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Main Event Breakdown: UFC Sao Paulo

The second of Saturday’s UFC doubleheader goes down with UFC Fight Night 100 a mere 5914 miles away from Belfast in Sao Paulo, Brazil. This is a solid offering, even though it may be hard for fight fans to dedicate another full day to face-punching after doing so for UFC 205 last weekend. But fans will

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The second of Saturday’s UFC doubleheader goes down with UFC Fight Night 100 a mere 5914 miles away from Belfast in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

This is a solid offering, even though it may be hard for fight fans to dedicate another full day to face-punching after doing so for UFC 205 last weekend. But fans will be treated to a surefire barnburner between Thomas Almeida and Albert Morales, a whirlwind of violence between Justin Scoggins and Pedro Munhoz, and Jack ‘The Joker’ Hermansson laughing maniacally while he tries to smash Muay Thai black belt Cezar Ferreira in the face.

The lineup of the Brazilian card will be topped by another rematch, this time in the light heavyweight division. Six years after he defeated Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, Ryan Bader will try to repeat the trick in the five-round main event.

Read on for the main event breakdown of UFC Sao Paulo.

Light Heavyweights Ryan Bader vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira

These two first fought a little over six years ago. Bader was an up-and-coming 27-year-old prospect while ‘Little Nog’ was the 34-year-old vet. Since then, a litany of injuries has limited Nogueira to only six fights. He has gone 3-3 in that time. Meanwhile, Bader has fought 14 times, going 9-5.

A Bader with much less refined striking largely got boxed up by Nogueira in extended exchanges in the pocket the first time around. But he wasn’t completely outclassed the way Patrick Cummings was in Nogueira’s last fight. He stayed in it behind superior speed and big power punches that ‘Little Nog’ had to cover up to defend. This limited his chances to counter effectively. Bader’s boxing is much better nowadays. He is no longer merely a powerful right hand. The American works well behind his jab and follows one or two punches with damaging kicks to the legs and body. Making his kicks a legitimate threat was a large part of his handling of Rashad Evans.

‘Darth’ also doesn’t have to worry about the takedown, which Nogueira will have to think about. ‘Minotouro’ has shown reliable takedown defense, but Bader’s strength and finishing ability against the cage will ensure the fight hits the mat at some point. Nogueira can still box and he can still flurry with speed and power, but he’s at a disadvantage in athleticism and overall weapons.

Bader has a bad habit of getting clipped, so the Brazilian vet isn’t without hope. But Bader only has one bad loss to someone outside the top five (Tito Ortiz), and he’s come a long way since the first fight. Despite his recent walk-away knockout of Ilir Latifi, Bader isn’t much of a finisher. Nogueira is definitely getting up there, but he still has a solid chin, exhibited in his fight with ‘Shogun’ Rua. Still, with 25 minutes and a considerable chunk of time likely spent dropping hammers from top position, Bader should polish off the victory inside the distance.

The Pick: Bader by third-round TKO.

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UFC Fight Night 100 Weigh-In Results: Bader, Nogueira On-Point For Rematch

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiXQDw9KCBY[/embed]

Ryan Bader and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira both successfully weighed in earlier today for their UFC Fight Night 100 rematch from Brazil.

Bader tipped the scales at 204 pounds, while Nogueira…

Ryan Bader and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira both successfully weighed in earlier today for their UFC Fight Night 100 rematch from Brazil.

Bader tipped the scales at 204 pounds, while Nogueira was 206. The two headline the FOX Sports 1 main card on Saturday night.

All the weigh-in results can be found below:

MAIN CARD (FS1/9 p.m. ET)

Ryan Bader (204) vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (206)
Thomas Almeida (135) vs. Albert Morales (134)
Cortney Casey (116) vs. Claudia Gadelha (116)
Krzysztof Jotko (185) vs. Thales Leites (186)
Warlley Alves (171) vs. Kamaru Usman (169)
Sergio Moraes (171) vs. Zak Ottow (171)

PRELIMINARY CARD (FS1/7 p.m. ET)

Cezar Ferreira (185) vs. Jack Hermansson (186)
Gadzhimurad Antigulov (203) vs. Marcos Rogerio de Lima (206)
Johnny Eduardo (136) vs. Manny Gamburyan (136)
Christian Colombo (251) vs. Luis Henrique (256)

