UFC Fight Night 116 takes place on Saturday, September 16, 2017 at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This event will be the third that the UFC has hosted in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. A middleweight bout between former Strikeforce and UFC Middleweight Champion Luke Rockhold and former WSOF Middleweight and Light Heavyweight Champion David Branch will […]
UFC Fight Night 116 takes place on Saturday, September 16, 2017 at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This event will be the third that the UFC has hosted in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
A middleweight bout between former Strikeforce and UFC Middleweight Champion Luke Rockhold and former WSOF Middleweight and Light Heavyweight Champion David Branch will headline this event. Alex Reyes vs. Mike Perry in a welterweight bout will co-headline this show. Rounding out the six bout main card is Hector Lombard vs. Anthony Smith in a middleweight bout, Gregor Gillespie vs. Jason Gonzalez in a lightweight bout, Sergio Moraes vs. Kamaru Usman in a welterweight bout, and Justin Ledet vs. Dmitriy Sosnovskiy in a heavyweight bout.
UFC officials held the weigh-ins for UFC Fight Night 116 on Friday and here are the weigh-in results:
David Branch has assured everyone who will be tuning in on Saturday night that the best is still yet to come Despite Branch being known for a conservative style over a gung-ho, high-energy approach, the former World Series of Fighting two-weight world champion insists that there is a reason behind this (via MMAFighting): “I look […]
David Branch has assured everyone who will be tuning in on Saturday night that the best is still yet to come Despite Branch being known for a conservative style over a gung-ho, high-energy approach, the former World Series of Fighting two-weight world champion insists that there is a reason behind this (via MMAFighting): “I look […]
Credit where it’s due: Luke Rockhold knows how to nurse a wound.
It was well over a year ago that Rockhold lost his UFC middleweight title to Michael Bisping. Despite being a massive favorite in his first title defense, Rockhold suffered an unceremonio…
Credit where it’s due: Luke Rockhold knows how to nurse a wound.
It was well over a year ago that Rockhold lost his UFC middleweight title to Michael Bisping. Despite being a massive favorite in his first title defense, Rockhold suffered an unceremonious first-round beating to a man six years his senior.
He found a way to shoulder on. A dalliance with singer/actress/MMA enthusiast DemiLovato may have been helpful. Ditto his launching of a professional modeling career. There’s also the small fact that Rockhold is rich and famous (at least in an MMA context) and had the luxury of sitting out for a year in anticipation of “the right situation” coming along.
That right situation, evidently, was David Branch, who recently reached the UFC after being a two-division champ in the World Series of Fighting promotion. These two will headline UFC Fight Night 116, going down Saturday from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Despite Rockhold‘s presence and stated desire for his return to be accompanied by M-80s and Blue Angels, this is not the world’s sexiest card. And yet, there are several bouts worth watching, especially since it’s all freely available on Fox Sports 1.
Let us now separate wheat from chaff and identify the three fights you can’t miss on the evenings. Betting odds courtesy of OddsShark.
Bantamweight
Luke Sanders (11-1) vs. Felipe Arantes (18-8-1)
Odds: Sanders -250
Airs on: Fox Sports 1
Don’t let his last loss to IuriAlcantara fool you. Alcantara‘s an otherworldly grappler, and even so it was a bit of a fluky submission finish. Sanders remains one of the brightest prospects in the bantamweight division.
Sanders is violent. He likes to get his takedowns and deploy heavy ground striking, but to do that against the veteran Arantes, he’s going to have to get through a dangerous striking attack. Arantes is good everywhere, but he’s at his best when he’s throwing kicks. There should be some high-octane exchanges on the feet before Sanders eventually gets this to the ground. He should avoid the Hail Mary submission this time, but you never know.
This one’s kind of interesting from a marketing standpoint. Lombard is far better known than Smith, but at age 39 and on a three-plus-year losing streak, the bloom is off the rose a bit for the Cuban-Australian. Smith, on the other hand, is a dangerous fighter with no name recognition whatsoever.
That equation could change Saturday.
These two have a lot of fights between them. Ditto the knockouts, with a combined 32. For all his judo skills, Lombard fell hard for the quick finish long ago, and there’s nothing to suggest he’ll be changing that up anytime soon. But Smith, exactly 10 years Lombard’s junior, should be equal to the task, not only weathering the storm but returning a few lightning bolts of his own.
