#belfort vs weidman

[theanticool]

We used to get Yoel Romero, Jacare Souza, Luke Rockhold, Lyoto Machida, Robert Whittaker, Chris Weidman, Trtor Belfort, Gegard Mousasi, Anderson Silva, and Michael Bisping middleweight main events.

Now we get Roman Dolidze vs Nassourdine Imavov and Sean Strickland Apex cards. Truly, a regression.

[wimpydave]

Chris Weidman vs Vitor Belfort Full Fight - EA Alter Egos Champion Series

[thesportssoundoff]

“Is Brazil prepared for a Dragon, a Phenom, Rocky, an Alligator and potentially some good old fashioned Lineker violence?” UFC 224 Preview

Joey

May 7th

These long UFC breaks are a real sore, aren't they? After what feels like a much longer than it actually is week and change; the UFC returns and it's coming straight to PPV with a very...strange card. The main card isn't perfect by any stretch but it's a) good enough to be respectable and b) filled with everything you'd want for a modern day PPV except for the main ingredient I suppose. You've got a quality competent high level title fight, you've got a legends fight that's years in the making (since at least 2013 when Machida made his decision to drop to 185 known), you've got a guaranteed action fight brawl between John Lineker and Brian Kelleher, a phenomenal prospect getting the vaunted third fight treatment and a #1 contender fight at 185 lbs assuming that Chris Weidman's broken hand/shoulder/neck/knee/everything is still on the mend. From there though I think the card really suffers primarily from a lack of one big defining fight that can tie it all together and make it a deep card. It's fine; it's a Brazilian level UFC event. I feel like it could've benefitted from a Iuri Alcantara sighting basically or some Brazilian of a high level who you could see as a prelim headliner.

Fights: 13

Debuts: 0

Fight Changes/Injury Cancellations: 0

Headliners (fighters who have either main evented or co-main evented shows in the UFC):  7 (Amanda Nunes, Ronaldo Souza, Kelvin Gastelum, Lyoto Machida, John Lineker, Thales Leites, Cezar Ferreira)

Fighters On Losing Streaks in the UFC:   1 (Thales Leites)

Fighters On Winning Streaks in the UFC:   5 (Alberto Mina, Raquel Pennington, Amanda Nunes, Elizeu Zaleski, Nick Hein)

Main Card Record Since Jan 1st 2016 (in the UFC):  25-9-2

Amanda Nunes- 4-0 Raquel Pennington- 3-0 Ronaldo Souza- 3-1 Kelvin Gastelum- 3-1-1 (really 4-1) Amanda Bobby Cooper- 2-2 Mackenzie Dern- 1-0 John Lineker- 4-1 Brian Kelleher- 3-1 Lyoto Machida- 1-1 Vitor Belfort- 1-2-1 (1-3 reaaaaaally)

Too High Up- Davi Ramos vs Nick Hein

In truth everything on the main card is pretty much what it should be. The prelims are such a grab bag of "decent but not thrilling" that it's hard to pick one fight that maybe has the capacity of being out of place. That belongs to this fight where Nick Hein returns from an extended absence to face Davi Ramos on the middle of the FS1 card. I have no beef with Davi Ramos but Hein is a notoriously slow boring fighter who more often than not has fights that tend to sap the will of viewers like they're trapped in a RNC. It's also worth pointing out that Hein is 33 and he hasn't fought since 2016. Put this on Fight Pass, man.

Too Low- Alberto Mina vs Ramazan Emeev

This is a touch hypocritical given Emeev stunk up the joint and Mina hasn’t fought in a year and change either. I get it but listen. Alberto Mina is a pretty fun fighter to watch who has finished 2 of his 3 UFC fights, racking up wins over Yoshihiro Akiyana and Mike Pyle if you're looking for "names" to get excited over. Ramazan Emeev is coming off a win at 185 lbs vs Sam Alvey in a dumb fight but Emeev is figured to be a fighter worth keeping an eye on at 170 lbs. It's a far more intriguing fight on paper than Hein/Ramos.

Stat Monitor for 2018: Debuting Fighters (Current number: 9-14):  

Short Notice Fighters (Current number: 10-4):

Second Fight (Current number: 12-12):  James Bochnovic, Markus Perez, Ramazan Emeev, Karl Roberson, Mackenzie Dern

Cage Corrosion (Current number: 5-10):  Alberto Mina, Sultan Aliev, Nick Hein, Raquel Pennington

Undefeated Fighters (Current number: 15-10):  Mackenzie Dern, Karl Roberson, Alberto Mina

Twelve Precarious Ponderings

1- Let's talk about the card real quick, eh? Amanda Nunes is under 30 but she'll be over the dreaded "RB decline age" shortly. How many other Brazilian fighters on this card are under 30?

John Lineker- 27 Junior Albini- 27 Warrley Alves- 27 Markus Perez- 27

Now Mackenzie Dern is 25 years old but she was born in the United States. If you want to give her to Brazil for the sake of continuity then you're more than welcome to but the point remains. What's more? Albini is coming off a loss, Alves is 1-2 in his last 3 fights, Markus Perez is coming off a loss and while we all love Lineker, I feel like the ceiling on him at 125 and 135 lbs has been somewhat established. People make a lot of talk about the lack of Brazilian champions but that's not a massive problem. I was there in 2012 when everybody was panicking about the lack of American champions during the Brazilian boom period of MMA. The problem is Brazil lacks a fresh young core of new talents under 30 who can make waves in the UFC. I mean stop me if you've heard this one BUT the hope when the UFC decided to invest countless dollars into Brazil was that at some point they'd find, cultivate and develop a bumper crop of young stars for when Anderson, Shogun, Maia, Machida, the Nog Brothers and Vitor were gone. It hasn't happened yet and each attempt has been in vain. That's why Thomas Almeida was received with open arms; it's not JUST that dude was a tremendous fight finisher and all violence fighter. It's that his youth and upside made him a product they HAD to try and develop. It's why Paulo Costa's development as a fighter is so vital; the 27 year old middleweight is a glorified unicorn at this point. Brazil doesn't need one last glory run from guys who are already established. What they REALLY need to do is to find new guys who can carry the banner.

Now the rule of thumb as always is that it only takes one to do it. A fighter like Michael Bisping is considered to have opened the door for other fighters and then the door was reopened by Conor McGregor for European fighters. It's hard to find a Hawaiian fighter who didn't get into MMA through BJ Penn fandom. Fedor is probably more responsible for the current influx of tremendous Russian born fighters than anybody else. The hope is 5-10 years from now, Ronda Rousey's lasting impact on MMA isn't the million buy PPVs or the out of the cage wackiness but the hundreds of women she'll have influenced to get into MMA.  There's no way to tell who it is and what it's going to take for it to happen. We've been waiting on Canada to find the heir to the GSP throne for quite some time now. Eventually a new fighter to capture the hearts and minds of the people will come----but time's ticking. Brazil isn't hopeless but it has to be getting to the point where the UFC is simply running out of draws for the market. No Nog, No Anderson, soon no Vitor, eventually no Maia, Werdum or Machida. Cyborg isn't going to be around for the UFC much longer either. The time for somebody to step up has NEVER been more immediate. Maybe this is why there's going to be a most convenient case of amnesia on where Mackenzie Dern was born.

2- There's an MMA fan theory I've seen on a few forums about the # of WMMA fights on a card relating to buyrate. The general feeling is that like flyweights, the more WMMA fights you have on a main card the less likely you are to pop a significant buyrate.  I decided to go back to 2016 and take a peek at the rumored buyrates for shows with TWO WMMA fights on a card.

UFC 196 (Nunes/Shevchenko, Holm/Nunes)- 1.3 mil UFC 205 (Joanna/Karolina, Tate/Pennington)- 1.3 mil UFC 219 (Holm/Cyborg, Esparza/Gadelha)- 300K UFC 222 (Cyborg/Kunitskaya, Vieira/Zingano)- 260K

So obviously we're not blessed with a tremendous sample size. We've got four events here and two of them with McGregor as the headliner did McGregor level numbers. The other two? I mean they're not bad! Mighty Mouse would sell his gaming rig to headline a PPV that did that kind of scratch. A WMMA headliner outside of Ronda tend to do alright-ish I suppose. I mean Holm vs GDR did in the 200K+ range and again, that sort of number would be something Mighty Mouse would hunger for. I guess the point I'm trying to illustrate is that I don't think this card is DOA. So what MIGHT it draw? Well....we can start by acknowledging that Brazil is where PPV buyrates go to die. Outside of Ronda making a pinch hit appearance to spruce the market (and secure a new deal for the UFC), these shows normally top off around the low to mid 300Ks. Now in today's PPV market that sounds pretty damn fine but that was with Anderson Silva in the height of his GOATness headlining. Jose Aldo PPVs from Brazil routinely did awful bottom of the barrel type numbers. The last time the UFC did a PPV in Brazil; the general thought was that it topped off around the 250K+ range. Not awful of course but probably not the best either for a unification bout between Aldo and Holloway. This card is a lot better than people are giving it credit for but Nunes vs Shevchenko left a sour taste in people's mouths plus Amanda Nunes is just genuinely unpopular. In today's PPV market, it takes more than just a card of really good fights. It has to be "an event" more than just "a fight." If this card drops below 200K, I think that's probably a bad deal.

