For all the grief we give the guy, we owe him a second photo of this submission. (Pic: UFC.com)
There were a score of unofficial bonuses dealt out last night. Tito got to keep his job and shut up his many, many detractors. Cruz evened the scorecards against Faber and avenged his only loss. Chris Leben bounced back from a crippling Gummi Bear addiction to score a vicious 27 second KO victory over Wanderlei Silva. As if that weren’t enough, the UFC handed out a quartet of its official, more financially lucrative $75k bonuses as well.
For all the grief we give the guy, we owe him a second photo of this submission. (Pic: UFC.com)
There were a score of unofficial bonuses dealt out last night. Tito got to keep his job and shut up his many, many detractors. Cruz evened the scorecards against Faber and avenged his only loss. Chris Leben bounced back from a crippling Gummi Bear addiction to score a vicious 27 second KO victory over Wanderlei Silva. As if that weren’t enough, the UFC handed out a quartet of its official, more financially lucrative $75k bonuses as well.
It was the UFC’s first bout for the Bantamweight strap, and Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber did their damnedest to put the little guys on the map in their “Fight of the Night” performance. They gave us five full rounds of the high-energy, dynamic style best exemplified by the sport’s lower weight divisions, and in doing so they may have secured a rubber-match in the near future.
He not only needed a win, he needed it against an opponent that few gave him a chance of beating. Tito Ortiz didn’t just earn the victory, he ended the fight in under two minutes and picked up the evening’s “Submission of the Night” bonus along the way. This was a very big win for the former champion, and it felt a little nostalgic to see the old “grave digger” routine once again.
UFC 132’s “Knock Out of the Night” was delivered by Carlos Condit, who earned his third straight bonus courtesy of a flying knee that dropped Dong “Stun Gun” Kim. A few follow up punches on the ground put Kim out just shy of three minutes into the first round. Now riding a four fight win streak with three consecutive stoppages, expect Condit’s calls for a title shot to grow louder.
First win since 2006? Yeah, we’d probably savor the moment a little longer than we should as well. (Pic: MMAWeekly.com)
Just a few fights into last night night’s card I was looking at my watch. It wasn’t because the fights were boring, nor because my wings had yet to arrive. It was the pace at which the fights, and fighters, were dropping. For the first time ever, I was concerned that the UFC didn’t have enough lame movie and video game promos to spam throughout the event. In more ways than one, time was the theme of UFC 132. The evening’s bouts marked the end of a long run, good and bad, for many of the fighters on the card.
(4 Years, 3 Months) Tito’s last taste of victory
Have you ever seen anyone so elated to win a fight? Rightfully so, as there was no ambiguity as to “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy’s” position in the UFC: win, or get the fuck out. Few gave him a chance against Ryan Bader, a guy who seemed to hold every advantage and who’d amassed an impressive 11-1 record, all during Tito’s infamous slide down the rankings. Ortiz quickly connected with a short right hook, dropping his opponent to the mat, and less than two minutes into the fight Bader was quite literally choking in his second consecutive defeat. As much as we give Tito a hard time—and it is almost always deserved—it was nice to see him finally get a win in the organization that he helped carry for many years. Now, can he do it again?
First win since 2006? Yeah, we’d probably savor the moment a little longer than we should as well. (Pic: MMAWeekly.com)
Just a few fights into last night night’s card I was looking at my watch. It wasn’t because the fights were boring, nor because my wings had yet to arrive. It was the pace at which the fights, and fighters, were dropping. For the first time ever, I was concerned that the UFC didn’t have enough lame movie and video game promos to spam throughout the event. In more ways than one, time was the theme of UFC 132. The evening’s bouts marked the end of a long run, good and bad, for many of the fighters on the card.
