(Griggs might not have had the best ground game in the biz, but he made up for it in pure funkatude.)
It must be spring, Potato Nation, because in order to make room for their new batch of Strikeforce fighters, the UFC has been doing a little cleaning out of their roster as of late. In total, 9 fighters have been axed as of this morning, including everyone’s favorite muttonchops aficionado, Chad Griggs. MMA Opinion has the full list, so join us after the jump to find out which fighters will no longer be punctuating the undercards of FUEL and FX events.
Chad Griggs: 11-1 before entering the UFC, Griggs’ lack of a ground game was quickly exposed in his debut, where he was choked out by Travis Browne in under three minutes at UFC 145. After dropping to light heavyweight, Griggs returned at UFC 154 to face PRIDE veteran and feared striker Cyrille Diabate. Those who were expecting a slugfest left disappointed, however, as Griggs was choked out in the first round again, just 15 seconds later than his first fight.
Marcus LeVesseur: Despite being one of the more decorated wrestlers to enter the UFC in some time, “The Prospect” quickly showed that he was simply not well rounded enough to hang in the sport’s highest promotion. After dominating the beginning of his UFC debut against TUF 12 alum Cody McKenzie, LeVesseur became McKenzietine victim #11 at just over three minutes into the first round. After scoring a snoozer of split decision over Carlo Prater in his next fight, Levesseur was absolutely savaged by Abel Trujillo at UFC on FOX: Henderson vs. Diaz.
(Griggs might not have had the best ground game in the biz, but he made up for it in pure funkatude.)
It must be spring, Potato Nation, because in order to make room for their new batch of Strikeforce fighters, the UFC has been doing a little cleaning out of their roster as of late. In total, 9 fighters have been axed as of this morning, including everyone’s favorite muttonchops aficionado, Chad Griggs. MMA Opinion has the full list, so join us after the jump to find out which fighters will no longer be punctuating the undercards of FUEL and FX events.
Chad Griggs: 11-1 before entering the UFC, Griggs’ lack of a ground game was quickly exposed in his debut, where he was choked out by Travis Browne in under three minutes at UFC 145. After dropping to light heavyweight, Griggs returned at UFC 154 to face PRIDE veteran and feared striker Cyrille Diabate. Those who were expecting a slugfest left disappointed, however, as Griggs was choked out in the first round again, just fifteen seconds later than his first fight.
Marcus LeVesseur: Despite being one of the more decorated wrestlers to enter the UFC in some time, “The Prospect” quickly showed that he was simply not well rounded enough to hang in the sport’s highest promotion. After dominating the beginning of his UFC debut against TUF 12 alum Cody McKenzie, LeVesseur became McKenzietine victim #11 at just over three minutes into the first round. After scoring a snoozer of split decision over Carlo Prater in his next fight, Levesseur was absolutely savaged by Abel Trujillo at UFC on FOX: Henderson vs. Diaz.
Joey Gambino: After getting sliced, diced, and eventually submitted by Steven Siler in his promotional debut at UFC on FX 4, Gambino was outpointed by TUF 14 winner Diego Brandao at UFC 153.
Jared Papazian: 0-3 in the octagon, followed up a majority decision loss to Mike Easton at UFC on FX: Guillard vs. Miller with a submission loss to Dustin Pague at UFC on FX 3. He was given a final chance at the TUF 16 Finale, but was utterly dominated (30-25 x2, 30-26) by Tim Elliot in a performance that somehow netted both men a FOTN award.
Jeff Houghland: 1-2 in the promotion, with UD losses to Yves Jabouin and Takeya Mizugaki in successive contests.
Nick Penner: 0-2, with successive (T)KO losses to Anthony Perosh and Cody Donovan at UFC on FX 2 and UFC on FX 6, repectively.
John Cofer: The TUF 15 alum who was head kick KO’d by Justin Lawrence at the TUF 15 Finale last June before suffering an armbar defeat to Mike Rio at the TUF 16 Finale.
Yasuhiro Urishitani: a.k.a the highly ranked flyweight who was blistered by Joseph Benavidez in the opening round of the flyweight tournament at UFC on FX 2, then outpointed by John Lineker at UFC on FUEL 6.
Henry Martinez: 1-2 in the promotion, Martinez followed up a highly entertaining split decision loss to Matt Riddle at UFC 143 with a split decision win of his own at UFC on FX: Johnson vs. McCall. However, Martinez would find himself on the wrong end of a Daron Cruickshank highlight reel, walk-off KO at UFC on FOX: Henderson vs. Diaz. A sour note to end on, for sure.
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.
