Author: McKinley Noble

UFC 158: Live Results, Play-by-Play and Fight Card Highlights

Saturday marks the end of a grueling UFC fight week for welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre and his most intense challenger yet, the infamous Nick Diaz.In the main event of UFC 158, both men will finally meet in the Octagon, free of media tours and…

Saturday marks the end of a grueling UFC fight week for welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre and his most intense challenger yet, the infamous Nick Diaz.

In the main event of UFC 158, both men will finally meet in the Octagon, free of media tours and months of training behind them.

But, although St-Pierre aims to pull off his eighth consecutive title defense and 11th straight UFC victory, this anticipated grudge match may see the champion attempt to become the first MMA fighter to legitimately finish Diaz in over 10 years.

However, UFC 158 isn’t just about the headliners.

Carlos Condit, Johny Hendricks, Jake Ellenberger and Nate Marquardt will also jockey for position in the welterweight title hunt, while 18 other men also compete across five different weight classes.

UFC 158 Main Card

• Georges St-Pierre vs. Nick Diaz
• Carlos Condit vs. Johny Hendricks
• Jake Ellenberger vs. Nate Marquardt
• Chris Camozzi vs. Nick Ring
• Mike Ricci vs. Colin Fletcher

Preliminary Card (FX)

• Patrick Cote vs. Bobby Voelker
• Antonio Carvalho vs. Darren Elkins
• Dan Miller vs. Jordan Mein
• John Makdessi vs. Daron Cruickshank

Preliminary Card (Facebook)

• Rick Story vs. Quinn Mulhern
• T.J. Dillashaw vs. Issei Tamura
• George Roop vs. Reuben Duran

Everything starts Saturday with the Facebook Prelims at 3:35 p.m. PT/6:35 p.m. ET, followed by the UFC 158 Prelims on FX at 5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET. Finally, the UFC 158 main card kicks off at 7 p.m. PT/10 p.m. ET, with the night wrapping up after the post-fight press conference.

(Find out how to order the PPV right here.)

So, stay tuned this weekend as Bleacher Report MMA gives you every fight result, every highlight and all the biggest stories all in one place, from the first bout on the card to the final bell.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC 158: Don’t Be Shocked If GSP Ducks Johny Hendricks for Anderson Silva Fight

Beating Carlos Condit with a decisive win on Saturday will cement Johny Hendricks as the UFC welterweight division’s No. 1 contender—but it doesn’t mean a thing.Hendricks can easily be passed over again.That’s the bad part about being the “No. 1 …

Beating Carlos Condit with a decisive win on Saturday will cement Johny Hendricks as the UFC welterweight division’s No. 1 contender—but it doesn’t mean a thing.

Hendricks can easily be passed over again.

That’s the bad part about being the “No. 1 contender” in the UFC: It’s an imaginary brass ring that only means something if you’re a proven media star or a pay-per-view draw.

Simply put, Hendricks is neither.

Compared to Georges St-Pierre and Nick Diaz, Hendricks isn’t even on the same planet, a fact clearly shown by two press conferences this week completely dominated by the headliners.

When GSP and Diaz were in the room, no one cared about Hendricks.

Moreover, if St-Pierre wins at UFC 158, Anderson Silva could easily be his next bout.

Although MMA Fighting couldn’t get GSP or trainer Firas Zahabi to confirm it, the expected “endgame” plan for the champion’s career might entail beating Diaz, then Hendricks, then challenging Silva in a winner-take-all, “loser retires” mega-match.

But if “Rush” actually commits to the idea of battling “The Spider” in a long-anticipated superfight, Hendricks may as well not even exist.

That’s really all it would take.

It wouldn’t matter if Hendricks broke Condit’s jaw, landed the fastest KO in UFC history or put on a “Fight of the Year” performance in a thrilling decision win.

Despite anything Hendricks does, Anderson Silva will always be the bigger, more lucrative option—and with the dangerous skill set that “Bigg Rigg” possesses, it may actually be smarter for St-Pierre and his team to just skip that match.

After all, which would GSP’s camp be more likely to risk—an upset loss to a randomly strong welterweight, or a defeat to the Greatest Fighter of All Time?

As long there’s an agreeable weight limit, Silva would likely have no qualms about the payday.

