Anthony had surgery a few days ago. No replacement named by the @ufc yet…The injury happened when Anthony attempted a routine takedown and his toe got stuck in/between 2 mats…Got off the phone to an understandably upset Anthony half an hour ago fellas – surgery, pins, the works…@AnthonyPerosh will revisit the surgeon tomorrow with an aim to be training again in 4-6 weeks.
Anthony had surgery a few days ago. No replacement named by the @ufc yet…The injury happened when Anthony attempted a routine takedown and his toe got stuck in/between 2 mats…Got off the phone to an understandably upset Anthony half an hour ago fellas – surgery, pins, the works…@AnthonyPerosh will revisit the surgeon tomorrow with an aim to be training again in 4-6 weeks.
In 2012, the UFC planned to host 32 events that spanned five continents and broke into new markets all over the globe. It’s no wonder why we, as fight fans, are always looking ahead to the next card.Dana White’s mission statement includes an infinite d…
In 2012, the UFC planned to host 32 events that spanned five continents and broke into new markets all over the globe. It’s no wonder why we, as fight fans, are always looking ahead to the next card.
Dana White‘s mission statement includes an infinite desire to expand. In fact, the 2013 calendar has six events booked between January 19 and March 3.
Next month will be one of the most active that the sport has seen, as the UFC will be hosting four events, including two within a 24 hour period. The schedule is as follows:
December 8: UFC on FOX 5 December 14: UFC on FX 6 December 15: Ultimate Fighter Finale December 29: UFC 155
This is a look at the biggest fights from those events, including early betting odds and predictions for each.
We here at CagePotato have literally taken every possible step in order to rid the MMA world of the great injury curse of 2012: we’ve prayed (lol!), we’ve had our cleaning lady Concepcion rid the office of evil spirits, we’ve resorted to Pagan rituals involving pentagrams, we’ve even had Rex track down “thisredengine” and sacrifice his virginal body to the Gods. And after all that fell flat, we tried to go Freddy Kruger on the curse and simply stop talking about it in the hopes that it would eventually just leave us be and move on to some other, less important sport. Like women’s ______.
But alas, our efforts were a complete failure. In the past few days, at least four fighters have come down with a case of the injury bug, leading to some small yet noticeable changes in several of the UFC’s upcoming cards. And we wonder why even Canadian fans are cautious to buy a ticket these days. (Author’s note: You see, Dana? THIS is what happens when you read from the Necronomicon. Side effects include nausea, meniere’s disease, Saturday night palsy, and possessed hand.)
We shall begin today’s trip down injury lane with Kyle Noke…
We here at CagePotato have literally taken every possible step in order to rid the MMA world of the great injury curse of 2012: we’ve prayed (lol!), we’ve had our cleaning lady Concepcion rid the office of evil spirits, we’ve resorted to Pagan rituals involving pentagrams, we’ve even had Rex track down “thisredengine” and sacrifice his virginal body to the Gods. And after all that fell flat, we tried to go Freddy Kruger on the curse and simply stop talking about it in the hopes that it would eventually just leave us be and move on to some other, less important sport. Like women’s ______.
But alas, our efforts were a complete failure. In the past few days, at least four fighters have come down with a case of the injury bug, leading to some small yet noticeable changes in several of the UFC’s upcoming cards. And we wonder why even Canadian fans are cautious to buy a ticket these days. (Author’s note: You see, Dana? THIS is what happens when you read from the Necronomicon. Side effects include nausea, meniere’s disease, Saturday night palsy, and possessed hand.)
We shall begin today’s trip down injury lane with Kyle Noke, who is coming off a first round blistering of Charlie Brenneman at UFC 152 that, although a little premature in its stoppage, led to “The Spaniard’s” current place in the Zuffa unemployment soup line. Noke was scheduled to face streaking Polish powerhouse Seth Baczynski at UFC on FX 6, but withdrew earlier this week. He has been replaced by Mike Pierce, who is on the heels of a come-from-behind KO of Aaron Simpson at UFC on FX 5. Baczynski is coming off a skull-shattering knockout win of his own against Simeon Thoreson at UFC 152, so expect fireworks here.
Next up, we have a welterweight matchup that features neither of its original participants, as everyone’s favorite stoner, Matt Riddle, and “butter-toothed Brit” John Maguire have stepped in to replace Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson and Besam Yousef, respectively, at UFC 154. Due to his positive test for marijuana, Riddle’s previous UFC 149 submission victory over Chris Clements was recently changed to a no-contest, moving his record to 1-2 1 NC in his past four fights. You could argue that Maguire is in an even worse position, however, despite the fact that he has only lost one of his three UFC bouts. That loss came to fellow Brit John Hathaway at UFC on FUEL 5 in the worst possible fashion: a dreadfully boring three round affair that was forgotten about before the judges could declare a winner. I blame the general politeness of the British for that one.
And in bantamweight injury news, TUF 14 runner-up T.J Dillashaw has been replaced in his upcoming UFC on FOX 5 bout against Mike Easton by fellow castmate Bryan Caraway. The Canadian has scored two straight rear-naked choke victories in the UFC since getting the tar beat out of him by Diego Brandao on the reality show, while Easton is coming off his third consecutive octagon victory over Ivan Menjivar at UFC 148. It’s an incredibly tough fight for “Kid Lightning,” but something tells us that the Caraway household could use the money right about now.
The battery charge against UFC featherweight Chad Mendes was dropped by a judge yesterday. Mendes had been charged with sucker-punching a bar patron then fleeing the scene during a July 29th brawl at the Lacey Inn Bar in Hanford, California. Mendes faced up to six months in jail and a $2,000 fine. Instead, he plead no contest to a lesser count of public disturbance and has paid a fine and avoids jail time.
“I have said from the beginning that the ridiculous allegations published by the media were either false or incredibly sensationalized,” Mendes said in a statement. “(Monday’s) outcome proves it.”
There clearly was not enough evidence to support the charges against Mendes and he can now look towards his December bout against Hacran Dias on the UFC on FX 6 card.
The battery charge against UFC featherweight Chad Mendes was dropped by a judge yesterday. Mendes had been charged with sucker-punching a bar patron then fleeing the scene during a July 29th brawl at the Lacey Inn Bar in Hanford, California. Mendes faced up to six months in jail and a $2,000 fine. Instead, he plead no contest to a lesser count of public disturbance and has paid a fine and avoids jail time.
“I have said from the beginning that the ridiculous allegations published by the media were either false or incredibly sensationalized,” Mendes said in a statement. “(Monday’s) outcome proves it.”
There clearly was not enough evidence to support the charges against Mendes and he can now look towards his December bout against Hacran Dias on the UFC on FX 6 card.
With the ratings of this season of The Ultimate Fighter in a tailspin, the UFC has quickly been announcing matchups for the season finale. Unlike previous seasons, it looks as though this season’s finale won’t feature many fights between the not-quite-worthy competitors from the show, as a total of eight fights between current UFC fighters have been announced for the finale. Which is good, because most of you reading this don’t know or care about anyone from this season of TUF 16 in the first place.
The two most recent fights booked for the TUF 16 Finale are a featherweight showdown between Jonathan Brookins and Dustin Poirier and a flyweight bout between Tim Elliott and Jared Papazian.
After winning five straight fights under the Zuffa banner, Dustin Poirier would suffer a fourth round D’arce choke loss to Chan Sung Jung at UFC on FUEL 2. Despite the loss, Poirier put on a Fight of the Night – and arguably Fight of the Year – worthy performance, proving that he’s still a contender in the featherweight division despite the loss to Jung. Meanwhile, things cannot possibly be going more differently for Jonathan Brookins. After defeating Michael Johnson by unanimous decision to win The Ultimate Fighter Season Twelve, Brookins would drop a unanimous decision to Erik Koch, knock out Vagner Rocha and most recently get choked out by Charles Oliveira at June’s TUF 15 finale.
Check after the jump for the full TUF 16 Finale fight card, as well as Chad Mendes’ next opponent.
With the ratings of this season of The Ultimate Fighter in a tailspin, the UFC has quickly been announcing matchups for the season finale. Unlike previous seasons, it looks as though this season’s finale won’t feature many fights between the not-quite-worthy competitors from the show, as a total of eight fights between current UFC fighters have been announced for the finale. Which is good, because most of you reading this don’t know or care about anyone from this season of TUF 16 in the first place.
The two most recent fights booked for the TUF 16 Finale are a featherweight showdown between Jonathan Brookins and Dustin Poirier and a flyweight bout between Tim Elliott and Jared Papazian.
After winning five straight fights under the Zuffa banner, Dustin Poirier would suffer a fourth round D’arce choke loss to Chan Sung Jung at UFC on FUEL 2. Despite the loss, Poirier put on a Fight of the Night – and arguably Fight of the Year – worthy performance, proving that he’s still a contender in the featherweight division despite the loss to Jung. Meanwhile, things cannot possibly be going more differently for Jonathan Brookins. After defeating Michael Johnson by unanimous decision to win The Ultimate Fighter Season Twelve, Brookins would drop a unanimous decision to Erik Koch, knock out Vagner Rocha and most recently get choked out by Charles Oliveira at June’s TUF 15 finale.
I’d call this fight a squash match, but if Brookins’ win/loss pattern is any indication, he should probably win this fight. Of course, if I’m looking at talent, UFC experience, athleticism, level of competition and all that other silly stuff, Poirier takes this fight, no doubt.
As for the other matchup, it’s more than likely “Loser Leaves Town” when Tim Elliott squares off against Jared Papazian. Eliott stepped up to replace Darren Uyenoyama on short notice against John Dodson, but dropped a unanimous decision to the flyweight contender. Papazian, meanwhile, is 0-2 in the UFC after losing a majority decision to Mike Easton and then getting punked by Dustin Pague before losing by rear-naked choke in the first round.
