And that’s about it folks, not too much to add. Jon Jones does not like Luke Thomas so he will in fact not be answering his question. Minutes after confirming he in fact does “not give a fuck,” Jon Jones supplies us with a tangible example of the lack of fucks he gives.
In all seriousness though, with my resentment towards how entitled sports media can be this was pure gold and made my week.
As I mentioned before this card is fuckin staaAAAAaaaAAcked so I’m going to write a little about it each day (nerdgasms everywhere) and then do the usual preview Friday. Today I’m going to cover the Main Card tilt between two, IMO, future Hall of Famers.
There was once a gym in Bettendorf, Iowa that produced some of the most prominent early-Zuffa era UFC names. Miletich Fighting Systems, established by the first-ever UFC Welterweight Champion, Pat Miletich, forged such fighters as long-time Welterweight Champion and UFC Hall of Famer Matt Hughes, former Lightweight Champion Jens “Lil’ Evil” Pulver, and former Heavyweight Champion Tim “The Maine-iac” Sylvia. In May of 2002, the vaunted Midwestern gym presented to the Octagon 20 year old welterweight Robbie Lawler, who although now has established a solid overall MMA game, is still known for exactly what he was known for then: a fucking grenade of a left hand.
Lawler’s first stint with the UFC lasted 7 fights, with a 4-3 record – including a legendary back-and-forth loss to a then 20 year old Nick Diaz – to show for it. His last fight in the first go-round was contested up a weight class up at 185 pounds, where he stayed for the next act of his career. Lawler turned into a bit of a domestic nomad, plying his trade to whomever in the United States wanted to pay him his asking price and gathering such accolades as the ICON Sport, SuperBrawl, and EliteXC Middleweight Championships. He then found his way to Strikeforce, the only promotion to give the UFC a run for its money the past decade or so, and found mixed results in a pool of, if not top flight, just below it middleweights. Strikeforce, as the story goes, was purchased by Zuffa and its roster, at least the portion that was found to be up to snuff, was absorbed into the UFC. Having gone 11-6 in the span of about 8 years, Robbie Lawler was, in a way, coming home. And a funny thing happened. Now re-stablilized at American Top Team after being a bit of a gym jumper for a spell, “Ruthless” returned to his old stomping ground of 170lbs, won 3 in a row, lost a close decision to Johny Hendricks, won 2 more, and then won the UFC Welterweight Championship. The frag-fisted lefty from Bettendorf was now the 170lb king of the world. And no one was happier for him then two previously mentioned former champs:
Lawler would defend the belt twice before surrendering it to Tyron Woodley via 1st round KO almost a year ago to the date of UFC 214. Some say it was just his time, he was 34 then, 35 now, he had his reign. I would argue that maybe Woodley, a hyper-explosive athlete, was just Lawler’s kryptonite at that moment in time, given, yes, Lawler’s advanced age, but also his combined high level of activity (still averaging three fights per year since 2012 at that point) and ever mounting level of competition. He also left ATT between then and now, so his training camp very well could not of been 100% perfect. When it all shakes out, there is a saying that the simplest answer is usually the right one. Nearing 34 (then) with 38 fights in the bag, maybe Robbie Lawler just needed a break.
With a year to rehab and refresh now behind him, Lawler looks to return Saturday and make one last run, his left hand in tow.
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Across the cage from Robbie Lawler will be none other than the UFC’s resident wild child, Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone. The longtime fan favorite was actually a decorated kickboxer before debuting in MMA in 2006. To that end, although Cerrone is now also an absolute handful on the ground, particularly off his back, his is still mostly known for some of the prettiest and deadly punch/kick combinations you’ll see in the sport.
As a diehard fan of the late, lighter-weights promotion, I would be doing myself a personal disservice if I didn’t mention Cerrone came to the UFC via the WEC and is a true legend of the WEC canvas, where he thrice tried uncsuccessfully to win the WEC Lightweight crown. More on that in a second. More recently, by happenstance due to a late replacement opponent, “Cowboy” has moved up to 170lbs. He has benefited greatly, it would seem, from no longer having to cut down to 155 and finished the first 4 welterweights he faced. But more on that in a second.
