Author: Andrew Barr

UFC 132 Fight Card: What Would A Loss To Tito Ortiz Mean For Ryan Bader

We all know it by now; Tito Ortiz will be fighting for his job at UFC 132.Tito has not won a fight since 2006 and has admitted that he had to beg UFC President Dana White for one last chance to prove that he has what it takes to compete in MMA’s most p…

We all know it by now; Tito Ortiz will be fighting for his job at UFC 132.

Tito has not won a fight since 2006 and has admitted that he had to beg UFC President Dana White for one last chance to prove that he has what it takes to compete in MMA‘s most prominent organization.

Everybody has been talking about how badly Ortiz needs this win, and he does need it, but why Ryan Bader?

If you ignore the fact Tito is fighting for his job, there is a lot more pressure on Bader in this fight than there is Ortiz.

People think Tito is way passed his prime and are expecting him to lose. This is partially true, but people forget that while Tito has not been winning, his fights have still been competitive.

Let’s look at his last three fights.

Tito lost a unanimous decision to Lyoto Machida. In his next two fights, Machida would go on to knock out Rashad Evans and Thiago Silva. Both of those fighters are still relevant today, and Tito did better against Lyoto than they did.

Next, Ortiz lost a split decision to Forrest Griffin. After that Griffin beat Rich Franklin by unanimous decision, but no one was calling for Rich to retire.

After that, Tito lost another unanimous decision to Matt Hamill. This loss was uglier for Ortiz and did show that his skills are declining.

Tito may be nearing the end but he can still put up a good fight, and not many people are acknowledging that.

This puts a tremendous amount of pressure on Bader; nobody wants to be the guy who loses to the guy hasn’t won in five years.

Ryan is already coming off a very decisive loss to Jon Jones, and so a loss to Ortiz would be nothing short of devastating.

Bader certain has the tools to defeat Tito, that much is certain. As a fighter, Ryan could be called a more dangerous Matt Hamill.

If Bader trains hard and does not underestimate Ortiz, then he can win the fight. That said, he better make sure he is doing those things because a loss for him would knock him out of the division’s top 10 and put him miles away from a title shot.

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UFC News: Nik Lentz’ Eye Socket Broken, NSAC Will Release Statement Tomorrow

At UFC Live: Kongo vs Barry, Nik Lentz and Charlies Oliveira met inside the Octagon and put on a show exciting enough to merit the Fight of the Night Award.However, while the fight’s entertainment value was undeniable, the ending of the fight was extre…

At UFC Live: Kongo vs Barry, Nik Lentz and Charlies Oliveira met inside the Octagon and put on a show exciting enough to merit the Fight of the Night Award.

However, while the fight’s entertainment value was undeniable, the ending of the fight was extremely controversial.

In the second round, Oliveira hit a grounded Lentz with a big knee.

Kneeing a downed opponent is illegal in the UFC and the strike should have been considered a foul, but the referee did not stop the fight.

Lentz was badly rocked by the knee and, while he hung on for as long as he could, ended up being submitted with a rear-naked choke.

Many have been calling for the fight to be changed to a no contest and, according to MMAfighting.com, one of them is Lentz’ coach Greg Nelson.

“It’s the illegal knee that basically knocked Nik Lentz out so he could get his back and hook him,” Nelson told MMA Fighting on Monday evening. “I mean, he was clearly down. That knee broke Nik Lentz’s eye socket, so it was not a soft knee. He took his time, held the back of the head, wound up the knee and then let it go. …It was a super hard knee that ended up doing a lot of damage.”

Nelson went on to talk about how shocked he and other observers were when the referee did not stop the fight.

“All the other referees were jumping up, guys from the commission were jumping up, I was jumping up. A lot of people were wondering what was going on, why the fight wasn’t being stopped, because it was so blatant. Then the crowd, when they saw the replay, it was doubly obvious to them.”

For now, the fight remains a victory for Oliveira, but the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission is currently reviewing the fight and executive director Greg Sirb has said that they will make their final decision this Wednesday, June 29th.

“After the referee came to me and we said we’d look at it, he had no qualms about looking at it, and we’re in the process of doing that,” said Sirb. “We looked at it a little bit last night and the ref will look at it again today, just to make sure we’re on the same page. We should have something I imagine some time [Wednesday].”

After his fight, Lentz spent the remainder of his Sunday night in the hospital. The full extent of his injury will not be known until Nik has a chance to see his own doctors in Minneapolis.

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UFC 132: The Man Dana White Calls "Worst Referee Ever" Will Officiate Main Event

The referees for UFC 132, set to take place in the MGM Grand Garden Area in Las Vegas, have been announced.According to MMAjunkie.com, referee Steve Mazzagatti will be overseeing the main event.This news comes much to the chagrin of Ultimate Fighting C…

The referees for UFC 132, set to take place in the MGM Grand Garden Area in Las Vegas, have been announced.

According to MMAjunkie.com, referee Steve Mazzagatti will be overseeing the main event.

This news comes much to the chagrin of Ultimate Fighting Championship President Dana White, who has openly chastised Mazzagatti in the past (see his comments here).

If the UFC had their way, Steve would never call a fight, but it is not up to them. It’s up to the athletic commission of the state the event is being held in and the Nevada State Athletic Commission has made their decisions.

Other available judges for the event were Herb Dean, Yves Lavigne, Mario Yamasaki, Tony Weeks, Jeff Collins, Lester Griffin and Marcos Rosales.

