Is this kind of thing even newsworthy anymore? The UFC 149 injury curse has gone from eerie to apocalyptic to as dependable as the rising sun. The latest victim: Canadian welterweight Claude Patrick, who has pulled out of his bout with James Head due to an undisclosed injury. Patrick will be replaced on less than three weeks’ notice by chest-hair artistBrian Ebersole, who just increased his UFC record to 4-0 with a decision win over TJ Waldburger at UFC on FX: Maynard vs. Guida last month. Coincidentally, Ebersole also holds a win over Claude Patrick, in a split-decision at UFC 140.
UFC 149 goes down July 21st at Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary. Urijah Faber vs. Renano Barao is still the headliner, and Hector Lombard vs. Tim Boetsch is still the co-main event. We’ll let you know as soon as that changes.
Is this kind of thing even newsworthy anymore? The UFC 149 injury curse has gone from eerie to apocalyptic to as dependable as the rising sun. The latest victim: Canadian welterweight Claude Patrick, who has pulled out of his bout with James Head due to an undisclosed injury. Patrick will be replaced on less than three weeks’ notice by chest-hair artistBrian Ebersole, who just increased his UFC record to 4-0 with a decision win over TJ Waldburger at UFC on FX: Maynard vs. Guida last month. Coincidentally, Ebersole also holds a win over Claude Patrick, in a split-decision at UFC 140.
UFC 149 goes down July 21st at Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary. Urijah Faber vs. Renano Barao is still the headliner, and Hector Lombard vs. Tim Boetsch is still the co-main event. We’ll let you know as soon as that changes.
TORONTO — Watch below as Claude Patrick talks about meeting Brian Ebersole at UFC 140, why he felt he wouldn’t end up fighting his original opponent Rich Attonito, his new camp and management, and getting attention in the UFC.
TORONTO — Watch below as Claude Patrick talks about meeting Brian Ebersole at UFC 140, why he felt he wouldn’t end up fighting his original opponent Rich Attonito, his new camp and management, and getting attention in the UFC.
Filed under: UFCWill Jon Jones continue his domination of the light heavyweight division, or will Lyoto Machida get the belt back? Can Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira avenge his loss to Frank Mir? Will Tito Ortiz continue his surprising career resurgence, or …
We’ll answer those questions and more as we predict the winners at UFC 140.
What: UFC 140: Jones vs. Machida
When: Saturday, the Facebook stream begins at 5:45 PM ET, the Ion televised card starts at 7 and the pay-per-view starts at 9.
Where: Air Canada Centre, Toronto
Predictions on the five pay-per-view fights below.
Jon Jones vs. Lyoto Machida With a win, Jones would put a bow on what may have been the best year any fighter has ever had in the UFC: Jones has already destroyed Ryan Bader, Shogun Rua and Rampage Jackson in 2011, and adding Lyoto Machida to that list would be an incredible feat.
Machida, however, may be the light heavyweight whose style is the trickiest for Jones to handle. Machida is so elusive that Jones is going to have a hard time getting to him even with his decided reach advantage, and Machida is such a good counter-striker that Jones is going to have to be careful not to get too fancy. Machida has frustrated a lot of great fighters, and it wouldn’t shock me to see him win a decision.
But Jones has been so dominant of late that I simply can’t pick against him. If Jones is able to take Machida down he should be able to use his superior strength to bully him on the ground, and even if the fight remains standing, Jones is eventually going to tag Machida the way Shogun Rua did. Of all the light heavyweights in the world, I give Machida the best chance of beating Jones. But right now I’d pick Jones over anyone. Pick: Jones
Frank Mir vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira Mir has made no secret that he’s a little annoyed that he even has to give Nogueira a rematch, three years after Mir won by TKO. And Mir really doesn’t like the fact that Nogueira and his supporters have suggested that an illness prior to the last fight is the reason Nogueira won.
