As we prepare to watch the 13th Ultimate Fighter Finale tonight we will be treated to what could possibly be the most exciting finale fight since Forrest Griffin battled Stephan Bonnar on The Ultimate Fighter Finale 1. Clay Guida vs. Anthony Pettis has…
As we prepare to watch the 13th Ultimate Fighter Finale tonight we will be treated to what could possibly be the most exciting finale fight since Forrest Griffin battled Stephan Bonnar on The Ultimate Fighter Finale 1. Clay Guida vs. Anthony Pettis has the chance to become the top fight ever to take place on one of the finale cards.
Over the previous 12 seasons there have been some very exciting fights that have left an impression on the minds of fight fans everywhere. Season two brought us the welterweight final between Joe Stevenson and Luke Cummo as well as the birth of Rashad Evans as he chopped Brad Imes down to size.
If those two fights weren’t enough the main event took two men who really didn’t like each other as Diego Sanchez fought Nick Diaz in a three round war that showed the talents and hearts of both men, The next year Kendall Grove and Ed Herman met in the middleweight finals and put on such a battle the UFC awarded Herman a contract despite the fact that he lost.
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.
Dana White tweets: GSP vs. Nick Diaz is on for UFC 137. UFC 133 fight card to include: Rashad Evans vs. Phil Davis, Vitor Belfort vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama, and Rich Franklin vs. Antonio “Lil’ Nog”.
UFC 133 fight card to include: Rashad Evans vs. Phil Davis, Vitor Belfort vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama, and Rich Franklin vs. Antonio “Lil’ Nog” Rogerio Nogueira set for August 6th.
Filed under: UFC, Strikeforce, Rankings, WelterweightsThere’s an exciting new entrant in the list of the Top 10 welterweights in mixed martial arts, as Rick Story earned his spot with an upset of Thiago Alves at UFC 130.
There’s an exciting new entrant in the list of the Top 10 welterweights in mixed martial arts, as Rick Story earned his spot with an upset of Thiago Alves at UFC 130.
Alves has been considered a Top 5 welterweight for years, but Story took the fight to him in the first and second rounds, and although Alves showed in the third round that there are still some holes in Story’s stand-up game, Story demonstrated that he has a strong chin, weathered the storm and came out on top. That kind of victory — Story’s sixth in a row inside the Octagon — warrants a place in the Top 10.
Find out below where, exactly, I rank Story, and who the other new entrants in the welterweight Top 10 are.
(Editor’s note: The individual fighter’s ranking the last time we did welterweights is in parentheses.)
1. Georges St. Pierre (1): Still the champ, the big question is whether he’s going to defend his welterweight title against Nick Diaz, or move up to middleweight to challenge for Anderson Silva’s belt. A Diaz fight seems to be the one that MMA fans want, and that the UFC is working hard to arrange. UPDATE: Hours after we posted this, the UFC announced that GSP-Diaz will happen in October.
2. Jon Fitch (3): The longtime No. 2 welterweight in the world is on the mend from a shoulder injury, and there’s no word on when he might return. Prior to his injury, the UFC announced that he’d have a rematch with B.J. Penn next, but Jake Shields might make more sense as an opponent for him.
3. Jake Shields (2): A fight between Shields and Fitch would be the best way to determine who’s the top welterweight aside from St. Pierre, and it would also be a fascinating stylistic matchup between two guys whose ground games are among the best in all of MMA.
4. Nick Diaz (5): It appears that Diaz’s silly flirtation with going into professional boxing is now behind him, and the lone remaining question is whether the UFC can figure out a way to get him in the Octagon with St. Pierre. Diaz is Strikeforce’s welterweight champion and one of its most popular fighters, so Showtime doesn’t want to lose Diaz. But the fight that makes the most sense is a UFC pay-per-view to determine the real welterweight champion of mixed martial arts.
5. Josh Koscheck (6): There’s still no word on when Koscheck will return from the ugly beating that St. Pierre put on him. Koscheck has always prided himself on being active and ready to fight at a moment’s notice, so it says something about how badly he was hurt against St. Pierre that he still can’t even commit to a return date, six months after the GSP fight.
6. B.J. Penn (7): Like Fitch, the man he fought to a draw early this year, Penn is injured and out of action. If his recovery and Koscheck’s recovery line up and they’re both ready to return at around the same time, that would make a great fight.
7. Carlos Condit (8): If the UFC can’t make St. Pierre-Diaz work, Condit would probably be next in line. Other than Diaz, he’s the highest-ranked welterweight who hasn’t already fought St. Pierre, and he’s also a likable, marketable guy who’s on a three-fight winning streak and coming off wins that earned him Knockout of the Night and Fight of the Night bonuses. Condit has a tough fight with Dong Hyun Kim at UFC 132, so thinking about him as a No. 1 contender might be getting a little too far ahead of things, but in a division without many available challengers, Condit would make sense.
