On the heels of his beloved first fight with Leonard Garcia, Chang Sung “The Korean Zombie” Jung saw his momentum come to a screeching halt with a knockout loss to George Roop. The man who had the MMA world buzzing was, suddenly, just a regular guy in UFC’s featherweight division. UFC naturally moved towards...
At last weekend’s UFC on FOX, the leading mixed martial arts promotion lucked out with both key bouts–Chael Sonnen vs. Michael Bisping and Rashad Evans vs. Phil Davis–ending in favor of the more-marketable title challenger. That luck was not present at UFC 143. Ahead of the show, a potential Georges St. Pierre vs. Nick...
Few in the history of mixed martial arts can claim a year more dominant than Jon Jones’ 2011. Jones, whose long path to the Light Heavyweight Championship was put on a fast track due to injuries this spring, has simply been unstoppable. After dominating Ryan Bader, he moved onto Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, who he...
On a night on which UFC made its broadcast network debut with a definitive TKO decision, boxing revealed the extent to which the judges can cause controversy with their decision. During the third fight between Juan Manuel Marquez and Manny Pacquiao, all indications seemed to be that Marquez was winning the fight. He was...
Cain Velasquez is no longer undefeated. The reigning UFC Heavyweight Champion entered Saturday’s FOX special with the belt, but after just a minute and four seconds, that was no longer the case. Junior dos Santos used his striking advantage to score a 1:04 TKO victory over Cain, becoming UFC’s top dog in the process....
On a night with two title fights, one of which featured an incredible comeback performance, it was a non-title match that generated the most news: Chael Sonnen vs. Brian Stann. And the buzz is not over the fight itself–the one-sided affair went as most expected, with Sonnen using his wrestling to dominate Stann until...
Someone finally successfully defended the UFC Light Heavyweight Title, ending the belt’s multi-year stint as a “hot potato” in one of UFC’s most important weight classes. The fact that Jon Jones’ victory over Quinton “Rampage” Jackson took more than three rounds might suggest it was a war, but the reality is that Jones dominated...
UFC Champion Jon Jones and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson are preparing to enter the Octagon after a card that has seen its share of big moments and dreary moments. Highlights included Josh Koscheck’s knockout victory over Matt Hughes, which literally came at the last second of the first round, and Nate Diaz’s one-sided submission win...
The post-finale debut of “Ultimate Fighter” winner Tony Ferguson highlighted UFC 135′s undercard, which got the crowd warmed up as the hours near on Jon Jones vs. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. As with most UFC preliminary lineups, there were some exciting knockouts (case-in-point, the James Te Huna vs. Ricardo Romero fight) and some absolute snooze-fests...
Floyd Mayweather remained undefeated with a crushing knockout victory over Victor Ortiz Saturday, although this one came with a significant degree of controversy. The two-punch combination that dropped Ortiz in round four will be deemed a “cheap shot” by some, as Mayweather struck when Ortiz was clearly not expecting an assault from his top-ranked...
Hoping to reap residual ratings rewards from Saturday’s big Floyd Mayweather vs. Victor Ortiz boxing pay-per-view, UFC aired a “Fight Night” special on Spike TV Saturday. It ended with Jake Ellenberger emerging as the real deal at welterweight. On paper, he looked to have a great shot against his opponent, top five welterweight Jake...
Daniel Cormier has arrived! The former Olympian and heavyweight prospect made a big splash Saturday, dominating top ten heavyweight Antonio “Big Foot” Silva en route to a first round stoppage. The win thrust Cormier, a replacement for Alistair Overeem, into the finals of Strikeforce’s Heavyweight Grand Prix. There he will meet Josh Barnett, who...
Another contender. Another win for Anderson Silva. UFC’s longest-running champion made the accomplished Yushin Okami look mediocre in yet another successful Middleweight Championship defense Saturday. And this time it took place in his home nation of Brazil. The Rio-based UFC 134 show saw Silva improve his UFC record to 14-0. Perhaps more importantly for...
The cursed UFC 133 card finally took place this weekend in Philadelphia, and the twice-switched main-event kept Evans on the path to another title shot. Originally eyed as a possible destination for Jon Jones vs. Rashad Evans, the main-event was changed to Phil Davis vs. Evans when an injury kept the Light Heavyweight Champ...
It will not go down as Strikeforce’s most exciting overall card by a longshot, but its main-event did provide a compelling conclusion. Saturday’s event built towards a long-hyped Dan Henderson vs. Fedor Emelianenko fight. Emelianenko, entering the fight on the first losing streak of his career, was looking to prove he could still make...
Again solidifying his spot as one of the top fighters in the world, UFC Bantamweight Champion Dominick Cruz outpointed Urijah Faber to retain his title at UFC 132. The elusive fighter did not embarrass the “California Kid,” but his speed and unorthodox style definitely prevented Faber from establishing comfort. The result was Faber’s inability...
A critically-panned battle between Matt Brown and John Howard in the middle of the UFC on Versus 4 card was not enough to prevent the show from making a massive impact. In the epitome of a barn burner main-event, heavyweights Cheick Kongo and Pat Barry concluded their bout with one of the most memorable...
He was originally the next-in-line for a crack at Cain Velasquez’s UFC Heavyweight Championship, but with the champ injured, Junior dos Santos agreed to a number one contendership bout with Brock Lesnar. They hyped the fight over the course of an “Ultimate Fighter” season, but as the season came to a close, news broke...
When Kenny Florian first emerged in the UFC, he was a finalist in the Middleweight Division of the inaugural “Ultimate Fighter” season. He soon moved down to Welterweight, and then became a title contender at Lightweight. Yet he simply could not grab the belt from then-champion BJ Penn, and recent title challenger Gray Maynard...
Established middleweight contenders Demian Maia and Mark Munoz were booked to battle in the middle of Saturday’s UFC 131 card. While Maia’s true talent is his high-level jiu-jitsu, the wrestling power of Munoz threatened to prevent Maia from gaining the desired ground advantage. That meant that his improving striking could be put to the...
