CESMMA 39 Breakdown

               

                Classic Entertainment and Sports, working in collaboration with Cage Titans, brings CES MMA 39 to Memorial Hall in historic, Plymouth, MA November 4^th. The Ultimate Fighter Season 13 alumni, Chuck O’Neil headlines the card opposite Lawrence Massachusetts’ Wilfredo Santiago Jr in a Middleweight bout. The Main Card airs live on AXS TV, with commentators, Michael The Voice Schiavello and UFC Hall-of-Famer, Pat Miletich dissecting the action.

                17-8 Chuck O’Neil turned pro at Twenty-one years old in 2006. He was on Team Lesnar on TUF13, a TKO loss to, Season Winner, Tony Ferguson ended the competition in the Semifinal round for O’Neil. One of New England’s best, Cold Steel has held Welterweight Belts for Reality Fighting, Cage Titans FC and CESMMA. 

O’Neil Arm-Barred a vacant CESMMA WW title away from Ricardo Funch at CESMMA 26 and defended that belt three months later (1/30/15) with a First Round KO of Emmanuel Walo at CESMMA 29. He dropped a Unanimous Decision and the Title to Dominique Steele at CESMMA29, prompting the Six-foot-two inch, O’Neil to try a move up to the MW Division. After losing his debut fight in the new division Cold Steele has settled into the weight with two straight wins in 2016. In March he out-pointed Dennis Olson to win by UD and stopped Roy Jones with a first round (2:24) TKO in August at CESMMA 37. Twelve of O’Neil’s Seventeen wins have come by stoppage (6 Subs, 6TKO/KO).

               

              6-3 Wilfredo Santiago Jr is coming off his third consecutive first round finish. At Cage Zone 59 in August, The Brown Bomber stopped Nuri Shakir by TKO at 2:03. Santiago has been living and training in Albuquerque, NM at Jackson Wink MMA, in preparation for this fight. The Brown Bomber is a hard striker with a knack for the KO, five of his six wins have been TKO/KO (1 Sub win). Santiago is a finisher who has only been to Decision once, his last CESMMA appearance a UD loss back in 2013.

               

Undefeated, Manny Bermudez faces a step-up in competition in veteran, Saul Almeida in the Featherweight Division. 7-0 Bermudez has submitted his last two opponents, both by Guillotine-Choke: he caught Jeff Anderson 1:06 into their 6/18/16 bout and at Cage Titans 30 he stopped Rodrigo Almeida at 0:54. A busy fighter, Bermudez competes in his fifth fight of 2016, he began the year with a January Rear-Naked-Choke of Evan Parker at CESMMA 32 (1^st 1:43). The only time the Featherweight has been out of the first round came just twenty-two days later at Cage Titans 27 when he earned a UD over Dan Dubuque.

               

                           Saul The Spider Almeida is a veteran of Twenty-five fights, in addition to eight fights in CESMMA he has also competed for Bellator and most recently WSOF where he is coming off a two fight skid. A first round submission loss to Alexandre Almeida at WSOF 24 (10/17/15), broke a five fight win streak. 18-7 Almeida is just Twenty-seven years old, a win could start a streak that sees The Spider make a major run.

               

Also in the Featherweight Division, Undefeated fighters meet when 6-0 Peter Slippery Pete Barrett takes on 3-0 Jeremy The Beast Davis. Familiar scene for Slippery Pete, all six of Barrett’s fights have been with Massachusetts promotion, Cage Titans in Plymouth Memorial Hall. Five of Barrett’s six stoppage wins have come by TKO/KO, including his April first round stoppage (1:53) of Jeff Anderson at Cage Titans 28.

               

Clearwater, Florida’s Jeremy Davis has stopped each of his three wins, in June Don Shainis’ night was called by Doctor Stoppage following the opening round at Cage Titans 29. The Beast also has two 2015 wins by Guillotine, (7/24) First Round 2:20 Matt Indiero and (1/10) Second Round 2:59 Kirk Hubble.