Aside from his success between bells, Cerrone is also known for being an absolute maniac both in terms of how he approaches his career and his exploits outside the cage. He fights at a ridiculous, unheard of clip, entering the octagon 4 times a year from 2013 through 2016. He will take any and all comers at seemingly any weight-class. Indeed it was Cerrone clamoring for the fight Nate Diaz eventually got against Conor McGregor at UFC 196. Outside the cage, Cerrone seeks as much adrenaline as he finds inside of it, participating in any extreme sport he can, regardless of whether or not he has a fight on the horizon.
Now I address the elephant in the room. “Cowboy” has now for awhile leveraged the use of a sports psychologist for his career. The reason for this is he starts slow and often gets in his own head, sometimes seeming unsure and tepid, a complete juxtaposition to the way he acts, thinks, talks, and succeeds the other 99% of the time. This is the main reason he fights so often – it doesn’t give him time to think. Grip it and rip it. He also, as alluded to, seems to falter at the highest pressure and biggest moments, losing all 4 major title fights he has been in as well as his most recent bout, a borderline #1 contender’s contest against Jorge Masvidal. When the lights shine the brightest, Cerrone’s flame burns the lowest. This can’t happen Saturday, as he enters the cage against another returning Welterweight in a fight with, whether the native Coloradoan likes it or not, major implications.
Both Cerrone and Lawler enter the cage Saturday coming off losses. However both of those losses came off the backs of win streaks against top-notch opponents and both men remain in the Top-10 of the welterweight rankings. With Stephen Thompson hurt and the aforementioned “Gambred” Masvidal coming off a loss to Woodley’s UFC 214 title challenger Demian Maia, it would not be a stretch to see the victor of this fight get a title shot, if not a #1 Contenders bout. Either way, two of the best “hitters”, as Nick Diaz so aptly refers to them, in the division and the sport enter the cage Saturday to see who really wants one last shot at the belt. Only one can leave with their hand, or maybe more accurately, their fist, raised.
As I mentioned before this card is fuckin staaAAAAaaaAAcked so I’m going to write a little about it each day (nerdgasms everywhere) and then do the usual preview Friday. Today I’m going to cover the subtleties behind the Welterweight Championship fight between Tyron Woodley and Demian Maia.
You can’t blame Tyron Woodley.
He didn’t make his pro MMA debut until he was just shy of his 27th birthday and he did not get his first major title shot until he was 30, a loss in Strikeforce to Nate Marquardt.
He made his way to the UFC after that fight, beating a couple big-name welterweights such as Carlos Condit but losing to Jake Shields and Rory MacDonald. “The Chosen One” then put together his current undefeated streak(4-0, 1 draw). His delayed ascension wasn’t over though, as he was expected to face Johnny Hendricks in a #1 Contender’s fight at UFC 192 but Hendricks was pulled from the night the day before due to what became a string of bad weight cuts. Woodley defiantly showed up to weigh ins and made weight anyway, angrily promulgating the professionalism that is making wait.
Woodley finally got his shot 7 months later at UFC 201, his patience and frustration leaving his body in the form of an explosive right hand to the face of Robbie Lawler. Woodley was now the champ, and would put on two classics against Stephen Thompson next, a draw then a win, both via razor sharp decisions.
During and after his trilogy with Thompson, now in his mid-30’s, Tyron Woodley began seeking out the “money fights” that have come to define this era in the UFC. He wants PPV fights against big names that will earn him the most money on the back end and through merch sales as possible. With his delayed stardom and thus delayed top-tier paychecks, I ask again – who can really blame him? He’s sought fights with Michael Bisping, on camera and on Twitter. Nick Diaz is a name you’ve heard come out of his mouth multiple times. He has mentioned Georges St. Pierre a couple of times as well, the Québécois seemingly having no interest in a fight with Woodley, whose name is still not considered by many as deserving a top billing. The one man Woodley has sort of avoided, not out of fear or strategy, but due to what it WON’T do for his bank account is Demian Maia.
