Jose Aldo’s appearance at UFC 142 was well-received by fans who sold out the HSBC arena in Rio de Janeiro, but it was his post-fight celebration that will be remembered for many years to come.Following the UFC featherweight champion’s decisive victory …
Jose Aldo‘s appearance at UFC 142 was well-received by fans who sold out the HSBC arena in Rio de Janeiro, but it was his post-fight celebration that will be remembered for many years to come.
Following the UFC featherweight champion’s decisive victory over Chad Mendes this past weekend, Aldo proceeded to rejoice with the fans in attendance as he was hoisted up on people’s shoulders and celebrated.
The Brazilian embraced the moment as the crowd began to chant in honour of his successful title defense.
“My fans give me so much love and so much energy so there’s nothing better than celebrating with them,” Aldo said in an exclusive post-fight interview on UFC.com.
Mendes served as one of the division’s best wrestlers, however his speed and wrestling credentials were no match for Aldo’s superior Muay Thai as Mendes desperately tried for multiple takedown attempts. As Aldo broke free of his opponent’s clinch, he countered and landed a knee on Mendes and followed up with some ground-and-pound to signal the end of the bout.
Aldo praised Mendes for his effort and his relentless approach.
“Mendes is a tough guy,” he said. “But thankfully I was able to do everything I trained to do and come out with a victory.”
Joe Rogan issues explanation for calling out referee, Mario Yamasaki for highly questionable call in Erick Silva‘s DQ loss to Carlo Prater at UFC 142. It is all an unfortunate situation, we hope is at.
Joe Rogan issues explanation for calling out referee, Mario Yamasaki for highly questionable call in Erick Silva‘s DQ loss to Carlo Prater at UFC 142. It is all an unfortunate situation, we hope is at least overturned to a No Contest.
Anthony Johnson‘s legs got tired in his fight with Vitor Belfort at UFC 142. Johnson has since been cut from the UFC.
Um…maybe referee Dan Miragliotta stood up Vitor Belfort and Anthony Johnson a bit quickly…say some critics.
Jon Jones is too sexy and walked a fashion catwalk runway in Brazil.
Georges St. PierrewantsNick Diaz to win…but probably not ’cause he likes him.
Dana Whitehas some words in response to ESPN‘s “Outside the Lines” segment. You can watch Lorenzo Fertitta‘s entire uncut interview: here.
Because it’s so great, you can watch Jose Aldo‘s celebration in the stands after his victory against Chad Mendes in UFC Rio again and again: here.
Wow! This is the hottest shoot ever with Arianny Celeste and Chandella Powell. Thank you, Paparazzo! Enjoy the gallery below and find MORE pictures: here.
Over the past 12 months, established gyms like Blackhouse and Jackson’s MMA continued to produce championship-caliber talent in a variety of weight classes.During the same time frame, a number of other training centers did their best to level the playi…
Over the past 12 months, established gyms like Blackhouse and Jackson’s MMA continued to produce championship-caliber talent in a variety of weight classes.
During the same time frame, a number of other training centers did their best to level the playing field.
Let’s take a look back at the top gyms from the year that was.
Rob Tatum is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report MMA. You can also find Rob’s work at TheMMACorner.com. For anything related to MMA, Follow @RobTatumMMA.
Jose Aldo bust onto the scene in mid-2009 with his impressive, quick KO over Cub Swanson. In a little over two years, he went from breakout star to being a champion.He shouldn’t have done enough in that time to be considered one of the best of all time…
Jose Aldo bust onto the scene in mid-2009 with his impressive, quick KO over Cub Swanson. In a little over two years, he went from breakout star to being a champion.
He shouldn’t have done enough in that time to be considered one of the best of all time, but he already has. Aldo is one of the most impressive small men to step in the cage. Some of this opinion is due to the fact that he is the first UFC featherweight champion.
With time, there will be others, and after a few more men claim the belt as their own, fans will get to see how Aldo stacks up. For now, it appears that he is going to have a lengthy run with the belt, as none of the best at 145 pounds has been able to stop him.
Aldo is so dominant that he was even able to take out Kenny Florian, who moved down in weight to fight for the title. Florian is no joke, and the UFC’s best perennial contender was beaten handedly for five rounds by the champ.
