Tag: Mark Hunt

UFC 200 Results/Highlights: Nunes Obliterates Tate, Lesnar Tops Hunt in Underwhelming Night of Fights


(Meh. via Getty)

There were a lot of ways that UFC 200 could have gone wrong, and for a minute there, it seemed as if at least a few of them were destined to be realized. The one thing we failed to overlook in all of the lead-up to the quote unquote biggest card in UFC history, however, was that the fights themselves would be what left us underwhelmed when all was said and done.

And yet, here we are. Despite being stacked with recognizable talent and solid matchups from top to bottom, UFC 200 simply fell flat for the most part, ending the Zuffa Era™ with a faint whisper instead of the triumphant bang that we were all expecting.

The post UFC 200 Results/Highlights: Nunes Obliterates Tate, Lesnar Tops Hunt in Underwhelming Night of Fights appeared first on Cagepotato.


(Meh. via Getty)

There were a lot of ways that UFC 200 could have gone wrong, and for a minute there, it seemed as if at least a few of them were destined to be realized. The one thing we failed to overlook in all of the lead-up to the quote unquote biggest card in UFC history, however, was that the fights themselves would be what left us underwhelmed when all was said and done.

And yet, here we are. Despite being stacked with recognizable talent and solid matchups from top to bottom, UFC 200 simply fell flat for the most part, ending the Zuffa Era™ with a faint whisper instead of the triumphant bang that we were all expecting it to be.

Of course, things got off to a rough start before the first fight of the night had even began. In an aesthetic misstep right up there with writing a cover letter in Papyrus, the UFC decided that the most immediate way to celebrate the landmark event would be to change its canvas from the traditional grey…to yellow.

Should we be surprised that the UFC would display such an oblivious understanding to the basic tenants of style? I present you this Fight Night: Abu Dhabi poster as proof that we should not.

Pretty much everything about UFC 200′s main event between Miesha Tate and Amanda Nunes can be summed up by Brian Stann’s first words in the above video, “These ladies were not supposed to be the main event.” With all due respect to both competitors, I simply cannot see the logic behind swapping out an internationally recognized WWE superstar and former heavyweight champion vs. a top 10-ranked heavyweight for a bout between a one-time champion and a challenger who has never headlined even a Fight Night event.

Was it the more “legit” fight to finish off the card? Sure, but since when has the UFC ever shown a desire or even a concern for appeasing the hardcore MMA fans who would be insulted to see such a momentous occasion topped off by an outsider like Lesnar? The fact is, you could just as easily see Tate. Vs. Nunes headlining a free card on FS1 as you could anything else, which made it all the more underwhelming when Nunes went out and obliterated Tate, thus deflating any remaining interest we might have in this whole Rousey-Tate-Holm triangle (which again, we predicted would happen).

Following his unanimous decision win over Mark Hunt on Saturday, there have been plenty of people talking about how Brock Lesnar has launched himself right back into the title hunt. They will say that Lesnar looked better than he ever has and damn near caved in Hunt’s face en route to a “dominant” unanimous decision. It’s both a ridiculously inflated view of the mostly lackluster fight that transpired over the weekend and conversely right on the money given how the UFC is operating in regards to title shots these days.

Don’t get us wrong, Lesnar looked about as good as a professional wrestler returning from a 5 year hiatus on short notice against a murderous striker could look on Saturday night, getting Hunt to the mat and utilizing his patented masturbation punches to prevent Hunt from landing much of anything for the majority of the three round affair. His standup was still as tentative as ever (understandably so against a guy like Hunt), but I guess the thing we take issue with is the almost fanboyish-like hope that many MMA bloggers have been treating Lesnar’s win with.

As Joe Rogan said in the opening moments of the bout, Lesnar did not decide to come back to the UFC for the fame or the money; he did it to prove something to himself. Brock Lesnar is a businessman first and a fighter second, so the idea that he’d set aside all of his other various engagements to embark on another UFC title run seems dubious bordering on plain silly. Brock Lesnar doesn’t give a sh*t about titles. He doesn’t give a sh*t about legitimizing himself to his doubters. He fights because he wants to and then moves on to the next challenge. If Dana White is to be believed (he isn’t), the UFC had to jump through a three ring circus of hoops with the WWE to get him back in the first place, so before we start discussing the thought of Lesnar dethroning Stipe Miocic or whoever else holds the heavyweight title in the next 6 months, let’s just appreciate what he was able to do at UFC 200 and move on to the next fight.

