At UFC 145 Rashad Evans and Jon Jones will finally have a chance to put the trash talk aside and do what both fans and fighters have wanted for a long time.They are going to step in the cage and face each other. Barring injury nothing should stop eithe…
At UFC 145 Rashad Evans and Jon Jones will finally have a chance to put the trash talk aside and do what both fans and fighters have wanted for a long time.
They are going to step in the cage and face each other. Barring injury nothing should stop either man from competing in what will be the biggest pay-per-view this year aside from the Silva-Sonnen rematch.
Rashad Evans and Jon Jones are known to have at one point been training partners who were once friends. Then Jones took a title shot that was originally Evans’ when the other man got injured and won the belt.
After that both men gained animosity towards each other, split camps and started attacking each other in the media. It has since built into a nice feud with people choosing different sides on who will win.
The truth is that Evans stands no chance against Jones and is doomed to fail. No matter what confidence he has, Jones is going to walk into the cage and take him out.
Before UFC 143, Georges St-Pierre mentioned how he hoped Nick Diaz would beat Carlos Condit so that the two could fight each other.In an interview with MMAJunkie.com, St-Pierre admitted he wanted to fight Nick Diaz as badly as when he wanted a title sh…
Before UFC 143, Georges St-Pierre mentioned how he hoped Nick Diaz would beat Carlos Condit so that the two could fight each other.
He also admitted how dangerous Condit was in the article. St-Pierre knew that there was a possibility that Diaz wouldn’t win the fight.
He lavished praise on Condit as a fighter and a human, but in the end admitted that he wanted him to lose. St-Pierre is usually a stoic professional, so the admission is a bit of a shocker.
St-Pierre didn’t get his wish, as it turned out. Condit was able to convince the judges that his leg strikes and attacks from the outside were the more effective method of attack.
Before the fight, when the article was published, St-Pierre even stated that Diaz would bring out the best in him.
Instead, Condit won, which brought a question with it. Can St-Pierre find the same motivation?
St-Pierre is one of the most successful champions in the UFC because he is a professional and is one of the best at what he does. History shows that he has been able to find the motivation to take on all comers and succeed.
History also shows that he has lost when he has faced an underdog opponent.
When St-Pierre had his first run with the title, he faced Matt Serra, who had been a contestant on The Ultimate Fighter. Few gave Serra a real shot at winning, which is why it was such a shock when Serra came back and knocked St-Pierre out in the first round.
St-Pierre let himself get lax in the fight for just a moment, and it cost him.
Serra isn’t considered to have been on the same level as Condit is currently, but the fact is that St-Pierre had a certain fight he was hoping to get, and it eluded him.
How he handles that disappointment will affect his motivation for the fight with Condit. It should be enough for him to want to keep the belt and defeat a fighter like Condit.
But St-Pierre did state that he wanted Diaz as much as he wanted a shot at the belt. It might mentally weaken him to the point where he gets caught again.
When St-Pierre comes back, he will have to face a serious opponent who earned the right to face him. It just won’t be the one he wanted.
Life is filled with disappointment, but if St-Pierre doesn’t take Condit seriously, it might include St-Pierre also being disappointed with his performance.
Matthew Hemphill writes for the MMA and professional wrestling portion of Bleacher Report. He also hosts a blog elbaexiled.blogspot.comthat focuses on books, music, comic books, video games, film and generally anything that could be related to the realms of nerdom.
Sometimes, not every fight is exciting in the way fans expect it to be.UFC 143 wasn’t the barn-burner fans wanted, but the only controversy it was marred with was the scores turned in by the judges.Fighters who face off in smaller promotions run the ri…
Sometimes, not every fight is exciting in the way fans expect it to be.
UFC 143 wasn’t the barn-burner fans wanted, but the only controversy it was marred with was the scores turned in by the judges.
Fighters who face off in smaller promotions run the risk of not having a boring fight, but one that defies the rules and possible outcomes.
Both men, Brandon Bishop and Braedon Wardin, in the video mentioned lost by double knockout. There is nothing shocking about this, though it is unusual. Double knockouts happen from time to time and it is just part of the sport.
…Except the fighters in question didn’t knock each other out.
In an apparent malfunction, both men were pushed through the cage floor and onto the ground.
It’s hard to imagine why a promoter let this happen. While mistakes do occur when it comes to having to men compete in something like MMA, it shouldn’t be taken a lightly.
Allowing combatants to fall on hard ground is something that looks amateurish, and thanks to the age of the Internet, people can see all over the world.
Still, the fighters do get up at the end of the video to a standing ovation and walk out of their own accord so it appears as if nobody was seriously injured.
In the end, it’s just another strange occurrence in MMA.
And somehow, just like double knockouts, strange moments like this one are a part of the sport as well.
Matthew Hemphill writes for the MMA and professional wrestling portion of Bleacher Report. He also hosts a blog elbaexiled.blogspot.com that focuses on books, music, comic books, video games, film and generally anything that could be related to the realms of nerdom.
Dustin Poirier has advanced from being a young fighter with potential, to someone who might one day fight for the title, to becoming an instant contender.It is hard for fighters like Poirier to get noticed in the UFC, partly because he campaigns at fea…
Dustin Poirier has advanced from being a young fighter with potential, to someone who might one day fight for the title, to becoming an instant contender.
