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Report: Fabricio Werdum vs. Travis Browne Title Eliminator Fight Going Down in March

(“…he did WHAAAAT to Josh Barnett?!!” Photo via Barry Hartman/MMAFightCorner)

With heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez out nursing another shoulder injury for the foreseeable future, many MMA fans have pondered what’s next for top contender Fabricio Werdum. Currently on a three-fight win streak since returning to the UFC, Werdum is fresh off a second round submission of Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at UFC on FUEL 10 (*cries, self-immolates*) and is anxious to stay busy. According to an interview with MMAFighting, Werdum has already agreed to face Hawaiian hitman Travis “Hapa” Browne in March based purely on this fact:

I had a meeting with Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta and told them I wanted to wait, but then I thought about it and saw that I would need to wait too much before my next fight. You don’t remember what you don’t see.

We don’t have a date 100 percent confirmed yet, but I believe it’s going to be in March. I already know that it’s going to be a main event, so it’s a five-round fight. He doesn’t have a good cardio, so that’s good for me. He’s explosive when the fight starts, tries to finish it quickly, with jumping stuff and knockouts, so I see a lot of openings to defeat him.

Apparently Browne’s back-to-back-to-back knockouts of Gabriel Gonzaga, Alistair Overeem (who has split a pair of contests with Werdum) and Josh Barnett in 2013 have done little to impress Werdum, who was equally critical of Browne’s ground game, stating, “We have trained together a few times three years ago, and he knows how the training was. He knows that he doesn’t have a good ground game.”

Of course, one doesn’t exactly need a good ground game when they posses the power to obliterate anyone who dares shoot in on a takedown against them. Luckily, Werdum has a gameplan for that as well. Sort of.

(“…he did WHAAAAT to Josh Barnett?!!” Photo via Barry Hartman/MMAFightCorner)

I had a meeting with Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta and told them I wanted to wait, but then I thought about it and saw that I would need to wait too much before my next fight. You don’t remember what you don’t see.

We don’t have a date 100 percent confirmed yet, but I believe it’s going to be in March. I already know that it’s going to be a main event, so it’s a five-round fight. He doesn’t have a good cardio, so that’s good for me. He’s explosive when the fight starts, tries to finish it quickly, with jumping stuff and knockouts, so I see a lot of openings to defeat him.

Apparently Browne’s back-to-back-to-back knockouts of Gabriel Gonzaga, Alistair Overeem (who has split a pair of contests with Werdum) and Josh Barnett in 2013 have done little to impress Werdum, who was equally critical of Browne’s ground game, stating, ”We have trained together a few times three years ago, and he knows how the training was. He knows that he doesn’t have a good ground game.”

I won’t go there like (Gabriel) Gonzaga and Barnett did. Barnett looked desperate, he didn’t look like the veteran that he is. The clinch, the takedown, the body lock will eventually happen. I don’t need to shoot for a double leg. His takedown defense and elbows are really good, so I won’t make this mistake. We will fight on the ground eventually.

Ah, the old “I won’t do what they did” strategy. It’s worked out so well for every one of Ronda Rousey‘s ~~victims~~ opponents.

There is only one thing preventing Browne vs. Werdum from being made official, however. Browne’s previous victory over Barnett was the last fight on his contract, and the Hawaiian is currently in the process of renegotiating a new one. I would imagine that after the year he’s had, we can expect to see Browne’s 28k/28k pay structure increase significantly. Browne’s manager, John Fosco of VFD Marketing, told MMAJunkie that a deal is closed to being reached on by the two parties:

There’s no deal done between the UFC and Travis Browne right now, but all the talks that have been had up to this point indicate that we will be getting something done in the very near future, and they’ve always been fair with Travis.

We were talking about extending an agreement, and the UFC made it very clear that they like Travis and they think he’s a great fighter. But based on his resume of opponents, he hadn’t proven that he could beat the cream of the crop in that division, and that was something we agreed with. Overeem was a great win, but it’s not like it was the second or third time in a row he beat a top 10, let alone a top 5, opponent.

