Author: McKinley Noble

TUF 17, Ep. 10 Recap: Team Jones, Team Sonnen Each Score Wins Via Vicious KOs

Although the main attraction in the quarterfinals is arguably Uriah Hall and his next match against Bubba McDaniel, Tuesday’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter was no disappointment.In fact, had it not been for Hall’s amazing spinning-kick victory&n…

Although the main attraction in the quarterfinals is arguably Uriah Hall and his next match against Bubba McDaniel, Tuesday’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter was no disappointment.

In fact, had it not been for Hall’s amazing spinning-kick victory during Episode 3 that sent Adam Cella straight to the hospital, Kelvin Gastelum and Dylan Andrews would be the most likely candidates for the “Knockout of the Season” award.

(Read the full episode recap here for all the details.)

Regardless, both Gastelum and Andrews made huge statements in victory, and both men move on to the semifinals in dominant fashion.

• Kelvin Gastelum has now submitted a supposedly superior wrestler in Bubba McDaniel and scored a KO win against the hardy Collin Hart. Maybe being the nicest guy on the show didn’t help him become a star, but he’s suddenly developed into one of the most versatile finishers in this season.

• If you missed it, the finish in the Gastelum vs. Hart fight was truly cringe-worthy. Not only did the younger, less-experienced Team Sonnen prospect win the slugfest, but he punched Hart hard enough to bounce his head off the canvas.

• Gastelum clearly has killer instinct, too. Instead of waiting on referee Steve Mazzagatti to inject himself into the finish after Hart hit the mat, Gastelum went right in for the kill, flipping Hart over with a massive punch before smashing him apart with hammerfists.

• It took longer than a single round for Andrews to put Luke Barnatt down for the count, but he wasn’t any less impressive doing so.The back-and-forth brawl could have ended in a decision win for Andrews, but the judges questionably gave Barnatt credit for his more frequent striking. That contributed to an amazing rally in the third round, as Andrews finally cracked the Englishman’s chin with dozens of monster hooks.

Semifinal Match 1

Kelvin Gastelum (5-0) vs. Dylan Andrews (16-4-1)

Winner moves on to the TUF 17 Finale.

Quarterfinal 3

Josh Samman (9-2) vs. Jimmy Quinlan (3-0)

Quarterfinal 4

Uriah Hall (7-2) vs. “Bubba” McDaniel (20-6)

• Ronda Rousey’s appearance in the TUF gym was short and sweet, and as expected, it was quite a thing to see her effortlessly put so many middleweights and blown-up welterweights on their backs. Her speech about using her opponent’s advantages to drive her to win was pretty good stuff and bodes well for her coaching spot.

• At least the UFC didn’t bother hyping Mike Tyson’s cameo. He was barely on camera for a minute.

• Next week is going to be awesome! Uriah Hall vs. Josh Samman is the fight that many of us want to see, so it’ll be intriguing to see if they both win next week.

• During the teaser for Episode 11, it was revealed that Bubba McDaniel is the fighter who had a nervous breakdown about fighting Uriah Hall. Honestly, you can’t blame the guy. He already lost once, and he barely got past Kevin Casey last week. Needless to say, he’s a total long shot to win.

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The Ultimate Fighter 17, Ep. 10 Live Play-by-Play: Rousey and the Quarterfinals

Season 17 of The Ultimate Fighter continues Tuesday (9 p.m. PT/ET on FX) with the middleweight tournament between Team Jones and Team Sonnen, and we’re officially in the quarterfinals.Now that Bubba McDaniel has earned his way back …

Season 17 of The Ultimate Fighter continues Tuesday (9 p.m. PT/ET on FX) with the middleweight tournament between Team Jones and Team Sonnen, and we’re officially in the quarterfinals.

Now that Bubba McDaniel has earned his way back into the show with an inspired victory over Kevin Casey in Episode 9, we now know the final eight competitors.

Getting into double-header mode with two fights, the first batch of bouts to determine the final four will pit Luke Barnatt vs. Dylan Andrews and Collin Hart vs. Kelvin Gastelum. 

Additionally, UFC women’s champion Ronda Rousey will also be stealing the spotlight for a training session with Team Sonnen.

(Check out the team rosters and the list of quarterfinalists.)

UPDATE: Check out the full episode recap and results right over here, with full impressions and thoughts on the Andrews vs. Barnatt and Gastelum vs. Hart quarterfinals matches.

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UFC Fighter Melvin Guillard Facing Assault Charges in New Mexico, Plus Jail Time

Lightweight contender Melvin Guillard found himself without a training camp on Monday, and now the former Blackzilian may be tagged with a jail sentence to boot.MMA Junkie reports that Guillard is facing two assault charges in New Mexico, bot…

Lightweight contender Melvin Guillard found himself without a training camp on Monday, and now the former Blackzilian may be tagged with a jail sentence to boot.

MMA Junkie reports that Guillard is facing two assault charges in New Mexico, both of which could net him a year’s worth of jail time:

Adding to concerns, Guillard has two outstanding assault charges against him from separate incidents in Albuquerque in 2010, records show.