It is hard for fighters like Poirier to get noticed in the UFC, partly because he campaigns at featherweight and partly because the promotion is stacked with famous fighters. That was the case at UFC 143 where Poirier didn’t even make it onto the main card.
He has been on televised undercards before, but never the main card.
A fight with Max Holloway shouldn’t have done anything to change that, either. Taking the fight on after two opponents dropped out should help his standing with the company, but it wasn’t supposed to do anything for his status as a contender.
Holloway was a newcomer to the UFC with Poirier being his first fight in the Octagon. It might have been different if Holloway were a seasoned veteran, but he isn’t.
Holloway only had four fights before he came to the UFC. None of them were with big names or in large promotions.
Poirier came in to get a win, collect a paycheck and score points with the bosses.
He had to face an unknown and win with no serious TV coverage. It was the worst kind of fight.
And then Poirier pulled off an armbar submission from the mount. The move was spectacular and won him submission of the night.
Bonuses help fighters collect money, but they are also like the Oscar’s as well.
Even if a fighter is in an undercard fight, if he can get himself a bonus, it is a major marketing point. It is like the little-known actor starring in the small indie film and scoring one of the coveted awards.
Thereafter he has the title “Oscar award winning” attached to his name. It becomes a selling point and gets more people to watch his movies.
The same goes for Poirier. Now whenever he is shown in a UFC promo, that submission is going to pop up, along with the fact that he won the submission of the night.
Even though the featherweight division is filled with good fighters, Jose Aldo, who holds the belt at that weight, is quickly running through them. If the UFC doesn’t want to move him to lightweight, they are going to need to find new competitors quickly.
Now that Poirier has won a bonus and extended his win streak to five fights in a row, he fits into that category.
He may not get a title shot in his next fight, but one thing is clear: The next time fans see Poirier, he probably won’t be on the undercard.
Matthew Hemphill writes for the MMA and professional wrestling portion of Bleacher Report. He also hosts a blog elbaexiled.blogspot.comthat focuses on books, music, comic books, video games, film and generally anything that could be related to the realms of nerdom.
UFC 143 is done and now every fan knows that Carlos Condit has a date with Georges St-Pierre down the road. The fight isn’t the most entertaining, especially not with the way that Condit fought, but it is relevant to the welterweight division.That isn’…
UFC 143 is done and now every fan knows that Carlos Condit has a date with Georges St-Pierre down the road. The fight isn’t the most entertaining, especially not with the way that Condit fought, but it is relevant to the welterweight division.
That isn’t to say that there aren’t fun fights that couldn’t be made from the winners and losers from UFC 143. There are plenty of matches that could be made which even the most hardened critic would enjoy.
Joe Silva does a great job of matching people in the UFC, but here are 10 fights he needs to make soon if he wants to keep fight fans happy.
Carlos Condit is a brilliant striker, but fans wouldn’t know it the way he fought Nick Diaz at UFC 143. Anyone who was watching Condit for the first time might be tricked into thinking that the new interim welterweight champion was best at leg kicks an…
Carlos Condit is a brilliant striker, but fans wouldn’t know it the way he fought Nick Diaz at UFC 143. Anyone who was watching Condit for the first time might be tricked into thinking that the new interim welterweight champion was best at leg kicks and fighting on the outside.
Most of them would have been confused to find out that Condit’s nickname is the Natural Born Killer.
Saturday night, fans didn’t see the man who won two fight of the night or the knockout of the night awards, but rather someone who was intent on winning by points.
That isn’t to say that Condit’s strategy wasn’t brilliant. He was able to get Diaz to come forward and attack him all night long while he countered his opponent. It was a dicey move because some MMA judges score on aggression, disregarding the fact that there were plenty of fans who thought Diaz won.
Condit did what he needed to and he was able to walk away with the victory and a guaranteed huge fight against Georges St-Pierre.
He just didn’t show even half his talent to new fans or old. It shocked Nick Diaz and the folks who paid for the pay-per-view when he decided to circle the outside.
In the WEC, Condit had finished all four of the opponents he had placed in front of him.
When he transitioned to the UFC, he had some trouble splitting two close decisions with Martin Kampmann and Jake Ellenberger.
After those two bumps in the road, he finished his next three opponents, even coming back from what was a certain defeat against Rory McDonald to knock him out.
In his next bout, he was able to knockout Dan Hardy in a savage manner.
Condit was even able to take out Dong Hyun Kim in one round, stopping the judoka from getting him to the ground and suffocating him.
In one fight, Condit was able to destroy all of the goodwill he had among fans for one reason.
They knew that he could fight better then he did.
Could he have fought a better fight in a safer manner? No, he used a game plan that gave him the best chance of success and won.
He can’t be faulted for it, as it gave him an opportunity to face GSP and a payday that will be unrivaled. This is how he makes a living and he did what he needed to for his family.
Condit just needs to remember that the UFC is also entertainment and that for fans to buy pay-per-views, they have to feel that it is worth doing so.
That means he needs to be exciting again like Nick Diaz tried to be.
Otherwise, he will turn into the next Georges St-Pierre: someone who wins matches, but angers fans.
Matthew Hemphill writes for the MMA and professional wrestling portion of Bleacher Report. He also hosts a blog elbaexiled.blogspot.comthat focuses on books, music, comic books, video games, film and generally anything that could be related to the realms of nerdom.
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