Author: Michael Stets

All the momentum that Ben Rothwelll (36-10) was riding came to an end in the main event at UFC Fight Night 86 earlier this afternoon (Sun., April 10, 2016). Junior dos Santos (18-4) defeated Rothwell via unanimous decision inside Arena Zagreb in Zagreb, Croatia after putting on a five-round striking clinic.

All three judges scored the bout 50-45.

“Cigano” had a fantastic game plan and outclassed Rothwell badly over the course of 25 minutes. He landed whatever and whenever he wanted to and looked outstanding doing so using his greatest tool: his boxing.

“I used my footwork to move a lot and throw some hard punches on him and use my boxing, because guys… Forget about jiu-jitsu and wrestling I’m a boxing guy,” dos Santos told Jon Anik after the bout.

Both fighters circled and measured their distance for the opening two minutes of the bout and barely exchanged any punches. Rothwell tried to clinch up, but dos Santos avoided it and continued to circle. “Big Ben” charged in on several occasions but came up empty as did “Cigano” when he attempted to counter. The former UFC Heavyweight champion landed several solid punches to the body as the round came to a close. Neither landed any significant strikes in the round.

Dos Santos missed a big overhand right to begin the second round, but Rothwell ducked underneath it. The No. 4-ranked UFC Heavyweight landed an outside low kick, but it did not hinder the movement of dos Santos. The Brazilian began to land punches with more success as the round wore on. dos Santos got poked in the eye by Rothwell and referee Marc Goddard halted the bout to allow dos Santos to recover. As the round drew to a close, the No.5-ranked UFC heavyweight landed a big right hand that stunned Rothwell. He followed it up with a push kick that sent “Big Ben” to the canvas right before the horn sounded.

Dos Santos went back to the body to start the third round and continued to have great success whenever he did. “Cigano” began to find a nice rhythm and also started to find a home for a few of his jabs and also, a pair of spinning-back kicks to the body while continuing his assault on Rothwell’s body.

In the fourth round dos Santos began to go upstairs with his strikes and he landed with regularity. Rothwell had no answer and was getting badly tuned up on the feet. The Washington native did attempt to attack on a few occasions and landed a nice right hand, but it was all dos Santos for the majority of the round.

It was more of the same in the final round as dos Santos was just landing at will with his jab to both the head and the body of Rothwell, whose face was battered and bloody from absorbing a 25 minute cumulation of punches.

It was a phenomenal performance by dos Santos, 32, who returned to form after getting knocked out Alistair Overeem his last time out in Dec. 2015. Dos Santos is now 12-3 in UFC competition. Meanwhile, it was a tough loss for Rothwell, 34, who has his four-fight win streak snapped and got badly outclassed in the process. He falls to 6-4 in UFC.

For complete UFC Fight Night 86 “Rothwell vs. dos Santos results, including play-by-play updates, click here.

Timothy Johnson (10-2) did what he had to do over the course of 15 minutes to earn the victory at UFC Fight Night 86 earlier this afternoon (Sun., April 10, 2016). Johnson, 31, used some timely striking and Octagon control to earn a unanimous decision over Marcin Tybura (13-2) at Zagreb Arena in Zagreb, Croatia.

All three judges scored the bout 29-28.

The opening frame began with both Tybura and Johnson trading blows in a few exchanges before clinching up. Johnson pushed Tybura up against the fence and landed a few knees to the legs of the Polish newcomer, but couldn’t land anything of significance. Referee Grant Waterman halted the action and restarted the action in the center of the Octagon.

In the second, Johnson landed a nice right hook early on, but could not capitalize. The Fargo, North Dakota native pushed Tybura up against the fence once again, but Tybura was able to reverse position. They returned to the center of the Octagon where Johnson proved to be more effective in the striking department. He landed a solid flurry of punches as the round came to a close.

Tybura landed a timely takedown to start the final round and immediately took Johnson’s back. Johnson escaped and returned to his feet. Johnson avoided a second takedown attempt and pushed Tybura up against the fence once more. Tybura landed a few short punches before Waterman restarted the two heavyweights in the center of the Octagon. Tybura landed a big punch that hurt Johnson, but he recovered and went back to his preferred position holding his opponent against the fence. Johnson’s left eye was almost swollen shut as the fight concluded.

