The delay turned out to be the best thing for this matchup. Originally, Holm vs. Pennington seemed like a cruel mismatch — and then Pennington damn near murdered Ashlee Evans-Smith, her replacement opponent at UFC 181. Pennington will still be a steep underdog here, but she proved that she’s not to be taken lightly. Also, Holm vs. Pennington will now take place on the same card as the bantamweight title fight between Ronda Rousey and Cat Zingano, which will make any post-fight callouts a little more interesting.
UFC 184 is shaping up to be the best card of the UFC’s loaded January/February schedule. The current lineup is…
The delay turned out to be the best thing for this matchup. Originally, Holm vs. Pennington seemed like a cruel mismatch — and then Pennington damn near murdered Ashlee Evans-Smith, her replacement opponent at UFC 181. Pennington will still be a steep underdog here, but she proved that she’s not to be taken lightly. Also, Holm vs. Pennington will now take place on the same card as the bantamweight title fight between Ronda Rousey and Cat Zingano, which will make any post-fight callouts a little more interesting.
UFC 184 is shaping up to be the best card of the UFC’s loaded January/February schedule. The current lineup is…
Chris Weidman vs. Vitor Belfort
Ronda Rousey vs. Cat Zingano
Frank Mir vs. Antonio Silva
Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza vs. Yoel Romero
Holly Holm vs. Raquel Pennington
Roan Carneiro vs. Mark Munoz
Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto vs. Roman Salazar
Jake Ellenberger vs. Josh Koscheck
Alan Jouban vs. Richard Walsh
Derrick Lewis vs. Ruan Potts
Former UFC light-heavyweight champion Rashad Evans will return from a 15-month hiatus when he faces Glover Teixeira in the main event of UFC Fight Night 61, February 22nd at Gigantinho Gymnasium in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Or, maybe Evans vs. Teixeira won’t headline that card. The matchup was first reported by Globo today, but the problem is, Teixeira hasn’t been medically cleared to train:
Teixeira’s manager, Jorge Guimaraes, has called the report premature. Guimaraes says that Teixeira, who was medically suspended after his UFC 179 loss to Phil Davis, has yet to be cleared to return to competition by Brazil’s athletic commission.
“Glover hasn’t even been cleared to fight on that date yet by the athletic commission due to his injuries,” Guimaraes told MMAFighting.com’s Ariel Helwani.
Teixeira caught a 45-day medical suspension following UFC 179 on October 25th, which should be complete by now — so maybe he’s dealing with new injuries that we don’t know about. At any rate, Rashad Evans vs. Glover Teixeira seems like a somewhat necessary meeting between one fighter who hasn’t competed all of 2014 due to a knee injury, and another fighter who lost both his fights in 2014 after winning 20 straight.
Former UFC light-heavyweight champion Rashad Evans will return from a 15-month hiatus when he faces Glover Teixeira in the main event of UFC Fight Night 61, February 22nd at Gigantinho Gymnasium in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Or, maybe Evans vs. Teixeira won’t headline that card. The matchup was first reported by Globo today, but the problem is, Teixeira hasn’t been medically cleared to train:
Teixeira’s manager, Jorge Guimaraes, has called the report premature. Guimaraes says that Teixeira, who was medically suspended after his UFC 179 loss to Phil Davis, has yet to be cleared to return to competition by Brazil’s athletic commission.
“Glover hasn’t even been cleared to fight on that date yet by the athletic commission due to his injuries,” Guimaraes told MMAFighting.com’s Ariel Helwani.
Teixeira caught a 45-day medical suspension following UFC 179 on October 25th, which should be complete by now — so maybe he’s dealing with new injuries that we don’t know about. At any rate, Rashad Evans vs. Glover Teixeira seems like a somewhat necessary meeting between one fighter who hasn’t competed all of 2014 due to a knee injury, and another fighter who lost both his fights in 2014 after winning 20 straight.
UFC Fight Night 61 will also feature a lightweight bout between Rustam Khabilov and Adriano Martins, and a middleweight scrap between Sam Alvey and Cezar Ferreira.
Since being TKO’d by Glover Teixeira in September 2013, Bader has scored three consecutive unanimous decision wins against Anthony Perosh, Rafael Cavalcante, and Ovince St. Preux. Davis most recently outpointed Teixeira last month at UFC 179, which followed a decision loss to Anthony Johnson, who is main-eventing the 1/24 card against Alexander Gustafsson, who lost to Phil Davis back in 2010, before they became buddies. Basically, everybody in the UFC light-heavyweight division has shared bodily fluids at this point.
The UFC on FOX 14 lineup currently looks like this…
Since being TKO’d by Glover Teixeira in September 2013, Bader has scored three consecutive unanimous decision wins against Anthony Perosh, Rafael Cavalcante, and Ovince St. Preux. Davis most recently outpointed Teixeira last month at UFC 179, which followed a decision loss to Anthony Johnson, who is main-eventing the 1/24 card against Alexander Gustafsson, who lost to Phil Davis back in 2010, before they became buddies. Basically, everybody in the UFC light-heavyweight division has shared bodily fluids at this point.
The UFC on FOX 14 lineup currently looks like this…
(I suppose could try to come up with another funny caption to a Dan Henderson photo, but I’ll never top this one, so what’s the point? / Photo via Getty)
Mousasi is 2-2 under the UFC banner, and most recently got guillotine choked by Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza in the main event of UFC Fight Night 50 in September. Nevertheless, Sassy should come in as a strong favorite here. But all it takes is one well-timed H-bomb, right? Right? Please God, don’t let Dan Henderson’s retirement fight be in Stockholm. There’s something perversely un-American about that.
(I suppose could try to come up with another funny caption to a Dan Henderson photo, but I’ll never top this one, so what’s the point? / Photo via Getty)
Mousasi is 2-2 under the UFC banner, and most recently got guillotine choked by Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza in the main event of UFC Fight Night 50 in September. Nevertheless, Sassy should come in as a strong favorite here. But all it takes is one well-timed H-bomb, right? Right? Please God, don’t let Dan Henderson’s retirement fight be in Stockholm. There’s something perversely un-American about that.
Henderson and Alvarez will both be looking to bounce back from recent defeats. Henderson is coming off his first-round knockout loss to Rafael Dos Anjos at UFC Fight Night 49 in August, while Alvarez was out-pointed by Donald Cerrone in his Octagon debut at UFC 178.
The Herald is also reporting two more interesting bookings for the 1/18 card…
(Eddie Alvarez briefly turns Donald Cerrone into Karl Childers during their three-round war last month. / Photo via Getty)
Henderson and Alvarez will both be looking to bounce back from recent defeats. Henderson is coming off his first-round knockout loss to Rafael Dos Anjos at UFC Fight Night 49 in August, while Alvarez was out-pointed by Donald Cerrone in his Octagon debut at UFC 178.
The Herald is also reporting two more interesting bookings for the 1/18 card…
– Jorge Masvidal vs. Norman Parke. Masvidal has won three straight in the lightweight division, most recently taking a decision over James Krause at UFC 178. Parke — the TUF Smashes winner who’s still undefeated in the UFC — was supposed to face Diego Sanchez next month at UFC 180 but had to withdraw due to a knee injury.
– Uriah Hall vs. Costas Philippou. This is actually a rematch for the two middleweights, who previously met at Ring of Combat 34 back in February 2011, with Philippou earning a majority decision. Hall has won back to back fights against Chris Leben and Thiago Santos, while Philippou is coming off a knockout win against Lorenz Larkin.
