Following his first-round submission victory over Marcus LeVesseur at UFC on Fuel 3, guillotine expert Cody McKenzie is eying a move to the featherweight division.Given that McKenzie has been struggling at lightweight and walks around at only about 150…
Following his first-round submission victory over Marcus LeVesseur at UFC on Fuel 3, guillotine expert Cody McKenzie is eying a move to the featherweight division.
Given that McKenzie has been struggling at lightweight and walks around at only about 150 pounds, the jump down in weight is not surprising.
What is surprising is who McKenzie will be facing in his first UFC fight at 145 pounds.
According to MMAweekly.com, the 24-year-old from Alaska will debut against a consensus top-three featherweight, former title-challenger Chad Mendes.
The fight, which has not yet been officially booked but has been verbally agreed to, is set to take place at UFC 148 on July 7 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
McKenzie has an overall record of 12-2 and is 2-2 in the UFC. Mendes is 11-1 and 2-1 in the UFC. He was undefeated before losing to current UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo at UFC 142. Now he’ll look to once again climb the ladder with a victory over McKenzie.
Though this bout will undoubtedly be the biggest test of McKenzie’s career, the rewards are huge if he pulls off the win—beating Mendes would likely leave him no more than two wins away from a title shot.
The main event at UFC 148 will be the highly anticipated rematch between UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen.
Andrew Barr is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report and a stand-up comedian. Check him out on Twitter @AndrewBarr8.
What in the name of Science is this bullshit? Fresh off a victory over Marcus LeVesseur at UFC on FUEL 3, it has been announced that the inventor of the deadliest guillotine choke known to man, TUF 12 veteran Cody McKenzie, will be making his featherweight debut at UFC 148, which transpires from the MGM Grand Garden Casino in Las Vegas on July 7th. Welcoming him to 145 lbs will be…Chad Mendes? Didn’t he just fight JOSE F’ING ALDO FOR THE F’ING TITLE?! Did McKenzie piss off Dana White, or is this Karma’s way of punishing him for making Josh Koscheck look like even more of a clown on the set of TUF 10? If it’s the latter, then Karma is a dick. A high school Letterman jacket wearing, clove cigarette smoking, man ass motorboating dick.
As we all know, McKenzie has won 11 of his 13 professional victories by way of his signature vice-grip like submission, aptly dubbed “The McKenzietine,” which has earned him a spot amongst the greatest one-trick ponies of all time. Mendes, on the other hand, has never been submitted, and is coming off the first blemish of his career, which came via brutal first round knockout to Aldo. Why it was decided that these two should face off is nothing short of baffling.
(You have no idea how right you are.)
What in the name of Science is this bullshit? Fresh off a victory over Marcus LeVesseur at UFC on FUEL 3, it has been announced that the inventor of the deadliest guillotine choke known to man, TUF 12 veteran Cody McKenzie, will be making his featherweight debut at UFC 148, which transpires from the MGM Grand Garden Casino in Las Vegas on July 7th. Welcoming him to 145 lbs will be…Chad Mendes? Didn’t he just fight JOSE F’ING ALDO FOR THE F’ING TITLE?! Did McKenzie piss off Dana White, or is this Karma’s way of punishing him for making Josh Koscheck look like even more of a clown on the set of TUF 10? If it’s the latter, then Karma is a dick. A high school Letterman jacket wearing, clove cigarette smoking, man ass motorboating dick.
As we all know, McKenzie has won 11 of his 13 professional victories by way of his signature vice-grip like submission, aptly dubbed “The McKenzietine,” which has earned him a spot amongst the greatest one-trick ponies of all time. Mendes, on the other hand, has never been submitted, and is coming off the first blemish of his career, which came via brutal first round knockout to Aldo. Why it was decided that these two should face off is nothing short of baffling.
When assessing McKenzie’s performance after his career-saving win, we came to the conclusion that he “isn’t exactly ready for a huge step up in competition” and should face someone like Reza Madadi to see where he stands. Although dropping to 145 lbs. surely changes things up for him a bit, matching him against one of the most elite guys in the division for his debut seems a little harsh, don’t you think? Can you imagine how insane the odds are going to be for this fight when UFC 148 rolls around? Cyborg/Yamanaka insane would be our prediction.
