(Jeez Hendo, we turn around for two seconds and you’re already back on the Cowboy Cerrone diet?!)
Thanks to Lyoto Machida‘s shocking and untimely admission to using banned substances, Dan Henderson has found himself without a dance partner for this weekend’s UFC on FOX 19 card and appears none to pleased about it. The 45-year-old is on the heels of a quick KO loss to Vitor Belfort — his third such loss in his past six fights — but is apparently still hankering to lose a few more brain cells in as timely a fashion as possible.
With most of the middleweight division already tied up, Henderson’s options for a short-notice brain cell removal artist were extremely limited. Thankfully, the UFC went and found Hendo an opponent who not only tested positive for banned substances in recent history, but could knock more than a few brain cells loose if he so desired: Hector Lombard. It’s a win-win for everyone!
(Jeez Hendo, we turn around for two seconds and you’re already back on the Cowboy Cerrone diet?!)
Thanks to Lyoto Machida‘s shocking and untimely admission to using banned substances, Dan Henderson has found himself without a dance partner for this weekend’s UFC on FOX 19 card and appears none to pleased about it. The 45-year-old is on the heels of a quick KO loss to Vitor Belfort — his third such loss in his past six fights — but is apparently still hankering to lose a few more brain cells in as timely a fashion as possible.
With most of the middleweight division already tied up, Henderson’s options for a short-notice brain cell removal artist were extremely limited. Thankfully, the UFC went and found Hendo an opponent who not only tested positive for banned substances in recent history, but could knock more than a few brain cells loose if he so desired: Hector Lombard. It’s a win-win for everyone!
According to a report published on Sherdog, Henderson has been booked against the former Bellator champion in a middleweight matchup that has “concussion” written all over it. But likely because Lombard would not be able to make his massive cut to 185 on just a few days notice, the fight has been moved from UFC on FOX 19 to UFC 199: Rockhold vs. Weidman II in June.
While not necessarily a “must-win” scenario for Lombard, the fight does come on the heels of a third round TKO loss to Neil Magny last month and a positive test for anabolic steroids in his fight before that. As for Henderson, well, it’s even harder to say. The former Pride and Strikeforce champion has dropped three of his past four fight and six of his past eight but is showing no signs of slowing down (you know, except for his reaction time, offensive output, and lateral movement), so who knows how long he’ll be sticking around for.
Henderson vs. Lombard is one of those fights where a win doesn’t exactly do a lot for either fighter in terms of their divisions (especially with Lombard fighting at welterweight these days), but it’s still a pretty intriguing matchup, all things considered. Who ya got?
(Wait, the same people who designed this travesty are capable of making this? AIN’T. BUYING. IT.) Regardless of how we all felt when rumors first started swirling that the UFC would be booking an immediate rematch between Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz for UFC 200, the one thing we could all agree is that we […]
(Wait, the same people who designed this travesty are capable of making this? AIN’T. BUYING. IT.)
Regardless of how we all felt when rumors first started swirling that the UFC would be booking an immediate rematch between Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz for UFC 200, the one thing we could all agree is that we WOULD TOTALLY WATCH THAT SH*T AGAIN. Whether the fight was contested at welterweight, lightweight, Franklinweight, or Moneyweight, there wasn’t a red-blooded MMA fan alive that wouldn’t fork over sixty bucks or the password to the illegal streaming website with which they watch all pay-per-views to see this rematch.
As such, the UFC announced this morning that a welterweight rematch between McGregor vs. Diaz II would in fact be headlining UFC 200. But that’s not all, not by a long shot…
Also revealed to be on tap for UFC 200, if you can believe it, are the following fights:
1) Frankie Edgar vs. Jose Aldo II (for the interim featherweight title) – Yes, while the featherweight champion continues his quest to become a welterweight contender, the man whose four year reign he ended will begin picking up the pieces by rematching the former lightweight champion at featherweight. Crazy times, these are. Anyways, Aldo and Edgar will do battle once again with the interim featherweight title on the line, with the winner receiving the next shot against McGregor whenever he feels like rejoining the 145 pound division.
