While Guillard’s win over Danzig marked his first KO victory since 2011, Pearson has been on a minor tear since returning to lightweight last year, with impressive TKO wins against George Sotiropoulos and Ryan Couture. We’d call this matchup a “guaranteed slugfest,” but we’ve been officially banned from using that phrase, following the passage of the MacDonald/Ellenberger Unfulfilled Hype Act of 2013. (THANKS OBAMA.) But yeah, it’s pretty likely that this one will end before the judges have a chance to screw it up.
While Guillard’s win over Danzig marked his first KO victory since 2011, Pearson has been on a minor tear since returning to lightweight last year, with impressive TKO wins against George Sotiropoulos and Ryan Couture. We’d call this matchup a “guaranteed slugfest,” but we’ve been officially banned from using that phrase, following the passage of the MacDonald/Ellenberger Unfulfilled Hype Act of 2013. (THANKS OBAMA.) But yeah, it’s pretty likely that this one will end before the judges have a chance to screw it up.
(…and be sure to stay tuned after the fights for the premiere of Bisping’s gritty new crime drama, Two Blokes and a Wanker. / Photo via @bisping)
The rumors were halfway true: Yes, UFC middleweights Michael Bisping and Mark Munoz will face off in the main event of the promotion’s return to Manchester, England, on October 26th. The UFC confirmed the booking on Saturday, although no other matchups have been officially announced for the card.
Here’s where things get a little strange. Contrary to initial reports, the event will not air on FOX Sports 1 (which is launching on August 17th to replace The Speed Channel), but instead on FOX Sports 2 (which will be replacing FUEL). It’s odd, because we thought the whole point of the UFC moving its cable events to FOX Sports 1 was to have all of those fight cards and prelim broadcasts in the same place. No longer would fans have to switch between FX and FUEL, in addition to keeping track of which fights are on FOX and pay-per-view. (And Facebook!) Fox Sports 2 was originally announced as a “general sports channel,” but now that channel is showing UFC fights too?
The UFC recently declared that its FOX Sports 1 events would henceforth be known as “Fight Night” events — just like their old Spike TV cards — which streamlines the naming process and prevents snot-nosed bloggers like us from making more jokes about it. (i.e., “UFC on FOX Sports 1 2: Condit vs. Kampmann 2: 2 Cute 2B 4Gotten.”) The problem is, calling an event “UFC Fight Night 30: Bisping vs. Munoz” doesn’t indicate which channel it’s on, which could be confusing if there are multiple destinations for UFC cable content.
At this point, we don’t know if the event’s placement on FOX Sports 2 is only a one-off decision, perhaps made because of the card’s impending garbage-ass-ness. We’ll update you when we know more.
(…and be sure to stay tuned after the fights for the premiere of Bisping’s gritty new crime drama, Two Blokes and a Wanker. / Photo via @bisping)
The rumors were halfway true: Yes, UFC middleweights Michael Bisping and Mark Munoz will face off in the main event of the promotion’s return to Manchester, England, on October 26th. The UFC confirmed the booking on Saturday, although no other matchups have been officially announced for the card.
Here’s where things get a little strange. Contrary to initial reports, the event will not air on FOX Sports 1 (which is launching on August 17th to replace The Speed Channel), but instead on FOX Sports 2 (which will be replacing FUEL). It’s odd, because we thought the whole point of the UFC moving its cable events to FOX Sports 1 was to have all of those fight cards and prelim broadcasts in the same place. No longer would fans have to switch between FX and FUEL, in addition to keeping track of which fights are on FOX and pay-per-view. (And Facebook!) Fox Sports 2 was originally announced as a “general sports channel,” but now that channel is showing UFC fights too?
The UFC recently declared that its FOX Sports 1 events would henceforth be known as “Fight Night” events — just like their old Spike TV cards — which streamlines the naming process and prevents snot-nosed bloggers like us from making more jokes about it. (i.e., “UFC on FOX Sports 1 2: Condit vs. Kampmann 2: 2 Cute 2B 4Gotten.”) The problem is, calling an event “UFC Fight Night 30: Bisping vs. Munoz” doesn’t indicate which channel it’s on, which could be confusing if there are multiple destinations for UFC cable content.
