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UFC 136 Results: Frankie Edgar, Joe Lauzon and the Lightweight Division

UFC 136 was a big event in terms of the future of the lightweight division.It was finally going to establish the No. 1 lightweight in the world, unless you’re one of those foolish enough to believe that it’s Gilbert Melendez. It was also going to estab…

UFC 136 was a big event in terms of the future of the lightweight division.

It was finally going to establish the No. 1 lightweight in the world, unless you’re one of those foolish enough to believe that it’s Gilbert Melendez. It was also going to establish another top contender in Melvin Guillard after he easily disposed of Joe Lauzon.

Well, at least one of those things happened.

Frankie Edgar is now the clear man to beat in the lightweight division. He showed a ton of heart surviving yet another brutal first-round beating at the hands of Gray Maynard, going on to win the fight with a fourth-round knockout.

Perhaps what makes Edgar so compelling is that he is an everyman, someone not spectacularly physically gifted or untouchable. Essentially, he’s our Rocky Balboa.

He is beatable, or so it seems.

He didn’t display the dominance of a Jon Jones in his title defense, but he certainly won himself more fans. Edgar is even small for the weight class. He hardly cuts any weight and defeats fighters who outweigh him by 15 or 20 pounds on fight night.

Part of the reason why the lightweight division is so intriguing right now is the fact that there are several interesting matchups for the champion. Perhaps Edgar isn’t the most dominant champion ever, but he’s certainly one of the most entertaining. He may even be one of the first fighters capable of holding two belts in two different weight classes—considering a cut to featherweight would be very easy for him.

One of the biggest surprises of the night wasn’t Frankie Edgar’s win, but Joe Lauzon’s. Melvin Guillard was on the fast track to a title shot, winning five straight before his loss to Lauzon.

Perhaps Lauzon has now thrown his name “into the mix” at lightweight if he can pull off another solid performance. A fight with Nate Diaz would be extremely interesting and would work out well in terms of timing.

With Gilbert Melendez heading over to the UFC and a long list of contenders including Ben Henderson, Clay Guida, Jim Miller and Anthony Pettis, the lightweight division should stay interesting for quite some time.

Donald Cerrone, Nate Diaz, Joe Lauzon, Evan Dunham and Rafael Dos Anjos may not be far behind, either.

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UFC 136 Results: Top 5 Fights of Kenny Florian’s Career

Following his loss at UFC 136, Kenny Florian hasn’t decided to retire just yet. “Ken-Flo” recently spoke to The Boston Herald:”Not right now,” said Florian when asked about hanging up his gloves. “I haven’t really thought past this fight, so we’ll see …

Following his loss at UFC 136, Kenny Florian hasn’t decided to retire just yet. “Ken-Flo” recently spoke to The Boston Herald:

“Not right now,” said Florian when asked about hanging up his gloves. “I haven’t really thought past this fight, so we’ll see what happens.”

While Florian walked away on the losing end of yet another title fight, he still put on a good performance against one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the world.

Let’s take a look at the top five fights of Kenny Florian’s career.

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UFC 137 Georges St-Pierre vs. Carlos Condit: Early Head-to-Toe Breakdown

After four straight weeks of UFC events, mixed martial arts fans will have to wait until October 29 for the next one. Fortunately, UFC 137will be one of the more stacked cards of the year, headlined by Georges St-Pierre and Carlos Condit.”The Nat…

“The Natural Born Killer” Carlos Condit came into the UFC following a successful stint in the WEC as the organization’s Welterweight Champion. Despite a split decision loss to Martin Kampmann in his UFC debut, Condit went on to win four straight fights, including knocking out both Dan Hardy and Dong Hyun Kim.

Still, Condit was set to face BJ Penn at UFC 137 until Nick Diaz blew his opportunity by not showing up to press conferences. Despite being the late replacement, Condit is very much worthy of his position as title challenger. He’s 27-5 overall with 13 wins by submission and 13 by knockout.

Georges St-Pierre, however, is the most dominant welterweight in the history of the sport. He has now won 9 consecutive fights for a 22-2 record, and his only two losses have been avenged.

St-Pierre will go into this fight a heavy favorite and with good reason. Condit is an exciting fighter that always looks for the finish. Just for comparison, St-Pierre has won 9 of his 22 fights by decision, while Condit has 27 wins and only one has been by decision. “Rush” will certainly need to finish Condit if he wants to satisfy the mixed martial arts community.