Maia, arguably among the top 3 (I’d go Jacare, him, Werdum) BJJ players competing succesfully at this high of a level in MMA, has put together a borderline inaudible 7-fight win streak and has not lost in over 3 years. His fighting style is, to say the least, not exactly aesthetically pleasing. He uses solid boxing and movement, as well as some underrated wrestling, to get in range to grab his opponent – and then he doesn’t let go. If he doesn’t execute one of his patented, slicing guard passes to get in position for a submission, he will grind, flatten, and knead his opponent for the duration of a fight. He’s a Brazilian Jon Fitch incarnate, except he’s only 3 months older than the Boilermaker. In short, people, especially those without specially educated eyes, don’t shell out to see Demian Maia fight, which is a shame.
Before dropping to welterweight in 2012, Maia actually was a very successful 185er, going 15-4. He even earned a shot at Anderson Silva for the Middleweight title in what is considered one of the WORST title fights in UFC history. That last note probably did not help his case in pursuing the 170lb title, to say the least. Maia, in the minds of many, should have received his shot from the UFC after his 1st round submission of Carlos Condit at UFC On Fox 21 last August, but they made him pass one more test still, seemingly in hopes, for their sake and Woodley’s, that the measured, cerebral, fan-unfriendly way Maia fights would not have to be brought to the big time – again. Alas, Jorge Masvidal also to stop his momentum in May.
It is important to note that Demian Maia is widely, if not unanimously, regarded as one of the nicest and most polite fighters in all of the sport. He is a true professional, a gentleman who publicly stated he was a bit frustrated about his delay in getting a title shot, but refused to go beyond that, quietly going about his business and grappling Masvidal into oblivion for 3 rounds. He is the personification of the sport he came from, the gentle art.
5 weeks before UFC 214, Demian Maia was hesitantly given his title shot. 5 weeks. A short notice camp for a big-time fight. Not that Woodley was any more prepared, but this is the 39 year old Maia’s last chance to climb through the tiniest opening in what has been a rapidly closing window. More than likely the UFC tried like hell to find Woodley another opponent, or considered leaving him off the card altogether. In the end, they decided this was the perfect time to give Maia his opportunity. They probably are hoping he’ll fail, that they won’t have to survive a title reign of a fighter that many fans consider to be boring. However, whether you like their fighting styles or not, the top two welterweights currently in the UFC (it’s true) are going to do battle Saturday to see who is truly the best. That’s exciting enough.
As I mentioned before this card is fuckin staaAAAAaaaAAcked so I’m going to write a little about it each day (nerdgasms everywhere) and then do the usual preview Friday. Today I’m going to cover up and coming featherweight Jason Knight, and the future of the 145lb division.
At the tail end of 2015, a young, little known featherweight from the backwoods of Mississippi debuted in the UFC, dropping a unanimous decision to Tatsuya “Crusher” Kawajiri. Since then that same fighter has gone 4-0 with 2 finishes, over arguably the 2 toughest of those 4 opponents, and 3 post-fight bonuses. That fighter is Jason Knight.
Jason Knight’s official nickname is “The Kid”. However, a growing number of endeared UFC fans refer to him as “Hick Diaz”. Knight is long and lean, and quite tall for his division as well standing at 5’10. At age 14 he took up martial arts to divert himself from the street fights and general mischief he was getting into. He likes to stand, trade, and talk some shit. Knight is also accomplished on the mat, a brown belt under retired UFC middleweight contender Alan Belcher with 13 submission victories on his resume, the last of which was over Alex Caceres and earned him one of those aforementioned bonuses. Any of this sound familiar? Maybe a little like a couple of fiercely independent, supremely talented brothers from Stockton? I thought so.
Overall, Knight has an 80% finishing rate over his 20 wins, 15 of them coming before the start of Round 3. He is a brash, talented upstart with a ton of potential who, at UFC 214, is going into the biggest fight of his career against Ricardo Lamas, the top-15 opponent he demanded after knocking out respected veteran Chas Kelly in the 1st round in May. Should he impress against Lamas, Hick Diaz’s brand of “Mississippi Mean” might be ready for the big time.
