On Saturday night, Ryan Bader and Vladimir Matyushenko do battle on the preliminary card of UFC on Fox 6. Both fighters are trying to rebound from knockout losses at the hands of Lyoto Machida and Alexander Gustafsson respectively.The light heavyw…
On Saturday night, Ryan Bader and Vladimir Matyushenko do battle on the preliminary card of UFC on Fox 6. Both fighters are trying to rebound from knockout losses at the hands of LyotoMachida and Alexander Gustafsson respectively.
The light heavyweight affair is an important battle for both men. If Ryan Bader is unsuccessful, it will be his fourth loss in only six fights.
Likewise, Matyushenko needs this win to prevent the first losing streak of his career. While that may not seem like a big deal, if the Belarusian fighter takes losses in consecutive fights at the age of 42, he can essentially walk himself into the retirement home.
Here is a Head-To-Toe Breakdown of one of the most intriguing fights on Saturday’s Fox event.
The UFC returns to Fox next month, when the Octagon will touch down in Chicago. The card will be headlined by a flyweight title bout between champion Demetrious Johnson and John Dodson.Also on the card will be a light heavyweight tilt between Ryan Bade…
The UFC returns to Fox next month, when the Octagon will touch down in Chicago. The card will be headlined by a flyweight title bout between champion Demetrious Johnson and John Dodson.
Also on the card will be a light heavyweight tilt between Ryan Bader and Vladimir Matyushenko. Both men are strong 205ers that could jump into a top fight with a win here.
It may not have happened yet, but we’re going to go ahead and claim that GSP is out of UFC Whatever with a torn Whachamacallit.
The news was once again delivered by Dana White via his Twitter.
Now Aldo is out with foot injury. Main and co main in the same day!! Another amazing day at the UFC. We have some work to do.
The injury is apparently unrelated to the motorcycle accident Aldo was involved in just under a week ago, which shows us that the injury curse has moved on from simple hope crushing to full-on psychological warfare. Fuck you, injury curse. Fuck you right in the pooper.
It may not have happened yet, but we’re going to go ahead and claim that GSP is out of UFC Whatever with a torn Whachamacallit.
The news was once again delivered by Dana White via his Twitter.
Now Aldo is out with foot injury. Main and co main in the same day!! Another amazing day at the UFC. We have some work to do.
The injury is apparently unrelated to the motorcycle accident Aldo was involved in just under a week ago, which shows us that the injury curse has moved on from simple hope crushing to full-on psychological warfare. Fuck you, injury curse. Fuck you right in the pooper.
So…Edgar vs. Sonnen, anybody?
In related injury news…
Vladimir Matyushenko has suffered a torn achilles and has been forced out of his bout with the returning Matt Hamill at UFC 152. Matyushenko’s replacement will actually be the man Hamill was originally supposed to face, Roger Hollett, who pulled out from the contest with an injury that has apparently already healed. What does it matter, one of these two men ain’t making it to fight night.
When it rains, it pours.Fresh off the news that Quinton Jackson was forced to pull out of his UFC 153 bout with Glover Teixeira due to an undisclosed injury, it’s been confirmed that Vladimir Matyushenko is out of UFC 152 with a torn Achilles tendon.&n…
When it rains, it pours.
Fresh off the news that Quinton Jackson was forced to pull out of his UFC 153 bout with Glover Teixeira due to an undisclosed injury, it’s been confirmed that Vladimir Matyushenko is out of UFC 152 with a torn Achilles tendon.
Matyushenko was scheduled to face a returning Matt Hamill, who was coming out of retirement to face “the Janitor.” The two aging wrestlers are both known to pack some power in their fists and the bout would likely have ended with someone unconscious.
UFC Canada’s twitter was the first to break the news on twitter.
Roger Hollett vs Matt Hamill is back on for #UFC152 as Vladimir Matyushenko is out with a torn achilles tendon.
This is awful news for the UFC who have been hit with the injury plague all summer long. It appeared that things were finally turning around, and they would close the year out with some really strong cards.
The loss of Matyushenko won’t affect the buy rate, but it does show that losing any fighter will really affect the bottom line of a card. The one bit of positive news to take away from this is that UFC matchmaker Joe Silva was able to find a sufficient replacement on short notice to step up and face Hamill.
