Just minutes after the news broke that Rory MacDonald would be forced out of UFC 158 due to injury, the UFC has a new co-main event already set for their March 16 return to the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Johny Hendricks will now face Carl…
Just minutes after the news broke that Rory MacDonald would be forced out of UFC 158 due to injury, the UFC has a new co-main event already set for their March 16 return to the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Johny Hendricks will now face Carlos Condit in a welterweight showdown as the new UFC 158 co-main event as confirmed by UFC officials to Bleacher Report on Monday night.
Johny Hendricks was originally set to face Jake Ellenberger on the highly anticipated card, but Ellenberger will now instead face a replacement opponent to be determined at a later date.
Johny Hendricks has made a quick rise up the ranks of the UFC’s welterweight division with three big wins over top-10 opponents over the past year-and-a-half, flattening former title contender Jon Fitch in 12 seconds and following that up with a 46-second knockout over Martin Kampmann in November.
Now, Hendricks will draw the fighter who was just seconds away from defeating the UFC welterweight champ in his last fight.
Carlos Condit returns looking to bounce back from a loss to Georges St-Pierre after almost catching and finishing the champion in the third round of their title fight (also at the Bell Centre) in November. Condit blasted GSP with a head kick in the third round and appeared seconds away from victory, but the tough Canadian persevered and weathered the storm to battle back for the win.
Condit now has a great chance to jump right back in line for a title fight with a win over two-time NCAA wrestling champ Johny Hendricks.
The new Condit-Hendricks matchup will precede the UFC 158 headliner pitting champion Georges St-Pierre against Nick Diaz for the UFC welterweight title.
Damon Martin is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report
A rematch nearly three years in the making will have to wait a little longer after Rory MacDonald suffered a training injury, forcing him out of UFC 158 and his scheduled fight against Carlos Condit.MMAFighting.com reported the news on Monday and …
A rematch nearly three years in the making will have to wait a little longer after Rory MacDonald suffered a training injury, forcing him out of UFC 158 and his scheduled fight against Carlos Condit.
MMAFighting.com reported the news on Monday and subsequently confirmed to Bleacher Report that MacDonald is indeed off the UFC 158 fight card.
MacDonald hurt his neck while training at his home camp in Montreal, and while the severity of the injury is unknown, he will not be able to face Condit in March.
Condit was notified over the weekend that MacDonald would be unable to fight, and it’s expected that he will face a replacement opponent and remain on the UFC 158 card.
The news of MacDonald’s injury cancels what was set to be the UFC 158 co-main event underneath the title fight pitting Georges St-Pierre against Nick Diaz for the UFC welterweight title.
MacDonald had been gunning for a rematch with Condit ever since losing to him in 2010 and continued to stalk the former WEC champion before and after his UFC on FOX 5 fight with BJ Penn.
MacDonald dismantled Penn for the better part of 15 minutes and then immediately made the declaration that he wanted Condit next. He got his wish when UFC officials granted the rematch and placed the fight in Montreal at UFC 158.
Unfortunately, as injuries happen in MMA, MacDonald was unable to make it through his training camp and now has to sit on the sidelines and hope he can get a crack at Condit at a later time.
Meanwhile, Condit waits for word on a new opponent as the UFC searches for a top-flight welterweight to fill the spot.
UFC 158 already features some of the division’s top fighters booked on the card, but a few names exist that could jump in on short notice if willing.
Former Strikeforce champion Jake Shields called for a fight against Condit when speaking to Bleacher Report earlier this month, and actually has a win over him from a fight the two had in 2006 while competing in the Rumble on the Rock promotion in Hawaii. Shields said specifically at the time he would even be willing to step in on short notice to face Condit at UFC 158 if anything happened to MacDonald.
Two other names that could receive a call from matchmaker Joe Silva include former Strikeforce welterweight champion Tarec Saffiedine or Tyron Woodley, fresh off of his first-round destruction of Jay Hieron at UFC 156.
It’s unknown at this time, however, if any of those three will get the call or if Carlos Condit will face an entirely new opponent.
