Kawajiri has been inactive for all of 2013, but longtime MMA fans will surely remember his appearances in PRIDE and Dream, including the classic wars he had against Eddie Alvarez and Takanori Gomi. We’ve placed both those fights after the jump for your enjoyment. UFC Fight Night 34 is slated to go down at the Marina Bay Sands in Marina Bay, Singapore, and will likely be headlined by Jake Ellenberger vs. Tarec Saffiedine.
Kawajiri has been inactive for all of 2013, but longtime MMA fans will surely remember his appearances in PRIDE and Dream, including the classic wars he had against Eddie Alvarez and Takanori Gomi. We’ve placed both those fights after the jump for your enjoyment. UFC Fight Night 34 is slated to go down at the Marina Bay Sands in Marina Bay, Singapore, and will likely be headlined by Jake Ellenberger vs. Tarec Saffiedine.
(Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Eddie Alvarez, DREAM.5, 7/21/08)
(Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Takanori Gomi, Pride Bushido 9, 9/25/05)
(…and from the looks of him, he might have food-poisoning as well. Photo via FightDay/UFC)
From Vitor Belfort to Paul Taylor to Sean Sherk to James Irvin, we’ve seen our share of injury-cursed UFC fighters over the years — and now it’s time to add one more name to this dubious list. It was announced yesterday that Manny Gamburyan has suffered an undisclosed training injury and will not be able to face Hacran Dias at UFC on FX 8 (May 18th; Jaraguá do Sul, Brazil). This marks the fourth fight that Gamburyan has had to pull out of since returning to the UFC in 2011. A quick recap…
– Following the WEC’s merger with the UFC, Gamburyan was scheduled to face Raphael Assuncao at UFC 128 in March 2011, but was forced out of the match with a back injury.
(…and from the looks of him, he might have food-poisoning as well. Photo via FightDay/UFC)
From Vitor Belfort to Paul Taylor to Sean Sherk to James Irvin, we’ve seen our share of injury-cursed UFC fighters over the years — and now it’s time to add one more name to this dubious list. It was announced yesterday that Manny Gamburyan has suffered an undisclosed training injury and will not be able to face Hacran Dias at UFC on FX 8 (May 18th; Jaraguá do Sul, Brazil). This marks the fourth fight that Gamburyan has had to pull out of since returning to the UFC in 2011. A quick recap…
– Following the WEC’s merger with the UFC, Gamburyan was scheduled to face Raphael Assuncao at UFC 128 in March 2011, but was forced out of the match with a back injury.
And keep in mind, Gamburyan’s quest to become the winner of TUF 5 in 2007 ended suddenly when he suffered a shoulder injury during his fight with Nate Diaz. I think it’s safe to say that Manny’s general practitioner knows who he is, bro.
Gamburyan will be replaced at UFC on FX 8 by Nik Lentz, who is 2-0 since dropping to featherweight, and most recently took a unanimous decision over Diego Nunes at UFC on FX: Belfort vs. Bisping.
For that matter, could Good Guy Junior have saved last season?
We’rejust finishing up with a season of The Ultimate Fighter that most of us didn’t even pretend to watch, and are getting ready for a season that we’ll only watch to see how creatively Chael Sonnen can troll Jon Jones. Okay, perhaps some of us actually want to watch TUF for less cynical reasons – say because it’s free MMA or to see if the show discovers a legitimate fighter who has slipped through the cracks – just like how some professional football fans actually keep up with the UFL.
With the show in desperate need of a mix-up, Dana White has been open to the idea of casting Ronda Rousey as a coach, while still keeping the contestants themselves men. The idea picked up even more steam yesterday when White suggested that Ronda Rousey could be coaching against Miesha Tate on an upcoming season of The Ultimate Fighter. Via MMAFighting:
“It could happen,” White said. “If there’s two people who would probably coach, you kick [the idea] around, this could happen, that could happen. If they did, it could be [Rousey] and Miesha. You know, we’ll see. Timing has a lot do with it.”
