It’s Olympian vs. Olympian when 2008 judo bronze medalist and best female MMA fighter on planet Earth Ronda Rousey defends her UFC title on Saturday against Sara McMann, who won a silver medal for wrestling in 2004.
The timing is appropriate, given tha…
It’s Olympian vs. Olympian when 2008 judo bronze medalist and best female MMA fighter on planet Earth Ronda Rousey defends her UFC title on Saturday against Sara McMann, who won a silver medal for wrestling in 2004.
The timing is appropriate, given that the Winter Olympics are now in full swing in Sochi. Will UFC 170‘s main event honor its monolithic bloodlines? Rousey is a heavy favorite to retain the women’s bantamweight strap, even if McMann has the talent to pose a threat to just about anyone.
The evening’s co-main event features Daniel Cormier, a member of the 2004 and 2008 Olympic wrestling squads. His bout lost a lot of its world-class burnish when Rashad Evans pulled out last week with an injury and was replaced by Patrick Cummins.
There are plenty of other intriguing bouts up and down the card. Here is your complete guide, including information capsules on each fighter and matchup, predictions and viewing coordinates.
At the risk of upsetting another French brick shithouse, Riner’s anti-MMA stance reeks of ignorance. So in honour of UFC 170, I’m going to highlight four Olympians who have a good chance of crossing over. These athletes have either expressed an interest in MMA, supported it, or have an uncanny parallel with another well-known fighter. Lets run them down…
Outside of the Olympic games there isn’t a professional avenue for judo players, but MMA provides that opportunity, giving former judokas a chance to use their skill set to compete and make a living. Travis Stevens could be the next crossover star from the world of judo — joining the ranks of Rousey, Hector Lombard, and Yoshiro Akiyama — and he’s already considering MMA as a future career.
The 27-year-old American made his first Olympic appearance at the 2008 Beijing Games (where he placed 9th), and fell short of the podium again in London in 2012, losing out in the bronze medal match. Failing to capture an Olympic medal in two attempts puts Stevens in an awkward position. Does he jump into MMA now or wait around for the next Olympic games?
Stevens is not only a top ten Judoka in his weight division he also regularly trains under Renzo Gracie at his academy in New York, and more impressively is a black-belt in jiu-jitsu under grappling guru John Danaher. A double black belt is a testament to Stevens’ incredible ground game, which provides the perfect base to enter MMA.
(The bronze-medalist judoka and silver-medalist freestyle wrestler both have a shot at UFC gold this weekend. Photo via Esther Lin/MMAFighting)
At the risk of upsetting another French brick shithouse, Riner’s anti-MMA stance reeks of ignorance. So in honour of UFC 170, I’m going to highlight four Olympians who have a good chance of crossing over. These athletes have either expressed an interest in MMA, supported it, or have an uncanny parallel with another well-known fighter. Lets run them down…
Outside of the Olympic games there isn’t a professional avenue for judo players, but MMA provides that opportunity, giving former judokas a chance to use their skill set to compete and make a living. Travis Stevens could be the next crossover star from the world of judo — joining the ranks of Rousey, Hector Lombard, and Yoshiro Akiyama — and he’s already considering MMA as a future career.
The 27-year-old American made his first Olympic appearance at the 2008 Beijing Games (where he placed 9th in the 81kg division), and fell short of the podium again in London in 2012, losing out in the bronze medal match. Failing to capture an Olympic medal in two attempts puts Stevens in an awkward position. Does he jump into MMA now or wait around for the next Olympic games?
Stevens is not only a top ten Judoka in his weight division he also regularly trains under Renzo Gracie at his academy in New York, and more impressively is a black-belt in jiu-jitsu under grappling guru John Danaher. A double black belt is a testament to Stevens’ incredible ground game, which provides the perfect base to enter MMA.
The Irish boxing starlet has won a long list of medals in her boxing career competing at 60kg, culminating in her gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics. Traditionally for male athletes, winning a medal in the Olympics is a foundation to enter the professional ranks, with many of the top boxing promoters snapping up successful Olympians. However, the women’s boxing scene isn’t thriving, which makes a transition to MMA much more enticing.
