This Weekend In Mixed Martial Arts
Hey folks! I know most of you were completely consumed with football of all sorts this weekend, and that’s completely understandable, BUT – we did have a really awesome weekend over in the mixed martial arts world that’s worth catching up on. So what I’m going to do here, instead of clogging the homepage with updated timestamps on each of my blogs over the weekend, is make this easy on both of us and just paste each and every one of them into one post. Cool? Cool!
I’ll have a few more blogs about some of the stuff I didn’t touch on in these blogs later on today, but for now, check out the weekend we had in mixed martial arts. Lotsa great action to see!
UFC Fighter Just Straight Up Kisses Opponent In The Face At Weigh Ins
I’ve been out of touch with the youth for quite some time now, so I’m not sure if I’m using this phrase correctly, but what I believe we’re seeing here is a tremendous display of “big dick energy” from UFC Welterweight Craig White. And I absolutely love it.
Diego Sanchez is a scary dude, he’s known to intimidate even his closest friends when it comes time for weigh-ins (see: his weigh-in vs Joe Lauzon at UFC 200), and you know what you can do to defuse that potential nightmare fuel? Kiss ‘em. Right on the nose. Boop!
“That’s right mothafucka, you’re confused right now because I kissed your ass! See ya in the cage tomorrow!”
If I’m Diego Sanchez, I’m all set. I’m not fucking with a guy that kisses me like that. Not after what Gay Pat did to that convict piece of shit at #RNR4.
Stoked for tomorrow’s card, though, headlined by a UFC Welterweight Championship Bout between champion Tyron Woodley and challenger Darren Till. Look out for some blogs on that card tomorrow!
P.S. Hey all you big dumb MMA hardos who chirp me for throwing “MMA Fighter” or “UFC Fighter” into my headlines instead of the fighter’s name, guess what?! We’re a pretty damn niche audience of us here that know the name “Craig White”! Nobody’s gonna click on a blog that says “Craig White Kisses Diego Sanchez At Weigh Ins”, because who the fuck are Craig White and Diego Sanchez (no offense Craig White and Diego Sanchez)?! Gotta keep things broad in this world if we want eyes on our sport. And that’s that! Go kick off your (hopefully) bender-ish weekend!
Why There Will Be No UFC Women’s Flyweight Championship Fight At UFC 228 Tonight
Sup folks. I know a lot of you are watching college football right now, and plan on staying that course for the remainder of the night, but this blog is for those of you captivated by the barbaric human cockfighting that are watching UFC 228 tonight. This pay-per-view, while definitely not the most appealing to casual fans, is pretty damn great, with tons of narratives threaded throughout the night, but one of those narratives was stripped from the card yesterday and I thought I’d let you know why, if you missed it.
UFC Women’s Flyweight Champion Nicco Montano was hospitalized yesterday for complications she had during her weight cut, so her fight against Valentina Shevchenko has been cancelled, and the champion has been stripped of her title. This comes nearly a year after Montano became the inargural champion after defeating late-notice fighter Roxanne Modafferi (who had previously been eliminated from Nicco’s season of The Ultimate Fighter) at the Ultimate Fighter finale last December.
This is a tough situation, obviously, for everyone involved – but unfortunately I do think the decision to strip her of her belt was the correct one. Nicco’s championship victory and “reign” thereafter felt much like Germaine de Randamie’s as UFC Women’s Featherweight Champion, where it was incredibly unceremonious initially and downright not considered genuine by mixed martial arts fans in the subsequent months, as the champion’s injuries sidelined her and the true best fighter in the division ran rampant.
In this case, that fighter is Valentina “Bullet” Shevchenko.
Back to Germaine for just a second, though, I do believe she was dodging Cris Cyborg and lied about some of those injuries and surgeries she was supposedly going through. I do. Everything was just a little too crisp with the recovery times and whatnot. With Nicco, it’s much harder to tell, but her scheduled opponent (who was a -600 favorite in this fight), Valentina Shevchenko – seems to think Montano never planned on stepping into the cage with her this week, and has been publicly sharing her doubts about the fight ever happening for months now. Even as recently as Thursday, less than 24 hours before weigh-ins, Shevchenko told Ariel Helwani that Montano probably wouldn’t be in the cage tonight.
