Gleison Tibau feels ready to make a run for the UFC title.
The Brazilian veteran, who scored his 15th UFC lightweight victory with a split decision over Piotr Hallmann at UFC Fight Night 51 in September, wants to fight again as soon as possible.
“I’m anxious to get back in action again. I’m back to training now, waiting for my next fight,” Tibau told MMAFighting.com following his ‘Fight of the Night’ bout. “I told Joe Silva I’m ready to fight anytime they need. I was glad to be in the co-main event for the first time. I wanted the knockout, but Joe Silva told me after the fight that he enjoyed it.”
With wins over the likes of Rafael dos Anjos and Jamie Varner on his record, Tibau expects to earn a shot at the 155-pound title after he wins five straight. Planning to fight one more time this year, the Brazilians predicts he will fight for the UFC title in 2016.
“You won’t be able to hold me back anymore after I get three more wins. I will fight for the title,” he said. “The Brazilian fans can expect a great fight when I get there. I’m focused, and this is my time. The ‘Gleison Tibau Era’ has arrived. I’m ready to write a new chapter in my history in the UFC.”
“The lightweight division is full of great fighters close to a shot at the title. I respect every fighter in the UFC, and I don’t wanna pick names,” he continued. “I want wins, I want to break records, and I want to do it to get closer to the title. This is my goal. I want the UFC title. And when I get my shot at the title, I will have more experience than anyone else in the UFC.”
UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis will defend his title for the first time against former Strikeforce champion Gilbert Melendez on Dec. 6, but Tibau doesn’t believe “Showtime” will remain champion by the time he gets his shot at the gold.
“I think Pettis was lucky to cut the line and fight Ben Henderson for the title,” he said. “It was a quick fight, and it was weird. The striker won by submission. I think maybe Ben underestimated him. Pettis did a good job, but never put his title on the line again. He won’t be able to keep this title much longer.”
“They all have what it takes to become the champion,” he said, “and I know I can fight any of them.”
Gleison Tibau feels ready to make a run for the UFC title.
The Brazilian veteran, who scored his 15th UFC lightweight victory with a split decision over Piotr Hallmann at UFC Fight Night 51 in September, wants to fight again as soon as possible.
“I’m anxious to get back in action again. I’m back to training now, waiting for my next fight,” Tibau told MMAFighting.com following his ‘Fight of the Night’ bout. “I told Joe Silva I’m ready to fight anytime they need. I was glad to be in the co-main event for the first time. I wanted the knockout, but Joe Silva told me after the fight that he enjoyed it.”
With wins over the likes of Rafael dos Anjos and Jamie Varner on his record, Tibau expects to earn a shot at the 155-pound title after he wins five straight. Planning to fight one more time this year, the Brazilians predicts he will fight for the UFC title in 2016.
“You won’t be able to hold me back anymore after I get three more wins. I will fight for the title,” he said. “The Brazilian fans can expect a great fight when I get there. I’m focused, and this is my time. The ‘Gleison Tibau Era’ has arrived. I’m ready to write a new chapter in my history in the UFC.”
“The lightweight division is full of great fighters close to a shot at the title. I respect every fighter in the UFC, and I don’t wanna pick names,” he continued. “I want wins, I want to break records, and I want to do it to get closer to the title. This is my goal. I want the UFC title. And when I get my shot at the title, I will have more experience than anyone else in the UFC.”
UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis will defend his title for the first time against former Strikeforce champion Gilbert Melendez on Dec. 6, but Tibau doesn’t believe “Showtime” will remain champion by the time he gets his shot at the gold.
“I think Pettis was lucky to cut the line and fight Ben Henderson for the title,” he said. “It was a quick fight, and it was weird. The striker won by submission. I think maybe Ben underestimated him. Pettis did a good job, but never put his title on the line again. He won’t be able to keep this title much longer.”
Renzo Gracie is one of the biggest Tim Kennedy fans, and that’s why he offered the UFC middleweight a piece of advice.
The MMA legend addressed the UFC 178 “stool gate” on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour, and told Ariel Helwani that Kennedy should let it go and move on.
“You have to forget,” Gracie said. “It’s a fight. I wish, when I was fighting, that I had hair to grab [laughs]. That moment is fighting for survival. You’re in a bad situation too.”
