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Vitor Belfort’s TKO of Michael Bisping Marks the Brazilian’s Best UFC Moment

Vitor Belfort did it twice to Michael Bisping, and in both instances, he did it swiftly, violently and gracefully. Bisping narrowly survived the first head kick “The Phenom” landed near the end of the first round at their main-event tilt at UFC on…

Vitor Belfort did it twice to Michael Bisping, and in both instances, he did it swiftly, violently and gracefully.

Bisping narrowly survived the first head kick “The Phenom” landed near the end of the first round at their main-event tilt at UFC on FX 7, which took place Saturday at the Ibirapuera Arena in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Unfortunately for “The Count,” he failed to escape the Brazilian’s wrath for a second time early in the second round.

Belfort once again caught the elusive Bisping with his hands down, this time landing a flush head kick above the right eye of The Count early in the second round, sending him dazed to the canvas.

The Phenom pounced on Bisping like a bloodthirsty lion, dropping hammerfists and elbows to the head and body until referee Dan Miragliotta had seen enough.

Belfort began his UFC career at the tender age of 19 in February 1997. But of his 11 finishes in the promotion, none epitomized the fighting spirit of The Phenom more accurately than his TKO of Bisping.

Before Saturday, Belfort‘s most notable win in the octagon came in a controversial victory over Randy Couture in a light heavyweight title fight in January 2004.

Just 49 seconds into the bout, Couture suffered a corneal abrasion, an unfortunate injury that temporarily cost him the fight and the belt. Belfort won via TKO and took home the light heavyweight strap, which he ultimately relinquished roughly seven months later to Couture.

On a night in which the typically outspoken Bisping could have punched his ticket to his first UFC title fight, he uncharacteristically swallowed his pride and gave the 35-year-old former light heavyweight champion his due in his post-fight interview with Jon Anik.

“It was a beautiful kick. He caught me, and he was a better man than me tonight. You win some, you lose some. I am not going away. Trust me, I’ll be back at the top of this pile before you f****** know it.”

Belfort has gotten his hand raised after eight of his last 10 scraps, recording three KO’s, three TKO’s, a submission and a decision win along the way.

His only taste of defeat in that span came when he absorbed a stunning front-kick knockout from middleweight champ Anderson Silva and when he tapped to a keylock from light heavyweight kingpin Jon Jones.

With his confidence soaring, and in his post-fight interview with Anik, Belfort requested a rematch with Jones while offering some demeaning sentiments regarding light heavyweight title challenger Chael Sonnen.

“I worked so hard. I want to get the belt. Get that punk Chael Sonnen out. Let me fight Jon Jones. I need that rematch. Get that clown away. You did a reality show. Go home, and let me fight the champion. It will be champion against a champion, not that clown.”

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Anthony Pettis: Beating Donald Cerrone Should Lead to a Lightweight Title Bid

With the chance to fight for UFC gold once again within Anthony “Showtime” Pettis’ reach, he knows that unlike in his fight with Clay “The Carpenter” Guida, he’ll need to seize his opportunity against Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone at UFC on Fox 6 on Ja…

In Pettis’ first bona fide chance to get a crack at the UFC lightweight belt, The Carpenter used his wrestling prowess to control and ultimately impede the rise of Showtime, the last man to serve UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson a setback.

But if all goes accordingly for Pettis in his pivotal clash with Cerrone, UFC President Dana White may not have the option to deny the Roufusport co-owner the right to square off for the lightweight belt in his next fight.

Assuming he can produce a convincing win over Cerrone, the Milwaukee native will almost surely leapfrog a handful of upper-echelon contenders, all of whom aspire to tangle the winner of the Henderson/Gilbert Melendez tilt in April.

Weeks before White confirmed the Melendez/Henderson bout, and during an interview with MMA Weekly Radio Show host Damon Martin, Pettis sounded off on his goals and his trajectory in the lightweight division.

I’m to the point where I’ve just got to prove it. I’m gonna line ‘em up and I’m gonna knock ‘em down, and get to that title shot. That’s the ultimate goal, but right now it’s winning fights. I need to focus on my next opponent in front of me, (and) win these fights.

Animosity began brewing between Pettis and Cerrone in August when Cowboy arbitrarily insulted Showtime during an interview with Lowkick’s Tim Burke.

Just eight days before his fight with Melvin Guillard, and while Pettis was recovering from shoulder surgery, Cerrone offered these sentiments to Burke:

“Anthony Pettis’ b**** ass! Anthony, quit hiding behind your sore shoulder and come to the dance.”

While the two fighters harbor sincere hostility toward one another, Pettis admitted to Martin that he believes a win over Cerrone will catapult his stock more than a win over Gray Maynard, Jim Miller, Guida or Melendez would.

