Fight Night 61 Highlights/Results: Mir Obliterates Bigfoot, Matt Dwyer’s Superman Punch KO, + More

While not that enticing on paper, Fight Night 61 actually delivered some highly entertaining moments over the course of its five-hour run time, which is more than you could say for the Oscars! #BoomRoasted #NailedIt #WhatsInTheBox

In the main event of the evening, four-fight-losing-streak GOAT Frank Mir looked like he wasn’t even riding a four fight losing streak when he quickly dropped Bigfoot Silva with a left hook and OBLITERATED the Brazilian with some follow-up elbows. The win was a much needed one for the former champion, to say the very least, and one that capped off a night in which ten straight underdogs walked away with a victory. Which, again, is more than you could say for the Oscars. #BirdmanRules #F*ckEddieRedmayne

Highlights from Mir vs. Silva are above, but join us after the jump to check out the rest of the evening’s highlights, including the co-main event scrap between Michael Johnson and Edson Barboza, Matt Dwyer’s superman punch KO, and Smilin’ Sam Alvey going HAM on Cezar Ferreira.

While not that enticing on paper, Fight Night 61 actually delivered some highly entertaining moments over the course of its five-hour run time, which is more than you could say for the Oscars! #BoomRoasted #NailedIt #WhatsInTheBox

In the main event of the evening, four-fight-losing-streak GOAT Frank Mir looked like he wasn’t even riding a four fight losing streak when he quickly dropped Bigfoot Silva with a left hook and OBLITERATED the Brazilian with some follow-up elbows. The win was a much needed one for the former champion, to say the very least, and one that capped off a night in which ten straight underdogs walked away with a victory. Which, again, is more than you could say for the Oscars. #BirdmanRules #F*ckEddieRedmayne

Highlights from Mir vs. Silva are above, but join us after the jump to check out the rest of the evening’s highlights, including the co-main event scrap between Michael Johnson and Edson Barboza, Matt Dwyer’s superman punch KO, and Smilin’ Sam Alvey going HAM on Cezar Ferreira.

Johnson vs. Barboza Highlights

Mike De La Torre vs. Tiago Trator

Alvey vs. Ferreira

Dwyer vs. Patolino

Complete Fight Night 61 Results

Main card
Frank Mir def. Bigfoot Silva via first-round KO (1:40)
Michael Johnson def. Edson Barboza via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27 x2)
Sam Alvey def. Cezar Ferreira via first-round KO (3:34)
Adriano Martins def. Rustam Khabilov via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Frankie Saenz def. Iuri Alcantara via unanimous decision (30-27 x2, 29-28)
Santiago Ponzinibbio def. Sean Strickland via unanimous decision (30-27 x3)

Undercard
Marion Reneau def. Jessica Andrade via submission (triangle choke) (1st, 1:54)
Matt Dwyer def. William Macario via first-round KO (3:14)
Mike de la Torre def. Tiago Trator via first-round TKO (2:59)
Douglas Silva de Andrade def. Cody Gibson via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 29-28)
Ivan Jorge def. Josh Shockley via unanimous decision (29-28 x3)

Fight Night 60 & Bellator 133 Highlights: Hendo Submits Thatch Toothpick-in-Mouth, Shlemenko Crushes Manhoef + More

Last weekend’s Fight Night: Henderson vs. Thatch was something of a mixed bag. On one hand, it featured a main event that was both thrilling from start to finish and a solid reminder that Ben Henderson is a badass, toothpicking-chewing sumbitch in any weight class. On the other, it featured more than its share of underwhelming, glacially-paced sparring matches that stretched its six fight main card to the brink of watchability. (We’re looking at you, Dan Kelly vs. Patrick Walsh. Your fight was bad and you should feel bad.)

Frontrunners for “Worst Fight of the Year” aside, Fight Night 60 also saw Max Holloway tie Conor McGregor‘s featherweight win streak and Tim Elliott hit a Samoan Drop on Zach Makovsky (en route to a unanimous decision loss). So join us after the jump to check out all the Fight Night 60 highlights that the UFC will allow us to have, and what the hell, we’ll even throw some Bellator 133 highlights in there for ya.

Last weekend’s Fight Night: Henderson vs. Thatch was something of a mixed bag. On one hand, it featured a main event that was both thrilling from start to finish and a solid reminder that Ben Henderson is a badass, toothpicking-chewing sumbitch in any weight class. On the other, it featured more than its share of underwhelming, glacially-paced sparring matches that stretched its six fight main card to the brink of watchability. (We’re looking at you, Dan Kelly vs. Patrick Walsh. Your fight was bad and you should feel bad.)

