Michael Johnson vs. Edward Faaloloto
Round 1: Faaloloto and Johnson touch gloves and we’re underway. After an exchange, the two clinch against the cage. Johnson digs low and puts Faaloloto on his back. Faaloloto back to his feet quickly. Johnson with a nice kick to the body. Faaloloto is working on Johnson’s legs with hard kicks. Both kick at the same time, and off-balance, they both fall down. Faaloloto closes the distance but Johnson takes him down with 1:30 left. Johnson works him over with punches from the top, but Faaloloto creates space and gets back up. Johnson bulls Faaloloto in a clinch and lands knees to the body, then elbows. Faaloloto falls to the ground, Johnson follows up with ground and pound for the finish with time running low.
Michael Johnson vs. Edward Faaloloto
Round 1: Faaloloto and Johnson touch gloves and we’re underway. After an exchange, the two clinch against the cage. Johnson digs low and puts Faaloloto on his back. Faaloloto back to his feet quickly. Johnson with a nice kick to the body. Faaloloto is working on Johnson’s legs with hard kicks. Both kick at the same time, and off-balance, they both fall down. Faaloloto closes the distance but Johnson takes him down with 1:30 left. Johnson works him over with punches from the top, but Faaloloto creates space and gets back up. Johnson bulls Faaloloto in a clinch and lands knees to the body, then elbows. Faaloloto falls to the ground, Johnson follows up with ground and pound for the finish with time running low.
Filed under: UFCIt’s been six months since the UFC began experimenting with preliminary card fights on Facebook, and on Sunday it will set a new high-water mark.
The promotion on Monday announced that all eight undercard fights for the upcoming UFC o…
It’s been six months since the UFC began experimenting with preliminary card fights on Facebook, and on Sunday it will set a new high-water mark.
The promotion on Monday announced that all eight undercard fights for the upcoming UFC on Versus 4 show will stream live on the social networking site. Just last week, with UFC 131, the promotion set a new best with six prelims streaming on Facebook.
This will mark the 11th consecutive fight card that the UFC has streamed fights for free at Facebook, and it will be the fifth consecutive show the promotion has provided a way for fans to see each fight on the card live.
UFC on Versus 4 will feature a four-fight main card that airs live on the Versus cable channel, the second of the UFC’s four-fight 2011 deal with the channel. The Facebook live stream is scheduled to begin at 4:55 p.m. Eastern. The main card starts at 9 p.m. Eastern on Versus. Versus will also again produce a live pre-fight preview show and post-fight analysis show before and after the main card featuring Todd Harris, UFC light heavyweight Stephan Bonnar and MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani.
To gain access to the fights, viewers must “like” the UFC on Facebook. As of Monday evening, the UFC has more than 5.7 million fans at the site.
The “main” and “co-main” events of the Facebook prelims are featherweight bouts featuring a pair of former lightweights dropping down – both looking to snap out of disastrous three-fight losing skids.
Tyson Griffin (14-5, 7-5 UFC) returns to featherweight for the first time since the early part of his career to face Manny Gamburyan (11-5, 2-3 UFC), who fights for the first time since a knockout loss to featherweight champion Jose Aldo last November in a WEC title fight. Griffin has split decision losses to Evan Dunham and Nik Lentz in the last year, plus a quick first-round knockout loss to Takanori Gomi last August on Versus. Gamburyan fights in the UFC for the first time in two years after dropping to featherweight and sliding over to the WEC, where he went 3-0 before his loss to Aldo.
And Joe Stevenson (31-13, 8-7 UFC), the Season 2 welterweight winner of “The Ultimate Fighter,” goes for his first win since October 2009 when he takes on Javier Vazquez (15-5), who makes his UFC debut after going 2-3 in the WEC. Stevenson has dropped decisions to George Sotiropoulos and Danny Castillo, and was knocked out by Mac Danzig in December. Stevenson is 3-6 since challenging BJ Penn for the lightweight title at UFC 80 three and a half years ago, including the loss to Penn. Monday, on “The MMA Hour,” Stevenson talked about his dislike of Vazquez and why he dropped to featherweight.
