Coming in to UFC 146, Edson Barboza was put on a pedestal. Veteran Jamie Varner kicked it out from under him.With an extravagant striking arsenal and a want to stand and trade, Barboza is a crowd-pleaser. The 26-year-old is still growing as a fighter, …
Coming in to UFC 146, Edson Barboza was put on a pedestal. Veteran Jamie Varner kicked it out from under him.
With an extravagant striking arsenal and a want to stand and trade, Barboza is a crowd-pleaser. The 26-year-old is still growing as a fighter, and the loss to the former WEC World Champion will help his growth.
Barboza’s next fight will serve to put him back on the winning track and inch him closer to the tall, tall ladder of the UFC’s Lightweight division.
The Brazilian already holds UFC wins over three tough lightweights, so there is no need to throw Barboza a sacrificial lamb. Let’s look ahead at five potential opponents that will get the fan favorite back in the 155-pound discussion.
At UFC 145, Mac Danzig needed to come out on top in his bout with Efrain Escudero. After winning only two of his last seven fights, there is no question that his job was on the line.The fight was competitive and enjoyable from start to finish, and both…
At UFC 145, Mac Danzig needed to come out on top in his bout with Efrain Escudero. After winning only two of his last seven fights, there is no question that his job was on the line.
The fight was competitive and enjoyable from start to finish, and both men have name value, so it’s possible that neither man is on his way out of the door, but that’s neither here nor there.
It didn’t take long for the Ultimate Fighter winners to give us an exciting moment when Efrain nearly locked in a heel hook early in the first round. The move caused Danzig’s ankle to swell tremendously through the course of the fight.
Danzig would tough it out and go on to outstrike the younger Escudero, using superior clinch work and dirty boxing to score points. The gutsy performance earned him a deserved unanimous decision.
Now, Danzig has improved his UFC record to 5-5 and has gone 2-0 against fellow Ultimate Fighter winners. A bout with Tony Ferguson would be enjoyable for fans and give Ferguson the much needed step-up in competition that he deserves. Other possible opponents for Danzig include Thiago Tavares or Sam Stout.
Stay tuned to Bleacher Report for continued coverage of all things UFC 145.
There are many small mixed martial arts promotions in Canada who claim to carry different Canadian titles and promotional champions. Fans north of the border, however, are well aware that despite the names fighting hard and holding belts in some of the…
There are many small mixed martial arts promotions in Canada who claim to carry different Canadian titles and promotional champions. Fans north of the border, however, are well aware that despite the names fighting hard and holding belts in some of these smaller shows, the best fighters in our country are all under the UFC banner.
With the incredible growth of the UFC in recent years, more of Canada’s best fighters are gaining the opportunity to strut their stuff in the world’s top promotion.
UFC 145 in Atlanta will hold one of, if not the biggest and most relevant Canadian vs Canadian fight that the promotion has ever had in Mark Bocek vs John Alessio. Bocek has long been considered the best lightweight in Canada and Alessio was signed on as a late replacement only a few weeks ago. The veteran fighter has recently moved down from the 170-pound division and many feel that he and not Bocek is the new Canadian lightweight No. 1.
With all due respect and apologies to other Canadian UFC lightweight’s Sam Stout and TJ Grant, the Bocek-Alessio fight will virtually crown an undisputed Canadian lightweight champion for the first time in the sport’s history. Not a paper champion. No real belt is up for grabs, but fans north of the border know exactly what is at stake in this fight.
The growth of the UFC is leaning towards opportunities for more of these types of nationally relevant fights. Canada has enough top level talent under the UFC banner to make these exciting fights happen and sort out the landscape that has long been debated up here.
Next up in 2013, Georges St-Pierre vs Rory MacDonald for the Canadian and World welterweight title. This one is quite a long shot as I know these two fighters are team and training mates, but it seems inevitable that the debate on who is the better of the two is in the very near future.
Other possible Canadian title match ups in the UFC:
Bantamweight: #1 Ivan Menjivar vs. #2 Yves Jabouin (#3 Nick Denis, #4 Mitch Gagnon)
Featherweight: #1 Mark Hominick vs #2 Antonio Carvalho
Middleweight: #1 Nick Ring vs #2 Jason MacDonald (#3 Patrick Cote)
Light Heavyweight: #1 Krzysztof Soszynski vs #2 Ryan Jimmo
Dwight Wakabayashi is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report MMA, MMA Editor at CKSN.ca and guest blogger for Sportsnet.ca.
Word has it that lightweight scrappers Sam Stout and Spencer Fisher will meet for a third time at UFC on FX 4 this June, in a fight that will be an early front runner for “Fight of the Night” to say the least. Both Fisher and Stout are coming off losses to Thiago Tavares, so it seems a good a time as any to have these two square off once again, because MMA fans eat up rematches like fried Kool-aid nowadays.
Fisher and Stout last met way back at UFN 10 in June of 2007, where Fisher was able to erase the memory of his split decision, “Fight of the Year” earning loss to Stout at UFC 58 by walking away with a close but unanimous decision victory. As of late, however, Fisher has descended further down the lightweight ladder with each performance, to the point that he could be fighting for his job come June 22nd. He has dropped 4 of his last 5, with the lone win coming by way of UD over UFC washout Curt “The War” Warburton at UFC 120. Yes, you read that correctly; Curt Warburton’s nickname is “The War.” What a crafty SOB.
Stout has seen quite a bit more success recently, scoring wins in 4 of his last 6, including a first round starching of Yves Edwards at UFC 131 last year. After his long time trainer and close friend Shawn Tompkins suddenly passed away, however, Stout pulled out of his bout with Dennis Siver to do some “soul searching” along with fellow Team Tompkins members Chris Horodecki and Mark Hominick. Upon returning to the octagon, the aftereffects of such a tragic loss were still noticeable, as both Stout and Hominick suffered defeats to Tavares and Chan Sung Jung, respectively.
