2 things I learned from watching UFC 196's co-main and main event

Hey everbody. It's me again. Today I will share with you my thoughts regarding the awesome upsets from this weekend's PPV showstoper that was UFC 196. So let's get right to it.





The 2 things in question are as follows:
1. Weight classes exist for a reason.
2. Styles make fights, not MMAth.


Now let's break this down.


1. Weight classes exist for a reason.

Conor McGregor fights(and is the champion)at 145lbs, the featherweight division. He looks dried up and borderline anorexic making the weight cut limit, however come fight night he rules the division. Before his fight with Nate, social media was flooded with then and now pictures of Conor looking noticeably bigger compared to his concenteration camp-esque physique when having to make the 145lbs limit. The expectation was that McGregor will transfer his Muhamad Ali/Ninja shit movement and speed 2 weight classes up and physics will do the rest(mo' mass = mo' powah). However, Conor was of no such luck. His speed and quick movement started to slow down as the first round of the fight began to end and Nate Diaz, fighting mearly 1 weight class above the one he fights in regularly was taking everything Conor had to throw and showed no signs of slowing down. As the second round started, Conor's much loved and talked about fancy movement was gone never to be seen again. He was a walking target for Nate Diaz's boxing and slapping. After a back and forth exange betweent the two, Nate landed a let straight that Conor could not shake of and before he knew it, Conor was diving for a takedown. Nate wasted no time and sunk in a rear naked choke putting a stop to Conor McGregor.

Where am I going with all of this you ask yourself? Well. I'm glad you ask. My point is that simply adding more muscle doesn't automatically solve all your problems. In the post fight conference, Nate said that he came into this figth "straight (of a)fat boy of the beach of Cabo". So, Nate Diaz not only dismantled Conor McGregor, but he did it with; zero proper sparring sessions, zero fight camp preparations, zero time to make a proper weight cut AND still outperformed a heavy favorited champion. That's one hell of a statement to make.

I wasn't trainjng for a triathalon before this fight I was on a yacht in cabo gettin my chillax on wit my dudes @gilbertmelendez and crew before I got the call but #alwaysreadyforwar in season or not 👊🏼 🇲🇽🇺🇸 #100 #patron #ninjashit #theninjaway

A video posted by natediaz209 (@natediaz209) on Mar 7, 2016 at 3:53pm PST

Imagine what would have happen had Conor's bold prediction of fighting Robbie Lawler at UFC 200 came to fruition?

  
Robbie Lawler taking care of business from /// on Vimeo.
No comment needed

Remember, Nate doesn't even fight at welterweight. Yes, he's been on a tear lately, but at lightweight. And as great of a fighter as he is, he isn't winning a belt anytime soon.
I firmly belive that Conor's liighweight and welterweight story isn't finished just yet. He can still fight outside his weighclass and score big wins. However, Conor's dream of being a 3 division champion by years end has come to a full stop, for now. His main focus should now be on defending the belt at 145lbs, as he still has unfinished buisness there. With Frankie Edgar doing everything short of coming to Conor's house with a ref and Jose Aldo still demanding an immediate rematch and even Max Holloway wanting a piece of McGregor pie, he has his hands full.



2. Styles make fights, not MMAth.

MMA is a crazy sport. Overeem was once a middleweight, Rumble Johnson fought at welterweight and Joe Riggs was a heavyweight who now fights at welterweight. With all these fighters going up and down in weight you get crazy match ups from time to time. These crazy match ups are then often used, in internet arguments, to prove fighter A is better than fighter B through common denominators(other fighters). The art of using those statiscts  as facts in arguments is called MMAth. Think of it as MMA's six degrees of Kevin Bacon. If we were to belive MMAth, Conor McGregor would have Nate Diaz beaten through mear 2 fighters and Ronda Rousey, Meisha Tate and Holly Holm would be stuck in an endless loop.

source 

Thankfully, MMAth is rarely correct. Fighting style is the real factor when booking fights and breaking down the odds of certain fighter winning a fight. For instance: Holly's primary go to weapon in mma is her stand up. Keeping that in mind, it isn't hard to see how Miesha being a durable wrestler/grappler possesed a bigger threat to Holly than Ronda, who's primary weapon is her judo. Ronda on the other hand has proven twice to be the perfect fighting style needed to beat Miesha Tate. Likewise, Holly's stand up and good enough defensive grappling skills were more than enough to beat Ronda who's never faced a fighter with kicboxing and  boxing credentials as rich as Holm's.

