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Don’t look now, but the storied light heavyweight division could finally be back.

Veteran Thiago Santos picked up his third straight win at 205 since late September when he starched No. 4-ranked Jan Blachowicz in the main event of Saturday’s (Sat., February 23, 2019) UFC on ESPN+ 3 from the O2 Arena in Prague, Czech Republic. In doing so, the Brazilian ‘Marreta’ tied Anderson Silva and Anthony Johnson for the second most knockouts in UFC history with 11, trailing only Vitor Belfort. Both are incredible feats in today’s MMA landscape.

The win itself won’t garner a ton of hype or mainstream attention whatsoever. It headlined an afternoon card in Europe that aired at 2 p.m. EST in the States. Not exactly the recipe for success in the UFC’s targeted U.S./North America demographic. But the fight carried a much more vital – and more subtle – undertone in that it furthered the continued resurgence of the UFC light heavyweight division.

Return To Greatness

With luminaries like Chuck Liddell, Randy Couture, Belfort, Tito Ortiz, Rashad Evans, ‘Rampage’ Jackson, and many others, light heavyweight was once the most harrowed and glamorous of all UFC divisions.

Yet 205 pounds had devolved into somewhat of a festering wasteland over the past few years. With former champion Jon Jones on the sidelines uncertain to return due to a series of drug-related issues, the weight class lacked cohesion. Daniel Cormier was an admirable enough champion, but many thought he was there by default. After he beat “Rumble” twice, the legitimate contenders outside of yet another Gus title shot were sparse. And with Cormier’s foray into heavyweight, the division was stagnant at best.

Jones returned to the throne by demolishing longtime rival Gustafsson at December’s UFC 232. Whispers of a trilogy bout with Cormier at heavyweight were the obvious direction. However, Jones insisted he wanted to make up for lost time at his home of light heavyweight, and it’s looking like he made a great call there.

Jones will meet surging contender Anthony Smith, who has three straight finishes of his own at 205 after moving there last year. “Bones” and “Lionheart” will throw down in the main event of this coming weekend’s (Sat., March 2, 2019) UFC 235 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

A New Set Of Contenders

Smith is one of the biggest underdogs in UFC 205-pound history, and for good reason. But the ruthless efficiency with which he beat Evans, Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua, and Volkan Oezedmir after ditching the cut to 185 pounds was uncanny. Adding another wrinkle to the situation, it was Santos who finished Smith in ‘Lionheart’s’ last bout at 185. The man who calls himself ‘The Hammer’ will obviously be at UFC 235, and he wants to fight the winner.

On paper, a title defense against Santos doesn’t seem like a big enough fight for ‘Bones.’ At this point in his career, it may not be. But we all thought the same about the Smith fight, too. Somehow, we’ll be talking about its result at this time next week.

So Jones truly wants to make up for lost time (and he has a ton of it) and simply take on the latest challenger most deserving of a shot. Say what you want about the controversial superstar, but that mindset is a refreshing throwback in this time where UFC competitors want to call every shot. Santos is most likely deserving of a title shot. Oezdemir got one against Cormier for a similar year in 2017.

There’s also a dark horse in the mix.

It’s 6’6″ rising star Johnny Walker, who’s unproven at the highest levels but scary in terms of potential. He’ll fight for the third time in the UFC when he meets Misha Cirkunov at UFC 235. Throw his name into the mix with Smith and Santos, and you have an interesting trio of knockout artists to contend with the enigmatic Jones. All of the sudden, the future of light heavy is bright.

While a Cormier trilogy fight will always be near the forefront for Jones, perhaps it is best he keeps his division moving. He’s claimed he wants to fight four times this year, and the possibilities for him to do so are exciting to say the least.

So much so, in fact, that the UFC light heavyweight division may finally be back.

The post Is Light Heavyweight Finally Back? appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

Longtime UFC heavyweight Stefan Struve scored an impressive come-from-behind submission over Marcos Rogerio de Lima (watch highlights here) in the co-main event of yesterday’s (Sat., February 23, 2019) UFC on ESPN+ 3 from the O2 Arena in Prague, Czech Republic.

The bout got Struve back on track following three straight defeats. But perhaps more importantly, it was also potentially the last fight for ‘The Skyscraper.’ While Struve wouldn’t commit to stepping down one hundred percent, he cited his heart condition as a motivating factor in his decision.

