On the most recent episode of The MMA Hour, Ariel Helwani was joined by Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, who will be fighting Jon Jones at UFC 135: Jones vs. Rampage.Just after mentioning that he’s “having a great camp and training really hard”, Rampage disc…
On the most recent episode of The MMA Hour, Ariel Helwani was joined by Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, who will be fighting Jon Jones at UFC 135: Jones vs. Rampage.
Just after mentioning that he’s “having a great camp and training really hard”, Rampage discussed his recent accusations of Jon Jones planting a mole within Team Wolfslair. Rampage mentioned that he hasn’t removed anyone from his camp, but that he “feels flattered” that Jon Jones had to employ the use of spies.
Still, Rampage hasn’t concerned himself very much with these recent developments and “feels very confident” in this fight, despite “a lot of people counting [him] out.”
Jackson explained that he was informed of a spy via Twitter. After that point, he faked an injury to his hand in order to see if the news would leak. According to Rampage, shortly after, he was contacted by Joe Silva who had been contacted by Jon Jones’ management, asking about his hand.
It’s impossible to know if any of this information is reliable, but Jackson promises to out the spy on Twitter when he determines who it is.
Then, Rampage was his usual controversial self, calling host Ariel Helwani “an asshole for asking about [Wolfslair teammate] Cheick Kongo.” Apparently, Rampage was offended that Helwani asked if the Pat Barry fight should have been stopped after Kongo was repeatedly knocked down.
Helwani and Jackson moved on, agreeing to play nice as long as Rampage refrained from calling the journalist “big nose” and Helwani made sure his shoes matched his tie.
Needless to say, it was a typical Rampage interview. Jackson ended by mentioning that he’s happy to go into this fight the underdog and that he captured the belt from Chuck Liddell as an underdog and is prepared to do it again.
Despite the overwhelming majority of fight fans focusing on UFC 134: Silva vs. Okami, ProElite brought a solid card to Honolulu, Hawaii. It featured former UFC fighters Kendall Grove, Joe Riggs, Andrei Arlovski and Drew McFedries, in addition to the MM…
Despite the overwhelming majority of fight fans focusing on UFC 134: Silva vs. Okami, ProElite brought a solid card to Honolulu, Hawaii. It featured former UFC fighters Kendall Grove, Joe Riggs, Andrei Arlovski and Drew McFedries, in addition to the MMA debut of BJ Penn‘s brother, Reagan Penn.
Despite the awful announcing of Jens Pulver, there were some pretty decent fights. Here are the results of the main card if you missed Sherdog‘s live stream of the event.
Drew McFedries defeated Garrett Olson by TKO at 4:04 of round two.
Sara McMann defeated Raquel Pa’aluhi via submission at 2:52 of round three.
Jake Heun defeated Mark Ellis by submission at 2:29 of round two.
Reagan Penn defeated Paul Gardner by submission at 1:10 of round one.
Andrei Arlovski defeated Ray Lopez by TKO at 2:43 of round three.
Kendall Grove defeated Joe Riggs by submission at 0:59 of round one.
UFC 134, Silva vs. Okami, is over and done with and the UFC could not have planned a better return trip to Brazil. The fans in Rio de Janeiro went crazy for their Brazilian fighters, particularly because Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, Antonio Rodrigo Minotauro…
UFC 134, Silva vs. Okami, is over and done with and the UFC could not have planned a better return trip to Brazil. The fans in Rio de Janeiro went crazy for their Brazilian fighters, particularly because Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, Antonio Rodrigo Minotauro Nogueira and Anderson Silva all had huge knockout victories.
Having watched every fight on the card, I can say this is probably the best mixed martial arts event that was put on this year. There wasn’t a single boring fight and it was filled with spectacular finishes.
Yves Jabouin and Ian Loveland put on a really fun bantamweight bout to start off the card. I played the “How many different ways is ‘Jabouin’ pronounced?” game and ended with four. This was the only card on the fight to not feature a Brazilian, but it was a great back-and-forth battle that resulted in a split decision victory for Jabouin.
Next up, Yuri Alcantara overwhelmed an inexperienced Felipe Arantes to easily take a unanimous decision victory in their featherweight bout.
Alcantara and Arantes were similarly matched on the feet, but Alcantara easily controlled the 23-year-old Arantes when the fight hit the ground. Arantes’ purple-belt in Brazilian jiu jitsu was no match for the black belt of Alcantara, who consistently managed to pass his guard and do damage.
