Steven Rondina | UFC Betting Sites - The Best MMA Online Bookies

Jose Aldo to Get Lightweight Title Shot with Win over Pettis

After initially refusing a fight with former WEC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis, Dana White is now confirming that the fight will indeed happen August 3. Aldo, though, had a couple conditions attached to accepting the fight. Multiple sources are r…

Multiple sources are reporting that, should Aldo defeat Pettis, he will be the next in line for a lightweight title fight. From Twitter:

Jose Also asked for a LW title shot to accept fight with Pettis: ‘Don’t see how I can’t ask that’ tatame.com.br/para-aceitar-l… via @tatamemagazine

— Guilherme Cruz (@guicruzzz) February 26, 2013

Was able to confirm with @danawhite reports from Brazil: If @josealdojunior beats @showtimepettis, he then fights for the 155-pound title.

— John Morgan (@MMAjunkieJohn) February 26, 2013

This is shocking news out of Brazil that will send two divisions into an exciting disarray for fans. While Jose Aldo has been the most dominant featherweight in MMA since 2008, his cut down to 145 lbs is notoriously difficult, and a move up to lightweight has always been in the cards.

For the lightweight division, assuming an Aldo victory, this instantly adds a fearsome top contender that otherwise would not exist. With UFC champion Benson Henderson set to face Strikeforce champion Gilbert Melendez in April, there is no clear next-in-line fighter for a title shot.

While the division is absolutely stacked with talent, fighters like Jim Miller and Gray Maynard are coming off recent losses. Past them, up-and-comers like Khabib Nurmagomedov and TJ Grant are not well-known among fans. Aldo puts a relatively popular fighter on a collision course for a blockbuster title fight.

In the featherweight division, subtracting Aldo blows the top off a division that has contenders climbing over each other. Ricardo Lamas and Cub Swanson both have legitimate claims to a title shot as is, and a strong case can be made that Chan Sung Jung is up there as well. Past those three, Clay Guida, Frankie Edgar and Chad Mendes could all be in line for a chance to take the gold.

Suffice it to say, exciting things are happening in the UFC today.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Bellator 90: Shahbulat Shamhalaev Defeats Rad Martinez, Earns Title Shot

The long-awaited finals of the Bellator Season 7 Featherweight Tournament have finally arrived. In a night defined by knockout after knockout, Rad Martinez and Shahbulat Shamhalaev came together in the main event to carry on that momentum. This, too, g…

This, too, gave fans a thrilling finish, and gives Shamhalaev a highlight he can use for all of his future Bellator fights.

In the first round, Shamhalaev rocked Martinez. Martinez recovered quickly and went on to land a big takedown to keep himself on the score cards.

In the second round, Martinez was rocked again by a hand behind the ear. Shamhalaev would shake off Martinez’s clinch attempts, staggered him again and would finish the fight with a huge overhand right and a big hammer fist.

This victory makes Shamhalaev the Season 7 Featherweight Tournament winner, and also lines him up for a shot against current Bellator featherweight champion Pat Curran.

Bellator 90 featured nine fights total, and only two would go to decision. The finals of two of the Season 8 tournaments were determined (Emanuel Newton vs. Mikhail Zayats in the light heavyweight division, Ben Saunders vs. Douglas Lima in the welterweight division).

Newton ended up shocking fans with his first-round knockout of “King” Mo Lawal in the first round, in what many are calling an Upset of the Year candidate.

While we are actually nearing the end of Season 8, two of Season 7’s tournaments were not yet resolved. Marcin Held and Dave Jensen will be facing off at Bellator 92 in two weeks to determine the next title contender for lightweight champ Michael Chandler.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Bellator 90: Mo Lawal Knocked Out in First Round by Emanuel Newton

Tonight’s Bellator event saw the two light heavyweight tournament semifinal bouts, including Jacob Noe vs. Mikhail Zayats and “King” Mo Lawal vs. Emanuel Newton. In the first bout of the main card, Mikhail Zayats landed a heavy hand to rock…

Tonight’s Bellator event saw the two light heavyweight tournament semifinal bouts, including Jacob Noe vs. Mikhail Zayats and “King” Mo Lawal vs. Emanuel Newton.

