We are just one day away from UFC 164, which features some top names like Anthony Pettis, Benson Henderson, Josh Barnett and Frank Mir.
What are some of the most intriguing storylines of this showcase? Who will emerge victorious in Milwaukee, Wis.?
Fro…
We are just one day away from UFC 164, which features some top names like Anthony Pettis, Benson Henderson, Josh Barnett and Frank Mir.
What are some of the most intriguing storylines of this showcase? Who will emerge victorious in Milwaukee, Wis.?
From the young to the old, here’s a look at some fighters to watch in an event that promises to be explosive and thrilling.
Will Benson Henderson Avenge His Prior Loss to Anthony Pettis?
The first time Benson Henderson faced Anthony Pettis in December 2010, the 29-year-old lost via unanimous decision in Glendale, Ariz.
Since then, Henderson has won his last seven fights.
Of course, Pettis has gone 3-1 in UFC since then, including capturing his last two fights by either KO (Joe Lauzon) or TKO (Donald Cerrone).
This should be an exciting close fight that could ultimately be decided by the judges after five rounds. Then again, there is also room for a KO, especially if Pettis loads up and connects with one of his well-known kicks.
If this fight doesn’t excite, it would be a surprise.
Josh Barnett’s Last Shot at a UFC Title?
Josh Barnett (32-6 MMA, 4-1 UFC) won the UFC heavyweight belt in 2002, but a positive test for steroids essentially led to his move overseas.
Well, the 35-year-old is back after his TKO of Randy Couture more than a decade ago.
Barnett certainly has the ability to defeat some of the top heavyweights in the world, but his loss to Daniel Cormier last year under the Strikeforce banner may have been a sign of things to come.
Of course, his opponent this time, Frank Mir, is getting up there in age and just lost his last two fights to Junior Dos Santos and Cormier.
This may be Josh Barnett’s last gasp at a major title, while Mir will likely do everything in his power to stay relevant in the unforgiving world of the UFC. Expect to see two of the world’s best grapplers put on a show.
When Will Frank Mir Retire?
If Mir defeats Barnett, it could keep the 34-year-old around for a little longer.
If he loses to Barnett, however, it could be the last MMA fight of his career.
Mir (16-7 MMA, 14-7 UFC) has given fans plenty of exciting fights over the years and it will be sad to see him ultimately retire, but no man is immune to Father Time, especially in the brutal world of mixed martial arts.
Hopefully Mir can provide a few more fireworks in the Octagon before he finally says goodbye. Many MMA fans want to see the veteran finish strong. He deserves a hero’s ovation after what he has given us throughout the years.
It’s been almost three years since Anthony Pettis stole Benson Henderson’s lightweight crown with the ‘kick heard around the world’ at WEC 53. However, both men find themselves in an eerily similar situation leading into this weekend’s rematch at UFC 1…
It’s been almost three years since Anthony Pettis stole Benson Henderson’s lightweight crown with the ‘kick heard around the world’ at WEC 53. However, both men find themselves in an eerily similar situation leading into this weekend’s rematch at UFC 164.
Despite suffering a close decision loss to “Showtime” in the WEC‘s final show in 2010, “Smooth” has rebounded emphatically since joining the world’s largest MMA promotion en route to his current reign as the 155-pound UFC champion.
On the flip side, Pettis once again finds in the position as the hungry challenger, having strung together a series of impressive wins following a rough debut inside the Octagon.
While both men find themselves in familiar territory, albeit under a different Zuffa banner this time, there are a few other that have changed for them going into Saturday night’s fights.
Looking at Henderson’s time with the UFC, it’s clear that “Smooth” has stepped it up a notch as a fighter.
Having faced a who’s who list of top lightweight fighters, from Gilbert Melendez to Frankie Edgar, Henderson has risen to the occasion each time to solidify his status as the division’s top dog.
The champ has looked faster and stronger in his UFC outings compared to his days in the WEC, appearing more athletic and more on point with his attacks.
While Henderson hasn’t been able to put away opponents, that’s because he’s facing the highest level of lightweight competition in the sport’s history right now.
Some may call “Smooth’s” recent wins a product of good luck or playing to the judges’ preferences, but his close decision wins can really be attributed to a more focused game plan. No longer is Henderson getting caught in deep chokes or bad positions, but rather, he’s edging out close calls by avoiding these things while turning up the intensity when he needs to.
As for Pettis, the thrill of being a world champion may have been short lived, but he too has proven himself to be a world class fighter in MMA’s deepest division.
After a wrestling heavy loss to Clay Guida in his Octagon debut, Pettis showed much improvement in his takedown defense against Jeremy Stephens and otherworldly KO power with his kicks in his latest two performances against Donald Cerrone and Joe Lauzon.
The flashiness that earned Pettis his moniker is still present, but it’s clear that “Showtime” has taken his game to another level as well.
Even in his sole UFC loss, Pettis showed great attacks from his guard and a feistiness for the finish that few others can contend with.