After eating brutal punches in the second round, Romero was given extra time to recover between rounds while referee Big John McCarthy asked his corner and the cutman to remove vaseline from his cut.
Kennedy protested, but the fight went on. Romero ended up beating the former Strikeforce middleweight title contender by third-round TKO.
“If I was in that Cuban’s situation, I would do that too,” Gracie said. “If my fighter was on that situation, I would do that too. I would give him time to recover. He was almost knocked out in the last 10 seconds. This is what boxers have used for ages.
“You see people overthrowing water on the athlete so they have to dry the floor. That’s to gain time,” he continued. “You want to stop this? Remove the (stool). You can’t sit. And when the bell rings, you shoot right off. That’s the only way to stop this.”
Despite the controversial TKO loss, Gracie still sees Kennedy as “the best,” but should stop protesting the loss.
“He’s the best. Every time he fights, I wanna watch,” he said. “I think Tim is a great guy in every sense. There’s nobody will balls and guts and will to train and fight as hard as he works. He’s amazing.
“But I honestly believe the one who wins, talks. The one who loses… Because it only looks ugly. I know he’s hurt, and I don’t mean nothing by saying this to him.”
On UFC Tonight on Wednesday, MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani reported the camp is split on whether Kennedy should appeal the result at UFC 178.
Renzo Gracie is one of the biggest Tim Kennedy fans, and that’s why he offered the UFC middleweight a piece of advice.
The MMA legend addressed the UFC 178 “stool gate” on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour, and told Ariel Helwani that Kennedy should let it go and move on.
“You have to forget,” Gracie said. “It’s a fight. I wish, when I was fighting, that I had hair to grab [laughs]. That moment is fighting for survival. You’re in a bad situation too.”
After eating brutal punches in the second round, Romero was given extra time to recover between rounds while referee Big John McCarthy asked his corner and the cutman to remove vaseline from his cut.
Kennedy protested, but the fight went on. Romero ended up beating the former Strikeforce middleweight title contender by third-round TKO.
“If I was in that Cuban’s situation, I would do that too,” Gracie said. “If my fighter was on that situation, I would do that too. I would give him time to recover. He was almost knocked out in the last 10 seconds. This is what boxers have used for ages.
“You see people overthrowing water on the athlete so they have to dry the floor. That’s to gain time,” he continued. “You want to stop this? Remove the (stool). You can’t sit. And when the bell rings, you shoot right off. That’s the only way to stop this.”
Despite the controversial TKO loss, Gracie still sees Kennedy as “the best,” but should stop protesting the loss.
“He’s the best. Every time he fights, I wanna watch,” he said. “I think Tim is a great guy in every sense. There’s nobody will balls and guts and will to train and fight as hard as he works. He’s amazing.
“But I honestly believe the one who wins, talks. The one who loses… Because it only looks ugly. I know he’s hurt, and I don’t mean nothing by saying this to him.”
On UFC Tonight on Wednesday, MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani reported the camp is split on whether Kennedy should appeal the result at UFC 178.
The UFC added a new pair of lightweight match-ups to the upcoming Fight Night 58 card in Barueri, Brazil, including the return of Charlie Brenneman, who takes on Brazilian lightweight Leandro Silva on Dec. 20.
“The Spaniard” (19-7) re-signed…
The UFC added a new pair of lightweight match-ups to the upcoming Fight Night 58 card in Barueri, Brazil, including the return of Charlie Brenneman, who takes on Brazilian lightweight Leandro Silva on Dec. 20.
“The Spaniard” (19-7) re-signed with the UFC after going 4-0 in smaller promotions, but came up short against Beneil Dariush and Danny Castillo earlier this year. His last win under the UFC banner came in 2012, when he defeated Daniel Roberts via decision.
“Buscape” (16-2-1) is 0-2 under the UFC banner with losses on short notice to Francisco Trinaldo and ldemar Alcantara. Between those fights, Silva racked up a five-fight winning streak with victories in Brazil and Japan.
The second 155-pound bout added to the card features undefeated Elias Silverio against Russian lightweight Rashid Magomedov.
Silverio (11-0), a former Jungle Fight welterweight champion, is 3-0 inside the Octagon. In his last appearance, “Xuxu” choked out Ernest Chavez in May. His previous UFC wins came with decisions over against Joao Zeferino and Isaac Vallie-Flagg.
