Max Holloway may have some Hawaiian company on the UFC 211 card in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in June, according to Yancy Medeiros. Featherweight Yancy Medeiros reportedly told Hawaii’s KHON-TV that he is set to appear on the UFC 212 card against Brazilian Erick Silva, however, this has yet to be officially announced by promotion […]
Max Holloway may have some Hawaiian company on the UFC 211 card in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in June, according to Yancy Medeiros. Featherweight Yancy Medeiros reportedly told Hawaii’s KHON-TV that he is set to appear on the UFC 212 card against Brazilian Erick Silva, however, this has yet to be officially announced by promotion […]
UFC Fight Night 95 emanated tonight (September 24, 2016) from Ginasio Nilson Nelson in Brasilia, Brazil. The main event went off as planned, as Cris ‘Cyborg’ Justino took care of business by mauling UFC newcomer Lina Lansberg. The former Muay Thai world champion never had a chance to get going. The physically imposing ‘Cyborg’ went
UFC Fight Night 95 emanated tonight (September 24, 2016) from Ginasio Nilson Nelson in Brasilia, Brazil. The main event went off as planned, as Cris ‘Cyborg’ Justino took care of business by mauling UFC newcomer Lina Lansberg. The former Muay Thai world champion never had a chance to get going. The physically imposing ‘Cyborg’ went to work right away, but it took her until the second round to get Lansberg out of there. No bonus money would be coming her way, though.
That would go to Erick Silva and Luan Chagas for their Fight of the Night, and Eric Spicely and Vicente Luque with their Performances of the Night.
Silva and Chagas engaged in an all-out brawl for the better part of three rounds before Silva sealed the deal with a rear-naked choke in the final frame. Chagas had Silva hurt early and dropped him multiple times during their scrap. But Silva had success on the ground, taking Chagas’ back on several occasions. He ultimately snatched dominant position in a scramble and sunk in the choke almost immediately. For their efforts, both men banked an extra $50,000.
Vicente Luque won his bonus with his jaw-dropping knockout of Hector Urbina in the first round of the preliminary matchup. The heavy favorite delivered for those backing him financially. As the two slugged it out in the pocket, the crisper Luque just out the lights on Urbina with a flush right to the jaw. Urbina collapsed in a heap at the base of the cage, his leg folded grotesquely beneath him.
Spicely took home the other $50,000 Performance of the Night bonus in another fight with a wide line. This time, though, the underdog came through in a big way. ‘The Dream Catcher’ squared off with #15 ranked Thiago Santos. Spicely, meanwhile, had lost his only UFC fight. ‘Marreta’ would have a massive advantage in the standup, and most fans and pundits picked him to brutalize Spicely with kicks for as long as the fight lasted. But the American was able to drag Santos into his world, the ground game, several times before finishing it with a rear-naked choke in the very first round.
Stay tuned to LowKickMMA for more UFC Fight Night Brasilia post-fight coverage.
Fight Night 62 was one of those cards that, while appearing just abysmal on paper, actually turned out to be a rather entertaining affair. I mean, sure, the main card broadcast dragged along at it’s typical sloth-like pace — something that the UFC desperately needs to change but sadly never will — and the main event wasn’t exactly the kind of barnburner we’ve come to expect from a Demian Maia fight (sarcasm), but Fight Night 62 more than made up for its lack of name power with exciting finishes. It was also a card that signaled the (competitive) end of at least two MMA careers and the possible resurgence of another, so join us after the jump for a full breakdown of what went down in Rio over the weekend.
(Photo via Getty.)
Fight Night 62 was one of those cards that, while appearing just abysmal on paper, actually turned out to be a rather entertaining affair. I mean, sure, the main card broadcast dragged along at it’s typical sloth-like pace — something that the UFC desperately needs to change but sadly never will — and the main event wasn’t exactly the kind of barnburner we’ve come to expect from a Demian Maia fight (sarcasm), but Fight Night 62 more than made up for its lack of name power with exciting finishes. It was also a card that signaled the (competitive) end of at least two MMA careers and the possible resurgence of another, so join us after the jump for a full breakdown of what went down in Rio over the weekend.
Let’s start things off a little off the beaten path, by awarding our official GIF-Worthy Finish of the Night (GWFotN) to Fredy Serrano, who kicked off Fight Night 62 in style by absolutely starching Bentley Syler with an uppercut in the second round.
