UFC strawweight competitor Page Van Zant will be part of the upcoming season of ABC’s Dancing With The Stars.
The 21-year-old fighter follows in the footsteps of Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture, who also appeared on the show in recent years.
Van Zant will be joined by several other celebrities and professional athletes, including Super Bowl champion Von Miller and “Fuller House” star Jodie Sweetin. She’ll be paired with professional dancer Mark Ballas.
Dancing With The Stars premieres on ABC on Monday night, March 21st.
UFC strawweight competitor Page Van Zant will be part of the upcoming season of ABC’s Dancing With The Stars.
The 21-year-old fighter follows in the footsteps of Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture, who also appeared on the show in recent years.
Van Zant will be joined by several other celebrities and professional athletes, including Super Bowl champion Von Miller and “Fuller House” star Jodie Sweetin. She’ll be paired with professional dancer Mark Ballas.
Dancing With The Stars premieres on ABC on Monday night, March 21st.
Heading into last weekend’s stacked UFC on FOX 15 card, headliners Lyoto Machida and Luke Rockhold were being given little more than a coin flip’s chance against one another in their middleweight #1 contender match. But once the cage door closed, it was another story entirely. Rockhold dominated Machida — a guy who had looked nearly untouchable himself since dropping to 185 lbs — in every aspect of the game (but especially on the ground) en route to a second round submission. Physically, Rockhold appeared as if he was fighting down a weight class, a facet made all the more confounding when you consider that he was facing a former light-heavyweight champion.
UFC on FOX 15 was a “changing of the guard” card in many respects, with the biggest prospects (Sterling, Holloway, VanZant) going a perfect 3-0 over veterans of the game. It was also a night that finally closed the book on whether or not we should permanently erase TUF 19 from our memories. (Hint: Yes, yes we should.). So join us after the jump for all the highlights and a full list of results.
Heading into last weekend’s stacked UFC on FOX 15 card, headliners Lyoto Machida and Luke Rockhold were being given little more than a coin flip’s chance against one another in their middleweight #1 contender match. But once the cage door closed, it was another story entirely. Rockhold dominated Machida — a guy who had looked nearly untouchable himself since dropping to 185 lbs — in every aspect of the game (but especially on the ground) en route to a second round submission. Physically, Rockhold appeared as if he was fighting down a weight class, a facet made all the more confounding when you consider that he was facing a former light-heavyweight champion.
UFC on FOX 15 was a “changing of the guard” card in many respects, with the biggest prospects (Sterling, Holloway, VanZant) going a perfect 3-0 over veterans of the game. It was also a night that finally closed the book on whether or not we should permanently erase TUF 19 from our memories. (Hint: Yes, yes we should.). So join us after the jump for all the highlights and a full list of results.
Souza vs. Camozzi
If you were a fan of Souza vs. Camozzi 1, then boy would you have loved the second! Why? IT WAS THE EXACT SAME THING. “Jacare” peppered Camozzi on the feet, took him down, and submitted with an armbar in a minute less than it took him the first time. It was…upsetting to watch — like seeing a turtle struggling to flip itself over in the Nevada sun. Though hearing Dana White go from “Camozzi is a warrior!” to “K bro I’m out” in under 3 minutes almost made this slaughter worth watching.
Holloway vs. Swanson
Perhaps the most surprising performance of the night went to Max Holloway, a gifted prospect who many thought was just a year or so behind being able to hang with a veteran like Cub Swanson. They were wrong. Holloway appeared to be at least 2 steps ahead of Swanson from the very start, battering the former WEC star with a diverse offensive attack that Swanson simply could not compare with. After punishing Swanson with a series of body shots in the third, Holloway snatched onto a lightning quick mounted guillotine that forced Swanson to tap. The beauty of Holloway’s performance was only overshadowed by Swanson’s litany of injuries.
VanZant vs. Herrig
Speaking of dominant showings, Paige VanZant, everybody. At 21 years old, “12 Gauge” has already been dubbed as the future of the women’s strawweight division by some, and Saturday night’s performance proved that it isn’t only because of her looks. After an early misstep (WHY WITH THE HEAD & ARM THROW, LADIES. WHY?!!!), Van Zant looked damn near flawless against the always tough Felice Herrig, brutalizing her in the clinch and on the ground from bell to bell. VanZant has the world in her hands, it seems, but let’s hope the UFC doesn’t drink too much of the Kool-Aid for now. As good as she is, it’ll be awhile before Van Zant will be able to handle the likes of Joanna Champion.
