Tag: UFC 168

Weidman vs. Silva 2: Why “The All-Amercian” Will Look Even Better in the Rematch

Though the timing seemed less than ideal, Chris Weidman still pursued his dream of capturing UFC gold in July, refusing to let former pound-for-pound king Anderson Silva beat him before the bell at UFC 162.
With just five UFC fights under his belt&mdas…

Though the timing seemed less than ideal, Chris Weidman still pursued his dream of capturing UFC gold in July, refusing to let former pound-for-pound king Anderson Silva beat him before the bell at UFC 162.

With just five UFC fights under his belt—and in the midst of the most tumultuous and trying period of his life—Weidman accepted the challenge to lock horns with the seemingly unstoppable Silva.

Weidman ultimately diffused the intense pressure and silenced his doubters by beating “The Spider” at his own game in just his 10th pro fight. The 29-year-old New Yorker handed the Brazilian his first career knockout and snatched the middleweight belt that Silva had held since 2006.

Now financially stable, healthy and focused solely on Silva, fans can expect a more refined, venomous and well-prepared Weidman at UFC 168 on Dec. 28.

“The All-American” not only underwent labrum surgery eight months prior to UFC 162, but he was also dealing with the destruction of his home by Hurricane Sandy. On top of that, Weidman had to make the trek to Las Vegas in July without cornerman and former UFC welterweight champ Matt Serra.

Two months after beating Silva, John Danaher, one of Weidman‘s jiu-jitsu coaches, colorfully explained to Chuck Mindenhall of MMAFighting.com the severity of The All-American’s situation prior to UFC 162.

He was essentially homeless. He was financially completely bankrupt. I remember I had to lend Chris thousands of dollars out of my own pocket just to keep him solvent while he’s preparing to fight Silva. And his life was essentially in chaos.

One day when people know the full story of what happened, I’m not kidding when I say this, it’s like a goddamn Hollywood movie. It’s Rocky Balboa. It’s insane. The guy had nine fights. Bankrupt. Homeless. With a completely broken shoulder.

If Weidman‘s life was in disarray before UFC 162, the former NCAA Division I All-American wrestler definitely concealed those problems from the Silva camp.

In fact, Weidman baffled many and coolly predicted that he’d not only best the seemingly invincible Silva, but that he’d finish him and then offer him an immediate rematch.

Weidman appears to have brewed a more genuine brand of swagger before his rematch with The Spider. During his pre-fight interview for UFC 168, the Brazilian jiu-jitsu brown belt brashly revealed his game plan for the rematch.

I’m gonna prove it again. I’m telling Anderson Silva my game plan. This is my game plan. I’m gonna walk forward, I’m gonna put pressure on him, I’m gonna cut him off. If he has his hands down, I’m punching him in his face. If he has his hands up and he’s expecting me to punch him in his face, I’m taking him down.

I’m not afraid to get hit. I’m going to be walking forward with my chin down and my teeth gritted, and I don’t care what he throws at me, I’m gonna be there.

Because Silva now must respect Weidman‘s striking capabilities, the 38-year-old Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt will be more vulnerable to takedowns in the rematch.

Still, Silva has yet to suffer back-to-back setbacks in his illustrious career, and many of his fans contend that the loss to Weidman only happened because of his typical in-fight antics. Those same supporters firmly believe that the rematch will feature a different and more professional version of Silva, one that will offer Weidman no opportunities to repeat his actions from UFC 162.

But Weidman evolved radically from his first pro bout in February 2009 to his UFC debut in March 2011. And with every UFC win since he’s become cleaner, more technically sound and more confident.

Akin to Weidman‘s fellow UFC champs, fans and pundits can anticipate seeing better versions of The All-American unveiled every time he graces the Octagon.

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Chris Weidman Boldly Reveals His Game Plan to Anderson Silva

Chris Weidman is an open book heading into his much-anticipated rematch with Anderson Silva at UFC 168.
There aren’t any elaborate schemes or secretive game plans stored away as a hidden blueprint to defeat Silva. On December 28, fans can expect …

Chris Weidman is an open book heading into his much-anticipated rematch with Anderson Silva at UFC 168.

