In a loss that should downgrade the card from a pay-per-view to a free night of fights but undoubtedly won’t, Jose Aldo has been injured and is out of his featherweight title fight rematch with Chad Mendes scheduled for UFC 176.
MMAFighting’s Ariel Helwani broke the bad news on last night’s edition of UFC Tonight, and Dana White confirmed that the fight had been cancelled shortly thereafter. Nova Uniao released a statement as to the severity of Aldo’s injury late last night:
Nova Uniao announced on Wednesday night that Aldo has suffered a shoulder and cervical spine injury after being taken down in training on July 1. According to the release, Aldo started physical therapy Wednesday and won’t be able to train for three weeks, when he will be examined again for the cervical spine injury.
The answer is of course, f*ck no. Unless the UFC decides to shuffle in a more worthy main event, or at the very minimum, downgrade the price of the PPV. No, *you* sound crazy.
So, on what side of the 200k benchmark do we see this card landing in terms of PPV buys?
In a loss that should downgrade the card from a pay-per-view to a free night of fights but undoubtedly won’t, Jose Aldo has been injured and is out of his featherweight title fight rematch with Chad Mendes scheduled for UFC 176.
MMAFighting’s Ariel Helwani broke the bad news on last night’s edition of UFC Tonight, and Dana White confirmed that the fight had been cancelled shortly thereafter. Nova Uniao released a statement as to the severity of Aldo’s injury late last night:
Nova Uniao announced on Wednesday night that Aldo has suffered a shoulder and cervical spine injury after being taken down in training on July 1. According to the release, Aldo started physical therapy Wednesday and won’t be able to train for three weeks, when he will be examined again for the cervical spine injury.
The answer is of course, f*ck no. Unless the UFC decides to shuffle in a more worthy main event, or at the very minimum, downgrade the price of the PPV. No, *you* sound crazy.
So, on what side of the 200k benchmark do we see this card landing in terms of PPV buys?
Souza, on the other hand, recently picked up his third straight UFC win (and sixth in a row overall) over Francis Carmont at Fight Night 36. We highly doubt he’ll be lacking motivation heading into his rematch with Mousasi, who ended his night with an upkick KO when they previously met in the Dream middleweight finals back in 2008. Ah, Dream, how we have forgotten you so.
But Mousasi vs. Souza II isn’t the only big fight to be booked today, not by a long shot…
(Mousasi vs. Souza 1, Dream 6 Middleweight Grand Prix Finals, 2008)
Souza, on the other hand, recently picked up his third straight UFC win (and sixth in a row overall) over Francis Carmont at Fight Night 36. We highly doubt he’ll be lacking motivation heading into his rematch with Mousasi, who ended his night with an upkick KO when they previously met in the Dream middleweight finals back in 2008. Ah, Dream, how we have forgotten you so.
But Mousasi vs. Souza II isn’t the only big fight to be booked today, not by a long shot…
According to BloodyElbow, Fight Night 42 victors Ben Henderson and Rafael Dos Anjos have also agreed to meet in the main event of Fight Night Tulsa, which will be transpiring on August 23rd, a.k.a the same day as Fight Night: Bisping vs. Le in Macau. Way to optimize viewership, UFC!
As I mentioned, both Henderson and Dos Anjos picked up stoppage wins at Fight Night 42, the former by 4th round submission over Rustam Khabilov and the latter by second round TKO of the now-fired Jason High. The fight will serve as both Dos Anjos’ first main event and first five round contest, which is quite an accomplishment for a guy best known as the victim of Jeremy Stephens’ uppercut from Hell for a large part of his UFC career.
Another pivotal lightweight matchup announced earlier today is that of Joe Lauzon vs. Michael Chiesa. Things have been up-and-down for Lauzon both professionally and personally as of late; the TUF 5 alum bounced back from the first two fight skid of his career to trounce Mac Danzig at UFC on FOX 9 and recently saw his newborn son diagnosed with cancer only to kick its ass at just two months of age. Take *that* cancer, ya dick!
