Sanchez’s appearance at UFC 180 is now up in the air. We’ll let you know if the UFC can find another white guy for him to fight on short notice. Oh, and remember how Goyito Perez was supposed to be on this card too? Well, not anymore. UFC 182 has gone from a showcase of Mexican talent to a Samoan fighting a Brazilian and a bunch of local TUF-guys with funnynicknames. Dios mio. Our suggestion: List Jessica Eye as Jessica ¡Aye! Yeah, I got nothin’.
Sanchez’s appearance at UFC 180 is now up in the air. We’ll let you know if the UFC can find another white guy for him to fight on short notice. Oh, and remember how Goyito Perez was supposed to be on this card too? Well, not anymore. UFC 182 has gone from a showcase of Mexican talent to a Samoan fighting a Brazilian and a bunch of local TUF-guys with funnynicknames. Dios mio. Our suggestion: List Jessica Eye as Jessica ¡Aye! Yeah, I got nothin’.
UFC 180 is falling apart.
Just one day after word circulated (h/t MMAjunkie.com) that UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez suffered an injury and would not defend his title against Fabricio Werdum at the Nov. 15 event, MMAjunkie.com …
Just one day after word circulated (h/t MMAjunkie.com) that UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez suffered an injury and would not defend his title against Fabricio Werdum at the Nov. 15 event, MMAjunkie.com has reported that Joe Lauzon is also sidelined and will not face Diego Sanchez on fight night.
According to MMA Junkie’s Steven Marrocco, Lauzon’s withdrawal from the event was revealed by a source close to the situation who spoke under the condition of anonymity. The source did not name a specific reason for the change, so it is unclear at this time whether it is an injury or a personal issue that forced Lauzon out of the bout.
Lauzon was originally a replacement for Norman Parke against Sanchez, which puts the UFC in a tricky position with UFC 180 less than one month away. While the promotion came up big on short notice in substituting Mark Hunt to take on Werdum, a representative to take on Sanchez has not yet been named.
The fight between Lauzon and Sanchez originally received third billing on the event, taking place just before the co-main event. While the fight did not look to possess any title implications, it was hotly anticipated by MMA fans due to each fighter’s go-for-broke style.
The Boston native, Lauzon, owns the UFC record for post-fight bonuses, racking up 13 (six Submission of the Night, six Fight of the Night, one Knockout of the Night) during his eight-year UFC career.
Sanchez is no stranger to post-fight cheddar either. The former The Ultimate Fighter winner has taken home Fight of the Night honors seven times in his 21-fight UFC stint.
Lauzon and Sanchez also each own one Fight of the Year award—Lauzon for his UFC 155 fight against Jim Miller (which he lost via decision) and Sanchez for his 2009 barnburner against Clay Guida, which he won via decision.
Now, however, the anticipation for this scrap must cool as the UFC scrambles to find a replacement for Sanchez.
Stay tuned to Bleacher Report as the situation continues to develop.
The injury is especially devastating for the UFC because Velasquez was slated to be the marquee face for the promotion’s debut event in Mexico, which goes down November 15th in Mexico City. Here’s what Velasquez had to say about his withdrawal in an official statement:
“I’m so unbelievably disappointed that this happened. To say I was looking forward to fighting in Mexico for the first time is an understatement. I wanted to fight on that card so bad. Looks like it wasn’t meant to be and it’s not going to happen. I’m going to get my [right] knee fixed and get back to training as soon as I can. I’m sorry to the fans in Mexico who were expecting this fight, and I hope to be able to come down and still be a part of this historic event.”
Velasquez hasn’t competed since his 5th-round TKO of Junior Dos Santos last October. This is the part of the blog post where normally I would recap all of the injuries that have befallen Velasquez during his time in the UFC, but I’ll just embed this tweet and spare myself the effort:
The injury is especially devastating for the UFC because Velasquez was slated to be the marquee face for the promotion’s debut event in Mexico, which goes down November 15th in Mexico City. Here’s what Velasquez had to say about his withdrawal in an official statement:
“I’m so unbelievably disappointed that this happened. To say I was looking forward to fighting in Mexico for the first time is an understatement. I wanted to fight on that card so bad. Looks like it wasn’t meant to be and it’s not going to happen. I’m going to get my [right] knee fixed and get back to training as soon as I can. I’m sorry to the fans in Mexico who were expecting this fight, and I hope to be able to come down and still be a part of this historic event.”
