Unfortunately for “Jacare,” a meniscus injury suffered at UFC 198 last weekend has removed him from the short list of potential opponents, and now, nearly ten years to the day after he made his UFC debut, “The Count” will be receiving his first title shot.
After the jump: A “Greatest Hits” collection, if you will, of Bisping and Rockhold talking sh*t to each other, + an update on Weidman’s injury.
Unfortunately for “Jacare,” a meniscus injury suffered at UFC 198 last weekend has removed him from the short list of potential opponents, and now, nearly ten years to the day after he made his UFC debut, “The Count” will be receiving his first title shot.
After the jump: A “Greatest Hits” collection, if you will, of Bisping and Rockhold talking sh*t to each other.
UFC 199 goes down on June 4th at The Forum in Inglewood, California.
Related: In an official statement posted to his Facebook page, Chris Weidman has detailed the extent of the neck injury that forced him out of UFC 199, and boy does it sound nasty.
In a dramatic twist that would shock even the most seasoned MMA fan, word has it that Chris Weidman — as in thepreviouslyunbreakable, punch-a-hole-in-your-f*cking-chest Chris Weidman — has been forced to pull out of his UFC 199-scheduled rematch with Luke Rockhold due to an injury suffered in training.
We know what you’re thinking, and yes, this is probably the end of the physical world as we know it.
In a dramatic twist that would shock even the most seasoned MMA fan, word has it that Chris Weidman — as in thepreviouslyunbreakable, punch-a-hole-in-your-f*cking-chest Chris Weidman — has been forced to pull out of his UFC 199-scheduled rematch with Luke Rockhold due to an injury suffered in training.
We know what you’re thinking, and yes, this is probably the end of the physical world as we know it.
Details after the jump.
News of Weidman’s undisclosed injury was first broke by Talk MMA, then later confirmed by MMAFighting.
Now just two weeks out from UFC 199, the UFC is currently pursuing a last second replacement opponent to meet Rockhold in the main event. The obvious choice would seem to be Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza, who aside from racking up 6 wins against 1 loss in the UFC and handing Vitor Belfort his ass on a silver platter at UFC 198 last weekend, also happens to have a bit of history with Rockhold — the pair first met at Strikeforce: Barnett vs. Kharitonov back in 2011, where the then-champion Souza was defeated by Rockhold via unanimous decision.
Of course, there is also another fitting option for Rockhold: Michael Bisping, who has rattled off three straight wins in the middleweight division since suffering a second round submission loss to Rockhold at Fight Night 55 in 2014. For what it’s worth, Bisping seems more than up for the challenge.
Training camps separate the boys from the men. This sport isn't for everyone. 2 weeks notice? I'm down!!! @ufc#realfighter#fightersfighter
Personally, we’d like to see the UFC go a little off-book and pit all three of these guys against each other in a TLC match — which in MMA, translates to “Toe Holds, Leg Kicks, and Crucifixions” — as a way of making up for the untimely falling out of their main event, but we’re sure that stupid things like “regulation” and “fighter safety” will prevent that from ever happening. This PC culture, man, let me tell you. It’s ruining everything that was once pure about this sport.
In any case, we’ll make sure to keep you updated when a replacement opponent for Weidman is announced. In the meantime, let’s all enjoy this video of Weidman in his natural habitat…
(“Hey Fabricio, it’s me Dan. I know this probably isn’t the time to tell you this, but you really dun f*cked up, kid.”via Getty)
Fabricio Werdum may have only been a -185 favorite heading into his UFC 198 title tilt with Stipe Miocic on Saturday, but the consensus across the board seemed to be that he would either utilize his vastly-improved striking skills to put away his Cleveland-born opponent on the feet or take him to the mat and submit him using his world-renowned Jiu Jitsu. This was the man who defeated Cain Velasquez, after all, and was hoping to kickstart his legacy as “the greatest heavyweight of all time” with a big win in front of 45,000 Brazilian fans.
The Fabricio Werdum that actually showed up at UFC 198, however, could not have looked further from the greatness he so desired. Chalk it up to blind confidence or whatever you will, but “Vai Cavalo” — a man who has not only submitted 3 of the greatest heavyweights of all time, but dominated the likes of Mark Hunt and Travis Browne in recent appearances — appeared to temporarily lose complete control of both his body and mind on Saturday night. It was quite possibly the most mind-blowingly stupid performance since Koji Oishi tried to block Nick Diaz’s punches with punches, and the result was a new champion who was all but handed the belt on a silver platter.
