(“Remember guys, Uberlandia is the most densely-populated man-made island turned garbage dump turned low-income housing development in the entire state of Minas Gerais, so let’s give these half-humanoid mutants a kickass show, okay?” / Photo via MMAJunkie)
Note: Due to the McCall-Lineker cancellation, our man Alex Giardini will be providing a play-by-play for only the main event, and filling in results and GIF-links for everything else, saving you from the hassle of watching a likely garbage-ass South American card that’s sure to go past your bedtime. We’re taking the bullet for this one, because we love you so much.
The FOX Sports 1 main card kicks off at 10:30 p.m. ET / 7:30 p.m. PT, so follow us after the jump, refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest results, and toss in your own thoughts in the comments section or on twitter @cagepotatomma. Thanks for coming.
(“Remember guys, Uberlandia is the most densely-populated man-made island turned garbage dump turned low-income housing development in the entire state of Minas Gerais, so let’s give these half-humanoid mutants a kickass show, okay?” / Photo via MMAJunkie)
Note: Due to the McCall-Lineker cancellation, our man Alex Giardini will be providing a play-by-play for only the main event, and filling in results and GIF-links for everything else, saving you from the hassle of watching a likely garbage-ass South American card that’s sure to go past your bedtime. We’re taking the bullet for this one, because we love you so much.
The FOX Sports 1 main card kicks off at 10:30 p.m. ET / 7:30 p.m. PT, so follow us after the jump, refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest results, and toss in your own thoughts in the comments section or on twitter @cagepotatomma. Thanks for coming.
UFC FIGHT NIGHT 56 PRELIMINARY CARD RESULTS
– Diego Rivas def. Rodolfo Rubio via unanimous decision (30-27×3)
– Caio Magalhaes def. Trevor Smith via knockout (punches) 0:31 of round one – GIF *
– Leandro Silva def. Charlie Brenneman via submission (rear naked choke) at 4:15 of round one
– Thomas Almeida def. Tim Gorman via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27×2)
– Colby Covington def. Wagner Silva via submission (rear naked choke) at 3:26 of round three
* Lots to the back of the head, huh?
UFC FIGHT NIGHT 56 MAIN CARD RESULTS
– Warlley Alves vs. Alan Jouban
– Cláudio Silva vs. Leon Edwards
– Dhiego Lima vs. Jorge Oliveira
– Juliana Lima vs. Nina Ansaroff
Former UFC light heavyweight champion Mauricio Rua is going to coach Season 4 of The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil opposite ex-longtime middleweight titleholder Anderson Silva, and while they aren’t scheduled to fight at the end of the season, Sho…
Former UFC light heavyweight champion Mauricio Rua is going to coach Season 4 of The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil opposite ex-longtime middleweight titleholder Anderson Silva, and while they aren’t scheduled to fight at the end of the season, Shogun is open to the idea.
In an interview with Brazilian media outlet Combate, the former PRIDE champ explained that he’d sling some leather with The Spider if the UFC made the offer (translation via Bloody Elbow).
The UFC called Eduardo (Alonso, Shogun’s manager) giving him the news that Anderson and I were going to be the TUF coaches and that we weren’t going to fight each other. But I’m really happy about taking part of TUF, even further because of Anderson, a living legend. Fighting against him wasn’t something that I wanted. We trained together. But I would accept if the UFC asked.
Rua, who has lost three of his past four fights, headlines UFC Fight Night 56 Friday night against Strikeforce import Ovince St. Preux in front of a Uberlandia, Brazil, home crowd.
OSP enters the matchup a winner in five of his past six fights, though he lost a clear-cut decision to Ryan Bader at UFC Fight Night 47 in August after being outwrestled for five rounds in his most recent contest.
Silva, 39, recently signed a new 15-fight deal with the UFC, via MMA Junkie, and is currently scheduled to battle former Strikeforce welterweight champion Nick Diaz at UFC 183 in January.
In the event both Silva and Rua win their upcoming bouts convincingly, a scrap between the two could potentially be an entertaining affair, though it would be close to meaningless in the 185- or 205-pound title pictures.
That being said, would a Silva vs. Rua be a fight worth paying for?
John Heinis is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA editor for eDraft.com.
