UFC on FOX 19 goes down in Tampa, Florida on Saturday April 16 but does so with a massively reduced amount of fire power. What started as a great free card with some enticing fights, has steadily declined due to some unfortunate circumstances. First Tony Ferguson pulled out of his long awaited bout with Khabib
UFC on FOX 19 goes down in Tampa, Florida on Saturday April 16 but does so with a massively reduced amount of fire power. What started as a great free card with some enticing fights, has steadily declined due to some unfortunate circumstances. First Tony Ferguson pulled out of his long awaited bout with Khabib Nurmagomedov, then Lyoto Machida vs. Dan Henderson was scrapped due to ‘The Dragon’ failing a drug test. That said, there’s still some solid talent on the card.
Rose Namajunas vs. Tecia Torres in the women’s strawweight division has been promoted to the co-main event in Tampa, and of course Glover Teixeira and Rashad Evans meet in the main event slot now. ‘The Eagle’ remains on the card, facing wild card substitute Darrell Horcher, and there’s a featherweight bout between Cub Swanson and Hacran Diaz too.
Adding some juice to the prelims are Michael Chiesa, Beneil Dariush, Bethe Correia, John Dodson and many more.
So tune in for the live streaming UFC on FOX 19 at 4PM ET, or check in right after for the updated results here on LowKickMMA.com.
Event: UFC on FOX 19: “Teixeira vs. Evans” Date: Sat., April 16, 2016, on FOX Location: Amalie Arena in Tampa Bay, Florida
UFC on FOX 19 Main Event:
Rashad Evans (205) vs. Glover Teixeira (205)
UFC on FOX 19 Main Card (8 p.m. ET):
Rose Namajunas (116) vs. Tecia Torres (115.5)
Darrell Horcher (162) vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov (160)
Hacran Dias (145.5) vs. Cub Swanson (145)
UFC on FOX 19 “Prelims” (6 p.m. ET):
Michael Chiesa (156) vs. Beneil Dariush (156)
Bethe Correia (136) vs. Raquel Pennington (135.5)
Court McGee (170.5) vs. Santiago Ponzinibbio (171)
Drew Dober (156) vs. Islam Makhachev (156.5)
UFC on FOX 19 “Prelims” on UFC Fight Pass (4 p.m. ET):
John Dodson (135) vs. Manny Gamburyan (136)
Randy Brown (171) vs. Michael Graves (170.5)
Oluwale Bamgbose (183.5) vs. Cezar Ferreira (185.5)
Omari Akhmedov (171) vs. Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos (170.5)
Undefeated UFC lightweight prospect Khabib Nurmagomedov has long been pegged for great things in the world’s largest proving ground for martial artists. It looked briefly as though his hopes were wavering during his unfortunate spree of injuries, but thankfully the Sambo specialist had guys like Dominick Cruz to inspire him during that dark patch. Having
Undefeated UFC lightweight prospect Khabib Nurmagomedov has long been pegged for great things in the world’s largest proving ground for martial artists. It looked briefly as though his hopes were wavering during his unfortunate spree of injuries, but thankfully the Sambo specialist had guys like Dominick Cruz to inspire him during that dark patch. Having been out of action for two years since his dominant win over current lightweight boss Rafael dos Anjos in 2014, ‘The Eagle’ was set to finally face his rival Tony Ferguson this weekend.
Then in a sad twist of fate, ‘El Cucuy’ pulled out injured and Nurmagomedov was instead slated to face Darrell Horcher at UFC on FOX 19. Since that time Ferguson had asked ‘The Eagle’ to wait and fight him in May, which didn’t appeal to Nrumagomedov, as he told MMAFighting.com yesterday:
“He’s running, that’s why my face isn’t on the poster any more. I’m here, he called me out, and now he pulled out. He asked me to wait, I can’t wait two more months, I trained to fight here. My plan is to fight in April and September, I can’t let Ferguson make my plans, Tony can’t talk about me, when you pull out you have to stay quiet. I didn’t ask Tony to wait when the UFC put him against Edson Barboza, this is stupid.”
“He’s injured, he pulled out, I’m here, where is Tony? I have to focus on Horcher, please forget about Tony. I like this atmosphere, I’ve finally come back.”
In terms of competition elsewhere in the UFC lightweight division, Nurmagomedov is interested in facing dos Anjos again although he says he proved his point the last time they fought, then the conversation turns to Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz…
Arguably the coolest thing about Khabib Nurmagomedov was the way he seemed to come out of nowhere.
