On Saturday night, Ovince St. Preux squared off against the winner of season eight of The Ultimate Fighter, Ryan Bader. The early rounds were competitive, but by late in the second round, Bader realized he had a serious advantage on the ground.
Th…
On Saturday night, Ovince St. Preux squared off against the winner of season eight of The Ultimate Fighter, Ryan Bader. The early rounds were competitive, but by late in the second round, Bader realized he had a serious advantage on the ground.
The fight went the full five rounds, and Bader took the unanimous decision with scores of 48-47, 49-46 and 49-46.
Going into the fight, Bader was ranked No. 8 and St. Preux was ranked No. 10. After this fight, St. Preux is likely to drop to the bottom of the rankings, and there are a few interesting fights for him to take next. Let’s check out three possibilities.
On Saturday night, Gray Maynard suffered his fourth loss by (T)KO in as many fights. His only win since 2010 was a split-decision win over Clay Guida. He has suffered two first-round TKOs, a fourth-round knockout and then a second-round TKO Saturday.
H…
On Saturday night, Gray Maynard suffered his fourth loss by (T)KO in as many fights. His only win since 2010 was a split-decision win over Clay Guida. He has suffered two first-round TKOs, a fourth-round knockout and then a second-round TKO Saturday.
He was ranked No. 12 going into the fight, but with a loss to the unranked Ross Pearson, Maynard will likely drop out of the top 15.
Many are hoping that Maynard will retire, as his chin has shown serious problems as of late, but should he stick around, let’s check out four fights for him to take next.
On Saturday night, an important fight takes place in the lightweight division, as two-time title challenger, Gray Maynard, faces off against winner of season nine of The Ultimate Fighter, Ross Pearson.
Maynard has been out since November 2013…
On Saturday night, an important fight takes place in the lightweight division, as two-time title challenger, Gray Maynard, faces off against winner of season nine of The Ultimate Fighter, Ross Pearson.
Maynard has been out since November 2013, when he was TKO’d by Nate Diaz in the first round. In his fight before that, he was TKO’d by TJ Grant, also in the first round. Overall, Maynard is just 1-3-1 since his title fight with Frankie Edgar in 2011. All three of his losses have been by (T)KO, while his lone win was a split-decision over the No. 12 featherweight, Clay Guida.
Pearson last fought in June, when he lost a razor-thin split-decision to Diego Sanchez. Even though Pearson lost the fight on paper, Dana White and the UFC awarded him his win bonus and also gave him a step-up in competition with this fight against Maynard. Pearson is 2-1 [1 NC] in his last four matches since returning to lightweight.
These two each have a clear path to earn a win, so let’s check out their keys to victory.
Gray Maynard: Utilize his Wrestling and Dominate the Fight on the Ground
In Maynard’s first 11 career fights, he went 10-0 [1 NC] with eight wins by decision. He earned wins over Dennis Siver, Frankie Edgar, Jim Miller, Nate Diaz, Kenny Florian and others, largely by utilizing his superior wrestling and strength.
At UFC 125, Maynard showed off that he can throw leather too, as he rocked Frankie Edgar several times in the first round of their title fight. He did the same in their rematch at UFC 136 as well, even though he himself would be knocked out in the fourth round.
Maynard needs to go back to his grappling roots and beat Pearson up on the ground to get a win. Not only is his wrestling the strongest aspect of his game, but his chin might not be top notch anymore. Two first-round TKO’s can never be good.
Ross Pearson: Avoid the Takedown and Pick Maynard Apart
Pearson is known as a striker. He has earned six wins out of 15 by stoppage due to strikes—five by (T)KO and one by submission. In addition, he has only ever been stopped with strikes twice out of seven career losses. One was due to a doctor stoppage while the other came against the No. 2 featherweight, Cub Swanson.
Pearson only has one straight knockout in his career and is much more likely to pick up the TKO. If he is able to avoid Maynard’s takedowns and land shots at every opportunity, one will eventually hurt Maynard. Pearson will then just have to follow up in short order, just like Frankie Edgar, TJ Grant and Nate Diaz did.
