UFC 153: Silva vs. Bonnar Main Card Recap

Silva finishing Bonnar (photo by MMA Fighting)

This event that was almost a weak catastrophe went on to become one of the best events in MMA history. From beginning to end this event held fantastic submissions, slugfests, and several “Fight of the Night” performances. The undercard and PPV main card were packed with them. We can only hope that every event is like this.

We also learned two things: Anderson Silva is not a human and Fernando Yamasaki is the worst referee in MMA not named Kim Winslow.

Demian Maia vs. Rick Story: Ladies and gentleman, a new title contender at 170 pounds has arrived. Before his drop down to welterweight, Maia was trying way too hard to try and prove his striking improvement. It started to lose him a lot of fights. But since his drop down to 170, Maia has gone back to what earned him a middleweight title shot: Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. He ran out at Story and took him down instantly. Story tried his best to not be taken down but it was futile, Maia took him back down about three different times. After another attempt at getting to his feet, Maia took his back and sunk in a rear naked choke. Story started to defend well so Maia changed it to a neck crank. Possibly the most painful neck crank that I have ever seen, and that’s saying a lot considering that the neck crank is one of the most painful submissions. He even seemed to make Story’s brains shoot out his nose. Seriously, blood squirted out his nose right before he tapped.

Possible matchups for Maia: As I just said, Maia has become a new title contender at 170. He just easily submitted the guy who beat both Johny Hendricks and Thiago Alves. That surely adds a lot to his stock. Another fighter that also became a new contender in this card after some adversity beforehand is Jon Fitch. The guy looked fantastic at UFC 153 against the extremely hyped Erick Silva. It would show how Fitch could do against one of the best pure grapplers in MMA. It would also show if Maia can take down one of the best wrestlers in the UFC.

Possible matchups for Rick Story: This was a devastating loss for Story. He once had an enormous hype train going but was derailed by both Martin Kampann and Charlie Brenneman. If he wants to stay in the UFC, he desperately needs a win but he still has the skills as a mid-tier welterweight. A man in a somewhat similar position as Story is Erick Silva. Silva’s hype train was thrown off the tracks by Jon Fitch in one of the best fights this year. This fight could definitely produce some fireworks.

Phil Davis vs. Wagner Prado: This fight wasn't surprising in the least. Prado comes out to strike but Phil shuts him down with some amazing wrestling. His takedowns were brutal. They knocked the wind out of me just from watching. Eventually about midway through the second round, Phil locked up an ultra tight anaconda choke that made Prado almost instantly tap. Although it doesn't add to his stock, it was an extremely impressive performance and it made me happy to see Phil go back to his wrestling.

Possible matchups for Davis: Shortly after his win over Prado, Vinny Magalhaes tweeted that he would like to fight Phil next. And honestly, I love this fight. It would be an amazing grappling match between two of the best pure grapplers in the UFC. The winner of that fight would deserve a really good, top light heavyweight.

Possible matchups for Prado: With a bizarre UFC record of 0-1 1 NC, Prado is in desperate need of a win. I see potential so I want another difficult challenge for him. Fabio Maldonado is also a fighter who is in desperate need of a win following his loss on Saturday to Glover Teixeira. Also, Dana announced himself that Maldonado was NOT going to be released following this third straight loss.

Jon Fitch vs. Erick Silva: Jon Fitch was in a FOTY candidate. And no, there are no typos there. This fight was pure awesome. Silva comes out strong like he does most fights and Fitch seemed ready. He almost took his back but Silva escaped. The first round was mostly Fitch grinding Silva out. The second round was awesome though. They were scrambling a lot in the beginning and Silva landed one of the sneakiest sweeps that I have ever seen. He took Fitch's back and locked in an extremely tight rear naked choke that was seemingly going to end the fight. Fitch is known as one of the guys with the best choke defense, and he showed why. He then turned into Silva's guard and almost locked in a really tight armbar in the closing seconds of the round. The third round was completely different from the two earlier rounds. Fitch took him down and just demolished Silva for five minutes. He completely broke Silva and ended up winning a very impressive unanimous decision win. This as an absolutely devastating loss for Silva but he still showed great promise. He is definitely going to be a future title contender.

