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With his Round 1 beatdown of Vladimir Matyushenko at UFC 141, Alexander Gustafsson entrenched himself amidst the 205-lb title contenders to Jon “Bones” Jones and his light heavyweight crown. Still, he’ll have to fight his way to the f…
With his Round 1 beatdown of Vladimir Matyushenko at UFC 141, Alexander Gustafsson entrenched himself amidst the 205-lb title contenders to Jon “Bones” Jones and his light heavyweight crown.
Still, he’ll have to fight his way to the front of the queue as there are several other fighters in the hunt as well.
Let’s see.
For anyone that has followed the health of former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar for the past few years, his retirement following a loss to Alistair Overeem at UFC 141 should come as no surprise. Lesnar’s battles with his health began in l…
For anyone that has followed the health of former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar for the past few years, his retirement following a loss to Alistair Overeem at UFC 141 should come as no surprise.
Lesnar’s battles with his health began in late 2009. After man-handling Frank Mir at UFC 100, Lesnar was slated to lock horns with an undefeated Shane Carwin at UFC 106. However, the former national champion wrestler was forced to pull out of the fight due to what was believed to mononucleosis.
After the fight was again forced back at UFC 108, it was revealed that Lesnar’s health problems were more serious and that he would require surgery for the intestinal disorder diverticulitis.
At UFC 116, Lesnar returned to face Carwin and was battered for a full round before triumphantly retaining his belt with a submission in the second round. It appeared that Lesnar was fully back to health.
Later that year, Lesnar met another undefeated challenger in Cain Velasquez. Unlike the Carwin fight, Lesnar was unable to survive the first round and Velasquez was crowned champion.
Lesnar was then tabbed to coach on The Ultimate Fighter against Junior dos Santos in the spring of this year. The pair were expected to fight and determine who would challenge Velasquez for the belt. Once again, Lesnar’s health forced him out of a fight. While Lesnar underwent another surgery, dos Santos faced Carwin for the No. 1 contender slot.
During Lesnar’s absence, it became clear that his future in the sport was in jeopardy. Word out of his camp cast doubt on whether he would fight ever again.
When it was announced that Lesnar was selected to welcome Strikeforce and K-1 kingpin Alistair Overeem to the Octagon at UFC 141, many thought that Lesnar had again overcome his disease and would challenge for UFC gold yet again.
Based on Lesnar’s performance in the cage against Overeem, it was clear that the explosiveness and power that had propelled Lesnar to the top was a thing of the past. There was no bull rush or powerful takedowns. Lesnar was battered on the feet by his opponent.
As Joe Rogan approached Lesnar for an interview following the fight, it was clear that despite his competitive spirit, Lesnar’s body simply wasn’t capable of withstanding the demands of the sport. A dejected former champion revealed that he would not be stepping back inside the cage again, citing a promise to his family, and ultimately admitting that his health had cut his career short after only eight fights.
Rob Tatum is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report MMA. You can also find Rob’s work at TheMMACorner.com. For anything related to MMA, Follow @RobTatumMMA.
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As everyone knows, Brock Lesnar got knocked out pretty fast in his comeback fight Friday night. In fact, it was like Brock wasn’t even fighting and instead it was a poorly trained clone. Almost immediately after his defeat Lesnar&nb…
As everyone knows, Brock Lesnar got knocked out pretty fast in his comeback fight Friday night. In fact, it was like Brock wasn’t even fighting and instead it was a poorly trained clone.
Almost immediately after his defeat Lesnar announced during the pay-per-view telecast that he was retiring, and as many of you have read, since then people have been anticipating his return to World Wrestling Entertainment.
I actually wrote an article yesterday as to why the company or fans don’t need him back (from a business not a personal standpoint).
However, this article isn’t about whether he should return; it’s about the recent remarks made by the first Undisputed Champion, Chris Jericho.
Yesterday Jericho Tweeted:
“Lesnar just took a dive….”
