Eight bouts have been officially confirmed for the UFC’s return to Japan, with the fight card getting some additional structure behind the scenes.UFC on Fuel 8 will have a heavyweight title fight as the co-main event, with Stefan Struve vs. Mark Hunt l…
Eight bouts have been officially confirmed for the UFC’s return to Japan, with the fight card getting some additional structure behind the scenes.
UFC on Fuel 8 will have a heavyweight title fight as the co-main event, with Stefan Struve vs. Mark Hunt leading into a light heavyweight main event featuring Wanderlei Silva vs. Brian Stann.
According to the UFC, several other fighters are being tagged for the Saitama Super Arena event in March. As it stands, here’s how the card looks so far.
UFC on Fuel 8 Main Card
• Wanderlei Silva vs. Brian Stann • Stefan Struve vs. Mark Hunt • Takanori Gomi vs. Diego Sanchez • Dong Hyun Kim vs. Siyar Bahadurzada
UFC on Fuel 8 Planned Bouts
• Riki Fukuda vs. Brad Tavares • Takeya Mizugaki vs. Bryan Caraway • Hyun Gyu Lim vs. Marcelo Guimaraes • Kyung Ho Kang vs. Alex “Bruce Leeroy” Caceres
Both Struve and Hunt will be putting impressive winning streaks on the line in Japan.
Struve has gone 4-0 since a May 2011 loss to Travis Browne, defeating Stipe Miocic, Lavar Johnson, Dave Herman and Pat Barry.
Hunt is currently 3-0 since a loss to ex-UFC fighter Sean McCorkle, having beaten Cheick Kongo, Ben Rothwell and Chris Tuchscherer. Between Struve and Hunt, six of the seven victories during both of their recent win streaks combined have ended by knockout or submission.
History will be made in February next year, as the UFC has officially confirmed their main event and co-main event for UFC 157 in Anaheim.Despite rumors that former No. 1 light heavyweight title contender Dan Henderson’s knee injury could oust him from…
History will be made in February next year, as the UFC has officially confirmed their main event and co-main event for UFC 157 in Anaheim.
Despite rumors that former No. 1 light heavyweight title contender Dan Henderson‘s knee injury could oust him from the card, the UFC has confirmed via Twitter that he will indeed be facing former champion Lyoto Machida in UFC 157’s co-main event. Tickets will be on sale starting on Dec. 21.
So far, this is the current lineup of confirmed fights for the UFC’s return to Anaheim’s Honda Center on Feb. 23:
• Women’s Bantamweight Title: Ronda Rousey (Champion) vs. Liz Carmouche • Light Heavyweight Title Eliminator: Dan Henderson vs. Lyoto Machida • Men’s Bantamweight Bout: Urijah Faber vs. Ivan Menjivar
Notably, this will be Henderson’s first time not headlining a card since UFC 100 in July 2009.
Previously, Henderson has been featured as the main event for his last five fights, including UFC 139 and four separate Strikeforce events, which included a stint as the promotion’s light heavyweight champion.
Concordantly, this will be Rousey’s third time as the main event star, following her two previous appearances in Strikeforce where she won and defended the women’s bantamweight championship.
This will be a bit of a test for the UFC, as the Honda Center previously drew record-low attendance for their last event at the first UFC on FOX card.
As outlined before, UFC heavyweight title fights have been the biggest draws for that venue.
Additionally, the card is planned to feature Brendan Schaub vs. Lavar Johnson, in a heavyweight match that was pulled from UFC on FOX 5 due to an injury suffered by Johnson. Ultimate Fighter Season 11 winner Court McGee will also drop to welterweight to face Josh Neer, as reported earlier today.
This coming Saturday, one of the most painfully lackluster seasons of The Ultimate Fighter will finally, finally come to a close.Heavyweight fighters Roy Nelson and Shane Carwin share plenty of the blame for being dim personalities in a reality sh…
This coming Saturday, one of the most painfully lackluster seasons of The Ultimate Fighter will finally, finally come to a close.
Heavyweight fighters Roy Nelson and Shane Carwin share plenty of the blame for being dim personalities in a reality show that’s almost solely driven by rivalries and reality television antics, but FX and the UFC are equally to blame for sticking it in a Friday-night death slot.
Now, things may finally turn around.
UFC light heavyweight kingpin Jon Jones (already one of MMA‘s most divisive personalities) will face off against master trash-talker Chael Sonnen for TUF 17 on Tuesday nights next month, in a season that aims to save the ailing TV show. But what happens after they’re done?
Unfortunately, the UFC rarely seems to plan ahead for worst-case scenarios—what if TUF 17 isn’t the roaring success they expect?
Instead of slapping a Band-Aid on the situation, the promotion needs to maintain big names for future TUF seasons on FX. Here’s 10 more fighters that fit the bill.
Bellator Fighting Championships is kicking off their first SPIKE fight card with two title fights, featuring some of their most recognizable talents.MMA Weekly reports that Bellator officials have ironed out the details for their first event of their e…
Bellator Fighting Championships is kicking off their first SPIKE fight card with two title fights, featuring some of their most recognizable talents.
MMA Weekly reports that Bellator officials have ironed out the details for their first event of their eighth season, which is getting a shift in schedule.
Instead of Jan. 10 as previously reported, Bellator 85 will take place on Thursday, Jan. 17.
