We have all been there. We think we are alone and start singing, air drumming, acting, etc. when someone walks into the room to bust us. And instant embarrassment sets in. Elite fighters are not immune.
UFC strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk is on…
We have all been there. We think we are alone and start singing, air drumming, acting, etc. when someone walks into the room to bust us. And instant embarrassment sets in. Elite fighters are not immune.
UFC strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk is one of us.
Jedrzejczyk has been on the shelf since defeating Valerie Letourneau at UFC 193 with a broken hand. The champion underwent surgery to repair the appendage, and she has yet to resume full-time training. It is beginning to make the champion a bit stir crazy.
She was busted shadowboxing in the morning. She can be seen sliding around the room in her socks while throwing hands, and takes a seat on the couch to bury her embarrassment when she gets caught. Something the vast majority of us can relate to doing at least at one point in our lives.
It is just another endearing social media post from the champion. It showcases her personality and connects with her fans.
Jedrzejczyk has no fight date set in stone, but the champion has been linked to being the next coach for the upcoming season of The Ultimate Fighter. No. 1-ranked contender Claudia Gadelha is rumored to be the opposing coach.
As Jedrzejczyk recovers from the injury, the television program would play well in adding a bit of intrigue to the impending title tilt. Gadelha and Jedrzejczyk fought at UFC on Fox 13 in December of 2014. The bout was razor-thin, with Jedrzejczyk getting the nod to propel her to her 2015 title shot.
The upcoming season had a casting call for three divisions: strawweight, women’s bantamweight and light heavyweight. The results of the casting have not yet been released.
Perhaps we will see Jedrzejczyk’s charismatic personality on the show, but if not, you can always follow her antics on Instagram. She is a must-follow and is quickly becoming one of the most likable champions on the UFC’s roster.
UFC 195 plays host to one of the welterweight matchups in welterweight history.
UFC welterweight champion Robbie Lawler (26-10, 1 NC) defends his crown against No. 4-ranked contender Carlos Condit (30-8).
Lawler defended his title for the first time at…
UFC 195 plays host to one of the welterweight matchups in welterweight history.
UFC welterweight champion Robbie Lawler (26-10, 1 NC) defends his crown against No. 4-ranked contender Carlos Condit (30-8).
Lawler defended his title for the first time at UFC 189 in an instant classic against Rory MacDonald. After years of chasing gold, he now sits atop the division trying to hold off the sharks circling around him. Condit will have his second chance at the undisputed belt when he steps into the cage on Saturday.
This is a perfect fight for fans. Both men are elite fighters who have an aggressive style of refusing to back down. It is as close to a guarantee of fireworks as the UFC could possible provide.
The question is—who has the edge?
The two longtime veterans are evenly matched, but there are some key differences that will come into play in the main event on Saturday. Let’s break it down and see which 170-pound fighter will walk out of Las Vegas as the champion.
It was the biggest upset of 2015, Holly Holm’s knockout of Ronda Rousey sent shock waves through the MMA universe. And as the calendar is set to turn to 2016, the UFC is getting set for the rematch
The date has been reserved, UFC 200 on July 9. I just …
It was the biggest upset of 2015, Holly Holm’s knockout of Ronda Rousey sent shock waves through the MMA universe. And as the calendar is set to turn to 2016, the UFC is getting set for the rematch
The date has been reserved, UFC 200 on July 9. I just happen to think that rushing this rematch is leaving dollars on the table and not giving fans the best rematch possible.
UFC President Dana White told ESPN radio show Mike & Mike (via WrestlingInc.com), “I think that if we didn’t make the rematch, me, and Lorenzo (Fertitta, UFC CEO) should probably lose our promoters’ license.” It’s a strong statement that the rematch is such big business that they have to capitalize on it immediately. Undoubtedly, it is a monster rematch, and there would be a big risk in waiting to pull the trigger—but it’s a risk that I believe the UFC should take.
The risk is obvious: either Holm or Rousey could lose before the rematch happening. However, given the skills of both, and their prospective opponents, that is a minuscule risk.
It’s also a risk that the UFC bantamweight champion, Holm, sounds like she would be willing to take. She wants to defend her belt sooner rather than later, and the top contender waiting in the wings is No. 2-ranked Miesha Tate.
Tate is a credible challenger with the skills to topple Holm, but the champion should be a solid favorite in that fight. There is little Tate can do that Holm hasn’t already proved to be able to stop in a fight, and her striking advantage is immense. For the UFC, following Holm’s upset of Rousey, this title tilt should pull in solid pay-per-view numbers to continue to make Holm a bigger star.
So, what does the UFC do with Rousey?
By virtue of waiting for this monumental rematch, the UFC give Rousey time to improve. She was not caught like Jose Aldo against Conor McGregor. She was destroyed. She was made to look so inferior that no fight fan could realistically think that an immediate rematch would be competitive. Rousey had no answer for Holm’s footwork at UFC 193.
After taking time off and filming a couple of movies, would one camp be enough to solve all the problems that surface in the Octagon that night? Highly unlikely.
Rousey’s return to the cage will be a big deal no matter who she squares off against inside the Octagon. So why would the UFC not capitalize on it and make it an event of itself? She would not have to fight a top-five ranked contender to draw at the box office. Her return could be against anyone the UFC believes is the safest matchup possible, and people will tune in to see Rousey return.
There’s intrigue into how she will look coming back off the loss, and it could be built around her story of redemption.
Should Rousey and Holm both win, in the late fall or winter of 2016, the rematch would be even bigger. And it would be better having given Rousey the most time possible to allow her to address the holes in her game before trying to defeat the new champion.
