Tag: Spencer Fisher

MMA Stock Market — “UFC 134: Silva vs. Okami” Edition

By Jason Moles

After a spectacular night of fights at UFC 134 in Rio, we’re going to try to make sense of it with a little game called ‘Buy, Sell, or Hold’. I’ll take a fighter and either buy, sell, or hold him like a stockbroker would. (It’s kind of like the real stock market, except you won’t want to throw yourself off a building afterwards.) Take my advice and you’ll end up with a nice MMA portfolio. Without further ado…

Anderson Silva: Buy! Buy! Buy!

‘The Spider‘ has everything you’d want from a blue chip stock: an x-factor that makes people want to see him fight, major corporate sponsors, and hilarious commercials. Oh yeah, and his fighting isn’t that bad either. Silva’s complete and utter domination of Yushin Okami at UFC 134 just reinforces what we already knew — we are witnessing the greatest fighter of all time every time he steps inside the Octagon™.

Yushin Okami: Dump it like your autographed picture of Carrot Top.

He is currently ranked as the #3 best Middleweight and yet it seems all for naught. Okami showed up to a gunfight with a pair of flip-flops and a bag of Skittles against Silva. Despite working with the only man to dominate the champion, he never once came close to showing a spark in Brazil. I have a feeling he’ll face the same fate as Jon Fitch while his stock becomes more cursed than Monster.

By Jason Moles

After a spectacular night of fights at UFC 134 in Rio, we’re going to try to make sense of it with a little game called ‘Buy, Sell, or Hold’. I’ll take a fighter and either buy, sell, or hold him like a stockbroker would. (It’s kind of like the real stock market, except you won’t want to throw yourself off a building afterwards.) Take my advice and you’ll end up with a nice MMA portfolio. Without further ado…

Anderson Silva: Buy! Buy! Buy!

‘The Spider‘ has everything you’d want from a blue chip stock: an x-factor that makes people want to see him fight, major corporate sponsors, and hilarious commercials. Oh yeah, and his fighting isn’t that bad either. Silva’s complete and utter domination of Yushin Okami at UFC 134 just reinforces what we already knew — we are witnessing the greatest fighter of all time every time he steps inside the Octagon™.

Yushin Okami: Dump it like your autographed picture of Carrot Top.

He is currently ranked as the #3 best Middleweight and yet it seems all for naught. Okami showed up to a gunfight with a pair of flip-flops and a bag of Skittles against Silva. Despite working with the only man to dominate the champion, he never once came close to showing a spark in Brazil. I have a feeling he’ll face the same fate as Jon Fitch while his stock becomes more cursed than Monster.

Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua: Buy it like they’re giving it away for free.

The ‘Shogun’ Rua that showed up Saturday night is not the same man who fought and lost to Jon Jones earlier this year. He proved that he has completely recovered from his past knee surgeries, and destroyed a Top 10 light-heavyweight fighter without breaking a sweat. Rua will once again rise to the top — you can bank on that.

Forrest Griffin: Sell

The two-time New York Times bestselling author and former UFC Light-Heavyweight champion is an open book when it comes to his feelings about fighting overseas, training, and why he continues to fight. Likewise, I too shall be an open book about where to put your money in the MMA stock market, and it’s not here. In his last five fights, Griffin has won only twice against guys who peaked five to seven years prior. Liquidate whatever stock you have in the TUF 1 winner.

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira: Sell*

At the ripe old age of 35, Big Nog did the unthinkable in knocking out a rising star in 28-year-old Brendan Schuab. Modern medicine, or maybe witchcraft, has given Nogueira an unforgettable night in front of his compatriots and you’ve gotta know he deserves it. Nevertheless, that in no way means you should buy Big Nog stock considering the likelihood that he’ll retire in the next few years and won’t be getting a crack at the title anytime soon.

*Note: If the UFC returns to Brazil in 2012, you’d be best served to make a Bed and Breakfast deal on this stock. Just be sure to dump once you think you’ve hit the tipping point.

