Author: Brian Mazique

Joanna Jedrzejczyk had to work for it, but she retained her UFC strawweight title with a unanimous-decision win over Claudia Gadelha on the finale of The Ultimate Fighter 23 on Friday (48-46, 48-45, 48-46).

The challenger dominated the first two rounds with her wrestling, but she was gassed midway through the third, and the champion was as fresh as a daisy.

Jedrzejczyk outstruck Gadelha 153-41 over the final three rounds, per UFC.com, and proved herself worthy of keeping the title.

Cardio, striking and speed were the story. It was impressive that Jedrzejczyk had so much left in the gas tank after a grueling two-plus rounds in which she was dropped by a left hand and smothered on the ground.

The speed and potency of her strikes didn’t appear to be affected late in the fight, and she rode those tools to the victory. The two women had one of the most bitter buildups to a fight that we’ve seen in the UFC.

However, after the bout, they both showed each other respect. Sports Illustrated’s Jeff Wagenheim was complimentary of the scrap and the sportsmanship:

Jedrzejczyk and Gadelha sent the MMA community into Saturday’s UFC 200 on a high note.

‘TUF’ Finals

Suarez Takes the Trophy

Tatiana Suarez earned The Ultimate Fighter title for the women’s strawweight division. She made quick work of Amanda Cooper as she secured the first-round submission with a beautifully executed D’Arce choke.

Suarez was looking for the takedown from the beginning of the bout. Once she got the fight to the mat, her superiority on the ground shined through quickly.

The D’Arce was sunk in, and Cooper tapped quickly. Unfortunately, referee John McCarthy didn’t see Cooper’s submission. She had to kick before he noticed, as the veteran referee was out of position.

Suarez is a cancer survivor, and she took exception to Cooper’s pre-fight trash talk.

Listen to her post-fight interview:

Sanchez Smothers Rountree

With a barrage of takedowns, Andrew Sanchez dominated Khalil Rountree en route to The Ultimate Fighter trophy for the light heavyweights.

Rountree is a powerful striker, but his ground game paled in comparison to Sanchez. With a perfectly executed strategy, Sanchez planted Rountree six times and coasted to the easy unanimous-decision victory.

The crowd hated the fight, but he did what he had to do. 

Results

• Li Jingliang def. Anton Zafir via first-round knockout.
• Kevin Lee def. Jake Matthews via first-round technical knockout.
• Cezar Ferreira def. Anthony Smith via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28).
• Joshua Stansbury def. Cory Hendricks via majority decision (29-27, 29-27, 28-28).
• Matheus Nicolau def. John Moraga via split decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-29).
• Gray Maynard def. Fernando Bruno via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27).
• Joaquim Silva def. Andrew Holbrook via first-round technical knockout.
• Doo Ho Choi def. Thiago Tavares via first-round knockout.
• Will Brooks def. Ross Pearson via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28).
• Tatiana Suarez def. Amanda Cooper via submission (D’Arce choke).
• Andrew Sanchez def. Khalil Rountree via unanimous decision (30-25, 20-25, 30-26).
• joanna Jedrzejczyk def. Claudia Gadelha via unanimous decision (48-46, 48-45, 48-46). 

Highlights and Analysis

Fight Pass Fury

Li Jingliang and Kevin Lee needed less than a round to end their fights during the Fight Pass preliminaries. Jingliang wrestled Anton Zafir to the mat and pounded him out to score the first stoppage win.

A few minutes later, Kevin Lee continued his rise up the lightweight rankings. After dazing the equally celebrated Jake Matthews with a combination early, he took him to the ground and gained mount position.

Lee then rained down enough shots to get the stoppage. 

It was his second straight victory since losing by knockout to Leonardo Santos at UFC 194 in December. Lee is ultra confident and talented. In the next two to three years, he should be a title contender. 

Silva and Choi’s Ferocious Finishes

Joaquim Silva needed just 34 seconds to take Andrew Holbrook out. The latter was undefeated coming in, but Silva’s power and explosion were impressive.