I guess I should mention that Chiesa has scored back-to-back wins over Colton Smith and Francisco Trinaldo at Fight for the Troops 3 and UFC 173, respectively. So there’s that.
Finally, a light heavyweight contest between Ryan Bader and Ovince St. Preux as the main event of a Fight Night event in Bangor, Maine on August 16th. The announcement was made by Bader himself on Twitter just moments ago. Similar to the Henderson/Dos Anjos booking, both Bader and OSP picked up decisive victories at UFC 174 last weekend over Rafael Cavalcante and Ryan Jimmo, respectively, and all but agreed to fight one another when some media mark tried to play matchmaker in the evening’s post-fight press conference. Hooray for that guy!
My prediction: OethhP by Submithhion. (I’m sorry, that was a low blow.)
(If you squint and look at Machida’s torso, you will see the face of the old wizard who taught his dad karate. / Photo via MMAJunkie)
I’m a glutton for punishment. After being stranded in North Carolina for most of this week due to snowstorms, I finally got back to Michigan yesterday, exhausted and displaying possible flu-like symptoms. I feel jet-lagged even though I never left the Eastern time-zone. That’s what four straight meals at a Marriott bar will do to you.
So it’s Saturday night and I figured, instead of catching up on sleep, why don’t I liveblog a low-level international UFC show with a main card that could drag on well past 1 a.m. ET? I don’t know, man. In another time, I’d probably be self-flagellating.
I, BG, will be putting live results from the FOX Sports 1 main card after the jump beginning at 10:30 p.m. ET. Refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest, and shoot us your own thoughts in the comments section or via twitter.
(If you squint and look at Machida’s torso, you will see the face of the old wizard who taught his dad karate. / Photo via MMAJunkie)
I’m a glutton for punishment. After being stranded in North Carolina for most of this week due to snowstorms, I finally got back to Michigan yesterday, exhausted and displaying possible flu-like symptoms. I feel jet-lagged even though I never left the Eastern time-zone. That’s what four straight meals at a Marriott bar will do to you.
So it’s Saturday night and I figured, instead of catching up on sleep, why don’t I liveblog a low-level international UFC show with a main card that could drag on well past 1 a.m. ET? I don’t know, man. In another time, I’d probably be self-flagellating.
I, BG, will be putting live results from the FOX Sports 1 main card after the jump beginning at 10:30 p.m. ET. Refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest, and shoot us your own thoughts in the comments section or via twitter.
Preliminary card results:
– Joe Proctor def. Cristiano Marcello via unanimous decision (29-28 x 2, 30-27)
– Rodrigo Damm def. Ivan Jorge via unanimous decision (29-28 x 3)
– Francisco Trinaldo def. Jesse Ronson via split-decision (30-27, 29-28, 28-29)
– Yuri Alcantara def. Wilson Reis via split-decision (30-27 x 2, 28-29)
– Felipe Arantes def. Maximo Blanco via unanimous decision (29-27 x 3. Blanco was docked a point in round 3 for a groin-kick)
– Ildemar Alcantara def. Albert Tumenov via split-decision (30-27, 29-28, 28-29)
– Zubaira Tukhugov def. Douglas Silva De Andrade via unanimous decision (30-27 x 2, 29-28)
I’m praying for a night of first-round knockouts. There’s no way I’ll last to the end, if the broadcast is loaded with video game commercials and the main event goes five rounds. I’m giving myself a hard out at 1:30 a.m. Seriously, even if we’re in the middle of the last round of Machida/Mousasi, I’m going to bed.
Fun fact: The last 14 UFC prelim matches have gone to decision.
Charles Oliveira vs. Andy Ogle
Oliveira is a -650 favorite in this fight? Thank God, we might actually see a stoppage here.
Round 1: Ogle marches forward throwing punches right away. Oliveira clinches and stuffs a knee into Ogle’s ribs, stopping his momentum. Oliveira scores a takedown without much difficulty. Oliveira looks for a head-and-arm choke, but can’t get it. Oliveira takes Ogle’s back. Ogle stands up while backpacked. Oliveira secures a body triangle and works hard for the rear-naked choke. Ogle flips backwards and they’re back on the mat. Oliveira with some punches to Ogle’s temple. Ogle sits up, trying to twist out of the position. Oliveira is undeterred. Oliveira stays active looking for the choke. Ogle has had to play defense for the majority of this round. Ogle tries to escape, Oliveira drags him right back down. Oliveira with an elbow to Ogle’s ribs as the round ends. Easy 10-9 for Oliveira.
