Last time we were in this space, I tossed up a poll asking which of the two UFC shows you guys were planning to watch during the back-to-back weekend. 12-percent of responders said they’d be tuning in to neither Friday’s UFC on FX 6 event nor Saturday’s TUF 16 Finale.
Well, for all the 12-percenters out there, I hope you guys are good at the internet, because there’s plenty of video worth catching up on.
In a two-day span that featured 21 UFC fights, a mere seven reached the judges’ hands. That’s an impressive feat in and of itself, and an incredible pace to maintain for 48 hours. But then consider the method in which some of those 14 fights ended, whether it was Ben Alloway’s brutal front kick or Rustam Khabilov morphing into Zangief from Street Fighter for two straight minutes, and you’d need to be a real curmudgeon to come out of this weekend feeling anything but satisfied. So without further ado, let’s take a look back and try to digest it all.
7 MUST-READ STORIES
Pearson, Lombard earn KO victories at FX 6. Ross Pearson punctuated his grudge match against George Sotiropoulos with a vicious third-round knockout, while Hector Lombard earned his first Zuffa victory in dramatic fashion, knocking out Rousimar Palhares on the main card of Friday’s UFC on FX 6 event. (Reactions and video.)
Parke, Whittaker, Smith take TUF crowns. Norman Parke and Robert Whittaker became the inaugural TUF Smashes winners via hard-fought unanimous decisions over Colin Fletcher and Brad Scott, respectively. Likewise, Colton Smith dominated Mike Ricci take the TUF 16 crown.
Nelson, Barry, Poirier finish at TUF 16 Finale. Roy Nelson knocked out Matt Mitrione with a thunderous first round combination, Pat Barry crushed Shane del Rosario, and Dustin Poirier overcame a rocky start to submit Jonathan Brookins via first-round D’arce choke on the main card of Saturday night’s TUF 16 Finale. (Reactions and video.)
Volkov captures Bellator heavyweight belt. Alexander Volkov, a former training partner of Fedor Emelianenko, defeated Richard Hale via five-round unanimous decision to capture the vacant Bellator heavyweight title in the main event of Bellator 84. Meanwhile, in a bizarre turn of events, the expected co-main event — Marcin Held vs. Dave Jansen for the lightweight tournament finals — was postponed prior to the show, as the 20-year-old Held was barred from entering the Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, Indiana due to his age. That fight has been rescheduled for early 2013.
Varner-Guillard postponed to UFC 155. A lightweight bout scheduled for the main card of TUF 16 Finale, Jamie Varner vs. Melvin Guillard, was cancelled by commission officials when Varner fell ill hours before he was set to fight. UFC President Dana White confirmed the match-up would be moved to UFC 155.
UFC 158 fight card. UFC 158 is official for March 16, 2013, at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada. UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre defends his belt against Nick Diaz in the “fight the fans want to see,” Rory MacDonald gets his rematch against Carlos Condit, and Johny Hendricks plans to stop Jake Ellenberger to ensure St-Pierre will have “nowhere to hide.”
Bisping ‘probably’ gets next shot. According to Dana White, middleweight contender Michael Bisping will “probably” get the next shot at Anderson Silva if Bisping can defeat Vitor Belfort at UFC on FX 7.
MEDIA STEW
If you haven’t seen it already, Saturday’s night post-fight scrum is worth checking out. Some interesting stuff from Dana White regarding Ronda Rousey and the GSP-Diaz-Hendricks-Silva situation.
Pat Barry had a pretty good weekend. He pocketed an extra $40,000 for his highlight-reel finish of Shane del Rosario, plus he recorded these next two videos. That’s about all you can ask for.
Poor, poor Melvin.
“He’ll never get the opportunity to fight me again.”
‘Dana says you’re fighting in two weeks.’
“…That’s cool.”
Let the hype begin.
PRETTY MUCH SUMS IT UP
People may not like the way he looks but Fat Boy can fight. #UFConFX
— Jason High (@KCBanditMMA) December 16, 2012
TRIUMPHANT HECTOR LOMBARD
There is much testosterone in this fight, I’m afraid i’ll get pregnant watching
— Julie Kedzie (@julesk_fighter) December 15, 2012
Lombard has a giant ass. #UFConFX6
— Joseph Benavidez (@JoeJitsu) December 15, 2012
RUSTAM KHABILOV HAS THE BEST TWITTER HANDLE IN EXISTENCE
Oh my suplex … So beautiful. I like this guy
— Ian McCall (@Unclecreepymma) December 16, 2012
“Check to see if he is okay! Check to see if heis okayyyy! Oh my gawwwwd” – GF
— Joe Lauzon (@JoeLauzon) December 16, 2012
Those suplex’s were a throwback to Severn vs Macias #Brutal
— Jorge Rivera (@Jorge_Conquista) December 16, 2012
THE STRANGE SAGA OF MELVIN AND JAMIE
Wow varner is worried about me greasing sounds like someone worried.
— Melvin Guillard (@Young__Assassin) December 16, 2012
Hey @danawhite I heard the Guillard & Varner fight got canceled. Let me fight Melvin I’m in the venue & have my gear w/me. @ufc @ufconfox
— Ulysses Gomez (@uselessgomez) December 16, 2012
Sorry to all of the true fight fans of the UFC like I always say we are born to fight!!!!
