Can Cody McKenzie submit Leonard Garcia with his trademark guillotine?That’s a question that’ll be answered at UFC 155, as both fighters will head to the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas for a featherweight matchup on December 29…
Can Cody McKenzie submit Leonard Garcia with his trademark guillotine?
That’s a question that’ll be answered at UFC 155, as both fighters will head to the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas for a featherweight matchup on December 29.
Recently confirmed on the official UFC Twitter feed, it’s unclear where on the schedule this bout will fall, as both the main and preliminary cards still have potential vacant slots for reported but unconfirmed fights.
Here’s where everything currently stands for the UFC’s final 2012 event:
McKenzie comes into the fight with a 2-3 record in his UFC career, riding three losses in his past four fights. Formerly a competitor at lightweight, McKenzie’s debut in the featherweight division ended quickly with a 31-second knockout loss to Chad Mendes.
Garcia is on a losing streak of his own, dropping three straight fights with a 1-3 UFC record after joining the promotion from the WEC merger. However, the Greg Jackson-trained fighter has notably racked up six post-fight bonuses since 2007 in the UFC and WEC—five “Fight of the Night” awards (two of them against Nam Phan) and a single “Knockout of the Night” award.
SPIKE will start their 2013 debut of Bellator with a main card bout featuring some of the promotion’s most popular welterweight fighters.As announced on Friday, Bellator will be hosting a “Vote For The Fight” campaign. Once the web series begins, it wi…
SPIKE will start their 2013 debut of Bellator with a main card bout featuring some of the promotion’s most popular welterweight fighters.
As announced on Friday, Bellator will be hosting a “Vote For The Fight” campaign. Once the web series begins, it will follow the training camps of Paul Daley, Ben Saunders, Douglas Lima and Jon “War Machine” Koppenhaver.
Depending on fan votes, two of those four fighters will have the distinction of being part of the first Bellator fight broadcast on SPIKE in 2013.
UFC and Strikeforce veteran Daley (30-12-2) made his debut with the company at Bellator 72, defeating his opponent by technical knockout in the first round. Since being cut from the UFC after attempting to hit Josh Koscheck after the end of their UFC 113 title eliminator, Daley has gone 7-3 in his last 11 fights.
Saunders, another UFC veteran, is currently 5-2 in Bellator with an overall 14-5-2 record. Like Daley, he also got back into the win column at Bellator 72 with a first-round knockout win over Brian Warren, who entered the match on a five-fight winning streak.
Lima recently won Bellator’s Season 5 Welterweight Tournament, but had a nine-fight winning streak snapped by champion Ben Askren. Lima rebounded this weekend at Bellator 79 by notching a third-round TKO victory, improving his professional MMA record to 22-5.
War Machine carries a 12-4 record, with his most recent win coming against Roger Huerta in November 2011. War Machine has previously competed twice in the UFC, where he ended a 1-1 stint with a first-round submission loss to Yoshiyuki Yoshida.
War Machine was later cut from the UFC not long after making public comments about former UFC middleweight champion Evan Tanner, who died in 2008 due to heat exposure during a camping trip in the desert region west of Palo Verde, California.
War Machine maintained to MMA Junkie that he suspected Tanner committed suicide, claiming that a “depressed” Tanner “never made [expletive] for money” and had “no chance for a comeback” after losing to Ultimate Fighter Season 3 winner Kendall Grove.
However, War Machine additionally drew the ire of UFC matchmaker Joe Silva after turning down a fight, which prematurely ended his 10-fight contract with the promotion:
“Joe Silva — he was pretty much on a power trip,” War Machine said. “He was like, ‘I already told you that I already have [Brandon Wolff] for War Machine. I don’t know who he is thinking he’s negotiating with me. You know what? I’m sick of this guy.’ Then he brought up the Evan Tanner thing. ‘He made a dumbass comment on Evan Tanner. He’s not supporting the UFC. You know what? War Machine is cut.’ And they cut me.”
After multiple arrests in Las Vegas and at least two accounts of alleged assault with a deadly weapon, War Machine was eventually imprisoned in the San Diego’s George Bailey Detention Facility for two years. He was released from jail on October 29, 2012.
