Ali Abdel-Aziz: Nick Diaz and Nate Diaz are banned from WSOF events after WSOF 22 brawl

LAS VEGAS — An ordinary fight night turned into bedlam in the minutes before Saturday’s WSOF 22 main event, as a brawl erupted cageside at The Axis in Planet Hollywood between UFC lightweights Nate Diaz and Khabib Nurmagomedov and their res…

LAS VEGAS — An ordinary fight night turned into bedlam in the minutes before Saturday’s WSOF 22 main event, as a brawl erupted cageside at The Axis in Planet Hollywood between UFC lightweights Nate Diaz and Khabib Nurmagomedov and their respective entourages.

“Nate went to Khabib and they just got talking,” World Series of Fighting vice president Ali Abdel-Aziz told MMAFighting.com. “They exchanged words and Nate threw a punch. I saw Nate throw a punch.”

The melee spilled into the stands until Nurmagomedov and Diaz were forcibly separated. Diaz was then escorted out of the area, but the furor resumed several minutes later, this time with Diaz’s older brother Nick throwing himself into the fray. Video captured by MMA Interviews shows the elder Diaz throwing a beer at Nurmagomedov, reigniting tensions before security and Abdel-Aziz are able to pull away the two parties.

“I consider theses guys friends, Nick and Nate, but I’m very disappointed,” Abdel-Aziz said.

“I don’t know what it is, both of them need to call Dana (White) and talk to him. Maybe they can fight and get over with it, because when people fight, they respect each other. But I’m just not happy about somebody throwing a beer bottle. There’s a lot of kids, there’s a lot of women. What happens if somebody’s face got cut? One of them would’ve went to jail. I don’t want to see Nate or Nick going to jail or their friend go to jail at my show.”

The Diaz brothers were in attendance to support their longtime training partner Jake Shields, who lost via third-round submission to WSOF welterweight champion Rousimar Palhares in the night’s main event, while Nurmagomedov was on hand to corner his younger brother Abubakar Nurmagomedov as well as fellow countryman Islam Mamedov.

Both Diaz brothers were escorted out of the arena following the bottle throwing incident, but that wouldn’t be the end of it, as another wild brawl erupted directly outside of The Axis, with video again capturing Nate Diaz in the center of it.

Las Vegas police eventually arrived to regain order to the scene. Nate Diaz was handcuffed and escorted away, but was not arrested.

“I can’t have Nick and Nate come to a World Series of Fighting event again,” Abdel-Aziz said. “I like these guys, but if they’re not going to show me respect coming to the show, how can I let them back in?

“You’ve just got to be more professional in MMA. Nate and Nick, all the times I talk to them, they’re good guys, but they need to start making a (positive) impression. I know they sell better because they don’t care, but you’re going to make people not like you if you do stuff like that. I know they don’t care, it’s attention, fights, guys want to fight each other. But you know what, fight each other in the cage. It was disappointing, to be honest with you.”

Along with his position at WSOF, Abdel-Aziz is Nurmagomedov’s manager. Nurmagomedov has been sidelined from the UFC due to a knee injury.

When asked Saturday night by MMAFighting.com, the undefeated Dagestani contender declined to comment on the situation.

Ali Abdel-Aziz: Nick Diaz and Nate Diaz are banned from WSOF events after WSOF 22 brawl

LAS VEGAS — An ordinary fight night turned into bedlam in the minutes before Saturday’s WSOF 22 main event, as a brawl erupted cageside at The Axis in Planet Hollywood between UFC lightweights Nate Diaz and Khabib Nurmagomedov and their res…

LAS VEGAS — An ordinary fight night turned into bedlam in the minutes before Saturday’s WSOF 22 main event, as a brawl erupted cageside at The Axis in Planet Hollywood between UFC lightweights Nate Diaz and Khabib Nurmagomedov and their respective entourages.

“Nate went to Khabib and they just got talking,” World Series of Fighting vice president Ali Abdel-Aziz told MMAFighting.com. “They exchanged words and Nate threw a punch. I saw Nate throw a punch.”

The melee spilled into the stands until Nurmagomedov and Diaz were forcibly separated. Diaz was then escorted out of the area, but the furor resumed several minutes later, this time with Diaz’s older brother Nick throwing himself into the fray. Video captured by MMA Interviews shows the elder Diaz throwing a beer at Nurmagomedov, reigniting tensions before security and Abdel-Aziz are able to pull away the two parties.

“I consider theses guys friends, Nick and Nate, but I’m very disappointed,” Abdel-Aziz said.

“I don’t know what it is, both of them need to call Dana (White) and talk to him. Maybe they can fight and get over with it, because when people fight, they respect each other. But I’m just not happy about somebody throwing a beer bottle. There’s a lot of kids, there’s a lot of women. What happens if somebody’s face got cut? One of them would’ve went to jail. I don’t want to see Nate or Nick going to jail or their friend go to jail at my show.”

