(Can you not see the hydrochlorothiazide COURSING THROUGH HIS VEINS??? / Photo via Getty)
Louis Gaudinot‘s 73-second submission win over Phil Harris at UFC Fight Night 37 has been overturned into a no contest. This comes off the back of Gaudinot’s drug test failure; he tested positive for the banned diuretic hydrochlorothiazide. As the event took place in the UK, it was the UFC that handed him a six month suspension rather than an athletic commission.
Gaudinot issued a statement not long after the news of his drug test failure and suspension broke…
(Can you not see the hydrochlorothiazide COURSING THROUGH HIS VEINS??? / Photo via Getty)
Louis Gaudinot‘s 73-second submission win over Phil Harris at UFC Fight Night 37 has been overturned into a no contest. This comes off the back of Gaudinot’s drug test failure; he tested positive for the banned diuretic hydrochlorothiazide. As the event took place in the UK, it was the UFC that handed him a six month suspension rather than an athletic commission.
Gaudinot issued a statement not long after the news of his drug test failure and suspension broke:
I have great respect for the UFC, the sport of MMA, and my opponent. I would never do anything to disrespect any of them. I would also never do anything to tarnish my name, my teammates, and family. While I deny any wrongdoing, I will respect the decision of the UFC and look forward to getting back in the cage in pursuit of the UFC flyweight championship. I thank my family, teammates and fans for their support.
A bit of a bummer, we were hoping for Dennis Siverlevels of palpable guilt but instead we just got a generic “I didn’t do it but I’m not gonna fight it because I actually did do it” answer. Gaudinot, a flyweight, is now 6-3 (1) in his MMA career. Before fighting Harris, he was coming off a disappointing decision loss to Phil Harris. With the suspension, Gaudinot won’t be able to grace the Octagon again until September. Harris now has a sterling record of 22-11 (2). The had UFC justifiably shit-canned Harris after the fight, but have apparently brought him back to face Neil Seery at UFC Fight Night 46 next month. As Nick Diaz would say, “It’s whatever.”
As of now, neither a date for his first UFC bout nor an opponent for his debut have been announced.
Currently the number three ranked flyweight in the world, Da Silva is a fierce grappler with seven submission victories to his record. “Forminga” started off his career winning six straight fights and capturing Shooto South America’s Bantamweight Championship before pulling off a huge upset over then-Shooto Bantamweight World Champion Shinichi “BJ” Kojima in 2009. The only loss on his record, which currently stands at 14-1, came at the hands of the aforementioned Ian McCall at Tachi Palace Fights 8: All or Nothing last February. His most recent outing was a first round rear-naked choke over Sidney Oliveira in June.
Highlights from Jussier da Silva’s career await after the jump.
As of now, neither a date for his first UFC bout nor an opponent for his debut have been announced.
Currently the number three ranked flyweight in the world, Da Silva is a fierce grappler with seven submission victories to his record. “Formiga” started off his career winning six straight fights and capturing Shooto South America’s Bantamweight Championship before pulling off a huge upset over then-Shooto Bantamweight World Champion Shinichi “BJ” Kojima in 2009. The only loss on his record, which currently stands at 14-1, came at the hands of the aforementioned Ian McCall at Tachi Palace Fights 8: All or Nothing last February. His most recent outing was a first round rear-naked choke over Sidney Oliveira in June.
Highlights from Jussier da Silva’s career await after the jump.
da Silva vs. Danny Martinez, part one (December 10, 2010)
da Silva vs. Danny Martinez, part two
da Silva vs. Ian McCall, part one (February 18, 2011)
da Silva vs. Ian McCall, part two
da Silva vs Mamoru Yamaguchi (August 5, 2011)
da Silva vs. Michael William Costa (October 29, 2011)
da Silva vs. Rodrigo “Indio” Santos (December 15, 2011)
Hey, the guy has a victory over Ralph Lauren. Seems legit to me.
When the UFC was first created, they lived up to their tagline, “There are no rules.” But as scrutiny and protest continued, the inevitable arrival of rules and regulations were implemented gradually, if the UFC.
