Filed under: UFC, NewsDonald Cerrone put on an absolutely sensational show at Sunday night’s UFC event, winning a first-round technical knockout over a very good opponent in Charles Oliveira.
Cerrone, who moved to the UFC this year after fighting in W…
Donald Cerrone put on an absolutely sensational show at Sunday night’s UFC event, winning a first-round technical knockout over a very good opponent in Charles Oliveira.
Cerrone, who moved to the UFC this year after fighting in World Extreme Cagefighting, is now 3-0 inside the Octagon, and he’s rising up the ranks in the welterweight division.
“This was a perfect fight for me to show my skills,” Cerrone said afterward.
After a couple minutes of Cerrone and Oliveira feeling each other out on their feet, Cerrone began to push the pace of his striking, and he landed a hard punch to Oliveira’s midsection. That hurt Oliveira, and Cerrone followed up with a hard knee just as Oliveira was falling onto his back.
Mindful that Oliveira is an excellent Brazilian jiu jitsu practitioner, Cerrone at first hesitated to follow Oliveira to the ground. But after a moment Cerrone stood over Oliveira and rained down punches, and when Oliveira did nothing more than cover up his head, the referee stepped in to stop the fight, 3 minutes and 1 second into the first round.
For Oliveira, the last several months have been a huge disappointment: Not long ago he was 14-0 and considered one of the sport’s truly elite young fighters, but in his last three fights he has two losses and a no contest. But Cerrone is on a five-fight winning streak and looking better than ever.
Cerrone (15-3, 1 NC, 2-0 UFC) comes into the fight riding a four-bout winning streak, including his first two in the UFC following its merger with Cerrone’s old home base, the WEC. In his last four, Cerrone has cruised past Jamie Varner and Vagner Rocha by decision and has submitted Paul Kelly and Chris Horodecki. Oliveira (14-1, 1 NC, 2-1, 1 NC UFC) is looking to turn his fortunes around. After starting his UFC career 2-0, and winning the first 14 fights of his career, he has a loss and a no contest in his last two fights.
Round 1: Crowd is behind Cerrone here. And both fighters throw some nifty little kicks and jabs to star. Cerrone lands a nice knee to the body and tells Oliveira to come forward. But Cerrone throws a right kick, and it lands right in the mommy-daddy parts. Oliveira instantly covers up, and Mario Yamasaki gives him time and then sends him to a neutral corner. They have a nice moment in the middle on the restart where they have a peace offering. But it lasts only 1 second beore they kick each other some more. Inside leg kick from Cerrone, who has been saying he’s a slow starter. He seems to be off to a little quicker start tonight, and he pushes forward with a couple lefts and a leg kick. Cerrone lands a big body shot, then a knee while Oliveira is falling backward. Oliveira crumples to his back, Cerrone pounces and lands right-lefts over and over again until Oliveira can’t stop it and Yamasaki waves it off. So much for slow starts for the Cowboy.
Result: Donald Cerrone def. Charles Oliveira, TKO, 3:01 Round 1
Cerrone (15-3, 1 NC, 2-0 UFC) comes into the fight riding a four-bout winning streak, including his first two in the UFC following its merger with Cerrone’s old home base, the WEC. In his last four, Cerrone has cruised past Jamie Varner and Vagner Rocha by decision and has submitted Paul Kelly and Chris Horodecki. Oliveira (14-1, 1 NC, 2-1, 1 NC UFC) is looking to turn his fortunes around. After starting his UFC career 2-0, and winning the first 14 fights of his career, he has a loss and a no contest in his last two fights.
Round 1: Crowd is behind Cerrone here. And both fighters throw some nifty little kicks and jabs to star. Cerrone lands a nice knee to the body and tells Oliveira to come forward. But Cerrone throws a right kick, and it lands right in the mommy-daddy parts. Oliveira instantly covers up, and Mario Yamasaki gives him time and then sends him to a neutral corner. They have a nice moment in the middle on the restart where they have a peace offering. But it lasts only 1 second beore they kick each other some more. Inside leg kick from Cerrone, who has been saying he’s a slow starter. He seems to be off to a little quicker start tonight, and he pushes forward with a couple lefts and a leg kick. Cerrone lands a big body shot, then a knee while Oliveira is falling backward. Oliveira crumples to his back, Cerrone pounces and lands right-lefts over and over again until Oliveira can’t stop it and Yamasaki waves it off. So much for slow starts for the Cowboy.
