Author: Brian Oswald

Hector Lombard Undeserving of Fight with Rory MacDonald but May Get It Anyway

Some fighters seem allergic to the idea of calling another fighter out. Others are all about that. 
Dana White is certainly a fan of the call-out. White told reporters that texting him “15 times a day” wouldn’t get Tyron Woodley a f…

Some fighters seem allergic to the idea of calling another fighter out. Others are all about that. 

Dana White is certainly a fan of the call-out. White told reporters that texting him “15 times a day” wouldn’t get Tyron Woodley a fight against Carlos Condit…until it did. 

Hector Lombard has been calling dudes out left and right of late.

Lombard, who was supposed to face Dong Hyun Kim at UFC Fight Night 48 before getting injured, proclaimed back in April on UFC Tonight that Nick Diaz was “running from him.” 

Now he’s asking to fight the winner of Rory MacDonald vs. Tarec Saffiedine. 

MacDonald vs. Saffiedine is slated as the main event for UFC Fight Night 54, which is set to take place Oct. 4 in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Timing-wise, Lombard vs. the winner lines up with Lombard recovery from his injury. And if the No. 10-ranked Saffiedine happens to upset the No. 2-ranked MacDonald, then a fight between him and the No. 6-ranked Lombard makes a lot sense.

But a date with a victorious MacDonald, who was forced to take a fight with Saffiedine because he’s waiting on a Hendricks-Lawler title-fight rematch to take place, would be more than a dangerous Lombard deserves.

And that’s absolutely no knock on Lombard, who has looked scarily impressive since dropping down from the middleweight division. 

But he’s only 2-0 at welterweight, while MacDonald has clearly established himself as the No. 1 contender in waiting. He’s earned his title shot. Lombard, while looking great at 170 pounds so far, hasn’t quite earned the right to derail what MacDonald has established for himself. 

Adding to that, Lombard has been on the shelf since March. McDonald beat the brakes off Tyron Woodley, and if he scalps Saffiedine, why should he have to deal with a sidelined Lombard too? 

The muddle for MacDonald, who’s 8-2 in the UFC welterweight division, is that he could be forced into taking one more fight before getting a title shot, assuming he beats Saffiedine of course.

Timing is everything in this sport, though. 

The aforementioned Hendricks-Lawler rematch does not have a set date yet. That said, Hendricks told Sam Laskaris of Indian Country Today Media Network that he is eyeing UFC 182 on January 3 in Las Vegas, three months after MacDonald vs. Saffiedine. 

That puts MacDonald in a position where he’ll have to wait at least six months for the Hendricks-Lawler winner, and longer if that winner sustains any injuries during the fight. 

Which brings us back to the lurking Hector Lombard.

He is perfectly positioned to wind up getting the MacDonald-Saffiedine winner. And while he may not yet deserve a fight with MacDonald (should he win), he was clever to call for the winner. He might just get exactly what he wants. 

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Vitor Belfort Scoffs at Machida’s Notion That Weidman Can Stand with Him

 If anyone knows just how good Chris Weidman is, it’s Lyoto Machida.
The former light heavyweight champion went toe-to-toe with the current middleweight champion for 25 minutes and came up on the losing end. Weidman, whose pedigree is that of a wr…

 If anyone knows just how good Chris Weidman is, it’s Lyoto Machida.

The former light heavyweight champion went toe-to-toe with the current middleweight champion for 25 minutes and came up on the losing end. Weidman, whose pedigree is that of a wrestler, got the better of Machida in all aspects of the striking game. 

Machida was apparently so impressed with Weidman’s offensive, he thinks the champ can stand and trade with one of the scariest strikers on the planet in Vitor Belfort. 

When asked if Weidman should focus on landing takedowns, he told Guilherme Cruz of MMAFighting the following: 

I don’t think so. Weidman is ready to fight anywhere. If he has to stand, he will. Vitor can obviously land a punch and end this, that’s what makes this sport so captivating, but I think he will be ready to fight him there.

It looks like Vitor Belfort caught wind of what Machida said, and he thinks the notion of Weidman standing with him is a foolish one. In an interview with the Brazilian language AGFight (translated by Bloody Elbow) Belfort had the following to say:  

He will fight standing against me only if he’s crazy. I’m ready to have a third world title at a third different weight class. I see a lot of openings from him and I’m studying this game since last year. I’m not focusing in his strengths but in his weaknesses and we saw that he has a lot.

Weidman has turned into one of the most complete mixed martial artists in the sport.

It is not crazy to believe that Weidman could very well be better than Belfort in every aspect. Our very own Clinton Bullock posed the question in his latest article: Does Belfort Have More Than a Puncher’s Chance Against Weidman?

He got the better of the greatest counter striker of all time in Anderson Silva twice. He out-struck one of the most elusive strikers the sport has ever seen in Machida. Now he faces one of the most lethal strikers in Belfort, whose combination of rapid-fire hands and ruthless kicks have taken out some of the best in the division over the last year and a half. 

