Tag: theultimatefighter

TUF 13 Champ Tony Ferguson Back to Lightweight, Fights Aaron Riley at UFC 135 in Denver

Filed under: UFCTony Ferguson, who won Season 13 of “The Ultimate Fighter” earlier this month, already has his next fight.

Ferguson, who beat Ramsey Nijem at the TUF 13 Finale in Las Vegas on June 4 with a first-round knockout, will face Aaron Riley …

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Tony Ferguson, who won Season 13 of “The Ultimate Fighter” earlier this month, already has his next fight.

Ferguson, who beat Ramsey Nijem at the TUF 13 Finale in Las Vegas on June 4 with a first-round knockout, will face Aaron Riley in a lightweight bout at UFC 135 on Sept. 24 in Denver. The UFC announced the fight booking on Twitter on Monday night.

Ferguson (11-2, 1-0 UFC) has won four straight fights, including his UFC debut victory over Nijem, which also netted him a $40,000 Knockout of the Night bonus to go along with his guaranteed UFC contract. That fight was at welterweight. Against Riley (30-12-1, 3-4 UFC), Ferguson will return to the lightweight division.

On Season 13 of TUF, Ferguson fought for coach Brock Lesnar’s team. The three wins Ferguson had in the TUF house to reach the live finale were all knockouts or TKOs. Those those three fights are not official, if counted he has seven straight TKO or KO victories. After taping for the season finished, Ferguson trained at Lesnar’s Death Clutch camp in Minnesota to prepare for his fight with Nijem.

Riley has been out of action for more than a year, since a unanimous decision win over Joe Brammer at UFC 114 in May 2010. Riley, an Indiana native, was expected to return at UFC 119 in Indianapolis last September, but pulled out of his fight with Pat Audinwood with an injury. When he returns in September, it will be after a 16-month layoff.

Riley, whose primary training home is with Greg Jackson’s camp in Albuquerque, N.M., is in his third stint with the UFC. He was one-and-done with losses to Robbie Lawler at UFC 37 and Spencer Fisher at Fight Night 3. Since returning at UFC 91, Riley has gone 3-2, but hasn’t put together consecutive wins. His three wins have all been by unanimous decision.

UFC 135 will take place at the Pepsi Center in Denver. It will be the promotion’s first trip to Colorado since the first UFC on Versus event in March 2010, which took place in the north Denver suburb of Broomfield. The UFC hasn’t been to Denver proper since UFC: The Ultimate Ultimate in December 1995. UFC 1 and UFC 2 also took place in Denver.

UFC 135 is expected to be headlined by a light heavyweight title fight between champion Jon Jones, making his first defense, and former champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. Also on the card, Hall of Famer and former welterweight champion Matt Hughes will face former lightweight title challenger Diego Sanchez.

 

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Michael Bisping, Mayhem Miller to Headline TUF 14 Finale Card

Filed under: UFC, NewsLAS VEGAS – The UFC made its coaches for Season 14 of “The Ultimate Fighter” official on Friday. And after UFC 130, it was revealed they’ll fight each other on the reality series’ live finale card and not on a pay-per-view, as has…

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LAS VEGAS – The UFC made its coaches for Season 14 of “The Ultimate Fighter” official on Friday. And after UFC 130, it was revealed they’ll fight each other on the reality series’ live finale card and not on a pay-per-view, as has become customary.

UFC president Dana White said after the post-fight press conference that Michael Bisping and Jason “Mayhem” Miller will headline the TUF 14 Finale, which is likely to take place in early December.

“What we’re going to do this season of ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ is, the coaches will fight on the finale,” White said. “It’s what we were planning on doing anyway. We’ve done it before.”

White said the decision was made for just the upcoming season of TUF and wouldn’t necessarily apply to future seasons. For instance, if future coaches were going to fight for a title, it likely would not take place on a TUF Finale show. After Season 4 of the reality series, coaches BJ Penn and Jens Pulver fought on the finale.

White said the process of selecting the next coaches had plenty of bumps in the road, not the least of which was Chael Sonnen’s current suspension by the California State Athletic Commission. Sonnen was rumored to coach against Bisping on the show, which will feature bantamweights and featherweights and will begin taping this summer.