Result: Donald Cerrone def. Charles Oliveira, TKO, 3:01 Round 1
Filed under: UFC, NewsMILWAUKEE – Dan Hardy got perhaps the loudest ovation at Saturday’s UFC weigh-ins – even though he wore Chicago Bears orange in green-and-gold Packers country. (OK, maybe it was meant to be Harley-Davidson orange.)
MILWAUKEE – Dan Hardy got perhaps the loudest ovation at Saturday’s UFC weigh-ins – even though he wore Chicago Bears orange in green-and-gold Packers country. (OK, maybe it was meant to be Harley-Davidson orange.)
But Hardy, sporting bright orange for his signature mohawk, missed weight for his welterweight bout against Midwesterner Chris Lytle, weighing in at 171.5 pounds even after dropping four pairs of trunks that he wore for show. Lytle weighed in at 170.5 for the main event of Sunday’s UFC on Versus 5 card.
After the official weigh-in event concluded, Hardy was able to make not just 171 pounds, but 170, the UFC confirmed. Hardy took to his Twitter feed, saying, “Not sure what happend there, I was on weight when I left the hotel!”
All 22 of the other fighters on the card successfully hit their marks at the weigh-ins, which took place outside the Harley-Davidson Museum in Milwaukee.
Hardy is looking to snap a three-fight losing streak that started with a welterweight title fight loss to Georges St-Pierre last year. Lytle is coming off his first loss in five fights, a decision setback to Brian Ebersole in February. Both men have said they want to put a Fight of the Night-type performance on, promising to stand in the pocket and trade.
Jim Miller and Ben Henderson fight in the co-main event, an important bout that might determine the next top contender in the lightweight division. Miller comes in on a seven-fight winning streak, tops in the UFC outside champions St-Pierre and Anderson Silva. A win is likely to assure him a shot at the Frankie Edgar–Gray Maynard rematch winner in October. Henderson, the former lightweight champ in the WEC, won his UFC debut in April against Mark Bocek. And while an upset of Miller wouldn’t likely get him a title shot, it would throw a wrench into the division. Though for the second straight fight, Henderson had to strip down to make his mark, he eventually weighed in at 156. Miller came in at 155.5.
Also on the main card, Donald Cerrone and Charles Oliveira had one of the afternoon’s more intense staredowns after leaving the scale, though they did shake hands. Cerrone said Friday he finds his opponent to be cocky thanks to a smirk he gave him earlier in the week. Cerrone has won four straight in the lightweight division – two to close out his WEC career and his first two as part of the UFC. The former WEC star won five Fight of the Night bonuses with that promotion, and a third straight UFC win would likely elevate his name into future title talk. Cerrone was 156; Oliveira weighed 155.
The complete weigh-in results are below:
Main Card
Dan Hardy (170*) vs. Chris Lytle (170.5)
Jim Miller (155.5) vs. Ben Henderson (156)
Charles Oliveira (155) vs. Donald Cerrone (156)
Amir Sadollah (170) vs. Duane Ludwig (170.5) Preliminary Card
C.B. Dollaway (186) vs. Jared Hamman (185)
Joseph Benavidez (135.5) vs. Eddie Wineland (136)
Ed Herman (186) vs. Kyle Noke (185)
Karlos Vemola (205.5) vs. Ronny Markes (205)
Alex Caceres (146) vs. Jim Hettes (145.5)
Cole Miller (155.5) vs. T.J. O’Brien (155.5)
Jacob Volkmann (156) vs. Danny Castillo (156)
Edwin Figueroa (136) vs. Jason Reinhardt (135)
* Hardy missed weight on his first try. After removing his trunks, he was still 171.5. On his third try, after the official weigh-in event, he made 170.
Filed under: UFC, NewsMILWAUKEE – Donald Cerrone may not have been more riled up any time in his career than he was before his rematch with Jamie Varner last September.
“Cowboy” seethed through his post-workout interviews at WEC 51. He got right in V…
MILWAUKEE – Donald Cerrone may not have been more riled up any time in his career than he was before his rematch with Jamie Varner last September.