Guillard choking, in every sense of the word. (Photo: UFC.com)
While the ‘UFC on FX’ debut may have lacked the big names of UFC 142, the fights themselves packed just as much fire-power. For the second straight week, six fighters were able to put away their opponent and double their earnings in less than a round. Punches, chokes, and a torrent of brutal hellbows were all used to send grown men into la-la land, and we’ve got the GIF’s to prove it.
Guillard choking, in every sense of the word. (Photo: UFC.com)
While the ‘UFC on FX’ debut may have lacked the big names of UFC 142, the fights themselves packed just as much fire-power. For the second straight week, six fighters were able to put away their opponent and double their earnings in less than a round. Punches, chokes, and a torrent of brutal hellbows were all used to send grown men into la-la land, and we’ve got the GIF’s to prove it.
Barry didn’t check on Morecraft, but it’s safe to say he got some fans. Props: UFC.com
Overall, the UFC’s fourth biggest debut on a television network, which showcased two of the best lightweights coming off of losses and the organization’s second best announcing team, was as successful as it could have been. Sure, there were some long pauses in between the fights, but that’s to be expected when you draw out 60 minutes of actual fighting into a five hour television broadcast. The rattling punches and tapping hands that signaled an early end to many of last night’s fights kept a perfect rhythm with a drum we’ve been beating on CagePotato for quite some time now: The key to victory in mixed martial arts is evolution, not regression. If a fighter wants to stay relevant- or even employed- within the UFC, he needs to develop himself into the most complete fighter he can.
For an example of this, look no further than Melvin Guillard. Both fans and pundits were calling his performance “Vintage Melvin” while the dynamic striker aggressively pursued Jim Miller, arguably coming closer to knocking out the submission specialist than anyone else has. However, after one flying knee attempt too many saw Miller putting Guillard on his back, “Vintage Melvin” demonstrated the same ground game that has always been his kryptonite. An impatient Melvin Guillard did everything he could to get back to his feet, which resulted in Jim Miller taking his back and sinking in the fight ending choke. “The Young Assassin” is now 10-6 in the UFC, with all of his losses coming by submission. While permanently relegating Guillard to the undercards may be a bit drastic, it’s obvious that Guillard will never be a contender unless he fixes those holes in his ground game- something far easier said than done at this point in his career.
Jim Miller did exactly what we knew he needed to do to win. He weathered the storm against Guillard’s attack, he was persistent with his takedown attempts and he kept the fight on the ground once it went there. While a quick submission wasn’t exactly unexpected, it was still impressive enough to earn him Submission of the Night honors.
Barry didn’t check on Morecraft, but it’s safe to say he got some fans. Props: UFC.com
Overall, the UFC’s fourth biggest debut on a television network, which showcased two of the best lightweights coming off of losses and the organization’s second best announcing team, was as successful as it could have been. Sure, there were some long pauses in between the fights, but that’s to be expected when you draw out 60 minutes of actual fighting into a five hour television broadcast. The rattling punches and tapping hands that signaled an early end to many of last night’s fights kept a perfect rhythm with a drum we’ve been beating on CagePotato for quite some time now: The key to victory in mixed martial arts is evolution, not regression. If a fighter wants to stay relevant- or even employed- within the UFC, he needs to develop himself into the most complete fighter he can.
For an example of this, look no further than Melvin Guillard. Both fans and pundits were calling his performance “Vintage Melvin” while the dynamic striker aggressively pursued Jim Miller, arguably coming closer to knocking out the submission specialist than anyone else has. However, after one flying knee attempt too many saw Miller putting Guillard on his back, “Vintage Melvin” demonstrated the same ground game that has always been his kryptonite. An impatient Melvin Guillard did everything he could to get back to his feet, which resulted in Jim Miller taking his back and sinking in the fight ending choke. “The Young Assassin” is now 10-6 in the UFC, with all of his losses coming by submission. While permanently relegating Guillard to the undercards may be a bit drastic, it’s obvious that Guillard will never be a contender unless he fixes those holes in his ground game- something far easier said than done at this point in his career.
Jim Miller did exactly what we knew he needed to do to win. He weathered the storm against Guillard’s attack, he was persistent with his takedown attempts and he kept the fight on the ground once it went there. While a quick submission wasn’t exactly unexpected, it was still impressive enough to earn him Submission of the Night honors.
The co-main event of the evening had knockout of the night written all over it, with both men known primarily for their standup games. As expected, Duane Ludwig got the better of Josh Neer on the feet. Yet Neer kept pushing forward against Ludwig’s crisp attack and managed to drag Duane “Bang” to the ground. Once there, Neer did what few anticipated and locked up a fight ending guillotine. “The Dentist” improves to 33-10 in his mixed martial arts career, picking up his twelfth victory by submission.
