The UFC just added a lot of pop to its latest Montreal fight card.
On Thursday, the company announced two new fights for UFC 186. The four new competitors have 37 knockout wins among them. MMAJunkie.com first reported the news of the two figh…
The UFC just added a lot of pop to its latest Montreal fight card.
On Thursday, the company announced two new fights for UFC 186. The four new competitors have 37 knockout wins among them. MMAJunkie.com first reported the news of the two fight announcements.
Montreal native John Makdessi and Abel Trujillo will face off in a lightweight contest. Makdessi (12-3) has eight professional knockout wins, though he has not fought in over a year. His last bout was a decision loss to Alan Patrick, though many observers were surprised by that outcome.
Trujillo (12-6) owns five knockouts and trains with the well-known Blackzilians team in Florida. In his last contest, he was submitted by Tony Ferguson. He had won two straight—both by knockout—prior to that loss.
In a bantamweight contest, promising prospect Thomas Almeida tangles with Montrealer Yves Jabouin. In his UFC debut last November, the 23-year-old Brazilian bested veteran Tim Gorman by decision. Almeida is now 17-0 overall, with 13 of those wins coming by knockout.
Jabouin (20-9) has 11 knockouts to his name and trains alongside luminaries like Georges St-Pierre and Rory MacDonald in Montreal’s famed TriStar Gym.
I also like Thomas Almeida vs. Yves Jabouin. Good step up from Almeida. These bantamweight prospects are moving along
UFC 186 comes at an interesting time for MMA in Canada. In December, the UFC announced it had struck a new broadcast television deal for its events. It will now work with TSN and RDS after leaving Rogers Sportsnet, its longtime television home north of the border.
And it appears there could be plenty of combat fireworks on on April 25, when UFC 186 is scheduled to go down at Montreal’s Bell Centre. The main event is scheduled to feature a bantamweight title rematch between champion T.J. Dillashaw and challenger RenanBarao. In the co-main event, popular welterweight and TriStar mainstay MacDonald will take on another knockout artist in Hector Lombard.
Former UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson also is scheduled to make his UFC return at the event, facing unabashed brawler Fabio Maldonado.
Patrick Cote vs. Joe Riggs: Cote hasn’t competed since a unanimous decision loss to Stephen Thompson snapped his three-fight win streak back in September. Riggs will try to rebound from his unsuccessful UFC return at UFC on FOX 13 in December, when his neck immediately gave out on him during a fight against Ben Saunders.
Olivier Aubin-Mercier vs. David Michaud: This is not an MMA fight, but the finals of Top Chef Montreal. Can Aubin-Mercier’s innovative molecular gastronomy defeat the impeccable French traditionalism of Michaud? (Ed. note: Okay fine, this is a lightweight fight between two guys without Wikipedia pages. Both are 1-1 in the UFC. Thanks, Sherdog.)
Jessica Rakoczy vs. Valerie Letourneau: Rakoczy was TKO’d by Julianna Pena at the TUF 18 Finale in November, and currently holds the worst professional record of any UFC fighter (1-4 with one no-contest). Letourneau was choked out by Roxanne Modafferi during her elimination fight to get into the TUF 18 house, but was given a UFC contract anyway and won a tough split-decision against Elizabeth Phillips last June.
The UFC’s brass waited less than a month after Dominick Cruz’s ACL injury to find a new challenger for bantamweight champ T.J. Dillashaw.
Per a report by UFC.com, Dillashaw will attempt to defend his title for the second time when he tangles with …
The UFC’s brass waited less than a month after Dominick Cruz’s ACL injury to find a new challenger for bantamweight champ T.J. Dillashaw.
Per a report by UFC.com, Dillashaw will attempt to defend his title for the second time when he tangles with top-ranked bantamweight and former champ RenanBarao in a rematch in the main event at UFC 186 at the Bell Centre in Montreal on Feb. 14.
A bout between Canadian second-ranked welterweight Rory MacDonald and former Olympic judoka and fifth-ranked Hector Lombard will co-headline the card.
Additionally, former UFC light heavyweight champ Quinton “Rampage” Jackson will appear in the Octagon for the first time since signing with BellatorMMA. Jackson will face 13th-ranked Fabio Maldonado.
Dana White just announced on TSN that Dillashaw-Barao 2, MacDonald-Lombard, ‘Rampage’-Maldonado are set for UFC 186 in Montreal.
In a bout that garnered “Fight of the Night” honors, Dillashaw took the bantamweight belt from Barao with a shocking fifth-round TKO at UFC 173 in May. Heading into the bout, Barao was riding a 32-fight unbeaten streak and was considered an 8-to-1 favorite (-800) to defeat Dillashaw (+550) by OddsShark.com.
DillashawKO’d Joe Soto in his first title defense at UFC 177 in August. Barao submitted 14th-ranked Mitch Gagnon in his last outing at UFC Fight Night 58 in December.
Jackson, who finished his first stint in the UFC on a three-fight losing streak that included a loss over light heavyweight champ Jon Jones, won three straight fights in Bellator MMA, two of which were KOs. Maldonado scored his fourth win in five fights by TKO’ing Hans Stringer at UFC 179 in October.
Also, ninth-ranked middleweight Michael Bisping will face 10th-ranked C.B. Dolloway in a bout on the main card. Middleweights Joe “Diesel” Riggs and Patrick Cote will also lock horns in a main-card bout.
(There’ll be plenty more of this after the jump. Trust me.)