In other fight booking news…
(Wait…it’s already been FIVE YEARS since these two last fought?!!)
Word has it that lightweight scrappers Sam Stout and Spencer Fisher will meet for a third time at UFC on FX 4 this June, in a fight that will be an early front runner for “Fight of the Night” to say the least. Both Fisher and Stout are coming off losses to Thiago Tavares, so it seems a good a time as any to have these two square off once again, because MMA fans eat up rematches like fried Kool-aid nowadays.
Fisher and Stout last met way back at UFN 10 in June of 2007, where Fisher was able to erase the memory of his split decision, “Fight of the Year” earning loss to Stout at UFC 58 by walking away with a close but unanimous decision victory. As of late, however, Fisher has descended further down the lightweight ladder with each performance, to the point that he could be fighting for his job come June 22nd. He has dropped 4 of his last 5, with the lone win coming by way of UD over UFC washout Curt “The War” Warburton at UFC 120. Yes, you read that correctly; Curt Warburton’s nickname is “The War.” What a crafty SOB.
Stout has seen quite a bit more success recently, scoring wins in 4 of his last 6, including a first round starching of Yves Edwards at UFC 131 last year. After his long time trainer and close friend Shawn Tompkins suddenly passed away, however, Stout pulled out of his bout with Dennis Siver to do some “soul searching” along with fellow Team Tompkins members Chris Horodecki and Mark Hominick. Upon returning to the octagon, the aftereffects of such a tragic loss were still noticeable, as both Stout and Hominick suffered defeats to Tavares and Chan Sung Jung, respectively.
In other fight booking news, it has been reported by Marc Bocek himself that his original UFC 145 opponent, TUF 5 alum Matt Wiman, has blown out his knee in training and has been forced to withdraw from their match. Replacing him will be none other than UFC, WEC, KOTC, and damn near every other promotion veteran John Alessio, who will be making his return to the UFC following a six year absence. In the past three years, the 35 year old journeyman has put together a hell of a run, notching eleven victories, including wins over UFC veterans Luigi Fioravanti (via KO) and War Machine (via submission), alongside just two defeats.
Canadian grappling savant Marc Bocek has gone win-loss in his last five UFC bouts, with one of those losses coming to current lightweight champ Ben Henderson and the other to top contender Jim Miller. We last saw Bocek score a unanimous decision victory over Nik Lentz at UFC 140 in which Lentz tried to submit Bocek with a guillotine no less than 375 times.
UFC 145 is set to transpire on April 21st from the Phillips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia.
While we’re on the subject of last minute injuries, it appears that Jorgen Kruth, who was expected to make his UFC debut against Cyrille Diabate at UFC on FUEL 2, has been forced to pull out of the contest and has been replaced by fellow newcomer Tom DeBlass. A student of Ricardo Almeida and currently undefeated as a professional, DeBlass is accepting the fight on just over a week’s notice against a dangerous, albeit struggling, striker in Diabate. “Snake” has not competed since getting strangled by Anthony Perosh at UFC 138, and currently sits at 2-2 in the UFC. Being that submissions have always been Diabate’s Achilles heel, he might want to utilize the huge reach advantage he will have against a much shorter BJJ blackbelt in DeBlass.
UFC on FUEL 2 goes down from the Ericsson Globe Arena in Stockholm, Sweden on April 14th.
It’s no secret that Georges St-Pierre is the biggest MMA superstar from Canada. It’s not even close. And that’s why the UFC has a problem on its hands. The UFC has announced plans to visit Canada three times in 2012, with St-Pierre hopefully making a r…
It’s no secret that Georges St-Pierre is the biggest MMA superstar from Canada. It’s not even close. And that’s why the UFC has a problem on its hands.
The UFC has announced plans to visit Canada three times in 2012, with St-Pierre hopefully making a return from his ACL injury to fight on at least one of the cards. That leaves two other fight cards that will be lacking a Canadian star to carry the load of being the main event.
Five potential fighters have shown enough promise in their UFC careers to have the ability to reach that superstar status and join St-Pierre as a Canadian fighter who can sell tickets.
St-Pierre is only one fighter, and as his ACL injury has shown, anything can happen not only inside the Octagon but outside it as well. Should St-Pierre be unable to compete this year—or just for future UFC cards in Canada—the UFC will need fighters like the ones on this list to step up their game.
Add this upcoming documentary to the pile of must-see soon-to-be-released MMA movies along with “Once I was a Champion” and “Fightville.”
“Fight Spirit Pride” looks back on former UFC featherweight contender Mark Hominick’s crossover period from Canadian MMA standout to popular Octagon veteran five years ago. Though it should have been one of the most exciting and happy times of his life, it was one of the most stressful and painful for Hominick as his father was also dying from cancer.
“This is a Documentary film about a UFC fighter’s struggle between being there for his dying father, and his career. This documentary is a very raw uncensored microscopic look into the life of a fighter; it has two deaths and two births.”
Check out the trailer after the jump.
Add this upcoming documentary to the pile of must-see soon-to-be-released MMA movies along with “Once I was a Champion” and “Fightville.”
“Fight Spirit Pride” looks back on former UFC featherweight contender Mark Hominick’s crossover period from Canadian MMA standout to popular Octagon veteran five years ago. Though it should have been one of the most exciting and happy times of his life, it was actually one of the most stressful and painful for Hominick as his father was also dying from cancer.
“This is a Documentary film about a UFC fighter’s struggle between being there for his dying father, and his career. This documentary is a very raw uncensored microscopic look into the life of a fighter; it has two deaths and two births.”
At 
