Tag: UFC 183

UFC 183: Tyron Woodley Will Show Kelvin Gastelum Not Quite Ready for Primetime

Two welterweights, looking to inch closer towards a title shot, face off at UFC 183 when Tyron “The Chosen One” Woodley takes on the undefeated Kelvin Gastelum. 
Both Woodley and Gastelum come into this Octagon foray off the strength of dominant, …

Two welterweights, looking to inch closer towards a title shot, face off at UFC 183 when Tyron “The Chosen One” Woodley takes on the undefeated Kelvin Gastelum. 

Both Woodley and Gastelum come into this Octagon foray off the strength of dominant, first-round finishes. The latter was last seen at UFC 180 choking out perennial 170-pound contender Jake Ellenberger, while The Chosen One dropped Korean striker Dong Hyun Kim with a right hand in August. 

To both fighters’ credit, they are equally dominant. Gastelum went from the last pick on Season 17 of The Ultimate Fighter to top-10 welterweight in less than two years. Since his win over Uriah Hall in the finale, the No. 7-ranked welterweight defeated Brian Melancon, Rick Story, Nico Musoke and Ellenberger.

Though the 23-year-old Gastelum has improved in each bout after his TUF stint, he hasn’t fought anyone quite like Woodley. 

The Chosen One is much more than your typical bruising knockout artist. Woodley is a former NCAA Division I All-American wrestler, and Brazilian jiu-jitsu purple belt, whose rise to stardom started in Strikeforce. 

Woodley nearly went undefeated through 11 fights in the now defunct promotion. He notched four finishes in his first five bouts in Strikeforce, which included a run of three-straight submission victories to open his career.

As success mounted, so did Woodley‘s competition. The Chosen One deployed a wrestling-heavy game plan against the likes of strikers Tarec Saffiedine and Paul Daley, notching decisions in both contests.

Wins over the aforementioned Saffiedine and Daley helped propel Woodley into a bout for the vacant 170-pound belt against former UFC middleweight title challenger Nate Marquardt. The American Top Team staple ultimately fell short in his first crack at gold, losing in a back-and-forth affair via fourth-round TKO. 

This stigma of being unable to hurdle the gates that separate the mixed martial arts elite from the would-be contenders has continued to haunt him throughout his UFC tenure. Woodley‘s flame has fizzled out on two instances.

He lost lackluster decisions to former top contender Jake Shields and fellow top-five welterweight Rory MacDonald in June 2013 and 2014, respectively. His performances, when the lights are at their brightest, have drawn criticism from UFC President Dana White.

This is in no way an indictment against his MMA repertoire. In fact, it’s because White expects more from the high-octane Woodley. 

With a dominant win over Gastelum, the No. 3-ranked welterweight can close the door on the criticism. Gastelum, on the other hand, will be fighting on the main card of a pay-per-view for just the second time in his short professional career. It will also be his first, co-main event spot.

From underdog, to one of the main attractions at UFC 183, Gastelum has shown he has the heart of a future champion. The tenacious wrestler found success on the mat against Hall and Melancon but it was his striking, as well as his chin, that took center stage when he faced grapplers Story and Musoke. 

Gastelum‘s fight with Story, in particular, showcased his expanded arsenal and ability to withstand a hard shot. Halfway into the first round, Gastelum connected with a head kick, nearly finishing Story in the process.

In the second round, the burgeoning contender was dropped by a straight left and kept his wits about him long enough to be saved by the bell. His last win over the heavy-handed wrestler Ellenberger was his most complete performance yet. 

Following a tense few minutes, which saw each fighter record a takedown, Gastelum sunk in the rear-naked choke during the closing seconds of round one. The victory gave the Yuma United MMA fighter his first win over a top-10 opponent.

Woodley, though, is on a whole different playing field than any of the men Gastelum has faced. The Chosen One was once in the same position as his current undefeated foe. 

Woodley has been through a title fight, fulfilled countless media obligations and was featured in Affliction advertising campaigns. He’s seen the peaks and valleys that the MMA universe has to offer and The Chosen One isn’t about to let another opportunity slip through his fingers.

The former collegiate wrestler from Missouri sports one of the best takedown defense rates in the welterweight division at 91 percent. Woodley also has the benefit of top-tier training partners such as former Missouri wrestling teammate, and Olympian, Ben Askren.

If Ellenberger, a Division II wrestler from the University of Nebraska-Omaha, can toss Gastelum around, then there’s no telling what Woodley can inflict upon him. The clinch is another aspect in which the Missouri native will have an upper hand. 

