UFC lightweight Joe Duffy’s tour of dominance in the Octagon continues. Not only did the Irish fighter defeat Ivan Jorge in the first round with a triangle choke, he earned $50,000 in a Performance of the Night bonus.
Both Duffy and Jorge st…
UFC lightweight Joe Duffy’s tour of dominance in the Octagon continues. Not only did the Irish fighter defeat Ivan Jorge in the first round with a triangle choke, he earned $50,000 in a Performance of the Night bonus.
Both Duffy and Jorge started the fight exchanging, but it was Duffy who right away asserted his dominance, cracking the Brazilian with an array of punches and a jumping switch knee. The end came after Jorge attempted a takedown attempt from double underhooks, but in the transition, Duffy was able to twist at an angle and lock his feet together. As he circled to his back, he further cinched the lock. Duffy underhooked the right leg of Jorge as he stood to prevent being slammed and create the angle for the choke, forcing the tap at 3:05 of the first frame.
Also claiming a Performance of the Night bonus and $50,000 was Scotland’s own Steven Ray. The hometown fighter earned the money facing Leonardo Mafra, who exchanged with Ray throughout the course of the short bout, but ultimately was cracked by a right hand and stopped with follow-up punches. The end came at 2:30 of the first round.
Earning Fight of the Night honors were the women on the card as Joanne Calderwood and Cortney Casey put on a three-round battle where both fighters had to face adversity.
Casey, making her UFC debut, put it to The Ultimate Fighter 20 native early, cracking her with a series of rights that clearly stumbled the Scottish native. Eventually, however, Calderwood would recover, battering Casey in the clinch and from top position.
In the second round, Casey spent a portion of the round working from her back, but never came truly close to any real submissions, all while Calderwood battered her on top. By the third frame, Calderwood would eat the occasional shot, but had Casey backing up. Casey was eventually drilled with a spinning back kick to the body that sent her crumbling to the mat. She would manage to avoid being finished and even return to her feet, but Calderwood was in command the rest of the round. Both fighters would each earn $50,000 for their efforts, but the judges scored it 30-27, 29-28 and 30-27, all in favor of Calderwood.
UFC Fight Night 72 took place at The SSE Hydro in Glasgow, Scotland. The event aired on Fight Pass and Fox Sports 1.
The UFC stages its fourth show in seven days, this time across the pond and for the first time in Scotland. The card is headlined by a middleweight contender bout and filled with various Scots and other European talent. There’s nothing hugel…
The UFC stages its fourth show in seven days, this time across the pond and for the first time in Scotland. The card is headlined by a middleweight contender bout and filled with various Scots and other European talent. There’s nothing hugely consequential at stake as this event is more a chance for contenders and rising prospects to get relevant experience and inch closer to their ultimate goal of UFC greatness.
When: Saturday, the two-fight preliminary card kicks off on Fight Pass at 10 a.m. ET, the four-fight preliminary card starts on Fox Sports 1 at 11 a.m. and the six-fight main card begins at 1 p.m. ET on Fox Sports 1.
This one makes me a bit nervous. My guess is Bisping is going to pump the jab and simple combos while using lateral movement and takedown defense in the early to middle rounds. As Leites gets tired and more desperate, that’s when he’ll begin to open up. I still can’t get the Tim Kennedy takedown-to-mount fight out of my head, but I also know that was Bisping coming off of a long layoff. If nothing else, he’s been in back-to-back camps, which means if he’s reasonably healthy, he should be victorious here. I admire Leites’ career turnaround of sorts, but I’m willing to bet on Bisping’s takedown defense, pace and patience to rule the day.
Tough call here, but I’ll side with the Brit. His takedown defense has truly improved over his UFC tenure and while he’s aged a bit, his hand speed and pocket presence are still hugely formidable. Dunham’s great when he can combine different elements of the game, but forced into exchanges with Pearson, I’m not as convinced about his chances. He does have good used of reach, so I don’t think he’s totally out gunned, but Pearson is a much more mobile striker, better at setting up angles and timing counters. Dunham is more square and rangy. I suspect this will be close, but Pearson’s power and movement edge makes me think he’ll prevail.
I think so highly of Duffy. His forward pressure is so much to deal with as is his accuracy and punching power. He’s a capable grappler and a good enough MMA wrestler. Jorge is simply outclassed here. Anything can happen in MMA, but the idea of Jorge controlling Duffy for prolonged periods of time is hard to fathom.
You know what? Calderwood might have her hands full here. Casey-Sanchez is a beast. She is aggressive, an excellent athlete, dynamic Thai boxing, good power, excellent hips underneath and a lot more. She lacks polish and this is her UFC debut, which is where I suspect Calderwood will find an opening. But I’m telling you, after Calderwood’s last showing and watching tape on Casey-Sanchez, this one is anything but a freebie. Casey-Sanchez absolutely has the potential to beat Calderwood and I don’t mean by accident.