                5-4-1 Flyweight, Remo Cardarelli takes on 2-0 Josh Ricci. Cardarelli began his Pro Career with four straight Submission wins, since tough match-ups and bad luck have plagued him. A pair of losses to Darren Mima and a win over Andy Aiello overturned by Massachusetts State Athletic Commission (for a Time-keeping error) has seen the Milford fighter’s record suffer. Cardarelli looks to get back on track when he faces Twenty-three year old, Josh Ricci.

                Ricci has stopped both previous opponents by Rear-Naked-Choke. In his Pro debut (1/8/16) he caught Dalton Bradley in the Third Round (2:02) at CESMMA 32 and last fight at Prodigy MMA- Resurrection (5/28/16) he stopped David Baxter in the Second Round (2:45).

                Finishing Bantamweights hook up when 3-0 Max Barrett takes on 3-1 Matt Almy. Barrett has stopped his three opponents (2TKO/KO 1 Sub) including his August TKO win over Devin Pelkington in the opening round (2:01). Almy is coming off a TKO win just weeks in the rear-view, (10/14/16) at Combate Americas Empire Rising a First Round (2:59) TKO of Freddy Arteaga.

Bellator 162 Breakdown

               

                                             Bellator Heavyweight contender, Bobby Lashley appears casted from a superhero mold, his physique looks more natural at his other gig, Professional Wrestling. Lashley performs in TNA Wrestling and formerly the WWE. The Dominator recently (10/6/16) lost the TNA HW World Championship, just in time to focus on his October 21^st showdown with Josh Appelt at Bellator 162. The pair will square off in the Co-Main, proceeding Main Eventers, Kendall Grove and Alexander Shlemenko in Memphis, Tennessee. Click link for Main Event coverage: http://fightpage.blogspot.com/2016/10/da-spyder-and-storm.html

               

Bobby Lashley is on a seven fight win streak, including four submissions and two by TKO. Most recently he avenged his last career loss (5/6/12) to James Thompson, stopping Thompson in the first round (0:54) by TKO at Bellator 145 (11/6/15). This is Lashley’s first fight of the year, but in 2015 the Army Veteran (in addition to Thompson) also TKO’d Dan Charles in the second round (4:14) at Bellator 138. The Dominator has stopped eleven of his fourteen wins, seven by submission. The Musclebound wrestler groomed his skills at Missouri Valley College where he was a three time National Champion. This is Lashley’s fifth scrap with Bellator, he has stopped his four previous opponents in the promotion’s HW division (2TKO, 2Sub). Lashley faces a hard-striking Heavyweight from Olivehurst Ca, 12-5 Josh Appelt.

               

Appelt is also coming off a pair of TKO wins, at West Coast Fighting Championship 16 (1/23/16) he stopped Roy Boughton in the second round (4:58) and ruined Joe Hernandez’s night at WFC 15 (10/10/15) in the first round (1:58). The Juggernaut hasn’t fought for Bellator since a 4/4/14 Unanimous Decision loss to Freddie Aquitania. Appelt is 3-1 with the promotion one win by TKO and one Submission. He has stopped ten of his twelve wins (8 KO/TKO). The Thirty-three year old’s last four fights have been with WFC where he is the HW Champion. He is also the former Gladiator Challenge HW King.

               

Hisaki The Japanese Musketeer Kato is a French and Japanese fighter, born in Paris, living in Nagoya, Aichi, Japan. All eight of the 6-2 striker’s fights have ended by KO/TKO. Kato hasn’t been out of the second round with two KO/TKO wins in the round’s opening minute. Kato is 4-1 in Japanese promotion, Heat. At Heat 31 it took Kato only 0:53 to TKO Yuki Niimura and go home with the Middleweight strap. The Japanese Musketeer Knocked Out Joe Schilling in his US and Bellator debut with a second round (0:34) Superman Punch 6/26/15. In June Kato, again stopped Schilling in the second round, this time in Kato’s Pro Kickboxing debut at Bellator Dynamite 2. Schilling is 19-9 with eleven KO/TKO wins in Kickboxing. In his last MMA action (4/17/16) Kato TKO’d Yuta Watanabe in the first round (1:04) at Rizin 1. He faces 8-5 AJ Matthews in a Middleweight contest.

