WSOF 11 completed the first leg of this weekend’s MMA triple crown–WSOF 11, UFC 175, and then the TUF 19 Finale. By all accounts (including our own), WSOF 11 was a solid MMA event. The pacing was perfect, and (almost) the fights all delivered.
We were lucky enough to watch the card at a postponed 4th of July BBQ (it rained at Castle CagePotato yesterday). Here’s a brief recap of the night’s events:
In the first fight of the night, Cody Bollinger steamrolled over Pablo Alfonso. He submitted him with a rear-naked choke in under three minutes. Not much else to tell.
In the next bout, Melvin Guillard made his triumphant return to MMA. This was Guillard’s first fight since the UFC cut him after his loss to Michael Johnson. He squared off against Gesias Cavalcante and picked him apart. Guillard looked crisp, fast, and accurate. He seemingly had his shit together, which allowed him to put Cavalcante away in the second round via TKO.
The recap for Jon Fitch vs. Dennis Hallman and Nick Newell vs. Justin Gaethje are after the jump.
WSOF 11 completed the first leg of this weekend’s MMA triple crown–WSOF 11, UFC 175, and then the TUF 19 Finale. By all accounts (including our own), WSOF 11 was a solid MMA event. The pacing was perfect, and (almost) the fights all delivered.
We were lucky enough to watch the card at a postponed 4th of July BBQ (it rained at Castle CagePotato yesterday). Here’s a brief recap of the night’s events:
In the first fight of the night, Cody Bollinger steamrolled over Pablo Alfonso. He submitted him with a rear-naked choke in under three minutes. Not much else to tell.
In the next bout, Melvin Guillard made his triumphant return to MMA. This was Guillard’s first fight since the UFC cut him after his loss to Michael Johnson. He squared off against Gesias Cavalcante and picked him apart. Guillard looked crisp, fast, and accurate. He seemingly had his shit together, which allowed him to put Cavalcante away in the second round via TKO.
The co-main event featured Jon Fitch vs. Dennis Hallman. Originally, Rousimar PalharesJake Shields, Josh Burkman was supposed to take on Fitch but they all pulled out for varying reasons. This fight was a vintage Jon Fitch performance, which meant it put the crowd to sleep. If “Broke Jon Fitch” was super-exciting and aggressive, then this was a return to “Real Estate Boom” Jon Fitch–the kind of fighter who grinds without ever coming close to even attempting to finish the fight. Fitch won a unanimous decision win without much surprise or fanfare.
Nick Newell and Justin Gaethje met in the WSOF 11 main event. We hate to break out the “it was a WAR, BRO” cliche, but the first round was a war. Newell did a tremendous job of taking it to Gaethje, and Gaethje reciprocated. In the second frame, Gaethje started to pull away. Newell was unable to block Gaethje’s right hands properly, and got tagged numerous times as a result. Gaethje eventually nailed him one time too many, and Newell crashed to the mat. The referee called it at 3:09 of the second round. Here’s a GIF.
Overall, the event was a breeze to watch. The four-fight main card was incredibly refreshing in the age of 6-hour UFC shows full of jobbers and the incessant broadcasting of the same four commercials. We also gave WSOF a huge thumbs up for their pristine white canvas. The white canvas helps make things a bit brighter and less drab. It also highlights any blood that spills from the fighters better than the UFC’s grey canvas, upping the violence factor.
If you DVR’d this, watch it when you get time. It’s worth it.
Here are the complete results:
Main Card
Justin Gaethje def. Nick Newell via TKO (strikes) at 3:09 of R2
Jon Fitch def. Dennis Hallman via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Melvin Guillard def. Gesias Cavalcante via TKO (strikes) at 2:36 of R2
Cody Bollinger def. Pablo Alfonso via submission (rear-naked choke) at 2:37 of R1
Preliminary Card
Jake Heun def. Kendrick Miree via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Neiman Gracie def. Dustin Holyko via submission (rear-naked choke) at 2:21 of R2
Jose Caceres def. Walber Brito de Barros via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Muhamed Dereese def. Rashaun Spencer via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
(Just another day in the life of Paul Harris. Photo via Getty.)
Like my sexual history, the WSOF career of Rousimar Palhares has been brief and emotionally devastating. After being gifted an immediate shot at the WSOF welterweight title against Steve Carl at WSOF 9, Palhares secured said title via a brutal heel-hook in just over a minute. The victory set Palhares up with a fight against fellow UFC castaway Jon Fitch that was scheduled to go down at WSOF 11 on July 5th, but today brought the news that Palhares has withdrawn from the fight to take care of his sick mother.