In the first bout of the main card, Mikhail Zayats landed a heavy hand to rock Jacob Noe early on, letting him slip into top position quickly. After some ground-and-pound, he got hold of Noe’s arm, barred it and forced a tap at 3:38 of the first round.

When Lawal and Newton squared off, Lawal showed off the same confident striking he did in his Bellator debut against Przemyslaw Mysiala. Some, though, would say he was overly confident.

After out-landing Newton for the first few minutes of the fight, the underdog planted and caught Lawal with a full-power backfist clean to the teeth, right as Lawal dropped his front hand. Lawal stiffened on the spot and fell to the ground rigid.

This is one of the biggest upsets fans have seen in recent years. This writer actually stated, “many are expecting him to cruise effortlessly to the Bellator belt” and was squarely among that lot.

Lawal is a former world-class wrestler and came just short of qualifying for the 2008 Beijing Games. He used those skills to ground-and-pound his way to the Strikeforce belt, beating out Gegard Mousasi in 2010. He would lose the belt to Rafael Cavalcante, but still ranked among the best light heavyweights in MMA.

Newton will face off with Zayats at a later Bellator event, which will determine the next contender for the light heavyweight belt. Current champion Christian M’Pumbu will face off with 2012 Summer Series winner Attila Vegh next week at Bellator 91.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Harlem Shake: MMA Edition with Ian McCall, Mo Lawal, Vinny Magalhaes and More

James Te Huna isn’t the only mixed martial artist getting down these days (check out his sweet UFC on Fuel 7 walkout here). Not with the MMA Elite crew on board. In case you’ve never heard of the “Harlem Shake,” it’s basically the new big t…

James Te Huna isn’t the only mixed martial artist getting down these days (check out his sweet UFC on Fuel 7 walkout here). Not with the MMA Elite crew on board.

In case you’ve never heard of the “Harlem Shake,” it’s basically the new big thing on the Internet. It consists of a song playing, set against an everyday situation, with a single person dancing amongst a crowd until the beat drops, at which point everyone else joins in, often wearing ridiculous costumes.

Well, supplement/apparel/equipment manufacturer MMA Elite just released its own rendition of the Harlem Shake, featuring numerous prominent mixed martial artists. You can see the videos here and here.

It may be hard to pick out all of the different fighters involved in this endeavor, but included in that lot are Vinny Magalhaes, “King” Mo Lawal, Renato “Babalu” Sobral and Ian McCall. MMA Elite is a big sponsor for fighters at all levels, and it has the likes of BJ Penn, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Cain Velasquez and Frankie Edgar under their umbrella.

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen fighters and companies parody popular videos in an effort to generate buzz. Jorge Rivera and his entourage put out their own version of the song “Kyle’s Mom’s a B**ch” from the movie South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut (watch that classic here—note: NSFW).

You can check out MMA Elite’s website here, and you can follow along on Twitter here. Last but not least, you can check out the original Harlem Shake video here.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Recapping the Fight Night Bonuses from UFC on Fuel 7

Even though almost every fight went to decision, UFC on Fuel TV 7 was still action packed from start to finish. That said, Dana White likely had little trouble picking out which fighters to award bonuses. So which fighters are taking home a bit more th…

So which fighters are taking home a bit more than they were anticipating? Who gets something written up in the “Notes” section of his Wikipedia record listing?

Find out right here!

Submission of the Night: Renan Barao

This was probably the easiest award to peg because Barao was the only fighter to make his opponent tap. Still, it was a very nice submission.

In the fourth round of the title fight against Michael McDonald, Barao scored a takedown that tangled his limbs up with McDonald’s. Rather than scrambling into a better position or letting McDonald return to his feet, Barao wrapped up his opponent’s head and arm and squeezed. It took him a while, but McDonald eventually tapped.