Matt “The Hammer” Hamill is set to come out of retirement and make his comeback at UFC 152. And now, he’ll face a fellow longtime veteran.Originally set to face Canadian Roger Hollett, Hamill will now step inside the Octagon against Vladimir Matyu…
Matt “The Hammer” Hamill is set to come out of retirement and make his comeback at UFC 152. And now, he’ll face a fellow longtime veteran.
Originally set to face Canadian Roger Hollett, Hamill will now step inside the Octagon against Vladimir Matyushenko at UFC 152.
As MMA Weekly reported, Matyushenko will make his 2012 debut on short notice, welcoming back to the Octagon the former contestant on The Ultimate Fighter.
Matyushenko is 4-2 since returning to the UFC back in 2009, with his two losses coming against two of the best in the division: Alexander Gustafsson and Jon Jones. Matyushenko has also fought top guys like Tim Boetsch, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Tito Ortiz throughout his career.
Hamill has fought against some of the biggest names in the sport as well, including bouts against Mark Munoz, Rich Franklin, Michael Bisping and Tito Ortiz. And he is the only man to hold a win against current light heavyweight champion Jon Jones, although it was by disqualification and was highly controversial.
Hamill had won five straight before losing two in a row against Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Alexander Gustafsson and opting to retire from the sport. But after a year away from the cage, he is set to return to action.
UFC 152 is scheduled for September 22nd in Toronto. It will be headlined by the inaugural flyweight championship fight between Joseph Benavidez and Demetrious Johnson. It has yet to be determined if the bout will fall onto the main card or the preliminary card.
So it’s official: horse meat > beef jerky. (Photo: UFC.com)
There was a time when the UFC had trouble drumming up any interest at all in their heavyweight division—can you say ‘Arlovski vs. Buentello for the title!!!’?—but those days are long gone. One could point to the growth of the sport attracting big men from other sports, or credit training camps for churning out well-rounded fighters, but much of the interest in the revitalized division has been carried by the broad, skull-tatted shoulders of one man.
Brock Lesnar’s 2008 debut in the Octagon brought interest, intrigue, and—most importantly—eyeballs. Lots of them. Speculation over whether the big man could survive against a real fighter was rampant, but before long we were asking if anyone could survive in a real fight against him. He quickly smashed his way to the top of the 265 lb. heap, but his skid down that mountain was just as fast. Following two brutal, first-round losses to Cain Velasquez and Alistair Overeem, Brock is ready to hang up the gloves. Looking back at his brief career, if it is truly over, one thing becomes painfully clear: Brock Lesnar doesn’t love fighting; Brock Lesnar loves beating people up. While those two interests often intertwine, they quickly diverge when you start getting tagged. For all of the debates over Brock’s questionable chin and concerns for vegetable-rejecting body, the real downfall of his MMA career was his heart. He doesn’t love this fighting game, and MMA is a cruel mistress. If you can’t fully commit to her, you can expect to find a pile of shredded “Clutch Gear” shirts on the doorstep when you get home from the bar. Brock seems to have gotten that message and is packing his things and moving on with his life.
So it’s official: horse meat > beef jerky. (Photo: UFC.com)
There was a time when the UFC had trouble drumming up any interest at all in their heavyweight division—can you say ‘Arlovski vs. Buentello for the title!!!’?—but those days are long gone. One could point to the growth of the sport attracting big men from other sports, or credit training camps for churning out well-rounded fighters, but much of the interest in the revitalized division has been carried by the broad, skull-tatted shoulders of one man.
Brock Lesnar‘s 2008 debut in the Octagon brought interest, intrigue, and—most importantly—eyeballs. Lots of them. Speculation over whether the big man could survive against a real fighter was rampant, but before long we were asking if anyone could survive in a real fight against him. He quickly smashed his way to the top of the 265 lb. heap, but his skid down that mountain was just as fast. Following two brutal, first-round losses to Cain Velasquez and Alistair Overeem, Brock is ready to hang up the gloves. Looking back at his brief career, if it is truly over, one thing becomes painfully clear: Brock Lesnar doesn’t love fighting; Brock Lesnar loves beating people up. While those two interests often intertwine, they quickly diverge when you start getting tagged. For all of the debates over Brock’s questionable chin and concerns for vegetable-rejecting body, the real downfall of his MMA career was his heart. He doesn’t love this fighting game, and MMA is a cruel mistress. If you can’t fully commit to her, you can expect to find a pile of shredded “Clutch Gear” shirts on the doorstep when you get home from the bar. Brock seems to have gotten that message and is packing his things and moving on with his life.