And while we’re fantasizing, suppose McKenzie somehow manages to choke Mendes into next week, what does the UFC do with him then? If Erik Koch can earn a title shot with a win over Jonathan Brookins a year ago, #RallyforMcKenzie campaigns are going to be popping up on the Twitter accounts of every Deadliest Catch and Ice Road Truckers cast-member overnight. Tins of Grizzly chewing tobacco are going to quadruple in value, and children are going to start guillotining each other on playgrounds across the nation. It will be complete and utter chaos. Sean Shelby, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!!
(Tard face: For when punch face just doesn’t describe it.)
It’s looking like Renan Barao might be getting a phone call from the UFC after all.
According to Dave Meltzer, bantamweight powerhouse Michael “Mayday” McDonald will not be the man to step up against Urijah Faber in Dominick Cruz’s absence, as he has suffered a hand injury that will keep him out of action for the unexpected future. Meltzer reported in his infamous publication, The Wrestling Observer, that the news came from none other than UFC President Dana White, although McDonald has yet to confirm it himself.
The news comes after the current bantamweight champion was forced to pull out of his heated trilogy match with Faber, scheduled for UFC 148, due to a torn ACL. Dana White announced during last week’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter 15 that Faber’s new opponent would be announced on tonight’s episode, and the general consensus was that it would be the Californian-born slugger, who is coming off a huge win over former WEC bantamweight champion Miguel Torres, would be the mystery opponent in question. The fact that the other most probable contender, Renan Barao, was already scheduled to face Ivan Menjivar at the same event only confirmed this notion.
If Barao is not the man to claim the empty spot, who else do you think could, Potato Nation? One thing’s for sure, we expect that tonight’s episode of TUF might finally bounce back from the ratings disaster it has been thus far.
We will have more on this story as it continues to develop.
(Tard face: For when punch face just doesn’t describe it.)
It’s looking like Renan Barao might be getting a phone call from the UFC after all.
According to Dave Meltzer, bantamweight powerhouse Michael “Mayday” McDonald will not be the man to step up against Urijah Faber in Dominick Cruz’s absence, as he has suffered a hand injury that will keep him out of action for the unexpected future. Meltzer reported in his infamous publication, The Wrestling Observer, that the news came from none other than UFC President Dana White, although McDonald has yet to confirm it himself.
The news comes after the current bantamweight champion was forced to pull out of his heated trilogy match with Faber, scheduled for UFC 148, due to a torn ACL. Dana White announced during last week’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter 15 that Faber’s new opponent would be announced on tonight’s episode, and the general consensus was that it would be the Californian-born slugger, who is coming off a huge win over former WEC bantamweight champion Miguel Torres, would be the mystery opponent in question. The fact that the other most probable contender, Renan Barao, was already scheduled to face Ivan Menjivar at the same event only confirmed this notion.
If Barao is not the man to claim the empty spot, who else do you think could, Potato Nation? One thing’s for sure, we expect that tonight’s episode of TUF might finally bounce back from the ratings disaster it has been thus far.
We will have more on this story as it continues to develop.
Chael Sonnen’s wish of fighting UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva for a second time was granted earlier this year, and it’s safe to say he has no intentions of going the distance at UFC 148, win or lose. For four and a half rounds in the main ev…
Chael Sonnen’s wish of fighting UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva for a second time was granted earlier this year, and it’s safe to say he has no intentions of going the distance at UFC 148, win or lose.
For four and a half rounds in the main event at UFC 117, he dominated the Brazilian with his wrestling and ground and pound. He even knocked Silva off balance in the opening minute of the fight. Still, he could not finish his opponent and ended up getting caught in a triangle choke, forcing him to tap for the eighth time in his career.
Heading into the rematch on July 7, many are expecting Silva to be better, but will the adjustments Sonnen has made in his ground game play a bigger factor in getting a finish in this fight? Will he be able to submit a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt who is the greatest pound for pound fighter in the world?
His BJJ coach and 2011 ADCC Submission Wrestling World champion, Vinny Magalhaes, thinks so.
“It was like 23 minutes of Chael on top, and he had a good grappling domination against Anderson, but he didn’t have the good jiu-jitsu guys to help him out,” Magalhaes told Ariel Helwani on the MMA Hour. “Now he does. If he gets the chance, he is going to submit Anderson.”