Check out the full UFC on FOX 15 results below.
Main card
Luke Rockhold def. Lyoto Machida via submission (rear-naked choke)
Jacare Souza def. Chris Camozzi via submission (armbar)
Max Holloway def. Cub Swanson via submission (guillotine)
Paige VanZant def. Felice Herrig via unanimous decision
Undercard
Beneil Dariush def. Jim Miller via unanimous decision
Ovince St. Preux def. Patrick Cummins via first-round TKO
Gian Villante def. Corey Anderson via third-round TKO
Aljamain Sterling def. Takeya Mizugaki via submission (arm triangle)
Tim Means def. George Sullivan via submission (arm triangle)
Diego Brandao def. Jimy Hettes via first-round TKO (doctor’s stoppage)
Chris Dempsey def. Eddie Gordon via split decision
Heading into last weekend’s stacked UFC on FOX 15 card, headliners Lyoto Machida and Luke Rockhold were being given little more than a coin flip’s chance against one another in their middleweight #1 contender match. But once the cage door closed, it was another story entirely. Rockhold dominated Machida — a guy who had looked nearly untouchable himself since dropping to 185 lbs — in every aspect of the game (but especially on the ground) en route to a second round submission. Physically, Rockhold appeared as if he was fighting down a weight class, a facet made all the more confounding when you consider that he was facing a former light-heavyweight champion.
UFC on FOX 15 was a “changing of the guard” card in many respects, with the biggest prospects (Sterling, Holloway, VanZant) going a perfect 3-0 over veterans of the game. It was also a night that finally closed the book on whether or not we should permanently erase TUF 19 from our memories. (Hint: Yes, yes we should.). So join us after the jump for all the highlights and a full list of results.
Heading into last weekend’s stacked UFC on FOX 15 card, headliners Lyoto Machida and Luke Rockhold were being given little more than a coin flip’s chance against one another in their middleweight #1 contender match. But once the cage door closed, it was another story entirely. Rockhold dominated Machida — a guy who had looked nearly untouchable himself since dropping to 185 lbs — in every aspect of the game (but especially on the ground) en route to a second round submission. Physically, Rockhold appeared as if he was fighting down a weight class, a facet made all the more confounding when you consider that he was facing a former light-heavyweight champion.
UFC on FOX 15 was a “changing of the guard” card in many respects, with the biggest prospects (Sterling, Holloway, VanZant) going a perfect 3-0 over veterans of the game. It was also a night that finally closed the book on whether or not we should permanently erase TUF 19 from our memories. (Hint: Yes, yes we should.). So join us after the jump for all the highlights and a full list of results.
Souza vs. Camozzi
If you were a fan of Souza vs. Camozzi 1, then boy would you have loved the second! Why? IT WAS THE EXACT SAME THING. “Jacare” peppered Camozzi on the feet, took him down, and submitted with an armbar in a minute less than it took him the first time. It was…upsetting to watch — like seeing a turtle struggling to flip itself over in the Nevada sun. Though hearing Dana White go from “Camozzi is a warrior!” to “K bro I’m out” in under 3 minutes almost made this slaughter worth watching.
Holloway vs. Swanson
Perhaps the most surprising performance of the night went to Max Holloway, a gifted prospect who many thought was just a year or so behind being able to hang with a veteran like Cub Swanson. They were wrong. Holloway appeared to be at least 2 steps ahead of Swanson from the very start, battering the former WEC star with a diverse offensive attack that Swanson simply could not compare with. After punishing Swanson with a series of body shots in the third, Holloway snatched onto a lightning quick mounted guillotine that forced Swanson to tap. The beauty of Holloway’s performance was only overshadowed by Swanson’s litany of injuries.