Cris “Cyborg” Santos will finally return to action in early April as part of Invicta Fighting Championships, but there is still a chance she could end up in the UFC as part of a superfight against current bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey. Just last w…
Cris “Cyborg” Santos will finally return to action in early April as part of Invicta Fighting Championships, but there is still a chance she could end up in the UFC as part of a superfight against current bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey.
Just last week after requesting for her release from Zuffa (parent company of the UFC and her former employers at Strikeforce), Cyborg signed a three-fight deal with Invicta beginning with her April 5 showdown against EdianeGomes.
Over the weekend, UFC president Dana Whitesat baffled at the decision to sign a deal directly with Invicta when they had an offer on the table to put her under contract to the UFC and still let her fight in the all-women’s promotion.
Now as Cyborg’s manager, former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz, explains it there were more moving parts than just signing a deal with the UFC and going to fight in Invicta.
“We wanted to make the deal happen with the UFC. Negotiations were between me and Dana and it was for a four-fight deal with the fourth fight being against Ronda (Rousey), three fights going to Invicta and the fourth fight would be against Ronda. We were going to do a catchweight of 140 (pounds) and they said ‘OK we’ll call you back and we’re going to find out,'” Ortiz explained in an exclusive interview with Bleacher Report on Sunday.
“I wait two days and I get a call back and they said ‘no, we’ll do an eight-fight deal, we’ll send her to Invicta, have her fight three fights and next year we’ll have her fight against Ronda at 140 possibly,’ but there’s no exact direction what (weight) they wanted to use. So it really came down to the factor of them going back and forth.”
Ortiz says recent comments about how “irrelevant” his client apparently is, is becoming part of their ultimate decision to do a deal directly with Invicta for fewer fights overall, but hopefully strengthening their bargaining power if Cyborg wins all of those fights.
“Why would we allow our client to commit to such a long deal with no real plans or commitments to fight in the UFC? Why would we agree to a deal where an organization labels her as irrelevant as Dana (White) kept saying how irrelevant Cyborg was? We didn’t run away from the fight. We just asked for her release to sign a three-fight deal with Invicta,” Ortiz stated.
“She’ll fight the No. 2 contender at 145 pounds and then she’ll fight for the title against their 145-pound champ and then maybe Dana will have a little bit more respect for Cris Cyborg and value her as a counterpart for any superfight in women’s MMA.”
Ortiz may be a new player in the world of management for other fighters, but he negotiated and worked for his own career in the UFC for many years and now he believes he’s in a unique position to use what he learned to help his clients.
He won’t deny that money did play a factor in why they ultimately chose to sign with Invicta over the UFC, and he wanted to get a maximum deal for Cris Cyborg after she apparently didn’t experience much windfall in the wake of her becoming the Strikeforce women’s champion in 2009.
“The money had a lot to do with it,” Ortiz admitted. “I mean for once I can actually complain about money because I’m not the one fighting, it’s my clients. There’s a lot of little details that go upon a fight contract in general that we really look out for, that I looked for during my career, and now I’m able to battle for those things. At the end of the day, I talked to Cris Cyborg, she came to me and she was like ‘Tito, I became the world champion and nothing in my life changed, all I had around my waist was a gold piece of metal on a piece of leather, that’s all I had, nothing changed.'”
“People have go to understand, fighters are killing themselves to make billions for these companies, and if these guys become billionaires, come out of their pocket a little bit and let’s help the fighters.”
For years, Ortiz has been leading the charge on fighters getting paid more money and it appears he’s going to continue that battle now that he’s a manager in the sport as well. The goal now is for Cris Cyborg to go out and wreck shop in Invicta and then possibly go back to the negotiating table with the UFC.
“Instead of signing an eight-fight deal, we signed a three-fight deal. Guaranteed championship fight, the UFC only had one weight class that would have limited her to only fight in that one weight class. I really wanted to look out for my client and make the right decision,” Ortiz said.
