Before I get into this current article, I feel the need to say something in regards to some of the comments I made on Saturday’s show. I won’t go into specifics, but at some point in the show I made some negative comments about a couple of professional fighters and even went as far as to say one or more of those fighters “sucked.” After thinking back on those comments I realized that saying something like that about those fighters was completely inappropriate and unprofessional. It’s one thing to acknowledge the weaknesses in a particular fighters skill set in a civilized and objective manner, but to make those comments in the way that I did showed a complete lack of respect and I want to apologize. With that being said, let’s get back to the article.
With the recent deal between the UFC and FOX, it seemed like the sport’s popularity was at an all time high, but currently we are seeing significant drop in PPV buys as well as some questionable decision-making from the Zuffa brass. For quite some …
Or should I say, “whoa”?
At UFC 137, Nick Diaz put on what could very well be a career-defining performance. After surviving UFC legend BJ Penn’s best for five minutes, Diaz turned to his signature “pitter-patter” boxing and mind-blowing cardio to hand Penn what was easily one of his worst career losses.
Never one to be contented, Diaz began calling out welterweight champion—and his original opponent—Georges St-Pierre, as soon as Joe Rogan got a mic in his hands, “I don’t think Georges is hurt, I think he’s scared,” proclaimed Diaz.
Fast forward to the post-fight press conference, where the Diaz “woe show” continued. Railing on about everything from his performance against Penn, his compensation (or perceived lack thereof), his neighborhood, and his difficulty getting the fight he wants, Diaz did nothing to help solve the conundrum that is his personality.
Upon hearing the news that he would be facing St-Pierre on Feb. 4, 2012, the fight that he wanted all along, Diaz seemed even more angry, “I got to be the bad guy, got to point the finger…make me the …
UFC 137 goes down this Saturday, Oct. 29 at 9PM on Pay-Per-View.
Originally scheduled as Georges St-Pierre’s eighth title defense against Nick Diaz, a strange series of events have left us with BJ Penn vs. Diaz as the main event of the evening.
After missing two press conferences, Diaz was replaced in the main event against St-Pierre by Carlos Condit, who had been originally scheduled to fight Penn. St-Pierre then pulled out of the fight due to an injury in training, leaving Penn vs. Diaz as the main event of the evening.
The full card has a total of 11 fights—four on Facebook, two on Spike TV, and five on PPV:
Facebook
- Dustin Jacoby vs. Clifford Starks
- Chris Camozzi vs. Francis “Limitless” Carmont
- Dan “Danny Boy” Downes vs. Ramsey Nijem
- Brandon “The Truth” Vera vs. Eliot “The Fire” Marshal
Spike TV
- Tyson Griffin vs. Bart “Bartimus” Palaszewski
- Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone vs. Dennis Siver
Pay-Per-View
- Hatsu Hioki vs. George Roop
- Scott “Young Guns” Jorgensen vs. Jeff “Big Frog” Curran
- Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic vs. Roy “Big Country” Nelson
- Cheick Kongo vs. Matt Mitrione
- BJ
…
It was an unfortunate case of déjà vu for UFC Lightweight Champion, Frankie Edgar. Just as it happened in their second clash at UFC 125: Resolution nine months earlier, Frankie found himself, once again, desperately trying to survive the first round after getting rocked by a well-timed uppercut from his nemesis, Gray Maynard. This time though, Maynard patiently picked his shots, unlike their last meeting where he frantically tried to finish the fight and only managed to gas himself out. This time was going to be different. Right?
Unfortunately for Maynard, it was indeed an unfortunate case of déjà vu. Frankie managed to survive the first round, just as he had in their last fight. Frankie also managed to tie it up on any competent judge’s score card by round 3. And much unlike their last clash, Edgar completely turned the tides on Maynard in the 4th round and handed “The Bully” his very first loss, via TKO no less.
Immediately following Edgar’s dramatic win several fans voiced what I thought was a strange proclamation of the Lightweight Champion. …
Chael Sonnen is back.
