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This Saturday, T.J. Dillashaw is out to silence his critics as he defends his title in a rematch against No. 1 contender Renan Barao.
Dillashaw shocked the world back in May with a dominant performance over Barao, a fighter who had not seen defeat in n…
This Saturday, T.J. Dillashaw is out to silence his critics as he defends his title in a rematch against No. 1 contender Renan Barao.
Dillashaw shocked the world back in May with a dominant performance over Barao, a fighter who had not seen defeat in nine years.
With a desire to move up in the pound-for-pound rankings and capture a belt in another weight class, Dillashaw sounds off on what we can expect from him come Saturday night at UFC 177.
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Former UFC bantamweight champion and No. 1 contender Renan Barao has been removed from his UFC 177 rematch against current champion T. J. Dillashaw after Barao reportedly feeling ill during his weight cut.
Barao will be replaced on the card by bantamw…
Former UFC bantamweight champion and No. 1 contender Renan Barao has been removed from his UFC 177 rematch against current champion T. J. Dillashaw after Barao reportedly feeling ill during his weight cut.
Barao will be replaced on the card by bantamweight Joe Soto (15-2), the winner of six consecutive fights who was scheduled to fight on the undercard against Anthony Birchak.
The UFC 177 pay-per-view program will continue as scheduled, and an update regarding Birchak will be announced shortly. Check back at UFC.com for more information. Read the Full Article Here
The UFC’s next Fight Night card goes down on September 5 at Foxwoods Casino in Ledyard, Connecticut, and has the potential to be 2014’s best fight card on free TV. A middleweight battle between Gegard Mousasi and Ronaldo “Jacare&rdquo…
The UFC’s next Fight Night card goes down on September 5 at Foxwoods Casino in Ledyard, Connecticut, and has the potential to be 2014’s best fight card on free TV. A middleweight battle between Gegard Mousasi and Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza headlines the event, and Alistair Overeem will take on the returning “Big” Ben Rothwell in the co-main event.
It’s no coincidence that the UFC chose this particular event to showcase so many great matchups. Just up the road at Mohegan Sun Arena, Bellator MMA will kick off its next season with a stacked card of its own on the same night. The UFC will be going head-to-head with Bellator for television viewers and a live gate, for the first and perhaps only time in history.
Competition is something that the UFC hasn’t had to deal with in quite some time, if ever. The purchases of Pride, Strikeforce and WEC eliminated any viable contenders to the UFC’s throne of being the No. 1 MMA promotion in the world. Bellator has been squeaking along over the past several years, and after its first and only pay-per-view event reportedly drew 100,000 buys, it might be on its way to giving Zuffa a run for its money.
Bellator 123 features the featherweight championship rematch between champion Pat Curran and Patricio “Pitbull” Freire, as well as “King” Mo Lawal, Bobby Lashley and Cheick Kongo. It doesn’t match up to the talent featured on Fight Night 50, but it’s clear that Bellator is trying to put its best foot forward under the leadership of Scott Coker.
With Bellator putting effort into making its next show a good one, the UFC kicked things into overdrive in what is seemingly an effort to outgun the competition. Not only has the UFC crafted a card that is better than Bellator’s offering, it has gone above and beyond what is becoming the norm for UFC cards—lots of debuting fighters and only a few meaningful contests.
Nearly every fight at Fight Night 50 is a meaningful and intriguing matchup. The six-fight main card starts off with a flyweight fight between Justin Scoggins and John Moraga.
Moraga’s only career losses have been against the champion Demetrious Johnson and John Dodson. Scoggins is one of the brightest prospects in the UFC, but Moraga is easily the toughest test in the 22-year-old’s career thus far. It should be a fast-paced, technical fight and is a great start to the Fox Sports 1 broadcast.
The rematch between Nik Lentz and Charles Oliveira is also an intriguing fight. Their first fight was originally a submission win for Oliveira but was changed to a no-contest after a review by the PSAC due to an illegal knee thrown by Oliveira that essentially brought about the end of the fight.
