Tag: UFC 155

Incredibly, Leonard Garcia Will Keep His Job, Despite Fourth-Straight Loss at UFC 155


(Eyes closed? Hands nowhere near his chin? Yep, that’s a man who has made his peace with getting punched in the mouth. / Photo via Tracy Lee)

UFC featherweight Leonard Garcia has had a rough last couple of years, going winless in 2011 and 2012, including his split-decision loss to Max Holloway this weekend on the UFC 155 prelims, but at least his new year won’t get immediately worse. UFC prez Dana White has promised that Garcia will not be cut from the organization’s roster, despite racking up his fourth-consecutive loss.

“There’s no way in hell we’re cutting Leonard Garcia,” White told assembled media after the fights on Saturday.

Garcia’s UFC job security cuts both ways. On the one hand, he’s a balls-to-the-wall fighter who is always exciting, if sloppy. A guts and glory fighter like Garcia is a promoter’s dream. He doesn’t have to be great to be marketable.

On the other hand, Garcia has only managed to win three times in his last eleven fights as a Zuffa fighter. Such a poor winning percentage in an active UFC fighter is an aberration, to say the least. Typically, even exciting fan favorites are cut loose after two or three consecutive losses and told to go put together a win streak on the regional circuits before they are brought back to the UFC.


(Eyes closed? Hands nowhere near his chin? Yep, that’s a man who has made his peace with getting punched in the mouth. / Photo via Tracy Lee)

UFC featherweight Leonard Garcia has had a rough last couple of years, going winless in 2011 and 2012, including his split-decision loss to Max Holloway this weekend on the UFC 155 prelims, but at least his new year won’t get immediately worse. UFC prez Dana White has promised that Garcia will not be cut from the organization’s roster, despite racking up his fourth-consecutive loss.

“There’s no way in hell we’re cutting Leonard Garcia,” White told assembled media after the fights on Saturday.

Garcia’s UFC job security cuts both ways. On the one hand, he’s a balls-to-the-wall fighter who is always exciting, if sloppy. A guts and glory fighter like Garcia is a promoter’s dream. He doesn’t have to be great to be marketable.

On the other hand, Garcia has only managed to win three times in his last eleven fights as a Zuffa fighter. Such a poor winning percentage in an active UFC fighter is an aberration, to say the least. Typically, even exciting fan favorites are cut loose after two or three consecutive losses and told to go put together a win streak on the regional circuits before they are brought back to the UFC.

Is it possible that, at some point, a UFC fighter who keeps losing reflects poorly on the organization’s status as the top MMA promotion in the world? Perhaps, but probably not. It’s a perception game. And we’re willing to bet that most MMA fans, hard core or casual, will be hard-pressed to see a substantial qualitative difference between a fighter like Garcia and one that he lost a close decision to, like Holloway, who is on a three-fight win streak and has only lost once in his pro career.

Additionally, it is difficult to get up in arms about the retention of the services of a fighter like Garcia, who gives it his all every fight against the best in the world, when we also express surprise and outrage when a fighter is cut seemingly too fast after just one or two losses.

That being said, Garcia has gone from losing to top contenders (Mark Hominick, Chan Sung Jung), to losing to tough veterans (Nam Phan, Matt Grice), to losing to green prospects like the 21-year-old Holloway. Garcia is not an elite featherweight, and it’s hard to even call him a gatekeeper at this point. His spot on the UFC roster comes at the expense of another featherweight, somewhere out there, who might deserve it more.

What do you think, nation? Is Garcia’s job security a good thing for the UFC and MMA or is it degrading the quality of their roster?

– Elias Cepeda

Junior Dos Santos vs. Cain Velasquez and the Top 5 UFC Heavyweight Title Fights

MMA’s heavyweight title fights are almost always exciting, and Saturday’s UFC 155 was no exception.Dominating Junior dos Santos for the full 25 minutes, Cain Velasquez regained his championship belt in a thrilling display of heavyweight action.  D…

MMA’s heavyweight title fights are almost always exciting, and Saturday’s UFC 155 was no exception.

Dominating Junior dos Santos for the full 25 minutes, Cain Velasquez regained his championship belt in a thrilling display of heavyweight action.  Despite the loss, “Cigano” showed a ton of heart by refusing to let the now-current champ finish him, culminating in one of the most exciting heavyweight title fights in the promotion’s history.

With so many great bouts between the biggest and baddest dudes in the UFC to choose from, here are the top five UFC heavyweight title fights.

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UFC 155 Results: Where Does It Rank Among 2012’s PPV Cards?

Despite a few late changes to the card, UFC 155 proved to be one of the most exciting pay-per-view cards of 2012.Highlighted by two exciting wars between Junior dos Santos and Cain Velasquez and Jim Miller against Joe Lauzon, Saturday evening was a nig…

Despite a few late changes to the card, UFC 155 proved to be one of the most exciting pay-per-view cards of 2012.

Highlighted by two exciting wars between Junior dos Santos and Cain Velasquez and Jim Miller against Joe Lauzon, Saturday evening was a night filled with surprisingly great fights from top to bottom.  But with so many cards getting hit with MMA‘s injury bug this past year, the competition is pretty thin for 2012’s top PPV events.

Many highly anticipated bouts were postponed—and even canceled—due to injuries, but 2012 did have a few contenders for the year’s top card.

The obvious first choice is UFC 148, highlighted by the mega-rematch between champ Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen.  Earning the most PPV buys of the year, the card lived up to the hype with Silva’s amazing TKO finish as well as a pretty solid night of fights on the undercard.

Another contender would be last month’s UFC 154.

Heralding the return of welterweight king Georges St-Pierre, the champ put on a vintage performance and dominated Carlos Condit from bell to bell.  Add in a huge KO win by Johny Hendricks plus the plethora of top fights from the prelims to the PPV, and don’t forget it earned the third-most buys of 2012—right behind UFC 145, another event you have to consider.

For me, UFC 155 ranks No. 2 for the year’s top PPV cards, right below UFC 148 and a spot above UFC 154, mainly due to the amazing main and co-main events.

Miller and Lauzon put on a spectacular show in this bloody back-and-forth battle while the big guys flashed the leather and kept the action pumping for all five rounds.  There aren’t that many top bill combinations that can stack up to that.

 

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Dos Santos vs. Velasquez 2 and the 5 Best Championship Rematches in UFC History

If mixed martial arts fans left Junior dos Santos and Cain Velasquez’s UFC on Fox 1 bout wanting to see more, they certainly got their money’s worth from Saturday’s UFC 155 headlining rematch.Dominating dos Santos in pretty much every aspect of the MMA…

If mixed martial arts fans left Junior dos Santos and Cain Velasquez‘s UFC on Fox 1 bout wanting to see more, they certainly got their money’s worth from Saturday’s UFC 155 headlining rematch.

Dominating dos Santos in pretty much every aspect of the MMA game to take the unanimous decision, Velasquez regained the heavyweight title in this action-packed fight.  

Despite getting soundly beaten, dos Santos showed a champion’s heart and left it all in the Octagon, making it the latest addition to the UFC’s number of exciting title rematches.

Here are the top five championship rematches in the promotion’s history.

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UFC 155 Medical Suspensions: 4 Fighters Face Up to 6 Months off

The post-mortem for Saturday’s UFC 155 event continues, with the latest news coming out detailing the fighters that have received medical suspensions following the event. For the amount of abuse they took during the course of their fights, Junior…

The post-mortem for Saturday’s UFC 155 event continues, with the latest news coming out detailing the fighters that have received medical suspensions following the event.

For the amount of abuse they took during the course of their fights, Junior Dos Santos and Joe Lauzon seem to have gotten off relatively lightly with 45-day suspensions. The heaviest potential suspensions were meted out to Tim Boetsch, Alan Belcher, Michael Johnson and Todd Duffee, who could all be out for up to six months.

In all, 15 of the 24 fighters that competed on December 29 received some form of medical suspension.

 

Full UFC 155 Medical Suspensions (via MMAJunkie):

Cain Velasquez suspended for 45 days with no contact for 30 days.

Junior Dos Santos suspended for 45 days with no contact for 30 days.

Joe Lauzon suspended for 60 days with no contact for 45 days for facial and forehead lacerations.

Tim Boetsch suspended 45 days with no contact for 30 days; also suspended 180 days unless nasal fractures are cleared by ENT doctor.

Alan Belcher suspended for 180 days, but can be cleared early by a physician for right-jaw and right-knee injuries. Belcher faces a minimum suspension of 60 days with no contact.

Eddie Wineland suspended for 30 days with no contact for 21 days.

Brad Pickett suspended for 21 days with no contact for 14 days.

Byron Bloodworth suspended for 60 days with no contact for 45 days.

Jamie Varner suspended for 60 days with no contact for 45 days.

