Those might have been 16 costly seconds for Ronda Rousey at UFC 175. UFC President Dana White revealed on SportsCenter the women’s bantamweight champion may have broken her hand while knocking out Alexis Davis:
Rousey required stitches to close u…
Those might have been 16 costly seconds for Ronda Rousey at UFC 175. UFC President Dana White revealed on SportsCenter the women’s bantamweight champion may have broken her hand while knocking out Alexis Davis:
Rousey required stitches to close up a cut on her hand after the fight, per Sportsnet’s Mike Johnston (Warning: image is graphic):
The injury was likely a result of one of the many blows she unloaded on Davis while the challenger was pinned on the mat. After Rousey landed a flurry of punches, the referee was forced to end the fight.
The only immediate concern for Rousey is that this almost certainly eliminates the champion’s hopes of appearing at UFC 176. With less than a month to turn around from Saturday night, the chances were always slim that she’d be able to pull off the feat.
UFC will simply have to delay what will be a potential fight between Rousey and Cat Zingano until UFC 177.
Maybe Ronda Rousey can at least make it look kind of close? At this point, the only challenger left for her to face is Cat Zingano.
The UFC women’s bantamweight champion took all of 16 seconds to dispatch Alexis Davis on Saturday night. As Dave Meltzer…
Maybe Ronda Rousey can at least make it look kind of close? At this point, the only challenger left for her to face is Cat Zingano.
The UFC women’s bantamweight champion took all of 16 seconds to dispatch Alexis Davis on Saturday night. As Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter tweeted out, that was kind of fast:
It was the fastest fight of Rousey‘s career, per ESPN Stats and Info:
Talk about bang for the buck. ESPN’s Darren Rovell estimates that Rousey earned at least $7,000 for every second of the fight. Not a bad gig if you can get it:
With that title challenge out of the way, she can begin focusing on the future, which surely includes a bout with Zingano. Nobody else in the bantamweight class makes a stronger case.
An injured knee cost Zingano her earlier shot at the champ, but now she’s back to 100 percent.
“I’m not worried about it,” she said, per DannStupp of MMAjunkie. “I got cleared a couple months ago to start training hard, and I’ve been doing just that since. So, I feel good. I’m strong. I’m really hitting it hard, and I’ve having a good time doing it.”
The 32-year-old is 8-0 in her career, with four wins coming by way of knockout/TKO and three via submission. Zingano beat Miesha Tate in her UFC debut back in April 2013. While she doesn’t have quite the dominant record that Rousey does, she would likely be the toughest opponent Rousey‘s faced so far.
This is something Ronda and the UFC needs.
Her fights are almost becoming counterproductive for the company to a certain extent. How much longer will fans want to watch her in the Octagon when she’s so far and away the best in her division? There at least needs to be some drama driving the narrative.
Give credit to Rousey, though, as she’s played the villain perfectly. When you’ve distanced yourself so far from your competition, you need to do something to remain a compelling character. Simply being really good only goes so far.
That’s why Floyd Mayweather remains the star that he is. He’s built himself to be hated so much that people will pay to hopefully watch him get knocked on his rear end.
Rousey‘s largely followed the same blueprint. You can call her arrogant all you want. She backs it up. That swagger that she has isn’t mere bluster. Even her biggest haters at the very least begrudgingly accept her in-ring acumen.
The biggest question now is how quickly UFC could put a Rousey-Zingano fight together. Rousey famously fought in UFC 168 and then less than two months later at UFC 170.
The Score’s Blake Murphy wondered if she’d be able to go at UFC 176:
The pay-per-view is scheduled for August 2, which would leave Rousey with less than a month to prepare for a game challenger. Even she might have trouble with that.
Ideally, both fighters would be at their peak so as to create the best fight possible. You don’t want one of the fighters—especially the champion—to enter with a built-in disadvantage.
When Rousey-Zingano does happen, it needs to be the biggest fight ever in the women’s bantamweight division. And maybe, just maybe, it will be the night that Rousey‘s unbeatable facade comes tumbling down.
It doesn’t take a doctor to see that something is very, very wrong with Uriah Hall’s toe.
Bleacher Report MMA tweeted out a couple of grisly images of his damaged foot (Warning: Images are graphic and NSFW):
According to MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani, …
It doesn’t take a doctor to see that something is very, very wrong with Uriah Hall’s toe.
Bleacher Report MMA tweeted out a couple of grisly images of his damaged foot (Warning: Images are graphic and NSFW):
According to MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani, Hall could actually feel the bone in his toe poking out of the skin:
Demonstrating exactly how tough he is, the 29-year-old continued using the injured foot to kick Thiago Santos, per Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee:
Bleacher Report’s Mike Freeman summed up the performance perfectly:
Hall won the fight, but it obviously came at a great cost. At least one of his toes is almost certainly broken, and there’s no telling if he did any more damage to the foot as a whole. Continuing to fight only would’ve exacerbated the problem, too.
