One of the hottest rumors in MMA on Friday is that UFC middleweight contender Vitor Belfort failed his UFC on FX 7 pre-fight drug test. However, Brazilian media outlet Tatame spoke with a doctor in charge of the drug tests submitted to the Br…
One of the hottest rumors in MMA on Friday is that UFC middleweight contender VitorBelfort failed his UFC on FX 7pre-fight drug test.
However, Brazilian media outlet Tatame spoke with a doctor in charge of the drug tests submitted to the Brazilian MMA Athletic Commission prior to UFC on FX 7, which took place in Sao Paulo (translation via Bloody Elbow).
This is nothing but the same rumor, we don’t have the results yet, they have not come out.All fighters who took the test are subject to it, but the agency that works in partnership with us has not yet finalized the results. The two main event fighters always take the test, then two more fighters on the preliminary card and two of the main. There are six athletes tested, but none of them ever had the test results confirmed and finalized yet,” Dr. Marcio Tannure said … The doctor’s prediction is that the agency, which has the name withheld by him, won’t release the results of drug tests from UFC Sao Paulo until the 19th of February, a month after the event.
The former UFC light heavyweight champion delivered a vintage head kick TKO knockout over Bisping at the event, notching his record at 185-pounds to 5-1.
The only loss “The Phenom” has suffered at middleweight was an embarrassing highlight-reel knockout at the hands of divisional kingpin Anderson Silva at UFC 126 in Feb. 2011.
Meanwhile, “The Count” entered the bout with five wins in his past six bouts, being promised a title shot against Silva by UFC president Dana White with a win over Belfort.
This is Pedro Nobre, the TUF: Brazil alum who made his UFC debut last weekend at UFC on FX 7 against fellow Brazilian Iuri Alcantara. As you can tell from the neck brace he is sporting in the above photo, his debut did not go well. Alcantara landed a few supposedly illegal shots to the back of Nobre’s dome, and likely in an effort to make up for his poor performance during the Alessio Sakara/Patrick Cote debacle at UFC 154, referee Dan Miragliotta waved the bout off and declared it a no contest when Nobre was unable to continue.
The only problem was that 90% of the shots Alcantara landed, if not all of them, were neither illegal nor all that devastating (at least from our perspective), which prompted Dana White to post the following on Twitter:
In fact, White became so enraged by Nobre’s Oscar-worthy performance that he recently all but completely closed the door on Nobre’s future UFC aspirations.
After the jump: White’s scathing comments, along with a gif of the stoppage.
This is Pedro Nobre, the TUF: Brazil alum who made his UFC debut last weekend at UFC on FX 7 against fellow Brazilian Iuri Alcantara. As you can tell from the neck brace he is sporting in the above photo, his debut did not go well. Alcantara landed a few supposedly illegal shots to the back of Nobre’s dome, and likely in an effort to make up for his poor performance during the Alessio Sakara/Patrick Cote debacle at UFC 154, referee Dan Miragliotta waved the bout off and declared it a no contest when Nobre was unable to continue.
The only problem was that 90% of the shots Alcantara landed, if not all of them, were neither illegal nor all that devastating (at least from our perspective), which prompted Dana White to post the following on Twitter:
In fact, White became so enraged by Nobre’s Oscar-worthy performance that he recently all but completely closed the door on Nobre’s future UFC aspirations.
When White was pressed on the Nobre’s future in the UFC at the UFC 158 press conference yesterday, not only did he state that Alcantara had received a win bonus despite the no contest ruling, but that he “doubted” Nobre would be invited back to the octagon anytime soon:
I think he’s a fantastic actor. Did you hear he’s walking around Brazil with a neck brace on right now?
And as it turns out, Nobre did not suffer any long term injuries as a result of the fight, and recently told MMAJunkie that he was eager to get back in the octagon to rematch Alcantara:
We are both fighters with similar characteristics, who fight always moving forward. I wish to return to the octagon soon. In case the UFC asks for a [rematch], to remove any doubt, we would do everything to make it up to the audience.
Unfortunately for Nobre, it doesn’t look like he will be getting that chance. Check out a GIF of the stoppage right here, courtesy of our friends at Fightlinker. Whether you feel Nobre was legitimately unable to continue or not is ultimately a moot point; the real question to ask yourself is whether or not the shots that were responsible for ending the fight were illegal or not. And unless you’re Mr. Magoo, you’re probably going to say they weren’t.
[UPDATED]
According to multiple sources, Nobre has indeed been released from the promotion, along with Ken Stone (2-2 UFC, victim of two of themost brutal knockout losses of all time during his WEC and UFC runs), Byron Bloodworth (0-2 UFC) and Josh Janousek, who was set to make his promotional debut on short notice against Michael Kuiper at UFC on Fox 6, but recently pulled out with a last-minute injury.
