So if you had the opportunity to tune into UFC Fight Night 96 then you saw a number of things take place. For one, you got to see two of the greatest fighters in the world at the bantamweight division throw down as John Lineker and John Dodson traded blows for five rounds and twenty-five minutes. Though the decision could be argued there’s no arguing that the fans got what they paid for with the main event. We also had the opportunity to see Alex “Cowboy” Oliveira defeat Will Brooks in the co-main event and then immediately disrespect his unconscious opponent moments after securing a knock out victory.
So if you had the opportunity to tune into UFC Fight Night 96 then you saw a number of things take place. For one, you got to see two of the greatest fighters in the world at the bantamweight division throw down as John Lineker and John Dodson traded blows for five rounds and twenty-five minutes. Though the decision could be argued there’s no arguing that the fans got what they paid for with the main event. We also had the opportunity to see Alex “Cowboy” Oliveira defeat Will Brooks in the co-main event and then immediately disrespect his unconscious opponent moments after securing a knock out victory.
Fighting can be a pretty emotional endeavor. As much logic is needed to perform at your technical best, there is no denying that emotions can sometimes run high. We saw it on both sides of the equation. Where Will Brooks was frustrated by Oliveira missing weight, Cowboy was pissed that the former Bellator lightweight champion refused to face off with him at the weigh-ins. But while Brooks was far more within his rights to be upset, Cowboy missing weight by five pounds, Oliveira being angered by Brooks refusal to face him at the weigh-ins is unwarranted. By performing the “Degeneration X” crotch chop to disrespect Brooks after already obtaining victorious, Alex Oliveira crossed over the line.
Now while many will defend Cowboy by bringing up examples like Conor McGregor, let me say now that it’s a poor example. Why? Because though McGregor may talk a ton a trash, he’s also sure to be humble in both victory and defeat. It’s what made his loss to Nate Diaz so compelling. He lost fair and square and carried himself much the same way he did when he defeated Jose Aldo to become the featherweight champion.
There’s certainly a fine line when it comes to fighting. For some fighters it’s hard to separate the notion that a fight is nothing more than a test of skill and not at all personal. If someone punches you in the face, it’s going to be hard not to take it personally. But the reality is that when you get to the highest levels of the sport you should possess some manor of professionalism. Cowboy Oliveira not only missed weight, but then proceeded to act like a schoolyard bully after defeating his opponent. Not all that classy whatsoever.
Alex Oliveira’s decision to disrespect Brooks has done little in the way of harming his relationship with the UFC. What it’s done instead is possibly mar his reputation with the fans and depending on the how powerful of a reaction they have, that can either be the worst thing for Cowboy or boost him to new heights.
What do you think of Alex “Cowboy” Oliveira’s actions?
Jonathan Salmon is a writer, martial arts instructor, and geek culture enthusiast. Check out his Twitter and Facebook to keep up with his antics.
From the title, you might be thinking “If someone has missed weight, haven’t things already gone wrong? When is missing weight ever a good thing?” Well, last night it turned out alright for the guys who lost their battle with the scale. The men it went poorly for were their opponents. Last night’s (October 1,
From the title, you might be thinking “If someone has missed weight, haven’t things already gone wrong? When is missing weight ever a good thing?” Well, last night it turned out alright for the guys who lost their battle with the scale. The men it went poorly for were their opponents.
Last night’s (October 1, 2016) UFC Fight Night 96 had several fighters in prominent positions on the bill miss weight. On the undercard, Hacran Dias missed the featherweight limit by 2.5 pounds, and wound up on the wrong side of a unanimous decision to Andre Fili. This is an example of when missing weight goes right, or at least according to plan. The competitor who struggles with his weight cut, whether because of injury, illness, or lack of discipline, is supposed to get outperformed on fight night. His opponent “did everything right”, and fans hope he will be rewarded for that. Fili left Portland with 20 percent of Dias’ purse and a win over a ranked opponent to boot.
The fact that all three offenders are Brazilian is probably irrelevant. There are half a dozen Brazilians fighting on just about every card, never mind the cards in the South American country when the number is north of a full dozen. They make weight the vast majority of the time. So it’s not as if Brazilian fighters aren’t disciplined or don’t know how to cut weight. Gleison Tibau has been making 155 for a decade for goodness’ sake.
If the list did not include Lineker and “lightweight” Oliveira, the fact that three Brazilians missed weight on the same card would highlight the difficulty of making weight in a foreign country. Local food and culture are sometimes radically different, and it can be difficult for a fighter to stick to his usual pre-fight diet when what he normally eats might be hard to come by.
While it might be true in theory, that explanation is a hard sell when considering the offenders in this case. Lineker has always had issues on the scale, having missed the 126-pound flyweight limit in a full half of his eight UFC flyweight bouts. Now back up at bantamweight, the struggles continue. And of his 12 fights in the UFC, only three have been in his home country. So it’s not as if Lineker is unfamiliar with trying to make weight away from home.