Aldo could stick around at featherweight, but his options are starting to get limited. He already beat Urijah Faber easily in the WEC, which is the biggest opponent he could get and the biggest money fight he could have at that weight.
Pat Curran and Joe Warren are with Bellator and couldn’t fight Aldo if they tried.
Dustin Poirier is on a win streak, but hasn’t stepped up against top competition.
Hatsu Hioki might have a few victories in a row, but he struggled against George Roop in his UFC debut.
Yuri Alcantara is off to a good start, but still needs some top fights much like Poirier.
And so Aldo is stuck in no man’s land. He has a case for being considered an all-time great at featherweight.
He hasn’t quite made it to being a pound-for-pound all time great.
He can do it one of two ways, though.
He can move up in weight and destroy a few top lightweights.
Or he can go the path of Anderson Silva and reign supreme at featherweight for years to come.
What he does and how history unfolds will be dictate what happens.
It’s that time once again: another major MMA event has come and gone, and it’s time for my unofficial “Best Performance of the Night” award.People are already talking a whole lot about UFC 142, likely because it gave fans a whol…
It’s that time once again: another major MMA event has come and gone, and it’s time for my unofficial “Best Performance of the Night” award.
People are already talking a whole lot about UFC 142, likely because it gave fans a whole lot of “can’t-miss” moments. But one of them stood out above the rest—here’s why Jose Aldo’s thrilling first-round, last-second TKO win over Chad Mendes took home “Best Performance of the Night.”
Let’s begin as we always do, fans and friends: by putting the situation into context.
Coming into his third defense of his UFC featherweight championship, Jose Aldo was still regarded as the top featherweight in the world and even a top-five pound-for-pound athlete.
Of all the WEC fighters that would transition from the blue cage to the Octagon, it was Jose Aldo that entered the UFC with the most hype and fanfare.
He would go on to beat both Mark Hominick and Kenny Florian via decision, two tough opponents who honestly exposed some weaknesses in Aldo and fought him for five hard-hitting, grinding rounds.
Aldo’s opponent this time around would be Chad Mendes, an unbeaten prospect seen by many as not only a worthwhile and legitimate opponent for the seemingly-unbeatable Aldo, but also one of the best lighter-weight wrestlers in the world.
Mendes entered UFC 142 with a perfect record of 11-0, having won four times in the WEC and twice in the UFC to earn his shot at the championship.
We all know how it ended: after defending another takedown, Aldo turned, caught Mendes with a knee and finished him with one second left in the first round. He then sprinted out of the cage and went into the crowd, causing mass pandemonium and one of the most memorable post-fight celebrations I’ve ever seen.
But in my honest opinion, that’s not why Jose Aldo gets my “BPOTN” award.
He gets it because of one very simple fact: Jose Aldo faced the best wrestler in his division, and he defended every single takedown—and he made it look easy.
That, my friends, is the Jose Aldo I’m used to seeing. That’s the Jose Aldo that you’d look at and say, “That is one scary, scary man.”
In beating Chad Mendes in dramatic fashion, Jose Aldo now seems to have fully found his groove in the UFC. Like all great champions, Aldo took the experience he learned from several tough wars and now seems poised to go on an epic run that could rival and even surpass his reign of dominance in the WEC.
Even though he was a champion defending his championship, Jose Aldo still put his division on notice at UFC 142. He was good in the UFC before, great even, but now it honestly feels like we’re on the verge of a new era.
Jose Aldo, the real Jose Aldo, the monster Jose Aldo, the killer Jose Aldo, has finally arrived in the UFC, ladies and gentlemen.
Be afraid. Be very, very afraid.
All things considered, giving Jose Aldo my “BPOTN” award for his performance at UFC 142 was an easy choice.
Oliver Saenz, also known as PdW2kX, is a freelance journalist, opinion columnist, hardcore MMA fan and lifelong video-game nerd. For more news, views, previews and reviews on all things Mixed Martial Arts as well as video games, be sure to visit FightGamesBlog.net.
Filed under: UFCUFC 142 is in the books and another Brazilian event has ended without any rioting or bludgeoning of referees. Now it’s time to sort through the action for the biggest winners, losers, and everything in between.
