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The PFL 5 weigh-in results are in and we have one less fight. Tomorrow night (Aug. 2), PFL 5 goes down inside NYCB Live in Uniondale, New York. In the main event, Jason High will do battle with Natan Schulte. High steps in as a late replacement for Bri…
The PFL 5 weigh-in results are in and we have one less fight. Tomorrow night (Aug. 2), PFL 5 goes down inside NYCB Live in Uniondale, New York. In the main event, Jason High will do battle with Natan Schulte. High steps in as a late replacement for Brian Foster. Both men made weight with […]
The post PFL 5 Weigh-in Results: Efrain Escudero Has Another Scale Fail appeared first on MMA News.
Find out where your favorite The Ultimate Fighter winners are now:
The post Where Are They Now? The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) Winners appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.
With the UFC having now secured a new broadcasting deal with ESPN from 2019 onwards, Dana White recently admitted that ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ show may finally be on its way out after a 27season series run.
As such, now seems like a good time to take a look back at what has become of every single one of the long-running show’s 35 ‘Ultimate Fighter’ winners to date.
Find out what your favorite past winners of TUF are up to now:
Diego Sanchez
It’s a testament to Diego Sanchez’s durability that 13 years after winning TUF season 1 he remains the only fighter from that historic series to still be actively competing in the UFC, having amassed 27 fights (16-11) to date.
However, after suffering back-to-back first-round knockouts in his last two fights, it’s possible that the 36-year-old’s memorable career is now entering its final stages, though Sanchez has assured his fans that, “I’m not done yet.”
Forrest Griffin
Arguably TUF’s most iconic winner, Griffin’s fight with Stephan Bonner in the Season 1 finale was declared as the most important fight in UFC history by Dana White, while he’d also go on to win the light-heavyweight title too.
Griffin retired in 2013 at the age of 33 due to chronic injuries, but he’s since been inducted into the UFC’s Hall of Fame and now works for the UFC as their Vice President of Athletic Development.
The post Where Are They Now? The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) Winners appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.
Tucked away underneath UFC Fight Night: Broomfield’s main card was a battle between lightweights who were in search of a much-needed win.
Former The Ultimate Fighter Season 8 winner Efrain Escudero took on Brazilian submission machine Rodrigo “Mon…
Tucked away underneath UFC Fight Night: Broomfield’s main card was a battle between lightweights who were in search of a much-needed win.
Former The Ultimate Fighter Season 8 winner Efrain Escudero took on Brazilian submission machine Rodrigo “Monstro” de Lima in the main event of the preliminary card on Valentine’s Day. After a well-rounded showing, Escudero walked away from the 1stBank Center in Colorado with a lopsided unanimous-decision victory.
From the get-go, the Mexican native was in control. The 29-year-old stunned the larger De Lima twice in the first round.
Escudero applied continuous pressure in the second round and found the mark on several brutal shots to Monstro’s face when he pulled guard in desperation. The fighter from the MMA Lab withstood takedowns by De Lima in Rounds 1 and 3—while sprinkling in takedowns of his own—to secure his first UFC win since May 2010. Escudero expressed his appreciation to everyone supporting him on his “mission”:
The Arizona-based fighter also set the stage for what was an awe-inspiring main event comeback from teammate and former UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson. De Lima, who was making his 155-pound debut, drops to 0-2 in the Octagon.
Escudero didn’t capture a performance bonus for his Octagon onslaught but was every bit deserving for the improvements he made coming into his meeting with a ground specialist such as De Lima. Escudero told MMA Odds Breaker’s Frank Trigg ahead of the De Lima bout:
I started respecting these Brazilians way too much for their jiu-jitsu and stuff. Yes, they’re good. Yes, they’ve trained jiu-jitsu for a long time but at the end of the day it’s a fight. I’m a wrestler. I wrestled at the collegiate level. I’m able to know positions that will keep me away from submissions.
The former NJCAA All-American wrestler from Pima Community College had been submitted or lost a decision to four Brazilians in his mixed martial arts career. Escudero’s third Octagon stint began against Brazilian Leonardo Santos in September.
A slow start, coupled with an injury to his meniscus, cost him a win in his return.
His inability to impose his will first, throughout his UFC career, has been Escudero’s pitfall. His weakness has also been his shoddy takedown defense.
Escudero defends them at a paltry 66 percent, according to Fight Metric.
When you’re off balance and normally the aggressor as Escudero is, it’s hard to sprawl with your opponent. His ground defense is also suspect as he has failed to keep other lightweights in full-guard.
