With only two short days remaining until this weekend’s (Sat., May 14, 2016) UFC 198 from the Arena da Baixada in Curitiba, Brazil, the anticipation for the biggest-ever UFC event in Brazil is building to a fever pitch. A big part of that excitement is being generated by the long-awaited UFC debut of Invicta FC featherweight
With only two short days remaining until this weekend’s (Sat., May 14, 2016) UFC 198 from the Arena da Baixada in Curitiba, Brazil, the anticipation for the biggest-ever UFC event in Brazil is building to a fever pitch.
A big part of that excitement is being generated by the long-awaited UFC debut of Invicta FC featherweight champion Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino, who will take on Leslie Smith in a 140-pound catchweight bout on the main card. Cyborg was famously embroiled in a long-back-and-forth feud with former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey, where the roadblock to them actually fighting off was always Cyborg’s unwillingness to cut down to 135 pounds.
But now she’ll face Smith at only five pounds heavier, and from the look of things at the UFC 198 Media Day Faceoffs, she doesn’t hold the same massive size advantage that she did over her previous opponents when she walked into the cage at 165 pounds or more.
Of course, she could need a day to rehydrate and put on a large amount of water weight.
Check it out here, along with the faceoffs for all the anticipated main card fighters, and decide for yourself:
Fan favorite MMA legend ‘Shogun’ Rua may have withdrawn from his anticipated light heavyweight showdown with Rashad Evans at April 16’s UFC on FOX 19 due to a lingering knee injury from wars past, but it appears that the former UFC and Pride champ will return to the Octagon sooner than expected. This evening a
Fan favorite MMA legend ‘Shogun’ Rua may have withdrawn from his anticipated light heavyweight showdown with Rashad Evans at April 16’s UFC on FOX 19 due to a lingering knee injury from wars past, but it appears that the former UFC and Pride champ will return to the Octagon sooner than expected.
This evening a report surfaced from MMA Fighting stating that Rua would take on rising 26-year-old prospect Corey Anderson at May 14’s UFC 198 from his hometown of Curitiba, Brazil. The bout has since been confirmed, and will join an already stacked main card featuring the awaited heavyweight title bout between Fabricio Werdum and Stipe Miocic.
‘Shogun’ is understandably regarded as one of the finest 205-pound fighters in MMA history, but has fallen on mixed results lately following endless slugfests against the elite fighters in the world. Rua most recently got back into the win column with a decision victory over Antonio Rogerio Nogueira in UFC 190’s “Fight of the Night” last August, but before that win he had dropped four out of five contests with three stoppage losses.
Rua returns to his hometown, where he won his two first MMA contests several years ago.
He’s still ranked in the Top 10 of the extremely shallow UFC light heavyweight division, however, and he’ll look to regain momentum against a very tough challenge in one of the division’s few young prospects in Anderson. ‘Beastin’ 25/8′ has won three straight fights after getting knocked out by Gian Villante in April 2015, most recently outlasting veteran Tom Lawlor by unanimous decision at UFC 196 after doing the same to Fabio Maldonado and Jan Blachowicz.
The TUF 19 light heavyweight winner will seek what would rank as by far his highest profile win over ‘Shogun.’
In other action, at UFC 198, top Brazilian fighters Ronaldo Souza and Vitor Belfort will face off in the co-main event, top-ranked Brazilian welterweight Demian Maia will face the gritty Matt Brown, and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira will meet Patrick Cummins.
Former UFC light heavyweight champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua will make his return about a month after originally planned, taking on Corey Anderson at UFC 198.
The light heavyweight contest has been added to the May 14 event that features heavyweight …
Former UFC light heavyweight champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua will make his return about a month after originally planned, taking on Corey Anderson at UFC 198.
The light heavyweight contest has been added to the May 14 event that features heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum vs. Stipe Miocic.
Rua (23-10) was expected to face Rashad Evans in April, but a knee injury caused his removal. He was replaced by Glover Teixeira in the contest.
The Brazilian is coming off a much-needed victory over Antonio Rogerio Nogueira last August, his first win since 2013. Rua is 2-4 over his last six.
Anderson (8-1) was a heavyweight winner on The Ultimate Fighter and pushed his win streak to three in a row with a controversial decision vs. Tom Lawlor earlier this month. He is 5-1 over his UFC career, losing only to Gian Villante.
The TUF 19 Finale headlined by BJ Penn vs. Frankie Edgar is now officially a candidate for saddest card of all time–not because of the entertainment value of the card, but because of what happened in the main event.
BJ Penn looked…old. He looked old, slow, and generally terrible. He came out with this bizarre, vertical stance reminiscent of a pose a non-fight fan would do if they were parodying a boxer. It looked really strange. Nor did it suit Penn’s style. His footwork couldn’t keep up with Edgar, nor could his hands. Edgar tagged Penn at will, and even managed to take the Hawaiian down at will. This was doubly depressing because Penn’s takedown defense used to be legendary. Eventually, Edgar landed a prolonged flurry of ground and pound in the third frame, prompting a stoppage.
But there were other important fights on the card–namely the TUF 19 finals.
(Photo via Getty)
The TUF 19 Finale headlined by BJ Penn vs. Frankie Edgar is now officially a candidate for saddest card of all time–not because of the entertainment value of the card, but because of what happened in the main event.
