Tag: Recap

UFC 200 Results/Highlights: Nunes Obliterates Tate, Lesnar Tops Hunt in Underwhelming Night of Fights


(Meh. via Getty)

There were a lot of ways that UFC 200 could have gone wrong, and for a minute there, it seemed as if at least a few of them were destined to be realized. The one thing we failed to overlook in all of the lead-up to the quote unquote biggest card in UFC history, however, was that the fights themselves would be what left us underwhelmed when all was said and done.

And yet, here we are. Despite being stacked with recognizable talent and solid matchups from top to bottom, UFC 200 simply fell flat for the most part, ending the Zuffa Era™ with a faint whisper instead of the triumphant bang that we were all expecting.

The post UFC 200 Results/Highlights: Nunes Obliterates Tate, Lesnar Tops Hunt in Underwhelming Night of Fights appeared first on Cagepotato.


(Meh. via Getty)

There were a lot of ways that UFC 200 could have gone wrong, and for a minute there, it seemed as if at least a few of them were destined to be realized. The one thing we failed to overlook in all of the lead-up to the quote unquote biggest card in UFC history, however, was that the fights themselves would be what left us underwhelmed when all was said and done.

And yet, here we are. Despite being stacked with recognizable talent and solid matchups from top to bottom, UFC 200 simply fell flat for the most part, ending the Zuffa Era™ with a faint whisper instead of the triumphant bang that we were all expecting it to be.

Of course, things got off to a rough start before the first fight of the night had even began. In an aesthetic misstep right up there with writing a cover letter in Papyrus, the UFC decided that the most immediate way to celebrate the landmark event would be to change its canvas from the traditional grey…to yellow.

Should we be surprised that the UFC would display such an oblivious understanding to the basic tenants of style? I present you this Fight Night: Abu Dhabi poster as proof that we should not.

Pretty much everything about UFC 200′s main event between Miesha Tate and Amanda Nunes can be summed up by Brian Stann’s first words in the above video, “These ladies were not supposed to be the main event.” With all due respect to both competitors, I simply cannot see the logic behind swapping out an internationally recognized WWE superstar and former heavyweight champion vs. a top 10-ranked heavyweight for a bout between a one-time champion and a challenger who has never headlined even a Fight Night event.

Was it the more “legit” fight to finish off the card? Sure, but since when has the UFC ever shown a desire or even a concern for appeasing the hardcore MMA fans who would be insulted to see such a momentous occasion topped off by an outsider like Lesnar? The fact is, you could just as easily see Tate. Vs. Nunes headlining a free card on FS1 as you could anything else, which made it all the more underwhelming when Nunes went out and obliterated Tate, thus deflating any remaining interest we might have in this whole Rousey-Tate-Holm triangle (which again, we predicted would happen).

Following his unanimous decision win over Mark Hunt on Saturday, there have been plenty of people talking about how Brock Lesnar has launched himself right back into the title hunt. They will say that Lesnar looked better than he ever has and damn near caved in Hunt’s face en route to a “dominant” unanimous decision. It’s both a ridiculously inflated view of the mostly lackluster fight that transpired over the weekend and conversely right on the money given how the UFC is operating in regards to title shots these days.

Don’t get us wrong, Lesnar looked about as good as a professional wrestler returning from a 5 year hiatus on short notice against a murderous striker could look on Saturday night, getting Hunt to the mat and utilizing his patented masturbation punches to prevent Hunt from landing much of anything for the majority of the three round affair. His standup was still as tentative as ever (understandably so against a guy like Hunt), but I guess the thing we take issue with is the almost fanboyish-like hope that many MMA bloggers have been treating Lesnar’s win with.

As Joe Rogan said in the opening moments of the bout, Lesnar did not decide to come back to the UFC for the fame or the money; he did it to prove something to himself. Brock Lesnar is a businessman first and a fighter second, so the idea that he’d set aside all of his other various engagements to embark on another UFC title run seems dubious bordering on plain silly. Brock Lesnar doesn’t give a sh*t about titles. He doesn’t give a sh*t about legitimizing himself to his doubters. He fights because he wants to and then moves on to the next challenge. If Dana White is to be believed (he isn’t), the UFC had to jump through a three ring circus of hoops with the WWE to get him back in the first place, so before we start discussing the thought of Lesnar dethroning Stipe Miocic or whoever else holds the heavyweight title in the next 6 months, let’s just appreciate what he was able to do at UFC 200 and move on to the next fight.

Again, it’s all about expectations, and UFC 200 largely forced us to reevaluate ours.

If “lowered expectations” was the theme of UFC 200, then it would be hard to declare the last-minute bout between Daniel Cormier vs. Anderson Silva as anything but its crowning moment. I think it’s best to let Cormier himself describe his largely underwhelming performance.

“The reality is, it would have been catastrophic if I would have lost tonight,” said Cormier. “I would still be the [light heavyweight] champion but would have lost to the guy that would have went down to middleweight and challenged for the belt. I did what I needed to do.”

So basically, if we didn’t already hate Jon Jones enough for ruining UFC 151 (also, being a terrible person), then we should definitely hate him for ruining the main event UFC 200, forcing Tate vs. Nunes into an undeserved main event slot, and leaving Cormier with no option but to fight like a…well, we’ll leave the fancy analysis to Cowboy Cerrone.

The full results from UFC 200 are below.

Main card
Amanda Nunes def. Miesha Tate via submission (RNC)
Brock Lesnar def. Mark Hunt via unanimous decision
Daniel Cormier def. Anderson Silva via unanimous decision
Jose Aldo def. Frankie Edgar via unanimous decision
Cain Velasquez def. Travis Browne via first-round TKO (4:57)

Undercard
Julianna Pena def. Cat Zingano via unanimous decision
Kelvin Gastelum def. Johny Hendricks via unanimous decision
T.J. Dillashaw def. Raphael Assuncao via unanimous decision
Sage Northcutt def. Enrique Marin via unanimous decision
Joe Lauzon def. Diego Sanchez via first-round TKO (1:26)
Gegard Mousasi def. Thiago Santos via first-round KO (4:32)
Jim Miller def. Takanori Gomi via first-round TKO (2:18)

The post UFC 200 Results/Highlights: Nunes Obliterates Tate, Lesnar Tops Hunt in Underwhelming Night of Fights appeared first on Cagepotato.

Fight Night 90 Aftermath: The Only Constant is Change


(via Getty)

I remember the exact moment I knew that Rafael Dos Anjos was going to lose last night.

It came just prior to the co-main event tilt between Roy Nelson and Derrick Lewis, oddly enough. While hyping up the featured bouts of the evening, Jon Anik referred to Dos Anjos’ then win streak as “legendary.” He had made a similar comment earlier in the evening (something about Dos Anjos looking to secure his legacy as “one of the greatest lightweights to ever step foot in the octagon,” which I guess was technically true), but I had brushed it off, as I do with most commentators, as a case of simply needing some words to fill time.

But the moment that word hit my ear, I pricked up in my seat a bit.

The post Fight Night 90 Aftermath: The Only Constant is Change appeared first on Cagepotato.


(via Getty)

I remember the exact moment I knew that Rafael Dos Anjos was going to lose last night.

It came just prior to the co-main event tilt between Roy Nelson and Derrick Lewis, oddly enough. While hyping up the featured bouts of the evening, Jon Anik referred to Dos Anjos’ win streak as “legendary.” He had made a similar comment earlier in the evening (something about Dos Anjos looking to secure his legacy as “one of the greatest lightweights to ever step foot in the octagon,” which I guess was technically true), but I had brushed it off, as I do with most commentators, as a case of simply needing some words to fill time.

But the moment that word hit my ear, I pricked up in my seat a bit. Wait, how many fights *has* Dos Anjos won now? Have I really been that asleep at the wheel? I had to consult Wikipedia, and you’d imagine my surprise when I found that Dos Anjos’ current win streak stood at five. Granted, these five wins came over incredibly tough guys — Cerrone, Pettis, Bendo — but still, the use of the term “legendary” seemed a bit hyperbolic when describing it. Like they had done with Renan Barao previously, it seemed that the narrative the UFC/Anik/whoever had decided to push Dos Anjos with was the “unstoppable killer” one — which, if you think about it, is really the only angle that the UFC has *ever* used on a Brazilian/foreign champion with not-so-great English (like how unathletic, pudgy white fighters are always praised for being a “hard worker”).