(4 Years, 3 Months) Tito’s last taste of victory
Have you ever seen anyone so elated to win a fight? Rightfully so, as there was no ambiguity as to “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy’s” position in the UFC: win, or get the fuck out. Few gave him a chance against Ryan Bader, a guy who seemed to hold every advantage and who’d amassed an impressive 11-1 record, all during Tito’s infamous slide down the rankings. Ortiz quickly connected with a short right hook, dropping his opponent to the mat, and less than two minutes into the fight Bader was quite literally choking in his second consecutive defeat. As much as we give Tito a hard time—and it is almost always deserved—it was nice to see him finally get a win in the organization that he helped carry for many years. Now, can he do it again?
(4 Years, 4 Months) Wanderlei’s Pride reign of terror ended
We hate to say it, but “Uncle Chael” was right. We all knew it would be a wild brawl with one man going out on his shield, but no one expected (or at least no one wanted) to see a legend crumbled so quickly. Wanderlei Silva, the longtime savior of Japanese bloodlust, has gone a depressing 2-4 since bringing his violent talents stateside, and he’s once again found himself on the business end of a highlight reel knock out. Although he exited Pride on a two-fight skid, he was still considered a savage in his prime; those days are gone. While Tito has likely staved off his pink slip for now, Dana White said that this is “probably the end of the road for Wanderlei” at the post fight presser. As tough as it is to see stars slowly fade away, it’s more painful to see them snuffed out quickly. Silva’s berserker-style isn’t a double-edged sword, it’s a double-edged battle axe, and if this was his last fight it’s been an honor to watch him swing it with reckless abandon.
(4 Years, 3 Months) Cruz waits for revenge
It took a perfect 9-0 stretch to earn Dominick Cruz his first shot at Urijah Faber back in 2007, and less than two minutes for the WEC Featherweight Champ to hand him his first and only loss. Since that time Cruz strung together another eight consecutive wins and picked up a WEC/UFC belt of his own, but until last night he’d have to wait for his revenge. The evening’s “Fight of the Night” was a razor thin, tough-to-call decision in favor of “The Dominator” (50-45? Probably not). The back and forth action lasted the full five rounds, stealing the show on a card chock-full of “holy shit” stoppages. Prior to 132 there was talk of Brian Bowles earning his shot with a win over Mizugaki, and there’s a nice storyline in him challenging the man that took his belt, but there are already murmurs of a rubber match between Faber and Cruz and from where Dana White’s sitting those two may have pre-sold tickets to that event last night.
Main Bouts (On Pay-Per-View):
-Dominick Cruz def. Uirjah Faber by Unanimous Decision (50-45, 49-46, 48-47), R5
-Chris Leben def. Wanderlei Silva by KO (Punch) at 0:27, R1
-Dennis Siver def. Matt Wiman by Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28), R3
-Tito Ortiz def. Ryan Bader by Submission (Guillotine Choke) at 1:56, R1
-Carlos Condit def. Dong Hyun Kim by TKO (Strikes) at 2:58, R1
Preliminary Bouts (On Spike/Rogers):
-Melvin Guillard def. Shane Roller by KO (Punch) at 2:12, R1
-Rafael dos Anjos def. George Sotiropoulos by KO (Punch) at 0:59, R1
Preliminary Bouts (On Facebook):
-Brian Bowles def. Takeya Mizugaki by Unanimous Decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27), R3
-Aaron Simpson def. Brad Tavares by Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27), R3
-Anthony Njokuani def. Andre Winner by Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-26, 30-26), R3
-Jeff Hougland def. Donny Walker by Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27), R3
Only days removed from his suspension, MMA’s best trash talker is eager to get his mug back in the spotlight. When asked his thoughts on tonight’s battle between fellow middleweights Chris Leben and Wanderlei Silva, Chael wasted little time in slinging some mud and continuing his verbal tirade on Wanderlei.
Neither Chael’s desire to face the “Axe Murderer” in his return bout nor his delusion that he is the Middleweight Champion have waned. The short video is peppered with gems which prove that Sonnen isn’t suffering from the dreaded mic-rust.
Only days removed from his suspension, MMA’s best trash talker is eager to get his mug back in the spotlight. When asked his thoughts on tonight’s battle between fellow middleweights Chris Leben and Wanderlei Silva, Chael wasted little time in slinging some mud and continuing his verbal tirade on Wanderlei.
