Tag: Recap

UFC on FUEL: Munoz vs. Weidman Aftermath — Baby, You’re a Star

(A replay of Weidman’s incredible standing elbow and the savage ground-and-pound finish, via fueltv.)

With so many contenders clogging up the upper echelon of the UFC middleweight division — all with their hands out for a title shot — Chris Weidman had to do something extra special to get noticed in his fight against Mark Munoz last night. Because let’s face it: Until now, his name wasn’t setting off alarm bells with many casual fans. Sure, the Serra-Longo-bred wrestler/grappler was 4-0 in the UFC, but his personality wasn’t “colorful” enough to create hype around his fights (à la master salesmen Sonnen, Bisping, Mayhem), and if your most impressive performance in the Octagon is a submission win over Tom Lawlor, you still have a long way to go, right?

So this is how you make your name in the UFC. Step 1) Utterly dominate an opponent who was himself thought to be one of the next challengers to the middleweight title. Step 2) Finish the fight in a way that immediately clinches a spot on future “Best Knockouts of 2012” lists, both for its technical brilliance (the Spider-esque timing of that standing elbow!) and for its hard-to-watch brutality (uh, you gonna stop this one any time soon, Josh?). Step 3) Call out Anderson Silva after the fight — hell, go ahead and say you can submit him — just four days after Silva re-cemented himself as the most untouchable 185’er in MMA history.

And so, a main event that was not officially a #1 contender’s match might turn out to be one after all. Sure, there are bigger names than Weidman in the title hunt — and maybe he’ll have to fight somebody like Alan Belcher or the Lombard/Boetsch winner before he gets the opportunity — but no matter what the future holds for him, Chris Weidman is a star now. In one fight, he went from being a semi-anonymous contender to the name on every UFC fan’s lips.

Meanwhile, Mark Munoz drops down the ladder where hungry middleweight up-and-comers like Constantinos Philippou and Francis Carmont are on their own heat-seeking paths to contendership. In other words, the UFC middleweight division has never been deeper and more exciting — which makes it the worst possible time to take a high-profile loss, especially one in which you weren’t competitive for a single moment of the fight. We haven’t seen the last of the Filipino Wrecking Machine by any means, but it’s going to take him a long time to claw his way back to where he was before Wednesday night.

In other news…


(A replay of Weidman’s incredible standing elbow and the savage ground-and-pound finish, via fueltv.)

With so many contenders clogging up the upper echelon of the UFC middleweight division — all with their hands out for a title shot — Chris Weidman had to do something extra special to get noticed in his fight against Mark Munoz last night. Because let’s face it: Until now, his name wasn’t setting off alarm bells with many casual fans. Sure, the Serra-Longo-bred wrestler/grappler was 4-0 in the UFC, but his personality wasn’t “colorful” enough to create hype around his fights (à la master salesmen Sonnen, Bisping, Mayhem), and if your most impressive performance in the Octagon is a submission win over Tom Lawlor, you still have a long way to go, right?

So this is how you make your name in the UFC. Step 1) Utterly dominate an opponent who was himself thought to be one of the next challengers to the middleweight title. Step 2) Finish the fight in a way that immediately clinches a spot on future “Best Knockouts of 2012″ lists, both for its technical brilliance (the Spider-esque timing of that standing elbow!) and for its hard-to-watch brutality (uh, you gonna stop this one any time soon, Josh?). Step 3) Call out Anderson Silva after the fight — hell, go ahead and say you can submit him — just four days after Silva re-cemented himself as the most untouchable 185′er in MMA history.

And so, a main event that was not officially a #1 contender’s match might turn out to be one after all. Sure, there are bigger names than Weidman in the title hunt — and maybe he’ll have to fight somebody like Alan Belcher or the Lombard/Boetsch winner before he gets the opportunity — but no matter what the future holds for him, Chris Weidman is a star now. In one fight, he went from being a semi-anonymous contender to the name on every UFC fan’s lips.

