Author: Jordy McElroy

Why Cain Velasquez Is the Uncrowned King of the Heavyweight Division

In one of the most brutal beatings of the year, Cain Velasquez put Junior dos Santos and the rest of the heavyweight division on notice at UFC 146.A Hollywood movie production crew would have trouble reconstructing the carnage left in the Octagon by Ve…

In one of the most brutal beatings of the year, Cain Velasquez put Junior dos Santos and the rest of the heavyweight division on notice at UFC 146.

A Hollywood movie production crew would have trouble reconstructing the carnage left in the Octagon by Velasquez, who was surgical in his ground assault on Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva.

The bout wasn’t for the squeamish, as puddles of Silva’s blood painted the white canvas like a Picasso piece.

Velasquez was masterful in securing an immediate takedown and blasting Silva with unanswered punches before referee Josh Rosenthal finally decided to step in at 3:36 of the first round.

In his post-fight interview with UFC commentator Joe Rogan, Velasquez appeared satisfied with the victory, but his mind remains set on recapturing the UFC title.

“It’s been great to look at what I did in the past and get over that,” said Velasquez, who bounced back from a first-round knockout loss to Dos Santos. “This is a step in the right direction.”

It isn’t far-fetched to consider Velasquez the uncrowned king of the heavyweight division.

The former UFC champion calling his performance against Silva a “step in the right direction” should be considered an understatement. “Bigfoot” is a highly-respected top-10 heavyweight contender, and he never even laid a hand on Velasquez.

The heavyweight division should fear the UFC 146 Velasquez, who stuck to his wrestling and avoided unnecessary standup exchanges.

His rare combination of world-class wrestling and unending cardio is a nightmare for anyone, including UFC heavyweight champ Dos Santos.

For many, it’s hard to shake Velasquez’s 64-second knockout loss to Dos Santos. There certainly wasn’t anything fluky about the win. Dos Santos is one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the world, and his boxing is second to none in the heavyweight division.

Whether by punch or submission, people get caught all the time in MMA. Velasquez got caught with a big punch by quite possibly the best heavyweight striker in the world.

Where’s the shame in that?

It wasn’t like Dos Santos dominated him for a major portion of the bout. The two heavyweights were still in the feeling-out process before the fight-ending haymaker was even thrown.

There still remains some unfinished business between Velasquez and Dos Santos, and fans should eagerly anticipate a more fitting conclusion in the rematch.

Can Dos Santos continue to roll, or will Velasquez rise up and retake the heavyweight throne?

The battle lines are drawn.

Which side are you on?

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Dan Hardy Says Goodbye to Trademark Mohawk

“The Outlaw” has gone bald.Dan Hardy is turning over a new leaf, and sadly, it won’t include his trademark Mohawk.In a picture uploaded on Twitter, the former UFC welterweight title contender shows off his new look.Hardy was riding a four-fight losing …

“The Outlaw” has gone bald.

Dan Hardy is turning over a new leaf, and sadly, it won’t include his trademark Mohawk.

In a picture uploaded on Twitter, the former UFC welterweight title contender shows off his new look.

Hardy was riding a four-fight losing streak, but he recently rebounded at UFC 146 in “Knockout of the Night” fashion with a win over Duane Ludwig.

Simply put, this isn’t the same Dan Hardy anymore. His look, fighting style and even walkout music has changed.

“Tonight felt different, and it needed a different feel for me,” Hardy told Ariel Helwani of MMAFighting.com, when asked about his new walkout music. “The problem is we expect that song, and the walkout is quite important to me.”

“I need to either feel like I’m at my old self which is going to win fights, or I need to feel completely different. The old self that was winning fights has been disappeared for two years, so I just needed a refresher for a while.”

Hardy’s transformation as a fighter runs deeper than a new haircut or different walkout music. His willingness to accept his own flaws and attempt to improve on them is encouraging.

A couple of years ago, Hardy criticized wrestlers for taking fights to the ground and controlling from top to ride out decisions.