Frontrunners for “Worst Fight of the Year” aside, Fight Night 60 also saw Max Holloway tie Conor McGregor‘s featherweight win streak and Tim Elliott hit a Samoan Drop on Zach Makovsky (en route to a unanimous decision loss). So join us after the jump to check out all the Fight Night 60 highlights that the UFC will allow us to have, and what the hell, we’ll even throw some Bellator 133 highlights in there for ya.

Holloway vs. Miller

Makovsky vs. Elliot

On the Bellator side of things, Melvin Manhoef once again made the case for him to just stop already by eating a spinning elbow from the king of spinning shit, Alexander Shlemenko, in the second round of their main event scrap. This was the third time in 7 months that Melvin has tasted such a violent defeat, and while we would normally hop on our soapbox and beg for Manhoef to retire about now, we’re going to refrain from doing so. MMA has taught us nothing if not that our opinions are useless, so we say fight on, Melvin! Pay no mind to those increasingly noticeable tremors, memory loss, and inability to pronounce words. That’s just weakness leaving the body! HYEAHH!!!

Oh right, the highlights.


NSAC Tests Confirm That Nick Diaz Was High As a Kite In the Weeks Leading Up To UFC 183

If you hadn’t noticed by now, Nick Diaz is something of an anomaly. He says he hates fighting, yet it’s seemingly all he understands. He both fights too much and not enough to support his family…that he hopes to one day acquire. He is both a laid-back stoner and the drunk guy at the bar who will smack you for looking at him the wrong way. He has no belief, but he believes, he’s a walking contradiction (and he ain’t got no riiiiiiiiiight).

So it more or less falls in line with Diaz’s way of thinking that he would take a two-year break from the sport that has given him everything, complain about how little said sport has given him, rejoin the workforce, and be forced right back out of a job on account of his own willing incompetence. Does that make any sense? It shouldn’t.

The point is, Diaz pulled the equivalent of a hit-and-run on the UFC when he once again failed a post-fight drug test for marijuana. And today, NSAC test results confirm that he wasn’t even trying to hide it in the weeks prior to UFC 183.

If you hadn’t noticed by now, Nick Diaz is something of an anomaly. He says he hates fighting, yet it’s seemingly all he understands. He both fights too much and not enough to support his family…that he hopes to one day acquire. He is both a laid-back stoner and the drunk guy at the bar who will smack you for looking at him the wrong way. He has no belief, but he believes, he’s a walking contradiction (and he ain’t got no riiiiiiiiiight).

So it more or less falls in line with Diaz’s way of thinking that he would take a two-year break from the sport that has given him everything, complain about how little said sport has given him, rejoin the workforce, and be forced right back out of a job on account of his own willing incompetence. Does that make any sense? It shouldn’t.

The point is, Diaz pulled the equivalent of a hit-and-run on the UFC when he once again failed a post-fight drug test for marijuana. And today, NSAC test results confirm that he wasn’t even trying to hide it in the weeks prior to UFC 183.

According to NSAC Executive Director Bob Bennett,, the marijuana metabolites in Diaz’s urine sample “were measured at 300 nanograms per milliliter (ng/ml). The level is double the 150 ng/mL limit set in 2013 after the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and NSAC raised its testing threshold.”

Of course, this might explain why Diaz wasn’t even licensed to fight Silva until three days prior to UFC 183. (via MMAJunkie):

Bennett said Diaz had also risked not being licensed for the event when he did not provide a clean drug test to the commission per a previous suspension for marijuana.

“I want to say that around (Jan.) 28th, I notified the UFC that he would not be able to fight unless we got a test that showed he was clean,” Bennett said.

Diaz (26-10 MMA, 7-7 UFC) was cleared to fight Silva (34-6 MMA, 17-2 UFC) at the Jan. 31 event, which took place at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arena and aired on pay-per-view. His license reportedly came after he took several drug tests given to him by his camp.

Translation: Diaz had someone in his camp who wasn’t high as sh*t take his piss test for him, while the NSAC did what they always do and looked the other way.

Speaking of contradictions, just wait until you hear Diaz’s longtime coach, Cesar Gracie, try to both explain away Diaz’s test results while confirming that Diaz puffs more ganja than George Clinton.

In an interview with MMAJunkie, Gracie stated that, “My understanding was he passed the test, then he fought and then after he passed the test, he did not smoke. The exertion of the fight affected the test and that’s why [Diaz] tested positive,” which is nothing short mind-blowing in the absolute lack of basic science it displays. But even more hilarious was Gracie’s subsequent admission to MMAFighting that Diaz’s positive test was “not a shocker.”

“His DNA is THC, let’s face it,” said Gracie. “No one is surprised by that. I’m disappointed by it. It’s just a distraction. It sucks. I don’t want any distractions. The guy is such a brilliant fighter. I’d rather be talking about how skilled he is.”

