Just where should Lyoto Machida rank in the UFC middleweight hierarchy?
That’s the questioned being answered at UFC Fight Night 58. The Dragon will headline the event across from longtime middleweight contender C.B. Dollaway.
The former light hea…
Just where should Lyoto Machida rank in the UFC middleweight hierarchy?
That’s the questioned being answered at UFC Fight Night 58. The Dragon will headline the event across from longtime middleweight contender C.B. Dollaway.
The former light heavyweight champion’s drop to middleweight hasn’t yielded a title thus far. He came short of that goal against Chris Weidman at UFC 175. Now, the dangerous striker will look to get back on track against The Doberman.
Machida isn’t the only former champion on the card, though. Renan Barao will also look to get back on track after losing his title to T.J. Dillashaw.
With a few former champions and plenty of exciting up-and-comers highlighting a card on free TV, there are far worse ways to spend a Saturday night.
Keep it locked here for the latest results, instant analysis and reaction to the night as it unfolds.
UFC on Fox 13 on Saturday night is being touted by the organization as “the biggest fight card in broadcast television history.”
While that might be some hyperbole from the UFC hype machine, there’s some literal truth to that statement. With three of t…
UFC on Fox 13 on Saturday night is being touted by the organization as “the biggest fight card in broadcast television history.”
While that might be some hyperbole from the UFC hype machine, there’s some literal truth to that statement. With three of the four fights featuring heavyweights, there’s no shortage of size.
The main event features two of the top contenders in the heavyweight division. Junior dos Santos will look to continue his dominance over non-champions with a win over Stipe Miocic, who is 12-1.
There are sure to be plenty of fireworks before the main event, though. The always-entertaining Nate Diaz will finally make his return to the Octagon against Rafael dos Anjos in lightweight action.
But this night is all about the bigs. Alistair Overeem and Stefan Struve will lock horns in a battle of heavyweights who are in desperate need of some momentum after long layoffs. Meanwhile, Matt Mitrione and Gabriel Gonzaga will get things started.
Considering there are 23 career finishes between the first two fighters alone, this isn’t a card fight that fans will want to miss.
Check back here throughout the night for the latest results, instant reaction and analysis for this stacked card.
The Ultimate Fighter has produced some memorable moments in UFC history. Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar put on a fight that is always mentioned among the all-time greats in the first incarnation of the finale show.
Now, The Ultimate Fighter 20 wil…
The Ultimate Fighter has produced some memorable moments in UFC history. Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar put on a fight that is always mentioned among the all-time greats in the first incarnation of the finale show.
Now, The Ultimate Fighter 20will produce another memorable moment. The winner of the show will not only be crowned The Ultimate Fighter winner but UFC champion. Rose Namajunas and Carla Esparza will both look to end their journeys on the show as the first women’s strawweight champion.
But the title fight isn’t the only bout to watch on the main card.
Opening the main card will be a bout between the two semifinalists from the show. On a stacked cast, Jessica Penne and Randa Markos showed they have serious futures in the organization.
Yancy Medeiros and Joe Proctor kick off a lightweight doubleheader with explosive strikers K.J. Noons and Daron Cruickshank serving as the second stanza. Finally, Charles Oliveira and Jeremy Stephens will lock horns in the co-main event at a catchweight of 146.5 pounds after Oliveira missed weight, per MMAJunkie.
With a champion being crowned and plenty of exciting fighters on the docket, the action is sure to be intense. Keep locked in here to read the latest results and analysis throughout the evening.
Twelve years after a 20-year-old Robbie Lawler made his UFC debut against Aaron Riley at UFC 37, the Ruthless one finally added “UFC champion” to his resume at UFC 181.
It wasn’t always pretty. The sequel between Lawler and Johny Hendricks faile…
Twelve years after a 20-year-old Robbie Lawler made his UFC debut against Aaron Riley at UFC 37, the Ruthless one finally added “UFC champion” to his resume at UFC 181.
