We waited for what seemed like a lifetime to finally see Urijah Faber and Dominick Cruz square off at UFC 132 for the bantamweight title. The bantamweight division is arguably the most entertaining division in all of MMA. Guys with great cardio, …
We waited for what seemed like a lifetime to finally see Urijah Faber and Dominick Cruz square off at UFC 132 for the bantamweight title.
The bantamweight division is arguably the most entertaining division in all of MMA. Guys with great cardio, fast hands and crazy skills dominate this division, and you can always expect a good five rounds of action.
Both Faber and Cruz have become the face of this division, and with a couple more wins by Faber, they could be the trilogy the bantamweight division needs to become huge.
Faber and Cruz put on a great show as the first 135-pound main event in UFC and the first 135-pound title fight in UFC history. I thought the fight could have gone either way (I gave Faber a 48-47), and of course, one judge had to score it 50-45 to mess it up.
Cruz is now definitely the dominant force in the bantamweight division. Cruz has avenged his only loss and has won his last four title bouts. Those four wins come over Brian Bowles, Joseph Benavidez, Scott Jorgensen and now Faber.
That isn’t padding your resume, that is about as great of a last four fights as you can get.
Faber use to be the posterboy of the lighter weight classes in the WEC and still is to an extent in the UFC. You have a guy whose personality outside the cage is chill, and inside the cage, he can beat you anyway he wants it seems like.
Faber is the former WEC featherweight champion for good reason and has made himself into a household name synonymous with the lighter division.
A trilogy between these two would be epic. It’s not like Cruz completely dominated Faber (I don’t find takedowns that last a nanosecond as dominant), and their second bout was great.
Faber pulls in a lot of sponsorship money from Form Athletics and Amp Energy Drink, now Cruz will be getting more shots at it.
With Faber slowly going past his prime, he’s the veteran no one can hate. Cruz is just entering the prime of his career, which is a scary thought considering his style of fighting and how amazing it is.
After last night Faber and Cruz proved one thing, having a bantamweight fight as the main event can be super entertaining. In the first bantamweight main event in UFC history, both fighters have stepped up and become the big name fighters the division needs to thrive.
Carlos Condit impressed MMA fans with his finishing ability once again when he put away top Korean prospect Dong Hyun Kim in the very first round at UFC 132.All it took was a flying knee and some follow up punches to put the standout Judoka down a…
Carlos Condit impressed MMA fans with his finishing ability once again when he put away top Korean prospect Dong Hyun Kim in the very first round at UFC 132.
All it took was a flying knee and some follow up punches to put the standout Judoka down and out, giving him the first loss of his entire career. Before the fight, Kim had gone 5-0-1 in the UFC.
Now, fans are viewing Condit as the next title challenger for the winner of Georges St. Pierre vs. Nick Diaz.
Whatever the result of that fight is, it will make for a good fight. If he wants to fight again, these are other opponents he could possibly take on.
At least one career was salvaged at UFC 132, while another may have come to an end. Both contributed greatly to a memorable night in Las Vegas, where two little guys showed just how badly they wanted to go home with a hunk of leather and metal.
Now that it’s all over and we’ve got the obligatory 4th of July hot dogs sizzling on the grill, let’s take a minute to sort through this weekend’s biggest winners, losers, and everything in between.
Biggest Winner: Tito Ortiz
If you’d asked me on Friday, I would have told you the “Huntington Beach Bad Boy” would be retired by now. No matter what he says, you know he must have considered that possibility as well in some of his darker moments. But not only did he come out on top in his must-win fight, he looked dominant in his submission win over Ryan Bader. The last person Ortiz submitted was Yuki Kondo. He did it back in 2000 and he did it with a neck crank, both of which tell you a little something about how long Ortiz has been in the game. Thanks to the win, Ortiz gets to stick around a little while longer. Whether it’s the beginning of a genuine comeback or just a temporary stay of execution, only time will tell.
Biggest Loser: Wanderlei Silva
Another attempt to brawl results in another frightening knockout. Silva has taken too many of these sorts of beatings lately, and each one is harder to watch than the last. Some people will point to last year’s win over Michael Bisping as proof that he doesn’t need to retire, and sure, it does seem unfair to point to one knockout loss to Leben as proof that the man is done. At the same time, Silva’s losses aren’t like Ortiz’s string of fairly close decisions. He’s getting knocked all the way out, and his fighting style isn’t evolving to protect his increasingly suspect chin. After 15 years in the sport, Silva can walk away with his head up whenever he feels like it. Let’s just hope he feels like before something happens to him that can’t be undone.