Again, it’s all about expectations, and UFC 200 largely forced us to reevaluate ours.

If “lowered expectations” was the theme of UFC 200, then it would be hard to declare the last-minute bout between Daniel Cormier vs. Anderson Silva as anything but its crowning moment. I think it’s best to let Cormier himself describe his largely underwhelming performance.

“The reality is, it would have been catastrophic if I would have lost tonight,” said Cormier. “I would still be the [light heavyweight] champion but would have lost to the guy that would have went down to middleweight and challenged for the belt. I did what I needed to do.”

So basically, if we didn’t already hate Jon Jones enough for ruining UFC 151 (also, being a terrible person), then we should definitely hate him for ruining the main event UFC 200, forcing Tate vs. Nunes into an undeserved main event slot, and leaving Cormier with no option but to fight like a…well, we’ll leave the fancy analysis to Cowboy Cerrone.

The full results from UFC 200 are below.

Main card
Amanda Nunes def. Miesha Tate via submission (RNC)
Brock Lesnar def. Mark Hunt via unanimous decision
Daniel Cormier def. Anderson Silva via unanimous decision
Jose Aldo def. Frankie Edgar via unanimous decision
Cain Velasquez def. Travis Browne via first-round TKO (4:57)

Undercard
Julianna Pena def. Cat Zingano via unanimous decision
Kelvin Gastelum def. Johny Hendricks via unanimous decision
T.J. Dillashaw def. Raphael Assuncao via unanimous decision
Sage Northcutt def. Enrique Marin via unanimous decision
Joe Lauzon def. Diego Sanchez via first-round TKO (1:26)
Gegard Mousasi def. Thiago Santos via first-round KO (4:32)
Jim Miller def. Takanori Gomi via first-round TKO (2:18)

The post UFC 200 Results/Highlights: Nunes Obliterates Tate, Lesnar Tops Hunt in Underwhelming Night of Fights appeared first on Cagepotato.

UFC 200 Salaries: Brock Lesnar Breaks Bank, Mark Hunt Follows

The UFC had to pay some major cash to the fighters who fought at UFC 200. The total payroll was near $7 million dollars. Miesha Tate earned $500,000 for fighting Amanda Nunes, who earned $100,000 for the women’s bantamweight title in the main event of UFC 200 while Brock Lesnar earned $2,500,000 for fighting Mark

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The UFC had to pay some major cash to the fighters who fought at UFC 200. The total payroll was near $7 million dollars.

Miesha Tate earned $500,000 for fighting Amanda Nunes, who earned $100,000 for the women’s bantamweight title in the main event of UFC 200 while Brock Lesnar earned $2,500,000 for fighting Mark Hunt, who earned $700,000 in the co-main event. Also on this card was Daniel Cormier ($500,000) vs. Anderson Silva ($600,000) in a non-title bout, Jose Aldo ($500,000) vs. Frankie Edgar ($190,000) for the interim featherweight title.

Here are the payouts:

Main Card

Amanda Nunes ($100,000) def. Miesha Tate ($500,000)

Brock Lesnar ($2,500,000) def. Mark Hunt ($700,000)

Daniel Cormier ($500,000) def. Anderson Silva ($600,000)

Jose Aldo ($500,000) def. Frankie Edgar ($190,000)

Cain Velasquez ($300,000) def. Travis Browne ($120,000)

Preliminary Card

Julianna Pena ($64,000) def. Cat Zingano ($35,000)

Kelvin Gastelum ($83,000) def. Johny Hendricks ($80,000)

T.J. Dillashaw ($50,000) def. Raphael Assuncao ($42,000)

Sage Northcutt ($100,000) def. Enrique Marin ($13,000)

Joe Lauzon ($108,000) def. Diego Sanchez ($80,000)

Gegard Mousasi ($110,000) def. Thiago Santos ($28,000)

Jim Miller ($118,000) def. Takanori Gomi ($55,000)

UFC 200 took place at the new T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on Saturday, July 9, 2016.