One other thing that Pearson will have to watch out for is Maynard’s power. Gray hasn’t scored a knockout since 2007, but he does have tremendous power in his hands. When Pearson was knocked out by Swanson, Swanson was backing up and landed a short hook. Maynard almost definitely has enough power to end the fight, and Pearson will have to be careful.
This Saturday, the UFC goes to Bangor, Maine, for UFC Fight Night 47: Bader vs. St. Preux. The main event features a light heavyweight bout between The Ultimate Fighter season eight winner, Ryan Bader, and the former Strikeforce standout, Ovi…
This Saturday, the UFC goes to Bangor, Maine, for UFC Fight Night 47: Bader vs. St. Preux. The main event features a light heavyweight bout between The Ultimate Fighter season eight winner, Ryan Bader, and the former Strikeforce standout, Ovince St. Preux.
Bader comes into the fight on a two-fight win streak, having earned unanimous decision victories over Anthony Perosh back in December and Rafael Cavalcante in June. In his last six fights, Bader is 4-2 with one Submission of the Night, but both losses by (T)KO.
St. Preux is on a five-fight win streak, dating back to his final fight in Strikeforce and all four of his fights in the UFC. Four of his wins on this streak have been finishes, two knockouts and two submissions. Since 2010, St. Preux is 13-1, with the lone loss having come against the No. 7 ranked middleweight, GegardMousasi.
Bader and St. Preux are two tough opponents, and it’s not going to be an easy night for either one. Let’s check out their keys to victory.
Ryan Bader: Utilize his Wrestling and Avoid Big Shots
St. Preux has finished his opponent in 12 of 16 wins. Five have come by submission—one to punches—and the other seven by (T)KO. Bader has lost four times in the UFC, twice by knockout and twice by submission. His chin is considered weak by many people, and a submission loss to Tito Ortiz will likely hang over his head for a long time.
St. Preux being effective with both his striking and submissions makes him a dangerous opponent anywhere—except on his back. In St. Preux‘s loss to Mousasi, Mousasi won every round by getting St. Preux down and controlling him on the ground. Ryan Bader, being a former Division I wrestler, should have the ability to do the same.
Bader just has to be sure not to get too aggressive going for takedowns, because if his chin really is weak, St. Preux could easily take advantage on a missed shot.
Ovince St. Preux: Avoid the Takedown
St. Preux could very easily win this fight, as long as he doesn’t end up with his back on the canvas. Bader has shown in the past that he can be both submitted and knocked out, and St. Preux has shown that he can do both of those things to almost anyone.
In Bader‘s last fight, he was able to beat Rafael Cavalcante by controlling him in the clinch and on the ground. There was a moment in the third round where Bader may have been rocked, but Cavalcante was unable to follow up. If St. Preux is able to rock Bader, he could easily score the finish.
If he doesn’t go for the knockout, then simply avoiding a Badertakedown could open up an opportunity for St. Preux to score a submission. Bader has been submitted with guillotine chokes twice, and St. Preux is sure to be aware of that and is likely to have been working on his guillotine.
As long as St. Preux can stay on his feet, he’s got a good shot in this fight.
According to the current official UFC rankings, the top-five pound-for-pound fighters in the UFC are Jon Jones, Jose Aldo, Cain Velasquez, Demetrious Johnson and Chris Weidman, in that order. Jones at No. 1 is all but indisputable, and Aldo at No. 2 is…
According to the current official UFC rankings, the top-five pound-for-pound fighters in the UFC are Jon Jones, Jose Aldo, Cain Velasquez, Demetrious Johnson and Chris Weidman, in that order. Jones at No. 1 is all but indisputable, and Aldo at No. 2 is really the only other option. Beyond that, the rest of the rankings are up for debate.