Edwards’ wrestling could use some work, but it’s not bad. His defensive jiu-jitsu is pretty good, ground and pound is deadly and striking on the feet, Pawlak is totally outmatched. MMA is unpredictable, which means predictions difficult, but it’s hard to see a lot of obvious routes to victory for Pawlak. As long as this fight stays on the feet, Edwards’ reach and speed are a handful to deal with and he’s got enough ability elsewhere to do more than just survive.
I’m probably not giving the Scotsman is due here, but I’m going to take Mafra. I’m not blind to Mafra’s deficiencies. In fact, his weaknesses are inextricable from his strengths. He walks down opposition, throwing all manner of combinations until he wears them down. He gets hit in the process, of course, but they end up on the worse end of it. The difference is I like his scrambling and ability to get off the canvas. Ray’s at his best when he’s mixing up his offense. I’m certain he’s going to land a big shot or two on Mafra and maybe that will close the show. But without being able to reliably take this fight to the ground when necessary, I’m wonder if he might get overwhelmed.
UFC middleweight Michael Bisping knows his time in the sport in limited. He’s 36 and has been alternating wins and losses in his bouts since 2011. If he’s going to put together the kind of win streak that inches him closer to his long-desire…
UFC middleweight Michael Bisping knows his time in the sport in limited. He’s 36 and has been alternating wins and losses in his bouts since 2011. If he’s going to put together the kind of win streak that inches him closer to his long-desired title shot, it’s basically now or never. That’s why he says he’s excited to be facing Thales Leites in the main event on Saturday at UFC Fight Night 72. Leites’ name isn’t the biggest of them all, but Bisping believes there are lots of upsides.
“No, I wasn’t disappointed,” Bisping told Ariel Helwani on Monday’s The MMA Hour of his feelings when he heard this is who he’d be facing. “In fact, I was given several options and this was the one I chose. Yes, he was beneath me, but unfortunately, the facts are the facts. He came back to the UFC. He’s on a five or six-fight win streak in the UFC and he’s doing very well. Of course, he’s always had the jiu-jitsu pedigree. Now he’s attempting to knock people out. He’s had some success with that. He’s a more complete fighter. So, he certainly brings a tough challenge.”
Leites is ranked in the top 10 of the middleweight division, but just barely. Yes, Bisping concedes, that’s not necessarily taking a step up the food chain, but putting together a win streak against ranked opponents is.
“My opponent before, that was Luke Rockhold, the no. 2 guy in the organization. It’s a bit of a step back in that respect, but as I said, he’s doing very well and he’s making names. He’s becoming a contender again, so if I beat this guy – I just beat [C.B.] Dollaway – I’ve been a perennial contender for what seems an eternity. I think a title fight is getting closer and closer. There isn’t that many guys in front of me. There really isn’t.
“Some of the guys are on a hiatus,” Bisping argues. “Some of them will never be the same. Some of them are feeling the effects of injecting themselves with so many steroids that they can’t take it. They simply probably won’t ever fight again. They’re probably going to open up a day care somewhere and look after little babies because they’re developing vaginas as we speak.”
Bisping knows how many times he’s been close. He acknowledges the UFC gave him the chances and he simply couldn’t convert. He also claims, however, that the amount of performance-enhancing drug users he’s faced has immeasurably impacted his career. That’s partly why he doesn’t believe he’s ever too far from a title shot. Middleweight’s changed, he believes.
“If I was to get a title shot, I don’t think there would be an uproar or an outcry. People would be like, ‘Yeah, OK, cool. Bisping’s getting his shot.’ I’ve been in a position for title fights before. I’ve been in no. 1 contender match-ups. Unfortunately, for me, I fought people that took steroids and they robbed me of those title fights. I lost the no. 1 contender fights.
“Lorenzo Fertitta came into my dressing room when I fought Vitor Belfort and said, ‘Listen, Anderson [Silva]’s in the house tonight. If you beat Vitor, we want you to call out Anderson. He said, ‘Don’t start a riot because Brazilians are crazy, but if you want to call out Anderson, be my guest. The floor is yours.’ Now, of course, I lost that fight. I can’t be mad at the UFC. That’s down to nobody but me and Vitor, treating his backside like a dartboard.”
If anyone would be happy about the UFC’s alignment with USADA to test fighters in and out of competition, it’d be Bisping. He notes, however, the program is good in theory and he supports it, but it hasn’t really gotten off the ground.
