Tag: UFC 132

UFC 132 Results: Cruz-Faber Cement Their History at UFC 132

LAS VEGAS—Is the lightest champion in the UFC the best? A historic 25-minute headlining clash for the inaugural UFC Bantamweight Championship saw Dominick Cruz’s hand raised opposite Urijah Faber in front of 12,4097 fans for his fourth cons…

LAS VEGAS—Is the lightest champion in the UFC the best?

A historic 25-minute headlining clash for the inaugural UFC Bantamweight Championship saw Dominick Cruz’s hand raised opposite Urijah Faber in front of 12,4097 fans for his fourth consecutive 135-pound title win at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

Dominick Cruz didn’t dominate Urijah Faber, but he did prove to be the undisputed kingpin at 135-pounds and just as sharp as any other fighter on the pound-for-pound list. The speed, power, experience and gameness of “The California Kid” was the toughest test of Cruz’s 19-fight career. The bantamweight champion anchored out of Alliance MMA in Chula Vista, Calif. debuted in the UFC to retain his crown for the third time, doing his part to live up to the historical hype of the first sub-155-pound main event in history.

Cruz and Faber left everything in the cage, consequently leaving no doubt the lighter weight classes adopted from the WEC (and eventually the flyweight division) can undoubtedly carry a main event.

At 26-years-old, “The Dominator” arrived in the UFC as he left the WEC—in the middle of an impressive title run. A four-to-one underdog before winning the belt from Brian Bowles last March, Cruz’s 25-minute unanimous decision wins versus Joseph Benavidez, Scott Jorgensen—fights Cruz contested with a busted hand—and Urijah Faber should call attention the defensive precedent he is setting in the sport.

The Arizona native’s slips, footwork and movement makes fighters who are clearly number two in the world appear frustrated at times. An ability to walk forward and trouble opponents with a high volume adds to the woes of his challengers. A three-fight underdog win streak by Demetrious Johnson should be Cruz’s next defense.

Despite dropping his fourth straight title bout, Faber remains a marketable star with a competitive claim at the top of the division. He came up short in his quest to join B.J. Penn, Randy Couture, Dan Henderson and Jake Shields as two-division champions—a part of his legacy he deserves to chase again.

A long-awaited fight versus fellow star Miguel Torres would satisfy fans and should Faber emerge victorious, be credible enough to set up a trilogy with Cruz. Cruz-Faber can be to the lighter weight classes what Chuck Liddell-Randy Couture’s trilogy was for the sport as a whole.

Their excellent Fight of the Night is paramount for the longevity of mixed martial arts. After all, the lower weights that the UFC is unveiling to endear to its fans are the ones that currently carry boxing.

UFC 132 was the best main card in UFC history. Two opposite stories about pioneering MMA legends elevated the magnitude of the night before Cruz and Faber closed it out impressively.  

Has the sandstorm ended for Wanderlei Silva?

When Wanderlei Silva walks out to fight, he enters to a trance theme “Sandstorm,” the soundtrack to a five-year title reign as the PRIDE Middleweight Champion

After Chris Leben decimated his hero with uppercuts en route to a 27-second first round knockout, Silva, 35, may be at the end of his storied career. A kill-or-be-killed fighter, four of his last six losses have come by way of knockout. “The Axe Murderer” earned a reputation in a combat sport for being a violent competitor. The Brazilian must now examine with UFC President Dana White, his family and coaches if he can still compete without sacrificing long-term health.

Leben scored the signature win of his 19-fight UFC career against the former PRIDE Middleweight Champion. His first round TKO loss to Brian Stann shouldn’t keep him from contender fights especially since he preceded it with back-to-back wins in two weeks—a historic feat that saw him finish Aaron Simpson (Knockout of the Night) and Yoshihiro Akiyama (Fight of the Night). A bout with Vitor Belfort should he get past Akiyama on August 6 can be another former champion in the fan favorite’s path to a long-shot title match with Anderson Silva.

Organizations aside, is Tito Ortiz the story of the year?

Former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Tito Ortiz shocked the world by submitting Ryan Bader less than two minutes into the first round via guillotine choke. Ortiz, 36, was a five-to-one underdog when scoring his first win since 2006 and his first submission since 2000. Everybody loves an underdog story, and even a polarizing figure like “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” can still capture the imagination of the critics and fans that counted him out. It’s the magic of a charismatic former champion and with the troubles of his personal life plastered on TMZ, a real triumph.

It will be nearly impossible to top Zuffa acquiring Strikeforce as a story of the year in 2011, but organizations come and go—legends last forever.

Follow Danny Acosta on twitter.com/acostaislegend

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UFC 132 Results: Report Cards for All the Main Card Fighters

Another week, another UFC event in the history books.UFC 132 ends a run in which we saw five UFC events, and a Strikeforce event, in a six-week span. Now, we all have to wait until August, when we will see three UFC events in four weeks.Saturday night …

Another week, another UFC event in the history books.

