SBNation.com User Blog: MikeWellman88

UFC 161 Main Card Predictions

MikeWellman88 — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 23:05:20 -0000

The UFC makes its first trip to Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada this Saturday night for UFC 161. The event is headlined by a light heavyweight tilt between Dan Henderson and Rashad Evans, who are both looking to rebound from recent losses. UFC 161 is the first major event in 2013 to be hit by the infamous 'injury bug', with the original main event of Renan Barao vs Eddie Wineland being scrapped when Barao suffered ligament damage in his foot. Shogun Rua vs Rogerio Nogueira was also set for the main card, but Nogueira had to pull out with a pinched nerve, causing a chain of events that ultimately ended in the UFC booking Shogun vs Chael Sonnen for August 17th in Boston. With the card losing two high-profile bouts, Roy Nelson vs Stipe Miocic was added to the card and will serve as the night's co-main event. The card also features the UFC debuts of Alexis Davis and Rosi Sexton in a women's bantamweight fight.

Can Dan Henderson land an "H-bomb" on Rashad Evans? Can Evans avoid the first three-fight losing streak of his career? Will Roy Nelson get a fourth knock-out win in a row against Stipe Miocic? Let's take a look with my main card predictions for UFC 161.

UFC 161 Main Card Predictions:

Main Event: Light Heavyweight Fight

Rashad Evans vs Dan Henderson

This is a tough fight to predict, partly due to the uninspiring performances put on by both men in their most recent fights. Evans lost a lackluster decision to Rogerio Nogueira at UFC 156 back in February, where he got out-boxed by the Brazilian, and didn't really attempt any meaningful offense. This, along with some statements made by Evans prior to the fight, caused some fans and pundits to question Evans' desire to keep fighting. Henderson lost to Lyoto Machida at UFC 157, where Machida was able to evade Henderson's attack and counterstrike his way to a decision. Henderson has a more decorated wrestling background than Evans does, but is also nine years his elder at age 42. Evans is very much able to elude his opponents offense, with his quickness and athleticism. Also, if you look at how often Dan Henderson attempts his signature over-hand punch in recent fights, he misses a lot more often than he lands. Evans has fought wrestler's before, Phil Davis and Jon Jones, and was able to mix up his striking and takedowns. Henderson is going to need to connect with one of his 'H-bombs', and probably early, because the longer this fight goes the more I see it favoring the younger, quicker Evans.

Pick: Evans by decision.

Co-main Event: Heavyweight Fight

Roy Nelson vs Stipe Miocic

Nelson makes a quick turnaround in this one, after knocking out Cheick Kongo on April 27th at UFC 159. He's on a three-fight knockout streak, and all of his six UFC wins have come by KO or TKO, with only Mirko "Cro Cop" making it out of the first round. Miocic is coming off of his only career loss, to Stefan Struve at UFC on Fuel TV 5 back in September. Nelson will be Miocic's highest ranked opponent to-date, and I don't know if the Croatian-American prospect has come far enough along in his development to be able to get past a veteran like Nelson. We'll see though, as Nelson hasn't performed well against more in-shape fighters who push the pace and keep the pressure on him. I'm going to pick Nelson by KO, but I wouldn't be surprised if Miocic got an upset in this one.

Pick: Nelson by 2nd round KO.

Light Heavyweight Fight

Ryan Jimmo vs Igor Pakrajac

Pokrajac is a veteran of nine UFC fights, and has sported a record of 4-4-1 NC in the octagon. His no-contest came in his most recent fight, where he lost Joey Beltran, who tested positive for banned substances, and the win was overturned. That followed a submission loss to Vinny Magalhaes at UFC 152. Jimmo made his UFC debut at UFC 149, where he tied the fastest knock-out record by starching Anthony Perosh in just seven seconds. He most recently lost a decision to James Te Huna, but had Te Huna hurt bad after dropping him with a headkick in the first round and almost finishing the fight with some vicious ground and pound. Te Huna came back and controlled Jimmo against the fence and on the mat and the last two rounds, and took home a UD. I think that the Canadian will be able to take out the Croatian in this one, and early.

Pick: Jimmo by 1st round KO

Women's Bantamweight Fight

Alexis Davis vs Rosi Sexton

Both of these fighters are making their UFC debuts, and are both looking to continue the hot streak of exciting and gutsy female performances in the octagon. Sexton is a jiu jitsu black belt with a PhD in theoretical computer science, and is on a three fight winning streak. Davis enters the UFC after a very successful run in Strikeforce and Invicta, and has won five of her last six fights. In Sexton's last fight, a win over Aisling Daly at Cage Warriors 47, she controlled Daly from the top for most of the fight, but did allow Daly to almost pull off two armbars in the first round and a pretty deep guillotine later on. Sexton is well-rounded, and smart, but I don't know if she'll be able to get out of those same predicaments if she winds up in one against Davis. I think that when this one hits the mat, Davis will be able to shut down Sexton's ground and pound, and as long as Davis doesn't spend too much time on the bottom, the judges' scorecards will go her way

Pick: Davis by decision

Heavyweight Fight

Pat Barry vs Shawn Jordan

Pat Barry is 5-5 in the UFC and hasn't been able to string together two wins in a row inside the octagon. Both of these Louisana natives will be looking for their second straight, with Barry coming off of a vicious knockout of Shane Del Rosario at the TUF 16 Finale back in December, and Jordan is coming off of a second-round TKO over Mike Russow at UFC on Fox in January. Jordan got hurt early in his fight with Russow, but was able to recover. In the second round, after Russow had spent the bulk of his energy, Jordan was able to take his back and rain down enough punches for the Herb Dean to waive it off. This one is tough to pick, because it's unclear to me at this point how much potential Shawn Jordan really has in the UFC's heavyweight division. I'm not sure if Jordan will be able to recover if Barry catches in him early, like Russow was able to do, but if he does, then he can probably take the fight to the second round and win by submission. I could easily see either fighter winning this one, but since this is predictions piece, I'll go with my gut and say Shawn Jordan.

Pick: Jordan by 2nd round TKO.

UFC 161 Main Card Predictions:

Main Event: Light Heavyweight Fight

Rashad Evans vs Dan Henderson

Pick: Evans by decision.

Co-main Event: Heavyweight Fight

Roy Nelson vs Stipe Miocic

Pick: Nelson by 2nd round KO.

Light Heavyweight Fight

Ryan Jimmo vs Igor Pakrajac

Pick: Jimmo by 1st round KO

Women's Bantamweight Fight

Alexis Davis vs Rosi Sexton

Pick: Davis by decision

Heavyweight Fight

Pat Barry vs Shawn Jordan

Pick: Jordan by 2nd round TKO.

Dos Santos vs Hunt: Looking at UFC 160′s Co-Main Event

MikeWellman88 — Wed, 22 May 2013 16:14:52 -0000

UFC 160 goes down this Saturday, live on pay-per-view from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The main event is a familiar matchup, pitting defending champ Cain Velasquez against Antonio ‘Bigfoot’ Silva in a rematch of their UFC 146 bout, where Velasquez dominated Silva. The co-main event will most likely determine the next challenger for the heavyweight title, and features former champion Junior Dos Santos taking on surging knockout artist Mark ‘The Super Samoan’ Hunt.

Hunt comes into this fight on a four-fight win streak, having knocked out Chris Tuchscherer, beat Ben Rothwell by decision, and TKO-ed Cheick Kongo and Stefan Struve. Hunt was the K-1 World Grand Prix Champion in 2001, and has seen a career resurgence after being submitted by Sean McCorkle in his UFC debut. He has his work cut out for him against ‘Cigano’ however.

Dos Santos comes in to this fight on the heels of his only UFC loss, which came at UFC 155 where he lost the heavyweight title to Velasquez. Dos Santos has beaten a multitude of present and past top 10 heavyweights, including Velasquez, Frank Mir, Shane Carwin, Roy Nelson, Mirko Cro Cop, Gabriel Gonzaga, and Stefan Struve. Only two of Dos Santos nine UFC wins have come by decision, and only two of his seven finishes in the octagon have come outside of the first round.

Fightmetric striking stats show that Dos Santos lands an average of 5.51 strikes per minute (SLpM), whereas Hunt lands only 3.58 strikes per minute. Now, anyone who has ever seen Mark Hunt land a punch knows that he normally isn’t afforded the opportunity to land volume, due to his opponents’ tendancy to get knocked out by his punches. Dos Santos is slightly more accurate on the feet, coming in at 48% versus Hunt’s 45%. Hunt does absorb stirkes less often, with a strikes absorbed per-minute average of 1.88, compared to Dos Santos, who eats 2.78 strikes per minute. It’s also interesting to note that Hunt has only been finished by KO one time in his 16 mixed martial arts contests, by Melvin Manhoef in 2008. In fact, six of his seven losses have come by submission, which is something that Dos Santos has to be taking into consideration. Although Cigano has only racked up two wins by submission, he is a black belt in brazilian jui-jitsu under Yuri Carlton, and we may finally get to see some actual jui jitsu from Dos Santos.

Both fighters attempt an average of less than one takedown per fight, and Cigano defends 74% of takedowns attempted on him, and Hunt defends 70%. They also each attempt less than one submission per fight on average.

Both of these guys have one punch knock out power and both have faced heavy handed opponents in the past. Dos Santos comes in having beat a higher quality of competition, but he will have some difficulty putting Hunt away if he chooses to keep it standing, which is most likely where this one will be fought. It’s going to take a sustained effort, but look for Dos Santos to finish Hunt late in the fight, or take a unanimous decision to earn another shot at Cain Velasquez and the UFC heavyweight title.

Dos Santos vs Hunt: Looking at UFC 160′s Co-Main Event

MikeWellman88 — Wed, 22 May 2013 16:11:37 -0000

UFC 159: The Aftermen

MikeWellman88 — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 04:46:05 -0000

UFC 159 featured Jon Jones' dominant fifth title defense against a game but over-matched Chael Sonnen, along with a serious of unfortunate injuries. From Bruce Buffer's erroneous announcing of Jim Miller as the winner after he was choked out by Pat Healy, to Jon Jones' gruesome broken toe, we were certainly exposed to a plethora of odd occurrences on Saturday night. Let's take a look at the night's biggest action, where the winners go from here, and some of the how's and why's from the night that was with The Aftermen: UFC 159 edition.

Stoppin' fights, Kevin Mulhall Style

Referee Kevin Mulhall pulled a 'referee Kevin Mulhall' on Saturday night (which it will hence forth be known as, should this ever occur again), when he outright ended the fight between Ovince St. Preux and Gian Villante, after Villante admitted to not being able to see immediately after an eye poke from OSP. Although no rule exists to grant fighters time to recover from this specific foul, it is normally the cageside doctor who decides that a fighter can't fight if he can't see. In this case, Mulhall took us down the rabbit hole that is a technical decision, which means that when a fight-ending foul occurs late in the fight, we go to the judges score cards for our decision. Oddly enough, this was the first of two technical decisions on the card.

The Curse of UFC 159

I want to address the two fights from UFC 159 that ended by technical decision, due to accidental eye poke. Both decisions went to the fighter who employed the effective technique of finding your opponent's eye with your outstretched finger. The aforementioned OSP/Villante fight ended controversially due to one, and Alan Belcher gave us all a scare when he was poked in the eye by Michael Bisping in the co-main event fight, causing that one to end, and prematurely go to the judges cards as well. It's certainly worth noting that if referees were more proactive in a pursuit of less outstretched fingers during fights, these eye pokes would be far less frequent. Every fighter knows that an eye poke really can only be called intentional if there's force behind the hand movement, or if it's your second one of the fight. Otherwise, you can just say that sticking your fingers out in your opponents face is just your unique way of setting up a clinch attempt.

Yancy Medeiros was a victim of the Curse of UFC 159 when he dislocated his thumb in the first round of his fight on the FX prelim portion of the card. His opponent Rustam Khabilov was awarded the win via technical knock out, technically. This was a necessary stoppage, because Medeiros' thumb was undeniably dislocated. That thing was in the complete wrong spot, and as injurious as it was, it wasn't the most gruesome thing we'd see on this night.