Round 2: Ogle strikes first once again, the crowd boos because it seems like Oliveira was trying to touch gloves. Oliveira shoots and misses, shoots again and Ogle winds up in top position after a reversal. Oliveira stands up and gets punched on the way out. Oliveira dashes in and takes Ogle down as the Brit tries to throw leather. Now Ogle stands up. Ogle defends a takedown but Oliveira snatches a guillotine and drops to the mat. Ogle gets out and briefly threatens with a guillotine of his own before Oliveira gets to his feet. The crowd boos a brief stalemate against the cage. Ogle responds by body-slamming Oliveira. Ogle gets on top and fires down an elbow. Oliveira looking for a triangle off his back. Ogle moves to side control, Oliveira stands up, fires a knee to Ogle’s head and takes his back, falling to the mat. There’s the bell. Much closer round. I don’t know, 10-10? Maybe a slight edge to Ogle?
Round 3: Ogle comes in swinging as usual, but Oliveira is ready this time, knocking Ogle down with a punch and following him down to try to finish with a choke. Ogle gets up, and takes Oliveira down from a clinch. Oliveira gets up and they trade punches. Ogle scores with a solid leg kick. Oliveira tries for a takedown but botches it and Ogle gets on top. Oliveira throws some upkicks that seem rather illegal, but there’s no call. Then, he snatches a triangle with Ogle’s arm trapped and Ogle taps immediately. Boom. The no-finish streak is over.
Charles Oliveira def. Andy Ogle via submission (triangle choke), 2:40 of round 3. No time for a post-fight interview — we have a Cormier vs. Cummins hype-segment to get through.
Viscardi Andrade vs. Nicholas “Nico” Musoke
Yeah, this is the fight I’m not liveblogging. I will post the result as soon as it’s over, and if there’s a finish, I’ll link to the GIF or something.
It’s actually not a bad fight. Andrade dropped Musoke in round one, then tried to walk off in a boneheaded display of premature celebration. Musoke almost caught him in a submission like ten seconds later. Oh man, if Musoke pulled it off, the 2014 Fail of the Year Potato Award would have gone to Andrade, guaranteed. The fight had decent moments of brawliness in rounds 2 and 3, but obviously, it went to decision.
Niko Musoke def. Viscardi Andrade via unanimous decision (29-28 x 3).
Erick Silva vs. Takenori Sato
Round 1: Silva apparently has the shortest active fight time among active UFC fighters. Silva lands a hard body kick right away that makes Sato wince. Sato shoots and grabs Silva’s leg in apparent desperation/agony, and Silva slugs him in the head, then jumps up and kicks Sato behind his back with his heel, like a soccer ball. It’s hard to explain, hopefully I’ll find a GIF. Anyway, Sato drags him down, but Silva gets up and jackhammers Sato in the head with punches until Sato goes limp. Silva’s shortest-fight stat is definitely intact.
Erick Silva def. Takenori Sato via KO, 0:52 of round 1.
Oh, and here’s the GIF of Silva’s “hackey-sack” heel-kicks.
Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza vs. Francis Carmont
Round 1: Carmont throws out a very fast front-leg roundhouse. He tries it again and whiffs. Jacare trying hard to get inside. He fires a big overhand right, then lands a spinning back kick. Jacare storms forward and takes Carmont down, then takes his back. Jacare sinks the body-triangle. Jacare working to set up the rear-naked choke, but Carmont defends well. Jacare whips his left arm under Carmont’s neck. Carmont is in huge trouble but he grits it out and escapes. Jacare tries to isolate a wrist. Carmont fires punches behind his head, Jacare’s double-slaps Carmont in the ears. The round ends, 10-9 Souza.
