UFC 157: Bold Predictions for Biggest Fights On the Card

Ronda Rousey and Liz Carmouche headline a loaded card at UFC 157, and the landmark event is certain to attract a high level of public interest. It’s the first time the UFC has featured a fight between two women, and Rousey is one of MMA’s biggest …

Ronda Rousey and Liz Carmouche headline a loaded card at UFC 157, and the landmark event is certain to attract a high level of public interest. It’s the first time the UFC has featured a fight between two women, and Rousey is one of MMA‘s biggest stars.

Rousey vs. Carmouche isn’t the only fight that will generate buzz, though. 

Lyoto Machida will take on Dan Henderson in a matchup between two of UFC’s most popular fighters, and Ivan Menjivar will fight Urijah Faber in a rematch from 2006—a fight that saw Menjivar get disqualified for an illegal upkick. 

All three fights will certainly be worth the price of admission.

 

Menjivar vs. Faber

Faber used to be the main man in the featherweight division, but he’s fallen on hard times of late, losing two of his last three matches.

Menjivar has been on a tear since joining the UFC, winning four of his five matches.

My heart wants to believe Faber can pull out of his slump and beat Menjivar on Saturday, but my mind won’t let my heart rule the day.

Menjivar rebounded from his loss to Mike Easton with a sick submission victory over Azamat Gashimov in UFC 154—an impressive arm bar that earned him his second “Submission of the Night” in his last three fights.

Bold Prediction: Menjivar will defeat Faber in Round 2 with another big-time submission.

 

Machida vs. Henderson

“The Dragon” takes on “Hendo” in a matchup between two of the biggest stars the UFC has to offer.

Since it’s not a title fight, these two warriors won’t have to conserve their strength for a five-round bout, which should mean more excitement for fans.

Henderson is coming off a 15-month layoff after a knee injury kept him away from competition. He’ll be as fresh as ever, and I hardly expect him to look old out there. 

Machida has hit a bit of a rough patch of late, losing four of his last six matches, though he did show up in style against Ryan Bader at UFC on Fox 4, knocking him out in the second round.

Bold Prediction: Hendo will knock Machida out in Round 3.

 

Rousey vs. Carmouche

Rousey hasn’t hardly broken a sweat since becoming a pro, winning all six of her matches by arm-bar submission early in Round 1. 

Every time someone steps up to the plate to take her on, they get squashed like a bug on a windshield.

Carmouche is a stand-up fighter who brings a level of unpredictability to every fight, and she has been highly successful in her career, winning eight of her 10 fights.

Rousey is used to getting her way, and she’s determined to make a huge statement in her first-ever UFC title fight.

Bold Prediction: Rousey wins by arm bar…in Round 2. 

 

Follow me on Twitter @JesseReed78 

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

The Top Bad Boys in MMA Today

Who doesn’t love and respect Georges St-Pierre, Randy Couture or Lyoto Machida? Those guys ooze respect, honor and sportsmanship. They seem, by all accounts, great guys and fine ambassadors for the sport.But the world isn’t all smiles and h…

Who doesn’t love and respect Georges St-Pierre, Randy Couture or Lyoto Machida? Those guys ooze respect, honor and sportsmanship. They seem, by all accounts, great guys and fine ambassadors for the sport.

But the world isn’t all smiles and handshakes. The world needs its villains, and MMA is no different.

Who wants to watch the same stagnant clone of a persona take the microphone after brutally pummeling another man into submission every fight?

Bad boys, or rebels if you’d prefer, are a necessary counter the sport’s good guys. They keep the eyes wide and the ears cocked, and they keep butts in seats. If you’ve got your doubts, take a look at this list, and think for a moment about how many of these men are major financial draws.

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Cris Cyborg: “It’s Better for Me to Do Invicta,” Jabs Again at Ronda Rousey

Cris “Cyborg” Santos said Monday she won’t consider Ronda Rousey the world’s best fighter as long as a Cyborg-Rousey superfight fails to materialize.”I don’t want to talk about her more, but I want to fight her…Maybe she’s now happy because we won’t …

Cris “Cyborg” Santos said Monday she won’t consider Ronda Rousey the world’s best fighter as long as a Cyborg-Rousey superfight fails to materialize.

“I don’t want to talk about her more, but I want to fight her…Maybe she’s now happy because we won’t fight soon,” Santos said Monday on The MMA Hour broadcast, hosted by MMA reporter Ariel Helwani. “She has never proven she’s the best in the world because she has not fought me.”

