2014 was a rocky year for high-level mixed martial arts. While there were spots of excitement and transcendent glory, for the most part, it was a year marked by loss.
First came the disappearance of the UFC’s two biggest stars, Anderson Silva and Georg…
2014 was a rocky year for high-level mixed martial arts. While there were spots of excitement and transcendent glory, for the most part, it was a year marked by loss.
First came the disappearance of the UFC’s two biggest stars, Anderson Silva and Georges St-Pierre, victims of injury and ennui, respectively. Then its two remaining brightest lights, Jon Jones and Cain Velasquez, were also lost for months to injury.
What remained were a collection of fights, some great and some forgettable, spread thin over dozens of cards. It was an environment, frankly, that made it hard for individual fighters to stand out. By the time their fight was over, all too often, there was barely time to move on to the next fight, let alone to reflect on what we’d just seen.
Despite this, the three candidates for Fighter of the Year were able to overcome their surroundings, making their mark, not just on the year, but on the sport. Lead writers Jeremy Botter and Chad Dundas join me to run down the contenders and, ultimately, pick a winner.
Disagree with our assessment? Let’s hear your choice in the comments.
After much speculation, Rory MacDonald will not be getting his first title shot in the UFC.
According to UFC Tonight’s Ariel Helwani, the UFC brass called MacDonald to update the status of his once-promised title shot. Dana White didn’t just col…
After much speculation, Rory MacDonald will not be getting his first title shot in the UFC.
According to UFC Tonight’s Ariel Helwani, the UFC brass called MacDonald to update the status of his once-promised title shot. Dana White didn’t just color MacDonald the No. 1 contender after his victory over TarecSaffiedine in October, he said the fight would take place in MacDonald’s home country.
“It’s pretty impossible to deny Rory that (title shot), whoever comes out of that Hendricks-Lawler fight, he’s the next guy in line,” White told The Canadian Press.
Obviously that was before Johny Hendricks and Robbie Lawler took center stage at UFC 181 earlier this month to make for the “pretty impossible” scenario White could barely imagine—before the two men completed rounds five through 10 of what will likely end up being a 15-round trilogy for the UFC’s two most recent welterweight champions.
“It’s all good,” MacDonald told Helwani. “I’m just gonna light up whoever is next. Like always.”
In reality, it might only be “all good” because that’s just the way it has to be. Because for as excited as MacDonald may have gotten after being “promised” a title shot, he must have be cognizant of the big, fat historic asterisk title shot guarantees have under White’s lexicon.
Just look at Anthony Pettis who, after defeating Benson Henderson for the WEC lightweight championship to become the promotion’s final 155-pound king, was promised a title shot against the winner of Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard.
Edgar and Maynard would fight to a draw, forcing the incoming WEC champ to either sit and wait about a year for his turn or pick up a fight with one of the top UFC lightweights. A unanimous-decision loss to Clay Guida and controversial Edgar title fights would prevent Pettis from fighting for the title until 2013, about two years after his first shot was supposed to take place.
Then there’s Cub Swanson and his promised shot at Jose Aldo’s featherweight throne. After racking up Ws against some of the best featherweights on the planet, White and Co. felt Swanson had done more than enough to stake his claim as the the division’s No. 1 contender.
But that was before brash Irishman and fan favorite ConorMcGregor proved himself against a top-10 featherweight, giving the UFC the go-ahead for Irishman’s future title aspirations. Swanson would be asked to take on Edgar in what Swanson understood to be the final contingency separating him from his shot at UFC gold.
You could even ask Alexander Gustafsson about his latest plea for a shot at light heavyweight champion Jon Jones. The Swede lost his shot at the champ after suffering a knee injury. All was well until Jones had to pull out of his replacement bout against Daniel Cormier, which forced the Swedish fighter to re-request his originally promised title bout.
But as the UFC likely saw it, the Jones-Cormier brawl created too great of a financial opportunity to leave untapped, regardless of when the fight would take place or whom they would inconvenience.
Unfortunately for MacDonald and other UFC contenders, title shots are circumstantial. Meaning, they’re only promised as long as they make financial sense for the promotion, not the fighter.
That’s because the average fan would have rather watched Edgar-Maynard III, Aldo-McGregor and Jones-Cormier.
For as well as MacDonald’s fought as of late, a trilogy between Lawler and Hendricks, who fought to a close controversial decision, makes more financial sense than adding a new fighter into the mix.
This situation, while likely disappointing for MacDonald, may harness a silver lining. Carlos Condit, who handed MacDonald his first career defeat back in 2010, plans to return this March or April. The Natural Born Killer should make for a viable opponent for the division’s No. 2-ranked welterweight.
Kristian Ibarra is a Featured Columnist at Bleacher Report MMA. He also serves as the sports editor at San Diego State University’s student-run newspaper, The Daily Aztec. Follow him on Twitter at @Kristian_Ibarra for all things MMA.
The year of The Rhino “Ruthless” continues, as Robbie Lawler walked away from UFC 181 last weekend with not only the belt, but the biggest payday of all 22 competing fighters. Lawler earned just over 200K ($220,000) for his efforts, surpassing Anthony Pettis and Gilbert Melendez ($200,00 each) on the night’s list of top earners.
On the injury side of things, it looks like several fighters who competed at UFC 181 could be facing lengthy layoffs, chief among them being Pettis (Ed note: WHY GOD, WHYY?!!). So join us after the jump to check out the full list of salaries and medical suspensions.
The year of The Rhino ”Ruthless” continues, as Robbie Lawler walked away from UFC 181 last weekend with not only the belt, but the biggest payday of all 22 competing fighters. Lawler earned just over 200K ($220,000) for his efforts, surpassing Anthony Pettis and Gilbert Melendez ($200,00 each) on the night’s list of top earners.
On the injury side of things, it looks like several fighters who competed at UFC 181 could be facing lengthy layoffs, chief among them being Pettis (Ed note: WHY GOD, WHYY?!!). So join us after the jump to check out the full list of salaries and medical suspensions.
I’m going to skip the over/underpaid analysis for this card, because I think we all can all reach our own conclusions on fighter pay by this point. Suffice it to say, anyone making less than 20K to show while fighting in an organization that rents out the Smith Center to make a non-announcement is getting screwed over big time. Just one man’s humble opinion.
Instead, I’d like to talk a little more about Joe Rogan’s brutally honest critique of Brendan Schaub’s career and chances of ever becoming a champion earlier today. While I was watching Rogan essentially tell Schaub to retire, I couldn’t help but play the devil’s advocate when thinking of Robbie Lawler.
Less than 3 years ago, “Ruthless” had dropped back-to-back fights to Ronaldo Souza and Tim Kennedy, and three of his past four overall. In both those performances, you could literally see the moment in which Lawler seemed to break, to give up. It seemed as if his best days were behind him, and it was safe to say that no one had him on their list of future UFC champions at that point. The same can be said for Schaub right now.
Am I saying that Schaub could be a future heavyweight champ? Not exactly, I’m just saying that Rogan was perhaps a little dismissive of his friend’s chances, albeit for the right reasons. While “Ruthless” has years of fight experience over Schaub that no doubt played a role in his improbable career revival, let’s not act like there aren’t crazier things that have happened in MMA than the idea of Brendan Schaub: Heavyweight Champion. It’s an argument of faith vs. fact, sure, but guys, Matt Serra beat Georges St. Pierre once. No seriously, it happened.
Food for thought, I guess.
Anyways, on to those medical suspensions…
Anthony Pettis: Requires x-ray of left hand; if positive, requires doctor’s clearance or no contest until June 6
Abel Trujillo: Requires doctor’s clearance on fractured nose or no contest until Jun. 6; minimum suspension until Jan. 6, no contest until Dec. 2
Francisco Rivera: Requires ophthalmologist’s clearance on left eye abrasion or no contest until June 6
Eddie Gordon: Requires post-concussive clearance from neurologist or sports medicine doctor prior to starting contact training; minimum suspension no contest until March 7, no contact until Feb. 5
Brendan Schaub: Suspended until Feb. 5, no contact until Jan. 21 due to upper lip laceration
Anthony Hamilton: Suspended until Jan. 21, no contact until Jan. 6 due to right forehead laceration
Tony Ferguson: Suspended until Jan. 21, no contact until Jan. 6 due to right forehead laceration
Raquel Pennington: Suspended until Jan. 21, no contact until Jan. 6 due to forehead laceration
Johny Hendricks: Suspended until Jan. 6, no contact until Dec. 28 due to tough fight
Todd Duffee: Suspended until Jan. 6, no contact until Dec. 28 due to forehead laceration
Matt Hobar: Suspended until Jan. 6, no contact until Dec. 28 due to left eye hematoma
Sergio Pettis: Suspended until Jan. 6, no contact until Dec. 28
Clay Collard: Requires orthopedic clearance on left forearm or no contest until June 6; minimum suspension no contest until Jan. 6, no contact until Dec. 28
Alex White: Suspended until Jan. 6, no contact until Dec. 28 due to left upper eyebrow laceration
Anthony Pettis…might be out until June…
Ok, calm down. Everyone just CALM DOWN, alright! The results for Anthony’s hand are still pending, and considering he said he felt fine at the post-fight press conference, let’s all just assume that it will be less than 15 months before we see him again. You hear me?! KEEP IT TOGETHER!!
In light of all the crazy crap that went down at UFC 181 this weekend, our friends at TYT Sports invited CagePotato founding editor Ben Goldstein back on their show to break down all the important storylines. (Johny Hendricks was robbed! CM Punk OMFG! Anthony Pettis P4P greatest?? Etc.) Strong takes all over the place.