As a quick prologue to all this, Knight is a part of a growing list of young, promising featherweights, such as Doo Ho Choi, Brian Ortega, Mirsad Bektic (all 26), Yair Rodriguez (25), and Andre Fili (27) that should make 145 division one of the more exciting for years to come, especially when you factor in the champ, 25 year old Max Holloway. Ortega will actually be fighting on the 214 card as well against another prospect, 28 year old Renato Carneiro.
So tune in Saturday to see if Jason Knight makes the leap. Don’t be scared, homie.
Some uplifting news came out yesterday regarding UFC/MMA legend Matt Hughes. As you might remember, a little over a month ago Hughes was driving his truck when it was struck by a train in Illinois. He suffered a massive brain injury and things were hairy for couple days. As you can imagine he still has a long, long road ahead of him but as longtime friend and coach Pat Miletich said in the article, he is now out of a coma and surprising the hell out of doctors, which is really no surprise at all for fans of the country strong 170lb legend. Here’s to Hughes making a full recovery. Fight on.
As I mentioned before this card is fuckin staaAAAAaaaAAcked so I’m going to write a little about it each day (nerdgasms everywhere) and then do the usual preview Friday. Today I’m going to cover why in the 7 kingdoms two guys from the same weight class are fighting at a catch-weight.
UFC 214 in now upon us and one fight on the FXX prelims is particularly intriguing not just for the fight or fighters, although those two things are quite firestarters themselves, but for the regulations surrounding the bout.
In the second to last fight of the prelims, Aljamain Sterling faces Renan Barao in a – I hate using this word but it fits here – pivotal fight at…..not 135 pounds. We’ll get to that in a second. First our fighters.
Sterling is coming off a win over Augusto Mendes (UD) after dropping two in a row to Bryan Caraway and Rafael Assuncao, both by decision, and split decision at that. Sterling thought he won both fights, which he has a case for, particularly in the Assuncao fight. To play devil’s advocate, Sterling maybe should see this as a sign he needs to go for the finish more and not play it so safe, but either way it got bad enough that at 27 and as one of the better prospects in the division, he said he was prepared to walk away from MMA had he not got the nod over Mendes. Now that he did, he looks to take a giant leap back to contendership by besting the former champion, and, sort of, returning Barao.
As I just alluded to, Barao, almost, returns to the bantamweight division after a two fight stint at featherweight. Having gone 1-2 in his last 3 bantamweight fights, losing twice to the then-champion T.J Dillashaw, Barao decided to stop wreaking havoc on his body cutting to “35” and try 145 on for size. He saw mixed results, getting outpointed by former 155er Jeremy Stephens before taking a unanimous decision from Phillipe Nover, albeit in lackluster fashion. Not seeing the returns he was hoping, Barao decided to take his talents back to the division he did not lose in for almost a decade. There was one small hiccup awaiting him, as you may have picked up on me ominously hinting at.
UFC 214 takes place at the Honda center in Anaheim, a city located in California. California has an athletic commission, like most if not all states do (you know my opinion on research. I just know not every last area they hold fights in has one). An athletic commission is a state’s governing body over, mainly, combat sports and it’s participating competitors. Basically, they make sure every fighter follows its rules and follows them the same way. In May, California’s decided to put its money where every other state’s athletic commission’s mouth was and pass very strict regulations pertaining to weight classes and more importantly weight cutting. As I detailed in my write up on Chris Weidman (I was pretty fuckin wrong about him huh?) severely dehydrating yourself to make weight can have a very negative effect on performance. What I left out (to not distract from the story, #writing) is that it is also dangerous as all holy hell. Just check out this article on former welterweight Brian Melancon who had to retire from MMA because weight cuts basically almost shut down his kidneys. So California said no mas. Beginning, June 15th fighters had to, among other things, weigh in 30 days out from their fight to make sure they were in reasonable cutting distance from their scheduled fight weight. They also added that if you gained more than 10% of your weigh-in weight back between weigh-ins and the fight, you’d be asked very politely to move up in weight. Basically, California is no longer fucking around.