Same goes for Conor and Nate. Conor is a huge featherweight who has a size and reach advantage over most of the fighters in his division. His favorite  weapon is his trash talk, that he uses to get into his opponent's minds and defeat them before the fight even starts. His most famous in octagon asset would be his much talked about movement.  He's a precision striker who utilizes his speed and movement to deliver punishment and get out of range of receving the same.

UFC196 Open Workout. Taking @thenotoriousmma through one of the basic progressions of the Pelting Rain Drill. Staying soft is a hard task at this game but essential for the fighters who have an eye on both the top of the game and longevity. I use a huge array of tools in my teachings to address that aspect. #ufc196 #conormcgregor #idoportal #idoportalmethod #movementculture

A video posted by Ido Portal (@portal.ido) on Mar 2, 2016 at 10:21pm PST

Nate Diaz, much like his brother Nick, is an endurance fighter.  An endurance fighter with great stand up and a very good ground game. He also utilizes a trash talking game much like the Irishman. The deciding factor here is size, which brings us back to my first point. Had the fight been at lightweight or featherweight Conor's precision punching and movement could have been the deciding factor. However the fight was scheduled at welterweight and Nate was the bigger fighter with the longer reach and heavyer punches. Thusly outlasting Conor and finishing him.


Follow me on twitter, instagram and facebook(here too!). If I'm not writing stuff here. I'm posting stuff on social media, so check those out. With that said, I'm Armbar and I'll see you at the bitter end.

Dangers of booking freak show fights [Dada 5000 vs Kimbo rant]

Hey everybody, welcome to the new edition of Armbar's MMA world. Today we talk about the lesson learned from the Kimbo Slice and Dada 5000 fight.



What is a Dada 5000?

Last  weekend UFC's fierce competitor, Bellator MMA, held a very unique fight card. The main event featured the trilogy fight no one asked for, between Ken Shamrock and Royce Gracie, with Kimbo Slice and Dada 5000 as the real main event.
The much anticipated grudge match between two former street fighters turned MMA fighters was underwhelming, to put it lightly. By the mid point of round 1 the two brawlers were already graspping for every oxygen molecule the crowded Toyota center in Houston,Texas had to offer. The painfully slow and horrificly sloppy slug fest lasted for 2 and half rounds before Kimbo Slice managed to deliver a finishing blow that sent the man called Dada 5000 doing the Ric Flair faceplant inside the cage mid way through round 3.

Kimbo Slice​ wins in R3 due to Dada 5000​ falling asleep mid-fight. pic.twitter.com/QvjWMuKzpK

— Mike Skytte (@MikeLovesTacosX) February 20, 2016

Settling the score

There's really no way around this. The fight was horrible. Probably one of the worst ones ever. But that's not the reason this fight got it's quickly earned infamy. Dhafir Harris, known by his street name of "Dada 5000" was in such bad shape that he had to be taken out of the cage on a strecher and ended up being hospitalized afterward and even suffering brief heart failure. Reasoning for such bad medical health had very little to do with the fight that preceded the hospitalization. The problem, however, was  due to Dada's overall weak atheltic shape. The backyard brawler reportedly suffered from sever dehydration having to cut 40lbs to make the Bellator heavyweight limit. Just to put things in perspective, prior to his Stipe Miočić fight, Mark Hunt had to cut 20lbs.The booking of this fight had very little meaning to Bellator's heavyweight division. It's meaning was found in it's circus-esque appeal. Two big black bearded street fighters, turned mma fighters, filled with tattoos and catchy street names who were raised by the hood. Both gained fame as kings of the street fighting, with Kimbo Slice being the one with bit more mainstream exposure. 

                         

One of the many famous Kimbo Slice backyard brawl videos that went viral and turned the man into an internet sensation.

Add to that they have real life beef outside the cage and that Kimbo still has one of the most watched MMA fights ever, you really don't have to be a genius to see why this fight was made. It's a fun "freaks show" fight that is so bad it's actually good. Japanese MMA scene was practially built on such fights. Wether it was booking the  #1 ranked heavyweight champion against an inexperienced huge overweight Brazilian or booking a 230cm(7'5'' ft.) tall professional wrestler against a sumo wrestler these fights were entertaning for all the wrong reasons, but entertaning nevertheless. The same was expected from this fight of the century. And It was, two huge street boxers gasping for air in the first round, like they passed over the biggest flight of stairs, and somehow sill surviving all the way to the third round was just the right mix of hilarious and horrible. However, it had it's price, a price that nearly ended a man's life. Which strongly indicates that he had no buisness being in a professional MMA bout, let alone headlining a major card from a fight promotion that wants to be taken seriously. Just taking a quick gander at the level of opponents he has faced should be more than enough to tell you all of this. Prior to last weekend's showdown with Kevin Ferguson( better know as Kimbo Slice) Harris fought twice. In his debut fight against  Cedric James(0-6) and against Tim Papp(1-10) both fighters were MMA journeymen at best and getting quick knockout wins against such oppponents doesn't warranty the crediblity of fighting in the second biggest MMA organization in the world.