Alex “Bruce Leeroy” Caceres has a last-minute replacement opponent for the UFC’s China debut.MMA Junkie reports that Japanese fighter Motonobu Tezuka will be replacing Caceres’ original opponent, Kyung Ho Kang, in a bantamweight fight sc…
Alex “Bruce Leeroy” Caceres has a last-minute replacement opponent for the UFC’s China debut.
MMA Junkie reports that Japanese fighter MotonobuTezuka will be replacing Caceres‘ original opponent, Kyung Ho Kang, in a bantamweight fight scheduled for the main card of UFC on Fuel TV 6. Tezkua steps into the bout on just one week’s notice with a three-fight winning streak behind him.
Tezuka also carries a heavy experience advantage, boasting a 19-4-4 record over seven years, including fights in Pancrase and DEEP events.
With the update, the current main-card lineup for UFC on Fuel TV: Franklin vs. Le once again features six fights that will take place at The Venetian Macao Resort Hotel in Macau, China on Nov.10th:
Rich Franklin vs. Cung Le
StanislavNedkov vs. Thiago Silva
Dong Hyum Kim vs. Paulo Thiago
Mac Danzig vs. TakanoriGomi
Alex Caceres vs. MotonobuTezuka*
Jon Tuck vs. TiequanZhang
Tezuka is 11-1 in his last 12 fights, while Caceres has managed a 7-5 record in his entire professional MMA career.
However, most of Tezuka‘s wins came at the hands of lower-ranked Japanese fighters, while Caceres has gone from lightweight to featherweight to bantamweight in fights against UFC-level opponents such as Jimmy Hettes, Cole Escovedo and Edwin Figueroa.
This time, it’s official.Vitor Belfort had been rumored for an upcoming Brazil headliner with Michael Bisping, but both fighters claimed they didn’t know anything about the match.Now, the UFC’s Brazilian website has confirmed the fight is happenin…
This time, it’s official.
VitorBelfort had been rumored for an upcoming Brazil headliner with Michael Bisping, but both fighters claimed they didn’t know anything about the match.
Now, the UFC’s Brazilian website has confirmed the fight is happening (h/t MMA Mania), and it will top a January 19th event featuring the following fight card:
Main Card
VitorBelfort vs. Michael Bisping
C.B. Dollaway vs. Daniel Sarafian
Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Ben Rothwell
KhabibNurmagomedov vs. ThiagoTavares
Preliminary Card
Godofredo Castro vs. Milton Vieira
Andrew Craig vs. Ronny Markes
NikLentz vs. Diego Nunes
EdsonBarboza vs. Justin Salas
Michael Kuiper vs. ThiagoPerpetuo
Yuri Alcantara vs. George Roop
Roger Hollett vs. Wagner Prado
Francisco Trinaldo vs. C.J. Keith
No location or venue has been given yet, although the main event is likely expected to be a title-eliminator situation for Bisping. That same statement can’t readily be said for Belfort, who lost a title fight to middleweight champion Anderson Silva by knockout just last year at UFC 126.
Daniel Sarafian, a finalist for The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil, also returns in a co-main event fight against C.B. Dolloway. Sarafian was previously unable to complete this season due to a torn elbow ligament suffered during training.
Most of the bouts on the card currently have verbal agreements, so not every one is official just yet. Changes to the main card may be likely, as the UFC’s previous three events in Brazil (UFC 134, UFC 142, UFC 147) have featured five main-event fights.
Nick Diaz could be back in the Octagon in early 2013, says trainer Cesar Gracie—even if their lawsuit against the Nevada State Athletic Commission goes south.Diaz has been sidelined for nine months so far since testing positive for marijuana meta…
Nick Diaz could be back in the Octagon in early 2013, says trainer Cesar Gracie—even if their lawsuit against the Nevada State Athletic Commission goes south.