The Facebook prelims stream opens with a lightweight bout between TUF 12 runner-up Michael Johnson, fighting for the first time since losing to Jonathan Brookins in December on the show’s finale, against Edward Faaloto, who makes his UFC debut after a loss in his WEC debut last November.
Nik Lentz (21-3-2, 5-0-1 UFC) tries to remain unbeaten in the UFC against submission specialist Charles Oliveira in a lightweight bout.
Rich Attonito drops from middleweight after a loss to Dave Branch in December to make his welterweight debut against Daniel Roberts, who lost to Claude Patrick at UFC 129 in April. Attonito was original scheduled to face Matt Brown, but an injury to Martin Kampmann forced him out of a fight with John Howard, and Brown moved up the card for that fight. Roberts stepped in to face Attonito.
Other bouts include a featherweight contest between Ricardo Lamas and Matt Grice, a welterweight bout between Charlie Brenneman and TJ Grant, and Joe Lauzon returns for the first time since a UFC 123 loss in November to Sotiropoulos to face England’s Curt Warburton.
The UFC began streaming preliminary fights in January with its Fight for the Troops 2 show at Fort Hood, Texas. Since then, the promotion has included free Facebook fights for each event, regardless of the main card’s platform – be it on pay-per-view, Spike or Versus.
UFC on Versus 4 takes place Sunday at the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh, and will be the promotion’s first event in the Pennsylvania city. The card features a main event between Nate Marquardt and Rick Story – with Marquardt making his welterweight debut and Story fighting on short notice after a win just a month prior against Thiago Alves at UFC 130. Marquardt was scheduled to face Anthony Johnson, but an injury forced Johnson off the card.
And in a pair of heavyweight bouts, kickboxing specialists Pat Barry and Cheick Kongo clash, and Matt Mitrione looks to stay unbeaten against Christian Morecraft, whose last win sent Mitrione friend and training partner Sean McCorkle packing from the UFC.
Filed under: UFC, Rankings, FeatherweightsKenny Florian is the most likely next contender for the UFC featherweight championship. But has he really earned a title shot against Jose Aldo?
If the way you “earn” a title shot is to work your way up the la…
Kenny Florian is the most likely next contender for the UFC featherweight championship. But has he really earned a title shot against Jose Aldo?
If the way you “earn” a title shot is to work your way up the ladder and become the No. 2 fighter in your weight class, then the answer is no. Florian has fought just once at 145 pounds — his unanimous decision victory over Diego Nunes at UFC 131 — and that’s not enough to get him in the No. 2 spot ahead of Chad Mendes, who’s been fighting at featherweight his entire career and built up a 10-0 record.
But the real way a fighter earns a title shot is to become the guy the fans want to see fighting for a title: The UFC is in the business of selling pay-per-views, and Florian vs. Aldo would sell far more pay-per-views than Mendes vs. Aldo. Mendes has fought in the Octagon once and isn’t all that well known, while Florian has fought in Octagon 16 times and is a fan favorite. That’s why he’ll get the next crack at Aldo.
However, that’s not to say Florian isn’t also among the elite featherweights in MMA. Find out where I have him ranked below.
(Number in parentheses is the fighter’s previous ranking.)
1. Jose Aldo (1): So far, in the UFC and WEC there hasn’t been a featherweight who has what it takes to challenge Aldo: He’s 9-0 fighting under the Zuffa banner and hasn’t been in any real trouble. We’ll see if Florian can be the man to test Aldo, but I have my doubts.
2. Chad Mendes (2): Mendes thought he had earned the next shot at Aldo, but instead he’ll take on Rani Yahya in August, and hope that a good showing there earns him a title fight after that. Mendes is only 10 fights into his MMA career and still a little green, so having to wait a little longer may be good for him.
3. Hatsu Hioki (3): Here’s hoping Hioki is able to sign with the UFC soon. The best featherweights in the world are waiting for Hioki, who has been great in Japan and whose long limbs and well-rounded striking and grappling style could make him a threat to most of the top competition in the UFC.
4. Kenny Florian (NR): Is one win at 145 pounds enough to make Florian worthy of a Top 5 ranking? I think it is, considering that the one win was a very impressive one against a good opponent, and considering that Florian was generally recognized as a Top 5 fighter in a more talented weight class when he was fighting at 155.
