Eddie Wineland vs Renan Barao is back on

Barao vs Wineland to co main event UFC 165

by Jack Broadey @J3cK_b

Wineland gets his chance again as Renan Barao v Eddie Wineland has been made official for UFC 165.
The fight will serve as chief support to Jones v Gustaffson and will see the Canadian fans in Toronto get to witness two title fights on the card.

The original bout was scheduled to main event UFC 161 but an injury to the interim champion put a stop to that. Wineland had feared he may have lost his opportunity at the champion due to circumstances beyond his control. Barao was originally expected to be out for a lot longer. If this was the case most people expected for him to come back and battle Cruz to crown a true champion of the bantamweight division.

Dominick Cruz is still somehow the champion of the division despite not defending his belt for close to 2 years now. He is back in training now but with no return date scheduled. This will be Barao's 2nd defense of his interim belt which makes a mockery of what the belt is really intended for. He is by all accounts the best in the division and a deserving champion. Wineland won't care about that and gets the chance he thought he had lost to take the belt away from Brazil. Can he replicate what Chris Weidman did at the weekend and bring another title back to the USA.

UFC 166 Adds Lightweight Battle

Diego Sanchez vs. Gilbert Melendez Added to UFC 166 Fight Card

by John Haigh @JohnBJayHaigh

UFC officials on Thursday added a lightweight bout between the inaugural The Ultimate Fighter winner Diego Sanchez and former Strikeforce champion Gilbert Melendez to the 19th October UFC 166 fight card set for the Toyota Center in Houston Texas.

Since his split decision victory over Takanori Gomi in March, Sanchez (24-5) has been lobbying for a fight with Nate Diaz, Josh Thomson, or Melendez.

His win over Gomi was Sanchez' first fight back at lightweight since going (2-2) in his stint at welterweight, with a victory over Melendez and his win over Gomi they would go a long way towards moving Sanchez back towards title contention in the lightweight division. Sanchez previously failed in his only UFC title shot against then lightweight champion BJ Penn at UFC 107 in late 2009.

Melendez (21-3) made his UFC debut against lightweight champion Benson Henderson at UFC on Fox 7 in April, but fell short, losing a split decision. Now, like Sanchez, he is looking for the quickest route back to No 1 contender spot.

Melendez said in May that he was willing to fight anybody on the roster, as long as he wasn’t going back to ground zero. He wants to fight someone that will propel him back to a fight against whomever holds the belt.

“There’s a lot of good guys. Whoever is hot right now,” said Melendez. “Whoever is the hot dude who is closest to getting that title shot, I’ll take it.”

Announcing Sanchez vs. Melendez, UFC officials also confirmed the previously reported welterweight bout between Nate Marquardt and Hector Lombard for UFC 166.
The event is to be headlined by the rematch between UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos.

Nate Marquardt vs Hector Lombard announced for UFC 166

UFC 166 adds Marquardt vs Lombard

by Tommy Strong @Strong_tea

Former Bellator middleweight champion Hector Lombard will be facing another former champion Nate Marquardt, who was once the Strikeforce Welterweight champion.
The two will clash at UFC 166 which will see Hector Lombard make his Welterweight debut after a rocky start to his UFC career at middleweight losing two of his three fights since joining the organisation. When he first signed for the UFC there was even talk of a fight against Anderson Silva but his record soon stopped that talk. The fight will take place on October 19th in Houston Texas.

Lombard (32-4-1) joined the UFC on very lucrative deal from Bellator and to date the UFC haven't seen much value for their money. Losing his debut fight to Tim Boetsch in what could only be described as an awful performance. He looked slightly more impressive in his second fight which saw him knocking out Rousimar Palhares inside the first round.
Thinking Lombard would build on this win, he done quite the opposite when he fought Yushin Okami back in March, where he was defeated via split decision.

Nate "Not So Great" Marquardt (32-4-1) made fans stand up and be noticed when he dropped to Welterweight to compete for the vacant Strikeforce belt. In doing so, he knocked out Tyron Woodley in the 4th round to become the new Strikeforce champion. Only for him to lose the belt 6 months later when he fought Tarec Saffiedine on the very last Strikeforce show via a unanimous decision.
More recently on his return to the UFC in March he faced Jake Ellenberger and lost in devastating fashion being knocked out inside the 1st round.

