UFC 165 weigh in video and results – all fighters on weight

 

It’s official, all of the scheduled fights for tomorrow’s UFC event in Toronto are ready to go.

Every fighter made weight, though veteran bantamweight Ivan Menjivar needed a couple of attempts to make it down to 136lbs, which is still within the legal limit for 135lb non-title fights.

There is one thing that I noticed about this weigh in that puzzles me. I still can’t understand why Jon Jones can;t look his opponents in the eye before a fight. He’s been accused of arrogance by many people in the past and he certainly seems to believe/know he’s better than everyone so he’s clearly not scared. We’ll probably never know, but if anyone has any valid suggestions I would be all ears.

Anyway, the full list of results are below

Main Card

Jon Jones (204.5) vs. Alexander Gustafsson (204.5)
Renan Barao (135) vs. Eddie Wineland (135)
Matt Mitrione (260.5) vs. Brendan Schaub (237)
Francis Carmont (186) vs. Constantinos Philippou (186)
Pat Healy (155.75) vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov (156)

Prelims

Myles Jury (156) vs. Mike Ricci (155.5)
Ivan Menjivar (136) vs. Wilson Reis (135)
Chris Clements (169.5) vs. Stephen Thompson (170.5)
Mitch Gagnon (136) vs. Dustin Kimura (136)
PRELIMINARY CARD (Facebook, 6 p.m. ET)
Renee Forte (155.5) vs. John Makdessi (155)
Michel Prazeres (155) vs. Jesse Ronson (155.5)
Alex Caceres (136) vs. Roland Delorme (136)
Nandor Guelmino (230) vs. Daniel Omielanczuk (245.5)

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Dana White UFC 165 pre-fight media scrum

Dana White talks all things UFC 165 and current goings on in MMA in yesterday’s pre-fight media scrum.

He also stopped for a quick chat with Ariel Helwani just after that.

Also up for discussion was The Mayweather/Alvarez fight and Floyd’s desire to move into MMA promotion, Chael Sonnen’s unfortunate Rhianna remarks, Alistair Overeem vs. Frank Mir, the latest season of The Ultimate Fighter and planned series’ of TUF in China.

There’s and hour worth of content if you can stomach it all.

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Bellator 100 preview

Bellator’s events on Spike TV this season are not exactly awe inspiring. Most of its big guns are being saved until its PPV debut in November.

However, this is probably the best of what is on offer before Rampage, Tito, Alvarez, Chandler et al face off inside the cage.  Not only do we have a rematch of a 2011 welterweight tournament final as the final for the Season 9 welterweight tournament final, the quarterfinals for the season 10 tournament contain a host of compelling fighters.

THe main even and rematch in question is Douglas Lima vs. Ben Saunders 2. In their first meeting, it was Lima who scored a dramatic KO win to book a title shot against Ben Askren.

Unfortunately for Lima, he was wrestled to death by Askren, and should the champ stay with the promotion he will likely do the same against the winner of this fight. If he does go on the UFC that will open the door for the winner of this fight to claim the belt as well as the tournament champion.

As for the winner of this fight, I’d go for Lima again, if only because Saunders is more likely to implode at any given moment, and Lima will be packing some explosive power if he’s 100% healthy.

The favourites for the Season 9 tournament quarter finals are War Machine, Luis Melo, Brent Weedman and Rick Hawn.

Hawn and Weedman enter the bracket after fairly successful runs at lightweight. Both have also enjoyed strong showings at 170lbs in Bellator before as well, so should feel at home against inferior opposition.

War Machine,  the fighter formerly known as Jon Koppenhaver will finally make his Bellator tournament debut after several false starts over the past three years. He’s been matched up favourably in this round, and despite the absurdity of his career to this point, he’s actually a pretty competent fight and should have no problems booking his place in the semi finals.

Matt Riddle was due to be the other golden goose for Bellator this term, but he’s retired following an injury. Luis Melo must really fancy his chances now after dodging a bullet by drawing Ron Keslar instead of the UFC veteran.

It’s also worth mentioning Bubba Jenkins. THe college wrestling standout is 4-0 and one of the hottest prospects in the sport right now. There’s no way he won’t pick up another win tonight against Larue Burley and continue to develop his game.

Main Card

Douglas Lima vs. Ben Saunders
War Machine vs. Vaughn Anderson
Luis Melo Jr. vs. Ron Keslar
Brent Weedman vs. Justin Baesman
Rick Hawn vs. Herman Terrado

Prelims

Bubba Jenkins vs. Larue Burley
Siala-Mou Siliga vs. Dan Charles
Liam McGeary vs. Beau Tribolet
Clifford Starks vs. Joe Yager
Johnny Buck vs. Adam McDonough
Travis Marx vs. Brandon Bender
Efrain Escudero vs. Zack Surdyka

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Countdown to UFC 165: Jones vs. Gustafson

Round two of UFC 165 video hype, with the obligatory countdown show, including features on the two title fights which were also featured on the extended preview video: Jon Jones vs. Alexander Gustafsson for the 205lb strap and Renan Barão vs. Edddie Wineland for the interim title at 135lbs.