Velasquez hasn’t competed since his 5th-round TKO of Junior Dos Santos last October. This is the part of the blog post where normally I would recap all of the injuries that have befallen Velasquez during his time in the UFC, but I’ll just embed this tweet and spare myself the effort:
Mark Hunt comes into his first UFC title fight with a 1-1-1 tally over his last three bouts, and most recently knocked out Roy Nelson last month at UFC Fight Night 52 in Saitama.
As Mike Bohn reminds us, Cain Velasquez vs. Fabricio Werdum is now the ninth scheduled UFC pay-per-view headliner of 2014 to fall apart. Basically, every UFC champion is injured or has been injured at some point during this year except for Demetrious Johnson and TJ Dillashaw, who aren’tdraws on pay-per-view.
Upcoming UFC heavyweight title challenger Fabricio Werdum and a significant portion of his fight camp nearly died from carbon monoxide poisoning due to a unforeseen set of circumstances in Mexico recently.
As MMA Fighting reported, “Vai Cavalo” a…
Upcoming UFC heavyweight title challenger Fabricio Werdum and a significant portion of his fight camp nearly died from carbon monoxide poisoning due to a unforeseen set of circumstances in Mexico recently.
As MMA Fighting reported, “Vai Cavalo” and about a dozen of his teammates/coaches moved to NevadodeToluca, Mexico to prepare for his UFC 180 championship bout with Cain Velasquez.
On the very first day sleeping in the house, tragedy nearly struck.
I was there with 12 other guys from my team, and they got us a gasoline generator to get power. They usually left the generator outside the house, but put this one inside the house … We were training inside the house, had dinner and went to bed. They didn’t tell us to turn that thing off before sleeping. I woke us in the middle of the night with a huge headache, nausea, and couldn’t get out of bed. Everyone was dizzy. My brother got out of his bed and managed to turn that thing off … We went to the hospital, everybody throwing up and with diarrhea. The doctor said that we would have died in two hours if nobody had turned that thing off.
As a result of the almost fatal stroke of bad luck, Werdum and his cohorts understandably moved to a new location in the Mexican town of Jiquipilco, 60 miles away from NevadodeToluca.
Werdum earned a crack at UFC gold after going 4-0 during his second stint in the Octagon dating back to February 2012.
Since then, the Brazilian submission wizard has scored decisive wins over Roy Nelson, Mike Russow, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Travis Browne.
According to the UFC’s official rankings, Werdum is the top ranked heavyweight mixed martial artist in the world.
Meanwhile, Velasquez, who coached opposite Werdum on the Latin American version of The Ultimate Fighter, has been on a tear since losing the heavyweight strap to Junior dos Santos at UFC on FOX 1 in November 2011.
While he has only fought two opponents since then, the former Arizona State Sun Devil absolutely rolled through Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva and JDS in all four subsequent contests—recapturing the title at UFC 155.
Velasquez has had few problems inside the cage outside of his flash KO to dos Santos, overwhelming his opponents with his wrestling and cardio.
UFC 180 takes place at Arena Ciudadde Mexico in Mexico City on November 15, with Velasquez vs. Werdum headlining the pay-per-view event.
John Heinis is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA editor for eDraft.com.
UFC Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez has destroyed every opponent he’s ever faced. He holds a record of 13-1, and has beaten the likes of former champions in Brock Lesnar, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Junior dos Santos. He is an intelligent fi…
UFC Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez has destroyed every opponent he’s ever faced. He holds a record of 13-1, and has beaten the likes of former champions in Brock Lesnar, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Junior dos Santos. He is an intelligent fighter, whose superb boxing and endless cardio have driven him to become one of the UFC’s most popular combatants.
At UFC 180, Velasquez faces the formidable Brazilian jiu-jitsu ace Fabricio Werdum. Provided the champion defeats his opponent on November 15, Velasquez’s competition will become few and far between. Given the quality of opponents on the UFC’s Top-10 list, accompanied by those who have already lost to the champion, a victory over Werdum would all but signify that Velasquez will have effectively cleaned out the heavyweight division.
Cain Velasquez’s Dominance
Velasquez sports an 85 percent knockout rate, defeating 11 of his 13 opponents in this manner. His boxing was greatly showcased during his matchup against Nogueira, as Velasquez became the first man to knockout his Brazilian foe. A wrestler by trade, Velasquez’s cardio is completely unparalleled, especially on the heavyweight level. In that, he specializes in wearing down his opponents, dominating them with ground and pound and securing the victory thereafter. The latter may be evidenced by the champion’s performance at UFC 155 and UFC 166, respectively.
Dos Santos knocked out and embarrassed then-champion Velasquez at UFC on Fox 1 in just 64 seconds. Velasquez returned at UFC 155, battering dos Santos, winning all rounds convincingly. Velasquez avenged his only loss and became a two-time heavyweight champion in the process.