Best Removal of a Monkey from One’s Own Back: Dominick Cruz
He said he was ready for questions about his submission loss to Faber to stop for good, and with this win he’ll finally get his wish. You can argue the scoring, but I don’t think you can argue the outcome. Cruz simply did more than Faber, even if he did get dropped a time or two. His speed and his well-rounded attack is going to be a problem for anybody in the division, and now that he’s vanquished Faber he can move on to other challenges. At least until Faber wins a couple and starts asking for a rubber match. Then we can do this all over again.
Most Vicious: (tie) Carlos Condit and Melvin Guillard
Remember back when the one thing we all knew about Greg Jackson’s fighters was that they played it too safe and never finished fights? No, not ringing any bells? Maybe it’s because that bit of conventional wisdom just got kneed in its face until it was utterly unrecognizable. These two Jackson camp fighters dispatched their respective opponents with terrifying ferocity and efficiency on Saturday night. I’m not sure what you do with either right now, since both are probably worthy of title shots, and yet neither is next in line in his division at the moment. Neither Condit or Guillard seem like the type to wait around until things sort themselves out, which is bad news for every other contender. Chances are, the path to a title shot at both lightweight and welterweight will run through these two.
Most Impressive in Defeat: Urijah Faber
Personally, I scored it for Cruz (though I didn’t give him every round, as one judge did), but Faber made it damn close. He came up with a better answer to Cruz’s difficult style than anyone else the UFC bantamweight champ has ever fought, and even if he came up short in the end he still put on a fantastic show. It’s the fourth consecutive title fight that Faber has lost, which puts him in a tough spot. As we saw on Saturday, he’s still one of the best fighters in the world at 135 pounds, but what can you do with him at this point? The UFC can’t just keep booking Cruz-Faber over and over, and yet Faber is still far above gatekeeper level. That’s going to be a tough one for matchmaker Joe Silva to figure out, but you know he’ll come up with something. He always does.
Least Impressive in Victory: Aaron Simpson
He spent fifteen minutes trying to force Brad Tavares to mate with a section of chain-link fencing, and while he got his hand raised at the end, he didn’t make many new fans. If there’s anything the UFC likes less than lay-and-pray, it’s wall-and-stall. At least get the guy to the mat before you suffocate any hope for action out of the fight. Simpson didn’t even do that. He clung to Tavares as if he knew that victory would be his as long as he could make sure nothing actually happened between the bells. The real bummer is, he was right.
Best Display of Angry, Shirtless Speed-Walking: Matt Wiman
I get it, he was upset. He thought he deserved the decision win over Dennis Siver, and when he didn’t get it his disappointment/rage got the better of him. Maybe it was best for him to go find a quiet place to be alone with his anger right then. But at the same time, it’s not like he was robbed by the judges. It was an incredibly close fight and it could have easily gone either way. When you’re standing there waiting for the scores to be announced after a fight like that, you have to know there’s at least a chance that you’re not going to like what you hear. Not that I necessarily blame him for taking off like a man who just remembered that he left the stove on at home. Everyone hates losing. And wearing shirts.
Most Likely to Win More Bar Fights Than Championships: Chris Leben
He’s never been the most technical of strikers, but more often than not he gets the job done. Against Silva he proved that his left hand is still as dangerous as ever, though that’s true of most fighters when their opponents zombie-walk right into it. At this point in his career, Leben’s appeal is pretty well solidified. He won’t win ’em all, but he will do his best to make sure that somebody loses consciousness by the end of the night. There’s definitely a place for that on UFC cards, even if that place is probably not in the main event most of the time. You’re not going to become a UFC champion throwing haymakers and eschewing defense the way Leben does, but you can collect enough paychecks to keep you in gummi bears for years to come. And really, what else do you need in life?
The referee checks on Wanderlei Silva after his knockout loss to Chris Leben at UFC 132 on Saturday, July 2, 2011 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
Esther Lin, MMA Fighting
Esther Lin, MMA Fighting
UFC 132 Photos
Urijah Faber knees Dominick Cruz in their UFC bantamweight championship bout at UFC 132 on Saturday, July 2, 2011 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
At least one career was salvaged at UFC 132, while another may have come to an end. Both contributed greatly to a memorable night in Las Vegas, where two little guys showed just how badly they wanted to go home with a hunk of leather and metal.
Now that it’s all over and we’ve got the obligatory 4th of July hot dogs sizzling on the grill, let’s take a minute to sort through this weekend’s biggest winners, losers, and everything in between.