Brendan Schaub: Hold

People have been a little high on the Hybrid. Sure, he’s promising, but his seemingly glass chin gives me pause. You won’t get rich on him, but you could definitely go broke on him. Let’s slow down on Schaub and watch it play out.

Edson Barboza: Buy

Buy this stock now and sell it early next year, right before the bubble pops. Like we mentioned here yesterday, Barboza barely got by a hand-picked opponent. Not convinced? Consider his fight against Anthony Njokuani at UFC 128 where he struggled to take home a decision win. Listen, you’re only as good as your last night and there will be a sucker that only remembers he beat a guy who won The Ultimate Fighter and will line your pockets with hundies.

Ross Pearson: Hold

There are too many talented fighters in the Lightweight division to buy more stock of the TUF 9 winner. Although he lost, he did look much better than he has in the past, so there’s no reason to sell what stock you already have. If the Brits didn’t have such a bad reputation for having a non-existent wrestling game, I may have bought some of this stock myself.

Luiz Cane: Sell

Winning just one of his last four fights — and that was against a guy who is no longer employed by Zuffa — Luiz Cane is a sinking ship. He is the only Brazilian to lose at UFC Rio, which will stick with him for years to come. He is now the answer to a trivia question. Get out while you still can and cut your losses.

Spencer Fisher: Sell, Sell, Sell

Jordan Breen said it best on Twitter last night: As much action as he’s given us over the years, Spencer Fisher is a spent force as an enterprising UFC lightweight.

Saturday’s UFC 134 Prelims Get Full Spike, Facebook Treatment From Rio

Filed under: UFC, NewsThe last time the UFC was in Brazil, there was no such thing as Spike TV or Facebook.

But for Saturday’s UFC 134, the promotion’s first trip to the South American cradle of MMA since 1998, fans can watch all 12 fights on a combin…

Filed under: ,

The last time the UFC was in Brazil, there was no such thing as Spike TV or Facebook.

But for Saturday’s UFC 134, the promotion’s first trip to the South American cradle of MMA since 1998, fans can watch all 12 fights on a combination of Facebook, Spike and pay-per-view.

This will be the 15th consecutive event that the UFC has utilized Facebook to air preliminary card fights, dating back to January. And for the ninth straight event, each fight on the card will be broadcast in some form. The first five UFC 134 prelims will stream live on Facebook, followed by a pair of fights on Spike leading into the pay-per-view broadcast.

A pair of fights between Brazilians and Americans leads the Spike broadcast. A middleweight bout between Rousimar Palhares and Dan Miller kicks things off, followed by a lightweight bout between Thiago Tavares and Spencer Fisher.

Palhares (12-3, 5-2 UFC) fought exclusively in his native Brazil until signing with the UFC in 2008. His last three wins have been by submission. Miller (13-5, 1 NC, 5-4 UFC) has struggled since starting his UFC career 3-0. He suffered a three-fight skid with decision losses to Chael Sonnen, Demian Maia and Michael Bisping, but rebounded with back-to-back wins over John Salter and Joe Doerksen. But in March, he lost a unanimous decision to Nate Marquardt in his native New Jersey.

Tavares (15-4-1, 5-4-1 UFC) started his career 12-0 but has gone just 3-4-1 in his last eight fights. In March, he was knocked out by Shane Roller at UFC on Versus 3. Fisher (24-7, 9-6 UFC) is also coming off a loss. Ross Pearson took a unanimous decision from him at UFC 127 in Sydney in February, giving the Iowa-based fighter three losses in four fights.

On the UFC’s Facebook page, fans will get a Brazilian-heavy lineup. An opening bantamweight bout between Canada’s Yves Jabouin and American Ian Loveland is the only fight on the card to not feature a Brazilian. Three fights on the Facebook prelims feature Brazilians debuting in the UFC against fellow Brazilians. And Paulo Thiago (13-3, 3-3 UFC) looks to end a two-fight skid against David Mitchell (11-1, 0-1 UFC).

To gain access to the Facebook fights, which will begin at 6 p.m. Eastern, viewers must “like” the UFC on Facebook. As of Wednesday afternoon, the UFC had more than 6.2 million fans at the site. When the UFC first started streaming prelims fights on Facebook in January, it had approximately 4.5 million fans at the social networking site.

