Tag: Dennis Siver

Dennis Siver vs. Donald Cerrone: Will Winner Fight for the Lightweight Title?

This Saturday at UFC 137, Donald Cerrone will be fighting fellow lightweight contender Dennie Siver. Donald Cerrone stepped in for Sam Stout, but he’s far from a replacement fighter. Cerrone has won his last five fights in a row, and Siver has four in …

This Saturday at UFC 137, Donald Cerrone will be fighting fellow lightweight contender Dennie Siver. Donald Cerrone stepped in for Sam Stout, but he’s far from a replacement fighter. Cerrone has won his last five fights in a row, and Siver has four in a row.

Both guys are at the top of the division, and have entertaining styles that would make for great title fights.

Siver is an extremely powerful kickboxer with good takedown defense. His kicks are lethal, and he carves up opponents from the legs up. Siver would make a very interesting matchup with Frankie Edgar.

Cerrone is one of my favorite fighters, and one of the most exciting in the UFC. Cerrone came over from the WEC, fighting for the belt three times. He’ still a young fighter, and has all of the skills it takes to be a champion.

Cerrone has a good standup background, using kicks, knees, elbows and punches. “The Cowboy” also has great jiu-jitsu, and is one of the most exciting fighters on the ground in his guard.

This fight has all of the makings of a fight of the night. Both guys are more than willing to stand and bang for the full three rounds. Cerrone has more of a ground fighting background, but usually only uses it when he gets taken down.

I bet this fight will be a war, and by far one of the best of the year. This is a tough match for both fighters, and they deserve a lot of credit for taking it.

I think that the winner of this fight deserves a title shot against Frankie Edgar for the UFC lightweight title. Ben Henderson is fighting Clay Guida on the UFC on Fox card. The winner of that will likely also be handed a title shot, so it will be interesting to see which fighter gets it first.

It might take a publicity stunt to do it, but whoever wins this fight does deserve a chance at UFC gold. The lightweight division is stacked, and is one of the best in all of MMA.

Regardless of who gets the next UFC title shot, it will be a barn-burner. Frankie Edgar will be in for a slug-fest with whoever he fights next.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Gambling Addiction Enabler: UFC 137 Edition

 ufc 137
(Not yet………………………………..getting warmer…….)

UFC 137 is just around the bend, and since the lineup has made more changes than a MTV awards show host, we figured we’d lay out the current odds before something else horrible happens. So, courtesy of BestFightOdds.com, check out the sweetest lines available, along with our time tested advice below.

PPV Main Card
B.J. Penn (-115) vs. Nick Diaz (-105)
Matt Mitrione (-135) vs. Cheick Kongo (+115)
Roy Nelson (-290) vs. Mirko Filipovic (+245)
Hatsu Hioki (-330) vs. George Roop (+270)
There is no line yet available for the recently bumped up Tavares/Jacoby fight.

Spike TV Prelims
Donald Cerrone (-225) vs. Dennis Siver (+185)
Tyson Griffin (-290) vs. Bart Palaszewski (+245)

The undercard odds have yet to be released as well, but we only bet big here, so forgeddaboutit!

The Main Event:

 ufc 137
(Not yet………………………………..getting warmer…….)

UFC 137 is just around the bend, and since the lineup has made more changes than a MTV awards show host, we figured we’d lay out the current odds before something else horrible happens. So, courtesy of BestFightOdds.com, check out the sweetest lines available, along with our time tested advice below.

PPV Main Card
B.J. Penn (-115) vs. Nick Diaz (-105)
Matt Mitrione (-135) vs. Cheick Kongo (+115)
Roy Nelson (-290) vs. Mirko Filipovic (+245)
Hatsu Hioki (-330) vs. George Roop (+270)
There is no line yet available for the recently bumped up Tavares/Jacoby fight.

Spike TV Prelims
Donald Cerrone (-225) vs. Dennis Siver (+185)
Tyson Griffin (-290) vs. Bart Palaszewski (+245)

The undercard odds have yet to be released as well, but we only bet big here, so forgeddaboutit!

The Main Event: With a line as even as Penn/Diaz, you might as well be basing your pick on attendance records at this point. Both are excellent submission artists with equally deadly striking and blocks of granite for chins. It has all the ingredients for one hell of a fight, but a hard one to invest in. If the fight is changed to a five rounder, which is still up in the air, you gotta think it favors Diaz, who can literally run, swim, and cycle miles around Penn. But Paul Daley was pretty damn close to finishing him in his last fight, I don’t care what anyone says. So if you think Penn is the man to actually put Diaz away, then a modest bet wouldn’t be a terrible decision.

