Tito Ortiz defeated Ryan Bader at UFC 132 in what was labeled as one of the greatest upsets in MMA history. He appeared to be working his way back into the mix, and the world in general was stunned. A little over one week later, he accepts a fight on s…
Tito Ortiz defeated Ryan Bader at UFC 132 in what was labeled as one of the greatest upsets in MMA history. He appeared to be working his way back into the mix, and the world in general was stunned. A little over one week later, he accepts a fight on short notice to face No. 1 contender Rashad Evans, losing by way of TKO. Many say this was a major step back for Tito, but in all actuality, it hurt his stock in no way whatsoever.
Tito is one of the highest paid fighters in MMA today, and he wants to prove that he still has what it takes to be one of the best. Taking that fight with Rashad really showed that his heart is 100 percent back in the right place. That fight wasn’t about money for him, it was all about respect, and he earned a lot of that in his fight at 133.
So where does this loss put him?
Tito is a top 15-20 fighter at the moment, but in all truth, he may be a top 10-12 in the eyes of the UFC bosses. So who should he fight next?
Rich Franklin. Rich is coming off a loss against Forrest Griffin. Rich has been around the game for a long time and has defeated a who’s who list of competition. He told Dana White that he only wants to fight the best of the best because his career is coming to an end. Well, a fight with Tito would make total sense here. Both fighters are well rounded, with Tito having the advantage in the wrestling department. There is no telling how this fight would go down, but no matter what, it is guaranteed to be an entertaining war. So, that is the first fight that makes sense.
Another option would be Forrest Griffin 3. Forrest and Tito are a great fit for each other in the cage. The two have met twice before and both fights were a split decision, with each fighter having one win. The only way that this fight could happen is if Forrest loses in his rematch with Shogun. Forrest and Tito haven’t really evolved much since their last fight, but both appear to be in the best shape of their lives. Tito could use wrestling to his advantage, but on the ground, Forrest is the more superior grappler (his grappling is highly underrated). This fight would not only be very entertaining, but it would complete another legendary trilogy under the Zuffa banner.
In a way, those two fights are must sees when it comes to a Tito Ortiz fight. Tito has a couple of years left and probably three to six fights before he hangs up his gloves for good. When a fighter is in that stage of their career, nothing is better than to see them face another legend and add yet another memory to their legacy. Be on the lookout in the next couple of months, because there is a high chance that one of these fights will be made.
Fresh off his knockout victory over Yoshihiro Akiyama at UFC 133, Vitor Belfort has now had some time to reflect on his latest win. In an interview with CagedInsider.com, Belfort said he was very grateful to earn the victory over the Japanese star…
Fresh off his knockout victory over Yoshihiro Akiyama at UFC 133, Vitor Belfort has now had some time to reflect on his latest win.
In an interview with CagedInsider.com, Belfort said he was very grateful to earn the victory over the Japanese star and appears to be in the best shape in his career, despite the critics writing him off following his loss to Anderson Silva at UFC 126.
“The truth is the Vintage Vitor never left,” Belfort said.
“If you look at my record, I won 4 of my last five fights by KO and was knocked out once. I’ve had some ups and downs in my personal life but I have overcame them.”
Belfort unleashed a flurry on Akiyama that had stunned him and dropped him to the canvas at 1:50 into the first round. Coincidentally, Akiyama attempted the same front kick that had finished the Brazilian in his last bout, however Belfort read the move and timed his attack shortly after.
Although Belfort got the win, there are some who believed he landed a few illegal strikes to the back of his opponent’s head—obviously a cause for concern, but Belfort said the shots were unintentional.
“The referee was very close watching everything. Looking back it was only one strike to the back of the head, the other was on the side. It’s a fight and things like this happen sometimes unintentionally,” he explained.
For now, the Brazilian will rest and savour his victory as he officially put the middleweight division on notice, including the champion, Silva. But despite his interest for a rematch with the champion, Belfort will have to seek another challenger elsewhere for the time being. And he said he is content with the idea.
