Latest Round of UFC Roster Cuts

It's been no secret that the UFC has been making a statement lately that 'any fighter that does not perform will not hold a place on their roster'. This statement has been followed by a series of high-to-low-profile roster cuts spanning almost every division. 

It goes without saying that the most criticized and controversial cut was perennial UFC welterweight contender Jon Fitch, following a unanimous decision loss to Demian Maia. Many debated that Fitch dug his own grave with his lacklustre fight style which was referred to as 'grapplehumping'. Another cut that was seemingly self-inflicted was French heavyweight Cheick Kongo who following a KO loss to Roy 'Big Country' Nelson was 1-2 in his last three bouts in the octagon.

Anyways, without further ado, here is the latest installment of fighters to be handed their marching orders within the UFC mass-layoff:

- Karlos Vemola

- Nah-shon Burrell

- Anthony Smith

- Eddie Mendez

- Roger Hollett

- Leandro Silva

Until next time,
Peace!

Cro Cop vs. Emelianenko: The Rematch

Just when you thought you'd seen the last of Mirko 'Cro Cop' Filipovic and Aleksander Emelianenko, Eastern European MMA promotion: Legend MMA have gone booked the pair for a rematch.

The two originally faced off 9 years ago back at PRIDE: Final Conflict where Emelianenko fell victim, in the first-round, to the very head kick that 'Cro Cop' was renowned for back in his prime. The win set Filipovic up for a superfight against Aleksander's older brother (and at one time arguably the best heavyweight MMA fighter of all-time) Fedor Emelianenko. 

Fast forward 9 years to 2013 and we find ourselves facing the very real booking of a rematch between two heavyweights who are arguably pushing to keep the curtains open on careers that should have essentially closed a long time ago. My reasoning behind my last statement is that, neither fighters have attained the level of success that they found once upon a time in the 'PRIDE FC' organisation in Japan. Aleks Emelianenko is coming off a fight against perennial pushover Bob Sapp and Cro Cop has returned to kickboxing following a very disappointing stint in the UFC where he was (at one stage) trying to comeback from three back-to-back(-to-back lol) KO losses. 

BLACKZILLA's TIP: I don't think history will repeat itself, Mirko Cro Cop has looked sluggish and slow lately, and i very highly question the ability of his chin's ability to defend against the hands of the younger Emelianenko whilst wearing 4-pound MMA gloves. Emelianenko by KO.

Dylan Andrews to Fight on UFC on FS1 2 Card

Picked last by Team (Jon) Jones on season 17 of The Ultimate Fighter, Dylan 'The Villain' Andrews, took solace in the fact that he'd been underestimated by every coach and competitor on the show. The NZ native, who currently resides in the Gold Coast, Australia, took everyone by surprise fighting his way through to the semi-finals eventually losing to heavily-favoured Urijah Hall.

After an impressive performance throughout the show, Andrews was invited to fight fellow contestant Jimmy Quinlan at the TUF17 finale in Las Vegas. The Villain overcame Quinlan defeating him via TKO (due to punches) at 3:22 of the very first round.

It was recently announced, that following his previous victory, Dylan 'The Villain' Andrews will fight fellow middleweight Papy 'Makambo' Abedi on the UFC on FS1 2 card. The fight scheduled for August 29th will be at Bakers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana. The 2nd UFC on FS1 card also features Carlos Condit vs. Martin Kampmann: 2, Court McGee vs. Robert Whittaker and Sara McMann vs. Sarah Kaufman.

Andrews enters the fight sporting a 16-4 record with a current win-streak of 5 fights, while Abedi enters sporting a 9-2 record and being 2-1 in his last 3 fights.

BLACKZILLA's TIP: Abedi hasn't had that strong a run in the UFC winning his last fight by split decision and losing the prior 2 fights by submission (both in the first round). I'm gonna stick with my boy Dylan Andrews to stop this fight early. Andrews by TKO (due to punches) in the 1st stanza.

Until next time,
Peace!

Pettis Out, KZ Gets Title Shot

Anthony 'Showtime' Pettis has been ruled out of his debut in the UFC's featherweight division. Pettis was originally slated to drop to the 145-pound weight class to take on division king Jose Aldo in a title fight that has been drenched in controversy since its conception. 

Dana White's decision to approve Pettis' wish to drop to featherweight and challenge Aldo for the belt was a surprise for a number of reasons, but mainly due to two factors. 1. Pettis had been campaigning for a title shot against UFC Lightweight champion Benson 'Smooth' Henderson for months.

2. The featherweight division already had worthy contenders in: Chan Sung Jung and Ricardo Lamas (to name a couple).

Either way, a slight tear to the miniscus has sidelined Pettis temporarily and resulted in him being pulled from the August 4 fight only to be replaced by arguably the best replacement choice in 'The Korean Zombie' Chan Sung Jung.

Jung is coming off an extended lay-off, recovering from surgery to get him back to fighting fit following an impressive submission victory over Dustin Poirier that earned him  both fight and submission of the night honours. 

Aldo vs. Jung will headline UFC163 on Sunday 4th August and will be joined on the card by Lyoto Machida vs. Phil Davis and Demian Maia vs. Josh Koscheck as well as other bouts.

BLACKZILLA's TIP: I'm pretty bloddy excited to see this main event. I think KZ is one of the few featherweights in the UFC that pose a legitimate threat to Aldo's reign at the top of the division. I'll take KZ by Split Decision.

Until next time,

Peace!