This time around they’ll battle at 145 pounds, and this could be a breakout fight for Oliveira if he can beat Lentz again. He’s been thrown in with some top-notch competition inside the Octagon and has faltered a few times along the way, but he might finally be putting together the poise and veteran instinct that will allow him to properly showcase his talents.
The first fight that was announced for UFC Fight Night 50 was a lightweight fight between Joe Lauzon and Michael Chiesa. This is a fantastic fight for a lot of reasons. Both men have shown tremendous resiliency throughout their UFC careers and are extremely well-rounded submission artists. This could easily be the Fight of the Night and break Lauzon’s tie for post-fight bonuses with Anderson Silva.
The two heavyweight fights on the main card exist for the sole purpose of providing the fans with a couple of big knockouts. Matt Mitrione vs. Derrick Lewis has no business being fought anywhere but on the feet and will probably end in the first round.
The co-main event of Ben Rothwell vs. Alistair Overeem is a great heavyweight fight. Rothwell is coming back from a nine-month suspension for elevated levels of testosterone. His last fight, which still counts as a victory despite the positive test and subsequent suspension, was an insane TKO over Brandon Vera where Rothwell seemed to snap into berserker mode and charge forward to put Vera away with punches and knees in the third round.
Overeem shook off back-to-back knockout losses with a unanimous-decision win over Frank Mir at UFC 169 back in February. He put a thorough beating on Mir and didn’t tire out throughout the 15-minute affair. He needs to keep the momentum going if he wants to get back into title contention, and Rothwell is the perfect opponent to do it against.
The co-main event of UFC 176 (which was canceled) is now the main event of UFC Fight Night 50. Jacare only has one loss since he first faced Mousasi in 2008 in the Dream promotion and has gone on a six-fight tear through the Strikeforce and UFC middleweight divisions.
Souza is becoming one of the most dangerous strikers at 185 pounds, and that’s on top of his Brazilian jiu-jitsu skills, which are some of the best in the world. We all know Mousasi is no slouch, despite his body language in and out of the cage. He’s won five of his last six fights and is coming off an impressive first-round submission over Mark Munoz in May.
Fight Night cards with this many good fights are few and far between; even the UFC’s recent pay-per-views haven’t been this strong. The main event could produce the next challenger for the winner of Chris Weidman vs. Vitor Belfort or catapult the winner into a title-eliminator bout at the end of the year. It’s a stacked card, and so far it is the best free TV event the UFC has put on this year.
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As it turns out, a difficult weight cut was the only thing holding Anthony “Rumble” Johnson from making his way to the front of the line.
Just two victories—albeit really, really impressive ones—since his return to the Octagon and Joh…
As it turns out, a difficult weight cut was the only thing holding Anthony “Rumble” Johnson from making his way to the front of the line.
Just two victories—albeit really, really impressive ones—since his return to the Octagon and Johnson is already giving Jon Jones one more reason to stick around at light heavyweight before the pound-for-pound king makes the trek to heavyweight waters. Johnson is back and better than ever.
As it stands, the light heavyweight title picture is in complete disarray—all thanks to the division’s top two fighters. Daniel Cormier’s already been promised his title shot in January. Alexander Gustafsson’s been told he needs to fight once more before securing the title shot he was already promised. Rashad Evans is hurt but sits comfortably as the division’s third-ranked fighter.
A fight against Gustafsson makes all the sense in the world for Johnson. It makes zero sense for the Swede. Sure, it’s a fight that most of us would love to see, but there’s no way the UFC should risk pitting its next title challenger—and Jones’ greatest opponent—against a solid fighter. Make him fight again if you have to, but don’t force the guy to fight anybody he isn’t supposed to beat. At this point, Johnson isn’t somebody that anybody is supposed to beat.
There’s really only one guy who makes much sense for Johnson at this point, and Rumble knows exactly who it is.
He told Matt Parrino of UFC.com this month:
Hopefully I’ll be able to fight in late October or something like that if there are any fights open. I was hoping I could fight Ryan Bader in late October and fight [Gustafsson] on the Jon Jones card. That’s my idea. People finally want me to start calling people out, you know what I mean? I never did that before. But I’ve always wanted to fight Ryan Bader because I’ve always thought he was a tough fighter.