               

 Carlsbad, California’s AJ The Mercenary Matthews is 2-3 in fights that go to the judges’ scorecards. Matthews is a finisher that has KO/TKO wins in six of his eight wins. The Mercenary has dropped his last two: in June he lost a UD to Ben Reiter at Bellator 156 and was KO’d by Anatoly Tokov at Rizin FF (1/29/15). Prior to the pair of losses Matthews scored two consecutive, first round TKO wins, at Bellator 141, Emiliano Sordi never returned from the stool following the opening round and Kyle Bolt was stopped at 1:39 of the first frame at Bellator 131. With two heavy-hitting Middleweights going at it the action should be thrilling and likely brief.

                 Injury caused a late replacement for Ryan Couture's opponent at Bellator 148, which proved to be bad news for 10-4 Couture. Patricky Pitbull scored a first round KO (3:00) of Couture (1/29/16). The loss halted a four fight win streak, which all ended with Couture cinching a Rear-Naked-Choke on his adversaries' throats (three in the first round). At Bellator 135 Couture caused Dakota Cochrane to tap at 3:23 of the opening round. The Las Vegas fighter has six subs in his ten wins and faces Japan’s Goiti Yamauchi who has fifteen submission wins of his own.

                Yamauchi is 5-2 in the Bellator cage with three wins by RNC and a first round KO of Saul Almeida at Bellator 109 (11/22/13). Yamauchi is 19-3, all three losses were by Decision, and sixteen fights were stopped early (more than Couture has fights). The Twenty-three year old lost a UD to Bubba Jenkins at Bellator 151 last fight, ending a four fight win streak (all Subs).

                Another son of a famous MMA fighter, Kevin Baby Slice Ferguson Jr makes his pro debut opposite Rick Bing of Mississippi (also debuting) on the undercard.

Bellator 162 airs live from the Fedex Forum in Memphis on Spike TV Friday night.

Da Spyder and the Storm

               

                          At 6’6” Kendall Grove is long for the Middleweight Division and enjoys a sizeable reach advantage over most opponents with his massive seventy-nine inch wingspan. Friday night will be no different for Da Spyder, when he faces former Bellator MW Champion, Alexander Shlemenko in the Main Event at Bellator 162, in Memphis, Tenn.  Shlemenko at 5’11” will be out-armed by eight and a half inches, but the Thirty-two year old Russian fighter effectively implements spinning punches and kicks to close distance with his opponents. One of the most interesting factors of this match-up, distance and who controls it. Two true veterans of the sport compete: Grove won The Ultimate Fighter Season 3, ten years ago and this is the sixty-fourth fight of Shlemenko’s pro career, dating back to 2004.

               

Hawaiian, Kendall Grove has stopped seventeen of his twenty-three wins early. Two of his seven KO/TKO wins have been in his last two appearances. In February he Knocked Francisco France cold in the second round (0:35) at Bellator 150 and halted, always game, Joey Beltran’s night with a third round (2:27) TKO at Bellator 143 last September. If Grove’s new found power, isn’t cause for Shlemenko’s concern then the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Black Belt’s submission game should be, Da Spyder has wrapped those long limbs around ten opponents and forced the tap. Four of Shlemenko’s nine losses have come by Submission, including back to back naps in 2014 to Ortiz and Halsey.

               

                    Thirty-three year old, Grove always looks for the finish. He is 4-2 in Bellator, with only his promotional debut making it to the judges’ scorecards, a Unanimous Decision over Joe Vedepo at Bellator 104. His aggressive style does leave him vulnerable, those two losses came by TKO/KO to Brandon Halsey at Bellator 137 and Brett Cooper at Bellator 114. Facing a Russian mauler with twenty-nine career KO/TKO wins, Grove should look to take Shlemenko to the mat and work for a submission.

