Tag: UFC 150

UFC 150: Which Fight Will Steal the Show and Win over the Denver Crowd?

UFC 150 is headlined by a lightweight title rematch between Frankie Edgar and Benson Henderson, a bout which has deservedly received much of the media and fan attention leading up to fight night.  I get it—it is a title fight, it is a rematc…

UFC 150 is headlined by a lightweight title rematch between Frankie Edgar and Benson Henderson, a bout which has deservedly received much of the media and fan attention leading up to fight night.  

I get it—it is a title fight, it is a rematch and it features two of the toughest dudes in the world.  

That said, a fight earlier in the night is going to steal the show and win over the crowd in attendance and those watching at home. 

That matchup is the featherweight tilt between Justin “The American Kid” Lawrence and Max “Blessed” Holloway.  

While these names do not jump off the paper (screen), make no mistake: These guys are awesome, and they are two of the best strikers in the featherweight division. 

Whenever you match up two prepared, well-conditioned and hungry striking phenoms, back up, watch out and enjoy.  

This is what we will get in this bout: Holloway showed off a diverse striking attack and some of the best body strikes in recent memory in his win over Pat Schilling at The Ultimate Fighter 15 finale, while Lawrence is riding high after knocking out John Cofer with a devastating head kick at the same event.  

Clearly, the UFC brass liked what they saw from each fighter at that finale, and they decided to see how they would fare against one another.

We are lucky the folks in the fancy offices at the UFC headquarters are so damn smart, because this matchup is just awesome.  

 

Neither guy is phenomenal on the ground (unless they have been working on this area relentlessly), so each will likely look to keep it standing.  

When this happens, we are guaranteed fireworks.

Holloway is a tough dude, Lawrence is a tough dude, and each has the kind of striking that will leave your jaw on the floor and your fist in the air.  

I lean toward Lawrence in this bout thanks to his sheer power, but Holloway’s attack is varied and creative, and that can certainly create problems for “The American Kid.”

Whatever pans out, though, I guarantee you this: It will be fun to watch, and you will immediately be glad you paid for the pay-per-view card.  

If I am wrong, you can berate me on Twitter.

 

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UFC 150 Interview: Benson Henderson ‘We Know Each Others Dance Moves’

Benson Henderson made waves in the WEC when he captured their lightweight title. All signs were pointing to him becoming the next great lightweight. Then he suffered a defeat at the hands of Anthony Pettis at WEC 53 and some in the MMA community though…

Benson Henderson made waves in the WEC when he captured their lightweight title. All signs were pointing to him becoming the next great lightweight. Then he suffered a defeat at the hands of Anthony Pettis at WEC 53 and some in the MMA community thought that Henderson had reached his potential and just wouldn’t attain greatness in the UFC. 

Joke was on them as Henderson reeled off some truly impressive wins in the octagon before getting a shot at Frankie Edgar’s lightweight title. His victories over Jim Miller and Clay Guida were some of the best scraps of 2011 and truly showed that he was the number one contender. 

He faced Frankie Edgar at UFC 144 in Japan earlier this year and took a unanimous decision over the former champ. It was a decision that firmly cemented Henderson at the top of the lightweight mountain. But it wasn’t always like that for him. 

“I didn’t know that I would be the UFC champion. Did I intend on being the UFC champ? Yeah, absolutely. I didn’t exactly see myself doing this as a full time job or career but I certainly intended for it when I started down this path.”

Henderson not only trains at the MMA Lab, he also is a part owner. He’s one of the few fighters that truly doesn’t allow himself to get distracted with the party lifestyle that so many have fallen victim to in the past. In fact, he’s one of the most notorious gym rats in the entire sport. 

He doesn’t just show up to the gym when he has a fight. He is in there every single day working to improve himself and all aspects of his game. This also allows him to stay within the boundaries of fight shape which so many others lose in-between bookings. 

“I’m always in the gym, six hours a day. I’m in the gym all the time, six days a week. It’s one of the reason why my training camps are a little bit shorter. My training camp is five weeks long because I only need four weeks to get into fighting shape,” Henderson told Bleacher Report. “A lot of guys need to get back in shape, I’m in the gym all the time so I don’t really lose my conditioning as much as other people.”

His fight with Edgar is a rematch from an absolute classic at UFC 144. Henderson came out victorious and captured the UFC lightweight title in the process. After spending so much time in the cage with Edgar, it’s apparent that they know a lot about each other’s nuances. But Henderson isn’t anticipating the same fight. 

