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Rematch with Nik Lentz Is Charles Oliveira’s Chance to Break into the Top 10

When Charles “Do Bronx” Oliveira threw a fight-changing illegal knee to a downed Nik Lentz during their lightweight fight at UFC on Versus 4 back in June of 2011, the crowd at the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh came unglued, and not in a good way. Referee Chip Snider may have been indifferent to the foul, but the viewing audience knew right away what had occurred.

Oliveira’s win was changed to a “no-contest” by the Pennsylvania Athletic Commission, and both men have since moved down to 145 pounds. They are set to rematch at UFC Fight Night 50 on September 5, and this fight is Oliveira’s chance to break into the top echelon of the division.

All six of Oliveira’s UFC wins have come by way of submission. He’s choked out two Ultimate Fighter winners in Efrain Escudero and Jonathan Brookins, armbarred Darren Elkins and became the first person to finish Hatsu Hioki last month when he made him tap with a second-round anaconda choke.

Now 11 fights into his UFC career, and having come up short against the division’s elite, the 24-year-old is looking for his third straight win when he takes on “The Carny” at Foxwoods.

Both men have earned three victories since moving down in weight, and both have gone to battle with the very best the featherweight division has to offer. Oliveira suffered back-to-back losses to Cub Swanson and Frankie Edgar, but the fight with Frankie was an instant Fight of the Year candidate in 2013.

Lentz went the distance with the current No. 1 contender Chad Mendes, who had emphatically finished his previous four opponents.

In their first fight, Oliveira was taking Lentz to the woodshed with a constant barrage of knees, front kicks and punches and kicks to the body. Had he timed that ill-fated knee strike a little better, he could have had added another legitimate submission win to his pro record.

At times he’s shown the greenness of most young fighters, but also the determination and finishing instinct of a polished, high-level mixed martial artist.

The rematch with Lentz is the next step up the ladder for Do Bronx, and this fight is pivotal for the featherweight division. The title fight between Jose Aldo and Chad Mendes is penciled in for this fall, and Cub Swanson has rightfully earned the next crack at the winner. Frankie Edgar is waiting in the wings for a big fight, as is Dustin Poirier.

With the return of “The Notorious” Conor McGregor against Diego Brandao, and “The Korean Zombie” gearing up for a rebound, there are a lot of high-level fights on the horizon for Oliveira should he have a similar performance this time around against Lentz.

Oliveira proved against Hioki that he is can finish even the most durable fighters, and against Lentz he’s got an opportunity to stake his claim as one of the division’s best fighters.

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5 Best Moments of BJ Penn’s Career

Contrary to what our short-term memory wants us to believe, BJ Penn will still go down as the most dominant UFC lightweight champion ever.
We shouldn’t remember him as the guy who fled his native division after dropping back-to-back losses to Fra…

Contrary to what our short-term memory wants us to believe, BJ Penn will still go down as the most dominant UFC lightweight champion ever.

We shouldn’t remember him as the guy who fled his native division after dropping back-to-back losses to Frankie Edgar. We shouldn’t remember him as the guy who was woefully outboxed by a bigger and stronger Nick Diaz.

We shouldn’t remember him as the guy who was dramatically undersized against a younger, faster Rory MacDonald. We shouldn’t remember him as the guy who came out of retirement after a two-year absence to face Edgar at 145 pounds.

We might have to try hard, but hopefully we won’t remember that questionably stiff and overly upright striking stance he had in his last outing.

We have plenty of reasons to still consider him one of the best lightweights to ever compete inside of the Octagon. Continue reading to see the top five.

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John ‘Doomsday’ Howard vs. Brian Ebersole Added to UFC 178

One of the most well-traveled journeymen in mixed martial arts will fight for the first time in 2014 at UFC 178. The promotion announced on Sunday via its official website that a welterweight fight between Brian Ebersole and John “Doomsday”…

Ebersole, who trains out of Tiger Muay Thai, made his UFC debut in 2011 after 62 professional fights and won his first four bouts before suffering back-to-back decision losses to James Head and Rick Story.

Doomsday made his return to the UFC a successful one last August when he won a unanimous decision bout over Uriah Hall in his hometown of Boston. That middleweight fight was less than spectacular, and Howard made the drop back down to welterweight for his next outing.

The Wai Kru product followed that up with another decision victory over Siyar Bahadurzada but came up short against Ryan LaFlare in Abu Dhabi this past April. Howard was competitive in the fight until an accidental low blow visibly affected his performance. He was campaigning for a rematch with LaFlare, but the promotion decided against that, in favor of Howard facing off with Ebersole instead.

