Tag: UFC 172

Glover Teixeira: Brain Injuries Usually Occur in the Gym, Not During Fights

Upcoming UFC light heavyweight title challenger Glover Teixeira believes that mixed martial artists suffer the majority of their brain injuries during training, as opposed to during scraps inside the cage. 
Speaking one-on-one with MMA Fighting’s …

Upcoming UFC light heavyweight title challenger Glover Teixeira believes that mixed martial artists suffer the majority of their brain injuries during training, as opposed to during scraps inside the cage. 

Speaking one-on-one with MMA Fighting’s Luke Thomas, the Brazilian slugger expressed his opinion on the dangers of combat sports. 

The way people train is the most dangerous thing because we train, like, everyday. Some people spar five days a week. And that’s where the injuries can cause…I mean you see fights, fights go so quick, especially in MMA there’s a lot of grappling and stuff. So, uh, I guess the only thing is more like, uh, it is easy to prevent. If you go hard everyday, like I see boxers at Brooklyn gym, I live right in Connecticut, I see some boxers in Brooklyn gym man. … They fight every day sparring. That’s a fight, they go at it, they throw everything.

On Tuesday, politicians, boxers and MMA fighters joined forces at a Washington, D.C., press conference to announce that financial support has been acquired to research brain injuries in combat sports.  

The 34-year-old Teixeira is fortunate in the sense that he has only been knocked out once in over 11 years in a 24-fight career. 

A knockout specialist with a second-degree black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu to boot, Teixeira squares off with 205-pound kingpin Jon Jones at UFC 172, set for April 26 in Baltimore. 

Teixeira enters the title tilt on a rarely seen 20-fight win streak. 

Of course “Bones” is no pushover, currently ranked as the top pound-for-pound fighter in the UFC’s official rankings, the winner of 10 straight fights—including a UFC record of six consecutive title defenses. 

Jones’ only professional loss came as a result of a controversial disqualification for using 12-to-6 elbows against Matt Hamill in December 2009. 

Does Teixeira make a valid point in that the most severe injuries in MMA come during training, or are the fights inside the Octagon typically where the real damage takes place?

 

John Heinis is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA editor for eDraft.com.

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Anthony Johnson Gets Rare Second Chance to Throw His Weight Around in UFC

Here is Anthony Johnson’s chance to make an impact.
The fighter whose name was once synonymous with failed weigh-ins is back as of Tuesday morning, and he’s booked into an instant light heavyweight contender bout against Phil Davis at UFC 1…

Here is Anthony Johnson’s chance to make an impact.

The fighter whose name was once synonymous with failed weigh-ins is back as of Tuesday morning, and he’s booked into an instant light heavyweight contender bout against Phil Davis at UFC 172.

Johnson was last seen in the Octagon a bit more than two years ago, when he missed the middleweight limit by a whopping 11 pounds for a fight against Vitor Belfort after doctors advised him to abandon his cut. The fight was ultimately contested at a 197-pound catchweight, and Belfort won by first-round submission.

Like many of Belfort’s most recent appearances, that win came in Brazil, and he used it to springboard into a light heavyweight title shot against champion Jon Jones after Lyoto Machida turned down the chance.

The UFC used it as an opportunity to release Johnson.

Now, he’s back, with his weight stabilized and riding a six-fight win streak on the independent circuit. All it took for Johnson to cure his issues with the scale was to make the 20-pound leap to light heavyweight, where he’s crafted four consecutive TKO stoppages since August of 2012.

He also mixed a catchweight victory over David Branch and a heavyweight win over Andrei Arlovski into his 6-0 run.

His most recent triumph—a 2:03 knockout of Mike Kyle in World Series of Fighting last month—had the Internet clamoring for the UFC to give him a second chance.

He’s got it in the form of Davis, who has been inactive since a split-decision victory over Machida last August.

Excluding the hullabaloo over the judges’ verdict, Davis has been among the best of the 205-pound class, going 8-1-1 since joining the UFC in 2010. If Johnson can manage to unseat him from his comfortable spot among the light heavyweight elite, it would fashion “Rumble” into an immediate title threat in a division that sorely needs them.

It would also provide Johnson with a once-in-a-career opportunity to erase the mistakes of his past.

His original four-and-a-half year stint with the big show was something of a comedy of errors, after all.

On three different occasions, Johnson was awarded one of the UFC’s performance-based end-of-the-night bonuses, but he also missed weight just as many times. After starting as a welterweight, he eventually swelled to middleweight, but even that couldn’t solve his problems making the limit.

With the benefit of hindsight, it seems absurd that Johnson spent the first 15 fights of his professional career trying to make 170 and 185 pounds. He lost two of the three fights where he missed weight and—aside from his bizarre defeat to Kevin Burns after Johnson was poked in the eye—otherwise went 6-1 in the UFC.

In other words, he was good, not great, but better when he didn’t have to kill himself to make weight.

Blame some of those issues on youthful inexperience, perhaps. Johnson came to the Octagon at 22 years old and after just three professional fights.

