Author: Andrew Barr

UFC 132 Fight Card: Will A Win Put Carlos Condit In Line For A Title Shot?

The UFC’s welterweight division is a mess right now.Current champion Georges St-Pierre has been so dominant over all of the divisions top contenders that the UFC is having an incredibly hard time finding marketable contenders for him. There are a lot o…

The UFC’s welterweight division is a mess right now.

Current champion Georges St-Pierre has been so dominant over all of the divisions top contenders that the UFC is having an incredibly hard time finding marketable contenders for him. There are a lot of fighters at welterweight that GSP has not yet faced, the problem is that none of them have looked good enough to make the fans say, “that guy might be able to take St-Pierre out”.

It’s a very hard thing to get fans excited about a title challenger when they’re almost certain he will lose.

Carlos Condit has been working hard lately to prove to the UFC and fans alike that he is ready for Georges.

Condit is riding a three fight win streak, with his most recent win being a first round knock out of Dan Hardy. This is significant because St-Pierre has fought Hardy and defeated him, but was unable to finish the fight.

So, now that Carlos has garnered himself some attention by finishing a man that GSP could not, will a win over Dong Hyun Kim at UFC 132 put Carlos Condit in line for a title shot?

The short answer is, “Yes”.

The long answer is, “Yes, but how long is the line?”.

Welterweight is one of the UFC’s most stacked divisions and with guys like Jon Fitch and BJ Penn at the top of division, it’s hard for a fighter to prove their worthiness. Then there’s other rising contenders like Jake Ellenberger and Rick Story to compete with, plus long time middleweight contender Nate Marquardt making the move into the division.

So, will beating Kim give Carlos the momentum he needs to be all these other competitors out for a title shot.

Probably not.

Kim is 5-0-1 in the UFC and undefeated as a mixed martial artist. However, Dong holds no victories over top competition and his fighting style isn’t particularly appealing to most fans. As a result, he has not earned much attention from the the UFC’s fan base. In fact, most casual fans probably don’t even know who he is.

Dong is a good fighter and Condit will need to bring his A-game to win the fight, but Kim is just not a big enough name to get Carlos the next shot at the gold.

If Condit wins, the only way he is getting the next title shot is if the UFC finds themselves in a bind and has no other choice. Otherwise, Carlos will be one or two victories away from a shot at the belt.

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UFC Live: Cheick Kongo vs. Pat Barry, a Head to Toe Breakdown

Pat Barry and Cheick Kongo will meet this Sunday and UFC Live: Marquardt vs Story, and it’s a big fight for both competitors.Kongo has been with the UFC for five years now and has put together a solid record of 8-4-1. However, Cheick has consistently c…

Pat Barry and Cheick Kongo will meet this Sunday and UFC Live: Marquardt vs Story, and it’s a big fight for both competitors.

Kongo has been with the UFC for five years now and has put together a solid record of 8-4-1. However, Cheick has consistently come up short against high level opponents and, as a result, has earned himself the unofficial position as the heavyweight gatekeeper.

If Kongo can beat Barry in devastating fashion, he could earn himself another shot against one the division’s elite. At the same time, a loss for Cheick would be devastating and would likely put him at the very back of the line for a shot at the title.

A win for Pat would prove to the UFC that he is ready for some higher level competition. The most significant opponent Barry has faced in the UFC was Mirko Filipovic and Barry couldn’t pull out the win, losing by third-round submission.

Barry will be looking to prove that the loss to Mirko wasn’t an accurate representation of what he can do inside the Octagon.

Let’s take a look at how these two stack up…

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UFC Fighters and the Super Hero Movie Roles They Could Play

Mixed martial artists are probably the closest thing we have to superheroes in our world, in terms of their combat abilities.One thing is for sure: If aliens invaded earth and the fate of our planet had to be decided in hand to hand combat, MMA fighter…

Mixed martial artists are probably the closest thing we have to superheroes in our world, in terms of their combat abilities.

