UFC 148 Prelim Recap

Melvin Guillard pounds on Fabricio Camoes (Donald Miralle/Zuffa, LLC)

Interesting night of fights with a thrilling finale! The night started out with 6 straight close decision wins. Super weird. All of them were close and nothing “big” ever happened. It was like watching the same fight 6 times in a row. But anyway let’s get to it!

Rafaello Oliveira vs. Yoislandy Izquierdo: Both of these guys are not quite UFC level athletes. I think that Izquierdo will be cut after going 0-2 in the UFC. Oliveira has had two stints now in the UFC and both of them being unsuccessful. He originally went 1-2 in 2009-2010. And is now again 1-2 from 2011-2012. I don’t think there is much for him in the UFC. I think he should go to Bellator or Strikeforce.

Shane Roller vs. John Alessio: Interesting fight. Roller won by decision with his grappling being the difference maker. Alessio is a decent veteran fighter who just has bad luck. He just keeps getting out-grappled. But the fight was not super exciting and I expected more out of them.

Possible matchups: Shane Roller has been sort of a disappointment in the UFC. He looked great in the WEC and he is a talented wrestler but in the UFC he has been subpar. I think he needs to keep fighting guys on the lower level at 155; possibly against Tony Ferguson. I think Alessio needs to really figure out how to win at 155 against UFC level competition. He needs to hone his strengths and defenses. The lightweight division is by far the most stacked and to stay in it at all you need to be winning. So, if he is not cut I would like to see him fight another guy on the brink of leaving: Spencer Fisher.

Constantinos Philippou vs. Riki Fukuda: Another close fight that went to decision, this time in favor of Philippou. It ended with Fukuda giving Philippou one of the worst eye pokes I have ever seen and then kicking him in the groin. That all sent Philippou into a rage and the end of the fight was Philippou swinging for the fences out of anger.

Possible matchups: Fukuda is now 1-2 with 3 boring decision fights. Dana hates boring more than anything so this could be getting close for Fukuda when it comes to getting the chop. If he sticks around I could see him fighting Nick Catone next. Philippou is now 4-1 in the UFC but has won his last 4. Philipppou has fought roughly every 4 months since early 2011. He could use a break but I would like to see him go up against either Patrick Cote or maybe C.B. Dollaway. Let him get in some wins against guys who will push him but he still has a good chance to beat.

Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Gleison Tibau: Another close one but Khabib showed that he has the skills to do some big things at lightweight in the UFC. Tibau is incredibly underrated and the biggest lightweight in the world but Khabib took the close decision.

  

Possible matchups: Tibau has been hovering around the top 15 for a very long time. He is a very good fighter and should keep fighting guys at the higher level. Maybe Tibau could face up and comer Paul Sass. Khabib is a fighter who is 23 years old and 18-0. His future is very bright. I would like to see him fight either Mac Danzig or Evan Dunham.

Melvin Guillard vs. Fabricio Camoes: Guillard took a close decision here by keeping it on the feet and out striking Camoes. Guillard needs this win bad because he had lost two devastating losses in a row.

Possible matchups: Camoes is a decent fighter and I would like to see him fight Jacob Volkmann. Guillard is an excellent fighter who needs to keep fighting other great fighters. I would like to see him face Rafael dos Anjos.

Read Main Card Recap here

UFC 147 Main Card Recap

                                  (Wanderlei Silva vs. Rich Franklin)             Photo by Sherdog.com

Yuri Alcantara vs. Hacran Dias: This fight was the most disappointing in my opinion. I thought that it would be an awesome fight but it was a very lackluster with Dias winning every round. His standup was clearly inferior to Alcantara but his ground game was much better, although Yuri’s armbar attempt was beautiful. Eventaully Dias won by unanimous decision.

Possible matchups for Dias: Dias is for real. Alcantara was starting to be considered a title contender but then Dias took his place. Dias should fight the always-entertaining Diego Nunes to let us know exactly where he ranks among the UFC featherweights.

Possible matchups for Alcantara: Alcantara is still a very good fighter. He just needs to work on his takedown defense. He could face off against fellow Brazilian, Rani Yahya who is a very underrated featherweight in the UFC but hasn’t fought since 133.

Fabricio Werdum vs. Mike Russow: This fight was just completely pointless. The only real point that it served was to show where Mike Russow could take his career. I can say this, he won’t be challenging for the title. Werdum showed off his ever improving striking with his dominant first round TKO of he extremely durable Russow.

Possile matchups for Werdum: This was a hard one to find but someone talked about him having a rubber match with Overreem. This actually makes 100% sense. Because Overreem’s drug test put him down a couple notches on the ladder, Werdum had shown, in my opinion, the best striking improvement in a very short amount of time. If Overreem truly feels that he deserves that title shot, he should finish the series with Werdum.

Possible matchups for Russow: Russow will always win a few and take a step up in comptetion, but lose. Another fighter that came off a recent 1st round loss is Dave Herman. Herman is very unpredictable and this could be a rebound fight for both of these guys.

Rony “Jason” Mariano Bezerra vs. Godofredo “Pepey” Castro: Jason came out with the best walkout that I have seen in years. He came out extremely emotional and was crying on his way out to the Octagon. It gave me goose bumps. You don’t often see a fighter so openly emotional right before the biggest fight of their career. But sadly this fight was not very good. Pepey, like I said before, has some of the sloppiest standup that I have ever seen and Jason took advantage of that, eventually winning a unanimous decision.

Possible matchups for Jason: Jason is very good. Although he was underwhelming in this fight (which was most likely the UFC jitters), he trains at Black house and earlier in his career, fought to a very close split decision loss to Renan Barao. Jason will be challenging for the title in the coming years but his next fight is his first step. A fight against fellow rising star in Jimy Hettes would undoubtedly be a very closely contested and entertaining fight that would be action packed in every area of the fight.

