Tag: UFC

UFC on FX 1: Mike Easton and Jared Papazian Put on 3 Solid Rounds of Action

If you missed former King of The Cage Bantamweight Champion Jared “The Jackhammer” Papazian’s UFC debut against highly-regarded 12-1 Alliance MMA prospect Mike “The Hulk” Easton in the second bout of the UFC on FX 1 card live from Nashville, Tennessee,…

If you missed former King of The Cage Bantamweight Champion Jared “The Jackhammer” Papazian’s UFC debut against highly-regarded 12-1 Alliance MMA prospect Mike “The Hulk” Easton in the second bout of the UFC on FX 1 card live from Nashville, Tennessee, you might have missed what many would consider the true “Fight of The Night” for the UFC’s debut on FX.

Call it three solid rounds of action or whatever else you want to call it, but both men put on a fight that probably just made the UFC Bantamweight division the must-see division of 2012.

Some might ask: How good could it have been if Pat Barry’s one-rounder with Christian Morecraft got Fight of The Night over it?

Well let’s put it like this: Remember how Don Frye’s bout with Yoshihiro Takayama went?

That’s how this fight started, as both engaged in some insane dirty Boxing, and from there they mostly just kept right on striking with sporadic moments in the clinch against the cage, but by round two, they only clinched in order to regain their energy, and realistically speaking, Papazian was clinching.

However, while the majority of the fight stayed vertical and both men refused to show any sign of quit, the second round is when Easton really got himself going, as it was expected that one of the two would have to go for the takedown.

Easton not only secured a takedown, but one could argue that a backfired takedown attempt on Papazian’s part landed the opening for the takedown that eventually earned Easton a majority decision, with one judge scoring the first round as a 10-10 with a 10-9 for Easton in Round 2 and a 10-9 for Papazian in Round 3.

The other two judges saw it differently, with one judge seeing it 2-1 for Easton and the other seeing it as a sweep for Easton, likely due to the takedown and the reasonably-added logic that Papazian was working his footwork on the outside with his back to the cage, which some judges perceive as a lack of aggression.

Truth be told though, both men fought in arguably one of the best Bantamweight bouts in a long time, and proved why they’re in the UFC at this time. So in retrospect, nobody really lost this one, but with UFC on FX 1 in the books, both casual and hardcore fans will now be looking ahead to what lies in store for both “The Hulk” and “The Jackhammer” on their respective horizons.

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Jorge Rivera On Retiring On A Victory “It’s Time To Go”

Middleweight fighter Jorge ‘El Conquistador’ Rivera (20-9) fought for the last time this past Friday night, retiring from the sport of mixed martial arts with a victory over Eric Schafer at the UFC on FX: Guillard vs. Miller event. Rivera, who turns 40 next month, talks about his win and re-iterates that “it’s time to go” despite putting in a good performance versus Schafer. Rivera recently opened a new gym, the Rivera Athletic Center, and will put his energy into that.

HT: StudioMMA.com

Click here to view the embedded video.

Middleweight fighter Jorge ‘El Conquistador’ Rivera (20-9) fought for the last time this past Friday night, retiring from the sport of mixed martial arts with a victory over Eric Schafer at the UFC on FX: Guillard vs. Miller event. Rivera, who turns 40 next month, talks about his win and re-iterates that “it’s time to go” despite putting in a good performance versus Schafer. Rivera recently opened a new gym, the Rivera Athletic Center, and will put his energy into that.

HT: StudioMMA.com

UFC on FOX 2: Info, Predictions for Every Fight

On Saturday, Jan. 28 the Ultimate Fighting Championship will look to increase its fan base when it airs its second event on the FOX Network. UFC on FOX 2 will air live from the United Center in Chicago beginning at 5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET. The main card wi…

On Saturday, Jan. 28 the Ultimate Fighting Championship will look to increase its fan base when it airs its second event on the FOX Network. UFC on FOX 2 will air live from the United Center in Chicago beginning at 5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET. The main card will be headlined around two of the […]

MMA’s Big Stories and Takeaways from 2011

When you get into these retrospectives, the inclination is always to start with “what an amazing year it was” and “this one will live in our memories forever,” and so on. Then you put it on a shelf and turn back to the present, which will in time becom…

When you get into these retrospectives, the inclination is always to start with “what an amazing year it was” and “this one will live in our memories forever,” and so on. Then you put it on a shelf and turn back to the present, which will in time become The Most Amazing Year Ever. It’s just the way it goes these days.

