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-The Tough Spar MMA Team
UFC Welterweight Championship: Robbie Lawler def. Carlos Condit via Split Decision Heavyweight: Stipe Miocic def. Andrei Arlovski via KO Round 1 Welterweight: Albert Tumenov def. Lorenz Larkin via split decision Featherweight: Brian Ortega def. Diego Brandao via Submission Round 3 Lightweight: Abel Trujillo def. Tony Sims via submission Round 1
Fox Sports 1 Prelims Bantamweight: Michael McDonald def. Masanori Kanehara by submission Round 2 Welterweight: Alex Morono def. Kyle Noke via split decision Women's Strawweight: Justine Kish def. Nina Ansaroff via unanimous decision Lightweight: Drew Dober def. Scott Holtzman via unanimous decision
UFC Fight Pass Prelims Lightweight: Dustin Poirier def. Joe Duffy via unanimous decision Bantamweight: Michinori Tanaka def. Joe Soto via split decision Welterweight: Sheldon Westcott def. Edgar Garcia via TKO Round 1.
The UFC has released two fights for us via YouTube to get us hyped for the upcoming UFC 195 showdown in Las Vegas. The main event features a showdown between two fan favorite fighters. Carlos Condit challenges Robbie Lawler for his UFC Welterweight Championship on January 2, 2016.
The challenger, Carlos Condit, is not a stranger to championship gold, as he is a former Interim UFC Welterweight Champion and former WEC Welterweight Champion. Condit defended his WEC title in three battles before jumping over to the UFC to face greater competition. He would eventually work his way to an interim title shot and eventual clash with then champion, Georges St. Pierre.
Robbie Lawler is a UFC veteran that most early fans of the sport remember for his wild, yet effective striking and knockout power from the early years of the UFC. Lawler would eventually part ways with the UFC in 2004. He would go on to fight for Elite XC as well as Strikeforce (at 185lbs) before returning to the UFC in 2013. Lawler got a chance to fight for the vacant UFC Welterweight title in 2014 against Johnny Hendricks after Georges St. Pierre stepped away from competition. Lawler would lose the bout to Hendricks, but eventually get a rematch with Hendricks and earn the victory the second time around.
Both men have evolved tremendously over the years, but one could argue that Lawler has had the greatest evolution in MMA that we have ever seen. Both men are warriors and don't back down from a fight. Both men a well rounded and possess the ability to finish a fight. MMA fans, we are in for a treat! Not to mention - Andre Arlovski vs. Stipe Miocic. Enjoy the fights!
Here is the Countdown video for the Main Event:
Here is the Countdown video for the Co-main event:
UFC fans and MMA fans, we had a show last night. I must say that I was absolutely entertained by the events from last night. We saw the undefeated stay undefeated. We saw a new UFC Welterweight Champion crowned in one of the most entertaining main event fights in a while. I won't keep you long, for full event card results click here.
Saturday night we witnessed a slugfest in the UFC 171 main event for the UFC Welterweight Division. We saw a fight in which both men literally gave everything and stood their ground when the bell rang for the fight to begin. It was a back and forth fight in which both men looked like winners as they put their heart and skills to the test against each other. In the first round, both men came out strategic, but hungry as they traded shots. Both men stood right in front of each other with Hendricks gaining the round by a very small margin due to his diversity of strikes. Hendricks not only threw his excellent hands, but we saw him actually attacking Lawler with leg kicks that threw off Lawler's defense. In the second round Hendricks continued with more of the same. Lawler continued to trade with him and land shots of his own, but it wasn't enough to earn the round.
In the third round of the clash, we saw Robbie Lawler fire some of the best blows that I've ever seen landed on Johny Hendricks in the UFC. He was able to halt the offense of Hendricks when he rocked him on a few occasions. Hendricks was in trouble for the first time in his UFC career. There was a moment in which the crowd that was partial to Hendricks during the first two round, began to cheer for Lawler. In the fourth round, Lawler continued to rain down left and right after left and right. Johny Hendricks also came out more composed in the fourth and was able to regain his rhythm and composure and go blow for blow with Lawler.
When the fourth round was over you knew that the fight even going into the fifth. Hendricks took the first two rounds and Lawler taking the third and fourth. Both men came out swinging and standing toe-to-toe. Both men exchanged blows and didn't back down. Neither man was willing to let the other man what they had worked so hard for. The fight was close and hard to call all the way untile Johny Hendricks landed a successful takedown that would inevitably secure the victory. Had Hendricks not landed the takedown, it would've been a tough round to judge.
No matter who would have won, it couldn't have been a bad decision as both men put forth their best work. It was an amazing fight that I recommend everyone watch if you missed it. You will not be disappointed. It was a battle between two of the best in the UFC's Welterweight Division.
