This isn’t the usual page-view mongering scheme MMA sites run during lulls just to drum up traffic. This is legit. We will be seeing CM Punk (whose real name is Phil Brooks) in the Octagon in the future.
Punk was present at UFC 181 to make the announcement in an interview with Joe Rogan. He said he’d fight at middleweight or weltereweight, though he didn’t reveal what camp he’d train out of. He currently trains with Rener and Ryon Gracie. He will make his Octagon debut in 2015.
(Photo via Getty)
CM Punk has just signed with the UFC.
This isn’t the usual page-view mongering scheme MMA sites run during lulls just to drum up traffic. This is legit. We will be seeing CM Punk (whose real name is Phil Brooks) in the Octagon in the future.
Punk was present at UFC 181 to make the announcement in an interview with Joe Rogan. He said he’d fight at middleweight or weltereweight, though he didn’t reveal what camp he’d train out of. He currently trains with Rener and Ryon Gracie. He will make his Octagon debut in 2015.
To say this is a massive announcement is a bigger understatement than saying Dana White has a swearing problem. This is huge. How huge? Maybe not Brock Lesnar huge but certainly the shot in the arm in regards to starpower the post-Lesnar, post-GSP UFC needed right now.
Being a 36-year-old with zero competitive athletic background (no, his status as a BJJ hobbyist doesn’t count), Punk’s chances of succeeding in MMA are dubious. Still, Punk’s presence on the roster will almost definitely lift the UFC’s sagging PPV sales, even if his athletic merit is nonexistent.
There are highlight reel KOs and then there are soul-stealing, devastating, Mortal Kombat-fatality level KOs. Diego Nunes‘ victory at Superior Challenge 11 over famed Scandinavian fighter Joachim Hansen is the latter.
There are highlight reel KOs and then there are soul-stealing, devastating, Mortal Kombat-fatality level KOs. Diego Nunes‘ victory at Superior Challenge 11 over famed Scandinavian fighter Joachim Hansen is the latter.
Few knockouts deserve the “BAW GAWD, HE KILLED HIM!” more than this one. Hansen hasn’t been doing great lately. He’s 1-3 over the last four years and hasn’t beaten a significant opponent since a TKO win over Shinya Aoki in 2008. To put that into its proper historic context, the fight took place in DREAM. That’s how long it’s been since Hansen was a factor in the global top-echelon lightweight discussion. His record now stands at 23-13-1.
With the knockout, Nunes breaks a 3-fight losing streak, bringing his record to 19-6.
There’s good news for you: There exists legitimate (and, most importantly, LEGAL) footage of the fight’s best parts.
Edgar beat Swanson to the punch throughout their five-round affair last night. He also beat him to the takedown, too, dragging Swanson to the mat and smashing him with ground and pound (as much as a 145-pound man can smash someone, at least). In the fifth round, Edgar managed to submit Swanson via rear naked choke with only four seconds remaining. This was arguably Edgar’s finest performance to date — a fight so one-sided the word “fight” really isn’t appropriate. Use “ass-kicking” or, if you’re a language-sensitive baby, “shellacking” instead.
There’s good news for you: There exists legitimate (and, most importantly, LEGAL) footage of the fight’s best parts.
Edgar beat Swanson to the punch throughout their five-round affair last night. He also beat him to the takedown, too, dragging Swanson to the mat and smashing him with ground and pound (as much as a 145-pound man can smash someone, at least). In the fifth round, Edgar managed to submit Swanson via rear naked choke with only four seconds remaining. This was arguably Edgar’s finest performance to date — a fight so one-sided the word “fight” really isn’t appropriate. Use “ass-kicking” or, if you’re a language-sensitive baby, “shellacking” instead.
Edgar wants a title shot off the back of such an amazing performance, which is hard to disagree with since he really did look that good. Though, with the way the UFC works, we’re sure Conor McGregor will get one when he finished trouncing Denis Siver at UFC fight Night 59 in January.