On the feet, both fighters have excellent striking. However, over the years, it is clear that St-Pierre’s attack has become much less dynamic. His fight with Josh Koscheck was essentially won using just the jab. Condit, however, won his last fight by flying knee and tends to be more willing to throw kicks.

On the wrestling side of things, St-Pierre has a clear advantage over almost everyone in the division, and Condit is no exception. Condit is a well-rounded fighter, but the one deficiency he has is his wrestling ,and that is likely what St-Pierre will exploit.

Condit does have a very dangerous guard, although St-Pierre usually works to pass very quickly and doesn’t often leave himself vulnerable to submissions. GSP is no slouch on the ground either and is capable of finishing the fight via submission, especially if he spends the majority of the time on top, as is most likely.

As a former WEC Champion, Condit has fought into the championship rounds once before. He did look noticeably fatigued, but conditioning usually isn’t an issue for “The Natural Born Killer.” If this fight heads into the later rounds—GSP’s last six fights have all been at least 20 minutes—it’s possible that St-Pierre could have a slight edge.

Carlos Condit is a very exciting fighter and very much worthy of this title shot, but I don’t suspect he’ll be able to take out Georges St-Pierre. The question doesn’t seem to be whether or not GSP can win, but if he can finish.

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UFC 136 Results: Potential Venues for Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen

With Chael Sonnen’s destruction of Brian Stann at UFC 136, it was obvious a rematch with Anderson Silva was the only option for the next championship fight. Aside from perhaps Mark Munoz and Michael Bisping, Anderson Silva has completely cleaned out th…

With Chael Sonnen‘s destruction of Brian Stann at UFC 136, it was obvious a rematch with Anderson Silva was the only option for the next championship fight. Aside from perhaps Mark Munoz and Michael Bisping, Anderson Silva has completely cleaned out the division, and a fight with Sonnen is one of the few remaining compelling matchups the UFC can make.

With a successful show in Texas, MMA Junkie reports that UFC President Dana White has been in talks with Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones in regards to putting on an event at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The 80,000 seat stadium would easily surpass the 55,724 record at Toronto’s Rogers Centre, but the UFC hasn’t exactly proven to have that kind of drawing power—at least not in Texas.

It would also make sense to host another event in Brazil, given the demand for seats at UFC 134 and the hatred for Chael Sonnen. The last event in Rio de Janeiro was in an arena that held a mere 14,000 seats, although there are several stadiums in Brazil that hold well over 60,000.

Finally, if the UFC wanted to truly make an impact in Japan, it certainly could go for Nissan Stadium in Yokohama. The stadium has hosted several FIFA World Cup games and has a total of 72,327 seats. The Saitama Super Arena is set to hold the UFC’s next trip to Japan on February 26, 2012, and has a reported capacity of 37,000.

Either way, Silva vs. Sonnen II is certainly going to be a major event. Particularly with Sonnen‘s post-fight hype at UFC 136, the pay-per-view buy rate is likely to be in the top 10 for the organization.

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UFC on Versus 6: Results and Analysis of Cruz vs. Johnson Main Card

As far as free mixed martial arts goes, it’s hard to be disappointed with UFC on Versus 6: Cruz vs. Johnson. With a title fight and some exciting matchups leading up to it, fans were treated to another excellent card to hold them over until UFC 136: Ed…

To start off the main card, Matt Wiman and Mac Danzig put on an excellent back-and-forth battle that earned them Fight of the Night. Wiman controlled more positioning however, and all three judges gave him the nod, 29-28.

Danzig certainly got the better of his opponent on the feet, but Wiman showed that incredible chin of his, just walking through punches and pushing the pace. Danzig’s face also likely influenced the judge’s scorecards, as it looked like he got hit with a sledgehammer or two.

This is the kind of fight that makes MMA fans, and hopefully, the fact that it was a free card helped that.

Next up, Anthony Johnson took on Charlie Brenneman. This jump in competition seemed to occur much to soon for Brenneman, who couldn’t muster any offense whatsoever. “Rumble” Johnson easily stuffed his takedown and pounded on “The Spaniard,” showing a clear size and strength advantage.

Brenneman probably didn’t deserve to be in this situation. He beat a Rick Story that wasn’t prepared for a wrestler. That doesn’t make him a top-10 welterweight like many are claiming he is. Do people forget he was finished by Johny Hendricks just last year?