Nothing flashy, but a solid win for Johnson in his third UFC appearance. He is now 2-1 with the promotion. Tybura falls in his UFC debut and loses for only the second time in his 15-fight career.

For complete UFC Fight Night 86 “Rothwell vs. dos Santos results, including play-by-play updates, click here.

“Time Bomb” will be coming to UFC Fight Pass in the GLORY ring and Invicta FC cage very soon.

Get ready for a double dose of Tiffany van Soest.

The former Lion Fight dual-titleholder has reached agreements with both GLORY kickboxing and Invicta Fighting Championships, according to a joint press release on Thursday (April 6, 2016). MMAFighting’s Marc Raimondi was first to report the news.

Van Soest, 27, posted a 15-2-1 record in muay thai and kickboxing, and will be making her professional MMA debut with Invicta. She has been toying with the idea of competing in MMA for quite some time and has been cross-training in wrestling and jiu-jitsu the last few years. She has relocated to Bali, Indonesia recently and currently trains and teaches at Bali Muay Thai & MMA with Andrew and Anthony Leone.

“I am beyond thrilled to have this incredible opportunity to not only sign with one, but two of combat sports’ top organizations,” said Van Soest. “Striking has always been my passion and my official MMA debut has been greatly anticipated, so to be able to compete in both is a dream come true and I could not be happier.”

“Timebomb” will compete in the GLORY ring first when she takes on Jeri “Fists of Fury” Sitzes on the Superfight Series portion of GLORY 30, which will air on UFC Fight Pass on May 13, 2016 live from The Forum in Los Angeles, Calif. The fight is a rematch of their muay thai bout from 2012. In her last bout, van Soest defeated Ashely Nichols by unanimous decision to win the Lion Fight super bantamweight title.

GLORY does not yet have a women’s division, but bringing in van Soest could be the initial stages of doing so. It is believed that van Soest will compete at 125 pounds, the same weight class she has competed in for the majority of her career thus far.

“We’re extremely excited to bring Tiffany on board at GLORY. We are home to the best strikers in the world. Period,” said GLORY CEO Jon J Franklin. “Tiffany certainly fits that bill and this is a sign of things to come. She’s a multi-sport competitor and we love the idea of keeping her tools as sharp as possible.”

As for when the California native will make her Invicta FC debut, that has not yet been announced, but it is expected to take place sometime this summer and van Soest will compete in the strawweight division.

“Tiffany is as good as they come in the muay thai world and now she’s testing herself as a complete martial artist against some of the top strawweights in MMA as well,” said Invicta FC president Shannon Knapp. “What’s not to like? The fans win here.”

“Timebomb,” who also has a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology, has trained with MMA fighters, Carla Esparza, Jessica Penne and most recently Angela Hill. She is also a member of the “Can’t Stop Crazy” team along with Bellator/GLORY fighter Joe Schilling and Bellator kickboxing’s Kevin Ross.

The UFC women’s bantamweight champion was a guest on FOX Sports Live on Weds. night (April 6, 2016) and she spoke about her UFC 200 matchup against Amanda Nunes and her arch rival, Ronda Rousey.

Miesha Tate was making the media rounds this week to promote her upcoming UFC 200 bout against Amanda Nunes. “Cupcake” was a guest host on “UFC Tonight,” where the news on the bout became official, and later she joined Dan O’ Toole and Jay Onrait on “FOX Sports Live” to discuss her first title defense and a few other topics.

Tate, 29, defeated Holly Holm at UFC 196 by rear-naked choke to win the UFC women’s bantamweight title at the beginning of March, and said she is excited to get right back in the Octagon for the historical UFC 200 card, which takes place on July 9, 2016 (details).