Round 2: Carmont tries a low kick. Souza returns one, then fires a kick high and shoots to clinch. Carmont defends. Jacare slugging now, landing hard to the body and head, and he follows it up with a another spinning heel-kick. Jacare fires his big overhand right. Carmont returns fire and Jacare slips to the mat but pops back up. Carmont with a front kick to the body. Jacare shoots from long range, Carmont defends. They trade punches. Carmont lands a punch combo. Jacare misses a high kick. Carmont lands a jab, a follow-up straight, another jab. Souza lands twice to the body. Carmont throws his arms up, Diaz style.They clinch, Souza gets in a knee and a hook, Carmont lands on the way out. There’s the bell.
Round 3: Nice leg kick from Carmont. Switch kick to the body from Carmont. Jacare fires a right and a left to the body. Carmont swings, Jacare slips under and takes him down. Jacare takes his back and fires down some shots to the side of Carmont’s head. Jacare threatens with a choke, Carmont rolls away. Jacare is smothering Carmont against the fence. Jacare looks for the choke again, can’t find it. Carmont fires punches behind him at Jacare. Jacare is on Carmont’s back and he isn’t going anywhere. Jacare trying once again to finish with a choke, but Carmont defends. They scramble to a sitting position. Carmont still throwing those punches behind his head. Jacare stays on his back to the bell.
Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza def. Francis Carmont via unanimous decision (29-28 x 2, 30-27)
Lyoto Machida vs. Gegard Mousasi
Round 1: Mousasi makes first contact with an outside leg kick. Machida gives an inside leg kick back. Machida tries it again and whiffs. Machida lands a solid body kick as Mousasi stalks toward him. Mousasi lands a leg kick, Machida fires some punches in return but doesn’t land. Mousasi tags the leg again. Machida sticks and moves with a left straight. Mousasi dashes in to land a leg kick. Machida nails a counter-punch. Machida throws punches that don’t hand but scores with a body kick. The bell rings. As with most Machida fights, there wasn’t a ton of action in round 1 and it was kind of hard to score.
Round 2: Machida throws a reverse kick. Mousasi with a leg kick. Sharp inside leg kick from Machida. Mousasi with a leg kick. Body kick from Machida. They both fire punches in close. Outside leg kick from Mousasi. Head kick Machida, but Mousasi shrugs it off. Both guys land in a flurry. Mousasi swings and misses. Mousasi lands a body kick. Machida with a quick turning side kick. Mousasi lands a very solid right during a striking exchange. Leg kick Mousasi. Inside leg kick Machida. Mousasi with one more leg kick at the bell.
Round 3: Mousasi lands a left hook. Mousasi shoots, Machida defends and they clinch. Mousasi with a knee to the body. Machida lands a big left straight, and follows it up with a front kick to the body. Machida with that turning side kick again. Machida throws the high left kick again with Mousasi takes on his glove. Machida lands it again. Machida finding his momentum here. Step-in knee from Machida. Mousasi fires punches that mostly miss. Counterpunch from Machida. Machida tries a right elbow. He tries a takedown and is rebuffed. There’s the bell. 10-9 Machida…the clearest round of the fight, so far.
Round 4: Mousasi ducks under a front kick from Machida and takes him down. Machida pops back up immediately. Machida pops in a left hand and dodges the big counter from Mousasi. Machida tries a foot-sweep. Machida trips Mousasi to the mat with authority. Mousasi on top in side control but Mousasi works back into full guard. Mousasi sweeps, and winds up on top in Machida’s guard. Machida tries to set up an omoplata, Mousasi shakes out and fires down an elbow. Machida stands up and Mousasi throws some upkicks, the second of which lands while Machida clearly had his knee down. Mario Yamasaki lets Mousasi off with a warning. The round ends.
Round 5: Inside leg kick Mousasi. Machida storms forward with jabs and a left high kick. Mousasi pops Machida in the face but Machida does a little handstand Capoeira kick that lands to the body. Hard step-in knee from Machida. Mousasi walking forward and swinging. Machida tries a foot-sweep while Mousasi shoots, Machida defends the shot and wins up on top. Machida in guard. Machida jumps to Mousasi’s back. Mousasi rolls out and Machida jumps to his feet then slugs Mousasi in the grill as the round ends.