In an era where the UFC is becoming more and more involved in handcrafting its own stars, the rise of Nurmagomedov simply couldn’t have been predic…
Arguably the coolest thing about KhabibNurmagomedov was the way he seemed to come out of nowhere.
In an era where the UFC is becoming more and more involved in handcrafting its own stars, the rise of Nurmagomedov simply couldn’t have been predicted. There was something refreshingly unsculpted about the scruffy 27-year-old Dagestani as he cut a swath through the company’s lightweight class from 2012 to 2014.
Nurmagomedov raced to 6-0 in the UFC (and a stunning 22-0 overall) before one injury after another forced him into a lengthy hiatus. Assuming he makes it to the cage for his 160-pound catchweight fight against Darrell Horcher on Saturday at UFC on Fox 19, it will be the first time in almost exactly two years that fans will see him do his thing.
The biggest question isn’t whether he’ll beat Horcher—he almost certainly will—but whether Nurmagomedov will still look like his old, fearsome self in his comeback bout.
And if he does, then how long might it take him to reclaim his status as perhaps the UFC’s scariest 155-pound fighter?
During his first six fights in the Octagon, Nurmagomedov established himself as the anti-Sage Northcutt, Paige VanZant or CM Punk. He was a fun little throwback to the days when you became Octagon royalty by actually winning a bunch of fights in the Octagon.
These days it’s becoming more and more common for fans to charge the UFC with protecting its emerging stars. For at least the first act of his career with the organization, Nurmagomedov got the exact opposite treatment.
He slogged through a gauntlet of increasingly difficult competition, and it didn’t always go perfectly. Nurmagomedov barely squeaked out a victory against the powerful and wrestling-savvy GleisonTibau at UFC 148 in July 2012. He missed weight for his fight against Abel Trujillo at UFC 160 in May 2013.
Those proved to merely be bumps in the road, however. Against Tibau, he demonstrated his ability to survive a 15-minute war. Against Trujillo, he set a UFC record for takedowns (21) in a bout.
There’s no way to overstate how good he was during this introductory stretch. To come into what is largely regarded as the UFC’s most competitive weight class and distinguish yourself the way Nurmagomedov did—without a blemish, with barely a scratch—is about as impressive an accomplishment as there is in MMA today, short of winning a major championship.
If he were able to be more consistent and spend a little less time on injured reserve, he would likely be safely ensconced on the pound-for-pound list right now. Nonetheless, with a half-dozen fights under his belt he was duly forged as one of the world’s elite lightweights, not because he seemed marketable or some executive liked his look, but because he beat every single person the promotion put in front of him.
As an added bonus, his deadpan trash talk, wide-open style and North Caucasus cool made him a darling of hardcore fight fans.
If you want a quick taste of the sort of ice-grill hilarity Nurmagomedov brings to the table, here’s him giving his thoughts—such as they are—on the impending rematch between ConorMcGregor and Nate Diaz, during a UFC-sponsored Q&A with fans this week (warning: NSFW language):
In addition to stone-cold one-liners, Nurmagomedov is that rare hard-nosed grappler who is actually fun to watch. If you are a spectator, he has rapidly become a guy you don’t want to miss.
“Nobody wants to fight Khabib,” UFC President Dana Whiteposted to Twitter in early 2014, amid a stretch where the fight company appeared to struggle finding him a fight.
Bloody Elbow’s Connor Ruebusch this week broke down the complete MMA game that makes Nurmagomedov so potent in the cage and also so entertaining to watch:
If Khabib‘s takedowns and ground game are his meat and potatoes, then [his] left and right fists are his knife and fork…Though his technique isn‘t always pretty, the careful deliberation with which Nurmagomedov strings his attacks together is simply marvelous. It would look an awful lot like mind control if you couldn‘t analyze it and break his process down piece by piece.
On Thursday, I discussed with Bleacher Report’s Patrick Wyman the extent to which ring rust might plague Nurmagomedov in his return. Luckily, even if he isn’t quite at his best against Horcher, smart money says he’ll still take care of business.
That makes Horcher a departure from the opponents Nurmagomedov is used to facing in the Octagon—but it also arguably makes him the perfect foe at the perfect time. For Nurmagomedov, the mission here won’t just be to win but to prove he’s still the guy “nobody wants to fight” in the 155-pound division.
