LAS VEGAS – With a massive knockout of Stefan Struve, Travis Browne got the attention of the heavyweight division on Saturday night at UFC 130. He also got a big bonus check.
Browne’s Superman punch KO of Struve earned Knockout of the Night honors at…
LAS VEGAS – With a massive knockout of Stefan Struve, Travis Browne got the attention of the heavyweight division on Saturday night at UFC 130. He also got a big bonus check.
Browne’s Superman punch KO of Struve earned Knockout of the Night honors at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. He was joined by Gleison Tibau for Submission of the Night and Brian Stann and Jorge Santiago for Fight of the Night. Each earned $70,000 bonuses for their performances on the card. UFC president Dana White announced the winners and bonus amounts at the post-fight press conference.
In a battle of big men, the 6-foot-7 Browne charged the 6-11 Struve late in the first round with a straight Superman punch that connected on the button, dropping the Dutch heavyweight immediately. He followed it with two shots on the ground as referee Steve Mazzagatti dove in. With the win, Browne stays unbeaten at 11-0-1. Struve’s two-fight winning streak was snapped, and he drops to 21-5.
Tibau pulled off the night’s only submission, stopping Rafaello Oliveira by rear naked choke in the second round. Oliveira, who returned to the UFC after a 4-0 stretch outside the promotion, took the fight on short notice when Bart Palaszewski pulled out with an injury.
And Stann and Santiago were given Fight of the Night in what was perhaps a surprise. Stann won by TKO late in the second in a fight he was dominating. It was the pay-per-view’s first fight and the early candidate for Knockout of the Night, but Browne went above and beyond with his knockout of Struve. So White may have wanted to have a way to reward Stann, a military hero who got the night’s biggest ovation on Memorial Day weekend.
It’s a little frightening to consider, but Stefan Struve may be just now getting serious about his MMA career.
Not that he was exactly taking it easy before, mind you. But only recently has the 6-foot-11 Dutch heavyweight hired his own strength and conditioning coach and started to pay close attention to his diet. As a result, the “Skyscraper” is only getting bigger and stronger. And all while he’s still just 23 years old.
“It’s going to be fun,” Struve told MMA Fighting. “I’m looking forward to seeing how much better I am this time. When you look at my last fight, you can see how much bigger I was. After my last fight with [Sean] McCorkle I finally had trainers for everything.”
Between sparring with kickboxer Daniel Ghita and working his ground game with jiu-jitsu champion Remco Pardoel, Struve undoubtedly has a strong team around him. But even more than the training, Struve said, the real difference-maker is his growing comfort level with the bright lights of the UFC.
“To be honest, it may sound weird, but all the things – the media, the fans, the attention I’m getting in the lead-up to the fight, the flight to America – it has become normal. Just like it was normal for me to fight all over Europe before the UFC signed me. I fought on big shows in Europe and that became normal for me. Now every single time I go to fight in the UFC, it becomes more normal, more routine, and that’s a good feeling.”
It’s also a far cry from his Octagon debut against Junior dos Santos. Struve came into the fight wide-eyed and shaken by nerves, and as a result he made it less than a minute before getting rocked by the aggressive Brazilian. A hard right caught him on the side of the head, and the next thing Struve knew he was down, but without realizing how he’d gotten there.
“Then when he hit me, and I woke up. I remember thinking, sh-t, I better do something or I’m going to lose this fight,” Struve said. “Then he hit me again.”
It’s hard to believe that it was only a little over two years ago that Struve was a clueless Octagon rookie. Now at UFC 130 he prepares for his eighth UFC bout against fellow big man Travis Browne, who, at 6’8″ is yet another of the tall trees populating the heavyweight division.
But as Struve knows well, just being big doesn’t win fights, and he’s not altogether blown away by what he’s seen of Browne so far.
“I’ve seen his fights with McSweeney and Kongo. I was in London when he fought Kongo. Honestly, I wasn’t impressed with that fight. I don’t think he was pleased with that fight either. The first round was good for him, but I think the second and third round were just kind of boring. He’s got power in his hands, some good kicks, and his stand-up is pretty good. But when the fight hits the mat, I think the fight is mine. My ground game is better than his and, to be honest, I think my stand-up is better than his as well. If I fight my fight, in my opinion, nothing can go wrong.”
It may be a furious effort, Struve said, but he doesn’t see it lasting very long.
