(Pikeew pikeew! I got you! Nu-uh! I totally got you first!)
In the past three years, Thiago Silva has been knocked out by Lyoto Machida, out-grappled by Rashad Evans, suspended from the UFC for attempting to mask his roid-filled urine after his fight with Brandon Vera, and out struck by Alexander Gustafsson. Needless to say, Silva is probably going to get axed if he doesn’t win big against Stanislav Nedkov at the pair’s upcoming duel at UFC on FUEL 6. The undefeated Nedkov has also spent more time on the shelf than off lately, battling injuries and visa issues for the better part of his two-year UFC career, but barring any last minute issues, these two will clash on November 10th in Cotai, Macau. And based on their finishing ratios, we’re fairly certain that this one will end inside of three rounds.
So in honor of the occasion, we’ve dug up Silva’s last official victory — which came over Keith Jardine via knockout (I know, you’re shocked too) at UFC 102 in August of 2009 — and placed it after the jump for your enjoyment. Because it is Halloween after all, and who won’t sleep better knowing that the scary monster in your closet can easily be felled with a solid left hook?
(Pikeew pikeew! I got you! Nu-uh! I totally got you first!)
In the past three years, Thiago Silva has been knocked out by Lyoto Machida, out-grappled by Rashad Evans, suspended from the UFC for attempting to mask his roid-filled urine after his fight with Brandon Vera, and out struck by Alexander Gustafsson. Needless to say, Silva is probably going to get axed if he doesn’t win big against Stanislav Nedkov at the pair’s upcoming duel at UFC on FUEL 6. The undefeated Nedkov has also spent more time on the shelf than off lately, battling injuries and visa issues for the better part of his two-year UFC career, but barring any last minute issues, these two will clash on November 10th in Cotai, Macau. And based on their finishing ratios, we’re fairly certain that this one will end inside of three rounds.
So in honor of the occasion, we’ve dug up Silva’s last official victory — which came over Keith Jardine via knockout (I know, you’re shocked too) at UFC 102 in August of 2009 — and placed it after the jump for your enjoyment. Because it is Halloween after all, and who won’t sleep better knowing that the scary monster in your closet can easily be felled with a solid left hook?
(Hmm. I’m gonna go with “treat.” Full gallery is after the jump.)
As first reported by The Chosun Ilbo, Korean model/TV personality Kang Ye-bin has been selected as a guest Octagon girl for the UFC’s “Franklin vs. Le” event in Macau, China on November 10th. The adorable host of UFC Inside on Korea’s Super Action channel, Kang had this to say about her new appointment:
“I’m thrilled to be Korea’s first Octagon Girl. I’m just a little anxious whether I’ll be able to do a good job, but I’ll try my best and hopefully I can raise the spirits of our three Korean fighters in the UFC. I’d like to look sexier and hotter than Arianny Celeste.”
Darlin’, you just signed your own death warrant. But while we have her around, let’s check out some of the Internet’s best Kang Ye-bin photos in the gallery below…
As first reported by The Chosun Ilbo, Korean model/TV personality Kang Ye-bin has been selected as a guest Octagon girl for the UFC’s “Franklin vs. Le” event in Macau, China on November 10th. The adorable host of UFC Inside on Korea’s Super Action channel, Kang had this to say about her new appointment:
“I’m thrilled to be Korea’s first Octagon Girl. I’m just a little anxious whether I’ll be able to do a good job, but I’ll try my best and hopefully I can raise the spirits of our three Korean fighters in the UFC. I’d like to look sexier and hotter than Arianny Celeste.”
Darlin’, you just signed your own death warrant. But while we have her around, let’s check out some of the Internet’s best Kang Ye-bin photos in the gallery above.
I wonder if cultural factors are at work here. Keep in mind that I’m completely talking out of my ass, but maybe the local Chinese audience would be turned off by two fighters acting like conceited assholes, as we expect our fighters to act during pre-fight promos. That could be a stretch, but it’s worth noting that the promo also describes Le as a “kung fu master,” when his background is actually in Taekwondo, wrestling, and Sanda/Sanshou (which only has a loose connection to kung fu), so I think there might be a little pandering going on here.
And I’m going to let you in on another secret: Cung Le? Vietnamese, not Chinese. I’m just saying. Follow the money.
The current lineup for “UFC on FUEL TV 6: Franklin vs. Le” is after the jump.
I wonder if cultural factors are at work here. Keep in mind that I’m completely talking out of my ass, but maybe the local Chinese audience would be turned off by two fighters acting like conceited assholes, as we expect our fighters to act during pre-fight promos. That could be a stretch, but it’s worth noting that the promo also describes Le as a “kung fu master,” when his background is actually in Taekwondo, wrestling, and Sanda/Sanshou (which only has a loose connection to kung fu), so I think there might be a little pandering going on here.
