Thursday, January 28, 2016

Things to look out for in 2016(part3)

As promissed, I return with a final look at what to expect in 2016. This time we will talk about the Women's divisions and fighters potentially looking for a home in other organizations.

Women's Strawweight

A dominant champion and an ever expanding roster of top notch female fighters quickly made this newest addition to the UFC a fan favorite.  Ever since  dethroning the inagural champion Carla Esparza, back in March of 2015, the undefeated Polish sensation, Joanna Jedrzejczyk has been kicking ass and taking names. The champion now faces a familiar foe, Claudia Gadelha. The two ladies faced off for the first time in a close fight back in December of 2014 which Joanna won, but the consensus was that the Brazilan should have won instead. The score will be setteled in a rematch once the two ladies finish filming a season of TUF as coaches of opposite teams.


The former champion, Carla Esparza has had bad luck turn to worse as she suffered a shoulder injury following her loss to the Polish champion and her return date is still unkown but rest assured that the former champion will want revenge. Who will she face? There is a number of options but, Rose Namajunas could be the answer. The two already faced each other for the inagural belt in December of 2014, where Carla was victorious by way of a rear naked choke. Sine the defeat Rose has picked up 2 wins over  prospect Angela Hill and rising superstar Paige Vanzant and is looking to get another crack at a title shot.
Paige Vanzant after her defeated at the hands of Rose Namajunas, source


Even if this fight doesn't happen, there is no shortage of potential contenders and future champions. Tecia Torres is undefeated as a professional, despite having a loss to Carla Esparza in a TUF fight (TUF fights are recognized as exibition fights, not professional ones), then there's Karolina Kowalkiewicz. Another undfeated Polish strawweight who made her debut on Cerrone/dos Anjos 2 card against Randa Markos with an impressive win. So, no matter who gets picked to face who ever comes victorious out of the Jedrzejczyk/Gadelha rematch, they will have their hands full with potentitial contenders.



Women's Bantamweight

The queen is dead, long live the queen! 

In a shocking turn of events, at UFC 193  Holly Holm not only beat, but completely outclassed Ronda Rousey in a 2 round beatdown that ended with a highlight reel high kick.

A video posted by ArmbarsMMAWorld (@armbarsmmaworld) on

As a knee jerk reaction, Dana White announced that Ronda Rousey will get an immediate rematch once she finishes filming Road House remake, UFC 200 was stated as a tenative date for this epic rematch. However as the loss rattled Ronda hard and her busy schedule got even busier that was looking less and less likely as time passed by. Then, finally, about 2 weeks a go it was made offical that Holly would face off against Meisha Tate at UFC 197's main event along with Conor McGregor vs Rafael dos Anjos(called it)
Offical banner for the Holm vs Tate title fight, source


So where does this leave Ronda? Well, everything is possible at this moment. Ronda said that she will return to face the champion by years end, however let's not jumpt to conclusions just yet. She has another movie in making, supposedly got engaded and just hosted SNL. Where am I going with all of this? Well, I'd like to take a trip down memory lane to August of 2009, when Gina Carano faced Christine Cyborg and after suffering her first defeat decided that Hollywood pays more and she doesn't have to get punched in the face anymore. Gina was then what Ronda was now. An undfeated pretty face that can kick ass. Then someone better came along, delivered a beating and she took an indefinite hiatus and it isn't looking like she'll be coming back from that hiatius anytime soon. Despite all of this, I don't belive Ronda is done with MMA just yet. Especially if her long time rival, Meisha Tate manges to upset the champion come March 5th. Meaning, if the stars align in just the right way, she could bypass the dangerous and risky rematch with Holm and win her belt back from the girl she already beat twice. 

Ronda's loss however, ment that we no longer have to hold our breaths for a potential superfight clash between Christine Cyborg and Ronda. Cyborg now has no incentinve for doing a gruelling weight cut and can now safely continue her 145lbs reign of terror.



Bidding Wars

 Being a free agents has never looked so, so good as it does now. Bellator, Road FC, Rizin FF, One FC, M-1 Global, KSW are all looking to make a dent in the UFC's pocket this year and UFC fighters are taking notice. After his win against Jorge Masvidal, Benson Henderson decided to test the waters of free market agency and see what happens. Road FC offered him a 200.000 $ fight purse, which is nearly double the amount he got for his last fight. and Bellator's Scott Coker  said that he will be talking to Benson once his contract is up with the UFC. Top Bantamweight prospect Aljamain Sterling is also on the free market, un happy with his earning in the UFC he stated that "he wants a bank account that represents me being a pro athlete" and last but not least, The Reem. Alistar Overeem ended 2015 with a bang and knocked out Junior Dos Satnos. Since then he stated that he was going to test the free agency and is hoping to get a title shot next. How well are these negotiations actually going? There is no solid information so far. With Stipe being called up to face Werdum when Cain got injured again, it looks like UFC might not be willing to pay Overeem as much as he wishes he gets payed. Benson reportedly talked to UFC about his contract but as of yet nothing has been said publicly.


This is it for now, I have more content on the way so stay tuned. in the mean time, follow me on twitter, instagram(I'll be posting more content on it soon) and facebook(this page too).



Posted by at
Labels:

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)