Here is we arrive at our Barao-Sterling curveball. Renan Barao has to basically kill himself to make 135. It’s well documented. He even had to pull out of his first rematch attempt with Dillashaw because he passed out standing up or something. It’s sickening to think about. Guess where that failed weight cut occurred? That’s right, the Sunshine State. So with all this documented in front of them California straight up told him they would not license or allow him to fight at 135lbs and the fight was moved to a 140lb catch-weight, with Barao’s 135lb future, at least in California, to be reviewed at a later date depending on how 140 goes. The whole situation puts Barao’s career in a weird place as if he is never allowed to fight at 135lbs in California again he may be forced to go back to 145 for financial and promotional reasons. It also sort of puts the UFC in a pickle in terms of being at minor odds with an athletic commission, which they do not like to be as AC’s tend to band together and could make the UFC’s life harder than it needs to be.
All in all, it has made a very interesting fight matter a slight bit less as it isn’t being fought in an actual division. However that is a shitty way to look at what might be my MMA Nerd Fight of the Night come Friday. The perennial “almost” there vs. the prodigal son. It’s gonna be a fun one, as long as Barao wins his fight against the scale to get there.
So over the weekend you might have seen Conor McGregor achieving cuckold-ception while Floyd Mayweather got cuckhold-cepted. I don’t mean this in one of the infinite loose ways the term cuckold now gets thrown around, I mean literally.
You see, that isn’t any old NBA jersey the fashion maven McGregor thought looked good with the day’s color scheme. That’s C.J Watson’s jersey. C.J Watson is a current/former NBA player (he didn’t make a roster last year) who banged out one of Mayweather’s baby mamas right in his goddam face. This is all the more inflammatory as Floyd’s discovery of this fact is what triggered his infamous domestic violence case. Now 7 years later The Notorious is just struttin around, as he is wont to do, openly mocking the most embarrassing chapter of Floyd’s life. Brutal.
For me however, the worst part of this whole thing is that it brings back to light who exactly it was that this woman slept with to enrage Floyd. Wasn’t Kobe. Wasn’t known cuckold enthusiast Derek Fisher. Shit this was 2010 and it wasn’t even a guy like Rashard Lewis. Nope, The greatest boxer of his generation was replaced with C.J Watson, a backup PG that averaged 8 and 3 for his career playing for 5 different teams. Floyd was basically getting subbed out for a D (G?) Leaguer. Just embarrassing. Now you have Conor wearing the guy’s jersey. It might be the only merch C.J Watson ever sold.
So again I ask, doesn’t Floyd Mayweather at least have to like, mail McGregor some anthrax or something? Maybe pull out a letter opener at the next presser and run at him before getting purposely tackled by a security guard? Beating Conor McGregor up in an organized boxing match really isn’t going to remedy this, not publicly at least and probably not personally for Floyd. He’s gotta go some sort of medieval.
There will be even more testosterone than usual on the last train back to the city Saturday night as the UFC descends on Long Island. It needs to be mentioned that this is a really cool moment for both the UFC and the local scene, as Long Island has long been a sneaky hotbed of MMA – particularly the fighters – beginning with TUF 4 winner and the UFC’s Rocky, former welterweight champ Matt Serra. As expected, a number of native sons line the card, headlining middleweight and Serra protege Chris Weidman and light-heavyweight contender Gian Villante included. All in all, this is an excellent card top to bottom, so let’s dig in.
The Main Event
Our main even pits two fighters with similar skill sets but at different points of their careers against each other.
In one corner you have Gastelum, a “finally arrived” contender who after just seeming to sort of not get it for awhile (missed weight, testing positive for the devil’s lettuce), now appears serious about making a run. I can really can only describe the Yuma, AZ native as a gorilla. Although short and somewhat undersized for the division (he flubbed multiple cuts to 170 and was forced to move up), The stocky 25 year old is incredibly strong and agile and uses both the threat of and actual takedowns to set up his heavy power punches, moving fleetly across the cage, somewhat rushed, to engage his opponents. I could go on and on about the raw, primal aspects of Gastelum’s game, but don’t let his lack of accolades fool you. He may not have the pedigree of his adversary, but he is one of the better functional wrestlers in the division and has extremely quick, crisp hands. There are a few knocks on Gastelum, one of which I’ll get to at the end. The main thing he has trouble with is his defense. The way he rushes in and the frenetic nature of his attacks leave him exposed. The fact that he is a smaller, shorter fighter, especially at this weight class, only compounds his susceptibility. All in all however, what seems to be a finally focused, properly motivated Kelvin Gastelum is making quite the charge at the 185lb belt.