It’s going to be a UFC-heavy weekend. A night after UFC Fight Night 55 takes place in Australia, the 56th version of the series will get underway in Uberlandia, Brazil. Local legend Mauricio “Shogun” Rua will tangle with Ovince Saint Preux in an import…
It’s going to be a UFC-heavy weekend. A night after UFC Fight Night 55 takes place in Australia, the 56th version of the series will get underway in Uberlandia, Brazil. Local legend Mauricio “Shogun” Rua will tangle with Ovince Saint Preux in an important light heavyweight battle.
Originally, Shogun was set to face JimiManuwa, but a broken foot forced the latter out. Saint Preux agreed to take his place for the bout.
Both men are coming off losses and trying to remain in the top 10 among light heavyweights. Rua is ranked ninth, while OSP is 10th, per UFC.com. Saint Preux saw his five-fight win streak come to an end at the hands of Ryan Bader in August.
Bader won a unanimous decision as he used his wrestling prowess to take OSP off his feet and control the fight on the ground.
Rua lost the rematch between him and Dan Henderson via vicious TKO in March. It was only the second time in Rua‘s career that he was stopped by strikes. Though he’s just 32 years old, there’s major tread on his tires.
He’s dropped three of his last four fights, and he’s been in countless wars. Retirement should be on his mind if he were to lose to OSP on Saturday. Fighting in front of his home crowd could provide a spark, but the question is: Will it be enough to push him to a victory?
Here’s the viewing information, the entire card and predictions on each bout. Just beneath the table is a closer look at OSP vs. Shogun, as well as more insight into the predictions for two other main card fights.
Alan Jouban Will Hand WarlleyAlves His First Loss
Alves‘ future in the UFC is bright, but I don’t see him shining on Saturday night against Jouban. After winning The Ultimate Fighter Brazil 3 middleweight tournament, Alves is expected to make a splash in the organization.
He recently decided not to compete at 185 pounds, instead opting to go at it in the welterweight division. Per Guilherme Cruz of MMA Fighting, Alves said this during a post-fight press conference after his submission victory over Marcio Alexandre in May: “These guys are too big. I’m too skinny, so I’ll stay in my division. I will move down and who knows, maybe I’ll be able to fight for the title in five or six years.”
It was a nice debut for Alves, but it’s good he has patience. Alves is an explosive grappler with good technique and excellent submissions, but he’s not prepared to take down a striker with the skills and power Jouban possesses.
In his last bout, Jouban decimated the very tough Seth Baczynski with one shot. Jouban displayed a chin and resolve in his debut, and he learned a bit about being overexuberant. Expect to see him more poised and calculated in this fight.
Alves won’t be able to get the fight to the ground, and that will spell trouble for him. Jouban is the more powerful striker, and he’ll outland and stun Alves en route to a unanimous-decision victory.
Uncle Creepy Is Too Fast for Hands of Stone
The man who looks like a heavily tatted Vaudeville character brings an exceptionally high level of striking and speed into the cage. Ian “Uncle Creepy” McCall is truly one of the best flyweights in the world. He’s battled champion Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson twice. He earned a draw in the first encounter and lost a unanimous decision in a competitive rematch.
His biggest asset is his speed. He’ll use plenty of that against the powerful John “Hands of Stone” Lineker.
Heavy hands are what Lineker will look to use to put McCall’s lights out. Half of his 24 wins have come by KO, but landing will be the major issue. Per FightMetric, McCall defends 66 percent of the strikes fired at him. Lineker has been much easier to hit, as he has only avoided 58 percent of his opponents’ strikes.
McCall doesn’t pack the punch that Lineker does, but he’s quick and crafty enough to outwork him. McCall should win a unanimous decision based on more effective striking.
OSP Will Humble Shogun
The end of this fight probably won’t be pretty at all. Stylistically, it has all the makings of a fight that will end in a brutal and sudden KO.
Let’s face it, Shogun doesn’t want to grapple. He’s a brawler who has an 86 percent KO rate in his UFC career, per UFC.com. OSP is equally eager to trade strikes with opponents. Despite showing his submission prowess in recent wins over Ryan Jimmo and Nikita Krylov, OSP‘s best attributes are related to his striking.