Glover Teixeira vs. Fabio Maldonado: The first round of this fight is quite possibly the most one sided beating that I have ever seen in a fight that wasn’t stopped. Teixeira rocked Maldonado almost instantly and mounted him. What followed soon after almost seemed like a live murder. Teixeira landed so much ground and pound that there was probably about five different times that I was yelling at the ref to stop the fight. But with about 30 seconds to go, Maldonado actually rocked Teixeira himself. He landed a solid left hook that stiffened up Teixeira's legs and wobbled him. The second was much of the same as the first but not as brutal. The doctor wisely stopped the fight in between rounds. Maldonado didn't even want the fight stopped. The guy should be nicknamed "The Brazilian Zombie". I think it's pretty fitting.

Possible matchups for Teixeira: Before this fight, Glover was going to fight Rampage. But Rampage got injured a few weeks before hand. Both guys still want the fight and so do the fans.

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira: I can't even tell you how happy I was that Nogueira submitted Dave Herman. The guy always talks about how BJJ doesn't work, but fortunately, it does. Nog even almost knocked out Herman in the second round. Nog did try multiple submission attempts that didn't work but I believe that he was just simply trying to submit him too quickly. But the weirdest part of this whole fight was how Herman seemingly didn’t even know how to fight. He just stood there for a solid five seconds with his arm out on multiple occasions. It was almost annoying to watch. He just simply isn't UFC caliber. Off to Bellator for him.

Possible matchups for Nogueira: Now, The larger of the Nogueira brothers is clearly on his way to retirement. But he just simply won't lose twice in a row. Now one fight that I really want to see, but it's kind of a stretch, is the third installment of his series of fights with Josh Barnett. Two legends fighting is always fun.

Anderson Silva vs. Stephan Bonnar: Bizarre is the perfect word to sum up the four minutes and forty seconds that took place in the main event. Bonnar fought smart and instantly engaged with the middleweight champ. Once they broke, Silva just stood in the same spot with his arms down. Bonnar landed a few punches but Anderson almost dodged them all. Anderson was clearly not trying at all. Bonnar was winning the fight because of this. But the second that Anderson started to "try", he instantly landed a knee to Bonnar's solar plexus and the fight was over. Truly incredible.

Possible matchups for Silva: Near the end of the year at UFC 155, Tim Boestch vs. Chris Weidman will take place. If Michael Bisping doesn't get a title shot after his Brian Stann win, then he should fight the winner of Boestch and Weidman. And the winner of that fight should challenge Anderson.

Possible matchups for Bonnar: Please, PLEASE make Forrest Griffin vs. Stephan Bonnar 3 as a TUF season Dana and Joe. It's all I want.

Main Card Recap here

UFC 153: Silva vs. Bonnar Predictions

Sam’s Picks

Main Card

Anderson Silva vs. Stephan Bonnar: Well, this could very well be the strangest matchup in the history of the modern day UFC. The best of all time against a massive underachiever. My prediction is quite obvious but I want to talk about Bonnar's chances in winning this fight. Silva shouldn't underestimate Bonnar in any way, shape, or form. Bonnar has a lot of power that can knock anyone out at 205 pounds. He also has very underrated grappling skills that if he can back Anderson up, he could possibly take him down. Do I see any of this happening? No, I don't. But I don’t see Anderson knocking him out either = Silva via unanimous decision. My 3^rd pick for FOTN!

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Dave Herman: People are saying that Nogueira's career is over and done with. I think he's almost there, but not quite yet. Sure, he got submitted for the first time in his last fight with Mir, but Nogueira almost knocked him out. He dropped him and started to rain down some ground and pound. Herb Dean yelled at him to not hit the back of the head so be went for the guillotine that lost him the fight. His boxing looked fantastic in that fight and Herman has a very questionable chin. Nogueira will rock him, take his back and submit him = Nogueira via 1st round submission (RNC). My pick for SOTN!

Glover Teixeira vs. Fabio Maldonado: BARNBURNER ALERT - Believe it or not, but this is the fight that I am looking forward to the most. Teixeira is one of the most promising fighters in the UFC today and Maldonado has been in three straight Fight of the Night performances. Maldonado has also been screwed out of two decisions in a row against Igor Pokrajac and Kyle Kingsbury. This fight is going to be an absolute slugfest. Teixeira has the clear ground advantage but the standup is a toss up. Teixeira has the power and Maldonado has the technique. Now I understand why Teixeira is such a favorite heading into this but Maldonado is really being counted out in this fight when he shouldn’t be. He could make a career in the UFC for being so entertaining and showing lots of boxing mastery. But with that being said, Teixeira is going to win this fight in a standup war. This is going to steal the show = Teixeira via unanimous decision. My 1st pick for FOTN!