5. Manny Gamburyan (4): Gamburyan is trying to bounce back from his loss to Aldo in September, and he’s got a very interesting fight coming up against Tyson Griffin, who like Gamburyan and Florian is a former lightweight hoping for more success in the shallower waters of the featherweight division.
6. Marlon Sandro (6): Bellator’s featherweight division has picked up some top-notch talent, and in my opinion the best of the bunch is Sandro, who will take on fellow Brazilian Genair da Silva in the first round of Bellator’s summer featherweight tournament.
7. Mark Hominick (7): His gutsy performance in defeat against Jose Aldo endeared Hominick to MMA fans. There’s talk that Hominick could face Chan Sung Jung next, in a fight that couldn’t possibly be anything less than thrilling.
8. Erik Koch (8): Koch is 12-1 in his career, with the only loss coming against Mendes. He’s been matched up with Season 12 Ultimate Fighter winner Jonathan Brookins in September.
9. Dustin Poirier (10): Poirier has looked like a much better fighter since moving down to featherweight, dominating both Josh Grispi and Jason Young at 145 pounds. Poirier is only 22 years old and is a likely future title contender.
10. Diego Nunes (9): Although he came up short against Florian, Nunes is only 28 years old and not done improving. He has a lot of big featherweight fights ahead of him.
You wouldn’t have known it from his last two title defenses, but UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo was fighting hurt.
Last fall, his issues finally came to enough of a head that he was forced to pull out of a scheduled title defense at UFC 125 so he could get healthy. And while a neck injury was the official reason for pulling out of his fight with Josh Grispi in January, it was an issue with his right shoulder that has had him on the shelf for six months.
“There were two things that were bothering him,” said Aldo’s translator, Derek Lee, during a Tuesday media call ahead of UFC 129. “The first was on his neck – the C5 and C6, he had a little bit of pain on his discs. But really, the main injury was on his right shoulder. He feels that he injured it during the Mike Brown fight, and after that he still fought Urijah Faber and Manny Gamburyan.”
Filed under: WEC, NewsBROOMFIELD, Colo. – All fighters successfully made weight for their WEC 51 bouts at the official weigh-in event at the 1stBank Center on Wednesday.
Main-event featherweights Jose Aldo and Manny Gamburyan each tipped the scale at…
BROOMFIELD, Colo. – All fighters successfully made weight for their WEC 51 bouts at the official weigh-in event at the 1stBank Center on Wednesday.
Main-event featherweights Jose Aldo and Manny Gamburyan each tipped the scale at 145 pounds for their featherweight title fight. It will be Aldo’s second defense of the belt since taking it from Mike Brown at WEC 44 last November. At WEC 48 in April, he defeated former champ Urijah Faber by unanimous decision.
Gamburyan, a finalist on Season 5 of “The Ultimate Fighter” who dropped down to featherweight from his lightweight days in the UFC, said his experience is his edge in the title fight.
“I trained really hard and I’ve been in some big fights,” Gamburyan told Craig Hummer. “My win over Mike Brown gave me (confidence) … and I’m ready to take that belt.”
It didn’t take long for Zuffa to puts its official stamp on mixed martial arts in Asia.
Following UFC 118, UFC president Dana White announced the company had set up an office in Beijing, China, and hired Mark Fischer, formerly of the NBA’s China branch, to run its operations in Asia as executive vice president and managing director.
On Thursday, the WEC, the UFC’s sibling promotion, officially announced the signing of lightweight Tiequan Zhang, of Beijing. Zhang will be the first fighter from mainland China in the WEC’s history. His first task comes later this month against Alex Karalexis at WEC 51 in Broomfield, Colo.
This is the UFC on Versus 4 live blog for the preliminary bouts on tonight’s UFC Live event at the CONSOL Energy Center in Pittsburgh.
It’s been six months since the UFC began experimenting with preliminary card fights on 
You wouldn’t have known it from his last two title defenses, but UFC featherweight champion 
BROOMFIELD, Colo. – All fighters successfully made weight for their