We spent all morning combing our Facebook photo gallery and hand-picked 39 of the most memorable images that we posted in 2013, which we’ve laid out below along with their original descriptions. Enjoy, and if you’re not following us yet, get with the damn program.
We spent all morning combing our Facebook photo gallery and hand-picked 39 of the most memorable images that we posted in 2013, which we’ve laid out below along with their original descriptions. Enjoy, and if you’re not following us yet, get with the damn program.
The kick heard around the world, where former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva shattered his left shin on current titleholder Chris Weidman’s knee, left the fight community in a state of shock Saturday night.
While Weidman clearly won the…
The kick heard around the world, where former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva shattered his left shin on current titleholder Chris Weidman‘s knee, left the fight community in a state of shock Saturday night.
While Weidman clearly won the first round, “The Spider” was aggressive off his back and appeared ready to throw some leather while the fight was standing.
Unfortunately, the bout ended in a gruesome twist of fate. Look no further than UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey‘s reaction to the brutal injury.
“Rowdy” looks away in horror as UFC color commentator Joe Rogan goes over the slow-motion replay of the leg break.
Rousey‘s camp all had a similar reaction to the unexpected turn of events in the headlining title matchup at UFC 168 on Saturday.
Rousey competed in the co-main event of the evening, earning both “Submission of the Night” and “Fight of the Night” honors for submitting arch nemesis Miesha Tate with her patented armbar in the third round.
The former Olympian improved her undefeated record to 8-0 and is still yet to win a bout via any way besides armbar.
Surprisingly, initial reports indicate that Silva could resume training in three to six months and potentially make a return to the Octagon if he so chooses, per Bloody Elbow.
Silva, who turns 39 years old in April, has now suffered back-to-back losses for the first time in his career after winning 17 straight bouts and setting the record for consecutive UFC middleweight title defenses (10).
As for Weidman, he will next face off with ex-UFC light heavyweight champ VitorBelfort at a yet-to-be-determined event in 2014.
John Heinis is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA editor for eDraft.com.
I don’t know if it was ego, terrible corner advice, plain stupidity, or some combination of the three — although the fact that Tate changed her nickname from “Takedown” to “Cupcake” following her previous loss to Rousey suggests that ego surely played a part — but there is simply no excusing Tate’s baffling gameplan last Saturday. For someone who said she “fantasized” about KO’ing Rousey, Tate seemed all but against engaging Rousey in a straight up battle on the feet. For someone who said she would “shoot herself in the face” if she lost via armbar again, Tate seemed all too willing to play Russian Roulette with the Olympic judoka (#nailedit), diving in on takedowns only to be reversed, flipped, slammed, tossed, and bamboozled by Rousey on all but one occasion.
(“YOU’VE GOT HER RIGHT WHERE YOU WANT HER, MIESH! SHE’S BREAKING!!” Photo via Getty.)
I don’t know if it was ego, terrible corner advice, plain stupidity, or some combination of the three — although the fact that Tate changed her nickname from “Takedown” to “Cupcake” following her previous loss to Rousey suggests that ego surely played a part — but there is simply no excusing Tate’s baffling gameplan last Saturday. For someone who said she “fantasized” about KO’ing Rousey, Tate seemed all but against engaging Rousey in a straight up battle on the feet. For someone who said she would “shoot herself in the face” if she lost via armbar again, Tate seemed all too willing to play Russian Roulette with the Olympic judoka (#nailedit), diving in on takedowns only to be reversed, flipped, slammed, tossed, and bamboozled by Rousey on all but one occasion.
Just take a look over the Fightmetric report for the fight. Better yet, watch these highlights. Do either of these suggest that Tate had fought Rousey before, or spent the past few months studying every aspect of her opponent’s game? Given the long and very bitter history between the two, it was utterly mind-blowing to watch Tate, a six year veteran of the sport, fight as if she had never heard of this Rousey character’s incredible Judo game before.
