Tag: brian ebersole

Brian Ebersole Is the UFC Welterweight Division’s Best-Kept Secret

Don’t convince yourself that Brian Ebersole is the man to derail the momentum train of Rory MacDonald after Ebersole has his UFC 140 bout with Claude “The Prince” Patrick—MacDonald’s replacement—if Ebersole wins on Dec. 10.But even a person…

Don’t convince yourself that Brian Ebersole is the man to derail the momentum train of Rory MacDonald after Ebersole has his UFC 140 bout with Claude “The Prince” Patrick—MacDonald’s replacement—if Ebersole wins on Dec. 10.

But even a person whose first glimpse of Ebersole came with his UFC 133 win over Dennis Hallman could tell you that Ebersole is a slept-on Welterweight as far as UFC-only fighters go.

Seriously, we all knew the man had some experience and an unorthodox style, but beating Chris Lytle? That just seemed a bit far-fetched, but it happened at UFC 127 earlier this year.

Of course, we also know the story behind his claiming of the “Get Those Horrifying Shorts Off TV As Soon As Possible” bonus when he beat a Speedos-clad Hallman, who probably wishes his bet’s wager saw the loser buying the winner a drink or a carton of smokes.

Anyway, Ebersole is facing another Canadian in Patrick—but to be correct, Patrick is a Toronto-born fighter of Jamaican descent, and he has said before that he prides himself on being “premier Jamaican fighter of mixed martial arts”—and not unlike MacDonald, “The Prince” has only lost one fight in his MMA career.

Truth be told, neither man should be slept on, especially since Ebersole is on Patrick’s turf, and Patrick will look to hit that infamous 13th win in his MMA tenure, but only one man has finished Ebersole in the past two years, and everyone else has had a hard time getting the finish on Ebersole since then.

Patrick is a solid technical striker with a menacing submission game, but Ebersole blends in a good wrestling game with a striking game that features punches and kicks that no other fighter has been able to incorporate into their game as well as Ebersole has.

With how well he has improved so far in his career, fans and pundits alike might do well to keep one close eye on Ebersole. He has the necessary elements to go from a rising UFC Welterweight to the next possible dark horse in the division.

In essence, he could be a potential contender, and he would definitely be the contender that nobody saw coming.

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UFC 140: Rory MacDonald Out, Brian Ebersole Will Now Face Claude Patrick

Filed under: UFC, NewsAn injury to one of the UFC’s bright young up-and-coming fighters has caused the UFC 140 card to be shifted.

The UFC announced that 22-year-old Canadian welterweight Rory MacDonald has been injured and forced to with draw from UF…

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Rory MacDonaldAn injury to one of the UFC‘s bright young up-and-coming fighters has caused the UFC 140 card to be shifted.

The UFC announced that 22-year-old Canadian welterweight Rory MacDonald has been injured and forced to with draw from UFC 140, which takes place on December 10 in Toronto. The 12-1 MacDonald had been slated to face Brian Ebersole, and it’s disappointing news that one of the best young Canadians in MMA won’t be able to fight on the next major card in Canada.

Ebersole will stay on the main card and face Claude Patrick, a welterweight from Toronto who’s 14-1 in his MMA career, including 3-0 in the UFC.

Patrick had been slated to face Rich Attonito on the UFC 140 preliminary card. Attonito is expected to stay on the card, and the UFC said a new opponent for Attonito will be named soon.

UFC 140 is headlined by a light heavyweight title fight between Jon Jones and Lyoto Machida. The other fights on the main card will be Frank Mir vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Tito Ortiz vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira an dMark Hominick vs. Chan Sung Jung.

 

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UFC on Versus Results: Dominick Cruz and the Most Awkward MMA Fighters Today

Tonight at UFC on Versus 6, Dominick Cruz defended his UFC bantamweight title against Demetrious Johnson. Cruz proved tonight that sometimes having awkward and weird movements can work to your advantage. Cruz is not the only fighter who has h…

Tonight at UFC on Versus 6, Dominick Cruz defended his UFC bantamweight title against Demetrious Johnson. 

Cruz proved tonight that sometimes having awkward and weird movements can work to your advantage. 

Cruz is not the only fighter who has had some questionable movements in MMA. 

Here’s a look at some of the other fighters who may make you wonder what exactly they’re doing.

