The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) has added a heavyweight tilt to their UFC 209 card. MMAFighting.com has confirmed Todd Duffee (9-3) will return to the Octagon to meet Mark Godbeer (11-3). The event will take place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on March 4.
Duffee’s last bout was against Frank Mir back in Summer 2015. The American Top Team fighter was knocked out cold in the first round. Fortunately for Duffee, he recently signed a four-fight extension with the UFC and will get a chance to get back on track.
Godbeer’s UFC debut wasn’t a successful one. The former Bellator and BAMMA heavyweight was submitted in the first round by Justin Ledet at UFC Fight Night: Mousasi vs. Hall 2.
UFC 209 is starting to shape up, but a main event has not been announced. A heavyweight clash between Mark Hunt and Alistair Overeem was announced by the UFC, but it hasn’t been named as the headliner. Also on tap for the event is a lightweight scrap between Lando Vannata and David Teymur.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTxzKD-NSRU
The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) has added a heavyweight tilt to their UFC 209 card. MMAFighting.com has confirmed Todd Duffee (9-3) will return to the Octagon to meet Mark Godbeer (11-3). The event will take place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on March 4.
Duffee’s last bout was against Frank Mir back in Summer 2015. The American Top Team fighter was knocked out cold in the first round. Fortunately for Duffee, he recently signed a four-fight extension with the UFC and will get a chance to get back on track.
Godbeer’s UFC debut wasn’t a successful one. The former Bellator and BAMMA heavyweight was submitted in the first round by Justin Ledet at UFC Fight Night: Mousasi vs. Hall 2.
UFC 209 is starting to shape up, but a main event has not been announced. A heavyweight clash between Mark Hunt and Alistair Overeem was announced by the UFC, but it hasn’t been named as the headliner. Also on tap for the event is a lightweight scrap between Lando Vannata and David Teymur.
The UFC is quickly building a roster of stars who are crossing over into Hollywood in a big way. It seems as if each and every week we hear or see a fighter on a famous TV Show, movie, or other form of major entertainment stage. From Ronda Rousey making an appearance at Wrestlemania, to UFC golden boy Conor McGregor starring in
The UFC is quickly building a roster of stars who are crossing over into Hollywood in a big way.
It seems as if each and every week we hear or see a fighter on a famous TV Show, movie, or other form of major entertainment stage.
From Ronda Rousey making an appearance at Wrestlemania, to UFC golden boy Conor McGregor starring in the latest installment of the Call Of Duty franchise, the UFC is steadily starting to take over the entertainment section of the world along with sports as well.
Prior to the Conor McGregor’s and Ronda Rousey’s of the world, however, some other UFC combatants have also kicked ass on the big screen as well.
With that said, let’s take a look at our top 10 UFC fighters who threw down in movies…..
10. Dan Henderson
We kick off our list with the former Pride Champion who will be competing this weekend for his first career UFC title, when he takes on Michael Bisping in the main event of UFC 204 for the 185-pound title.
Henderson, a two-time UFC title challenger, is one of the most hardest hitting men to have ever stepped inside the Octagon, and he took his hard hitting punches to the big screen.
Before he looks to shut Bisping’s lights out again to take home the gold, as he did at UFC 100 in their initial meeting, Henderson did in fact dabble in the acting business as in the middle of his MMA career.
While Henderson has made a couple of TV Show appearances in shows such as The King Of Queens and Cubed, he made his big screen debut in the 2012 film Dragon Eyes where he viciously beat a police officer:
In the scene Henderson repeatedly beats an officer by smashing his face in with punches, bringing back memories from the officer’s past and most likely doing some severe brain damage as well.
While Fight Night 71 may have been a bit of a comedown from the high that last weekend’s cards provided, with 9 of the 12 scheduled fights going the distance, it managed to deliver yet another “Knockout of the Year”-worthy finish in it’s main event, which was probably the craziest sub-one and a half minute fight since Cerrone vs. Guillard.
Both Frank Mir and Todd Duffee came out throwin’ them bungalows early, but it was evident from the start that Mir was enjoying a significant speed advantage over his much younger opponent. Duffee was quite literally lunging into his punches, leaving himself exposed for big counters, and found one just over a minute into the fight in the form of a VICIOUS left hand. Though Mir would declare that “his emotions got the best of him” in his post-fight interview, there’s no arguing with the results.
Mir is now 2-0 since dropping 4 straight between 2012 and 2014. Andrei Arlovski has won three straight in the UFC. Cro Cop just beat the sh*t out of Gabe Gonzaga. Fedor is returning, and oh yeah, Fabricio Werdum is the champ. I think it’s safe to declare 2015 as the year of, as one redditor put it, “The Old School Heavyweight.”