Holbrook attempted a kick that Silva caught. The Brazilian flipped Holbrook to the mat, and as he tried to get to his feet, Silva cracked him with a right hand.

Holbrook went down and Silva pummeled him with hammerfists to bring an end to the bout:

Silva is exciting, but the Korean Superboy Doo Ho Choi isn’t boring. It took him a little over three minutes to dispatch veteran Thiago Tavares. 

After making his way back to his feet when Tavares took him down, Choi showed off the striking skills that have many in the MMA world calling the 25-year-old South Korean a future superstar.

A straight right hand wrecked Tavares, and a follow-up punch caused the stoppage. Choi has had three fights in the UFC, and he’s scored a KO win in each of them. He’s for real.

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Eddie Alvarez is the new UFC lightweight champion.

At UFC Fight Night 90 in Las Vegas on Thursday, the Underground King swarmed Rafael dos Anjos and took his title after landing a crushing right hand that wobbled the champion.

MMAFighting.com talked up the new 155-pound kingpin:

To dos Anjos’ credit, he showed the heart of a warrior. He took a myriad of shots before referee Herb Dean stepped in to call for a halt to the bout. 

Once Alvarez dazed him, he charged dos Anjos with a flying knee that didn’t connect. The momentum from the attempt forced both men to the ground, with dos Anjos landing on top.

Unfortunately for him, he was too rocked to take advantage.

Alvarez regained control and pummeled dos Anjos until the end. Will dos Anjos get an immediate rematch? That’s unclear.

His run as the champion wasn’t long enough to warrant an automatic shot at regaining his title. Time will tell, but for now, Alvarez has earned the right to celebrate.

Results

• Vicente Luque def. Alvaro Herrera via second-round submission (D’Arce choke).
• Marco Beltran def. Reginaldo Vieira via second-round submission (rear-naked choke).
• Gilbert Burns def. Lukasz Sajewski via first-round submission (armbar).
• Felipe Arantes def. Jerrod Sanders via second-round submission (armbar).
• Pedro Munhoz def. Russell Doane via first-round submission (guillotine).
• Anthony Birchak def. Dileno Lopes via split decision (29-28, 29-28, 27-30).
• John Makdessi def. Mehdi Baghdad via split decision (29-28, 29-28 28-29).
• Alberto Mina def. Mike Pyle via second-round knockout (flying knee and punches).
• Joe Duffy def. Mitch Clarke via first-round submission (rear-naked choke).
• Alan Jouban def. Belal Muhammad via unanimous decision (28-27, 29-27, 29-28).
• Derrick Lewis def. Roy Nelson via split decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-29).
• Eddie Alvarez def. Rafael dos Anjos via first-round technical knockout.

Highlights and Analysis

Tapping Early

The preliminary bouts were stacked with submission finishes. The first five fights on the card ended via tapout.

Gilbert Burns had the most impressive finish of those early victories. He showed improved striking against Lukasz Sajewski, but his superior Brazilian jiu-jitsu led to the victory.

With just three seconds remaining in the first round, Burns transitioned from a rear-naked choke attempt to an armbar. Aside from Ronda Rousey, Burns is probably the best in the UFC at that technique.

Sajewski had to tap, and Burns earned a last-second submission victory. Burns soaked up the spotlight after his victory by taking a selfie seconds before he was officially announced as the winner.

The 29-year-old came to the UFC with a good amount of hype back in 2014. He won his first three fights before losing a unanimous decision to Rashid Magomedov in November 2015.

Back on the winning track, Burns is one to watch at 155 pounds—especially if he continues to improve his striking.

Mina and Duffy Doing Damage

Alberto Mina made a statement Thursday. 

He used a perfectly placed running knee to destroy Mike Pyle in the second round of their preliminary bout. The moment the knee landed, Pyle was done, but Mina added two or three hammer fists to force the stoppage.

Pyle is 40 years old, but he’s tough and experienced. The way Mina dominated and finished him made his performance among the most noteworthy of the night.

Joe Duffy was just as good as Mina, but he didn’t need as much time to stop Mitch Clarke.

