UFC 189 Co-Main Event & Undercard Preview

Given the relentless hype for the main event, it’s been easy to forget that there is actually an undercard to UFC 189 on Saturday but that undercard would probably be amongst the best PPV cards of the year even if both Conor McGregor and Chad Mendes suddenly got injured.

The co-main event itself is a fight worthy of headlining any MMA card as Robbie Lawler (25-10, 1NC) looks to make the first defence of his UFC Welterweight title against Rory MacDonald (18-2).

Robbie Lawler’s career would make an excellent movie trilogy, all the way from the youthful prodigy through his journeyman years in the wilderness to his triumphant UFC return and title victory.

6-1 since returning to the UFC and dropping back down to Welterweight, Lawler seems to have reached a point in his career where natural talents, coaching, experience and a maturity have moulded him into a complete martial artist where his always dangerous striking is fully in accord with his grappling game, cardio and mentality.

By contrast, Rory MacDonald has seemed like the heir apparent to the welterweight throne for years. A protégé of former champion Georges St-Pierre, it seemed that MacDonald was always the new big thing at 170lbs even as losses to elite fighters Carlos Condit (losing to a late KO after dominating the fight for three rounds) and Lawler (via split decision) checked his progress towards the seemingly inevitable title shot.

Nonetheless, MacDonald rebounded from both losses by becoming a more dangerous, more complete martial artists and in the five years since first tasting defeat in that fight against Condit.

Now, one of the sports most beloved and skilled veterans faces off with one of the preeminent examples of a modern, well rounded, cerebral and above all, professional MMA fighter with the belt on the line. What more could you ask for?

Well, a promoter would ask for one of them to be a bit mouthier and turn a credible sporting contest into a bit more of a media sensation, but a certain Irishman seems to have pegged the market in that field. In any case, for true fans of mixed martial arts as a sport, this is as credible a title matchwith as compelling a sporting narrative as any you are likely to find.

The main card is filled out with a few excellent fights, all of which could be expected to headline a Fight Pass card in their own right. Firstly, a featherweight contest between two guys who are no stranger to ‘of the night’ bonuses and had been on the outer edge of title contention before some recent losses in the shape of Dennis Bermudez (14-4) and Jeremy Stephens (23-11). A win for either man really places them back in the mix.

Next we have two rising welterweight prospects who met defeat in their last bout against experienced opposition as the exciting Brandon Thatch (11-2) meets smooth Icelander, Gunnar Nelson (13-1-1) looking to recover from losses to Benson Henderson and Rick Story respectively. Both are highly regarded by UFC brass, the media and the fans so the winner here could find themselves a win or two from a title shot.

Opening the main card, Brad Pickett (24-10) returns to 135lbs following a disappointing 1-3 run at Flyweight and is rewarded with the dubious honour of facing undefeated prospect Thomas Almeida (18-0). Pickett would be the biggest scalp of Almedia’s career to date, while a win over the impressive youngster would immediately rehabilitate Pickett to his former spot in the top ten of the bantamweight rankings.

The preliminary card also has it’s share of great fights as ‘Immortal’ Matt Brown (19-13) faces the surging Tim Means (24-6-1) and with a hefty 28 knockout wins between them I don’t think anyone is expecting a dull fight…

We’ve also got former Cage Warriors champion Cathal Pendred (17-2-1) looking to impress after a lukewarm start to his UFC career when he faces the ever-game veteran John Howard (22-11) and Neil Seery (15-10)continues his UFC fairytale against Louis Smolka (8-1) knowing that a win would likely place him in title contention given the shallow waters in the flyweight division.

For once this is a card which actually seems worth staying up late for so let’s hope it lives up to the hype.

UFC 189 Main Event Preview: Conor McGregor vs. Chad Mendes

Subtitle:  A Hell of a Plan B

Like most MMA fans, I was eagerly awaiting the scheduled collision between Jose Aldo and Conor McGregor, with the extended promotional campaigning combining with the excitement at the meeting of one of the greatest mixed martial artists of our time and the fastest rising star in the sport.

