Anyone that tuned in for UFC Fight Night 106 saw a very, very messy mat by the end of the night. That’s not necessarily unusual for an MMA event, of course, but what made tonight’s well-painted canvas noteworthy was the fact that all the red came from …
Anyone that tuned in for UFC Fight Night 106 saw a very, very messy mat by the end of the night. That’s not necessarily unusual for an MMA event, of course, but what made tonight’s well-painted canvas noteworthy was the fact that all the red came from just one man; Joe Soto.
A clash of heads split Soto wide open in the first round and, despite the doctors’ best efforts, that wound just wouldn’t stay sealed:
Soto continued to fight on, however, and the result was a crimson mask that became a crimson tuxedo:
Somehow, some way, Soto actually got stronger as the fight went on. That wasn’t the case with his opponent, Rani Yahya, who wound up outpaced and outmuscled by the former Bellator champion, despite the fact that his gas tank was emptying all over the Octagon!
In the end, Soto managed to take home an unanimous-decision win with a surprisingly gutsy performance. Here’s hoping that he recovers quickly…and that his next fight doesn’t drain him quite so much.
It’s every MMA fighter’s dream to fight for a UFC title, but for many that golden opportunity to prove that they are the best of the best will never materialize. Those who do have usually run the gauntlet in the Octagon to reach that pivotal moment in their careers, gradually working their way of the
It’s every MMA fighter’s dream to fight for a UFC title, but for many that golden opportunity to prove that they are the best of the best will never materialize.
Those who do have usually run the gauntlet in the Octagon to reach that pivotal moment in their careers, gradually working their way of the ladder against increasingly challenging opposition, and in some extreme cases even racking up as many as eight or nine UFC wins in a row to prove their worth.
On the other hand, over the years there have been a number of fighters who have bypassed that process altogether and been granted a title shot without having gone to the same lengths to prove themselves, often at the expense of far more deserving fighters.
In this article we’ll take a closer look at 12 classic examples of fighters who were handed undeserved title shots in the UFC and explore the reasons why they were able to skip to the head of the queue.
Bethe Correia
Brash Brazilian bantamweight Bethe Correia managed to trash-talk her way into an unwarranted title shot against Ronda Rousey in 2015.
Correia’s 9-0 MMA record at the time flattered to deceive, with her three-fight winning streak in the Octagon having come against opponents with a combined UFC record of just 1-7.
The key to Correia getting the title shot was the fact that she had begun to call out and taunt Rousey after her victories, with the added spice being that two of her Octagon wins were against members of Rousey’s own ‘Four Horsewomen’ fight team, Jessamyn Duke and Shayna Baszler.
The fight still made no sense given that she was only ranked No.7 in the division at the time and had yet to face anyone remotely close to the top 10, but the UFC liked the hype the Brazilian had generated and booked the fight anyway.
Correia instigated a nasty trash-talking campaign in the build-up to the bout at UFC 190, but was found out to have more bark than bite when Rousey knocked her out in just 34 seconds.
The three-week drought finally comes to an end, as the Ultimate Fighting Championship returns for ‘The Ultimate Fighter: Latin America 3’ Finale (also called UFC Fight Night 98) at the Arena Ciudad de Mexico in Mexico City, Mexico. The headliner is one that could have been for a belt a few short months ago. Former
The three-week drought finally comes to an end, as the Ultimate Fighting Championship returns for ‘The Ultimate Fighter: Latin America 3’ Finale (also called UFC Fight Night 98) at the Arena Ciudad de Mexico in Mexico City, Mexico.
The headliner is one that could have been for a belt a few short months ago. Former champion Rafael dos Anjos makes his first appearance since suffering a surprise first-round knockout at the hands of Eddie Alvarez. Since losing to Khabib Nurmagomedov nearly two-and-a-half years ago, dos Anjos had rattled off wins over Jason High, Benson Henderson, Nate Diaz, Anthony Pettis, and Donald Cerrone.
The last two marked his title-clinching performance and only defense. In a stacked division with no shortage of worthy contenders, RDA does not get the immediate rematch treatment. Some guy named Conor Mc-Something inserted himself into the title picture, and everyone else is left waiting to see how that fight unfolds.
The Brazilian faces Tony Ferguson, a guy with a legitimate claim to number-one contendership status. An eight-fight winning streak in MMA’s most cutthroat weight class will do that. The 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu representative has taken out the likes of Danny Castillo, Abel Trujillo, Gleison Tibau, Josh Thomson, and Edson Barboza during his recent tear. He is coming off a hard-fought second-round submission victory over short-notice replacement Lando Vannata at UFC Fight Night 91 in July. Ferguson was supposed to square off with Nurmagomedov for the next title shot, but the Dagestani fighter pulled out with yet another injury.
