Corey Anderson isn’t happy to hear the news of Patrick Cummins’ staph infection. Cummins recently said he has a “mutant” staph infection on his foot. As a result, the light heavyweight said he is forced to pull out of his bout at UFC 217 with Anderson. The bout was set to take place inside Madison […]
Corey Anderson isn’t happy to hear the news of Patrick Cummins’ staph infection. Cummins recently said he has a “mutant” staph infection on his foot. As a result, the light heavyweight said he is forced to pull out of his bout at UFC 217 with Anderson. The bout was set to take place inside Madison […]
Slow and steady wins the race for Corey Anderson. Anderson has time on his side. With 12 professional mixed martial arts (MMA) bouts and hitting the age of 28 in September, “Overtime” doesn’t have to worry about the clock as much as older competition do. With so much going for him, Anderson is using that […]
Slow and steady wins the race for Corey Anderson. Anderson has time on his side. With 12 professional mixed martial arts (MMA) bouts and hitting the age of 28 in September, “Overtime” doesn’t have to worry about the clock as much as older competition do. With so much going for him, Anderson is using that […]
No one can dispute that 2017 has been a down year for the Ultimate Fighting Championship thus far. There have been a few bright spots like UFC 211 and the highly anticipated battle between Jose Aldo and Max Holloway at UFC 212, but they largely been overshadowed by mediocre Fight Night cards, some with head […]
No one can dispute that 2017 has been a down year for the Ultimate Fighting Championship thus far.
There have been a few bright spots like UFC 211 and the highly anticipated battle between Jose Aldo and Max Holloway at UFC 212, but they largely been overshadowed by mediocre Fight Night cards, some with head scratching main events.
Things are finally looking up with the McGregor vs. Mayweather super-fight getting finalized. Next month’s UFC 213 also looks outstanding, with two title fights and a bevy of other exciting scraps.
But before the good times start rolling again, there will be another entry to the crappy event list added this weekend. With that in mind, let’s look back at the eight worst bookings of 2017 so far.
1. UFC Fight Night 103: Penn vs. Rodriguez
No list of cringe-worthy bookings would be complete without the epic mismatch between dynamic rising featherweight star Yair Rodriguez and all-time great BJ Penn. The two were set to do battle at the Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix, Arizona, on January 15, but it wasn’t much of a fight.
Penn was making his return to fighting after a two-and-a-half-year retirement, taking his second-ever fight at featherweight. Various opponent switches, injuries, and suspensions delayed his return by nearly a year, and left him with “Pantera” as his comeback foe. Rodriguez, meanwhile, was undefeated in the UFC and regarded as one of the most promising prospects in the 145-pound division.
Penn looked better initially than he had in his last fight, an embarrassing and perplexing third loss to Frankie Edgar. But the positives wouldn’t last long. The high-flying “Pantera” hurt Penn with a kick to the body in the first round that seemed to sap the Hawaiian’s resolve. Free to unleash the full breadth of his arsenal, Rodriguez teed off, nearly finishing Penn at the end of the frame.
He would mop up Penn early in the second. Another kick dropped “The Prodigy”, and Rodriguez finished him off with ground and pound. The victory gave the exciting young Mexican the most high-profile scalp of his career but did little to test him. It also served as a humiliating setback for Penn. It was a predictable outcome that nevertheless did little to elevate either fighter, more sad than anything else.
2. UFC 208: Holm vs. De Randamie
The premiere MMA organization’s debut in Brooklyn was supposed to be a watershed moment for New York MMA and the UFC. Instead, it was a roundly mocked debacle.
With Conor McGregor and Ronda Rousey on the sidelines for 2017, the UFC needed (and still needs) all of the star power it can acquire or manufacture. One star that had shown promise as a draw, particularly in her native Brazil, was Cris “Cyborg” Justino. The former Strikeforce and Invicta FC featherweight champion had two catchweight bouts in the UFC, winning each by first-round knockout, and the company planned to launch its own women’s 145-pound division to showcase her talents.
But negotiations with the cagey “Cyborg” broke down, with the Brazilian insisting that she would not be ready to fight on the Brooklyn card. Frustrated with Justino, and needing a headliner for the pay-per-view (PPV) UFC 208, the UFC brass decided to move forward with their featherweight plans without her.
Enter former bantamweight champion Holly Holm and fellow kickboxing champ Germaine de Randamie. The UFC hoped to cash in on the notoriety Holm still possessed following her earth-shattering knockout of Rousey, despite the fact that she had lost two straight since. De Randamie had little star power of her own. She simply had the good fortune of being a big bantamweight coming off a win with a striking-oriented style that would (in theory) provide a favorable matchup for Holm.
Fans and pundits jeered the fight and the card in general. A UFC women’s featherweight championship fight that did not involve “Cyborg” was laughable; the winner would never be regarded as the best 145er with Justino still lurking.