VanZant vs. Herrig
Speaking of dominant showings, Paige VanZant, everybody. At 21 years old, “12 Gauge” has already been dubbed as the future of the women’s strawweight division by some, and Saturday night’s performance proved that it isn’t only because of her looks. After an early misstep (WHY WITH THE HEAD & ARM THROW, LADIES. WHY?!!!), Van Zant looked damn near flawless against the always tough Felice Herrig, brutalizing her in the clinch and on the ground from bell to bell. VanZant has the world in her hands, it seems, but let’s hope the UFC doesn’t drink too much of the Kool-Aid for now. As good as she is, it’ll be awhile before Van Zant will be able to handle the likes of Joanna Champion.
Check out the full UFC on FOX 15 results below.
Main card
Luke Rockhold def. Lyoto Machida via submission (rear-naked choke)
Jacare Souza def. Chris Camozzi via submission (armbar)
Max Holloway def. Cub Swanson via submission (guillotine)
Paige VanZant def. Felice Herrig via unanimous decision
Undercard
Beneil Dariush def. Jim Miller via unanimous decision
Ovince St. Preux def. Patrick Cummins via first-round TKO
Gian Villante def. Corey Anderson via third-round TKO
Aljamain Sterling def. Takeya Mizugaki via submission (arm triangle)
Tim Means def. George Sullivan via submission (arm triangle)
Diego Brandao def. Jimy Hettes via first-round TKO (doctor’s stoppage)
Chris Dempsey def. Eddie Gordon via split decision
Instead, “12 Gauge” and “Punkie Bruise-ter” (our tentative nickname for Curran) will now square off at Fight Night 57, which goes down on November 22nd from the Frank Erwin Center in Austin, Texas. This is normally the part of the article where we’d start listing Van Zant and Curran’s relevant/recent wins, but with a *combined* record of 6-1 and their only notable opponent being Tecia Torres (who defeated VanZant via UD at Invicta 4), let’s just skip the formalities, shall we?
Also joining Fight Night 57 will be a flyweight clash between Joseph Benavidez and Dustin Ortiz. After being KO’d by Demetrious Johnson in their rematch at UFC on FOX 9, Benavidez bounced back in style at UFC 172, submitting Tim Elliott with a guillotine so vicious that it forced him to tap with his feet. Ortiz, on the other hand, has made it two in a row since being outworked by John Moraga at Fight Night 35, notching split decisions over Ray Borg and highly-touted prospect Justin Scoggins in back-to-back appearances.
After the jump: Kailin Curran kicks the shit out of two interns on The Jason Ellis show. You know, for science.
Instead, “12 Gauge” and “Punkie Bruise-ter” (our tentative nickname for Curran) will now square off at Fight Night 57, which goes down on November 22nd from the Frank Erwin Center in Austin, Texas. This is normally the part of the article where we’d start listing Van Zant and Curran’s relevant/recent wins, but with a *combined* record of 6-1 and their only notable opponent being Tecia Torres (who defeated VanZant via UD at Invicta 4), let’s just skip the formalities, shall we?
Also joining Fight Night 57 will be a flyweight clash between Joseph Benavidez and Dustin Ortiz. After being KO’d by Demetrious Johnson in their rematch at UFC on FOX 9, Benavidez bounced back in style at UFC 172, submitting Tim Elliott with a guillotine so vicious that it forced him to tap with his feet. Ortiz, on the other hand, has made it two in a row since being outworked by John Moraga at Fight Night 35, notching split decisions over Ray Borg and highly-touted prospect Justin Scoggins in back-to-back appearances.
In semi-related news, here’s Kailin Curran kicking the shit out of two interns on The Jason Ellis show. You know, for science.
Those fighters (along with five more strawweights to be named later) will compete on the 20th season of The Ultimate Fighter, which begins filming in May 2014. The winner of the season will become the UFC’s inaugural strawweight champion. Coaches for the season haven’t been named yet.
As for Invicta FC, company president Shannon Knapp has put on a happy face and explained that Invicta’s strawweight division will carry on without its 11 best fighters, which seems kind of depressing. But her promotion has had a good working relationship with the UFC since the beginning, and that’s not going to change.
At this point, you probably have a lot of burning questions racing through your heads, so we’ve put together a helpful FAQ to answer some of the major ones…
Q: Does this mean that CagePotato’s sponsorship of Rose Namajunas is effectively over? A: Yeah, pretty much. But we wish Rose the best with the bigger, fancier sponsors that she’ll be snapping up next year. JUST TREAT HER RIGHT, BRO.