There were some other fights last night featuring the likes of Joseph Benavidez, Edson Barboza, Isaac Vallie-Flagg, and Yves Edwards — though our favorite fight was BY FAR Oleksiy Oliynyk vs. Jared Rosholt (Ruslan Magomedov vs. Josh Copeland was pretty good, too). See how they all fared below:
Main Card
Frankie Edgar def. Cub Swanson via submission (rear-naked choke) at 4:56 of R5
Edson Barboza def. Bobby Green via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Brad Pickett def. Chico Camus via split decision (29-28, 27-30, 29-28)
Oleksiy Oliynyk def. Jared Rosholt via KO (punches) at 3:21 of R1
Joseph Benavidez def. Dustin Ortiz via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Matt Wiman def. Isaac Vallie-Flagg via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
Preliminary Card
Ruslan Magomedov def. Josh Copeland via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
Roger Narvaez def. Luke Barnatt via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
James Vick def. Nick Hein via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
Akbarh Arreola def. Yves Edwards via submission (armbar) at 1:52 of R1
Paige VanZant def. Kailin Curran via TKO (punches) at 2:54 of R3
Doo Ho Choi def. Juan Manuel Puig via TKO (punches) at :18 of R1
TMZ found Jon Jones in Los Angeles and asked for his thoughts on the matter:
What’d he do? He raped somebody, right? Nah. I don’t think Bill Cosby would do that. I’ve never met him but from what I’ve seen, he seems to be a class act. I kinda grew up admiring him as a black actor and I really hope that’s not true. I mean, he’s Bill Cosby, he shouldn’t have to take it. They should be [does a gesture insinuating women should throw themselves at him].
Umm…yeah. Not exactly the most graceful or appropriate response from Jones.
TMZ found Jon Jones in Los Angeles and asked for his thoughts on the matter:
What’d he do? He raped somebody, right? Nah. I don’t think Bill Cosby would do that. I’ve never met him but from what I’ve seen, he seems to be a class act. I kinda grew up admiring him as a black actor and I really hope that’s not true. I mean, he’s Bill Cosby, he shouldn’t have to take it. They should be [does a gesture insinuating women should throw themselves at him].
Umm…yeah. Not exactly the most graceful or appropriate response from Jones. He essentially laughed of Cosby’s allegations because Cosby is famous and “shouldn’t have to take it.” That’s shameful and embarrassing, quite frankly. Not only does it show a misunderstanding of rape (a crime fueled by power, not sex drive), it shows that Jones values Bill Cosby’s word over the word of 13 women just because it’s hard to imagine Cosby doing something like that.
Jones’ faux pas comes at a time when Anthony “Rumble” Johnson literally LOL’d at his own domestic abuse accusations and Conor McGregor called Dennis Siver a Nazi. MMA is horrible sometimes, isn’t it?
Remember Leonard Garcia? Turns out he got submitted this weekend in under two minutes by Daniel Pineda at Legacy FC 37 and subsequently retired.
This is likely a good decision for the 35-year-old, who was 3-7 in his last three years of competition. More fighting would’ve only led to increased risk of permanent injuries while the fame, notoriety (and money) continued to decrease.
Garcia is perhaps most notable for being a staple in the WEC’s featherweight division in the promotion’s heyday. That’s where he was most successful, establishing a 4-3-1 record in that promotion.
Remember Leonard Garcia? Turns out he got submitted this weekend in under two minutes by Daniel Pineda at Legacy FC 37 and subsequently retired.
This is likely a good decision for the 35-year-old, who was 3-7 in his last three years of competition. More fighting would’ve only led to increased risk of permanent injuries while the fame, notoriety (and money) continued to decrease.
Garcia is perhaps most notable for being a staple of the WEC’s featherweight division in the promotion’s heyday. That’s where he was most successful, establishing a 4-3-1 record in that promotion.