And what do you know? She was right.
When news broke, Shevchenko posted a long statement to her Twitter in Instagram feeds that can be read below.
tl;dr? Homegirl’s pissed. A direct quote that sums up the message is, “Looks like it was her plan from the beginning, to show up for the fight week, to build her name, speak confident and secure, and then escape from the fight in the last minutes.”
Brutal.
Now, with de Randamie, it was a bit tough to rip the Band-Aid off and initially people were upset, as they are right now over this, but now that Cyborg is champion, at least that division now has a bit more legitimacy. No matter how scarce challengers may be, at least we as mixed martial arts fans feel the best fighter in that weight class is holding the championship. With Nicco Montano – all due respect to her – I never felt that. And that doesn’t warrant a title getting stripped, but after almost a year’s worth of non-defenses and a high profile, last minute pull out over weight-cut related issues…I think it does.
Now’s the time to set up Valentina Shevchenko vs Joanna Jedrzejczyk for the UFC Women’s Flyweight Championship, giving my girl Katlyn Chookagian the winner there. Make Women’s Flyweights Great Aga-oh, well, wait. They haven’t been great in the UFC yet, but like – ya know – you get it. Make ‘em great for a first time.
Luckily for us, both men in the UFC Welterweight Championship main event made weight (there were massive doubts about challenger Darren Till’s ability to do so after missing on his last cut and it’s always tough for Tyron Woodley despite him never actually missing) and Darren Till cut an extra pound just to prove a point!
Should be a great night of fights tonight, so I hope you enjoy! I’ll talk to ya’s in a bit!
Remember The Fighter That Kissed His Opponent Last Night At Weigh-Ins? Let’s See How That Went For Him…
Remember last night, when Craig White just straight-up kissed Diego Sanchez on his face at UFC 228’s weigh-ins? Just gave him a nice little “Boop!” right on the nose? Just a cutesy lil’ peck? Let’s see how that went for him
Alright, so we didn’t get the “instant-karma” we sometimes do in the form of a knockout (see the video of Heath Herring vs Yoshihiro Nakao from New Year’s Eve 2007 at the bottom of this blog if you’re looking for that), but in my opinion, we got something even better. We got an absolutely soul-crushing, degrading beatdown from Diego “The Nightmare” Sanchez that will probably result in Craig White being cut from the UFC roster.
It’s no secret that Sanchez is on the last legs on his carrier. His chin, at this point, is about as fragile as a snowflake on the day the election was stolen from President Hillary Clinton. It ain’t great. Here’s some highlights from some of his last few fights…
Like I said…not great! Homeboy just keeps getting folded up like he’s an orgami swan or some shit!
But apparently kissing Diego Sanchez when he doesn’t wanna be kissed is one of the worst things a human being could possibly do, because it turns him into his former self…a true embodiment of a “Nightmare”, ESPECIALLY when he’s got top-guard on you. Diego stepped into that octagon on a mission tonight, and hell, mission executed! Even when Craig White landed on that glass-jaw of Diego’s, he got taken down and pummeled!
Just unreal.
I say this after every Diego Sanchez fight, but I really hope this is the one he retires after. Go out on a win. Please.
He won’t, because he just said this week that he hates fans who plead with him to retire and thinks we’re all just trying to make him feel “average” like us, but god damn I’d love him to.
Oh, and here’s that video of Heath Herring.
Fights carry on right now on FX, and the pay-per-view portion of UFC 228 begins at 10pm EST/9pm Central. More to come.
Today Has Already Provided Us With 2 MMA Knockout Of The Year Contenders, And UFC 228’s Main Card Has Yet To Start!
I don’t know what it is in the air tonight, but it’s gotta be something, because folks are being especially violent with one another.