So we were in agreement, and we were willing to take less money for the Barnett fight to prove and put our money where our mouth is that Travis is that guy, and he is that good. The UFC even said they believe it, but they run a business, and he hasn’t done it yet. Because of that, we decided to [not sign a new deal] because they let us.

So, Nation, who do you like in this tentatively-schedule battle between top heavyweights?

–J. Jones

UFC 171 Adds Julianna Pena vs. Jessica Andrade, Kelvin Gastelum vs. Rick Story, Jimy Hettes vs. Dennis Bermudez

(“Julianna Pena, you’re the first female Ultimate Fighter in the show’s history, so I gotta ask, what was your favorite room in the house?” Photo via Getty.)

The UFC 171: Hendricks vs. Lawler card is filling up fast, Nation, and has recently added a pair of intriguing bouts featuring TUF winners as well as matchup between top featherweights. Let’s get right to it…

Julianna Pena vs. Jessica Andrade

“The Venezuelan Vixen” may not have made many friends in the TUF household (which we imagine she wasn’t there to do in the first place), but her performances in the octagon spoke for themselves. With stoppage victories over Shayna Baszler (rear-naked choke), Sarah Moras (guillotine) and Jessica Rakoczy (TKO), Pena is riding high on momentum at the moment, and she’ll need plenty of it against Jessica Andrade.

Currently 10-3 and 1-1 in the octagon, Andrade is submission specialist who has tangled with the likes of Liz Carmouche, Rosi Sexton and Jennifer Maia. She has only been the distance twice in her professional career, and while the holes in her wrestling game were exposed by Carmouche at UFC on FOX 8, she should easily make for the toughest test of the TUF winner’s career come March 15th.

(“Julianna Pena, you’re the first female Ultimate Fighter in the show’s history, so I gotta ask, what was your favorite room in the house?” Photo via Getty.)

Julianna Pena vs. Jessica Andrade

Kelvin Gastelum vs. Rick Story

In his first post-TUF appearance, season 17 winner Kelvin Gastelum showed that his victory over Uriah Hall was no fluke, dominating and submitting the now retired Brian Melancon in just two minutes at Fight Night 27 last August. The win kept Gastelum’s unblemished record intact, but unfortunately, bad luck would rear its head in the form of a PCL tear that would force him out of his UFC on FOX 9 fight with fellow TUF winner Court McGee.

Thankfully, Gastelum’s legs are not held together by tissue paper and dental floss, so he will be making a quick turnaround against veteran Rick Story. “The Horror” has been struggling with consistency for the past couple of years, going win-loss over his past five contests, but recently scored a unanimous decision victory over the returning Brian Ebersole at UFC 167. A win over Gastelum would easily make for his biggest since defeating Thiago Alves at UFC 130, so expect an all out war for this one, Nation.

Jimy Hettes vs. Dennis Bermudez

Call me crazy, but this is the matchup I’m most excited to see out of the three. Despite a minor setback against Marcus Brimage last year, Hettes has been on fire since entering the UFC, scoring submission wins over Alex Caceres and Robert Whiteford and dominating Nam Phan en route to a decision at UFC 141. Bermudez, on the other hand, has notched five straight victories since coming up short in the TUF 14 finals.

We all know Bermudez and Matt Grice put on a Fight of the Year contender at UFC 157, but “The Menace” also scored highly-entertaining decision victories over Max Holloway and Steven Siler in 2013 as well. The winner of this fight could easily find himself facing a top 10 opponent next, is what I’m getting at. In fact, if I were to GIF-rank this fight, I’d have to give it a solid

Can’t argue with the facts, folks.

UFC 171 goes down on March 15th from the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas.

