to both Mr Vera and Mr Grant for a fast paced action packed and exciting fight totally regardless of any interjections that I had to make. That was a super display of modern day mixed martial arts. I look forward to you both excelling in your forthcoming careers.
“Many thanks.”
So, if you were looking for a more complete or thorough explanation of just what was going on during that Grant/Vera fight that caused a point deduction and how it all went down, now you’ve got it.
UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor works out with gymnastic rings to improve his conditions before the fight with Nate Diaz, scheduled on UFC 196. UFC 196 headliner Conor McGregor is showing off his fitness and control on the gymnasti…
UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor works out with gymnastic rings to improve his conditions before the fight with Nate Diaz, scheduled on UFC 196.
UFC 196 headliner Conor McGregor is showing off his fitness and control on the gymnastic rings. The UFC featherweight champion posted a video to Instagram of himself going through an excercise that is well-known among gymnasts and trains the shoulder, pectoral, and arm muscles. Check him out as he “get’s the money”:
In another quick clip, McGregor showed off some of his striking, using a boxing opponent body training bag, known also as “BOB”. There’s nothing too flashy in there, but it looks like he’s in prime form to take on Nate Diaz.
This fight will mark the debut for Conor McGregor in UFC welterweight division, as he makes the move all the way up from 145lbs to 170lbs. UFC 196 is set on Saturday March 5, Las-Vegas. The co-main event of the evening will feature Holly Holm vs Miesha Tate for UFC bantamweight championship. Look up the UFC 196: Conor McGregor vs Nate Diaz fight promo, and see also the full fight card of the event.
One thing you can expect when Jim Miller or Diego Sanchez set foot inside an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Octagon is a fun fight.
Luckily for mixed martial arts (MMA) fans everywhere, both combatants will be strapping on the four-oun…
One thing you can expect when Jim Miller or Diego Sanchez set foot inside an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Octagon is a fun fight.
Luckily for mixed martial arts (MMA) fans everywhere, both combatants will be strapping on the four-ounce gloves for what’s expected to be a war in the UFC 196 Fight Pass “Prelims” headliner, which takes place this Sat. night (March 5, 2016) in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Miller and Sanchez together bring 1-3 records over their last four contests into this pivotal encounter. The former knows what he’s up against in “The Nightmare.”
Miller’s take on what Sanchez brings to the table (via MMA Noise):
“Definitely a tough fight; Diego doesn’t stop. He’s one of those guys who’s kind of changed throughout his career. At the beginning of his career, he was more of a grappler, but now he just kind of brawls because he’s made some bonuses doing that. You hear those birdies chirping in your ear and you kind of change your style a little bit to get noticed. I’m going to have to choke him unconscious and that’s what I’m looking to do.”
Sanchez, a 36-fight veteran, has fought a who’s-who of contenders, boasting a wealth of Octagon experience but is coming off a unanimous-decision loss to featherweight contender Ricardo Lamas. It wasn’t the easiest of weight cuts for the one-time middleweight.
Now, Sanchez will make his return to lightweight, where he’s fought seven times.
Miller, a New Jersey native, will be there to greet him with takedowns and an assortment of strikes. The 32-year-old grappler always makes things exciting as he’s accumulated seven “Performance of the Night” bonuses over the course of his career.
Like Sanchez, Miller also heads to the Octagon coming off a lopsided loss, which came via second-round submission to Mike Chiesa in Dec, 2015.
Both coaches and fighters at JacksonWink MMA are preparing for the day that two of their own face each other in the octagon. That day will come on May 8th, when Alistair Overeem and Andrei Arlovski meet at UFC Fight Night 87 in the Netherlands.
One …
Both coaches and fighters at JacksonWink MMA are preparing for the day that two of their own face each other in the octagon. That day will come on May 8th, when Alistair Overeem and Andrei Arlovski meet at UFC Fight Night 87 in the Netherlands.
One of JacksonWink MMA’s top fighters Holly Holm spoke to MMAfighting on Monday about the upcoming bout between her two training colleagues
“The coaches have literally lost sleep over that one,” Holm said. “We actually had a team meeting before. This is not something we have to overlook. It could happen, because we do have the best gym in the world and we’re producing great fighters. We knew that this might happen eventually.”
“That was actually awkward. Sarah and I talked on the phone about it. [We said] hopefully we’re gonna see if they can put something else together. Out of all the girls in the division, this is like the only one that I trained with.
“It’s not the first time we’ve had to deal with something like that on our team, but this is a pretty big one,” Holm continued. “They were both kind of on this big comeback streak. Who wants to knock the other one right back? But like I said, we’re all in this sport for a reason. We want to reach the top.”