Odds are Jericho is just working people and trying to get everyone off his back in regards to who the mystery man that will be returning tomorrow night on Raw. Plus, it’s Chris Jericho, this is what he does!
However lets just imagine for a second that Jericho wasn’t trying to blow smoke and actually might believe Lesnar took a dive. Hypothetically of course.
Anything is possible.
Lesnar is by no means old, but he sure has had a few rough years with his health and he’s not the dominate fighter he once was, he had a decent run for someone who entered the sport much later in life than most do and maybe he realized that he just didn’t need or want to continue to train 6-10 months a year for one fight that he could possibly lose and be a laughing stock. Maybe he realized that he could make much more money for a months work while being almost universally cheered and still looked at like a monster.
If you haven’t understood what I’m getting at, I’m saying maybe Lesnar took a dive to actually go back to the one place he seemed to hate…..professional wrestling.
The last six months seem way too coincidental and I don’t believe in coincidences.
In June, CM Punk mentions Brock Lesnar during his shoot promo.
In July, Dana White visited WWE HQ and had a meeting with Vince McMahon.
Lesnar then appeared in the new WWE 12 video game. This is the first time Lesnar had been associated with a WWE product in years.
Then during during a pre-fight press conference, Lesnar made some (in hindsight) interesting remarks where he said “Wrestling is fake” and “I am Brock Lesnar the UFC fighter.”
Just a few hours later he was Brock Lesnar the retired UFC fighter.
Now as I said, Jericho is probably just working everyone and he knew what he tweeted would go viral…and it did! But do you (the reader) think what he said has any merit to it? Do you think Brock took a dive so he could go make more money for one match then just disappear forever.
People will remember him much more as a dominate force if he goes back to WWE and destroys people compared to getting his butt kicked in UFC. No man likes to be remembered as someone who loses.
Update:
It appears that I need to clarify the subject of the article because apparently some people have been getting upset and taking the idea of this article to the extreme.
This was just a scenario I put together, I never said Jericho was right or that Lesnar took a dive, it was all a hypothetical situation in which I asked you (the reader) to chime in and ask whether you thought it was possible.
What I wrote here was not my personal opinions, it was just a topic to get people to throw out ideas and talk.
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Following his successful debut at UFC 141, Alistair Overeem now finds himself atop the heavyweight division’s contendership.It’s safe to say that The Demolition Man’s one-round annihilation of Brock Lesnar was tantamount to a broad daylight mugging.He …
Following his successful debut at UFC 141, Alistair Overeem now finds himself atop the heavyweight division’s contendership.
It’s safe to say that The Demolition Man’s one-round annihilation of Brock Lesnar was tantamount to a broad daylight mugging.
He wrecked him with a demoralising kick to the body, before unleashing a succession of punches to the downed Lesnar, which left the referee with little choice other than to intervene and bring a halt to the main-event’s proceedings.
Apropos his aptitudes, in my honest personal opinion, I, for one, have never doubted his skill set—enough to boldly predict a first-round stoppage, which in the end came to fruition.
Overeem is a former Strikeforce, K-1 and Dream heavyweight champion. In his 36 victories, he has dispatched 15 of his opponents by way of KO/TKO and 19 via submission.
That per se, should be enough to dispel any notions of his legitimacy as a mixed martial artist, but it won’t.
Even with an emphatic victory over an opponent who was supposed to test him like no fighter had before, there’ll still be that section of fans that will continue to doubt his abilities.
The Dutch Cyclone is next slated to throw down with UFC heavyweight kingpin Junior “Cigano” dos Santos sometime in 2012.
With that said, if he were to defeat Cigano, that wouldn’t assuage said fans either.
It’d be a case of he beat a fellow stand-up striker, case closed.
The fans wanted to see Overeem tested against an elite wrestler as well as his reaction once planted on his back.
They got that in the guise of Lesnar, but he failed woefully.
The only way Overeem will be considered an upper-echelon fighter with proven capabilities is if he defeated the top five heavyweights in the UFC assemblage.
So far, it’s one down and four to go.
The fighters in question minus Cigano are former UFC heavyweight titlists Cain Velasquez (NCAA Division-I wrestler) and Frank Mir (jiu-jitsu wizard).
Next on that list is former title contender Shane Carwin (NCAA Division-II wrestler and striker).
Defeating the aforementioned fighters should be enough to satiate the fans in to believing that “The Reem” has the requisite ability to hold court with the best that the UFC’s heavyweight class has to offer.
To view the latest Top 10 ranked UFC heavyweight fighters go here.
For additional information, follow Nedu Obi on Twitter.
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When the main card for UFC 141 was announced there were plenty of critics of the featherweight matchup between Ultimate Fighter veteran Nam Phan and undefeated prospect Jimy Hettes. In fact, with Hettes only having one previous Octagon appearance (a wi…
When the main card for UFC 141 was announced there were plenty of critics of the featherweight matchup between Ultimate Fighter veteran Nam Phan and undefeated prospect Jimy Hettes.
In fact, with Hettes only having one previous Octagon appearance (a win over Alex Caceres), there were many that had never heard of the young fighter.
On Friday night, Hettes not only made sure that the critics were silenced, he emphatically introduced himself to legions of fans.
While the performance was the first time that the 24-year-old was unable to submit his opponent, the one-sided fight was easily one of the most lopsided decisions in recent memory.
When the scorecards were announced, no one was surprised to hear 30-25, 30-25 and 30-26 uttered from Bruce Buffer’s mouth. There was no doubt that Hettes had officially arrived in the 145-pound weight class.
Immediately following the fight, buzz about the grappling ace’s next bout began to build.
Hettes’ relentless pace, ability to secure takedowns from anywhere and arsenal of submissions are something that can pose problems for nearly anyone in the division.
There’s no need to rush Hettes toward a title shot, but with the dominant display he put on against a fighter as experienced as Phan, he may only need a couple of more fights before it makes sense.
Perhaps the biggest litmus test for Hettes’ skills would be a matchup with “The Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung. The former Sengoku and WEC competitor is undefeated since moving to the UFC and has scored highlight finishes over Leonard Garcia and Mark Hominick in the past year.
Whomever matchmaker Joe Silva tabs for Hettes in his next bout, it may very well be a showcase for the next legitimate challenger to the featherweight strap.
Rob Tatum is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report MMA. You can also find Rob’s work at TheMMACorner.com. For anything related to MMA, Follow @RobTatumMMA.
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It was the last big event of 2011 as Brock Lesnar faced Alistair Overeem in the main event of UFC 141, shown live in the early hours of New Year’s Eve on ESPN here in Britain. The broadcast began with featherweight action as Nam Phan went up agai…
It was the last big event of 2011 as Brock Lesnar faced Alistair Overeem in the main event of UFC 141, shown live in the early hours of New Year’s Eve on ESPN here in Britain.
The broadcast began with featherweight action as Nam Phan went up against Jimy Hettes.
To say that I was impressed with Hettes would not be an overstatement. As soon as he scored with his first takedown early in the first round he imposed his will on the fight, doing an excellent job of controlling Phan on the ground.
It really was a stellar performance from Hettes as he went for a number of submissions throughout the fight. Unfortunately he couldn’t get the finish, but his inability to make Phan tap didn’t phase him, especially when he was using Phan’s face for punching practice.
Phan’s good moments were few and far between, and despite the urgings of his corner he just couldn’t cope with his opponent’s onslaught.
With the fight going the distance, the judges were called into action. No surprise here as Hettes took the unanimous decision, and by some distance.
An all-European light heavyweight encounter followed as Vladimir Matyushenko took on Alexander Gustafsson.
This one began with an extensive feeling out period with both fighters testing the waters a little, and Matyushenko almost falling on his face with a big swing and miss.
It wasn’t until about two minutes or so in that the fight came to life. A left jab from Gustafsson sent Vlad crashing, with the Swede following him down for the ground and pound until the referee stepped in to give Gustafsson the TKO win.