“Cowboy” seethed through his post-workout interviews at WEC 51. He got right in Varner’s face at the weigh-ins. And he then tore right through his old nemesis in the fight.
Cerrone said then that fighting angry was something he had no problem doing. Against Charles Oliveira on Sunday at UFC on Versus 5, he doesn’t have nearly the same level of animosity. But that doesn’t mean he won’t try to seek it out to give him an advantage when the Octagon door closes.
“I can’t wait to get in the ring and see his cocky (butt) standing across from me,” Cerrone said Friday after a workout at the Harley-Davidson Museum in Milwaukee. “I saw him looking at me the the other day smirking, and that, to me, is cocky. I’ll smirk in the ring, you smirk back. I fight better angry.”
Cerrone (15-3, 1 NC, 2-0 UFC) has put together a respectable four-fight winning streak, all in dominant fashion. He closed out his WEC career with a win over Varner and a submission of Chris Horodecki at the promotion’s swan song show in December. He opened his UFC career, post-merger, with a submission of Paul Kelly in February and a kickboxing clinic decision over Vagner Rocha in June – that Cerrone said he wasn’t fond of his performance in that fight.
A self-described “slow starter,” Cerrone said he looks back on the rage he experienced before his rematch with Varner last year and is trying to channel it for Oliveira (14-1, 1 NC, 2-1 UFC, 1 NC).
“I try to get my mind in the same mindset as I had for Varner because when I fought Varner … there was nothing he could have done, in my mind, to beat me. I was invincible,” Cerrone said. “Getting myself back in that mindset where no one can touch me, that’s what I’m looking to get back to. What did I do, mentally, to get in that mindset? … This guy has nothing for me. What am I gonna do? That’s the mindset I’m in for this fight. There’s blood in my eyes, and I’m ready.”
With fellow lightweights Jim Miller and Ben Henderson fighting one spot up the card, and Miller’s seven-fight winning streak putting him in line for a possible title shot, Cerrone said getting a title shot isn’t something that is realistically on his mind. (Though he did joke that a Miller loss to Henderson would mess up the UFC’s possible plan, and he’d gladly take a crack at the title in that instance.)
Instead, Cerrone, who had five Fight of the Night bonuses in his 10 career WEC fights, and already has one in his two bouts in the UFC, is happen to put on crowd-pleasing performances every time he steps in the cage.
“Just go in there and fight, man,” Cerrone said. “Go in there and fight your (butt) off, like you’ve got nothing to lose. That’s what people want to see. They want to see you sit in that pocket and throw down and just take punches and give ’em right back. That’s fun. That’s when it’s a good time. Sh-ttin’ and gettin’ and goin’ hard. I hope this weekend, we can do that.”
Cerrone and Oliveira fight on the main card of UFC on Versus 5 at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee. The main card airs live on the Versus cable channel at 9 p.m. Eastern on Sunday.
Full betting lines for this Sunday’s UFC Live: Hardy vs. Lytle event have been released, which means it’s time to steal some money from your old lady’s purse and tell her you’re going for a walk. And if you follow our gambling advice very carefully, you’ll be able to return the cash before she notices and earn some extra cigarette-money in the process. (Ed. note: You’ll probably lose everything like usual. Are things ever going to change with you, Jim?) Check out the juiciest lines, via bestfightodds.com:
Main Card (Versus, 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT)
Chris Lytle (-107) vs. Dan Hardy (even)
Jim Miller (-145) vs. Ben Henderson (+145)
Charles Oliveira (-130) vs. Donald Cerrone (+130)
Amir Sadollah (-310) vs. Duane Ludwig (+273)
Preliminary Card (Facebook.com, 5:45 p.m. ET / 2:45 p.m. PT)
C.B. Dollaway (-250) vs. Jared Hamman (+222)
Joseph Benavidez (-231) vs. Eddie Wineland (+225)
Kyle Noke (-144) vs. Ed Herman (+145)
Karlos Vemola (-210) vs. Ronny Markes (+201)
Jimy Hettes (-350) vs. Alex Caceres (+313)
Cole Miller (-387) vs. T.J. O’Brien (+335)
