There have been a number of big bouts announced, most of which will take place at UFC 136. As always, MMAFighting.com was the first to report on many of the contests.
– In the biggest news, Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard will finally settle the score in a lightweight championship clash at UFC 136 on Oct. 8 from the Toyota Center in Houston. This is the second attempt for the UFC to put on this bout, as the two were originally schedule to fight at UFC 130, but both suffered injuries.
– The UFC also announced via Twitter that Jose Aldo will defend his featherweight championship against Kenny Florian at UFC 136. This will be Florian’s third attempt to win UFC gold while Aldo will be defending his UFC strap for the second time.
– Also set for the UFC 136 card in Houston is another lightweight showdown when Melvin Guillard faces Joe Lauzon. Guillard has quickly skyrocketed up the lightweight ladder with five-straight wins. However, Guillard has struggled in the past with submission fighters and Lauzon is a pitbull on the ground. Lauzon won’t back down from Guillard and the first five minutes of this fight should be very explosive.
– A third bout for UFC 136 was announced as middleweights Demian Maia and Jorge Santiago will square off. Both fighters are coming off of losses and need this win in order to remain a top-10 contender in the division.
– For UFC 137 on Oct. 29 in Las Vegas, heavyweight strikers Matt Mitrione and Cheick Kongo will battle it out. Both are coming off KO wins at UFC Live on Versus 4, with Kongo knocking out Mitrione’s friend, Pat Barry. This will be the biggest test to date for Mitrione, who is now 6-0 in his pro career.
Nate Marquardt’s loss proved to be Charlie Brenneman’s gain.
“The Spaniard” had a crazy week in his own right, and it ended with him picking up a unanimous win over Rick Story in the co-main event of UFC Live 4 on Sunday night. It also all went down in his home town of Pittsburgh.
Originally scheduled to face T.J. Grant, Brenneman was told he wouldn’t have a fight early in the week after Grant came down with an illness.
Dana White and the UFC told Brenneman to make weight for Saturday and he would earn a winner’s payday. Somehow, that turned out to be a blessing for both parties as Nate Marquardt failed to get a license for his main event bout. Just 24 hours before UFC Live 4 took place, Brenneman was offered to fill in for Marquardt, and he accepted.
What happened in the octagon was Brenneman using his wrestling to keep Story on the ground for two rounds. Story won the third, but was unable to finish the scrappy Brenneman, who improves to 3-1 in the UFC with the win.
It was a tough spot for Story, who was looking to earn the biggest win in his MMA career and then had to take on a fight against an opponent he hadn’t trained for. To me, Story shouldn’t drop in the rankings, as he originally took the fight with Marquardt on short notice to raise his profile. Read the rest of this entry »
Despite all the chaos surrounding Nate Marquardt and the main event of UFC Live 4, the event will still take place on Sunday night at 9 p.m. ET.
Here are my picks for the four main card bouts.
Heavyweight Bout – Cheick Kongo (25-6-2) vs. Pat Barry (6-2) – As much as I would like to see Barry win this fight, I think Kongo’s experience and grappling ability will pay off. Barry has the clear edge in terms of technical striking, but I expect Kongo to push Barry against the cage and win the clinch battle and also score some takedowns to get a decision victory.
Welterweight Bout – Rick Story (13-3) vs. Charlie Brenneman (13-2) – This is a tough spot for Rick Story as it is really lose-lose. He now fights a lesser opponent on 24 hours notice, and that guy is fully prepared for a war, since he was originally scheduled to fight on the card anyway. Brenneman has everything to gain in this fight. Still, I suspect Story will have the skills to control the fight and earn a tough decision.
Welterweight Bout – John Howard (14-6) vs. Matt Brown (13-10) – I am actually going to predict an upset in this one and go with Brown. Brown has done well against strikers and Howard has struggled lately against guys that can pack a punch and negate his striking. Brown also can mix in some takedowns and put on relentless pressure. I will take Brown to win by submission in the third round.
Heavyweight Bout – Matt Mitrione (4-0) vs. Christian Morecraft (7-1) – I like Mitrione to continue his rise up the ranks. He really has a nice diverse striking style that is tough for opponents to counter. I don’t suspect Morecraft has the striking or the grappling to really stop Mitrione from winning this fight. Give me the meathead by decision.
Something interesting happened at the UFC Summit this weekend, and it wasn’t Dana White explaining to fighters how to do their taxes.
None other than “Big Country” Roy Nelson caught this little verbal exchange between Matt Mitrione and Tito Ortiz.
Now, the background behind this encounter is that Mitrione had some unflattering remarks that he made about Ortiz’ wife, Jenna Jameson.
Mitrione was joking that Ortiz would pull out of his upcoming UFC 132 fight with Ryan Bader and let Jameson take the fight instead, claiming she is good off her back and has amazing top control.
Now, granted, I wouldn’t want someone talking about my wife like that and would be pretty upset if they did. However, if I married the world’s most famous porn star, I would probably expect that to happen.
Instead of going after a younger and stronger fighter in Matt Mitrione, Ortiz should just remain focused on Bader and ending a four year winless streak.
Then again, Ortiz is probably just trying to set up another fight for himself after he loses to Bader.
It has been a busy 24 hours for the UFC.