Then Aldo got injured and the UFC had to look for a replacement. My immediate preference would have been for Frankie Edgar to get the call, firstly as he’s one of the biggest stars in the lighter weight classes.   Secondly as he has only lost to Aldo once and has put a top notch 5-0 streak together since, he makes a more compelling potential interim champion than the eventually chosen Chad Mendes who has twice lost to the champion, with the most recent encounter coming less than a year ago.

Howevr, the more I think about it, the more I’m liking the McGregor-Mendes matchup.

Conor ‘Notorious’ McGregor (17-2, 5-0 UFC) was celebrated in Europe before ever being called up to the UFC, winning the Cage Warriors championships at both Featherweight and Lightweight to earn his call up.

Since coming to the UFC, his exciting style and personality have catapulted him up the rankings with a 5-0 UFC streak including four TKO finishes and with the one decision victory came with McGregor injured and against a fighter who has since gone 6-0 to stand close behind the Irishman in the rankings – Max Holloway. That’s a fight I’d like to see again…

McGregor’s fighting style is based around movement and angles, using a wide variety of kicks and punches to disorient his opponent before finding an opening and swarming in to earn the TKO. McGregor also displayed high level grappling skills in his bout with Holloway and in his CWFC tenure showed a Donald Cerrone like ability to translate striking dominance into a submission victory.

On the other hand, McGregor is unproven against a top level wrestler, with the likes of Darren Elkins, Tatsuya Kawajiri and Clay Guida all bypassed en route to title contention. McGregor is also willing to take a punch in pursuit of his opening and has been tagged and dropped several times in his UFC tenure (especially in his recent bout against Dennis Siver) even if he has quickly recovered and gone on to win.

Both of these potential flaws in McGregor’s arsenal are likely to be questioned by his opponent on Saturday.

Chad ‘Money’ Mendes (17-2, 8-2 UFC) started his MMA career with credentials as an All American wrestler and his initial 11-0 streak was characterized by decision victories where those wrestling skills earned the win, especially once swimming in the deeper waters of the WEC & UFC.

That led to his first challenge at Jose Aldo’s title which was lost via a highlight reel head kick knockout in the first round.

Undaunted, Mendes sought to improve his skills and the addition of Duane Ludwig as coach at Team Alpha Male had a profound affect on Mendes’ striking skills, with the power which had always informed his wrestling now turned towards knockouts and complemented by a wider variety of strikes and combinations.

The new, improved Mendes went on a 5-0 streak including four knockouts – most impressively against the tough-as-nails duo of Darren Elkins and Clay Guida – to earn a second title shot.

That title shot saw him press Aldo more than any challenger before, losing out to a decision in what proved to be the Fight of the Year for 2014 and while Mendes dropped to 0-2 against the champion and with a third title shot seeming contingent on Aldo losing the belt, he won a lot of fans in the process.

Bouncing straight back, Mendes rebounded by knocking out Ricardo Lamas – another grappler who had lost a decision to Aldo – in the first round. At that point, it was expected that Mendes would go back into the mix at featherweight, looking to face top ten fighters such as Frankie Edgar, Max Holloway or Charles Oliveira while the Aldo-McGregor showpiece went ahead as planned.

However, the injury bug and UFC brass had other plans and Mendes now finds himself close to championship gold faster than he could possibly have hoped as the decision was read out in Aldo’s favour last October.

Mendes’ main strength is his wrestling which combines a wide array of takedowns with positional sense, strength and excellent level changing to make him capable of taking down or smothering any opponent. Over the past few years this has been augmented with a dangerous striking game, with high level boxing augmented by tactical use of leg kicks and tuned to take advantage of his natural wrestling talents.

Mendes now uses the level change that was once all about the takedown to close distance for striking and force his opponent to drop their guard and if he secures the takedown his ground & pound is more effective than ever.

On the face of things, we have a striker vs. grappler matchup here, but both men possess well rounded mixed martial arts games so it’s not simply a case of McGregor getting a TKO win or decision if he keeps the fight standing or Mendes getting the win if he can get McGregor down.

