Tag: Breaking News

Following Bigfoot Silva Fight, Mark Hunt Posts X-Rays of Broken Left Hand

UFC heavyweights Mark Hunt and Antonio Silva put on an instant classic at UFC Fight Night 33 on Friday, with many proclaiming the 25-minute slugfest the best heavyweight contest in MMA history. 
Therefore, no one seemed to mind that the fight ende…

UFC heavyweights Mark Hunt and Antonio Silva put on an instant classic at UFC Fight Night 33 on Friday, with many proclaiming the 25-minute slugfest the best heavyweight contest in MMA history. 

Therefore, no one seemed to mind that the fight ended in a majority draw.

Needless to say, slinging leather like that is going to lead to some injuries. For “The Super Samoan,” that means sitting on the sidelines while a broken left hand heals. 

Hunt posted some X-rays on Facebook for his fans to admire:  

While the former K-1 kickboxer may only have a 9-8-1 record inside the cage, Hunt will always be a tremendous fan favorite due to his aggressive fighting style. 

A former title challenger, “Bigfoot” put the UFC’s heavyweight division on notice with back-to-back knockouts over Travis Browne and Alistair Overeem. 

While he has lost to current champ Cain Velasquez twice already, Silva remains a force to be reckoned with at 265 pounds. 

According to the UFC’s official rankings, Silva is the No. 4 heavyweight fighter in the world while Hunt is unranked, though that could change by tomorrow evening. 

Medical suspensions from UFC Fight Night 33 have not been revealed yet, so it remains up on the air how long this hand injury will keep Hunt on the sidelines.

 

John Heinis is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA Editor for eDraft.com.

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Jake Shields vs. Hector Lombard Official for UFC 171

There is no other weight class under the UFC banner that can boast the depth of elite-level talent the welterweight division does. The 170-pound collective is home to a crowded upper tier of fighters who are all looking to earn a shot at the championsh…

There is no other weight class under the UFC banner that can boast the depth of elite-level talent the welterweight division does. The 170-pound collective is home to a crowded upper tier of fighters who are all looking to earn a shot at the championship strap, and the division has consistently produced can’t-miss, high-profile matchups.

The race for title contention in the welterweight division was intense in 2013, and it won’t be slowing down in the coming year as high-profile bouts continue to be made. The latest of which is a tilt between former Strikeforce champion Jake Shields and former middleweight turned welterweight powerhouse Hector Lombard.

News of the fight was first reported by Brett Okamoto of ESPN.com Sunday as the outlet confirmed the two contenders will step in to handle business at UFC 171 on March 15, when the UFC touches down in Dallas, Texas.

The bout will come at a crucial time for both fighters and will certainly have heavy implications on the future title hopes of both men.

Shields has won back-to-back fights since dropping down from middleweight, as he edged out Tyron Woodley and Brazilian submission ace Demian Maia. The San Francisco native won both bouts via split decision, and while he pulled out victories in both fights by razor-thin margins, those wins kept his quest for the welterweight title alive.

While the welterweight division is a new home for Lombard, the former Olympic judoka certainly made a huge statement upon arrival, as he knocked out Nate Marquardt in devastating fashion in his 170-pound debut at UFC 166 back in October.

The American Top Team fighter had found mixed results in the middleweight ranks, and upon the urging of UFC president Dana White, he decided to make the drop down to welterweight. The decision proved to be wise, as Lombard notched his most impressive showing to date inside the Octagon. 

The matchup between Shields and Lombard will pit one of MMA‘s best submission grapplers against one of the most devastating strikers to step inside the cage. In addition to the stylistic clash, the bout will also determine which fighter will remain in the title hunt and who will get reshuffled into the highly competitive deck at 170.

The race for a championship opportunity in the welterweight division has never been more heated than it is now. So heated in fact, that the weight class was recently the focus of Bleacher Report’s Fantasy Matchmaker column, and we proved to be spot on with our call, as both welterweight tilts have now been made official. The first of which was Rory MacDonald vs. Demian Maia, which was confirmed for UFC 170 by the UFC last week, and now there’s this matchup between Jake Shields and Hector Lombard.