Big Country Sets New UFC Record

Not everything that came out of Roy 'Big Country' Nelson's UFC161 loss to Stipe Miocic was negative. Despite Big Country dropping a disappointing Unanimous Decision loss to Miocic, he set a new UFC record. Now as much as I am not a fan of Nelson (let's face it, I really don't have much positive to say about the guy) I did think this particular record was worth a mention (...and you'll see why in a second). 

Roy 'Big Country' Nelson set a new record for absorbing the most amount of punches in UFC history, without getting knocked out. Roy has eaten 437 significant strikes (in total) during his fights against Junior Dos Santos, Fabricio Werdum, Frank Mir and most recently Stipe Miocic. The figure was released by UFC president Dana White at the press conference following the mostly lacklustre UFC161 fight card.

I don't know about anyone else, but this just makes me want to see him get knocked out even more. Maybe a fight against Mark Hunt is on the cards in the near future?

Until next time,

Peace!

Back Again...

Ok! Firstly apologies for the small delay in posts, it’s been somewhat of a busy week for me, but not to worry, I’m back for my next post this time coming straight out of the departure lounge in Queenstown Airport, New Zealand awaiting my 9:40am flight home.

Considering the temporary change in location, I figured it might be fitting to do a quick feature on some of the fighters in the UFC that hail from this country more popularly known as ‘The Land of the Long White Cloud’.

When looking at Kiwi representatives that have made an impact inside the UFC, you really can’t look any further than 205-pounder James Te Huna and heavyweight veteran ‘The Super Samoan’ Mark Hunt. The pair have been key figures in a movement that has put the Oceania region on the MMA map. The movement has gained a huge amount of momentum and drawn a huge international fan base especially within the Southern Hemisphere.

Hunt, a Pride FC veteran and former K1 world kickboxing champion who is  4-2 in his 6 UFC bouts, only took up the sport after a nightclub bouncer witnessed him handle an altercation against four other men. The 39 year old former South Auckland resident is well-known for being a man of few words with a granite chin and boulder-like fists. Despite sporting 2 losses on his record (one against Sean McCorkle in Hunt’s 2010 UFC Debut, the other to former UFC world champion Junior Dos Santos just recently) Hunt has displayed an exciting ‘juggernaut-esque’ style of attack with two fight night bonuses to support that claim.

Te Huna, a native of New Zealand and a former Cage Fighting Championships Light Heavyweight grand prix winner, has held the light heavyweight strap in the King Of The Cage promotion and proved to be a tough competitor within the octagon. The Maori fighter is 5-2 in his 7 UFC fights with his only losses coming at the hands of current UFC 205-pound contenders Alexander Gustafsson and Glover Texeira. Both of these losses came by way of submission which UFC fighters from Australia/New Zealand aren't famous for defending effectively against higher level opponents.

While Te Huna and Hunt weren’t and aren’t the first fighters from down south to make it to the big leagues, they have arguably been two of the more noteworthy figures that have inspired fighters of Kiwi/Maori heritage much like TUF: Smashes winner Robert Whittaker and TUF17 semi-finalist Dylan 'The Villain' Andrews who are already making an impact in the octagon.

Until next time...

Peace!

Fitch To Make Debut At World Series Of Fighting 3

UFC veteran Jon Fitch will make his debut for Nevada-based promotion 'World Series of Fighting' (WSOF) at their third fight night on June 14th at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas. Fitch joined the WSOF roster after being cut from the UFC in February of this year following a Unanimous Decision loss to Brazilian fighter Demian Maia. The loss and subsequent cut was the catalyst for much debate in the MMA world with many people calling the UFC's 'fighter retention policy' into question after Fitch was the first fighter to be cut following a single loss. What added even more fuel to the media fire was that Fitch was still a top 10 ranked welterweight with an overall UFC record of 14-3-1 following the loss.

Jon Fitch and WSOF President Ray Sefo announced the signing of a four-fight contract in March with Fitch's promotional debut to come at the WSOF3 main event on June 14th against former UFC veteran and The Ultimate Fighter season 2 contender Josh Burkman in a rematch from their UFC days where Fitch won by rear naked choke.

Burkman is coming off two straight wins (one by unanimous decision against TUF alumni Gerald Harris at WSOF1 and one by KO/TKO against Aaron Simpson at WSOF2) and is looking to continue his winning form against Fitch.

BLACKZILLA's TIP: This fight will go one of two ways. 1. Josh Burkman will knock Fitch out in the 2nd round, or 2. Jon Fitch will lay all over Burkman and wrestle his way to a boring Unanimous Decision. As much as I hope that the former eventuates, I'm inclined to lean the way of the latter option.

The WSOF3 fight card is as follows:

Preliminary Card:

- Dan Lauzon vs. John Gunderson.

- Kendrick Miree vs. Krasimir Mladenov.

- Jeff Smith vs. Jerrod Sanders.

- Carson Beebe vs. Joe Murphy.

Main Card:

- Jacob Volkmann vs. Lyle Beerbohm.

- Brian Cobb vs. Justin Gaethje.

- Tyson Steele vs. Steve Carl.

- Jon Fitch vs. Josh Burkman.

It'll be interesting to see how the promotional change will affect not just Jon Fitch but Jacob Volkmann who was also cut from the UFC earlier this year. There is really only one way to find out as we see them and fellow former UFC fighters Josh Burkman and Dan Lauzon (Brother of top 10 UFC lightweight Joe 'J-Lau' Lauzon) throw down at World Series of Fighting 3 at the Hard Rock Hotel on June 14th.

Until next time,
Peace!