By MukThe aftermath of UFC 202, McGregor vs. Diaz 2, has been two very different tales for the two superstars involved. Conor went on to embarrass Eddie Alvarez and become Lightweight Champ, and the first fighter to ever hold two belts simultaneously, and is now expected to face Floyd Mayweather in possibly the biggest Combat Sports PPV event ever. Nate, however, has been somewhat MIA, and openly stated that he declined the first fight offer Dana proposed to him (the one he laughed at), and the question remains what is next for Nate?
We all know Nate wanted the trilogy to be completed right away, and said that he and Conor should not accept any other fights until it is finished - but Conor had a lot of unfinished business within the rest of the UFC organization, and the Trilogy just didn't, and still doesn't make sense for Conor. But, he has said time and time again, it will happen. The ideal situation for both fighters is, Conor and Floyd fight, and Conor then will completely and officially come back to the UFC, once and for all, and defend that 155-pound strap sometime late in 2017. And his opponent? I think the move to make, if Tony vs. Khabib is truly off the table and Khabib is sent to exile in the Lightweight Title picture, then Nate and Tony should fight this summer for the #1 contender spot for Conor's belt. This is a win-win for everyone involved, because Nate and Tony both will have to opportunity to assert themselves, and rightfully so, as the clear top challenger for the belt, in a fight that has all the potential in the world to be an instant classic. On top of that, Conor can either get the trilogy fight with Nate, with even higher stakes, or he can take on a challenger in Tony Ferguson who has long questioned Conor's legitimacy as a champion. As far as Dana and Nate go, the two of them need to sit down and figure something out because Dana continuously running his mouth to the media is not the right move, especially with the Diaz brothers. The Diaz brothers are both currently sitting on the sidelines, and are both absolutely two of the biggest fan favorites and PPV draws in the UFC, so Dana needs to get them each a fight, no if's, and's, or but's. The UFC needs to get Nate vs. Tony/Khabib/Barboza done and added to a big card this summer, and ideally, get Nick on there too against any number of opponents, like Robbie Lawler, Carlos Condit, or even Cowboy Cerrone. Get it done Dana. I don't care how, or when, or where, or who, just get these boys back into the game. You'll never win in the public eyes, because the Diaz brothers are loved by just about everyone. #Stockton209
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By MukThis weekend, and into this week, has been a pretty busy one for the MMA world, and with this being the first week in the last couple weeks with no card to look forward to on Saturday, let's take a look at what's happened.
First, from last Saturday's UFC London card, the two main stories were Jimi Manuwa (top left) and Gunnar Nelson (top right), who both picked up huge wins and have established themselves as ready for a big fight next. For Jimi, he took Corey Anderson's head off, picking up another knockout win, and continuing his success since his last loss, when Rumble knocked him out cold. Manuwa called for a title shot next, looking for the winner of DC vs. Rumble 2, while also throwing jabs at Jon Jones for his speculated steroid use, and stated that he has no desire to fight Jon upon his return in July. Does Manuwa deserve a title shot? No, not at all, but in a division that is one of the weakest in the organization, the request may not be as far fetched as one would think. There's no way Jon Jones comes back and doesn't get an immediate title shot, but Jimi could perhaps be next in line after that if he waits or picks up another big win. Gunnar Nelson on the other hand, picked up a big win over a tough opponent in Alan Jouban, once again by submission. Gunnar is one of the most elite submission artists on the UFC's roster, and has worked tirelessly on his striking and the improvements have been clear. Before submitting Jouban with a guillotine, he had him rocked from a big punch-headkick combo. Gunnar's coach, John Kavanagh (Conor's coach), called for Gunnar vs. Stephen "Wonderboy" Thompson this summer, to prove who the "real karate kid" is in the Welterweight division. I love this idea, because Wonderboy is coming off another failed title challenge, and Gunnar is in need of a top tier fight. That would be a good one and would prove how strong Gunnar's striking has become, and if he gets Wonderboy down to the mat, it could be another strangulation. Next, the UFC is targeting Mark Hunt (bottom left) vs. Derrick Lewis (bottom right) at UFC Fight Night 110 in New Zealand. This is a huge heavyweight matchup, with Mark Hunt coming off another tough loss, and Lewis coming off another huge win. A win over Mark Hunt could assert Derrick Lewis at the top of the challengers list for the Heavyweight belt, and rightfully so. Lewis has been on a tear, and is looking for top opponents so he can truly earn the right to be part of the title picture, and I think it's a very real possibility. In Bellator news, they have finally rescheduled Fedor vs. Matt Mitrione, targeted for Bellator 180, June 24th at MSG. The fight will co-headline the card with another huge Bellator fight that was just announced, Chael Sonnen vs. Wanderlei Silva, a fighter years in the making. These two were supposed to fight years ago after coaching against one-another on the Ultimate Fighter, where they actually brawled during the show's filming, but after Silva pulled from the fight for skipping a drug test and Chael failed one, subsequently ending both of their UFC careers. Now, years later, with blood just as bad as it was in 2013, the two will finally square off in June, and it should hopefully be a good one. Additionally, Bellator signed UFC-Veteran and former Light Heavyweight title challenger, Ryan Bader, and it's expected that he will take on a top LHW opponent, such as Phil Davis, within the next few months. By MukJust a few hours ago, a Las Vegas jury found former UFC and Bellator fighter War Machine (born Jon Koppenhaver) guilty of 29 of the 34 charges brought against him as a result of his 2014 kidnapping and assault of ex-girl friend Christy Mack.