Diaz has been sidelined for nine months so far since testing positive for marijuana metabolites after his UFC 143 main event bout against current (interim) UFC welterweight champion Carlos Condit. Since then, the Gracie Jiu-Jitsu camp has been locked in a lawsuit against the NSAC over the legality of Diaz‘s year-long suspension.
But even if nothing good comes out of the lawsuit, Gracie tells Fight Hub TV that Diaz will still be ready to fight as soon as he’s allowed to do so:
It all depends on the courts right now. [Diaz] could come back fairly soon, hopefully. But worst case scenario, we’re looking at first quarter of 2013. [Diaz] is ready to fight. I think everyone knows who he wants to fight; it’s GSP. If something happens, Nick would jump right in.
Gracie also re-addressed a statement made by NSAC executive director Keith Kizer, who previously claimed to BoxingScene.com that Diaz drank 24 bottles of water in order to cleanse his system prior to his drug test. Diaz‘s trainer said he saw no such thing while he was there, describing at length why he found the notion ridiculous:
Even if he did drink 24 bottles of water—100 bottles, I don’t know—what’s your point? It’s not going to dilute your urine like that, because you’re going to pee and it’s going to be the same dilution [rate]. If you pee 10 times, sure, it’s going to be diluted, but—I don’t know. [Kizer] is just looking for reasons to pick on Nick. He doesn’t like anyone to go against him or challenge him, and that’s what it is.
Barring a victory in court or an extended break, Diaz won’t be able to reapply for a fighter’s license until February 3rd, 2013.
Most recently, Gracie has been angling for Diaz to get a fight against welterweight Josh Koscheck for the UFC’s anticipated Super Bowl Weekend card. Since that would place the UFC’s event on February 2nd, it’s unlikely that Diaz will be a participant.
For several years, Stephan Bonnar has been striving to be known as more than “the guy who lost to Forrest Griffin” on the first season of The Ultimate Fighter.Unfortunately, he may now be remembered as nothing more than a cheater.As MMA Junkie con…
For several years, Stephan Bonnar has been striving to be known as more than “the guy who lost to Forrest Griffin” on the first season of The Ultimate Fighter.
Unfortunately, he may now be remembered as nothing more than a cheater.
As MMA Junkie confirmed today, Bonnar failed his drug test for UFC 153, where he fought Anderson Silva in a light heavyweight to save the Rio de Janeiro card.
That’s twice that Bonnar has tested positive for anabolic steroids, this time getting tagged for use of Drostanolone—a substance used for bodybuilding and artificially cutting cholesterol levels.
When it happened the first time after a unanimous decision loss to Griffin at UFC 62, Bonnar made no argument, apologizing and serving his nine-month suspension without complaint. Over time, he built up good will by (supposedly) staying clean and settling into his position as high-level gatekeeper.
But this time, the timing is far worse.
Bonnar was on the verge of walking away from the Octagon with the glory of being the UFC’s ultimate loyal employee, willing to put his last effort into a fight where he was a historical underdog. It wasn’t smart, but it was recognized as a selfless act from a man with nothing to lose.
As it turns out, Bonnar can still lose his hard-earned reputation.
Not only does this throw a dark cloud over Bonnar’s last fight, but this second positive drug test also throws many of Bonnar’s previous wins into question. What really fueled Bonnar’s bottomless cardio and iron chin?
Did he really beat Kyle Kingsbury, Igor Pokrajac and Krzysztof Soszynski on his own steam?
Or, is it more likely that Bonnar had a little help from banned substances in all those bouts?
Either way, it obviously didn’t help him against Silva. Bonnar was effectively outclassed by the world’s greatest MMA fighter, who has ironically fought two men in a row that have failed drug tests.
(Chael Sonnen was suspended after UFC 117 when his urine sample showed an illegally high testosterone/epitestosterone ratio of 16.9:1—the average male ratio is 1:1.)
That’s a pretty damning outcome for Bonnar, who simply wants to be remembered for something more than being a perennial Hall of Fame loser. As a fan of the original TUF 1 Finale, it’s suddenly hard to look at him any other way.
[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.]
Can Cody McKenzie submit Leonard Garcia with his trademark guillotine?