Ladies and gentlemen, we have our two Ultimate Fighter finalists: Uriah Hall vs. Kelvin Gastelum.Both members of Team Darkside did Chael Sonnen proud in the semifinals, trouncing Dylan Andrews and Josh Samman to wrap up the finals and send Team Jo…
Ladies and gentlemen, we have our two Ultimate Fighter finalists: Uriah Hall vs. Kelvin Gastelum.
Both members of Team Darkside did Chael Sonnen proud in the semifinals, trouncing Dylan Andrews and Josh Samman to wrap up the finals and send Team Jones home, eight wins to six.
Overall, Fox and FX really made a big difference this season.
But let’s not give them all the credit, as the UFC found an exceptional level of talent to bring to the show, yielding several great fights with plenty of highlight-reel finishes to boot.
• Uriah Hall is a beast, and it’s going to be a tall order for Gastelum to challenge him. Throughout Hall’s entire fight with Andrews, the tournament favorite dished out punishing, painful-looking kicks to the body and head seemingly at will, bloodying up Andrews over two long rounds.
• In this case, it wasn’t Hall’s power that was scary, but the calm pace that he set as he slowly wore Andrews down. Hall gave up control of the Octagon, yet constantly set the tone with hard strikes, quick footwork and solid combinations, making it hard for Andrews to close the gap.
• Even when Andrews did get the takedown, Hall didn’t freak out or lose his head, either. Instead, he showed surprising jiu-jitsu awareness by locking down Andrews in a Kimura choke before using a butterfly guard to beat up his opponent from the bottom. Trying to get powerful punches off from the bottom isn’t easy, but it was enough to turn the tide. Again, scary.
• There’s less to say about Gastelum vs. Samman, but it’s fair to say that many of us have been sleeping on the younger fighter all season. But Kelvin’s heavy hands can’t be ignored. Unlike Jimmy Quinlan, Gastelum never let Samman regain control once the fight turned into a grappling match, which was the right attitude. He dodged submissions extremely well, and took Samman out via rear-naked choke when he saw a chance.
• It’s worth saying again, but this has really been a fantastic season. Interestingly enough, it didn’t have many of the usual TUF staples some of us have grown to hate—no huge beef between the coaches and only one house prank.
• That just goes to show that better production values and UFC-worthy talent can make a huge difference in the season, especially in the cage. Think about it—there really weren’t that many decisions, with most of the matches ending in knockouts and submissions.
• In the end, we didn’t learn anything new during The Ultimate Fighter 17 about Jon Jones. From the first episode to the last, the champion pretty much came off on camera the same way he does with the press and the public.
• What did prove to be surprising was Chael Sonnen. He largely bagged his professional wrestling persona and showed himself to be a capable, sensible, charming coach.
• It’s good that all of the TUF 17 cast got another shot in the UFC, and if you watched UFC on Fuel 9, you already know know that Tor Troeng already manhandled Adam Cella. It’s going to be extremely interesting to see whom everyone else faces in their debut with the promotion, especially the top eight of the season, like Luke Barnatt and Josh Samman.
• Luckily, we won’t have to wait very long to see who’s coaching the next season, since Miesha Tate and Cat Zigano are battling it out this weekend for a spot on The Ultimate Fighter 18 opposite of UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey. For women’s MMA fans, there’s frankly no better time to be watching the sport.
• For the record, this author hopes that Miesha Tate wins. Rousey and her (other) arch-nemesis on the same show week after week is money.
• Another upside to the next season is also the fact that many of the women on TUF 18 will likely be known names, so the hardcore MMA fans out there will most likely recognize some of the fighters that picked out before the qualifying rounds in the season premiere. Plus, the co-ed nature of the show means it’ll be drama-packed. That’s a win for all sexes that will be watching the next season.
McKinley Noble is an MMA conspiracy theorist. His work has appeared in NVision, PC World, Macworld, GamePro, 1UP, MMA Mania & The L.A. Times.
Season 17 of The Ultimate Fighter concludes Tuesday (9 p.m. PT/ET on FX) with the middleweight tournament between Team Jones and Team Sonnen—and we’re officially in the final four.Beginning with 28 potential competitors at the…
Season 17 of The Ultimate Fighter concludes Tuesday (9 p.m. PT/ET on FX) with the middleweight tournament between Team Jones and Team Sonnen—and we’re officially in the final four.
Beginning with 28 potential competitors at the start of the latest season, the last episode in the show now features the best of the bunch—heavy favorite Uriah Hall vs. Dylan Andrews and the villainous Josh Samman vs. surprise knockout artist Kelvin Gastelum.