It wasn’t always pretty. The sequel between Lawler and Johny Hendricks failed to live up to the expectations the original created. The first bout saw a combined 308 signature strikes landed between the two of them.
This one only saw the two welterweights land 227 combined.
It didn‘t come without controversy. In a sport where takedowns are usually the end-all, be-all of judging, Lawler found a way to win the fight on two of the judges’ scorecards despite a 5-0 deficit in the takedown category.
MMAjunkie tweeted out the scores from the judges:
So how did Lawler eke out the victory despite the lopsided takedown total and being outstruck in three of five rounds? Here’s a look at the keys to Lawler‘s career-defining win.
Fast Start
Effective aggression. Those are the two words that could be used to describe Lawler‘s start to the fight. As Ben Fowlkes of MMAjunkie noted, the challenger didn‘t even waste time touching gloves before going right at the champion:
It’s cliche, but in order to take the belt, the challenger needs to bring the fight to the champion. Lawler‘s early flurry of strikes didn‘t necessarily have Hendricks in any kind of trouble, but it established an early lead in the round for Lawler.
As Mike Johnston of Sportsnet tweets, every judge agreed that Lawler was the winner of Round 1:
Much of that is owed to the hot start from Lawler. He outstruck Hendricks 34-14 in the opening frame, according to the FightMetric numbers.
Weathered the Storm
After throwing caution to the wind in the opening frame, Lawler clearly started Round 2 with his gas tank on empty. After throwing 52 significant strikes in Round 1, his output was nearly cut in half. He only threw 29 and was far less effective, only landing 13.
However, a look at where the strikes were landing tells how one judge may have seen Round 2 for the new champion. Hendricks opened up a 35-13 significant strikes advantage, but 18 of those were leg kicks. That means that Hendricks only landed three more significant strikes to the head than Lawler in the second frame.
Obviously, leg kicks should count for something. By most accounts, that’s still a win for BiggRigg. But Lawler was able to maintain distance, stay out of serious harm’s way and survive the inevitable dip in production after a busy Round 1.
Took Advantage of Hendricks’ Coasting
Round 3 was the most lopsided of the fight. With Hendricks landing two takedowns and opening a wide disparity in strikes between Lawler and himself, there’s no disputing who was the better fighter for those five minutes.
With Round 2 appearing to go his way and a dominant Round 3, the momentum of the fight was definitely swung in BiggRigg‘s favor.
But Lawler wasn’t ready to concede defeat quite yet. He upped his output from eight significant strikes landed in Round 3 to 19 in Round 4. With a slight advantage in headhunting efficiency in the fourth frame, it’s not quite so egregious to think that Lawler got the nod from one judge.
With four rounds in the books, Hendricks did something that fans have seen him do before—attempt to coast his way though Round 5. The same crucial mistake that led to his loss to Georges St-Pierre once again reared it’s ugly head.
“I didn’t fight. Look at the fourth and fifth round…I just didn’t fight,” Hendricks said after the fight (via Sherdog). “I didn’t come out the fourth and fifth like I normally do. It is what it is. I’m gonna be my worst critic. … That’s what it was. I didn’t stay light on my feet like I should’ve. You get lost in the moment. That happened to me and I’ll be back.”
With Hendricks using his wrestling to do nothing more than stall for the vast majority of Round 5, it opened up the opportunity for Lawler to steal the round with a late flurry. When the final buzzer sounded, Lawler had effectively taken the belt from the champion.
The stacked fight card for UFC 181 promised high-stakes action. It didn’t disappoint.
The first shock of the night didn’t even come from inside the cage, but rather from an announcement outside of it. Former WWE wrestler CM Punk was announced as …
The stacked fight card for UFC 181 promised high-stakes action. It didn’t disappoint.
