UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo successfully defended his title last night against veteran fighter Kenny Florian. Though Florian put up a good performance and even arguably won a couple of rounds, the fight never really seemed like it was slipping…
UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo successfully defended his title last night against veteran fighter Kenny Florian. Though Florian put up a good performance and even arguably won a couple of rounds, the fight never really seemed like it was slipping away from the champion.
Aldo has now made it five championship victories, though his actual winning streak extends 13 fights, all the way back to May 2006. The unbelievable streak has included victories over most of the top 145-pound fighters in the world, including previous WEC featherweight champions Urijah Faber and Mike Brown.
Some believe that Aldo has cleared out the 145-pound division so much that he should really consider making the move up to 155 pounds to give himself a bigger challenge. But on the contrary, there are still numerous exciting contenders remaining for Jose Aldo at 145 pounds. Here are the top five challengers remaining for Aldo right now in the UFC featherweight division.
Frankie Edgar showed why he is perhaps the most resilient fighter in all of MMA last night when he fought back from a near knockout in the first round to knockout Gray Maynard in the fourth round of their UFC 136 contest. The UFC lightweight champion h…
Frankie Edgar showed why he is perhaps the most resilient fighter in all of MMA last night when he fought back from a near knockout in the first round to knockout Gray Maynard in the fourth round of their UFC 136 contest.
The UFC lightweight champion has now earned at least one victory over every opponent he has ever fought and despite the fact that he took some serious damage in each of his past two fights, it appears that he is ready to be the UFC’s next long-term champion… Or does it?
As Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg spoke about last night, Edgar is the champion in what may very well be the most stacked division ever assembled in the sport of mixed martial arts. With contenders like Clay Guida, Ben Henderson, Joe Lauzon, Melvin Guillard and countless others currently competing at 155-pounds, there is still a lot of competition for Frankie Edgar’s throne. Not only that, but it looks like it’s about to get a lot better with the addition of Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez.
Though it hasn’t been officially announced yet, UFC President Dana White made it very apparent that the promotion is well on its way to signing Melendez to a long-term contract. Not only that, he alluded to the possibility that Melendez may skip over all contenders in the division and get an instant shot at the UFC lightweight championship in what will essentially be a title unification bout.
As dominant as Frankie Edgar has been at times in his fights with BJ Penn and even with Gray Maynard in the later rounds, there is a very realistic concern that he may be taking too much damage early in fights. Gray Maynard punished Edgar in first round of both their second and third fights, but while been impressive in his UFC career, he is certainly not known as a finisher.
But unlike Gray Maynard who has only finished two opponents in 13 career MMA fights (technically three if you count the fight against Rob Emerson), Gilbert Melendez is a stone-cold killer who has finished over half of his opponents, checking in with 12 finishes in 21 career fights.
Melendez doesn’t have the size or strength that Maynard does, but quite frankly, it hasn’t been Maynard’s size that has caused Edgar problems in their fights. Despite having some of the best boxing skills in the UFC, it has been Edgar’s sometimes shaky striking defense that has allowed Maynard to nearly knock him out on numerous occasions.
Maynard tried his hardest, but he was just unable to finish off the lightweight champion. But you can rest assured that if he is lucky enough to get Edgar reeling, Gilbert Melendez will not fail to finish.
There are plenty of UFC fighters who deserve a title shot right now, but the reality is that the one who has the best chance of defeating Frankie Edgar might not even be officially part of the UFC roster yet.
So far, 2011 has been a tough year for the former UFC light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans. With the news that Lyoto Machida will be getting the next title shot at Jon Jones at UFC 140, it just got worse. Some would say that Rashad Evans has done th…
So far, 2011 has been a tough year for the former UFC light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans. With the news that Lyoto Machida will be getting the next title shot at Jon Jones at UFC 140, it just got worse.
Some would say that Rashad Evans has done this to himself with his desire to sit out last year and wait for his title shot instead of competing and staying active, but no matter your personal opinion on that matter, Rashad Evans does deserve the next shot at the title after Machida.
Rashad Evans brought an undefeated 13-0-1 professional record into his UFC 98 fight with Lyoto Machida. The UFC light heavyweight champion was riding one of the most impressive streaks we had ever seen in the sport, and it looked as if he had a good chance of being the Anderson Silva or Georges St-Pierre of his division, dominating it for years.
The whole fantasy came to a crashing halt, however, when Evans was violently knocked out by Machida in the second round of their fight, continuing his own undefeated record while ending Evans’ in the process.
At the time, it looked as if the destructive loss had the potential to be a career-halting defeat for a fighter. We’ve seen that kind of thing happen so many times in the past. A talented young fighter comes into some great success then suffers a humiliating loss that affects him for the rest of his career.
Rashad didn’t let that happen.
After coaching against Rampage Jackson on The Ultimate Fighter: The Heavyweights, Evans would step back into the cage in January 2010 when he defeated one of the top up-and-coming light heavyweights in the sport, Thiago Silva.
The win was impressive, but it wasn’t until he finally got to fight Rampage Jackson at UFC 114 that we really got the feeling that the former champion was “back.” Evans dominated Jackson throughout most of the fight while also escaping a near knockout in the third round, but won his second-straight decision over a consensus top-10 opponent.