The rest of the main card features ‘The Ultimate Fighter: Latin America 3’ lightweight final, a lightweight tilt between UFC OG Diego Sanchez and Bellator import Marcin Held, a featherweight scrap between Ricardo Lamas and Charles Oliveira, a lightweight battle pitting Beneil Dariush against Rashid Magomedov, and a strawweight clash between Invicta FC veteran Alexa Grasso and Heather Jo Clark.
Read on for a full main card fight analysis.
Lightweight – Rafael dos Anjos vs. Tony Ferguson:
Dos Anjos came into the UFC with great athleticism and top-notch BJJ credentials, but he has morphed into an all-around dynamo. His Muay Thai has become truly vicious under the tutelage of Kings MMA patriarch Rafael Cordeiro, and his wrestling has also become a major asset to his game. The Brazilian’s conditioning and the aggression Cordeiro has drilled into him make dos Anjos a scary man with whom to share a cage.
The Brazilian has turned into a pressure fighter, never giving opponents space or room to breathe, the threat of a big shot always there. From his southpaw stance, RDA’s left hand and left kick can put a serious hurting on an adversary. The Brazilian’s leg kicks cut down Diaz, his body kick gutted Cerrone, and his straight left smashed Pettis’s face in. His hand speed is excellent, making it so that he still can connect when he winds up on an overhand. He will rip to the body with equal prejudice, and his clinch knees and elbows are truly something to be feared. But dos Anjos’s lack of head movement cost him in his fight with Alvarez. He relies on covering up for defense and his own aggression to keep his man on the back foot.
As already mentioned, the Brazilian’s ground game is likely his best facet, and he now has the wrestling to actually employ it. He has good timing on reactive shots, hides his entries behind punches well, and finishes his double leg with authority. Once on top, dos Anjos is utterly stifling. His opponent never has the space to attempt a sweep or submission, and all the while the Kings MMA rep is bashing away with hard ground and pound.
In Ferguson, dos Anjos will find a dance partner whose best assets are his length, power, awkward style, toughness, and volume. And the Michigan native relies heavily on all of them. Ferguson throws hard straight punches, for the most part, mixed in with a heavy dose of leg and body kicks. The 10th Planet rep is not an out-fighter, but his long limbs allow him to hit foes with hard shots when either man tries to close the distance or his opponent is retreating. He works behind a penetrating jab, followed with a nasty cross. Defense is mostly an afterthought for the hard-nosed brawler. He has shown that he can slip and roll in the past, but for the most part, Ferguson is content to throw down. He relies on his chin and his power to carry him through tough spots.
Ferguson has collegiate wrestling credentials, but he uses them mostly for defense, which is solid if not impenetrable. He is most dangerous by far from the front headlock, where he has finished three UFC opponents with brabo chokes. Ferguson will snatch the neck any chance he gets, and he will also happily look to lock it up while standing and fall to his back to finish. On top, his ground and pound is punishing, and his scrambling ability is solid. One issue is that he is too willing to give up position fishing for low-percentage submissions. And if his opponent wants to consolidate top position rather than scramble, Ferguson will resort to striking from the bottom rather than looking for quick get-ups.
The Pick: Ferguson is offensively potent and tough as nails, so he will be dangerous throughout. But the smart money is on dos Anjos. Ferguson is too hittable and too prone to fighting off his back. The fact that he got rocked badly twice by featherweight Lando Vannata in his last fight doesn’t bode well for him either. Ferguson has been in plenty of wars, and that inevitably takes a toll. He also likes to initiate unconventional scrambles by rolling for leg locks, and a jiu-jitsu savant like RDA isn’t going to fall into a trap like that. Unless his chin has abandoned him – and I find that unlikely given that he never went down under the thunderous barrage from Alvarez – dos Anjos should beat up Ferguson on the feet and on the mat on his way to a third-round TKO.
Joe Soto has agreed to step in on less than a weeks notice and fight this Saturday at UFC Fight Night 98.
Soto, a former Bellator champion, replaces Guido Cannetti in a bout with Marco …
Joe Soto has agreed to step in on less than a weeks notice and fight this Saturday at UFC Fight Night 98.
Soto, a former Bellator champion, replaces Guido Cannetti in a bout with Marco Beltran that will air as part of the FOX Sports 1 prelims. Cannetti recently came under the eye of USADA for a possible anti-doping violation.
