February is historically a month of celebration.February has a day dedicated to those we love. We remember the trials, tribulations and contributions of African Americans who helped to shape our country, and most importantly, we annually check to …
February is historically a month of celebration.
February has a day dedicated to those we love. We remember the trials, tribulations and contributions of African Americans who helped to shape our country, and most importantly, we annually check to see if a groundhog can accurately predict the weather (some of us more than others).
In the world of MMA, February has been the home of some of the sport’s most incredible and memorable moments.
Here is a look at the 10 most memorable moments in MMA that occurred in February.
Author’s Note: Recently, we published an article on the most memorable moments from UFC events on Super Bowl Weekend. Any moments from those cards are not included in this article. You can read about them here.
Mixed martial artists can get ahead of themselves by calling out stars who are several rungs above them on the divisional ladder. Oftentimes, it’s a rising star who calls out a legend that has begun to deteriorate but still has tremendous name value.Ho…
Mixed martial artists can get ahead of themselves by calling out stars who are several rungs above them on the divisional ladder. Oftentimes, it’s a rising star who calls out a legend that has begun to deteriorate but still has tremendous name value.
However, it’s rare for any fighter to call out a hot prospect who is still on the rise and has proven to be extremely dangerous even when competing with the best fighters on the planet.
On Tuesday, Strikeforce import TyronWoodley did exactly that by calling out fearsome ace Rory MacDonald on Sherdog Radio (h/t fighthubtv.com):
I want to fight [Rory MacDonald]. If anything happens with Carlos Condit, God forbid, or something happens with that fight, I already told Dana White. Nobody’s calling him out for a reason, because he’s freaking unreal. But if you wait, you think he’s going to stop getting better? In two years, this kid’s probably going to be one of the best fighters in the game. I’d rather knock his butt off now like I knocked off [Tarec Saffiedine’s] just before he got the Strikeforce gold.
The Tristar Gym fighter has dominated some of the best fighters that the UFC can provide. Most recently, a three-round pounding against UFC Hall of Famer B.J. Penn illustrated exactly how lethal Rory can be without resorting to his impeccable ground-and-pound.
Woodley is a one-time title contender who made an impressive debut inside the Octagon last weekend when he knocked out Jay Hieron in only 37 seconds, although this feels like an example of one fighter biting off much more than he can chew.
Wanting to face MacDonald now as opposed to later in his career makes sense. All roads towards the title cross eventually. Why fight the guy after he has more time to develop and grow as a fighter?However, Carlos Condit is living proof of why that doesn’t work.
Condit gave MacDonald the only loss of his professional career at UFC 115. The fight was the second of Rory’s UFC career and it went down before the Canadian was old enough to legally consume alcohol.
Now, MacDonald has fought his way to a rematch and is incredibly motivated to leave Condit in a limp pile of bones on the canvas when the pair clash at UFC 158.
Later in the interview, Woodley discussed a potential matchup with fast-rising jiu-jitsu master Demian Maia, who also earned an impressive victory at UFC 156.
Everybody’s been Tweeting about [Demian Maia]. I don’t mind the fight. If he fights me the way he fought Fitch, then it’s not that dangerous of a fight. He just took him down and jumped on his back. I think Demian Maia’s tough. He just didn’t really impress me very much. I think if you match us up, it’s going to be a boring fight and we’re both going to get hella flak. I would rather fight [Nick] Diaz, Rory MacDonald,Condit. I would rather fight one of those guys, to be honest. They’re going to bring out the fight. They’re going to make me fight harder.
What do you think? Does Woodley really want to get into the cage with MacDonald? Or is he using the callout as a way to avoid being paired up against stylistic nightmare Demian Maia?