Two Bonus Checks For 'Bam Bam' Healy

The 'Fight of the Night' bonus on Saturday went to Jim Miller and Pat Healy, who opened up the main card with a grueling war which ended in Healy putting Miller to sleep with a minute left in the fight. Healy also left the Prudential Center with the 'Submission of the Night' bonus for his rear-naked choke finish over Miller. Miller was able to use his striking to a certain degree throughout the fight, but Healy had the size advantage and was able to dictate where the fight took place for the most part. With a minute or so left in the last round, Healy sunk in a rear-naked choke that put the resilient Miller out. It was an impressive outing by 'Bam Bam' Healy, who sent a message on Saturday night to the super-stacked 155-pound division with his win over such a battle-tested contender in Jim Miller. Where does Healy go from here? Deeper into the fray of the UFC's lightweight division, which now also includes Gilbert Melendez.

Phil Davis Remains Among The Elite

Although judge Dave Tirelli inexplicably gave the first round to Vinny Magalhaes against the majority, I had Phil Davis winning a shutout at UFC 159. Davis kept the fight standing and proved that world-class grappling and jiu jitsu alone will not get you a spot at the top of the division. Davis proved to be the better striker against Magalhaes, and looked much better on the feet than his past fights. It is interesting to note that Magalhaes virtually handpicked Davis as his opponent, but wasn't able to mount any meaningful offense. As for where Davis goes from here, I'd be interested in a fight between Davis and Gegard Mousasi.

'Big Country' Notches His Third Straight Knockout

Cheick Kong's nine inch reach advantage didn't seem to aid him much in his fight against Roy Nelson, where he was first pressed against the fence and then knocked out cold by two 'Big Country' right hands in the first round. Nelson came over the top and dropped Kongo, and another right hand put Kongo out, giving Nelson his sixth UFC knockout. Next up for 'Big Country' seems to be Daniel Cormier, which was discussed by UFC President Dana White at the post-fight scrum, but Nelson ultimately wants a title shot next, and mentioned the appeal of a fight against Mark Hunt, regardless of whether or not he wins against Junior Dos Santos at UFC 160. Nelson is knocking on the door for a title shot, and it should only take one more decisive victory to earn him one.

Bisping Out-works Belcher for 14 minutes

Michael Bisping was on his way to a decision when over Alan Belcher at UFC 159 when all of a sudden, with 29 seconds left in the final round, he won the fight by technical decision. An eyepoke caused Belcher to hit the mat instantly and the fight to be stopped. It was Belcher's eyelid that ended up needing stitches. Bisping controlled the entire fight, which consisted mostly of outworking Belcher with footwork, and landing strikes often. Belcher kept his hands down and paid for it, eating 94 strikes thrown by Bisping. Bisping stays locked in just below the top four at middleweight with the win, and I'd like to see him fight the loser of Anderson Silva vs Chris Weidman.

Jones Dominates Thoroughly, As Expected

This was a fight where anything other than a dominant performance by Jon Jones would be considered a failure. Even though Chael pressed the action early and got in Jones' face, a feat by itself, Jones was able to get two double leg takedowns on Sonnen and blast Chael with ground and pound. The win came by way of TKO with just under a minute left in the first, but the attention immediately switched to the Jon Jones discovery of a compound fracture of his big toe. It looked like a giant wedge in the champion's foot had occurred, and it was difficult for Jones to concentrate on Joe Rogan's post-fight interview once he was cognisant of his toe. Had Chael made it out of the first round, he would have won the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship by doctor's stoppage, because the champion's bone was exposed on his broken toe.

With all the injuries and unfortunate events that occurred at UFC 159, there were still meaningful outcomes. The night's biggest winners are all in much more favorable positions in their respective divisions, and Jon Jones tied Tito Ortiz for most consecutive light heavyweight title defenses. The champ will likely need close to two months to heal his broken toe, but beyond that things are a bit unclear. Anderson Silva's UFC 162 fight with Chris Weidman could yield the first actual 'super fight', if Anderson wins. Lyoto Machida and Alexander Gustafsson both wait in the wings at the top of the 205 lbs division, so there is no shortage of legitimate contenders for the champion.

Stoppin' fights, Kevin Mulhall Style

The Curse of UFC 159

Two Bonus Checks For 'Bam Bam' Healy

Phil Davis Remains Among The Elite

'Big Country' Notches His Third Straight Knockout

Bisping Out-works Belcher for 14 minutes

Jones Dominates Thoroughly, As Expected

UFC 159: The Aftermen

MikeWellman88 — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 04:44:46 -0000

Stoppin' fights, Kevin Mulhall Style

The Curse of UFC 159

Two Bonus Checks For 'Bam Bam' Healy

Phil Davis Remains Among The Elite

'Big Country' Notches His Third Straight Knockout

Bisping Out-works Belcher for 14 minutes

Jones Dominates Thoroughly, As Expected

Stoppin' fights, Kevin Mulhall Style

The Curse of UFC 159

Two Bonus Checks For 'Bam Bam' Healy

Phil Davis Remains Among The Elite

'Big Country' Notches His Third Straight Knockout

Bisping Out-works Belcher for 14 minutes

Jones Dominates Thoroughly, As Expected

UFC 159: The Aftermen

MikeWellman88 — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 04:42:22 -0000

Stoppin' fights, Kevin Mulhall Style

The Curse of UFC 159

Two Bonus Checks For 'Bam Bam' Healy

Phil Davis Remains Among The Elite

'Big Country' Notches His Third Straight Knockout

Bisping Out-works Belcher for 14 minutes

Jones Dominates Thoroughly, As Expected

Stoppin' fights, Kevin Mulhall Style

The Curse of UFC 159

Two Bonus Checks For 'Bam Bam' Healy

Phil Davis Remains Among The Elite

'Big Country' Notches His Third Straight Knockout

Bisping Out-works Belcher for 14 minutes

Jones Dominates Thoroughly, As Expected

Henderson vs Melendez: The Main Card on Paper

MikeWellman88 — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 18:18:15 -0000

The UFC brings yet another lightweight title fight to Fox this weekend for Fox UFC Saturday, which takes place at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, CA. The HP was the home base of Strikeforce, and this UFC card features seven Strikeforce veterans making their transition into the ranks of the UFC. Headliner Benson Henderson makes his second appearance in front of the network television audience, after pulling in 5.7 million viewers for his last title defense against Nate Diaz on Fox this past December. This weekend's card is stacked from top to bottom, and features Team Alpha Male's Joseph Benavidez, T.J. Dillashaw, and Chad Mendes all looking to continue their winning ways. Benavidez faces number eight ranked flyweight Darren Uyenoyama, Dillashaw is taking on the undefeated Hugo 'Wolverine' Viana, and Mendes is one of the heaviest favorites on the card in his matchup with Darren Elkins, who has amassed an impressive five-fight winning streak in the UFCs featherweight division. Let's now take a look at the meaningful action set to take place on the main card.

Matt Brown returns as the opener of the main card after his 2nd round dismantling of Mike Swick back at UFC on Fox 5. He has his work cut out for him against the up-and-coming Jordan Mein, who at the age of 23 already has 35 professional fights. Mein comes in on a three-fight winning streak and has won nine of his last ten. Brown, who rides a four-fight streak going into Saturday's fight, is the more accurate striker of the two, with FightMetric stats showing a 58% accuracy rate to Mein's 42%. Mein is the more active striker however, coming in at 4.27 SLpM (strikes landed per-minute) to Brown's 3.4. Mein has eight first-round finishes since 2010, and also comes in with a 74% striking defense average, compared to 58% for Matt Brown. Brown is more likely to go for a takedown against Mein, bringing in a 47% percent takedown accuracy rate, and averages 1.8 takedowns per-15 minute fight to Mein's zero in both columns. Brown is no stranger to taking punishment, and I think he will be able to endure more of Mein's attack than his previous opponents. I see this one ending by way of second round TKO for Jordan Mein.

Next up is a pivotal match at 155 lbs, featuring Josh Thompson and Nate Diaz, who both are coming off of title-fight losses to the night's headliners, Melendez and Henderson, respectively. In Thompson's decison loss to Gilbert back in May of 2012, a lot of people had him winning three rounds to two. The judges gave that one to 'El Nino', but it could have easily gone to Thompson, who in the fourth round came very close to finishing Melendez from several choke attempts from his back. Thompson is the more diverse striker of the two, employing leg and body kicks with his combos. Nate, along with his brother Nick, have sort of developed their own brand of boxing in the octagon, which involves almost as much trash talk and mind games as it does volume punching. Diaz lands more often than Thompson, with a FightMetric average of 3.55 vs Thompson's 2.44 SLpM. Thompson is slightly more accurate, coming in at 48% striking accuracy vs Diaz's 43%.

Diaz is well known for his slick jiu jitsu game, but Thompson's wrestling base gives him slightly better takedown numbers, with 40% takedown accuracy to Nate's 25%. Look for Thompson to keep busy with his footwork and kicks, and to change levels if Diaz overwhelms with his boxing. Diaz is dangerous off of his back, so Thompson doesn't have a clear advantage if it hits mat, which I think it will. This might means a lot for both fighter's as they try to climb back up the ranks at 155 lbs, and I give a slight edge to Nate, having trained with Gilbert Melendez, who fought Thompson three times. For me, this is the toughest fight on the card to pick, and could easily get fight-of-the-night. I see this one going to the judges cards and Nate leaving the HP Pavilion with the win.

The co-main event features the debut of Daniel Cormier, who won the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix against Josh Barnett and was set to face Frank Mir last year in Strikeforce, and we finally get to see this anticipated matchup on free tv. Frank Mir comes in off of a title fight loss to Junior Dos Santos at UFC 146, and Cormier is undefeated in mixed martial arts with a record of 11-0. Cormier has the clear edge in striking stats, landing 3.86 strikes per minute, versus Mir's 2.45. Cormier also absorbs less, eating 1.36 strikes per-minute vs Mir's 3.83. Cormier defends strikes against him at a 71% clip, vs Mir's 40%. Daniel Cormier has flawless 100% takedown defense, vs Mir's 50%. Mir's downfall has always come at the hands of power punchers, and most of his wins were against either aging or less adept grapplers, where he could crank out his signature submissions. Cormier's base comes from an Olympic wrestling pedigree, and it will be interesting to see how these two match up on the ground, where Mir's best chance is to capitalize on a split-second opportunity, because against Cormier, that will most likely be the only opportunities he will be afforded. This fight may not even make it to the mat, with Cormier's propensity to knock out opponents willing to stand in front of him long enough, combined with Mir's propensity to stand in front of dangerous strikers for a hair too long. I don't like Mir's chances in this fight, but he should give DC his most dangerous fight yet. I'm going with the 4-1 favorite, Daniel Cormier, by KO, though I can't nail down which round.

The lightweight title hangs in the balance of the night's main event between Gilbert Melendez and Benson Henderson. Melendez looks to hand Henderson his first UFC defeat, as the champ is 6-0 inside the octagon, and has won 15 out of his last 16, losing only in that time frame to Anthony Pettis in the infamous final WEC title fight at WEC 53 in 2010. 'El Nino' hasn't lost since 2008, and brings a seven-fight win streak into the UFC. FightMetric grappling stats give the edge to Henderson, who shoots for an average of 3.2 takedowns per 15 minute fight, compared to 1.94 by Melendez. He comes in with a 51% takedown accuracy rate vs the challenger's 44%. Melendez does defend slightly better, with 71% of takedowns defended vs Henderson's 67%.

