This weekend, the UFC comes to you on FX from the Land Down Under, Australia. This event makes history, as the UFC unveils its flyweight division for the first time ever.These flyweights competing on the card are competing in a tournament to crown the …
This weekend, the UFC comes to you on FX from the Land Down Under, Australia. This event makes history, as the UFC unveils its flyweight division for the first time ever.
These flyweights competing on the card are competing in a tournament to crown the inaugural UFC flyweight champion. With two men dropping a weight class to compete and two already top-ranked flyweights competing, it is sure to be exciting.
We also have a main event in the welterweight division, pitting a top contender of the division versus a resurgent former title contender. All of these fights provide potential to earn Fight of the Night bonuses.
Fans will get their first taste of the UFC’s newly-minted flyweight class this Saturday as perennial contender Joseph Benavidez welcomes Yasuhiro Urushitani to the Octagon.Both men will meet in the semifinal round of the organization’s 125-pound tourna…
Fans will get their first taste of the UFC’s newly-minted flyweight class this Saturday as perennial contender Joseph Benavidez welcomes Yasuhiro Urushitani to the Octagon.
Both men will meet in the semifinal round of the organization’s 125-pound tournament, where the winner will be ushered into the finals against the winner between Demetrious Johnson and Ian McCall.
The final man standing will be UFC’s first flyweight champion.
Benavidez and Urushitani are both world-renowned fighters, though they have opposing styles which makes for an interesting matchup.
Joe Silva is a remarkably good matchmaker. He can take two guys you’ve never heard of, put them in the octagon and watch as they tear the house down. It’s a pretty rare thing that he misses when it comes time to put together a card. But som…
Joe Silva is a remarkably good matchmaker. He can take two guys you’ve never heard of, put them in the octagon and watch as they tear the house down. It’s a pretty rare thing that he misses when it comes time to put together a card.
But sometimes he hits an absolute home run.
For UFC on FX 2, he put together a headliner that is certain to clear the fence.
Welterweights Martin Kampmann and ThiagoAlves are both known for putting on can’t-miss scraps, a pair of top-10 guys who come for war and usually end up spilling a little crimson. For fans of the standup game, this is about as good as it gets in MMA.
Both guys are also underrated grapplers, even if fans aren’t likely to see much in the way of a ground attack from either guy in Australia. Kampmann has perhaps the most underrated ground game in the division, and ThiagoAlves holds a jiu-jitsu brown belt that really doesn’t get enough attention. Should they choose to engage there, it’s bound to be just as exciting.
But a big question heading into their meeting is whether or not they’re serious contenders at 170 lbs. Alves already had a crack at Georges St-Pierre and lost, while Kampmann has come close but been unable to get over the hump to get himself into the cage with the champ.
Realistically, any questions about the legitimacy of either man should be thrown out the window. Both have survived in the upper echelon of a wrestling-heavy division for years now, and they’ve done it with exciting fights and a penchant for producing entertaining violence.
All of Kampmann’s UFC losses have come to top-10 guys, and he was actually smashing guys as an undersized middleweight before he made the drop. Alves is in the same boat, with his most questionable UFC loss coming to Rick Story. They’ve both fought the best guys out there, and their winning percentages suggest that they are among the best guys out there.
With the welterweight division in flux, now is as good a time as any for the winner of Kampmann-Alves to make his push for gold. Interim champion Carlos Condit is planning on waiting for GSP to unify the titles, so whoever comes out ahead on FX could be matched up with Jake Ellenberger some time in the late summer with an eye on locking in the first contender for the winner of GSP-Condit.
Johny Hendricks and Josh Koscheck are also lurking, and could be involved in the matchmaking pyramid as well.
Regardless of how it all plays out, there is one certainty: whichever man survives the inevitable barnburner at UFC on FX 2 is definitely a contender. Be it Martin Kampmann or ThiagoAlves, they’ll be fully deserving of a chance to talk title with a win.
UFC on FX 2: Alves vs. Kampmann marks the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s return to FX after a successful debut this January, and the UFC brass is bringing a fight card sure to entertain the masses.The night’s main event features two entertaining a…
UFC on FX 2: Alves vs. Kampmann marks the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s return to FX after a successful debut this January, and the UFC brass is bringing a fight card sure to entertain the masses.