In the other corner we have hometown hero and former middleweight champion Chris Weidman. What is there to say about Weidman? Where do we begin? This is the guy who cut 35 lbs in 2 weeks to take a short notice fight to to get into the UFC, only to beat the invincible Anderson Silva for the belt a short two years later. Weidman then polished off Lyoto Machida and Vitor Belfort before entering a sudden and bizarre downward spiral. He has lost 3 in a row, all by KO/TKO, and has simply looked like a fish out of water in all three, unsure of the divine natural skill and immaculate technique that shot him to the top. There is no greater example of this than his last fight against Gegard Mousasi, where Weidman seemed cautious and timid on the feet, getting boxed up by “The Dreamcatcher” while looking and waiting for a take-down.
I’m going to jump into what I think may be a cause of Chris Weidman’s decline. It’s a bit of read so feel free to skip the next paragraph
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Now let me say loud and clear. Chris Weidman is a clean athlete. He is a not a juicer, however his last win and first loss straddle when the stringent USADA testing protocol went into effect. So what does this mean? Well, USADA doesn’t only prohibit the use of and test for performing enhancing and illicit drugs, it does the same for IV use, due to the use of IVs in blood doping. IVs were ubiquitous in MMA training camps, particularly with guys/girls who made use of large water cuts (literally sweating to lose weight) to make weight and then would need to rehydrate quickly in order to walk into the cage not completely drained. Weidman was one of those guys. He is a good sized middleweight who I’m guessing likes to regularly train well nourished, slim down as camp progresses, and then make a big cut – the wrestler’s life. Now, because IVs are gone and thus such huge water cuts would leave him vulnerable in the cage, he has to train smaller/lighter and probably weaker and in general not like he is used to. In my mind he’s even looked smaller than he used to in terms of pure body size. At such an advanced age for such a physical sport it can’t be easy.
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When he gets in the cage, Weidman will bring a very similar skill-set as Gastelum’s, although he deploys it differently. Weidman likes to use his footwork and movement, as well as his opponent’s own offense, to set up his Ray Longo-trained hands and D1 All-American take-downs. Considering Gastelum likes to lunge in with strikes and Weidman is capable of defending the takedown, which creates scrambles and breaks, The Hofstra alum should have some openings for his patented counter punches and nasty elbows.
One last thing since I haven’t dropped any hanging paragraphs yet, both combatants have ok but not great gas tanks – this is the lingering chink in Gastelum’s armor I mentioned – so if there is an active first round, expect them both to be look eager for a finish by the mid-2nd
Summary: My feelings for each fighter have been completely inverted. As Weidman’s losing streak began I kept saying not to count him out, he’ll be back. At this point however, it’s hard not to wonder if the lack of IVs, the shots he has taken, and father time have finally come to collect from Strong Island’s own. With Gastelum on the other hand, I’ve been skeptical of how he would do with each rung of the ladder he’s climbed. I guess the last selected contestant of TUF 17 just isn’t meant to be the favorite. That isn’t the case for me Saturday night though, as I believe his youth and power ends Weidman’s night early. Gastelum by KO/TKO in the 2nd/3rd round.
Fan/MMA Nerd Fight of the Night
In a battle of two bantamweights that are both max-two fights away from a title shot, Jersey boy Jimmie Rivera takes on Brazil’s Thomas Almeida. Two fights ago, the interloper “Thominhas” fought Cody Garbrandt in what I can remember as only the 2nd ever “whoever wins this is the next big thing in this division” fight after Jones-Bader at ligh-heavyweight in 2011. Although Almeida was knocked out, Garbrandt now holds the 135lb belt so there’s really no shame in such a loss. The Brazilian buzzsaw has since rebounded with a TKO over fellow prospect Albert Morales and looks to inch closer to either a rematch with “No Love” or a bout with whoever holds the belt when he is given a shot. In terms of how he fights, Almeida is pure violence, to put it mildly. He boasts a remarkable 77% TKO/KO rate over his 22 wins and has finished all but his debut win in the UFC. While a well rounded Muay Thai kickboxer with some great kicks and excellent knees, he primarily uses both to set up his leaden hands, particularly the straight or overhand right.