Now, he’s 29 and a veteran of 20 MMA contests. He’ll have no more excuses and no more second chances. If he wants to make a mark on the landscape of this sport, he needs to do it now.

Because of his past, matchmakers aren’t about to make it easy on him.

Against Davis, he’ll almost certainly be a significant underdog, and it remains to be seen if his sprint though a number of smaller companies will translate to success in the UFC’s 205-pound division.

But Johnson has finally found a home, and at least fans will get the chance to see what he can do in his natural weight class. 

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Middleweights Luke Rockhold, Tim Boetsch Face off at UFC 172 in Baltimore

A middleweight bout between former Strikeforce middleweight champion Luke Rockhold and ultra-durable Tim Boetsch has been added to UFC 172 in Baltimore.
The news was first announced by the UFC on their official website. 
The event takes place on …

A middleweight bout between former Strikeforce middleweight champion Luke Rockhold and ultra-durable Tim Boetsch has been added to UFC 172 in Baltimore.

The news was first announced by the UFC on their official website. 

The event takes place on April 26 at the Baltimore Arena. A light heavyweight fight between reigning champion Jon Jones and Glover Teixeira headlines the card.

Other fights include recent UFC returnee Anthony Johnson vs. Phil Davis, Joseph Benavidez vs. Tim Elliott and Jake Ellenberger vs. Tarec Saffiedine. Max Holloway will also face Andre Fili, and The Ultimate Fighter alum Jessamyn Duke will face Bethe Correia.

UFC 172 marks the second time Rockhold and Boetsch have been scheduled to face each other. The first was at UFC 166 in October of 2013, but a slight knee injury suffered by Rockhold in training forced him to withdraw from the fight. Boetsch instead faced CB Dollaway and earned a tough split-decision win. Rockhold took a few months off and then stepped in the cage for a bout with Costas Philippou.

Rockhold (11-2, No. 6) now steps back into training camp almost immediately after defeating Philippou on January 15. It was Rockhold‘s first UFC win after Vitor Belfort spoiled the former Strikeforce middleweight champion’s debut earlier last year.

Boetsch (17-6, No. 11) got back on the winning track with his win over Dollaway. Prior to that win at UFC 166, Boetsch had defeated Hector Lombard to put himself near title contention. Boetsch then lost consecutive fights to Mark Munoz and Philippou to drop out of contention, but a win over Rockhold would likely put him right back in the mix of top UFC middleweights.

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“Rumble” Returns to the UFC! Faces Phil Davis at UFC 172 in Baltimore

(Oh how we’ve missed you, old friend.)

Anthony Johnson‘s redemptive arch as a fighter is one on par with something typically reserved for a Hollywood movie. The hard-hitting Georgian was once the talk of the town at 170 lbs., lauded as easily the most dangerous potential challenger to Georges St. Pierre‘s throne and a mountain of a challenge for anyone in between. Problem was, Johnson suffered from what is now known as “Lineker’s Syndrome” — the inability to actually make weight for two consecutive bouts in the division he was supposedly competing in.

Johnson’s struggles on the scale seemed as if they would be a thing of the past when he announced that he would be moving up to middleweight, but lo, they only got worse. Johnson missed weight by a staggering 12 pounds for his middleweight debut against Vitor Belfort, was choked out in the first round at UFC 142, and promptly fired by the UFC.

Looking back now, it’s laughable and damn near inconceivable to picture “Rumble” as a welterweight. Once exiting the UFC, Johnson immediately moved up to light heavyweight, then heavyweight, scoring vicious knockouts of Jake Rosholt and DJ Linderman (see above) as well as a decision victory over Andrei Arlovski along the way. Most recently, Johnson dropped back to light heavyweight to violently KO Strikeforce veteran Mike Kyle at WSOF 8 (notice a pattern here?), his third successive win since signing with the WSOF back in 2012.

His weight issues finally behind him, Johnson’s hard work over the years will come to a head at UFC 172, when “Rumble” faces top light heavyweight prospect Phil Davis in a fight that will place the winner on the short list of title contenders.

Also on tap for UFC 172…


(Oh how we’ve missed you, old friend.)

Anthony Johnson‘s redemptive arch as a fighter is one on par with something typically reserved for a Hollywood movie. The hard-hitting Georgian was once the talk of the town at 170 lbs., lauded as easily the most dangerous potential challenger to Georges St. Pierre‘s throne and a mountain of a challenge for anyone in between. Problem was, Johnson suffered from what is now known as “Lineker’s Syndrome” — the inability to actually make weight for two consecutive bouts in the division he was supposedly competing in.

Johnson’s struggles on the scale seemed as if they would be a thing of the past when he announced that he would be moving up to middleweight, but lo, they only got worse. Johnson missed weight by a staggering 12 pounds for his middleweight debut against Vitor Belfort, was choked out in the first round at UFC 142, and promptly fired by the UFC.

