Going head-to-head against UFC promo king Chael Sonnen would be a tall order for anybody — but you’d think that Jon Jones would at least try to make it competitive. In case you missed it, here’s Jon and Chael’s interview segment from the TUF 17 Finale broadcast, in which Jones acts like a 15-year-old whose weed stash was just discovered by his stepdad. The first words out of Jones’s mouth are a slurred jumble of Ortizian proportions. He can’t stop swinging his arms. He won’t make direct eye contact. He refuses to address Sonnen — who continues his carnival-barking, undeterred — even though this segment was specifically arranged to generate interest in their UFC 159 fight in two weeks. As David Letterman might say, “Jon, I’m sorry you couldn’t be here tonight.”
This clip unfortunately leaves off the very end, in which Jones sulks off stage left at his first opportunity, while Sonnen remains standing next to Jon Anik; Jones may still be the light-heavyweight ruler of the Octagon, but Sonnen has rightfully claimed his territory in front of the camera. We’ll give Jon the benefit of the doubt and say he was trying to come off as intensely focused, instead of bored, or pissed off, or half-drunk. Either way, it was a missed opportunity to spark some more fan-interest in a fight that is completely uninteresting from a competitive standpoint. That’s no way to get some fans, bro.
Going head-to-head against UFC promo king Chael Sonnen would be a tall order for anybody — but you’d think that Jon Jones would at least try to make it competitive. In case you missed it, here’s Jon and Chael’s interview segment from the TUF 17 Finale broadcast, in which Jones acts like a 15-year-old whose weed stash was just discovered by his stepdad. The first words out of Jones’s mouth are a slurred jumble of Ortizian proportions. He can’t stop swinging his arms. He won’t make direct eye contact. He refuses to address Sonnen — who continues his carnival-barking, undeterred — even though this segment was specifically arranged to generate interest in their UFC 159 fight in two weeks. As David Letterman might say, “Jon, I’m sorry you couldn’t be here tonight.”
This clip unfortunately leaves off the very end, in which Jones sulks off stage left at his first opportunity, while Sonnen remains standing next to Jon Anik; Jones may still be the light-heavyweight ruler of the Octagon, but Sonnen has rightfully claimed his territory in front of the camera. We’ll give Jon the benefit of the doubt and say he was trying to come off as intensely focused, instead of bored, or pissed off, or half-drunk. Either way, it was a missed opportunity to spark some more fan-interest in a fight that is completely uninteresting from a competitive standpoint. That’s no way to get some fans, bro.
First things first: For those referring to the Cat Zingano win over Miesha Tate as an upset, go back and check the odds. Tate was actually the underdog heading into Saturday night’s finale of the 17th season of The Ultimate Fighter. Sorry, I had to get…
First things first: For those referring to the Cat Zingano win over Miesha Tate as an upset, go back and check the odds. Tate was actually the underdog heading into Saturday night’s finale of the 17th season of The Ultimate Fighter. Sorry, I had to get that off my chest, as it’s been gnawing at the back of my mind since Zingano earned her shot at UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey with a TKO win over Tate.
Let us reflect on some of the goings on from Saturday’s fight card:
How many warnings before a point?
Kim Winslow gets a rap as one of the worst referees in mixed martial arts. She did little to change that opinion on Saturday. She threw out multiple warnings for holding the fence in the Maximo Blanco versus Sam Sicilla fight—double-digit warnings—but never deducted a point.
When the final score was read, Blanco was given the unanimous decision, but had Winslow done more than warn for holding the fence, this one would have been a draw—and judging by the number of warnings, it should have been.
If there’s no teeth behind the warnings, no threat of real punishment, why waste the time even mentioning them? It was a sad display, and if Winslow ever wants to shake the image of worst ref in the sport, she needs to do better in every aspect, especially in the little ones.
Clint Hester
Hester was a boxer who decided to give this whole MMA thing a go. He handled himself well in his bout against Bristol Marunde, but he’s still a very raw prospect. He showed some power in knocking down Marunde late in the first, but he didn’t put himself in position to finish, instead allowing Marunde to grab a leg and secure the takedown and regain his wits.
The end in this fight was a thing of beauty, a perfectly placed standing elbow that put Marunde down and out without the need for a follow-up strike.
Development
Thinking about Hester, the question of development comes to mind. The UFC has never really been the place for a young fighter to develop. The expectation is that the fighters competing in the UFC are the best of the best, which brings up the question: What do they do with a guy like Clint Hester?