“I will just get myself ready for my next opponent. I work for the UFC and whoever they say I fight I will,” he said.
UFC 133 has come and gone and Rashad Evans proved once again that he is the top contender in the light heavyweight division. Despite coming off an injury and being out for over a year, Evans looked better than ever and showed no signs of ring rust. Alt…
UFC 133 has come and gone and Rashad Evans proved once again that he is the top contender in the light heavyweight division.
Despite coming off an injury and being out for over a year, Evans looked better than ever and showed no signs of ring rust.
Although we don’t know for sure who he will face yet, we do know Evans is in line to meet the winner of Jon Jones vs. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson.
Evans has a long history with both men.
After months of trash talk, broken doors and canceled fights, Evans finally met Rampage at UFC 114 last year. Evans used his speed and wrestling to control Rampage and dodge most of his power punches.
Evans’ relationship with Jones went from Jones looking at Evans as a mentor to the two men having a falling out when Jones won the championship.
Before Jones faced Mauricio “Shogun” Rua for the title, he and Evans claimed they would never fight each other.
Evans even told ESPN that he would consider moving up to heavyweight or down to middleweight if Jones beat Rua.
While Evans won Season 2 of The Ultimate Fighter as a heavyweight, he is very undersized for the division. Even at light heavyweight, Evans is smaller than some of the top fighters.
Size has yet to be a factor, though, as Evans has been able to use his speed, wrestling and striking to get a 16-1-1 record.
If Evans does lose against the winner of Jones vs. Rampage, middleweight could be an option for him.
The middleweight division would give Evans new challenges. Imagine Evans taking on guys like Chael Sonnen, Brian Stann, Vitor Belfort or Anderson Silva.
Evans could be even quicker at middleweight, and thanks to his wrestling ability, he could do a ton of damage.
Evans’ light heavyweight run is far from over, but a move down could be an option that works out great for him.
(“Expect punches to the back of the head, every fight bro.”)
Tatame caught up with Vitor Belfort following his impressive victory over Yoshihiro Akiyama Saturday night at UFC 133 and the former UFC light heavyweight champion said he isn’t letting Dana White’s statement that he needs to “chew on” his loss to Anderson Silva for a while deter him from keeping his eye on the middleweight belt.
He says that his number one goal is to get another shot at Silva, or whomever holds the belt at the time, so he can make up for his poor showing the last time he fought for the belt at UFC 126 in February.
“That’s my wish. I don’t know what they’ll decide. I don’t know what the fans want to see and since UFC guys will evaluate the situation, saying who deserves a title shot or not… I want to fight for the belt and I’ll run through everybody who stands in my way.That’s my goal.”
(“Expect punches to the back of the head, every fight bro.”)
Tatame caught up with Vitor Belfort following his impressive victory over Yoshihiro Akiyama Saturday night at UFC 133 and the former UFC light heavyweight champion said he isn’t letting Dana White’s statement that he needs to “chew on” his loss to Anderson Silva for a while deter him from keeping his eye on the middleweight belt.
He says that his number one goal is to get another shot at Silva, or whomever holds the belt at the time, so he can make up for his poor showing the last time he fought for the belt at UFC 126 in February.
“That’s my wish. I don’t know what they’ll decide. I don’t know what the fans want to see and since UFC guys will evaluate the situation, saying who deserves a title shot or not… I want to fight for the belt and I’ll run through everybody who stands in my way.That’s my goal.”
“The Phenom” said that he was happy with his win over “Sexyama” and that his patience in the fight and his advanced level of conditioning, which is a result of years of experience and the right mix of coaches, made the difference in the bout.
“When I’m fighting, I always want and outcome like this one, but it’s not always that things go according to our plan, but I always go for the KO and that’s my expectation every time I’m fighting,” he explains. “That’s the mature Phenom. If the time goes by and the guy doesn’t get more mature, it’s a waste of time. I’m more mature and I’ve changed some things in my trainings, like using the natural gym with my coach Alvinho (Alvaro Romano), I added many things from my past and some new things I’ve learned. We combined it all and brought a Vintage Belfort. With no doubts, I’m in the best shape I’ve ever been in my entire career, I’m feeling like a 19 years old boy with the maturity of a 34 years old man.”