A straight right hand caught Clarke over the top and forced the latter to face-plant. Seconds later, Duffy sunk in the rear-naked choke, and Clarke was tapping.

Damon Martin of Fox Sports reacted:

Fans have always seen Duffy as an up-and-coming fighter. At 28 years old, the time is now for him.

Jouban and Muhammad Go to War

For the first two rounds, it looked as though Alan Jouban was seconds away from stopping Belal Muhammad. Jouban dropped Muhammad twice but couldn’t finish the rugged UFC newcomer.

In fact, Muhammad was the fresher of the two in the final round.

He landed a ton of hard power shots on Jouban, who had to show his own mettle to survive the final frame. Jouban earned the win based on his control of the first two rounds, but Muhammad gained some fans with the way he finished in a losing effort.

In a post-fight interview with the UFC, Jouban talked about maintaining his good looks—despite some bumps and bruises:

Jouban has the style and look to be a star, but his defense is a work in progress.

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Well, that was boring.

In a less-than-entertaining main event at Bellator 157 in St. Louis, a fleshy Quinton “Rampage” Jackson took a split decision over Satoshi Ishii. The bout drew boos from the Scottrade Center crowd and was the worst fight of the night on a card that featured mixed martial arts and kickboxing.

The judges scored it 30-27, 29-28, 28-29.

In the first round, Ishii’s background as an Olympic gold medalist shined through. He took Rampage down twice, but he couldn’t keep him there. Ishii also didn’t do any damage when he was in top position.

Still, it appeared as though the Japanese fighter deserved to take the opening round.

Rampage found a bit of a rhythm in the second. He landed some knees and elbows inside the clinch, but Ishii was able to secure two more takedowns in that frame. Like in the first round, he did nothing with the position, and Rampage worked his way back to his feet with little issue.

The third round was all Rampage.

He landed knees and elbows and thwarted a takedown attempt from Ishii. In the minor scramble, he landed in top position and remained there for most of the final round.

It was close, but the decision to award Rampage the win was plausible. After the bout, the 38-year-old dropped the Captain Obvious line of the night: “This is the oldest I’ve ever been in the cage.” 

Well, all right, then. We’ll give him a break because he was tired.

This fight was contested at heavyweight, and Rampage didn’t carry the extra pounds well. His midriff had a mind of its own, which makes you wonder how physically prepared he was for the fight.

Ishii’s takedown skills are undeniable, but he has a lot to work on if he’s going to become a true mixed martial artist. He had no other weapons to threaten Rampage with, and that’s why he lost.

Rampage gave us a hint about his future, per MMAFighting.com’s Ariel Helwani:

Hopefully, whatever he does next will be more exciting than this fight.

Thankfully, the rest of the card was, indeed, dynamite.

MMA: Chandler Muzzles Pitbull to Take Title

Will Brooks left Bellator and vacated the lightweight title. On Friday night, and in his hometown, Iron Michael Chandler reclaimed the title in a demonstrative way.

With one sickening right hand, he knocked out Patricky “Pitbull” Freire to again become the Bellator lightweight champion. 

Pitbull was out before he hit the canvas. Bellator came through quickly with congratulations for the new champion:

Chandler and the Scottrade Center went to pieces.

Patricky’s brother, Patricio, seemed to take exception with Chandler’s double-backflip celebration—or he was just salty that his brother got starched. In either case, he and Chandler got into a shouting match as the new champion sat perched on top of the cage.

Could Patricio come up from 145 pounds to avenge his brother? Stay tuned.

After the fight, Chandler talked about his next challenge. Benson Henderson called out the champion in an earlier interview on the Spike broadcast, but while Chandler didn’t downplay a fight with Smooth, he seemed more interested in a fight with Josh Thomson.

Chandler and Thomson both talked about the fans wanting to see them clash. Who are these fans? They surely don’t speak for the entire MMA community.

We’ll see what happens down the road, but Henderson vs. Chandler is a more intriguing fight. 

MMA Results

• Matt Mitrione defeats Carl Seumanutafa by KO in first round.
• Ilima-Lei Macfarlane defeats Rebecca Ruth by submission (rear-naked choke) in first round.
• Michael Chandler defeats Patricky “Pitbull” Freire by KO in first round.

