At UFC 142, Anthony Johnson was given the biggest opportunity of his career. After exciting battles in the welterweight class, Johnson was afforded the opportunity to jump up to 185 pounds, a division believed to benefit the 6’2″ wrestling powerho…
At UFC 142, Anthony Johnson was given the biggest opportunity of his career.
After exciting battles in the welterweight class, Johnson was afforded the opportunity to jump up to 185 pounds, a division believed to benefit the 6’2″ wrestling powerhouse who regularly weighs upwards of 200-plus pounds.
Last Saturday, Johnson stepped inside the Octagon opposite former champion Vitor Belfort. However, “Rumble” tipped the scales at 197-pounds, well over the middleweight limit. For the third time in his career, Johnson was fined a percentage of his purse for missing weight and was subsequently submitted by Belfort, which signaled his release from the promotion shortly thereafter.
A man with an unbridled amount of potential, Johnson has disappointed his loyal fan following, much like these next fighters who have, for one reason or another, not lived up to their potential.
At UFC 142, Anthony Johnson was given the biggest opportunity of his career. After exciting battles in the welterweight class, Johnson was afforded the opportunity to jump up to 185 pounds, a division believed to benefit the 6’2″ wrestling powerho…
At UFC 142, Anthony Johnson was given the biggest opportunity of his career.
After exciting battles in the welterweight class, Johnson was afforded the opportunity to jump up to 185 pounds, a division believed to benefit the 6’2″ wrestling powerhouse who regularly weighs upwards of 200-plus pounds.
Last Saturday, Johnson stepped inside the Octagon opposite former champion Vitor Belfort. However, “Rumble” tipped the scales at 197-pounds, well over the middleweight limit. For the third time in his career, Johnson was fined a percentage of his purse for missing weight and was subsequently submitted by Belfort, which signaled his release from the promotion shortly thereafter.
A man with an unbridled amount of potential, Johnson has disappointed his loyal fan following, much like these next fighters who have, for one reason or another, not lived up to their potential.
Last Saturday, Strikeforce had their first event of the year headlined by a Middleweight Title match between newly-crowned champion Luke Rockhold and “The Dean of Mean” Keith Jardine, who was making his debut at Middleweight. The match ende…
Last Saturday, Strikeforce had their first event of the year headlined by a Middleweight Title match between newly-crowned champion Luke Rockhold and “The Dean of Mean” Keith Jardine, who was making his debut at Middleweight. The match ended up lasting longer than most expected, going 4:26 into the first round when Rockhold won by TKO due to punches.
After the match, Rockhold was asked about who he wanted to fight next, original opponent Tim Kennedy or a rematch with Ronaldo Souza. Rockhold immediately dismissed both ideas saying that he should be fighting the best of the best and that the UFC should send someone to Strikeforce to prove how good he is.
Now while that is all fine and well in a sense of promoting yourself in fighting better quality opponents to showcase your talents, Rockhold has to be careful of getting what he wishes for.
In the past few years, fighters have made a name for themselves off of a big win or two, talked themselves up as the next big thing and ultimately got outclassed by the opponents that they felt they could handle. Some of those fighters include Chris Leben before his fights with both Brian Stann and Anderson Silva, where he ended up knocked out in both fights, Dan Hardy who got dominated by Georges St. Pierre which led to his current four fight losing streak, and Jardine, who talked himself up as the next big thing only to get knocked out in 48 seconds by Houston Alexander.
Granted, Rockhold has a lot more skill and better technique than those fighters, but he needs to pace himself. Yes, he had a dominant title defense, but his challenger wasn’t expected to win by anyone’s estimates. Jardine only found himself in title contention because original participant Tim Kennedy got injured in training. Ronaldo Souza is in the same boat as well, and Robby Lawler was currently on a losing streak (including a recent loss to Kennedy).
Before getting the title shot, Jardine was 3-6-1 in his previous ten fights with five of those losses coming in one long streak. He was lucky to get the draw against Gegard Moussasi as Moussasi would have won if not for his illegal upkick. With that, Jardine was not the best fighter to take on the champion, but a win is a win, and Rockhold should feel good about defending his title.