UFC 142 is in the books and another Brazilian event has ended without any rioting or bludgeoning of referees. Now it’s time to sort through the action for the biggest winners, losers, and everything in between.
Biggest Winner: Jose Aldo There’s the human highlight reel we remember from the WEC days. Even with an opponent intent on dragging him down and holding him there, Aldo created just enough space to work his magic, spinning away and firing off a perfectly timed, perfectly placed knee that showed off both his explosive athleticism and his powers of anticipation. After the first-round knockout, Aldo charged into the crowd to celebrate with his countrymen — and to give UFC president Dana White a heart attack. Like something out of a sentimental sports film, the mob hoisted Aldo on its shoulders and showered him with love. In fact, the roughest treatment Aldo received was from the security team that tried to wrangle him back into the Octagon for the post-fight festivities. Maybe Aldo wasn’t a star in Brazil before UFC 142, but after treating the singing, chanting throng of fans to such a memorable ending on Sunday morning in Rio, you’ve got to think he’s improved his standing in his home country. Clearly, Aldo is a man worth knowing. What’s less clear is how the UFC is going to keep digging up interesting new challengers for a champ this dominant.
Biggest Loser: Anthony Johnson
It’s not just that he missed weight (again), or that he quickly ran out of gas and got submitted (thanks to a little help from some quick, though not egregious stand-ups by referee Dan Miragliotta). It’s also about his attitude. I understand that, on the eve of a fight, a fighter isn’t eager to revel in his own failures and humble himself before fans and management. At the same time, c’mon son, Anthony Johnson. How are you going to come in waaaay overweight for your first fight at middleweight, then get on Facebook and brag that you don’t care what anybody thinks about it? Who thought that was a good idea? Even at the weigh-ins, where Belfort showed up looking like a man who had done his share of suffering, Johnson was smiling and waving, apparently oblivious to the fact that his UFC career was now in jeopardy. I understand the desire to stay positive, but at some point you have to admit to yourself that you’ve screwed up. If you don’t, how are you ever going to stop screwing up? How are you going to take responsibility for the mistakes you are habitually making, so that you can stop making them in the future? Clearly, Johnson hasn’t figured that part out yet. Until he does, the UFC is no place for him.
Best Response to a Bad Situation: Erick Silva
I’d like to think that I would have handled that disqualification loss with as much class and grace as Silva did, but I know it isn’t true. I know that because I was once disqualified from a beer pong tournament at a bar in New Jersey for some perceived violation of etiquette, and, well, let’s just say that because of my response to the DQ I’m no longer welcome in that establishment. The point is, Silva had every reason to be upset. We’ve seen many fighters get away with far more egregious strikes to the back of the head. He might have thrown one or two hammerfists that drifted into illegal territory, but they clearly weren’t intentional and weren’t responsible for ending the fight. I don’t know if Carlo Prater talked referee Mario Yamasaki into believing otherwise or if Yamasaki still has residual back-of-the-head guilt from the Belfort-Akiyama fight. Regardless, he got it wrong and Silva got cheated out of a win as a result. That Silva took the news so well is a credit to his character. I know I wouldn’t have been so nice about it.
Chuck Norris Award for Kicking Excellence: Edson Barboza
His spinning wheel kick knockout of Terry Etim was so fantastically flashy that I keep expecting Steven Seagal to somehow claim credit for it. It’s the kind of kick that makes every martial arts nerd instantly geek out, and yet it’s also a kick that, according to the most ardent Taekwondo supporter I know, “even Taekwondo guys admit will almost never work.” Somehow Barboza made it work, and for that he was handsomely rewarded with a $65,000 Knockout of the Night bonus. To even have the confidence to try something like that against a fighter of Terry Etim’s caliber is impressive. To pull it off in such effective fashion is damn near amazing. Barboza will be seeing that moment of his life replayed in highlight reels for years to come. Unfortunately, so will Etim.