The Diaz brothers were in attendance to support their longtime training partner Jake Shields, who lost via third-round submission to WSOF welterweight champion Rousimar Palhares in the night’s main event, while Nurmagomedov was on hand to corner his younger brother Abubakar Nurmagomedov as well as fellow countryman Islam Mamedov.

Both Diaz brothers were escorted out of the arena following the bottle throwing incident, but that wouldn’t be the end of it, as another wild brawl erupted directly outside of The Axis, with video again capturing Nate Diaz in the center of it.

Las Vegas police eventually arrived to regain order to the scene. Nate Diaz was handcuffed and escorted away, but was not arrested.

“I can’t have Nick and Nate come to a World Series of Fighting event again,” Abdel-Aziz said. “I like these guys, but if they’re not going to show me respect coming to the show, how can I let them back in?

“You’ve just got to be more professional in MMA. Nate and Nick, all the times I talk to them, they’re good guys, but they need to start making a (positive) impression. I know they sell better because they don’t care, but you’re going to make people not like you if you do stuff like that. I know they don’t care, it’s attention, fights, guys want to fight each other. But you know what, fight each other in the cage. It was disappointing, to be honest with you.”

Along with his position at WSOF, Abdel-Aziz is Nurmagomedov’s manager. Nurmagomedov has been sidelined from the UFC due to a knee injury.

When asked Saturday night by MMAFighting.com, the undefeated Dagestani contender declined to comment on the situation.

WSOF 22 results: Rousimar Palhares taps Jake Shields amid accusations of eye gouging, refusing to release submission

LAS VEGAS — Rousimar Palhares did it again. After submitting Jake Shields with a brilliant sequence in the third round of his World Series of Fighting 22 main event bout, the WSOF welterweight champion continued to crank the kimura he held …

LAS VEGAS — Rousimar Palhares did it again. After submitting Jake Shields with a brilliant sequence in the third round of his World Series of Fighting 22 main event bout, the WSOF welterweight champion continued to crank the kimura he held on Shields, even after Shields tapped.

It isn’t the first time for Palhares. The 35-year-old Brazilian has a history of similar incidents, from his 2010 suspension-drawing heel hook of Tomasz Drwal to the 2013 heel hook of Mike Pierce that cost Palhares his job in the UFC. The controversy behind Palhares became a main conversation point in the lead-up to his meeting with Shields, and Shields was livid following the bout, calling Palhares “a dirty, dirty fighter” for the late crank plus a series of eye gouges midway through the second round.

“He gouged my eyes eight times,” Shields fumed. “He kept putting his fingers in my eyes. He is a dirty, dirty fighter.

“It was a joke. The ref should have DQ’d him.”

The controversies marred what was an otherwise compelling bout, as Shields did what no other fighter in WSOF has been able to do by fending off Palhares’ vaunted leglock arsenal. Shields spent much of the first round working from top position, then repeated the strategy in the second, taking Palhares down and advancing into mount. That’s when Shields started complaining about Palhares eye gouging, ultimately forcing referee Steve Mazzagatti to warn Palhares.

Shields caught a leg kick to take the fight back to the floor to start the third, but in a beautiful sequence, Palhares reversed the takedown directly into a nasty kimura. Shields tapped frantically however Palhares continued to crank, leading a frustrated Shields to throw a shot at Palhares as Mazzagatti intervened. The official time of the stoppage came at 2:02 of the third round.

“I feel some oil on his body. After I work, I made the submission. This is an important victory,” Palhares said.

In the night’s co-main event, Marlon Moraes (14-4-1) only needed one opening to topple Sheymon Moraes (7-1) from the ranks of the unbeaten and defend his WSOF bantamweight title. But this time around, the path to victory wasn’t so easy.

Sheymon left the champion’s ribs a bright shade of red, unloading a procession of sharp body shots throughout the stand-up fight. Marlon returned fire with leg kicks and straight counters, and in the opening minutes of the second round dropped Sheymon with a blistering left-right combination. Sheymon survived the ensuing swarm, but wasn’t so lucky once the fight hit the third.

Midway through an exchange, Marlon caught Sheymon flush with a huge left hook that spun the challenger around then dropped him to a knee. Marlon pounced on his wounded prey and looked to lock in a rear-naked choke after Sheymon gave up his back. Sheymon valiantly defended the first attempt, but a second try was enough to coax the tapout at 3:46 of the third round.

Elsewhere on the card, fighting on short notice did little to slow the momentum of Clifford Starks (12-2). The veteran light heavyweight, who earlier this week replaced Thiago Silva after the Nevada Athletic Commission refused to license Silva without first having a hearing due to a 2011 falsified urine sample, rode his wrestling to capture an efficient, if slow, unanimous decision over Mike Kyle (21-13-1).

