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UFC 152 Fight Card: Why Charles Oliveira Will Tap out Cub Swanson

Charles “Do Bronx” Oliveira will attempt to improve his featherweight record to 3-0 at UFC 152 when he meets Cub Swanson in the opening bout of the PPV telecast.And he will.Do Bronx was 2-2 with one no-contest at lightweight. He looked to be a good pro…

Charles “Do Bronx” Oliveira will attempt to improve his featherweight record to 3-0 at UFC 152 when he meets Cub Swanson in the opening bout of the PPV telecast.

And he will.

Do Bronx was 2-2 with one no-contest at lightweight. He looked to be a good prospect at that weight, but found himself outmatched against the bigger competitors. He remarked on that in a recent interview with Thomas Gerbasi on UFC.com:

“Sometimes at 155 pounds I was the smaller fighter, at 145 pounds I am more often the bigger fighter, and the taller fighter.”

Entering the UFC in 2010, his submission skills were quickly put on display. He quickly submitted Darren Elkins in 41 seconds in San Diego. His transition from the triangle to the armbar was quick and technically proficient.

Oliveira made his featherweight debut in January with a submission victory over Eric Wisely. The calf-slicer finish earned him the submission of the night. He followed that performance up with a submission win over Jonathan Brookins in June.

Against Swanson, he matches up well. Oliveira‘s ever-improving striking will receive a three-inch reach advantage against the Jackson’s Submission Fighting member, but it is on the ground where his true advantage lies.

Swanson will have the wrestling advantage at the Air Canada Centre, but Oliveira will find a way to get the fight to the mat.

Oliveira is a submission specialist, and three of the five losses on Swanson’s record come by way of tapping out. Most recently, Swanson submitted to Ricardo Lamas in November of 2011. Avoiding the submission is still problematic for the longtime featherweight contender.

Do Bronx will capitalize on the weakness at UFC 152.

This is an important fight. Not only for Oliveira, but for the featherweight division itself. The winner of the contest will be one of the top contenders alongside Chan Sung Jung and Frankie Edgar. A title shot will not be far off for the victor at UFC 152.

That fact will instill a sense of urgency in Oliveira. The 22-year-old will continue his quick ascent in the UFC.

The young Brazilian will be happy to play the striking game early on as long as he can utilize his reach, but should the opportunity arise he will look to take Swanson in to his world.

When it hits the mat it will only be a matter of time until Oliveira locks in a submission against Swanson. Oliveira excels at finishing fights on the ground. All four of his UFC victories have come via submission, and three of them have earned him submission of the night.

He will likely pick up another hefty check in the Air Canada Centre.

Stylistically, it is a bad matchup for the 28-year-old Swanson. His ground deficiencies will be highlighted by Do Bronx’s grappling brilliance. Oliveira will make the submission win over Swanson look effortless.

Oliveira will finish Swanson in Toronto. The victory will establish Oliveira as one of the next contenders to Jose Aldo’s featherweight crown.

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UFC 152: Predictions You Can Take to the Bank

UFC 152 has gone through a myriad of changes, but it will finally come to us live from the Air Canada Centre on Saturday. UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones will defend his championship against Vitor Belfort in the night’s main event. B…

UFC 152 has gone through a myriad of changes, but it will finally come to us live from the Air Canada Centre on Saturday.

UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones will defend his championship against Vitor Belfort in the night’s main event. Belfort, a former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion himself, will try to seize the opportunity and shock the mixed martial arts world.

The co-main event of the evening will crown the first ever UFC Flyweight Champion, as Demetrious Johnson takes on Joseph Benavidez in the finals of the four-man flyweight tournament.

Also on the card, Michael Bisping and Brian Stann go toe-to-toe in an attempt to be the next man in line for Anderson Silva’s UFC Middleweight Championship.

Matt Hamill returns from a short retirement to fight Roger Hollett, and Cub Swanson battles with Charles Oliverira as both men look to move up the featherweight ladder.

When the UFC returns from its brief, and unexpected, hiatus these are five predictions you can bank on.

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Ronda Rousey vs Sara McMann: Head-to-Toe Breakdown

Ronda Rousey and Sara McMann have been linked to one another since they entered the mixed martial arts scene.Both women are Olympic medalists, both women made their pro debuts in 2011, and both remain undefeated. It has always seemed as if they were on…

Ronda Rousey and Sara McMann have been linked to one another since they entered the mixed martial arts scene.