Since his non-title win over current champion Rafael Dos Anjos in April 2014, fans haven’t seen much from him besides the occasional social media appearance. A spate of potential matchups were announced and then quickly pulled off the table as he struggled to get healthy.
When first revealed, this weekend’s intended bout against Tony Ferguson was met with an outpouring of glee. Not only did it mean that Nurmagomedov was finally fit to return to active duty, but he would immediately be slotted into a potential No. 1 contender fight.
Last week, however, Ferguson was forced out of the fight with what he described on Twitter as “fluid/blood in my lung.” In a scramble to keep Nurmagomedov on the card, matchmakers turned up Horcher, the Cage Fury Fighting Championships lightweight champion who will be making his UFC debut.
Horcher is undefeated in his last five fights and boasts a three-bout stint with Bellator MMA on his resume but is largely considered a sacrifice to Nurmagomedov’s return. The rookie is going off as more than a 6-1 underdog, according to Odds Shark.
So instead of the final step before a potential rematch against Dos Anjos with the gold on the line, Nurmagomedov finally gets his chance at a classic tuneup.
Still, all eyes will be on the potential top contender to see if he’s still the sort of suffocating grappler and high-octane striker he was before his injuries. Even if this bout is not particularly competitive, how Nurmagomedov fares should tell us a lot about what to expect from him moving forward.
If all goes as planned, then a meeting with Ferguson is still waiting in the near future. A win here and a win there might mean Nurmagomedov can come out of nowhere a second time to reclaim top-contender status.
In the short term, this weekend’s fight might also be instructive in telling us whether he’s still going to strike fear in the hearts of the competition.
Interim titles have seemed to have become a trend, albeit a slightly confusing one, in recent memory. For example, an interim featherweight title will be on the line between Jose Aldo and Frankie Edgar at July 9’s blockbuster UFC 200, as well as the interim 205 pound strap that will hang in the balance in
Interim titles have seemed to have become a trend, albeit a slightly confusing one, in recent memory.
For example, an interim featherweight title will be on the line between Jose Aldo and Frankie Edgar at July 9’s blockbuster UFC 200, as well as the interim 205 pound strap that will hang in the balance in just over a week, as former divisional kingpin Jon Jones takes on late replacement Ovince St. Preux.
These choices made by the UFC have received a fair share of criticism due to the circumstances which coincide with the situation.
Regarding the 145 pound weight class, an interim title has been set in place due to champion Conor McGregor fleeing the division in order to take back to back fights at welterweight, an odd predicament in and of itself.
The light heavyweight division, on the other hand, received unfortunate news when reigning title holder Daniel Cormier was forced out of his scheduled rematch with Jones at April 23’s UFC 197. The injury, however, won’t put “DC” on the sidelines for too long, making an interim title a questionable choice at best.
One fighter who appears to be fully against the idea is top lightweight contender Khabib “The Eagle” Nurmagomedov, who recently called interim titles ‘bullsh**t’:
“I think it’s bull—-,” Nurmagomedov said after his open workout ahead of Saturday’s UFC on FOX Fight Night (Via FOX Sports). “Interim champion, what is this? I don’t understand it. For me, it’s nothing. I don’t know how you can take (a) fake belt when you have a real belt in your way. This is bull—-.”
Nurmagomedov is set to make his highly anticipated return to action this weekend opposite UFC newcomer Darell Horcer.
The event will be headlined by a bout between former champion “Suga” Rashad Evans and former title challenger and former Jones foe Glover Teixeira.
Teixeira also commented on the situation, saying that regardless of the interim strap, Jones, who was stripped of his long-held title due to legal issues last April, is the true champion:
“That’s the champion, and he’s going to be the champion,” said Teixeira, who lost to Jones in a unanimous decision at UFC 172 in April 2014 and then beat Saint Preux at UFC Fight Night 73 last August. “I don’t know about the interim title or whatever the title is called. It’s like martial arts and … different belt colors. Who knows? I have no comments on that.”
What do you make of the debate regarding interim titles?
The long-awaited return of Khabib Nurmagomedov to action this Saturday and the reappearance of prodigal light heavyweight champion Jon Jones at UFC 197 on April 23 marks the end of long stretches of inactivity for both fighters.
Two injury-filled years…
The long-awaited return of Khabib Nurmagomedov to action this Saturday and the reappearance of prodigal light heavyweight champion Jon Jones at UFC 197 on April 23 marks the end of long stretches of inactivity for both fighters.