–J. Jones

Barnburner Alert: Shawn Jordan vs. Matt Mitrione Added to ‘TUF: China’ Finale

(Photo via Getty Images.)

Since notching four TKOs (and five straight wins) in his first five UFC appearances, Matt “Meathead” Mitrione has hit a rut, to put it lightly. The TUF 10 alum and former professional football player has dropped three of his past four fights and was most recently choked out by friend and fellow TUF 10 alum Brendan Schaub at UFC 165. Cyborg Abreu was not impressed by this. Although Mitrione does meet the UFC’s ever-growing need for fighters who are more entertaining than consistent (a.k.a “The Voelker Amendment“), one could argue that he may be out of a job should he fail to get past his next test in Shawn Jordan.

The matchup, which was announced by the UFC’s Mark Fischer via Twitter over the weekend, will transpire at the TUF: China Finale on March 1st: LIVE ON FIGHT PASS!!

If you want to know how Jordan has fared lately, check out his Sherdog profile or Wikipedia page. He’s been pretty solid overall, as well as entertaining, since partaking in the worst fight of 2012. But I am not going to spend another line of this post not relaying the semi-related news about that yoga instructor who somehow made it onto TUF: China…

(Photo via Getty Images.)

The matchup, which was announced by the UFC’s Mark Fischer via Twitter over the weekend, will transpire at the TUF: China Finale on March 1st: LIVE ON FIGHT PASS!!

Load up your favorite Scanners gif, Nation, because word has it that the 0-0 yogi known as Li Jin Ying was booted from (well, quit) TUF:China before ever getting the chance to actually fight. Which makes sense, being that he didn’t know how to fight in the first place.

According to the TUF: China Wikipedia page and several totally credible message boards I read on the toilet this morning (journalism FTW!!), it turns out that Cung Le was so unimpressed by Li’s skills (or lack thereof) that he challenged the spiritual instructor to last two 3-minute rounds against one of his assistant coaches. After being thoroughly dominated, Li allegedly left the show, quit MMA forever, and cried. For the dream he had been chasing for almost three weeks now, was dead. (*burns effigy*)

Cung Le, however, would like to inform you that the TUF producers, not the UFC, are probably to blame for allowing Li onto the show in the first place. But at least he probably inspired legions of Chinese MMA fans with his bravery, right guys? GUYS?!! Ahhhh fuck it. You know what to do, Jimmy…

–J. Jones

Quote of the Day: Chris Weidman and Vitor Belfort Will Throw Down in AMERICA, Thank You Very Much

(And the text from Keith Kizer read: “NOT ON MY WATCH, PLAYBOY.” Photo via Getty.

We often get accused of “hating” on Vitor Belfort — then again, we often get accused of “hating” on many MMA fighters we poke fun at — for noting the often hilarious contradictions he makes regarding his usage of TRT. One day, he needs it to survive. The next, he’s willing to go off the treatment for a title shot. And God forbid you see the guy on Sundays…

It’s not that we haven’t appreciated seeing Belfort transform into Blanka from Street Fighter over the past couple of years, it’s just that his career resurgence has been somewhat marred in our (and many fans) eyes by his usage of what many would consider an unnecessary and unfair advantage. These qualms are somewhat validated by the fact that Belfort has been tucked away in Brazil for his past few highlight reel wins and all but banned from using TRT in Nevada on account of his past steroid usage.

Thankfully, it appears that all our worries regarding the legitimacy of Belfort’s resurgence will be put to rest when he receives the middleweight title shot he was promised after knocking out Dan Henderson. According to Lorenzo Fertitta in an interview with ESPN, Belfort will be facing off with Chris Weidman in Las Vegas, ‘MURICA this summer. His quote is after the jump.

(And the text from Keith Kizer read: “NOT ON MY WATCH, PLAYBOY.” Photo via Getty.

“Depending on Chris Weidman,” Fertitta stated, I’d like to do Vegas [in] May or July.”