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Brock Lesnar Isn’t Done Fighting After UFC 200, Open To Velasquez Rematch

Former heavyweight champion and WWE superstar Brock Lesnar made a successful return to the UFC Octagon by defeating arguably the most powerful puncher in the history of MMA in Mark Hunt during the co-main event of last night’s (Sat., July 9, 2016) UFC 200 pay-per-view (PPV) from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The bout was

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Former heavyweight champion and WWE superstar Brock Lesnar made a successful return to the UFC Octagon by defeating arguably the most powerful puncher in the history of MMA in Mark Hunt during the co-main event of last night’s (Sat., July 9, 2016) UFC 200 pay-per-view (PPV) from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

The bout was a supposed one-off opportunity from his employers at the WWE, who received a significant promotion for their upcoming SummerSlam PPV as compensation for allowing Lesnar to return while under contract with their company. However, if you listen to Lesnar’s side of the tale in his post-fight press conference after UFC 200, it doesn’t exactly seem like he’s quite ready to hang up the four ounce gloves just yet.

The fan favorite “Beast,” whose initial UFC tenure was cut sort by a devastating bout with diverticulitis, focused on how great he now feels physically, claiming how his renewed ability to train translated into a one-sided win over the No. 8-ranked heavyweight after four-and-a-half years out of the cage in his own personal press conference (transcribed by Yahoo Sports’ Kevin Iole):

“The whole training camp was different,” Lesnar said. “I mean, my training camps five years ago were pretty depressing camps. I’d train for a couple of days and take five days off; train for three days and take a week off. Come on, I had 12 inches of my colon removed, [and] jumped back into the Octagon three months later. Who does that [expletive]? I’ve been gone five years. I stepped into the Octagon tonight against a guy ranked No. 8 in the world. Write what you want to write, but I think I’m the toughest [expletive] out there. I’m right in the game. I’ve got some work to do, but don’t we all?”

Lesnar was expectedly asked if he would continue fighting, namely in a rematch against former champion Cain Velasquez, who won Lesnar’s belt in 2010 and was victorious over Travis Browne at UFC 200, despite his win’s billing as one-time deal. He responded that while he’d obviously need more training, the fight does interest him:

“Sure, absolutely,” he said when asked if he’d like a rematch with Velasquez. “I trained specifically for Mark Hunt. I trained six weeks for Mark Hunt, but if I decide I’m going to do this a little further, I’d have to sharpen my skills, but yeah.”

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As for his most recent win over Hunt, Lesnar stated he was proud of himself for making the hard decision to return and face the top level of UFC heavyweights at his age:

“I’m a 39-year-old man and I’m pretty proud of myself,” Lesnar said. “I’m older…when I decided to make this comeback it was a hard decision. I’m glad I did it. If you don’t stick your neck out, you’re not going to accomplish anything.”

Lesnar was also able to weather the lethal, world-class striking power of “The Super Samoan” to batter the tough-as-nails Aussie with an endless downpour of ground strikes, but wasn’t able to put Hunt away. He cited his ability to take a shot to his doubters, and also praised Hunt for his ability to absorb his blows (via Iole):

“The mystery is gone,” Lesnar said. “I guess I can take a shot … I wanted to finished the fight. The guy’s got a coconut head. … He never knocked the [expletive] out of me, [though], and here I am. I’m happy.”

His all-out attitude significantly bolstered by a return no one thought we’d actually see – and in victory, no less – Lesnar proclaimed that MMA fans may not have seen the last of him:

“Never say never.”

Closing in classic Lesnar style, the hulking star elicited quite a reaction when he said the exact same words that got him into so much trouble after his win over Frank Mir 100 UFC pay-per-views ago:

“I’m going to drink some Coors Light.”

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Six Biggest Takeaways From UFC 200

International Fight Week has finally come to an end, and it was capped off with last night’s (July 9, 2016) UFC 200 from the T-Mobile Arena, an event that was boasted as the ‘biggest, baddest card’ of all-time (as UFC President Dana White so emphatically put it). The card went through so much throughout the

The post Six Biggest Takeaways From UFC 200 appeared first on LowKick MMA.

International Fight Week has finally come to an end, and it was capped off with last night’s (July 9, 2016) UFC 200 from the T-Mobile Arena, an event that was boasted as the ‘biggest, baddest card’ of all-time (as UFC President Dana White so emphatically put it).

