Regardless of whether or not you feel Frankie Edgar truly deserved an immediate rematch with Benson Henderson after their epic clash at UFC 144, this rematch is going to happen this weekend, barring any last minute injuries, so you’ll just have to deal with it.
In all honesty, Edgar/Bendo II is perhaps the perfect main event to follow up UFC on FOX 4, as it will surely continue to deliver on the action-packed slugfests that its preceding event provided. And while we’re on the subject of UFC on FOX 4, check out a behind-the-scenes look at the event provided by the almighty Danavlog. It’s got everything: Damarques Johnson asking “What the hell happened?”, Ryan Bader asking “What the hell happened?”, and even Brandon Vera asking “What the hell happened?” Valentine McKee would’ve been proud.
So give that a gander if you would be so kind, and if you’re looking to get properly amped for this weekend’s events, down your first 5-hour energy of the day and check out the full Countdown to UFC 150 videos detailing the Bendo/Edgar, Cerrone/Guillard, and Ed Herman/Jake Shields fights after the jump.
Regardless of whether or not you feel Frankie Edgar truly deserved an immediate rematch with Benson Henderson after their epic clash at UFC 144, this rematch is going to happen this weekend, barring any last minute injuries, so you’ll just have to deal with it.
In all honesty, Edgar/Bendo II is perhaps the perfect main event to follow up UFC on FOX 4, as it will surely continue to deliver on the action-packed slugfests that its preceding event provided. And while we’re on the subject of UFC on FOX 4, check out a behind-the-scenes look at the event provided by the almighty Danavlog. It’s got everything: Damarques Johnson asking “What the hell happened?”, Ryan Bader asking “What the hell happened?”, and even Brandon Vera asking “What the hell happened?” Valentine McKee would’ve been proud.
So give that a gander if you would be so kind, and if you’re looking to get properly amped for this weekend’s events, down your first 5-hour energy of the day and check out the full Countdown to UFC 150 videos detailing the Bendo/Edgar, Cerrone/Guillard, and Ed Herman/Jake Shields fights below.
Edgar/Henderson
The story of Benson’s mother, Song, is Oscar Pistorius-level heartwarming, and the same goes for Benson. Everything about the guy is captivating; from his humble beginnings to the heroes welcome he received upon returning home to South Korea with the lightweight strap, Henderson has been a motivated, hard working, class act through and through. That must be why you don’t see a lot of BEN HENDO IS OVERRATED TRASH ASSHOLE GARBAGE RAWWRR!! forums on the UG these days. “Why change because you’ve got the belt?” he asks, “I wanna stay the same fighter that I was before.” We’re sure he means with the exception of one small moment.
And then there’s Frankie Edgar, a.k.a The Little Engine That Could Except No One Wanted It To Because It Was Coming From New Jersey. Undefeated in the rematch scenario, Edgar promises that “Henderson will not defend the belt, because I’m taking it home with me.” Why, Frankie, so you can shower it in AXE body spray and hair gel?!! I think not, Mr. Edgar. I think not.
Cerrone/Guillard
Only twenty three seconds into this video, we are treated to perhaps the most brutal knockout of Melvin Guillard’s career, against Rick Davis at 60. The closest thing I could compare it to would be the beating the Shawshank guards put on Boggs, and like Boggs, Davis never walked fought again.
Guillard describes his old training partner as “The craziest white boy I’ve ever met.” That’s a compliment, right? Fun fact: Cerrone’s and Guillard’s birthdays are only one day apart, which in Guillard’s mind is as close to destiny as he can imagine.
And Cerrone promises fireworks, like we’d expect anything less.
Shields/Herman
Jake Shields has apparently been training everywhere from San Diego (alongside Phil Davis and Brandon Vera) to Abu Dhabi (where he apparently got to fly a jetpack) for his return to the middleweight division. Did I mention he got to fly a jetpack?! For some reason, I suddenly want to be a f*cking fighter.
On an unrelated not, if Shields somehow manages to knock Herman out on Saturday, we’re all gonna get laid. You heard it here first.