The UFC began streaming preliminary fights in January with its Fight for the Troops 2 show at Fort Hood, Texas. Since then, the promotion has included free Facebook fights for each event, regardless of the main card’s platform – be it on pay-per-view, Spike or Versus. For the historic UFC 129 card in Toronto in April, five prelims were aired on Facebook, followed by a pair on Spike leading into the pay-per-view – meaning for the first time, fans were guaranteed the opportunity to see each fight on the card. That has continued for each of the eight events since then, including Saturday’s card in Rio.

UFC 134 features a main event middleweight title fight between champion Anderson Silva and Yushin Okami, the last man to beat him – albeit by disqualification when Silva delivered an illegal upkick and Okami couldn’t continue. The co-main event features a rematch between former light heavyweight champions Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and Forrest Griffin. And also on the main card, heavyweight Brendan Schaub looks for his fifth straight win in a matchup against Brazilian legend Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira.

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UFC 134 Fight Card: Is Donald Cerrone Already in the UFC Lightweight Title Mix?

In the MMA World, there are certain things we can’t ignore, like the Strikeforce Nashville brawl, the passing of renowned trainer Shawn Tompkins this past Sunday, pretty much every disputed decision win in MMA history, and the perceived downfall of man…

In the MMA World, there are certain things we can’t ignore, like the Strikeforce Nashville brawl, the passing of renowned trainer Shawn Tompkins this past Sunday, pretty much every disputed decision win in MMA history, and the perceived downfall of many PRIDE legends.

Ascents are also something that we as a community of the Combat Sports Universe cannot ignore anymore, and right now, “Cowboy” Donald Cerrone is one of the top examples of a Lightweight that we can no longer ignore.

Ever since his WEC 48 loss to Ben Henderson, Cerrone has posted a five fight win streak, including his TKO win over Charles Oliveira, and now the question has to be asked:

Is The Cowboy, Donald Cerrone, already in the mix of the UFC’s 155-pound title picture?

I answered this question when I covered the UFC on Versus 5 event this Saturday, saying that if Cerrone wasn’t ready now, he never would be.

However, consider UFC 134’s two Lightweight bouts: Thiago Tavares vs. Spencer Fisher, and Ross Pearson vs. Edson Barboza.

Now, I’d like to think that the Tavares-Fisher winner would stylistically be more interesting for Oliveira’s next bout, but for Cerrone, both men could pose enough of a threat to Cerrone in that he might find himself in a similar situation to what he encountered with Vagner Rocha at UFC 131.

Fisher probably is the more well rounded threat, but we won’t know how much Tavares has improved his standup from the Shane Roller fight until we see him against Fisher next weekend.

The Pearson-Barboza winner might be more of a threat on the feet, but their ground games may come into question against Cerrone, who has some of the sweetest Jiu-Jitsu in the division.

Cerrone is in the mix for sure right now, but give him one of these four men–whoever is successful next Saturday–before giving him a Top 5-Top 3 fighter, if he’s not ready for the big dogs yet.

With how far Cerrone’s rising in stock, and with how far two of the aforementioned four Lightweights will rise in stock after UFC 134, maybe pinning Tavares, Fisher, Pearson, or Barboza against Cerrone might give us a better idea of who’s really ready to lead the Lightweights into their next great era.

Look, Joe Silva, we know Cerrone said to keep him on speed dial for UFC 135, just in case Tony Ferguson vs. Aaron Riley fell through, or in case Takanori Gomi vs. Nate Diaz fell through, so keep a third eye out on the two Lightweight fights next weekend.

Maybe, just maybe, you might have to give Cerrone a buzz after all.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Is Sam Stout a Top-10 LW? 5 Fights He Should Take Next to Prove It.

If you’re a fighter and your nickname is “Hands of Stone,” then it follows that you better have some impressive KO’s on your resume. If you don’t, well, people might start to call you out on your choice of fight handle.Tha…

If you’re a fighter and your nickname is “Hands of Stone,” then it follows that you better have some impressive KO’s on your resume. If you don’t, well, people might start to call you out on your choice of fight handle.