On the feet, Melendez brings a SLpM average of 3.56 compared to Henderson's 2.93. Benson is more accurate, as is sometimes the case with fighters who come in with lower per-minute attempts than their opponent. Benson lands 45% of the time, whereas Gilbert lands 33% of his strikes. Melendez's only two losses have come by way of decision, and all six of Henderson's UFC victories have come from the judges scorecards. Gilbert's last outing against Thompson doesn't lend itself to being able to outlast Henderson. Gilbert has that veteran poise in the cage that allows him to calmly try to escape in bad situations, and not make careless mistakes. I still don't think that will be enough to get past Benson, who should take a close decision and further establish himself as the best fighter in the world at 155 pounds.

Henderson vs Melendez: The Main Card on Paper

MikeWellman88 — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 18:17:13 -0000

Henderson vs Melendez: The Main Card on Paper

MikeWellman88 — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 18:15:14 -0000

The Aftermen: UFC on Fuel 9 Edition

MikeWellman88 — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 16:35:24 -0000

UFC on Fuel TV 9 was headlined by Gegard Mousasi’s decision victory over short-notice replacement Ilir Latifi, who took the fight on four days notice to replace his injured training partner, Alexander Gustafsson. Lets take a look at who came out of the Ericsson Globe with the biggest wins, most impressive performances, and where we are after the dust settles with The Aftermen: UFC on Fuel TV 9 Edition.

Sometimes we need a fight card to demand our respect. That is what UFC on Fuel TV 9 did on Saturday in Stockholm, Sweden. I wasn’t the only one caught up in the drama of Gustafsson getting cut, Wanderlei Silva trying out new comedic material on the mma media, and the anti-climactic announcement that Gegard Mousasi would be facing Ilir Latifi, a Swede who trains with Gustafsson. So much emphasis was put on the who, what, where, why, and how of the main event that the rest of the card sort of took a backseat to the goings on surrounding the headliner. All of the sudden, with Gustafsson’s removal, people were griping that the UFC was back to falling into its old pitfalls of booking a ‘one-fight card’, and everything was ‘lose-lose’ for Gegard Mousasi. On a card where a prelim fight featuring a fighter making his UFC debut had almost as much hype as the original main event, even earning the twitter hashtag #thepeoplesmainevent, the two men in the last fight of the night didn’t need all the attention on them, and the performances put on in Stockholm proved that.

McGregor Syndrome

Conor McGregor’s UFC debut was one of the most hyped in recent memory. There were calls to put his fight on the main card, which it ultimately did end up replaying on, but the uniqueness of McGregor is that it wasn’t the UFC drumming up all the hype, it was his fan base and his highlight reels, with a little help from MTV UK. Marcus Brimage said before the fight that everyone saw him as McGregor’s stepping stone, and thy hype around McGregor pissed him off, but after just over a minute in the cage, I’d say Brimage believes some of the hype. ‘The Notorious’ Conor McGregor landed his 10th first round finish against Brimage, with a series of scrappy uppercuts and a left that sent the ‘Bama Beast’ to the mat where it didn’t take much more for referee Robert Sindel to waive it off in favor of a TKO win for the Irishman. Dana White announced at the post-fight presser that Conor McGregor’s next outing would come at the UFC’s return to Boston on August 17th. As far as an opponent goes, the top six or so fighters at 145 pounds are all booked, and I don’t think the UFC wants to rush McGregor into title contention, if for no other reason than that featherweight has about as many arguable number-one contenders as heavyweight has fighters. I’d like to see McGregor take on another winner from Fuel 9, Diego Brandao.

Bantamweights Bring It

Fight-of-the-night at Fuel 9 went to Brad Pickett and Mike Easton, who fought from pillar to post (without cutting their eyes). They traded elbows against the fence in the first, and scrambled vehemently in the third, with Pickett sprinkling in a diverse array of choke attempts. Going in, Easton had never been taken down, and ‘One Punch’ got him down four out of seven tries. Easton ate a lot more than one punch from Pickett, but stayed in it and they swung until the final horn sounded. The top 10 fighter’s at 135 pounds really have a stranglehold on the division. I’d like to see Brad Pickett face Michael McDonald, or the winner of Faber/Jorgensen next.

The Meathead Rebound

I picked Mitrione to beat Phil De Fries, but I didn’t think it would end the way it did, or at least as quickly as it did. 16 seconds into the first round, De Fries shot in and ended up rolling on his back just long enough for the elbows and punches of Matt Mitirone to do what they do. Say what you will about the quickness of the finish, and how flukish it may have been that De Fries knocked into Mitrione’s hips, but Mitrione knows hows to accurately unleash his ground and pound. Most fighters, in that moment of surprise, would miss at least one of those shots in the fury of trying to finish, but Mitrione’s gloves hit De Fries on the face like that were magnetized to his chin. We didn’t learn anything new about Ole Matrone in this outing, but it does keep his ‘last of dying breed’ UFC-only professional career on the winning side. What’s next?

‘The Real Deal’ approaches the top ten.

The hardest part of Ross Pearson’s night may have been his walk out to the cage. Pearson injured his foot while warming up in the locker room. This whole event has been an example of how fragile the human body is, and even veteran fighters are susceptible to unplanned, seemingly avoidable injuries. Couture had Pearson up against the fence early, with his head drilled into Pearson’s chest. The head fighting in the clinch is Ryan’s bread and butter, but he couldn’t keep Pearson down. He was able to avoid Pearson’s right hand and make it out of the first round, but Pearson found his range and the hunt began in the beginning or round number two. He finally dropped Couture with a left hook and swarmed in for the TKO. Three UFC losses in two weight classes derailed Pearson’s road to contention, but his most recent two knock-outs might be a sign of things to come. The injured foot didn’t stop the dropping power of both Pearson’s hands, and I’d say it’s time for a step up in competition for Pearson, and anyone in the top 10 at 155 would be an excellent next fight.

Mousasi Remains Indifferent

The only person Gegard Mousasi had any feelings toward whatsoever this week was Wanderlei Silva, who on twitter fooled everyone of his guys with an April fools joke that he had accepted the fight with Gegard. Mousasi didn’t enjoy the joke, and how could he? A fight-week opponent switch that ends up being a fake-out can be really annoying. Less annoying to Mousasi was his actual opponent, Ilir Latifi. With the circumstances being what they were, with Mousasi’s secret knee injury, and the aforementioned opponent switch from top-ranked Alexander Gustafsson to the unranked, debuting Latifi, you have to understand Mousasi’s thought process. In persuit of an exciting outing, what if he lost in a moment of carelessness? That would have been great for Latifi, but bad for virtually everyone else involved. There goes a fight down the road with Gus, or any top five fighter for that matter. Mousasi calmly used his jab to win a snoozer in Sweden, but let’s just be glad its over and try this one again. The UFC is slowly coming up with contingencies for as many unforeseen scenarios as they have had to deal with in recent memory. Mousasi will be undergoing surgery on his knee, and hopefully will have a top ranked opponent waiting when he returns. Not the best UFC debut for the ultra-talented Mousasi, but he doesn’t seem too worked up about it.

Lets give Latifi some credit.

If the UFC called you and offered you a main event fight, would you take it? I ask because they very well might. We live in a time where many fighters turn down fights weeks in advance, because they are afraid of what saying ‘yes’ might do to their record. Ilir Latifi drove his car eight hours to Stockholm on a hunch that they may need him to fight four days later. Did any other fighter have to drive in a car for any long period of time during fight week? And forget about getting some time to prepare. Latifi was in the main event, which required a frenzy of last minute promotional work and video/photo shoots. Throw in the fact that he was fighting Gegard Mousasi of all people, who has one of the best resumes in the sport, and you have to give this man some credit. He tried. He went out there, nervous as hell, tried to get the crowd into it, and gave it his all against Mousasi. So however inexperienced, or unprepared he may have looked in the beating his face took from those jobs, you have to respect him for signing up for all that. I’m sure the UFC is going to compensate him for his troubles, and he will definitely get another chance in the octagon to redeem himself.

McGregor Syndrome

Bantamweights Bring It

The Meathead Rebound

‘The Real Deal’ approaches the top ten.

Mousasi Remains Indifferent

Lets give Latifi some credit.

The Aftermen: UFC on Fuel 9 Edition

MikeWellman88 — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 16:31:36 -0000

McGregor Syndrome

Bantamweights Bring It

The Meathead Rebound

‘The Real Deal’ approaches the top ten.

Mousasi Remains Indifferent

Lets give Latifi some credit.

McGregor Syndrome

Bantamweights Bring It

The Meathead Rebound

‘The Real Deal’ approaches the top ten.

Mousasi Remains Indifferent

Lets give Latifi some credit.

The Aftermen: UFC on Fuel 9 Edition

MikeWellman88 — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 16:26:51 -0000

McGregor Syndrome

Bantamweights Bring It

The Meathead Rebound

‘The Real Deal’ approaches the top ten.

Mousasi Remains Indifferent

Lets give Latifi some credit.

McGregor Syndrome

Bantamweights Bring It

The Meathead Rebound

‘The Real Deal’ approaches the top ten.

Mousasi Remains Indifferent

Lets give Latifi some credit.

Breaking Down Gustafsson vs Mousasi

MikeWellman88 — Sun, 31 Mar 2013 19:19:05 -0000

So the UFC returns to the Ericsson Globe Arena this Saturday, with UFC on Fuel TV 9, featuring for the second time in as many trips, Stockholm's own Alexander Gustafsson headling the card. Last time around, he won a unanimous decision against Thiago Silva, and then went on to win another one against Shogun Rua at UFC on Fox in December.

Although it has been stated that Lyoto Machida is next in line for a shot at the light heavyweight title, you have to believe that things could change with a dominant outing here from Gustafsson. He faces Gegard Mousasi, a 36-fight veteran who after fighting in organizations like Strikeforce, M-1, and Pride, finally makes his UFC debut. 'The Dreamcatcher' enters the octagon on a three-fight wining streak, having most recently beaten Mike Kyle at the final Strikeforce event in January.

Mousasi has one loss in his last 22 fights, a stretch which includes wins over Hector Lombard, Rameau Sokoudju, Melvin Manhoef, 'Jacare' Souza, Mark Hunt, 'Bobalu' Sobral, and Ovince St. Preux. His one loss came against 'King Mo' Lawal at Strikeforce: Nashville in 2010. Gustafsson also only has one loss in that same time period, a submission loss to Phil Davis at UFC 112, the only difference being Gustafsson's entire sixteen-fight career took place within that time frame. His current six-fight streak features submissions over Cyrille Diabate and James Te Huna, TKO wins over Matt Hamill and Vladimir Matyushenko, and unanimous decisions over Silva and Rua.

These two currently sport the two best records aside from the champion Jon Jones at 205 pounds, and they each are hoping a win over the other will elevate them to top contender status. Gustafsson is four inches taller than Mousasi, but only has a half-inch reach advantage over him, so that won't be a factor. These guys both finish over half of their fights by KO/TKO, with Mousasi having a slightly higher striking accuracy rate throughout his career, at 51% vs Gustafssons 36%. Gustafsson absorbs more strikes per minute, with a FightMetric average of 2.29 shots eaten per minute compared to Mousasi's 1.07. That's a bit of difference, unlike their strikes landed per minute average, which shows Gustafsson achieving 3.98 strikes every 60 seconds, and Mousasi landing an average of 3.66.

This means Gustafsson is less accurate, but lands more. The stats on the feet are close, but tilt slightly in Gegard Mousasi's favor, especially considering he defends against 70% of strikes thrown his way, whereas Gustafsson defends against 50%. When we look at the grappling, Gustafsson goes for slightly more takedowns, with 2.56 per fight vs Mousasi's 1.95. Mousasi lands 65% of his takedowns vs Gustafsson's 50%, but 'Mauler' defends against 84% of takedowns shot on him vs Mousasi's 51%. On paper these two tend to mute each other. They both fight orthodox, and are only a year apart in age. Mousasi blocks shots at a higher clip, and is slightly more accurate.

Gustaffson utilizes his rangey kicks, but might be hesitant against a dangerous ground fighter like Mousasi, who has finished fights from virtually every position on the ground, and may be on the lookout to catch one of those kicks and get it to the canvas. On the other side of that coin, Gustafsson defends takedowns better than Mousasi, and is lighter on his feet, so he may not be gunshy with his legs.

