UFC Fight Night 57’s main event is official, and it is a good one. Electrifying featherweights Frankie Edgar and Cub Swanson will square off for five rounds on November 22 in Austin, Texas. The news was announced Wednesday night by the UFC on Twitter:
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UFC Fight Night 57’s main event is official, and it is a good one. Electrifying featherweights Frankie Edgar and Cub Swanson will square off for five rounds on November 22 in Austin, Texas. The news was announced Wednesday night by the UFC on Twitter:
The bout features two veteran fighters who are surging toward title contention.
Edgar, of course, is the former lightweight champion who is renowned for his toughness and epic fights with Gray Maynard and Benson Henderson. Since dropping to featherweight, Edgar has accrued a 2-1 record, dropping a decision to Jose Aldo in his 145-pound debut while notching wins over Charles Oliveira and BJ Penn.
Swanson owns a particularly strong six-fight winning streak in the UFC, defeating entrenched veterans like Dennis Siver, Ross Pearson, Dustin Poirier and Jeremy Stephens. While it seemed as though that may have earned him a shot at the title (Dana Whitepreviously hinted that Swanson’s next fight would be for the belt), he will apparently need to take on one more challenge before getting a shot at gold.
While this could easily be viewed as a top contender’s bout, the UFC has an abundance of talent near the top of the division at this time. Chad Mendes is slated to face Jose Aldo at UFC 179 in October. Past that, Conor McGregor’s skyrocketing popularity could easily be hurried into a title shot, while Dennis Bermudez is sitting on an impressive seven-fight winning streak.
Either way, this main event is the cherry on top of an already-strong Fight Night 57. In addition to Swanson vs. Edgar, the card features an exciting lightweight matchup between Bobby Green and Edson Barboza, a flyweight tilt between surging prospect Dustin Ortiz and former contender Joseph Benavidez and an intriguing heavyweight fight between Oleksiy Oliynyk and Jared Roshalt, among others.
Watch for more news on the card as the event approaches.
So, you’re on a six-fight winning streak in one of the toughest divisions the UFC has to offer. You’ve defeated the division’s fifth-, 10th-, 11th- and 14th-ranked fighters in the process. You even managed to KO the No. 14 fighter in the division above…
So, you’re on a six-fight winning streak in one of the toughest divisions the UFC has to offer. You’ve defeated the division’s fifth-, 10th-, 11th- and 14th-ranked fighters in the process. You even managed to KO the No. 14 fighter in the division above you. That should be enough to grant you a shot at the title, right?
Well, kind of.
Cub Swanson, the UFC’s second-ranked featherweight—behind only Jose Aldo and Chad Mendes—is just a little more than a month removed from a five-round unanimous decision win against Jeremy Stephens at UFC Fight Night 44. Though his performance would warrant a title shot, the current featherweight landscape complicates things a bit.
“I’m not really one to cry about things, I’m just excited to be in the position I’m in,” Swanson said after his victory at the UFC Fight Night 44 post-fight press conference. “I’ve worked real hard, so, I mean, there was another fight that was a good opportunity for me, then I would take it. I’m not really trying to wait forever.”
That’s just it; after waiting 357 days in between his last two fights, there’s no way the UFC can allow, or force, Swanson to wait an extended period of time as he prepares for his title shot. Understandably, Swanson wanted the title shot and the UFC was willing to comply, according to Dana White, per UFC’s “The Download“:
Let me tell you what, Jeremy is ranked No. 10 but he’s not the No. 10 fighter. He’s better than that, and Cub took big f****** shots from him early, ate his shots and came back and fought a beautiful fight. I’m very excited for his future. Cub’s going to get what he wants, let’s just put it that way.
But after Aldo pulled out of his original fight against Mendes in August, things got a little more complicated for Swanson and the UFC brass. Considering Aldo and Mendes aren’t scheduled to fight for the crown until late October at UFC 179, Swanson wouldn’t be getting a crack at the belt until February at the earliest.
And that’s if everything goes as planned.
But with more people favoring Mendes as the rematch nears, it’s not completely implausible to see the Team Alpha Male fighter snatch the strap away from the incumbent champion and force a rubber match between the new-found rivals. The rematch would likely take place in February or March, meaning any title bouts exclusively consisting of Aldo and Mendes could only take place around June or July—tacking on another 350-day layoff for the established contender.
Edgar is facing almost identical circumstances. He’s ranked highly amongst the UFC’s featherweights. He’s deserving of a title shot. He spent 365 days in between his last two fights against Charles Oliveira and B.J. Penn.
