Before Yoel Romero and Robert Whittaker do battle, a simulation via EA Sports UFC 2 has been released. EA Sports UFC 2 is a video game currently available on the PS4 and Xbox One. It was released back in March 2016. Romero and Whittaker are playable in the game. They’ll compete in the real world […]
Before Yoel Romero and Robert Whittaker do battle, a simulation via EA Sports UFC 2 has been released. EA Sports UFC 2 is a video game currently available on the PS4 and Xbox One. It was released back in March 2016. Romero and Whittaker are playable in the game. They’ll compete in the real world […]
It’s been a long, confusing saga concerning longtime former UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre’s octagon return. The legend, whom many consider to be one of the top three of all-time, has been out of fighting since he vacated the belt in the aftermath of a controversial split decision win over Johny Hendricks in the main […]
It’s been a long, confusing saga concerning longtime former UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre’s octagon return.
The legend, whom many consider to be one of the top three of all-time, has been out of fighting since he vacated the belt in the aftermath of a controversial split decision win over Johny Hendricks in the main event of November 2013’s UFC 167.
“Rush” teased a return repeatedly over the next four years, but that potential was seemingly realized when the French-Canadian superstar unveiled his intention to come back and face middleweight champion Michael Bisping at a weight class he had never fought at before.
A press conference, where Bisping played the perfect part of a drunken heel to St-Pierre’s usual clean-cut superhero fan favorite, was set up and given to fans days prior to March’s UFC 209. But while the UFC wanted the fight to go down this month, St-Pierre repeatedly insisted he couldn’t fight until after October at the earliest. When he did so publicly online, UFC President Dana White was quick to say that they would now pit Bisping against Yoel Romero.
Photo by Joe Camporeale – USA TODAY Sports
There was a big problem with that plan, however, as Bisping was still healing from the knee surgery he had in the months after his first title defense, a close decision call over then-No. 4-ranked arch rival Dan Henderson. With a vast part of the MMA world calling for Bisping to defend his belt against the rightful challenger Romero, his injury paved a path for this Saturday’s Romero vs. Robert Whittaker interim title fight at UFC 213. White went on record again to say that St-Pierre would fight the winner of this month’s Tyron Woodley vs. Demian Maia bout at UFC 214.
We can take that with a grain of salt, of course, and it’s clear Bisping is holding out to not only get his knee healed up, but also to hang on to that elusive monster payday that comes with fighting St-Pierre in his return bout. He’s admitted as much, and as a prize fighter who’s paid his dues arguably more than any other UFC athlete in the promotion’s history, he deserves that. The timing is just bad, because he makes it seem like he’s ducking Romero – or maybe Whittaker – which, in a sense, he may be.
Today, news has come that he may just get his wish. According to a information from MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani, “GSP” texted both “The Count” and White issuing a challenge to battle him at the UFC’s planned pay-per-view (PPV) event at Madison Square Garden on November 4:
“Michael, you should man up and fight me 11/4 in NY,” St-Pierre wrote. “I’m coming out of retirement to retire you. Dana [White], please make it happen.”
Regardless of if you agree with how St-Pierre has behaved during his comeback, he does have a strong point in that he is a legend coming out of retirement for what he thought was a fight versus Bisping, even if it is just because he views the longtime vet as the easiest path to becoming a two-division champ the quickest.
The UFC promised him and Bisping that fight, and no matter how many fans complained about it, they would obviously pay to watch what would be a monstrous title bout in a year when MMA and the UFC needs one more than perhaps any year in recent times. The mistake came when the promotion’s new ownership may have realized it and announced it with a presser early in the year even though St-Pierre had apparently told them he had an eye injury that kept him out of sparring until late fall.
Either way, however, the payday still looms and a fight with Romero or Whittaker just doesn’t have the same luster as facing an all-time legend – and a proven PPV superstar – in his long-awaited return. Are you ready to see this fight booked again?
Saturday just can’t come soon enough for many UFC fans as UFC 213’s fight card is full of exciting fights, particularly the co-main event between Yoel Romero vs. Robert Whittaker and the main event featuring bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes vs. Valen…
Saturday just can’t come soon enough for many UFC fans as UFC 213’s fight card is full of exciting fights, particularly the co-main event between Yoel Romero vs. Robert Whittaker and the main event featuring bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes vs. Valentina Shevchenko.