Don’t think for a second that Dana White would stick to his word and give Hendricks the next match over Silva, either—especially if there was a guaranteed “1 million sold” pay-per-view superfight at Dallas Cowboys Stadium on the line.

With all of those pieces to play, Hendricks just doesn’t matter.

He’s not going to add more buys to a PPV, and even worse, he let his co-main event get ignored during the most important part of fight week.

Hence, Hendricks has given little reason to say his fight matters.

Maybe that’s unfair to someone who’s put together such an impressive run at 170 pounds.

But at the end of the day, it’s really his own fault. Hendricks doesn’t want to talk trash or physically confront St-Pierre. He’s a morally admirable guy.

Still, that’s also why Diaz got a shot at the UFC welterweight title while the higher ranked, more deserving fighter is fighting his third “No. 1 contender” bout.

 

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 158: Nick Diaz Says GSP on ‘Plenty’ of Steroids, Doubts He’ll Be Drug Tested

It’s not an accusation that you hear often from UFC fighters, but Nick Diaz adamantly claims that welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre is on steroids.But does that carry any weight?During an interview on Thursday with SportsNet 590 “The Fan,” Diaz b…

It’s not an accusation that you hear often from UFC fighters, but Nick Diaz adamantly claims that welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre is on steroids.

But does that carry any weight?

During an interview on Thursday with SportsNet 590 “The Fan,” Diaz boldly insinuated that his UFC 158 opponent was using performance enhancing drugs to gain an edge in his fights, with the hometown advantage of not being properly tested in Canada.

Even hosts Tim Micallef and Sid Seixeiro seemed surprised at the call-out:

Diaz went on to assume that neither he nor St-Pierre would be tested for drugs at all, despite anything that the UFC said to the contrary.

Typically, the UFC conducts its own drug tests when traveling outside the United States, also previous cards in Canada have seen the promotion contract third-party companies for that purpose—but as Diaz told SportsNet, St-Pierre may still have a secret weapon:

Sure, I believe [Georges St-Pierre] is on plenty of steroids and I don’t think they test around here, either. I doubt I’ll be tested, as well.

I don’t care what they’re saying or marketing to the media. I don’t think either of us are going to be tested. And if so, he’s probably got a bottle of piss in his pocket. I doubt they’re standing over him, making sure he’s not on steroids.

While those are certainly bold claims, it’s also not the first time that “Rush” has been accused of doping by a fellow UFC welterweight.

In the lead up to UFC 124, former contender Josh Koscheck also told the MMA media (via MMA Junkie) that GSP was on “steroids and Human Growth Hormone” (HGH), according to “hearsay” from other fighters and other camps.

For St-Pierre’s part, he supported Koscheck’s call for Olympic-level testing, stating that he himself was a natural athlete.

Ironically, Diaz also addressed questions about his own drug use, stating that he wouldn’t offer anything but an apology if he happened to fail his second consecutive test for marijuana metabolites:

Hell no, I’m not guaranteeing anything. Last time I was, I tested positive [for] nanograms [of marijuana]. I’m like two nanograms over.

So, what, I can tell you I did a little better than last time. So, if I don’t pass the test, I’m sorry, but I could probably use another year off for vacation.

Diaz has openly stated during media tours and press conferences that he believes the UFC is invested in him losing, and that he’s “sure” Dana White will be “pissed” at these recent doping accusations.

Both fighters have had an amazing war of words leading up to the fight, but they’ll look to settle their rivalry on Saturday during the main event of UFC 158.

St-Pierre will go into the match with the momentum of a recent win against former interim champion Carlos Condit, capping off a 10-fight winning streak with seven consecutive title defenses and zero positive drug tests.

Unfortunately for Diaz, the Stocktonian recently saw his own victory run come to an abrupt end last year. Not only was his 11-fight unbeaten streak snapped by a controversial decision loss to Condit at UFC 143, but Diaz also wound up benched for a year due to his positive drug test.

 

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

TUF 17, Ep. 8 Results and Recap: The Wild-Card Pick Becomes a Huge Grudge Match

Although it’s been said before, The Ultimate Fighter 17 really has no “gimme” matches.With some incredibly competitive preliminary fights now in the books, Team Sonnen has five competitors moving onto the next bracket, while Team Jones only has th…

Although it’s been said before, The Ultimate Fighter 17 really has no “gimme” matches.