The Good Dogs: If Cheick Kongo’s miracle win over Pat Barry taught us anything, it’s that the man can take a licking and keep on ticking. Does Mitrione have more power in his hands than Barry? Doubtful. Has he fought anyone even close to Kongo’s level? Nope. It’s not that Mitrione can’t win it, because Kongo has looked less than brilliant as of late, the Hail Mary knockout excluded. But Kongo’s experience should pay dividends if this goes into the later rounds, so a bet on him seems fair. Having been the underdog before, Siver is tempting at +185, but he barely eeked out the nod over Matt Wiman (which I believe he deserved) and Cerrone will dictate where and how the fight takes place.

The Easy Bet: Look, I am about as big a Cro Cop fan as you get get, but even I cannot see him winning this one. Nelson has a far superior ground game plus the power to knock Cro Cop out, which, let’s be honest, has been getting to be less and less of an accomplishment. And if Mirko couldn’t knockout the man Big Nog knocked out in half a round, then he aint’ doing it to “Big Country.” I see this one ending with Cro Cop flat on his back and looking up at the lights, wondering why in the hell he named his son Filip Filipovic.

Stay the Hell Away From: George Roop. The man has never been one for consistency, and though he has scored brilliant knockouts over Chan Sung Jung and Josh Grispi, he was also blown out of the water by Mark Hominick, and has dropped decisions to Eddie Wineland and Shane Nelson. Shane who you ask? Exactly. Hatsu Hioki takes this with ease.

Official CagePotato parlay: Kongo + Nelson + Cerrone
A bet of 50 bucks nets you $158.82, or enough to buy that UFC glove autographed by Fedor Emelianenko you’ve always wanted, though I imagine its asking price is only headed downhill.

And hey, Happy We Killed Another Terrorist Day!!

-Danga

 

MMA Top 10 Lightweights: Breaking Up the Bottleneck at the Top

Filed under: DREAM, UFC, Strikeforce, Bellator, RankingsNow that Frankie Edgar has finally beaten Gray Maynard, it’s time to break up the bottleneck at the top of the lightweight division.

Unfortunately, it’s not clear that we’re actually close to see…

Filed under: , , , ,

Now that Frankie Edgar has finally beaten Gray Maynard, it’s time to break up the bottleneck at the top of the lightweight division.

Unfortunately, it’s not clear that we’re actually close to seeing that happen.

In 2010, the only lightweight title fights were Frankie Edgar vs. B.J. Penn, and in 2011, the only lightweight title fights have been Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard. Edgar will definitely fight someone new in 2012, but who? We’ll go over some of the options as we run through the list of the Top 10 lightweights in MMA below.

Top 10 Lightweights in MMA
(Editor’s Note: The fighter’s rankings the last time we ranked the lightweights are in parentheses.)

1. Frankie Edgar (1): UFC President Dana White says Edgar would be even better at featherweight than he is at lightweight, but I disagree. I think part of Edgar’s greatness is his speed and stamina, and both of those advantages over his lightweight opponents would be diminished if he were fighting against faster opponents at featherweight, and weakening himself the day before the fight by cutting an additional 10 pounds. I think Edgar is fighting right where he belongs.

2. Gilbert Melendez (3): The Strikeforce lightweight champion would have a good chance of beating Edgar, but he’s not going to get that chance just yet. Up next for Melendez is Jorge Masvidal in December.

3. Gray Maynard (2): Maynard will get a long layoff after getting knocked out by Edgar, but when that layoff ends I’d like to see him take on the loser of the upcoming fight between Clay Guida and Ben Henderson, assuming the winner of that fight gets the next crack at Edgar.

4. Clay Guida (4): If he beats Ben Henderson at the upcoming UFC on Fox event, he’d have to be considered the favorite to get the next crack at Edgar. Guida is on a four-fight winning streak and is one of the UFC’s most popular lightweights, and it would be hard for the UFC brass to turn down the possibility of a very entertaining Edgar-Guida title fight.

5. Anthony Pettis (5): Pettis is a lot of fun to watch, but I got the sense during his UFC 136 victory over Jeremy Stephens that he had decided to fight with a more cautious, deliberate style, perhaps burned by his last fight, a unanimous decision loss to Guida. What makes Pettis special is his unique, exciting style. I hope he doesn’t lose that.

