UFC fans are sitting pretty.
Even through the first eight months of the year, fans have already been fortunate enough to watch Renan Barao cement his dominance with a one-sided TKO victory against Urijah Faber in February, only to have T.J. Dillashaw p…
UFC fans are sitting pretty.
Even through the first eight months of the year, fans have already been fortunate enough to watch Renan Barao cement his dominance with a one-sided TKO victory against Urijah Faber in February, only to have T.J. Dillashaw put a jackhammer to Barao’s credibility as the champion with an even more one-sided five-round beating in May.
They’ve been fortunate enough to continue to watch Ronda Rousey ascend into heights that only Jon Jones, Anderson Silva and Georges St-Pierre have ever reached in the UFC with first-round TKOs against Sara McMann and Alexis Davis.
And the fortune won’t end there—they still get to watch Chris Weidman defend his title against Vitor Belfort, Anthony Pettis step into the cage with Gilbert Melendez, and pretty much all of UFC 178 among other bouts.
While 2014 has been and will remain to be great, it’s only here to set up one thing: 2015.
Scroll on to see my predictions for the biggest UFC fights for 2015. The fights are listed from least exciting to most exciting (spoiler, they’re all still really exciting). Only bouts that stand a realistic chance of occurring within the next year will be considered—so don’t expect Chuck Liddell to make a comeback or have any spot on this list.
The big news out of Las Vegas Monday afternoon was the brawl that broke out at the MGM Grand between UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones and his challenger in the UFC 178 main event, Daniel Cormier, during the kickoff press conference for the event. And though this unfortunate incident lit up social media outlets and message boards around the sports world, it wasn’t the kind of event that the leading brand in mixed martial arts wants to see. “This is certainly not a proud moment for the UFC organization,” said Kirk Hendrick, the UFC’s Chief Legal Officer. “We expect more from ou … Read the Full Article Here
The big news out of Las Vegas Monday afternoon was the brawl that broke out at the MGM Grand between UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones and his challenger in the UFC 178 main event, Daniel Cormier, during the kickoff press conference for the event. And though this unfortunate incident lit up social media outlets and message boards around the sports world, it wasn’t the kind of event that the leading brand in mixed martial arts wants to see. “This is certainly not a proud moment for the UFC organization,” said Kirk Hendrick, the UFC’s Chief Legal Officer. “We expect more from ou … Read the Full Article Here
Chris Weidman’s busy defending his title. Anderson Silva’s busy preparing for his comeback. Vitor Belfort’s busy brushing off his critics. Luke Rockhold’s busy vying to replace Belfort as one of his biggest critics.
Meanwhile, UFC middleweight and form…
Chris Weidman’s busy defending his title. Anderson Silva’s busy preparing for his comeback. VitorBelfort‘s busy brushing off his critics. Luke Rockhold‘s busy vying to replace Belfort as one of his biggest critics.
Meanwhile, UFC middleweight and former Olympic wrestler Yoel Romero is busy doing his own thing: training to prove that he’s capable of beating anybody at 185 pounds as the division’s dark-horse title contender.
Romero spent a majority of his life as a wrestler—preparing for the 2000 Summer Olympics in freestyle competition. He made it all the way into the final match before losing to Adam Saitiev and was forced to take home the silver medal.
After grappling for most of his life, Romero was finally able to let his hands go in 2009 when he stepped away from the wrestling mat and into the cage against Sascha Weinpolter. The fight lasted 48 seconds before Weinpolter had taken enough punishment from Romero.
Surprisingly enough, the former Olympian seemed to have more interest in striking than taking the fight to the mat.
The Cuban native fighter would amass three more TKO victories before falling victim to a more seasoned and heavy-handed Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante. It wouldn’t be too long before Romero was back to his winning ways—he authored three more TKOs in four victories after the loss to Feijao and joining the UFC.
Now, just three months removed from the first decision victory the 37-year-old fighter has ever seen, Romero is set to take on fellow rising middleweight Tim Kennedy.
Having already stepped into the cage with the likes of Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza, Rockhold, Robbie Lawler and Michael Bisping, it’s no secret that Kennedy is the more experienced cage-fighter.
But with an impeccable wrestling pedigree and seven TKO victories in eight wins and nine total fights, experience may not matter as much—especially considering Kennedy may likely face some issues imposing his grind-to-victory style against an elite grappler like Romero.