Neither Chael’s desire to face the “Axe Murderer” in his return bout nor his delusion that he is the Middleweight Champion have waned. The short video is peppered with gems which prove that Sonnen isn’t suffering from the dreaded mic-rust.
On how this fight will go:
“Eventually Wanderlei’s fights all end the same. You know, the referee pulling his mouthpiece out and a doctor shining a flashlight in his eyes. Until that happens I think it will be a pretty fun match to watch, but I don’t think it’s going to be ultra-competitive. I think it’s going to be Chris Leben.”
On his next course of action:
“I’m looking forward to getting back in there and defending my Middleweight Championship.”
On who he’d like to fight next:
“Either of the Silvas, from Anderson Silva to Wanderlei Silva, but that’s just because I don’t like them, that’s not because they would do much for me.”
Yeah, Chael, I could see where a second shot at achieving your lifelong dream of being a UFC champion and avenging a loss to a guy that stole victory from your hands in the closing seconds of a bout is kind of a dead-end path for you. Hey, check your schedule, and if you’re free one weekend maybe you could pencil it in?
“…and those are the seven key differences between Durum Wheat and Hard White Wheat. Next question, please.”
The UFC continued their always entertaining series of Fighter Q&A sessions last night with Matt Hughes joining announcer Mike Goldberg on stage. As usual, Hughes shoots from the hip and shares his thoughts on everything from GSP’s standing in the sport to the recent testosterone replacement controversy, but one thing he doesn’t feel comfortable talking about is tonight’s fights. The reason? He really hasn’t seen many of the guys compete.
If you’re interested in catching the hour-long video, check it out here. If you learned nothing from your high school reliance on Cliffs Notes and want to continue eeking by on second-hand information, join us after the jump for a recap of the highlights.
“…and those are the seven key differences between Durum Wheat and Hard White Wheat. Next question, please.”
The UFC continued their always entertaining series of Fighter-Fan Q&A sessions last night with Matt Hughes joining announcer Mike Goldberg on stage. As usual, Hughes shoots from the hip and shares his thoughts on everything from GSP’s standing in the sport to the recent testosterone replacement controversy, but one thing he doesn’t feel comfortable talking about is tonight’s fights. The reason? He really hasn’t seen many of the guys compete.
If you’re interested in catching the hour-long video, check it out here. If you learned nothing from your high school reliance on Cliffs Notes and want to continue eeking by on second-hand information, join us after the jump for a recap of the highlights.
– Hughes is at the point in his career where he just wants interesting fights. He thinks the Diego Sanchez fight is one the fans want to see, and he has no concerns about Diego fading in the later rounds. Diego is a guy that comes ready to fight, so he’s excited for the challenge.
– When asked about the Royce fight, Hughes shares that he was frozen for the first twenty seconds once they hit the ground. He had no intention of grappling with the UFC’s first champion, and when they did go down he was worried that Royce was going to slap on some “magical Gracie move” that no one had ever seen. Once he relaxed and composed himself, he felt confident in his game and in control of the fight. He would have been happy to break Royce’s arm and end the fight, but he was expending too much energy and decided to release the hold and look for something else.
– Hughes feels that GSP may have a mental weak spot caused by the loss to Matt Serra. The bout with Nick Diaz will be the first time GSP has fought someone in better shape than he is. Although the Stockton native has a unique style, Georges holds an advantage in every aspect of the fight game. Hughes feels that a mentally prepared GSP also takes out Anderson Silva should that fight ever take place.
– As he’s stated before, Hughes only watches bouts that he has a special interest in, whether it’s a training partner or friend competing or simply an intriguing bout. He was asked numerous times about tonight’s match ups, but almost without fail he said that he wasn’t familiar enough with the fighters to evaluate the bout, even stating that he’d never seen Dominick Cruz fight. The only bouts that he did comment on were the Tito-Bader and Leben-Wanderlei fights. While he didn’t really break them down, his money is on Bader and Leben.