One thing is for sure: If aliens invaded earth and the fate of our planet had to be decided in hand to hand combat, MMA fighters are the ones we would send.

Let’s take a look at some UFC fighters and the superhero movie roles they could play.

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UFC 131 Aftermath: Shane Carwin out for 2 Months, Medical Suspensions Released

The medical suspensions following UFC 131 have been made public, with Shane Carwin, Jason Young and James Head receiving the longest suspensions.The event was held on June 11th, 2011, at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia. The main event w…

The medical suspensions following UFC 131 have been made public, with Shane Carwin, Jason Young and James Head receiving the longest suspensions.

The event was held on June 11th, 2011, at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia. The main event was a bout between Shane Carwin and Junior Dos Santos, with the winner earning a shot at current UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez. Dos Santos won the fight via unanimous decision.

After the event, every fight was given a minimum nine day suspension. According to Fighters Only Magazine, the following fighters were given longer suspensions:

Shane Carwin: Suspended for 60 days with no contact during training for 45 days, due to multiple facial lacerations and a nasal fracture.

Diego Nunes: Suspended for 45 days with no contact for 30 days, due to scalp and right-eyebrow lacerations.

Demian Maia: Suspended 30 days with no contact for 21 days, due to a facial abrasion and left-thigh contusion.

John Olav Einemo: Suspended 30 days with no contact for 21 days, due to a minor head injury/TKO.

Dave Herman: Suspended 30 days with no contact for 21 days, due to a tooth avulsion.

Vagner Rocha: Suspended 30 days with no contact for 21 days, due to a left-thigh contusion and right-eyelid laceration.

Yves Edwards: Suspended 45 days with no contact for 30 days, due to a facial abrasion/KO.

Chris Weidman: Suspended 45 days with no contact for 30 days, due to a left-eyelid laceration.

Mike Massenzio: Suspended 30 days with no contact for 21 days, due to a facial abrasion.

James Head: Suspended 60 days with no contact for 45 days, due to a nose laceration.

Jason Young: Suspended 180 days due to a foot injury and left-eyebrow laceration; however, if cleared by a physician via x-ray, suspended 45 days with no contact for 30 days.

Aaron Rosa: Suspended 45 days with no contact for 30 days, due a left-eyebrow laceration, facial abrasion and sprained right elbow.

Darren Elkins: Suspended 45 days with no contact for 30 days, due to a right-eyebrow laceration.

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UFC Live: Is Nate Marquardt Dropping to Welterweight out of Desperation?

It was announced a few months ago that long-time middleweight contender Nate “The Great” Marquardt would be dropping down to the welterweight division.On June 18th, at UFC on Versus 4, Nate will be making his long-awaited welterweight debut against ris…

It was announced a few months ago that long-time middleweight contender Nate “The Great” Marquardt would be dropping down to the welterweight division.

On June 18th, at UFC on Versus 4, Nate will be making his long-awaited welterweight debut against rising contender Rick Story.

The fight is a great matchup for Marquardt. Story is a very game opponent, but he doesn’t possess the well-rounded skill set that Nate does. Assuming the weight cut doesn’t hurt him too much, Nate has a very good chance of winning this fight.

The question is: After fighting for more than ten years at middleweight, why is Nate Marquardt moving to the welterweight division now?

Some have speculated that the move may have been made out of desperation, and I can’t help but agree, to a certain extent.

Nate is 32, which isn’t ancient by any means, but he probably only has three or four relevant years left in the sport.

Marquardt has accomplished much in his storied MMA career, but one thing has alluded him: a UFC championship.

Capturing a UFC belt is something Nate would like to accomplish before he retires and, realistically, he would have little chance of doing it at middleweight.

Marquardt has fought for the middleweight title before, against current champion Anderson Silva, and come up short. It’s always difficult to market title shot rematches when the champion has already handily beat the challenger. Given that Nate is a lackluster 2-2 in his last four fights at middleweight, a rematch with Anderson Silva would be particularly difficult to market.