Winner of three straight unanimous decisions against Anthony Perosh, Rafael Cavalcante and Ovince Saint Preux, Bader’s given fans reason to believe in the Ultimate Fighter again. At 18-4, Bader’s one of the more dangerous fighters the UFC’s light heavyweight division has to offer.
He was seemingly unstoppable until he ran into the actual unstoppable—overmatched and outwrestled against the current champion, Bader tasted defeat for the first time in his professional fighting career. He’s since collected a few more bad losses against experienced opponents, but he seems to have learned what was holding him back: thinking he could strike with better strikers.
He told reporters at the UFC Fight Night 47 post-fight press conference:
For a while there, I kind of got away from (wrestling) a little bit. If you look at all my losses, they’re when I tried to go out there and kickbox with guys. Like, Glover (Teixeira), (Lyoto) Machida, Jon Jones, those kind of fights. I need to mix everything up. That’s my strength: wrestling. I need to mix that up with my boxing and everything else.
Now that he gets it and we know he gets it, it’s time to set him up against other up-and-coming fighters.
A win for either man likely wouldn’t qualify either of them for an immediate title shot, especially with Jones and Cormier set to tango in January, while Gustafsson either fights or waits in the wings for his turn to dance around April or May at the earliest. And that’s all assuming Jones walks right through both of them injury-free.
All extreme complications aside, Johnson or Bader would need to sit around until August before they could step into the ring with whoever’s destined to hold the title at that time.
Just when we all thought the reigning champion was out of challengers, the UFC managed to find two more. It’s just a matter of keeping them busy enough to remain relevant while simultaneously unscathed that poses concern.
Kristian Ibarra is a Featured Columnist at Bleacher Report. He also serves as the sports editor at San Diego State University’s student-run newspaper, The Daily Aztec. Follow him on Twitter at @Kristian_Ibarra for all things MMA.
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Hector Lombard was on the rise in the UFC’s welterweight division before an injury forced him to the sidelines earlier this year.
The fighter, now known as “Showeather,” is prepping for a return to the Octagon. With much of the 170-pound di…
Hector Lombard was on the rise in the UFC’s welterweight division before an injury forced him to the sidelines earlier this year.
The fighter, now known as “Showeather,” is prepping for a return to the Octagon. With much of the 170-pound division jockeying for position to climb the ladder, there are a number of interesting matchups that would keep Lombard on the short list of title contenders.
However, the Cuban native should not have to look far for his next opponent—the man he should face, Tyron Woodley, trains within the same team.
When the question of fighting teammates is usually posed to mixed martial artists, the answer is typically a “no.” However, there is potential for Woodley to face Lombard and other teammates within American Top Team.
The UFC currently has Woodley ranked in the No. 3 slot, while Lombard sits at No. 6. With two of his teammates in Lombard and Robbie Lawler sitting within the top six of the UFC standings, there is a great potential that they may have to face off at some point in the future.
Woodley has already addressed this situation in recent interviews. “If worse comes to worse, we’ll do a whole training camp together if we have to fight each other,” Woodley told MMAjunkie Radio before his fight with Carlos Condit at UFC 171. “I think it’s kind of funny that there’s so much discussion talking about us fighting each other.”
While he may have been joking at the time, the idea that Lombard and Woodley could face each other is a situation that he and Hector should address. This past March, Hector answered the pending question with a resounding “no.”
“If he wins the belt, I don’t want to fight him,” Lombard said to Steven Marrocco of USA Today when speaking of a potential fight against Lawler. “He can have the belt man, I don’t really care.”
However, the UFC has flexed their muscle in the past to get teammates and friends to compete against each other in important fights. Rashad Evans versus Jon Jones at UFC 145 stands as the biggest example of when the promotion was able to get two partners to compete against each other.
The task hasn’t come up yet from UFC executives in relation to Lombard and Woodley, but the timing would make sense to create that fight at some point this year.
