Tag: UFC 155

Video: Jim Miller vs. Joe Lauzon From UFC 155 (Full Fight)

https://youtu.be/SavUamvUFPY

https://youtu.be/SavUamvUFPY

Ahead of their rematch at the UFC On FOX 21 event next weekend, longtime UFC veterans Jim Miller and Joe Lauzon are featured in the latest “UFC Free Fight” video released on Friday.

Fea…

miller-vs-lauzon

https://youtu.be/SavUamvUFPY

Ahead of their rematch at the UFC On FOX 21 event next weekend, longtime UFC veterans Jim Miller and Joe Lauzon are featured in the latest “UFC Free Fight” video released on Friday.

Featured above is the complete first Miller-Lauzon bout, which took place back at UFC 155 in 2012, and saw Miller get the nod.

Headlined by Carlos Condit vs. Demian Maia and featuring Jim Miller vs. Joe Lauzon 2, the UFC On FOX 21 event is scheduled to take place on 8/29 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Chris Weidman Set Up for a Potentially Huge 2015…If He Can Stay Healthy

Chris Weidman is on the cusp of mixed martial arts stardom. Since the start of his run in the UFC, Weidman’s maturity in competition has been something worth watching. As 2015 approaches, the current middleweight champion finds himself in a posit…

Chris Weidman is on the cusp of mixed martial arts stardom. Since the start of his run in the UFC, Weidman’s maturity in competition has been something worth watching. As 2015 approaches, the current middleweight champion finds himself in a position to have a huge year, if he can continue to stay victorious and healthy.

The UFC has set up an interesting start to next year. The middleweight division is filled with a number of contenders. Vitor Belfort, Yoel Romero, Ronaldo Souza and Luke Rockhold are the four names that leap to recognition as potential challengers for the current champion. Belfort has his shot at the belt in two months at UFC 184. Romero and Souza are set to fight that same evening, with the winner presumably getting the next shot at the belt, per a report by Adam Guillen Jr. of MMA Mania.

If Weidman can defeat any three of those competitors next year, it would be hard to deny him a nomination for “Fighter of the Year” in 2015. Defending his title multiple times in 12 months would help him put together one of the most difficult runs in recent MMA history. However, Weidman has one factor working against him at times—his physical health.

As with many other fighters, Weidman has been forced to back out of multiple fights due to injury. His proposed bout against Tim Boetsch at UFC 155 was pushed back due to a shoulder injury (via MMA Fighting). Weidman’s next complication would come before facing Lyoto Machida in which a knee injury pushed that fight from UFC 173 to UFC 175 (via UFC.com). His title defense against Belfort was originally scheduled for this weekend’s UFC 181, but a broken hand suffered by Weidman caused this fight to be postponed to UFC 184 (via Newsday).

These are just the injuries that are known to the public. As with every other mixed martial artist who competes, chances are that Weidman has and will continue to compete while dealing with other physical issues. This is a serious precaution when predicting how great of a fighter he may become.

At 30 years old, Weidman has nearly six years of professional experience. That combination may allow him to stay around in the sport longer, but his potential for greatness and bout with injuries can draw a comparison to Mauricio “Shogun” Rua. Rua is just 33 years old, but numerous dealings with knee injuries have stifled his ability to remain at the top of the light heavyweight division (via Sports on Earth).

Weidman has already broken through some of the barriers that have stopped other MMA athletes. Appearances in major magazines and on networks such as ESPN will only fuel his rise within the sport. If he can stay healthy and victorious throughout 2015, Chris Weidman may finally reach the point of super stardom that has been projected for his career.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Todd Duffee Quietly Puts Together One of UFC’s Oddest Back Stories

Professional athletes fall off of the radar quite often. Numerous factors, such as injuries and personal situations, push competitors out of their sport before they had the opportunity to make a true impact. Todd Duffee was once considered such an indi…

Professional athletes fall off of the radar quite often. Numerous factors, such as injuries and personal situations, push competitors out of their sport before they had the opportunity to make a true impact. Todd Duffee was once considered such an individual, yet he has slowly made his way back into the world of professional fighting. Looking at his story opens up an interesting chapter in the development of mixed martial artists that is very unique in its own right.

Travel in a time machine five years back to 2009. Duffee would have just faced Tim Hague back at UFC 102. In this fight he would snatch the recognized UFC record of fastest knockout with a seven-second stoppage. There would be an explosion of excitement surrounding the potential that Duffee would have within MMA, but that storyline would not come to fruition.

Duffee would then begin to experience the injuries that have continued to plague his career. He would be pulled from a planned fight on UFC 107 but would make his return to the Octagon against Mike Russow at UFC 114. That is where the wheels began to fall off.

