The main event on Sunday’s UFC on Versus 5 card will marked the final fight of Chris Lytle’s career. Lytle announced that he would retire following the bout against Dan Hardy.Hardy entered the fight on a three fight losing streak. Lytle entered the fig…
The main event on Sunday’s UFC on Versus 5 card will marked the final fight of Chris Lytle’s career. Lytle announced that he would retire following the bout against Dan Hardy.
Hardy entered the fight on a three fight losing streak. Lytle entered the fight tied for the record of most UFC “Fight Night” bonuses with eight.
The welterweights had promised a crowd pleasing fight before they stepped into the Octagon.
Lytle started out landing a big right hand, looking to work the body of Hardy.
The crowd then began a USA chant less than two minutes into the first round.
The talk of standing and throwing was not idle chatter from these two as that is exactly what the two fighters did throughout the first round.
With a minute to go in the round it appeared that Lytle was landing the more effective punches.
The UFC made its debut in Milwaukee, WI on Sunday, August 14. The co-main event on the main card featured a lightweight bout between Jim Miller and Ben Henderson.Miller is 20-2 in his MMA career with his only two losses coming to top lightweigh…
The UFC made its debut in Milwaukee, WI on Sunday, August 14. The co-main event on the main card featured a lightweight bout between Jim Miller and Ben Henderson.
Miller is 20-2 in his MMA career with his only two losses coming to top lightweight fighters Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard. He is currently in the midst of a seven-fight winning streak. Henderson (13-2) was on a ten-fight winning streak when he fell to Anthony Pettis in December of last year, losing his WEC title in the process. Since then he has gotten back on track, defeating Mark Bocek in his UFC debut.
Both fighters looked focus as they came out to start the second round. Henderson took the striking to Miller to start the round and then took Miller to the ground against the cage, where blood began to flow from the face of Miller.
Miller then went for a leg lock leaving his head open for the elbows and hands of Henderson. Henderson was able to escape the submission hold and landed in top control, but Miller again went for a heel hook and again ate more strikes as he was exposed.
The fighters then went to the cage and Miller worked a kimura that he was unable to secure.
As the second round came to an end Henderson looked to be in control, taking everything that Miller had to offer.
Two rising lightweights looked to derail the other’s run up the title ladder as former WEC title challenger Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone collided with young Brazilian Charles “do Bronx” Oliveira. Cerrone looked for his first high profile win…
Two rising lightweights looked to derail the other’s run up the title ladder as former WEC title challenger Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone collided with young Brazilian Charles “do Bronx” Oliveira. Cerrone looked for his first high profile win since the UFC absorbed the WEC and Oliveira hoped to erase the memory of a no-contest fight with Nik Lentz back in June.
The fighters traded kicks to open the fight, but Cerrone landed a big knee to the body. Oliveira looked for a clinch, but Cerrone shrugged him off. Cerrone threw a kick to the body that connected below the belt and prompted a momentary stoppage. Oliveira used repeated teep kicks to the stomach of Cerrone to change the tide midway through the round. Cerrone connected with a huge body shot that sent Oliveira to the mat and Cerrone flurried with punches. Mario Yamasaki was forced to step in and save Oliveira from the barrage.
Cerrone moved his record to 3-0 inside the UFC, while Oliveira is now winless in his last three fights inside the Octagon.
Official result: Donald Cerrone def. Charles Oliveira via TKO (strikes) at 3:01 of Round 1.
Filed under: UFC, NewsMILWAUKEE – This isn’t exactly the way Dan Hardy figured his career would go when he got a welterweight title shot against Georges St-Pierre last year.
Hardy started his UFC career with four straight wins. But since losing to St…
MILWAUKEE – This isn’t exactly the way Dan Hardy figured his career would go when he got a welterweight title shot against Georges St-Pierre last year.
Hardy started his UFC career with four straight wins. But since losing to St-Pierre at UFC 111, Hardy has lost three more in a row.
