Birmingham, England played host to tonight’s UFC 138 event headlined by Mark Muñoz and Chris Leben. “The Filipino Wrecking Machine” defeated “The Crippler” by doctor’s stoppage between the second and third rou…
Birmingham, England played host to tonight’s UFC 138 event headlined by Mark Muñoz and Chris Leben. “The Filipino Wrecking Machine” defeated “The Crippler” by doctor’s stoppage between the second and third rounds.
It wasn’t the most stacked event ever, but it was definitely a card worth watching with an entertaining main event.
Like most MMA events, tonight proved again that you don’t necessarily have to be involved in the fight card to be affected by its outcome. The real winners and losers often don’t show up in the record books, and tonight was no different as many outsiders were affected.
With that said, let’s take a closer look at UFC 138: Muñoz vs. Leben and examine who the real winners and losers were.
UFC 138 is set for this weekend, but given the lack of media attention that the event is receiving, one has to wonder if a different main event might have helped spark some additional interest in the fight card. Though the current main event betw…
UFC 138 is set for this weekend, but given the lack of media attention that the event is receiving, one has to wonder if a different main event might have helped spark some additional interest in the fight card.
Though the current main event between Chris Leben and Mark Munoz has some intrigue to it, there are plenty of other fights scheduled now that could have probably made for a better main event.
The one that sticks out like a sore thumb, though, is the fight currently scheduled to be the semi-main event for the very first UFC on FOX event next Saturday night, Clay Guida vs. Ben Henderson.
The lightweight contest has all the makings of being one of the best fights of the year. Two highly entertaining fighters will do battle with the winner, very likely earning the next shot at current UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar in 2012.
Henderson has only fought twice in the UFC, but his dominant victory over Mark Bocek and a somewhat surprisingly easy-looking victory over fellow top-five contender Jim Miller has already put him in the driver’s seat for a shot at the title. A former WEC champion, Henderson has been in the spotlight of the main event before and has never failed to put on a show for the fans.
Clay Guida’s story is quite different.
Although he, too, has always been known for putting on highly entertaining fights for the fans, Guida had found himself having trouble breaking into the truly elite level of the lightweight division in the UFC just a couple years ago.
In order to cure those struggles, he decided to make the move to train with perhaps the best fight camp in America today and head trainer Greg Jackson at Jackson’s Submission Fighting.
From that point on, Guida’s career has been going in a dramatically different direction.
Now 4-0 in his past four fights, Guida has his eyes set on the prize that has eluded him throughout his entire five-year UFC career—the UFC light heavyweight championship.
There’s every reason in the world to believe that Clay Guida vs. Ben Henderson could be one of the fights of the year and, unlike the Leben-Munoz fight that will be headlining UFC 138, this fight actually has immediate title implications.
Typically the UFC does an excellent job of getting this type of fight in front of its fans. Unfortunately, this time it seems as if they have dropped the ball in a bad way. Not only is the very important fight between Guida and Henderson not going to be the main event, it is not going to be on the televised UFC on FOX event at all.
UFC President Dana White announced months ago that there would only be one televised fight on the inaugural UFC on FOX card, that being the heavyweight title fight between Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos.
Many of us thought that he might change his opinion given that there is a very realistic possibility that the heavyweight title fight doesn’t even last one round, but it appears that he and the FOX executives are sticking to their guns.
The No. 1 contenders’ fight between Henderson and Guida has been relegated to Facebook duty.
Are you kidding me?!
Sure, plenty of people tune in to watch the fights on Facebook, but it’s hard to get amped up about a fight if you’re watching it on your 12” MacBook Pro when you could be watching it on your 60” Plasma screen with surround sound.
It just doesn’t feel the same, does it?
The opportunity to move this fight to the main event of UFC 138 was there and it just never seemed to happen.
People are going to tune in to watch UFC on FOX: Velasquez vs. dos Santos no matter what, so it’s not like having a fight like Henderson-Guida on Facebook is going to bring in significantly more viewers. However, putting it as the main event, or at least the semi-main event for UFC 138, could’ve done wonders for what is otherwise a relatively weak fight card.
The UFC typically makes pretty good decisions when it comes to the placement of its fights and I’m sure there’s a perfectly logical explanation to all of this, but on the surface it really looks like they missed the mark by not putting Guida vs. Henderson on the UFC 138 fight card.
The UFC is known for putting on some of the most exciting events in all of sports. Not only do fans in attendance rise to their feet to cheer on their favorite fighters, but those watching at home arguably get an even better experience as the unique ca…
The UFC is known for putting on some of the most exciting events in all of sports. Not only do fans in attendance rise to their feet to cheer on their favorite fighters, but those watching at home arguably get an even better experience as the unique camera angles and overall production value from the world’s biggest MMA promotion are unmatched.