That was the awkward spot that London, Ontario native Sam Stout found himself in for most of his UFC career. A student of the well-known kickboxing guru Shawn Thompkins, “Hands of Stone” acquired a solid reputation as an exciting, tough fighter with good technical striking. Unfortunately, his lack of clean KO victories also earned him the stigma of being “pillow-fisted”.

I blame the nickname. Fight fans take shit s*** seriously. Just listen to how angry the crowd gets the next time Geroges St-Pierre “Rush”es through another 25 minutes title defense, or the “Dead of Mean” Keith Jardine gets called a really, really great guy (usually by the dude who just knocked him out).

Luckily for Sam, that awkwardness is a thing of the past.

This past Saturday at UFC 131, Stout notched a beautiful—and scary—knockout of respected vet Yves Edwards. Not only did the win validate his choice of fight moniker, it also erased another stigma that has plagued Stout over his UFC tenure: his perception as a “middle of the pack” contender.

Oh, I know fans will debate the imponderable rankings value of an Yves Edwards KO until the cows come home. But you can’t deny that aside from Shane Carwin’s battered mug (another tragic case of fist-to-face-idosis) andKenny Florian’s Laura Flynn Boyle impersonation at Featherweight, Stout’s KO is “the story” coming off this past UFC.

It’s what fans are talking about. It’s the fight they’re rewatching on their PVR’s. It’s the gif they’re tweeting to their friends on Monday morning. Now that he’s not a “pillow-fisted gatekeeper” any more, the biggest question facing Stout is “what next?”.

Of course, I have a few thoughts on the matter. Here are the top five fights I’d like to see “Hands of Stone” take next to prove he really is a top-10 Lightweight.

 

Dennis Siver: C’mon now, tell me this fight would be anything but totally f****** awesome.

On the one hand, you have Stout, one of the most reliably exciting fighters in the lightweight division. He’s won “Fight of the Night” five times in his UFC career. And against him, we put a guy who could very well have just walked off the set of the latest “Universal Soldier” movie.

Siver has something of a buzz going about him currently, following his upset win over rising star George Sotiropoulos. He has a penchant for devastating people with his spinning back kick, which he throws like he’s fighting in “The Kumite” and not the UFC. His German-Russian background gives him a demeanour somewhat akin to the Terminator when he fights.

Some might doubt if Sam has the power on the feet to hang with Dennis. I think this last fight with Edwards went a long way towards answering those questions. Still, regardless of outcome, this fight would be a guaranteed fireworks display on the feet. Have those “Fight of the Night” bonus cheques written and ready to be cashed—assuming Siver beats Matt Wiman in a few weeks time, that is.

Donald Cerrone: Here’s another fight where you know—you just know—that neither guy is going to be sitting back.

“The Cowboy” has complained recently of a lack of top fighters willing to step up to the plate and throw down with him. Or a perceived lack of fighters willing to step up. Or what could possibly be construed as a perceived lack of fighters willing to step. Or maybe someone just looked at him the wrong way backstage.

Either way, Donald Cerrone is proud, pissed off, and dropping sexist and homophobic slurs like he’s “that Uncle” after too many visits to the punch bowl on New Years.

If he’s looking for a game opponent, he need look no further then Stout. Since Cerrone himself has a reputation for being “pillow-fisted”, this fight would be a good chance to erase that stigma against a fighter with an iron chin. Plus, both these guys have legit kickboxing credentials, so the stand up battle should be a heck of a lot of fun.

Anthony Pettis: Speaking of legit kickboxing creds, one need look no further in the LW division then Anthony Pettis.

Ok ok, so the guy’s no K-1 Grand Prix champion or anything. But can you really speak of the inventor of the “Showtime Kick”—as well as a dozen other funky moves he regularly debuts on opponents—without a little reverence?

I think over the course of his WEC/UFC run, Pettis has proven he is one of the better strikers in the lightweight division. Throw in his ever improving BJJ game and tendency to make fights really damn fun (see a theme emerging here?) and I see an interesting stylistic challenge—and a hell of a fight —for Sam Stout.

