Tag: UFC on Fox 5

UFC on Fox 5 Results: What Went Wrong for BJ Penn?

Say it isn’t so, BJ. As the excitement of BJ Penn’s return continued during his walkout to the Octagon on Saturday night, it soon faded into another poor performance for the future Hall of Famer. Leading up to his fight against Rory MacDonald, Pen…

Say it isn’t so, BJ.

As the excitement of BJ Penn‘s return continued during his walkout to the Octagon on Saturday night, it soon faded into another poor performance for the future Hall of Famer.

Leading up to his fight against Rory MacDonald, Penn said all the right things. He said he was now at the right weight, he said he was fighting for his legacy and he promised he would be prepared for this fight. None of those things were backed up in his fight in Seattle.

Penn looked horrible. There’s no other way to sum up his fight. It looked as if he had no real plan at all for MacDonald. Sure, we saw him go for the takedown a couple of times, but Penn looked like he was told of his opponent within the last few days.

Give MacDonald credit—he said he wanted to come in and hurt BJ, and he did just that.

The common theme leading up to the Penn vs. MacDonald fight was that it was Penn against the new breed of fighters. That statement couldn’t have been more true. It’s why we saw people like Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz fade away. It’s why we are seeing Rampage Jackson barely hang on to his UFC career. These young fighters are starting their training with every discipline, making it tough for those who spent most of their lives learning one.

So where did it go wrong for Penn?

Quite honestly, Penn was completely overmatched. There were times during the fight that it looked like it was you or me in the Octagon against MacDonald. Penn would go for a takedown, fail at it and then settle back into a stand-up position while MacDonald teed off on him.

It appeared Penn had an “oh sh–” moment when he realized he wasn’t going to be able to get MacDonald on the ground. The best chance Penn had to land significant strikes was when MacDonald took him down, and Penn started to fight from his back.

There were a couple of shots that gave Penn fans a split second of hope, but those were few and far between.

Penn is now on a Tito Ortiz type of losing streak—well, not quite that bad. Penn has lost four of his last six fights. I’m never going to call for somebody to retire, because I don’t think anybody but those close to the fighter should make that kind of statement, especially for a guy like Penn. I will say, however, that he has never looked worse in his career.

 

Joe Chacon is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report and a staff writer for Operation Sports. You can follow him on Twitter @JoeChacon.

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UFC on FOX 5 Results: Why Rory MacDonald Doesn’t Need Fan Support

Rory MacDonald may have lost some fans with his taunting of the famed, popular fighter B.J. Penn at their UFC on Fox 5 bout, but it hardly matters. MacDonald’s skills will carry him where the fans wont. MacDonald is talented enough where he doesn’…

Rory MacDonald may have lost some fans with his taunting of the famed, popular fighter B.J. Penn at their UFC on Fox 5 bout, but it hardly matters. MacDonald’s skills will carry him where the fans wont. 

MacDonald is talented enough where he doesn’t need fan support in order to get pushed into big fights. He got a fight against B.J. Penn on Fox when his fan support was tepid at best. 

That fight was set up not because of MacDonald’s popularity, but because of his raw fighting prowess and his ability to cause harm to another human being. The UFC knew they had a prospect that was going to be a force at welterweight for quite some time, so they had to unleash him, even if the fans had taken issues with him. 

A rare talent like MacDonald (23 and already a monster—a monster who trains at the Tristar Gym with the likes of welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre) can’t be ignored, even if the fans think he’s a conceited jerk, a drab individual who lacks personality or what have you. 

Fan support is overrated.

Fans don’t need to support or love a fighter for that fighter to be successful. A fighter needs to be talented (in an entertaining way) to be successful.

Being successful like Jon Fitch wasn’t enough because he put fans to sleep despite amassing a great record. (And, for his efforts, he was put on the undercard as soon as he lost a fight after his initial 8-0 streak in the UFC.)

But being successful like Rory MacDonald—a young stud who powers through the opposition almost as if he’s insulted that he was matched up with someone so beneath him—is a ticket to MMA success no matter what the fans think. Even if they hate MacDonald, they’ll still part with their cash for the slim, evanescent hope that he’ll be brought down from Olympus. 

