Author: Richard Langford

Rousey vs. Kaufman: Rowdy Ronda Is an Unbeatable Champion

Ronda Rousey is one of the most dominant forces in sports, and there is no sign of this reign coming to an end. If this wasn’t clear before, it is now, after Rousey dispatched of her latest opponent, just as she has with all her previous, with an armba…

Ronda Rousey is one of the most dominant forces in sports, and there is no sign of this reign coming to an end. If this wasn’t clear before, it is now, after Rousey dispatched of her latest opponent, just as she has with all her previous, with an armbar in the first round. 

There was a thought out there that Rousey would face her first real challenge as an MMA fighter in her her first title defense against Sarah Kaufman. 

After all, Kaufman is an extremely accomplished fighter. Heading into Saturday’s bout, she was 15-1 as a professional, and that included her winning the Hardcore Championship Fighting Women’s Bantamweight Championship and beating former Strikeforce champ Miesha Tate by unanimous decision. 

During all of this, she had also displayed good takedown defense. 

Also, you have to figure in Rousey‘s rush to fame. This was her first title defense, and between the time of her winning the title, which she won by beating Tate, and now, Rousey has increased her stardom exponentially. She has been showing up at Hollywood events and popping off soundbytes left and right. 

There was reason enough to speculate that she had been distracted from training and that this would be enough for her to have problems against a tough opponent.

It wasn’t. 

Rousey came out of the corner with her unmatched intensity and aggression. There is not another fighter on the planet, man or woman, that is as locked into attack mode as Rousey. 

In fact, this style and her dominance are drawing comparisons to those of a young Mike Tyson (via Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports).

So as Rousey charged forward, she quickly found a leg sweep that sent her opponent to the mat and went to work on enough ground and pound for Kaufman to raise her arms up.

She was trying to raise them in defense, but the reality is she just handed Rousey her path to victory, as Rousey quickly put the rising arm in an unbreakable armbar. 

Everyone knows the armbar is coming when they fight Rousey; they just can’t do anything to stop it. 

Rousey is an Olympic bronze medalist in judo, and it shows in her efficient takedowns. Once she gets her opponent on the mat, it is all over.

The only way she will be beaten is if someone can avoid her takedowns, and given that she has beaten two straight quality opponents who feature good takedown defense in Tate and Kaufman, it is not looking good for anyone to pull that off. 

“Rowdy” Ronda Rousey will be the champ until she retires or simply gets too bored to pay attention anymore.

In the meantime, she is simply unbeatable. 

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC 147 Silva vs. Franklin: Loss Proves It Is Time for Silva to Retire

Wanderlei Silva has thrilled fans over the course of his marvelous career, but he has reached the slippery slope of decline, and his flashes of brilliance are fading almost entirely to prolonged periods of beatings. He does not need to go down thi…

Wanderlei Silva has thrilled fans over the course of his marvelous career, but he has reached the slippery slope of decline, and his flashes of brilliance are fading almost entirely to prolonged periods of beatings. 

He does not need to go down this path. It is time for him to call it a career. 

Silva mounted a patented fierce, all-out attack against Rich Franklin in the second round of their bout at UFC 147 on Saturday. He had Franklin on the retreat and it looked like victory was in his grasp, and once upon a time, it would have been. 

During Silva’s six-year reign at the top of the PRIDE FC’s middleweight division, opponents did not escape moments like this. Franklin did, though, and he easily battered him before and after that moment. Silva had no consistent method of attack, and his biggest blows were thwarted. This left Silva limping to the finish line before losing a unanimous decision. 

Silva is just now 2-3 in his last five fights, and even as much as his style is a favorite of the fans, his ability to draw crowds is waning. 

The only way he will be able to win bouts is to take on fighters that aren’t worthy of main card inclusion, and the only way he will be able to land main card fights is to take on fighters he can’t beat. 

Silva is stuck in that point of his career where he has to decide if he wants to continue to hang on, or leave before permanently staining his legacy or further risking his health. 

Wanderlei has been a wonderful presence in the sport. He owes nothing, and he certainly has nothing left to prove. The time is right for him to walk away. 

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC 145 Results: Power Ranking Fighters with a Chance to Beat Jon Jones

Fans have every reason to wonder if Jon Jones is unbeatable, and he might be, but there are certainly some fighters with a better shot at taking on this unenviable task than others. On Saturday, Jones cruised to an easy victory over Rash…

Fans have every reason to wonder if Jon Jones is unbeatable, and he might be, but there are certainly some fighters with a better shot at taking on this unenviable task than others. 

On Saturday, Jones cruised to an easy victory over Rashad Evans via a unanimous decision. Evans was the fighter that most felt had the best shot at defeating Jones. With his dominant performance, we must now scramble to identify other fighters with a chance. 

 

Dan Henderson

The UFC seems to agree that Henderson is a worthy opponent for Jones. It will be his next fight. Henderson is an accomplished and grizzly veteran, and he will have a chance for one reason. That is the puncher’s chance. 

Henderson packs a wallop in his blows. One carefully-placed blow from him, and there will be a new champ. 

This would have to come on a counter. Henderson can take a punch as well as he can dish them out. That will allow him to engage without fear while looking for a decisive counter move. 

Henderson also thrives in the standup clinch, but Jones is well-versed in this style, and going for a victory there would be a mistake. 

 

Gegard Mousasi

Mousasi is a 26-year-old up-and-comer. He has the striking to hang with Jones and the power to do some damage if he can catch him. 