Lyoto Machida went on to add, “I think Vitor has a better chance in the first round and the first half of the second round because of his characteristics, but after that, I think Weidman’s chances are better than Vitor’s.”

For Belfort this will be the first fight in years he has competed in without the use of testosterone replacement therapy. The State of Nevada recently banned the use of TRT. It is easy to speculate that Belfort won’t be the same for his Dec. 6 fight with Weidman. 

The aforementioned Cruz posted a “before and after“ photo of Belfort recently on Twitter. Judge for yourself as to whether or not Belfort appears any different in size and stature. 

So Should Weidman stand with Belfort?

While the risk-adverse strategy would be for him to fight conservatively on his feet, let Belfort tire, take him down and submit him, Weidman seems to have the swagger of a fighter—much like Jon Jones—who enjoys beating his opponents at their own game.  

With an impressive win over Belfort at UFC 181, Weidman can not only help close out the TRT era (as argued by Jeremy Botter), he can also solidify himself as one of the best young champs the sport has seen. 

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Long-Absent TJ Grant Wants Nate Diaz or Donald Cerrone for Return Fight

The last time we saw surging lightweight T.J. Grant inside the Octagon, he was carving up Gray Maynard en route to a first-round TKO. That beyond-impressive performance set Grant up for a title shot vs. then-champion Benson Henderson.
But the mild-mann…


The last time we saw surging lightweight T.J. Grant inside the Octagon, he was carving up Gray Maynard en route to a first-round TKO. That beyond-impressive performance set Grant up for a title shot vs. then-champion Benson Henderson.

But the mild-mannered Canadian withdrew from the title bout when he sustained a concussion during jiu-jitsu practice, and we have not seen him since.

Nearly 13 months later, Grant is speaking up, and it appears he wants to face off against either Nick Diaz or Donald Cerrone for his return bout. 

From an interview with FOX Sports:

“I would personally like to fight Nate Diaz or Donald Cerrone. But really I don’t care. It’s all about timing and some guys have fights, it’s nothing personal. I just go out there and do my job. I’m not picky. Anybody in the top 10, it doesn’t matter.”

It will certainly be great from a fan’s perspective to see Grant back inside the cage. The lightweight contender took a lot of flak from the MMA world for his long departure over what seemed like on the surface a run-of-the-mill concussion.

It reached such a fever pitch that he finally responded. 

From an interview with MMAJunkie.com:

“At first, just people questioning me, originally I was pretty upset. Just like, ‘Oh yeah, suck it up.’ I actually had a couple people say things like, ‘I played football with a concussion,’ and I was just like, well, you’re an idiot.”

“It was significant enough that, no matter what, I wouldn’t have tried to push through it. I could just tell that it was dangerous to my long-term health.”

With all the fallout surrounding concussions in the NFL, it seemed wise for Grant to treat a concussion—something many athletes are seemingly unconcerned over—with extra care.

If Grant can pick up where he left off, not only will he be fighting his way back into title contention, but more importantly, he can set a good, albeit extreme example in today’s sports culture for how athletes can choose to deal with trauma to the brain.  

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Power Ranking the 12 Can’t-Miss MMA Fights Left in 2014

When Jon Jones vs. Alexander Gustafsson was booked in September 2013, nobody thought the Swede stood much of a chance against the light heavyweight champion, whom many were already calling the greatest mixed martial artist of all time.
But the two…

When Jon Jones vs. Alexander Gustafsson was booked in September 2013, nobody thought the Swede stood much of a chance against the light heavyweight champion, whom many were already calling the greatest mixed martial artist of all time.

But the two went toe-to-toe for 25 back-and-forth minutes in what ended up being one of the best scraps in the history of the sport. In hindsight, it was a can’t-miss fight.

Thankfully, the two will rematch later this year at UFC 178, in what is one of the 12 can’t-miss fights left in 2014. But where does it rank? And what are the other 11 fights you want to make sure you see live?

Keep in mind, the UFC is far from done booking fights to fill out the 2014 lineup, and this is a ranking based on what is currently on the books.

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UFC in ABQ Features 2 Top Contenders and a Pioneer of the Sport

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — For the first time in its 20-year history, the UFC will host a fight card in the city most recently known for being the backdrop of the hit TV show Breaking Bad.
But for fight fans, they know Albuquerque first and foremos…

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — For the first time in its 20-year history, the UFC will host a fight card in the city most recently known for being the backdrop of the hit TV show Breaking Bad.

But for fight fans, they know Albuquerque first and foremost as the home to the most celebrated, and sometimes vilified, MMA trainer in the world, Greg Jackson.

Under big blue open sky, Jackson has groomed some of the best fighters the sport has seen: former champs Georges St-Pierre and Rashad Evans and current pound-for-pound champ Jon Jones.

