Gee whiz, what’s a guy gotta to do to win a belt around here? Well, we’re here to try and paint both sides of the picture on this polarizing, yet very important debate. Anyone who’s familiar with the UFC has not only heard, but has personally experienced this question before – what exactly do you have
Gee whiz, what’s a guy gotta to do to win a belt around here? Well, we’re here to try and paint both sides of the picture on this polarizing, yet very important debate.
Anyone who’s familiar with the UFC has not only heard, but has personally experienced this question before – what exactly do you have to do to win a title fight in the judges eyes if you’re the challenger? We’ve seen it go both ways before, such as Robbie Lawler’s close win over Carlos Condit earlier this year, or, of course, Jon Jones’ incredibly controversial split decision win over Alexander Gustafsson at UFC 165. Conversely, we’ve obviously seen the other side of the coin with Dominick Cruz vs TJ Dillashaw earlier this year in January.
In the former examples, the champ edges out a razor-thin decision, just barely squeaking out the win and retains his belt. In the latter, the challenger does just enough to best the champ and earn the nod from the judges.
But enough chatter, let’s break this debate down and analyze both sides of this long-standing unwritten rule that the challenger must decisively beat the champ in order to be the champ.
(The loyalty of your fellow Brazilians doesn’t mean shit when you’ve grabbed the last Giga Pet off the shelf on Black Friday. Photo courtesy of Getty Images.)
Well alright, alright, alright, it looks like the UFC will be returning to the motherland yet again in 2013.
In either case, it is being passed around that both an event and location have been named for the upcoming “superfight,” which is apparently what we’re calling it now: UFC 163, at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Because of course Brazil.
No other fights have been announced for the event, but it might interest you to know that Aldo is currently resting at a very modest -155 favorite over Pettis at 5Dimes. So, do whatever you want with that bit of info.
(The loyalty of your fellow Brazilians doesn’t mean shit when you’ve grabbed the last Giga Pet off the shelf on Black Friday. Photo courtesy of Getty Images.)
Well alright, alright, alright, it looks like the UFC will be returning to the motherland yet again in 2013.
In either case, it is being passed around that both an event and location have been named for the upcoming “superfight,” which is apparently what we’re calling it now: UFC 163, at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Because of course Brazil.
No other fights have been announced for the event, but it might interest you to know that Aldo is currently resting at a very modest -155 favorite over Pettis at 5Dimes. So, do whatever you want with that bit of info.
(Aaaannndd in the blue corner, fighting out of…uh…parts unknown, and sporting a professional record of…*cough*teen and one…Juan Mordana!)
Right now, the UFC’s flyweight division consists of less fighters than there are students in the average Introduction to Genetics and Evolution class at Kentucky Mountain Bible College. And while this doesn’t exactly provide fans with a plethora of matchups to get excited about, it does provide several of the division’s fighters with a short path to a title shot. Take John Moraga, for instance, the flyweight fighter sporting a 2-0 UFC record who was announced earlier today as the next challenger to Demetrious Johnson’s throne. Moraga will be given a chance to shock the world in the main event of the upcoming TUF 17 Finale, which transpires from the Hard Rock Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada on April 13th.
To be fair, Morega has about as impressive a two fight (UFC) win streak as you can have, especially given the size of the pond he is swimming in. After knocking out the highly-touted former Tachi Palace Fights champion, Ulysses Gomez, in his promotional debut, Morega scored a third round come-from-behind submission victory over experienced octagon vet Chris Cariaso at UFC 155. In fact, the only loss you’d find on the 14 fight record of Moraga dates back to December of 2010 and came, ironically enough, to the last man that was defeated by “Mighty Mouse,” John Dodson. Like we said, it’s a(n appropriately) small pond.
So this is a bit of an odd pairing, sure, but if Moraga’s debut performance was any indication, the dude can trade with the best of them and has some devastating KO power to boot. But as was the case with Dodson, this fight won’t be a question of when Moraga lands, but if he can land when dealing with the inhuman speed of Johnson.
Also scheduled for the TUF 17 Finale…
(Aaaannndd in the blue corner, fighting out of…uh…parts unknown, and sporting a professional record of…*cough*teen and one…Juan Mordana!)
Right now, the UFC’s flyweight division consists of less fighters than there are students in the average Introduction to Genetics and Evolution class at Kentucky Mountain Bible College. And while this doesn’t exactly provide fans with a plethora of matchups to get excited about, it does provide several of the division’s fighters with a short path to a title shot. Take John Moraga, for instance, the flyweight fighter sporting a 2-0 UFC record who was announced earlier today as the next challenger to Demetrious Johnson’s throne. Moraga will be given a chance to shock the world in the main event of the upcoming TUF 17 Finale, which transpires from the Hard Rock Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada on April 13th.
