Though details are sketchy at this time, MMAJunkie reports that Ring has been forced out of his scheduled match against Hall, and will be replaced by Josh Samman — a fellow TUF 17 vet who was eliminated by Kelvin Gastelum in the show’s semi-finals, but returned at the TUF 17 Finale to score a second-round TKO against Kevin Casey. So it’s like Hall and Samman never left the show, and are now competing for the TUF 17 bronze medal, while Dylan Andrews sits in the corner shouting “what about meeeeeeeee?!?”
The current lineup of ‘UFC on FOX Sports 1 1’ is after the jump…
(“mumblegumblemurglegurgle…anyway, you do that for like 10 minutes and usually the guy cums.” / Screen-cap via FuelTV)
Though details are sketchy at this time, MMAJunkie reports that Ring has been forced out of his scheduled match against Hall, and will be replaced by Josh Samman — a fellow TUF 17 vet who was eliminated by Kelvin Gastelum in the show’s semi-finals, but returned at the TUF 17 Finale to score a second-round TKO against Kevin Casey. So it’s like Hall and Samman never left the show, and are now competing for the TUF 17 bronze medal, while Dylan Andrews sits in the corner shouting “what about meeeeeeeee?!?”
The current lineup of ‘UFC on FOX Sports 1 1′ is after the jump…
PRELIMINARY CARD (FOX Sports 1, 6 p.m. ET)
Michael McDonald vs. Brad Pickett
Conor McGregor vs. Andy Ogle
Mike Brown vs. Akira Corassani
Diego Brandao vs. Daniel Pineda
PRELIMINARY CARD (Facebook, 4:30 p.m. ET)
Manny Gamburyan vs. Cole Miller
Cody Donovan vs. Ovince St. Preux
Ramsey Nijem vs. James Vick
A note to all future training partners of Uriah Hall: Should you find yourself in a light sparring session with the TUF 17 finalist and pound-for-pound baddest mofo in TUF History (allegedly), SHY AWAY FROM THE HEAD KICK, MIRKO.
If you choose to pull such an insolent move, however, you will likely find yourself doubled over on a sweat-stained mat moments later, your vision tunneled, your bowels released, praying for sweet, sweet Death’s tender embrace. “Dear Lord,” you will whisper as the fluorescent lights above begin to pool beneath your eyelids, “I am ready. I am ready to be shed of these mortal bonds. Deliver me towards the soil, almighty one.” But Death will never come, and you will instead be forever known by your other training partners as “Shitkick” or “Hallsbitch” or “Ground-n-Brown.”
Poor Nick Ring must be similarly releasing his bowels right about now. As Ving Rhames once said, “Now I realize there are some things worse than death, and one of them is sitting here waiting to die.”
A note to all future training partners of Uriah Hall: Should you find yourself in a light sparring session with the TUF 17 finalist and pound-for-pound baddest mofo in TUF History (allegedly), SHY AWAY FROM THE HEAD KICK, MIRKO.
If you choose to pull such an insolent move, however, you will likely find yourself doubled over on a sweat-stained mat moments later, your vision tunneled, your bowels released, praying for sweet, sweet Death’s tender embrace. “Dear Lord,” you will whisper as the fluorescent lights above begin to pool beneath your eyelids, “I am ready. I am ready to be shed of these mortal bonds. Deliver me towards the soil, almighty one.” But Death will never come, and you will instead be forever known by your other training partners as “Shitkick” or “Hallsbitch” or “Ground-n-Brown.”
Poor Nick Ring must be similarly releasing his bowels right about now. As Ving Rhames once said, “Now I realize there are some things worse than death, and one of them is sitting here waiting to die.”
(Hall attempts the infamous “Cover Your Eyes and Pray the Scary Monster Goes Away” defense to no avail at the TUF 17 Finale. Photo via Getty Images.)
Perhaps the only thing more dangerous than accepting a coaching gig on The Ultimate Fighteris being heralded by Dana White as “the next Anderson Silva” while still participating on the reality show. Ten seasons ago, it was Phillipe Nover who drew the unjust and bombastic comparisons to the pound-for-pound king. Though a loss to Efrain Escudero — who would also become one of the show’s more notorious washouts — in the season’s finale may have not derailed his hype train entirely, his consecutive losses to Kyle Bradley (ouch.) and Robert Emerson (OH COME ON!) surely did. But just as every story has a happy ending, Nover now earns his living pushing the stretchers, not lying on them.
