Sunday, June 29, 2014

6/29/14

This weekend of MMA was dominated by the Ultimate Fighting Championship. The UFC held two events on Saturday; One took place in New Zealand while the other went down in Texas.

UFC Fight Night 43 saw a lot of talented fighters from Austrailia and New Zealand compete. Many of those fighters saw success in their bouts but the two that fought in the co-main and main event suffered the taste of defeat. Heavyweight Jared Rosholt put a stop to the Soa Palelei hype train by getting a hard fought unanimous decision win over him. The main event featured two fighters who were on losing streaks. Fortunately for Middleweight Nate Marquardt, he snapped that losing streak with a armbar victory over James Te Huna. The armbar came at 4:34 of round 1. Te Huna has now lost three fights in a row.

UFC Fight Night 44 was the night of decision wins. Middleweight Cezar Ferreira won an exciting fight by decision over Andrew Craig. Welterweight Kelvin Gastelum, despite missing weight, won a decision over Nicholas Musoke. In the main event Featherweight Cub Swanson won a close decision over Jeremy Stephens moving his win streak to six fights. 

Following the signing of new President Scott Coker, Bellator has released 19 fighters. Eric Prindle, Carlos Eduardo, Anthony Leone, Nathan Coy and Rodrigo Lima were some of the more notable fighters released.

The UFC has officially signed a development deal with Vale Tudo Japan which is run by SHOOTO. The deal will see fighters in the lighter weight classes (Bantamweight and Featherweight) compete to earn a spot in the UFC. The competition is easily comparable to The Ultimate Fighter. 


Sunday, June 22, 2014

6/22/14

With its second event in the span of two weeks, Legacy Fighting Championship headed down to Louisiana this past Friday for Legacy FC 32. The main event featured undefeated Brazilian prospect Thomas Almeida against fellow countryman Caio Machado at Bantamweight. Almeida had no problem finishing Machado in the first round with nasty body shots. The TKO victory came at 4:17. Almeida is now at 17-0.

WSOF 10 saw three titles on the line. The first of which was the Women's Strawweight belt which was successfully defended by Jessica Aguilar. Aguilar dominated her opponent Emi Fujino leading to an easy unanimous decision. Next up was the Featherweight title. With crisp striking and slick submission defense, Rick Glenn was able to out work then champion Georgi Karakhanyan. After severally damaging Karakhanyan's ribs in round 1, Rick Glenn was awarded the belt via TKO (doctor's stoppage) between rounds to become the new champion. The main event saw the first ever WSOF Middleweight title up for grabs. David Branch reached that belt faster then anyone could have imagined. Branch defeated Jesse Taylor via D'arce choke at 1:41 of round 1 becoming the first ever Middleweight champion in the promotions history.

Former UFC Welterweight fighter Paul Daley's next fight will take place at BAMMA 16 against Igor Fernandes. The fight will serve as the main event.

Earlier this week Bellator announced the departure of president Bjorn Rebney and executive Tim Danaher. Former president and founder of Strikeforce Scott Coker will take over as Bellator president.

A Lightweight fight between contenders Benson Henderson and Rafael Dos Anjos will headline UFC Fight Night 49.

Sunday, June 15, 2014

6/15/14

Once again Legacy Fighting Championship headed down to the Lone Star State; This time for Legacy FC 31. Damacio Page made a successful Flyweight debut against Elias Garcia by defeating him via arm triangle at 2:47 of round 3. The main event saw William Bush defend his Middleweight belt for the second time. Bush defeated Alfonso Gonzales by arm triangle at 4:19 of round 1.

At ONE FC 17 Flyweight Adriano Moraes earned a win over Kosuke Suzuki by sinking in a arm triangle at 1:25 of round 3.

UFC 174 saw the return of Heavyweight Andrei Arlovski. However, Arlovski's performance was not too exciting to say the least. He earned a split decision win over Brendan Schaub. Welterweight contender Rory MacDonald put together a great game plan and followed it perfectly leading to a dominating decision win over Tyron Woodley. And in the main event Demetrious "Mighty Mouse" Johnson defended his Flyweight belt yet again. Johnson out worked Ali Bagautinov in all aspects of the sport in route to a unanimous decision.

