A day after missing weight by an astounding 12 pounds for his UFC 142 bout against Vitor Belfort, Anthony “Rumble” Johnson was finally cut by the UFC. According to MMAJunkie.com, Johnson was handed his walking papers after a disappointing performa…
A day after missing weight by an astounding 12 pounds for his UFC 142 bout against Vitor Belfort, Anthony “Rumble” Johnson was finally cut by the UFC.
According to MMAJunkie.com, Johnson was handed his walking papers after a disappointing performance in which he was submitted by the former middleweight No. 1 contender in less than one round.
It wasn’t the loss that cost him his job, though. As Dana White said in the post-fight show on FX, it was very likely “three strikes and you’re gone” for Johnson in regards to missing weight yet again.
“That was one of the most unprofessional things I’ve ever seen,” White said. “He almost ruined the co-main event here in Brazil. I don’t know what else to say about that one. I’m not happy about it.”
A former highly-ranked welterweight contender, Johnson had struggled to make weight before, including failing twice to get down to an acceptable weight in the past.
Many experts had been calling for Johnson to move up a weight class where it would be easier for him to maintain both his strength and stamina and he finally opted to do so at UFC 142 where he made his middleweight debut against Belfort.
Well, that was the plan, anyway.
When Johnson weighed in at 197 pounds, the UFC’s hand was forced as they opted to make the fight a catchweight bout. Both fighters then weighed in prior to the contest on the day of the fight, with Belfort bulking up to 205 pounds and Johnson stepping on the scale at a ridiculous 211 pounds.
The UFC has been tough on fighters who have missed weight in the past and the lack of professionalism shown by Johnson in his move up in weight was the straw that finally broke the camel’s back.
No word has yet come down on whether Johnson will be eligible to return to the promotion anytime soon, but there is little doubt that wherever he goes, he will be looking to get his weight cutting issue under control.
Consensus top-10 women’s bantamweight contender Kaitlin Young expects 2012 to be her year. The Minnesota fighter out of The Academy started things off strong, earning a victory in her own backyard, defeating Canada’s Anna Barone in the mai…
The Minnesota fighter out of The Academy started things off strong, earning a victory in her own backyard, defeating Canada’s Anna Barone in the main event at Downtown Showdown 2.
The fight, which was originally set to take place at 140 pounds, showcased Young’s ever-growing skills on the feet as well as her ability to overcome adversity against a naturally larger opponent who did not show up prepared on weigh-in day.
“Normally I fight at 135 and occasionally I’ll go up to 140,” Young told BleacherReport.com. “And then the day before Christmas Eve, [Barone] had emailed the promoter requesting that we move up to 145. She was willing to give up a percentage of her purse, which was nice, but 145 is a lot for me.”
The women eventually agreed to a catch weight of 142 pounds, with a one pound allowance which allowed either fighter to weigh in at 143 pounds. So when Barone stepped on the scale at 147.5 and told officials that she would not be able to cut any additional weight, the fight could have been off.
“I thought maybe she would miss, but I didn’t think it’d be by that much. l mean, that’s even more than the extra weight she had asked for,” Young said. “I will say that Mel Ott and Jeremy Bjornberg [promoters] were great and didn’t pressure me at all. They made me feel super comfortable to make the decision that I thought was best.”
After weighing the pros and cons, Young opted to accept the fight with the prerequisite that neither fighter would be allowed to weigh-in above 151 pounds on the day of the fight.
“I don’t think it’s out of the realm of possibility that she realized this was in my hometown, that I probably sold tickets and that there was probably no way I was going to pull out,” Young explained. “So why make weight? Why put yourself through hell to drop another four pounds if I’m not going to pull out anyway?”
Young thoroughly dominated the fight itself, nearly breaking Barone numerous times with a series of thunderous body kicks in the first round and then following it up with some knee-buckling leg kicks in the second. The fight was eventually stopped by the doctor between the second and third rounds after Young opened up a significant cut above Barone’s right eye.
“I didn’t see how bad [the cut] was, but I heard that she got 12 stitches. I think she is a very strong-willed and tough woman, so I can see her being bothered by a fight being stopped for just a cut,” Young praised her opponent. “Honestly, I was a little surprised that the leg kicks didn’t stop her. That’s what I was hoping to do.”