Jon Fitch vs. Erick Silva: I am extremely excited for this fight and it's for one reason and one reason only: to see what Erick Silva can do against a true elite welterweight. His three performances thus far have been complete domination from beginning to end. But the competition in those fights weren't anywhere near the level of competition that Fitch brings. Fitch is a wrestling powerhouse. Dominating almost all of his fights with his smothering grappling style. And he gets a bad rep from that. I don't think a guy who finds what works best for him and becomes a top guy should change his fighting style just because people say, “BOO”. But he recently said that he has realized that entertainment earns title shots more, and sadly, he's right. But the fact that he said that kind of scares me. I have a bad feeling that he is going to try and make it a scrap and not do what he does best. Silva will destroy him in the standup if he decides to keep it there. But the safe pick is to go with Fitch and not the welterweight phenom = Fitch via unanimous decision.

Phil Davis vs. Wagner Prado: The last fight was bizarre to say the least. Prado was continuously backing Davis up until Phil accidentally threw out a finger and took out a chunk of Prado's eye (not literally) and let me tell you, Prado turned into the incredible hulk when the ref decided to call off the fight. Going into that fight, I didn't give Prado even the slightest chance. I thought Phil would take him down and submit him or smother him for three rounds. Prado started to look really solid before the inadvertent eye poke. I could see him upsetting Davis, but right now, Davis is just way more well rounded when it comes to the ground. I don’t see a submission, but I do see him going for a takedown whenever Prado starts to find his range = Davis via unanimous decision.

Demian Maia vs. Rick Story: Even though Maia’s welterweight debut ended rather abruptly, he still impressed me with the fact that he instantly engaged, trying to go for the takedown. Story has looked awful lately. Hopefully he has changed since his last three performances but if he hasn’t, expect a poor performance. I see a similar fight to Maia’s welterweight debut: instant engagement on the fence, trip takedown, mount, but then a submission = Maia via 1^st round submission.

Rony Jason vs. Sam Sicilia = Jason via unanimous decision. My 2^nd pick for FOTN!

Gleison Tibau vs. Francisco Trinaldo = Tibau via split decision.

Diego Brandao vs. Joey Gambino = Brandao via 1^st round KO. My pick for KOOTN!

Renee Forte vs. Sergio Moraes = Moraes via 3^rd round split decision.

Chris Camozzi vs. Luiz Cane = Cane via split decision.

Reza Madadi vs. Cristiano Marcello = Marcello via 2^nd round submission.

Dave’s Picks

Main Card

Anderson Silva vs. Stephan Bonnar: This easily the most lopsided fight ever put together in the Zuffa era. Don’t get me wrong I love and have much respect for Bonnar but Silva is the best fighter to ever live. The only hope Bonnar has is that Silva takes him lightly and Bonnar sneaks in with a big overhand. Silva has taken opponents he deemed unworthy lightly and put on bad performances; like against Demian Maia and Thales Leites. But in all seriousness this will be a beat-down and no one will be surprised. = Silva by TKO in round 2. My Pick for Fight of the Night! My Pick for KO of the Night!

Dave Herman vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira: This is such a strange fight to me. But it should be a fun one. Big Nog is one of my favorites and has looked great in his last few fights. He is coming off a long layoff after breaking his arm but I think he is ready to go. If Nog is healthy, he should win this fight with more technical striking and a much better ground game. Herman leaves his hands low and Nog does have the power to knock Herman out. Nog has struggled with lanky guys in the past but I think Herman just is not talented enough to win this. = Nog by TKO in round 2.

Fabio Maldonado vs. Glover Teixeira: Fabio has some good boxing but lacks real KO power. Glover, on the other hand, has some massive power. Fabio might have the better technique but he hasn’t looked great lately. Yea, he had a case to say he won against Igor but even still, he looked mediocre. Glover looked fantastic in his debut and the big stage did not seem to faze him at all. I think Glover will land more of the big punches and might be able to finish Fabio. = Glover by unanimous decision.

Jon Fitch vs. Erick Silva: Silva is a beast and has looked like a killer. Fitch is coming off of a devastating 12 second KO at the hands of Johny Hendricks. Silva is fast and has much better striking than Hendricks. If Fitch comes out slow, which is possible due to his long layoff, then he will get blitzed into a coma. But if Fitch comes out and fights like he normally does, he will win because Silva will not be able to handle Fitch’s smothering wrestling style. However, the kicker is that Fitch has stated that he can no longer fight like that because only exciting guys get big fights and more money. If Fitch comes out swinging then he will be eating fists all night. This is a hard one because it is based solely on what style Fitch decides to fight with. But I’m going to go with what I believe is safest which is the AKA wrestling machine. = Fitch by unanimous decision.