UFC 132 ends a run in which we saw five UFC events, and a Strikeforce event, in a six-week span. Now, we all have to wait until August, when we will see three UFC events in four weeks.

Saturday night at the MGM Grand, we saw a legend fall, the emergence of who could be the biggest threat to Georges St-Pierre’s title and a champion avenge his lone career loss.

Now, it is once again time to take a look at the bodies of work put on display and dish out some grades to the main card fighters.

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UFC 132 Results: Chael Sonnen Calls out Lyoto Machida, Not Wanderlei Silva

UFC 132 saw one of the most impressive knockouts in recent memory when Chris Leben was able to defeat one of his idols, Wanderlei Silva, in the semi-main event.But the event may also be memorable for another reason as former middleweight No. 1…

UFC 132 saw one of the most impressive knockouts in recent memory when Chris Leben was able to defeat one of his idols, Wanderlei Silva, in the semi-main event.

But the event may also be memorable for another reason as former middleweight No. 1 contender Chael Sonnen continued his verbal tirade on the organization by challenging yet another Brazilian fighter, Anderson Silva’s friend and fellow Black House member Lyoto Machida. 

This came as somewhat of a surprise as Sonnen had been openly bashing Wanderlei in the media for the past few weeks leading up to this event. 

“I was cheering for Chris [Leben],” Sonnen admitted tonight to MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani. “I don’t have any ill-will towards Wanderlei; I hope he’s okay.”

Sonnen was in attendance and witnessed Silva get knocked out of the fifth time in his last eight fights.

“He can’t do this work,” Sonnen bluntly stated. “But I certainly hope he’s okay.” 

“The only guy that would’ve finished him quicker is me.”

When asked if he would like to be the next to fight Silva, Sonnen shook his head and dismissed the idea entirely.

“No, it doesn’t make sense,” he explained. “Wanderlei is going to need to do something else. I don’t have any interest in getting in there with him. I don’t want to be the next guy to force him to have a flashlight shined in his eyes.” 

But he did have his eyes set on a fight, surprisingly one outside his own middleweight division. For whatever reason, Sonnen apparently wants to fight former UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida.

“There’s a karate guy at 205 pounds. I might stop there on my way back to 185. For a tune-up fight, take out Machida.” 

Machida is coming of a huge win over Randy Couture at UFC 129. Though the fight against Sonnen would certainly be one that fans would look forward to, it’s hard to say that it would be a great fight for Machida to take if he hopes to move back up the ranks in the light heavyweight division.

With Sonnen having been off for nearly a year at this point and moving up in weight classes, it’d be difficult for matchmaker Joe Silva to give Machida much credit if he were to defeat the loud-mouthed 185-pounder.

That said, expect to hear much more about this potential fight in the coming weeks.

Bleacher Report’s Nick Caron

UFC 132 Results: Dominick Cruz vs. Urijah Faber Results and Aftermath

Action-packed, toe-to-toe, legendary. Those are the words that described the main event from UFC 132.This is the first event that the UFC has hosted that featured former WEC fighters in the main event, good thing this was a main event because they trul…

Action-packed, toe-to-toe, legendary. Those are the words that described the main event from UFC 132.

This is the first event that the UFC has hosted that featured former WEC fighters in the main event, good thing this was a main event because they truly saved the best for last.

Every round was close, Faber dropped Cruz multiple times, but Cruz always recovered and, in most cases, appeared to do enough to win the round. 

This fight is not only Fight of the Night, this is the new front runner for fight of the year. Both gave it all that they had, and the fans will surely go home happy after this fight. 

This fight truly could’ve went either way. The judges got this one correct. People may dispute this decision, but just because Faber dropped Cruz, Cruz always rebounded. 

After the fight, both showed respect to each other and the fans showed their unhappiness with the decision.

Last night many things were proven. The bantamweight division deserves more attention than it has been given since the merger. Also, Dominick Cruz is one of the overall best in the world.

Next for Faber, expect the likes of a Brian Bowles or Demetrious Johnson. This loss will not affect his stock, but he will have to work his way back into the title picture. Also, a fight with Miguel Torres could be legendary.

Next for Cruz appears to be unknown. Demetrious Johnson, Brian Bowles, Joseph Benavidez. Those appear to be the top three men to face him, but it is up to Joe Silva to decide who will be next in line.

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UFC: Can Rampage Jackson Take Belt from Jon Jones?

If there’s one UFC event that I’m really looking forward to, it’s UFC 135.  There, newly crowned light heavyweight champion Jon “Bones” Jones will defend his title for the first time against veteran Quinton “Rampage” Jackson.After a long layoff, J…

If there’s one UFC event that I’m really looking forward to, it’s UFC 135.  There, newly crowned light heavyweight champion Jon “Bones” Jones will defend his title for the first time against veteran Quinton “Rampage” Jackson.

After a long layoff, Jackson is slowly climbing back up the ranks in the light heavyweight division.  He lost his first fight back to Rashad Evans, but then scored unanimous decision victories over Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida and Matt “The Hammer” Hamill.  His performance against the latter was so dominant that UFC president Dana White chose to give the controversial fighter a title shot.