Thus, the fans need Rory MacDonald more than he needs them. They can hate as much as they want; he’s not going anywhere.

 

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UFC on Fox 5 Results: Questions Answered and Lessons Learned

The UFC’s fifth venture onto Fox is over and done with. Benson Henderson defeated Nate Diaz and Rory MacDonald outclassed B.J. Penn in every sense of the word. UFC on Fox 5 saw other fights happen throughout the night. Several of them taught the M…

The UFC’s fifth venture onto Fox is over and done with. Benson Henderson defeated Nate Diaz and Rory MacDonald outclassed B.J. Penn in every sense of the word. 

UFC on Fox 5 saw other fights happen throughout the night. Several of them taught the MMA world important lessons and answered lingering questions that fans and pundits had about certain fighters. 

So what exactly did we learn?

Read and find out!

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Alexander Gustafsson vs Mauricio Rua: Will Gustafsson Get His Title Shot?

At UFC on Fox 5 Saturday night, light heavyweight Alexander Gustafsson controlled legend and former Pride and UFC champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua en route to a unanimous decision victory.As in previous fights, Rua tired over the course of the fight, gro…

At UFC on Fox 5 Saturday night, light heavyweight Alexander Gustafsson controlled legend and former Pride and UFC champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua en route to a unanimous decision victory.

As in previous fights, Rua tired over the course of the fight, growing sloppier in the later rounds and more susceptible to takedowns. Gustafsson was only too happy to take full advantage. 

Rua is undoubtedly the biggest scalp Gustafsson has taken in his young career. The 25-year-old from Stockholm is now 15-1 as a professional fighter and 7-1 in the UFC.

But it might be about to get even more interesting for Gustafsson. On Thursday, UFC president Dana White said the winner of this fight will get next crack at champ Jon Jones.

Because of the title-shot line of succession, things sometimes have a way of being, uh, not so linear; the question came up at the UFC on Fox 5 post-fight news conference. When asked if he felt he’d earned the title shot, Gustafsson simply answered “absolutely.”

Though White did not attend the presser, UFC PR rep Dave Sholler did note that White was “going to go back and chat with (matchmaker) Joe Silva” about the next title shot. In an interview on Fuel TV with journalist Ariel Helwani, White indicated he’d like to see Gustafsson fight again.

“Anytime you beat a guy like Shogun, it means something,” White said. “Shogun is a warhorse, man. Alexander didn’t finish him, but he busted him up bad…if I was him, I’d want to get another fight in.” 

White also added that Gustafsson may need to replace Dan Henderson against Lyoto Machida at UFC 157 in February if Henderson’s problematic knee continues to be problematic.

“Henderson, I keep hearing his knee isn’t better right now, so maybe (Gustafsson) gets a shot at Machida,” White said.

For the moment, Jones has his hands full coaching against Chael Sonnen on The Ultimate Fighter. The two will then fight for Jones’ belt in April. Gustafsson would appear to have the inside track for the title fight after that.

If Henderson and Machida do fight and a spectacular finish ensues, maybe that winner could vault over Gustafsson. You know how White himself loves the finish. But right now, at this minute, I’d have to guess Gustafsson waits patiently for—and gets—his shot for the strap. 

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Henderson vs. Diaz: Complete Breakdown of Henderson’s Victory

The UFC lightweight title was on the line in Saturday night’s matchup between Benson Henderson and Nate Diaz. The pair clashed at UFC on FOX 5 as the main event of the free broadcast. It was an exciting matchup between a pair of fighters who have no pr…

The UFC lightweight title was on the line in Saturday night’s matchup between Benson Henderson and Nate Diaz. The pair clashed at UFC on FOX 5 as the main event of the free broadcast.

It was an exciting matchup between a pair of fighters who have no problem mixing it up for the entire round.

The fight went the full five rounds, but Henderson won each of those en route to a 50-43, 50-45, 50-45 unanimous decision, retaining his title.

Henderson is now undefeated in his six fights under the UFC banner.