Velasquez and dos Santos’ rubber match at UFC 166 appeared eerily similar to their second one. The champion utilized his cardio and boxing to hurt dos Santos on several occasions until the matchup was stopped in the fifth round. Regarding dos Santos’ beating at the hands of Velasquez, UFC President Dana White, according to Shaun Al-Shatti of MMA Fighting.com, stated:
I don’t want this to come out the wrong way, but I’m a believer. I always like to say that if anybody in his f–king corner cares about him, please, throw in that towel. I thought the fight was done in the third round. Is Junior dos Santos tough enough and does he have the heart to go through it? Yeah, but does that mean he should? If you look at the fight, it ended in the fifth. That guy took seven, eight minutes more punishment that he didn’t need to take until it ended.
Given dos Santos’ pair of one-sided losses against Velasquez at UFC 155 and at UFC 166, it doesn’t appear that the Brazilian will challenge for the title as long as Velasquez remains champion.
The State of the Heavyweight Division
At UFC 180, Velasquez faces Werdum, who is a multiple-time IBJJF and ADCC World Jiu-Jitsu champion. He has submitted the likes of Alistair Overeem, Alexander Emelianenko, and mixed martial arts legends in Nogueira and FedorEmelianenko. In that, the heavyweight matchup between Velasquez and Werdum has all the trimmings to become one of epic proportions. However, a Velasquez win at UFC 180 sets up a possible dilemma regarding interest in the champion’s next opponent. A clearer picture of the heavyweight division is represented in the following:
1) Fabricio Werdum faces Velasquez at UFC 180.
2) Junior dos Santos lost to the champion twice (badly).
3) Travis Browne could possibly challenge for the title with a win over Brendan Schaub at UFC 181. However, given that Schaub is an unranked fighter, this may work against Browne’s cries for a title shot.
4) Mark Hunt is incredibly too slow and lacks the cardio to contend with that of Velasquez.
5) StipeMiocic is scheduled to face dos Santos at UFC on Fox 13.
6) Josh Barnett is coming off a loss to Browne.
7) Andrei Arlovski is on a four-fight win streak. However, he is still most likely one or two fights out from challenging for the title.
8) Antonio Silva is coming off a knockout loss to Arlovski.
9) Roy Nelson is coming off a devastating loss to Hunt.
10) Ben Rothwell is coming off a win, but defeated a non-ranked opponent. He is also one or two fights away from a title shot.
At a glance, it appears that the dust must settle before Velasquez’s next opponent is disclosed. Irrespective of his next matchup, Velasquez’s supremacy over the heavyweight division remains impressive. Jeremy Botter of Bleacher Report stated:
…he (Velasquez) is still the UFC heavyweight champion, and it is still difficult to look at the current heavyweight landscape and imagine anyone who can beat him. The reign of Cain could end up lasting a very long time.
In the end, considering those who are tied up with other fights, the lack of a dominant opponent, and Velasquez’s ability to make his foes appear amateurish in the Octagon, it would appear that the heavyweight champion will essentially clean out his division with a win at UFC 180.
However when “Stormin'” Norman Parke revealed an ACL injury would force him out of his scheduled matchup with Sanchez, it was clear a replacement would be needed.
According to UFC veteran Joe Lazuon, that void has already been filled.
The immensely entertaining submission specialist posted on Instagram this morning with the caption “What have I done?!”, with the sceencap indicating the fight with Sanchez was done.
After two tough decision losses to Jim Miller and Michael Johnson, “J-Lau” is riding a two-fight win streak where he outclassed Mac Danzig and won a gritty battle with Michael Chiesa.
Meanwhile, Sanchez is also 2-2 in his past four Octagon outings, losing one-sided contests to Gilbert Melendez and Myles Jury and winning decisions over Takanori Gomi and Ross Pearson.
While the victory over Gomi from UFC on FUEL 8 last March was debatable, his split decision over “The Real Deal” is generally regarded as one of the worst decisions in MMA history as Pearson landed crisper, harder shots throughout the duration of the bout.
Sanchez is 4-3 in his past seven contests, but hasn’t notched a decisive victory since dominating Paulo Thiago in a welterweight scrap at UFC 121 in October 2010.
While he has arguably slowed down in his recent fights, Sanchez is still known for his entertaining, aggressive style, so Lauzon – the UFC’s all-time leader in post-fight bonuses (13) – is a perfect opponent for him on paper.
UFC 180 takes place at the Arena Ciudad de Mexico in Mexico City and Sanchez is currently slated to compete on the main card.
John Heinis is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA editor for eDraft.com.