I would not be surprised to see Mendes score a TKO victory or (less likely) McGregor submitting Mendes from the bottom, or even a tightly contested five round split decision…

The stakes here are huge. A win for McGregor could finally elevate the Featherweight division to the box office realms enjoyed by heavier weight classes and justify the UFC’s investment in him, while also silencing the critics who doubt his top class credentials.

A win for Mendes would be a vindication of all McGregor’s naysayers and a personal triumph for the Team Alpha Male fighter, booking a third bout with Aldo with more momentum and star power in his corner than ever before.

However it pans out and despite the late change of opponent, this is THE big fight of the summer and I can’t wait.

Cage Warriors 68: Wallhead vs. Roberts Preview

Saturday 3rd May
Echo Area, Liverpool

Simply put, this is most likely going to be the best & biggest single UKMMA card of the year (discounting CWFC’s teased Super Saturday dual card…)

That’s not hyperbole, just look at the fights!

The headliner sees CWFC veteran ‘Judo’ Jim Wallhead (25-8) return after a spell alternating between Bellator and BAMMA and is indisputably one of England’s top welterweights not contracted to the UFC, while across the cage we have in-form hometown boy Danny ‘Hot Chocolate’ Roberts (10-1) who is riding a four fight win streak.

Both men are in clear contention for the Welterweight belt now held by Nicolas Dalby and should provide a heated and competitive climax to the evening’s fights.

Experience is clearly on Wallhead’s side, but Roberts has the greater momentum and such advantage as comes from fighting with the crowd in your corner.

With both fighters being finishers (72% for Wallhead, 80% for Roberts) capable of ending a fight on the feet and each in possession of some excellent grappling skills this is sure to be a great fight to watch.

Backing up that main event we have exciting and accomplished English fighters Ronnie Mann (23-6-1) and Matt Inman (13-5) facing international opposition in Marcelo Costa (8-2-1) and Mauro Chimento Jr (15-10) respectively.

Not enough? OK, how about a middleweight contest between ex-UFC fighter Che Mills (15-7) and the popular Leeroy Barnes (12-13, 1NC) both looking to break losing streaks?

The undercard also features Dinky Ninja’s John Cullen (17-8-2) and Dean Reilly*(6-5) so we’ve got more than a little local interest in the event as well.

*Sadly Dean’s match was cancelled due to his opponent pulling out due to injury. 😦

It’s a cracking card and we can’t wait for Saturday.

Viewing Details:

LIVE STREAMING

MMAjunkie.com | USA and Canada only
http://www.IrishMMA.tv | Ireland only
Viaplay | Scandinavia only
CageWarriors.tv | Rest of the world

LIVE TV

Premier Sports | United Kingdom
Setanta Sports 1 | Ireland
TV 10 | Sweden
Fight Now TV | USA
The Fight Network | Canada, Portugal, Belgium, Turkey, Middle East
Fight Klub | Poland
Setanta Action | Africa
ESPN | Caribbean, Latin America, Pacific Rim

MAIN CARD | 9pm BST local time (4pm ET, 1pm PT)

Danny Roberts vs. Jimmy Wallhead
Marcelo Costa vs. Ronnie Mann
Mauro Chimento vs. Matt Inman
Steve Dinsdale vs. Matt Hallam
Leeroy Barnes vs. Che Mills
John Cullen vs. Dean Garnett

FACEBOOK PRELIMS | 7.50pm BST local time (2.50pm ET/11.50am PT)

Conrad Hayes vs. Paddy Pimblett
Dez Parker vs. Charlie Watts
Ant Phillips vs. Adam Ventre

UNAIRED PRELIM | 7.30pm BST local time

Ellis Hampson vs. Azi Thomas

UFC on FOX 11: Werdum vs. Browne Preview

Sat, 19 Apr 2014 – Anway Center – Orlando, Florida

The UFC are billing the eleventh edition of UFC on FOX as the most exciting card yet aired in the network and that hyperbole could well be proven true on fight night.

Headlining the card, we have a heavyweight title eliminator between Travis Browne (16-1-1) and Fabricio Werdum (17-5-1) to decide a fresh challenger for Cain Velasquez (who’s last five fights have been against the same two fighters.)