No. 3 is the heavyweight champion, Cain Velasquez. Cain is a two-time UFC heavyweight champion and has defended his title a total of two times. He is 13-1, with 11 finishes by (T)KO and only two decisions. His one loss was a 64-second knockout loss to Junior dos Santos to lose the title his first time.
Following the loss to dos Santos, Cain rattled off four straight wins en route to getting his belt back. The first fight was a TKO at 3:36 of the first round against Antonio Silva, which earned Cain another crack at the title, and a rematch against dos Santos.
Cain absolutely dominated the fight, earning a unanimous decision with scores of 50-45, 50-44 and 50-43. He has defended his title twice in his current reign, first with another first-round TKO over Antonio Silva, and then with a fifth-round TKO over dos Santos in their third fight.
He is undoubtedly one of the top-five fighters in the UFC, but should Velasquez really be ranked above the flyweight champion, No. 4-ranked, Demetrious Johnson?
Johnson is undefeated since having dropped to flyweight. His first fight was a majority draw against Ian McCall, and his second was a unanimous decision over McCall in their rematch. Johnson’s next fight came against Joseph Benavidez for the inaugural flyweight title. Johnson won by split decision (48-47, 47-48, 49-46), and began his dominant title reign.
In his first defense, Johnson defeated The Ultimate Fighter 14 bantamweight winner, John Dodson by unanimous decision with scores of 49-46, 48-47 and 48-47. Dodson’s loss to Johnson is his only loss since 2010. In addition, their fight won Fight of the Night.
Johnson scored his first UFC finish in his next defense, as he earned Submission of the Night for his fifth-round armbar over John Moraga, in a fight that Johnson had dominated entirely.
For Johnson’s third title defense, he again faced off against Joseph Benavidez. This fight went very differently than the first, as Johnson scored a knockout with a huge right hand at just 2:08 of the first round.
Johnson’s most recent fight—his fourth title defense—came against Ali Bagautinov, who had been on an 11-fight win streak with seven finishes. Johnson won a unanimous decision with scores of 50-45 on all three scorecards. As if that wasn’t impressive enough, Bagautinov later failed a post-fight drug test for EPO. For those who may not know, EPO is a hormone that controls production of red-blood cells.
Johnson has defended his title a total of four times. In a division not known for finishes, Johnson has scored a finish in two of his defenses over top competitors. He has also earned wins over all of the top five fighters in the division.
Velasquez has only defended his title twice. He failed to defend the title his first time with the belt, and he lost it after being knocked out in just 64 seconds.
In addition, his last five fights have come against the same two opponents, and those are the only two opponents in the top 15 that he has beaten.
At the end of the day, Demetrious Johnson deserves to be the No. 3 pound-for-pound fighter in the world. With a win over Chris Cariasoat UFC 178, Johnson might even be able to make a case to be No. 2.
The UFC goes to Bangor, Maine, this weekend for UFC Fight Night 47: Bader vs. St. Preux. For a fight night card, this one has a lot of notable fighters who are sure to have entertaining fights. The co-main event of the card features a bout between the …
The UFC goes to Bangor, Maine, this weekend for UFC Fight Night 47: Bader vs. St. Preux. For a fight night card, this one has a lot of notable fighters who are sure to have entertaining fights. The co-main event of the card features a bout between the No. 12 lightweight, Gray Maynard, and the winner of season nine of The Ultimate Fighter, Ross Pearson.
Maynard has been out of action since November 2013, when he was TKO’d by Nate Diaz in the first round. He is just 1-3-1 in his last five fights, with the lone win being a split-decision over Clay Guida in 2012.
Pearson last fought in June, where he dropped a controversial split decision to Diego Sanchez. Although he lost, Dana White and the UFC decided to treat it as though it was a win, and Pearson received his win bonus and a step up in competition.
There’s a lot of factors at play in this fight, so let’s see who has the edge in this full head-to-toe breakdown.
On Saturday night, an important fight takes place in the lightweight division, as two-time title challenger,