According to Bernalillo County (N.M.) court records, Guillard currently faces five charges: two misdemeanor counts of aggravated battery, to which he pled not guilty. Three misdemeanor counts of failure to appear in court were settled.

No official statement has been made by the Blackzilians, Greg Jackson’s MMA or Authentic Sports Management regarding Guillard, whose jury trial is currently scheduled for April 10.

However, this sheds some light on the situation regarding Team Jackson-Winkeljohn’s refusal to re-recruit Guillard into its camp, as legal issues surrounding “The Young Assassin” most likely led the New Mexico group’s staff to disown him.

As sources within Greg Jackson’s MMA told MMA Junkie, Guillard‘s announcement “caught them off-guard,” as they quickly had to refute the news.

Whatever personal issues might exist between Guillard and Greg Jackson’s MMA are unknown, although MMA Junkie notes that the team was “unanimous” in barring the former Blackzilian from coming back to the camp:

“He’s not allowed back here,” said the source, who asked for anonymity given the sensitive nature of the talks and the team’s history with the fighter.

Guillard was unreachable for comment, and his last known management firm, Authentic Sports Management, refused to confirm whether he is still a client.

Guillard apparently won’t be going back to the Blackzilians‘ camp in Florida either, as his profile is nowhere to be found on its fighter roster.

Until his court date is settled, he may be unable to compete in the UFC for the time being. That marks another setback on his MMA career, as Guillard is currently suffering a career-low 1-4 losing stretch, dating back to a UFC 136 loss against Joe Lauzon.

Since then, Guillard has dropped fights to strong competition in Jim Miller, former teammate Donald Cerrone and former WEC lightweight champion Jamie Varner. His lone win in the past 20 months came in a unanimous decision at UFC 148 against Brazilian fighter Fabricio Camoes.

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Melvin Guillard Reportedly Not Welcome Back at Greg Jackson’s MMA

Lightweight contender Melvin Guillard is coming off a rough stretch with the Blackzilians in Florida, but he’s itching to return to his former home at Greg Jackson’s MMA.However, it seems that he isn’t wanted back.According to Bleacher Report’s own Dam…

Lightweight contender Melvin Guillard is coming off a rough stretch with the Blackzilians in Florida, but he’s itching to return to his former home at Greg Jackson’s MMA.

However, it seems that he isn’t wanted back.

According to Bleacher Report’s own Damon Martin, sources within Team Jackson-Winkeljohn claim that Guillard is not welcome to rejoin the New Mexico camp, refuting earlier statements made by Guillard on his Twitter account.

Overall, the story turned around in just a day, as summed up in the following tweets:

Sherdog also corroborated the report with “a source close to the situation” stating that Guillard “will not be granted access to train” with the team at Greg Jackson’s MMA.

Moreover, whoever runs the official Twitter profile for the camp is taking the same stance, reposting Sherdog‘s story on their main feed.

Guillard has not since updated his Twitter profile.

Additionally, he may continue to remain silent due to a recent MMA Junkie report regarding his two outstanding assault charges and three misdemeanor charges in New Mexico—not to mention this tidbit regarding his relationship with his old team:

“The Young Assassin” had angered the team in interviews he gave about a move this past year to Florida’s “Blackzilians” team, a source close to the MMA team told MMA Junkie.

“He’s not allowed back here,” said the source, who asked for anonymity given the sensitive nature of the talks and the team’s history with the fighter.

Everything said so far flies in direct conflict with prior statements that Guillard made previously made about his split with the camp.

During a January 2012 interview with MMA Weekly, Guillard stated that his move to the Blackzilians‘ camp in Florida was fueled by a desire to improve his skills and not any personal grudge.

That much appeared to be true even when Guillard faced his friend Cerrone at UFC 150, losing a one-round war that resulted in a “Fight of the Night” bonus for both men along with an extra “Knockout of the Night” bonus for Cerrone.

Although Guillard and Cerrone were very friendly before, during and after their match, that apparently didn’t represent the scope of his relationship with the rest of the Greg Jackson’s MMA team. But at the moment, Guillard currently finds himself without a training camp to call home.


McKinley Noble is an MMA conspiracy theorist and tech writer. His work has appeared in GamePro, Macworld, PC World, 1UP, NVision, The Los Angeles Times, FightFans Radio, MMA Mania and Bleacher Report. Talk with him on Twitter.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Update: World Series of Fighting 2 May Be Cancelled Tomorrow Due to Cage Issues

Update: Thankfully, the cage issue was resolved by the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board just two hours before the first bout.Bloody Elbow has the full details:
WSOF borrowed corner pads from local promotion CFFC to replace their own co…

Update: Thankfully, the cage issue was resolved by the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board just two hours before the first bout.

Bloody Elbow has the full details:

WSOF borrowed corner pads from local promotion CFFC to replace their own corner pads, which were not thick enough to meet safety standards.

They also had to replace their canvas, which was too short to meet approval. They flew in the [canvas] they used for their first event from Las Vegas. That canvas arrived this morning and was put on the cage.