               

Alexander Storm Shlemenko is also coming off a pair of wins, both over former M-1 MW champ, Vyacheslav Vasilevsky. A February Majority Decision at M-1 Challenge 64 wasn’t convincing enough so Storm stopped Vasilevsky with a third round Guillotine at M-1 Challenge 68 (6/16/16).

The former MW Champ, Shlemenko experienced a slide in 2014, beginning when he stepped in to face Tito Ortiz at Light Heavyweight. A neck injury delayed Ortiz’s return from retirement and promotional debut, leaving him without an opponent. Shlemenko offered to step in at Bellator 120. The mammothly larger Ortiz dragged the Russian to the ground, sunk in an Arm-Triangle and choked Alexander unconscious in the opening round. Storm returned six months later at Bellator 126, to defend his Belt and was again choked to sleep, this time by Brandon Halsey in just thirty-five seconds.

An impressive Spinning Back-fist Knock Out of Melvin Manhoef (2^nd round 1:25) at Bellator 133 (2/13/15) was later ruled a No Contest and Shlemenko suspended for three years for failing a post-fight drug test for elevated Testosterone levels by California State Athletic Commission. This past July, Shlemenko won an appeal lifting his suspension and reducing his fine to $5,000. Storm has remained active, despite the suspension, competing in Russia for M-1 twice in 2016.

At 53-9-1 with thirty-eight wins by stoppage, Alexander Shlemenko has seen it all and will likely use his spinning attacks to prevent Grove from picking him apart from the outside. He should also avoid the clinch where the sharp elbows and knees of Grove serve him best. Both fighters have multiple ways to win and the fighter that implements their game plan best will likely come away with an early stoppage win.

For continued Main Card Coverage click the link: http://fightpage.blogspot.com/2016/10/bellator-162-breakdown.html

Cancellation?!! No Fear

                Despite the cancellation of the UFC’s Manilla card this Saturday, there is plenty of MMA to check out this weekend. Hall-of-Famer, BJ Penn was forced to withdraw from his debut fight in the Featherweight Division due to an injured rib. Penn was scheduled to make his first Octagon appearance since a 2014 TKO loss to Frankie Edgar, versus veteran fighter, Ricardo Lamas in the Philippines capital city. MMA fans need not panic, there are plenty of interesting fights to watch this weekend.

             

Legacy Fighting Championship brings two Championship fights to Dallas at LFC 61 Friday night. Steven Peterson looks to defend his Bantamweight Title versus undefeated, Mark De La Rosa in the evening’s Main Event. In the Co-Main former champ, Damon Jackson looks to recapture Legacy’s Gold in his Featherweight Championship fight against Levi Mowles. Also check out future star and BJJ world champ, Mackenzie Dern compete in her second MMA fight against 5-2 Montana Stewart. For a more comprehensive look at the card check out my Breakdown: http://fightpage.blogspot.com/2016/10/breakdown-legacy-fighting-champioship.html

               

The UFC has a show scheduled for Nov 26^th in Melbourne, Australia headlined by former Middleweight Champ, Luke Rockhold and Jacare Souza. The sport’s biggest promotion tends to give local fighters a chance on their undercards. Saturday Australian Fighting Championship’s AFC 17 features a Heavyweight with dynamite in his fists in the Main Event. Undefeated Tai Bam Bam Tuivasa takes on The Ultimate Fighter 10 alumni, James Mc Sweeney in a HW Tilte fight. If Tuivasa can stop a veteran like Mc Sweeney with the same ease as his past opponents the UFC might feature the Sidney striker on the Nov 26^th undercard. Bam Bam has not been out of the first round as a pro, in fact his past three TKO wins have each come in the opening minute. He won the AFC HW title by smashing an elbow into Brandon Sosoli that halted the fight just twenty-one seconds in. For a comprehensive event breakdown: Check back soon