Danny Castillo (-118) vs. Jacob Volkmann (+107)
Edwin Figueroa (-300) vs. Jason Reinhardt (+288)
Let’s get that money…
Full betting lines for this Sunday’s UFC Live: Hardy vs. Lytle event have been released, which means it’s time to steal some money from your old lady’s purse and tell her you’re going for a walk. And if you follow our gambling advice very carefully, you’ll be able to return the cash before she notices and earn some extra cigarette-money in the process. (Ed. note: You’ll probably lose everything like usual. Are things ever going to change with you, Jim?) Check out the juiciest lines, via bestfightodds.com:
Main Card (Versus, 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT)
Chris Lytle (-107) vs. Dan Hardy (even)
Jim Miller (-145) vs. Ben Henderson (+145)
Charles Oliveira (-130) vs. Donald Cerrone (+130)
Amir Sadollah (-310) vs. Duane Ludwig (+273)
Preliminary Card (Facebook.com, 5:45 p.m. ET / 2:45 p.m. PT)
C.B. Dollaway (-250) vs. Jared Hamman (+222)
Joseph Benavidez (-231) vs. Eddie Wineland (+225)
Kyle Noke (-144) vs. Ed Herman (+145)
Karlos Vemola (-210) vs. Ronny Markes (+201)
Jimy Hettes (-350) vs. Alex Caceres (+313)
Cole Miller (-387) vs. T.J. O’Brien (+335)
Danny Castillo (-118) vs. Jacob Volkmann (+107)
Edwin Figueroa (-300) vs. Jason Reinhardt (+288)
Let’s get that money…
The Main Event: Chris Lytle definitely deserves to be a slight favorite here; he’s dangerous from more positions than Dan Hardy, and supernaturally impervious to knockouts and submissions. I think the line would be wider if Lytle wasn’t coming off a lackluster performance against Brian Ebersole in February, but as we all know, the dude was nursing injuries and shouldn’t have taken the fight in the first place. Dan Hardy allegedly holds the striking advantage — but I’m not entirely convinced of that either. Straight money on Lights Out is a wise choice.
The Co-Main: There’s part of me that thinks Jim Miller is being disrespected (as usual) by only being a -145 favorite against Bendo. Henderson is incredibly talented and capable of brilliant performances, but this is Miller’s time. His last two stoppage wins against Charles Oliveira and Kamal Shalorus have demonstrated that his skills are developing with every fight. I see the Jersey Boy taking this one by decision and hitting lucky #8. Miller’s a safe bet.
The Good ‘Dog: I expected the Oliveira vs. Cerrone line to be closer to even. The rangy, experienced, well-rounded Cowboy is a legitimate test for the young Brazilian phenom, and his +130 line is attractive.
The New Guys: Never heard of Jimy Hettes, huh? Well after Sunday night, you’ll know him as “the guy who just knocked Bruce Leroy out of the UFC.” Hettes is a grappling savant who has tapped all eight of his opponents in regional east coast promotions. Despite his TUF 12 credentials, Caceres isn’t really a step up in competition; please don’t bet on him just because you’ve heard of him. As for the card’s other late-replacement newbie, Ronny Markes is a 23-year-old Brazilian prospect who scored a decision win over Paulo Filho in April — not that beating Paulo Filho means much anymore. Vemola is the favorite here because he kicked the dogshit out of Seth Petruzelli in his last fight, while Markes is something of an unknown quantity. My gut is telling me to stay away from this one altogether.
Official CagePotato Parlay: Lytle + Miller + Benavidez + Hettes + Figueroa. $20 returns $131.05 profit.
Filed under: UFCThe UFC is back on Versus Sunday night with a five-fight televised card that will answer some big questions: Can Dan Hardy snap his losing streak and save his job in the UFC? Can Jim Miller prove that he’s worthy of a lightweight title …
The UFC is back on Versus Sunday night with a five-fight televised card that will answer some big questions: Can Dan Hardy snap his losing streak and save his job in the UFC? Can Jim Miller prove that he’s worthy of a lightweight title shot? Can Charles Oliveira get back on track and show that he’s one of the sport’s most promising young fighters? We’ll weigh in with some answers below.
What: UFC Live on Versus 5: Hardy vs. Lytle
When: Sunday, the Facebook fights begin at 5:45 PM ET and the Versus fights start at 9.