“I’m so excited that I get such a quick turn around,” Tate said. “There has been so many times in my career where it’s been eight-month layoff, nine-month layoff, six-month layoff. This is going to be a really quick turn around and I get to make my first title defense against what I feel is a very formidable opponent. She is on a four fight win streak. Not that many other girls in the division… I think the only other one who is on a real win streak is Julianna Pena. So she is a very dangerous opponent and she comes out with a ferocious pace. She has incredible leg kicks. She looks like she hits like a Mack truck and I believe she is a black belt on the ground. She presents a lot of problems, but that is good because I want a challenge and I want someone to recognize the skill set that she brings to this because when I beat her…”

“Cupcake” paused as Onrait jokingly suggested maybe she was heaping too much praise for her upcoming opponent. Tate just wanted to make it clear that the No. 4-ranked UFC women’s bantamweight is a worthy contender.

“She’s definitely not going to be an easy feat, but I want people to understand she is a very viable opponent,” she said. “I want to go out there and I want to show the world why I’m the best.”

As for a rematch with Holm not happening, Tate said, “it really boils down to that Holly wasn’t a long-reigning champion. She lost the belt in her first defense. It wasn’t like I was getting crushed on the feet or something that was an epic… She was edging me for sure. She edged me three out of the five rounds. The second round was a 10-8 on all three of the judges scorecards and I finished her in the fifth round. So it didn’t go to a decision, it didn’t end up in a tie and I finished the fight and I’m looking to fight someone new, someone that I haven’t beat yet. And I think Amanda, being on that win streak and having that momentum and that confidence. I think that says more, beating her, than it would beating Holly again.”

Of course, as with most Tate interviews, she was asked about her arch rival and former UFC women’s bantamweight champion, Ronda Rousey. Tate had previously said in another interview that she believes Rousey has two fights left in her career. O’Toole asked whether or not Tate thinks one of them will be the trilogy fight between her and “Rowdy.”

“I sure hope so,” Tate said. “It’s gotta be. I feel like I have unfinished business there and I feel like I’ve finally hit the full balance of my career and I’m in a really good place right now. I’m training at Xtreme Couture. I have an amazing team behind me. Mentally, physically, emotionally, I’ve got all the check marks. I feel so good and so confident. And now you know, it’s like before you win the belt you always tell yourself, ‘I know I can win the belt. I think I can win the belt.’ But then when you win it it’s like, ‘I did it.’ It’s not just a thought anymore. I am capable of that. I’ve proven it to myself. I’ve proven it to the world. I’m going to do it again when I fight Amanda and then ideally I’d like to fight Ronda next.”

On Sat., April 16, 2016 GLORY will return to Europe for GLORY 29 at Forum Copenhagen in Copenhagen, Denmark.

The five-fight main card will be headlined by a welterweight title bout between current champion, Nieky Holzken (88-11) and No. 3-ranked contender, Yoann Kongolo (61-6).

GLORY 29 Copenhagen airs live on ESPN3, Saturday, April 16 at 4 p.m. ET / 1 p.m. PT, with a replay in primetime that evening on ESPN2 at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT. The event will also air on ESPN Deportes at 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT on Saturday, April 30, 2016.

The world’s leading kickboxing promotion announced the final participant for the one-night four-man heavyweight “Contender” tournament earlier this week. 25-year old Russian prospect Kirill Kornilov (7-1) will be making his GLORY debut when he takes on No. 2-ranked veteran, Jahfar Wilnis in the semifinals.

In the other semifinal bracket, Ismael “Mr. Pain” Londt (36-6-1), will also be stepping into the GLORY ring for the first time. He is pitted against No. 4-ranked, Anderson “Braddock” Silva (39-13-1).

In addition to the tournament and headliner, the co-main event features a lightweight contest between Niclas Larsen (40-7-1) and Mohammed El-Mir (113-21-0).

The GLORY 29 Superfight Series will feature a light heavyweight bout between Zack Mwekassa (13-3) and Zinedine Hameur-Lain (54-12). GLORY 29 SuperFight Series airs live on UFC FIGHT PASS, Saturday, April 16 at 1:30 p.m. ET / 10:30 a.m PT.

Victory Fighting Championship CEO, Ryan Stoddard, took over the reigns of the Omaha, Neb. based mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion back in 2010 “on a little bit of a whim,” he says.

