As if you needed another reason to tune in to UFC 168.
The year-end blockbuster received yet another dose of rocket fuel Tuesday when a report surfaced that heavyweights Josh Barnett and Travis Browne will meet at the event, set for Dec. 28.
According …
As if you needed another reason to tune in to UFC 168.
The year-end blockbuster received yet another dose of rocket fuel Tuesday when a report surfaced that heavyweights Josh Barnett and Travis Browne will meet at the event, set for Dec. 28.
According to a report from Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Adam Hill, longtime MMA veteran and former UFC champion Barnett will receive an elite test in Browne, who is of late turning in some of the best performances of his pro fighting career.
Barnett (33-6) returned to the UFC in August after spending more than 11 years fighting in other promotions. Barnett, 35, left the UFC in 2002 after defeating Randy Couture for the heavyweight title but subsequently tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs.
“The Warmaster” made good in his Octagon return, which took place at UFC 164. Barnett needed less than two minutes to score a knockout of Frank Mir, though some observers considered it an early stoppage.
At 31, Browne (15-1-1) appears to be hitting his professional stride. “Hapa” followed up a loss to Antonio Silva last October with consecutive first-round knockouts of Gabriel Gonzaga and Alistair Overeem.
Though the Review-Journal article does not indicate what may await the winner, it is easy to assume that the victor between these two will be “in the mix” for a shot at the UFC heavyweight title, currently held by Cain Velasquez.
UFC 168 takes place Dec. 28 in Las Vegas. The main event will pit new middleweight champion Chris Weidman against dethroned pound-for-pound kingpin Anderson Silva, who Weidman defeated in July. It was Silva’s first loss in more than seven years.
Also scheduled for the card is a rematch between women’s bantamweight champ Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate, Rousey‘s longtime rival and current coaching opponent on The Ultimate Fighter.
Former Strikeforce women’s bantamweight champion Miesha Tate is practically frothing at the mouth to get another crack at the inaugural UFC women’s 135-pound titleholder, Ronda Rousey.
While the early portion of their fight was competitive, “Rowd…
Former Strikeforce women’s bantamweight champion Miesha Tate is practically frothing at the mouth to get another crack at the inaugural UFC women’s 135-pound titleholder, Ronda Rousey.
While the early portion of their fight was competitive, “Rowdy” eventually locked up her patented armbar, and after gruesomely hyper-extending Tate’s elbow, the champion was forced to tap, with Rousey winning her first major MMA title in the March 2012 encounter.
Despite getting finished decisively in their first matchup, “Cupcake” told FOX Sports 1 analystsChaelSonnen and Kenny Florian that she is expecting a completely different outcome in the rematch:
“I’m going to break her jaw,” Tate responded when asked what would happen in her second battle with Rousey. “I’m not going to stop punching until something on her face is broken and she wakes up looking at the lights.”
A bold claim by Tate, especially considering she has lost two of her past three bouts. Despite a tough stretch in the past 18 months, the 27-year-old remains the third-best women’s bantamweight in the world, according to the UFC’s official rankings.
Additionally, Tate and Rousey are currently coaching opposite one another on season 19 of The Ultimate Fighter.
Although Tate lost a title eliminator bout to Cat Zingano at TUF 17 Finale in April, the former high school wrestler was pegged as a last-minute replacement for Zingano, who injured her right knee days before filming began in May (via Yahoo! Sports).
Rousey enters the title tilt, which serves at the co-main event for UFC 168 on December 28, with a perfect 7-0 record, defeating all of her opponents via an armbar in the opening frame.
Will Tate showcase a much-improved game this time around against the dominant champion, or will Rousey once again prove she is simply just a cut above the rest?
JohnHeinis is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA Editor for eDraft.com.
The last three-and-a-half months of 2013 will feature 11 cards from both the UFC and Bellator MMA and two World Series of Fighting shows, among many other less prominent events.
Some of the most pertinent MMA bouts of the year, including Michael Chandl…
The last three-and-a-half months of 2013 will feature 11 cards from both the UFC and Bellator MMA and two World Series of Fighting shows, among many other less prominent events.
Some of the most pertinent MMA bouts of the year, including Michael Chandler-Eddie Alvarez II (Bellator 106), Georges St-Pierre-Johny Hendricks (UFC 167) and Anderson Silva-Chris Weidman II (UFC 168), will take place in the next 109 days.
Other less talked about fights will take place in Japan’s Deep and Shooto organizations, Canada’s Maximum Fighting Championships and England’s BAMMA promotion.
Here are five bold predictions for the rest of 2013.
