Author: McKinley Noble

UFC Announces Return to Japan in March 2013, Plans Indonesia Event

It seems the UFC’s tour of Asia will be swinging around to Japan in just a handful of months.MMA Fighting reports from the UFC on Fuel 6 post-fight press conference that the promotion is holding another event at the Saitama Super Arena on March 3r…

It seems the UFC’s tour of Asia will be swinging around to Japan in just a handful of months.

MMA Fighting reports from the UFC on Fuel 6 post-fight press conference that the promotion is holding another event at the Saitama Super Arena on March 3rd, 2013. According to UFC Asia managing director Marc Fischer, the card will take place on Sunday morning, much like UFC 144.

That indicates that the event will be a UFC pay-per-view event, although Fischer didn’t confirm whether it would be a PPV, Fuel TV, FX or Fox broadcast.

In addition to the upcoming UFC card in Japan, the company will also be heading out to Indonesia for a future event at an undetermined time and date.

Returning to Japan for the first time since 2000 (at UFC 29: Defense of the Belts) proved to be a good gamble for Zuffa last February.

Not only did the event fill the Saitama Super Arena with a decent crowd of 20,000, but the PPV pulled a solid 375,000 buys.

No names have been highlighted for either the Japan or Indonesia events.

As an advance measure to get things running in Indonesia, the UFC has reportedly signed a deal with MNC (Media Nusantara Citra) Media, a regional media company with businesses in television broadcasting, radio, digital media, travel and online shopping. MMA Fighting notes that MNC is “the largest such network in Indonesia” with a 40 percent share of the local market.

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UFC on Fuel 6 Results: Cung Le, Silva, Gomi, Danzig Win $40K Bonuses

Cung Le was the big winner at UFC: Macau, pocketing an extra $40,000 for his main event victory over former middleweight champion Rich Franklin.It was one of only two finishes on the nine-fight card, as Le caught Franklin flush on the jaw with a powerf…

Cung Le was the big winner at UFC: Macau, pocketing an extra $40,000 for his main event victory over former middleweight champion Rich Franklin.

It was one of only two finishes on the nine-fight card, as Le caught Franklin flush on the jaw with a powerful right hook. Franklin promptly went out on his feet, crashing to the mat in devastating fashion in his return to the 195-pound division.

MMA Junkie reports from the UFC post-fight press conference that Thiago Silva, Takanori Gomi and Mac Danzig will also go home with extra bonus money, rounding out the rest of the awards:

  • KO of the Night—Cung Le
  • Submission of the Night—Thiago Silva
  • Fight of the Night—Takanori Gomi & Mac Danzig

Thiago Silva staved off a tight grappling-heavy offense from formerly undefeated Stanislav Nedkov, stopping the Bulgarian in round three with an arm triangle on the mat.

Japanese MMA legend Gomi gritted his way to a split decision win over Danzig, fighting off takedowns and slugging it out on the feet to heavy applause from the crowd. Both men will take home a combined $80,000 for their trouble, with Gomi getting his first two-fight winning streak since 2009.

With six decisions between the prelims and main card, the battle for “Fight of the Night” was a close race between Gomi vs. Danzig, John Lineker vs. Yasuhiro Urushitani and Jon Tuck vs. Tiequan Zhang—the only Chinese fighter on the UFC roster.

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UFC on Fuel 6 Results: 14 Memorable Moments from Franklin vs. Le

UFC on Fuel TV 6 had plenty of dull spots, but it was punctuated by several memorable scenes from the promotion’s first event in the People’s Republic of China.Not bad for a card with only two finishes in the entire night.But which moments were the bes…

UFC on Fuel TV 6 had plenty of dull spots, but it was punctuated by several memorable scenes from the promotion’s first event in the People’s Republic of China.

Not bad for a card with only two finishes in the entire night.

But which moments were the best of the UFC on Fuel TV broadcast? And most importantly, were any of them actually worth getting up for at 4:30 or 7:30 in the morning?

Yes. Even with the #RudeAwakening, these were the 14 best moments of the night.

Er, morning.

Wait, what time is it right now? Never mind, I’m probably just going back to bed as soon as this slideshow is over.

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UFC on Fuel 6: Is Paulo Thiago Anything More Than a Gatekeeper?

It’s the final countdown for Paulo Thiago.At this very moment, he’s rehydrating and resting in preparation for UFC on Fuel 6. He’s also staring squarely down the barrel of a 1-3 record from his last four fights, with each one of those losses coming at …

It’s the final countdown for Paulo Thiago.

