Tag: Game Recap

UFC 131 Weekend Recap: Dos Santos Dominant, Florian Gets Aldo, Shaq with UFC?

 After his August win over TUF season 10 winner Roy Nelson, Junior dos Santos had his coveted shot at the UFC heavyweight title.Four months later, news broke that dos Santos would have to wait six to eight months due to a torn rotator cuff injury …

 After his August win over TUF season 10 winner Roy Nelson, Junior dos Santos had his coveted shot at the UFC heavyweight title.

Four months later, news broke that dos Santos would have to wait six to eight months due to a torn rotator cuff injury suffered by UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez during his October fight with then-champ Brock Lesnar.

Now, 10 months later, dos Santos has once again earned himself a title shot against Velasquez.

Dos Santos battered former UFC interim heavyweight champion Shane Carwin at UFC 131, winning a lopsided unanimous decision 30-27, 30-27, 30-26 against Carwin in front of 14,685 fans at Rogers Arena in Vancouver. The win once again cemented dos Santos as the No. 1 contender to Velaquez’s title, and the fight is expected to take place around November or December. 

 

Florian Headed for Title Shot Against Jose Aldo

Kenny Florian will once again get his chance to shine in the spotlight against one of the UFC’s toughest champions.

The Massachusetts native Florian took home a unanimous decision against a very game Diego Nunes at UFC 131, likely making him the next opponent to take on UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo.

 “I think Jose is one of the best in the game. I have a lot of respect for him, and I’m a big fan. Every UFC fighter’s dream is to be a champion. I don’t want to look too far ahead, but that’s [my goal],” said Florian.

White in essence confirmed Florian’s wish for a shot at the belt, saying, “I’ve got a lot of respect for him; he deserves a shot at the title. No doubt about it.”

Florian will look to succeed where many others have failed against Aldo—a list that includes former champions Mike Thomas Brown and Urijah Faber, as well as his most recent victory over Mark Hominick.

 

Shaq Expected to Have Role in UFC’s Future

UFC president Dana White went on ESPN’s First Take prior to UFC 131, and spoke to ESPN personality Mike Hill about the event, as well as Shaquille O’Neal’s future with the UFC. Here’s what White had to say about the newly-retired Shaq:

“Shaq’s been training for a long time, and actually a week before he retired, Shaq called me and said he wanted to be involved in the UFC somehow. He’s always been a good friend to us, and I’m sure you’re going to see Shaq around the UFC a lot.”

White also mentioned O’Neal’s heavy involvement in the first season of TUF, and O’Neal will likely be introduced in a similar manner as UFC legend Chuck Liddell was after he retired from the sport. 

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TUF 13 Finale Results: Clay Guida Grinds out a Victory over Anthony Pettis

As usual, Guida was hopping around the cage like a rabid, mutant bunny cheetah. He darts in and out to keep his opponent off balance, then swoops in for the takedown when they give him the smallest of openings.From the top position Guida kept his energ…

As usual, Guida was hopping around the cage like a rabid, mutant bunny cheetah. He darts in and out to keep his opponent off balance, then swoops in for the takedown when they give him the smallest of openings.

From the top position Guida kept his energy high by squirming all around, but mostly out of an effort to avoid being submitted rather than advance position or deal damage.

Clay Guida did exactly what he wanted to do by grinding out a victory over Anthony Pettis.

Pettis was dangerous off his back throughout the fight, stifling any potential offense from Guida, but the top control and takedowns was enough to earn Guida the decision.

It was frustrating for Pettis, but when facing an opponent like Guida, the tools you bring to a fight against a normal man are just not going to work.

Against a grinder with the pace of Guida, one needs strong wrestling and maybe a bit of luck to find some openings of their own.

Does this mean that Guida is now ready to fight the division’s top dogs and challenge for the belt?

It most certainly does.

But guys like Frankie Edgar, Gray Maynard and Jim Miller are tremendous wrestlers themselves.

Just how far can Clay Guida’s tenacity take him? 

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TUF FINALE 13: 10 Important Things We Learned from the TUF Finale

No matter what the TUF number is (in this case, 13) we usually learn a fair bit about the fighters on the UFC roster.TUF 13 was no exception, with several fighters being exposed and likely out of the organization. On the flip side, a bunch of fighters …

No matter what the TUF number is (in this case, 13) we usually learn a fair bit about the fighters on the UFC roster.

TUF 13 was no exception, with several fighters being exposed and likely out of the organization. On the flip side, a bunch of fighters really shined in a great card for a Spike freebie.

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Fights to Make After UFC 130

UFC 130 didn’t necessarily blow fans away, but it was a decent night of fights with a couple of wrinkles in the natural order of the welterweight and bantamweight divisions.
Rick Story picked up a huge upset win over highly ranked welterweight Thiago A…

UFC 130 didn’t necessarily blow fans away, but it was a decent night of fights with a couple of wrinkles in the natural order of the welterweight and bantamweight divisions.

Rick Story picked up a huge upset win over highly ranked welterweight Thiago Alves.

Despite being in phenomenal shape, Alves wasn’t able to withstand the consistent pressure from Story’s takedowns.

For a long time, the UFC welterweight division has been topped by Georges St-Pierre, Jon Fitch, Thiago Alves, and Josh Koscheck. It may be time to include Story’s name along with the upper-echelon welterweights.