“I expect him to push the pace, especially in the first round and the opening moments of the second and third. But I don’t plan to go there. I like to finish fights early. But I expect him to come after me and try to throw bombs, maybe even take me down. But I’m not that sure if you really want to take me down.”
Fights like his come-from-behind win over Christian Morecraft may be exciting for fans, Struve said, but they’re no fun for the fighter who has the spend the first round taking a beating. Still, it was good to show off an aspect of his game few had seen, even if he hoped never to have to do it again.
“People love to see those kinds of fights. They want to see fights like in ‘Rocky,’ where a guy gets beat up and comes back and wins the fight.” Struve said. “That’s what the fans love. But for me, it was a thing that my coach and I already knew, which is that I have a big fighting heart. I never quit, never give up, and that shows in fights like that. I knew that already, it’s just that now the fans know too.”
Filed under: UFC, StrikeforceIf 2011 goes as planned, we’ll see more good, competitive, high-level mixed martial arts fights than we’ve ever seen in any year of the sport’s existence.
Strikeforce’s eight-man heavyweight tournament was getting all the …
If 2011 goes as planned, we’ll see more good, competitive, high-level mixed martial arts fights than we’ve ever seen in any year of the sport’s existence.
Assuming a best-case scenario for both promotions, we’ll have good heavyweight fights from Strikeforce, the UFC or both every month for the next 10 months or so, culminating with the return of Cain Velasquez and the Strikeforce tournament final toward the end of the year. Remember, I started this with an “If”: Looking ahead to fights that we hope to see in the future is always risky business. But below we’ll look at the fights that will make this the year of the heavyweight.
Filed under: UFC, NewsA Memorial Day weekend scrap between Roy Nelson and Frank Mir is being targeted for a May 28 UFC event in Las Vegas, a source with knowledge of the situation confirmed to MMA Fighting.
A Memorial Day weekend scrap between Roy Nelson and Frank Mir is being targeted for a May 28 UFC event in Las Vegas, a source with knowledge of the situation confirmed to MMA Fighting.
The event, expected to emanate from the MGM Grand Garden Arena, will likely be UFC 130.
That event is also likely to feature a second heavyweight tilt, this one pitting fast-rising Stefan Struve against Travis Browne.
(Not pictured: Stefan Struve’s cover for ‘Tall-Ass Honkey Weekly’.)
No, Yoshhiro Akiyama will not be taking on a convicted white-collar criminal in his next appearance. ESPN reports that Akiyama will instead face off against Nate Marquardt&…
(Not pictured: Stefan Struve’s cover for ‘Tall-Ass Honkey Weekly’.)
No, Yoshhiro Akiyama will not be taking on a convicted white-collar criminal in his next appearance. ESPN reports that Akiyama will instead face off against Nate Marquardt at UFC 128: Shogun vs. Evans, March 19th in Newark. The Japanese middleweight star is coming off two consecutive losses against Chris Leben (humiliating!) and Michael Bisping (slightly less humiliating, but still!), and likely needs a victory to keep his contract. Marquardt is coming off his own underwhelming loss against Yushin Okami at UFC 122, but will certainly be the favorite in this matchup.
Speaking of notable bookings, heavyweight contender Stefan Struve — who has slugged his way to back-to-back wins over Christian Morecraft and Sean McCorkle — has drawn another rising prospect for his next outing. According to MMAJunkie, Struve will return at UFC 130 (May 28th, Las Vegas) against undefeated Travis Browne, who just suffered through a foul-filled draw against Cheick Kongo at UFC 120. The only other match reported for UFC 130 at this point is Thiago Alves vs. Rick Story.
Filed under: UFCThis is the UFC 120 live blog for Cheick Kongo vs. Travis Browne, a heavyweight bout on tonight’s Spike TV event from the O2 Arena in London, England.
Kongo (15-6-1)’s last fight was a win over Paul Buentello in March. Browne (10-0) ma…
LAS VEGAS – With a massive knockout of Stefan Struve, Travis Browne got the attention of the heavyweight division on Saturday night at UFC 130. He also got a big bonus check. 
It’s a little frightening to consider, but 
If 2011 goes as planned, we’ll see more good, competitive, high-level mixed martial arts fights than we’ve ever seen in any year of the sport’s existence.
A Memorial Day weekend scrap between 
This is the