Last week, Cyborg (10-1-1) signed with all-female promotion Invicta Fighting Championships. That move followed a wild news week for the Brazilian fighter and her manager, former UFC great Tito Ortiz, which saw Cyborg request and receive her release from the UFC before she ever took a fight. Cyborg requested the release despite the UFC allowing Cyborg to simultaneously sign with the UFC and compete for Invicta. 

But there was apparently more to the story. Monday’s interview followed in the wake of Ortiz telling Bleacher Report Sunday in an exclusive interview that the UFC’s ultimate eight-fight offer was too much. Cyborg concurred with that thinking Monday afternoon.

“[The UFC] wants eight fights in my contract,” Cyborg said. “I don’t want eight fights at 135 pounds. I don’t see anything after Ronda…I think it’s better for me to do Invicta. Now I want only to think about my next fight.”

In Sunday’s Bleacher Report interview, Ortiz said recent comments from the UFC that Cyborg was becoming “irrelevant” provided additional motivation to work only with Invicta for the time being. Ortiz added, however, that he believed Cyborg-Rousey would “100 percent” happen, and that a 140-pound catchweight bout remained a possibility.

Cyborg is just about universally regarded as the top threat to the undefeated Rousey. Rousey, the face of women’s MMA and the UFC’s first-ever female belt-holder, makes her Octagon debut Saturday night against Liz Carmouche in the main event of UFC 157.

Cyborg, who said Monday she will not attend UFC 157, denied feeling any resentment over being excluded from the first woman’s fight in UFC history, and said she was hoping an exciting contest would continue to build public interest in women’s MMA.

“UFC is an event, and it has one guy at the [top of] organization,” Cyborg said, in apparent reference to UFC president Dana White. “He’s doing whatever he wants to do…He’s the one who will put the girls wherever he wants to put them. I feel good. I think all my fans know who is the best in the world…I like aggressive fights. I like two girls fighting. I hope the fans like the fight [on Saturday].”

Cyborg is slated to make her Invicta debut April 5 against Ediane Gomes.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Ronda Rousey: I Would Never Be an MMA Fighter If It Wasn’t for Gina Carano

UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey makes her long-awaited promotional debut at UFC 157 this Saturday, taking on Liz Carmouche in the first female bout in promotional history. Needless to say, the 26-year-old has had her hands full with…

UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey makes her long-awaited promotional debut at UFC 157 this Saturday, taking on Liz Carmouche in the first female bout in promotional history. 

Needless to say, the 26-year-old has had her hands full with media obligations in the weeks leading up to the fight. 

In an interview with the New York Post, the “Rowdy” one talked about her admiration for a fellow Strikeforce veteran recognized for both her skills in the cage and her good looks: Gina Carano. 

“I would never be an MMA fighter if it wasn’t for [Carano],” Rousey told The Post. “I’m not dumb enough to not be grateful. … I just say thank God for Gina Carano.”

Rousey indicated that the first women’s MMA bout she ever saw was in Feb. 2007, when Carano earned a unanimous decision victory over Julie Kedzie under the now defunct EliteXC banner. 

Carano was a perfect 7-0 as a professional mixed martial artist before getting her shot at then Strikeforce women’s featherweight champ Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos, losing by TKO at the closing seconds of the first round of their Aug. 2009 bout. 

Rousey was linked to a superfight with Santos for months, before the Brazilian decided she could not make the 135-pound bantamweight limit and instead signed with Invicta Fighting Championships after Zuffa, LLC released her. 

Carano has since taken a hiatus from the cage to focus on her acting career, which includes the recent action film Haywire and the upcoming Fast and the Furious 6. 

Rousey believes that Carano‘s film career gives a valuable boost to women’s MMA: 

“I really think what she’s doing with films is just as much an influence on women’s MMA as her fighting again,” Rousey said. “She’s continuing to represent us very well, bringing women’s MMA to an audience that doesn’t know MMA really at all.”

The former Olympic bronze medalist in Judo enters her epic UFC title fight with a perfect 6-0 record, finishing all of her opponents with an armbar in the first round. 

The similarities between Rousey and Carano go beyond the fight world.

Rousey appeared in ESPN The Magazine’s 2012 Body Issue, while Carano appeared in the 2009 edition of the same publication. 

