Tag: UFC on Fox 8

Jake Ellenberger: Rory MacDonald Was Invented by the Media and Sold to the Fans

It’s safe to say UFC on Fox 8 fighter Jake Ellenberger is not buying the hype surrounding his next opponent, Rory MacDonald. The two fighters have recently engaged in a back and-forth war on Twitter, but even before that, Ellenberger didn’t seem to car…

It’s safe to say UFC on Fox 8 fighter Jake Ellenberger is not buying the hype surrounding his next opponent, Rory MacDonald.

The two fighters have recently engaged in a back and-forth war on Twitter, but even before that, Ellenberger didn’t seem to care much for the overinflated way MacDonald is being promoted as a top-five welterweight.

According to the current UFC rankings, MacDonald actually sits one spot ahead of Ellenberger, and he believes the young Canadian is more artificial than reality.

“The thing with Rory, too, is he’s been invented by the media,” Ellenberger said in a recent interview with Bleacher Report.  “He’s been invented and sold to the fans and no disrespect, he is a talented fighter.  I do agree with that, he is skilled, he’s got a lot of potential. But we don’t know how good he is.  I’m glad I’ve got this fight.”

Ellenberger hopes to expose MacDonald in the Octagon when they meet in July, while also possibly earning a long-awaited shot at the UFC welterweight title.

While UFC officials have yet to say the fight between Ellenberger and MacDonald is a No. 1 contender’s fight, both fighters being ranked in the top five of the division speaks volumes towards the magnitude of this bout.

“I was told this was going to be the title eliminator fight for the No. 1 contender, but that’s not what I’m thinking about,” Ellenberger said.  “I’m not looking past him at all.”

In the interview, Ellenberger also comments on performance enhancing drugs in MMA, and welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre’s influence on his next opponent.

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UFC on Fox 8: Jake Ellenberger and Rory MacDonald Trade Shots on Twitter

A pivotal welterweight showdown between Rory MacDonald and Jake Ellenberger is rapidly approaching and neither fighter is lacking confidence heading into the 170-pound scrap. “The Juggernaut” got the trash talk going early Monday morning, asking h…

A pivotal welterweight showdown between Rory MacDonald and Jake Ellenberger is rapidly approaching and neither fighter is lacking confidence heading into the 170-pound scrap. 

“The Juggernaut” got the trash talk going early Monday morning, asking his fans what round they wanted to see MacDonald “melted.” 

The Tristar gym standout did not take long to respond: 

Ellenberger, a winner of eight of his past nine bouts, could not resist taunting “Ares” for the grammatical error he had in his response:

After a brief disagreement about proofreading, MacDonald tried to call it a day by saying they both know who is going to walk away victorious on the nationally televised July 27 event. 

However, the Nebraska native refused to call off the war of words so easily, firing back at MacDonald as recently as 1 p.m. ET, mocking his fashion sense this time around.

MacDonald has won four fights in a row, most recently outclassing BJ Penn at UFC on Fox 5 in December. 

The 23-year-old’s sole loss came at the hands of former UFC interim welterweight champ Carlos Condit at UFC 115 about three years ago, getting stopped in the third round after controlling the first 10 minutes of the fight. 

According to the UFC’s official welterweight rankings, MacDonald is the No. 3 170-pounder in the world, while Ellenberger comes in right behind him at No. 4. 

Therefore, the winner of this matchup has a solid case to be the next title contender after divisional champ Georges St-Pierre defends his belt against Johny Hendricks this November. 

Does all this recent Twitter trash talk make MacDonald vs. Ellenberger a little more intriguing as their showdown in the Octagon draws closer?

 

John Heinis is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA Editor for eDraft.com and contributes MMA videos to The Young Turks Sports Show.

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Tarec Saffiedine Injured, Siyar Bahadurzada Now Faces Lawler at UFC on Fox 8

Former Strikeforce welterweight champion Tarec Saffiedine is having no luck as he tries to make his UFC debut. Saffiedine has suffered a training injury and will be unable to compete in his upcoming fight against Robbie Lawler at UFC on Fox 8.  T…

Former Strikeforce welterweight champion Tarec Saffiedine is having no luck as he tries to make his UFC debut.

Saffiedine has suffered a training injury and will be unable to compete in his upcoming fight against Robbie Lawler at UFC on Fox 8.  The last ever Strikeforce 170-pound champion was unable to step in on short notice for UFC 158 when he was offered a fight against former interim champ Carlos Condit due to injury, and now has to bow out of his next fight as well.

