On Saturday, September 17th the UFC will travel to New Orleans, Louisiana to host UFC Fight Night 25. The main card is featured around Welterweight veteran Jake Shields who will take on highly dangerous and upcoming star, Jake Ellenberger.Also fea…
On Saturday, September 17th the UFC will travel to New Orleans, Louisiana to host UFC Fight Night 25.
The main card is featured around Welterweight veteran Jake Shields who will take on highly dangerous and upcoming star, Jake Ellenberger.
Also featured on Fight Night 25 is Court McGee who will square off with his middleweight opponent, Dongi Yang.
The entire fight card consists of four main card fights and eight preliminary bouts. This will be the first time the UFC has traveled to New Orleans since UFC 37.
The following slides display the betting odds and predictions for each fight.
The MMA Hour returns on Monday for our 99th episode. Same time (1 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT). Same channel (MMAFighting.com). Here’s who will be stopping by:
* Michael Bisping and Jason “Mayhem” Miller will discuss the upcoming fourteenth season of The Ultimate Fighter, which premieres Sept. 21 on Spike TV, and their December fight.
* Cung Le will talk about signing with the UFC and making his debut against Vitor Belfort at UFC 139 in his adopted hometown of San Jose, Calif.
* Urijah Faber will discuss his November fight against Brian Bowles and the release of his new shoe.
* Alan Belcher will talk about his long road back to the UFC after eye surgery and his UFC Fight Night 25 bout against Jason MacDonald.
Plus, we’ll discuss all the major news that broke this past week and look back at the Strikeforce: Barnett vs. Kharitonov event.
Of course, we’ll be taking your calls. Give us a shout at: 212-254-0193, 212-254-0237 or 212-254-0714.
*** You can also stream the show live on your iPhone or iPad by clicking here.
Watch the show live below beginning at 1 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT. Subscribe to The MMA Hour on iTunes: audio feed here; video feed here. Download previous episodes here. Listen to the show via Stitcher here.
The MMA Hour returns on Monday for our 99th episode. Same time (1 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT). Same channel (MMAFighting.com). Here’s who will be stopping by:
* Michael Bisping and Jason “Mayhem” Miller will discuss the upcoming fourteenth season of The Ultimate Fighter, which premieres Sept. 21 on Spike TV, and their December fight.
* Cung Le will talk about signing with the UFC and making his debut against Vitor Belfort at UFC 139 in his adopted hometown of San Jose, Calif.
* Urijah Faber will discuss his November fight against Brian Bowles and the release of his new shoe.
* Alan Belcher will talk about his long road back to the UFC after eye surgery and his UFC Fight Night 25 bout against Jason MacDonald.
Plus, we’ll discuss all the major news that broke this past week and look back at the Strikeforce: Barnett vs. Kharitonov event.
Of course, we’ll be taking your calls. Give us a shout at: 212-254-0193, 212-254-0237 or 212-254-0714.
*** You can also stream the show live on your iPhone or iPad by clicking here.
Watch the show live below beginning at 1 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT. Subscribe to The MMA Hour on iTunes: audio feed here; video feed here. Download previous episodes here. Listen to the show via Stitcher here.
The second half of the year features high profile title defenses from all seven UFC champions.Anderson “The Spider” Silva gets the ball rolling next weekend at UFC 134 when he defends his title against the last man to defeat him in Yushin “Thunder” Oka…
The second half of the year features high profile title defenses from all seven UFC champions.
Anderson “The Spider” Silva gets the ball rolling next weekend at UFC 134 when he defends his title against the last man to defeat him in Yushin “Thunder” Okami.
Jon Jones, Jose Aldo, Frankie Edgar, Dominick Cruz, Georges St. Pierre, and Cain Velasquez will all follow suit.
While all the championship fights are terrific for fans, there are a several matchups that will be spectacular both in and out of the UFC.
In Yoshihiro Akiyama’s short UFC career he has earned a Fight of the Night bonus in every fight. The only problem is he has gone 1-2, winning a very close fight at UFC 100 and dropping his last two fights. Akiyama has been entertaining to watch, …
In Yoshihiro Akiyama’s short UFC career he has earned a Fight of the Night bonus in every fight.
The only problem is he has gone 1-2, winning a very close fight at UFC 100 and dropping his last two fights.
Akiyama has been entertaining to watch, but entertaining losses can only get you so far.
Akiyama is 13-3 (2) overall in his career. The Japanese star has shown his great chin and ability to dish out shots just as hard as he can take them.
A combination of Akiyama’s cardio and poor planning have been his downfall in the last two fights.
Akiyama opened up strong in both bouts. Akiyama got the better of Chris Leben for much of their fight. Leben took advantage of a gassed Akiyama though, defeating him by submission with seconds left.
Akiyama faced Michael Bisping next, rocking the Brit in the first round. Bisping became more technical in his striking in the next two rounds and won the fight by decision.
Akiyama is never in a boring fight and as one of Japan’s top stars, he is a great asset to the UFC.
But Akiyama will have to do more in order to keep his job.
One step in the right direction would be to defeat his next opponent, Vitor Belfort at UFC 133.
Belfort was the most recent victim of middleweight champion Anderson Silva. A win over Belfort would put Akiyama’s career back on track.
