The UFC makes its return to Brazil in January with UFC on FX: Belfort vs Bisping. The twelve fight card is headlined by a middleweight contest between Vitor Belfort and Michael Bisping. It’s very possible that the winner of this fight will be give…
The twelve fight card is headlined by a middleweight contest between VitorBelfort and Michael Bisping. It’s very possible that the winner of this fight will be given a shot at UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva.
Michael Bisping has been hovering around the title picture, but has yet to fight for UFC gold. A win over Belfort would all but guarantee he receives a shot against Silva. Belfort is currently 2-1 in the middleweight division in his latest run with the promotion and has been around the title picture at both middleweight and light heavyweight.
The full card is below…
Main Card
VitorBelfort vs Michael Bisping C.B. Dollaway vs Daniel Sarafian Ben Rothwell vs Gabriel “Napão” Gonzaga KhabibNurmagomedov vs ThiagoTavares
Preliminary Card
GodofredoPepey vs MiltinhoVieira Andrew Craig vs Ronny Markes NikLentz vs Diego Nunes Justin Salas vs EdsonBarboza Michael Kuiper vs Thiago “Bodão” Perpetuo George Roop vs Yuri “Marajó” Alcantara Roger Hollett vs Wagner “Caldeirão” Prado C.J. Keith vs FrancisoTrinaldo
The preliminary card is also pretty interesting. There are some solid prospects in compelling match ups. Nik Lentz has recreated himself at featherweight and looks to work his way to a title shot. A win over Diego Nunes will put him on the road to the belt.
Then there is Andrew Craig, the 26 year old fighting out of Houston. He’s currently 2-0 in the UFC and one of the best young fighters in the middleweight division. His opponent, Ronny Markes, is 24 years old and 2-0 in the UFC as well. Markes is a teammate of UFC featherweight champion, Jose Aldo.
The UFC has not yet announced where the card will take place.
The UFC released their partial schedule for 2013 Monday afternoon. Eight dates were formally announced, starting in January. The release confirmed the dates of the Fox events for 2013, including FOX 6, which is planned for the United Center in Chicago,…
Date Location Event Saturday, Jan. 19 Brazil UFC on FX: BELFORT vs. BISPING Saturday, Jan. 26 United Center, Chicago, Ill. UFC on FOX Saturday, Feb. 2 Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas, Nev. UFC 156: ALDO vs. EDGAR** Saturday, Feb. 16 International Event UFC on FUEL TV Saturday, April 20 City to be announced UFC on FOX Saturday, April 27 Prudential Center, Newark, N.J. UFC: JONES vs. SONNEN** Saturday, July 27 City to be announced UFC on FOX Saturday, Dec. 14 City to be announced UFC on FOX
From the looks of it, they aren’t planning any PPV events in January. This could obviously change, but it’s notable as it could mean fewer PPVs in 2013. Compare that with 2012 which saw the UFC hold 14 PPV events.
The UFC also held 16 free events in 2012. With the four Fox events already scheduled, it’s now a waiting game to see how many FX and Fuel cards are added.
“2013 is shaping up to be a huge year for the UFC and we can’t wait to bring more great fights to FOX!” said UFC President Dana White. “We’re going to continue to take the UFC all over the world putting on the biggest and best fights. FOX is an amazing broadcast partner and we’re going to do some big things next year.”
Judging from UFC President Dana White’s comments, it’s likely that those FX and Fuel cards will be international events.
Resurrection Fighting Alliance 4 will be airing tonight on AXS TV (formerly known as HDNet). The promotion recently made news after purchasing the Kansas City-based Titan Fighting. The seven-fight main card features some of the best talent outside of t…
Resurrection Fighting Alliance 4 will be airing tonight on AXS TV (formerly known as HDNet). The promotion recently made news after purchasing the Kansas City-based Titan Fighting. The seven-fight main card features some of the best talent outside of the UFC as well as some former-UFC fighters.
The card kicks off at 10:00 p.m. ET. Join Bleacher Report for live reactions from the fights.
Two UFC 153 main card fighters have tested positive for banned substances. MMAJunkie.com broke the news that Stephan Bonnar and Dave Herman failed their post-fight drug tests. Bonnar tested positive for Drostanolone, an anabolic steroid used …
Two UFC 153 main card fighters have tested positive for banned substances.
Bonnar tested positive for Drostanolone, an anabolic steroid used mainly in the “cutting cycles.” Herman tested positive for marijuana metabolites.
Bonnar came out of retirement to face Anderson Silva in the main event of UFC 153. It was a favor to the promotion that made him a star and the kind of fight he had been begging Joe Silva to make. By most accounts, it was the biggest fight of his career and put him back in the public eye.
This is the second time in his UFC career that he has tested positive for a steroid. The first time was after the second Forrest Griffin fight when he tested positive for Boldenone.
This is also the second offense for Dave Herman. He tested positive for marijuana metabolites prior to his scheduled bout at UFC 136. That positive test forced him from the card.
Bonnar announced earlier this week that he will be retiring once more from MMA. After this positive test, one would expect this retirement to be permanent.
Without question, this positive test tarnishes his legacy. Even with the first positive test, I still believed that Bonnar had a place in the UFC Hall of Fame because of his first fight with Griffin. This test all but ensures that he won’t get into the Hall.
As for Herman? This is the straw that breaks the camel’s back. He’s 1-3 in the UFC and the headache just doesn’t seem to be worth it.