In fact, so much focus has been placed on the actual fights, coaches Jon Jones and Chael Sonnen have largely taken a back seat as the TUF cast battled for a chance in the UFC.
Can Andrews survive against Hall? Does Gastelum, the youngest fighter in TUF history, have the power to put down Samman in a huge upset?
It’s safe to say that Jon Jones knows the real Chael Sonnen.He did spend six weeks in wintry Las Vegas with Sonnen, after all, while the pair served as coaches on The Ultimate Fighter. And during that time, Jones came to understand that there are two v…
It’s safe to say that Jon Jones knows the real ChaelSonnen.
He did spend six weeks in wintry Las Vegas with Sonnen, after all, while the pair served as coaches on The Ultimate Fighter. And during that time, Jones came to understand that there are two versions of Sonnen, and that those two versions are so very different from each other.
One of them is the real Sonnen. He’s one of the nicest and most respectful men you’d ever meet, a fighter who still goes out of his way to address strangers as “sir” or “ma’am,” and who still involves his mother in nearly aspect of his life out of pure deference.
Then there is the other Sonnen. You know him quite well, I’m sure. He grew up watching Superstar Billy Graham cut wrestling promos in Portland and, well, decided to apply the same kind of gimmick to his mixed martial arts career. And just like it did in the fake world of wrestling, Sonnen‘s over-the-top schtick seems to work on MMA fans like a charm. How else to explain the fact that he’s coming off a loss in one weight class and yet will receive a title shot in a different weight class later this month?
Sonnen was his natural self during The Ultimate Fighter: affable, friendly and one of the best coaches in the history of the show. But now, there’s a fight to promote, and Sonnen‘s flipped the switch that takes him from babyface to heel, in wrestling parlance. But this time around, Jones isn’t getting mad. He understands Sonnen‘s mission, and tells MMAFighting.com that he’s not bothered by the sudden influx of trash talk coming from Sonnen‘s side.
“Chael’s [mouth] doesn’t bother me at all,” the UFC light heavyweight champion assured MMAFighting.com. “I think if I was to take it personal, if I wasn’t to understand it, it would bother me. But I have a pretty clear understanding of who Chael is, what he’s accomplished, and my understanding kind of takes the power away from his words and his persona.
“You can see that the talk has picked up a little bit. But Chael is in the ‘promote fight’ business. I guess that’s how he got in this situation in the first place. I’m in the ‘remain champion’ business. So, I’m excited. I’m excited to go out there and do what I do best, and that’s win championships.”
That’s definitely how Sonnen got in this situation in the first place: He talked his way there. Make no mistake about it, because that’s the entirety of the story. And this is likely Sonnen‘s last chance to pull this particular trick; a loss to Jones, and it will be a long time before he ever gets a title shot again.
It’s good to see Jones catching on to Sonnen‘s antics. I can’t believe it took this long for an opponent to realize that Sonnen is just marketing a fight, and that it’s best to let it play out. Jones knows that his pocketbook will be affected (in a good way) by Sonnen saying a few outlandish things, so he’s content to let it play out.
Some fighters, like Georges St-Pierre and Dominick Cruz, will sacrifice anything to win, even if it means detracting from their own entertainment value. Rather than regularly attempting spectacular techniques, which St-Pierre and Cruz are&nbs…
Some fighters, like Georges St-Pierre and Dominick Cruz, will sacrifice anything to win, even if it means detracting from their own entertainment value.
Rather than regularly attempting spectacular techniques, which St-Pierre and Cruz are each certainly capable of, the longtime UFC champs have no quarrels employing extremely cerebral and conservative game plans en route to safe victories.
Others, on the contrary, aim to deliver crowd-pleasing victories, holding their aptitude to entertain in an equal light with their ability to win.
Every fighter on this list takes low-percentage risks on a regular basis. In the cases like that of pound-for-pound kingpin Anderson Silva, gambling perpetually pays major dividends. For others, such as lightweight gatekeeper Joe Lauzon, taking risks has its rewards and its downsides.
Regardless of whether or not they’ve won in the process, these are the 15 most entertaining fighters in MMA right now.
The goal is nearly finished at light heavyweight for Jon Jones, who is now two wins away from surpassing Tito Ortiz’s record for successful title defenses.It has been two years since Jones defeated Mauricio “Shogun” Rua to become the youngest champion …
The goal is nearly finished at light heavyweight for Jon Jones, who is now two wins away from surpassing Tito Ortiz’s record for successful title defenses.
It has been two years since Jones defeated Mauricio “Shogun” Rua to become the youngest champion in UFC history.
The turnaround from hopeful contender to UFC champion and one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the world has been rather dramatic. At only 25 years of age, things seem to be happening fast for Jones, who has already talked about moving to the heavyweight division.