Though Gastelum has fought at middleweight before on TUF, Woodley carries much more muscle and is the bigger of two. In fights against Saffiedine and Daley, more than half the shots Woodley landed were from the clinch. 

The chances that The Chosen One gets dragged into Gastelum‘s world are slim to none. As a top-notch wrestler, and someone who hasn’t been submitted before, expect Woodley to intelligently defend himself should this bout with the choke-happy Gastelum hit the canvas. 

Perhaps, most importantly, Woodley has demonstrated multiple times now that his one-punch knockout power is nothing to laugh at. He’s defeated Jay Hieron, Josh Koscheck and former WEC welterweight champion Carlos Condit by knockout.

Gastelum has been on one heck of a storybook run and has made significant improvements in the wrestling, striking and submission phases of his game. However, Woodley is much more complete than he is and should close the book on him come January 31. 

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Jordan Mein Will Be the Next Big UFC Welterweight with Win over Thiago Alves

Jordan “Young Gun” Mein will fight former welterweight title challenger Thiago Alves in the first bout on UFC 183’s main card this Saturday. 
It’s a fight that will pit two fighters at drastically different points in their UFC careers against…

Jordan “Young Gun” Mein will fight former welterweight title challenger Thiago Alves in the first bout on UFC 183‘s main card this Saturday. 

It’s a fight that will pit two fighters at drastically different points in their UFC careers against each other. Mein has only one Octagon loss (a competitive second-round TKO loss to top-10 welterweight Matt Brown), while Alves has alternated wins and losses and battled numerous injuries over the last three years. 

In four fights, Mein has achieved a 3-1 record, defeating fight veterans like Dan Miller and Mike Pyle. His gritty, clinch-heavy style was on display in his wins over Miller and Nova Uniao’s Hernani Perpetuo. 

Despite his reputation as a grinder, Mein has logged 16 career knockouts and has the killer instinct, evidenced by his TKO wins over Miller and Pyle. But wins over two veterans on the downslide of their mixed martial arts careers aren’t enough to send the 170-pound division a message.

Alves, a kickboxing tactician, rose to prominence with dominant victories over UFC Hall of Famer Matt Hughes and Josh Koscheck in 2008. His high-octane kicks and knees are debilitating and can end a fight without a moment’s notice. 

If you’re not convinced of Alves‘ potent offensive attack, here’s an interesting statistic: The Brazilian is currently second in the UFC record book for most leg kicks landed in a three-round bout.

Alves has notched 30 or more leg strikes twice in his career, against Koscheck and John Howard. In his last fight, the American Top Team mainstay topped 50 leg strikes in a 15-minute war against Seth Baczynski.

Though he has alternated his approach against Howard, Papy Abedi and Martin Kampmann following his title loss to Georges St-Pierre, striking remains Alves‘ bread and butter.

But before we predict UFC 183’s action, let’s dissect what were arguably Mein’s two biggest Octagon appearances.

Following successful stints on the Canadian independent circuit and in Strikeforce, Mein defeated Miller in a back-and-forth affair and was then slotted against burgeoning contender Matt Brown. 

“I feel great. It’s an honor [next big thing talk] for people to say that about me. Coming off a win against Dan, I was super happy. Matt Brown is just as tough if not tougher,” Mein told Karyn Bryant, with regard to his status as a welterweight in April 2013. 

Brown, who had been on a tear, producing three knockout wins in 2012, closed the distance and backed up the Canadian in the opening minutes of their April bout. However, it was a picture perfect head-body combination that got the best of Brown, turning the tide for Mein. 

His success, however, failed to carry over into the second frame, and Mein was finished by a barrage of knees and punches by Brown a minute into the round. Mein rebounded with a split-decision win over Perpetuo in April but recorded his most dominant victory to date over Pyle. 

A left hook landed by Mein in the opening minute of the pair’s fight in August was all she wrote for Pyle. The victory gave Young Gun his most lopsided UFC win thus far. 

As UFC 183 approaches, Mein will soon come face to face with a scarier striker than Pyle. Alves is content picking opponents apart from a distance or putting them away early. He sports seven wins via knockout in his nearly 10-year UFC tenure. 

The Brazilian has matured since title contention but has made occasional mental lapses. In his fight against Kampmann, he succumbed to a third-round guillotine choke when he could have won.

