Sunday, July 27, 2014

7/28/14

RFA 16 kicked the MMA festivities off this past weekend. The main event saw the Heavyweight strap on the line for the first time in the promotions history. Josh Copeland was the one who answered the call. The undefeated Copeland landed heavy strikes to put away Jan Jorgensen at 4:49 of round 1 by KO.

Bellator 122 was the promotions final event of the summer but the first under new president Scott Coker. Heavy handed Liam McGeary moved on to the Light Heavyweight final by TKOing Egidijus Valavicius at 2:10 of round 1. McGeary will take on Kelly Anundson in the finals. Brandon Halsey won the season 10 Middleweight tournament by defeating Brett Cooper via armbar at 2:09 of round 1. The main event saw Andrey Koreshkov win his second Welterweight tournament. This time Koreshkov completely dominated Adam McDonough with striking on his way to an easy decision win.

At UFC on FOX 12, Anthony "Rumble" Johnson continued his impressive winning streak at Light Heavyweight by earning a brutal KO fueled by upper cuts on Antonio Rogerio Nogueira. The KO came at just :44 of round 1. The main event saw Welterweight Robbie Lawler put a stop to the seven fight win streak of Matt Brown. In a fight of the night performance, Lawler was able to use a combination of body shots and head strikes to win a close decision. With this win Lawler is scheduled to face Johny Hendricks in a rematch for the Welterweight belt.

Bellator has signed Welterweights Paul "Semtex" Daley and Melvin Manhoef.

Chris Weidman will next defend his UFC Middleweight belt against Vitor Belfort on December 6.

Following a meeting with the Nevada State Athletic Commision, Chael Sonnen has been suspended indefinitely for two years.

With Alexander Gustafsson suffering an injury, Daniel Cormier will be Jon Jones next opponent for the UFC Light Heavyweight title.

Welterweight Nick Diaz has signed a three fight contract with the UFC.

The Chad Mendes vs Jose Aldo II Featherweight title fight has been rescheduled for UFC 179 in Brazil.

Sunday, July 20, 2014

7/21/14

The first of two fight nights went down this past Wednesday for the UFC. Lightweight Edson Barboza continued his impressive streak by utilizing crisp striking. Barboza defeated Evan Dunham via TKO at 3:06 of round 1. Speaking of impressive streaks, Lightweight Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone won himself another post fight bonus by knocking out Jim Miller with a head kick at 3:31 of round 2.

The Featherweight belt was on the line at Legacy FC 33. The defending champion, Leonard Garcia, was completely outworked by challenger Damon Jackson. Jackson earned a quick take down and worked his way to an arm triangle at 1:32 of round 1. Jackson is now 9-0.

The second of two fight nights for the UFC was held in Ireland and it couldn't have been any louder. Welterweight Gunnar Nelson came back from a slow start to defeat Zak Cummings by rear naked choke at 4:48 of round 2. The main event saw Irish native Conor McGregor win over Diego Brandao. McGregor won by TKO at 4:05 of round 1.

Former UFC Light Heavyweight and Heavyweight fighter Brandon Vera has signed with ONE FC.

UFC Flyweight champion Demetrious "Mighty Mouse" Johnson will defend his title against Chris Cariaso at UFC 177.

Sunday, July 6, 2014

7/6/14

It was a big weekend for World Series of Fighting as they made their NBC debut. Welterweight Jon Fitch won in his usual fashion, by unanimous decision, this time over Dennis Hallman. The main event featured Justin Gaethje defending his Lightweight belt against "Notorious" Nick Newell. Gaethje remained undefeated and defended his belt by TKOing Newell at 3:09 of round 2.

Two titles were on the line at UFC 175. Before those fights occured, Middleweight Uriah Hall showed everyone what it means to be a true warrior. Hall, after breaking his foot in the first round, went on to defeat Thiago Santos by unanimous decision. The first of the two title fights saw the Women's Bantamweight belt up for grabs for a mere sixteen seconds. Champion Ronda Rousey made quick work of challenger Alexis Davis by landing her signature judo throw followed by vicious ground and pound. The KO came at :16 of round 1. In the main event, Chris Weidman successfully defended his Middleweight belt by decision despite a late serge from Lyoto Machida.

The TUF 19 finale gave us the end of what many are considering to be the worst season of The Ultimate Fighter. Eddie Gordon claimed the TUF Middleweight tournament final by defeating Dhiego Lima via TKO at 1:11 of round 1. Corey Anderson won the TUF Light Heavyweight tournament final by dominating Matt Van Buren on his way to a TKO win at 1:01 of round 1. The main event saw coaches BJ Penn and Frankie Edgar face off. Edgar defeated Penn for a third time, this time by TKO at 4:16 of round 3. Following the loss Penn announced his retirement. He was one of only two men to hold UFC belts in two divisions.

Both Shinya Aoki and Nobutatsu Suzuki will fight for titles at ONE FC 19 which takes place in Dubai. Aoki will take on Kamal Shalorus for the Featherweight belt while Suzuki will try to defend his Welterweight belt against former Bellator champion Ben Askren.

T.J. Dillashaw and Renan Barao will rematch for the Bantamweight belt at UFC 177.

Former UFC champion Pat Miletich has been inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame.