Immediately after Rashad Evans and Phil Davis square off for a potential shot at light heavyweight champion Jon Jones, many of the UFC on Fox 2 competitors will join UFC president Dana White at the post-fight press conference. Satur…
Immediately after Rashad Evans and Phil Davis square off for a potential shot at light heavyweight champion Jon Jones, many of the UFC on Fox 2 competitors will join UFC president Dana White at the post-fight press conference.
Saturday’s event at the United Center in Chicago will also feature a middleweight bout between polarizing 185-pound fighters Chael Sonnen and Michael Bisping. According to White, this co-main event will also produce a top contender for a fight that will likely take place in middleweight champion Anderson Silva‘s home country of Brazil.
The third of three fights to be aired live on Fox’s flagship network will be an additional 185-pound bout between former top contender Demian Maia and the up-and-coming Chris Weidman. Undefeated in seven professional fights, the 27-year-old Weidman will be looking to break into the middleweight Top 10 with a victory on Saturday.
A live streaming feed of the post-fight press conference will be available on the above video player as soon as UFC on Fox 2 comes to an end.
Sean Smith is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report MMA. For the latest insight and updates on everything MMA, you can follow Sean on Twitter @SeanSmithMMA.
“Forget all about that belt tomorrow, son.” (Video: YouTube/UFC)
Last night’s weigh-ins in the bag and we are officially one step closer to go-time. While these events are a mere formality in the fight business—I mean, who would show up unprepared, right?–they do give one more opportunity for fans to cheer or boo the fighters of their choice, and one more opportunity for fighters to win the mental war. With those assignments in mind, the men on stage and those in the bleachers made the most of the evening.
Though Michael Bisping and Chael Sonnen have taken second billing on this evening’s card, they’ve more than pulled their own weight in the promotions department. While Chael has drawn plenty of hype for this bout, he’s largely focused the spotlighton himself with little attention paid to his opponent whatsoever. Bisping on the other hand has been in full heel mode in recent interviews, embracing his role as the bad guy and verbally attacking his foe whenever possible. Last night he responded to a chorus of boos by brandishing the ‘Stockton Heybuddy‘, a move that seemed to cost him a sponsor, at least momentarily. If these two jawing in the staredown didn’t get you amped for their bout, there’s little I can do for you.
Despite the main event being a mixed martial arts bout, much of the back-and-forth between Rashad Evans and Phil Davis has centered on wrestling credentials. “Mr. Wonderful” was undoubtedly the more decorated of the two during their NCAA careers, though Evans feels his in-cage ability will expose Davis’s “trash technique”. Upping the ante once more before they glove up, Davis sported a Penn State singlet as he hit the scales. Face to face, both men exuded incredible confidence and not a shred of intimidation.
Full weigh-in results and a video of the Evans-Davis face-off after the jump.
“Forget all about that belt tomorrow, son.” (Video: YouTube/UFC)
Last night’s weigh-ins in the bag and we are officially one step closer to go-time. While these events are a mere formality in the fight business—I mean, who would show up unprepared, right?–they do give one more opportunity for fans to cheer or boo the fighters of their choice, and one more opportunity for fighters to win the mental war. With those assignments in mind, the men on stage and those in the bleachers made the most of the evening.
Though Michael Bisping and Chael Sonnen have taken second billing on this evening’s card, they’ve more than pulled their own weight in the promotions department. While Chael has drawn plenty of hype for this bout, he’s largely focused the spotlighton himself with little attention paid to his opponent whatsoever. Bisping on the other hand has been in full heel mode in recent interviews, embracing his role as the bad guy and verbally attacking his foe whenever possible. Last night he responded to a chorus of boos by brandishing the ‘Stockton Heybuddy‘, a move that seemed to cost him a sponsor, at least momentarily. If these two jawing in the staredown didn’t get you amped for their bout, there’s little I can do for you.
Despite the main event being a mixed martial arts bout, much of the back-and-forth between Rashad Evans and Phil Davis has centered on wrestling credentials. “Mr. Wonderful” was undoubtedly the more decorated of the two during their NCAA careers, though Evans feels his in-cage ability will expose Davis’s “trash technique”. Upping the ante once more before they glove up, Davis sported a Penn State singlet as he hit the scales. Face to face, both men exuded incredible confidence and not a shred of intimidation.
Main Bouts (on Fox): -Rashad Evans (205) vs. Phil Davis (205)
-Chael Sonnen (185) vs. Michael Bisping (185)
-Demian Maia (186) vs. Chris Weidman (185)
Preliminary Bouts (on Fuel TV):
-Evan Dunham (155) vs. Nik Lentz (155)
-Mike Russow (251) vs. Jon Olav Einemo (253)
-Cub Swanson (145) vs. George Roop (145)
-Charles Oliveira (144) vs. Eric Wisely (145)
-Michael Johnson (156) vs. Shane Roller (156)
-Joey Beltran (228) vs. Lavar Johnson (252)
Preliminary Bout (on Facebook):
-Chris Camozzi (185) vs. Dustin Jacoby (185)
Chael Sonnen’s trash talking has kept him relevant in the spotlight since his loss to Anderson Silva at UFC 117 and he is one win away from getting a rematch that he and the fans have desperately been seeking.Sonnen will meet fellow trash talker Michae…
Chael Sonnen’s trash talking has kept him relevant in the spotlight since his loss to Anderson Silva at UFC 117 and he is one win away from getting a rematch that he and the fans have desperately been seeking.