Biggest Winner: Tito Ortiz
If you’d asked me on Friday, I would have told you the “Huntington Beach Bad Boy” would be retired by now. No matter what he says, you know he must have considered that possibility as well in some of his darker moments. But not only did he come out on top in his must-win fight, he looked dominant in his submission win over Ryan Bader. The last person Ortiz submitted was Yuki Kondo. He did it back in 2000 and he did it with a neck crank, both of which tell you a little something about how long Ortiz has been in the game. Thanks to the win, Ortiz gets to stick around a little while longer. Whether it’s the beginning of a genuine comeback or just a temporary stay of execution, only time will tell.
Biggest Loser: Wanderlei Silva
Another attempt to brawl results in another frightening knockout. Silva has taken too many of these sorts of beatings lately, and each one is harder to watch than the last. Some people will point to last year’s win over Michael Bisping as proof that he doesn’t need to retire, and sure, it does seem unfair to point to one knockout loss to Leben as proof that the man is done. At the same time, Silva’s losses aren’t like Ortiz’s string of fairly close decisions. He’s getting knocked all the way out, and his fighting style isn’t evolving to protect his increasingly suspect chin. After 15 years in the sport, Silva can walk away with his head up whenever he feels like it. Let’s just hope he feels like before something happens to him that can’t be undone.
Best Removal of a Monkey from One’s Own Back: Dominick Cruz
He said he was ready for questions about his submission loss to Faber to stop for good, and with this win he’ll finally get his wish. You can argue the scoring, but I don’t think you can argue the outcome. Cruz simply did more than Faber, even if he did get dropped a time or two. His speed and his well-rounded attack is going to be a problem for anybody in the division, and now that he’s vanquished Faber he can move on to other challenges. At least until Faber wins a couple and starts asking for a rubber match. Then we can do this all over again.
Most Vicious: (tie) Carlos Condit and Melvin Guillard
Remember back when the one thing we all knew about Greg Jackson’s fighters was that they played it too safe and never finished fights? No, not ringing any bells? Maybe it’s because that bit of conventional wisdom just got kneed in its face until it was utterly unrecognizable. These two Jackson camp fighters dispatched their respective opponents with terrifying ferocity and efficiency on Saturday night. I’m not sure what you do with either right now, since both are probably worthy of title shots, and yet neither is next in line in his division at the moment. Neither Condit or Guillard seem like the type to wait around until things sort themselves out, which is bad news for every other contender. Chances are, the path to a title shot at both lightweight and welterweight will run through these two.
Most Impressive in Defeat: Urijah Faber
Personally, I scored it for Cruz (though I didn’t give him every round, as one judge did), but Faber made it damn close. He came up with a better answer to Cruz’s difficult style than anyone else the UFC bantamweight champ has ever fought, and even if he came up short in the end he still put on a fantastic show. It’s the fourth consecutive title fight that Faber has lost, which puts him in a tough spot. As we saw on Saturday, he’s still one of the best fighters in the world at 135 pounds, but what can you do with him at this point? The UFC can’t just keep booking Cruz-Faber over and over, and yet Faber is still far above gatekeeper level. That’s going to be a tough one for matchmaker Joe Silva to figure out, but you know he’ll come up with something. He always does.
Least Impressive in Victory: Aaron Simpson
He spent fifteen minutes trying to force Brad Tavares to mate with a section of chain-link fencing, and while he got his hand raised at the end, he didn’t make many new fans. If there’s anything the UFC likes less than lay-and-pray, it’s wall-and-stall. At least get the guy to the mat before you suffocate any hope for action out of the fight. Simpson didn’t even do that. He clung to Tavares as if he knew that victory would be his as long as he could make sure nothing actually happened between the bells. The real bummer is, he was right.
Best Display of Angry, Shirtless Speed-Walking: Matt Wiman
I get it, he was upset. He thought he deserved the decision win over Dennis Siver, and when he didn’t get it his disappointment/rage got the better of him. Maybe it was best for him to go find a quiet place to be alone with his anger right then. But at the same time, it’s not like he was robbed by the judges. It was an incredibly close fight and it could have easily gone either way. When you’re standing there waiting for the scores to be announced after a fight like that, you have to know there’s at least a chance that you’re not going to like what you hear. Not that I necessarily blame him for taking off like a man who just remembered that he left the stove on at home. Everyone hates losing. And wearing shirts.