The fight should be explosive but disappointing for fans of the legendary Brazilian.
OSP is bigger, quicker and more explosive at this point in Rua‘s career. With a two-inch height advantage, a four-inch edge in reach and quicker and faster legs and feet, OSP will vanquish Rua.
Follow Brian Mazique on Twitter. I dig boxing and MMA.
This Saturday, the UFC goes to Brazil with UFC Fight Night 56. The headline fight on this card is a light heavyweight matchup between former champ Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and Strikeforce vet Ovince “OSP” Saint Preux.
Rua is ranked No. 9 in the division a…
This Saturday, the UFC goes to Brazil with UFC Fight Night 56. The headline fight on this card is a light heavyweight matchup between former champ Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and Strikeforce vet Ovince “OSP” Saint Preux.
Rua is ranked No. 9 in the division and is hoping to make one more run at a title shot, while Saint Preux is ranked No. 10 and is still working his way up the divisional ladder.
This is a tough fight for both of them, so let’s take a look at the keys to victory for each fighter.
Shogun Rua
Knockout Power
Everybody knows that Shogun tries to win one way these days. Every single win dating back to 2007 has come by way of (T)KO. His last win by decision was in 2006, and only two fights have gone to decision since then.
If Shogun wants to win this fight, he’ll have to be the first person since 2009—and only the second person ever—to knock out Saint Preux.
Cardio
In Shogun’s last fight against Dan Henderson, he looked tired around the midway point of the second round. This fight is five rounds, so Rua will need to be in good shape—or pace himself—if he wants to be able to hang with Saint Preux.
Ovince Saint Preux
Takedowns
OSP‘s best chance of winning is taking this fight to the ground and beating Shogun up. If he can do it early, he can cause Shogun to gas and take away the threat of a knockout.
On the other side, OSP was taken down nine times in his last fight, which came against Ryan Bader. Admittedly, Bader is a better wrestler than Shogun, but he still has to be careful that Shogun doesn’t look for a submission or a ground and pound victory.
Control
OSP needs to be in control in a few different ways. First of all, he needs to dictate the pace of the fight. He can’t let Shogun rush him and throw shots. He can’t let Shogun set the pace on the feet and keep him on his heels. He needs to be in his face right from the first bell.
Second, OSP is taking this fight on short notice—in Brazil. The crowd will be against him, and he can’t pay any attention to that. This is his second headline fight in a row, but this one is easily the biggest of his career.
He has to remain calm and fight his fight. If he gets flustered at all by the Brazilian crowd, it could be a quick night for him.
Mauricio “Shogun” Rua doesn’t want to hear it, but the voices are getting louder.
Cast around at the headlines leading up to Rua’s main event fight against Ovince St. Preux on Saturday at UFC Fight Night 56, and you’ll not…
Mauricio “Shogun” Ruadoesn’t want to hear it, but the voices are getting louder.
Cast around at the headlines leading up to Rua’s main event fight against Ovince St. Preux on Saturday at UFC Fight Night 56, and you’ll notice a common theme.
From Fox Sports’ Damon Martin: ‘Shogun’ Rua has never contemplated retirement: ‘It doesn‘t make much sense’
From MMA Junkie’s Mike Bohn: ‘Shogun’ Rua still has UFC title aspirations, brushes off retirement talk
It’s starting to take on an awkward, broken-record quality, really—people asking him about retirement and Rua pretending he has no idea what they’re talking about.
Win, lose or draw this weekend against St. Preux, we already know he’ll serve opposite Anderson Silva as a coach on the next season of The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil. When that’s over, he’ll take on an opponent TBA and—if he gets his way, apparently—just go on about his business as a professional fighter.
In September, he signed a new, multi-fight deal with the UFC and this week told ESPN’s Brett Okamoto he feels he has “four or five” good years left in him.
This statement was evidently made either from sheer stubbornness or simple obliviousness to how the last four or five have gone.
Since Dec. 2012, Rua has compiled an ugly 1-3 record in the Octagon and a 6-7 mark stretching all the way back to Aug. 2007. The last calendar year in which he fought more than once and finished over .500 was 2009, when he went 2-1 with wins over fading stars Mark Coleman and Chuck Liddell.
