(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.
True story: After being forced to reign in my gambling habit (and temporarily flee the state) due to a particularly tough beat in the Dolphins-Pats game, I sheepishly made another go of it for UFC 178 last weekend, placing a harmless 100 dollar bet on an Ebersole-Masvidal-Zingano-Kennedy parlay. If all went according to plan, the bet would have netted me around $990, a.k.a enough to stop Hairy Mike and that bug-eyed goon Roscoe from throwing me out of another speeding car. (It’s the lack of respect that hurts the most. That and the road rash.)
At the end of the second round between Kennedy and Romero, I was never more sure that I would avoid another unfortunate roadside beatdown. Though I was bound to a chair with a gasoline-soaked rag stuffed in my mouth, confidence was flowing through every fabric of my being. “Mff iff i d,” I mumbled aloud, which is rag-speak for “This is my day.” When the allotted 60-second break between rounds had passed and Romero was still slunken on his stool, I came as close to jumping for joy as my constraints would allow. How could the fight *not* be over? Romero was out on his feet ass and Kennedy has already begun celebrating! Surely my moment of validation was at hand!
You could imagine my surprise when Big John McCarthy — he of MMA lore and Marvin Gaye lyric-stealing fame — not only *didn’t* call the fight right then and there, but actually allowed Romero to continue. The utter madness! In any case, the third round started, Romero channeled what I can only assume was voodoo strength, and the next thing I know, I’m being pushed out the back of an F-150 onto a crowded interstate highway. Life’s not fair sometimes.
The only person arguably more pissed at the controversial turn of events than myself was Tim Kennedy, who engaged in a heated debate with Romero’s corner backstage before filing an official appeal of the decision. Never one to shy away from telling it like it is, Kennedy appeared on The MMA Hour yesterday to air his grievances with what has since been dubbed “stoolgate” and took primary aim at none other than Big John himself.
I think John is the best ref in the promotion. He and Herb Dean, truly, I have respect for. He f—ed up majorly in my fight. He got owned. He got owned that night by a bunch of guys doing sh—y things. He got played by all three of them, and he just let it happen.
True story: After being forced to reign in my gambling habit (and temporarily flee the state) due to a particularly tough beat in the Dolphins-Pats game, I sheepishly made another go of it for UFC 178 last weekend, placing a harmless 100 dollar bet on an Ebersole-Masvidal-Zingano-Kennedy parlay. If all went according to plan, the bet would have netted me around $990, a.k.a enough to stop Hairy Mike and that bug-eyed goon Roscoe from throwing me out of another speeding car. (It’s the lack of respect that hurts the most. That and the road rash.)
At the end of the second round between Kennedy and Romero, I was never more sure that I would avoid another unfortunate roadside beatdown. Though I was bound to a chair with a gasoline-soaked rag stuffed in my mouth, confidence was flowing through every fabric of my being. “Mff iff i d,” I mumbled aloud, which is rag-speak for “This is my day.” When the allotted 60-second break between rounds had passed and Romero was still slunken on his stool, I came as close to jumping for joy as my constraints would allow. How could the fight *not* be over? Romero was out on his feet ass and Kennedy has already begun celebrating! Surely my moment of validation was at hand!
You could imagine my surprise when Big John McCarthy — he of MMA lore and Marvin Gaye lyric-stealing fame — not only *didn’t* call the fight right then and there, but actually allowed Romero to continue. The utter madness! In any case, the third round started, Romero channeled what I can only assume was voodoo strength, and the next thing I know, I’m being pushed out the back of an F-150 onto a crowded interstate highway. Life’s not fair sometimes.
The only person arguably more pissed at the controversial turn of events than myself was Tim Kennedy, who engaged in a heated debate with Romero’s corner backstage before filing an official appeal of the decision. Never one to shy away from telling it like it is, Kennedy appeared on The MMA Hour yesterday to air his grievances with what has since been dubbed “stoolgate” and took primary aim at none other than Big John himself.
I think John is the best ref in the promotion. He and Herb Dean, truly, I have respect for. He f—ed up majorly in my fight. He got owned. He got owned that night by a bunch of guys doing sh—y things. He got played by all three of them, and he just let it happen.
Everything [Romero’s corner] did was calculated, from the extra Vaseline, to throwing in the towels, to dumping bottles of water on the floor, to leaving the stool in there…that’s how pathetic this is. And the fact that they’re smug about it was even more tragic. It’s just that much more unprofessional.
And before the fight, I told John, I said listen, if I hurt him, he’s going to start playing cheap. I promise. His corner’s going to do it, and he’s going to do it.
It’s hard not to feel for Kennedy here — he rallied back from a ten minute ass-whooping to nearly finish the Cuban powerhouse with his only decent combination of the night, only to have his opponent rally from behind thanks to some undoubtedly sketchy tactics. Even Dana White admitted in the UFC 178 post-fight press conference that Romero’s corner pulled the oldest, dirtiest trick in the book by leaving him on his stool, so how are they seemingly getting away with it? Short answer: Because the Unified Rules of MMA are less actual “rules” than they are “guidelines to follow when most convenient.”
“If you get the 28 seconds to recover, imagine if I had the extra 28 seconds in the second round. The guy wouldn’t be walking for a month.” said Kennedy.
