Tag: Tito Ortiz

UFC 132 Results: Chael Sonnen Calls out Lyoto Machida, Not Wanderlei Silva

UFC 132 saw one of the most impressive knockouts in recent memory when Chris Leben was able to defeat one of his idols, Wanderlei Silva, in the semi-main event.But the event may also be memorable for another reason as former middleweight No. 1…

UFC 132 saw one of the most impressive knockouts in recent memory when Chris Leben was able to defeat one of his idols, Wanderlei Silva, in the semi-main event.

But the event may also be memorable for another reason as former middleweight No. 1 contender Chael Sonnen continued his verbal tirade on the organization by challenging yet another Brazilian fighter, Anderson Silva’s friend and fellow Black House member Lyoto Machida. 

This came as somewhat of a surprise as Sonnen had been openly bashing Wanderlei in the media for the past few weeks leading up to this event. 

“I was cheering for Chris [Leben],” Sonnen admitted tonight to MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani. “I don’t have any ill-will towards Wanderlei; I hope he’s okay.”

Sonnen was in attendance and witnessed Silva get knocked out of the fifth time in his last eight fights.

“He can’t do this work,” Sonnen bluntly stated. “But I certainly hope he’s okay.” 

“The only guy that would’ve finished him quicker is me.”

When asked if he would like to be the next to fight Silva, Sonnen shook his head and dismissed the idea entirely.

“No, it doesn’t make sense,” he explained. “Wanderlei is going to need to do something else. I don’t have any interest in getting in there with him. I don’t want to be the next guy to force him to have a flashlight shined in his eyes.” 

But he did have his eyes set on a fight, surprisingly one outside his own middleweight division. For whatever reason, Sonnen apparently wants to fight former UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida.

“There’s a karate guy at 205 pounds. I might stop there on my way back to 185. For a tune-up fight, take out Machida.” 

Machida is coming of a huge win over Randy Couture at UFC 129. Though the fight against Sonnen would certainly be one that fans would look forward to, it’s hard to say that it would be a great fight for Machida to take if he hopes to move back up the ranks in the light heavyweight division.

With Sonnen having been off for nearly a year at this point and moving up in weight classes, it’d be difficult for matchmaker Joe Silva to give Machida much credit if he were to defeat the loud-mouthed 185-pounder.

That said, expect to hear much more about this potential fight in the coming weeks.

Bleacher Report’s Nick Caron

UFC 132 Results: Tito Ortiz Victory Causes Interesting Dilemma for UFC

Brian Barker:Tito Ortiz’s submission victory over Ryan Bader at UFC 132 creates an interesting problem for the UFC, Dana White and matchmaker Joe Silva. The truth is that nobody gave Tito a realistic shot to win this fight including the odds-makers …

Brian Barker:

Tito Ortiz’s submission victory over Ryan Bader at UFC 132 creates an interesting problem for the UFC, Dana White and matchmaker Joe Silva. The truth is that nobody gave Tito a realistic shot to win this fight including the odds-makers who had him as a 4:1 underdog.  

Even Matt Hughes was getting a few good laughs over Ortiz’s chances of winning at the UFC 132 Q and A. Dana probably believed that he wouldn’t have to deal with Ortiz after tonight and he could finally hand him his walking papers and be done with him.

Tito’s victory creates a little bit of a dilemma for the company because no one really knows where Ortiz is ranked in the light heavyweight division and it also derails the development of Ryan Bader. Just like any other sport, building prospects is an important part for any organization and Tito was thought to be easy prey to get Bader back on track after his loss to Jon Jones.

It will certainly be interesting to see what the UFC decides to do with both men at this point. Bader has now lost two fights in a row and a third would put him in danger of no longer being a can’t miss prospect a la Brandon Vera, Todd Duffee and Houston Alexander.

It will be even more interesting to see what the UFC does with Ortiz. A win may have saved his job, but probably isn’t enough to catapult him into the upper echelon of the division.

An interesting option could be to fight the winner of Rich Franklin and Lil Nog or maybe pair him up with Phil Davis if he happens to get past Rashad. One thing you can bank on is that Dana certainly won’t be giving Ortiz any easy fights.

With all that being said, Ortiz definitely deserves credit for tonight’s victory because he showed his complete game. Tito’s hands never really instilled any fear in opponents but he was able to rock Bader with a solid right hand, he showed a little of his patented ground and pound, and quickly switched to a guillotine.

Overall, it was quite an impressive performance and it will be interesting to see how he looks his next time out.

UFC 132 Results: The Real Winners and Losers

Bleacher Report’s Nick Caron:Loser: Takeya Mizugaki The back-and-forth win-loss-win-loss for Takeya Mizugaki continued tonight as the Japanese fighter dropped his record to 14-6-1 in his career; but only 3-4 in the WEC and UFC.Mizugaki has done w…

Bleacher Report’s Nick Caron:

Loser: Takeya Mizugaki

The back-and-forth win-loss-win-loss for Takeya Mizugaki continued tonight as the Japanese fighter dropped his record to 14-6-1 in his career; but only 3-4 in the WEC and UFC.

Mizugaki has done well against some of the fighters perceived to be “gatekeepers,” but has not fared as well against the top-level competition, including tonight when he was dominated by Brian Bowles. His other losses have come against Urijah Faber, Scott Jorgensen and Miguel Torres.

Unfortunately, it seems as if the Japanese fighters have struggled mightily, recently, particularly against American wrestlers. Perhaps it has to do with the fact that the majority of them are not keen on cutting weight and thus are generally smaller than their opponents come fight time.

Winner Brian Bowles:

Former WEC bantamweight champion Brian Bowles earned his second win in a row by defeating Takeya Mizugaki tonight.