At this very moment, he’s rehydrating and resting in preparation for UFC on Fuel 6. He’s also staring squarely down the barrel of a 1-3 record from his last four fights, with each one of those losses coming at the hands of the welterweight division’s elite.

In fact, that’s been the common thread between all the men who have beaten Thiago so far.

Martin Kampmann is sitting at the front of the 170-pound UFC title hunt. Diego Sanchez is riding an exciting 2-1 stretch with three “Fight of the Night” awards—one of them being a competitive loss against Jake Ellenberger.

Even Siyar Bahadurzada made a stellar UFC debut off Thiago, extending a seven-fight winning streak with a first-round knockout victory.

Are we seeing a pattern here?

Is Thiago’s opposition really that good, or is the Brazilian special forces officer just a stepping stone for the top of the division?

Maybe it’s both. Then again, the men who lost to him are no slouches, either.

Mike Swick and Jacob Volkmann have both revived their careers since being defeated by Thiago, while Josh Koscheck continues to sit at the division’s peak. Only David Mitchell is the odd man out on an 0-2 slide, and he’s not competing this weekend due to a medically unfit opponent.

But that much evidence alone, thankfully, answers the question for us right now.

For any UFC gatekeeper, the people they beat in the Octagon typically scrub out of the promotion in a matter of years or eek out a living at the bottom of their division. We haven’t seen that pattern from Thiago’s opponents, and despite his own losses, the strength of competition he’s facing is a solid notch above what many other UFC welterweights have dealt with recently.

Thiago is definitely more than a simple gatekeeper, recent losses regardless. Even if he loses to Dong Hyun Kim, the welterweight division is too complex and too full of brilliant fighters to peg the Brazilian with that label just yet.

[McKinley Noble is an MMA conspiracy theorist and FightFans Radio writer. His work has appeared in GamePro, Macworld and PC World. Talk with him on Twitter.]

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UFC on Fuel 6: Questions We Have About Alex Caceres

Ever since he first appeared on The Ultimate Fighter: Team GSP vs. Team Koscheck, Alex Caceres has drawn more attention than the usual MMA fighter.Part of that is his afro and perpetual grin, two rarities among a legion of bald-headed, bearded, tattooe…

Ever since he first appeared on The Ultimate Fighter: Team GSP vs. Team Koscheck, Alex Caceres has drawn more attention than the usual MMA fighter.

Part of that is his afro and perpetual grin, two rarities among a legion of bald-headed, bearded, tattooed mean muggers.

Another part of that is his adopted “Bruce Leroy” persona—taken from the cult classic 1985 film The Last Dragon—complete with the trademark Bruce Lee-style yellow jumpsuit from Game of Death.

But Caceres‘ disappointing 7-5 UFC record has us asking a few questions, most of which will hopefully be answered this weekend at UFC on Fuel 6 in Macau, China.

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Strikeforce Announces Cormier, Melendez, Marquardt, Rockhold for January Card

Strikeforce is throwing three title fights and a heavyweight clash into the main card of their first 2013 show, which takes place on January 12 at the Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City.MMA Junkie broke the news today, revealing that the event wi…

Strikeforce is throwing three title fights and a heavyweight clash into the main card of their first 2013 show, which takes place on January 12 at the Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City.

MMA Junkie broke the news today, revealing that the event will feature four of the biggest stars in the promotion. Earlier this morning, Nate Marquardt‘s first middleweight title defense against Tarec Saffiedine was leaked as one part of the main card.

With Strikeforce’s announcement, here’s how the lineup looks so far:

  • Daniel Cormier vs. Dion Staring (Heavyweight bout)
  • Luke Rockhold vs. Lorenz Larkin (Middleweight Championship)
  • Nate Marquardt vs. Tarec Saffiedine (Welterweight Championship)
  • Gilbert Melendez vs. Pat Healy (Lightweight Championship)

Most surprising is the reveal of Cormier‘s next opponent, Dion Staring—a relatively unknown Dutch heavyweight who trains with UFC title contender and former Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion Alistair Overeem.

Staring is currently on a 9-1 run in his last 10 fights, with the majority of them taking place in the Netherlands. His most notable career opponents have been current UFC light heavyweight Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, Bellator veteran Damian Grabowski and international kickboxing champion Peter Graham.

Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker previously teased that women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey would also be featured on the card, but the No. 1 pound-for-pound female MMA fighter was not part of today’s announcement.

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