#ufc 130

[hooligan1835]

Darren Till vs Stephen Thompson, Fight Night 130 in Liverpool. 

[mgmaz]

UFC 130 happens with tepid performance from top fighters overall entertaining

UFC 130 coming into it was really a card you looked at and saw there was more interesting fights below the main event and co feature. From the middleweight bout featuring the marine Brian Stann and Jorge Santiago to Thiago Alves and Rick Story. UFC 130 was a card that you saw as more of a full card than just the top bills. The top bill  featuring Quinton "Rampage" Jackson and Matt Hamill didn't sell well and certainly didn't preform. Jackson was in no danger at any point from Hamills offense. Hamills striking was not a problem and his only real threat, his wrestling was simply brushed aside. Jackson never pushed the offense though and seemed like he was already in Hollywood filming a movie. His corner men tried their best to focus Jackson but he never really had to. Hamill is a good fighter but he is not top 5 and it showed tonight. On the feet he wasn't a threat and his wrestling was no match for Jacksons defense. A lackadaisical preformance by Jackson and the inability to pressure by Hamill led to a flat unanimous decision for Rampage. It was a battle of heavyweights as TUF 10 winner Roy Nelson took on former UFC champion Frank Mir. Like the fight after it Nelson was never a threat to Mir. Nelson has a good right hand and if he were able to land it perhaps he would of been able to do something. He wasn't and was at the mercy of the larger and more in shape Frank Mir. Mir was able to use some excellent knees to bludgeon Nelsons face and body. After the first Nelson looked very fatigued who was easily taken down by Mir and generally beaten up. With this win he looks to be on the cusp of key title elimination fight as the triplet of JDS/Carwin/Velasquez begins to work itself out.

photo by Tracy Lee for Yahoo Sports

Not quiet the co-feature but certainly touching the celling Stefan "Skyscraper" Struve fell like a skyscraper was Travis Browne hit him clean on the chin with a superman punch. Struve who looked actually better than he did in his last fight worked angles and even attempted several chokes. Browne looked like his normal self big and powerful with the need to continue refining the various aspects of his game. With that emphatic KO Browne walks away from UFC 130 70k richer with the KO of the Night award. Rick Story followed the blue print laid down by GSP and Jon Fitch and wrestled his way to victory over top welterweight Thiago Alves. It may not have been the most entertaining and might even be considered a poor mans Jon Fitch he gutted it out and won. When he did exchange hands with Alves he was hit several times flush and hard by the ferocious Brazilian and never seemed to notice it. Story just kept going forward pushing Alves up against the cage. Alves did himself no favors by backing himself closer to the cage for most of the fight. Opening up the PPV portion of the card former marine Brian Stann took on the returning Jorge Santiago who made a real name for himself as one of the top middleweights not in Zuffa hands. This was going to be a fun striking affair both guys well versed in trading blows. It was Stann was able to drop Santiago several times before finally finishing him in the late second round. Stann showed off a excellent chin as Santiago hit him at least 3 times flush on the chin barley noticing it. Overall Stann looked good and like a budding star the UFC could push. This win solidifies Stann as a top 10 middleweight. Him taking on the winner of Maia Munoz would be a excellent match. You can Follow me on Twitter @MaZZM

[mgmaz]

Torres and Mighty mouse put on a show to cap UFC 130 prelims

Going into UFC 130 there was one fight above all others that was the most interesting to me. Miguel Torres was originally slated to face Brad Pickett but he was force to pull out due to injury in his place fast rising Demetrius "Mighty Mouse" Johnson. This mix of high level boxing and grappling mixed with the speed of the Mighty one was intriguing. How would it play out, would Torres jab at range and defend takedowns or would Johnson get in explode to the ground and wrestle his way to victory. In the end such is life a mix of both A and B happened. Johnson was able to get in and take Torres down rather easily. Keeping Torres on the bottom proved to be the real fight, after the first takedown Torres effortlessly sweeped to the top. Over the following two rounds a exciting grappling match took place as Torres and Johnson swept and fought tooth and nail for position. If you have friends who are not fans of the ground aspect of MMA show them this fight and see if they aren't entertained.After three hard fought rounds it was time for the judges to render there decision and it was a unanimous decision for Mighty Mouse Johnson, all three judges giving him all three rounds. Many online and on twitter disproved with the decision leading UFC fighter Stephan Bonnar to tweet

