Tag: BJJ

Carlos Condit vs. Michael Chiesa Reportedly Set For UFC 232

An action-packed welterweight affair is reportedly set for UFC 232. Source reportedly confirmed to ESPN tonight that former interim welterweight champion Carlos Condit will meet former lightweight contender Michael Chiesa at December 29’s pay-per-view from Las Vegas, Nevada. The fight is set to be Chiesa’s debut at 170 pounds. ‘Maverick’ recently ditched the draining cut […]

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An action-packed welterweight affair is reportedly set for UFC 232.

Source reportedly confirmed to ESPN tonight that former interim welterweight champion Carlos Condit will meet former lightweight contender Michael Chiesa at December 29’s pay-per-view from Las Vegas, Nevada.

The fight is set to be Chiesa’s debut at 170 pounds. ‘Maverick’ recently ditched the draining cut to lightweight after a frightening cut at July’s UFC 226. Chiesa was submitted by top contenders Anthony Pettis and Kevin Lee in his last two fights at lightweight. It’s been a trying year for Chiesa after his first bout with Pettis was delayed by Conor McGregor’s bus attack.

The TUF contract winner currently has a lawsuit pending for the ordeal. Chiesa still has to get paid to fight. He’ll have no easy task in perennial top contender Condit.

Once one of the most feared competitors at welterweight, Condit has now lost four fights in a row. They were against top competition like Robbie Lawler, Demian Maia, Neil Magny, and Alex Oliveira. Condit was submitted by Oliveira and Maia.

It promises to be a challenging, telling bout for Condit. We’ve seen many fighters like Rafael dos Anjos and Robert Whittaker go up in weight and find immediate success. Chiesa needs to pick up a win in the worst way. That means it will also be a wholly telling bout for him. The weight cut could enable him to finally fight to his full potential. He could also find himself over his head in a much bigger weight class.

UFC 232 features Cyborg vs. Amanda Nunes for the women’s featherweight title, but the main event has not been officially confirmed.

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Georges St-Pierre Details Why Tyron Woodley Isn’t Welterweight G.O.A.T.

MMA legend Georges St-Pierre acknowledges that current UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley is one of the best ever. But pump your brakes on crowning him the greatest of all-time just yet. Woodley toppled formerly undefeated challenger Darren Till with a dominant second-round submission in the featured bout of September 8’s UFC 228. Till landed only […]

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MMA legend Georges St-Pierre acknowledges that current UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley is one of the best ever. But pump your brakes on crowning him the greatest of all-time just yet.

Woodley toppled formerly undefeated challenger Darren Till with a dominant second-round submission in the featured bout of September 8’s UFC 228. Till landed only one strike in the fight.

The victory lead to Woodley’s coach Din Thomas awarding him his Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt for first UFC submission. It also lead to Thomas claiming Woodley was close to attaining welterweight G.O.A.T. status. Not so fast, however, says the consensus current 170-pound G.O.A.T.

Longtime former UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre spoke in an interview with FanSided to give his opinion on the feverishly-discussed debate. St-Pierre gave respect to Woodley for beating Till, but stopped short of crowning him the greatest 170 pounds had ever seen:

“The greatest is hard to say; there is also another guy named Matt Hughes who at one point was one of the greatest,” St-Pierre said. “There are some fighters, I’m not saying Tyron Woodley is one of these guys; he is an incredible fighter, but there are guys in this sport sometimes they become champion and they have an easier time than others in terms of opponent, in terms of challenges.”

Strength Of Opponents

St-Pierre defended his title nine times to Woodley’s three and one retention due to a draw.

So Woodley is one of the best ever at welterweight, but his overall body of work still pales in comparison to that of “GSP.” St-Pierre appeared to throw some shade at Woodley’s challenges in the previous quote, yet clarified that by respecting ‘The Chosen One’s’ opponents shortly after.

St-Pierre believes Woodley is in a good spot in terms of legacy because of it:

“Tyron had to go through great fighters like Stephen Thompson and his last performance was outstanding against Darren Till. There was a lot of hype on Darren Till because he was undefeated. Tyron just shut him down incredibly good. Tyron is in a good way in terms of legacy and in terms of being the greatest.”

There is a conceivable way to find out just whom is the best welterweight of all-time, and that’s for them to fight.

However, ‘Rush’ recently discussed why he doesn’t want to fight Woodley right now. He believes he stands little to gain in terms of legacy and popularity, while Woodley stands to gain everything in both. That could be true from a certain point of view.

St-Pierre has been out of action since he won the UFC middleweight title by submitting Michael Bisping in the main event of last November’s UFC 217 from Madison Square Garden. He vacated the title shortly thereafter and has been linked to a new comeback fight. There are whispers he’ll face the winner of October 6’s Khabib Nurmagomeov vs. Conor McGregor lightweight title bout.

Nothing is official, of course, and St-Pierre’s return is beyond up in the air. Just don’t count on it being against Woodley.

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Video: Charles Oliveira Breaks Royce Gracie’s Submission Record

History was at stake when Charles Oliveira made the trip to the Octagon to fight Christos Giagos on the prelims of tonight’s (Sat., September 22, 2018) UFC Fight Night 137 at Ginásio do Ibirapuera in São Paulo, Brazil. The flashy, constricting submission specialist had scored 10 tapouts in his eight-year UFC tenure. The number tied him […]

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History was at stake when Charles Oliveira made the trip to the Octagon to fight Christos Giagos on the prelims of tonight’s (Sat., September 22, 2018) UFC Fight Night 137 at Ginásio do Ibirapuera in São Paulo, Brazil.