Werdum had been a fixture near the top of the heavyweight rankings for over a decade and all of his losses have come to elite fighters who were at the peak of their powers at the time. Now riding a perfect 3-0 streak since his return to the UFC he has added an accomplished Muay Thai game to his always dangerous jiujitsu and is a clear and present threat to anyone in the division.

Oh, and he’s the guy who gave Fedor his first clean defeat. That was kind of a big deal.

Across the cage, Browne has been steadily climbing the ladder in the UFC, overcoming some huge names and galling setbacks (such as his only loss which was more down to a freak leg injury than Antonio Silva beating him up) and coming off three first round knockouts over super-tough veterans, he couldn’t have better momentum.

Browne has youth, reach and an edge in the striking game on his side, while Werdum has experience and a superior ground game in his corner.

However it works out, it should be a top notch bout between two supremely talented fighters.

The co-main event sees former title contenders Miesha Tate (13-5) and Liz Carmouche (9-4) face off with both looking to reinsert themselves into the title picture.

Tate is just coming off her second defeat to Ronda Rousey but the vehemence of their rivalry and her (perplexing, to me at least) popularity means she’ll always be just a win or two from another shot.

Carmouche has gone 1-1 since her loss to Rousey, handily defeating Jessica Andrade before dropping a tight decision to Alexis Davis back in November.

Both women are well rounded with good wrestling, submission and striking skills and while Tate will be the favourite, Carmouche is not to be discounted.

The rest of the main card looks plenty fun as entertaining strikers Edson Barboza and Donald Cerrone look set to engage in a gunfight while accomplished wrestler/boxers Yoel Romero and Brad Tavares meet with the top ten of the middleweight division in wait for the winner.

Even the undercard is stacked, with Rafael dos Anjos vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov both bringing significant win streaks into their match, this is a clear indication of the preliminary headliner being a bigger match than half the main card bouts.  The winner could well be in line for a title shot, or an eliminator bout at least.

We’ve also got the long awaited return of Thiago Alves facing Seth Baczynski alongside veterans Pat Healy and Jorge Masvidal facing off.

It’s a great card. We’ll be staying up to watch (you don’t need to get up early on Easter Sunday, do you?) and we’d advise you to do the same.

MAIN – BT Sport – midnight GMT
• Travis Browne vs. Fabricio Werdum
• Liz Carmouche vs. Miesha Tate
• Edson Barboza vs. Donald Cerrone
• Yoel Romero vs. Brad Tavares

PRELIMINARY – BT Sport – 10pm GMT
• Rafael dos Anjos vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov
• Thiago Alves vs. Seth Baczynski
• Pat Healy vs. Jorge Masvidal
• Estevan Payan vs. Alex White
• Caio Magalhaes vs. Luke Zachrich
• Jordan Mein vs. Hernani Perpetuo

PRELIMINARY – UFC Fight Pass, 8:30pm GMT
• Ray Borg vs. Dustin Ortiz
• Mirsad Bektic vs. Chas Skelly
• Derrick Lewis vs. Jack May

Cage Warriors Fight Night 11 Preview

April 18, 2014 | King Hussein Youth City Boxing Arena | Amman, Jordan

Didn’t we do this just a few weeks ago? I’m not complying, I love the CWFC events from the Middle East…

Despite sadly losing the original main event of Phil Harris vs. Kurban Gadzhiev to injury, this is a tidy card which promises some awesome action.

Stepping up to headline the card, Cage Warriors mainstay Jack ‘the Stone’ Mason (26-13) looks to put his March loss to Ben Alloway behind him and recover some of the form that saw him go 9-2 between March 2012-14.

In the way stands France’s Patrick Vallee (10-5-1) who has tangled with some of the best and has amassed an impressive collection of submission victories along the way.

It’s an interesting clash of styles, with Mason’s offensive ground & pound and Vallee’s canny eye for a submission implying we are in for a competitive and explosive encounter.

The other match that jumps out to me sees Norway’s Jack Hermansson (6-2) make a quick return following his entertaining win over Enoc Solves Torres in March to face the heavy handed Ion Pascu (8-4).

With the pair boasting 10 knockout victories in a combined sixteen professional wins, my only advise would be…don’t blink.