(“Hey Fabricio, it’s me Dan. I know this probably isn’t the time to tell you this, but you really dun f*cked up, kid.”via Getty)
Fabricio Werdum may have only been a -185 favorite heading into his UFC 198 title tilt with Stipe Miocic on Saturday, but the consensus across the board seemed to be that he would either utilize his vastly-improved striking skills to put away his Cleveland-born opponent on the feet or take him to the mat and submit him using his world-renowned Jiu Jitsu. This was the man who defeated Cain Velasquez, after all, and was hoping to kickstart his legacy as “the greatest heavyweight of all time” with a big win in front of 45,000 Brazilian fans.
The Fabricio Werdum that actually showed up at UFC 198, however, could not have looked further from the greatness he so desired. Chalk it up to blind confidence or whatever you will, but “Vai Cavalo” — a man who has not only submitted 3 of the greatest heavyweights of all time, but dominated the likes of Mark Hunt and Travis Browne in recent appearances — appeared to temporarily lose complete control of both his body and mind on Saturday night. It was quite possibly the most mind-blowingly stupid performance since Koji Oishi tried to block Nick Diaz’s punches with punches, and the result was a new champion who was all but handed the belt on a silver platter.
It cannot be understated how surreal it was to see a fighter with Werdum’s technical prowess literally charge face first into the fists of his opponent while throwing the kind of telegraphed 1-2 punches usually found on an episode of Cops. He didn’t even cut off the cage, for Christ’s sake! THIS IS DAY ONE STUFF, FABRICIO.
In the end, it’s hard not to see Werdum’s performance at UFC 198 as anything but reckless. He’s asking for a quick rematch at UFC 200, because of course he is, and given the way in which the UFC operates these days, it’s very likely that he’ll receive it. Until that day comes, however, there won’t be enough “happy face” masks in the world to suppress his sadness.
Rather than focus on Vitor Belfort‘s nearly-as-stupid decision to pull guard against Ronaldo Souza and get immediately TKO’d in last weekend’s co-main event, we figured it would be nice to highlight some of the positive takeaways from UFC 198. First up on that list, obviously, would have to be Cris Cyborg‘s long-awaited UFC debut. Paired up against self-admitted journeyman Leslie Smith, the current Invicta featherweight champion looked faster, more dynamic, and more technical with her strikes than ever before… a scary notion if you’re, say, the one woman who has been needling her for what feels like a decade now. The end result of Cyborg’s time away from the octagon, in any case, was an absolutely savage ass-kicking.
Smith may be protesting the stoppage to anyone who will listen, but really, referee Eduardo Herdy was only putting a stop to the inevitable before it got out of hand. The fact is that Smith landed maybe 2 punches in 80 seconds and was caught between a rock and a hard place (which, conveniently, are the names Cyborg has bestowed upon her fists) before the fight was stopped, so let’s just credit her for having the guts to take the fight in the first place and move on to figuring out how Cyborg can make the cut to 135, because that shit needs to happen.
Can we talk about Matt Brown for a second? What a week it has been for this poor guy. Paired up against Demian Maia in the featured prelim of the evening, “The Immortal” knew he would be entering hostile territory, but decided that the best course of action to combat this would be to flip off the Curitiba crowd during Friday’s weigh-ins. This…..did not seem like a strong move, in retrospect.
You can check out the highlights from Brown’s third round submission loss to Maia here, but basically, it looked like every performance that we’ve come to expect from Maia 2.0. More interesting, however, were the assaults Brown was forced to deal with both before and after the fight. The first you can check out above, wherein Brown is hit no less than three times on the way to the ring before giving the final assailant a once-in-a-lifetime souvenir.
Crazy, right? Well that doesn’t hold a candle to what happened in the hotel lobby after the fight. According to MiddleEasy, Brown was then sucker-punched by his former coach, Rodrigo Botti, in the hotel that he was staying in. The video above captures Brown’s friend, Vinicius “Pequeno” Lemos, laying some good old fashioned street justice on Botti while waiting for the police to arrive. Brazilians, man, they’re f*cking crazy.
The full results for UFC 198 are below.
Main card
Stipe Miocic def. Fabricio Werdum via first-round KO (2:47)
Jacare Souza def. Vitor Belfort via first-round TKO (4:38)
Cris Cyborg def. Leslie Smith via first-round TKO (1:21)
Mauricio Rua def. Corey Anderson via split decision
Bryan Barberena def. Warlley Alves via unanimous decision
Undercard
Demian Maia def. Matt Brown via submission (rear-naked choke) (R3, 4:31)
Thiago Santos def. Nate Marquardt via first-round KO (3:39)
Francisco Trinaldo def. Yancy Medeiros via unanimous decision
John Lineker def. Rob Font via unanimous decision
Antonio Rogerio Nogueira def. Patrick Cummins via first-round TKO (4:52)
Sergio Moraes vs. Luan Chagas ruled a draw
Renato Moicano def. Zubaira Tukhugov via split decision
The latest victim of Brazil’s notoriously rough streets? Wanderlei Silva, who was struck by a car while riding a bicycle last night.
Details after the jump.
The news was first broke via The Axe Murderer’s official Facebook page.
“We inform that Wand has been in an accident. A car hit him while he was returning home on his bike following a training session. Because of that, he injured his shoulder and undergoes surgery today. We ask for your prayers for our champion.”
Having just gotten his lifetime ban from the sport reduced to a three year suspension (retroactive to his failed fight with Chael Sonnen at UFC 175), Silva was expected to take part in Rizin’s eight man, open-weight tournament later this year. No word yet on how or if this injury will affect his slot in the tournament.
We’ll keep you up to date on Silva’s recovery as it happens, but given what we’ve seen in recent weeks, let’s all just be thankful that Silva’s accident wasn’t much, much worse.
Following his “controversial” decision loss to Michael Bisping at Fight Night 84 in February, former middleweight champion Anderson Silva was booked in a quick turnaround match against Uriah Hall at UFC 198 this weekend. It was an odd, if intriguing matchup from a fan’s perspective, and one that presented an opportunity for two of the UFC’s flashiest strikers to secure a much-needed win.
But now, just three days out from their scheduled meeting, Anderson Silva has been forced off of UFC 198 with one of the more unusual injuries to hit the headlines this year.
Following his “controversial” decision loss to Michael Bisping at Fight Night 84 in February, former middleweight champion Anderson Silva was booked in a quick turnaround match against Uriah Hall at UFC 198 this weekend. It was an odd, if intriguing matchup from a fan’s perspective, and one that presented an opportunity for two of the UFC’s flashiest strikers to secure a much-needed win.
But now, just three days out from their scheduled meeting, Anderson Silva has been forced off of UFC 198 with one of the more unusual injuries to hit the headlines this year.
Details after the jump.
According to Yahoo, Silva officially withdrew from the card late last night after experiencing severe abdominal pains, which upon further inspection, were revealed “to be consistent with acute cholecystitis” — an inflammation of the galbladder.
Silva was then rushed to the hospital to undergo immediate surgery, which MMAFighting’s Guilherme Cruz ?informs us was a rousing success.
Update: Anderson Silva's surgery was a success and he will be cleared from the hospital Friday, Dr. Tannure told me.
Now facing a 4-6 week recovery, the question now becomes whether Silva will be healthy enough to compete on the UFC 200 card in July. In either case, it seems that UFC will not be seeking a replacement for Uriah Hall.
In somewhat lesser injury news, BJ Penn’s totally-unwanted return fight just took a big hit in the form of his opponent, Dennis Siver, who has been forced out of the bout with an undisclosed injury. With the UFC currently scrambling to find Penn an opponent, an unexpected voice has emerged from the pack in TUF 22 finalist Artem Lobov, who took to Twitter with an interesting proposition:
@bjpenndotcom If you let me fight you I will donate 50% of my purse to charity…Lets have a fight and help those in need!!! @ufc#Legend
All things considered, this isn’t the worst fight you could book on short notice. I mean, sure, Lobov is almost a complete non-entity to most MMA fans (and is also a whopping 0-2 in his UFC career), but he’s also a guy who both places entertainment above strategy and stands next to no chance of defeating Penn on even his best day. That’s what Penn’s unretirement is all about, right? Proving that he still has enough left in the tank to compete with *any* UFC fighter, regardless of their proximity to an actual title? He was booked against Siver, after all, who the UFC has been treating like a professional fall guy ever since he tested positive for a testicle-preserving banned substance back at UFC 168. I’m just saying that the UFC should do whatever it has to to avoid another BJ Penn breakdown, and Lobov seems like their best bet.