UFC officials announced via Twitter on Tuesday that Saffiedine would be unable to fight at the UFC on Fox 8 card and would be replaced by heavy-handed striker Siyar Bahadurzada.

The new fight set for the upcoming show in Seattle now pits Bahadurzada against Lawler in a battle between two of the hardest punchers in the UFC welterweight division.

For Bahadurzada, the fight against Lawler will mean a shot at redemption after a tough performance in his last trip to the Octagon.

In that fight, the Afghan native took on suffocating grappler Dong Hyun-Kim at UFC on Fuel 8 in Japan and struggled to get out from under the Korean fighter for the better part of 15-full minutes. 

It was a far cry for Bahadurzada, who made quite a splash with his UFC debut in April 2012 when he knocked out Brazilian welterweight Paulo Thiago with a vicious punch just 42-seconds into their bout.

The loss to Kim also ended Bahadurzada‘s seven fight win streak, but now he will do his best to get another one started when he faces Lawler on July 27 in Seattle.

It won’t be an easy test, however, because his opponent Robbie Lawler will also be looking for another big impact after a great return to the UFC earlier in the year.

Lawler first appeared in the UFC all the way back in 2002, but after numerous years outside the promotion he finally returned at UFC 157 while also dropping back down to welterweight for the first time in nearly a decade.

The results paid off as Lawler finished former title contender Josh Koscheck with strikes, and now he will look to do the same to Bahadurzada when they meet at UFC on Fox 8.

Damon Martin is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report.

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UFC on Fox 8: John Moraga Says ‘Boring’ Champ Demetrious Johnson ‘Runs Too Much’

Demetrious Johnson may be the fastest man in the UFC, but that doesn’t mean the flyweight champion is exciting fans with his agility-based style.But is the flyweight champion “boring?”That’s what challenger John Moraga thinks, telling MMA Fighting that…

Demetrious Johnson may be the fastest man in the UFC, but that doesn’t mean the flyweight champion is exciting fans with his agility-based style.

But is the flyweight champion “boring?”

That’s what challenger John Moraga thinks, telling MMA Fighting that while he doesn’t have any disrespect for “Mighty Mouse” or his skills, he runs away more than he fights.

In fact, Moraga says Johnson isn’t even as quick as people think:

“He just bounces around. He runs around too much. He don’t fight,” Moraga said during a recent interview. “He don’t put on exciting fights. He’s got a lot of technique and skill, but he doesn’t go in there and try to finish people, I don’t feel.”

“My main thing is I don’t want to go out there and put on boring fights. For this fight, who knows how it’s going to play out? Once we get in there, we’ll adapt to whatever we need to. I know I’m going to have be a little bit patient because he moves around so much and doesn’t get the fight going right away as far as big, heavy exchanges or anything like that.”

Moraga is far from the only person to criticize Johnson for his perceived volume-heavy, low-power style, with UFC president Dana White having to bat for his champion on several occasions.

MMA fans were especially critical of Johnson’s title victory against Joseph Benavidez last September, prompting White to say anyone who hated that fight should never buy a UFC pay-per-view ever again, according to MMA Weekly.

However, fans may just not like flyweight bouts.

Even UFC on FX 5 saw plenty of boos during the John Dodson vs. Jussier da Silva bout, and although the jeers stopped shortly before Dodson’s KO finish, an exasperated White, according to MMA Mania, could only guess that fans would “get 10-12 beers in them” and expect too much.

But maybe Moraga will bring in the cheers next time—he’s finished both of his UFC bouts so far and even earned a “Submission of the Night” bonus in his last outing.

Regardless, both men will need to perform on July 27, 2013, at UFC on Fox 8 in the Seattle Key Arena, with their UFC Flyweight Championship bout headlining a stacked main card.

 

McKinley Noble is an MMA conspiracy theorist. His work has appeared in NVision, PC World, Macworld, GamePro, 1UP, MMA Mania and The L.A. Times.

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Report: Liz Carmouche to Fight Jessica Andrade at UFC on FOX 8


(The photo you’ve seen 1,000,000x by now, courtesy of Getty Images.)

With Miesha Tate suddenly replacing the injured Cat Zingano as a TUF 18 coach, former title contender Liz Carmouche was left without an opponent for UFC on FOX 8. According to MMAFighting.com, the UFC has found a replacement opponent for Carmouche, and that opponent will be UFC newcomer Jessica Andrade.

