Despite being dealt a crappy hand, Anthony and Sergio Pettis are taking their car bombings in stride.
For most fighters the major things on their plate usually consist of training hard, booking a fight, and getting an adequate payday. There’s pretty much no time to be concerned with anything else. Their families need to be fed and the bills have to be paid, which isn’t all that different from the life of the average Joe. What is peculiar though are the events of what happened last night at the residence of Anthony Pettis.
Three cars in the former lightweight champion’s driveway were set ablaze by an unknown assailant. The cars belong to both Anthony Pettis and his younger brother Sergio. With no leads to go off of, the two UFC fighters have been forced to be patient until they can find the perpetrator of the act. But each Pettis Brother has chosen to deal with the situation in pretty different ways.
Whenever new training footage emerges of a high profile fighter, there will always be those who believe the slightest of changes to their routine means that they have improved or added something new to their arsenal. Conor McGregor is one such individual. If he adds anything, anything at all to his training camp then you can bet his rabid fans will be coming out of the woodwork to discuss how his new handstand push up method will turn him into an entirely different animal. Another high profile fighter who can relate to this issue is Ronda Rousey.
Whenever new training footage emerges of a high profile fighter, there will always be those who believe the slightest of changes to their routine means that they have improved or added something new to their arsenal. Conor McGregor is one such individual. If he adds anything, anything at all to his training camp then you can bet his rabid fans will be coming out of the woodwork to discuss how his new handstand push up method will turn him into an entirely different animal. Another high profile fighter who can relate to this issue is Ronda Rousey.
Every since losing the UFC bantamweight championship to Holly Holm, everyone has been wondering if Ronda Rousey would be back. That question has been answered as the UFC dropped the bomb that she’s set to fight for the championship against newly crowned bantamweight ruler Amanda Nunes. Now all those fans speculating on her return have changed their tune to entirely once more, shifting focus from if Ronda would be returning to the sport to how will she look when she finally returns.
With a recent shadowboxing video of Ronda Rousey posted up on her Facebook fanpage, speculation can slowly begin to come to an end. Take a look at the video below.
Now after watching that, there are a few things that have become abundantly clear: Ronda Rousey still needs to put in more work. Granted, her hands and strikes do appear faster, but her footwork definitely needs cleaning up. She does seem to be improving on her hip rotation which is certainly a good sign, but ultimately there may not be enough here to come to a definitive conclusion. The biggest thing to take away from this video though is that the former champ does appear motivated which goes a long way in fighting, no matter how much anyone will tell you.
Do you think Ronda Rousey looks improved?
Jonathan Salmon is a writer, martial arts instructor, and geek culture enthusiast. Check out his Twitter and Facebook to keep up with his antics.
So it’s official, Cody Garbrandt has been granted his wish and finally has the opportunity to punch Dominick Cruz in the face at UFC 207. Great news for anyone whose been following the beef between the two with a relish and passion topped only by Cody Garbrandt himself. So while this match up may be the what the fans, Garbrandt, and Cruz want, the big question is this: Can Cody get the job done?
So it’s official, Cody Garbrandt has been granted his wish and finally has the opportunity to punch Dominick Cruz in the face at UFC 207. Great news for anyone whose been following the beef between the two with a relish and passion topped only by Cody Garbrandt himself. So while this match up may be the what the fans, Garbrandt, and Cruz want, the big question is this: Can Cody get the job done? Now, with mixed martial arts anything is possible, so sometimes asking these questions can be a bit futile, ultimately leading nowhere. But hypotheticals are too enticing for me to simply just walk away from, so here’s my two cents.
No, Cody Garbrandt will not beat Dominick Cruz at UFC 207. The rationalization is fairly simple in all actuality. Cody Garbrandt is an absolute savage, a talented boxer with speed and explosive movement that should give every bantamweight pause. The problem here is that he doesn’t offer Dominick Cruz anything he hasn’t seen before.
Where Garbrandt shines is when people decide to stay in the pocket with him. As such, that means Garbrandt is going to be hard pressed to land some leather on Dominick Cruz’s chin. The bantamweight champion isn’t a man who will sit in the pocket and trade blows for kicks. He’s looking to create angles, frustrate his opponents on the feet, all the while threatening with take downs throughout.
While Garbrandt does have good speed and pop on his punches, great footwork as well, he tends to share something in common with his former teammate TJ Dillashaw: both have a tendency to lead with their heads allowing themselves to get hit while looking for their own strike. While this can be great when you have a dance partner of a similar mindset, Cruz is a man known for never being in the same position twice if he can avoid it.
Garbrandt is going to have to utilize leg kicks as well as have his counter wrestling game on point. Here’s the problem with that though. Being primarily a puncher at heart, Garbrandt has a style that Cruz has seen a number of times in his career. Dillashaw was a much more complex puzzle for Cruz to figure out and he did so passing the test flying colors.