Possible matchups for Pepey: What I got out of his fight with Jason was that he simply isn’t UFC material. He pulls guard only to do nothing. He throws with bad intentions, only to miss by 10 feet. The kid has very good BJJ but he needs to work on his standup desperately. Although Matt Grice looked good in his last fight, he still hasn’t beaten anyone that good. If he could beat Pepey, that would be impressive.

Cezar “Mutante” Ferreira vs. Sergio Moraes: This fight was amazing. Mutante easily won the first but Moraes knew how to put on a good fight and nearly finished Mutante with strikes, which was very surprising. Moraes came out aggressive again in the 3rd but was dropped in the last seconds of the fight, sealing the unanimous decision for Mutante.

Possible matchups for Mutante: Daniel Sarafian was injured and pulled out of his fight with Mutante, and I was going to go with Sarafian. Sarafian deserves a shot at Mutante to let us know who the true Ultimate Fighter is.

Possible matchups for Moraes: Moraes is an entertaining fighter with some of the best BJJ at 185 but he was unable to show that. Instead, he showed powerful standup and incredible heart. Chris Camozzi was losing most of his fight with Catone before landing the one knee. Fight with Camozzi could show us if Moraes is UFC material.

Wanderlei Silva vs. Rich Franklin: This fight saved this PPV. It lived up to the hype of being another barnburner. Franklin won every round in my book while Wanderlei won the 2nd with a 10-8 due to the knockdown and flurry. Franklin looked great though: awesome footwork and accurate striking. He landed jab after jab in the later rounds.

Possible matchups for Franklin: He was originally scheduled to face Cung Le at 148 but saved the day once again. He should face off against the winner of Le and Cote at 148.

Possible matchups for Silva: If he doesn’t retire after this fight, then why not try and get him and Vitor to face each other?

UFC 147 Prelim Recap Click Here

UFC 147 Prelim Recap

                               (Damm vs Anistavio “Gasparzinho” Medeiros)    Photo by Getty Images

Felipe Arantes vs. Milton Vieira: Vieira came into this fight with some hype behind him. He is virtually unknown but has been in the cage with Hayato Sakurai, Jake Shields, and Johnny Eduardo. He is most famous for having credit for inventing the anaconda choke. Vieira did impress… for five minutes. The first round was arguably a 10-8 in favor of Vieira but after that, Arantes had a decently easy fight. Once the fight made it to the judges, it ended in a split draw.

Possible matchups for Arantes and Vieira: Although not completely necessary, this fight was entertaining enough that I wouldn’t mind seeing a rematch between the two.

Marcos “Vina” Vinicius vs. Wagner “Galeto” Campos: For the better part of two rounds, Galeto was dominating Vina with ease. He would land the better shots and then take the fight down. He even tried to knock him out Fedor/Arlovski style after Vina went for a flying knee. After the 2nd round, Vina’s corner told him that he needs to blitz Galeto to win this. And blitz him he did. Vina came out and barraged Galeto with beautiful clinch work, eventually knocking him out on his feet for the finish early in the 3rd round. It was a great comeback that scored him an extra $65,000.

Possible matchups for Vina: Vina showed a lot of heart and knockout power in his fight. Finding a matchup for him is a little hard but I think that if they don’t cut Macapa Teixeira then that fight would a be fun scrap between two crazy featherweights.

Thiago “Bodao” Perpetuo vs. Leonarda “Macarrao” Mafra: This fight was really fun. Mafra came out as a very aggressive fighter, winning the first round with better striking and takedowns. The second was much closer but I leaned more towards Bodao based on the fact that Mafra never really did much but Bodao landed some solid shots. Bodao came out like Vina did earlier in the 3rd; he wanted a finish. Bodao instantly caught Mafra and dropped him. Mafra was saved at 41 seconds into the 3rd after a violent attack of hammerfists.

Possible matchups for Bodao: Thiago is a very good striker; technical and powerful. A fight with fellow middleweight winner, Massaranduba would show us who is ready to step out of the shadow of TUF.

Hugo “Wolverine” Viana vs. John “Macapa” Teixeira: This fight was really fun. Both of these guys are fast paced fighters with wild standup and a slick ground game. I scored the first round for Wolverine but the second was very close. I eventually scored it for Macapa but it could have gone either way. The third had Macapa stalking Wolverine for most of the five minutes as Wolverine had visibly slowed down. The 3rd round was clearly Macapa’s and I thought that he had won, but like I said earlier, it could have gone either way. Wolverine ended up winning a razor thin split decision.

Possible matchups for Wolverine: Wolverine was at a clear disadvantage in size in this fight but still won. Wolverine was one of the bets fighters on this season but he is a natural bantamweight. He has a ton of potential and he should instantly fight someone with a name. He should fight the winner of Roland Delorme and Francisco Rivera to let us see where he is in the rankings.

Francisco “Massaranduba” Drinaldo vs. Delson “Pe de Chumbo” Heleno: Drinaldo is a prospect that we all really need to keep our eyes on. Not only is he a huge a thick middleweight, he fights at 155. That’s pretty crazy that he is such a ripped middleweight but is actually a lightweight, which scares me. The guy threw around 185ers but is a typical 155er. Anyway, Massaranduba completely dominated this fight from the opening bell. He eventually finished Pe de Chumbo with hammerfists after Heleno was clearly already gassed out.

Possible matchups for Massaranduba: I am going to assume that he is going to make the cut down to 155 but that might be tough. The guy has almost no body fat. His next fight might be at welterweight but lets go with 155. Him and Tibau have very similar body types but Tibau’s next fight is with rising star Khabib Nurmagomedov. I think Drinaldo should fight the winner of that fight.