The flashy, constricting submission specialist had scored 10 tapouts in his eight-year UFC tenure. The number tied him with UFC and MMA pioneer Royce Gracie for the most of all-time. The current lightweight and sometime featherweight had an up-and-down UFC career at times. His grappling, however, was always one of the most dangerous single skillsets in mixed martial arts.

The Brazilian mat technician proved why once again in Sao Paulo, submitting Giagos with a rear-naked choke. He finished UFC foes with six different submissions. With this latest win, he now passes Royce Gracie for the record of most submissions in UFC history. He’s submitted Jeremy Stephens, Clay Guida, Darren Elkins, and Myles Jury, among others.

Oliveira is now in a class of his own in a fitting piece of UFC history after two longtime fighters had retired on the card. Watch his record-breaking submission here:

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Video: Thales Leites Retires On High Note In Brazil

Longtime veterans Thales Leites and Hector Lombard met on the preliminary card of tonight’s (Sat., September 22, 2018) UFC Fight Night 137 at Ginásio do Ibirapuera in São Paulo, Brazil. Little did we know, it was Leites’ last fight in his long and decorated MMA career. It also wasn’t without some adversity, however. Leites’ knee was swollen quite gruesomely at […]

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Longtime veterans Thales Leites and Hector Lombard met on the preliminary card of tonight’s (Sat., September 22, 2018) UFC Fight Night 137 at Ginásio do Ibirapuera in São Paulo, Brazil.

Little did we know, it was Leites’ last fight in his long and decorated MMA career. It also wasn’t without some adversity, however. Leites’ knee was swollen quite gruesomely at one point.

Check it out:

It wasn’t the most eventful fight, yet Leites was able to get his hand raised by decision after three rounds:

Leites then did something that was perhaps unexpected. The middleweight mainstay dropped his gloves in the Octagon and retired in his home country of Brazil:

Leites leaves the sport behind with a quietly historic career. He is tied for the third-most wins in UFC middleweight history with 13. That’s an impressive feat to be sure.

“Milk” debuted in the Octagon all the way back in November 2006. He lost a decision to Martin Kampmann. He then ran up five straight wins afterward. That earned him a title shot against all-time great former champ Anderson Silva in April 2009. The fight is still largely considered one of the worst UFC title fights of all-time.

But he still fought “The Spider” in his prime.

Leites also probably could not have chosen a better moment to go out on top after a close victory in his Brazilian homeland. He beat Lombard yet had lost three of his previous five UFC bouts. He was a talented submission artist who tapped out 15 opponents in his nearly 15-year mixed martial arts career. Leites faced top names like Silva, Michael Bisping, Lombard, Jeremy Horn, and Tim Boetsch.

We wish Leites all the best in his post-fight life.

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B.J. Penn vs. Ryan Hall Set For UFC 232

B.J. Penn vs. Ryan Hall has been announced for UFC 232.

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“The Prodigy” isn’t obsolete yet.

Former two-division champion B.J. Penn will take on fellow BJJ ace and The Ultimate Fighter 22 winner Ryan Hall in a featured lightweight bout later this year at UFC 232.

The 39-year-old Penn has not won a fight in nearly eight years. He most recently lost a majority decision to Dennis Siver at UFC Oklahoma City in June 2017. Penn has held UFC gold in both the lightweight and welterweight divisions. However, he competed as a featherweight in his last three fights.

Hall, 33, hasn’t competed since beating Gray Maynard at The Ultimate Fighter 24 Finale back in December of 2016. His other UFC win was a unanimous decision over Conor McGregor’s good friend and training partner Artem Lobov.

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Breaking: Fabricio Werdum Suspended Two Years By USADA

A former UFC champion has been suspended by USADA. News broke today (Tues., Sept. 11, 2018) that former UFC heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum will be on the sidelines for two years following a failed drug test. “Vai Cavalo” tested positive for anabolic steroid trenbolone and its metabolite epitrenbolone in an out-of-competition screening on April 25 ahead of […]

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A former UFC champion has been suspended by USADA.

News broke today (Tues., Sept. 11, 2018) that former UFC heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum will be on the sidelines for two years following a failed drug test.

“Vai Cavalo” tested positive for anabolic steroid trenbolone and its metabolite epitrenbolone in an out-of-competition screening on April 25 ahead of his scheduled heavyweight battle with Aleksei Oleinik at this Saturday’s (Sept. 15, 2018) UFC Moscow. Werdum was pulled from the card and replaced, ironically enough, by former opponent Mark Hunt.

Werdum is one of the most decorated grapplers in UFC and MMA history overall. He holds notable submission wins over Fedor Emelianenko, Cain Velasquez, and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. Werdum won the interim heavyweight title by knocking out Hunt in November 2014 and then unified the titles by submitting Velasquez at UFC 188 the following year.

Now, however, he’ll be on the sidelines until May 22, 2020, at the earliest, as his suspension retroactively dates back to May 22, 2018 – the date he was first provisionally suspended for the infraction.

If and when “Vai Cavalo” does return to the UFC, he will be 43 years old at that time, seriously putting his career in jeopardy.

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