It was over two years ago that Soto (16-5) made his UFC debut, replacing Renan Barao and challenging T.J. Dillashaw for the bantamweight title. He pushed Dillashaw to the fifth round before falling via knockout.
After back-to-back losses to Anthony Birchak and Michinori Tanaka, Soto finally got in the win column with a submission vs. Chris Beal.
Beltran (8-3) has won each of his last three – all coming in the Octagon – including a July submission of Reginaldo Vieira.
UFC Fight Night 98 features Rafael dos Anjos vs. Tony Ferguson in the main event from Mexico.
One-time UFC title contender and former Bellator champion Joe Soto has agreed to step in and fight Chris Beal next month at UFC Fight Night 89.
Soto (15-5) has dropped three straight, including a 2014 loss to then-UFC champion T.J. Dillashaw. The Ca…
One-time UFC title contender and former Bellator champion Joe Soto has agreed to step in and fight Chris Beal next month at UFC Fight Night 89.
Soto (15-5) has dropped three straight, including a 2014 loss to then-UFC champion T.J. Dillashaw. The California native stepped in on short notice after Renan Barao was forced out of the championship match.
Beal (10-2), also of California, was set to meet Kid Yamamoto at the card. After earning a pair of wins in his first two UFC fights, Beal has dropped two straight.
UFC Fight Night 89 takes place June 18 from the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Rory MacDonald fights Stephen Thompson in the main event.
The UFC owes more than just a tip of the cap to men like Joe Soto, who more often than not, step up to the plate when another scheduled fight card begins to self-destruct.
Without Soto, UFC 177 would have been the next instance of a fight card gone up …
The UFC owes more than just a tip of the cap to men like Joe Soto, who more often than not, step up to the plate when another scheduled fight card begins to self-destruct.
Without Soto, UFC 177 would have been the next instance of a fight card gone up in flames. T.J. Dillashaw was left opponent-less after former bantamweight champion RenanBarao fainted just before weigh-ins. Soto fought in the main event after being originally slated for the first fight of the night. The 27-year-old lost, in what was a competitive fight, and received crumbs compared to the champion.
Soto received a modest $20,000 for filling in to fight Dillashaw. To most people, that is a check worth signing. But Soto, who originally was training for a three-round fight with Anthony Birchak, had to alter his game plan towards a completely different fighter.
The California native hadn’t fought in the UFC before, let alone headline an event in his opponent’s backyard. Soto never went into championship rounds, and still managed to take the center of the octagon in Sacramento despite that. He could have turned down such an opportunity against a former training partner, but he decided to be the UFC’s knight in shining armor, and his stock rose because of it.
While we may never know if UFC President Dana White gave Soto a discretionary bonus, he did garner support from fellow fighters.
In a similar situation, current middleweight champion Chris Weidman accepted a fight with Demian Maia on just 11-days’ notice back in January 2012. Weidman was forced to cut 32 pounds in 10 days but it paid off, literally, as he outworked Maia for a hard-fought unanimous decision. Long Island’s own was given $22,000 to show, plus an additional $22,000 for the victory, according to mma-manifesto.com.
Furthermore, light heavyweight Patrick Cummins took a fight on short notice with All-American wrestler Daniel Cormier in February this year. Cummins was paid only $8,000 after a first-round drubbing at the hands of Cormier, who pocketed $160,000 for the knockout.
Somebody needs to advocate on behalf of the little guy. Soto and Weidman, who both went from undercard fighters to televised competitors, deserve more for their troubles. In 2013, 70 percent of post-fight bonuses were awarded to fighters in the main or co-main events. Soto didn’t receive a bonus for giving Dillashaw everything he could handle for nearly 25 minutes. Neither did Weidman, who brought the former middleweight contender to a halt.
Granted, if Soto was to put together a winning streak, he would improve his chances of having his salary raised and also get a win bonus. In the meantime, he is shackled to the undercard, where visibility is limited and sponsorship money is hard to come by. Most of the time, the money one makes from sponsors, is more than he or she would make in base salary.
Just as a company would when plugging a commercial, an MMA brand like Training Mask strategically places their advertisements on fighter trunks. Training Mask was featured on the crotch of Soto’s trunks in his title fight with Dillashaw.
“Sometimes guys come to us because their sponsors got kicked out of the UFC or because they took a fight last minute and don’t have any other sponsors,” Training Mask CEO Casey Danfordtold Ben Fowlkes in 2011. “On the last-minute deals, it’s not like we’re giving them top dollar, because they’re coming to us at the last minute.”