Stoddard, 32, stepped in to handle operations for a brief period of time and really enjoyed every aspect of it. His purchase came soon after. His love for the promotion stems from the time he was a local fighter and his aspirations were to one day compete in the Victory FC cage.

“My goal was always to fight for Victory,” Stoddard told MMAmania.com. “It was the pinnacle of the midwest. It was the big show. When everyone else was doing ball rooms, it was one of the very few shows that was in an arena here in the midwest. I always had a great love and affinity for Victory even before I purchased it.”

Fast forward to 2016, and Victory FC is heading into Victory FC 49: “Cochrane vs. BBMonstro,” its third fight card to be streamed on UFC Fight Pass, all while continuing to maintain a strong presence in the Midwest. Stoddard proudly states that he and the promotion have done things the right way and have earned every ounce of success they have achieved.

“You are talking about a business where you have so many promotions and promoters that come and go,” he said. “The fact that Victory has been operating since 2002 and the fact that when I took it over and what we’ve been able to accomplish what we’ve done in five short years… No disrespect to any of the other promotions out there on whether it be AXSTV or even Fight Pass, we started from the ground up in terms of promotion. We really did it the grass roots way. We’ve earned our way. that is something I’m really proud of is the fact that we cut our teeth to get to where we are and get our Fight Pass deal. We want to just be known as one of the better ones out there.”

Fight Pass has been a great asset for lesser-known promotions to reach a much wider audience, but Stoddard explained that as much as he was excited about the deal, it didn’t come without worry.

“One of our big fears of Fight Pass was that we still had to give people a reason to come out and watch the live events in the markets we go into because if someone can sit at home and watch the events for 10 dollars a month, what is the incentive for them to want to come out an attend the event?” he said.

However, Victory FC had a good system in place long before the Fight Pass deal came along and so far it has remained tried and true.

“We had to learn how to be blue blood promoters and promote our shows and sell tickets before the Fight Pass deal came along,” Stoddard said, who also mentioned FIght Pass making it easier in developing relationships with national sponsors. “From that perspective, our live shows is something we really take a lot pride in and really making sure that people know they getting their money’s worth when they spend it and come out for a night of fights.”

Fighter development is something that is “near and dear” to his heart, he says. It is important to be known as a promotion that “takes care of its athletes,” and it is also something he feels is sorely lacking within the sport’s current landscape.

“You have too many individuals that have managers or agents that are friends or don’t have their best interest or they really have no clue when it comes to fighter development,” Stoddard said. “This sport is no different than guys going into collegiate football, basketball or anything and the way that college atmosphere has developed them and prepared them for the NFL. I think that part of the sport all the way down to the amateur ranks is something that has really been misguided and the athletes have been misguided. These kids need to be cultivated in the right way. Someone needs to take them under their wing and put them in the right fights not just any fight. So many promotions are so worried about making money and not losing someone that sells tickets that they will just put guys into fights that A) aren’t ready, or B) have no business being in because they want to save ticket sales or they want to be able to keep the income coming into the show.”

Ticket sales aren’t the only thing on Stoddard’s mind. Victory FC has developed strong relationships and long-term/multi-year deals with local arenas, most recently Baxter Arena in Omaha. And its fans, who he called “amazing,” have season ticket purchase options and other discount features for buying ticket packages in advance. He’s made it a point to “grow consistency” and continue to schedule big events in April, July and December. His due diligence and attention is always paid there, but developing young talent will always be at the top of his priority list, he said.

“That is the future of the sport is being able to find and cultivate the next [Conor] McGregor, the next [Ronda] Rousey, even the next Jon Jones is something I don’t think people are actively thinking about that side of the sport,” he said. “For us as a company, we have no benefit from that other than continuing to develop and send talent directly to the UFC. It’s something I really enjoy. For me to be able to work with these kids and change their lives even in the smallest way is something I take a lot of pride and joy in.”

VFC 49 airs on UFC Fight Pass starting at 10 p.m. ET on Friday, April 1, 2016.