A reasonable excuse if there ever was one, but one that also apparently pissed WSOF executive vice president Ali Abdel-Aziz right the f*ck off. Aziz, who has publicly spatted with WSOF fighter Josh Burkman (and Vinny Magalhaes) in the past, told MMAFighting earlier today that he is sick of being taken advantage by guys like Palhares with their “bullshit stories” about their “sick mothers” and “impoverished upbringing.” Okay, those quotes were made up, but here’s what he actually said:
Enough is enough. I have to put WSOF first and everyone else second. No more Mr. Nice Guy.
We’re getting screwed. I’m trying to put on a fight card and be nice to fighters, and now they don’t want to fight each other.
I’m getting sick of this. If a fighter is not going to respect the promotion, he is going to be shelved for a long time. I will not release anyone to another promotion. Fighters must honor their contracts.
Eesh. I can see where Aziz is coming from here, but for Christ’s sake, we’re talking about Rousimar’s mother here. Show the Mapinguari her due respect, Ali, or suffer the consequences.
(Just another day in the life of Paul Harris. Photo via Getty.)
Like my sexual history, the WSOF career of Rousimar Palhares has been brief and emotionally devastating. After being gifted an immediate shot at the WSOF welterweight title against Steve Carl at WSOF 9, Palhares secured said title via a brutal heel-hook in just over a minute. The victory set Palhares up with a fight against fellow UFC castaway Jon Fitch that was scheduled to go down at WSOF 11 on July 5th, but today brought the news that Palhares has withdrawn from the fight to take care of his sick mother.
A reasonable excuse if there ever was one, but one that also apparently pissed WSOF executive vice president Ali Abdel-Aziz right the f*ck off. Aziz, who has publicly spatted with WSOF fighter Josh Burkman (and Vinny Magalhaes) in the past, told MMAFighting earlier today that he is sick of being taken advantage by guys like Palhares with their “bullshit stories” about their “sick mothers” and “impoverished upbringing.” Okay, those quotes were made up, but here’s what he actually said:
Enough is enough. I have to put WSOF first and everyone else second. No more Mr. Nice Guy.
We’re getting screwed. I’m trying to put on a fight card and be nice to fighters, and now they don’t want to fight each other.
I’m getting sick of this. If a fighter is not going to respect the promotion, he is going to be shelved for a long time. I will not release anyone to another promotion. Fighters must honor their contracts.
Eesh. I can see where Aziz is coming from here, but for Christ’s sake, we’re talking about Rousimar’s mother here. Show the Mapinguari her due respect, Ali, or suffer the consequences.
In light of the cancellation, WSOF 11 will now be headlined by our boy Nick Newell challenging lightweight champion Justin Gaethje for the WSOF title. We’ve thrown a video of Newell’s most recent victory over Sabah Fadai at WSOF 7 below.
(Well that’s pretty much the greatest photo I’ve ever seen. / Props: Nick’s Facebook page.)
World Series of Fighting executive vice president Ali Abdel-Aziz confirmed with Yahoo! Sports yesterday that undefeated lightweight Nick Newell will finally get his shot at the WSOF lightweight title this July, when he faces incumbent champion Justin Gaethje. The exact date and venue for the match are still TBA. MMAFighting adds that “The promotion is expected to make its NBC debut this summer, but Abdel-Aziz wouldn’t disclose whether the title fight would air on the broadcast network.”
On paper, Newell and Gaethje have identicalrecords of 11-0 with 10 wins by stoppage. Arguably, Gaethje’s level of competition during his WSOF stint has been higher than Newell’s, as the champ’s list of TKO-victims has included Gesias Cavacante, Brian Cobb, and Dan Lauzon (i.e., guys you’ve actually heard of). Of course, finding decent opponents has always been a challenge for Newell, who left the XFC and signed with WSOF last May specifically to fight world-class opponents — but has only been able to squashjourneymen so far.
Still, it’s better late than never. Newell’s fight against Gaethje is the big opportunity that the one-handed fighter has been begging for, and could lift his already-expanding profile in a major way, especially if the event is indeed aired on NBC. It’s also simply one of the greatest lightweight matchups you’ll see outside the UFC, and we’re psyched for it. Your predictions, please.
Semi-related: In case you forgot, Rousimar Palhares is fighting Steve Carl for the WSOF welterweight title this Saturday at WSOF 9. Ray Sefo says people are underestimating Steve Carl, which is surprising, because I had no idea that people had any opinions about Steve Carl whatsoever. Anyway, RIP that guy’s ankles.