Still this was the only real decision that one would consider bad and still despite the decision was a extremely entertaining affair. Earlier on the Spike broadcast Kendell Grove once again fought for his UFC career. 3-3 in his last six going into the fight a win was paramount for Grove. On the opposite side of the octagon was newly minted middleweight Tim Boetsch. Boetsch was a gorilla in the cage easily controlling Grove never in any real danger of being submitted. Boetsch threw Grove around just man handling him through all three rounds. Boetsch walked away with the decision while Grove teeters on oblivion. Just 10 minutes earlier the Facebook prelims had ended. Once again if you wanted to you could see every fight on the UFC 130 card and really see half of it for free. Gleison Tibau surprised everyone by smashing Rafaello Olivera and than taking his back for the RNC victory. With this win Tibau begins a new win streak since losing to top contender Jim Miller. Two top bantamweight prospects were on the opening two fights of the card. Michael MacDonald took on Chris Cariasso while Renan "5 last names" Barao took on original WEC featherweight champion Cole Escovedo. Barao easily out speed and skilled Escovedo en-route to a unanimous decision. Things were much closer for MacDonald if you were one of the three judges who gave him 27-30, 29-28, 29-28 scorecards. One judge thought the other guy one all three rounds while the other two saw MacDonald taking at least two rounds.  You can Follow me on Twitter @MaZZM

[mgmaz]

UFC 130:Rampage Hamill Main Card Preview

Even with headline changes and injuries the UFC has soldiered on and Saturday night will be putting UFC 130:Jackson Hamill. This new main event was further hurt by one of its participants well known growing disinterest with the sport and his opponet,Matt Hamill. 

Still this is a good card that may be overlooked by the casual fan. This card is ripe with several near pickem match ups, some good prospects fighting on the card and a multitude of just good fights being made.Yes the names at the top of the bill don't sound as nice as Edgar Maynard III but when put up against that what would?

Quinton Jackson vs.  Matt Hamill This wasn’t the main event everyone wanted. It’s the one we get though so shut up and eat it. Hamill has the biggest fight of his carrear taking on Rampage. Hamill has the wrestling ability to pull off a Rashad Evans-esque gameplan of taking Rampage down and holding him down or up against the cage working dirty boxing.He makes his fights gritty and dirty. The only problem with all this is Rampage is very good on the inside and has great takdown defense. On the inside Rampage and get a hook and uppercut in with enough power to stagger Hamill. Both fighters have the tools here but who can use them. Much has been made over Rampages well known distaste with training and general lack of motivation for his recent opponets. Taking someone like Hamill isn’t smart he can take you down and win a decision. We will not know which Rampage shows up though till the fight happens. When questioning wether or not a unmotivated Rampage can land a good powerful shot or Hamill work a great wrestling gameplan and not get lit up, the odds favor Rampage getting that strike in. Winner:Quinton Rampage Jackson TKO Heavyweight bout:  Frank Mir vs.  Roy Nelson It’s a heavyweight battle so that makes it automatically important. Mir returns since putting Cro Cop and the audience asleep in his last fight. Nelson looks to rebound after losing to number one contender Junior Dos Santos. Nelson despite his build is quick and can get in close to land a good overhand right and uppercuts. Nelson showed in the JDS fight he is able to wade in taking shots to get in close and land good leather on Mirs face. Mir doesn't respond to being hit well. Nelson can get in close mark up Mirs face and if he needs to trip him to the ground. Much has been made of Mir and Nelsons grappling match from 2003. On the ground they are about even but Nelson has better positional skills and can work that till the ending bell. Even if he isn’t going to get a submission he could work for a half crucifix or full and just pound on Mir for the stoppage. Winner:Roy Nelson Dec Heavyweight bout:  Stefan Struve vs.  Travis Browne The skyscraper returns since submitting Sean McCorkle taking on the big Hawiian Travis Browne. Browne has the power to end this but just about every fighter Struve has faced has hurt him. Struve has that ability though to come back from the brink and take out his opponet. Brownes power mixes well with the fact Struve still hasn’t learned to use that long reach of his to keep guys out and jab them to death. On the ground Stuve is deadly using his long limbs for triangles and chokes. If Browne follows Struve to teh ground or is takedown Struve can work his ground game to get the submission. Winner:Stefan Struve Submission Welterweight bout:  Thiago Alves vs.  Rick Story This is a interesting fight at Welterweight. Alves looking to reinsert himself into the title picture as Rick Story looks to finally break through the top 5 in the division. Story is going to have to fight a gritty wrestlers fight. Get in close dirty box wear on and most importantly take the Pitbull down. On the feet Alves will land crisp leg kicks and put combinations together on Storys face and body. Storyies wrestling isn't as good as welterweight kingpin George St. Pierre or runner up Jon Fitch so he has his work cut out for him. If Alves cut effects him and he gasses halfway through the fight it will become Storyies fight to lose. Alves weight will be his biggest issue in the fight. Coming in off of a hard cut and tireing after a round like in the Fitch fight will do him no favors and cost him this fight. Staying active and constantly pressuring with leg kicks and strikes will be Alves way to victory. Winner Thiago Alves dec Middleweight bout:  Brian Stann vs.  Jorge Santiago The American hero returns after easily vanquishing Chris Leben taking on the returning Jorge Santiago. Both of these fighters have clear deficiancies. Santiago dosen’t take a punch well while Stanns grappling skills are like Arlovskis chin. Both of these guys have good striking and power. On the feet Stann has the better hands and good power. With Santiagos chin it only takes one shot to knock him down or flat out KO him. If Stann gets that good shot he needs to finish it right there don’t let Santiago recover and fight on. Santiago has good kickboxing and all around better striking. On the ground though he has a absolutley major advantage which he could press with his decent takedowns. On the ground he can get the back advance position and submit Stann. Winner:Jorge Santiago subbmission