Worst One-Trick Pony: Chad Mendes
He had to know he was in trouble when Aldo easily shrugged off his first few takedown attempts. He kept after it because, hey, what else was he going to do? It’s not like Mendes was going to outstrike Aldo, and he knew it. His only hope was to get the takedown and grind away, which put him in a very vulnerable position. The problem with putting too much stock into your own wrestling ability is that your opponent usually knows where your head is going to be. Even with his back to Mendes as he broke his grip, Aldo knew the challenger would come diving in for his legs at the end of the round, and that allowed him to spin and throw the knee with confidence. It may have been Mendes’ inability to get that takedown that got him in trouble, but it was his own predictability that sealed his fate.
Best One-Trick Pony: Rousimar Palhares
You know how you can tell when someone is very, very good at what they do? They keep doing it to people who know it’s coming. Mike Massenzio had months to prepare for Palhares’ leg locks, and he still got heel-hooked in the first minute of the fight. That’s the fifth submission victory of Palhares’ UFC career, and four of those were leg and/or foot-based submissions. I still doubt that you can heel hook your way to a title in today’s UFC, especially when the middleweight champ is a man who does so many things so very well, but who knows? Maybe if Palhares can get Ryo Chonan to show him that unique method of entry, he could shock the world.
Most Awkward Moment: Joe Rogan’s Interrogation of Mario Yamasaki
Give credit to Rogan for taking us right to the source and getting Yamasaki’s explanation for why he disqualified Erick Silva, but that’s where it should have stopped. It’s perfectly fair for a commentator to ask the ref to explain himself after a controversial call, but trying to cajole him into admitting he made the wrong decision just minutes after he made it is perhaps not terribly helpful. Rogan clearly had his opinion on Yamasaki’s call, and it’s an opinion I agreed with. Even so, that doesn’t mean I want to watch him trying to talk Yamasaki into it on live TV. Not only is it uncomfortable to watch, it serves no purpose. Rogan normally does an excellent job of bringing clarity to the chaos in moments like those, but that’s a time when he needs to content himself with getting the opinions of others rather than forcefully applying his own.
What MMA Needs Most: Rules Clarity
If you inadvertently hit an opponent on the back of the head during a frantic punch flurry, as Erick Silva did, maybe nothing will happen. Or maybe you’ll get a warning. Maybe you’ll lose a point. Maybe you’ll even be disqualified. There’s really no telling. The same holds true when you grab the fence to avoid a takedown, as Jose Aldo blatantly did just moments before knocking out Chad Mendes. That’s cheating, and there’s never anything inadvertent about it, and yet Aldo suffered absolutely no consequences for the illegal advantage he obtained. So why wouldn’t he do it? With the fence grab, fighters know they’ll almost never be punished the first time they do it. At most, they’ll get a verbal warning, which essentially means that they can cheat at least once with no consequences whatsoever. If you chose your cheating moment wisely, as Aldo did, it can change the complexion of the fight in minor or major ways [ed. note: for more on that, I recommend reading Chad Dundas’ explanation of why you should always cheat in an MMA fight]. How can this be? How can something that is clearly illegal and never accidental go completely unpunished? I don’t doubt that refereeing an MMA bout is a difficult, stressful job, but it seems as though we only make it more difficult and stressful by leaving so much to the individual referee’s discretion. Figuring out how the ref is going to respond to an illegal blow or a quick grab of the fence is like figuring out where an umpire’s strike zone is. The difference is, if your opponent knows when and how to game that system, you don’t get another at bat in MMA. The fight’s over, you’re out a bunch of money, and there’s no guarantee that you can even bring these lessons into your next fight, since the next ref might interpret the rules differently. At the risk of handcuffing referees, MMA needs more clarity on what offense constitutes which punishment. Currently, fighters don’t know what will happen to them until it’s already happened — or hasn’t. The whole point of having “unified” rules is so they’re the same everywhere. But as long as referees are allowed to enforce their own take on where the back of the head begins and what an illegal fence grab is worth, it’s always going to be a shifting landscape from one fight to the next.
Jose Aldo‘s appearance at UFC 142 was well-received by fans who sold out the HSBC arena in Rio de Janeiro, but it was his post-fight celebration that will be remembered for many years to come.
UFC 142 is in the books and another Brazilian event has ended without any rioting or bludgeoning of referees. Now it’s time to sort through the action for the biggest winners, losers, and everything in between.