Tag: UFC 144

UFC 144 Results: Did Frankie Edgar Lose Because of His Appearance?

After five action-packed rounds, the final bell closed the doors to one of the greatest fights in the history of the UFC.Lightweight champion Frankie Edgar battled it out with No. 1 contender Benson Henderson, only to lose his prized possession of UFC …

After five action-packed rounds, the final bell closed the doors to one of the greatest fights in the history of the UFC.

Lightweight champion Frankie Edgar battled it out with No. 1 contender Benson Henderson, only to lose his prized possession of UFC gold.

Henderson was declared then newest lightweight champion as the judge’s scorecards favored his performance (49-46, 49-46 and 48-47).

However, after an extremely close decision, many fans across the globe were left wondering what the deciding factor of the decision truly was.

Edgar endured a torturing amount of damage to the face, as he saw his left eye swollen badly.

But, from past experiences, Edgar has demonstrated an easier ability to bleed, as its become a trademark to his game.

In fact, it’s difficult to reminisce on a bout when Edgar didn’t have blood flying from his nose or an eye swollen.

His opponent, Henderson, displayed no such damage.

Could the visual damage to Edgar’s face be the result of his stripped title?

When all was said and done, Henderson led the way as he out-struck Edgar in significant blows 87-68.

However, in the grand scheme of things, the tough-minded Edgar was able to edge his opponent in total strikes 124-114.

In addition, Edgar was able to land seven takedowns to Henderson’s two.

With the entire world on the edge of their seats, could the deciding factor of the championship bout have been a direct result of Edgar’s physical appearance?

 

For additional information, follow Garrett Derr on Twitter.

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UFC 144 Results: Steve Cantwell Has Run out of Time in the UFC

After losing his fifth straight fight in the UFC, American fighter Steve Cantwell has officially run out of time fighting after his three-round loss to Riki Fukuda at UFC 144.While Cantwell came in with a lot of promise, as he only had one loss over hi…

After losing his fifth straight fight in the UFC, American fighter Steve Cantwell has officially run out of time fighting after his three-round loss to Riki Fukuda at UFC 144.

While Cantwell came in with a lot of promise, as he only had one loss over his MMA career, he has only managed to win once since joining the UFC.

That was his first fight, which came against Razak Al-Hassan at UFC: Fight for the Troops. Since then, he has just been unable to close out any matches, and his departure from the prestigious division seems inevitable.

Cantwell’s loss to Fukuda is his fifth straight unanimous decision loss, and it is becoming quite clear that he is not able to make things happen amongst these stronger fighters.

His overall MMA record stands at 7-6 now, and he is quickly approaching .500. If he even gets one more fight with the UFC, he is destined to all to 7-7, which will kill any chance at any future bouts—that’s if this fight hasn’t already done so.

It is becoming quite clear that the UFC isn’t for Cantwell, and he honestly may be best fit to return to the lower levels of fighting where he saw much more success.

Sure, the UFC provides a better chance at making it big, but for now, Cantwell is proving that he isn’t able to do that given all the opportunities he has had.

 

Jeff Chase is a Featured Columnist for the Chicago Cubs and Arizona State football.

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UFC 144 Results: Dana White Questions Rampage Jackson’s Desire to Fight

Once considered one of the most fearless, intense and unbelievably skilled fighters on the planet, former UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson seems to have struggled in some of his recent bouts. It’s not just in the cage, either. I…

Once considered one of the most fearless, intense and unbelievably skilled fighters on the planet, former UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson seems to have struggled in some of his recent bouts. It’s not just in the cage, either. It’s outside the cage when he should be preparing for his fights that he just does not seem to be putting in the same type of dedication that he used to.

At UFC 144, that lack of dedication came to a low point when he was defeated relatively easily by former The Ultimate Fighter winner Ryan Bader.

UFC president Dana White has since come out and publicly addressed the situation with Jackson and his future with fighting in a post-fight interview with MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani. 

“I’m disappointed,” he bluntly said. “I think Rampage is so talented. I just question whether he wants to do this anymore and have been since probably the A-Team movie.”

Jackson has never been a fan of training, even going as far as to say that he hates it at times. But never has he done what he did on Friday afternoon when he stepped on the scale a ridiculous six pounds overweight at 211 pounds for a bout at 205.

The Jackson camp claims that there was an injury that prevented him from making the target weight, but they did not inform Dana White of that any time prior to the day of the weigh-ins. 

“I had no clue until the day of the weigh-ins. That’s when they told me,” White said.

After the loss, Jackson did speak to White for a brief moment, apologizing for what had happened both in the fight and at the weigh-ins. 

“He said ‘I’m sorry’ and ‘I want to fight again’ and ‘I’ll come back’ and ‘I want to be better’, so we’ll see what happens,” White said. 

There has been some speculation as to whether there really was an injury or if Jackson just wasn’t taking this fight as seriously as some he has competed in before, just due to relative lack of name value of Bader. 