Magomedov (17-1) looks for his 11th win in a row after defeating Tony Martin and Rodrigo Damm in his first UFC bouts. A former M-1 Global 170-pound champion, Magomedov also holds wins over UFC fighters Igor Araujo and Alexander Yakovlev.
Patrick Cummins will make his return to the Octagon in December.
The UFC announced on Wednesday that Cummins is set to take on Antonio Carlos Junior at the UFC Fight Night 58 card in Barueri, Brazil, on Dec. 20. This will be Junior’s first light heavyweight bout under the UFC banner.
Cummins (6-1), who came up short in his UFC debut against Daniel Cormier in February, scored dominant victories over Roger Narvaez and Kyle Kingsbury in a 49-day span in June/July.
“Cara de Sapato” (4-0) makes his 205-pound debut after becoming the TUF: Brazil 3 heavyweight winner with a decision victory over Vitor Miranda in May. A multiple time jiu-jitsu world champion, Junior went 3-0 during the reality show as a heavyweight.
Scheduled for Dec. 20 at the Jose Correa Gymnasium in Barueri, Sao Paulo, UFN 58 will be headlined by a middleweight contest between former light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida and C.B. Dollaway.
Patrick Cummins will make his return to the Octagon in December.
The UFC announced on Wednesday that Cummins is set to take on Antonio Carlos Junior at the UFC Fight Night 58 card in Barueri, Brazil, on Dec. 20. This will be Junior’s first light heavyweight bout under the UFC banner.
Cummins (6-1), who came up short in his UFC debut against Daniel Cormier in February, scored dominant victories over Roger Narvaez and Kyle Kingsbury in a 49-day span in June/July.
“Cara de Sapato” (4-0) makes his 205-pound debut after becoming the TUF: Brazil 3 heavyweight winner with a decision victory over Vitor Miranda in May. A multiple time jiu-jitsu world champion, Junior went 3-0 during the reality show as a heavyweight.
Scheduled for Dec. 20 at the Jose Correa Gymnasium in Barueri, Sao Paulo, UFN 58 will be headlined by a middleweight contest between former light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida and C.B. Dollaway.
One FC will crown its first middleweight champion in November.
One FC officially announced Monday that Leandro Ataides and Igor Svirid will headline the One FC 23: Battle of Lions card in Singapore, on Nov. 7, in a five-round battle for the inaugural 185-pound championship.
Ataides (7-0) earned a shot at the gold after a pair of first-round knockouts over Bryan Rafiq and Tatsuya Mizuno in the Asian promotion. Svirid (9-1), who hasn’t lost since his MMA debut in 2011, competes for the One FC title after going 6-0 in 2014.
“One Fighting Championship has acquired a roster of world-class talent from all over the world and fans in Singapore will get to see them in action on November 7,” One FC CEO Victor Cui stated in a release.
“We will crown a new world champion as two world-class middleweights face off for the honor of becoming the first man to don the One FC middleweight world championship. Fans watching all over the world are in store for a night of breathtaking mixed martial arts action.”
In the co-main event, Bakhtiyar Abbasov returns to action against Bellator and WEC veteran Luis Santos. Abbasov (12-3), who lost to Ben Askren in his promotional debut earlier this year, takes on 70-fight veteran Santos (60-9-1), who has won six in a row since his Bellator release.
Set for the Singapore Indoor Stadium, One FC 23 also features a welterweight clash between Dwayne Hinds and Warren de Reuck, and the return of middleweight veteran Tatsuya Mizuno against Aung La N Sang.
One FC will crown its first middleweight champion in November.
One FC officially announced Monday that Leandro Ataides and Igor Svirid will headline the One FC 23: Battle of Lions card in Singapore, on Nov. 7, in a five-round battle for the inaugural 185-pound championship.
Ataides (7-0) earned a shot at the gold after a pair of first-round knockouts over Bryan Rafiq and Tatsuya Mizuno in the Asian promotion. Svirid (9-1), who hasn’t lost since his MMA debut in 2011, competes for the One FC title after going 6-0 in 2014.
“One Fighting Championship has acquired a roster of world-class talent from all over the world and fans in Singapore will get to see them in action on November 7,” One FC CEO Victor Cui stated in a release.
