Dan Miller won’t be making his return to the Octagon this year.
Expected to face Daniel Sarafian at UFC Fight Night 58 in Barueri, Brazil, on Dec. 20, Miller was removed from the card due to an undisclosed reason. Sarafian now meets UFC newcomer Antonio dos Santos. MMAFighting.com confirmed the change with sources close to the situation following a report from Combate.
dos Santos (6-1) signed a deal with the UFC fresh off a 66-second knockout over Douglas Bertazini, claiming the Jungle Fight light heavyweight championship on Nov. 29. “Junior Alpha”, who scored finishes in five of his six MMA wins, will drop to 185 pounds for his UFC debut.
Sarafian (8-5) returns to the middleweight division following a submission loss to 170-pounder Kiichi Kunimoto at UFC 174. The TUF: Brazil veteran is 1-3 inside the Octagon with a couple split decision losses to Cezar Ferreira and C.B. Dollaway and a first-round win over Eddie Mendez.
UFC Fight Night 58 takes place at Barueri’s Jose Correa Gymnasium on Dec. 20, and is headlined by Lyoto Machida vs. C.B. Dollaway. In the co-main event, former champion Renan Barao meets Mitch Gagnon.
Dan Miller won’t be making his return to the Octagon this year.
Expected to face Daniel Sarafian at UFC Fight Night 58 in Barueri, Brazil, on Dec. 20, Miller was removed from the card due to an undisclosed reason. Sarafian now meets UFC newcomer Antonio dos Santos. MMAFighting.com confirmed the change with sources close to the situation following a report from Combate.
dos Santos (6-1) signed a deal with the UFC fresh off a 66-second knockout over Douglas Bertazini, claiming the Jungle Fight light heavyweight championship on Nov. 29. “Junior Alpha”, who scored finishes in five of his six MMA wins, will drop to 185 pounds for his UFC debut.
Sarafian (8-5) returns to the middleweight division following a submission loss to 170-pounder Kiichi Kunimoto at UFC 174. The TUF: Brazil veteran is 1-3 inside the Octagon with a couple split decision losses to Cezar Ferreira and C.B. Dollaway and a first-round win over Eddie Mendez.
UFC Fight Night 58 takes place at Barueri’s Jose Correa Gymnasium on Dec. 20, and is headlined by Lyoto Machida vs. C.B. Dollaway. In the co-main event, former champion Renan Barao meets Mitch Gagnon.
Fabricio Werdum became the third Brazilian to ever win the UFC heavyweight championship, and the people of Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, gave their fellow countryman a hero’s reception on Monday.
Werdum, who traveled from the United States to Porto Alegre to promote the UFC Fight Night card that takes place Feb. 22 in the city, was welcome by several fans at the Salgado Filho International Airport.
The city also had a fire truck waiting for the UFC champion, who was celebrated by the people during a tour around the city.
Werdum is expected to meet Cain Velasquez in 2015 to unify the UFC heavyweight titles.
Fabricio Werdum became the third Brazilian to ever win the UFC heavyweight championship, and the people of Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, gave their fellow countryman a hero’s reception on Monday.
Werdum, who traveled from the United States to Porto Alegre to promote the UFC Fight Night card that takes place Feb. 22 in the city, was welcome by several fans at the Salgado Filho International Airport.
The city also had a fire truck waiting for the UFC champion, who was celebrated by the people during a tour around the city.
Rousimar Palhares puts his World Series of Fighting welterweight title on the line Saturday night against Jon Fitch, and the winner of that bout will sit down and watch Jake Shields battle Brian Foster for the No. 1 contender spot at WSOF 17.
Ariel Helwani reported on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour that Shields vs. Foster goes down Jan. 17 at the Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas, and a title shot is also on the line. The fight card airs live on NBC Sports.
After a eight-fight run in the UFC, Shields (30-7-1, 1 no-contest) tapped Ryan Ford in his WSOF debut in October, earning the former Strikeforce and EliteXC champion his first stoppage victory since a first-round submission over recently crowned UFC champion Robbie Lawler.
Foster (22-6), a fellow UFC veteran, makes his WSOF debut after racking up a four-fight winning streak with three stoppages. The Oklahoma-native is 8-1 in his past nine bouts, including a second-round submission victory over UFC contender Matt Brown.
WSOF welterweight champion Rousimar Palhares puts his title on the line against fellow UFC veteran Jon Fitch at Saturday night’s WSOF 16 in Sacramento, California.
