Is UFC on FOX 9 the Best Free Card Ever?

Is UFC on FOX 9 the Best Free Card Ever?
by Jack Broadey - @j3cK_b

In all my time watching the UFC this is not only the best free card the UFC and Zuffa have produced it is probably the best single card they have produced full stop. It has everything. Title fights, fights with title implications, comeback fights and just generally very good stylistic match ups.

The main event sees Anthony Pettis defend his lightweight strap for the 1st time. With TJ Grant still unavailable the next viable contender steps up to the plate, that man is Josh Thomson. This is a better stylistic fight and should be all out war in a standup battle. On any other card you would expect this fight to be a solid fight of the night contender, it still is but has some serious competition. I will be bold and predict the fight of the year will come from this card.

The only slight criticism if the co main event you can have is that it's only 3 rounds long. When that's the biggest concern you have of a fight then your onto something. The co main event will see Urijah Faber v Michael McDonald battle it out. With Dominic Cruz status still unknown this could very well find the next bantamweight contender. Both men are stuck in the Vitor Belfort position in that they've suffered recent damaging losses to the champion. Barao has pretty much cleaned out his division now so the winner of this fight will more than deserve there rematch.

The next fight on the card is dairy similar to the above. Carlos Condit V Matt Brown has violence written all over it. It can't fail to deliver. This will win something of the night and possibly year. Condit is in a similar position that Faber and McDonald find themselves in. A win over Brown is serious news now though after the tear he's been on. Brown has serious incentives here. A win almost certainly guarantees a title shot. The only shame here again is that it's not a main event and as such will only be 3 rounds. That's 2 fights i am already kicking myself that this isn't a 5 rounder. That's the consequence for building such a fantastic card.

The next fight might not stand out as much or look as thrilling on paper. Lentz-Mendes is however a fantastic fight and had serious title implications. Lentz has looked amazing since his drop to featherweight and both men have been tearing through the division. Mendes is again in that position of having recently lost to the champion and that's still fresh in the mind. He's done everything in his power to set that right though and knocking Clay Guida out is a serious statement. This is very important fight to figure a lot of things out in the featherweight division.

We won't go as in depth into the rest of the card but if we have a glance through you will realise the top end action doesn't end here. Ian McCall snapped his losing streak winning impressively in Brazil. He has an interesting fight on his hands as he takes on Scott Jorgensen making his flyweight debut. Only 1-3 in his last 4 but those losses coming to some of the very best, the same as McCall in a way. The winner moves into contention at flyweight as the division is still very shallow in its early days. 2 lightweight fights next as we have the perennial 'of the night winner Joe Lauzon back in action against Mac Danzig and Danny Castillo v Edson Barboza. Lauzon tends to always be in very exciting fights with his last outing being the anomaly. Barboza has looked fantastic so far in the UFC and looks to keep gaining experience in his quest to win gold.

The latest announced fight is perhaps the closest to call. Both men winning different seasons of TUF we have Court McGee against the youngest ever 'ultimate fighter' Kelvin Gastelum. Both men have amazing heart and have come through as serious underdogs. Can they be any more than gatekeepers. They have to win this to move up I the division and only one man can do that. It's a great fight so low down on a card and it just adds to what should be a fantastic night. I could quite easily see any one of these fights being spectacular enough to earn fight of the year honours. The top 3 fights on the card are as loaded and stacked as you will ever find. What's your prediction for fight of the night? Will it be good enough to earn fight of the year? I can't wait to find out.

The Featherweight landscape in the UFC

Whats next for the UFC featherweight division

by Jack Broadey @J3cK_b

If it wasn't already exciting enough the featherweight division just got a whole lot more interesting, complicated even. Most fans knew Frankie Edgar was a top level Featherweight despite him not ever having won at the weight in the UFC and being on a 3 fight losing skid.

He had forced the FW champion to give him all he had and Jose Aldo had the "the answer" to Edgar edging out a super close decision. Edgar finally got back into the win column that he so richly deserved on Saturday night. He beat a game Charles Oliveira in a competitive but clear decision. Oliveira proved he could live with Edgar but couldn't quite get the better of him wherever the fight went. Oliveira is young and can sharpen his skill set and come back again.