Phil Davis vs. Wagner Prado: This is a rematch to their very disappointing match back in August. Prado came out strong and was landing early but then Davis practically ripped Prado’s eye out and the bout was called a No Contest. Many people will probably pick Prado based on how the first fight went. But that was only 1 minute and 28 seconds. Davis is an amazing fighter but his standup needs a ton of work. But I think he learned in the first fight that he can’t stand with Prado and should be able to outwrestle him. However, if Davis stays standing he will most likely be KO’d. But I think Davis is smart enough and will execute the best game plan possible. = Davis by unanimous decision.

Demian Maia vs. Rick Story: This is an interesting fight. Maia’s career has been so up and down recently but his last fight he looked like the Maia of old. He came out strong and took Kim down so hard it cracked a rib. It was short but was a glimpse of what is to come…hopefully. But Story has not looked all that great recently. He had a great run for a while but got crushed two times in a row and then outwrestled a guy that is nowhere near Maia’s level of grappling. Maia will have the advantage on the ground for sure but as long as Story keeps it standing or is in top control he may be OK. Maia’s BJJ is much better when he is on top; which will be hard to do because Story will be the one doing the takedowns. But I think Maia can come out hungry and get the win by out grappling Story. = Maia by unanimous decision.

Prelims

Rony "Jason" Mariano Bezerra vs. Sam Sicilia: Jason by submission in round 2. My Pick for Submission of the Night!

Gleison Tibau vs. Francisco Trinaldo: Tibau by unanimous decision.

Diego Brandao vs. Joey Gambino: Brandao by TKO in round 1.

Renee Forte vs. Sergio Moraes: Moraes by unanimous decision.

Chris Camozzi vs. Luiz Cane: Cane by split decision

Reza Madadi vs. Cristiano Marcello: Marcello by split decision.

MMA Light Heavyweight Rankings: September Edition

As we at CR continue our rankings, we head into one of the most stacked divisions in MMA led by the polarizing Jon Jones: light heavyweight. The weight class is filled with legends and very promising prospects that could be champions for a long time. Let’s check it out.

10. Rampage Jackson - Rampage is an interesting man, to say the least. But let’s not focus on the negative but rather the positive. He is one of the best fighters of all time. I don’t like the guy, but it’s true, how can you deny it? He was a Pride legend and is also a UFC legend. If it weren’t for his poor relationship with Dana, he would be a shoe-in for the Hall-of-Fame.

Photo va MMAJunkie.com

9. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira - The smaller of the MMA legend twins that are the Nogueira brothers has been rocky since entering the UFC. He entered with a dominating TKO victory over Luiz Cane and followed with a very controversial win over Jason Brilz. He ended up losing to two wrestling powerhouses in Ryan Bader and Phil Davis. But with his last win via 1^st round destruction over Tito Ortiz; he’s looking to make it towards a title shot.

8. Ryan Bader - “Darth” is an awesome wrestler. He reminds of Chuck Liddell with his great wrestling and incredible overhand right. Although he was absolutely destroyed by Lyoto Machida in his last fight, his last win over Rampage still has him up there as a top guy.

Photo via MMAWeekly.com

7. Phil Davis - “Mr. Wonderful” is still one of the most promising fighters in the UFC. His first two fights under the Zuffa banner were a dominating decision over Brian Stann and a first round submission over Alexander Gustafsson. He then followed that with wins over Rodney Wallace, Tim Boetsch, and ‘Lil Nogueira. Despite his boring decision loss to Rashad Evans, he will still be challenging for the title in the next two years.

Photo by MMAJunkie.com

6. Alexander Gustafsson - Speaking of Mr. Gustafsson, since that loss to “Mr. Wonderful”, he has become a star in the UFC and one of the top guys to beat Jon Jones. His standup is vicious and his ground game underrated, which was shown in his Matt Hamill win. His next fight against Shogun is definitely a number one contenders match.

5. Mauricio Rua - Shogun is an awesome fighter. He is the perfect example of a Pride fighter. Always fighting to the bitter end and when he has the chance to finish, he finishes brutally. I truly hope he is inducted into the Hall-of-Fame and a win over Gustafsson could cement that.