For those of you keeping track, the lineup for the TUF 16 Finale looks like this:
Shane Carwin vs. Roy Nelson
Mike Pyle vs. James Head
Jonathan Brookins vs. Dustin Poirier
Nick Catone vs. TJ Waldburger
Reuben Duran vs. Hugo Viana
Vinc Pichel vs. Rustam Khabilov
Johnny Bedford vs. Marcos Vinicius
Tim Elliott vs. Jared Papazian
Also of note, December 15′s UFC on FX 6 has added a featherweight fight between Chad Mendes and Hacran Dias to the lineup. “Money” Mendes is coming off of a thirty-one second knockout over Cody McKenzie at UFC 148 that we pretty much all saw coming. He was given the rebound fight after suffering a knockout at the hands of current featherweight champion Jose Aldo back at UFC 142. As for Dias, the training partner of Jose Aldo defeated Yuri Alcantara in his UFC debut at UFC 147, improving his record to 21-1-1. An entertaining fight is to be expected when these two eventually meet up.
With the UFC returning to Australia with UFC on FX 6 on December 14, the promotion is beginning to announce upcoming bouts. While the organization hasn’t announced a venue for said return yet, the card will be headlined by Hector Lombard attempting to redeem himself after his promotional debut at UFC 149, a completely forgettable three round sleeper against Tim Boetsch. The Cuban-born Australian has been given a second chance against none other than Brazilian leg lock specialist Rousimar Palhares. In other words, he isn’t exactly being given a rebound fight.
We all know about the lofty expectations that Hector Lombard carried into the UFC as a Bellator middleweight champion who hasn’t lost in twenty five fights. While Lombard claims that he was too injured to have been fighting during his UFC 149 clash against Tim Boetsch, many fans were quick to jump off of the Lombard bandwagon after that performance. A loss to perennial almost-contender Rousimar Palhares – especially a boring loss to Paul Harris, if that’s possible – could be enough to send Lombard back to Bellator. Likewise, Palhares has built an impressive 7-3 record in the UFC, yet has choked in the fights that would separate him from the pack and potentially earn him a title shot. If Toquinho can’t secure one of Lombard’s legs, he may be permanently relegated to gatekeeper status. Not exactly a great spot for either guy to be in.
Also, UFC on FX 6 will feature the finals of The Ultimate Fighter: Smashes, including the fight between TUF: Smashes coaches George Sotiropoulos and Ross Pearson. You guys remember Smashes, right? British fighters squaring off against Aussies? The answer to the TUF ratings woes? An opportunity for comments sections across the internet to rant about cockiness and make “That’s not a _____, THIS is a _____!” jokes? Well, you have three months to get familiar with it.
In other booking news…
Hint.
With the UFC returning to Australia with UFC on FX 6 on December 14, the promotion is beginning to announce upcoming bouts. While the organization hasn’t announced a venue for said return yet, the card will be headlined by Hector Lombard attempting to redeem himself after his promotional debut at UFC 149, a completely forgettable three round sleeper against Tim Boetsch. The Cuban-born Australian has been given a second chance against none other than Brazilian leg lock specialist Rousimar Palhares. In other words, he isn’t exactly being given a rebound fight.
We all know about the lofty expectations that Hector Lombard carried into the UFC as a Bellator middleweight champion who hasn’t lost in twenty five fights. While Lombard claims that he was too injured to have been fighting during his UFC 149 clash against Tim Boetsch, many fans were quick to jump off of the Lombard bandwagon after that performance. A loss to perennial almost-contender Rousimar Palhares – especially a boring loss to Paul Harris, if that’s possible – could be enough to send Lombard back to Bellator. Likewise, Palhares has built an impressive 7-3 record in the UFC, yet has choked in the fights that would separate him from the pack and potentially earn him a title shot. If Toquinho can’t secure one of Lombard’s legs, he may be permanently relegated to gatekeeper status. Not exactly a great spot for either guy to be in.
Also, UFC on FX 6 will feature the finals of The Ultimate Fighter: Smashes, including the fight between TUF: Smashes coaches George Sotiropoulos and Ross Pearson. You guys remember Smashes, right? British fighters squaring off against Aussies? The answer to the TUF ratings woes? An opportunity for comments sections across the internet to rant about cockiness and make “That’s not a _____, THIS is a _____!” jokes? Well, you have three months to get familiar with it.
In other booking news…
– UFC 154, which takes place in Montreal, Canada, will feature a lightweight bout between Canadians Sam Stout and John Makdessi (In professional wrestling, this is known as a hometown pop). Stout is coming off of a unanimous decision victory over Spencer Fisher at UFC on FX 3, which earned Fight of the Night honors. Makdessi, meanwhile, is riding a two fight losing streak. His most recent loss was a unanimous decision against Anthony Njokuani at UFC 145, which was held at a catchweight of 158 pounds because Makdessi missed weight. Don’t expect him to remain employed by the UFC if he drops this contest.
– Yesterday, we announced that Swedish kickboxing legend Jorgen Kruth had retired from competition, despite being one month away from his UFC debut at UFC on FUEL 5. His original opponent, Fabio Maldonado, will now fight Cyrille Diabate. Presumably because asking Maldonado to fight a completely different striker with less than one month to prepare for him would be the dumbest idea ever, the UFC has decided to shift this bout to UFC 154 as well. Diabate is coming off of a majority decision victory over Tom DeBlass at UFC on FUEL 2.