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Jose Aldo vs. Frankie Edgar: ‘The Answer’ Needs to Remain at Featherweight

Frankie Edgar fell flat in his attempt to win UFC gold for the second time in as many tries when he dropped a unanimous decision to featherweight champion Jose Aldo. However, he found a new home at 145 pounds in the process. The loss to Aldo has t…

The loss to Aldo has to be disheartening. After losing out on two close decisions against Benson Henderson in the lightweight division, Edgar’s move down to featherweight seemed like his best chance at regaining a title.

While the goal of winning the title didn’t work out this time around, Edgar held his own and showed he deserved to be in the cage with Aldo. Unlike many of the champion’s opponents, you felt like Edgar had a shot to win as the fight progressed.

It’s for that reason Edgar needs to make the 145-pound division his permanent home. A move back up to 155 would place him squarely in the log jam that exists in the division. He’d have to wait behind Gilbert Melendez and Anthony Pettis if he wanted a shot at a third encounter with Henderson.

By contrast, the featherweight division is far less decided when it comes to the title picture.

The next title shot will likely go to either Ricardo Lamas or Chan Sung-Jung. Neither is likely to top Aldo, but they have done the most within the division to earn the opportunity to fight for the belt.

Ideally, Edgar will be paired with whichever one does not get the title shot in a title eliminator to find out who gets the next crack at the reigning champion. After watching Edgar go toe-to-toe with Aldo, it’s clear that he can hang with anyone at 145.

Edgar has always been a small lightweight and even looked small compared to the champion on Saturday night. Not many featherweights possess the size of Aldo, and Edgar was still able to score effectively throughout the fight and got stronger in the later rounds.

Should Edgar stay in the featherweight division, he would likely be favored against any opponent not named Aldo. Considering his popularity with fans and his long track record of delivering in big fights, it’s definitely within reason that he would be granted a rematch with just one victory in the featherweight division.

The whole idea of Edgar’s drop to 145 was that it presented him with the quickest path to winning a UFC championship. Even though he came up short in his first featherweight championship bout, it’s still the division that gives him the quickest road back to the top.

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UFC 156 Results: What’s Next for Rashad Evans?

On Saturday night, former light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans made his much-anticipated return to the cage. It was the first time Evans has competed since a crushing loss to Jon Jones in the main event of UFC 145 last April.The man who stood across…

The man who stood across the Octagon from “Suga” was former PRIDE star Antonio Rogerio Nogueira. It was a fight Evans was nearly a 6-to-1 favorite with oddsmakers and the former UFC champion was expected to earn a pick-me-up against a star who has name value, but is competing past his physical prime.

However, all expectations went out the window when a lethargic Evans stepped into the cage. The Blackzilian representative was missing the spring in his step and looked devoid of focus throughout the fight.

Nogueira outboxed Evans en route to a unanimous decision victory that gives Rashad the first losing streak of his career. So where does the Ultimate Fighter winner go from here?

It is important that Rashad next steps into competition against someone who is both ranked and noteworthy. Based on that criteria, we can narrow the options to a trio of candidates.

Ryan Bader

A power-puncher with tremendous wrestling and a newly-minted submission game, Ryan Bader is looking to establish himself as a legitimate threat at 205 pounds. Considering that he can counter Evans’ wrestling or win the fight with a well-timed right hand, it’s a great matchup between Ultimate Fighter winners.

Glover Teixeira

As Ric Flair said, to be the man, you’ve got to beat the man. If Glover Teixeira hopes to get to the top of the light heavyweight food chain, he will need to continue his winning ways against former world champions.

Teixeira is a top prospect in the division and, if Evans can pull off a win against a dangerous foe, he will be propelled back toward the top. On the flip side, if Teixeira is the one who emerges victorious, a new title contender will emerge out of Rashad‘s unfortunate demise.

Shogun Rua

Out of sight, out of mind. Sometimes, a highly-anticipated fight can fall to the wayside if Dana White can’t deliver it within a certain amount of time.

Such a situation occurred when Evans was forced out of a title fight against Mauricio “Shogun” Rua in 2011. Back then, both fighters were atop the UFC light heavyweight division. This summer, they will be fighting for relevance in a division they used to rule.

This fight features two of the most electrifying stars in UFC history. It could headline a UFC on Fox event, or would be a suitable co-main event for any pay-per-view.

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UFC 156 Results: Why “Big Foot” Silva Shouldn’t Rematch Velasquez Just Yet

After one of the finest performances of his career, Antonio “Big Foot” Silva may be very close to a rematch with the last man to ragdoll him, current champion Cain Velasquez. At the UFC 156 post-fight press conference, Dana White spoke (via…

After one of the finest performances of his career, Antonio “Big Foot” Silva may be very close to a rematch with the last man to ragdoll him, current champion Cain Velasquez.

At the UFC 156 post-fight press conference, Dana White spoke (via mma weekly) about the idea of a Velasquez vs. Silva rematch based on the strength of Silva’s victory over Alistair Overeem.

“He [Silva] and Cain Velasquez just fought recently, but I’m telling you, the way he looked in this fight, what he did to Alistair, maybe we do this fight again.”

How Silva’s name got thrown right back into the title mix is a bit puzzling, honestly. Obviously, his upset win over Alistair Overeem has turned many heads and should give Silva some long overdue vindication as a true fighter of note in the division.

Being caught up in the moment is fine, but styles make fights and if we learned anything from the first meeting between Silva and Velasquez, it’s that Silva simply isn’t ready for the takedown game of the champ, in any way, shape or form.

The fighting styles of Overeem and Velasquez are different from head to toe. In defeating Overeem, Silva still didn’t show us he has any answers for the takedown-heavy game of the current Heavyweight Division title-holder.

Silva spending time on his back against Overeem didn’t help prove otherwise.

Of course, White is allowed to wave the Silva flag and get caught up in the moment; he may be the UFC president, but he’s also a fan. Silva’s upset victory was a feel-good moment for the Brazilian and his fans that had to contend with talk based on the notion he only made it into the UFC because he beat Fedor Emalianenko.

But, in a rematch between Velasquez and Silva, the fight is once again going to be fought on the floor. That’s a location where Velasquez is far too superior for a rematch to be considered with any real legitimacy.

This really wouldn’t be a consideration worth writing about in normal circumstances. Silva would have to win at least a few more fights to be considered for a title shot against the champ.

But given the recent trend of fights being made by White to capitalize on any momentum available, we could very well see Silva contending for the belt against Cain Velasquez in the Brazilian’s next fight.

Overeem was in truth fully expected to win last night’s fight and give the heavyweight division another meaningful title bout, but now the division has once again been thinned out to the point of transparency.

There’s Velasquez, Junior dos Santos, and then everyone else, somewhere below.

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Dana White: ‘I Don’t Respect Randy Couture at All, Not Even a Little’

Big news dropped earlier this week that UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture had inked a deal with Spike TV and UFC rival Bellator. Sports Illustrated’s Loretta Hunt broke the story and detailed that Couture’s first venture with Spike and …

Big news dropped earlier this week that UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture had inked a deal with Spike TV and UFC rival Bellator.

Sports Illustrated’s Loretta Hunt broke the story and detailed that Couture’s first venture with Spike and Bellator would be a stint as a coach on the upcoming Bellator reality series, which will begin shooting this month.

It came as no surprise that this fact did not pass without a comment from UFC president Dana White. “I’m happy that he’s gone, that he’s gone forever,” White said of the former UFC champion.

If you think that was where White would let things end you would be wrong. “I don’t respect him (Couture) at all, not even a little. The only time that Randy Couture is ever a man is when he sets foot in that cage. As soon as his big toe steps out of that cage, he’s the furthest thing from it.”

As far as why White feels this way about the Couture, White said that around Christmas time Couture sent him a text informing him that he had not signed a deal with Bellator or Spike, but that he was talking to two other networks and that White should relax and the two would talk after Christmas. White then said, “To this day, we still have not talked.”

For those that think there will be fallout that will affect Randy’s son Ryan, a fighter who has transferred to the UFC with the shuttering of Strikeforce, White said that isn’t going to happen.

In fact White called Ryan and told him, “I want you here if you want to be here, but I need you to understand this, me and your dad are not good. Me and your dad are never going to be good, never, ever again. If you want me to release you from your contract so that you can go do a deal with Bellator I would do that for you.”

According to White, Ryan’s reply was that “This is my dream. I want to fight with you guys. This is where I want to be, I worked my whole life to be here.”

White then reassured Ryan that he was a part of the UFC family and was happy to have him as a part of the UFC.

White then closed with, “That’s it, that’s the whole story and I don’t ever want to talk about it again.”

**all quotes obtained first-hand by BR MMA.

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Dana White Says the Performances of Evans and Overeem at UFC 156 Were ‘Terrible’

The Blackzilians are one of the more well-known fight camps in mixed martial arts these days. Alistair Overeem and Rashad Evans represented that camp at UFC 156. Although both fighters entered the event as favorites, they left in defeat, a fact that di…

“The Blackzilians did not represent this evening, it was a bad night for them,” White said at the post-fight media scrum.

The first fighter of the two that White discussed was Overeem. Before the fight all signs pointed to Overeem earning a shot at UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez. To earn that shot Overeem had to get past Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva, a fighter that Velasquez handled with relative ease at UFC 146, earning a first-round TKO. “He was running into a clinch, he wasn’t throwing punches, his hands were down by his knees, it was a weird fight,” White said of Overeem.

White then discussed the overall performance of Evans and Overeem and he did not offer kind words. “Terrible. Both of them looked out of shape. They had a bad night. They probably have to reevaluate some things in their camp.”

Much like Overeem, Evans was being discussed as being one fight away from a UFC title shot with a win. Had Evans defeated Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, he would have been considered as a potential opponent for UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva.

With both Blackzilians fighters tasting defeat on Saturday night, they have fallen out of the running for those title shots. White would not offer with 100 percent certainty who would fight for those two titles next, but when asked if it looked like Chris Weidman was the only fight left available for Anderson Silva, he replied, “I would have to say yes.”

As for Velasquez, that’s a trickier situation, but after Silva’s TKO win over Overeem, White offered that a rematch between Antonio Silva was not out of the question

If fight fans were looking for UFC 156 to tie a nice bow around some upcoming title fights, they were extremely let down on Saturday night.

**all quotes obtained first-hand by BR MMA

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Alistair Overeem vs. Bigfoot Silva: Antonio Silva Best Performance of UFC 156

At UFC 156, heavyweight titans Alistair Overeem and Antonio Silva clashed. It was the horse-eater vs. the giant. It was a children’s fantasy novel come to life. Overeem (36-12-1) was a heavy favorite coming into the fight. Silva (18-4), despite pr…

At UFC 156, heavyweight titans Alistair Overeem and Antonio Silva clashed. It was the horse-eater vs. the giant. It was a children’s fantasy novel come to life.

Overeem (36-12-1) was a heavy favorite coming into the fight. Silva (18-4), despite previously upsetting the likes of Fedor Emelianenko and Travis Browne, was comfortably ensconced in his angry-underdog role.

For a while, everything unfolded the way it was supposed to, more or less. Overeem did not appear as sharp or strong as he had in some of his previous fights, but was still controlling the fight. He landed knees, pulled off a takedown, worked some big ground-and-pound and absorbed no substantial damage from “Bigfoot.”

But then a funny thing happened on the way to Cain Velasquez. Overeem started taunting a little. Then he started taunting a lot. Nothing silly or exaggerated, but there was a lot of smirking. A lot of dropping of the hands. A lot of, I don’t know, loafing. And it all followed on a week of disrespectful smack from The Reem.

Then, in the waning seconds of the second round, referee Herb Dean stood Silva up as Overeem stood over him throwing half-hearted leg kicks. Silva used the opportunity to land a big knee from the clinch. At the start of the third, Silva landed a few short rights, and Overeem appeared almost stunned. Silva whooshed in. A head kick and just some unbelievably powerful shots and in about 20 seconds it was over. Dean stepped between them, called the KO and ushered Bigfoot away.

But then Bigfoot came back. He tromped back over to Overeem’s crumpled body. And he shouted some stuff down at him. He then let Dean carry him back away. He climbed to the top of the cage, the crowd going nuts. And then he shouted some more.

By the time Silva’s lovable, broken-English post-fight interview with Joe Rogan was complete, he had a new fan. And when I say that he had a new fan, I mean myself. I’m now a fan of yours, Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva.

Without a doubt, at UFC 156, Antonio Silva was both the Knockout of the Night (it did win, by the way) and the story of the night. It’s a headline that writes itself: Giant Beats Down Bully.

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