Rodrigo Damm vs. Anistavio “Gasparzinho” Medeiros: This fight was the only grudge match from the season. Typically TUF grudge matches are close but this one was absolutely dominant. Damm controlled the standup and eventually dropped him. Damm showed that he is a true veteran of the sport as he went for the rear naked choke rather than trying to finish him with strikes.

Possible matchups for Damm: Although Damm entered TUF with a lackluster record of 9-5, you have to look at who those losses are to: Eiji Mitsuoka, Gilbert Melendez, Justin Wilcox, Maximo Blanco, and Luciano Azevedo (by split). All of those guys have names in the sport, except for Azevedo but he is a veteran (he s the only one to defeat Jose Aldo, and it was by 2nd round submission. WOW!). Anyway, Damm was unable to continue on TUF due to medical reasons, and he was well on his way to the Finale. He said that he believes that he would have won the season, and I believe him. I think that he deserves a fight against a talented fighter. Fellow Brazilian and TUF winner Brandao is coming off a loss and Damm has the skills to be a top guy in the UFC at 145.

Main Card Recap Click Here

The Ultimate Fighter Live Finale Main Card Recap

Michael Chiesa caps off amazing TUF run and story.
Courtesy of Yahoo! Sports

Justin Lawrence vs. John Cofer: This fight had one hell of a finish. Although Cofer was the busier striker, Lawrence was landing the better blows and getting the better of the exchanges. Coming into the 3^rd round, Lawrence was arguably up on the scorecards but he didn’t have to worry about any scorecards, he brutally KO’d the tough Cofer with a brilliantly executed head kick just 19 seconds into the closing frame. Lawrence has an extremely bright future.

Possible matchups for Lawrence: Lawrence needed to desperately work on his fight IQ. This was shown in his fight with Chiesa. He fought a much smarter fight against Cofer and it eventually worked out with his brutal KO in the 3^rd round. He is also a rather undersized lightweight and a move down to featherweight could prove very beneficial for him. Daniel Pineda is coming off a loss and it could definitely be an entertaining fight between two rising prospects.

Max Holloway vs. Pat Schilling: Max Holloway is the new kid everyone needs to keep their eye on. He has some of the best technical striking in the division. Not even Jose Aldo mixes it around with body shots. Holloway peppered Schilling for three dominant rounds mixing in beautiful body shots, brutal uppercuts, and even went for the famous off the cage “showtime” kick. I was reading around on some forums and people were saying that Schilling is going to absolutely destroy Holloway. That wasn’t exactly the case. The main criticism that I have for Holloway is that he needs to work on his finishing ability, but he was simply playing it smart. Schilling had a much better ground game and he didn’t want to risk it. Props to Schilling though for a tremendous amount of heart, but heart doesn’t win you a fight.

Possible matchups for Holloway: Holloway showed to me that he shall be a title contender in the coming years. With the technical standup that brutalized Schillings face and body, to his great takedown defense. He defended all Schilling’s takedown attempts and in a few, I really thought that Schilling would get the takedown but Holloway showed much improved takedown defense, which he promised and delivered. Schilling has absolutely no name value, so if Holloway really wants to make a statement at featherweight, he should fight the winner of Cub Swanson vs. Ross Pearson. It very well could be too much too fast but I can guarantee you that Holloway will hold his own in either of those fights.

Charles Oliveira vs. Jonathon Brookins: Oliveira truly emerged as a contender for the featherweight belt against Brookins. Oliveira’s punches were picture perfect and then he ended up cinching a devastating modified guillotine choke that was also part D’arce choke for the finish mid way into round 2.

Possible matchups for Oliveira: With the featherweight division looking rather thin as of late, Oliveira has launched himself up into the top contenders. Dennis Siver himself has also launched himself into title contention. That fight would be absolutely awesome along with it being a real launch for both goes at 145.

Possible matchups for Brookins: Let’s be honest with ourselves, Brookins is a very talented guy but he will never rise above anything passed gatekeeper status. But before he has to resume his job as gatekeeper, he needs a fight that will put him back there. A fight with the lone Chinese fighter, Tiequan Zhang would be both a fight that would get him back there, and a rather easy fight.

Mike Chiesa vs. Al Iaquinta: After Chiesa’s fight with Larsen, I wrote him off as guy who would prove tough but not even come close to winning the show. I also chose the guy he was facing to win every time, except for Larsen. But boy, was he on a mission. After hearing about the death of his father, he made it the only goal in his mind that he was going to win this in dedication to his father. Iaquinta is a tough dude but when you are facing a guy like Chiesa, you aren’t going to win. This show was Chiesa’s to win. Not much happened in the standup but once Chiesa got a hold of him, he took his back and finished the fight. The best storybook ending to any TUF season ever.

Possible matchups for Chiesa: Once you win The Ultimate Fighter, you will be instantly thrown into the wolves. You will be given a fighter that has name value and has a chance to beat you. But isn’t that the way with all UFC fights? A fight with Mac Danzig would be a great test for Chiesa.

Possible matchups for Iaquinta: Iaquinta has some solid standup but desperately needs to work on his submission defense. Tony Ferguson is coming off of a loss against another TUF runner up and that would be a great standup fight.

Jake Ellenberger vs. Martin Kampmann: Martin Kampmann is turning into the comeback kid of the UFC. After being blitzed in the opening stages of the fight and the second round, Kampmann pulled off the upset and finished Ellenberger with a barrage of knees that dropped him. Ellenberger, despite this loss, is still one of the top guys in the division and Kampmann is easily one of the most entertaining fighters in the UFC.

