(Admit it. You’re gonna miss that face. | Photo via MMAWeekly)
UFC lightweight Paul Taylor has retired from MMA competition after the most recent of a long string of injuries forced him out of at least his fourth fight in the last three years. Taylor hasn’t fought since his knockout win against Gabe Ruediger in February 2011.
“All his old injuries flared up in training,” a source close to Taylor told Fighters Only. “He’s very disappointed not to be fighting on the Manchester card but there’s nothing he can do, these injuries just won’t go away.”
Taylor ends his career with an overall record of 11-6-1 (with 1 NC), and a 4-5 tally in the UFC. But despite his journeyman’s record, Taylor was a consistently exciting fighter, winning three Fight of The Night bonuses since he began his Octagon run in 2007. (In particular, his UFC 75 battle against Marcus Davis remains one of the greatest one-round fights in UFC history.) Taylor was also key part of the organization’s promotional efforts in his native Britain. Taylor fought six times for the UFC in the UK.
Like Shane Carwin, Paul Taylor had enough talent and heart to have a much longer career in mixed martial arts, but his body simply didn’t cooperate. Enjoy retirement and be well, “Relentless” Paul.
(Admit it. You’re gonna miss that face. | Photo via MMAWeekly)
UFC lightweight Paul Taylor has retired from MMA competition after the most recent of a long string of injuries forced him out of at least his fourth fight in the last three years. Taylor hasn’t fought since his knockout win against Gabe Ruediger in February 2011.
“All his old injuries flared up in training,” a source close to Taylor told Fighters Only. “He’s very disappointed not to be fighting on the Manchester card but there’s nothing he can do, these injuries just won’t go away.”
Taylor ends his career with an overall record of 11-6-1 (with 1 NC), and a 4-5 tally in the UFC. But despite his journeyman’s record, Taylor was a consistently exciting fighter, winning three Fight of The Night bonuses since he began his Octagon run in 2007. (In particular, his UFC 75 battle against Marcus Davis remains one of the greatest one-round fights in UFC history.) Taylor was also key part of the organization’s promotional efforts in his native Britain. Taylor fought six times for the UFC in the UK.
Like Shane Carwin, Paul Taylor had enough talent and heart to have a much longer career in mixed martial arts, but his body simply didn’t cooperate. Enjoy retirement and be well, “Relentless” Paul.
British lightweight Paul Taylor is undoubtedly one of the most entertaining fighters in the UFC…when he actually manages to make it into the cage. His ability to do so has become less and less frequent over the past few years, and it’s truly a shame for fans of a good old fashioned throwdown. Taylor was scheduled to return to action for the first time in over a year against Anthony Njokuani at UFC on FUEL 4, which goes down from the HP Pavillion in San Jose on July 11th, but word just broke that he has been forced to withdraw from the bout yet again, and will be replaced by Rafael Dos Anjos.
Although Taylor is an unspectacular 4-5 thus far in his UFC career, his victories include a most recent trouncing of Gabe Ruediger at 126, as well as entertaining victories over Peter Sobatta, Jess Liaudin, and Edilberto de Oliveira. Oddly enough, Taylor has earned his reputation and “Relentless” moniker by managing to be even more captivating in defeat, with his high-profile losses to Marcus Davis, Paul Kelly, and Chris Lytle all earning him Fight of the Night bonuses at UFC 75, 80, and 89, respectively.
But ever since dropping to lightweight, Taylor has spent so much time nursing various injuries that even James Irvin is beginning to look like the picture of health in comparison. OK, that might be an exaggeration, but if you were to peruse over Taylor’s Wikipedia page, you would find that the phrase “was expected to face” appears more times than the phrase “won by.” Sad but true, folks.
Check out the full history of Taylor’s troubles after the jump.
(At least we’ll always have the memories…)
British lightweight Paul Taylor is undoubtedly one of the most entertaining fighters in the UFC…when he actually manages to make it into the cage. His ability to do so has become less and less frequent over the past few years, and it’s truly a shame for fans of a good old fashioned throwdown. Taylor was scheduled to return to action for the first time in over a year against Anthony Njokuani at UFC on FUEL 4, which goes down from the HP Pavillion in San Jose on July 11th, but word just broke that he has been forced to withdraw from the bout yet again, and will be replaced by Rafael Dos Anjos.
Although Taylor is an unspectacular 4-5 thus far in his UFC career, his victories include a most recent trouncing of Gabe Ruediger at 126, as well as entertaining victories over Peter Sobatta, Jess Liaudin, and Edilberto de Oliveira. Oddly enough, Taylor has earned his reputation and “Relentless” moniker by managing to be even more captivating in defeat, with his high-profile losses to Marcus Davis, Paul Kelly, and Chris Lytle all earning him Fight of the Night bonuses at UFC 75, 80, and 89, respectively.
But ever since dropping to lightweight, Taylor has spent so much time nursing various injuries that even James Irvin is beginning to look like the picture of health in comparison. OK, that might be an exaggeration, but if you were to peruse over Taylor’s Wikipedia page, you would find that the phrase “was expected to face” appears more times than the phrase “won by.” Sad but true, folks.
Just check out his injury-ridden history:
-Taylor “was expected to face” John Gunderson at UFC 112, but was deemed medically unfit to fight after he came down with intense migraines as a result of his weight cut.
-He was next scheduled to face John Makdessi at UFC on Versus 5 in August of 2011, but both he and Makdessi were forced out of the bout with injuries (Talyor’s being a broken foot) and were replaced by Donald Cerrone and Charles Oliviera, respectively.
As we mentioned, Taylor has already been replaced by Rafael Dos Anjos, who is fresh off a first round shellacking of Kamal Shalorus on the undercard of UFC on FUEL 3. After blistering “The Prince of Persia” with a head kick, Dos Anjos finished off Shalorus with a rear-naked choke that quickly erased most fans memories of his split decision loss to Gleison Tibau back at UFC 139.
Njokuani has also split his last two contests, most recently rebounding from a split decision loss to Danny Castillo at UFC 141 with an impressive unanimous decision nod over John Makdessi at UFC 145.
Who do you got for this one, Potato Nation? And more importantly, when the hell do you think we’ll ever see Taylor back in the octagon?
(At least there will always be this to tide us over.)
Bad news for any of you Brits out there planning on attending UFC 138 (because, let’s be honest, you will be the only ones doing so.) Word has it that Paul Taylor has suffered minor whiplash as a result of a recent rear-end collision he was involved in and will not be competing in his main card lightweight clash with Anthony Njokuani.
As you may or may not remember, this is not the first time Taylor has been forced to pull out of a fight at the last minute. Back at UFC 112, he was deemed medically unfit to compete just days before his bout with John Gunderson after suffering a severe migraine as a result of his weight cut. This marks the third total fight in Taylor’s UFC career that he has withdrawn from as a result of injury. One more, and he will be entering James Irvin territory, which is second only to Cabrini-Green in terms of places no one ever wants to find themself.
(At least there will always be this to tide us over.)
Bad news for any of you Brits out there planning on attending UFC 138 (because, let’s be honest, you will be the only ones doing so.) Word has it that Paul Taylor has suffered minor whiplash as a result of a recent rear-end collision he was involved in and will not be competing in his main card lightweight clash with Anthony Njokuani.
As you may or may not remember, this is not the first time Taylor has been forced to pull out of a fight at the last minute. Back at UFC 112, he was deemed medically unfit to compete just days before his bout with John Gunderson after suffering a severe migraine as a result of his weight cut. This marks the third total fight in Taylor’s UFC career that he has withdrawn from as a result of injury. One more, and he will be entering James Irvin territory, which is second only to Cabrini-Green in terms of places no one ever wants to find themself.
Taylor, who most recently shellacked UFC punching bag/Paris Hilton trainer Gabe Rudiger back at UFC 126, has gone 3-3 in his last 6 bouts, with all of those victories coming over now released fighters. Njokuani on the other hand, is coming off an impressive decision victory over TUF 9 finalist Andre Winner, but will now be forced to withdraw from the card due to a lack of a replaceable opponent.
Moving up to the main card as a result will be the light heavyweight bout between Australian submission specialist Anthony “Hippo” Perosh and French stiker Cyrille Diabate. After going 0-2 in his first UFC tour of duty, Perosh was called back to the big leagues at UFC 110, where he suffered a second round doctor stoppage loss to Mirko Cro Cop. Perosh was able to bounce back and earn his first UFC win at UFC 127 however, scoring a first round rear-naked choke over Tom Blackledge.
