While UFC 146 will feature a main card full of heavyweights, two highly regarded big men will has to wait until UFC 147 to throw down.
Fabricio Werdum and Mike Russow are set to square off in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, this June.
The bout features tw…
While UFC 146 will feature a main card full of heavyweights, two highly regarded big men will has to wait until UFC 147to throw down.
Fabricio Werdum and Mike Russow are set to square off in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, this June.
The bout features two fighters currently making waves in the UFC’s heaviest division. Russow holds an unblemished UFC record of 4-0 and is riding an impressive 11 fight win streak, while Werdum is coming off an impressive win over Roy Nelson.
This is an early breakdown of the fight. We will examine the various elements of combat that will determine who comes out on top, including striking, wrestling, grappling and intangibles.
For each category one fighter will earn an extreme, significant, moderate or slight edge over his opponent. If the matchup is deemed too close to call, it will be termed “even.”
The latest installment of the The Ultimate Fighter has not been long in establishing itself as a microcosm of reality. It is a reality show after all, but the reality I refer to is not the exhibition of real people enacting an unscripted performan…
The latest installment of the The Ultimate Fighter has not been long in establishing itself as a microcosm of reality. It is a reality show after all, but the reality I refer to is not the exhibition of real people enacting an unscripted performance.
The reality of which I speak is a reflection of the real. The reality of which I speak is this: Dominick Cruz has Urijah Faber‘s number.
The current contest between rivals began in earnest when Team Faber’s Daron Cruickshank and Team Cruz’s James Vick squared off. The bout was selected by Faber, who won the right to choose the first fight by handing the first overall selection to his adversary.
Faber tried to play it safe, matching his third selection against Cruz’s fifth. During the early stages of the bout, it appeared as though Faber’s selection was a clever one, as Cruickshank picked apart a hesitant Vick.
Then everything changed. Cruickshank was caught with a knee to the dome and went night night.
The knee did not just change the course of the fight, nor just the course of the show. The moment that knee landed was the moment a reality show became reality—Cruz had defeated Faber.
Things got real.
After eliminating Faber’s third pick, Cruz decided to go for the jugular. He called out his No. 1 selection, Justin Lawrence, and deferred the right to choose an opponent to Faber.
The move left Dana White flabbergasted and Faber’s team quite literally speechless. The suspended animation of live television was dispelled only when Cruz finally intervened, calling Cristiano Marcello out of his chair.
On fight night, Lawrence sat the Brazilian right back down.
Beyond the fact that the win kept matchmaking rights on Cruz’s side, it removed Team Faber’s second fighter from the tournament.
Not one to switch up what was working, Cruz dropped the hammer by calling out Faber’s first selection, Al Iaquinta, to tussle with Myles Jury, Cruz’s third pick.
Team Faber needs a win like nothing else in this matchup. A loss means the team’s top three fighters are out, while Cruz builds a 3-0 lead, all the while keeping an ace up his sleeve in Sam Sicilia.
While Iaquinta looked impressive in the show’s first episode, Jury was the higher-regarded of the two entering the contest. And despite the inversion of expectations created by selection order, Jury enters this fight as the favorite.
A win for Team Cruz would give Dominick a stranglehold in The Ultimate Fighter.
Though it’s still early, the advantageous position Cruz finds himself in is emblematic of his growing dominance over archenemy Urijah Faber.
As two of the most successful fighters in the UFC’s bantamweight stable, Cruz and Faber are quite familiar with each other. Each combatant has defeated the other, with Faber reigning victorious in the first match, back in March of 2007, and Cruz winning the second in July of 2011.
Rather than multiple bouts producing a bevy of warm hugs and mutual respect, animosity has been born and born anew each time the two enter the cage together. They say familiarity breeds contempt, and the relationship between these two 135-pounders does the cliche nothing but justice.
But what was once a rivalry between equal adversaries is beginning to look more and more like a one-sided affair.
Take a look at the developments:
Cruz has not lost since his first fight with Urijah, nearly five years ago. Faber has gone 8-4 since then.
Cruz is entering his prime as a 26-year-old. Faber is exiting his prime at 32.
The most recent contest between the two saw Cruz winning a convincing decision, shutting down Faber’s wrestling and out-striking “The California Kid.”
The two are scheduled to hook ’em up in a rubber match this July, and just as it stand with The Ultimate Fighter, all signs point to “The Dominator” coming away victorious.