At one point, Bowles was considered arguably the greatest 135-pound fighter on the planet when he defeated former pound-for-pound great Miguel Torres at WEC 42 to become the bantamweight champion.

The win was somewhat shocking at the time given Torres’ long-time dominance over the division, but Bowles has been proving his worth since coming to the UFC with back-to-back wins over Damacio Page and now Mizugaki.

Bowles may be ready to earn his title back.

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UFC 132 Results: Is Tito Ortiz’s Victory over Ryan Bader Like Cancer?

A win is a win is a win.And the following are the reasons why Tito Ortiz’s win over rising prospect Ryan Bader in UFC 132 is extra special: First, it’s a glimmer of hope for Ortiz, as the former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion had been on a …

A win is a win is a win.

And the following are the reasons why Tito Ortiz’s win over rising prospect Ryan Bader in UFC 132 is extra special:

First, it’s a glimmer of hope for Ortiz, as the former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion had been on a downward roll since December of 2006.

After his TKO loss in his last attempt to regain the belt against Chuck Liddell, Ortiz next fought Rashad Evans to a draw before losing decisions consecutively against Lyoto Machida, Forrest Griffin and Matt Hamill. (In fairness to Ortiz—and I agree with Andrew Mahlmann—he still managed to fight creditably in his last four matches. And his fight with Bader is further proof that Dana White doesn’t give him patsies.)

Second, this guillotine choke victory, which was impressively preceded by a solid right hand and some ground-and-pound, is only Ortiz’ second win by submission hold in his MMA career. The first was a neck crank versus Yuki Kondo in UFC 29, over a decade ago on December 16, 2000.

Third—to obsequiously hype it some more—Ortiz did a better job than current UFC Champion Jon Jones! He submitted the lately choke-prone Bader in the very first round, whereas last February Jones didn’t submit the former “only” until the last minute of the second round!

However, Ortiz’s win could be as deceptive as cancer in claiming its victim.

There have been cases in which doctors find cancer on remission or even totally healed, only for it to come back with a vengeance.

And the second time proves more virulent and fatal.

So, Ortiz wins big this time around, breaking his three-year, three-fight losing streak, but what’s next?

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UFC 132 Cruz vs. Faber: The Bonuses

For all the grief we give the guy, we owe him a second photo of this submission. (Pic: UFC.com)

There were a score of unofficial bonuses dealt out last night. Tito got to keep his job and shut up his many, many detractors. Cruz evened the scorecards against Faber and avenged his only loss. Chris Leben bounced back from a crippling Gummi Bear addiction to score a vicious 27 second KO victory over Wanderlei Silva. As if that weren’t enough, the UFC handed out a quartet of its official, more financially lucrative $75k bonuses as well.

For all the grief we give the guy, we owe him a second photo of this submission. (Pic: UFC.com)

There were a score of unofficial bonuses dealt out last night. Tito got to keep his job and shut up his many, many detractors. Cruz evened the scorecards against Faber and avenged his only loss. Chris Leben bounced back from a crippling Gummi Bear addiction to score a vicious 27 second KO victory over Wanderlei Silva. As if that weren’t enough, the UFC handed out a quartet of its official, more financially lucrative $75k bonuses as well.

It was the UFC’s first bout for the Bantamweight strap, and Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber did their damnedest to put the little guys on the map in their “Fight of the Night” performance. They gave us five full rounds of the high-energy, dynamic style best exemplified by the sport’s lower weight divisions, and in doing so they may have secured a rubber-match in the near future.

He not only needed a win, he needed it against an opponent that few gave him a chance of beating. Tito Ortiz didn’t just earn the victory, he ended the fight in under two minutes and picked up the evening’s “Submission of the Night” bonus along the way. This was a very big win for the former champion, and it felt a little nostalgic to see the old “grave digger” routine once again.

UFC 132’s “Knock Out of the Night” was delivered by Carlos Condit, who earned his third straight bonus courtesy of a flying knee that dropped Dong “Stun Gun” Kim. A few follow up punches on the ground put Kim out just shy of three minutes into the first round. Now riding a four fight win streak with three consecutive stoppages, expect Condit’s calls for a title shot to grow louder.

UFC 132 Results: Tito Ortiz vs Ryan Bader Results and Aftermath

Tito Ortiz is back. He has been on a bit of a losing streak over the past few years, as well as battling many injuries and personal issues. He was a 5-1 underdog in this fight, and while a rare few picked him, virtually none truly believed it. Ryan …

Tito Ortiz is back. He has been on a bit of a losing streak over the past few years, as well as battling many injuries and personal issues. He was a 5-1 underdog in this fight, and while a rare few picked him, virtually none truly believed it.

Ryan Bader is like a young Tito many say. He has now lost two straight. While many may laugh about him losing to Tito, in all truths it is not a bad thing.

Tito has been fighting nothing but top competition while on his losing skid.

The started out with both men attempting to find their range, which led to Tito connecting with a right, which dropped Bader. Tito instantly swarmed him with punches then locked in an arm in guillotine. That move is a wrestler’s weakness a Tito said and Bader eventually tapped out.

So what is next for both men? Ryan Bader needs to take a small break and truly evaluate himself. Starting undefeated and then losing two straight will mess with your mind. His next fight should be against someone like Matt Hamill. This would be a good match up for both men, and with coming off of a loss it makes sense.

Tito Ortiz is a big question mark at the moment. It is hard to even think about who they could give him. The reason that is said is because it is unknown where he is ranked in the “UFC”. He could fight the winner of Matyushenko and Gustaffson, or they can throw him in to the deep end and let him fight the loser of Davis vs Evans. Either way Tito Ortiz is back!

Bleacher Report’s Cody Slovensky