To be fair, Morega has about as impressive a two fight (UFC) win streak as you can have, especially given the size of the pond he is swimming in. After knocking out the highly-touted former Tachi Palace Fights champion, Ulysses Gomez, in his promotional debut, Morega scored a third round come-from-behind submission victory over experienced octagon vet Chris Cariaso at UFC 155. In fact, the only loss you’d find on the 14 fight record of Moraga dates back to December of 2010 and came, ironically enough, to the last man that was defeated by “Mighty Mouse,” John Dodson. Like we said, it’s a(n appropriately) small pond.
So this is a bit of an odd pairing, sure, but if Moraga’s debut performance was any indication, the dude can trade with the best of them and has some devastating KO power to boot. But as was the case with Dodson, this fight won’t be a question of when Moraga lands, but if he can land when dealing with the inhuman speed of Johnson.
Also scheduled for the TUF 17 Finale…
Gabriel Gonzaga. Trust me, that name feels just as weird to write as it does to read. The master of surrealist video art who announced his retirement from the sport after getting axed by the UFC back in 2010 has returned a renewed fighter, collecting three straight (two in the UFC) victories by submission, otherwise known as the things Gonzaga was always really good at but refused to use during his first run in the octagon. “Napao” most recently strangled the life out of Ben Rothwell in the first round of their scrap at UFC on FX 7. Standing across the cage from Gonzaga will be a hard hitting heavyweight with a solid submission game in Travis Browne, who saw a three fight win streak snapped by the surging Antonio Silva back at UFC on FX 5 in October.
Confirmation comes at the 12:35 mark of the press conference highlights. Props to MMAFighting.com for the video.
Leading up to last night’s historic UFC on Fox broadcast, there were rumors that the winner of Benson Henderson vs. Clay Guida would be fighting Frankie Edgar in Japan for the UFC lightweight title. As you know, Ben Henderson went on to defeat Clay Guida by unanimous decision in a Fight of the Night winning performance. Now, it has been confirmed that Ben Henderson vs. Frankie Edgar will be the main event of the UFC’s return to Japan.
Since losing to Anthony Pettis back at WEC 53, Ben Henderson has gone 3-0 in the UFC. Even though all three victories have come by unanimous decision, Henderson has proven that he is incapable of being involved in a boring fight. Likewise, Frankie Edgar is coming off of a come from behind fourth round TKO over Gray Maynard at UFC 136 in October.
Confirmation comes at the 12:35 mark of the press conference highlights. Props to MMAFighting.com for the video.
Leading up to last night’s historic UFC on Fox broadcast, there were rumors that the winner of Benson Henderson vs. Clay Guida would be fighting Frankie Edgar in Japan for the UFC lightweight title. As you know, Ben Henderson went on to defeat Clay Guida by unanimous decision in a Fight of the Night winning performance. Now, it has been confirmed that Ben Henderson vs. Frankie Edgar will be the main event of the UFC’s return to Japan.
Since losing to Anthony Pettis back at WEC 53, Ben Henderson has gone 3-0 in the UFC. Even though all three victories have come by unanimous decision, Henderson has proven that he is incapable of being involved in a boring fight. Likewise, Frankie Edgar is coming off of a come from behind fourth round TKO over Gray Maynard at UFC 136 in October.
UFC Japan is set to take place on February 26, 2012. In order to accommodate the fact that no one in North America wants to wake up at 9 AM for a PPV card, the show is set to start at 10 AM in Japan. Waking up before noon on a weekend? That’s a level of dedication that our Gaijin asses just can’t understand.
We’ll keep you posted as more fights get confirmed for this card.
Check out “Dapper” Roy Nelson in the three piece! (Video: Youtube/UFC)
“He’s the most disrespectful human being I’ve ever met, and I’m going to put the worst beating you’ve ever seen on him in the UFC.”
With those uncharacteristically aggressive words, Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre verbally accepted the bout against Nick Diaz in a backstage conversation with Dana White.
“He’s the most disrespectful human being I’ve ever met, and I’m going to put the worst beating you’ve ever seen on him in the UFC.”
With those uncharacteristically aggressive words, Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre verbally accepted the bout against Nick Diaz in a backstage conversation with Dana White.
Only Diaz didn’t just get past Penn, he dominated the former lightweight and welterweight champion, abusing him in the stand up en route to a unanimous decision. Sure, his post fight speech–“I don’t think Georges is hurt. I think he’s scared…I think he’s scarred to fight everybody right now. What’s up? Where you at, George?”–wasn’t as eloquent as Chael’s “loser leaves town” proposition to Anderson Silva, but it earned him a shot at the title on Super Bowl weekend nonetheless.
Now we’ve got a fight that everyone—champ, challenger, and fans—is clamoring for. The hype and speculation surrounding the pre-fight press conferences alone will eclipse that of some title fights themselves. If Diaz took a swing at his friendBJ Penn at the weigh-ins, what do you think he’ll do to an opponent he openly disrespects? You may think Diaz is just the animal to unseat GSP from his throne, or you may think he poses no serious threat at all, but come February 5th you’re going to see St. Pierre in a very different title fight against a very different fighter, and in a division with dwindling credible challengers and somewhat repetitive performances by the champ, it’s a welcome bit of chaos.