Possible matchups for Kampmann: The only fight that would truly make sense right now would be a title eliminator fight with Johny Hendricks, and Kampmann said it himself, a fight with him and Hendricks would be an entertaining scrap.

Possible matchups for Ellenberger: Well, as of today, Jon Fitch has had to pull out of his fight with Aaron Simpson due to injury. Ellenberger would be the perfect guy to replace Fitch. This is, of course, depending on the fact that he doesn’t have a concussion following his TKO loss.

For the Prelim Recap Click Here

The Ultimate Fighter Live Finale Prelims Recap

John Albert argues Kim Winslow's call.

To start off, this season of TUF was disappointing in the fact that the fighters that were on this season aren’t exactly the most promising or UFC caliber, but they are here to change how we perceive their skills.

John Albert vs. Erik Perez: Controversy; the one word that would sum up this fight. Albert came out strong and was taken down but Perez landed himself straight into a tight triangle. Perez defended intelligently and stepped over and went for an armbar himself on Albert. Albert also defended intelligently by trying to step over, but suddenly, Kim Winslow, the ref, stopped the fight claiming it was a verbal submission. Even Perez said that he didn’t hear anything, in the post fight interview. Albert was instantly arguing the finish, and so was everyone who were watching. It’s really too bad too because Albert really does have a bright future. He is also a very entertaining fighter.

Possible matchups for Albert and Perez: This fight started off very entertaining. It ended with controversy. The only solution to this is a rematch and I certainly wouldn’t mind.

Joe Proctor vs. Jeremy Larsen: Proctor was a decent favorite heading into this fight. Many people, including my brother and I, believed that Proctor would win this fight by submission. Proctor trains out of Boston with Joe Lauzon, meaning that he has a strong ground game and has some decent striking. Proctor didn’t want to go for the submission, he wanted to make a statement, and he did. He finished Larsen with a knee and punches within the first two minutes.

Possible matchups for Proctor: One of the more promising fighters this season, Proctor has one major thing that he needs to work on: fight IQ. I know that he one by TKO this time, but Larsen just simply isn’t UFC caliber. Proctor needs to know when he should take the fight to the ground. A fight with fellow TUF Live cast mate, Sam Sicilia would be a slugfest and if Proctor plays it smart, he could submit him but that would be hard to do.

Sam Sicilia vs. Cristiano Marcello: This fight wasn’t the prettiest. It was filled with sloppy standup and cardio problems. Sicilia needs to work on both his conditioning and his standup. What he needs to do with his standup is he needs to not just throw for the KO with every punch. If Sicilia could work on his patience, cardio, and technique, he could have a bright future. But this fight was a sloppy mess. It was just these bombs being swung left and right by both these guys but Sicilia was throwing them with more technique, while Marcello was just throwing with his chin stuck right out in the air. Eventually, Sicilia caught him and brutally finished him with ground and pound.

Myles Jury vs. Chris Saunders: Jury is one of only three people from this season that didn’t make it to the finale that could really make it somewhere (Pichel, Lawrence). He showcased some very crisp standup for a UFC debut and has a deadly guillotine. He landed some solid straights and had great footwork. Jury can definitely get somewhere in the UFC, its always a good sign to see someone in their debut looking like a veteran.

Possible matchups for Jury: Jury deserves a step up in competition. His standup is very good, crisp and technical. A person, who my brother and I both believe would be a good match-up would be with past TUF winner, Efrain Escudero. Escudero has been struggling lately but this could either be either a saving grace for Escudero or the coming out party for Jury.

Daron Cruickshank vs. Chris Tickle: This fight was closer than I was expecting. I though that Cruickshank would rather easily dispatch Tickle but Tickle won the second round rather easily. Cruickshank still looked good though. His inside trips were executed beautifully but doing them as many times as he did can eventually leave them to be both expected and easily countered.

Possible matchups for Cruickshank: It took me a while to find someone that would be a good matchup for Cruickshank but I found one that would show where Cruickshank is in the ladder and how good his skills are. Ramsey Nijem and CJ Keith are fighting on the 22 of June. The winner of that should square off with Cruickshank for an entertaining scrap.

For the Main Card Recap Click here

UFC 146 Main Card Recap

Stefan Struve vs. Lavar Johnson: This fight was quick and predictable. Struve knew that if he could pull guard, the fight would be over instantly, and it was. He quickly got the armbar, and even seemed to dislocate his shoulder. If Struve’s chin was better, he could very well be one of the best in the world, and I mean that. The kid has crisp standup and a brilliant ground game. And he’s only 24 years old. Scary stuff.

Possible matchups for Struve: Why not try and make the Struve/Hunt fight happen? Lavar Johnson didn’t move him up the ladder.

Possible matchups for Johnson: If Johnson wants to get himself back on track, he could easily KO Morecraft in the first round. Morecraft seems to always be the guy the UFC uses to rebound KO artists.

Stipe Miocic vs. Shane del Rosario: Miocic was the second example of how cardio is superior to blitzing. He survived the first round onslaught of devastating body kicks from del Rosario. Miocic came out and noticed that del Rosario tired and went in for the kill. This fight was really brutal, the finish was very bloody and del Rosario and a nasty gash that split his eyebrow right in half.

Possible matchups for Miocic: Miocic is the real deal. He has some amazing standup, good cardio (for heavyweight), and a solid ground game. He is the future in the heavyweight division. I would like to see him and Roy Nelson face off. Miocic needs to fight a big name.

Possible matchups for del Rosario: Fellow heavyweight, Brendan Schuab is also coming off a devastating loss. This fight would be very exciting and it would also send the loser of this fight down the ladder real far.