The fight and its aftermath only served to intensify the mockery. De Randamie won a controversial decision marred by multiple fouls for striking Holm after the bell, fouls that were not punished by the referee. She has since ducked and then flat out refused to accept “Cyborg” has her first challenger, risking having the belt stripped.
With every decision comes a consequence and for those fighters who took part in battle at UFC Fight Night 107, it’s their time to faces those consequences in the form of medical suspensions. Some of the more notable suspensions include Corey Anderson, Teemu Packalen, and Lina Lansberg being suspended for 60 days while Francimar Barroso,
With every decision comes a consequence and for those fighters who took part in battle at UFC Fight Night 107, it’s their time to faces those consequences in the form of medical suspensions.
Some of the more notable suspensions include Corey Anderson, Teemu Packalen, and Lina Lansberg being suspended for 60 days while Francimar Barroso, Brad Scott, and Scott Askham were suspended for 180 days. Here are the entire medical suspensions:
Corey Anderson: suspended 60 days with no contact during training for 45 days for precautionary reasons
Alan Jouban: suspended 30 days with no contact during training for 21 days for precautionary reasons
Brad Pickett: suspended 30 days with no contact during training for 21 days for precautionary reasons
Makwan Amirkhani: suspended 30 days with no contact during training for 21 days for precautionary reasons
Joseph Duffy: suspended 30 days with no contact during training for 21 days (cleared of a possible right-foot injury after event)
Reza Madadi: suspended 30 days with no contact during training for 21 days due to a forehead laceration
Francimar Barroso: suspended 180 days due to a left-foot injury, though a doctor can clear him early; regardless, suspended 30 days with no contact during training for 21 days due to a right-eyebrow laceration
Timothy Johnson: suspended 30 days with no contact during training for 21 days for precautionary reasons
Daniel Omielanczuk: suspended 30 days with no contact during training for 21 days for precautionary reasons
Vicente Luque: suspended 30 days with no contact during training for 21 days for precautionary reasons
Teemu Packalen: suspended 60 days with no contact during training for 45 days for precautionary reasons (cleared of a possible head injury after event)
Brad Scott: suspended 180 days due to a left-shoulder injury, though a doctor can clear him early; regardless
Scott Askham: suspended 180 days due to a right-leg injury, though a doctor can clear him early; regardless, suspended 30 days with no contact during training for 21 days for precautionary reasons
Lina Lansberg: suspended 60 days with no contact during training for 45 days for precautionary reasons (cleared of possible head and face injuries)
Lucie Pudilova: suspended 30 days with no contact during training for 21 days for precautionary reasons
Jimi Manuwa secured a second straight highlight reel knockout when he stopped Corey Anderson with a huge left hand in the main event of yesterday’s (Sat., March 18, 2017) UFC Fight Night 107 from the O2 Arena in London, so a huge fight should await the British combatant in his next trip to the cage. Just
Jimi Manuwa secured a second straight highlight reel knockout when he stopped Corey Anderson with a huge left hand in the main event of yesterday’s (Sat., March 18, 2017) UFC Fight Night 107 from the O2 Arena in London, so a huge fight should await the British combatant in his next trip to the cage.
Just don’t expect it to be against former champion Jon Jones.
Speaking at yesterday’s UFC Fight Night 107 post-fight presser (quotes via MMA Fighting), Manuwa said he is not interested in fighting Jones because he was suspended for one year after he tested positive for banned substances:
“I’m not interested in Jon Jones. Jon Jones takes steroids and now he’s been banned for steroids. Before, I was a big fan of Jon Jones, the things he’s done in the Octagon and everything, but he’s been suspended for a year or something and he’s had issues before. He’s a great fighter. I greatly respect him, but he’s been banned for steroids and that taints everything that he’s done. So, I’m not really interested. When he comes back, I’ll fight him, no problem. But I’m focused on the belt right now, and that’s going to be the winner of DC and ‘Rumble’ Johnson.”
Jones was infamously suspended only three days before his heavily promoted rematch with Cormeir at last July’s UFC 200 for using banned estrogen-blocking clomiphene and Letrozol, which USADA later agreed was due to a sexual performance-enhancing drug in arbitration but still suspended Jones for one year. “Bones” is also still on probation for his highly criticized hit-and-run accident on a 25-year-old Albuquerque woman in April 2015, and his career has unfortunately become a whirlwind of one harrowing mistake after another.
Due to that dynamic, Manuwa called for a title shot against the winner of April 8’s light heavyweight championship rematch between current champion Daniel Cormier and fellow knockout slugger Anthony Johnson, and the “Poster Boy” is certainly in the right division to do it, as the 205-pound fray is considered one of the shallowest in MMA.
