Author: Kyle Symes

3 Fights for Dennis Bermudez to Take Next

If there was any confusion over where Dennis Bermudez ranks in the featherweight division, the surging contender validated his status as a top-10 featherweight. 
Not only did he continue his winning streak, which currently sits at seven in a row, …

If there was any confusion over where Dennis Bermudez ranks in the featherweight division, the surging contender validated his status as a top-10 featherweight. 

Not only did he continue his winning streak, which currently sits at seven in a row, but he did so in front of a national television audience. He also added a win over a well-known fighter, something that had been missing on his resume during his UFC tenure.

Bermudez thwarted Clay Guida’s takedown attempts throughout the fight at UFC on Fox 12 on Saturday. He capped off his performance with a second-round submission victory, becoming only the third man in UFC history to beat Guida by submission.

After the victory, Bermudez called for a title shot in his post-fight interview with Joe Rogan, but he’ll likely need at least one more decisive victory before that happens. Any of the following fights would make a lot of sense for him to take in his next outing to continue his rise to the top.

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Matt Brown Makes Insensitive Remarks During UFC on Fox 12 Media Scrum

Matt Brown got off to a good start during the media scrum to promote his UFC on Fox 12 clash with Robbie Lawler. Then he went and did what Matt Brown does.
The surging UFC welterweight contender was asked about what it would take to be considered the f…

Matt Brown got off to a good start during the media scrum to promote his UFC on Fox 12 clash with Robbie Lawler. Then he went and did what Matt Brown does.

The surging UFC welterweight contender was asked about what it would take to be considered the favorite in a fight, and Brown answered in typical Brown fashion, via Steve Marracco and John Morgan of MMAJunkie:

I anticipate to be a favorite once, I don’t know, maybe I’m champion or something…Maybe they put me against some retard or something, I don’t know. That’s irrelevant in my mind.

Now, it doesn’t take very much searching on the Internet to know that use of the “R-Word” isn’t exactly accepted these days.

Brown isn’t new to controversy due to his comments. In the past, his statements on women’s MMA (via David St. Martin of MMAFighting) weren’t very supportive of female athletes.

Brown’s blue-collar attitude and appearance as an everyday kind of guy have allowed him to connect with MMA fans. He doesn’t look like a walking, shredded pharmacy, comes from humble roots, has an incredible story (as told by Yahoo Sports’ Kevin Iole) and generally says what’s on his mind.

Those qualities can lead to fighters becoming popular with UFC brass for their ability to draw fans in or result in them being heralded as “the biggest star in UFC history.” But considering Brown is nowhere near on the same level as a Chael Sonnen or Ronda Rousey, he can’t afford to be making these kinds of comments.

If Brown can pull off the upset against Lawler at UFC on Fox 12, the UFC may want to have a talk with Brown and his reps. He’ll be cast in another high-profile fight that will have even more eyes and ears paying attention in a future title clash with Johny Hendricks.

With a national television audience in place due to UFC’s partnership with Fox, having a champion (or prominent fighter) making these kind of insensitive comments will only make both MMA and the UFC easier targets for those who look to criticize them.

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Renan Barao Says He Woke Up in the Locker Room at UFC 173

TJ Dillashaw put on a mesmerizing performance at UFC 173. One person who didn’t get to witness it was the man who was facing Dillashaw in the main event, Renan Barao.
Barao had a media scrum in Brazil that Guilherme Cruz of MMAFight…

TJ Dillashaw put on a mesmerizing performance at UFC 173. One person who didn’t get to witness it was the man who was facing Dillashaw in the main event, Renan Barao.

Barao had a media scrum in Brazil that Guilherme Cruz of MMAFighting.com was able to grab some interesting quotes from.

“I remember everything that happened until that point,” Barao said. “After (that punch), I only woke up in the locker room. The fight was really close in the beginning, but everything changed after that punch.”

The punch Barao mentions is the one landed by Dillashaw in the opening round that floored the Brazilian. Following the knockdown, the former UFC bantamweight champ said he was basically fighting on autopilot.

It’s not the first time we’ve heard of a fighter making it through a rough outing while on autopilot.

Barao also explained that he believes a different result will occur at UFC 177.

“I accepted the fight on short notice and I wasn’t 100 percent ready for it, but this time will be different,” Barao said. “I never trained so hard in my entire life, so it’s going to be different.”