The more disturbing trend is that Lineker hasn’t really been disincentivized from missing weight by what happens on fight night. The only time he tipped the scale heavy and then lost was his UFC debut. After going five hard rounds in which he threw north of 300 strikes but looked fine doing it, the weight “cut” clearly doesn’t affect his performance. Often when fighters come in heavy, they look awful on the scale, drawn or otherwise out of peak shape. ‘Hands of Stone’ looks fine at the weigh-ins and sensational on fight night. Lineker can continue to brush off his weight troubles because he is exciting, keeps getting W’s, and finds himself on the cusp of title contention. Why risk hurting his performance with an arduous cut when the results so far have been great?
I saw on Twitter last night something to the effect that Anthony Johnson has to be asking himself how Lineker is still in the UFC after so many mishaps on the scale (h/t @ZPGIFs). The answer is that Lineker doesn’t fold up like a cheap tent the first time he gets his back taken, and he is must-watch television in victory or defeat. And it’s victory most of the time.
Lineker only came in half a pound over, so he was nowhere near the worst offender on the night. That ignominious distinction goes to Alex ‘Cowboy’ Oliveira, who missed the lightweight limit by an astounding 5.5 pounds. As soon as the fight started, it was clear that Oliveira was a full weight class above Will Brooks, at a minimum. He made it work for him too. The Brazilian ‘Cowboy’ outmuscled the former Bellator champ in the clinch, broke his rib with a knee in the first, and polished off the compromised Brooks with ground and pound two rounds later.
Getting 20 percent of Oliveira’s purse has to be small consolation for Brooks, who had his climb up the lightweight ladder interrupted in frustrating fashion. A sizeable favorite coming into the contest, Brooks no doubt believed his superior skill set would carry him on fight night. In hindsight, he would probably agree he should have taken the ‘Uncle Creepy’ route.
Ian McCall might be the fighter to weigh in for the most fights that have never happened. While Ray Borg was forced to pull out due to illness in McCall’s most recently scheduled bout, his opponent prior to that, Justin Scoggins, was going to miss weight badly. McCall declined to fight him anyway, received his show money (and his win bonus as well), and got another fight in short order. He learned his lesson after this last opponent missed weight by five pounds and he ended up losing. His opponent for that fight? John Lineker.
The UFC needs to take a lesson from McCall and Brooks’ misfortune. They do their job, play the “company men” by fighting anyway, and take a beating for their troubles. There needs to be a black and white rule if a fighter misses weight by more than five pounds. Occasionally it works out, as when Vitor Belfort choked out a 191.5-pound “middleweight” Anthony Johnson, but that is the exception. The whole point of having weight classes is to prevent what happened to Brooks. The fight needs to be called off.
As for repeat offenders in the weight department? If we’ve learned anything from Conor McGregor, it is that one size does not fit all and every fighter will not be treated equally. Lineker is exciting, so he’ll keep his job. Not a fighter with an iron chin who recklessly throws bricks in the pocket? Better make weight.
Former Bellator lightweight champion Will Brooks was looking to extend his perceived rise up the deep UFC 155-pound ranks when he met Alex Oliveira in the co-main event of last night’s (Sat., October 1, 2016) UFC Fight Night 96 from Moda Center in Portland Oregon. Instead, he suffered his first UFC loss to a fighter who
Former Bellator lightweight champion Will Brooks was looking to extend his perceived rise up the deep UFC 155-pound ranks when he met Alex Oliveira in the co-main event of last night’s (Sat., October 1, 2016) UFC Fight Night 96 from Moda Center in Portland Oregon.
Instead, he suffered his first UFC loss to a fighter who missed weight by a lofty 5.5 pounds, succumbing to a brutal third-round TKO from the Brazilian “Cowboy” after breaking his rib in the first round. After the disappointing loss, Brooks discussed the injury on Twitter, noting that he couldn’t feel bad for himself and would be back:
Broke my rib in the first. No time to feel bad for myself, I'll be back. #ivesurvivedworse
He also released a photo of himself in the hospital, noting that he ‘needed a beer’ after the injury caused him to noticeably grimace on multiple occurrences during the later portions of the fight:
The rib appeared to be hurt when Brooks absorbed a brutal elbow from Oliveira in the first round, and it certainly played a big part into his subsequent decline and loss. However, there are many crying that he was hurt by an opponent in a fight, an obvious byproduct of the sport he was competing in.
Regardless, Brooks has his first UFC loss in only second fight, albeit to an opponent who was more of a welterweight than a lightweight at weigh-ins and fight time.
Brooks will definitely be back after he heals, yet his UFC career is off to a rocky start. Do you think he’ll be able to turn things around in the world’s toughest MMA promotion?
