Tag: Yoel Romero

‘Jacare’ Souza: ‘Yoel Romero is The Dirty Fighter & Michael Bisping is The Chicken’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBWxXCDUJLY

One day after calling former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) middleweight title holder Luke Rockhold a “chicken,” Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza has taken things a step further. The former Strikeforce middleweight champion is now targeting reigning 185-pound champion Michael Bisping, and likely contender Yoel Romero.

Speaking with MMAJunkie.com, “Jacare” said he believes “The Count” will defend his belt against “The Soldier of God.” He didn’t speak highly of either fighter:

“I believe (Bisping vs. Romero) will happen. The dirty one, because Romero is a dirty fighter, against the chicken, the scared one – Bisping. So it will be kind of a weird fight. The dirty (fighter) against the chicken. I believe this will be the fight.”

Whether Souza was referring to Romero’s tainted supplement incident or his cage antics is up for debate.

Souza may have had harsh words for Bisping and Romero, but he was respectful of his next opponent Tim Boetsch. Souza will go toe-to-toe with “The Barbarian” at UFC 208 in Brooklyn, NY. “Jacare” is aware of Boetsch’s dangerous punching power.

“My opponent is trouble. He has a very hard hand – it can make it difficult for any opponent. His hook makes it tough. He’s very strong and his wrestling is very good, as well. So to sum it all up, he’s trouble.”

Many questioned why Boetsch was booked to fight Souza. With higher ranked fighters such as Gegard Mousasi and Robert Whittaker, “The Barbarian” was the last opponent fans expected for “Jacare.” Souza said the options were limited.

“My idea was to fight – that was my goal. I accepted everyone that was offered to me, and I accepted Boetsch. So it was kind of, I had to accept. There’s only that option.”

UFC 208 will be held inside the Barclays Center on Feb. 11. The main event will feature the inaugural women’s featherweight title fight between Holly Holm and Germaine de Randamie.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBWxXCDUJLY

One day after calling former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) middleweight title holder Luke Rockhold a “chicken,” Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza has taken things a step further. The former Strikeforce middleweight champion is now targeting reigning 185-pound champion Michael Bisping, and likely contender Yoel Romero.

Speaking with MMAJunkie.com, “Jacare” said he believes “The Count” will defend his belt against “The Soldier of God.” He didn’t speak highly of either fighter:

“I believe (Bisping vs. Romero) will happen. The dirty one, because Romero is a dirty fighter, against the chicken, the scared one – Bisping. So it will be kind of a weird fight. The dirty (fighter) against the chicken. I believe this will be the fight.”

Whether Souza was referring to Romero’s tainted supplement incident or his cage antics is up for debate.

Souza may have had harsh words for Bisping and Romero, but he was respectful of his next opponent Tim Boetsch. Souza will go toe-to-toe with “The Barbarian” at UFC 208 in Brooklyn, NY. “Jacare” is aware of Boetsch’s dangerous punching power.

“My opponent is trouble. He has a very hard hand – it can make it difficult for any opponent. His hook makes it tough. He’s very strong and his wrestling is very good, as well. So to sum it all up, he’s trouble.”

Many questioned why Boetsch was booked to fight Souza. With higher ranked fighters such as Gegard Mousasi and Robert Whittaker, “The Barbarian” was the last opponent fans expected for “Jacare.” Souza said the options were limited.

“My idea was to fight – that was my goal. I accepted everyone that was offered to me, and I accepted Boetsch. So it was kind of, I had to accept. There’s only that option.”

UFC 208 will be held inside the Barclays Center on Feb. 11. The main event will feature the inaugural women’s featherweight title fight between Holly Holm and Germaine de Randamie.

Predicting Each UFC Champion By The End Of 2017

Mixed martial arts (MMA) is highly unpredictable and championship level MMA shares this sentiment. Simply put, anything can happen in a fight and we learned that throughout 2016, especially in the UFC, the world’s largest mixed martial arts promotion. Specifically regarding title fights, we saw 10 new champions crowned in the UFC last year and

The post Predicting Each UFC Champion By The End Of 2017 appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

Mixed martial arts (MMA) is highly unpredictable and championship level MMA shares this sentiment. Simply put, anything can happen in a fight and we learned that throughout 2016, especially in the UFC, the world’s largest mixed martial arts promotion.

Specifically regarding title fights, we saw 10 new champions crowned in the UFC last year and that’s not including the crowning of two interim titleholders. We have seen titles tossed around like hot potatoes and fighters that we never expected to reach the pinnacle with belts around their waists.

It’s certainly an interesting time in the sport of mixed martial arts and 2017 could potentially bring more of the same as the sport continues to evolve and the competition continues to elevate.