The thing is, we had never seen Barao lose when we were slapping him with “P4P king” status and other such superlative titles. We’ve seen Dos Anjos lose, multiple times, and though he’s clearly a far superior fighter to the guy we first saw in the octagon, we’ve still seen that he’s not indestructible. So for whatever reason, as soon as I heard Anik even attempt to push that narrative, I said to myself, “Well, you had a good run, Two Angees” (I don’t speak Portuguese). Because this is MMA after all, where the UFC’s best laid plans are treated with as much hostility by the powers above as MMA reporters are treated by the UFC.

And wouldn’t you know it, it took less than a round for those misanthropic MMA Gods to show me their divine light.

In a year that has seen Michael Bisping become the middleweight champion, Miesha Tate become the women’s bantamweight champion, Robbie Lawler continue to reign at welterweight, and Dominick Cruz return to form like nothing had even happened in the past three years, perhaps it makes sense that Eddie Alvarez would blitzkrieg and blister Dos Anjos in a matter of minutes to become the lightweight champion. Predicting fights has alway been a bit of a fool’s game — one which I love participating in because I am a fool — but recently it’s like we’re just being laughed at. If things keep going the way they have been, then I fully expect Brock Lesnar to be featherweight champion by this time next year. You heard me, featherweight.

Another interesting question raised by the late career resurgence of guys like Alvarez, Lawler, Bisping — to me at least — is how much of a role the UFC’s recent USADA-implemented drug testing program might be playing in all this. For the most part, these were guys being touted as the future of their respective divisions when they first entered the UFC (the same goes for Alvarez in Bellator), only to be written off as simply not being able to keep up with “the modern era of mixed martial artists” as the years progressed. Now USADA is tagging fools left and right (even the young ones!), and this collective group of old farts is once again leading the pack. Does this mean that they were the greatest fighters all along until steroids screwed everything up? Or does it just mean that they’ve found the BEST steroids? I can’t say for sure, but I know this: someone or something is definitely on steroids.

Speaking of steroids, lets talk about one guy who definitely isn’t on steroids: Roy Nelson. Squaring off against human wrecking ball Derrick Lewis in the co-main event of the evening, Roy Nelson went out there and did the damn Roy Nelson thing, meaning he threw his overhand right out there a bit while taking shots to the chin like a f*cking Goron. After getting nearly finished in the first round, Nelson did manage to slow things down in the second with his takedown game (a phrase I can’t imagine has ever been used before), getting Lewis to the mat early and often but failing to mount any real offense in doing so.

It was a fight you could see going either way on the scorecards — especially in an era where nearly *every* decision is a split decision — but one that ultimately went to the right guy if you value damage over control. It’s all arbitrary in the end, really. We’re just dots spinning on a big blue marble in the sky, waiting until the hand of our Holy Maker rises to crush us all.

That took a bit of a turn at the end there, but you get my point.

The full results for Fight Night 90 below.

Main card
Eddie Alvarez def. Rafael dos Anjos via first-round TKO (3:49)
Derrick Lewis def. Roy Nelson via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Alan Jouban def. Belal Muhammad via unanimous decision (28-27, 29-28, 29-27)
Joseph Duffy def. Mitch Clarke via submission (rear-naked choke, 0:25, Round 1)

Undercard
Alberto Mina def. Mike Pyle via knockout (flying knee, 1:17, Round 2)
John Makdessi def. Mehdi Baghdad via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
Anthony Birchak via Dileno Lopes via split decision (27-30, 29-28, 29-28)
Pedro Munhoz def. Russell Doane via submission (guillotine, 2:08, Round 1)
Felipe Arantes def. Jerrod Sanders via verbal submission (armbar, 1:39, Round 2)
Gilbert Burns def. Lukasz Sajewski via submission (armbar, 4:57, Round 1)
Marco Beltran def. Reginaldo Vieira via submission (rear-naked choke, 3:04, Round 2)
Vicente Luque def. Alvaro Herrera via submission (D’Arce choke, 3:52, Round 2)

The post Fight Night 90 Aftermath: The Only Constant is Change appeared first on Cagepotato.

Fight Night 90 Aftermath: The Only Constant is Change


(via Getty)

I remember the exact moment I knew that Rafael Dos Anjos was going to lose last night.