The WSOF debut of Abubaker Nurmagomedov (10-1) may not have come with a finish, but it was a dominant introduction nonetheless. Nurmagomedov, the younger brother of UFC lightweight contender Khabib Nurmagomedov, rag-dolled Jorge Moreno (4-2) for the better part of three rounds, seemingly taking Moreno down at will and threatening with rear-naked chokes countless times throughout the lopsided contest.

Just like his brother, Nurmagomedov has a background in sambo and it showed. The Dagestani welterweight stormed out from the opening bell, hoisted Moreno into the air, then slammed him onto the mat. Moreno worked back to his feet but quickly returned to the floor after eating a salvo of punches and a nasty flying knee.

From there he and Nurmagomedov were effectively joined at the hip for a majority of the fight, as Nurmagomedov stayed locked to Moreno’s back and fought repeatedly for chokes, dragging him back to the floor when needed and unloading punches in bursts when the action slowed, ultimately sweeping the scorecards with a pair of 30-26s and one 30-27.

That wasn’t the end of the Dagestani domination though. In the night’s opening bout, Nurmagomedov’s lightweight countryman Islam Mamedov (12-1) added another impressive victory to his WSOF ledger, dispatching Jimmy Spicuzza (6-3) with a volley of unanswered punches midway through the bout’s first round.

Mamedov seized a single leg early, then took Spicuzza’s back and went to work with shots to the head, while Khabib Nurmagomedov barked orders from his corner. Referee Chris Tognoni finally stepped in with 13 seconds remaining in the round, giving Mamedov his second first-round finish in as many WSOF appearances and 11th straight win overall.

WSOF 22 Results: Palhares vs. Shields

MMA Fighting has WSOF 22 results for the Palhares vs. Shields fight card Aug. 1 at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino in Las Vegas.In the main event, Rousimar Palhares will defend his WSOF welterweight title againt Jake Shields. Marlon M…

MMA Fighting has WSOF 22 results for the Palhares vs. Shields fight card Aug. 1 at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino in Las Vegas.

In the main event, Rousimar Palhares will defend his WSOF welterweight title againt Jake Shields. Marlon Moraes puts his WSOF bantamweight title on the line against Sheymon Moraes in the co-main event.

Check out WSOF 22 results below.

Main card (NBC Sports at 10:30 p.m. ET)
Rousimar Palhares vs. Jake Shields
Marlon Moraes vs. Sheymon Moraes
Mike Kyle vs. Clifford Starks
Abubaker Nurmagomedov vs. Jorge Moreno
Jimmy Spicuzza vs. Islam Mamedov

Undercard (MMA Fighting at 8 p.m. ET)
Jake Heun vs. Davin Clark
Donovan Frelow vs. Carlos Garcia
Jimmy Jones vs. Marco Simmons
Cory Hendricks vs. Julio Hinojosa
Gil Guardado vs. Pete Martin

UFC 190 Embedded, Episode 4: ‘I don’t take bulls**t from anyone’

On the fourth episode of UFC 190 Embedded, bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey puts on a show for the Brazilian fans at Wednesday’s open workouts, Stefan Struve reflects on fighting a legend, Bethe Correia cuts weight, then the stars of UFC 190 fiel…

On the fourth episode of UFC 190 Embedded, bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey puts on a show for the Brazilian fans at Wednesday’s open workouts, Stefan Struve reflects on fighting a legend, Bethe Correia cuts weight, then the stars of UFC 190 field questions and stare each other down at Thursday’s media day.

Kenny Florian: Bethe Correia beating Ronda Rousey would be the single ‘biggest upset in UFC history’

When it comes to UFC 190, it’s no secret the oddsmakers aren’t doing Bethe Correia any favors. Throughout the 22-year history of the UFC, throughout all the casual mismatches, all the cases of journeymen thrown to the wolves for cheap highli…

When it comes to UFC 190, it’s no secret the oddsmakers aren’t doing Bethe Correia any favors. Throughout the 22-year history of the UFC, throughout all the casual mismatches, all the cases of journeymen thrown to the wolves for cheap highlight-reel fodder, no single fight has been stacked by Las Vegas quite like Saturday night’s main event.

Bantamweight queen Ronda Rousey entered fight week as the single biggest favorite to defend her title of any champion ever in the history of the promotion. And that line has only climbed higher as the days have passed in Rio de Janeiro. At the time of this writing, Rousey could be found as high as a 18-to-1 betting favorite in some sports books, a ridiculous number by any stretch of the imagination, and one that would qualify as the single most lopsided odds of any UFC fight ever.