Also featured is the heavyweight clash between TUF 10 alums Matt Mitrione and Brendan Schaub. Both fighters have struggled for consistency in the last couple of years (and courted a fair amount of controversy in Mitrione’s case) so they each badly need a win. It’s not out of the question that a defeat for either fighter could result in them having their walking papers handed to them. On the other hand an impressive win could catapult them back into the heavyweight contender mix. With the power and chin issues each man has, I’d say that’s a pretty safe bet.

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UFC 165: Jones vs. Gustasson extended preview video

This week’s big event brings two high-quality title fights in the bantamweight division and the light  heavyweight division.

In the co-main event Renan Barão defends his interim belt once again against Eddie Wineland. The main event sees the default p4p king, Jon Jones, faces Sweden’s Alexander Gustafsson in an effort to break the record for the most UFC title defences at 205lbs. This could also be his last real test as champion before he starts looking at moving up to heavyweight.

The UFC have obliged us by producing it’s usual 10 minute hype video for Saturday’s big guns.

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Dana White UFC 164 post fight media scrum

Dana gets on the mic with the assembled media to chat all things UFC 164.

For those familiar with Dana White, you will also be familiar with his brutal honesty. Occasionally this might be grossly misinformed, just plain wrong or controversial to the point he gets into a bit of bother with the media.. However, his there are times when his insistence on calling a spade a spade is admirable, particularly in the case of his criticism of the Soa Palelei/Nikita Krylov fight. That fight really deserved to be slammed, and the UFC president duly obliged.

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UFC 164 post fight press conference

Dana White and UFC 164 fighters sit down with the media after the conclusion of last night’s event.

New lightweight title holder Anthony Pettis fields questions for the first time as champion, including his future defending the belt and a potential fight with featherweight king José Aldo.

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UFC 164 Henderson vs. Pettis 2 weigh-in results and video

Every fighter was on weight for UFC 164 earlier today in Milwaukee, so there’s not too much to say really.

A few thoughts:

• Gleison Tibau us far too big to be a lightweight!
• Erik Koch and Dustin Poirier are still in the infancy of their MMA careers, but you won’t find many better or more intense fighters out there. Prepare for fireworks.
• When I hear Brandon Vera was moving back up to heavyweight I was skeptical. When I heard he weighed in at 241 pound I though his return to the division was bound to be a disaster. However, having seen his frame, he’s thicker, not just heavier. If he can keep a bit of speed from 205lbs he could give Ben Rothwell some trouble and revitalise his career.
• You would thing Chad Mendes had just dropped from the weight class above. He dwarfs Clay Guida. I predict an uncomfortable ride for The Carpenter tomorrow night.
• Henderson and Pettis look ready to go right now. This ssi very exciting.

Full preview to follow, though I’m not sure how coherant it will be. I think the breakdown of the main event might just be a list of superlatives, because this is the rematch of one of the top 5 best fights ever, and for my money the most exciting match possible to make in MMA right now.

Main Card

Benson Henderson (155) vs. Anthony Pettis (154.5)
Josh Barnett (255) vs. Frank Mir (248)
Clay Guida (146) vs. Chad Mendes (145)
Ben Rothwell (262) vs. Brandon Vera (241)
Erik Koch (145) vs. Dustin Poirier (145.5)

Prelims

Gleison Tibau (155) vs. Jamie Varner (156)
Tim Elliott (125.5) vs. Louis Gaudinot (125)
Pascal Krauss (170) vs. Hyun Gyu Lim (171)
Chico Camus (135) vs. Kyung Ho Kang (136)
Nikita Krylov (236) vs. Soa Palelei (265)
Ryan Couture (156) vs. Al Iaquinta (156)
Magnus Cedenblad (185) vs. Jared Hamman (185.5)

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UFC Fight Night 27: Kampmann vs. Condit 2 post fight press conference video

Now with added production values.

Now that post-fight pressers are broadcast live on FOX Sports you can actually hear all of the questions, captions appear along with the fighters and the interviews are broken up with little highlight vignettes.

They’re nice new elements to add and hopefully they’ll continue through the rest of the UFC’s events from now on.

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Free Fight: Martin Kampmann vs. Jake Ellenberger

Because it’s great. A nice gifet from the UFC ahead of its second outing on Fox Sports 1 on Wednesday.

This was Kampmann’s second comeback win in a row. In his first he took a licking against Thiago Alves in Australia before hitting a late guillotine.

He followed that eith this short ruckus. He was blasted by Ellenberger in round one but was able to hang out until the bell. In the second, he finished the fight in emphatic style with knees and punches out of nowhere.

His winning streak was snapped in his next fight out against top contender Johny Hendricks, but with a win against Carlos Condit next week, the great Dane could find himself back in the realm of title contention once more.

Enjoy.

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