In a telltale sign for his career, he left his gloves in the Octagon. Struve detailed his decision at the UFC Prague post-fight press conference (via MMAjunkie), and ‘The Skyscraper’ seemed like a fighter who had made up his mind:

“I’m happy I never have to feel that tension again before the fight, and that only got worse after knowing about my heart. It was really hard to come back, but I’m not someone who shies away from a challenge.”

Stayed The Course

Struve spoke on his win over de Lima. He was hurt early and seemingly on his way to a fourth consecutive defeat. But after he was stunned by an early punch, he knew de Lima was tiring. When the first round ended, he believed the second frame would be his and it was:

“I didn’t know what happened,” Struve said. “I just stayed calm, and I felt him getting tired, and I knew the second round would be mine.”

He earned a “Performance of the Night” bonus for his effort, adding a nice bonus to a situation many fighters fail to obtain. that is winning their final fight, and he most definitely wanted to go out on a high note before he moved on to other things:

“I wanted to end on a good note. A whole life with lots of opportunity outside of fighting, which I can fully focus on right now,” he said. “I’m just going to be successful with something else.”

Heart Issues

Finally ‘The Skyscraper’ spoke up about his heart issues, adding that he shouldn’t really be fighting the best unarmed martial artists any longer:

“If you look at it, I shouldn’t be fighting the best athletes in the world,” Struve said. “Normally it’s found when people are very young. You go to a doctor, and they hear a murmur, and you have it checked out. You’re on medication for your whole life, and you shouldn’t do anything dangerous, because you have a heart disease.”

Solid recognition from the longtime mainstay. He was once pulled from a bout against Matt Mitrione due to a panic attack in conjunction with his heart issues. The thought of it has understandably haunted him since.

So Struve has taken the intelligent path and retired, at least for now. We wish him all the best in his retirement.

The post Stefan Struve Seemingly Confirms Retirement After UFC Prague appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

Bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw is still campaigning for a rematch with Henry Cejudo. Dominick Cruz is not a fan of how he’s going about it.

“The Messenger” demolished Dillashaw in only 32 seconds in the main event of last month’s UFC on ESPN+1 from Brooklyn. But the stoppage was a highly controversial one, and Dillashaw has spent the time since asking to run it back. Cejudo has said he’s willing to do it at Dillashaw’s normal weight class of 135 pounds. But ‘The Viper’ wants to prove he can win at 125 pounds after working so hard to make that cut.

One fighter close to the situation is not a fan of how Dillashaw has handled the situation. That fighter is former bantamweight champ Dominick Cruz, who went off on his old rival on the UFC Unfiltered podcast (via MMA Fighting) this week. Cruz thinks Dillashaw should just move on:

“I look at this and say, is this how insignificantly stupid you are?” Cruz said. “To think you complaining and whining about a stoppage is gonna change anything? You just sound like a moron. Like, nothing is gonna change.

“You might as well just accept what just happened to you and try to grab a hold of your balls instead of run from them and admit the loss. Because you just got knocked out by a [125er]. And you dropped down to a weight class that dried out your brain and you might not have been as durable as you are at 135.”

Compromised From Cutting Weight?

Cruz and Dillashaw have a long history. ‘The Dominator’ famously returned from one of his many injury layoffs to beat Dillashaw by decision in January 2016. That bout was a controversial split decision, and Dillashaw maintained that he won that fight for a long while afterward as well. His bout with Cejudo was different, however, as he was stopped. Cruz claims that was a product of his draining cut:

“There’s a reason why I never cut down to 125 and it’s not because I couldn’t make it,” Cruz said. “It’s because I knew at that level your brain, with the weight that I cut, it’s dried out and you’re not as durable. A huge part of cutting weight and fighting and coming back from the weight cut is how you do the cut. And the reason why that’s important is it helps your durability. And you have to be durable in these fights, because no matter who you are, you’re getting punched. Everybody gets punched. It’s just a matter of if it puts your lights out or not.”

Ref Saved Him

To him, the ref was only trying to save Dillashaw’s health. He said Dillashaw was taking heavy damage. Overall, he shouldn’t have put himself in that much danger by cutting that much weight:

“Now, that’s what he’s saying. ‘Well, he didn’t put my lights out, it should have never have been stopped.’ OK, but did it get stopped? Yes. Why? Because the ref thought he had to save your life. You got kicked in the face, you got an overhand right and you were getting pounded from the top position. The guy was just trying to keep your safe, T.J. So, in the end, maybe don’t put yourself in that position by cutting so much weight.”