The big risk in waiting is if Rousey loses, not Holm. If Holm loses, she is still “the one that knocked out Ronda Rousey” in the eyes of most fans, and a rematch down the line would still do solid numbers. There are a multitude of favorable matchups for Rousey to take to rebuild her image and confidence before trying to reclaim her title.
The UFC is leaving money on the table by rushing this rematch. There is most definitely validity to capitalizing on this fight as soon as possible, but they cannot see the forest through the trees on this matter.
The risk vs. reward factor for the Holm-Rousey rematch tips in favor of the reward for waiting. The UFC is just trigger-happy.
If the UFC would roll the dice, they could come out with another big year at the bank. And the fans would also get a better fight out of the rematch.
Rafael dos Anjos left no doubt who is the king of the lightweight division at UFC on Fox 17 on Saturday night.
He won the belt from Anthony Pettis earlier in 2015, but there were still questions about his win. Was it an off night for Pettis? Did Dos An…
Rafael dos Anjos left no doubt who is the king of the lightweight division at UFC on Fox 17 on Saturday night.
He won the belt from Anthony Pettis earlier in 2015, but there were still questions about his win. Was it an off night for Pettis? Did Dos Anjos just have a great night with a great game plan? Or was he the best in the world? Well, he is the best in the world.
The champion made his first defense against Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone.
In just a little over a minute, it was over. Dos Anjos hurt Cerrone and swarmed relentlessly until the referee halted the bout. It was a dominant performance that ended the UFC’s 2015 campaign in astonishing fashion. Dos Anjos showed that his title win was not a fluke and that he has truly progressed into being one of the pound-for-pound elites in the game.
What’s next for the champion of the world and everyone else on the card? Let’s take a look at the matches to make following UFC on Fox 17.
The UFC 194 fight week festivities were plentiful, but there was one moment that was perhaps more memorable than any other, and that was when the UFC 194 weigh-in crowd decided to serenade Holly Holm.
Holm was the fighter chosen for the pre-weigh-in Q&…
The UFC 194 fight week festivities were plentiful, but there was one moment that was perhaps more memorable than any other, and that was when the UFC 194 weigh-in crowd decided to serenade Holly Holm.
Holm was the fighter chosen for the pre-weigh-in Q&A, and why not? She had just completed the biggest upset of the year when she dispatched of Ronda Rousey with a vicious knockout at UFC 193. She has gotten love and respect from pundits, fighters, media and, yes, the fans.
When one Irish fan got to the mic, he did not ask Holm a question. Instead, he began to sing Frankie Valli’s classic “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You.” What happened next was not expected but will go down as one of the most heartwarming moments of the weekend—the rest of the crowd joined in singing along.
The live experience was something special.
If this had come from just the one fan, he might have gotten cut off by moderator Megan Olivi to keep things moving along. However, when the rest of the crowd joined in, it was clear this was a moment that needed to happen.
Holm seemingly blushed on stage as the large crowd sang her the tune.
After the knockout, there was a question looming over the division. Could anyone become anything near the draw that Rousey was during her reign? That is still yet to be seen, but if this crowd response is any indicator, the UFC might have yet another viable star in the women’s 135-pound division.
Holm, at least according to these fans, is just too good to be true.
The fight is finally here. Junior dos Santos (17-3) vs. Alistair Overeem (39-14, 1 NC). A fight that fans have been waiting for since Overeem was signed to the company and a stylistic matchup that should deliver some of the best heavyweight action all …
The fight is finally here. Junior dos Santos (17-3) vs. Alistair Overeem (39-14, 1 NC). A fight that fans have been waiting for since Overeem was signed to the company and a stylistic matchup that should deliver some of the best heavyweight action all year.
Too bad it doesn’t mean much of anything anymore.
The magic is gone.
When this fight was highly anticipated, Dos Santos was the heavyweight champion of the world and Overeem looked like a world-beater coming in as the Strikeforce champion. But injuries, definitive losses and missed opportunities kept pushing back the date for the fight.
Now, in December 2015, this fight isn’t even the main event. It’s lucky to be a co-main event on a Fox event.
One could argue that it still means a lot because of how wafer-thin the heavyweight division is, and those who would say that are not entirely wrong. The division does need new life, but Overeem has been knocked out by lesser guys, and a big win over Dos Santos won’t enthuse a wide range of fans to buy into him as a realistic threat. As for Dos Santos, two defining losses to Cain Velasquez took all the steam out of his championship hopes.
If this fight had taken place years ago, it would have drawn a quality buyrate for the UFC and been big business in Las Vegas. All you need to know about how big this fight is now is that it’s being fought in Orlando.
That’s not a slight to the beautiful city of Orlando; it’s only to say that it’s not a fight hub where big fights go to be showcased to the world. It’s not Las Vegas, Los Angeles or any other big market for the UFC.
Fans notice the lack of shine to this fight.
With a victory, perhaps Dos Santos could move himself into title contention, but he has to hope that Fabricio Werdum beats Velasquez again. No one wants to see him fight Velasquez for a fourth time. His hopes at a title shot depend on someone else.
Overeem could move himself into serious title contention with a win, but he, too, is not in position for a title shot with a win.
This fight means little in the way of the heavyweight division. It won’t drastically alter the landscape should either win. It’s a statement of how ragged the division is as we move into 2016. Regardless, as fight fans, we are still privileged to see this fight take place.
It is still a good matchup, and it will still be fun to watch. But do not fool yourself into believing this has any lasting impact. It’s not the fight it could have been.
We have all been there. We think we are alone and start singing, air drumming, acting, etc. when someone walks into the room to bust us. And instant embarrassment sets in. Elite fighters are not immune.