A victorious Young told fans after the fight that she was looking to take some time off from the intense training schedule she had in 2011. But the time off won’t be too long as she is still looking to step back in the cage sometime in April.
“I’ll still be in the gym. I need a little time off the diet. When you train that long with a lot of intensity, you don’t get time to develop your other skills and improve your weaknesses,” she said. “I’m looking to get a little heavier into boxing, because I feel like that’s my weakness in the standup.”
As one of the top female fighters in the world, Young could certainly compete with some of the best of the best on the big stage, but told BleacherReport.com that she would not necessarily jump at the opportunity to fight for Strikeforce.
“Strikeforce has so many awesome people to compete against, but I think I would be hesitant because they have a tendency to sit on a lot of their fighters for a long time. Six months at a time even,” she explained. “I’m having a lot of opportunities in getting fights lined up right now and really with Strikeforce and ProElite, when you see how much they pay some of the female fighters, it’s at best what you can get at a local show. You can probably make more at a local show if you have decent ticket sales and sponsors.”
“It’s great exposure, but in a lot of ways, I don’t think they’re doing enough for entry-level women. Women that are just coming in there. You see them fighting for [$1500 to fight] and [$1500 to win] and I just think it’s kind of fascinating. And then you only get to fight like twice per year.”
But whether she is going to be competing in the promotion anytime soon or not, Young certainly does not shy away from expressing her opinions about the current Strikeforce bantamweight division and the upcoming title fight between Miesha Tate and Ronda Rousey.
“I think it’s total crap that Sarah Kaufman is getting stepped over for a title shot,” Young bluntly stated. “I certainly do think [Rousey] has a chance to beat Miesha and if she was just a pretty face, she would not be in line for a title shot. She’s an amazing athlete. I think that fight would have been awesome down the line, but Sarah never should have been stepped over for a title shot.”
Young herself is the owner of one of only two losses [Sarah Kaufman] that Miesha Tate has ever suffered. Her frustration with the way that other, more experienced contenders for Tate’s title have been passed by for Rousey is evident.
“I think it’s just an effort to sell tickets, and it will. So many people are going to tune in for that fight, but I also feel like it’s a very unfair situation.”
Young admitted that the Rousey-Tate fight will help to promote the women’s divisions in MMA, but also noted that there is still quite a bit of room to grow.
“Women’s MMA is essentially like 10 years back from men’s. Men’s MMA has had great athletes from other sports infiltrating for years and only really in the last year or two has that it has started to happen in women’s MMA with Ronda Rousey, Sara McMann and all these women coming from other sports,” she said. “In order for women’s MMA to hit a level it needs to, there has to be a fair number of female fighters who are able to just fight. Meaning it being they’re making enough money fighting that it can be their full-time job. That’s where you see fighters take it things the next level when they’re not having to go work eight hours at night to support their training habit.”
Young herself is not going to sit back and wait for the sport to grow, however. She continues to climb the ladder and plans to further cement her name in 2012.
“Fans can expect me to be very busy,” Young said on her plans for this year. “I plan on taking a lot of fights and hopefully continuing to work with promoters that are a little more reliable than some that I had worked with last year.”
With her growing skill-set and an elite team around her at The Academy, Young could find herself with some real opportunities over next 12 months. It will be very interesting to see where this exciting young fighter goes from here.
The house was packed Friday night, Jan. 6, at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Minneapolis for a night full of exciting fights that took place during Downtown Showdown 2, an event put on by Driller Promotions and the Sterling Entertainment Group. Friday …
The house was packed Friday night, Jan. 6, at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Minneapolis for a night full of exciting fights that took place during Downtown Showdown 2, an event put on by Driller Promotions and the Sterling Entertainment Group.
Friday night’s fights saw an upgrade in venues, as they took place in one of the Hyatt’s ballrooms. The lighting of the venue was fantastic, and it was easy for everyone to see the action.
The new venue combined with the highly energetic crowed made for an extremely exciting night that would have entertained any fight fan.