The injury bug strikes again!Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson was set to make his return to the cage at UFC 154 against Besam Yousef on November 17th. Unfortunately, Thompson was forced to withdraw from the bout due to a knee injury. The news was brok…
The injury bug strikes again!
Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson was set to make his return to the cage at UFC 154 against BesamYousef on November 17th. Unfortunately, Thompson was forced to withdraw from the bout due to a knee injury.
The news was broken by Ariel Helwani of MMAFighting.com early Friday morning. According to Helwani‘s report, Thompson suffered a torn meniscus in training and will undergo surgery that will put him on the sidelines for at least eight weeks.
“Wonderboy” took the UFC by storm when he scored a stunning head kick knockout at UFC 143 over Dan Stittgen. The kick earned him “Knockout of the Night” honors and a $65,000 bonus check.
It also put him on the fast track, as fans couldn’t wait to see him put his highly-touted striking skills on display again.
The South Carolina native was booked against Matt Brown at UFC 145. Fans expected to see more fireworks. Instead, they saw Brown continually bloody the face of Thompson on his way to a Unanimous Decision victory.
The loss definitely set Thompson back, but there was optimism that the Brown fight would be a learning experience and Thompson would show major improvements in his fight with Yousef.
Yousef is now forced to wait and see if Joe Silva can find an opponent on short notice. If not, expect to see him fight in a future UFC bout.
If you are a kickboxing fan, you know who Tyrone Spong is. You know that he’s a protégée of the legendary Ernesto Hoost and you definitely know that he’s widely considered one of the best young fighters in the world. If you’ve never …
If you are a kickboxing fan, you know who Tyrone Spong is. You know that he’s a protégée of the legendary Ernesto Hoost and you definitely know that he’s widely considered one of the best young fighters in the world.
If you’ve never seen a kickboxing bout, you’ll probably only recognize Spong as a friend of Rashad Evans. That friendship has slowly morphed into almost a brotherhood as Spong became a cornerstone member of the Blackzilians.
His move to the Florida-based camp coincided with rumors that he was ready to test his mettle in MMA. Over a year later and Spong is set to make his MMA debut at the inaugural World Series of Fighting event on November 3 in Las Vegas.
Spong isn’t the first kickboxer to attempt to make the jump into MMA, but he’s likely the best prepared.
“Everything that I’ve been doing is just theory. It’s just been in training. Now you’ll see the real thing and that’s in a fight. In training everything comes naturally and I’m picking up everything really fast,” Spong told Bleacher Report.
“It’s going really well. Now for me, it’s just making the transition in the fight and just seeing what will happen.”
The 27-year-old Spong has been fighting his entire life. After amassing a 68-6-1 (1 NC) record in kickboxing, he felt the time was right to try his hand at MMA. Despite the pressures of his MMA debut, he’s not feeling any anxiety heading into his upcoming bout with Travis Bartlett.
“Maybe before the fight but that’s just the healthy nerves, you know? It’s just to feel on the edge. It makes you sharp. Every fighter needs that. You got to have some type of fear. And not a fear of your opponent or a fear of the fight, but the fear of losing,” said Spong.
“I always have the fear of losing. I don’t want to lose. So that being said, I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
His support system to get him through any jitters may be one of the best in the sport. Between Rashad Evans and Alistair Overeem, Spong has surrounded himself with friends who have fought at the pinnacle of the sport and can help relieve some stress.
However, he doesn’t anticipate there being any difference between the fear he feels before a kickboxing bout and a cage fight.
“Every fighter in combat sports, whether it’s boxing, MMA, or kickboxing, I think it’s normal for every fighter to have that type of fear. It’s not something bad. If you’re a winner, you never want to lose. For me, nobody has to teach me how to deal with nerves.”
“This being a MMA fight makes no difference. At the end of the day, you’ve got to make sure that you win.”
He has noticed big changes in how he trains and prepares for fights since leaving the Amsterdam gym scene and working out full-time at the Jaco Training Center in Florida. While he trained with legends such as Ernesto Hoost in the Netherlands, it wasn’t until he moved to the United States that he truly realized the benefits of a real fight team.
“The difference between the Netherlands and here, this is a real team. Back home my team was just a few coaches, myself, and I had to get my own sparring partners by myself. It wasn’t really a fight team.” He added, “this is a hell of a fight team. The best fighters together helping each other.”
“We all benefit from it. It’s real professional and it’s something that I’ve always wanted. Now I have it and I feel blessed to be with such a great team.”
In fact, the gym has been so successful that they have been nominated for one of the best gyms in Florida (Florida MMA awards).
Though he is about to kick-start his MMA career, Spong hasn’t turned his back on the sport where he built his name. A contracted kickboxer with Glory International, he plans to split time between both combat sports.
Fortunately, neither his WSoF contract nor his Glory contract are entirely exclusive, and he’s able to compete for either promotion without causing issue with the other. In fact, Spong recently stated that he expects to fight Remy Bonjasky, one of the legends of kickboxing at an upcoming Glory card.
“It’s still in negotiations and it will probably be a non tournament bout. I’m not sure if I’m in the heavyweight tournament. First things first and that’s November 3rd. I’m just focusing on November 3rd and then after that we can see what’s going to happen.”
No matter the outcome of his MMA debut, Spong wants fans to recognize him for what he is: one of the best fighters in the world. He’s not closing the book on his kickboxing career, but he is ready to start a new chapter as a MMA fighter.
“I want to be remembered as a hell of a fighter. That’s the thing. When people think of me, I want them to think of a warrior, a real fighter. That’s my goal.”
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