Author: Josh Martin

The Bantamweight division is one under much duress right now. Champion Dominick Cruz has basically taken out the entire weight class with ease.

Tonight’s UFC 137 bout between Scott Jorgensen (12-4) and Jeff Curran (33-14-1) was not an official title eliminator fight, but many expected the winner to get a shot at Cruz.

Jorgensen and Curran fought one of the most technically exciting fights I have ever seen.

The two took turns trying to counter and pick apart each move that their opponent made.

At the end of it all, Jorgensen just edged out Curran in a unanimous decision.

There really isn’t too much competition in the Bantamweight division right now.

Joseph Benavidez and Brian Bowles are really the only two people that seem to be on the level of Jorgenson in the weight class right now.

Cruz has already beaten all three.

There isn’t much new talent that is stepping up at 135 pounds, so chances are that one of these three will be getting another shot at Cruz sometime soon.

The question right now is who that will be.

With his win tonight Jorgensen deserves to at least be considered for an eliminator fight against one of the two mentioned fighters.

I really don’t see the point in bothering, since Cruz will likely dominate whoever is put in front of him.

Tonight’s fight was all that is really needed to hand Jorgensen another shot at the belt.

Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone continues his dominance in the UFC after a first round win via submission against Dennis Siver in a preliminary fight on the UFC 137 card tonight.

Cerrone (17-3) has now won six straight fights, and is undefeated with a 4-0 record in the UFC.

He wasted no time going after Dennis Siver tonight.

Cerrone utilized some high leg kicks early that opened up the opportunity to end the fight by submission.

It took Cerrone less than a minute into action to leave Siver dazed and fighting for his life. After a second high kick that connected clean Siver stumbled to the ground.

Cerrone pounced on the opportunity to make an early exit.

After locking in a rear naked choke it took Siver all but five seconds to tap out.

Cerrone has now ended 13 of his 20 fights via submission.

According to the consensus rankings Siver ranks in as the 10th best lightweight and Cerrone comes in at 13th.

To put that into comparison, tonight’s main event features Diaz, who is ranked 12th and Penn who is ranked 14th.

This win should make Cerrone one of the main competitors for the Lightweight Championship.

It will only be a matter of time before he gets that shot if he keeps up performances like this one.

After coming away from UFC 137 with a majority decision win, Ramsey Nijem must learn from the multiple missed opportunities he had in his fight with Dan Dowes.

Although Jijem (5-2) dominated the entire fight, he had Dowes in position where he could of ended the fight early with a submission several times to no avail.

The main reason for the missed chances is break down in execution while attempt to close out a choke hold.

UFC announcer Joe Rogan mentioned what he had to do exactly each time Nijem had Dowes in trouble, and every time Nijem missed that final step in the execution and Dowes would slip the hold every time.

All it will take to correct this mistakes is watching tape of the fight, and looking at what he could have done each time he missed a hold, and learn from his mistakes.

His trainer and crew will play a major part in this of course, as he they may see something he doesn’t and can help better each and every submission hold he has in his repertoire.

With the proper training, Nijem will have a bright future in the UFC, as submission and KO victories will land a fighter more lucrative fights, not blowing chances and letting fights go the distance.

After winning a lackluster bout against Dustin Jacoby, Clifford Starks won in his UFC debut, but needs to show more excitement to land a bigger name fight.

In a fight without any major blows or close-call submissions, the fight was mostly a sleeper, not showcasing either of the two fighters skills.

Both fighters came in to the fight undefeated, so more was expected out of the two.

In the final round Jacoby didn’t seem like he tried to hard to avoid his first loss, as most fighters in his position would throw caution to the wind, and let their punches and kicks fly, hoping for a knockout or a chance to apply a submission.

According to the announcers, Starks took the fight on about five days notice, which makes the win slightly more impressive, but a more exciting fight would have benefited him much more down the line in the UFC.

Look for Starks to fight a top 30 caliber fighter such as Dan Miller, CB Dalloway or Kyle Noke.

Time will tell if having more of a training camp to prepare for his next fight will make for a more exciting, action-packed fight.

If that is the result then we can expect Starks to land a fight against a bigger name within two-three fights.

After winning a lackluster bout against Dustin Jacoby, Clifford Starks won in his UFC debut, but needs to show more excitement to land a bigger name fight.

In a fight without any major blows or close-call submissions, the fight was mostly a sleeper, not showcasing either of the two fighters skills.

Both fighters came in to the fight undefeated, so more was expected out of the two.

In the final round Jacoby didn’t seem like he tried to hard to avoid his first loss, as most fighters in his position would throw caution to the wind, and let their punches and kicks fly, hoping for a knockout or a chance to apply a submission.

According to the announcers, Starks took the fight on about five days notice, which makes the win slightly more impressive, but a more exciting fight would have benefited him much more down the line in the UFC.

Look for Starks to fight a top 30 caliber fighter such as Dan Miller, CB Dalloway or Kyle Noke.

Time will tell if having more of a training camp to prepare for his next fight will make for a more exciting, action-packed fight.

If that is the result then we can expect Starks to land a fight against a bigger name within two-three fights.

Heavyweight Cheick Kongo has knocked out 10 fighters in his professional career and I’m expecting him to add to that total tonight.

Matt Mitrione is undefeated has a professional (5-0) and has plenty of people on his bandwagon right now.

However, he hasn’t fought anyone near Kongo’s level. This is a huge step up in competition for him and I don’t think he’s quite ready.

Kongo also has much more on the line at this point. He’s 36-years-old and if he wants to go on another serious run in his career, he has to do it now.

In his last fight, Kongo knocked out Pat Barry in the first round. I’m not expecting this one to happen as quickly,  but I think Kongo will add to his momentum.

Mitrione has yet to be tested and has never been in serious trouble in the ring. No one knows how he’ll respond when something goes wrong.

With Kongo’s size, experience and skill level, Mitrione will definitely find himself in trouble at some point.

Mitrione weighs 30 pounds more than Kongo, but won’t be as well conditioned. I think he’ll wear down after the first two rounds, and Kongo will win it in the third.

Mitrione’s ground skills are questionable and I think Kongo will exploit this weakness. Look for him to take the fight to the ground and force the referee to step in.