Before we go any further, it’s okay: This is the first time we’ve heard of Andrade, too.

What we know about Andrade – or “Bate Estaca” as her friends call her – is that at twenty-one years old she’ll be the youngest female fighter in the UFC. She has been competing professionally for almost two years now and has compiled an impressive 9-2 record with all of her victories coming by stoppage. Granted, six of those nine victories came over fighters who were making their professional MMA debuts, but the fact that she has fought nine times since last May is still extremely impressive. Her most recent victory came over Milana Dudieva in April.

As for Carmouche, if you don’t know her recent fight history by now, I’m afraid that there’s not much I can do for you.

After the jump, we have some videos of Andrade in action.


(The photo you’ve seen 1,000,000x by now, courtesy of Getty Images.)

With Miesha Tate suddenly replacing the injured Cat Zingano as a TUF 18 coach, former title contender Liz Carmouche was left without an opponent for UFC on FOX 8. According to MMAFighting.com, the UFC has found a replacement opponent for Carmouche, and that opponent will be UFC newcomer Jessica Andrade.

Before we go any further, it’s okay: This is the first time we’ve heard of Andrade, too.

What we know about Andrade – or “Bate Estaca” as her friends call her – is that at twenty-one years old she’ll be the youngest female fighter in the UFC. She has been competing professionally for almost two years now and has compiled an impressive 9-2 record with all of her victories coming by stoppage. Granted, six of those nine victories came over fighters who were making their professional MMA debuts, but the fact that she has fought nine times since last May is still extremely impressive. Her most recent victory came over Milana Dudieva in April.

As for Carmouche, if you don’t know her recent fight history by now, I’m afraid that there’s not much I can do for you.

After the jump, we have some videos of Andrade in action.


Andrade vs. Duda Yankovich, 09/08/2012.


Andrade vs. Alessandra Silva, 09/15/2012. Yes, that date is correct.


Andrade vs. Vanessa Silva, 10/13/2012. You may want to turn your speakers down for this one…


Andrade vs. Milana Dudieva, 04/14/2013.

So, does she have what it takes to beat Carmouche?

@SethFalvo

UFC on Fox 8: Jessica Andrade Replaces Miesha Tate, Will Debut vs. Liz Carmouche

Fortunately for Liz Carmouche, it looks like a sudden switch-up in the women’s bantamweight division won’t cancel her next UFC appearance.Now that Miesha Tate has been called up to the title picture, “Girl-Rilla” will instead greet a newcomer in Brazil…

Fortunately for Liz Carmouche, it looks like a sudden switch-up in the women’s bantamweight division won’t cancel her next UFC appearance.

Now that Miesha Tate has been called up to the title picture, “Girl-Rilla” will instead greet a newcomer in Brazilian prospect Jessica Andrade at UFC on Fox 8 on July 27.

According to MMA Fighting, this will also be the first-ever UFC women’s fight shown on Fox.

Carmouche will look to get back on the winning track after losing a competitive main event title fight against champion Ronda Rousey at UFC 157, which ended in a first-round submission defeat for the challenger by armbar.

Although Carmouche was a significant underdog, the former Marine Corps technician nearly toppled “Rowdy” with a standing face crank and rear-naked choke attempt, faltering a mere 11 seconds before the end of the round.

Still, she’s only lost to elite competition so far, with her two other losses coming at the hands of former Strikeforce champions Sarah Kaufman and Marloes Coenen.

Jessica Andrade, on the other hand, is a more unknown quantity.

Hailing from Brazil with an 11-fight record (9-2), the 21-year-old has fought in regional promotions such as ProFC, Heavy Fighting Championship and Ring of Fire.

Until her last bout in Russia, Andrade had also never fought outside of Brazil.

UFC on Fox 8 is currently scheduled to feature a main event bout for the world flyweight championship, with Demetrious Johnson defending his title against John Moraga.

Interestingly, the event features another women’s bantamweight bout between Julie Kedzie and Germaine de Randamie, making this the first UFC card to include two women’s bouts on the same night.

To boot, the card will also feature a pair of high-profile matches with Rory MacDonald vs. Jake Ellenberger and Robbie Lawler vs. Tarec Saffiedine. According to the official UFC rankings, all four men are currently listed in the Top 10 of the welterweight division.

 

McKinley Noble is an MMA conspiracy theorist. His work has appeared in NVision, PC World, Macworld, GamePro, 1UP, MMA Mania and The L.A. Times.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com