3- I feel like this is going to answer more questions than Nunes/Shevchenko II re: Amanda Nunes and her long term success going forward. If you drew up a fighter who could prey on the things that have been of woe to Nunes' success, it's a fighter who has SOME of the Rocky Pennington attributes. The sort of person who doesn't get overwhelmed by pressure, who can dish it out and take it in return, who hits surprisingly hard and relies on durability and patience. Pennington is really crude but she makes it work for her and she's one of those fighters who fights better when tired. Amanda Nunes has struggled with people who don't fold vs her pressure and her cardio remains a question until I see her in a fight where it's truly tested. Her vs Shevchenko was a low output high leverage staring contest which didn't really force her to exert much of anything. To this point, Nunes deserves fantastic credit for making sure cardio isn't an issue by just running through people. This is still a very unique test for her.

4- I just wish Pennington hadn't been gone for over a year. This year I started tracking performances of fighters who take more than a year off and the 5-10 number is not pretty. What's more; Nunes is arguably the best first round fighter in MMA today and so if Pennington is rusty (which she will be), she might not even get a chance to test what Nunes has in rounds 3, 4 and 5.

5- Kelvin Gastelum vs Jacare is such a weird fight for me. It's a fight where logic dictates Gastleum should have no shot given the size difference but one where he remains a credible threat. I lack a defined way to describe Jacare other than to call him perhaps history's most undervalued commodity; one of the best grapplers with really good striking backed by one of the games most active fight IQs. Like Damien Maia, he just isn't athletic enough to really get over a certain caliber of fighters. Guys who he can't get down he often struggles with and against Whittaker and Romero, he was taken out of his gameplan early due to a speed and athleticism disadvantage. Like Whittaker, Gastelum will give up size in exchange for speed and the cardio advantage. The key difference is Whittaker is insanely hard to get down and keep down whereas I can't get Weidman taking Gastelum down out of my head. Gastelum CAN be taken down but on the ground he's really great at neutralizing offense and getting back to his feet. I'm just not sure Jacare is the right person to want to try to show that off against. Jacare also does some of his best work securing takedowns against the cage and Gastelum does his best work practically leaning on the fence. This is a really good fight with the winner leaving no doubt as to who the #1 contender is since Chris Weidman has evaporated into the ether seemingly.

6- Have the expectations become too much for Mackenzie Dern? It's beginning to feel like if she doesn't steamroll ABC in the first round then the scrutiny on her performance is going to be pretty crazy.

7- It's a little bit bittersweet that Lyoto Machida vs Vitor Belfort is potentially a double retirement fight. The fact we never got Anderson vs Vitor II or Lyoto vs Shogun III will always be bummers to me. On the other hand, we've hit "No mas" for Vitor Belfort like a full two years ago and Machida is either at that point or quickly approaching it. This is a rare acceptable legends fight with the right market to engage in it.

8- Since they're fighting we might as well ask this; whose legacy is more vital to the history of MMA? Vitor Belfort or Lyoto Machida?

9- There are going to be actual human beings walking among us breathing our air and drinking our water who will not watch Lineker vs Kelleher based solely on their height and weight. These creatures exist.

10- If you haven't seen Yoshihiro Akiyama vs Alberto Mina yet, I recommend you do so. One of the wilder and crazier fights in recent memory which is forgotten since it happened at like 8 AM Eastern.

11- The best prospect on this entire show is not a Brazilian but an American in Karl Roberson. He trains out of a tiny gym in New Jersey, was thrown into the fire of kickboxing vs Jerome LeBanner and Dustin Jacoby and before his sixth mma fights, he was already in the UFC. After ONE fight in the UFC, he was already trying to step up to fight Vitor Befort on LESS than 24 hours notice. He's the rare good example of guys tested before they're ready in that he's already faced a fire storm and come out stronger each time. He's got Cezar Mutante in the FX prelim headliner.

12- Elizeu Zaleski has been in five UFC fights. Three of them won a FOTN bonus and the Dalby-Zeleski fight should've won a fourth. He is all action all the time and while Sean Strickland is not the right opponent if you want to have an action fight, I get the feeling Zaleski will drag him into one kicking and screaming.

Must Wins

1- Amanda Nunes

Simply put this show is all about her. She's getting a bit of a stay busy opponent in Pennington with the right kind of strengths to test what have previously been flaws for Nunes. The show is all about her and it's being built around her returning to Brazil as the UFC's top Brazilian champion (at least over the long haul).

2- Jacare Souza

Kelvin Gastelum is really young for 185 lbs so the opportunity to be a contender/champion is always going to be there for him. This is about 38 year old Jacare trying to finally get a UFC title shot after scrapping and scrounging for over five years in the org plus an MMA career that feels like it spans well into the 19th century. The last time he was this close; her an into a fighter similar to Kelvin Gastelum who wouldn't get taken down and just pieced him up in striking range until Jacare just couldn't take it anymore. Lightning strikes twice?

3- Mackenzie Dern

Take everything said about Nunes and then put that in here minus the champion bit. Dern is Brazil's top prospect for the UFC now that Thomas Almeida has sort of settled into a bit of a mid level range.

Five Can't Miss Fights

1- Brian Keller vs John Lineker

2- Lyoto Machida vs Vitor Belfort

3- Kelvin Gastelum vs Ronaldo Souza

4- Elizeu Zaleski vs Sean Strickland

5- Junior Albini vs his diaper

[esportenomundo]

Chris Weidman fratura a perna no UFC 261 com chute similar ao de Anderson Silva; assista

O lutador Chris Weidman sofreu uma lesão que chocou quem acompanhava o UFC 261, que aconteceu em Jacksonville, na Flórida, Estados Unidos. A cena em que o atleta quebra a perna é similar a fratura sofrida pelo brasileiro Anderson Silva, em 2013, em uma luta contra o próprio Chris. Neste sábado, 24, ele acabou vivendo o outro lado da moeda e, ao tentar um chute baixo, fraturou a perna direita e viu o jamaicano vencer a luta por nocaute técnico aos 17 segundos do primeiro round. No início do combate, Weidman aplicou um chute de perna direita, muito semelhante ao que o Spider tentou diante dele há oito anos, mas Hall firmou a perna e a canela do americano encontrou justamente o joelho do adversário. Ele não percebeu e ainda tentou apoiar seu peso na perna quebrada, dobrando seu pé para trás, mas caiu com dores e o combate foi encerrado.

A cena chocante e angustiante impressionou as cerca de 15 mil pessoas que lotaram a arena de Jacksonville, marcando o retorno do público ao UFC, que foi ao ginásio pela primeira vez desde o início da pandemia de Covid-19. O resultado oficial foi nocaute técnico para o jamaicano. Weidman deixou o octógono de maca e com muitas dores. Uriah Hall, último oponente de Anderson Silva no UFC, parecia não acreditar na cena que havia acabado de presenciar e permaneceu estático. O combate em que o Spider fraturou a perna foi a revanche contra Chris Weidman. Eles se enfrentaram em 28 de dezembro de 2013. A fratura na perna esquerda a 1min16s do primeiro round matou o sonho do brasileiro de reconquistar o cinturão que perdera para o americano cinco meses antes, no UFC 162, quando foi derrotado por nocaute.

* WARNING: GRAPHIC *

Chris Weidman’s leg just snapped. #UFC261pic.twitter.com/X6s25g1wTl

— Sideline Sports (@sportsideline) April 25, 2021

Anderson Silva vs Chris Weidman – 2013 //// Chris Weidman vs Uriah Hall – 2021

SURREAL #UFC261 pic.twitter.com/2bLfFLDpWI

— Laura ᶜʳᶠ (@llgcrf) April 25, 2021

Com o sentimento de quem conhecer a dor de Weidman, Anderson se solidarizou com o americano por meio de uma mensagem nas redes sociais. O ex-campeão do UFC desejou uma boa recuperação ao antigo algoz, conhecido por ser o primeiro oponente a desbancar o brasileiro no Ultimate. “Meus profundos e mais sinceros sentimentos, campeão. Tenha fé, desejo uma ótima recuperação. Nesse momento, desejo a você e toda sua família muita luz, muito amor e sabedoria. Aos fãs do esporte, respeitem este momento deste incrível guerreiro. Vamos torcer para que logo ele esteja 100%. Deus abençoe você e sua família, Cris”, escreveu o Spider.

  Ver essa foto no Instagram

  Uma publicação compartilhada por Anderson “The Spider” Silva (@spiderandersonsilva)

Outras lutas

Na luta principal do UFC 261, o nigeriano Kamaru Usman venceu o americano Jorge Masvidal por nocaute ao encaixar um direto de direita espetacular no queixo do rival a 1min02s do segundo round e manteve pela quarta vez o cinturão dos meio-médios. Já Jéssica “Bate-Estaca” não foi páreo para Valentina Shevchenko, que segue reinando no peso-mosca (até 57kg). A lutadora do Quirguistão não tomou conhecimento da brasileira, dominou todo o confronto e venceu por nocaute aos 3min19s do segundo assalto para garantir a quinta defesa de cinturão bem-sucedida na categoria.

*Com informações da Agência Estadão.

Leia também

UFC: Lutadora desmaia duas vezes durante pesagem e confronto é cancelado; assista

Gilbert Durinho é nocauteado e Brasil segue sem cinturão dos meio-médios do UFC

Vitor Belfort recorda derrota para Anderson Silva: ‘Maior sorte da vida dele’

The post Chris Weidman fratura a perna no UFC 261 com chute similar ao de Anderson Silva; assista first appeared on Esporte no Mundo. from WordPress https://ift.tt/32Mkkf3 via IFTTT

[cryptofeedzposts]

The 10 Best UFC Moments of the Last Decade

The 2010s were a remarkable decade for the UFC. Here’s a look at the top ten moments. | Image: AP Photo/John Locher, File

MMA is the sport that has grown the most over the last ten years.

There are a lot of moments that have contributed to the meteoric rise in popularity.

Here are the top ten.

The last decade in Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) has been an explosive one. With the meteoric rise of some amazing fighters, we have also seen UFC rise up as the biggest franchise on the planet. The last ten years have given us some stunning moments, and here are the top ten moments of the decade.

10. Stipe Miocic Counters Daniel Cormier’s Eye Poking with Liver Poking

Back in August, Stipe Miocic took on Daniel ‘DC’ Cormier at UFC 241 for the heavyweight championship in a fight that was shrouded in controversy. When the two fighters had clashed in their first fight before this event, some fans pointed out that there were clear eye pokes from DC which was the main reason Stipe lost the fight.

At UFC 241 however, Stipe was able to counter DC’s cheating with some brutal blows to the liver and reclaimed the belt, making him arguably the greatest heavyweight of all time.

9. Jon Jones Becomes the Youngest UFC Champion

In the main event of UFC 128, a 23-year old Jon Jones demolished Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua and claimed the light heavyweight belt. The beating was so intense that Shogun was seen tapping to Jones’ body shots just before the referee stopped the fight. Jones became the youngest champion in the UFC history in the process.

Don’t Miss:

8. Anderson Silva’s Front Kick to Vitor’s Face

Back in 2011, Anderson Silva did something that had never been seen before. In a fiery build-up to the fight with Vitor Belfort, both fighters made it pretty clear they hated each other’s guts. After a soft first round with exchanges far and few in between, Anderson Silva unleashed a vicious front kick to Belfort’s face and proceeded to finish him off with two more punches.

7. Rhonda Rousey’s fall from Grace

Before her fight against Holly Holm, Rhonda Rousey was flying with a 12-0 record. She seemed invincible. Holm, the underdog, was touted to lose the fight. After a few initial exchanges, it seemed that Rhonda was getting desperate to reach out. In the process, she received a vicious left hand from Holm, followed by a thunderous kick that knocked her out cold.

6. Jon Jones Defeats Daniel Cormier

It all began when a young Jon Jones told Daniel Cormier, an Olympic wrestler, that he would be able to take him down. This sparked off one of the greatest rivalries in MMA history. Jones eventually came out on top as he defeated DC by unanimous decision at UFC 182.

5. Conor McGregor ends Jose Aldo’s 10-year Streak in 13 Seconds

This fight drew a lot of new fans to the UFC thanks to Conor’s masterful trash talking leading up to the event. After staying invincible for ten years, Jose Aldo was scheduled to fight Conor at UFC 194. The fight was over in just 13 seconds, with McGregor knocking out Aldo with a sweet left hook.

4. Rory MacDonald vs. Robbie Lawler – UFC Fight of the Decade

Two relentless welterweights faced off against each other at UFC 189 in what became the fight of the decade. Rory McDonald and Robbie Lawler weren’t ready to give each other even a second to rest in a fight that featured visceral violence.

3. Conor McGregor Becomes the First Double Champion in UFC History

After ‘The Notorious’ Conor McGregor flawlessly defeated Eddie Alvarez for the UFC Lightweight Championship at UFC 205, he became the first fighter to hold titles in two different weight divisions simultaneously.

2. Anderson Silva’s Showboating Backfires

The moment of reckoning finally came for Anderson Silva as his cockiness finally caught up with him during his fight with Chris Weidman at UFC 162.  Known for dancing and ducking when fighters came at him, Silva had never lost a fight in his first seven years. Everything changed when he was knocked out by Weidman in the middle of showboating. Silva was never the same after the fight.

1. Khabib Nurmagomedov Dominates Conor McGregor

Conor’s rise to fame brought a lot of new fans to the UFC. His fall from grace was even more popular. McGregor usually gets inside his opponents’ head with his ingenious trash-talking and has a psychological advantage before stepping foot in the octagon. against Khabib, the trash-talking seemed to have an inverse impact. In typical Khabib fashion, the Dagestani wrestler dominated Conor and made him tap in the fourth round.

This article was edited by Sam Bourgi.

Last modified: December 31, 2019 17:08 UTC

[2whatcom-blog]

UFC 234 predictions

So far as identify worth goes, UFC 234 is perhaps a two-fight present, however what a few headlining fights they're. Middleweight champion Robert Whittaker competes in his Australian stomping grounds on Saturday when he goes for his first official title protection towards Kelvin Gastelum in the primary occasion of UFC 234. Once we final noticed Whittaker, he was surviving 5 extra rounds towards Yoel Romero (who missed weight, rendering their rematch a non-title affair). Now he as soon as once more faces an elite wrestler with dynamite arms. Whereas Gastelum doesn’t have the freakish ending energy of Romero, he brings a continuous method that may completely match the fearless Whittaker. Within the co-main occasion, Israel Adesanya appears to capitalize on a 4-0 2018 marketing campaign and begin off his 2019 season with an announcement win over MMA legend Anderson Silva. “The Final Stylebender” has been saying all the suitable issues about what going through Silva means to him and the way he’s able to tear the torch from Silva’s grasp, however he could possibly be headed in direction of disappointment if Silva can flip again the clock and placed on a classic efficiency. Additionally on the primary card, Ricky Simon continues his climb up the bantamweight rankings when he fights Rani Yahya, Montana De La Rosa faces Australia’s personal Nadia Kassem in a flyweight bout, and 22-year-old mild heavyweight prospect Jim Crute fights short-notice substitute Sam Alvey. What: UFC 234 The place: Rod Laver Area in Melbourne, Australia When: Saturday, Feb. 9. The three-fight UFC Battle Cross preliminary card begins at 6:30 p.m. ET, the four-fight ESPN preliminary card begins at eight p.m. ET, and the five-fight pay-per-view foremost card begins at 10 p.m. ET. Robert Whittaker vs. Kelvin Gastelum Will Robert Whittaker’s middleweight reign be halted earlier than its begun? And by the hands of one other welterweight transplant? That’s a authentic risk as Kelvin Gastelum lastly will get his title shot, although not within the weight class that he lengthy predicted he would. The previous Final Fighter winner has been excellent at 185 kilos, together with his deep gasoline tank and quick arms giving him a bonus over the division’s finest. Former UFC champions Michael Bisping, Vitor Belfort, and Chris Weidman all felt Gastelum’s energy, with Bisping and Belfort failing to make it out of the primary spherical and Weidman getting rocked earlier than managing to compose himself and submit Gastelum. In a straight boxing match, this can be a toss-up. Whenever you add in Whittaker’s skillful kicking sport, the chances lean extra clearly in direction of the champion. He’s going to punish Gastelum’s lead leg with kicks whereas utilizing his knowledgeable vary hanging to make it troublesome for Gastelum to arrange takedown makes an attempt. As he’s proven in two fights with Yoel Romero, Whittaker’s takedown protection is out of this world. Towards the fence, Gastelum will have the ability to stop Whittaker from opening up, however retaining him pinned there's one other problem altogether. Search for Whittaker to keep away from being smothered and hold the motion primarily within the heart of the Octagon, the place he can take his time feinting and selecting Gastelum aside. Gastelum has by no means been knocked out and that ought to stay true at UFC 234, although it will likely be Whittaker who will get his hand raised after 5 robust rounds. Choose: Whittaker Anderson Silva vs. Israel Adesanya Israel Adesanya is 100 p.c right in saying that Anderson Silva isn’t getting his correct respect from the oddsmakers. He’s additionally 100 p.c right that he’s going to place Silva away. That’s no slight to Silva, whose struggles within the Octagon over the previous couple of years have been considerably overstated. In his losses to Chris Weidman, he confronted a hungry challenger in his prime who was a matchup nightmare for Silva (and that’s not even mentioning his unlucky leg break of their second combat). He defeated Nick Diaz in a five-round combat that has basically been erased from the books as a result of each of them failing drug checks. He was outworked by Michael Bisping, however appeared to knock “The Depend” out chilly in the midst of the combat solely to have Bisping saved by the bell. He was utterly grounded by Daniel Cormier after agreeing to combat the long run heavyweight champion with lower than 48 hours to arrange. And he escaped with a slim resolution win towards Derek Brunson in his final outing. All of that's to say that Silva continues to be a high-level fighter and positively one that's a lot better than his current outcomes would point out. Selecting Adesanya is extra concerning the repute that “The Final Stylebender” has made for himself over the previous 12 months. By far, Silva is one of the best striker that Adesanya has confronted within the UFC, so that is will likely be a real take a look at of Adesanya’s vaunted kickboxing abilities. No takedowns, no wrestling, simply who has one of the best standup. Silva isn’t a quick starter, so it gained’t be stunning to see Adesanya lead the dance early on. The query is whether or not Silva can nonetheless attain the highest speeds that he used to. We all know Adesanya can and if he senses the slightest weak spot or hesitation on Silva’s half, he'll pounce. Had this combat occurred in Silva’s prime, it could be a way more troublesome name to make. As it's, youth will likely be served and Adesanya goes to select up a knockout win. Choose: Adesanya Rani Yahya vs. Ricky Simon There’s quite a bit to love about Ricky Simon’s sport, particularly because it pertains to thwarting Rani Yahya. He has nice wrestling, which ought to permit him to find out the place the combat takes place. And his cardio is top-notch, so he ought to have the sting in a three-round battle. The place Yahya has at all times excelled is within the grappling division and nearly as good as Simon’s wrestling is, he’ll be in severe hazard if he makes any errors on the mat. Even when he doesn’t, Yahya is such a gifted jiu-jitsu artist that he might pressure the motion and catch Simon with one thing. He’s proven a willingness to face and commerce on the ft too, however Yahya could be clever to preserve his power relatively than go all out attempting to dent Simon’s comparatively recent chin. I like Yahya to discover a submission in some unspecified time in the future, although if he begins too gradual and permits Simon to take the initiative, he'll lose on the playing cards. Choose: Yahya Montana De La Rosa vs. Nadia Kassem Montana De La Rosa higher be prepared for boos as a result of she’s going to take out the hometown woman. Taller, longer, and extra battle-tested, De La Rosa has a number of benefits getting into her combat with Nadia Kassem. A cursory look at their stats would possibly make this look like a traditional grappler vs. striker matchup, however De La Rosa confirmed in her win over Rachael Ostovich that she’s comfy hanging from distance and Kassem was aggressive off of her again with submission makes an attempt en path to defeating Alex Chambers. Ought to this be contested totally on the ft, it will likely be troublesome for Kassem to land an influence shot towards the rangy De La Rosa. On the bottom, De La Rosa has proven she is a harmful finisher and carried out so towards higher competitors than Kassem has confronted. That have will make an enormous distinction. De La Rosa by submission in spherical two. Choose: De La Rosa Jim Crute vs. Sam Alvey Jim Crute has all of the makings of a fan favourite fighter together with his aggressive angle and a well-rounded talent set. Sam Alvey has no drawback coping with fighters who look to push the tempo and at all times finds a approach to gradual issues down (sometimes to the chagrin of these in attendance). His left hand is a continuing risk as nicely and Crute should be cautious of it if he doesn’t need to see his Zero go. That is a kind of fights the place the youthful fighter goes to must mature quick and present that he can adapt, particularly if Alvey fights as secure as he often does. Crute did an ideal job of out-grappling the submission-minded Paul Craig and he needs to be comfy mucking issues up with Alvey if want be. Alvey is troublesome to complete, however I see Crute having the sting within the standup and getting the higher of the clinch work to earn a convincing resolution win. Choose: Crute Undercard Devonte Smith def. Dong Hyun Ma Shane Young def. Austin Arnett Kai Kar... .. Read the full article

[hugecount]

Best Knockouts in UFC History | Hugecount

There is no denying the appreciation surrounding the technical mastery of the grappling, holds, the punches etc. but nothing beats a breathtaking knockout in the brutal, no holds barred sport of MMA, which makes you spring up from your seat and look in awe. The holies of combat sports holies, the knockout is an unmitigated combination of both flawless timing and raw physical power that reminds every MMA fan exactly why they like the sport.

Over the years we have seen some of the most perfect knockouts in the premier organization of MMA, i.e UFC all of which include knockouts with one hard punch, a vicious elbow or even a devastating kick. Let’s take a look at some of the best knockouts to have ever happened inside the Octagon. In no particular order:-

Gabriel Gonzaga KOs Mirko Cro Cop, UFC 70 Hands down, the most ironic knockout in the history of MMA. Mirko Cro Cop is known for his headkick knockouts that leave his opponents dazed. However at the UFC 70, Gabriel Gonzaga turned the tables to give Cro Cop a taste of his own medicine. It is important to note that the match had a surmounted significance for the Croatian, as the match was a heavyweight title eliminator and unfortunately the closest Cro Cop ever got to UFC gold.There was a rematch at UFC Fight Night 64 and this time round Cro Cop got the better off Gonzaga, but the first round head kick at UFC 70 remains one of the most famous and replayed finishes in the UFC history.

Holly Holm KOs Ronda Rousey, UFC 193 If Gonzaga v Cro Cop was the most ironic knockout, then surely Holly Holm knocking out the previously undefeated Ronda Rousey must be the most shocking one. A lot of fans might bring up Anderson Silva vs. Chris Weidman, but the latter only got the better of Silva, who by the way was undefeated for seven years, after he let his guard down. Holly managed to get the better of Rousey even when she was going full cylinders at her.Back then, Holly Holm was a massive underdog for the bantamweight crown against Rousey. No one expected her to win, and she shocked the whole world including Rousey with her vicious second round knockout. This one made the UFC news department go into frenzy mode.

Conor McGregor KOs Jose Aldo, UFC 194 Thirteen seconds. That was all it took The Notorious to take down an undefeated champ of ten years. Prior to the match there was months of promotion for the fight, press tours were arranged to the home countries of both. Jose Aldo must have felt a massive disappointment, but for McGregor, this fight was well and truly his announcement as the biggest star in the mixed martial arts. He became the first ever two division champion in UFC history less than a year later and would never fight again in the 145lb category.

Lyoto Machida KOs Randy Couture, UFC 129 It was incredibly difficult to pick between this one and Anderson Silva vs. Vitor Belfort at UFC 126. However, in my opinion, Machida’s spectacularly executed karate crane kick takes a slight edge. The knockout truly ended Couture’s UFC career but not in consequence as the former light heavyweight and former heavyweight champion had announced his news of retirement prior to the match. Unfortunately for Vitor Belfort, he has also taken a similar head kick knockout against Machida at UFC 224, where coincidentally Belfort also decided to draw the curtains on his UFC career.

Edson Barboza KOs Terry Etim, UFC 142 One of the most perfectly executed knockouts in the history of MMA, and not just UFC. Edson Barboza landed a beautiful spinning wheel kick to Terry Etim, making him drop to the floor like a plank of wood. Even Joe Rogan as commentator, knew that it was a knockout even before Etim touched the ground.

Source: https://hugecount.com/sport/best-knockouts-in-ufc-history/

[thesportssoundoff]

“So how early is too early, how soon is too soon and why am I up at 4:30 AM watching China’s best fight in the UFC?” A preview of the UFC Fight Night live from Shanghai

Joey

November 19th

WHEW Boy! First and foremost, for those of y'all in the states I hope you have a kick ass Thanksgiving. Eat plenty, drink plenty if that's your thing, shop plenty on a Friday and then for those of you who are MMAddicted, you got yourself a show on Saturday morning! The UFC has tried and tried and tried and FINALLY they broke through into Shanghai! The Chinese market has been opened up and the dam has busted. Fight fans who are so interested in MMA will be greeted to QUITE the show on Thursday morning. This was set up to be Anderson Silva vs Kelvin Gastelum but drug tests ruin the best of things. To their credit, the UFC found Michael Bisping for the role and now things are humming towards a Chinese showdown. The rest of the main card pits the best of China vs two solid mid level UFC talents plus the debut of one of MMA's more exciting talents. The prelims have one FANTASTIC fight and the debut of 8 different fighters; 1 from Brazil, 1 from India and 6 from China.  Plenty of reason to get excited am I right? Guys? Guuuuuuys?

Fights: 12 (11 if they can't find a dude for Cyril Asker)

Debuts: 10 (Sheymon Moraes, Bharat Khandare, Yanan Wu, Wuliji Buren, Yan Xiaonan, Wang Guan, Muslim Salikov, Kenan Song, Yadong Song, Yan Xiaonan )

Fight Changes/Injury Cancellations:  3 (Anderson Silva OUT, Michael BIsping IN vs Kelvin Gastelum/Liu Pingyuan OUT, Yadong Song IN vs Bharat Kandare, James Mulheron OUT, TBD vs Cyril Asker)

Headliners (fighters who have either main evented or co-main evented shows in the UFC):  3 (Michael Bisping, Alex Caceres, Kelvin Gastelum)

Fighters On Losing Streaks in the UFC:  4 (Rolando Dy, Cyril Asker, Bobby Nash, Kailin Curran)

Fighters On Winning Streaks in the UFC:  2 (Chase Sherman, Li Jingliang)

Stat Monitor for 2017:

Debuting Fighters (Current number: 38-30)- Sheymon Moraes, Bharat Khandare, Yanan Wu, Wuliji Buren, Yan Xiaonan, Wang Guan, Muslim Salikov, Kenan Song, Yadong Song, Yan Xiaonan

Short Notice Fighters (Current number: 22-33-1)- Michael Bisping, Yadong Song

Second Fight (Current number: 25-37)- Gina Mizani, Zabit Magomedsharipov

Cage Corrosion (18-13-1)- 0

Twelve Precious Ponderings

1- I suppose we can begin with trying to piece together this Scooby Doo-esque mystery on Michael Bisping taking the fight. Anderson Silva falls out via drug test gone bad (or good depending on your view of it) and Kelvin Gastelum needs a fight for the main event. Given how vital this show is to THAT market, this is a big deal. Limited options + short notice + Visa + tough as shit opponent = trouble. Under any other circumstance this capsizes a show. The UFC's chasing an opponent for Brunson and Bisping isn't available because he's injured---right? Well according to Bisping, he reached out to the UFC and told them he was fine and ready to fight on short notice vs Gastelum. A week after fighting GSP for the title. Now there are many serious questions we all need to parse through. 1) Should Bisping be fighting? 2) What about his medical suspension? 3) What does he have to gain from this? 4) Is this too soon? Whatever the case may or may not be, you gotta at least give the parties involved some credit for somehow pulling this shit off. For my money, Bisping vs Gastelum is a far greater fight than Anderson/Gastelum.

2- On a scale of 1- Of Course, what are the odds Gastelum somehow finds a way to miss weight?

3- A lot of credit needs to go to Bisping for taking this fight. He probably made more money  than he ever has vs GSP and when most dudes would be fat and happy and ready to just take time off, he's back in there less than a month later. Not everybody loves Michael Bisping but the # of Bisping types is declining rapidly so enjoy the one we have while we got 'em.

4- At this point all I ask of Gastelum is that he doesn't beat Bisping up so badly that Michael can't retire in March in London.