Q: I haven’t watched TUF since the Brock Lesnar season. (Chicken shit, chicken salad, good times.) Why can’t the UFC just start putting these women on upcoming fight cards? Like, they could re-book Gadelha vs. Esparza for the inaugural strawweight title on a UFC on FOX 1 show or something. You know what I mean?
(Well, it was fun while it lasted. / Photo via InvictaFC)
Those fighters (along with five more strawweights to be named later) will compete on the 20th season of The Ultimate Fighter, which begins filming in May 2014. The winner of the season will become the UFC’s inaugural strawweight champion. Coaches for the season haven’t been named yet.
As for Invicta FC, company president Shannon Knapp has put on a happy face and explained that Invicta’s strawweight division will carry on without its 11 best fighters, which seems kind of depressing. But her promotion has had a good working relationship with the UFC since the beginning, and that’s not going to change.
At this point, you probably have a lot of burning questions racing through your heads, so we’ve put together a helpful FAQ to answer some of the major ones…
Q: Does this mean that CagePotato’s sponsorship of Rose Namajunas is effectively over? A: Yeah, pretty much. But we wish Rose the best with the bigger, fancier sponsors that she’ll be snapping up next year. JUST TREAT HER RIGHT, BRO.
Q: I haven’t watched TUF since the Brock Lesnar season. (Chicken shit, chicken salad, good times.) Why can’t the UFC just start putting these women on upcoming fight cards? Like, they could re-book Gadelha vs. Esparza for the inaugural strawweight title on a FOX Sports 1 show or something. You know what I mean? A: I do know what you mean, and the answer is that the UFC still holds the antiquated belief that The Ultimate Fighter builds stars and people enjoy watching it. That hasn’t been true for a long time, and the worst part is that some great strawweight fighters will probably never officially make it into the Octagon because they lose their first fight on TUF. That could happen to any of these 11 women, considering how talented they are as a group.
Still, let’s put the criticism in perspective — if Invicta threw together a 12-week Strawweight Grand Prix featuring Rose Namajunas, Felice Herrig, Bec Hyatt, Claudia Gadelha, Joanne Calderwood, Paige Van Zant, Tecia Torres, and Carla Esparza, we’d all think it was the most badass thing ever. Well, at least ReX and I would. (And Eric Holden, obviously.) At the very least, we expect some fun televised hijinx from the more colorful members of the cast.
Q: Will CagePotato be doing episode recaps for this season? A: Most likely, we will follow the TUF 18 format of doing full recaps for the first half of the season, then getting bored and just throwing up video highlights for the rest of the season when it becomes clear that none of our readers care anymore.
Q: Does time-travel exist? And if so, can I use it to skip past TUF 19 entirely? A: Funny story. When I was abducted by those aliens last year, they showed me an advanced kind of DVR, which they used to skip ahead to future seasons of any television show beamed in from Earth. (They called it a “skipper,” which in their cute alien accents sounded like “skeepuh.”) So yes, the technology exists. Is it worth getting your orifices probed, just to see how Mad Men ends? Absolutely.
(Complete Invicta FC 4 main card broadcast, courtesy of Invicta FC)
Saturday’s Invicta FC 4 event at Memorial Hall in Kansas City, KS, was supposed to be a significant step forward for the all-female promotion, as the main card was presented as an Internet pay-per-view for the first time. (Previously, Invicta’s events had been streamed online for free.) Unfortunately, the broadcast turned out to be a technical fiasco. Due to issues with payment processing and an uncooperative streaming partner, paying customers were unable to log on to watch the event. Even after the paywall was removed — and full refunds were offered to those who had already shelled out cash — the stream was still unreliable.
It was a worst-case-scenario for Invicta FC, whose budding fanbase might be wary of paying for similar broadcasts in the future. In a post-event interview with Ben Fowlkes at MMAJunkie, Invicta president Shannon Knapp seemed to acknowledge that securing a TV deal for her promotion has become more critical than ever, in the wake of their failed iPPV experiment.