To put that line in perspective, Matt Serra closed as little more than a 7-to-1 underdog when he toppled Georges St-Pierre in a fight that many still consider to be the greatest upset ever in the promotion. So to say Correia has her work cut out for her on Aug. 1, well, that’d be an understatement.

“Honestly, I think it would be the biggest upset in UFC history,” FOX analyst and occasional robot fighting commentator Kenny Florian told MMAFighting.com. “When you look at what Ronda has done, her skill level and [experience] compared to what Bethe has, or what we think she has, yeah, it would absolutely be the biggest upset. But for Ronda, we’re tuning in to see domination. We’re tuning to see destruction.

“It’s kind of like Usain Bolt. Even when you knew he was going to win the race, it was just how fast he was going to run the race. That’s kind of what you’re looking for here with Ronda, the manner in which she’s going to do it.”

It’s true, the spectacle of Rousey is easily the greatest intrigue leading into UFC 190’s otherwise average pay-per-view. In just four years, the former Olympic judoka has detached herself from the often repetitious world of mixed martial arts to become an experience unto herself, one who’s equal parts accessible to the general public and ferocious enough to dumbfound those who make face-punching part of their weekly viewing routine.

The numbers alone are extraordinary. 11 wins, 11 finishes — 10 in the opening round, eight in less than one minute, two in enough time to fit in an Instagram post. Her dominance has cleaned out what used to be an incredibly competitive division in less than time than it’s taken the heavyweight title to be defended thrice. Of the UFC’s current bantamweight top-five, Correia is the only one yet to fall to Rousey, which is largely what led us to our current predicament in the first place, with historic odds looming over a narrative of Rousey potentially playing with her food simply to prove a point.

We’ve reached a place where lopsided trilogies are the best option; where Miesha Tate likely gets her chance to take it to a best-of-5 series, and somehow it makes sense because Tate was the only human being to survive more than five minutes locked in a steel cage with Rousey and keep her limbs and consciousness intact. Olympic wrestlers, black belt jiu-jitsu players, hell, even U.S. Marines have failed to accomplish what Correia will attempt Saturday night, and when Florian looks over the current landscape, he struggles to see anyone who has the physical tools to pull off what’s become, if not the impossible, then at least the increasingly implausible task.

“It’s not just one approach. I think it has to be a multipronged approach,” Florian says. “Everyone says you’ve got to avoid the clinch, but it goes beyond that. You have to be able to be an excellent striker, one that is very confident with distance control.

“You have to fully understand distance control and utilize lateral movement and break out of the clinch properly. Be able to know where to put your hands and where you are vulnerable. You have to have a greater understand of judo, of wrestling, of jiu-jitsu. You have to be able to kick her. Not many people really expose her leg kicking game. Not many people know how to counter her and deal with her speed, so it’s very difficult. And for Bethe Correia, I don’t think there’s one aspect of her game that she does better than Ronda.”

Anything is possible, of course. If not irresponsible, it’s at least pretty stupid to suggest anyone in this game of paper-thin gloves is infallible. There’s a jiu-jitsu coach over in Long Island who can attest to that.

So if not Correia, there are other options. When it comes to Florian’s breakdown, few women match more criteria than Holly Holm, the undefeated world champion boxer who put on a distance control clinic in her recent romp over Marion Reneau. She certainly wouldn’t be afraid to throw out some low kicks and give Rousey a look she’s never seen before. The rejuvenated Julianna Pena is always out there too, as is the mega-fight specter of Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino, if those pesky scales can ever see their way out of the conversation.

The odds for that pairing would be a spectacle of its own, no doubt, and for far different reasons than the lines presently circling Brazil like buzzards to a carcass. But for now the Rousey show rolls on to its next stop, and regardless of the vocal contingent who so eagerly despises it, watching history unfold in bizarre but masterful ways every six months ain’t half bad.

“I think we’ll look back on her as the woman who was far ahead of her time, maybe like our Sugar Ray Robinson,” Florian says. “He was a guy who, of course he had a few losses, but when he was competing, when he was at his best, he was in a league all by himself. He was doing things that we really hadn’t seen before, and I think Ronda is at that level, maybe even more.

“The only thing she needs to be careful with is the people around her, them telling her how great she is and how she’s so dominant and how she’s going to kill everyone and all of that. That’s the kind of stuff that can creep in. Those thoughts are the ones that can be most harmful. But I don’t think it’s [gotten to] that point, and I don’t think it’s ever going to happen. When it’s going on for years and years and years, that’s when you start to get complacent. But I don’t know, I don’t think Ronda is going to be around the sport for too much longer. I think she’s probably going to have another two years of domination and she’s going to be gone.

“She’s running out of competition, she’s that good, and she’s got a lot of ways to make a lot of money.”