Roy Nelson vs. Dave Herman: This fight was a quick one but a sweet one. Nelson quickly dispatched of Dave Herman with one of his signature over right hands. Herman tried to argue the stoppage but he was clearly out. His whole body went limp and fell, the second punch brought him back from the dead.

Possible matchups for Herman: Herman is a weird dude. He has unlimited potential but he just cant seem to tap it. He seems to almost too unorthodox, that he doesn’t even know what he is going to do. Shawn Jordan, who is coming off an impressive win against Oli Thompson, would be a tough fight for both these guys.

Cain Velazquez vs. Bigfoot Silva: That was easily the best, and most violent, Cain Velazquez we have ever seen. He instantly took down Silva and bloodied him to a pulp. It was hard to watch, even for a hardcore MMA fan such as myself. I actually thought that Silva had a good chance at winning this fight based on the fact that Cain’s chin has been suspect since his fight with Cheick Kongo and Silva has planets connected to his arms. But Cain put any doubts to sleep when he absolutely demolished Silva in the first round.

Possible matchups for Velazquez: This one is quite easy. A second fight with the champ himself, Junior dos Santos. Dana said it himself; Cain is getting a title shot.

Possible matchups for Bigfoot: After being completely humiliated by Cain, he deserves an easier fight than the former champ. Silva is a seriously good fighter and could do some damage to some of the top guys at that weight class. I could see him against the winner of Kongo/Big Nog.

Junior dos Santos vs. Frank Mir: People and writers (including us) were saying that Mir had 0% chance of winning this fight. And it seems we were right on that. Mir’s chin is really starting to fade and a bad chin going up against the best boxing in MMA is not exactly the best combination. Dos Santos ran through the former champ in the second round, landing blow after blow, eventually making Herb step in and stop the fight.

Possible matchups for the champ: Dos Santos vs. Velazquez II, here we come!

Possible matchups for Mir: I would personally recommend Mir to retire, but that is obviously not going to happen. A fight with Gonzaga would be a good fight between two legends.

UFC 146 Prelims recap

So, I have to start out by saying that this was an amazing card. Dana said it was going to be awesome and it certainly was awesome. The only fights that I would say were boring would be the Brown/Pineda fight but that was on Facebook, and Dollaway/Miller. So let’s give this card a recap, along with future matchups.

 Mike Brown vs. Daniel Pineda: In a rather lackluster bout, Mike Brown defeated the wily and scrappy Daniel Pineda in the opening fight. Although, Pineda lost this fight, he still has a bright future which was shown through his tenacity late in the fight, sweeping Mike Brown to get his back and nearly winning the fight after being dominated the first two rounds. Brown, on the other hand, is done. I’m not saying this because he hasn’t looked good; I’m saying this because he actually retired after this fight. It’s always good to see a fighter on a high note, even if it wasn’t that high.

Possible matchup for Pineda: Pineda has an extremely bright future ahead of him, but he has a few things he really needs to work on, like head movement, cardio, takedown defense. Once he gets those things down, he will certainly be a title contender and there is no doubt in my mind that he will be. Possibly Maximo Blanco, who is also coming off a loss, would be good, Pineda would really push the pace.

Kyle Kingsbury vs. Glover Teixeira: Glover Teixeira showed everyone why he has been such a hyped fighter. He came in against a guy who is really tough and just absolutely destroyed him. Teixeira did what Maldonado and Bonnar couldn’t do. He finished Kingsbury who is a really tough guy, and has really good standup. Glover came in, rocked him with an uppercut, got his back, pounded, Kingsbury rolled over, arm triangle, fight over. That is an impressive UFC debut to say the least.

Possible matchup for Kingsbury: After being shamefully dismantled by the extremely dangerous Teixeira, Kingsbury either needs a rebound fight or a loser goes home fight. I came up with a combo of both of these. A rematch with Fabio Maldonado would be perfect. Maldonado is very good and very underrated. His boxing is crisp and he has some hellish body shots, hard to watch. Along with the fact that it will certainly be entertaining, it was very controversial, people thought that Maldonado won, including myself. This fight certainly has value in both entertainment, and to answer questions.

Possible matchups for Teixeira: Clearly, Teixeira has been ready for the big time for quite a while, but visa problems delayed his readiness. He’s here now, folks, and he is hungry and very dangerous. I have been looking around for a good matchup for him and people have been saying that a fight with the winner of Vera and Te Huna would be good to show us who is ready to take a step up. A fight with Te Huna would be very interesting, and certainly exciting.

Paul Sass vs. Jacob Volkmann: Paul Sass truly had his coming out party against Volkmann. I was really confident in this pick despite the fact that I really wanted to go with Sass because I am a huge fan of guys who pull guard. But I looked at Paul Sass like I look Cody McKenzie, just a guy who, very predictably, goes for the same thing for every fight. Sass is another story though. Beating someone as good as Volkmann is truly impressive. Volkmann is a very strong and technical wrestler who was quickly rising up the ladder but Sass put that rise to sleep with that deadly “Sassangle”. Sass clearly needs to work on his standup but once his standup is good enough to get himself safe enough to either takedown or pull guard, he should really do some damage in the lightweight division.

Possible Matchup for Sass: A really good grappling match, one that serves tow purposes: entertainment and to show who is ready for a step up. Would be a fight with Mark Bocek. I think this fight would be not only very fun to watch these two brilliant BJJ guys go at it, but also to see how good Sass’ ground game truly is.

Possible matchups for Volkmann: Volkmann is a really good fighter. He has amazing wrestling, some of the most technical in his weight class. That’s why he was able to hang with guys at welterweight, despite a big size disadvantage. I can see Volkmann eventually getting up into title talks in the next 2 years, so if he will one day, then his next fight has to be a rebound one, but against someone with a name that means something.  A fight against the always entertaining Paul Taylor would be a good rebound fight for Volkmann, once Taylor is finally fully healed.