It came just prior to the co-main event tilt between Roy Nelson and Derrick Lewis, oddly enough. While hyping up the featured bouts of the evening, Jon Anik referred to Dos Anjos’ then win streak as “legendary.” He had made a similar comment earlier in the evening (something about Dos Anjos looking to secure his legacy as “one of the greatest lightweights to ever step foot in the octagon,” which I guess was technically true), but I had brushed it off, as I do with most commentators, as a case of simply needing some words to fill time.

But the moment that word hit my ear, I pricked up in my seat a bit.

The post Fight Night 90 Aftermath: The Only Constant is Change appeared first on Cagepotato.


(via Getty)

I remember the exact moment I knew that Rafael Dos Anjos was going to lose last night.

It came just prior to the co-main event tilt between Roy Nelson and Derrick Lewis, oddly enough. While hyping up the featured bouts of the evening, Jon Anik referred to Dos Anjos’ win streak as “legendary.” He had made a similar comment earlier in the evening (something about Dos Anjos looking to secure his legacy as “one of the greatest lightweights to ever step foot in the octagon,” which I guess was technically true), but I had brushed it off, as I do with most commentators, as a case of simply needing some words to fill time.

But the moment that word hit my ear, I pricked up in my seat a bit. Wait, how many fights *has* Dos Anjos won now? Have I really been that asleep at the wheel? I had to consult Wikipedia, and you’d imagine my surprise when I found that Dos Anjos’ current win streak stood at five. Granted, these five wins came over incredibly tough guys — Cerrone, Pettis, Bendo — but still, the use of the term “legendary” seemed a bit hyperbolic when describing it. Like they had done with Renan Barao previously, it seemed that the narrative the UFC/Anik/whoever had decided to push Dos Anjos with was the “unstoppable killer” one — which, if you think about it, is really the only angle that the UFC has *ever* used on a Brazilian/foreign champion with not-so-great English (like how unathletic, pudgy white fighters are always praised for being a “hard worker”).

The thing is, we had never seen Barao lose when we were slapping him with “P4P king” status and other such superlative titles. We’ve seen Dos Anjos lose, multiple times, and though he’s clearly a far superior fighter to the guy we first saw in the octagon, we’ve still seen that he’s not indestructible. So for whatever reason, as soon as I heard Anik even attempt to push that narrative, I said to myself, “Well, you had a good run, Two Angees” (I don’t speak Portuguese). Because this is MMA after all, where the UFC’s best laid plans are treated with as much hostility by the powers above as MMA reporters are treated by the UFC.

And wouldn’t you know it, it took less than a round for those misanthropic MMA Gods to show me their divine light.

In a year that has seen Michael Bisping become the middleweight champion, Miesha Tate become the women’s bantamweight champion, Robbie Lawler continue to reign at welterweight, and Dominick Cruz return to form like nothing had even happened in the past three years, perhaps it makes sense that Eddie Alvarez would blitzkrieg and blister Dos Anjos in a matter of minutes to become the lightweight champion. Predicting fights has alway been a bit of a fool’s game — one which I love participating in because I am a fool — but recently it’s like we’re just being laughed at. If things keep going the way they have been, then I fully expect Brock Lesnar to be featherweight champion by this time next year. You heard me, featherweight.

Another interesting question raised by the late career resurgence of guys like Alvarez, Lawler, Bisping — to me at least — is how much of a role the UFC’s recent USADA-implemented drug testing program might be playing in all this. For the most part, these were guys being touted as the future of their respective divisions when they first entered the UFC (the same goes for Alvarez in Bellator), only to be written off as simply not being able to keep up with “the modern era of mixed martial artists” as the years progressed. Now USADA is tagging fools left and right (even the young ones!), and this collective group of old farts is once again leading the pack. Does this mean that they were the greatest fighters all along until steroids screwed everything up? Or does it just mean that they’ve found the BEST steroids? I can’t say for sure, but I know this: someone or something is definitely on steroids.

Speaking of steroids, lets talk about one guy who definitely isn’t on steroids: Roy Nelson. Squaring off against human wrecking ball Derrick Lewis in the co-main event of the evening, Roy Nelson went out there and did the damn Roy Nelson thing, meaning he threw his overhand right out there a bit while taking shots to the chin like a f*cking Goron. After getting nearly finished in the first round, Nelson did manage to slow things down in the second with his takedown game (a phrase I can’t imagine has ever been used before), getting Lewis to the mat early and often but failing to mount any real offense in doing so.