Also on Saturday night a fight originally stated for UFC London occurred. Cub Swanson finally got his hands on Dennis Siver. Congratulations have to go to Joe Silva on this one. He stuck to his guns after the original matchup fell apart and he was rewarded for his matchmaking. Again both men delivered with one man standing tall at the end.

Cub Swanson is on quite a tear now. When Anthony Pettis had to pull out of his fight with Jose Aldo many fans felt Swanson deserved the call up. He took his streak to 5 wins in a row and stopping 4 of them on that run. He has stopped George Roop, Ross Pearson, Charles Oliveira and now Dennis Siver. He also earned a decision win over Dustin Poirier in that time. All top competition and Swanson has looked better each and every time he enters the Octagon.

The question that remains locked over his head though is what happened before his hot streak. Ricardo Lamas stopped Swanson 2 years ago at the very 1st Fox event. He's been on a roll of his own ever since and it would be hard to argue that Swanson deserves a title shot over Lamas. Looking slightly further back he holds a decision loss to Chad Mendes, and more importantly a brutal KO loss at the hands of Jose Aldo.

Jose Aldo won by flying double knee KO in just 8 seconds against Swanson. At the top of the featherweight division it is so stacked that it would be hard to sell a rematch between the two. Swanson has two saving factors. The first is he cant seem to stop winning. The second is Aldo has been so dominant he has almost beat all of the top contenders already.

We have Ricardo Lamas, Cub Swanson, Frankie Edgar, Chad Mendes and even Anthony Pettis all as viable contenders at the top of the division. A lot of what happens next rests on Pettis' shoulders. Dana White seems to be quite fond of him and let's be honest who doesn't want to see Aldo-Pettis? Pettis will have a lot of sway on the future of the Featherweight division. There will be many twists and turns to come yet so strap yourself in for what has fast become the most exciting unmissable division in the UFC.

Mendes vs Guida scheduled for UFC 164

Chad Mendes finally set to meet Clay Guida at UFC 164

by Tommy Strong @Strong_tea

Two of the UFC's top featherweights Clay Guida and Chad Mendes are now scheduled to battle it out at  UFC 164 on August 31st in Milwaukee. The pair had original been due to fight in April at UFC on Fox 7, but Guida had to pull out of the fight due to an injury setback in March.

Mendes (14-1) went on to fight Darren Elkins that night, and took just over a minute into the 1st round to TKO Elkins, putting him on a 3 fight win streak. With each win seeming to look more impressive than the last. The only loss on his record is to Jose Aldo when they squared off for the featherweight title back in January 2012 at UFC 142. A defeat he is desperate to avenge.

Guida (30-13) made his featherweight debut in January, with a split decision win over Hatsu Hioki at UFC on Fox 6. The win came off the back of two losses at lightweight with a split decision loss to Gray Maynard and unanimous decision loss to the current UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson. The Guida of late has been fighting differently to the fighter all the fans loved to watch that changed during the Maynard fight. Which Guida will we see in August?

Fights that have also been announced for UFC 164:

Dustin Poirier vs Erik Koch
Brandon Vera vs Ben Rothwell
Diego Sanchez vs TBA

UFC on FOX 7 Prelims Round up

A look back at the UFC on FOX 7 Prelims

by Ben Heather @benheather

I think that Saturday nights UFC on FOX 7 event was one of the best UFC events I have seen in a long time. For me its up there with the likes of UFC 139 as one of my favourite cards. Yes UFC 139 was finished off by one of the greatest fights ever to take place in the octagon in the war between Dan Henderson and Shogun Rua, but UFC on FOX 7 as a whole is definitely well up there in the top few events to me. So now lets have a recap on the main highlights from the prelims.

Facebook Prelims

Lets start with the Facebook prelims, we had two fights both ended in brutal finishes. The opening fight was finished off with one of the best flying knee's I have seen in a long time by Yoel Romero before he jumped on Clifford Starks to finish the fight with punches to a clearly beaten opponent. That fight only lasted 92 seconds and set the tone for most of the nights fights. This earned Romero $50k for a joint KOOTN bonus.