Where: Milwaukee
Predictions on the four televised fights and the top two Facebook fights below.
Dan Hardy vs. Chris Lytle Hardly anything has gone right for Hardy in the nearly two years since he beat Mike Swick to earn a shot at the welterweight title. He was completely outclassed by Georges St. Pierre, knocked out by Carlos Condit and then controlled for 15 minutes by Anthony Johnson. Now Hardy says he’s shaking up his training and getting back into form, and he better be, if he wants to keep his spot on the UFC roster: Fighters rarely keep their jobs if they lose four in a row.
The good news for Hardy is that Lytle is liable to play right into his strengths and turn it into a slugfest. The 36-year-old Lytle is always exciting, but he has looked like he’s slowing down in his last couple fights, and Hardy should be able to out-slug him and win what should be an entertaining fight. Pick: Hardy
Jim Miller vs. Ben Henderson Although Hardy vs. Lytle is officially the main event, Miller vs. Henderson is the best fight on the card. Miller has a great resume: He’s 20-2, and the losses are to the two best lightweights in the world, Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard. If he wins this one, you have to think he’s next in line for a shot at the winner of the upcoming Edgar-Maynard fight.
But Henderson, the former WEC lightweight champion, is an opponent who could give Miller some problems. Henderson isn’t as good on the ground as Miller, but he’s savvy enough to avoid getting tapped and maybe even put Miller in some trouble on the ground. And Henderson is a good enough striker that if he’s willing to take some chances and let his hands go, he could put Miller in some trouble on his feet.
However, that’s looking at the best-case scenario for Henderson if things go right. More likely, Miller takes Henderson down repeatedly, controls him on the ground, and grinds out a decision for his eighth consecutive win — the third-longest active winning streak in the UFC, behind only Anderson Silva and Georges St. Pierre. Pick: Miller
Charles Oliveira vs. Donald Cerrone A year ago, Oliveira burst onto the scene in his UFC debut, forcing Darren Elkins to tap to an armbar and winning the Submission of the Night award. At the time, he was 20 years old and 13-0 in his MMA career, and things were looking great. But 2011 hasn’t been as kind to Oliveira: He suffered the first loss of his career, against Jim Miller, and then had his victory over Nik Lentz turned into a no-contest because he used an illegal knee strike.
Now Oliveira gets another tough draw in Donald Cerrone, who’s riding high on a four-fight winning streak. These are two of the best jiu jitsu practitioners in the lightweight division, and I expect 15 minutes of fast-paced action on the ground. Cerrone winning wouldn’t surprise me, but I think Oliveira’s relentless style will be impressive enough to the judges for him to earn the decision. Pick: Oliveira
Amir Sadollah vs. Duane Ludwig Sadollah was extremely inexperienced when he won Season 7 of The Ultimate Fighter, and as a result the UFC has brought him on carefully, picking just the right opponents. Ludwig is another example of that: A name fans know because he’s been around for years, but not a fighter who at this stage in his career is just barely fighting at a UFC level. Sadollah should be able to beat Ludwig comfortably. Pick: Sadollah
C.B. Dollaway vs. Jared Hamman Dollaway is the guy Sadollah beat to win The Ultimate Fighter, and he, like Sadollah, has progressed in fits and starts. Mark Munoz made short work of Dollaway in his last fight, knocking him out in less than a minute, and that could mean trouble for Dollaway, as Hamman has knockout power, too. But I think Dollaway’s superior wrestling will rule the day, and he’ll win a decision. Pick: Dollaway
Joseph Benavidez vs. Eddie Wineland
This fight really ought to be on the Versus card instead of Sadollah vs. Ludwig, but you can think of it as a nice reward for the hard-core fans who seek out the Facebook preliminaries. Wineland was the WEC’s first bantamweight champion, and he put up a good fight against Urijah Faber in his UFC debut in March. Benavidez, however, should be able to frustrate Wineland by coming at him at unusual angles and win a decision. Pick: Benavidez
Donald Cerrone put on an absolutely sensational show at Sunday night’s UFC event, winning a first-round technical knockout over a very good opponent in Charles Oliveira.
MILWAUKEE – This is the 
MILWAUKEE – 
MILWAUKEE – 
The