5- Perhaps not enough credit is to be given to Kelvin Gastelum for basically saving his career. Gastelum completely lost track of his career at 170 lbs after missing weight and then the UFC basically told him to move up or move out. Since moving up to 185 lbs, he's 2-1 (1-1-1 in actuality but I dont think he needed WEED to beat up Vitor Belfort)  with wins over Belfort and Tim Kennedy. His sole loss was to Chris Weidman in a fight where he gave Weidman problems, dropping him before losing due to the size difference. Gastelum is in that Jake Shields category of really needing that 175 lb weight class where he can prosper. His hands have come a long, long way since TUF and he's still a killer wrestler. His grappling in my estimation has been his weak spot as he tends to get too lax on the ground (his inability to handle Magny's grappling probably cost him the fight and Weidman outworked him and submitted him). Very excited to see how he handles Bisping because Gastelum's youth, team and skill set gives him a chance to be a real find in the coming years.

6- "The Leech" Li Jingliang has had a very odd track in the UFC. He hasn't really improved but he's so strong and stubborn as a fighter that it works for him. The Leech  is never in a boring fight outside of one time where Nadine Taleb turned him into a fifteen minute grappler type. The leech just looks like a miserable sort of dude to fight; a hard headed hard hitting stubborn as shit dude who can wrestle you and ground and pound plus he's one of those guys who gets better as the fight goes on. Zack Ottow is a weird fight for him; a dude who could be undefeated in the UFC or 0-3 in the UFC depending on how you look at it. Ottow is the epitome of the "mid level veteran" who will test you but probably not beat you.

7- Wang Guan's UFC debut is surely going to be "a happening" as one would put it. Guan feels like a fighter who has been tied indirectly to the UFC for quite some time and now hes here and he draws a tough first out in Alex Caceres. Caceres speaks to how highly the UFC thinks of Guan or how lowly they think of Caceres because he's the weird mix of unorthodox, flashy and blessed with endless cardio. They might regret this booking.

8- A lot of folks are excited about the debut of Muslim Salikhov and again this is another one of those deals where youre either REALLY confident in a guy or really, really low on the person he's facing. Alex Garcia is a big rocked up 170er who has proven to be pretty durable in his fights. Not an easy fight for a dude in his debut.

9- I'm SURE they'll be a lot of people who will whine about the fact that just about everybody on the undercard is debuting.. To that, I'll offer a few simplistic retorts. 1) The prelims will start at 3 FUCKING 45 AM on a Saturday. There has NEEEEEEVER been an undercard you could avoid as easily as this one. Just SLEEP through it. 2) Consider this like an Asian TUF where the TUF guys are fighting for their jobs. Most of this undercard is debuting Asian talent trying to find a home in the UFC---chances are half of these fighters if not more will be gone before 2018 ends. Treat them as one offs. 3)   There's actually some really solid matchmaking here on the prelims. 4) Consider this,

10- Bobby Nash is a tough guy to get a handle on. He had Li Jingliang all kinds of hurt and gave Danny "Hot Chocolate" Roberts all kinds of problems as well. The problem is that if you have little head movement and a shaky chin, more often than not somebody will find it. Nash has two fights and has that "he was winning until he lost" thing going on. He takes on Kenan Song on the prelims.

11- I have not had the chance to talk up how fucking great this Sheymon Moraes-Zhabit Magomedsharipov fight but hot DAMN is it a good 'un. This should be fifteen minutes of pure standup and if it hits the ground then both guys are more than capable there as well. Magomedsharipov has big time star potential in my estimation.

12- Bharat Kandare is the UFC's first Indian born fighter (Arjen Bhullar is a Canadian of Indian heritage) but apparently this could've been a done deal a lot sooner. Per Bharat, the UFC wanted to sign him back in 2014 but SFL blocked it. Either way, I'm just glad we're getting more fighters of different nationalities in the Octagon. It's good for all of the sport!

Must Wins

1- Kelvin Gastelum

Michael Bisping's legacy is secure. Everything Bisping related is locked and set in stone. He will retire with the UFC's best strength of competition in my eyes. We're talking Silva, Belfort, GSP, Hendo twice, Luke Rockhold twice, Thales Leites, Rashad Evans, "Mayhem" Miller, Wanderlei, Chael Soonen and Cung Le all inside the Octagon. He won the title, defended it and then made a PPV payout in his loss to GSP. The guy is secure and approaching one final retirement fight. Kelvin Gastelum is going from a going ticket to an even more golden ticket in Bisping and right now Kelvin Gastelum is in his prime and only getting better. A win over Bisping and he'll have the Bisping win that has eluded other MWs. Remember that the folks who beat Bisping eventually go on to fight for the title so he is very much the golden door for the MW division.

2- Wang Guan

IF Li Jingliang is going to be THE guy in China, he would've been it by now. Wang Guan is being tasked with that role. He's been given a main card spot on the first ever show in China against a reputable opponent in Alex Caceres. At 31, Guan is not blessed with youth on his side so the sooner he can try to make a run, the better of he'll be.

3- Chase Sherman

Chase Sherman's UFC run thus far is a very complicated one. His losses are to reputable competition in Justin Ledet and Walt "The Big Ticket" Harris while his wins are to guys who are no longer in the UFC (Coultier is probably on his way out and Grabowski was sent packing). Sherman has some tools like above average athleticism and great conditioning that should make him a HW of note over time. He's also under 30 so he's rocking the trifecta.

Five Fights You Can't Miss

1-  Michael Bisping vs Kelvin Gastelum

2- Zhabit Magomedsharipov vs Sheymon Moraes

3- Li Jingliang vs Zack Ottow

4- Alex Caceres vs Wang Guan

5- Bharat Khandare vs Yadong Song

[johnbattlesca]

Unfiltered: Vitor Belfort & UFC 224 Preview UFC News

“The Phenom” Vitor Belfort calls in and discusses his final MMA fight against Lyoto Machida at UFC 224, his post-retirement plans, a Legends League, and more. Then, Godsmack lead singer Sully Erna joins Jim and Matt in-studio and talks about the band’s new album “When Legends Rise”, meeting Don Frye after a PRIDE event in Japan, dealing with the rigors of touring life, and a lot more, including making a bet with Matt about Anderson Silva vs. Chris Weidman at UFC 162. Plus, the guys preview UFC 224 and make their picks. Full Episode Vitor on stepping into the Octagon for the last time … Read the Full Article Here from UFC News http://www.ufc.com/news/Unfiltered-Episode-195

Unfiltered: Vitor Belfort & UFC 224 Preview UFC News published first on http://thrandythefabulous.tumblr.com

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Tactical Guide to Romero vs. Rockhold

Luke Rockhold vs. Robert Whittaker was one of the most compelling matchups put together in the history of the UFC middleweight division. Sadly, we once again found ourselves in the situation where a great fighter’s career was thrown into jeopardy not by the men throwing strikes at his head, but by bacteria in the gunk down the cracks in the mats. Robert Whittaker was forced to withdraw from the fight with a staph infection in his stomach and Luke Rockhold was left without an opponent. Thankfully, Yoel Romerohas stepped in and created a matchup that has many more excited than the original title fight.

Romero has not fought since Whittaker took him to school while fighting on one leg back in July, but aside from that one misstep Romero has looked incredible throughout his UFC career. With a string of victories that included Derek Brunson, Lyoto Machida, Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza, and Chris Weidman, Romero is still very much the man at middleweight when Whittaker isn’t in the room. Romero’s highlight reel is a love letter to athleticism, full of jumping knees and explosive third round knockouts, but Whittaker exposed Romero’s greatest flaw: a need to take breaks.

Romero’s fights are lengthy periods of nothing, punctuated by explosions of rapid-fire violence. When he was working his way through the ranks, Romero’s physique and his unrefined striking raised a lot of questions about his gas tank, but his repeated third round finishes seemed to fly in the face of that. The truth is that he is good at conserving his energy and his opponents often seem so concerned about what he could do that they don’t push him when he is taking his breathers. When Whittaker stayed on Romero between his bursts of activity, Romero became far more hittable and these explosions became less frequent and far less dangerous.

Luke Rockhold was the golden boy. Good looking, well rounded, and he convincingly battered Chris Weidman to claim the UFC middleweight title. Some fans were already preparing for another Anderson Silva-like run of title defenses. Then Michael Bisping came in on short notice and slapped him silly. At the time that was painted as fluke, or as arrogance on Rockhold’s part, but the truth was that Rockhold’s boxing just did not hold up. Rockhold took a year on the sidelines amid bickering with the UFC, dating Demi Lovato, and teasing a fight with Fabricio Werdum which this writer would still gladly watch. His greatest mistake was not filming a web documentary in the style of Alistair Overeem’s The Reem during this period. When Rockhold returned to the cage, Dave Branch came out and surprised those who bought into the fluke by promptly putting Rockhold on wobbly legs again.

Open Guard vs. Closed Guard

At one point, a year or so back, over half of the middleweight top ten was made up of southpaws. Between old names like Lyoto Machida and Vitor Belfort, and new talents like Rockhold, Romero, Derek Brunson and Kelvin Gastelum, there are a fair few lefties around at 185 pounds. Luke Rockhold fought Vitor Belfort way back in the day—at the height of Vitor’s chemically assisted powers—but did very little before getting wheel kicked in the head. A couple of years ago Rockhold fought Lyoto Machida, but as far as good southpaws go, that is the extent of Luke’s experience.

Why does this matter? Pressure is one of Luke Rockhold’s greatest assets and one of Yoel Romero’s biggest weaknesses. The thought of being made to work and move constantly, on someone else’s terms, for twenty five minutes must have Romero sweating bullets. He prefers to slink around the cage like a big cat between meals, until he decides—almost on a whim—that it’s time to make a run at ending the fight. The problem is that Rockhold’s pressure is built around tools and angles that aren’t there as readily against fellow southpaws.