When the UFC was first created, they lived up to their tagline, “There are no rules.” But as scrutiny and protest continued, the inevitable arrival of rules and regulations were implemented gradually, if the UFC expected to grow and reform. However, with all rules, there are gray areas, and therefore cases with state athletic commissions.
Clay Guida and Gray Maynard are expected to face each other in the octagon at UFC on FX 4 this Friday. About a month ago, Maynard’s camp made a complaint to the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board that has just recently come into fruition. The complaint regarded Guida’s famous locks. Maynard’s camp believes that Guida’s long hair proves as an unfair advantage in the octagon, and creates a distraction for his opponent. While Maynard claims to have had no knowledge of this complaint until it hit the media, I find it hard to believe.
In some respects, looking at the unified rules in black and white, it makes sense. Fighters are supposed to maintain a clean, tidy appearance, and if the head or facial hair proves to be a hazard, or interferes with the contest, the fighter isn’t allowed to fight until the commission approves of any and all changes. I can see how hair could be distracting for another fighter, especially one with such an unorthodox style such as Clay Guida’s. As of UFC 15, hair pulling was banned from the sport. Dealing with a fighter with longer hair would put strain on the opponent, making sure to avoid accidentally pulling or catching the hair. This could give an advantage to the opponent with long hair, as the other fighter would have to be careful with submissions and ground game.
On the other hand, it is just hair. It seems very trivial to pick out something so minute in an opponent, as Clay Guida has never had a problem with an opponent in the history of his career. He did, however, have a slight issue when UFC undisputed didn’t put Guida in the game because designing his hair posed too much of a problem. Dana White has suggested the fighter cut his locks, offering him a sweet deal of $10,000. However, Guida still sports his trademark hair. A number of fighters in the organization also have long hair including: Roy Nelson, Cody McKenzie, Louis Gaudinot, Benson Henderson, and Urijah Faber (until recently). In most instances with other fighters, it hasn’t posed a problem.
To avoid conflict, Clay Guida has agreed to braid his hair back for the fight. While he wasn’t ecstatic about it, he was understanding, and did what had to be done to continue with this fight. With other rules being targeted and reinforced in recent years, it is safe to assume that the unified rules will eventually have clarification on hair, and whether or not it needs to always be tied back. While this seems like a trivial matter, appearance of a fighter in MMA can have just as much impact on the sport as the fight itself- just ask Dana White what he thought about Dennis Hallman’s attire choice at UFC 133.
Gaudinot vs. Lineker should provide a clear contender for the coveted ‘Worst Hair in Professional Sports’ title.
Presumably after enduring three rounds of fatigued middleweights Chris Weidman and Demian Maia leading off UFC on FOX 2, the UFC brass figured it would be a good idea to show off its smaller fighters to the casual fans. For the organization’s third effort on FOX, the UFC will showcase two of its smallest fighters on the roster. Yesterday, the UFC announced a matchup between flyweights Louis Gaudinot and John Lineker has been booked for UFC on FOX 3.
As a bantamweight cast member of TUF 14, Louis Gaudinot lost to Dustin Pague in the fan voted “Fight of the Season” before losing his UFC debut to the much larger Johnny Bedford. As expected, Gaudinot is returning to flyweight, where he went 5-1 before his UFC career.
Gaudinot vs. Lineker should provide a clear contender for the coveted ‘Worst Hair in Professional Sports’ title.
Presumably after enduring three rounds of fatigued middleweights Chris Weidman and Demian Maia leading off UFC on FOX 2, the UFC brass figured it would be a good idea to show off its smaller fighters to the casual fans. For the organization’s third effort on FOX, the UFC will showcase two of its smallest fighters on the roster. Yesterday, the UFC announced a matchup between flyweights Louis Gaudinot and John Lineker has been booked for UFC on FOX 3.
As a bantamweight cast member of TUF 14, Louis Gaudinot lost to Dustin Pague in the fan voted “Fight of the Season” before losing his UFC debut to the much larger Johnny Bedford. As expected, Gaudinot is returning to flyweight, where he went 5-1 before his UFC career.