When MMA Fighting announced in June that Lombard would be forced out of action for three months due to a cervical herniated disc, a return was not anticipated until September at the earliest. Woodley recently competed at UFC Fight Night: Bisping vs. Le, where he knocked out Dong Hyun Kim in 61 seconds.
UFC match-makers could book Woodley and Lombard in a contest in the fourth quarter of 2014, giving the division an additional contender option for early 2015.
The return of Hector Lombard will add an interesting wrinkle to the welterweight division. The former Bellator champion has looked good for the majority of his UFC run; especially since moving down to 170 pounds.
Another victory could have him next in line for a shot at the welterweight title. Unfortunately, to get there he may have to go through two of his teammates. A pairing against Woodley would make sense at this juncture in their careers, and the UFC should begin working on booking this bout for the man now named “Showeather.”
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Ben Askren may feel like the kid that is always picked last for kick ball back in elementary school. The undefeated, two-time collegiate national champion has the resume that should be more than enough to have landed him a contract with the Ultimate Fi…
Ben Askren may feel like the kid that is always picked last for kick ball back in elementary school. The undefeated, two-time collegiate national champion has the resume that should be more than enough to have landed him a contract with the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Instead, the Wisconsin native is still competing outside of the Octagon. As he prepares for an opportunity to earn the second welterweight title of his career at ONE FC 19, Askren still stands as one of the most prominent names in the sport to have yet to compete in the Octagon.
Five years into his MMA career, Askren has been able to defeat every opponent that has been placed in his way. Ben is perhaps one of the best pure wrestlers that the sport of MMA has seen and his style does not apologize for such. Unfortunately for Askren, the way he wins bouts has not done him the biggest of favors when it comes to making fans in the sport. Even his former boss, Bjorn Rebney of Bellator, tried to undercut his former champion’s skills when it was clear that Askren was not returning to the promotion.
“What I was trying to say about Ben is what I’ve always said about Ben,” Rebney said to Mark La Monica of Newsday. “He is ridiculously one-dimensional. He just happens to be better at that one dimension than potentially anyone on Earth.”
These comments came after Askren decided not to sign with Bellator and pursue other opportunities that were available in the sport. In an interview with Steph Daniels of Bloody Elbow, Askren mentioned that he had multiple deals in place and after being unable to get a contract complete with the UFC he choose the most lucrative offer that was in front of him (via Bloody Elbow). However, comments from UFC President Dana White gave the impression that the interest in signing Askren may not have been as high as some would have expected coming out of Bellator.
“It doesn’t change anything,” White said to Steven Marrocco of MMA Junkie when asked of the UFC’s interest in Askren. “(We have) no interest. I’m sure (World Series of Fighting) will pick him up. They [Bellator] don’t want him. It’s their champion, and they don’t want him. What does that say?”
This led to Askren signing with ONE FC where he will face Nobutatsu Suzuki for the promotion’s welterweight title. When his deal is up with the organization, there is no telling what is next for the former Mizzou Tiger. However, he has made it clear that he believes that he should be in the UFC, competing with the best that the sport has to offer.
“The fact that I’m not in the UFC is almost ridiculous at this point,” Askren said in the interview with Daniels. “I kind of feel disrespected by it, and I don’t know that I’ll have a lot of motivation to go back in a couple of years and work for those people.”
It’s interesting that the UFC has taken a stance to not show interest in Askren when it has brought over other fighters that have even less experience. Ronda Rousey, Brock Lesnar and newly signed Henry Cejudo were all phenomenal athletes in other sports that the UFC signed to deals when they had less than 10 professional fights. Askren may not have the most exciting style that mainstream MMA fans have come to enjoy, but he poses an interesting matchup to any fighter ranked within the top 10 of the welterweight division. He also has shown a penchant for being able to promote himself beyond his competition in the cage which draws attention in different ways.
For now, Askren will have to focus on winning the One FC championship this weekend. If he is able to hoist another title above his head, this may pique the interest of the UFC once his deal is up. However, the 30-year-old athlete may be past his prime at that point and that will leave fight fans and experts only to wonder what could have been if the Ultimate Fighting Championship would have signed him to a deal earlier in his career.
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