Across the cage stands Rivera, who has looked beyond impressive and yet with only 1 loss on his resume is still a bit underappreciated in my opinion. While not the soul-crushing finisher that Almeida is, Rivera is about as well-rounded as it gets. Across 3 rounds, Rivera is equivalently dominant, as shown in his unanimous decision win his last time out in September, where he spent 15 minutes convincing Urijah Faber to maybe take one last fight and then retire (long live the California Kid). A Team Tiger Schulman product, Rivera likes to put the pressure on his opponent while also looking for counter punches, although he seems to lack the same power, or possibly hunger, as his opponent to get the finish. It’s also notable that Rivera likes to work the body as a means to soften up and slow down whoever is standing across from him, and in this case it could make Almeida begin thinking twice about his next onslaught.
Summary: This one is honestly a goddam toss up so I’m just going to go for broke. Although the Garbrandt fight showed Almeida does not like to be backed up the way Rivera backs his opponents up, I don’t see that ever happening as the bigger man from Sao Paulo will use his length and aggression to bring the fight to the regional favorite. It could go the distance but that’s a boring prediction. Almeida by TKO/KO in the 1st round.
Intriguing Fighter to Watch
This one has to go to Chris Weidman as so many questions abound. What does he have left? Can he get the win? Will he even look comfortable? With a guy with a similar bag of tricks across from him, where will he look to bring the fight? I guess we’ll see.
Another Fighter to Watch
This could be a big, and long delayed, coming out party for Jimmie Rivera. Make no mistake about it, this fight is not just about whether he wins or loses, but how he looks against a fellow agile, young, hungry striker such as Thomas Almeida. Depending on whether he can get the win, and if so how dominantly, we may have a very good idea of who Jimmie Rivera is coming out of this fight.
Notes
– The full list of local fighters on the card, non-Long Island noted: Chris Weidman, Gian Villante, Jimmie Rivera (Ramsay, NJ), Lyman Good (Manhattan, NY, NY), Ryan LaFlare, Shane Burgos (Bronx, NY, NY), and Chris Wade.
-Additionally, Rafael Natal trains with Renzo Gracie in NYC.
-Gian Villante will be cornered in part by UFC Heavyweight Champ Stipe Miocic. I know they train together a bit although I don’t know the connection. They’re both big, hilarious guys so if you catch a preview with them interacting it’s worth watching.
-Alex “Cowboy” Oliveira is criminally underrated with only 3 career losses, one of them to fellow “Cowboy” Cerrone on short notice. Since then he’s won 3 of 4 with 1 no contest.
-It’s hard not to like Darren Elkins but after his last fight he got a chest tattoo of his nickname “The Damage” and it’s awful. No more chest tattoos please.
-The main event was originally supposed to Ricard Lamas vs. “The Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung but the Zombie destroyed his knee and will be out awhile. Lamas now fights Jason “Hick Diaz” Knight at UFC 214.
So this is awesome, As reported by mmmad.com local guy Calvin Kattar has stepped in for Doo Ho Choi to face Andre Fili in a couple weeks at UFC 214. He has not lost in 7 years, although he took off 3 years beginning in 2013 before returning last fall to win twice in 2 months.
Kattar is 29 and splits his time between Carlos Neto’s BJJ school and the revered Team Sityodtong, both in Somerville. Full story below.
Calvin Kattar replaces Doo Ho Choi, fights Andre Fili at UFC 214
UFC 214 is next week and is a STACKED card so instead of just putting out something next Friday or peppering in periodic updates, starting Monday I am going to use the entire week to cover it, save a quick peek you’ll find below. That leads to a pretty non-eventful few days over here on the MMA blog, but there are a few items of note to mention.
Brock Lesnar Returning?