And though most fighters in the UFC get a pink slip after three straight losses, let alone four, Hardy will apparently keep his job with the promotion. CEO Lorenzo Fertitta took to Twitter after Hardy’s loss to Chris Lytle at UFC on Versus 5 on Sunday to say the British fighter’s job was safe because he comes to fight.
Hardy (23-10, 1 NC, 4-4 UFC) was submitted by Lytle late in the third round on Sunday. But it was only after 14 minutes of trading leather with his retiring counterpart. The pair won Fight of the Night for their main event; additionally, Lytle won another $65,000 for Submission of the Night.
But despite the assurance from his boss that he still has a job with the company, Hardy said he needs to rethink his career and spend some time figuring things out before taking his next step.
“I think I had the quickest rise and quickest fall the UFC has ever seen – four fights up, four fights down,” Hardy said at the post-fight press conference at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee. “There are improvements I need to make – I know that. I just don’t think that between fights, I’ve really had the time to invest learning those things. I know I have it in me to learn them.”
Hardy said he was appreciative the UFC intends to keep him around, but that some time off is in order if he’s to get back in the win column.
“For right now, I need space from competing and need space in the gym, getting beaten up by much better guys in every area,” Hardy said. “I’ll either improve or find another way. If I’ve got one more fight, I’ll take one more fight – but maybe it won’t be for a while.”
Hardy had promised Lytle the two would stand and trade for an exciting fight, and that they did until Hardy shot for a takedown. Hardy said he was hoping to score some late points and “even things out,” but it proved to be his undoing.
“I don’t know what there is to say, to be honest,” Hardy said. “It was a great fight, other than the squeeze on the neck at the end. I did tap, and normally I would never tap. But I’ve got no shame in admitting defeat to Chris. I shot in, I thought I’d score a couple points – I learned that from my last fight. But I went straight into the guillotine, and I knew that was a strong technique of his and he caught me with it.”
While it is Lytle who is retiring for sure, Hardy sounded a bit uncertain of his own future and even said if he can’t come back after these four straight losses and perform at a winning level again, he may have to move on from the sport.
“I think my head’s elsewhere, to be honest,” Hardy said. “I’m going to take some time, enjoy being in the gym for a little bit and see where it takes me. … I just think I need to really dedicate the time to do it and either come back in a blaze of glory and make a run for the belt, or maybe do something else. I’m not sure yet.”
Former Ultimate Fighter finalist and Arizona State wrestler C.B. Dollaway welcomed Jared Hamman to the middleweight division on the final fight of the night’s preliminary card. Both fighters were coming off losses, with Dollaway suffering a kno…
Former Ultimate Fighter finalist and Arizona State wrestler C.B. Dollaway welcomed Jared Hamman to the middleweight division on the final fight of the night’s preliminary card. Both fighters were coming off losses, with Dollaway suffering a knockout to Mark Munoz in March and Hamman dropping a decision to Kyle Kingsbury last September.
Both fighters opened with kicks and looked to establish their range. Hamman connected with a big shot that forced Dollaway to shoot and he brought the fight to the ground. Hamman scrambled back to the feet, but Dollaway used his wrestling to return the fight to the mat quickly. Dollaway moved to mount and applied an arm-triangle choke. Dollaway moved back to side control and rotated away from Hamman, but Hamman managed to survive and escape the choke. Dollaway rained punches, but Hamman again stood up. Dollaway worked for another takedown, but it was Hamman who would land in the top position. Hamman passed to half guard, then side control, and mount. As Hamman transitioned to the back, Dollaway spun out. Back on the feet, Dollaway clipped Hamman with two big right hands, but he stayed conscious and survived the round.
Effective jabs were thrown by Hamman to open the second round. Dollaway desperately tried to the get the fight to the ground, but Hamman would land on top and rain down punches against the fence. A barrage of elbows helped Hamman moved to side control and then a mounted crucifix. From the full mount, Hamman unloaded on Dollaway. Dollaway tried to roll to escape, but Hamman poured it on and forced referee Herb Dean to stop the fight.
