At UFC 149, Brian Ebersole took a short-notice fight against James Head in the welterweight division. Shortly before accepting the bout, Ebersole had announced a planned move to the lightweight division, where the 31-year-old thought his body was bette…
At UFC 149, Brian Ebersole took a short-notice fight against James Head in the welterweight division. Shortly before accepting the bout, Ebersole had announced a planned move to the lightweight division, where the 31-year-old thought his body was better suited.
Immediately after the contest with Head, Ebersole was shown on camera talking through the cage to Joe Rogan, who asked if the “Bad Boy” was still planning on moving to 155. Ebersole confirmed that his intentions had not changed, and threw in “these guys are big!”
Maybe Ebersole predicted the wrestling troubles that were in his future. Unable to work his opponent to the canvas, the new-lightweight failed on 14 takedown attempts.
The loss to Head snapped an 11-fight winning streak, which included four victories inside the Octagon.
Here is a look at five fights that we think Brian Ebersole should take in his new weight class of 155 pounds.
Few believed that the king of fight-night bonuses Chris Lytle would find himself bested by a late replacement journeyman like Brian Ebersole, but that is precisely what happened in the UFC 127 contest.Ebersole would repeat his success with big wins ove…
Few believed that the king of fight-night bonuses Chris Lytle would find himself bested by a late replacement journeyman like Brian Ebersole, but that is precisely what happened in the UFC 127 contest.
Ebersole would repeat his success with big wins over Dennis Hallman, Claude Patrick and TJ Waldburger to start out his UFC career at 4-0.
Quickly becoming an unlikely contender in the welterweight division, “The White Anderson Silva” illustrated a desire to be a company man by signing on to fight James Head at UFC 149.
The choice of opponent seemed to be underwhelming, and there was only 29 days between UFC 149 and Ebersole’s hard-fought victory at UFC on FX 4. However, that didn’t stop the fearless practitioner of the cartwheel kick.
Perhaps it should have. In the main-card contest, Ebersole’s wrestling was telegraphed and he looked flat-footed. In fact, Head was able to easily defend 14 of Ebersole’s 15 takedown attempts throughout the battle en route to a split decision victory.
With a proper training camp, it is unlikely that a veteran like Ebersole would have faired so poorly in the contest. In fact, the one time that “Bad Boy” got the ground control that he desired, Head ate some ground and pound that made him very uncomfortable. Imagine how the fight would have looked if he had focused on wrestling for a full fight camp.
While Chris Leben’s amazing win over Yoshihiro Akiyama shows us the best possible outcome of taking a fight on short notice, the risks truly outweigh the rewards. With the loss, Ebersole blew an 11-fight winning streak that would have seen his status in the organization elevate tremendously.
This loss won’t completely send the Indiana native back to the drawing board. Post-fight, Ebersole had an exchange with Joe Rogan where he indicated that he will be dropping down to 155 pounds. With many excellent fighters in need of a quality opponent, there are lots of places for Ebersole to go from here. It’s just a shame that he won’t be taking his incredible momentum with him.
Renan Pagado vs. Urijah Faber In the main event of UFC 149, Renan Pagado used the Jose Aldo Light playbook against Faber on his way to a convincing decision victory. Pagado used the same strategy.
Renan Pagado vs. Urijah Faber
In the main event of UFC 149, Renan Pagado used the Jose Aldo Light playbook against Faber on his way to a convincing decision victory. Pagado used the same strategy of eliminating Faber’s movement with low kicks and then capitalizing with punching combinations. Faber was never in danger of being finished but was also never close to gaining any type of advantage.
Neither fighter did much in the first round. Pagado landed a low kick and couple of glancing punching combinations. Faber did his best to move and counter but never landed anything significant. The first round was the closest but I gave it to Pagado. The second round saw Pagado begin to establish control as he landed a clean punching combination off of a flying knee. He also continued to land the occasional low kick. The third round was when Pagado really began to damage Faber with the low kicks. He landed a huge one toward the end of the round and in between the third and fourth rounds, Faber had ice on his lead leg. The fourth and fifth rounds were more of the same. Pagado didn’t outclass Faber the way Aldo did but he established that he is clearly the better fighter and deserves a shot at Dominick Cruz once the champion is healthy.
