Author: Vince Carey

UFC 155 Fight Card: Which Fight Will Steal the Show?

Like most UFC events, the lead up to UFC 155 has been dominated by the main event, which isn’t surprising considering the UFC’s heavyweight belt has been called the biggest prize in combat sports. But while most of the focus is falling on J…

Like most UFC events, the lead up to UFC 155 has been dominated by the main event, which isn’t surprising considering the UFC’s heavyweight belt has been called the biggest prize in combat sports.

But while most of the focus is falling on Junior Dos Santos and Cain Velasquez this week, these two finish fights so quickly that their time inside the cage isn’t likely going to last long Saturday night.

That leaves the door open for one of the undercard bouts to try to steal the show, and since some of the most entertaining fighters on the UFC roster are set to throw down, competition is going to be fierce.

Joe Lauzon, who collects fight-night bonuses on an absurdly consistent level, is set to compete in the co-headliner against Jim Miller in a bout that is almost guaranteed to produce fireworks.

And exciting as Lauzon is, the casual fan may find themselves even more enamored by Leonard Garcia, who throws punches like he’s swinging a 20lb hammer and gets into some fan-friendly wars in the process.

However, Lauzon and Garcia’s fights on Saturday likely won’t even compare to the high-energy bout that Brad Pickett and Eddie Wineland are set to deliver.

The lighter weight classes in the UFC have produced some of the best fights in the organization since they came over from the WEC a couple of years ago, and with two of the best bantamweights on the roster set to fight this weekend, the main event on FX looks like an early favorite to in the Fight of the Night award.

Both Pickett and Wineland have been making moves towards title contention over the course of their last few bouts, and with both men coming off of impressive knockout victories, all signs point to a war between two of the best at 135.

Pickett has long had a reputation as one of the most fun to watch fighters in the bantamweight division, and despite a tough loss to interim champion Renan Barao back at UFC 138, he’s still considered a top threat to the bantamweight crown.

Much of the same can be said about Wineland, who overcame a tough 0-2 start to his UFC career by smashing Scott Jorgensen with a brutal one-punch knockout at UFC on FX 3.

With the bantamweight division short on title contenders at the moment, the winner of this fight is going to be in prime position to compete for a UFC belt at some point in 2013.

With the stakes so high, expect Pickett and Wineland to both bring their ”A” game to the cage this weekend, and if that happens, those two may be the fighters fans are talking about when UFC 155 comes to an end.

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UFC 158: Johny Hendricks vs. Jake Ellenberger Breakdown

After getting passed over for a title shot by Nick Diaz, Johny Hendricks has a sizable chip on his shoulder heading into his next bout at UFC 158. The former Oklahoma St. All-American has made a convincing case for a shot at George St-Pierre’s we…

After getting passed over for a title shot by Nick Diaz, Johny Hendricks has a sizable chip on his shoulder heading into his next bout at UFC 158.

The former Oklahoma St. All-American has made a convincing case for a shot at George St-Pierre’s welterweight crown over his last few fights, taking out welterweight mainstays in Jon Fitch, Josh Koscheck, and Martin Kampmann.

However, after the champion reportedly asked for a fight against a far less deserving opponent in Diaz, Hendricks must earn yet another high profile win before he gets his first crack at UFC gold.

To do that, Hendricks is going to have to take out another fighter looking for respect at 170 pounds, Jake Ellenberger.

Ellenberger was approaching a title shot of his own earlier this year, having dispatched high-profile opponents in Jake Shields and Diego Sanchez during an impressive six-fight UFC winning streak.

Unfortunately for “The Juggernaut”, he ended up on the wrong side of a Martin Kampmann knockout before he was able to earn a shot at GSP and the welterweight title, and he needs a big win in order to get him back in the mix.

This is an incredible fight between two of the top welterweights on the planet in the midst of their respective primes, and whomever comes out on top at UFC 158 in Montreal is going to have a good chance to get the next title shot at 170.

