Joe Soto stepped up in a huge way Saturday night. Friday before the weigh-ins, Soto was supposed to face Anthony Birchak on the undercard. Then, when Renan Barao was forced to pull out of the fight, Soto stepped up to face the champion, TJ Dillashaw, o…
Joe Soto stepped up in a huge way Saturday night. Friday before the weigh-ins, Soto was supposed to face Anthony Birchak on the undercard. Then, when RenanBaraowas forced to pull out of the fight, Soto stepped up to face the champion, TJ Dillashaw, on little more than 24 hours’ notice.
Soto came absolutely ready to fight, and although Dillashaw won the first four rounds on all three judges’ scorecards, it was by no means a blowout.
In the fifth, Dillashaw landed a head kick to end a long combination and earn a knockout win.
While Soto did lose, his stock went way up following this fight. It’s highly likely he’ll be ranked in the top 10 when the updated rankings are released.
That opens up a wealth of opportunities for his next fight, so let’s check out three potential fights.
UFC 177 was a battered pay-per-view before it ever got a chance, but the main card came through with some solid action.
T.J. Dillashaw retained his UFC bantamweight title with a fifth-round knockout, and co-main eventers Tony Ferguson and Danny Castill…
UFC 177 was a battered pay-per-view before it ever got a chance, but the main card came through with some solid action.
T.J. Dillashaw retained his UFC bantamweight title with a fifth-round knockout, and co-main eventers Tony Ferguson and Danny Castillo had an entertaining back-and-forth battle that went to Ferguson by split decision.
Bethe Correia continued her ascent up the ranks by knocking off Shayna Baszler by TKO, Carlos Diego Ferreira looked like a hot lightweight prospect in his victory and Yancy Medeiros picked up a much-needed victory as well.
The eight-fight card came through after all, but who were the winners and losers from Sacramento, California? Let’s take a gander.
Welcome to the non-liveblog of UFC 177: Dillashaw vs. Soto, a pay-per-view card so shockingly irrelevant that we’ll barely be covering it tonight. Basically, we’ll update the results through the night — which you can find after the jump — and that’s about it. If something particularly interesting happens, we’ll let you know, and if we find any good GIFs, we will link you to them. Thanks for checking in with us, and follow us on twitter for bonus commentary.
Welcome to the non-liveblog of UFC 177: Dillashaw vs. Soto, a pay-per-view card so shockingly irrelevant that we’ll barely be covering it tonight. Basically, we’ll update the results through the night — which you can find after the jump — and that’s about it. If something particularly interesting happens, we’ll let you know, and if we find any good GIFs, we will link you to them. Thanks for checking in with us, and follow us on twitter for bonus commentary.
Preliminary Card (FOX Sports, 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT)
– Derek Brunson vs. Lorenz Larkin
– Anthony Hamilton vs. Ruan Potts
– Chris Wade def. Cain Carrizosa via submission (guillotine choke), 1:12 of round 1
UFC 177 was supposed to feature a rematch between T.J. Dillashaw and Renan Barao, but Barao was forced out of the bout.
In steps Joe Soto.
Can he shock the MMA world? Dillashaw did earlier this year, and he is now at the other end of the spectrum.
Blea…
UFC 177 was supposed to feature a rematch between T.J. Dillashaw and Renan Barao, but Barao was forced out of the bout.
Can he shock the MMA world? Dillashaw did earlier this year, and he is now at the other end of the spectrum.
Bleacher Report will have complete coverage of the main event when it all goes down tonight. Expect the main event to begin around midnight ET. Come back for all the round-by-round analysis from the bantamweight championship tilt.
Sacramento, California, we have a problem.
Sactown native T.J. Dillashaw took Renan “The Baron” Barao apart in their first meeting at UFC 173 in May. The rematch was set for Saturday at the Sleep Train Arena in Sacramento. It could have been a homecomi…
Sacramento, California, we have a problem.
Sactown native T.J. Dillashaw took Renan “The Baron” Barao apart in their first meeting at UFC 173 in May. The rematch was set for Saturday at the Sleep Train Arena in Sacramento. It could have been a homecoming of sorts for Dillashaw. The new UFC bantamweight champion seemed ready to dish out out another lopsided beatdown in the rematch.
Well…Dillashaw might be giving someone a beating, but it won’t be Barao. Per multiple sources, Barao is out of the fight due to health reasons and will be replaced by former Bellator champion Joe Soto.
While some might look at this matchup and automatically assume Dillashaw will make mincemeat of Soto, having opponents switched this close to the fight can cause major issues.
Emotional letdowns and style changes can be the difference between winning and losing.
Will Dillashaw suffer a such letdown and lose to Soto? Don’t bet on it.