Both women are Olympic medalists, both women made their pro debuts in 2011, and both remain undefeated. It has always seemed as if they were on a collision course.

Rousey has steamrolled her opponents and has become a star. McMann‘s story has taken a little bit longer. She fought up the ranks through regional promotions before signing on to the largest promotion offering women’s MMA.

McMann signed to Strikeforce earlier this month and will square off against Liz Carmouche on November 3rd in Oklahoma City. Should McMann get by Carmouche, it would put her in line for a crack at Rousey, the current Strikeforce Bantamweight Champion.

Should that fight happen, it will be the biggest fight in women’s MMA history. The two most decorated athletes fighting one another for the championship.

Who will come out on top?

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UFC 152: Is Vitor Belfort a Hall of Fame Fighter?

The UFC Hall of Fame selection process is not exactly transparent. No one, other than the powers that be, know what the criteria for inclusion are. With the selection process shrouded in mystery, we can only give our opinions about fighters who are des…

So, is Vitor Belfort worthy of induction or not?

For my money it is a resounding “yes”.

On performance alone, he may come close to earning the distinction of being a hall of fame inductee, but it is no lock.

Belfort is the UFC 12 Heavyweight Tournament Champion and former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. Although, an asterisk should be placed on the latter achievement. The bout between Belfort and Couture was halted when then champion Randy Couture had his eyelid sliced by the glove of Belfort and the doctor stopped the bout.

His other claim to fame was the blitzkrieg victory over Wanderlei Silva at UFC Brazil in 1998.

Prior to dropping to middleweight in 2008, his resume was light on wins against top tier opponents.

Aside from his quick victories over Silva and Couture, his most notable victories are over Tank Abbot, Gilert Yvel, and Heath Herring. He dropped bouts to Couture twice, Chuck Liddell, Tito Ortiz, Alistair Overeem twice, Kazushi Sakuraba, and Dan Henderson.

That will not write his ticket to the UFC Hall of Fame.

So, why do I still put him in that category?

Because Belfort has evolved with the sport and remained one of the best fighters for over a decade. Dropping to middleweight assisted his spot in the hierarchy of the sport.

Not many have been able to retain success for that length of time.

Since dropping to 185 pounds, he has only lost once, when he got front kicked in the face by Anderson Silva. And his quality of wins at middleweight, and catch weight bouts as well, since that time has risen.

Belfort has found some sort of success across three divisions. Again, a task many have not been able to accomplish in the sport. While a signature title win has alluded him it does not define his career.

He has fought all over the world, in the largest promotions on the planet, and has continued to be one of the most dangerous fighters in the world for over 15 years.

A spot in the UFC Hall of Fame should not be measured in championships alone. Nor should it be measured by his UFC record alone. After all, they do now own several promotions’ rights and video libraries. The UFC Hall of Fame should include fighters from PRIDE and elsewhere, or at least include the accomplishments acquired there of their contracted fighters.

What Belfort has been able to showcase in his career has been impressive, and he has given the fans years of exciting action.

When Belfort goes back to 205 to challenge Jon Jones for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship, it will be his fifth UFC championship bout. He will enter as a heavy underdog. A win would cement his legacy in the sport. It would be a feather in his cap, but the long time mixed martial artist should not need it to enter the UFC Hall of Fame.

His long, successful career earns him that right.

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The UFC Needs to Go Back to Naming Their Events

UFC 125: Resolution was the last time the Ultimate Fighting Championship had a name attached to their pay-per-view. Since that time they have stuck with just listing the main event fight. It is, and has been, the wrong move. The UFC had built their eve…

The UFC had built their events around more than one fight, and by naming their events for just the main event they are telling the fans that it is the only one that matters. It is the complete opposite of what they had built their organization on.

It has been the difference between MMA and boxing. Mixed martial arts was built on four to six main-card bouts filling the pay-per-view, and boxing was built on the singular main event. Fans never paid attention to the undercard bouts in boxing, but that was different in MMA.

UFC 67 is a prime example. It was titled “All or Nothing” and featured the UFC debuts of Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Mirko Cro Cop as well as the UFC Middleweight Championship bout between Anderson Silva and Travis Lutter. The card was not built around Silva vs. Lutter.

Fans tuned in at 10 p.m. ET to watch fights and not a fighter. And once the main event concluded they stayed tuned in as the UFC aired a preliminary fight with the extra time they had. Casual fans barely knew Tyson Griffin and didn’t know Frankie Edgar at all, and they got a potential fight of the year contender. Had it been boxing, or what the UFC does now, those fans would have turned off the PPV.