BJ Penn looked…old. He looked old, slow, and generally terrible. He came out with this bizarre, vertical stance reminiscent of a pose a non-fight fan would do if they were parodying a boxer. It looked really strange. Nor did it suit Penn’s style. His footwork couldn’t keep up with Edgar, nor could his hands. Edgar tagged Penn at will, and even managed to take the Hawaiian down at will. This was doubly depressing because Penn’s takedown defense used to be legendary. Eventually, Edgar landed a prolonged flurry of ground and pound in the third frame, prompting a stoppage.
But there were other important fights on the card–namely the TUF 19 finals.
In the middleweight final, Eddie Gordon ran through Dhiego Lima. To say he blitzed him would be an understatement. Gordon ran across the cage and started just bashing the shit out of Lima, who folded against the constant pressure. That’s honestly as technical as we can get. The fight was a pure beatdown, plain and simple.
We didn’t think a mugging like that could get more ferocious and violent…but then we watched Corey Anderson vs. Matt Van Buren. Anderson lived up to his ridiculous “Beastin’ 25/8″ nickname and beasted through Van Buren more dramatically than Gordon destroyed Lima!
Overall, it was a pretty entertaining night–a shame it had to end in such a disappointing yet entirely predictable way.
Here are the night’s complete results:
Main Card:
Frankie Edgar def. B.J. Penn via TKO (R3: 4:16)
Corey Anderson def. Matt Van Buren via TKO (R1: 1:01)
Eddie Gordon def. Dhiego Lima via TKO (R1: 1:11)
Derrick Lewis def. Guto Inocente via TKO (R1: 3:30)
Dustin Ortiz def. Justin Scoggins via split decision (29-28 28-29, 29-28)
Preliminary Card:
Kevin Lee def. Jesse Ronson via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 30-27)
Leandro Issa def. Jumabieke Tuerxun via submission (armbar) (R3, 3:49)
Adriano Martins def. Juan Manuel Puig via first-round KO (2:20)
Patrick Walsh def. Daniel Spohn via unanimous decision 29-28 X3
Sarah Moras def. Alexis Dufresne via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
Robert Drysdale def. Keith Berish via submission (rear-naked choke) (R1, 2:03)
Ron “H20” Waterman. Justin “Nsane1” McCully. Jorge “The Naked Man” Ortiz. Just a few examples of why MMA fighters should never, ever be allowed to give themselves a nickname. And now, the latest and perhaps most tragic entry into the Bad Fighter Nickname Hall of Fame: TUF 19 finalist Corey “Beastin 25/8” Anderson.
I………………………..I just…………
Beastin 25/8. Beastin 25/8. I’ve said it aloud at least a dozen times already, placing emphasis on a different beat of the phrase each time, and I still haven’t cracked the code. Of all the combinations of all the words and numbers possible, he came up with fucking bee sting 25/8.
How have we allowed this to happen? I mean as, like, a collective species of likeminded individuals. I feel cold and ashamed and confused and cold and also ashamed.
Ron “H20″ Waterman. Justin “Nsane1″ McCully. Jorge “The Naked Man” Ortiz. Just a few examples of why MMA fighters should never, ever be allowed to give themselves a nickname. And now, the latest and perhaps most tragic entry into the Bad Fighter Nickname Hall of Fame: TUF 19 finalist Corey “Beastin 25/8″ Anderson.
I………………………..I just…………
Beastin 25/8. Beastin 25/8. I’ve said it aloud at least a dozen times already, placing emphasis on a different beat of the phrase each time, and I still haven’t cracked the code. Of all the combinations of all the words and numbers possible, he came up with fucking bee sting 25/8.
How have we allowed this to happen? I mean as, like, a collective species of likeminded individuals. I feel cold and ashamed and confused and cold and also ashamed.
There’s no way he’s always had that nickname, right? I know he’s only been competing a few years, but please, someone tell me that Corey Anderson has not been allowed to carry on with that nickname for this long.
Do you think Corey came up with it himself? Or do you think at some point during his training camp, one of his teammates saw him really cranking out those last few squats and was all like, “Man, you so tough, you don’t train 24/7, you train 25/8! You a beast, man!” and then Corey stopped dead in his tracks and was all “What did you just say?”
Can you imagine how Bruce Buffer is going to sound pronouncing this verbal diarrhea while channeling the power of Thor’s hammer with his voice? Do you think this will be the nickname that makes him finally crack and just burst out laughing like Steve Harvey on Family Fued? Bad enough Bruce is whoring out his vocal skills to set fighters voicemails these days, but now he has to be subjected to this?
Why, oh why have you forced me to rack my brain like this, Corey? Is this some kind of next level trolling, or did you serious think this was a snappy, original nickname? SOMEONE HELP ME UNDERSTAND THIS.
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I would just like to point out what several redditors already have, which is that Mr. Anderson’s nipples appear to have been photoshopped out and replaced with those of a pregnant steer. He also appears to have earned all 4 of his professional wins by neither submission, TKO, or decision, which says alot about his skillset as fighter. I almost want to root for him in his fight against whoever the other TUF 19 light heavyweight finalist is at the show’s finale this Sunday (?), but I simply can’t in good conscience.
Good luck, other TUF 19 finalist whose name I do not feel like looking up. I am in your corner.
