The UFC’s annual New Years card is shaping up to be one of the best in recent memory. In the main event, Junior dos Santos will put his heavyweight title on the line against a previous opponent, Cain Velasquez.In the co-main event, there’s a light heav…
The UFC’s annual New Years card is shaping up to be one of the best in recent memory. In the main event, Junior dos Santos will put his heavyweight title on the line against a previous opponent, Cain Velasquez.
In the co-main event, there’s a light heavyweight matchup between Forrest Griffin and Phil Davis. Also on the card is a No. 1 contender fight at middleweight between Tim Boetsch and Chris Weidman, an interesting lightweight matchup between Joe Lauzon and Jim Miller, and rounding out the main card is a middleweight rematch between Alan “The Talent” Belcher and Yushin Okami.
Belcher and Okami previously met in their UFC debuts. Okami took home a unanimous decision that night, so let’s see who’s got the edge this time.
The UFC’s end of year event is quickly shaping up to be one of its best cards all year. A tantalizing middleweight fight between Alan Belcher and Yushin Okami has been added to the card which features the heavyweight championship rematch between …
The UFC’s end of year event is quickly shaping up to be one of its best cards all year.
A tantalizing middleweight fight between Alan Belcher and YushinOkami has been added to the card which features the heavyweight championship rematch between Junior Dos Santos and Cain Velasquez.
MMA Junkie reports that the two middleweights will join Phil Davis v Forrest Griffin, Tim Boetsch v Chris Weidman and Joe Lauzon v Gray Maynard at the MGM Grand, Las Vegas, on 29 December.
Belcherand Weidmanhave both been hotly tipped for title contention earlier this year after beating RousimarPalhares and Mark Munoz respectively.
No opponent has been lined up for the long-serving Brazilian champion, and even Michael Bisping believes he deserves to fight for the belt if he gets past VitorBelfort in January in Brazil.
UFC 155 will be Belcher’s second fight against Okami after losing to the Japanese fighter all the way back in 2006.
MMA Junkie also reports that that the event will see the return of Chris Leben after a year long suspension. He will face KarlosVemola on the undercard.
In the main event of UFC on Fuel TV 6, Cung Le defeated former UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin by devastating knockout 2:17 into round one. Le who recently starred in “The Man With the Iron Fist” has a bevy of options that he can choose fr…
In the main event of UFC on Fuel TV 6, Cung Le defeated former UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin by devastating knockout 2:17 into round one.
Le who recently starred in “The Man With the Iron Fist” has a bevy of options that he can choose from. Does he continue doing movies? Or does he continue fighting?
Here are five fights that could be next on the horizon for the former Strikeforce middleweight champion.
At UFC 155, Alan Belcher will look to finally earn a spot firmly amongst the Top Ten middleweights in the world when he faces off with Yushin Okami for the second time.These two first met six years ago at UFC 62, where Okami took home a unanimous decis…
At UFC 155, Alan Belcher will look to finally earn a spot firmly amongst the Top Ten middleweights in the world when he faces off with YushinOkami for the second time.
These two first met six years ago at UFC 62, where Okami took home a unanimous decision.
Since that time, both men have ascended to become top middleweights, although Okami is seen by many as higher ranked.
Belcher will look to change that when he faces Okami at UFC 155.
When Alan Belcher and Yushin Okami first met at UFC 62 all the way back in August of 2006, both men were actually making their promotional debut. In a hard fought contest, Okami used his superior grappling prowess to reel in a unanimous decision victory over “The Talent,” and would follow the victory with three more before dropping a unanimous decision to Rich Franklin at UFC 72. Belcher, on the other hand, would rebound from the defeat by scoring a head kick KO over woeful UFC washout Jorge Santiago, then dropping a third round submission via Brabo choke to TUF 3 winner Kendall Grove.
But although Belcher was a considerable underdog heading into their first contest, one has to imagine that he may find himself the favorite heading into their rematch at UFC 155 in light of their recent momentum swings.
When Alan Belcher and Yushin Okami first met at UFC 62 all the way back in August of 2006, both men were actually making their promotional debut. In a hard fought contest, Okami used his superior grappling prowess to reel in a unanimous decision victory over “The Talent,” and would follow the victory with three more before dropping a unanimous decision to Rich Franklin at UFC 72. Belcher, on the other hand, would rebound from the defeat by scoring a head kick KO over woeful UFC washout Jorge Santiago, then dropping a third round submission via Brabo choke to TUF 3 winner Kendall Grove.
But although Belcher was a considerable underdog heading into their first contest, one has to imagine that he may find himself the favorite heading into their rematch at UFC 155 in light of their recent momentum swings. Belcher’s ground game has looked nothing short of outstanding as of late, and his striking has always been top notch. The outlier here, as was the case in their first matchup, lies in Belcher’s ability to defend the takedown and/or deal with the ridiculous top control that Okami displayed throughout his career, especially in his recent win over Buddy Roberts.
So it’s not exactly the title-earning fight with Belfort or a shot at Chris Weidman that Belcher was asking for, but a chance to erase his very first UFC loss has to be enough to get “The Talent” motivated.
Popular middleweight Alan Belcher may not get his bout with Vitor Belfort, but he will get the opportunity to avenge a loss from his early UFC career.Ariel Helwani from MMAFighting.com has reported that UFC 155 is being targeted for a UFC 62 rematch be…
Popular middleweight Alan Belcher may not get his bout with VitorBelfort, but he will get the opportunity to avenge a loss from his early UFC career.
Okami recently got out of a two-fight skid by earning a TKO victory over Buddy Roberts at UFC 150. Belcher, however, is riding the momentum of four consecutive wins. The sole loss in his past seven fights came via controversial decision at UFC 100.
UFC 155 now boasts an excellent card, which features two more rematches. The pay-per-view is headlined by a championship rematch between Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos, while the co-main event features a light-heavyweight matchup between ChaelSonnen and Forrest Griffin, who met prior to their UFC tenures.
In lightweight action, Gray Maynard meets Joe Lauzon while top middleweights Chris Weidman and Tim Boetsch meet in a potential title eliminator.
As if that were not enough, this card marks the return of Chris Leben, as he fights for the first time in 13 months after a failed drug test at UFC 138. The Crippler meets KarlosVemola.
Stay tuned to Bleacher Report MMA for all the latest breaking news on all things mixed martial arts.
The UFC’s end of year event is quickly shaping up to be one of its best cards all year.