So why, then, is this weekend’s UFC 138 fight card from Birmingham, England getting so much criticism from those who call themselves fans of the sport?
Certainly the fact that this event is across the pond and will not be available live on television in the United States is a tough sell to some, but there seems to be a growing number of fans who are considering flat-out skipping this event and just skipping UFC 138 like it was the 13th floor in a hotel.
Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t the greatest card that the UFC has ever put on, but I truly believe that this event is being highly underrated by those fans who aren’t even going to watch it.
In fact, I’ve put together a list of the top-five reasons that I believe no true UFC fan should miss UFC 138. So put your Haterade down and read on!
Perhaps the insane weight-cutting has finally gotten to Anthony “Rumble” Johnson. We learned today that the world’s largest welterweight will be taking a step that few fighters do in today’s MMA by actually moving up in weight t…
Perhaps the insane weight-cutting has finally gotten to Anthony “Rumble” Johnson. We learned today that the world’s largest welterweight will be taking a step that few fighters do in today’s MMA by actually moving up in weight to join the UFC’s 185-pound middleweight division.
Johnson, who recently knocked out Charlie Brenneman on Oct. 1, is well-known for making one of the most dramatic weight-cuts in the sport as he starts as high as 225-pounds, leaving him with a 55-pound drop down to the 170-pound welterweight division.
Some have questioned the health aspects of making this kind of dramatic weight-cut prior to competing in such an intense sport, something which he and his camp have addressed in the past.
Now it appears that they have made the decision that their fighter would be better suited to compete at 185, where he will still be one of the largest athletes in the division.
There are quite a few other fighters who have moved down in weight classes in the past in order to take advantage of their larger physiques, but Johnson is going in the opposite direction. He shouldn’t be alone, either. In fact, there are quite a few MMA fighters right now who should seriously consider a move up in weight classes.
In this slideshow, we’ll take a look at seven current fighters who should join Anthony Johnson in moving up a weight class.
BJ Penn announced what might have been his retirement in his postfight interview with Joe Rogan at UFC 137 after losing a unanimous decision to Nick Diaz. The disheartened former UFC welterweight champion hung his head low in what was the worst beating…
BJ Penn announced what might have been his retirement in his postfight interview with Joe Rogan at UFC 137 after losing a unanimous decision to Nick Diaz. The disheartened former UFC welterweight champion hung his head low in what was the worst beating he has ever received.
Though Penn fought valiantly and showed tremendous heart in the fight, he just didn’t look like the old BJ Penn. Diaz himself admitted in the postfight press conference that he didn’t think Penn is fighting where he should be.
“He’s the best there is,” Diaz told reporters. “But he should be fighting at 155.”
A former lightweight champion, Penn moved back up to 170 pounds after back-to-back losses to current champion Frankie Edgar. Though he had already lost twice to Georges St-Pierre as well, Penn felt more comfortable having to cut less weight to compete at welterweight.
“I think if he trained with me, he would’ve gotten in shape and won some of those fights,” Diaz added about Penn, who he regarded as one of his favorite people in the entire sport of MMA.
As tough as it might be to hear, Diaz is telling the truth. Penn simply isn’t training at the level he should be. Unlike many fighters who temporarily relocate to work with a top-level training camp, Penn has trained primarily in his home state of Hawaii.
It’s hard to blame a father for wanting to be with his family. However, if Penn wants to continue fighting at the high level he expects of himself, he just isn’t getting the competition he needs in training. He certainly isn’t working with the level of partners that Nick Diaz does, such as his brother Nate, Jake Shields, Gilbert Melendez and the members of Cesar Gracie Jiu-Jitsu.
Penn doesn’t really train with any top-25 partners outside of his occasional work with Matt Hughes, who has struggled in his older years and has always been mediocre in the standup game.
A permanent move to California to train with Diaz and the boys at Cesar Gracie Jiu-Jitsu could be just what the doctor ordered if Penn is looking for a career resurgence. These guys train as hard as anyone in the sport and Penn is already friends with the Diaz brothers. The transition wouldn’t be as dramatic as it might seem.
No one could blame BJ if he does decide to retire. However, if he chooses to make a return to the Octagon, he needs to step up his training to get back to the elite level that he was once at.
Last night’s UFC 137 main event between Nick Diaz and BJ Penn will be remembered for many things, but perhaps none more than the damage on Penn’s face during the 15-minute slug-fest. He wasn’t alone, either, as Diaz himself will certa…
Last night’s UFC 137 main event between Nick Diaz and BJ Penn will be remembered for many things, but perhaps none more than the damage on Penn’s face during the 15-minute slug-fest. He wasn’t alone, either, as Diaz himself will certainly be nursing some wounds over the next few days.
Though they looked terrible after the fight, Penn and Diaz were only two of many memorably awful-looking post-fight faces this year. So with that in mind, let’s take a look back at the best of the worst examples of facial damage in MMA from 2011.
