Tag: UFC Nottingham

UFC on FUEL 5 Aftermath: The Future Has (Possibly) Arrived


Props: MMAFighting.com

When the UFC first announced that Stefan Struve vs. Stipe Miocic would be the main event of yesterday’s UFC on FUEL 5, most of us assumed that the fight would serve as a coming out party for Stipe Miocic. Even though he hadn’t faced any big names in his UFC career, the heavy-handed prospect certainly looked like he was Cleveland’s next best hope for a champion. Putting Stipe in the cage with a fighter that (arguably) has a weak chin could produce a highlight reel knockout and put Miocic “in the mix” at the heavyweight division.

Except that didn’t happen. Miocic managed to land some heavy shots throughout the fight, but in the end Struve proved to be too much, earning the TKO in the second round. While Miocic outworked Struve throughout the first round, Stipe Miocic had no answers for the lanky heavyweight’s offense once Struve actually started using his jab. Sorry, Cleveland, but you really should have seen this one coming.

This isn’t meant to take anything away from Stefan Struve, as he looked pretty impressive with his victory. Any questions about his chin seemed to be answered yesterday, as he weathered some heavy punches on his way to earning the TKO. And forgive us if we’re harping on this, but when Struve actually uses his jab, he’s a completely different fighter. His lanky attack creates problems for everyone in the heavyweight division, warranting a post-fight comparison to Jon Jones from Chael Sonnen (except Chael added that Struve has twice the courage of Jon Jones, naturally). The twenty four year old fighter improves to 9-3 in the UFC, and is currently riding a four fight win streak.


Props: MMAFighting.com

When the UFC first announced that Stefan Struve vs. Stipe Miocic would be the main event of yesterday’s UFC on FUEL 5, most of us assumed that the fight would serve as a coming out party for Stipe Miocic. Even though he hadn’t faced any big names in his UFC career, the heavy-handed prospect certainly looked like he was Cleveland’s next best hope for a champion. Putting Stipe in the cage with a fighter that (arguably) has a weak chin could produce a highlight reel knockout and put Miocic “in the mix” at the heavyweight division.

Except that didn’t happen. Miocic managed to land some heavy shots throughout the fight, but in the end Struve proved to be too much, earning the TKO in the second round. While Miocic outworked Struve throughout the first round, Stipe Miocic had no answers for the lanky heavyweight’s offense once Struve actually started using his jab. Sorry, Cleveland, but you really should have seen this one coming.

This isn’t meant to take anything away from Stefan Struve, as he looked pretty impressive with his victory. Any questions about his chin seemed to be answered yesterday, as he weathered some heavy punches on his way to earning the TKO. And forgive us if we’re harping on this, but when Struve actually uses his jab, he’s a completely different fighter. His lanky attack creates problems for everyone in the heavyweight division, warranting a post-fight comparison to Jon Jones from Chael Sonnen (except Chael added that Struve has twice the courage of Jon Jones, naturally). The twenty four year old fighter improves to 9-3 in the UFC, and is currently riding a four fight win streak.

Rather, this is meant to point out that perhaps we shouldn’t rush to crown Struve the future of the heavyweight division. A test against the deep end of the division is certainly deserved here, but we’ve already seen Struve get knocked out by the division’s top fighters. Unless he continues to work at absorbing less damage and using his reach, I doubt we’ll see anything different out of him this time around. No matter how good your chin is, taking heavy shots from a 240+ pound athlete isn’t exactly a good idea.

But Struve’s victory wasn’t the only surprise from yesterday. How about Dan Hardy actually attempting some takedowns? Or Matt Wiman submitting Paul “Sassangle” Sass? Or Che Mills vs. Duane Ludwig ending via freak knee injury? Those quirky Brits, I tells ya.

Fight of the Night bonuses went to Stefan Struve and Stipe Miocic, Submission of the Night went to Matt Wiman, and Knockout of the Night went to Brad “One Punch” Pickett, who scored his first knockout since 2008. All bonuses were for $40,000.