Melvin Guillard suspended for 45 days with no contact for 30 days.

Michael Johnson suspended for 180 days, but can be cleared early by a physician for a right-hand injury. Johnson faces a minimum suspension of 21 days with no contact for 14 days.

Todd Duffee suspended 180 days, but can be cleared early by a physician for a left knee injury. Duffee faces a minimum suspension of 60 days with no contact for 45 days.

Philip De Fries suspended 21 days with no contact for 14 days.

Leonard Garcia suspended 21 days with no contact for 14 days.

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Luck Only Strikes Twice for Tim Boetsch

The luckiest man in the middleweight division suddenly became the unluckiest in his fight with Costa Philippou at UFC 155. Tim Boetsch was actually doing a pretty good job imposing his will on Philippou when an injured right hand and badly placed cut p…

The luckiest man in the middleweight division suddenly became the unluckiest in his fight with Costa Philippou at UFC 155.

Tim Boetsch was actually doing a pretty good job imposing his will on Philippou when an injured right hand and badly placed cut prevented him from continuing to execute his game plan. Philippou capitalized on his wounded opponent when he found himself in top position and Kim Winslow decided the noticeably crippled Boetsch had taken enough damage that night.

The loss takes Boetsch out of the title race, and we’ll probably never see him there again because he honestly shouldn’t have been taken so seriously in the first place.

After back-to-back victories over Yushin Okami and Hector Lombard, Tim Boetsch skyrocketed to the upper ranks of the middleweight division. These two wins, however, have something quite peculiar in common: They were both fairly lucky breaks.

The win over Okami was lucky because Boetsch was able to catch Yushin on the chin late in a fight in which he spent most of the time being dominated by Okami‘s grappling offensive. The win over Lombard was lucky because Hector’s Octagon jitters forbade him from unleashing the intensity of his usual offensive techniques at any point throughout the match.

Regardless of his heart and determination, Tim Boetsch didn’t earn his status as a top contender with the same quality of performance that led the other popular middleweights into title contention. In the aforementioned fights, Boetsch didn’t really display the level of talent that typically grants someone such respectable advancement in the UFC.

This is why what happened to Tim Boetsch at UFC 155 was bound to happen sometime in the near future.

Matt Serra got lucky when his looping right hand connected with the back of Georges St. Pierre’s head at UFC 69.

It can also be said that Mirko Cro Cop lucked out when Pat Barry let nerves and emotion severely impair his concentration at UFC 115.

Matt Serra didn’t really have the skills to beat Georges St. Pierre, and Pat Barry is currently a much better kickboxer than Mirko Cro Cop. But, as luck would have it, the underdogs were able to come out on top against people they simply could not compete with in terms of fitness and overall fighting ability.

The same thing happened when Tim Boetsch fought both Yushin Okami and Hector Lombard. Matt Serra got completely destroyed when he faced Georges again, and it’s safe to say that the much more experienced Barry would have little difficulty taking the washed up legend’s head off should they fight again anytime soon.

What would happen if Tim Boetsch fought Okami and Lombard again? His opponent’s nerves or a lucky punch probably wouldn’t help him out so much for a second time. Boetsch’s victories over these two fighters put someone who doesn’t have what it takes to compete with the best in the division in the race for middleweight gold. Boetsch got lucky twice, which is very rare but is in no way meant to be mistaken for what probably should have happened in the fights with Lombard and Okami.

In other words, Boetsch never really belonged at the top of the middleweight division. He was simply there by accident. What happened at UFC 155 was inevitable. Sooner or later (most likely sooner), Boetsch’s luck would have run out and he would have met his fate at the hands of someone who actually deserves to be praised as an elite contender.

It’s almost better for Boetsch that he lost his status due to an injured hand and disrupted sight rather than getting blatantly out-classed by a real middleweight standout.

Now that he’s out of the picture, a middleweight who can truly pose a threat to the other fighters looking to face Anderson Silva somewhere down the line will take his place.

Unless he goes back to the drawing board and somehow exposes a level of talent and athleticism we weren’t aware of, Tim Boetsch’s time as a highly ranked middleweight has just about run out. A second attempt to build some momentum and climb back up the ladder will be of no avail, because even though he holds wins over Yushin Okami and Hector Lombard, Boetsch is yet to show us that he actually has the grappling, striking or physical prowess to rise in the ranks of such a stacked division.

These two victories were earned primarily because of luck, not because he is a better fighter than either opponent.

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