To the average working person $59.99 is a lot of money, and with the UFC offering two, sometimes three pay-per-view events in a single calendar month, that’s a lot of strain to put on the bank account.For myself and others of legal drinking age, the so…
To the average working person $59.99 is a lot of money, and with the UFC offering two, sometimes three pay-per-view events in a single calendar month, that’s a lot of strain to put on the bank account.
For myself and others of legal drinking age, the solution is the local bar where—if you can ignore the guy in the Ed Hardy shirt screaming “headbutt!” every time the fight hits the mat—you can enjoy some drinks and watch the card with a small cover charge at most.
In the interest of sparking the conversation between you and your increasingly inebriated pals, I’ve put together a handy cheat sheet of five topics that you can argue over while you wait for the server to refill your mug. Enjoy the fights, enjoy the beverages, and of course, get home safe on Saturday night!
1. If Frankie Edgar wins the lightweight title, doesn’t Ben Henderson deserve an immediate rematch?
Let’s say that Frankie Edgar earns a close unanimous decision win over Ben Henderson which, given how their first fight went, is a distinct possibility. That leaves both fighters locked in a 1-1 tie and, given that Edgar was awarded an immediate rematch after their first match, shouldn’t Henderson be given the same opportunity?
In a vacuum, that would be the fair thing to do, but a vacuum doesn’t have Nate Diaz waiting in the wings, or Donald Cerrone, Anthony Pettis or even Paul Sass potentially in the mix. UFC president Dana White has already said that Diaz will get the next shot at the title, but you couldn’t blame Henderson for feeling a little swindled if the fighter he already beat walks away with the title and he is thrown back into the ever-growing pool of contenders.
This is the reason that I hate immediate title rematches. Not only do they stagnate the division for up to six months at a time, but they add a level of complexity to the title picture that just isn’t needed. Contenders get their shot, and if they come up short—regardless of circumstance—send them back to the pack and bring on the next one.
2. Will we get a Fight of the Year candidate on back-to-back weekends?
Given that Donald Cerrone and Melvin Guillard is the co-main event at UFC 150, it’s a distinct possibility.
Once former training partners, Cerrone and Guillard have built their reputations on being two of the most exciting fighters in the lightweight division, and on paper, these two should combine for a fantastic scrap. Guillard brings wicked speed and knockout power, while Cerrone relies on his technical kickboxing, dangerous submission game, and unparalleled mean streak. It’s hard to imagine a scenario where this isn’t an all-out war, especially when you consider that it’s being fought in Cerrone‘s home state of Colorado.
After the out-of-nowhere fireworks display that was Joe Lauzon vs. Jamie Varner last weekend, these could be the best back-to-back Fight of the Nights that we’ve ever seen.
3. Is a return to middleweight what Jake Shields needs to rejuvenate his career?
The last time we saw Jake Shields look like a world-class fighter, he was suffocating Dan Henderson en route to a unanimous decision title defense of his Strikeforce middleweight title.
Welterweight was supposed to be Shields’ optimal weight class, but after an uninspired 2-2 UFC run that included two razor-thin wins, a lopsided decision loss and a 53-second knockout, Shields is back up to 185 lbs to try his luck against Ed Herman.
Herman is a tough draw for someone looking to re-energize their career, and his wrestling abilities should make it hard for Shields to get the fight to the ground and work his Jiu-Jitsu game. Switching weight classes is hit and miss in terms of success rate, but a win over Herman would get Shields back in the right direction and help him to regain a little of the hype he enjoyed when he first entered the Octagon. But a loss would be a pretty significant nail in the coffin for the former top 10 fighter.
4. How high is Justin Lawrence’s career ceiling?
Josh Koscheck and Gray Maynard have proven that you don’t need to win the six-figure contract to become a UFC star and challenge for a title. When he makes his featherweight debut against Max Holloway in the first fight of Saturday’s main card, 22-year-old Justin Lawrence will hope to follow in their footsteps.
