12/29/13

My final Five Round Review of the year will be focusing solely on the final UFC event of the year, UFC 168. The year end events for The Ultimate Fighting Championship are always significant but this one might have been a little more important then past ones and for the wrong reasons.

Heavyweight Travis Browne made sure that everyone knows that he now belongs in the upper tier of the division. Browne knocked out Josh Barnett at just 1:00 of round 1. In the co-main event, Women's Bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey successfully defended her belt against long time rival Miesha Tate. Tate put up a way better fight than she did the first time the two fought but it still wasn't enough as she lost via armbar at :58 of round 3. The main event saw UFC legend Anderson Silva try to win his Middleweight belt back from Chris Weidman. Weidman won in gruesome fashion after a checked leg kick broke Silva's leg. The stoppage due to injury (TKO) came at 1:16 of round 2. This horrific injury could possibly be the end of Anderson Silva's career. 

Additional Notes:

Middleweight Chris Leben is possibly retiring after losing to Uriah Hall via doctor stoppage at the end of round 1. 

Ronda Rousey will defend her Women's Bantamweight belt against Sara McMann at UFC 170. A Light Heavyweight fight between Daniel Cormier and Rashad Evans has been moved to the co-main event.

Chris Weidman will next defend his Middleweight belt against veteran Vitor Belfort. The fight has not officially been booked on any card thus far. 

12/15/13

The XFC headed up north for XFC 27 this past weekend. Lightweight Dom O'Grady earned an upset win over Eric Reynolds via rear naked choke at 1:42 of round 2. In the main event the Inaugural Featherweight title was on the line. Deivison Ribeiro won a unanimous decision over Farkhad Sharipov to become the XFC Featherweight tournament champion.

BAMMA 14 saw Welterweight Jim Wallhead return to the win column in impressive fashion by knocking out Florent Betorangal with a slam at :21 of round 3. Mansour Barnaoui defended his Lightweight belt for the first time by defeating Colin Fletcher via rear naked choke at 4:00 of round 1. And finally Welterweight Paul "Semtex" Daley added another KO to his record after landing a devastating upper cut on Romario Manoel da Silva at 1:42 of round 2.

Despite multiple fights being scrapped from the fight card, UFC on FOX 9 still maintained some exciting fights. Featherweight contender Chad Mendes earned a unanimous decision over Nik Lentz. Bantamweight Urijah Faber proved yet again why he is one of the best in the division by defeating Michael McDonald via guillotine at 3:22 of round 2. In the main event Demetrious "Mighty Mouse" Johnson successfully defended his belt in a rematch with Joseph Benavidez. Johnson knocked out Benavidez at 2:08 of round 1.

Keoni Koch and Brian Ortega will fight for the Featherweight title at RFA 12 on January 24th.

Former Bellator Welterweight champion Ben Askren has signed with ONEFC.

Anthony Hamilton will defend his Heavyweight belt for the first time at MFC 39 against Darrill Schoonover.

Light Heavyweight Aaron Rosa has signed with Legacy FC.

Brad Pickett has moved to the UFC Flyweight division and will fight against Ian McCall at the UFC European Tour in London.

The XFC has announced that they will be launching their new MMA series called MMA Copa (Latin American MMA cup) in 2014.

The UFC has signed 11 WMMA Strawweights who will be featured on TUF 20. The winner of that season will be the first UFC Strawweight champion.

UFC Welterweight champion Georges St Pierre has announced that he will vacate his belt. Johny Hendricks and Robbie Lawler will fight for the vacant belt at UFC 171.

12/8/13

This weekend was an MMA fans paradise with a total of six major events taking place around the world. So take your seat and get comfortable as I break down exactly what happened over the past three days.

ONE FC kicked things off in the Philippines with a main event that was not only a rematch but also for the Featherweight title. Koji Oishi gave Honorio Banario a familiar blemish on his record as he defeated him via KO (just like the first meeting) at 1:43 of round 3 to win the belt.

