Watch Amanda Nunes vs. Sara McMann full fight video highlights from UFC Fight Night 73’s main card above, courtesy of FOX Sports.
UFC Fight Night: Teixeira vs. Saint Preux took place Aug. 8, 2015 at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, TN. Amanda Nunes (11-4) met former Olympic wrestler Sara McMann (8-3) in a match-up of women’s bantamweight contenders on the night’s main card, which aired live on FOX Sports 1. Catch the video highlights above.
For more on Nunes vs. McMann, catch the recap by MMAFighting.com’s own Marc Raimondi.
Watch Amanda Nunes vs. Sara McMann full fight video highlights from UFC Fight Night 73’s main card above, courtesy of FOX Sports.
UFC Fight Night: Teixeira vs. Saint Preux took place Aug. 8, 2015 at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, TN. Amanda Nunes (11-4) met former Olympic wrestler Sara McMann (8-3) in a match-up of women’s bantamweight contenders on the night’s main card, which aired live on FOX Sports 1. Catch the video highlights above.
Michael Johnson’s run to contendership hit a snag at UFC Fight Night 73, but not without some controversy. Cries of a robbery bombarded social media Saturday night after two judges inexplicably scored Johnson’s co-main event match for h…
Michael Johnson’s run to contendership hit a snag at UFC Fight Night 73, but not without some controversy. Cries of a robbery bombarded social media Saturday night after two judges inexplicably scored Johnson’s co-main event match for his opponent, Beneil Dariush, giving Dariush a split decision that seemed to surprise even the winning side.
And Johnson wasn’t happy about it.
“I definitely think I deserve a big fight after this. Everybody knows I won that fight,” Johnson said at UFC Fight Night 73’s post-fight press conference.
Judges Richard Bertrand and Douglas Crosby were the swing votes, each awarding Dariush the second and third rounds on matching 29-28 Dairiush scorecards. Veteran judge Sal D’Amato was the lone dissenter, awarding Johnson the first and second.
The fight itself was back-and-forth, and though Dariush came on strong in the third, Johnson largely set the pace of the contest. He knocked down Dariush in the opening round, outstruck him by a margin of 35-22 in the second, and rebuffed all seven of Dariush’s takedown attempts throughout, forcing the decorated grappler to fight on the feet.
Johnson ended up claiming a 85-75 edge in total strikes landed, according to FightMetric. But it wasn’t enough to secure the win.
“I definitely thought I pushed the pace a lot more the whole fight,” Johnson said. “I stuffed every one of his takedowns and I think I landed more, so I don’t see how they could’ve given him the win. Not taking anything away from Beneil, he fought a very good fight, but at the same time I controlled the whole fight. It is what it is. That’s why you don’t leave anything to the judges.
“It’s a little frustrating, and I apologize for the way I reacted, but you know how it is,” Johnson continued. “I set out to get in there and get a job well done, get my goal of getting up to a title shot, and this kind of stops that. So I’ve just gotta get back in there.”
The loss snapped an otherwise scorching run of four straight wins that had propelled Johnson into title contention. Johnson entered the contest with a No. 5 ranking among active UFC lightweights, and was effectively in a no-win situation having to defend his placement against the No. 12 ranked Dariush.
Countless fighters expressed outrage over the decision after it was read, as did UFC President Dana White. A furious White called the split scorecards “horrible,” yet even if the result stands — and it almost assuredly will — Johnson hopes the controversy won’t take away from the momentum he’s built with a string of destructive performances over the last two years.
“It is what it is, like I said, but at the same time, I’m at the top of this division,” Johnson said. “Everybody knows the way I fight, and I’m going to compete and challenge anybody I step in there with. So hopefully something good comes from this. If not, I’m still in the gym working, and I’ve just gotta keep going. But as far as a step back, this absolutely is, because it is a loss on my record. So I’ve just got to redeem myself.”
Watch Beneil Dariush vs. Michael Johnson full fight video highlights from UFC Fight Night 73’s co-main event above, courtesy of FOX Sports.
UFC Fight Night: Teixeira vs. Saint Preux took place Aug. 8, 2015 at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, TN. Rising lightweight contenders Michael Johnson (16-9) and Beneil Dariush (12-1) collided in the night’s co-main event, which aired live on FOX Sports 1. Catch the video highlights above.
For more on Dariush vs. Johnson, catch the recap by MMAFighting.com’s own Marc Raimondi.
Watch Beneil Dariush vs. Michael Johnson full fight video highlights from UFC Fight Night 73’s co-main event above, courtesy of FOX Sports.
UFC Fight Night: Teixeira vs. Saint Preux took place Aug. 8, 2015 at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, TN. Rising lightweight contenders Michael Johnson (16-9) and Beneil Dariush (12-1) collided in the night’s co-main event, which aired live on FOX Sports 1. Catch the video highlights above.
Watch Glover Teixeira vs. Ovince Saint Preux full fight video highlights from UFC Fight Night 73’s main event above, courtesy of FOX Sports.
UFC Fight Night: Teixeira vs. Saint Preux took place Aug. 8, 2015 at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, TN. Light heavyweight contenders Glover Teixeira (23-4) and Ovince Saint Preux (18-7) locked horns in the night’s main event, which aired live on FOX Sports 1. Catch the video highlights above.
For more on Teixeira vs. Saint Preux, catch the recap by MMAFighting.com’s own Marc Raimondi.
Watch Glover Teixeira vs. Ovince Saint Preux full fight video highlights from UFC Fight Night 73’s main event above, courtesy of FOX Sports.
UFC Fight Night: Teixeira vs. Saint Preux took place Aug. 8, 2015 at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, TN. Light heavyweight contenders Glover Teixeira (23-4) and Ovince Saint Preux (18-7) locked horns in the night’s main event, which aired live on FOX Sports 1. Catch the video highlights above.
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Glover Teixeira kept his name in light heavyweight title contention on Saturday night, battering Ovince Saint Preux before putting the streaking up-and-comer to sleep in front of the Tennessee faithful at UFC Fight Night 73.
The win was an important one for Teixeira, but in terms of sheer reactions from the pros, it ended up taking a backseat to the implausible and unexplainable robbery that happened in the evening’s co-main event, as Beneil Dariush captured a split decision over Michael Johnson in a hugely significant fight for the lightweight division.
Check out all of that below, plus much more from UFC Fight Night 73’s main card.
OSP might be the most under developed, most athletic guy in the UFC…and that is scary considering how good he is already. #UFCNashville
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Glover Teixeira kept his name in light heavyweight title contention on Saturday night, battering Ovince Saint Preux before putting the streaking up-and-comer to sleep in front of the Tennessee faithful at UFC Fight Night 73.
The win was an important one for Teixeira, but in terms of sheer reactions from the pros, it ended up taking a backseat to the implausible and unexplainable robbery that happened in the evening’s co-main event, as Beneil Dariush captured a split decision over Michael Johnson in a hugely significant fight for the lightweight division.
Check out all of that below, plus much more from UFC Fight Night 73’s main card.
OSP might be the most under developed, most athletic guy in the UFC…and that is scary considering how good he is already. #UFCNashville
LAS VEGAS — It’s not quite a secret that aside from a few exceptions, the names strewn over the UFC’s heavyweight landscape look like a snapshot straight out of 2010. With average age of nearly 35 years old, no division’s top-10 is more ten…
LAS VEGAS — It’s not quite a secret that aside from a few exceptions, the names strewn over the UFC’s heavyweight landscape look like a snapshot straight out of 2010. With average age of nearly 35 years old, no division’s top-10 is more tenured than the big boys. So considering we’ve seen the same cast of characters trade hands for the better part of the decade, one would expect a certain level of consistency when it comes to rankings.
And for the most part, that consistency existed. Or at least it did until the Great Heavyweight Revival of 2015 barged in like a weather-worn horde, flipped the established order and brought golden era names like Andrei Arlovski and Ben Rothwell back to the forefront with the most bloodthirsty coup imaginable.
“The heavyweight division got turned on its head when Arlovski won,” a fired up Rothwell recently told MMAFighting.com. “Then a week later me, and then (Fabricio) Werdum. It was like, boom! The whole heavyweight division just changed. So it’s a very exciting time to be a top-10 heavyweight, and I think something special is going to happen soon.”
Rothwell isn’t wrong. Gaze back at the heavyweight division even as recent as a year ago — Cain Velasquez at the top, Frank Mir on his way out, Rothwell and Arlovski an afterthought, and Werdum an easy meal waiting to be devoured. Now take a look. What’s old is new again. Werdum is the man strutting around with gold, the trifecta of Rothwell/Arlovski/Mir have become bloodlust incarnate, and hell, even the legendary Fedor Emelianenko is fixing to reenter the mix.
It’s as strange of a phenomena as we’ve ever seen, and Rothwell is poised to be one of its most surprising beneficiaries. After knocking out Brandon Vera, Alistair Overeem, and Matt Mitrione in succession, “Big Ben” has been clear about what he wants: not the next title shot, but a No. 1 contender fight against one of his fellow big men jockeying for position atop the division.
“I’m a guy, I’m all about dues need to be paid. I just look at the landscape of the heavyweight division and I need to fight one of those guys first,” Rothwell said.
“[December] is fine with me, but even if it’s end of October, I’ll be ready for that. Because I know [a lot of the top guys] are trying to heal some injuries, and hell I think even Werdum said he needed some time to heal, so all of the heavyweights are busted up right now and hopefully we’ll all be fighting by the end of the year.”
Rothwell’s resurgence has been assisted by a more vocal “Big Ben” than ever before. The 33-year-old veteran cut perhaps the most bizarrely entertaining promo of 2015 after his victory over Mitrione, then made himself an omnipresent figure in Las Vegas at UFC 189. Everywhere the action went, Rothwell was sure to follow — his legion of crazed Rothwellians not far behind.
“In the IFL, I was doing all sorts of interviews and stuff. There wasn’t as much media coverage, but I did stuff all the time,” Rothwell said. “When I came to the UFC, I would’ve been as vocal. But when you go 1-2 in your first three fights, I didn’t really have much to say. And then I had some ups and downs even getting to this three-fight win streak.
“I just knew that before I could go and open my mouth, say the things that I’m saying, that I had to have something backing it. I’m on a three-fight win streak with finishes right now. Yeah, I got something to say now. My fists are going to do the rest of the talking.”
His bigger pulpit has led its share of detractors too, fans who aren’t so quick to forgive Rothwell for the testosterone replacement therapy snafu that landed him in hot water two years ago. Rothwell has worn his remorse on his sleeve when it comes to that incident, and for the most part people have come around.
Rather, it’s the continued overlooking of his abilities that gets him the most — the flippant remarks about how big, awkward Ben wouldn’t stand a chance against the Velasquezs and Werdums of the world. It’s slights like that which draw him back to his post-Mitrione state, where the timbre raises in his voice, the swears start rolling, and if you’re lucky, that notorious laugh makes an appearance.
“There’s always going to be haters,” Rothwell said. “People hated Jesus. I mean, let’s go, let’s get serious. I’m going to keep crushing motherf**kers and there will be some guy doubting me, and that’s fine. It’s my fuel. But with each one of these wins, my momentum is growing and I feel the tsunami of Rothwell is coming. I feel more and more fans coming to me, and with each one of these opponents, it’s going to become more and more evident. I’m going to rock these motherf**kers. Let’s go.”
