Tag: UFC+on+Versus+4

UFC Live Kongo vs. Barry Predictions

Filed under: UFCThe UFC is back with its fourth live show on Versus on Sunday night, with Cheick Kongo vs. Pat Barry in the main event after Nate Marquardt was forced out of his fight with Rick Story at the last minute. We’ve got the predictions right …

Filed under:

The UFC is back with its fourth live show on Versus on Sunday night, with Cheick Kongo vs. Pat Barry in the main event after Nate Marquardt was forced out of his fight with Rick Story at the last minute. We’ve got the predictions right here.

What: UFC Live: Kongo vs. Barry

Where: Consol Energy Center, Pittsburgh

When: Sunday, the Versus show begins at 9 PM ET.

Predictions on the televised fights below.
Cheick Kongo vs. Pat Barry
 If you like two heavyweights who will stand and bang, this is the fight for you. Both Kongo and Barry have some significant holes in their ground games, but they’re also both strong strikers, and there’s not much question that we’ll see some hard hitting (and probably some low blows).

Barry’s kicks make him a threat to anyone who’s going to trade with him, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he puts Kongo in some trouble. But eventually I like Kongo to get Barry down and finish him with ground and pound.
Pick: Kongo

Charlie Brennaman vs. Rick Story
 What a strange story of how this fight came to be. When this card was first getting put together, the main event was supposed to be Anthony Johnson vs. Nate Marquardt, and one of the undercard fights was supposed to be Matthew Riddle vs. TJ Grant. Neither Brennaman nor Story was even supposed to be on the card. But when Johnson got hurt, Story jumped in to face Marquardt on short notice. Meanwhile, Riddle got hurt, and Brennaman jumped in to fight Grant on short notice. Then Grant got sick, so Brennaman’s fight was called off. Then Marquardt failed to get medically cleared, and Brennaman jumped back in to take on Story.

Did you follow all that? Whether you did or not, we’ve now got Brennaman-Story as the co-main event, and I don’t see it as being competitive: Story should handle Brennaman and win a one-sided unanimous decision.
Pick: Story
Matt Brown vs. John Howard
 Both of these guys are probably fighting for their jobs in the UFC, as Brown is on a three-fight losing streak and Howard is on a two-fight losing streak. I like Howard to win a decision and save his job, while Brown moves on and moves out of the UFC.
Pick: Howard
Matt Mitrione vs. Christian Morecraft
 Mitrione is a big, strong former football player who’s starting to make some noise in the UFC heavyweight division, but I don’t think he’s as complete a fighter as Morecraft, who ought to be able to submit Mitrione on the ground.
Pick: Morecraft

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

UFC on Versus 4 to Feature Eight Prelim Fights Live on Facebook

Filed under: UFCIt’s been six months since the UFC began experimenting with preliminary card fights on Facebook, and on Sunday it will set a new high-water mark.

The promotion on Monday announced that all eight undercard fights for the upcoming UFC o…

Filed under:

It’s been six months since the UFC began experimenting with preliminary card fights on Facebook, and on Sunday it will set a new high-water mark.

The promotion on Monday announced that all eight undercard fights for the upcoming UFC on Versus 4 show will stream live on the social networking site. Just last week, with UFC 131, the promotion set a new best with six prelims streaming on Facebook.

This will mark the 11th consecutive fight card that the UFC has streamed fights for free at Facebook, and it will be the fifth consecutive show the promotion has provided a way for fans to see each fight on the card live.

UFC on Versus 4 will feature a four-fight main card that airs live on the Versus cable channel, the second of the UFC’s four-fight 2011 deal with the channel. The Facebook live stream is scheduled to begin at 4:55 p.m. Eastern. The main card starts at 9 p.m. Eastern on Versus. Versus will also again produce a live pre-fight preview show and post-fight analysis show before and after the main card featuring Todd Harris, UFC light heavyweight Stephan Bonnar and MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani.

To gain access to the fights, viewers must “like” the UFC on Facebook. As of Monday evening, the UFC has more than 5.7 million fans at the site.

The “main” and “co-main” events of the Facebook prelims are featherweight bouts featuring a pair of former lightweights dropping down – both looking to snap out of disastrous three-fight losing skids.

