Tag Archive for: MMA

Weekly Roundkick: MMA News at 5 Reasons Sports

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Pretty busy week as far as UFC News is concerned, got some exciting fights announces, a few fights in the works, some unfortunate dropouts due to Covid-19, and much more. Here’s your one-stop for everything that happened this week

 

Upcoming Fights Announced

 

  • Kamaru Usman set to fight Gilbert Burns for UFC Welterweight Championship at UFC 256 on December 12 (Unnoficial Announcement confirmed by Brett Okamoto) 
  • Ovince Saint Preux vs. Alonzo Menifield added to UFC Vegas 9 this Saturday, Sept. 5  on ESPN + (Via UFC)
  • Brian Kelleher vs. Kevin Natividad (Replacing Ricky Simon Due to COVID) on UFC Vegas 9 this Saturday, Sept. 5 on ESPN + (Via MMAJunkie)
  • Herman vs Mike Rodriguez at light heavyweight on UFC Vegas 10 on Sept. 12 (MMAFighting)
  • Sijara Eubanksvs Julia Avila at UFC Vegas 10 on Sept.12 (MMAFighting)
  • Bobby Green vs. Alan Patrick at UFC Vegas 10 on Sept.12 (TheRingReport)

 

Fights Teased

 

Jorge Masvidal vs Nate Diaz for the BMF Title- Dana White among others confirmed that they are working to get this fight on a card in January. There’s no doubt this is one of the biggest fights you can put out as far as marketability. Masvidal in my mind is a heavy favorite in my opinion due to the fact that he’s got great boxing, great takedown defense and Nate Diaz doesn’t like checking leg kicks. Even if the fight didn’t stop the first time, it was pretty clear that Masvidal had won every round since. Hopefully we have the opportunity to have fans in the arena for this fight but even if they don’t, PPV numbers should be pretty high with the proven draw that both fighters are. 

 

Jon Jones vs Brock Lesnar- Now we don’t know if this is something that will come to fruition, but Dana himself said that he is open to it if both fighters want to do it. As far as competitiveness goes, this wouldn’t or shouldn’t be a tough fight for Jon Jones to win. He is way ahead of Brock in the MMA game. Jones is much more well rounded and has much better striking. On top of that Jon Jones hasn’t legitimately lost a fight in his pro career and it would be tough to see Brock be the one to break that streak. As far as breaking the streak goes Undertaker yes, Jon Jones no.

 

Fighter Cancellations and Suspensions

 

  • Glover Teixeira vs. Thiago Santos canceled on September 12th due to Texiera testing positive for Covid-19
  • Light heavyweight Jamahal Hill received a six-month suspension for marijuana (MMAFighting)
  • Flyweight Tim Elliott  received four-and-a-half month suspension for marijuana (MMAFighting)
  • Lightweight Luis Pena received four-and-a-half month suspension for marijuana (MMAFighting)
  • Jorge Gonzalez had temporary suspension extended following a positive drug test for several anabolic steroids (ESPN)
  • Middleweight Deron Winn received suspended for nine months after testing positive for amphetamines (ESPN)

Other News 

 

Daniel “DC” Cormier has pulled out of the USADA testing pool, which means his retirement seems to be final. We have seen many fighters say they’re retired, only to come back and try and get more hype in their name. Pulling out of the USADA testing pool makes it more official because now if he would want to fight again, he would need to reenter and be in the pool for a significant period of time before getting another fight. At 41, it seems we’ve seen the last of the legend DC in the octagon

 

Ricardo Lamas seems to be on that same route. After having a fight of the night performance against Bill Algeo, Lamas said he would love to leave on a high note. Coming into that fight, Lamas was 1-3 in his last 4 fights and was on the back end of his career. He spoke about not wanting to chase that feeling of getting a win as an addiction that could be his downfall. After a great extended career in the UFC, it may seem like that Fight of the Night performance could’ve been his last.