Mousasi's job in this one is going to be to close the distance and outwork Gustaffson from up close. He's got to avoid the right hand of Gustaffson, which seems to come from all angles, and close off Gustaffson's paths to circle out and find his range. I'd say his best bet is get it to the ground, where Alex was dominated by Phil Davis. That's going to be tough, because Gustafsson has improved tremendously since that fight, and has only diversified his striking, and showed some good submission defense against Shogun in his last fight.

Gegard Mousasi is a durable veteran with the tools to reach the top of the 205-pound heap in a few fights at most, but I just don't see him being able to impose his will on Gustafsson. Look for Gustafsson to keep Mousasi at bay and get back up if it goes to the ground. I see him winning this one by decision, but that's only because I can't envision Mousasi getting floored or tapped out.
This is a huge, huge, huge light heavyweight fight, with two of the most dangerous and dynamic fighters in all of mixed martial arts, and either would be an intriguing match for the winner of Jones/Sonnen.

(Note: At the time of this posting the fight is still on.)

Post-fight Recap: UFC 158 Edition

MikeWellman88 — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 18:56:26 -0000

UFC 158 was headlined by Georges St. Pierre’s successful welterweight title defense against Nick Diaz. Let’s take a look at the fighters who came out of the Bell Center with the biggest wins, biggest statements, and anything else they may have swiped on their way out of Montreal with my Post-fight Recap: UFC 158 Edition

The Canadians Win At Home:

It was a good night for Canadians at UFC 158 (minus Nick Ring). George St. Pierre’s ninth straight title defense went exactly as we all thought it would. Even though there were times as the fight went on where Georges couldn’t land his takedowns, and ate some combos that shook him up a little bit, GSP threw another five rounds on the pile after fighting Nick Diaz, leaving- or staying in, Montreal on the high road, avoiding the effects of Diaz’s potent trash talk both pre-fight and in the cage. Next up for St. Pierre is most likely Johny Hendricks. The only fight I’d like to see more for GSP would be that ole’ super fight that we gave up on with Anderson Silva.

Along with St. Pierre, fellow Tristar fighters Mike Ricci and John Makdessi took home decisions in their fights at 158, as did fellow Canadian Patrick ‘The Predator’ Cote. Jordan Mein was the one Canadian to get a finish, as he picked apart Dan Miller and got the TKO on him at the 4:42 mark of the first round of his UFC debut. Mein seems smart in the way that he goes at just the right intensity when opportunities arise in the fight, and is joining a packed welterweight division with his victorious octagon debut. Patrick Cote might be a good next fight, and would be a good test for the up and coming Meins.

Retired…again, and then back from retirement…again:

It must be tough for Joe Rogan to have to thank fighters for their careers so often just to see the same guys keep retiring. Nick Diaz lost his fight, and decided that he doesn’t like fighting anymore, again. Too many wolf tickets were sold off of his blood, and sweat, and too many judges were biased towards him personally, and too many horns tried to stop him from smacking George St. Pierre. If this really was the last time we’d seen Nick, he had a great career and was a hell of a fighter.

But then…

Diaz shows up at the press conference with some breaking news: He thinks he can beat GSP. The post-epiphany Nick Diaz is a lot more calm about the fight game. No offense to Georges, but Nick doesn’t think he hits hard. Whatever, he did his thing, he held him down, and won, but if this was in Pride, it would have been a whole different story, according to Diaz. I can understand Nick wanting to retire, and I can also understand him not understanding his own inner need to keep training and fighting. He said he was depressed when he didn’t have a fight, and was mad because Cesar and everybody knew he was getting the title fight and didn’t tell him quick enough. While he’s here, he’d also like a rematch with Carlos.

Hell and Back:

Johny Hendricks, Carlos Condit. What. A. Fight. This fight was equally as good as Hendo/Shogun, in my opinion. It has to at least be considered the 2nd best. I recently watched every fight on the UFC Ultimate 100 fights, and Condit vs Hendricks would do to those fights what Bigfoot Silva did to Alistair Overeem. Hendricks was going for the finish within the first 12 seconds. Every time they got up against the fence Condit threw flying knees. At the close of the first round, Condit rocked Hendricks and then Hendricks came back with even more fire power in his attempts. These guys both have knockout power and were both landing hard shots throughout the entire fight. Carlos Condit did more from the bottom than most guys do in tko victories. This was mixed martial arts in it’s true form at its highest level. I actually had Condit winning the fight, because of the diversity and accuracy of his striking, and his ability to get out from underneath Hendricks and his wrestling. You don’t often hear about good hammerfists from the bottom. Hendricks claims to have wrestling better than GSP, which is at least in the realm of possibility, and Condit was either back up or doing damage when he got taken down. I wouldn’t have been surprised if this one went to a draw, and if someone asked me what a 10-10 round would look like, I would refer them to this fight. These two were trying to finish from horn to horn, and deserved the standing ovation they earned in Montreal, and their ‘fight-of-the-night’ bonus several times over.

Return of the Juggernaut:

Jake Ellenberger earned his nickname of ‘The Juggernaut’, not only because he finished Nate Marquardt, but also because right when the fight started, he landed a leg kick that spun Marquardt around. When Nate responded with a leg kick of his own, he himself was sent backwards to the mat. It was like he bounced off of Ellenberger’s leg. Ellenberger weathered a swarm from Marquardt, and landed a left hook in response. They traded leg kicks and outside shots for about three minutes, with Ellenberger gaining more and more, seemingly unstoppable, momentum. Finally, with 2:04 left in the first, Ellenberger pounced and shut the light’s out on Nate Marquardt, who was surprisingly agressive towards the ref in his post-cryosleep objection to the stoppage. Ellenberger can easily now claim to be the number 3 welterweight in the word, behind only St. Pierre and Hendricks. His next fight will most likely be a number-one contender fight, and although some people get psychotic about these things, I’d like to see Ellenberger face Rory MacDonald next.

Team Alpha Bang:

T.J. Dillashaw knocked out Issei Tamura in the second round of their UFC 158 prelim fight, and Dillashaw gave all the credit to Team Alpha Male’s head coach, Duane ‘Bang’ Ludwig. Dillashaw said that Ludwig was working as hard on his coaching as he was on training, and it showed. Dillashaw should get a top 10 opponent for his next outing, and I’m interesting in seeing how much better Dillashaw gets as his the training under Ludwig continues.

Safety First, Then Teamwork:

Thanks to Yves Lavigne, the only unnecessary damage sustained by Antonio Carvalho was to his record. I appreciate Yves Lavigne as an official and the mentality he has about not letting guys take too many shots. It is certainly better in the long run for our sport than the refs who are trying to talk politics with fighters while they are literally getting the beating of their life. That being said, another thing Yves Lavigne could do on top of that is get the call right. I will always be critical of referees who get it wrong, no matter how close to almost not being wrong they come. Antonio Carvalho goes home safe, that’s great, that’s the first job, but not the only one, of the referees. The second-most important thing after not stopping it too late is not stopping it to early. I tweeted this right after the fight when everyone was saying he was rocked and he was stumbling: This wasn’t a case where he was about to take a lot more damage repeatedly.

Dana White said after the fight that Yves had already made up his mind to stop the fight and by the time he did, Carvalho was back. Well, unmake up your mind. Jump in, jump out, use your brain. I’m not saying it isn’t difficult, but that is the nature of your job. The people in the cage should be there because they are particularly good at being a referee, and this isn’t the first time Yves Lavigne has made a bad call. Give the referees PED’s if you have to, or some Alpha Brain and Red Bull. Maybe they should be the ones in training camp prior to the fight.

UFC 158′s welterweight triple header delivered , with the nights three biggest winners leaving with the top three spots in the division. There are plenty of killers and ‘hitters’ in the 170-pound division, we ought to do this again sometime.

The Canadians Win At Home:

Retired…again, and then back from retirement…again:

But then…

Hell and Back:

Return of the Juggernaut:

Team Alpha Bang:

Safety First, Then Teamwork:

Post-fight Recap: UFC 158 Edition

MikeWellman88 — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 21:13:01 -0000

The Canadians Win At Home

Retired…again, and then back from retirement…again.

But then…

Hell and Back.

Return of the Juggernaut

Team Alpha Bang

Safety First, Then Teamwork

The Canadians Win At Home

Retired…again, and then back from retirement…again.

But then…

Hell and Back.

Return of the Juggernaut

Team Alpha Bang

Safety First, Then Teamwork

Post-fight Recap: UFC 158 Edition

MikeWellman88 — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 21:09:53 -0000

The Canadians Win At Home

Retired…again, and then back from retirement…again.

But then…

Hell and Back.

Return of the Juggernaut

Team Alpha Bang

Safety First, Then Teamwork

The Canadians Win At Home

Retired…again, and then back from retirement…again.

But then…

Hell and Back.

Return of the Juggernaut

Team Alpha Bang

Safety First, Then Teamwork

UFC 157: The Aftermen (and Women)

MikeWellman88 — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 20:40:00 -0000

This is a column where I will be recapping the night's best performances, and looking at the ripple effects sent out by the nights winners, and some of the losers. UFC 157 was headlined by the first ever women's mma fight in the promotion's 20 year history, featuring 'Rowdy' Ronda Rousey taking on Liz 'Girlrilla' Carmouche in the inaugural women's bantamweight championship bout. Lets take a look at the fighters who came out of the Honda Center with the biggest wins, biggest statements, and anything else they may have swiped on their way out of Anaheim with UFC 157: The Aftermen (and Women)

The Ultimate Warriors

With the bombshell news coming out this past week about the 16 fighters cut by the UFC, and the looming specter of the '100' more that they need to let go, the undercard guys fought as if their career was on the line, which was indeed the case for at least some of them. No two men fought harder than the Fight-of-the-Night winners, Dennis Bermudez, and Matt Grice, though. The first two rounds flew under the radar, but when the horn sounded to start the final frame, Bermudez brought the thunder, and Grice weathered the storm. I'm going to be honest and say my voice while watching a fight hasn't reached such decibel levels since UFC 139. Anytime you get compared to Shogun vs Hendo, losing your job is the last thing you have to worry about.

Where do they go from here? I'd venture to say that Grice finds himself in another rock/hard place scenario in his next outing, and Bermudez takes on a step up in competition. After watching this fight I wouldn't mind seeing a TUF finale rematch with Bermudez facing off against Diego Brandao.

Putting the Welterweight Top 10 on Notice

Robbie Lawler returned to the UFC at 157, fighting in the octagon for the first time since UFC 50. He drew a tough opponent for his return in Josh Koscheck, a 22-fight UFC veteran. In fact, the only men with more fights in the octagon than Koscheck are all in the UFC Hall of Fame. This was Lawler's first fight at 170 pounds, and he looked like a natural welterweight. These guys are both seasoned veterans, and Lawler stopped Koscheck in the first round.

What's next? For 'Kos', who knows? The UFC just cut the 9th ranked welterweight, and Koscheck was 8th. I think he stays around, and gets another chance to crack the top 10, which he will suredly be outside of once the rankings come out.

After examining the current 170 lbs roster in the UFC, there arent many bad fights for Lawler. 170 is currently one of the most talent rich divisions in the UFC. Tyron Woodley? Siyar Bahadurzada is fighting at FUEL TV 8 in Japan against Dong Hyun Kim. The winner of that fight would be a great test for Lawler, as would a fight with the next man on this list, Court Mcgee.

Welterweight's New Volume Puncher

Another fighter on the main card of UFC 157 that got a W after dropping to 170 lbs is Court McGee. The TUF 11 winner had back-to-back losses at middleweight and decided a switch to welterweight was in order. Court out-struck and out-threw Neer in every round, and was the only one of the two to attempt takedowns, landing two of five according to Fightmetric. Another Fightmetric stat in this fight was Court McGee's 166 significant strikes landed. That puts him 12 strikes behind Nick Diaz's 178 landed against BJ Penn at UFC 137, which holds the record. McGee poured it on in the first round, landing 78 significant strikes and throwing 145 of them.

