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B/R Women’s MMA Rankings, June 2014

Women’s MMA is growing, and with that, we must keep up with the times. Women are getting more and more opportunities in mixed martial arts, as well as becoming more prevalent on the big stage.
The UFC, Invicta and World Series of Fighting are just th…

Women’s MMA is growing, and with that, we must keep up with the times. Women are getting more and more opportunities in mixed martial arts, as well as becoming more prevalent on the big stage.

The UFC, Invicta and World Series of Fighting are just three of the major organizations that host female fighters. When you consider Deep Jewels, MMA Super Heroes and several others who let the ladies compete, you have a bunch of proving grounds for these up-and-coming athletes.

Bleacher Report’s Riley Kontek and Mitch Ciccarelli have ranked the women of the five major weight classes and will give some insight on what’s going on in each division. Here is this month’s installment of the Bleacher Report’s women’s MMA rankings.

Note: Last month’s rankings are in parentheses next to nationality.

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UFC Fight Night 42: Preliminary Card Predictions

The UFC is back this weekend after a busy weekend with UFC Fight Night 42. Live from Greg Jackson territory in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the card boasts a very interesting lineup that should deliver on the entertainment side of things.
The card will be …

The card will be headlined by lightweight contenders Benson Henderson and Rustam Khabilov, with this event being the first time the Russian has headlined a UFC card. They will be supported by a co-main event between The Ultimate Fighter winners Diego Sanchez and Ross Pearson.

The busy weekend brought great success on my record. Between 13 preliminary fights on two cards, I lost on just four predictions, ascending my record to a better percentage.

Without further ado, let’s take a look at the prelims for this card and make some more predictions as we near the halfway point on 2014.

2014 Riley’s Record: 73-49

Last Events: UFC Fight Night 41 and TUF Brazil 3 Finale (9-4)

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TUF 19 Episode 8 Results: Foul-Ridden Fight Fails to Impress Dana White

‘The 19th season of The Ultimate Fighter continued Wednesday night, and the middleweights were again front and center. This time around, it was Team Penn’s top pick, Mike King, taking on Chris Weidman training partner and Team Edgar’s Eddie Gordon.
The…

‘The 19th season of The Ultimate Fighter continued Wednesday night, and the middleweights were again front and center. This time around, it was Team Penn’s top pick, Mike King, taking on Chris Weidman training partner and Team Edgar’s Eddie Gordon.

The episode was pretty standard, as we heard about both fighters’ backgrounds. The most interesting part was King’s strategy, as he wanted to stand and bang with Gordon, while BJ Penn and Mark Coleman thought it would be best to wrestle him.

This episode also showed the coaches challenge, which was kayaking. BJ Penn defeated Frankie Edgar to win $10,000 for himself and $1,500 a piece for his fighters.

The fight followed the typical, decent-at-best performance that we have seen all season since the quarterfinals started. King won the first round with aggression and striking, while Gordon took Rounds 2 and 3 with takedown defense and better striking.

Both men committed eye pokes, and a low blow was landed, tainting the fight a bit. Dana White openly disapproved of this fight, just like the last few before it.

The win equaled things up for Team Edgar in the middleweight semifinals with two fighters from their team and two from Team Penn. It also set up the final light heavyweight bout between Matt van Buren of Team Edgar and Chris Fields of Team Penn. It’s the only fight that has a real beef between the fighters.