Really, the entire undercard was a veritable potpourri of violence and terrible reffing decisions, as we’ve come to expect more and more with each UFC card. Take for instance, the second fight of the night, in which Christos Giagos submitted Jorge de Oliveira with a rear-naked choke in the first round. Yet despite the fact that Oliveira CLEARLY tapped, I don’t know, 6 times? And despite the fact that referee Eduardo Hely was in no way obstructed from seeing this tap, he allowed Giagos to continue choking Oliveira for a few more completely unnecessary seconds. You can check out a gif of that absolute bullshit here.
Speaking of absolute bullshit and/or Eduardo Hely, I’m sure that you’ve already heard by now of the Drew Dober-Leandro Silva fight, which resulted in what might just be the worst stoppage in UFC history. I…I can’t even begin to explain what the Hell was going through Hely’s mind on this one, so let’s just watch the gif and angrily spit out leftover Chinese food on our computer monitors.
I swear to God, it’s like MMA refs are doing their damndest in recent weeks to make MMA judges look like the more competent of the two. For what it’s worth, Dober was given his win bonus that night, and Eduardo Hely will likely face no action of consequence for his horrendous night at bat.
Let’s move onto the main card, wherein Godofredo Pepey continued his improbable (and incredibly flashy) run of finishes with a slick flying triangle over the heavily-favored Andrey Fili. The Team Alpha Male stud was impressive early, peppering Pepey with quick shots and generally out moving him, but as soon as he entered the clinch game with the TUF Brazil runner-up, disaster struck. Pepey used the cage to leap into a flying triangle, which he then worked for next minute or so until Fili finally gave in. It marked the third straight highlight reel finish (and performance bonus) for Pepey, who is quickly rocketing up the featherweight rankings.
I suppose I could talk to you about Gilbert Burns’ hail mary armbar over late replacement opponent Alex Oliveira, or Leonardo Santos’ second round sub of Tony Martin, but really, I want to talk about two fighters who looked in need of a Joe Rogan Career Assessment: Josh Koscheck and Shayna Baszler.
The former faced a quick turnaround against Erick Silva on Saturday following his second round submission loss to Jake Ellenberger at UFC 184. For those hoping a fight against a young gun would light a fire under the longtime UFC veteran’s keester, you were right. For about 30 seconds. Though he came out aggressive early, Koscheck — as he did against Ellenberger — went into retreat mode once he felt the power of his opponent. After eating a couple shots along the fence, you could practically see the confidence start to drain from the veteran as Silva took him down and locked in a fight-ending guillotine choke. Koscheck has now lost his past 5 fights in a row, and retirement seems imminent.
Baszler, on the other hand, has looked less and less effective with each passing fight. She has secured exactly 1 victory since 2010, and had less to offer Amanda Nunes than she did Bethe Correia or Julianna Pena in her only other UFC appearances (one of which was on TUF 18, but you get what I’m saying) before succumbing to a leg kick TKO in the first round. A pioneer of WMMA she may be, but Baszler’s time as a top-level fighter has clearly passed her by, and we just hope that either she or the UFC are able to recognize this.
Which brings us to the main event of the evening. In what was similarly being billed as a passing of the guard fight from Demian Maia to Ryan LaFlare, the former utterly dominated the latter with takedowns and top control for four straight rounds. Most noticeable during the fight was the 37 year old Maia’s much-improved wrestling and sweep skills, which left LaFlare looking like an overmatched grappling partner desperate searching for a lifeline. It was a fight that was supposed to announce LaFlare’s arrival into the welterweight top 10, yet ended up being one that Demian Maia proved that he’s still got something left in the gas tank (metaphorically speaking of course, as Maia was absolutely torched by the fifth round). How much exactly remains to be seen.
Full results for Fight Night 62 are below.
