Tag: Jose Aldo

UFC 149 Calgary Update: Canadian Carvalho vs Roop and Akiyama vs Alves Added

UFC Canada announced last night via it’s Twitter feed that two bouts have been added to the UFC 149 Calgary card that takes place on July 21st from the Pengrowth Saddledome.
“Two more fights confirmed for Calgary #UFC149 – CDN Ant…

UFC Canada announced last night via it’s Twitter feed that two bouts have been added to the UFC 149 Calgary card that takes place on July 21st from the Pengrowth Saddledome.

“Two more fights confirmed for Calgary  – CDN Antonio Carvalho faces American George Roop and Thiago Alves against Yoshihiro Akiyama”

Posted on UFC Canada Twitter Feed: @UFC_CA

Canadian featherweight Antonio Carvalho has landed a spot on the card against American George Roop in a very big step-up fight for the Oshawa, Ontario native. Carvalho is 13-5 in his career and coming off a razor-thin loss to Felipe Arantes in his UFC debut at UFC 142 in January. He will look to use this opportunity to establish himself in the UFC.

The 12-9 Roop was in line for a shot at the title as recently as last year, but has fallen off a bit with two consecutive losses to Cub Swanson and Hatsu Hioki, two of the very best in his weight class.

The other fight announced is a very intriguing match up between two veteran UFC warriors with their backs against the chopping block wall. Brazilian welterweight Thiago Alves will battle Japanese star Yoshihiro Akiyama.

The once top-five welterweight Alves has lost four of his last six fights, including his last fight against Martin Kampmann, where he dominated for the entire fight before being submitted in the last minute. The naturally large fighter continues his commitment to cutting weight to compete in the welterweight division.

On the other hand, Akiyama will be fighting for only the second time in his career as a welterweight. The long-time 185-pound fighter lost his welterweight debut to Jake Shields in Japan in February. The Japanese star Judoka has lost four of five fights in the UFC and needs a win very badly to avoid being cut by the UFC.

The announcement of these fights brings the total to six announced fights on the card and the addition of Carvalho means that four Canadians are already booked for the Calgary show. 

 

 

Announced Bouts (subject to change)


– Jose Aldo vs TBA (Featherweight Title Fight)

– Thiago Alves vs Yoshihiro Akiyama (welterweight)

– George Roop vs Antonio Carvalho* (featherweight)

– Nick Ring* vs Court McGee (middleweight)

– Bryan Carraway vs Mitch Gagnon* (bantamweight)

– Mitch Clarke* vs Anton Kuivanen (lightweight)

* Canadian fighter

Keep it locked in here for all Canadian card updates.

 


Dwight Wakabayashi is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report MMA, MMA Editor at CKSN.ca and guest blogger for Sportsnet.ca.

Catch him on Facebook and Twitter at wakafightermma.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Jose Aldo: 5 Potential Opponents for UFC 149

The Ultimate Fighting Championship announced that the date for their first show in Calgary, Alberta will be July 21st.They also announced the highlight attraction in featherweight champion and world top-five fighter Jose Aldo. The division is…

The Ultimate Fighting Championship announced that the date for their first show in Calgary, Alberta will be July 21st.

They also announced the highlight attraction in featherweight champion and world top-five fighter Jose Aldo.

The division is a bit light at the top right now, and some new blood like Frankie Edgar and some of the other smaller lightweights could soon be on the horizon. In the meantime, there are three men at the front of the line to Aldo. Two of them, Dustin Poirier and Chan Sung Jung, will face each other on UFC On Fuel TV 3 on May 15th, from Fairfax, Virginia.

Waiting in the wings without a scheduled fight is Hatsu Hioki, whom many feel is the undisputed No. 1 contender for the title right now.

Aldo facing any one of those three men is a high-level, headline-worthy fight for UFC 149 in Calgary. After that, it gets a bit questionable, but here are a few more possible fights for Aldo in addition to those three.

Begin Slideshow

MMA: Is GSP the Real Pound-for-Pound Best?

The conversation regarding who is the best pound-for-pound fighter in MMA is simultaneously fun and frustrating.  We’re all convinced that we just know who is the best fighter in the world, and our argument is concrete.Sadly, it’s most…

The conversation regarding who is the best pound-for-pound fighter in MMA is simultaneously fun and frustrating.  We’re all convinced that we just know who is the best fighter in the world, and our argument is concrete.

Sadly, it’s mostly just a conversation, because until we see Georges St-Pierre fight Anderson Silva, or Silva fight Jon Jones, we’re reduced to comparing facts and figures to make our point on the matter.

It’s great to agree with someone about who is the P4P best.  It incites a conversation that regales great memories in that fighter’s history, huge victories, and “Did you see that?” moments.

Disagreements in this topic, however, can get downright nasty.  Records are compared, monumental victories and losses are held side-by-side, notability of opponents is hashed out, and occasionally chairs are thrown (but hopefully you’ve never come to that).

For argument’s sake, I’m keeping this conversation to four fighters.  After you disagree with everything I say, please don’t hesitate to harshly let me know so in the comments.

Begin Slideshow

Jon Jones: 5 MMA Fighters Who Have the Potential to Be the Next Floyd Mayweather

The world of MMA is fast becoming the equivalent of what boxing used to be and to some degree still is—one of the meccas of sporting entertainment. In the pantheon of the sweet science, there are stars, and then there are superstars, and the same…

The world of MMA is fast becoming the equivalent of what boxing used to be and to some degree still is—one of the meccas of sporting entertainment.

In the pantheon of the sweet science, there are stars, and then there are superstars, and the same now applies to professional mixed martial arts.