(Well that’s pretty much the greatest photo I’ve ever seen. / Props: Nick’s Facebook page.)
World Series of Fighting executive vice president Ali Abdel-Aziz confirmed with Yahoo! Sports yesterday that undefeated lightweight Nick Newell will finally get his shot at the WSOF lightweight title this July, when he faces incumbent champion Justin Gaethje. The exact date and venue for the match are still TBA. MMAFighting adds that ”The promotion is expected to make its NBC debut this summer, but Abdel-Aziz wouldn’t disclose whether the title fight would air on the broadcast network.”
On paper, Newell and Gaethje have identicalrecords of 11-0 with 10 wins by stoppage. Arguably, Gaethje’s level of competition during his WSOF stint has been higher than Newell’s, as the champ’s list of TKO-victims has included Gesias Cavacante, Brian Cobb, and Dan Lauzon (i.e., guys you’ve actually heard of). Of course, finding decent opponents has always been a challenge for Newell, who left the XFC and signed with WSOF last May specifically to fight world-class opponents — but has only been able to squashjourneymen so far.
Still, it’s better late than never. Newell’s fight against Gaethje is the big opportunity that the one-handed fighter has been begging for, and could lift his already-expanding profile in a major way, especially if the event is indeed aired on NBC. It’s also simply one of the greatest lightweight matchups you’ll see outside the UFC, and we’re psyched for it. Your predictions, please.
Semi-related: In case you forgot, Rousimar Palhares is fighting Steve Carl for the WSOF welterweight title this Saturday at WSOF 9. Ray Sefo says people are underestimating Steve Carl, which is surprising, because I had no idea that people had any opinions about Steve Carl whatsoever. Anyway, RIP that guy’s ankles.
CagePotato favorite “Notorious” Nick Newell is off to a fast start in 2014, earning his black-belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Andrew Calandrelli at Ultimate MMA in New Haven. The video above was provided by Nick’s training partner Jon Thomas, who runs the awesome charity Tap Cancer Out, which if you recall is something Nick is very involved in. Nick’s pretty good at this Jiu-Jitsu thing, with 8 of his 11 pro MMA wins coming via submission.
So just to summarize, it’s only February, and Nick’s 2014 to-do list looks like this:
1. Earn his BJJ Black Belt
2. Inspire the next generation of BAMF’s
3. Win WSOF Title.
While we send our sincere congratulations to Nick for this huge achievement, we do have to ask him to scale it back a bit. Seriously, Nick…you’re making us all look bad.
(…which begs the question, how are *your* New Year’s Resolutions going? / Props: YouTube.com/TapCancerOut)
CagePotato favorite “Notorious” Nick Newell is off to a fast start in 2014, earning his black-belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Andrew Calandrelli at Ultimate MMA in New Haven. The video above was provided by Nick’s training partner Jon Thomas, who runs the awesome charity Tap Cancer Out, which if you recall is something Nick is very involved in. Nick’s pretty good at this Jiu-Jitsu thing, with 8 of his 11 pro MMA wins coming via submission.
So just to summarize, it’s only February, and Nick’s 2014 to-do list looks like this:
1. Earn his BJJ Black Belt
2. Inspire the next generation of BAMF’s
3. Win WSOF Title.
While we send our sincere congratulations to Nick for this huge achievement, we do have to ask him to scale it back a bit. Seriously, Nick…you’re making us all look bad.
Nick Newell scored a guillotine choke victory over Sabah Fadai at WSOF 7 last night. It looked like Newell, who’s now 11-0, hardly broke a sweat during the 81 seconds the match lasted.
Nick Newell kicked ass and tore up the regional lightweight scene en route the WSOF. He even left the XFC because he felt he was fighting beneath his level of competition; he wanted UFC veterans and promising prospects. Newell deserves a fight against such an opponent at this point in his career; his abilities surely can’t be denied at this point.
Also of note on WSOF 7: Georgi Karakhanyan defeated the highly accomplished wrestler Lance Palmer to become the first-ever WSOF featherweight champion. Jesse Taylor, the guy who got kicked off TUF for trashing a casino with a drunken possy (except without the possy), won a No.1 contender fight against Elvis Mutapcic. Taylor will now face David Branch for the inaugural WSOF middleweight title.
See other highlights from the weekend after the jump.
Nick Newell scored a guillotine choke victory over Sabah Fadai at WSOF 7 last night. It looked like Newell, who’s now 11-0, hardly broke a sweat during the 81 seconds the match lasted.
