The UFC returns this weekend with two fight cards on Saturday. The first will be exclusive to Fight Pass, and UFC Fight Night 41 marks the return to Germany for the company.
The card, which is headlined by middleweights Mark Munoz and Gegard Mousasi, i…
The UFC returns this weekend with two fight cards on Saturday. The first will be exclusive to Fight Pass, and UFC Fight Night 41 marks the return to Germany for the company.
The card, which is headlined by middleweights Mark Munoz and Gegard Mousasi, is heavy on European talent and up-and-coming talent. It is a good card to catch if you are up in the late morning or early afternoon and want to watch some developing talent.
UFC 173 was not the kindest to me, though I managed to stay above .500. With any luck, these prelims will bring my record up.
Before the main card, we have some solid preliminary fights. Let’s check out those bouts and make some predictions.
The UFC presents two fight cards on Saturday. The first is exclusive to Fight Pass and live from Germany. The second will be on Fox Sports 1, as The Ultimate Fighter Brazil 3 Finale airs.
The card, which is headlined by Stipe Miocic vs. Fabio Maldonado…
The UFC presents two fight cards on Saturday. The first is exclusive to Fight Pass and live from Germany. The second will be on Fox Sports 1, as The Ultimate Fighter Brazil 3 Finaleairs.
The card, which is headlined by StipeMiocic vs. Fabio Maldonado, has been crippled by injuries and change. TUFcoaches ChaelSonnen and Wanderlei Silva were originally supposed to wage war in the featured bout, but then Junior dos Santos vs. Miocic came on board. An injury to Dos Santos led to Maldonado stepping up a weight class to save the main event.
Before that, we have some preliminary card fights. Here are the predictions for those bouts.
Most of the card has been announced, but the main event for UFC on Fox 12 has finally been set in stone.
UFC President Dana White announced on Twitter today that welterweight contenders Robbie Lawler and Matt Brown will fight in the main slot. Not only…
Most of the card has been announced, but the main event for UFC on Fox 12 has finally been set in stone.
UFC President Dana White announced on Twitter today that welterweight contenders Robbie Lawler and Matt Brown will fight in the main slot. Not only that, but the winner will earn the next title shot at current UFC welterweight champion Johny Hendricks.
This is significant news that could make this UFC on Fox one of the most watched in the history of the Fox series. This could be in response to the last event pulling in the lowest numbers in the history of the Fox cards.
As for the matchup, this bout is going to be anything but boring. Both Lawler and Brown consistently bring excitement to the cage and have the corresponding styles to make this a contender for Fight of the Year.
Lawler challenged for the vacant welterweight title back in March, fighting a close, competitive bout with Hendricks. He dropped a unanimous decision in a bout which could have gone either way.
However, Lawler came back strong over the weekend at UFC 173, outclassing Jake Ellenberger to a third-round stoppage from strikes. He used sturdy takedown defense and superior striking to keep Ellenberger on the feet and eventually put him down.
As for Brown, he has gone on an impressive seven-fight win streak that has put him in the title picture. Six of those seven wins were via knockout, including his most recent outing, a Fight of the Night against fellow headliner Erick Silva.
For Lawler, this match represents the chance to rematch Hendricks and possibly earn the title. For Brown, this fight is the final stop on his unlikely run at the title.
Stay tuned with Bleacher Report for further updates. Here is the updated card.
Get ready, UFC fans. Saturday represents another two-card weekend for the biggest MMA promotion in the world.
For American fans, the late morning/early afternoon brings us UFC Fight Night 41 from Germany. That card is headlined by middleweights Mark Mu…
Get ready, UFC fans. Saturday represents another two-card weekend for the biggest MMA promotion in the world.
For American fans, the late morning/early afternoon brings us UFC Fight Night 41 from Germany. That card is headlined by middleweights Mark Munoz and Gegard Mousasi.
The Ultimate Fighter Brazil 3 finale will then take place at night—a card headlined by heavyweight contender Stipe Miocic and normal light heavyweight Fabio Maldonado, who takes the bout on late notice.
Need five reasons to watch the fights this weekend? Let’s take a look at why you should catch the action on May 31.
The UFC returns this weekend with UFC 173. Live from Las Vegas, the bout is headlined by a bantamweight title fight between juggernaut Renan Barao and underdog contender TJ Dillashaw.