Meanwhile, Mark Munoz drops down the ladder where hungry middleweight up-and-comers like Constantinos Philippou and Francis Carmont are on their own heat-seeking paths to contendership. In other words, the UFC middleweight division has never been deeper and more exciting — which makes it the worst possible time to take a high-profile loss, especially one in which you weren’t competitive for a single moment of the fight. We haven’t seen the last of the Filipino Wrecking Machine by any means, but it’s going to take him a long time to claw his way back to where he was before Wednesday night.

In other news…

Weidman’s victory earned him a $40,000 Knockout of the Night bonus. The Fight of the Night awards went to light-heavyweights James Te-Huna and Joey Beltran for their three-round punch-out that Te-Huna won by unanimous decision, which is particularly impressive when you consider that Te-Huna broke a hand and a foot in the first round. Submission of the Night went to Alex Caceres, who triangle-choked Damacio Page in the prelims, and continues to prove that he’s more than just the “Bruce Leroy” caricature he presented on TUF 12. That’s the third-straight submission loss in the UFC (and fourth overall) for Page, who’s probably going bye-bye.

Speaking of the prelims, anybody see that head-kick that Andrew Craig landed on Rafael Natal? Natal was lighting Craig up in the second round, but then allowed him to recover on the mat. Then, Craig got to his feet and this happened (via IronForgesIron):

Nasty. Here are the complete results from UFC on FUEL TV 4: Munoz vs. Weidman…

MAIN CARD
– Chris Weidman def. Mark Muñoz via KO, 1:37 of round 2
– James Te-Huna def. Joey Beltran via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-27 x 2)
– Aaron Simpson def. Kenny Robertson via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
– Francis Carmont def. Karlos Vemola via submission (rear-naked choke), 1:39 of round 2
– T.J. Dillashaw def. Vaughan Lee via submission (rear-naked choke), 2:33 of round 1
– Rafael dos Anjos def. Anthony Njokuani via unanimous decision (30-27 x 2, 29-28)

PRELIMINARY CARD
– Alex Caceres def. Damacio Page via submission (triangle choke), 1:27 of round 2
– Chris Cariaso def. Josh Ferguson via unanimous decision (30-27 x 3)
– Andrew Craig def. Rafael Natal via KO, 4:52 of round 2
– Marcelo Guimaraes def. Dan Stittgen via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
– Raphael Assunção def. Issei Tamura via TKO, 0:25 of round 2


(Sorry, guys. I just had to. Props: JessicaKardashian1)

UFC 148 Salaries: FoGriff Out-Earns Anderson Silva with a $275K Payday

Anderson Silva Forrest Griffin UFC 101
(He may not have invited him to the BBQ afterward, but Anderson was going to make sure that Griffin squealed like a pig one way or another.)

The salaries for UFC 148’s twenty-two fighters were released earlier today, and it appears that Chael Sonnen earned exactly one dollar for every insult he aimed at the people of Brazil, which is 50% higher than the UFC’s current average compensatory rate for drawing the ire of an entire nation, a.k.a the Josh Koscheck clause, so a tip of the hat is in order for The Orgeonian in that regard. It will surely by him all of the medium rare steak sandwiches he could ever hope to have.

In other news, despite getting rocked on more than one occasion in his fight with the now retired Tito Ortiz and sprinting out of the cage like he was reliving his fight with Anderson Silva before the decision was even read, Forrest Griffin managed to walk away with the W and a cool $275,000 to boot. Actually, when you add in his $75,000 FOTN bonus, the total comes to…a much higher number. It would be impossible for us to crunch those kinds of numbers and still get this article together in just 8 hours, so take it for what it is and shut up.

The full list of salaries, along with our thoughts (read:complaints), is after the jump.

Anderson Silva Forrest Griffin UFC 101
(He may not have invited him to the BBQ afterward, but Anderson was going to make sure that Griffin squealed like a pig one way or another.)

The salaries for UFC 148′s twenty-two fighters were released earlier today, and it appears that Chael Sonnen earned exactly one dollar for every insult he aimed at the people of Brazil, which is 50% higher than the UFC’s current average compensatory rate for drawing the ire of an entire nation, a.k.a the Josh Koscheck clause, so a tip of the hat is in order for The Orgeonian in that regard. It will surely by him all of the medium rare steak sandwiches he could ever hope to have.