UFC light heavyweight champion Jon “Bones” Jones’ rise to superstar status has been nothing short of meteoric, and as things stand, he has the potential to mirror some of the achievements of boxing’s own pound-for-pound great Floyd “Money” Mayweather.

Mayweather has several attributes that sets him apart from his peers—skill set, championship pedigree and promotional savvy. That and the fact he’s undefeated in 42 outings in a career spanning almost 16 years.

Apropos MMA, fighters are lucky if they can acquire just two of the aforementioned qualities.

NB Mayweather’s PPV pulling power not included.

With that said, here’s a look at some fighters with the potential to be the next Money May.

Begin Slideshow

UFC Calgary Press Conference: Silva vs. Sonnen Rematch Slated for Soccer Stadium in Rio, Aldo Defends Belt in July + More

(Full press conference video, via YouTube.com/UFC. Man, Nick Ring is like a *god* in that town.)

Today’s UFC press conference in Calgary resulted in a tidal wave of major announcements, highlighted by two title-fight bookings and confirmations of three Canadian events in 2012. Here’s what we’re looking at…

– The middleweight championship rematch between Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen will take place at an 80,000-seat soccer stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, not Sao Paulo as originally reported. [Ed. note: R.I.P., Chael.] The exact venue hasn’t been confirmed yet, and the event is expected to take place at UFC 147 on either June 16th or June 23rd. It will be the third time in 10 months that Rio will host a UFC event. We’ll be keeping our eyes out for this guy.

– For the third year in a row, the UFC will hold three events in Canada this year: UFC 149 in Calgary (7/21), UFC 152 in Toronto (9/22), and UFC 154 in Montreal (11/17). No matchups have been scheduled for the Toronto and Montreal shows, although welterweight champ Georges St. Pierre said he’d like to compete at UFC 154 if his knee-surgery recovery allows it.


(Full press conference video, via YouTube.com/UFC. Man, Nick Ring is like a *god* in that town.)

Today’s UFC press conference in Calgary resulted in a tidal wave of major announcements, highlighted by two title-fight bookings and confirmations of three Canadian events in 2012. Here’s what we’re looking at…

– The middleweight championship rematch between Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen will take place at an 80,000-seat soccer stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, not Sao Paulo as originally reported. [Ed. note: R.I.P., Chael.] The exact venue hasn’t been confirmed yet, and the event is expected to take place at UFC 147 on either June 16th or June 23rd. It will be the third time in 10 months that Rio will host a UFC event. We’ll be keeping our eyes out for this guy.

– For the third year in a row, the UFC will hold three events in Canada this year: UFC 149 in Calgary (7/21), UFC 152 in Toronto (9/22), and UFC 154 in Montreal (11/17). No matchups have been scheduled for the Toronto and Montreal shows, although welterweight champ Georges St. Pierre said he’d like to compete at UFC 154 if his knee-surgery recovery allows it.

– The Calgary event will be headlined by Jose Aldo defending his title against a challenger to be named later. It will be the UFC’s first official visit to Alberta, although the WEC previously held their “Varner vs. Shalorus” event in Alberta in June 2010. Aldo is coming off his first-round knockout of Chad Mendes at UFC 142; his next opponent is rumored to be Hatsu Hioki.

– Jason MacDonald is already scheduled to face Tom Lawlor at UFC on FUEL 3 (May 15th; Fairfax, VA), but the Calgary native hopes to have his UFC retirement fight at UFC 149.

Reminder: Watch the UFC 149 Press Conference from Calgary, Alberta, Canada Live Right Here at 2:00 p.m. ET


(“We may even have Justin Bieber at the show as a special guest.”)

Just a friendly reminder that the UFC is holding an impromptu press conference today in Calgary, Alberta to announce its next Canadian show and that we’ll have the live stream starting at 2:00 p.m. ET. On hand for the open event will be UFC president Dana White, director of Canadian operations Tom Wright and Alberta-based fighters Mitch Clarke, Jason MacDonald and Nick Ring.

It’s expected that the main event for the July 21 show, which will be announced as UFC 149, will be a featherweight championship bout between 145-pound kingpin Jose Aldo (21-1) and former TKO, Shooto and Sengoku champ Hatsu Hioki (26-4-2), however an announcement will likely not happen at today’s presser.

In related news, a Canadian senator introduced a bill into Parliament yesterday that would see MMA legalized nationwide. Section 83 of the Canadian Criminal Code as it currently stands deems prizefighting illegal, which is why some provinces and territories have been reluctant to allow events in their jurisdiction in spite of the fact that others have amended the rules due to different interpretations of the archaic law.

Check out the UFC web player after the jump.


(“We may even have Justin Bieber at the show as a special guest.”)

Just a friendly reminder that the UFC is holding an impromptu press conference today in Calgary, Alberta to announce its next Canadian show and that we’ll have the live stream starting at 2:00 p.m. ET. On hand for the open event will be UFC president Dana White, director of Canadian operations Tom Wright and Alberta-based fighters Mitch Clarke, Jason MacDonald and Nick Ring.

It’s expected that the main event for the July 21 show, which will be announced as UFC 149, will be a featherweight championship bout between 145-pound kingpin Jose Aldo (21-1) and former TKO, Shooto and Sengoku champ Hatsu Hioki (26-4-2), however an announcement will likely not happen at today’s presser.

In related news, a Canadian senator introduced a bill into Parliament yesterday that would see MMA legalized nationwide. Section 83 of the Canadian Criminal Code as it currently stands deems prizefighting illegal, which is why some provinces and territories have been reluctant to allow events in their jurisdiction in spite of the fact that others have amended the rules due to different interpretations of the archaic law.

Check out the UFC web player after the jump.


(Stream courtesy of YouTube/UFC)