With both fighters having a lot to prove and potentially a loss could see get cut we could be in for a very entertaining fight!

UFC 166 main event will see the trilogy fight between current Heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez and Former UFC heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos. Also the UFC have added a lightweight bout between Gilbert Melendez vs Diego Sanchez.

Thiago Alves injured Matt Brown now faces Mike Pyle

Matt Brown to meet Mike Pyle at UFC on Fox Sports 1

by Tommy Strong @Strong_tea

UFC Welterweight Thiago 'Pitbull' Alves has been forced to withdraw from his clash with Matt Brown (17-11) at UFC on Fox Sports 1 card in Boston due to a bicep injury that occurred in training.

Alves' replacement has already been announced and we will now get to see Mike Pyle vs Matt Brown on August 17th. Pyle (28-8-1) last fought at UFC 160 on May 25th which lead to a razor thin split decision win over Rick Story, putting Pyle on a four fight winning streak.

Brown (17-11) himself is on a winning streak of his own after stringing together five consecutive wins, finishing four of his last five opponents via TKO/KO.

To a lot of MMA fans this will seem as a more of a sensible match up as both fighters come in to the fight on winning streaks and a win would move one of them nearer to that title shot. Where as Alves was coming in to the fight off a submission loss to Martin Kampmann back in March '12. That was a fight in which he was controlling for the first 2 rounds before being forced to submit at the end of the third round.

UFC on Fox Sports 1 will be headlined by light heavyweights Shogun vs Sonnen in Boston on August 17th and will also see the return of Heavyweight Alistair Overeem who will be facing Travis Browne in the co-main event of the evening.

A Review of Cage Warriors 56

Cage Warriors 56 Omoyele vs Del Guerra

by Tommy Strong @Strong_tea


Saturday 6th July, 6pm the doors opened at "The Forum" Kentish Town, London which was the venue for Cage Warriors 56.

Bola Omeleye def. Vincent del Guerra via 1st round TKO 

Headlining the main event was Londoner and ex 'TUF' contestant Bola Omoyele vs Vincent del Guerra in a 3 x 5 minute round bout. 

Bola making his debut fighting for Cage Warriors since signing an exclusive contract for them and competing in his first fight in just over a year, wasted little time in dismantling Vincent del Guerra.

From the bell, Bola was looking to take the Frenchman down, and done so with ease. With Bola on top controlling the fight and looking to put some ground and pound onto del Guerra, Marc Goddard called a halt to the action del Guerra complaining of an eye poke. The doctor was called in to inspect the damaged eye, and was deemed fit to continue.

This seemed to have lit a flame under del Guerra who after the restart came out swinging and putting pressure on Bola, using this anger to take Bola down, which proved to be a bad decision. Bola used his bigger frame and strength difference to reverse his position and get on top of del Guerra. Landing a barrage of unanswered punches and elbows down on del Guerra, Goddard had no option but to call a stop to the fight to prevent further damage. The official time of the stoppage was 3:21 in the first round.

The house seemed packed of Bola fans as the roof nearly came off the venue when Bola's hand was raised in victory. A very impressive victory and performance considering the man he was facing and his experience over Bola.

In the post fight interview Bola mentioned that he'd signed for the best organisation in Britain and Europe and the fight went as he planned. He went onto say he wants a belt "anyone who's going to take me to that belt, show me the path"

This victory puts Bola (7-1) and a six fight win streak in which he has finished all of his opponents inside the first round.

Catchweight (150lbs) Robbie Olivier def. Patrik Berisha unanimous decision (30/27 x 3)

At Cage Warriors 56 Robbie "The Flame" Olivier was making his first appearance for Cage Warriors in almost 10 years since he last fought at Cage Warriors 4 which saw Robbie lose inside the first round to Emmanuel Fernandez.