The first shock of the night didn’t even come from inside the cage, but rather from an announcement outside of it. Former WWE wrestler CM Punk was announced as the latest addition to the UFC roster, per Jeremy Botter of Bleacher Report:
However, the night was about much more than the addition of a crossover star. There were plenty of big things that happened that will shake up the UFC landscape at UFC 181. Here’s a look at the results from the evening and some of the biggest storylines to develop.
Sergio Pettis def. Matt Hobar, unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
Clay Collard def. Alex White, unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Storylines of the Night
Josh Samman Has Serious Power
Entering UFC 181, Josh Samman was best known as “that one guy on that one season of The Ultimate Fighter.” Now, he’s best known as the guy who absolutely laid out Eddie Gordon with a head kick.
The 26-year-old showed some weaknesses on the ground. Gordon most likely won the first round with a controlling ground attack. However, it didn’t take long for Samman to turn things on a dime in the second round.
An explosive left high kick immediately sent Gordon tumbling back to the mat so emphatically that Samman already raised his hands in victory before he hit the floor. A quick look at Twitter explained just how violent the knockout was:
Samman still has a long way to go in his development as a fighter. That was just his second official UFC fight, and there were some weaknesses to be exploited. However, wins like that are the kind that can get a fighter noticed and moving toward bigger and better things.
Anthony Pettis Is a Special Athlete
Gilbert Melendez had a game plan against Anthony Pettis. He executed the game plan well.
It didn’t matter. That’s what happens when a fighter runs into an opponent who is simply superior to them.
In the first round, it looked like Melendez was going to be able to turn this bout into a classic. His ability to close the distance with Pettis and force the bout into a slugfest was perfect for neutralizing Showtime’s powerful kicks.
But even a wonderfully executed game plan isn’t enough to beat someone who is just better. Ultimately, Pettis‘ superior athleticism caught up to El Nino. The champion quickly latched onto a guillotine choke in the second round and forced the tap to retain his belt.
Melendez spoke to that athleticism after the fight, per Fight! Magazine:
Pettis might not be the traditional strong wrestler that fits the mold of most champions. He’s never going to be a fighter who can go out and control an opponent with his grappling for five rounds. But he’s able to utilize his quickness and speed to capitalize on favorable positions.
That makes him a dangerous champion moving forward.
We Have a New Welterweight Champion
The post-Georges St-Pierre welterweight era is far less secure than the era that preceded it.
The rematch between Johny Hendricks and Robbie Lawler didn’t quite live up to the first one. The two combatants combined for 229 total significant strikes landed. Their first bout brought about 308 of those strikes, per FightMetric.
However, it did illustrate a simple truth about the welterweight division—it’s wide open.
Lawler earned the nod on two of the three judges’ scorecards. But this was far from an emphatic win. In fact, it only served to spark even more interest in a third matchup of the two fighters to finally even the score after two nearly even bouts in the books.
Throw in the fact that we still don’t know how No. 2 contender Rory MacDonald would do in the Octagon with either of these fighters, and it’s clear that issues are far from resolved in the welterweight championship picture.
Pound for pound, there are fewer cards in 2014 that look better than UFC 181.
Headlining the evening will be the first title defense of two new exciting champions in Johny Hendricks and Anthony Pettis.
Hendricks will look to further legitimize th…
Pound for pound, there are fewer cards in 2014 that look better than UFC 181.
Headlining the evening will be the first title defense of two new exciting champions in Johny Hendricks and Anthony Pettis.
Hendricks will look to further legitimize the gold around his waist by handling Robbie Lawler in a rematch of their instant-classic scrap in UFC 171. Pettis—on the other hand—will see an entirely new challenge in Gilbert Melendez.
But before the high-stakes headliners do battle, fans will be treated to a heavyweight doubleheader featuring Travis Browne vs. Brendan Schaub and Todd Duffee vs. Anthony Hamilton.
With a few potential slugfests lined up and two titles on the line, this isn’t the card to miss. Here’s a look at the results and live analysis as fight night transpires.
Twelve years after a 20-year-old Robbie