There aren’t any elaborate schemes or secretive game plans stored away as a hidden blueprint to defeat Silva. On December 28, fans can expect the same strategy from Weidman that helped him win the UFC middleweight title and shock the world back in July.

During his pre-fight interview for UFC 168, Weidman went ahead and saved Silva’s coaches the time and effort of doing any prolonged scouting:

I’m gonna prove it again. I’m telling Anderson Silva my game plan. This is my game plan. I’m gonna walk forward, I’m gonna put pressure on him, I’m gonna cut him off. If he has his hands down, I’m punching him in his face. If he has his hands up and he’s expecting me to punch him in his face, I’m taking him down. I’m not afraid to get hit. I’m going to be walking forward with my chin down and my teeth gritted, and I don’t care what he throws at me, I’m gonna be there.

When looking back at the first fight, the vast majority of fans seem to believe Weidman’s success was more a product of Silva not taking the fight seriously than an actual changing of the guard. Silva dropped his hands and playfully taunted Weidman before getting caught in the crosshairs of a massive left hook that put the punctuation mark on a near seven year reign.

What often gets lost in the debate was Silva’s struggles to actually connect in the standup exchanges.

Weidman is the only fighter in the UFC to really make himself a difficult target and consistently land on Silva. After the fight, Silva’s coach, Cesario Bezerra, told Brazil’s Globo TV (h/t MMAFighting.com) that even Silva admitted he struggled to land on Weidman. There was also the takedown and vicious ground-and-pound Silva was subjected to early in the first round.

All of this success from a 9-0 fighter coming off a year layoff from a serious shoulder injury against arguably the greatest fighter in MMA history.

It’s safe to say the champ’s confidence level is at an all-time high right now.

Will Weidman prove once again to be the perfect storm to repel Silva’s greatness, or is the undefeated star biting off more than he can chew?

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Ronda Rousey on TUF 18: I Worried About Coaching, Miesha Worried About Her Hair

UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey insists that she doesn’t care about how some fans perceived her after coaching on season 18 of The Ultimate Fighter since she put the needs of her fighters first. 
The “Rowdy” one explained …

UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey insists that she doesn’t care about how some fans perceived her after coaching on season 18 of The Ultimate Fighter since she put the needs of her fighters first. 

The “Rowdy” one explained her position in a recent interview with Fighters Only, where she was critical of arch nemesis Miesha Tate, who coached opposite the champ on the reality series. 

Regardless of what everyone thinks of me and how I come off – everyone might think that I’m a crazy, psycho, competitive bitch – I promise you, you can go up and ask anyone who was on my team how I was as a coach, and they will 100% say I did the best I possibly could under the circumstances. All I thought about was them. I obsessed over them, and whereas Miesha was spending a lot more time worried that her hair looked good for every shot, I was freaking out making sure that everyone was okay.

Rousey was criticized for being overly competitive and showing a lack of sportsmanship on the show, particularly by eventual winner Julianna Pena.  

The 26-year-old California native meets Tate for a second time at UFC 168 later this month, serving as the pay-per-view event’s co-headlining bout. 

Tate, then the Strikeforce bantamweight champ, and Rousey first met inside the cage in March of last year, with Rousey winning with a gruesome version of her signature armbar at the tail end of the first round.

Rousey enters the title tilt with an unblemished 7-0 record, defeating all of her opponents thus far with a first round armbar.

Meanwhile, “Cupcake” is 1-1 since fighting Rousey the first time, submitting Julie Kedzie and getting TKO’ed by Cat Zingano in her UFC debut.

Will fans get a repeat result of the first bout, or will Tate implement a new game plan and pull off a stunning upset? 

 

John Heinis is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA Editor for eDraft.com.

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5 Options for Dan Henderson If He Re-Signs with UFC

Dan Henderson is in an interesting position these days.
He’s still a consensus top-10 light heavyweight, but he’s coming off of three straight losses. He’s a living legend in the sport, but he just got KO’d for the first time in his career, and it happ…

Dan Henderson is in an interesting position these days.