If he doesn’t get his wish of a title shot in his next appearance, Belfort says fans can expect him to go out and prove that he deserves a shot in the coming months.
“You can hope I’ll bring my A game, that’s the only thing I can promise my fans: I’ll give my best on my next goals towards a new chance at the belt.”
Filed under: UFC, NewsSpike TV drew an average audience of 1.4 million viewers for its presentation of this past Saturday’s UFC 133 Prelims, says the cable network.
This marked an improvement of 200,000 viewers over UFC 132 Prelims, but 200,000 less c…
Spike TV drew an average audience of 1.4 million viewers for its presentation of this past Saturday’s UFC 133 Prelims, says the cable network.
This marked an improvement of 200,000 viewers over UFC 132 Prelims, but 200,000 less compared to UFC 131 Prelims.
The one-hour special, which aired at 8 p.m. ET, earned a 1.0 household rating and was the No. 1 program for the day when it came to men’s 18-49. Breaking down the show into quarters, the average viewership came to:
The UFC 133 Prelims boasted the live broadcasts of a light heavyweight bout between Alexander Gustafsson vs. Matt Hamill and a featherweight bout between Chad Mendes vs. Rani Yahya. Gustafsson stopped Hamill in the second round, sending Hamill into retirement, while Mendes held onto his title contender role by extending his undefeated record to 11.
Wearing a pair of skimpy speedos into the Octagon at UFC 133 wasn’t exactly Dennis Hallman‘s idea, the fighter told Ariel Helwani on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour.
Instead, what fans saw on Saturday night’s pay-per-view broadcast was the result of a bet that Hallman had with fellow fighters Len Bentley and Sterling Ford. In case you couldn’t tell, Hallman did not come out on the winning end of that wager.
“I won’t say what the bet was about, but I lost a bet to those guys and losing the bet meant that I got to wear some speedos,” Hallman told Helwani.
“I thought it was funny,” he added later. “I thought it was embarrassing for me. Obviously, that’s why I had to do it. But I didn’t think anybody would be cross about it.”
One man who was displeased was Hallman’s boss, UFC president Dana White, who said he was “horrified” and “disgusted” by Hallman’s shorts, and vowed that no fighter would ever again be allowed to wear something like that into the cage.
But as upset as White seemed after the fight, Hallman remains convinced that his job security has more to do with his fighting ability than his attire, especially since he took on Brian Ebersole in Philadelphia even after sustaining an elbow injury two days before the fight.
“I don’t think they’re going to fire you over something like that,” Hallman said. “I mean, he knows I went in there and fought injured because I didn’t want to screw up their card. You can’t fire somebody for doing something that’s not illegal or not wrong. You can say, don’t do it again. But it wouldn’t be right to be like, okay, you wore legal trunks but I didn’t like them so I’m going to fire you. Dana’s not like that. He might say, if you do it again I’ll fire you, but he’s not going to fire someone for wearing trunks that were legal.”
As for the elbow, which Hallman said he was currently on his way to a specialist about, he still doesn’t know what caused it to swell up on the Thursday before the fight.
“That’s the mystery,” he said, adding that he sought medical attention on Thursday, but “again Friday, after the weight cut, it blew up again. Same thing, we tried to treat it, and then Saturday…my arm was swollen up huge and I couldn’t move it.”
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By the time he stepped in to fight Ebersole, Hallman said he had very little use of his right arm, which he believes left him unable to capitalize after taking Ebersole’s back early in the fight. Hallman said he doesn’t know how long the arm injury will keep him out of action, but what he’d really like is a rematch with Ebersole once he’s healthy.
As for the speedos, losing that particular bet was costly in more ways than one, since it only left him room for two sponsors. It also provoked a strong, though mixed reaction from fans, Hallman said.
“I had about 400 Twitter mentions. About 70 percent of them were pissed off about the shorts, and the other 30 percent, mostly women, were complimenting the choice of shorts.”