“When we go through the process of making coaches, there are all these different guys we look at,” White said. “People were talking about some of the lighter weight champions (as coaches), but a lot of things play factor in what happens – the Chael Sonnen incident, fights, schedules, injuries.

In the end, he settled on Bisping, who coached on Season 9 against Dan Henderson, and Miller, who signed with the UFC after leaving Strikeforce earlier this spring. Miller, the host of the “Bully Beatdown” program on MTV, is a famous talker – plenty outlandish and brash. But White said it wasn’t just about making good television with wars of words between coaches.

“There’s more that goes into it than just, ‘Are these guys going to act goofy and talk to each other?'” White said. “I’m not really into the coaches acting goofy. It’s going to happen with the (contestants) anyway.”

Season 13 of “The Ultimate Fighter,” with coaches Brock Lesnar and Junior dos Santos, finishes its broadcast run on Wednesday with the semifinals. On Saturday, the live finale takes place at The Pearl at The Palms in Las Vegas. Lesnar and dos Santos were scheduled to headline UFC 131 on June 11, but Lesnar had to pull out with a relapse of diverticulitis. He had surgery to remove a portion of his colon on Friday, though doctors say he may be back fighting by January.

 

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Kyle Watson Trained Briefly at UFC 129 Opponent’s Gym

Filed under: UFCTORONTO – Kyle Watson doesn’t want to make too big a fuss over his fight against John Makdessi because, well, the two are “definitely not teammates.”

But in a sport in which every little advantage could be the difference between a win…

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TORONTO – Kyle Watson doesn’t want to make too big a fuss over his fight against John Makdessi because, well, the two are “definitely not teammates.”

But in a sport in which every little advantage could be the difference between a win and a loss, Watson will take what he can get.

Watson (13-6-1, 1-0 UFC) and Makdessi (8-0, 1-0 UFC) meet on the preliminary card of UFC 129 in Toronto on Saturday, but it was the short time they spent together at the Tristar Gym in Montreal that is eliciting a few whispers.

Munoz vs. Maia Among Bouts Announced for UFC 131

Filed under: UFC, News The card for UFC 131 continues to take shape, with the promotion confirming three new fights early Saturday.

UFC.com reported verbal agreements are in place for a middleweight bout between Mark Munoz and former top contender De…

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The card for UFC 131 continues to take shape, with the promotion confirming three new fights early Saturday.

UFC.com reported verbal agreements are in place for a middleweight bout between Mark Munoz and former top contender Demian Maia; a light heavyweight fight between Anthony Perosh and Krzysztof Soszynski; and a middleweight bout between Jesse Bongfeldt and Court McGee.

Though the UFC has not yet officially announced the event, UFC 131 is expected to take place June 11 at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Urijah Faber, Eddie Wineland Trying to Focus on Fight, UFC Title

Filed under: UFCTen days before their co-main event bout at UFC 128, bantamweights Urijah Faber and Eddie Wineland said Wednesday they only have one thing on their minds – a win, then a title shot.

Though all the pieces would appear to be in place for…

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Urijah FaberTen days before their co-main event bout at UFC 128, bantamweights Urijah Faber and Eddie Wineland said Wednesday they only have one thing on their minds – a win, then a title shot.

Though all the pieces would appear to be in place for the winner of the fight to possibly get a coaching spot on this fall’s 14th season of “The Ultimate Fighter,” both Faber and Wineland, making their UFC debuts, said they can’t think about that now.

“I don’t know what (the UFC’s) criteria is for that – they seem to change it up a lot,” Faber (24-4, 9-3 WEC) said on a media conference call. “And I haven’t heard anything at all. I feel like this (fight) is a shot to get a title shot, which is most important to me. The reality show thing would be great, but my focus is getting that belt.”

George Roop Gets New UFC Deal

Filed under: UFC, NewsDespite a TKO loss in his UFC debut last month, featherweight George Roop has signed a new five-fight deal with the promotion.

Sources close to Roop’s camp told MMA Fighting the news and confirmed the Tucson, Ariz.-based fighter…

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George RoopDespite a TKO loss in his UFC debut last month, featherweight George Roop has signed a new five-fight deal with the promotion.

Sources close to Roop’s camp told MMA Fighting the news and confirmed the Tucson, Ariz.-based fighter had also signed the deal for his next fight against Josh Grispi at the Season 13 finale of “The Ultimate Fighter” in June.