With the jury decision today, the world of MMA looks to move past one of the worst black-eyes the sport has ever seen, in War Machine, who now faces a potential life sentence. Luckily for him, and unfortunately for us, he avoided the most serious charges, as the jury found itself deadlocked on the attempted-murder charge. The charges stem from the incident on August 8th, 2014, when War Machine broke into Mack's house, attacking her and her boyfriend Corey Thomas, beating and keeping them locked up at Mack's home until he left, and spent 10 days on the run from the police, over what he later called a "misunderstanding". Thomas suffered the lesser of the injuries between the two parties, a broken nose, dislocated shoulder, bite marks, scratches and bruises, while Mack suffered gruesome injuries, including broken teeth, fractured rib, and a ruptured liver (the pictures of Mack's injuries are available somewhere but I don't want to look at them again so you guys can use google for that). War Machine has already once tried to commit suicide while in custody, and now facing life in jail I can't imagine things are looking up for him, but truthfully I am as happy as could be about that. Let him rot where he belongs, and let the MMA world continue to be able to disprove the notion these athletes are violent in all aspects of their lives. By MukSix years ago today, March 19th, at UFC 128, Jon Jones defeated Mauricio "Shogun" Rua via 3rd round TKO, obliterating him with knees and punches. At just 23 years old, Jon Jones became the youngest champion in the UFC's history, and he not only showed that he deserved the title shot, but that the hype surrounding him was as real as it gets. Shogun Rua was supposed to defend his belt against Rashad Evans, but when an injury forced him off the card, Jones accepted the UFC's offer for the fight, and many people questioned whether or not a 23 year old kid could come in and hang with one of the sport's all time greats. He had dominated all of his previous fights in the UFC, aside from his only loss in his career, which was a Disqualification for controversial 12-6 Elbows against Matt Hamill, but there was still speculation around the young budding superstar. At UFC 128, Jon Jones absolutely dominated Shogun, bringing it to him from the opening seconds, landing a flying knee right off the bat. The rest, as we know, is history. Jon went on to reign as the Light Heavyweight Division's Champion for 4-years, defending his belt 8 times, while also being the #1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world throughout. Jon Jones has put on some of the most impressive performances we've seen in MMA throughout his career, and has absolutely asserted his name amongst the greatest fighters in history, and even though these past 2 years have not been good for Jon in any way shape or form as far as his legacy goes, at only 29 years old, there is more than enough time for Jon to come back, reclaim the belt that he held for so long, and be able to do it consistently and cleanly - inside the Octagon and out - and there's a good chance that Jon gets his spot atop the All-Time mountain of MMA. The things Jon Jones can do inside the Octagon are truly spectacular, beating every type of opponent in any type of way, and I am excited and hopeful for Jon's future, because it would be a damn shame if someone who truly has the highest ceiling in the history of MMA were to just fall off the map completely. Enjoy these highlights (And if you were to fall down a Youtube Rabbit-hole of Jon's fights, I would go with Jon vs. Alexander, vs. Vitor, & vs. Machida) 3/14/2017 California State Athletic Commission Takes Step Forward in Stopping MMA Weight-Cutting ProblemRead NowBy MukThe CSAC took a big step forward in the fight against weight-cutting today when they enacted a new rule that will fine a fighter's win bonus, on top of the fine to their show money. One of the biggest problems in all of MMA, and really all combat sports, is poor weight cutting. A ton of fighters have poor weight management, and fight at weights that are far below their natural weight. This leaves fighters hospitalized, big fights cancelled, and money wasted - for all parties involved. Clearly the health of these athletes is the most important thing in this situation, and the extreme dehydration that a lot of them put their bodies through is not something they should sustain over the course of there whole career, and often they can't. We've seen the case with Johnny Hendricks, who early in his career was a World Champion and always up there for the next title shot, but as his career went on he began missing weight more and more often, whether it be 1 pound or 6 pounds. Because of this we saw him jump up to 185 for his last fight against Hector Oxbard (Lombard), and earned himself his first win in a while. You could see the effect the weight problem was having on Johnny, both physically and mentally, and he truly looked healthier and livelier after the move up. Besides the effect is has had on the health of the fighters, the