Gray Maynard Moving to Featherweight

Former UFC Lightweight title challenger, Gray Maynard has had a rough few years following his TKO loss to former UFC Lightweight Champion and #2 ranked featherweight, Frankie Edgar, in their third clash.  Since that fight he has been unable to produce a win streak in the lightweight division.  He won a split decision win against Clay Guida, but has taken four straight losses since that win.  Previously, Maynard was on an eight fight win streak before he and Edgar fought to a draw before they fought a third time.

Recently, Maynard has stated that he has been walking around smaller than normal, due to more running and cardio in place of weight training.  He now would like to try his hand at the UFC's featherweight division.  Maynard believes he will have no trouble making the weight despite rumors in the past of him having trouble making weight in the past.  Maynard denies the rumors and has stated that he never had issues making weight in the past.

Maynard will be doing what many fighters have done when they have had trouble in their original weight class.  It has worked for a few other fighters in the past.  BJ Penn moved up to Welterweight after a failed attempt at the UFC Lightweight Championship against Jens Pulver.  He would go on to defeat Matt Hughes to win the title.  He would later move back down to his natural weight class and gain the Lightweight title.  Sean Sherk began his UFC career in the welterweight division, but would find championship success in the UFC's Lightweight Division. Clay Guida moved down to Featherweight and done pretty well for himself there.  Maynard's former nemesis, Frankie Edgar moved to featherweight after being unable to recover his UFC title from Ben Henderson.  Edgar is currently on a five fight win streak and it could be debated that he is the next in line at a title shot against Conor McGregor.

Many other fighters have renewed their careers in different weight classes, such as Demetrius Johnson, Denis Siver, Dominick Cruz and Uriah Faber.  A move to 145 lbs, just might be what Maynard needs to get back in the winners' circle.

UFC Fight Night Abu Dhabi: Event Results

Main Card:

Roy Nelson def. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira KO Round 1
Clay Guida def. Tatsuya Kawajiri via unanimous decision
Ryan LaFlare def. John Howard via unanimous decision
Ramsey Nijem def. Beneil Dariush via TKO (strikes) Round 1

Preliminary Card:

Jared Rosholt def. Daniel Omielanczuk via unanimous decision
Thales Leites def. Trevor Smith via first-round TKO
Jim Alers def. Alan Omer via split decision
Johny Bedford vs. Rani Yahya no-contest (accidental head-butt) Round 1

Edgar-Penn III Set for July 6th

A few months ago, we announced that former UFC Lightweight Champions, Frankie Edgar and BJ Penn would be cast as the coaches of the nineteenth season of the hit reality show the Ultimate Fighter.  Now we have received word that a date has been set for the two men to meet for the third match of their trilogy.  Edgar and Penn will be going to war at the TUF 19 Finale at the end of the season on July 6th.  The two men first faced each other in the Lightweight Division in which Edgar defeated Penn for the UFC Lightweight Championship at UFC 112.  He later defended the title against Penn in an instant rematch at UFC 118.  The two will now face each other in the UFC's Featherweight Division where Frankie Edgar has found a new home in the UFC.  BJ Penn has never fought at Featherweight in his career, but wanted the fight with Edgar so bad that he was willing to make the weight cut.

This certainly could be a barn burner between the two fighters.  In the first two fights, we saw Edgar outclass Penn.  Though Penn has never fought at Featherweight I predict that Penn will take this fight due to the fact that he has flew down to Brazil to train with Nova Uniao and Anthony Pedernieras whom he trained with early in his career.  With guys like Jose Aldo, Diego Nunes and Renan Barao to train with, I think it gives him just enough to defeat Edgar in their third fight.

Cub Swanson and Jeremy Stephens Scheduled to Fight in June

Two of the most exciting fighters in the UFC Featherweight Division have been scheduled to headline a UFC Fight Night Event in June.  Cub Swanson will face Jeremy Stephens in a 5-round slugfest inside the Octagon.  Stephens is on a five fight win streak with his last win at UFC 162 against Dennis Siver.  Jeremy Stephens is on a three fight win streak since he decided to drop to 145 lbs after spending most of his career at 155 lbs.