Nate knows all these things, and he also knows that the UFC has little interest in making title fights that will be difficult to market.

So, the move to welterweight is a calculated one for Nate.

Georges St-Pierre has been sitting atop the welterweight division for quite some time now and the UFC is having a really tough time finding him viable opponents.

This presents Marquardt with a very interesting opportunity. Fans are already familiar with him as a top five contender at middleweight and he will naturally be viewed as more dangerous contender at welterweight, due to his increased size advantage.

With the shortage of contenders in the division and Nate being a marketable opponent, a win over Story would leave Marquardt no more than two fights away from a title shot.

Desperation might be a bit to extreme a term to describe the motivation behind Marquardt’s move to 170 lbs, but the sentiment is right. Nate knows his time left in this sport is limited and that his best chance for a title shot lies in the welterweight division.

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Strikeforce Results: Overeem Beats Werdum, but Can He Compete with UFC’s Best?

There was a lot of hype surrounding Alistair Overeem going into his fight with Fabricio Werdum.For years, Overeem has been dominating his opponents in the heavyweight division and recently people have been toting him as the man to take out guys like Ju…

There was a lot of hype surrounding Alistair Overeem going into his fight with Fabricio Werdum.

For years, Overeem has been dominating his opponents in the heavyweight division and recently people have been toting him as the man to take out guys like Junior dos Santos and Cain Velasquez.

The issue with these speculations are they were just that—speculative.

Until his bout with Fabricio this passed Saturday, Overeem had not competed against a top ten heavyweight. His string of victories, while impressive, were against lesser competition and so they meant little.

Now that Alistair has finally fought a top ten opponent in Werdum, we have a tangible measuring stick to compare him to the division’s elite.

I don’t mean to get all “Georges St. Pierre” on you guys, but I was absolutely not impressed with Alistair’s victory this weekend.

To the dismay of many, the striking portions of the fight were actually pretty even. Alistair was able to land the more significant shots, but Werdum landed the most punches. Surprisingly, ‘Reem wasn’t able to capitalize on his reach advantage and Fabricio was able to land shots pretty much whenever he tried to.

The reason Werdum lost this fight is he kept going for takedowns and not getting them. Then he would pull guard, effectively giving Alistair top position, and he was unable to do anything from the bottom. Fabricio was so sure he needed to get this fight to ground that he didn’t realize he was doing pretty well on the feet.

Both fighter’s cardio looked horrible; they both seemed exhausted by the end of the second round, Werdum more than Overeem.

All in all, it was a pretty unimpressive showing from both fighters.

‘Reem managed to live up to his hype, to an extent. He did defeat a top ten fighter, but the victory was lackluster. So, does this mean that Alistair is ready for the UFC’s elite?

Definitely not.

Overeem has very impressive striking offense, but if he wants to get by in the UFC he is going to need to work on his striking defense. Fabricio was able to tag him consistently throughout the fight by just charging forward and throwing fairly sloppy punches.

It’s common knowledge that Alistair doesn’t have the best chin; more than half of his career defeats have come by knockout. He may have gotten away with eating some of Fabricio’s punches, but Fabricio doesn’t have particularly heavy hands. If Overeem were to eat those same punches from a guy like Junior dos Santos, or Shane Carwin, he would likely be in big trouble.

Something a lot of people forget when speculating on Alistair’s potential success in the UFC is that he has never fought an elite wrestler. His takedown defense was good against Werdum, but Werdum does not have explosive takedowns. Given his inexperience with high level wrestlers, I think ‘Reem would have a hard time staying on his feet against guys like Cain Velasquez, Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin.

Overeem is coming along nicely as a heavyweight, that’s for sure, but look at his victory of Werdum and then look at Junior dos Santos’ victory over Werdum. That should give you an idea of where Alistair’s game is at.

Alistair is an excellent fighter, but I don’t think he is ready for the best the UFC’s heavyweight division has to offer. Not yet, at least.

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