Ryan LaFlare is coming out of retirement. The former UFC welterweight called time on his career in 2018. He cited burnout and injuries as the main factors behind his decision. However, the drive is back for the 36-year-old who, after allowing his body to heal, is now ready to return to action. But only for […]
The former UFC welterweight called time on his career in 2018. He cited burnout and injuries as the main factors behind his decision.
However, the drive is back for the 36-year-old who, after allowing his body to heal, is now ready to return to action. But only for the Professional Fighters League (PFL).
While most would assume it would be for a chance to compete in the 2020 welterweight season and potentially win a million dollar payday, it’s more about how the organization is run for LaFlare:
“PFL was the only organization I would fight for,” LaFlare told MMA Fighting. “I probably wouldn’t go back to the UFC even they would bring it up. It really isn’t about the money. I just love the way the PFL is run.
“It’s not how much you talk or who’s the favorite with who. I just love it. It’s a no-nonsense business. You go and take care of your business and you get paid and you get rewarded regardless whether you’re talking. I understand there’s an entertainment thing but sometimes it gets carried away with the UFC. I haven’t talked to one person who fought for the PFL who had anything negative to say. To me, it was the only option for me.”
Another factor for LaFlare is the chance to compete against new PFL signing and former Bellator welterweight champion Rory MacDonald.
“I always respected Rory MacDonald,” LaFlare added. “He’s a very good fighter. I’m going back five or six years ago, we were both coming up, he was a little bit ahead of me but I always looked and him and said that’s a great matchup for me. I like the matchup against him.
“I always thought I’d fight him in the UFC eventually but we never crossed paths. I never got to that point before getting hurt. So I saw him get signed and I thought here’s my chance. Because I know I can beat him. I’ve already envisioned myself beating him. As soon as I saw he signed, I said I want to do this.”
LaFlare is not signed by the PFL as of yet. But with the promotion’s plans of adding new talent to freshen things up, the American could certainly be a candidate.
Ryan LaFlare has decided to move on from mixed martial arts competition. LaFlare did battle with Tony Martin on the preliminary portion of UFC 229 this past Saturday night (Oct. 6). Things didn’t go LaFlare’s way as he was stopped in the th…
Ryan LaFlare has decided to move on from mixed martial arts competition. LaFlare did battle with Tony Martin on the preliminary portion of UFC 229 this past Saturday night (Oct. 6). Things didn’t go LaFlare’s way as he was stopped in the third round via knockout. Despite a 14-3 professional MMA record, LaFlare felt going […]
Tonight’s (Sat., October 6, 2018) UFC 229 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, has been built as the biggest event in UFC history. If that promises to be true, the UFC 229 prelims certainly got it off to a fitting start. Welterweight Tony Martin met veteran Ryan LaFlare in the opening bout of […]
Tonight’s (Sat., October 6, 2018) UFC 229 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, has been built as the biggest event in UFC history. If that promises to be true, the UFC 229 prelims certainly got it off to a fitting start.
Welterweight Tony Martin met veteran Ryan LaFlare in the opening bout of the Fight Pass-aired UFC 229 preliminary card. Martin talked a decent amount of trash heading into the fight, and he backed it up. The bout was a back-and-forth one for much of the opening two rounds. LaFlare landed several solid body kicks while Martin scored with many right hands.
The third round was a different story altogether, however. Martin landed a devastating head kick that crumpled LaFlare. A few follow-up shots on the ground spelled an end to UFC 229’s opening preliminary bout. Watch the awesome stoppage victory here:
Head kick finish to start the night on @UFCFightPass!
Alex Oliveira is looking to take Ryan LaFlare’s spot on the official Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) welterweight rankings. LaFlare is currently the 12th ranked 170-pounder, while “Cowboy” isn’t on the top 15 rankings. Speaking to the media in Brazil, Oliveira said he’s looking to walk through his upcoming opponent at UFC on FOX 25 on […]
Alex Oliveira is looking to take Ryan LaFlare’s spot on the official Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) welterweight rankings. LaFlare is currently the 12th ranked 170-pounder, while “Cowboy” isn’t on the top 15 rankings. Speaking to the media in Brazil, Oliveira said he’s looking to walk through his upcoming opponent at UFC on FOX 25 on […]
The fight card for UFC on FOX 25 in July is quickly coming together, as the promotion recently announced three official bouts. Ryan LaFlare squares off against Alex Oliveira at welterweight, Lyman Good meets Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos at 170 pounds, Damian Grabowski faces Christian Colombo in a heavyweight encounter and Rafael Natal gets Alessio […]
The fight card for UFC on FOX 25 in July is quickly coming together, as the promotion recently announced three official bouts. Ryan LaFlare squares off against Alex Oliveira at welterweight, Lyman Good meets Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos at 170 pounds, Damian Grabowski faces Christian Colombo in a heavyweight encounter and Rafael Natal gets Alessio […]
Fight Night 62 was one of those cards that, while appearing just abysmal on paper, actually turned out to be a rather entertaining affair. I mean, sure, the main card broadcast dragged along at it’s typical sloth-like pace — something that the UFC desperately needs to change but sadly never will — and the main event wasn’t exactly the kind of barnburner we’ve come to expect from a Demian Maia fight (sarcasm), but Fight Night 62 more than made up for its lack of name power with exciting finishes. It was also a card that signaled the (competitive) end of at least two MMA careers and the possible resurgence of another, so join us after the jump for a full breakdown of what went down in Rio over the weekend.
(Photo via Getty.)
