Author: Dustin Filloy

UFC 158: Will Fighting at Home Give Georges St-Pierre an Edge over Nick Diaz?

Some fighters revel in the chance to perform under the bright lights of their home arenas. But for others, competing in front of family members, friends and acquaintances just proves too daunting of a task.For longtime UFC welterweight k…

Some fighters revel in the chance to perform under the bright lights of their home arenas. But for others, competing in front of family members, friends and acquaintances just proves too daunting of a task.

For longtime UFC welterweight kingpin Georges St-Pierre, the former certainly rings true when he fights at Montreal’s Bell Centre.

Although “GSP” and Nick Diaz have both maintained that the location of their tilts has little to do with what ensues in the cage, St-Pierre will enjoy the home-arena advantage for the third time in four fights against Diaz at UFC 158.

St-Pierre has fought in title fights at the Bell Centre three times since 2008, becoming the undisputed champion against Matt Serra at UFC 83 and then defending his strap against both Josh Koscheck at UFC 124 and Carlos Condit at UFC 154.

St-Pierre also capitalized on the privilege of facing Jake Shields in Toronto at the historic UFC 129, defending his belt at an event that drew a record 55,724 fans to the Rogers Centre, the bulk of whom were pulling for GSP.

He’s 7-0 in his career when fighting in Montreal, but St-Pierre remains adamant that his home-arena advantage has had little to do with his remarkable run in the UFC.

At the UFC 158 pre-fight press conference, GSP continued to downplay the significance of fighting in his hometown:

It’s not really an advantage. The good thing about it is my parents and close relatives will be able to see the fight and come to see me fight live. But, yeah, the crowd (is) gonna give me the pump, you know, and everything, but there’s only me and Nick. Nick and I in the cage. Nobody will help us. Nobody else will help me, so I’m ready for that.

In typical Diaz form, the former Strikeforce champion jokingly played off the idea of being at a disadvantage fighting in Montreal:

I don’t think they test for steroids out here. But, no, it’s cold, it’s cold. … I’m used to doing most of my fights in (Las) Vegas or San Jose, but, you know, I’d like to get up here a little earlier. It’s kind of cold out here. A little dry. So that’s the only thing that comes to mind.

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Dan Henderson vs Lyoto Machida: Does the Winner Deserve a Shot at Jon Jones?

Their reasons may have differed, but both Dan Henderson and Lyoto Machida squandered previous opportunities to square off with UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones. When Henderson had to bow out of the historical UFC 151, promotional president Dana…

Their reasons may have differed, but both Dan Henderson and Lyoto Machida squandered previous opportunities to square off with UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones.

When Henderson had to bow out of the historical UFC 151, promotional president Dana White reached out to Machida, essentially begging the former champion to step in for the injured former Pride and Strikeforce champ.

Machida refused the fight on account of time constraints in his training camp for Jones, the man who choked him unconscious at UFC 140.

But more than six months after the debacle that was UFC 151, “Hendo” and “The Dragon” each once again find themselves on the cusp of reaching the big dance.

A murky scenario in the light heavyweight title scope has solidified Henderson and Machida as the alpha dogs in the division, aside from Jones of course.

So Henderson and Machida, the No. 1 and 2 contenders at light heavyweight, according to the UFC rankings, will basically tangle in a title eliminator bout at UFC 157, with the winner almost definitely to lock horns with the winner of the Jones vs. Chael Sonnen tilt at UFC 159.

Here are a few reasons the winner of the Henderson vs. Machida scrap deserves a shot at the winner of the Jones vs. Sonnen bout.

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Georges St-Pierre and 5 Best Defensive Grapplers in MMA Today

Several mainstays in the UFC have maintained job security by consistently producing enthralling submissions.Promotional staples like Joe Lauzon, Charles Oliveira and Jim Miller have each displayed phenomenal offensive grappling skills, submitting fello…

Several mainstays in the UFC have maintained job security by consistently producing enthralling submissions.

Promotional staples like Joe Lauzon, Charles Oliveira and Jim Miller have each displayed phenomenal offensive grappling skills, submitting fellow Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belts and garnering Submission of the Night bonus checks on several occasions.

But in the same vein, some of the UFC’s best offensive grapplers have ultimately found themselves on the other end of the spectrum. Lauzon has been submitted three times in his career, Oliveira tapped to a Miller kneebar, and Miller got guillotined by Nate Diaz.

George Sotiropolous floored Lauzon three times, and Kenny Florian and Jamie Varner each grounded him twice. Miller got taken down seven times by Benson Henderson and four times by both Mark Bocek and Gleison Tibau. And Oliveira surrendered a pair of takedowns to Nik Lentz and had his guard passed twice by Efrain Escudero.