Both fights make a tremendous amount of sense in the bigger picture at 170 and will ensure the race for gold continues to roll full steam in the coming year.

 

Duane Finley is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report.

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WSOF 7 Results: Nick Newell Submits Sabah Fadai with Guillotine Choke in Round 1

Nick Newell continues his amazing streak, notching yet another victory Saturday night at World Series of Fighting 7 in Vancouver.
The fight began with some relatively tentative stand-up from both fighters. From there, though, the action went to the cag…

Nick Newell continues his amazing streak, notching yet another victory Saturday night at World Series of Fighting 7 in Vancouver.

The fight began with some relatively tentative stand-up from both fighters. From there, though, the action went to the cage and Newell quickly locked up a tight guillotine choke, forcing Sabah Fadai to tap at just 1:21 of Round 1.

Newell is a highly identifiable mixed martial artist due to his congenital amputation. The birth defect left him with his left arm missing just below the elbow. That disability, however, has not prevented him from being a force in MMA, racking up an impressive 11-0 record over his four-year career with 10 of those wins being stoppages.

After an ugly divorce from XFC, Newell was scooped up by WSOF and has finished both his fights in the promotion with a first-round submission.

While Newell has been absolutely fearsome thus far, his opponent rightly entered the cage as a major underdog. Fadai entered the cage with a 7-2 record with no noteworthy opponents to his name in a career spent bouncing between smaller Canadian promotions.

Following the fight, Newell minced no words over his wishes for his next fight, calling for a shot to become WSOF’s first lightweight champion.

Newell is easily among WSOF’s most popular, most exciting and best fighters, so a title shot makes perfect sense for both parties. The most logical opponent would be Justin Gaethje, who owns a 3-0 record with WSOF and a 10-0 record overall (not counting a 7-0 record in amateur bouts).

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UFC Fight Night 33 Video: Highlights from Mark Hunt vs. Antonio Silva Epic

Mark Hunt and Antonio Silva waged a pretty doggone memorable fight at UFC Fight Night 33 in Brisbane, Australia.
For five rounds, the two heavyweight behemoths dished out their best, most powerful strikes. Punches, low and high kicks, knees, elbows and…

Mark Hunt and Antonio Silva waged a pretty doggone memorable fight at UFC Fight Night 33 in Brisbane, Australia.

For five rounds, the two heavyweight behemoths dished out their best, most powerful strikes. Punches, low and high kicks, knees, elbows and even ground-and-pound—nothing was held back over 25 minutes. Both men were reeling, bleeding and exhausted down the home stretch, but neither gave an inch. It wasn’t a masterpiece from a technical standpoint, but it made for a very compelling fight because of the heart and unadulterated violence involved. 

In the end, two of three judges had even scorecards (the other had it for Hunt). The result was a majority draw. While draws are typically a highly unsatisfying way to end a match, it made sense in this case, given the even nature of the match and the remarkable toughness displayed by both combatants.

Despite its crowd-pleasing nature, neither the fight nor its result probably held major implications for the top of the UFC heavyweight division. However, that probably would have been the case regardless of the outcome. Both men are solid UFC heavyweights, but they don’t appear to pose threats to the top competitors in the weight class.

The 39-year-old Hunt, a former professional kickboxer, is now 9-8-1 in pro MMA, including a 4-2-1 mark in the Octagon. In May of this year, Hunt suffered his second career knockout loss when Junior dos Santos put him down with a thunderous head kick.

The 34-year-old Silva is now 18-5-1 overall and 2-2-1 in the UFC. Both of those losses, however, came at the hands or reigning champion Cain Velasquez.

Not surprisingly to anyone involved, their effort at UFC Fight Night 33 netted Fight of the Night bonus honors. It was Silva’s second Fight Night bonus. For Hunt, it was his fourth bonus overall and third straight.

Missed the action? Here are some video highlights of the five-round battle, courtesy of our friends at Fox Sports. 

