Tag: Jake Shields

UFC 130 Results: Power Ranking the Top 15 Welterweights

UFC 130 may not have been the greatest card of all time, but a few fights helped to establish the contenders from the pretenders in their respective divisions. One example of this is Rick Story, a fighter who was not ranked in most folks top 20 welterw…

UFC 130 may not have been the greatest card of all time, but a few fights helped to establish the contenders from the pretenders in their respective divisions.

One example of this is Rick Story, a fighter who was not ranked in most folks top 20 welterweights coming in, pulling off a huge upset over Thiago Alves.

Alves fought for the UFC welterweight belt back in July of 2009, and despite only being 1-2 since then, he was still generally considered a top three welterweight fighter coming into the match up with “The Horror” Story.

This is a major shake up for the UFC’s welterweight division, so an updated power ranking for the top 10 most credentialed fighters in the division seems in order.

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Finally Official, Georges St-Pierre’s Rounds Won Streak Ends at 33

Filed under: UFC, FanHouse Exclusive, NewsAfter UFC 129, we knew Georges St-Pierre’s record streak of winning consecutive rounds was over, but we didn’t know exactly when it was over. That was due to a quirk in Ontario politics, which required permissi…

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After UFC 129, we knew Georges St-Pierre‘s record streak of winning consecutive rounds was over, but we didn’t know exactly when it was over. That was due to a quirk in Ontario politics, which required permission from the government agency that oversees the province’s athletics commission before releasing the official judges’ scorecards.

Nearly four weeks after the fight’s final horn blew, Richard Hustwick, senior advisor, media and stakeholder liasion at the Office of the Athletics Commissioner, finally received that permission and released the detailed scorecard to MMA Fighting, showing that challenger Jake Shields won the fourth and fifth rounds on two judges’ scorecards.

So finally, officially, we can report that St-Pierre’s record streak of consecutive rounds won is over at 33.

St-Pierre’s streak began on August 25, 2007 at UFC 74. In that match, his first since losing the championship to Matt Serra in a historic upset four months prior, St-Pierre lost the first round, according to two of the three cageside judges. But he won the second and third rounds to capture the fight by decision, and never looked back.

The streak took him through nine fights, only one of which did not have a title or interim title at stake. During that time, three of his opponents — Serra, BJ Penn and Matt Hughes — were former UFC champions, while Shields was the only former Strikeforce champ in the field.

St-Pierre finished three opponents and went to a decision six times, improving to 22-2 in the process.

At UFC 129, St-Pierre seemingly cruised through the first three rounds, taking all of them on all three judges’ scorecards before a hyphema in his left eye compromised his vision, leaving him open to Shields’ right hand.

Judges Nelson Hamilton and Richard Bertrand scored the final two rounds for Shields, snapping his streak, while Douglas Crosby marked both of them for St-Pierre.

Though one run ended, St-Pierre now has the second-longest streak of title defenses after dispatching his sixth straight No. 1 contender. The only UFC champ to have a longer run is middleweight kingpin Anderson Silva, who has an active stretch of eight straight, which he’ll hope to add to when he faces Yushin Okami at UFC 134 in August.

Over time, it will be interesting to see if St-Pierre’s number gets surpassed or even threatened, or if perhaps it becomes a number of lore in MMA, much the same way Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hit streak in baseball is revered now, 70 years after it happened.

 

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Nick Diaz: Is He Someone Who Can Bring out the Finisher in GSP?

UFC Welterweight Champion Georges “Rush” St. Pierre is without question, one of the most dominant fighters to ever step into the UFC Octagon.His training for a fight shows how effective he uses all his talents. His game plan is something that he sticks…

UFC Welterweight Champion Georges “Rush” St. Pierre is without question, one of the most dominant fighters to ever step into the UFC Octagon.

His training for a fight shows how effective he uses all his talents. His game plan is something that he sticks to religiously, no matter what.