Somewhere in there—2010, if you’re scoring at home—he won the UFC title, but held it so briefly (10 months) that it only reinforced our notion of him as a shadow of his former self. All told, it’s been a rough half-decade for the man who was once regarded among the top pound-for-pound fighters in the world and perhaps the future of the light heavyweight division.
Rua will turn just 33 years old later this month, but multiple major knee injuries have put him so badly in decline that even his own family wants him to hang up the gloves.
“Every month, my wife and my mother meet and try to make me stop (fighting),” he reportedly told a Brazilian TV show in Sept. (via MMA Fighting.com’s Guilherme Cruz). “But I tell them that’s what I love to do.”
His reticence is easy to understand. Still a very young man in real-world years, Rua probably hasn’t known much outside of fighting. He began his professional career 17 days before his 21st birthday, and through 31 appearances during the next 12-plus years he established himself as a mainstay in the world’s top two MMA organizations.
In 2005, he had one of the greatest individual years in the sport’s history, going 5-0 and winning the vaunted Pride middleweight grand prix tournament. To advance through the bracket, he beat stars Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, Alistair Overeem and Ricardo Arona, three of them by first-round knockout.
All that seems a world away, now, and the great career in the Octagon we all expected never materialized. He showed up stateside in 2007 with a pre-existing knee ailment, lost his debut to a surprising Forrest Griffin at UFC 76 and promptly missed 16 months in order to have the knee fixed. Since then, there have been at least as many downs as ups—the depressing notes outnumbering the inspiring ones the longer he goes on.
This is obviously not a unique story. Athletes get old, some of them—due to circumstances beyond anyone’s control—before they are ready to admit it. The skills that once made them fearsome competitors erode, and they slowly transform from insurmountable obstacles to stepping stones for lesser fighters.
We’ve watched it happen to Liddell, Rich Franklin and Wanderlei Silva, just to name a few. The lucky ones get out while the getting is still good. The unlucky and the headstrong do not and risk becoming tragic figures before our very eyes.
You would think we’d be used to it by now, but something seems particularly jarring about watching this happen to Rua. Maybe it’s because he’s still so young, or maybe because he seemed to have so much promise during those years from 2003-07, when he sprinted to a 12-1 record and looked every bit like the guy who was going to carry the light heavyweight banner into the next generation.
Alas, it seems it was not to be. We know that now, and the sooner Shogun figures that out for himself, we’ll all be better off.
His current unstable footing in the 205-pound division was cast in sharper relief a week ago when expected opponent JimiManuwa pulled out with an injury and was replaced by St. Preux. This is a fight Shogun desperately needs to win if he means to keep ignoring all those questions about retirement, and the late change could effectively throw his preparations into chaos.
Instead of Manuwa’s strike-first attack, he’ll now face the bigger, ground-oriented OSP. For a guy who has never been particularly physically imposing at 205 pounds, it could turn out to be a tall order for Rua, provided St. Preux shows up ready to go five rounds.
He’s in the worst of positions: A win doesn’t necessarily do much for his future prospects, but a loss would be disastrous.
Despite Shogun’s declining record, his most recent defeats have come against top-flight competition—Dan Henderson, ChaelSonnen and Alexander Gustafsson. Dropping one to an unfinished product and short-notice replacement like St. Preux would be a different thing entirely and could be framed as the final bit of proof that Rua is officially done.
Nobody wants UFC brass to have to step in and tell Shogun “No mas.”
Then again, if he can’t beat St. Preux, the discussion around him is about to get even more uncomfortable.
The UFC is back on the grind this weekend with two free events.
UFC Fight Night 55 starts your weekend from Sydney, Australia with a top-10 middleweight matchup between Luke Rockhold and Michael Bisping. Helping bolster the event is Ross Pearson vs. Al…
The UFC is back on the grind this weekend with two free events.
UFC Fight Night 55 starts your weekend from Sydney, Australia with a top-10 middleweight matchup between Luke Rockhold and Michael Bisping. Helping bolster the event is Ross Pearson vs. Al Iaquinta in the co-main event.
The next day, UFC Fight Night 56 is capped off by Mauricio “Shogun” Rua vs. Ovince St. Preux and Ian McCall vs. John Lineker.