Mein appears to have the more intelligent game plan, and he has been put in precarious positions before in his fights against Brown and Miller. Look for Young Gun to grind out a unanimous decision against the Brazilian on Jan. 31 in Las Vegas.

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UFC 183: Is Nick Diaz Being Underestimated Against Anderson Silva?

Nick Diaz and Anderson Silva return to the cage this weekend for a five-round main event that is a dream fight.
Two men who love to go toe-to-toe while talking trash. They are showoffs, but in drastically different ways. The former UFC middleweight cha…

Nick Diaz and Anderson Silva return to the cage this weekend for a five-round main event that is a dream fight.

Two men who love to go toe-to-toe while talking trash. They are showoffs, but in drastically different ways. The former UFC middleweight champion is the favorite, and rightfully so. However, the odds are quite steep. Silva is currently in at minus-450, according to Odds Shark.

Is Diaz being disrespected? No. The matchup, on paper, looks ideal for a Silva return. He is fighting an undersized opponent who would struggle to take him down, and on the feet he has a distinct advantage. All signs point to Silva having a relatively easy night with Diaz.

But is Diaz being underestimated? Absolutely.

Everyone still sees Silva as a hero, and as such they are worshipping him. The problem is that this god-like figure in this sport has been reduced to being a mere mortal. Father Time has appeared.

“The Spider” is nowhere near what he was. Silva is not 32 years old anymore. He is knocking on 40.

Diaz is no spring chicken either, but the former Strikeforce champion has a style that will allow him to be in this fight if Silva’s deterioration has continued. He has good length and good technique. Silva’s recent defensive style plays right into Diaz‘s hands.

In recent fights, we have seen Silva’s back to the fence. He’s allowing his opponents to get in close. Diaz loves this position. With his opponent’s back against the fence, the Stockton native can start throwing beautiful combinations that go from body to head repeatedly. Silva will not want to continue to employ that strategy. He needs to fight at range.

The biggest reason Diaz is being underestimated is Silva’s chin. He used to be able to absorb a lot of punishment but following the knockout to Chris Weidman, we don’t know if he has reached his limit on taking hard shots.

Fighters almost have a set number of punches they can eat before their body says no more. We have seen it with the best. In MMA, Chuck Liddell is the shining example. Liddell was able to walk through the punches of some of the hardest hitters—and then one day he couldn’t walk through the shots of the mid-tier of his division.

Is Silva at that point? We will know when Diaz tests his chin.

Rumors have already circulated via Twitter that Silva has been knocked out in training. That came from an unconfirmed tweet by MMA journalist James Goyder, but it does make one raise their eyebrows.

This fight may be more about how Silva has depreciated than anything else.

Diaz himself has taken a lot of punishment throughout his career, but he is only 31. He should still have a good amount left in the gas tank. But his fighting life has been helped by an infrequent trip to the cage. This will only be his third fight in the past three years.

The stylistic matchup of this fight screams at everyone that Silva will walk through Diaz in entertaining fashion, but honestly no one can state that as fact. The way Silva fights, in an attempt to entertain the masses, will give Diaz his opportunities to land clean shots. Diaz isn’t known for his one-punch KO power, but it’s there if he lands cleanly. And perhaps even if not, if Silva’s chin has truly gone by the wayside.

Nick Diaz is being underestimated for Saturday’s main event. There is no way around it. This is not 2008 anymore. Silva’s glory days are almost assuredly behind him, and Diaz can put an exclamation point on that notion with a decisive victory.

Do not sleep on Mr. 209. He won’t be scared or intimidated, and he will attempt to walk the former pound-for-pound king down at UFC 183.

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It’s OK for Nick Diaz to Lose to Anderson Silva at UFC 183; He’s Still Nick Diaz

Some people are beyond reproach. It can be at the office, at the schoolyard, even in team sports.
You’ve seen the guy or gal: boss’ favorite, teacher’s favorite, coach’s favorite.
You probably hate this person, too.
That doesn&r…

Some people are beyond reproach. It can be at the office, at the schoolyard, even in team sports.

You’ve seen the guy or gal: boss’ favorite, teacher’s favorite, coach’s favorite.

You probably hate this person, too.

That doesn’t change the fact that he or she is basically untouchable, though, be it for a strong work ethic, smarts or talent.

MMA is different. The boss is a bald guy who shouts so loudly and so frequently that the top of his head turns a volcanic red. The teachers are equal parts warrior and philosopher, a Greg Jackson or maybe a Matt Hume. The coaches are the same guys, dragging you through the grind for eight or ten weeks while you slog towards physical warfare with another dangerous man.