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Hallman vs. Makdessi Penciled in for UFC 140 in Toronto

Well it looks like Dennis Hallman’s wardrobe malfunction at UFC 133 won’t cost him his job with the UFC.

“Superman” Tweeted last night that he will be dropping back down to lightweight for the first time in 10 years to take on undefeated Canadian prospect John Makdessi at UFC 140 in December in Toronto.

A true moneyweight fighter, Hallman who is 50-12-1 (1 NC) in 64 professional fights as a light heavyweight, middleweight, welterweight and lightweight, defeated Matt Hughes at 155 at UFC 23, earning him a shot at then-lightweight champ Jens Pulver at UFC 33, but fell short, losing to “Lil’ Evil” by unanimous decision. That was his last fight at 155.

Well it looks like Dennis Hallman’s wardrobe malfunction at UFC 133 won’t cost him his job with the UFC.

“Superman” Tweeted last night that he will be dropping back down to lightweight for the first time in 10 years to take on undefeated Canadian prospect John Makdessi at UFC 140 in December in Toronto.

A true moneyweight fighter, Hallman who is 50-12-1 (1 NC) in 64 professional fights as a light heavyweight, middleweight, welterweight and lightweight, defeated Matt Hughes at 155 at UFC 23, earning him a shot at then-lightweight champ Jens Pulver at UFC 33, but fell short, losing to “Lil’ Evil” by unanimous decision. That was his last fight at 155.

In spite of a 2-1 record in the Octagon this time around, including wins over Karo Parisyan and Ben Saunders, Hallman found himself on thin ice with the promotion’s president Dana White after facing Brian Ebersole at UFC 133 wearing a Speedo. Ebersole, who made quick work of his veteran opponent, was awarded an unprecedented $70,000 bonus from White for saving the TV audience any further disgust by having them subjected to Hallman’s banana hammock any longer than necessary. White later remarked during the post-fight press conference that he wasn’t sure whether or not Hallman would fight again after “Speedogate.”

In spite of his experience, Makdessi (9-0) will be a tough test for Hallman. The former kickboxing standout who was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia and raised for most of his childhood in his parent’s homeland of Lebanon before returning to Canada where his family settled in Montreal, has not only never lost in MMA, he went a perfect 22-0 in kickboxing prior to making the jump to the cage. After controlling Pat Audinwood en route to a unanimous decision win in his UFC debut at UFC 124 last December, “The Bull” was the odds-on favorite of everyone, (including White who tweeted that Makdessi would likely get the bonus check) to win “Knockout of the Night” honors for his spinning-back-fist KO of Kyle Watson at UFC 129 this past April until Lyoto Machida crane-kicked Randy Couture into retirement later in the night.

The card’s headliner has yet to be determined, but a handful of match-ups have been reported for the event including Frank Mir versus Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira, Rory MacDonald versus Brian Ebersole, Rich Attonito versus Claude Patrick and John Cholish versus Mitch Clarke. Mark Hominick is also penciled in for the event, possibly against “The Korean Zombie” Jung Chan-Sung.

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UFC 140
December 10, 2011
Air Canada Centre
Toronto, Ontario

Frank Mir vs. Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira
Mark Hominick vs. Jung Chan-Sung
Rory MacDonald vs. Brian Ebersole
John Makdessi vs. Dennis Hallman
Rich Attonito vs. Claude Patrick
John Cholish vs. Mitch Clarke

Rory MacDonald to Meet Brian Ebersole at UFC 140

Filed under: UFC, NewsVerbal agreements are in place for a UFC 140 encounter between Rory MacDonald and Brian Ebersole on the Dec. 10 Toronto card, UFC president Dana White recently revealed.

Having fought on the UFC’s first card in Ontario at UFC 129…

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Verbal agreements are in place for a UFC 140 encounter between Rory MacDonald and Brian Ebersole on the Dec. 10 Toronto card, UFC president Dana White recently revealed.

Having fought on the UFC’s first card in Ontario at UFC 129 this past April, British Columbia’s MacDonald (12-1) will compete in his home country while shooting for his third consecutive win. The 22-year-old standout bounced back from a tough loss to Carlos Condit last year by putting in dominant efforts this year against Nick Diaz and Mike Pyle.