In terms of the big picture, Cruz thinks it’s time for Dillashaw to move on. He still has the belt at bantamweight and isn’t injured. The fact he’s making excuses isn’t doing him any favors, and Cruz believes he’ll get his Cejudo rematch:

“Let’s see what happens at 135,” Cruz said. “I’m sure that fight [between Dillashaw and Cejudo] is gonna happen. But it’s a sad display for me for the 135-pound division. It just showed what a weak-minded champion we have, in my personal opinion, to not admit defeat when it happens and just make a bunch of sorry excuses. It’s sad to me. He should just take it and move on, because he’s still got the belt.

“He’s still going to fight, he’s gonna get another shot. He’s not injured, he’s not hurt. So it’s like, what kind of example are you leaving for yourself and everybody else just crying and whining about nothing that can be changed?”

The post Dominick Cruz Sounds Off On ‘Insignificantly Stupid’ TJ Dillashaw appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

Earlier this morning, legendary former UFC champion Georges St-Pierre officially announced his retirement from the sport of mixed martial arts (MMA). In doing so, St-Pierre did MMA a favor that may not be focused on as much as it should be.

St-Pierre wanted to come back for one last megafight against lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov. But the UFC apparently wanted him to fight a top contender in order to earn his shot at the lightweight title. That wasn’t something St-Pierre wanted to do at this point in his career, so he left on his own terms.

He’s a legend of the game, one of the true greats who can stake a claim at being the sport’s best of all-time. Fighters and other MMA personalities reacted to his retirement in a manner congruent with just that. He’s one of few top fighters who will walk away by choice rather than being coaxed into retirement by mounting losses. Few can make that claim, and even fewer who were at the top like he once was.

St-Pierre’s Favor

But there’s a different point of St-Pierre’s retirement that won’t be talked about much yet is still a gesture embodying the class he kept throughout his illustrious tenure as champion. In retiring, St-Pierre finally – mercifully – ended the painful waiting game that began when he vacated the welterweight title in December 2013. ‘Rush’ stepped down after his highly controversial decision win over Johny Hendricks (how times change) at UFC 167.

He wanted to step away from what he felt was lax drug testing in the sport at the time. Anxiety and obsession issues were also shrouding him mentally, so he took the time off he needed to. There was little left for him to accomplish at 170 pounds, where he is the greatest to ever compete. UFC President Dana White wasn’t happy about the situation. He spent some time trashing St-Pierre in interviews for a good month.

Time Off

The UFC legend took the time he needed nonetheless. At every turn and corner, however, he could be seen talking about his return. He dropped hints and tidbits to string along the MMA world with his proverbial carrot of a long-awaited return. White insisted St-Pierre didn’t want to fight for years despite St-Pierre saying he did while remaining noncommital.

It wasn’t enough to stop White from giving St-Pierre a middleweight title shot against Michael Bisping at 2017’s UFC 217. ‘GSP’ was coming off of four years off and had never fought at middleweight. No matter, as he submitted ‘The Count’ to become the new UFC 185-pound champ. He was back and everyone was calling him the greatest of all-time all over again. But then came his next vacating. St-Pierre gave up the middleweight title right after winning it, citing a bout with colitis due to the increased food intake required to fight at middleweight.

Conflicting Views

Robert Whittaker became the official champion. St-Pierre hasn’t fought since and stayed in the news suggesting a fight with Khabib. He believed he had earned that fight due to his body of work. On paper, perhaps he had. But when you vacate two UFC title and gum up divisions with the uncertainty of your availability, the UFC starts not to care who you are unless you’re named Conor McGregor.

There’s just been too much of that lately, so the UFC did the right thing in not agreeing to let St-Pierre fight for a third title. While novel and exciting in 2016 when McGregor became the first simultaneous two-division champ, the superfight era has become played out rapidly. What it does now is prevent titles from being defended anywhere close to regularly.

Divisions Held Up

For example, flyweight and bantamweight are both in a state flux with TJ Dillashaw trying to rematch Henry Cejudo. The featherweight champion may be moving up to fight for the interim lightweight title. An entire division, women’s featherweight, may have just been killed because the champion from a weight class below knocked out the 145-pound queen. The list goes on and the UFC needs to get their divisions moving.