Newell kicked ass and tore up the regional lightweight scene en route the WSOF. He even left the XFC because he felt he was fighting beneath his level of competition. Newell wanted UFC veterans and promising prospects. He deserves a fight against such an opponent at this point in his career; his abilities surely can’t be denied at this point.
Also of note on WSOF 7: Georgi Karakhanyan defeated the highly accomplished wrestler Lance Palmer to become the first-ever WSOF featherweight champion. Jesse Taylor, the guy who got kicked off TUF for trashing a casino with a drunken possy (except without the possy), won a No.1 contender fight against Elvis Mutapcic. Taylor will now face David Branch for the inaugural WSOF middleweight title. Check out the complete WSOF 7 results here.
A couple of other important highlights from the weekend, specifically Invicta FC 7: Barb Honchak defended her Invicta FC flyweight title against Leslie Smith. And apparently inaugural titles were in vogue last night, as Lauren Murphy captured the inaugural Invicta FC bantamweight championship by defeating Miriam Nakamoto. Felice Herrig dropped a decision to Tecia Torres. Former Bellator women’s champ Zolia Frausto Gurgel was on the card too but came up short against Vanessa Porto. Here are the card’s complete results.
Also, Leonard Garcia became the Legacy FC featherweight champ by knocking out Kevin Aguilar. We’ve embedded the video for you:
Overall, it was a fun weekend of fights. We had one of the best fights of all time Friday night, followed by some great action on Saturday.
(INVICTA FC 7 – Road to Honchak vs Smith via Invicta FC)
With the UFC putting on an event practically every weekend nowadays, it’s getting harder and harder for even the most hardcore fan to keep up with all the action, let alone the great fights transpiring under lower-level banners like WSOF, Invicta FC, Cage Warriors, and the like. So while most of the MMA world will remain focused on Fight Night 33: Hunt vs. Bigfoot (which is a relatively stacked card, all things considered) this Friday, we’ve decided to highlight a handful of lesser-known-yet-equally-intriguing bouts for you Taters to keep an eye out for this weekend. And here you thought we weren’t MMA fans anymore.
Thanks to a last second toe injury, the originally scheduled (also, cursed) main event between Mike Kyle and Anthony Johnson was recently scrapped from WSOF 7, shuffling the co-main event matchup between Armenian powerhouse Georgi Karakhanyan and undefeated grappler Lance Palmer into the spotlight. And quite honestly, it’s a far more compelling fight in our opinion.
(INVICTA FC 7 – Road to Honchak vs Smith via Invicta FC)
With the UFC putting on an event practically every weekend nowadays, it’s getting harder and harder for even the most hardcore fan to keep up with all the action, let alone the great fights transpiring under lower-level banners like WSOF, Invicta FC, Cage Warriors, and the like. So while most of the MMA world will remain focused on Fight Night 33: Hunt vs. Bigfoot (which is a relatively stacked card, all things considered) this Friday, we’ve decided to highlight a handful of lesser-known-yet-equally-intriguing bouts for you Taters to keep an eye out for this weekend. And here you thought we weren’t MMA fans anymore.
Thanks to a last second toe injury, the originally scheduled (also, cursed) main event between Mike Kyle and Anthony Johnson was recently scrapped from WSOF 7, shuffling the co-main event matchup between Armenian powerhouse Georgi Karakhanyan and undefeated grappler Lance Palmer into the spotlight. And quite honestly, it’s a far more compelling fight in our opinion — Karakhanyan has scored 8 straight victories (5 finishes) since being released from Bellator back in 2011, including a first round submission over UFC veteran Waylon Lowe in his WSOF debut. Prior to that, the current Tachi Palace featherweight champion put the stamp on another, more well known UFC vet, Din Thomas, at Legacy FC 19.
While Karakhanyan has proven himself to be a well-rounded fighter — he balances 12 submission victories against 4 knockouts — he’ll be facing a stiff test in late replacement opponent Lance Palmer. Currently 7-0 as a professional, Palmer is a hard-nosed grappler fresh off a tough split decision win over Jared Downing at RFA 8. Given the relative lack of pressure being placed on Palmer’s shoulders, we could be in for a huge upset should “The Party” (eesh) be able to take Karakhanyan to the mat early and often.
Our history with Nick Newell has been extensively documented, but that doesn’t change the fact that “Notorious” will be facing one of the biggest tests of his career this weekend. On the heels of another successful first round ass-kicking in his own promotional debut (his 9th in 10 fights), Newell will be squaring off with British Columbia native Sabah Fadai, a 7-2 fighter who has finished all of his victories by either TKO or submission. While Fadai has been out of action for over a year now, a win over a rising star like Newell would more than make up for his lost time.