In any case, if Hall doesn’t want to end up changing bedpans for crotchety geezers in the future (not that there’s anything wrong with that), he better bring his A-game when he meets fellow TUF-finalist Nick Ring at the much anticipated UFC on FOX Sports 1:1 card in August. That’s right, Bostonians, not only do we get Overeem vs. Brown, Alves vs. other Brown, Lauzon vs. Johnson, and (potentially) Henderson vs. Grant, but now we get to see Uriah Hall’s make-or-break fight in the UFC. Expect some Eddie Gordo-level shit to go down in this one, Potato Nation.
(Hall attempts the infamous “Cover Your Eyes and Pray the Scary Monster Goes Away” defense to no avail at the TUF 17 Finale. Photo via Getty Images.)
Perhaps the only thing more dangerous than accepting a coaching gig on The Ultimate Fighteris being heralded by Dana White as “the next Anderson Silva” while still participating on the reality show. Ten seasons ago, it was Phillipe Nover who drew the unjust and bombastic comparisons to the pound-for-pound king. Though a loss to Efrain Escudero — who would also become one of the show’s more notorious washouts — in the season’s finale may have not derailed his hype train entirely, his consecutive losses to Kyle Bradley (ouch.) and Robert Emerson (OH COME ON!) surely did. But just as every story has a happy ending, Nover now earns his living pushing the stretchers, not lying on them.
In any case, if Hall doesn’t want to end up changing bedpans for crotchety geezers in the future (not that there’s anything wrong with that), he better bring his A-game when he meets fellow TUF-finalist Nick Ring at the much anticipated UFC on FOX Sports 1:1 card in August. That’s right, Bostonians, not only do we get Overeem vs. Brown, Alves vs. other Brown, Lauzon vs. Johnson, and (potentially) Henderson vs. Grant, but now we get to see Uriah Hall’s make-or-break fight in the UFC. Expect some Eddie Gordo-level shit to go down in this one, Potato Nation.
Ring is also coming of a disappointing loss — a split decision to Chris Camozzi at UFC 158 – and has dropped two of his past three fights. We don’t want to say that the chair will be kicked out from underneath him with a loss here, but the noose is surely tied around his neck and BROOKS WAS HERE has already been carved in the support beam above him, so to speak. Rita Hayworth.
Do any of you guys remember how Soa Palelei was pulled from UFC 161 for not being a big enough name and replaced by Roy Nelson? Well it looks like the move was ultimately a blessing in disguise for the Aussie, as he has been booked against octagon newcomer Nikita Krylov at UFC 164, which goes down from the BMO Harris Bradley Center in Milwaukee on August 31st.
Palelei was originally scheduled to face the highly-touted Stipe Miocic on June 15th, a fight that he was a sizable underdog heading into, but now finds himself facing a guy who not only calls himself “The Al Capone,” but dresses like him in his fighter profile picture.
(I swear, officer, I’ve never even *heard* of this Roger Rabbit fellow you speak of. Photo via Sherdog.)
Known by the everyday world as Nikita Krylov (why anyone with the name of a James Bond supervillain would want a nickname in the first place is beyond me), this 21 year-old has gone undefeated in 14 contests, with not one of those fights making it outside of the first round. Sounds intimidating, right? Not to worry; a quick gander over Krylov’s list of opponents reveals nine…count ‘em, NINE opponents with no professional wins, ONE fighter with over six fights to his credit, and TWO winning records. Krylov may be the most feared can-crusher in all of the Ukraine, but Soa Palelei is on a whole. notha. level of can-crushing notoriety here. Expect Palelei to come in as a heavy favorite.
And in injury-shuffling news, the hotly-anticipated lightweight bout between Edson Barboza and John Makdessi at UFC 162: Silva vs. Weidmanhas suffered a minor setback, as Makdessi has gone down with an undisclosed injury. Replacing him will be Rafaello “Tractor” Oliveira, who has gone 1-2 in his second octagon stint. After suffering a particularly vicious and prolonged beating at the hands of Yves Edwards at UFC Live 6 in 2011, Oliveira fought just once last year, scoring a unanimous decision victory over Yoislandy Izquierdo at UFC 148. At least we will see a knockout is what we’re trying to say.
