(“Get a load of this guy. He calls himself ‘Money.'”)
The UFC moved swiftly to find a replacement opponent for number one UFC featherweight contender Chad Mendes when 145-pound champ Jose Aldo bowed out of a planned late summer match-up with the 26-year-old Hanford, California native earlier in the week. According to MMAJunkie, the promotion has inked Rani Yahya to face Mendes at UFC 133 August 6 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
(“Get a load of this guy. He calls himself ‘Money.’”)
The UFC moved swiftly to find a replacement opponent for number one UFC featherweight contender Chad Mendes when 145-pound champ Jose Aldo bowed out of a planned late summer match-up with the 26-year-old Hanford, California native earlier in the week. According to MMAJunkie, the promotion has inked Rani Yahya to face Mendes at UFC 133 August 6 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
According to Aldo, contrary to a Heavy.com report, he did not injure himself since his fight with Mark Hominick in April, but he is dealing with lingering nagging injuries that are going to take some time and rest to heal. As such, he was instructed by his doctor to take the time to heal up and take care of his afflictions before stepping back into the Octagon in the Fall.
News of the Mendes-Yahya pairing was first reported by MMAJunkie.com.
The fight could prove a huge opportunity for Yahya, an accomplished grappler who holds wins over Hominick and former WEC featherweight champions Mike Brown and Eddie Wineland. With guys like Josh Grispi and Dustin Poirier already booked for fights, Yahya was the next man down on the list who wasn’t already spoken for.
Mark Hominick was another fighter who was being considered, but considering he is still under a medical suspension in Canada from his UFC 129 war with Aldo and the fact that he and his wife had their first baby two weeks ago, he’s likely taking a much deserved vacation.
(“Get a load of this guy. He calls himself ‘Money.'”)
The UFC moved swiftly to find a replacement opponent for number one UFC featherweight contender Chad Mendes when 145-pound champ Jose Aldo bowed out of a planned late summer match-up with the 26-year-old Hanford, California native earlier in the week. According to MMAJunkie, the promotion has inked Rani Yahya to face Mendes at UFC 133 August 6 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
(“Get a load of this guy. He calls himself ‘Money.’”)
The UFC moved swiftly to find a replacement opponent for number one UFC featherweight contender Chad Mendes when 145-pound champ Jose Aldo bowed out of a planned late summer match-up with the 26-year-old Hanford, California native earlier in the week. According to MMAJunkie, the promotion has inked Rani Yahya to face Mendes at UFC 133 August 6 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
According to Aldo, contrary to a Heavy.com report, he did not injure himself since his fight with Mark Hominick in April, but he is dealing with lingering nagging injuries that are going to take some time and rest to heal. As such, he was instructed by his doctor to take the time to heal up and take care of his afflictions before stepping back into the Octagon in the Fall.
News of the Mendes-Yahya pairing was first reported by MMAJunkie.com.
The fight could prove a huge opportunity for Yahya, an accomplished grappler who holds wins over Hominick and former WEC featherweight champions Mike Brown and Eddie Wineland. With guys like Josh Grispi and Dustin Poirier already booked for fights, Yahya was the next man down on the list who wasn’t already spoken for.
Mark Hominick was another fighter who was being considered, but considering he is still under a medical suspension in Canada from his UFC 129 war with Aldo and the fact that he and his wife had their first baby two weeks ago, he’s likely taking a much deserved vacation.
Filed under: UFC, WEC, NewsJamie Varner was a 21-year-old junior in college fighting part-time on small shows in Arizona in 2006 when he got the call offering him a fight in the UFC. When that call came, he made the decision to leave school behind and …
Jamie Varner was a 21-year-old junior in college fighting part-time on small shows in Arizona in 2006 when he got the call offering him a fight in the UFC. When that call came, he made the decision to leave school behind and focus on being a full-time fighter.
Five years later, Varner has been in and out of the UFC, in and out of the WEC and now back to fighting on small-time shows, having recently won a fight for the Xtreme Fighting Organization. And the state of his career right now has him going back to college even though he says he remains dedicated to his MMA career.
“I dropped out of college right before my senior year,” Varner said on Monday’s episode of The MMA Hour. “Like some of the great football, baseball, basketball athletes, I thought, do I stay in college or do I pursue an opportunity in professional athletics? The UFC made the call for me to fight Hermes Franca, and I did that, but after I got cut I started thinking about life after.”
