The Good, The Bad & the Ugly: UFC on FOX 11 Edition

Im gradually coming to realise that I might be too old to reliably sit up and watch the fights. I only managed until Thiago Alves’ fight before passing out. Thanks be for sites like -redacted- which allow me to catch up in the morning…

The Good:

First of all, it was awesome to see one of our favourite fighters, Thiago Alves return to the cage after more than two years. Even better, he put in a good performance like he’d never been away and we hope for more ‘Pitbull’ based goodness in the near future.

The card provided consistently good action despite a few less compelling fights, with particular mention going to the awesome flyweight scrap between Dustin Ortiz and Ray Borg, Mirsad Bektic vs. Chas Skelly, Alves vs. Baczynski, the gunfight between Donald Cerrone and Edson Barboza and Fabricio Werdum‘s fine performance in the main event to win a title shot.

The Bad:

Aside from some screwy judging – one split decision that shouldn’t have been and one that went the wrong way IMHO – the worst thing was Chas Skelly’s illegal knees to Mirsad Bektic.

Interesting to see the referee give Bektic time, as if it had been a groin shot and take a point before allowing the match to continue. Bektic also deserves warrior points for continuing and giving as good as he got in the remainder of the fight to take the majority decision.

It produced a compelling fight and a new fighter for me to be a big fan of, but was it the right call with fighter safety and the letter of the law in mind?

The Ugly:

For a night that saw it’s fair share of blood, there was nothing especially gory or egregiously uncool from a fighting or officiating point of view. Good work folks.

If We Had The Chequebook…

Fight of the Night:

Easily Dustin Ortiz vs. Ray Borg for a back and forth bout which saw some high impact strikes and some awesome grappling exchanges. For me, this was an advert for all that is good in MMA and it’s lack of acknowledgement in the UFC’s post fight dissection is a travesty.

Performance of the Night:

Mirsad Bektic for being aggressive and entertaining before the illegal knees and having the sheer stones to see the fight out afterwards. Such performances are what makes you a fan favourite.

Finish of the Night:

Donald Cerrone for his quick reactions in hopping onto Edson Barboza’s back and slapping on a tight rear naked choke after rocking him with a nice jab. Even more impressive considering that Barboza had the best of the early exchanges.

Full Results:

MAIN CARD
Fabricio Werdum def. Travis Browne via unanimous decision (49-46, 50-45, 50-45) – Round 5, 25:00
Miesha Tate def. Liz Carmouche via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) – Round 3
Donald Cerrone def. Edson Barboza via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 3:15
Yoel Romero def. Brad Tavares via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) – Round 3

PRELIMINARY CARD
Khabib Nurmagomedov def. Rafael dos Anjos via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) – Round 3
Thiago Alves def. Seth Baczynski via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) – Round 3
Jorge Masvidal def. Pat Healy via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28) – Round 3
Alex White def. Estevan Payan via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 1:28
Caio Magalhaes def. Luke Zachrich via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 0:44
Jordan Mein def. Hernani Perpetuo via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28) – Round 3

FIGHT PASS PRELIMINARY CARD
Dustin Ortiz def. Ray Borg via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28) – Round 3
Mirsad Bektic def. Chas Skelly via majority decision (29-27, 29-27, 28-28) – Round 3, 5:00
Derrick Lewis def. Jack May via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 4:23

 

 

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

UFC on Fuel TV 10: Nogueira vs. Werdum 2 Preview

Sat, 08 Jun 2013
Fortaleza, Ceara, Brazil
Paulo Sarasate Arena

Weren’t we in Brazil just the other week? The UFC really loves this market. Remember when UFC Rio (UFC 134 in August 2011) felt like a special one off?

In any case, this show is the closer to the most recent series of TUF:Brasil, which I admit I haven’t been able to watch (Subtitles make my eyes itch, and I do need to sleep at some point.) with the coaches, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Fabricio Werdum facing off in the main event while the tournament finalists face off in the co-main event.

The rest of the card looks like a particularly partisan international card, lots of home fighters, some of them very familiar names mixed in with some foreign UFC journeymen who are sure to get a pleasant welcome from the Fortaleza crowd.

The main event poses an interesting prospect as both Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (34-7-1, 1NC) and Fabricio Werdum (16-5-1) are among the best jujitsu practitioners in MMA.

Both men also boast impressive striking skills, with Werdum’s muay thai being much underrated and his durability almost unquestionable. His only loss to strikes came to Junior dos Santos, and thats not exactly an insult. likewise, hes gone the distance with and/or defeated Alistair Overeem, Fedor Emelianenko, Roy Nelson, Andrei Arlovski and Sergei Kharitonov.

Nogueira’s boxing style is more conventional and time and numerous wars have taken their toll on his movement. Not his power though, as Brendan Schaub will attest.

Once upon a time, Minotauro was regarded as unstoppable, going the the first THIRTY SEVEN fights of his career, including a trilogy with Fedor (at the peak of his powers), as well as multiple fights with the likes of Josh Barnett, Heath Herring, Mirko Filipovic and even the truly scary Enson Inoue without being submitted or finished with strikes.

However, Nog has three stoppage losses in his last six fights.

They’ve fought before, with Nogueira winning a decision, and as much as it pains me I have to think Werdum will get his win back here. Nog is a living legend, but Werdum is younger, faster and more varied. Nogueira poses a threat standing and even more so on the ground, but I think on average, this one should push Werdum one step closer to a title shot.

No matter where this fight goes, it’s interesting.

The co-main even is the TUF:Brasil final between William Macario and Leonardo Santos. Seeing as I’ve already copped to not watching the season, I’ll go do some research…

…I’m back.

Aside from being Team Nogueira fighters, the pair are different in almost every way. Leonard Santos (11-3) is a veteran who a history of submission wins, took Takanori Gomi to a decision in his MMA debut and has experience in a variety of quality promotions, including Shooto – Brasil, Sengoku and Cage Warriors.

Riding a five fight pro win streak, Santos won his first two tournament matches via decision before losing a judges call to Santiago Ponzinibbio in the semi final. However Santaigo injured his hand in the process and couldn’t contest the final, so Santos sneaked through.

William Macario (6-0) on the other hand, is a young striker with a pro record consisting solely of stoppage victories, only once seeing the second round albeit against relatively unknown opposition. One decision and two TKO victories on the show led him to the final and a real chance to break out as a big star at only 21 years old.

It’s an interesting fight, with experience, submissions and luck seemingly on Santos side, but with youth, striking, size and momentum on Macario’s side.

Backing up the new blood with some familiar faces, we have a probable slugfest on our hands between two fighters well known for their possession of explosive striking assaults.

Thiago Silva (14-3, 2NC) returns following his second failed drug test (this time for marijuana) looking to recapture the form that had him one win away from a title fight in 2009.

Silva has gone 3-3 in the cage since then, losing via TKO to Lyoto Machida and by decision to Rashad Evans and Alex Gustafsson, while beating Keith Jardine, Brandon Vera and Stanislav Nedkov. However, with his drug busts (one for potential steroids and the second for weed) his record looks worse, at only 1-3, 2NC.

In the cage, Silva has always favoured an aggressive approach with some BRUTAL Muay Thai backed up by some underrated wrestling. He’s been exposed by more technical strikers and a wrestler in the past, but anyone who has come at him has paid the price.

However, that’s probably exactly what former Strikeforce champion Rafael Cavalcante (11-3, 1NC) will do. Also returning from a doping ban (which rendered his scary 38 second KO of Mike Kyle a No Contest on his record), Cavalcante has a history of knocking out well known tough guys, while only twice being KO’d himself, once by Kyle in 2009 and once by Dan Henderson, which is nothing to be ashamed of.

Have no illusions, this one if going to be about big bombs thrown with bad intentions. I’d be a little amazed if this wasn’t fight of the night or knockout of the night, right here.

Lower down the card, Erick Silva (14-3, 1NC) looks to recover from his loss to Jon Fitch when he faces Jason High (16-3) who has amassed a seven fight win streak since back to back losses in 2009-10 and steps in to replace the injured John Hathaway here.

There are high profile fights for some Brits as well, as undefeated OMMAC veteran Mike Wilkinson (8-0) faces off with TUF Brasil 1 winner Rony ‘Jason‘ (12-3) in what looks like it could be a great grappling match.

Vaughan Lee (13-8-1) looks to improve his 2-2 record in the UFC with an away win against Rafael Assuncao (19-4) who is starting to make a case for a title shot with a 3-0 streak since dropping to Bantamweight. Vaughan has shown a cool head in foreign climes before, as his submission of the night defeat of KID Yamamoto in Japan shows.

The rest of the undercard features an increasingly familiar cast of TUF Brasil alumni, along with a few others with more experience looking for redemption following losses or poor performances in the States.

It might be a secondary card, it might be aimed squarely at the Brazilian market but there is plenty here for fans from Europe or North America to be interested in.

For full broadcast information in your area, please check http://www.ufc.com

MAIN (FUEL TV, 8 p.m. ET)
• Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Fabricio Werdum
• William Macario vs. Leo Santos “TUF: Brazil 2” tournament final
• Rafael Cavalcante vs. Thiago Silva
• Eddie Mendez vs. Daniel Sarafian
• Jason High vs. Erick Silva
• Rony Jason vs. Mike Wilkinson

PRELIMINARY (Facebook, 4:30 p.m. ET)
• Raphael Assuncao vs. Vaughan Lee
• Derek Brunson vs. Ronny Markes
• Felipe Arantes vs. Godofredo Castro
• Ildemar Alcantara vs. Leandro Silva
• Rodrigo Damm vs. Mizuto Hirota
• Caio Magalhaes vs. Karlos Vemola
• Antonio Braga Neto vs. Anthony Smith