Does the UFC keep him and other fighters like him in the bigs and adopt a sink-or-swim attitude or does it allow them to develop, warts and all, on the preliminary cards and risk their outspoken fans complaining about a watered-down level of competition?
It’s a tough question to ponder. An organization like Strikeforce would sure come in handy for these guys.
How many punches are enough?
During the Dylan Andrews versus Jimmy Quinlan bout, Andrews dropped Quinlan with a right and then proceeded to tee off with (by my count) 17 strikes to the head to the down-and-obviously-not-defending-himself Quinlan.
I understand things move pretty fast in the Octagon, but Quinlan was turtled up and not going to come back to defend himself. While this assault was going on, the referee, Chris Tognoni, strolled around the periphery like he was admiring a work of art on a lazy Sunday at the local museum.
The first job of the referee is to protect the fighters, Tognoni failed Quinlan in a big way.
Samman avoids disaster
Josh Samman was a pretty big favorite in his fight with Kevin Casey, so it must have been a pretty big surprise for Samman when he found himself locked up in a triangle seconds into the bout. Things went from bad to “oh s**t” when Casey added an armbar to the mix. It looked like Samman was going to be forced to tap, but he kept his cool and forced Casey to release the hold(s) with a legal spike. Legal, since Casey had the option to release the hold to avoid the spike.
Samman showed something by not tapping—whether it was pride or the ability to overcome adversity is of little importance—and he persevered and pulled out the victory.
Jon Jones and ChaelSonnen
Look, I understand that ChaelSonnendoesn’t exactly “deserve” to face Jon Jones for the UFC light heavyweight title, but he is going to do so. Jones has to accept that fact, soak it in and maybe try and do at least some promotion for the upcoming UFC 159 pay-per-view.
When the UFC trotted the two coaches out to speak about last night’s card as well as the upcoming pay-per-view, Jones offered a brief, “The work is already done” and that was about it, while Sonnen, like it or not, “Sonnen’d” his way through his portion of the interview.
Jones then just walked away, leaving Sonnen standing by himself next to Jon Anik.
Through the entire time Jones and Sonnen were onscreen together, Jones refused to acknowledge the presence of his opponent. It was awkward and you have to imagine the UFC brass was hoping for a little more personality from its champion.
A lot of fans think the fight is a farce, Jones didn’t do much to change their opinion.
Travis Browne
Travis Browne had a setback in his last bout, injuring his leg and then proceeding to get TKO’d by Antonio Silva. He got back on track in a big way on Saturday night when he earned “Knockout of the Night” honors with some short and pretty damn vicious elbows to the had of Gabriel Gonzaga up against the cage.
Don’t be surprised to see Browne slip into the top 10 of the UFC rankings when they are released following this fight card.
Refereeing in Browne fight
Some of Browne’s elbows clearly hit the back of the head as the limp Gonzaga slid down the legs of Browne on his way to the mat, which begs the question: How many times on a fight card can one referee be out of position and unaware that severe damage is taking place right in front of his eyes? Much like the Quinlan versus Andrews fight, referee Chris Tognoni was out of position and a bit late in ending this one.
A bit less time spent rolling his sleeves to show his “guns” and a little more time spent protecting the fighters may be a good thing for Tognoni to consider.
Cat Zingano vs. Miesha Tate
There was some rumbling that the knees from Cat Zingano that badly hurt Miesha Tate were illegal (they weren’t) and that the stoppage was early (it wasn’t). The timing of the knees was almost picture-perfect, and for all the abuse that is heaped on Kim Winslow, she stopped the fight at the right time.
In the post-fight presser, Tate voiced her displeasure with the stoppage, but what would you expect from a fighter like Tate? Of course she’s going to say the fight was stopped early and that she could have carried on. After all, this is the woman that risked permanent injury rather than tap to a Ronda Rouseyarmbar.
Even if Tate could have continued, she shouldn’t have, and that’s one of the referee’s jobs—prevent the fighter from taking unneeded abuse. Winslow did that in this case and stopped the fight at the right time. If Tate watches the fight again and still feels the fight was stopped early, she’s entering Tito Ortiz territory in placing the blame where it doesn‘t belong.
TUF 18
Am I the only one who’s happy that the coaches will be Ronda Rousey and Cat Zingano? TUF needs more focus on the fighters and less on the drama between the coaches. That storyline has been played out, it’s boring and honestly, we’ve been down the Tate and Rousey road before. It’s time for a change.
