UFC 165 post-fight press conference

Full recap of last night’s UFC to follow as I’ve been out of town. Until then, I can only recommend you find a way to watch the main vent between Jon Jones and Alexander Gustafsson.

The fight was absolutely unreal. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a high level fight where both fighters gave absolutely everything they had to the point they could barely stand at the end. The blows just kept coming, and as Dana White said, the fact that both fighters could not attend the post-fight presser because of essential visits to hospital shows just what a war it was.

For now, here is that press conference in the immediate aftermath of that fantastic fight.

Despite the absence of Jones and Gustafsson, there’s still chat with the other big winner from UFC 165: spinning back kick superhero Renan Barao.

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UFC 165: Jones vs. Gustafsson preview

UFC light heavyweight championship – Jon Jones vs. Alexander Gustafsson 

This is a Jon Jones fight, so there’s no real reason to break it down in too much detail.

The light heavyweight champion has better wrestling, grappling and striking than everyone else in the division. The only thing that could take him out would be an absolute miracle, one-hit KO strike. Gustafsson does not have the ability to pull out that kind of shot against the best in the world.

The Swede is tough, so may make it into the later rounds, but I think in the end the combination of Jones’s superior grappling and ground and pound will open up an opportunity for a submission.

UFC interim bantamweight championship – Renan Barao vs. Eddie Wineland

This title fight is a little more evenly matched, but only just. Renan Barao has proven himself to be without equal amongst the current crop of active bantamweight fighters, and I get a stronger feeling he would be able to get the better of a healthy Dominick Cruz as well.

He’s another champion who has the complete package. He is devastating on the feet, whether he’s hunting for the knockout or scything down his opponents with a barrage of chopping leg kicks. If he faces a wrestler they’ll have difficulty taking him down, but if they do his submission grappling for mixed martial arts is unparalleled in the division, particularly his ability to take the back.

Eddie Wineland is tough, and should provide a stiff test for the interim champion, but he’s just not quite in the same league. His forté is striking, but it isn’s as dynamic as Barao’s. Wineland’s boxing is probably superior, but Barao should be able to stay on the outside and out of reach to negate that. If WIneland gives chase, he’ll open himself up to getting caught or taken down to the mat, where he will be out of his depth.

I fancy Barao by submission after a frustrating few rounds for WIneland.

Matt Mitrione vs. Brendan Schaub

A battle of TUF veterans, who have failed to light up the heavyweight division despite quite a bit of hype on their entry to the promotion. Schaub has had his progress derailed by a catastrophically bad chin, and Mitrione has struggled to elevate himself above the level of can crusher.

Schaub will probably not fancy taking his chances on the feet, and use his grappling to stifle any threat of offence from ‘Meathead’. Despite his recent grappling tournament horror show, Schaub actually has has good grappling skills. He can hit takedowns to bring the fight to a place where he’ll be out of danger. Mitrione’s guard game is not anywhere  near where to needs to be to threaten with submissions or rescue himself from a disadvantaged position.

Francis Carmont vs. Constantinos Philippou

Provided there’s not another case of Carmont’s mesmerizing power over the judges, his inexplicable winning streak should come to an end tonight. The Frenchman has now racked up five consecutive wins, despite failing to win a single round in either of his last two fights.

Pilippou should be able to steer clear of any horrificly inactive grappling activity that has marred the last couple of the Frenchman’s fights and push forward with offensive output leaving little doubt in the minds of the officials this time,

Pat Healy vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov

Pat Healy has a tough test ahead of him to shrug off the disappointment of his failed drug test nightmare after the Jim Miller fight earlier this year. Khabib Nurmagomedov is riding a wave of hype after an impressive start to his UFC run, ragdolling his opponents all over the octagon with thrilling suplexes.

He’s going to have a lot of difficulty doing that to Healy, who has a rugged grappling game, but he could find some success with aggressive striking in close quarters. Bam Bam doesn’t do nearly as well when he’s getting socked about in close quarters. His best chance is to try and control the Russian and ride his way to a unanimous decision victory by using ground and pound and threatening with submissions.

Nurmagomedov can keep the fight standing if he wants and stay away from danger. A win could really launch him into the upper echelons of the division.