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The 10 Best MMA Fights That Didn’t Happen in 2012

Unless you’ve been living under a bridge, you’ve noticed that the injury bug has hit MMA in a big way over the last 12 months. In an unprecedented rash of injuries, nine UFC main events had at least one of the fighters scheduled to compete …

Unless you’ve been living under a bridge, you’ve noticed that the injury bug has hit MMA in a big way over the last 12 months.

In an unprecedented rash of injuries, nine UFC main events had at least one of the fighters scheduled to compete be forced to pull out due to injury, and in the process lost a ton of highly anticipated bouts.

Throw in what felt like over a hundred fighters bowing out of various fights this year, and Zuffa may need to give Joe Silva and Sean Shelby a raise with all of the extra work they’ve had to do over the last 12 months.

Every single fight on this list was set to take place at one point of another in 2012, but due to injuries, suspensions, failed drug tests, and in one case a motorcycle accident, these high-profile matchups never quite made it to the cage.

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UFC on FX 6 Results: Can Hector Lombard Become a Top Contender at Middleweight?

Now that’s the Hector Lombard fight fans were expecting to see when he made his UFC debut earlier this year. Coming off of an abysmal performance against Tim Boetsch back at UFC 149 in July, Lombard was in desperate need of a big win over Rousima…

Now that’s the Hector Lombard fight fans were expecting to see when he made his UFC debut earlier this year.

Coming off of an abysmal performance against Tim Boetsch back at UFC 149 in July, Lombard was in desperate need of a big win over Rousimar Palhares in order to regain some of his lost momentum, and he earned quite a bit of it back with his dominant performance over “Taquinho.”

Lombard has been one of the most dominant middleweights in MMA over the past half decade, going 25-1-1 since a Pride FC loss to Gegard Mousasi back in 2006.

However, his inability to pull the trigger in his loss against Boetsch in his UFC debut caused many fans to question whether or not “Lightning” had the talent to compete with the best fighters in the world at 185 lbs.

He may have silenced those critics tonight with his destruction of Palhares, but even with the big win Lombard still has a long ways to go before he is considered a contender to Anderson Silva’s title again.

The UFC’s middleweight division is deeper than it has been in years, with Lombard looking to join top contenders like Michael Bisping, Vitor Belfort and Chris Weidman near the top of the heap if he can build off of the win he earned tonight.

While he’s still sitting a notch below the top guys at 185 at the moment, Lombard’s win over Palhares is a step in the right direction if he wants to get into the UFC title picture in the near future.

Based on natural ability alone, Lombard could eventually have a shot at adding a UFC title to his resume.

The former Bellator champion’s raw power and finishing ability have made him one of the most dangerous fighters in all of MMA, and fortunately for Lombard, the vast majority of the top fighters at 185 lbs prefer to stand and trade on the feet over a grappling match.

Lombard would have a legitimate chance to pull off the upset against a guy like Bisping or Belfort based on his punching power alone, and since Anderson Silva turns away challengers about as quickly as the UFC can throw them at him, all it takes is one or two big wins at 185 to become an instant contender.

It’s definitely not a sure thing, but if Hector Lombard can build off of the momentum he gained tonight and earn a big win or two over the next year, we could very easily see the former Bellator champion fight for a chance at UFC gold.

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Rory MacDonald: Will He Ever Be Champion If He Doesn’t Face GSP?

It was bound to get awkward eventually. As soon as Rory MacDonald stepped into the UFC’s famed Octagon for the first time almost three years ago, it was obvious that the young Canadian possessed a tremendous amount of potential. As his UFC career…

It was bound to get awkward eventually.

As soon as Rory MacDonald stepped into the UFC’s famed Octagon for the first time almost three years ago, it was obvious that the young Canadian possessed a tremendous amount of potential. As his UFC career progressed, it became apparent that “Ares” was going to find himself in the welterweight title picture before he hit his 24th birthday.