For Rockhold to dismiss the rest of the competition in the Strikeforce Middleweight division is jumping the gun a bit. While he may definitely be in the top 10 Middleweights in the world, he still has a bit that he can prove in Strikeforce. Before he gets too ahead of himself, Rockhold should really face off against high-caliber Strikeforce fighters like Tim Kennedy and Ronaldo Souza again before taking a step up with the higher-ranking UFC Middleweights.
The sport of mixed martial arts brings together some of the most talented fighters in the world.Regardless of what discipline these fighters specialize in, there is nothing more mesmerizing in the sport than the knockout. Whether it is a punc…
The sport of mixed martial arts brings together some of the most talented fighters in the world.
Regardless of what discipline these fighters specialize in, there is nothing more mesmerizing in the sport than the knockout. Whether it is a punch or a kick, we are always captivated by the striker that can stop a fight with a single strike.
2011 was one of the best years for the knockout in the history of the sport. The UFC, being home to the premier fighters in the world, was obviously home to the vast majority of these knockouts. With so many to choose from, it was hard to narrow a list down to just 20.
However, there were certainly some that stood clearly above the rest.
Without further ado, here is the list of the 20 sickest UFC knockouts of 2011.
The UFC agreed a landmark deal with Fox on August 18th, 2011. They will get to show four events for free every year. The deal is looking to bring a lot of new fans to the UFC.As a kind of preview for the deal, the UFC put on UFC on Fox 1. The fight’s h…
The UFC agreed a landmark deal with Fox on August 18th, 2011. They will get to show four events for free every year. The deal is looking to bring a lot of new fans to the UFC.
As a kind of preview for the deal, the UFC put on UFC on Fox 1. The fight’s headline was Cain Velasquez facing Junior Dos Santos for the heavyweight title. The fight would only last just over a minute.
Just one week later, UFC 139 would take place and the main event—Shogun vs. Henderson—was viewed by many as the best fight ever! Many people asked Dana whether he regretted not putting this fight on Fox.
Dana stated that he was happy as it would have led to complaints, and that they needed to ease fans into UFC. This suggests Dana will keep certain fighters off the Fox channel for while. This slideshow will look at the fighters I don’t expect to see on Fox.
Chris Leben’s career is in shambles once again. Following his loss to Mark Munoz at UFC 138, it was learned that Leben failed his drug test and tested positive for Oxycodone and Oxymorphone. UFC president Dana White released a statement …
“I like Chris and I want him to do well, but based on his actions, he’s been suspended for one year,” White said. “If he needs professional help, we are going to be there for him. We want to see him succeed not only in the Octagon, but in his personal life.”
Leben’s history with drug problems have been well documented, as the 31-year-old previously tested positive for Stanozolol following his bout with Michael Bisping at UFC 89 and was suspended for nine months. “The Crippler” has also had his fair share of run-in’s with the law as well; he has been charged with DUI on multiple occasions.
Leben also issued a statement earlier today and he apologized for his actions.
I would like to make it known that I fully accept this suspension and apologize for embarrassing the UFC, my friends and family, and sport of mixed martial arts. I’ve got to make some real changes over the next year and I’m going to focus on getting my life and career back on track. Again, I’m sorry to the UFC and fans that’ve supported me since my days on The Ultimate Fighter.
The sudden news is disappointing to hear regarding Leben, whose brawling style and willingness to fight has made him a fan-favorite. Leben was progressing among the rankings in the middleweight division and was beginning to market and establish himself as a legitimate contender at 185 pounds.
Due to this being his second offense with the company, it is likely Leben will be required to seek professional help in order to overcome his problems and return to the UFC in better physical and mental shape.
Last Saturday, Strikeforce had their first event of the year headlined by a Middleweight Title match between newly-crowned champion Luke Rockhold and “The Dean of Mean” Keith Jardine, who was making his debut at Middleweight. The match ended up lasting longer than most expected, going 4:26 into the first round when Rockhold won by TKO due to punches.