As much as I love Jackson, and yes that means I’ll be rooting for him at UFC 135, I’m not optimistic about his chances against Jones.  He is a great brawler who has really improved his ground game in the past year, but Jones is just a monster.

First of all, Jones is 6’4″ to Jackson’s 6’1″.  On top of that, he has a 10 1/2 inch reach advantage.

Most important, however, is Rampage Jackson’s similarity to Jones’s last opponent, Ryan “Darth” Bader.  Like Bader, Jackson is a wrestler with a standup game that isn’t too shabby.  Bader was submitted in Round 2 of his fight with Jones.

Given how Jones’s long arms are a weapon hard to defeat, Jackson had better pray he gets one of them in an armbar and then start cranking away.  Otherwise, he will walk out of the octagon without the belt and have no choice but to fight Rashad Evans again.

Oh well.  At least an awesome feud would be rekindled.

– Josh Benjamin

UFC 132: Dominick Cruz Dominates Urijah Faber and Retains Title

The fight that many labeled as Bad Blood took place on Saturday, July 2nd at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Fought between former WEC Bantamweight, and current UFC Bantamweight Champion, Dominick Cruz, and former WEC Featherweig…

The fight that many labeled as Bad Blood took place on Saturday, July 2nd at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. 

Fought between former WEC Bantamweight, and current UFC Bantamweight Champion, Dominick Cruz, and former WEC Featherweight Champion Urijah Faber, this fight was a rematch of their first from back in March of 2004 for the WEC Featherweight Championship—a fight that Faber, a Sacramento native, won by Guillotine choke a mere 1:38 into the first round.

In what was a complete reversal of fortune, it was Cruz who found himself on the winning end of the Unanimous Decision victory, and UFC President Dana White placing the UFC Bantamweight belt back around his more-than-deserving waist. 

All the talk from both fighters leading up to the fight only promised fans a battle of epic proportions and with both fighters leaving it all in the octagon, as if to assure everyone who the dominant fighter was. 

For five rounds, Dominick Cruz proved to be the better fighter as he confused Faber with his unorthodox fighting style, allowing him to land punches from every angle.  Cruz kept a frenetic pace as he engaged Faber relentlessly. 

Faber looked sharp, and while on two occasions was able to drop the Bantamweight Champion Cruz, Faber was never able to capitalize. 

The most interesting aspect of the fight was that Faber was unable to land his signature takedowns to take the fight with Cruz to the ground.  Faber was a perennial section wrestling champion from Lincoln High School and eventually earned a wrestling scholarship to U.C. Davis.

No, curiously enough it was Cruz who landed more takedowns and easily escaped several of Faber’s takedown attempts. 

Both fighters would go home with Fight of the Night honors and bonuses to go along with it.  Unfortunately, Faber will go home without the championship belt that he so covets and thinks that he deserves. 

Cruz, on the other hand, will go home to San Diego with the belt still around his waist.  But more than that, Cruz will walk away with the satisfaction of beating the last man to defeat him some four years ago. 

The lasting questions from this epic fight will be: when will they fight again and who should challenge Cruz next?  Cruz has looked completely dominant in each of his three title defenses. 

With the ever growing stable of UFC Bantamweights, there is no shortage of fighters to step up and challenge the “Dominator.” 

But the biggest question is, are any of them worthy? 

Cruz owns two wins over highly ranked Joseph Benavidez, and now dominant wins over Faber, Scott Jorgenson and Brian Bowles.  If Benavidez is able to beat Eddie Wineland in their upcoming fight, will he get his third shot at Cruz, or will Wineland be next in line if he beats Joey B?

What next for Cruz? 

There is the possible rematch with former WEC champ Brian Bowles, who has won two in a row and beat Takeya Mizugaki Saturday night.  A matchup with Brad Pickett or Demetrious Johnson doesn’t scream “Must Watch” for the PPV audience.  Although both have winning streaks, Pickett at one and Johnson at four, that only leaves Masakatsu Ueda, and Ueda does not fight under the UFC banner. 

That only leaves a possible matchup with Miguel Torres.  A Torres fight would have been monumental several years ago when Torres held the WEC strap and owned the division, but now with Torres struggling to compete and win fights, that fight is unlikely to happen. 

Unfortunately for Dominick Cruz, he seems to be his own worst enemy.  He is just too good and holds wins over too many relevant fighters in the Top 10 of his respected division.  This is the same problem that plagues UFC champions Georges St. Pierre and Anderson Silva. 

The only thing that could work the MMA faithful into a frenzy would be a possible fight between Cruz and 145-pound king, UFC Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo.  Both fighters are exciting strikers and the matchup is intriguing.  UFC President Dana White may have no choice but to have these champions fight. 

The future for Dominick Cruz may be murky, but one thing is clear: after all the trash talk and bad blood boiled over, he was able to come out of his feud with Urijah Faber with the UFC Bantamweight belt around his waist, and his hand raised in the air victoriously.

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