The fans were buying the brand. Now they are being told to buy the fighters. It is not working.

UFC 125: Resolution was held on January 1,, 2011. A tough day to have an event. Folks were out celebrating the new year amidst a recession, but the event still drew 270,000 buys.

The epic clash between Edgar and Maynard was a draw and the UFC booked the rematch for October 8th. UFC 136: Edgar vs. Maynard III only did 225,000 buys. Nearly 50,000 less buys with an additional title bout between Jose Aldo and the ever popular Kenny Florian.

That can only be seen as a failure.

When asked to buy a PPV for a particular fighter or fight the public loses interest for everyone not at the peak of the sport. Only a select few can draw the big numbers. Yet, when the UFC named each event and were asking people to just buy the brand based on its history of an exciting night of fights they did better. It makes sense.

To the hardcore fan base who pays attention to every single fight it is a moot point. But for the casual fan it is a psychological trick. When it is “UFC: Fighter vs. Fighter” fans feel they can save their money until a bigger fight happens, but when it is “UFC: Subtitle” fans believe they will receive a night of fun fights regardless of who is on the card.

It is a simple change that has cost the UFC a significant number of PPV buys.

It will not add hundreds of thousands of buys to every event, but it will add several thousand. That adds up over time.

The UFC needs to get the casual fan to buy back into the brand itself and not its fighters. The pressure will be off of them when a main event falls apart and they are scrambling to replace it. The average PPV buyer will simply be expecting fun fights even if they do not know the fighters.

That is what made the UFC so successful to begin with. Naming each UFC event after the main event is failing them. It was a subtle change that has had a significant impact on the bottom line over time. It is time for Dana White and the Fertitta’s to go back to adding a cheesy title to the events.

It was a clever trick. They made the fans care about the brand first and the fighters second. What fights were on the card was secondary to what they believed they were going to get—a fun night of fights.

The UFC needs to make the fans buy back into the brand.

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UFC 153: Is This Frankie Edgar’s Last Chance at a UFC Title?

When Frankie Edgar steps into the Octagon October 13 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil he will fight in his seventh-consecutive UFC championship bout. After dropping his last two bouts against Benson Henderson, his championship record moved to 3-2-1. Will this…

When Frankie Edgar steps into the Octagon October 13 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil he will fight in his seventh-consecutive UFC championship bout.

After dropping his last two bouts against Benson Henderson, his championship record moved to 3-2-1. Will this be his last opportunity to fight for a UFC belt?

As a betting man, I would have to say no.

Edgar is one of the best, most well-rounded fighters in the world. He will turn 31 three days following UFC 153. The odds are in his favor to earn another shot at a championship should be lose to Aldo. However, it will be a long time until he earns another crack at gold should he taste defeat for the third fight in a row.

Title shots are not merely given out on merit. It is a business, and there is a blend of sport and spectacle with UFC events. While Edgar is an excellent fighter, fans have been growing restless of his fights and rematches. Edgar simply has not drawn interest in title fights. UFC 150 did a reported 190,000 buys.

With a loss, he will have to not only win, but win convincingly to excite the fan base to purchase the next title fight—something that is definitely within his capabilities.

Luckily for Edgar, the featherweight division is lacking depth. That is the biggest factor in Edgar being able to get back to a title shot in short order.

The lack of depth was highlighted by who Edgar replaced for the title shot, Erik Koch.

Koch is only 23 years of age with a 13-1 MMA record. His biggest win came at UFC 128 against Raphael Assuncao, and he followed that with a victory over Jonathan Brookins. That earned him a shot at Aldo’s title.

Looking at the list of current featherweights, there are only a couple of legitimate contenders, which gives Edgar an excellent opportunity to jump back up the divisional rankings.

“The Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung is atop the list of potential contenders, Chad Mendes is working his way back to a title shot, and Hatsu Hioki and Dustin Poirier are still in the top 10 after being dominated in their last outings.

Edgar’s decision to drop down to featherweight will prove to be an excellent move for both himself and the division. He is an instant contender, but his lack of selling ability may hamper a quick rematch for the championship should he lose to Aldo.

Edgar will look to avoid all of these questions and hypotheses by defeating the champion at UFC 153. While a loss will send him down the rankings for a lengthy period of time, one should fully expect Edgar to compete for another UFC championship again down the line.

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