This is defenitely going to be a crowd pleaser.  Both men have excellent hands and aren't afraid to stand and trade shots with their opponents. I will definitely look forward to see this fight. If I had to put my money on any one, I'd put it on Swanson. Though Stephens has power, Swanson brings more weapons into the fight that allow him an advantage no matter where the fight goes.

Aldo/Pettis Could Be on the Horizon

It appears that UFC President Dana White is getting closer to putting together a clash between current UFC Champions Jose Aldo and Anthony Pettis.  Jose Aldo is the current Featherweight Champion (145 lbs) and Anthony Pettis is the current Lightweight Champion (155 lbs).  Earlier this week, it was revealed that both champions were not able to come to an agreement as to which weight class the fight was going to take place.  Neither man wanted to go to the other man's weight class.  Aldo's camp insisted on meeting in the middle at 150 lbs, but Aldo's camp only wanted to meet at 155lbs and if the fight couldn't happen at Lightweight, Pettis would move on.  With White's intervention it looks like the fight will be occurring at 155lbs with Aldo moving up in weight to fight Pettis.  If the fight goes through, Aldo will have to vacate his title, but if Aldo loses to Pettis he will be granted an immediate rematch against whoever picks up his vacant title.  Dana White is thinking that a match between Cub Swanson and Chad Mendes would make for the best match for the vacant title.

UFC 169: Event Recap

Last night was not one of the best cards that the UFC has put on in recent years.  It was a night that went to many decisions and didn't really leave me impressed.  As an avid fight fan and blogger it is mandatory that I watch the fight, but I had determined that I wasn't going to watch the fight at all because I had a feeling that it wasn't going to be pleasing.  I'll be completely honest and say that I am not a fan whatsoever of the UFC's Bantamweight division and had no interest in watching Faber fight and come up short for the third time for the belt.  Contrary to how I felt about the event, I felt obligated to watch anyways as I haven't missed a PPV fight that I was home for in quite some time.

Let's begin with the Fox Sports 1 Prelims:

The first bout on the Fox Sports 1 card was perhaps one of my favorite fights on the card as it had two young guns in the UFC's Lightweight Division squaring off against one another.  The two young men went toe to toe with each other with great technical striking.  Al Iaquinta was almost submitted with a tight choke from Lee, but managed to escape and win a close, but obvious unanimous decision victory.

The only other fight that stood out on the card was another Lightweight bout between Tristar Gym's John Makdessi and Brazilian Alan Patrick.  It was a fight that pitted a lengthy grappler in Patrick and a stout striker in Makdessi.  It was a bout that saw Makdessi get work his way through  Patrick's reach and close the distance.  It was a fight in which you could give the first round to Patrick, but the last two rounds were definitely Makdessi's  rounds.  After the fight went the distance, somehow the judges gave probably the worst decision since Phil Davis being granted the decision win over Lyoto Machida at UFC 163.  It was TERRIBLE judging of a clear-cut decision that really should have went to Makdessi.

The final results for the prelims are as follows:

Alan Patrick def. John Makdessi via unanimous decision

Chris Cariaso def. Danny Martinez via unanimous decision

Nick Catone def. Tom Watson via split decision

Al Iaquinta def. Kevin Lee via unanimous decision

Clint Hester def. Andy Enz via unanimous decision

Rashid Magomedov def. Tony Martin via unanimous decision

Neil Magny def. Gasan Umalatov via unanimous decision

 And now to the Main Card:

The main card started off with a classic rising contender vs. seasoned vet scenario as Abel Trujillo took on Jamie Varner in the opening fight.  It was a fight in which Varner controlled round one by out-striking Abel Trujillo and rocking him before the round ended.  In the second round, we saw what became Silva vs. Stann II as Varner and and Trujillo swung for the fences and threw caution to the wind.  Just as Varner was even closer to finishing the fight, he gets countered brilliantly by Trujillo.

The next fight was one that I was looking forward to the most on the card as Ali Bagautinov is quickly becoming one of my favorite fighters in the UFC's lower weight classes.  Bagautinov faced the new Anthony "Rumble" Johnson in the form of weigh-in delinquent, John Lineker.  It was a decent fight in which Bagautinov won the first round.  Lineker gained a little momentum in round two as he out-struck Bagautinov.  In the final round, Bagautinov took back the fight that had belonged to him in the first round.  He out-classed Lineker everywhere that the fight went in the third round and earned a unanimous decision.