For that matter, could Good Guy Junior have saved last season?
We’rejust finishing up with a season of The Ultimate Fighter that most of us didn’t even pretend to watch, and are getting ready for a season that we’ll only watch to see how creatively Chael Sonnen can troll Jon Jones. Okay, perhaps some of us actually want to watch TUF for less cynical reasons – say because it’s free MMA or to see if the show discovers a legitimate fighter who has slipped through the cracks – just like how some professional football fans actually keep up with the UFL.
With the show in desperate need of a mix-up, Dana White has been open to the idea of casting Ronda Rousey as a coach, while still keeping the contestants themselves men. The idea picked up even more steam yesterday when White suggested that Ronda Rousey could be coaching against Miesha Tate on an upcoming season of The Ultimate Fighter. Via MMAFighting:
“It could happen,” White said. “If there’s two people who would probably coach, you kick [the idea] around, this could happen, that could happen. If they did, it could be [Rousey] and Miesha. You know, we’ll see. Timing has a lot do with it.”
Having Rousey and Tate coach a season of TUF is an interesting idea on paper. The show would give WMMA exposure, Rousey and Tate would have some memorable clashes throughout the season and the season-ending coaches’ fight would actually be meaningful. It may not be a drastic change, but simply making two skilled female fighters coaches may be able to regenerate interest in the show.
But if the UFC really wants to give the show a complete overhaul, why not cast an all-female season?
My biggest gripe with The Ultimate Fighter is that the show hasn’t been producing relevant fighters, because talented prospects no longer have to go through reality television in order to get a shot in the UFC. Case in point, Hacran Dias was a 20-1-1 fighter when he tried out for TUF Brazil. Rather than being sent through the show, Dias was offered a contract on the spot, and won his UFC debut over Yuri Alcantara at UFC 147. The lesson here is that if you have a shot at immediate relevance, you aren’t fighting on The Ultimate Fighter anymore.
An all-female season could be different because WMMA is still in the early stages of its development. Much like how the first two seasons of The Ultimate Fighter made plenty of previously unknown fighters staples in the UFC for years, it’s possible that there are enough skilled females flying far enough under our radars to be willing to go through a season of TUF in order to land a contract.
For that matter, it’s also possible that established female fighters like Sara McMann would be willing to compete on the show simply because WMMA gets practically zero exposure. Just look at the first article we wrote about Ronda Rousey. When Strikeforce first inked a deal with her, she was…some sort of vegan Olympic judoka, I guess? In hindsight, it’s comical that the collective MMA community wasn’t shitting bricks over such an important signing, but we simply hadn’t heard of her until then. It’s very possible that even more potentially great fighters are going undiscovered due to the lack of coverage that WMMA has been receiving.
The catch is that while fans are more than happy to accept Ronda Rousey as a world-class athlete, they may still not be ready to accept WMMA as a legitimate competition. Female athletes in America simply do not receive the same coverage as their male counterparts, which may make the TUF formula even more stale with the inclusion of women. For example, will an altercation in the TUF house between two women be interpreted by viewers the same way as an altercation between two male contestants, or dismissed as just petty female drama? Logically, the sexes of the contestants shouldn’t make a difference, but it does, and it could wind up turning even more people away from the struggling franchise.
So that leads us directly into our question: Assuming that the editting crews do their best to portray the fighters in a positive light and as serious athletes (i.e. none of this), do you think an all-female season can save The Ultimate Fighter? Would you be more likely to watch the show if Ronda Rousey and Meisha Tate are coaches? And what are the odds that something like this happens if they’re coaching an all-male season? Keep it civil, you guys.
With the ratings of this season of The Ultimate Fighter in a tailspin, the UFC has quickly been announcing matchups for the season finale. Unlike previous seasons, it looks as though this season’s finale won’t feature many fights between the not-quite-worthy competitors from the show, as a total of eight fights between current UFC fighters have been announced for the finale. Which is good, because most of you reading this don’t know or care about anyone from this season of TUF 16 in the first place.