While Fight Night 71 may have been a bit of a comedown from the high that last weekend’s cards provided, with 9 of the 12 scheduled fights going the distance, it managed to deliver yet another “Knockout of the Year”-worthy finish in it’s main event, which was probably the craziest sub-one and a half minute fight since Cerrone vs. Guillard.
Both Frank Mir and Todd Duffee came out throwin’ them bungalows early, but it was evident from the start that Mir was enjoying a significant speed advantage over his much younger opponent. Duffee was quite literally lunging into his punches, leaving himself exposed for big counters, and found one just over a minute into the fight in the form of a VICIOUS left hand. Though Mir would declare that “his emotions got the best of him” in his post-fight interview, there’s no arguing with the results.
Mir is now 2-0 since dropping 4 straight between 2012 and 2014. Andrei Arlovski has won three straight in the UFC. Cro Cop just beat the sh*t out of Gabe Gonzaga. Fedor is returning, and oh yeah, Fabricio Werdum is the champ. We think it’s safe to declare 2015 as the year of, as one redditor put it, “The Old School Heavyweight.”
In the co-main event of the evening, Tony “El Cucuy” Fergusondid work on Josh Thom-son, son. The TUF 13 winner, who has now won six straight fights with 4 finishes, sliced and diced Thomson with elbows throughout the three round affair and nearly finished the former Strikeforce champ with a couple different submissions to boot. It’s a testament to Thomson’s grittiness that he was able to make it the distance, but this might have been the fight that signals his descent from the top of the pack.
Holly Holm is not ready for Ronda Rousey, Nation, and I say that with all due respect. Matched up against Marion Reneau in her sophomore outing, Holm turned in yet another underwhelming performance, chock full of funky kicks that found mostly air and a lot of yelling. Holm is truly the Maria Sharapova of kicking and punching, but against an opponent who offered literally nooffense outside of a couple guard pulls, she still couldn’t pull the trigger. I know the UFC wants to push this Holm vs. Rousey narrative like it’s the next big thing in WMMA, but the winner of Jessica Eye vs. Miesha Tate is a much more interesting matchup, which is saying something, because one of those people has already been beaten by Rousey twice.
The full list of Fight Night 71 results are below.
Main Card
-Frank Mir def. Todd Duffee via first-round KO (1:13)
-Tony Ferguson def. Josh Thomson via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26)
-Holly Holm def. Marion Reneau via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-26, 29-28)
-Manny Gamburyan def. Scott Jorgensen via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
-Kevin Lee def. James Moontasri via submission (rear-naked choke) (R1, 2:56)
-Alan Jouban def. Matt Dwyer via unanimous decision (29-27, 29-27, 29-27)
Preliminary Card
-Sam Sicilia def. Yaotzin Meza via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28 x2)
-Jessica Andrade (#13) def. Sarah Moras via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
-Rani Yahya def. Masanori Kanehara via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
-Sean Strickland def. Igor Araujo via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26)
-Kevin Casey def. Ildemar Alcantara via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
-Lyman Good def. Andrew Craig via second-round TKO (3:37)
Not every prospect pans out. You’ll see some guys and be sure they’re going to hold a championship, and maybe hold it for a very long time.
UFC 102 was a night where one of those guys was seemingly born. It’s a night remembered now f…
Not every prospect pans out. You’ll see some guys and be sure they’re going to hold a championship, and maybe hold it for a very long time.
UFC 102 was a night where one of those guys was seemingly born. It’s a night remembered now for its headlining tilt between legends Randy Couture and Rodrigo Nogueira, but on the undercard of the event was a young heavyweight by the name of Todd Duffee.
And on that undercard that young heavyweight scored a vicious stoppage of Tim Hague in only seven seconds, leaving the world sure that he would be a force to be reckoned with for a long time.
How could he not be? He was 24-years-old, undefeated, built like Hercules and coming off one of the most memorable UFC debuts in history. He was a lock to impress for years to come.
Only he lost his next bout to Mike Russow, best known more for fighting crime than fighting in the UFC, and was jettisoned from the promotion soon after for being anti-UFC – the greatest crime in the Zuffa handbook.
From there he was cannon fodder for Alistair Overeem in DREAM and left the sport for a year and a half. When he came back, he won a single fight before the UFC came calling again for a warm body in their shallow heavyweight division.
Another win, another year off, another win, and he lined up a fight with former champion Frank Mir.