3) Johny Hendricks vs. Kelvin Gastelum– In a battle of guys juuuust a bit too heavy to make 170, former welterweight champion Johny Hendricks will take on TUF 17 winner Kelvin Gastelum. The former is on the heels of a devastating first round KO loss to Stephen Thompson last month, while the latter faced a recent setback of his own in the form of a split decision loss to late replacement opponent Neil Magny. The odds on this thing making it past the weigh-ins? 20-to-1.
4) Diego Sanchez vs. Joe Lauzon– Hot off his first legitimate win in the past six years, Diego “The Nightmare Within a Dream Within a Nightmare” Sanchez will face lightweight staple and bonus king Joe Lauzon, who has dropped two out of his past three fights to Evan Dunham and Al Iaquinta. These two were originally scheduled to meet at UFC 180 until injuries saw them bothremoved from the card.
5) Takanori Gomi vs. Jim Miller– In what is likely a “loser leaves town” match for both veterans, “The Fireball Kid” will look to rebound from back-to-back TKO losses to Myles Jury and Joe Lauzon against Miller, who himself has dropped two straight to Michael Chiesa and Diego Sanchez.
6) Sage Northcutt vs. Enrique Marin – After suffering the first loss of his professional career to Bryan Barberena, everybody’s favorite front-flipping wonderkid has been booked to face Enrique “Wasabi” Marin, a relative unknown who dropped his UFC debut to Erick Montano at Fight Night 87 in November of last year.
6) Gegard Mousasi vs. Derek Brunson – This one was announced earlier this month, but since we don’t cover really cover fight bookings anymore, we’ll just include it here. The former Strikeforce champion is coming off a decision win over Thales Leites in the co-feature bout of UFC Fight Night 84 on Feb. 27, while the former Strikeforce competitor has rattled off four straight victories including a recent KO of Roan Carneiro at Fight Night: Cowboy vs. Cowboy last month.
Also being rumored for UFC 200 is the long-awaited return of women’s bantamweight title challenger Cat Zingano. While the fight hasn’t been made official yet, Zingano is reportedly expected to face TUF 18 winner Julianna Pena in an undercard bout. Our advice for Cat? Protect your balls.
Suffice it to say, UFC 200 is shaping up to be not only one the best card of the year, but one of the best in UFC history. We’ll be sure to keep you updated as it is inevitably torn apart by injury…
Welterweight Tim Means might be best known for once getting KO’d by a sauna, but it turns out that he’s actually a pretty talented fighter in his own right (and boasts one of the best nicknames in the game to boot). Since returning to the UFC in 2014, “The Dirty Bird” has put together a respectable 5-2 record, with wins over TUF 19 finalist Dhiego Lima and George Sullivan among others.
Fresh off a second round starching of John Howard at Fight Night 80 in December, Means was set to welcome Donald Cerrone to the welterweight division at Fight Night 83 later this month in a fight that had “fireworks” written all over it. Unfortunately for us, Means’ recent out-of-competition test happened to have FAILURE written all over it as well, resulting in “The Dirty Bird” being pulled from the card and yet another main event being placed in jeopardy.
Welterweight Tim Means might be best known for once getting KO’d by a sauna, but it turns out that he’s actually a pretty talented fighter in his own right (and boasts one of the best nicknames in the game to boot). Since returning to the UFC in 2014, “The Dirty Bird” has put together a respectable 5-2 record, with wins over TUF 19 finalist Dhiego Lima and George Sullivan among others.
Fresh off a second round starching of John Howard at Fight Night 80 in December, Means was set to welcome Donald Cerrone to the welterweight division at Fight Night 83 later this month in a fight that had “fireworks” written all over it. Unfortunately for us, Means’ recent out-of-competition test happened to have FAILURE written all over it as well, resulting in “The Dirty Bird” being pulled from the card and yet another main event being placed in jeopardy.