Sure, Khabib vs. GSP would be like printing money, but do you really want your current undefeated champion losing to a great who’s almost certainly going to retire right afterward? I can’t and won’t knock on St-Pierre’s accomplishments. He was very possibly the most cerebral, efficient, and smothering champion the UFC has ever seen. He may not have been as dominant with finishes as Anderson Silva and Jon Jones were, but he won with a style of his own. If you want to call him the outright GOAT I won’t argue.

The Waiting Game

However, it just wasn’t in the best interest of the UFC to hold up lightweight even longer than it already has been and will be. The division is a mess. Making Khabib vs. GSP would only make it worse. The sheer amount of back-and-forth in St-Pierre’s waiting game was just beginning to wear on fans and everyone involved. The ‘will he? won’t he?’ dynamic just grew old after he fought once in four years and vacated his title. I’m by no means a St-Pierre hater. He was one of the best ever and it’s refreshing to see a fighter of his status go out with his wits intact.

St-Pierre did the sport of MMA a service by being perhaps its classiest ambassador while being one of the best of all-time. You don’t see that all too much these days. But he also did the sport and the UFC a favor by ending his excruciating waiting game and retiring.

All the best to St-Pierre as he leaves a sport he helped define. We were lucky to be witnesses to his greatness. If we’re as lucky in terms of the UFC’s title pictures moving forward remains to be seen.

The post Georges St-Pierre Did MMA A Favor By Ending Waiting Game appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

The UFC rankings have received an update after last weekend’s (Sun., February 17, 2019) UFC on ESPN 1 from the Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix, Arizona. Francis Ngannou finds himself back in the heavyweight elite as a result.

Ngannou knocked out former champ Cain Velasquez in a shocking 26-second demolition. The debate rages on whether or not it was Velasquez’ knee buckling that caused the stoppage. Regardless, Ngannou has his biggest win and a significant rise on the rankings because of it. ‘The Predator’ rose one spot to No. 2 in the update, knocking Derrick Lewis down to No. 3.

Lewis beat Ngannou in one of the worst fights of 2018 at last July’s UFC 226.

In other movement, lightweight veteran Paul Felder finally cracked the Top 10 following his decision win over James Vick in the co-main event. News arrived ‘The Irish Dragon’ had fought the third round with a collapsed lung, making his win all the more impressive. Vick fell four spots to No. 14 due to the loss.

Top-ranked bantamweight Aljamain Sterling made a move up the ranks as well, rising two spots to No. 5 after a decision win over Jimmie Rivera. ‘El Terror’ fell one spot to No. 6 in the loss.

Here are the fully updated rankings via UFC.com.

Fully Updated Official UFC Rankings:

POUND-FOR-POUND
1 Daniel Cormier 
2 Jon Jones 
3 Khabib Nurmagomedov 
4 Max Holloway 
5 Henry Cejudo 
6 Tyron Woodley 
7 Amanda Nunes 
8 Georges St-Pierre 
9 TJ Dillashaw 
10 Conor McGregor 
11 Stipe Miocic 
12 Robert Whittaker 
13 Tony Ferguson 
14 Rose Namajunas 
15 Cris Cyborg

FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Henry Cejudo
1 Jussier Formiga 
2 Joseph Benavidez 
3 Ray Borg 
4 Deiveson Figueiredo 
5 Wilson Reis 
6 Alexandre Pantoja 
7 Alex Perez 
8 Tim Elliott 
9 Rogerio Bontorin 
10 Magomed Bibulatov 
11 Eric Shelton 
12 Ryan Benoit 
13 TJ Dillashaw 
14 Kai Kara-France 
15 Matt Schnell

BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: TJ Dillashaw
1 Marlon Moraes 
2 Cody Garbrandt 
3 Raphael Assuncao +1
4 Dominick Cruz -1
5 Aljamain Sterling +2
6 Jimmie Rivera -1
7 John Lineker -1
8 Pedro Munhoz 
9 John Dodson 
10 Rob Font 
11 Cody Stamann 
12 Alejandro Perez 
13 Thomas Almeida 
14 Petr Yan +1
15 Ricky Simon -1

