In Yoshihiro Akiyama’s short UFC career he has earned a Fight of the Night bonus in every fight. The only problem is he has gone 1-2, winning a very close fight at UFC 100 and dropping his last two fights. Akiyama has been entertaining to watch, …
In Yoshihiro Akiyama’s short UFC career he has earned a Fight of the Night bonus in every fight.
The only problem is he has gone 1-2, winning a very close fight at UFC 100 and dropping his last two fights.
Akiyama has been entertaining to watch, but entertaining losses can only get you so far.
Akiyama is 13-3 (2) overall in his career. The Japanese star has shown his great chin and ability to dish out shots just as hard as he can take them.
A combination of Akiyama’s cardio and poor planning have been his downfall in the last two fights.
Akiyama opened up strong in both bouts. Akiyama got the better of Chris Leben for much of their fight. Leben took advantage of a gassed Akiyama though, defeating him by submission with seconds left.
Akiyama faced Michael Bisping next, rocking the Brit in the first round. Bisping became more technical in his striking in the next two rounds and won the fight by decision.
Akiyama is never in a boring fight and as one of Japan’s top stars, he is a great asset to the UFC.
But Akiyama will have to do more in order to keep his job.
One step in the right direction would be to defeat his next opponent, Vitor Belfort at UFC 133.
Belfort was the most recent victim of middleweight champion Anderson Silva. A win over Belfort would put Akiyama’s career back on track.
Akiyama will come in highly motivated to win. Not just to keep his job, but as a dedication to the people who have had to suffer because of the terrible earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan in March.
If the fight is an exciting one and Akiyama loses, I don’t believe he will lose his job just yet. He will be on the chopping block, however, if he can’t turn it around.
Akiyama has international appeal and is an exciting fighter. But seeing him cut may become a reality if he does not win.
During the illustrious eighteen-year history of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, we’ve witnessed countless brutal beatings, killer knockouts, and spectacular submissions. Simply put, we’ve witnessed a ton of holy $&*% moments!
I’m sure you have your favorites that you’ll share with your grandkids when you’re sitting in the old man’s chair. But have you ever stopped and asked yourself which moments in the past two decades were the biggest on a large scale? Well I did and I went to the largest scale imaginable: the almighty Google and here’s what I found. Remember, Google doesn’t have emotional or monetary interest at stake here. These moments are the ones that have generated the most web traffic via searches, not which ones impacted the sport the most.
Why it’s ranked: Jake Shields left Strikeforce as champion so essentially casual fans and mainstream media alike viewed this as the first major inter-promotional, champion vs. champion fight. Georges St. Pierre, reigning UFC Welterweight champion and winner of nine straight came out on top of Shields who was riding a fifteen-fight win streak over the past five years.
The UFC went all in on this one hyping this event with the normal Countdown shows in addition to a pretty sweet commercial, the Primetime series, and a flyer in my mailbox reminding me to order the PPV. It was a huge moment in both men’s career primarily because it was the first tough competition either had faced in quite some time up to that point. The underlying reason this mattered so much is that we all wanted to see the GSP vs. Silva super fight.
By CagePotato contributor Jason Moles
During the illustrious eighteen-year history of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, we’ve witnessed countless brutal beatings, killer knockouts, and spectacular submissions. Simply put, we’ve witnessed a ton of holy $&*% moments!
I’m sure you have your favorites that you’ll share with your grandkids when you’re sitting in the old man’s chair. But have you ever stopped and asked yourself which moments in the past two decades were the biggest on a large scale? Well I did and I went to the largest scale imaginable: the almighty Google and here’s what I found. Remember, Google doesn’t have emotional or monetary interest at stake here. These moments are the ones that have generated the most web traffic via searches, not which ones impacted the sport the most.
Why it’s ranked: Jake Shields left Strikeforce as champion so essentially casual fans and mainstream media alike viewed this as the first major inter-promotional, champion vs. champion fight. Georges St. Pierre, reigning UFC Welterweight champion and winner of nine straight came out on top of Shields who was riding a fifteen-fight win streak over the past five years.
The UFC went all in on this one hyping this event with the normal Countdown shows in addition to a pretty sweet commercial, the Primetime series, and a flyer in my mailbox reminding me to order the PPV. It was a huge moment in both men’s career primarily because it was the first tough competition either had faced in quite some time up to that point. The underlying reason this mattered so much is that we all wanted to see the GSP vs. Silva super fight.
Why it’s ranked: This was Brock Lesnar‘s first fight since giving Diverticulitis the F5. (Too bad it was only a two count.) No one knew what to expect. How much cage corrosion would Lesnar have? What about his cardio? Would Shane Carwin win another fight in the first round? That was all answered in the first five minutes as ‘The Engineer’ laid out the blue print for not only how to beat the UFC heavyweight champion, but also what a 10-8 round looks like.