The UFC’s growth may not be as rapid as it was during the Lesnar era, but the organization’s fanbase continues to swell. According to a report released on Tuesday (via MMAfighting.com), the UFC drew its all-time best numbers for any FX program with the…
The UFC’s growth may not be as rapid as it was during the Lesnar era, but the organization’s fanbase continues to swell. According to a report released on Tuesday (via MMAfighting.com), the UFC drew its all-time best numbers for any FX program with the preliminary card of Saturday’s UFC 156 event.
With 1,897,000 viewers tuned in, Evan Dunham defeated GleisonTibau via unanimous decision in the network’s featured contest. Prior to that, Strikeforce imports TyronWoodley, Bobby Green and Isaac Vallie-Flagg picked up impressive wins over Jay Hieron, Jacob Volkmann and Yves Edwards, respectively.
This news comes only two weeks after the UFC broke the same record with a free card headlined by middleweights VitorBelfort and Michael Bisping. The Brazilian event drew a total FX audience of 1,860,000.
If you need a baseline to help you see the impressive growth of the UFC on FX, take a look at May of 2012 for UFC 146.
The main card featured all heavyweights, and the FX preliminary card was packed full of fan favorites such as Dan Hardy, Jason “Mayhem” Miller, Jamie Varner and Ultimate Fighter winner Diego Brandao. Even with those stars, the UFC 146 prelims only drew in a total viewership of 1.3 million.
The additional 597,000 viewers represents an incredible 46 percent increase in only nine months.
Perhaps these numbers are truly indicative of the UFC’s growth. Maybe they are simply a one-time boost generated by the sports fever that sweeps American fans during Super Bowl weekend.
Regardless of the reasoning behind it, Dana White and Co. have got to be smiling ear to ear with this news.
As the host of the most anticipated football matchup of the season, Super Bowl weekend is the annual pinnacle of American sports. Since 2004, the UFC has taken advantage of the competitive fever that sweeps the nation by providing fans with an epic fig…
As the host of the most anticipated football matchup of the season, Super Bowl weekend is the annual pinnacle of American sports. Since 2004, the UFC has taken advantage of the competitive fever that sweeps the nation by providing fans with an epic fight card on Super Bowl Eve.
On Saturday night, the UFC treated fans to a night of huge matchups at UFC 156. In one of the most anticipated fights in recent memory, pound-for-pound great Jose Aldo defended his championship in the main event against former UFC lightweight kingpin Frankie Edgar.
The highlight of the evening came when Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva upset Alistair Overeem with an incredible knockout in a featured contest.
However, this is far from the only memorable UFC moment that stems from Super Bowl weekend. Some of the most iconic events in UFC history coincided with the NFL’s championship game.
Here is a look at the 15 most memorable moments from UFC Super Bowl weekend events.
Some fighters are born to be champions. From the time that they step foot into the Octagon, it is clear that they are on a collision course with greatness. Jon Jones, Cain Velasquez and Dominick Cruz are all examples of this undeniable talent.However, …
Some fighters are born to be champions. From the time that they step foot into the Octagon, it is clear that they are on a collision course with greatness. Jon Jones, Cain Velasquez and Dominick Cruz are all examples of this undeniable talent.
However, not everyone can be so lucky. Some fighters are afforded golden opportunities time and time again, but simply can’t get the job done. Occasionally, they’ll score a major win against a quality opponent, but their margin of victory is fairly small or the opponent is considered to be past their prime.
With the recent fall of some of the UFC’s top divisional contenders, let’s take a look at 10 fighters who struggle when the going gets tough.
Featherweights Jose Aldo and Frankie Edgar went toe-to-toe in the main event of UFC 156. It was a hotly anticipated superfight that promised to either confirm Aldo’s status as a pound-for-pound great or see Frankie Edgar crowned as the third dual-divis…
Featherweights Jose Aldo and Frankie Edgar went toe-to-toe in the main event of UFC 156. It was a hotly anticipated superfight that promised to either confirm Aldo’s status as a pound-for-pound great or see Frankie Edgar crowned as the third dual-division champion in UFC history.
