UFC 191 is upon us, but before the bell rings on Saturday, all 22 competing athletes must hit the scales on Friday.
In the main event, Demetrious Johnson defends his flyweight title against John Dodson for the second time. Dodson was Johnson’s opponent…
UFC 191 is upon us, but before the bell rings on Saturday, all 22 competing athletes must hit the scales on Friday.
In the main event, Demetrious Johnson defends his flyweight title against John Dodson for the second time. Dodson was Johnson’s opponent for his first title defense, and it was an interesting fight. Dodson knocked the champion down and missed the chance to finish the fight in the second round. Johnson rebounded and started to pull away for a unanimous-decision victory.
Heavyweight veterans Andrei Arlovski and Frank Mir will try to state their respective cases for a title shot in the co-main event. Mir has won back-to-back fights, while Arlovski has won five straight contests. In the shallow heavyweight division, a win at UFC 191 should put one of them in position to contend.
Nine other bouts help fill out the card, and Bleacher Report will have full coverage of the weigh-in proceedings at 7 p.m. ET. Come back later tonight for all the updates.
Even when he’s sticking to the boilerplate, Francisco Rivera manages to sound menacing.
“I don’t talk crap,” Rivera said in an exclusive interview with Bleacher Report. “It’s not my style. I’m going to go in th…
Even when he’s sticking to the boilerplate, Francisco Rivera manages to sound menacing.
“I don’t talk crap,” Rivera said in an exclusive interview with Bleacher Report. “It’s not my style. I’m going to go in there and let my hands fly.”
It might be a little less menacing if Ciscowasn’t arguably the most dangerous knockout artist in the UFC bantamweight division these days. It might also be less tantalizing if he wasn’t facing John Lineker—known for his own successful head-hunting as a flyweight and now debuting at 135 pounds—this Saturday at UFC 191.
Those things being true, however, makes this fight both tantalizing and menacing.
Francisco Rivera vs. John Lineker is bonkers. That is the best fight revealed for #UFC191.
And with a win, the 33-year-old Rivera (11-4-0) might be in line to become the division’s newest contender after years of grinding, self-imposed setbacks and plain bad luck.
“I think I’m right there,” Rivera said. “It’s wide open.”
Since first joining the UFC in 2011, Rivera has slowly but steadily gained notoriety for his powerful and technical boxing.
But his 2012 knockout of Roland Delorme was overturned after Rivera tested positive for ephedra. He looked good on return with two straight knockouts but then suffered two dicey losses in a row, a controversial decision loss to TakeyaMizugaki and a defeat to Urijah Faber, who got away with a serious eye poke moments before locking in the fight-ending bulldog choke.
Rivera rebounded in June with a 21-second knockout of Alex Caceres. It was a needed boost.
“Coming off two losses, that can mess with your head and your career,” Rivera said. “Who knows what the UFC would have done if I’d have lost?”
Now, here comes Lineker, who joins the bantamweight division on Saturday following repeated failures to make the flyweight division’s 125-pound limit. Lineker will be a small bantamweight, surrendering six inches of height to Rivera.
But he still has hands that match Rivera’s, with 12 career knockouts to his name, per Sherdog.
No wonder some media members and hardcore fans have this bout tabbed as a Fight of the Night favorite. MMA writer Mike Bohn is excited for it:
Francisco Rivera vs. John Lineker is a ridiculously awesome matchup. Lineker moves to 135 and fights another huge hitter. Love it.
“People see the way I fight and they see the way he fights,” Rivera said. “I’m coming out to win. I’ll do what I do best and that is let my hands go.”
We’ll see. But it should be a violent affair. As such, Rivera seems like an ideal welcome-wagon driver for Lineker‘s bantamweight debut.
“He’s a bigger guy somewhere. He’s a smaller guy here. He can’t do here what he did there,” Rivera said. “I’m definitely not going to let him come up to bantamweight and have his way.”