While it is probably a bummer for Dillashaw that he won’t get a chance to further silence the critics who still question if he is indeed better than Barao, the needed intensity will be supplied by his home crowd.
There’s no way Dillashaw will want to give anything besides his best with the opportunity to defend his title in his hometown. If having his opponent switched has any effect on Dillashaw, it’ll be a positive one. He was already miffed that Barao remained ahead of him on the pound-for-pound list—even after he handily defeated him in May.
This occurrence will likely only fuel the me-against-the-world fire that seems to be burning inside the bantamweight champion. Soto will almost certainly try to do what Barao should have done in the first fight, and that’s take Dillashaw to the mat.
Eight of Soto’s 15 professional wins have come by submission, and that’s going to be the best course of action against the nimble and slick Dillashaw. I’m sure the champion’s team will have him as prepared for Soto as possible. One also has to remember, Soto didn’t train for Dillashaw either.
He was originally set to face Anthony Birchak on Saturday. Birchak is the one left out in the cold so far in this situation. He doesn’t have an opponent yet. The UFC is presumably scrambling to find a body to bring the fight count up to nine.
He is still listed on the card on UFC.com, but his opponent is TBA.
Yes, things have suddenly gotten real. The hardcore fans will be there no matter what.
If fight fans in Sacramento only want to see a Dillashaw win and don’t care about the strength of the undercard, they’ll be happy. However, if they are looking to get the most bang for the buck, maybe it’ll be wiser to watch Person of Interest or something.
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(Please, Renan, you’re scaring the children. / Photo via MMAWeekly)
As karmic retribution for the UFC trying to sell us a garbage-ass pay-per-view, Renan Barao withdrew from his UFC 177 headlining fight against TJ Dillashaw earlier today, following complications during his weight cut.
According to a statement provided to MMAFighting.com by Nova Uniao, “Barao felt dizzy when leaving the tub in his hotel room and hit his head against the wall. The bantamweight passed out and was rushed to the hospital.” A catchweight bout between Barao and Dillashaw was not considered due to safety concerns. Barao is currently recovering in a Sacramento hospital.
As a result of the withdrawal, the UFC has drafted — get this — former Bellator featherweight champion Joe Soto to step in on a day’s notice against Dillashaw. Soto is riding a six-fight win streak, and was set to make his UFC debut tomorrow night against Anthony Birchak (never heard of him) on the prelims. So now, tomorrow’s pay-per-view event is UFC 177: Dillashaw vs. Soto. Card subject to change. Refunds now available.
UFC 177 was so star-deprived that Renan Barao himself was the biggest name on the card. And now he’s gone. God help us all. UFC 177 will proceed with just eight fights on the card. When we woke up this morning, there were ten, but then Henry Cejudo did his thing, and now this. Unreal.
“(Barao) is scared,” Dillashaw said after the bad news broke. “He doesn’t want it. His coaches wanted the rematch more than he did. He’s never missed weight before. It’s kinda funny he does it now.”
Also:
(Please, Renan, you’re scaring the children. / Photo via MMAWeekly)
As karmic retribution for the UFC trying to sell us a garbage-ass pay-per-view, Renan Barao withdrew from his UFC 177 headlining fight against TJ Dillashaw earlier today, following complications during his weight cut.
According to a statement provided to MMAFighting.com by Nova Uniao, “Barao felt dizzy when leaving the tub in his hotel room and hit his head against the wall. The bantamweight passed out and was rushed to the hospital.” A catchweight bout between Barao and Dillashaw was not considered due to safety concerns. Barao is currently recovering in a Sacramento hospital.
As a result of the withdrawal, the UFC has drafted — get this — former Bellator featherweight champion Joe Soto to step in on a day’s notice against Dillashaw. Soto is riding a six-fight win streak, and was set to make his UFC debut tomorrow night against Anthony Birchak (never heard of him) on the prelims. So now, tomorrow’s pay-per-view event is UFC 177: Dillashaw vs. Soto. Card subject to change. Refunds now available.
UFC 177 was so star-deprived that Renan Barao himself was the biggest name on the card. And now he’s gone. God help us all. UFC 177 will proceed with just eight fights on the card. When we woke up this morning, there were ten, but then Henry Cejudo did his thing, and now this. Unreal.
“(Barao) is scared,” Dillashaw said after the bad news broke. “He doesn’t want it. His coaches wanted the rematch more than he did. He’s never missed weight before. It’s kinda funny he does it now.”
Also:
And finally, here’s today’s weigh-in staredown between Dillashaw and Soto:
Dillashaw seems appreciative; it’s great that he’ll still get a chance to compete. But seriously guys, don’t buy this one.
Sacramento, California, we have a problem.