Dana has gone on record saying that he believes Herb Dean is the best referee ever in MMA (see here), so there is no doubting that the UFC President will be upset that Dean was an option and not selected.

The judges for the headlining fight have also been decided. Patricia Morse-Jarman, Glenn Trowbridge and Sal D’Amato will be scoring the fight.

Both fighters’ camps were informed of the judges and referees available prior to the decision being made and neither put forth any sort of protest.

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UFC 132 Fight Card: Dominick Cruz vs. Urijah Faber, Head To Toe Breakdown

Bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz will finally be making his Ultimate Fighting Championship debut at UFC 132 against former featherweight champion Urijah Faber.This is a very important fight for Cruz because, not only is it his first fight in the UFC…

Bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz will finally be making his Ultimate Fighting Championship debut at UFC 132 against former featherweight champion Urijah Faber.

This is a very important fight for Cruz because, not only is it his first fight in the UFC, it is a chance to avenge the only loss of his MMA career.

The two men have fought once before with the WEC’s featherweight championship on the line and Faber defeated Dominick, catching him with a guillotine choke in the first round.

Cruz will be wanting to showcase how much he has improved by beating Faber at UFC 132.

Urijah Faber will be looking to show fight fans that he still has Cruz’s number, while also becoming one of few MMA competitors to ever hold championships in more than one weight class.

Let’s see how these two stack up…

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UFC on Versus 4 Results: How Much Ground Did Rick Story Lose?

It was been a crazy month for rising welterweight contender Rick Story.At UFC 130, Story competed in the biggest fight of his career against former title challenger Thiago Alves.Rick went into the fight as an underdog and shocked the world by defeating…

It was been a crazy month for rising welterweight contender Rick Story.

At UFC 130, Story competed in the biggest fight of his career against former title challenger Thiago Alves.

Rick went into the fight as an underdog and shocked the world by defeating Thiago by unanimous decision.

The victory gained Story considerable momentum, many seeing him as being no more than two fights away from a title shot.

Shortly after his win over Alves, an interesting opportunity presented itself to Story.

Nate Marquardt was scheduled to face Anthony Johnson at UFC on Versus 4, but Johnson forced off the card due to injury and Story was offered his spot.

Rick entered himself into a high risk, high reward situation by accepting the fight. If he beat Marquardt, he would be no more than one win away from a title shot at the most. However, if he were to lose it would destroy much of the momentum he earned by defeating Alves.

Taking any fight on only a month’s notice is risky, especially if you’ve just fought against a top contender and Marquardt is not an opponent you want to be under prepared.

However, in another crazy turn of events, Nate was not cleared to fight at UFC on Versus 4 and was pulled from the event a day before it set to happen

This left Story without an opponent on a fight card he wasn’t supposed to be on in the first place. The spot was filled by Charlie Brenneman.

This last minute change put a lot of pressure on Rick. He went from being the underdog against a well known fighter, to expected to win against a relatively unknown fighter.

Unfortunately for Story, Brenneman was able to capitalize on this huge opportunity and defeat Rick by unanimous decision.

After the fight, Story had little to say about his performance.

“Coming into this fight I was training for a kickboxer… I didn’t train much wrestling, or any wrestling.”

This seems like a bit of a naive statement by Rick. Marquardt is a very well rounded fighter, with very good wrestling, and Story should have been preparing everything to get ready for him.

So, how much momentum has Rick Story lost by losing to the relatively unknown Charlie Brenneman?

A lot.

The welterweight division is stacked with elite contenders and a lot of fighters on the rise as well.

There’s quite a few guys vying for shots at top contenders and this loss puts Story at the back of that line. It’s a sad thing, but in a division this competitive the old adage “You’re only as good as your last fight” rings true, to a certain extent.

Whatever ground Story gained by defeating Alves has been almost completely negated by his loss to Brenneman. He is going to need one or two more wins to get back “in the mix” as far as title contention goes.

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UFC News: Jake Shields vs Jake Ellenberger Possible for UFC Event This Fall

Ask and ye shall receive.It’s been less than a week since Jake Shields went on record saying that he is feeling the itch to fight again and is interested in seeing who the Ultimate Fighting Championship has for him.According the MMAfighting.com, the UF…

Ask and ye shall receive.

It’s been less than a week since Jake Shields went on record saying that he is feeling the itch to fight again and is interested in seeing who the Ultimate Fighting Championship has for him.

According the MMAfighting.com, the UFC has quickly answered Shields’s call, proposing a match up against rising star Jake Ellenberger.

The fight has not yet been made official, but it has been speculated that it may take place in San Jose at an event the UFC is planning to have there on Nov. 19.

It’s the first the time MMA‘s most prominent organization has held an event in San Jose, so it will likely be wanting to put on a good show, and Shields vs. Ellenberger is a fight fans could definitely get excited about.

Ellenberger has actually been asking for this fight for a while now. He believes that he has the tools to defeat Shields and that a win over Shields would put himself directly in line for the title.

It’s a risky move, calling out Shields, but the pay off could be huge.

Shields was considered for a long time to be one of the top 10 pound-for-pound fighters in the world. He owns victories over many of the sport’s greats, such as Dan Henderson, Jason Miller, Yushin Okami and Carlos Condit.

Ellenberger has himself a pretty respectable resume with wins over the likes of John Howard and Mike Pyle, but Shields would by far be the greatest test he has faced so far in his career.

Both men have strong wrestling backgrounds, so a very technical ground war is a possibility in this one. However, Shields is known for having very good Brazilian jiu-jitsu, so Ellenberger might want to use his wrestling in reverse to keep this fight standing.

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