Prelims

Myles Jury vs. Mike Ricci
Ivan Menjivar vs. Wilson Reis
Chris Clements vs. Stephen Thompson
Mitch Gagnon vs. Dustin Kimura
Renee Forte vs. John Makdessi
Michel Prazeres vs. Jesse Ronson
Alex Caceres vs. Roland Delorme
Nandor Guelmino vs. Daniel Omielanczuk

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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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UFC 149 results – Barao snatches interim title, Lombard/Boetsch bore everyone half to death

Renan Barao catches Urijah Faber during the main event of UFC 149

I didn’t get round to writing a preview for UFC 149 on Friday/Saturday, which I was a bit disappointed with because I thought that this would be one of the highlights of the year. An event decimated by injury, but surely one that could rise above expectations (as is so often the case with these much-maligned events). There was to be a 5 round war between 2 of the top 3 bantamweights in the world and 2 of the hardest hitting middleweights throwing down for a chance to fight Anderson Silva. Elsewhere there was the potential for fireworks between heavyweights and a pair of exciting welterweights.

Boy oh boy was I wrong about all  of this.

Renan Barao def. Urijah Faber via Unanimous Decision (49-46, 50-45, 49-46) – wins interim UFC bantamweight title.

Now this was by no means a bad fight by any means, but in no way lived up to the hype, and my own very lofty expectations. The issue was that Barao fought very intelligently and simply did not allow Faber to get very much offence going all night. After he controlled the first round, I was reminded of the José Aldo fight, I thought that that was the way the fight was going to play out for the remaining 4 rounds.

Barao kept his distance kepping any possibility of a takedown threat out of the equation, and he used a combination of leg kicks and the odd flurry of punches to score points and wear down ‘The California Kid’ to the point that he looked completely helpless in there.

Just because Faber was more competitive with Dominick Cruz, I don’t think that means Barao should be the favourite for their unification bout, whenever that will take place. With that said, it should be a very close, competetive fight that I can’t wait to see

Tim Boetsch def. Hector Lombard by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28).

Wowo, just wow. This was one of the worst fights I’ve seen in a long time, and after all that hype too. I’m not even going to break this down because to be perfectly honest, I pretty much tuned out somewhere towards the end of the 1st round due to the complete absence of any action.

This fight could have cemented Hector Lombard and the next challenger for the middleweight champ, but instead neither of these men will be anywhere near a title fight for some time.

Cheick Kongo def. Shawn Jordan by unanimous decision (30-28, 30-27, 30-27).

Another snooze-fest. THe only way there was ever going to be any action in this contest was if Jordan took it to Kongo early and scored a quick KO. As it turned out the Jakson’s MMA prospect is still just a little too inexperienced to be competing with the heavyweight elite, or even gatekeepers in this case.

This was another convincing, if a little lacklustre win for Kongo, in his 17th (!) UFC fight. He really is the archetypal gatekeeper for the division, beating anyone who doesn’t belong in the UFC, and losing to mostly top fighters. It is also worth mentioning how good of a job the UFC has done in cultivating an image for Kongo as this unstoppable KO machine. He likes to grapple (often up against the fence, grabbing shorts and kneeing fools in the nuts) and wins a lot of fights by decision. The fact that he is now the UFC heavyweight with the most cage time in the promotion provides credence for this fact.

James Head def. Brian Ebersole by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28).

Another terrible fight. I don’t know whether Brian Ebersole had began to cut down to 155lbs before this fight, but he seemed weak and small in comparison to James Head, and a shadow of the fighter that had won 4 straight in the UFC’s welterweight division. Credit to James Head though, he did what he had to do, landing strikes and defending submissions when he had to for what should have been an easy UFD win had one clearly insane judge not awarded the fight to Ebersole (seriously, what the hell was that?)

Matt Riddle def. Chris Clements by submission (arm triangle choke) at 2:02 of round three – wins $65,000 submission-of-the-night bonus

Ah, the only bright spot on the main card. Matt Riddle continued to fight to his detriment by trying to put on a show for the fans and brwling with Chris Clements, but he eventually saw sense and the necessity to actually win fights, implementing his grappling to win rounds and tire out his opponents. In the end Clements telegraphed a horrible spinning-back-elbow that Riddle capitalised on for an arm-triangle, sweeping him for the finish.

Despite the fact that it was presented to him, it was a nice finish, deserving of the sub bonus award, and a great way to provide closure for an entertaining back-and-forth fight.

So the main card was a bit of a bust, but at least the guys on the prelims brought it. Well, with some exceptions.

Nick Ring def. Court McGee by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28).

Yawn. And McGee probably should have got the nod from the judges. Please don;t say we have to have a trilogy fight.