Uriah Hall
Another hype train derailed. During the filming of TUF 17, Uriah Hall heard that he was good enough to battle UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva. He also heard that he was the most fearsome fighter in the history of the show. Judging by the way Hall fought on Saturday, at some point he began to believe his own press. He fought like he had already been told he was a lock for superstar status, without, you know, actually winning a fight that mattered.
Hall fought cocky, not confident. He fought like a young kid who had watched far too many Anderson Silva videos, holding his hands down around his sides and waving his opponent in while he stood with his back to the cage.
Kelvin Gastelum took advantage of that and took the fight to Hall, showing him no respect and earning the win he deserved.
Hopefully, Hall will learn a little something from the loss. If not, he’ll be a UFC footnote, a fighter who’s referred to as “remember that dude that wrecked a bunch of people on TUF? Yeah, what happened to him?”
Another title fight for Faber?
The UFC has a dilemma when it comes to Urijah Faber. He’s ranked behind only interim bantamweight champion RenanBarao in the UFC’s rankings, and he’s run through pretty much everyone put in front of him—anyone who hasn’t held a title, that is.
Faber’s not a can crusher by any means, as he has beaten some tough opponents, but as far as king crusher, that he is not, as he’s gone 0-5 in his last five title fights. At some point, the promotion has to say, this guy’s good, but enough is enough.
My take: The only way Faber gets another title shot is if Dominick Cruz remains champion and requests that fight.
Jones vs. Sonnen II
I was glad to see that the UFC scrapped the “We Will Rock You” promo for UFC 159, but the new clip left me scratching my head. Jon Jones is the champ, right? Then why is the entire audio of the clip nothing but Sonnen talking?
Does Jones have absolutely zero interest in selling UFC 159?
Those of you who have watched this season of The Ultimate Fighter will doubtless be aware of Uriah Hall being touted as perhaps the best striker the show has seen. You will probably also be aware that some of the more optimistic fans out there are alre…
Those of you who have watched this season of The Ultimate Fighter will doubtless be aware of Uriah Hall being touted as perhaps the best striker the show has seen. You will probably also be aware that some of the more optimistic fans out there are already comparing him to Anderson Silva and putting together a hypothetical title match.
I’m not here to say what a fighter can or can’t do. Two people step onto the mat at the beginning of each fight and everything about both men affects the outcome on that given day. What I can do is highlight some of the technical triumphs and failings which Uriah Hall carries and exhibits in his bouts.
The first thing to note about Uriah Hall is that he is not only extremely talented in his kicking game, but he is intelligent about it too. While the spinning back hook kick takes some skill to even throw – you could walk into a gym anywhere in the world and there would be a guy there who could do them… in thin air.
Hall’s brilliance was displayed against Adam Cella when he set up and then landed his spinning back roundhouse kick flush without a previous attempt.
The first sign of intelligence in Hall’s striking can be seen in the fact that he waited until the last seconds of the opening round to throw the kick. In the footage of the fight the hammer can be heard signaling 10 seconds remaining in the round, and then Hall throws his kick. This is simply good preparation – if a fighter is going to attempt something with a good chance of ending up in a bad position when it goes wrong, the last 10 seconds of a round are the best time to take the risk.
It is the same with intelligent submission fighters – if they get the mount they will hold the position and work for conservative submissions before they attempt an armbar which will land them in bottom position if they don’t finish it. 10 seconds is easily enough time to land a wheel kick or finish an armbar, but it is easy to survive 10 seconds underneath an opponent should it go wrong.
So how did Hall actually set up his spinning kick? Well the wheel kick enters on the right side of an opponent’s guard – like a left hook. It is necessary then to remove the opponent’s right forearm from a position where it can block. Hall did this by spamming the jab. Hall’s jab isn’t especially sharp but Adam Cella was stifled by it.
As Cella‘s right hand came to rest in a position in front of him where it was ready to catch or parry the jab, he sacrificed defense on the right side of his jaw. Before throwing the kick Hall performed a jab to the body to make the inexperienced Cella move his right hand even further away from his jaw. Junior dos Santos often uses the jab to the body to get MMA fighters, who simply don’t know better, to drop their hands to deal with it.
WIthCella‘s right hand moving to parry at the slightest hint of a jab from Hall, Hall was able to fake and spin, connecting clean with his wheel kick on the jaw.