Despite just having four professional MMA fights, Lawrence’s striking experience and credentials—a six-time kickboxing national champion and two-time Golden Gloves boxing champion to name a few—have already earned him a Knockout of the Night in his one UFC fight, and his fighting style could quickly turn him into a fan favorite.
But most importantly for his career trajectory, Lawrence is moving to a featherweight division that is still without a laundry list of established stars. Given two years to progress and improve on his wrestling defense, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see Lawrence challenging for the belt in 2014.
5. Does MMA belong in the Olympics?
I know it doesn’t pertain directly to UFC 150, but the Olympic discussion has permeated every other aspect of our lives during the last two weeks, and figuring out how our beloved sport could exist on a global stage is a fun discussion to have in between bouts.
For one thing, would the tournament be comprised of amateur or professional fighters? Seeing all of the best fighters in the world compete in a month-long tournament for their countries would be a spectacle that would rival the PRIDE-era Grand Prix, but that would also mean that basically every top-tier UFC fighter would be unavailable to fight from about April (factoring in training camps) until mid-August at the earliest. If you think UFC cards are stretched thin now, imagine if they had no top 10 talent to pull from for a four-month stretch. Amateur fighters are probably the way to go, but amateur MMA is still a developing and unorganized mishmash of promotions and gyms. A national MMA governing body would need to be established in this country to determine which fighters to send, and I have a hard time seeing that moving swiftly when we can’t even get the sport legalized in New York.
My feeling is that most fans want MMA in the Olympics because it would add another level of credibility to a sport that is constantly under attack and fighting for mainstream acceptance. But football isn’t in the Olympics, and baseball was just voted out, and both of those sports are doing fine. As for myself, I think Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu lends itself better to the Olympic format, and the 2016 Summer Olympics just happen to be in Rio deJaneiro. Is that perfect, or is that perfect?
Frankie Edgar is the UFC’s official king of fighting the same guy back-to-back. He did it in 2010 with BJ Penn, in 2011 with Gray Maynard, and now he’s heading into fight #2 against Ben Henderson, the Philippians-quoting WEC standout who bullrushed the UFC and out-pointed four consecutive opponents to win the lightweight belt. (In case anybody cares, Randy Couture is at #2 on the immediate rematch leaderboard thanks to his rivalries with Pedro Rizzo and Vitor Belfort; then there’s a handful of guys who have had one immediate rematch, and that’s it. It’s a pretty short list.)
What makes the rematch at UFC 150 different for Edgar, of course, is that he won’t be a defending champion this time. Though he fought his ass off against Bendo at UFC 144, the numbers simply weren’t on his side. (Plus, he ate that face-shattering upkick at a moment when he really needed to maintain his momentum.) Ben Henderson is just as iron-chinned, aggressive, and hard-working as Edgar, so maybe the biggest advantage in the matchup is the fact that Henderson is a large lightweight, and Edgar isn’t. Will this be the fight that finally convinces Frankie to seek his fortune at featherweight? Or will he reclaim his belt with another unbelievable display of heart?
Frankie Edgar is the UFC’s official king of fighting the same guy back-to-back. He did it in 2010 with BJ Penn, in 2011 with Gray Maynard, and now he’s heading into fight #2 against Ben Henderson, the Philippians-quoting WEC standout who bullrushed the UFC and out-pointed four consecutive opponents to win the lightweight belt. (In case anybody cares, Randy Couture is at #2 on the immediate rematch leaderboard thanks to his rivalries with Pedro Rizzo and Vitor Belfort; then there’s a handful of guys who have had one immediate rematch, and that’s it. It’s a pretty short list.)
What makes the rematch at UFC 150 different for Edgar, of course, is that he won’t be a defending champion this time. Though he fought his ass off against Bendo at UFC 144, the numbers simply weren’t on his side. (Plus, he ate that face-shattering upkick at a moment when he really needed to maintain his momentum.) Ben Henderson is just as iron-chinned, aggressive, and hard-working as Edgar, so maybe the biggest advantage in the matchup is the fact that Henderson is a large lightweight, and Edgar isn’t. Will this be the fight that finally convinces Frankie to seek his fortune at featherweight? Or will he reclaim his belt with another unbelievable display of heart?