The evening’s Fight of the Night honors surprisingly did not go to Mike Easton vs. Jared Papazian, but rather Pat Barry vs. Christian Morecraft. Pat Barry may have struggled to stop Morecraft’s takedowns, but “HD” displayed a much improved ground game- a testament to his time training with Team Deathclutch. Never mind that impressive roll out of the armbar attempt- as little as two fights ago, Pay Barry would have been choked out the first time Morecraft mounted him and began to work for the rear-naked choke. Yet Barry’s continued efforts to evolve as a fighter paid off, as he managed both times to get back to his feet and outstrike Morecraft. After dropping Morecraft with a left hook, Barry swarmed in with some vicious ground and pound to end the fight at the 3:38 mark of round one.
If you didn’t get to see Mike Easton vs. Jared Papazian, you missed an excellent fight that has essentially become par for the course whenever the bantamweights step into the octagon. Both men displayed excellent conditioning in a quick paced fight, with Easton getting the better of Papazian in the standup exchanges throughout the fight. But don’t feel bad if you missed it- apparently one of the judges missed the fight as well, scoring it a 28-28 draw. Easton improves to 12-1 with the victory.
On a final note, Knockout of the Night honors went to Canadian prospect Nick “The Ninja of Love” Denis (seriously) for his brutal standing elbows knockout over Joseph “Not Dan Hardy” Sandoval (seriously). The impressive UFC debut for Denis improves his record to 11-2, with ten of those victories coming by knockout. All bonuses from the evening were worth $45k.
Undercard Results
-Nick Denis def. Joseph Sandoval via KO (standing elbows) 0:22 of Round 1
-Daniel Pineda def. Pat Schilling via submission (rear-naked choke) 1:37 of Round 1
-Fabricio Camoes def. Tommy Hayden via submission (rear-naked choke) 4:03 of Round 1
-Charlie Brenneman def. Daniel Roberts via unanimous decision (30-27 x2, 29-28)
-Habib “The Nurm” Nurmagomedov def. Kamal Shalorus via submission (rear-naked choke) 2:08 of Round 3
-Jorge Rivera def. Eric Schafer via TKO (punches) 1:31 of Round 2
Main Card Results
– Barry def. Morecraft via KO (punches) at 3:38 of Round 1
– Mike Easton def. Jared Papazian via majority decision
– Josh Neer def. Duane Ludwig via submission (guillotine) at 3:05 of Round 1
– Jim Miller def. Melvin Guillard via submission (rear-naked choke) at 2:04 of Round 1
Filed under: UFCIn a highly entertaining bantamweight bout, Mike Easton took a hard-fought majority decision over Jared Papazian at Friday night’s UFC on FX event.
“He’s a tough dude,” Easton said of Papazian after the fight. “I knew he was going to …
In a highly entertaining bantamweight bout, Mike Easton took a hard-fought majority decision over Jared Papazian at Friday night’s UFC on FX event.
“He’s a tough dude,” Easton said of Papazian after the fight. “I knew he was going to be tough. He was the champ back in the division he was at. I knew he was going to come and show up and all we wanted to do was give a show to the fans. And we wrecked. We fought tonight.”
The fight got off to a great start as both men clinched with one hand and punched with the other, a la Don Frye vs. Yoshihiro Takayama, in the first 30 seconds. The entire first round was fought standing up, with both men landing hard strikes and putting on a good show. I had Easton winning a close first round.
The second round was more of the same until the final minute, when Easton got the first takedown of the fight and did a little damage on the ground, and although Papazian got back to his feet for a moment, they went right back down and Easton finished the round on top. Easton was likely up two rounds to none at the end of the second.
In the third Easton and Papazian traded some of their hardest punches yet, and Papazian showed a lot of heart and continued throwing to the final bell, but Easton had won. The judges scored it 30-27, 29-28 and a bizarre score of 29-29, with Easton winning by majority decision.
The win improves Easton’s record to 12-1. Papazian falls to 14-7.
This is the UFC on FX live blog for Mike Easton vs. Jared Papazian, a bantamweight bout on tonight’s main card from the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn.
Easton (11-1) won his UFC debut last October with a second-round TKO over Byron Bloodworth. Papazian (14-6), coming off a stint as King of the Cage bantamweight champion, is making his UFC debut.
Round 1: Easton and Papazian collide into a half-Muay Thai clinch and they perform a bantamweight version of Frye vs. Takayama. Easton presses Papazian against the cage. Papazian connects on a short elbow and reverses Easton. Easton tries knees in clinch. The bantamweights are in a very active battle for position in clinch. But with neither fighter close to landing a big shot or takedown, Yamasaki separates them. They trade leg kicks. Papazian catches a leg kick but isn’t able to attempt the takedown. Papazian swings for the fences. Easton keeps a tight boxing defense with hands high and chin tucked. Easton misses on a spinning back kick to the delight of the crowd. Easton slams a kick into the left leg of Papazian. They exchange punches in clinch again to close an active first round. Very close round. Slight edge to Easton. MMA Fighting scores the first round 10-9 for Easton.
