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Fight Night 74 Highlights/Results: Oliveira Tears His Esophagus, Perez Retires, Cote & Burkman Go to War + More

Fight Night 74 was a night full of surprises, and that’s not just referring to the fact that seven underdogs came out victorious on Sunday night, or the fact that the highly-anticipated main event ended before it ever got started. No, the biggest shock of the night came in the form of 26-year old Frankie Perez, who followed up an impressive (if not necessarily surprising) KO of Sam Stout by retiring in the ring. Check out the video above.

“I train with the best team on the planet” said Perez, “I have the utmost confidence to beat anybody in this division. (But) me being 26, this is my first win in the UFC and my last. I’m done after this. I’ve brought my dreams to come true and I’m on to the next chapter in my life. I’m done putting my family and my body through all this.”

It was an incredibly honorable moment for Perez, which could only mean that one of the UFC’s analysts for the evening, Michael Bisping, could only lob insults aimed Perez’s “cajones” when discussing it with Dominick Cruz in the studio afterward. Thankfully, Cruz set the record straight by both lauding Perez’s discipline and shitting on Bisping’s gatekeeper status/lack of two functional eyes.

Check out the complete list of Fight Night 74 results (with highlights) after the jump.

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Check out the complete list of Fight Night 74 results (with highlights) after the jump.

Speaking of surprises, Fight Night 74′s main event ended not with a surprise finish or controversial decision, but with an injury that I have legitimately never seen before. After failing to secure his first takedown, Charles Oliveira clutched his neck and surrendered almost instantly. He was then stretchered out of the arena, leading many of us to speculate that something very, very serious might have been wrong with Oliveira heading into the matchup. As it turns out, were were right: Oliveira had previously injured his neck in training, then tore his goddamn esophagus in the opening minute of the fight. “Do Bronx” explained what went wrong during today’s MMA Hour:

I injured my neck in training, but did physical therapy and thought everything was fine, but when I fell against the cage everything went numb, I couldn’t feel my body.”

Oliveira also stated his hopes for a rematch with Holloway, who rallied for a fight against Frankie Edgar during the evening’s post-fight press conference. To which I say, book that fight, UFC. Book that fight as quickly as you sons a bitches can.

Most of us could have predicted that Josh Burkman vs. Patrick Cote would’ve been a banger, but I’ll be damned if these two vets didn’t surpass all our expectations and then some. Cote’s legendary chin was put to the test early and often by Burkman, who himself had never been TKO’d until he ate a hellacious counter right from Cote in the third round. Some 20 or so follow-up punches later, Cote had scored his first TKO win since dropping to

The highlights from Chad Laprise vs. Francisco Trinaldo and Olivier Aubin-Mercier vs. Tony Sims are below.

Laprise vs. Trinaldo

OAB vs. Sims

Main card
Max Holloway def. Charles Oliveira via first-round TKO (1:39)
Neil Magny def. Erick Silva via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 30-27)
Patrick Cote def. Josh Burkman via third-round TKO (1:26)
Francisco Trinaldo def. Chad Laprise via first-round TKO (2:43)
Olivier Aubin-Mercier def. Tony Sims via unanimous decision (30-27 x2, 29-28)
Valerie Letourneau def. Maryna Munoz via unanimous decision (29-28 x 2, 30-27)

Undercard
Frankie Perez def. Sam Stout via TKO (punches) at :54 of R1
Felipe Arantes def. Yves Jabouin via submission (armbar) at 4:21 of R1
Nikita Krylov def. Marcos Rogerio de Lima via submission (rear-naked choke) at 2:29 of R1
Chris Kelades def. Chris Beal via unanimous decision (27-30, 29-28, 29-28)
Shane Campbell def. Elias Silverio via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Misha Cirkunov def. Daniel Jolly via KO (ground and pound) at 4:45 of R1

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Ronda Rousey Announces on Good Morning America That She Will Be Fighting Holly Holm Next at UFC 195

For a while there, it seemed as if we were all but destined to see Ronda Rousey take on her arch-rival not named Cyborg for a third time following their respective wins over Bethe Correia and Jessica Eye, but today brings word of a fight many of us probably didn’t see coming.

During an appearance on Good Morning America earlier today, Rousey herself made the announcement that her next title defense won’t be against Miesha Tate, nor will it be against Cyborg, but against former pro boxer/kickboxer turned undefeated MMA fighter Holly Holm, at UFC 195. Or to put it another way: The lamb has passed through the gate. It has come to the killing floor. Its blind eyes see nothing of the horrors to come.