Look, I’m not trying to vilify Diaz for his marijuana usage, especially in light of the fact that he was training to fight a juiced-up version of the G.O.A.T at the time. Marijuana shouldn’t be illegal, MMA fighters should be allowed to use it recreationally if it helps relieve pain, blah blah blah, etc. But can we just drop it with the act already? The NSAC needed a clean sample from Diaz in order to license him, which he could not provide, so he did what he had to do in order to keep the fight on. Just like the NSAC did when they found out Silva was on PED’s a month out from his fight, because you best believe they knew it prior to UFC 183.

Diaz didn’t stop smoking for a few days, then pass a test, then go back to smoking. That is not how marijuana metabolites are stored in the body, and everyone knows it. There is no way in Hell that Diaz gave enough fucks to try and hide his usage prior to UFC 183 —  I offer the video at the top of this article as proof of this — so please, Anderson, Nick, Bob, Francisco, can we stop throwing our hands in the air and pleading ignorance on all this? The Ultimate Roided Fucking Killers League is the future of this sport. Let’s embrace the crazy.

-J. Jones

The Heavy Issue With Cutting Weight


(Weight cutting is a very serious issue in MMA, so here’s a picture of John Lineker as a fat baby. via Ian McCall’s Instagram)

By CP reader Jessie Lorenty

Before the first fight even started, UFC 183: Diaz vs Silva was already filled with controversy. Not one but two of the night’s fighters missed weight, and both who did were notorious for taking the weight limit as a suggestion instead of maybe the actual amount of weight that they’re allowed to be at. The first was John Lineker, who showed up heavy for a record fourth time in his UFC career — the first was against Louis Gaudinot (127lbs), then against Jose Maria (129lbs) and the third time against Phil Harris (127lbs). The second fighter was none other then the lesser half of the night’s co-main event, Kelvin Gastelum, who previously missed weight in his fight against Nico Musoke.

Missing the weight limit is sadly not an unusual thing in MMA, but could not have occurred at a worse time for either fighter…


(Weight cutting is a very serious issue in MMA, so here’s a picture of John Lineker as a fat baby. via Ian McCall’s Instagram)

By CP reader Jessie Lorenty

Before the first fight even started, UFC 183: Diaz vs Silva was already filled with controversy. Not one but two of the night’s fighters missed weight, and both who did were notorious for taking the weight limit as a suggestion instead of maybe the actual amount of weight that they’re allowed to be at. The first was John Lineker, who showed up heavy for a record fourth time in his UFC career — the first was against Louis Gaudinot (127lbs), then against Jose Maria (129lbs) and the third time against Phil Harris (127lbs). The second fighter was none other then the lesser half of the night’s co-main event, Kelvin Gastelum, who previously missed weight in his fight against Nico Musoke.

Missing the weight limit is sadly not an unusual thing in MMA, but could not have occurred at a worse time for either fighter. With a shallow division at flyweight, the next shot at current champion Demetrious Johnson could always be just one great performance away. Against Ian McCall, Lineker had the potential to prove himself a title contender (and did with his UD victory), but sabotaged his chances of that happening right from the get-go. On the other side of the (tipped over) scale is Kelvin Gastelum, who was undefeated as a pro and currently on a five fight winning streak in the UFC. In his last fight Gastelum ran through the always tough Jake Ellenberger and was hoping on continuing his momentum against his toughest test to date in Tyron Woodley.

Both fighters were coming into one of their most important fights of their career. A win for either of them could have placed them in the category of next title challenger, but instead, the focus point was shifted to their weight. Dana White has since ordered both men to move up a weight class, shattering their respective chances at a flyweight and welterweight title shot.

Luckily for Lineker, he won the fight, as a loss could have seen him cut from the UFC. Anthony “Rumble” Johnson was originally released from the promotion for missing weight time and time again, and after his loss to Vitor Belfort, Uncle Dana had had enough. As for Gastelum, his offense was more egregious than Lineker’s but only the second time it has occurred. With a substantial amount of steam behind him, Gastelum was on the verge of breaking out of the middle of the pack and cementing himself as a potential title challenger. But he nearly killed himself trying to make weight and it showed in his eventual loss to Woodley on Saturday.

Weight is one of the biggest issues in MMA but just like most of the other issues there is no clear cut solution to it (other than same day weigh-ins, of course). Aside from heavyweights and Frankie Edgar, you would be hard pressed to find someone fighting close to their natural weight. Fighters see the weight cut as gaining a potential advantage over their competition but if they damage themselves trying to make the weight they’re doing the exact opposite and giving the advantage to their opponent. Instances like these bring more attention to the issue, as they should, but after it is all said and done nothing will have changed and the MMA community will eventually stop talking about it until it occurs again. (You know, kind of like drug testing.)