Now, Hardy has gone to lengths to try to improve upon his own wrestling. He even put in work with former adversary UFC welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre.

Hardy is currently working alongside Ricky Lundell, who is a two-time FILA grappling gold medalist for Team USA.

It may not look like the same Dan Hardy, but Hardy 2.0 is ready to do things his original version could only dream about.

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Vitor Belfort’s Wife Predicts ‘Chicken’ Wanderlei Silva Gets KO’d in 19 Seconds

Hell has no fury like a woman scorned.Vitor Belfort’s wife, Joana Prado Belfort, has plenty to be upset about following Wanderlei Silva’s recent comments about her husband.Silva, who was fired up about Belfort pulling out of their scheduled UFC 147 bou…

Hell has no fury like a woman scorned.

Vitor Belfort’s wife, Joana Prado Belfort, has plenty to be upset about following Wanderlei Silva‘s recent comments about her husband.

Silva, who was fired up about Belfort pulling out of their scheduled UFC 147 bout, took to Twitter to call out his longtime rival for being a “disrespectful amateur.”

Tatame.com translated the former Pride middleweight champ’s comments.

“[Fighting me] with one hand [laughs]? We are professionals. It’s a great irresponsibility not to be careful on training, a great disrespect towards the fans. I’m really sad. I’m ready to knock you out, you have nowhere to run. This fight is happening. I guess you got scared of me. Nobody trains so hard that breaks his hand. We use the best equipments, gloves, bandages.

If you were scared, you shouldn’t have accepted it. If you really got it broken, it’s amateurism and if you didn’t, you’re scared. In both scenarios, it was irresponsible of you towards the fans. Pardon the word, but I’m pissed with your amateurism. A main event on the biggest event of the world and the guy shows up like that.”

Belfort has chosen not to acknowledge Silva’s remarks, but his wife Joana is a completely different story.

She responded to Silva’s comments with a little message of her own on Twitter.

“The only thing Wanderlei can do is talk too much, he chickened out several times on fighting Vitor. And now he comes to mention that my husband is ducking? 

“If you doubt the next opponent of UFC147 it beats the record @ vitorbelfort of 40 sec or Chris Leben 20 seconds hahahaha”

Silva was knocked out by Belfort in his UFC debut back in October 1998. The two are serving as opposing coaches on “The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil,” and they were expected to have their long-awaited rematch at the show’s conclusion in the main event of UFC 147.

Unfortunately, the bout was scrapped after it was announced Belfort had suffered a broken hand in training that would require surgery.

Silva is still slated to compete on the card, but a replacement has yet to be named.

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UFC 146 Results: Will Roy Nelson Ever Be a UFC Title Threat?

Roy Nelson—beloved MMA gatekeeper or potential UFC champion?The clichéd answer for a question involving Nelson and UFC title in the same sentence is “anything can happen.”For a fighter like Nelson, this is certainly true. Despite his couch…

Roy Nelson—beloved MMA gatekeeper or potential UFC champion?

The clichéd answer for a question involving Nelson and UFC title in the same sentence is “anything can happen.”

For a fighter like Nelson, this is certainly true. Despite his couch potato appearance, “Big Country” is a world-class heavyweight with well-rounded skills. He has a chance to win every bout regardless of the opponent.

The question people should be asking is, what’s realistic?

The days are long gone when the heavyweight division mostly consisted of gargantuan gorillas lumbering around with one-dimensional fighting styles.

Just about every heavyweight on the UFC roster is well-rounded to some degree.

Nelson falls in line with some of the upper-echelon heavyweights on the bubble of the top-10 rankings, but it would be a shocker to ever see him climb over the hump into the elite category.

At 35 years of age, Nelson really hasn’t shown anything new.

Some are quick to point to his impressive first-round knockout win over Dave Herman at UFC 146 as some emphatic statement to the rest of the heavyweight division.

This could be true. What could also be true is that Nelson just caught Herman with the exact same punch he’s caught so many others with over the years.