The script for Urijah Faber title fights is becoming a bit repetitive at this point. Fighters with better movement and more technical striking use those advantages to keep him off balance and eventually outpoint him on the way to a decision victory. Faber’s wrestling is no longer good enough to get top level opponents to the ground and his days as a champion are probably over. But he will still continue to provide entertaining fights and will likely be remembered as the first fighter under 155 lbs to become a star. Pagado’s career is going the opposite direction. He will face Dominick Cruz for the bantamweight title in his next fight and he is capable of winning. That fight has the potential to be the best in the history of the 135 lb division and I’m already excited to see it. Renan Pagado is not the 135 lb Jose Aldo but he might soon be the 135 lb champion.
Hector Lombard vs. Tim Boetsch
In the biggest upset of the night, Tim Boetsch defeated the much heralded Hector Lombard in a perplexing fight. Lombard seemed to feel the pressure of making his first UFC appearance and never really let his hands go. He threw single shot counters whenever Boetsch came into range, which was almost never, and didn’t seem to ever get comfortable in the octagon. Boetsch fought from the outside landing kicks and occasionally coming close enough to land a punch but spent much of the fight on the outside avoiding engaging with Lombard. He used exactly that strategy to win the first round. Lombard won the second by landing the most significant strike of the fight, which was a glancing body kick that hurt Boetsch enough to allow Lombard to gain top position. But Lombard was uncharacteristically hesitant seeming to look for the perfect opportunity to strike instead of just using his incredible power to bomb punches through Boetsch’s guard. The third round was the most confusing of the fight as both fighters knew they needed the round and neither seemed willing to take a chance to win it. Neither showed any urgency and they basically traded low kicks until Lombard scored a takedown late in the round. Based on that, I gave Lombard the round and had him winning by decision. But the Canadian judges disagreed and gave Boetsch a split decision victory. Regardless of the outcome, neither fighter has any cause to blame the judges because the fight was available to be won and neither wanted to take a chance.
For Boetsch, this puts him close to the top of the division. Personally, I would rather see Chris Weidman get the next title shot as he seems to really want it while Boetsch appears to be trying to tiptoe his way into it. I guess a fight between Weidman and Boetsch to determine a number one contender would be acceptable but I have a hard time rewarding Boetsch for that performance. For Lombard, this is a huge loss. He was supposed to come in and immediately be the biggest threat to Anderson Silva but he looked far from that. Only time will tell whether this was the first step in Lombard being exposed as a small show hype machine or whether he was just nervous in his first fight on the big show. The most concerning thing to me was that he looked small. He carries a lot of muscle and if he was willing to drop some of that, he could easily cut to 170 lbs. Part of success in the UFC is finding the optimal weight class and if Lombard struggles at 185, he will have to seriously consider making the cut.
Cheick Kongo vs. Shawn Jordan
Cheick Kongo bounced back from his TKO loss to Mark Hunt with a plodding decision victory over Shawn Jordan. Most of the fight took place against the cage as the fighters battled for position and worked for takedowns that they would never get. Jordan pressed the action in the first round keeping Kongo’s back to the cage and working for takedowns. Even though he was completely unsuccessful, he controlled the fight and I gave the round to him. After working so hard in the first round, Jordan seemed to tire and Kongo began to get the advantage pushing Jordan against the cage. Kongo also managed to separate and land a couple of damaging knees and combinations. He never hurt Jordan but he did enough to win the round. The third round was fought between two exhausted fighters and consisted mainly of Kongo pushing Jordan up against the fence. Neither fighter did any real damage but Kongo had Jordan’s back to the cage for most of the round giving him the edge in scoring, which was enough to win the fight. Neither fighter was impressive and both showed a surprising lack of conditioning.