It wouldn’t be fair to force Swanson to square off against the former UFC lightweight champion, but it makes sense. Fighting each other would clear up some space atop of the ever-crowded featherweight pack and design a clear-cut contender for a spot atop the featherweight mountain.
The long wait isn’t the only variable that should be concerning Swanson right now, though—the UFC has some other favorable rising featherweights waiting for their chance at UFC gold.
Conor McGregor, the UFC’s ninth-ranked featherweight and arguably its most popular star, could be in line to justify a title shot of his own with a win over Dustin Poirier at UFC 178 in September. A victory against the No. 5 featherweight would likely catapult the Irish sensation into the top five. A microphone would likely catapult him into a title fight.
And if there’s anything we can take away from Alexander Gustafsson’s current misfortune, it’s that the UFC can snatch away a title shot just about as fast as it can grant it. Because for as much as it wants to put on bouts between two viable opponents, it would much rather put on fights between two viable opponents who can make headlines.
Kristian Ibarra is a Featured Columnist at Bleacher Report. He also serves as the sports editor at San Diego State University’s student-run newspaper, The Daily Aztec. Follow him on Twitter at @Kristian_Ibarra for all things MMA.
(So *that’s* what Amir’s been up to these past few years? That poor, poor man…)
You might not know this, but the UFC needs to book a fight approximately every 3.5 seconds in order to pull off hosting as many cards as it does these days. And with fighters going down to injury every 5-6 seconds, the UFC is all but forced to inflate its already bloated roster (or keep somefighters around way, way too long) with less than experienced fighters to make up the difference. Hence, Royston Wee.
In the past 12 hours, a half dozen or so fights have been booked for just these reasons. Most of them promise to be entertaining affairs. Some of them, not so much. Hence, gifs. Let’s get started.
Although not officially confirmed, it looks like we will finally see “The Korean Zombie” return to the octagon for the first time since being broken to pieces in his four round smash-up with Jose Aldo at UFC 163. According to reports, Jung will face TUF 14 alum and Swedish native Akira Corassani at Fight Night 53 on October 4th.
Corassani has also had a rough go of things lately — back in November, he scored a victory via DQ against Maximo Blanco at the TUF 18 Finale when a blitzkrieg of illegal knees rendered him unable to continue. He was then legally smashed up by Dustin Poirier in the second round of a back-and-forth, “Fight of the Night”-earning effort at the TUF Nations Finale. At the very minimum, someone is going to have something broken in this fight, which makes this ranking obvious:
(So *that’s* what Amir’s been up to these past few years? That poor, poor man…)
You might not know this, but the UFC needs to book a fight approximately every 3.5 seconds in order to pull off hosting as many cards as it does these days. And with fighters going down to injury every 5-6 seconds, the UFC is all but forced to inflate its already bloated roster (or keep somefighters around way, way too long) with less than experienced fighters to make up the difference. Hence, Royston Wee.
In the past 12 hours, a half dozen or so fights have been booked for just these reasons. Most of them promise to be entertaining affairs. Some of them, not so much. Hence, gifs. Let’s get started.
Although not officially confirmed, it looks like we will finally see “The Korean Zombie” return to the octagon for the first time since being broken to pieces in his four round smash-up with Jose Aldo at UFC 163. According to reports, Jung will face TUF 14 alum and Swedish native Akira Corassani at Fight Night 53 on October 4th.
Corassani has also had a rough go of things lately — back in November, he scored a victory via DQ against Maximo Blanco at the TUF 18 Finale when a blitzkrieg of illegal knees rendered him unable to continue. He was then legally smashed up by Dustin Poirier in the second round of a back-and-forth, “Fight of the Night”-earning effort at the TUF Nations Finale. At the very minimum, someone is going to have something broken in this fight, which makes this ranking obvious:
Speaking of long layoffs, Amir Sadollah had probably spent more time nursing injuries over the past…entirety of his UFC career than he has been competing. He hasn’t fought since dropping a decision to Dan Hardy in September of 2012 and has dropped two of his past three overall, but thanks to Kyle Noke going down with an injury of his own, the TUF 7 winner’s return has been bumped up from October 4th (where he was scheduled to face Nico Muskoke) to September 20th at Fight Night 52: Nelson vs. Hunt.