The weekend is jam-packed with sports action. The NBA is back in full swing, it will be one of the biggest weekends in college football this season and the UFC has both of its events going live as well. There is a lot of content for you to choose from. But I am here to tell you that you should not skip out on the UFC.
Here are three big reasons you should check in to the two UFC events coming your way.
UFC Fight Pass (subscription required)
It’s Friday night. UFC Fight Night 55 is getting underway but you are watching some other sporting event on TV, or maybe you are heading out to local high school football playoff games and the UFC event is on the backburner. Well, that is what UFC Fight Pass is for.
You can watch it on the second or third screen if you wish. It gives you flexibility to still enjoy the event while watching the game on TV or head out into the vast exciting world known as “outside.” Your desktop, laptop, smartphone or tablet are all capable of streaming the first UFC event of the weekend.
Praise be.
The UFC Fight Night 55 is not stacked top-to-bottom. I am not here to lead you astray or to blow smoke up anyone’s nether regions. However, there are plenty of fighters on that event who can make it worth your while.
Marcus Brimage, Luke Zachrich, Louis Smolka and Dylan Andrews are just a few of the fighters on the undercard who always come into the cage to bring you a fight. They are worth a watch. It may not be the elite level you get with the main event fights, but it is still entertaining. Then you get to the main card with heavyweights SoaPalelei and Walt Harris, and middleweights Robert Whittaker and Clint Hester.
This is a fun card, and UFC Fight Pass gives you the ability to watch while not missing out on the other events of the day.
WarlleyAlves and Ian McCall vs. John Lineker
The UFC Fight Night 56 main card offers two key bouts to watch. No, it’s not Juliana Lima vs. Nina Ansaroff or Claudio Silva vs. Leon Edwards, although those might provide quality entertainment.
The first is WarlleyAlves vs. Alan Jouban. Alves is a stellar prospect in the welterweight division and is a very exciting fighter. This is a great starting block for his first post-TUF fight. Jouban is a talented fighter who will show where Alves is now. How much work does Alves have to do before moving up toward the top 15 of the division? This fight will answer that for us.
The other bout could set up a potential title contender to Demetrious Johnson’s flyweight strap. No. 3-ranked contender McCall and No. 6-ranked Lineker meet in the co-main event in what could be the fight of the weekend. It’s that good.
Outside of the two main events, this is the only top 10 matchup of the weekend. And it is the only one that has the possibility of earning the winner an immediate title shot. McCall is a talker and wants a rematch with Johnson. Lineker has the style that fans love. And the paper-thin flyweight division needs more interesting challengers.
These two bouts alone make UFC Fight Night 56 worth watching.
Interesting Main Events
The top of the ticket is what sells. You know that, I know that, the world knows that. The undercard may help the event along its way, but if the main event isn’t up to snuff, the fans will tune out.
Well, the main events this weekend will deliver—albeit in two different ways.
Rockhold vs. Bisping will deliver as a top-tier middleweight matchup that will send the winner into title contention, a high-level affair that will largely take place on the feet. The title picture at 185 pounds is a bit murky, but a win for either of these two top-10 fighters will put them in position to be in line for a shot.
Shogun vs. OSP will not have as high of stakes, but it is still a top-10 bout. The reason this fight is interesting is what it will tell us about both fighters.
Is Rua over the hill, and should he hand them up? Where is OSP in his development, and is he ready to take the next step?
We will find out when they lock horns. Stylistically, this should be a very fun bout supplying the violence combat sport fans love. But it is how they look in this fight that is interesting. OSP has a lot of physical gifts to work with, and he needs to develop his technique to truly become a threat. If he dispatches of Shogun efficiently then we may have to look at him seriously.
Ultimately, the eyes will be on Shogun. Will he take out this borderline top-10 fighter and reclaim an elite-level status, or is it time for us to let it go and admit he is well past his prime? General consensus is the latter. Shogun can prove us wrong, and we should all tune in to see if he does.
This weekend’s fights are truly interesting, even though they lack the depth of quality from top to bottom. Two fight cards giving us enough to talk about before we head off to Mexico City for UFC 180 and an interim heavyweight-title tilt.
It’s going to be a UFC-heavy weekend. A night after UFC Fight Night 55 takes place in Australia, the 56th version of the series will get underway in 