In the bantamweight division, Demetrious Johnson took the biggest victory of his career with a unanimous decision win over former champion Miguel Torres. If people didn’t pay attention after his victory over Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto, they are certainly paying attention now.

Johnson boasts some of the most explosive takedowns in the sport, and he should be taken seriously as a legitimate threat to Dominick Cruz’s bantamweight title.

In the main and co-main events, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Frank Mir were both victorious in lopsided affairs. While Jackson stuffed all of Matt Hamill’s takedowns and bested the exchanges for a unanimous decision, Mir earned a decision win over Roy Nelson in a lackluster heavyweight tilt.

What’s next for the winners?

Here are some interesting fights to make after UFC 130.

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UFC 130 Results: 5 Reasons Frank Mir Is a Serious Contender

Frank Mir may not have finished Roy Nelson in their hometown bout at UFC 130; however, he did give one of his most well rounded and more dominant performances since his lackluster knockout finish of Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic at UFC 119.Mir’s grapp…

Frank Mir may not have finished Roy Nelson in their hometown bout at UFC 130; however, he did give one of his most well rounded and more dominant performances since his lackluster knockout finish of Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic at UFC 119.

Mir’s grappling and wrestling were too much for “Big Country,” whose steel jaw didn’t serve him as much good as a couple pounds off that belly of his would have. As for Mir, he’s beaten a heavyweight who is probably on the cusp of Top 10 status and is still a viable threat in the division.

Here are five reasons why he’s still a serious contender. 

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MMA Live 1 Results: Ryan Ford Cuts, Beats Karo Parisyan, Jon Jones Steals Show

Ryan “The Real Deal” Ford scored a huge victory for his career tonight as he stopped veteran fighter Karo Parisyan with a vicious knee to the head that cut Parisyan deeply, causing the ringside doctor to put an end to the bout.
The fight was a rea…

Ryan “The Real Deal” Ford scored a huge victory for his career tonight as he stopped veteran fighter Karo Parisyan with a vicious knee to the head that cut Parisyan deeply, causing the ringside doctor to put an end to the bout.

The fight was a real battle of strength between the two fighters with some on hand calling it the “Fight of The Year” in Canada so far for 2011. While I would still tip my hat to Aldo-Hominick from UFC 129 for that crown, this was a fight with two tough and hungry men both going for broke for two solid rounds.

Parisyan showed up, folks, and he brought his judo arsenal with him, throwing Ford around a few times with his textbook technique and strength. Ford countered with a huge slam in the second round, and the two were in close quarters all night.

Parisyan held most of the advantage in the clinch and gained dominant position on Ford for most of the second round and I had him winning the fight before the explosive knee put a sudden halt to the affair.

“My game plan was to you know stand up and knock him out but well you know me I’m kinda stubborn,” Ford said, smiling. 

“I got in there, you know, I got dumped a few times but I knew that was gonna happen, I just wanted to see what it was like because I know I’m gonna be stepping up and facing some tougher guys and some guys with the same judo skills as Karo.”

He did agree when asked if it was the biggest win of his career. “Yeah you know I would say so,” he said. “It’s Karo Parisyan, right, tough guy, fought the who’s who, and I beat him.”

Ford did beat him. He got the win and it was a very solid fight.

As for Parisyan, he came ready. He fought for the fans and gave a beautiful display of how judo can be implemented in a fight to gain a victory. He was winning the fight. It says here that he would have won had the doctor not stopped it, but the doctor did stop it and it was a justified stop due to a horrible gash.

Parisyan brought his game and some class with him to the John Labatt Center, as he stood in the ring and spoke to the fans after all the while with a towel pressuring the cut.

“I wanted to come here and prove to myself that I could still get in here and fight and I did that,” he said, and I would agree. “I was winning the fight and he caught me with a good knee, I wanted to continue fighting but the doctor stopped the fight because the cut is too deep.” He went on to show some great class, and gave a sign that he is a bit of a changed man.

“I’m taking nothing away from Ryan Ford. He won and hey Canada, I want to say thank you to all of you for coming out, and I want to thank you all for supporting this sport.”

I want to say thanks to Parisyan for coming in and putting on a great performance.

The biggest buzz in the building and the loudest roar of the night came at the intermission when UFC light-heavyweight champion Jon “Bones” Jones made a special appearance in the octagon (see video).

Jones was also on hand all day at the MMA Expo and was signing autographs, posing for pictures and being extremely pleasant and accessible to fans young and old.

In the co-main event of the evening, veteran Brazilian fighter Marcus Aurelio pulled out a lightning fast arm bar submission after being slammed heavily by a game late replacement Matt McGrath of P.E.I. He won at 1:29 of the first round.

The rest of the results from the show:

Lyndon Whitlock defeated Daniel Longbeen via triangle choke first round.

Bo Harris defeated Brent Franczuz by unanimous decision.

Allan Wilson defeated Theo Toney via rear naked choke second round.

Chuck Mady defeated James Haourt via arm bar 2:22 first round.

Jason Saggo defeated Derek Boyle via rear naked choke 2:18 third round.

 

Dwight Wakabayashi is a Correspondent for Bleacher Report. (Also a Correspondent for MMACanada.net) All quotes were obtained first-hand.

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