The UFC appears to have worked itself into a schedule in which they focus in and promote a particular weight class for a couple months at a time. The bantamweight division is currently on hiatus with nothing major happening to the division over the las…
The UFC appears to have worked itself into a schedule in which they focus in and promote a particular weight class for a couple months at a time. The bantamweight division is currently on hiatus with nothing major happening to the division over the last month.
With nine of the 10 fighters on this list fighting under the UFC promotion, only one of them has a fight officially announced (Scott Jorgensen vs. John Albert).
While the bantamweights aren’t making any headlines, we can venture to guess that this is the calm before the storm and these 135-pounders will be rocking each other to start UFC’s 2013 campaign.
Evan Dunham took on TJ Grant at UFC 152 on Saturday night with both fighters taking home “Fight of the Night” honors for their performance.Dunham has stumbled as of late and now has lost three of his last five fights. Although he and Grant gave a good …
Evan Dunham took on TJ Grant at UFC 152 on Saturday night with both fighters taking home “Fight of the Night” honors for their performance.
Dunham has stumbled as of late and now has lost three of his last five fights. Although he and Grant gave a good fight for the fans, it was still a unanimous-decision loss added to his career record.
So where does Dunham go from here?
It’s hard to say with so many lightweight fights coming up over the next few months. One thing is nearly certain—he’ll most likely have to win to avoid being another loss away from losing his spot on the UFC roster.
Dunham has been averaging two fights per year as of late and looks to be on schedule to fight again in January, assuming he will be healthy.
Here are five fights Dunham should take next:
Loser of Thiago Tavares and Dennis Hallman (October 5)
Loser of Rafael dos Anjos and Mark Bocek (November 17)
Winner of Mac Danzig and Takanori Gomi (November 10)
Winner of Jacob Volkmann and Shane Roller (October 5)
Winner of Jeremy Stephens and Yves Edwards (October 5)
Each of these matchups would still provide respectable opponents for Dunham, but they aren’t near the top of the food chain—which is where he would be had he come out on top against Grant.
Dunham is leaning towards the other side of 30, so he has time to make another run up the ladder—it’s just going to start with a mid-tier opponent.
Joe Chacon is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report and a staff writer for Operation Sports. You can follow him on Twitter @JoeChacon.
If nothing else, fans were looking forward to UFC 152 for the simple fact that they’d be able to remove the awful taste that the cancellation of UFC 151 left in their mouths. Dana White and the rest of the UFC brass couldn’t have been happier to have m…
If nothing else, fans were looking forward to UFC 152 for the simple fact that they’d be able to remove the awful taste that the cancellation of UFC 151 left in their mouths. Dana White and the rest of the UFC brass couldn’t have been happier to have moved on as well.
UFC 152 got off to a rocky start in the prelims with the controversial stoppage of Kyle Noke over Charlie Brenneman. This was followed up by two additional first-round stoppages.
Three decisions kicked off the fights shown on FX, but things didn’t start to get really interesting until Vinny Magalhaes made his triumphant return to the UFC with a second-round submission win over Igor Pokrajac.
Cub Swanson greeted the pay-per-view audience with an odd-looking knockout of Charles Oliveira. Then the action really plummeted when Matt Hamill and Roger Hollett took to the cage.
Hamill vs. Hollett was one of the worst fights I’ve ever seen. From a fan’s standpoint, a writer’s standpoint, a fan of Hamill’s standpoint. Whatever standpoint it was from, the fight flat-out stunk.
In fact, the thought of UFC 151 didn’t cross my mind all night until I saw these two lugs waltz around for 15 minutes.
Halfway through the fight, I had the notion to check out the UFC 151 card to remind myself of the fights we could have seen if Henderson didn’t pull out with a knee injury. The fact is, we weren’t missing much…at least on paper.
Instead of Hamill vs. Hollett, we would have been watching Dennis Hallman vs. ThiagoTavares. Granted, its hard to say how the fight could have gone between Hallman and Tavares, but I can guarantee it would have gone better than Hamill vs. Hollett.
Heck, watching two paper bags blow in the wind in a race to the end of the street would have been more entertaining.
After that fight painfully ended, we were left with good (not great) fights of Bisping/Stann, Johnson/Benavidez and Jones/Belfort. When it was all said and done, UFC 152 was an entertaining night as a whole.
I feel like the event did its job and put the cancellation of UFC 151 in the background and made it a distant memory for many.
Jones said some good things immediately following his fight, and it was apparent that the chorus of boos he was showered with upon entering the arena was turned into cheers as he exited.
The UFC 151 disaster was only going to be forgotten if Jones showed maturity and class following his fight with Belfort.
He showed both, and now the MMA community can press forward and let go of some resentment they may have had toward Jones, Dana, and whoever else was responsible for the cancellation of UFC 151.
Joe Chacon is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report and a staff writer for Operation Sports. You can follow him on Twitter @JoeChacon.
I’d have to imagine that in homes and bars across the world, people were yelling something to the effect of, “Oh! He’s got him! He’s got him!” when Vitor Belfort latched onto a serious armbar early in the first round against Jon Jones on Saturday night…
I’d have to imagine that in homes and bars across the world, people were yelling something to the effect of, “Oh! He’s got him! He’s got him!” when VitorBelfort latched onto a serious armbar early in the first round against Jon Jones on Saturday night.
“The Phenom” didn’t look phenomenal against the light heavyweight champion, but as Lee Corso would say, it was closer than the experts thought. Especially early on.
Many writers and fans expected Jones to dismantle Belfort fairly easily, and I guess in some respects he did. Aside from the first couple of minutes, the fight was never in doubt, and he eventually wore down Belfort on the way to his fourth-round submission victory.
That’s precisely why I believe Belfort still has a few years left in him. He isn’t somebody who you’d expect to come into the Octagon and get dropped by a single punch to the chin.
He hasn’t been too successful since his return to the UFC in 2009 (3-2), but those two losses have come against Anderson Silva and now Jones.
I think we can all sense when I guy should call it a career. We saw Chuck Liddell’s chin fail him during his demise and knew his time was up. Tito Ortiz could never seem to put together consecutive wins during the final five years of his career and fans could see the sport passing him by.
The same can be said for Rampage Jackson and Forrest Griffin. Generally speaking, I think we have a pretty good gauge when it comes to feeling if a fighter should retire or not.
Belfort did enough against the champion to give confidence to himself and his fans that he can compete at a high level. We may never see UFC gold wrapped around Belfort‘s waist again, but he’s still a fighter who can compete with some of the best fighters the UFC has to offer.
At the age of 35, Belfort still has the heart, skill-set and chin to be competitive in his fights. If he comes out and loses again in his next fight, then we may start to hear more musings of him riding off into the sunset and calling it a career.
Joe Chacon is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report and a staff writer for Operation Sports. You can follow him on Twitter @JoeChacon.
Earlier this year, Ronda Rousey appeared on TMZ and suggested Kim Kardashian sell lube instead of shoes. This was just a snippet as to how Rousey has taken the media by storm on her way to becoming one of the most popular fighters in all of MMA. Not on…
Earlier this year, Ronda Rouseyappeared on TMZ and suggested Kim Kardashian sell lube instead of shoes. This was just a snippet as to how Rousey has taken the media by storm on her way to becoming one of the most popular fighters in all of MMA.
Not only does she speak what’s on her mind, she doesn’t always seem to think in a calculated manner in the way somebody like ChaelSonnen does his trash talking. This was apparent when she said she would “kill” Sarah Kaufman if she got her into a choke.
We all have people in the entertainment industry who we wouldn’t mind seeing Rousey follow through on the threats she had for Kaufman. These are five famous female’s we’d love see take their enormous egos into the cage with the armbar specialist.
As soon as news broke this evening that Stephan Bonnar and Anderson Silva are going to headline UFC 153, Twitter turned into a horrific comedy show.MMA fans and media tore apart the decision to have Silva fight Bonnar. To the average fan, it makes no s…
As soon as news broke this evening that Stephan Bonnar and Anderson Silva are going to headline UFC 153, Twitter turned into a horrific comedy show.
MMA fans and media tore apart the decision to have Silva fight Bonnar. To the average fan, it makes no sense. To the hardcore fan it makes no sense. Heck, it doesn’t make sense to anybody.
Our own Jonathan Snowden had a pretty good analogy pertaining to this fight:
Next Week: New England Patriots vs. Fresno State#If the UFC ran Pro Football
Anybody who posted something positive about Bonnar‘s chances were merely doing so in a tongue-in-cheek fashion. Let’s face it, he doesn’t have a chance. Not now, not five years ago, never.
Look, I’m happy for Bonnar getting this opportunity. He will forever be linked with Forrest Griffin for producing one of the most iconic images in the history of the UFC. But this fight is so lopsided that I wouldn’t be surprised if Silva took up a different hobby to focus on between now and October 13.
Then another post caught my eye:
So what happens if Belfort beats Jones and Bonnar beats Silva?
So what would happen if Belfort beat Jones and Bonnar beat Silva? Would fans recognize the fact that Belfort is better than Jones? Would Silva instantly lose the legacy he has fought all these years for? And how about Bonnar? He might declare himself to be the greatest of all-time with a win over Silva.
2012 has been one of (if not the worst) years for the UFC during the ZUFFA era. Prolific injuries and a canceled event have already alienated some fans and the promotion has been unable to capitalize off of the surge in momentum they had after announcing the FOX deal.
If the unthinkable happens and these two huge underdogs win their fights, would it continue to send the UFC in a tailspin or would it somehow be beneficial for the promotion?
The UFC needs a sense of stability reattached to the brand. Belfort beating Jones and Bonnar beating Silva would not help those efforts.
Joe Chacon is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report and a staff writer for Operation Sports. You can follow him on Twitter @JoeChacon.