Nobre recently responded to the allegations that he was faking an injury via Sherdog.com:
At no time during the fight did I complain about blows to the neck because I was almost knocked out there and did not know where the blows were coming. And nobody asked me also if I could continue, they just asked what hurt. Then I thought I had lost [the fight]. Only at the hospital did they tell me that it had been ruled a no contest. It was a bad thing to have taken the victory from Yuri, but when I reviewed the fight, I saw that the blows really came on the neck. It is illegal, so the no contest was fair. I felt the blows when I turned back. I was almost knocked out already. If he did not land those blows to the neck, he would have achieved a fair victory. As for the crowd, I did not understand why they called me quitter because, as I said, in my mind I was leaving to the hospital after losing by TKO. I saw the repercussions on the Internet, and I was sad. Everyone who has been following my career knows me. Everyone knows the character I have, but [some are saying] that I gave up the fight. Gee, brother, I was knocked out. The referee stopped it; the fight was over. I did not ask to stop, and they did not ask if I wanted to continue.
On Wednesday afternoon, the UFC released the list of medical suspensions from UFC on FX 7. Suspensions were handed down to 10 fighters by the Comissa Atletica Brasileira de MMA, a new regulatory body that will handle these affairs for Brazilian events….
On Wednesday afternoon, the UFC released the list of medical suspensions from UFC on FX 7. Suspensions were handed down to 10 fighters by the Comissa Atletica Brasileira de MMA, a new regulatory body that will handle these affairs for Brazilian events.
The list of suspended fighters (via MMAweekly.com) includes headliner Michael Bisping and co-main event fighter Daniel Sarafian.
Suspensions of 180 days were handed to preliminary fighters Diego Nunes, Wagner Prado and C.J. Keith, although each fighter has the ability to be cleared sooner by a physician.
The full list of suspensions is as follows:
Michael Bisping: Suspended 60 days with no contact for 45 days
Daniel Sarafian: Suspended 30 days with no contact for 21 days
Ben Rothwell: Suspended 30 days with no contact for 21 days
Thiago Tavares: Suspended 60 days with no contact for 45 days
Milton Vieira: Suspended 30 days with no contact for 21 days
Diego Nunes: Suspended 180 days unless cleared by a Maxillofacial Surgeon; he is also suspended 30 days with no contact for 21 days
Lucas Martins: Suspended 30 days with no contact for 21 days
Pedro Nobre: Suspended 60 days with no contact for 45 days
Wagner Prado: Suspended 180 days unless his left knee is cleared by physician following MRI; he is also suspended 30 days with no contact for 21 days.
C.J. Keith: Suspended 180 days unless his right knee is cleared by a physician following an MRI.
It is interesting to note that not a single winner from the event was given any sort of suspension.
Preliminary card fighter Andrew Craig is the only loser from the evening who did not receive any sort of suspension. Craig went three full rounds against Ronny Markes and came up short on the judges scorecards.
UFC on FX 7 took place on January 19 at the Ibierapuera Arena in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
UFC title shots don’t come easy, and no one knows this better than perennial middleweight contender Michael Bisping.The longtime UFC star has hovered around the top of the middleweight division for years, but he has yet to earn a title shot.It isn’t li…
UFC title shots don’t come easy, and no one knows this better than perennial middleweight contender Michael Bisping.
The longtime UFC star has hovered around the top of the middleweight division for years, but he has yet to earn a title shot.
It isn’t like the UFC hasn’t given him every opportunity to get over the hump.
After losing to Chael Sonnen in January 2012, Bisping received his second title eliminator bout in a year against Vitor Belfort at UFC on FX 7. The name was different, but in the end, the result was the same.
Bisping saw another title opportunity slip from his grasp after a second round knockout loss.
“I have no excuses. I had a fantastic training camp, and I felt very confident that I was going to win this fight,” Bisping told UFC commentator Jon Anik after the fight. “He caught me, and he was a better man than me tonight. You win some, you lose some. I am not going away. Trust me, I’m going to be back. I’ll be back at the top of this pile before you [expletive] know it.”
No one questions Bisping’s ability to come back strong and make another run at the UFC title. He is a proven world-class fighter with the skills needed to oust any middle of the pack hopeful looking to break into upper-echelon territory.
The problem for Bisping lies in a tendency to shrink in the spotlight. For whatever reason, he can’t seem to overcome the hurdle of defeating upper-echelon UFC opposition, and he certainly isn’t alone.
Here are 10 UFC fighters who never got over the hump to earn a title shot.
It’s time to step into the Octagon for the first time this year as we take a look at the UFC’s latest show on FX, shown live in the early hours of this past Sunday morning on ESPN here in Britain. The broadcast began in the lightweight divi…
It’s time to step into the Octagon for the first time this year as we take a look at the UFC’s latest show on FX, shown live in the early hours of this past Sunday morning on ESPN here in Britain.
The broadcast began in the lightweight division as ThiagoTavares faced KhabibNurmagomedov.