It was a fight you could see going either way on the scorecards — especially in an era where nearly *every* decision is a split decision — but one that ultimately went to the right guy if you value damage over control. It’s all arbitrary in the end, really. We’re just dots spinning on a big blue marble in the sky, waiting until the hand of our Holy Maker rises to crush us all.

That took a bit of a turn at the end there, but you get my point.

The full results for Fight Night 90 below.

Main card
Eddie Alvarez def. Rafael dos Anjos via first-round TKO (3:49)
Derrick Lewis def. Roy Nelson via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Alan Jouban def. Belal Muhammad via unanimous decision (28-27, 29-28, 29-27)
Joseph Duffy def. Mitch Clarke via submission (rear-naked choke, 0:25, Round 1)

Undercard
Alberto Mina def. Mike Pyle via knockout (flying knee, 1:17, Round 2)
John Makdessi def. Mehdi Baghdad via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
Anthony Birchak via Dileno Lopes via split decision (27-30, 29-28, 29-28)
Pedro Munhoz def. Russell Doane via submission (guillotine, 2:08, Round 1)
Felipe Arantes def. Jerrod Sanders via verbal submission (armbar, 1:39, Round 2)
Gilbert Burns def. Lukasz Sajewski via submission (armbar, 4:57, Round 1)
Marco Beltran def. Reginaldo Vieira via submission (rear-naked choke, 3:04, Round 2)
Vicente Luque def. Alvaro Herrera via submission (D’Arce choke, 3:52, Round 2)

The post Fight Night 90 Aftermath: The Only Constant is Change appeared first on Cagepotato.

Fight Night 89 Results/Highlights: Thompson Outguns MacDonald, Cerrone Batters Cote + More

(via UFC on FOX)

In Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson vs. Rory “I Refuse to Write His Nickname” MacDonald, we were expecting one of the more technical battles you’ll ever see in the octagon; one was a kickboxing and karate master with a wealth of experience behind him, the other an archetype of the modern MMA fighter whose only losses had come to the top 1% of his division. Suffice it to say, a sloppy haymaker-fest it would not end up being (not that there’s anything wrong with that).

Our predictions, as it turns out, were mostly spot-on. What we might not have expected, however, is that Thompson would almost completely shut down MacDonald’s attack over the the course of five rounds and reduce his face to the mashed-up pile of blood and gore that only Robbie Lawler before him was able to do.

It was quite possibly Thompson’s best performance to date, and one that cemented his name as the next title contender (after Tyron Woodley, for whatever reason). As for the “Red King” (dammit, I said it!), well, it looks like it’s back to the drawing board, by which I mean that he may very well have to hire a team of scientists and graphic artists to draw him up a new nose, because he won’t have much of a fighting future left with the one he’s got.

Head after the jump for a complete recap of Fight Night 89.

The post Fight Night 89 Results/Highlights: Thompson Outguns MacDonald, Cerrone Batters Cote + More appeared first on Cagepotato.


(via UFC on FOX)

In Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson vs. Rory “I Refuse to Write His Nickname” MacDonald, we were expecting one of the more technical battles you’ll ever see in the octagon; one was a kickboxing and karate master with a wealth of experience behind him, the other an archetype of the modern MMA fighter whose only losses had come to the top 1% of his division. Suffice it to say, a sloppy haymaker-fest it would not end up being (not that there’s anything wrong with that).

Our predictions, as it turns out, were mostly spot-on. What we might not have expected, however, is that Thompson would almost completely shut down MacDonald’s attack over the the course of five rounds and reduce his face to the mashed-up pile of blood and gore that only Robbie Lawler before him was able to do.

It was quite possibly Thompson’s best performance to date, and one that cemented his name as the next title contender (after Tyron Woodley, for whatever reason). As for the “Red King” (dammit, I said it!), well, it looks like it’s back to the drawing board, by which I mean that he may very well have to hire a team of scientists and graphic artists to draw him up a new nose, because he won’t have much of a fighting future left with the one he’s got.

Head after the jump for a complete recap of Fight Night 89.