While the UFC is losing their biggest draw in the form of Lesnar, they may have found a future star in Alistair Overeem. He may not cut a polarizing promo, but he’s built like an Adonis and is capable of delivering incredible pain with each of his limbs. He shirked off Lesnar’s takedowns with ease, but they didn’t have the desperate commitment behind them that they should have, not even close. If you believe Overeem to be an unstoppable force then your fire was fueled last night, and if you doubt his place at the top of the food chain you’ll undoubtedly focus on Brock’s uninspired performance rather than those destructive knees and kicks. You can argue over how he’ll do against the rest of the field, and frankly we hope you do.
If Lesnar’s wild ride in the heavyweight division resembled a violent tsunami, Jon Fitch’s dominance over the welterweight landscape has spread like continental drift. After 145 consecutive minutes of anti-climactic fighting, the sport’s least celebrated grinder was toppled in the blink of an eye. If rebounding from a gutsy loss to GSP—his only defeat in twenty two consecutive bouts–with five straight wins and a hard fought draw did nothing to place his name back “in the mix” for a second shot at the belt, it’s hard to imagine what it will take for Fitch to earn one now. For Johny Hendricks it’s the sort of victory that a fighter can build his name on, but despite the divisional upheaval caused by GSP’s injury it’s a little premature to be calling for a title shot. While Diaz and Condit fight for the interim strap, he can kill some time spending that $75k ‘Knock Out of the Night” bonus.
Lightweights Nate Diaz and Donald Cerrone also picked up some spending cash with their “Fight of the Night” bonuses. Nate cooked up the Diaz family recipe of 11-punch combinations and trash talk, and he served it to Cerrone for a full three rounds. “Cowboy” was overwhelmed by Diaz’s trademark punches in bunches, but did little to change up his game plan and alter his attack. He found success with kicks, sweeping the Stockton tough’s legs out from under him on several occasions, but then it was back to accepting the short end of the stick in a lopsided boxing match. For Cerrone it was a sour ending to a tremendous year, and for Diaz another imposing performance at 155 lbs.
After missing with a couple of wild strikes, Matyushenko charged right into a perfectly timed jab. Gustafsson dropped him with the strike and followed it up with ground and pound to end the bout in just over two minutes. It was the lanky Swede’s fifth win and fifth stoppage in the Octagon. The twenty-four year old’s long frame and composed dominance over a veteran like Matyushenko should raise some eyebrows at 205 lbs.
And what can you say about Jim Hette’s performance that the scorecards didn’t? 30-25, 30-25 and 30-26 pretty much sums it up. He sent Nam Phan flying repeatedly and beat him up on the ground. He needs to bring his cardio in line with the rest of his game, but he’s a perfect 10-0 with two impressive wins in the UFC and looks to be a very promising prospect in the featherweight division.
Main Bouts (on Pay-Per-View): -Alistair Overeem def. Brock Lesnar by TKO at 2:26, R1
-Nate Diaz def. Donald Cerrone by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
-Johny Hendricks def. Jon Fitch by KO at :12, R1
-Alexander Gustafsson def. Vladimir Matyushenko by TKO at 2:13, R1
–Jim Hettes def. Nam Phan by unanimous decision (30-25, 30-25, 30-26)
Preliminary Bouts (on Spike TV):
-Ross Pearson def. Junior Assuncao by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
-Danny Castillo def. Anthony Njokuani by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Preliminary Bouts (on Facebook): -Dong Hyun Kim def. Sean Pierson by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
-Jacob Volkmann def. Efrain Escudero by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
-Matt Riddle vs. Luis Ramos: CANCELLED due to Illness
-Diego Nunes def. Manny Gamburyan by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
When it rains, it pours.