A date has been set for the rubber match between Junior dos Santos and current UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez. Dana White has confirmed to ESPN the third heavyweight-title fight will take place on October 19 at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. Velasquez defeated dos Santos by unanimous decision at UFC 156 in December […]
A date has been set for the rubber match between Junior dos Santos and current UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez. Dana White has confirmed to ESPN the third heavyweight-title fight will take place on October 19 at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. Velasquez defeated dos Santos by unanimous decision at UFC 156 in December […]
UFC 136 from Houston is in the books and it lived up to all the hype heading into Saturday night. It is usually hard for an event with such hype surrounding it to live up to the expectations and leave fans fully satisfied with the $44.95 they spent to …
UFC 136 from Houston is in the books and it lived up to all the hype heading into Saturday night. It is usually hard for an event with such hype surrounding it to live up to the expectations and leave fans fully satisfied with the $44.95 they spent to order it. But it seems to […]
UFC 136 from Houston is in the books and it lived up to all the hype heading into Saturday night.It is usually hard for an event with such hype surrounding it to live up to the expectations and leave fans fully satisfied with the $44.95 they spent to o…
UFC 136 from Houston is in the books and it lived up to all the hype heading into Saturday night.
It is usually hard for an event with such hype surrounding it to live up to the expectations and leave fans fully satisfied with the $44.95 they spent to order it. But it seems to be one of the rare events that has people buzzing long into the next week.
What made this event so entertaining was the unexpected. There were several questions fight fans had coming into this event. How was Chael going to look? Could Florian get over the hump? Was Guillard the next big thing at lightweight? How would the Edgar-Maynad trilogy end? Would Anthony Pettis bounce back? Some of these questions were answered as expected and some were not. There were plenty of surprises on this card in the octagon, but what has people talking the most may be the action outside the cage.
What follows is a list of the five biggest surprises coming out of UFC 136.
Chael Sonnen is back.In a dominant performance against Brian Stann at UFC 136, it looked as if someone forgot to tell Sonnen that he was supposed to be rusty after a 14 month layoff.Utilizing his superior grappling, Sonnen brought Stann to the ground w…
Chael Sonnen is back.
In a dominant performance against Brian Stann at UFC 136, it looked as if someone forgot to tell Sonnen that he was supposed to be rusty after a 14 month layoff.
Utilizing his superior grappling, Sonnen brought Stann to the ground with relative ease and transitioned past Stann’s guard seemingly at will. After controlling his way to a 10-9 first round, Sonnen worked Stann into a head and arm triangle choke, easily passed to side control, and forced Stann to tap at minute 3:51 of round two.
Though he’s typically seen as a hard-nosed grinder, having earned more than half of his victories by decision, Sonnen very much looked the part of finisher last night. He stayed active on top of Stann and tallied his fourth career submission win.
Though many fighters would allow their dismantling of a game opponent to speak for itself, Sonnen wasted no time getting back to his old ways.
After being understandably subdued in the pre-fight lead up to UFC 136—Stann, an American war hero and all-around great guy, is near impossible to trash talk—Sonnen went on the offensive in his post-fight interview with Joe Rogan. Ignoring Rogan’s opening question, Sonnen took control of the mic and called out middleweight champion, Anderson Silva:
Anderson Silva, you absolutely suck. I’m calling you out, Silva, but we’re upping the stakes. I beat you, you leave the division. You beat me, I’ll leave the UFC forever.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen Sonnen use his wise-cracking mouth to his advantage. Following a three fight win streak, Sonnen went on a trash talking campaign to position himself for his first title shot against Silva in August 2010. After his loss to Silva, and subsequent suspension for high testosterone levels, Sonnen directed barbs at the entire country of Brazil, keeping himself relevant in the MMA universe, and ultimately positioning himself for a return to the Octagon in a title elimination fight.
Though there are those that criticize Sonnen’s over-the-top style of promotion, it apparently works. When asked by MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani (at the 7:35 mark) if a rematch with Sonnen would be next for the middleweight champion, Dana White responded simply, “Uhh, yeah I’d be pretty stupid not to do it.”
While nothing is official yet, it seems likely that Sonnen is en route to another title shot against Silva, proving yet again that despite all of his tools in the cage, Sonnen’s number one asset is his wise-cracking mouth.
Kenny Florian gets his shot at featherweight king and pound-for-pound star Jose Aldo tomorrow night at UFC 136 in Houston. The champ is a large favorite going into the fight and the question is, can Florian pull off the upset? There is one major advant…
Kenny Florian gets his shot at featherweight king and pound-for-pound star Jose Aldo tomorrow night at UFC 136 in Houston. The champ is a large favorite going into the fight and the question is, can Florian pull off the upset?
There is one major advantage I see for Florian in this one and that is his coaching, camp and ability to game plan to victory. Aldo is the superior fighter in skill alone, but Florian has a very solid MMA machine behind him, and that help and experience is his key to victory.
If Florian can stick to, and execute, the game plan his team sets out for him, he most certainly can pull off the upset tomorrow night. We have seen Florian work a strategy in all his big fights but not always to success.
I see him trying to smother Aldo to the cage and the ground in order to nullify the power which Aldo possesses. Florian won his featherweight debut in this fashion as well.
After standing with Diego Nunes early and not getting the upper hand, he shifted to the jab, take downs and grappling control to pour it on and take the fight. If he couldn’t get the upper hand standing with Nunes, he certainly won’t with Aldo so look for Florian to wrestle.
I think Aldo will push him off and try to keep distance all night. He will use his strikes and power to win, but don’t be completely surprised if Florian “GSPs” his way to the upset.
If Aldo wins by employing his strategy, we are in for a very fun fight to watch. If Florian can impose his will, it will be a disappointing fight for the fans to watch but a satisfying upset for Florian.
Dwight Wakabayashi is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report MMA and (also a Correspondent for MMACanada.net)
The UFC arrives in Houston, TX with UFC 136 this Saturday, October 8th, at 9PM ET, live on Pay-Per-View.This is a stacked fight card, headlined by two title fights, as well as potentially two title contention eliminator fights. UFC 136 features five ma…
The UFC arrives in Houston, TX with UFC 136 this Saturday, October 8th, at 9PM ET, live on Pay-Per-View.
This is a stacked fight card, headlined by two title fights, as well as potentially two title contention eliminator fights. UFC 136 features five main card fights, and six preliminary card fights.
If you’re a fight fan, you’ll want to be in front of a TV for this one:
Preliminary Card
Steve “Robot” Cantwell vs. Mike “The Master of Disaster” Massenzio
Aaron “A-Train” Simpson vs. Eric “Red” Schaefer
Tiequan “The Wolf” Zhang vs. Darren “The Damage” Elkins
Stipe Miocic vs. Joey “The Mexicutioner” Beltran
Anthony “Showtime” Pettis vs. Jeremy “Lil’ Heathen” Stephens
Demian Maia vs. Jorge “The Sandman” Santiago
Main Card
Melvin “The Young Assassin” Guillard vs. Joe “J-Lau” Lauzon
Nam Phan vs. Leonard “Bad Boy” Garcia
Chael Sonnen vs. Brian “All American” Stann
Jose “Junior” Aldo vs. Kenny “Kenflo” Florian
Frankie “The Answer” Edgar vs. Gray “The Bully” Maynard
Stay with me as I make my main card predictions and gambling suggestions. Without further ado, let’s get on to the fights…
All gambling lines are provided courtesy of BestFightOdds.com.
Chael Sonnen is back.