Looking back now, it’s laughable and damn near inconceivable to picture “Rumble” as a welterweight. Once exiting the UFC, Johnson immediately moved up to light heavyweight, then heavyweight, scoring vicious knockouts of Jake Rosholt and DJ Linderman (see above) as well as a decision victory over Andrei Arlovski along the way. Most recently, Johnson dropped back to light heavyweight to violently KO Strikeforce veteran Mike Kyle at WSOF 8 (notice a pattern here?), his third successive win since signing with the WSOF back in 2012.

His weight issues finally behind him, Johnson’s hard work over the years will come to a head at UFC 172, when “Rumble” faces top light heavyweight prospect Phil Davis in a fight that will place the winner on the short list of title contenders.

Davis also has strung together something of a win streak lately, scoring a submission victory over Wagner Prado before notching back-to-back decisions over Vinny Magalhaes and Lyoto Machida.

Also on tap for UFC 172 is a middleweight sure-to-be-banger between Luke Rockhold and Tim Boetsch. Following an..ahem…unsucessful UFC debut against Vitor Belfort, the final Strikeforce middleweight champion rebounded in emphatic fashion against Costas Philippou at Fight Night 35 last month, forcing the former top contender to shart out his liver via a brutal kick to the body early in the first round. Boetsch also has had a rocky go of things as of late, recently rebounding from the first two-fight skid of his career with a controversial decision over C.B. Dollaway at UFC 166.

UFC 172: Jones vs. Teixeira (Finally) transpires at the Baltimore Arena in Maryland on April 26. Who do you like for these pair of slugfests, Nation?

–J. Jones

Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson Returning to UFC, Faces Phil Davis at UFC 172

After starching all comers in the World Series of Fighting, Anthony “Rumble” Johnson is set to make his return to the UFC. UFC President Dana White broke the news on Twitter: 

Riding a six fight win streak, Anthony Johnson will make his UFC retur…

After starching all comers in the World Series of Fighting, Anthony “Rumble” Johnson is set to make his return to the UFC. UFC President Dana White broke the news on Twitter: 

Johnson established himself as a fearsome welterweight in the UFC from 2007 through 2011. However, his time at 170 pounds was mired by an inability to make weight. He then opted to join the middleweight ranks with a fight against Vitor Belfort at UFC 142, but would miss weight by an absurd 12 pounds.

That faux pas punched his ticket out of the UFC. From there, he once again missed weight in a middleweight fight opposite fellow UFC castoff David Branch, prompting the move to light heavyweight.

Since moving to 205 pounds, he has broken off five straight victories, including wins in the World Series of Fighting over former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski and, most recently, veteran journeyman Mike Kyle.

Johnson has never strayed too far from the UFC’s radar, though, and made an appearance at UFC 169 alongside fellow Blackzilian team members Alistair Overeem and Abel Trujillo.

His return fight will be opposite Phil Davis. Davis currently sits at No. 4 on the UFC’s official light heavyweight rankings and will be a serious test for Johnson’s grappling skills. Since taking a controversial win from Lyoto Machida at UFC 163, Davis has had trouble securing new fights (though he also turned down the prospect of a rematch with Machida) and has been out of the cage since August 2013. 

They face off at UFC 172, which will take place April 26 in Baltimore, Md. The card is currently headlined by the light heavyweight title fight between Jon Jones and Glover Teixeira. 

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Top-Ranked Flyweight Joseph Benavidez Will Fight Tim Elliott at UFC 172

Recent flyweight title challenger Joseph Benavidez will face Tim Elliott at UFC 172, according to MMAFighting.com. 
Benavidez, who is currently ranked No. 2 in the 125-pound division, failed in his pursuit for UFC gold at UFC on Fox 9 in December …

Recent flyweight title challenger Joseph Benavidez will face Tim Elliott at UFC 172, according to MMAFighting.com. 

Benavidez, who is currently ranked No. 2 in the 125-pound division, failed in his pursuit for UFC gold at UFC on Fox 9 in December 2013, where he was knocked out by champion Demetrious Johnson in Round 1. 

That fight marked Benavidez‘s second loss to “Mighty Mouse” in championship action, and now the Team Alpha Male standout looks to get back on the winning track against Elliott April 26 in Baltimore, Md. 

For his part, Elliott has looked every bit the part of a top flyweight during his UFC run. 

In his Octagon debut, Elliott was fed to highly touted contender and current No. 1-ranked flyweight John Dodson. 

Despite many feeling that Elliott would serve as a stepping stone on Dodson’s title run, the lanky and unorthodox flyweight impressed, pushing Dodson to the final bell while nearly matching Dodson’s efficiency and output. Despite losing a unanimous decision, Elliott proved his worth against the division’s best, and he has backed up that notion by going 2-1 since. 

Benavidez, however, represents a significant challenge, and Elliott will certainly come into the bout as a heavy underdog. 

Benavidez has had no trouble mowing down every fighter not named Demetrious Johnson during his flyweight career, and Elliott, who is currently ranked No. 8, has faltered every time he’s faced an elite opponent in UFC action. 

With the addition of Benavidez vs. Elliott, UFC 172 is shaping up nicely.

It’s still early for predictions, but who do you favor in this matchup? Can Elliott pull off the upset, or is Benavidez just too good?  

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