Romero’s here to make his way to the top. And he wants to get there fast, because sitting on the wrong side of 30 doesn’t bode well for most fighters, regardless of how many fights they’ve had or not.
Currently sitting outside of the UFC’s top-10 middleweight ranks, Romero has a chance to make waves and seat himself closer to a title shot with a decisive victory over Kennedy, who currently sits at No. 6.
Beyond his UFC 178 matchup with Kennedy, Romero’s style bodes well against most of the middleweight fighters currently sitting in the top 10. That includes the middleweight king, who may not find it as easy to outwrestle the Olympian for any portion of a five-round tilt.
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.
Sequels have their place in Hollywood—they have their place in MMA, too.
Because for every Batman Begins that we may get, there’s a The Dark Knight out there waiting to be filmed. Because it’s possible to build just as good of a Godfather&nb…
Sequels have their place in Hollywood—they have their place in MMA, too.
Because for every Batman Begins that we may get, there’s a The Dark Knight out there waiting to be filmed. Because it’s possible to build just as good of a Godfather movie without Marlon Brando. Because watching Arnold Schwarzenegger play a robot sent from the future to save the human race was just as exciting.
Because for as exciting as it was to watch two fighters use fists, elbows, feet and knees to paint each other black, blue and red all over, it’s even more exciting to watch them do it a second—or third—time.
Scroll on to see what fights made the cut on the list of rematches we’d love to see.
The rumors of Nick Diaz vs. Anderson Silva turned out to be true, as the two MMA stars are set to face off in 2015. UFC President Dana White took to ESPN’s Sportscenter to announce the fight, via Sherdog. The fight will take place …
The rumors of Nick Diaz vs. Anderson Silva turned out to be true, as the two MMA stars are set to face off in 2015. UFC President Dana White took to ESPN’s Sportscenter to announce the fight, via Sherdog. The fight will take place at UFC 183, which will be next year’s rendition of the UFC’s annual Super Bowl weekend card.
Diaz vs. Silva will be a middleweight contest, which is “The Spider’s” natural weight class. Diaz has fought a catchweight bout at 180 but has never officially competed as a middleweight.
Diaz’s return to the UFC was recently announced, as he signed a three-fight extension with the promotion. Silva will return from a gruesome leg injury that he sustained at UFC 168 when competing against Chris Weidman. The former middleweight champion has been cleared to spar and is ready to prepare for his return, per Sherdog.
Upon Diaz’s re-signing with the promotion, the UFC released a report that mentioned that the Stockton, California, native may be involved in big matchups.
Anderson Silva was mentioned within the commentary, which only further fueled the fire for this contest in the MMA community. This is perhaps one of the largest bouts that the UFC can make at this point, due to a lack of major star power within their roster. Both Diaz and Silva have brought in high pay-per-view buyrate numbers with past events, which have eluded the promotion at this time.
The Super Bowl weekend card is consistently one of the bigger events that the UFC puts on every year. The last two years have featured some of the bigger matchups that the organization could present at the time, including Jose Aldo vs. Frankie Edgar at UFC 156 and a double title event at UFC 169.
UFC 183 is planned to occur on January 31 in Las Vegas.
Changing weight classes has become a mainstay in today’s MMA culture. Much like the Hollywood reboot, changing divisions remains one of the most valuable cards any fighter holds in his or her back pocket when things get rough.
Far too often are fighter…
Changing weight classes has become a mainstay in today’s MMA culture. Much like the Hollywood reboot, changing divisions remains one of the most valuable cards any fighter holds in his or her back pocket when things get rough.
Far too often are fighters plagued by simple things beyond their control.
Frankie Edgar saw that he no longer had a place amongst the UFC’s elite lightweights after dropping two-straight losses to former lightweight champion Benson Henderson. A change in division afforded him an immediate title shot, and a sea of fighters who would no longer dwarf him inside the cage.
Even fighters who’ve had sustained success in their natural weight classes have their own personal reasons to drop down. Take Daniel Cormier, for example, who dropped 30 pounds to challenge for the light heavyweight crown while his training partner Cain Velasquez holds onto his heavyweight crown.
Whether it’s because of competitive reasons or friendships, some fighters just need to create some ripples. Read on to see the top five fighters who should change divisions today.
Chris Weidman’s busy defending his title. Anderson Silva’s busy preparing for his comeback.