Looking back, it was such a noteworthy night because it capped off, or so we thought, the trials and tribulations of the biggest draw in MMA and left us all with a warm fuzzy feeling. Not Shane, though, he was still sucking wind worse that Roy Nelson a few weeks ago. Regardless, the first round and the shocking result raised a lot of eyebrows, hence it’s spot on the list.
Why it’s ranked: Finally! Something that actually deserves to be on this list, right? I know, I know, settle down scooter. Remember, Google analyzes what EVERYONE is searching for, not just the hardcore fans that spend their free time commenting on a niche website trying to provoke a flame war. Now where was I? Oh yeah, this is the first moment that actually has long-term significance to most of us.
The WEC was home to some of the best fighters in the game today and sadly, they were gobbled up by the UFC like the last piece of pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving. Usually when one promotion is consumed by another, much larger and well known promotion, heads turn and people seek out any little nuggets of truth they can. It marked the beginning of a new chapter for the mma world as a whole. Little did we know at the time that the WEC was just the appetizer.
Why it’s ranked: Honestly, I think it’s high on the list merely because some crackpot former pseudo badass named Steven Seagal claimed to have taught UFC Middleweight champion Anderson Silva the single most lethal front kick in all of combat sports. Seriously, WTH? It was a joke. No, no it wasn’t. It was just a media stunt to get more attention. For real now, I most definitely taught him that kick and to prove it I trained my dragon to do the same thing.
This is a classic example of what a holy $&*% moment is because when you first see it your instinct is to yell out “Holy $&*%!!!” and then look at the guy next to you and repeat. Unforgettable moment + delusional B-list Hollywood celeb = mass hysteria.
The single biggest moment in UFC history according to Google is (drum roll please)…………..
Why it’s ranked: UFC 100 was the biggest, baddest, most heavily promoted fight card up to that point and it smashed records left and right including gross revenue, tickets sold, and PPV buys. Two title fights including transcendent fighters Brock Lesnar and GSP plus the culmination of Michael Bisping writing a check his chin couldn’t cash after an entire season of trash talking Dan Henderson on The Ultimate Fighter. Everyone and their mother heard something about the epic event thanks to ESPN and others mentioning it leading up to fight night. Oh yeah, there was that little incident after the main event that got a little attention too.
It seemed like the mma community was stricken with an ailment that prevented the poor soul from acknowledging anything outside of UFC 100 the week of and after the event. We just couldn’t help ourselves. It was our Super Bowl, granted it didn’t kick0ff an annual pop-cultural mega event, but it was significantly larger than anything else we had seen. There’s just something magical about the number 100. We did it, err, they did it. They fought the politicians, PPV blackouts, and the economy while nearly going bankrupt in the process. MMA soared out of the shadows and boldly announced its presence that night putting everyone on notice; in case you weren’t aware, MMA is here to stay.
I know. You know. I know you know. I know you know I know. Don’t get all pissy at me, I didn’t make the list. All I did was try to make sense of what the data said and make you laugh in the process. Double fail, right? But go ahead; tell me what should have been on this list in the comments. Do you want a follow up with what CagePotato thinks are the biggest moments in UFC history? How about the biggest moments in PRIDE FC’s history? Strikeforce? Ah, who am I kidding? You stopped reading after you saw Steven Segal mentioned.
According to MMABay.co.uk, UFC heavyweight Frank Mir seems to be interested in the possibility of facing Brock Lesnar in a rubber match. Mir expressed his interest in a third encounter with Lesnar during an interview on Pro MMA Radio. Mir said the…
According to MMABay.co.uk, UFC heavyweight Frank Mir seems to be interested in the possibility of facing Brock Lesnar in a rubber match.
Mir expressed his interest in a third encounter with Lesnar during an interview on Pro MMA Radio. Mir said the thought of facing the 265 lb heavyweight intrigues him and matches up well against him, stylistically.
But Mir feels the former UFC heavyweight champion needs a win before they should compete against each other.
“I wouldn’t mind if he came back and looked a little dominating first just to make it look intriguing,” Mir said.
“I think with his last fight against Velasquez, I wouldn’t want to diminish the victory that I would pose off of beating him like, ‘well, he did lose his last fight. He looked like garbage against Carwin and now he had surgery.’ I would like to remove a few of those things.”
Although he lost to Lesnar in their rematch at UFC 100, Mir has improved since then, going 4-2 in his last six fights. His most recent victory came against Roy Nelson at UFC 130, where Mir dominated his opponent to earn a unanimous decision.
Lesnar, is currently recovering for the remainder of the year after he underwent surgery to repair his second bout with diverticulitis. He was originally slated to face Junior dos Santos at UFC 131, but after contracting the illness, he was forced to pull out of the bout.
At UFC 130, Kendall “Da Spyder” Grove took on middleweight newcomer Tim “The Barbarian” Boetsch in a preliminary fight aired on Spike TV. After being out-grappled and controlled by Boetsch almost the entire fight, Grove—th…
At UFC 130, Kendall “Da Spyder” Grove took on middleweight newcomer Tim “The Barbarian” Boetsch in a preliminary fight aired on Spike TV. After being out-grappled and controlled by Boetsch almost the entire fight, Grove—the winner of season three of The Ultimate Fighter—lost the fight by lopsided unanimous decision, with all three judges scoring the fight 30-27 for his opponent.