The night’s main event features two entertaining and dangerous welterweights who will be looking to improve their stock and work toward the hotly contested welterweight title.
In addition, the UFC is hosting the semifinal round of the newly formed flyweight division’s four-man tournament to crown the first ever UFC flyweight champion.
I expect all of the fighters to be fired up in front of the Australian crowd for the UFC’s 200th event, but for every fight there is a winner and a loser. Who wins and who loses and what should you watch out for Friday on FX? Begin the slideshow to check out my five bold predictions for UFC on FX 2: Alves vs. Kampmann.
With UFC 144 now a fond memory the focus must now be turned to UFC’s second FX card which will hit this Friday.The main event is a bout between Thiago Alves and Martin Kampmann, which is almost guaranteed to turn into a striking war and give the fans f…
With UFC 144 now a fond memory the focus must now be turned to UFC’s second FX card which will hit this Friday.
The main event is a bout between Thiago Alves and Martin Kampmann, which is almost guaranteed to turn into a striking war and give the fans fireworks. The winner isn’t in line for a title shot and that proves how stacked the division is.
There is so much talent crammed into the division that it might be a while before the winner even sees title contention. It would be ludicrous to try to rank most of the fighters who are in the division, but there is a certain pool of talent that keeps coming up.
Other than the two men who will face off against each other this Friday, here is the top talent at 170 pounds.
“I don’t know if anybody has said anything about it, and this is the first time I’m mentioning it, is that we (Ian McCall and himself) had to sign for a ‘sudden death’ bout. If it goes to three rounds, and the judges can’t decide who the winner is, then we’ll do a fourth round…I can’t say if it’s going to be for Joseph (Benavides) and Yasuhiro (Urushitani), because I’m not gonna say that the UFC made those guys sign, too. I’m telling you, specifically, that I signed a contract for an extra round on the bout agreement. I’m not gonna say that they did. [But] I’m assuming, in my unprofessional opinion, that they did as well.”
(Get ready for 20 minutes of fun-sized beast-mode.)
“I don’t know if anybody has said anything about it, and this is the first time I’m mentioning it, is that we (Ian McCall and himself) had to sign for a ‘sudden death’ bout. If it goes to three rounds, and the judges can’t decide who the winner is, then we’ll do a fourth round…I can’t say if it’s going to be for Joseph (Benavides) and Yasuhiro (Urushitani), because I’m not gonna say that the UFC made those guys sign, too. I’m telling you, specifically, that I signed a contract for an extra round on the bout agreement. I’m not gonna say that they did. [But] I’m assuming, in my unprofessional opinion, that they did as well.”
To this point, the “sudden victory round” concept has only been used for the two-round fights in the early stages of competition on The Ultimate Fighter, and has never been used for official sanctioned competition in the UFC. But if there’s any group of fighters that has the gas to do another five minutes if necessary, it’s the flyweights. Demetrious Johnson will be facing Uncle Creepy at the UFC on FX 2 show, while Joseph Benavidez will meet reigning 123-pound Shooto champ Yasuhiro Urushitani.
So what do you think? Should sudden victory rounds be used in other important fights in the UFC, or would they only create awkward delays? The full lineup of UFC on FX: Alves vs. Kampmann is below…
MAIN CARD
Thiago Alves vs. Martin Kampmann
Joseph Benavidez vs. Yasuhiro Urushitani [flyweight tournament semi-final]
Demetrious Johnson vs. Ian McCall [flyweight tournament semi-final]
Court McGee vs. Constantinos Philippou
PRELIMINARY CARD
James Te Huna vs. Aaron Rosa
Anthony Perosh vs. Nick Penner
Cole Miller vs. Steven Siler
Kyle Noke vs. Andrew Craig
TJ Waldburger vs. Jake Hecht
Oli Thompson vs. Shawn Jordan
Mackens Semerzier vs. Daniel Pineda
Joe Silva is a remarkably good matchmaker. He can take two guys you’