4. Lyoto Machida – For those of you who don’t know, Lyoto Machida is my favorite fighter currently fighting (my all time being Cro Cop). His last win over Ryan Bader is a perfect example why. He is so amazing to watch, simply mesmerizing. He dodges and the opponent misses by an inch, he then knocks you out instantly. It’s truly incredible. There are rumors circulating that he and Dan Henderson will be fighting in a 1 contenders match.

3. Dan Henderson – Henderson is another one of the perfect examples of a Pride fighter. His last fight with Shogun is one of the greatest fights of all time and will most likely be in the top-3 fights of all time, forever, quite honestly. If Dan Henderson isn’t inducted into the Hal-of-Fame, there shall be a riot, and if there isn’t one, I will start one. The guy is a natural middleweight and knocked out the greatest heavyweight of all time (Fedor) in the first round. I mean, that’s pretty ridiculous.

Photo by MMAJunkie.com

2. Rashad Evans – What makes Rashad ranked over Dan is the fact that he has done the best against Jon Jones. He won the first round in most people’s books and went to a decision. His only other loss is to Lyoto Machida and has beaten so many top contenders recently its crazy. Rashad is also one of the most well rounded fighters in MMA. A drop down to 185 could prove to be an amazing choice.

1. Jon Jones – Joe Rogan said it perfectly; Jon Jones could very well be the greatest talent we have ever seen in the UFC. No one has been able to hurt him. The worst anyone has done was when Machida had him backpedaling twice in the first round. Sure, he’s cocky, but he has a reason to be.

So what do you guys think? Let us know in the comments on what you either agreed or disagreed on.

UFC on Fox 4 Prelim Recap

The star of the prelims, John Moraga finishes Ulysses Gomez.
Photo by MMAWeekly.com

The fourth event that the UFC has held was the most underwhelming on paper leading up to it. It ended up as one of the better events the sport has had in some time. With all of the main card fights being finished and two of them being absolute wars, the card was an absolute success. Not only is this the type of event that you would show to nonbelievers of the sport, but also it just happened to be shown on one of the most watched channels in the world. Joe Silva and Sean Shelby knew what they were doing with the matchups on this card.

Ulysses Gomez vs. John Moraga: Moraga came into this fight as a decent underdog. Gomez was ranked in the top 10 at 125 and has some great BJJ, but Moraga seemed much faster and much more powerful as he stuffed all of Gomez’ takedowns and eventually finished him with a beautiful combo of uppercuts and elbows. Moraga is the real deal.

Possible matchups for Moraga: His original opponent for this fight was Ian McCall, which confused a lot of people at the time. Now, after this performance, I would absolutely love to see that fight, because I believe that Moraga will be challenging for the title sooner rather than later.

Possible matchups for Gomez: When the flyweight division was originally added, people wanted Gomez in as soon as possible. His debut was a huge disappointment but he still is a top-15 flyweight. Josh Ferguson still hasn’t been officially released by the UFC and I’m sure that Gomez is itching for a rebound fight.

Manny Gamburyan vs. Michihiro Omigawa: This fight was great. Omigawa came out very strong in the first and even rocked Manny with some of his powerful short punches. Gamburyan came back, though, and almost finished Omigawa himself. The fight was very back and forth and Gamburyan ultimately took the unanimous decision, leading to the very likely release of Michihiro Omigawa.

Possible matchups for Gamburyan: Manny is still a very solid fighter with some of the best Judo at 145 pounds. Him and both Darren Elkins have wins over Omigawa and the winner would certainly get a solid step up in competition.

Phil De Fries vs. Oli Thompson: This fight’s first round was horribly sloppy and terribly boring as it was reminiscent of the infamous Cheick Kongo/Shawn Jordan fight. De Fries eventually rocked Thompson badly and finished the fight with a face crank in the 2nd round. With Thompson now 0-2 in the UFC, he will most likely be cut, as both his losses were finishes as well.

Possible matchups for De Fries: Shawn Jordan is coming off of a loss and they are both two of the bigger prospects in the heavyweight division. A win for either man would be huge.