With the majority of bonus money going to the men and women on the main card, who are already paid more handsomely than their preliminary brethren, cries for a more sufficient and balanced system of payment have never been louder.
Fighter salary has always been a controversial topic. Martyrs like the Diaz brothers, Rampage Jackson and Jon Fitch have been campaigning for more sufficient pay in recent years. Both Diaz brothers successfully barred themselves from competing before receiving lucrative bouts. Jackson, who was never on good terms with White, claims that the UFC taxes sponsors.
Fitch had an unceremonious divorce from the UFC, which saw White and the former welterweight contender spew venom at each other concerning, among other matters, money. The UFC is worth north of $1 billion so how can a fighter, grinding at the start of a fight card, still see $8,000 in pay? Give me a break. Even pound-for-pound champions have voiced their displeasure with the UFC’s pay scale.
Complaints continued to mount when Nova Uniao teammates, Jose Aldo and RenanBarao, both spoke earlier this year about their salary. According to Aldo, lower weight classes are neglected and are given the same salary as “a beginner.” Both the Brazilian and, even more recently, flyweight contender Ian McCall have said that they aren’t as marketable or are compensated as fairly as their heavier peers.
For all intents and purposes, let’s take a look at the lighter weight classes more closely. In 2014, thus far, 38 events have been held. Of those 38, nine had 145-pound or lower main event bouts. Aldo and Barao each fought in two title fights this year, making a grand total of $530,000 and $96,000 respectively. Both teammates possessed winning streaks dating back years, and their title reigns only started a year apart from each other, so why such a discrepancy in salary?
It’s hard to see why someone like Aldo would complain about salary when he’s hanging just south of Anderson Silva and Jon Jones territory.
Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson rules the 125-pound kingdom but, according to McCall, has the personality of a “coffee mug.” Despite his less-than-stellar marketability, Johnson earned $362,000 in two flyweight title defenses. Contrary to his nemesis McCall, Johnson is paid quite sufficiently. Back in June, at UFC 174, he made more money than welterweight contenders Rory MacDonald and TyronWoodley combined.
With fighters big and small coming out of the woodwork, White is going to have to quell the uprising. He seemed to be on the verge of an idea that would level the playing field for all fighters—big and small, weight class to weight class, champion or non-champion—in June 2013. In order to support the fighters on the undercard, who fight paycheck to paycheck, White proposed eliminating all forms of post-fight bonuses to help redistribute the wealth. How about a little democracy, from the UFC President?
However, that proposed idea dissolved real fast when, according to White, he received “A lot of feedback from the fighters, and fighters want the finish bonuses and discretionary bonuses to stay the same.”
It’s on a fighter to do what he or she can to improve their stock and elevate their name. They can either use their hands, elbows or feet. Some prefer to take the road less traveled by using the microphone. But the most reliable way appears to be fighting, and fighting often. Some fighters are adept at both fighting and winning, like Donald Cerrone.
Cerrone has fought eight times over the last two years, collecting four post-fight bonuses, while achieving a 6-2 record. The Cowboy’s in-your-face, scrappy style of fighting is a big draw for White’s pockets. Over his last three fights, Cerrone’s salary—say that five times fast—has fluctuated around the $150,000 range.
The UFC is just like any other professional sport organization, meaning when you’re on the winning track, you’re their golden child; ConorMcGregor anyone? Or let’s say you were a once highly coveted fighter, like Jake Shields, who is on the wrong side of 30 and whose production has declined. White can cut a check just as fast as he can send you packing.
It’s White’s way or the highway. It’s his choice to tax sponsors and it’s Joe Silva’s choice on where fighters fight. Exciting fighters, like McGregor and Cerrone, may get more backing and preferential treatment but that’s because they understand the game that’s being played. They fight their tails off and provide the fans in attendance with highlight-reel wins.
Fighting on a UFC undercard can resemble being stuck in purgatory. Each fighter controls their own fate when they step in the octagon. They’ve mobilized a collective voice outside of it but that hasn’t worked. Each fighter had a choice of fighting with incentives over a better base salary; they chose the former. All that’s left to do is win.
All salary figures are courtesy of mma-manifesto, mmafighting and cagepotato.
Anyone that tuned in for UFC Fight Night 106 saw a very, very messy mat by the end of the night. That’s not necessarily unusual for an MMA event, of course, but what made tonight’s well-painted canvas noteworthy was the fact that all the red came from just one man; Joe Soto.