— Melvin Guillard (@Young__Assassin) December 16, 2012
@young__assassin No u didn’t win. U can get ur show money
— Dana White (@danawhite) December 16, 2012
GOING HARD AT GIL
Why does Gil .M continue to call out people He knows he cant fight. Hes like theHS cheerleader who wants to suck off every new QB.
— Edward Alvarez (@Ealvarezfight) December 14, 2012
LIL’ER HEATHEN
My manager wants me to start 2013 as a featherweight (145) and working with @ufc to make it happen. Sounds interesting!
— Jeremy Stephens (@LiLHeathenMMA) December 14, 2012
PLANNING AHEAD
“@shaneisokay: @rondarousey What’s gonna be your walkout song at 157?” Bad reputation by Joan Jett and the blackhearts 😉
— Ronda Rousey (@RondaRousey) December 15, 2012
PHIL & VINNY
@vinnymma @ufc @danawhite you don’t mind waiting … But you mind stepping up. What a loser
— Phil Davis (@PhilMrWonderful) December 15, 2012
@vinnymma @ufc @danawhite hahaha ur such a bum lol you can train for a year and still get beat
— Phil Davis (@PhilMrWonderful) December 15, 2012
@vinnymma @ufc @danawhite hahaha your seriously delusional lol this made my day. So why didn’t you step up if your so tough vinny???
— Phil Davis (@PhilMrWonderful) December 15, 2012
@vinnymma @ufc @danawhiteyour a bum! Get off my timeline
— Phil Davis (@PhilMrWonderful) December 15, 2012
@philmrwonderfuldo you see this? RT “@dguaresimo: @vinnymma i want 2 see u fight phill davis so u can submit him and shut his ass up”
— Vinny Magalhaes (@VinnyMMA) December 15, 2012
@philmrwonderful so does that mean that you’ll stop ducking me and you will take the fight on February 23rd #ufc157? @ufc @danawhite
— Vinny Magalhaes (@VinnyMMA) December 15, 2012
@philmrwonderful I will take the fight on #ufc155. If we do at HW. Are you down?
— Vinny Magalhaes (@VinnyMMA) December 15, 2012
I’m signing off for the night people …it’s been real…..at least on my end
— Phil Davis (@PhilMrWonderful) December 15, 2012
DARTH DIAZ
A little visual to go with the UFC 158 announcment.Also, tickets go on sale on Sat. Jan 19th: ufc.com/news/GSP-vs-Di… twitter.com/ufc/status/280…
— UFC (@ufc) December 16, 2012
YUP
Man with hand in pocket feels cocky all day.
— Miguel Angel Torres (@MiguelTorresMMA) December 14, 2012
FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS
Announced over the weekend (Friday, December 14, 2012 – Sunday, December 16, 2012):
- UFC 158: Georges St-Pierre (23-2) vs. Nick Diaz (26-8) booked for main event
- UFC 158: Rory MacDonald (14-1) vs. Carlos Condit (28-6) booked for co-main event
- UFC 158: Johny Hendricks (14-1) vs. Jake Ellenberger (28-6)
- UFC 158: Patrick Cote (18-8) vs. Alessio Sakara (15-10)
- TUF 16 Finale: Jamie Varner (20-7-1) vs. Melvin Guillard (30-11-2) rescheduled for UFC 155
- UFC on FUEL 7: Tom Watson (15-5) vs. Stanislav Nedkov (12-0)
FANPOST OF THE DAY
Today’s Fanpost of the Day comes from unambig, who plays teacher with: TUF Scrub Weekend report cards
Welterweight [170]: TJ Waldburger (B+) versus Nick Catone (C)
Prediction: Waldburger by submission in round 2
Result: Waldburger by submission in round 2
It’s no easy task taking on a gorilla dropping down from 185 pounds. But Waldburger more than held his own out there, and scored an impressive submission, too. The first round was a lot of grappling and wrestling, mainly with Catone on top, using superior strength to keep TJ from controlling him.
But the second round, TJ landed a knockdown punch and converts it to a triangle. Catone is fine at first, but decides he’s more comfortable using his own arm to choke himself out, so he moves that across his neck.
Winner: There are a ton of options for Waldburger after his minor setback to Brian Ebersole. There’s Dan Miller and Kyle Noke, two other guys who dropped from middleweight. And there’s also Matt Brown, who is on a great winning streak of late.
* * *
Lightweight [155]: Rustam Khabilov (A+) versus Vinc Pichel (D-)
Prediction: Khabilov by decision
Result: Khabilov by KO in round 1
This was utter domination from start to brief finish. I think I saw a similar fight scene in the film Irreversible. Khabilov shot for a takedown immediately and got into side control. He threw a suplex, followed it up with a second one. Pichel was still awake, so Khabilov dropped him with a judo trip and threw a third suplex that knocked him clean out. It was violent poetry in motion.
Winner: A step up in competition is called for, maybe Ramsey Nijem or Daron Cruickshank.
More after the jump…
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