Jones believes that breaking Ortiz’s record will solidify his position as the greatest light heavyweight in UFC history. On Sunday, he took to Twitter and teased about “closing in on a dream.”
Jones is set to defend his UFC title against ChaelSonnen on April 27 at UFC 159.
With a win, he would surpass UFC Hall of Famer Chuck Liddell‘s record of four successful light heavyweight title defenses and tie Ortiz’s all-time record of five. An amazing feat like this would certainly add leverage to his case as an all-time great.
Ortiz’s record has remained intact for over a decade, but he knows it’s only a matter of time before someone breaks it. Back in June 2012, he told Newsday that he predicts Jones would be the fighter to finally surpass him in the history books:
“I would love for it to stick around, but I think Jonny ‘Bones’ Jones will be the one to beat me. If there’s any person in the world I’d love to see do it, I would love to see him do it because he’s such a good dude. He’s a good guy. I like him a lot…If he beats my record, then he’s done some great things.”
Records are meant to be broken, but will doing so truly mean Jones has surpassed UFC light heavyweight greats Randy Couture, Liddell and Ortiz?
History is being chased at UFC 159, and one determined Oregon gangster may be the only person capable of stopping it.
When the UFC announced Ilir Latifi as the official replacement for Alexander Gustafsson in the main event at UFC on Fuel TV 9 in Sweden, the MMA world immediately set about scouring the internet in hopes of answering the question as to just who is the …
When the UFC announced Ilir Latifi as the official replacement for Alexander Gustafsson in the main event at UFC on Fuel TV 9 in Sweden, the MMA world immediately set about scouring the internet in hopes of answering the question as to just who is the man that will be fighting Gegard Mousasi.
To further the point, in addition to the masses trying to find out more information on “The Sledgehammer,” Mousasi’s camp had to be in a similar position.
While the Swedish-born fighter has collected a respectable 8-2-1 record as a professional mixed martial artist, that work has come fighting on smaller stages throughout the sport, making Latifi a relative unknown to those fighting at the highest level of mixed martial arts.
Where the Dutch-Armenian fighter was originally slated to face an opponent who was sitting on the cusp of title contention in Gustafsson, he will now step into the Octagon to trade leather with Latifi—a fighter who brings little to the table where reward is concerned.
In the original scenario against “The Mauler,” Mousasi was the underdog looking to prove he belonged among the top 205-pound fighters in the UFC’s premier weight class. But with the sudden shake-up and change of opponent, now “The Dreamcatcher” will bear the majority of the pressure heading into Saturday’s fight in Stockholm.
Not only will Mousasi face an opponent with a much different physical style than the one he had prepared for, but the circumstances surrounding the fight have changed as well.
If the 27-year-old were to find success against Gustafsson, the victory would have validated him as one of the division’s best and put Mousasi one step closer to a future title opportunity. Not only is that reward off the table in the fight against Latifi, but should Mousasi suffer a defeat against the underdog Latifi, it would be a substantial setback for the former Strikeforce light heavyweight champion.
While the scenario is somewhat of a rarity at the highest level of mixed martial arts, last-minute replacement bouts are not uncharted territory. Judging from how the fighters involved handled the situation when it was put on their respective plates, and the aftermath of how their decisions played out, it shows what a tricky and unique situation changing the players involved can be.
Upset in the Steel City
When the bout between Latifi and Mousasi was made official, the first fighter who came to my mind was Charlie Brenneman.
The Pennsylvania-native had gotten off to a solid start in his UFC career by winning two of his first three showings inside the Octagon.
“The Spaniard” was looking to build further momentum when he was slated to square off with Canadian T.J. Grant at UFC on Versus 4. Unfortunately for Brenneman, illness forced Grant to withdraw from the bout, and without an opponent, the AMA-trained fighter was removed from the card as well.
While the news was undoubtedly upsetting for Brenneman, the disappointment wouldn’t last long. In a strange turn of events, Brenneman would be called back into action when Nate Marquardt was pulled for his bout with Rick Story due to failing a pre-fight physical.
Marquardt was removed. Brenneman was in. And 24 hours away from the fight, Rick Story suddenly had a new opponent.
The opportunity was certainly beneficial where Brenneman was concerned, but the stakes of the bout drastically shifted for Story. When the Brave Legion fighter originally took the bout with Marquardt, he was stepping up on short notice to replace an injured Anthony Johnson.
Story was coming fresh off a big victory over Thiago Alves at UFC 130 and was looking to kick his quest for a title shot into hyperdrive by defeating another high-profile opponent in Marquardt.