In the evening’s co-main event, Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone improved to 2-0 as a welterweight with a surprisingly dominant performance over Patrick “Look Into My Eyes and See The Wellspring of All Creation” Cote. Known the world across for his notoriously tough chin — which has stood up to the likes of Anderson Silva, Stephen Thompson, and Tito Ortiz — the Canadian “Predator” was dropped on numerous occasions by Cerrone, finally succumbing to a flourish of strikes in the third round. The sky appears to be the limit for Cerrone at 170 for now, which begs the question: With USADA’s recently-implemented weight-cutting rules now in place, are we about to enter the era of fighters going *up* a weight-class to save their careers? Details at 11.

You know that thing I said early about haymaker-fests? Well that’s more or less what the light heavyweight battle between Steve “The Boss” Bosse and Sean “The New Tom Lawler of Weigh-Ins” O’Connell was (are these nickname jokes working for you at all?), and it was fantastic. After nearly getting slept in the first round — well, actually getting slept, then somehow recovering — Bosse managed to rally in the second and third to deliver some brutal punishment of his own. How either guy had the stamina or strength left to engage in that final exchange is beyond impressive, and the UFC should probably do the sensible thing and book them in a rematch on every other card for the rest of eternity.

But it wouldn’t be a night of MMA without some horrific judging and/or refereeing, amiright Nation? On Saturday, that came in the form of referee Jerin Valel, who you might remember as the guy who nearly got Ruan Potts, Josh Koscheck *and* Mark Munoz killed back at UFC 184, who all but forced Valerie Letourneau to go out on her shield against Joanna Calderwood after she had clearly given up. You’d think that a fighter turning her back on his/her opponent and fleeing would be enough of a sign that they were unable to fight back, but not for Jerin Valel. Because Jerin Valel does not operate under the assumptions that you or I do. No, when he sees a man being choked within an inch of his life, he makes sure that he sees his soul dip its toes into the Netherrealm before bringing him back to life. He’s basically the Red Priestess of MMA in that regard.

The full results for Fight night 89 are below.

Main card
Stephen Thompson def. Rory MacDonald via unanimous decision (50-45 x2, 48-47)
Donald Cerrone def. Patrick Cote via third-round TKO (2:35)
Steve Bosse def. Sean O’Connell via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-27)
Olivier Aubin-Mercier def. Thibault Gouti via submission (rear-naked choke) (R3, 2:28)
Joanne Calderwood def. Valerie Letourneau via third-round TKO (2:51)

Undercard
Jason Saggo def. Leandro Silva via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Misha Cirkunov def. Ion Cutelaba via submission (arm triangle) (R3, 1:22)
Krzysztof Jotko def. Tamdan McCrory via first-round TKO (0:59)
Joe Soto def. Chris Beal via submission (rear-naked choke) (R3, 3:39)
Elias Theodorou def. Sam Alvey via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27 x2)
Randa Markos def. Jocelyn Jones-Lybarger via UD (30-27, 29-28 x2)
Colby Covington def. Jonathan Meunier via submission (rear-naked choke) (R3, :54)
Ali Bagautinov def. Geane Herrera via unanimous decision (30-27 x3)

The post Fight Night 89 Results/Highlights: Thompson Outguns MacDonald, Cerrone Batters Cote + More appeared first on Cagepotato.

UFC 199 Aftermath: And the Meek Shall Inherit the Earth…


(“Ehh budday, do you like apples?” (*holds tongue*) “Well go f*ck yourself, apple.” via Getty.)

“If…you believe the son of God came down to earth 2,000 years ago, and he killed himself for our sins, and he can walk on water…if you can believe that, then you can believe that I can knock the f–k out of Luke Rockhold two weeks from Saturday.”

When Michael Bisping first uttered these words to Luke Thomas after being called up on two weeks notice to face rival Luke Rockhold at UFC 199, they actually made a lot of sense. Surely, we were just as likely to see a man walk on water as we were to see Michael Bisping defeat a man who had absolutely obliterated him less than two years ago in their first meeting. And until very recently, I’d sooner commit the ultimate sin than see Bisping, a man whose assholery we have mocked for years, claim the middleweight title from anyone.

And yet, he did, and we’re honestly kind of stoked for him right now.

The post UFC 199 Aftermath: And the Meek Shall Inherit the Earth… appeared first on Cagepotato.


(“Ehh budday, do you like apples?” (*holds tongue*) “Well go f*ck yourself, apple.” via Getty.)