Conclusion

This fight served as a warning for any and all future bookings of such fights. Kimbo Slice is now on a (very misleading) two fight win streak, what if he gets paired up against a credible fighter who can do some damage? His short UFC stint showed that any fighter that takes fighting even remotely seriously, can beat him. The same goes for Dada, he is now 2-1. A very misleading fight record. What if he gets a rematch with Kimbo and we see a repeat of the first fight but this time he actually dies within the cage doors? In a sport that's still being categorized as human cockfighting something like this would set MMA backwards in progress. Now I'm not saying there shouldn't be fights like these. They serve their purpose and are fun to watch. However, there has to be some sort of regulation in fights like these. Fighters must be able to pass certain health and conditioning tests that prove that they are fit to fight. After all, this is a combat sport and certain expectations have to be made to make sure your body won't fall apart after the first punch hits you. This is where an athletic comission comes into play. They are the regulatory body that makes sure everyone is on equal(or close to equal) grounds when fighting. What exactly was the Texas comission thinking when they granted Dhafir Harris a fighters license, remains a mystery.  Risky buisness moves such as this one. could end up only hurting the company and making an already controversial sport even further marginalized.

This is it for today. Got some more stuff coming your way, so keep an eye out. In the mean time, my social media pages are laking likes and followers so go ahead and like me on facebook here and here, then drop by my twitter page and follow me- here.  

One on One with Jonas "Speed" Bilharinho - round 2

Hello everyone. Your favorite MMA blogger is back again! I decided to hit up Jonas once again and this time talk a bit more about him rather than Jose Aldo or Conor McGregor. Check it out:


Before the Aldo/MGregor fight you stated that  Jose will finish Conor with either submission or knockout. Were you suprised by the outcome of the fight?
Everyone was surprised with the outcome. Jose didnt follow the game plan.

How do you think a rematch would go down between the two?
The same way I sad the first match would  end. Aldo by KO or submission.

Conor has some bold predictions for 2016. He plans on winning the lightweight and the welterweight belt before the years end. Do you think he can actually achieve that?
Yes, he is a very talented fighter and knows how to work his image very well. Anything is possible for him.

Did helping Jose prepare for Conor affect your own training camp in any way?
No. we were both training for a southpaw, so  it all ended up well. I was only concerned about training for 5 weeks for an important fight. I had surgeries on both of my ankles. So I couldnt do a complete training camp for the fight against Amaury Junior. But everything worked out well in the end.

You recently won the "1st Round Combat" championship belt. When can we expect to see you defend it?
 I dont know if  I am going to defend it... I'm considering some other offers. We'll see in the next few weeks.

Your opponent gave up after the third round. Would you have prefered if you finished the fight your self?
He gave up 'cause I broke his rib. So, I think I've done just that...

He was throwing some nasty leg kicks, did they hurt you at all?
Not that much, but yes. He is strong and I wasnt expecting leg kicks from him.

           

          Jonas' last fight, in which he won the 1st Round Combat championship Featherweight belt


Global MMA scene got richer with one more organization, Japan's RIZIN FF. Would you be interested in fighting for them? Perhaps against Shinya Aoki?
Yes, 100% ... UFC or Rizin FF are my priorities. who calls first, I'm in.

Have you had any conversations with UFC representatives regarding your potential signing?
 Yes, of course. But nothing that I can talk about now, sorry.

Is there any UFC fighter you would like to face the most?
Conor McGregor
                                                             
You currently fight at Featherweight, would you be interested in fighting at Bantamweight again?
BW? Only if its a very good fight with a very good salary... I think featherweight is the best for me and my body responds well at this weight class.

What woud be your goal for this year?
My goals are 2 wins in UFC or 2 wins in Rizin FF. Let´s see what happens.


Thanks to Jonas for answering my question, good luck to him in his future fights. I hope too see him in either Rizin or UFC soon. Now go and like him on Facebook.
I will have even more content on the way in the near future, so stay tuned. In the mean time follow me on twitter, instagram(I'll be posting more stuff on it soon) and like me on  facebook(this page too). 

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.

And so it begins.... make sure to tune In in april🌟 #tuf #tuf23 #teamjoanna #JJ #JJchamp #… https://t.co/xq7GwXPDRT pic.twitter.com/vz4Ubxgr7t

— Joanna Jedrzejczyk (@joannamma) January 26, 2016

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.