With that being said, take a look at who we predicted to be wearing each UFC title by the end of the year below:

Joanna Champ

Women’s Strawweight: Joanna Jedrzejczyk

Reigning UFC women’s strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk has formed a tight grip on the 115-pound division and in the process she has become one of the promotion’s most dominant champions. The Polish striker has defended her title four consecutive times over the likes of Jessica Penne, Valerie Letourneau, Claudia Gadelha and Karolina Kowalkiewicz, which is second most only behind longtime flyweight king Demetrious Johnson.

While Jedrzejczyk did face some adversity in her most recent fight against Kowalkiewicz at Nov. 12, 2016’s UFC 205, she has been relatively dominant throughout her title reign and she has appeared to improve each and every time out. She doesn’t have her next fight scheduled as of now, but I expect her to continue to improve on her dangerous skill set and end off 2017 with the strap still around her waist.

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Chris Weidman Reacts To Gegard Mousasi’s Callout

Earlier today (Tues., December 20, 2016) surging UFC middleweight Gegard Mousasi called out former champion Chris Weidman in forceful fashion, implying that the New York native had already been sent a bout agreement to face “The Dreamcatcher” but was dragging his feet on signing. However, Weidman, who just got knocked out by a brutal flying knee

The post Chris Weidman Reacts To Gegard Mousasi’s Callout appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

Earlier today (Tues., December 20, 2016) surging UFC middleweight Gegard Mousasi called out former champion Chris Weidman in forceful fashion, implying that the New York native had already been sent a bout agreement to face “The Dreamcatcher” but was dragging his feet on signing.

However, Weidman, who just got knocked out by a brutal flying knee from Yoel Romero at UFC 205 on November 12, was quick to reply with confirmation that Mousasi’s name was only one of several he was presented with, and still needed time to heal up from his defeat anyhow:

It sense that the former champ needs more time to heal up from “Soldier of God’s” devastating knee, as Weidman was left bleeding profusely in the first-ever card from his home state of New York. Since he changed MMA history by knocking out Anderson and defending his belt three times against Silva, Lyoto Machida, and Vitor Belfort, Weidman has fallen on incredibly tough times, losing by way of brutal stoppage to Luke Rockhold for the title at UFC 194 and Romero.

Mousasi, meanwhile, has been on a tear after he lost to a highlight reel spin kick from Uriah Hall in September 2015, defeating Thales Leites, Thiago Santos, Vitor Belfort, and finally, Hall in their rematch last month to rack up a four-fight win streak with three finishes. He’s dangerously close to a title shot, but getting matched with Weidman would buck the UFC’s usual trend of booking fighters coming off of wins against one another. Still, Weidman could be the big name Mousasi needs to get over the top.

But if he wants to fight now, “The Dreamcatcher” will apparently have to look elsewhere.

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Best Of The Best: The Top 12 MMA Knockouts Of 2016

2016 is coming to a close, and another year of mixed martial arts (MMA) competition will soon be in the books. This year has given us some great memories in fighting; some historic, some spectacular, and some just plain amazing. One of the most exciting parts of MMA are the vicious knockouts fans tune in to

The post Best Of The Best: The Top 12 MMA Knockouts Of 2016 appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

2016 is coming to a close, and another year of mixed martial arts (MMA) competition will soon be in the books. This year has given us some great memories in fighting; some historic, some spectacular, and some just plain amazing.

One of the most exciting parts of MMA are the vicious knockouts fans tune in to see every week, and 2016 has presented plenty highlight reel KOs that we’ll never forget.

To commemorate those bouts, we’ve compiled a list of the best knockouts that we’ve seen this year, so let’s dive into LowKick’s top 10 MMA knockouts of 2016….

Paige-VanZant-KO-Bec-Rawlings-e1472346267979-537x30012. Paige VanZant vs. Bec Rawlings

Following her fifth-round submission loss to Rose Namajunas in December of last year, Paige VanZant took a little break from mixed martial arts (MMA) competition to compete in the 22nd season of Dancing With The Stars.

After finishing the competition as the runner-up, VanZant made her return to fighting action against Bec Rawlings, who was coming in off of a two-fight win streak that included a submission win over Lisa Ellis.

VanZant opened up the second round of her bout with Rawlings with a flashy maneuver that would land and send the Vancouver crowed into a frenzy, as the Team Alpha Male star landed a flush jumping head kick on Rawlings and finished her off with a few punches.

The jaw-dropping knockout earned VanZant her seventh professional win of her MMA career, and No. 12 on our list of top knockouts of 2016.