Most Likely to Win More Bar Fights Than Championships: Chris Leben
He’s never been the most technical of strikers, but more often than not he gets the job done. Against Silva he proved that his left hand is still as dangerous as ever, though that’s true of most fighters when their opponents zombie-walk right into it. At this point in his career, Leben’s appeal is pretty well solidified. He won’t win ’em all, but he will do his best to make sure that somebody loses consciousness by the end of the night. There’s definitely a place for that on UFC cards, even if that place is probably not in the main event most of the time. You’re not going to become a UFC champion throwing haymakers and eschewing defense the way Leben does, but you can collect enough paychecks to keep you in gummi bears for years to come. And really, what else do you need in life?
The referee checks on Wanderlei Silva after his knockout loss to Chris Leben at UFC 132 on Saturday, July 2, 2011 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
Esther Lin, MMA Fighting
Esther Lin, MMA Fighting
UFC 132 Photos
Urijah Faber knees Dominick Cruz in their UFC bantamweight championship bout at UFC 132 on Saturday, July 2, 2011 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
Jason Parillo was in the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. for UFC 121 last October when Tito Ortiz dropped to 0-4-1 in his last five contests in front of a hometown audience, remaining winless since 2006. “He wanted to be there, but he didn’t want to wi…
Jason Parillo was in the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. for UFC 121 last October when Tito Ortiz dropped to 0-4-1 in his last five contests in front of a hometown audience, remaining winless since 2006.
“He wanted to be there, but he didn’t want to win a fight. I texted him as I was watching him leave the Octagon, I said, ‘I got your next fight. I’ll take care of you.’ He took me up on it,” the boxing trainer told Bleacher Report after Ortiz knocked down Ryan Bader and submitted him via first-round guillotine choke at UFC 132 in Las Vegas, Nev.
Of the right hand that sent “Darth” to the mat, the man who honed former two-division UFC champion B.J. Penn’s hands commented, “We were able to put confidence into stepping in that pocket and let it go a bit better than [Ortiz] has in the past.”
Parillo and Ortiz discussed linking up before the Hamill fight, but it never came to fruition. When Ortiz called to invite him to run the six-week UFC 132 camp, Parillo knew “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” would be well-conditioned, but needed to cultivate a strong mental game to handle the pressure of what UFC president Dana White categorized as a pink-slip fight.
He said to the longest reigning 205-pound champion in UFC history, “The most important thing to me is you stick your head in that fine line is you get knocked the f— out or you knock this guy out—one or the other. I want you to go out this guy and kill or be killed.”
Parillo describes a mutual belief in the gym for unearthing the finisher in Ortiz, who hadn’t stopped anybody not named Ken Shamrock since 2001 despite having only went to decision once in a five-defense title reign.
A former boxer, Parillo had the task of getting a fighter considered past his prime to his peak in time to defeat a once-defeated 5:1 favorite eight years younger than the 36-year-old former UFC light heavyweight champion.
“I watched him look at me in the eyes and internalize everything and believe what I’m telling him because he knew it to be true. There were fundamentals that we polished up and he just started clicking,” said the 37-year-old, noting they spent one-on-one time in the gym for a solid portion of the camp.
“His head hasn’t been in the right place in a long time. He was in a position where he didn’t have a choice but to listen to somebody and he chose to listen to me.”
Parillo became confident in Ortiz leading up to the bout when sparring partners—and there weren’t many—that got the best of the Punishment Athletics founder in the past and saw the tides turn against them. The injuries and personal issues Ortiz has publicly endured throughout his four-year losing streak were put aside with mitt work.
Parillo even credits a message from B.J. Penn to Tito Ortiz to believe in the training and everything else would take care of itself as it did for the career-revitalizing performance.
Where Ortiz goes from here is up to him affirms Parillo.
“A hungry fighter that has much talent as Tito does and as much experience as Tito does, they’re dangerous. He can do what he wants to do if he really wants to do it, and if that’s win a world title, he’ll win a world title,” concluded the Orange County RVCA Sports Center coach.
“If he wants to treat this fight like it was his world title, the future may not be that great. But I have a good feeling Tito’s hungry.”
Follow Danny Acosta on twitter.com/acostaislegend.
Now that your lawn is mowed and the charcoal briquets are arranged in a perfect pyramid design for today’s 4th of July BBQ, you deserve to kick back, relax, and enjoy several minutes of talking. This week the MMA Wrap-Up returns to look at UFC 132 and answer the most divisive, yet compelling question to come out of the event: what’s to become of Wanderlei Silva?