Two injury-filled years have passed since Nurmagomedov defeated reigning lightweight champion Rafael Dos Anjos, while problems entirely of his own making have dogged Jones in the 15 months since he clinically dismantled Daniel Cormier.
Will all of this time off make a difference for Nurmagomedov and Jones? Is “ring rust” a real phenomenon? Bleacher Report’s Chad Dundas and Patrick Wyman have some thoughts.
Patrick: Now that Nurmagomedov has managed to make it through a full training camp without a run-in with an angry bear and Jones has avoided a closer acquaintance with the New Mexico penal system, we can finally turn to thinking about their upcoming fights.
That raises the question of how their extensive periods away from the cage have affected them physically and mentally and whether we can expect them to perform at full capacity in the coming weeks.
If we’re looking for analogies here, plenty of fighters have spent a long time away from fighting, and their return performances have been a mixed bag. Dominick Cruz looked great in dynamiting Takeya Mizugaki and in a close fight with TJ Dillashaw following long layoffs, but Rashad Evans couldn’t find his timing and rhythm against Ryan Bader after two years away due to injuries.
Chad, are Jones and Nurmagomedov Cruz, or are they Evans? And is it fundamentally different being away from the sport because of repeated injuries and because of legal troubles?
Chad: All interesting questions. I think at this point we can say unequivocally that “ring rust” is real, but that it affects different athletes in different ways. It strikes me that we might actually consider it the opposite of having “the best training camp of your life.” Meaning, rust is a thing all fighters deny before they make their returns to the cage but then they all admit it hampered them to some extent after the fact.
Cruz was certainly the exception to the rule. That dude is such a student of the game, it doesn’t feel like that big a surprise that he might have just prepared so much and so hard that it chased many of the inactivity butterflies away.
In that regard, Jones fits the same mold. Every indication is that he’s returned to the gym with a frenzy since coming off suspension (if indeed he ever left). All the photographic evidence leads me to hazard a guess that he might well return better than ever.
Nurmagomedov is a bit more of a black box. I can’t claim to have quite as good a handle on how he prepares or what to expect from him. Again, if I had to guess, I’d say he’s probably going to be fine.
Perhaps luckiest of all for both Jones and Nurmy, neither guy might need to be at his best considering their late replacement opponents. They might cruise over Ovince Saint Preux and Darrell Horcher, respectively, even if they’re not quite 100 percent. Eh, Patrick?
Patrick: I’m a huge fan of matching up Nurmagomedov with Horcher and Jones with OSP, even if that was patently not what the UFC intended to do here. While I agree that Jones will be fine, with the likely result that he would once again have dismantled a game Cormier, a matchup with the tireless and lethal Tony Ferguson would be less to Nurmagomedov’s taste.
Throwing a fighter who hasn’t competed in two years against a tough stylistic matchup riding the confidence of a seven-fight winning streak is either the ticket for making Nurmagomedov the uncrowned champion or a recipe for an enormous letdown.
Ferguson is a great defensive wrestler, a dangerous grappler, a high-energy and technically sound striker and one of the few fighters who could potentially match the Dagestani Cowboy’s pace.
Horcher is closer to the right speed for him in this context. If you think Nurmagomedov can be a long-reigning champion and potentially a marketable draw on the basis of his ice-cold trash talk, overpowering style and the touch of the Russian exotic, you want him to be successful. A loss to Ferguson, even with all of that time off working against him, hurts that.
Getting some cage time against a game Horcher before fighting the monsters who populate the lightweight division is a good thing, and I think we need to encourage that attitude. After all, that’s more or less what Cruz got against Mizugaki: a known quantity with clear strengths and weaknesses.
What say you, Chad? Should more fighters coming off long layoffs get what amount to tune-up fights? Or is the timeline in MMA so short that we have to make hay while we can?
Chad: As ever, I think you have to take everything on a case-by-case basis. It’s taken me a long time to make peace with the more entertainment-focused (read: cash-focused) matchmaking style the UFC has gradually moved toward during the last few years. One thing I’ve always appreciated about MMA is its more competition-based approach.
It’s a sport where the best routinely fight the best, without the more fractured pitfalls of boxing.
But when it comes to star fighters coming in off long layoffs, I’m generally cool with a tune-up fight. Especially for a guy like Nurmagomedov, who doesn’t have the same sort of pressing championship business as Jones does, and whose current marketability can be based largely on his insane 22-0 record.
