(Dominick “The Dominator” Cruz returns from a lengthy injury layoff once again next weekend, so let’s celebrate by watching him beat the tar out of Takeya Mizugaki.)
(Dominick “The Dominator” Cruz returns from a lengthy injury layoff once again next weekend, so let’s celebrate by watching him beat the tar out of Takeya Mizugaki.)
The MMA gods have, for the most part, safely guided one of the most stacked cards in UFC history to fruition. Amidst those ever-prevalent claims of oversaturation, the UFC have mustered up an ubercard for the ages. Featherweight kingpin Jose Aldo will finally defend his title against interim champion Conor McGregor. Middleweight champion Chris Weidman takes on No.1 contender Luke Rockhold in the co-main event. Then you’ve got Romero vs. Souza, Maia vs. Nelson…the list goes on and on.
Nation, it’s been an emotional journey. An unprecedented world media tour. Fractured ribs. Interim titles. More heated staredowns. These have all led to this mammoth main-event. I don’t know about you, but I’m giddy with excitement as months of trash-talking all culminate this weekend. To honour this epic event, I’ve compiled an A-to-Z list previewing each and every aspect of UFC 194. Join me?
The MMA gods have, for the most part, safely guided one of the most stacked cards in UFC history to fruition. Amidst those ever-prevalent claims of oversaturation, the UFC have mustered up an ubercard for the ages. Featherweight kingpin Jose Aldo will finally defend his title against interim champion Conor McGregor. Middleweight champion Chris Weidman takes on No.1 contender Luke Rockhold in the co-main event. Then you’ve got Romero vs. Souza, Maia vs. Nelson…the list goes on and on.
Nation, it’s been an emotional journey. An unprecedented world media tour. Fractured ribs. Interim titles. More heated staredowns. These have all led to this mammoth main-event. I don’t know about you, but I’m giddy with excitement as months of trash-talking all culminate this weekend. To honour this epic event, I’ve compiled an A-to-Z list previewing each and every aspect of UFC 194. Join me?
Rockhold’s stand-up skills pave the way for his buttery smooth ground game. Weidman will have to be wary of the former Strikeforce champions efficiency on the mat.
C is for Coaches
As well as the primed fighters, the two title-bouts also pit masterful coaches against one another in Pederneiras vs. Kavanagh and Longo/Serra vs. Cook/Mendez.
D is for Division I
The middleweight challenger does indeed own a fierce, aggressive jiu-jitsu game, but Weidman brings his Division I wrestling credentials to the table pitting the two noble disciplines.
The main-card will open in style with Max Holloway vs. Jeremy Stephens, a fight that is largely flying under the radar when compared to the simply epic fights that come after it. Come to think of it, the whole card other than Aldo-McGregor is flying under the radar.
Don’t be surprised to see ‘The Notorious’ in movie theatres near you in the future. McGregor claims Hollywood is screaming for him, so let’s hope it doesn’t get to his head like certain other fighters.
I is for Interim
Interim champion McGregor doesn’t want to be labelled as interim champion, which, okayyyyy.
J is for Jiu-Jitsu
Ice-cool Gunnar Nelson will take on the equally stoic Demian Maia. Two of the finest jiu-jitsu practitioners on the planet going head-to-head, which can only mean that a sloppy stand-up war is what will ensue.
K is for Kicks
Rockhold’s kicks > Aldo’s kicks. Yeah, I said it.
L is for Lightweight
Win or lose, is McGregor planning his exit from the featherweight division? He’s stated on numerous occasions about his intentions of challenging for the 155lbs title, and has already talked his way into a fight with the Donald Cerrone-Rafael Dos Anjos lightweight title winner.
M is for Movement
Being a so-called “student of movement” with an obsession over the mechanics of the human anatomy, McGregor linked up with martial art guru Ido Portal recently, as seen in the UFC 194 embedded vlog series, where he polished and further enhanced his range of movements.
N is for Newcomer
Newcomer Jocelyn Jones-Lybarger would make a huge statement in the women’s strawweight division if she could take out the No.5 ranked Tecia Torres.
O is for “Overaggressive”
According to Rockhold, the undefeated champion is “overaggressive” and “clumsy.” Does anyone agree with the challenger’s statement?
P is for Pay
In case you were worried that MMA referees are overpaid, they’re not. ‘Big’ John McCarthy will make a measly $1,900 for reffing Aldo-McGregor. Stay classy, NSAC.
Q is for Quality
The quality of the top three fights goes without saying, but the combined record of those 6 fighters, in case you were wondering? 102-9. Ridiculous.
Aldo’s sneaky-good wrestling, as displayed against Mark Hominick and Chan Sung Jung, coupled with his jiu-jitsu black belt could be his way to victory against McGregor, whose only losses have come on the ground.
Urijah Faber is the pound-for-pound king of headlining prelims. At UFC 194, he’ll be taking on huge underdog Frankie Saenz in the coveted “featured prelim” slot once again.
V is for Vocal
Come fight night, The MGM Grand Garden Arena is going to be a melting pot of vocal Irish and Brazilian fans. Event security is going to have their hands full.