Sonnen picked up the fourth submission win of his career recently when he choked out Brian Stann at UFC 136. It was his first submission win since 2007. He followed up on that victory with a unanimous decision win against Michael Bisping
“Even though Chael has been a fighter for a few years now, people don’t realize that Chael never had a jiu-jitsu coach with him full time,” Magalhaes continued. “He was grappling with his teammates, but none of them are experts.”
Since the first fight with Sonnen, Silva has gone on to defeat Yushin Okami and Vitor Belfort, both by knockout.
UFC 148 will take place in Las Vegas and feature the long awaited rematch along with an interim bantamweight championship bout with Urijah Faber. Also scheduled for the card are Tito Ortiz vs. Forrest Griffin III and Rich Franklin vs. Cung Le.
(This tender moment is brought to you by the word: clownshoe.)
As we mentioned earlier this week, Chael Sonnen is basically the living reincarnation of the legend of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. He has the capability to come off as a reasonable individual, but more often than not, he chooses to drink that devilish potion, the proceeding surge of bravado almost always coming at the cost of his sanity. Where as Dr. Jekyll becomes a prostitute murdering madman upon drinking said potion, Sonnen reverts into a compulsive liar on such a ridiculous level — spouting claims of certain cycling legends and PED use — that he all but but erases the belief that he is one of the more intelligent figures in the sport today.
Take his recent interview with Jim Rome, in which he discussed his upcoming title fight with Anderson Silva, set for UFC 148 on July 7th. As he did while on “The Joe Rogan Experience,” Sonnen talked about the perceived danger of accepting the rematch in Brazil (as was the original plan) as well as his claims that Silva is a “fake Brazilian.” But you don’t start to smell the fish, so to speak, until his UFC 117 loss to Silva is brought up. After Rome gives the viewers a quick recap of the fight, Sonnen drops this beauty on us:
I am so happy you brought that up for the viewers who may not have seen this…what had happened was an absolute misunderstanding and misapplication of the rules by me. We’re in the fifth and final round, he locks on a submission, and I acknowledge that he has it tight by slapping my hand on his leg.
I tapped. So what I thought is you go to the cards. I win four rounds, he wins that round. Apparently, if you tap, it ends the entire contest, which I was not ever made privy to.
Jesus f’ing Christ. Words cannot even begin to describe the amount of facepalm that is necessary for that aneurysm-inducing bit of drivel. It is as if he is having a four-year old with a inoperable brain tumor scribble out his interview answers in crayon, knowing damn well that the child does not posses the ability to spell “inoperable” or “crayon.” Bill Clinton could not dream up a more ham-fisted response if you were to give him the third runner-up of Miss Plus America, an empty hotel room, and all the time in the world.
Join us after a jump for a play-by-play of the rest of the interview and a full video.
(This tender moment is brought to you by the word: clownshoe.)
As we mentioned earlier this week, Chael Sonnen is basically the living reincarnation of the legend of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. He has the capability to come off as a reasonable individual, but more often than not, he chooses to drink that devilish potion, the proceeding surge of bravado almost always coming at the cost of his sanity. Where as Dr. Jekyll becomes a prostitute murdering madman upon drinking said potion, Sonnen reverts into a compulsive liar on such a ridiculous level — spouting claims of certain cycling legends and PED use — that he all but but erases the belief that he is one of the more intelligent figures in the sport today.
Take his recent interview with Jim Rome, in which he discussed his upcoming title fight with Anderson Silva, set for UFC 148 on July 7th. As he did while on “The Joe Rogan Experience,” Sonnen talked about the perceived danger of accepting the rematch in Brazil (as was the original plan) as well as his claims that Silva is a “fake Brazilian.” But you don’t start to smell the fish, so to speak, until his UFC 117 loss to Silva is brought up. After Rome gives the viewers a quick recap of the fight, Sonnen drops this beauty on us:
I am so happy you brought that up for the viewers who may not have seen this…what had happened was an absolute misunderstanding and misapplication of the rules by me. We’re in the fifth and final round, he locks on a submission, and I acknowledge that he has it tight by slapping my hand on his leg.
I tapped. So what I thought is you go to the cards. I win four rounds, he wins that round. Apparently, if you tap, it ends the entire contest, which I was not ever made privy to.
Jesus f’ing Christ. Words cannot even begin to describe the amount of facepalm that is necessary for that aneurysm-inducing bit of drivel. It is as if he is having a four-year old with a inoperable brain tumor scribble out his interview answers in crayon, knowing damn well that the child does not posses the ability to spell “inoperable” or “crayon.” Bill Clinton could not dream up a more ham-fisted response if you were to give him the third runner-up of Miss Plus America, an empty hotel room, and all the time in the world.