Sadollah will be facing none other than Yoshihiro Akiyama, who himself has not fought since 2012 and has dropped his past 4 fights in a row. This fight should probably not be ranked above Jung vs. Corassani, but it’s my list and I’ll be damned if any of you are going to put a damper my chance to see some sweet Judo throws. Ranking:
One one hand, both Caraway and Assuncao have been on absolute killing sprees as of late, with the former picking up submission wins in 4 of his last 5 contests and the latter being the last man to defeat current bantamweight champion T.J. Dillashaw. On the other, seeing Caraway’s face on my television screen not only reminds me of what a class-A douche he seems to be at times, but of the fact that win or lose, he gets to come home to this. God damn you, Caraway, you lucky son of a B. Ranking:
With Demian Maia injured, Canadian prospect Jordan Mein has agreed to step in on late notice in the co-main event of Fight Night 49 on August 23rd to take on journeyman Mike Pyle. Both guys recently bounced back from TKO losses to Matt Brown in 2013 with a decision win over Hernani Perpétuo and a third round TKO over TJ Waldburger, respectively. While a win won’t exactly place either in line for a title shot, Mein and Pyle are highly entertaining fighters with excellent gas tanks, solid submission skills, and knockout power. Not a bad fight at all, especially for an injury replacement. Ranking:
According to MMAFighting, the UFC is eyeing a #1 flyweight contender bout between Ian McCall and John Lineker for the end of the year at an event TBD. It will mark quite a turnaround for “Uncle Creepy”, who started his UFC career with a draw and back-to-back losses before stringing together his current two-fight win streak via unanimous decisions over Iliarde Santos and Brad Pickett.
Linker, on the other hand, has scored TKO victories in five of his past six bouts, most recently bouncing back from a defeat to Ali Bagautinov in their #1 contender bout at UFC 169 with a third round TKO over Alptekin Ozkilic in a wild scrap at Fight Night 45. The bout marked just the second occasion Lineker has been able to make weight in his past four contests. Let’s hope he can stay away from the Bis prior to this one, as a fight between these two will likely resemble what its like when I play with toy boats in the bathtub. Ranking:
The UFC needs a high-ranking Swede for their return to Stockholm at Fight Night 53. Gunnar Nelson is one such Swede, and came out relatively unscathed from his second round submission of Zak Cummings back at Fight Night 46 (where he picked up his second “Performance of the Night” award in the process). And maybe it’s just me, but he seems to possess the kind of charisma capable of carrying/promoting the UFC’s second most stacked Fight Night card since two weekends ago. High praise, I know.
His opponent will be Rick Story, who is fresh off a submission win of his own at Fight Night 45 and is easily the most experienced opponent Nelson has faced in his MMA career. His loss via brain juicing at the hands of Demian Maia also proved that he is in fact capable of being submitted, so either way, this should be a great fight that will tell a lot about the future of both fighters. Ranking:
While not yet made official, the UFC is apparently targeting Swanson vs. Edgar to headline Fight Night Sweden. The fight was originally being looked at for December, but with the Stockholm card not yet having a main event, this fight would be perfect. Edgar most recently beat up a geriatric cancer patient in a BJ Penn costume at the TUF 19 Finale and Swanson last put an end to Jeremy Stephens‘ featherweight title run via a unanimous decision win at Fight Night 44 back in June.
Here’s the thing: Fight Night Sweden looks like it will be held on Fight Pass. I cannot tell you how enraged I am at the idea of placing a fight this good on a Fight Pass card in Sweden and not a PPV here in the States. It’s a bitchslap to the UFC’s loyal fanbase is what it is, and the combination of rage and excitement makes this a hard one to accurately gif. But when all else fails, The Wire succeeds, so I’ll just go with this one.
If there was any confusion over where Dennis Bermudez ranks in the featherweight division, the surging contender validated his status as a top-10 featherweight.
Not only did he continue his winning streak, which currently sits at seven in a row, …
If there was any confusion over where Dennis Bermudez ranks in the featherweight division, the surging contender validated his status as a top-10 featherweight.
Not only did he continue his winning streak, which currently sits at seven in a row, but he did so in front of a national television audience. He also added a win over a well-known fighter, something that had been missing on his resume during his UFC tenure.
Bermudez thwarted Clay Guida’s takedown attempts throughout the fight at UFC on Fox 12 on Saturday. He capped off his performance with a second-round submission victory, becoming only the third man in UFC history to beat Guida by submission.
After the victory, Bermudez called for a title shot in his post-fight interview with Joe Rogan, but he’ll likely need at least one more decisive victory before that happens. Any of the following fights would make a lot of sense for him to take in his next outing to continue his rise to the top.