Main Card (on FOX Sports 1)
Demian Maia def. Ryan LaFlare by unanimous decision
Erick Silva def. Josh Koscheck by submission (guillotine choke) at 4:21, R1
Leonardo Santos def. Tony Martin by submission (rear-naked choke) at 2:29, R2
Amanda Nunes def. Shayna Baszler by TKO (leg kicks) at 1:56, R1
Gilbert Burns def. Alex Oliveira by submission (arm bar) at 4:14, R3
Godofredo Pepey def. Andre Fili by submission (triangle choke) at 3:14, R1
Preliminary Card
Francisco Trinaldo def. Akbarh Arreola by unanimous decision
Kevin Souza def. Katsunori Kikuno by KO at 1:31, R1
Leandro “Buscape” Silva def. Drew Dober by submission (guillotine choke) at 2:45, R2
Leonardo Mafra Teixeira def. Cain Carrizosa by unanimous decision
Christos Giagos def. Jorge de Oliveira by submission (rear-naked choke) at 3:12, R1
Fredy Serrano def. Bentley Syler by KO at 1:34, R3
Machida ran through Dollaway like Grant took Richmond. Seriously, the fight was reminiscent of Machida’s 2012 performance against Ryan Bader but even more devastating and one-sided. After being hit with a body kick from Machida, Dollaway recoiled back to the cage and turtled. Machida followed up with vicious strikes. Dollaway crumpled to the mat. The fight was over before it started.
See Renan Barao choke out Mitch Gagnon after the jump.
Sick of watching the same NOS and Metro PCS commercials 4,000 times just to watch one or two good fights on a Fox Sports 1 card?
Machida ran through Dollaway like Grant took Richmond. Seriously, the fight was reminiscent of Machida’s 2012 performance against Ryan Bader but even more devastating and one-sided. After being hit with a body kick from Machida, Dollaway recoiled back to the cage and turtled. Machida followed up with vicious strikes. Dollaway crumpled to the mat. The fight was over before it started.
Mitch Gagnon fought more competitively against Renan Barao despite losing. Barao seemed sluggish in the first round and a half, not steamrolling over Gagnon like many (including us) expected. However, Barao’s fighting acumen snowballed as the contest dragged on, culminating in a third-round submission victory via arm-triangle choke. A good win, but Barao will need to show up about 20x better if he’s going to avenge his loss to bantamweight champ TJ Dillashaw.
Oh, and by the way, the UFC announced they resigned Quinton “Rampage” Jackson during the fight card. We’re not kidding, though we wish we were. Read more here.
The fight card’s complete results are below:
Main Card
Lyoto Machida def. C.B. Dollaway via TKO (kick and punches) (1st, 1:02).
Renan Barao def. Mitch Gagnon via submission (arm triangle) (3rd, 3:53).
Patrick Cummins def. Antonio Carlos Junior via unanimous decision (30-27 x3).
Rashid Magomedov def. Elias Silverio via TKO (punches) (3rd, 4:57).
Erick Silva def. Mike Rhodes via submission (arm triangle) (1st, 1:15).
Daniel Sarafian def. Antonio dos Santos Jr. via TKO (finger injury) (2nd, 1:01).
Preliminary Card
Marcos Rogerio de Lima def. Igor Pokrajac via TKO (punches) (1st, 1:59).
Renato Carneiro def. Tom Niinimaki via submission (rear-naked choke) (2nd, 3:30).
Hacran Dias def. Darren Elkins via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27).
Leandro Issa def. Yuta Sasaki via submission (neck crank) (2nd, 4:13).
Tim Means def. Marcio Alexandre via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Vitor Miranda def. Jake Collier via knockout (head kick and punches), (1st, 4:55)
It’s the halfway-ish point of the year, which means that we are a mere six or so months away from handing out our annual Potato Awards in categories such as “MMA Fail of the Year”, “Media Shill of the Year”, and the always coveted “Krazy Horse Bennett Arrest of the Year.” But because you Taters have been good this year, we’re going to allow you to open one present early: Our definitive ranking of the best UFC brawls of the year, so far.
It’s been a rocky year for the UFC, to say the absolute least. Pay-per-view numbers are tanking, fan interest is waning due to market oversaturation, and even the promotion’s new video game has been plagued by (albeit hilarious) technical issues. But the great thing about the UFC/MMA in general is that all can be forgiven with a few great fights, and these 10 brawls are undoubtedly the kernels of corn hidden amongst the soggy floor-turds that the UFC has been shitting out this year.
To repeat: This list is only dedicated to the best *brawls* of the year, which implies a fight in which both participants take their fare share of licks. TJ Dillashaw vs. Renan Barao was a one-sided beatdown, albeit a brilliant one-sided beatdown, and therefore bears no mention here. Except that I just mentioned it. God damn it.
Let’s just get to the top 10 brawls of the year, nearly all of which contain links to full fight videos for your viewing pleasure…
#10 — Kevin Souza vs Mark Eddiva: TUF Brazil 3 Finale (Check out Souza vs. Eddiva in its entirety here.)