This time around there should be no excuses, and the fight should go more or less the way the last one did: Mir will get the better of Nogueira standing, and he won’t even try to engage Nogueira on the ground. Nogueira did earn a solid win over Brendan Schaub in August, but to the extent that these two have changed since the last time they fought, I think Mir has become bigger and stronger while Nogueira has become older and slower. Pick: Mir
Tito Ortiz vs. Antonio Rogério Nogueira A year ago Ortiz was largely written off as washed up, but he deserves a lot of credit for persevering: He beat Ryan Bader soundly and then fought a good fight in a losing effort against Rashad Evans. And the mere fact that Ortiz is now preparing to fight for the third time in less than six months, after fighting only once a year every year from 2007 to 2010, says a lot about how much healthier he is after his recovery from back surgery.
Nogueira, on the other hand, is on a two-fight losing streak and hasn’t had a really strong performance since he TKO’d Luiz Cane more than two years ago. If either one of these guys has looked washed up recently, it’s Little Nog.
However, in this particular matchup Nogueira’s boxing is going to carry the day: Nogueira should be able to keep Ortiz at range and batter him with punches, and eventually Nogueira will wear Ortiz down enough to win by TKO. Pick: Nogueira
Claude Patrick vs. Brian Ebersole Patrick is 3-0 since signing with the UFC lat year, and if he can win this one he’ll start to make some noise in the welterweight division. But Ebersole, who’s been fighting for 11 years, is much more experienced than Patrick and has a more versatile ground game, and should be able to win a decision. Pick: Ebersole
Mark Hominick vs. Chan Sung Jung My pick for fight of the night, Hominick vs. Jung has all the makings to be one of those fights that makes you lean forward, clench your fists and stare in awe of the intensity of the action. Hominick will have the hometown crowd on his side in Toronto, just as he did the last time he fought, when he lost to Jose Aldo at UFC 129, but in that fight it was a Rocky-like crowd, cheering him because he simply wouldn’t quit no matter how much punishment he took. In this fight, Hominick will be the better striker in the cage, and he should be able to out-land Jung and win convincingly. Pick: Hominick
(Whether it’s because of horsemeat, hard work or good genetics, these guys don’t get sand kicked in their faces at the beach.)
A few months ago, our friends over at MuscleProdigy.com put together an extensive and widely popular list of The Top 100 Most Jacked NFL Players. Since then, they have been barraged with requests to assemble a similar list with MMA fighters, so to keep the masses happy, they did just that.
The judging criteria they used was similar to the one employed in bodybuilding competition and included points for muscular size, vascularity, leanness, proportionality, aesthetics, and rarity of body type.
All of these factors contributed equally in determining the final order of the list.
For example, a 230 pound heavyweight who has huge arms, but no abs did not score as high as a ripped 155 pound lightweight.
A sliding scale was used to allow for weight variances and the typically increased body fat percentages in fighters at larger weights. For fighters who compete in more than one weight class, they used the weight they typically fight at the most.
If you’re looking for a hard to find workout programs used by your favorite fighter, you can find many of them at Muscle Prodigy.
In the meantime, check out numbers 100 to 91 after the jump.
(Whether it’s because of horsemeat, hard work or good genetics, these guys don’t get sand kicked in their faces at the beach.)
A few months ago, our friends over at MuscleProdigy.com put together an extensive and widely popular list of The Top 100 Most Jacked NFL Players. Since then, they have been barraged with requests to assemble a similar list with MMA fighters, so to keep the masses happy, they did just that.
The judging criteria they used was similar to the one employed in bodybuilding competition and included points for muscular size, vascularity, leanness, proportionality, aesthetics, and rarity of body type.
All of these factors contributed equally in determining the final order of the list.
For example, a 230 pound heavyweight who has huge arms, but no abs did not score as high as a ripped 155 pound lightweight.
A sliding scale was used to allow for weight variances and the typically increased body fat percentages in fighters at larger weights. For fighters who compete in more than one weight class, they used the weight they typically fight at the most.
If you’re looking for a hard to find workout programs used by your favorite fighter, you can find many of them at Muscle Prodigy.
In the meantime, check out numbers 100 to 91 below.
An 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.
(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.
(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.
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.
Will 
An injury to one of the 