The hallowed halls of the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas was the site of the blockbuster championship bout between boxing greats Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Oscar De La Hoya. The venue also played host to some of combat sports’ most legend…
The hallowed halls of the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas was the site of the blockbuster championship bout between boxing greats Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Oscar De La Hoya. The venue also played host to some of combat sports’ most legendary feuds, including Mike Tyson vs. Evander Holyfield and Chuck Liddell vs. Tito Ortiz.
Who would have guessed that the arena’s history would have a place for an inexperienced 29-year-old who was broke and without a home?
With just a 9-0 record, Chris Weidman stepped up and challenged UFC middleweight champ Anderson Silva—arguably the greatest fighter in MMA history. According to most fans, it was a David vs. Goliath matchup void of a surprise ending. Weidman was simply too green to deal with the top pound-for-pound fighter in the world.
Besides, he was already dealing with a plethora of other problems. He was coming off shoulder surgery after suffering a torn labrum, his home had been destroyed by Hurricane Sandy and he wouldn’t even have his cornerman on the big night.
Speaking with Chuck Mindenhall of MMAFighting.com, John Danaher, Weidman’s jiu-jitsu coach, admitted it was an uphill battle just making it to the bout with Silva:
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.
All of the odds were stacked against the former All-American wrestler, but he persevered and made it to UFC 162.
For most fans, Weidman was just a name destined to be marked off as another Silva victim. The amount of exposure he had received in the UFC up until that point was minimal. It also didn’t help that the middleweight division was one of the promotion’s thinner weight classes in regard to world-class talent.
To put it bluntly, fans weren’t convinced Weidman could compete with Silva despite notable wins over Mark Munoz and Demian Maia. However, many MMA journalists and top UFC fighters had seen enough to convince them that there was something different about Weidman, that he was the man to finally end Silva’s seven-year reign.
The idea of anyone picking against him, much less his peers, appeared to bother Silva, as it would any longtime champion.
Ray Longo, Weidman’s striking coach, recalls a nasty incident with Silva at the weigh-ins during an interview with MMAFighting.com. According to Longo, Silva approached Weidman from behind backstage and stood about an inch from his head, staring him down:
He had like 40 guys with him. What a bully mentality. … That to me is telling about a guy. You’re posturing in front of your friends? What is this, second grade? You’re a grown ass man.
Despite everything Weidman was dealing with, outsiders continued to treat him like the villain. Silva is one of the most beloved fighters in MMA history, and many took Weidman’s overbearing confidence as an insult. How dare anyone think he can walk through Silva, especially with only nine fights under his belt?
As the lights dimmed on fight night, Tom Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down” echoed throughout the packed MGM Grand Garden. Everything else faded away as Weidman made his way from the tunnel to the brightly lit Octagon in the middle of all the chaos.
A long and arduous journey had finally brought Weidman to the gates of hell, and he wouldn’t back down.
The calculated mind games from Silva continued in the actual fight. He dropped his hands several times, taunting and daring Weidman to push the action on the feet. His wish was ultimately granted with a crushing left hook that closed the curtains on the longest championship reign in UFC history.
As Weidman looked out into a sea of stunned faces, he knew his life would never be the same again. His name would forever be etched in history as a world champion, but most importantly, he now had the resources to comfortably provide for his family.
“I’ve never had anything. I just wanted to one day live comfortable. Like, be able to go out to lunch with my friends without being like, crap, I don’t know if I can afford this bill right now. I shouldn’t be doing this. That’s all I really wanted,” Weidman told MMAFighting’s Mindenhall.
There won’t be much time to get comfortable, as Weidman is already slated to meet Silva in a rematch on Dec. 28.
The roles may be reversed, but don’t expect to see Weidman walking around with a 40-person entourage. Instead, the champ will keep things simple and stick with his usual team, which recently added one new member: Justin Romanello, a kid from Long Island who has been diagnosed with stage IV non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
Weidman tells MMAFighting that he hopes to surprise the young fan by having him present during the cage walkout at UFC 168: “I wonder if the UFC would allow him to walk out with me for UFC 168? I would love to have him walk out with me. How great would that be?”
Against the mighty Anderson Silva, you couldn’t ask for a better entourage.
Still on a media tour following his ousting as UFC middleweight champion, Anderson Silva is promising a new version of himself will step inside the Octagon in his rematch against Chris Weidman.
Speaking to R.J. Clifford on Sirius XM’s Fight Club,…
Still on a media tour following his ousting as UFC middleweight champion, Anderson Silva is promising a new version of himself will step inside the Octagon in his rematch against Chris Weidman.
Speaking to R.J. Clifford on Sirius XM’s Fight Club, Silva boasted (h/t MMA Mania): “The new Anderson is coming.”