George Sotiropoulos: Assuming the UFC brass believes Dennis Siver to be too steep a challenge for Stout, they could always give him the man he just beat.

Up until that loss, “G-Sot” was considered 155′s hottest rising star. A BJJ prodigy under noted instructor/Gumby-meets-Towlie offspring Eddie Bravo, Sot seemed to be on the fast track to a LW title shot.

That is, until he ran smack dab into the angry left foot of Dennis Siver. Then he ran into it again. And again. 15 minutes later, and his title shot was vaporized faster then a puddle in the Australian Outback/Joe Rogan’s medicinal grade bud bud on 4/20.

This would be less of an “action” fight for Stout, as George would clearly look to take this fight to the ground rather then stand and trade. Still, Stout has “ever-improving” wrestling (thanks, Goldie!), especially take down defense. The last time he fought a guy who tried to take him down, we got the epic war that was Stout vs. Lauzon.

Spencer Fischer: Here’s my personal pick, folks. All of the above fighters would make for a damn good fight.

Only Spencer Fischer would guarantee a classic for the ages.

These men first met in Stout’s Octagon début, with Sam taking the win over late-replacement Fischer after an epic three-round battle. When they met again, a more well prepared Fischer edged Stout in another epic three-round battle.

So let me do some quick math here. Two fighters in their primes, having met twice before in two of the most exciting lightweight fights of all time, with the score tied at 1-1. Matchmaking doesn’t get any more obvious then this, ladies and gentlemen.

The UFC needs to finish this trilogy. For Spencer, for Sam, for the fans, for everyone. Epic trilogies where both men are tied one apiece in two seriously epic fights DO NOT go uncompleted. Not in any MMA universe I care to inhabit.

The UFC should book Sam vs. Spencer 3, put it on a free card, and give a fitting conclusion to one of the best trilogies in the history of the LW division.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

The Cut List: Who Needs a Win at UFC 127?

Filed under: UFCNaturally a trip to Australia for the UFC means there’s got to be some local talent on the card, and yes, some of that local talent may be getting just one last chance to show that they can do something other than attract their friends …

Filed under:

Naturally a trip to Australia for the UFC means there’s got to be some local talent on the card, and yes, some of that local talent may be getting just one last chance to show that they can do something other than attract their friends and neighbors.

But there’s a wide range of fighters on the UFC 127 undercard who are need of a win on Saturday. Hailing from several different continents, and finding themselves in potential trouble for several different reasons, they all need to win big or at least lose impressively if they want to be invited back.

Let’s take a look at who they are below.

Thanksgiving UFC News Dump: Bookings, Replacements, Firings + More

("COME AT ME, BRO!")
Happy Thanksgiving, Potato Nation! If you’re reading this right now, you should probably consider disconnecting from the Internet and spending time with your family. If you came here to escape those horrible people, bro…


("COME AT ME, BRO!")

Happy Thanksgiving, Potato Nation! If you’re reading this right now, you should probably consider disconnecting from the Internet and spending time with your family. If you came here to escape those horrible people, brother we can relate. (*Pours another glass of scotch*) Let us know what you’re thankful for in the comments section, and keep up-to-date with this grab-bag of UFC headlines…

– Replacing the unfortunately injured Jose Aldo at UFC 125 against Josh Grispi will be Dustin Poirier, an 8-1 featherweight prospect who just knocked out Zach Micklewright in 53 seconds earlier this month at WEC 52: Faber vs. Mizugaki. Chris Leben vs. Brian Stann will now be the event’s co-headliner, in support of the Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard lightweight title fight.

– Coming off an ugly knockout loss against George Roop at WEC 51, "The Korean Zombie" Chan Sung Jung has his win-or-go-home fight booked, as he’ll be taking on Rani Yahya at Fight for the Troops 2 on January 22nd. It’ll be the only fight on the card where you won’t be able to chant "U!S!A!" in support of at least one of the fighters. Expect a lot of fans in the arena to make trips to the bathroom.

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