Author: Cody Guinn

UFC 152: Matt Hamill Gets New Opponent as ‘The Janitor’ Steps In

Matt “The Hammer” Hamill is set to come out of retirement and make his comeback at UFC 152. And now, he’ll face a fellow longtime veteran.Originally set to face Canadian Roger Hollett, Hamill will now step inside the Octagon against Vladimir Matyu…

Matt “The Hammer” Hamill is set to come out of retirement and make his comeback at UFC 152. And now, he’ll face a fellow longtime veteran.

Originally set to face Canadian Roger Hollett, Hamill will now step inside the Octagon against Vladimir Matyushenko at UFC 152.

As  MMA Weekly reported, Matyushenko will make his 2012 debut on short notice, welcoming back to the Octagon the former contestant on The Ultimate Fighter.

Matyushenko is 4-2 since returning to the UFC back in 2009, with his two losses coming against two of the best in the division: Alexander Gustafsson and Jon Jones. Matyushenko has also fought top guys like Tim Boetsch, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Tito Ortiz throughout his career.

Hamill has fought against some of the biggest names in the sport as well, including bouts against Mark Munoz, Rich Franklin, Michael Bisping and Tito Ortiz. And he is the only man to hold a win against current light heavyweight champion Jon Jones, although it was by disqualification and was highly controversial.

Hamill had won five straight before losing two in a row against Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Alexander Gustafsson and opting to retire from the sport. But after a year away from the cage, he is set to return to action.

UFC 152 is scheduled for September 22nd in Toronto. It will be headlined by the inaugural flyweight championship fight between Joseph Benavidez and Demetrious Johnson. It has yet to be determined if the bout will fall onto the main card or the preliminary card.

 

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Rousey vs. Kaufman Fight: Power Ranking Ronda Rousey’s Pro Fights

World champion and 6-0.You don’t hear that very often, but it’s not very often someone comes along in the world of mixed martial arts like Ronda Rousey.All six of her victories have come in the first round and by submission via armbar.Whether you like …

World champion and 6-0.

You don’t hear that very often, but it’s not very often someone comes along in the world of mixed martial arts like Ronda Rousey.

All six of her victories have come in the first round and by submission via armbar.

Whether you like her or not, there is no doubt she is a force in women’s MMA.

Saturday night, she proved once again why she is regarded as one of the top female fighters in the world today.

You may have only seen her last two fights which were fought for Strikeforce gold, so here is a rundown of Rousey’s professional fights since turning pro in early 2011.

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Ronda Rousey Calls Out Cyborg After 54-Second Win over Sarah Kaufman

After weeks of both of Strikeforce’s top female fighters, Ronda Rousey and Cris Cyborg, taking shots at one another, tonight the official call-out took place.Following Rousey’s quick submission win over Sarah Kaufman, when being interviewed by Mauro Ra…

After weeks of both of Strikeforce’s top female fighters, Ronda Rousey and Cris Cyborg, taking shots at one another, tonight the official call-out took place.

Following Rousey’s quick submission win over Sarah Kaufman, when being interviewed by Mauro Ranallo, Rousey immediately called out Cyborg.

Rousey said (h/t Mike Chiappetta, MMAFighting.com), “I need to send out a challenge to Miss Cyborg out there. People want to see the first fair fight of your life. I’m the champ now. The champ doesn’t go to you, you go to the champ. Come down to 135 and let’s settle this.”

Earlier this week, when reports suggested Cyborg wanted the fight at 145, Rousey stated on TSN Radio’s The MMA Report with John Pollock (h/t Chiappetta, MMAFighting.com) that to make the 135-pound weight cut Cyborg should, “Stop doping and lose weight.”

The fight needs no hype at all. Rousey has looked simply unstoppable since her transition to MMA from judo. She’s 6-0 with all her wins coming by first-round submission via her lethal armbar. But Rousey isn’t the first dominate female in Strikeforce.

Before there was Rousey, there was Cris Cyborg. Cyborg is 10-1, with eight of her wins coming by way of knockout. She’s one of the most powerful women ever to compete in MMA, and before her recent positive drug test, she was considered to best female fighter on the planet.

Cyborg’s year-long suspension will end sometime in December, and the potential of a bout between Rousey and Cyborg should have all MMA fans—not just fans of women’s MMA—pumped for what could lie ahead.

 

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Rousey vs. Kaufman: What We Learned from Ronda Rousey Defeat of Sarah Kaufman

In Strikeforce’s latest showcase, Ronda Rousey once again showed why she is one of the most dominant mixed martial artists in the world today. And note that I didn’t say woman mixed martial artist.Rousey once again recorded a first-round submission vic…

In Strikeforce’s latest showcase, Ronda Rousey once again showed why she is one of the most dominant mixed martial artists in the world today. And note that I didn’t say woman mixed martial artist.