The disappointing performance by Grove came on the heels of his uninspiring, unanimous decision loss to Demian Maia at The Ultimate Fighter 12 Finale, and in the UFC, two losses in a row is sometimes enough to give you your walking papers. By that accord, no one should be surprised if Grove is cut from the UFC this week.
But should he be cut? If one looks at his mediocre 7-6 record inside the Octagon, then one might lean towards yes. After all, the UFC is all about housing the very best mixed martial artists in the world, and for a guy who has lost four of his last six fights, there probably isn’t room, even in a relatively shallow middleweight division and even if that fighter once won The Ultimate Fighter.
The UFC, by all their rights, should purge Grove from their active middleweight roster. But Zuffa, the parent company of the UFC, should not let him get away so quickly. Instead, they should make Grove the first UFC fighter to directly crossover to Strikeforce.
When the UFC purchased Strikeforce, Dana White was adamant that there would be no super-fights featuring the best Strikeforce fighters coming over to the UFC while they still had contracts with Showtime.
This shut off all possibilities of superstar Strikeforce champions like Alistair Overeem, Dan Henderson, Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza, Nick Diaz and Gilbert Melendez coming over to the big show, at least for the time being. Of course, once the Strikeforce fighter’s contracts were up with Showtime they were free to cross over, and Jason “Mayhem” Miller became the first one to do so, signing with the UFC just over a month ago.
But at the same time he said this, White also made it known that he wasn’t adverse to doing things the other way, with UFC fighters going to Strikeforce instead. An opportunity has presented itself for Grove to be the torchbearer of this.
Strikeforce, at present, has a relatively shallow middleweight division, especially with losing the personable and marketable Miller. Aside from middleweight kingpin Souza, the heavy-handed Robbie Lawler, American hero Tim Kennedy and the fighter-turned-actor Cung Le, there really isn’t much at 185 pounds in Strikeforce.
If Strikeforce is truly here to stay for at least a few more years, the promotion needs a new influx of middleweights because the fans are getting tired of stale rematches and want new challengers at 185 pounds, especially fighters they know. A UFC veteran like Grove, who is still only 28 years old, would be a good addition and a solid solution to this dilemma.
At 6’6” and only 185 pounds, Grove is a matchup nightmare for most middleweights, even if he has had mixed success in the cage up until this point. As seen in his submission victories over Jake Rosholt and Alan Belcher, and even in his recent loss over Boetsch, Grove’s long limbs have the capability to make fighters tap out at anytime.
And while he has been far from consistent inside the cage—he holds an overall record as a professional mixed martial artist of just 12-9—he has fought and defeated some talented fighters during his career, including the aforementioned Belcher and the late Evan Tanner.
It might not make sense to match him up with some of the top Strikeforce middleweights just yet, but at the very least, Grove would present a good challenge to the young guns trying to make a name for themselves on the Strikeforce Challengers cards.
After spending so many years developing and promoting him, Zuffa should not give up on Grove just now. He is just 28 and still has the opportunity to improve as a mixed martial artist. But it’s become obvious he is not talented enough for the UFC, at least not at this point in his career.
And after seeing Keith Jardine lose four fights in the UFC, win a few in smaller shows, and then take a short-notice (albeit controversial) draw over consensus top-15 light heavyweight Gegard Mousasi, exposing Mousasi’s porous takedown defence in the process, anything can happen in this sport.
So make Grove the first UFC fighter to directly crossover to Strikeforce, and let the chips fall where they may. At the very least, it would be an interesting experiment in seeing just what Zuffa is able to do now that they own the two biggest mixed martial arts promotions in the world.
Frank Mir may not have finished Roy Nelson in their hometown bout at UFC 130; however, he did give one of his most well rounded and more dominant performances since his lackluster knockout finish of Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic at UFC 119.Mir’s grapp…
Frank Mir may not have finished Roy Nelson in their hometown bout at UFC 130; however, he did give one of his most well rounded and more dominant performances since his lackluster knockout finish of Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic at UFC 119.
Mir’s grappling and wrestling were too much for “Big Country,” whose steel jaw didn’t serve him as much good as a couple pounds off that belly of his would have. As for Mir, he’s beaten a heavyweight who is probably on the cusp of Top 10 status and is still a viable threat in the division.
Here are five reasons why he’s still a serious contender.
Last week major news broke out that Brock Lesnar was forced to pull out of his UFC fight with Junior dos Santos at UFC 131. Lesnar will be undergoing another bout with diverticulitis. The last time Lesnar battled the disease he was out for a year. Sinc…
In Yoshihiro Akiyama’s short UFC career he has earned a Fight of the Night bonus in every fight.