To refresh your memory, here’s a video of Newell kicking some dude’s ass at XFC 19 last December:
If you’ve been following the WMMA scene at all over the past few years, chances are that you’ve heard of Leslie “The Peacemaker” Smith, an Invicta and Bellator veteran known for her tough-as-nails demeanor and penchant for putting on wild slugfests. MMAFighting’s Chuck Mindenhall recently wrote an excellent profile on Smith, who has fought on 5 of the 6 Invicta cards (and who holds a record of 3-1-1 in the promotion) and holds victories over Kaitlin Young and TUF 18 semifinalist Raquel Pennington. We’d highly recommend that you check it out to learn a little more about the fan-friendly fighter, who recently earned her shot at flyweight champion Barb Honchak with a FOTN-earning unanimous decision victory over Jennifer Maia in her flyweight debut at Invicta 6.
Speaking of Honchak, we’d be remiss if we did not sing the praises of the current champ in the days prior to her first title defense. Although her career got off to a bumpy 1-2 start, Honchak has put together 7 straight wins including 3 under the Invicta banner since 2011. A fierce counter striker with solid boxing mechanics, Honchak has been criticized (by Young, amongst others) for being a “points fighter,” so it will be interesting to see how she responds to the criticism in her biggest fight to date. And that’s saying something for a woman who holds victories over Roxanne Modafferi, Vanessa Porto, and…
We might have irked Herrig with our recent criticism of the TUF 18 Finale, but we only did it out of love. And the truth is, aside from being a dynamic, intelligent, and visually-striking woman who knows how to market herself, Herrig is also a legitimately talented fighter who is a surefire poster girl for the UFC’s upcoming strawweight division. Currently 4-1 in her last 5 and coming off back-to-back decision wins in Bellator, Herrig’s extensive Muay Thai/kickboxing background has been coupled with an ever-improving ground game under the tutelage of Jeff Curran and has led her to victory over the likes of TUF 18 finalist Jessica Rakoczy and Patricia Vidonic (twice).
Looking to steal some of Herrig’s thunder, however, will be 3-0 Tecia Torres. Perhaps one of the more overlooked fighters in strawweight division, “The Tiny Tornado” is no stranger to halting hype trains, as she is fresh off a decision victory over our own “Thug” Rose Namajunas at Invicta FC 6…
If Torres is able to knock off Herrig this weekend, she will more or less become the female Lawrence of Arabia of the strawweight division (confusing analogy much?), so keep an eye out for this matchup, Taters.
While Leonard “Bad Boy” Garcia was known for putting on Fight of the Year contenders in the UFC, he wasn’t known for actually winning fights at the end of his second tour of duty (as for the fights he “won,” well…). However, since being mercifully released from the promotion in April following five straight losses, Garcia has managed to both put on entertaining fights and walk away with his hand raised. Since signing with Legacy Fighting Championships, Garcia has scored back-to-back stoppage victories over Rey Trujillo and Nick Gonzalez at LFC 21 and 23, respectfully. A big win over undefeated “Angel of Death” Kevin Aguilar could easily see Garcia reinstated in the UFC for another run.
Aguilar, on the other hand, is no slouch. Currently 8-0, this Bellator veteran has gone the distance just once in his professional career and has balanced 5 TKOs against 2 submissions. Could he be the man to bring Garcia’s resurgence to a halt? FIND OUT THIS WEEKEND. It’s kind of the point of this article.
Finally, we have a potential barnburner of a scrap taking place between two always entertaining, if inconsistent, fighters in Ulysses Gomez vs. Neil Seery. Transpiring under the London-based Cage Warriors banner, Gomez vs. Seery will serve as the main event of Cage Warriors 62 and promises to be one for the ages. Despite going 0-2 in the UFC, Gomez is an incredible grappler who has previously secured both the flyweight and bantamweight titles while fighting for Tachi Palace Fights back in 2010-11. In his 9 professional victories, Gomez has claimed all but two of them by submission.
After trading wins and losses for the majority of his career, Seery has been on a roll as of late, scoring 4 straight wins over the past year. Seery and Gomez share a common opponent in current UFC fighter Phil Harris, who has defeated them both by way of UD, but we’ll be tuning into this fight solely to see how a guy who calls himself “2 Tap” will hold up against a ground wizard like Gomez.
Are there any other lower-level fights taking place this weekend that warrant a mention? Let us know in the comments section.