Ultimately, Aldo picked apart Edgar in the early goings, busting open his nose and slamming “The Answer’s” thigh with leg kicks to win the first three frames.
The challenger rallied late and looked to steal the fight by outpacing his opponent, however, the deficit was too big to overcome without a stoppage.
Breaking down the action in the cage, we can see how Aldo was able to overcome Edgar’s constant pressure and pull off the biggest win of his UFC career.
Round 1 saw Edgar pushing forward and trying to close the distance while the champion stood his ground in the center of the cage while looking for counters. The shots that worked particularly well for the champion were a right uppercut and snapping jab that were fired as Edgar began to move forward.
Utilizing incredible kicking speed, Aldo won the first round after doing considerably more with shots to the legs and body as well as counterstrikes that greatly outnumbered Edgar’s output.
Round 2 saw Aldo show off his ability to time Frankie’s attack with a counter-jab, as well as his evasiveness when the challenger looked for takedowns. The leg kicks in this round were nasty enough that Edgar’s knee buckled on impact on numerous occasions.
Edgar scored some shots in this round, but ultimately wasn’t finding any substantial success at any point. For example, he caught a leg kick that earned him the only takedown of this round, but Aldo returned to his feet immediately.
Heading into the third frame, Aldo is up on the scorecards 20-18 without question.
Round 3 kicks off (pun intended) with Frankie catching a low kick to earn an immediate takedown. However, Aldo rose to his feet quickly and without absorbing any damage.
The Steven-Seagal-front-kick made an appearance in this round that busted open Edgar’s nose, but didn’t earn the highlight-reel knockout.
Frankie fought with more confidence in this round, landed more shots than previously and the gas tank of Aldo started to empty a little bit. The Answer is landing many leg kicks of his own and it’s slowing down the champ.
However, Jose is the better striker and landed more efficiently while effortlessly shucking off takedown attempts.
Joe Rogan talks to the home audience as if Edgar conceivably won the round, but it was 30-27 after three rounds as the fighters prepared for championship rounds.
Round 4 was the best of the five for Frankie as he continues to land kicks and push forward with his boxing combinations. However, halfway through the frame, Edgar misses yet another takedown attempt, which UFC statistics show us was the sixth failure in seven tries.
One of the key tactics of Frankie in this round was dropping his head to evade punches while coming in with an overhand strike. Not only did this work during standup exchanges, but it also allowed him to feign a punch and sneak past Aldo’s defenses for a slam takedown.
Frankie isn’t doing a lot of damage, but he clearly won Round 4 despite the ever-growing mouse under his left eye and bleeding from his nose.
Round 5 sees Frankie fighting with a sense of urgency that we haven’t seen at any point in the round. Although he continues throwing his leg kicks, head kicks became more common, and his punches had nastier intentions.
Aldo continued to shut out the takedown attempts and score counter punches, although Edgar isn’t being fooled when Jose chooses to strike first.
The challengers punching combinations are landing well, although Aldo delivered a springboard Superman punch off of the cage in the fight’s closing seconds.
Only one judge properly scored the fight 48-47, with the other two seeing it 49-46, all in favor of the champion.
The live crowd may have booed the decision, but it was by no means incorrect.
The champion used incredible technique to nearly double Frankie’s total output. Halfway through the final round, the UFC flashed the total head strike statistic, which saw Aldo ahead 133-to-77.
Using phenomenal takedown defense, he consistently forced Edgar to fight in the standup world, and his ability to dictate this fight’s location made all the difference in the world.
Technically speaking, this was a solid performance by Frankie against a fighter who is clearly one of the best pound-for-pound guys in the world. He was able to time the leg kicks of his opponent to score takedowns and changed up his timing during striking exchanges to avoid Aldo’s counter-attacks that were so effective early on.
The fact that Edgar can continue to do so well against the best fighters on the planet nullifies the fact that he is currently amid a three-fight losing streak.