Escudero has allowed gritty grapplers such as Evan Dunham and Jacob Volkmann to make a total of nine passes while he had his back to the mat. Though De Lima made three passes in his guard, Escudero limited the amount of ground-and-pound he took.
The Brazilian could only muster up five ground strikes throughout the pair’s 15-minute exchange.
What also served Escudero well was that he connected first. He landed the first piece of memorable offense with a hard right that separated De Lima from his senses in the opening round.
From the first frame onward, Escudero tuned up the Brazilian and unleashed some vicious ground-and-pound in the later rounds. Over a third of the 94 significant strikes he landed came while he was in top control.
With the threat of being cut no longer looming over him, Escudero can now focus on shoring up his weaknesses. His win over De Lima illustrated marketed improvements in his submission defense and his striking.
“I believe in my hands. I’m a very heavy hitter,” Escudero told Sherdog.com post-fight. “For the longest time, I didn’t believe in myself. Everybody can start fast, but who can finish steady; that was the fight today.”
After being fed a litany of grapplers in the Octagon, it’s time the UFC did Escudero a solid favor and pit him against a powerful striker. Matchups with Diego Sanchez or the winner of the UFC 185 tilt between Sam Stout and Ross Pearson have Fight of the Night written all over them.
One more dominant showing may be all Escudero needs to continue his mission and see a top-15 ranked lightweight.
Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com
(Fight Pass shows only get the stock image treatment. / Photo via Getty)
You might not have noticed since all the other MMA sites were reporting about Floyd Mayweather Jr. tonight, but the UFC had an event on Fight Pass, UFC Fight Night 51.
Efrain Escudero made his (unsuccessful) return to the UFC against Leonardo Santos. Santos controlled the first round of the encounter. However, Escudero managed to drop Santos in the second with a right hand. It appeared to change the complexion of the fight as Santos became deflated and tired. In the third, Escudero was light on his feet and it looked like he’d pull away with the decision. This wasn’t meant to be. Santos found some source of inner strength (or Escudero stopped paying attention; who knows) and landed a huge takedown. From the takedown, he managed to take Escudero’s back and held the position until the round ended. This was enough to give Santos the unanimous decision victory.
Get the recaps for the other fights after the jump.
(Fight Pass shows only get the stock image treatment. / Photo via Getty)
UFC Fight Night 51 happened on Fight Pass tonight. You might not have noticed since all the other so-called “MMA” sites are too busy writing about Floyd Mayweather Jr. Ugh.
So was this event worth checking out? Kind of. When it becomes available for replay on Fight Pass, watch the main event. Despite that fight being the only one really worth watching on the main card, we recapped some other higher profile fights from the event.
Efrain Escudero made his (unsuccessful) return to the UFC against Leonardo Santos. Santos controlled the first round of the encounter. However, Escudero managed to drop Santos in the second with a right hand. It appeared to change the complexion of the fight as Santos became deflated and tired. In the third, Escudero was light on his feet and it looked like he’d pull away with the decision. This wasn’t meant to be. Santos found some source of inner strength (or Escudero stopped paying attention; who knows) and landed a huge takedown. From the takedown, he managed to take Escudero’s back and held the position until the round ended. This was enough to give Santos the unanimous decision victory.
In the co-main event, Gleison Tibau fought Piotr Hallman. Here’s a protip on this fight: Skip it. Tibau displayed his characteristic lack of conditioning. He torched his gas tank with a large flurry in the beginning. The rest of the fight was basically just non-stop clinching against the cage with zero activity. Hallman managed to cut Tibau with a knee to the head late in the third round. It didn’t matter though; Tibau got the decision because he spent more time pushing Hallman against the fence than Hallman spent pushing him against the fence. Even Jon Anik described this fight as “exhausting” to watch.
The main event: Andrei Arlovski took on Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva in a rematch of their Strikeforce bout from 2010. This time, Arlovski was the one who got his hand raised. The fight didn’t last long. Bigfoot was slow and plodding, Arlovski was agile and had much faster hands. Eventually, Arlovski tagged Bigfoot with an uppercut that dropped him flat on his ass. Arlovski pounced on Bigfoot and landed a series of hammer fists that put Bigfoot out cold. We’re hesitant to say Arlovski is “back” but he could be back.
Here are the complete results:
Main Card
Andrei Arlovski def. Antonio Silva via KO (punches), 2:59 of round 1.
Gleison Tibau def. Piotr Hallman via unanimous decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
Leonardo Santos def. Efrain Escudero unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28).