Watch a standard Rockhold fight and it will be built around two things—the left round kick and the back-skipping right hook. The left round kick provides the pressure. If you don’t do something, Luke Rockhold is going to walk you down and punt you as hard as he can. Miss it by an inch and that shin is going to make a dull thud against your liver whereupon you won’t be able to focus on much except finding a nice spot in the cage to curl up and cry. If your elbow stays too low, you get kicked upside the head and your night is over, but then at least you won’t feel it. Even if you catch that kick perfectly on your forearm, it’s still just a block, the lowest form of defense as you are taking Rockhold’s hardest strike at its point of greatest force. There is not much of a moral victory to be had there.

With the constant threat of this kick, fighters are forced to move or fire back. Fire back and Rockhold gives ground. The rangiest middleweight of the lot, Rockhold fights almost side on, with his head held far away from his opponent. Start reaching for Rockhold’s head and you have an excellence chance of eating that check hook.

But Luke has made his living kicking into the open side, where only the opponent’s arm can come between Rockhold’s shin and their organs. Switch the stance of his opponent and suddenly he is kicking into the closed side—the back and shoulder—the areas of the body which we have evolved in order to take shots from folded up steel chairs. It will be interesting to see what Rockhold can do to replicate this kind of pressure against Romero. Using the lead leg in the same manner is a bit more complicated because in order to get decent power a preliminary step up or switch is necessary. Furthermore the lead leg round kick often has a shorter range out of the stance than the rear leg. This seems counterintuitive but it is because the range is controlled by the pivoting leg, not the kicking leg. Kick with the rear leg and you are pivoting on the lead leg—which is already out in front of you. Kick with the lead leg and you need to bring that rear leg up under you or step through to get close to the same range.

But as the old saying goes, when God closes the side, he opens up the knee. When kicking the body and head it is always best to go into the open side—where there are the least obstructions—but when kicking the lead leg, particularly in the long-stance world of MMA, it is best to try to pound it inwards from the outside. Rockhold showed some biting low kicks against Dave Branch, switching stances to do so, and against Chris Weidman in the moments that Weidman switched to southpaw. A commitment to low kicks against Romero—especially below the knee—would be a great look.

Yoel Romero showed himself to be a mark for the front kick when Robert Whittaker decided that his busted up knee meant he should jab with his foot rather than his fist. Rockhold could make great use of both the rear and lead leg front kick against Romero but any kind of kicking against such an accomplished wrestler requires an enormous amount of confidence and if you can’t do it frequently, the chances of getting timed with a counter or a takedown on the few times you do for real greatly increase.

Fortunately one of Rockhold’s greatest strengths has proven to be not just defending takedown attempts but using the momentum of shots to wind up in attacking positions. The most famous example is, of course, Rockhold rice bailing Tim Boetsch over off a caught kick, coming up on top of a sprawl and locking in a reverse triangle. But when Weidman caught Rockhold’s kicks, Rockhold used the guillotine and a shin to keep turning Weidman to the mat.

Despite only picking up one submission by guillotine choke, Rockhold’s guillotine has proven to be a huge part of his game. While he was getting out hustled by Weidman along the fence and being turned every time he tried to pin Weidman there, Rockhold made Weidman back out of clinches by snapping him down and threatening the choke. When Weidman took Rockhold down in the first round and passed his guard, Rockhold maintained the guillotine grip, hooked the “empty half guard” over Weidman’s trailing right leg, and the two stayed there until Herb Dean stood them up.

While that is impressive, in a way, it is worth noting that this was one of the very few occasions we have seen Rockhold working off his back and it seemed to rely on stalling Weidman out and getting a stand up from a position where stand ups don’t usually happen. On the one hand, Yoel Romero’s takedowns tend to be of the dynamic variety, out in the open—where Rockhold can create scrambles with momentum—but on the other, the one man to beat Romero in recent years did so by being able to build up and return to his feet each time Romero took him down, not by simply stopping or reversing takedown attempts.

The one thing Rockhold should probably steer clear of—unless he has made earth shattering strides in the last few months—is getting into boxing exchanges with Romero. Not that Romero is a tremendous boxer in combination, but he countered well against Machida in exchanging range and Rockhold simply leaves himself so exposed whenever he does almost anything with his hands except his check hook. Hands by his hips, chin up in the air, Rockhold begs to be countered and Weidman and Bisping had a field day when he led with his hands.

Even on Rockhold’s tremendous check hook, he throws so much of his body into it that if he misses or his opponent makes it through, he is a sitting duck. Against Weidman he turned himself all the way around and gave up his back.

And Dave Branch gave Rockhold fits simply by repeatedly angling in on him and pushing through the check hook to crack Rockhold in a deep lean.

The best strategy against Romero will probably always be utilizing a good jab and feints to draw those reaching, leaping, ducking over-reactions that Romero makes under fire, and then punishing them. Rockhold hasn’t shown those tools though. The best strategy for Rockhold to beat Romero might be to press forward, initiating with low-low kicks and looking to counter punch off of them. Rockhold’s decent ringcraft should enable him to put Romero near enough to the fence that he can’t simply bound away from any low kick, and so that Romero is forced to push forward off these connections—opening him up to the check hook. Rockhold’s clinch game along the fence, in the standard American Kickboxing Academy mold, might seem a strange place to go against a wrestler of Romero’s accomplishment, but dirty boxing and looking to for the underhook pin could be a good way to force activity out of Romero.

Over five rounds with Robert Whittaker, Romero threw half as many strikes as Whittaker and averaged less than ten connections a round. The key in handling Romero seems to be that instead of being afraid of what he might do, his opponents should accept that he will never work at more than the rate that he likes—he is not going to leap up and knee opponents in the head off of every lead and the more a fighter works against him the less dangerous he looks. It seems to be a mistake for fighters to wait to weather the early storm and then pick up the pace later, because Romero just isn’t that kind of fighter. He doesn’t punch himself out early and the storm comes in well spread out bursts. A good indicator of how this fight will go would be how soon Rockhold can begin to commit to meaningful offense.

Yoel Romero’s fight with Lyoto Machida showcased a patience and understanding of the counter fighter that will be vital against Luke Rockhold. While Rockhold and Machida are very different counter strikers—one likes to lean away and swing in their counter blow from the side, the other likes head on collissions—they both encourage their opponent to over-extend themselves. But the key difference between Machida and Rockhold is that Machida is a very passive counter fighter, if you give him nothing he will win or lose a close, boring decision. Luke Rockhold is a forward moving power kicker who finds counters off his opponent’s reactions to his aggression.

Romero’s use of flicking low-low kicks to knock his opponents off balance could work perfectly against Rockhold. The way that Rockhold skips back and attempts to hook in answer to anything his opponent shows him, combined with his very long, narrow stance, makes him a mark for these classical point fighting kicks. Knocking the lead foot off line with one of these foot taps as the opponent retreats slows him down and can put him out of position as the kicking fighter follows with a straight punch, a kick off the opposite side, or even a takedown attempt. Romero’s showed a couple of nice straights off this foot trap against the orthodox Tim Kennedy.

Unfortunately, in a southpaw vs. southpaw matchup much of the utility of Romero’s beloved low line side kick is lost. The opponent’s lead leg is no longer in the path of the side kick and to kick it involves kicking across yourself. This is a shame because Romero can use the low line side kick nicely to glide in with strikes, or just as a hurting pot shot as he did against Robert Whittaker—trashing the now-champion’s knee in the process and setting up later hook kick attempts.

The more measured a fight this becomes the better it would seem to be for Romero. If he can circle freely and pick as he did against Machida and others, he will have a rollicking good time. More likely, Rockhold is going to try to get in his face, at that point it would be good to see him try circle out and keep Rockhold from planting himself to kick. As Rockhold’s porous boxing game continues to be his weakness, getting in to trade with Rockhold should be a priority. By keeping Rockhold on the back foot and keeping the fight near the fence, Romero could chop down the space in which Rockhold has to check hook—removing the skip back—and stand a great chance of getting in and landing punches without getting caught first.

Picking at Rockhold through the round with low line straight kicks and low round kicks, and closing towards the fence for a flurry or two per round would be a sound strategy. If Romero is to go after takedowns it would be good to see him utilize the sweeps and trips that he has showcased occasionally—focusing on the clinch and more upright takedown attempts than those which place his head in Rockhold’s noose and provide the momentum for a turnover the moment Rockhold’s back hits the mat. Perhaps when fight time comes, Romero ducks in and scoops Rockhold up, with the guillotine serving as nothing more than a mild inconvenience, but against a man who has so routinely troubled opponents with this one technique the smarter thing would be just to avoid that area if possible.

Whether Luke Rockhold or Yoel Romero comes out on top in their clash at UFC 221, the middleweight division continues to flourish with exciting possible match ups. The winner will inevitably be pitted against a healthy Robert Whittaker for the actual middleweight title, but even the loser will be in position for great match ups. A Rockhold-Weidman rematch would be tremendous fun, or a return on Rockhold’s 2011 match with Jacare Souza. A Rockhold–Gastelum fight would match the two extremes of middleweight builds, and pitting Romero against another smaller middleweight who keeps the pace high and can keep getting back up off the floor would be a great test.

Jack wrote the hit biography Notorious: The Life and Fights of Conor McGregor and scouts prospects at The Fight Primer.

Tactical Guide to Romero vs. Rockhold syndicated from https://australiahoverboards.wordpress.com

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Tactical Guide to Machida vs. Anders

During the early days of PRIDE FC’s Bushido brand they themed events around the two sides of the card. You had Japan vs. Brazil, Japan vs. Gracies, Chute Boxe vs. Brazilian Top Team and the like. If you look at the poster for this weekend’s UFC Fight Night in Belem, Brazil, you could be forgiven for thinking that the UFC had adopted the theme of “Team Established Names vs Team Who?”