We’ll leave the full analysis for later, but what do you guys think of Cody Garbrandt’s chances against Dominick Cruz?
Jonathan Salmon is a writer, martial arts instructor, and geek culture enthusiast. Check out his Twitter and Facebook to keep up with his antics.
So every once in awhile a true star will emerge in the sport of mixed martial arts. Randy Couture was a massive star back in the day, as was Chuck Liddell, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Mauricio Shogun Rua, all the way to Georges St-Pierre and Anderson Silva. But the emergence of Ronda Rousey and Conor McGregor changed things in such a manner that no one could have anticipated the backlash. UFC fighters getting paid millions to fight?! Never would that ever happen…
So every once in awhile a true star will emerge in the sport of mixed martial arts. Randy Couture was a massive star back in the day, as was Chuck Liddell, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Mauricio Shogun Rua, all the way to Georges St-Pierre and Anderson Silva. But the emergence of Ronda Rousey and Conor McGregor changed things in such a manner that no one could have anticipated the backlash. UFC fighters getting paid millions to fight?! Never would that ever happen. Yet here we are in this new day and age where demanding millions is completely common place. But you won’t see that kind of money floating around in the prelims. Only the stars are set to make those major purses. Now that Conor McGregor has opened up the European market like never before there seems to be another fighter attempting to follow in his footsteps. Paddy Pimblett. But is this young fighter truly good enough to carry the torch?
First off, I’m not the biggest fan of hating on fighters nor is it the intention here. But from what Paddy Pimblett has shown so far, I’m going to need a bit more convincing. He certainly has all the tools tok make himself a successful UFC fighter, one that could one day be a true star. The question is has he faced the kind of opposition he needs to in order to stake the claim as the next best thing coming out of Europe?
The answer is a bit more complicated than a yes or no.
Paddy Pimblett comes from the era where fighters no longer learn just one discipline, they instead learn several right out of the gate. That means he’s a well rounded youth with a ton of upside and more space to fill up on his hard drive. At 21 years of age he’s already built up an impressive record of 12-1 and has shown a willingness to strike, wrestle, or grapple depending on where the fight takes him.
But could he do that to Max Holloway? Could he put Frankie Edgar on his back? Can he out strike Jose Aldo?
These are the kind of questions that need to be asked and answered in order to give the Paddy Pimblett hype train some steam. Don’t get it twisted, this kid certainly has a great deal of talent. But until he’s competing at a high level it’s hard to tell just how dangerous he truly is. Until that day, watching some highlights of the young UK fighter will have to do until we see Paddy at the UFC level.
What’s your thoughts on Paddy Pimblett?
Jonathan Salmon is a writer, martial arts instructor, and geek culture enthusiast. Check out his Twitter and Facebook to keep up with his antics.
These days it seems that the only thing people are talking about in regards to the featherweight division is whether Conor McGregor will hold onto the strap forever or relinquish it to free the division up. Another point of interest at featherweight is whether Jose Aldo will retire or not.
These days it seems that the only thing people are talking about in regards to the featherweight division is whether Conor McGregor will hold onto the strap forever or relinquish it to free the division up. Another point of interest at featherweight is whether Jose Aldo will retire or not. But for the most part most of the attention these days has been placed on whether or not Conor McGregor can beat Eddie Alvarez or how Ronda Rousey will look when she returns. As an avid, okay okay, rabid MMA fan, my concern is squarely on the up and comers that are set to shine in the near future. One fighter in particular who fits the bill is Doo Ho Choi.
There are a lot of people who believe this kid could be the best fighter to come out of South Korea since Chan Sung Jung. Doo Ho Choi has the kind of power that can turn anyone’s lights out, but more than that, his overall game is so damn impressive it can’t be ignored. He has a solid ground game, loves to create scrambles, and isn’t afraid to go submission for submission in the grappling department.
But make no mistake, it’s his striking that rules the day.
Doo Ho Choi has the kind of striking prowess that make fighters like Jose Aldo, Conor McGregor, and Max Holloway a pleasure to watch for both the casual and hardcore fans alike. So far in his UFC career “The Korean Superboy” has been looking as dangerous as any of the aforementioned fighters above. With the announcement of his UFC 206 bout against Cub Swanson, the whole world is going to have the opportunity to see just how far Doo Ho Choi can go.
What makes Choi so dangerous is his precision. He doesn’t waste energy on wild punching combinations. If he’s throwing hands it’s either to set something up or to land crushing finishing blows that usually lead to some fantastical knock out. Cub Swanson is the perfect test for Doo Ho Choi. Choi asked for the fight and now he has to back up his talk. But just as a little reminder of how dangerous this guy is, here’s a little highlight reel of his work.
Do you think Doo Ho Choi will challenge for the featherweight title some day?
Jonathan Salmon is a writer, martial arts instructor, and geek culture enthusiast. Check out his Twitter and Facebook to keep up with his antics.
(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…