Lyoto Machida def. Gegard Mousasi via unanimous decision (49-46, 50-45 x 2)
By the way, that’s two UFC events in a row featuring 10 decisions.
Machida didn’t have enough time to find the kill shot tonight, but he could find himself with the next middleweight title shot anyway. Do you like his chances against the winner of Weidman vs. Belfort?
(Uh-oh. Grizzled, unkempt Machida is easily the most dangerous of all Machidas. Photo via Getty.)
Lyoto Machida, Gegard Mousasi, and all 24 fighters competing on tomorrow’s ‘Fight Night 36’ card are set to hit the scales from the Arena Jaragua in Jaragua do Sul, Santa Catarina, Brazil starting at 1 p.m. EST. Although Fight Night 36 is eerily similar in quality to next weekend’s UFC 170 pay-per-view, it features neither Ronda Rousey nor the year’s biggest squash match and therefore will be free. No, I do not understand it either.
Join us after the jump for a live feed of the weigh-ins, which are sure to feature no shortage of graceful bows and vacant, serial killer-esque stares into the distance. Should be a good one.
(Uh-oh. Grizzled, unkempt Machida is easily the most dangerous of all Machidas. Photo via Getty.)
Lyoto Machida, Gegard Mousasi, and all 24 fighters competing on tomorrow’s ‘Fight Night 36′ card are set to hit the scales from the Arena Jaragua in Jaragua do Sul, Santa Catarina, Brazil starting at 1 p.m. EST. Although Fight Night 36 is eerily similar in quality to next weekend’s UFC 170 pay-per-view, it features neither Ronda Rousey nor the year’s biggest squash match and therefore will be free. No, I do not understand it either.
Join us after the jump for a live feed of the weigh-ins, which are sure to feature no shortage of graceful bows and vacant, serial killer-esque stares into the distance. Should be a good one.
Main Card (10:30 p.m. EST, Fox Sports 1)
Lyoto Machida (185) vs. Gegard Mousasi (186)
Francis Carmont (185) vs. Ronaldo Souza (185)
Takenori Sato (170) vs. Erick Silva (170)
Viscardi Andrade (170) vs. Nicholas Musoke (170)
Andy Ogle (146) vs. Charles Oliveira (143)
Preliminary Card (7:30 p.m EST, UFC Fight Pass)
Cristiano Marcello (156) vs. Joe Proctor (155)
Rodrigo Damm (156) vs. Ivan Jorge (156)
Jesse Ronson (156) vs. Francisco Trinaldo (155)
Yuri Alcantara (136) vs. Wilson Reis (135)
Felipe Arantes (146) vs. Maximo Blanco (147.9*)
Ildemar Alcantara (171) vs. Albert Tumenov (170)
Douglas de Andrade (145) vs. Zubair Tuhugov (146)
Souza’s recent TKO of Yushin Okami, gave him his second win in the UFC and his fifth-straight win overall; his last four fights have all ended by first-round stoppage. The former Strikeforce middleweight champion is quickly becoming a top UFC contender at 185 pounds, but to stay “in the mix,” he’ll have to find a way to beat Carmont, the French veteran who has gone 6-0 in the UFC since making his Octagon debut two years ago. Carmont most recently cruised to a unanimous decision win over Costa Philippou at UFC 165, using a takedown-heavy gameplan that Philippou clearly wasn’t expecting.
Though UFC Fight Night 36 was originally reported to take place on February 8th with a live broadcast on FOX Sports 2, the UFC decided to bump it back a week, and the event is now slated to air on FOX Sports 1.
Souza’s recent TKO of Yushin Okami, gave him his second win in the UFC and his fifth-straight win overall; his last four fights have all ended by first-round stoppage. The former Strikeforce middleweight champion is quickly becoming a top UFC contender at 185 pounds, but to stay “in the mix,” he’ll have to find a way to beat Carmont, the French veteran who has gone 6-0 in the UFC since making his Octagon debut two years ago. Carmont most recently cruised to a unanimous decision win over Costa Philippou at UFC 165, using a takedown-heavy gameplan that Philippou clearly wasn’t expecting.