It’s February 18th, 2016 (or something like that), which can only mean one thing: There dun been a whole lotta MMA fights booked today! And rather than give you some paint-by-numbers fight booking breakdown (looking at you, Goldsteen), I’ve decided to do pretty much that, but with gifs. So without further askew, let’s get to it!
#6: Matt Hamill vs. TBA — WSOF 4-Man Light Heavyweight Tournament
Although he won’t be getting that rematch with Rampage Jackson in Bellator he was hoping for, Hamill has in fact signed an exclusive contract with World Series of Fighting, and is expected to make his debut as part of a 4-man tournament for the promotion’s light heavyweight belt. There’s no word on who he’ll be facing yet (our guess is another UFC veteran, which is all this tournament is made up of), but we feel confident not giving two shits about this fight regardless. Ranking:
(There’ll be plenty more of this after the jump. Trust me.)
It’s February 18th, 2016 (or something like that), which can only mean one thing: There dun been a whole lotta MMA fights booked today! And rather than give you some paint-by-numbers fight booking breakdown (looking at you, Goldsteen), I’ve decided to do pretty much that, but with gifs. So without further askew, let’s get to it!
#6: Matt Hamill vs. TBA — WSOF 4-Man Light Heavyweight Tournament
Although he won’t be getting that rematch with Rampage Jackson in Bellator he was hoping for, Hamill has in fact signed an exclusive contract with World Series of Fighting, and is expected to make his debut as part of a 4-man tournament for the promotion’s light heavyweight belt. There’s no word on who he’ll be facing yet (our guess is another UFC veteran, which is all this tournament is made up of), but we feel confident not giving two shits about this fight regardless. Ranking:
Remember that time I mentioned how the WSOF light heavyweight tournament is entirely made up of former UFC fighters? Well, enter Thiago Silva, who was just signed by the WSOF to a multi-fight contract despite being a reprehensible piece of human garbage.
(*exhale*) In any case, Silva has been booked in the WSOF’s 4-man lightweight tourney opposite former UFC middleweight Ronny Markes in the semifinal round.
You see what’s happening here, right? WSOF is unabashedly setting up Thiago fucking Silva to be the face of their light heavyweight division. My reaction to this can only be summed up in the immortal words of David Caruso. Ranking:
‘Page is back, baby! Lovers of MMA circa 2005, rejoice!!
I kid (sort of), but according to MMAFighting, Jackson’s return to the Octagon is being eyed for UFC 186 in April, with his opponent potentially being Fabio Maldonado. The Brazilian former pro boxer is fresh off a second round TKO of Hans Stringer at UFC 179, and has won 4 of his last 5 overall. Say what you want about Rampage (or Maldonado) being past his prime…
I suppose I should have finished that thought with a counterpoint, but what I’m getting at is Rampage vs. Maldonado has slugfest written all over it. In blood. Ranking:
Jim Miller is a gamer through and through, and Paul Felder kicked off 2015 with a KO of the Year-worthy spinning backfist over Danny Castillo at UFC 182. This fight will win all of the performance bonuses. Ranking:
Although it hasn’t been officially confirmed yet, UFC Tonight is reporting that the UFC is looking to book Dillashaw vs. Barao II for the April 25th card in Montreal now that Dominick Cruz has once again gone down with an ACL injury.
This rematch makes a hell of a lot more sense now than it did when Barao and Dillashaw were originally scheduled to lock horns again at UFC 177, which as we all know, ended with Barao withdrawing from the fight on 24 hours notice following a botched weight cut. While Dillashaw went on to starch Joe Soto that night, Barao would bounce back with a third round submission win over top contender Mitch Gagnon at Fight Night 58. The scales are finally starting to even in the battle of Team Alpha Male vs. All of Brazil, so we’ll go ahead and slap this one with a Ranking of:
Late last year, Fans and pundits alike thought MacDonald would face the winner of Robbie Lawler vs. Johny Hendricks II. A controversial decision in Lawler’s favor put the brakes on that since it forced the UFC to book a trilogy between the two welterweights.
MacDonald, left without a dancing partner, will face off with one of the top welterweights in the division in Lombard. We like to think UFC matchmaker Joe Silva booked this fight based on both fighters’ terrible nicknames. We’ve got Rory “The Waterboy”“Ares” “The Red King” vs. Hector “Lightning” “Showweather” Lombard. Ugh. How about the loser AND winner take their nicknames out back and shoot them?
Late last year, Fans and pundits alike thought MacDonald would face the winner of Robbie Lawler vs. Johny Hendricks II. A controversial decision in Lawler’s favor put the brakes on that since it forced the UFC to book a trilogy between the two welterweights.
MacDonald, left without a dancing partner, will face off with one of the top welterweights in the division in Lombard. We like to think UFC matchmaker Joe Silva booked this fight based on both fighters’ terrible nicknames. We’ve got Rory “The Waterboy”“Ares” “The Red King” MacDonald vs. Hector “Lightning” “Showweather” Lombard. Ugh. How about the loser AND winner take their nicknames out back and shoot them?
Both men are on three-fight winning streaks. MacDonald’s comes over the likes of Tarec Saffiedine, Demian Maia, and Tyron Woodley. Meanwhile, Lombard’s winning streak is comprised over wins over Josh Burkman, Jake Shields, and Nate Marquardt.
Both fighters have momentum and are undoubtedly top guys, but we’re writing this one off as a mismatch right from the start. The first round might be competitive, but MacDonald will pull away and box Lombard’s face off for the second and third round of the fight while Lombard plods, huffs, and puffs.
The UFC’s brass waited less than a month after Dominick Cruz’s 