The second and final Facebook prelim fight made it in to the second round but again after 2:52 seconds Anthony Njokuani knocked out Roger Bowling. Bowling tried to rush Njokuani but as he chased in he was caught with a brutal hook which sent Bowling crashing first in to Njokuani's shoulder before face planting the canvas and ending the fight.

FX Prelims

Now on to the FX prelims (or as we Brits have to view it the UFC.tv prelims) and the great fights continued. The FX prelims consisted of six fights and four of them finished in knockouts. One of the two fights in the prelims which went to a decision was an early contender for FOTN.

Three of the knockouts came from members of Team Alpha Male, under the new head coach Duane Ludwig the team have been unstoppable. The first fight for Team Alpha Male was the back and forth battle between TJ Dillashaw and Hugo Viana. TJ got the TKO victory at the end of the first round after catching Viana with a couple of huge shots before pouncing on Viana until Big John had seen enough.
 Next up for Team Alpha Male was Joseph Benavidez who put on a show of class and justified why he is ranked so highly in the UFC rankings. He was better than Darren Uyenoyama in every aspect of the fight before finishing the fight with some brutal body shots at the end of the second round.
 The final member of Team Alpha Male fighting on the night was Chad Mendes and he was in and out of the octagon in only 68 seconds with another great performance for the team and a TKO of Darren Elkins. I truly believe Chad Mendes is the best featherweight in the world.... who is not called Jose Aldo.

The remaining knockout from the prelims was by Myles Jury. Jury Ko'd Ramsey Nijem in the second round, this came as a shock after the way the first round went. The first round was a great ground battle with so many transitions, nobody could keep the momentum and their opponent down. It was a beautiful contest of styles that us true fans of MMA really appreciate. The second round however stayed on its feet before Myles Jury landed the perfect counter right which puts Nijem to sleep. This doesn't stop Jury from jumping on the downed Nijem for one last shot before Big John can stop the fight. In my opinion, on any other fight card this would have been given as KOOTN but with so many to pick from tonight it didn't get the bonus for Jury.

We also had an early contender for FOTN, this was a closely fought three round war between Tim Means and Jorge Masvidal. Masvidal got the win on the judges scorecard he did what he needed to when he got the fight to the canvas. From top position Masvidal did enough to keep it there and get the win but Tim Means showed the world of MMA how to defend when on your back with some nasty elbows which turned Masvidal in to a bloody mess. Tim Means reputation surely has improved even though he rightfully lost this fight, it has to be a warning to any future opponents be warned if you want to take him down in future.

 The other fight on the prelims was a close fight between Lorenz Larkin and Francis Carmont. This was the first disappointing fight on the card and Francis Carmont got the decision with the judges but on the night I scored it for Larkin. Yes Carmont got on top and held Larkin against the cage for spells but it was Larkin who was always the one trying to fight and do damage and when on bottom with his back to the canvas he was looking for submissions, Carmont however was happy to just lay on top to get his win. On my scorecard I had this fight 29-28 Larkin.

In Review

I think its going to be a long time before we get to see a prelim card with as many highlights as we saw on this UFC on FOX 7 prelims. Other than a submission victory the prelims had everything that fans of MMA want to see. To finish with six KO/ TKO finishes in the prelims is unheard of so here today I would like to thank you to all the fighters for making this fight card so enjoyable and once again reassuring me as to why I love the sport of MMA.

Keep checking Kingdom MMA for the results from the Main Card of UFC on FOX 7.

Two more fights added to UFC on FX 8

UFC on FX 8 adds Dias vs Gamburyan and Alcantara vs Vinicius

by Ben Heather @benheather

Two new fights have been reported as being added to the UFC on FX 8 event in Brazil by Brazilian media SportTV.com. UFC on FX 8 takes place on May 18th and is likely to be held in the Arena Jaragua in Jaragua do Sul.

A bantamweight battle between Yuri Alcantara (27-4 MMA 2-1 UFC) and Marcos Vinicius (20-4-1 MMA 1-1 UFC). Alcantara returns to action after his no contest fight against Pedro Nobre. This was the fight in which Dan Miragliotta deemed blows which landed legally as illegal and so what should have been a TKO 1st round victory for Alcantara was ruled a no contest. That fight also led to Pedro Nobre being released by the UFC.