“I’ve been tested zero times. I don’t think it’s been fully implemented yet. Of course, we’re going to see frequent out of competition testing, which is fantastic. Harsher penalties. More stringent testing, and that’s all great. I believe it will clean the sport up to a certain degree. Fact of the matter is human nature, as long as there’s been professional sports, people are always going to try and cheat. I think, human nature, some people are going to try and do that.
“When you fight in the main event, they know they’re going to be tested, but they think they can outsmart the system. There’s always going to be people that try and do that. Will they get away with it? That is the big question. Now there’s a higher percentage they’re going to get caught, but it’s not guaranteed they’re going to get caught. I just hope Thales Leites is a moral man. I hope he can look himself in the eye and I hope that he does the right thing and he hasn’t been cheating.”
In the end, Saturday for Bisping is about Rockhold or PEDs or USADA. It’s about Leites and where a potential win over him takes the Brit. It’s hard to say at this juncture, but Bisping is sure of one thing: he’s impressed with the career turnaround of his Brazilian opponent.
“For me, that’s the sign of a true fighter because a lot of guys could have a career like he did and he had a title fight, had some big fights, and then they get cut from the organization, then they pack it in. They become a coach or they go back to jiu-jitsu or whatever it may be. Thales actually went and fought all over the world, racked up some wins and actually got back in the UFC. That, to me, tells me he has the heart of a fighter and that he won’t give up in the fight, that he has the will to win. The fact that he fought his way back, that’s very impressive.
“But when I look at his fights, which I’ve done, his striking’s maybe got a little better, but when I look at his old fights, which I also have done, I don’t really see any difference,” Bisping argues. “I still see the same fighter. He still throws the same shots and he still looks for the takedown. I don’t really see him being all that much improved. He looks a little bigger. He’s obviously been on a very stringent strength and conditioning routine. That obviously paid dividends.”
There hasn’t been as much back and forth this time between Bisping and Leites, insofar as it comes to angry words and threats being exchanged. Leites took briefly to social media to express his belief he’d win via submission and Bisping responded, but it hasn’t been much more than that.
“People talk about trash talk,” Bisping observes. “I’ve never been a trash talker. I just say I think I’m going to win the fight and somehow that’s deemed as being trash talk-esque.”
In the end, though, what Bisping took away from the brief online exchange wasn’t the same kind of angry tension he shared with Rockhold or Belfort, but something familiar. It’s a part of every Bisping fight, it appears, and something he relishes. Bisping is routinely called out by opposition, almost more so than any other fighter in the division. The British middleweight says he likes it that way. It means his opponent is coming to fight, which means his win over them was hard earned. Where it takes him, though, is still up for debate.
“Good for him,” Bisping says of Leites. “Of course, he thinks he’s going to win the fight, as do I. That’s what makes it a fight.”
Bellator moves forward, this time with a card where the welterweight title is up for grabs, but on a main card where many of the organization’s more notable welterweight fighters are also competing. It’s not a tent pole event, but one where …
Bellator moves forward, this time with a card where the welterweight title is up for grabs, but on a main card where many of the organization’s more notable welterweight fighters are also competing. It’s not a tent pole event, but one where the results will contribute to matchmaking on such a future event.
As long as this is contested on the feet, it could and likely will be reasonably competitive. Koreshkov can strike in lateral or backwards motion, has excellent combinations, good power and more. Lima can match him there and is physically bigger, but the real skill differential is on the mat. Koreshkov has likely improved since Ben Askren absolutely throttled him, but not enough where it’s going to stop Lima from passing into dominant positions after passing guard. I’m not suggesting Lima can’t win on the feet, but I’m quite confident he can easily win on the mat.
Bradley just won’t be able to deal with Honeycutt’s pressure. They both have wrestling backgrounds, but I’d say Honeycutt is the better of the two, for a couple of reasons. First, he’s the better overall grappler who can take the back or even play a bit of guard if necessary. Second, Bradley isn’t quite the scrambler Honeycutt is. I expect the Josh Koscheck-protege to meet some resistance, but eventually find his way to the takedown or Bradley’s back from turtle. Either way, he’ll wear down Bradley en route to a stoppage or decision victory in the later rounds.
I’m not sure what to say about this one. Page might have a few issues early in establishing distance, but not for very long. Bears is a solid MMA fighter, but not elite by any measurement. Page is still working out in the kinks in transferring his skills to the MMA realities from point fighting, but he’s a better striker than Bears by several orders of magnitude. It’s not a question of if, but when for the Brit.
I’m not sure what to say about this without being terribly dismissive. Ward can be reckless and is prone to being countered, but Carroll hasn’t shown he’s ready to truly graduate from the regional fighting scene. Ward can be caught, but when he’s attacking, he can do it all. I expect him to strike into a takedown and score a TKO on the ground from there.