In other news, despite getting rocked on more than one occasion in his fight with the now retired Tito Ortiz and sprinting out of the cage like he was reliving his fight with Anderson Silva before the decision was even read, Forrest Griffin managed to walk away with the W and a cool $275,000 to boot. Actually, when you add in his $75,000 FOTN bonus, the total comes to…a much higher number. It would be impossible for us to crunch those kinds of numbers and still get this article together in just 8 hours, so take it for what it is and shut up.

Anderson Silva: $200,000 (no win bonus)
Chael Sonnen: $50,000

Forrest Griffin: $275,000 ($125,000 to show, $150,000 to win)
Tito Ortiz: $250,000

Cung Le: $150,000 (No win bonus)
Patrick Cote: $21,000

Demian Maia: $96,000 ($48,000 to show, $48,000 to win)
Dong Hyun Kim: $44,000

Mike Easton: $20,000 ($10,000 to show, $10,000 to win)
Ivan Menjivar: $13,000

Chad Mendes: $36,000 ($18,000 to show, $18,000 to win)
Cody McKenzie: $10,000

Habib Nurmagomedov: $20,000 ($10,000 to show, $10,000 to win)
Gleison Tibau: $31,000

Constantinos Philippou: $32,000 ($16,000 to show, $16,000 to win)
Riki Fukuda: $28,000

Melvin Guillard: $72,000 ($36,000 to show, $36,000 to win)
Fabricio Camoes: $8,000

Rafaello Oliveira: $20,000 ($10,000 to show, $10,000 to win)
Yoislandy Izquierdo: $6,000

Shane Roller: $46,000 ($23,000 to show, $23,000 to win)
John Alessio: $10,000

Overpaid: Look, we know Cung Le is a big time movie star (He was the bomb in Phantoms Pandorum, yo.) and all, but is he really popular enough to earn a 150 thousand dollar paycheck? We’ll give him all the credit in the world for his performance against Patrick Cote, which was easily his finest since he permanently impacted five pounds of undigested raw meat into Scott Smith’s small intestine at Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Werdum, but to think that his base rate is almost as high as Silva’s is pretty unbelievable. Granted, Silva likely took home a significant cut of the astronomical PPV dollars, which likely boosted his salary toward the half mil mark considering those numbers. We imagine that was the case, though to a lesser extent, for Sonnen as well, because 50K doesn’t seem like much compensation for a man who has been tirelessly trolling the MMA world for a good two years now.

Also, Riki Fukuda apparently makes 28K to show. If we could tell you who that is, we would surely have more of an opinion on the matter.

*Checks Sherdog*

Ah, he’s the defending DEEP middleweight champion. Nope, still nothing.

Underpaid: Honestly, there isn’t really any figure that jumps to our immediate attention. We just hope DW threw Cody McKenzie a few extra dollars for essentially jumping on a grenade against Chad Mendes. And while we’re speaking of Mendes, considering that the man is a former title challenger, he isn’t exactly living up to his “Money” moniker. Let’s hope when his contract expires he can at least start making the money he rightfully deserves as the number 2 featherweight in the world.

–J. Jones 

“UFC 148: Silva vs Sonnen” Aftermath (Part I): Tough Talk Sold the Fight, But the Tougher Fighter Finished It

Vindication. (Photo: Mark J. Rebilas-US PRESSWIRE)

Love him or hate him, Chael Sonnen did what few other men in the sport have been able to accomplish: he made you believe he could take out Anderson Silva. Whether it was his pre-fight promises to dump the champion on his ‘prissy little ass’ or the ease with which he did so in the opening round, for the first time in a long time you doubted Silva’s invincibility. In a time when injuries and injunctions have quashed the UFC’s most emotionally-charged and meaningful fights, ‘The American Gangster’ would not shut his mouth until you were convinced that his fight mattered. To be fair, he never shut his mouth; it was shut for him.