“We will crown a new world champion as two world-class middleweights face off for the honor of becoming the first man to don the One FC middleweight world championship. Fans watching all over the world are in store for a night of breathtaking mixed martial arts action.”
In the co-main event, Bakhtiyar Abbasov returns to action against Bellator and WEC veteran Luis Santos. Abbasov (12-3), who lost to Ben Askren in his promotional debut earlier this year, takes on 70-fight veteran Santos (60-9-1), who has won six in a row since his Bellator release.
Set for the Singapore Indoor Stadium, One FC 23 also features a welterweight clash between Dwayne Hinds and Warren de Reuck, and the return of middleweight veteran Tatsuya Mizuno against Aung La N Sang.
In a time when MMA wasn’t regulated by an independent body, promoters could do anything they wanted. According to MMA legend Renzo Gracie, that’s how things worked when PRIDE was launched.
In March of 1998, PRIDE 2 featured four Japanese fighters at the Yokohama Arena, and Sanae Kikuta was the one matched against Renzo Gracie. According to the Brazilian, he was drugged by the promoters the day before the fight.
“I don’t sleep. I can sleep two hours and a half and I can work, I can think, I can read, I can do whatever I want. I feel 100 percent if I can sleep two hours and a half. If I sleep four hours, I think I overslept. And that day, I slept 18 hours straight,” Gracie said on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour. “And I remember people knocking at the door and I woke up, but I couldn’t move out of my bed. And I never had a sleep like this in my whole life.”
According to the MMA veteran, promoters offered him water leading up to the fight, and they had put something in it.
“But it may have helped, because I was feeling great the next day,” he continued. “I mentioned that (to the promoters), but they said ‘no, impossible.’ But they could do whatever they want. Japan, back then, was like this. There was the Rings organization, and the guy who owned Rings would get up and say ‘no, this guy won.’ He would look, scream in Japanese, point his finger, and whoever he points (his finger to) is the winner. This was the foundation of what we have today.”
Renzo Gracie ended up winning that fight via sixth-round submission with a guillotine choke. Three years later, though, he lost to Shungo Oyama via decision at PRIDE 21.
“They gave him the victory, even though I beat him the whole fight, because they claim I spat on him,” he said. “So the guy was insulting me the whole fight, I spat on him. But there were nothing on the rules that says so. There’s nothing in the rules about spitting, but because I spat on him they gave him the victory.
“The whole organization on the beginning, they could do whatever they wanted.”
In a time when MMA wasn’t regulated by an independent body, promoters could do anything they wanted. According to MMA legend Renzo Gracie, that’s how things worked when PRIDE was launched.
In March of 1998, PRIDE 2 featured four Japanese fighters at the Yokohama Arena, and Sanae Kikuta was the one matched against Renzo Gracie. According to the Brazilian, he was drugged by the promoters the day before the fight.
“I don’t sleep. I can sleep two hours and a half and I can work, I can think, I can read, I can do whatever I want. I feel 100 percent if I can sleep two hours and a half. If I sleep four hours, I think I overslept. And that day, I slept 18 hours straight,” Gracie said on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour. “And I remember people knocking at the door and I woke up, but I couldn’t move out of my bed. And I never had a sleep like this in my whole life.”
According to the MMA veteran, promoters offered him water leading up to the fight, and they had put something in it.
“But it may have helped, because I was feeling great the next day,” he continued. “I mentioned that (to the promoters), but they said ‘no, impossible.’ But they could do whatever they want. Japan, back then, was like this. There was the Rings organization, and the guy who owned Rings would get up and say ‘no, this guy won.’ He would look, scream in Japanese, point his finger, and whoever he points (his finger to) is the winner. This was the foundation of what we have today.”
Renzo Gracie ended up winning that fight via sixth-round submission with a guillotine choke. Three years later, though, he lost to Shungo Oyama via decision at PRIDE 21.
“They gave him the victory, even though I beat him the whole fight, because they claim I spat on him,” he said. “So the guy was insulting me the whole fight, I spat on him. But there were nothing on the rules that says so. There’s nothing in the rules about spitting, but because I spat on him they gave him the victory.
“The whole organization on the beginning, they could do whatever they wanted.”