There is a ton of buzz surrounding former boxing star turned hot MMA prospect Holly Holm, who has made short work with all her opponents in MMA, albeit against some questionable opponents. Taylor is still fairly young at the age of 27, so she has time to work on the ground mechanics before shifting to MMA. Already carrying a huge following in her home country, Taylor would be a welcome addition to the 135-pound division.
MMA is littered with many collegiate, regional, national, you-name-it wrestling stars. Most of the best wrestlers have come out of the amateur wrestling scene in the U.S., which has served as a conveyor belt in feeding the best talent to MMA. There are only a handful of Olympic-caliber wrestlers in the sport, but freestyle wrestler Varner could potentially be another one. Varner hasn’t indicated whether he will enter the MMA bubble, but unlike his teammate Jordan Burroughs, he hasn’t dismissed it. The California native is a fan of the UFC, naming fellow wrestler Dan Henderson as his favorite fighter.
If his gold medal from the 2012 London Games wasn’t enough to prove how legitimate his wrestling credentials are, the 96kg competitor is also coached by Cael Sanderson who is one of, if not the greatest amateur wrestler to come out of the States. Like Stevens and Taylor, Varner is still relatively young at the age of 27 and could mold his MMA career on fellow Olympian Daniel Cormier. Cormier turned professional at the age of twenty-nine, and was also a small heavyweight who eventually dropped down to 205 pounds. With Varner’s elite-of-the-elite wrestling pedigree, a move to MMA could garner him just as much success as past Olympians who have competed in the sport.
Another gold medalist at the London Olympics, the British Taekwondo practitioner became a overnight superstar with her performances en route to a gold medal in the 57kg division. The Korean martial art isn’t as common as other disciplines among MMA practitioners, but two fighters who have embraced it are decorated lightweight stars Anthony Pettis and Benson Henderson.
If Jones decided to transition into MMA, a few years of practicing the ground game would be a must, but being only 20 years old she has time on her side. As the UFC was ramping up for last year’s Fight Night in Manchester, Jones met and trained with WMMA pioneer Rosi Sexton, who became the first female British UFC fighter and was involved in the first UFC women’s bout in Europe. Now that Sexton has left the promotion, could Jones step in as the next British WMMA star?
One of the most outspoken pioneers of mixed martial arts, Don Frye, has released his third installment of his “Predator’s Predictions” series for UFC 170 next week.
However, anyone who watched Frye’s predictions for UFC 168, an event that was als…
One of the most outspoken pioneers of mixed martial arts, Don Frye, has released his third installment of his “Predator’s Predictions” series for UFC 170 next week.
However, anyone who watched Frye’s predictions for UFC 168, an event that was also headlined by women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey, is aware the 48-year-old isn’t a big fan of females fighting inside the cage.
Therefore, it should probably come as little surprise that the UFC 8 and Ultimate Ultimate 96 Tournaments didn’t actually bother to give any fight predictions this time around.
“Let’s get some cold beer, some hard liquor, some takeout food and get ready for some high quality violence,” Frye said to the camera. “For all the athletes of the US of A, over there in Russia for the Olympics, bring us back some gold.”
From there, as one can see for his or herself, the video gets pretty interesting from there, to say the least.
“High quality violence? Who writes this s–t? You, you’re fired. Get your little notebook and get out of here. Run! Look, if I’m gonna see Ronda Rousey slap an armbar on somebody I could watch any of her last eight fights. I’m going to Mexico to go hunting on my ranch and have some fun.”
Frye then cocks a shotgun and begins to walk off screen as he screams “You! Come here!” A shot is then fired and the screen fades to a technical difficulties type of screen for a few seconds.
“I’ll be back to do 171…if there’s men fighting,” Frye clarifies for his fans.
UFC 170 features Rousey fighting fellow Olympic medalist Sara McMann, who also enters the title tilt with an unblemished record inside the cage (7-0).
According to the UFC’s official rankings, McMann is the no. 4 women’s bantamweight in the world.
Also on the event’s main card are three intriguing welterweight matches that pit Robert Whittaker against Stephen Thompson, Mike Pyle against TJ Waldburger and Rory MacDonald vs. Demian Maia.