“I’m very happy with this decision. I think it was the best decision because we still left it on the table with the UFC for the Ronda Rousey fight to start.”
And the Ronda Rousey fight is exactly what Cris Cyborg wants long term, it’s just not going to happen right now. Ortiz says Rousey has made this fight personal and it’s no longer just about business.
“Cris Cyborg still wants to kick her ass whether (Ronda) wins or loses,” Ortiz explained about the growing rivalry between the two women fighters. “It’s personal to her and a lot of people don’t understand that. Cris doesn’t care, she goes ‘Tito, if I’m still the champ, I still want to kick her ass, I want to cave her face in.'”
“She made it really personal with her, this is going back to me and Ken Shamrock where it was real. It didn’t need a company to sell this fight, it was emotional already just because of the things Ronda said about Cyborg. If you’ve ever seen one of Cyborg’s highlight tapes—I don’t think Ronda wants to be on those tapes.”
The biggest question still remains: Will we ever see Cris Cyborg vs. Ronda Rousey in the UFC?
Ortiz answers that question with a resounding “yes” and believes it’s only a matter of time before fans can see the biggest fight in women’s MMA history, if for no other reason than everyone involved has the chance to make a boatload of money.
“100 percent the fight will happen,” said Ortiz. “If Dana wants to make millions upon millions, and I know he does ’cause this is a good $15 to $20 million dollar fight they would make out of it. If they want the fight to happen, it’s going to happen. I don’t think we really care if it’s for a title. Cris doesn’t care if it’s for the title, she just wants to fight her, she wants to cave her face in. ‘I hate the b****,’ as she says.”
Damon Martin is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report and all quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.
Cris “Cyborg” Santos has signed a multi-fight deal with Invicta Fighting Championship, but according to UFC president Dana White, she could have been under contract with the UFC and still fought for Invicta until her manager Tito Ortiz asked for her re…
Cris “Cyborg” Santos has signed a multi-fight deal with Invicta Fighting Championship, but according to UFC president Dana White, she could have been under contract with the UFC and still fought for Invicta until her manager Tito Ortiz asked for her release.
Santos has been in the middle of an ongoing battle for her future after stating on several occasions that she would be unable to cut down from 145 pounds to 135 pounds to fight in the lone women’s division the UFC currently supports.
So last week, Santos’ manager, former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz, asked for her release from the promotion, allowing her to sign with another organization.
Then on Friday, Ortiz along with his client announced that she had indeed signed a deal with Invicta, the all women’s MMA promotion and would debut at the next card coming up in April.
Dana White revealed on Saturday when speaking to reporters that the UFC had a plan in place for Cyborg that included her fighting for Invicta, but ultimately she ended up asking for her release instead.
“So we were going to sign her to a contract and we were going to have her fight in Invicta, which means we pay all the bills for her to fight in Invicta. It would be under a UFC contract with all the perks and benefits of being a UFC fighter and would fight in Invicta. So instead of doing that they chose to not do that and fight in Invicta,” White said to Bleacher Report. “If you can make logic out of that whole f—king situation, you’re a better man than I am.”
White said the plan was hatched when he spoke to Invicta FC president Shannon Knapp because he wanted to keep Cyborg in the UFC but allow her to fight in another promotion for the time being. Invicta currently has fighters at 145 pounds, whereas the UFC does not.
“We don’t have a 145-pound division so we’re going back and forth with these guys and this deal, so I called the girl Shannon Knapp who owns Invicta and said look if I do this deal with Cyborg and you give her fights over there, I’ll pay the bills you put on the fights over there till I can figure out how this whole thing’s going to go down. She goes absolutely no problem, we’d love to do it,” White explained about the UFC working with Invicta.
“The next thing I know they want out of the contract and then they sign with them.”
At this point, Cyborg is still signed with Invicta and fighting at 145 pounds, and hypothetically she could still eventually land in the UFC. For now she has been completely released from the promotion, and the UFC no longer foots the bill.
“Thanks Tito,” White said with a laugh when talking about the entire ordeal.