Now that your lawn is mowed and the charcoal briquets are arranged in a perfect pyramid design for today’s 4th of July BBQ, you deserve to kick back, relax, and enjoy several minutes of talking. This week the MMA Wrap-Up returns to look at UFC 132 and answer the most divisive, yet compelling question to come out of the event: what’s to become of Wanderlei Silva?
UFC 132 was a night characterized by paradox. While one future hall-of-fame fighter will live to battle another day (Tito Ortiz,) one finds himself vanquished to the limbo state indecision provides (Wanderlei Silva.)While the welterweight title divisio…
UFC 132 was a night characterized by paradox. While one future hall-of-fame fighter will live to battle another day (Tito Ortiz,) one finds himself vanquished to the limbo state indecision provides (Wanderlei Silva.)
While the welterweight title division rankings have cleared up considerably with the victory of Carlos Condit over Dong Hyun Kim, the middleweight division is as murky as ever after Chris Leben’s first-round knockout of Silva. And as always, armchair mixed martial artists were at considerable odds with a fight (Dennis Siver versus Matt Wiman) that had judges awarding yet another questionable decision victory.
In a night that will forever be defined by its role in featuring the first Bantamweight title defense in UFC history, many of the fighters on the card are looking towards the future, wondering what’s next?
Carlos Condit: Condit, who was a veteran of WEC before he came over to the UFC, has clearly paid his dues in the octagon. With a stunning knockout of previously undefeated Dong Hyun Kim, Condit showed he has the devastating knockout power to end matches in decisive fashion. Well I would not be so quick to say that Condit should be next in line for a title match, a No.1 contenders bout with the winner of the B.J. Penn/Jon Fitch fight may be in order.
Dong Hyun Kim: Kim’s rise in the UFC and his popularity in his own country of South Korea have propelled him up the ladder of the UFC welterweight division at a dynamic pace. The loss to Condit, however, has put a crux on any sort of title shot in the near future. And while Kim will surely bounce back, look for him to be at least three wins away before any sort of title shot comes his way.
Tito Ortiz: Joe Silva has never been one to throw an easy matchup Ortiz’s way. He proved that by asking Ortiz to face off against a top 5 light heavyweight after four loses in a row. Ortiz will want to ride the momentum of this last victory right in to another top 5 matchup. Although Ortiz’s first inclination will be to jump into the octagon quickly, most of the current top light heavyweights are tied up. If he is willing to wait, the winner of the Forrest Griffin/Shogun Rua contest or the loser of the Rashad Evans/Phil Davis bout would be a perfect fit.
Ryan Bader: It’s back to the drawing board for “Darth” Bader, who knocked off 12 victories in a row before falling to Ortiz. Bader’s first loss to light-heavyweight prodigy Jon “Bones” Jones was excusable, but the even quicker first-round submission loss to Ortiz is blasphemy. Bader will be given at least one more shot to rack up a win, probably against a top 20 light heavyweight coming off a loss. Someone like Matt Hamill would provide an entertaining and challenging opponent for the young Bader.
Dennis Siver/Matt Wiman: All I have to say can be summed up in Wiman’s prompt exit from the ring after the judge’s decision. The fans demand a rematch after the poor display of judging. If you don’t believe me, I will be forced to bring in the big guns and refer to pop sensation (and apparent UFC aficionado) Justin Bieber on this one.
Wanderlei Silva: Nobody goes through the excruciating pain of a major surgery on their knee, not to mention the intensive rehabilitation involved therein, only to call it quits after one defeat. Even as big of a knockout as Silva suffered should not deter the perennial fan favorite from getting back into action later this year. Personally, I would love to see Silva take on one of his biggest critics, Chael Sonnen.
That is, if Sonnen is prepared to put his money where his mouth is and is sanctioned by either the Nevada or California State Athletic Commission. Both guys like to stand up and bang. Silva will surely use the constant barrage of insults as fuel for the “berserker” style for which he has become famous.
Dominick Cruz/Urijah Faber: The back-and-forth battle between two of the world’s top bantamweight fighters was a privilege to behold, proving once and for all that UFC’s acquisition of the two smaller weight classes was a genius decision by the brass at Zuffa. While one judge was clearly watching a different fight, giving all five rounds to Cruz, the other two had the fight relatively close, with Faber just a round or two shy of a decision victory. With no clear-cut bantamweight contenders currently worthy of a title shot, the UFC should immediately schedule a rubber match for some time in the fall.
At least one career was salvaged at 
Jason Parillo was in the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. for UFC 121 last October when Tito Ortiz dropped to 0-4-1 in his last five contests in front of a hometown audience, remaining winless since 2006.
