Unless you’re a hardcore MMA fan, you probably don’t know the name Tom “Kong” Watson. But the English middleweight is a familiar name to fans of the local United Kingdom fight scene, and this Saturday on Fuel TV, he’ll have his chance to let the entire…
Unless you’re a hardcore MMA fan, you probably don’t know the name Tom “Kong” Watson. But the English middleweight is a familiar name to fans of the local United Kingdom fight scene, and this Saturday on Fuel TV, he’ll have his chance to let the entire world know who he is when he takes on Brad Tavares.
Watson is a popular figure on the English fight scene, known mostly for his energetic walks to the ring wearing a gorilla mask. He’s a former BAMMA champion and a very dangerous fighter, and he will provide a tough test for Tavares.
In this video shot by Rick Lee, you’ll get to know a little bit more about “Kong” as he prepares to make his debut.
Stefan Struve and Stipe Miocic have become two of the more intriguing up-and-comers in the heavyweight division. Both fighters have won three straight UFC bouts and are looking to take that big step toward competing against upper-echelon heavyweights.&…
Stefan Struve and StipeMiocic have become two of the more intriguing up-and-comers in the heavyweight division. Both fighters have won three straight UFC bouts and are looking to take that big step toward competing against upper-echelon heavyweights.
On Saturday, Struve and Miocic will meet in the UFC on Fuel TV 5 main event to determine which fighter is more prepared to test themselves against the top competitors in their division.
The event, which will be held on English soil, will also feature a plethora of British fighters.
Brad Pickett will try to reclaim his status as a top bantamweight by beating Yves Jabouin. Undefeated lightweight Paul Sass will try to take one step closer to becoming a 155-pound contender against Matt Wiman.
Additionally, welterweights Dan Hardy, John Hathaway, John Maguire and Che Mills will attempt to climb the 170-pound rankings when they appear on the UFC on Fuel TV 5 main card.
As we prepare for the weekend’s UFC event, let’s take a look at the odds for the featured bouts.
The UFC will be making it’s return to jolly old England this weekend and go figure, the card is of the mid to low interest range and will be broadcast for free here in the States (unless you don’t have FUEL, of course. What’s that? NO ONE has Fuel?!). Not that we’re complaining about a night of free fights, but the buzz surrounding this event could best be described as tumbleweeds. Fortunately for you, there are at least five good reasons to tune in Saturday afternoon, which we’ve laid out in a convenient list format with bold titles and everything. Aren’t we just the best?
1. A Main Event That Definitely Ain’t Going the Distance
As BG explained earlier, a fight with Stefan Struve ends in one of three ways; Struve via submission, Struve via (T)KO, or Struve’s opponent via uber-violent KO. His fights are like the Paranormal Activity movies; you know from the start how badly things will end for the parties involved, but it’s the path to that ending that you’re interested in. The same can be said for the undefeated Stipe Miocic, minus the uber-violent losses of course. Miocic has been on an absolute tear since entering the UFC and has finished 2 of his 3 opponents in brutal fashion. In fact, in a combined 38 fights, the two main event players have only seen the judges scorecards twice. And Saturday night will be no different; Struve will either take this fight to the ground and try to pull off a sub or throw caution to the wind and get savaged. In either case, it will make for one incredibly entertaining fight.
(Reason #6: Impromptu limbo competitions!)
The UFC will be making it’s return to jolly old England this weekend and go figure, the card is of the mid to low interest range and will be broadcast for free here in the States (unless you don’t have FUEL, of course. What’s that? NO ONE has Fuel?!). Not that we’re complaining about a night of free fights, but the buzz surrounding this event could best be described as tumbleweeds. Fortunately for you, there are at least five good reasons to tune in Saturday afternoon, which we’ve laid out in a convenient list format with bold titles and everything. Aren’t we just the best?
1. A Main Event That Definitely Ain’t Going the Distance
As BG explained earlier, a fight with Stefan Struve ends in one of three ways; Struve via submission, Struve via (T)KO, or Struve’s opponent via uber-violent KO. His fights are like the Paranormal Activity movies; you know from the start how badly things will end for the parties involved, but it’s the path to that ending that you’re interested in. The same can be said for the undefeated Stipe Miocic, minus the uber-violent losses of course. Miocic has been on an absolute tear since entering the UFC and has finished 2 of his 3 opponents in brutal fashion. In fact, in a combined 38 fights, the two main event players have only seen the judges scorecards twice. And Saturday night will be no different; Struve will either take this fight to the ground and try to pull off a sub or throw caution to the wind and get savaged. In either case, it will make for one incredibly entertaining fight.