Tyson Griffin (14-5, 7-5 UFC) returns to featherweight for the first time since the early part of his career to face Manny Gamburyan (11-5, 2-3 UFC), who fights for the first time since a knockout loss to featherweight champion Jose Aldo last November in a WEC title fight. Griffin has split decision losses to Evan Dunham and Nik Lentz in the last year, plus a quick first-round knockout loss to Takanori Gomi last August on Versus. Gamburyan fights in the UFC for the first time in two years after dropping to featherweight and sliding over to the WEC, where he went 3-0 before his loss to Aldo.

And Joe Stevenson (31-13, 8-7 UFC), the Season 2 welterweight winner of “The Ultimate Fighter,” goes for his first win since October 2009 when he takes on Javier Vazquez (15-5), who makes his UFC debut after going 2-3 in the WEC. Stevenson has dropped decisions to George Sotiropoulos and Danny Castillo, and was knocked out by Mac Danzig in December. Stevenson is 3-6 since challenging BJ Penn for the lightweight title at UFC 80 three and a half years ago, including the loss to Penn. Monday, on “The MMA Hour,” Stevenson talked about his dislike of Vazquez and why he dropped to featherweight.

The Facebook prelims stream opens with a lightweight bout between TUF 12 runner-up Michael Johnson, fighting for the first time since losing to Jonathan Brookins in December on the show’s finale, against Edward Faaloto, who makes his UFC debut after a loss in his WEC debut last November.

Nik Lentz (21-3-2, 5-0-1 UFC) tries to remain unbeaten in the UFC against submission specialist Charles Oliveira in a lightweight bout.

Rich Attonito drops from middleweight after a loss to Dave Branch in December to make his welterweight debut against Daniel Roberts, who lost to Claude Patrick at UFC 129 in April. Attonito was original scheduled to face Matt Brown, but an injury to Martin Kampmann forced him out of a fight with John Howard, and Brown moved up the card for that fight. Roberts stepped in to face Attonito.

Other bouts include a featherweight contest between Ricardo Lamas and Matt Grice, a welterweight bout between Charlie Brenneman and TJ Grant, and Joe Lauzon returns for the first time since a UFC 123 loss in November to Sotiropoulos to face England’s Curt Warburton.

The UFC began streaming preliminary fights in January with its Fight for the Troops 2 show at Fort Hood, Texas. Since then, the promotion has included free Facebook fights for each event, regardless of the main card’s platform – be it on pay-per-view, Spike or Versus.

UFC on Versus 4 takes place Sunday at the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh, and will be the promotion’s first event in the Pennsylvania city. The card features a main event between Nate Marquardt and Rick Story – with Marquardt making his welterweight debut and Story fighting on short notice after a win just a month prior against Thiago Alves at UFC 130. Marquardt was scheduled to face Anthony Johnson, but an injury forced Johnson off the card.

And in a pair of heavyweight bouts, kickboxing specialists Pat Barry and Cheick Kongo clash, and Matt Mitrione looks to stay unbeaten against Christian Morecraft, whose last win sent Mitrione friend and training partner Sean McCorkle packing from the UFC.

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Nate Marquardt vs. Anthony Johnson Planned for UFC on Versus 4

Filed under: UFC, NewsFresh off their returns to the win column last month, Nate Marquardt and Anthony Johnson have their next fights – each other.

News of the bout, which is expected to serve as the main event for UFC on Versus 4, was first reported…

Filed under: ,

Fresh off their returns to the win column last month, Nate Marquardt and Anthony Johnson have their next fights – each other.

News of the bout, which is expected to serve as the main event for UFC on Versus 4, was first reported Wednesday by Versus.com, and sources close to the planned contest told MMA Fighting that matchup is the promotion’s plan.

Joe Stevenson Drops to Featherweight to Face Javier Vazquez at UFC on Versus 4

Filed under: UFC, NewsJoe Stevenson will drop to featherweight with the hopes of snapping his three-fight losing streak and keeping his job in the UFC.

Stevenson will face jiu-jitsu black belt Javier Vazquez at UFC on Versus 4, the promotion confirmed…

Filed under: ,

Joe StevensonJoe Stevenson will drop to featherweight with the hopes of snapping his three-fight losing streak and keeping his job in the UFC.

Stevenson will face jiu-jitsu black belt Javier Vazquez at UFC on Versus 4, the promotion confirmed on Monday.

The longtime UFC fighter most recently lost a decision to Danny Castillo on March 3. Prior to that, he suffered a knockout at the hands of Mac Danzig, and lost a decision to George Sotiropoulos.