Tag: MMA

Is Light Heavyweight so Shallow That Middleweights Get Title Shots in UFC 152?

Jon Jones is currently set to defend the UFC middleweight championship against Vitor Belfort after refusing to face Chael Sonnen.Wait, that can’t be right. Anderson Silva is the UFC middleweight champion.Jon Jones is currently set to defend the UFC lig…

Jon Jones is currently set to defend the UFC middleweight championship against Vitor Belfort after refusing to face Chael Sonnen.

Wait, that can’t be right. Anderson Silva is the UFC middleweight champion.

Jon Jones is currently set to defend the UFC light-heavyweight championship against top middleweight contender Vitor Belfort, after refusing a bout with middleweight contender Chael Sonnen.

Although that sentence doesn’t make much more sense than the first, that is the current landscape of the UFC light-heavyweight title picture. With reports that Shogun Rua and Lyoto Machida have both turned down a crack at the reigning champion, the UFC turned to the stars who fight at 185 pounds for relief. 

While it is commonplace for stars to drop down to a lower weight class, rarely do we see elite fighters decide to bulk up in order to fight bigger, stronger opponents.

Is the light-heavyweight division so shallow that middleweights are getting title shots? Let’s take a look at the current roster and see why Dana White is looking past the members of the light-heavyweight division when in need of a 205-pound contender.

Once the strongest division in all of MMA, the light-heavyweight division recently had a roster that included Jon Jones, Shogun Rua, Dan Henderson, Rampage Jackson, Lyoto Machida, Forrest Griffin, Rich Franklin, Chuck Liddell, Randy Couture, Tito Ortiz, Matt Hamill, Thiago Silva, Ryan Bader, Wanderlei Silva, Phil Davis, Rashad Evans, Antonio Nogueira, Alexander Gustafsson, Keith Jardine and an occasional appearance from Anderson Silva.

These days, star power is quite limited. Liddell, Couture and Ortiz are retired. Wanderlei, Franklin and Anderson Silva call middleweight their home, with Rashad reportedly to follow behind them. Rampage, Jardine, Lil Nog and Griffin are likely nearing the end of their pugilistic careers.

Who does that leave? Are Jones, Henderson, Shogun, Machida, Hamill, Bader, T. Silva, Davis and Gustafsson the only members of the division who are still relevant and have more than two or three years left in their careers? 

Excluding Jones and the opponents he has previously bested, fresh contenders are available in the form of Dan Henderson, Thiago Silva, Phil Davis and Alexander Gustafsson. Unfortunately, Gustafsson is the only one of the bunch who is healthy and coming off of a win.

If Glover Teixeira gets past Rampage this Fall, he could potentially be a title contender as early as January. But is the UFC really going to give a title shot to someone with only two fights in the organization?

Top prospects Jimi Manuwa and Ryan Jimmo look promising, however, both men are unproven entities who we cannot yet bank on.

Perhaps it is time that the UFC cash in their chips and collect on their Strikeforce investment. Dangerous fighters Gegard Mousasi, Rafael Cavalcante and Roger Gracie are members who could breathe new life into the division.

Randy Couture once recognized that the division above his was weak, so he moved up to heavyweight and recaptured the UFC heavyweight championship from Tim Sylvia. Are the UFC middleweights trying to capitalize on a perceived weakness in the class above them?

In all fairness to both Vitor Belfort and Chael Sonnen, this is hardly new territory for either man, as they both have a history competing at light heavyweight. Belfort was once the UFC light-heavyweight champion and Sonnen had recently announced his return to 205.

In the end, fans don’t seem willing to believe that an elite middleweight can compete with the world’s best light-heavyweight, as Jon Jones opened as a 13:1 favorite over Belfort for their UFC 152 encounter.

Can Vitor Belfort shock the world on behalf of the middleweight division? Oddsmakers don’t seem to think so. What do you think?