The stand out odd match on this card is Valentina Shevchenko vs. Priscila Cachoeira. Cachoeira looks out of place partly because she is the only person on the poster without a glossy official UFC head shot, but perhaps the MMA fan will look at this poster and concede that they don't know much about the women’s weightclasses outside of the UFC and that maybe Cachoeira is good enough to debut against Shevchenko. In one sense they would be right—Tapology ranks her as the No. 30 flyweight in the world. FightMatrix has her all the way up at number nine! But then her only viewable fights are grainy recordings from regional events on Youtube… and they aren’t impressive. Pushing forward with her chin up in the air, Cachoeira takes as many punches as she throws and looks exhausted from the third minute onwards. Putting her in with a fighter like Shevchenko—a counter puncher to the point of paralysis if her opponent doesn’t lead—seems like a blatant tune up.

Hands down, head stationary until it is pulled straight back at the sight of a jab, swinging from the knees, eating counters and already breathing hard a minute into round 1? Probably a good match up for a well conditioned counter striker like Shevchenko.

But on the other extreme of that equation is the main event between Lyoto Machida and Eryk Anders. The double edged sword of name value is that when you get old, the UFC will use you to headline events in your home country but for the most part they won’t pitch you softballs. This leads to an awkward silence and a rapid evacuation of the stadium the moment that Mauricio Rua or Vitor Belfort gets starched in the main event. Belem is the Brazilian Lyoto Machida’s hometown and as such he is the star of the show, but Eryk Anders—despite being largely unknown amongst the less hardcore viewership—is a tough test for the old dragon.

Machida’s trials are well known by now. He was an undersized marvel at 205 lbs., relying on his minimalist counter striking game and frustrating opponents into overcommitting and stepping onto his reverse punches. He moved down to middleweight and became more active on offense— scoring a couple of sensational knockouts with his sharpshooting kicking game at range. Machida gave us one of the most compelling middleweight title fights in history in his barnburner with Chris Weidman, but was ultimately unable to win his second UFC belt. Suffering devastating losses to Luke Rockhold and Yoel Romero, Machida was forced out for two years after alerting USADA to his use of a dietary supplement which it turned out was on their ban list. Upon his return to the UFC in October of 2017, Machida was matched against Derek Brunson. The most cautious striker in the UFC was quickly knocked out by the most reckless striker in the UFC and everyone was left hoping that Machida would retire.

Eryk Anders is a peculiarity in MMA. A promising college football player making the switch to fighting, he spent a whole lot of time and effort fighting just for the sake of fighting after he gave up the hand-egg. He has only ten professional fights to his name, but Anders took over twenty amateur fights before he even began drawing a professional paycheck. That is a deceptively large amount of in ring experience for an up-and-comer.

After the briefest of stints in Bellator—he knocked out his only opponent in twenty-three seconds—Anders moved on to LFA. On June 23, 2017 he won their middleweight title and less than thirty days later he was in the UFC. Still sore from a twenty-five minute fight, Anders looked a little softer around the edges. Anders fought on the counter—attempting to time Rafael Natal with counter left straights.

Herding Natal into the cage, Anders feinted his way in on the quickly tiring veteran before knocking him stiff with a couple of left straights.

Five months later, Anders returned to the UFC to take on Markus Perez. Between his ponytail and his desire to throw jump spinning kicks any time Anders got close enough, Perez seemed to be fighting out of a different era. Clean shaven and considerably trimmer, Anders looked better than ever as he cut the cage on Perez and applied constant pressure. Perez spun often, missed, and wound up against the cage. In the first round it was enough for Anders to force clinches and make Perez work. By the second round Perez was more static and each time he stood still by the fence, Anders would crack him with a couple of punches and tie up again.

In the third round Perez was desperate and kept shooting takedowns which Anders sprawled on effortlessly, using the quarter nelson and lining up hard elbows and knees off it.

The quarter nelson in action.

Hypothetical Gameplans

While Eryk Anders has shown himself to be wild at times—he tends to run for that extra swing when he has his man off balance or just escaping off the fence—he doesn’t normally burst into a sprint and run straight for his man off the bat as Derek Brunson does. In fact, watching Anders fight he does seem very much like Derek Brunson if Derek Brunson had a fight IQ and some regard for his own safety. On one hand, drawing the charge for the counter gyaku-zuki will probably be tougher. On the other hand, at least he isn’t going to sprint forward and catch Machida cold.

For Machida, this writer recommends exactly the same thing he did for the Brunson fight. Switch stances to orthodox and keep the open guard dynamic. Closed guard (southpaw vs southpaw) exchanges do not favor Machida because he drops his lead hand to his hip like a traditional karateka every time he punches. He’s rarely the bigger hitter and he can’t take a shot like he used to, so against fellow southpaws he can eat left hands and get himself hurt. It’s far, far too late for him to learn how to box and it will continue to cost him, but by changing stances to remain in open guard he can hide most of those flaws.

Throw straight, drop hand, eat counter.

Machida’s willingness to change stances also helps him against good ring cutters, and against Weidman he showed excellent awareness of his ring position, changing direction multiple times and faking escapes along the fence in an attempt to get Weidman overcommitted in one direction. We discussed this at length in Ringcraft: The Fall of Ronda Rousey.

It will be interesting to see if Machida can use direction changes to stay off the fence against Anders. Anders has done well pressuring opponents to the fence and teeing off on them when they stop moving—good misdirection and ring awareness can make that a lot trickier. Anders is also a little one-handed in his herding—looking for the left hand constantly and often allowing the opponent to circle away from it freely as he throws it.

Lovely follow up though.

An especially important point for Machida to keep in mind is Anders’s defensive position with that rear hand. Watching his fights with Natal and Perez you will notice that it is awkwardly close to his chin and body. When opponents have thrown body kicks into that open side he has looked especially uncomfortable and over-reacted. If Machida fights orthodox he will be kicking with his less dextrous leg but he should be able to snipe with his round kicks and knees between Anders’s advances.

Luckily Perez was not a particularly smart fighter.

The way that Anders squirms and crunches his body over in reaction to any body kick he takes, and the fact that he holds his left fist almost flush against his chin throughout the fight, means that there is also a great chance of a classic Machida high kick if he can stay off the fence and set the trap with a couple of body kicks.

For Anders, his usual pressure might be a good look, provided he doesn’t get out of his stance or start throwing wild. Low kicks have always been a great tactic against Machida and The Dragon doesn’t often lash out off the fence so Anders can probably take his time. Keeping Machida near the fence so that he must keep moving laterally will also shorten his stance and keep his feet moving—taking away those telegraph free kicks.

Chris Weidman did a great job of making Machida burn energy by staying on him along the fence and simply letting him try to dance his way out. Weidman’s feints also did more in that fight—in moving Machida to the fence and making him second guess his usual counter opportunities—and Anders has also shown that he understands the value of feinting his way in slowly along the fence. That was how he laid out Natal and clipped off nice combinations on Perez.

Much of Machida’s takedown defense has been done with his feet, but by bringing the fight towards the fence and ducking in for Machida’s hips, Anders could force Machida to fight off the takedown with his hips and hands. Anders did a great job against Perez of working up and down, coming up with strikes off of takedown attempts when he met resistance. Reaching for a single and coming up with strikes along the fence could be a tremendous way to hurt Machida as both his hands and feet would be out of his usual striking position.

As Lyoto Machida is the writer’s favorite fighter, it is getting a little hard to watch him get in the cage with young, well equipped fighters and get beaten up. But with what Anders has been able to show so far ,a victory over Machida would do wonders to get eyes on him and could lead to his arrival as a much-needed young(ish) contender in the aging middleweight top ten. And of course, there is always the chance that Machida can do something magical...

Jack wrote the hit biography Notorious: The Life and Fights of Conor McGregor and scouts prospects at The Fight Primer.

Tactical Guide to Machida vs. Anders published first on https://footballhighlightseurope.tumblr.com/

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Bisping vs Gastelum en vivo y en directo online: UFC Shangai

Fuente original: Bisping vs Gastelum en vivo y en directo online: UFC Shangai Puedes ver más visitando Teleindiscreta - Las mejores noticias de actualidad, famosos, salud, belleza, cocina, motor, música y mucho más.

Bienvenido a la retransmisión, en vivo y en directo online, del UFC Shangai. Evento que arranca a las 04:45 horas (hora local) de la madruga del domingo (consulta el horario en tu país). Esa velada culminará con el enfrentamiento del peso medio entre Bisping y Gastelum.

Previa del Bisping vs Gastelum: UFC Shangai

Shangai vive un UFC Fight Night diferente. Primero por el horario, ya que se disputa de madrugada en la ciudad china. Además, destaca por su combate principal, en él retorna Bisping a la competición sólo 21 días después de perder su título del peso medio ante St-Pierre en el UFC 217.

Bisping vs Gastelum

Un Anderson Silva vs Kelvin Gastelum era muy apetecible. Gastelum ganó este año a Belfort en Brasil y pidió a Silva, pese a que en ese combate dio positivo por Marihuana, la UFC se lo concedió. Pero la pelea se cayó por dopaje del brasileño y el evento se quedaba cojo. La compañía reaccionó pronto y situó a Michael Bisping, quien de nuevo demostró que no teme a nada y aceptó el combate y se subirá al octágono sólo 21 días después de perder ante GPS. “No estoy dañado, ¿por qué no iba a pelear? Eres todo lo bueno que fuiste en tu último combate, y no quiero eso“, apuntó el británico para justificarse.

