Author: Joe Chacon

UFC 162: Shane Del Rosario Injured, Gabriel Gonzaga in to Face Dave Herman

Less than three months after being knocked out by Travis Browne’s vicious elbows, Gabriel Gonzaga will jump into the mix at UFC 162 in Las Vegas, Nev.Gonzaga will be stepping in for the injured Shane Del Rosario and face Dave Herman. The matchup was co…

Less than three months after being knocked out by Travis Browne’s vicious elbows, Gabriel Gonzaga will jump into the mix at UFC 162 in Las Vegas, Nev.

Gonzaga will be stepping in for the injured Shane Del Rosario and face Dave Herman. The matchup was confirmed via the UFC Twitter feed:

Herman, now 1-3 within the UFC, is desperately looking for a win. “Pee-Wee” has been finished in three straight fights and hasn’t won since June of 2011. That win was against a guy named John-Olav Einemo, who has since retired from fighting and ended his UFC career with an 0-2 record.

Gonzaga has been fighting in the UFC for what seems like forever. This fight against Herman will mark the 16th time he has competed for the organization. Over his previous 15 UFC fights, Gonzaga has compiled a record of 9-6 and has won two of his last three.

Gonzaga’s signature win is still the knockout kick to the head of Mirko “Cro Cop” he landed at UFC 70 over six years ago. Although he has won two of his last three in the UFC, he has suffered defeat in three of his last five overall inside the Octagon.

With Gonzaga replacing Del Rosario, Herman won’t have to alter is strategy much as both Del Rosario and Gonzaga love to transition between kickboxing and Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

The fight is expected to be the first fight on the FX portion of the preliminary fights. Other notable fighters on the FX portion of the card include Mark Munoz, Tim Boetsch, Chris Leben and Edson Barboza.

UFC 162 takes place on Saturday, July 6, 2013.

 

Joe Chacon is a Contributor to Bleacher Report and can be followed on Twitter @JoeChacon.

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UFC 160: Which Fighter Has the Most to Lose?

UFC 160 features the fighters who possess the most powerful punches in MMA today.Some of the more prominent fighters on the card, Cain Velasquez, Antonio Silva, Junior dos Santos, Mark Hunt, Glover Teixeira and Mark Hunt, combine for a total of 62 knoc…

UFC 160 features the fighters who possess the most powerful punches in MMA today.

Some of the more prominent fighters on the card, Cain Velasquez, Antonio Silva, Junior dos Santos, Mark Hunt, Glover Teixeira and Mark Hunt, combine for a total of 62 knockouts.

Whenever we ask the question of who has the most to lose or the most to gain comes up before a fight, many would believe it’s the Champion or the one gunning for the belt. More often than not, that’s not the case.

Take, for example, UFC 160. Although there is a title on the line, Velasquez does not have the most to lose. Should Velasquez lose the fight and his belt to Silva, he’d more than likely get another shot at it within the next calendar year to finish the trilogy with “Bigfoot”. Instead of looking at who has a belt to lose, it’s important to look at who would go tumbling down the rankings with a loss.

UFC 160 features a few fighters on the cusp of being in a title fight, but there’s also some guys who are fighting for their spot on the UFC roster. An argument as to which fighter has the most to lose can be made for just about everyone on the card.

My opinion is that Glover Teixeira has the most to lose.

Teixeira has rattled off 18 consecutive wins, with three of those coming in the UFC. Working his way up to fighting “Rampage” Jackson and following it up with a fight against James Te-Huna doesn’t seem like a step up, but Te-Huna has been on a nice streak of his own by winning 10 of his last 11.

Teixeira doesn’t have the fan following or buzz that somebody such as a Mark Hunt has. Teixeira needs to keep winning to inch closer to a title shot. He’s not a vocal guy and won’t talk his way into a fight. He more or less just accepts what the UFC throws at him.

Should Teixeira lose, it would halt his momentum. Who would he fight after coming off a loss if Te-Huna is who the UFC set him up with after winning 18 in a row? Granted, Ryan Bader was Teixeira’s original opponent but had to withdraw due to an injury.

There is quite a bit of steam behind Teixeira as he heads into Saturday night’s UFC 160 card in Las Vegas, Nevada. As it stands now, if he beats Te-Huna, he will most likely be propelled into a light-heavyweight title eliminator bout. Should he lose, however, he’ll fall faster than [insert whatever witty analogy you have here].

As for the guys fighting above Teixeira on the card, they’ll be fine. Velasquez, Silva, Dos Santos and Hunt will all be right in the mix of things, even if they lose. For more analysis as to who is on the hot seat at UFC 160, be sure to check out Trent Reinsmith’s article.

Nobody has more to lose at UFC 160 than Glover Teixeira.

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Power Ranking the Main Card Fights on the UFC 160 Fight Card

UFC 160: Velasquez vs. Bigfoot 2 takes place this Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nev. The main card features a rematch between Cain Velasquez and Antonio Silva, which took place one year ago.Also fighting on the main card ar…

UFC 160: Velasquez vs. Bigfoot 2 takes place this Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nev. The main card features a rematch between Cain Velasquez and Antonio Silva, which took place one year ago.