Holm/Rousey - Family reactions

A video posted by ArmbarsMMAWorld (@armbarsmmaworld) on Nov 20, 2015 at 1:14am PST

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).

Things to look out for in 2016 (part 2)

Welterweight


The welterweights have a new ruler, and he is Ruthless. Robbie Lawler has been kicking ass and taking names ever since Georges St. Pierre took a long vacation without an end date. Robbie and Johnny Hendricks fought for the vacant belt at UFC 171 and again at UFC 181, the later one marking the begining of Robbie's reign as a welterweight champion, The champ just defended his belt against Carlos Condit in an insane(yet controversial) 5 round war and is now eagrly awaitng new chalengers. So who gets to be punched in the face by a scary bald guy next?

 This picture should be in the dictionary next to the word "scary". source   

Tyron Woodley called "dibs" on a title shot spot way back in October, however Carlos Condit squeezed in before him and now Tyron isn't all that optimistic about him getting next shot at the champ. So in case Tyron gets the back seat treatment again who get the shot? The name that pops up the most is Demian Maia. The Brazilian BJJ whiz is currently riding a 4 fight win streak and has a solid chance of pulling an upset. Other than the above mentioned fighters, there are 2 very interesting match ups coming ups in 2016. First one is Stephen Thompson vs Johny Hendricks. Johny tasted gold briefly when he won the vacant belt against Robbie Lalwer in 2014, before losing it later in that year in a rematch against Robbie. Stephen Thompson, is a young up and coming fighter and very dangerous and decorated striker. It is very likely that whoever comes out victorious in this bout gets a shot at the champ in the near future. The second bout hasn't officaly been schedueld yet, but the
impression is that it's only a matter of formality. The bout in questin is Rory MacDonald vs Hector Lombard. Rory's last fight was fight of the year award winner against the champion and Hector is coming of a decission win over Josh Burkman which was over later turned into a no contenst due to a failed drug test by Lombard. Rory has had the aura of the "young and up and coming champion to be" for year now. He started training MMA when he was 14 and had his first fight at 16. He trains with the former  champion Georges St. Pierre and is constantly improving himself. A win over Lombard would put right back into the #1 spot. Lombard is a different kind of animal. Former Olympic Judoka, former Bellator MW champion, decorated grappler and an all around beast of a man. Lombard dropped down a weight class in 2013 and has been making mice of men ever since. Winning in dominant fashion against Rory would give finally get hin towards a title fight.

I would also like to mention a fighter to look out for who I am sure will be making a title run in the near future, Neil Magney. He is constanly looking to improve and learn more and is one of the busiest guys in the company, having fought 10 times in the last 2 years. He is currently riding a 2 fight win streak and there isn't any signs of him slowing down anytime soon.

Another thing tto look out for in the welterweight division this year, CM Punk. Former pro wrestler and MMA fan will make his long awaited debut in UFC(and MMA) some time in 2016, best guess is at the UFC 200 super card. Now the question that's been on everyone's mind is- who will he fight?
Well, the UFC doesn't have anyone with such a low level of fight experience on their roster, so outsourcing is need. And what better way to do it then by making a reality show! Basically, everything around CM Punk's debut is shrouded in mystery. When will he fight, will he fight, how good/bad will he look fighting, who will he fight. No one knows. Time will tell. I wrote a lenghty article about him about a year a go and I gave my take on all this CM Punk drama, so check that out.



Middelweight


Middelweight division is having it's renaissance since the long reigning champion, Anderson Silva lost his throne. Chris Weidman was cleaning out the division one fight at the time and looked very good at doing so, untill he ran into Luke Rockhold at UFC 194. Luke won the belt from Weidman in a very paitent and slowly paced fight with a brutal finish. On the same card Yoel Romer and Ronaldo Souza squared off in a potential "title eliminator" match which the former won. Yoel now rest on a 7 fight win streak and has all the right arguments for claiming the #1 spot in the division. However, I belive that UFC is looking in a different direction. On Febuary 27th, UFC returns to London and headling that card are Michael Bisping and Anderson Silva. Bisping has been in the top 10-ish spot for a long time, never quite being able to beat the top 5 fighters of his division, but sill holds some solid wins and is now on a 2 fight win streak. Anderson had a clash with Nick Diaz, which he won, early last year, buuut that ended up with both men testing positive for banned substances(more info here) and the fight is now a no contest. Still, "The Spider" is looking to jump right into the stacked division and try and get that belt wrapped around his waist once more.Which brings me back to my statment. I think this is the fight UFC is aiming at for a new contender. That, or a rematch with Chris Weidman. Because, that's the hot thing these days. Immediate rematches.

