Tag: UFC 157

UFC 157: Don’t Be Surprised If Dan Henderson Never Gets Another Title Shot

Throughout recent years, last-minute injuries and weird accidents have robbed MMA fans of some fantastic potential matches.Just imagine, what if every UFC fighter stayed healthy?(And what if there wasn’t insurance as their safety net?)In the past year …

Throughout recent years, last-minute injuries and weird accidents have robbed MMA fans of some fantastic potential matches.

Just imagine, what if every UFC fighter stayed healthy?

(And what if there wasn’t insurance as their safety net?)

In the past year alone, we’ve lost Mark Munoz vs. Chael Sonnen, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. Alexander Gustafsson, Urijah Faber vs. Dominick Cruz III, Shane Carwin vs. Roy Nelson, Gray Maynard vs. Joe Lauzon and Forrest Griffin vs. Phil Davis—all due to one injury or another.

Despite all that, perhaps no cancellation was worse than Jon Jones vs. Dan Henderson.

Not only did an injury to Henderson’s knee scrap the title fight, but it also set off a chain of events that led to nearly every acceptable replacement turning down a match against the champion.

But Jones himself suffered the most backlash, pulling out of the card altogether when Chael Sonnen was granted a shot at his belt, effectively killing UFC 151 on the spot.

Since then, more facts came to light and it’s arguable that the entire incident was more Henderson’s fault than anyone else’s, as UFC president Dana White himself noted (via MMA Junkie):

“Dan Henderson knew two weeks before the fight,” White said Tuesday on FUEL TV’s “UFC Tonight.” “Two weeks before he told me he was injured, he knew. Had he given me that two weeks like he should have, [UFC 151] might have happened. He’s definitely to blame too.” 

And with the former Strikeforce and Pride FC two-division champion’s recent loss to No. 1 contender Lyoto Machida (by an impressive razor-thin decision, no less), it’s probably fair to say that “Hendo” won’t sniff a UFC title shot ever again.

Now that he’s temporarily out of the title picture, there’s nothing left for Henderson but tough fights against stiff competition.

Fringe contenders like Phil Davis, Glover Teixeira, Ryan Bader, Nogueira and even the loser of Gustafsson vs. Gegard Mousasi aren’t as difficult to fight as Machida, but they all present challenges that the aging veteran would be hard-pressed to deal with.

Plus, Dana White just might hold that grudge against Hendo for a while.

Ideally, Henderson never should have been fighting Machida in the first place.

After his 3-1 stint in Strikeforce ended with the knockout of Fedor Emelianenko, Hendo’s epic battle with Mauricio Rua at UFC 139 is reason enough that he should’ve had to fight anyone else for a title shot.

But he hid his injury, ruined UFC 151 and forced parent company Zuffa to cancel the event, costing an estimated $40 million (via MMA Fighting’s Dave Meltzer).

That puts the former “No.1 contender” in the doghouse.

Plus, White’s new stance on testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) means that Henderson, a known patient and longtime user, could be outright blocked from the title picture just like Vitor Belfort might have been, this author suspects.

It might not be fair, but 42-year-old Henderson has possibly missed his last chance at ever holding a UFC title belt, much less even competing for one.

That is, unless Sonnen and Machida suddenly get themselves injured before UFC 159 and every other light heavyweight on the roster inexplicably falls off the face of the Earth at same time. But a situation like that will surely never happen again—right?

 

McKinley Noble is an MMA conspiracy theorist and FightFans Radio writer. His work has appeared in GamePro, Macworld and PC World. Talk with him on Twitter.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC Rankings for Each Weight Division Following UFC 157

Despite Ronda Rousey’s impressive debut win in the UFC 157 main event against Liz Carmouche, the UFC has not yet released initial rankings for the women’s bantamweight division.The organization does have several 135-pound female fighters under contract…

Despite Ronda Rousey’s impressive debut win in the UFC 157 main event against Liz Carmouche, the UFC has not yet released initial rankings for the women’s bantamweight division.

The organization does have several 135-pound female fighters under contract now, but it looks as though the promotion will wait until some more fights are contested in the division before having the media vote on rankings for the class. 

One fight that did impact the rankings significantly was a light heavyweight matchup between top contenders Lyoto Machida and Dan Henderson. Machida defeated Henderson in a close decision to separate himself as the next fighter in line to meet the winner of an upcoming title fight between Jon Jones and Chael Sonnen.

Let’s take a look at how the 205-pound rankings changed, along with the ordering of fighters in all other men’s UFC divisions.