In Tate’s “strongest” round (the first), Rousey was still able to complete three out of four takedowns, yet Tate’s corner insisted that she was “breaking” — you know, kind of like how Tate told boyfriend/trainer Bryan Caraway to “coast” for the third round of his eventual decision loss to Takeya Mizugaki at UFC on FUEL 8. It was apparently all the (false) confidence Tate needed, as she would open the second round with a few punches before tying up with Rousey and being tripped to the mat with ease.
At this point, one would think that Tate would abandon the grappling game and attempt to keep things standing, where she was at least achieving moderate success with her left hooks and jabs. Wrong. Tate would shoot on yet another takedown only moments later, get hip tossed, and spend the rest of the round fending off Rousey’s submission attacks while getting her fill of knuckle sandwiches in the process.
By the third round, Tate was understandably exhausted. She was physically (and perhaps mentally) broken, and it was only a matter of time until Rousey secured her patented finish. But while the champ also appeared to be getting the better of the standup throughout the fight, Tate was at least able to return fire in that department. On the ground, however, she was a fish swimming against a riptide. She was delaying the inevitable. And it was a shame to see such a talented fighter fight so below her level.
Of course, I cannot state enough how much respect I have for Tate, or how much I enjoyed the fight for that matter. Tate was able to drag Rousey into deeper waters than anyone (including herself) had done before, and she should be commended for her grittiness. But the strategy she brought into the biggest fight of her life and quite possibly the last title fight of her bantamweight career was insanity by definition — Sisyphean, you might say — and completely validated her massive underdog status heading into the fight. While I’m sure that there’s plenty of fight left in Tate, I pray that she takes more away from this loss than she did the first one. Mainly, don’t play into your opponent’s strengths.
At the end of the day, Rousey vs. Tate II more or less confirmed why the women’s bantamweight division could desperately use a Holly Holm-type fighter. Rousey’s victories, while entertaining, have mainly come against fighters brave (or stupid) enough to grapple with her (*cough* message for Sara McMann *cough*). If the UFC ever wants to see a fighter truly push Rousey to the limit — which, maybe they don’t — they’ll need to find someone with a strong enough standup game to outgun the champ and an even stronger wrestling in reverse game to keep her at bay. They need a female Chuck Liddell (*shudders*), so to speak. We know McMann has the grappling prowess, and we know that Cat Zingano packs a wallop on the feet, but until the UFC finds their female Chucky, it’s just going to be Rousey vs. Grappling Dummies 1-16.
(After knocking out Josh Barnett, Travis Browne performed the Warmaster’s trademark throat-slashing victory gesture, which means that legally, he now owns Barnett’s soul for all eternity. / Photo via Getty.)
Featuring an eagerly awaited rematch between the greatest middleweight of all time and the undefeated phenom who took his belt, UFC 168: Weidman vs. Silva 2 was one of the most anticipated UFC cards of 2013. Thankfully, the highly entertaining main card did not disappoint. Showcasing great performances, unsportsmanlike conduct, leg-snapping horror, and a fart heard around the world, UFC 168 left us no shortage of things to talk about. Here’s our clear-eyed look at what went down on Saturday night.
The Good
• With the state of WMMA still burgeoning, the co-main event of Ronda Rousey vs. Meisha Tate was an important fight for solidifying Women’s Bantamweight as a legitimate and financially viable division for the UFC. Thanks to the highly publicized rematch between Anderson Silva and Chris Weidman, the UFC’s two biggest female stars had a high-profile PPV stage to showcase their skills. Thankfully, for the UFC and the fans, Rousey and Tate did not disappoint. Rousey put on a dominating performance and capped it off with a third-round submission victory. The best part? Tate made the fight competitive.