And you thought I was being metaphorfical when I said he was going to"jump right in" source

Light heavyweight 

Much like the situation in the bantamweight division, this division is also all caught up in a beef between a former champion and the current champion. Ever since Daniel Cormier won the vacant light heavyweight belt at UFC 187 his title reign has been under and asterisk because, not only he didn't win the belt form the fallen champion, Jon Jones. He lost to Jon Jones when they fought. The former ruler of the light heavyweight division had a tough year. First, he tested positive for cocaine metabolites, then he was involed in a hit and run accident which forced him to forfeit his belt. But, 2016 is looking to be the year the fallen champion goes after the belt he never lost in a fight. Jon picked up an iron addiction, got swole, got a probationary sentence and is waiting on a date and place for his second showdown with the former olympian.

Another "then&now" comparison picture of offseason Jon Jones. Hints at a return date.

A photo posted by ArmbarsMMAWorld (@armbarsmmaworld) on Nov 20, 2015 at 12:42pm PST

After this clash of titans comes to an end, a new challenger will be needed. Ryan Bader was expecting to get a title shot even before he faced Rashad Evans, however, he quickly learned that no such thing will be happening anytime soon. At the same time Anthony Johnson has been terrorizing the division ever since returning to the UFC in 2014. His only loss at lhw came at the hands of Daniel Cormier when they fought for the vacant belt in May of last year. Since then he made short work of Jimi Manuwa and is now expecting to fight Ryan Bader with the understanding that the winner of that fight will more than likely get a shot at whoever will be the champion at that time.



Heavyweight



As I mentioned before, the heavyweight division is at a stand still right now. The rematch no one asked for will finally happen during super bowl weekend and that can't come any sooner.

The problem is that UFC now has two very serious title contenders on it's hands in Stipe Miočić and Alistair Overeem. Stipe knocked out Andrei Arlovski in the very begining of the first round and Alistair knocked out Junior Dos Santos in the second round. With Stipe literally screaming at Dana White's face after the fight, demanding a title shot and Alistair contemplating free agency and expecting a title shot, should he chose to resign. The question that imposes itself now is "who goes next"? This is what happens when unneeded rematches get booked. They create chaos in the division. Overeem is already window shopping for a potential new org and Stipe is demanding he gets the next shot at the champion. So what now? Well, if this was WWE, a triple threat match at Wrestlemania would be booked an the problem would be solved.

I would totally pay to see a Reem/Stipe/Werdum triple threat match

 Unfortunately, UFC doesn't practice threeway matches(yet) so the only other logical way is that Stipe and Reem agree to fight each other and pray that Werdum/Velasquez doesn't end up being a trilogy.

By the time this whole drama cleares and everyone fights everyone, the winner of Ben Rothwell and Josh Barnett fight will have a pretty solid argument for being next in line at the champion or at least at a top 3 opponent. Josh is a former champion, and fought Roy Nelson back in September and needs just one or two solid wins to get a shot at the champion or one of the contenders. Ben Rothwell is having a pretty amazing career resurgences with back to back finishes of Alistar Overeem and Matt Mitrione. If  Ben can get past the War Master he deserves a fight for the belt when the current drama ends. Also worth mentioning is that Mark Hunt is nearing the end of his 6 fight contract which he stated will be his last one. Ever. So, 2016 might be the last year we enjoy seeing Mark Hunt send men into comas with casual uppercuts and lethargic walk offs,





end of part 2...



In  the third and final instalment of this article I will look at the Women's divisions and what does 2016 bring in terms of free market agency and how will the MMA scene look outside the ever expanding UFC branch. Talk too you later people!

Oh, and check me out on twitter, instagram, facebook and on Viral MMA

Things to look out for in 2016 (part 1)

Hello, hello! I return to you in the aftermath of a kah-ray-zae UFC 195 fight card. Today we take a look at 2016. What to expect, what I think will happen, fights to look out for and stuff like that.

I'm gonna look at each division and see what's coming up for the champions and is there any interesting match ups on the rise that could shake up the diviison. First up we got the fastest guys in the UFC, the manletweights....kidding, the Fylweights. Please don't beat me up Mighty Mouse.

Flyweight

The Flyweight division is basically Mighty Mouse's playground. Since dropping down to Flyweight Demetrius Johnson has been on a tear. He has cleaned out the division and is 3 fights away from tieing Anderson Silva's record for most consecutive title defenses(10). However, a challenger has appeared. Henry Cejudo. He is an 10-0 Olympic gold medal winner wrestler and is on a collision course towards the divisions inagural and current campion. After that? Who knows. Demetrius has looked dominant in all his fights, he's still improving, still very young and injury free. So the sky's the limit for the beared champion.