With some incredibly competitive preliminary fights now in the books, Team Sonnen has five competitors moving onto the next bracket, while Team Jones only has three entrants.

However, Dylan Andrews prevented Sonnen’s “bad guys” from having an overwhelming advantage, as he surged back from a near-defeat situation to utterly dominate Zak Cummings in two rounds.

(Read the full episode play-by-play here.)

• Dylan wasn’t the inferior fighter on paper going into this match, but he came damn close to losing. After getting tagged on the feet early by Zak, he basically curled up into a ball while eating elbows to the side of his head. Referee Herb Dean really could’ve stopped it if he wanted to, but it takes two guys to finish. Zak just didn’t pour on enough damage to seal an early win.

• Still, Dylan paid for the lapse in judgement with a nasty head wound. One has to wonder if that cut’s going to come back to haunt him later on in the competition.

• But what was really surprising was the momentum shift. As soon as Zak altered position from side control and accidentally got put on his back, it was all Dylan, who controlled Zak on the mat and laid down just enough ground-and-pound to keep the fight from getting to the feet.

• Even in the second round, it was a little shocking to see Dylan cleanly take Zak off his feet with a big takedown, even eating huge punches in the first few seconds. But with the way the rest of the round turned out—elbows, punches, tight grappling control—that’s about the best argument I’ve seen for a 10-8 round so far. It was surprising to see that the decision score wasn’t unanimous, though. Regardless, here’s how the roster stands with Dylan’s win over Zak.

Team Jones:

1. Clint Hester (7-3)
2. Josh Samman (9-2)
3. Robert “Bubba” McDaniel (20-6) (Wild Card)
4. Gilbert Smith Jr. (5-1)
5. Collin Hart (4-1-1)
6. Adam Cella (4-0)
7. Dylan Andrews (16-4-1)

Team Sonnen:

1. Luke Barnatt (5-0)
2. Uriah Hall (7-2)
3. Zak Cummings (15-3)
4. Tor Troeng (15-4-1)
5. Jimmy Quinlan (3-0)
6. Kevin Casey (5-2) (Wild Card)
7. Kelvin Gastelum (5-0)

(Note: Winners are in bold, losers are scratched off the list and the next competitors’ names are in italics.)

• In this author’s opinion, Bubba McDaniel really didn’t deserve the wild-card pick over Clint Hester. Kelvin Gastelum made Bubba look like he didn’t belong in the same cage, while Hester looked like he just needed an extra week of training on takedown defense.

• Unfortunately for Hester, Bubba and Jon Jones have a teammate relationship at Greg Jackson’s MMA, so it made the pick pretty obvious. Still, it’ll make for a good episode next week because Bubba finally gets the dance date with Kevin Casey that he was whining about two weeks earlier.

• Chael Sonnen is just good at everything, right? Fighting, commentary, self-promotion, bowling, driving construction rigs—he’s like a jack of all trades. Well, except at politics. Oh, and submission defense.

• But all kidding aside, that was probably one of the more interesting coaches’ challenges yet. It’s pretty funny that Jones has trouble driving even when he’s sober. Still, that was much better than the usual sports activities the show pushes, where one coach is unfairly better than the other. Maybe next season, they can do something more out of left field, like speed chess or a dog show.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

The Ultimate Fighter 17, Ep. 8 Live Play-by-Play: Zak Cummings vs. Dylan Andrews

Season 17 of The Ultimate Fighter continues Tuesday (9 p.m. PT/ET on FX) with the middleweight tournament between Team Jon Jones and Team Chael Sonnen, and it’s almost time to start thinking about the wild-card picks.In particular, Team …

Season 17 of The Ultimate Fighter continues Tuesday (9 p.m. PT/ET on FX) with the middleweight tournament between Team Jon Jones and Team Chael Sonnen, and it’s almost time to start thinking about the wild-card picks.

In particular, Team Jones appears to have very strong candidates for a second-chance spot, especially with guys like Clint Hester, Bubba McDaniels and Gilbert Smith Jr. in the mix.

(Check out the full list of competitors and team rosters.)

However, Hester’s loss to Jimmy Quinlan in Episode 7 could be a huge morale dump for Jon Jones and his team, especially since the powerful striker was Jones’ No. 1 pick.