Still, Arantes is young and could learn a lot from the loss.
Erik Silva and Luis Ramos had the most memorable fight on the Facebook prelims, as it lasted just 40 seconds.
Silva and Ramos are both welterweight champions of their respective leagues in Brazil, therefore this was something of a super fight for the fans. Silva, however, made this one pretty decisive, landing a huge overhand-right that dropped Ramos. He then threw his opponent’s legs aside and finished the fight with punches on the ground.
Silva looked great and he definitely deserves another shot in the UFC if only because his back flip off the cage post-fight was perfect.
Although Raphael Assuncao took a 30-27 decision from Johnny Eduardo, the fight was much closer than that. Eduardo, who fittingly has “Muay Thai” tattooed across his abdomen, pretty clearly held the advantage on the feet.
Still, Assuncao, having been in there with the likes of Urijah Faber and Diego Nunes, kept his composure and displayed his clear advantage on the ground, even taking Eduardo’s back. It was Assuncao’s bantamweight debut and his frame seems perfect for this weight class.
Paulo Thiago, despite being just 3-3 in the UFC coming into his bout with David Mitchell, is one of the top welterweights in the division, having faced the likes of Josh Koscheck, Jon Fitch, Martin Kampmann and Diego Sanchez. His experience showed at UFC 134, easily winning the stand-up exchanges and threatening with submissions on the ground. Thiago showed just how well-rounded he is, dominating Mitchell and taking a unanimous 30-27 decision.
On the first bout of the Spike TV portion of the prelims, Rousimar Palhares and Dan Miller put on one of the craziest bouts I’ve ever witnessed in the UFC.
Palhares had Miller badly hurt with a head kick in the first round and subsequently swarmed him with punches. For some reason, “Toquinho” thought the fight was stopped when it clearly wasn’t, and walked away, began celebrating and actually jumped on top of the cage. Herb Dean took a second, probably to confirm that Miller hadn’t tapped, and informed Palhares that the fight hadn’t been stopped. As soon as the fight began again, Miller dropped Palhares and nearly finished the fight himself.
The second round was an absolutely dominant one for Palhares. He controlled Miller and nearly ended the fight with his vicious ground-and-pound. He did not, however, help his reputation as a dirty fighter by repeatedly grabbing the cage despite multiple warnings. Herb Dean even had to rip his hand off from the fence at one point. He should have been deducted a point, but it also should have been a 10-8 round.
The last round I scored for Dan Miller. Both fighters were clearly exhausted and Miller barely got the edge in the stand-up exchanges. Still, the fight was a dominant victory for Rousimar Palhares, despite his embarrassing error in the first and grabbing of the cage in the second.
Dan Miller has more heart than anyone I’ve ever seen and it’s a pleasure to watch him fight, but he’s just 2-5 in his last seven bouts. Palhares, on the other hand, is 6-2, with his only losses coming to Dan Henderson and Nate Marquardt.
In the last preliminary bout, Thiago Tavares came out with something to prove after his devastating knockout loss to Shane Roller in a fight he was easily winning up until that point. He played it safe against Fisher, controlling “The King” on the ground and peppering him with punches.
Fisher was unable to mount any sort of offense and seemed very listless in the fight. Tavares landed enough unanswered blows in the second round for the referee to stop it. Fisher, despite being in the UFC for nearly six years, is now 1-4 in his last five bouts and risks being cut after another lackluster performance.
In the first bout of the main card, Luiz Cane took on UFC newcomer Stanislav Nedkov. Despite controlling the stand-up exchanges throughout most of the first round, Nedkov continuously landed his overhand-right and was able to wobble Cane. Cane lost his footing, stumbled toward the cage and was finished with strikes in the first.
It was the first fight in which a Brazilian lost to a foreigner and the crowd went silent. Cane was quite emotional following the loss. Despite being very talented, Cane’s suspect chin cost him another fight. He’s 1-3 in his last four, with every bout ending by TKO in the first.
In one of the most highly anticipated bouts of the evening, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira put on an unexpected and emotional performance in front of his hometown, knocking out Brendan Schaub.