Bantamweight

Bantamweight division is currently all caught up in the Dominick Cruz/TJ Dillashaw/Urijah Faber love triangle. Dominick, the former champion, is finally coming back from numerous injuries and is set to face TJ, the current champion, for the Bantamweight belt in 2 weeks time. Cruz, never offically lost his bel. He was stripped of it due to inactivity and he wants it back more than anything. TJ left Faber's Team Alpha Male to go and train with the man that is credited for his improvments, Duane Ludwig. All this didn't make Urijah very happy and has stated that if TJ wins he WILL fight his former team mate and friend. Ludwig was Team Alpha Male's former striking coach but a disagreement between him and Faber caused a split and Ludwing formed his own team. Now if all that wasn't enough, Faber and Cruz have their own beef going on all the way to the WEC days. Faber and Cruz are 1-1 with the second fight being a close win for Cruz. Since Cruz and TJ are fighting early in the year, the winner of that fight should be ready to defend the belt (and maybe even squash the beef) against Faber just in time for the UFC 200 mega event. 

Dominick Cruz and Tj Dillashaw fight in 2 weeks. The trash talking is getting intense. #mmafighter #mma #fight #trashtalk #trashtalking #ufc #bantamweightchampion #domin8r

A video posted by ArmbarsMMAWorld (@armbarsmmaworld) on Jan 3, 2016 at 1:05pm PST

Besides this threeway beef making rounds in the division, Raphael Asuncao is expected to make his return from an ankle surgery in 2016. Raphael is 7-1 in the UFC and holds a win over the current champ, TJ Dillashaw, and more than likely will face whoever is the champion at the time of his return.

Featherweight

Now this is the fun part.Since knocking out Jose Aldo in 13 seconds Conor McGregor has been playing with a couple of options. Option A: give Frankie Edgar his well deserved title shot, Option B: rematch wih Jose Aldo. Option C: move up a weightclass. Now let's break this down from the most likely to the least likely.

There has been quite some talk from both Conor and his coach about him going up in weight and facing Rafael Dos Anjos. Dos Anjos even called him out after his first round finish of Cowboy Cerrone and rumors are claiming that this fight is in the making

"Mr McGregor, This is my division". - #ufc #wrestling # #grappling #submission #mma #mmafighter #shitjustgotreal #conormcgregor #muaythai #kickboxing

A video posted by ArmbarsMMAWorld (@armbarsmmaworld) on Dec 20, 2015 at 5:31am PST

Frankie Edgar is on a 5 fight win streak and even McGregor stated that after Aldo the only fight that interests him at FW is Frankie Edgar. Dana has promissed Frankie a title shot, but he also did that to Miesha Tate, Ryan Bader and Tyron Woodley and as of  January, 2016 none of them came anywhere near a title fight.

Now the least likely option is Jose Aldo getting an immediate rematch. The problem here isn't that he isn't worthy of a rematch, it's just that the UFC doesn't really want him as a champion. He gets injured often, isn't all that fond of talking trash (or talking in general), isn't all that marketable to the general audience, can't speak english and doesn't do any amazing ppv numbers. McGregor on the other hand is practically the polar opposite of this picture. He is a charismatic loudmouth who backs up everything he says come fight night, speaks english, gets a lot of mainstream exposure and doesn't get injured all that often(for now at least). Hell, Conor did about 90% promotion/build up for their fight. Remember his screaming at Aldo's face after he beat Denis Siver?

This alone ensured that their fight would be a PPV record breaker.  

Only thing Aldo ever did was react to Conor's trash talk and trolling. He has zero incentive when it comes to hyping and promoting his own fights. Does Jose deserve the immediate rematch? Yes he does, 100%. More than any of the other pointless, division clogging rematches that UFC booked recently.Will he get it? Nah...

                         Yes, I'm still mad Arlovski and Stipe got overlooked because of this rematch.


Lightweight

Much like the situation in the Featherweight division, this division also has "Conor McGregor" written all over it. Conor has made it perfectly clear that he wants to be a 2 division champion and defend both belts simultaneously,. Also, just like I mentioned above, the current Lightweight ruler Raphael Dos Anjos is all for a Champion vs Champion match up. Even Nate Diaz also threw his name out there as a potential opponent for Conor McGregor's Lightweight debut, which for me would be a very good debut fight because of a two things. Firstly- these two would never shut up. Pre fight, during fight and post fight. Diaz brothers are one of the biggest trash talkers in MMA and Conor really gives them a run for their money. This fight could end up being the first ever full contact "yo mama" joke contest. That along with the fact that Conor is like a modern day King Midas, turning everything he touches into gold. There is no way in hell this fight doesn't make an insane amount of money. Secondly- Nate Diaz has been having a career resurgance and is putting one great performances and this would probably be his first(and maybe even)only time he ever headlines a major PPV fight card.