Dan Hardy vs. Duane Ludwig: This was one of the fights on this card that I wasn’t 100% about going into it. Neither more nor my brother were sure about our picks. I thought I was going to be right with my prediction with in the first minute when Ludwig caught Hardy, but clearly Hardy was the better fighter. I can guarantee you that Hardy will never go back into title contention, but he will certainly stay around for a while, being a part of some really entertaining bouts.

Possible matchups for Hardy: Obviously, Hardy will stick around at the level in which he will fight people with name value but wont really move him up anywhere in the welterweight ladder. Rich Attonito could certainly be that type of fight, once he gets healed after pulling out of his fight with Rick Story. Hardy versus Attonito would certainly be entertaining.

Possible matchups for Ludwig: Clearly, Ludwig is starting to falter. His chin is weakening and the doors are closing in on him in his MMA career. If he wants to keep his career rolling, he should do it against someone like Matt Brown, whom he could definitely out strike on the feet. It also has a ton of entertainment value in it.

CB Dollaway vs. Jason Miller: This fight was gross. I have never, and will never, be a fan of CB Dollaway. He complains and puts on boring fights in the ones that he wins. It was also a very sad fight. Miller looked really good at the weigh-ins and the beginning of the first round but clearly his knee was hurt coming into the fight. He had some Sakuraba tape around his knee and he feel on it and was blatantly limping. CB won pretty handily, but it certainly wasn’t pretty. Miller retired and was cut following the loss.

Possible matchups for Dollaway: Dollaway is making his way up after this win against Miller. A fight against Brad Tavares would show who has the chops to take a step up in competition.

Jamie Varner vs. Edson Barboza: This fight was absolutely shocking. Varner blitzed Barboza in the first round. Not even Varner saw that coming. It literally surprised everyone, including the WINNER. I have to be honest though, I was cheering for Varner coming into this fight. I always love a good comeback story, career or fight wise. Barboza was in the middle of title talks following his breathtaking KO of Terry Etim. Varner came in as an extremely heavy underdog, but he made those betting for him some rich people.

Possible matchups for Varner: The person that came to mind was Donald Cerrone, but that would not make any sense, it would only happen for entertainment purposes. Since Varner, rather easily, dispatched one of the top contenders in the lightweight division, it only makes sense that he gets another good fighter, but not as high up the ladder as Barboza. A fight against Jeremy Stephens will not only help out with the lightweight ladder, but it would also be a guaranteed FOTN.

Possible matchups for Barboza: Barboza is still one of the best in his division, with some of the fastest and technical standup in the game. He needs a rebound fight. Plain and simple. Matt Wiman, who is a very good fighter, could prove to be a good test for the (still) rising star in Barboza.

Diego Brandao vs. Darren Elkins: Elkins was just one of the two examples that toughness and cardio always beats out a blitz like the one in the first round. Elkins was another hefty underdog prior to the fight, so whoever bet on him and Varner is quite the rich man (or woman). I really wanted to pick Elkins; I have always thought that Brandao is an incredibly overrated fighter. He gasses after the first round, at featherweight. 145ers are not supposed to gas out after the first round. Elkins is an underrated fighter; it’s mainly because of his quick loss to Oliviera and one-sided win (loss) to Omigawa. He is solid wrestler and is tough as nails. I personally scored the fight 28-27 for Elkins. 8-10, 10-9, 10-8.

Possible matchups for Elkins: Elkins needs a step up in competition. He could really do some damage in his division if he continues to fight smart. He could very well fight the loser of the Hioki/Lamas fight. A win over Brandao is huge for Elkins.

Possible matchups for Brandao: This overrated maniac will only be a tough gatekeeper at featherweight. A fight against Robbie Peralta would either be good rebound fight for Brandao or a career launcher for Peralta.

UFC on Fuel 3 Recap

It wasn’t the greatest night of fights we have ever seen but it ended with a bang. The preliminary card did not have a ton of excitement besides Rafael Dos Anjos destroying Kamal Shalarous. Don Anjos is one of the most underrated fighters in the UFC today. He is very well rounded and is a killer. I want to see him fighting someone close to the top.

With the main card you pretty much saw the end of Jason MacDonald’s career in the UFC. I am not sure if they will ever have him come back. He is not UFC caliber anymore. He got completely KO’ed by Tom Lawlor who is no world beater himself. Lawlor has the power and strength to take out a lot of people at 185 but his cardio has been a big issue for him in the past. But I would like to see him square off with Alessio Sakara.

The Igor Pokrajac and Fabio Maldonado fight was a good one. Lots of bombs being thrown and most of them landing flush but neither man going down even once. Both of these guys are very talented but will not go too far. There division is saturated with some solid top ten guys. I would like to see Fabio fight Matyushenko and I would love to see Igor go at it with Cyrille Diabte.

That was followed by Yves Jabouin vs. Jeff Hougland. Yves easily took this fight. Yves at bantamweight has looked pretty good but he is a mid-tier guy. I think he should stay with fighting other strikers like Mike Easton or Alex Caceres. Hougland isn’t super talented but can put on good fights. I’d like to see him against fellow Fuel 3 winner Francisco Rivera.

Next you had Donald Cerrone absolutely destroying Jeremy Stephens. Stephens has now proven to be a gate keeper and not much more. He can KO anyone at 155 but his technique is lacking. Cerrone needs to keep fighting the best. His lost to Diaz was strange; he seemed off from the start. But get Cerrone in there with Gray Maynard the Gray Maynard vs. Clay Guida match or Anthony Pettis.