Santiago Ponzinibbio def. Wendell Oliveira via TKO (punches), 1:20 of round 1.
Iuri Alcântara def. Russell Doane via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28).
Jéssica Andrade def. Larissa Pacheco via submission (guillotine choke), 4:33 of round 1.
Preliminary Card
Godofredo Castro def. Dashon Johnson via submission (triangle armbar), 4:29 of round 1.
George Sullivan def. Igor Araújo via KO (punches), 2:31 of round 2.
Francisco Trinaldo def. Leandro Silva via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28).
Sean Spencer def. Paulo Thiago via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27).
Rani Yahya def. Johnny Bedford via submission (kimura), 2:04 of round 2.
(My memory’s not so good…this was the TUF 8 lightweight final, right?)
If you put together a list of the most successful Ultimate Fighter winners in the show’s history, TUF 8‘s Efrain Escudero would definitely not be on that list. “Hecho in Mexico” has already bounced out of the promotion twice: First in 2010 when he blew weight by four pounds before a submission loss to Charles Oliveria, then in 2012 when he suffered back-to-back decision losses to Jacob Volkmann and Mac Danzig.
MMAFighting reported yesterday that Escudero will have a third crack at Octagon success, as he’s been brought back to fight Francisco “Massaranduba” Trinaldo at UFC Fight Night 51: Bigfoot vs. Arlovski 2, September 13th in Brasilia, Brazil. Trinaldo is a TUF Brazil 1 vet with a 4-3 official record in the UFC. He last competed at UFC 173, where he was dominated by Michael Chiesa en route to a decision loss.
Escudero most recently competed in May, where he TKO’d a person named Juha-Pekka Vainikainen in Sweden to win Superior Challenge’s lightweight belt. Before that, he lost a decision to former film-actor Dakota Cochrane, a guy who couldn’t even make it into the house on The Ultimate Fighter: Live. In other words, Escudero is currently riding a one-fight win streak.
The UFC needs as many warm bodies as it can get these days, which might explain Escudero’s new UFC contract. Will the re-signing of Travis Lutter be far behind? (Yes, yes, I know Lutter is retired, but I just couldn’t resist making a joke that lazy.)
(My memory’s not so good…this was the TUF 8 lightweight final, right?)
If you put together a list of the most successful Ultimate Fighter winners in the show’s history, TUF 8‘s Efrain Escudero would definitely not be on that list. “Hecho in Mexico” has already bounced out of the promotion twice: First in 2010 when he blew weight by four pounds before a submission loss to Charles Oliveria, then in 2012 when he suffered back-to-back decision losses to Jacob Volkmann and Mac Danzig.
MMAFighting reported yesterday that Escudero will have a third crack at Octagon success, as he’s been brought back to fight Francisco “Massaranduba” Trinaldo at UFC Fight Night 51: Bigfoot vs. Arlovski 2, September 13th in Brasilia, Brazil. Trinaldo is a TUF Brazil 1 vet with a 4-3 official record in the UFC. He last competed at UFC 173, where he was dominated by Michael Chiesa en route to a decision loss.
Escudero most recently competed in May, where he TKO’d a person named Juha-Pekka Vainikainen in Sweden to win Superior Challenge’s lightweight belt. Before that, he lost a decision to former film-actor Dakota Cochrane, a guy who couldn’t even make it into the house on The Ultimate Fighter: Live. In other words, Escudero is currently riding a one-fight win streak.
The UFC needs as many warm bodies as it can get these days, which might explain Escudero’s new UFC contract. Will the re-signing of Travis Lutter be far behind? (Yes, yes, I know Lutter is retired, but I just couldn’t resist making a joke that lazy.)
(We’ll give “The Robot” this, he never left a *victory* in the hands of the judges.)
Of all the fighters to be kept around by the UFC for longer than they should have, the story of Steve Cantwell‘s inexplicably long run with the promotion is perhaps the most confounding. That is not a knock on Mr. Cantwell, but more of a general observation. After defeating Brian Stann at WEC 35 to win the WEC’s last Light Heavyweight championship (not to mention a bit of redemption), Cantwell kicked off his UFC career in memorable fashion, snapping Razak Al-Hassan’s arm and then gloating over it like a serial killer at UFC: Fight for the Troops back in December of 2008. Unfortunately for “The Robot,” the win would be both his first and last while under the UFC banner.