The card went through so much throughout the months and more significantly, the last week leading up to last night, with two massive main events falling through due to extraordinarily dramatic circumstances. Featherweight champion Conor McGregor was originally set to headline the card with brash rival Nate Diaz; however, the Irishman was yanked from the card after failing to honor media obligations.

A worthy – if not equal – replacement main event was then set between heated rivals Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier and was so close to happening until Jones unfortunately was flagged by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) for a failed out-of-competition drug test and was thus removed from the card.

Cormier would be docked down two notches the card against legendary middleweight Anderson ‘The Spider’ Silva on two days’ notice, while the new main event pitted Miesha Tate versus Amanda Nunes in a women’s bantamweight title bout to close out the night.

The biggest attraction on the card was of course the return of ultra-popular former heavyweight champ Brock Lesnar to the Octagon.

And what a wild night it could have been…

While UFC 200 may not have exactly been the historically unparalleled event that the pre-fight promotion wanted you to believe, it was still a monumental events certainly not without its sizable share of crucial ramifications.

Let’s take a look at the seven biggest takeaways from the rollercoaster of a ride that was UFC 200…

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Poll: Was UFC 200 A Letdown?

Now that the dust has settled on last night’s (Sat., July 9, 2016) supposedly historic UFC 200 pay-per-view (PPV) from the brand new T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, the MMA world is left to collectively pickup the pieces of an event that promised to be the best of all-time on paper but may have fallen painfully

The post Poll: Was UFC 200 A Letdown? appeared first on LowKick MMA.

Now that the dust has settled on last night’s (Sat., July 9, 2016) supposedly historic UFC 200 pay-per-view (PPV) from the brand new T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, the MMA world is left to collectively pickup the pieces of an event that promised to be the best of all-time on paper but may have fallen painfully short of those perhaps unattainable expectations.

A big part of that was obviously the last-minute shuffling of the main event after interim light heavyweight champ Jon Jones was unceremoniously forced out of his heated rematch with Daniel Cormier. Middleweight legend Anderson Silva courageously stepped in to replace Jones, but on 48 hours’ notice after gall bladder surgery only two months ago, he was predictably smothered by the bigger, stronger wrestler in ‘DC,’ who didn’t earn himself any new fans by laying on Silva for the vast majority of their 15-minute bout.

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Neither can be blamed for the entire card’s performance based on the circumstances, but the result was simply a microcosm of an event that was built up to unachievable levels. Yes, Brock Lesnar returned to the Octagon with a successful wrestling-based decision win over Mark Hunt in the co-main. Former heavyweight champ Cain Velasquez also returned from yet another year off to destroy Travis Browne on the main card’s opening bout, an impressive win that got lost in the mix of hype and expectation. He looked amazing. When healthy and on point, Velasquez has a pinpoint striking game that mixes speed, precision, and power like few in MMA history can claim.

But by the time Amanda Nunes absolutely dominated Miesha Tate in a strangely booked main event, a lot of the Vegas crowd had filled out onto the Strip after a night of exhausting their vocal chords booing an event they no doubt paid vast amounts of money to witness live. Maybe the hype just couldn’t be lived up to in this instance, but then again, the UFC created it as well.

What was your opinion on the supposed ‘biggest UFC ever?’ Did it even come close to living up to the massive expectation?

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Brock Lesnar Beats Mark Hunt At UFC 200: Fight Highlights & Post-Fight Interview

https://youtu.be/w_zVIZbqBto

On Saturday night, former UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar made his long-awaited Octagon return, and it was a successful one.

Lesnar, who is still under contract to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), defeated t…

brock-lesnar-wins-at-ufc-20

https://youtu.be/w_zVIZbqBto

On Saturday night, former UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar made his long-awaited Octagon return, and it was a successful one.

Lesnar, who is still under contract to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), defeated the top-ten ranked heavyweight contender Mark Hunt, with scores of 29-27 across the board.

It was the third round where Lesnar looked his most dominant, as he spent the round on top of Hunt, many times in full mount, and brutalized him with vicious ground and pound, stopping to try and arm-triangle submission at one point.

After the fight, Joe Rogan interviewed Lesnar and asked him where things stand now that he just beat a top-ten ranked guy in his first fight in years. Lesnar told Rogan he was going to take things one step at a time, giving no indication regarding his future plans.

For complete UFC 200 results, click here.