Olson actually has some nice attacks from a front head lock series. He can pass guard or, when the need arises, jump guard into submissions. He really excels and neck or neck-and-arm attacks. The problem is his ability to get the fight there and hold down a squirmy Daley is very much in question. On the feet, this isn’t much of a contest and given the Brit’s takedown defense, there’s plenty of reason to think the fight will be decided there.
GLORY kickboxing and Bellator middleweight Joe Schilling is out of his scheduled kickboxing bout on the Bellator Dynamite show on Sept. 19th. Bellator CEO Scott Coker confirmed the news Wednesday on the SiriusXM Fight Club.
Schilling wa…
GLORY kickboxing and Bellator middleweight Joe Schilling is out of his scheduled kickboxing bout on the Bellator Dynamite show on Sept. 19th. Bellator CEO Scott Coker confirmed the news Wednesday on the SiriusXM Fight Club.
Schilling was knocked out in his last bout at Bellator 139 on June 26th, having been stopped at 34 seconds into the second round opposite Hisaki Kato. Schilling was given a ninety-day medical suspension by the Kansas athletic commission, which overlaps with the scheduled September 19th Bellator Dynamite show.
According to Coker, no substitute for Schilling has yet been booked. Schilling did not have an announced opponent for the Dynamite event prior to being removed from the card.
Bellator’s Dynamite show takes place at the SAP Center in San Jose, Calif. The main card will air on Spike TV.
The third UFC show in five days is here, and it features an important heavyweight battle for an aging veteran against a fighter looking to make good on what has been unfulfilled promise up to now. The card also features a series of important…
The third UFC show in five days is here, and it features an important heavyweight battle for an aging veteran against a fighter looking to make good on what has been unfulfilled promise up to now. The card also features a series of important lightweight, women’s bantamweight and other contender battles.
What: UFC Fight Night 71 (UFC Fight Night: Mir vs. Duffee)
Where: Valley View Casino Center, San Diego, Calif.
When: Wednesday, the two-fight preliminary card kicks off on Fight Pass at 7 p.m. ET, the four-fight preliminary card starts on Fox Sports 1 at 8 p.m. and the six-fight main card begins at 10 p.m. ET on Fox Sports 1.
I’m always reluctant to count out Mir. There are times where he never quite shows what he has and disappoints, but he also has a wealth of knowledge of the game and veteran experience. The amount of minute tricks he has adds up to fight-changing ability. This time, though, I’m not willing to count on that. He’s been this heavy before, but at 262 pounds, that seems excessively big for the much more mobile Duffee. I also believe if Duffee can stuff Mir’s wrestling – a doable task, seemingly – then the power punching and reach of Duffee should be plenty sufficient to hurt and put away the former champion. Again, I make this prediction with trepidation, but I have to side with the younger, quicker heavyweight.
Ferguson takes a lot of risks, many unnecessarily, but he has all the ability in the world. He can wrestle, scramble, submit from top or bottom and has crushing power. Thomson is as well-rounded as they come, but the miles on his body are beyond calculation. At his best, he should be able to push Ferguson backwards and use his better wrestling degree and more conventional kickboxing skill set to keep El Cucuy on the defensive. I’m just not convinced that’s the version of Thomson we are going to get here.
Man, there is something about Reneau that is clearly special. She seems to always be seething with rage under her skin, able to contain and use it to maximum effect, but she’s a ferocious competitor. I always like when fighters compete with a a chip on their shoulders and there may be no one better in the UFC than her when it comes to that. All of that being said, I am supposed to use available evidence to make a pick. Reneau’s boxing is good, but she’ll have a hard time closing the distance on a stick and move artist like Holm. Holm’s takedown defense is also pretty good, meaning Reneau’s stellar submission game might not play much of a role here. The evidence says pick Holm and that’s the smart play here, but for fun, I’m going to side with the one everyone seems to always be wrong counting out.
It’s hard to say what either guy really has left here. Jorgensen is back in the right weight class, but has had plenty of issues at bantamweight, too. Gamburyan’s limited at this level of the game, but still has good firepower and defensive wrestling. I suspect that will tip the scales in his favor. He’ll be able to neutralize or match Jorgensen’s wrestling while finding an opening for his wide if hugely powerful punches.
Moontasri’s assortment of kicks is a thing to behold and his takedown defense has improved just within the short amount of time he’s spent in the UFC, but that’s Lee’s game. I look to Lee to basically pressure Moontasri until he breaks or the fight ends, where the judges award him a unanimous decision win.
If I’m oversimplifying it, it wouldn’t be the first time, but Dwyer seems very hittable and Jouban has crisp striking with both his hands and feet. He’s also a much more physical, dynamic and explosive athlete, which means I like his ability to strike first and strike with authority before Dwyer has a chance to do much about it.