A light heavyweight bout between Daniel Cormier and newcomer Patrick Cummins will serve as the co-main event of the evening this Saturday night at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.
John Heinis is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA editor for eDraft.com.
It’s a card full of names, but oh my, what could have been. What was once a card topped by the women’s bantamweight championship bout between Ronda Rousey and Sara McMann and backed up by Gilbert Melendez vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov, Rashad Evans vs. Daniel Cormier and Rustam Khabilov vs. Rafael dos Anjos has been ravaged by injuries, a contract dispute and more injuries.
What we have now is decidedly less good but still an interesting collection of fights. So what topics should you be discussing entering next Saturday? Find out right here!
LAS VEGAS — On Wednesday afternoon, Dana White was informed that Rashad Evans, who was scheduled to compete next week at UFC 170 against Daniel Cormier, had injured his knee.
Evans was scheduled for an MRI to assess the extent of the damage. Eva…
LAS VEGAS — On Wednesday afternoon, Dana White was informed that Rashad Evans, who was scheduled to compete next week at UFC 170 against Daniel Cormier, had injured his knee.
Evans was scheduled for an MRI to assess the extent of the damage. Evans said he still wanted to fight and felt like he could compete against Cormier.
White and his staff waited for the results to come back. Later that night, White was attending his son’s basketball game when he got the call: Evans was out of the fight, but he would only be out for four weeks.
Cormier was informed of the injury, and he was upset. He told White he had to fight.
“This whole cutting weight thing was hard on him,” White said during a media lunch today.
White said the weight came off easily, but that Cormier was upset that he put all the work in and wasn’t going to get to fight. White told Cormier that Evans was only supposed to be out for four weeks and that he wanted to put Cormier on the UFC 172 card in Baltimore in April.
“I was keeping my options open. I was thinking light heavyweight tournament,” White said.
“I don’t want to fight in Baltimore,” Cormier said. “I need to fight.”
“There’s nothing I can do, man,” White responded. “Plus, nobody is going to fight you on a week’s notice.”
Cormier called White twice during the game, pleading for something to be done. But White went to bed on Tuesday night believing he was powerless to help Cormier out.
When White woke up on Thursday morning, he heard about a Twitter petition for Patrick Cummins to get the fight against Cormier. Cummins, an undefeated former collegiate All-American wrestler, had publicly said on Twitter that he would be glad to fight Cormier.
White found out the details on Cummins. He liked what he heard, especially when Cummins‘ manager told White what Cummins said: When Cummins and Cormier used to train together, he claimed, he often made Cormier cry. He broke him.
White was intrigued. And so Cummins‘ manager, Ryan Parsons, was asked to get Cummins on the phone. White wanted to know if the story was true, and he wanted to hear it from the horse’s mouth. Cummins didn’t answer White’s calls because he was at work at a coffee shop in Dana Point, California.
Parsons drove to the coffee shop and walked in. He told the manager on duty that he needed to speak to Cummins.
“He’s working,” the manager responded. “He can’t talk right now. You’re going to have to leave.”
And so Parsons got back in his car and went to the drive-through window, where Cummins was working his shift.
“Hey, I need to talk to you,” Parsons said. “I need to get you on the phone so you can talk to Dana.”
Parsons gave Cummins the phone. White asked him about his comments claiming he could make Cormier cry.
“I’m telling you right now,” Cummins said. “I made Cormier cry every time we wrestled. I broke him every time. And I’ll beat him on Saturday night.”
White was interested. But Cummins continued.
“Well, I hope I get this fight,” he said. “Because they just fired me.”
Cummins‘ manager had fired him for taking the phone call while on shift.
“You tell your manager to go f–k himself,” White told Cummins. “Head to the gym right now. We’ll call you in a little while.”
White then called Cormier and told him he had the fight against Cummins.
“I know that guy,” Cormier said with a laugh. White relayed what Cummins told him about making him cry and breaking him during wrestling.
“First of all, if anything like that ever really happened, it was because guys were cycling in on me,” Cormier told White. “I wasn’t wrestling just one guy. I was training for the world championships and they were cycling guys in on me.