Though UFC Fight Night 36 was originally reported to take place on February 8th with a live broadcast on FOX Sports 2, the UFC decided to bump it back a week, and the event is now slated to air on FOX Sports 1.
At the UFC 165 post-fight presser last month, UFC president Dana White showered praise upon UFC interim bantamweight champion Renan Barao, calling him one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the sport and remarking that the media hadn’t given enough credit to his eight-year, 32-fight undefeated streak, which has remained pristine since May 2005.
Barao has only tasted defeat once, and it was in the first fight of his career. The fact that he’s rebounded with the longest current undefeated streak in mixed martial arts — despite the fact that his first loss could have ruined his confidence forever — is absolutely amazing to me, as many young would-be prospects have crashed and burned in their debuts, never to be heard of again.
It got me thinking: What other mixed martial artists lost their first fight but then went on to have great success? I expected to bang out a list of ten fighters, but once I started doing the research, it blew my mind that some of the best fighters to ever compete in the sport, and a number of currently top 10-ranked fighters, actually lost their very first fight.
And so, I compiled a list of the top 24 MMA fighters of all time who lost their first fight. The list is based on accomplishments in the sport, overall skill level, and potential. Enjoy, and if I somehow missed somebody notable, please leave a comment below and explain why he or she should be included.
On July 26, 1996, at the age of 19 years old, Travis Fulton fought Dave Strasser in his MMA debut at Gladiators 1 in Davenport, Iowa, losing the fight via first-round submission. He then went on to win 249 fights, the most wins in mixed martial arts history. Fulton also holds the record for most fights (309) and most knockout wins (91) in MMA history.
Mind = blown.
Was Fulton a can crusher? Yes, yes he was. Or, should I say, yes he is, as he beat some nobody in his native Iowa just this past March. But you don’t win 249 MMA fights by accident, and Fulton deserves a place on this list based on volume alone.
(Renan Barao: Started from the bottom, now he here. / Photo via Getty)
At the UFC 165 post-fight presser last month, UFC president Dana White showered praise upon UFC interim bantamweight champion Renan Barao, calling him one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the sport and remarking that the media hadn’t given enough credit to his eight-year, 32-fight undefeated streak, which has remained pristine since May 2005.
Barao has only tasted defeat once, and it was in the first fight of his career. The fact that he’s rebounded with the longest current undefeated streak in mixed martial arts — despite the fact that his first loss could have ruined his confidence forever — is absolutely amazing to me, as many young would-be prospects have crashed and burned in their debuts, never to be heard of again.
It got me thinking: What other mixed martial artists lost their first fight but then went on to have great success? I expected to bang out a list of ten fighters, but once I started doing the research, it blew my mind that some of the best fighters to ever compete in the sport, and a number of currently top 10-ranked fighters, actually lost their very first fight.
And so, I compiled a list of the top 24 MMA fighters of all time who lost their first fight. The list is based on accomplishments in the sport, overall skill level, and potential. Enjoy, and if I somehow missed somebody notable, please leave a comment below and explain why he or she should be included.
On July 26, 1996, at the age of 19 years old, Travis Fulton fought Dave Strasser in his MMA debut at Gladiators 1 in Davenport, Iowa, losing the fight via first-round submission. He then went on to win 249 fights, the most wins in mixed martial arts history. Fulton also holds the record for most fights (309) and most knockout wins (91) in MMA history.
Mind = blown.
Was Fulton a can crusher? Yes, yes he was. Or, should I say, yes he is, as he beat some nobody in his native Iowa just this past March. But you don’t win 249 MMA fights by accident, and Fulton deserves a place on this list based on volume alone.
Akihiro Gono was just 19 when the Japanese icon made his MMA debut in his home country against Yasunori Okuda in the first round of the Lumax Cup: Tournament of J’ 94, way back in April 1994. Like many of the fighters of the time, Gono wasn’t ready to defend submissions, and he tapped out to a first-round toe hold.