You can Follow me on Twitter @MaZZM

[mgmaz]

UFC 130:Rampage Hamill SpikeTV card preview

Miguel Torres vs.  Demetrious Johnson Miguel Torres continues to rebuild climbing up the bantamweight ladder as Demetrious Johnson also climbs up the ladder,coming off a breakout preformance against Kid Yammato. The key to this fight is Johnsons negotiation of space and Torreses ability to stop Mighty Mouses shot. Torres most glaring weakness has been his takedown defense, content to rely on his boxing and submission skills. In his last fight he used that boxing and reach to its fullest jabbing away keeping his opponet on the outside and lame. Once again in this fight he hasa huge reach advantage (10 inches) jabbing and working angles will be the name of the game. While Torres wants to use space to keep his opponet out Johnson will look get in and take Torres down. In his fight with Kid Johnson showed great timeing ducking strikes and getting his opponet to the ground. Even when he gets Torres to the ground he will have to remain vigilant against the submission and sweep attempts by Torres. Johnsons has the style advantage in this fight. He has shown a propensity to stand and trafe even when it dosen’t play to a more clear advantage. Winner:Miguel Torres Dec who ever correctly negotiates space will win this. Kendall Grove vs.  Tim Boetsch Grove looks to return to the winning side of things and hopefully get off this rollercoaster of a run he has Benn on. Boetsch drops down in search of rejuvinating his carear since going 1-1 in the UFC. Boetsch brings good power and decent wrestling and striking to contend with Groves spider like grappling and weak chin. Groves chin has been his biggest problem in fighting. If a fighter brings the heat Grove ends up on the mat. Boetsch has that power he just needs to be sure to finish him and not let Grove recover and pull him into the his grapplers web. Grove taking this to the ground is his best shot his striking is good but he is a grappler first and formost. Winner:Tim Boetsch TKO

You can Follow me on Twitter @MaZZM

[mgmaz]

UFC 130:Rampage Hamill Facebook card preview

Once again the UFC in their need to help sell PPV and also show fights to fans so they can sell more fights in the future, is streaming the reamining prelim fights on Facebook. This Facebook card is highlighted by bantamweight dynamo Michael MacDonald,Gleison Tibau and Chris Cariaso in a fight that wasn't scheduled two weeks ago and a nice fight between Barao and Escovedo.

Gleison Tibau vs.  Rafaello Oliveira This fight wasn’t even scheduled to be on the card but through the injury bug that struck this card we get this. Tibau coming in on short notice may not be the best thing since he is absolutley massive at lightweight cutting lots of weight.Still he has all around good game with slams that judges just love.Mix in good wrestling with improving boxing points to a clear advantage for Tibau. Winner:Gleison Tibau decision Michael McDonald vs.  Chris Cariaso This is a fun bantamweight fight of young strikers. MacDonalds UFC debut was a entertaining scrap that saw the fight go every which way. MacDonald has the faster hands and mixed striking game to keep his opponet off balance and let him move foward.On the ground he isn’t the greatest technician but he gets submissions in when he needs to. Cariaso has gone 2-1 in his Zuffa carear so far if he can work a wrestling game and stop MacDonald from striking he could win the decision. Winner:Michael MacDonald Renan Barão vs.  Cole Escovedo Escovedo has a good story with his return to active MMA competiton. Barao is looking to end that. Barao has shown his main weakness is big strong wrestlers who can shut him down. On the feet he has a good striking and a better ground game. Escovedo won’t be able to implement that strong wrestling based strategey he’ll have to trade on the feet for a while. On the feet Barao has the advantage like in most areas of the fight. Winner: Renan Barao

You can Follow me on Twitter @MaZZM

[mgmaz]

What a week for the UFC.