“If he ever beat me, and if any of this is remotely true, he did it in some obscure wrestling room out in the middle of nowhere where three people saw it. I’m going to whip his ass on the biggest stage on earth on Saturday night.”
And that’s how Patrick Cummins, long considered one of the best light heavyweight prospects in the world, finally got his shot at the UFC.
And he’s getting the chance against one of the best fighters in the world. It’s a tough ask for anyone, much less a fighter making his UFC debut.
Cummins is just 4-0 as a professional. And yes, he is a virtual unknown to much of the MMA world. But let me tell you something: I have seen Cummins train with some of the best the world has to offer at Mark Munoz’s Reign Training Center in California, and I can tell you right now that he’s a much tougher fighter than anyone is giving him credit for.
I’m not saying Cummins is going to beat Cormier. I don’t think he will. What I’m saying is, don’t be surprised if this fighter you’ve never heard of gives Cormier a ferociously tough test.
(Ladies and gentlemen, I give you…Durkin? What does that even mean? / Photo via MMAJunkie)
When Rashad Evanspulled out of his scheduled UFC 170 match against Daniel Cormier, Cormier was devastated. “I don’t want this work to be for nothing,” he told Ariel Helwani. “I’ve killed myself in this gym. I’ve spent ten weeks away from my family…I’d fight Chael in a heartbeat. I’d fight Anthony Johnson in a heartbeat. I’d fight any of those guys. There’s somebody out there who wants to fight. Line ’em up…I just want to fight now.”
And so, in an apparent move to keep him happy, the UFC has allowed Cormier to remain on the February 22nd “Rousey vs. McMann” lineup. No, he won’t be fighting Chael Sonnen, or Rumble Johnson, or anybody else you’ve heard of. Instead, Cormier will fight 4-0 light-heavyweight prospect Patrick Cummins, who will be making his Octagon debut.
A former two-time All American wrestler for Penn State, Cummins trains out of Mark Munoz’s Reign MMA gym in Orange County, and he’s finished all four of his pro fights in the first round. Cormier, of course, is one of the greatest MMA fighters in the world. Be sure to tune in, folks, because you might not see a bigger squash match all year. Seriously, how in the hell did the Nevada State Athletic Commission approve this friggin’ thing? KEITH, GET BACK HERE!
Desperate times call for desperate measures, I guess. Not that Cormier vs. Cummins is going to jack up the buyrate for this zombie card, but at least the entire show won’t rest on Ronda Rousey‘s shoulders now. Your thoughts?
(Ladies and gentlemen, I give you…Durkin? What does that even mean? / Photo via MMAJunkie)
When Rashad Evanspulled out of his scheduled UFC 170 match against Daniel Cormier, Cormier was devastated. “I don’t want this work to be for nothing,” he told Ariel Helwani. “I’ve killed myself in this gym. I’ve spent ten weeks away from my family…I’d fight Chael in a heartbeat. I’d fight Anthony Johnson in a heartbeat. I’d fight any of those guys. There’s somebody out there who wants to fight. Line ‘em up…I just want to fight now.”
And so, in an apparent move to keep him happy, the UFC has allowed Cormier to remain on the February 22nd “Rousey vs. McMann” lineup. No, he won’t be fighting Chael Sonnen, or Rumble Johnson, or anybody else you’ve heard of. Instead, Cormier will fight 4-0 light-heavyweight prospect Patrick Cummins, who will be making his Octagon debut.
A former two-time All American wrestler for Penn State, Cummins trains out of Mark Munoz’s Reign MMA gym in Orange County, and he’s finished all four of his pro fights in the first round. Cormier, of course, is one of the greatest MMA fighters in the world. Be sure to tune in, folks, because you might not see a bigger squash match all year. Seriously, how in the hell did the Nevada State Athletic Commission approve this friggin’ thing? KEITH, GET BACK HERE!
Desperate times call for desperate measures, I guess. Not that Cormier vs. Cummins is going to jack up the buyrate for this zombie card, but at least the entire show won’t rest on Ronda Rousey‘s shoulders now. Your thoughts?
