Author: Steven Rondina

UFC 155: What’s Next for the Losers?

The UFC had a huge night of fights. We saw triumphant returns, not-so-triumphant returns, savage beatdowns and a new heavyweight champion over the course of 12 great fights. Still, not everyone can be a winner in a fight. We have 12 dudes who are now w…

The UFC had a huge night of fights. We saw triumphant returns, not-so-triumphant returns, savage beatdowns and a new heavyweight champion over the course of 12 great fights.

Still, not everyone can be a winner in a fight. We have 12 dudes who are now wondering where they go from here.

So where do they go from here? Find out right here as we discuss What’s Next for the UFC 155 Losers!

We’ll take a look at all 12 of the folks that came up short and break down where they are going, and who they could be facing next. Enjoy, folks!

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UFC 155 Results: What’s Next for Leonard Garcia?

Winning is really important. It keeps getting shown again and again. You can be a popular fighter, but if you string together one “L” after another, you are not going to stick around long in the UFC. Whether it’s Keith Jardine, Houston Ale…

Winning is really important. It keeps getting shown again and again.

You can be a popular fighter, but if you string together one “L” after another, you are not going to stick around long in the UFC. Whether it’s Keith Jardine, Houston Alexander, Efrain Escudero or Jason Miller, if you don’t get enough wins, you are not going to be kept around.

Some fan favorites, like Dan Hardy, Yoshihiro Akiyama and Wanderlei Silva, get a bit of leeway in this. Leonard Garcia is among that lot, having acquired quite a following with his exciting, fan-pleasing fighting style (in 15 fights in the UFC and WEC, he has six Fight of the Night bonuses and one knockout of the night).

Still, sitting at 1-4 in his last five, with that one win being his very controversial split-decision victory over Nam Phan, there could be no question that Garcia’s bout against Max Holloway was his last straw. Unless, of course, there was a controversial split decision.

That, obviously, is where we find ourselves now.

The fight itself was as exciting as one could have expected. Each round was wild, back-and-forth striking. Garcia threw his non-stop, looping haymakers. His opponent, Max Holloway, countered with his technically superior, pinpoint-accurate striking.

Garcia, for the first time ever, found himself on the bad end of a split decision. To the sound of some moderate booing, Garcia saw Holloway’s hand raised. Rogan said the decision was controversial, and the numbers slapped up after the third round seemed to agree.

Personally, I wasn’t especially surprised or dissatisfied with the decision. Garcia was the aggressor, no question, and he landed some good shots. Holloway, though, was far more accurate, and landed some excellent counters and probably landed more power shots throughout the fight.

So what, then, is next for Leonard Garcia?

Well, it ultimately comes down to what the fans (and Dana White) feel about the decision. If there is any real outcry in favor of Garcia, a rematch is almost a certainty.

Garcia is popular, and the fight was certainly exciting enough that few would complain about it happening again. It’s a perfect fight to stick at the beginning of a main card, whether pay-per-view, Fox or FX. Additionally, a compelling bout to draw attention to a near-certain future title contender in Holloway is never a bad idea.

If, however, most fans agree with me, this could be the end of Leonard Garcia’s UFC career. It seemed like that was the case back when Garcia lost to Matt Grice in June, and many found themselves scratching their heads when he was given another crack at it.

It becomes increasingly difficult to rationalize Garcia’s continued presence, given his 6-9-1 record under the Zuffa umbrella.

If he does get booted, Garcia is unlikely to stay unemployed for long. You have to expect either the World Series of Fighting, or Bellator FC, to pounce on him immediately, given his fan-pleasing style and name recognition.

Either way, Garcia is nowhere near done fighting right now. It may be, though, that he is finally done fighting for the UFC.

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UFC 155: What We Learned from Myles Jury vs. Michael Johnson

To kick off UFC 155’s FX preliminary card, we had a compelling bout between hot lightweight prospects in Michael Johnson and Myles Jury. Jury was 10-0 in his MMA career, with all those wins coming by first-round stoppage. Johnson, meanwhile, owned a 12…

To kick off UFC 155‘s FX preliminary card, we had a compelling bout between hot lightweight prospects in Michael Johnson and Myles Jury. Jury was 10-0 in his MMA career, with all those wins coming by first-round stoppage. Johnson, meanwhile, owned a 12-6 record (4-2 in the UFC), but he has been exciting many with his well-rounded game, rooted in strong ground-and-pound.

When they began fighting, Jury quickly established himself as the favorite. He stayed that way throughout, dominating Johnson on the ground with a thoroughly superior top game that Johnson simply didn’t have an answer to. Jury would get a unanimous 30-27 scoring and vaulted up any given prospect list with this convincing victory.

So what did we learn from this compelling bout between future lightweight stars? 

 

Myles Jury Is Really Good

Seriously, I was not sure what to expect out of Myles Jury, but through six fights, we know that Michael Johnson’s a really solid lightweight. Yet Jury utterly dominated him from bell to bell.

Granted, we don’t know how Jury’s striking will stand up against other, stronger lightweights (though he has four TKO victories and two submissions from strikes). That said, and once again, this was an amazing beatdown over a very solid lightweight.

There is no real way to critique Jury here. Seriously. What an amazing effort from him. 

 

Still Work to be Done for Johnson

Once again, Johnson was 4-2 coming into this fight. We’ve seen him knock folks out. We’ve seen him out-work them on the ground.