Just a quick update on the TUF 17 Finale, which continued with the recent trend of steadily rising UFC events to air on the FX network this past weekend. Whether it was the lure of seeing Uriah Hall cement his status as “The nastiest guy in TUF History” (Spoiler Alert: He didn’t.), the promise of the next challenger to Ronda Rousey’s throne, or the chance to catch a good old fashioned throwdown between two of the WEC’s finest, the TUF 17 Finale was a clear success all the way from the quality of the fights themselves to the ratings numbers the event was able to draw in. MMAJunkie’s John Morgan passed along the numbers via Twitter:
Just a quick update on the TUF 17 Finale, which continued with the recent trend of steadily rising UFC events to air on the FX network this past weekend. Whether it was the lure of seeing Uriah Hall cement his status as “The nastiest guy in TUF History” (Spoiler Alert: He didn’t.), the promise of the next challenger to Ronda Rousey’s throne, or the chance to catch a good old fashioned throwdown between two of the WEC’s finest, the TUF 17 Finale was a clear success all the way from the quality of the fights themselves to the ratings numbers the event was able to draw in. MMAJunkie’s John Morgan passed along the numbers via Twitter:
Aside from testing highest in the key demographic of 18-49 year-old males, the TUF 17 Finale surpassed both the TUF 15 (1.0 million) and TUF 16 finale (1.3 million) — which were also broadcast during the 9 p.m. slot on Saturday nights — in terms of viewership.
The numbers for the TUF 17 Finale –like UFC 157 before it – continue to prove that WMMA can in fact become more than an occasional niche market in the UFC. Sure, the Zingano/Tate war was not solely responsible for the finale’s excellent ratings, but you can almost guarantee that those numbers peaked during their Fight of the Night-earning war.
Saturday night, Kelvin Gastelum put the brakes on perhaps the biggest Ultimate Fighter hype train in the show’s history, Uriah Hall, by winning a split-decision at TUF 17 finale but today he told MMA Fighting that just a few months ago he was close to hanging up his gloves. “Before [TUF] I was struggling. I was about ready to quit MMA for a while, and just get another job because obviously I wasn’t doing well financially,” he said.
“I was like, man, if I don’t make it, it’s going to be a while until I’m back in a cage somewhere. Luckily it worked out all in my favor.”
Hall had knocked out and sent multiple fellow contestants to the hospital during his reign of terror on the TUF 17 set but Gastelum was able to shut down the striker’s dangerous offense for the most part. Promoter Dana White had said Hall was the scariest guy in TUF history before the fight and afterwards, suggested that Hall was, in fact, mentally broken and not mean enough.
The new TUF 17 champion wasn’t afraid of the hype going into Saturday’s fight and he doesn’t buy the hype now that he only managed to win because Hall suddenly became a shell of himself, psychologically. It was hard for Uriah to look great because Gastelum wouldn’t let him.
“People are saying he didn’t perform, and I guess I would have to agree,” Kelvin said.
“Mostly because I was putting the pressure on him and actually bringing the fight, which it what a lot of the guys didn’t do. Adam Cella was the guy that brought the fight [during the season] until he stayed stationary the last couple seconds and got caught with that kick. Then the other guys were just scared. I wasn’t scared, I brought the fight to him…it worked out in my favor.”
Saturday night, Kelvin Gastelum put the brakes on perhaps the biggest Ultimate Fighter hype train in the show’s history, Uriah Hall, by winning a split-decision at TUF 17 finale but today he told MMA Fighting that just a few months ago he was close to hanging up his gloves. “Before [TUF] I was struggling. I was about ready to quit MMA for a while, and just get another job because obviously I wasn’t doing well financially,” Kelvin said.
“I was like, man, if I don’t make it, it’s going to be a while until I’m back in a cage somewhere. Luckily it worked out all in my favor.”
Hall had knocked out and sent multiple fellow contestants to the hospital during his reign of terror on the TUF 17 set but Gastelum was able to shut down the striker’s dangerous offense for the most part on Saturday night. Promoter Dana White had said Hall was the scariest guy in TUF history before the fight but after the finale show, suggested that Hall was, in fact, mentally broken and not mean enough.
The new TUF 17 champion said he wasn’t afraid of the hype going into Saturday’s fight and he doesn’t buy the hype now that he only managed to win because Hall suddenly became a shell of himself, psychologically. It was hard for Uriah to look great because Gastelum wouldn’t let him.
“People are saying he didn’t perform, and I guess I would have to agree,” Kelvin said.