At the UFC Fight Night 96 event on Saturday night in Portland, Oregon, Alex Oliveira put an end to the reign of former Bellator Lightweight Champion Will Brooks.
“Cowboy” Oliveira defeated Brooks via third-round TKO i…
https://youtu.be/kikhfHsk9_M
At the UFC Fight Night 96 event on Saturday night in Portland, Oregon, Alex Oliveira put an end to the reign of former Bellator Lightweight Champion Will Brooks.
“Cowboy” Oliveira defeated Brooks via third-round TKO in the co-main event of Saturday’s event, which featured John Dodson vs. John Lineker in the main event.
Featured above are video highlights of the Brooks-Oliveira co-main event bout, which aired live from Portland, Oregon on FOX Sports 1.
For complete UFC Fight Night 96 results, click here.
In the co-main event of UFC Portland earlier tonight (October 1, 2016), No. 11-ranked Will Brooks met Alex Oliveira in a matchup that could propel either men into the top ten of the UFC’s 155-pound rankings. In the first round Oliveira showed that he could match the talented Brooks’ wrestling game, and even took Brooks
In the co-main event of UFC Portland earlier tonight (October 1, 2016), No. 11-ranked Will Brooks met Alex Oliveira in a matchup that could propel either men into the top ten of the UFC’s 155-pound rankings.
In the first round Oliveira showed that he could match the talented Brooks’ wrestling game, and even took Brooks down for a few seconds before ‘Ill’ Will returned to his feet.
The second round was very close, as each man landed their own sets of takedowns, and at two points Brooks found himself on Oliveira’s back and threatening the rear-naked choke.
In the third round Brooks showed the affects of a broken rib, grimacing in nearly every situation he initiated himself in with ‘Cowboy’. It all came to a screeching end when Oliveira landed some nasty ground-and-pound forcing referee Herb Dean to call it off.
Nobody shook hands after the bout, however, as Oliveira threw a crotch chop at Brooks’ way while he was tending to his rib. Brooks got up and threw his mouthpiece at Oliveira before returning to the mat in pain.
You can check out the full fight video highlights here:
UFC Portland popped off from the Moda Center in Oregon’s largest city tonight (October 1, 2016). The main event pit former flyweight knockout artists who have since climbed the scale up to bantamweight, John Dodson and John Lineker. The Brazilian, who had well-documented troubles making the 125-pound limit at flyweight, did not leave his troubles with
UFC Portland popped off from the Moda Center in Oregon’s largest city tonight (October 1, 2016). The main event pit former flyweight knockout artists who have since climbed the scale up to bantamweight, John Dodson and John Lineker. The Brazilian, who had well-documented troubles making the 125-pound limit at flyweight, did not leave his troubles with the scale behind. Lineker once again failed to make weight.
The two diminutive punchers went at it for the full five rounds, bashing each other with hard shots all the while. The crowd became restless with Dodson’s movement and reluctance to engage at times, but he remained effective with his offense nonetheless. ‘The Magician’ was particularly effective with his kicks, catching ‘Hands of Stone’ flush to head more than once. But Lineker continued to press forward and land thudding punches to the head and body. The Brazilian escaped with a split decision victory, but many fans were split on who they thought the victor was.
The co-headliner saw former Bellator champion ‘Ill’ Will Brooks in his sophomore UFC effort take on Alex Oliveira. The Brazilian ‘Cowboy’ also had serious trouble finishing his weight cut, actually coming in 5.5 pounds above the non-title lightweight limit of 156.
The size difference was evident from the get-go, and Oliveira made it work to his advantage. He had success in the clinch with his size and strength advantages and hurt Brooks’ rib with a knee. The injury worsened as the fight wore on, and by the third round, Brooks was grimacing in every position. ‘Cowboy’ pounded out the obviously compromised Brooks, and then taunted him by doing a crotch chop and a chin flip. An incensed Brooks staggered to his feet to pursue Oliveira and threw his mouthpiece at him when referee Herb Dean held him back. Brooks then collapsed back to the canvas in agony, the momentum he carried over from Bellator at an abrupt end.
The main card kicked off with The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 24 contestant Brandon Moreno taking on the biggest favorite on the card, Louis Smolka. ‘Assassin Baby’ snatched a first-round high-elbow guillotine choke for the biggest win of his career. Moreno was making a short-notice debut for the injured Sergio Pettis. After losing his fight on the show, Moreno no longer has to worry about sticking around the big show.
Check out MMA Twitter’s reaction to these exciting scraps below:
It definitely pays to cheat in MMA. If you can get away with it, DO IT. Rewards much bigger than the small penalties.
Exactly. I'm all for getting into a fight. But you just look pretty silly doing all of that. Class in victory and class in defeat. https://t.co/P9UdkRrhjQ
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