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Ronda Rousey HBO Real Sports Video Clip

With the press machine in full hype mode for the Ultimate Fighting Championships first ever women’s bout, the focus on women’s bantamweight champ and former Judo Olympian Ronda Rousey, as well as her opponent Liz Carmouche, other media bodies have taken an interest including HBO. This Tuesday night HBO will feature a Real Sports segment […]

Ronda Rousey

With the press machine in full hype mode for the Ultimate Fighting Championships first ever women’s bout, the focus on women’s bantamweight champ and former Judo Olympian Ronda Rousey, as well as her opponent Liz Carmouche, other media bodies have taken an interest including HBO.

This Tuesday night HBO will feature a Real Sports segment on Rousey and her upcoming debut bout with Carmouche.

Unlike her male counterparts, the champ is asked questions about being a sex symbol, about the possibility of posing in Playboy, and more.

The episode airs Tuesday on HBO at 10pm EST/PST.

UFC Planned to Book Josh Barnett vs. Junior Dos Santos If Barnett Signed With Promotion

(UFC President Dana White revealed the organization’s previous plans for Barnett during a media scrum last weekend)

According to Dana White, nomadic heavyweight Josh Barnett not only turned down an opportunity to fight in the UFC again for the first time in a decade, he also turned down a chance to jump right into title contention. Barnett is 1-1 in his last two bouts — rebounding with a first-round submission victory over Nandor Guelmino last month following his decision loss to Daniel Cormier in the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix finals — but White said Saturday that if his promotion had been able to sign Barnett, they would have immediately pitted him against fellow former heavyweight champ Junior Dos Santos.

According to SB Nation, White said that the standard exclusivity component of the proposed UFC contract was the sticking point that Barnett had with the organization’s offer. Barnett has not announced any other plans for his MMA career and White went out of his way to say that he didn’t think the fighter was hesitant to face Dos Santos or any other particular fighter, so perhaps the two sides are still negotiating.

“I’m sure Josh Barnett wouldn’t care (who he fought),” White said after the UFC on Fuel 7 card in England this past Saturday. “Josh Barnett is a fly by the seat of his pants kind of guy, he does his own thing, beats to his own fucking drum. Josh Barnett’s never been a guy to say I don’t want to fight this guy or I won’t fight that guy. He’s not that type of person.”


(UFC President Dana White revealed the organization’s previous plans for Barnett during a media scrum last weekend)

According to Dana White, nomadic heavyweight Josh Barnett not only turned down an opportunity to fight in the UFC again for the first time in a decade, he also turned down a chance to jump right into title contention. Barnett is 1-1 in his last two bouts — rebounding with a first-round submission victory over Nandor Guelmino last month following his decision loss to Daniel Cormier in the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix finals — but White said Saturday that if his promotion had been able to sign Barnett, they would have immediately pitted him against fellow former heavyweight champ Junior Dos Santos.

According to SB Nation, White said that the standard exclusivity component of the proposed UFC contract was the sticking point that Barnett had with the organization’s offer. Barnett has not announced any other plans for his MMA career and White went out of his way to say that he didn’t think the fighter was hesitant to face Dos Santos or any other particular fighter, so perhaps the two sides are still negotiating.

“I’m sure Josh Barnett wouldn’t care (who he fought),” White said after the UFC on Fuel 7 card in England this past Saturday. ”Josh Barnett is a fly by the seat of his pants kind of guy, he does his own thing, beats to his own fucking drum. Josh Barnett’s never been a guy to say I don’t want to fight this guy or I won’t fight that guy. He’s not that type of person.”

So, are we to assume that Josh Barnett just really, really, wants to do some more Japanese pro wrestling? Considering how well he still fights, it would be nice to see Barnett get back to finishing the business he started in the UFC before getting popped for steroids and losing his title eleven years ago.

Cormier is certainly a top contender, and though he beat Barnett, the “Warmaster” looked as sharp and quick as he ever has in that bout. The catch wrestler can still compete with the best in the world and it would have been great to see how he fared against Dos Santos.

For now, Dos Santos and Alistair Overeem are both being rushed back into training and fighting despite getting their brains battered recently, and are scheduled to fight one another at UFC 160. Hopefully the bright, weird lights of Japanese pro wrestling or whatever else Barnett wanted to do in addition to fighting for the UFC won’t ultimately stand in the way of him continuing to fight the best in the world.

Or, I guess he could face the winner of this match:

– Elias Cepeda