The two most recent fights booked for the TUF 16 Finale are a featherweight showdown between Jonathan Brookins and Dustin Poirier and a flyweight bout between Tim Elliott and Jared Papazian.
After winning five straight fights under the Zuffa banner, Dustin Poirier would suffer a fourth round D’arce choke loss to Chan Sung Jung at UFC on FUEL 2. Despite the loss, Poirier put on a Fight of the Night – and arguably Fight of the Year – worthy performance, proving that he’s still a contender in the featherweight division despite the loss to Jung. Meanwhile, things cannot possibly be going more differently for Jonathan Brookins. After defeating Michael Johnson by unanimous decision to win The Ultimate Fighter Season Twelve, Brookins would drop a unanimous decision to Erik Koch, knock out Vagner Rocha and most recently get choked out by Charles Oliveira at June’s TUF 15 finale.
Check after the jump for the full TUF 16 Finale fight card, as well as Chad Mendes’ next opponent.
With the ratings of this season of The Ultimate Fighter in a tailspin, the UFC has quickly been announcing matchups for the season finale. Unlike previous seasons, it looks as though this season’s finale won’t feature many fights between the not-quite-worthy competitors from the show, as a total of eight fights between current UFC fighters have been announced for the finale. Which is good, because most of you reading this don’t know or care about anyone from this season of TUF 16 in the first place.
The two most recent fights booked for the TUF 16 Finale are a featherweight showdown between Jonathan Brookins and Dustin Poirier and a flyweight bout between Tim Elliott and Jared Papazian.
After winning five straight fights under the Zuffa banner, Dustin Poirier would suffer a fourth round D’arce choke loss to Chan Sung Jung at UFC on FUEL 2. Despite the loss, Poirier put on a Fight of the Night – and arguably Fight of the Year – worthy performance, proving that he’s still a contender in the featherweight division despite the loss to Jung. Meanwhile, things cannot possibly be going more differently for Jonathan Brookins. After defeating Michael Johnson by unanimous decision to win The Ultimate Fighter Season Twelve, Brookins would drop a unanimous decision to Erik Koch, knock out Vagner Rocha and most recently get choked out by Charles Oliveira at June’s TUF 15 finale.
I’d call this fight a squash match, but if Brookins’ win/loss pattern is any indication, he should probably win this fight. Of course, if I’m looking at talent, UFC experience, athleticism, level of competition and all that other silly stuff, Poirier takes this fight, no doubt.
As for the other matchup, it’s more than likely “Loser Leaves Town” when Tim Elliott squares off against Jared Papazian. Eliott stepped up to replace Darren Uyenoyama on short notice against John Dodson, but dropped a unanimous decision to the flyweight contender. Papazian, meanwhile, is 0-2 in the UFC after losing a majority decision to Mike Easton and then getting punked by Dustin Pague before losing by rear-naked choke in the first round.
For those of you keeping track, the lineup for the TUF 16 Finale looks like this:
Shane Carwin vs. Roy Nelson
Mike Pyle vs. James Head
Jonathan Brookins vs. Dustin Poirier
Nick Catone vs. TJ Waldburger
Reuben Duran vs. Hugo Viana
Vinc Pichel vs. Rustam Khabilov
Johnny Bedford vs. Marcos Vinicius
Tim Elliott vs. Jared Papazian
Also of note, December 15′s UFC on FX 6 has added a featherweight fight between Chad Mendes and Hacran Dias to the lineup. “Money” Mendes is coming off of a thirty-one second knockout over Cody McKenzie at UFC 148 that we pretty much all saw coming. He was given the rebound fight after suffering a knockout at the hands of current featherweight champion Jose Aldo back at UFC 142. As for Dias, the training partner of Jose Aldo defeated Yuri Alcantara in his UFC debut at UFC 147, improving his record to 21-1-1. An entertaining fight is to be expected when these two eventually meet up.