“Depending on Weidman” is likely referring to the knee injury Weidman hinted at in his post-fight interview at UFC 168, but Lorenzo’s committal to a Vegas showcase has got to please fans hoping to see Belfort fight in the States for the first time since 2011. Then again, if I’m using the comments section of the Youtube video I just linked to as a gauge of where MMA fans stand on Weidman vs. Belfort, I can tell you that Chris Weidman is a “scared” “lucky” “punk” and Belfort is a “bible-thumping juice-monkey with porcupine hair.” Opinionated, strange people, those Youtubers are.

In any case, expect the debate over Belfort’s TRT usage to rage on heading into this fight. Here to throw some gas on the fire is Weidman’s head trainer, Ray Longo:

I know Chris is beating the guy but why give him an advantage? Why does he deserve that? All he did was abuse his body with steroids so that now he needs the exemption. It’s bull—-.

I’d like to imagine that Ray gave that statement with this look in his eyes.

–J. Jones

GIF-Ranking the Avalanche of UFC Fights That Were Booked Today, December 18th, By Interest Level

(“You know what, Steve, I’m not really feeling this fight. Think I’ll just sit out a few plays.” Photo via Getty.)

Fight-booking articles are a dime a dozen. Throw a couple statistics here, a fighter breakdown there, and top it all off with some information about the event and you’ve got yourself a perfectly normal, haiku-length article that you could almost pass off as journalism. And then its back to huffing duster in your grandmother’s basement, desperately and fruitlessly attempting to blind yourself from the hellscape that has become your reality. But at least you don’t have to wear a tie to work! (*laughs, cries into whiskey*)

The point is, there are some matchups you can’t help but elaborate on as a fan of the sport — Woodley vs. Condit, for instance. But there are only so many ways to inform you readers that several lower-level fights have recently been booked on (under)cards you probably won’t even watch, so when all else fails, we resort to the GIF. Let’s get to the fight bookings!

#6 – Brad Scott vs. Claudio Henrique da Silva – Fight Night 37 (March 8, London)

I have no idea who these people are. Ranking:

(“You know what, Steve, I’m not really feeling this fight. Think I’ll just sit out a few plays.” Photo via Getty.)

The point is, there are some matchups you can’t help but elaborate on as a fan of the sport – Woodley vs. Condit, for instance. But there are only so many ways to inform you readers that several lower-level fights have recently been booked on (under)cards you probably won’t even watch, so when all else fails, we resort to the GIF. Let’s get to the fight bookings!

#6 – Brad Scott vs. Claudio Henrique da Silva – Fight Night 37 (March 8, London)

I have no idea who these people are. Ranking:

#5 – Tony Martin vs. Rashid Magomedov – UFC 169 (Feb. 1, NJ)

I have no idea who either of these people are either, but as Chairman of the Russian-U.S.A. Coalition for a Better, More Tolerant Tomorrow (RUSAECBMTT, for short), I am semi-obligated to hype the 15-1 Magomedov. He’s on an eight fight tear and is a solid grappler if the Interwebz are to be believed, but he also hasn’t fought in over a year, so it’ll be interesting to see how he fares against the 8-0 ground wizard Tim Martin, who will also be making his UFC debut. Ranking:

#4 – Neil Magny vs. Gasan Umalatov – UFC 169

It’s do-or-die time for TUF 16‘s Neil Magny, who will enter the cage on February 1st having dropped his last two fights to Sergio Moraes and Seth Baczynski at UFC 163 and Fight for the Troops 3, respectively. Unfortunately for Magny, he’s been matched against another Russian with a solid record and a surname ending in “tov.” Luckily for Magny, “tov” ranks behind “dov,” “bov” and even “nov” in terms of the P4P most devastating last syllable of a surname (LSoS, for short) that can possessed by a Russian…

…what was I talking about again? Boobs? Boobs. Ranking:

#3 – Luke Barnatt vs. Mats Nilsson – Fight Night 37

Luke Barnatt may be on the heels of his biggest career win (a second round submission over Andrew Craig in Fight Night 30′s “Fight of the Night”), but I think the most important thing here is his nickname, “Bigslow.” Does it just mean that Barnatt is both big AND slow, and if so, why did he combine two normal words into one terrible word? Or is his nickname, as I believe, his way of informing the public that he is the bastard son of Kim Winslow and Bigfoot? Think about it, they’re both lanky, white as whipped cream, and “do” MMA. What other evidence do you need?