Teams

Team Edgar 185	Team Penn 185	Team Edgar 205	Team Penn 205
Ian Stephens	Mike King	Corey Anderson	Anton Berzin
Dhiego Lima	Tim Williams	Patrick Walsh	Josh Clark
Eddie Gordon	Cathal Pendred	Matt van Buren	Dan Spohn
Hector Urbina	Roger Zapata	Todd Monaghan	Chris Fields

Notes and Observations

Mike King was shown at the beginning of the episode upset about all of the dirty dishes in the kitchen and how big of a mess it was. I can totally understand where he is coming from there, as college was a constant struggle, especially with dirty roommates. Eddie Gordon brushed it off, but that is a huge pet peeve of mine and others I know.
I have to agree with Frankie Edgar with the coaches challenge. Kayaking is big in Hawaii because of its proximity to the ocean. I’m not saying Penn is a huge kayaker, but I am sure he’s done it more than a few times in his life.
I think this season of the show has some really talented fighters, but the fights have been far from marvelous so far. I think Dhiego Lima, Eddie Gordon, Mike King, Tim Williams, Cathal Pendred, Corey Anderson, Anton Berzin, Patrick Walsh and Dan Spohn all have great potential, but their fights have been real so-so at best.
Speaking of King, how tough is that guy? His elimination-round fight against Nordine Taleb was awesome, and he took a bunch of punishment. In this fight, he took a brutal eye poke that shut his eye by the end of the day and had him bleeding. Dana White said, “King damn near got his eye gouged out.” No arguments here, it looked really rough.
Matt van Buren vs. Chris Fields at least has some emotion behind it, which leads me to believe it could be the best fight of the quarterfinals (not that it would be that tough). Fields is a striker, but he was getting dominated by Josh Stansbury in the elimination round before Stansbury blew out his knee. Van Buren is a pretty tough guy himself and is likely the favorite here. Fields is tough, but I think van Buren can notch the finish.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

The Beaten Path: 5 Prospects to Watch in June

Another month, another set of MMA madness. That’s right, there’s no rest for the wicked. The MMA world marches on.
Outside of the UFC, fans have many options. If you are a lover of prospects and watching up-and-coming talent, this month is chock-full o…

Another month, another set of MMA madness. That’s right, there’s no rest for the wicked. The MMA world marches on.

Outside of the UFC, fans have many options. If you are a lover of prospects and watching up-and-coming talent, this month is chock-full of future contenders that could be stars in the sport.

At the Beaten Path, our job is to steer you toward these fighters and help you get to know them a little bit more. That way, you will have an idea of who they are when they make the big time.

Without further ado, let’s take a look at five prospects to keep an eye on this month.

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UFC Fight Night 42: 5 Reasons to Watch

Last weekend was a busy one for the UFC, as two cards on two continents were held. Don’t rest your eyes too much, as the UFC has another event this Saturday.
This card, which is headlined by lightweight contenders Rustam Khabilov and Benson Henderson, …

Last weekend was a busy one for the UFC, as two cards on two continents were held. Don’t rest your eyes too much, as the UFC has another event this Saturday.

This card, which is headlined by lightweight contenders Rustam Khabilov and Benson Henderson, promises to be a fun one with Fight of the Night contenders scattered throughout the card. With names like Jon Dodson, Diego Sanchez and Yves Edwards on the card, there is no way that the brand of violence they bring can disappoint.

Need five reasons to watch this weekend? Here they are as a way of selling you on this weekend’s affairs.

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UFC Fight Night 41/TUF Brazil 3 Finale: B/R Staff Main Card Predictions

The UFC comes to you this weekend with two cards on Saturday. That’s not a typo: There will be two events that fans will need to keep their eyes on.
The first is UFC Fight Night 41, live from Germany. That card will be headlined by middleweight contend…

The UFC comes to you this weekend with two cards on Saturday. That’s not a typo: There will be two events that fans will need to keep their eyes on.

The first is UFC Fight Night 41, live from Germany. That card will be headlined by middleweight contenders Gegard Mousasi and Mark Munoz, with support from a bunch of European talent.

Then, we have The Ultimate Fighter Brazil 3 Finale live from, well, Brazil. That card will host a heavyweight main event between Stipe Miocic and normal light heavyweight Fabio Maldonado, as well as the finals from the two weight classes on the Brazilian version of the reality show.

Ready for some picks? Of course you are. Here as always to hopefully straighten you out are Scotty Harris, Sean E. Smith, Jimmy MacDonald, Craiger Amos and me, Riley Kontek.

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