THE UFC EVENT this week includes the return to action of two genuine legends of the sport as well as the first bantamweight title fight ever to be held by the UFC.
UFC 132 will have to go some way, however, to top the action-packed event held in Pittsburgh last Sunday. The UFC on Versus 4 started on a sour note after Dana White had pulled Nate Marquardt from the card and unceremoniously dumped him out of the organisation just 24 hours before he was due to fight.
The whole affair was shrouded in mystery as the UFC was prevented from discussing Marquardt’s medical records due to independent state laws. Nate has since disclosed that he was on hormone replacement therapy as he had a testosterone deficiency disorder and his testosterone levels were too high so he was stopped from fighting.
Chaell Sonnen is currently banned as a result of a similar situation. At best it was a genuine administrative mistake on Marquardt’s part, at worst it is an underhand form of cheating. I’m sure there will be more to come from this story as the weeks progress.
The Marquardt affair threatened to overshadow the whole event but thankfully the action inside the Octagon got everyone talking about the sporting aspect of things once again.
Joe Lauzon’s fight against Curt Warburton was the pick of the pre-lim fights as Lauzon dropped the Englishman early in the first before trying to take his arm home with him. He eventually won the fight via a vicious kimura.
Charlie Brenneman upset Rick Story after taking the fight on 24 hours notice and Matt Mottrione looked impressive once more as he knocked out Christian Morecraft in the second round.
Joe Rogan described Cheick Kongo’s ko of Pat Barry as one of the most “impressive comebacks in UFC history”. It has to be seen to be believed.
Faber and Cruz meet in a title bout once more
Urijah Faber remains the first and only man to have beaten the current bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz back in the WEC in 2007. That was when both men fought at featherweight and since moving up Cruz has looked almost unstoppable on his way to the pinnacle of the division.
Cruz is technically the better striker and might look to finish the fight early as Faber has great conditioning and a lot of experience in the championship rounds. Faber will look to move forward as he always does and could look to his wrestling to grind out the win.
The old warhorse Wanderlei Silva is back in the Octagon again this time taking on TUF 1 competitor Chris Leben. Despite his popularity, Silva’s advancing years has meant that he is not the force he once was in Pride, and he does sport a losing record in his UFC career. This has the potential to be a stand-up war as the two aren’t afraid to stand and bang, but my money would be on the younger man to claim the win.
For old times’ sake
The Huntington Beach Bad Boy Tito Ortiz returns after another injury – which have blighted his later career – and he faces Ryan Bader. Bader lost last time out against current superstar Jon Jones and Ortiz has failed to win any of his last five fights.
Dana White has confirmed that if Ortiz is beaten his UFC career will be over and this could be the last time we see Ortiz in this organisation. Bader is a very strong favourite to send Tito into retirement but MMA is a funny old game and the always focussed Ortiz will be giving everything as he wants to continue fighting.
The main card is topped off with Carlos Condit and Dong Hyun Kim and Denis Siver takes on Matt Wiman. Coverage starts a 1am Sunday morning, on ESPN.
Ain’t gonna happen anytime soon, unless they decide to match him up with Frankie in a number one contenders match and the winner fights him at UFC 200.
But that would really piss Edgar off, which would be hilarious actually.
I’m staying otta this one…
Aldo isn’t gracious in defeat, on the night or now and he’s still making excuses and threats to the UFC and McGregor. Let him stew.
A guy who’s undefeated for 10 years and champion as long as he is deserves a rematch. He got caught with one shot and knocked out, it happens in fights. The disrespect he is shown from Irish fans is embarrassing to be honest. If McGregor gets tagged in his first defence at 145 ye would all be screaming for an immediate rematch.
I agree Alan 100%. I’m delighted for Conor but Jose was a great champion and does deserve his rematch.
As much as there’s a McGregor bandwagon, theres also a big anti-Mcgregor bandwagon, who will latch onto half truths about his opponents… Aldo was a champion for 10 years becuase he fought in a weight class with very few other fighters for the first 5 and for the last 5 he barely ever fought… when was the last time he knocked anyone out? He was massively fussy about who he would fight, always picking fighters who were well below his ability and dodging the hard match ups. If truth be told, Conor was the first striking test he ever really faced in the UFC… He doesn’t deserve an immediate rematch because he has a history of pulling out of fights that didnt suit him.
So Ken Flo, Korean Zombie, Edgar were not hard match ups? Hominick took him to the brink as well. A great champ, and the only champ at 145. If Cain, Anderson etc get an immediate rematch, so should he
In fairness,who does he think he is,sayin he’s not goin to fight anyone else.he only fights once a yr anyway.think he’s still concussed after McGregor got a hold of him
UFC spent 18 months promoting Aldo vs McGregor. It would be very hard for them to promote it again for another 6 months after how the last fight finished. Especially as Aldo had no interest in promoting the 1st fight and left Mcgregor to do all the media work. As White said,aldo deserves a rematch after being such a dominant champion but the timing for that rematch wouldnt be right now. Let Mcgregor fight RDA and then he can fight Aldo/Edgar at UFC200 in july,but either way 1 of them aint gonna be happy.
It’s not surprising to be honest. Dana White is all about the $, he couldn’t give a toss about who deserves a rematch or who is next in line, whatever fight makes the most cash for the ufc ( ie. him and his business partners) is the fight that will be made. Hope mcgregor demands he gets his fair share, he pulls in way more ppv numbers then a lot of boxers but gets paid alot less then some of them.
He’s gotten his arse handed to him in record time already, is that not enough
One mistake in 10 years? Is that not a reason to give him another shot? Even after the first fight when they were waiting on the official announcement Conor himself was man enough to say they could do it again.
I think Dana is right though. Woukd be hard to promote that. It’s the fight game yes but equally ufc want to make money. The interest for that just isn’t there after last time. Maybe a year down the road might be better for all involved..