The MMA Blog for hardcore and casual MMA fans alike. Feel free to voice your opinions on anything posted online. Feedback is welcomed. Comments are invited and all comments will be viewed. Your opinion counts and expect interaction from the team if you communicate with us. Visit us on Facebook at facebook.com/toughsparmma or subscribe via email below to have updates sent directly to your inbox. Also download our app on Google Play!
-The Tough Spar MMA Team
Johny Hendricks def. Robbie Lawler via unanimous decision
Tyron Woodley def. Carlos Condit via TKO injury Round 2
Myles Jury def. Diego Sanchez via unanimous decision
Hector Lombard def. Jake Shields via unanimous decision
Ovince St. Preux def. Nikita Krylov via Von Flue Choke Round 1
Preliminary Card:
Kelvin Gastelum def. Rick Story via split decision
Jessica Andrade def. Raquel Pennington via split decision
Dennis Bermudez def. Jim Hettes via TKO Round 3
Alex Garcia def. Sean Spencer via split decision
Frank Trevino def. Renee Forte by unanimous decision
Justin Scoggins def. Will Campuzano via unanimous decision
Sean Strickland def. Bubba McDaniel via rear naked choke Round 1
Daniel Pineda def. Robert Whiteford via unanimous decision
Johny Hendricks (170) vs. Robbie Lawler (170)
Carlos Condit (170.5) vs. Tyron Woodley (170)
Diego Sanchez (155) vs. Myles Jury (156)
Jake Shields (171) vs. Hector Lombard (170)
Ovince St. Preux (205) vs. Nikita Krylov (205)
Preliminary Card:
Kelvin Gastelum (171) vs. Rick Story (170.5)
Raquel Pennington (135.5) vs. Jessica Andrade (135)
Dennis Bermudez (146) vs. Jimy Hettes (145.5)
Sean Spencer (170) vs. Alex Garcia (170.5)
Renee Forte (157) vs. Frank Trevino (155)
Will Campuzano (125.5) vs. Justin Scoggins (125)
Robert McDaniel (184.5) vs. Sean Strickland (185)
Daniel Pineda (145) vs. Robert Whiteford (145)
Below are the two major portions from the UFC's Countdown to UFC 171. The event features a battle of two great knockout artists Robbie Lawler and Johny Hendricks clashing for the vacant UFC Welterweight Championship. Also in the co-main event, Carlos Condit faces rapidly rising star Tyron Woodley. With a win, Carlos Condit has been guaranteed a title shot.
After UFC President, Dana White, stated that they were still seeking another opponent for Carlos Condit, the organizarion has found that man. Dana White and the UFC have decided to put Tyron Woodley in the cage opposite Condit. Woodley had been begging White for a fight with Condit and Dana White said that that fight would not happen and that both men would be facing other opponents. The fight will be added to the same card as the fight for the vacant UFC Welterweight title in Dallas at UFC new 171.
Dana White has revealed that Tyron Woodley has begged Dana White to give him a fight with Carlos Condit. Dana has stated that Woodley has been constantly texting Dana White to give him a fight with Carlos Condit. Dana doesn't feel that Woodley is quite ready for a shot with the #2 Welterweight in the UFC. White has stated that Woodley will very likely get a different UFC vet instead of Condit.
I agree with White that maybe Woodley hasn't quite earned a shot at Condit, but I think that it would be an awesome fight for the fans. I think Woodley could be a dangerous opponent for Condit early in the fight, but after the first round of the fight, Condit's cardio would prove too much for Woodley. Condit was able to survive a barrage of punches from Johny Hendricks in their fight at UFC 158. I think that Condit would earn a decision victory over Woodley or a TKO in the late rounds of the fight.
Last night was a very entertaining night of fights that ended with a very controversial split decision win for the UFC Welterweight title.
We will begin with the headlining fight of the prelims. Donald Cerrone who was on a two-fight losing streak coming into his fight with Evan Dunham and he desperately needed a win last night and he got it. He was able to out-strike and out-grapple Dunham and eventually finish him on the ground with a beautiful triangle choke in the second round. The question now becomes what should Donald Cerrone do now after his win? Should he continue to fight at 155 or should he make the move to 145 as he had stated he would do win, lose or draw?
The first fight on the main card was a fast-paced fight between Tim Elliot and Ali Bagautinov. It was an interesting fight in which both men participated in excellent striking exchanges which involved Tim Elliot landing more volumes of strikes and Bagautinov landing the more devastating strikes. It was a match in which I had Bagautinov winning rounds 1 ad 3, but felt the fight could go either way depending on what the judges saw was more important, volume or clean, power strikes. In that fight the judges chose accurate, clean, power strikes. The question for this match up would be how many wins would Bagautinov be away from a title fight and who will he face next?
The next fight was the first of three fights at 170 lbs on the main card. Tyron Woodley faced Josh Koscheck in a match that ended in the first round by way of TKO. Koscheck hurt Woodley early in the round with a straight right hand that made Woodley begin to step backwards, but Woodley survived that and some impressive grappling from Koscheck in order to rock Koscheck with a right hand and send him flat on his back. The question I have is how would Woodley perform is he is given a top ten opponent for his next fight?
After that match was GSP's training partner, Rory MacDonald taking on Robbie Lawler in the second welterweight fight of the main card. After promising to be more exciting than his last fight, we saw MacDonald do exactly the same thing he did in his last fight, which was boring us to death. Robbie Lawler won a split decision after he out-struck MacDonald and kept pressure on him the entire fight. There were moments when MacDonald did get the better of Lawler, but those moments were few and very short. What will happen to Rory MacDonald after putting out two terrible performances? Also will this win put Lawler in the top 5 in the UFC's Welterweight Division? Also who will Robbie Lawler face next?
The co-main event of the evening included a bout between friends and coworkers, Rashad Evans and Chael Sonnen. It was a match up in which Rashad quickly put away Chael Sonnen on the ground due to strikes. Who will the UFC put against Evans who has recovered from his two-fight winning streak? Does Evans still have the ability to become the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship again?
In the main event we saw a very close match in which we could have seen either man get their hand raised at the end of the fight, but Georges St-Pierre retained his title by split decision. The fight was too close to call, but (contrary to popular belief) I did score the fight for the champ giving him rounds 1,3 and 5. There is also controversy as to whether or not Johny Hendricks tapped out to a submission in the first round of the fight. Video below:
I think that it is obvious to see that Hendricks didn't tap, but many people are entertaining this notion of GSP having a submission ignored. After the fight St-Pierre hinted at possibly needing some time away to deal with some things in his personal life. Dana White had a conversation with the champ and says that GSP will overcome his personal issues and will not be retiring. He also stated that GSP owes Hendricks a rematch they look forward to putting that together.
Below is a prediction on how I felt that the event would play out and the actual results that occured:
Also be sure to vote for who you believed was the true winner of the main event last night at: UFC 167 Main Event Poll
Georges St-Pierre def. Johny Hendricks via split decision Rashad Evans def. Chael Sonnen via first-round TKO Robbie Lawler def. Rory MacDonald via split decision Tyron Woodley def. Josh Koscheck via first-round KO Ali Bagautinov def. Tim Elliott via unanimous decision
Preliminary Card:
Donald Cerrone def. Evan Dunham via submission (triangle choke) Thales Leites def. Ed Herman via unanimous decision Rick Story def. Brian Ebersole via unanimous decision Erik Perez def. Edwin Figueroa via unanimous decision Jason High def. Anthony Lapsley via unanimous decision Sergio Pettis def. Will Campuzano via unanimous decision Gian Villante def. Cody Donovan via second-round TKO