“Cupcake” managed to last three rounds and in the process took Rousey down, escaped multiple submission attempts, and threw some good upkicks from the bottom that had Ronda using caution. On the whole, Tate was outclassed by the better fighter but she showed that Rousey is not invincible — and that’s a good thing. Rousey is an incredible athlete but the UFC cannot base their entire WMMA venture on one fighter. They need contenders and they need the fans to believe that those contenders stand a legitimate chance of winning; otherwise, interest will wane quickly. Rousey looked great, but beatable. That’s exactly what needed to happen. With Sara McMann, Cat Zingano, and Alexis Davis all serving as reasonable challenges, the future of the women’s bantamweight division is looking bright.
(After knocking out Josh Barnett, Travis Browne performed the Warmaster’s trademark throat-slashing victory gesture, which means that legally, he now owns Barnett’s soul for all eternity. / Photo via Getty.)
Featuring an eagerly awaited rematch between the greatest middleweight of all time and the undefeated phenom who took his belt, UFC 168: Weidman vs. Silva 2 was one of the most anticipated UFC cards of 2013. Thankfully, the highly entertaining main card did not disappoint. Showcasing great performances, unsportsmanlike conduct, leg-snapping horror, and a fart heard around the world, UFC 168 left us no shortage of things to talk about. Here’s our clear-eyed look at what went down on Saturday night.
The Good
• With the state of WMMA still burgeoning, the co-main event of Ronda Rousey vs. Meisha Tate was an important fight for solidifying Women’s Bantamweight as a legitimate and financially viable division for the UFC. Thanks to the highly publicized rematch between Anderson Silva and Chris Weidman, the UFC’s two biggest female stars had a high-profile PPV stage to showcase their skills. Thankfully, for the UFC and the fans, Rousey and Tate did not disappoint. Rousey put on a dominating performance and capped it off with a third-round submission victory. The best part? Tate made the fight competitive.
“Cupcake” managed to last three rounds and in the process took Rousey down, escaped multiple submission attempts, and threw some good upkicks from the bottom that had Ronda using caution. On the whole, Tate was outclassed by the better fighter but she showed that Rousey is not invincible — and that’s a good thing. Rousey is an incredible athlete but the UFC cannot base their entire WMMA venture on one fighter. They need contenders and they need the fans to believe that those contenders stand a legitimate chance of winning; otherwise, interest will wane quickly. Rousey looked great, but beatable. That’s exactly what needed to happen. With Sara McMann, Cat Zingano, and Alexis Davis all serving as reasonable challenges, the future of the women’s bantamweight division is looking bright.
• A lot was on the line for both Travis “Hapa” Browne and Josh Barnett at UFC 168, as the 5th and 6th ranked heavyweights, respectively, were risking their spots on the contender ladder. In August, Josh Barnett re-entered the UFC with an impressive first-round TKO victory over Frank Mir. The former UFC Heavyweight Champion and star in the PRIDE and Strikeforce organizations looked to be on the cusp of title contention with a win over Browne. However, Hapa quickly put those hopes to rest and showed who the true contender is.
With his quick, savage victory on Saturday, Browne secured his third Knockout of the Night bonus in as many fights — his other two KOs were against Alistair Overeem and Gabriel Gonzaga. Three knockouts over three high-quality opponents puts Browne right in the title mix and he seized the opportunity in the post-fight interview by calling out Fabricio Werdum. Champion Cain Velasquez is recovering from surgery and there’s no timeline on his return yet, so a match between Browne and Werdum makes perfect sense right now, and Browne’s ability to deal with Barnett’s wrestling shows that he stands a fighting chance against Velasquez in the future.
The Bad
• Ronda Rousey looked great on Saturday night, Judo-throwing Meisha Tate all over the Octagon before finishing her off with her eight-straight armbar submission victory in professional competition. However, following the finish, Ronda was unable to let bygones be bygones and refused to shake Tate’s hand. This certainly wasn’t the first time Ronda refused to shake Tate’s hand. In fact, Ronda garnered significant press coverage for her poor attitude on The Ultimate Fighter. However, Rousey supporters could at least justify her behavior on TUF as being part of the reality show hype. On Saturday night, Rousey definitively beat Tate for the second time, essentially finishing their rivalry for good. UFC 168 offered Ronda the opportunity to bury the hatchet and show a certain amount of sportsmanship. Of course, nobody expected Ronda to completely forgive and forget whatever anger she harbors towards Tate, but she should have at least shown Tate the respect she deserved as a fellow competitor — and man, did the fans let her know it.