If you’re curious as to what can be gleaned from The Ultimate Fighter in regards to who will win the fight between coaches, the answer is nothing. The show is not the reason Cruz will once again defeat Faber; the show is simply another venue in which Cruz will beat Faber.
The Ultimate Fighter is not the beginning, nor the end, for the rivals—just another chapter. A coming-of-age-story for Cruz, and the backslide towards an unhappy ending for Faber.
You know that cliche, “never judge a book by its cover?” Today, we toss that out the window and get as superficial as we can.I know what you’re think. You’re thinking, “I’m not superficial, I don’t let appearances affect my opinion of anything or anyon…
You know that cliche, “never judge a book by its cover?” Today, we toss that out the window and get as superficial as we can.
I know what you’re think. You’re thinking, “I’m not superficial, I don’t let appearances affect my opinion of anything or anyone.”
It is an epidemic in our society: people are just too deep.
All I ask is that all you beautiful people do your best to bear with me for this one short article. Afterwards, you can go back to being the embodiments of depth that define Bleacher Report readers.
To establish some criteria for our exercise we will ignore the talent each camp hosts, we shall pay no homage to the legacy of its coaches and we certainly will not recognize the contributions the gym has made to the sport of MMA.
I stuck to recognizable gyms to limit the field a bit. All gyms on the list boast at least one well-known fighter.
But keep in mind, just because a gym is represented by a fellow or two that look like artists when they fight, this means nothing. Once again, we must be very, very shallow.
We aren’t looking for depth, we are just in the mood for something pretty.
Though the UFC’s flyweight eliminator tournament remains unfinished, there is little doubt who is poised to become the promotion’s inaugural 125-pound king.Joseph Benavidez entered the four-man tournament as a favorite and did nothing to shake the…
Though the UFC’s flyweight eliminator tournament remains unfinished, there is little doubt who is poised to become the promotion’s inaugural 125-pound king.
Joseph Benavidez entered the four-man tournament as a favorite and did nothing to shake the label when he obliterated Japanese standout, Yasuhiro Urushitani, at UFC on FX 2 this March.
Few expected Benavidez to falter in a match where he was so obviously the superior fighter, but the manner in which he handled his first-round adversary was impressive in spite of the expectations.
If there was any hope for Urushitani to pull out an unlikely victory, it had to come by strikes. Benavidez, however, beat his opponent to the punch. At just 0:11 of the second round, the California native splayed out his foe with a counter right hook that dashed the Japanese import’s hopes and placed Benavidez in the tournament finale.
Beating a fighter at his own game is by no means a new move in Benavidez’s repertoire. The Team Alpha Male product has made his mark in the sport by throwing hands with strikers and frustrating grapplers on the mat.
Miguel Torres and Wagnney Fabiano are two of the best grapplers the bantamweight division has to offer. Benavidez owns submission wins over both of them.
Eddie Wineland is regarded as one of the most dangerous strikers at 135 pounds. He fought Benavidez last summer and was able to keep the bout on the feet essentially the entire match. He suffered a decisive unanimous decision loss, along with about a gallon of blood and a properly functioning nasal passage.
Benavidez even gave bantamweight deity, Dominick Cruz, a run for his money. Twice. The second time the two squared off, “The Dominator” won a hotly contested split decision that featured extensive time in Cruz’s realm—on the feet.
Though he came up short against Cruz, Benavidez was able to establish himself as the second-best bantamweight on the planet, disposing of a bevy of top contenders and challenging one of the pound-for-pound greats to an extent no one has managed for years.
With the drop to flyweight, the UFC better start fitting his waist for a new belt.
The drop in weight class signifies a new era for Benavidez, one in which he has done away with physical disadvantages and shifted his focus from an old foe.
The most obvious advantage garnered by dropping in weight is that he will be bigger in comparison to the competition he faces. Though some of the newly minted division’s makeup will be comprised of other former bantamweights, Benavidez will be able to avoid some of the heftier 135ers. And, most importantly, he will avoid some of the taller and longer 135ers.
Benavidez stands at a diminutive 5’4″. At bantamweight, he regularly gave up three, four, five inches to opponents like Eddie Wineland and Dominick Cruz.
Right now, the tallest fighter in the UFC flyweight division is 5’5″. A nice divisional characteristic for a short fighter with a big right hook.
The next advantage Benavidez gains by dropping to 125 is that he avoids Cruz, the only man to defeat him at 135. Aside from his bouts with Cruz, Benavidez was able to weather a size disadvantage against world-class fighters. Now, he no longer has to worry about that either.