For those looking to watch the live online prelims, you can find the stream at the WSOF official website. Afterward, the main card will start as scheduled at 9:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, broadcasting on NBC Sports.

There may be trouble ahead for the World Series of Fighting, with the company’s upcoming MMA event reportedly in danger of being cancelled just hours before it starts.

According to Brent Brookhouse of Bloody Elbow, the WSOF cage has yet to be cleared for combat use by the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board.

(World Series of Fighting 2 is currently scheduled for Saturday, starting with online prelims at 6 p.m. ET, followed by the main card broadcast on NBC Sports at 9:30 p.m. ET.)

As Brookhouse notes, the current chain of events and tight deadline poses a good chance that World Series of Fighting 2 may simply be shut down:

From what we have been told, the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board had not approved the WSOF cage for the event by late Friday evening. There are issues with both the corner pads and the canvas that are holding things up.

WSOF will apparently be borrowing corner pads from a local promoter and has a canvas being flown in from Las Vegas. The main issue is that if the canvas does not correctly fit the cage floor, it could lead to a situation where the cage will not be cleared which would almost certainly lead to the cancellation of the event.

Update: At the moment, this story is still developing, with conflicting reports being given by multiple sources via Twitter.

Apparently, the World Series of Fighting is sticking to their schedule, saying that the event will start on Saturday with “100 percent” certainty, although Nick Lembo of the NJSACB has confirmed with Bloody Elbow that there are problems with the cage.

 

If the worst comes to pass and the event is cancelled, that could be catastrophic for the WSOF promotion, which debuted with their first card on Nov. 3, 2012, at the Las Vegas Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino.

For starters, that could leave 22 fighters without a promised match, including ex-UFC middleweight-turned-heavyweight Anthony Johnson and former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski—the main event headliners for WSOF2.

Other notable names on the card include former UFC fighters Dave Branch and Josh Burkman, as well as former WEC middleweight champion Paulo Filho.

Moreover, the cancellation of WSOF2 would leave NBC Sports with a huge chunk of empty programming to fill at the last minute, not to mention the stigma of a dropped event causing some backlash.

That also certainly wouldn’t please the channel’s advertisers nor the live crowd that’s already paid for tickets.

Other problems have been noted for WSOF2 in the lead-up to the event, including the official weigh-ins being delayed by several minutes due to the fighters’ paperwork being improperly filed, forcing the promotion to hold up their online stream.

 

McKinley Noble is an MMA conspiracy theorist and tech writer. His work has appeared in GamePro, Macworld, PC World, 1UP, NVision, The Los Angeles Times, FightFans Radio, MMA Mania and Bleacher Report. Talk with him on Twitter.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC Cuts Lavar Johnson from Heavyweight Roster Due to Failed Drug Test

Following a failed drug test and a decisive loss at UFC 157, heavyweight slugger Lavar Johnson is no longer part of the promotion.MMA Junkie confirmed the news on Thursday, speaking with “sources close to Johnson.”This latest release comes on the …

Following a failed drug test and a decisive loss at UFC 157, heavyweight slugger Lavar Johnson is no longer part of the promotion.

MMA Junkie confirmed the news on Thursday, speaking with “sources close to Johnson.”

This latest release comes on the heels of Johnson recently being outed on testosterone levels consistent with steroid use, highlighted by an elevated 6.6-to-1 testosterone-to-epitestosterone (T/E) ratio.

For competition in MMA, the legal limit for a fighter’s T/E ratio can vary by commission.

Johnson’s last drug test followed his UFC 157 bout in Anaheim, California, which ended in a unanimous-decision loss to Brendan Schaub. In California, the maximum legal T/E ratio for combat sports is 4-to-1 (via ESPN).

“Big” Johnson will leave the UFC on a 2-2 record (17-7 MMA overall), with his two wins coming against Pat Barry and Joey Beltran.

Prior to his UFC career, Johnson had also competed in Strikeforce’s heavyweight division, posting a 3-2 record that ended in back-to-back losses.

Ironically, one of Johnson’s last public posts to his official Twitter account had been relief at the UFC’s decision not to cut him for his loss to Schaub, who used conservative wrestling tactics to pin Johnson to the mat.

Johnson’s positive drug test is just one in a recent string of UFC fighters publicly revealed to have tested positive for a variety of banned substances.

On Wednesday, bantamweight Alex Caceres and middleweight Riki Fukuda also tested positive for drugs relating to their UFC on Fuel 8 bouts in Japan, with Caceres expected to attend rehab for marijuana use.

Fukuda was set to be cut from the promotion following his loss to Brad Tavares.

Along with Johnson, Caceres and Fukuda, UFC fighters Matt Riddle, Thiago Tavares, Rousimar Palhares, Thiago Silva, Stephan Bonnar and Jake Shields have also tested positive for a variety of banned substances and performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) in the past year.

 

McKinley Noble is an MMA conspiracy theorist and tech writer. His work has appeared in GamePro, Macworld, PC World, 1UP, NVision, The Los Angeles Times, FightFans Radio, MMA Mania and Bleacher Report. Talk with him on Twitter.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com