Ronda’s attitude gets people talking, which means more PPV buys and big bucks for the UFC. Nevertheless, Ronda once again came across as petty, unsportsmanlike, and childish. Those aren’t adjectives usually associated with a UFC champion. Don’t expect Ronda’s style to change anytime soon, though. Ronda seems content to ignore the boos and bad press in order to “keep it real.” A rumored “talking to” by the UFC brass likely won’t change that either, although we’ll probably see a classier Ronda in the lead-up to her recently announced fight against Sara McMann since there is no blood between the two former Olympians.
• The first ever TUF Featherweight winner, Diego Brandao, came out of the TUF house with a lot of hype and promise in a stacked division. However, he also entered the Octagon with a reputation for being a loose cannon, following altercations with Steven Siler and Marcus Brimage in the TUF house. A lot of fans were able to overlook his brash attitude because of his exciting style and nasty knockouts. His TUF Finale fight earned him $80,000 in bonuses and he endeared himself to fans by saying he’d use the money to buy his mother a house.
At UFC 168, Brandao reminded everybody of how much of an asshole he really can be. If missing weight by over five pounds weren’t disrespectful enough, Brandao also apparently told opponent Dustin Poirier at the weigh-ins that he was going to stab him in the neck. Stay classy, Brandao. So when Poirier disposed of Brandao quickly with an impressive first-round TKO, it seemed like karma might be catching up to Brandao. Despite missing weight, threatening to kill his opponent and losing in brutal fashion, Brandao won’t be cut from the UFC. He’s a TUF winner, an exciting fighter, and apparently he only missed weight because of a car accident a couple of weeks ago. Also, according to Dana White, he has other personal issues going on. Hopefully, Brandao gets his life sorted out soon. The whole crazy asshole shtick only works when you’re winning.
The Ugly
• Enough press has already been given to Anderson Silva’s gruesome leg break so not much needs to be said here. However, the Corey Hill-esque injury was an ugly incident and not for the faint of heart. It was devastating to see the former champion carried off on a stretcher, screaming in agony. The UFC has released a statement that Silva underwent successful surgery and, astoundingly, that his recovery would only take up to six months. That means we could see Silva back in the Octagon within a year. I hope not. The aging Spider would be riding a two-fight losing streak and it is unlikely he would return as the dominant fighter he once was. I hope he heals quickly and enjoys his retirement. It may be the end of an era, but it was perhaps the greatest era in the young sport’s history and Silva would be smart to end things at the right time.
• On a lighter note, the fight between John Howard and Siyar Bahadurzada featured what was apparently an ugly-sounding fart from one of the fighters. During the second round, the fart, clearly audible on the broadcast, lit up social media and created a lot of speculation about who was responsible. Asked about it after the fight, Howard admitted that there was indeed a fart, but he didn’t want to take any responsibility for it. It’s hard to blame him. There’s a short list of fighters like Tim Sylvia and Kevin Randleman who have lost control of their bodily functions in the Octagon and it’s not a distinction most fighters are chasing.
She said it herself.
Right there, in the cage with Joe Rogan questioning her on it, she said it herself.
Miesha Tate abandoned her game plan and fought Ronda Rousey on her terms.
Crazily enough, frustratingly for her and her fans, she actually did quit…
She said it herself.
Right there, in the cage with Joe Rogan questioning her on it, she said it herself.
Miesha Tate abandoned her game plan and fought Ronda Rousey on her terms.