Lombard has faced cardio concerns for years now. If he doesn’t pace himself here—and, again, old dog new tricks—he could be a pivotal stepping stone for an exciting younger fighter in Smith.
Middleweight
Luke Rockhold (15-3) vs. David Branch (21-3)
Odds: Rockhold -208
Airs on: Fox Sports 1
In his first UFC fight after a six-year absence that included his two-division title run in WSOF, Branch didn’t exactly light the world on fire in a close split-decision win over KrzysztofJotko. But Jotko‘s good, and Branch got the job done. He might just need a little more against the former middleweight champ.
Branch has stated he wants to “shut down” Rockhold and earn a finish, per The MMA Hour (h/t MMA Mania). Rockhold has predicted a domination so thorough that Branch will “panic.” As they say, something will need to give here.
Rockhold has been working with famed kickboxer and instructor Henri Hooft, so his striking will be on point. You know his jiu-jitsu will always be top notch. He has good size and will probably look to attack Branch from the perimeter with kicks and lay back for the counter.
Branch has a fairly basic striking game, and it may be hard for him to get close enough to ply his jab or initiate a clinch. He is also a great wrestler and grappler, but opponents aren’t safe anywhere on the ground against Rockhold. It’s hard to see Branch holding Rockhold down and neutralizing him for 25 minutes.
Still, Branch is a battle-tested veteran with consummate grinding skills. Rockhold is the favorite for a reason but bigger upsets have occurred.
Now that Luke Rockhold is finally set to return to the Octagon on Saturday in the main event of UFC Fight Night 116, you think it’s possible the disgruntled former middleweight champ might tone things down a bit?
Yeah, good luck with that.
Nobody has t…
Now that Luke Rockhold is finally set to return to the Octagon on Saturday in the main event of UFC Fight Night 116, you think it’s possible the disgruntled former middleweight champ might tone things down a bit?
Yeah, good luck with that.
Nobody has taken the 185-pound weight class’s recent slowdown as personally as Rockhold. As he prepares to meet former two-division World Series of Fighting champ Dave Branch at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Rockhold is still breathing fire about it in interviews (NSFW quotes ahead).
“I’m f–king tired of waiting,” Rockhold said during a recent appearance on MMAjunkie Radio, via Junkie’s Stephen Marrocco. “I’m not f–king around. I’m tired of this s–t. I’m tired of talking about it. I’m coming with a vengeance.”
The object of Rockhold’s ire, of course, is the ongoing logjam atop the division he once briefly ruled. Since the 32-year-old American Kickboxing Academy product conceded his title to Michael Bisping via stunning first-round knockout at UFC 199 in June 2016, all things concerning the championship have slowed to a crawl.
Bisping has defended the title just once since toppling Rockhold, and it was against 46-year-old Dan Henderson at UFC 204 in October of last year. Bisping won the fight via unanimous decision, but he then cast the division into suspended animation while he courted an on-again, off-again matchup against Georges St-Pierre.
With St-Pierre saying he needed until at least this October to get ready and Bisping opting for knee surgery, matchmakers had little choice but to put an interim title on Robert Whittaker following his win over Yoel Romero at UFC 213 in July.
A once-vibrant crop of contenders that featured Romero, Jacare Souza and Chris Weidman has thinned considerably since then. It used to be that you could make the argument that middleweight was as deep and interesting as any division in the UFC. Now people are talking about beefed-up welterweight Kelvin Gastelum as a potential title contender if he gets past 42-year-old Anderson Silva on November 25.
Meanwhile, Rockhold spent the last 15 months steadfastly trying to convince his bosses that he had other options.
During his extended sabbatical in the wake of the Bisping loss, Rockhold signed with the same modeling agency that represents UFC fighter Alan Jouban and actor Channing Tatum. When he wasn’t proposing a general strike among his fellow 185-pound fighters, he was showing up cageside with pop star Demi Lovato.
The message was clear: Life was good. Rockhold was in no hurry to return to the Octagon.
“I’m not coming back after all this time and fighting some chump on a worthless card,” he told Ariel Helwani during an appearance on The MMA Hour in June. “I’m coming back in style and making some noise.”