Full Results:

Main Card:

Stefan Struve def. Stipe Miocic via TKO, 3:50 of Round Two
Dan Hardy def. Amir Sadollah via unanimous decision
Brad Pickett def. Yves Jabouin via KO, 3:40 of Round One
Matt Wiman def. Paul Sass via submission (armbar), 3:48 of Round One
John Hathaway def. John Maguire via unanimous decision
Che Mills def. Duane Ludwig via TKO (knee injury), 3:28 of Round One

Preliminary Card:

Jimi Manuwa def. Kyle Kingsbury via doctor’s stoppage (eye), 5:00 of Round Three
Hamid Corassani def. Andy Ogle via split decision
Brad Tavares def. Tom Watson via split decision
Gunnar Nelson def. Damarques Johnson via submission (rear naked choke),  3:34 of Round One
Robert Peralta def. Jason Young via KO, 0:23 of Round One

It’s Official: Gunnar Nelson to Face Pascal Krauss in UFC Debut


Look at how clean shaven you are in this pic. I thought we were going to grow matching goatees, homie.

After years of wild speculation, it looks like the rumors are finally true. The UFC has announced that the organization has signed twenty-three year old Icelandic grappling phenom Gunnar Nelson. Nelson, who is 9-0-1 in MMA competition, has earned all victories by stoppage – eight of which came in the first round. Aside from a draw against John Olesen in his MMA debut, his only fight that made it to the second round was a second round knockout against Iran Mascarenhas back in 2008.

Although we’ve recently seen signings fall through before the fighter has made his UFC debut, it’s being reported that the Renzo Gracie black belt will face the Pascal Krauss, a twenty-five year old German with a decorated boxing background, at UFC on Fuel TV 5 on September 29. “Panzer” made his UFC debut at UFC 122 back in 2010, taking a unanimous decision over Mark Scanlon. However, Krauss would then sit out for seventeen months rehabilitating an injury. He lost his return bout against John Hathaway at UFC on Fox 3 back in May.


Look at how clean shaven you are in this pic. I thought we were going to grow matching goatees, homie.

After years of wild speculation, it looks like the rumors are finally true. The UFC has announced that the organization has signed twenty-three year old Icelandic grappling phenom Gunnar Nelson. Nelson, who is 9-0-1 in MMA competition, has earned all victories by stoppage – eight of which came in the first round. Aside from a draw against John Olesen in his MMA debut, his only fight that made it to the second round was a second round knockout against Iran Mascarenhas back in 2008.

Although we’ve recently seen signings fall through before the fighter has made his UFC debut, it’s being reported that the Renzo Gracie black belt will face the Pascal Krauss, a twenty-five year old German with a decorated boxing background, at UFC on Fuel TV 5 on September 29. “Panzer” made his UFC debut at UFC 122 back in 2010, taking a unanimous decision over Mark Scanlon. However, Krauss would then sit out for seventeen months rehabilitating an injury. He lost his return bout against John Hathaway at UFC on Fox 3 back in May.

UFC on Fuel TV 5, aka UFC Nottingham, is shaping up to be a pretty good card for a free event. Headlined by a heavyweight bout between Stipe Miocic vs. Stefan Struve, the card also features Dan Hardy vs. Amir Sadollah and Che Mills vs. Duane Ludwig. We’ll keep you up-to-date as this card continues to fill out.

Act Surprised: Dan Hardy to Return at UFC on FUEL TV 5 Against Amir Sadollah


One more, for old time’s sake.

The UFC has announced that one of the most popular British fighters on the planet, Nottingham’s own Dan Hardy, will be making his return to the cage at UFC on FUEL TV 5 (aka UFC: Nottingham). His opponent will be TUF 7 winner Amir Sadollah.

In a way, it feels anticlimactic to follow up a story about the UFC offering full refunds for UFC 147 with something this predictable, huh?