               

Many of tomorrow’s star’s come out of Cage Warriors FC and that’s great reason to watch today (airs on UFC FightPass). Example: the lineup change for CWFC 79, 20-5 Jack Marshman was called to fight in Belfast at UFC Fight Night 99, scraping the Oct 15^th Middleweight Title Main Event. Instead, TUF Season 22 competitor, Martin Svensson will face a fighter with two KO/TKO stoppages already in 2016, Scott Clist in the Lightweight Main Event. Also Undefeated, Josh Reed takes on, finisher of all eight of his wins, Martin Sheridan in a Bantamweight bout.

               

Also available on UFC Fight Pass is Friday night’s Combate Americas, Empire Rising live from Verona, NY. The Main Event is a BW Title fight between 11-2 John Sexy Mexy Castaneda and 6-1 Gustavo Lopez. In the Co-Main familiar name to many, TUF 3 cast member, Matt The Hammer Hamill takes on 3-1 Julian The Cuban Missile Crisis Marquez in the Light Heavyweight Division. The three time NCAA D-3 National Champ, Hamill will be looking to avoid Marquez’s power, who has stopped all three of his wins with strikes.

Breakdown: Legacy Fighting Champioship LFC 61: Updated

A pair of Championship fights headline Legacy Fighting Championship’s Dallas card at the BombFactory, October 14^th. 14-4 Steven Peterson puts his Bantamweight Title on the line versus undefeated, Mark De La Rosa and former LFC champ, Damon Jackson takes on 4-0 Levi Mowles for the Featherweight strap at LFC 61.

               

McKinney, Texas’s Steven Ocho Peterson is on a six fight win streak (5 in LFC) including two TKO’s and two wins by Submission. Ocho is on a roll, in June he choked Manny Vazquez to sleep in the fourth round (3:08) to become the BW champion at LFC 56. The Superman logo tattooed across Peterson’s chest reflects the confidence the Twenty-six year old displays in the cage. For good reason, his well-rounded game has resulted in finishes in ten of his fourteen wins (6 by Sub). Peterson faces 7-0 Mark De La Rosa in the Main Event.

               

Fighting out of Fort Worth, De La Rosa enters the Legacy FC cage for the first time. The Twenty-two year old competes for the third time in 2016: he won a Unanimous Decision over Arthur Oliveira April 2^nd at Superior Combative Championships and collected his third career submission win in January when he cinched a Rear-Naked-Choke on Kashiff Solarin’s neck at 2:58 of the first round.  

               

Damon The Leech Jackson submitted WEC and UFC veteran, Leonard Garcia at LFC 33 (7/18/14) in a first round (1:32) Arm-Triangle to become the LFC 145lbs champ. Jackson got called, one month later, to face Yancy Medeiros as a late replacement at UFC 177. Getting the call to the big show was bittersweet, Jackson got caught in Medeiros’s second round choke for his first career loss. Jackson got another shot at UFC Fight Night 67 against Brazilian, Rony Jason. A first round Jason sub was later overturned due to Jason testing positive for a banned diuretic. The Leech was granted one more chance (1/30/16) at UFC on Fox 18, but the bout resulted in a draw versus Levan Makashvili. Jackson returns home to Dallas to try to recapture the LFC FW Title and start another run. He faces undefeated, Levi Mowles in a five rounder.

               

Twenty-one year old, Mowles is in his fourth fight with LFC, at LFC 56 (6/24/16) he out-pointed Edwin Figueroa earning the UD victory. Prior to that, in his only non-LFC fight, Mowles scored a TKO ten seconds into the second round at DWTC (1/9/16). The Undefeated, Mowles single submission win, the rare Twister, stopped Jake Norsworthy in the opening frame (3:26) at LFC 46 (10/2/15).