Still, after White personally told him that his shorts would be “effing illegal” from that point on, it doesn’t seem as though any other fighter will be making similar bets in the future. In Hallman’s mind, at least, it succeeded in at least one respect.
“How many guys who lost a fight are on your show the day after? Not very many, so I think it probably worked out a little bit better,” he told Helwani. “Maybe I can put those speedos on Ebay as the last speedos ever worn in the UFC and make some money.”
Wearing a pair of skimpy speedos into the Octagon at UFC 133 wasn’t exactly Dennis Hallman‘s idea, the fighter told Ariel Helwani on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour.
Instead, what fans saw on Saturday night’s pay-per-view broadcast was the result of a bet that Hallman had with fellow fighters Len Bentley and Sterling Ford. In case you couldn’t tell, Hallman did not come out on the winning end of that wager.
“I won’t say what the bet was about, but I lost a bet to those guys and losing the bet meant that I got to wear some speedos,” Hallman told Helwani.
“I thought it was funny,” he added later. “I thought it was embarrassing for me. Obviously, that’s why I had to do it. But I didn’t think anybody would be cross about it.”
One man who was displeased was Hallman’s boss, UFC president Dana White, who said he was “horrified” and “disgusted” by Hallman’s shorts, and vowed that no fighter would ever again be allowed to wear something like that into the cage.
But as upset as White seemed after the fight, Hallman remains convinced that his job security has more to do with his fighting ability than his attire, especially since he took on Brian Ebersole in Philadelphia even after sustaining an elbow injury two days before the fight.
“I don’t think they’re going to fire you over something like that,” Hallman said. “I mean, he knows I went in there and fought injured because I didn’t want to screw up their card. You can’t fire somebody for doing something that’s not illegal or not wrong. You can say, don’t do it again. But it wouldn’t be right to be like, okay, you wore legal trunks but I didn’t like them so I’m going to fire you. Dana’s not like that. He might say, if you do it again I’ll fire you, but he’s not going to fire someone for wearing trunks that were legal.”
As for the elbow, which Hallman said he was currently on his way to a specialist about, he still doesn’t know what caused it to swell up on the Thursday before the fight.
“That’s the mystery,” he said, adding that he sought medical attention on Thursday, but “again Friday, after the weight cut, it blew up again. Same thing, we tried to treat it, and then Saturday…my arm was swollen up huge and I couldn’t move it.”
%VIRTUAL-Gallery-130098%
By the time he stepped in to fight Ebersole, Hallman said he had very little use of his right arm, which he believes left him unable to capitalize after taking Ebersole’s back early in the fight. Hallman said he doesn’t know how long the arm injury will keep him out of action, but what he’d really like is a rematch with Ebersole once he’s healthy.
As for the speedos, losing that particular bet was costly in more ways than one, since it only left him room for two sponsors. It also provoked a strong, though mixed reaction from fans, Hallman said.
“I had about 400 Twitter mentions. About 70 percent of them were pissed off about the shorts, and the other 30 percent, mostly women, were complimenting the choice of shorts.”
Still, after White personally told him that his shorts would be “effing illegal” from that point on, it doesn’t seem as though any other fighter will be making similar bets in the future. In Hallman’s mind, at least, it succeeded in at least one respect.
“How many guys who lost a fight are on your show the day after? Not very many, so I think it probably worked out a little bit better,” he told Helwani. “Maybe I can put those speedos on Ebay as the last speedos ever worn in the UFC and make some money.”
Tito Ortiz defeated Ryan Bader at UFC 132 in what was labeled as one of the greatest upsets in MMA history. He appeared to be working his way back into the mix, and the world in general was stunned. A little over one week later, he accepts a fight on short notice to face No. 1 contender Rashad Evans, losing by way of TKO. Many say this was a major step back for Tito, but in all actuality, it hurt his stock in no way whatsoever. 
Spike TV drew an average audience of 1.4 million viewers for its presentation of this past Saturday’s 
Wearing a pair of skimpy speedos into the Octagon at