Varner is attending school part time at Seton Hall, continuing to work toward his degree with an eye toward eventually becoming a physician’s assistant. But that’s not the main reason he moved to New Jersey: He’s also there to train at AMA Fight Club, home of UFC fighters Jim Miller and Dan Miller, to reinvigorate his MMA career.
Varner said that when he lost to Shane Roller in the final WEC event and learned that he wouldn’t be among the WEC fighters invited to join the UFC, he was so upset that he thought about quitting the sport.
“When I got cut I felt like my girlfriend dumped me,” Varner said. “I’ve been with Zuffa for five years. I dropped out of college. I’ve been chasing this dream, all in. … I never said no to a fight. Whenever they asked me to fight, I fought.”
With that, Varner said he started thinking more about what he could accomplish as a physician’s assistant.
“I want to get that degree, go to South America, try to do Doctors Without Borders,” Varner said. “I want to travel the world and give back.”
However, it wasn’t long before Varner started getting the itch to fight again. He took the fight with XFO and won easily, and he was also in talks with Dream to go to Japan and fight Shinya Aoki, although that fight fell through. Varner says he’s still a fighter at heart and not ready to walk away any time soon.
“There’s still some tread on these tires,” Varner said. “There’s still some fights to be fought and some battles to be won. … I want to get back in the UFC and fight in the UFC.”
As the Extreme Sports channel continues their regular rotation of old World Extreme Cagefighting shows, we’re now going back to December 2008, as Manny Tapia challenged Miguel Torres for the Bantamweight title at WEC 37.The broadcast began with b…
As the Extreme Sports channel continues their regular rotation of old World Extreme Cagefighting shows, we’re now going back to December 2008, as Manny Tapia challenged Miguel Torres for the Bantamweight title at WEC 37.
The broadcast began with bantamweight action as Joseph Benavidez faced Danny Martinez.
An encounter between two debuting fighters proved to be an intriguing, though unspectacular three rounder. Both guys put on a good display of striking, although as the fight went on Benavidez took control with his jab/hook tactics.
Benavidez may have been in control in the third, but as the fight came to an end, Martinez sprang to life with a flurry of blows.
All three judges scored in favour of Benavidez.
The bantamweight action continued as Brian Bowles faced Will Ribeiro.
Bowles put on a great performance here. His striking was crisp and his ground work was good, especially in the third round when he locked in a guillotine choke that Ribeiro barely escaped from.
The Brazilian had his moments, but these didn’t happen that often, and when he went for a take down in the third, Bowles countered with a guillotine. Once again Ribeiro tried to fight it, but it wasn’t long before he tapped out to give Bowles the submission win.
Then it was up to featherweight and two more debuting fighters, as Wagnney Fabiano took on Akitoshi Tamura.
If you ever want to see a good example of effective ground fighting, give this one a look.
It went to the ground early, and while Fabiano put on a great offensive display, Tamura was up to the task with some sound defensive work.
However, the Japanese star just couldn’t get much offence going off his back, with Fabiano escaping from his guillotine attempt by wall-walking to relieve the pressure.
The end came towards the close of the third round as Fabiano locked in an arm triangle for the submission win.
The main event saw Manny Tapia challenging Miguel Torres for the Bantamweight title.
Torres came into this fight with a huge reach advantage, and he used it to good effect, keeping Tapia at bay with his stinging jabs.
Tapia got in a few good body shots, but as the fight entered the second round, Torres took control.
A big right rocked Tapia and sent him to the ground. Another big right sent Tapia down for the second time, with Torres following him down for some ground and pound. It wasn’t long before the referee had seen enough, as he stopped the fight to give Torres the title-retaining TKO win.
In conclusion: another good show from the UFC’s little brother. Although it wasn’t packed with spectacular action, the majority of the fighting was sound, with the performance of Miguel Torres the highlight of the night for me.
So in all, a good show, and once again I’ll say that if you live in Britain and haven’t seen this show yet—don’t worry. Just keep an eye on the Extreme Sports channel. I’m sure it will be on again.
It was delayed by a hurricane for two months, and further tarnished when a defending champion failed to make weight. It’s also been shown numerous times on Britain’s Extreme Sports channel since its debut last February. The show in question…
It was delayed by a hurricane for two months, and further tarnished when a defending champion failed to make weight. It’s also been shown numerous times on Britain’s Extreme Sports channel since its debut last February. The show in question is WEC 36: Faber vs Brown—the first WEC show I’ve ever reviewed.