What's next for Court McGee? The aforementioned Robbie Lawler fight would be a great litmus test for both guys to see who is the real deal at 170 pounds, but the division is bursting at the seems these days with talent, so whomever Court draws next will surely be a stiff test.

The Machida Puzzle

The co-main event on the first UFC card headlined by women featured the numbers 1 & 2 ranked light heavyweights in the UFC. Awesome right? Not exactly. There was a lot of talk prior to the fight that this one should have been the real main event, or at least was worthy of going five rounds. Perhaps it would have picked up a bit in rounds four and five, had they happened, but it was doubtful. Now, let us not forget that styles make fights, and Dan Henderson and Lyoto Machida have very unique and distinct styles that have gotten them to where they are today. Machida is, as Quinton Jackson put it prior to their UFC 123 fight, 'the ultimate illusive guy', and I couldn't help thinking that throughout this fight. You can't really fault Machida for respecting the 'H-bomb', in Henderson's right hand. You also can't fault Hendo for not going all Ryan Bader and rushing Machida in a flurry of frustration. Machida controlled the fight, didn't get hit often, and this one ended up going 15 minutes without any quantifiable action. Machida got a takedown right before the horn in round one. He also ended up on his back briefly in the third round, which may have been the best moment in the fight on the Henderson side of the cards, even if Machida did trip to find himself there. This ended up being one of those fights where in hindsight, we realize that what went down was an outcome that we should have considered. Did you really thing Dan Henderson was going to just get inside and H-Bomb Lyoto on his first try? Did you really think Machida was going let himself get within shooting range of an Olympic wrestler? We all hoped for another UFC 129 performance from Machida, or a reincarnation of the Fedor fight from Hendo, and it was definitely possible, and if they fought 10 times, we'd most likely see at least one face kick, or one H-bomb, but they wont fight 10 times. They most likely won't fight two times.

What's next? Machida earned his third number one contender spot since his last title fight, and perhaps might fight for the 205 lbs belt, unless we see the mythical Jones/Silva super fight, in which case I'd say he waits it out and we see him in a title fight in late 2013. As far as Dan Henderson goes, his UFC title aspirations are all but extinguished, and I don't think even the aid of testosterone-replacement therapy will turn the clock back as far as he needs it to go in order to win enough to get a shot at the title.

"No amount of press can save these girls from me."

Well here we are. The first female UFC fight is in the books, and it ended with a first round armbar from the UFC's newest champion, Ronda Rousey. Liz Carmouche was a tough opponent, and it was clear she was prepared for Rousey's attack. This fight almost made it to the second round, which would have been a first for the champ. Had this fight ended in an uncompetitive, dominant first minute armbar, things might be a little different regarding the future of women's mma in the octagon. Carmouche was as game an opponent as Rousey has ever faced, and is going to be a tough fight for any girl not named Ronda. Just training to fight Rousey probably stepped up Carmouche's game leaps and bounds, and I am certainly excited to see what's next for the second-toughest female fighter in the UFC. Women's bantamweight fighting is going to keep rolling, with Tate vs Zingano upcoming at the TUF 17 finale, and 11 other girls making their way into the UFC. As I'm writing this I just read that Julie Kedzie has signed with the UFC. Hopefully Rousey/Carmouche was epic enough to keep the mainstream and casual fans attention on the sport, and it's female combatants. We often hear about 'octagon jitters' when a fighter has his first fight in the UFC cage. After a week of almost nonstop press and media obligations, and having to carry the women's mma world on their shoulders, did it seem like either of these girls weren't ready for the biggest stage in mma? Watching the main event, that did not appear to be the case. So where do we go from here with our UFC 157 Afterwomen?

I don't think Liz Carmouche could have had a better losing performance, relative to other opponents Rousey has faced. In my opinion, she is just as capable of being a star as Ronda, especially after that gritty performance. I'd say maybe she gets the winner of Tate/Zingano, or welcomes 'Fireball' Julie Kedzie to the octagon.

And for the champ, I think that her next fight might be met with slightly less media attention, as it won't have the novelty of being the 'first' female UFC fight. At this point it's tough to say who might be next as the UFC only has one more female fight booked, but my guess would be that Ronda co-main events a future PPV with a higher draw in the main event, maybe someone like Jon Jones. Fighting right before a GSP fight might be interesting given what the welterweight kingpin has said in the past regarding women fighting. Only time will tell, but the UFC certainly chose the right women to kick 'this thing' off.

The Ultimate Warriors

Putting the Welterweight Top 10 on Notice

Welterweight's New Volume Puncher

The Machida Puzzle

"No amount of press can save these girls from me."

UFC 157: The Aftermen( and Women)

MikeWellman88 — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 20:40:00 -0000

The Ultimate Warriors

Putting the Welterweight Top 10 on Notice

Welterweight's New Volume Puncher

The Machida Puzzle

"No amount of press can save these girls from me."

The Ultimate Warriors

Putting the Welterweight Top 10 on Notice

Welterweight's New Volume Puncher

The Machida Puzzle

"No amount of press can save these girls from me."

UFC 157: The Aftermen( and Women)

MikeWellman88 — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 20:40:00 -0000

This is a column where I will be recapping the night's best performances, and looking at the ripple effects sent out by the nights winners, and some of the losers. UFC 157 was headlined by the first ever women's mma fight in the promotion's 20 year history, featuring 'Rowdy' Ronda Rousey taking on Liz 'Girlrilla' Carmouche in the inaugural women's bantamweight championship bout. Lets take a look at the fighters who came out of the Honda Center with the biggest wins, biggest statements, and anything else they may have swiped on their way out of Anaheim with UFC 157: The Aftermen (and Women)

The Ultimate Warriors

Putting the Welterweight Top 10 on Notice

Welterweight's New Volume Puncher

The Machida Puzzle

"No amount of press can save these girls from me."

This is a column where I will be recapping the night's best performances, and looking at the ripple effects sent out by the nights winners, and some of the losers. UFC 157 was headlined by the first ever women's mma fight in the promotion's 20 year history, featuring 'Rowdy' Ronda Rousey taking on Liz 'Girlrilla' Carmouche in the inaugural women's bantamweight championship bout. Lets take a look at the fighters who came out of the Honda Center with the biggest wins, biggest statements, and anything else they may have swiped on their way out of Anaheim with UFC 157: The Aftermen (and Women)

The Ultimate Warriors

Putting the Welterweight Top 10 on Notice

Welterweight's New Volume Puncher

The Machida Puzzle

"No amount of press can save these girls from me."

Dana’s stance on TRT is evolving, but what made him come around?

MikeWellman88 — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 21:55:05 -0000

This week UFC President Dana White came out vehemently against fighters with TUEs ( Therapeutic Use Exemptions) and the overall usage of TRT (Testosterone Replacement Therapy). At a fan Q&A in the UK, Dana first let the cat out of the bag that he had changed his stance, and then elaborated at the post-fight press conference following UFC on Fuel 7.

"We’re gonna start testing the sh** outta you, throughout your entire camp," White advised fighters who are currently benefiting from extra testosterone between fights. He did acknowledge his past stance on the issue also.

"If you asked me three months ago, it’s legal. It’s sport science, but everybody figures out a way to take a great thing and cheat, and make it bad. I’ve seen over the last year, situations where guys…What I believe guys are doing is jacking this stuff up through the camp".

While these statements are encouraging, and are certainly the building blocks to better, more comprehensive testing for PEDs in our sport, the question remains, what made Dana change his tune? Who are these guys that he has learned are ‘making it bad’?

Dana specifically mentioned fighters who are using TRT are who he intends to "test the sh– out of", so we can exclude all of our internal assumptions about who might be using PEDs, and who has tested positive in the past. Who are the fighters then, who took this concept, one that most of the mma media and fan community already knew of, and one which has been discussed at length in forums, message boards, on mma television shows, on radio shows, and made a true believer out of Dana White?

Rampage Jackson, in a 2012 interview with Fighter’s Only, provided some fighter-insight into the TRT process, describing that he suffered from low levels, and the fact that he wanted to fight on a certain date and testosterone would enable him to heal up quicker from injury were factors in his decision. Chael Sonnen tested above the permitted ratio after his first fight with Anderson Silva, and end result was simply the capacity building for him to get approval for normal levels in the future. Frank Mir and Shane Roller also lost fights while being on TRT, causing Roller, along with Nate Marquardt, who’s past with TRT includes being cut from the UFC for being unable to level-out at the right time before a fight, to stop seeking the exemptions, and get off of TRT.

I bring up these three sets of circumstances to provide some context into things that seemingly did not dissuade Dana in his opinion, even though they ultimately served to provide glaring evidence against TRT usage. He already knew about these things. Chael was within minutes of winning a title he would have been stripped of after the fact, and he got a rematch and coaching spot on The Ultimate Fighter. Marquardt already trainwrecked that UFC on Versus main event, and has since been let back into the fold. Rampage is another fighter who didn’t win on TRT, but he exited the UFC on his own accord. So we have all these cases of TRT mishaps, and still Dana wasn’t embracing ideas like the UFC testing fighters more often, or another entity like VADA aiding the process. Something made that change, a little anyway.

One point to make before any further negative public sentiment arises is that fighters who are on the TRT program are getting tested more than non-TRT fighters, aside from the VADA fighters, which are few and far between. These are the guys who at least on some level are being upfront about their usage of testosterone, and are coming in at normal levels at given intervals. Now, that being said, ‘fight time’ testosterone levels aren’t what changed uncle Dana’s mind about the stuff.

"I don’t like to see a natural, gifted athlete go in and fight a guy who’s been jacked up on TRT for three months."

Another relevant piece of information is the very curious case of Michael Bisping, who’s three biggest losses in the UFC, all of which were in no.1 contender fights, came against fighters using TRT. Dan Henderson, Chael Sonnen, and most recently Vitor Belfort all defeated the Brit in situations where a win for Bisping would have led to a title fight. Bisping released a public statement on the matter after the loss which included the following excerpt:

"Over the past couple years, and even right before the fight, I have made my views on TRT very, very clear. I don’t feel that I need to go into depth about it again right now. All I have to add, about this specific instance, is that it is very disappointing that someone who was caught cheating with testosterone in the past, now gets to use testosterone legally. A well known side effect of steroids is that it reduces testosterone, so I don’t understand how it would make sense to then grant someone an exemption to then increase testosterone."

We can only assume which fighters led Dana to rethink his TRT philosophy, and it’s safe to say that even though he’s going to be targeting fighters on TRT, he is starting to see the light when it comes to the tactics involved in PED abuse, and there are probably fighters who aren’t approved for TUEs who’s recent performance and behavior influenced his decision. One thing Dana did say though, that may have been the most fruitful of all his TRT sound bytes this weekend, leads us in a certain direction:

"If your test level isn’t high enough, maybe you’re too old to fight."

Let me know what you guys think on Twitter: @mikewellman88

"I don’t like to see a natural, gifted athlete go in and fight a guy who’s been jacked up on TRT for three months."

"If your test level isn’t high enough, maybe you’re too old to fight."

Let me know what you guys think on Twitter: @mikewellman88

Dana’s stance on TRT is evolving, but what made him come around?

MikeWellman88 — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 21:54:02 -0000

"I don’t like to see a natural, gifted athlete go in and fight a guy who’s been jacked up on TRT for three months."

"If your test level isn’t high enough, maybe you’re too old to fight."

Let me know what you guys think on Twitter: @mikewellman88

"I don’t like to see a natural, gifted athlete go in and fight a guy who’s been jacked up on TRT for three months."

"If your test level isn’t high enough, maybe you’re too old to fight."

Let me know what you guys think on Twitter: @mikewellman88

Dana’s stance on TRT is evolving, but what made him come around?