After a dreadful four fight skid, Dan Hardy got back on track at UFC 146 with a first round knockout over Duane “Bang” Ludwig, which earned him Knockout of the Night honors. This bout will mark the fifth time that “The Outlaw” has fought in his home country in the UFC. His last effort in front of a British crowd saw him get knocked out by Carlos Condit in the first round. For what it’s worth, his last bout in Nottingham was a third round TKO over Chad Reiner at CWFC: Enter the Rough House 6 in 2008.


One more, for old time’s sake.

The UFC has announced that one of the most popular British fighters on the planet, Nottingham’s own Dan Hardy, will be making his return to the cage at UFC on FUEL TV 5 (aka UFC: Nottingham). His opponent will be TUF 7 winner Amir Sadollah.

In a way, it feels anticlimactic to follow up a story about the UFC offering full refunds for UFC 147 with something this predictable, huh?

After a dreadful four fight skid, Dan Hardy got back on track at UFC 146 with a first round knockout over Duane “Bang” Ludwig, which earned him Knockout of the Night honors. This bout will mark the fifth time that ”The Outlaw” has fought in his home country in the UFC. His last effort in front of a British crowd saw him get knocked out by Carlos Condit in the first round. For what it’s worth, his last bout in Nottingham was a third round TKO over Chad Reiner at CWFC: Enter the Rough House 6 in 2008.

It’s hard to believe that this bout will also mark Amir Sadollah’s tenth professional fight. Since winning The Ultimate Fighter, Sadollah has gone 6-3 in the UFC. His most recent effort was a split decision over Jorge Lopez at UFC on FUEL TV 3 this past May.

Even though the main event doesn’t exactly have star power, this is shaping up to be one hell of a card. Between this fight, Struve vs. Miocic and Che Mills vs. Duane Ludwig, fans should be treated to some pretty good brawls. The question is, will the ratings reflect this?

Stefan Struve vs. Stipe Miocic Will Be *Main Event* of UFC on Fuel TV 5


“Damn it, you can listen to Triple F Life later! We need someone to pay attention to this card!” – Abraham Lincoln

Earlier this week, we asked a very simple question: Is it possible that the UFC is over-saturating its market? Perhaps the UFC’s quest to become as mainstream as, say, the NBA, is causing it to stretch its events a little thin on known names and marketable fights. Ironically, this means that it may be possible that the UFC’s attempts to draw in new fans may be repelling them.

Well, the UFC appears to have issued a pretty clear answer to this discussion.

The UFC will make its first appearance in Nottingham, England- and its first appearance in England since UFC 138- with UFC on Fuel TV 5 on September 29th. The main event? Stefan Struve vs. Stipe Miocic.

We won’t be as pessimistic as FrontRowBrian, but…ouch.


“Damn it, you can listen to Triple F Life later! We need someone to pay attention to this card!” – Abraham Lincoln

Earlier this week, we asked a very simple question: Is it possible that the UFC is over-saturating its market? Perhaps the UFC’s quest to become as mainstream as, say, the NBA, is causing it to stretch its events a little thin on known names and marketable fights. Ironically, this means that it may be possible that the UFC’s attempts to draw in new fans may be repelling them.

Well, the UFC appears to have issued a pretty clear answer to this discussion.

The UFC will make its first appearance in Nottingham, England- and its first appearance in England since UFC 138- with UFC on Fuel TV 5 on September 29th. The main event? Stefan Struve vs. Stipe Miocic.

We won’t be as pessimistic as FrontRowBrian, but…ouch.

This doesn’t mean that we necessarily expect this card to be boring. The main card of UFC on FX 3 was also light on star power, yet produced an exceptional night of fights. Also, considering that the two heavyweights have a combined fourteen fights in the UFC with only two of them going the distance, it looks like it’ll be a pretty fun scrap. But is a bout to determine which promising prospect deserves a step up in competition really main event material?

It’s a good thing that there’s zero chance that one of these two gets injured, am I right, you guys?

Fans in England will buy tickets to this event regardless of who is headlining, because the UFC still rarely holds live events there. But will fans in North America tune in to watch this card? For that matter, will you? Give us your two cents in the comments section.