For those who think he’s bad for the sport, you should have checked your pulse when he worked his way to mount. It raced. You should check the ticket sales for this event. It’s a new US record. You should think back to so many of Anderson’s other battles marred by inaction in the cage and indifference in the champ. They sucked. You don’t have to root for the bad guy, but someone has to lose these fights, and it may as well be a loud-mouthed son of a bitch who refers to himself in the third person.

Anderson may not be flying home with the pocket full of Sonnen’s teeth that he desired, but he will be toting an extra twelve pounds of gold. Though he may be slightly disappointed, he’ll have a much easier time getting through airport security.

Vindication. (Photo: Mark J. Rebilas-US PRESSWIRE)

Love him or hate him, Chael Sonnen did what few other men in the sport have been able to accomplish: he made you believe he could take out Anderson Silva. Whether it was his pre-fight promises to dump the champion on his ‘prissy little ass’ or the ease with which he did so in the opening round, for the first time in a long time you doubted Silva’s invincibility. In a time when injuries and injunctions have quashed the UFC’s most emotionally-charged and meaningful fights, ‘The American Gangster’ would not shut his mouth until you were convinced that his fight mattered. To be fair, he never shut his mouth; it was shut for him.

For those who think he’s bad for the sport, you should have checked your pulse when he worked his way to mount. It raced. You should check the ticket sales for this event. It’s a new US record. You should think back to so many of Anderson’s other battles marred by inaction in the cage and indifference in the champ. They sucked. You don’t have to root for the bad guy, but someone has to lose these fights, and it may as well be a loud-mouthed son of a bitch who refers to himself in the third person.

Anderson may not be flying home with the pocket full of Sonnen’s teeth that he desired, but he will be toting an extra twelve pounds of gold. Though he may be slightly disappointed, he’ll have a much easier time getting through airport security.

Seconds into his rematch with Chael, “The Spider” found himself in a familiar spot. The champ spent much of his first fight with Sonnen on his back getting walloped, and the first round last night was no different. A survivor of war-torn West Linn, Sonnen showed no fear as he brought the fight to Silva right from the opening bell, but as he learned in their first encounter it’s how you finish that matters most, and once again Chael came in second place in an ass-kicking contest.

You can point to vaseline or shorts-grabbing or ‘illegal’ knees–and you will–but right now Silva is the best in the world. He has been for a long time, and he will continue to be so until someone takes him out. Who could possibly do it? I have no clue. Silva is so far ahead of the rest of the pack that none of his potential opponents seem credible, and it’s tough to get excited for a title fight when you don’t believe that the challenger can do the unthinkable. I was excited for this fight. Thanks again, Chael.

Silva’s victory sets two UFC records—most consecutive title defenses (10) and most consecutive wins (15). His $75k “Knockout of the Night” check puts him one bonus shy of tying Chris Lytle‘s record 10 UFC Performance Bonuses.

– @chriscolemon

Check out: “UFC 148: Silva vs Sonnen” Aftermath (Part Two): Seizing (And Destroying) the Moment


Joe Stevenson Loses to Dakota Cochrane via Rear Naked Choke; Everyone Snickers [VIDEO]

(Fight video props: IronForgesIron. The hot man-on-man action starts at the 7:01 mark.)

By George Shunick

Joe “Daddy” Stevenson’s return to the cage was foiled by everyone’s favorite not-really-gay gay porn star Dakota Cochrane last night, who submitted “Daddy” with a rear naked choke. For Stevenson, this is obviously a disappointment. His losing streak has reached five in a row now, his skills have seemingly peaked, and thanks to Ian McCall he doesn’t even own the best patriarchal nickname in MMA anymore. Though to be fair, that was probably because no one else had one. At any rate, he’s not going to reach the big time again, as the sport has passed him by. It’s a shame, but at least he can always hold on to the fact that his face will always be remembered. Well, at least the parts of it that were not obscured by his own blood.


(Fight video props: IronForgesIron. The hot man-on-man action starts at the 7:01 mark.)