As much as people wanted to believe Nogueira still had it, his last few bouts didn’t really make that belief possible. His wars caught up to him and his historic career appears to be coming to an end. Someone forgot to mention that to Minotauro; he walked through several huge punches from Schaub that rocked him, using great head movement to stay in the bout, and was able to land a one-two combination of his own that spelled the beginning of the end.
As Kenny Florian put it, “The crowd is going bananas.” One of the greatest fighter to ever come out of Brazil—one of the greatest fighters ever—just shocked everyone. Nogueira’s knockout earned him “Knockout of the Night” and $100,000. It was his first knockout victory in six years.
While it was nearly impossible to follow up such a performance, Ross Pearson and Edson Barboza certainly tried, putting on a “Fight of the Night” performance that earned them each an additional $100,000. This was an extremely close bout that Barboza took by split decision, but I personally felt it deserved to go to Ross Pearson in a 29-28 decision.
While both Pearson and Barboza showcased their amazing striking abilities, it was Pearson’s aggressiveness and “Octagon control” that should have earned him the victory. According to FightMetric, Pearson out landed Barboza, 62-55, in total strikes. Either way, both fighters are very much deserving of their additional paycheck.
In a rematch of their 2007 bout, Shogun Rua took on Forrest Griffin in a battle of former light heavyweight champions. Shogun more than compensated for his disappointing performance against Forrest the first time around by knocking him out at 1:53 into the first round.
Yes, yes, Shogun is back.
I get that.
He looked great and completely outclassed Griffin, but I’m more concerned for Forrest. I used the word “listless” to describe Spencer Fisher, but that’s even more fitting for Griffin. He didn’t even appear to care at all. He couldn’t be bothered to put his hands up at the weigh-ins and has completely lost all the spirit and heart that made him one of the most popular fighters in the sport.
Forrest has been successful. He’s been light heavyweight champion and that’s ruined his career. He doesn’t appear hungry any more and it’s not nearly as fun to watch him fight these days.
Shogun didn’t necessarily answer all the questions regarding his knee and stamina issues, but he finished a very worthy opponent quickly. It’s not clear if he’s capable of competing with Jon Jones, despite his history of doing well in rematches, but it was a huge victory in front of the Brazilian crowd.
In the main event of the evening, Anderson Silva successfully defended his title for the ninth-consecutive time. He made Yushin Okami look scared and helpless, despite being one of the best middleweights in the world.
Similar to the Forrest Griffin fight, “The Spider” kept his hands at his sides and showed just show dominant he is. After a round of gauging Okami’s abilities, he finished him effortlessly in the second. Click here for a more in-depth analysis on this fight.
Overall, it was an extremely entertaining card, top to bottom, in Rio de Janeiro.
Anderson Silva proved he is the greatest fighter in the history of mixed martial arts, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira proved that he still has some fight left in him and Shogun Rua proved that he is still one of the top light heavyweights in the world.
With many of their current title-holders jumping ship for the UFC or remaining unsigned, Strikeforce took its first steps towards rectifying the situation by signing a new deal with women’s 145-pound champion, Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos.According to MMA…
With many of their current title-holders jumping ship for the UFC or remaining unsigned, Strikeforce took its first steps towards rectifying the situation by signing a new deal with women’s 145-pound champion, Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos.
“After several months of negotiations, Cris ‘Cyborg’ Santos the Standing Women’s 145lb Champion has re-signed with Strikeforce. Word comes directly from Cyborg’s camp.”
Cyborg’s management has stated that:
“Cris is ecstatic to be staying under the Zuffa umbrella for another year. She would like to thank Strikeforce and Zuffa for the opportunity to prove she is the best 145lb Woman in the world. Cris has been training and is ready to step back into the cage to defend her Strikeforce belt.”
Cris Santos is widely considered to be the pound-for-pound best women’s fighter in the world, winning her last ten fights, eight of which have been by knockout. She’s finished the likes of Hitomi Akano, Gina Carano and Marloes Coenen.
While this deal is positive in the sense that Strikeforce has managed to re-sign their dominant women’s featherweight champion, it is apparently only for “another year,” which doesn’t make it any more likely that women’s mixed martial arts has a long-term future under the Zuffa banner.
Without having stepped inside the cage since June 26, 2010, with her defeat of Jan Finney, Santos is rumored to be returning to action soon.