He’s still a consensus top-10 light heavyweight, but he’s coming off of three straight losses. He’s a living legend in the sport, but he just got KO’d for the first time in his career, and it happened in spectacular fashion. He’s probably not done, but he might be done.

And he doesn’t have a contract.

The 43-year-old former Olympian is a bad dude. People love him, and he’s likely to be back with the UFC soon, according to Ariel Helwani of MMAFighting.com. When he returns, though, he’ll need to be matched very carefully out of concern for both his relevance and his health.

Here are five possible options for that return fight.

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Random Thoughts on the UFC’s Decision to Increase the UFC 168 PPV By Five Dollars

(Lofty claim that is later revoked + at least two f-bombs = another classic DW soundbite.)

If you follow any other MMA site(s) besides CagePotato — which, why? — then you might have heard that the UFC is planning on raising the pay-per-view price of UFC 168 from $44.95/$54.95 HD to $49.95/$59.95 HD. You also might have been directed to the above clip, taken from a media scrum prior to UFC 96, in which Dana White declares that he “will f*cking go on record right now and say I will not raise pay-per-view.”

Whether the five dollar increase will only apply to UFC 168 or to all future UFC PPVs is still up in the air, but the increase has raised a few questions amongst the staff here at CagePotato, so we figured we’d lay out our qualms with the price hike, then let you, our esteemed readers, weigh in. Join us after the jump to get in on the discussion.

Random Thought #1: Does This Mean That the Price of Subpar PPVs Will Go Down?


(Lofty claim that is later revoked + at least two f-bombs = another classic DW soundbite.)

If you follow any other MMA site(s) besides CagePotato — which, why? — then you might have heard that the UFC is planning on raising the pay-per-view price of UFC 168 from $44.95/$54.95 HD to $49.95/$59.95 HD. You also might have been directed to the above clip, taken from a media scrum prior to UFC 96, in which Dana White declares that he “will f*cking go on record right now and say I will not raise pay-per-view.”

Whether the five dollar increase will only apply to UFC 168 or to all future UFC PPVs is still up in the air, but the increase has raised a few questions amongst the staff here at CagePotato, so we figured we’d lay out our qualms with the price hike, then let you, our esteemed readers, weigh in. Join us after the jump to get in on the discussion.

Random Thought #1: Does This Mean That the Price of Subpar PPVs Will Go Down?

I’m being facetious of course, but if the increased PPV price turns out to be just a one time thing for UFC 168, it raises an interesting predicament regarding how the UFC gauges the quality of each card. By raising the price of UFC 168, Dana & Co. are essentially telling fans, “This is the most stacked, hyped-up card of the year and the price has been adjusted accordingly,” which is fine, I guess, but what does that say about the less-than-stacked PPV cards we are surely in for down the line, or the value of the fighters competing on them, for that matter?

Fortunately for us, the next couple UFC cards don’t really face this dilemma. UFC 169 will (hopefully) feature not only the long-delayed bantamweight title fight between Dominick Cruz and Renan Barao but a featherweight title bout between Jose Aldo and Ricardo “Remember Me?” Lamas. UFC 171 is ages away, but a light heavyweight title tilt between Jon Jones and Glover Teixeira is a good start to a card that will surely feature several more big names before all is said and done. But neither of these cards are arguably as stacked as UFC 168, so should the PPV price reflect this? And while I’m asking questions based around the completely unattainable false reality I have just constructed, why won’t Halle Berry return my phone calls?

Random Thought #2: Why Now?

The obvious answer to this question being: UFC 168 is the first card since 2007 that will feature Anderson Silva fighting for a title, and that is something that every MMA should be willing to fork over a couple extra bucks for. The UFC wants this buyrate to be huge; that much we know. I’m talking Sonnen vs. Silva II huge. I’m talking that time Michael Bisping fought Fedor on Zeus’s shoulders and they both could punch but only one could kick huge. But charging fans more for a PPV in a time when fan interest appears to be waning seems about as foolproof as, well, a subscription-based digital network in a world where torrenting is a thing. I base these opinions, of course, on absolutely nothing.

