On Sunday night, UFC released two new official video trailers for their first pay-per-view event of 2017.
First up, featured above, is Best In Brooklyn, which looks at UFC’s first-ever event held at the Barclays Cente…
https://youtu.be/MrBVrwUYJb4
On Sunday night, UFC released two new official video trailers for their first pay-per-view event of 2017.
First up, featured above, is Best In Brooklyn, which looks at UFC’s first-ever event held at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Second, as seen below, is Making History Again, which also focuses on the top two fights on the card.
Headlined by former UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Holly Holm against Germaine de Randamie in the first-ever UFC Women’s Featherweight Championship bout and the return of MMA legend Anderson “The Spider” Silva against up-and-comer Derek Brunson.
UFC 208: Holm vs. de Randamie takes place on Saturday, February 11, 2017, live on pay-per-view from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Just when it seemed as if fight fans might want to skip over UFC 208, the UFC goes and adds a legend.
Anderson Silva, the former UFC middleweight king, will meet Derek Brunson from the Barclays Center…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ircGxNwJ2Zk
Just when it seemed as if fight fans might want to skip over UFC 208, the UFC goes and adds a legend.
Anderson Silva, the former UFC middleweight king, will meet Derek Brunson from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The event takes place February 11 and features Holly Holm vs. Germaine de Randamie for the inaugural female featherweight title.
The 41-year-old Silva (33-8) hasn’t won a fight since he finished Stephan Bonnar back in 2012. He lost back-to-back bouts to Chris Weidman in 2013, had a win over Nick Diaz reversed to a no-contest due to a failed drug test and is coming off decision losses to Michael Bisping and Daniel Cormier.
Brunson (16-4) will have the biggest fight of his life against “The Spider.” He had won five in a row before falling to Robert Whittaker via strikes in November. His run included wins vs. Uriah Hall, Sam Alvey and Lorenz Larkin.
Former longtime UFC middleweight champion Anderson “The Spider” Silva made headlines earlier today (January 13, 2017) when he expressed his interest in a rematch with reigning 185-pound titleholder Michael Bisping. Silva also said said that he had ‘five or six’ fights left on his current UFC contract, and that he planned to complete it. Before
Former longtime UFC middleweight champion Anderson “The Spider” Silva made headlines earlier today (January 13, 2017) when he expressed his interest in a rematch with reigning 185-pound titleholder Michael Bisping. Silva also said said that he had ‘five or six’ fights left on his current UFC contract, and that he planned to complete it.
Before he works his way up to a rematch with Bisping, however, “The Spider” will return to action against No. 8-ranked Derek Brunson at Feb. 11’s UFC 208 from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
UFC President Dana White announced the news on his official Instagram account.
The once dominant Silva has fallen on rough times as of late, as he hasn’t won a fight since Oct. 2012. He stands at 0-4-1 in his last five bouts, and he’s coming off of a decision loss to light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier last July. Despite his recent losing streak, Silva remains one of the most well-known names in the sport as well as one of the most iconic champions of all-time.
Brunson, on the other hand, is coming off of a disappointing stoppage loss to Robert Whittaker last November. Prior to that, however, he had won five straight including four by way of stoppage.
UFC 208 is set to be headlined by a women’s featherweight title fight between Holly Holm and Germaine de Randamie.
As expected, viewership for UFC Fight Night 101 was not great due to the lineup and the main event. The UFC Fight Night 101 main card did an average of 686,000 viewers. This is was down from the UFC Fight Night 100 main card, which drew 769,000 viewers. The prelims for the event drew 654,000
As expected, viewership for UFC Fight Night 101 was not great due to the lineup and the main event. The UFC Fight Night 101 main card did an average of 686,000 viewers. This is was down from the UFC Fight Night 100 main card, which drew 769,000 viewers. The prelims for the event drew 654,000 viewers, which is up from the UFC FN 100 prelims that did 532,000 viewers. The post-fight show drew 199,000 viewers.
The main card viewership number was the third lowest rating of 2016 for UFC events on FOX Sports 1.
UFC Fight Night 101 took place on Saturday, November 27, 2016, at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, Australia. The prelims aired on UFC Fight Pass at 6:30 p.m. ET with three bouts and FOX Sports 1 at 8 p.m. ET with four bouts. The main card featured six bouts and aired at 10 p.m. ET. Derek Brunson vs. Robert Whittaker in a middleweight bout headlined this event while Andrew Holbrook vs. Jake Matthews in a lightweight was placed in the co-main event.
For 2016, the UFC is averaging 994,000 viewers for FS1 Fight Night events, which is up 10% from 2015’s average. The prelims are also up, 21% with a 739,000 average this year, up from 610,000 last year.
The UFC returns to television this Saturday with Ultimate Fighter: Tournament of Champions Finale (also known as The Ultimate Fighter 24 Finale) at Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada. The event will be headlined by a UFC Flyweight Championship bout with current champion Demetrious Johnson facing the winner of the flyweight tournament from The Ultimate Fighter 24.