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3 Reasons New Fans Will Stick Around After Rousey vs. Carmouche

There are still roadblocks ahead, but the early forecast for women’s MMA in the UFC looks promising.The curtains rolled back on “The Ronda Rousey Show” at UFC 157 on Saturday night.For the first time in UFC history, women not only competed inside the O…

There are still roadblocks ahead, but the early forecast for women’s MMA in the UFC looks promising.

The curtains rolled back on “The Ronda Rousey Show” at UFC 157 on Saturday night.

For the first time in UFC history, women not only competed inside the Octagon, but Ronda Rousey‘s bantamweight title bout with Liz Carmouche stood alone as the main attraction.

The mere idea of women headlining a UFC pay-per-view card was initially met with all-around resentment.

How could a bout between Rousey and Carmouche possibly be held in higher relevance than one between legendary light heavyweights Dan Henderson and Lyoto Machida?

For Rousey and Carmouche, it was never about outdoing the men or snubbing legacies. It was about proving they belong and showing that they deserve to compete on the same stage as past and current all-time greats.

Like every man to ever step through the cage door, Rousey and Carmouche put everything on the line. It was all there—blood, sweat, heart, determination.

The crowning moment came at the end as thousands stood to applaud the women. It represented a monumental step forward in the sport. Women will now and forever be an integral part of MMA.

Here are three reasons new fans will stick around after Rousey and Carmouche.

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Dan Henderson: What Options Does He Have Left After UFC 157?

Dan Henderson came into UFC 157 with a simple game plan of attempting to touch Lyoto Machida’s chin with his vaunted right hand. Unfortunately for the Team Quest fighter, that opportunity never presented itself.Henderson looked every bit of a 42-year-o…

Dan Henderson came into UFC 157 with a simple game plan of attempting to touch Lyoto Machida‘s chin with his vaunted right hand. Unfortunately for the Team Quest fighter, that opportunity never presented itself.

Henderson looked every bit of a 42-year-old fighter in chasing Machida around the Octagon for 15 minutes. Even when Henderson found himself in an advantageous position like he did when he had Machida clinched in the first round or in Machida‘s guard in the final frame, Henderson couldn’t mount any offense.

At 42 years old Henderson can’t afford any losses as he attempts to battle Father Time. It’s obvious he’s out of the light heavyweight title picture after losing to Machida, but Henderson’s career is far from over.

The former Pride and Strikeforce champ has a handful of avenues left to explore in order to keep his career going.

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Brendan Schaub and Matt Grice: A Tale of Two Very Different Job Saving Efforts

When the UFC released 18 fighters last week with names like former welterweight title contender Jon Fitch on the list, the message was clear to all of the competitors currently under contract to the promotion. There is no tomorrow, only today. With the…

When the UFC released 18 fighters last week with names like former welterweight title contender Jon Fitch on the list, the message was clear to all of the competitors currently under contract to the promotion.

There is no tomorrow, only today.

With the influx of numerous Strikeforce fighters including an entire women’s division, plus 14 competitors from this season of the Ultimate Fighter who were all promised at least one more shot in the Octagon, UFC President Dana White said that their roster was bloated by more than 100 fighters under contract.

That means at the drop of a dime, a bad loss or just a poor performance and a fighter could be sent packing from the UFC.

Just days after the cuts were made, UFC 157 took place in Anaheim, Calif., and while there were plenty of fighters who didn’t have to worry one ounce about their job being safe or not, there were a few certainly sitting on the bubble hoping it didn’t pop.

Brendan Schaub headed into the weekend for his fight against Lavar Johnson coming off of two straight knockout losses.  The former Ultimate Fighter finalist happens to be a heavyweight, one of the UFC’s shallowest weight classes, but still a third loss would have been devastating and almost certainly going down by knockout would have found him waking up on the unemployment line.

So Schaub did what he had to do to get a win by any means necessary.

Time and time again, Schaub took Johnson to the ground and while he did aggressively look for a submission finish in the first round, the rest of the fight looked like a carbon copy of the initial five minutes—Schaub with the takedown and Johnson struggling to do anything from the bottom.

The crowd in Anaheim booed relentlessly, and Schaub was panned by just about everybody on Twitter for playing it safe and grinding out a three round decision, instead of giving the fans a show on Saturday night.

“I had to win tonight,” Schaub said after the fight.   “The last two fights I lost, I fought with my guts rather than my brains but tonight I needed to win this—so I used my brain. I know people were expecting a slugfest—but I’ve been working hard on my BJJ and thought I could sub him.”