As for the fights themselves? They certainly had their moments, although the main card was further cursed by a near-total lack of stoppages. In the headliner, former collegiate wrestler Carla Esparza and late-replacement Bec Hyatt waged war in Invicta’s first strawweight (115 pounds) title fight. Esparza’s relentless takedowns and top control helped her win all five rounds on the judges’ scorecards, but the colorful Aussie didn’t make it easy for her, stinging Esparza with her striking every time the women were on their feet.
The event’s official “Fight of the Night” award went to Alexis Davis and Shayna Baszler, who turned in a fantastic grappling battle that ended in the third round when Davis put Baszler to sleep with a rear-naked choke. It was the only bout on the main card that didn’t go to the scorecards. We suggest that you skip to the 2:02:59 mark of the video above to watch the fight — or just check out these two photos that tell the story pretty well by themselves…
(Complete Invicta FC 4 main card broadcast, courtesy of Invicta FC)
Saturday’s Invicta FC 4 event at Memorial Hall in Kansas City, KS, was supposed to be a significant step forward for the all-female promotion, as the main card was presented as an Internet pay-per-view for the first time. (Previously, Invicta’s events had been streamed online for free.) Unfortunately, the broadcast turned out to be a technical fiasco. Due to issues with payment processing and an uncooperative streaming partner, paying customers were unable to log on to watch the event. Even after the paywall was removed — and full refunds were offered to those who had already shelled out cash — the stream was still unreliable.
It was a worst-case-scenario for Invicta FC, whose budding fanbase might be wary of paying for similar broadcasts in the future. In a post-event interview with Ben Fowlkes at MMAJunkie, Invicta president Shannon Knapp seemed to acknowledge that securing a TV deal for her promotion has become more critical than ever, in the wake of their failed iPPV experiment.
As for the fights themselves? They certainly had their moments, although the main card was further cursed by a near-total lack of stoppages. In the headliner, former collegiate wrestler Carla Esparza and late-replacement Bec Hyatt waged war in Invicta’s first strawweight (115 pounds) title fight. Esparza’s relentless takedowns and top control helped her win all five rounds on the judges’ scorecards, but the colorful Aussie didn’t make it easy for her, stinging Esparza with her striking every time the women were on their feet.
The event’s official “Fight of the Night” award went to Alexis Davis and Shayna Baszler, who turned in a fantastic grappling battle that ended in the third round when Davis put Baszler to sleep with a rear-naked choke. It was the only bout on the main card that didn’t go to the scorecards. We suggest that you skip to the 2:02:59 mark of the video above to watch the fight — or just check out these two photos that tell the story pretty well by themselves…
Let’s have a moment of silence for Hiroko Yamanaka, who has somehow become the go-to opponent for freakish Brazilian sluggers. This time, the lanky ex-dominatrix came face to face with Ediane Gomes, who, as ZombieProphet reminds us, once competed in a vale tudo match against a dude. Gomes mauled Yamanaka in the first round — nearly securing a stoppage via ground-and-pound — but Yamanaka held on until the bell, and began to shift the momentum in the third frame when Gomes ran out of gas. Unfortunately it was too little too late, as Gomes hung on for the unanimous decision victory.
The preliminary card saw significantly more finishes with four of the seven bouts ending within the distance. Notably, Pat Barry’s girlfriend Rose Namajunas won her professional MMA debut, submitting Emily Kagan by third-round rear-naked choke in their strawweight bout. Even as a cornerman, Pat Barry is entertaining and explosive:
Also on the prelims, featherweight* knockout machine Veronica “The Heartbreaker” Rothenhausler — who won her last two amateur fights in a combined ten seconds — was victorious in her pro debut, KO’ing Katalina Malungahu in the first round. Seriously, this woman has freakish power. (Check out the GIF here, via BloodyElbow.) Rothenhausler. Rothenhausler. Rothenhausler. Remember that name, folks.
Sadly, our latest “Hot Fighter Alert” recipient Paige VanZant was routed in a unanimous decision by fellow strawweight Tecia Torres. Though VanZant looked to be in over her head at times, she showed tremendous heart in staying in the fight for all fifteen minutes. Keep in mind that VanZant is still just 18 years old; we definitely haven’t seen the last of “12 Gauge” Paige.
On that note, judging from the weigh-in video, victorious prelim fighter Laura Marcusse-Sanko has “Future Hot Fighter Alert” written all over her.