Moving away a bit from all this Conor McGregor talk, a very important fight for the Lightweight divison is happening on the Dillashaw/Cruz fight card. Former Bellator LW Champion meets former UFC LW Champion Anthony Pettis. Eddie is coming of a split decission win over Gilbert Melendez and Pettis is coming of a title fight loss to Dos Anjos. Both guys want to taste gold again and this fight has all the implications of being a contender spot eliminator.

EDIT: Almost forgot, Dustin Poirier. He went to war with Joe Duffy this past Saturday and now rides a 3 fight win streak. His medical suspenssion is 6 months, that's just in time to see the unraveling of the Alvarez/Pettis showdown that goes down in 2 weeks time. If Alvarez wins, I'd say he deserves a shot the champ, however if Pettis wins he would (im my opinion) need at least one solid win to get a rematch with Dos Anjos.Which directly puts him on a collission course with DDP himself(no, not this DDP), Dustin Poirier.

Fight Life

A photo posted by Dustin Poirier (@dustinpoirier) on Jan 3, 2016 at 10:25am PST

  Dustin after the Joe Duffy fight

End of part one...


This marks the first half my write up. In the second half I will talk about WW, MW, LHW, HW and the Women's divisions, UFC comeptetion and a couple of  other stuff. Part two will be hitting the web later this week, so keep an eye on that. I'll be seeing you soon everybody!

A year in rewind - looking back at 2015

I'm back bitches! Since 2015 has reached it's end and all upsets and major fights occured, I figured It might be time for me to finally write something again. So, as the title sugests, today we look at the wild ride that was 2015.




The Money

According to Lorenzo Ferttita, 2015 was a record setter for UFC in revenue income, generating as much as $600 million! I personally belive that is largely due to a couple of factors. The Reebok sponsorship deal and 2 fighters: Ronda Rousey  and one charismatic loudmouth Irishman, Conor McGregor. 

Reebok money

Reebok deal, as controversial as it may be, brought a major monetary player to the UFC. They picked popular fighters for exclusive sponosorship deals and brought attention to the UFC, which no doubtley spiked up UFC's numbers. Same goes for the former Women's BW Champions and the current Featherweight Champion.

Judo money

Before her shocking loss to Holy Holm at UFC 193, everybody was talking about this bronze medal winning Olympic judoka turned undfeated female MMA fighter that was making the sport look way to easy. She was gaining massive mainstream media exposre. She was in movies, magazines, commericals. EVERYWHERE!

She was even on the cover of Men's Fitness!  source

Irish leprechaun money

Conor McGregor seemingly came out of nowhere and swept the division by storm. His antics, trash talk, persona and charisma made him the breakout star of the last year. The two PPV events that he headlined made $7,2 million and $10,2 million, he got his own press conference after he won the championship belt at UFC194 

The dethroning of Kings and one Queen

There is always a bigger fish-Qui Gon Jinn 

One of the biggest surprises to come in 2015 was the dethroning of dominant champions.
Anthony Pettis, Chris Weidman, Jose Aldo, Cain Velasquez and Ronda Rousey all lost their belts in 2015. This just goes to prove no fighter is unbeatable or untouchable. Jose Aldo was the Featherweight kingpin for the good part of the decade untill a loudmouth Irishman came along and changed all that in 13 seconds. Ronda Rousey was UFC's pride and joy. Olympic Judoka, good looking, lots of mainstream exposure, undefeated in MMA with all but one fight lasting longer than 5 minutes. Rondamania was running wild and there was no stopping it. That is untill a certain undefeated former kickboxer came along and dominated Ronda for 2 rounds before knocking the champ out with a brutal highkick.

  Though seemingly of peacful heart, Qui Gon Jinn does resort to throat chpping bad guys from time to time 



Nick Diaz vs the Athletic Comission

UFC's bad boy made some serious headlines this year. He failed a a drug test for the third time and things were not looking all that good for the UFC veteran coming into his September hearing before the athletic comission. However, in a surprising turn of events Nick's defence tean had one hell of an argument and convincing case as to why it happend. His really well thought out defense pointed out some inconsistencies in the drug testing procedure but the comission wanted none of it. Nick got a 5 year suspension. Fans, fighters, entire MMA community and various celebreties including Cher(yes, THE Cher) were at an all time high outrage. Protest for such a harsh punishment even got an  White House petion started and succesfully filled. Though Nick is still offically suspended for 5 years, the talks about a potential setelment and sentence reducing are getting louder and Nick Diaz will more than likely fight again soon. The fact that the comission members are getting death threats probably has something to do with it with them being so open about reaching a settelment.