Jackson has not confirmed this speculation, but the UFC president didn’t seem to disagree that it was a possibility. 

 “I HATE guys saying, ‘I’m not motivated for this fight.’ Well, you better get motivated because guess what – Ryan Bader’s motivated to kick your ass.”

And kick his ass, he did. Bader beat Jackson up for 15 minutes, out-striking him by a total throughout the bout of 109 to 30 according to FightMetric scoring. Bader also added four takedowns throughout the contest compared to just one from Jackson.

Rampage is always going to be looked at as one of the most entertaining fighters in the sport, but when the UFC president is calling someone out for a lack of motivation and desire to fight, it’s likely only to lead to one of two things. Either it’ll light a fire under him and inspire him to get back to taking things seriously, or he’ll take the complete opposite way and that might even be more interesting to see at this point.

Either way, these next few weeks and months could be very interesting for the fighting future of the former champion.

For more MMA news, fighter interviews and opinions, follow Nick Caron: .

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UFC 144 Results: Dana White Questions Rampage Jackson’s Desire to Fight

Once considered one of the most fearless, intense and unbelievably skilled fighters on the planet, former UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson seems to have struggled in some of his recent bouts. It’s not just in the cage, either. I…

Once considered one of the most fearless, intense and unbelievably skilled fighters on the planet, former UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson seems to have struggled in some of his recent bouts. It’s not just in the cage, either. It’s outside the cage when he should be preparing for his fights that he just does not seem to be putting in the same type of dedication that he used to.

At UFC 144, that lack of dedication came to a low point when he was defeated relatively easily by former The Ultimate Fighter winner Ryan Bader.

UFC president Dana White has since come out and publicly addressed the situation with Jackson and his future with fighting in a post-fight interview with MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani. 

“I’m disappointed,” he bluntly said. “I think Rampage is so talented. I just question whether he wants to do this anymore and have been since probably the A-Team movie.”

Jackson has never been a fan of training, even going as far as to say that he hates it at times. But never has he done what he did on Friday afternoon when he stepped on the scale a ridiculous six pounds overweight at 211 pounds for a bout at 205.

The Jackson camp claims that there was an injury that prevented him from making the target weight, but they did not inform Dana White of that any time prior to the day of the weigh-ins. 

“I had no clue until the day of the weigh-ins. That’s when they told me,” White said.

After the loss, Jackson did speak to White for a brief moment, apologizing for what had happened both in the fight and at the weigh-ins. 

“He said ‘I’m sorry’ and ‘I want to fight again’ and ‘I’ll come back’ and ‘I want to be better’, so we’ll see what happens,” White said. 

There has been some speculation as to whether there really was an injury or if Jackson just wasn’t taking this fight as seriously as some he has competed in before, just due to relative lack of name value of Bader. 

Jackson has not confirmed this speculation, but the UFC president didn’t seem to disagree that it was a possibility. 

 “I HATE guys saying, ‘I’m not motivated for this fight.’ Well, you better get motivated because guess what – Ryan Bader’s motivated to kick your ass.”

And kick his ass, he did. Bader beat Jackson up for 15 minutes, out-striking him by a total throughout the bout of 109 to 30 according to FightMetric scoring. Bader also added four takedowns throughout the contest compared to just one from Jackson.

Rampage is always going to be looked at as one of the most entertaining fighters in the sport, but when the UFC president is calling someone out for a lack of motivation and desire to fight, it’s likely only to lead to one of two things. Either it’ll light a fire under him and inspire him to get back to taking things seriously, or he’ll take the complete opposite way and that might even be more interesting to see at this point.

Either way, these next few weeks and months could be very interesting for the fighting future of the former champion.

For more MMA news, fighter interviews and opinions, follow Nick Caron: .

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC 144 Results: Ryan Bader Believes Rampage Jackson Might Have Overlooked Him

At one time, Ryan Bader was hyped to be perhaps the next great thing in mixed martial arts at 205 pounds. The former college wrestler turned light heavyweight winner of The Ultimate Fighter, was well on his way to contending for a title when he fought …

At one time, Ryan Bader was hyped to be perhaps the next great thing in mixed martial arts at 205 pounds. The former college wrestler turned light heavyweight winner of The Ultimate Fighter, was well on his way to contending for a title when he fought fellow up-and-comer Jon “Bones” Jones at UFC 126. 

Bader lost that fight in rather embarrassing fashion, getting pummeled all around the cage by the bigger, more athletic and apparently more “UFC-ready” opponent. Most fans seemed to give Bader a pass on that loss, though, as Jones would soon become the UFC light heavyweight champion. 

It was Bader’s surprising loss to Tito Ortiz just a few months later that really turned heads. 

The UFC gave Bader one more chance against Jason Brilz this past November at UFC, and he took advantage of it, knocking out the Omaha native early in the first round. But it wasn’t until UFC 144 on Saturday, when he was finally given another chance to compete against a top-level opponent when he battled former UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. 