Elsewhere we have a tasty bout between Marat Pekov and Brian Moore, Arnold Allen looking to continue his excellent form against Tobias Huber and a lot more.

As usual, it looks like well worth checking out to wind down from your work week.

Broadcast Details

Internet Streams
MMAjunkie.com | USA and Canada only
http://www.IrishMMA.tv | Ireland only
Viaplay | Scandinavia only
CageWarriors.tv | Rest of the world (excluding UK)

TV
Premier Sports | United Kingdom
Setanta Sports 1 | Ireland
TV 10 | Sweden
Viasat | Norway
The Fight Network | Canada, Portugal, Belgium, Turkey, Middle East
Fight Klub | Poland
Setanta Action | Africa
ESPN | Caribbean, Latin America, Pacific Rim

Main Card 9pm local time (7pm GMT, 2pm ET, 11am PT)

Jack Mason vs. Patrick Vallee
Brian Moore vs. Marat Pekov
Jack Hermansson vs. Ion Pascu
Tahar Hadbi vs. Mike Johnson
Arnold Allen vs. Tobias Huber
John Redmond vs. Craig White

Unaired Prelims
Steve Aimable vs. Waek Korked
Ihab Janeb vs. Michael Ravenscroft

UFC Bisping vs. Kennedy / TUF Nations Finale Preview

April 16, 2014 | Colisee Pepsi | Quebec City, Quebec, Canada

Despite being for a lesser TUF series and being held midweek (which really sucks for those of us who are not in the Americas and are working on Thursday…) this card is damn fantastic, to the point where I’m going to break my rule of talking about one match other than the main event and have a wee chat about two of them.

Headlining the show are middleweight contenders Michael Bisping (24-5) and Tim Kennedy (17-4) who face off in what must count as neutral territory with Bisping being your archetypal ‘mouthy Brit’ in many Americans eyes, while Kennedy’s ‘Ranger Up’ persona is well established I guess that French-speaking Canada is as appropriate a venue as any.

Bisping is the perennial ‘one win away from a title shot’ guy, while Kennedy is riding a 3-0 streak that showcases his well rounded skills and his KO of Rafael Natal was exactly the kind of thing that boosts you closer to a title shot than a mundane win, so whoever gets their hand raised is right in line for a crack at the winner of Chris Weidman vs. Lyoto Machida for the Middleweight gold.

Both guys are well rounded, with quality striking and grappling skills, so in many ways this fight is a really tough one to predict. That said, Bisping has the clear edge in experience, both in terms of number of fights and the calibre of opponents he’s faced, which could prove decisive

Basically, this is a match worthy of co-main eventing a pay per view, which is pretty good going for a midweek TUF finale…

… which is just as well seeing as I don’t think many folks paid much, if any attention to TUF Nations at least outside of Canada & Australia. I know I didn’t.

With that in mind, I’ve got pretty much nothing to say about the tourney finals or even the coaches bout except that Patrick Cote & Kyle Noke are both fun fighters and should produce an entertaining matchup.

Much more interesting to me are some of the supporting fights, with Akira Corassani (12-3) getting his biggest matchup to date against perennial contender & top ten fixture Dustin Poirer (15-3).

Corassani is undefeated in the UFC with wins over Andy Ogle, Robbie Peralta and Maximo Blanco, while Poirer is currently on a 2-0 streak with wins over former #1 contender Erik Koch and TUF winner Diego Brandao.

Both fighters are well rounded and experienced and a bump in terms of rankings, paydays and quality of opponents is the prize for both of them. This should be a cracking fight.

The last fight I really want to concentrate on features Canada’s Sarah Kaufman (16-2, 1NC) taking on late replacement Leslie Smith (6-4-1).

Kaufman remains one of the top bantamweights in the world, despite her (overturned) decision loss to Jessica Eye and fast loss to Ronda Rousey. Across the cage, Smith’s record does not reflect her skills and entertainment value and with an eye to redress a prior loss to Kaufman

This is sure to be a competitive, action packed fight between two ladies who deserve more acclaim than they have received.

Throw in some potentially very fun matches between Sam Stout and KJ Noons as well as George Roop and Dustin Kimura and this is one of the most solid and overlooked cards the UFC has put together in a while.

The only question that remains is ‘dare I risk falling asleep at work on Thursday to stay up and watch the fights?’

I just might.

Main CARD – BT Sport 12 midnight
Michael Bisping vs. Tim Kennedy
Patrick Cote vs. Kyle Noke
Elias Theodorou vs. Sheldon Westcott – “TUF Nations” middleweight final
Olivier Aubin-Mercier vs. Chad Laprise – “TUF Nations” welterweight final
Akira Corassani vs. Dustin Poirier

Preliminary CARD – BT Sport 10 p.m.
K.J. Noons vs. Sam Stout
Sarah Kaufman vs. Leslie Smith
Ryan Jimmo vs. Sean O’Connell
Dustin Kimura vs. George Roop

Preliminary CARD – UFC Fight Pass, 8:15 p.m.
Mark Bocek vs. Mike De La Torre
Vik Grujic vs. Nordine Taleb
Chris Indich vs. Richard Walsh
Mitch Gagnon vs. Tim Gorman

Cage Warriors 67: Johns vs. Brum Preview

Sat, 12 Apr 2014
Swansea, Wales
The LC Arena

In the middle of an ambitious run, Cage Warriors return to British soil tomorrow with a solid card topped by an insanely compelling main event.

That headline match sees hometown boy Brett ‘the Pikey’ Johns (9-0) make the first defence of his Bantamweight title against James ‘Job Done’ Brum (14-2).

Johns won the title back in September, defeating David Haggstrom and plucky alternate Jordan Deesborough in the final to lift the belt after the winner if the other semi final, James Pennington was injured.

Undefeated, well rounded, with cardio to burn and still only 22 years old, the possibilities for Johns career at this point are infinite.

However, this first defence comes against one of the most consistent, entertaining and dominant Bantamweights in the world.

In the 2 1/2 years since his decision loss to Erik Perez (who’s gone 5-1 since, with four UFC victories to his name), Brum has amassed an eight fight win streak including victories over Martin McDonough, James Saville and Olivier Pastor and was Cage Warriors’ fighter of the year for 2012.

Long considered the uncrowned champion by many, Brum now faces the younger belt holder to see who really belongs on top of the mountain. It’s gonna be epic.

My plus one pick has to be the flyweight encounter between Martin ‘Mr Pink’ McDonough (11-4) and Shaj Haque (4-1).

McDonough drops from bantamweight on the back of a five fight streak of submission victories and only missed out on a place in the tournament that crowned Johns as champion through injury.

Haque, despite his relative inexperience is one of the best flyweights in Europe, ranked #7 by us and #14 by FightMatrix and given that he has always gone the distance in his fights, while McDonough has only won by stoppage means something has to give.

With Neil Seery off to the UFC and the likes of Phil Harris and Marcin Lasota appearing in Cage Warriors, both fighters will be looking to impress and put down a marker for the vacant title.

With bouts of such significance at the top of the bill and an undercard full of interesting bouts, this event should continue Cage Warriors awesome run. Get it watched.

MAIN CARD | 9pm local time BST (4pm ET/1pm PT)

Brett Johns (c) vs. James Brum – CWFC bantamweight title bout
Sean Carter vs. Mario Saeed
Shaj Haque vs. Martin McDonough
Jamie Pritchard vs. Phil Raeburn
Gemma Hewitt vs. Agnieszka Niedzwiedz
Simas Norkus vs. Stu Tyrie

UNAIRED PRELIM | 7.30pm local time BST

Mark Handley vs. Paul Rogers

BROADCAST DETAILS

LIVE STREAMING

MMAjunkie.com | USA and Canada only
http://www.IrishMMA.tv | Ireland only
Viaplay | Scandinavia only
CageWarriors.tv | Rest of the world

LIVE TV

Fight Now TV | USA, Carribbean
The Fight Network | Canada, Middle East
TV 10 | Sweden
Viasat | Norway
Fight Klub | Poland
Setanta Action | Africa
ESPN International | Latin America, Pacific Rim

UFC Fight Night 39: Minotauro vs. Nelson Preview

April 11, 2014

DU Arena
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Home to one of the world’s premier submission grappling tournaments and gateway to a prodigious, largely untapped market (with the exception of Cage Warriors, who venture to the Middle East a few times a year) Abu Dhabi is a more logical choice for a UFC card than a lot of fans might think.

The established (and very wealthy) grappling audience in the area may have coloured the choice of headlining fights as the card is topped by a brace of bouts between fighters with celebrated submission skills.

The main event pits the legendary Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (34-8-1) against the divisive Roy Nelson (19-9) in a bout that will have very little bearing on the sharp end of the heavyweight division but should produce some compelling action.

Both men are elite level grapplers but are in possession of rounded skills with Nelson in particular better known of late for his knockouts than his submission acumen.

Once considered almost impossible to finish, Nogueira has been stopped in four of his last seven matches while Nelson hasn’t been defeated inside the distance since 2008.

With Nelson slimming down and actually possessing a mobility advantage for the first time in living memory, his cast iron chin and faster hands should bring him victory as Nogueira’s mileage catches up with him… but I wouldn’t count Big Nog out, ever.

The other match I want to concentrate on is the co-main event which sees experienced pair Clay Guida (30-14) and Tatsuya Kawajiri (33-7-2) face off in a match that might be incredibly dull to the majority of fans, or could be a total barnburner.

Guida has a reputation for being in fun fights, but his highlight reel is getting older as he remembered his wrestling was the route to victory, as well as his attempt at counter striking against Gray Maynard. Basically, when he’s fun to watch, he tends to lose…

With that in mind, Kawajiri is a great opponent as ‘Crusher’ possesses a similarly grinding grappling style which may cancel out Guida’s wrestling and throw the match into the balance.

Kawajiri has more KO wins than Guida and has the more accurate, measured striking so a fight on the feet should favour him, while the pair seem well matched on the ground.

Simply because of that, I have to favour Kawajiri here and this is only supported by his record of only having been beaten by genuine top level guys (Gilbert Melendez twice, Eddie Alvarez, Shinya Aoki & Takanori Gomi) since 2003 and scoring wins over the likes of Josh Thomson,

As to how it goes down, I don’t know. It could be a grappling chess match or a wild brawl or somewhere in between. It should be fun to find out.

Elsewhere on the card, I’d like to point out a potentially fun match between the rejuvenated John Howard and Ryan LaFlare, Daniel Omielanczuk and Thales Leites looking to continue impressive winning streaks and especially the UFC debut of Cage Warriors Featherweight champion Jim Alers, who opens the card against Alan Omer.

The show will be on UFC Fight Pass, with the times listed below.

MAIN CARD
UFC Fight Pass, 2 pm ET / 7pm GMT

Roy Nelson vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
Clay Guida vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri
John Howard vs. Ryan LaFlare
Beneil Dariush vs. Ramsey Nijem

PRELIMINARY CARD
UFC Fight Pass, 11:30 am ET / 4:30pm GMT

Daniel Omielanczuk vs. Jared Rosholt
Johnny Bedford vs. Rani Yahya
Thales Leites vs. Trevor Smith
Chris Camozzi vs. Andrew Craig
Dustin Ortiz vs. Alptekin Ozkilic
Jim Alers vs. Alan Omer

Metamoris 3: Bravo vs. Gracie Preview

Saturday sees the return of Metamoris, which is quickly becoming the banner promotion for putting submission grappling into the mainstream consciousness.

Following a lacklustre sophomore card where the decision to add judges (which made the event more like a traditional jiujitsu event), some disappointing matches and Brendan Schaub took away from the vitality of the show the promotion returns to the solely submission format and a card stacked with top notch grapplers.

Headlining the card we have a rematch ten years in the making between 10th Planet Jiujitsu founder Eddie Bravo and one of the banner bearers for jiujitsu’s first family, Royler Gracie.

Their first match, at the ADCC in 2003 was a watershed moment for jiujitsu as the unheralded brown belt Bravo submitted the heavy favourite Gracie with a triangle choke. Ever since, Bravo has been on a crusade to spread his gospel of creative noGi grappling via his ever-growing network of academies, while Gracie has similarly concentrated on teaching through his family’s far more conventional schools.

