Tag: polls

Poll: Does Alexander Gustafsson Deserve The Next Title Shot?

Top-ranked UFC light heavyweight Alexander Gustafsson burst back into the UFC 205-pound title picture in a big way at yesterday’s (Sun., May 28, 2017) UFC Fight Night 109 from the Ericsson Globe in Stockholm, Sweden, knocking out fellow former title challenger Glover Teixeira with a brutal fifth-round sequence following a drawn-out beatdown. The win, at […]

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Top-ranked UFC light heavyweight Alexander Gustafsson burst back into the UFC 205-pound title picture in a big way at yesterday’s (Sun., May 28, 2017) UFC Fight Night 109 from the Ericsson Globe in Stockholm, Sweden, knocking out fellow former title challenger Glover Teixeira with a brutal fifth-round sequence following a drawn-out beatdown.

The win, at least for now, put to rest question marks about Gustafsson after he had gone 2-3 over his past five bouts with an uninspiring decision over Jan Blachowicz serving as his most recent win. But despite the lackluster record on paper, Gustafsson has given the world’s top two light heavyweights, Daniel Cormier and Jon Jones, extreme runs for their money in two of the best back-and-forth bouts the division has ever seen at UFC 192 and UFC 165, respectively.

Those facts and the sheer lack of true depth in the division following Anthony Johnson’s impromptu retirement at UFC 210 have “The Mauler” on the precipice of yet another title shot against the winner of Cormier vs. Jones II at July 29’s UFC 214 from Anaheim, California (if it actually happens).

The only other legitimate title challenger to the throne would be surging knockout artist Jimi Manuwa, who is Gustafsson’s good friend ironically enough, even after “The Mauler” finished “Poster Boy” in their initial match in 2014. True, Cormier and Jones could run it back a third time, but there wouldn’t be too many complaining about the lightning-quick Swede getting another crack at either champion whom he only narrowly lost to the first time.

What do you think? Should “The Mauler” get a title shot in his next bout?

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Poll: Should Nate Diaz Fight Tony Ferguson?

Yesterday (Wed., May 3, 2017) Nate Diaz set the MMA world afire with his lengthy interview on a special episode of “The MMA Hour” with Ariel Helwani. Diaz had much to say about a litany of topics from the new UFC owners to Conor McGregor’s long-rumored boxing match with Floyd Mayweather, but the most disappointing

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Yesterday (Wed., May 3, 2017) Nate Diaz set the MMA world afire with his lengthy interview on a special episode of “The MMA Hour” with Ariel Helwani.

Diaz had much to say about a litany of topics from the new UFC owners to Conor McGregor’s long-rumored boxing match with Floyd Mayweather, but the most disappointing part of the entertaining segment, at least for his legions of fans, was when Diaz revealed he would be taking the rest of the year off to participate in his beloved triathlons, as the UFC hadn’t made him an offer high enough to come back.

He also detailed how he had initially accepted but ultimately turned down a bout with Tony Ferguson at July 8’s UFC 213, citing a number of reactions from fans online. Diaz understandably wants his rubber match with McGregor and the highly lucrative purse that comes with it, and it’s plain to see why from his point of view. He’s the only man to defeat McGregor in the octagon and did so by submission, and his one loss to “The Notorious” came in a close majority decision.

So it doesn’t make much sense for him to fight the surging Ferguson, who is a dangerous opponent who brings only a small piece of the hype and attention that a potentially record-setting bout with McGregor would. No matter what, the UFC needs stars for its big summer run, and it could make sense for them to just pay the piper and get Diaz in the octagon.

That doesn’t look like it’s happening, however. Should he have agreed to fight Ferguson?

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When Will The Wars Catch Up To Cub Swanson?

Cub Swanson picked up his fourth straight UFC win over Artem Lobov last night (Sat., April 22, 2017) in a brutal war in the main event of UFC Fight Night 108 (watch full highlights here) from Nashville, Tennessee. The victory has the ultra-exciting Swanson on the cusp of a coveted UFC featherweight title shot, and indeed

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Cub Swanson picked up his fourth straight UFC win over Artem Lobov last night (Sat., April 22, 2017) in a brutal war in the main event of UFC Fight Night 108 (watch full highlights here) from Nashville, Tennessee.

The victory has the ultra-exciting Swanson on the cusp of a coveted UFC featherweight title shot, and indeed he would seem like the most likely – and most deserving – 145-pound title contender for the winner of June 3’s UFC 212 headliner between Jose Aldo and Max Holloway. But the victory was also Swanson’s fourth fight in just over 12 months, and each bout went the full distance regardless of if Swanson won handily or not.

One of those wins, his “Fight of the Year”-winning battle with Doo Ho Choi at last December’s UFC 206, was an all-out slobberknocker where Swanson absorbed a huge amount of punishment himself. He’s also lost by knockout to the top two featherweights in the world in Aldo and Holloway.

And while he definitely threw and landed pretty much everything in his arsenal on Lobov last night, as Bloody Elbow’s Connor Ruebusch pointed out, he absorbed a whopping 123 significant strikes in doing so, much more than the other five-round main events he’s fought, his brutal stoppage loss to Edgar and his strong decision win over power striker Jeremy Stephens:

It’s fair to wonder when all these wars will eventually catch up to the 33-year-old veteran, and he also took two some huge beatings and endured serious resulting injuries in the two-fight skid to the division’s elite in Holloway and Edgar prior to the success he’s been building today.

That’s not to trash the accomplishments of the currently surging Jackson-Wink MMA product, because he’s looked nothing but rejuvenated and deadly after returning from almost a year off after the Holloway fight. But this is the fight game, and it’s notoriously cruel. We’ve seen and will continue to see top-level fighters fall off a cliff in terms of skill without any prior notice, something Dana White constantly cites about the fight game when talking to the press.

It may or may not happen to Swanson anytime in the near future, and he’s clearly one of the hottest fighters in MMA right now regardless.

Could that change overnight, however? Or will he continue his run of winning slugfests until he reaches his ultimate goal of being the UFC featherweight champion?

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Poll: Do You Still Love The UFC?

It’s hardly a secret in the MMA world that the UFC is off to an incredibly rough start in the first four months of 2017. Last weekend’s UFC on FOX 24 showed some signs of a turnaround as the best card of the year thus far, but even that packed, exciting event needed a late

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It’s hardly a secret in the MMA world that the UFC is off to an incredibly rough start in the first four months of 2017.

Last weekend’s UFC on FOX 24 showed some signs of a turnaround as the best card of the year thus far, but even that packed, exciting event needed a late rally to avoid becoming the lowest-rated FOX-aired UFC event of all-time. Many blamed a lack of effective promotion, but regardless of a reason, a huge opportunity was missed at a time when the sport needed a shot-in-the-arm type of card.

Add that to the fact that the promotion overbooked the last few months of last year, and you have a messy situation where new owners WME-IMG are attempting to implement a still-developing strategy without much – if any – true top-level star power behind it, the one thing that drove the promotion to its biggest ever year last year.

All of the aspects working against WME seem to be coming to a head right as they’ve attempted to cut costs drastically by laying off fighters and employees, and it has obviously made them look like they don’t know what they’re doing. Whether it’s the often-criticized Reebok deal, hiccups with USADA, or just the strange booking strategy that seems to favor so-called ‘money fights’ like the upcoming Michael Bisping vs. Georges St-Pierre middleweight title fight, it’s clear the new owners have a lot of work to do to continue the success of the Fertitta brothers.

Their insistence to cut fighter costs and pay them a low wage after they let the cat out of the bag by paying $4.2 billion for the company will be an ongoing struggle for them, and it’s clear that their new strategy – or lack thereof – has taken the wind out of the sails of many an MMA fan in the early days of this year.

What do you think? Do you still love the UFC like you used to, and do you think WME will be able to turn it around?

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Poll: Is Demetrious Johnson The Greatest UFC Champion Of All-Time?

Already the top pound-for-pound fighter in MMA, longtime UFC flyweight champion Demetrious ‘Mighty Mouse’ Johnson took one step closer to becoming the best fighter of all-time when he tied Anderson Silva’s record of UFC title defenses with 10 by submitting Wilson Reis in the third round of their main event bout at tonight’s (Sat., April 15, 2017) UFC on

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Already the top pound-for-pound fighter in MMA, longtime UFC flyweight champion Demetrious ‘Mighty Mouse’ Johnson took one step closer to becoming the best fighter of all-time when he tied Anderson Silva’s record of UFC title defenses with 10 by submitting Wilson Reis in the third round of their main event bout at tonight’s (Sat., April 15, 2017) UFC on FOX 24 from the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Missouri.

Johnson simply looked without peer in all facets of fighting, displaying precise, lightning-quick volume striking to hit Reis at will to soften him up for a takedown followed by a seamless segway into a fight-ending armbar. It’s not just the fact “Mighty Mouse” defeats his opponents; it’s that they just don’t have any chance at beating him anywhere the fight goes. His growing list of illustrious accomplishments has him up with all-time greats Anderson Silva, Georges St-Pierre, and Jon Jones, and indeed some already feel he’s surpassed those fighting legends.

That has ‘Mighty Mouse’ on the verge of breaking Silva’s all-time record, where he’ll almost definitely become the best MMA fighter in the sport’s history. Is he already there?

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Does Chris Weidman Deserve A Rematch With Gegard Mousasi?

The co-main event bout between Gegard Mousasi and Chris Weidman (full highlights here) at last night’s (April 8, 2017) UFC 210 from the KeyBank Center in Buffalo, New York, began as the exciting, back-and-forth bout many thought it would be when it was signed. Unfortunately it then developed into a controversy-filled talking point when referee Dan

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The co-main event bout between Gegard Mousasi and Chris Weidman (full highlights here) at last night’s (April 8, 2017) UFC 210 from the KeyBank Center in Buffalo, New York, began as the exciting, back-and-forth bout many thought it would be when it was signed.

Unfortunately it then developed into a controversy-filled talking point when referee Dan Miragliotta called a second-round knee from Mousasi illegal that was ultimately determined to be a legal strike during the five-minute recovery period Weidman was granted. The former champion failed to identify the current month of April correctly, prompting cageside doctors to stop the fight with a TKO win for Mousasi as the result.

But the discussion remains a difficult one as Weidman correctly pointed out that instant replay is not a legal means of changing a call in MMA in the state of New York, where the sport was just legalized last year and whose MMA-inexperienced athletic commission has already made a slew of surprising and debatable decisions in fights.

After his third straight loss, Weidman immediately revealed he would be appealing the loss and wants a rematch with “The Dreamcatcher.” Free agent Mousasi wasn’t as supportive of that notion, however, instead saying he wants a new contract and a title shot instead of a rematch.

What do you think? Should Mousasi give Weidman a rematch to clear up the strange ending to last night’s bout?

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