amount of great fights, and key fights, that have been scrapped from a card or made a non-title or contender fight because of missed weight is growing to be a problem. Khabib was the most recent culprit, blowing up the Lightweight division's plan by missing his Interim Title fight against Tony Ferguson, which now leaves Tony, Conor, and Dana in a tough position. I hope all of the Athletic Commissions take after California and start fining the fighters as much as possible, because either the fighters need to get better diet and weight management plans, or they need to make a move up a weight class. There's a reason Conor has stayed away from the Featherweight division, and it's because he looked like a corpse at those weigh-ins, and at 155 and 170 he looks healthy and full. If you can't handle the weight cut, don't do it, for your own sake, and the sake of the fans. Dana speaking on Khabib, will he move up to 170? Or will he make changes? By MukYet another Floyd vs. Conor blog that I don't want to write, because as I have said for months, I want nothing to do with this fight - but yet, here we are. So Saturday Floyd announced he was officially coming out of retirement, with the intentions of one fight and one fight only, Conor McGregor, calling for the two to fight in June. For months we have had back and forth speculation and trash talking, that has so far ultimately led up to nothing; but this is the first big step in the making of this fight. Now, none of us know for sure what's going on behind closed doors, and who's ducking who and why, but I do believe that both of these men have legitimate intentions of making this fight happen.
There are a few potential reasons, real reasons, why this fight won't happen yet, or at all. The first and biggest reason is the UFC and Dana White simply just don't let Conor fight Floyd, and since he's under contract to them, there's nothing he can do. Dana has seemed open to the fight, and I do think Dana even thinks Conor has a real shot at winning, but with Conor recently poking the bear that Dana is with his anti-UFC comments, and with the fiasco that Khabib created by missing the interim title fight against Tony Ferguson, Dana might look to force Conor to defend his belt. Other than Dana and the UFC, I think the biggest reason the fight wouldn't happen, would be money, but I think that in recent weeks that is something that the two sides have actually grown closer to an agreement. I think Conor should definitely be defending his belt, since Tony and Khabib fell apart, and the lightweight division is a good one that needs to get moving. However, I can't honestly knock Conor if he does go and fight Floyd, because who could turn down the payday and the possibility of handing Floyd Mayweather his first ever loss - even as a huge underdog, it is an enticing offer. I think Conor will lose to Floyd, in decision, and has a brief chance in the first 2, maybe 3 rounds, to catch Floyd, otherwise I think Floyd flashes and dances his way to a victory. It'll be a billion dollar superfight, and it'll probably be vastly disappointing, but who knows what'll happen, but I assume that we will find out something concrete within the next few weeks, from Dana, Conor, or Floyd, but this back and forth won't carry on for much longer. By MukCody Garbrandt and TJ Dillashaw have made it very clear over the past 6 months or so, that they truly do not like each other. The former Team Alpha Male teammates have had a very public beef, stemming from TJ leaving Team Alpha Male, and Cody assuming his role as hot-head-enforcer for TAM, made it very clear that TJ was in fact the "snake in the grass" that Conor McGregor had called him. After Cody defeated Dominick Cruz and became Bantamweight Champ, it was suspected he would fight TJ next, but Cody did offer a rematch to Dominick first, who declined, leaving TJ as the clear-cut challenger. Now, add in the fact that these two have to spend months together coaching against one another on The Ultimate Fighter 25 - Redemption, there will surely be fireworks. The trailer for the next season of TUF dropped yesterday, and you can see there will be no short of drama, as the two trade verbal jabs, and possibly brawl (you can see Cody at the end of the trailer grabbing TJ by the throat, oh man this is gonna be fun). As far as the fight itself, I was truly impressed by Cody in his fight against Dominick, and I think TJ is just a knock-off version of Dom, so I think Cody will be able to retain the belt, and hopefully via Knockout, because I know how badly he wants to put TJ away for good. By MukAs 2pm ET rolled around, the weigh-ins for UFC 209 officially closed, and Khabib was a no-show. It was reported earlier today that Khabib has went to the hospital as a result of a problem with his weight-cutting, and it turned out to be a true report, and the co-main event is officially off. It's being reported that the UFC may have, or will attempt to, find a replacement for Khabib and keep Tony on the card, but who knows how that will effect the title aspect of the fight.