Whether it was his impressive showing in a loss to Carlos Condit in just his second Octagon appearance or his absolute destruction of Mike Pyle barely a year later, every fight fan has had that moment where they’ve realized “Wow, this Rory MacDonald kid is really, really good.”

After watching MacDonald annihilate MMA legend and future UFC hall of famer BJ Penn at UFC on Fox 5 Saturday, it became obvious just how good the Tri-Star-based fighter can really become.

For three full rounds, MacDonald completely had his way with “The Prodigy.” Throwing sharp jabs, connecting on a few beautiful elbows from inside the clinch and even “Ali-shuffling” his way around the cage, MacDonald essentially put on a clinic against one of the most popular and well respected fighters in the history of the sport.

Simply put, MacDonald proved that he’s for real during his beat down of Penn.

The problem is, he may have arrived a bit too soon.

While we all knew that “Ares” was going to be good, but it’s hard to imagine that anyone thought he was going to be this good, this quickly. While it’s never a bad thing to add a new contender to one of the UFC’s toughest divisions, it does become a problem when said contender has no intention of fighting the current champion.

MacDonald’s relationship with Georges St-Pierre has been well-documented. The fighters both fight out of the Tri-Star gym in Montreal under the tutelage of Frias Zahabi, they’ve trained together for most of the last few years and St-Pierre has publicly gone out and said that he believes that MacDonald is a future champion.

They’re friends and they have no intention of ever fighting each other inside the Octagon.

However, we’ve seen training partners swear they’ve wanted no part of each other in the past, only to see the relationship go up in flames when UFC gold gets thrown into the equation. Jon Jones and Rashad Evans seemingly went from best friends to bitter rivals once that elusive belt got between them. But while the situation between Jones and Evans seemed inevitable, it appears that St-Pierre and MacDonald share more of a Josh Koscheck-Jon Fitch (longtime teammates that have refused to fight) type of loyalty.

Unless they decide to split custody of Mike Ricci and part ways, there isn’t going to be a Canadian super fight for the belt any time soon.

This leaves Rory in a tough spot. He’s a championship-caliber fighter at just 23 years old, but St-Pierre is only 31 and is still sitting in the prime of his career.

MacDonald could just stay active and wait for St-Pierre to either get beaten or walk away, but when you look at the success that Anderson Silva is still having at 37 years old, it becomes harder to justify taking that chance.

Any way you look at it, MacDonald has one option if he absolutely refuses to fight GSP: middleweight. Since MacDonald clearly believes he is better suited to fight at 170, that’s not exactly an enticing option.

Right now, MacDonald is still a fight or two away from getting a serious look as a possible title contender, but it’s only a matter of time.

Eventually, he’s going to get the call from the UFC asking him to fight GSP for the title, and when that happens, he may have to make the tough choice.

Like every other fighter, MacDonald’s main goal is to become the best in the world. He may never get there if he refuses to fight St-Pierre.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Alexander Gustafsson: 5 Fights for ‘the Mauler’ to Take Next

Alexander Gustafsson has arrived. The Swedish fighter has been on the radar of many MMA fans over the last few years due to his enormous potential, but he was without a true career-defining victory until last night. Gustafsson was impressive in his thr…

Alexander Gustafsson has arrived.

The Swedish fighter has been on the radar of many MMA fans over the last few years due to his enormous potential, but he was without a true career-defining victory until last night.

Gustafsson was impressive in his three-round slugfest with Shogun Rua, dishing out two hard shots for every one that Rua sent his way and beating the brawler at his own game.

Most fighters would shy away from getting into a messy brawl with a known finisher like Shogun, but Gustafsson proved he is every bit as good as the hype that surrounds him by thoroughly outworking and out-striking an exhausted Shogun in the latter rounds.

With the win, Gustafsson can finally be considered a true threat to Jon Jones and the light heavyweight title, and his next fight will be crucial if he wants to realize his dream of becoming champion.

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