Fight Night 62 was one of those cards that, while appearing just abysmal on paper, actually turned out to be a rather entertaining affair. I mean, sure, the main card broadcast dragged along at it’s typical sloth-like pace — something that the UFC desperately needs to change but sadly never will — and the main event wasn’t exactly the kind of barnburner we’ve come to expect from a Demian Maia fight (sarcasm), but Fight Night 62 more than made up for its lack of name power with exciting finishes. It was also a card that signaled the (competitive) end of at least two MMA careers and the possible resurgence of another, so join us after the jump for a full breakdown of what went down in Rio over the weekend.
Let’s start things off a little off the beaten path, by awarding our official GIF-Worthy Finish of the Night (GWFotN) to Fredy Serrano, who kicked off Fight Night 62 in style by absolutely starching Bentley Syler with an uppercut in the second round.
Really, the entire undercard was a veritable potpourri of violence and terrible reffing decisions, as we’ve come to expect more and more with each UFC card. Take for instance, the second fight of the night, in which Christos Giagos submitted Jorge de Oliveira with a rear-naked choke in the first round. Yet despite the fact that Oliveira CLEARLY tapped, I don’t know, 6 times? And despite the fact that referee Eduardo Hely was in no way obstructed from seeing this tap, he allowed Giagos to continue choking Oliveira for a few more completely unnecessary seconds. You can check out a gif of that absolute bullshit here.
Speaking of absolute bullshit and/or Eduardo Hely, I’m sure that you’ve already heard by now of the Drew Dober-Leandro Silva fight, which resulted in what might just be the worst stoppage in UFC history. I…I can’t even begin to explain what the Hell was going through Hely’s mind on this one, so let’s just watch the gif and angrily spit out leftover Chinese food on our computer monitors.
I swear to God, it’s like MMA refs are doing their damndest in recent weeks to make MMA judges look like the more competent of the two. For what it’s worth, Dober was given his win bonus that night, and Eduardo Hely will likely face no action of consequence for his horrendous night at bat.
Let’s move onto the main card, wherein Godofredo Pepey continued his improbable (and incredibly flashy) run of finishes with a slick flying triangle over the heavily-favored Andrey Fili. The Team Alpha Male stud was impressive early, peppering Pepey with quick shots and generally out moving him, but as soon as he entered the clinch game with the TUF Brazil runner-up, disaster struck. Pepey used the cage to leap into a flying triangle, which he then worked for next minute or so until Fili finally gave in. It marked the third straight highlight reel finish (and performance bonus) for Pepey, who is quickly rocketing up the featherweight rankings.
I suppose I could talk to you about Gilbert Burns’ hail mary armbar over late replacement opponent Alex Oliveira, or Leonardo Santos’ second round sub of Tony Martin, but really, I want to talk about two fighters who looked in need of a Joe Rogan Career Assessment: Josh Koscheck and Shayna Baszler.
The former faced a quick turnaround against Erick Silva on Saturday following his second round submission loss to Jake Ellenberger at UFC 184. For those hoping a fight against a young gun would light a fire under the longtime UFC veteran’s keester, you were right. For about 30 seconds. Though he came out aggressive early, Koscheck — as he did against Ellenberger — went into retreat mode once he felt the power of his opponent. After eating a couple shots along the fence, you could practically see the confidence start to drain from the veteran as Silva took him down and locked in a fight-ending guillotine choke. Koscheck has now lost his past 5 fights in a row, and retirement seems imminent.
Baszler, on the other hand, has looked less and less effective with each passing fight. She has secured exactly 1 victory since 2010, and had less to offer Amanda Nunes than she did Bethe Correia or Julianna Pena in her only other UFC appearances (one of which was on TUF 18, but you get what I’m saying) before succumbing to a leg kick TKO in the first round. A pioneer of WMMA she may be, but Baszler’s time as a top-level fighter has clearly passed her by, and we just hope that either she or the UFC are able to recognize this.
Which brings us to the main event of the evening. In what was similarly being billed as a passing of the guard fight from Demian Maia to Ryan LaFlare, the former utterly dominated the latter with takedowns and top control for four straight rounds. Most noticeable during the fight was the 37 year old Maia’s much-improved wrestling and sweep skills, which left LaFlare looking like an overmatched grappling partner desperate searching for a lifeline. It was a fight that was supposed to announce LaFlare’s arrival into the welterweight top 10, yet ended up being one that Demian Maia proved that he’s still got something left in the gas tank (metaphorically speaking of course, as Maia was absolutely torched by the fifth round). How much exactly remains to be seen.
Full results for Fight Night 62 are below.
Main Card (on FOX Sports 1)
Demian Maia def. Ryan LaFlare by unanimous decision
Erick Silva def. Josh Koscheck by submission (guillotine choke) at 4:21, R1
Leonardo Santos def. Tony Martin by submission (rear-naked choke) at 2:29, R2
Amanda Nunes def. Shayna Baszler by TKO (leg kicks) at 1:56, R1
Gilbert Burns def. Alex Oliveira by submission (arm bar) at 4:14, R3
Godofredo Pepey def. Andre Fili by submission (triangle choke) at 3:14, R1
Preliminary Card
Francisco Trinaldo def. Akbarh Arreola by unanimous decision
Kevin Souza def. Katsunori Kikuno by KO at 1:31, R1
Leandro “Buscape” Silva def. Drew Dober by submission (guillotine choke) at 2:45, R2
Leonardo Mafra Teixeira def. Cain Carrizosa by unanimous decision
Christos Giagos def. Jorge de Oliveira by submission (rear-naked choke) at 3:12, R1
Fredy Serrano def. Bentley Syler by KO at 1:34, R3