Also fighting on the main card are Junior dos Santos vs. Mark Hunt, Glover Teixeira vs. James Te Huna, Gray Maynard vs. TJ Grant, and Donald Cerrone vs. KJ Noons.

For whatever reason, it seems as of late that the more excited we get for big names on a card, the harder the card falls. Rarely do we get each matchup on the main card to perform in the way we had anticipated.

I have a gut feeling this card is going to be different, and for the first time in a long time, we are going to see every single fight on the main card meet our expectations.

With five exciting fights lined up, let’s take a look at which ones I believe will steal the show.

Continue on for the main card power rankings.

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Josh Barnett Rejoins UFC, Signs Multi-Fight Deal

The age-old philosophy that “time heals all” appears to be flowing freely within the UFC. Dana White and Josh Barnett have come together once again.According to USA Today, Barnett has signed a new multi-fight deal with the UFC and will be fighting in t…

The age-old philosophy that “time heals all” appears to be flowing freely within the UFC. Dana White and Josh Barnett have come together once again.

According to USA Today, Barnett has signed a new multi-fight deal with the UFC and will be fighting in the Octagon later this year. An official announcement from the promotion is expected within the next couple of days.

Barnett is best known for his powerful wrestling, charismatic persona and unfortunately, a career marred by failed drug tests. “The Warmaster” has a career record of 32-6 (4-1 in the UFC), but has not fought inside the Octagon since 2002 when he beat Randy Couture for the UFC Heavyweight Championship. Barnett was later stripped of the title for testing positive for multiple banned substances.

The 35-year-old didn’t let the mishap from the UFC detour his fighting aspirations. Barnett went on to a successful Pancrase and Pride career before showcasing his skills more recently in Strikeforce.

While fans have been clamoring for Barnett to get back with the UFC for quite some time, things didn’t look so good based on what White had to say in this 2010 interview with Ariel Helwani of MMA Fighting (emphasis mine):

All of us are going to make mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes. It’s how you deal with those mistakes. You take a guy like Josh Barnett. This guy’s tested positive three times and denies every time that he’s taken steroids, okay? He comes out with an interview last week basically saying, ‘I don’t care about anybody else; the only person I care about is myself. I got some fans out there and thanks for following me or whatever, but I’m not fighting for you. I’m fighting for me and I’m doing everything for me.’ This is a guy who single-handedly put a company out of business — single-handedly put a company out of business for doing what he was doing and has zero remorse for it. Couldn’t care less. [He’s like,] ‘I don’t care that you bought tickets to that fight and were planning on going. I don’t care that Fedor flew all the way in from Russia to fight me and trained and spent his own money to do this. I don’t care that this company, Affliction, believed in me and was allowing me to make a living and I put them out of business. All I care about is me. Those are the guys that I have zero tolerance for. And that’s why he’s not in the UFC and never will be.

Gradually over the last few years since White made these comments, it became evident that there was at least a window of opportunity for Barnett to come back. Now that a multi-fight deal has been made with the former “Baby-Faced Assassin,” UFC fans will see exactly how he stacks up with the best heavyweights the world has to offer.

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3 Questions We Have About Glover Teixeira Ahead of UFC 160

UFC 160 is now just a few days away and features plenty of exciting fights (on paper). In addition to Cain Velasquez versus Antonio Silva and Junior Dos Santos taking on Mark Hunt, we will be treated to a potential brawl between Glover Teixeira and Jam…

UFC 160 is now just a few days away and features plenty of exciting fights (on paper). In addition to Cain Velasquez versus Antonio Silva and Junior Dos Santos taking on Mark Hunt, we will be treated to a potential brawl between Glover Teixeira and James Te Huna.

Teixeira is in the midst of an 18-fight winning streak and is 3-0 within the UFC. Yet, with 22 professional fights on his record, there are still plenty of questions we have about him.

As Teixeira continues his climb the ladder toward a title shot, let’s take a look at the three most pressing questions we have as he heads into his fight on Saturday night in Las Vegas.

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UFC 157: Memorable Quotes and Images from Rousey vs. Carmouche Fight Card

The women delivered for UFC 157.Over 15,000 fans witnessed UFC history on Saturday night at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif., as Ronda Rousey earned her seventh consecutive first-round win via armbar.Rousey showed her strength as Liz Carmouche almos…

The women delivered for UFC 157.

Over 15,000 fans witnessed UFC history on Saturday night at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif., as Ronda Rousey earned her seventh consecutive first-round win via armbar.

Rousey showed her strength as Liz Carmouche almost pulled off one of the greatest upsets in the history of the UFC when she cranked the face of Ronda Rousey early on in the first round of their fight.

The night also featured impressive wins for Urijah Faber, Court McGee and Robbie Lawler, among others. An early Fight of the Year contender emerged with the amazing exchange of blows between Dennis Bermudez and Matt Grice.

When it was all said and done, there were 24 fighters who stepped foot into the Octagon for UFC 157, and many of those fights had the crowd amped.

Let’s take a look at the most memorable quotes and images from UFC 157: Rousey vs. Carmouche.

 

 

All quotes provided to Bleacher Report by the UFC.

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