Later in the video, Jake Shields discusses his return to middleweight, following a welterweight run in the UFC that never quite left the ground. He’ll be facing Ed Herman, whose quiet comeback includes three consecutive stoppage victories, two in the first round. You’d have to call Shields the favorite here, but Herman has been surprising people lately, and he knows how much a win over Shields would do for him. By the way, only nine fights are currently confirmed for the card, which makes it the lightest lineup in recent memory. UFC 150 goes down Saturday, August 11th, at the Pepsi Center in Denver.
On August 11, the lightweight title is on the line at UFC 150 between Benson “Smooth” Henderson and Frankie “The Answer” Edgar.These two lightweights have met once before—at UFC 144—where it was Edgar looking to defend the belt against Hend…
On August 11, the lightweight title is on the line at UFC 150 between Benson “Smooth” Henderson and Frankie “The Answer” Edgar.
These two lightweights have met once before—at UFC 144—where it was Edgar looking to defend the belt against Henderson. In a back-and-forth fight, after five rounds, Henderson was declared the winner by unanimous decision.
After the fight, Dana White was trying to get Edgar to move down to featherweight, while Edgar wanted a rematch against Henderson, as he felt he had won the fight.
After a few weeks of speculation, it was announced that Edgar would get the rematch and have a chance to reclaim his lightweight title.
In the co-main event, Donald Cerrone faces off against Melvin Guillard—although that fight was only recently announced and is not featured in the video.
Those two lightweights are both coming off wins, and they’re looking to get a win over a top competitor to vault themselves back into title contention.
The second fight featured in the video is a middleweight fight between the former Strikeforce middleweight champion, Jake Shields, and Ed “Short Fuse” Herman.
Shields is making his UFC middleweight debut and is fighting there for the first time since beating Dan Henderson at Strikeforce: Nashville.
Herman comes into the fight on a three-fight win streak, with three finishes. He TKO’d Tim Credur, then submitted both Kyle Noke and Clifford Starks.
A win over Shields proves that Herman can be a threat, and for Shields, a win over Herman means that Shields can compete at middleweight in the UFC.
UFC 150 goes down on August 11 from the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colo.
Tim McTiernan is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. For the latest news on everything MMA, follow him on Twitter @TimMcTiernan.
Whether it’s Jon Jones wanting to move up to heavyweight, or everyone wanting Frankie Edgar to cut to 145, weight-class-shifting is a hot topic for MMA fans and pundits alike. And while we’ve recently covered the perils and benefits of dropping to a lower weight class, the same can be said for moving up in weight. After jumping to heavier divisions, some fighters’ proverbial stars have shined brighter, some have dimmed, and some have gone God-damn-supernova — and it’s never easy to predict which fighters will have success. Check out some notable examples below, and tell us which other fighters you think would do well with some extra meat on their bones.
The Good
Alistair Overeem
(Same guy as above, same backdrop, and yet something is different…)
All insinuations aside, Overeem is a prime example of success at moving up a weight class. As I previously mentioned, Overeem has gone 12-1-1 since making a full commitment to heavyweight, and while the quality of opponents he faced was often questionable, that is still a hell of a good run. If you take a look back at his time at light-heavyweight, the stats are not nearly as impressive. Overeem’s losses usually came at the hands of the light-heavyweight division’s top guys, like Chuck Liddell, Antônio Rogério Nogueira, and Ricardo Arona. His run at light-heavyweight showed that he couldn’t hang with the elites of the respective weight class, and was vulnerable to being manhandled by stronger opponents.
After doing whatever it is he did to bulk up, he turned his fortunes around and achieved the greatest stardom of his career, becoming the poster child for successful jumps up the weight-class ladder. If it wasn’t for some bad decision-making, he would be fighting for the sport’s highest prize this weekend. Here’s to hoping he gets his shit together soon.