What I want to avoid seeing, however, is the UFC ever turn to the long-term record massaging that so often goes down in boxing. Nurmagomedov’s record is impressive exactly because he’s defeated six straight opponents of increasing difficulty in the Octagon, including one victory over current champ Rafael Dos Anjos.
I’m OK with him getting a gimme in his return, but I don’t want to see too many more Darrell Horchers show up on his win/loss sheet. Know what I mean?
I’d think one tune-up and then it’s back to business. Though, really, I have no idea. This whole “ring rust” idea seems like a fairly inexact science. How long can or should it take, Patrick, before we expect a top guy to be back to his old self again?
Patrick: I’m 100 percent with you in that we don’t want the UFC to become boxing, where far too often we see talented fighters taking on no-name, no-chance opponents in an existentially meaningless succession of nonsense.
Developing prospects is a different matter, and the UFC might be well-served to draw some lessons from boxing in not overwhelming promising and potentially marketable young fighters with too much, too soon. Neither Jones nor even Nurmagomedov fits that profile at this point, though. Khabib is 27 and has 22 fights and eight years of professional experience. Jones was the champion and never lost his belt.
One fight is all it should take. Let them get some cage time under their belts and get through a camp without injury or problems, and then it’s back into the fire where they belong.
It’s entirely possible that injuries and time away might fundamentally ruin some fighters, but no amount of tune-up fights will fix those kinds of issues. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua could have fought the Fabio Maldonados and Igor Pokrajacs of the world forever, and it wouldn’t have magically repaired his knees.
One fight seems perfectly reasonable. What do you expect to see from Jones and Nurmagomedov? Given the nature of these fights, will it be a disappointment if they don’t dominate, or should we scale back our expectations?
Chad: I guess I expect complete, unadulterated destruction. Maybe I’m just a jerk like that, but I don’t really expect either Jones or Nurmagomedov to have lost a step or look particularly rusty. I suppose I can attribute that half to the level of competition and half to what I know/suspect to be the temperament of these particular athletes.
Jones especially has something to prove here. I think it is very bad luck for OSP—or any other light heavyweight—to wind up being the person standing across the cage from him after being stripped of the title and subjected to so much personal turmoil.
All that trouble was of Jones’ own making, but you know the competitive, athletic side of his brain has turned it into a me-against-the-world situation.
He’s going to come out guns blazing, looking to show he is still the dominant force in that division, still the rightful champion and still the best pound-for-pound fighter on the planet. Against an overmatched but powerful striker like OSP, I honestly worry more about Jones doing something overly aggressive or overly flashy to put himself in trouble more than I worry about ring rust here.
So long as he doesn’t suffer a slip-and-fall accident ala Chael Sonnen at UFC 148, Jones takes this in a cakewalk.
Khabib probably does that same, but the time he’s been out and the penchant for injury are both more pronounced for him. Horcher has some power in his hands and is currently riding a five-fight win streak. If he doesn’t shrink from the moment, I suppose it’s possible he could catch Nurmagomedov with something. But I honestly fear sheer bad luck or bad decision-making here more than I fear any kind of rust.
Patrick: I couldn’t agree more. We know at this point how Jones is wired, and it’s hard to see a layoff getting in his head. After several years of exposure to Nurmagomedov, it seems hard to believe that a lack of focus or even rust could be a real problem for him.
MMA is more interesting with these two around. Even if they’re not fighting the best, it’s worth the price of admission to watch them do their thing, and it’s better both for them and the UFC in the long run to give them winnable fights in their returns.
The UFC is headed to Tampa this weekend with Glover Teixeira vs. Rashad Evans set to headline the main event. However, fans are also excited to see the return of Khabib Nurmagomedov in a 160-pound catchweight fight against UFC newcomer Darrell Horcher….
The UFC is headed to Tampa this weekend with Glover Teixeira vs. Rashad Evans set to headline the main event. However, fans are also excited to see the return of Khabib Nurmagomedov in a 160-pound catchweight fight against UFC newcomer Darrell Horcher. “The Eagle” was originally set to face Tony Ferguson, but Ferguson pulled out of the fight due to an injury.
Nurmagomedov is undefeated at 22-0 but has not fought since April 19, 2014 when he defeated the-now champion Rafael Dos Anjos. Some speculate that Nurmagomedov could receive a title shot if he defeats Horcher on Saturday. The UFC recently released a preview showing the return of Khabib Nurmagomedov. Watch below!
Arguably the coolest thing about 