Kickboxing Results

• Gloria Peritore def. Denise Kielholtz by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28).
• Kevin Ross def. Justin Houghton by unanimous decision (29-27, 29-27, 30-26).

MMA: Mitrione Gets a Break

Within the first 20 seconds of the first round, Carl Seumanutafa decked Matt Mitrione with a clean right hand on the nose. 

Most who were watching had to be thinking, “Oh man, Mitrione is going to get stopped in his Bellator debut.”

However, referee John McCarthy was generous and didn’t stop the bout.

Seumanutafa didn’t help his cause. Instead of pounding on Mitrione, he tried to take his opponent’s back.

Seumanutafa is no submission artist, so the strategy was perplexing. Mitrione recovered, and minutes later, he stopped Seumanutafa with a downward punch on the chin.

McCarthy stepped in relatively quickly to stop the bout as Seumanutafa partially rolled over in pain, though Seumanutafa was in no worse shape than Mitrione was after he got clipped.

During the post-fight interview, Mitrione was still rocked. He didn’t even remember being hit. There’s no question that he is fortunate to be 1-0 with his new organization.

Bellator quickly announced that Mitrione will face Oli Thompson in his next fight, but many, including Dr. Patrick Wyman of Bleacher Report, feel the organization should pump its breaks:

Let’s hope we hear an amendment on that next bout.

Kickboxing: Peritore Edges Kielholtz

Despite a great performance in the second round from Denise Kielholtz, a listless display in the first and third rounds cost her the fight against Gloria Peritore in the first kickboxing bout of the evening.

In her best moments, Peritore kept finding a home for her kicks. Peritore was more active, and her movement gave Kielholtz a problem that she seemed to solve in the second.

The resolution was temporary, though, and Peritore regained control to take the final round and the fight.

MMA: Ruth Is Not Human, but She Lost

Rebecca Ruth is an alien, and I mean that in the most complimentary way. In more than 20 years of following MMA, I’ve never seen a fighter escape two rear-naked chokes as deep as the ones Ilima-Lei Macfarlane had sunk in on Ruth.

How deep were the chokes?

We’re talking under-the-chin, mouthpiece-hanging-out-of-the-mouth deep. Not only did Ruth get out of two of the choke attempts, but she also stood to her feet with Macfarlane pasted to her back—with both hooks in—like a Marvel character.

Ultimately, she was forced to submit, but her stock didn’t take a hit with the loss. Macfarlane executed a superb game plan. She knew she was no match for the powerful Ruth in stand-up, and thus she looked to take her opponent down at every chance until she picked up the hard-earned victory.

Kickboxing: Ross Smokes Houghton

In a wipeout, Kevin Ross destroyed Justin Houghton over three rounds. Punches, kicks and well-placed knees smashed the game but overmatched Houghton.

One of those aforementioned knees found Houghton’s solar plexus. Houghton tried to play it off as though the shot was low, but it wasn’t. The referee stepped in and gave Houghton a brief break.

No matter, Ross put Houghton down with a straight right hand to the body seconds later. Houghton made it through, but Ross earned the decision with a dominant performance.

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Eduardo “Dudu” Dantas dismantled Marcos Galvao to regain the Bellator bantamweight championship on Friday night in Fresno, California.  

Dantas scored a dominating unanimous-decision victory with a vastly superior stand-up attack, and Galvao had no answer. Here’s the official scores from the judges: (50-43, 50-44, 50-45)

The rout started early when Dantas battered Galvao with leg kicks and a stiff jab. The 27-year-old Brazilian would punish his 33-year-old countryman on almost every part of his body over the course of the 25-minute bout.

In the second, the jab continued to be a major factor, but Dantas began to follow up with hard right hands. Galvao‘s face was breaking up and his right eye began to swell.

With the onslaught persisting through the third and fourth frames, it appeared as if Galvao‘s corner might stop the bout, but they didn’t.

Galvao came out for the last round and survived, but he was a beaten man both physically and mentally. You’ll be hard pressed to find a more complete blowout without a stoppage in any championship fight.