Whether it’s Jon Jones wanting to move up to heavyweight, or everyone wanting Frankie Edgar to cut to 145, weight-class-shifting is a hot topic for MMA fans and pundits alike. And while we’ve recently covered the perils and benefits of dropping to a lower weight class, the same can be said for moving up in weight. After jumping to heavier divisions, some fighters’ proverbial stars have shined brighter, some have dimmed, and some have gone God-damn-supernova — and it’s never easy to predict who will have success. Check out some notable examples below, and tell us which other fighters you think would do well with some extra meat on their bones.
The Good
Alistair Overeem
(Same guy as above, same backdrop, and yet something is different…)
All insinuations aside, Overeem is a prime example of success at moving up a weight class. As I previously mentioned, Overeem has gone 12-1-1 since making a full commitment to heavyweight, and while the quality of opponents he faced was often questionable, that is still a hell of a good run. If you take a look back at his time at light-heavyweight, the stats are not nearly as impressive. Overeem’s losses usually came at the hands of the light-heavyweight division’s top guys, like Chuck Liddell, Antônio Rogério Nogueira, and Ricardo Arona. His run at light-heavyweight showed that he couldn’t hang with the elites of the respective weight class, and was vulnerable to being manhandled by stronger opponents.
After doing whatever it is he did to bulk up, he turned his fortunes around and achieved the greatest stardom of his career, becoming the poster child for successful jumps up the weight-class ladder. If it wasn’t for some bad decision-making, he would be fighting for the sport’s highest prize this weekend. Here’s to hoping he gets his shit together soon.
What can be said that already hasn’t been about Captain America? (Sorry Stann, but there’s only room for one in my heart.) A man probably best known for his trilogy at light-heavyweight with Chuck Liddell — oh, and also for being a former interim light-heavyweight champ, and two-time unified light-heavyweight champ — Randy Couture also racked up accolades in the heavyweight division. Kicking off his MMA career by winning the UFC 13 heavyweight tournament in 1997, Randy went on to win the UFC’s heavyweight title three times.
Ten years later, after seven consecutive fights at light-heavyweight and a short lived “retirement,” the 43-year-old legend returned to take on then-heavyweight champ Tim Sylvia. (Note: a little piece of me dies every time I’m forced to mention “Tim Sylvia” and “champion” in the same sentence.) Couture’s dominant win over Sylvia and subsequent title defense against Gabriel Gonzaga were nothing short of inspiring. Randy managed to do what every man who’s experienced a mid-life crisis has only dreamed about. Besides, he also honorably represented the sport of MMA by making James Toney look as foolish as possible at UFC 118. For that alone, he gets a much deserved nod on our list.
Say what you will about Jake’s fighting style (boring as fuck, for the most part), but his move up to middleweight during his run in Strikeforce produced the best possible results. With wins over Robbie Lawler, Mayhem Miller, and Dan Henderson (!), Jake beat every top middleweight Strikeforce could throw at him. Since jumping to the UFC, Shields has dropped back down to 170, and hasn’t fared nearly as well, going 2-2, including a verrrrry questionable win over Martin Kampmann. Damn Jake, maybe you should think about moving back up in weight. Now that we’ve talked about that, can we all agree to never speak of Hendo vs. Shields again?
Motivated, unmotivated, whatever you want to call it, BJ’s career has seen its share of peaks and valleys. But the fact still remains that when the UFC decided to temporarily scrap its 155-pound division in 2003, the Prodigy jumped up to welterweight, and managed to beat five-time defending welterweight champion Matt Hughes in his welterweight debut at UFC 46. Penn then decided to leave the promotion, making short work of Duane Ludwig at K-1 Romanex four months later. This was, of course, before he decided to fight anyone regardless of weight. Hang on, we’ll get to that…
After compiling a 2-2 octagon record at welterweight (well, 1-3 depending on how you personally scored the Martin Kampmann fight), it looks like former Strikeforce middleweight champion Jake Shields will be returning to 185 this summer, and will be taking on the resurgent Ed Herman at UFC 150, which goes down on August 11th from the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado. UFC President Dana White was the first to break the news, via his Twitter:
UFC 150 Sat Aug 11 Denver, CO Middleweight Bout Ed Herman VS Jake Shields. I like that fight!
