Tag: weight drop

Lyoto Machida Drops to Middleweight to Face Tim Kennedy at ‘Fight for the Troops 3?


(Let me guess: Liquid diet?)

Lyoto Machida had a damn good run at light-heavyweight. The hard-to-touch karate fighter spent a year as the UFC’s 205-pound champion in 2009-2010, and has earned victories against Dan Henderson, Randy Couture, Rashad Evans, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, Tito Ortiz, Ryan Bader, and Thiago Silva. If you’re keeping score, that’s five former world-champions, a TUF winner, and a weed-puffin’ juice-monkey. What other active LHW can claim that kind of resume, outside of Jon Jones himself?

But following a loss to Phil Davis earlier this month — which he blamed on Davis running away from him during the fight, oh irony of ironies — Machida will officially be testing the waters in a new weight class. UFC president Dana White announced last night on FOX Sports Live that Machida will be making the drop to middleweight, and will face Tim Kennedy in the main event of Fight for the Troops 3, November 6th at Fort Campbell in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. Kennedy is on a two-fight win streak, most recently getting Roger Gracie fired at UFC 162, and will surely be the recipient of some totally-acceptable “USA!” chants during the match.

For Machida, the drop in weight is a logical step and long overdue. “The Dragon” has often showed up to weigh-ins under the 205-pound limit, most notably coming in four pounds under for his August 2012 fight against Ryan Bader, and three pounds under for his subsequent fight against Dan Henderson. In terms of height and reach, he’s not too much different from Nick Diaz, who he was rumored to fight until the UFC realized it was a bad idea. Fighting smaller opponents at 185 could jump-start Machida’s career, and put him on a new path to a title — as long as his longtime friend Anderson Silva doesn’t get in the way.

At this point, the only other match booked for Fight for the Troops 3 is the lightweight scrap between Jorge Masvidal and Rustam Khabilov. The two previous installments of Fight for the Troops helped raise over $8 million for the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund.


(Let me guess: Liquid diet?)

Lyoto Machida had a damn good run at light-heavyweight. The hard-to-touch karate fighter spent a year as the UFC’s 205-pound champion in 2009-2010, and has earned victories against Dan Henderson, Randy Couture, Rashad Evans, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, Tito Ortiz, Ryan Bader, and Thiago Silva. If you’re keeping score, that’s five former world-champions, a TUF winner, and a weed-puffin’ juice-monkey. What other active LHW can claim that kind of resume, outside of Jon Jones himself?

But following a loss to Phil Davis earlier this month — which he blamed on Davis running away from him during the fight, oh irony of ironies — Machida will officially be testing the waters in a new weight class. UFC president Dana White announced last night on FOX Sports Live that Machida will be making the drop to middleweight, and will face Tim Kennedy in the main event of Fight for the Troops 3, November 6th at Fort Campbell in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. Kennedy is on a two-fight win streak, most recently getting Roger Gracie fired at UFC 162, and will surely be the recipient of some totally-acceptable “USA!” chants during the match.

For Machida, the drop in weight is a logical step and long overdue. “The Dragon” has often showed up to weigh-ins under the 205-pound limit, most notably coming in four pounds under for his August 2012 fight against Ryan Bader, and three pounds under for his subsequent fight against Dan Henderson. In terms of height and reach, he’s not too much different from Nick Diaz, who he was rumored to fight until the UFC realized it was a bad idea. Fighting smaller opponents at 185 could jump-start Machida’s career, and put him on a new path to a title — as long as his longtime friend Anderson Silva doesn’t get in the way.

At this point, the only other match booked for Fight for the Troops 3 is the lightweight scrap between Jorge Masvidal and Rustam Khabilov. The two previous installments of Fight for the Troops helped raise over $8 million for the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund.

Clay Guida to Drop to Featherweight, Expects Early 2013 Return

tk
(Careful Clay, all those fruity, sugary, woman drinks ironically go right to the hips.)