This one began without any exchanges as Tavares sought to cut off the cage and back his man towards the fence. When they did finally connect, it was Nurmagomedov who scored first.
It then looked like we were going to get a lengthy, feeling out period until the Russian connected with a left uppercut that sent Tavares crashing.
Nurmagomedov followed his man down for a series of elbows before the referee stepped in to stop the action, giving Nurmagomedov the knockout win.
Heavyweight action followed as former title challenger Gabriel Gonzaga took on Ben Rothwell.
The first round saw Gonzaga attempting to take the fight to the ground a number of times. He succeeded more often than not, only for Rothwell to get back to his feet. Gonzaga did, however, have more success in the striking department, rocking his man with a big right.
He had even more success with his right hand in the second, and it wasn’t long before he locked in a standing guillotine. He then pulled guard and took the fight to the ground as Rothwell tapped out just 61 seconds into the round to give Gonzaga the submission win.
The next two fights featured middleweight action, beginning with Daniel Sarafian and C.B. Dollaway.
The only fight of the broadcast to go the distance proved to be a very interesting affair. Sarafian put on a great, early striking display, which gave Dollaway no end of trouble. It wasn’t all one way traffic, though, as Dollaway got in his fair share of decent blows as well.
Sarafian’s striking continued into the second round, but just when it looked like the Brazilian’s dominance was going to continue into the third, Dollaway scored with a takedown. Sarafian looked almost defenceless as Dollaway went to work, but as the old saying goes, he was saved by the bell.
With both fighters looking fatigued, round three saw them moving away from the striking as both men put on a good display of ground fighting. Dollaway was the first to have some success there, but it wasn’t long before Sarafian took control as he took Dollaway’s back and looked for a rear naked choke. Dollaway survived this scare, though, and soon reversed the positions.
But with neither man able to get the finish, the judges were called into action for the only time as Dollaway took the split decision.
The second middleweight fight came in the main event as VitorBelfort faced Michael Bisping.
We had a lengthy feeling out period at the beginning of this one, as both fighters tested the waters, but as the round went on, Bisping seemed to grow in confidence as he began to work behind his jab.
But a high leg kick from Belfort troubled the count, and the Brit would probably have been in even more trouble had the round not ended.
By the time the second round started, Bisping took control again. That control didn’t last too long, though, when Belfort connected with another kick that sent Bisping crashing to the ground. Belfort followed him down for a spot of ground and pound before the referee stopped the action to give Belfort the TKO win.
The show rounded out with filler material in the form of the lightweight encounter between EdsonBarboza and Lucas Martins.
To say that Barboza was quick would be something of an understatement. He began his shift with a series of quick kicks, one of which inadvertently found a target south of the equator.
After a brief rest period Barboza went straight back to work, and his speed frustrated Martins so much that he tried to trade with his man.
This left him wide open for a Barboza left that sent him down. Barboza quickly followed, and his onslaught was such that Martins soon tapped out to give Barboza the deserved win.
In conclusion—while the UFC’s first show of 2013 may not go down as one of the most spectacular shows of the year, it certainly had it’s fair share of highlight moments.
The striking displays from the likes of Nurmagomedov and Belfort delivered big time, while the three round affair between Dollaway and Sarafian looked like the decision could go either way, and one couldn’t help but feel sorry for the Brazilian.
So while it was a bit of a mixed night for the home country fighters, I think it’s safe to say that this show ticked almost all of the boxes as far as entertainment value is concerned.
As for my fight of the night, this time the no-prize goes to VitorBelfort and Michael Bisping, even though my fellow Brit didn’t get the job done. Oh well, there’s always next time.
So with all of that out of the way it’s time to wrap this thing up by giving the UFC’s latest offering the thumbs up.
Don’t forget to check out my website at twoshedsreview.blogspot.com. It’s been online in one form or another for nearly 13 years now!
Following their recent trend of using local ring girl talent for international events, the UFC hired a pair of Brazilian models to add eye candy to this weekend’s UFC on FX 7 card — Camila Rodrigues de Oliveira (who barely exists on the Internet, unfortunately) and Aline Franzoi, a 20-year-old from Guarulhos who hosts some sort of weird kids’ show called Hora Da Festa. We decided to round up some of Aline’s best photos, which we’ve arranged in the gallery after the jump. Enjoy, and see lots more of Aline on her Facebook page.
Following their recent trend of using local ring girl talent for international events, the UFC hired a pair of Brazilian models to add eye candy to this weekend’s UFC on FX 7 card — Camila Rodrigues de Oliveira (who barely exists on the Internet, unfortunately) and Aline Franzoi, a 20-year-old from Guarulhos who hosts some sort of weird kids’ show called Hora Da Festa. We decided to round up some of Aline’s best photos, which we’ve arranged in the gallery above. Enjoy, and see lots more of Aline on her Facebook page.
The list of suspended fighters (