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Matt Brown Withdraws from UFC on FOX 9 Bout Due to Back Injury

UPDATE: December 7, 12:53 p.m. PT
Brown tweeted the specific nature of the injury: he has three herniated discs in his lower back.
Ariel Helwani of MMA Fighting reported that Condit has, in fact, been pulled from the fight. The UFC is looking to move h…

UPDATE: December 7, 12:53 p.m. PT

Brown tweeted the specific nature of the injury: he has three herniated discs in his lower back.

Ariel Helwani of MMA Fighting reported that Condit has, in fact, been pulled from the fight. The UFC is looking to move him to UFC 170, but no opponent has been named.

— End of update —

Next week’s UFC on Fox 9 event just lost one of its most interesting fights.

Matt Brown, currently riding a six-fight winning streak and nearing a top contendership position in the welterweight division, has withdrawn from his much-anticipated main card bout against former interim champion Carlos Condit.

Sources close to the fight confirmed the news with Bleacher Report on Saturday morning. The possibility of Brown’s withdrawal was first reported by Twitter user Front Row Brian on Friday, but our sources told us that Brown’s decision to withdraw from the fight was not actually made until Saturday morning.

The injury itself was not disclosed.

Brown’s last three wins came over Mike Pyle, Jordan Mein and Mike Swick. He is currently ranked No. 9 in the UFC’s official rankings and has been one of the more remarkable comeback stories of the last few years. He’d lost four of five fights as 2011 came to a close, but a win over Chris Cope at UFC 143 started Brown on the best stretch of his career.

We were not able to determine if a late-notice replacement opponent for Condit will be tabbed, but it’s likely that Condit will be removed from the card and have a fight scheduled for a later date. Whether or not that’s against Brown—once he returns from healing the unspecified injury, of course—remains to be seen.

After suffering consecutive losses to Georges St-Pierre and Johny Hendricks, Condit returned to his winning ways in August with a win over Martin Kampmann. 

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Julie Kedzie Retires from MMA Following UFC Fight Night 33 Loss

One of the original pioneers of women’s MMA, Julie Kedzie, has decided to retire from fighting following her split-decision loss to Bethe Correia at UFC Fight Night 33.
In several heartfelt posts on Twitter, Kedzie admitted the decision to step a…

One of the original pioneers of women’s MMA, Julie Kedzie, has decided to retire from fighting following her split-decision loss to Bethe Correia at UFC Fight Night 33.

In several heartfelt posts on Twitter, Kedzie admitted the decision to step away had been made prior to her bout on Saturday night.

Ronda Rousey generally gets credit for carrying women’s MMA to the UFC, but it was actually the fight between Kedzie and former MMA star Gina Carano back in 2007 that really put the ladies on the map.  

The vast majority of fans came into the fight completely oblivious as to what they were about to see. It was a real gutsy move by the EliteXC in showcasing a spectacle within a spectacle—a women’s MMA fight in a primetime slot on Showtime.

No one could have predicted the events that were about to unfold would change the way we viewed MMA forever.

For 15 minutes, Carano and Kedzie exchanged blow for blow in an epic battle that holds a similar historical significance to Forrest Griffin vs. Stephan Bonnar. If the EliteXC never took a chance or Carano vs. Kedzie failed to deliver, then perhaps women’s MMA would be in a much different place right now.

Unfortunately for Kedzie, she wasn’t consistent enough to bask in the same notoriety as many of her peers. She was never able to get a win in the UFC or Strikeforce, and her career comes to a close on a rather unsatisfying four-fight losing streak.

Let’s face it…There probably won’t be any blockbuster movie deals waiting in the wings like there was for Carano when she hung up her gloves back in 2009. For Kedzie, it will likely just be more of the same: a spot on Jackson MMA’s coaching staff and a commentating role in Invicta Fighting Championships.

Still, no amount of notoriety or wins could ever amount to the contributions Kedzie has made to women’s MMA.

We can only hope that she remains an ambassador of the sport and continues to influence and inspire thousands of young women hoping to one day throw on a pair of four-ounce gloves and step into the cage.

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