At this point, we don’t know if the event’s placement on FOX Sports 2 is only a one-off decision, perhaps made because of the card’s impending garbage-ass-ness. We’ll update you when we know more.
This is probably the greatest possible matchup involving two middleweights that you rarely think about. Quietly, both fighters have amassed five-fight win streaks in the Octagon dating back to 2011, with Philippou most notably defeating Boetsch, Court McGee, and Jorge Rivera, and Carmont scoring recent wins against Tom Lawlor and Lorenz Larkin. One of these guys is going to make it six in a row, and the other is going back to square one — a truly horrible place, indeed.
Shoot us your thoughts about this matchup in the comments section, and check out the current UFC 165 fight lineup after the jump…
(Philippou puts a shocking end to the Barbarian Era at UFC 155. / Photo by Esther Lin for MMAFighting.com)
This is probably the greatest possible matchup involving two middleweights that you rarely think about. Quietly, both fighters have amassed five-fight win streaks in the Octagon dating back to 2011, with Philippou most notably defeating Boetsch, Court McGee, and Jorge Rivera, and Carmont scoring recent wins against Tom Lawlor and Lorenz Larkin. One of these guys is going to make it six in a row, and the other is going back to square one — a truly horrible place, indeed.
Shoot us your thoughts about this matchup in the comments section, and check out the current UFC 165 fight lineup after the jump…
PRELIMINARY CARD
Myles Jury vs. Mike Ricci Ivan Menjivar vs. Norifumi Yamamoto
Chris Clements vs. Stephen Thompson
Mitch Gagnon vs. Dustin Kimura
Renee Forte vs. John Makdessi
Mark Bocek vs. Michel Prazeres
Nandor Guelmino vs. Daniel Omielanczuk
A potential heavyweight slugfest and a duel between two lightweights who need to get back to their winning ways have bothbeen reported for UFC 166, taking place October 19th at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas.
Gabriel Gonzaga, fresh off of an obliteration of Dave Herman at UFC 162 earlier this month, meets “The Savage” Shawn Jordan in a fight sure to end with someone on the canvas before the end of the third round. Gonzaga, the man responsible for Mirko Cro Cop’s downfall — and we’ll never forgive him for it, that son-of-a-bitch — looks to keep climbing back into the title mix, six years after his unsuccessful challenge against Randy Couture back at UFC 74. This will be Gonzaga’s seventeenth appearance in the Octagon over the course of eight years.
Meanwhile, Jordan is riding a two-fight win streak with stoppages over Mike Russow and most recently fan-favorite Pat Barry at UFC 161 in Winnipeg (which took him one second short of a minute). Both men have a combined amount of 1:16 cage-time spent in their last Octagon outings. That’s just how heavyweights roll, my dudes.
A potential heavyweight slugfest and a duel between two lightweights who need to get back to their winning ways have bothbeen reported for UFC 166, taking place October 19th at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas.
Gabriel Gonzaga, fresh off of an obliteration of Dave Herman at UFC 162 earlier this month, meets “The Savage” Shawn Jordan in a fight sure to end with someone on the canvas before the end of the third round. Gonzaga, the man responsible for Mirko Cro Cop’s downfall — and we’ll never forgive him for it, that son-of-a-bitch — looks to keep climbing back into the title mix, six years after his unsuccessful challenge against Randy Couture back at UFC 74. This will be Gonzaga’s seventeenth appearance in the Octagon over the course of eight years.
Meanwhile, Jordan is riding a two-fight win streak with stoppages over Mike Russow and most recently fan-favorite Pat Barry at UFC 161 in Winnipeg (which took him one second short of a minute). Both men have a combined amount of 1:16 cage-time spent in their last Octagon outings. That’s just how heavyweights roll, my dudes.