The news of Means’ positive test broke earlier today, and as is usually the case, the man himself seemed more caught off guard by the results than anyone else, tweeting, “Fucccck that came out of left field! @usantidoping. Never even heard of ostarine! Look at my physic (sic). Do I look like a steroid user! Lol.”
Well, at least he’s not that broken up about it, although his classic “physique test” defense has been disproven about a million times over by now.
The UFC released a statement on Means’ failure earlier today via their website, if you’re interested in that sort of thing.
The UFC organization was notified today that the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) has informed Tim Means of a potential Anti-Doping Policy violation stemming from an out-of-competition sample collection.
USADA, the independent administrator of the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, will handle the results management and appropriate adjudication of this case. It is important to note that, under the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, there is a full and fair review process that is afforded to all athletes before any sanctions are imposed. However, because Means was scheduled to compete against Donald Cerrone on February 21 in Pittsburgh, there is insufficient time for a full review and proper promotion before the scheduled bout. As a result, UFC will announce shortly a replacement opponent for Cerrone on the UFC Fight Night card in Pittsburgh.
Additional information will be provided at the appropriate time as the process moves forward.
But before you go throwing your hands in the air and cursing the MMA Gods for reducing another UFC card to rubble, there is hope.
According to Ariel Helwani, the UFC has booked a quick replacement for the February 28th-scheduled event in the form of Alex “Cowboy” Oliveira. Currently 3-1 in the UFC, Oliveira has scored wins over the likes of KJ Noons and Piotr Hallman, suffering his only setback to highly-touted prospect Gilbert Burns in his promotional debut.
The fight will still be contested at welterweight, according to those in the know, and should serve as an interesting for Cerrone, who will be attempting to rebound from a devastating first round loss to lightweight champion Rafael Dos Anjos at UFC on FOX 17. In any case, it seems another disaster has been avoided for now, at least.
(There’ll be plenty more of this after the jump. Trust me.)
It’s February 18th, 2016 (or something like that), which can only mean one thing: There dun been a whole lotta MMA fights booked today! And rather than give you some paint-by-numbers fight booking breakdown (looking at you, Goldsteen), I’ve decided to do pretty much that, but with gifs. So without further askew, let’s get to it!
#6: Matt Hamill vs. TBA — WSOF 4-Man Light Heavyweight Tournament
Although he won’t be getting that rematch with Rampage Jackson in Bellator he was hoping for, Hamill has in fact signed an exclusive contract with World Series of Fighting, and is expected to make his debut as part of a 4-man tournament for the promotion’s light heavyweight belt. There’s no word on who he’ll be facing yet (our guess is another UFC veteran, which is all this tournament is made up of), but we feel confident not giving two shits about this fight regardless. Ranking:
(There’ll be plenty more of this after the jump. Trust me.)
It’s February 18th, 2016 (or something like that), which can only mean one thing: There dun been a whole lotta MMA fights booked today! And rather than give you some paint-by-numbers fight booking breakdown (looking at you, Goldsteen), I’ve decided to do pretty much that, but with gifs. So without further askew, let’s get to it!
#6: Matt Hamill vs. TBA — WSOF 4-Man Light Heavyweight Tournament
Although he won’t be getting that rematch with Rampage Jackson in Bellator he was hoping for, Hamill has in fact signed an exclusive contract with World Series of Fighting, and is expected to make his debut as part of a 4-man tournament for the promotion’s light heavyweight belt. There’s no word on who he’ll be facing yet (our guess is another UFC veteran, which is all this tournament is made up of), but we feel confident not giving two shits about this fight regardless. Ranking:
Remember that time I mentioned how the WSOF light heavyweight tournament is entirely made up of former UFC fighters? Well, enter Thiago Silva, who was just signed by the WSOF to a multi-fight contract despite being a reprehensible piece of human garbage.
(*exhale*) In any case, Silva has been booked in the WSOF’s 4-man lightweight tourney opposite former UFC middleweight Ronny Markes in the semifinal round.