Kongo appears to be solidified as a mid-level heavyweight who has already reached the peak of his UFC success. If he faces a major step up in competition in his next fight, he will likely lose. Jordan is actually the more promising of the two fighters. Hopefully he will learn from this experience and use it to motivate him in taking his conditioning to another level. Some young fighters need to feel the frustration that comes from losing a winnable fight because of an empty gas tank to understand how hard they need to work in the gym. Jordan now knows that what he has been doing thus far isn’t enough and I expect him to show significant improvement in his next fight.
Ebersole vs. Head
In the first of two big upsets on the night, James Head defeated Brian Ebersole via split decision. Ebersole’s willingness to take fights on short notice finally caught up to him in this fight. He was clearly the smaller fighter as he is in the midst of cutting to lightweight and the fight looked exactly the way one would expect a fight between a lightweight and a welterweight to look. Head was much stronger and landed the more damaging strikes. Ebersole was totally unsuccessful in gaining any sort of grappling control over his opponent and was reduced to weak attempts to pull guard to try to get the fight to the ground. Despite all of that, the fight was actually even going into the final round. Ebersole’s unorthodox movement and striking was enough to earn him the second round after Head had won the first round. The third round was a disappointingly lackluster display from both fighters considering that the outcome of the fight was at stake. By the middle of the third round, Ebersole seemed bored and resigned to the fact that even though Head was not a threat to him in any way, the size difference was too much to overcome. Head seemed to realize the same thing but refused to try to take advantage of it settling instead to stuff Ebersole’s takedowns and throw an occasional combination. Ebersole finally got a takedown at the end of the round and moved to mount, which was the most significant point in the round and because of that, I gave the round and the fight to Ebersole. But Head won a split decision on the judges’ scorecards and Ebersole has no room to argue after his weak effort in the third round. Let’s hope this was a result of Ebersole being in the middle of a weight cutting process and nothing more. For Head, this was a chance to earn an impressive victory over an unprepared opponent and he was unable to do anything that makes him look like he’ll be a factor in the UFC.
Matt Riddle vs. Chris Clements
Matt Riddle took a step forward in his UFC career by controlling his fight with Chris Clements and eventually finishing via an impressive arm triangle in the third round. Riddle controlled most of the first round landing several takedowns and keeping Clements off balance. Clements seemed to be the better striker but was never able to get comfortable and Riddle landed the biggest strike of the fight when he hurt Clements with a liver kick. The second round saw more of the same with Riddle eventually taking Clements back after controlling much of the round on the ground. The third round started with Riddle making an ill fated attempt to entertain the crowd by engaging in exchanges with Clements and coming out on the losing end. He eventually smartly took the fight to the ground again to regain control. Clements managed to get back to his feet and attempt a spinning back fist but Riddle countered by locking up an arm triangle in the standing position. From there, he used an outside trip to take Clements down into side control and ended the fight with an impressive submission victory. Riddle showed improvement in this fight and if he continues to focus more on the type of execution that locked up that submission and less on entertaining the fans, he could make some headway in the welterweight division. Clements showed decent striking but will need to work hard on his wrestling if he wants to last in the UFC.
Fact: You had a 63% better chance of seeing a fight at a Calgary Flames game than you did at UFC 149, according to a study I made up for this caption. Props: The Calgary Sun
When I first sat down to write this aftermath, I wrote five paragraphs of a Jim Cornette rant about how dreadful the main card of UFC 149 was to sit through. Even the most jaded UFC fan boys – the types who comment “Its fights stop complaneing ur not real UFC fan if u dont liek this TapouT tribal tatz NEVER BACK DOWN!!!!!” on YouTube videos of Jacob Volkmann vs. Antonio Mckee– would be hard-pressed to say that UFC 149 was worth watching, let alone paying for. Then I realized that that wouldn’t be fair. Not because a longwinded rant about boredom isn’t a fair assessment of the main card, but rather it isn’t fair to the fans to force them to relive the lowest of the low points from last night. We can all agree that the less that is written about the main card, the better.