PRELIMINARY CARD (UFC Fight Pass/6 p.m. ET)

Pedro Munhoz (135) vs. Justin Scoggins (135)
Francimar Barroso (206) vs. Darren Stuart (205)

Main Event Breakdown: UFC Belfast

UFC 205 is in the books, but there is no rest for MMA fans in sight. Following the blockbuster card and an intense weekend of coverage from all manner of media outlets, we’re back at it with a full slate of 25 fights spanning two continents. Neither offering will be confused with the grandest event

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Neither offering will be confused with the grandest event in promotion history, but there are fun fights and intriguing fighters spanning both cards. The European slate features the incomparable Teruto Ishihara, the oft-delayed return of wild man Ian McCall, and the UFC debut of former Bellator heavyweight champ Alexander Volkov.

The weekend gets kicked off in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and is headlined by a middleweight rematch between Gegard Mousasi and Uriah Hall. Hall will be looking to get back on track and replicate his stunning victory over the Belgian.

Read on for the breakdown of the main event of UFC Belfast.

Middleweights Gegard Mousasi vs. Uriah Hall

First of all, this is puzzling matchmaking. Since their first encounter 14 months ago, Mousasi has re-established himself as a borderline title contender, even in the deep and rejuvenated middleweight division. He has beaten Thales Leites, Thiago Santos, and Vitor Belfort, finishing the latter two and making it look easy.

Hall, meanwhile, has dropped his two bouts since topping ‘The Dreamcatcher,’ falling to Robert Whittaker by decision and suffering a knockout to the surging Derek Brunson. Usually, the UFC likes to pit winners against winners and fighters coming off losses against one another.

Next, the first fight was a tremendous victory for the uber-dynamic Hall, but he is essentially being asked to make lightning strike twice. It does not seem remotely repeatable. Mousasi dominated the opening round with pressure and top control. As he looked to resume his assault in round two, it took a jumping spinning back kick to the face, followed immediately by a flush flying knee, followed by a barrage of punches to finish Mousasi.

Even for a gifted and flashy striker like Hall, doing something like that again is out of the question.

Mousasi’s clearest path to victory lies in replicating the first round for another five minutes. Deny Hall the space he needs to uncork his flashy kicks, take him down, and generally make life miserable for him with ground and pound and positional advancements. The Dutchman is no slouch in the stand-up department either. He is defensively responsible while also being dangerous at all ranges with punches, kicks, and knees.

As already mentioned, Hall is offensively potent, particularly with his kicks and his ground and pound. Although he is improving in these areas, he has a bad habit of going through periods of inactivity and backing himself to the fence. The former tendency cost him in fights with Whittaker and Rafael Natal, and the latter helped lead to his knockout against Brunson. Hall is a bit like fellow middleweight contender Yoel Romero, except being nearly impossible to hold down and lacking the ability to land a knockout shot at any range.

Hall has shown the kind of dynamism and athletic ability that could end the fight at any moment, but even a Hail Mary shot might not be enough against Mousasi. The Dutchman wasn’t even all the way out after two kill shots and a barrage of punches that would have put down a rhino. “The Dreamcatcher’s” well-roundedness, newfound aggression, and grappling chops will be enough to get the job done.

The Pick: Mousasi by second-round submission.

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Ryan Bader Says Free Agency Is ‘On The Table’

Former Ultimate Fighter winner Ryan Bader will be stepping into the Octagon this weekend (Saturday November 19, 2016) against Antonio Rogerio Nogueira in the main event of UFC Fight Night 100 in Brazil. The contest will be a rematch from the pair’s initial meeting at UFC 119 in which Bader took home a unanimous decision

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The contest will be a rematch from the pair’s initial meeting at UFC 119 in which Bader took home a unanimous decision win in 2010. This time, however, the contest against Nogueira will be the final bout on Bader’s UFC contract after ‘Darth’ has decided to fight out his deal rather than re-sign with the promotion.

Bader recently spoke to MMA Fighting in Brazil to discuss his decision to not re-sign with the UFC and test the free agency market, claiming his reason for choosing to fight out his deal as ‘Why not?’:

“It’s just one of those things where you’re like ‘Why not?,” Bader said. “I see myself fighting in the UFC, but it was just one of those things where it made sense for us to take a fight and just fight it out. Just kind of go from there and bet on yourself. There was no real master plan or intent behind it other than that, just kind of a ‘Why not? Let’s just fight this out.’”

Many former UFC fighters such as Phil Davis, Rory MacDonald, and Chael Sonnen have since departed from the promotion to jump ship to rival promotion Bellator MMA to take better financial deals. While he admits he doesn’t wish to leave the UFC, a jump to Bellator is currently ‘on the table’:

“That’s the beauty about being a free agent, it’s on the table,” Bader explained. “Like I said, I don’t necessarily want to leave the UFC. I love fighting in the UFC, I believe it’s a — it’s where I’ll be, but you never know. It’s on the table so — I’m not even concentrated on that now, I’m just concentrated on the fight at hand. We’ll see after.”

Bader stated that he was offered a deal before taking the fight against Nogueira, but the deal was declined as it wasn’t anything ‘substantially crazy’ that seemed to interest the former NCAA Division I All American:

“Yeah they came in and offered us to resign, but it was nothing substantially crazy so we just kind of declined and said we’re gonna fight it out, and it is what it is,” Bader said. “Like I said there is no kind of intent behind it, it was just kind of like ‘Why not?’ You know? It’s my 18th, 19th fight in the UFC, let’s just get to that point and hopefully have a little more leverage and just kind of go from there.”

While Bader acknowledges that a big win over Nogueira in Brazil would help with negotiations with the UFC going forward, he is always going into a fight looking to get the win in order to boost his stock:

“It doesn’t hurt me,” he said. “Going out there and losing, it’s not gonna help ya. Winning, yeah it’ll help somewhat, but — like I said it’s just one of those things where it was my last fight and we just said ‘Hey, let’s just fight it out. Why not?’ Like I said there is no big master plan behind it. Every fight going out there and winning is gonna boost your stock so it’s no different with this one.”

If Bader is able to emerge victorious this weekend he will have won two in a row since being knocked out by current UFC light heavyweight title challenger Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson in January, in which his five-fight win streak that ‘Darth’ had compiled since 2013. A win over Nogueira would certainly put Bader back on track towards his hopes of contesting for a UFC belt down the road.

Bader and Nogueira will meet in the main event of UFC Fight Night 100 live on FS1, from the Ginásio do Ibirapuera arena in Sao Paulo, Brazil on November 19, 2016.

You can check out Bader’s full interview with MMA Fighting here:

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Complete Guide to UFC Fight Nights 99 and 100: Hall-Mousasi and Bader-Nogueira

The UFC returns to action a week after its epic UFC 205 event with a pair of Fight Night cards on opposite sides of the globe on Saturday.
In Belfast, Northern Ireland, Uriah Hall and Gegard Mousasi clash for a second time in the headliner of a decent …

The UFC returns to action a week after its epic UFC 205 event with a pair of Fight Night cards on opposite sides of the globe on Saturday.

In Belfast, Northern Ireland, Uriah Hall and Gegard Mousasi clash for a second time in the headliner of a decent event that lost its scheduled main event of Gunnar Nelson vs. Dong Hyun Kim just a few weeks ago. In Sao Paulo, Brazil, Ryan Bader and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira meet in a rematch of their 2010 bout. The former is at least a fun matchup, but the latter is something of a head-scratcher.

The Belfast event isn’t exactly loaded down with name value, but it should still produce a number of fun fights, especially the flyweight scrap between Kyoji Horiguchi and Ali Bagautinov. The Sao Paulo card is much deeper, with a violent bantamweight fight between Thomas Almeida and Albert Morales, a prospect battle featuring Warlley Alves and Kamaru Usman and the return of Claudia Gadelha.

In lieu of fully examining every fight from both events, I’ve picked five fights, including both main events, to examine in depth while giving the other fights shorter previews.

Let’s dig into this weekend’s smorgasbord of UFC action.

Begin Slideshow

Complete Guide to UFC Fight Nights 99 and 100: Hall-Mousasi and Bader-Nogueira

The UFC returns to action a week after its epic UFC 205 event with a pair of Fight Night cards on opposite sides of the globe on Saturday.

In lieu of fully examining every fight from both events, I’ve picked five fights, including both main events, to examine in depth while giving the other fights shorter previews.

Let’s dig into this weekend’s smorgasbord of UFC action.

Begin Slideshow