Rani Yahya vs. Josh Grispi: Never, have I ever seen a bizarre nickname more apt to a fighter. Josh Grispi was once considered to be the next big thing, he even had a title fight lined up against Jose Aldo in what was going to be the first ever featherweight title fight. Once Aldo hurt his neck, Grispi has never been the same. He lost to both Dustin Poirier (UD) and George Roop (TKO). People were scratching their heads at just how quickly his career disintegrated right in front of our eyes. His nickname is “The fluke”, have you ever heard of such a perfect nickname? Anyway, Rani Yahya proved to us why he has one of the best ground games in all of MMA. He choked out the former number 1 contender with a north/south choke that wasn’t even fully locked in. It was slick, and beautiful. Grispi is most likely gone after losing 3 in a row.

Possible matchups for Yahya: Rani Yahya is one of the more underrated fighters in the UFC. A lot of people were picking Grispi, and I personally thought that was just plain crazy. Grispi has some of the worst fight IQ in the UFC and it was shown as he threw a kick at Yahya when he should have just boxed with him. Hacran Dias is one of the more hyped fighters presently in the UFC and Yahya would show us just how good Dias truly is.

Phil Davis vs. Wagner Prado: Prado was looking very good against a top 10 light heavyweight. He was backing Davis up when Phil accidently scraped Prado’s eye with his finger. The ref then stopped the fight when Prado said he was seeing double, even though Prado can’t really speak English. It was really disappointing because Prado was looking solid and it was absolutely heartbreaking as he was screaming “WHY?!” at the top of his lungs as he watched his months of work and his dream get flushed down the toilet in a no contest.

Possible matchups for Prado and Davis: Looks like that toilet is giving it back to Prado. The rematch is already being set up for UFC on FX 5.

Cole Miller vs. Nam Phan: This fight would have been FOTN on most other cards, and yet it came in 3^rd. These guys put on a war for 3 rounds with some beautiful boxing, mainly on the part of Phan. He showed some of the best boxing combinations that I have seen in a really long time in the UFC. I was shocked by the split decision. I thought that it was a very clear 29-28 for Phan.

Possible matchups for Phan: Nam Phan is highly underrated, his performance Saturday further proved just how good Jimy Hettes is. Jonathan Brookins is coming off a tough loss to Charles Oliviera and these guys would certainly put on an awesome fight wherever that it goes.

Possible matchups for Miller: Cole Miller has a ton of potential, but he still has yet to find it. The only time that we had a sneak peak in what was to come was in his win over Ross Pearson when he dominated the standup, rocked him, and submitted him. Miller is close to being released. Him and Cody McKenzie are both close to being released and are very tall, lanky featherweights.

Click here for the main card recap.

RECHARGED: Shogun vs. Vera

Shogun Rua and Brandon Vera

Hello everyone! This is a new segment in which we are going to be posting your cure for the Mondays. It’s going to be a quick article on what to look forward to this week in the world of Mixed Martial Arts. Who’s ready to get recharged?

This week in MMA holds two very exciting cards for both casual and hardcore fans alike.

The first of the two is XFC 19, which is being held in Charlotte, North Carolina. It is headlined by the always-tough Mike Bronzoulis, who is coming off a 2^nd round KO over Danny Salinas, against UFC vet, Corey Hill, who himself is coming off a quick anaconda choke victory over Darryl Madison. The co-feature of this event is between the popular, and the very beautiful, Felice Herrig against the underrated Simona Soukapova. This fight guarantees fireworks. The last bout I want to mention is between “Notorious” Nick Newell and David Mays. Nick Newell boasts an undefeated record of 7-0 with 6 of his wins coming within the first stanza.

He also just happens to have only one fully functioning arm. Yes, one. And he’s undefeated! Pretty amazing if you ask me (our interview with him earlier this year).

The other event the following day happens on Fox, which features light heavyweights Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and Brandon Vera. A lot of people aren’t giving Vera a chance to win this fight, as he is 1-3 in his last four (if you count the Thiago Silva fight), but you should never count someone out in MMA. It is also co-headlined in another light heavyweight tilt that features former UFC champ Lyoto Machida and TUF winner Ryan Bader in a fight that could go either way.

We also welcome three new additions to the UFC roster as flyweight newbies Ulysses Gomez and John Moraga face off in the opening showdown. And Muay Thai specialist, Wagner Prado looks to make a huge splash at 205 pounds as he and Phil Davis look to cement themselves as top guys in the light heavyweight division.

Other events this week in chronological order: Reality Fighting: Battle at the Beach 2012, CES MMA: Far Beyond Driven, KOTC: Sudden Strike, Fightworld Cup 12, Warriors Realm 14, UVC 20: Clash at the Coliseum, Champion Pro MMA Fights, FFC 1: The Beginning, and Pancrase: Progress Tour 9.