During the fight, Schaub and Johnson could be seen talking to one another and after it was over, the former NFL practice squad player revealed their conversation backing up his desperate need for a victory.

“At one point he was talking to me on the ground saying “Come on, dog, let’s stand and give the fans a show” and I said “Sorry, bro, I gotta win this fight” and he said “I hear ya”,” Schaub stated.

There may not be a clearer case of the message being sent and received by a fighter in the UFC than what Schaub said in those two quotes.  He didn’t want to win—he had to win—and that made all the difference in his performance.

White didn’t praise Schaub’s strategy in the fight, but he also understood why the fight went down the way it did.

“Not the fight I expected, but Schaub’s been knocked out a couple of times too and he was in there with a big puncher.  He ain’t going to run in there with his chin out,” White stated after the conclusion of UFC 157.   “I guarantee that was their game plan going in.  Let’s take this guy down, I’m sure they hoped they’d do more damage on the ground than they did, but it didn’t work out that way.”

Prior to Schaub’s “win at all costs” performance, two featherweights battled it out on the same FX preliminary show with former Ultimate Fighter finalist Dennis Bermudez, defeating Matt Grice in a wild, three-round slugfest.

Bermudez and Grice battered each other back and forth for 15 full minutes, and the third round saw as much heart and determination as any fighter has shown in UFC history.  Bermudez attacked once he saw an opening after tagging Grice with a good punch and proceeded to blast away at his opponent’s head trying to get the finish.

Grice refused to go down, and with everything he had left he fought back winging punch after punch, trying to back Bermudez off.  When the final horn sounded, Bermudez and Grice were both exhausted, but had nothing to be ashamed of after leaving it all in the cage that night.

Bermeduz walked out the winner, but following the event Dana White assured Matt Grice that his performance did not only win him a $50,000 “Fight of the Night” bonus, it will absolutely keep him in the UFC for another fight.

“When these guys came back after that fight, obviously (Matt Grice) was really upset, I said that’s one of those fights that there’s no loser,” White explained at the UFC 157 post fight press conference.   “There is no loser in that fight.  When you turn on your TV set, or you put down your money, or you buy a ticket—that’s what you expect to show up and see!  As a fight fan, those are the kinds of fights you want to watch.  Those are the kind of fights guys won’t get cut. It’s pretty simple.”

Since the night ended, Grice has received continuous praise from fans and media alike for his gutsy performance while Schaub has had to listen to unrelenting criticism for “playing it safe.”

The UFC job market is a tough place right now, and both Schaub and Grice understood that going into the night.  The sad truth is both did exactly what they needed to do to make sure they’d be back in the Octagon again.

The cost of doing that?

Well for Schaub it means likely being relegated to a preliminary fight for his next bout because the UFC rarely rewards a fighter who grinds out a three round decision for his following trip to the cage.  The win guaranteed Schuab will be back, but does it actually put him on a shorter leash now to perform big in his next fight?

Matt Grice had to sacrifice his body to make sure he’d be back again in the UFC, and that’s obviously no small price to pay.  Grice is now 1-2 in his last three fights in the UFC, and another loss would be devastating if he wants to stick around any longer than that.

Both Schaub and Grice live to fight another day, and that’s all any UFC fighter can ask for right now.  There is no way to plan for two fights down the road, or a five fight master plan—it’s about right now, this moment and nothing else.  

If they don’t perform today, they won’t be around tomorrow, and that performance to get a call back from matchmaker Joe Silva can come in many different ways. Brendan Schaub and Matt Grice are shining examples of that philosophy.

Damon Martin is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report and all quotes were obtained first hand unless otherwise noted.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC 157 Results: The 5 Most Impressive Performances from Anaheim

UFC 157 became a memorable night, even though the vast majority of MMA fans only tuned in to watch the evening’s main event bouts.Ronda Rousey continued to armbar her way to yet another victory, but faced some adversity along the way. Lyoto Machida was…

UFC 157 became a memorable night, even though the vast majority of MMA fans only tuned in to watch the evening’s main event bouts.

Ronda Rousey continued to armbar her way to yet another victory, but faced some adversity along the way. Lyoto Machida was able to avoid Dan Henderson’s strikes as he won a close one.

Court McGee won an entertaining fight against Josh Neer, Urijah Faber notched another victory and Robbie Lawler picked up his first UFC victory since 2004.

There were a number of fighters who looked great in the Octagon, but which ones had the most impressive performances at UFC 157?

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