You see what’s happening here, right? WSOF is unabashedly setting up Thiago fucking Silva to be the face of their light heavyweight division. My reaction to this can only be summed up in the immortal words of David Caruso. Ranking:
‘Page is back, baby! Lovers of MMA circa 2005, rejoice!!
I kid (sort of), but according to MMAFighting, Jackson’s return to the Octagon is being eyed for UFC 186 in April, with his opponent potentially being Fabio Maldonado. The Brazilian former pro boxer is fresh off a second round TKO of Hans Stringer at UFC 179, and has won 4 of his last 5 overall. Say what you want about Rampage (or Maldonado) being past his prime…
I suppose I should have finished that thought with a counterpoint, but what I’m getting at is Rampage vs. Maldonado has slugfest written all over it. In blood. Ranking:
Jim Miller is a gamer through and through, and Paul Felder kicked off 2015 with a KO of the Year-worthy spinning backfist over Danny Castillo at UFC 182. This fight will win all of the performance bonuses. Ranking:
Although it hasn’t been officially confirmed yet, UFC Tonight is reporting that the UFC is looking to book Dillashaw vs. Barao II for the April 25th card in Montreal now that Dominick Cruz has once again gone down with an ACL injury.
This rematch makes a hell of a lot more sense now than it did when Barao and Dillashaw were originally scheduled to lock horns again at UFC 177, which as we all know, ended with Barao withdrawing from the fight on 24 hours notice following a botched weight cut. While Dillashaw went on to starch Joe Soto that night, Barao would bounce back with a third round submission win over top contender Mitch Gagnon at Fight Night 58. The scales are finally starting to even in the battle of Team Alpha Male vs. All of Brazil, so we’ll go ahead and slap this one with a Ranking of:
Late last year, Fans and pundits alike thought MacDonald would face the winner of Robbie Lawler vs. Johny Hendricks II. A controversial decision in Lawler’s favor put the brakes on that since it forced the UFC to book a trilogy between the two welterweights.
MacDonald, left without a dancing partner, will face off with one of the top welterweights in the division in Lombard. We like to think UFC matchmaker Joe Silva booked this fight based on both fighters’ terrible nicknames. We’ve got Rory “The Waterboy”“Ares” “The Red King” vs. Hector “Lightning” “Showweather” Lombard. Ugh. How about the loser AND winner take their nicknames out back and shoot them?
Late last year, Fans and pundits alike thought MacDonald would face the winner of Robbie Lawler vs. Johny Hendricks II. A controversial decision in Lawler’s favor put the brakes on that since it forced the UFC to book a trilogy between the two welterweights.
MacDonald, left without a dancing partner, will face off with one of the top welterweights in the division in Lombard. We like to think UFC matchmaker Joe Silva booked this fight based on both fighters’ terrible nicknames. We’ve got Rory “The Waterboy”“Ares” “The Red King” MacDonald vs. Hector “Lightning” “Showweather” Lombard. Ugh. How about the loser AND winner take their nicknames out back and shoot them?
Both men are on three-fight winning streaks. MacDonald’s comes over the likes of Tarec Saffiedine, Demian Maia, and Tyron Woodley. Meanwhile, Lombard’s winning streak is comprised over wins over Josh Burkman, Jake Shields, and Nate Marquardt.
Both fighters have momentum and are undoubtedly top guys, but we’re writing this one off as a mismatch right from the start. The first round might be competitive, but MacDonald will pull away and box Lombard’s face off for the second and third round of the fight while Lombard plods, huffs, and puffs.
Twitter personality Front Row Brian was first to break the news, not Ariel Helwani and Fox like some might say.
Pettis last fought at UFC 181 in December, thrashing Gilbert Melendez and submitting him in the second round with a guillotine choke.
Dos Anjos, too, is coming off a hot victory. He dominated Nate Diaz at UFC on FOX 13. Prior to that, he knocked out former lightweight champ Benson Henderson at UFC Fight Night 49.
While we were hoping for Pettis vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov, Pettis vs. dos Anjos isn’t a terrible booking decision either. We’re looking forward to this one.