THIS SUCKS. I am truly very upset, and I don't think there has been a fight I was more excited for in recent memory. I mean this had the potential to be one of the greatest fights in UFC history, these two fighters are legitimate warriors. I really have nothing else to say, I just am truly disappointed right now, and obviously Khabib's health is the most important aspect of this whole ordeal, but I am still very unhappy. Weight cutting is the biggest issue in MMA and I think it has come to the point where the UFC and all of the MMA world has to come together and figure out a solution, before it's too late. Way too many fighters are putting their bodies through brutal weight-cuts that only result in hospital trips and missed fights. Something has got to change. As for how the Lightweight division moves on from this - I don't know yet, I am still reeling from this loss, and can't think straight. By MukDana White just announced on Sportscenter that GSP has officially found his first fight back in the UFC, as he will face off against Middleweight Champion Michael Bisping sometime in 2017. We know GSP must go through another three months of USADA drug testing (fighters returning from retirement must be tested for 4 months before fighting), but Dana said that once he is finished with his USADA obligations they will look to set a date.
Michael Bisping is also sidelined for the time being, recovering from a knee injury, so the timeframe makes sense for both fighters. Bisping currently sits atop the UFC's all-time wins list, with 20, and the man he recently surpassed just so happens to be GSP, who has 19. This fight not only will be the beginning of GSP's comeback train, but he can also regain the piece of history he had held onto. Bisping is going to look to draw GSP out of his humble-quiet shell, by trash talking and harassing him as he does everyone, and we have only seen GSP fall into that once, against Nick Diaz. This fight certainly puts the rest of the middleweight division on hold, as Yoel Romero and Jacare Souza have both been waiting for title shots, but I think the move to make for both of these fighters is to just run-back there December 2015 fight, and have the winner be officially next in line for the title. I am definitely excited to see GSP back in action and I think Bisping is a great matchup for his return, as he is probably the easiest fight GSP could get, while still being a top-level fight. GSP is looking to not only make history by reclaiming his all-time win lead, but he will also look to become only the 4th fighter in UFC history to hold a belt at two weight classes. By MukUFC 211, which will take place in Dallas on May 13th, is shaping up to be one of the best cards of the year. With us being just a few days from UFC 209, which I have already labeled my early front-runner for the best card of the year, with Woodley vs. Thompson 2 & Tony Ferguson vs. Khabib as the co-main events, this card will be electric, but UFC 211 is making a strong case on paper.
Yesterday, a huge welterweight matchup was added to the Dallas card, with #3-ranked Damian Maia looking to solidify his spot up next for the title shot as he takes on #6-ranked Jorge Masvidal. This is a fight of styles for sure, as Maia is likely the greatest submission artist in the UFC with a ground game feared by all, because of his absolutely elite jiu-jitsu; while Masvidal is a monster in the standup game and loves to put away opponents with a flurry of strikes. He showed how good he was standing up when he dominated Cowboy a few weeks ago, and really put himself on the map with that win. UFC 211 is already featuring two title fights, with Stipe Miocic defending his Heavyweight title against Junior dos Santos, in a highly anticipated rematch, as there first fight in 2014 was one of the best fights of the year, with JDS winning in a 5-round decision; and Joanna Jedrzejczyk defending her Strawweight title against Jessica Andrade, in what should and could be a 5-round brawl. These co-main events are two huge title fights, both featuring some of the most evenly matched championship fights that we have seen in a while. I think Stipe is able to weather the storm that is Junior, and wins by KO in the 2nd round - and if he can't put him away, I think this time he figures out how to win it in 5 rounds. As for Joanna, I just hope she is able to show her champion ways as she always does, because Andrade has been on a tear since moving to the Strawweight division. Not to mention, the card is (likely) featuring a potential title-eliminator fight, with Fabricio Werdum squaring off against Ben Rothwell, which is a fight that could feature a huge knockout or a brilliant submission, as both of these men possess elite power and submission skills. Stipe & Junior's first fight is truly one of my favorites, just two Heavyweights bringing everything they have and slugging it out, this second one should be just as fun. |
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AuthorDjack- Chief editor Archives
February 2018
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