The welterweight fight is the latest addition to the robust UFC 178 card, which is headlined by the light heavyweight title fight rematch between champion Jon Jones and Alexander Gustafsson. The event also features the long-awaited returns of top bantamweight contenders Dominick Cruz and Cat Zingano.

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UFC 178: Is Tim Kennedy Wise to Face Yoel Romero?

Since entering the UFC, former Strikeforce title contender Tim Kennedy has wanted nothing more than a tough opponent with a big name who could rocket him to the top of the middleweight division. He got that in his last outing when he stepped into the c…

Kennedy is scheduled to step back into the cage at UFC 178 in September against a satisfyingly tough, but low-ranked Yoel Romero.

Romero, the former Olympic medalist, carries a four-fight winning streak into the cage with him against Kennedy. Owner of seven TKOs in eight of his total victories, the Cuban-born wrestler has been on a steady course toward the middleweight crown since first participating in the sport in 2009.

Even at 37, nobody ranked above Romero, including Kennedy, should ever want to fight him—he’s an ever-improving striker who has the luxury of reverting to his world-class wrestling whenever needed.

Don’t let the numbers fool you. Romero’s low ranking among the UFC’s middleweights speaks less about his talents as a fighter and more about the pool of talent the UFC currently harbors at 185 pounds. Of the top six fighters, two have held the UFC middleweight title, two have held the UFC light heavyweight title and two held the Strikeforce middleweight title.

No. 6-ranked Kennedy wasn’t being foolish when he accepted the fight, though. Anderson Silva is still recovering from his leg injury, Vitor Belfort is still dealing with licensing issues, Lyoto Machida and Chris Weidman were busy duking it out at UFC 175, Jacare Souza is busy preparing for his bout with Gegard Mousasi and Luke Rockhold is preoccupied with a broken toe.

Literally nobody ranked higher than Kennedy was available to fight.

And literally none of the available fighters below Kennedy, except for No. 11-ranked Romero, was worth fighting.

It’s possible that a decisive victory over a fighter such as Romero could help Kennedy move closer to the belt. He would be just the second man ever to defeat him and the first one to do so inside the Octagon. Even a less-than-exciting victory over Romero could prove valuable to the Greg Jackson-trained fighter, assuming it’s a grappling-filled victory over an Olympic-caliber wrestler.

It’s absolutely certain that any kind of loss, even a split decision, would all but spoil Kennedy’s immediate hopes at a shot for the belt and move Romero into the top 10.

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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UFC Fight Night: Rick Story Is in Need of a Big Win

Rick Story knows the value of wins and losses within the UFC’s Octagon. On Wednesday, the fighter known as “The Horror” will step into the cage for fight No. 16. He’s an athlete that’s put together a string of impressive performan…

Coming into his fight with Leonardo Mafra Teixeira, it’s imperative the one-time welterweight contender puts on a display that leaves the fans and UFC matchmakers clamoring to see more of “The Horror” in action.

Story will walk into the Octagon with a 9-5 record that dates back to his promotional debut at UFC 99 in 2009. He bounced back from a decision loss to John Hathaway to go on a run that quickly grabbed the attention of the mixed martial arts community. Two years later, Story’s six-fight win streak had him on the cusp of a title eliminator contest.

That would be until Charlie Brenneman stepped into the picture and pulled out what could have been the upset of 2011 on extreme short notice. That night was a major turning point in Story’s career, as he’d struggled to gain any traction within the welterweight division.

In the years that have followed his defeat at UFC Life 4, Story has exchanged wins for losses. In each outing, it’s very difficult to predict exactly which Rick Story is going to show up. Three of the four losses that he’s suffered were split decisions in which he performed well, but not good enough to get the nod at the end of the night. What’s interesting is that Story has shown flashes of greatness in competition.

Current UFC welterweight champion Johny Hendricks is well aware of what Rick can do, as he’s one of only two UFC fighters to defeat the titleholder. This coming fight against Teixeira is vital to Story’s career because anything less can see him jettisoned from the organization.

“He may be in need of a win in the worst way,” wrote Michael Drahota of MMA Mania. “The talent is there; he just has to put forth a decisive performance in the Octagon.”