But I do actually think 2011 was a banner year for mixed martial arts. New frontiers were opened and settled. The sport changed in ways expected and unexpected. Good fighters became great. Great fighters became champions. Champions became stars. Stars faded, and said goodbye.

And there were some pretty good fights in there, too.

Now that we’ve had a few weeks to digest it all, submitted here for your consideration are the 50 biggest stories and lessons the sport and its principals taught the MMA public in 2011.

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UFC Fight Night on FX: Explosive Knockouts Make for an Entertaining Show

It’s time to step into the Octagon once again as we take a look at the second show broadcast with the help of Rupert Murdoch’s vast media empire.Melvin Guillard faced Jim Miller in the main event of UFC Fight Night on FX, shown live in the …

It’s time to step into the Octagon once again as we take a look at the second show broadcast with the help of Rupert Murdoch’s vast media empire.

Melvin Guillard faced Jim Miller in the main event of UFC Fight Night on FX, shown live in the early hours of this past Saturday morning on ESPN here in Britain.

The broadcast began with the big guys of the heavyweight division; Pat Barry went up against Christian Morecraft.

This entertaining battle began with Morecraft catching a Barry kick and scoring with the take down. He then looked for a rear naked choke until Barry managed to escape.

Morecraft soon took the fight back to the ground, first going for an arm choke and then going for an arm bar. But, Barry managed to escape both attempts and looked good in doing so, showing how well his defensive skills on the ground are developing.

A few moments later, it was all over. A big left hook sent Morecraft down to the mat. Barry followed him down, and it wasn’t long before the referee stepped in to give Barry the impressive knockout win.

It was down to bantamweight for the next fight as Mike Easton faced Jared Papazian.

The only fight of the broadcast to go the distance proved to be a very competitive and highly entertaining back-and-forth encounter. These two began swinging from the fences as soon as the fight began, keeping up the somewhat frantic pace throughout.

It certainly was an intriguing battle.

Both guys managed to get in some good blows and combinations. There were a few clinches against the cage, and the only ground work came in the second when Easton scored with a couple of take downs.

But with the fight going the distance, the judges were called into action. Two of them gave the fight to Easton and one scored it as a draw, giving Easton the win by majority decision.

Welterweight action followed as Duane Ludwig took on Josh Neer.

A quality battle saw Ludwig taking control early on, causing problems for Neer when he connected with a series of knees to the bread basket.

But when Neer recovered, he managed to take the fight to the ground. It wasn’t long before he’d locked in a guillotine choke, and the referee stepped in when Ludwig lost consciousness, giving Neer the submission win.

The main event saw lightweight action as Melvin Guillard took on Jim Miller.

This was definitely worth it’s spot on the card. Guillard took control early with his striking and got in some good shots, especially with his knees. Miller was clearly in trouble, and it looked like Guillard was going for an early finish.

But as Miller recovered his senses, he began to work his way back into the fight, scoring with the take down. Guillard tried to escape, but Miller took his back and got him in a rear naked choke. It wasn’t long before Guillard tapped to give Miller the impressive submission win.

The show rounded out with filler material as Joseph Sandoval faced Nick Denis in the bantamweight division.

The blink-and-you’ll-miss-it affair of the show saw Denis overwhelm his man as soon as the fight began, connecting with a series of punches before grabbing Sandoval’s head and connecting with a series of elbows to the temple.

Sandoval went crashing down and the referee immediately called a halt to the fight, giving Denis the knockout win after just 22 seconds.

In conclusion, even though the UFC’s second show under their new agreement with Fox may not have had the big star power of their first show, it certainly delivered.

It really was a quality show with great performances throughout, including explosive knockouts from Pat Barry and Nick Denis, an engaging three-round affair and some nice submission work from Jim Miller and Josh Neer.

In all, UFC Fight Night on FX gets the thumbs up from this particular writer.

Don’t forget to check out my website at twoshedsreview.blogspot.com, as well as my Facebook page at Facebook.com/twoshedsreview.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Chael Sonnen: ‘Anderson Silva and I Will Never Cross Paths Again’

After spending months training for fellow middleweight wrestler Mark Munoz, Chael Sonnen received word that his recent training efforts would now have to be used against Michael Bisping. Munoz endured an injury during training preparations leading up t…

After spending months training for fellow middleweight wrestler Mark Munoz, Chael Sonnen received word that his recent training efforts would now have to be used against Michael Bisping. Munoz endured an injury during training preparations leading up to his co-main event bout with Sonnen, which could have ultimately earned him the No .1 contender’s spot […]