“Mostly because I was putting the pressure on him and actually bringing the fight, which it what a lot of the guys didn’t do. Adam Cella was the guy that brought the fight [during the season] until he stayed stationary the last couple seconds and got caught with that kick. Then the other guys were just scared. I wasn’t scared, I brought the fight to him…it worked out in my favor.”
Just days after winning the TUF 17 middleweight title, Gastelum told MMAFighting that he wants to lose fifteen pounds and drop down to welterweight. Guys like Hall are just too big and strong for Kelvin to dominate the way he likes to.
“Uriah felt real strong…and I wasn’t able to control him like I wanted to and really finish the fight,” he said.
“That was the first fight that I haven’t finished in my career. I’m not a point fighter. I go out there and I try to finish fights, so that’s the only thing. He felt really strong.”
While fighters often take a long time to decide if they can change weight classes, Kelvin seems confident that he can make a healthy and effective weight cut to 170 pounds. “I am [confident I can make welterweight.] All my fights have been at 185, but I know that once I get the diet going and my work outs, I’ll be able to make 170 for sure,” he said.
Every UFC main event has to be about something, and when there aren’t any titles on the line, things tend to get pretty creative. Leading up to the main event of the TUF 17 Finale, the talk surrounding the bout focused on the friendship between competitors Urijah Faber and Scott Jorgensen and how it may affect the bout. Whether the two were actually the close friends that the media made them out to be was completely irrelevant; which is good, because Jorgensen revealed during fight week that they weren’t.
What we were left with was a bout between the number two and number seven ranked bantamweights that played out as expected. This isn’t to say that the fight wasn’t entertaining (it was), but Jorgensen was outgunned early and often by Faber before “The California Kid” sank in the fight ending rear-naked choke in the fourth round. It was closer than the gambling odds indicated it would be, but not exactly a close fight, and though Jorgensen managed to mount some offense of his own, he never appeared to be any real threat to Faber.
The bantamweight division is very top-heavy, which perhaps more than anything explains why Urijah Faber is seemingly always one fight away from a title shot. The gap between the top five guys and the rest of the division is wider than most fans would care to acknowledge, and it showed last night. Still, I’d rather watch Urijah Faber fight Michael McDonald than watch him get crammed into yet another title fight. I doubt I’m in the minority here – at least among hardcore fans.
Photo Courtesy of Getty Images.
Every UFC main event has to be about something, and when there aren’t any titles on the line, things tend to get pretty creative. Leading up to the main event of the TUF 17 Finale, the talk surrounding the bout focused on the friendship between competitors Urijah Faber and Scott Jorgensen and how it may affect the bout. Whether the two were actually the close friends that the media made them out to be was completely irrelevant; which is good, because Jorgensen revealed during fight week that they weren’t.
What we were left with was a bout between the number two and number seven ranked bantamweights that played out as expected. This isn’t to say that the fight wasn’t entertaining (it was), but Jorgensen was outgunned early and often by Faber before “The California Kid” sank in the fight ending rear-naked choke in the fourth round. It was closer than the gambling odds indicated it would be, but not exactly a close fight, and though Jorgensen managed to mount some offense of his own, he never appeared to be any real threat to Faber.
The bantamweight division is very top-heavy, which perhaps more than anything explains why Urijah Faber is seemingly always one fight away from a title shot. The gap between the top five guys and the rest of the division is wider than most fans would care to acknowledge, and it showed last night. Still, I’d rather watch Urijah Faber fight Michael McDonald than watch him get crammed into yet another title fight. I doubt I’m in the minority here – at least among hardcore fans.
Of course, the “friendship” angle between Faber and Jorgensen wasn’t the only storyline from last night to abruptly fall apart. After Anik’s interview with Jon Jones and Chael Sonnen, it’s safe to say that any possibility of the UFC marketing these two guys as bitter rivals/sworn enemies/anything other than apathetic about fighting each other is off the table. Judging by the comments on last night’s liveblog, I may be the only person who actually enjoyed the segment, but I digress. Oh, one more obvious storyline fell apart last night, too.
Elsewhere on the card…
– Throughout this season of The Ultimate Fighter, it seemed obvious that Uriah Hall was destined for stardom. He steamrolled his way through his competition on the show, impressed us with flashy, Tekken-inspired kicks and appeared ready to make an immediate impact on the UFC middleweight division. On paper, Hall’s co-main event clash with Kelvin Gastelum for this season’s championship was strictly a formality, as Gastelum was no threat to actually win this fight, right?
Not quite. Gastelum surprised many – including Hall – by being more than willing to press the action against the feared striker, and earned takedowns throughout the course of the bout. Even though Hall managed to reverse some of Gastelum’s attempts, in the end Gastelum took the fight – and this season’s championship – by way of split decision.
Perhaps it’s fitting that the most interesting season of The Ultimate Fighter in recent memory ended with an underdog winning it all, but don’t be quick to dismiss Kelvin Gastelum. Gastelum may not have the resume that Hall has, but a good wrestler who doesn’t get gun-shy has unlimited upward mobility in the UFC. As the youngest TUF champion in the history of the show, Gastelum has the potential to make quite the impact on the middleweight division. Likewise, don’t give up on Uriah Hall just yet. The close loss may be a product of Hall having the Octagon jitters, something that happens to many fighters the first time they fight in the UFC. Time will tell how Hall bounces back from this defeat.
– The $50,000 Fight of the Night bonus rightfully went to Cat Zingano and Miesha Tate for their three round brawl. Although Zingano kept the bout close, Tate’s wrestling earned her the edge on the judge’s scorecards heading into the third round. However, Zingano was in complete control in the third round, earning a takedown and landing strikes at will against Tate. After catching Tate with a knee during a scramble, Zingano kept swinging until Kim Winslow stopped the bout. Cat Zingano earned a coaching slot on The Ultimate Fighter 18 alongside Ronda Rousey – as well as a title shot at the end of the season – with the victory.
Fights are virtually guaranteed to end in controversy whenever Kim Winslow is in the cage, and this fight proved to be no exception. After the event, Miesha Tate expressed her anger over the stoppage, claiming that Winslow waived things off too soon. “She told me, ‘Show me something,’” said Tate. “I don’t know what you want. I sat up, I shot a double, I got back to my feet. I took some damage because of that, because I was trying to listen to the referee, and she fucking stopped the fight.” Despite Tate’s argument that the stoppage was early (for what it’s worth, I didn’t think it was), it was a great fight that further demonstrated why women belong in the UFC.
– Travis Browne is certainly one of the most creative strikers in the UFC, but I know I can’t be the only person who thought “not this again” when he started his bout against Gabriel Gonzaga with a wild high kick that completely missed its target. Throughout the next minute of the fight, it was obvious that Gonzaga wanted nothing to do with Browne’s striking. During the last six seconds of the fight, it was obvious why. Despite Gonzaga’s best efforts to neutralize Browne’s dynamic stand-up, Browne only needed a few standing hellbows to shut out Napao’s lights, earning himself the $50,000 Knockout of the Night bonus.
– If you didn’t like watching Bubba McDaniel thoroughly outclass Gilbert Smith on his way to a third round triangle choke victory, you’ll possibly take comfort in knowing that he didn’t win the $50,000 Submission of the Night bonus for his efforts. Instead, the honor went to Daniel Pineda, who kicked off the card with a first round victory by kimura over Justin Lawrence.
– As for the $25,000 End of the Season awards, Fight of the Season went to Dylan Andrews and Luke Barnatt for their back-and-forth quarterfinal fight that Andrews eventually won by TKO, Submission of the Season went to Kelvin Gastelum for his rear-naked choke victory over Josh Samman during the semifinals, and I think it’s pretty obvious who took home Knockout of the Season.
Full Results:
Main Card:
Urijah Faber def. Scott Jorgensen via submission (rear-naked choke), 3:16 of Round Four
Kelvin Gastelum def. Uriah Hall via Split-Decision
Cat Zingano def. Miesha Tate via TKO (knees & elbow), 2:55 of Round Three
Travis Browne def. Gabriel Gonzaga via KO (elbows), 1:11 of Round One
Bubba McDaniel def. Gilbert Smith via submission (triangle choke), 2:49 of Round Three
Preliminary card:
Josh Samman def. Kevin Casey via TKO (knees), 2:17 of Round Two
Luke Barnatt def. Collin Hart via Unanimous Decision
Dylan Andrews def. Jimmy Quinlan via TKO (punches), 3:22 of Round One
Clint Hester def. Bristol Marunde via KO (elbow), 3:53 of Round Three
Cole Miller def. Bart Palaszewski via submission (rear-naked choke), 4:23 of Round One
Maximo Blanco def. Sam Sicilia via Unanimous Decision
Daniel Pineda def. Justin Lawrence via submission (kimura), 1:35 of Round One