There is very little debate among the MMA world when it comes to who is the No. 1 fighter in the world of women’s mixed martial arts. Since her victory over Gina Carano in April 2009, Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos has only extended the gap between her and …
There is very little debate among the MMA world when it comes to who is the No. 1 fighter in the world of women’s mixed martial arts. Since her victory over Gina Carano in April 2009, Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos has only extended the gap between her and the other female fighters, particularly in the 145-pound weight class.
Santos most recently crushed Hiroko Yamanaka this past December when she ended the fight in just 16 seconds with a flurry of punches, sending the No. 2 featherweight fighter in the world back to Japan in quick fashion.
The victory had many people discussing not only Cyborg’s dominance as a women, but whether she might actually be able to do the unthinkable and compete with a man in the cage. We have never seen this kind of dominance from any fighter, male or female, in the history of the sport; and it is why I had personally opted to break the mold by including her in my own pound-for-pound rankings.
But all of that may have been too much as we found out earlier this week that the Strikeforce women’s featherweight champion had failed a drug test for her fight against Yamanaka. She has since been handed a one-year suspension from the California State Athletic Commission.
Though Cyborg later claimed that the positive test was not due to a steroid and was instead due to a dietary supplement to help her cut weight to get down to 145, the damage was done. Much like Chael Sonnen’s positive test for Testosterone Replacement Therapy, the average fan is not going to give Santos the benefit of the doubt on this one.
Zuffa representatives have publicly admitted that Cyborg’s suspension is going to cause major problems within the division. UFC President Dana White even took it a step further.
“We were going to hold that division and just do fights with Cyborg whenever there was a new contender,” White told ESPN Radio in Las Vegas. “She’s getting stripped of the title. This pretty much kills the division.”
While the Strikeforce women’s 135-pound weight class has been growing by leaps and bounds in recent months with the likes of Miesha Tate, Ronda Rousey, Alexis Davis and Sarah Kaufman, the 145-pound division has essentially become a wasteland since Gina Carano left.
No real challengers for Cyborg are available at 145 now that Rousey dropped to 135 and it was going to be tough for Strikeforce to really continue to promote Mike Tyson-like beatdowns from Cyborg on these poor women who stand no chance against her.
As White essentially stated, this suspension may be the excuse Zuffa needs to finally put an end to this weight class entirely.
Sure, women’s 145-pound MMA will still survive outside of Strikeforce, but on the big stage of a Zuffa promotion, we may have seen the last of it with Cyborg vs. Yamanaka.
But that’s not necessarily all bad news. Perhaps the removal of the 145-pound division could lead to some of the featherweights dropping down to 135 to help bolster that growing division. Or maybe Strikeforce could begin promoting a 140-pound catch weight division that would better encompass the women from both weight classes.
Either way, 2012 is going to be an interesting time for women’s MMA. Can it survive without Cyborg and (most likely) without Carano making her return? Strikeforce is doing their part by promoting a fight card headlined by Miesha Tate vs. Ronda Rousey in March, in addition to adding Alexis Davis vs. Sarah Kaufman on the same card.
Women’s MMA still has a long way to go before it is accepted by the mainstream, but with Cyborg gone, these four women are going to have so step up to save their own weight class from becoming extinct like the 145-pound division.
For more MMA news, fighter interviews and opinions, follow Nick Caron: @NicholasCaron
The lack of depth in the Strikeforce middleweight division was on full display on Saturday night, as champion Luke Rockhold made the first title defense of his career against UFC veteran Keith Jardine.Always a gamer no matter who he’s fighting against,…
The lack of depth in the Strikeforce middleweight division was on full display on Saturday night, as champion Luke Rockhold made the first title defense of his career against UFC veteran Keith Jardine.
Always a gamer no matter who he’s fighting against, Keith Jardine posed some interesting challenges for Rockhold, but the champion showcased his overall game by knocking out the “Dean of Mean” late in the first round.
The decision to book Jardine-Rockhold was met with quite a bit of controversy, as most believed that Jardine didn’t deserve to be anywhere near a title fight, especially considering that he has never even fought at 185 pounds. In Strikeforce’s defense, however, Jardine wasn’t the first choice.