Rome is similarly perplexed by this ludicrous claim to end all ludicrous claims, asking, “Isn’t that what a tap is? You tap out and you’re done.”
“Apparently it is,” Sonnen retorts, somehow managing not to turn to the camera and wink whilst doing so.
But Rome, the brave soul, presses forward. “Chael, come on, you don’t know what it means to tap?”
“Well I do know, but at that time-” says Sonnen.
“But you didn’t before then?” Rome cuts in, a fresh stream of blood now trickling down his nose.
“I gotta plead ignorance on this, Jim. Had anybody told me that tapping would cost me the entire bout, and not just the entire round…
I don’t remember how the rest of the interview goes because I blacked out while typing that last line. Judging by the way the fruit punch I was drinking is splattered from wall to wall across my room, I apparently had a seizure as well.
Not to argue with you, Chael, because its clearly a futile effort, but unless we’ve all been in a coma these past 10 years, we’re pretty sure that the seven other motherfucking people who have tapped you out before Silva should have gotten that notion through your head by this point.
Where any other TV host would have probably stood up and stormed off of their own set, Rome continues to press Chael, and we’ll give him this, he almost manages to make Sonnen admit that he was lying. Almost. That by itself is more of a feat than even the mighty Joe Rogan could accomplish in a good two and a half hours, so a tip of the hat is in order for you, Mr. Rome.
Check out the video below. The pants-shittingly stupid back-and-forth begins around the 4:10 mark.
If any luster was taken away from the rematch between Chael Sonnen (27-11-1) and UFC Middleweight champion Anderson Silva (31-4) when the fight was moved from Brazil to Las Vegas, the former title challenger isn’t going to let that get in the way of co…
If any luster was taken away from the rematch between Chael Sonnen (27-11-1) and UFC Middleweight champion Anderson Silva (31-4) when the fight was moved from Brazil to Las Vegas, the former title challenger isn’t going to let that get in the way of continuing to build the hype surrounding the fight.
Scheduled for UFC 148, Silva vs. Sonnen 2 might just be the most anticipated rematch in the history of the sport. It seems as if every fight is “special” in one way or the other, but this one is special in more ways than one.
“I just consider that (Las Vegas) home for me,” Sonnen said about the change of venue. He continued:
I’m from Oregon, but if I can fight in Las Vegas, that would be my ideal spot. At the same time, if we have a chance to set a record of 80,000 people, that would greatly feed my ego, and I would’ve liked to have been a part of that, but I’m happy to be in Vegas.
Silva, who has 14 consecutive wins and nine defenses of the title, could walk away from the sport any time now and do so as the greatest pound-for-pound fighter to ever step into the Octagon. He would also do so without a loss in the UFC.
His reign almost came to an end in 2010 when Sonnen dominated him for the better part of five rounds before being caught in a triangle choke and submitted. It was voted Fight of the Year by the World MMA Awards.
“Anderson Silva is Brazilian when it’s convenient, and that’s the truth,” Sonnen continued. “He’s got a two million dollar mansion in Beverly Hills. He goes and claims he is Brazilian when he wants to take a few of their dollars, and then he brings it back to America. I have a fan club in Brazil, he doesn’t. He’s a phony.”
Since losing to Silva, Sonnen has gone on to defeat Brian Stann and Michael Bisping. Many thought his fight with Bisping could have gone either way, but he was awarded the judges’ decision after three rounds.
Silva went on to defeat Yushin Okami and Vitor Belfort, both by knockout. Among his title defenses are victories against Dan Henderson, Demian Maia, Rich Franklin, Nate Marquardt and Patrick Cote.
I’m not a promoter. Dana White has a license to promote. I don’t have a license. I have a fighter’s license. I show up with short pants and a mouthpiece, and when the referee says, “Are you ready,” I say, “Yeah,” because I am.
UFC 148 will take place on July 7 and feature the rematch along with an interim bantamweight championship bout with Urijah Faber. Also scheduled for the card are Tito Ortiz vs. Forrest Griffin and Rich Franklin vs. Cung Le.
Following his first-round submission victory over Marcus LeVesseur at UFC on Fuel 3, guillotine expert Cody McKenzie is eying a move to the featherweight division.