MikeWellman88 — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 21:50:44 -0000

"I don’t like to see a natural, gifted athlete go in and fight a guy who’s been jacked up on TRT for three months."

"If your test level isn’t high enough, maybe you’re too old to fight."

Let me know what you guys think on Twitter: @mikewellman88

"I don’t like to see a natural, gifted athlete go in and fight a guy who’s been jacked up on TRT for three months."

"If your test level isn’t high enough, maybe you’re too old to fight."

Let me know what you guys think on Twitter: @mikewellman88

Breaking Down UFC on Fuel TV 7's Main Card

MikeWellman88 — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 19:24:41 -0000

The UFC brings an interim bantamweight title fight to London this Saturday, as Renan Barao defends the interim 135 lbs belt against Michael ‘Mayday’ McDonald. The co-main event features two top-10 featherweights colliding, with Cub Swanson taking on Dustin Poirier. This card is stacked with great match-ups, so lets take a look at the action slated for the FUEL TV main card.

Matt Riddle vs Che Mills

First up on FUEL is the ‘brit-bashing’ Matt Riddle going up against the Gloucester, England native Che Mills. Riddle’s entire pro mma career has taken place inside the UFC octagon, a rarity in today’s mma landscape. Che Mills has won two of three UFC outings, against Chris Cope and Duane Ludwig, with a loss to Rory MacDonald coming in between. Riddle is known for his warring style of getting hit and continuing to endure, though Fightmetric shows a higher strikes absorbed per-minute ratio for Mills, who eats 4.78 strikes every 60 seconds on average, compared to Riddle’s 2.83. Riddle’s average fight length is 13:49, whereas Che Mills clocks in at a 3:29 average fight length. They’ve both won two of their last three fights, and are looking to break away from the middle of the pack into the top-10 discussion. Riddle is a tough, durable fighter, his nickname is ‘Deep Waters’, after all, and it’s going to come down to the level of finishing ability on the part of Mills. His two UFC wins were stoppages, and of Riddle’s three losses, only one was by stoppage, at it was in the third round. I’m predicting Riddle takes everything that Mills can dish out, and ‘Deep Waters’ leaves the UK with a decision win.

James Te Huna vs Ryan Jimmo

Jimmo’s UFC debut lasted a total of seven seconds, starching Anthony Perosh right out of the gate. As impressive as that feat is, it tells us little about Jimmo’s abilities outside of his KO power. Te Huna also has a finishing instinct, with four finishes in five UFC wins. Te Huna is on a three fight win streak and Jimmo is on a 16 fight win streak. Te Huna’s last fight lasted a lot longer than six seconds, but it was against the tough-as-nails Joey Beltran, who can endure a lot of punishment and still have some gas in the tank to unload a few powerful flurries. This fight has FOTN potential and KOTN potential, and now since I typed that out, it’s sure to get SOTN, per usual. I’m going to take Te Huna in this one, as I’m not sure how Jimmo is going to do against someone who hits as hard as he does, and won’t go down as easily as Perosh did.

Gunnar Nelson vs Jorge Santiago

The former Sengoku champion is back in the octagon, this time at 170 lbs, and takes on Icelandic prospect Gunnar Nelson. ‘Gunni’ is 10-0 in mma, all of which were finishes. Santiago has 25 wins in his 35-fight career, one of which came in the UFC, back in 2006. Santiago has never lost by submission, but there is a first time for everything, and I’m going to pick Gunnar Nelson to find a way to give him his first submission defeat.

Cub Swanson vs Dustin Poirier

The winner of this fight is going to have a huge feather in their cap and a great addition to their UFC resume. A win over Poirier would put Swanson on a four-fight win streak, a streak already containing wins over Ross Pearson and Charles Oliveira. Poirier has won six of his last seven, with a fight-of-the-year loss to Chan Sung Jung in there to break up his win streak. Swanson has the experience advantage, having fought since 2004, whereas Poirier started mma in 2009. Poirier has been showing leaps in his skill level everytime he enters the cage, and his move from Tim Credeur’s gym to American Top Team should work to accelerate his progress even further. He has a tough test against the dynamic striking and grappling of Swanson though. Swanson has only lost in recent years to elite competition, like Aldo, Mendes, and Lamas. All of whom are well-rounded grapplers, even though his loss to Aldo was by a quick KO. I see Dustin Poirier feeling out Swanson’s striking, and eventually taking it to the ground and pumping out a submission.

Renan Barao vs Michael McDonald

(Interim UFC Bantamweight Championship)

Michael McDonald has already says he does not care about titles. Despite his nihilistic pre-fight attitude, I do think Michael McDonald wants to be the youngest champion in UFC history. He’s 22, and already has four UFC wins under his belt. Renan Barao has also fought and won four times inside the octagon, but against tougher opposition. Based on the fact that the UFC bantamweight division is still in it’s infancy, Renan Barao is thus far the most dominant 135er in UFC history. Like I said, that is a very narrow statement, but it isnt untrue. Per Fightmetric, these two are very close to one another in strikes landed per-minute, strikes absorbed per-minute, and striking defense. There arent any wide chasms, on paper anyway, in the striking game. In reality however, Renan Barao is one of the most feared and dynamic strikers below Anderson Silva. Mcdonald has a higher takedown average per-fight (2.44 to Barao’s 1.39), but doesn’t defend them as well as Barao (95% to McDonald’s 67%). Admittedly, this is a situation where until I see someone beat Renan Barao, I won’t think that anyone can. A lot of people see Michael McDonald as that guy. I no doubt see that McDonald will have many title fights as his career continues, but in his first one, I see Renan Barao winning by decision.

Let me know what you guys think on Twitter : @mikewellman88

Matt Riddle vs Che Mills

James Te Huna vs Ryan Jimmo

Gunnar Nelson vs Jorge Santiago

Cub Swanson vs Dustin Poirier

Renan Barao vs Michael McDonald

(Interim UFC Bantamweight Championship)

Let me know what you guys think on Twitter : @mikewellman88

Breaking Down UFC on Fuel TV 7's Main Card

MikeWellman88 — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 19:20:00 -0000

Matt Riddle vs Che Mills

James Te Huna vs Ryan Jimmo

Gunnar Nelson vs Jorge Santiago

Cub Swanson vs Dustin Poirier

Renan Barao vs Michael McDonald

(Interim UFC Bantamweight Championship)

Let me know what you guys think on Twitter : @mikewellman88

Matt Riddle vs Che Mills

James Te Huna vs Ryan Jimmo

Gunnar Nelson vs Jorge Santiago

Cub Swanson vs Dustin Poirier

Renan Barao vs Michael McDonald

(Interim UFC Bantamweight Championship)

Let me know what you guys think on Twitter : @mikewellman88

Breaking Down UFC on Fuel TV 7's Main Card

MikeWellman88 — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 19:04:11 -0000

The UFC brings an interim bantamweight title fight to London this Saturday, as Renan Barao defends the interim 135 lbs belt against Michael 'Mayday' McDonald. The co-main event features two top-10 featherweights colliding, with Cub Swanson taking on Dustin Poirier. This card is stacked with great match-ups, so lets take a look at the action slated for the FUEL TV main card.

Matt Riddle vs Che Mills

First up on FUEL is the 'brit-bashing' Matt Riddle going up against the Gloucester, England native Che Mills. Riddle's entire pro mma career has taken place inside the UFC octagon, a rarity in today's mma landscape. Che Mills has won two of three UFC outings, against Chris Cope and Duane Ludwig, with a loss to Rory MacDonald coming in between. Riddle is known for his warring style of getting hit and continuing to endure, though Fightmetric shows a higher strikes absorbed per-minute ratio for Mills, who eats 4.78 strikes every 60 seconds on average, compared to Riddle's 2.83. Riddle's average fight length is 13:49, whereas Che Mills clocks in at a 3:29 average fight length. They've both won two of their last three fights, and are looking to break away from the middle of the pack into the top-10 discussion. Riddle is a tough, durable fighter, his nickname is 'Deep Waters', after all, and it's going to come down to the level of finishing ability on the part of Mills. His two UFC wins were stoppages, and of Riddle's three losses, only one was by stoppage, at it was in the third round. I'm predicting Riddle takes everything that Mills can dish out, and 'Deep Waters' leaves the UK with a decision win.

James Te Huna vs Ryan Jimmo

Jimmo's UFC debut lasted a total of seven seconds, starching Anthony Perosh right out of the gate. As impressive as that feat is, it tells us little about Jimmo's abilities outside of his KO power. Te Huna also has a finishing instinct, with four finishes in five UFC wins. Te Huna is on a three fight win streak and Jimmo is on a 16 fight win streak. Te Huna's last fight lasted a lot longer than six seconds, but it was against the tough-as-nails Joey Beltran, who can endure a lot of punishment and still have some gas in the tank to unload a few powerful flurries. This fight has FOTN potential and KOTN potential, and now since I typed that out, it's sure to get SOTN, per usual. I'm going to take Te Huna in this one, as I'm not sure how Jimmo is going to do against someone who hits as hard as he does, and won't go down as easily as Perosh did.

Gunnar Nelson vs Jorge Santiago

The former Sengoku champion is back in the octagon, this time at 170 lbs, and takes on Icelandic prospect Gunnar Nelson. 'Gunni' is 10-0 in mma, all of which were finishes. Santiago has 25 wins in his 35-fight career, one of which came in the UFC, back in 2006. Santiago has never lost by submission, but there is a first time for everything, and I'm going to pick Gunnar Nelson to find a way to give him his first submission defeat.

Cub Swanson vs Dustin Poirier

The winner of this fight is going to have a huge feather in their cap and a great addition to their UFC resume. A win over Poirier would put Swanson on a four-fight win streak, a streak already containing wins over Ross Pearson and Charles Oliveira. Poirier has won six of his last seven, with a fight-of-the-year loss to Chan Sung Jung in there to break up his win streak. Swanson has the experience advantage, having fought since 2004, whereas Poirier started mma in 2009. Poirier has been showing leaps in his skill level everytime he enters the cage, and his move from Tim Credeur's gym to American Top Team should work to accelerate his progress even further. He has a tough test against the dynamic striking and grappling of Swanson though. Swanson has only lost in recent years to elite competition, like Aldo, Mendes, and Lamas. All of whom are well-rounded grapplers, even though his loss to Aldo was by a quick KO. I see Dustin Poirier feeling out Swanson's striking, and eventually taking it to the ground and pumping out a submission.

Renan Barao vs Michael McDonald

(Interim UFC Bantamweight Championship)

Michael McDonald has already says he does not care about titles. Despite his nihilistic pre-fight attitude, I do think Michael McDonald wants to be the youngest champion in UFC history. He's 22, and already has four UFC wins under his belt. Renan Barao has also fought and won four times inside the octagon, but against tougher opposition. Based on the fact that the UFC bantamweight division is still in it's infancy, Renan Barao is thus far the most dominant 135er in UFC history. Like I said, that is a very narrow statement, but it isnt untrue. Per Fightmetric, these two are very close to one another in strikes landed per-minute, strikes absorbed per-minute, and striking defense. There arent any wide chasms, on paper anyway, in the striking game. In reality however, Renan Barao is one of the most feared and dynamic strikers below Anderson Silva. Mcdonald has a higher takedown average per-fight (2.44 to Barao's 1.39), but doesn't defend them as well as Barao (95% to McDonald's 67%). Admittedly, this is a situation where until I see someone beat Renan Barao, I won't think that anyone can. A lot of people see Michael McDonald as that guy. I no doubt see that McDonald will have many title fights as his career continues, but in his first one, I see Renan Barao winning by decision.