There is an unusual amount of hostility coming from John “The Magician” Dodson as he prepares to challenge Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson for the UFC flyweight title at UFC 191 in Las Vegas on Saturday night.
Johnson (21-2-1, 10-1-1 UFC) is th…
There is an unusual amount of hostility coming from John “The Magician” Dodson as he prepares to challenge Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson for the UFC flyweight title at UFC 191 in Las Vegas on Saturday night.
Johnson (21-2-1, 10-1-1 UFC) is the reigning champion and has already defeated Dodson (18-6, 6-1 UFC) once in his career. However, Johnson knows it was one of his toughest fights, having been knocked down by Dodson in the second round before his speed, precision and skill took over and earned the win.
Dodson should feel confident since he has hurt Johnson in the past, but he has been laying into Johnson in the days before the fight.
I am going to kick him repeatedly. He’s going to try to shoot, and when he shoots I’m going to stop his takedown, and I’m going to hit him more and more and more until somebody pulls me off of his lifeless corpse. I’m going to dribble his head off the canvas like it’s a basketball and I’m playing in the NBA Finals. I will walk through him and destroy his whole life, his whole meaning and purpose.
According to Dundas, Dodson also called Johnson bad for the sport because he’s unpopular.
This may not be the wisest way to prepare for an opponent who has been winning every battle. Dodson appears to have a puncher’s chance, but that’s about it. The longer the fight goes, the likelier it is that Johnson’s skill in the 125-pound weight class will take over.
According to 5Dimes (h/t Odds Shark), Johnson is a solid favorite with 2-11 odds to win, while Dodson is an underdog with 17-4 odds to win. Those odds indicate that Dodson is doing little more than blustering before the fight.
He has a chance to register the upset, but it would almost certainly have to be the result of his ability to land heavy punches in the early going.
That’s how he gained the early advantage in 2013, and he almost certainly has to follow the same formula here.
Johnson simply has too many skills. He can grapple, kick and has excellent punch combinations. What has made him so difficult to beat is that he transitions so well between his different techniques.
That talent has allowed Johnson to dominate, and he appears to have improved more than Dodson since their 2013 meeting.
Prediction
Dodson is a strong man with speed, and that’s always a dangerous combination. He will be looking to end this fight with a series of big-time strikes.
While Johnson is an excellent all-around fighter, he can be hit. If Dodson can get one or two power punches in early, he has a chance to register an upset—or at least come close to getting it.
Dodson has a problem, however. He tends to fight at long distance and look for opportunities to pick his shots. He is not a volume fighter and may go 20-plus seconds without throwing a punch.
That’s going to work out in Johnson’s favor. He is going to use his talent as a wrestler and all-around fighter to gain the advantage. He will be in charge by the end of the second round.
This one is for you, MMA hardcores.
In contrast to a few of its more ballyhooed recent efforts—UFC 189 and UFC 190, for example—Saturday night’s UFC 191 isn’t going to land anybody on Good Morning America. This will be a more intimate affai…
In contrast to a few of its more ballyhooed recent efforts—UFC 189 and UFC 190, for example—Saturday night’s UFC 191 isn’t going to land anybody on Good Morning America. This will be a more intimate affair, featuring two small men fighting for an audience made up of the sport’s most strident supporters.
Depending on how you look at it, you can call that glorious or you can call it the primary problem with Demetrious Johnson’s near-three-year reign as flyweight champion. Johnson is great at fighting—maybe the pound-for-pound best in the world—but so far, much of MMA’s fanbase has responded with a resounding yawn.
Challenger John Dodson has said he’ll change all that. During the run-up to this fight—a rematch—he’s promised he’ll take the title from Johnson and put the 125-pound weight class on the map as destination viewing for everyone.
Is he up to either challenge? That’s why they have the fights.
In this bitter war of words, the facts and fictions are flying around like mad. Luckily, Bleacher Report lead writers Chad Dundas (that’s me) and Jonathan Snowden are here to sort out the difference.
