Joseph Benavidez will finally get another shot at fighting for a world title, as he takes on Demetrious Johnson at UFC 152 this weekend for the inaugural flyweight championship.It’s been a while since we’ve seen Benavidez in the top contender role, hav…
Joseph Benavidez will finally get another shot at fighting for a world title, as he takes on Demetrious Johnson at UFC 152 this weekend for the inaugural flyweight championship.
It’s been a while since we’ve seen Benavidez in the top contender role, having not fought for a title since losing a split decision to bantamweight champ Dominick Cruz at WEC 50 in August of 2010. But with four straight wins since that loss, it may just be time for the Team Alpha Male product to wear some gold.
Even before dropping down to flyweight, Benavidez was rolling through the 135 lb. division in both the WEC and the UFC, with his only adversity coming against Cruz. Now that he’s at his natural weight class, Benavidez will be a dominant force at 125.
In the opening round of the UFC flyweight tournament, Benavidez showed just how fast and powerful he is fighting in this division by TKOingYasuhiroUrushitani 11 seconds into the second round.
Against Johnson, Benavidez will once again have a power advantage. His striking is crisp and on point, a scary combination considering his relatively heavy hands.
This power advantage will also aid Benavidez‘s wrestling, which is also technically superior to “Mighy Mouse’s”.
Johnson’s only real edge is in his speed. If Benavidez can slow him down with powerful leg kicks, and beat him up against the cage and on the ground, that should slow down “Mighy Mouse” enough to let Benavidez unload.
At the end of the day, it will be Benavidez who walks out of the Octagon as the UFC’s first flyweight champ.
To say the we like to have our fun at Michael Bisping’s expense would be like saying that Muhammad Ali liked to have his fun at Joe Frazier’s expense. Bisping is a polarizing figure in every sense of the word and one who is not likely to back down in the face of adversity. Therein lies his appeal. So if we could offer any advice to the Bisping haters out there, it would be to stifle said hatred when in “The Count’s” actual presence. Otherwise, you could quickly find yourself on the wrong end of a verbal (not to mention physical) beatdown in the near future.
Take this guy for instance:
As one can deduce from a basic ocular patdown — Skull t-shirt? Check. Dyed hair/soul patch/spray tan combo? Check. A faux gold chain draped over said skull t-shirt? Chiggity check yourself before you wreck yourself, Cotton — this guy knows A LOT about MMA. Hence his decision to heckle Bisping from the crowd during his UFC 152 open workout.
It did not go well.
To say the we like to have our fun at Michael Bisping’s expense would be like saying that Muhammad Ali liked to have his fun at Joe Frazier’s expense. Bisping is a polarizing figure in every sense of the word and one who is not likely to back down in the face of adversity. Therein lies his appeal. So if we could offer any advice to the Bisping haters out there, it would be to stifle said hatred when in “The Count’s” actual presence. Otherwise, you could quickly find yourself on the wrong end of a verbal (not to mention physical) beatdown in the near future.
Take this guy for instance:
As one can deduce from a basic ocular patdown – Skull t-shirt? Check. Dyed hair/soul patch/spray tan combo? Check. A faux gold chain draped over said skull t-shirt? Chiggity check yourself before you wreck yourself, Cotton – this guy knows A LOT about MMA. Hence his decision to heckle Bisping from the crowd during his UFC 152 open workout.
It did not go well.
“It takes more than two punches to win a belt,” the gentlemen we shall now refer to as “The Shituation” called out, clearly an acolyte of Freddie Roach.
“Oh yeah, cause you’d know. Where’s your belt, big boy?” Bisping responds, which is really the only response any fighter ever has to give a heckler with love handles.
And before Shituation can even begin to roll up his sleeves and reveal his wicked sweet tribal tats, Bisping hits him with the figurative one-two punch, which in this case is daring the guy to take a one-two punch from Bisping:
“Hey I can do a couple warmup rounds if you want to jump in. Let’s see how big your balls are, son.” Bisping challenges. The crowd appropriately gives the Brit his due credit with a collective “Awww snap!”
At this point, the heckler continues to pursue without actually stepping up and taking his medicine and is promptly escorted out of the building to the cheers of everyone else in attendance. On the Joe Rogan Scale of Heckler Annihilation, we give “The Count” and 8.5 out of 10. His performance would have been flawless had he decided against taking a final shot at The Shituation on his way out:
“You’re the tough guy, you got the Afflicition shirt on!” Bisping shouted before being wrangled back in by his boxing coach Jason Parillo. It’s a solid burn, one that is actually taken directly from the master’s playbook, but it loses some of its punch when you consider that Bisping is sponsored by the company he was just shitting on.
Bisping later claimed in an interview with Ariel Helwani that he only threw the man out because he was irritating Parillo, which, whatever. Bisping 1, Heckler 0.
And speaking of earning some fans, skip ahead to the 5 minute mark of the video to see Jon Jones jovially interacting with the pro-Belfort Brazilians in the crowd. He even goes in for the high five on one of them only to pull away at the last second. Cool as a cucumber, this guy is.
Waitaminute…Bones Jones and Michael Bisping both avoided yet another public relations nightmare and came across as likable dudes? On the same day?