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Chad Mendes: Battery Charges Sought for Mendes’ Alleged Role in Bar Brawl

It appears that UFC featherweight fighter Chad Mendes may have his next fight in a courtroom rather than in the Octagon.  Mendes has been charged by the Kings County District Attorney’s Office with battery due to his alleged involvement in a…

It appears that UFC featherweight fighter Chad Mendes may have his next fight in a courtroom rather than in the Octagon.  Mendes has been charged by the Kings County District Attorney’s Office with battery due to his alleged involvement in a bar fight.

The Hanford Sentinel first reported on the incident back in early August, stating that Mendes was being sought for questioning after he allegedly sucker punched another patron and ran off before police could question him about the July 29 incident.

A short time after that report, Mendes’s management representatives at MMA Incorporated sent a statement to Bleacher Report that stated:

On Friday afternoon, Chad Mendes was shocked and surprised by the allegations contained in an article published on an Internet news site. While Chad acknowledges that an incident occurred last Saturday in Hanford, he contends that the majority of the facts pertaining to him in the story are absolutely false.

Attempts were immediately made by Chad’s representatives to contact personnel at the Sheriff’s Department on Friday afternoon. Despite these repeated attempts, Chad’s representatives have not received any response from the Sheriff’s Department as of the time of this release.

Chad denies any wrongdoing and is very upset by the allegations contained in the story. He will fully cooperate with the Sheriff’s Department and looks forward to clearing his name.

On Friday, the Sentinel reported that Mendes faces charges that could result in a fine as well as jail time. Mendes will be arraigned on September 19.

Mendes is one of the top ranked fighters in the UFC’s featherweight division, sporting a record of 12-1. His only loss came to UFC champion Jose Aldo in January of this year. Aldo stopped Mendes at the 4:59 mark of the first round. Mendes rebounded in his next bout, stopping Cody McKenzie with a punch to the body just 31 seconds into the first round of their fight at UFC 148.

As of this time, Mendes has not been booked for his next fight.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Jon Jones: Bones Will Destroy Vitor Belfort In Toronto at UFC 152

Until there is a fresh challenger for Jon Jones at light heavyweight, or until he moves up to heavyweight, Bones will continue to win.Jones is too much for any fighter we’ve seen at 205 pounds. There is no reason to believe Vitor Belfort will do anythi…

Until there is a fresh challenger for Jon Jones at light heavyweight, or until he moves up to heavyweight, Bones will continue to win.

Jones is too much for any fighter we’ve seen at 205 pounds. There is no reason to believe Vitor Belfort will do anything to change my mind. Per Maggie Hendricks of Yahoo!, Belfort will be Jones’ opponent at UFC 152.

The last week has been a whirlwind of changes surrounding Jones and his next opponent.

He was initially supposed to take on Dan Henderson at UFC 151, but that event was canceled after Henderson was injured, and Jones refused to have his opponent switched to Chael Sonnen on short notice.

Lyoto Machida, who just knocked out Ryan Bader at UFC on Fox 4, was injected as the new opponent for UFC 152, but he pulled out because he felt the fight was coming too quickly after his last bout.

In steps Belfort as the man to take on Jones.

Let me save you the drama and speculation: The outcome will be the same against Belfort as it would have been against Hendo and Machida. 

None of the challengers at 205 have a chance against Jones.

He’s too big and skilled for any of them. Any Jones haters that want to see him fall will have to hope he makes the jump to heavyweight or a 205-pounder with height and striking skills comes out of nowhere to challenge him.

No man is unbeatable, but Jones at 205 pounds is about as close as it gets.

 

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Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC: Dana White’s Top 5 Interview Cliches and Verbal Clangers

We have all seen them; they are an essential part of any pre-fight build-up. Dana White’s interviews—particularly with Ariel Helwani—are almost always compelling. The UFC’s head honcho speaks on a number of different issues, bot…

We have all seen them; they are an essential part of any pre-fight build-up. Dana White’s interviews—particularly with Ariel Helwani—are almost always compelling.