Sonnen will meet fellow trash talker Michael Bisping in the co-main event at UFC on FOX 2 Saturday night, in hopes of meeting Silva in the Octagon once again. Sonnen has done almost everything in his power to get a rematch with the champion, but a win this weekend will guarantee it.
Sonnen was originally supposed to face off against fellow 185-pound contender Mark Munoz until an injury forced Munoz out of the bout. The UFC made the decision to call up Bisping to replace “The Filipino Wrecking Machine” on just one week’s notice, with a title shot still hanging in the balance.
If Sonnen can get past his British counterpart, it will set up one of the most anticipated rematches in recent memory between Sonnen and the Brazilian. Sonnen is the only competitor to put up any sort of a fight against Silva, as he dominated and outwrestled “The Spider” for nearly five rounds until being submitted with just few minutes remaining. It was the first time fans had seen Silva pushed to the brink of defeat.
Despite the loss to Silva, fans are still interested in the thought of Sonnen attempting to dethrone the champion.
A tall task indeed, but based on their first enounter, it is likely their second bout would be just as competitive.
At this point, anything but a win for Sonnen would be a big disappointment.
Filed under: UFCThe UFC returns to network TV with the UFC on FOX 2 tonight in Chicago, and there are plenty of questions, concerns, predictions and pointless musings to occupy us until then. Here are seven of them, in no particular order.
The UFC returns to network TV with the UFC on FOX 2 tonight in Chicago, and there are plenty of questions, concerns, predictions and pointless musings to occupy us until then. Here are seven of them, in no particular order.
I. Will the average network TV viewer even know what to make of this Chael Sonnen character? Imagine you’re John Q. Public, flipping through the channels on a Saturday night in search of one of those shows where people either sing or dance or lose weight, and instead you stumble upon this guy with the jawline talking like a slightly more coherent Ric Flair in his pre-fight interview. Then he goes out and climbs in a cage to fight some guy who sounds like the chimney sweep from Mary Poppins, all while the dude from Fear Factor shouts into a microphone about how exciting it is. If you’ve never seen this before, would you have any clue what to make of it? Would you even know whether it was real? Would you keep watching it in an effort to figure it out? Or would you conclude that this is the latest terrifying development in a modern world that becomes more alien to you with each new day, and resolve to keep flipping through the channels until you find some calming program about whales and cheetahs and crap? I can honestly say that I have no idea how some first-time viewers will solve this little crisis, but I’m betting that it will result in some hilarious phone calls and emails to younger, hipper relations as they attempt to figure it all out.
So that singlet is Penn State’s championship singlet, one that only gets broken out if a guy wrestles in the finals. Since Davis wrestled in the NCAA finals twice, he has at least one. Most schools have them, but PSU’s is very recognizable because they don’t have a ton of singlet options, like other schools. As a fellow Big 10er, Evans would know that. Wearing that one, and not Penn State’s more traditional dark blue singlet, was a sly way of Davis saying, “Yes, I am the better wrestler.”
Somewhere in the darkest room of his mind — likely one he doesn’t like to enter — Evans probably knows that Davis would beat him in a wrestling match. He also knows that they aren’t scheduled for a wrestling match on Saturday night, as does Davis. It’s just a question of which of them is using this wrestler jock nonsense as a head game, and which is starting to buy into it.
III. Ratings-wise, the UFC has a lot riding on a bunch of grapplers. Of the six fighters slated for the FOX portion of the fight card, only Michael Bisping cannot be fairly described as a ground specialist, and most people expect that to be his undoing in this fight. That sets us up for a different kind of night than the first UFC on FOX event, where viewers were treated to a microwave fight between two hard-hitting heavyweights. Anybody can understand big guys punching each other in the head, but will the network TV audience appreciate the jiu-jitsu prowess of Demian Maia or the tricky takedowns of Chael Sonnen? Ideally, ratings should climb over the course of the two-hour broadcast as we near the main event, but that may depend on what kind of show the first two fights put on, and how viewers respond. Is America ready to appreciate technical grappling? Will they geek out over a half-guard sweep and call all their friends to tell them to put on FOX right now? I’m not so sure. But again, this is what FOX signed up for. Now they’re going to get it.
IV. Have you complained to your cable provider about not carrying FUEL TV yet? That’s where tonight’s UFC prelims will be broadcast, and yet it’s still available in just a fraction of the homes that Spike TV is. That’s caused some griping from fans who don’t get FUEL, which might be precisely the point. Back when the UFC was negotiating a new TV deal, a Spike TV executive I spoke with shrugged off the possibility of reaching a new agreement with the UFC, saying, “The UFC wants their own channel.” With FUEL — an obscure cable network with programming that seems to consist of little more than kids on snowboards doing their best to act “extreme” — they sort of have it. Maybe that alone will convince some people to actually care that it isn’t an option with their cable provider.