This JUST broke yesterday evening. Twitter provocateur and MMA scoop ninja “Dizz” came out of America’s heartland to state that Brock Lesnar met with the UFC during International Fight Week, entered USADA’s testing pool, and will be returning to the Octagon. The UFC would obviously be all for a Lesnar return as he is an enormous draw, but it is a head-scratcher as to why Lesnar would do it, as he makes plenty of money on limited WWE appearances and has never seemed to really love professional fighting. I suppose his relationship with WWE could have soured again or something. Either way somehow Dizz is usually if not always fucking right so keep an eye on this.
https://twitter.com/TalkMMA/status/887612744060612608
Conor McGregor KO’d In Sparring?
Honestly either way this is much ado about nothing either way. Sometimes you just get caught, as many fighters have attested.
That said, the story went that two high-level pro boxers, Brandon Rios and Jessie Vargas, had come out and said they knew for a fact Conor had been KO’d in sparring, or something. Then Vargas came out and said he knew nothing and never said he did, or something. Then the picture below surfaced which clearly shows…something. Again, no matter which way you slice it it shouldn’t change anyone’s opinion of the fight. When highly trained grown men are swinging on each other, once in awhile someone is going to go down.
The Jon Jones/DC Social Media Beef Continues
I once threw down $10 on roulette in a small Indian casino in middle-of-nowhere New Hampshire in hopes it would grow to $50 to buy the PPV and watch DC-Jones I. I pulled it off and watched the fight, the disappointment cascading down my spine as Jones lackadaisically toyed with a mentally burnt-the-fuck-out DC. I am trying to stay hype for DC-Jones II as on paper it could be one of the best ever, but shit like you see below makes me not want to even watch as it is not only annoying, but evidence we’re probably going to see a repeat of the first fight.
Dana White’s “Tuesday Night Contender Series” Seems Pretty Cool, I’m Still Not Buying Fight Pass
So every Tuesday this summer, Dana White will put together five or so fights made up of contenders from regional promotions around the country with the possibility that one or more of the more impressive combatants will be signed to the UFC. This is a really cool idea and the fights have seemed to be really entertaining, especially considering the commentary is provided by Urijah Faber and Snoop Dogg. However, and I’ll admit I don’t know how TV deals work, I’m skeptical that there is really something so important going on that FS1 can’t air “DWTNCS” rather than it. I’m not sure what it’s going to take to finally get me to order UFC Fight Pass, but this isn’t it.
Anderson Silva Calls Out Nick Diaz Because Sure, Why Not
I’m not a psychologist, but it would seem Anderson Silva, who I regard as the GOAT for what it’s worth, is having just as much trouble letting go of the spotlight and prestige of being a prizefighter as he is the actual act of getting in the cage and competing. This week, he is trying to bait Nick Diaz to come out of unofficial retirement and rematch him, as he knows this is a run-back Diaz himself has even pined for in the past. The problems number two, one being that this fight lacks any of the intrigue or relevance the original did and two, even more importantly, Diaz has not only shown an apathy for the fight game but is kind of in a bit of shit with USADA for not telling them where he is….4 times. After a life of not exactly loving being punched in the face, Nick Diaz has figured out a way to support himself by showing up places as Nick Diaz, and I don’t know if anything would make him give that up to train for and participate in a fight. However, if anyone could lure him back, it would be Anderson
Cain Velasquez Is Returning To Fight Stipe Miocic In October?
Back in March Cain Velasquez’s coach said the oft-injured former Heavyweight champ was rarely training and didn’t seem to be in a rush to resume his MMA career. Dana White has said himself in the past that when you stop giving a fuck to that extent maybe it’s time to pack it in. At 35 with more injuries than I care to even add up all over his Goddam body on his resume, maybe Velasquez is done.
OR MAYBE, as reported a couple days ago on bjpenn.com, which shoots about 50% from the line, Cain Velasquez is returning to face Stipe Miocic for the title at UFC 216 In October. Although I know I JUST speculated Cardio Cain could be finished with his career, making this bout would not be as unlikely as it seems. Velasquez was last expected to fight for belt last February, beat Travis Browne (before we realized he was spent) in July, and was supposed to fight Werdum in December before the NSAC was like, “bro, you are wayyyy too fucked up to fight“. Basically if he has healed enough legally he could be good to go. And you know what the crazy part is? He could pull it off.
The 300s 