“Obviously it was a little bit different preparing for this fight. Pretty much every fight is the same. It’s a fight so you just have to go in there and be prepared and have fun,” Henderson said. “Having spent 25 minutes with him already, he’s going to know some of my dance steps and I’m going to know some of his. So it’s about who got better at what they do and who improved those dance steps.”

The UFC 144 bout saw Henderson have a bit of a hometown advantage with much of his mother’s side of the family in attendance. Henderson anticipates that he’ll have a similar showing against Edgar in Denver. After all, he is a Colorado native and cut his teeth in the Denver MMA scene. 

“I never really thought about that. I was born in Colorado Springs and I spent a lot of time there. I moved to Denver when I first started training in MMA full time. So I have a lot of roots up there in the MMA community. I also have buddies from college up there so yeah I’ll feel just fine in Denver.”

Benson Henderson looks to defend his UFC lightweight title against Frankie Edgar at UFC 150 tonight on Pay Per View. 

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UFC 150 Start Time: When and Where to Watch UFC 150

The lightweight title rematch between Frankie Edgar and Benson Henderson is upon us.  All the talk, all the predictions and all the smack talk comes to fruition tonight, and you better be there to see it firsthand.  Reading about a fight afte…

The lightweight title rematch between Frankie Edgar and Benson Henderson is upon us.  All the talk, all the predictions and all the smack talk comes to fruition tonight, and you better be there to see it firsthand.  

Reading about a fight afterwards is not nearly as fun as watching it live, so here is your step-by-step, do-not-miss-a-single-fight guide to UFC 150. 

Enjoy!

 

The Facebook Prelims

The Facebook prelims can be caught on Myspace and Reddit.  

OK, but seriously, you can catch the early preliminary action on the UFC’s Facebook page beginning at 7:30 p.m. EST. 

While Eiji Mitsuoka vs. Nik Lentz is not necessarily the most tantalizing of matchups, this is MMA, after all, and you never know what might happen.  Better tune in to find out.

 

FX Prelims

The FX prelims can be caught on TBS.  OK, that joke wasn’t that funny the first time, so I apologize for going for it again.

The FX Preliminary card starts at 8 p.m. EST with The Ultimate Fighter alum Dennis Bermudez taking on Tommy Hayden and Jared Hamman battling Michael Kuiper.  

In addition, a pair of bantamweight bouts anchor the prelims, with Ken Stone taking on Erik Perez and Dustin Pague vs. Chico Camus.  

 

The Main Card

The UFC 150 main card can be caught live on pay-per-view, with the action kicking off at 10 p.m. EST. 

The lineup is as follows:

Justin Lawrence vs. Max Holloway

Yushin Okami vs. Buddy Roberts

Ed Herman vs. Jake Shields

Donald Cerrone vs. Melvin Guillard

Benson Henderson (c) vs. Frankie Edgar

Not too shabby, eh?  

If you do not want to shell out the dough for the pay-per-view card, I feel you, and here is what I recommend: go to a bar.  

Seeing fights surrounded by similar-minded fans of MMA is pretty damn fun, and restaurants like Buffalo Wild Wings and Applebee’s are in on the action.  

If neither of these establishments is in your vicinity, try calling your local sports bar to see if they are buying the fight.  Expect a $5-$10 cover charge if you choose this route, but that is still a far cry from the $55 cost of buying it yourself.  

Now there is no reason for you to miss any of the UFC 150 action, so if something epic happens and you missed it, I told you so.  

Enjoy the fights responsibly, my friends!

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UFC 150: Henderson vs. Edgar Live Streaming Post-Fight Press Conference Video

At UFC 150, Benson Henderson will begin his quest to become the greatest lightweight ever by attempting to defeat a fighter who could arguably lay claim to that title, Frankie Edgar. Saturday’s meeting between Henderson and Edgar will mark the second …

At UFC 150, Benson Henderson will begin his quest to become the greatest lightweight ever by attempting to defeat a fighter who could arguably lay claim to that title, Frankie Edgar.

Saturday’s meeting between Henderson and Edgar will mark the second time the lightweights have clashed, as Henderson was able to dethrone Edgar from the top of the 155-pound division in February. However, a narrow decision prompted the UFC to grant Edgar an immediate rematch, which he had given to both B.J. Penn and Gray Maynard during his championship reign.

In addition to the main event title fight, UFC 150 will provide more important lightweight action in the form of a co-main event between Donald Cerrone and Melvin Guillard. The former training partners at Jackson’s MMA will try to jump back into title shot conversation after both competitors had rough endings to their 2011 campaigns.

Shortly after the event concludes, Henderson, Edgar, Cerrone, Guillard and several more of the night’s competitors will likely join UFC president Dana White for a post-fight press conference. A live streaming feed of the post-fight press conference will be available on the above video player.