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.
Despite the fact that Johny Hendricks hasn't fought Robbie Lawler for the vacant UFC Welterweight Championship, he already has his future all planned out. He plans on winning the vacant title and defending it a few times and then moving up to Middleweight and earning that title and staying there to defend that belt. Hendricks believes that the weight cut to Middleweight would be a lot better for his body than the cut to 170 lb as he normally walks around at 220 lbs. He is also interested in a fight with the current 185 lb champ, Chris Weidman.
I'm on the fence about Hendricks moving up in weight. Hendricks is a large welterweight in terms of natural weight and strength, but Hendricks isn't a large welterweight in terms of height and reach. I feel that Hendricks would be able to throw more power at middleweight, but the weight cut hasn't been a negative in his performance. He went five rounds with the champ at a high pace with grappling and striking. He has figured out a way to make the cut and to make it work without losing explosiveness and cardio. I would love a fight with Weidman at some point, but I don't want him to stay at middleweight as I feel he wouldn't stand a chance at some of the UFC's large Middleweights that are 6'4" while Hendricks stands at 5'9". I think right now he should worry about getting through a hungry Robbie Lawler in Dallas at UFC 171.
Today GSP held a press conference today to announce his future place in the UFC. Georges "Rush" St-Pierre announced today that he will be stepping down as the UFC's Welterweight Champion and taking some much needed time off from the sport. He is not retiring and does plan on coming back to the UFC. With the title being vacated, the UFC has decided to let Johny Hendricks square off with Robbie Lawler to decide the next champion at UFC 171. The UFC has moved the 205 lb title fight between Jones and Teixeira to UFC 172. What are your thoughts on the announcements?
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
Georges St-Pierre (170) vs. Johny Hendricks (170)
Rashad Evans (205) vs. Chael Sonnen (206)
Robbie Lawler (170) vs. Rory MacDonald (171)
Josh Koscheck (170) vs. Tyron Woodley (171)
Ali Bagautinov (126) vs. Tim Elliott (125)
Preliminary Card:
Evan Dunham (156) vs. Donald Cerrone (155)
Ed Herman (186) vs. Thales Leites (186)
Brian Ebersole (171) vs. Rick Story (170)
Edwin Figueroa (135) vs. Erik Perez (135)
Jason High (170) vs. Anthony Lapsley (170)
Sergio Pettis (135) vs. Will Campuzano (135)
Cody Donovan (205) vs. Gian Villante (205)
UFC President Dana White, hinted at a possible matchup between Rory MacDonald and Robbie Lawler in an interview with Ariel Helwani earlier this month. It has now been made official for UFC 167. This fight will join the fight between GSP and Johnny Hendricks in November.
After a stellar knockout performance over Mike Pyle at UFC Fight Night 26, Matt Brown (20-11) called out UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre. Matt Brown feels that he is ready for a title shot but it raises the question, is he truly ready for a title shot?
Matt Brown is an Ultimate Fighter Season 7 alumni who has been competing in the UFC since 2008. His current win streak which sits at 6 straight Octogon victories. Usually any top contender with that kind of win streak could easily argue a title shot. 5 of 6 of his victories have come by way of K.O./T.K.O. in his last 6 bouts. His fights are always exciting and 4 straight knockout victories is impressive to have on your resume, but we must remember his competition.
Though I personally see Matt Brown as a top contender in the UFC Welterweight Division it could be argued that he hasn't faced other top contenders. I think that a fight between Brown and St. Pierre would be an exciting fight if he were facing St. Pierre pre-Serra fights. We have to keep in mind that St. Pierre will do what he's been doing for the last half-decade; take em down, keep him in place without doing damage and become another boring title fight. A fight with the St. Pierre who used to entertain the fans by showing a complete MMA game instead of just lying in the guard would be a win for the fans.
I think a victory over a Top 10 competitor would get him into the top ten rankings and put him in the mix for a title shot. If I had to pick a next fight for Brown it would be a match up with Strikeforce import Robbie Lawlor if the matchup with Rory McDonald doesn't fall into place. I think that would be another crowd-pleasing contest.
During an interview with Ariel Helwani, Dana White reveals a possible match up between Rory MacDonald and Robbie Lawler. I think it's an excellent idea to put this together. After a less than spectacular fight with Jake Ellenberger at UFC on Fox 8, Rory MacDonald will now have the opportunity to validate his Top Ten Ranking in the welterweight division against "Ruthless" Robbie Lawler who is coming off a brilliant K.O. victory over Bobby Voelker.
The following link contains Ariel Helwani's interview with Dana White
