Fight fans have spent much of December looking forward to the UFC’s four planned events. However, I’m a little concerned. What if we’re not looking ahead far enough? What if those four events don’t give us enough to think or talk about? If we here on t…
Fight fans have spent much of December looking forward to the UFC’s four planned events. However, I’m a little concerned. What if we’re not looking ahead far enough? What if those four events don’t give us enough to think or talk about? If we here on the Internet run out of things to talk about, I think we might start eating each other. Just a little fear that I have.
To allay these fears, here is a breakdown of the recently announced welterweight fight between the rising but recently short-circuited Erick Silva and Mayor of Grizzletown Jay Hieron.
Former Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem is currently serving the tail end of a Nevada State Athletic Commission issued suspension back in May. That suspension, handed down for having elevated levels of testosterone prior to UFC 14…
Former Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem is currently serving the tail end of a Nevada State Athletic Commission issued suspension back in May.
Overeem shed some details on the matter in an interview with ESPN 1100:
“I never really dealt with Dana. Just hello and goodbye, we never really spoke really. Of course there’s a respect from my side and his side, a mutual respect but when this happened, the show has to go on. The show didn’t go on and I took responsibility for it but we didn’t speak. I was in Vegas, I was in a meeting at the UFC headquarters and I actually took the time to wait for him to finish with his business. I stepped into his office and took responsibility and I said it was my fault. I think for him hearing that directly out of my mouth and by looking each other in the eyes that was good, good for the relationship. That’s what I would like to hear if my employees messed up, I would like to hear directly from them. I just told him that I messed up, the show has to go on, it didn’t, I take responsibility, these are the steps that I’ve taken, these are the steps I’m going to take and he appreciated that. Immediately after I noticed a difference in his tone so I think that was the right thing to do.”
The former K-1 kickboxing champion is undefeated in his past 12 fights, racking up 11 wins and one no contest since getting knocked out by Sergei Kharitonov in Sept. 2007.
“The Reem” is scheduled to make his return to the Octagon at UFC 156 in February against Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva, although he cannot apply for his fighter’s license until the end of the month.
Although the untimely drug related suspension cancelled Overeem’s bout with heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos, White has indicated that he would still like to see the Dutchman fight for the title.
The UFC’s flyweight division has put on some solid matches so far, and two of its top three fighters will be squaring off at UFC 156 on Super Bowl weekend. MMA Weekly is reporting that Joseph Benavidez and Ian McCall have verbally agreed to the face ea…
The UFC’s flyweight division has put on some solid matches so far, and two of its top three fighters will be squaring off at UFC 156 on Super Bowl weekend. MMA Weekly is reporting that Joseph Benavidez and Ian McCall have verbally agreed to the face each other.
Benavidez and McCall were two of the four fighters involved in the UFC’s flyweight championship tournament. McCall fought Demetrious Johnson twice, once to a controversial majority decision draw and once to a unanimous decision loss. Benavidez fought Johnson in the finals after beating YasuhiroUrushitani. He also lost to “Mighty Mouse” via decision at UFC 152.
The two have been exchanging verbal barbs on Twitter for a long while now, making this one of the better rivalries in the UFC’s smaller division.
Benavidez was one of the top fighters in the WEC and in the UFC’s bantamweight division and was regarded by many as the favorite to become the UFC’s first flyweight champion. McCall, meanwhile, was ranked as the top flyweight in the world before the UFC entered the mix, but his strong reputation made him a must-have fighter for the promotion.
UFC 156 is already a solid card, headlined by a featherweight title bout between Jose Aldo and Frankie Edgar. Alistair Overeem versus Antonio Silva and Demian Maia versus Jon Fitch are also booked.
As usual, this is subject to change, but keep your fingers crossed that this flyweight bout comes to fruition.
Perennial welterweight contender Jon Fitch looked like a new man during his UFC 153 bout against Erick Silva, but the American Kickboxing Academy star has just upgraded.That’s the narrative that Fitch spun during a small seminar with members of the MMA…
Perennial welterweight contender Jon Fitch looked like a new man during his UFC 153 bout against Erick Silva, but the American Kickboxing Academy star has just upgraded.
That’s the narrative that Fitch spun during a small seminar with members of the MMA media in Lafayettte, Ind., as he held an open seminar to talk about his upcoming fight and the idea that he’s improved from his former self.
MMA Junkie dubs this new fighter the “Fitch 2.0” model, a man who realizes that fighting is a sport, but the sport of mixed martial arts itself is surrounded by the “big top” that favors big talkers and bigger personalities:
One of the things I’ve come to learn over the years is that the fight itself is a sport, but everything around it is a big circus… If you can make a case for being center ring in the circus, then they’ll give you a chance to take a place in that sport.
I wanted it to operate like a sport, but it’s not. It’s about entertainment. I didn’t spend enough time convincing fans that they wanted to see me in those fights. It was one of those things that I had to accept. If you want to get the big fights, if you want to make money, you’ve got to make sure the fans want to see you fight.
Fitch—often viewed by fans and pundits to be one of the more lackluster fighters in the UFC—has been actively trying to turn his image around. In his last three fights, Fitch displayed more action than usual, beating up Silva and BJ Penn, with a knockout loss to Johny Hendricks in the middle.
Most notably, Fitch won “Fight of the Night” honors at UFC 153, and he clearly took more risks against Silva:
I really didn’t do anything different in my fight (with Silva) other than take a couple extra chances, which led to a couple little mistakes. But it’s still the same type of game plan, same type of fight. The big difference is I started fast. Some of the other fights I started a little bit slower. You can look at it fight-to-fight, and I think that would be the one main difference.
Read the full interview at MMA Junkie for more thoughts from Fitch about his training and evaluation of upcoming opponent Demian Maia, former middleweight title contender.
Fans will get to see Fitch 2.0 face off against Maia at UFC 156 in Las Vegas (and pay-per-view) this coming February. Fitch looks to build off his upset win over Silva, while Maia comes into the match following a gruesome submission over Rick Story by way of a neck crank submission.
Even though Alistair Overeem wants to fight Junior dos Santos as soon as possible, the international heavyweight star expects Cain Velasquez to spoil the party.As the Dutchman discussed in a recent interview with the Las Vegas Sun, he doesn’t expect th…
Even though Alistair Overeem wants to fight Junior dos Santos as soon as possible, the international heavyweight star expects Cain Velasquez to spoil the party.
As the Dutchman discussed in a recent interview with the Las Vegas Sun, he doesn’t expect that he’ll get to face “Cigano” for the UFC heavyweight title any time soon. In his mind, that’s due in part to JDS flip-flopping on the once-planned matchup, along with Velasquez’s superior wrestling:
“I want dos Santos to win so I can beat him, but I think Cain is going to take care of him for me, unfortunately.” Overeem said. “Junior is going to get taken down. He’s going to get ground-and-pounded.
“[Junior’s] been doing the zig-zag. He wants to fight me then he doesn’t, so then he fights Cain. I think he’s going to have his hands full with Cain. He’s going to lose.”
However, it takes two men to make a fight, and Overeem was already slated to challenge JDS for the UFC Heavyweight Champion on May 26, 2012 at UFC 146. Those plans were scrapped once Overeem turned a positive drug test for abnormally high levels of testosterone, leading to a nine-month suspension.
Despite being out of action for so long, Overeem has been doing steady media tours in preparation for his return at UFC 156 against Antonio Silva.
Notably, the Dutchman also joined the “Blackzilians” supercamplast February, which led to Silva’s recent departure from the highly publicized group. As Overeem opines, it was ultimately an unwise move by the Brazilian heavyweight:
I think it was the stupidest thing on his part. This is a really good team with a really strong manager backing it and a lot of good people. I just don’t think it was a clever thing to do. I don’t even know where he’s training now.
Regardless of the inner-camp drama, both men will cross paths again at UFC 156 as part of the main card in Las Vegas this coming February. Overeem heads into the bout on a 12-fight undefeated streak, dating all the way back to a November 2007 victory over Paul Buentello for the inaugural Strikeforce Heavyweight Championship.
We were already plenty excited for former lightweight champion Frankie Edgar‘s challenge of featherweight king Jose Aldo — which will finally take place February 2nd at UFC 156 — but it turns out the stakes are larger than we thought. Aldo says that if he beats Edgar he will know he’s ready to move up to 155 pounds and challenge for that belt.
Edgar is trying to see if his speed will translate at featherweight and bring him more gold. Aldo is similarly using the fight as a litmus test for his readiness to take on the lightweights of the world. MMA Fighting’s Dave Doyle has the report.
“I’ve considered going to lightweight,” said Aldo. “As soon as my trainer decides that I can go up, then I will. This fight with Edgar will be a turning point. If I can win [against] him well, then I can prove that I can go [to 155 pounds].”
We were already plenty excited for former lightweight champion Frankie Edgar‘s challenge of featherweight king Jose Aldo — which will finally take place February 2nd at UFC 156 — but it turns out the stakes are larger than we thought. Aldo says that if he beats Edgar he will know he’s ready to move up to 155 pounds and challenge for that belt.
Edgar is trying to see if his speed will translate at featherweight and bring him more gold. Aldo is similarly using the fight as a litmus test for his readiness to take on the lightweights of the world. MMA Fighting’s Dave Doyle has the report.
“I’ve considered going to lightweight,” said Aldo. “As soon as my trainer decides that I can go up, then I will. This fight with Edgar will be a turning point. If I can win [against] him well, then I can prove that I can go [to 155 pounds].”
Aldo, who is one of only four Zuffa champions to have held a world title for three consecutive years (Tito Ortiz, Georges St. Pierre and Anderson Silva being the other three), has said for some time that it is difficult for him to make the 145-pound featherweight limit. He’s already cleaned out his division and says that Edgar might just be his final challenge at that weight class.
“He has a very strong reputation thanks to destroying several opponents,” Aldo credited Edgar. “That’s the motivation for me to face him and that will be probably my last biggest challenge [at 145 pounds].”
Do you think Aldo can take out Edgar, who lost his title in a close bout to Benson Henderson, followed by an equally close rematch loss? If so, do you think Aldo would have a good shot at taking out the Hendersons of the lightweight division?
Perennial welterweight contender 