So in that spirit, I give you the first ever Cage Potato Fill-In-The-Blank aftermath. Simply pick one of the applicable fighters listed below and plug his name into the blanks. The result will be a mostly accurate analysis of both his performance last night and the future ramifications brought on by it. Enjoy.
Applicable Fighters*: James Head, Brian Ebersole, Cheick Kongo, Shawn Jordan, Tim Boetsch**, Hector Lombard.
I know that the Polly Pessimists and Debby Downers who make up the MMA media are often too hard on fighters, but in this case it’s well deserved: The performance of __________ at last night’s UFC 149 absolutely sucked. He let a golden opportunity slip through his fingers, and seemed perfectly content with this while doing so. If last night was a first date with a perfect ten, then he showed up in sweatpants, took her to Whataburger and then asked for gas money on the ride home.
Fact: You had a 63% better chance of seeing a fight at a Calgary Flames game than you did at UFC 149, according to a study I made up for this caption. Props: The Calgary Sun
When I first sat down to write this aftermath, I wrote five paragraphs of a Jim Cornette rant about how dreadful the main card of UFC 149 was to sit through. Even the most jaded UFC fan boys – the types who comment “Its fights stop complaneing ur not real UFC fan if u dont liek this TapouT tribal tatz NEVER BACK DOWN!!!!!” on YouTube videos of Jacob Volkmann vs. Antonio Mckee– would be hard-pressed to say that UFC 149 was worth watching, let alone paying for. Then I realized that that wouldn’t be fair. Not because a longwinded rant about boredom isn’t a fair assessment of the main card, but rather it isn’t fair to the fans to force them to relive the lowest of the low points from last night. We can all agree that the less that is written about the main card, the better.
So in that spirit, I give you the first ever Cage Potato Fill-In-The-Blank aftermath. Simply pick one of the applicable fighters listed below and plug his name into the blanks. The result will be a mostly accurate analysis of both his performance last night and the future ramifications brought on by it. Enjoy.
Applicable Fighters*: James Head, Brian Ebersole, Cheick Kongo, Shawn Jordan, Tim Boetsch**, Hector Lombard.
I know that the Polly Pessimists and Debby Downers who make up the MMA media are often too hard on fighters, but in this case it’s well deserved: The performance of __________ at last night’s UFC 149 absolutely sucked. He let a golden opportunity slip through his fingers, and seemed perfectly content with this while doing so. If last night was a first date with a perfect ten, then he showed up in sweatpants, took her to Whataburger and then asked for gas money on the ride home.
Before last night, only the most hardcore UFC fans knew who __________ was. While the casual fans would have probably recognized the name “__________,” their knowledge of his career either ended there or they knew him for the wrong reasons (i.e. his physical appearance, his collegiate sporting achievements, some fights he lost; etc.) With the UFC 149 injury curse draining the card of every big name other than Urijah Faber, this was __________’s big chance to get over with these fans, to make a name for himself in his weight class and to prove that he deserves more time on the Pay-Per-View portion of cards and higher profile fights. A gutsy, entertaining performance arguably would have done this; a gutsy, entertaining victory certainly would have.
Instead, __________ let Matt Riddle steal the spotlight. Simply put, Riddle capitalized on the way that Siyar The Great’s injury granted him a spot on the main card in ways that no one else did. Despite a terrible “low blow” (that was completely clean) that prevented Riddle from finishing Chris Clements in the first round, Riddle kept his composure and outgrappled Clements for the rest of the fight. In the third round, Riddle managed to lock in a standing arm-triangle choke off of a failed spinning backfist attempt from Clements. Once he took the dynamic Canadian striker to the ground, he tightened the choke and earned the tap. The $65k Submission of the Night bonus he took home should compliment all of the new fans and increased exposure he earned from this performance nicely.