8. Rick Story (NR): One of the exciting things about Story is his age. At 26, he’s younger than everyone ahead of him in the welterweight rankings, and he’s got a lot of good years ahead of him and time to keep getting better. It might seem like the 30-year-old St. Pierre will be champion forever, but the truth is, athletes start to slow down in their 30s. Story is in his athletic prime, and I see a welterweight title shot in his future.
9. Rory MacDonald (NR): Speaking of young and promising fighters, MacDonald is only 21 years old but looked like a seasoned pro while manhandling Nate Diaz for 15 minutes at UFC 129. MacDonald is 11-1, with his only loss coming in a great fight against Condit. Next MacDonald will get another tough test against Mike Pyle at UFC 132
10. John Hathaway (NR): Hathaway is a tough guy to assess because he has great potential at the age of 23, but he’s looked like he’s taking a step back in his last couple of fights, a loss to Mike Pyle and a split decision win over Kris McCray. His 15-1 record includes wins over Story and Diego Sanchez, but it may be time for Hathaway to shake up his training.
Overall, the show was just OK. The main event and co-main event were not very good fights. Rampage Jackson did enough to earn a title shot against Jon Jones, but not many will pick him to win against Jones. Hamill said he would break Rampage’s will…
Overall, the show was just OK. The main event and co-main event were not very good fights.
Rampage Jackson did enough to earn a title shot against Jon Jones, but not many will pick him to win against Jones.
Hamill said he would break Rampage’s will, but in fact it was Hamil whose will was broken. Hamil was unable to take down Rampage during the fight.
It wasn’t a surprise that Rick Story upset Thiago Alves. Alves has trouble with wrestlers, and Story had a great game plan. Meanwhile, the fans booed Story because they wanted to see Alves deliver a highlight-reel knockout.
Rampage was booed as well because he couldn’t finish Hamill. It was smart of Rampage not to mention the boos during his post-fight interview with Joe Rogan.
Brian Stann was impressive against Jorge Santiago. It is not a surprise that Santiago lost, as he has not been successful in the UFC and has been knocked out many times in his career.
Meanwhile, Travis Browne’s Superman punch knockout of Stefan Struve was exciting. Browne needed a good win because his last fight against Cheick Kongo was rather boring.
San Francisco’s Chris Cariaso fought well in his decision loss to Modesto’s Michael McDonald. In my opinion, this fight could have gone either way.
Middleweight Tim Boetsch looked great in dominating Kendall Grove. It seemed like he broke Grove’s will during the fight with his ability to take him down.
Perhaps the most controversial fight was that in which Demetrious Johnson’s earned a decision win over Miguel Torres. This was a back-and-forth fight that could have gone either way; the judges gave it to Johnson.
Dana White was critical of Frank Mir and Roy Nelson for their performances, but I don’t know what White expected from them. These are two big heavyweights and it wasn’t a great match-up to begin with.
(We would have also accepted ‘extreme-constipation’. Photo courtesy of HeavyMMA.)
Breaking away from his usual “fat guy who can throw down” persona, Roy Nelson just looked like your garden-variety fat guy last weekend at UFC 130, wheezing through three rounds, too exhausted to do anything besides absorb blows from Frank Mir. Was it a sign that Roy should finally hook up with a nutritionist and get his BMI in order?
The obvious answer is yes, definitely. Just because you can drag around a barrel of adipose tissue around your midsection and still compete at the highest levels of MMA doesn’t make it a good idea. Nelson is literally weighing himself down in the Octagon, and putting himself at a profound competitive disadvantage; even most 205-pounders in the UFC outsize Nelson at this point. But according to a new report, there was another factor in play on Saturday that made a victory for Big Country even less likely:
(We would have also accepted ‘extreme-constipation’. Photo courtesy of HeavyMMA.)
Breaking away from his usual “fat guy who can throw down” persona, Roy Nelson just looked like your garden-variety fat guy last weekend at UFC 130, wheezing through three rounds, too exhausted to do anything besides absorb blows from Frank Mir. Was it a sign that Roy should finally hook up with a nutritionist and get his BMI in order?
The obvious answer is yes, definitely. Just because you can drag around a barrel of adipose tissue around your midsection and still compete at the highest levels of MMA doesn’t make it a good idea. Nelson is literally weighing himself down in the Octagon, and putting himself at a profound competitive disadvantage; even most 205-pounders in the UFC outsize Nelson at this point. But according to a new report, there was another factor in play on Saturday that made a victory for Big Country even less likely:
Via text messages with Cagewriter, Jessy Nelson said that her husband had walking pneumonia during the first two weeks of May, and that he spent Monday in a Las Vegas hospital. “He described the feeling like someone is taking a big scab off of his lungs,” Nelson wrote.
After consulting with CagePotato Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Wikipedia, we learned that atypical pneumonia, aka “walking pneumonia,” is a pneumonia not caused by one of the more traditional pathogens, and with a clinical presentation inconsistent with typical pneumonia. The infection is generally restricted to small areas of the lungs.
There’s an exciting new entrant in the list of the Top 10 welterweights in mixed martial arts, as Rick Story earned his spot with an upset of Thiago Alves at UFC 130.