Duffee would dominate Russow for 10 minutes of this contest before being knocked out in the third round. This is well-known information. However, the peculiar moment came before the fight when Duffee would make some interesting comments that should have raised concerns about his mental state in relation to the sport.

A 2010 piece by Ray Hui of MMA Fighting revealed an honest side to Duffee before the Russow fight in which he called himself “overhyped.” He would go on to reveal other internal feelings that he had about the sport that are refreshing to hear from a fighter now and were even more so back then.

“I’ve been overhyped but I’m not overrated by any means,” Duffee said on the MMA Hour, MMA Fighting’s weekly studio show (as reported by Hui). “The guys I train with. The people I’m around … If I’m overrated, they are too.”

That statement, coupled with the result of the fight, put Duffee in a very hard place to recover from. Months after that defeat he would find himself on the outside of the UFC as he was cut from the promotion. He was just as shocked as much of the MMA community. 

“I thought it was a joke at first,” Duffee said in a MMA Fighting report by Ben Fowlkes. “I mean, they’re not cutting me off one loss. They don’t do that. It didn’t make sense to me.”

Duffee would fight one more time in 2010, a first-round defeat to Alistair Overeem, before disappearing from the sport all together. Two years and a movie later, Duffee crept his way back into the MMA scene. One victory in Super Fight League would allow him to be welcomed back into the UFC at UFC 155, where he stopped Phillip De Fries.

This point in his career deserves a huge reference point as he was competing without the full abilities available to other fighters. He was diagnosed with a rare condition that threatened his entire career, via MMA Mania. Being an athlete is hard enough, but doing so while battling Parsonage-Turner Syndrome (PTS) is amazing in its own right. However, this hurdle has not stopped Duffee as he is expected to face Anthony Hamilton at UFC 181 in December.

Todd Duffee’s story is interesting for a number of reasons. From hot prospect to potential bust, Duffee is still a name to watch in the heavyweight division. At just 28 years old he still has a lot to offer the sport at its highest levels. However, he seems more comfortable riding under the radar rather than being the face that everyone expects to smash opponents.

“I always want to be an underdog going into a fight, no question,” said Duffee before his fight with Russow. It’s just more exciting. Your training camps are so long and there is so much room for injury in your career, so sure you want to try to fight the best opponents you can fight always.”

He may finally have his request as he looks to rebuild his name among the biggest men in mixed martial arts. The heavyweight division needs a fighter who can establish himself as the man to watch. Duffee has shown the flashes in the past, but this more quiet approach—along with his backstory—make him a name to watch in the near future.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Congratulations, Cain Velasquez, You’ve Ruined the Heavyweight Division!


(Cain Velasquez may not kick like Anderson Silva, but his dominance over heavyweight will parallel Silva’s period of dominance over middleweight. / Photo via Getty)

By Matt Saccaro

After the events of UFC 166, the heavyweight division is now the UFC’s least thrilling.

Heavyweight is the new middleweight. That is to say that the heavyweight division under Cain Velasquez‘s brutal, face-rearranging reign will resemble the middleweight division under Anderson Silva during his peak — a boring division where no fighter is a threat to the champ. A division where everybody says, “Meh, who cares about who’s challenging for the heavyweight title? Cain is going to destroy him anyway.”

The only fighter to ever humble Cain Velasquez was Junior Dos Santos. But Dos Santos couldn’t repeat his success. Velasquez wrought terrible vengeance on the Brazilian in the rematch at UFC 155, and then again in the rubber match at UFC 166.

Earlier this year, I predicted that the UFC heavyweight division would become stagnant and dull:

Both men are insanely talented. But that’s the problem — they’re both so talented that the rest of the fighters in the division aren’t a match for them. The only challenge to Velasquez is Dos Santos. The only challenge to Dos Santos is Velasquez.

I was right and wrong.


(Cain Velasquez may not kick like Anderson Silva, but his dominance over heavyweight will parallel Silva’s period of dominance over middleweight. / Photo via Getty)

By Matt Saccaro

After the events of UFC 166, the heavyweight division is now the UFC’s least thrilling.

Heavyweight is the new middleweight. That is to say that the heavyweight division under Cain Velasquez‘s brutal, face-rearranging reign will resemble the middleweight division under Anderson Silva during his peak — a boring division where no fighter is a threat to the champ. A division where everybody says, “Meh, who cares about who’s challenging for the heavyweight title? Cain is going to destroy them anyway.”

The only fighter to ever humble Cain Velasquez was Junior Dos Santos. But Dos Santos couldn’t repeat his success. Velasquez wrought terrible vengeance on the Brazilian in the rematch at UFC 155, and then again in the rubber match at UFC 166.