FEATHERWEIGHT
Champion: Max Holloway
1 Jose Aldo 
2 Brian Ortega 
3 Frankie Edgar 
4 Alexander Volkanovski 
5 Renato Moicano 
6 Jeremy Stephens 
7 Cub Swanson 
8 Mirsad Bektic 
9 Josh Emmett 
10 Ricardo Lamas 
11 Yair Rodriguez 
12 Chan Sung Jung 
13 Zabit Magomedsharipov 
14 Darren Elkins 
15 Calvin Kattar

LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion: Khabib Nurmagomedov
1 Tony Ferguson 
2 Conor McGregor 
3 Dustin Poirier 
4 Al Iaquinta 
5 Kevin Lee 
6 Edson Barboza 
7 Justin Gaethje 
8 Anthony Pettis 
9 Donald Cerrone 
10 Paul Felder *NR
11 Gregor Gillespie 
12 Alexander Hernandez +1
13 Nate Diaz -1
14 James Vick -4
15 Charles Oliveira -1

WELTERWEIGHT
Champion: Tyron Woodley
1 Colby Covington 
2 Kamaru Usman 
3 Darren Till 
4 Stephen Thompson 
5 Rafael Dos Anjos 
6 Robbie Lawler 
7 Santiago Ponzinibbio 
8 Demian Maia 
9 Leon Edwards 
10 Jorge Masvidal 
11 Neil Magny 
12 Gunnar Nelson 
13 Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos 
14 Vicente Luque *NR
15 Geoff Neal -1

MIDDLEWEIGHT
Champion: Robert Whittaker
1 Yoel Romero 
2 Luke Rockhold 
3 Jacare Souza 
4 Kelvin Gastelum 
5 Israel Adesanya 
6 Chris Weidman 
7 Paulo Costa 
8 Derek Brunson 
9 Jared Cannonier 
10 Brad Tavares 
11 David Branch 
12 Antonio Carlos Junior 
13 Uriah Hall 
14 Elias Theodorou 
15 Anderson Silva

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Jon Jones
1 Daniel Cormier 
2 Alexander Gustafsson 
3 Anthony Smith 
4 Jan Blachowicz 
5 Volkan Oezdemir 
6 Corey Anderson 
6 Thiago Santos 
8 Dominick Reyes 
9 Ilir Latifi 
10 Jimi Manuwa 
11 Glover Teixeira 
12 Ovince Saint Preux 
13 Mauricio Rua 
14 Misha Cirkunov 
15 Johnny Walker

HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Daniel Cormier
1 Stipe Miocic 
2 Francis Ngannou +1
3 Derrick Lewis -1
4 Curtis Blaydes 
5 Alexander Volkov 
6 Alistair Overeem 
7 Cain Velasquez *NR
8 Junior Dos Santos -1
9 Aleksei Oleinik -1
10 Marcin Tybura -1
11 Justin Willis -1
12 Tai Tuivasa -1
13 Shamil Abdurakhimov -1
14 Walt Harris -1
15 Andrei Arlovski -1

WOMEN’S STRAWWEIGHT
Champion: Rose Namajunas
1 Jessica Andrade 
2 Joanna Jedrzejczyk 
3 Tatiana Suarez 
3 Nina Ansaroff 
5 Claudia Gadelha 
6 Karolina Kowalkiewicz 
7 Tecia Torres 
8 Michelle Waterson 
9 Carla Esparza 
10 Cynthia Calvillo +2
11 Felice Herrig -1
12 Alexa Grasso +1
13 Cortney Casey -2
14 Randa Markos 
15 Mackenzie Dern

WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Valentina Shevchenko
1 Jessica Eye 
2 Sijara Eubanks 
3 Katlyn Chookagian 
4 Joanna Jedrzejczyk 
5 Alexis Davis 
6 Liz Carmouche 
7 Joanne Calderwood 
8 Roxanne Modafferi 
9 Lauren Murphy 
10 Andrea Lee +4
10 Jessica-Rose Clark 
12 Montana De La Rosa -1
13 Mara Romero Borella 
14 Paige VanZant +1
15 Antonina Shevchenko *NR

WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: Amanda Nunes
1 Germaine de Randamie 
2 Holly Holm 
3 Ketlen Vieira 
4 Raquel Pennington 
5 Cat Zingano 
6 Marion Reneau 
7 Aspen Ladd 
8 Sara McMann 
9 Yana Kunitskaya 
10 Irene Aldana 
11 Tonya Evinger 
12 Bethe Correia 
13 Lina Lansberg 
14 Lucie Pudilova 
15 Talita Bernardo

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