Akiyama will come in highly motivated to win. Not just to keep his job, but as a dedication to the people who have had to suffer because of the terrible earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan in March.
If the fight is an exciting one and Akiyama loses, I don’t believe he will lose his job just yet. He will be on the chopping block, however, if he can’t turn it around.
Akiyama has international appeal and is an exciting fighter. But seeing him cut may become a reality if he does not win.
Budlight produced a commercial to hype up their sponsored event with the UFC in New Orleans called Battle on the Bayou. The event is expected to be headlined by Alan Belcher vs. Jason McDonald, but.
Budlight produced a commercial to hype up their sponsored event with the UFC in New Orleans called Battle on the Bayou. The event is expected to be headlined by Alan Belcher vs. Jason McDonald, but outside of a cage, most casual fans wouldn’t recognize those two guys, so Budlight decided to cast two of the most recognizable faces in the UFC.
Jones seems like a natural with acting and delivering scripted lines on camera, maybe because he’s a fake ass white boy, but that’s not our opinion, we just heard that from someone. White is good with his head movement and expressions. Check it out below.
At UFC 130, Kendall “Da Spyder” Grove took on middleweight newcomer Tim “The Barbarian” Boetsch in a preliminary fight aired on Spike TV. After being out-grappled and controlled by Boetsch almost the entire fight, Grove—th…
At UFC 130, Kendall “Da Spyder” Grove took on middleweight newcomer Tim “The Barbarian” Boetsch in a preliminary fight aired on Spike TV. After being out-grappled and controlled by Boetsch almost the entire fight, Grove—the winner of season three of The Ultimate Fighter—lost the fight by lopsided unanimous decision, with all three judges scoring the fight 30-27 for his opponent.
The disappointing performance by Grove came on the heels of his uninspiring, unanimous decision loss to Demian Maia at The Ultimate Fighter 12 Finale, and in the UFC, two losses in a row is sometimes enough to give you your walking papers. By that accord, no one should be surprised if Grove is cut from the UFC this week.
But should he be cut? If one looks at his mediocre 7-6 record inside the Octagon, then one might lean towards yes. After all, the UFC is all about housing the very best mixed martial artists in the world, and for a guy who has lost four of his last six fights, there probably isn’t room, even in a relatively shallow middleweight division and even if that fighter once won The Ultimate Fighter.
The UFC, by all their rights, should purge Grove from their active middleweight roster. But Zuffa, the parent company of the UFC, should not let him get away so quickly. Instead, they should make Grove the first UFC fighter to directly crossover to Strikeforce.
When the UFC purchased Strikeforce, Dana White was adamant that there would be no super-fights featuring the best Strikeforce fighters coming over to the UFC while they still had contracts with Showtime.
This shut off all possibilities of superstar Strikeforce champions like Alistair Overeem, Dan Henderson, Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza, Nick Diaz and Gilbert Melendez coming over to the big show, at least for the time being. Of course, once the Strikeforce fighter’s contracts were up with Showtime they were free to cross over, and Jason “Mayhem” Miller became the first one to do so, signing with the UFC just over a month ago.
But at the same time he said this, White also made it known that he wasn’t adverse to doing things the other way, with UFC fighters going to Strikeforce instead. An opportunity has presented itself for Grove to be the torchbearer of this.
Strikeforce, at present, has a relatively shallow middleweight division, especially with losing the personable and marketable Miller. Aside from middleweight kingpin Souza, the heavy-handed Robbie Lawler, American hero Tim Kennedy and the fighter-turned-actor Cung Le, there really isn’t much at 185 pounds in Strikeforce.
If Strikeforce is truly here to stay for at least a few more years, the promotion needs a new influx of middleweights because the fans are getting tired of stale rematches and want new challengers at 185 pounds, especially fighters they know. A UFC veteran like Grove, who is still only 28 years old, would be a good addition and a solid solution to this dilemma.
At 6’6” and only 185 pounds, Grove is a matchup nightmare for most middleweights, even if he has had mixed success in the cage up until this point. As seen in his submission victories over Jake Rosholt and Alan Belcher, and even in his recent loss over Boetsch, Grove’s long limbs have the capability to make fighters tap out at anytime.
And while he has been far from consistent inside the cage—he holds an overall record as a professional mixed martial artist of just 12-9—he has fought and defeated some talented fighters during his career, including the aforementioned Belcher and the late Evan Tanner.
It might not make sense to match him up with some of the top Strikeforce middleweights just yet, but at the very least, Grove would present a good challenge to the young guns trying to make a name for themselves on the Strikeforce Challengers cards.
After spending so many years developing and promoting him, Zuffa should not give up on Grove just now. He is just 28 and still has the opportunity to improve as a mixed martial artist. But it’s become obvious he is not talented enough for the UFC, at least not at this point in his career.
And after seeing Keith Jardine lose four fights in the UFC, win a few in smaller shows, and then take a short-notice (albeit controversial) draw over consensus top-15 light heavyweight Gegard Mousasi, exposing Mousasi’s porous takedown defence in the process, anything can happen in this sport.
So make Grove the first UFC fighter to directly crossover to Strikeforce, and let the chips fall where they may. At the very least, it would be an interesting experiment in seeing just what Zuffa is able to do now that they own the two biggest mixed martial arts promotions in the world.
