Breaking Down: UFC 192 Main Card

Breaking Down: UFC 192

 

Houston, Texas will be the host city to UFC 192, Saturday October 3, 2015. The Main Event matches up Daniel Cormier and Alexander Gustafsson for the Light Heavyweight Championship. That is far from the only compelling fight on this card, however. The Co-Main features #1 Johny Hendricks and #3 Tyron Woodley in a Welterweight fight that will, likely, establish the division’s next title challenger. Another fight with championship implications is #5 Rashad Evans and #4 Ryan Bader in the LHW division. There are an additional ten fights scheduled on the card.

Daniel Cormier submitted Anthony Johnson for the LHW title 5/23/15 via Rear Naked Choke. “DC” was a late replacement after Jon Jones was arrested, suspended indefinitely and stripped of his 205 title. This was Cormier’s second consecutive title shot. He lost a unanimous, five round decision to Jones on 1/3/15. The loss gave “Louisianimal” the first of his career. In 2014 Cormier finished 2 former college wrestling greats: Dan Henderson by RNC (3^rd 3:53) and Patrick Cummins by TKO (1^st 1:19). Cormier is 16-1 with 6 KO and 5 Submission wins.

Because, Alexander Gustafsson has a similar build to that of Jon Jones, much of the hype surrounding the match up has been the size advantage of Gus, but at 5’11” Cormier typically is forced to overcome his opponent’s length. Remember “DC” won the Heavyweight Grand Prix in Strikeforce. He KO’d 6’4” Bigfoot Silva in just 3:56 in the 1^st.

It could be said Alexander Gustafsson doesn’t deserve a title shot right now. The Swede is 1-2 in his last 3 fights and his last: a first round TKO (2:15) courtesy of Anthony Johnson was the first time he’d been KO/TKO’d in his career. While this is Gus’s 2^nd fight of 2015, he hasn’t been terribly active lately. The last time he fought twice, in one calender year was 2012, when he won UD’s over Thiago Silva in April and Mauricio Rua in December. Before his Title shot (a loss to J.Jones 9/21/13) he was on a 6 fight win streak, including 2 Submission and 2 TKO wins. It was a 1^st round submission loss to Phil Davis that inspired Gustafsson to work his wrestling with the former Penn State National Champ. Gus holds the honor of being the first to Take-down Jon Jones, in his MMA career.

In this corner we have a Welterweight that is a tough as nails wrestler with real KO power and in this mirror… Johny Hendricks and Tyron Woodley come into this fight looking similar in many areas: similar build, similar records both established collegiate wrestlers, but it will be where the distinction is proven that will provide the winner.

Johny Hendricks had 3 close title fights in a row, unfortunately for “Bigg Rigg”, he lost 2 of those, one to GSP (11/16/13), then Dec. 6, 2014 he dropped the strap to the same opponent he had just won it from 3/15/14, Robbie Lawlar. Johny is fresh from a Unanimous Decision over, the forever game, Matt Brown. Hendricks is the owner of 4, first round KO/TKO stoppages in the UFC and 8 total in his career. The 32 year old is 17-3 going into the fight.

Tyron Woodley’s record of 15-3 consists of 5 KO, 5 Sub, and 5 Dec wins, of the 10 early stoppages 8 have been in the first round. “The Chosen One” is coming off two straight wins: Kelvin Gastelum SD (1/31/15) and Dong Hyun Kim TKO (1^st 1:01) (8/23/14). His last loss came at the hands of Rory McDonald UD at UFC 174. Before that he stopped both Condit (2^nd 2:00) at UFC 171 and Koscheck (1^st 4:38) at UFC 167. A win for either fighter likely locks them into the next title fight with Robbie Lawlar.

Rashad Evans hasn’t fought since 11/16/13 when he beat Chael Sonnen by TKO (1^st 4:05), before that was a SD win over Dan Henderson (6/15/13). “Suga” has been in there with the sports best, the former champion won TUF 2 as a Heavyweight. A win over Bader, may be all he needs to get a shot at the title.

Ryan Bader is 9-0 in fights that go to decision, but he also has 6 KO and 4 Submission wins. It may be a tall order to KO or Sub Evans, but Bader has a history of out pointing and grinding opponents. “Darth” comes into the fight having won his last 4, including OSP and Phil Davis. Like Evans, a win should result in a title shot.

If that wasn’t enough so far, in the Heavyweight Division: Shawn “Savage” Jordan, finisher of 17 of his 18 wins, 14 by KO, takes on 13-1 Ruslan Magomedov, who is on an 8 fight win streak.