Francisco Rivera def. Roland Delorme by knockout (punch) at 4:19 of round one.

Beautiful, crisp boxing from Rivera put away a clearly outclassed Delorme early.

Bryan Caraway def. Mitch Gagnon via submission (rear naked choke) at 1:39 of round three – win $65,000 fight-of-the-night bonuses

Super fight, and a great performance by Caraway who seems to have really put his issues with nerves behind him. He is now 2-0 coming off TUF and who knows, maybe he’ll become better know for being a decent UFC bantamweight rather than just Mr. Miesha Tate

Ryan Jimmo def. Anthony Perosh by knockout (punch) at :07 of round one – wins $65,000 KO-of-the-night bonus

An emphatic finish from Jimmo, previously regarded as the most boring light heavyweight in MMA! So much for that. Surely Anthony Perosh won’t stick around the UFC much longer. I feel sorry for him when he is presumably fed to the lions in his next fight.

Antonio Carvalho defeated Daniel Pineda by knockout (strikes) at 1:11 of round one.

The Daniel Pineda hype train has well and truly come off the rails now, as Antonio Carvalho scored another impressive prelim KO combining kicks and some pretty crisp boxing.

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UFC 148 Preview: UFC stars make their predictions

Canada must be a pretty great place to be a MMA fan. Although you still have to pay for PPV events, all the other events are readily available on mainstream sports channels, and because the sport is so popular there’s a whole load of unbiased coverage that doesn’t just pander to Dana and the UFC (that’s an assumption mind, Canadians tell me if I’m wrong).

In this video from Sportsnet Canada, Nick Diaz, Carlos Condit, Georges St. Pierre, Roy Nelson, Mark Hominick, Mark Bocek, Mike Pierce, Chris Clements, John Alessio, Jason Miller, Cain Velasquez, Antonio Silva, Dominick Cruz, Urijah Faber, Chad Mendes all break down the fight, and the overall decision seems to be fairly evenly split. Many of the fighters seem to believe that the fight will be more or less a carbon copy of the first fight, with Chael keeping his arms and neck out of triangle/armbar territory, while other arguably more realistic (or Brazilian) individuals seem to think that it is safe to assume that Anderson will be fighting at full clip this time and will ice the ‘American Gangster’.

With that said, here’s a link to a list of Bloody Elbow’s judo chop series on Anderson Silva, the first of which shows exactly how Silva could be toppled for the first time in the UFC. However all the rest merely serve to demonstrate how overwhelmingly fantastic he is.

It’s just so exciting isn’t it?. 2 days to g0!

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UFC 145 Jones vs. Evans results – Jon Jones easily defends his title

UFC 145: Jones vs. Evans went down in Atlanta last night, and was another entertaining and successful show for the UFC, finally settling the Jones/Evans feud that felt like it had been running for ever. Elsewhere on the card a great mix of knockouts, submissions and fights that made it to the final bell took place as new prospects established themselves and former contenders slipped further down their divisional ladders.

Jon Jones def. Rashad Evans via unanimous decision (49-46, 49-46, 50-45) – retains UFC Light-heavyweight title

After a fairly even first round, Jon Jones took control of this fight and dominated Rashad Evans en route to a wide unanimous decision victory. Evans had some early success, and even if he didn’t win the first round he was very competitive coming forward, keeping Jones under pressure and landing with punches and kicks. He started to fall behind on the scorecards and get outstruck in the second round after he failed to heed the advice of his cornerman Tyrone Spong and started backing up. This allowed Jones to keep Evans on the end of kicks and punches as well as throwing in standing elbows that really seemed to hurt Evans when the opportunity arose.

Jon Jones elbows Rashad Evans. gif courtesy of ironforgesiron.com

In the later rounds Evans was noticeably tired and inactive. He could not figure out how to get inside and hit Jones, and looked content to simply survive rather than go for broke and swing for the fences. Jones was very comfortable and continued to land strikes almost at will until the final bell.

Jones will match up with Dan Henderson for his next fight where he could score a victory over his 6th top-10 light-heavyweight in a row and surely cement himself as the greatest of all time in the division. Evans is convinced that he will stay at 205 pounds where he will remain amongst the top five fighters in the world at the absolute worst. However, I would hope he would consider a move to middleweight. I expect Anderson Silva to retire soon, and Evans would have an excellent shot of becoming the champion there.

Full set of results and more analysis in the full post