But the fight history of this city runs even deeper than what Jackson has built up in this semi-desert terrain with a picture-perfect mountain range in the background.

Johnny Tapia, a five-time world champion boxer who wrote in his autobiography he’d been “raised to fight to the death,” was born and died here.

Dating back to 1868, the book Boxing in New Mexico: A History details a roadside boxing match, 35 miles north of Albuquerque, where men gathered to witness a 165-round, six-hour bare-knuckle brawl—it was credited as the first “official” prizefight in the state.

It’s no coincidence that part of the unforgiving movie No Country for Old Men was filmed here. The Wild West has been mostly kept alive in motion pictures, but if you’re here in person, you can still feel a bit of its rough-and-tumble pulse in the air.

It’s near criminal that the UFC has not brought its brand of cagefighting to this city before, but all can be forgiven, as it has stacked its first show in Albuquerque with two top contenders and an MMA pioneer.

Benson Henderson, John Dodson and Diego Sanchez compete in the three headlining fights to be showcased on UFC Fight Night 42 on Saturday. The event takes place at Tingley Coliseum, which actually featured Floyd Mayweather’s second professional fight. The UFC told Bleacher Report it expects upward of 9,000 in attendance.

Henderson, a former lightweight champ and perennial top contender, is set to face off against Rustam Khabilov, a Dagestani-born Russian who visited Jackson’s gym years ago. It was an instant fit. A win over Khabilov would move Henderson one step closer toward the goal of getting his belt back next year.

Dodson, who competes in the flyweight division, is a rare bird at 125 pounds because of how much knockout power he packs. He fought for the title against champ Demetrious Johnson, coming up just short. If Dodson, who has lived in New Mexico his whole life, is victorious, he’ll be back in line for a second crack at gold.

And then there is Diego Sanchez.

For the original The Ultimate Fighter, fighting in his hometown of Albuquerque is a dream. If he can notch his 14th career UFC win on Saturday night, in front of hundreds of family members and thousands of fans, it’ll  move him into a tie for fifth on the UFC’s all-time wins list.

What is truly special about this particular Fight Night is that so many of the fighters on the card, from the main event down to the prelims, either live here or travel here specifically to train at Jackson’s gym.

The city does not have a professional sports team. The college basketball team, the Lobos, are the closest thing the residents have. Jackson’s gym and fighters are considered a professional team here in their own right.

Fighting is in the air here.

This weekend, the UFC will add a little extra oxygen to the night sky.

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Benson Henderson Plans to Get ‘His Belt’ Back, Retire at 33

Albuquerque, N.M. — Former lightweight champion and perennial contender Benson Henderson has a main event fight this weekend when he steps into the cage opposite unheralded but tough-as-nails Rustam Khabilov.
It’s a fight that many figh…

Albuquerque, N.M. — Former lightweight champion and perennial contender Benson Henderson has a main event fight this weekend when he steps into the cage opposite unheralded but tough-as-nails Rustam Khabilov.

It’s a fight that many fighters ranked as highly as he is would not have taken, but he did not flinch when the 17-1 Dagestani-born Russian fighter respectfully asked him for a fight via Twitter.

At the media event today, Henderson, laid-back as always, spoke on several topics, but most notable was him announcing when he plans on walking away from his life as fighter.

“I know I’m going to retire when I’m 33,” he said matter-of-factly. That gives the 30-year-old fighter roughly three more years to ply his trade inside the Octagon.

Henderson went on to say he knows he wants “his belt” back; also, he wants his second title run to be longer than his first. His first reign as UFC champion lasted approximately 22 months.

He captured the belt from Frankie Edgar at UFC 144 and relinquished it to Anthony Pettis at UFC 164. In between, Bendo successfully defended it against Edgar in an automatic rematch, Nate Diaz and former Strikeforce champion Gilbert Melendez.

The loss to Pettis was especially tough, given their history.

Before displaying their excellence inside the Octagon, they were the top two lightweights in the WEC. The UFC purchased the smaller organization back in 2010 and Henderson vs. Pettis was the very last fight to be contested under the WEC banner.

Going into the fifth and final round of their title fight, with things square at two rounds apiece, Pettis somehow launched himself off the cage wall and landed a kick to the face of Henderson. While the kick was not  damaging per se, it did create enough force to knock Henderson down, costing him the final round and his belt.

If Henderson is to follow through with his goal of regaining the belt, and holding it for longer the second time around, he will need to get cracking if he does in fact want to retire when he is 33.

First things first, Henderson will look to get the better of Khabilov on Saturday night. If successful, he’ll need to take at least one more, if not two, fights before getting the opportunity to challenge for the title.

Champ Pettis faces off with the aforementioned Melendez, but not until the end of December.

Henderson is not thinking about that right now, though. He knows there are no promises in this sport and that the next step is the only one that matters.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com