Then it was down to the welterweight division as Jon Fitch went up against Johny Hendricks.
Blink and you’ll miss it, the affair of the show. Just as Mike Goldberg was done hyping Gina Carano’s new film, Hendricks connected with a big left. Fitch went down like the proverbial sack of spuds, and that was it. The referee stepped in after just 12 seconds to give Hendricks the knockout win.
More welterweight action followed in a fight from earlier in the evening as Dong Hyun Kim took on Sean Pierson.
This proved to be an entertaining affair. Kim did a good job of controlling the striking part of the game, keeping his man at bay with some crisp striking, making it difficult for Pierson to close the distance.
Pierson had a couple of good moments on the ground, especially in the first when he rolled with Kim’s judo throw.
Things almost came to an end towards the end of the second round when Kim connected with a jumping front kick that staggered the Canadian. As the old saying goes, Pierson was saved by the bell, and it didn’t look like he’d make it to the final round as he walked on wobbly legs back to his corner.
Pierson did indeed make it to the third round but found himself on the receiving end of Kim’s ground game. Once again he had a couple of good moments, but they just weren’t enough to overcome the South Korean.
No surprise from the judges as Kim took the unanimous decision.
The co-main event saw Nate Diaz facing Donald Cerrone in the lightweight division.
Now this was a fight. For three rounds our protagonists gave us a thrilling back and forth striking battle.
They began early, before the bell, when Cerrone saluted Diaz, before beginning their excellent striking battle.
Diaz looked in great form as he took the fight to the Cowboy, particularly in the first round. Cerrone looked down on the pace as he moved around the cage with his bloodied mouth as Diaz beat him to the punch with numerous combinations, some of them five or six punches in length.
Cerrone came back a little in the second, achieving some degree of success with some leg sweeps and a head kick which saw Diaz go down after a delayed reaction. But Diaz easily stayed in the game, and by the time the third round started, Diaz began to showboat, once again taking control with his excellent striking.
But despite all of this he couldn’t get the job done, so the decision went to the judges, with all three giving the fight to Diaz, and rightfully so.
The main event featured heavyweight action as Brock Lesnar faced Alistair Overeem.
This one certainly had that big fight feel about it. Lesnar tested the waters early on with a couple of kicks, but it wasn’t long before Overeem was centering his attack on Lesnar’s body.
Time and time again the Dutchman delivered knees and kicks and a right kick to the liver. A delayed reaction sent Lesnar down as Overeem went in for the kill, Lesnar covering up as Overeem went for the ground and pound. It wasn’t long before the referee stepped in to give Overeem the TKO win, sending Lesnar into retirement.
The show rounded out with more filler material in the form of the featherweight encounter between Manny Gamburyan and Diego Nunes.
The story of this one was Nunes’ solid kicks as he centred his attack on Gamburyan’s lead leg. Gamburyan just didn’t seem able to find his range as Nunes attacked his limb, adding shots to the body and head for good measure.
Gamburyan’s best moments came in the second round, connecting with an overhand right that had Nunes in some trouble, as well as a brief stint of ground and pound. But by the time the third round began Nunes returned to his tactic of choice, switching his stance and attacking Gamburyan’s leg and body.
Once again the judges were called into action as Nunes took the unanimous decision.
In conclusion—Dana White and his team certainly ended their year in style.
Although us Brits who like to watch TV the old fashioned way were once again denied the chance to see the Spike prelims we were treated to another quality show. The Phan/Hettes encounter would have been the fight of the night for me, had it not been for the Diaz/Cerrone fight, and while some have criticised Alistair Overeem’s demolition of Brock Lesnar, I thought it was a great way of sending out a clear message to the rest of the heavyweight division.
So in all, UFC 141 gets the big thumbs up from this writer.
Don’t forget to check out my website at twoshedsreview.blogspot.com, as well as my Facebook page at Facebook.com/twoshedsreview.
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