“If…you believe the son of God came down to earth 2,000 years ago, and he killed himself for our sins, and he can walk on water…if you can believe that, then you can believe that I can knock the f–k out of Luke Rockhold two weeks from Saturday.”

When Michael Bisping first uttered these words to Luke Thomas after being called up on two weeks notice to face rival Luke Rockhold at UFC 199, they actually made a lot of sense. Surely, we were just as likely to see a man walk on water as we were to see Michael Bisping defeat a man who had absolutely obliterated him less than two years ago in their first meeting. And until very recently, I’d sooner commit the ultimate sin than see Bisping, a man whose assholery we have mocked for years, claim the middleweight title from anyone.

The thing is, Bisping kind of won us over with in those two weeks leading up to last weekend’s event, as we’re sure he did many of you. His penchant for pre-pubescent insults accompanied by and/or preceding finger pointing worked in his favor against an arrogant dullard like Rockhold and, dare we say it, helped paint him as a cheeky and borderline likable underdog headed into the biggest fight of his storied career (and then reminded us of why we disliked him in the first place immediately thereafter).

But credit where credit is due, Bisping might actually have learned something from theass-whipping he suffered at the hands of Rockhold. Something beyond “immediately apologize after yelling faggot at a press conference,” we mean. He went on a three fight win streak after it, the longest of his career since 2011, and somehow managed to legitimately defeat Anderson Silva despite being knocked out by Anderson Silva. And at UFC 199, he not only turned the tables on Rockhold, but put a worse beating on him than Vitor Belfort on TRT did en route to becoming the first Brit to ever hold UFC gold.

Michael Bisping.

Is the middleweight champion.

I swear, that doesn’t look right no matter how many times I carve it into my leg.

Think Michael Bisping winning a title was the craziest thing that happened at UFC 199? THINK AGAIN, because in addition to a pair of insane fights being announced at the event, Dan Henderson done killed Hector Lombard with the most insane finish of his career: a head kick, followed by what can only be described as a “mosh pit elbow.” Just check out the violence in those fight-ending shots. I know I should probably be admonishing Hendo for being so willing to inflict heinous damage on a clearly unconscious opponent, but damn no those elbows were just bleed tap or snap FACE THE PAIN NO ESCAPE CANYOUSTEPTOTHIS awesome.

If Henderson’s post-fight press conference appearance is to be believed, it looks like we may very well have seen the last of the 45-year old that killed Fedor. I’d prefer to see him KO Bisping for the title and then retire, but so be it. At least he’ll be going out in the most Dan Henderson fashion possible (which is getting your ass kicked, then kicking the other guy’s ass worse BTW).

What else? Oh right, Dominick Cruz defeated Urijah Faber by unanimous decision, thanks in part to his superior movement and unpunchability. The two continued to do verbal at the post-fight press conference. Water wet.

Speaking of things that we take for granted, Max Holloway won another fight. His ninth in a row, actually, over quite possibly his toughest test yet in former title challenger Ricardo Lamas. The final exchange of the fight was some of the most badass, baller sh*t we have seen ssince Lawler vs. MacDonald. Give this man a shot once your featherweight champion is done running the show.

The full results for UFC 199 are below.

Main card
Michael Bisping def. Luke Rockhold via first-round KO (3:36)
Dominick Cruz def. Urijah Faber via unanimous decision
Max Holloway def. Ricardo Lamas via unanimous decision
Dan Henderson def. Hector Lombard via second-round KO (1:27)
Dustin Poirier vs. Bobby Green via first-round KO (2:53)

Undercard
Brian Ortega def. Clay Guida via third-round KO (4:40)
Beneil Dariush def. James Vick via first-round KO (4:16)
Jessica Andrade def. Jessica Penne via second-round TKO (2:56)
Alex Caceres def. Cole Miller via unanimous decision
Sean Strickland def. Tom Breese via split decision
Luiz Henrique da Silva def. Jonathan Wilson via second-round TKO (4:11)
Kevin Casey vs. Elvis Mutapcic declared a split draw
Polo Reyes def. Dong Hyun Kim via third-round KO (1:52)

The post UFC 199 Aftermath: And the Meek Shall Inherit the Earth… appeared first on Cagepotato.

Following Venator FC III Loss, Mayhem Miller Wants to Change “His Whole Life” [VIDEO]


(“So then the officer grabbed me like this and demanded to know which orifice I was hiding the bath salts in and…what were we talking about again?”)

