Tag: Demian Maia

Michael Bisping vs. Demian Maia Added to ‘UFC on FOX 2?

And so, the speculation comes to an end. Following his beatdown of Jason Miller at the TUF 14 Finale, UFC middleweight contender Michael Bisping will make a quick seven-week turnaround and fight Demian Maia at UFC on FOX 2 (January 28th, Chicago). The UFC confirmed the pairing early this morning, in advance of a scheduled press conference this afternoon at the United Center officially announcing the fight card.

While Bisping is rolling on a four-fight win streak, Maia just got back to the win column in October with a unanimous decision over Jorge Santiago, which followed a decision loss to Mark Munoz. Maia is 3-1 overall since his disastrous title challenge against Anderson Silva at UFC 112. When he enters the cage next month, it will have been nearly three years since the former grappling phenom scored a submission in the Octagon — a triangle choke against none other than Chael Sonnen at UFC 95.

And so, the speculation comes to an end. Following his beatdown of Jason Miller at the TUF 14 Finale, UFC middleweight contender Michael Bisping will make a quick seven-week turnaround and fight Demian Maia at UFC on FOX 2 (January 28th, Chicago). The UFC confirmed the pairing early this morning, in advance of a scheduled press conference this afternoon at the United Center officially announcing the fight card.

While Bisping is rolling on a four-fight win streak, Maia just got back to the win column in October with a unanimous decision over Jorge Santiago, which followed a decision loss to Mark Munoz. Maia is 3-1 overall since his disastrous title challenge against Anderson Silva at UFC 112. When he enters the cage next month, it will have been nearly three years since the former grappling phenom scored a submission in the Octagon — a triangle choke against none other than Chael Sonnen at UFC 95.

UFC on FOX 2 will be headlined by the #1 light-heavyweight contender’s match between Rashad Evans and Phil Davis, and co-headlined by the #1 middleweight contender’s match between Sonnen and Mark Munoz. A decisive win over Maia would likely put Bisping next in the pecking order at 185. Due to his current medical suspension, Bisping really isn’t supposed to start training again until Christmas day, but hey, business is business.

Spike TV Will Counter-Program Rashad Evans vs. Phil Davis on FOX

Filed under: MMA Media Watch, UFC, UFC on FOXThe UFC’s TV contract with Spike runs out at the end of the year, and Spike has already announced that it plans to aggressively counter-program the UFC’s programming with its new TV partner, FOX.

Spike sent…

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The UFC‘s TV contract with Spike runs out at the end of the year, and Spike has already announced that it plans to aggressively counter-program the UFC’s programming with its new TV partner, FOX.

Spike sent out a press release on Wednesday announcing that it will air a Saturday night programming lineup on January 28 entitled UFC Unleashed: Evans vs. Davis, which will run simultaneously with the UFC on Fox card headlined by Rashad Evans vs. Phil Davis.

Spike’s lineup will run from 4 PM to midnight and feature fights involving Evans and Davis, as well as Chael Sonnen, Mark Munoz and Michael Bisping, all of whom are also fighting on the Fox card on Jan. 28.

For Spike, this is basically an attempt to use the powerful marketing of the UFC and Fox against them: Fox will market Evans and Davis during NFL games, and the UFC will put Evans and Davis on billboards, and when fight night rolls around, some viewers flipping through the channels will end up watching their old fights on Spike.

Labeling the event “Evans vs. Davis” may do a disservice to some viewers who will set their DVRs for “Evans vs. Davis” only to realize after the fact that they recorded the wrong program, although it’s hard to imagine many viewers will be fooled into watching the wrong fight. But this is the way Spike programming is likely to look for the remainder of 2012: When UFC fighters are live in the Octagon, Spike will treat its viewers to a heavy dose of reruns from the same fighters.