Opening up the PPV will be 11-3 Jessica “Evil” Eye #6, taking on 6-2 Julianna “The Venezuelen Vixen” Pena #12. Pena’s 6 wins consists of 3 KO and 3 Sub finishes.

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Thumbnail-In Case You Missed It: UFC Fight Night 75

Thumbnail-In Case You Missed It: UFC Fight Night 75

 

Heavyweight record for significant strikes is now at 146, thanks to Josh Barnett and, as importantly, Roy Nelson’s chin. Barnett kept the pressure on “Big Country” throughout the 5 rounder and earned the Unanimous Decision. This fight should serve notice to all HW contenders: if you find yourself, back against the fence, in a clinch and “The Warmaster” towers before you, get out of there. Barnett’s clinch-work is superb. He controlled Nelson against the cage, landing elbows and body shots, just picking away at him.

Two Middleweights, two distinct game plans. Gegard Mousasi scored an early take down in the first and spent 4:38 of the round on top. As all rounds start on their feet, Uriah Hall had another chance to utilize his plan. Jumping spin kick, followed by a flying knee and finishing punches, ended the match at 0:25 in the 2^nd round. This marks Hall’s 8^th career KO and the first time Mousasi has been KO’d.

Two fights in 2015, two first round TKO wins for TUF 14 Winner, Diego Brandao. This one occurred at 0:28 over Katsunori Kikuno.

Kyoji Horiguchi bounced back, from his loss to Mighty Mouse for the Flyweight title, with an UD win over Chico Camus.

Make it 15 of 21 wins by decision for Takeya Mizukaki. Mizukaki earned a Unanimous Decision victory over George Roop. Roop slides to 15-12.  

Lost in the event, the reality show finale ended in a draw. Mizuto Hirota and Teruto Ishihara will both get 6 figure UFC contracts.

Just a Thought or Dozen: Bellator 143

Just a Thought or Dozen: Bellator 143

 

Joe Warren is like a 90 degree day and you found gum on the sole of shoe. The “Baddest Man on the Planet” is irritating, and when you think you’ve finally managed to scrape him off of you, he found another spot to stick. Try as he might, LC Davis, couldn’t keep that 135lb ball of hate off of him.

Not sure that this made a difference, but it’s worth mentioning: Warren called LC a MFer just before the start of the bout, that got an emotional response from Davis. “It’s about to go down Motherfu@%er” is what Joe uttered when the ref called them to the center of the cage, prior to the opening bell. The expression on LC Davis’s face changed and he yelled back to Warren.

Not sure that a spinning back-fist from Emanuel Newton will be on Jillian Michael’s new Spike TV show, but Joey Beltran credits the impact for his move down to the MW division. Beltran’s jaw was broken and wired shut when Emanuel Newton KO’d him with his patented spinning back-fist. Forcing Beltran to alter his diet and inspired the weight loss to get down to 185. Michael’s new show is a search for the next big fitness gimmick, in case you missed the 2000 ads on Spike Friday night.

Kendall Grove displayed tremendous patience and poise. Ultimately one punch ended the night for Beltran, but a back and forth, stand up battled entertained Bellator fans prior to the 3^rd round TKO by Grove.

Cleaning Out the Division: Heavyweights 6-10

Cleaning Out the Division: Heavyweights

6-10

 

Travis Browne (#6) is 17-3-1 in the HW division. “Hapa” has only been to decision 3 times (2-1) and in 2013 tore through HW contenders with 3 first round Knock Outs: Barnett, Overeem and Gonzaga. Current HW champ, Fabrico Werdum put an end to that streak at UFC on Fox 11 (4/19/14). Browne bounced back, however. With a first round TKO, this time over Brendan Schaub (12/6/14). In May, the 6’7” 33 year old, was on the receiving end of a 1^st round TKO, this at the hands of, the red hot, Andrei Arlovski.  

 Ben Rothwell (#7) has been fighting since Jan. 2001 when he scored a TKO win over his opponent in the opening 0:21. The Wisconsin native owns 27 first round stoppages in his 35-9 career. “Big” Ben has stopped his past 3 opponents: Brandon Vera (TKO, 3^rd 1:54, 8/31/13), Alistair Overeem (TKO, 1^st 2:19, 9/5/14) and Matt Mitrione (Sub, 1^st 1:54, 6/6/15). Ben is scheduled to face Stipe Miocic at UFC Fight Night on Oct. 24, 2015. With another convincing win, it will be tough to argue against Rothwell’s deserved title shot.  