For what it’s worth, Romero’s coach, Ricardo Liborio, thinks that this was all one big misunderstanding that we should probably move on from:
I wasn’t inside the Octagon when it all happened. I was giving instructions outside the cage because Paulino (Hernandez), his boxing coach, doesn’t speak a single word in English. He only speaks Spanish. When they said seconds out, I went back to the corner and didn’t see what happened. “But when I was talking to Yoel, he was already back. He wasn’t out. He was talking to me. I told him ‘you have to go straight forward and win the round, you have to win the third round,’ and he said ‘I got it, coach.
I didn’t see anything going on there. I first heard about it when Joe Rogan asked him about it, and my Spanish isn’t that good either [laughs]. I don’t know how long did it take for the fight to restart, but Yoel wasn’t out and he never asked to stop the fight. The whole situation was a mess. Paulino never intended to win some time, and that’s not my style. I would never do something like that.
The tl:dr version:
My shattered tibia, on the other hand, is still calling bullshit on Romero’s win.
At UFC 178, Tim Kennedy was on the cusp of knocking out Yoel Romero in the dying seconds of round two, after he had endured a difficult 10 minutes against the Cuban powerhouse in their main card battle. Kennedy, who also grabbed Romero’s gloves to land several uppercuts, had “Soldier of God” in a world of hurt, as he continued to pounce on his adversary. The horn saved Romero, and as referee “Big” John McCarthy separated both fighters and ordered them to their respective corners, Romero looked as if he had spent three days in an afterhours club hopped up on Molly.
He had no clue where he was, sat on his stool, and looked quite petrified as he mumbled words to his coaches.
As both fighters were summoned for the third and final round, Romero just sat there while his coaches moved like tortoises exiting the cage. Despite his corner men stalling, Romero was still on his stool, with too much Vaseline on him. His corner proceeded to wipe it off, while the American walked around frustrated. As Joe Rogan went ballistic, the fight wasn’t called off, a point wasn’t even deducted, and more so, “Big” John McCarthy didn’t do a damn thing about it.
Seconds into the third round, Romero dropped Kennedy, pummeled him to hell and back, and stood over his bloody foe in victory after being awarded with the stoppage victory.
Pretty strange, huh?
Now, this reeks of controversy from both sides. Kennedy’s blatant glove-grabbing maybe wasn’t worthy of disqualification, yet Romero on his stool was pretty atrocious. Even if the fighter has too much Vaseline on him, which according to Dana White at the post-fight presser, was the promotion’s fault because it was one of their employees, he shouldn’t be chilling on the stool. But here’s the thing … were the corner men told to exit before taking the stool? Probably. However, isn’t it their job to actually take the stool?
Take a look at the confrontation between both fighters backstage, courtesy of a Vine post (props to MMA Fighting for the link) after the jump.
(Photo via Getty)
At UFC 178, Tim Kennedy was on the cusp of knocking out Yoel Romero in the dying seconds of round two, after he had endured a difficult 10 minutes against the Cuban powerhouse in their main card battle. Kennedy, who also grabbed Romero’s gloves to land several uppercuts, had “Soldier of God” in a world of hurt, as he continued to pounce on his adversary. The horn saved Romero, and as referee “Big” John McCarthy separated both fighters and ordered them to their respective corners, Romero looked as if he had spent three days in an afterhours club hopped up on Molly.
He had no clue where he was, sat on his stool, and looked quite petrified as he mumbled words to his coaches.
As both fighters were summoned for the third and final round, Romero just sat there while his coaches moved like tortoises exiting the cage. Despite his corner men stalling, Romero was still on his stool, with too much Vaseline on him. His corner proceeded to wipe it off, while the American walked around frustrated. As Joe Rogan went ballistic, the fight wasn’t called off, a point wasn’t even deducted, and more so, “Big” John McCarthy didn’t do a damn thing about it.
Seconds into the third round, Romero dropped Kennedy, pummeled him to hell and back, and stood over his bloody foe in victory after being awarded with the stoppage victory.
Pretty strange, huh?
Now, this reeks of controversy from both sides. Kennedy’s blatant glove-grabbing maybe wasn’t worthy of disqualification, yet Romero on his stool was pretty atrocious. Even if the fighter has too much Vaseline on him, which according to Dana White at the post-fight presser, was the promotion’s fault because it was one of their employees, he shouldn’t be chilling on the stool. But here’s the thing … were the corner men told to exit before taking the stool? Probably. However, isn’t it their job to actually take the stool?
Let’s take a look at the confrontation between both fighters backstage, courtesy of a Vine post (props to MMA Fighting for the link):
We’re probably set for more footage shortly, via video blogs or UFC Embedded. Also, Kennedy found the exact ruling from the Nevada Athletic Commission regarding recovery in between rounds, and shared it via Twitter:
The American plans to file a complain with the commission in the upcoming days, according to MMA Junkie. It remains to be seen if the commission will act on this matter, or if it’s just an unfortunate circumstance that won’t be fixed altogether.
So immediate rematch of last night’s “Fight of The Night?” Nah, I think we’re good. Potential change to a no-contest? Maybe … just maybe (doubt it, though).