Garcia won four “fight of the night” honors in his two runs in the UFC, but he never ascended even into the mid-echelon there. His UFC record stands at 2-7, and his overall record at the time of retirement is 18-13-1.
We now wonder who will take Garcia’s place as the fighter most likely to walk forwards throwing windmill punches with reckless abandon and somehow win a decision without despite not landing many strikes.
Bellator 131, the first of Bellator’s BIG events under Scott Coker was pretty god damn awesome.
Look, we know you’re busy and just want the GIFs, so we won’t burden your minds by making you read a painstaking punch-by-punch recap.
BUT FIRST, Bellator debuted a wicked new entrance ramp. Look at King Mo and Jo Vedepo’s entrance:
Check out the GIFs (via Zombie Prophet) from Bellator 131 below, and the card’s full results are written at the bottom of the post:
(Photo via Getty)
Bellator 131, the first of Bellator’s BIG events under Scott Coker was pretty god damn awesome.
Look, we know you’re busy and just want the GIFs, so we won’t burden your minds by making you read a painstaking punch-by-punch recap.
BUT FIRST, Bellator debuted a wicked new entrance ramp. Look at King Mo and Jo Vedepo’s entrance:
Check out the GIFs (via Zombie Prophet) from Bellator 131 below, and the card’s full results are written at the bottom of the post:
King Mo smothered Joe Vedepo in the first two rounds while landing some intermittent ground and pound. He finally managed to put Vedepo away in the third round:
In the next fight, Mike Richman FUCKING DESTROYED Nam Phan. We’re not exaggerating. Richman straight up punching bagged him, landing unanswered combo after unanswered combo. Don’t believe us? Look at the GIF?
Melvin Manhoef vs. Joe Schilling was perhaps the fight of the year…or at least the bar room brawl-in-a-cage of the year. It was a true back-and-forth contest that saw both men hurt at times, but ultimately it was Schilling who prevailed and put Manhoef out COLD.
In the co-main event, Will Brooks scored a BIZARRE TKO finish over Michael Chandler, and in doing so defended his Bellator lightweight title. The fight was close going into the fourth round, but then Brooks landed a punch so hard it made Chandler literally forget he was in a fight. Chandler backed away and tried to wave off the fight, which proved to be a bad idea. Brooks blasted him multiple times, ending the match.
And finally, the main event bbetween Tito Ortiz and Stephan Bonnar. This fight wasn’t particularly good, but it could’ve been WAY worse. Ortiz won a split decision by smothering Bonnar and also bruising and cutting up his face with some of the slowest punches we have ever seen. Like the only thing slower than Ortiz’s punches were Bonnar’s attempts at evading them. Ugly stuff. Even better (or worse), both fighters continued their feud after the bell. Ortiz flipped off Bonnar and threw his water at him. Bonnar told Ortiz to eat a turd burger (ugh). Here are some GIF highlights from the fight:
The complete results:
Main Card
Tito Ortiz def. Stephan Bonnar via split decision (30-27, 28-29, 30-27)
Will Brooks def. Michael Chandler via TKO (punches), Round 4, 3:48
Joe Schilling def. Melvin Manhoef via knockout (punches), Round 2, 0:32
Mike Richman def. Nam Phan via knockout (punches), Round 1, 0:46
Muhammed Lawal def. Joe Vedepo via TKO (punches), Round 3, 0:39
Preliminary Card
Joao Faria def. Ian Butler via submission (arm-triangle choke), Round 3, 1:58
A.J. Matthews def. Kyle Bolt via knockout (punches), Round 1, 1:39
Jonathan Santa Maria def. Ron Henderson via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 30-27)
Andy Murad def. Bubba Pugh via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
Nick Garcia def. Matthew Ramirez via submission (guillotine choke), Round 2, 0:56
Jordan Bailey def. Alex Higley via submission (rear-naked choke), Round 1, 3:27
Rolando Perez vs. Mark Vorgeas ruled split draw (29-27 Vorgeas, 26-30, 28-28)