Meanwhile, Brazilian native John Lineker will be making his UFC debut at UFC on FOX 3. Lineker is 19-5 in his MMA career, and is currently riding a thirteen fight winning streak into the Octagon. His most recent fight saw him earn a split decision over Iliarde Sabino Belo dos Santos at Jungle Fight 32 on September 10 of last year.
UFC on FOX 3 is set to go down at the IZOD Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey on May 5, 2012.
Filed under: UFC, FlyweightsWhen we assemble a list of the Top 10 flyweights in MMA, there’s a lot of guesswork involved, because the flyweight class really hasn’t been established in MMA.
That’s about to change, however, thanks to the UFC’s announcem…
When we assemble a list of the Top 10 flyweights in MMA, there’s a lot of guesswork involved, because the flyweight class really hasn’t been established in MMA.
That’s about to change, however, thanks to the UFC‘s announcement this month that it will launch the flyweight division in March. Previously, there just weren’t any high-paying fights for 125-pounders, which meant that the best natural flyweights in the world were fighting bigger opponents at bantamweight.
So as I rank the Top 10 flyweights in MMA below, I’m not only ranking the Top 10 guys who have already fought at flyweight. I’m also including former bantamweights who I expect to see at flyweight in 2012. That includes the two UFC fighters who I expect to see win their flyweight debuts in March and fight for the first UFC flyweight belt in the summer.
Top 10 Flyweights in MMA
1. Joseph Benavidez: I’ve been saying for years that Benavidez would be the best flyweight in the world just as soon as he had a flyweight class to fight in. In 2012, we’ll see if I was right.
2. Demetrious Johnson: “Mighty Mouse” has incredible speed and good wrestling and has been quite successful at bantamweight. He lost his last fight to the champion, Dominick Cruz, but now that he’s a flyweight he won’t have to face the huge reach disadvantage that he had in the Cruz fight.
3. Ian McCall: The reigning Tachi Palace flyweight champion, McCall will get a chance to prove that he’s the best flyweight in the world now that he’s with the UFC. He debuts against Johnson in March.
4. Jussier da Silva: da Silva was widely regarded as the best flyweight in the world before he lost the Tachi Palace championship to McCall. Since that loss he’s gone right back to his winning ways with three straight victories, most recently with a first-round submission win over Rodrigo Santos in Brazil. He’d be a great addition to the UFC’s flyweight class.
5. Yasuhiro Urushitani: The reigning Shooto 123-pound champion is coming off a great head-kick victory and now gets ready to face Benavidez in what should be a sensational fight.
6. John Lineker: The reigning bantamweight champion of Brazil’s Jungle Fight promotion, Lineker is expected to start fighting at flyweight in the UFC in 2012. I’m eager to see what he can do: In Brazil, he’s been incredibly active (13-0 in the last two years) and incredibly exciting, with a wild striking style that has opponents not knowing what to do. The 20-year-old Lineker still has room to improve, especially in his ground game, but that improvement is going to be a lot of fun to watch. I think he’s a future flyweight champion.
7. Darrell Montague: Montague lost to McCall in his most recent fight, but his only loss other than that was to the much bigger Robert Peralta. It should be just a matter of time before he’s a UFC flyweight.
8. Shinichi “B.J.” Kojima: Kojima was once recognized as the best flyweight in the world, but after losing to da Silva in 2009 he took more than two years off. Now he’s finally back and on a two-fight winning streak, and I expect to see him in the UFC — he told me in 2009 that he wants to fight for Zuffa.
9. John Dodson: The Ultimate Fighter’s bantamweight winner will be a natural fit for the flyweight class. He’s really too small to fight at 135 pounds, and it’s impressive that he managed to win The Ultimate Fighter despite being at a size disadvantage. Dodson had a lot of success at flyweight before his Ultimate Fighter stint, and he should have more success at flyweight in the UFC. Dodson lost to Urushitani in 2004, but that fight at the beginning of his career doesn’t tell us much about how the two would match up if they ever rematched.
When we assemble a list of the Top 10 flyweights in