6. Ben Henderson (6): After losing his WEC title to Pettis, Henderson has bounced back in a big way by beating Mark Bocek and Jim Miller in the UFC. If he beats Guida to move to 3-0 in 2011, he’d likely get a title shot in his first fight of 2012.

7. Shinya Aoki (7): Aoki likes to stay active, and he’s won six fights since his loss to Melendez a year and a half ago. The problem is that as long as he’s fighting in Dream, there aren’t many big fights available to him. A Top 10 lightweight should be fighting better opposition than Rob McCullough, whom Aoki beat at Dream.17.

8. Jim Miller (8): Miller had a title shot within his reach before he lost to Henderson. His 20-3 career record is impressive, but the three losses were to Edgar, Maynard and Henderson — the only three times he’s fought truly elite competition.

9. Eddie Alvarez (10): An injury forced Alvarez to delay his Bellator lightweight title fight with Michael Chandler until November 19. Alvarez is Bellator’s top fighter and biggest draw, and an inexperienced prospect like Chandler probably won’t give him much of a challenge. There’s talk of an Alvarez-Aoki rematch in Bellator in 2012, which could be the biggest non-UFC fight of the year.

10. Dennis Siver (NR): With Melvin Guillard dropping out of the Top 10, Siver moves back in. Siver will attempt to run his winning streak to five straight fights when he takes on Donald Cerrone at UFC 137.

 

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Stout Explains Decision to Pull Out of Siver Fight and Says He, Horodecki and Hominick Have Some Soul Searching to Do Following Tompkins Death


(Although he will never be able to replace “The Coach” Stout says he knows he will have to find new trainers to work with eventually.)

UFC lightweight Sam Stout appeared on Mauro Ranallo’s The MMA Show podcast yesterday and the longtime Team Tompkins fighter revealed his reason for bowing out of his upcoming UFC 137 bout with Dennis Siver in October.

As expected, Stout says he’s still grieving the loss of his longtime trainer, mentor, best friend and brother-in-law, Shawn Tompkins who passed away suddenly earlier this month and has not decided where or with whom he will train with, but the decision, which will take a lot of soul searching to make, won’t be his alone to make.

“Shawn has been my coach since I got into the sport. I’ve never had a fight, dating back to my kickboxing career…I’ve never had a fight, without him training me for it and without him being in my corner…I’m not one of these guys who’s jumped around from coach to coach over the years and trained with lots of people,” he says. “He’s taught me really everything I know about mixed martial arts. And not only that, he was a lot more than that to me. He was a brother and a trusted friend and confidant and really, my mentor. Definitely the most influential person in my life. I’m going to have to wait for the dust to settle a little bit before I’m ready to get back in there and figure out what I’m going to do in terms of coaching. I’m really just unsure of what I’m going to do right now.We’ve discussed it and you’re going to see some changes being made to the team, but we don’t think Shawn would have wanted us to all go join other teams. He would have wanted us to stick together.”


(Although he will never be able to replace “The Coach” Stout says he knows he will have to find new trainers to work with eventually.)

UFC lightweight Sam Stout appeared on Mauro Ranallo’s The MMA Show podcast yesterday and the longtime Team Tompkins fighter revealed his reason for bowing out of his upcoming UFC 137 bout with Dennis Siver in October.

As expected, Stout says he’s still grieving the loss of his longtime trainer, mentor, best friend and brother-in-law, Shawn Tompkins who passed away suddenly earlier this month and has not decided where or with whom he will train with, but the decision, which will take a lot of soul searching to make, won’t be his alone to make.

“Shawn has been my coach since I got into the sport. I’ve never had a fight, dating back to my kickboxing career…I’ve never had a fight, without him training me for it and without him being in my corner…I’m not one of these guys who’s jumped around from coach to coach over the years and trained with lots of people,” he says. “He’s taught me really everything I know about mixed martial arts. And not only that, he was a lot more than that to me. He was a brother and a trusted friend and confidant and really, my mentor. Definitely the most influential person in my life. I’m going to have to wait for the dust to settle a little bit before I’m ready to get back in there and figure out what I’m going to do in terms of coaching. I’m really just unsure of what I’m going to do right now.We’ve discussed it and you’re going to see some changes being made to the team, but we don’t think Shawn would have wanted us to all go join other teams. He would have wanted us to stick together.”