Bleacher Report caught up with Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson, who faces Joseph Benavidez on Saturday night at UFC 152 for the first-ever UFC flyweight championship.Johnson discusses his long road getting to this point and much more. Check out …
Bleacher Report caught up with Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson, who faces Joseph Benavidez on Saturday night at UFC 152 for the first-ever UFC flyweight championship.
Johnson discusses his long road getting to this point and much more.
Check out the video, which includes footage from his open workout session at Xtreme Couture in Toronto, above.
Considering all the shit he’s taken over the past couple weeks from UFC fans and his boss since the cancelation of UFC 151, it’s actually good to see that light-heavyweight champion Jon Jones is relaxed and in good-spirits during this interview yesterday with Ariel Helwani. Jones has put the ugly recent past behind him, and when he finally gets the chance to have a one-on-one conversation with Dana White — because he hasn’t yet, if you can believe it — he plans to look DW dead in his beet-red face and forgive him. Here’s the transcription via FightOpinion:
JON JONES: “I’m going to say, Dana… you know, I’m just going to tell him that I forgive him, pretty much. I have a general intention of what I want to happen and basically it’s going to based on forgiveness. I’m not expecting him to apologize but I’m moving forward, you know, I’m moving forward and Dana… spoke his mind and, you know, ultimately he can’t take back what happened, I can’t take back what happened. I don’t think he wants to and I don’t want to, so, we’re just going to be men and keep this great journey that we have going. You know, we’re both ambassadors for the UFC and as for not being on the same page, as I said (Tuesday) on Sportscenter it makes no sense for us MMA fans, MMA nation so, uh, you know, I want to do great things and I think having them on my side or working with them and not being known as like, you know, a troublemaker with him will be beneficial for both of us.
ARIEL HELWANI: “How do you forgive someone who hasn’t apologized?”
JON JONES: “You know, I don’t know. I don’t know how that works but I want to try it.”
Considering all the shit he’s taken over the past couple weeks from UFC fans and his boss since the cancelation of UFC 151, it’s actually good to see that light-heavyweight champion Jon Jones is relaxed and in good-spirits during this interview yesterday with Ariel Helwani. Jones has put the ugly recent past behind him, and when he finally gets the chance to have a one-on-one conversation with Dana White — because he hasn’t yet, if you can believe it — he plans to look DW dead in his beet-red face and forgive him. Here’s the transcription via FightOpinion:
JON JONES: “I’m going to say, Dana… you know, I’m just going to tell him that I forgive him, pretty much. I have a general intention of what I want to happen and basically it’s going to based on forgiveness. I’m not expecting him to apologize but I’m moving forward, you know, I’m moving forward and Dana… spoke his mind and, you know, ultimately he can’t take back what happened, I can’t take back what happened. I don’t think he wants to and I don’t want to, so, we’re just going to be men and keep this great journey that we have going. You know, we’re both ambassadors for the UFC and as for not being on the same page, as I said (Tuesday) on Sportscenter it makes no sense for us MMA fans, MMA nation so, uh, you know, I want to do great things and I think having them on my side or working with them and not being known as like, you know, a troublemaker with him will be beneficial for both of us.
ARIEL HELWANI: “How do you forgive someone who hasn’t apologized?”
JON JONES: “You know, I don’t know. I don’t know how that works but I want to try it.”
Yeah, we don’t know how that works either. The thing, I’m actually on Jones’s side here. Sure, he made an unpopular decision by refusing to fight Chael Sonnen on short notice, but he didn’t deserve to be publicly blasted and thrown under the bus by the head of the company. At the very least, Jones and Dana should apologize to each other.
But you know as well as I do that Dana White isn’t in the apology business, or the forgiveness business. He’s in the “you fuck me, I will put you on the fuck-you list for life, you fuck” business. So how will he react if Jones approaches him in the spirit of reconciliation and explains that he forgives Dana for what he put him through? Who knows — but I hope the Danavlog is there to catch the look on his face.
It’s safe to say that the biggest fight of Brian Stann’s UFC career is coming up in just two days, when he steps into the cage with Michael Bisping at UFC 152 on Saturday night.Bleacher Report caught up with Stann at the UFC 152 open workouts to hear h…
It’s safe to say that the biggest fight of Brian Stann‘s UFC career is coming up in just two days, when he steps into the cage with Michael Bisping at UFC 152 on Saturday night.
Bleacher Report caught up with Stann at the UFC 152 open workouts to hear his thoughts on the fight.
Check out the video above for Stann‘s comments on the fight and some footage of his workout, which took place at Xtreme Couture in Toronto.
Jon Jones is one of the most controversial fighters in the UFC today.His actions leading up to, and following, the cancellation of UFC 151 have rubbed people the wrong way.Fans no longer respect Jones as a champion and it could be years before he patch…
Jon Jones is one of the most controversial fighters in the UFC today.
His actions leading up to, and following, the cancellation of UFC 151 have rubbed people the wrong way.
Fans no longer respect Jones as a champion and it could be years before he patches that wound.
However, despite the growing hatred that has found its way to Jones’ front door, the 25-year-old still serves as the sport’s future.
Here are five crucial questions surrounding “Bones” leading up to his title fight with Vitor Belfort this Saturday at UFC 152.