Rousimar Palhares puts his World Series of Fighting welterweight title on the line Saturday night against Jon Fitch, and the winner of that bout will sit down and watch Jake Shields battle Brian Foster for the No. 1 contender spot at WSOF 17.
Ariel Helwani reported on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour that Shields vs. Foster goes down Jan. 17 at the Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas, and a title shot is also on the line. The fight card airs live on NBC Sports.
After a eight-fight run in the UFC, Shields (30-7-1, 1 no-contest) tapped Ryan Ford in his WSOF debut in October, earning the former Strikeforce and EliteXC champion his first stoppage victory since a first-round submission over recently crowned UFC champion Robbie Lawler.
Foster (22-6), a fellow UFC veteran, makes his WSOF debut after racking up a four-fight winning streak with three stoppages. The Oklahoma-native is 8-1 in his past nine bouts, including a second-round submission victory over UFC contender Matt Brown.
WSOF welterweight champion Rousimar Palhares puts his title on the line against fellow UFC veteran Jon Fitch at Saturday night’s WSOF 16 in Sacramento, California.
The UFC will crown its first strawweight champion on Dec. 12 at TUF 20 Finale in Las Vegas, and the first title contender will emerge 24 hours later in Phoenix.
Claudia Gadelha, who meets fellow undefeated prospect Joanna Jędrzejczyk at UFC on FOX 13 on Dec. 13, told Ariel Helwani on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour that the UFC guaranteed that the winner of this bout will fight for the title next.
“Whoever wins that fight, fights for the belt,” Gadelha said.
Gadelha was originally set to be part of The Ultimate Fighter 20 season, but her coach and manager Andre Pederneiras asked the UFC to remove her from the reality show since it would be tough for her to make weight several times in a short amount of time.
“I’m so happy to not be there,” she said. “I’m watching all these girls having a lot of drama in the house. It would be a lot of problems for me to make the weight there, so I’m so happy to not be there. I’m happy also to make the debut and be the contender.”
It’s no secret that Gadelha dislikes former Invicta FC 115-pound champion Esparza, but she wants her to win the title.
“Who I want to win is Carla Esparza,” Gadelha said. “I want her to have the belt so I can fight her.”
Gadelha and Esparza were expected to fight twice at Invicta FC, but the Nova Uniao fighter was forced to pull out on both occasions.
“The first time we were going to fight I broke my nose. The second time we were going to fight I got sick and went to the hospital,” Gadelha said. “She talks a lot s–t about that, she’s talking a lot of things about what happened and I didn’t like it, so I wanna fight her. I feel that I’m the contender right now. I’m going to win my next fight and then if she has the belt, we’re going to fight for the belt.”
With six years as a professional MMA fighter, Gadelha sees the opportunity of fighting for a UFC title as the pinnacle of her career.
“That was a dream,” Gadelha said. “I’m fighting since I was 16. I fought jiu-jitsu my whole life and I’m fighting for that (goal) for 10 years. I think I deserve that chance that the UFC gave me to be the first strawweight fighter and I’m so happy for what’s happening with the division right now. The UFC was a dream that I always fought for. (To) be the first strawweight fighter was so important to me.”
“It’s not easy being a fighter in Brazil,” she continued. “I left home when I was 16 years old and came here to Rio de Janeiro to train with (Jose) Aldo, (Renan) Barao and all these guys. I gave up everything so young to be a fighter. I put that in my mind that I wanted to be a fighter, and just left everybody behind. I came here to train. It’s very emotional to me. It’s hard being a fighter, and I made it to the UFC, the best show in the world.
“I started to train with Renan Barao back in (Natal) in Brazil and I felt a lot of good things about the sport. I was growing up with the sport. The sport was teaching me how to be a woman, grow up. Watching these guys train, competing to survive, made me want to do the same. Life was hard to me. Still is, but I put that in my mind. I saw the sport as a way to survive in Brazil. I’m from a poor family and things are not easy here, so fighting made me learn a lot of things about life, made me grow up as a woman and taught me a lot of things.”
At the best moment of her MMA career, the 25-year-old Brazilian strawweight has already made plans for her post-fight life.
“I’m a fighter and a law student,” Gadelha said. “I’m in the last semester of the law school and I worked so hard to make it to the UFC and be a pro athlete and also study. I have to be something after I quit fighting, so I always try studying so much and also train. It was hard to do both together, but I made it. I never thought about quitting because that’s what I put in my mind, that’s what I wanted my whole life. Nothing but God will make me stop.”
The UFC will crown its first strawweight champion on Dec. 12 at TUF 20 Finale in Las Vegas, and the first title contender will emerge 24 hours later in Phoenix.