Mark Hunt (#8) has slipped to 10-10-1 following back to TKO losses at the hands of Stipe Miocic (5^th 2:47, 5/10/15) and Fabricio Werdum (2^nd 2:27, 11/15/14) in an interim title fight. Prior to those two, he had scored his 7^th career KO win, over Roy Nelson (9/20/14). On Nov. 15, 2015 he re-faces Antonio Silva in Melbourne, Australia. The last time the two squared off (also in Aus. 12/7/13) it was judged a Majority Draw, in what many call the best HW fight ever. At 41 years old the New Zealander’s remaining fights are limited.

Josh Barnett (#9) and Roy Nelson meet at the Saitama Super Arena, Saitama, Japan (9/26/15). Barnett comes into the fight 33-7 with 28 stoppages, 8 KO’s and 20 Submissions. He is coming off a loss in his last fight that dates back to Dec 28^th, 2013. The Warmaster was the recipient of those infamous down elbows while Travis Browne’s back against was the fence defending the take down. Barnett stopped at 1:00 of the first round by Browne. Prior to that Barnett had earned two straight, first round stoppage wins in 2013: in Jan he submitted Nandor Guelmino by arm triangle (2:11) for Strikeforce and then in August TKO’d Frank Mir at UFC 164 (1:56).

Alistair Overeem (#10) is on a two fight win streak, besting Roy Nelson in an UD (3/14/15) and a Knock Out over Stefan Struve (1^st 4:13, 12/13/14). The “Reem” is scheduled to take on JDS in Orlando, Fla. on December 19, 2015. Does the 35 year old have another great streak in him? In 07 Overeem went on a 4, plus year-long unbeaten streak. In the 11 wins 10 ended by TKO/KO or Submission with Overeem’s hand raised. At 39-14-1 he owns 16 KO/TKO and 19 Submission wins.

Cleaning Out the Division: Heavyweights 1-5

Cleaning Out the Division: Heavyweights

Top 5

 

No touching the King, at least that is how it appears for (#1) UFC Heavyweight Champion Fabricio Werdum. He sits above the division’s top 10, looking unstoppable. Since coming back to the UFC he is on a 6 fight win streak, including 2 Submission and 2 TKO stoppages. Rematch with Cain Velasquez appears to be the fate for The Champ, but the target date isn’t until March, 2016. The 38 year old is 20-5-1 with 6 KO and 10 Submission wins. Werdum’s last 3 losses came from, currently ranked top 10 fighters: Andrei Arlovski, Junior Dos Santos, and Alister Overeem. Since “Vai Cavalo” has wins over nearly every other top 15 HW out there, expect a redemption fight following a second win over Cain. JDS and Overeem are scheduled to fight in December and Arlovski is red hot, on a 6 fight win streak, following his close win over Frank Mir 9/5/15.

In 15 fights (#2) Cain Velasquez has only been to a decision twice (both UD victories for Cain) and he has only been beaten in Championship match ups (Dos Santos and Werdum). Cain’s third career fight was in the UFC. He ended it the same way he has ended 11 of his HW bouts, Knock Out. Some of the names on that list: Big Nog, Lesnar, Bigfoot (twice both in the 1^st round). After losing to JDS by TKO, in their first Championship Fight, Cain returned and bested the Brazilian in a 5 round UD, then TKO’d him in the rubber match (10/19/13). Velasquez dropped the strap to Werdum (6/13/15) and will get the chance to avenge this loss also, however if ring rust were a factor (20 months between fights) in the loss, another 9 months between fights (rumored for March) may not help the 33 year old.  

Junior Dos Santos (#3) sent current champ Fabricio Werdum packing. In Werdum’s initial run through the UFC, a 1^st round (1:21) TKO, at the hands of JDS, was his last fight with the promotion for over 3 years. “Cigano” has only lost to Cain Velasquez (twice) and Joaquim Ferreira (way back in 07). He has 12 KO’s in his 17 Heavyweight wins. The 31 year old last fight was a 5 round UD win over Stipe Miocic 12/13/14. It will total, just over, a year between fights when he faces Alistair Overeem at UFC on Fox 17 (12/19/15).

Stipe Miocic (#4) got back to his winning ways with a TKO win over Mark Hunt (5/10/15). JDS temporarily halted the Ohioan’s freight train-like charge toward a title shot last December, but the 33 year old could inject himself back into the mix with a win over Ben Rothwell, when the two face in Dublin at UFC Fight Night 76 (10/24/15). At 6’4” Miocic owns 9 KO’s in his 13-2 career. Last May He halted, the always durable, Fabio Maldonado in the opening 0:35.

