UFC 168: Ronda Rousey vs. Miesha Tate

For your viewing pleasure UFC.com has featured the UFC 168 title fight between Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate that earned them Fight of the Night honors, to get us ready for UFC 170.  Enjoy:

Silva Still Wants to Compete/Possible Super Fight with Georges

According to Anderson Silva's manager, Ed Soares, Anderson Silva is doing better than expected in his recovery.  At UFC 168, Silva was competing to get his UFC Middleweight title back from Chris Weidman, the man who took it back at UFC 162.  In the second round of their fight, Silva threw a leg kick at Weidman, who checked the kick, which caused it to break.  Silva went into surgery that same night to repair the broken leg and the surgery was a success.  Soares has stated that Silva is able to walk with crutches and able to move the toes of his broken leg.

Soares stated that Silva is still in fighting spirits and could possibly be back training as early as six to nine months.  Silva's camp already has an opponent in mind for his return and that man would be former UFC Welterweight Champion, Georges St-Pierre.  GSP announced a leave of absence from the sport not long after his title defense at UFC 167 in November against Johny Hendricks.

This wouldn't be the first time that a fight between the two of former champions has been spoken of.  For years the two dominant champions had been mentioned in the same sentence as the words 'super fight.'  Both men had practically cleared out their entire weight classes before GSP's leave of absence and Silva's injury.  It is very likely that GSP will return and Silva has already shown his interest in still competing, so this match is completely doable especially considering that at one time Anderson Silva fought as small at 168 lbs and 174 lbs.  Silva and GSP could meet at one of their respectful weights or in a catchweight bout somewhere in between.  I think that it would be an amazing crowd-pleaser and put the two most dominant champs in the cage with each other.   It is very unlikely that Silva will be fighting for the UFC Middleweight Championship and GSP will probably have to win a few fights before he gets another crack at his title that he vacated, so why not have them return against each other as long as GSP and the UFC complies.  When asked about a fight with Silva not long before announcing his temporary leave from the sport, GSP stated that he would prefer to continue his legacy in the welterweight division  and defending his belt.

It is a fight that I wouldn't mind seeing and I think that it would be a big money fight for the UFC and a bigger super fight than some that have come before it.  It would be a good fight at 180 lb catchweight.

Would you like to see a fight between Anderson Silva and Georges St-Pierre upon their returns?

Yes

No

poll generator

Fertitta: Weidman/Belfort Maybe in May or June

The UFC's co-owner Lorenzo Fertitto has stated that the UFC is targeted for May or July as long as Weidman is able to compete.  After Weidman's TKO victory over Anderson Silva, it was announced tha Vitoe belfort would be the next in line for the title. During a post-fight interview, Weidman expressed some concerns with his knee that he wanted to get looked into.

The UFC believes that the best location for this bout will be Las vegas Nevada. There is no official date or venue for the future UFC Middleweight title fight. Be sure to stay posted to our site to get the official date and time as soon as it is available.

UFC 168: Post Fight Bonuses

The UFC has released its results for the post fight bonuses for UFC 168 and here they are:

Fight of the Night Bonus: Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate

Submission of the Night Bonus: Ronda Rousey

Knockout of the Night Bonus: Travis Browne

UFC 168: Extended Preview

Will Anderson Silva be able to win his title back from Chris Weidman?--Tough Spar MMA

Yes--he will do it in impressive fashion

Yes--he will do so, but it will be a tough fight

No--Weidman will finish him again

No--Weidman by decision

Poll Maker

UFC 168: Best Friends Trailer

A fun teaser of Tate and Rousey a week before the actually fight

Cat Zingano Targeting a May 2014 Return

Who remembers Cat Zingano? I do! For anyone who doesn't, Cat Zingano was originally cast to coach opposite of Ronda Rousey on TUF 18.

