As promised here is part II of the fights I believe have the most importance attached to them and should prove to be highly exciting. In the first segment I went over the bouts starting at UFC 130 this month and going through UFC 132 which takes p…
As promised here is part II of the fights I believe have the most importance attached to them and should prove to be highly exciting. In the first segment I went over the bouts starting at UFC 130 this month and going through UFC 132 which takes place in early July.
Starting with UFC 133 I will go over the top 10 bouts that will take place in the late summer/early fall period. As with anything that is planned out so many months ahead, things happen and fighters get injured, but the UFC has always been pretty good about finding suitable replacements.
UFC 134 also known as UFC: Rio has a handful of bouts that will get the fans extremely excited and ready for the fall months. So even though it will be time to say goodbye to summer, it will also be time to look forward to even more great fights. I will take a look and see what Strikeforce has planned as well.
UFC 132 will take place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on July 2. The fight card will be headlined by a UFC bantamweight bout between the champion Dominick Cruz and challenger, former WEC featherweight champion, Urijah Faber.The two fighters have met be…
UFC 132 will take place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on July 2. The fight card will be headlined by a UFC bantamweight bout between the champion Dominick Cruz and challenger, former WEC featherweight champion, Urijah Faber.
The two fighters have met before, with Faber (25-4) defeating Cruz by first round submission. That loss, in 2007, remains the only blemish on Cruz’s record (17-1).
Since that time, the two have developed a mutual dislike for each other.
“Me and Urijah don’t really get along very much, needless to say,” Cruz told Heavy.com’s Fight Day. “It goes all the way back to the first time we fought about four years ago I’d say. I fought him at 145 pounds for the world title. I did some stuff that made him angry. He did some stuff after the fight that made me angry.”
“It just stuck in my head and just gave me a bad taste in my mouth. I never really just had a good feeling towards him since then. It just makes it that much easier to get in there and punch him in the face.”
Faber had the following to say about the animosity between the two.
“I don’t really like Cruz very much. You keep hearing about it, because everybody keeps asking about it,” Faber said in a recent UFC media call. “The bottom line is I think the guy kind of chose me as an enemy, and I accept. We fought once, and we’re going to do it again.”
The main card will also see the return of Wanderlei Silva to the Octagon. Silva, who has been rehabbing from knee surgery, has not fought since defeating Michael Bisping by unanimous decision in February of last year.
Silva will face Chris Leben on the Las Vegas card. Leben is coming off a TKO loss to Brian Stann at UFC 125.
Tito Ortiz will be facing Ryan Bader and his possible release from the UFC when he steps into the cage on July 2. UFC president Dana White has made it clear that Ortiz has run out of chances with the UFC and if he does not deliver a win in this bout he will be released from his contract. Ortiz has not won a fight since defeating Ken Shamrock in 2006.
Standing in Ortiz’s way, Bader will look to get back in the win column after suffering the first loss of his 13 fight MMA career to Jon Jones at UFC 125.
Rounding out the main card which will be shown on pay-per-view at 9:00 pm ET:
Dennis Siver vs. Matt Wiman
Carlos Condit vs. Dong Hyun Kim
Preliminary fights that have been made official:
Melvin Guillard vs. Shane Roller
Brian Bowles vs. Takeya Mizugaki
Jason “Mayhem” Miller vs. Aaron Simpson
Tickets for UFC 132 will go on sale on Saturday, May 7 at 10 a.m. PT and will be priced from $75-$800.
Bleacher Report’s Dale De Souza:UFC 130 is only a few weeks away, but already the card is shaping up to be one of the most solid nights of fights in recent history–only another great card to add on to what the UFC has already put on in 2011.On the …
Bleacher Report’s Dale De Souza:
UFC 130 is only a few weeks away, but already the card is shaping up to be one of the most solid nights of fights in recent history–only another great card to add on to what the UFC has already put on in 2011.
On the Spike TV card, which also features Rick Story facing Thiago Alves, Miguel Angel Torres will look to extend his streak in the UFC to 2-0 at Demetrious Johnson, who has a great Wrestling base and has been known to be very explosive when he lays in some shots.
Torres is a former WEC Bantamweight Champion with great striking, long limbs, and some very good Jiu-Jitsu, but without question Johnson poses one of the toughest threats to date for Torres.
If Brock Lesnar would just come out of his shell already, the world would be a better place. I long for the day—pine for it, even—when people finally have the pleasure of knowing this massive and massively talented man for the opinionated, …
If Brock Lesnar would just come out of his shell already, the world would be a better place. I long for the day—pine for it, even—when people finally have the pleasure of knowing this massive and massively talented man for the opinionated, large, charismatic, powerful, large, ornery and very large fighter that he is.
Until then, it seems that people like me are left to extol his virtues on his behalf. But mark my words: One of these days, he’ll get his just due. In fact, I predict he’ll make quite a few dollars in this sport before it’s all said and done.
While I wait patiently for Wallflower Lesnar to become a household name, I’ll go ahead and fill you in on some details. For starters, he fights in the Ultimate Fighting Championship promotion, as a member of their heavyweight division (that’s the biggest one). He has had many wins there.
So many wins, in fact, that I can’t help but wonder where he might rank among the all-time greats at heavyweight. The top five are more or less set in stone. The second five are slightly more mutable, but still pretty rigid. But the third five? Well, that’s where it gets interesting.
Does the shy, underrated Brock Lesnar wind up there? Only one way to find out: read on.
UFC 130 is only a few weeks away, but already the card is shaping up to be one of the most solid nights of fights in recent history—only another great card to add on to what the UFC has already put on in 2011.On the Spike TV card, which also feat…
UFC 130 is only a few weeks away, but already the card is shaping up to be one of the most solid nights of fights in recent history—only another great card to add on to what the UFC has already put on in 2011.
On the Spike TV card, which also features Rick Story facing Thiago Alves, Miguel Angel Torres will look to extend his streak in the UFC to 2-0 against Demetrious Johnson, who has a great wrestling base and has been known to be very explosive when he lays in some shots.
Torres is a former WEC Bantamweight Champion with great striking, long limbs and some very good Jiu-Jitsu, but without question Johnson poses one of the toughest threats to date for Torres.
Bleacher Report’s John Heinis:Fighters Only recently interviewed UFC light heavyweight Rashad Evans.The main topic of discussion was one of Evans former opponents, “The Count” Michael Bisping. Evans said that Bisping is not a guy who seems that ski…
Bleacher Report’s John Heinis:
Fighters Only recently interviewed UFC light heavyweight Rashad Evans.
The main topic of discussion was one of Evans former opponents, “The Count” Michael Bisping.
Evans said that Bisping is not a guy who seems that skilled, until you enter the cage against him.
“That’s one thing I learned by fighting him. And his takedowns have gotten a lot better, I have been impressed by that—and by his transitions to those takedowns,” Evans complimented.
The former light heavyweight champion then had no problem elaborating on these comments.
“See its one thing to be able to hit a takedown—anybody at this level in MMA, we all know how to take someone down. But its the little things that make your takedown effective and one of the things is your transition from your punches to your takedown.”
For those unfamiliar, Evans won a split decision over Bisping at UFC 78 in what was widely considered a boring fight.
