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!

Rampage Signs With Bellator

Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson's time with the Ultimate Fighting Championships has officially come to an end. After three straight losses (to UFC Light-Heavyweight champion Jon Jones, Ryan Bader and Glover Texeira, respectively), it didn't look like the UFC figureheads were too keen on extending his contract with them, not that Rampage hadn't been actively looking for a way out in recent years anyways. 

Many marked this as the end of his professional MMA career which had seen him become an extremely famous celebrity in Japan through his days fighting in Pride Fighting Championships before moving on to fight in the World Fighting Alliance and the UFC.

In a move that surprised most of the MMA world, Rampage Jackson signed with Bellator (seen as currently the best MMA promotion in the world, second only to the UFC). It is unsure when he will make his debut for the promotion, however he enters the organisation with a 32-11 record and is rumoured to have signed a contract similar to 'King Mo' Lawal who's contract allows him to make regular appearances on the Total Non-stop Action (TNA) wrestling programme.

I'm not yet sold on whether or not this is a good idea for the former UFC Light-Heavyweight champ, but either way i guess this'll lead most definitely in an interesting direction for him career-wise.

Until next time,

Peace!

Matt 'The Terror' Serra Calls It A Career

From winning 'The Ultimate Fighter Season 4: The Comeback' to knocking out GSP and claiming the UFC Welterweight champion in one of the biggest upsets in MMA History, Matt 'The Terror' Serra has enjoyed a fulfilling MMA career. Boasting a 17-7 win-loss record (despite being 7-7 in the UFC) 'The Terror' has brought and given his all in his wars against the likes of Shonie Carter, Karo Parisyan, Matt Hughes, Georges St. Pierre or Din Thomas (to name a few) and has earned himself a devoted fan base with his 'never say die' attitude, his gracie jiu jitsu background as well as the "bricks in his gloves" (Joe Rogan's humorous praise of Serra's punching power) in the octagon.

Serra's retirement comes as the result of a culmination of a number of factors, the main reasons being his growing family and his health condition which left a bit to be desired following his recent 'thoracic outlet syndrome' scare which left him needing surgical removal of a rib to ease pressure on his lungs. The retirement has left him with more time to concentrate on his family as well as his two jiu jitsu schools in Long Island, New York.

Despite leaving the octagon with an equal win-loss record, Serra will always be remembered as the man who knocked out GSP... lol.

Until Next Time,
Peace!

Griffin And Bonnar To Join UFC Hall Of Fame

The UFC160 post-fight press conference saw one of the UFC's favourite sons announce his retirement from active competition. Forrest Griffin made the call that he was finally hanging up his gloves for good naming a recent bad run of injuries as one of the more conclusive factors that helped him make his decision. 

Griffin retires sporting a healthy 19-7 record and having won his last fight by Unanimous Decision at  UFC148 against the also retired Tito Ortiz. He was also a former UFC Light Heavyweight champion after having beaten Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson to claim the strap at UFC86 in 2008.

Shortly after Forrest's announcement, UFC President Dana White announced that Griffin along with his TUF Season 1 Finale opponent Stephan 'The American Psycho' Bonnar would be the next two fighters to be inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame joining the likes of legends such as: Royce Gracie, Chuck 'The Iceman' Liddell, Randy 'The Natural' Couture and 'The Huntington Beach Bad Boy' Tito Ortiz. 

Griffin and Bonnar are remembered for their performance in the finale of the first season of The Ultimate Fighter which turned out to be a one of the all-time greatest fights in MMA history. Griffin won a close Unanimous Decision. 

While Griffin won the inaugural 'Ultimate Fighter' title for the 205-pound division as well as the UFC Light Heavyweight title, Bonnar never quite reached championship heights, despite having challenged for the title on more than one occasion. This, in conjunction with his having tested positive for illegal performance enhancing substances on two occasions, has caused people to question whether he really deserves a spot among such a highly regarded group of MMA personalities.

Either way, the dynamic pair will become the 10th and 11th members (respectively) of the Hall of Fame when they are inducted at the UFC Fan Expo that takes place in the lead up to UFC162: Silva vs. Weidman.

Until next time, 
Peace!