The 170-pound division is wide open for Story to put together a run that can relaunch his career. As Hendricks sits on the shelf, the UFC is still unsure of how the group of contenders will shake out. Robbie Lawler versus Matt Brown at UFC on Fox 12 is a No. 1 contender’s bout, but after that, the division is wide open. If Story puts on an impressive win this Wednesday, he can start the hype train running in the right direction.

Rick Story is pressed to put together a run at UFC Fight Night. He was once known as a capable contender within the welterweight division, but his recent slump can see him sent from the promotion with another loss. He will need a strong performance to bring an end to the horror that has seen him consistently trade wins and losses.

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Dominick Cruz Return: What the Ex-Champ Must Do to Return to Glory

Dominick Cruz was once considered one of the best pound-for-pound fighters on the face of the planet. Victories over former WEC featherweight champion Urijah Faber, current UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson and flyweight contender Joseph Benavi…

His two knee surgeries effectively removed him from the “pound-for-pound best” conversation. A groin injury suffered before a title unification bout with former UFC bantamweight champion Renan Barao would remove the belt from his waist.

But after almost three years outside of competition, Cruz is set to make his return at UFC 178 against No. 5-ranked Takeya Mizugaki.

“I’m excited to finally be back,” Cruz told ESPN.com’s Brett Okamoto. “It’s been a long time coming, but I feel great and I’m already training hard. Mizugaki is tough and he’s been on a roll, but I’m ready to get back in there and prove that I’m the best bantamweight in the world.”

Think about it, the last time Bruce Buffer announced Cruz’s name Frankie Edgar had yet to rid himself of Gray Maynard, Cain Velasquez was still enjoying his first run as the heavyweight king, Jon Jones was merely one title defense into his now-historic run, Georges St-Pierre was still dominating, Anderson Silva was still making dudes pay and only diehards knew anything about Ronda Rousey.

It’s been a long road back to the Octagon, but that doesn’t mean it should be a long road back to the title.

Here’s what the former champ needs to do in order to regain his status as the best fighter at 135 pounds:

Listen to His Mind

“Dominick Cruz: The Fighter” showed us that he had a future in fighting; “Dominick Cruz: The Analyst” showed us that he had a future after fighting.

He hasn’t necessarily had the charismatic success that Chael Sonnen or Kenny Florian have had on Fox Sports 1’s UFC Tonight, but he’s certainly made a name for himself as one of the best on-screen analysts out there.

Whether it’s explaining how Chris Weidman was able to dethrone the middleweight king on two separate occasions, why Alexander Gustafsson gave Jones so much trouble in their first bout or why nobody in the bantamweight division—including Barao, Faber or TJ Dillashaw—can keep Cruz from regaining the title, the Dominator simply needs to continue watching the tape as he prepares for his comeback.

Trust in His Knee

After two knee surgeries to repair a torn ACL, everybody on the outside looking in almost expects Cruz to be a little hesitant in his first appearance back inside the cage.

It isn’t a completely uncommon injury in sports. NFL athletes suffer this injury about as often as fighters are left counting sheep. But for every spectacular Adrian Peterson-like recovery you see, you’re bound to get dozens of dispiriting recoveries akin to the one Robert Griffin III had.

Unlike Peterson or Griffin, Cruz didn’t rush his recovery to meet any sort of season-opening deadline—he spent three years out of the cage to ensure he would be healthy enough by his own decree.

Three years out of the Octagon should rarely ever be celebrated for any fighter. At its worst, it could bring the most potent ring rust any marquee fighter has ever seen. At its best, though, it should give Cruz all of the certainty that his knee will hold up just fine as he faces Mizugaki.

Remember His Feet

Take a second to consider this: Even Johnson, the flyweight champion, couldn’t keep up with Cruz’s footwork in their matchup at UFC on Versus 6.

Take a second second to consider this: Dillashaw—the man who successfully denied Barao from taking his 32-fight winning streak any further—credited Cruz’s footwork as part of the reason Dillashaw stands atop the bantamweight division.

“I knew that Dominick [Cruz] had the footwork to beat [Barao],” Dillashaw told Bleacher Report’s Jeremy Botter after UFC 173. “So, having that in my mind, I knew I had to step up my footwork, use good angles and keep him confused.”

It was the way Cruz danced around his opponents, peppering jabs and confusing them with faints that kept his opponents guessing and the belt around his waist. He never got caught up in a brawl or his head in position for his opponent to make contact. He was quick to come in, and quicker to get out—he was about as untouchable as a fighter could be in MMA.

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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