This was the one. This was the fight where he’d realize his potential and show the world what he’s capable of.
Only he didn’t.
After years of ups and downs and falling short right when he needed to clear a hurdle, his greatest fall came in trying to clear his biggest hurdle.
On paper beating Mir meant something. This was an all-time heavyweight great, a man possessing some of the best jiu-jitsu in the sport and who looked obviously rejuvenated in his last bout only months ago. To beat him would be to draw major attention to the Duffee that was finally arriving in the way so many had predicted.
In practice though, this was a diminished Mir. This was a man who showed up doughy at the weigh-ins for the first time in his career, wearing every scar, pound and inch that 14 years as a heavyweight in this game will provide. This was the same man who’d lost four straight before beating Antonio Silva in February to save his UFC life.
This was a man waiting to be beaten. And Duffee couldn’t do it.
In a short burst of highly entertaining violence, he looked wild and technically outclassed by Mir. For every swinging barn door of a shot that Duffee threw, it seemed like his opponent was landing two or three more swift shots and hurting him. Accumulation of such damage at heavyweight is usually a precursor to an early night, and when Duffee crumpled to the canvas he proved to be no different.
That frustrating outcome against a veteran tailor-made to be the premiere scalp on his wall is the exact slip-up that defines Duffee as an unfortunate never-was for the UFC to this point. It was a win that was easier to obtain than people would admit going in and would retroactively look better on a resume than it really was, and Duffee simply couldn’t reach out and grab it.
It was all opportunity, and it was lost before it ever got particularly close to being seized.
There may be hope for him down the line. He’s still under 30, he’s still got frightening power in his punches and his frame and he still looks like a star. But this one against Mir, this felt like the contest to link it all together.
But Wednesday night in San Diego, Todd Duffee killed off whatever momentum he had. Without starting anew and getting over the hump, that never-was tag is in danger of sticking for good.
Not every prospect pans out. You’ll see some guys and be sure they’re going to hold a championship, and maybe hold it for a very long time.
UFC 102 was a night where one of those guys was seemingly born. It’s a night remembered now f…
Not every prospect pans out. You’ll see some guys and be sure they’re going to hold a championship, and maybe hold it for a very long time.
UFC 102 was a night where one of those guys was seemingly born. It’s a night remembered now for its headlining tilt between legends Randy Couture and Rodrigo Nogueira, but on the undercard of the event was a young heavyweight by the name of Todd Duffee.
And on that undercard that young heavyweight scored a vicious stoppage of Tim Hague in only seven seconds, leaving the world sure that he would be a force to be reckoned with for a long time.
How could he not be? He was 24-years-old, undefeated, built like Hercules and coming off one of the most memorable UFC debuts in history. He was a lock to impress for years to come.
Only he lost his next bout to Mike Russow, best known more for fighting crime than fighting in the UFC, and was jettisoned from the promotion soon after for being anti-UFC – the greatest crime in the Zuffa handbook.
From there he was cannon fodder for Alistair Overeem in DREAM and left the sport for a year and a half. When he came back, he won a single fight before the UFC came calling again for a warm body in their shallow heavyweight division.
Another win, another year off, another win, and he lined up a fight with former champion Frank Mir.
This was the one. This was the fight where he’d realize his potential and show the world what he’s capable of.
Only he didn’t.
After years of ups and downs and falling short right when he needed to clear a hurdle, his greatest fall came in trying to clear his biggest hurdle.
On paper beating Mir meant something. This was an all-time heavyweight great, a man possessing some of the best jiu-jitsu in the sport and who looked obviously rejuvenated in his last bout only months ago. To beat him would be to draw major attention to the Duffee that was finally arriving in the way so many had predicted.
In practice though, this was a diminished Mir. This was a man who showed up doughy at the weigh-ins for the first time in his career, wearing every scar, pound and inch that 14 years as a heavyweight in this game will provide. This was the same man who’d lost four straight before beating Antonio Silva in February to save his UFC life.
This was a man waiting to be beaten. And Duffee couldn’t do it.
In a short burst of highly entertaining violence, he looked wild and technically outclassed by Mir. For every swinging barn door of a shot that Duffee threw, it seemed like his opponent was landing two or three more swift shots and hurting him. Accumulation of such damage at heavyweight is usually a precursor to an early night, and when Duffee crumpled to the canvas he proved to be no different.