Let’s take a look at how each round shaped up, and why Henderson walked away the victor.

 

First Round

The first round started out a bit slow. Diaz worked Henderson to the fence and landed a few blows, but Henderson slipped out.

The pair traded blows in the middle of the ring for a while until Henderson dropped Diaz to the mat. There, he landed a successive series of hammerfists.

Diaz got up a few seconds later and the pair ended the round at the fence. It was close, but Diaz took an early lead thanks to his steady stream of connecting blows.

 

Second Round

Henderson started out the second round rather quickly. He tripped Diaz early on, landing a number of blows when he hit the mat.

Diaz was able to get back up, but took a kick to the head in doing so. Diaz tried to make Henderson box, but he took no part, dancing away.

Eventually, Henderson landed a big left hook, knocking Diaz to the mat. And once again, Henderson pounded him. When Diaz got up, he was bleeding quite a bit.

Henderson dominated the round.

 

Third Round

The round started out with a leg kick from Henderson, a move he used effectively all match. He secured another takedown right after and, once again, landed a series of blows with Diaz on the mat.

After a second takedown by Henderson, the pair grappled for a bit on the ground, each attempting to land a submission hold. Neither was successful, but Henderson got the better of the exchange on the ground.

When they got to their feet, Diaz decided to taunt the champ. It wasn’t a good idea.

Henderson landed a huge blow, knocking Diaz to the mat, once again, to end the round.

 

Fourth Round

Things didn’t change much in this round.

Henderson landed takedown after takedown against Diaz. The champ landed a few punches, and when Diaz got up Henderson brought him back down to the mat.

Diaz attempted some desperate submission attempts, but Henderson looked to be in control the entire time.

 

Fifth Round

Diaz stood in the middle of the ring with a swollen right eye at the beginning of the frame, and it didn’t get much better for him at the end of the round.

Henderson slammed him to the ground multiple times landing kicks and punches with ease.

He’s disciplined in his approach and never deviates from his game plan of using his ground game and range to his advantage.

Henderson landed a huge kick to the head with just around a minute remaining. Diaz was still taunting him at that point, but it was all for naught. Henderson dominated the fight

 

Why Henderson Won

Henderson retained his title in a cold and calculated effort. He negated Diaz‘s boxing advantage by landing a large amount of kicks to the legs, allowing the champ to take the fight to the ground.

Henderson won each round by at least a point, and it can be argued he won by some by a score of 10-8.

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UFC on Fox 5: Recapping the Fight Night Bonuses from Henderson vs. Diaz

The fight-night bonuses of UFC on Fox don’t come as a surprise. The only thing that gives us a surprise is Scott Jorgensen’s double dip.I personally thought the fight between John Albert and Scott Jorgensen was the best fight of fight night. I didn’t a…

The fight-night bonuses of UFC on Fox don’t come as a surprise. The only thing that gives us a surprise is Scott Jorgensen‘s double dip.

I personally thought the fight between John Albert and Scott Jorgensen was the best fight of fight night. I didn’t actually think the UFC would agree with me because they were on the undercard.

The Submission of the Night went to Jorgensen. His rear-naked choke of John Albert was the only submission of night, proving why it was the best.

To be honest, it was a fantastic tapout.

The Knockout of the Night went to Yves Edwards. Not only was he the only guy to stagger Jeremy Stephens, but he is the first guy to knock Stephens out.

Edwards showed he is a student of the game. He took a knockout that Sam Stout handed him and made it a reality when he used a left-hook counter to KO Stephens. It was an amazing KO, to be honest.

We then go the Fight of the Night. It again came on the undercard, as Scott Jorgensen fought John Albert. It was an amazing ground war.

For just under five minutes (and I really mean that), guys put on a performance that would bring guys into the mainstream. If you were to fight anyone, you best have brought a game that could be best observed.

Everyone that observed the fight-night bonuses knows that whoever won the bonuses earned them. Jorgensen put $165,000 away to make sure he was paid for the night.

Either way, whether you were Jorgensen or Edwards, you got paid. Fight-night bonuses make sure guys put in their best work, and that was certainly the case Saturday.

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