– You could see that Hughes was dying to tell some stories about Tito, even bringing it up on more than one occasion, but in the end he won the internal struggle to remain silent out of respect for Tito’s mindset leading into tonight’s competition. Hughes tends to pull no punches in his tales, so hopefully he’ll share some of these stories down the road.
– Growing up on the farm, his family lived five miles away from the nearest kid, so he and his twin brother Mark had few other places to turn for friendship and competition. Hughes describes the competitive drive against his brother as a sickness: “I want the faster truck, the stronger truck, the better looking wife, the more disciplined kids.”
– In preparation for his fight against Diego Sanchez, Hughes will travel around quite a bit for his training. He will once again pair up with BJ Penn and hopes that BJ’s experience in training for and fighting against Diego will offer him some insight into the bout. Regarding his sale of the “HIT Squad”, he didn’t enjoy the hour long drive to get to the gym and didn’t feel like any of his training partners there threatened him or put him in dangerous situations and that he wouldn’t grow as a fighter if he was always the top dog.
– As one of the older guys in the UFC, he’s totally against testosterone replacement therapy and thinks it’s a real problem in MMA and other sports. Hughes says never put any sort of substance into his body.
– Mike Goldberg has countless quotes that he’d rather we all forget, but there is one that he’s serious about protecting. The long-time UFC announcer revealed that he actually owns the copyright to his post-stoppage yell: “It is ALLLLL over!!!!”
If you caught last night’s weigh-ins and aren’t amped up for this event, something is wrong with you. No, it wasn’t as eventful as last weekend’s affair, but that’s a good thing as all bouts are expected to take place this evening.
Everyone lived up to their contractual agreements and made weight, and everyone lived up to societal expectations and played their respective roles to a tee. If psychotically tense staredowns are an accurate predictor of fights, only time stands between Chris Leben, Wanderlei Silva, and a brawl for the ages. Tito did his best high school bully impression, unsuccessfully trying yet again to make his opponent flinch during the face-off. As for Faber and Cruz, there’s nothing to be said between these two that a few hundred kicks and punches couldn’t say better.
After the jump, check out the Cruz-Faber and Bader-Ortiz weigh-ins and get the full results from the scales.
If you caught last night’s weigh-ins and aren’t amped up for this event, something is wrong with you. No, it wasn’t as eventful as last weekend’s affair, but that’s a good thing as all bouts are expected to take place this evening.
Everyone lived up to their contractual agreements and made weight, and everyone lived up to societal expectations and played their respective roles to a tee. If psychotically tense staredowns are an accurate predictor of fights, only time stands between Chris Leben, Wanderlei Silva, and a brawl for the ages. Tito did his best high school bully impression, unsuccessfully trying yet again to make his opponent flinch during the face-off. As for Faber and Cruz, there’s nothing to be said between these two that a few hundred kicks and punches couldn’t say better.
Pay-Per-View Bouts
Dominick Cruz (134) vs. Urijah Faber (135)
Wanderlei Silva (186) vs. Chris Leben (185)
Tito Ortiz (205) vs. Ryan Bader (205)
Carlos Condit (170) vs. Dong Hyun Kim (171)
Dennis Siver (156) vs. Matt Wiman (156)
Spike TV Preliminary Bouts
George Sotiropoulos (156) vs. Rafael Dos Anjos (155)
Melvin Guillard (155) vs. Shane Roller (155)
Preliminary Bouts
Brad Tavares (186) vs. Aaron Simpson (185)
Brian Bowles (135) vs. Takeya Mizugaki (136)
Anthony Njokuani (156) vs. Andre Winner (155)
Jeff Hougland (135) vs. Donny Walker (135)
With their featherweight tourney already underway, Bellator would like to remind you that they’ve got some big boys that can throw down too. Two fights have been announced for their upcoming Bellator 48 card, going down on August 20th.
With their featherweight tourney already underway, Bellator would like to remind you that they’ve got some big boys that can throw down too. Two fights have been announced for their upcoming Bellator 48 card, going down on August 20th.