Rousey once again recorded a first-round submission victory, this time over Sarah Kaufmann at 54 seconds of the first round via armbar.

 

What We’ll Remember About This Fight:

The entire fight due to the fact it didn’t even last a minute. Rousey came out swinging, immediately clinched Kaufman up against the cage, took it to the ground and locked in her armbar. Simple enough, or so Rousey makes it appear.

 

What We Learned About Ronda Rousey:

You can be a one-trick pony if that one trick is unstoppable. There will be plenty of people who say, “Well, she only has the armbar.” But if no one can stop it, I’m pretty sure that it is okay if it keeps the belt around her waist.

 

What We Learned About Sarah Kaufman:

She may be a top-level fighter at 135, but she’s not quite at the level of Ronda Rousey. Don’t worry though, no one seems to be right now.

 

What’s Next for Ronda Rousey:

Please, Strikeforce—or hey, how about Dana White and the UFC—give us the Silva/St-Pierre “superfight” equivalent in the women’s division in Rousey vs. Cris Cyborg.

Cyborg is the Strikeforce 145 women’s champion and it wasn’t too long ago that she was the unstoppable fighter in the women’s division the whole world was talking about. If you need a fight to get the casual fight fan hooked on WMMA, look no further than Rousey-Cyborg.

 

What’s Next for Sarah Kaufman:

Kaufman has shown her skill level by defeating the majority of top women fighters in her division, so it wouldn’t hurt to go ahead and make another really exciting WMMA fight possibly between Kaufman and Marloes Coenen if Strikeforce or Invicta can get the weight right.

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Strikeforce Results: Recapping the Preliminary Card Fights

Before Ronda Rousey and Sarah Kaufman face off tonight on Strikeforce, the preliminary card aired on Showtime Extreme and featured four bouts, including the recently streaking Bobby Green and former champion Miesha Tate.If you missed some of the action…

Before Ronda Rousey and Sarah Kaufman face off tonight on Strikeforce, the preliminary card aired on Showtime Extreme and featured four bouts, including the recently streaking Bobby Green and former champion Miesha Tate.

If you missed some of the action or just want a recap on the fights, here are the results of the Strikeforce: Rousey vs. Kaufman preliminary bouts.

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UFC on FOX 5: Will This Be the Breakthrough Card for the UFC on FOX?

When UFC announced the deal with Fox, fans were exciting about the idea of huge pay-per-view-worthy cards coming to national television. Then, UFC on Fox 1 rolled around and gave us…one fight.One.Granted, it was a heavyweight championship fight betwe…

When UFC announced the deal with Fox, fans were exciting about the idea of huge pay-per-view-worthy cards coming to national television. Then, UFC on Fox 1 rolled around and gave us…one fight.

One.

Granted, it was a heavyweight championship fight between Junior dos Santos and Cain Velasquez and featured dos Santos becoming the new champion with a first-round knockout. While it was a major step for the UFC, featuring one fight wasn’t quite the start fans wanted.

So, two months later UFC on Fox 2 featured three bouts on Fox including two title eliminators. All three fights were decisions that were fairly lackluster.

With the UFC wanting to guarantee the next Fox card more excitement, UFC on Fox 3 featured some of the UFC’s most exciting fighters Pat Barry, Rousimar Palhares, Alan Belcher, Lavar Johnson, Jim Miller and Nate Diaz.

It delivered with three of the four fights being finished, including Nate Diaz earning a lightweight title shot.

Earlier this month, UFC on Fox 4 came around and was hit hard by injuries that resulted in the main event being an odd pairing of Shogun Rua taking on Brandon Vera. Luckily for the UFC, the two men brought an exciting fight. 

Although the card didn’t feature a lot of big names, all four fights on Fox were finished in what was one of the more exciting main cards the UFC has put on this year.

Now, we get to December’s UFC on Fox 5, and finally, it appears the UFC will give us a stacked-free card.

As it was announced by John Morgan of USA Today, UFC on Fox 5 will feature a lightweight championship bout between Benson Henderson and Nate Diaz, a light heavyweight bout between Shogun Rua and Alexander Gustafsson and the previously announced battle between returning B.J. Penn and Rory MacDonald.

If UFC on Fox hasn’t really clicked with viewers yet, this will be the card that does so. The main card only has three fights so far, but they include a title fight, a title contention fight and a “Big-Name” fight.

UFC on Fox 5 is still four months away, but if these men all stay healthy, we can expect the biggest UFC on Fox card yet.

 

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