Neither have competed regularly in the interim giving the rematch a freshness and x-factor that when combined with the significance of their first bout makes this a truly ‘must-see’ matchup.

On a supporting card that includes Dean Lister, the Mendes Brothers, ‘Babalu’ Sobral and Clark Gracie, the other matchup which jumps out to me pits Keenan Cornelius against Vinny Magalhaes.

Both black belts, under Andre Galvao and Eddie Bravo respectively, the pairs list of accolades could fill a small book but suffice to say they share 11 elite level world championships from the Mundials & ADCC.

Don’t miss it.

I’ve found a few cool articles that will help bring you up to speed on Metamoris from MMA Fighting and Bloody Elbow, so you might want to check them out before you watch the event on pay-perv-view live stream only at www.metamoris.com

 

 

Cage Warriors Fight Night 10: Azaitar vs. Marshman Preview

March 28, 2014
King Hussein Youth City Boxing Arena
Amman, Jordan

A week removed from their card-of-the-year-so-far in Copenhagen, Denmark, the Cage Warriors roadshow pops up in Jordan for their tenth ‘fight night’ card in the Middle East.

Stacked with interesting and championship-relevant bouts despite a relative lack of ‘big’ names, this card promises plenty of action and perhaps a few opportunities for some real stars and belt contenders to emerge.

Headlining the card, recent signing Jack Marshman (14-4) faces Germany’s Abu Azaitar (8-2) with the winner likely to be right in the mix for the currently vacant Middleweight belt last held by World Series of Fighting’s Jesse Taylor.

A former British army boxing champion, Marshman has earned ten of his fourteen victories by knockout, although he has also shown impressive grappling and submission skills.

Azaitar is also a finisher with six of his eight wins coming inside the distance and most of them coming through strikes as well.

Basically, this is unlikely to be a lengthy or sedate affair and these two are likely to throw leather until one of them hits the canvas.

Both men come in on win streaks and interestingly already have matches booked in May, so must both be confident of a quick knockout win. It will definitely be interesting to find out.

The pick of the rest of the fights features Scotland’s Allan Love (11-4) – who was nice enough to give us an interview earlier in the week – against France’s Norman Paraisy (13-3-2) in another bout which may produce a contender for the 185lb belt.

Love is riding a four fight streak of stoppage victories while Paraisy is on a four fight unbeaten streak characterised by dogged performances against Chris Fields (set to appear on the next season of The Ultimate Fighter) and Leeroy Barnes, getting a draw and a win respectively despite being on the back foot against more aggressive fighters.

Paraisy’s losses all came on trips to fight for Bellator in the US, while Love’s four defeats are bunched into a five fight run where he fought some of Europe’s best on their own patch.

Will the stoppage seeking Scotsman or the canny Frenchman come out on top on neutral ground?

Also on the card, the Most Exciting Fighter In Scotland, John Cullen (17-7-2) faces Marat Pekov (10-5) who impressed in his recent CWFC losses to James Brum and Ronnie Mann alongside Marcin Lasota (7-0) and Paul Marin (7-3) who will both have an eye on Neil Seery’s vacated Flyweight crown.

We’ve also got former Featherweight title contender Dave Hill (11-3) against late replacement Miguel Haro (7-4), an appearance by the ever entertaining local favourite Mohamed Ali and a bundle of fighters who’s names I don’t recognise, which just causes me to wonder what gems Ian Dean has unearthed this time!

Cage Warriors never disappoint and their Fight Night cards have often been far more than the apparent sum of their parts and considering the already awesome parts, you should definitely catch the show live on FRIDAY, starting at 5:10pm on Facebook and Premier Sports at 6pm for the main card.

Full Card

Abu Azaitar vs. Jack Marshman
John Cullen vs. Marat Pekov
Mohamed Ali vs. Malik Merad
Allan Love vs. Norman Paraisy
Marcin Lasota vs. Paul Marin
Miguel Haro vs. Dave Hill
Jarrah Al-Silawi vs. Carl Booth
Elodie Puget vs. Vanessa Rico
Hicham Laghzali vs. Yazan Janeb