Marcos Vinicius made his way in to the octagon through The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil. In his first appearance in the Octagon he walked away with a knockout of the night bonus for his fight against Wagner Campos. Then in December 2012 he dropped to bantamweight and was on the receiving end of a knockout loss to Johnny Bedford. 

The other match which is a battle between Hacran Dias (21-1-1 MMA 1-0 UFC) and Manny Gamburyan (12-7 MMA 3-5 UFC) both fighters had been scheduled to fight Chad Mendes before injuries prevented both of those fights and now will step in to the octagon to face each other. Dias fights for the first time since winning a unanimous decision over Alcantara in June 2012, he was due to fight Mendes in December but injury meant that fight was scrapped.

As I said Gamburyan was also due to fight Mendes but this time at UFC 157 in February. This time Gamburyan got injured during his camp and will now return to the octagon for the first time since his decision win over Michihiro Omigawa at UFC on FOX 4.

Both of these additions have yet to be made official by the UFC executives yet.

With the new fights added to the card, the UFC on FX 8 card now looks like this:

• Vitor Belfort vs. Luke Rockhold
• Constantinos Philippou vs. Ronaldo Souza
• C.B. Dollaway vs. Cezar Ferreira
• Rafael dos Anjos vs. Evan Dunham
• Mike Rio vs. Francisco Trinaldo
• Lance Benoist vs. Paulo Thiago
• Azamat Gashimov vs. John Lineker
• Roger Hollett vs. Fabio Maldonado
• John Cholish vs. Gleison Tibau
• Chris Cariaso vs. Jussier Formiga*
• Yuri Alcantara vs. Marcos Vinicius*
• Hacran Dias vs. Manny Gamburyan*

* - Not officially announced

Darren Elkins Steps in For Injured Clay Guida, Meets Chad Mendes at UFC on Fox 7

Chad Mendes vs Darren Elkins set for UFC on Fox 7

Following his first round TKO victory over Antonio Carvalho at UFC 158 this weekend, Darren Elkins (16-2, 6-1 UFC) has agreed to quick return to The Octagon, at UFC on Fox 7 next month, where he will take on Chad Mendes, as a replacement for the injured Clay Guida.

Elkins win over Carvalho marked his first stoppage victory as a UFC featherweight after four straight unanimous-decision victories and improved his UFC Featherweight record to 5-0, the first fighter to attain such a mark in the UFC.

Prior to his victory over Carvelho, Elkins had scored decision wins over Steven Siler, Diego Brandao, Michihiro Omigawa and Tiquan Zhang in the UFC, which has seen him slip under the raider of title contention.

Mendes (13-1, 4-1 UFC) who enters the bout having bounced back from a TKO loss to UFC Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo at UFC 142, with back-to-back TKO victories over Cody McKenzie and Yaotzin Meza, is widely considered the number 2 featherweight in the world, and may feel an impressive win over Elkins may be enough to put him right back in title contention.

UFC on Fox 7 Takes place on  April 20 at HP Pavilion in San Jose, California, featuring a lightweight title fight between champion Benson Henderson and final Strikeforce champ Gilbert Melendez, with UK stars Dan Hardy and Norman Parke also on the card

The latest UFC on Fox 7 card now includes:

Main Card
Benson Henderson vs. Gilbert Melendez - For The UFC lightweight title
Daniel Cormier vs. Frank Mir
Nate Diaz vs. Josh Thomson
Matt Brown vs. Dan Hardy

Preliminary Card
Norman Parke vs. Jon Tuck
Francis Carmont vs. Lorenz Larkin
Myles Jury vs. Ramsey Nijem
Francisco Rivera vs. Hugo Viana
Jorge Masvidal vs. Tim Means
Facebook Prelims
Chad Mendes vs. Darren Elkins
Roger Bowling vs. Anthony Njokuani
Clifford Starks vs. Yoel Romero
Joseph Benavidez vs. Darren Uyenoyama