First up, here’s Ben talking with TYT Sports hosts Francis Maxwell and Lindsay McCormick about the Johny Hendricks vs. Robbie Lawler rematch, which was awesome despite Glenn Trowbridge ruining it with his 49-46 scorecard. What were the judges looking at, exactly? And is an immediate rubber match in order, or should the UFC give that Rory MacDonald kid a shot?
Subscribe to TYT Sports on YouTube and twitter; more of our UFC 181 analysis videos will be released through the evening. Thanks for watching.
In light of all the crazy crap that went down at UFC 181 this weekend, our friends at TYT Sports invited CagePotato founding editor Ben Goldstein back on their show to break down all the important storylines. (Johny Hendricks was robbed! CM Punk OMFG! Anthony Pettis P4P greatest?? Etc.) Strong takes all over the place.
First up, here’s Ben talking with TYT Sports hosts Francis Maxwell and Lindsay McCormick about the Johny Hendricks vs. Robbie Lawler rematch, which was awesome despite Glenn Trowbridge ruining it with his 49-46 scorecard. What were the judges looking at, exactly? And is an immediate rubber match in order, or should the UFC give that Rory MacDonald kid a shot?
Subscribe to TYT Sports on YouTube and twitter; more of our UFC 181 analysis videos will be released through the evening. Thanks for watching.
Rory MacDonald may not be a lock for a title shot after all.
UFC President Dana White is mulling over the possibility of an immediate rematch between Robbie Lawler and Johny Hendricks following a controversial decision at UFC 181 in another epic slugfe…
Rory MacDonald may not be a lock for a title shot after all.
UFC President Dana White is mulling over the possibility of an immediate rematch between Robbie Lawler and Johny Hendricks following a controversial decision at UFC 181 in another epic slugfest.
“I don’t know. The trilogy wouldn’t be a bad idea,” White said on Fox Sports 1 (via Shaun Al-Shatti of MMAFighting.com). “We’ll see what happens.”
MacDonald was expected to be next in line for a shot at UFC gold after dismantling Tarec Saffiedine in October. After the fight, White not only confirmed MacDonald was next in line, but he also told The Canadian Press that the title fight would take place in Canada.
Lawler and Hendricks fought to another nail-biting decision Saturday night in a bout that did little to clear up the welterweight title picture. The fact that MacDonald is a deserving contender puts White in the precarious spot of either going back on his word or honoring his original statement.
There is no doubt that Lawler and Hendricks need to fight again to settle the rivalry once and for all. But as a matchmaker, do you pull the trigger now while the subject of the controversy is fresh, or do you put things off and chance either Hendricks or Lawler losing?
It’s a can of worms that never had to be opened in the first place. People often accuse White of being coy or guarded at post-fight press conferences when he refuses to comment on future title fights.
This is the reason.
JordyMcElroy is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA writer for Rocktagon.
FOX Sports released some highlight videos from Saturday’s UFC 181: Hendricks vs. Lawler 2 event, and as usual, the clips from the main card fights are woefully incomplete, showing everything but the actual finishes. So eff ’em — we’ve buried those after the jump. Luckily, the highlight clips from the FOX Sports 1 prelim fights actually showed the money shots.
Below, Urijah Faber picks up yet another submission victory in a non-title fight, though this one came with some controversy. In the slow-motion replay at the 0:30 mark, you can see Faber basically fish-hook Francisco Rivera’s eye-socket. (Two fouls in one!) Rivera goes down in agony, and Faber bulldog chokes him. But referee Mario Yamasaki didn’t see the foul, and it goes down as a legitimate win for Faber. Rivera plans to appeal the result.
After the jump: Highlights from four UFC 181 main card fights. They left out Todd Duffee‘s KO of Anthony Hamilton because the fight was so short they’d pretty much have to show the finish, and God knows we can’t have that.
FOX Sports released some highlight videos from Saturday’s UFC 181: Hendricks vs. Lawler 2 event, and as usual, the clips from the main card fights are woefully incomplete, showing everything but the actual finishes. So eff ‘em — we’ve buried those after the jump. Luckily, the highlight clips from the FOX Sports 1 prelim fights actually showed the money shots.
Below, Urijah Faber picks up yet another submission victory in a non-title fight, though this one came with some controversy. In the slow-motion replay at the 0:30 mark, you can see Faber basically fish-hook Francisco Rivera’s eye-socket. (Two fouls in one!) Rivera goes down in agony, and Faber bulldog chokes him. But referee Mario Yamasaki didn’t see the foul, and it goes down as a legitimate win for Faber. Rivera plans to appeal the result.
After the jump: Highlights from four UFC 181 main card fights. They left out Todd Duffee‘s KO of Anthony Hamilton because the fight was so short they’d pretty much have to show the finish, and God knows we can’t have that.
(Robbie Lawler vs. Johny Hendricks video highlights)
(Anthony Pettis vs. Gilbert Melendez video highlights)
(Travis Browne vs. Brendan Schaub video highlights)
(Tony Ferguson vs. Abel Trujillo video highlights)
After much speculation, Rory MacDonald will not be getting his first title shot in the UFC. 