A classic example of two guys with more heart than brains (or defensive capabilities) leaving it all in the octagon, Kevin Souza vs. Mark Eddiva opened up the FS1 prelims for the TUF Brazil Finale in a huge way.
Watching Souza vs. Eddiva was kind of like watching two women play Tekken for the very first time, in that both fighters only seemed to understand how one button on their controllers worked — for Eddiva it was leg kicks, for Souza it was the overhand right. These two techniques were traded with absolutely zero setup for two highly entertaining rounds, earning both men a $50,000 “Fight of the Night’ bonus in an evening of otherwise unmemorable decisions and memorable-for-all-the-wrong-ways squash matches. It was Souza, however, who walked away from the fight victorious via an always rare standing TKO.
It’s the halfway-ish point of the year, which means that we are a mere six or so months away from handing out our annual Potato Awards in categories such as “MMA Fail of the Year”, “Media Shill of the Year”, and the always coveted “Krazy Horse Bennett Arrest of the Year.” But because you Taters have been good this year, we’re going to allow you to open one present early: Our definitive ranking of the best UFC brawls of the year, so far.
It’s been a rocky year for the UFC, to say the absolute least. Pay-per-view numbers are tanking, fan interest is waning due to market oversaturation, and even the promotion’s new video game has been plagued by (albeit hilarious) technical issues. But the great thing about the UFC/MMA in general is that all can be forgiven with a few great fights, and these 10 brawls are undoubtedly the kernels of corn hidden amongst the soggy floor-turds that the UFC has been shitting out this year.
To repeat: This list is only dedicated to the best *brawls* of the year, which implies a fight in which both participants take their fare share of licks. TJ Dillashaw vs. Renan Barao was a one-sided beatdown, albeit a brilliant one-sided beatdown, and therefore bears no mention here. Except that I just mentioned it. God damn it.
Let’s just get to the top 10 brawls of the year, nearly all of which contain links to full fight videos for your viewing pleasure…
#10 – Kevin Souza vs Mark Eddiva: TUF Brazil 3 Finale (Check out Souza vs. Eddiva in its entirety here.)
A classic example of two guys with more heart than brains (or defensive capabilities) leaving it all in the octagon, Kevin Souza vs. Mark Eddiva opened up the FS1 prelims for the TUF Brazil Finale in a huge way.
Watching Souza vs. Eddiva was kind of like watching two women play Tekken for the very first time, in that both fighters only seemed to understand how one button on their controllers worked — for Eddiva it was leg kicks, for Souza it was the overhand right. These two techniques were traded with absolutely zero setup for two highly entertaining rounds, earning both men a $50,000 “Fight of the Night’ bonus in an evening of otherwise unmemorable decisions and memorable-for-all-the-wrong-ways squash matches. It was Souza, however, who walked away from the fight victorious via an always rare standing TKO.
#9 — Yui Chul Nam vs. Kazuki Tokudome: Fight Night 37
The utter ass-whooping that Kazuki Tokudome suffered in the first round of his fight with Yui Chul Nam at Fight Night 37 was comparable only to Maynard-Edgar 1 in terms of its lopsidedness. From the opening bell, Nam blitzkrieged Tokudome with big right hands both in the clinch and on the break, wobbling his Japanese counterpart multiple times in the process. Had Tokudome been that one French guy from TUF 11, he would have surely quit on his stool between rounds.
But as was the case in Maynard-Edgar 1, the second round told a different story entirely. Tokudome scored a huge double leg takedown in the opening stanza, then utilized some heavy top control to peck away at the South Korean with short shots from above. While not able to inflict nearly as much damage on his opponent as he received in the first round, Tokudome arguably earned a 10-8 of his own in the second thanks to his complete positional dominance. “Askrening”, I believe it’s called.
The first half of the third round was much of the same for Tokudome, who despite having both his eyes nearly swollen shut by the strikes of Nam, continued to dominate with top control. But you can never keep a good Nam down, as they say. “The Korean Bulldozer” (awesome nickname, BTW) was eventually able to reverse the position and secure a takedown of his own, which was apparently all he needed to earn a split decision win.