Gono may have lost the fight, but he would go on to have a very solid career that saw him compete in the UFC, PRIDE, Shooto, Pancrase, Sengoku, and finally Bellator, which would be his final stop.
In May 2012, after a solid 18-year run as a fan favorite, Gono fought for the last time against current Bellator lightweight champion Michael Chandler at Bellator 67, losing the fight via first-round KO.
Some will laugh that Minowaman is on this list, but he deserves to be after amassing a respectable 55-35-8 record during his cult-legendary career as a journeyman, where — like the great Fedor Emelianenko — he was notorious for fighting and beating larger opponents in the UFC, PRIDE, Dream and Pancrase, amongst other promotions.
However, he was also notorious for losing to some of them.
The first of his 35 losses came to Yuzo Tateishi via decision on March 30, 1996, at the Lumax Cup: Tournament of J ‘96 in Japan. It was the first of many career losses for Minowa, who started off his career 2-9-2 in his first 13 fights. To his credit though, he rebounded to eventually leave the sport with a winning record, and became a big star in PRIDE because he always put on exciting fights and feared no man.
The name “Minowaman” is always one that makes the hardcores’ hearts beat whenever anyone brings it up. Not bad for a guy who at first glance looked like he would contribute nothing in the sport.
(NOTE: The graphic in the video say his record was 3-1 but that tally likely referred to his amateur fights.)
Back on February 15, 1997 in – surprise, surprise – Iowa, a 24-year-old Shonie Carter got into his first professional MMA fight, the first of many for him.
It didn’t last long, however, as he was KO’ed by future five-time UFC vet Laverne Clark at Monte Cox’s Extreme Challenge 3, just nine seconds into the first round in what was the MMA debut of both men.
It became a classic KO in regional circuit MMA history.
Despite that early career loss, Carter then went on to have an unexpectedly awesome career where he attained 50 wins, including 26 by stoppage. He even made it to the Ultimate Fighting Championship and, in total, he fought six times in the UFC — one more than Clark, who knocked him out in that first battle.
One of those 26 aforementioned stoppage wins I mentioned — and one of the best KOs in UFC history — was his spinning back fist knockout of Matt Serra at UFC 31. Serra, who at the time was considered to be below Carter in the ranks, later defeated Georges St-Pierre at UFC 69 to win the UFC welterweight title. Carter, on the other hand, never quite made it to the top of the sport, to say the least, but at least he built a memorable persona as a stone-cold pimp.
Brian Ebersole’s first MMA bout took place on February 24, 2000 against Chris Albandia at TCC – Total Combat Challenge in Chicago. He lost the fight via decision.
He was just 18 years old.
However, despite the loss, Ebersole has gone on to have an awesome journeyman career that has seen him compile an excellent record of 50-15-1, 1 NC.
Ebersole finally made it to the UFC in 2012, upsetting Chris Lytle at UFC 127 and then winning three more in a row before a split decision loss to James Head at UFC 149 ended his win streak. He has sat out the past year with injuries.
But things are looking up for Ebersole, as he will finally make his return to the cage at UFC 167 against Rick Story. It’s a difficult matchup on paper, but it’s winnable. And even if he loses, the fans get to see the Hairrow — well hopefully, anyways — or at least one of those fancy cartwheel kicks. Make it happen, Brian.
On April 7, 2007, at UCW 7 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, two unknown Canadian women fought each other. One was Sarah Kaufman, who would later go on to win the Strikeforce women’s bantamweight champion and who will be making her UFC debut this Saturday at UFC 166, and the other was a 21-year-old Alexis Davis, who would eventually make it into the UFC as well.
On that night, Kaufman was the better woman, as she finished Davis via strikes in the third round. And Kaufman would demonstrate her superiority once again, defeating Davis via majority decision in March 2012 at Strikeforce: Tate vs. Rousey.
However, Davis looks to be on the rise, and she certainly showed her potential in defeating Rosi Sexton in her Octagon debut at UFC 161. If her and Kaufman ever meet for a trilogy match, it’s possible Davis might finally get a win over her rival.