If you look at all the guys you mentioned, and what competition they’re fighting, (then) me and Cowboy are fighting the hardest competition. We’re in the UFC with the best of the best. We’re in the trenches. Me and Cowboy, I feel, are right at the top. The winner of this fight should be the next in line for a title shot and I’ve been training my ass off to make that me.

Pettis and Cerrone have soared to such great heights in their young careers by utilizing comparable tools and similarly intricate strategic approaches. Each fighter possesses unorthodox and unpredictable striking and submission abilities, and Pettis and Cerrone each have unmistakable killer instincts.

It’s also safe to assume that both Showtime and Cowboy aspire to become better functional MMA wrestlers.

But for a bout that appears so even on paper, Pettis may be at a slight disadvantage because of his lack of recent cage time. While Cerrone has scrapped seven times in the UFC since leaving the WEC in 2010, including twice last year, Pettis has fought only three times, with just one of those bouts coming in 2012.

Long layoff aside, Pettis confidently assured Martin that ring rust won’t affect his performance against Cerrone.

Just wait until Chicago. I’m just ready to get back in there man. I’ve got so much stuff going through my mind that I just want to unleash everything. No more mister nice guy. I tried to play that role. The title shot’s going to come; I’m going to sit and wait for it. I’m taking it this time. I’m going to get my title shot and I’m going to get the respect I deserve.

In the most impressive performance of his career, Pettis outshined “Bendo” in virtually every facet of the game en route to a unanimous decision win and the WEC lightweight belt in December 2010. Showtime outstruck Henderson 130-97 and stuffed seven of Bendo’s 10 takedown attempts.

Pettis also landed both takedowns he attempted, reversed Bendo twice, attempted four submissions, and passed Henderson’s guard four times.

He’s (Henderson) motivated man. He looks like he’s out there and he’s hungry. He’s not getting relaxed, and he’s going for it. But I don’t think he’s unbeatable. I’m the last guy to beat him, (and) I feel I got the skills to get in there and do it again, so I’m motivated to get to that chance.

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Daniel Cormier and 5 Strikeforce Fighters Who Could Soon Become UFC Champs

Long before Zuffa, LLC purchased the promotion, all the way back to the days of its inaugural show in March 2006, Strikeforce has served as a breeding ground for potential UFC champions. Many of those former Strikeforce standouts, like A…

Long before Zuffa, LLC purchased the promotion, all the way back to the days of its inaugural show in March 2006, Strikeforce has served as a breeding ground for potential UFC champions.

Many of those former Strikeforce standouts, like Alistair Overeem, Fabricio Werdum, Nick Diaz, Cung Le and Dan Henderson, made the migration to the UFC shortly after Zuffa purchased the company from founder Scott Coker in March 2011.

In the wake of the departure of some of Strikeforce’s biggest stars, a cluster of key players stepped up to shoulder the entertainment load and bring the company to the forefront of the MMA landscape.

Those fighters, like Daniel Cormier, Gilbert Melendez, Luke Rockhold, Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza, Gegard Mousasi, Josh Barnett and Tim Kennedy, among others, embodied the Strikeforce banner and did it with pride—akin to how Benson Henderson, Anthony Pettis, Joseph Benavidez and Donald Cerrone symbolized the WEC logo in their tenures with the organization before each joining the UFC.

With Strikeforce running its final show Saturday in San Jose, Calif., fighters like the aforementioned Cormier, Melendez, Rockhold, Souza and Mousasi will each soon find themselves in the advantageous position of awaiting a fight with an upper-echelon UFC opponent in their respective weight departments.

In the case of Cormier, Melendez and Rockhold, they could each soon get to experience something UFC newcomers rarely get to experience—a unification title bout.

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Jon Jones and the Five Fighters Who Could Dethrone Anderson Silva

Many pundits forget how Chael Sonnen produced the proverbial blueprint needed to dethrone pound-for-pound kingpin Anderson Silva in their first middleweight title fight at UFC 117 in August 2010. That’s probably because Silva made that performanc…

Many pundits forget how Chael Sonnen produced the proverbial blueprint needed to dethrone pound-for-pound kingpin Anderson Silva in their first middleweight title fight at UFC 117 in August 2010.

That’s probably because Silva made that performance an afterthought and solidified his status as the sport’s top pound-for-pound fighter when he finished Vitor Belfort, Yushin Okami, Sonnen and Stephan Bonnar in succession following his Hail Mary triangle armbar on Sonnen late in the fifth round at UFC 117.

There also aren’t many experts chattering about how Sonnen dominated Silva in the first round of their second title fight at UFC 148 in July, and rightfully so. After all, Silva stormed back and smashed Sonnen in spectacular fashion, and at that point, that was all that mattered.

But the bullseye that’s been lingering around Anderson Silva’s back since he won the belt in 2006 has recently started to come into focus. Fighters who’ve been trained properly and who possess the physical and intellectual ingredients to challenge a legend like “The Spider” are lurking in the shadows.