Fighters are called disrespectful and lazy for not making weight, but the main focus should be on just how dangerous it is. Prizefighters in general are a special group of people that will put themselves through anything in order to compete. So we can only imagine what their bodies are going through where they finally just give up because they physically can’t go on any longer. Only after pushing themselves to the very end do they finally call it. They need to realize that the damage they are doing to themselves sometimes just isn’t worth it. Instead, they are fined and they still get to compete in most cases, completely forgetting the fact that not 24 hours before they step in that cage their bodies were almost completely shutting down on them.

At the end of the day these men have to pay the bills, the UFC has to sell tickets, and the fans needs to be entertained. But we also have to look further into the issue and understand what these guys are doing to themselves and decide when enough is enough. When that time will come is unclear or maybe even non-existent. It may be that these two men go out there and put on the performance of their lives and somehow the weight thing is overshadowed. But one thing that should never be overshadowed is fighter safety.

UFC 183 Video Highlights/Results: Silva Decisions Diaz in Bizarre Battle, Miesha Tate’s Comeback + More

It might not have been as flashy and/or violent as most of us predicted, but Anderson Silva and Nick Diaz‘s UFC 183 headliner was every bit the circus act that it promised to be by virtue of being booked in the first place. While not without its lulls in action, Silva vs. Diaz saw the former/current(?) GOAT return to form against Stockton’s finest, picking him apart over five rounds en route to a unanimous decision victory. And speaking of a return to form, you best believe that Diaz still thought he won that sh*t.

For now, the future seems uncertain for Silva, whose family has grown increasingly vocal about his need to retire. But for the time being, let’s all just relish in his performance at UFC 183, which capped off one of the most improbable comebacks in the “modern era” of MMA, as the Zuffa heads would likely call it.

Check out the full highlights from Silva vs. Diaz above, courtesy of UFC on FOX, then head after the jump for video highlights of Woodley vs. Gastelum, Lauzon vs. Iaquinta, Tate vs. McMann, + more

It might not have been as flashy and/or violent as most of us predicted, but Anderson Silva and Nick Diaz‘s UFC 183 headliner was every bit the circus act that it promised to be by virtue of being booked in the first place. While not without its lulls in action, Silva vs. Diaz saw the former/current(?) GOAT return to form against Stockton’s finest, picking him apart over five rounds en route to a unanimous decision victory. And speaking of a return to form, you best believe that Diaz still thought he won that sh*t.

For now, the future seems uncertain for Silva, whose family has grown increasingly vocal about his need to retire. But for the time being, let’s all just relish in his performance at UFC 183, which capped off one of the most improbable comebacks in the “modern era” of MMA, as the Zuffa heads would likely call it.

Check out the full highlights from Silva vs. Diaz above, courtesy of UFC on FOX, then head after the jump for video highlights of Woodley vs. Gastelum, Lauzon vs. Iaquinta, Tate vs. McMann, + more

Woodley vs. Gastelum

Lauzon vs. Iaquinta

Mein vs. Alves

Tate vs. McMann

Full results for UFC 183 are below:

Main card

Anderson Silva def. Nick Diaz via unanimous decision
Tyron Woodley def. Kelvin Gastelum via split decision
Al Iaquinta def. Joe Lauzon via second-round TKO (3:34)
Thales Leites def. Tim Boetsch via submission (arm triangle)
Thiago Alves def. Jordan Mein via second-round TKO (0:39)

Undercard

Miesha Tate def. Sara McMann via majority decision
Derek Brunson def. Ed Herman via first-round TKO (:36)
John Lineker def. Ian McCall via unanimous decision
Rafael Natal def. Tom Watson via unanimous decision
Diego Brandao vs. Jimy Hettes – fight canceled (medical issue)
Ildemar Alcantara def. Richardson Moreira via split decision
Thiago Santos def. Andy Enz via first-round TKO (1:56)

UFC 183 Silva vs. Diaz: Round-by-Round Recap and Analysis

Anderson Silva and Nick Diaz step inside the cage tonight to battle it out in a middleweight showcase at UFC 183. The main event sees the return of two big stars that have been away from the cage for some time. Silva returns from an injury, and Diaz stepped away following back-to-back losses. Now, the […]

Anderson Silva and Nick Diaz step inside the cage tonight to battle it out in a middleweight showcase at UFC 183. The main event sees the return of two big stars that have been away from the cage for some time. Silva returns from an injury, and Diaz stepped away following back-to-back losses. Now, the […]