Depending on your view of the UFC 173 clash, this either echoes the fact that Barao didn’t take Dillashaw as a legit contender or seems like an odd excuse. It was Dillashaw stepping in for an injured Raphael Assuncao while Barao should’ve been in the middle of his training camp. Perhaps Barao meant he didn’t have enough time to game-plan, but he shouldn’t have been out of shape.

It’s also shocking to hear that Barao says he doesn’t remember anything after the first knockdown. In the fight against Dillashaw, he still showed signs of life in the second round. He had his moments in the second frame, and despite getting worked over by Dillashaw up until the finish, Barao never seemed to be totally out of it in the way Dos Santos did in his title fight with Cain Velasquez.

But that’s the intrigue the UFC is hoping will turn into pay-per-view buys at UFC 177. Is Dillashaw really as good as he looked at UFC 173? Or was it just a case of Barao not taking a title challenger seriously?

Hopefully MMA fans will have clear answers to those questions following UFC 177 on Aug. 30.

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UFC President Dana White Explains Chris Cariaso Title Fight at UFC 177

UFC 177 will provide the lighter weight classes with another chance to showcase their skills, as title fights in the bantamweight and flyweight divisions headline the evening’s main card. But the Aug. 30 event, to be held in Sacramento, California, is …

UFC 177 will provide the lighter weight classes with another chance to showcase their skills, as title fights in the bantamweight and flyweight divisions headline the evening’s main card. But the Aug. 30 event, to be held in Sacramento, California, is not exactly creating a buzz within the MMA world.

There’s at least some intrigue about UFC 177’s main event, a rematch between T.J. Dillashaw and Renan Barao, with fans wanting to see if Barao can respond to the shellacking he took at UFC 173.

The same cannot be said of the co-main event, where Demetrious Johnson defends his title against Chris Cariaso. It’s an odd selection that UFC President Dana White explained in the “Dana Download” on UFC.com. White said:

The problem is that there is no doubt the fight everybody wanted to see would be John Dodson, but he’s hurt. Ian McCall just fought, Johnson knocked out [Joseph] Benavidez, and he beat John Moraga. People are going to bitch about Demetrious Johnson no matter who we put him in there against. Eventually, he’ll just have to keep knocking people out left and right and then he’ll earn his respect.

It’s true that a rematch with Dodson is the fight to make for Mighty Mouse, but Dodson is on the shelf after suffering a knee injury. As White pointed out, there aren’t a lot of viable options for Johnson to face in his next title defense.

But there are a couple of options the UFC missed out on.

Zach Makovsky is set to square off against Jussier Formiga on Aug. 16 in a pivotal battle of top flyweight contenders. Either one of these fighters would’ve made for a better selection than Cariaso.

Makovsky, at No. 9, is ranked one slot below Cariaso, but Makovsky is also a former Bellator bantamweight champion and has a win over a well-known fighter in Scott Jorgensen. Formiga is sitting at No. 6 and actually owns a win over Cariaso.

While it’s true that Makovsky and Formiga are scheduled for a fight, so too was Cariaso before being bumped into a title fight. There are a number of issues that could’ve prevented Makovsky and Formiga from rescheduling to UFC 177 (maybe a wedding?) but just looking at the information that’s available now, it’s odd the UFC would choose Cariaso out of that trio to face Johnson.

Fans will point to Dillashaw‘s upset win at UFC 173 over Barao as evidence of guys who shouldn’t have been in title fights pulling off miracle upsets. But that’s a big thing to expect from Cariaso when the opponents he’s faced in the UFC’s flyweight division are just 1-8 in the promotion.

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Josh Thomson Blasts Fighters in Larger Weight Classes, Says They’re Not as Good

Josh Thomson knows how to get the media and fans talking as much about his actions outside the cage as about his actual fights. Never one to shy away from his sharing his opinion, “The Punk” is back at it again.
Speaking to Damon Martin of Fox Spo…

Josh Thomson knows how to get the media and fans talking as much about his actions outside the cage as about his actual fights. Never one to shy away from his sharing his opinion, “The Punk” is back at it again.