W is for Weapons
It seems fans and critics alike are heavily obsessing over the possible inefficacy of Aldo’s leg-kicks due to McGregor’s southpaw stance. Newsflash: the Brazilian has many other potent weapons in his arsenal like the power in his hands as well as his stellar ground game.
X is for X-Rated
Middleweight champion Chris Weidman recently recalled his worst injury on Huffington Post Live. FYI: It’s penis-related.
(There’s probably a fight happening somewhere in this picture, but I’ll be damned if I can see anything but Mike Beltran’s awesome beard. Look at how it flows with the wind, Nation, like a field of wheat or those giant rubber wipers at a carwash that you would always pretend were octopus tentacles when you were a kid. Remember being that age, your mind full of wonder and excitement? Now there is only cynicism. Cynicism and self-loathing……………………………
…………………………………………….I’ve completely forgotten what I was talking about.)
We know that declaring any UFC card in today’s era as “stacked” is all but the kiss of death, but you guys, UFC 194 is stacked. That it only has three fights booked so far is a testament to how stacked it is, and unfortunately also a testament to how doomed it is to lose at least one of those fights within the coming weeks.
But for now, the December 12th-scheduled card will feature a pair of title fights in Conor McGregor vs. Jose Aldo and Chris Weidman vs. Taylor Swift’s BFF. As if that wasn’t enough, the UFC announced earlier today that another key middleweight matchup will take place on the card as well: 4th-ranked Yoel Romero vs. 3rd-ranked Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza.
(There’s probably a fight happening somewhere in this picture, but I’ll be damned if I can see anything but Mike Beltran’s awesome beard. Look at how it flows with the wind, Nation, like a field of wheat or those giant rubber wipers at a carwash that you would always pretend were octopus tentacles when you were a kid. Remember being that age, your mind full of wonder and excitement? Now there is only cynicism. Cynicism and self-loathing……………………………
…………………………………………….I’ve completely forgotten what I was talking about.)
We know that declaring any UFC card in today’s era as “stacked” is all but the kiss of death, but you guys, UFC 194 is stacked. That it only has three fights booked so far is a testament to how stacked it is, and unfortunately also a testament to how doomed it is to lose at least one of those fights within the coming weeks.
But for now, the December 12th-scheduled card will feature a pair of title fights in Conor McGregor vs. Jose Aldo and Chris Weidman vs. Taylor Swift’s BFF. As if that wasn’t enough, the UFC announced earlier today that another key middleweight matchup will take place on the card as well: 4th-ranked Yoel Romero vs. 3rd-ranked Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza.
Romero and Souza were originally scheduled to fight at UFC 184 last February, but thanks to a particularly nasty bout of pneumonia, the latter had to withdraw from the event. The bout was then rescheduled for UFC on FOX 15 in April, but then it was Romero who went down with IBS a torn meniscus, forcing the UFC to once again sacrifice Chris Camozzi to the Alligator Gods. So we’re sure that everything will work out just fine this time around.
Still undefeated in his UFC career, Romero last competed at UFC Fight Night 70, KOing Lyoto Machida with some BRUTAL elbows from the top early in the third round. Souza is similarly undefeated thus far into his UFC career, having picked up five straight over the likes of Gegard Mousasi and Francis Carmont among others. The two share a common opponent in Derek Brunson (pictured above), whom Souza scored a quick KO over back in the Strikeforce days and Romero elbowed into oblivion back at Fight Night 35. Brunson, believe it or not, actually decided to stick with this whole fighting thing and has since gone on a three-fight win streak. Good for him.
Lyoto Machida may have been the slight favorite heading into Saturday’s fight against Yoel Romero, but “The Soldier of God” nearly sent him to Jesus with a series of (as Thomas Myers best described them) “murderous” elbows in the third round of their Fight Night 70 headliner.
Video highlights and a complete list of results are after the jump.
Lyoto Machida may have been the slight favorite heading into Saturday’s fight against Yoel Romero, but “The Soldier of God” nearly sent him to Jesus with a series of (as Thomas Myers best described them) “murderous” elbows in the third round of their Fight Night 70 headliner.
Video highlights and a complete list of results are after the jump.
Despite some success on the feet early, “The Dragon” just wasn’t sitting down on enough of his punches and kicks to really put Romero in any danger as the fight progressed, and as the Cuban Olympian (Cubolympian?) began to find his range late in the second, a familiar, foreboding vibe settled in the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino — the kind of vibe most of us felt in Machida’s last bout against Luke Rockhold. Something bad was going to happen to one of the nicest guys in the sport, and soon.
Granted, most of us who had that feeling probably didn’t assume”soon” meant “within 5 seconds of being taken down”, but that’s exactly what happened. Romero torpedoed Machida with ground-n-pound — exposing perhaps the biggest hole in Machida’s game in the process — then proceeded to nearly torpedo his own career with some ill-timed remarks during his post-fight interview (remarks which he would backtrack on later that evening). Being neither a Spanish speaker nor someone who witnessed the comments live, I’m not prepared to take Romero to task at the moment — though I wouldn’t exactly be shocked if a guy nicknamed “Soldier of God” had some less than favorable opinions on marriage equality.