From this point forward, though, nobody will ever be able to question Hall’s toughness. He’s earned every UFC fan’s respect in perpetuity.
Rarely do you see a fighter beat one of the best middleweights in UFC history yet have unanswered questions. Such is the life of Chris Weidman.
UFC 175 is his first fight in the Octagon since his knockout of Anderson Silva and subsequent technical knoc…
Rarely do you see a fighter beat one of the best middleweights in UFC history yet have unanswered questions. Such is the life of Chris Weidman.
UFC 175 is his first fight in the Octagon since his knockout of Anderson Silva and subsequent technical knockout in the rematch. With both fights, some critics argued that Weidman got lucky. In the first one, Silva really didn’t care and was more interested in trolling the crowd. In the rematch, his leg basically exploded.
Both of those critiques might have a kernel of truth, but you don’t beat a guy as talented as Silva on accident. Weidman is a deserving middleweight champion, and his bout with LyotoMachida is a great chance for him to demonstrate why.
The thing with Weidman is, does anybody really know how good he is? MMA Fighting’s Luke Thomas posited that question on Twitter:
It was thought that a rematch with Silva would prove once and for all whether the 30-year-old was what you’d consider a star-level UFC fighter. That didn’t happen, of course, and many are still left pondering his ceiling in the Octagon.
Bleacher Report’s Jeremy Botter wrote about how he feels that UFC 175 isn’t getting the attention he deserves, and he wondered if that was because Weidman remains such an enigma:
Is it because fans don’t take Weidman seriously? Are we discounting his wins over Silva because of the bizarre circumstances surrounding both finishes? Hasn’t he done enough to calm the critics who say he didn’t actually beat Silva?
“I think everybody always going to have critics out there. And it’s not really one of my motivating factors to silence those critics because they’re always going to be there,” Weidman said. “So that’s not really one of the big things in my mind.”
If this PPV is suffering from a lack of buzz, then it’s a shame. UFC has come under criticism—quite rightly in some respects—for saturating the market with too many events. As a result, the quality of PPV shows has dwindled, causing many fans to turn away from the product.
With Weidman vs. Machida, UFC has a fantastic main event between two supremely gifted fighters. Each guy specializes in certain facets, but neither owns a discernible advantage over the other. This fight is unlikely to feature a memorable knockout, but it has the potential to go the distance and be one of the best battles of the year.
Weidman will look to score early takedowns since he has the advantage on the ground. The champ could end this fight early with strikes or a submission.
Machida, however, is a great defensive fighter. He’s not going to stand there with his face wide open, begging Weidman to hit it, and he’ll know to watch out for Weidman‘s takedowns. All of the tactical guile in world only goes so far, though, when your opponent is in much better physical condition.
What Weidman will probably do is use the first round or two to feel Machida out. He’ll make the challenger show his best stuff so that later in the fight, he can exploit some of the holes he’s found in Machida‘s game.
On one side, you’ve got a champion still looking for a signature victory. On the other, an experienced veteran who’s hoping for one last moment in the sun.
Chael Sonnen has retired from competitive mixed martial arts, per Fox Sports:
As Fox Sports’ Marc Raimondi reported, Sonnen’s retirement comes fresh of the heels of his positive test for banned substances:
Chael Sonnen’s recent failed drug test hasn’…
Chael Sonnen has retired from competitive mixed martial arts, per Fox Sports:
As Fox Sports’ Marc Raimondi reported, Sonnen’s retirement comes fresh of the heels of his positive test for banned substances:
Chael Sonnen’s recent failed drug test hasn’t just led to him being pulled from UFC 175. It will also mark the end of his MMA career.
Sonnen announced his retirement from competition Wednesday on UFC Tonight, one day after news came out that he had tested positive for banned substances and would likely not be able to fight Vitor Belfort on July 6 in Las Vegas. Sonnen has competed in MMA for 17 years, including the last five with the UFC.
On Fox Sports 1’s America’s Pregame, Sonnen offered a defense of his failed test.
With his opponent off the card, Belfort has nobody to fight, so he will also miss out as well, per Yahoo Sports’ Kevin Iole:
Sonnen’s fight at UFC 175 likely would have been one of his last in the company anyway. At 37 years old and having lost three of his last four fights, the end was near. The failed drug test merely sped up the inevitable.
Sonnen retires with a 28-14 professional career record, according to Sherdog. Although he never won a title, he was never far from the middleweight and light heavyweight championship pictures.
While Sonnen had an impressive UFC career, most fans will remember him for his bombastic and polarizing personality. His bouts with Jon Jones and Anderson Silva are particularly memorable for the way in which he cut pro wrestling-type promos in order to hype the fight.