Shields is coming off a unanimous decision victory over the struggling Yoshihiro Akiyama at UFC 144 in February. Although he was able to walk away with the victory and snap a two-fight losing streak in the process, he did find himself on the wrong end of more than one fantastic Judo throw. So you tell us who the real winner was…
…still Shields? Fine, let’s move on.
TUF 3 runner-up Ed Herman, on the other hand, has looked pretty spectacular as of late, and will be looking to build upon a current three-fight win streak that includes wins over scrappy TUF 7 veteran Tim Credeur and TUF 11 alum Kyle Noke. Is it just us, or does it seem like nearly everyone in the UFC can be tied back to The Ultimate Fighter at some point in their career? It’s like the Kevin Bacon of MMA these days. Anyway, Shields should be a considerable favorite coming into this one, but given Herman’s growing trajectory, as well as Shields’ rather mediocre performances in the octagon thus far, “Short Fuse” could be a solid pick for you gamblers, who should already be rolling in the green if you followed our advice.
And in other fight booking, or rather, fight shuffling news…
After compiling a 2-2 octagon record at welterweight (well, 1-3 depending on how you personally scored the Martin Kampmann fight), it looks like former Strikeforce middleweight champion Jake Shields will be returning to 185 this summer, and will be taking on the resurgent Ed Herman at UFC 150, which goes down on August 11th from the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado. UFC President Dana White was the first to break the news, via his Twitter:
UFC 150 Sat Aug 11 Denver, CO Middleweight Bout Ed Herman VS Jake Shields. I like that fight!
Shields is coming off a unanimous decision victory over the struggling Yoshihiro Akiyama at UFC 144 in February. Although he was able to walk away with the victory and snap a two-fight losing streak in the process, he did find himself on the wrong end of more than one fantastic Judo throw. So you tell us who the real winner was…
…still Shields? Fine, let’s move on.
TUF 3 runner-up Ed Herman, on the other hand, has looked pretty spectacular as of late, and will be looking to build upon a current three-fight win streak that includes wins over scrappy TUF 7 veteran Tim Credeur and TUF 11 alum Kyle Noke. Is it just us, or does it seem like nearly everyone in the UFC can be tied back to The Ultimate Fighter at some point in their career? It’s like the Kevin Bacon of MMA these days. Anyway, Shields should be a considerable favorite coming into this one, but given Herman’s growing trajectory, as well as Shields’ rather mediocre performances in the octagon thus far, “Short Fuse” could be a solid pick for you gamblers, who should already be rolling in the green if you followed our advice.
And in other fight booking, or rather, fight shuffling news…
Those of you hoping to see Michael Bisping and Tim Boetsch throw down at UFC 148 are in for some shitty news, because MMAWeekly reported last night that the middleweight showdown between “The Count” and “The Barbarian” has been moved from UFC 148 to the UFC 149: Clusterfuck event which goes down in Calgary, Alberta, Canada on July 21st. The reasoning for this shuffle has yet to be revealed, but we’ll let you know if any specific details arise.
And in incredibly vague fight booking news, it’s looking like the rumors that Jon Jones could be defending his belt yet again at UFC 149 against Dan Henderson are all but a complete fabrication at this point, as Jones’ manager, Malki Kawa, told MMAFighting that Jones would not be participating on the Calgary card, stating, “It’s just probably a little too soon. There’s been no timetable yet but July probably isn’t going to happen.” It is now rumored that an August or September return is likely for “Bones,” who has been an absolute workhorse this past year, knocking off four consecutive former champions (three of them by way of stoppage) in just over 11 months.
So who do you like for Shields’ return to middleweight, Potato Nation?
To the average working person $59.99 is a lot of money, and with the UFC offering two, sometimes three pay-per-view events in a single calendar month, that’s a lot of strain to put on the bank account.