Cantwell’s next fight would be an entertaining three round kickboxing match with Luiz Cane, a fellow light heavyweight prospect who has fallen on hard times as of late, at UFC 97. It was shortly thereafter where those following Cantwell (including Joe Rogan) began to notice a change in Cantwell’s character, at least when he stepped into the ring. His next four losses, which came to Brian Stann, Cyrille Diabate, Mike Massenzio, and Riki Fukuda, respectively, were marked by an all but total lack of striking defense on Cantwell’s part, who seemed as if he was literally trying to absorb as much damage as possible en route to defeat. All four of those losses came by way of unanimous decision, and all four would see Cantwell fail to engage with any sense of urgency on the feet while having his face put through a meat grinder in the process. None of his fights were incredibly memorable, and most of them took place on the undercard, yet Cantwell stuck around for as long as he possibly could.
Like we said, we’re not here to kick a man while he’s down, but rather to wish him the best at wherever he may land in the future. We just wish we could have seen a little more of that sociopathic fire in his eyes over the last couple years.
News of Cantwell’s release comes amidst a plethora of UFC firings, the complete list of which awaits you after the jump.
(We’ll give “The Robot” this, he never left a *victory* in the hands of the judges.)
Of all the fighters to be kept around by the UFC for longer than they should have, the story of Steve Cantwell‘s inexplicably long run with the promotion is perhaps the most confounding. That is not a knock on Mr. Cantwell, but more of a general observation. After defeating Brian Stann at WEC 35 to win the WEC’s last Light Heavyweight championship (not to mention a bit of redemption), Cantwell kicked off his UFC career in memorable fashion, snapping Razak Al-Hassan‘s arm and then gloating over it like a serial killer at UFC: Fight for the Troops back in December of 2008. Unfortunately for “The Robot,” the win would be both his first and last while under the UFC banner.
Cantwell’s next fight would be an entertaining three round kickboxing match with Luiz Cane, a fellow light heavyweight prospect who has fallen on hard times as of late, at UFC 97. It was shortly thereafter where those following Cantwell (including Joe Rogan) began to notice a change in Cantwell’s character, at least when he stepped into the ring. His next four losses, which came to Brian Stann, Cyrille Diabate, Mike Massenzio, and Riki Fukuda, respectively, were marked by an all but total lack of striking defense on Cantwell’s part, who seemed as if he was literally trying to absorb as much damage as possible en route to defeat. All four of those losses came by way of unanimous decision, and all four would see Cantwell fail to engage with any sense of urgency on the feet while having his face put through a meat grinder in the process. None of his fights were incredibly memorable, and most of them took place on the undercard, yet Cantwell stuck around for as long as he possibly could.
Like we said, we’re not here to kick a man while he’s down, but rather to wish him the best at wherever he may land in the future. We just wish we could have seen a little more of that sociopathic fire in his eyes over the last couple years.
News of Cantwell’s release comes amidst a plethora of UFC firings, the complete list of which is below.
Dongi Yang: 1-3 in his UFC career, “The Ox” is on the heels a unanimous decision loss to Brad Tavares at UFC on FUEL: Zombie vs. Poirier, his second straight UD loss in a row. Following his octagon debut (a split decision loss to Chris Camozzi), Yang picked up his lone win in the octagon by way of third round TKO over fellow UFC washout Rob Kimmons. Prior to his fight with Tavares, Yang was bested by TUF 11 winner Court McGee at UFN 25.
Efrain Escudero: This makes for the TUF 8 winner’s second failed run inside the octagon. Escudero was first released after showing up four pounds heavy for his UFN 22 bout with Charles Oliveira, a match he would subsequently lose by third round submission (rear-naked choke). After going 5-1 in various promotions, including a quick submission (guillotine) over Cesar Avila at Bellator 55, Escudero was called back to the UFC as a late injury replacement for T.J. Grant against Jacob Volkmann at UFC 141. He would be thoroughly outgrappled by Volkmann en route to a tedious UD, and would drop a follow up contest to TUF 6 winner Mac Danzig at UFC 145 last April.
Aaron Rosa – Compiling a 1-2 record in his UFC career, Rosa sandwiched a plodding majority win over Matt Lucas at the inaugural UFC on FOX event between a third round TKO loss in an entertaining slugfest with Joey Beltran at UFC 131 and a devastating first round TKO at the hands of James Te Huna in March.
Also rumored, but not yet confirmed to have been released are:
-Alex Soto (0-2, with losses to Michael McDonald and Francisco Rivera)
-Eric Wisely (0-2, with losses to Charles Oliveira and Jason Young)
–Mike Massenzio (3-5, with last two losses coming to Rousimar Palhares ((via death)) and Karlos Vemola ((via McDonalds black-belt))