So for any of you paying attention this weekend, there’s been a major shake up in the featherweight division. The UFC has decided to strip Conor McGregor of the featherweight title and upgrade the interim champion Jose Aldo to full fledged undisputed champ. It wasn’t that the move by the UFC was the wrong one, but the way it was done certainly left people scratching their heads. But that’s not all that happened this weekend.
So for any of you paying attention this weekend, there’s been a major shake up in the featherweight division. The UFC has decided to strip Conor McGregor of the featherweight title and upgrade the interim champion Jose Aldo to full fledged undisputed champ. It wasn’t that the move by the UFC was the wrong one, but the way it was done certainly left people scratching their heads. But that’s not all that happened this weekend.
So before we get into the main topic of the article, there’s no way I can simply gloss over the UFC Fight Night 100 main event clash between Robert Whitaker and Derek Brunson. It was a battle between two highly touted prospects who have a bright future ahead of them at middleweight, but as of now only one man is moving forward while the other has to return to the drawing board. The latter in this equation is mister Brunson who had a peculiar performance to say the least.
Brunson has been on a high as of late, finishing many of his opponents by knock out in the first round. He tried to continue that trend against a more polished counter striker in Whitaker who remained patient, survived a barrage of punches, then clipped Brunson with a well timed left hook. There’s no way to excuse it. Brunson was sloppy. His head was far forward past his front knee, a big no no in high level striking, and eventually was reaching for Whitaker with every punch. Brunson’s display of sloppy striking makes you wonder how he was able to get this far in the rankings. Brunson certainly has the skills to go far in the UFC, but at this level of the game you have to be patient and controlled with a game plan in order to reap success.
Switching gears, the UFC stripping Conor McGregor unceremoniously on a Fight Night card was pretty peculiar. Sure, the event may have had a good number of eyes on it, but it just seems so strange to randomly say “hey, by the way, Conor McGregor is no longer the champion at featherweight, Jose Aldo is now” will only have the effect of throwing people off. Yes, UFC 206 needed a big fight to replace Daniel Cormier versus Anthony Johnson. Yes, upping the stakes with a championship level match does make things more enticing. But even a small press conference or press release would have been more professional.
Now, we can argue whether or not McGregor should have been stripped of the 145 lbs belt, but at this point it’s fair to say that the masses expect a certain level of professionalism from the biggest mixed martial arts promotion in the world. It’s shoddy work to say the least and we expect more.
Do you think the UFC handled the Conor McGregor situation well?
Jonathan Salmon is a writer, martial arts instructor, and geek culture enthusiast. Check out his Twitter and Facebook to keep up with his antics.
Formerly surging middleweight Derek Brunson may have earned a $50,000 bonus for his part in last night’s “Fight of the Night”-winning slugfest with Robert Whittaker in the main event of UFC Fight Night 101 from the Rod Laver in Melbourne, Australia, but that isn’t much of a consolation prize for the veteran fighter. Suffering a
Formerly surging middleweight Derek Brunson may have earned a $50,000 bonus for his part in last night’s “Fight of the Night”-winning slugfest with Robert Whittaker in the main event of UFC Fight Night 101 from the Rod Laver in Melbourne, Australia, but that isn’t much of a consolation prize for the veteran fighter.
Suffering a first-round TKO due to a vicious onslaught of hands and feet from Whittaker, Brunson’s five-fight win streak came to a screeching halt in perhaps his most pivotal bout, and many are still wondering why he chose to rush in so carelessly winging power shots.
Brunson knows it wasn’t the most effective path to a win, revealing his thoughts at the UFC Fight Night 101 post-fight presser via Submission Radio:
Brunson admitted that he fought with ‘no gameplan’ and perhaps got caught up in the emotions of his winning streak:
“It definitely sucks. Put together a streak and worked really hard to. But when you come out here and fight with no gameplan, I looked like a chump out here tonight, but I take it on the chin, take it for what it’s worth. I know I’m better than I showed, this sport is growing and it’s about patience rather than getting caught up in, you know, five in a row, wanting a title shot, main event; but remembering to put on a great fight and also be smart.”
Asked about what prompted such a reckless performance, Brunson said the change of the fight from three rounds to a five-round main event may have played into how he fought, and also the obvious push for fighters to stop fights impressively lead to him looking for a huge stoppage:
“Yeah, it was the main event, you know? It was originally supposed to be three rounds, I fell into the whole, got impressed, we didn’t really prepare for five rounds. But I was in really good shape to go if we need to go. I was just relying more on the fact that, not looking past Whittaker because I know what was at stake, but just trying to impress because I know what this sport is about.”
The Jackson-Winkeljohn will now look to rebound in the talented 185-pound fray, and it would seem if he could only reign in his all-out aggression, he has the talent and experience to become a top contender.
Thanks to his admittedly careless effort last night, however, it’s Whittaker who is now on the very outside of the title picture.