               

In the Women’s Strawweight Division Arlington’s Montana Stewart faces Phoenix fighter, Mackenzie Dern. 5-2 Stewart dropped her first two pro career fights, before rattling off four straight wins by Submission and a UD over Mellony Geugjes (6/3/16) most recently. Weeks earlier (5/21/16) she caught Francis Hernandez in a Rear-Naked-Choke in the third round (1:58) at XFL Xtreme Fight Night 30. She faces a different kind of grappler in BJJ World Champ, Mackenzie Dern.

               

Twenty-three year old Dern competes in her second pro MMA fight, she won a UD at LFC 58 (6/22/16) over Kenia Rosas in her debut. Dern began training BJJ at three years old, her father is famous BJJ Black Belt, Wellington Megaton Dias. Dern, who competes at 115lbs Friday, defeated Gabby Garcia in a semifinal match up at ADCC open weight tournament. (Garcia competes at over 200lbs). With Dern’s pedigree, a future star in the women’s SW division may be on the rise.

                A pair of Texas sluggers battle it out in the Heavyweight Division when 4-1 Jeremy Hardy meets Dallas’s Rashad Coulter. Twenty-nine year old, Hardy is on a two fight win streak and has stopped each of his four wins by first round TKO. Hardy fights for the third time in 2016 Friday: in April Brad Faylor couldn’t answer the bell following the opening round and at LFC 50 he stopped Dale Mitchell in the first 3:20.

                5-1 Rashad DayWalker Coulter has also finished all of his wins by TKO, four in the first round. In his last fight at Bellator 135 he ended Jeremiah O’Neil’s night in the opening 1:44 and he stopped Alex Madrid at 2:52 in Xtreme Knockouts 23 (10/18/14) to start his first round TKO win streak. Don’t blink, someone’s eyes are sure to close in this one.
               
                Update: BW Champ Steven Peterson missed weight and was forced to vacate the title, De La Rosa made weight and can still become the champ with a win, but a Peterson win will result in a vacant BW Title. Also, Mackenzie Dern missed her Strawweight limit of 115lbs by three pounds, opponent Montana Stewart made weight.

LFC 61 airs live on AXS-TV check your listings

Rocky's Advice Corner

                                  You might not expect that a 1976 movie about an underdog, Philadelphia boxer can offer so many relevant life lessons today, but there’s good reason the film won Oscars for: Best Film Editing, Best Director and Best Picture, beside nominations in an additional seven categories, as well as other awards and nominations (Golden Globes, BAFTA, etc.). Let’s see what lesson we can learn from Balboa’s interaction with Little Marie, played by Jodi Letizia (a twelve year old smart-mouthed girl). Rocky escorts the preteen home after catching her hanging on the corner with older kids.                          https://youtu.be/_3wLG5DwFN0

Why do you think you don’t have a boyfriend, because ya hanging

out with those coconuts on the corner, ya understand? Ya hang around

with coconuts ya get nowhere. Their lemons…Lemons.

Ya hang out with nice people ya get nice friends, you understand.

You hang out with smart people you get smart friends. You hang out with yoyo

People you get yoyo friends. You see it’s simple mathematics.

                Rocky’s simplistic view on who you surround yourself with, is brilliant. Choose your crew wisely, don’t settle for people that are most proximal and convenient, instead find people that make you feel best and display qualities that you admire. As humans we tend to act similar to the people we spend the most time with, so if your posse isn’t elevating you, rethink your loyalties.

               

Staying true to yourself doesn’t mean you have to continue unfruitful relationships with lifelong acquaintances, unless of course you’re not interested in improving your station in life. Your friendship and loyalty are a gift and the kid down the street, you grew up with, isn’t entitled to it just because you went to grade school together. That isn’t to say you should cut ties with your pals, but are they all pulling their weight?

                Are you pulling your weight as a friend? Do you elevate the people around you? If not why do you expect anyone to return that favor? So be a good friend. Friendship is forgiving an individual’s every transgression. Don’t allow differences in opinions, points of view or ethics to cause unnecessary rifts in relationships. Support and understanding are two things few have in quantity, so offer it to those you hold dearest as often as possible and maybe you’ll see that gift reciprocated.