On April 13, 2013, Cat Zingano went to war with the #2 135 lb Woman in the world, Miesha Tate.  The two of them fought hard for three rounds in the Octagon with Tate likely winning the first two rounds before Zingano stopped her in the third round due to knee strikes. With a victory she was tapped to be the other coach for the next TUF season and a title shot at the end of the season.  Unfortunately for Zingano she sustained a serious knee injury that put her on the sidelines and opened the door for Tate to step in and coach in her place. 

For months and months Zingano has been nursing her injured knee so she could get back into title contention. She now has updated her twitter account saying that she should be ready for battle again in May of 2014.  She hopes to face the winner of the current title fight set to take place this month between Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate?

Technically Zingano has already earned her title shot, but I feel that she should take a warm-up fight before immediately challenging for a title shot upon her return especially considering the fact that ahe didn't have an easy time getting through Tate in their match. We couldnt expect her to truly pose a threat to Rousey if she can not keep herself out of trouble by getting out-grappled. I think the best opponent for Zingano upon her return would be against Alexis Davis who absolutely looked phenomenal against former title challenger, Liz Carmouche. Davis felt she was ready for a title match after her victory at UFC Fight for the Troops not long ago.  I say the UFC should pit the two of them together and let the winner get the next title shot after UFC 168.

Roy Jones Jr. Still Interested in Silva Fight

Boxing living legend, Roy Jones Jr. Has expressed that he still has a desire to face Anderson Silva in the ring despite Silva's loss to Chris Weidman this summer.  Jones stated that he took his upcoming fight this December against Zine Eddine Benmakhlouf to help get him prepared for a fight with Silva.  Jones hasn't fought in almoat a year and is treating this fight as a warm up fight.

I think that a fight with Anderson Silva in a boxing match could be fun, but I dont think it really benefits either one of the combat sport legends. If one beata the other no one truly wins seeing as both men are at the second end of their careers. It would be a fight for the fans with no solidification of any sorts.  Jones Jr. wins: he beat a fighter out of his prime. Silva wins: he beat a fighter out of his prime. This match means nothing now that both, men are aged and on their way out of their primary sports soon.

A few years a ago the boxer versus mixed martial artist debate was played out and it wasn't pretty at all. James Toney took on Randy Couture in an MMA fight inaide the UFC in which you saw Randy Cooture make James Toney look like a school child against a man. We don't need to see that again. It did nothing good for combat sports whether youre an MMA fan or a boxing fan. It pleases no one. That fight just solidifies my theory. My theory is a boxer can't beat an MMA fightwr in an MMA fight and an MMA fighter cant beat a boxer in boxing match. It is what it is. The idea of the fight of course grabs my curiosity just a bit as to how well Silva would fair against Jones Jr., but I just know he would loseand quite frankly it juat wouldn't be a world class fight what so ever. It would be a fight that favors the boxing community and would even the score between MMA and boxing 1-1 if the fight were to happen.

If news were to break that Nick Diaz or Chris Lytle wanted an exhibition fight against a pro, you would have my undivided attention. In this case, it's a dream fight that would not go as most bandwagon casual fight fans qould expect. It would be a one-sided victory for Jones Jr.

TUF 18 Finale Results

Main Card:

Nate Diaz def. Gray Maynard via first-
round TKO
Julianna Pena def. Jessica Rakoczy via
first-round TKO
Chris Holdsworth def. David Grant via
submission (rear-naked choke)
Jessamyn Duke def. Peggy Morgan via
unanimous decision
Raquel Pennington def. Roxanne
Modafferi via unanimous decision

Preliminary Card:

Akira Corassani def. Maximo Blanco
via disqualification (intentional foul)
Tom Niinimaki def. Rani Yaha via split
decision
Jared Rosholt def. Walt Harris via
unanimous decision
Sean Spencer def. Drew Dober via
unanimous decision
Joshua Sampo def. Ryan Benoit via
submission (rear-naked choke)

MMATorch Contributor, Christian Walsh On UFC 163

COLUMN: The Legacy of UFC 163 - How the Fights and Fighters on the "Aldo vs. Korean Zombie" Card Will Be Remembered