“To lose two in a row, you’ve really got to step back and be like, ‘What am I doing wrong?'” Bader said in his post-fight interview with MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani. “I’ve grown so much as a fighter, mentally and physically. I think everything just kind of came together.”

That improvement showed on Saturday, as he was able to fend off and control Jackson from bell to bell, earning a unanimous decision victory despite being a fairly significant underdog coming into the bout. 

Bader remained the underdog despite Jackson weighing six pounds over the 205-pound weight limit and essentially admitting that he was injured in some way going into the fight. This type of excuse-making before a fight is usually against ethics, but it didn’t seem to bother Bader. 

“We have a job to do and we don’t really worry about the opponent. We go in there and perform and that’s all we can do for our job,” Bader said.

Still, it was suddenly tough to believe that Jackson wasn’t working as hard for this bout as he had for others in the past.  

“Maybe he didn’t train the hardest he could have, maybe he overlooked me,” Bader prophesied. “Especially with him missing weight, you’re kind of like ‘Oh did he not train for this fight? Did he not respect me?’ But I don’t care. I came out and did my job which is to win. I don’t get my feelings hurt.”

The fact that Jackson may not have trained as hard for the fight might have been a small shot to Bader’s ego, but he still looked at it as perhaps the most important moment of his professional career.

“It’s the highlight of my career,” he said. “I’ve had a couple highlights like winning The Ultimate Fighter but you’re really not in the UFC then. That was cool at the moment. And then fighting your first big name like [Keith] Jardine and [Antonio Rodrigo] Nogueira. And then getting a win like this. I grew up watching the guy. He’s one of my favorite fighters and to be able to fight him, let alone in Japan, and beat him, it’s a surreal experience.”

Now back on the right path to success, Ryan Bader has once again established himself as a force to be reckoned with in the light heavyweight division. 

 

For more MMA news, fighter interviews and opinions, follow Nick Caron: .

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UFC 144 Results: Jake Shields Told Commission to Check Akiyama’s Skin for Grease

Coming off of back-to-back losses to Georges St-Pierre and Jake Ellenberger, Saturday’s fight against Yoshihiro Akiyama could have been argued as perhaps the most important, must-win fight of Jake Shields’ professional career. The former Strikefor…

Coming off of back-to-back losses to Georges St-Pierre and Jake Ellenberger, Saturday’s fight against Yoshihiro Akiyama could have been argued as perhaps the most important, must-win fight of Jake Shields‘ professional career. 

The former Strikeforce middleweight champion had fought and defeated legends such as Dan Henderson in the past, but the pressure that was relieved when his hand was raised at UFC 144 was tremendous.

“I’ve felt pressure before like against GSP in fighting for the title. But this pressure was not a good pressure,” Shields told MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani in a post-fight interview. “I was sick to my stomach this morning, coming off of two losses. If I had lost this, I might’ve been cut from the UFC and I’m 33 years old, I don’t want to be out there in the minor leagues trying to work my way back up.”

Though he was critical of his own performance, noting a few changes that he needs to make going forward, Shields did perform well enough against the new face at 170 pounds, Akiyama. Not only that, but Shields felt some love from the fans in Japan despite the fact that he was going up against one of the most popular fighters from the country.

“This crowd felt like a U.S. crowd. They were enthusiastic, cheering. They were even cheering for me!” Shields smiled. “It was like even between me and Akiyama. That was really cool.”

The former Strikeforce champ had to fight through some adversity during the fight including when Akiyama grabbed the fence twice in the fight to avoid takedowns. Typically this kind of foul would be accompanied by a point deduction, which could have potentially played a big factor in the final decision, but that did not happen in the fight. 

“It sucks, but I’m not going to hold grudges against it. Sometimes you do things in the cage and you’re not really thinking about it.”

Shields did admit, however, that he was concerned going into the fight about a history of cheating scandals that Akiyama had been involved in earlier in his career when it came to fighting in Japan. 

“I told the commission, hey, check this guy’s skin,” Shields said.

Akiyama has been accused of “greasing” in the past, a form of cheating which involved oiling a fighter’s skin up to make it tougher for an opponent to grab onto and thus much more difficult for the opponent to control the fight. 

“But lately, hey, he’s older, he’s more honorable. He hasn’t cheated in years. I don’t want to knock the guy, but he’s been accused of cheating four of five times in the past out here.”

Shields did praise his opponent, however, adding that he hopes this isn’t the last time we’ve seen him in the Octagon. 

“He was even tougher to take down than I expected,” the Cesar Gracie jiu-jitsu team member said. “I hope the UFC gives him another chance. I think he’s a legit contender at 170. The guy is strong, he’s got heavy hands, he’s fast. He gassed a little bit, but I think he’s in better shape at that weight and I would like to see him fight again.”

For more MMA news, fighter interviews and opinions, follow Nick Caron: .

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