I emphasize that __________ let Riddle steal the spotlight. While “Deep Waters” put on an entertaining fight for the Calgary fans, __________ did his best to put them to sleep. We were reminded throughout the night of __________’s __________ (knockout power/creative offense are your choices here). Rather than actually using it, __________ opted to take part in three rounds too abysmal for even ProElite to acknowledge. I understand that you have to fight intelligently to pick up a victory at this level, and that getting careless while trying to give the fans a good fight is a great way to end up on the canvas. But that doesn’t justify three rounds of avoiding any type of meaningful engagement with your opponent. Although, to be fair to __________, his opponent wasn’t exactly chasing him around like Nate Quarry.
This was supposed to be a coming out party for __________, and did he ever waste it. His performance doesn’t warrant a step up in competition. It doesn’t warrant a spot in the main event in the near future. Rather, it just further exposed the flaws in his game that detractors have been quick to point out. If you’re still on The __________ Bandwagon, stretch out. You’ve got plenty of room to do so.
*No, I’m not including Renan Barao vs. Urijah Faber. Yes, the fans were quick to boo, but at that point it was mostly out of instinct. Watch the fight again if you don’t believe me. Sure, it wasn’t exactly Torres vs. Mizugaki, but it was a solid showcase from both fighters. In the end, the bout proved exactly what we already knew: Urijah can’t check a leg kick, he’s been choking in title fights ever since losing the WEC Featherweight Championship to Mike Brown (seriously, he’s 0-5 in his last five title fights. Eat your heart out, KenFlo.), and a guy doesn’t go thirty fights without a loss unless he’s a special talent.
Chris Clements also gets a pass. Sure, he didn’t go out and win, but Matt Riddle was just the better man last night. Sometimes that happens in MMA.
**For what it’s worth, Boetsch injured himself in the second round of his fight last night. Not that he looked amazing up until that point in the fight, but it’s worth pointing out.
Two more things: Fight of the Night went to Bryan Caraway and Mitch Gagnon for their highly entertaining battle that kicked off the prelims on FX. It was pretty much all downhill from there. And knockout of the night? Former Cagepotato.com contributor Ryan Jimmo. Seven seconds. Bitches.
Full Results:
Main Card:
Renan Barao def. Urijah Faber via unanimous decision
Tim Boetsch def. Hector Lombard via split decision
Cheick Kongo def. Shawn Jordan via unanimous decision
James Head def. Brian Ebersole via split decision
Matt Riddle def. Chris Clements via submission (arm- triangle choke), 2:02 of Round Three
Preliminary Card:
Nick Ring def. Court McGee via unanimous decision
Francisco Rivera def. Roland Delorme via KO (punch), 4:19 of Round One
Ryan Jimmo def. Anthony Perosh via KO (punch), 0:07 of Round One
Bryan Caraway def. Mitch Gagnon via submission (rear-naked choke), 1:39 of Round Three
Antonio Carvalho def. Daniel Pineda via KO (punches), 1:11 of Round One
Anton Kuivanen def. Mitch Clarke via split decision
Only 29 days after earning a hard-fought decision victory over TJ Waldburger at UFC on FX, Brian Ebersole stepped in to fight James Head after Claude Patrick was forced out of the contest due to a training injury.Head has gone 1-1 since joining the UFC…
Only 29 days after earning a hard-fought decision victory over TJ Waldburger at UFC on FX, Brian Ebersole stepped in to fight James Head after Claude Patrick was forced out of the contest due to a training injury.
Head has gone 1-1 since joining the UFC roster. His first contest took place in the middleweight division, losing to Nick Ring. However, the Lovato Jiu-Jitsu fighter rebounded with a win over Papy Albedi back in April.
The first round of the contest saw Ebersole shoot for takedowns in hopes of grappling with Head. As a form of bait, he would openly lead with his head, hoping that Head would attempt to finish with a guillotine. At one point, Head took the bait, and Ebersole quickly freed himself from danger and delivered some ground-and-pound towards the end of the round.
Head would continue to get the better of the standup; Ebersole would work the fight to the ground in the final round and score some shoulder strikes, but not nearly as much damage as during the first round. Head would use a butterfly sweep to gain top position right before the bell sounded.