That sentiment makes the Branch booking an interesting one.
UFC Fight Night 116 may not be “worthless” in Rockhold’s estimation, but it certainly doesn’t qualify as a noisemaker. On its face, it’s enough to make you wonder if Rockhold was just posturing in his demands for something bigger or if his fallback career opportunities didn’t turn out to be as lucrative as he’d hoped.
Then there’s Branch himself, who rolls into this bout on a 13-1 tear since a loss to Rousimar Palhares ended his first stint in the UFC in March 2011. While spending the next five years competing in smaller organizations, Branch became that rare fighter who actually improved his standing in the sport without the promotional oomph of the UFC behind him.
He returned to MMA‘s biggest stage in May and won a split decision over highly touted Polish fighter Krzysztof Jotko.
All that means the MMA world is still very much in the process of figuring out how good this revamped version of Branch really is. Right now, he could be a pushover opponent for Rockhold in his comeback fight, a deceptively tough but unheralded stumbling block or something in between.
Which is it? We won’t know until Saturday night.
Nonetheless, Rockhold says a victory over Branch (which he implies is already in the bag) shouldn’t just put him back on the short list of contenders for Bisping’s belt—it should allow him to leapfrog St-Pierre.
“I think Georges St-Pierre is a joke,” Rockhold said on MMAjunkie Radio. “I still don’t have faith that Georges makes it to the fight, so we’ll see what happens.”
Given the sudden lack of other viable contenders for either of the UFC’s two middleweight champions—Bisping and Whittaker—now would be an opportune time for Rockhold to reassert his position near the top.
A win over Branch would make him the most obvious next opponent for Bisping, provided the brash Brit beats GSP. If St-Pierre wins the title or if Bisping’s belt somehow remains stuck in the mud, it’s conceivable Rockhold could next take on Whittaker instead.
Whatever happens, the only sure bet is Rockhold won’t be happy about it.
Former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold is clearly making his stance known about the upcoming middleweight title fight between champion Michael Bisping and former UFC welterweight champion George St-Pierre at the UFC 217 PPV (pay-per-view) event. Rockhold is doing this before his UFC return against David Branch this Saturday at UFC Fight Night 116, which […]
Former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold is clearly making his stance known about the upcoming middleweight title fight between champion Michael Bisping and former UFC welterweight champion George St-Pierre at the UFC 217 PPV (pay-per-view) event.
Rockhold is doing this before his UFC return against David Branch this Saturday at UFC Fight Night 116, which will air on FOX Sports 1.
Rockhold made it known in a recent interview with MMA Junkie that he is sick of waiting for a title shot while Bisping defends his belt against St-Pierre, which is a fight that has been criticized by many fans and fighters.
“I’m (expletive) tired of waiting,” Rockhold told MMAjunkie Radio. “I’m not (expletive) around. I’m tired of this (expletive). I’m tired of talking about it. I’m coming with a vengeance.”
Despite the fact that St-Pierre retired from active MMA competition in 2013, he is set to make a comeback against Bisping in the hopes of becoming a two-weight world champ. According to Rockhold, he thinks GSP is a joke and isn’t convinced that he even shows up at UFC 217.
“I think Georges St-Pierre is a joke,” Rockhold said. “I still don’t have faith that Georges makes it to the fight, so we’ll see what happens.”
Rockhold has not competed inside the world famous Octagon since he lost the middleweight title to Bisping last year. He will take on Branch in the main event of UFC Fight Night 116 at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This event will be the third that the UFC has hosted in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Former two-division World Series of Fighting champion David Branch has strung together an impressive win streak. Saturday night, though, he’ll face his biggest challenge to date when he headlines UFC Fight Night 116 vs. Luke Rockhold. The bout airs live on FOX Sports 1 from Pittsburgh. Branch, who returned to the UFC earlier this year […]
Former two-division World Series of Fighting champion David Branch has strung together an impressive win streak. Saturday night, though, he’ll face his biggest challenge to date when he headlines UFC Fight Night 116 vs. Luke Rockhold. The bout airs live on FOX Sports 1 from Pittsburgh. Branch, who returned to the UFC earlier this year […]
Credit where it’s due: Luke