Both men, in terms of their tenacity and thirst for victory, haven’t really changed much since their first meeting in December of 2010. However, both Henderson and Pettis are better all around in their MMA games and have taken themselves to new heights as athletes and martial artists.
I’m not sure if this fight will end the same way as the their first meeting, but you can be sure that it will be just as exciting, if not more so.
With such a stacked card on tap in Milwaukee, UFC 164 is sure to generate extraordinary pressure for a cluster of fighters, several of them company staples.
Lightweight champ Benson Henderson will get his crack at revenge against Anthony Pettis in the …
With such a stacked card on tap in Milwaukee, UFC 164 is sure to generate extraordinary pressure for a cluster of fighters, several of them company staples.
Lightweight champ Benson Henderson will get his crack at revenge against Anthony Pettis in the main event, plus former UFC heavyweight linchpins Frank Mir and Josh Barnett will scrap in the co-main event.
Twenty other warriors will join Henderson, Pettis, Mir and Barnett on the UFC 164 card.
Some of these men will have their backs up against the wall, while others will try to capitalize on once-in-a-lifetime opportunities.
Here are the fighters sitting on the hot seat at UFC 164.
Quitting has never been an option for UFC middleweight Jared Hamman—even when he’s literally competing as a one-legged man in a fight.
Hamman’s last trip to the cage at UFC 150 in August 2012 saw the fighter suffer a gruesome injury during his bo…
Quitting has never been an option for UFC middleweight Jared Hamman—even when he’s literally competing as a one-legged man in a fight.
Hamman‘s last trip to the cage at UFC 150 in August 2012 saw the fighter suffer a gruesome injury during his bout against Michael Kuiper in which his hamstring detached from the muscle and literally rolled up his leg.
Between rounds one and two, Hamman was noticeably favoring the leg, but had no intention of giving up and conceding the fight to Kuiper. It had nothing to do with any kind of fake tough guy mentality or false bravado because Hamman is a fighter.
It all came down to being able to live with himself days after the fight ended because losing is something that happens to every athlete in any sport or competition. The difference here was Hamman didn’t want to wake up the next day and realize he quit.
“It’s not like ‘oh crap my leg’s hurt I’ve got to stop’, it’s like ‘my leg’s hurt, but I still have my left leg, I still have my right hand, I still have my left hand, let’s rock and let’s do this’. If you can still play, you’re going to still go,” Hamman said. “I absolutely love fighting, so I didn’t even think twice about stopping.
“Losing sucks, but quitting in my opinion is even worse. That’s why I bust my butt so hard in conditioning. Losing happens. There’s a winner and there’s a loser, but quitting and not being able to put your hands up, that sucks.”
There was still disappointment in Hamman‘s eyes when it was all over because he still lost a crucial fight in the UFC, marking his second defeat in a row. It only got worse when he went to the doctor and started his rehabilitation on the mangled leg and found out he’d be on the shelf for quite some time.
“That was tough especially when you’re thinking about your career,” Hamman said. “I’m 31-years old, you start thinking about that stuff. When I first went to rehab and they’re like lift up your left leg, and I lift it up no problem. Then they say lift up your right leg, and I could not lift my right leg up at all. At that point I was like wow this is going to be a long time, but it’s just what you learn in life. After about six months, little by little, step by step, I was gaining strength.”
Hamman eventually got his hamstring back to 100 percent and he was able to get back into training again, and that’s when the positivity started to flow again. However, Hamman was still upset he lost his last two fights, and there’s no financial gain for a fighter sitting on the sidelines for over a year.
Where Hamman gained his perspective was being forced to sit and wait for his leg to heal before he could do much of anything in the gym. Those long hours spent training two or three times a day would routinely wear him down, but after being unable to do it for several months while rehabbing his leg, he genuinely missed every moment of it.
“When you’re out for that long, you really realize how much you enjoy something,” Hamman said. “In a sense it was almost a good thing in an odd way. I love fighting and I’ve always known that, but this really showed me that. When I got that call (for my next fight), heck yeah, let’s roll, can’t wait.
“You hear a lot of fighters talk about burn out, and when you’re first starting out it’s like ‘man I love this’ and when you start fighting and going through the fight camps you start pissing and moaning. It’s stops being fun. To be honest this whole time, it was like this is fun. When I got that call, it was time to go back to doing what I love.”
Hamman isn’t turning a blind eye to the fact that he enters UFC 164 this weekend off two losses, and he needs to beat MagnusCedenblad to ensure that he will still have a home in the Octagon when the weekend is over.
He just knows that there’s nothing promised in this sport, and Hamman plans on enjoying every minute of the ride until it’s over.
“You can lose it any time,” Hamman said. “You really realize this is a privilege, this is cool and this is what I want to do.”
Damon Martin is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report and all quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.
Whether or not he’ll admit it, Clay Guida hates being an underdog. It isn’t that the featherweight doesn’t enjoy proving people wrong – he does.
It’s the underestimation that bothers him. Most of his UFC wins have come over opponents who were favored over him before he broke them down and beat them. Even before his UFC career began back in 2006, Guida’s opponents were regularly favored over him.