In a dominant performance against Brian Stann at UFC 136, it looked as if someone forgot to tell Sonnen that he was supposed to be rusty after a 14 month layoff.
Utilizing his superior grappling, Sonnen brought Stann to the ground with relative ease and transitioned past Stann’s guard seemingly at will. After controlling his way to a 10-9 first round, Sonnen worked Stann into a head and arm triangle choke, easily passed to side control, and forced Stann to tap at minute 3:51 of round two.
Though he’s typically seen as a hard-nosed grinder, having earned more than half of his victories by decision, Sonnen very much looked the part of finisher last night. He stayed active on top of Stann and tallied his fourth career submission win.
Though many fighters would allow their dismantling of a game opponent to speak for itself, Sonnen wasted no time getting back to his old ways.
After being understandably subdued in the pre-fight lead up to UFC 136—Stann, an American war hero and all-around great guy, is near impossible …
Well after waking up this morning, feeling a little groggy from last night’s festivities, I couldn’t help but have some mixed feelings towards what I watched last evening. The Facebook portion of the card delivered one-sided, yet rarely impressive decision wins as well as yet another sloppy, gassed-out heavyweight brawl. The prelims on Spike TV, despite consisting of two fights that easily could have been on the main card, fell short of expectations with Pettis/Stephens resulting in an unexpected clinch and takedown battle and Maia/Santiago being nothing more than Maia using his stifling ground control to prevent Santiago from doing anything remotely offensive. Luckily, once the pay-per-view portion of the evening started, the rest of the card kicked it into overdrive and really delivered.
- Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard III looked a lot like their 2nd fight early on when Maynard stunned Edgar and had him on wobbly legs. Once again, though, Edgar recovered nicely and went on to confuse and frustrate Maynard with his superior footwork and boxing and took rounds two and three. In round 4, the
…
The UFC arrives in Houston, TX with UFC 136 this Saturday, October 8th, at 9PM ET, live on Pay-Per-View.
This is a stacked fight card, headlined by two title fights, as well as potentially two title contention eliminator fights. UFC 136 features five main card fights, and six preliminary card fights. If you’re a fight fan, you’ll want to be in front of a TV for this one:
Preliminary Card
- Steve “Robot” Cantwell vs. Mike “The Master of Disaster” Massenzio
- Aaron “A-Train” Simpson vs. Eric “Red” Schaefer
- Tiequan “The Wolf” Zhang vs. Darren “The Damage” Elkins
- Stipe Miocic vs. Joey “The Mexicutioner” Beltran
- Anthony “Showtime” Pettis vs. Jeremy “Lil’ Heathen” Stephens
- Demian Maia vs. Jorge “The Sandman” Santiago
Main Card
- Melvin “The Young Assassin” Guillard vs. Joe “J-Lau” Lauzon
- Nam Phan vs. Leonard “Bad Boy” Garcia
- Chael Sonnen vs. Brian “All American” Stann
- Jose “Junior” Aldo vs. Kenny “Kenflo” Florian
- Frankie “The Answer” Edgar vs. Gray “The Bully” Maynard
Stay with me as I make my main card predictions and gambling suggestions. Without further ado, let’s get on to the …
Immediately after the UFC announced their deal with FOX, the rumor mill began buzzing with possible match-ups for the main event on November 12th in Anaheim, California. Would Anderson Silva welcome Dan Henderson back to the organization in a rematch for the Middleweight title, maybe Brock Lesnar would make his long awaited return to the octagon, or maybe former Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion Alistair Overeem would make his long-anticipated debut with the organization. When it was all said and done, though, it was announced that the Heavyweight title fight between Brazilian slugger, Junior Dos Santos, and current champion, Cain Velasquez, would get the spot. The fight itself has the potential to be very exciting as both men are known as finishers and are likely the two most talented heavyweights in the UFC right now, but with the need for major ratings to prove their worth to the network; did the UFC make the right call? Let’s explore both the good and the bad that could possibly come out of this.
THE GOOD:
Both guys are finishers: As I stated above, both …