Fact or Fiction: John Dodson Shocks Demetrious Johnson, Carries the Belt Back to Albuquerque.
Chad: Dodson is a 4-1 underdog, according to Odds Shark, but I say this is fact.
Firstly, for 10 minutes in their first meeting in January 2013, it looked like Dodson would stop Johnson’s title run before it really got started. He dropped the champ three times with heavy punches during the first two periods, only to have DJ rebound and steal the bout away in the championship rounds.
If not for that comeback, a few inadvertent fouls—low blow, illegal knee, possible eye poke—and Dodson’s own failing cardio, he might’ve got the job done the first time around. Now, with a couple years for the coaches at Jackson-Winkeljohn to fine-tune the ol’ game plan, the rematch could be the charm for Dodson.
Secondly, Johnson has been talking big about wanting to surpass Anderson Silva’s record of 10 consecutive UFC title defenses, relayed by MMA Junkie. That’s usually the kind of thing people say before they mess up and lose one.
What say you, Jonathan?
Jonathan: The first time I saw John Dodson fight, I knew he was going to be something special. Sure, he was competing at a local show in Fairfax, Virginia. And, yes, it was true that no major fight promotion at the time promoted his ideal weight class.
Despite that, Dodson knew he was going to make it. He had the ego and cockiness that all the great fighters have—that you need to have in order to excel in the fight game.
I’ve had my eye on him ever since—and on Saturday night, it’ll all pay off. Demetrious Johnson may be the most skilled fighter in the UFC. But Dodson? Dodson is magic. And that’s a fact.
Chad: I’ve heard a lot of promos cut during my time covering combat sports, but I’m not sure I’ve ever heard anyone spit hot fire quite the way Dodson did when I talked to him about Johnson recently.
He issued the kind of threats of physical violence that had even me thinking, “dude, are you sure you want to say all this?”
This fight is a big, big deal for Dodson and everybody at Jackson-Wink. Meanwhile, Johnson insists it’s just another fight. Maybe there’s power in the champ’s nonchalance, but it’s hard not to side with Dodson’s enthusiasm.
Fact or Fiction: UFC 191 Sets an All-Time Low for Modern UFC PPV Numbers.
Snowden: Fact. Sadly.
While our colleague Jeremy Botter made a compelling case for ignoring the business side of the sport and simply enjoying some fights, what happens at the box office can have a profound effect on how the sport functions in the future. Demetrious Johnson, no matter how dominant he is in the cage, just can’t seem to capture the attention of the UFC’s rabid fanbase. Whether that’s his fault or ours is a matter for debate—but it’s certainly a topic worth discussing.
With Johnson at the helm, the 125-pound division has failed to make it out of the blocks to the point there have been whispers around UFC headquarters about simply shutting the flyweight class down and sending everybody in it back to the house. It wouldn’t be unprecedented. When the lightweight class led by B.J. Penn failed to take flight, Zuffa got rid of it for a time. The same thing absolutely could happen with flyweights.
Johnson’s box office failures matter—not just for him but everyone in the weight class.
Luckily for all the wee men who love fisticuffs, the UFC is in the midst of an unprecedented global expansion. They need fighters to round out shows and fill cards. That might be the division’s saving grace. Johnson, arguably the least popular champion in UFC history, certainly won’t be.
Chad: I’m going to say fiction, but only because of the near-historic low buyrates already posted by other Demetrious Johnson PPVs.
To date, the high watermark for Johnson on PPV was the 205,000 estimated units he moved for his UFC 178 bout with Chris Cariaso—with a little help on the card from a still-developing Conor McGregor and the well-publicized clash between Donald Cerrone and Eddie Alvarez. The low point was UFC 174, at which his bout with Ali Bagautinov garnered 115,000.
Smack in the middle was the 125,000 buys he moved for his most recent fight, against relative unknown Kyoji Horiguchi at UFC 186.