Before the pay-per-view main card is a stacked preliminary card. The…
The UFC returns this weekend with UFC 173. Live from Las Vegas, the bout is headlined by a bantamweight title fight between juggernaut Renan Barao and underdog contender TJ Dillashaw.
Before the pay-per-view main card is a stacked preliminary card. The card contains several TUF winners, some great up-and-coming prospects and new faces to the company.
I did the Bellator prelims last week with the intention of not including them, but that would not be fair. That being said, most of those pics were educated guesses, still scoring just above .500.
With that said, let’s take a look at the prelims and make some predictions.
The 19th season of The Ultimate Fighter continued, as the most controversial episode of the season took place. A three-round fight between Roger Zapata and Ian Stephens was the main focus of the entire episode, as was the craziness that surrounded it.
…
The 19th season of The Ultimate Fighter continued, as the most controversial episode of the season took place. A three-round fight between Roger Zapata and Ian Stephens was the main focus of the entire episode, as was the craziness that surrounded it.
Before the fight, we heard that Stephens lost his father at age six when he was electrocuted on the job. That seems to be the main driving force behind the young fighter, who is known for his dominant wrestling.
Another big part of the episode was BJ Penn bringing in Matt Hughes as a guest coach. Hughes, a former three-time opponent of Penn and current friend of the coach, seemed to do great things in the short time he was there.
When fight time came, it was marred by lack of activity and controversial calls. Stephens easily won Round 1, but there was a major focus on referee Steve Mazzagatti warning Zapata on several occasions to stop grabbing the fence and throwing illegal elbows.
The same thing happened in Round 2, but a sudden victory Round 3 was required. In the third, Mazzagatti finally took a point from Zapata after another illegal elbow or two. It upset Dana White, though in reality Mazzagatti did give Zapata plenty of warnings.
In an even crazier turn of events, Zapata was announced the winner of the decision despite the fact that there was no way he could win Round 3 due to the loss of point. A bunch of craziness ensued from the questionable judge’s call, but the decision stood, and Zapata now moves on to the semifinals.
The next fight was announced for next week. Ohio State wrestler Patrick Walsh of Team Edgar was chosen by Penn to take on Penn’s top pick Anton Berzin, a jiu-jitsu specialist.
Team
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
CathalPendred
Matt van Buren
Dan Spohn
Hector Urbina
Roger Zapata
Todd Monaghan
Chris Fields
Notes and Observations
I really like the coaches that Penn has brought in. It seems that Mark Coleman, an everyday coach, and Matt Hughes, a one-off guest, are awesome teachers and coaches. At some point, I think it would be awesome if they had a season of TUFwhere the coaches are all retired fighters. Imagine having Coleman, Hughes, Chuck Liddell and other legends assembled as a team of coaches teaching fighters the tricks of the trade. Besides, other than heated rivalries, the coaches fights aren’t that big a deal anymore.
I want to know how often the last pick of the entire season has made it out of the first round. I know on TUF 18 last season, Jessica Rakoczy was not only the last pick of the women, but actually made it to the finals.
I understand where Dana White is coming from and why he was upset, but let’s look at this logically. Mazzagatti warned Zapata probably three or four times about grabbing the fence, never taking away a point. He also warned him about the elbows half a dozen times or so before taking the point. Not only that, but a lot of Zapata’s strikes were to the back of Stephens’ head. I think the point deduction was a long time coming.
I scored the fight 29-27 for Stephens. I thought he won the first and third round via control, plus took the third 10-8 due to the point deduction. Assuming the judges had it 19-19 going into the third, it does seem impossible Zapata could win, especially with the point deduction. A win in the third round for Stephens would make it 29-27. A 10-9 win (9-9 with the deduction) for Zapata in that round would make the score 28-28, meaning that they would have to go to a fourth round. There is no way Zapata could have had a 10-8 (or 9-8 with the deduction) to earn that. Controversial to say the least.
So far, most of the fights on the season have been underwhelming. This is surprising considering the level of talent on the season. I really think that Anton Berzin, Corey Anderson and Dan Spohn are great talents in the light heavyweight division, while Mike King, Dhiego Lima, CathalPendred, Tim Williams and Eddie Gordon are all gems at middleweight. I really expected more from these guys in terms of excitement so far.
Most of the card has been announced, but the main event for UFC on Fox 12 has finally been set in stone.