Ebersole’s corner wisely advised their fighter to get the fight to the ground in the third round, knowing that Ebersole would not win a decision if the fight remained standing.
The fight continued to unfold the same way that it had previously.
Ebersole attempted to score takedowns and failed throughout the final round. Head refused to take the bait by going for the guillotine that Ebersole was serving on a platter.
When the scores were read, it is surprising that someone awarded the fight to Brian Ebersole, but the split decision ended up going to Head. With the decision win, Head improves to 2-0 in the welterweight division.
Taking the fight on short notice, Ebersole didn’t get hit much during the contest; however, he couldn’t implement his ground game. Post-fight, Ebersole and Joe Rogan had an exchange through the cage where Ebersole confirmed that he is still planning on dropping to lightweight: “These guys are big.”
Stay tuned to Bleacher Report for all things UFC 149, including up-to-the-minute results and reaction pieces.
Another huge UFC card is set for Saturday as Renan Barao and Urijah Faber will do battle in the main event of UFC 149 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.While that fight is certainly appealing, Barao is a fairly significant favorite and most expect him t…
Another huge UFC card is set for Saturday as Renan Barao and Urijah Faber will do battle in the main event of UFC 149 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
While that fight is certainly appealing, Barao is a fairly significant favorite and most expect him to win. That is the case when it comes to several other tilts as well.
Upsets are commonplace in UFC and you truly never know what is going to happen, but there are some high-profile bouts that seem a tad one-sided as the event draws closer. That doesn’t mean that upsets are impossible, but I would feel pretty confident with money on the line.
Here are the three biggest locks to get their hands raised in victory at UFC 149.
Renan Barao
There is no doubt that Brazilian grappler Renan Barao is one of the fastest-rising stars in UFC. The 25-year-old bantamweight has left several capable competitors in his wake and has never lost a UFC bout.
In fact, Barao has a career mark of 28-1 with his only loss coming to Joao Paulo in his first professional fight back in 2005. Barao has won 28 consecutive fights since and he has done so largely thanks to his vast submission repertoire, particularly the rear-naked choke.
Barao won’t be able to fly past Faber, as the American star is a tough test, but Barao is the clear favorite. Faber has some impressive wins on his resume, but he has fallen short in some of his biggest tests against the likes of Dominick Cruz, Jose Aldo and Mike Brown. Barao may be his toughest challenge yet, though, and I like the nearly-flawless Brazilian to win again,
Brian Ebersole
He is only 31 years old, but Brian Ebersole has already competed in 66 professional fights and has a fantastic record of 50-14-1 with a no-contest. That type of success ensures that guys are always going to try to knock him off his pedestal, and that will be the case at UFC 149 when James Head challenges him.
Head is a promising welterweight with a record of 8-2, but he has never faced anyone with a track record half as good as Ebersole’s.
Head may have every intention of shocking Ebersole, but he veteran is an overwhelming favorite and there is good reason for it. Ebersole is one of the most versatile fighters in UFC as his 50 wins are pretty evenly dispersed across knockouts, submissions and decisions.
Ebersole is also on an 11-fight winning streak and seems to be getting better with age, so it would be foolish to pick against him.
Hector Lombard
Michael Bisping was originally scheduled to take on Tim Boetsch in a middleweight contest at UFC 149, but with Bisping on the shelf due to injury, Hector Lombard has stepped in. The 34-year-old Lombard will be making his UFC debut, but his reputation precedes him.
Lombard was a dominant force in Bellator and holds a career mark of 31-2-1, including a 25-fight undefeated streak. As good as “Lightning” Lombard is, UFC is a different animal.
He will face a very game opponent in Boetsch who is 15-4 and known for stopping fights early. Boetsch also tends to leave himself susceptible as well, and since Lombard is the more talented fighter, I expect him to rock Boetsch.
As an added incentive, Anderson Silva is in search of his next opponent, and an impressive performance could put Lombard in the driver’s seat. I believe that will be enough to motivate the UFC newcomer.
Few believed that the king of fight-night bonuses 