That same game plan, however, has been good and it has been notching wins to his already impressive career, but when you watch his fights, you see someone who will bust you up, but not finish you off.

And that is what I miss about the Canadian born fighter. Where did GSP’s killer instinct go?

Ever since winning the UFC Welterweight Title from Matt Serra due to referee stoppage back in UFC 83, GSP has gone to the decision in five of his last six title defenses. Granted all of them were unanimous, but sometimes you just crave for more.

UFC President Dana White would rather have a fight be finished than leaving it up to the judges. And we all know how sometimes we don’t agree with their decisions.

Maybe GSP needs someone that will push him to the distance.

Josh Koscheck pissed GSP off and had his face mangled in the process. But wouldn’t it be awesome to see GSP finish off Koscheck? Submission, TKO, KO, it doesn’t matter. Lots of people hate Koscheck at a cellular level and was craving for him to be taken out.

GSP had his chance, not once, but twice and it still went to the judges.

Where is the GSP that obliterated Matt Serra for the title? Where is the GSP that destroyed UFC Hall Of Famer Matt Hughes not once, but twice? Where is the GSP that broke Sean Sherk’s nose?

That GSP was a beast to be feared.

Although a fight between GSP and UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva looms around. There is always a possibility that the fight will be between two legendary fighters that could cancel each other because they are that good.

Anderson himself has also had his share of fights go the distance and to be honest, a Silva fight going the distance is not something you want to see.

As of now, the rumors circulating around the MMA universe is revolving around a potential fight between GSP and Strikeforce Welterweight Champion Nick Diaz. Now that fight could be the fight that pushes St. Pierre.

Nick Diaz is a one hell of a fighter and most of all, the MMA “Bad Boy” is a finisher.

If it wasn’t for an unfortunate poke in the eye, GSP’s fight against Jake Shields could have been better. But when you were watching the fight, it did look like that GSP was playing it safe to eek out a judges decision.

Georges kept the fight standing up, which exploited the fact that Shields’ stand up game absolutely sucked.

That being said, GSP knew that Shield’s ground game is his strong point so he kept it on his feet. He can’t do that with Diaz. If you don’t think Diaz’s stand-up is sick, just watch his fight against Paul Daley. Daley is a talented striker and Diaz disposed of him in the first round. Trust me when I say this, Nick Diaz’s stand-up is the real deal.

The one thing I love about Diaz is that he loathes leaving any of his fights to the judges. The kid from Stockton, California can bring alot of problems to GSP. His unorthodox stand-up style along with his sick ground game makes it very difficult to match up with.

Although a fight between GSP and Anderson Silva would be great, a fight between GSP and Nick Diaz might be better.

Well those are my thoughts. Now it is time to hear yours. Is Nick Diaz the type of fighter who will bring out the finisher in GSP? Or has GSP become a fighter that lost that “finishing feeling”?

Or do we have to rely on Anderson Silva to bring out the finisher in him? Until then this is Balistik signing out.

Peace Out

MMA ALL THE WAY!

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Jake Ellenberger Feels Like He Can Beat Jake Shields

Jake Ellenberger has been making waves in the UFC ever since he first stepped foot inside the Octagon.In his first match, he was paired with former WEC champion Carlos Condit and dazzled with powerful right-hand punches, pushing the former champion to …

Jake Ellenberger has been making waves in the UFC ever since he first stepped foot inside the Octagon.

In his first match, he was paired with former WEC champion Carlos Condit and dazzled with powerful right-hand punches, pushing the former champion to the brink and narrowly losing a split decision.

Ellenberger has been very vocal about wanting to have a fight with Jake Shields. Shields fought Georges St-Pierre in the main event of the recent UFC 129. That night, Jake lost his first fight in over six years, and the match-up featured a vicious first round knockout of Sean Pierson by none other than Jake Ellenberger. The win was the fourth in a row from Jake. He shattered his hand in the bout, but immediately had surgery and now looks to fight top competition in the UFC.