Following a couple high profile, highly-criticized signings and the most epic press release of all time (not that we had anything invested in it), Italian promotion Venator FC held its third event over the weekend. It was a night of surprises, to say the least, with perhaps the most surprising thing being that the event didn’t end up being the absolute shitshow that it seemed primed to be.

In the main event of the evening, UFC veteran and contemptible asshole Rousimar Palhares was obliterated inside of a minute by heavy underdog Emil Meek. In a light heavyweight matchup, TUF 3 alum Matt Hamill faced off with Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou and met a similarly brief/violent end, and even Cody McKenzie managed to secure his first victory in over two years via his signature guillotine.

But atop the shitshow mountain stood Jason “Mayhem” Miller, who was plucked from a 4 year absence (the majority of which he spent in the back seat of a squad car) to face fellow UFC vet Luke Barnatt in a middleweight title fight. Mayhem’s return seemed doomed from the beginning when he showed up to the scales a whopping 24 pounds overweight, but after being pulled from the fight and rebooked at light heavyweight against Mattia Schiavolin, the stage was finally set for what would surely be a disastrous performance.

Shockingly, however, Miller not only looked halfway decent in the cage, but appears as if he might actually be on the path to redemption.

Video after the jump. 

The post Following Venator FC III Loss, Mayhem Miller Wants to Change “His Whole Life” [VIDEO] appeared first on Cagepotato.


(“So then the officer grabbed me like this and demanded to know which orifice I was hiding the bath salts in and…what were we talking about again?”)

Following a couple high profile, highly-criticized signings and the most epic press release of all time (not that we had anything invested in it), Italian promotion Venator FC held its third event over the weekend. It was a night of surprises, to say the least, with perhaps the most surprising thing being that the event didn’t end up being the absolute shitshow that it seemed primed to be.

In the main event of the evening, UFC veteran and contemptible asshole Rousimar Palhares was obliterated inside of a minute by heavy underdog Emil Meek. In a light heavyweight matchup, TUF 3 alum Matt Hamill faced off with Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou and met a similarly brief/violent end, and even Cody McKenzie managed to secure his first victory in over two years via his signature guillotine.

But atop the shitshow mountain stood Jason “Mayhem” Miller, who was plucked from a 4 year absence (the majority of which he spent in the back seat of a squad car) to face fellow UFC vet Luke Barnatt in a middleweight title fight. Mayhem’s return seemed doomed from the beginning when he showed up to the scales a whopping 24 pounds overweight, but after being pulled from the fight and rebooked at light heavyweight against Mattia Schiavolin, the stage was finally set for what would surely be a disastrous performance.

Shockingly, however, Miller not only looked halfway decent in the cage, but appears as if he might actually be on the path to redemption.

Video after the jump. 

Though Miller would ultimately succumb to a rear-naked choke midway through the second round, he had clearly taken the first round and appeared to be in control in the second until his cardio got the best of him. All things considered, it was a hell of a performance for the formerly prolific fighter, and one that Miller himself sees as, hopefully, the start of something new.

Speaking with MMANews.pl following the fight, Miller showed hints of the thoughtful, charismatic and above all else, coherent man we came to know before he began his downward spiral.

“If you don’t learn from an experience, that’s ’cause you haven’t thought about it long enough,” said Miller. “Look, it’s only been about an hour and I already thought a lot about this. I have an idea of where to start to change my whole life.”

While it’s still too early to tell whether or not Miller will fall back on old habits once he’s reentered the states, it’s hard not to feel genuine remorse for the guy. Not for what he’s done, mind you, but for what he could have been outside of the cage. Jason Miller is not the kind of guy whose career necessarily had to begin and end with fighting — his stint as the host of Bully Beatdown proved as much — but if it took getting his ass-kicked by someone who *wasn’t* a police officer to make him see the light, we sincerely hope that he can stay on the straight and narrow long enough to take back some of the things he’s lost. He may never be a UFC champion, sure, but there’s still promise there.

Anyways, that’s just a fellow lunatic’s thoughts on the matter. You can check out Miller’s fight against Schiavolin below.

The post Following Venator FC III Loss, Mayhem Miller Wants to Change “His Whole Life” [VIDEO] appeared first on Cagepotato.