That frustrating outcome against a veteran tailor-made to be the premiere scalp on his wall is the exact slip-up that defines Duffee as an unfortunate never-was for the UFC to this point. It was a win that was easier to obtain than people would admit going in and would retroactively look better on a resume than it really was, and Duffee simply couldn’t reach out and grab it.
It was all opportunity, and it was lost before it ever got particularly close to being seized.
There may be hope for him down the line. He’s still under 30, he’s still got frightening power in his punches and his frame and he still looks like a star. But this one against Mir, this felt like the contest to link it all together.
But Wednesday night in San Diego, Todd Duffee killed off whatever momentum he had. Without starting anew and getting over the hump, that never-was tag is in danger of sticking for good.
Don’t get caught up in nostalgia or believing the wily veteran can work some magic. Frank Mir is going to get knocked out in the first or second round by Todd Duffee on Wednesday, and you’ll want to collect the fantasy points the latter produces from h…
Don’t get caught up in nostalgia or believing the wily veteran can work some magic. Frank Mir is going to get knocked out in the first or second round by Todd Duffee on Wednesday, and you’ll want to collect the fantasy points the latter produces from his demolition of a future Hall of Famer.
Every one of Duffee‘s 11 professional MMA fights has ended in KO. He’s been the victim just twice. Duffee throws bombs and looks to finish opponents early. Frank Mir may be banking on Duffee expending too much energy early.
Per the UFC on Twitter, Duffee is prepared to take his time.
Mir is an excellent submissions fighter, but getting Duffee in a compromising situation is a difficult task. Duffee has a 90 percent takedown defense rating, per Fight Metric. If Mir can’t get the fight to the ground, he’s going to eat shots. Duffee is too big and strong for anyone to take his punches without going to sleep.
Duffee comes into the event averaging an event-high 87.6 fantasy points per fight. He’ll be the biggest fantasy producer on Wednesday as well. Draft Duffee for $10,500. Here’s a look at my optimal lineup for UFC Fight Night 71:
Another Mauling
Alan Jouban ($11,800) has captured eight of his 11 victories by KO in his MMA career. He’s aggressive, tough and always on the prowl for the stoppage. He’ll be facing the long, lean and defensively flawed Matt Dwyer on Wednesday.
Dwyer was stopped by Albert Tumenov in his UFC debut. In his fight before that against DaMarques Johnson in Battlefield Fight League, Dwyer was rocked and nearly stopped in the first round before rallying for the TKO victory.
He did score a win by spectacular superman punch in his last fight against William Macario in February, but Jouban is a different animal.
Dwyer has a huge heart and he’s tough, but his lack of effective striking defense will lead to a KO loss. Jouban might be neck and neck with Duffee for top fantasy producer from the event after this one.
Upsets
Reneau ($9,000) over Holm
Many are high on Holly Holm, and with good reason. Holm has a stellar background as a boxer, and she’s a great athlete all around. Even with those qualities, Holm is headed for a matchup that she’s going to lose against Marion Reneau.
Holm has worked on her game, but it didn’t look up to snuff enough in her UFC debut against Raquel Pennington in February. Holm won a split decision, but she’s stepping up in class to face Reneau.
Versatility is Reneau‘s specialty. She has excellent boxing—though she probably doesn’t want to do that with Holm—and leg kicks. Reneau may use those skills to vary her attacks, but ultimately she’ll take Holm down and control the fight en route to a decision win.
Reneau may not score big, but she’ll prove to be a worthwhile and relatively low-cost investment.
Moontasri ($8,200) over Lee
Kevin Lee has a hefty DraftKings salary for his fight against James “Moonwalker” Moontasri, but the latter is my pick to shine. Lee looks the part of a powerful striker, but he’s more of a wrestler.
None of Lee’s 10 victories have come by KO in his career. Moontasri is a skilled and unpredictable striker. It wouldn’t be smart for Lee to try to stand with Moontasri. Lee’s biggest advantage would be on the ground, but Moontasri is not an easy fighter to take down.
This is Moontasri‘s third fight in the UFC, and he’s stopped 83 percent of the takedowns attempted against him, per Fight Metric. Also, in watching one of his last fights before joining the UFC, Moontasri was also a handful to take down for Jordan Rinaldi.
Lee hasn’t been all that efficient when it comes to taking down opponents. Fighters like Moontasri who have powerful legs and thighs will be an even bigger problem to wrestle to the ground. Lee’s takedown rate is just 38 percent. Moontasri will keep the fight standing, and he’ll pick away at Lee from the outside.
A decision win for Moontasri wouldn’t be a shock, but it’s easy to see how this fight could end in a TKO win for Moontasri.
10. Dan Henderson