The fight marked a successful debut at 185 pounds for Hamman who took his record to 13-3. For Dollaway, it marks the second straight stoppage loss.
Official result: Jared Hamman def. C.B. Dollaway via TKO (strikes) at 3:38 of Round 2.
MILWAUKEE – Chris Lytle could not have written a much better storyline to leave the sport of mixed martial arts.
The welterweight, who made a somewhat surprising announcement less than 24 hours from his UFC on Versus 5 main event against Dan Hardy that the fight would be his last, went out with the type of fight he has become known for. And he went out with a victory, to boot.
Lytle submitted Hardy late in the third round Sunday at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee. And to go along with the win, he won a pair of now-record ninth and 10th fight night bonus checks – as well as a 2012 Harley-Davidson Blackline motorcycle.
“I couldn’t ask for anything better to happen,” Lytle said at the post-fight press conference. “But of course I’m pretty sad. I’ve been doing this since ’98. That’s all I know. It’s tough.”
Lytle’s career never was really a fairy tale story, but it sure seemed to end that way. When Hardy shot for a late takedown in the third round, the perfect ending to a remarkable MMA career started to take form.
Lytle latched on to a guillotine choke, after 14 minutes of standing and trading bombs with Hardy, and forced the former welterweight title challenger to tap with just 46 seconds left in the fight. Already tied for the UFC‘s all-time lead in fight night bonus awards going into the fight, Lytle was given the FIght of the Night award as well as the Submission of the Night award from UFC president Dana White. Each was worth $65,000.
Lytle, who has more than 50 pro fights in his career, as well as more than a dozen professional boxing matches, finished his UFC career at just 10-10. But it was his always-exciting style that made him a hit with fans, as evidenced by the 10 bonus awards – six for Fight of the Night, three for Submission of the Night and one for Knockout of the Night.
Lytle said he was retiring to focus on his family. The Indianapolis firefighter has four children and said it was time for him to make choices in his life that weren’t all about his fighting career. Two of Lytle’s children joined him in the cage immediately after his victory.
Hardy dropped his fourth straight fight after winning the first four fights of his UFC career. His current four-fight skid started with a loss to Georges St-Pierre at UFC 111 in a welterweight title fight. He said he will need to go back to the drawing board and figure out where he will take his career.
But UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta said via Twitter that Hardy will not be cut despite the four losses, saying they love fighters who go to war.
“A lot of people are three losses and out, and I’m four down now,” Hardy said. “So I appreciate (being able to stay around). If they are going to give me one more fight, I need to take some time and come back reinvented. I tried to do that with a different hair color this time, and maybe that wasn’t enough.”
In the co-main event, Jim Miller saw his lightweight winning streak end at seven with a unanimous decision loss to former WEC champ Ben Henderson. Miller (20-3, 9-2 UFC) was set to be positioned as the likely next lightweight title challenger, to meet the winner of the rematch between champion Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard, who will meet in the main event of UFC 136 on Oct. 8 in Houston. But Henderson (13-2, 2-0 UFC) threw a major wrench into that plan with a dominating victory, dismantling Miller with relative ease.
Also on the main card, another fighter making some noise in the lightweight division kept on rolling. Donald Cerrone saw his winning streak reach five with a Knockout of the Night win over Charles Oliveira. Cerrone (16-3, 1 NC, 3-0 UFC) came out blazing and stopped Oliveira (14-2, 1 NC, 2-2 UFC, 1 NC) with strikes after a big body shot.
The former WEC star has won all three of his fights in the UFC since the merger with his former home promotion at the start of the year. Oliveira has fallen on rough times his last three fights. After starting his career 14-0 and winning his first two UFC fights in Submission of the Night fashion, Oliveira has two losses and a no contest in his last three fights. The Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, just 21, has been brought along quickly with five fights in just over one year in the promotion.
MILWAUKEE – This isn’t exactly the way 
MILWAUKEE –