Claudia Gadelha, who meets fellow undefeated prospect Joanna J?drzejczyk at UFC on FOX 13 on Dec. 13, told Ariel Helwani on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour that the UFC guaranteed that the winner of this bout will fight for the title next.
“Whoever wins that fight, fights for the belt,” Gadelha said.
Gadelha was originally set to be part of The Ultimate Fighter 20 season, but her coach and manager Andre Pederneiras asked the UFC to remove her from the reality show since it would be tough for her to make weight several times in a short amount of time.
“I’m so happy to not be there,” she said. “I’m watching all these girls having a lot of drama in the house. It would be a lot of problems for me to make the weight there, so I’m so happy to not be there. I’m happy also to make the debut and be the contender.”
It’s no secret that Gadelha dislikes former Invicta FC 115-pound champion Esparza, but she wants her to win the title.
“Who I want to win is Carla Esparza,” Gadelha said. “I want her to have the belt so I can fight her.”
Gadelha and Esparza were expected to fight twice at Invicta FC, but the Nova Uniao fighter was forced to pull out on both occasions.
“The first time we were going to fight I broke my nose. The second time we were going to fight I got sick and went to the hospital,” Gadelha said. “She talks a lot s–t about that, she’s talking a lot of things about what happened and I didn’t like it, so I wanna fight her. I feel that I’m the contender right now. I’m going to win my next fight and then if she has the belt, we’re going to fight for the belt.”
With six years as a professional MMA fighter, Gadelha sees the opportunity of fighting for a UFC title as the pinnacle of her career.
“That was a dream,” Gadelha said. “I’m fighting since I was 16. I fought jiu-jitsu my whole life and I’m fighting for that (goal) for 10 years. I think I deserve that chance that the UFC gave me to be the first strawweight fighter and I’m so happy for what’s happening with the division right now. The UFC was a dream that I always fought for. (To) be the first strawweight fighter was so important to me.”
“It’s not easy being a fighter in Brazil,” she continued. “I left home when I was 16 years old and came here to Rio de Janeiro to train with (Jose) Aldo, (Renan) Barao and all these guys. I gave up everything so young to be a fighter. I put that in my mind that I wanted to be a fighter, and just left everybody behind. I came here to train. It’s very emotional to me. It’s hard being a fighter, and I made it to the UFC, the best show in the world.
“I started to train with Renan Barao back in (Natal) in Brazil and I felt a lot of good things about the sport. I was growing up with the sport. The sport was teaching me how to be a woman, grow up. Watching these guys train, competing to survive, made me want to do the same. Life was hard to me. Still is, but I put that in my mind. I saw the sport as a way to survive in Brazil. I’m from a poor family and things are not easy here, so fighting made me learn a lot of things about life, made me grow up as a woman and taught me a lot of things.”
At the best moment of her MMA career, the 25-year-old Brazilian strawweight has already made plans for her post-fight life.
“I’m a fighter and a law student,” Gadelha said. “I’m in the last semester of the law school and I worked so hard to make it to the UFC and be a pro athlete and also study. I have to be something after I quit fighting, so I always try studying so much and also train. It was hard to do both together, but I made it. I never thought about quitting because that’s what I put in my mind, that’s what I wanted my whole life. Nothing but God will make me stop.”
Former UFC middleweight kingpin Anderson Silva gets back in action 13 months after a gruesome leg injury, facing former Strikeforce welterweight champion Nick Diaz at UFC 183 on Jan. 31, and Budweiser released a new commercial in Brazil for …
Former UFC middleweight kingpin Anderson Silva gets back in action 13 months after a gruesome leg injury, facing former Strikeforce welterweight champion Nick Diaz at UFC 183 on Jan. 31, and Budweiser released a new commercial in Brazil for his return to the Octagon.
In a recent press conference in Brazil, former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva said that three of his teammates could win the belt that was his for seven years, but one of the names caught many by surprise.
“In my team, we have ‘Jacare’ (Souza). At Black House, we have Lyoto (Machida) and Khalil (Rountree), who’s coming now and has all the weapons to fight for the (UFC) title (one day),” Silva told the media in October.
Black House fighter Khalil Rountree made his successful professional MMA debut in June after going 6-0 as an amateur. The Las Vegas native, who returns to the RFA cage Friday night in Costa Mesa, Calif., against Blake Troop (2-1), sees the recognition of one of the greatest of all-time as an extra fuel to his fire.