According to Stout, he and teammates Chris Horodecki and Mark Hominick — the trio of fighters who along with Tompkins made the TT brand a household name in MMA, haven’t decided whether or not they will step back in the cage this year as it’s too early to decide given the fact that their mentor passed so recently, but when they do, they’ll have each other’s backs.

“I don’t want to speak for the other guys, but I’m fairly sure Horodecki pulled out of his fight in September. I think Mark’s still trying to decide what he’s going to do, but he’s leaning towards sticking with the [UFC 140] fight in Toronto,” he says. “If Mark goes out and chooses to stick with this fight in December, and I think he’s going to, he’s going to have me and Chris walking out right behind him and we’re going to show a strong front because we’re family and that’s what Shawn would have wanted.”

Sam also touched on the irony that a seemingly fit trainer who was known for strapping on the gloves and sparring with and hitting a bag alongside his fighters would die from a heart attack.

“It’s just one of those things. You think you’re somebody who works out every day and you think you’re invincible. He wasn’t the type of guy to go see doctors. He was kind of an old school type of person,” he points out. “It was just one of these fluke things. A 37-year-old guy who devoted his life to fitness and exercise, it just blindsided everybody.”

UFC 137: Donald Cerrone Steps in for Sam Stout Against Dennis Siver

A couple of weeks after derailing the Charles Oliveira hype train, Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone has agreed to step in for an injured Sam Stout to face rising lightweight contender Dennis Siver at UFC 137. Sources close to the agreed upon bout confirmed the …

A couple of weeks after derailing the Charles Oliveira hype train, Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone has agreed to step in for an injured Sam Stout to face rising lightweight contender Dennis Siver at UFC 137.

Sources close to the agreed upon bout confirmed the news to MMAWeekly on Monday.

Cerrone is riding a five fight win streak, with three of those victories coming in the UFC.

This is a huge opportunity for the former WEC title contender to propel himself up the lightweight hierarchy.

While people look the other way, Siver has quietly positioned himself as a potential UFC title contender.

He is coming off big wins over George Sotiropoulos, Matt Wiman, Andre Winner and Spencer Fisher. A win over Siver could vault Cerrone into the contender ranks.

UFC 137 is expected to take place on October 29th at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. Georges St-Pierre and Nick Diaz are slated to headline the blockbuster card.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Stout Out, Cerrone in Against Siver at UFC 137


(Should be a decent scrap.)

MMAJunkie is reporting that Donald Cerrone (16-3) has agreed to step in for Sam Stout against Dennis Siver (19-7) at UFC 137 October 29 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.

Although it is unclear whether or not Stout is injured, it could simply be a case of the Canadian lightweight standout needing more time to deal with the sudden passing of his best friend, brother-in-law, mentor and trainer Shawn Tompkins earlier this month before fighting his first bout without “The Coach” in his corner.


(Should be a decent scrap.)

MMAJunkie is reporting that Donald Cerrone (16-3) has agreed to step in for Sam Stout against Dennis Siver (19-7) at UFC 137 October 29 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.

Although it is unclear whether or not Stout is injured, it could simply be a case of the Canadian lightweight standout needing more time to deal with the sudden passing of his best friend, brother-in-law, mentor and trainer Shawn Tompkins earlier this month before fighting his first bout without “The Coach” in his corner.

Stout’s teammate Chris Horodecki backed out of a scheduled September bout in Canada last week as well and is rumored to be having a tough time dealing with the loss of Tompkins who was like a father figure to the young fighter.

The bout will be the fourth this year for Cerrone who is 5-0 in his last five outings, including three inside the UFC Octagon.

Siver is no slouch either, having won his past four fights including an impressive win over George Sotiropoulos at UFC 127 in February and a razor-close decision over Matt Wiman at UFC 132 in July.

The event will be headlined by a welterweight championship bout between former Strikeforce champ Nick Diaz and UFC 170-pound kingpin Georges St-Pierre and a number one contender match between BJ Penn and Carlos Condit.

UFC 137
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Mandalay Bay Events Center
Las Vegas, Nevada

Welterweight Championship Bout
Georges St-Pierre vs. Nick Diaz

BJ Penn vs. Carlos Condit
Cheick Kongo vs. Matt Mitrione
Dennis Siver vs. Donald Cerrone
Mirko Filipovi? vs. Roy Nelson
George Roop vs. Hatsu Hioki
Eliot Marshall vs. Brandon Vera
Tim Credeur vs. Brad Tavares
Bart Palaszewski vs. Tyson Griffin
Danny Downes vs. Ramsey Nijem