The broadcast began in the middleweight division as Jake Rosholt faced Nissen Osterneck.
This was another example of a great striker versus grappler battle. Osterneck came forward early with some combinations, and his strikes almost got him the win in the second round.
The only problem was that whenever he got the upper hand, Rosholt took him down and took the upper hand himself with some nice grappling, and it was this—allied with some effective ground and pound—that earned Rosholt the TKO win in the second round.
It was down to featherweight for the next fight as Jens Pulver went up against Leonard Garcia.
A part of Little Evil’s downward spiral, Pulver connected with a big left that staggered Garcia early on, but within a minute Garcia was unloading with the heavy leather. Pulver slumped to the ground against the cage, and the referee quickly stepped in to give Garcia the TKO win.
Then it was back up to middleweight as David Avellan took on Aaron Simpson—the blink and you’ll miss it affair of the show.
Just seconds into the fight, Simpson connected with an overhand right. Avellan quickly went down, with the referee stopping the fight after just 18 seconds, giving Simpson the knockout win.
The next fight was also meant to be in the middleweight division, with Paulo Filho defending his title against Chael Sonnen. But when Filho did the unforgivable and failed to make the weight, it was turned into a three round catch weight affair.
The story of this fight was simple. Filho wanted to go to the ground, but Sonnen was having none of it, controlling the fight with his boxing, making Filho get back to his feet after the champion invited him down.
It didn’t make for an exciting fight—and most of the time Filho seemed to treat it like a sparring session—so it wasn’t really surprising when the crowd broke out the bull***t chant.
No surprise with the judges decision as all three gave every round to Sonnen.
The main event saw Mike Brown challenging Urijah Faber for the Featherweight title.
An exciting fight saw Faber begin with a right/left combination, but just when it looked like the champion was about to up his game, Brown connected with a right that sent Faber down.
Brown followed him down to the ground, and with Faber offering nothing in response to the onslaught the referee stopped the fight, giving Brown what was considered an upset win.
It took a while for the UFC’s little brother to make it to British television, and it was a little disappointing that it happened after the company ceased to be, but it’s nice to finally see what the WEC is all about.
My first impressions were pretty good. WEC 36 was an enjoyable show, and although the Filho/Sonnen fight was disappointing, the other four made up for it.
So does this show get the thumbs up? Most definitely, and I’m looking forward to seeing another WEC show in the near future.
If you live in Britain don’t worry if you haven’t seen this show yet. At the moment, Extreme Sports seem to be showing this one every two weeks, so you haven’t missed a thing.
Although I do hope they start showing new WEC shows soon!
The recent bad blood between rivals Urijah Faber and UFC bantamweight champion, Dominick Cruz has certainly been well-documented.Both competitors will headline UFC 132, when they meet in a rematch from WEC 26, to determine the newly crowned bantamweigh…
The recent bad blood between rivals Urijah Faber and UFC bantamweight champion, Dominick Cruz has certainly been well-documented.
Both competitors will headline UFC 132, when they meet in a rematch from WEC 26, to determine the newly crowned bantamweight champion.
While appearing as a guest on MMA Fight Corner Radio, Faber did not hold anything back when discussing his opponent. In fact, the former WEC featherweight champion used as little dialogue as possible
“Immature,” Faber said when asked on describing his opponent.
The last time both men competed, Faber picked up the victory, submitting Cruz via guillotine choke.
Since failing to recapture his featherweight title against Mike Thomas Brown and current title holder Jose Aldo, Faber recently moved down to bantamweight and made his debut at UFC 128.
Faber defeated Eddie Wineland via unanimous decision and following the bout he proceeded to call out his rival, Cruz.
The win ultimately earned Faber a title shot against Cruz, scheduled for this summer.
Faber continued to speak of his disdain for Cruz, and while he isn’t one to trash-talk or belittle his opponents, “The California Kid” said he respects the bantamweight champion, but he wouldn’t consider him a friend.
“I was forced to spend some time with him this last week with the Marines in Camp Pendleton in San Diego and it was fun,” Faber said.
“He can actually take a joke, and we were at each other’s throat a little bit at the beginning there. He’s a decent guy, but he has a lot of growing up to do, and me beating him up is going to be part of that process.”
UFC 132 is scheduled for July 2nd, live from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