“It was amazing. I first heard about it while I was at work,” Rountree told MMAFighting.com. “One of my friends posted a comment on my Facebook saying ‘congrats on Anderson mentioning you in his press conference’. I immediately went online to hear it for myself. When I heard him say that I ‘have all the tools to fight for the belt’, I immediately felt a sense of strength and confirmation.
“I would compare it to having a vintage sports car that you’ve been building and polishing for years and finally getting to fire up the engine and step on the gas. When I heard that comment, it was like getting the keys to that car and I told myself ‘it’s time to drive baby!’”
Rountree, who defeated Livingston Lukow as a light heavyweight at RFA 15, started his MMA career training at Wanderlei Silva’s gym in Las Vegas. He then moved to Los Angeles to train at Black House, and returns at RFA 21 in a middleweight bout. For his next MMA bouts, he sees Silva as his own Mr. Miyagi.
“Anderson teaches me to be smart,” Rountree said. “I learn a lot of wisdom from him. It’s like a dream come true. When Anderson talks to me I feel like the karate kid getting instructions from Miyagi. I trust everything he tells me. I watch his every move, study how he holds his hands or moves his head. I watch how he looks at people and reads them inside and out during a fight. He’s like a super hero to me. I love to learn from him. I use everything he’s taught me and I’m blessed to have him as a friend.
“Wanderlei is the guy who brought the killer instinct out of me, I had no choice. When he would say ‘Khalil, let’s go’ I knew what that meant. It meant we were going in the cage for five to 25 minutes and we were going to go to war. I had no choice but to dig deep and find an inner strength to stay alive. So I got used to the feeling. Now when I fight there aren’t many guys who can give me more damage than I’ve already taken. I’ve been locked in the cage with ‘The Axe Murderer’ a lot of times. Only the guys who have done the same know how that feels.
“Everyone has something to teach,” he continued. “All of the guys that I have trained with throughout my career have made me who I am today. I never stop learning. I pick knowledge from every single person I train with. As fighters and upcoming leaders in the sport it is important to always sharpen our minds and skills to evolve by asking questions. And I’m surrounded by people who are very skilled at what they do.”
Anderson Silva foresees a bright future for Rountree, but starting a career as a fighter wasn’t his first intention when he joined Wand Fight Team.
“I first got into martial arts at 20 years old. I’ve never had any experience in fighting other than fighting after school or at hardcore shows,” he said. “I never liked fighting. I didn’t like to hurt people. The first time I ever punched someone I saw the damage it did to them I felt terrible. As I got older, I saw that martial arts would help me lose weight and I saw that it taught a lot of discipline. At the time I was 300 pounds, and ready to have six pack abs and a hot girlfriend, so I joined Wand Fight Team and took a muay thai class with Michael Costa from Chute Boxe Academy in Brazil. I loved the way he taught muay thai and I came to class every day. I continued to learn and watch martial arts tapes or knockout highlights and discovered that I was a martial artist by nature. I felt it in my bones.
“I came into MMA just to lose weight, I was always a very heavy kid and by the time I was 20 I decided that I wasn’t going to be the heavy kid anymore,” he continued. “I wanted to be healthy, sexy, and feel good about taking my shirt off at the pool. My older brother Donavon Frelow is also a fighter. He’s the one that fought first. I asked him to start training with me, and we both ended up taking the same career path. I didn’t know that I wanted to be a fighter until my first amateur fight. I won in 18 seconds of round one. I heard the crowd cheering and Wanderlei smiling at me in pure happiness. I made him proud and that was my motivation to fight again. I loved seeing him cheer me on, I loved winning fights and representing Wand Fight Team. My whole family clapping and cheering, proudly wearing their t-shirts with my name on it. At that very moment I knew that I was where I belong. I thought to myself I am a gladiator and this is my arena.”
Rountree still has a long road ahead before reaching his goal to fight in the UFC, but he’s confident that it’s just a matter of time.
“That is all I see when I watch UFC events,” he said, “I picture myself competing and putting on exciting events for all of the fans.”
Which fight would he want to take in the UFC?
“I would love to fight Chris Weidman, with or without the title,” Rountree said. “Nothing personal at all, but Anderson fought him, Lyoto fought him and they are my friends. I want to see for myself why they didn’t beat him.”
In a recent press conference in Brazil, former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva said that three of his teammates could win the belt that was his for seven years, but one of the names caught many by surprise.
“In my team, we have ‘Jacare’ (Souza). At Black House, we have Lyoto (Machida) and Khalil (Rountree), who’s coming now and has all the weapons to fight for the (UFC) title (one day),” Silva told the media in October.