Back in April 2013, Deadspin’s Tim Marchman went in depth detailing many of the ways Sonnen tried to get under Jones’ and Silva’s skin. As a result, many fans and critics have less-than-flattering opinions of the fighter, as demonstrated by some harsh words from Sports On Earth’s Tomas Rios:
Whatever your opinion of Sonnen, there’s no question that UFC watched one of its biggest stars leave the company on Wednesday. He may not have been the most talented fighter, but his charisma ensured that he remained near the top of most of the cards on which he was featured.
Now the question is, who will fill Sonnen’s boots as the most loved/hated fighter in UFC?
Is Glover Teixeira the one?
Jon Jones hasn’t lost a fight in a little over four years, and even that was the result of a disqualification rather than an outright defeat. Now, the 34-year-old Brazilian has the chance to do what the best light heavyweigh…
Is Glover Teixeira the one?
Jon Jones hasn’t lost a fight in a little over four years, and even that was the result of a disqualification rather than an outright defeat. Now, the 34-year-old Brazilian has the chance to do what the best light heavyweight fighters in the world haven’t done: beat Jones.
That fight is the main event of what promises to be an eventful UFC 172. Some of the company’s more recent pay-per-views have been a little underwhelming, so it’s important that Saturday night’s event delivers.
Looking at the entire card, these four matches should provide the most excitement.
Joseph Benavidez vs. Tim Elliott
This is a fight that could easily be featured on the PPV. Joseph Benavidez has run through just about every top fighter in the flyweight division not named Demetrious Johnson, while Tim Elliott is in need of a high-profile victory after his loss to Ali Bagautinov back in Nov. 2013.
Elliott has such an unorthodox, unpredictable style that he may be able to spring the upset. Benavidez will no doubt have a hard time devising a game plan because it can be quickly rendered useless.
The key will be whether Benavidez gets an opening on the inside. Although six of his wins have come via knockout, Benavidez will no doubt look for his patented guillotine choke to end the fight.
Prediction: Benavidez via submission in Round 2
Luke Rockhold vs. Tim Boetsch
This is what you always want to read before a fight, per FoxSports.com’s Marc Raimondi:
Luke Rockhold got a nice bounce-back win against CostasPhilippou in January, but he could still use another statement victory to make everyone forget about that defeat to VitorBelfort in his UFC debut.
While Tim Boetsch isn’t an elite contender in the middleweight division, he’s tough as nails and has enough power to end the fight if Rockhold gives him the chance.
The problem for Boetsch is that Rockhold‘s wise enough to keep his distance, and more importantly, talented enough to stay away and still earn enough points to win the judges’ scorecards. Rockhold will scientifically take Boetsch apart and coast to victory.
“I like Phil and I don’t want to throw Phil under the bus, but Phil needs to get over that mental hump,” White said. I’ve got guys breathing down my neck for fights, like, ‘I want this fight. I want that fight.’ Phil Davis is like, ‘Eh. I’ll hang out around No. 4 here.’ He’s not that guy that comes across to me like, ‘I f—ing want it. I want to be the best in the world.'”
Davis responded in kind:
I try to let my fighting do the talking, but I’m going to have to let my talking do the talking for a little bit. If you want Phil Davis calling and your texting your phone every day, telling you he wants to fight Jon Jones, that’s fine. I thought that just winning would get that done, but that’s not necessarily true.
With Davis this motivated, he should come out and attack Anthony Johnson right from the opening bell. “Mr. Wonderful” won’t be too reckless, but he’ll stamp his authority in Rounds 1 and 2 before going in for the kill in the third.
One thing even White can recognize is Davis’ ability to control a fight and devise a game plan.
If Mr. Wonderful wants a title shot against Jones, he’ll need an emphatic victory over Johnson, and he knows it.
Prediction: Davis by submission in Round 3
Jon Jones vs. Glover Teixeira
How can you possibly bet against the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world and one of the best fighters of his generation?
Jones has shown no signs of slowing down, and Teixeira is too much of an unknown quantity to see how he wins this fight.
The Brazilian is no slouch, having won his last 20 fights—a fact not lost on Jones, per UFC on Fox:
Teixeira has a ton of power, and if Jones isn’t careful, he could find himself on his back. The challenger has no doubts about his ability to take the champion down with a few big blows, per UFC Tonight:
Looking at Teixeira’s resume, he’s never fought anyone close to the ability of Jones, and therein lies his biggest problem. What’s worked for him in the past likely won’t work on Jones. Nothing has fully prepared him for what he’s about to face on Saturday.
“Bones” knows that if he stays on the outside and out of the reach of Teixeira, the fight is all his. He’ll let Teixeira tire out as the fight goes on and end the proceedings in the third.
Those might have been 16 costly seconds for Ronda Rousey at UFC 175. UFC President Dana White revealed on SportsCenter the women’s bantamweight champion may have broken her hand while knocking out Alexis Davis: