Valentina Shevchenko punched her ticket to a bantamweight title shot with a submission victory over Julianna Pena at UFC on Fox 23.
“Bullet” caught Pena off-guard in the second round with an armbar, and now, the division has a clear-cut championship bo…
Valentina Shevchenko punched her ticket to a bantamweight title shot with a submission victory over Julianna Pena at UFC on Fox 23.
“Bullet” caught Pena off-guard in the second round with an armbar, and now, the division has a clear-cut championship bout to book. The rest of the card? Things aren’t as transparent.
Jorge Masvidal ruined Donald Cerrone’s upward swing in the welterweight division, and Francis Ngannou will force the UFC’s hand in booking him against elite heavyweights.
What should the UFC do? That’s what we’re here for.
These are the matches to make following UFC on Fox 23.
There’s a lot of pop in this little main card.
UFC on Fox 23, going down this Saturday from Denver, Colorado, isn’t getting the same run as most other Fox cards. It’s certainly not getting the same run as the last Fox card, which featured Paige VanZant…
There’s a lot of pop in this little main card.
UFC on Fox 23, going down this Saturday from Denver, Colorado, isn’t getting the same run as most other Fox cards. It’s certainly not getting the same run as the last Fox card, which featured Paige VanZant. It’s certainly not getting the same run as a pay-per-view.
Be careful about overlooking this one, though. The four-fight main show on “big Fox” features at its head a title eliminator between the two highest-ranked women’s bantamweights in the company. Valentina Shevchenko and Julianna Pena are both exciting fighters with interesting games, and their main event is also a favorite for Fight of the Night.
It would be even more of a favorite if it wasn’t for the co-main event. Donald Cerrone and Jorge Masvidal are both great fighters capable of great violence. And you best watch out for Masvidal, who appears fully motivated for this one based on his stated desire to, you know, break Cerrone’s face.
Get up to speed with those two contests and more with our B/R MMA staff predictions team. Revel in our breakdowns, or just laugh at our crazy picks. Steven Rondina. Craig Amos. Nathan McCarter. And myself, Scott Harris. Let’s get it on.
The UFC heads to Denver for a fun, well-matched card on Fox this Saturday.
In the main event, decorated kickboxer Valentina Shevchenko takes on rising The Ultimate Fighter winner Julianna Pena. With the bantamweight division up in the air followin…
The UFC heads to Denver for a fun, well-matched card on Fox this Saturday.
In the main event, decorated kickboxer Valentina Shevchenko takes on rising The Ultimate Fighter winner Julianna Pena. With the bantamweight division up in the air following Amanda Nunes‘ 48-second destruction of Ronda Rousey and new blood desperately needed, the winner of this fight will almost certainly get a shot at the belt, lending the bout real stakes to go along with its intriguing stylistic possibilities.
The co-main event should produce fireworks. Action fighter extraordinaire Donald Cerrone is back in action just seven weeks after his last fight, drawing Jorge Masvidal in a fantastic matchup of veteran strikers.
Potential rising stars feature in the main card’s first two bouts. Francis Ngannou faces longtime veteran Andrei Arlovski in the young fighter’s first brush with real competition, while in the opener, Jason Knight meets Alex Caceres in another action fight.
The preliminary card has a nice selection of action fights. The highlight is the serious bantamweight scrap between Aljamain Sterling and Raphael Assuncao, as both contenders badly need a win to remain in the discussion at the top of the division. The Fox Sports 1 headliner pits the veteran Nate Marquardt against Sam Alvey in a fun fight.
That’s about it in terms of name value, but the remaining fights are well matched and generally worth the viewer’s time. Keep a particular eye on the flyweight bout featuring The Ultimate Fighter alumni Eric Shelton and Alexandre Pantoja.
Quinton “Rampage” Jackson vs. “King” Mo Lawal is one of the best rivalries in the history of Bellator MMA. The feud was defined by merciless smack talk from both men and, with a rematch set for March 31, it comes as little surprise that they are going …
Quinton “Rampage” Jackson vs. “King” Mo Lawal is one of the best rivalries in the history of Bellator MMA. The feud was defined by merciless smack talk from both men and, with a rematch set for March 31, it comes as little surprise that they are going after one another hard.
And King Mo? Well, he’s going after Rampage for his current softness.
At Bellator 170, Lawal took jabs at Jackson for being noticeably out of shape which Jackson acknowledged was both true, and that it “hit home.” That gave the green light to Lawal to unleash a vicious series of social media posts, jeering the former UFC champion for his weight. Below are a few.
Rampage in a bathtub of donuts:
Rampage as Fat Albert:
Rampage next to hot dog eating champ Kobayashi:
That’s some savage stuff.
Even if Rampage’s days as a 205 pounder are long gone, he remains a formidable fighter, and a terrifying knockout artist. And ultimately, given that their Bellator 175 fight is a heavyweight contest, his weight doesn’t matter, as long as he comes in under 265 pounds.
Hisaki Kato is not like a box of chocolates. You know exactly what the hell you’re getting with him.
And his fans have another opportunity to get it Saturday, when the Japanese-French knockout sensation faces jiu-jitsu palace court member Ralek G…
Hisaki Kato is not like a box of chocolates. You know exactly what the hell you’re getting with him.
And his fans have another opportunity to get it Saturday, when the Japanese-French knockout sensation faces jiu-jitsu palace court member Ralek Gracie at Bellator 170.
“It’s easy to understand,” Kato said in an exclusive interview with Bleacher Report. “It’s a striker versus grappler matchup. I’m expecting him to try to put me down, and he expects me to strike him out.”
They are both reasonable expectations. Kato (7-2) has seven knockouts to his name. That’s some good symmetry there. Gracie is 3-0 as a pro with two submissions, but hasn’t competed in pro MMA for nearly seven years.
To his credit, Kato doesn’t pretend to view things as besides what they are. He doesn’t extol all the grappling work he’s been doing in the gym to prepare for Gracie. He doesn’t play coy with his game plan. As they say in baseball, he’s throwing his best pitch; we’ll all see together if Gracie can hit it.
Or rather, in this case, whether he can avoid being hit by it.
“I have nothing to hide,” Kato said. “My record is in knockouts, so it’s evident that we’re going to try to do what we’re good at. This is MMA, so I’m doing a lot of grappling and jiu-jitsu. But I enjoy more to strike. …I’d be lying if I said I’m better on the ground.”
When striking, Kato, a left-hander, carries a lot of power. He’s a bit of a berserker in there, a dervish of violence. His stance makes him that much harder to read.
“I’m a natural southpaw, so my left straight I’m confident in,” he said. “I would say I’m really effective and really unorthodox because I’m a southpaw and become of karate background. I think I have a different timing and different movements.”
Against Gracie, he’ll have a chance to redeem his last Bellator bout, a TKO loss to Melvin Manhoef, one of the hardest hitters in MMA history.
“He hits hard, and his hands are quick, but I wouldn’t say I was surprised [by Manhoef’s power],” Kato said. “But I have a lot of experience in karate fighting a lot of Russian and Ukrainian fighters, and they hit hard. I know what it means to be hit.”
As for MMA idols, Kato seems to have himself a bit of an Alpha Male fixation. He likes the kicks, quickness and movement of smaller fighters, including contender T.J. Dillashaw, formerly of Team Alpha Male, and current Team Alpha Male member and UFC bantamweight champ Cody Garbrandt.
“I like Urijah Faber [for his] incredible kicks and round kicks, movement,” Kato said. “I like T.J. Dillashaw. The new champ, Garbrandt, or however you say his name, for his quickness and the speed. Demetrious Johnson. I like a lot of different guys.”
On Friday, Kato’s prediction is clear. No one can say they were misled.
“It’s either going to be a boring fight on the ground, or it’s going to be on the feet striking and I will knock him out,” Kato said.
Unless otherwise noted, all quotes in this article were obtained by the author firsthand.
Yair Rodriguez blew through BJ Penn in the main event of UFC Fight Night 103 on Sunday evening.
The veteran couldn’t get anything going against the younger, quicker fighter. Rodriguez showed that the sport has moved passed Penn. Now, the question is&md…
Yair Rodriguez blew through BJ Penn in the main event of UFC Fight Night 103 on Sunday evening.
The veteran couldn’t get anything going against the younger, quicker fighter. Rodriguez showed that the sport has moved passed Penn. Now, the question is—who’s next?
Elsewhere, Joe Lauzon was gifted a decision over Marcin Held.
What can we expect for the winners and losers of UFC Fight Night 103? Let’s take a look at the options the UFC should be weighing.
Quinton “Rampage” Jackson vs. “King” Mo Lawal is one of the best rivalries in the history of Bellator