A victory over Rampage earned Evans the spot of No. 1 contender in the light heavyweight division for the second time in his career. He was ready to fight champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, but the champion suffered a knee injury in his victory over Machida. The knee injury required surgery and would keep him out of action until early 2011.
Rather than get back in the cage and fight again, Evans opted to hold out for Shogun to get healthy again. Unfortunately, Evans then suffered an injury of his own which knocked him out of their eventually-scheduled bout at UFC 128.
As we all know now, Jon Jones replaced Evans in that title fight and became the new champion while Evans found himself in a make-shift fight against Tito Ortiz. The victory over Ortiz had Evans penciled in again as the No. 1 contender, but an injured thumb has once again knocked him out of that position.
At this point, it’s difficult not to feel bad for “Suga,” as this long streak of bad luck just continues to haunt him. Still, even given the bad luck, injuries and questionable decision-making, it’s hard to argue that Rashad is still by far the best candidate to fight for the title next.
No matter who ends up leaving UFC 140 with the title, there is an interesting story for a fight with Evans. If Machida wins, a rematch with Evans only makes sense, this time with Machida defending and Evans challenging. But if Jones wins, the long-brewing feud between the former teammates could make for one of the most anticipated fights of 2012.
The phrase “Jon Jones bares all” now has a new meaning as the UFC champion has been featured, in the buff, in this month’s ESPN Magazine Body Issue. This will be the third annual edition of the “Body issue,” the first of w…
The phrase “Jon Jones bares all” now has a new meaning as the UFC champion has been featured, in the buff, in this month’s ESPN Magazine Body Issue.
This will be the third annual edition of the “Body issue,” the first of which was released in 2009 and has been highly anticipated as it highlights the physiques of some of the world’s most ripped athletes.
Jones joins fellow world-class athletes such as Gretchen Bleiler, Steven Jackson and Hope Solo in this year’s issue which is sure to turn heads with the running tagline, “Bodies We Want.”
The 24-year-old Jones won’t be the first MMA fighter to make it in the magazine, though, as he will be following in the footsteps of two Strikeforce competitors and a UFC Hall of Famer. Female fighter Gina Carano was the cover athlete in 2009 and Herschel Walker in 2010. Randy Couture and his infamous cauliflower ear also made it into the 2009 edition.
“Bones” recently defended his UFC light heavyweight title against Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and made waves through the media when he rewarded himself by purchasing a brand new Bentley this week. But it might be his pictures for ESPN that really keep him in the spotlight for the rest of October.
The appearance in the magazine continues to prove that mixed martial arts and specifically the UFC are becoming more mainstream with each passing day. Though the promotion has had its problems with ESPN in the past, the two sides have at least decided to put aside their differences in an effort to provide some very unique content to the fans.
UFC President Dana White is one of the most controversial figures not just in the sport of MMA, but in all of sports. His up-front personality and often times foul language isn’t exactly what we see from other executives in the major sports.But s…
UFC President Dana White is one of the most controversial figures not just in the sport of MMA, but in all of sports. His up-front personality and often times foul language isn’t exactly what we see from other executives in the major sports.
But somehow, this strong-headed businessman from Boston has turned himself into a household name while helping to make the MMA promotion the fastest growing sports organization in the world.
Given his success as the man in charge of the UFC, White’s list of accomplishments seems to grow on almost a weekly basis. At times, it’s almost as if we get a new piece of huge breaking news every morning.
He may not be the traditional suit-and-tie businessman that you would get from someone like Bud Selig from the MLB or Roger Goodell from the NFL, but White’s success in promoting his sport has to make him a strong candidate for being the best executive in all of sports.
So as we inch closer to the very important inaugural UFC on FOX event, let’s take a look back at the 10 biggest moments of Dana White’s career as UFC President.
When Floyd Mayweather sucker-punched Victor Ortiz to earn a knockout victory earlier this month, the boxing world was sent into a tailspin.It wasn’t that the undefeated (42-0) Mayweather wasn’t winning the fight, but it almost seemed as if …
When Floyd Mayweather sucker-punched Victor Ortiz to earn a knockout victory earlier this month, the boxing world was sent into a tailspin.
It wasn’t that the undefeated (42-0) Mayweather wasn’t winning the fight, but it almost seemed as if he went out of his way to land the cheap shot. Worse yet, he was completely unapologetic about it after the fight.
Mayweather instantly became public enemy No. 1 in the boxing world, joining other fighters like the UFC’s Brock Lesnar, who have practically come right out and revealed themselves to be anti-heroes, even villains, in combat sports.
Being the “bad guy” isn’t always embraced by fans, but it’s something that has earned some of these fighters a lot of money. Perhaps even more money than they could have ever earned if they were more fan favorites.
Pro wrestling learned many years ago that while it is the “good guy” who the fans will rally behind, it is the “bad guy” who truly makes them their money by enticing fans to attend events, purchase pay-per-views and spend money on merchandise to support that “good guy.”
Certainly pro wrestling is different than real competition, but these concepts still remain true. Just ask yourself, “How many times have I cheered against someone more than I was really cheering for his opponent?” The answer may surprise you.
These fighters have not only accepted their role as “bad guys” in combat sports, which is why they have been named the 10 best villains in combat sports today.