Andrei Arlovski (#5) has been at it awhile. The Pit Bull’s first UFC fight was UFC 28 (11/17/00), he won by first round submission. Perhaps efficiency is the secret to Arlovski’s continued success. Of the Belarussian’s 20 early stoppages 13 have come in the first round. Currently on a 6 fight win streak (including 3 KO/TKO’s), he is fresh off a close UD over Frank Mir (9/5/15) and could find himself back in a championship bout before the end of 2016.

Breaking Down: Bellator 143

Breaking Down: Bellator 143

 

State Farm Arena, Hidalgo Texas will be the home to Bellator 143 (9/25/15). The Main Event matches up Joe Warren and LC Davis in the Bantamweight division. The 38 yr. old Warren was on a 5 fight win streak before Marcos Galvao ended it with a Knee-bar (Round 2, 0:45). Warren was dominating the fight in round 1, but may have inadvertently verbally submitted when Galvao cranked the knee. Warren’s scream cost him the BW Title on March 27, 2015. His wrestling background is what gives, the self-proclaimed, “Baddest Man on the Planet” the grinding style that allows him to outwork opponents. Of his 12 wins 8 have come by decision. In 4 losses, none have gone the distance, 2 KO’s and 2 Submissions.  

LC Davis is riding a 3 fight win streak. In fact he holds 7 wins in his last 8 contests. Davis’s last win was the same night Joe Warren lost his title, back in March, over Hideo Tokoro. The 34 year old, at 5’8” will enjoy a 3” advantage. In his 23 wins, 8 have come by KO and 7 by way of submission.

Kendall Grove takes on Joey Beltran. Grove’s last fight ended by TKO at 2:25 of the 4^th v Brandon Halsey. In fact “The Spider” has been stopped by KO/TKO 7 times in his career. The TUF 3 winner’s career spans over 12 years and at 32 years old has nearly 40 fights, most against world class talent. At 6’6” Grove is long and lean, owning 10 submission wins and 5 KO’s.

In 10 fights that have gone to the judges, Joey Beltran has had only 3 go his way. In his 16 wins he does boast, an impressive 11 KO’s. The 33 year old is looking to win his 2^nd straight since dropping down to the Middleweight division. He won a decision (1 of the 3) over Brian Rogers in April.

In the Featherweight division Henry Corrales takes on Emmanuel Sanchez. The 29 year old Corrales has 4 KO’s and 6 submissions in his career. His only loss came in his Bellator debut, when Daniel Straus submitted him with a Guillotine Choke in the 2^nd round (3:47) in June.

Emmanuel Sanchez is also fresh from a loss, his an UD to Pat Curran (6/26/15). Before that he was on a 6 fight win streak, including 4 straight 1^st round stoppages (1 KO and 3 Subs). At 10-2, the 25 year old is looking to put another in the win column.

Kicking off the Main Card on Spike TV will be a Heavy Weight showdown between Ewerton Teixeira and Vinicius Kappke De Queiroz. Texeira is 3-0 with 1 KO. The Sao Paulo resident is making his Bellator Debut. Previous fights were all in Brazil, the last, back in April of 2013.

Vinicius Kappke De Queiroz has been inactive lately, but the last fight he KO’d Lavar “Big” Johnson in just 23 seconds at Bellator 102 (10/4/13). 6 of his 7 wins have been by KO/TKO, the other win was a submission. In fact the last time “Spartan” went the distance was back in 8/18/07. The 6’7” Heavy Weight will enjoy a 6” height advantage.

UFC Fight Night 75 Update/Breakdown

UFC Fight Night 75 Update

Breakdown

 

The Bantamweight fight between Norifumi Yamamoto and Matt Hobar has been cancelled due to injuries to both fighters, according to mmajunkie.com  Moving to the Main Card, as a result, is Diego Brandao and Katsunori Kikuno in the Featherweight Division.

The 28 year old, Brandao scored a first round TKO win over Jim Hettes at UFC on Fox 15 (4/18/15) by Dr. Stoppage (5:00) in his last fight. The TUF 14 winner is looking to stay in the winner’s circle. Prior to the April win, he dropped 2 straight by 1^st round KO/TKO to Connor McGregor (7/19/15) and Dustin Poirier (12/28/13).

Katsunori Kikuno’s last win was on a card headlined by Roy Nelson. Last Sept. he submitted Sam Sicilia by RNC 1:38 of the second round. The 33 year old, holds 11 KO wins in his career, combined with Brandao’s 10 KO’s, the fists are sure to be flying Sat. night. Kikuno is coming off a first round KO loss to Edimilson Souza (3/21/15).