Firstly, we look at this insane spinning-elbow out of ACB in Krasnodar, Russia. It’s a right-handed spinning-backfist thrown by the orthodox Pavel Pastushkov, countered by a perfectly timed, perfectly placed spinning-elbow from Goga Shamatava. I didn’t know who either of those people were before today, and I’ll be honest – I will absolutely forget the name Pavel Pastushkov at some point in the next 4-6 minutes, but the name Goga Shamatava is one I’ll remember with ease, especially when award season rolls around in December. One miscalculation with that shot at you’re seeing the MMA version of this…
…but luckily, for our viewing pleasure, there were no miscalculations. That spinning-elbow landed flush on the jaw of whatshisface, knocking him into another dimension and solidifying Shamatava with the knockout of the da-wait, what? Hold on, ladies and gentlemen. I’m receiving word that Geoff Neal is cashing in his Knockout-In-The-Bank contract and challenging this spinning-elbow as the most devastating knockout of the day. Surely, this can’t be nearly as good, right?
OHHHH FUCK, WRONG! I WAS WRONG! IT WAS JUST AS GOOD! MOTHAFUCKA IS DEAD! WHAT A HEADKICK!
So, I was literally writing this blog as “While You’re Waiting For UFC 228’s Main Card To Start, Enjoy This Potential KO Of The Year Out Of Russia Today”, but as I looked up from my computer screen, Geoff Neal was absolutely teeing-off on opponent Frank Camacho while Frank laughed, ate shots, and just screamed in return.
Obviously, I was captivated.
Neal dropped Camacho with seconds left in the first round with a really well placed combination, and nearly finished him, but the warrior within Camacho allowed him to grab the leg of Neal and fight through, making it into the second round and allowing his skull to be juuuuuuuuust pudgy enough to be caved-in with a shin bone.
What a day of barbaric human cockfighting, folks. And it’s only 9pm!
UFC 228 prelims roll on right now on FX, and the pay-per-view portion of the card begins at 10pm EST/9pm Central.
Always Tough When You Get Knocked Out Standing Up And Hit Three Times On Your Way Down
THE KO’S JUST WON’T STOP! THEY JUST! WON’T! STOP!
This one comes from Welterweight Abdul Razak Alhassan, and was inflicted upon fellow-170er Niko Price to kick off the pay-per-view portion of UFC 228. Just some really fantastic crisp, clean shots. I don’t know about you guys, but all of this violence is just really helping me enjoy my night. You just love to see it.
In honor of this KO, and Tyron Woodley partaking in tonight’s main event, I thought I’d share one of my favorite knockouts in mixed martial arts history.
Tyron Woodley KO’s Josh Koscheck
Woodley just TEES OFF on Koscheck’s wobbly head. So brutal, but even more beautiful.
I Would Stop Blogging Knockouts If The Knockouts Stopped Happening, But They Won’t
Folks, you read my headline already, but I’m just going to repeat it once more: I would stop blogging knockouts if the knockouts stopped happening, but they won’t. UFC 228, like so many of these “under the radar” pay-per-views, is outperforming ALL expectations and truly has a spot among the year’s most entertaining cards. From Abdul Razak Alhassan’s opening head-kick knockout, to John Dodson getting kicked in the dick yet again, to Zabit Magomedsharipov going ZaBEAST Magomedsharipov and banana-splitting Brandon Davis, alllllllllll the way to Jessica Andrade – a strawweight fighter – one-shot KOing my girl Karolina Kowalkiewicz.
One-shot knockouts are something you just don’t see in the Women’s Strawweight Division. Hell, you barely see them in the men’s Flyweight Division. At smaller weight classes like these ones, it’s just nearly physically impossible to do. MUCH harder, physically, at least. Yet Jessica Andrade – a former bantamweight in the UFC – dropped a weight class in 2016 (when Flyweight wasn’t an option just yet), and she’s displayed as much power as we’ve ever seen at this level. Aside from one loss to Joanna Jedrzejczyk in a UFC Women’s Strawweight Championship oppurtunity, she’s got a perfect record at 115lb and I think with tonight’s win in mind, it’s time for her to get another crack at becoming champion.