It took nearly 11 years for Ebersole (48-14-1) to finally receive the chance to step inside the UFC cage, but he’s made the most of every moment with wins over Chris Lytle and Dennis Hallman at UFC 127 and UFC 133, respectively. He’s also taken the spotlight in these fights for his up-arrow chest hair and most recently, a $70,000 bonus for as White put it, “getting [Hallman’s] horrifying shots off TV” award.

With UFC 140 still three months away and plenty of cards in between, the only bouts leaked so far for the card are Rich Attonito vs. Claude Patrick and John Cholish vs. Mitch Clarke. No main event has been announced.

UFC 140, happening a week after the TUF 14 Finale and three weeks before the Brock Lesnar vs. Alistair Overeem showdown, will take place at the Air Canada Centre.

 

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Rory MacDonald vs. Brian Ebersole and Claude Patrick vs. Rich Attonito Added to UFC 140 in Toronto


(The UFC’s second Toronto card is coming together nicely.)

Keeping with it’s latest trend of beating reporters to the punch when it comes to breaking news of fight bookings, the UFC announced that a pair of welterweight bouts have been added to UFC 140 on December 10 at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto today, via UFC.com.

British Columbia-born wunderkind Rory “Ares” MacDonald (12-1) will take on “Hairrow” stylist and cartwheel-kick aficionado Brian “The White Anderson Silva”  Ebersole (48-14-1, 1 NC) on the card, while former CagePotato TUF 11 guest blogger Rich “The Raging Bull” Attonito (10-4) will see action against durable Toronto-based fighter Claude “The Prince” Patrick (14-1).


(The UFC’s second Toronto card is coming together nicely.)

Keeping with it’s latest trend of beating reporters to the punch when it comes to breaking news of fight bookings, the UFC announced that a pair of welterweight bouts have been added to UFC 140 on December 10 at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto today, via UFC.com.

British Columbia-born wunderkind Rory “Ares” MacDonald (12-1) will take on “Hairrow” stylist and cartwheel-kick aficionado Brian “The White Anderson Silva”  Ebersole (48-14-1, 1 NC) on the card, while former CagePotato TUF 11 guest blogger Rich “The Raging Bull” Attonito (10-4) will see action against durable Toronto-based fighter Claude “The Prince” Patrick (14-1).

3-1 in four UFC bouts, MacDonald continued to impress in his last outing, defeating seasoned veteran Mike Pyle by TKO at 3:54 of the opening frame at UFC 133 in August. He also holds Octagon wins over Nate Diaz at UFC 129 and Mike Guymon at UFN 20 and a heartbreaking loss to current welterweight contender Carlos Condit in the final seconds of their UFC 115 bout.

A veteran of 64 professional bouts, Ebersole will be a tough test for MacDonald, but he may have already made a slight error in judgment that may work in the favor of his opponent, who was formerly known as “The Waterboy” for his penchant for using anger to propel him to perform better in the cage. In an interview he did with MMAFighting’s Ariel Helwani following his UFC win over Dennis Hallman, “TWAS” was asked if he was interested in fighting MacDonald who had dispatched of Pyle earlier in the night, to which Ebersole replied that the fight “didn’t interest him.”

“After UFC 127 I kind of asked for Dennis Hallman or Matt Serra because they’re veterans [who have] big records — kind of like Chris Lytle — they bring out that samurai spirit in me and I know it would be a good battle of not just athleticism, but kind of like a chess match. I saw Matt Serra here tonight; he’s looking a bit out of shape. I don’t know if he’s retired or what his story is, but if he’s still competing I guess he’s kind of the one guy before he retires I would like to compete against him,” Ebersole explained. “There’s a couple of older guys — I know Renzo [Gracie] just got a contract. I don’t know if the UFC would give me Renzo, but right now I know I’m not in line for a title shot and I’m not looking at the top guys so I would like to fight guys that really interest me and those are the veterans. Those are the guys that have stories that I’ve watched as a fan in this sport. I don’t want to fight the Rory MacDonald who’s 21 years old and [has] two or three fights. I don’t know anything about the kid. That doesn’t excite me.”

Patrick and Attonito, meanwhile, have unanimous decision wins over a common opponent, Daniel Roberts in their last respective bouts and will both be looking to climb the ladder with a win over the other.

Although it hasn’t been announced yet, a featherweight bout between former number one contender Mark “The Machine” Hominick and “The Korean Zombie” Jung Chan-Sung is also rumored to be in the works for the card, as is a lightweight bout between John Cholish and Canadian UFC newcomer Mitch Clarke.