And I’m going to let you in on another secret: Cung Le? Vietnamese, not Chinese. I’m just saying. Follow the money.
The current lineup for “UFC on FUEL TV 6: Franklin vs. Le” is after the jump.
MAIN CARD
Rich Franklin vs. Cung Le
Dong Hyun Kim vs. Paulo Thiago
Tiequan Zhang vs. Jon Tuck
Thiago Silva vs. Stanislav Nedkov
Takanori Gomi vs. Mac Danzig
Alex Caceres vs. Kyung Ho Kang
PRELIMINARY CARD
John Lineker vs. Yasuhiro Urushitani
Tom DeBlass vs. Riki Fukuda
Takeya Mizugaki vs. Jeff Hougland
David Mitchell vs. Hyun Gyu Lim
(I don’t know if it’s the angle, the lighting, or the Kabuki makeup, but Gomi is looking freaky as shit these days.)
The UFC’s first trip to China has picked up its first lightweight bout, as Japanese legend Takanori Gomi and TUF 6 winner Mac Danzig are reportedly slated to meet at the November 10th event in Macau. Danzig revealed the matchup on twitter earlier today. Though both fighters have struggled in the Octagon in the past, both are coming off of victories. Gomi scored a second-round TKO of Eiji Mitsuoka at UFC 144 in February, while Danzig most recently won a decision against Efrain Escudero at UFC 145 in April.
In other UFC China booking news, light-heavyweight striker Thiago Silva will have one more chance to save his career at the event, where he’ll face undefeated Bulgarian prospect Stanislav Nedkov. Due to his no-contest against Brandon Vera and subsequent one-year suspension — which was sandwiched by a pair of decision losses to Rashad Evans and Alexander Gustafsson — Silva hasn’t officially won a fight in three years. Meanwhile, Nedkov has only competed once during his two years of being under UFC contract, due to injuries (both his own and his opponent’s) and visa issues. Nedkov’s sole Octagon appearance resulted in a first-round TKO of Luis Cane at UFC 134 last August.
UFC on Fuel TV 6 will be headlined by the (hopefully) crowd-pleasing battle between Rich Franklin and Cung Le. Check out the current lineup after the jump, and hit us with your predictions in the comments section.
(I don’t know if it’s the angle, the lighting, or the Kabuki makeup, but Gomi is looking freaky as shit these days.)
The UFC’s first trip to China has picked up its first lightweight bout, as Japanese legend Takanori Gomi and TUF 6 winner Mac Danzig are reportedly slated to meet at the November 10th event in Macau. Danzig revealed the matchup on twitter earlier today. Though both fighters have struggled in the Octagon in the past, both are coming off of victories. Gomi scored a second-round TKO of Eiji Mitsuoka at UFC 144 in February, while Danzig most recently won a decision against Efrain Escudero at UFC 145 in April.
In other UFC China booking news, light-heavyweight striker Thiago Silva will have one more chance to save his career at the event, where he’ll face undefeated Bulgarian prospect Stanislav Nedkov. Due to his no-contest against Brandon Vera and subsequent one-year suspension — which was sandwiched by a pair of decision losses to Rashad Evans and Alexander Gustafsson — Silva hasn’t officially won a fight in three years. Meanwhile, Nedkov has only competed once during his two years of being under UFC contract, due to injuries (both his own and his opponent’s) and visa issues. Nedkov’s sole Octagon appearance resulted in a first-round TKO of Luis Cane at UFC 134 last August.
UFC on Fuel TV 6 will be headlined by the (hopefully) crowd-pleasing battle between Rich Franklin and Cung Le. Check out the current lineup after the jump, and hit us with your predictions in the comments section.
Cung Le vs. Rich Franklin
Thiago Silva vs. Stanislav Nedkov Dong Hyun Kim vs. Paulo Thiago
Mac Danzig vs. Takanori Gomi
Alex Caceres vs. Kyung Ho Kang
Marcelo Guimaraes vs. Hyun Gyu Lim
Tom DeBlass vs. Riki Fukuda
Takeya Mizugaki vs. Jeff Hougland John Lineker vs. Yasuhiro Urushitani
Pictured: Their approximate reactions to finding out “garbage-ass” was a real phrase.
One week ago, Ben published an article voicing concerns over how weak UFC 151’s main card was. But it was cool, because Jon Jones vs. Dan Henderson was going to be such an awesome fight. Two days ago, Jones vs. Henderson was scrapped and UFC 151 was canceled. [Ed. note: Damn, two days? Feels like we’ve been covering this forever.] Even though most of us acknowledged that the cancellation of the event was at least partially due to the garbage-assness of pretty much the entire card, we were too busy talking about Jon Jones ducking Chael Sonnen/Sonnen attempting to troll his way into an immediate title shot (depending on which side of the fence you’re on) to really delve into the issue. But now that the UFC has started to transplant the canceled UFC 151 fights to other cards, it’s time to take a closer look at that issue for a moment.