While Hall’s all around striking game is nowhere near on the level of BadrHari or Stefan Leko, the bout between those two world class kickboxers ended with an almost identical set up.
Notice how Hari retreats while jabbing (somewhat uncharacteristically for Hari) before spinning and connecting behind Leko‘s right hand.
Unfortunately comparisons to Anderson Silva are completely unfounded on a technical level. While Hall has an excellent kicking game and a good jab, his boxing – as a science- has substantial holes.
Anderson Silva is masterful at moving around the cage, as is LyotoMachida. Uriah Hall is always fighting with his back to the cage and nowhere to move should he need to retreat. He places himself in a situation where he must always move to either one side or the other.
This is fine in one sense – he still has two directions in which he can move – but when he does move in those directions it is often with his head held high and unguarded. Against Adam Cella, Hall continued to circle into Hall’s right hand with his chin up.
Against his most recent opponent, Dylan Andrews, Hall walked onto a couple of good punches from a completely passive and over matched opponent simply because he circles out with his hands out of position and his shoulders low.
On the single occasion in the bout when Andrews attacked with more than one punch in combination, he was able to back Hall onto the fence and dump him to the floor.
A final fault in Hall’s stand up is his tendency to reach for punches. While he seems to have trained out his fondness for leaning straight backwards, Hall will still reach to parry punches when he is moving away. This exposes him to follow up strikes on the same side.
Faking the jab and coming with a lead hook, faking the right straight and coming with a right hook, or throwing a jab or straight and following with a high kick on the same side. These are all the sorts of things that an opponent can do to catch Hall with a telling blow through his limited defenses.
Now Hall is still young and with a 6 foot frame and an 80 inch reach at middleweight he could very easily become a top contender in the division. Further to that the middleweight division just flat out lacks striking talent outside of a few guys.
The single important thing to take away from this article is that flash and shock value are not elite striking – it is how a fighter positions himself in the ring or cage, how rarely he is forced to expose himself, and how disciplined he can remain late in a fight which define a masterful striker.
Jack Slack breaks down over 70 striking tactics employed by 20 elite strikers in his first ebook, Advanced Striking, and discusses the fundamentals of strategy in his new ebook, Elementary Striking.
Another season of The Ultimate Fighter came to a close on Tuesday, officially confirming the co-main event of the TUF Season 17 finale on April 13 in Las Vegas.Uriah Hall and Kelvin Gastelum are the last men standing in the reality TV middlew…
Another season of The Ultimate Fighter came to a close on Tuesday, officially confirming the co-main event of the TUF Season 17 finale on April 13 in Las Vegas.
Uriah Hall and Kelvin Gastelum are the last men standing in the reality TV middleweight MMA tournament and will compete against each other to become the undisputed winner of the season, in addition to winning a six-figure UFC contact and a customized Harley-Davidson motorcycle.
However, Chael Sonnen has already won a motorcycle for himself.
Not only does the winning fighter of Season 17 get a Harley-Davidson, but one motorcycle is also awarded to the winning coach.
That would be none other than the “Team Darkside” leader himself, who coached both Hall and Gastelum throughout the show.
Although Jon Jones had two of his team members—Josh Samman and Dylan Andrews—make it all the way to the semifinals, both of them were finished in their respective fights by stoppages via submission and technical knockout.
Notably, Samman was a favorite to win against Kelvin Gastelum, having knocked out all three of his previous opponents (Leo Bercier, Tor Troeng and Jimmy Quinlan) in the first round.
But 21-year-old Gastelum—the youngest fighter in TUF history—turned the tables on his more experienced opponent right from the start, controlling Samman on the ground and avoiding submission attempts before finishing the fight via rear-naked choke.
Uriah Hall’s match against Dylan Andrews was far more one-sided, as the season favorite lit up his opponent with jabs and a huge kicking arsenal early in the match.
Andrews did manage to score a late takedown in Round 2, but Hall handled his opponent from the bottom with a tight kimura grip.
From there, Hall eventually switched up his guard, hurting Andrews with heavy punches from bottom position and finishing the last-pick Team Jones fighter from the top with strikes, prompting amazement from UFC president Dana White.
McKinley Noble is an MMA conspiracy theorist. His work has appeared in NVision, PC World, Macworld, GamePro, 1UP, MMA Mania & The L.A. Times.
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?
First things first: For those referring to the Cat