Whatever the reasoning was behind the deal, Cyborg is no longer under UFC contract and now has a deal with Invicta. She will debut in early April against Ediane “India” Gomes as part of the next major Invicta card.
The question remains, however: Will Cris “Cyborg” Santos ever appear in the UFC?
Damon Martin is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report, and all quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.
Renan Barao became the first non-heavyweight in UFC history to defend an interim title with his win over Michael McDonald in the UFC on Fuel 7 main event. While interim titles have popped up from time to time in UFC history, rarely does the promotion l…
RenanBarao became the first non-heavyweight in UFC history to defend an interim title with his win over Michael McDonald in the UFC on Fuel 7 main event.
While interim titles have popped up from time to time in UFC history, rarely does the promotion like to use them or much less have them defended if they can help it.
Only in times of injury when a champion has been sidelined for extended periods of time has the UFC opted to introduce interim titles, like the one that Barao currently holds after bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz shredded his knee and required two separate surgeries to repair the damage.
UFC President Dana White hopes to eliminate the interim bantamweight title sometime this summer if Cruz can return healthy and finally face Barao to determine the undisputed 135-pound champion.
“As soon as Cruz is healthy,” White answered when asked when he would like to unify the titles when speaking to Bleacher Report after the UFC on Fuel 7 press conference. “I hope this summer.”
Cruz suffered the knee injury prior to his scheduled matchup with Urijah Faber in July 2012, but the had a setback when the ligament didn’t hold and his doctors had to go in and essentially redo the surgery for a second time. The setback forced Cruz back into the operating room and out of action once again.
The last time Cruz fought was when he defeated Demetrious Johnson at UFC on Versus in October 2011.
The champion has been sitting on the sidelines since then just waiting on his knee to fully heal so he can get back in action.
If his rehabilitation goes well over these next few months, the hope is for Cruz to get cleared and return to full training, and then meet Barao during the summer months to unify the titles.
Damon Martin is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report and all quotes were obtained first hand unless otherwise noted.
There is a laundry list of fights that the UFC has theorized about that never actually came together, but rarely does the world hear about them. On Saturday night following the UFC on Fuel 7 fight card, Dana White spoke with the media about a number of…
There is a laundry list of fights that the UFC has theorized about that never actually came together, but rarely does the world hear about them.
On Saturday night following the UFC on Fuel 7 fight card, Dana White spoke with the media about a number of subjects, but one of them happened to be the potential fight they had lined up for former UFC heavyweight champion Josh Barnett if he signed with the promotion.
Barnett was in negotiations with the UFC following the final fight on his Strikeforce contract that expired in January, but unfortunately a deal could not be struck in time and the two sides parted ways.
White revealed that if Barnett signed the deal he would have been matched up with former UFC heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos at UFC 160 for his first fight back in the Octagon since leaving the promotion in 2002.
Once Barnett was out of the picture, the UFC moved instead to match up Dos Santos with former Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem, and now those two will meet at UFC 160 in May.
There has been no hard feelings between White and Barnett even though a deal could not be completed, and that continued on Saturday night. White says he has no doubt that Barnett would have taken the fight with Dos Santos without a problem, but he’s free to fight for the UFC or any organization he chooses.
“I’m sure Josh Barnett wouldn’t care (who he fought),” White said to Bleacher Report. “Josh Barnett is a fly by the seat of his pants kind of guy, he does his own thing, beats to his own f—king drum. Josh Barnett’s never been a guy to say I don’t want to fight this guy or I won’t fight that guy. He’s not that type of person.”
Unfortunately, the Barnett vs. Dos Santos fight remains a fantasy for now because the deal didn’t get done and now an entirely new bout has been made instead.
The door still appears open for Barnett to sign with the UFC at some point down the road if he chooses, but right now his management team continues to negotiate and look for the best possible home to land the services of “The Warmaster.”
Damon Martin is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report and all quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.
Just minutes after the news broke that Rory MacDonald would be forced out of UFC 158 due to injury, the UFC has a new co-main event already set for their March 16 return to the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.