In that world, you have Nick Diaz.

Diaz is certainly not a favorite of any boss. He is largely his own teacher, and he has only had Richard Perez and Cesar Gracie as coaches of whom he could be a favorite. By walking that path and simply doing whatever he’s wanted for as long as he’s seen it reasonable, he’s become one of the hottest commodities in the sport.

Now, heading into UFC 183 and fixing to throw hands for the first time in nearly two years, he’ll have arguably the biggest fight of his career. He’ll stand across from an all-time great, Anderson Silva, for the second time in as many fights after a 2013 loss to Georges St-Pierre and a subsequent retirement.

The result, for all intents and purposes, doesn’t even matter.

If Diaz wins, he’ll probably get to pick his next move. He might call out Chris Weidman or Robbie Lawler for a title fight or decide to go home and sit on a heap of cash until St-Pierre returns and a big-money rematch presents itself. Not bad for a guy who’d be looking at only his second win since 2011.

If he loses, he’s still one of the greatest antiheroes MMA has ever seen and one of the most beloved in professional sports today. He was a welterweight who hadn’t fought in two years and came back at middleweight to fight the best that division has ever seen. He’ll be 1-3 since returning to the UFC in 2011 and still be among the more popular men in the game.

Either way, he’s Nick Diaz, and people will pay to see him fight. He’s guaranteed excitement when he hits the cage, and his antics during fight weeks are the stuff of legend. He has the type of raw magnetism you simply can’t create in the sport, a purity in his words and actions that have turned him into an icon.

It’s that fact that has allowed Diaz to get to where he is today: fighting big fights for big money and worrying about other components of his career later. He’s long been trumpeting the idea that he’d basically fight anyone if the UFC would pay him enough to do it, and he’s backing that up by taking the Silva fight.

That’s why it’s OK for him to lose the fight. It’s not about the result; it’s about the fact that he stepped in the cage in the first place. Diaz’s appearance at the UFC 183 main event is about as Diaz as it gets, and there’s plenty to love about that.

 

Follow me on Twitter @matthewjryder!

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Tyron Woodley vs. Kelvin Gastelum: A Complete Head-to-Toe Breakdown

UFC welterweights Tyron “The Chosen One” Woodley and Kelvin Gastelum are both battling for position on the 170-pound ladder when they meet Saturday in the co-main event of UFC 183. 
Woodley, a former Strikeforce welterweight champion, has endured …

UFC welterweights Tyron “The Chosen One” Woodley and Kelvin Gastelum are both battling for position on the 170-pound ladder when they meet Saturday in the co-main event of UFC 183. 

Woodley, a former Strikeforce welterweight champion, has endured an up-and-down UFC career thus far, notching wins over Carlos Condit and Dong Hyun Kim but faltering under the bright lights against Rory MacDonald. His opponent, The Ultimate Fighter 17 winner Gastelum, has gone 5-0 with victories over Rick Story and Jake Ellenberger. 

Both Woodley and Gastelum are eager to stake their claim for a title shot and prove that they are legitimate contenders.

While they share a few similarities, a couple of key differences set these top welterweights apart. Read on for a complete head-to-toe breakdown of this pivotal co-main event tilt. 

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Anderson Silva vs. Nick Diaz: A Full Head-to-Toe Breakdown for UFC 183

It’s been too long.
And what a wait it’s been. 
A gruesome broken leg prevented Anderson Silva from stepping inside of the cage for over a year. A loss of competitive spirit (or monetary incentive) prevented Nick Diaz from stepping inside of the c…

It’s been too long.

And what a wait it’s been. 

A gruesome broken leg prevented Anderson Silva from stepping inside of the cage for over a year. A loss of competitive spirit (or monetary incentive) prevented Nick Diaz from stepping inside of the cage for a little under two years. 

Presumably in the red corner, there will be a man who’s blazed a trail of historic proportions, destroying the Chael Sonnens, Vitor Belforts, Dan Hendersons, Rich Franklins and Forrest Griffins of the MMA landscape. The guy in the blue corner is no slouch either, building a pretty impressive resume of his own. Diaz has stockpiled wins over B.J. Penn, Frank Shamrock and Paul Daley. He’s also the only guy who has knocked Robbie Lawler out inside of a cage.

Buckle yourself in as we break the UFC 183 main event down from head to toe. 

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