The assumption that he is an “over-achiever” that has to defy our low expectations just to win smacks Guida like a backhanded compliment time and time again. He’s too polite to get visibly angry when the term has been brought up but in the past, but he’s made it clear to this writer that he doesn’t think of himself in that way. After about a decade of “over-achieving,” Clay would prefer if we simply started referring to him as the elite MMA fighter he truly is. On Saturday, Guida will once again be considered the underdog when he fights former featherweight title challenger Chad Mendes.
Like Guida, Mendes is a wrestler, but he is a more decorated amateur one. Like Guida, Mendes is happy to go wild and throw strikes on the feet, but the Californian has been putting people out with his shots. Both men are obviously in the same weight class, but Mendes would appear to be the more physically imposing, stronger fighter.
Mendes’ only career loss was a shocking one to division champion Jose Aldo. Since that fight, Mendes has won three straight fights by knockout. At some point, in some way, every successful fighter must be a giant in his or her own mind. And in his mind, Guida is the clear favorite in his UFC 164 match up with Mendes.
“Chad is a great wrestler,” Clay admits to me one afternoon a month ago from his New Mexico training camp.
“But we are going to show him what Midwest wrestling is all about. It is a whole different beast. It is just scraping, driving non-stop, relentless and winning scrambles.”
Whether or not he’ll admit it, Clay Guida hates being an underdog. It isn’t that the featherweight doesn’t enjoy proving people wrong – he does.
It’s the underestimation that bothers him. Most of his UFC wins have come over opponents who were favored over him before he broke them down and beat them. Even before his UFC career began back in 2006, Guida’s opponents were regularly favored over him.
The assumption that he is an “over-achiever” that has to defy our low expectations just to win smacks Guida like a backhanded compliment time and time again. He’s too polite to get visibly angry when the term has been brought up but in the past, but he’s made it clear to this writer that he doesn’t think of himself in that way. After about a decade of “over-achieving,” Clay would prefer if we simply started referring to him as the elite MMA fighter he truly is. On Saturday, Guida will once again be considered the underdog when he fights former featherweight title challenger Chad Mendes.
Like Guida, Mendes is a wrestler, but he is a more decorated amateur one. Like Guida, Mendes is happy to go wild and throw strikes on the feet, but the Californian has been putting people out with his shots. Both men are obviously in the same weight class, but Mendes would appear to be the more physically imposing, stronger fighter.
Mendes’ only career loss was a shocking one to division champion Jose Aldo. Since that fight, Mendes has won three straight fights by knockout. At some point, in some way, every successful fighter must be a giant in his or her own mind. And in his mind, Guida is the clear favorite in his UFC 164 match up with Mendes.
“Chad is a great wrestler,” Clay admits to me one afternoon a month ago from his New Mexico training camp.
“But we are going to show him what Midwest wrestling is all about. It is a whole different beast. It is just scraping, driving non-stop, relentless and winning scrambles.”
As for Mendes’ new found punching power and impressive streak of recent knockouts? Guida gives credit to Chad, whom he counts as a friend, but isn’t as impressed with Mendes’ recent opponents.
“Lately he has shown power but we are going to show him what it is like to fight a top fighter,” the Team Jackson/Winkeljohn stable member says.
Toughness. Toughness to grit out tiring scrambles on the mat, toughness to withstand shots on the feet and the toughness to stand up and fight effectively against the best – the Gray Maynards, Benson Hendersons and Nate Diazs of the world.
When it comes down to it, Guida’s confidence always seems to stem directly from the idea that he is simply tougher than his opponent and gone through tougher tests. That he was tougher in the training room, went to lengths that his opponent would not and so that, even though on paper his foe might hold multiple advantages, come game time, “The Carpenter” will out work and beat him.
Former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill once said that “Continuous effort – not strength or intelligence – is the key to unlocking our potential.” There’s little doubt that Guida would agree with the Bulldog there.
Pundits are always talking about the talents of his opponents and Guida’s workman-like effort, as if a commitment to the latter couldn’t be an example of the former. Guida will fight in what will likely essentially be a hometown crowd in Milwaukee this Saturday at UFC 164, which has only motivated him all the more.
The leader of the “Guida Mafia” says he can’t wait to fight in front of his friends and family as he did last January in Chicago’s United Center. In his mind, Guida is the heavy favorite over Mendes and he’s sure to put forward a winning effort for his fans.
“I can’t wait. This is a great opportunity for me to climb the ladder. That’s the only reason I’m here – to win the featherweight championship,” he says.
The ability to push oneself mentally and physically, the ability to outwork everyone in the gym and cage, is a talent to Clay Guida. When it comes down to it, it is the only talent that he respects.
So, despite being a perpetual underdog to the rest of the world, in his mind, Guida is the most talented fighter in the world. And with talent like that, it is little wonder that he believes he’ll eventually become the best fighter in his division.
We are just one day away from UFC 164, which features some top names like Anthony Pettis, Benson Henderson, Josh Barnett and Frank Mir.