Joanna herself wants another rematch with champion Rose Namajunas, but I think Dana White just needs to sit her down, tell her to forget about the Strawweight Championship for a bit, and offer her a boatload of money to fight Valentina Shevchenko for the vacant Women’s Flyweight Championship. Katlyn Chookagian fights the winner there, and Tatiana Suarez fights the winner of Namajunas/Andrade. That reads like a perfectly put together puzzle, does it not? Guess it just depends on when Rose is ready to fight.
Tyron Woodley Silences All Critics And Retains His UFC Welterweight Championship With A Second Round D’arce Choke
Tonight, in his fourth title defense – his third in which his opponent was favored – UFC Welterweight Champion Tyron Woodley successfully retained the gold around his waist by dropping undefeated challenger Darren “The Gorilla” Till early in the second round, mauling him with ground-and-pound, and finishing with a beautiful d’arce choke. That final detail – the fact that Tyron Woodley choked the life out of Darren Till in the octagon tonight – also earned him his Brazilian jiu jitsu blackbelt, awarded to him by his corner and BJJ coach after the fight.
BJJ’s belt system isn’t linear at all, if you didn’t know how it works. It’s basically all up to your coach’s discretion on when promotions should come, and for many the journey to becoming a blackbelt takes well over a decade, so this moment was actually really cool.
As for the fight, though, I gotta say…it went pretty much how I thought it would! I like Darren Till as a personality and a fighter, I think he’s great just like the rest of you, but I don’t think he defeated Steven “Wonderboy” Thompson back in May, and I never thought he had what it took to defeat Woodley tonight. A puncher’s chance, sure, but after Tyron Woodley’s prior performances against Wonderboy (x2), Demian Maia, Robbie Lawler, Kelvin Gastelum, and many, many, more, I’ve learned one very important thing about Woodley: he fights to win. It sounds dumb, and obvious, like “No shit Bob, everybody fights to win.” but I truly believe few fight to win as much as Tyron Woodley. He’s willing to sacrifice being well-perceived by fans if it means playing it safe against fighters like Thompson or Maia, because he just wants to win. He doesn’t seem to make any mistakes, and he never strays from gameplan. Tonight, he displayed a bit of his strategy against Till in the first round, tying him up against the cage and whatnot, and then unfortunately our glimpse at Tyron’s answer to the question that is Darren Till was interrupted by a brutal right hand.
After that, it was all ground-and-pound before the d’arce was sunk-in and Till had no choice but to tap after fighting for life for quite a while.
In Woodley’s post-fight interview with Joe Rogan, he was thrown a complete softball to call out former UFC Interim Welterweight Champion Colby Covington for what would undoubtably be the most anticipated fight of Tyron’s career – and one where he’d be the babyface for once – but he chose not to answer that question and plug his upcoming rap single which apparently features Wiz Khalifa.
I tweeted about this, about how I was sorta slightly coming around on Woodley before he really just plugged this single like an absolute asshole, and the Tyronhive attacked me hardcore to the point where I just gave up and muted the conversation. I’ve noticed there’s a few fighters on the UFC’s roster, Tyron Woodley (and actually Colby Covington) included, that absolutely wreck your mentions if you ever say anything even slightly bad about them. People just vanity searching these names and waiting to pounce. It’s very strange. Look at the ratios here:
Weird!
Anyway, fantastic performance from UFC Welterweight Champion Tyron Woodley tonight, and fantastic pay-per-view overall. Probably the best of the Summer, all things considered! 226 was fantastic but if you’re scoring these cards, surely Francis Ngannou vs Derrick Lewis is a rough outlier in that 228’s favor. Tonight’s worst fight was Rivera/Dodson, and that wasn’t bad at all! It was pretty good!
Darren Till will be back, and better than ever, surely (as cliché as that sounds, he’s only twenty-five years old and carries a Fight-IQ well beyond his years), but I do hope it’s at Middleweight. It’d shake things up a bit, and yeah, I know he proved that he can make Welterweight this week and even cut an extra pound to prove his point, but god damn he looked rough doing it. Plus, that video of him cutting prior to the Wonderboy fight earlier this year was just excruciating to watch. The journey to 170 isn’t an easy one for Till. So please, move up to 185 and see what your power is made of there, Darren Till.