But many still regard Jones as the uncrowned, fallen champion, a legend who didn’t lose his belt and is only hampered by his seeming inability to get out of his own way as arguably the best pound-for-pound fighter to ever compete in the octagon. Because of those views, in conjunction with his somewhat one-sided win over Cormier in 2015, it’s likely “Bones” will get the next title shot instead of Manuwa if and when he’s able to return when his suspension is up this July.
“Poster Boy” knows that’s a probable outcome, yet offered the outside opinion that he could already be booked into a title bout against the winner of Cormier vs. Johnson by the time Jones is eligible to return:
“Possibly, but to me, whatever happens, happens,” Manuwa said. “I will be fighting the elite fighters in the world, and I don’t know, we’ll see what happens. He’s back in July or something. [Cormier and Johnson] are fighting next month, so the fight could be made before he comes back anyway, so we’ll see what happens. I’m going to fly to Vegas to meet with (UFC president) Dana (White) after this and we’ll see what happens.”
Manuwa offered his respects for both “DC” and “Rumble,” whom he lost a second-round knockout to at UFC 191 and would therefore love to avenge a prior loss. But he also knows Cormier already tapped him out, so he’d definitely love to battle the champion, as well:
“Me and ‘Rumble’ Johnson are two of the hardest hitters and the most exciting fighters in the light heavyweight division, and I’d love to get a rematch with him to avenge my loss,” Manuwa said. “Because I made some silly mistakes with my weight and my striking as well. So, I’d like to avenge that loss against the most feared man probably on the UFC roster in ‘Rumble’ Johnson.
“But then again, DC is a great champion. He’s feared, and he’s beat the guy I’m talking about, he’s beat Alex (Gustafsson), he’s beat a lot of guys in the division. So I’d like to fight him as well.”
Photo: Jayne Main-Oncea for USA TODAY Sports
Ultimately, however, the surging power slugger won’t turn down a fight, and confirmed that if the UFC wanted him to fight Jones, he would accept the high-profile match:
“Listen, I don’t turn down anybody. I’m not scared of anybody. Everyone bleeds. Everyone feels pain. And I’ve proven through my career that I’m not scared to fight anybody, because it’s mixed martial arts. Everyone feels pain, everyone bleeds the same, except if you’re out taking steroids. That’s what I’ve got a problem with. So it is what it is. I’ll fight Jon Jones, no problem.”
Corey Anderson won’t let his loss to Jimi Manuwa last night (Sat. March 18, 2017) bring him down. The pair met in the main event of UFC Fight Night 106 last night from the O2 Arena in London, England, where the native son Manuwa took home a first round knockout win. With the loss Anderson has
Corey Anderson won’t let his loss to Jimi Manuwa last night (Sat. March 18, 2017) bring him down.
The pair met in the main event of UFC Fight Night 106 last night from the O2 Arena in London, England, where the native son Manuwa took home a first round knockout win. With the loss Anderson has now been defeated in two of his last four Octagon appearances.
In his post-fight press conference yesterday, however, Anderson refused to beat himself up about the loss as he knows he was in the Octagon with one of the best 205-pound talents in the world (quotes via MMA Junkie):
“It didn’t go the way I wanted it to go, but it was a great experience for me,” Anderson said. “I told Alex (Gustafsson) and Jimi after, ‘Thank you for letting me step in the cage with you.’ Not that I’m over-respecting him, but I respect him as he’s the No. 4-ranked guy (in the official UFC rankings). He’s where I’ve got to get to and that’s what I’ve got to do to get to the top. He’s lost to (Anthony) ‘Rumble’ (Johnson) and Alex – the two other top guys there. So you can’t sit there and beat yourself up about it. You can’t cry over spilled milk.”
The former Ultimate Fighter Season 19 (TUF 19) winner says he’ll go back to his gym and focus on building up some more size moving forward in his light heavyweight career:
“I’m a big guy in my gym but I’ve got to do some growing,” Anderson said. “That’s just something I know. Now I’ve got to go back. Everyone knows I have cardio. I’ve just got to work on building size (and) some natural weight. Lifting more, eating more – whatever it is, I’ve got to get a good dietician and get my weight up.”
Photo: Steven Flynn for USA TODAY Sports
Despite his recent setback the 27-year-old Anderson does not want to take a step back in competition, as he knows testing himself against the best the light heavyweight division has to offer now will pay dividends in the future:
“Just like when they called me for this fight, I told them I’ll fight whoever,” Anderson said. “I’m ready. I’m in the gym, I’m training, I’m a professional. That’s what professionals do. You don’t pick and dip and dive. I don’t sit here and say, ‘I don’t want to fight him because he’s too good.’ I don’t say, ‘I want to fight that guy because he’s an easy win.’
“I’m in this sport to be the best, eventually. I’m not the best right now, but eventually I will be. I plan on it before I leave this sport, and wherever it is I’ve got to go, I’m willing to go. Like they say, ‘You’ve got to do things you’ve never done to get where you’ve never been.’ I’ve never been a champ.”