Sure, UFC 167 broke the bank, but so does every Canadian-based card headlined by GSP. American stars like Jon Jones, on the other hand, have seen their buyrates decline lower than ever before in recent months. UFC 165′s numbers were “low.” UFC 166′s were “hugely disappointing.” Hiking the price is not the solution. Suppose I owned a hardware store; if I wasn’t selling any hammers at $5 a pop, I sure as hell wouldn’t raise them to $6 in the hope that people would start buying them.

At the end of the day, you’d have to be dumber than that analogy to pass up this card. But at the minimum, the timing of the price hike makes you wonder whether it will become a permanent addition or not in 2014.

Random Thought #3: This.

While it’s damn near impossible to deny the necessity of (and interest in) a Weidman/Silva rematch, one could argue that fans are not nearly as interested in a Ronda Rousey/Miesha Tate rematch as the UFC thinks we are. You can blame it on the new network all you want, but the TUF 18 ratings have been rather lackluster this past season. Rather lackluster, indeed. (*huffs glue from a dirty sock*)

Did Tate give Rousey her toughest test to date? Maybe (Ed note: She never came this close to finishing her, that’s for sure). Is there a legitimate rivalry between Rousey and Tate that is sure to stir up fan interest? Brother, you don’t even know…

…come to think of it, the fans who don’t tune into Rousey/Tate II in the hope of seeing Rousey knocked off her “real mean” pedestal will likely tune in for the chance to see a woman’s arm literally ripped from her body. Something about moths to flame. I recant my previous statement, but still stand firmly in the “rematches should not become the high standard of UFC matchmaking moving forward” camp.

But what do you think of the price hike, Nation? Will you happily fork over the extra cash, or just continue stealing PPVs from sketchy foreign sites as is tradition?

–J. Jones

Anderson Silva: “Rematch with Weidman Won’t Last Long If It Stays Standing”

Anderson Silva is ready to remind the world why he is widely considered the greatest fighter in MMA history.
The former UFC middleweight champ is heralded as one of combat sports’ most beloved icons, but in July, the invisible aura attached to hi…

Anderson Silva is ready to remind the world why he is widely considered the greatest fighter in MMA history.

The former UFC middleweight champ is heralded as one of combat sports’ most beloved icons, but in July, the invisible aura attached to his name came crashing down courtesy of a left hook from a 9-0 contender touted as nothing more than a stepping stone by the general public.

Chris Weidman proved to be much more than any other run-of-the-mill opponent Silva has faced in the past. The New York native shocked the world by overcoming Silva’s mind games and capitalizing on early mistakes to earn perhaps the most memorable knockout in UFC history.

In speaking with Sportv (h/t MMAFighting.com), Silva claims that basic mistakes, not taunting, cost him the fight:

My mistakes in that fight, and that’s the first time I’m saying this, were basic mistakes. I did everything I had to do except hit him. I didn’t counterattack. When I stopped with my feet parallel, I should have hit him and walked one step behind. I didn’t do that. I saw my mistakes and I’m working on that to train for this next fight.

The highly anticipated rematch between Weidman and Silva is slated to go down at UFC 168 on December 28 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Coincidently enough, the event is being held in the same venue Silva lost the title a few months ago.

It may be under the same roof, but Silva is expecting a much different outcome this time around. He has already issued a stern warning to the reigning champ, if he opts to stand and trade again: “It’s going to be a tough fight, and it won’t last too long if it stays standing.”

Weidman has a definitive grappling advantage over Silva, and he was able to stay competitive during the standup exchanges in the first fight. However, it would be shocking to see a similar approach yield the same results the second time around.

Weidman might do well to listen to Silva and adopt the grappling-first approach that garnered him great success early in the first bout.

Lightning rarely strikes twice, especially against a legendary striker like Anderson Silva.

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