This was the second time Galvao had faced Dantas. Their first meeting ended in a loss as well back in February 2013, but that one was a KO defeat. Galvao had won four fights in a row—including defeating Joe Warren for the title in March 2015.

This was his first defense, but Dantas clearly has his number.

After the bout, per Bellator on Twitter, Dantas was a happy man having regained his belt:

Next up for Dantas is a defense against the winner of the Darrion Caldwell and Joe Taimanglo bout at Bellator 159 on July 22. If Caldwell wins—as expected—he and Dantas come create a classic bout in Bellator‘s 135-pound division.

Here’s a look at all of the results from the prelims (non-televised on Spike TV) and the rest of the main card.

Main Card Results

• Chidi Njokuani def. Thiago Jambo via KO (Body Kick and Punches) R3 2:39
• John Salter def. Brandon Halsey via Submission (Triangle Choke) R1 4:03
• Chris Honeycutt def. Mikkel Parlo via Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28) R3 5:00

Preliminary Results

• Jermaine McDermott (3-0) defeated Blake Watkins (5-1) via TKO at :20 of round one
• Paul Ruiz (7-3) defeated Chris Buron (5-1) via split decision (30-27, 28-29, 30-27)
• Javy Ayala (9-5) defeated Roy Boughton (14-8) via TKO at 3:02 of round one
• Nick Bustamante (4-1) defeated Antoine Smith (2-6-1) via majority decision (28-28, 29-27, 29-27)
• Jose Cabezas (6-8) defeated John Paul Elias (3-1) via knockout at :25 of round one 
• Chris Lewis (1-0) defeated Myron Smith (2-3) via TKO at 4:48 of round one
• Luis Jauregui (4-2) defeated Ryan Tobar (3-3) via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Ben Reiter (17-1-1) defeated A.J. Matthews (8-5) via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-26)
• Carrington Banks (5-0) defeated C.J. Keith (8-4) via unanimous decision (30-25, 30-26, 30-26)

Njokuani Manhandles Jambo

Chidi Njokuani enjoyed a four-inch height advantage over Thiago Jambo, and he used every inch of it to earn the stoppage victory in the co-main event.

With fast hands and well-placed kicks, Njokuani was able to keep Jambo at bay. He punished him every time he attempted to close the distance and finally looked like the talented fighter many in the MMA community know him to be.

Jambo was no match for Njokuani‘s length and sophisticated striking game. A body kick and follow-up punches brought matters to a halt in third round. 

When it was over, Njokuani was asked who he wanted to face next at 170 pounds, and he said “anyone can get it.”

He’s been known to turn in some listless performances, but this wasn’t one of them. If he fights the way he did on Friday night, he could give just about any welterweight in Bellator a tough night.

Salter Chokes out Halsey

It might be time for Brandon “The Bull” Halsey to push the panic button. The former Bellator middleweight champion lost his second straight fight on Friday when he was forced to submit to a triangle choke from John Salter in the first round.

Halsey has shown himself to be a dominant wrestler, but the other aspects of his game have been lacking. He displayed some improved striking techniques, but it was obvious his submission defense is still a work in progress.

Salter was allowed to transition to the choke too easily, and quite honestly, Halsey should have been more cautious of going to the ground.

Every one of Salter’s wins has come by submission. Tactical areas led to yet another defeat for the Bull.

Honeycutt Takes Care of Parlo

Patience and improved striking were the two biggest factors in Chris Honeycutt‘s win over Mikkel Parlo. Honeycutt was fighting in front of his hometown fans, so one might have expected him to come out too aggressive.

After all, that has been a problem for him in the past.

Instead, he picked his spots and used his superior athleticism to win an easy unanimous decision. Surprisingly, Honeycutt did the better work in stand-up exchanges and never really had to fall back on his noted wrestling skills.

Parlo‘s striking is well respected, so it was impressive to see Honeycutt more than hold his own in this area of the fight.

Honeycutt may not be quite ready for champion Rafael Carvalho, but he’s moving in the right direction in Bellator‘s middleweight divison.

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