In fact, there is no champion, Cruz or otherwise, waiting to thwart the aspirations of Benavidez in the flyweight division.
When the time comes that there is a champion, it will be Benavidez himself. The American is a talented wrestler capable of controlling where a fight takes place and has the reserve skills of vicious submissions and powerful striking, rare in lower weight classes, in case he can’t play to his opponent’s weakness.
Both Ian McCall and Demetrious Johnson are good wrestlers themselves—perhaps as good as Benavidez. McCall’s secondary attribute is his striking while Johnson’s is his grappling.
But here’s the thing: Benavidez is a better striker than McCall and a better grappler than Johnson.
Regardless of who joins Benavidez in the flyweight tournament finale, he will win. He can grind decisions, he has one-punch knockout power and submissions that have foiled top BJJ practitioners. He will win because he is better than either potential opponent at every aspect of fighting.
After he stakes his claim to the 125-pound throne, the UFC will have to bring in some more contenders. When that happens, Benavidez will beat them. All of them.
Nothing is sure in MMA so take this as the hyperbole it is—the only thing that may potentially separate Joseph Benavidez from the UFC flyweight title in the next five years is that he vacates his position.
If the prospect of once more challenging for the bantamweight crown becomes more appealing than dominating the flyweight division after awhile, perhaps we will see a different champion at 125 pounds. But a second flyweight champion will remain entirely contingent upon Benavidez choosing it.
Benavidez will become one of the most dominant champions the UFC has ever produced and will carve out a name for himself alongside Anderson Silva, Georges St-Pierre, Jon Jones, Jose Aldo, Junior Dos Santos and Dominick Cruz as the one of the pound-for-pound best in mixed martial arts.
With her recent win over Miesha Tate, Ronda Rousey has become the heir-apparent to Gina Carano as the face of WMMA.Whereas Carano built her image on striking prowess and good looks, Rousey is a deadly combination of bloodlust and beauty, wielding&…
With her recent win over Miesha Tate, Ronda Rousey has become the heir-apparent to Gina Carano as the face of WMMA.
Whereas Carano built her image on striking prowess and good looks, Rousey is a deadly combination of bloodlust and beauty, wielding a vicious submission game and a knockout smile equally well.
Rousey’s ascent to queen of MMA was a bloodless coup, the throne vacated by Carano in favor of a place on the big screen.
While the departure of Carano was a blow to the sport, the real danger lies in her decision starting a trend. What if Rousey decides to follow in Carano’s footsteps? Where would WMMA be then? The picture is pretty bleak.
But, we are not here to dwell on the negative. We are here to look on the bright side. As is the case with the loss of Carano, WMMA’s loss of Rousey would be Hollywood’s gain, and there are a number of roles out there suited perfectly for the former Olympian.
The following 20 potential roles are just the tip of the iceberg for Rousey, who could star in an endless number of cinematic masterpieces over the next decade alone.
Cyborg Santos versus Gina Carano. Meisha Tate versus Ronda Rousey.In the short history of female MMA these are the only two fights that have garnered the attention of people outside a small niche audience. Of the four fighters comprising thos…
Cyborg Santos versus Gina Carano.
Meisha Tate versus Ronda Rousey.
In the short history of female MMA these are the only two fights that have garnered the attention of people outside a small niche audience.
Of the four fighters comprising those bouts, Gina Carano has made the move to the big screen and Tate has failed to prove she is on the level. All that remains is Rousey and Cyborg.
Sure, there are other credible fighters out there. Marloes Coenen and Sarah Kaufman come to mind. But while good fighters in their own right, they are incapable of captivating the type of audience Rousey and Cyborg can.
This situation should supply its own solution. Cyborg should fight Rousey.
The bout would be the biggest fight ever in female MMA. It would be bigger than Tate-Rousey and Cyborg-Carano.
Cyborg is nursing a bruised ego inflicted by a failed PED test, but when she returns, Rousey will be waiting. The two women fight at different weight classes, but 10 pounds should be no bar to announcing the arrival of female MMA.
Though it won’t be long before this fantasy becomes reality, I am here to preemptively shatter the suspense. When it does happen, Ronda Rousey will defeat Cyborg Santos, and will do so convincingly.
The latest installment of the The Ultimate Fighter has not been long in establishing itself as a microcosm of reality. It is a reality show after all, but the reality I refer to is not the exhibition of real people enacting an unscripted performance.