Crazily enough, frustratingly for her and her fans, she actually did quite well on those terms, too. Rousey struggled to hold her down and did little physical damage on the ground aside from threatening with some submissions. Sure, the trips and throws came easily enough, but that’s to be expected from a judo Olympian being gifted the chance to execute her favorite moves at her leisure.
The fact is that Tate actually held up. She took everything Rousey could (literally) throw at her and she held up.
Then, when the fight was where she wanted it to be herself—at a distance, out of clinch range and where haymakers could be winged with vicious enthusiasm—she got some momentum.
The exchanges were frenzied and chaotic, with both women seemingly taking two to give one, but Tate was right in the muck and fighting without a backward step. There’s no question that she excels in a blood-and-guts brawl as well as any woman in the sport, which is truly saying something considering the level of grit the ladies bring when they hit the cage.
Rousey, for all her athleticism and accomplishments, can’t match her there. She did a great job slogging in that aforementioned muck at UFC 168, but it’s hard to say she enjoyed it. The bloodstained smiles of Tate were rarely matched by Rousey, abandoned for the attitude of a woman doing her job against a woman enjoying doing her job.
It’s impossible to say for sure that Tate would have snatched Rousey‘s belt had she stayed out of those grappling exchanges and let her fists do the talking. She was a true moth to a flame in that sense, repeatedly believing that her wrestling would be enough to handle the blinding light of her opponent’s judo. Only because of her determination and vastly improved submission defense was she given the chance to make that same mistake again and again.
But it is safe to say that the abandonment of her game plan did nothing to help her. After all, she ended up succumbing to an armbar when her escapability carriage turned into a pumpkin in the third round. If she had never been there in the first place, instead focused on standing up and making it ugly, she would never have been there to be arm-barred.
None of this is to suggest that Tate deserves anything less than the utmost credit and respect. She pushed Rousey to places no one ever has, survived a host of nasty spots and exacted some toll of physical revenge for a TUF season full of belligerent verbosity and middle fingers.
Still you can’t help but think that if she’d just stuck with what was working best, she might have taken the greatest revenge of all in the form of a big gold belt.
Miesha Tate performed better than anyone who had faced Ronda Rousey to this point but still came up short in her bid to win the UFC Women’s Bantamweight Championship at UFC 168. After two losses to the champion, Tate finds herself in a bit of limbo.
No…
Miesha Tate performed better than anyone who had faced Ronda Rousey to this point but still came up short in her bid to win the UFC Women’s Bantamweight Championship at UFC 168. After two losses to the champion, Tate finds herself in a bit of limbo.
Normally when challengers knows there’s no chance at getting another title shot, they move to a new division. For Tate, that’s not an option as the UFC currently only has a women’s bantamweight and will be introducing a strawweight division in 2014.
That either means drastically changing her body frame or taking fights with the hope of Rousey being knocked off her perch. I don’t believe Tate can lose that much weight to drop down, but there are still other avenues for her to take in the women’s bantamweight division
Luckily for Tate, there are a number of women in the UFC that she hasn’t faced that will provide fresh matchups for her career moving forward.
Liz Carmouche is a tough fight for anyone and is coming off a loss as well. There’s also the chance for Tate to avenge her loss to Sarah Kaufman from 2009, and Germaine deRandamie is coming off a loss to Amanda Nunes.
Tate showed tremendous heart in surviving the early scrambles with Rousey and put on a Fight of the Year candidate with Cat Zingano. It’s clear that she still has plenty left in the gas tank and remains one of the most recognizable faces in women’s MMA.
The one issue I do see for Tate going forward is that if she’s not facing either Rousey, Zingano or Sara McMann, she’ll likely be against someone who isn’t on the same level as her. She’s obviously a great fighter, but she won’t regain any lost ground in the division by taking on most of the fighters in the division.
But bills need to get paid, and I’m sure we will see Tate back in the cage as soon as she can regardless of whether or not Rousey is champion. And I think we can agree that it won’t be a moment too soon.
She said it herself.