2. Gunnar Freaking Nelson
Unless you are a complete MMA novice, we shouldn’t have to explain why you should be excited for the UFC debut of Gunnar Nelson. No, not that Gunnar Nelson, we’re talking about this Gunnar Nelson. But on the off chance you are a total newb, know that this fellow 9-0 prospect first broke onto the MMA scene in 2007 but didn’t gain notoriety until the 2009 ADCC trials, where he scored a huge upset over the much larger and more experienced Jeff Monson. Since then, Nelson has been single-handedly converting “Wang-and-Bang”-type MMA fans to the subtleties of BJJ with his exciting and dominating wins under the BAMMA and Cage Contender promotions. He’ll be taking on the always game TUF 9 runner-up Damarques Johnson on short notice, which, as Big John McCarthy pointed out, kind of defies the 60 day no contact suspension Johnson was handed after his vicious KO loss to Mike Swick at UFC on FOX 4 on August 4th. But if it’s good enough for the athletic commissions, it’s good enough for us!
Speaking of up-and-coming prospects…
3. There Are A Lot of Up-and-Coming Prospects on This Card
Aside from Miocic and Nelson, UFC on FUEL 5 will feature the UFC debuts of a couple highly-touted prospects as well as a fight that will determine the possible contender status of another. Making their big show debuts on Saturday will be none other than KO artist Jimi Manuwa taking on the unluckiest guy in the LHW division these days, Kyle Kingsbury, and British phenom/all around good guy Tom “Kong” Watson, who will be squaring off with TUF 11 alum Brad Tavares. “Kong” is a heavy-handed veteran of the BAMMA and Cage Rage promotions who has scored back-to-back TKO stoppages over Murilo Rua (which is getting less impressive by the day) and Jack Marshman. Tavares is fresh off a close decision victory over Dongi Yang at UFC on FUEL 3 and will be looking to erase the memory of that performance, so expect fireworks here.
Elsewhere on the card, undefeated lightweight submission whiz Paul Sass will attempt to make it 4-0 in the UFC against TUF 5′s Matt Wiman. If you have yet to see any of Sass’s performances, just think of him as a male Ronda Rousey of sorts. With a nickname like “Sassangle,” his opponents pretty much know what they’re in store for, yet seasoned vets like Michael Johnson and Jacob Volkmann could do nothing to alter their fate despite this. With an impressive win over Wiman, Sass will easily have earned a shot at a big name and a PPV main card spot down the line.
To say that Dan Hardy and Amir Sadollah have had inconsistent UFC runs would be like saying that the CIA kinda sorta botched the Bay of Pigs ordeal. And while Sodallah’s losses have come much farther apart than Hardy’s, it’s pretty obvious that both men are in need of a career-defining performance here if they ever want to venture beyond journeyman status looking forward. Hardy was recently able to bounce back into the win column for the first time in two years with a first round KO of Duane Ludwig (who is also fighting Saturday) and we last saw Sadollah fend off the dry-humping antics of Jorge Lopez for long enough to secure a decision victory at UFC on FUEL 3. It was a terrible fight despite Sadollah’s best efforts and made next to no sense being placed as the night’s co-main, so let’s hope these two can deliver big this time around.
5. Barnburners, and Lots of ‘Em
Although UFC on FUEL 5 may not feature a ton of names that the casual fan will recognize, it does feature a bunch of fights that are all but guaranteed to deliver. Brad Pickett vs. Yves Jabouin, Che Mills vs. Duane Ludwig, Jason Young vs. Robbie Peralta — some people are gonna fall down, Potato Nation, so make sure to catch the Facebook prelims or come Monday morning you’re gonna have nothing to contribute at the water cooler, which can lead to some pretty awkward situations.
UFC on FUEL 5 kicks off at 4 p.m. EST from the Capital FM Arena, Nottingham, England.
In fact, the combination of Struve’s aggressive grappling, underrated knockout power, and tendency to lose consciousness during fights has made him one of the least decision-prone fighters on the UFC roster; his 8-3 record in the promotion includes only one fight that went the distance, which came in his December 2009 squeaker over Paul Buentello.
But it’s impossible to ignore that the three losses on his record all came from brutal, lights-out, first-round knockouts. Does that worry Struve, who will be entering the cage this Saturday against the heavy-handed (and heavier-elbowed) Stipe Miocic at UFC on FUEL 5 in Nottingham? No, because Struve actually has a great chin, if you think about it. Allow him to explain:
In fact, the combination of Struve’s aggressive grappling, underrated knockout power, and tendency to lose consciousness during fights has made him one of the least decision-prone fighters on the UFC roster; his 8-3 record in the promotion includes only one fight that went the distance, which came in his December 2009 squeaker over Paul Buentello.