Before I even talk about what happened in the next fight, I will just give you some stats and let you put the rest together.

Fighter A had a 3 significant strikes w/ a total of 5 strikes landed altogether.  Fighter B landed 62 significant strikes and a total of 139 strikes landed.  Fighter A spent most of the fight backed against the cage or on his back on the mat.  Fighter B controlled where the fight went and took advantage of every position.  This fight is a fight between former UFC Heavyweight Champion, Frank Mir and former Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion, Alistair Overeem.  If you couldn't match the numbers with the athlete that they represent then I will go ahead and let you know who they are.  Fighter A is Frank Mir and Fighter B is Alistair Overeem.  What happened in that match is exactly what I expected to happen and that my folks was a one-sided beatdown by Overeem.  Overeem looked great in his return to the win column as he demolished Mir with out gassing.  He faught very methodically as he picked apart Mir standing and on the ground.  Overeem won a unanimous decision in a fight that was not his most exciting fight, but the fight showed his ability to control his cardio and pace himself successfully.

The next fight was the first of the two title fights scheduled for the night.  Jose Aldo was slated to  compete against Ricardo Lamas for the UFC Featherweight Championship.  Aldo did what he does best.  He brilliantly counter-struck Lamas for five rounds.  It's that simple and doesn't really require much of an elaborate paragraph on what occurred.  It won't be a fight that most people remember as the  next Melendez-Sanchez, but if you enjoy watching a champion take no damage and outclass an opponent like I do, then this was your kind of fight.  Aldo destroyed Lamas with the leg kicks that he was unable to deliver to Korean Zombie due to the broken foot he sustained in the first round of his fight at UFC 163.  As a huge fan of Jose Aldo's leg kick's I was pleased with his performance.  His approach to the fight was cautious, but still interesting.  Aldo used all of his skills to avoid many takedowns and didn't give up a single round.  Hopefully Dana White puts together the fight between Aldo and Pettis that he had hinted at not long ago.

The main event was very anti climactic as former WEC Featherweight Champion Urijah Faber and UFC Bantamweight Champion Renan Barao.  The fight only lasted for one round and was stopped prematurely by referee Herb Dean.  The fight was stopped after Faber had been rocked by a beautiful punch thrown by Barao sent Faber to the mat.  Barao rushed in to put the nail in the coffin for the victory, but Faber was able to grab a hold of Barao's leg with his right hand and defend punches with his left hand.  Faber also threw up a thumbs up to show that he was okay.  It is hard to determine whether or not Dean could see the thumbs up.  As a man who is tired of watching Urijah Faber fall short in title fights since losing his WEC crown to Brown (see WEC 41, WEC 48, UFC 132 and UFC 149) I can honestly say that Faber didn't truly lose this fight.  Herb Dean is an excellent referee, but he stopped the fight too early.  Even though I don't want to see Faber fight the belt again in a way I feel that a rematch could be justified.

Thoughts?

UFC 169 Results

Main Card:

Renan Barao def. Urijah Faber via TKO due to strikes, Round 1
Jose Aldo def. Ricardo Lamas via unanimous decision
Alistair Overeem def. Frank Mir via unanimous decision
Ali Bagautinov def. John Lineker via unanimous decision
Abel Trujillo def. Jamie Varner via knockout KO punch, Round 2

Preliminary Card:

Alan Patrick def. John Makdessi via unanimous decision
Chris Cariaso def. Danny Martinez via unanimous decision
Nick Catone def. Tom Watson via split decision
Al Iaquinta def. Kevin Lee via unanimous decision
Clint Hester def. Andy Enz via unanimous decision
Rashid Magomedov def. Tony Martin via unanimous decision
Neil Magny def. Gasan Umalatov via unanimous decision