While many have been claiming that Georges St-Pierre has cleaned out the UFC’s welterweight division, there is still a surprising list of credible challengers to his title. First, however, GSP must take care of former Strikeforce Welterweight Champion …
While many have been claiming that Georges St-Pierre has cleaned out the UFC’s welterweight division, there is still a surprising list of credible challengers to his title. First, however, GSP must take care of former Strikeforce Welterweight Champion Nick Diaz.
Diaz presents a good deal of problems for the current champ. He has great boxing, great jiu-jitsu, a good chin and has never had stamina issues. Assuming, however, that St-Pierre gets past him, who is potentially next in line?
The next big welterweight matchup takes place September 17 at UFC Fight Night: Shields vs. Ellenberger as Jake Shields is coming off his first loss in 15 fights in failing to dethrone GSP. Jake Ellenberger meanwhile, has won eight of his last nine; his only loss coming via split decision to Carlos Condit.
While a win for Shields most likely wouldn’t put him in line for an immediate title shot, a victory for Ellenberger—particularly by stoppage—would do a lot to put him in line for the winner of GSP-Nick Diaz.
Following that fight, at UFC 135: Jones vs. Rampage on September 24, Diego Sanchez is set to take on Matt Hughes. A win for Hughes isn’t going to give him a fourth fight with St-Pierre—especially after his knockout loss to B.J. Penn—but a convincing win for Sanchez could put him “in the mix.”
On October 1, the UFC will return to Versus for UFC Live: Cruz vs. Johnson. Outside the championship matchup between Dominick Cruz and Demetrious Johnson, that card will feature a bout between Charlie Brenneman and Anthony Johnson.
Despite a TKO loss to Johny Hendricks at UFC 117, Brenneman has rebounded with two wins—his last an impressive upset victory versus Rick Story.
Meanwhile, following a long lay-off after his loss to Josh Koscheck, Johnson returned with a decision win over Dan Hardy.
Neither of them are going to be challenging for the title with a win, but they’re both still impressive guys to watch for, as they have the wrestling credentials to hang with GSP.
Finally, at UFC 137: St-Pierre vs. Diaz on October 29, B.J. Penn will be taking on Carlos Condit. Penn, despite a 1-2-1 record in his last four fights, is still one of the top fighters in the division, which he proved by his knockout of Matt Hughes and draw with Jon Fitch.
Carlos Condit, however, has been tearing up the division, winning 12 of his last 13. Perhaps most importantly, he’s only won once by decision, and the UFC loves exciting finishers.
A win for Condit all but ensures a title shot. However, for Penn, it may be difficult for the UFC to sell a third fight with GSP after already losing the first two.
While it may appear that St-Pierre has cleaned out the division, Carlos Condit and Jake Ellenberger are making their way to the top of the welterweight ladder, while Anthony Johnson, Charlie Brenneman, Diego Sanchez and B.J. Penn may not be far behind. Be on the lookout for Jon Fitch, Martin Kampmann, Rory MacDonald and Brian Ebersole as well.
As much as a tempting thought the super-fight with Anderson Silva is, Georges St-Pierre has plenty of unfinished business at 170.
I was right with everyone else who claimed that the WEC guys couldn’t cut it in the UFC. I picked against Donald Cerrone in his UFC debut against Paul Kelly for that very reason.Same with Ben Henderson’s debut against Mark Bocek.Then I did it again las…
I was right with everyone else who claimed that the WEC guys couldn’t cut it in the UFC. I picked against Donald Cerrone in his UFC debut against Paul Kelly for that very reason.
Same with Ben Henderson’s debut against Mark Bocek.
Then I did it again last night with Cerrone’s fight against Charles Oliveira and Henderson’s fight with Jim Miller.
“Cowboy” has already put together three wins since making the jump to the UFC, but none more notable than his beating of Charles Oliveira at UFC Live: Hardy vs. Lytle. He made the young prospect look completely helpless as well as severely undersized, landing the more powerful shots and finishing the fight as soon as he smelled blood.
For “Smooth” it was easily the most impressive performance of his career.
Not only did he put on another dominant performance, but he did so against the clear top contender for the next shot at the lightweight title. Miller was on a seven-fight win streak, suffering losses only to Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard in his career.
Ben Henderson now has wins in 12 of his last 13 fights, with the only loss coming in a very close decision against Anthony Pettis.