Silva was ignominiously knocked out by Weidman at UFC 162, ending his near seven-year reign as 185-pound champion. Critics have circled in on the Brazilian for being too cocky and disrespectful to his opponents, an attitude that precipitated his first loss since 2006.
In his interview with Clifford, Silva explained his behaviour.
I don’t disrespect my opponents… This is my strategy, my style of fight. People say ‘Anderson no respect the opponent, no respect Chris Weidman.’ This is not real. I respect Chris Weidman. I respect my opponent.
Silva, who still has 10 fights left on his contract, said after his loss that he would not fight for the belt again. However, he was soon dissuaded of that decision by UFC president Dana White, his coaches and family.
After Weidman, win or lose, Silva said he is open to the much talked of superfights between him and Georges St. Pierre or Jon Jones, as well as his more curious dream of fighting in a boxing match against Roy Jones Jr.
But before then, the fighter is looking to reinvigorate himself with some much needed help. Having previously called on action hero Steven Segal, Silva says this time he might call on two other action movie legends.
I have the new strategy for my next fight… I talk to Chuck Norris and Bolo Yeung for help for my next fight… I try to talk to Jean-Claude Van Damme, but he no answer the phone,” he continued. “I say, ‘Please call me, I need your help.’
On a more serious note, Silva is planning to include training at the home of Muay Thai in Thailand, in preparation for his rematch.
I go to my grandmaster in Thailand… I go for training. I pick up back my energy, the marital arts and the new Anderson is coming. You’ll see.
Considering that his lack of skill against Weidman was in the wrestling department, and not the striking, that’s a curious move. We’ll find out whether the new Silva prevails when he faces Weidman for the second time in Las Vegas on Dec. 28.
Miesha Tate and Ronda Rousey’s deep personal animosity is one of the most bitter in all of MMA. The fact that their recent coaching stint on The Ultimate Fighter has done nothing to temper that feud will come as no surprise.
If anything, it&rsquo…
Miesha Tate and Ronda Rousey’s deep personal animosity is one of the most bitter in all of MMA. The fact that their recent coaching stint on The Ultimate Fighter has done nothing to temper that feud will come as no surprise.
If anything, it’s made it worse.
Much of the attention, however, seems to be focused on UFC bantamweight champion Rousey, the breakout female MMA poster girl who has a mouth bigger than almost anyone in the sport.
We’ve seen her at media calls since filming on TUF ended, barely able to contain her animosity towards Tate and flipping her off at every opportunity. Tate, for her part, has appeared relatively sanguine.
The female bantamweight talked of her relationship with Rousey on the set of TUF during a recent Google+ hangout (h/t MMA Fighting).
I’ve had people I’ve worked with before that I didn’t get along with or whatever, but never to this extent. I don’t know what her reasoning was for it, but at one point she just flipped a switch and she just became this mega b—h… For the rest of the season, it was just horrible having to deal with her.
Rousey herself has intimated that she is likely to come off as “nuts” in the forthcoming season of TUF and that the entire experience was “emotionally taxing”. What’s more, it’s been suggested that Rousey will be out of the country while the show airs—although that probably has as much to do with her new role on The Expendables 3 movie as any expected fan backlash.
Due to contractual reasons, Tate didn’t expand on any specific details of Rousey’s behaviour on the show, which changed dramatically about a week into filming, according to Tate.
Tate believes it was because she didn’t allow Rousey to emotionally manipulate her after losing her Strikeforce championship to Rousey.
I’m not going to lie, I was jealous and I was like, ‘You know what? She’s this and that and didn’t deserve a title shot.’ That was an immature stance at that time in my life, but after the loss it forced me to grow up and be like ‘Hey, you know what? She did deserve that title shot. She won and she’s a talented athlete and look where she’s taken women’s MMA.’ That’s the reality of it. I just had to accept that and try to be appreciative so I can continue being a happy person that I would rather be.
I kind of let that be known and I think that she caught wind of it… I think when I walked in the door, we had a different kind of vibe.
Of course, this is an incredibly one-sided take on the story. Rousey has suggested that her antipathy towards Tate is much deeper than her opponent suggests, and stems from Tate’s boyfriend—UFC bantamweight Bryan Caraway.
Whatever the case, we’ll all be able to make up our own minds when the carefully edited season of TUF featuring the two female coaches airs on Sept. 4 on Fox Sports 1.
The two are set to fight for the UFC women’s bantamweight title at UFC 168 in December.
Khurram Aziz is a Featured Columnist at Bleacher Report. Follow me on Twitter: Follow @khurramaziz1981
As if you needed another reason to tune in to UFC 168.