White Thinking Aldo and Pettis

UFC President, Dana White has publicly stated that upon a successful title defense against Ricardo Lamas, Jose Aldo will likely be moving up to 155 lbs to challenge Anthony Pettis for the title.  Thomson was originally set to face Anthony Pettis for the title at UFC on Fox 9 before he pulled out due to an injury.  With Thomson losing to Henderson in their five round clash at UFC on Fox 10. With Thomson and TJ Grant out of the running, there is no one else left in the UFC Lightweight Division is in the running for a title. Jose Aldo and Anthony Pettis were originally scheduled to fight for Aldo's Featherweight title at UFC 163 before Anthony Pettis got "injured" only to become healthy enough to return to action a few weeks later at UFC 164 where he earned the Lightweight title from Henderson. After Pettis won the title Aldo still wanted to face Pettis, but it will just be a matter of time before it will happen.

UFC 169: Countdown to UFC 169

UFC Fight Night 34 Singapore: Weigh-in Results

Main Card:

Hyun Gyu Lim (171) VS Tarec Saffiedine (170)
Sean Soriano (145) VS Tatsuya Kawajiri (145)
Luiz ‘Besouro’ Dutra (171) VS Kiichi Kunimoto (171)
Shunichi Shimizu (135) VS Kyung Ho Kang (136)

Preliminary Card:

Will Chope (146) VS Max Holloway (146)
Quinn Mulhern (155) VS Katsunori Kikuno (156)
David Galera (136) VS Royston Wee (134)
Tae Hyun Bang (156) VS Mairbek Taisumov (155)
Jon Delos Reyes (135) VS Dustin Kimura (135)
Russell Doane (135) VS Leandro Issa (136)

UFC 169 to Include the Return of Dominick Cruz

After a few theories of how the UFC's February Pay-Per-View fight card would play out, we finally have some answers.  As rumored before, the UFC's Fetherweight Championship will be on the defended on February 1st by the current title holder Jose Aldo.  Aldo will be defending the title against deserving contender Ricardo Lamas.  The co-main event for the UFC 169 card will feature Dominick Cruz coming back from his injury which took two years out of his fighting career;he will look to unify the UFC's Bantamweight Championship when he takes on Interim UFC Bantamweight Champion Renan Barao.  This is going to be an exciting night of fights for the UFC's lighter divisions and a great way to help bring in the UFC's 2014 cards.

 

Also confirmed on the card will be a heavyweight clash between Alistair Overeem and former UFC Heavyweight Champion Frank Mir.

Cerrone Interested in Drop to Featherweight

Zuffa veteran Donald Cerrone currently has a fight against Evan Dunham at UFC 167 in the UFC's Lightweight Division, but he already knows what he wants after that bout.  Cerrone has announced that he wants to drop to Featherweight and try a run for the title in that division.  One of the first men that Cerrone would like to face if he were to go down to 145 lbs would be against former UFC Welterweight and UFC Lightweight Champion BJ Penn.

Pettis-Aldo-Melendez-Grant

As reported earlier this week, Jose Aldo has continued to show interest in a lightweight fight with the UFC champion Anthony Pettis.  Also TJ Grant was the rightful man to a title shot before having to pull out of two title fights.  This week another curve has been thrown into the mix of the UFC Lightweight Championship; Gilbert Melendez has stated that he is ready again to take the title that he feels already belongs to him.  The following questions are now raised:

1. Who will the UFC give the next title fight to after the Pettis-Thomson fight?
2. Who stands a better chance of taking the title from Pettis?
3. Will Grant still be considered the number one contender upon his return?
4. If Aldo fights Pettis what happens if he fails to capture the title?
5. Also what will it take for Henderson to get back in the title picture?
6. Does Thomson have what it takes to pull the upset over newly crowned lightweight king, Pettis?

The UFC has a line of elite competitors all waiting to get their hands on Pettis and some important decisions to make as to the future of their Lightweight Division.  The answer to the first question is one that I do not have the answer to, but as soon as I do, you will all be the first to know.  In my opinion I would prefer to see Aldo or Melendez over Grant at this point.  I was anticipating the fight between Aldo and Pettis at UFC 163 so that is the match that makes the most sense to me.  The answer to who stands a better chance against Pettis is a debatable question, but if I had to pick one of the three to beat Pettis I would have to say that the man to stand the best chance is Gilbert Melendez.  I feel that Gilbert has the better gas tank of the three and an ability to be sharp and effective throughout a five round war if necessary.  Gilbert Melendez has a cerebral approach to fighting that has led to many victories and titles in the Strikeforce and WEC in the lightweight division.  He is one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world and has the ability to not walk right into Anthony Pettis' game plan.

In regards to TJ Grant, I feel that he has now lost his spot as the next guy in line for the title.  I think that he will have to return and win another fight before he gets back in the spot due to the delay in his return.  He will need a tune-up fight to get him in prime position to challenge for the UFC title.  Or the UFC wanted to put things back to the way that they should've been, they could still put together a match between TJ Grant and Ben Henderson for a number one contender's spot against the winner of the Pettis and Thomson match up.  Sure both men aren't fighting for the title as originally scheduled but this provide's the UFC the opportunity to put together the match that was meant to take place at UFC 164.  I think if this match was put together, the winner could justifiably ask for a title shot.

Though I think Gilbert has the best chance of beating Pettis, I also think that Aldo possesses what it takes to defeat Pettis as well.  Despite feeling that Aldo could beat Pettis, we must ask ourselves what would happen if Aldo were to lose against Pettis?  The UFC and internet forums are just assuming the current UFC Featherweight Jose Aldo will make his move to the lightweight division, take Pettis' title and continue the rest of his MMA career as a lightweight in the UFC.  Longtime followers of MMA know very well that anything can happen in MMA and it is very possible that Anthony Pettis could find a way to defeat Jose Aldo if they were to clash.  If this were to happen what would that mean for Jose Aldo?  If he loses there are two options that are possible: he could go back to 145 and continue to defend his belt or he could stay at 155 so then he wouldn't have to continue to cut so much weight to defend his UFC Featherweight Championship.  Jose Aldo has annihilated most of the featherweight roster in the UFC or in his time in the WEC; it would be interesting to see how he would handle the UFC's Lightweight roster.  I think Aldo could hold his own in the lightweight division as well, but I think that he will be challenged more by the slightly larger fighters in the division.  I think that Aldo will perform even better than we've seen him if he isn't cutting so much weight before getting in the cage.

The biggest question to ask would be can Thomson beat Pettis and the answer is yes!  When discussing anyone of these guys in this post, we are talking about the elite of the elite in the UFC, so anyone of them COULD beat the other guy, but it becomes a matter of who came into the fight with the best game plan.  I think Thomson definitely has the potential to beat Pettis and ruin all title fights discussed above.  Thomson could spoil all potential title fights involving Pettis and making us start thinking about Thomson vs. Aldo-Melendez-Grant-Henderson. Also if this were to occur would Pettis still have a shot to face Aldo at 145 lbs?  Also what if there is someone else that the UFC has in mind to fight for the title next?  Ladies and Gentleman, we have a very interesting UFC Lightweight Division and I can't wait to see what happens.

Jose Aldo Still Wants Pettis Fight

Right now UFC Featherweight Champion, Jose Aldo, has been rumored to possibly be fighting Ricardo Lamas on the UFC Super Bowl weekend card. Nothing has been set into stone so technically Aldo is still available for a fight.

Since UFC 164, in which Anthony Pettis took the UFC Lightweight Championship from Benson Henderson, the only fight that the champ has been thinking about is the fight originally set for UFC 163.  Before UFC champ Pettis was scheduled to face Benson Henderson for the title, he was origianlly set to face the UFC Featherwright Champion,
Jose Aldo at UFC 163 before an injury pulled him from the card.  After TJ Grant was pulled from the card, Pettis was healthy enough to step in to face the Champion.  Once he won the title he stated the fact that he still had unfinished business with Aldo and still wanted that fight at 145 for the title.  Wisely the UFC made the decision to make Pettis defend his 155 lb championship first against Thomson before proceeding with any super fights.  Aldo is still more than willing to face the newly crowned champion, but insists that the fight should take place in the UFC's Lightweight Division with Pettis' title on the line in their clash. 

Jose Aldo is inevitably going to make his move to that division in the near future so it makes sense that the fight should take place in that division.  I think that this match makes sense and is completely promotable but it wouldnt wualify as a super fight until Pettis has defended the title. I think that the fight could work as long as Pettis can make a successful defense against Thomson.  I would love to see how much better Aldo's endurance would be at 155lbs and not having to cut the extra 10 lbs. I predict that Aldo will be stronger and more dangerous at lightweight tham he would've been in the original bout I  the featherweight division. Hopefully this match will come into fruition; we must first see how the Lightweight title fight ends and if Lamas gets a crack at the UFC Featherweight title in February.

Aldo-Lamas Possible for Superbowl Weekend

UFC 169 was originally rumored to be a bout headlined by a clash of two titans for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship.  It had been leaked to the media that UFC Champ Jon Jones would be squaring off with Glover Teixeira, but it was announced that the fight had not been official sign-sealed-delivered and would be targeted for sometime in March or April.

Now Dana White has said that a UFC Featherweight title fight may be in the works for UFC 169 in February on Superbowl weekend.  White stated that the fight between Jose Aldo and Ricardo Lamas may be a potential fight for that weekend.  He stated that nothing was set in stone, but the fight was an option that could fit for that weekend.

Mark Coleman to Aid Team Penn on TUF

Former UFC Heavyweight Champion and Pride Grand Prix Champion, Mark Coleman, retired from MMA competition earlier this year at the age of 48.  Though he has retired from fighting himself, he still will be involved in the the future of MMA as we have received word that Mark Coleman will be aiding longtime friend BJ Penn in the upcoming season of the UFC's the Ultimate Fighter reality show.

Mark Coleman will be working alongside former UFC Lightweight and Welterweight Champion, BJ Penn, as the wrestling coach for Team Penn on TUF 19.  Coleman stated that it would be an honor to work with a man who has been his friend since the early days of the UFC.  BJ Penn will be coaching opposite of the man who has beaten him on two different occasions and taken his title, Frankie Edgar.  The two men will square off at the end of the season in a featherweight bout.

New TUF Coaches are Rivals BJ Penn and Frankie Edgar

Just when you thought that BJ Penn was becoming irrelevant in the UFC, the you find out that he has resigned with the UFC.  Former UFC Welterweight and Lightweight Champion, B.J. Penn's first challenge will be to coach opposite of the man who stopped his title reign at lightweight in April 2010, Frankie Edgar.  The UFC is expecting to begin airing the new season of the Ultimate Fighter in April 2014.

The two of them first met in April 2010 at UFC 112 in Abu Dhabi for the UFC Lightweight title.  This was a fight in which Frankie Edgar won the title by a close decision that some of the experts could argue could've went either way.  In the second fight Frankie Edgar won undoubtedly to retain his title.

The original plot for the show was to have Frankie Edgar coach against Uriah Faber, but it was impossible to get the two men to move out of their current weight class and agree on one class. Concurrently B.J. Penn had stated that he had wanted a fight with Benson Henderson in hopes of getting a rematch with Edgar with a victory over Henderson.  Instead of fighting Henderson, White and Penn are able to get him on the show and a featherweight to follow.

Anthony Pettis Still Wants Aldo

New UFC Lightweight champion, and recent Pound-for-pound entry, Anthony Pettis announced after his fight that he is still interested in fighting UFC Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo. It makes one wonder if we still want to see that fight now that he has earned a UFC title on his own weight class. The fight would still be a good fight but I think that now is not the time.

With TJ Grant still waiting in the wings, I think that it is safe to say that Pettis needs tp face TJ Grant next and pursue more fights in his primary weight class first before pursuing any endeavors eleswhere.  I dont beleive that fight between he and Aldo would make any sense.  When he was title-less challenger moving down to featherwieght it made sense even though he was jumping the line. Now that he has the belt he must cement his status as the UFC Lightweight Champion before the fight becomes a super fight or even makes sense.

After winning the WEC title and then losing his UFC debut in the following match, his title reign only counts if he can follow up with a successful title defense. Without that title defense, his UFC belt will mean as much as his WEC title--nothing. Both Aldo and Pettis have title defenses that need to be made. Aldo vs Lamas or Swanson and Pettis vs Grant. If Aldo were to finally move up to 155 lbs that fight for Pettis' title would be priceless after a few title defenses out of Pettis.