Johnson showed that he has the potential to go far in the sport. My biggest concern for him is that weight cut, which is rather severe and not very good in terms of career longevity. “Rumble” earned his second Knockout of the Night, despite the poor stoppage by Mario Yamasaki.

In the co-main event, it was Pat Barry versus Stefan Struve. Both fighters have quality striking technique, but Struve has had problems using his reach to keep opponents at bay. Even with a foot height and reach advantage, Barry was still getting the better of Struve on the feet.

Barry recently made the move to train with the wrestler-heavy Team DeathClutch, but you wouldn’t know it based on last night’s performance. Struve submitted Barry with what may have been the most telegraphed triangle in the history of the sport. Barry now has a lackluster 6-4 record with three of those losses coming via submission and one by knockout.

Struve, on the other hand, showed that he is very well-rounded, especially for such a young fighter at 23 years old. Still, he needs to do a better job of using his reach to avoid taking shots.

In the main event, fans were treated to a free title fight in which Dominick “The Dominator” Cruz took on Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson. Cruz looked to be in trouble early on. Johnson was clearly getting the better of him on the feet and showing a distinct edge in both speed and conditioning.

“The Dominator,” however, held the clear size, strength, and wrestling advantage, and was able to complete takedowns throughout the fight. He mixed up his takedowns well, completing double legs, Germans suplexes and Judo throws. Cruz was able to advance position several times and nearly finished the fight with a rear-naked choke when he took Johnson’s back.

It was an exciting fight and one of the more competitive title bouts in recent memory. “Mighty Mouse” had a great showing for someone who belongs at 125 pounds. When the flyweight division opens up, him and Joseph Benavidez will have a hell of a fight for the title.

Putting Cruz on a free card may have helped his exposure, but I doubt he’ll be much of a draw on a pay-per-view event. It’s a shame because his last couple of fights have been great. He’s now 19-1 and undefeated at 135 pounds, which warrants more respect than he gets.

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UFC 135 Results: How Nate Diaz Can Become a Contender at Lightweight

After a disappointing and somewhat controversial split decision loss to Gray Maynard at UFC Fight Night 20, Nate Diaz decided to jump up to the welterweight division in order to avoid cutting weight to make 155 pounds.While at 170 pounds, Dia…

While at 170 pounds, Diaz started off with two impressive performances. In his welterweight debut, he battered Rory Markham and finished him in the first round via TKO. Diaz followed that by submitting Marcus Davis in a fight he completely dominated. Despite the professional boxing experience of Davis, Diaz easily got the better of him striking.

In his next two bouts, losses to Dong Hyun Kim and Rory MacDonald, Diaz learned the importance of size as he was controlled very easily in both fights.

Nate Diaz finally returned to lightweight at UFC 135, utterly destroying Takanori Gomi. Diaz picked Gomi apart on the feet as the former PRIDE champion threw wild haymakers that missed their mark.

After “The Fireball Kid” got rocked on his feet, he attempted to take Diaz to the ground. Diaz showed his excellent guard, catching Gomi in a triangle. He was then able to chain submissions together until he transitioned into an armbar for the finish.

Diaz’s performance proves not only that he belongs at lightweight, but that he has the potential to be a contender.

Nate’s issue, similar to his brother Nick, is his lack of wrestling. In the past, both Diaz brothers have relied on their excellent guards to finish fights. The problem with that is, as the Dong Hyun Kim fight proved, simply threatening with submissions isn’t enough to win fights. Judges will often favor the man on top, even if he isn’t doing much damage.

Diaz has proved that he has the ability to pick apart great strikers on the feet, even busting up the face of Gray Maynard—the man currently fighting for the lightweight title. He also has the ability to submit people off of his back. In his 14 wins, Diaz has finished 10 of them by submission.

The biggest weakness for Diaz is his inability to deal with strong wrestlers who can maintain top position and avoid submissions—fighters like Clay Guida, who Diaz has lost to in the past. It’ll also be helpful if he could diversify his striking game and include more kicks, especially if he doesn’t mind fighting off of his back.

With any hope, Diaz can improve his wrestling with help from fellow Cesar Gracie fighter Jake Shields and make a run in the lightweight division. Despite his seven years of fight experience, Diaz is just 26 years old and his best days are still likely ahead of him.

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