He is facing a tough test in Diabate, a lethal striker and PRIDE veteran who has gone 2-1 in his octagon career, scoring perhaps his most notable victory in his debut, where he knocked out Luis Cane in just over 2 minutes. After suffering a second round submission in his sophomore match to Alexander Gustafsson, “The Snake” will be looking to build on his most recent victory, a somewhat lackluster decision over Steve Cantwell at UFC on Versus 3.
UFC 138 is set to transpire on November 5th and will be broadcast live in the US on Spike.
Filed under: UFC, NewsPaul Taylor has been forced to pull out of his UFC 138 lightweight fight against Anthony Njokuani due to an undisclosed injury suffered in a car accident on Monday, UFC officials confirmed with MMAFighting.com.
Paul Taylor has been forced to pull out of his UFC 138 lightweight fight against Anthony Njokuani due to an undisclosed injury suffered in a car accident on Monday, UFC officials confirmed with MMAFighting.com.
According to UFC.com, Taylor’s car was rear-ended at a red light and he suffered whiplash. The injury is not considered to be career-threatening, but it was serious enough to keep him off the card. Due to the event being just five days away, Njokuani will be kept off the card.
ESPN UK first reported Taylor’s removal from the card on Tuesday.
As a result, the Cyrille Diabate vs. Anthony Perosh light heavyweightfight has been bumped up to the main card, which will air live via tape delay in the United States on Spike TV.
The Frenchman Diabate (17-7-1) is 2-1 inside the Octagon. He most recently defeated Steve Cantwell at UFC Live on Versus 3 in March.
The Australian Perosh (11-6) is 1-3 in the UFC. He defeated Tom Blackledge at UFC 127 in February to earn his first UFC win. He was scheduled to meet Krzysztof Soszynski at UFC 131, however, he pulled out of the fight due to an eye injury.
UFC 138 takes place Saturday night from LG Arena in Birmingham, England, headlined by Mark Munoz vs. Chris Leben.
Filed under: UFCDonald Cerrone’s 2011 will continue to stay busy. “Cowboy” will step in for an injured John Makdessi to fight Paul Taylor at UFC on Versus 5 in August in Milwaukee.
The UFC announced Monday night that Makdessi had pulled out of the fi…
The UFC announced Monday night that Makdessi had pulled out of the fight with Taylor, of England, due to an injury. And Cerrone, already 2-0 this year and fresh off a unanimous decision win over Vagner Rocha at UFC 131 just over two weeks ago, will step in.
The fight could prove to be a standup battle – both fighters are renowned kickboxers. But Cerrone has 80 percent of his career victories by submission.
Cerrone (15-3, 1 NC, 2-0 UFC), one of the WEC’s standout and most popular fighters before the merger with the UFC, went 6-3 with one no contest as a lightweight in that promotion. His three losses all came with the WEC lightweight title on the line – once in a controversial split decision loss to Jamie Varner, and twice to Ben Henderson.
Cerrone, a Greg Jackson-trained fighter, won five Fight of the Night bonuses in the WEC and started his UFC career with a submission win over Paul Kelly that also won a Fight of the Night award at UFC 126 in February. That win gave Cerrone four straight.
Taylor (11-6-1, 1 NC, 4-5 UFC) is coming off a head kick knockout of Gabe Ruediger at UFC 126, which snapped a two-fight skid that saw him drop decisions to Sam Stout and John Hathaway.
Taylor has been with the UFC since UFC 70 in April 2007, a win over Edilberto de Oliveira. After that TKO victory, Taylor won Fight of the Night bonuses in three of his next four fights – though all three of those came in losses to renowned bonus hounds Chris Lytle and Marcus Davis, and one to fellow Englishman Paul Kelly.
UFC on Versus 5 will be the promotion’s debut in Wisconsin after MMA sanctioning was passed there recently. The show will take place at the Bradley Center, home to the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks.
The card will feature a main event between Lytle and former welterweight title challenger Dan Hardy, who has lost three straight. The show also will feature a lightweight bout between Jim Miller and Henderson – with Miller looking for his eighth straight victory and a likely title shot if he gets past the former WEC lightweight champ.
Donald Cerrone