It’s been a long and tumultuous road for Romero, the UFC’s No. 1 contender in the middleweight division, as he has been brushed aside for a title shot by champion Michael Bisping, who is currently recovering from a knee injury after a failed attempt to fight the returning Georges St-Pierre.
With the interim 185-pound title on the line Saturday night in Las Vegas, the “Soldier of God” will be looking to take out the fast-rising Kiwi, Whittaker, to set up a date with Bisping for the undisputed title.
As for Nunes, she is looking to defend her belt for the second time against Shevchenko after dismantling Ronda Rousey last December.
Shevchenko is looking for revenge after losing to Nunes in a three-round bout back in March 2016 in a fight where she began to takeover in the third round before it was too late. This time around, however, their fight is five rounds so things might shape up a little differently than before.
Here’s a look at the complete card with odds fromOddsShark, ticket information and predictions for the co-main and main event at UFC 213.
After knocking out Chris Weidman at UFC 205 with a brutal flying knee, Romero cemented himself as the top contender in the UFC’s middleweight division. It seemed as though Romero was to be given the next title shot, but the return of GSP got in Romero’s way and caught Bisping‘s attention.
When that fight fell apart largely to GSP‘s inability to fight earlier than November of this year, UFC president Dana White scrapped the fight and was going to give Romero the next title shot. But then Bisping claimed that he would not recover from his knee injury in time, so the UFC put up an interim belt for Romero and Whittaker to fight over.
Whittaker is in a position that not many people saw coming so soon. When he finished JacareSouza back in April, every fighter at 185-pounds was put on notice. A new threat emerged in the former rugby player with fists of stone, and he was awarded with a bout against one of the most physically-gifted fighters the UFC has ever seen.
Just check out how impressive he looked during his open workout Wednesday, courtesy of MMAjunkie:
Saturday’s co-main event is an interesting fight for a number of reasons. Whittaker showed good takedown defense against Souza, but Romero is a whole other animal. An Olympic silver medalist, Romero’s wrestling is far beyond the skill-level of any fighter in the UFC, regardless of weight classes.
Romero will look to use his wrestling and explosiveness to get Whittaker on the ground and maul him. As for Whittaker, the gameplan is simple: stay on your feet at all costs.
Whittaker has proved he can hang with the big guns of the middleweight division with wins over Uriah Hall, Derek Brunson and the aforementioned Souza, but it’s hard to imagine that he can finish, let alone win against a fighter of Romero’s pedigree.
Romero truly believes that he is on a mission from God to win the title, and it’ll take a lot more than a good right hand from Whittaker to knock him off course. Look for Romero to take control of the fight from the get-go with his superior grappling skills and wear down Whittaker to earn the stoppage in the third round.
Prediction: Romero wins interim title.
Main event: Amanda Nunes vs. Valentina Shevchenko
There’s no nice way of putting this: there is bad blood between Nunes and Shevchenko.
Their beef doesn’t necessarily date back to Nunes‘ victory back in 2016, but it certainly added fuel to the fire as Nunes and Shevchenko began trash-talking just moments after Shevchenko finished Julianna Pena inside back in January.
That trash talk escalated until the fighters squared off just a matter of weeks ago, where it appeared that Nunes took a shot at Shevchenko during their stare down when the challenger got a little too close for Nunes‘ liking.
The first fight between “The Lioness” and “Bullet” was dominated by Nunes for the majority of the first two rounds. But in the closing moments of the second round, it appeared that Nunes was beginning to run out of gas as Shevchenko began to dictate the pace of the fight. The third round went to Shevchenko, but Nunes had done enough in the first 10 minutes of the fight to earn the victory on the judges’ scorecard despite ending the fight in bad shape.
In fairness to Nunes, she didn’t have to train for a five-round fight, but that might be the weakness that Shevchenko will be looking for on Saturday. A muaythai artist who has proved more than capable of competing on the ground, Shevchenko will look to keep Nunes‘ at a distance. The last thing Shevchenko wants is to get caught by one of Nunes‘ nasty combinations early in the fight.
In order to upset the champion, Shevchenko has to bring Nunes into the deep end, meaning this fight has to go into the championship rounds in order to have a shot at getting her arm raised by the referee. She won’t be able to finish Nunes, who hasn’t lost or been finished since 2014 to Cat Zingano, but she can win by effective striking and Octagon control, giving her the points on the scorecards.
For Nunes, she has to fight the only way she knows how. And that’s by moving forward.
Against Shevchenko the first time around, Miesha Tate and Rousey, Nunes came out as the aggressor and was able to take care of business early and often. If she’s not able to finish Shevchenko in the opening rounds of the fight, she has to be able to pace herself in order to survive, otherwise Shevchenko’s muaythai strikes to the body will empty out Nunes‘ gas tank before she knows what hit her.
Even though Shevchenko will go into this fight full of confidence after consecutive wins over Holly Holm and Julianna Pena, she won’t have enough to take down Nunes, who will continue to enjoy her time at the top of the division that is in desperate need of stability after Rousey‘s fall from grace.
Anticipate two fighters displaying high-level striking before Nunes catches Shevchenko with a combination in the second round, sending the Kyrgyzstani-Peruvian to the canvas. Nunes will take this fight to the ground and look for the submission via rear-naked choke en route to her third consecutive title defense.
Prediction: Nunes cements her legacy as one of the division’s best-ever champions.
The UFC will kick off a packed next two months of mixed martial arts (and even some boxing) action with this weekend’s (Sat., July 8, 2017) stacked UFC 213 pay-per-view from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Steamrolling women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes will face deserving top contender Valentina Shevchenko for the gold in a […]
The UFC will kick off a packed next two months of mixed martial arts (and even some boxing) action with this weekend’s (Sat., July 8, 2017) stacked UFC 213 pay-per-view from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Steamrolling women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes will face deserving top contender Valentina Shevchenko for the gold in a rematch of their close UFC 196 match-up in the main event.
In the co-main event, top-ranked middleweights Yoel Romero and Robert Whittaker will meet for the interim championship with champion Michael “The Count” Bisping on the sidelines healing up from knee surgery and still appearing to want to fight GSP. Many are of the view that Romero vs. Whittaker is for the “real” 185-pound title, making UFC 213’s co-headliner an extremely important fight.
And Romero clearly knows it, putting on a show for the fans with a back handspring, splits, and an intense flex-off as he looks to be extremely hyped for his first UFC title bout.
“Solider of God” and the other main bout fighters participated in the traditional fight week open workouts free for the public from the Park Theater in Vegas today (Wed., July 5, 2017). Watch Nunes, Schevchenko, Romero, and Whittaker’s full workout videos thanks to MMA Fighting below:
Robert Whittaker feels Georges St-Pierre should ditch his goal of becoming a middleweight champion. St-Pierre reigned as the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) welterweight king, but hadn’t had a bout at middleweight. He was set to battle Michael Bisping for the middleweight title, but those plans were nixed. Speaking to FOX Sports Australia, Whittaker said he […]
Robert Whittaker feels Georges St-Pierre should ditch his goal of becoming a middleweight champion. St-Pierre reigned as the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) welterweight king, but hadn’t had a bout at middleweight. He was set to battle Michael Bisping for the middleweight title, but those plans were nixed. Speaking to FOX Sports Australia, Whittaker said he […]
International Fight Week has returned.
The UFC’s annual summer event is often dubbed their version of WrestleMania. Historically, it is one of the biggest events of the year, with thousands of fans from across the world descending on Las Vegas for five…
International Fight Week has returned.
The UFC’s annual summer event is often dubbed their version of WrestleMania. Historically, it is one of the biggest events of the year, with thousands of fans from across the world descending on Las Vegas for five days of fights and fun, culminating with a stacked pay-per-view card on Saturday night.
This year, things are a little different.
The UFC is presenting just two fight cards instead of the usual three, and Saturday night’s PPV event is, by any logical measure, just not up to the same kind of quality level we’re used to.
It’s a good fight card, for sure, but any fan in their right mind is already looking past Saturday night toward UFC 214 and its otherworldly bill on July 29. And the best fight of the week might be the Friday main event between Michael Johnson and Justin Gaethje.
Still, we’ve got two title matches on this card and one of those will be violent. So let’s take a look at those fights, plus the rest of the card, and figure out what we should be looking forward to on Saturday night.
Saturday just can’t come soon enough for many UFC fans as UFC 213’s fight card is full of exciting fights, particularly the co-main event between