While it was previously thought that his wins in the WEC were less meaningful, Donald Cerrone’s performance shows that having two wins over him is something to be proud of.
Henderson also has notable wins over Anthony Njokuani, Shane Roller, Jamie Varner, and Mark Bocek.
While Cerrone hasn’t quite put himself in title territory, Henderson is firmly in the top 10 with his latest victory.
With Jim Miller’s losing, the lightweight division loses another potential title challenger.
Pending his fight against Joe Lauzon, Melvin Guillard may be next in line for a fight with Henderson.
Guillard has won eight of his last nine, although he is hurt by a submission loss to Nate Diaz and less impressive wins over Jeremy Stephens and Gleison Tibau.
Still, his latest victories over Evan Dunham and Shane Roller have showcased his ever-improving hands, and he has simply looked unstoppable.
Despite Guida’s serving as a gatekeeper for years in the division, his recent switch to Greg Jackson’s camp has revitalized his career. He’s put together four straight wins, including three finishes, over Shannon Gugerty, Rafael Dos Anjos, Takanori Gomi, and Anthony Pettis.
He’s hurt by a beating suffered at the hands of Kenny Florian, but he seems to be a new fighter now.
Despite the loss to Clay Guida, Anthony Pettis still needs to remain a top contender in the title picture.
Guida was capable of exposing a hole in Pettis’s game—his wrestling. Still, Pettis kept busy on the bottom, didn’t take much damage, and constantly threatened with submissions. Before the Guida loss, Pettis had just one loss—a split decision to Bart Palaszewski.
His run in the WEC included notable wins over Danny Castillo, Shane Roller, and Ben Henderson.
Gilbert Melendez has been getting a lot of attention as a possible future contender in the UFC’s stacked lightweight division. It may be possible that Dana White was hesitant to make a clear title eliminator due to Melendez’s presence.
“El Nino” is now 19-2, with his only two losses avenged. His latest victories have come against Josh Thompson, Shinya Aoki, and Tatsuya Kawajiri.
While Melendez is a viable contender and welcome addition to the UFC, his quality of opponents is lacking. Aoki, for example, is extremely one dimensional, and his recent knockout loss at Dynamite!! 2010 to Yuichiro Nagashima displays his inability to stand with quality strikers.
In addition Kawajiri has no wins over quality opponents, yet has lost to Eddie Alvarez, Aoki, and Melendez.
While Melendez is the Strikeforce lightweight champion, he doesn’t deserve to cut the UFC’s lightweight line, although it’s likely that he will.
Another notable is George Sotiropoulos, who was, at one point, one win away from a title shot.
However, his lack of wrestling was exposed against Dennis Siver, and then his lack of chin was exposed against Rafael Dos Anjos.
Jim Miller was in a similar position, losing his No. 1-contender status, but should still remain among the top lightweights in the world.
He did get dominated by Henderson, although it should be remembered that he was constantly working to finish the fight. Miller went out with something to prove, gassing himself early trying to finish with a standing arm triangle, and got beat up as a result.
He didn’t fight the smart fight, but his talent shouldn’t be unappreciated as a result.
Dennis Siver has won eight of his last nine, but his loss to a non-contender in Ross Pearson and the controversial nature of his last decision win over Matt Wiman probably leave him out of title contention at the moment.
Rafael Dos Anjos may actually be another up-and-comer to look out for in the division. His latest knockout win, over Sotiropoulos, gives him wins in four out of his last five, with the only loss coming to “The Carpenter,” Clay Guida.
Sean Sherk is also a perennial contender, given that he only has losses to current or former champions.
Still, he is constantly injured and doesn’t tend to be the most exciting fighter in the eyes of most fans.
“The Muscle Shark” is coming off of a controversial split-decision win over Evan Dunham, which doesn’t do much to help his stock.
Personally, I think just about any match-up one makes between these top contenders is extremely intriguing and exciting.
I don’t care if Clay Guida fights Ben Henderson, Melvin Guillard, Joe Lauzon or Gilbert Melendez, as long as I get to see all these guys fight.
It is important to note, however, that Cerrone, Guillard, and Guida all fight out of Greg Jackson’s camp and are unlikely to be willing to fight unless it is for a title.
On the most recent episode of The MMA Hour, Ariel Helwani was joined by Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, who will be fighting Jon Jones at UFC 135: Jones vs. Rampage.