Round 2: Easton stalks and they’re both eyeing a knockout. Easton lands a leg kick and straight right. They clinch. Easton gains double underhooks but Papazian digs with his right arm and reverses Easton against the cage. Yamasaki separates them with around 2:20 to go. Papazian lands a right and then a nice back kick glances the body of Easton. They clinch again and this time Easton lands a trip takedown into Papazian’s halfguard. Easton soon after passes to side. Papazian escapes to halfguard and then to his feet as they return to clinch. Papazian pushes Easton’s head away to separate. Easton stalks. Papazian shoots but Easton finishes on top. It looks like Papazian might have pulled guard or Easton reversed. MMA Fighting scores the second 10-9 for Easton.
Round 3: Easton’s leg kick is almost caught. They exchange very fast punches. But there’s no way they can keep that pace without someone going down and they clinch. Yamasaki separates them. Papazian takes a short breather as his body language tells Yamasaki he was kneed low. After the brief timeout, they clinch and then separate. They box in the pocket. Both fighters are landing decent shots. Easton connects a nice right. Papazian battles back. Easton responds with a left hook. We’re probably going to need CompuStrike especially for this round. Somehow neither fighter has been stunned, though. Easton grabs the Muay Thai clinch with just over two minutes left. Papazian connects on a number of jabs. Easton trips Papazian, but Papazian quickly recovers. More closed-distance boxing to close the fight. Both fighters deserve a shot at Fight of the Night for this gutsy performance. MMA Fighting scores the third round 10-9 for Easton. Easton should win at least two of the rounds. The first was super close.
Mike Easton wins via majority decision (29-28, 30-27, 29-29)
This is the UFC on FX live blog for Mike Easton vs. Jared Papazian, a bantamweight bout on tonight’s main card from the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn.
Easton (11-1) won his UFC debut last October with a second-round TKO over Byron Bloodworth. Papazian (14-6), coming off a stint as King of the Cage bantamweight champion, is making his UFC debut.
Round 1: Easton and Papazian collide into a half-Muay Thai clinch and they perform a bantamweight version of Frye vs. Takayama. Easton presses Papazian against the cage. Papazian connects on a short elbow and reverses Easton. Easton tries knees in clinch. The bantamweights are in a very active battle for position in clinch. But with neither fighter close to landing a big shot or takedown, Yamasaki separates them. They trade leg kicks. Papazian catches a leg kick but isn’t able to attempt the takedown. Papazian swings for the fences. Easton keeps a tight boxing defense with hands high and chin tucked. Easton misses on a spinning back kick to the delight of the crowd. Easton slams a kick into the left leg of Papazian. They exchange punches in clinch again to close an active first round. Very close round. Slight edge to Easton. MMA Fighting scores the first round 10-9 for Easton.
Round 2: Easton stalks and they’re both eyeing a knockout. Easton lands a leg kick and straight right. They clinch. Easton gains double underhooks but Papazian digs with his right arm and reverses Easton against the cage. Yamasaki separates them with around 2:20 to go. Papazian lands a right and then a nice back kick glances the body of Easton. They clinch again and this time Easton lands a trip takedown into Papazian’s halfguard. Easton soon after passes to side. Papazian escapes to halfguard and then to his feet as they return to clinch. Papazian pushes Easton’s head away to separate. Easton stalks. Papazian shoots but Easton finishes on top. It looks like Papazian might have pulled guard or Easton reversed. MMA Fighting scores the second 10-9 for Easton.
Round 3: Easton’s leg kick is almost caught. They exchange very fast punches. But there’s no way they can keep that pace without someone going down and they clinch. Yamasaki separates them. Papazian takes a short breather as his body language tells Yamasaki he was kneed low. After the brief timeout, they clinch and then separate. They box in the pocket. Both fighters are landing decent shots. Easton connects a nice right. Papazian battles back. Easton responds with a left hook. We’re probably going to need CompuStrike especially for this round. Somehow neither fighter has been stunned, though. Easton grabs the Muay Thai clinch with just over two minutes left. Papazian connects on a number of jabs. Easton trips Papazian, but Papazian quickly recovers. More closed-distance boxing to close the fight. Both fighters deserve a shot at Fight of the Night for this gutsy performance. MMA Fighting scores the third round 10-9 for Easton. Easton should win at least two of the rounds. The first was super close.
Mike Easton wins via majority decision (29-28, 30-27, 29-29)