5 Takeaways from UFC Vegas 8: Rakic is Real Deal

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Now that UFC Vegas 8 is in the books, we can look back at it as quite a backwards fight card. The main event and Co-main event were fights that were mediocre excitement wise. Looking at every single other fight on the card, almost every one of them could have gotten a performance of the night award, with Llamas vs Algeo being an absolute technical beauty on the stand-up and grappling game, and Maki Pitolo vs. Impa Kasanganay being an absolute stand and bang war.

 

Let’s look at 5 takeaways from UFC Vegas 8 

 

The Real Deal 

While it may have not been the most exciting fight, Aleksander “Rocket” Rakic put down Anthony Smith with ease. He chopped at Smith’s legs until he couldn’t stand anymore and once he was on the ground, there was no getting him off the top. With Smith being a BJJ black belt, you’d expect him to threaten a few more submissions but Rakic was quick to scope out anything Smith had in mind and just kept him on his back for almost 3 full rounds. The inability for Smith to check the leg kicks is the main reason he ended up on his back and he seemed content lying there taking ground and pound. With this win, Rakic seems to be set up with a path to the title. With Thiago Santos facing off with Glover Teixeira in about two weeks, the winner will probably end up getting a title shot. The loser of that fight will most likely fight Rakic, and with that, we could be looking at our next Light Heavyweight Contender. 

What’s Left in the Tank?

This weekend we saw the breakdown of 2 of UFC’s veteran staples. Smith showed almost nothing in this entire fight, after getting pummeled in his last fight vs Texiera. That begs the question of what does he have left in him? In his postfight comments, Smith flirted with the idea of dropping back down to 185 in hopes of rejuvenating his career. While this may be a good move for him, that division is filled with killers and won’t be a cakewalk even if he does have a size advantage going in. Smith would have to work his way back up and would be a great matchup for star prospect Edmen Shahbazyan to prove that he still has the makings of a ranked fighter. 

 

No Longer Ruthless 

Robbie Lawler was the second veteran that got dominated at UFC Vegas 8. He was matched up with a lengthy Neil Magny and showed a complete inability to get past the reach into his face. Lawler was kept at bay with Magny’s jab and when Lawler got into the clinch, he did nothing offensively. Robbie didn’t seem to have the explosiveness that  we’ve come to know, nor did we see much heart. For Robbie, this seems like the end of the line for him at UFC. He’s won titles, had multiple fight of the year awards and  has become a crowd favorite. But at this point of his career, it seems he needs a step down in competition to remain relevant. Maybe at the end of his contract, a move to Bellator would be smart, unless he’s content sitting out of the rankings,while fighting up and comers until he retires. 

Fresh Blood 

With a Performance of the Night award, undefeated Sean Brady seems to have all the makings of a ranked fighter and potential contender in the Welterweight division. He showed excellent distance management, heavy hands, as shown by busting open Aguilera in the first round, excellent pace without overextending, and to top it off he finished with impressive takedowns into a guillotine choke that left Aguilera squirming for breath until he passed out. At 13-0 and an impressive victory, Brady deserves to have a ranked opponent next to propel him to the next tier of contenders. A match with submission specialist Damien Maia or maybe a big name like Robbie Lawler just to get some name value would serve well for him. 

Perserverance Shines Through 

The comeback win of the night goes to Mallory Martin. After getting knocked down in the first round and absorbing over 50 shots, most of which to the head, she was able to recompose herself and get the Performance of the night win. She was out COLD in the first round after Cifers overhand right landed on the button and the ensuing hammer fist . Her legs go totally limp and by the time the second punch ends up on her face, she seems to wake up and is able to slightly recover. After about 30 more punches to the face, mercifully, the round ends. In the second round she seemed like a completely different fighter. She goes straight into the clinch and is able to take down Cifers into half guard. From here she’s able to get effective ground and pound to the point where Cifers turtles up and gives up her back. At this point it’s all academic as Mallory takes her neck and submits her via Rear Naked Choke. Amazing comeback by Martin and this win could propel her into getting a shot at someone either in or near the rankings of the strawweight division. At only 26 years old, she has lots of room to grow and can be groomed as a future contender if she stays on this path. 

 

You can follow Johnathan Ramlakhan on Twitter @ThreePieceCombo