But it’s impossible to ignore that the three losses on his record all came from brutal, lights-out, first-round knockouts. Does that worry Struve, who will be entering the cage this Saturday against the heavy-handed (and heavier-elbowed) Stipe Miocic at UFC on FUEL 5 in Nottingham? No, because Struve actually has a great chin, if you think about it. Allow him to explain:
“I know for a fact that I’ve got a really good chin,” Struve told MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio). “I showed that in multiple fights…The shots that I got hit with by Browne and Nelson would have taken anybody down,” he said. “So that’s not something I really worry about.”
I think that when Struve says he “knows for a fact” that he’s got a strong chin, he doesn’t so much know it as believeit despite a lack of physical evidence. Because to believe otherwise would force him to seriously consider his limitations in a way that might affect his confidence on fight night. It’s a little trick that fighters do to keep the nightmares away.
Then again, when Struve says, “The shots that I got hit with by Browne and Nelson would have taken anybody down,” there’s some truth to that, obviously. The 57% knockout ratio in the heavyweight division is no coincidence — most human brains simply aren’t equipped to handle a haymaker from an angry XXXL fist without going into hibernation mode. It’s just that compared to other UFC heavyweights, Struve’s chin doesn’t seem to be any better than the next guy’s.
I mean, we’re not talking about Mark Hunt, here. We’re talking about Stefan Struve — just another big man fighting other big men, who’s already suffered a good deal of scary head trauma in his fight career. So maybe getting his brain turned off in future fights is something he should be worrying about.
Another busy weekend in the world of mixed martial arts and UFC takes the action inside the Octagon across the pond for a special UFC on Fuel card that features a heavyweight clash between Stefan Struve and Stipe Miocic.The 6’11” Struve is looking to p…
Another busy weekend in the world of mixed martial arts and UFC takes the action inside the Octagon across the pond for a special UFC on Fuel card that features a heavyweight clash between Stefan Struve and StipeMiocic.
The 6’11” Struve is looking to prove that he is much more than just a gatekeeper in UFC. He has won his last three fights to run his UFC record to 8-3 (24-5 overall). His ability to use his size, long limbs and strength to get opponents down makes him a nightmare to prepare for.
Miocic is slowly making a name for himself in the heavyweight division. He’s not on the verge of stardom, but he does have a career record of 9-0 and has won his last two fights with impressive knockouts. This will be, literally and figuratively, the biggest test of his career.
Where: Capital FM Arena in Nottingham, England
When: Saturday, September 29. Main Card Fights start at 4:00 p.m. ET. Facebook Preliminary Fights start at 1:30 p.m. ET
Watch: Fuel TV (Main Card); Facebook (Preliminary Card)
MAIN CARD ON FUEL TV
Heavyweight Bout: Stefan Struve vs. StipeMiocic
Welterweight Bout: Dan Hardy vs. AmirSadollah
Welterweight Bout: John Hathaway vs. John Maguire
Bantamweight Bout: Brad Pickett vs. Yves Jabouin
Welterweight Bout: Che Mills vs. Duane Ludwig
Lightweight Bout: Paul Sass vs. Matt Wiman
PRELIMINARY CARD ON FACEBOOK
Light Heavyweight Bout: Kyle Kingsbury vs. JimiManuwa
Middleweight Bout: Tom Watson vs. Brad Tavares
Featherweight Bout: Andy Ogle vs. AkiraCorassani
Featherweight Bout: Jason Young vs. Robbie Peralta
175-Pound Catchweight Bout: DaMarques Johnson vs. Gunnar Nelson
Struve‘s Keys to Victory
Use kickboxing skills to grind Miocic down; dominate the ground
Struve‘s game is dependent on being able to work the ground, but he does have strong kickboxing skills and should be able to land some hard strikes to get Miocic out of his element.
Once Struve finds his rhythm and figures out what Miocic wants to do, he will be able to shoot for takedowns and use his abnormally long limbs to hold his opponent on the ground to work for a submission or go for the ground-and-pound.
Miocic‘s Keys to Victory
Let speed and precision frustrate Struve
Miocic has a strong boxing background that will keep him in any fight. Make no mistake, though, he is not a pushover. He is not a great all-around fighter, but he can trade with anyone in the division.
He is a lot more comfortable keeping the fight standing, so he has to avoid Struve‘s takedowns at all costs.
This is the biggest test of Miocic‘s career so far, and easily the most high-profile fight he has had. Don’t underestimate the nerves he will have in this spot. When the fight really gets into its groove, he should be fine. But the question is, will he be around long enough for it to reach that point?