Anyways, Bigslow is going to savage UFC newcomer Mats Nilsson like the dude stole his Jack Links beef jerky. Ranking:

#2 – Stephen Thompson vs. Robert Whittaker – UFC 170 (Feb. 22, Vegas)

Whether it’s been in victory or defeat, there’s no denying that TUF Smashes winner Robert Whittaker has been entertaining as hell to watch in the octagon. On the heels of a hard fought decision loss to Court McGee at Fight Night 27, Whittaker will be given no easy rebound fight in “Wonderboy” Thomson, who improved to 3-1 in the UFC with a 2nd round TKO of Chris Clements at UFC 165.

A fierce and technical striker with an impeccable kickboxing record, Thompson’s sole loss in the UFC has come at the hands of the resurgent Matt Brown in April of last year. His style is pretty much the antithesis of Whittaker, a brawler who usually looks for the one-punch KO, so Thompson will either continue to do what he do and make short work of the Aussie or wind up on the wrong side of an upset KO. In either case, this is definitely a fight worth watching. Ranking:

#1 – John Lineker vs. Ali Bagautinov – UFC 169

Score another one for the Armchair Matchmaker, which rightfully called for and in turn received a matchup between top flyweight contenders John Lineker and Ali BagautiNOV (told ya). We all know the story with Lineker: 4-1 in the UFC, hits like a truck full of bricks, weighs-in like a truck full of ham, yadda yadda. If he can actually make 125 lbs for once and put away a rising star like Bagautinov, who improved his UFC record to 2-0 with a unanimous decision over the highly-touted Tim Elliot at UFC 167, we could be looking at our next title challenger. In which case, slugfest much?

Speaking of nicknames, “Puncher King” might be the most Russian nickname ever. Ranking:

How would you rank these fights of varying importance? Let us know in the comments section.

–J. Jones

Jon Jones vs. Glover Teixeira Re-Re-Re-Booked for UFC 172

(This is the closest thing to a photo of Jones and Teixeira in the same room that currently exists. Via IFWT.)

Look, we know it might seem trivial to complain about anything in the wake of Georges St. Pierre’s retirishment, but this is getting f*cking ridiculous.

In the short history of their light heavyweight title fight, Jon Jones vs. Glover Teixeira has been shuffled between venues and fight cards like a troubled tween between foster homes. And while we were confident that UFC 171 would finally take these two in and provide them with a warm bowl of soup and a cot to rest on, metaphorically speaking, it appears that the matchup has been moved again in light of the recently booked welterweight interim title fight between Robbie Lawler and Johny Hendricks.

MMAJunkie passes along word that Jones vs. Teixeira will now serve as the main event of UFC 172, which will transpire at the Baltimore Arena in April. No specific date for UFC 172 has been set as of this write up.

As of now, Jones vs. Teixeira is the only fight to be booked for UFC 172, so I don’t have much else to talk about, really. Did you guys hear that Iran sent its second monkey into space and back recently? Or that The Beatles are releasing 59 rare and unheard tracks next week? Crazy times, you guys. Crazy times.

–J. Jones

(This is the closest thing to a photo of Jones and Teixeira in the same room that currently exists. Via IFWT.)

Look, we know it might seem trivial to complain about anything in the wake of Georges St. Pierre’s retirishment, but this is getting f*cking ridiculous.

–J. Jones