Then for some inexplicable reason the night’s co-main event was Air Sadollah vs. Jorge Lopez. Didn’t make sense to me and it didn’t make sense to the rest of the world. And once the fight was over it made even less sense. It was a very boring fight and was completely meaningless to the division. But Amir should keep fighting low level talent because that is where he belongs. Lopez probably would have won that fight if he did not break his hand in the first round. But Lopez should slowly work his way up the ladder.

Then the night ended with the Korean Zombie vs. Dustin Poirier. Zombie looked amazing and finished Poirier in the 4^th round with a super tight D’arce choke. I highly enjoyed this bout and it gave us a good glimpse into both of their futures. Dustin is a young guy with endless potential. He will be challenging for the title in the next 2-3 years. I think he should fight Ricardo Lamas. Now, the Zombie is obviously fighting the winner of Jose Aldo and Eric Koch; which is perfect. The featherweight division is very thin and Zombie has a huge fan base that will make a big draw. Should be a great fight.

Overall it was a barely average card but the Zombie Poirier fight saved the night.

UFC on Fox 3 Main Card Recap

Sam's Main Card Recap

1) Pat Barry vs. Lavar Johnson: Johnson is a beast! He has semi trucks attached to his arms. He is a brutal fighter. This also showed that Barry no longer has what it takes to stay in the UFC. Johnson proved with this KO, that he is ready for a step up in competition.

Possible matchups for Johnson: What better fight for Johnson than Shane Carwin? This would be an absolute slugfest with two of the heaviest hitters in all of MMA. Not only that, but if Johnson can win that fight, which I highly doubt, then he has firmly established himself as a title contender. I see Carwin playing it smart and taking him down for a submission if he gets hit with one of those trucks.

Possible Matchups for Barry: Quite honestly, I no longer have interest in Barry. Yea he is a really funny and entertaining guy, but he no longer deserves another shot in the UFC. If he does, then him against Rob Broughton would be a loser goes home fight.

2) Rousimar Palhares vs. Alan Belcher: Belcher is the real deal, and he is insane. He went into one of the most dangerous places in all of MMA, escaped and TKO’d the hulk that is Paul Harris. A lot of people went into this fight expecting Palhares to add Belcher’s leg to his collection, but Belcher showed that he clearly has a very underrated ground game and is a threat for the belt.

Possible matchups for Belcher: I think that after this fight, Belcher is now a top 7 middleweight. A fight against the Bisping/Boestch winner would be a number 1 contender eliminator.

Possible matchups for Palhares: If Palhares wants a “get back on track” type of following fight, then a fight against the winner of the McGee/Ring fight could end up as that type of fight.

3) Johny Hendricks vs. Josh Koscheck: I am really happy that Hendricks won this fight. Although that it was really close, he still has established himself as a top 8 or 7 guy in the UFC welterweight division. Koscheck is quickly showing that he no longer has what he used to have when he was a title contender back in 2010.

Possible matchups for Hendricks: Although Dana has already promised Hendricks a title shot, I don’t think that he has proven himself just yet. A fight against the Ellenberger/Kampmann winner would make 100% sense because that would truly show who is ready for a title shot against either GSP or Condit.

Possible matchups for Koscheck: I really think that Koscheck should move up a weight class. It could certainly revitalize his dwindling career. If he doesn’t, then a fight against Papy Abedi would be a good rebound for Koscheck, considering the fact that Abedi is not so good.

4) Nate Diaz vs. Jim Miller: Nate Diaz is the real deal. He has a very good chance at winning that belt. He truly has come from behind his brother’s shadow and become a more technical, aggressive, respectful, and entertaining version of Nick. Jim Miller is still one of the best lightweights in the world, but Diaz was just simply the better fighter. Diaz has truly established himself as a true threat for the belt.

Possible matchups for Diaz: Although Dana also promised him a title shot, I don’t think that a win over a guy who wasn’t going to get a title shot if he won is title shot worthy. A fight against Anthony Pettis would be one hell of a fight. But it seems that Diaz will be fighting the winner of Henderson/Edgar.

Possible matchups for Miller: Like I said before, Miller is still one the best lightweights in the world. He has been given some very tough fights as of late, so I think it’s time to give him a break and give him an easier fight. Perhaps if Stephens loses his next fight with Cerrone, him against Miller could happen.

UFC on Fox 3 Prelims Recap

Sam's Recap

Good night of fights from top to bottom. Although me and my brother didn’t do very good with our predictions, the fights were all hard ones to pick that definitely could have gone either way so lets start with the first fight.

1) Karlos Vemola vs. Mike Massenzio: That was a new Karlos Vemola that went out there on Saturday. I do believe that he has found his natural weight class at 185. Mike Massenzio also proved something to us as well, he cant hang with any UFC caliber fighter at any level. Sure he won the first round but Vemola absolutely destroyed him in the second. I see Massenzio getting cut after this loss.

Possible Matchups for Vemola: Costa Philippou would show if Philippou can hang with good grapplers and if Vemola can hang with some good strikers.

2) Nick Denis vs. Roland Delorme: This was an incredible fight. Denis looked like he was easily going to dispatch Delorme but Delorme has one hell of a chin. After being rocked from some punches, Delorme got smashed with a powerful knee straight to the chin from Denis. That knee would have knocked out most bantamweights, which is amazing considering the fact that Delorme was already hurt. Delorme caught him with some counters, wobbled Denis and went in for the kill. He submitted Denis with 1 second to go by rear naked choke. It was an amazing comeback, erasing everyone’s memory of Denis’ 22 second KO.