Black House fighter Khalil Rountree made his successful professional MMA debut in June after going 6-0 as an amateur. The Las Vegas native, who returns to the RFA cage Friday night in Costa Mesa, Calif., against Blake Troop (2-1), sees the recognition of one of the greatest of all-time as an extra fuel to his fire.
“It was amazing. I first heard about it while I was at work,” Rountree told MMAFighting.com. “One of my friends posted a comment on my Facebook saying ‘congrats on Anderson mentioning you in his press conference’. I immediately went online to hear it for myself. When I heard him say that I ‘have all the tools to fight for the belt’, I immediately felt a sense of strength and confirmation.
“I would compare it to having a vintage sports car that you’ve been building and polishing for years and finally getting to fire up the engine and step on the gas. When I heard that comment, it was like getting the keys to that car and I told myself ‘it’s time to drive baby!’”
Rountree, who defeated Livingston Lukow as a light heavyweight at RFA 15, started his MMA career training at Wanderlei Silva’s gym in Las Vegas. He then moved to Los Angeles to train at Black House, and returns at RFA 21 in a middleweight bout. For his next MMA bouts, he sees Silva as his own Mr. Miyagi.
“Anderson teaches me to be smart,” Rountree said. “I learn a lot of wisdom from him. It’s like a dream come true. When Anderson talks to me I feel like the karate kid getting instructions from Miyagi. I trust everything he tells me. I watch his every move, study how he holds his hands or moves his head. I watch how he looks at people and reads them inside and out during a fight. He’s like a super hero to me. I love to learn from him. I use everything he’s taught me and I’m blessed to have him as a friend.
“Wanderlei is the guy who brought the killer instinct out of me, I had no choice. When he would say ‘Khalil, let’s go’ I knew what that meant. It meant we were going in the cage for five to 25 minutes and we were going to go to war. I had no choice but to dig deep and find an inner strength to stay alive. So I got used to the feeling. Now when I fight there aren’t many guys who can give me more damage than I’ve already taken. I’ve been locked in the cage with ‘The Axe Murderer’ a lot of times. Only the guys who have done the same know how that feels.
“Everyone has something to teach,” he continued. “All of the guys that I have trained with throughout my career have made me who I am today. I never stop learning. I pick knowledge from every single person I train with. As fighters and upcoming leaders in the sport it is important to always sharpen our minds and skills to evolve by asking questions. And I’m surrounded by people who are very skilled at what they do.”
Anderson Silva foresees a bright future for Rountree, but starting a career as a fighter wasn’t his first intention when he joined Wand Fight Team.
“I first got into martial arts at 20 years old. I’ve never had any experience in fighting other than fighting after school or at hardcore shows,” he said. “I never liked fighting. I didn’t like to hurt people. The first time I ever punched someone I saw the damage it did to them I felt terrible. As I got older, I saw that martial arts would help me lose weight and I saw that it taught a lot of discipline. At the time I was 300 pounds, and ready to have six pack abs and a hot girlfriend, so I joined Wand Fight Team and took a muay thai class with Michael Costa from Chute Boxe Academy in Brazil. I loved the way he taught muay thai and I came to class every day. I continued to learn and watch martial arts tapes or knockout highlights and discovered that I was a martial artist by nature. I felt it in my bones.
“I came into MMA just to lose weight, I was always a very heavy kid and by the time I was 20 I decided that I wasn’t going to be the heavy kid anymore,” he continued. “I wanted to be healthy, sexy, and feel good about taking my shirt off at the pool. My older brother Donavon Frelow is also a fighter. He’s the one that fought first. I asked him to start training with me, and we both ended up taking the same career path. I didn’t know that I wanted to be a fighter until my first amateur fight. I won in 18 seconds of round one. I heard the crowd cheering and Wanderlei smiling at me in pure happiness. I made him proud and that was my motivation to fight again. I loved seeing him cheer me on, I loved winning fights and representing Wand Fight Team. My whole family clapping and cheering, proudly wearing their t-shirts with my name on it. At that very moment I knew that I was where I belong. I thought to myself I am a gladiator and this is my arena.”
Rountree still has a long road ahead before reaching his goal to fight in the UFC, but he’s confident that it’s just a matter of time.
“That is all I see when I watch UFC events,” he said, “I picture myself competing and putting on exciting events for all of the fans.”
Which fight would he want to take in the UFC?
“I would love to fight Chris Weidman, with or without the title,” Rountree said. “Nothing personal at all, but Anderson fought him, Lyoto fought him and they are my friends. I want to see for myself why they didn’t beat him.”