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Gegard Mousasi Calls Out Two Top Middleweight For UFC London

No. 5-ranked UFC middleweight Gegard Mousasi has been on a rabid tear through the 185-pound division with his current three-fight win streak. The former Strikeforce champion is coming off of a first round knockout win over Uriah Hall in their rematch main event at UFC Belfast earlier this month, marking Mousasi’s third straight knockout finish

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No. 5-ranked UFC middleweight Gegard Mousasi has been on a rabid tear through the 185-pound division with his current three-fight win streak.

The former Strikeforce champion is coming off of a first round knockout win over Uriah Hall in their rematch main event at UFC Belfast earlier this month, marking Mousasi’s third straight knockout finish since July. Now that he’s broken into the top five the Dutchman is looking to propel himself into the crowded middleweight title picture, and he believes a win over two certain fellow top ten 185-pounders will do the trick.

Mousasi recently spoke to Independent.co to discuss his future plans after his win over Hall, setting his sights on the co-main event slot of UFC London in March of 2017, a card he believes will be headlined by current division champ Michael Bisping:

“The UFC is coming back to the UK and I’ve already fought there a few times so it makes sense I fight there again,” Mousasi said. “If Michael Bisping fights Yoel Romero in the main event then I should fight in the co-main event – that would be nice.

“I like fighting in the UK and I prefer fighting in Europe so to me that all makes sense. I know that’s when Michael Bisping wants to defend his belt because that’s his home turf.”

As for his potential opponent in the co-main event slot, Mousasi targets up-and-coming middleweight Robbert Whittaker and former division champion Luke Rockhold as viable candidates:

“I think a fight with Robert Whittaker or Luke Rockhold would be good,” Mousasi said. “If I fight one of those guys in the co-main event I think that’s what makes most sense for me and what makes most sense for the UFC.

“A win over either of those guys should put me in line for the title shot, but I know it has to be impressive. I want that co-main event and I want it in March,” Mousasi said.

Mousasi does not have a preference as to whether or not it’s Whittaker or Rockhold next, but believes the UFC will determine the next challenger for the middleweight title with a bout between Rockhold and No. 3-ranked Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza:

“I’m not sure what the UFC are going to do, but I’m guessing they will do Jacare [Souza] versus Luke Rockhold to decide the next guy,” Mousasi said. “They are ahead of me right now I know that and I think the winner of that will be the next guy to fight for the title. Whatever though, I’m confident I would be Rockhold, I’ve seen things in his game that I can take advantage of.

“Now Robert Whittaker is coming through. I saw him beat Derek Brunson last weekend. He looked good and he’s powerful, but that was a crazy fight. He was wild and that wouldn’t work against me. I don’t care what the UFC are going to do. They could put me with anyone and I’m confident I would beat them.”

Regardless of who Mousasi gets matched-up with next, it is certain to be an entertaining bout for fight fans to enjoy. Who do you think the UFC will pair the Dutchman up with next?

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Longest UFC Winning Streaks Without A Title Shot

MMA is such a competitive, multi-faceted and unpredictable sport that putting together long winning streaks very rarely happen – particularly in the UFC, where many of the sport’s best fighters battle each other on a regular basis. With that in mind, you’d think that compiling a lengthy unbeaten run inside the Octagon would lead to

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MMA is such a competitive, multi-faceted and unpredictable sport that putting together long winning streaks very rarely happen – particularly in the UFC, where many of the sport’s best fighters battle each other on a regular basis.

With that in mind, you’d think that compiling a lengthy unbeaten run inside the Octagon would lead to a title shot sooner than later, but unfortunately the record books show that’s not always been the case.

As you’ll see in the pages that follow, there has been numerous examples in recent years of fighters putting together impressive winning streaks in the UFC without ever getting the opportunity to fight the champion of their division.

This is the story of some of those fighters who came so close, yet so far away to winning the belt, some who stubbornly refused to lose until they achieved their dream, and others who to this day continue to add to their unprecedented, record-breaking winning streaks in the hope that one day the blood, sweat and tears that they’ve spilled in the Octagon will finally be rewarded.

matt_brown

Matt Brown

7 Fights (February 2012 – May 2014)

Matt ‘The Immortal’ Brown’s seven fight winning streak between 2012-2014 will go down as one of the most unexpected career resurgences in UFC history, as prior to that he was on the verge of being cut after losing four of his previous five bouts.

A sudden surge in form saw him stop six out his next seven opponents by either TKO or KO, defeating well-respected fighters like Stephen Thompson, Mike Swick, Jordan Mein, Mike Pyle and Erick Silva along the way.

One final hurdle awaited him – a title eliminator fight against Robbie Lawler at UFC On FOX 12, but alas that proved to be a step too far, with Brown losing out by unanimous decision.

Brown has never been able to replicate that form in the years since, slumping to another 1-4 record over the past couple of years.

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