The bouts from UFC 151 are quickly being rescheduled for different cards, with UFC on FX 5 taking a significant chunk of them. As we covered in yesterday’s link dump, UFC 151’s planned co-main event, Jake Ellenberger vs. Jay Hieron, will now be the co-main event of UFC On FX 5. This won’t be the only fight from UFC 151’s main card that will now be padding UFC on FX 5 – Dennis Hallman vs. Thiago Tavares, Danny Castillo vs. Michael Johnson and Shane Roller vs. Jacob Volkmann will be moved to this card as well. UFC on Fuel TV 6 will now be featuring fights between bantamweights Takeya Mizugaki and Jeff Hougland and flyweights John Lineker and Yasuhiro Urushitani, while Kyle Noke and Charlie Brenneman will do the man dance on the undercard of UFC 152.
In case you haven’t noticed, it’s worth mentioning that absolutely none of these fights – three of which were on the pay-per-view portion of UFC 151, mind you – have made it to the main card of an upcoming pay-per-view. Now I understand that financially, most fighters who were expecting a paycheck on September 1 simply can’t afford to wait until November’s UFC 154 to fight again. But that’s not the issue: The issue is that the UFC could afford to move pay-per-view quality fights *makes this hand gesture* to free television in the first place.
Pictured: Their approximate reactions to finding out “garbage-ass” was a real phrase.
One week ago, Ben published an article voicing concerns over how weak UFC 151′s main card was. But it was cool, because Jon Jones vs. Dan Henderson was going to be such an awesome fight. Two days ago, Jones vs. Henderson was scrapped and UFC 151 was canceled. [Ed. note: Damn, two days? Feels like we’ve been covering this forever.] Even though most of us acknowledged that the cancellation of the event was at least partially due to the garbage-assness of pretty much the entire card, we were too busy talking about Jon Jones ducking Chael Sonnen/Sonnen attempting to troll his way into an immediate title shot (depending on which side of the fence you’re on) to really delve into the issue. But now that the UFC has started to transplant the canceled UFC 151 fights to other cards, it’s time to take a closer look at that issue for a moment.
The bouts from UFC 151 are quickly being rescheduled for different cards, with UFC on FX 5 taking a significant chunk of them. As we covered in yesterday’s link dump, UFC 151′s planned co-main event, Jake Ellenberger vs. Jay Hieron, will now be the co-main event of UFC On FX 5. This won’t be the only fight from UFC 151′s main card that will now be padding UFC on FX 5 – Dennis Hallman vs. Thiago Tavares, Danny Castillo vs. Michael Johnson and Shane Roller vs. Jacob Volkmann will be moved to this card as well. UFC on Fuel TV 6 will now be featuring fights between bantamweights Takeya Mizugaki and Jeff Hougland and flyweights John Lineker and Yasuhiro Urushitani, while Kyle Noke and Charlie Brenneman will do the man dance on the undercard of UFC 152.
In case you haven’t noticed, it’s worth mentioning that absolutely none of these fights – three of which were on the pay-per-view portion of UFC 151, mind you – have made it to the main card of an upcoming pay-per-view. Now I understand that financially, most fighters who were expecting a paycheck on September 1 simply can’t afford to wait until November’s UFC 154 to fight again. But that’s not the issue: The issue is that the UFC could afford to move pay-per-view quality fights *makes this hand gesture* to free television in the first place.
Dana White can point his fingers at Jon Jones and Greg Jackson and say “That’s the bad guy!” all he wants, but that certainly doesn’t make him the good guy in all of this. The fact that the UFC can give away bouts that they expected you to pay for without worrying about the revenue they’ll lose is essentially an admission that the bouts were never really worth your money in the first place. Essentially, it’s proof that, as we feared, over-saturation has reached its tipping point in the UFC and as a result, the main event of any given pay-per-view is the only fight worth paying for. Gone are the days when a fighter in the co-main event of a UFC pay-per-view was too big of a name for basic cable (Isn’t that right, Mike Russow?). It’s easy to make Jon Jones and Greg Jackson the scapegoats for the cancellation of UFC 151, but it’s nothing short of willful ignorance to continue to deny that over-saturation is a pandemic in the UFC.
With Jones vs. Belfort now headlining UFC 152 (151?), Dana White will more than likely use the “stacked” UFC 152 as “proof” that the UFC is still putting on stacked cards and that over-saturation is not an issue. On paper, he has a point; it’s hard to say that a card with two title fights isn’t a quality product. But let’s actually look at what we’re getting: A light-heavyweight title fight where the challenger earned the honor of fighting for a belt by simply being the first guy to say “Yeah, sure, I’ll do it,” a flyweight title fight that fans weren’t exactly excited for in the first place, and a middleweight scrap between two top-ten fighters who probably still won’t be getting a shot at Anderson Silva with a victory. Call me crazy, but I’m not seeing a stacked card here. I’m seeing a card that, up until Jon Jones was added on, was weaker than UFC 151.