People tend to lament the idea of any fighter being deemed a gatekeeper.

Why?

There can only be one champion in every division. UFC champions have never been as dominant as they are today. What does that make everyone else below them?

Just about every fighter plays the role of gatekeeper in some way or another.

Nelson may never win UFC gold or even contend for it, but he will always be an upper-echelon talent with an ability to knock off anyone he steps into the cage against.

Keep rubbing your belly, “Big Country.”

It’ll never go hungry with all of those huge UFC paydays and fight bonuses.

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Jason ‘Mayhem’ Miller: 5 Memorable Moments from His Career

Jason “Mayhem” Miller’s second stint in the UFC was like a passing daydream.The flamboyant MMA star was cut from the promotion shortly after losing his second consecutive bout to C.B. Dolloway at UFC 146 on Saturday night.Cardio issues have plagued Mil…

Jason “Mayhem” Miller’s second stint in the UFC was like a passing daydream.

The flamboyant MMA star was cut from the promotion shortly after losing his second consecutive bout to C.B. Dolloway at UFC 146 on Saturday night.

Cardio issues have plagued Miller since his UFC return. Despite his alluring personality, Miller has wilted under the spotlight in back-to-back outings.

His performances alone are grounds for dismissal, but UFC president Dana White stated that Miller was released for an undisclosed incident that happened backstage.

“Mayhem’s done. He’s gone,” White told reporters at the post-fight press conference. “[The incident] was just some bulls–t that I don’t want to talk about. We’re on a crazy string here of dumb bulls–t.”

“When you get embarrassed the way he did against Michael Bisping, then you show up in the pink whatever that thing was, I’m not into that stuff. It’s not my thing. I guess I don’t really care if guys do it because you see it at weigh-ins all the time. Just take this thing serious. If you want to be a clown do that stuff on your reality show.”

Throughout his MMA career, Miller has never been one to shy away from the spotlight. He has provided fans with plenty of lasting memories.

Character is a quality that is rare in existence but deeply embraced by the combat world. Miller’s outlandish style and entertaining personality even landed him a hosting job on MTV’s Bully Beatdown.

As the curtains close on his UFC career, we take this time to remember the most memorable moments of Miller’s career.

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Gilbert Melendez Says ‘No’ to 4th Bout with Josh Thomson

The Gilbert Melendez and Josh Thomson rivalry has officially come to an end.After being awarded a controversial split decision, Melendez quickly shut down the idea of a fourth fight with his longtime nemesis in an interview with Showtime Sports.”No. I …

The Gilbert Melendez and Josh Thomson rivalry has officially come to an end.

After being awarded a controversial split decision, Melendez quickly shut down the idea of a fourth fight with his longtime nemesis in an interview with Showtime Sports.

“No. I won the trilogy. This was supposed to be the end of it, like, let’s settle this. Didn’t we hear this over? ‘Let’s settle this once and for all.’ I think it was settled once and for all, but if you guys want to pay me triple or double, we’ll talk.”

For the first time in a long time, Melendez found himself in a fight at Strikeforce: Barnett vs. Cormier. The reigning lightweight champion was busted up on the feet and even taken down a few times by a game Thomson, who came into the bout as a major underdog.

When the verdict was announced and Melendez was declared the winner, an eruption of boos echoed throughout the entire arena in disagreement with the decision.

Despite being on the wrong end of the decision, Thomson was overly respectful after the fight and even asked fans not to boo Melendez. He did admit that he would be interested in a fourth bout if Strikeforce gives him an opportunity.

Unfortunately, the feeling isn’t mutual for “El Nino.”

If his interview with Showtime Sports wasn’t a convincing enough answer, Melendez’s actions at the post-fight press conference should be the final nail in the coffin.

USA Today posted updates of the incident on Twitter.

“Reporter asks Scott [Coker] if there’ll be a fourth fight. Gilbert: “Let me answer that: No.” and laughs.”

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