Staying on that side of the world, the UFC headed down to Australia for UFC Fight Night 33. Heavyweight Soa Palelei gave his fellow countrymen what they wanted with a KO win over Pat Barry at just 2:09 of round 1. Light Heavyweight Ryan Bader earned a one sided unanimous decision win over Anthony Perosh by dropping him with big shots and dominating him on the ground. Light Heavyweight legend Mauricio "Shogun" Rua returned to the win column with a nasty KO of James Te Huna at 1:03 of round 1. And in the main event Heavyweights Mark Hunt and "Bigfoot" Silva put on a fight of the year nomination with a back and forth blood bath that ultimately ended in a majority draw.

Wrapping up Friday was Legacy FC 26 which featured a main event for the Featherweight title. Former UFC fighter Leonard Garcia claimed the belt by defeating Kevin Aguilar via TKO at 2:57 of round 1.

Cage Warriors 62 kicked off the second day of nonstop MMA action. In the main event Lightweight Curt Warburton defeated Wesley Murch via rear naked choke at just :49 of round 1.

World Series of Fighting made its international debut with WSOF 7. One armed Lightweight Nick Newell remained undefeated by sinking in a guillotine on Sabah Fadai at 1:21 of round 1. In a Middleweight semifinal fight Jesse Taylor earned a unanimous decision victory over Elvis Mutapcic. Taylor will now take on David Branch for the Middleweight belt. In the main event Georgi Karakhanyan handed Lance Palmer his first professional  loss while also claiming the Featherweight title. Karakhanyan won via guillotine at 4:40 of round 3.

Invicta FC 7 wrapped the weekend up the right way with two title fights. Lauren Murphy defeated Miriam Nakamoto via TKO (injury) at :23 of round 4. Although it may not have been the ideal finish Murphy still won the Women's Bantamweight title. In the main event Barb Honchak earned a unaimous decision win over Leslie Smith to win the Women's Flyweight title.

Former UFC Welterweight fighter Tim Means will headline Legacy FC 27 against Aretenas Young.

WSOF 8 will be headlined by a Lightweight title fight between Justin Gaethje and Gesias Cavalcante. Also on the card will be a Light Heavyweight fight between Anthony Johnson and Mike Kyle that was originally scheduled for WSOF 7. Finally there will be a Bantamweight fight with Tyson Nam welcoming WSOF newcomer and TUF 18 cast member Cody Bollinger.

Jon Jones will defend his Light Heavyweight title against Glover Teixeira at UFC 171.

12/1/13

I would love to write a big lengthy blog for you guys tonight but the fact of the matter is I do not have enough MMA news from this past week. So instead I'm going to inform you on what I have and then go to bed... because I'm tired.

The Ultimate Fighter 18 came to a close on Saturday with two new TUF winners being crowned. The first was Chris Holdsworth who defeated Davey Grant via rear naked choke at 2:10 of round 2 to become the Men's Bantamweight winner of season 18. The Women's Bantamweight winner was Julianna Pena who dominated Jessica Rakoczy by earning a TKO at 4:59 of round 1. In the main event Lightweight Nate Diaz won his rubber match with Gray Maynard by winning via TKO at 2:38 of round 1. The only thing as entertaining as the main event fight was Diaz's post fight rant.

UFC Welterweight cast off Rousimar Palhares has officially signed with the WSOF. They have also signed Razak Al-Hassan, Luis Palomino and Kelvin Tiller.

Bellator has signed former NCAA national champion wrestler Darion Caldwell to their Featherweight roster.

Welterweight Tarec Saffiedine will now meet Hyun Gyu Lim due to Jake Ellenberger suffering an injury that caused him to withdraw from the UFC Fight Night 34 main event fight.

My thoughts are with UFC Heavyweight Shane Del Rosario. He is starting to show signs of recovery after suffering from cardiac arrest late last week. He is still very much in a fight for his life.