This rematch with Dodson won’t ascend beyond Cariaso levels, but it should be better than Bagautinov status. Call this one a straight Horiguchi—it’ll post slightly better than 125,000 buys.
Jonathan: It has to help Johnson that the UFC is riding a wave of success that makes it feel like 2010 all over again. I don’t think Johnson is any more popular than he was at UFC 174, but the emergence of a new crop of fans, introduced to the sport through Ronda Rousey and McGregor, can’t hurt the cause.
You’ll notice, however, that Johnson is the first and only man to slow down the McGregor promotional machine. McGregor’s entire career consists of box office win after box office win—except the time he was put on the same card as the flyweight champ and was unable to single-handedly escape Johnson’s promotional black hole.
That doesn’t bode well for this show’s chances.
Fact or Fiction: The Andrei Arlovski Comeback Tour Keeps Rolling.
Chad: Fiction. Look, nobody outside of the Arlovski family was happier than me to see Big Andrei rebound from four straight losses between 2009 and 2011 to go 9-1-1 in his next 11 fights. That includes three straight wins inside the Octagon since returning to the UFC in 2014.
Unfortunately, I’m just not crazy about this matchup for him.
Frank Mir—having dusted his own four-fight losing streak with back-to-back wins already this year—is just too cagey and too good right now. If they scrap on the feet, I see a big left hand ending Arlovksi’s night the same way it did Todd Duffee’s in July. If the fight goes to the ground, well, c’mon.
Arlovski’s resurgence is a great story, and I’d love to think of him as a guy knocking on the door of a title shot, but at the end of this night, that tale will be reduced to a flight of fancy.
Jonathan: The most dangerous kind of fiction—especially for me. As a gentleman of advancing age, I’m secretly thrilled to see these old dogs taking the fight to the UFC’s crop of modern heavyweights. It makes me feel more potent by proxy. Spurious as that logic is, it’s a good feeling.
Of course, the truth is a bit more grim. I’m not fully convinced either man is entirely “back.” Instead, they’ve been the beneficiaries of kind matchmaking and opponents with single-digit fight IQs.
I can’t erase images of the fear in Arlovski’s eyes from a couple of years ago. That fear never truly goes away. At the same time, it’s also hard to forget just how bad Mir was on what looked like the road to retirement. Both men are mere mirages, shadows of greatness that once was.
Since I’m not a full-on believer in either man winning, I’ll focus instead on who’s more likely to lose. Arlovski’s questionable chin and propensity to be hit right on the button are a bad combination. He might win the fight with his superior technical standup. But he more likely gets rocked and finished on the ground, bringing one fairy tale to an end while giving another one last chapter in which to write a happy ending.
Chad: Well, now I’m bummed. Both Arlovski and Mir are likable former champions—yes, even Mir—and after reading that soul-searching screed, I don’t really want to see anything terrible happen to either of them.
I agree with you, though. This feels like a fight in which something bad is going to happen to somebody.
And that somebody, as much as I detest saying it, is probably going to be Arlovski.
All buyrate information courtesy of Dave Meltzer’s estimates (h/t MMA Payout). Thanks, Dave!
John “The Magician” Dodson will get his second shot at dethroning UFC flyweight champion Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson on Saturday night at UFC 191 in Las Vegas.
The fight headlines a card that also features an important light heavyweight scrap bet…
John “The Magician” Dodson will get his second shot at dethroning UFC flyweight champion Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson on Saturday night at UFC 191 in Las Vegas.
The fight headlines a card that also features an important light heavyweight scrap between Anthony “Rumble” Johnson and Jimi “Poster Boy” Manuwa and a suddenly relevant throwback heavyweight scrap between Andrei “The Pit Bull” Arlovski and Frank Mir.
Here’s a look at the complete card with predictions and viewing information.