On the heels of a razor thin split decision loss to Gray Maynard at UFC on FX 4, his second loss to top tier competition in as many fights, it appears that everybody’s favorite energizer bunny/alcoholic, Clay Guida, will be dropping to featherweight for his next fight. Although no debut date or opponent have been decided as of this write up, Guida told MMAJunkie that he expects to make his featherweight debut sometime in early 2013.

Prior to his current two fight skid, Guida racked up four straight wins over such names as former PRIDE lightweight kingpin Takanori Gomi and former WEC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis among others, pulling in two Submission of the Night awards in the process and bringing his total award count to 7.

tk
(Careful Clay, all those fruity, sugary, woman drinks ironically go right to the hips.)

On the heels of a razor thin split decision loss to Gray Maynard at UFC on FX 4, his second loss to top tier competition in as many fights, it appears that everybody’s favorite energizer bunny/alcoholic, Clay Guida, will be dropping to featherweight for his next fight. Although no debut date or opponent have been decided as of this write up, Guida told MMAJunkie that he expects to make his featherweight debut sometime in early 2013.

Prior to his current two fight skid, Guida racked up four straight wins over such names as former PRIDE lightweight kingpin Takanori Gomi and former WEC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis among others, pulling in two Submission of the Night awards in the process and bringing his total award count to 7.

His most recent fight with Maynard was, at the risk of overusing the term, “Starnesian” to say the least — consisting of long periods of inactivity and avoidance (one which earned him a timidity warning from referee Dan Miragliotta) punctuated by the occasional combination — and was criticized by both the fans and Dana White, who declared the contest to be “a blowout for Maynard” and “not a fight” at all. Personally, I think Guida was simply protesting the decision that forced him to braid his hair, which was a goddamned travesty in every sense of the word. That being said, a good percentage of the viewing audience still scored the fight in favor of Guida, because denial is a powerful, powerful thing (insert vitriol filled “hack journalist”, “fool”, and “disgrace to MMA writers around the world” comments here). In either case, you have to imagine Guida will be looking to impress both the audience and his supreme overlord in his next bout.

Given that the featherweight division, not unlike most divisions, is still residing beneath an absent champion, Guida’s presence at 145 could cause a lot of waves in the title landscape. Now that Frankie Edgar has been left without a dance partner for his big debut, who would like to see him face Guida while Jose recovers from his joyriding accident?

–J. Jones

Frankie Edgar Faces Reality, Will Drop to Featherweight for Next Fight

(Props: fueltv)

Following his second heartbreaking decision loss to Ben Henderson, former UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar has made the decision to drop to featherweight. The news was broken by Ariel Helwani yesterday on FUEL TV’s UFC Tonight. Since he reportedly walks around at less than 160 pounds, it’ll be a much more competitive division for Edgar, who has generally been out-sized in the Octagon, sometimes significantly. Of course, when Edgar began his UFC career in February 2007, featherweight wasn’t even an option.

Edgar is looking at December for his 145-pound debut, against an opponent to be named later. Though Frankie will likely have to win at least one fight before getting a crack at the title, featherweight champion Jose Aldo — who fights Erik Koch in October — is already laying the groundwork for a heated rivalry. As “Scarface” told Tatame:


(Props: fueltv)

Following his second heartbreaking decision loss to Ben Henderson, former UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar has made the decision to drop to featherweight. The news was broken by Ariel Helwani yesterday on FUEL TV’s UFC Tonight. Since he reportedly walks around at less than 160 pounds, it’ll be a much more competitive division for Edgar, who has generally been out-sized in the Octagon, sometimes significantly. Of course, when Edgar began his UFC career in February 2007, featherweight wasn’t even an option.

Edgar is looking at December for his 145-pound debut, against an opponent to be named later. Though Frankie will likely have to win at least one fight before getting a crack at the title, featherweight champion Jose Aldo — who fights Erik Koch in October — is already laying the groundwork for a heated rivalry. As “Scarface” told Tatame:

“He said he wants to drop to the featherweight so I’m hoping he does that to end this story,” Aldo said. “He’s welcome here so that we shut him off and he goes to the lightweight or bantamweight classes.”