But with Marquardt gone, and a new fighter standing across from him inside the Octagon, Story was unable to adjust to the chaos of the moment. Despite having a strong wrestling background, Story couldn’t stop Brenneman’s relentless grappling attack and came out on the business end of a unanimous decision on the judge’s scorecards.
Brenneman’s win in Pittsburgh served to boost him to the front of the MMA media headlines, while the loss extinguished the fires of Story’s surge toward contention. “The Horror” would go on to lose two of his next three outings, and it wasn’t until he scored a victory in his most recent outing against Quinn Mulhern at UFC 158 that the Vancouver-based fighter appeared to finally get back to form.
In the aftermath of the bout with Brenneman, the question serves to be asked just how different Story’s career would have been had he decided not to take the fight. While stepping up to the plate and taking the fight on less than a day’s notice certainly earned him points with the UFC brass, the loss knocked Story’s trajectory off course, and it has taken him the better part of two years to recover.
Bones Says No to Sonnen, Takes Heat for UFC 151 Cancellation
The need for a last-minute replacement in a main event certainly kicks up the panic level for everyone involved in a UFC event, but one fighter who wouldn’t be swayed in those matters was light heavyweight phenom Jon Jones.
The youngest champion in UFC history was put directly under the hot lights when his original opponent, Dan Henderson, suffered a knee injury and was forced out of their dust-up at UFC 151 last September.
With “Hendo” unable to fight, the UFC attempted to find multiple replacements, but those efforts were ultimately fruitless. It appeared that none of the organization’s top 205-pound fighters wanted anything to do with the champion, and the card’s main event looked to be in serious jeopardy.
That was until former middleweight No. 1 contender Chael Sonnen threw in his bid to face Jones for the light heavyweight title, and just like that, a new fight was on the table.
But while a bout between Jones and Sonnen would have made for a solid main event for UFC 151, “Bones” wasn’t willing to face “The Gangster from West Linn” on eight-days notice and decided to turn down the fight. Without a fight to headline the card, for the first time under Zuffa ownership, the UFC made the decision to cancel the event entirely.
The news brought a storm of scorn onto the young champion’s shoulders as UFC President Dana White lashed out at Jones and his camp during a media conference call where he officially announced the cancellation of the event.
White blasted the champion for refusing to face Sonnen and placed the blame for having to cancel the event squarely on Jones’ shoulders. White also famously labeled Greg Jackson as a “sport killer” during the call, for his part in Jones’ decision to pass on fighting Sonnen.
The heat would eventually quiet down, and Jon Jones got back to ruling the light heavyweight division when he defeated Vitor Belfort at UFC 152. After he bested “The Phenom,” Jones agreed to face Sonnen for his next challenge at UFC 159 in addition to both men taking opposing coaching roles for the 17th season of The Ultimate Fighter.
While Jones deciding not to face Sonnen at UFC 151 drew a monsoon of negative press, the champion refused to yield from the fight not being on his terms. Surely, it proved to be an unpopular decision, but ultimately one Jones had the right to make.
Taking a bout against one of the best pure wrestlers in mixed martial arts on short notice is a dangerous roll of the dice. While Jones will take that risk later this month, having time to prepare for Sonnen’s skill set will take away the element of surprise which would have been apparent had they locked up at UFC 151.
Final Thoughts
There are no titles on the line for Saturday’s main event at UFC on Fuel TV 9, but the fight is still Mousasi’s first appearance under the UFC banner.
Despite being recognized as one of the best strikers in mixed martial arts, Mousasi remains largely underappreciated by the UFC fanbase. This is the result of a career spent competing outside of the Octagon, and those fortunes could easily change with a strong showing at tomorrow’s event.
But where facing a surging contender in Gustafsson would have served to catapult Mousasi into the upper tier of the light heavyweight division, now he is in a position where he must win simply to remain on the radar.
Had Mousasi decided to refuse a new opponent, the results would have been disastrous as the card in Sweden is relatively thin and lacking high-profile matchups. On the other hand, with Mousasi remaining on the card and facing an unknown opponent in Latifi, the pressure and risk is now his to carry.
The fight is Mousasi’s opportunity to make a lasting impression on a new fanbase. And if he is able to handle the pressure and risk of the moment, UFC fans will be excited to watch him compete again.
At the same time, should Mousasi wilt under the weight of the moment at hand, the decision to face an unknown opponent on short notice will undoubtedly sting him for some time.
Just how he handles this unique set of circumstances remains to be seen, but the MMA world will have the answer to this question in short order.
Ladies and gentlemen, we have our two Ultimate Fighter finalists: Uriah Hall vs. Kelvin Gastelum.