Looking to Make the Mouse Disappear
Dodson came the closest to beating Johnson of any of the champion’s previous foes at flyweight when the two met in January 2013. Since then, Dodson has battled injuries and fought just three times—though he’s won them all.
Things have gone even better for Johnson. He’s successfully defended his title five times since beating Dodson by unanimous decision, and he’s become arguably the best pound-for-pound fighter in the UFC. Johnson has had some memorable fights since, but people are still talking about the classic fight with Dodson.
The Magician was able to stun Johnson and land significant strikes early in the fight. That’s something no other fighter has been able to do to the champion at flyweight. Johnson ultimately won based on his wrestling and technical acumen, but it was a struggle. Here’s how Sherdog.com’s Mike Sloan described Johnson and Dodson’s first fight:
Dodson didn’t make too many mistakes in his initial battle with Johnson because the fight wound up being one of the most competitive, most exciting fights the sport of MMA had witnessed in years. It was a perfect storm of two of the best fighters in their division, in their physical primes, fighting tooth and nail for something only one man can have.
What’s in store for the fighters and the fans this time around? Much of the same as it pertains to action. Johnson and Dodson are two of the sport’s most amazing athletes. The fight will again be fought at a breakneck pace. The difference in this bout will be Johnson’s approach.
The champion will look to take the fight to the ground quicker. He’s still the much better wrestler of the two, and he’s gotten even better than he was when the two men initially fought. Johnson will win again, but this time he’ll finish Dodson with a late-round submission that solidifies him as the sport’s best fighter.
Rumble Will Rip the Poster
You should never attempt to strike with Rumble Johnson. He’s too explosive and powerful. Unfortunately, Manuwa seems intent upon standing and fighting on Saturday night.
Per Elias Cepeda of FoxSports.com, Manuwa said: “No one is going to bully me in the cage. I will not be bullied. I will not step back—it is not who I am. We are going to be two trains meeting in the middle of the cage. Let’s see who gets pushed back. I’m not the one who is going to take a step backwards.”
It’s going to be a short fight.
Before Daniel Cormier reminded us that Johnson can still be taken down and submitted by skilled wrestlers, Rumble had won nine straight fights. Six of those wins came via knockout. Johnson has five losses in his career. Four of them have come by rear-naked choke. The proper approach to beating him seems obvious.
Manuwa has just one loss in his career, and that came via TKO to Alexander Gustafsson in March 2014. But Manuwa doesn’t appear to have the wrestling skills or the will to take advantage of Johnson’s weaknesses. He will attempt to stand and defeat Johnson, but he’ll be annihilated in the first round.
The Dog Trainer
Arlovski has found a second life in the UFC by scoring controversial and thrilling victories since returning to the promotion. Arlovski was given a gift split-decision victory over Brendan Schaub in June 2014. He followed that win up with two exciting KO victories over Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva and Travis Browne.
Mir has gone through a similar resurgence, as he appeared to be on his last leg in the UFC before scoring back-to-back KO wins over Silva and Todd Duffee. He had lost four fights in a row before his current two-fight winning streak.
Look for Mir to continue his rebirth. Arlovski is a brawler who is at his best when the fight is being contested at a manic pace. Mir has shown he can win that type of fight, but the submissions specialist is even better if he can get the fight to the ground.
Mir will work to keep this fight at the pace he needs. He’ll take Arlovski down somewhere in the second round and submit him with an arm hold to grab his third straight victory.
The past few weeks can’t have been all that easy for Anthony Johnson.
The feared UFC light heavyweight, who faces Jimi Manuwa on Saturday night at UFC 191, once again found himself in hot water on August 18 when he posted an ugly, misogynistic rant aga…
The past few weeks can’t have been all that easy for Anthony Johnson.
The feared UFC light heavyweight, who faces JimiManuwa on Saturday night at UFC 191, once again found himself in hot water on August 18 when he posted an ugly, misogynistic rant against an unnamed woman in his gym who’d had the temerity to stretch with her yoga mat where Johnson was trying to lift weights. Johnson threw her yoga mat, yelled at her a bit and then wrote a Facebook post saying that she was built “like a bag of dry dog food.”