But before the wild-card picks can be set, Dylan Andrews will attempt to get Team Jones back into the win column as he faces off against Zak Cummings.

On paper, the matchup seems pretty even, but the pressure is clearly on Andrews, who was the last competitor to be picked for a team after the qualifying fights to get into the TUF house.

Thankfully for him, there doesn’t seem to be a heavy-style disadvantage, like so many previous bouts.

Tune to FX around 6:00 PT/9:00 ET, as we start our coverage of the show at Bleacher Report MMA with full play-by-play of the Cumming vs. Andrews fight, additional running commentary and a full episode recap shortly after the East Coast broadcast goes off the air.

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UFC Champ Ronda Rousey Blasts Cris Cyborg: ‘She Almost Destroyed Women’s MMA’

Although Ronda Rousey has solidified herself as a UFC champion and a legitimate pay-per-view draw, questions about a superfight with Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos still linger.But while a superfight between the two once seemed within the UFC’s power to orc…

Although Ronda Rousey has solidified herself as a UFC champion and a legitimate pay-per-view draw, questions about a superfight with Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos still linger.

But while a superfight between the two once seemed within the UFC’s power to orchestrate, Cyborg is now a non-issue in her foe’s career.

Most recently, UFC president Dana White summed up Cyborg as “irrelevant” (via MMA Weekly), stressing that his company was done dealing with the Brazilian.

Unsurprisingly, Rousey echoed similar sentiments in an interview with Sportsnet anchor Joe Ferraro during a recent media run. As the champion stated, Cyborg doesn’t deserve special treatment when it’s “obvious” that she can lose some muscle weight:

[Cyborg is] obviously not willing to go through the effort to go for the fight. Here’s what it is. If you’re pumped full of steroids and the lightest you can get is 145, then it’s obvious the lightest you can get without steroids is lighter.

She refuses to do that and it’s just—I really don’t know where this sense of entitlement comes from. She hasn’t had a recorded win in over three years. I mean, there’s so many other women. Look at Sara McMann. She’s undefeated, a silver [Olympics] medalist wrestler…people like that are the people we should be looking forward to fighting.

Cyborg’s weight issues and positive test for anabolic steroids in January 2012 have been consistent talking points for Rousey during the last couple of years. With the UFC just recently adopting a 135-pound women’s division, the scrutiny has only increased.

As the champion has noted, Cyborg’s supposed inability to drop weight hints at years of doping, with Rousey telling Inside MMA that Cyborg was “cheating for her entire career.”

Hence, the UFC’s first women’s champion would only accept a superfight with Cyborg at the 135-pound bantamweight limit, with the UFC even preparing to enlist famed MMA nutritionist Mike Dolce to help the Brazilian shed her extra body weight.

But with no catchweight bout in sight and no women’s featherweight division to accommodate Cyborg, she instead left the UFC under the advice of her new coach, retired UFC champion Tito Ortiz. However, Rousey states that Cyborg was owed nothing and deserved less:

We’re not going to make exceptions and create divisions for someone who was a fraud and defamed the sport. [Cyborg] almost destroyed women’s MMA. I mean, think about it. The entire sport stagnated under her and she cared more about having an unfair advantage and winning fights than she cared about the sport itself and it suffered under her.

We don’t owe her anything. If she wants the only title that matters, she needs to go in the only division that the UFC has. We’re not making exceptions for cheaters. She was exposed as a fraud. She needs to be the one to make the changes to clear her name.

Rousey additionally put down the idea of a catchweight bout, stating that Cyborg had commonly gone into fights extremely overweight in the past.

As it stands, the former Strikeforce women’s champions likely won’t be facing each other any time in the near future.

Not only has UFC president Dana White dismissed the idea of Cyborg fighting for Rousey‘s title at 140 pounds (via MMA Junkie), but Cyborg also left the UFC on the advice of Ortiz while signing a multi-fight deal with Invicta FC.

Meanwhile, Rousey‘s own career will move forward—and her next No. 1 contender will likely be the winner of Miesha Tate vs. Cat Zingano. That match is expected to take place as the co-main event of The Ultimate Fighter 17 Finale on Apr. 13 at Las Vegas’ Mandalay Bay Events Center.

 

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