This has been a big week for Zuffa for both good and bad reasons.Zuffa held there annual fighters summit in Las Vegas where all Zuffa and its subsidiary contracted fighters showed up for orientation on all things from Social Media to insurance. Than came the big reveal that Zuffa had signed a deal to give all 350 of its contracted fighters accident insurance to help keep them health while training. In a bit of irony both Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard had pulled out of there rubber match set for UFC 130. Than yesterday came the even bigger news as former UFC Heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar was forced to pull out of his UFC 131 bout against Junior Dos Santos due to his diverticulitis acting up again.What a week. It's not all bad the fact that Zuffa has acquired insurance for all of its contracted fighters across both UFC and Strikeforce. This is a great thing for the fighters and a huge coup for Zuffa. It further helps them look like the industry leader,which they are as well as keep fighters happy. Happy workers wouldn't want to unionize against you. During the fighter summit Zuffa got most of there fighters to tweet about it using the hashtag #ufcsummit. This was great since many twitpics were shared and you actually got a idea of just what went on down there. This also lead into the new Zuffa media strategy of paying there fighters to tweet. Thats right the complete opposite of MLB and NFL they want there fighters to tweet and interact in with the fans. The fighters also get bounuses for reaching certain goals. Now this has in someways exposed the fact that some fighters aren't as twitter savy as others but this push is a good for fans since it builds that relationship with fighters and gets them to help buy what people are selling. Than came all the pull outs. Michael David Smith of mmafighting.com on twitter wondered how many PPV buys Zuffa has lost with the loss of Edgar Maynard,Jon Jones and now Brock Lesnar. He guesses a million that seems a bit low if you are throwing in Lesnar.

The loss of the Edgar Maynard fight turned a already non casual freindly card into a worse no casual freindly card. At least they would of been able to sell hey its a title fight. Now they have Rampage in the main event against Matt Hamill. Rampage will get a in the moment treatment in the lead up to the fight. They are doing the best with what they can. UFC 130 is still a really fun good card.

Brock Lesnar pulling out of UFC 131 was like a punch to the gut and than a swift kick in the balls. The replacement bout between Junior Dos Santos and Shane Carwin is a great replacement fight. This is still a intriguing heavyweight fight and sure to end with someone getting knocked out. Junior Dos Santos is at -170 to -200 while Carwin is at +160 to +140. This card also has some great fights on it just not a lot of name power like Brock Lesnar or GSP. Hopefully they push multiple fights on this card as Damian Maia and Kenny Florian are on the card. What a great and terrible week for Zuffa. O yea its Friday the 13th maybe the bad luck gods will take pitty on them and nothing terrible will befall them. You can Follow me on Twitter @MaZZM

[mgmaz]

Both Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard out of UFC 130 Main Event

In a bit of shocking news both Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard have pulled out of their scheduled rubber match at UFC 130 on May 28th. Edgar is reported to have hurt his back and ribs while Maynard is out with a knee injury. heavy.com spoke with Anthony Pettis the last WEC lightweight champion where he claims the UFC contacted him a couple of days ago offering him a fight with Maynard. This fight would of made a lot of sense since Pettis was supposed to take on the winner of Franki Edgar and Gray Maynard II but due to the draw plans where changed. Also Gray Maynard has had some harsh words for the newly transplanted WEC lightweights.

“They were going to have me fight Maynard on that card. I said yes to that deal right away. I guess it turns out that it’s not going to happen. I’m back to fighting Guida,” Pettis told HeavyMMA.com. “It sucks that he got injured, because it kinda puts the whole lightweight division back on standstill. ”

Pettis will once again be fighting Clay Guida at the TUF 13 Finale June 4th.  He is right the stacked lightweight division is once again on hold just like it was after the second Edgar Maynard fight. The new main event will feature Rampage Jackson taking on Matt Hamill and Frank Mir taking on Roy Nelson is the new co-main event. Update: mmajunkie.com is reporting that the injuries suffered should only keep them out 6-8 weeks. They could use this to fit them into either UFC 133 or 135 You can Follow me on Twitter @MaZZM