Tag: MMA

UFC 130 Fight Card: Is Brian Stann A Threat To Anderson Silva’s Title?

Anderson Silva is without a doubt the king of the UFC’s middleweight division.The owner of the longest title reign in the UFC, “the Spider” has won each of his thirteen bouts inside the Octagon as well as defending his title eight consecutive times&mda…

Anderson Silva is without a doubt the king of the UFC’s middleweight division.

The owner of the longest title reign in the UFC, “the Spider” has won each of his thirteen bouts inside the Octagon as well as defending his title eight consecutive times—both records.

Set to face top contender Yushin Okami at UFC: Rio in August, there remains very few in the division who pose a threat to Silva’s belt.

Most analysts see the pound for pound king facing Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre or moving up to light-heavyweight if he gets past Okami. 

But what about Brian Stann?

War hero and former WEC light-heavyweight champion, Stann quietly amassed a respectable 3-2 record in the UFC coming into the biggest fight of his career against the dangerous Chris Leben in January.

Known for his cut physique and world-class athleticism, analysts saw Stann as a strong, athletic guy, but lacking the striking and technical skills possessed by others in the division. Leben was thought to have the better hands—boy were they wrong.

Stann came out swinging hard, knocking down Leben, known for his tough chin, multiple times. Showcasing any array of techniques, Stann landed a myriad of body kicks and punches before ending the fight with a knee to the body against the cage 3:37 into the first round.

The only other fighter to dominate Leben with strikes—Anderson Silva.

Now don’t get me wrong, Silva is by far the better striker in comparison to Stann. With a list of knockouts including Rich Franklin, Forrest Griffin and Vitor Belfort, Silva wouldn’t worry about Stann’s striking.

But the former Marine is ever improving his game, with Leben just the latest victim of his newly added skills.

Stann showed off his submission skills last August, catching Mike Massenzio in a triangle in the third round. His debut at middleweight, this bout also earned the “All-American” Fight of the Night honors.

Training under the mastermind that is Greg Jackson, Stann’s raw athletic ability and hard work ethic make him the ideal student for Jackson. Working with his stable of champions in New Mexico, Stann will no doubt come out even better when he faces Sengoku middleweight champion Jorge Santiago later this month.

If Stann can put on another dominating performance, this time against a champion caliber fighter in Santiago, look for this American hero to be catapulted into stardom.

Time will only tell if Brian Stann can craft himself into a champion, but if he keeps dominating opponents inside the Octagon, Silva and the rest of the division will definitely have to take notice.  

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC 131: Brock Lesnar and 5 Reasons MMA Fans Love to Hate Him

One only needs to mention the name Brock Lesnar and an array of emotions—mostly negative ones—will be stirred up in even the most calm of mixed martial arts fans.Lesnar, since his UFC debut in 2008 at UFC 81 against Frank Mir, has been not …

One only needs to mention the name Brock Lesnar and an array of emotions—mostly negative ones—will be stirred up in even the most calm of mixed martial arts fans.

Lesnar, since his UFC debut in 2008 at UFC 81 against Frank Mir, has been not a polarizing figure in MMA (because that would imply that approximately equal numbers love and hate him), but rather a figure that fans across the sport loath and bash at any opportunity.

There are many reasons for this hate directed towards Lesnar, but they all fall under the umbrella of five distinct reasons.

What are these reasons? Read and find out.

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Brock Lesnar: Pat Barry on Claims Fear, Not Diverticulitis, Forced Him off Card

News broke on Thursday afternoon that Brock Lesnar was being forced out of his UFC 131 fight with Junior dos Santos after another bout with diverticulitis.
Fellow UFC heavyweight fighter Pat Barry has apparently gotten wind of some folks saying that th…

News broke on Thursday afternoon that Brock Lesnar was being forced out of his UFC 131 fight with Junior dos Santos after another bout with diverticulitis.

Fellow UFC heavyweight fighter Pat Barry has apparently gotten wind of some folks saying that the real reason Lesnar is pulling out of the fight is not diverticulitis, but fear of the hard-hitting Dos Santos.

Barry took to Twitter, writing in all caps, to blast those doubters: “TOTALLY OUT OF CHARACTER FOR ME – BUT MY FRIEND HAD A RELAPSE OF SOMETHING THAT ALMOST KILLED HIM AND LEFT HIS WIFE A WIDOW AND KIDS FATHERLESS! AAAAAAANYBODY GOT SOMETHING S****Y TO SAY ABOUT HIM DUCKING A FIGHT OR BEING SCARED, COME FIND ME AND I’LL HEAR YOU OUT EYE TO EYE!!”

Someone then tweeted that Lesnar was indeed afraid of dos Santos with Barry answering that message with a friendly invite: “ILL BE IN PHILLY IN A FEW WEEKS COUSIN, AND IF U GOT THE SAND WE’LL CHAT THERE, U HEAR ME!!!”

Lesnar is currently exploring his options, but he did make one thing clear: He does not plan on retiring from the UFC.

Shane Carwin has been slotted into Lesnar’s spot for the June 11 fight card, which will take place at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC 131 Fight Card: Early Predictions for Every Fight

UFC 131 has just had a major shake up.Originally the main event was to be Brock Lesnar vs. Junior dos Santos for the No. 1 contendership to the heavyweight title.Unfortunately, a flare up of diverticulitis has forced Lesnar to pull out of the scheduled…

UFC 131 has just had a major shake up.

Originally the main event was to be Brock Lesnar vs. Junior dos Santos for the No. 1 contendership to the heavyweight title.

Unfortunately, a flare up of diverticulitis has forced Lesnar to pull out of the scheduled bout.

Luckily for the UFC, Shane Carwin was set to fight on that card already, and he agreed to move up into the main event and take on Junior dos Santos in a No. 1 contender bout.

So now the main event features two outstanding strikers, in a fight that is sure to end in a knockout.

But who’s going to get the knockout? And what about the rest of the fights?

Read on to find out my early predictions for every fight on the card.

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Jacob Volkmann Gets Next Opponent: Surprisingly, It Is Not Barack Obama

Jacob Volkmann’s last UFC fight was a split decision victory over Antonio McKee at UFC 125. Following that fight, he spoke to MMAFighting.com’s Ariel Helwani and said that he wanted President Barack Obama as his next opponent.”He’s not too bright,” Vol…

Jacob Volkmann’s last UFC fight was a split decision victory over Antonio McKee at UFC 125. Following that fight, he spoke to MMAFighting.com‘s Ariel Helwani and said that he wanted President Barack Obama as his next opponent.

“He’s not too bright,” Volkmann said. “Someone’s got to knock some sense into that idiot.”

Volkmann received some good news and some bad news earlier this week when the UFC announced that his next fight would take place on the UFC on Versus 5 card; however, his opponent will be Danny Castillo and not Obama.

Volkmann (12-2) is on a two-fight winning streak since dropping to the lightweight division after losing two fights in a row as a welterweight.

Castillo (11-3) has been victorious in his last three fights.

The UFC on Versus 5 card will take place on August 14 from Milwaukee Wisconsin’s Bradley Center.  The fight card will mark the first time that the UFC has held an event in Wisconsin.

Other fights booked for the event include:

Dan Hardy vs.  Chris Lytle

Jim Miller vs. Ben Henderson

Stephan Bonnar vs. Karlos Vemola

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Going Medieval: MMA’s 20 Worst Beatdowns

MMA has come a long way. But it hasn’t come that far. Few things in sports touch off a powder keg of emotion like an old-fashioned beatdown. It’s simultaneously compelling and repelling, frightening and exciting. Lots of visceral stuff mixed …

MMA has come a long way. But it hasn’t come that far.

Few things in sports touch off a powder keg of emotion like an old-fashioned beatdown. It’s simultaneously compelling and repelling, frightening and exciting. Lots of visceral stuff mixed up in there.

Here are my picks for the 20 nastiest, most dominant beatdowns in mixed martial arts.

They are not necessarily the goriest, though there will be blood. Oh, there’s blood. And it’s more than just a single flash of leather; it’s sustained dominance. In this case, that dominance tends to come from the striking phase of the game, as I am personally disinclined to measure a beatdown in units of Octagon control. It is a “beat”down, after all, not a “grapple”down.

With that, please enjoy.

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