Here’s a look at five fighters who possess all the required tools to knock off Silva, a man who hasn’t tasted defeat in 16 UFC fights.

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UFC Fans and Dana White Are Overlooking Chael Sonnen for a Reason

Dana White can attempt to justify why he’s pitting Chael Sonnen against Jon Jones at UFC 159, but the promotion’s president can’t stop himself from lining up future challengers for Bones, even with his bout against Sonnen …

Most recently, at the UFC 155 post-fight presser (via MMA Heat), White elaborated on how Strikeforce heavyweight champion and former Olympic wrestler Daniel Cormier could lock horns with Jones next.

“DC” just needs to trump journeyman Dion Staring in his last outing with Strikeforce on Jan. 12, and then he’s likely to get a crack at either light heavyweight or heavyweight gold in the UFC.

“It’s awesome,” White said when asked how excited he was to have Cormier moving to the UFC. “(Cormier) is going to bring a lot of excitement to the heavyweight or light heavyweight division. And he could be next in line to fight Jones.”

Although the unbeaten Cormier, who claims he won’t fight American Kickboxing Academy sparring partner Cain Velasquez, has yet to fight in the light heavyweight division, he certainly seems like a more worthy candidate to fight Jones than Sonnen.

Not only has Sonnen dropped two of his last four fights (albeit with both losses coming to pound-for-pound kingpin Anderson Silva) his last tilt in the light heavyweight division came against Renato Sobral at UFC 55 in October 2005, a fight he lost via triangle choke.

Sonnen has also mustered just six wins in 12 UFC scraps, and he has finished just one of his opponents (Brian Stann) in that span.

Jones, in contrast, has won 11 of 12 fights in the UFC, and has finished nine of those opponents. The only smudge on Jones’ record occurred when he got disqualified for illegally elbowing Matt Hamill into submission at The Ultimate Fighter 10 Finale in December 2009.

Known for his uncanny ability to close the distance and repeatedly ground his opponents, Sonnen will also have to overcome a 10½-inch reach disadvantage against Jones, a former JUCO wrestling champion who has yet to allow a takedown in 18 pro fights.

So if Sonnen intends to enact his typically aggressive, wrestling-heavy style, he’ll need to perpetually find ways to avoid damage from Jones’ dynamic arsenal of strikes, something no fighter has pulled off.

The disadvantages for Sonnen against Jones seem so blaring to the oddsmakers, in fact, that Bones is an 8-to-1 favorite (-800), according to sportsbook.com.

Regardless of the sizable odds stacked against Sonnen, White defended his decision to make the fight by saying:

“He couldn’t fight until April, so it made sense for him to do The Ultimate Fighter,” White said of Jones in a media conference call via MMA Weekly. “Obviously Chael wants this fight, has been asking for this fight. The fans wanted this fight. I’ll let Jon speak for himself. Jon said, ‘Listen, I’m going to be there. I can’t fight until April. I’d like to go in there and whoop Chael‘s ass, and then I’ll defend the belt against whoever you want me to defend the belt against.'”

At least White knows if Jones and Cormier each do what’s expected of them in their upcoming bouts, he’ll have a clear-cut contender to square off with Bones in the near future.

“Cormier is a guy who could come in and do anything. A win over Josh Barnett means something, you know,” White said at the UFC 155 post-fight presser.

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Georges St-Pierre and the 10 Best Functional Wrestlers in MMA

The UFC’s inception in 1993 enticed droves of hungry and talented amateur and collegiate wrestlers to step into the octagon. Flocks of hard-nosed and experienced mat wizards tried their hands at a new and intriguing sport, coined mixed martial arts by the late Jeff Blatnick, an Olympic gold medalist in wrestling in 1984 and one of the UFC’s first color commentators.

Many of the pioneer wrestlers of the sport, like former Strikeforce light heavyweight champion Dan Henderson, former two-division UFC champion Randy Couture and former nine-time UFC welterweight champion Matt Hughes, each lent a valuable hand in forging a blueprint that’s used by future amateur and collegiate wrestlers to infiltrate and dominate the sport.

But not every prosperous amateur wrestler who’s dabbled in MMA has duplicated or even come close to matching the heights reached by Henderson, Couture and Hughes, among others.

For every Henderson, the UFC gets a number of esteemed grapplers like Shane Roller, a three-time NCAA All-American who just simply couldn’t seem to utilize his takedown ability within the realm of a cage fight.

Roller certainly doesn’t stand alone in that category, though. Truth be told, UFC president Dana White has awarded priceless opportunities that never materialized to several former Division I wrestlers. Just to name a handful, fighters like C.B. Dolloway, Dave Herman and Jason Brilz, just haven’t mastered the art of wrestling in MMA.

Here’s a look at the 10 most prominent functional wrestlers in MMA today.

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