Cub Swanson would love to fight Frankie Edgar if he had a UFC title around his waist.
After retiring MMA legend BJ Penn at the The Ultimate Fighter 19 Finale, Edgar is reportedly interested in fighting Swanson in a No. 1 contender’s bout to deter…
Cub Swanson would love to fight Frankie Edgar if he had a UFC title around his waist.
After retiring MMA legend BJ Penn at the The Ultimate Fighter 19 Finale, Edgar is reportedly interested in fighting Swanson in a No. 1 contender’s bout to determine the next challenger for the featherweight title.
During Wednesday’s episode of UFC Tonight, MMA journalist Ariel Helwani reported that Edgar believes the fight makes sense in the wake of UFC featherweight champ Jose Aldo’s injury and the division hanging in limbo.
When asked about a potential showdown with Edgar, Swanson didn’t back down from the challenge, but he did admit he would much rather get his opportunity to compete for a world title.
“I was told my fight would be for a belt. I don’t think [Edgar] has one of those,” Swanson told Helwani, per MMAFighting.com. “But I wouldn’t mind punching him.”
Swanson, who is currently riding a six-fight win streak, is coming off back-to-back Fight of the Night performances against Jeremy Stephens and Dennis Siver. It was initially believed that Swanson would be next in line to challenge for the title after his bout with Stephens in June.
“I’m very excited for his future. Cub’s going to get what he wants, let’s just put it that way,” said White.
The future of the division was pretty much mapped out.
Aldo would defend the title in a rematch against Chad Mendes at UFC 176, and the winner would move on to fight Swanson at a later date. But unfortunately for Swanson and Mendes, things haven’t worked out that way.
An injury during training camp forced Aldo to withdraw from the title bout altogether, and the UFC eventually had no choice but to scrap the entire pay-per-view card. The featherweight division is now being held hostage by news of Aldo’s return.
Mendes fully expects to get the first crack at the Brazilian when he returns. Would Swanson be willing to wait in line if Aldo ends up facing a lengthy layoff?
In any case, Edgar has likely chirped himself back into title contention.
JordyMcElroy is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA writer for Rocktagon.
The UFC 176 main event between featherweight champion Jose Aldo and challenger Chad Mendes is expected to be rescheduled for mid-October, as per Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports.
However, if Aldo still isn’t fully healed and ready to roll by then, UFC …
The UFC 176 main event between featherweight champion Jose Aldo and challenger Chad Mendes is expected to be rescheduled for mid-October, as per Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports.
However, if Aldo still isn’t fully healed and ready to roll by then, UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta said somebody else might step up to fight Mendes for the chance at an interim featherweight strap.
Looking at the Top Five of the UFC’s 145-pound division, this makes sense.
Cub Swanson is ranked No. 3 in the class, most recently besting Jeremy Stephens in a five-round tilt at UFC Fight Night 44 in San Antonio. The win was Swanson’s sixth straight, with four of those coming via knockout, and he looks more comfortable and confident each time he steps into the cage.
Frankie Edgar, meanwhile, is coming off a third-round TKO of BJ Penn at The Ultimate Fighter 19 finale. The New Jersey native thoroughly dominated that bout, looking crisp and hungry as he devoured the aging legend with ease.
With the victory—his second straight—Edgar jumped to No. 2 in the UFC’s featherweight rankings, skipping over Swanson in the process.
Aldo most recently defended the featherweight title in February, defeating Ricardo Lamas via unanimous decision at UFC 169.
This eight-month stretch to October is not an outrageously long time frame for the championship to remain idle. For comparison, the lightweight title has lain dormant since August 2013 and is not expected to be defended until January 2015. Similarly, the heavyweight title will have gone undefended for over a year when Cain Velasquez takes on challenger Fabricio Werdum at UFC 180 in November.
Still, fans will undoubtedly be pleased that the UFC brass is attempting to keep things rolling at 145 pounds by crowning an interim champ, and nobody will complain about a Mendes vs. Swanson or Mendes vs. Edgar showdown while Aldo heals up and plots his return.
Stay tuned to Bleacher Report as more news regarding the featherweight title picture emerges.
UFC Fight Night 57’s main event is official, and it is a good one. Electrifying featherweights Frankie Edgar and Cub Swanson will square off for five rounds on November 22 in Austin, Texas. The news was announced Wednesday night by the UFC on Twitter:
