UFC 130 is less than three weeks away and it’s shaping up to be an excellent card. Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard are set to meet for a third time after their last fight ended in a controversial draw. Fan Favorites Quinton Rampage Jackson and Matt Hami…
UFC 130 is less than three weeks away and it’s shaping up to be an excellent card. Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard are set to meet for a third time after their last fight ended in a controversial draw. Fan Favorites Quinton Rampage Jackson and Matt Hamill will square off. And in the heavyweight division Roy Nelson and Frank Mir will battle it out, both trying to make their way to the top of the heavyweight ladder.
This is an important fight for both fighters because they need the win to stay relevant. Both have come up short against the elite of the heavyweight division (Mir against Lesnar and Carwin, Nelson against Dos Santos) and a loss here could drop them to gatekeeper status.
Many fight fans have been flummoxed trying to pick a winner in this fight, given that the two men have such similar skill sets. Let’s take a look at each element of this fight individually and see if either fighter can be given a discernible advantage, overall.
Bleacher Report’s Nick Caron:Tough news was dealt to the UFC and its fans, as today as the main event for UFC 130 has been canceled due to injuries sustained by both Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard. The news broke earlier today from UFC President Dan…
Bleacher Report’s Nick Caron:
Tough news was dealt to the UFC and its fans, as today as the main event for UFC 130 has been canceled due to injuries sustained by both Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard.
The news broke earlier today from UFC President Dana White, who confirmed it with MMA Fighting’s Mike Chiappetta.
The bout was originally scheduled to be the third match in the trilogy between the UFC’s top two lightweights after they battled to a draw at UFC 125. Maynard won the first contest back in April 2008 and remains the only blemish on the UFC Lightweight Champion’s record.
According to sources, Edgar has been sidelined with broken ribs while Maynard will miss time due to an unnamed knee injury. There has been no timetable set for the rescheduling of this very important contest.
Left-handed fighters, better known as southpaws, have caused trouble for many right-handed fighters throughout history. The history of boxing dates back to ancient Sumer, ancient Egypt and ancient Greece, but The southpaw stance began with western boxi…
Left-handed fighters, better known as southpaws, have caused trouble for many right-handed fighters throughout history.
The history of boxing dates back to ancient Sumer, ancient Egypt and ancient Greece, but The southpaw stance began with western boxing well over 200 years ago and has since transitioned over to Mixed Martial Arts.
Standing with the right foot forward and left foot back, the southpaw is the exact opposite of a right-handed orthodox stance and poses many potential dangers to fighters that haven’t trained properly for a southpaw.
Some of the most famous southpaw boxers include, Marvin Hagler, Hector Camacho, Winky Wright, Joe Calzaghe and Manny Pacquiao.
Boxing has now made its way into MMA and is trained as one of the top three disciplines, along with Muay Thai and grappling.
In this slideshow, we will examine the top 10 best left handed fighters in MMA today, starting with the No. 10 ranking and moving down to the best southpaw at No. 1.
UFC 130 lost its main event earlier today when it was announced that both Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard had sustained injuries. MMA Junkie is reporting that the pair will both be out for six to eight weeks and the match could be re-booked for either a…
UFC 130 lost its main event earlier today when it was announced that both Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard had sustained injuries. MMA Junkie is reporting that the pair will both be out for six to eight weeks and the match could be re-booked for either an August for September fight card.
Jeremy Botter at Heavy.com added an interesting twist to the storyline when he reported that the UFC asked Anthony Pettis if he would be interested in accepting the bout with Maynard. He eagerly agreed only to lose out on the opportunity when Maynard himself sustained an injury.
Pettis will remain in his originally scheduled fight opposite Clay Guida—that fight is serving as the main event for the TUF 13 Finale show which is set to take place June 4.
That leaves UFC 130 without a proper headliner thus forcing the UFC to promote the “Rampage” Jackson vs. Matt Hamill fight to lead billing while Frank Mir vs. Roy Nelson will serve as the co-main.
While Edgar vs. Maynard III does not carry with the same PPV gravitas of a Brock Lesnar anchored card, their come-to-blows match was much anticipated following their epic clash at UFC 125. It anchored what many were branding a very “stacked” fight card.
Beyond Rampage vs. Hamill and Mir vs. Nelson, it featured intriguing bouts like maturing heavyweight Stefan Struve taking on Travis Browne, the UFC return of Jorge Santiago vs. All-American Brian Stann and welterweight stud Thiago Alves vs. a very game challenger in Rick Story.
It is amazing what the loss of one fight, all be it the main event, can do to the dynamic of a card.
Will people still shell out their hard-earned dollars to see UFC 130 in its revamped form? How will Rampage vs. Hamill sit with fans that aren’t already committed to buying every event?
The last time Rampage headlined a fight card—when it didn’t involved Rashad Evans—was at UFC 123 when he took on Lyoto Machida. That card was anchored with B.J. Penn vs. Matt Hughes III and did a respectable 600K PPV buys.
Before that, it was UFC 96 when Rampage picked up a decision win over Keith Jardine and Shane Carwin waxed Gabriel Gonzaga. That fight card brought in a meager 350K PPV buys. It is imperative that the UFC starts hyping up the laurels of Rampage, along with the dueling heavyweights, although Rampage hasn’t always been reliable to properly market a fight.
Mir vs. Nelson is a fairly compelling co-main event (for namesake alone) even though there are no immediate implications to the heavyweight title picture. Mir was involved in one of the worst performing PPVs of all time when he took in Mirko “Cro Cop” at UFC 119, but overall Mir is a solid draw.
While UFC 130 will likely not do great numbers at the box office, don’t sleep on this event. Some of the best events are the ones that people end up passing on.
Let’s just hope that the UFC can get Rampage, Mir and Nelson out in full force and talking up the value of this event because they have some of the best mouths the sport has to offer.
More information continues to swirl surrounding the now removed main event for UFC 130 between Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard. Heavy MMA’s Jeremy Botter is reporting that former WEC lightweight champion Anthony “Showtime” Pettis was …
Heavy MMA’s Jeremy Botter is reporting that former WEC lightweight champion Anthony “Showtime” Pettis was set to replace Frankie Edgar and fight Gray Maynard in the main event later this month.
The organization contacted him just a few days ago and asked him if he would like to headline the event.
“They were going to have me fight Maynard on that card,” Pettis revealed. “I said yes to that deal right away.”
But today, we now hear that Maynard himself suffered an undisclosed knee injury, which will knock him out of the event as well.
“I guess it turns out that it’s not going to happen. I’m back to fighting [Clay] Guida,” Pettis conceded. “It sucks that he got injured, because it kinda puts the whole lightweight division back on standstill.”
The news is unfortunate and really puts a damper on what was otherwise set to be another outstanding UFC pay-per-view event. With Edgar vs. Maynard now off the card, the UFC has promoted Quinton “Rampage” Jackson’s fight against Matt Hamill as the new main event.
Meanwhile, “Showtime” will return to training as he prepares for the fight he was originally scheduled for, against Clay Guida on June 4.
“For three or four days I thought I was going to fight on May 28 and now it’s just killing me, so I’m going to take it out on Clay Guida.”
No guarantee has been made, but it is expected that the winner of Pettis vs. Guida will be the next man in line for a shot at the UFC lightweight championship.
According to a story published by the official UFC Web site, both UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar and No. 1 contender Gray Maynard have sustained injuries and will no longer be headlining UFC 130.
The light heavyweight tilt between Quinton …
According to a story published by the official UFC Web site, both UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar and No. 1 contender Gray Maynard have sustained injuries and will no longer be headlining UFC 130.
The light heavyweight tilt between Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Matt Hamill will now take the headlining spot, which is sure to lower the number of pay-per-view buys. Taking up the co-main event will be a heavyweight battle between grapplers Roy Nelson and former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir.
Edgar vs. Maynard III was made possible because the two met on January 1 at UFC 125 in a bout that resulted in a draw. After 25 minutes, neither man was willing to give an inch, and the judges were unable to name a clear-cut winner.