Earlier this year, I predicted that the UFC heavyweight division would become stagnant and dull:

Both men are insanely talented. But that’s the problem — they’re both so talented that the rest of the fighters in the division aren’t a match for them. The only challenge to Velasquez is Dos Santos. The only challenge to Dos Santos is Velasquez.

I was right and wrong. Both men are talented. The rest of the division is no match for Dos Santos, but Dos Santos is clearly no match for Velasquez, their first fight notwithstanding. Thus, the future of the UFC heavyweight division is grim. Here’s how it’ll look:

Cain Velasquez destroys all comers — even Fabricio Werdum who, for some reason, people think is now a legitimate title contender. Velasquez will reduce Werdum to awkward, frustrated butt-scooting. The champ likely won’t have much of a problem with the other heavyweight hopefuls; none of them have answers for Velasquez’s wrestling, striking, and conditioning. Unfortunately, those same men probably don’t have an answer for Junior Dos Santos’ boxing acumen and power either.

The UFC heavyweight division in 2013 is analogous to the UFC middleweight division in 2006-7. Anderson Silva was the best guy. Rich Franklin was the next best guy and was better than everyone else besides Silva. The only problem? Silva brutalized Franklin so badly that discussing a rematch was asinine.

Now, just swap out Silva with Velasquez and Franklin with Dos Santos and you’ve got the post-UFC 166 heavyweight division. The excitement is gone. Everyone not named Junior Dos Santos will be fighting for the honor of being third-best, while Dos Santos himself will be fighting for the privilege of being Cain Velasquez’s eternal understudy.

5 Reasons to Look Forward to the Weidman vs. Silva Rematch

You may be surprised that the author of “Anderson Silva Should Not Receive an Immedaite Rematch” would write this article. But despite one’s own feelings on “The Spider” receiving an immediate rematch, only a fool would not be e…

You may be surprised that the author of “Anderson Silva Should Not Receive an Immedaite Rematch” would write this article. But despite one’s own feelings on “The Spider” receiving an immediate rematch, only a fool would not be excited about the opportunity to see Weidman and Silva face off at UFC 168.

There are seemingly countless variables that add intrigue into the bout. From the shaping of the middleweight division to the fight itself, Silva vs. Weidman II is likely to push anticipation to the limit. Regardless of the outcome, both men have created an ever-cresting wave of interest that has more than just the hardcore fans talking.

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Rumor: Junior Dos Santos’ Pre-UFC 155 Personal Problems Involved Split With Wife

When Junior Dos Santos attempted to write off his lopsided defeat to Cain Velasquez at UFC 155 as the result of “personal” issues, most of us just assumed that he was having a difficult time facing the fact that he was bested by a man he had previously destroyed. “Excuses are like assholes,” commented at least one of you. “JDS was way to overconfident and paid for it,” said a few others.

However, if the rumors currently circulating the MMA blogosphere have any truth to them, it was actually Armfarmer who provided the most astute observation of JDS when he declared that “Maybe he finally realized that he’s married to a 2 when he could be pulling 10’s left and right. That realization would sure cause me some distracting personal problems..” A bit harsh? Surely, but according to Tatame’s Guilherme Cruz, Dos Santos was in fact in the process of separating from his wife of ten years in the lead-up to UFC 155:

If you were wondering what JDS meant when said he has personal issues prior to Cain’s rematch, he ended his 10-year marriage w/ Vilsana. 

When Junior Dos Santos attempted to write off his lopsided defeat to Cain Velasquez at UFC 155 as the result of “personal” issues, most of us just assumed that he was having a difficult time facing the fact that he was bested by a man he had previously destroyed. “Excuses are like assholes,” commented at least one of you. “JDS was way to overconfident and paid for it,” said a few others.

However, if the rumors currently circulating the MMA blogosphere have any truth to them, it was actually Armfarmer who provided the most astute observation of JDS when he declared that “Maybe he finally realized that he’s married to a 2 when he could be pulling 10′s left and right. That realization would sure cause me some distracting personal problems..” A bit harsh? Surely, but according to Tatame’s Guilherme Cruz, Dos Santos was in fact in the process of separating from his wife of ten years in the lead-up to UFC 155:

If you were wondering what JDS meant when said he has personal issues prior to Cain’s rematch, he ended his 10-year marriage w/ Vilsana. 

Dos Santos has yet to confirm or deny these rumors as of this write-up, although it would surely add some credibility to Dos Santos’ claims that his head wasn’t right in the weeks leading up to his title defense.

Now, we could easily use this opportunity to start lobbing pot-shots at Dos Santos’ wife, but for once in our life, we’re going to take the high road. Besides, we imagine that you readers will more than make up for our discretion in the comments section anyway. It’s what we call having your cake and eating it too: a concept that Dos Santos’ wife is no doubt familiar withDAMN IT ALL TO HELL.

–J. Jones