The UFC’s head honcho speaks on a number of different issues, both relevant and orthogonal; he quashes controversy, yells about various individuals in positions of power, discusses future matchups, etc.

In a nutshell, Dana White is wonderfully candid and engaging.

However, when you watch enough of his interviews, you begin to pick up on certain habits and clichés he has come to unconsciously exhibit.

Consider this a light-hearted piece on some of the aforementioned habits and the occasional verbal missteps, as a modest remedy to the funereal atmosphere that has descended on the MMA community over the past few days.

So without any further delay, I present to you the top five Dana White interview clichés.

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Jon Jones Fallout: 8 Fighters That Took Fights on Very Short Notice and Won

When challenger Dan Henderson was forced out of his title contest at UFC 151, UFC light-heavyweight champion Jon Jones shocked the world when he denied Dana White’s request to battle late-replacement Chael Sonnen in the main event.The UFC-sponsored fig…

When challenger Dan Henderson was forced out of his title contest at UFC 151, UFC light-heavyweight champion Jon Jones shocked the world when he denied Dana White‘s request to battle late-replacement Chael Sonnen in the main event.

The UFC-sponsored fighter upset the MMA world as a whole with his selfish decision, which ultimately culminated in the first event cancellation in UFC history.

In light of Jones’ refusal to fight Sonnen at UFC 151, I’d like to take a look back on some previous fights where a fill-in opponent arrived and scored a big win.

Here is a peek at eight fighters who took fights on short notice and won.

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Where Are They Now?

Nearly every aspect of MMA has been under evaluation on how it can be improved. Whether it’s drug testing and TRT regulation, referee calls and judge’s scoring, or the actual combat rules altogether; everyone is.

Nearly every aspect of MMA has been under evaluation on how it can be improved. Whether it’s drug testing and TRT regulation, referee calls and judge’s scoring, or the actual combat rules altogether; everyone is giving their two cents on how to improve the sport one way or another. After all the debating that has taken place about more issues in MMA than anyone can possible address, it’s strikingly peculiar that nobody has brought up the issue of MMA rankings and how they should be calculated.

There are a plethora of websites, television shows, and other MMA related organizations that have their own version of an MMA ranking order. MMA is a unique sport that doesn’t quite follow the style of a traditional ranking system, and it’s unlikely that any two ranking lists are identical. Even with all the facts and statistics about a fighter, there is much information left for personal interpretation to form, sometimes bias, opinions about a fighters ranking order in their respective weight class. A fighter’s winning streak, quality of opponents, ability to finish, and fighting frequency are just several of many factors that are viewed differently from person to person in the ongoing argument of ranking order significance.

For the most part, the majority of MMA ranking lists share similar names, but to have a fighter like Erik Koch ranked as the third best featherweight in the world on one list, and then not even have him in the top ten on another is truly baffling. When was the last time that such a ridiculous ranking conundrum occurred in any other sport? Most likely, it hasn’t. Arguing a fighters position one or two slots is one thing and is perfectly acceptable, but in this case, top three to outside top ten is pushing the envelope too far.

MMA has always had its mixed opinions on ranking, but now the importance of this issue is greater now then it has ever been. While it’s true that some MMA promotions, such as UFC, will give a title shot to anyone that they believe deserves one, many title shots are influenced by media rankings, and with nearly every weight class having several fighters that could be given the next title shot, it is important that the rankings reflect who truly is the most deserving of such an opportunity.

No ranking system will ever be perfect, but if anyone’s MMA rankings are to taken seriously, there needs to be at least a few general guidelines put into place so there can be a mutual understanding of how MMA rankings will be determined and the majority of ranking lists would come to a similar consensus, but still leave room for minor debate.

Written by : Ryan “Fight Freek” Poli
@Fightfreek