V. February 21, 2009. That’s the last time Demian Maia submitted an opponent in an MMA fight. That opponent just happened to be Chael Sonnen, and the triangle choke finish netted Maia his fourth Submission of the Night bonus. Since then Maia has lost two fights by decision and one by knockout. He’s also won four fights by decision, but used his jiu-jitsu sparingly in all those efforts. Has the competition just gotten that much better, or has Maia turned away from the skills that got him here in an effort to become more well-rounded? Probably a little of both. But if Maia could submit Sonnen and make it look easy, he could probably do the same to many, many others.
VI. Don’t look now, but Mike Russow is undefeated in the UFC. How did this happen? Well, he edged out Justin McCully in his UFC debut, then took a tremendous beating from Todd Duffee before landing the one magical punch that changed everything. Finally, he got a doctor’s stoppage win over Jon Madsen last spring, making him a perfect 3-0. That makes Russow perhaps the best, least heralded heavyweight on the roster — at least on paper. It should be interesting to see how long that lasts.
VII. Chris Weidman did it. He dropped 32 pounds in 11 days and got himself ready to take on the biggest opportunity of his young career. My question is, in doing that, did he leave himself any time and energy to prepare for the fighting portion of this bout? Granted, he’s a professional and he’s in the gym all the time — I get that. But Maia can be a tricky guy to prepare for. If you have to put so much effort into losing all that weight, you might leave yourself very little opportunity to work on things like game plan and strategy. That’s not to say he can’t win on the skills he had when he got the call from the UFC. It just means he probably didn’t have a chance to add any more arrows to the quiver.
The UFC returns with a three-fight televised card on Fox Saturday night, and after some last-minute changes, the light-heavyweight and middleweight divisions will have new title contenders emerge from the bouts that feature top contenders like Chael So…
The UFC returns with a three-fight televised card on Fox Saturday night, and after some last-minute changes, the light-heavyweight and middleweight divisions will have new title contenders emerge from the bouts that feature top contenders like Chael Sonnen, Rashad Evans and Michael Bisping.
In the main event, former UFC light-heavyweight champion Rashad Evans will take on undefeated fighter Phil “Mr. Wonderful” Davis.
Evans is 16-1 in his MMA career, while Davis is 9-0 and on a five-fight win streak in the UFC. If Evans wins, he will face former training partner and reigning light-heavyweight champion Jon “Bones” Jones.
Also on the card, Michael Bisping will face former middleweight title challenger Chael Sonnen. The winner of this fight will take on UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva.
The third fight will feature Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu ace Demian Maia going up against wrestling standout Chris Weidman.
We talk to UFC President Dana White as he discusses UFC on Fox 2, the latest on ESPN, his thoughts on SOPA, WWE Champion CM Punk/Chael Sonnen and much more. UFC on Fox 2 takes place tomorrow night from the sold out United Center in Chic…
We talk to UFC President Dana White as he discusses UFC on Fox 2, the latest on ESPN, his thoughts on SOPA, WWE Champion CM Punk/Chael Sonnen and much more.
UFC on Fox 2 takes place tomorrow night from the sold out United Center in Chicago, headlined by a light heavyweight pitting Rashad Evans vs Phil Davis, Chael Sonnen vs Michael Bisping and Demian Maia vs Chris Weidman.
The preliminary portion of the card begins at 5ET/2PT on Fuel TV with the main card starting at 8ET/5PT on Fox.
White on the Chael Sonnen/CM Punk situation and if he talked to Vince McMahon: “The last I heard Vince (McMahon) shot it down. I don’t care, CM Punk walks out with him or not, it doesn’t change my life. I mean. Chael is friends with him. He wanted to walkout with Chael and Vince wouldn’t let him.”
White on supporting SOPA: “It’s one of these deals where, is the bill perfect? No, nothing is ever perfect. What people have to understand is and they don’t look at this way. If you go in and you steal a watch in a store, you get arrested and prosecuted. And people look at you and go, that guys is a f****n thief. Walked into a store and stole a watch. But if you steal pay per views and these are the same people on the internet (expletive) we aren’t paying our fighters enough, but want to steal pay per views. it’s the same thing. Music, movies, the list goes on and on. it is what it is. and one of the things that has happened over the last couple weeks with all these hackers going in and hacking all these websites. A bill that everybody was terrified of and was dying might turn around now because you guys just started acting like terrorists. And one of the things I always say about the internet and it’s the truth, it’s a place where cowards live. It’s very easy to sit in your house and say things about people and do dirty things about people when your hiding in your house behind a keyboard. And there’s a lot of people terrified about the internet, I’m not one of them. You don’t scare me.”
Immediately after Rashad Evans and Phil Davis square off for a potential shot at light heavyweight champion Jon Jones, many of the UFC on Fox 2 competitors will join UFC president Dana White at the post-fight press conference. 
The UFC returns to network TV with the