And if he could hurt Jones or somehow gain an advantage while on the mat, he will have a shot. Mousasi excels at submissions. 

The problem here is that his wrestling skills are nowhere near Jones. He will be in serious jeopardy when these two engage. 


Muhammed Lawal

This is a wild-card opponent with a chance. Lawal has never fought in the UFC, but he is the former Strikeforce light heavyweight champion. 

The biggest wild card about Lawal, though, is the fact that he is currently serving a suspension after a positive test for anabolic steroids. The suspension was for nine months and retroactive to his last fight in January. 

Who knows what kind of shape he will be in upon his return, but if he is in top condition, the fight would be interesting. 

Lawal is an elite wrestler. If he could force this fight into a wrestling match, he would win. That would be no easy task, though. Jones has a vastly superior overall game. 

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

The Ultimate Fighter 15: Team Cruz Establishes Early Dominance with Mind Games

Dominick Cruz set an early tone of dominance that is going to pay off for his team over the course of the entire Ultimate Fighter 15 season. That is something that is going to bring Cruz limitless joy as it comes against his bitter rival Urij…

Dominick Cruz set an early tone of dominance that is going to pay off for his team over the course of the entire Ultimate Fighter 15 season. 

That is something that is going to bring Cruz limitless joy as it comes against his bitter rival Urijah Faber. Cruz wasted no time asserting his dominance. It began as the two were picking sides. 

Faber had the first selection, but went with the curious choice to opt to pick the first fight instead of the first fighter. 

This left the door open for Cruz to select Team Blackhouse striker Justin Lawrence with his first selection. 

Lawrence has no equals in this field, and his addition to Team Cruz gives them an immediate advantage. Cruz realizes this, and he drove home the point when given the chance to select next week’s fight. 

Not surprisingly, Cruz picked Lawrence to be his man in the cage, but instead of selecting who he would fight he left that decision up to Faber. 

At a loss, and with no one that matches up with Lawrence, Team Faber did not come up with anyone to match against Lawrence. Ultimately, Cruz did pick his opponent and went with Cristiano Marcello. 

All of this served as a giant testament to the fact that Lawrence is the dominant force in this season. Now every participant and both teams are acutely aware of this fact. 

This gives Team Cruz instant confidence and a sense of superiority that will carry through the entire season. 

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Ultimate Fighter 15: New Live Format Will Bring Nothing New to Show

Ultimate Fighter 15 attempts to spice things up by airing fights live, but it all just adds up to more of the same. All of the surrounding drama that provides the reality TV aspect of this event is still taped, edited and condensed into a 45-minut…

Ultimate Fighter 15 attempts to spice things up by airing fights live, but it all just adds up to more of the same. 

All of the surrounding drama that provides the reality TV aspect of this event is still taped, edited and condensed into a 45-minute package leading up to each fight. 

This is the majority of the show, and for the most part, it’s all the same from season to season. There are just different faces fueling the drama. 

And make no mistake about it the drama is still going to be there. That much became clear when it came down to the selection of Chris Tickle. 

Tickle wanted to be on Urijah Faber’s team, but—in retrospect—that sentiment is probably the exact thing that guaranteed he would never make it to Faber.

Dominick Cruz selected Tickle, and with that, the opening salvo was cast. There will be no shortage of drama in this season. Cruz and Faber already couldn’t stand each other, and they’re determined to drive that wedge further between them every chance they get. 

And this is the vehicle, like all the seasons of The Ultimate Fighter that came before them, that will really drive and define this addition of the series and not the live fights. 

The live fights are a nice touch, and it makes sense, but in the end, it adds very little. 

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Miesha Tate: Takedown’s Loss Is a Massive Victory for Strikeforce, Women’s MMA

Miesha Tate lost her title and bone continuity in her arm on Saturday night, but she scored a major victory for professional women’s MMA and MMA in general. Tate was trying to defend her Strikeforce women’s bantamweight title against Ronda Rousey….

Miesha Tate lost her title and bone continuity in her arm on Saturday night, but she scored a major victory for professional women’s MMA and MMA in general. 

Tate was trying to defend her Strikeforce women’s bantamweight title against Ronda Rousey. The two went on an aggressive promotional campaign to hype the bout. And they did a tremendous job of hyping it. 

As the match drew closer, so did their contempt for each other. That much was evident at the weigh-in when Tate got in Rousey’s face, and the “Rowdy” one head-butted her. 

The pre-fight drama raised the anticipation for this match to new levels. A lot of eyes were drawn to this fight that had never been exposed to women’s professional MMA. 

These two fighters had the pressure to put on a compelling bout, or all of these new eyes and interest were going to come away with a less than enthusiastic view of the sport. 

These two did not disappoint. This was a back-and-forth fight until Rousey got the advantage with a judo hip-flip. She turned that in to a little ground-and-pound until working into a position to get Tate into an armbar. 

Once in the armbar, Tate was done. She was not going to escape it, as that is the very position Rousey has used to win all of her matches. 

Tate was not going to give in easily, though. She did not tap out until her arm was mangled into directions it was not supposed to go. Her arm was broken. 

And in this process, it was shown without a doubt how competitive, talented and tough as nails women’s MMA is. I’d be shocked if there was a person that witnessed this fight would say that it was not entertaining, or came away with nothing but respect for these fierce competitors.

Tate may not like it, but her loss is a win for women’s MMA.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com