After the press conference, stay tuned to Bleacher Report for more on UFC 150 and the rest of your MMA needs.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC 150 Weigh-in Video: Highlights from the Henderson vs. Edgar Weigh-in

UFC 150 is set to begin at 7:30 p.m ET tonight on UFC’s Facebook page, then will move to the small screen where it can be followed on FX prior to the showing of the main card on pay-per-view.On Aug. 10, 20 fighters tipped the scale in preparation for t…

UFC 150 is set to begin at 7:30 p.m ET tonight on UFC’s Facebook page, then will move to the small screen where it can be followed on FX prior to the showing of the main card on pay-per-view.

On Aug. 10, 20 fighters tipped the scale in preparation for the event. 

The UFC 150 weigh-ins were mostly without incident—all the fighters behaved themselves, and there were no shoulder checks to anyone’s face. The sole hiccup in the night’s proceedings came when Melvin Guillard weighed in at 157.5 pounds, a pound-and-a-half over the cutoff for his lightweight bout against Donald Cerrone.

The Young Assassin was given time to drop the excess weight, but declined the offer, instead forfeiting 10 percent of his purse to Cerrone.

The otherwise uneventful weigh-in was highlighted by the intense stare-down shared by lightweight champion Benson Henderson and challenger Frankie Edgar. The opponents leaned into one another, neither willing to flinch.

If the photo-op is any indication of how the fight will transpire, it looks like it will be a very promising main event. It also doesn’t hurt that Edgar explained he was “ready to fight his balls off” at the 24:15 mark of the video. Now that’s commitment.

Otherwise, the show was comprised of a lot of smiles, waves to the crowd and handshakes exchanged by opponents. The only real exception was Henderson awkwardly staring at the crowd like he had discovered a new species of aliens, all of whom were behaving quite peculiarly.

I guess the actual fights are all that’s left for UFC 150.

 

Hat tip to mmafighting.com for making a condensed highlight video of the weigh-ins.

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Henderson vs. Edgar 2: Most Likely Outcomes of Lightweight Title Rematch

Frankie “The Answer” Edgar and Benson “Smooth” Henderson’s headlining rematch at UFC 150 is one of the most difficult fights to predict in recent memory. Anything can and will happen under the lights of the Pepsi Center in…

Frankie “The Answer” Edgar and Benson “Smooth” Henderson’s headlining rematch at UFC 150 is one of the most difficult fights to predict in recent memory. Anything can and will happen under the lights of the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colo.

The air will be thin at the mile-high arena, but you’ll be able to taste the tension in the air as the fight begins.

At UFC 144, back in February, Henderson edged off the relentless and determined Edgar in order to steal his prized lightweight championship. The smaller Edgar was seemingly outmatched physically and could not do enough to turn the tide against the imposing attack of his opponent.

Since then, Edgar has had plenty of time to study and make adjustments from where he went wrong just six months ago. This added time to reflect and game-plan, coupled with his never-ending desire and passion, will make things different this time around in Denver.

That is for sure.

But what is the outcome most likely going to be? Will “The Answer” overcome the physical superiority of Henderson? Can he outlast him for five rounds and sway the judges in his favor this time? Or will he have to make an impact and take the decision out of the judge’s hands?

Let’s take a look at the three most likely outcomes of this pay-per-view grudge match.

 

Going the distance

Henderson has proven he has the strength, stamina and quickness to counteract the fast attack and wrestling of Edgar and gain the edge in the judges’ points system.

If he can withstand another five rounds of Edgar’s attack, he will likely be able to do enough on the scorecard to retain the lightweight championship in this one.

If this happens: Henderson will retain the title via decision.

 

Early-Round Winner by TKO

Edgar may not be a favorite to knock out Henderson because of the size and perceived strength gap between the two, but if someone scores an early-round, surprise TKO, it’s going to be Edgar.

The Answer is going to unleash everything at his disposal to try and avenge his title loss after a fifth-round decision.

If this happens: Edgar will be the one to do it.

 

Submission

Edgar has a more effective mat game and is the better of the two in taking down his opponent. If he can keep Henderson on the mat, unlike in their first bout, he may be able to secure a surprise submission and shock the world.

Henderson isn’t going to go down easily and if he does, it’s going to be even harder for Edgar to keep the stronger and bigger fighter on the mat. However, The Answer’s striking and relentless attack could set up a situation in which Henderson is jeopardized and in a position to be submitted by the former champ.

If this happens: It will be Edgar who sneaks in a surprise submission.

 

Follow me on Twitter @BigHoagowski.

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