Michael Johnson is a very strong fighter, but he seemed completely lost when he ended up on his back. Give him credit for surviving, because he did take quite the beating. Criticize him, though, for getting bested so thoroughly in a way that we shouldn’t see in modern MMA.

In a lightweight division packed with wrestlers from top to bottom, you need to be able to work your way off your back. You don’t necessarily need to have a Nick Diaz-like active guard, but you cannot expect to have long-term success without a solid defensive ground game.

This is a bad, bad loss for Johnson, and it should really color the lens he is viewed through until he proves that this huge hole in his game has been patched. 

 

Myles Jury Deserves a Step up in Competition

When you give an effort as strong as Myles Jury just did, a promotion through the ranks has to come with it. With that promotion comes tougher competition. There is no shortage of good lightweights that Jury can fight against.

There are, after all, several good fighters about to come over from Strikeforce. Maybe the winner of Ryan Couture vs. KJ Noons? Maybe Jorge Masvidal? Maybe even Josh Thomson?

There are also plenty of established fighters coming off a loss that he could put on a good bout with. Mark Bocek comes to mind. George Sotiropolous also should be considered, given how he is now riding a three-fight losing streak. The loser of Evan Dunham vs. Gleison Tibau also fits in perfectly.

Plenty of options for Jury. 

 

Michael Johnson Still Has a Bright Future

If it sounds like I’m doomsaying Michael Johnson, my apologies.

At age 26, Michael Johnson still has plenty of fights ahead of him, and training with a camp as great as the Blackzilians means that he can instantly start improving any given aspect of his game. Even though Johnson got beaten badly here, he could very well come into his next fight with his guard better polished.

Even though he had a rough outing, one or two fights and we will forget all about it. He still has a strong top game and plenty of power in his hands.

Michael Johnson is still a fighter that, two or three years from now, could be in the thick of the title picture. There is no reason for Johnson, or his fans, to be especially nervous about his career in any big way.

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UFC 155 Fight Card: Power Ranking the Preliminary Card Bouts

UFC 155 is one of the best cards of 2012, and the UFC made sure to reflect that in the preliminary card. While the main card has seen a slew of injuries, the preliminary card has remained incredibly compelling. We have established veterans like Jamie V…

UFC 155 is one of the best cards of 2012, and the UFC made sure to reflect that in the preliminary card. While the main card has seen a slew of injuries, the preliminary card has remained incredibly compelling.

We have established veterans like Jamie Varner, Melvin Guillard and Leonard Garcia. We have top-10 mainstays in Brad Pickett and Chris Cariaso. And we have hot up-and-comers in John Moraga, Michael Johnson and Erik Perez.

Each bout is quite compelling, so why don’t we do what Bleacher Report does best? Power rank these fights!

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15 Stars That Faded in 2012

Twelve months is a very, very long time. Think about how different the world was on December 31, 2011. We had NHL hockey to look forward to. A Manny Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather fight was a distinct possibility. We had no idea what the Colts would do …

Twelve months is a very, very long time. Think about how different the world was on December 31, 2011.

We had NHL hockey to look forward to. A Manny Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather fight was a distinct possibility. We had no idea what the Colts would do with Peyton Manning. On and on.

In the twelve months since UFC 141, headlined by Brock Lesnar vs. Alistair Overeem, the world of MMA has seen plenty of fighters and personalities lose stock and fade off from where they were in 2011. So who are these stars that are finding 2012 to be a year to forget about? What folks who were doing well in 2011 have you just plain forgotten about?

Find out right here!

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UFC 155: JDS’s Flight to Vegas Causing Headaches for the Heavyweight Champ

We all know how crappy it is to fly. We all know how crappy it is to travel around Christmas time. Junior dos Santos is combining the two, and it seems to be going very poorly.  Via Dos Santos’ Twitter account:
We spend 6 hours flying from Salvado…

We all know how crappy it is to fly. We all know how crappy it is to travel around Christmas time. Junior dos Santos is combining the two, and it seems to be going very poorly. 

Via Dos Santos’ Twitter account:

The story was relayed in both English and his native Portuguese.

What airline dos Santos was traveling on remains a mystery. There is a happy ending, though. The champ is apparently being bailed out by United Airlines:

Directly off Google Translate, this reads as “His name is Thiago Mendes and works in UNITED. I am deeply grateful Thiago saved for attention that had us.” So fans of JDS can extend their thanks, and give their money, to United Airlines, who will be bringing the champ stateside on time (more or less).

Dos Santos, as you probably know, is set to defend his heavyweight belt against Cain Velasquez this Saturday at UFC 155. The stacked card also features compelling bouts such as Joe Lauzon vs. Jim Miller, Yushin Okami vs. Alan Belcher and Melvin Guillard vs. Jamie Varner.

Dos Santos still lives and trains in his home country of Brazil, necessitating several flights to get stateside. UFC 155 will be held in Las Vegas this Saturday at the MGM Grand Arena.

The holidays always add to the already-grueling process of air travel, and flying on Christmas Eve can give headaches to even the likes of the UFC heavyweight champ.

Still, the UFC main event does not seem to be in jeopardy, so feel free to get excited for the biggest heavyweight bout since UFC on Fox 1 where, not coincidentally, JDS and Velasquez first crossed paths.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com