The UFC will hold its first ever Women's Strawweight fight at UFC Fight Night 45. The fight will take place between Claudia Gadelha and Tina Lahdemaki.

Jon Fitch's opponent has been switched yet again. His WSOF 11 fight will now be against fellow Welterweight Dennis Hallman. This following an injury to Josh Burkman.

MFC Middleweight champion and TUF alum, Sam Alvey has signed with the UFC.


Sunday, June 8, 2014

6/8/14

Where to begin? Five major MMA events went down this past weekend, and that's only counting the major ones. It was like an MMA paradise if I do say so myself. Kicking things off was Bellator 121, marking the first event in their "Summer Series". Both Kelly Anundson and Egidijus Valavicius stamped their spot in the semifinals of the Light Heavyweight tournament. Joining them was Philipe Lins who won his main event fight against Austin Heidlage by rear naked choke at 2:45 of round 1.

At RFA 15 former TUF contestant Kevin Casey won the Middleweight title by knocking out Andrew Sanchez at 2:30 of round 1.

Cage Warriors held two events for their "Super Saturday". Notable fighters such as Rosi Sexton, Ben Alloway and Bruno Carvalho competed. In the first main event Jack Hermansson defeated Norman Paraisy to claim the vacant Middleweight title. Hermansson won via rear naked choke at 4:49 of round 4. The second main event of the day saw Stevie Ray defeat Curt Warburton by split decision to win the vacant Lightweight belt.

XFCi 5 saw several of their tournaments end with numerous champions crowned. The main event, being one of the only fights on the card not a tournament final, saw Featherweight Junior Assuncao dominate Alejandro Solano in a clear unanimous decision win.

UFC Fight Night 42 finished things off for the weekend of MMA. Flyweight John Dodson earned a somewhat controversial win over John Moraga. The fight was stopped at the end of round 2 by the doctor following a Moraga broken nose. The fight was declared a TKO for Dodson. Even more controversial was the co-main event. Lightweight Diego Sanchez got the hometown nod with a split decision win over Ross Pearson. The main event saw former Lightweight champion Benson Henderson finish Rustam Khabilov in the fourth round via rear naked choke at 1:16.

Invicta FC has officially signed a content deal with UFC Fight Pass.

Alexander Gustafsson will take on Jon Jones for the Light Heavyweight title in a much anticipated rematch. The fight will take place at UFC 178.

Sunday, June 1, 2014

6/1/14

The weekend of MMA started off with Ben Askren making his promotional debut with ONE FC. Askren, the former Bellator Welterweight champion, took on Bakhtiyar Abbasov in a fight that served as the main event of ONE FC 16. The accomplished wrestler had no problem handling Abbasov and submitted him via arm triangle at 4:21 of round 1.

This past weekend the UFC did something that they had never done previously. The promotion held two events in the same day. The first of those two events was UFC Fight Night 41 in Germany. In the main event Middleweight veteran Gegard Mousasi made quick work of Mark Munoz. Mousasi won by rear naked choke at 3:57 of round 1.

The second event of the day was the TUF Brazil 3 Finale. Warlley Alves dominated Marcio Alexandre Jr in all aspects of the fight and finally won in round 3 via guillotine at :25 to become the TUF Brazil Middleweight winner. Antonio Carlos Jr defeated Vitor Miranda by unanimous decision to become the TUF Brazil Heavyweight winner. The main event saw Fabio Maldonado stepping in for the injured Junior Dos Santos to take on Stipe Miocic in a Heavyweight contest. The fight lasted for only :35 with Miocic landing some brutal strikes that led to a TKO victory.

A Welterweight fight between Matt Brown and Robbie Lawler will headline UFC on FOX 12 and also serve as a number one contender fight.

Heavyweight legends Mirko "Cro Cop" and Satoshi Ishii will fight at an Inoki Genome Federation event on August 23.

Following the withdrawal of Wanderlei Silva, Chael Sonnen will now fight Vitor Belfort in a Middleweight contest at UFC 175.