Let me know what you guys think on Twitter : @mikewellman88

Matt Riddle vs Che Mills

James Te Huna vs Ryan Jimmo

Gunnar Nelson vs Jorge Santiago

Cub Swanson vs Dustin Poirier

The winner of this fight is going to have a huge feather in their cap and a great addition to their UFC resume. A win over Poirier would put Swanson on a four-fight win streak, a streak already containing wins over Ross Pearson and Charles Oliveira. Poirier has won six of his last seven, with a fight-of-the-year loss to Chan Sung Jung in there to break up his win streak. Swanson has the experience advantage, having fought since 2004, whereas Poirier started mma in 2009. Poirier has been showing leaps in his skill level everytime he enters the cage, and his move from Tim Credeur's gym to American Top Team should work to accelerate his progress even further. He has a tough test against the dynamic striking and grappling of Swanson though. Swanson has only lost in recent years to elite competition, like Aldo, Mendes, and Lamas. All of whom are well-rounded grapplers, even though his loss to Aldo was by a quick KO. I see Dustin Poirier feeling out Swanson's striking, and eventually taking it to the ground and pumping out a submission.

Renan Barao vs Michael McDonald

(Interim UFC Bantamweight Championship)

Michael McDonald has already says he does not care about titles. Despite his nihilistic pre-fight attitude, I do think Michael McDonald wants to be the youngest champion in UFC history. He's 22, and already has four UFC wins under his belt. Renan Barao has also fought and won four times inside the octagon, but against tougher opposition. Based on the fact that the UFC bantamweight division is still in it's infancy, Renan Barao is thus far the most dominant 135er in UFC history. Like I said, that is a very narrow statement, but it isnt untrue. Per Fightmetric, these two are very close to one another in strikes landed per-minute, strikes absorbed per-minute, and striking defense. There arent any wide chasms, on paper anyway, in the striking game. In reality however, Renan Barao is one of the most feared and dynamic strikers below Anderson Silva. Mcdonald has a higher takedown average per-fight (2.44 to Barao's 1.39), but doesn't defend them as well as Barao (95% to McDonald's 67%). Admittedly, this is a situation where until I see someone beat Renan Barao, I won't think that anyone can. A lot of people see Michael McDonald as that guy. I no doubt see that McDonald will have many title fights as his career continues, but in his first one, I see Renan Barao winning by decision.

Let me know what you guys think on Twitter : @mikewellman88

Poll

Who will leave London with the Interim Bantamweight title?

Renan Barao

2 votes

Michael McDonald

4 votes

6 votes | Poll has closed

UFC 156: Winners & Losers Who Shook Up Their Divisions

MikeWellman88 — Sun, 03 Feb 2013 23:30:19 -0000

UFC 156 will be remembered for a long time. It was a great night of fights from start to finish, and we had some of our pre-fight questions answered, along with new ones we didn't think to ask in the first place. The night showcased the octagon debuts of three Strikeforce fighters who all outlasted and defeated UFC veterans, and the top portion sent fighters flying in and out of the top 10, and served to clear out several number-one contender seats in the UFC. It was a great night if you were a Brazilian, and a bad one if you were a Blackzilian. With more than one division's top 5 rankings in a state of disarray, lets hurry up and sort through the rubble left by UFC 156.

Best Use of A Text Message: Anthony Pettis.

UFC 156 ended with Jose Aldo retaining his featherweight title in close fight against Frankie Edgar. While most were asking what would be next for Edgar, after dropping three straight title fights, somebody decided to insert themselves into the conversation about who'd be next for the reigning king of 145 lbs. Dana White revealed at the post-fight press conference that he got a text message from surging 155 lbs contender, Anthony Pettis, asking for a shot at Aldo.

Mind. Blown.

It's perfect. Pettis knows that his title shot at lightweight isn't coming for a solid 7-8 months, why not cash it all in against someone a little higher up on the pound-for-pound list. Don't get me wrong, I do have Benson Henderson on my pound-for-pound list, just behind Jose Aldo, but Pettis has already beat Henderson. Anthony Pettis doesn't cut weight to get to 155 lbs. So you mean to tell me that Pettis is able to land one-of-a-kind 'Showtime' moves off of the cage wall against guys that cut down to get to the weight he walks around at? Imagine what a roughly same-sized Pettis could do against smaller opponents? From the looks of things Pettis is going to be springing from the cage in multiple divisions, and that is an intriguing thought.

Biggest Winner: Antonio 'Bigfoot' Silva.

In choosing between Tyron Woodley's blasting of Jay Hieron and the giant Silva's performance at UFC 156 for Biggest Winner, it really came down to who's destruction was against tougher opposition. I can't claim to know what was going through the mind of Alistair Overeem during his fight against Silva, but Bigfoot made it a point to bring whatever it was to a screeching halt. I was a little bit afraid when he went on the re-attack, and started shouting at the pile of Alistair Overeem that he left, but luckily for everyone involved nobody was eaten. And by doing a little revisionist history, Bigfoot's track-record is starting to look pretty darn good. Handing Travis Browne his first defeat by KO? Pulverizing Fedor Emelianenko? And now this? Yes, Cain Velasquez did make the giant bleed his own blood, but for Heaven's sake, how good must that make Cain Velasquez? When guys string together enough wins, we all re-evaluate the regard we've been holding them in up to that point. This was Silva's biggest win to-date, and puts him on a short list for a title shot.

Biggest Loser: The Tag Team of Alistair Overeem and Rashad Evans.

These two both had a bad night. They both lost to heavy underdogs. On the Overeem side, he had a terrible showing at UFC 156, and what's worse is that he was one win away from the UFC title fight that has thus far eluded him. He did out-strike Bigfoot in the first two rounds, but who expected the fight to go that long. We all knew that Silva had the power to knock-out Overeem. We thought Overeem knew that too. It was a brutal and costly mistake on Overeem's part to put so much effort into not putting in effort against Antonio Silva. Overeem's performance was indeed puzzling. Equally so what that of Rashad Evans, who put on an even less inspiring performance in his loss to Rogerio Nogueira. You know you didn't fair well when prior to the fight, you're name is being brought up to fight the greatest-of-all-time, as a worthy adversary, and after the fight, your boss is talking about your motivations to compete at all. I'm just as baffled as everyone else is about these two.

Most In Need of a Non-Title Fight: Frankie Edgar.

Before we start the grieving process for Frankie Edgar, who lost his third straight fight at UFC 156, lets remember that his last seven fights have been title fights. There are plenty of guys who will tell you about the one title fight they got in the UFC, and the long road back to contention. Frankie Edgar did what he always does in his fight against Jose Aldo, he fought a man perceived to be better than him, took some damage early on, found his timing and came back and made it competitive, and was able to convince a large portion of the audience that he won. There are plenty of fights for Frankie, at both 145 lbs, and 135 lbs. Another perpetual title contender exists in Urijah Faber, who currently fights at 135 lbs, but that would be a worthy non-title fight at bantamweight for Edgar. There is also Erik Koch, Dennis Siver, the korean zombie, Ricardo Lamas and a ton of other guys at featherweight that would be great for Edgar. It's not the end of the world to have to put together a winnning streak, and Edgar's performance in defeat on Saturday didn't send him plummeting as far down in the rankings as some of the night's other fighters, so the future shouldn't seem as gloomy as everyone, Frankie included, as made it.

Biggest Splash In UFC Debut: Tyron Woodley.

All three debuting Strikeforce fighters, Isaac Vallie-Flagg, Bobby Green, and T-Woodz all left Las Vegas with wins on Sunday. Woodley however, shot up his divisions rankings further though, due to the nature of his win. Jay Hieron may not be the toughest of the three mens' opponents, but Woodley finished him in under 40 seconds, and stated afterwards that he is ready to replace any injured fighters on the UFC 159 card. I hope I'm not the only won interested in how Woodley does against the top 10 at welterweight.

Winner of the Jon Fitch Award for Smothering Dominance: Damien Maia.

I wonder if throughout all his dominant victories, Jon Fitch really ever understood what it was like to get 'fitched'. He certainly does now. Damien Maia couldn't get his hands on Fitch quick enough, rushing him in the opening seconds and not letting up until the fight was over. I can't say that there were three 10-8 rounds, because Fitch was able to not get submitted for 15 minutes, a belt-worthy feat by itself. Maia was relentless and most other welterweights would have been tapped out and sent home. Fitch endured, and even in defeat, showed that he is virtually unsubmit-able. Second isn't first however, and Maia now ascends to the crowded peak of the UFC welterweight division, with Dana White stating that he is a future number-one contender.

Surprising outcomes were the norm at UFC 156, with contenders plummeting, and contenders rising the ranks. Strikeforce fighters proved that they are here to stay. The flyweights opened up the main card with their unique brand of speed and technique, and the much talked-about superfight was pretty super. And now I ask for the third straight week, after the third straight event: Who is next for Anderson Silva?

Best Use of A Text Message: Anthony Pettis.

Mind. Blown.

Biggest Winner: Antonio 'Bigfoot' Silva.

Biggest Loser: The Tag Team of Alistair Overeem and Rashad Evans.

Most In Need of a Non-Title Fight: Frankie Edgar.

Biggest Splash In UFC Debut: Tyron Woodley.

Winner of the Jon Fitch Award for Smothering Dominance: Damien Maia.

Aldo vs Edgar: Looking at the superfight

MikeWellman88 — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 04:16:44 -0000

To answer your first question, yes this is a superfight. Jose Aldo vs. Frankie Edgar is the best possible match in mma at any weight class below 155. This is going to be the eighth title fight in a row for Edgar, and the sixth for Aldo. A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, after defeating BJ Penn to win the UFC lightweight title, Edgar was asked at a pre-weigh in Q&A session with fans who he'd most like to fight out of anyone in the UFC or out. His answer was Jose Aldo, who at the time was the WEC featherweight champion. The two organizations hadn't merged yet, and Aldo would have been the stiffest competition outside the UFC. Fast forward three years and Jose Aldo is Frankie Edgar's stiffest competition in the UFC.

Edgar is perhaps most famous for his resiliency and his ability to come back from the brink of defeat, further defining what the brink actually is in the process. Both of his fights with Gray Maynard featured exchanges where Edgar was being bounced back and forth around the cage by hard punches early in the fight, and in both fights Edgar came back and kept fighting. Aldo is most known for his amazing striking, and sheer dominance. Aldo lost his way a bit at UFC 129, when he gassed out against Mark Hominick, but he already had enough rounds in the bank to win. Other than that he has looked almost perfect, never really being in danger of losing.

Jose Aldo will most likely try to impact Edgar's boxing by chipping away at him with outside leg kicks. I don't think it would be wise for Edgar to fight at range against Aldo, as most of the champions strikes are thrown with fight-changing intent, and that combined with his aggressive finishing instinct usually make a short night for the challengers looking to strike it out.

Shooting for the takedown in the middle of the cage against Aldo is a very effective treatment for insomnia. You will be sleeping tonight. That's not to say that the pressure needed by Edgar to control where the fight goes against Aldo is any easier of a task. Aldo is most dangerous in first round, where he posts most of his finishes. Edgar's best chance is get Aldo against the fence, and try to get the takedown. Aldo cuts more weight than Edgar to get to featherweight limit, so he'll probably be the bigger fighter in the cage. This will be Frankie's first fight at 145, usually fighting at 155, closer to what he walks around at. That could play a factor in the fight.

If Frankie can't get him down, he's going to need to tire out the champ against the fence for as long as he can, and get the fight back against the fence and try again. Aldo has so many more paths to victory than Edgar does in this fight. These two have to be considered each other's most skilled opponent. I see the champion retaining, by second round tko. I think Edgar can weather some hard shots, and his foot work will take fight out of the opening round, but I don't think he'll last against Aldo's onslaught. This is a fight that has been talked about for a long time, between two of the pound-for-pound best ever, and we're finally going to get to see it.

UFC on Fox 6: Biggest Winners & Losers

MikeWellman88 — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 23:49:48 -0000

The UFC started off its second year on network television with a main card that delivered. There were a lot of questions going into UFC on Fox 6, most of which got answered. Lets take a look at the night's biggest winners and losers.