Speaking to Damon Martin of Fox Sports, Thomson basically said that anyone who fights above 155 pounds isn’t as good as everyone who fights in the lighter weight classes:

You hit 185, 205 and heavyweight, those guys are always just good at like one thing, two things, but they’re not great all the way around. There’s ways to finish them. So if you’re a well-rounded athlete, you can finish those guys. You can find ways to finish those guys.

With 55-pounders and below, good luck, man. Everybody’s good all around — they’re good wrestlers, they’re good jiu-jitsu guys, they’re good stand up guys, they’re game to throw down and they’re always in shape. …

You start getting in the 185’s, 205, heavyweight, they start being one-dimensional, two-dimensional fighters. They’re not mixed martial artists. They’re not as good as the 55-pounders and below. They’re just not. To me that’s just a fact.

Thomson would add that the welterweight division was his cutoff point (or the division in “limbo,” as he put it) for deciding when guys stop being mixed martial artists.

It’s a notion that Thomson expressed due to fans (and likely UFC President Dana White) calling for Thomson to finish fights rather than head to the judge’s scorecards. The outspoken fighter shared his thoughts on lighter weight classes and scorecards in the aforementioned Fox Sports piece.

What’s surprising (or I guess it shouldn’t be considering Thomson’s past) is that Thomson would use such a blanket statement to cover everyone who fights above lightweight.

You’re telling me that guys like Jon Jones, Chris Weidman, Cain Velasquez, Rashad Evans, Gegard Mousasi, Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza, Lyoto Machida and others aren’t well-rounded? Sure, they may excel in typically one or two areas, but they also aren’t completely inept in others.

There are plenty of guys who have risen to the top 10 in their respective divisions despite a glaring weakness that opponents can key in on.

If you look at the pound-for-pound rankings you’ll also notice that three out of the top five and five out of the top 10 come in weight classes that Thomson isn’t fond of.

Thomson will also likely have to do some clarifying to his American Kickboxing Academy teammates as well. The aforementioned Velasquez, Luke Rockhold and light heavyweight contender (and former heavyweight contender) Daniel Cormier all train with Thomson.

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UFC Lightweight Contender Khabib Nurmagomedov Set for Surgery for Torn Meniscus

“The Eagle” will be grounded for the remainder of 2014.
That’s the news coming from Ariel Helwani of MMAFighting.com, who reports that Khabib Nurmagomedov will be out until January due to undergoing surgery for a torn meniscus.
Nurmagomedov and Do…

“The Eagle” will be grounded for the remainder of 2014.

That’s the news coming from Ariel Helwani of MMAFighting.com, who reports that Khabib Nurmagomedov will be out until January due to undergoing surgery for a torn meniscus.

Nurmagomedov and Donald Cerrone had agreements in place to face one another at UFC 178, but that’s obviously off the table now.

“That fight is made — it’s done,” UFC president Dana White said, per Helwani. “Twenty minutes later, [Nurmagomedov] went into the gym and blew his knee out. Twenty. F—ing. Minutes. Later.”

Nurmagomedov had surged up the lightweight rankings after running his professional record to 22-0, including a 6-0 run inside the Octagon. In his last outing, Nurmagomedov picked up the biggest win of his career with an unanimous-decision victory against Rafael dos Anjos back in April.

For Cerrone, it’s a huge damper on his plans to fight six times in 2014. The popular fighter has fought three times in the first half of 2014, picking up KO wins over Adriano Martins and Jim Miller along with a submission victory against Edson Barboza.

I’m sure the UFC will work to get Cerrone an opponent in quick fashion, as he’s quickly become a favorite of White’s for his willingness to fight anyone, anywhere.

Outside of fans missing out on what was sure to be an awesome fight, the injury to Nurmagomedov adds another speed bump in getting to the top of the lightweight division moving.

Anthony Pettis has been out since winning the title in August of last year and won’t compete again until December. TJ Grant has been sidelined for what seems like an eternity with issues stemming from a concussion. Benson Henderson continues to chug along, taking fight after fight, but it may be in vain if Pettis can retain his title since Henderson has lost to Pettis on two separate occasions.

The Pettis injury, combined with he and Gilbert Melendez coaching on The Ultimate Fighter: 20, has created a bit of a logjam for contenders in the lightweight division. Now we can add Nurmagomedov‘s injury to the list of reasons why the division is at a standstill.

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