By George Shunick

Joe “Daddy” Stevenson’s return to the cage was foiled by everyone’s favorite not-really-gay gay porn star Dakota Cochrane last night, who submitted “Daddy” with a rear naked choke. For Stevenson, this is obviously a disappointment. His losing streak has reached five in a row now, his skills have seemingly peaked, and thanks to Ian McCall he doesn’t even own the best patriarchal nickname in MMA anymore. Though to be fair, that was probably because no one else had one. At any rate, he’s not going to reach the big time again, as the sport has passed him by. It’s a shame, but at least he can always hold on to the fact that his face will always be remembered. Well, at least the parts of it that were not obscured by his own blood.

For Dakota, a win over Joe “Daddy” definitely bolsters his resume. He may never be able to shed his reputation, but being a successful cagefighter probably helps quell any critics he has to deal with. And frankly, while I’m not suggesting that singling out a fighter because of their sexual orientation is a good thing, I do think that Cochrane’s presence and success in the sport bodes well for any future (or currently closeted) gay or bisexual fighters. Even if Cochrane doesn’t consider himself one of them.

In many ways, the MMA, especially the UFC — as a promotion and a sport — is fundamentally rooted in modernity. It has very little history beyond the past two decades. As the sport has evolved in the past few years, so has the moral perception of homosexuality. While these two things aren’t necessarily related, they also mean that the sport hasn’t really had time to cultivate a culture that is oppressive to homosexuals. Sure, Dana White has dropped the other f-bomb occasionally (though, if a word’s offensive, you can bet it came out of his mouth at some point), Big Nog won’t train with gays and there are probably a decent number of fans who are homophobes. But given the complete lack of outrage over Cochrane’s past, the fact that he was allowed to try out for TUF and that he was in a headlining fight last night, it seems that the general MMA community is prepared to adopt a moral standard for sexuality that reflects the modern age during which the sport has developed.

It doesn’t matter who you fuck, just as long as you can fight.

Mind = Blown: UFC 147 Draws Over 20 Million Viewers and 16,000 Fans


(No, you can’t do that… you can’t triple jab a double jab, you can’t triple jab a double jab! Ace!)

Perhaps this news shouldn’t be all that shocking, considering that MMA is as popular in Brazil as, well, pornography is in Brazil. In either case, you might be surprised to learn that the incredibly weak lineup of UFC 147, which faced enough injury withdrawals to give Joe Silva a heart attack twice over, drew in over 20 million viewers, as reported by Tatame.com. That’s only three million less than UFC 142 brought in back in January, which featured Jose Aldo’s destruction of Chad Mendes, Edson Barboza’s destruction of Terry Etim, and Anthony Johnson’s destruction of a nearby Chima Steakhouse.


(No, you can’t do that… you can’t triple jab a double jab, you can’t triple jab a double jab! Ace!)

Perhaps this news shouldn’t be all that shocking, considering that MMA is as popular in Brazil as, well, pornography is in Brazil. In either case, you might be surprised to learn that the incredibly weak lineup of UFC 147, which faced enough injury withdrawals to give Joe Silva a heart attack twice over, drew in over 20 million viewers, as reported by Tatame.com. That’s only three million less than UFC 142 brought in back in January, which featured Jose Aldo’s destruction of Chad Mendes, Edson Barboza’s destruction of Terry Etim, and Anthony Johnson’s destruction of a nearby Chima Steakhouse.

Perhaps even more surprising than the amount of viewers who caught UFC 147 from home were those who actually attended the event live. If you recall, the UFC was giving out full refunds for the event to those who had purchased tickets prior to the aforementioned injury curse (something we later found out was simply in accordance with Brazilian law), which didn’t exactly lead us to believe that the event would draw in an astounding 16,643 fans. Now there’s some dedication that should be applauded.

Although we have yet to hear back on the PPV numbers from the event (which will likely be much, much lower than any in recent memory), it is great to hear, at least for the UFC, that an event as lackluster on paper as UFC 147 was can still reel in numbers as significant as those. But could you imagine how great UFC 147 would have been given the original lineup? It would be like if David Hasselhoff and Rammstein played a joint concert at a bratwurst and beer festival in Hamburg on Pfingstmontag, for Christ’s sake. This is just one of the many reasons we need to eliminate the UN, Potato Nation.