 

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Michael Bisping vs. Demian Maia Set for UFC on Fox 2

Middleweight contenders Michael Bisping and Demian Maia will finally meet at UFC on Fox 2, which goes down Jan. 28 at the United Center in Chicago, IL.The fight was confirmed through ESPN by the UFC after speculation that Bisping would be making his re…

Middleweight contenders Michael Bisping and Demian Maia will finally meet at UFC on Fox 2, which goes down Jan. 28 at the United Center in Chicago, IL.

The fight was confirmed through ESPN by the UFC after speculation that Bisping would be making his return as early as the first month of 2012.

Bisping is coming off his impressive victory over Jason “Mayhem” Miller at the Ultimate Fighter Finale. After an intense season of TUF opposite Miller, Bisping had little trouble in stopping his opponent three rounds into the fight by strikes. It set him up for a possible chance at a top contender, and Maia is someone who has experience fighting the very best.

Maia will enter the bout with a 15-3 record, including nine of those from inside the Octagon. His only losses are to Anderson Silva, Nate Marquardt and Mark Munoz.

A win for Bisping would mean he is one of the top fighter’s in the division, and one fight away from a long-awaited title shot.

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How Each of the Top UFC Middleweights Would Fare Against Anderson Silva

Hello there! Raise your hand if you think that Anderson Silva has completely finished the Middleweight division. Even though I can’t see anyone’s hands, I would imagine that you believe it to be true. Well, I’m here to say otherwise.As a disclaimer, I …

Hello there! Raise your hand if you think that Anderson Silva has completely finished the Middleweight division. Even though I can’t see anyone’s hands, I would imagine that you believe it to be true. Well, I’m here to say otherwise.

As a disclaimer, I must say that Vitor Belfort and Yushin Okami will not be on this list, seeing as they were both one-sided fights within the past year. Anyway, continue to the rest of the article!

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UFC 138 Results: Fights for Chris Leben to Get Back on Track

After being on the best stretch of his UFC career, Chris Leben’s run came to an end as he was defeated by fellow middleweight Mark Munoz at UFC 138 in England.Munoz imposed his vicious ground and pound skills on Leben early and often, eventually leadin…

After being on the best stretch of his UFC career, Chris Leben‘s run came to an end as he was defeated by fellow middleweight Mark Munoz at UFC 138 in England.

Munoz imposed his vicious ground and pound skills on Leben early and often, eventually leading to an eye injury that prevented “The Crippler” from continuing.

Leben, still a legitimate 185-lb. fighter, will look to bounce back from his loss in his very next fight.

The following slides display four fights that Chris Leben could take next.

Lets take a look.

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UFC 136 Prelims Show Draws Low Ratings

Filed under: UFC, NewsDespite two pay-per-view caliber matchups, the UFC 136 Prelims show on Spike TV Saturday drew an unusually small audience of only 1.0 million viewers and a household rating of 0.8.

The viewership for the UFC 136 prelims show is t…

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Despite two pay-per-view caliber matchups, the UFC 136 Prelims show on Spike TV Saturday drew an unusually small audience of only 1.0 million viewers and a household rating of 0.8.

The viewership for the UFC 136 prelims show is the lowest for a live prelim show on Spike TV and surpasses only the two preliminary shows aired on ION.

As a lead-in to the UFC 136 pay-per-view, the UFC offered popular ex-WEC champ Anthony Pettis taking on power puncher Jeremy Stephens and former title challenger Demian Maia facing off against former Sengoku champ Jorge Santiago.

The preliminary bouts series was coming off a strong performance from the Sept. 24 UFC 135 undercard show, which drew an average of 1.6 million viewers and an average 1.0 household rating. The live fights for the UFC 135 undercard featured Tony Ferguson vs. Aaron Riley and Tim Boetsch vs. Nick Ring.

The next UFC Prelims card, for UFC 137 on Oct. 29, is expected to feature Donald Cerrone vs. Dennis Siver and Tyson Griffin vs. Bart Palaszewski.

 

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