Possible matchups for Delorme: After showing that he has some very good BJJ and an awesome chin, he showed that he could make a name for himself in the UFC. I would like a fight with him and Vaughan Lee, who recently came off a very impressive victory over Kid Yamamoto.

Possible matchups for Denis: This was a devastating loss for Denis. He came in this fight riding a 22 second KO and a lot of hype, due to the former. He would need a rebound fight so someone like Azamat Gashimov, who had to pull out of his fight with Alex Soto, would be a good rebound fight for Denis.

3) Dennis Bermudez vs. Pablo Garza: Bermudez really impressed me in this fight. His wrestling proved too strong for Garza and he clearly worked a ton on his submission defense. Garza had a few submission attempts that looked really good but Bermudez wiggled his way out of it. The main thing that I would tell Bermudez to work on is his up-kick defense; Garza caught him with quite a few up-kicks that actually seemed to hurt him. Besides that, Bermudez really impressed me all around.

Possible matchups for Bermudez: After his dominant win over Garza, Bermudez showed that he clearly has potential. Perhaps a fight with Jason Young would show which one of these guys has the chops to take a step up in competition.

Possible Matchups for Garza: Garza really disappointed me. I thought that he would win in the standup with his huge reach and win with his superior submissions. Nam Phan is also coming off a big loss to Jimmy Hettes so this fight would show who still has the skills to stay in the UFC.

4) Danny Castillo vs. John Cholish: In this rather lackluster affair, Castillo still has yet to impress me. He was never able to mount very much offense against the more inexperienced fighter in Cholish. Although the cards were all 30-27, the fight was closer than those cards show. Although Castillo is slowly, but surely, establishing himself as a contender, I never really see him making it there.

Possible matchups for Castillo: I think that Danzig would be a really good lightweight matchup to show who is ready to move up the ladder. Danzig looked really good in his last fight and Castillo needs a bigger name if he really wants to receive title contention talks.

Possible matchups for Cholish: Although the loss was bad, he still has the chops to hang in there with mid-tier fighters for some time. A matchup with Yoislandy Izquerdo, who is also coming off a loss, could be good due to the fact that his standup started off impressive against Reza Madadi.

5) Louis Gaudinot vs. John Lineker: This was an awesome fight. They went toe-to-toe from the opening bell. It was one of those fights where neither guy was going to knock each other out so, why not swing for the fences? Gaudinot proved that flyweight truly is his natural weight class and that he has one hell of a chin. After narrowly winning the first round based on a late takedown and some ground and pound, he was almost finished by Lineker but you can never count Gaudinot out, he came back and choked him out with a guillotine.

Possible matchups for Gaudinot: After showing off his skills at 125, Gaudinot’s next matchup could be Darren Uyenoyama who had to pull off this card due to injury in the Dodson fight. This would be a very explosive and exciting matchup.

Possible matchups for Lineker: After losing his fight to Gaudinot, Lineker is in deep waters, especially considering the fact that he also didn’t make weight. Fellow loser, Tim Elliot, would make an amazing flyweight matchup as both these guys are tough as nails, swing for the fences, and are coming off losses, this would make the most sense.

6) John Hathaway vs. Pascal Krauss: Both of these guys came off of some very long layoffs, but it didn’t really show in either fighter. Hathaway really impressed me with his standup and I thought that Krauss had the distinct ground advantage but Hathaway showed us that he truly is a complete fighter and that he will be a title contender in the future.

Possible matchups for Hathaway: Brian Ebersole would pose a great threat to Hathaway and vice versa. Ebersole is climbing the ranks and Hathaway is a huge prospect in the UFC, could be a good handing of the torch fight.

Possible matchups for Krauss: Krauss, although underwhelming, did better than a lot of people thought. Che Mills is also coming off a very underwhelming performance. Grappler vs. Striker matchups always have a good draw.

John Dodson vs. Tim Elliot: I’m sure people are saying that Dodson had a very underwhelming performance, but I don’t think that it was Dodson who looked bad, I think it was Elliot being underestimated coming into the fight. People thought that Dodson was going to run over Elliot, myself included, but Elliot proved that if he almost beat a title contender, then he also has the skills to eventually prove himself as a contender in the 125 pound weight division.

Possible matchups for Dodson: Dodson proved that he is one of the top contenders in the flyweight division with his hard-fought decision win over Timothy Elliot. I think that a fight against either the loser of McCall and Johnson or actually have the fight with Darren Uyenoyama to show who would have a title fight with the champ (inevitably Joseph Benavidez) at 125.

Possible Matchups for Elliot: Look up at possible matchups for John Lineker. That would be FOTN for sure!

Tony Ferguson vs. Michael Johnson: Wow. Johnson seriously impressed me in this fight. His standup was extremely superior to, who most believed had that advantage, Tony Ferguson. Johnson easily cruised to a unanimous decision victory. I truly do believe this fight has shown that Johnson is improving in every fight, rapidly, and that he should have a better opponent in his next fight.

Possible matchups for Johnson: Sean Sherk (remember him?) always brings a tough fight. He is also a big name, considering the fact that he used to be the champ. I actually think that Johnson could win this fight too. Sherk tends to standup with guys that he shouldn’t strike with. This could be a huge stepping-stone for Johnson if he ever wants to make big moves in his career.

Possible Matchups for Ferguson: This fight showed that Ferguson will never make it anywhere in the upper-echelon of the sport. He is a standup guy and got dominated by a wrestler, in the standup. If you can’t beat a guy with what you are best at, against a guy who is supposed to be worse than you, at your own game, that’s not good. A fight for Ferguson next could possibly be Takanori Gomi, if he wants a rebound fight, or even Yves Edwards for a rematch, which was very entertaining, and a controversial decision. But honestly, I don’t really care all that much for Ferguson.