Not exactly a warm welcome to the division. Still, Edgar’s arrival into the featherweight division opens up some fantastic matchup possibilities. In the clip above, Kenny Florian mentions three great ones…

Chad Mendes: The former featherweight title contender recently rebounded from his January loss to Jose Aldo by body-shot KO’ing Cody McKenzie in just 31 seconds. Scrappy wrestler vs. scrappy wrestler?

Chan Sung Jung: The Korean Zombie’s last three fights have ended in highlight-reel stoppage victories, and Jung vs. Edgar sounds like a perfect #1 contender fight in the 145-pound division. Personally, I think Zombie’s already earned his title shot, but one more big win would clinch it.

Dustin Poirier: Unfortunately, “The Diamond” was the most recent victim of the Korean Zombie, but if the UFC wants to give Edgar a softer introduction into the featherweight class — rather than throw him in against one of their top two contenders — Poirier makes a lot of sense, and his aggressive fighting style would make for a great pairing with Edgar.

So who gets your vote? And do any of you not support Edgar’s decision to drop to 145?

Cris ‘Cyborg’ Says Strikeforce Wants Her to Drop to 135 Because They Can’t Find Anyone to Fight Her


(Cyborg at 135 will be a scary woman, especially to other 135-pound women)

In an interview she did this week with TATAME, Strikeforce featherweight champ Cristiane Santos revealed a bit of insight into the plans the promotion has for its women’s division.

According to “Cyborg,” the Zuffa-owned organization has asked her to drop down to 135 following her December 17 title defense against Hiroko Yamanaka as they are looking to do away with the 145-pound class since they can’t find anyone to face her. On the bright side, Santos says she’s lucky that Strikeforce is accommodating the women on its roster considering UFC president Dana White’s thoughts on female MMA.

“I signed the contract for these four fights after UFC purchased Strikeforce, so I guess they’ll keep us, they’ll keep the female divisions and female MMA keeps growing and growing, and I guess they’re keeping the girls and it depends on what we do to call UFC’s attention,” Santos explains. “[As of right now there] are still two weight divisions: 135lbs and 145lbs.”


(Cyborg at 135 will be a scary woman, especially to other 135-pound women)

In an interview she did this week with TATAME, Strikeforce featherweight champ Cristiane Santos revealed a bit of insight into the plans the promotion has for its women’s division.

According to “Cyborg,” the Zuffa-owned organization has asked her to drop down to 135 following her December 17 title defense against Hiroko Yamanaka as they are looking to do away with the 145-pound class since they can’t find anyone to face her. On the bright side, Santos says she’s lucky that Strikeforce is accommodating the women on its roster considering UFC president Dana White’s thoughts on female MMA.

“I signed the contract for these four fights after UFC purchased Strikeforce, so I guess they’ll keep us, they’ll keep the female divisions and female MMA keeps growing and growing, and I guess they’re keeping the girls and it depends on what we do to call UFC’s attention,” Santos explains. “[As of right now there] are still two weight divisions: 135lbs and 145lbs.”

The 26-year-old Brazilian, who already cuts a massive amount of weight to make 145, says she’ll have her work cut out for her dropping another 10 pounds, but she’s willing to give it a shot if it means keeping her job.

“It’s already hard for me to drop to 145lbs, I gotta work a lot and they’re thinking about one division only. They asked me if I could do it. I can try; it’s not impossible. Let’s see… I guess that in the future there’ll be some news,” she predicts. “It’ll be hard because I got a lot of weight to lose, but it’d be good because I could fight more. I guess it’s important to keep active, it’s my job, so I’ll try it to stay here.”

In other news, the whole Strikeforce women’s 135-pound division announced today that it will be dropping to 125.

I say put Cris in with some of the men her size and see how she does if they can’t find women to fight her. The only problem with that plan that is they’d probably give Kenny Florian an immediate title shot at the new unisex belt.