(Erick Silva trots out everyone’s favorite cat meme prior to his main event scrap with Matt Brown. Photo via Getty)
Last weekend’s Fight Night 40 card “brought the ruckus,” to put it in scientific terms. With 7 (T)KO finishes, 8 underdog victories, and a main event brawl for the ages, the event continued to carry the momentum provided by UFC 172 and ease the worries of MMA fans who might have grown complacent with the UFC’s somewhat underwhelming product in 2014 thus far.
The figures for Fight Night 40, however, are what we’ve come to expect of a Fight Night event; only five guys cleared more than $40,000 (in disclosed salary, at least), and three poor bastards walked away with less than 10k for their troubles. I guess my cries for a $20,000 minimum payout per fight are still going unheard, despite my neighbors incessant noise complaints and threats to cut out my tongue if I don’t stop shouting off my porch.
The full list of salaries, along with our thoughtless and borderline incomprehensible analysis, is after the jump.
(Erick Silva trots out everyone’s favorite cat meme prior to his main event scrap with Matt Brown. Photo via Getty)
Last weekend’s Fight Night 40 card “brought the ruckus,” to put it in scientific terms. With 7 (T)KO finishes, 8 underdog victories, and a main event brawl for the ages, the event continued to carry the momentum provided by UFC 172 and ease the worries of MMA fans who might have grown complacent with the UFC’s somewhat underwhelming product in 2014 thus far.
The figures for Fight Night 40, however, are what we’ve come to expect of a Fight Night event; only five guys cleared more than $40,000 (in disclosed salary, at least), and three poor bastards walked away with less than 10k for their troubles. I guess my cries for a $20,000 minimum payout per fight are still going unheard, despite my neighbors incessant noise complaints and threats to cut out my tongue if I don’t stop shouting off my porch.
The full list of salaries, along with our thoughtless and borderline incomprehensible analysis, is after the jump.
Matt Brown: $182,000 (includes $41,000 win bonus, $50,000 FOTN bonus, and $50,000 POTN bonus) def. Erick Silva: $72,000 (includes $50,000 FOTN bonus) Costas Philippou: $46,000 (includes $23,000 win bonus) def. Lorenz Larkin: $28,000 Daron Cruickshank: $24,000 (includes $12,000 win bonus) def. Erik Koch: $18,000 Neil Magny: $20,000 (includes $10,000 win bonus) def. Tim Means: $10,000 Soa Palelei: $32,000 (includes $16,000 win bonus) def. Ruan Potts: $10,000 Chris Cariaso: $42,000 (includes $21,000 win bonus) def. Louis Smolka: $10,000 Ed Herman: $80,000 (includes $40,000 win bonus) def. Rafael Natal: $26,000 Kyoji Horoguchi: $20,000 (includes $10,000 win bonus) def. Darrel Montague: $8,000 Zak Cummings: $16,000 (includes $8,000 win bonus) def. Yan Cabral: $10,000 Johnny Eduardo: $66,000 (includes $8,000 win bonus, $50,000 POTN bonus) def. Eddie Wineland: $21,000 Nik Lentz: $58,000 (includes $29,000 win bonus) def. Manvel Gamburyan: $25,000 Justin Salas: $24,000 (includes $12,000 win bonus) def. Ben Wall: $8,000 Albert Tumenov: $16,000 (includes $8,000 win bonus) def. Anthony Lapsley: $8,000
Overpaid: I’m not saying he’s overpaid, I’m just surprised that Ed Herman is making 40k to show at 2-2 1 NC in his past 5 fights. Then again, the man’s been fighting in the UFC since 2006 and was sacrificed to Ronaldo Souza at the final Strikeforce event, so it’d be hard to say he hasn’t earned his payrate.
Underpaid: Daron Cruickshank has quickly become one of the most reliable fighters in the UFC from an excitement perspective, yet he’s gone almost completely uncompensated for it. He’s scored three victories via brutal head kicks and just smoked former #1 contender Erik Koch in the first round, yet a quick gander over his Wiki page reveals not one performance bonus to be found. At just $12,000 to show, let’s pray that “The Detroit Superstar” is earning some sweet locker room bonuses to justify that abysmal payday. Then again, considering a house costs about as much as Casio wrist watch in his hometown, maybe he make that $24,000 stretch a long way.
Related: Johnny Eduardo was suspended 30 days for “unsportsmanlike conduct” following his upset victory over Eddie Wineland, which makes one wonder what the hell a 30 day suspension is even suppose to accomplish in a sport where fighters regularly go 4 months between fights.
