Tag: UFC 116

How Ricardo Romero Turned a Terrible UFC Start into a Triumphant Ending

Filed under: UFC, FanHouse ExclusiveMoments after his Octagon debut at UFC 116, Ricardo Romero was back in the locker room of the MGM Grand washing the blood off his body and doing a little damage assessment.

He couldn’t close his jaw all the way, s…

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Moments after his Octagon debut at UFC 116, Ricardo Romero was back in the locker room of the MGM Grand washing the blood off his body and doing a little damage assessment.

He couldn’t close his jaw all the way, so he was pretty sure that was broken. When he tried to lift his arm a sharp pain shot through his chest, indicating that something was probably damaged in there. His knee was also starting to stiffen up, making even the act of standing in the shower seem increasingly dicey.

“I was just thinking, this is going to be a really fun trip back home,” Romero recalled with a chuckle.

Romero would leave Las Vegas after his first UFC fight with a broken jaw, torn pectoral muscle, and sprained knee. He also left a winner, which might be the most amazing part, especially considering what a horrible start he got off to against MMA veteran Seth Petruzelli that night.

Daniel ‘Ninja’ Roberts Has His Mind Off the Money

Filed under: UFC, FanHouse ExclusiveA fighter’s homework involves studying his opponent and training to the best of his or her ability in order to implement a gameplan to win. Prior to his UFC 116 fight earlier this month, welterweight Daniel “Ninja” R…

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A fighter’s homework involves studying his opponent and training to the best of his or her ability in order to implement a gameplan to win. Prior to his UFC 116 fight earlier this month, welterweight Daniel “Ninja” Roberts did a little more than the usual homework.

He did his math.

“I looked at the card and I had the highest percentage of submission and the guy I was fighting had the highest percentage of losing by submission,” Roberts recently told MMAFighting.com. “I looked at all the matchups, and I was thinking, ‘Man, I have a good chance to get this.'”

As any fighter on the preliminary bouts knows, the real money is in the post-fight bonuses. Roberts, whose fight purse was $6,000 to show and $6,000 to win, was looking at a $75,000 bonus if he walked home with the Submission of the Night.

Midseason MMA Awards: Top Fight Card

Filed under: Fighting, UFC, WEC, StrikeforceIn theory, a midseason awards selection would preclude anything that happened after June 30, but let’s be informal and grant this awards column a four-day waiver so I can name UFC 116 as the fight card of the…

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In theory, a midseason awards selection would preclude anything that happened after June 30, but let’s be informal and grant this awards column a four-day waiver so I can name UFC 116 as the fight card of the year thus far.

Perhaps because it is the freshest of events in our minds, it seems like the obvious winner, but even a closer look confirms what we knew. It was an event that had a little bit of everything you’d want in a night of action, from highlight reel finishes (Gerald Harris’ slam KO over Dave Branch) to brilliant technique (Chris Lytle’s finishing reverse triangle/armbar sequence) to a blistering main event between Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin in what is rapidly becoming the sport’s glamour division.

Exclusive: Kurt Pellegrino to Train Rocky 4-Style With GSP’s Camp in Montreal for Next Fight

(I understand having to run in the cold, but why do I have to wear these thrift store clothes to do it?) 
Prior to his UFC 116 bout with George Sotiropoulos, Kurt Pellegrino raised a lot of eyebrows when he proclaimed that if he lost the fight, …


(I understand having to run in the cold, but why do I have to wear these thrift store clothes to do it?) 

Prior to his UFC 116 bout with George Sotiropoulos, Kurt Pellegrino raised a lot of eyebrows when he proclaimed that if he lost the fight, he would promptly retire from the sport. 

At only 31-years of age, it isn’t like Pellegrino’s best years were behind him — in fact, some might argue that he is better than he ever was, which made his vow even more newsworthy.

Following the fight, Pellegrino, who held his own in the bout and nearly finished Sotiropoulos at the final bell, revealed that he had torn his meniscus and ACL in the first round of the fight and that he wasn’t goin’ out on a loss that just didn’t sit well.

We spoke to Kurt yesterday to discuss the fight, the injury and the surgery he has to undergo as well as his roles as a fighter and family man and his future in the sport.

The interview is after the jump.

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For Chris Leben, Most of UFC 116 Victory Is a Blur

Filed under: MMA Videos, UFCIn the second round of their UFC 116 fight, Chris Leben and Yoshihiro Akiyama had an exchange of punches that saw Akiyama connect cleanly to Leben’s chin, and Leben somehow shake off the punches and keep going.

But while Le…

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In the second round of their UFC 116 fight, Chris Leben and Yoshihiro Akiyama had an exchange of punches that saw Akiyama connect cleanly to Leben’s chin, and Leben somehow shake off the punches and keep going.

But while Leben was able to continue and ultimately force Akiyama to tap to a triangle choke with 20 seconds remaining in the third round, he says he wasn’t all there mentally after that exchange with Akiyama. In fact, Leben says he couldn’t even remember most of what happened in the aftermath of the fight.

UFC 116 Drug Tests Come Back Clean

Filed under: UFC, NewsAll 15 fighters tested for drugs of abuse and performance enhancers at this month’s UFC 116 tested clean, according to results given to MMA Fighting by Nevada state athletic commission executive director Keith Kizer.

UFC 116 took…

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All 15 fighters tested for drugs of abuse and performance enhancers at this month’s UFC 116 tested clean, according to results given to MMA Fighting by Nevada state athletic commission executive director Keith Kizer.

UFC 116 took place on July 3 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, with Brock Lesnar defeating Shane Carwin via second-round submission in the main event. With the win, Lesnar retained the UFC heavyweight championship..