I guess it would be pretty ironic of me to let the comments section fill up with complaints about how boxing died because champions were fighting unworthy challengers and the “one-fight cards” that ruined the sport. But to do that would be missing my own point, so instead I’ll propose a new rule: From now on, if you aren’t willing to complain with your wallet, you forfeit your right to complain with your keyboard. That should be enough to force the UFC to acknowledge over-saturation, and admission is the first step to recovery.
(RagePotato: Using the sleekest technology possible to combine MMA and stupid internet trends since 2007.)
Not many of us expected Brazilian up-and-comer Charles “do Bronx” Oliveira to absolutely manhandle TUF 12 winner Jonathan Brookins in the fashion he did at the TUF 15 Finale. Sure, Brookins’ head movement and general striking stance most closely resembles a Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em robot when his block has been knocked off, but Oliveira’s performance, which improved his featherweight record to 2-0, was truly a coming out party for a fighter who already had a considerable amount of hype behind him. Given the circumstances, it’s all the more appropriate (not to mention exciting) that Oliveira has been booked to take on fellow ever-rising featherweight Cub Swanson at UFC 152, which goes down on September 22nd at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Canada. Swanson has looked nothing short of spectacular lately, blistering George Roop and Ross Pearson in consecutive bouts at UFC on FOX 2 and UFC on FX 4.
After falling to the secret death-touch taught to Demian Maia by Sensei Seagal at UFC 148, Dong Hyun Kim is set to return to action against the always dangerous but struggling Paulo Thiago at UFC on FUEL 6, which will make for the UFC’s first ever trip to China on November 10th from the Cotai Arena in Cotai, Macau. Thiago last performed a dead-on impression of a cadaver in his bout with Siyar Bahadurzada at UFC on FUEL 2 (his first career loss via KO) and has dropped three of his last four bouts, so look for him to try and end things impressively against Kim because his career may be on the line.
And in heavyweight booking news…
(RagePotato: Using the sleekest technology possible to combine MMA and stupid internet trends since 2007.)
Not many of us expected Brazilian up-and-comer Charles “do Bronx” Oliveira to absolutely manhandle TUF 12 winner Jonathan Brookins in the fashion he did at the TUF 15 Finale. Sure, Brookins’ head movement and general striking stance most closely resembles a Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em robot when his block has been knocked off, but Oliveira’s performance, which improved his featherweight record to 2-0, was truly a coming out party for a fighter who already had a considerable amount of hype behind him. Given the circumstances, it’s all the more appropriate (not to mention exciting) that Oliveira has been booked to take on fellow ever-rising featherweight Cub Swanson at UFC 152, which goes down on September 22nd at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Canada. Swanson has looked nothing short of spectacular lately, blistering George Roop and Ross Pearson in consecutive bouts at UFC on FOX 2 and UFC on FX 4.
After falling to the secret death-touch taught to Demian Maia by Sensei Seagal at UFC 148, Dong Hyun Kim is set to return to action against the always dangerous but struggling Paulo Thiago at UFC on FUEL 6, which will make for the UFC’s first ever trip to China on November 10th from the Cotai Arena in Cotai, Macau. Thiago last performed a dead-on impression of a cadaver in his bout with Siyar Bahadurzada at UFC on FUEL 2 (his first career loss via KO) and has dropped three of his last four bouts, so look for him to try and end things impressively against Kim because his career may be on the line.
And in heavyweight booking news…
Former heavyweight title challenger Gabriel Gonzaga is set to return to action for the second time in 2012, at UFC 153 in Rio. Since being fired from the UFC, then retiring from the sport over two years ago, the star of the Jack Links beef jerky commercials has collected two straight victories, including a first round submission over promotional newcomer Ednaldo Oliveira in his return to the octagon at UFC 142.
Gonzaga will have his hands full when he takes on 6’2”, 264-pound powerhouse Geronimo Dos Santos. Dos Santos will be making his UFC debut after collecting 9 victories in 2011 alone (You hear that Travis? Step it up!). While his win streak is pretty impressive, the fact that he is debuting doesn’t bode well against a guy like Gonzaga, who has built a career out of the crushed dreams of promotional newbies. Based on his last performance, it seems that Gonzaga has also learned to finally use his BJJ wizardry to his advantage, so let’s hope he doesn’t revert back to the guy who thinks he can stand and trade with the best of ‘em, or he could be in for a long night against Dos Santos.
To familiarize you with Dos Santos a little bit (and to spice up these fight booking-style posts), here is a video of a fight in which Dos Santos goes all Kongo vs. Barry on some fatass.
