UFC on Fox 9 Recap

UFC on Fox 9 was a great event that featured some of the UFC's best talents at 155 lbs and under that was headlined by a title fight in the UFC's Flyweight Division between Demetrious Johnson and Joseph Benavidez.

The main card started with a lightweight fight between two hungry TUF alumni.  Joe Lauzon and Mac Danzig had a back in forth battle that definitely entertained.  Both men were unable to submit the other, but Lauzon tried a few submissions from his guard.  It was a fight that you could be scored 100% for Lauzon.  Lauzon won by unanimous decision.

The next fight was between Chad Mendes and Nik Lentz.  It was a fight in which Chad Mendes exploded in the first round stunning Lentz early in round one.  Lentz was able to recover and avoid being KO'd in the first round like Mendes' last four opponents.  Though Lentz avoided a KO he did fall victim to repeated takedown after takedown for three rounds.  While watching the fight, it was evident from Mendes' performance that there was something definitely wrong with Chad Mendes and it was later revealed that Mendes had been recovering from a sinus infection and was not 100%.  Mendes earned himself a unanimous decision.

The next bout was truly a fight of top contenders if there ever was one.  It pitted the UFC's #2 and #3 Bantamweights against each other.  Urijah Faber had the home town advantage in Sacramento as he was one of four Alpha Male fighters to grace the Octagon along with team mates Danny Castillo, Chad Mendes and Joseph Benavidez.  He stood across the cage from a very confident and calm Michael McDonald.  Faber was able to out-strike the more decorated striker as well as out-grapple him.  Faber earned a submission victory after rocking McDonald and then sinking in a tight guillotine in the second round.

The next fight had the biggest shocker of all time as Demetrious Johnson defended his UFC title successfully against Joseph Benavidez.  Demetrious Johnson brought the fight straight to Joseph Benavidez and did what most people thought Benavidez would do to him and knocked him out COLD!  The fight ended so suddenly with Benavidez flat on his back within the the first round.

Post Fight Bonuses:
Submission of the Night: Urijah Faber
Knockout of the Night: Demetrious Johnson
Fight of the Night: Danny Castillo and Edson Barbosa

It will be interesting to see who the UFC would have Johnson face next. What are your thoughts?

UFC on Fox 9: Injury Takes Brown out of Condit Fight

UFC Welterweight Matt Brown was scheduled to face former Interim UFC Welterweight Champion, Carlos Condit on December 14th in what could of been a title eliminating fight, but a back injury has removed "the Immortal" from his fight.  The UFC has decided not to long for a new opponent for Carlos Condit and will look to reschedule the fight for another time.

Anthony Pettis Injured, Henderson Returns to the Octogon

With Anthony Pettis suffering with an injured knee, Anthony Pettis is being pulled out of his title fight with Josh Thomson at UFC on Fox 9.  That fight is being entirely pulled from that card and will instead be headlined by Demetrius Johnson versus Joseph Benavidez II.  Since that fight was originally scheduled to be the headlining fight for the TUF 18 finale, Nate Diaz's fight with Gray Maynard will be headlining the TUF 18 finale.  Also with Pettis out of his title fight, the UFC has decided to put Thomson in a fight with former UFC Lightweight Champion, Benson Henderson in January 2014. This will be Henderson's first fight since losing the title in late August. 

Dodson Replaces McCall in Jorgenson Bout

Not long ago it was reported that UFC Flyweight Ian McCall was forced to pull out of his bout with Scott Jorgenson at UFC on Fox 9 due to an injury.  It has now been confirmed that one of the UFC's best flyweights, John Dodson will be taking his place.  This fight will be a brawl between two of the UFC's top lighter division fighers.  This will be Scott Jorgenson's first bout at Flyweight and it will be one of his toughest challenges ever.

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.

UFC on Fox 9 Staredown Pics

Below are the staredown pictures from today featuring headliners Anthony Pettis, Josh Thomson, Carlos Condit and Matt Brown:

Can Pettis Finish Thomson?

Prior to his UFC title fight with Benson Henderson, Anthony Pettis stated that if he won the UFC Lightweight Championship that he would he the kind of Champion that would look to finish all of his challengers. Since becoming the UFC Lightweight Champion, Pettis has not changed that statement and has stated that he is looking to take out his first challenger in the first round. 

Josh Thomson will be the first man to face Anthony Pettis since the title left Benson Henderson's waist. Former Strikeforce Lightweight Champion Josh Thomson is an MMA vet with an impressive resume including wins over notable opponents suchal as Rob McCullough, Hermes Franca, Duane Ludwig, Nam Phan, Gilbert Melendez, Pat Healy and Nate Diaz. TJ Grant was originally set to face Pettis before another injury took him out of another UFC Lightweight title fight.  Grant was quickly replaced with Josh Thomson to face Prttis at UFC on Fox 9.

Current UFC Lightweight Champion, Anthony Pettis, holds a record of 17-2. He finished 7 fights with knockouts and 7 fights with submissions. Manthony Pettis is definitely the definition of a finisher if thete ever is one.He holds victories over Danny Castillo,  Ben Henderson, Joe Lauzon, and Donald Cerrone.  Anthony Pettis won histitle impressively against Benson Henderson when he secured a tight armbar in the last half of the first round of their title fight at UFC 164. Benson Hendersonis one of the best guys at 155 lbs and Anthony Pettis was able to prove his stoppages were no flukes when he submitted the champ. Though the championis a proven finisher it leads us to wonder if he can stop someone the caliber of Josh Thomson.Thomson himselfis coming off of an early stoppage of top contender, Nate Diaz, in their recent bout on UFC on Fox.  I think that Josh Thomson has the ability to hang with Pettis and possibly defeat Pettis with a great camp in place, but we will find out in a few months at UF  on Fox 9.

UFC on Fox 9 Set for December 14

The UFC has announced that Anthony Pettis will be defending his newly acquired UFC Lightweight Championship against Strikeforce vet Josh Thomson on December 14 for UFC on Fox 9.

This fight will also feature more fights from the lighter divisions as former WEC Featherweight Champion, Urijah Faber, is scheduled to meet with Michael MacDonald. Also on the card is a bout between Ian McCall and Scott Jorgenson, who will be making his Flyweight debut.