Biggest Winner: Anthony Pettis

Pettis was the biggest winner on Saturday not just because of his dominant victory itself, but also because of what he left Chicago with. Anthony Pettis is now undeniably the number-one contender in the UFC lightweight division. There were other title eliminators where top-contender status was on the table for the winner, but Pettis was the one who called his shot and got the stamp of approval from Dana White, who tweeted "Pettis =AMAZING!!!! Ok I'm sold". The 155 lbs belt is up for grabs on 4/20 in San Jose, and the winner will have his first defense against Pettis, who although being out of action for almost a year, showed virtually no ring-rust in his quick dispatching of Donald Cerrone. We also got to see another Pettis instant-classic in the 'Showtime Knee', an off-the-cage knee that landed so quickly it was barely visible to the naked eye. Hopefully 2013 will be a more active year for 'Showtime', who is proving himself to be one of the most talented and dynamic strikers in all of mma.

Biggest Loser: Erik Koch

Koch did make it to the second round with Ricardo Lamas, but he didn't make it out. He got opened up by Lamas on the ground, and it wasn't very much longer before he was finished. Not only did Koch lose the fight in the most brutal fashion to-date on a Fox card, he also lost his ticket to a title fight. Had Koch won, he'd most likely be next in line for a featherweight title fight. The manner in which he lost is also why he lost the hardest, as Lamas rained down those elbows like he was trying to dig a hole through to the mat.

Most Likely To Retire: Vladimir Matyushenko

'The Janitor' has been fighting in the octagon since UFC 32, and after losing in the quickest submission in UFC light heavyweight history(depending on who you ask), Matyushenko has won just two of his last five. He is the second-oldest active fighter in the UFC, younger than only Dan Henderson. There isn't much to say about how Vladdy performed, other than to say that he simply didn't. Matyushenko has been in the cage with the very best at 205 lbs from the old guard and the new. There's no shame in hanging them up when you need to, and Matyushenko needs to.

Most Impressive in Defeat: John Dodson

Dodson wasn't accustomed to the championship rounds, and it showed. But aside from his tank approaching empty in the later rounds, he more or less kept up with Mighty Mouse, and he even won the first two rounds on the majority of the scorecards. He showed his unique power at 125 pounds, by dropping the champion on several occasions. Demetrious Johnson has a pace unrivaled by anyone smaller than George St. Pierre, and although Dodson didn't leave with the W, he is still capable of finishing most if not all of his other contemporaries, and shouldn't have too far of a climb to a rematch.

Least likely to take points away from fighters when they break the rules: MMA Referees. Any of them.

In the main event on Saturday, Demetrious Johnson landed a knee to the head of John Dodson, while he was officially considered a grounded opponent. There may be such a thing as 'accidentally illegal', where a fighter intended to land a strike, but didn't understand it's illegality (Alessio Sakara vs Patrick Cote). That does not change the illegality of the strike landed. In this case, the illegal knee did damage, leaving a swelling mass on Dodson's head. John McCarthy, the referee, didn't take a point away from Johnson, and simply gave him a warning. A point being taken away from Johnson would have changed the course of the fight, and was completely warranted because the knee that was landed certainly did. Who knows if Dodson would have slowed that much in the last two rounds had he not eaten that shot. It's up to the ref to make sure these things don't occur, or when they do, take appropriate action. Giving the downed fighter a few seconds to catch his breath isn't equal to taking a point from the fighter who broke the rules. It shouldn't matter how nice the fighter is being while breaking the rules, the point should have been taken.

Least Impressive in Victory: Clay Guida.

Most of us understand that mma judges have a hard time understanding that the fighter in top position isn't winning the fight by default. Clay Guida sure does. Otherwise he would do work to win the fight, as opposed to simply mitigating his offense. Here is a guy who was given the middle finger by a frustrated Gray Maynard during their fight, and Maynard was winning the fight. He's drawn negative criticism from fans, media, his bosses, his bosses in the media, etc. Clay seems like a great guy outside the cage, but at this point, he at least needs to stop being surprised when people are disappointed by his performances.

UFC on Fox 6 delivered some great performances and rose the stock of most of the winners. The elbows of Ricardo Lamas showed that he is ready to step in the cage with either Jose Aldo or Frankie Edgar. The flyweights were cheered, rightfully so, as they put on a fantastic back-and-forth fight that could have gone either way. All in all it was a great night for fights, and just gave us that much more to look forward to in 2013.

Biggest Winner: Anthony Pettis

Biggest Loser: Erik Koch

Most Likely To Retire: Vladimir Matyushenko

Most Impressive in Defeat: John Dodson

Least likely to take points away from fighters when they break the rules: MMA Referees. Any of them.

Least Impressive in Victory: Clay Guida.

UFC on Fox Main Card Preview/Predictions

MikeWellman88 — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 17:52:11 -0000

I gave up on the two-part posting, so here in its entirety is my preview of the UFC on Fox Main Card.

Erik Koch and Ricardo Lamas kick things off once the FX prelims conclude, in a fight that moves one of them close to a featherweight title shot, something that is becoming harder and harder to come by these days. Remember when all Kenny Florian had to do was make the weight-cut and squeak past Diego Nunes to get a shot? And when Mark Hominick had to beat George Roop to get his? Now however, you have to rack up impressive wins just to get a fight that looks like it could produce a worthy injury replacement in a future number-one contender fight.

Lamas has the aforementioned win streak, beating Hatsu Hioki, and Cub Swanson most recently. Erik Koch comes into this fight after a long layoff, and was originally set to get a title fight against Jose Aldo but was forced out by injury. He beat Jonathan Brookins and Raphael Assuncao back-to-back in 2011, and his only career loss is to Chad Mendes, whose only career loss is to Jose Aldo, whose only career loss is to pavement. (That’s actually not true, he did lose once back in 2005, but where would I be if I let facts get in my way?) Both of these guys know that beating the other will put them at the front of the line for the winner of Aldo/Edgar, or into another number-one contender fight should Aldo win and then make the jump to 155 lbs. See what I mean about featherweight? I’d have to say this is Koch’s fight to win, he’ll most likely push the pace wherever the fight goes, and wait for Lamas to make a mistake and finish him.

Next up is huge fight in the lightweight division, where the winner should be the next number-one contender for the title at 155 lbs. Seeing a pattern here? Anthony Pettis came into the UFC in 2011 with a guaranteed title unification fight, with his WEC lightweight title being his ticket to the UFC strap. Fast forward two years, Pettis is 2-1 in the UFC, no title fight yet, and Gilbert Melendez is the one in the unification fight, coming over as the Strikeforce Lightweight Champion. Throw in the fact that Pettis was promised a title fight again after his last win, and that Eddie Alvarez was offered a UFC contract guaranteeing him a title fight upon arrival, and it really looks like Pettis is getting the raw end of the stick here.

He’s hoping the third times a charm when it comes to promised title fights, as a win over Cerrone on Fox would put his name back in the mouths of casual and hardcore fans alike. These guys are both dynamic strikers, and although Pettis didn’t fare well against the grinding style(that day) of Clay Guida, against Cerrone he’s likely to keep the fight standing and look for his next highlight for the ages. Cerrone has to know it will be coming, and will try to kickbox his way to victory. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that Pettis will win, and also that his next fight will be for the belt.

The co-main event between Glover Teixeira and ‘Rampage’ Jackson should be one that is contested on the feet, and most likely won’t go to a decision. I say this knowing that most of the fights that get the description ‘won’t go to a decision’, oddly tend to. Win or lose, Rampage says he’s done with the UFC. He says they don’t treat the athletes well, they get rich off of the athletes, he doesn’t get enough pats on the back, and he is prepared to take a pay cut to fight elsewhere. Jackson has always spoke his mind about his relationship with Dana White and the UFC, and it seems that most of his gripes from the UFC making statements about his appeal as a top star, given his recent performances, and trying to resign him at a lower pay. Rampage has always said he doesn’t like fighting, or he used to say that before he admittedly used testosterone to help him recover from an injury quicker, and then seemingly found a new sense of youth and fighting spirit.

The UFC doesn’t intend on sending him on his way in one piece however. Jackson’s opponent, Glover Teixeira, is on a 17-fight win streak, and absolutely decimated his last opponent, Fabio Maldonado. Have you ever seen a fighter so hurt that the horn to stop the round sends him staggering back into the cage? Neither had I. Maldonado got pulverized by Glover, and the fight was stopped by the cageside doctor between rounds. Rampage is a much higher of a caliber opponent that Maldonado, but in his recent fights, he has taken more damage and takes longer to recover, if he does so at all. Teixeira is a bad dude, as Joe Rogan would say. Glover wins, most likely by TKO, but another doctor stoppage isn’t out of the question.

The main event on Fox is Demetrious ‘Mighty Mouse’ Johnson’s first defense of his newly-minted UFC Flyweight Championship. His opponent is the TUF 14 tournament winner, John ‘The Magician’ Dodson. These two have been called the two fastest men in the UFC, and if Saturday will be your introduction to them, you won’t disagree. Johnson spends his fights darting in, putting his leather on you more times than you can account for, and darting back out. He doesn’t throw with power, but his speed and accuracy will leave you frustrated that you couldn’t get your hands on the guy who chipped away at your face for 25 minutes. Dodson is more of a finisher though, with 57% of his wins coming by either KO/TKO or submission.

It’s tough to tell which of these two is faster. I’d give a slight edge to the guy holding the belt, if for no other reason than that, and the only predicted winner I have in this one is the fans, as these are two of the very best fighters in the world south of 155 lbs, and they keep a high level of action during every minute they fight. Every fighter on this card is in the top 10 of their weight class, and every fight has major title implications. This is a great lineup for a free night of fights, and a great start for the UFC on Fox in 2013.

I gave up on the two-part posting, so here in its entirety is my preview of the UFC on Fox Main Card.

Cung Le is who should fight Anderson Silva next, and here's why.

MikeWellman88 — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 02:39:45 -0000

The big question coming out of UFC on FX 7 is who the UFC middleweight champion will defend his belt against next, now that Michael Bisping lost in his title eliminator fight by KO to Vitor Belfort. So is often the case when a fight is only a number-one contender fight for one of the fighters. Other notable contenders falling to the back of the line recently include Tim Boetsch, who lost to Costa Phillipou, and Alan Belcher, who lost to Yushin Okami, both of which at UFC 155. So the only top-six or so middleweight left coming off a win at all is Chris Weidman, who is out until summer. Luke Rockhold is trying to pick his next fight, already calling out Phillipou and now Belfort. But Anderson turned down Weidman because he lacked name recognition, and at this late stage in his career, Anderson is looking to fight famous, well-known fighters, in as a big a fight as can be drummed up.

Weidman, and Rockhold may both be worthy challengers, but their newness to the forefront of the 185 division is a problem. But why wouldn't Anderson Silva just want to defend his title against the most worthy available middleweight? Because he's old, that's why. Most fighters get to a stage where they start to guard their fights a little more closely, and Silva is at that stage. He's about to turn 38, an age where most fighters are either retired or losing.

We should forget about bringing in fighters from other divisions, like Rashad Evans. The only non-middleweights who should even be considered are GSP and Bones Jones. Both of whom have a fight, leaving Silva to sit out, and waste more time not fighting. When asking who he should fight next, lets quickly look at who he last fought. It was Stephan Bonnar, a retired light heavyweight, who was offered the fight when the original headliners pulled out with injuries. So Stephan Bonnar was good enough to fight Anderson Silva, under the right circumstances. I now ask, why isn't Cung Le?

The immediate response to why Cung should NOT get the fight would be what? That the fight wouldn't be competitve? I would then ask what fight would? Given the available talent pool. Anderson want's a well known fighter, well Cung Le is a movie star, who just won the main event of the first UFC in China, by knockout, of a former UFC champion, who himself was worthy of two fights with Silva. Why not give Cung Le the shot? Cung Le is deserving of the same chance at glory that was given to Stephan Bonnar. Cung is going to be turning 41 this year. He is a former Strikeforce middleweight champion, coming off a finish in a UFC main event, oh and it was in the same weight division as the champion. Of all the potential fights for Anderson, Cung Le is what makes the most sense.