Knockout of the Night: Tom Watson

This one was a teeny bit less easy to pick than the submission of the night (though still pretty easy). Tom Watson had the only legitimate knockout of the night. The only other one was Cyrille Diabate’s calf exploding.

As with Barao‘s submission, though, Tom Watson’s knockout of Stanislav Nedkov was still a doozy.

Watson had an absolute barn burner of a fight, and both fighters took some serious damage. In the waning seconds of the second round, though, Watson landed some huge knees from the muay Thai clinch and finished off Nedkov with punches.

Fight of the Night: Tom Watson vs. Stanislav Nedkov

So yeah…as stated, total barn burner here.

Tom Watson and Stanislav Nedkov put on one of the most amazing, spirited fights you’ll ever see. Both of them brawled harder than one could reasonably expect from a human being, and they gave us a fight that could easily end up as Fight of the Year.

In the end, Watson took home the win and the Knockout of the Night check, but Nedkov will also be taking home more than his “show up” money. This is a fight both of them can be very proud of.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC on Fuel 7 Results: What We Learned from Renan Barao vs. Michael McDonald

With Dominick Cruz on the shelf for at least a good while longer, Renan Barao and Michael McDonald squared off in an interim bantamweight title fight that can set the tone of the division for a long while. Both Barao and McDonald entered the fight unde…

Both Barao and McDonald entered the fight undefeated in the WEC and UFC. Both have left very little doubt as to who was the winner in any given bout during their time with Zuffa.

When they finally met in the cage, things started off evenly, but the reigning champ picked up more and more steam as the fight went on until forcing McDonald to the ground and sinking in a sneaky head-and-arm choke.

It was a great fight that showed us a lot from both fighters. So what did we learn?

Michael McDonald Is Very Good

When I was catching up on fights from either party before this event, I basically came to the conclusion that Renan Barao was a killing machine and Michael McDonald was going to be his first victim as interim champion with very little effort. McDonald proved me wrong.

Even though he ended up getting choked out, he was masterful on the ground, slipping away from Barao again and again. He looked every part Barao‘s equal but seemed just a little bit too tentative as the fight went on.

At just 22 years old, though, McDonald may not have even hit his peak yet. We could very easily see him fighting for another 10 years, meaning he could be in the title picture of the division for the indefinite future.

Renan Barao is Even Better

Michael McDonald is very good, and Renan Barao is even better. He showed some very good hands and kicks, and we already know that he’s a master in Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

Renan Barao is as well-rounded as anybody and easily ranks among the top 10 pound-for-pound fighters in MMA. On top of all that, as with McDonald, we could see him getting better over the next few years.

Dominick Cruz Should Still Be Favored for Unification Bout

For those that don’t know, Dominick Cruz is currently shelved with a lingering knee injury. He hasn’t fought since October 2011.

While Renan Barao is a very, very good fighter, I definitely feel like Cruz has all the tools to take the win when they fight. That, of course, assumes that he comes back at full strength following such a long layover.

Cruz still has, perhaps, the best wrestling in the UFC under 155 lbs, and while Barao is quick and can mix his hands, kicks and takedowns well, I definitely think Cruz can dictate the pace and location of the fight with ease.

Raphael Assuncao Is Last Man Standing for Title Shot

So let’s say Cruz can’t come back for a bit longer. He is currently projected to come back late 2013, but who knows if that will pan out?

Basically, the only guy with a winning streak longer than two is Raphael Assuncao, who is 3-0 at bantamweight, with wins over Johnny Eduardo, Issei Tamura and Mike Easton. Not especially stiff competition, but that’s where we are right now. The bantamweight division is very shallow on contenders, and it is starting to really show.

Part of it is how the UFC has let free agents slip through its fingers (the organization was outbid for both Tyson Nam and Bibiano Fernandes). Part of it is the lack of support for the division from The Ultimate Fighter.

Either way, Assuncao is basically the only guy with any level of name value, and any number of wins clumped together, to get the nod if Cruz faces another setback. Here’s hoping it doesn’t happen, because the division really needs more time for things to shake out.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com