The post spread like wildfire, which was to be expected. Johnson has a history of issues with domestic violence, including a 2009 incident that saw Johnson eventually sentenced to three years probation, community service and domestic violence counseling. A civil temporary restraining order was issued against Johnson in 2014, leading to his suspension from the UFC, but the organization reinstated him after the complaint was dismissed by the woman who filed it.
Johnson came out okay in this situation, too. Initially defiant on social media, Johnson apologized. The UFC announced an investigation, eventually expressing their disappointment in Johnson’s actions and noting that he would be undergoing counseling and making a donation to a Florida-based women’s charity, though no details on what kind of counseling or how big the donation would actually be were ever provided.
But even after all that, according to Johnson, he’s doing just fine. He’s not worried, not even a little bit. And, in fact, the recent hubbub was all a media creation, anyway.
“As long as my friends and family know who I am, I sleep well at night. I don’t worry about what the media has to say,” Johnson says during a UFC 191 media function Thursday. “I’m going to start answering like Marshawn Lynch. ‘You know why I’m here.’ They’re going to say what they want to say. I keep training. I keep fighting and stay focused.”
I tell Johnson that surely it must have been a little bit distracting, at least. But he shakes his head adamantly.
“Not even a little bit, man. Whenever I posted my ‘rant,’ as they called it, I took that upon myself to post it. I’m not afraid of the media because they’re going to say what they want to say, anyway,” he says.
“I didn’t attack anybody. All I did was throw a yoga mat and talk some trash,” he continues. “Who hasn’t thrown somebody’s stuff out of the way and talked trash? I’m just a public figure, and they want to make an example out of me. That’s fine with me. I’m not perfect. Show me somebody that hasn’t talked trash about somebody and put it on Facebook. It just happened to be me, and they want to say what they want to say. Like I said, I sleep well at night.”
Sleeping well at night is a thing Johnson keeps going back to, especially when asked how all of this has affected his mindset.
“I’m not worried about it. I sleep well at night. I have a nice comfy bed. I have awesome friends. I sleep well at night,” Johnson says. Again. “Yes, I was wrong for saying the things that I said. But I have already apologized, and everybody knows that. Life goes on. If people want to talk about it and whatnot, go right ahead. I still sleep well at night.”
I ask Johnson how long, in his estimation, did it take for someone from his management or the UFC offices to reach out to him and say, hey Anthony, perhaps this is not the best time to be posting rants against women on Facebook? Maybe?
Johnson says it was within one hour that his manager Glenn Robinson called him and told him to take the post down, but he was not inclined to agree with the suggestion.
“I’m like, Glenn, it’s already up. It’s already out there. You know how it is once you hit that send button, it’s out there. I’m like, Glenn, I’m not embarrassed by anything that I said,” Johnson says. “Do I regret it? No.
“It’s a lesson learned. But I am sorry. I felt bad for what I said. Nobody deserves to be talked about like that. Once again, I was mad. And that was it. So I apologized to her like a man, I admitted to her that I was wrong like a man. I kept living life like a man.”
Johnson says that he saw the woman two or three days after the incident started. He was in the gym, stretching (in the area where you are supposed to stretch, it must be noted by the author, so as not to have his yoga mat thrown across the room by an angry weightlifter), and when he came to the edge of the artificial turf area during his warm-up, he saw her standing there.
According to Johnson, he walked up, offered a handshake and said he was sorry.
“She said she was sorry, too. It was over with. She didn’t make a big stink about it. The media made a big stink about it,” he says. “She understood that when you’re mad, you say things. She accepted my apology, and I accepted hers.
“At the end of the day, we were both in the wrong. I was just dumb enough to put it on social media.”
Even when he’s sticking to the boilerplate, Francisco Rivera manages to sound menacing.