Elsewhere on the card, some exciting finishes happened in some mostly inconsequential fights. Fight Night 70 may have held one of the most destitute main card lineups in recent history (Lorenz Larkin? In a co-main?), but thankfully, these garbage-ass matchups led to moments like this:
Yep, that’s former hockey enforcer Steve Bosse returning from a two-year retirement to eat one of the cleanest (and therefore nastiest) head kicks you will ever see courtesy of Thiago Santos. How many Thiago Santos’ are there in the UFC, anyway? Like 10 Thiagos Santoses? That question aside, I think any MMA fighter currently on a 2+ year hiatus from the sport should take note of the performances of Bosse — and to a lesser extent: Cain Velasquez — when considering a comeback. That note being: DON’T COME BACK OR YOU WILL LIKELY DIE.
Speaking of dying, Fight Night 70′s aforementioned co-main between Larkin and Santiago Ponzinibbio ended with the former beating the latter into the living death. I don’t know if Herb Dean fell asleep at the wheel or if the 30-some punches Larkin landed on Ponzinibbio was just Karma’s way of paying back Larkin for the unnecessary beating King Mo put on him, but in either case, it was almost enough to mar what was a fun, back-and-forth fight beforehand.
Is is safe to slap a “Worst TUF Winner Ever” label on Eddie Gordon yet, or is that an honor that Colton Smith is destined to hold? James Wilks maybe? Anyway, Gordon ate his third consecutive defeat since winning that season of TUF that we all agreed to never talk about again via a third round submission to someone named Antonio Carlos Jr. When you’re losing to Brazilians with as names as forgettable as that (see also: Santos, Thiago), it’s safe to say that you are not on your way to becoming a household name yourself, which is a shame, because the UFC needs more Matt Serra in their lives (as do we) and they’re only just starting to realize it.
The full results for Fight Night 70 are below.
Main card
Yoel Romero def. Lyoto Machida via TKO at 1:38 of round three.
Lorenz Larkin def. Santiago Ponzinibbio via TKO at 3:07 of round two.
Antonio Carlos Junior def. Eddie Gordon via submission (rear naked choke) at 4:33 of round three.
Thiago Santos def. Steve Bosse via KO at 0:29 of round one.
Hacran Dias def. Levan Makashvili via split decision (29-28 x2, 28-29)
Undercard
Alex Oliveira def. Joe Merritt via unaimous decision (30-27 x3)
Leandro Silva def. Lewis Gonzalez via unanimous decision (30-27 X2, 29-28)
Tony Sims def. Steve Montgomery via TKO at 2:47 of round one.
Sirwan Kakai def. Danny Martinez via unanimous decision (30-27 x3)
Well shoot, this one kind of hurts. Due to a bout of pneumonia, top middleweight contender Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza has withdrawn from his scheduled meeting with Yoel Romero at UFC 184 (February 28th, Los Angeles). UFC officials have decided to reschedule the match for a later date, rather than find a replacement opponent for Romero at the event.
With Jacare vs. Romero scratched, a prelim bout between lightweights Tony Ferguson and Yancy Medeiros has been pulled up to the PPV main card. The current UFC 184 lineup looks like this:
Well shoot, this one kind of hurts. Due to a bout of pneumonia, top middleweight contender Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza has withdrawn from his scheduled meeting with Yoel Romero at UFC 184 (February 28th, Los Angeles). UFC officials have decided to reschedule the match for a later date, rather than find a replacement opponent for Romero at the event.
With Jacare vs. Romero scratched, a prelim bout between lightweights Tony Ferguson and Yancy Medeiros has been pulled up to the PPV main card. The current UFC 184 lineup looks like this:
UFC 184 PRELIMINARY CARD
Mark Munoz vs. Roan Carneiro
Alan Jouban vs. Richard Walsh Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto vs. Roman Salazar
Derrick Lewis vs. Ruan Potts
James Krause vs. Valmir Lazaro
Masio Fullen vs. Alexander Torres
It’s a match with high stakes, as it could theoretically produce a new title contender at 185-pounds. Jacare is currently listed as the #3 middleweight contender in the promotion’s rankings, and is a perfect 4-0 in the UFC with stoppage wins against Chris Camozzi, Yushin Okami, and Gegard Mousasi. Romero is ranked #6 and is 5-0 in the UFC, with four of those wins coming via KO/TKO. The “Soldier of God” most recently picked up a very controversial win against Tim Kennedy (#stoolgate), but nevertheless, this is a dangerous dude who can swing the hammers.
It’s a match with high stakes, as it could theoretically produce a new title contender at 185-pounds. Jacare is currently listed as the #3 middleweight contender in the promotion’s rankings, and is a perfect 4-0 in the UFC with stoppage wins against Chris Camozzi, Yushin Okami, and Gegard Mousasi. Romero is ranked #6 and is 5-0 in the UFC, with four of those wins coming via KO/TKO. The “Soldier of God” most recently picked up a very controversial win against Tim Kennedy (#stoolgate), but nevertheless, this is a dangerous dude who can swing the hammers.