Also on the card…
KJ Noons, who is in desperate need of a win after dropping his last three, faces Australia’s George Sotiropoulos, who’s also dropped his last three and needs a win just as bad. Sotiropoulos has not fought since his TKO loss to Ross Pearson last December after their coaching stint on TUF: The Smashes. Noons was on the losing end of a questionable decision against Ryan Couture at Strikeforce’s swan song earlier this year but was thoroughly outmatched by Donald Cerrone in his Octagon debut at UFC 160. Noons has earned only one win in his last six fights.
Now, you can look at the Healy vs. Nurmagomedov booking in one of two ways: Either the UFC is doing Healy a solid by giving him another upper-echelon opponent so he can solidify his place in the UFC title-mix, or they’re punishing him by setting him up in a lose-lose fight against an indestructible Russian savage whose name casual UFC fans can’t even pronounce. But regardless of what the promotion’s reasoning was, it’s a killer matchup between two consistently-exciting 155-pounders — and another opportunity to see if Nurmagomedov is the real deal.
Now, you can look at the Healy vs. Nurmagomedov booking in one of two ways: Either the UFC is doing Healy a solid by giving him another upper-echelon opponent so he can solidify his place in the UFC title-mix, or they’re punishing him by setting him up in a lose-lose fight against an indestructible Russian savage whose name casual UFC fans can’t even pronounce. But regardless of what the promotion’s reasoning was, it’s a killer matchup between two consistently-exciting 155-pounders — and another opportunity to see if Nurmagomedov is the real deal.
Never put too much stock in the words of a man who has just been knocked out. Anderson Silva seemed to insist to interviewer Joe Rogan immediately after getting KO’d by Chris Weidman at UFC 162 a week ago that he was not interested in a rematch.
But there was the language barrier thing and the typical Anderson Silva cryptic speech thing to take into account but perhaps more than anything — we were listening to the stream of consciousness reactions of a freshly concussed man. Maybe that’s why UFC President Dana White has spent almost every minute since insisting to the media that the mega-rematch between “The Spider” and “The All-American” would definitely happen.
And, it will. The middleweight title clash is now scheduled to take place December 28th as the main event for UFC 168. The organization’s big New Year’s Eve show will also feature the women’s UFC bantamweight title rematch between Ronda Rousey and Meisha Tate II as its co-main event.
White told Yahoo! Sports that he believes the Weidman/Silva rematch will be the biggest fight in the organization’s history. “White several times Saturday said he thought the bout would be the biggest in UFC history and said he thought it could do between 1.2 million and 1.4 million on pay-per-view,” they reported.
“The UFC does not release its pay-per-view figures, but it is believed that UFC 100, at 1.25 million, is the best-selling pay-per-view the promotion has done.”
Anderson Silva released a short taped statement to ESPN telling fans, “I back. Trust me. I back.” Of course, that was followed by a wink.
Never put too much stock in the words of a man who has just been knocked out. Anderson Silva seemed to insist to interviewer Joe Rogan immediately after getting KO’d by Chris Weidman at UFC 162 a week ago that he was not interested in a rematch.
But there was the language barrier thing and the typical Anderson Silva cryptic speech thing to take into account but perhaps more than anything — we were listening to the stream of consciousness reactions of a freshly concussed man. Maybe that’s why UFC President Dana White has spent almost every minute since insisting to the media that the mega-rematch between “The Spider” and “The All-American” would definitely happen.
And, it will. The middleweight title clash is now scheduled to take place December 28th as the main event for UFC 168. The organization’s big New Year’s Eve show will also feature the women’s UFC bantamweight title rematch between Ronda Rousey and Meisha Tate II as its co-main event.
White told Yahoo! Sports that he believes the Weidman/Silva rematch will be the biggest fight in the organization’s history. “White several times Saturday said he thought the bout would be the biggest in UFC history and said he thought it could do between 1.2 million and 1.4 million on pay-per-view,” they reported.
“The UFC does not release its pay-per-view figures, but it is believed that UFC 100, at 1.25 million, is the best-selling pay-per-view the promotion has done.”
Anderson Silva released a short taped statement to ESPN telling fans, “I back. Trust me. I back.” Of course, that was followed by a wink.