Highlights on the card include two championship bouts, with the promotion’s featherweight champion opening the broadcast in his first title defense. Here’s the confirmed matches for the event so far:
• Lightweight Title: Michael Chandler (Champion) vs. Rick Hawn • Renato “Babalu” Sobral vs. Mikhail Zayats • Featherweight Title: Pat Curran (Champion) vs. Patricio “Pitbull”
Moreover, Thursdays will be the new standard night for Bellator‘s SPIKE broadcasts. Now that Bellator is moving to SPIKE, the promotion is distancing itself from Friday nights, which have proven to be a poor timeslot for ratings.
Additionally, Bellator also hopes to draw in viewers with TNA Impact Wrestling as their lead-in show. TNA Impact Wrestling airs from 8-10 p.m. ET, with Bellator picking up right afterwards to complete a four-hour programming block.
Bellator‘s previously run all of their other seasons on MTV2 and Bellator.com due to a contract obligation with the UFC that prevented SPIKE from airing other mixed martial arts content.
Using pro wrestling as a lead-in to MMA programming is similar to a successful tactic that The Ultimate Fighter used when it followed WWE RAW back in 2005.
Ratings are always a tricky business, but it seems like the UFC might have finally figured out a few key methods for their Fox events.MMA Junkie reports that UFC on FOX 5 drew an average of 4.4 million viewers during its broadcast, which is a notable j…
Ratings are always a tricky business, but it seems like the UFC might have finally figured out a few key methods for their Fox events.
MMA Junkie reports that UFC on FOX 5 drew an average of 4.4 million viewers during its broadcast, which is a notable jump from the two previous UFC on FOX cards that aired this year.
Overall, it’s the third-most successful out of the five so far, with the current record-holder still being the UFC’s inaugural FOX event that featured a single title fight between then-heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos.
With that in mind, here’s a look at the average viewership for all five events so far:
• UFC on FOX 1 (Velasquez vs. dos Santos): 5.7 million • UFC on FOX 2 (Evans vs. Davis): 4.7 million • UFC on FOX 3 (Diaz vs. Miller): 2.4 million • UFC on FOX 4 (Rua vs. Vera): 2.4 million • UFC on FOX 5 (Henderson vs. Diaz): 4.4 million
Notably, this past Saturday’s card was the first one to host a title fight since UFC on FOX 1, which likely helped boost its relevancy to television viewers. Overall, the UFC placed third in primetime ratings for the 18-34 male demographic, behind “The Simpsons” and Sunday night’s NFL game.
It also didn’t hurt that combat sports was the general theme of that weekend, with the UFC card preceding HBO’s highly-anticipated boxing match between Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez.
It’s not the first time that the UFC has played the lead-in to a Pacquiao bout, as UFC on FOX 1 did the same thing before Pacquiao and Marquez’s third fight on November 11th last year.
UFC Lightweight Champion Ben Henderson successfully defended his title against Nate Diaz en route to a one-sided unanimous decision victory on Saturday, marking his second successful title defense.
Other main card action saw Swedish contenter Alexander Gustafsson defeat former light heavyweight champion Mauricio Rua, while surging Canadian fighter Rory MacDonald effectively retired former two-division UFC champion BJ Penn.
Although it was unexpectedly dominant, UFC lightweight champ Ben Henderson ran a clinic on the tough Nate Diaz, flawlessly implementing his skills on the Stocktonian in a five-round title fight during UFC on Fox 5.Aside from crisp striking, solid wrest…
Although it was unexpectedly dominant, UFC lightweight champ Ben Henderson ran a clinic on the tough Nate Diaz, flawlessly implementing his skills on the Stocktonian in a five-round title fight during UFC on Fox 5.
Aside from crisp striking, solid wrestling and elite grappling defense, “Bendo” also pulled out an interesting new trick during the bout.
Diaz‘s lead leg quickly became a target for Henderson’s massive kicks, followed up by surprisingly effective jabs to the thigh. Over the course of the fight, the damage on Diaz‘s leg built up tremendously, hampering his movement and even flooring him.
Fuel TV hosted an interview with Bendo in the aftermath to ask him about that specific technique. As it turns out, the champion learned it from an unlikely source:
No, I actually planned it. I got to shout out Alex Caceres for that one. He came up to the MMA Lab for his last fight training camp—he won in Macau and looked great. But his last training camp, he did six weeks at my gym, the MMA Lab in Glendale, Arizona.
He did it to me and it actually hurt. He’s a [135] pounder. He weighs 150 pounds soaking wet. He did it to me and it hurt me. I was like, “Huh, that stung a little bit. I want to see if I can steal that.”
Alex “Bruce Leeroy” Caceres, a young fighter in the UFC and former Ultimate Fighter competitor for Team Georges St-Pierre, is widely known for an extremely unorthodox striking arsenal. Originally a lightweight during TUF, Careres now competes at bantamweight with a 3-1 record in the division.
As Henderson tells it, that knee/thigh punch tactic was extremely effective in training, even damaging his training partners in preparations for his title defense against Diaz at UFC on Fox 5. Henderson trains with notable fighters like journeyman Joe Riggs and veteran Jamie Varner.
Henderson battered Nate Diaz in a heavily one-sided decision victory on Saturday, remaining undefeated in the UFC with a 6-0 record.
Ever since coming into the promotion, Henderson has also defeated several top-ranked UFC fighters including Jim Miller, Clay Guida and Frankie Edgar (twice).
During the last five years, Henderson has only tasted defeat once at the hands of Anthony Pettis, the last World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) Lightweight Champion. Although a UFC debut loss to Clay Guida disrupted a planned title shot, Pettis has since rebounded with back-to-back wins over Jeremy Stephens and Joe Lauzon.
Eight bouts have been officially confirmed for the UFC’s return to Japan, with the fight card getting some additional structure behind the scenes.