Con esa mentalidad Bisping pelea ante Gastelum. Quiere dejar un buen sabor de boca en el que será su penúltimo combate, pues anunció que en marzo en Londres se retiraría. Su pegada es su principal activo, aunque ante GPS demostró una gran mejora en el suelo. Intentará imponerse, es el excampeón. Por su parte, Gastelum se encuentra en un brete. Tras el positivo por Marihuana cayó frente a Weidman y después de tener un brillante futuro se ha estancado. Sin duda la victoria ante el británico podría relanzarle. De él dependerá. Choque de trenes en Shangai, combate de gran evento. Toca disfrutar. 

Fuente: AS

La entrada Bisping vs Gastelum en vivo y en directo online: UFC Shangai aparece primero en Teleindiscreta.

from Bisping vs Gastelum en vivo y en directo online: UFC Shangai

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UFC Shanghai — Kelvin Gastelum vs. Michael Bisping: Prediction, preview, battle card

Michael Bisping would not have to show something to anybody. Not after a legendary 17-year profession during which he is tied for essentially the most victories in UFC historical past. And never after lately dropping the middleweight championship he dramatically got here into late in his profession.

But for some cause, the 38-year-old Bisping has determined upon a transfer — returning Saturday as a late alternative to headline UFC Battle Evening in Shanghai — that may greatest be summed up as half cussed and half loopy. 

Bisping (30-Eight) yielded his title on Nov. four to a returning Georges St-Pierre through third-round submission at UFC 217 in New York. Based mostly upon the Englishman’s personal feedback main as much as the battle, most anticipated him to retire if defeated. 

He did not. And on simply two weeks’ discover, Bisping as an alternative accepted a possibility to interchange Anderson Silva, his former foe, after the longtime champion failed a drug take a look at. 

So when Bisping enters the cage on Saturday for UFC’s first journey to mainland China (Bisping beforehand headlined their 2014 card in Macau), he’ll face revered contender Kelvin Gastelum simply 21 days faraway from his final battle.

Sounds loopy, proper? Regardless of the considered many who Bisping, already in form from the GSP bout, merely determined to simply accept the headlining position on such excessive brief discover as a option to to finish his profession on his personal phrases ought to he show victorious. However that wasn’t the case both, as Bisping introduced he needs his finale to come back on the UFC’s return to London in March. 

This battle is all about competitors for Bisping and the chance to take away the bitter style of defeat so rapidly.

“The truth that I misplaced [to St-Pierre], it bothers me,” Bisping advised MMAFighting.com final week. “I do know if I had that battle 10 occasions, I would win that battle 10 occasions. I do know I might, however I misplaced to Georges and right here we’re with this present from the Gods.

“I get an opportunity to exorcise my demons. I get an opportunity to get again within the win column — all good issues.”

That does not imply Bisping’s choice is a brilliant one. The oddsmakers agreed, putting in him as a Three-1 underdog. 

Lengthy an organization man, Bisping received his lone UFC title in comparable vogue in 2016 by accepting a rematch in opposition to Luke Rockhold on 17 days’ discover and recording a surprising first-round knockout. He heard the information this time round about Silva being pulled whereas listening to the radio in a automotive and immediately reached out to UFC president Dana White. 

“I textual content Dana, I mentioned, ‘Pay attention, I do know a man that fought final week who has no accidents that may battle in Shanghai,'” Bisping mentioned. “He texts again, ‘fascinating,’ and I textual content again, ‘very.’ Twenty minutes later, I get a telephone name. We agreed, we mentioned we would do it.”

Initially given a 30-day medical suspension from the New York State Athletic Fee for the damages accrued at UFC 217, Bisping was compelled to endure testing, together with an MRI, to get cleared for Gastelum. It is a course of he known as “a ache within the ass,” however finally value it.

UFC Shanghai battle card

Kelvin Gastelum -305 

Michael Bisping +255

Middleweight

Li Jingliang -175

Zak Ottow +150

Welterweight

Alex Caceres -150

Wang Guan +130

Featherweight

Muslim Salikhov -220

Alex Garcia +185

Welterweight

“I obtained a name from authorized division saying, ‘Mike, we have to know that you simply’re there mentally and bodily, how do you are feeling?'” Bisping mentioned. “I mentioned bodily I am superb, however mentally I am wounded. The one factor that is going to make that proper is that if I can battle once more. I am emotionally and mentally scarred, however bodily I am superb.”

The transfer was a shocking one, particularly contemplating his battle with GSP went into the third spherical with Bisping absorbing injury from strikes. 

Initially upset about Silva pulling out, Gastelum (13-Three) was overjoyed to get a big-name alternative. The previous “Final Fighter” winner is simply hoping to get the credit score he deserves for dealing with Bisping and, if issues go his method, successful it. 

“It would not matter to me, however it might be cool if I obtained a little bit little bit of credit score, too, for stepping up and accepting the battle,” Gastelum advised MMAjunkie.com this week. “This will probably be my third or fourth former champion that I’ve fought within the final 12 months. I do not suppose individuals have been giving me credit score for the fights I have been taking within the final 12 months. This will probably be my third important occasion in a row. I am simply driving the wave.”

Gastelum, 26, snapped a powerful three-fight streak in July when he was submitted by former champion Chris Weidman and is not certain whether or not middleweight or a return to 170 will probably be in his future after Bisping.

Prediction

Regardless of the brief turnaround, Bisping enters the bout with clear benefits in expertise and dimension, with each a four-inch peak and attain edge. Contemplating Gastelum is a blown-up welterweight who depends on his pace at 185 kilos, that might play a key half in how the battle performs out. 

Neither is way of a risk to regulate or end the battle on the bottom as Gastelum’s wrestling will probably be canceled out by Bisping’s traditionally stingy takedown protection. This battle will probably be received and misplaced within the standup. Ought to Gastelum look as explosive as he did in ending Vitor Belfort in March (a victory that was modified to a no contest when Gastelum examined optimistic for marijuana), this could possibly be a harmful outing for Bisping. However it’s not that straightforward to foretell. 

Bisping stays a superb kickboxer who is aware of learn how to management house. He has additionally maintained a really excessive tempo and skill stage regardless of closing in on 40. The identical stubbornness that compelled Bisping to simply accept this problem has additionally helped him intestine out shut fights lately. 

The previous champion’s sturdiness ought to serve him nicely right here, making it a robust probability the battle goes the gap. It would probably come down as to whether the grind of a brief turnaround and a visit midway throughout the globe finally ends up affecting Bisping negatively. Contemplating consistency has been the calling card of his profession and an incredible cause for his success as a striker, it makes it laborious to guess in opposition to him. 

Choose: Bisping through majority choice

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UFC Pittsburgh 2017 live stream: Start time, TV schedule, and how to watch Rockhold vs. Branch online

Luke Rockhold and David Branch will headline the UFC’S return to Pittsburgh on Saturday. We have all you need to know to watch on TV and online.

Luke Rockhold lost his UFC Middleweight Championship to Michael Bisping in his last outing, and he’ll try and get back in the win column by beating David Branch at UFC Pittsburgh on Saturday.

Rockhold and Branch will be headlining the card, which is a free event provided you have access to Fox Sports 1. The card begins with preliminary bouts at 8 p.m. ET and then continues with the main card at 10 p.m., both on FS1. Live streaming can be had online at Fox Sports GO for both the prelims an the main card.

Since joining the UFC as the former Strikeforce Middleweight Champion, Rockhold has lost just twice: To Vitor Belfort in his debut and to Bisping in his last outing. He’s also beaten Bisping once before, and owns wins over Lyoto Machida and Chris Weidman on top of that.

He’s fought only the best, and Branch, while successful in his UFC debut against Krzysztov Jotko in May, has a long way to earn that kind of respect. Branch does own some quality wins in his career, beating Yushin Okami and Vinny Magalhães en route to a 21-3 record, but Rockhold will be his toughest test yet.

The card also features Hector Lombard, who has struggled since joining the UFC. He’s lost his last three fights, to Neil Magny, Dan Henderson and Johny Hendricks. Those are some of the best in the company, but he needs to get back in the win column against Anthony Smith on Saturday.

Mike Perry, a 10-1 fighter, was originally expected to face Thiago Alves on the card. Alves was pulled from the card, however, and Perry will instead face promotional newcomer Alex Reyes. A strong preliminary card also features the aforementioned Jotko against the tough Uriah Hall.

Below is all you need to know to watch on Saturday, as well as the full official fight card.

More UFC Pittsburgh coverage

All Times Eastern

How to watch UFC Pittsburgh

Time: Prelims at 8 p.m.; main card at 10 p.m.

Location: PPG Paints Arena, Pittsburgh, Penn.

TV: Fox Sports 1

Online Streaming: UFC Fight Pass, UFC.TV, UFC YouTube, Fox Sports GO

UFC Pittsburgh full fight card

FS1 Main Card

Middleweight: Luke Rockhold vs. David Branch Welterweight: Mike Perry vs. Alex Reyes Middleweight: Hector Lombard vs. Anthony Smith Lightweight: Gregor Gillespie vs. Jason Gonzalez Welterweight: Kamaru Usman vs. Sérgio Moraes Heavyweight: Justin Ledet vs. Zu Anyanwu

F1 Preliminary Card

Lightweight: Tony Martin vs. Olivier Aubin-Mercier Heavyweight: Anthony Hamilton vs. Daniel Spitz Middleweight: Krzysztof Jotko vs. Urijah Hall Lightweight: Jason Saggo vs. Gilbert Burns

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weidman vs gastelum tickets

Vitor Vieira Belfort (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈvitoʁ viˈejɾɐ bɛwˈfɔʁ]; born April 1, 1977) is a Brazilian mixed martial artist currently competing in the Middleweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He is the former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, UFC 12 Heavyweight Tournament Champion, and the Cage Rage World Light Heavyweight Champion. As of June 16, 2017, he is the #11 contender in official UFC Middleweight rankings.

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