Ronda Rousey Lands Cover of Maxim Magazine

UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion, Ronda Rousey will be featured on the cover of the September issue of Maxim magazine.  The link for a preview of the photos is listed below:

Rousey's Maxim Photos

"Rowdy" Ronda Rousey is definitely the public face of women's mixed martial arts and has gained the attention of all who hear her name.  She has landed photo shoot after photo shoot and is now reported to be staring in The Expendables 3 and currently in negotiations with the filmmakers of Fast & Furious 7.  Rousey seems to always stay busy promoting herself and the sport of MMA.  Rousey is staring along her bitter rival Miesha Tate in the UFC's most recent installment of The Ultimate Fighter reality series set to debut on Fox Sports 1 in September.  She and Tate will fight at UFC 168 for the UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion on Dec. 28

UFC 168: Miesha Tate Believes Ronda Rousey Has 'Jealousy Issues'

Sarah Kaufman Will Need a New Opponent for UFN

It was recently reported that Sarah Kaufman's original opponent for Ultimate Fight Night: Condit vs. Kampmann 2, Sara McMann, has been forced to drop out of her fight on Aug. 28.  There UFC has yet to announce a replacement for Kaufman who will be making her UFC debut.  Kaufman is a top contender who has an impressive (16-2) mixed martial arts career with wins over Miesha Tate, Alexis Davis (twice) and Liz Carmouche.

The question now becomes, who does the UFC get to replace the top contender?

 Possible matchups in my opinion would be a rematch with Liz Carmouche, whom she defeated earlier in their careers.  Carmouche was the first person to challenge UFC Champion, Ronda Rousey in the first ever female bout in the UFC.  Liz Carmouche was close to defeating Rousey via choke in their contest for the UFC Womens Bantamweight Championship before Rousey locked in her signature armbar.  Carmouche is coming off of a dominating TKO victory over UFC newcomer Jessica Adrade.  Carmouche showed a wide array of her veteran skills to prove that she is still a force to be reckoned with in the UFC Womens Bantamweight division.  If Carmouche is able to avenge her Strikeforce decision loss to Kaufman she could prove to the UFC that she is ready for a shot at the title with possibly Cat Zingano being the only one standing in her way.

Another option that the UFC could take would be a bout with Amanda Nunes who also is coming off of an impressive TKO victory over Sheila Gaff in her UFC debut this past Saturday at UFC 168.  The spotlight of being in the "big stage" didn't seem to effect Nunes who put on an amzing show and won impressively over veteran Gaff.  I think it would be an interesting match up between two excited Top 10 contenders.

Rampage Faces off with Tito

After rumors of a fight with Roy Jones Jr. in a boxing match on PPV, Bellator and Rampage kill the rumor by announcing that Rampage Jackson will be fighting Tito Ortiz under the Bellator promotion on November 2nd in Long Beach California.

It is definitely an interesting twist considering the fact that it was rumored that Tito Ortiz was trying to make comeback to the UFC.  I think that it is a good move for Bellator to try to use a former two UFC Light Heavyweight Champions, with heavy fan followings, to bring attention to Bellator.

As for the fight itself, I feel that the best time for this fight would've been before both of these fighters were out of their prime. Let's be honest neither one of these fighters have been exciting for quite some time. I will definitely watch the fight to see if Rampage's 'new found love for MMA' will spark any signal to the returm of the Rampage from Pride FC that we all know and love. As for Tito I have no expectation of anything great from him.

It will be unwise of Bellator to air this fight on Dec. 28 as it was rumored for the proposed Boxing match between Rampage and Jones Jr. There is not a fight on earth that can compete with UFC 168 Which includes the most anticipated rematch in MMA and UFC history--Current UFC Middleweight Champion Chris Wiedman vs. former long time UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva. Plus a rematch between UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion Ronda Rousey and challenger Miesha Tate.