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Perhaps the reason most of us didn’t foresee Holm as the next logical title challenger/victim is due to the pair of performances she has put on thus far in the UFC, which can at best be described as “underwhelming.” Holm may have built up a reputation as “the best striker in women’s MMA” and will surely be lauded as “the best striker Rousey has ever faced” (see previously: Correia, B.), but she hasn’t exactly been annihilating her (somewhat unremarkable opposition) in the UFC like she was on the regional circuit.

In her promotional debut, Holm cruised to a unanimous decision over TUF 18 alum Raquel Pennington at UFC 184, and likewise wasn’t able to put away a Marion Reneau that was offering her absolutely nothing offensively at Fight Night 71. Now, she faces a champion with a 100% finishing rate. I’m probably in the minority here, but I see this thing lasting roughly a minute before the inevitable inevitably happens. But at least it’ll be a new face laying face down when all is said and done, right guys?

Then again, I suppose if Rousey decides to charge in wildly like she did against Correia, there’s a chance that Holm could make her pay for it. Time will tell, I guess (and that time will be 1:08 of round 1).

UFC 195 goes down on at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada on January 2nd, 2016.

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Quote of the Day: Frank Mir “Is Not Happy” About Potentially “Derailing” Andrei Arlovski at UFC 191

(Derailing the hype train of a youngster once and for all, on the other hand…via Getty)

Frank Mir and Andrei Arlovski have a lot in common. They’re both over six feet tall, they were both born in 1979, and they both recently used Antonio “Bifgoot” Silva as a stepping stone for their careers. (Ed note: Click here to celebrate that sweet burn with me.)

Less than a year ago, it looked like Mir all but destined to wind up alongside his former rival in the “forced retirement” line, and now, he’s looking at a potential title shot if he is victorious over Arlovski, whom himself just defeated a heavily-favored top 5 opponent in his last contest. The two veteran heavyweights will do battle at UFC 191: Johnson vs. Dodson 2 in just a couple weeks in a fight that has damn near everyone foaming at the mouth in anticipation. Everyone except Frank Mir, that is.

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(Derailing the hype train of a youngster once and for all, on the other hand…via Getty)

Mir lamented his frustrations to the Las Vegas Review-Journal:

In one sense, I’m not happy about it on a social level. I think we both have a lot to offer the sport and I don’t want to see either one of us derailed right now. I would have been much happier with this situation if we could have skipped each other at this point. I could have fought someone else in the top three and he could have fought Werdum for the title and then we could have faced each other in a title fight instead if he would have won.

I have a lot of respect for Andrei. He’s a guy that if my kids were to tell me right now they were fans of Andrei, I would completely cultivate that. Here’s a guy who was at the top. He went from the pinnacle of our sport to getting cut, signing with other organizations, losing more and he’s getting put out cold. Everyone is saying he’s done, his chin is gone, he needs to retire and this guy doesn’t listen to anybody. He just said, ‘Nope, I’m going to keep moving forward and figure out a way.’ He’s better now.

While it’s obviously not the ideal thing you’d like to hear from a guy heading into one of the biggest fights of his life, can you really fault Mir here? Like most of us diehard Arlovski fans who totally predicted his comeback from the day he first left the UFC with complete, unwavering assuredness (raises hand), Mir’s pulling for the old guy. The guy who’s been knocked down, beat down, black and blue. The guy who took a bad situation and made it right. The guy who, if he fell back down, you’d help him back up again. (Ed note: The soundtrack for that inspiring bit of prose can be found here).

Then again, over half of the heavyweight division’s top 10 are old dudes either in the midst of a comeback or on the tail end of one, so Mir’s options for potential opponents are pretty limited here. I wonder if he knows that the new champ and the former champ have been booked in a rematch for no apparent reason. That’d be a kick right to his wrinkly old balls.

In any case, I hope for Mir’s sake that his lack of motivation to fight Arlovski doesn’t affect his performance in the cage come September 5th. “The Pit Bull” is already being listed as a 3-to-1 favorite and everyone who knows anything about this sport knows that Nostalgic Frank Mir can be found just between High Altitude Velasquez and Unmotivated Penn on the list of P4P Worst Fighters Ever.

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Tamdan “The Barn Cat” McCrory Is Back in the UFC and We Can’t Contain Our Excitement

(McCrory channels Mark Hunt with a walk-off knockout of Brennan Ward at Bellator 123. Bonus points go to whoever decided on Jumanji drums as the background music.) Following a six year absence from the octagon, Tamdan McCrory has returned, babayyy!!! All hail #TeamBarnCat!! For those of you who aren’t familiar with McCrory’s story, it’s perhaps […]

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(McCrory channels Mark Hunt with a walk-off knockout of Brennan Ward at Bellator 123. Bonus points go to whoever decided on Jumanji drums as the background music.)

Following a six year absence from the octagon, Tamdan McCrory has returned, babayyy!!! All hail #TeamBarnCat!!

For those of you who aren’t familiar with McCrory’s story, it’s perhaps one of the best in recent memory. McCrory first entered the UFC back in 2007, where his unusual, “nerdy” look and 6′ 4″ frame immediately singled him out as a unique fighter in the promotion’s welterweight division. Of course, putting away a veteran of the game like Pete Spratt via triangle choke in his promotional debut was also a surefire way to get noticed.

McCrory would pick up wins over Luke Cummo and Ryan Madigan during his two-year UFC tenure, but losses to Akihiro Gono, Dustin Hazelett, and finally John Howard would see him released from the promotion in August of 2009. McCrory would not be seen nor heard from again for the next five years, which, according to his recent interview with MMAFighting, was never really a part of his plan:

I never really meant to take all that time off. It’s just the way circumstances lead you in life. I got so far out of the mix. For a time, I didn’t want to fight. There were times I didn’t want to, then there were times I wasn’t able to, and there were other things…injuries, problems. I just could never get the momentum enough to get competitive, or I just couldn’t find the right fights, or I couldn’t find someone who’d fight me, or I couldn’t find somebody who’d want to pay me.

But McCrory eventually did return at Bellator 123, scoring my personal frontrunner for “Most Badass Knockout of the Year and Maybe Ever” over Brennan Ward. “The Barn Cat” lived up to his unusual/awesome nickname and beyond that night, blistering Ward with a pinpoint series of strikes that felled the former middleweight title challenger in just over 20 seconds. McCrory would follow up the incredible victory with an equally impressive (and quick) submission of Jason Butcher at Bellator 134 last February, and it seemed as if Tamdan McCrory: Bellator Champion was all but inevitable.

But it appears that McCrory has his sights set on something slightly bigger than a Bellator crown, as it was announced yesterday that he has re-signed with the UFC. In fact, he apparently turned down a Bellator title shot to fight for the sport’s premiere organization:

I left a title shot in [my last promotion] to come to the UFC. If I wanted to win that belt I could have stayed and done it, but I wanted to be back in the sport of MMA, not the MMA entertainment business.

Translation: “I wants them Reebok monies!!”

I would highly recommend giving Chuck Mindenhall’s piece on McCrory a read at some point in the near future, but for now, let’s all just celebrate the return of the sport’s most unassuming assassin.

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Yoel Romero vs. Jacare Souza Joins Already Stacked UFC 194 Card in December

(There’s probably a fight happening somewhere in this picture, but I’ll be damned if I can see anything but Mike Beltran’s awesome beard. Look at how it flows with the wind, Nation, like a field of wheat or those giant rubber wipers at a carwash that you would always pretend were octopus tentacles when you were a kid. Remember being that age, your mind full of wonder and excitement? Now there is only cynicism. Cynicism and self-loathing……………………………

…………………………………………….I’ve completely forgotten what I was talking about.)

We know that declaring any UFC card in today’s era as “stacked” is all but the kiss of death, but you guys, UFC 194 is stacked. That it only has three fights booked so far is a testament to how stacked it is, and unfortunately also a testament to how doomed it is to lose at least one of those fights within the coming weeks.

But for now, the December 12th-scheduled card will feature a pair of title fights in Conor McGregor vs. Jose Aldo and Chris Weidman vs. Taylor Swift’s BFF. As if that wasn’t enough, the UFC announced earlier today that another key middleweight matchup will take place on the card as well: 4th-ranked Yoel Romero vs. 3rd-ranked Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza.

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…………………………………………….I’ve completely forgotten what I was talking about.)

Romero and Souza were originally scheduled to fight at UFC 184 last February, but thanks to a particularly nasty bout of pneumonia, the latter had to withdraw from the event. The bout was then rescheduled for UFC on FOX 15 in April, but then it was Romero who went down with IBS a torn meniscus, forcing the UFC to once again sacrifice Chris Camozzi to the Alligator Gods. So we’re sure that everything will work out just fine this time around.

Still undefeated in his UFC career, Romero last competed at UFC Fight Night 70, KOing Lyoto Machida with some BRUTAL elbows from the top early in the third round. Souza is similarly undefeated thus far into his UFC career, having picked up five straight over the likes of Gegard Mousasi and Francis Carmont among others. The two share a common opponent in Derek Brunson (pictured above), whom Souza scored a quick KO over back in the Strikeforce days and Romero elbowed into oblivion back at Fight Night 35. Brunson, believe it or not, actually decided to stick with this whole fighting thing and has since gone on a three-fight win streak. Good for him.

Predictions, please.

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