Tag: Pittsburgh

Luke Rockhold’s UFC Return Is Finally Set

It’s been over a full year since we last saw former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold compete when he was shockingly knocked out by current champion Michael Bisping in the first round of their late replacement bout at June 2016’s UFC 199. Rockhold was then scheduled to face old foe Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza, whom he […]

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It’s been over a full year since we last saw former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold compete when he was shockingly knocked out by current champion Michael Bisping in the first round of their late replacement bout at June 2016’s UFC 199.

Rockhold was then scheduled to face old foe Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza, whom he won the Strikeforce middleweight championship from, last November, but a knee injury forced him out. Since then, Rockhold has largely remained out of the limelight, healing from the knee injury and biding his time.

And when he did choose to finally speak out, it was against his employers at the UFC, against whom he said his fellow middleweights should organize a strike after the supremely skilled 185-pound fray was in a state of confusion due to Bisping chasing a bout with former welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre and nursing his own knee injury.

Rumors of a bout with rising contender Gegard Mousasi swirled, but those ultimately fell by the wayside when “The Dreamcatcher” left the UFC and signed with Bellator MMA.

So Rockhold’s return was left in limbo; that is, until this evening (Sat., July 22, 2017) when the promotion announced that Rockhold will return against former World Series of Fighting (WSOF) middleweight and light heavyweight champion David Branch in the main event of UFC Fight Night Pittsburgh on September 16, 2017 from the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Rockhold was in attendance at UFC on FOX 25 from Uniondale, New York, and made an appearance when his fight was announced:

So the former champion will finally return after a long layoff as he attempts to climb back to a shot at the belt he held briefly. However, it’s safe to wonder just how far a win over Branch, who only recently returned to the UFC and is justifiably ranked well below the No. 3-ranked Rockhold.

A bout against recent interim title challenger Yoel Romero was also rumored for Rockhold’s return, but clearly couldn’t be negotiated. Is it a good idea for Rockhold to take what many feel will be a “tuneup” fight in his return, or will Branch prove that the former champ has actually signed on for a lose-lose-proposition?

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UFC Fight Night 83 Post-Fight Press Conference

UFC Fight Night 83 went down this past evening (February 21, 2016) from the CONSOL Energy Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The promotion presented a six fight main card live and free on FOX Sports 1. The main event featured a battle of Cowboys as former lightweight title challenger Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone clashed with Brazilian “Cowboy”

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UFC Fight Night 83 went down this past evening (February 21, 2016) from the CONSOL Energy Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The promotion presented a six fight main card live and free on FOX Sports 1.

The main event featured a battle of Cowboys as former lightweight title challenger Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone clashed with Brazilian “Cowboy” Alex Oliveira in a welterweight bout.

Surging middleweights Derek Brunson and Roan “Jucao” Carneiro fought in the co-main event.

Team Alpha Male staple and rising bantamweight Cody “No Love” Garbrandt also fought on the main card, taking on late replacement opponent Augusto Mendes.

Check out what the fighters had to say after the bouts in the post-fight press conference below provided by the UFC:

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Donald Cerrone Now Set To Meet Alex Oliveira In Pittsburgh

Former lightweight title challenger and fan favorite Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone was originally scheduled to face off with Tim “Dirty Bird” Means in a welterweight bout at UFC Fight Night 83 on February 21, 2016 from Pittsburgh, California. However, after Means was flagged yesterday (February 3, 2016) for a potential violation from USADA (United States Anti-Doping

The post Donald Cerrone Now Set To Meet Alex Oliveira In Pittsburgh appeared first on LowKick MMA.

Former lightweight title challenger and fan favorite Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone was originally scheduled to face off with Tim “Dirty Bird” Means in a welterweight bout at UFC Fight Night 83 on February 21, 2016 from Pittsburgh, California.

However, after Means was flagged yesterday (February 3, 2016) for a potential violation from USADA (United States Anti-Doping Agency), the UFC was forced to seek a new opponent.

It has now been confirmed that the promotion has called on another man dubbed “Cowboy” in Alex Oliveira to take on Cerrone in the night’s main event.

The Brazilian has won three straight including impressive finishes over K.J Noons, and most recently Piotr Hallman last November. He will be making his return to 170 pounds and undoubtedly facing off with his toughest test to date.

Cerrone will also be jumping up to welterweight for this fight after a failed bid for the lightweight title last December. Prior to being on the wrong side of a beating from 155 pound champ Rafael dos Anjos, the always game “Cowboy” had won an incredible eight straight including five by way of finish.

Looking to start a new run in his new division, Cerrone will aim to get back to his winning ways in Pittsburgh

Who are you picking in this one, and what do you think of the new main event?

The post Donald Cerrone Now Set To Meet Alex Oliveira In Pittsburgh appeared first on LowKick MMA.

UFC Live: Kongo vs Barry & My Experience from the Seats of Consol Energy Center

The date was June 26th, 2011. The event was UFC Live on Versus 4. The place was the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
This was when and where I attended my first live event held by the UFC. I must admit I was overly excited for a chance…

The date was June 26th, 2011. The event was UFC Live on Versus 4. The place was the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

This was when and where I attended my first live event held by the UFC. I must admit I was overly excited for a chance to see some of the best athletes in the world, competing right in front of my eyes.

I entered the arena early as I wanted to experience the arena and set-up before fans filled the seats in. The lights were dimmed and the Octagon was lit up which made for some good pictures. As fans started pouring in, the seats filled, and the excitement built. I was ready for some UFC action.

The card was changed multiple times for various reasons and the main attractions such as Nate Marquardt, Anthony Johnson, and Martin Kampmann were all removed from the card but as I looked at the fights presented, it looked to be a very good card. That statement though, was very underrated as the UFC held on of the best shows ever, as stated by Dana White himself.

The show had a lot of finishes and the fights that went to a decision were pretty entertaining. The event had a huge upset and one of the most memorable comebacks in the history of MMA.

This will go down as one of the best sets of fights on a card in a long time and I was very grateful to have experienced this in person.

Begin Slideshow

Pat Barry Readying the Landmine for UFC on Versus 4

Three of Pat Barry’s six career victories have come by way of technical knockout via leg kicks—a rare finish for fighters. Another “HD” rarity: he’s a former K-1 kickboxer successfully fashioning a mixed martial arts caree…

Three of Pat Barry’s six career victories have come by way of technical knockout via leg kicks—a rare finish for fighters.

Another “HD” rarity: he’s a former K-1 kickboxer successfully fashioning a mixed martial arts career. The stand-up skills the Duke Roufus protégé brings to the Octagon this Sunday night at the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburg, Penn. prompt the boisterous heavyweight to confidently claim French striker Cheick Kongo will take him down.

“I can guarantee that anybody that I fight is gonna take the fight to the ground. That’s no mystery or no secret that going to the ground is definitely where you have your best chance of beating me,” said Barry to ESPN’s Inside the Cage Radio. “You’re not going to stand there with Mike Tyson in the UFC and just box with him the whole time.”

The 31-year-old started jiu-jitsu just weeks before jumping into MMA in May 2008. Three years of experience has slowly given the Louisiana-native requisite understanding for this level of MMA on the mat, but it’s been working with the DeathClutch gym in Minnesota that has Barry finally grasping wrestling and jiu-jitsu to bolster his stand-up game.

“Not that its gonna happen–but don’t be too shocked to see me take the fight to the ground,” said the former U.S. Sanshou champion.

Working with NCAA National Champions Brock Lesnar, Cole Konrad and Marty Morgan, Barry has found himself in grappling situations just as rugged as the kickboxing sessions he fell in love with as a college student. Trial by fire is a speedy learning process. 

“It’s either lay there and get smothered by these guys and die—and they’ll just throw you in the dumpster behind the gym—or figure out how to get out from under them and stop them from taking you to the ground,” he said, adding, “[Konrad]’s body molds around yours so there’s nowhere to go.”

The rigors of training at DeathClutch have endowed Barry with a heightened sense of toughness he’s sure Kongo won’t be able to break down.

“They’ll take you over and body slam you on a dumbbell. You’re supposed to be totally fine with that,” said Barry, 3-2 in the Octagon. “You can’t stand up and say, ‘Hey, you threw me on a dumbbell.’ You’re supposed to stand up and say, ‘Good move,’ or something like that. Even when they demo stuff!”

The experience has focused Barry on harnessing his own dangerous traits. Wrestling with Morgan and Konrad has been so frustrating at times, he’s shoved them away and unloaded bare-fisted punches into their abdomens. It’s what Morgan was attempting to bring forth all along: no remorse with any movement in a fight.

Barry boasts all heavyweights who take a leg kick from him will feel like they stepped on a landmine. The realities of mixed martial arts have made landing them more difficult though. Defending takedowns and getting back up caused him to tire, limiting his movement and chances at landing explosive striking. The slew of heavyweight training partners emphasizing grappling has not only solved that problem, but it’s strengthened his kicking ability.

“It’s helped out my entire game. I’ve uncontrollably had no choice but to get stronger. I’m a pretty muscular guy. None of that is real. It’s all fake. It was all filled with helium,” said Barry. “Wrestling with these guys, they’ve actually become functional. I’ve actually gotten strong. I look like I should be for the first time ever.”

How Barry looks Sunday night depends on whether or not he can get the landmine leg kick to detonate against Cheick Kongo. 

Follow Danny Acosta on twitter.com/acostaislegend

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC on Versus 4 to Feature Eight Prelim Fights Live on Facebook

Filed under: UFCIt’s been six months since the UFC began experimenting with preliminary card fights on Facebook, and on Sunday it will set a new high-water mark.

The promotion on Monday announced that all eight undercard fights for the upcoming UFC o…

Filed under:

It’s been six months since the UFC began experimenting with preliminary card fights on Facebook, and on Sunday it will set a new high-water mark.

The promotion on Monday announced that all eight undercard fights for the upcoming UFC on Versus 4 show will stream live on the social networking site. Just last week, with UFC 131, the promotion set a new best with six prelims streaming on Facebook.

This will mark the 11th consecutive fight card that the UFC has streamed fights for free at Facebook, and it will be the fifth consecutive show the promotion has provided a way for fans to see each fight on the card live.

UFC on Versus 4 will feature a four-fight main card that airs live on the Versus cable channel, the second of the UFC’s four-fight 2011 deal with the channel. The Facebook live stream is scheduled to begin at 4:55 p.m. Eastern. The main card starts at 9 p.m. Eastern on Versus. Versus will also again produce a live pre-fight preview show and post-fight analysis show before and after the main card featuring Todd Harris, UFC light heavyweight Stephan Bonnar and MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani.

To gain access to the fights, viewers must “like” the UFC on Facebook. As of Monday evening, the UFC has more than 5.7 million fans at the site.

The “main” and “co-main” events of the Facebook prelims are featherweight bouts featuring a pair of former lightweights dropping down – both looking to snap out of disastrous three-fight losing skids.

Tyson Griffin (14-5, 7-5 UFC) returns to featherweight for the first time since the early part of his career to face Manny Gamburyan (11-5, 2-3 UFC), who fights for the first time since a knockout loss to featherweight champion Jose Aldo last November in a WEC title fight. Griffin has split decision losses to Evan Dunham and Nik Lentz in the last year, plus a quick first-round knockout loss to Takanori Gomi last August on Versus. Gamburyan fights in the UFC for the first time in two years after dropping to featherweight and sliding over to the WEC, where he went 3-0 before his loss to Aldo.

And Joe Stevenson (31-13, 8-7 UFC), the Season 2 welterweight winner of “The Ultimate Fighter,” goes for his first win since October 2009 when he takes on Javier Vazquez (15-5), who makes his UFC debut after going 2-3 in the WEC. Stevenson has dropped decisions to George Sotiropoulos and Danny Castillo, and was knocked out by Mac Danzig in December. Stevenson is 3-6 since challenging BJ Penn for the lightweight title at UFC 80 three and a half years ago, including the loss to Penn. Monday, on “The MMA Hour,” Stevenson talked about his dislike of Vazquez and why he dropped to featherweight.

The Facebook prelims stream opens with a lightweight bout between TUF 12 runner-up Michael Johnson, fighting for the first time since losing to Jonathan Brookins in December on the show’s finale, against Edward Faaloto, who makes his UFC debut after a loss in his WEC debut last November.

Nik Lentz (21-3-2, 5-0-1 UFC) tries to remain unbeaten in the UFC against submission specialist Charles Oliveira in a lightweight bout.

Rich Attonito drops from middleweight after a loss to Dave Branch in December to make his welterweight debut against Daniel Roberts, who lost to Claude Patrick at UFC 129 in April. Attonito was original scheduled to face Matt Brown, but an injury to Martin Kampmann forced him out of a fight with John Howard, and Brown moved up the card for that fight. Roberts stepped in to face Attonito.

Other bouts include a featherweight contest between Ricardo Lamas and Matt Grice, a welterweight bout between Charlie Brenneman and TJ Grant, and Joe Lauzon returns for the first time since a UFC 123 loss in November to Sotiropoulos to face England’s Curt Warburton.

The UFC began streaming preliminary fights in January with its Fight for the Troops 2 show at Fort Hood, Texas. Since then, the promotion has included free Facebook fights for each event, regardless of the main card’s platform – be it on pay-per-view, Spike or Versus.

UFC on Versus 4 takes place Sunday at the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh, and will be the promotion’s first event in the Pennsylvania city. The card features a main event between Nate Marquardt and Rick Story – with Marquardt making his welterweight debut and Story fighting on short notice after a win just a month prior against Thiago Alves at UFC 130. Marquardt was scheduled to face Anthony Johnson, but an injury forced Johnson off the card.

And in a pair of heavyweight bouts, kickboxing specialists Pat Barry and Cheick Kongo clash, and Matt Mitrione looks to stay unbeaten against Christian Morecraft, whose last win sent Mitrione friend and training partner Sean McCorkle packing from the UFC.

 

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