Now, Ellenberger wants to fight Jake Shields next.  He stated, “If they do make that match and me and Jake get to fight, he’s not a hard guy to figure out. I feel like I can beat him right now. There’s a lot of things in the past that I wasn’t doing correctly. It was kind of a learning process for me. This sport still being so new, earlier in my career I loved to compete and I was making a little bit of money, but I don’t think I was as focused and disciplined as I am now. I’ve surrounded myself with such good people. Good coaching and training partners, guys that really believe in me.”

This could be a good match-up, but is Shields interested?  We will have to wait and see at this point.

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Not Looking Past UFC 132, Carlos Condit Craves All Welterweight Challenges

Carlos “Natural Born Killer” Condit aims to hit championship targets no matter what organization they are in. For the 27-year-old, stringing together four consecutive victories means ending Dong Hyun Kim’s five-fight win streak at UFC…

Carlos “Natural Born Killer” Condit aims to hit championship targets no matter what organization they are in.

For the 27-year-old, stringing together four consecutive victories means ending Dong Hyun Kim’s five-fight win streak at UFC 132 on July 2 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Adding “Stun Gun” to an Octagon resume boasting wins over Jake Ellenberger, Rory MacDonald, and Dan Hardy is ideal for the former WEC Welterweight Champion, who intends to entrench himself atop one of the most storied divisions in the UFC. 

“It’s a tough match up for me. I definitely think it’s a good test,” Condit told ESPN’s Inside the Cage radio. “Dong Hyun Kim does what a lot of the top welterweights do: his game plan is to use his wrestling and his size and his strength to basically impose top control.”

The Greg Jackson-trained fighter returns to action after withdrawing from a scheduled February slug fest with Chris Lytle at UFC 127. Condit netted an extra $85,000 for a Fight of the Night versus MacDonald at UFC 115, $65,000 for knocking out Dan Hardy at UFC 120, and hopes his bout against Kim at UFC 132 can be his third consecutive incentive bonus. After all, prizefighting is about performance and Condit to make statements with his outings July 2 and beyond.

“I really feel like I’m in my prime. I think these next couple of years are going to help define my career and my legacy,” he said. “I’m looking to make a run and hopefully get that belt around my waist.”

Condit recently called out former two-division champion B.J. Penn, attempting to take on the names that make for action-packed, marquee fights that can build a career and define a legacy. Instead, he meets the Korean judoka, a stern yet unheralded opponent. Still, Kim fits well into Condit’s future plans.

“I was a little bit disappointed I didn’t get to fight B.J. Penn. A lot of the other top welterweights are either booked for fights or aren’t going to be ready in the time frame I’m trying to compete,” he admitted. “I think [Jake] Shields is definitely on the horizon for me. I definitely would like to get in there and try to avenge a loss. If I have a good showing against Kim, I imagine I’d get a title shot.”

A four-fight win streak—and a pre-requisite impressive showing against Kim—would place Condit in a contender spot for the UFC belt or near it, but that doesn’t mean Condit is unwilling to take longer and tougher routes either.

“It’s been my goal since I started fighting,” he said of being the UFC champion, adding, “I think a possible number one contender fight with me and [Strikeforce Welterweight Champion] Nick Diaz is a possibility as well.”

Condit believes he can take on fighters firmly among welterweight’s elite like Dong Hyun Kim, Jake Shields and Nick Diaz because he sees himself mixing it up UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St-Pierre someday despite the two training under the Greg Jackson banner.

“In fact, we really haven’t trained much together. The possibility of us fighting is very real. For the most part, when he’s in and I’m in at the same time, we just kind of stay on our own sides of the gym,” said Condit. “As far as training, it definitely throws in complicated issues as far as coaching, but I guess we’ll have to cross that bridge when we get there.”

Danny Acosta is the lead writer at FIGHT! Magazine. Interview was conducted by Acosta along with Greg DeLong on ESPN’s Inside the Cage 1450a.m. Reno. Follow him on twitter.com/acostaislegend

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