–J. Jones

[VIDEO] Clay Guida and Gray Maynard Verbally Spar Backstage on Dana White’s UFC 147 Vlog


(Dan Miragliotta explains to Guida the maximum amount of miles allowed to run in the octagon without penalty.) 

After a brief hiatus, Dana White has returned with the daily dose of heartbreak that is the Danavlog to remind us all of the downsides of being a f*cking fighter. Thankfully, not all of us take the phrase as literally as Brazilians do. But the main lesson we took away from today’s episode is simple: what you don’t pay in gym fees, you will more than make up for in blood. Nick Catone, Joey Gambino, and Ross Pearson were just a few of the men to walk away from their bouts with some gruesome lacerations and another (or in Gambino’s case, a first) loss on their record. A tough day at the office indeed.

“Boring,” and “sucked” were just a couple of words that White used to describe the five round affair between Clay Guida and Gray Maynard, a sentiment that most fans seemed to agree with when all was said and done. And regardless of who you thought won that fight, you could probably understand a little bit of Gray’s frustration with the Steve Prefontainian conundrum that Guida brought to the octagon. This frustration became all the more apparent when the two met backstage, where some less than positive remarks were exchanged between the two camps. Oddly enough, it all began when Guida uncharacteristically complained about the judges decision, despite the fact that Napoleon was closer to conquering Russia than Guida ever was to finishing that fight, or even attempting to for that matter.

Video after the jump. 


(Dan Miragliotta explains to Guida the maximum amount of miles allowed to run in the octagon without penalty.) 

After a brief hiatus, Dana White has returned with the daily dose of heartbreak that is the Danavlog to remind us all of the downsides of being a f*cking fighter. Thankfully, not all of us take the phrase as literally as Brazilians do. But the main lesson we took away from today’s episode is simple: what you don’t pay in gym fees, you will more than make up for in blood. Nick Catone, Joey Gambino, and Ross Pearson were just a few of the men to walk away from their bouts with some gruesome lacerations and another (or in Gambino’s case, a first) loss on their record. A tough day at the office indeed.

“Boring,” and “sucked” were just a couple of words that White used to describe the five round affair between Clay Guida and Gray Maynard, a sentiment that most fans seemed to agree with when all was said and done. And regardless of who you thought won that fight, you could probably understand a little bit of Gray’s frustration with the Steve Prefontainian conundrum that Guida brought to the octagon. This frustration became all the more apparent when the two met backstage, where some less than positive remarks were exchanged between the two camps. Oddly enough, it all began when Guida uncharacteristically complained about the judges decision, despite the fact that Napoleon was closer to conquering Russia than Guida ever was to finishing that fight, or even attempting to for that matter.


(Things start to get interesting around the 8:26 mark.) 

I know this will earn me a lot of hate (then again, what doesn’t), but when you want to jab and jog your way to victory, as was obviously Guida’s plan going into last Friday’s fight, I can’t really empathize when the judges bite you in the ass for doing so. Relying on the judges to determine the correct outcome of a fight (especially one that was that close) is akin to career suicide in MMA considering their time-tested incompetence, so Guida has no one to blame but himself (and maybe Greg Jackson) for the inevitable result of doing so. I say this as a Guida fan.

Just check out the Fightmetric stats if you want to see how close of a fight this truly was.

Granted, Fightmetric results don’t often tell the whole story, but my God, talk about an abysmal efficiency rate. All of the rounds were decided by such a small difference that it would be hard to make the case that either fighter was clearly deserving of the judges nod. So basically, who you feel won the fight likely comes down to your view of the terms “aggression” and “octagon control.” I’ll give Guida this, he implemented a frustrating gameplan that Maynard had little to no answer for the first couple of rounds. As things progressed, however, Guida just fell short in terms of effectiveness. Let the cries of “TUF noob” and “incompetent jackass” begin.

–J. Jones