What They Are Saying
Stefan Struve is slowly moving up the heavyweight ranks and has a lot on the line in this fight. Like Miocic, this is his first main event. He has to prove that he can fight any style if he wants to be taken as a serious contender in the near-future.
Here is what he told reporters leading up to the fight about his preparation and strategy going into uncharted territory. (via Sports Illustrated)
“I want to show everyone what I can do on my feet,” said Struve. “I want to show that I know how to make use of my reach advantage and that I have finishing power. I want to show that I’ve put it all together and show everyone I’ve become a complete fighter.”
Standing up has always been the knock on Struve, though he has gotten a few knockouts in his UFC career against lesser talents.
Undercard Fight to Watch:DaMarques Johnson vs. Gunnar Nelson
Johnson is one of those fighters that looks a lot better than he really is. He enters this fight with a 15-11 career record and consecutive losses against John Maguire and Mike Swick. He was put in this fight just over a week ago after Pascal Krauss went down with an injury.
Nelson is making his UFC debut after a 9-0-1 record in various promotions, most notably BAMMA. Given that he had to change his preparation after his original opponent went down, it will be interesting to see how he handles himself in this spotlight.
Main Event Prediction
Struve and Miocic is a tremendous clash-of-styles bout. You can make a legitimate argument for either based on how well they do what it is they do—Struve on the ground, Miocic standing up.
History has told me that, when in doubt, always go with the puncher, because he can strike at a moment’s notice.
When the UFC returns to England on Saturday night in Nottingham, they’ll be bringing with them a whole host of guys who just plain love punching people unconscious. The card has a shot to be one of the sleeper hits of the year, with plenty of pot…
When the UFC returns to England on Saturday night in Nottingham, they’ll be bringing with them a whole host of guys who just plain love punching people unconscious.
The card has a shot to be one of the sleeper hits of the year, with plenty of potential for sleeping and lots of guys getting hit.
Sure, there aren’t major stars on display—Stefan Struve and Dan Hardy are definitely the marquee names—but the night looks full of fireworks. For a free show on a station seen in roughly as many homes as VCRs these days, that’s all a person can ask.
But you know who’s an interesting tale, a star in his own way who’ll mix it up on the undercard before many have taken their seats in the arena or on their couches?
Andy Ogle.
Yup.
Andy Ogle.
Who?
Andy Ogle.
Ogle, a British slugger who missed out on a shot at a UFC contract as part of the largely unremarkable TUF: Live cast, will get to fight in his homeland. And people seem pretty excited about it.
The featherweight made plenty of fans during his run on the show, proving to be a durable competitor and a capable martial artist. He wore his heart on his sleeve, openly gushing about the difficulties of life in the house and being away from his family in a strange place for months on end.
He was a team player in the truest sense of the word as well, loyal to the end towards guys he basically just met.
In fact, people responded to him only slightly less than eventual winner Michael Chiesa, another good-natured battler who was fighting through the death of his father at the time.
Ogle lost out in the quarterfinals on the show, and ran to Dana White to beg for a chance on the Nottingham show. He was injured and couldn’t compete at the TUF: Live finale, and White loved his enthusiasm (as he usually does). Ogle got the call to fight AkiraCorassani, and people were largely pleased to see the scrappy kid from Sunderland added to the card.
This reality highlights one of the main issues with The Ultimate Fighter in more recent seasons. As much as people complain about in-house hijinks, about being tired of watching guys with colored mohawks peeing where they shouldn’t be peeing, it’s that time in the house that builds a relationship between fans and the young fighters.
Only Ogle and Chiesa came out of TUF: Live with any sort of following, and they were the only ones who came across well on any personal level. Not to say the rest of the cast was terrible, they were more so just forgettable—which is probably worse.
Back in the day, learning what made guys like Kenny Florian and Chris Leben tick helped give a dimension to the violence they’d produce in the cage. They weren’t animals, they were real people with real lives and real personalities.
The TUFfranchise kind of got away from that, culminating with last season being so fight-centric that no one really cared about anyone in the cage. Based on the formula the show established when it was a hit, that’s as far from what the UFC is looking for as one can imagine.
And so, with Ogle, there’s hope for the fan who enjoys seeing good things happen to good people after their time in the TUF house. There was a time when that was the norm, and that’s no longer the case for the most part.
Here’s hoping the Englishman, and the support he’ll get in the arena and from anyone who saw him on the show watching at home, will shed some light on how important that personal connection can be.
Another busy weekend in the world of mixed martial arts and UFC takes the action inside the Octagon across the pond for a special UFC on Fuel card that features a heavyweight clash between Stefan 