Originally, it was supposed to be Luke Rockhold vs. unanimous top Strikeforce contender Tim Kennedy, but Kennedy had to pass on the fight because of an injury he sustained while helping out a teammate in preparation for another fight.
So when Rockhold won the fight on Saturday night and was asked about who he believes his next opponent should be, he answered with Kennedy’s name, right?
Wrong.
The Strikeforce champion not only didn’t mention Kennedy’s name, he actually discouraged a fight with anyone on the promotion’s current roster. Instead, he called out Zuffa as an organization and asked them to give him an opponent from the UFC’s roster of middleweights because he wants to fight someone who is in the top 10.
While there is no question that the UFC has a deeper roster that is full of potential, quality opponents for Rockhold, the truth is that he is unfairly looking past Tim Kennedy.
Even if Kennedy isn’t a consensus top 10 fighter at this point, he is right on the edge of it. It’s not like a win over Kennedy is worthless. In fact, a win over Kennedy would almost certainly cement Rockhold as a top 10 fighter himself.
The disrespect that Rockhold showed for the Strikeforce middleweight division, unfortunately, is fair. But regardless of what Rockhold says, Tim Kennedy deserves a title fight whenever he is healthy enough to get back in the cage.
In a sport built on respect and discipline like mixed martial arts, it’s not often that there is legitimate bad blood between two fighters. What’s even more rare is when it’s two fighters who don’t even work for the same promotion, who have never fough…
In a sport built on respect and discipline like mixed martial arts, it’s not often that there is legitimate bad blood between two fighters. What’s even more rare is when it’s two fighters who don’t even work for the same promotion, who have never fought one another, that simply do not like one another.
However, that’s exactly the situation between Strikeforce’s “King Mo” Muhammed Lawal and the UFC’s Quinton “Rampage” Jackson.
The ongoing war of words between these two fighters is well-documented and only grew in intensity after Saturday night’s Strikeforce event in Las Vegas.
In a post-fight interview, the ever-confident Lawal trashed Jackson to reporters, brushing off even the possibility that Jackson could take him in a fight.
“Why you got bring up that bum’s name?” Lawal asked reporters who suggested the possible grudge match with Rampage for his next fight. “If [Jackson] wants to come to Strikeforce and get beat, he can.”
“To me in my mind and in my eyes, he don’t got it no more.”
Though Lawal apparently believes that Jackson is no longer a top-level fighter, the point remains that a fight between these two light heavyweights could make for some serious fireworks in the cage.
We haven’t yet seen King Mo in a real war with someone who he truly doesn’t like, but Jackson has been there before many times, including his intense rivalry with the man who coached opposite from him on The Ultimate Fighter, Rashad Evans.
The fight itself between those two wasn’t even for a title, but the real-life feelings between the competitors sparked great interest from fans as the fight headlined one of the most-watched UFC events in history.
Zuffa has a chance to capture that kind of rivalry again. It’s time to book the fight between “King Mo” and “Rampage.”
Given Rampage’s recent struggles against top talent in the UFC, it’s hard to believe that he’s going to get back to title contention anytime soon. Why not bring over a well-known fighter like Jackson to headline a big Strikeforce event against Lawal?
Zuffa can’t sit and wait, hoping that there is going to be some sort of sudden influx of talent in the Strikeforce light heavyweight division. The division is practically bare, with Lawal having essentially defeated everyone worth noting other than Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante.
Saturday night’s fight card was headlined by Keith Jardine, a fighter making his middleweight debut at the age of 36 and had only won two of his previous eight fights. He was fighting for a title against Luke Rockhold.
That fight alone gives us a pretty obvious indication of where the current Strikeforce roster is.
The reality is that after the UFC grabbed the likes of Alistair Overeem, Nick Diaz, Dan Henderson and Jake Shields, there just really isn’t much left.
Why not give back to the Strikeforce roster in the form of Jackson, a fighter who fans easily recognize and love, and put him in a fight that everyone wants to see against an opponent that actually makes sense?
King Mo vs. Rampage Jackson could be one of the biggest fights in the history of the promotion and it could realistically help save the dwindling Strikeforce light heavyweight division.
Consensus