Not to trivialize their ground games, but guys like Lauzon, Oliveira and Miller each have a bit of refining to do if they want to avoid tapping again in the future.

Here’s a look at five fighters who’ve honed their defensive grappling skills to near perfection.

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UFC 157: Keys to Victory for Ronda Rousey over Liz Carmouche

Few pundits, especially the oddsmakers, forsee Liz Carmouche lasting five rounds with venomous UFC bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey at the historic UFC 157. In an attempt to pit Rousey against a worthy contender in the promotion’s first-ever wom…

Few pundits, especially the oddsmakers, forsee Liz Carmouche lasting five rounds with venomous UFC bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey at the historic UFC 157.

In an attempt to pit Rousey against a worthy contender in the promotion’s first-ever women’s bout, UFC president Dana White pegged the scrappy Carmouche as “Rowdy’s” most fitting suitor.

Granted, Carmouche has a solid résumé and a well-rounded skill set, but her accomplishments and her athletic abilities simply pale in comparison to that of Rousey’s.

With that said, Rousey, whom Bodog.net has deemed an 11-to-1 favorite (-1100), must adhere to a few simple principles in order to secure the type of surefire victory that she’s grown accustomed to scoring.

Here’s a list of keys to victory for the heavily favored Rousey over Carmouche.

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TUF 17: Uriah Hall and the 5 Best KOs in the History of ‘The Ultimate Fighter’

No knockout in the eight-year history of The Ultimate Fighter epitomized brutality, precision and showmanship quite like Uriah Hall’s spinning hook kick from hell in the show’s latest episode. Team Sonnen’s Hall not only gracefully ex…

No knockout in the eight-year history of The Ultimate Fighter epitomized brutality, precision and showmanship quite like Uriah Hall’s spinning hook kick from hell in the show’s latest episode.

Team Sonnen’s Hall not only gracefully executed the low-percentage finishing technique, he also landed it flush on the jawline of Adam Cella, sending the Team Jones member into a frighteningly deep state of unconsciousness.

Although Cella eventually woke up and attempted to laugh off the incident, none of the remaining fighters in the house were chuckling at the grim prospect of locking horns with Hall.

Here’s a glance at the top five knockouts in The Ultimate Fighter history.

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UFC 156 Results: Rashad Evans’ Performance Opens the Door for Silva vs. Weidman

Rashad Evans had a priceless opportunity at UFC 156 to leapfrog surging contender Chris Weidman and take the inside track for a showdown with middleweight champ Anderson Silva. But with the stage set to face the sport…

Rashad Evans had a priceless opportunity at UFC 156 to leapfrog surging contender Chris Weidman and take the inside track for a showdown with middleweight champ Anderson Silva.

But with the stage set to face the sport’s pound-for-pound kingpin, “Suga” simply couldn’t deliver.

Underdog Antônio Rogério Nogueira outshined Suga at UFC 156, nixing the idea of a Silva vs. Evans superfight and solidifying the notion that Weidman should get the next crack at the middleweight belt.

Always a sucker for a fearless challenger, UFC president Dana White happily sounded off on Weidman‘s confidence regarding Silva in an interview with MMA Weekly.

“Not only does he want to come back and fight the best of all time. He said, ‘I’ll smash this guy. I’ll fight him in Brazil and I’ll give him the rematch in Madison Square Garden.’ So he’s pretty confident with that fight.”

Evans certainly had a promising path to reaching Silva, although few expected his discouraging showing against “Little Nog.“

It was a lethargic affair, but Nogueira not only outstruck Evans 40-22, he also stuffed four of Suga‘s five takedown attempts, including four in a row in the last two rounds.

On the mend from a shoulder injury and cognizant that Evans could have stolen his title shot, Weidman undoubtedly rejoiced at Lil Nog‘s upset. 

The former two-time All-American wrestler at Hofstra University has plowed through his first nine opponents with relative ease, winning three times by knockout and three times by submission.

Weidman essentially positioned himself for a run at the title in July by battering Mark Munoz at UFC on Fuel TV 4. Weidman then seemingly suffered a major injury at just the right time.

Weidman‘s first stroke of luck came when the man who’s ranked second in most middleweight rankings, Chael Sonnen, agreed to take on Jon Jones for the light heavyweight title.  

Things got even juicier for Weidman at UFC on FX 7 as Vitor Belfort took out Michael Bisping, a man White previously claimed to be one win away from squaring off with Silva. 

So instead of locking horns with Tim Boetsch, which Weidman was slated to do before suffering a shoulder injury, “The All-American” now appears destined to meet The Spider.

Like many other blessed former contenders, Weidman will bypass any additional stepping-stone fights and take the shortcut to fighting Silva. The same door that just closed for Bisping and Evans has just swung open for Weidman.

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