UFC 170: Countdown to UFC 170/MacDonald vs. Maia

UFC 170: Countdown to UFC 170/Cormier vs. Cummins

UFC 170: Countdown to UFC 170/Rousey vs. McMann

Rashad Evans Undergoing Surgery This Week

Former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, Rashad Evans was forced to pull out of his UFC 170 fight with Daniel Cormier due to a knee injury last week.  Evans who was expected to possibly be recover in as little as four weeks, will now have to undergo surgery on his now and could be looking at as long as six months before he is fully recovered.

This is a huge change from what was earlier reported.  The UFC even went as far as trying to target the fight on the UFC 172 card in April, but it looks like that will not happen.  An injury is definitely a huge set back for the 34-year-old fighter who still has aspirations for being the UFC champion again.  Losing months of competition like this again will not help him get to the title.  Rashad has all the tools to make it to another title shot, but he needs a few more wins to get there.  Had he not gotten injured and he was able to stop Cormier, he would have catapulted back to the top and possibly been facing Jones shortly depending on how well Alexander Gustaffson performs in London next month against Manuwa.  I hope that no matter what happens with Cormier as he faces Cummins, that the UFC is able to get this fight rescheduled.

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:

UFC 170: Rashad Evans Out of Cormier Fight Due to Injury

Fox  Sports Analyst and former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, Rashad Evans has fallen to injury this week and will not be able to compete in a contest with Daniel Cormier next weekend at UFC 170. The UFC has decided to do away with the bout for now. It is rumored that the UFC may possibly be targeting the bout for UFC 172 if Evans is healthy.

In the meantime, Daniel Cormier has took to Twitter to ask for possible replacement opponents calling out Chael Sonnen and Anthony "Rumble" Johnson.  He has also asked to maybe take a fight at heavyweight. Both men already have opponents in the next few months, but Sonnen replied saying that he was up for filling in for Evans. It is unlikely that the UFC will book a replacement opponent on such short notice with UFC 170 right around the corner, a little over a week away.

UFC 170: Daniel Cormier Update

The UFC's 4th ranked heavyweight and former Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix Champion, Daniel Cormier will be making his Light Heavyweight debut against Rashad Evans at UFC 170.  Daniel Cormier last fought at UFC 166 in October at heavyweight against Roy Nelson and weighed in a little over 220 lbs.  We are over two weeks from UFC 170 and it appears that Cormier will not have any trouble with cardio or making weight in a few weeks.  Cormier recently released this photo via social media and already is down to 212 lbs.  His opponent Rashad Evans started his UFC career as a heavyweight and quickly made the jump down to 205 lbs.

Who wins the UFC co-main event between Rashad Evans and Daniel Cormier?--Tough Spar MMA

Rashad Evans

Daniel Cormier

Poll Maker

UFC 170: Alexis Davis Gets Jessica Eye as Next Opponent

UFC 170 will be headlined by the UFC's Women's Bantamweight Championship fight between Ronda Rousey and Sara McMann, but there will be another female bout added to the card.  Alexis Davis, who is coming off of a dominating decision win over Liz Carmouche at UFC Fight for the Troops 3.  She believed that she was ready for Ronda Rousey after her win, but the UFC did not agree; instead they gave Sara McMann the title shot and gave her a different opponent. Her opponent in place of Rousey is Jessica Eye who is coming off of a split decision victory over top contender Sara Kaufman in her UFC debut.

UFC 170: Rousey and McMann Clash for the Title

After her victory over Miesha Tate, it was announced that the UFC had already chosen her next opponent and the fight would be occurring very shortly.  Sara McMann has been chosen as the next gladiator to step I to the cage with the UFC's hungry dragon named Ronda Rousey.

Sarah McMann is an undefeated competitor who is 7-0 in her professional MMA career. She holds notable wins over Shana Baszler and Shiela Gaff.  Of her seven wins 6 come by way of stoppage (3 submissions, 3 TKOs) with one decision.  McMann is a silver medaliat at thw 2004 Olympic Games in women's freestyle wrestling at 63 kg (~138 lbs.)  This will be a clash of two Olympic medalists from the same year, but different sports.

This will be a great clash between two female titans in the UFC. I believe that McMann poses the greatest threat to Rousey's title, even over Zingano who is the rightful contender for the title. They will be replacing Rashad Evans and Daniel Cormier as the headlining bout at UFC 170 in February.

UFC 170: Nurmagomedov and Melendez Square off

Young and exciting UFC Lightweight, Khabib Nurmagomedov, has gotten his wish. Not long after Melendez went to war with TUF winner, Diego Sanchez, Nurmagomedov and Melendez both expressed an interest in each other for their next opponent. Khabib also went as far as making a mock trailer for a future clash between the two top contenders.

Nurmagomedov is 5-0 in the UFC and is ready for a huge step up in competition and he gets to face the man who is right behind Benson Henderson as the #1 contender in the UFC's 155 lb division.  Gilbert Melendez fought for the title against Benson Henderson earlier in 2013 and lost a close decision that some felt he had won. He then made up for it with a decisive decision win over Diego Sanchez.

This fight has been added onto the UFC 170 card which is headlined by a Rashad Evans and Daniel Cormier.

UFC 170: Evans vs. Cormier in February

In late November, former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Rashad Evans hinted to the public that he may possibly be facing Daniel Cormier in Cormier's 205 lb debut.  It has now been officially announced that the two of them will be facing each other at UFC 170 on February 22 in Las Vegas.  I feel that this will be a tough test for Cormier as a first fight in a new weight class.  Cormier is an Olympic level wrestler with good striking who has remained undefeated in all of his 13 pro MMA bouts.  So far Cormier has defeated two former UFC champions (Josh Barnett and Frank Mir) and if he were to defeat Evans, he would make it three champions defeated.  This is a very important fight for Evans, who is getting back to his usual winning ways after a split decision win over Dan Henderson and a first round TKO victory over Chael Sonnen in November.  If he were to win this fight followed by another fight I think we could see him challenge for the title again by late 2014 or early 2015.

Also added to the card is a Welterweight fight between two of the top contenders in the UFC Welterweight Division who both are coming off of losses in their last bouts.  Brazilian Jiu Jitsu specialist and former title challenger at 185 lbs, Demian Maia, will suare off with GSP's training partner Rory MacDonald.  Rory MacDonald is coming off of a decision loss to Robbie Lawler who easily out-scored him in there bout at the UFC 20th Anniversary event, UFC 167.  Rory was very reserved in that fight and lacked aggression after promising to entertain in that fight.  Demian recently lost to high-level grappler Jake Shields in their main event fight at UFC Fight Night 29.

Plus a bout between Rafael dos Anjos and Rustam Khabilov in the UFC's Lightweight clash between two exciting fighters.