UFC partners with Reebok

The Reebok&UFC partnership ushered a new era of mma, an era of near endless controversy. From the misspelling of fighters names on their fight kits to innacurate geographical representation of countries, the clothing giant didn't cease to make MMA fans angry in 2015. The moneteray sponsorship system that made Brendan Schaub retire and the firing of fan favored UFC cutman Jacob "stich" Duran didn't help their case either. Reebok's Michael Lunardelli went on the MMA hour several times and tried his best in defending the slip ups. He pointed the finger at the UFC as the reason for their happening, but nothing really helped, and the gaffs continued.

"This is the best thing in the world, not only for the UFC, for the athletes in the sport"- Dana White

Pride legends "calling it a day"

Mirko Cro Cop and Minotauro Nogueira, two of the top3 best heavyweights of their time finally decided it's time retire. Though the Croat got out on his own terms on a high note, avenging his brtual loss to Gabriel Gonzaga that marked the begining of his decline, his retierment left a bitter taste in the mouths of many fans. Just days after Mirko withdrew from his  UFC: Seoul match and annnounced his retirement from MMA, news struck that he was under provisionary suspension by USADA.Later on his official website, Mirko explained his side of the story. His suspension was due to him consuming a small dosage of human growth hormone in hopes of healing an injured shoulder.
The war torn Brazilian wasn't off such luck. He lost 3 of his last fights to Fabricio Werdum, Roy Nelson and Stefan Struve, Much like Mirko, Minotauro cited numerous surgeries and injuries as reasoning for his retirment.


Fedor Emelianenko un-retiring

SIDE NOTE: I wrote this just before NYE, Fedor won, ofcurse. and Rizin turned out to be pretty awesome!

Speaking of top 3 Pride heavyweights, the undisputed #1 hw of his era decided to make a final run in MMA, Altough MMA fans was keeping their fingers crossed for him to finally sign with the UFC, no such luck was had. Fedor signed with the Japan's new MMA org, RIZIN FF. Rizin just had the first day of their 3 day tournament/debut event with Fedor fighting on the last day (NYE) of the event. Since I already wrote about Fedor's return to MMA, there's really not much left to say about this issue. His opponent is an inexperienced kickboxer but a very unexperienced MMA fighter with just 2 fights under his belt, while Fedor on the other hand. is one of the most dominant heavyweight fighters of all time.

Obligatory funny Fedor pic

Debuting fighters 

UFC's newcomers had a great year, with a lot of talent quickly transforming into new superstars ready to take the MMA world by storm. Aleksandra Albu, Makwan Amirhkani, Sage Northcutt. Joseph Duffy. Karolina Kowalkiewicz and of course the new Woman's Bantamweight Champion, Holly Holm are among many other 2015's debutants that made an impact on the scene and made their presence known right from the start.



Anti-doping testing in the UFC

So, UFC has decided to "clean up the sport" and make random drug tests more frequent with the ultimate goal being that they test every fighter on their roster. So, what could have possibly gone wrong? How about fighters testing positive for banned substances, a lot. Anderson Silva, Hector Lombard, Jon Jones, Nick Diaz all tested positive for banned substances. The silver linings in all of this was that more random testing was going to be performed and performance enchaining drugs would not being tolerated. Dana White even held a special press conference addressing the numerous failed substance abuse tests reveling that they would be doing random drug test even more frequently and that the punishments will be even more severe. The bad new was that with drug testing becoming more frequent, more fighters would be emerging with failed drug tests. UFC MW Tim Kennedy said on the subject: "It's gonna get a lot worse before it gets better". I'll agree with him, more tests will more then likely mean more fighters testing positive, which will affect the fight cards. However, this is a long term process and growing pains are a part of it.

That's all for me. I'll be doing a sequel to this article in the next few days with what 2016 brings and what to look out for in the following 12 months that are sure to be even more crazy than the previous ones. Condit/Lawler is today so 2016 is starting of with quite a bang! I figured out how Instagram works so I started posting stuff over there . So you can check that out, my twitter is still active and in use so you can follow me there .My facebook is still alive so give it a like so I can start putting stuff over there as well and if that wasn't enough I also started posting content on Viral MMA fb page, check that out as well. Unill our paths cross again, I wish you a happy and successful new year!