              If this unsolicited advice finds you unreceptive, Little Marie sums it up best, "Screw you Creepo".

Exploring the Main Event, UFC 204

               

                  It’s been over seven years since Hendo Knocked Out The Count at UFC 100 and much has changed. Michael Bisping now Thirty-seven, has gone 12-5 (5KO/TKO) against the UFC’s Middleweight Division’s top talent, since. Following UFC 100, Dan Henderson signed with Strikeforce where he went on to defeat Rafael Cavalcante by a third round (:50) TKO to become the Strikeforce Light-Heavyweight Champion at Strikeforce 32 (3/5/11).

Being at the right place

               

Michael Bisping may not have been a logical opponent for former MW Champ, Luke Rockhold at UFC 199. Rockhold had submitted (2^nd Round :57 Guillotine) Bisping at UFC Fight Night 55 (11/7/14). Bisping was confident he could do better, he bragged of a sparring session with Rockhold, when Luke was the Strikeforce MW champ, Bisping claims to have bludgeoned  Rockhold. When injury forced Chris Weidman to pull out of his UFC 199 rematch with Rockhold not many contenders were available. Bisping was riding a four fight win streak when he seized the opportunity, on just seventeen days’ notice.

               

The Forty-six year old, Henderson has gone 7-7 since his second round (3:20) KO of Bisping in 2009. Dan still holds dynamite in his hands, six of those seven, post UFC 100, wins have come by KO/TKO. Including Hendo’s impressive second round (1:27) KO of Hector Lombard last time. This fight proceeded the Bisping Rockhold fight at UFC 199, so the timing for a rematch was there. The number thirteen ranked MW, Henderson has stated that he plans to retire following the fight win, lose or draw.

Legend Status

While Bisping and Henderson may not see eye to eye, the two are on similar footing when it comes to MMA legend status. Bisping is The Ultimate Fighter Season 3 LHW winner. He was the first British fighter to both: headline a UFC card (UFC 78) and win a title (UFC 199). He is currently tied with George St Pierre for most wins in UFC history at nineteen. Former Cage Rage LHW champ.

Henderson is currently the oldest fighter on the UFC roster and his history goes all the way back to UFC 17 when he defeated both Allan Goes and Carlos Newton to win the 199lb max tournament. In 2005 at Pride Bushido 9 Hendo KO’d both Ryo Chonan and Akihiro Gono in the opening rounds of an eight man tournament that concluded at Pride Shockwave 2005, when he earned a Split Decision win over Murilo Bustamante to become the Pride Welterweight champ (183lbs). At Pride 33 in Las Vegas (2/24/07) in a rematch with Wanderlei Silva, Henderson scored a third round KO to become the MW champ (205lbs). This gave Henderson the distinction of being the first fighter to hold two belts, in different weight classes simultaneously in a major promotion.

Prior to winning the belt, Michael Bisping defeated, who many call the greatest MW of all time, Anderson Silva by decision in February (2/27/16). The Count is 30-7 in his career with twenty-one stoppages (18 KO/TKO). He made his UFC MW debut with a first round TKO win over Charles McCarthy at UFC 83 (4/19/08) and has gone 15-6 in the division since. His opening round KO of Rockhold is considered the biggest upset in UFC title history. The UK’s biggest MMA star now lives and trains in California.

The #13 ranked MW, Dan Henderson is 32-14 with 16 wins by KO/TKO. Hendo is no stranger to hostile crowds, 3/23/14 in Brazil at UFC Fight Night 38 he scored a third round TKO of tough Brazilian fighter, Mauricio Shogun Rua. Henderson hopes to add the MW UFC gold to his athletic achievements, a list that includes representing the US in the 92 and 96 Summer Olympics in Wrestling, in addition to being the last Strikeforce MW champ and the last Pride WW and MW Champion.