The fight was made at a catchweight of 150lbs due to Olivier carrying an injury into the fight and unable to make the 145lb limit. Despite the injury, Olivier dominated over the three rounds in which Berisha had no answer for.

Olivier's Jiu-Jitsu was the key to this fight, he took every opportunity to take Berisha to the mat and done so at will. Berisha managed to get to his feet on a couple of occasions but was soon pinned down on his back again with Olivier in full mount.

In what wasn't the most exciting fight of the night, Olivier got into some dominating positions but was unable to get the finish. At times the fans seems to get restless at the action going on and at one stage Marc Goddard was forced to stand the fighters up. Though it was only seconds before Olivier took Berisha back to the mat again to grind it out for the rest of the round and earn a 30/27 x 3 victory.

Robbie would be the first to admit it wasn't his finest performance saying "I'm not 100% happy, I think i dominated the fight, but i struggled to make the weight. Fair play to my opponent, he was prepared to do a catchweight to make sure the fight happened.

Middleweight Denniston Sutherland def. Brett Bassett via 3rd Round TKO

With a very tentative start from both fighters, the first round was much a feeling out process with Sutherland and Bassett clinging up against the cage for most of the round.

Into the second round and it started much of the same as the first until Sutherland started applying more pressure and landed some big shots onto Bassett until the ref Rich Mitchell stepped in and deemed Sutherland had landed blows to the back of the head, thus taking a point from Sutherland which could've proved decisive on the scorecards. Though moments later it wouldn't prove to be the case, Sutherland landed a beautiful knee to the body of Bassett which dropped him to the mat. Sutherland was raining down with punches and looked like the end was near. Though the bell rung saving Bassett from a certain TKO.

With Bassett clearly still in trouble walking back to his corner, and only a minute to recover he was really up against it. Sutherland took the advantage and came out throwing punches to the body of Bassett and seconds into the third round drops Bassett again and swarms in for the kill. Rich Mitchell has seen enough and jumps in to stop the fight!

Featherweight Graham Turner def. Nad Narimani via Split Decision 30-27 28-29 29-28

Scotland's Graham Turner came into this fight on the back of four wins, who was taking on the undefeated Nad Narimani in what proved to be a very closely fought battle!

Straight from the off both fighters were looking to counter strike and keep things standing. Back and forth punches were exchanged until late in the first round Turner picks up Nad and dumps him into the mat (rampage esq) with seconds to spare in the round and in what was a very close round , might just have pinched in with that.

Into the second , both men wanting to keep the fight standing trying to land that one punch that might finish the fight, but it doesn't come. Both rounds have been so close it was all to play for in the third. In the third round, Nad starts to pressure more and take control of the fight landing a punch that makes Turner instinctively fire back with his own punches. In an entertaining fight , the bell ends the third round with both men exhausted and thinking they've done enough to win.

Turner takes a split decision 30-27 28-29 29-28 adding the first defeat to Narimani's professional record and stretching his win streak to five fights.

Catchweight (160lbs) Philip Mulpeter def. Warren Kee via 2nd Round TKO

Philip "Honeybadger" Mulpeter had Connor McGregor by his side on Saturday night when he fought Warren Kee. England's Kee came in to this fight having lost his last 2 fights prior and Mulpeter losing his last fight to Tommy Quinn at Cage Warriors 51 on new years eve, both men were looking to get back to winning ways!

Though it was Mulpeter who came out the stronger fighter, both men come out throwing punches and its Mulpeter thats getting the better of the work and takes Kee down to the mat. Landing some ground and pound to Kee, Mulpeter secures a tight triangle late in the round but the bell rings before he can submit Kee.

Mulpeter takes Kee down again in the second, Kee replies with some elbows from below but the ref deems them illegal and to the back of the head. Neil Hall takes a point away from Kee for the elbows.  Mulpeter starts to land punches and elbows down from mounted position that have Kee in trouble. Kee covers up from the punches and Neil Hall steps in and calls a halt to the fight on 3:24 inside the second round.

A powerful display from Mulpeter that impressed not only his fans but also McGregor.

Middleweight Fabio Ferrari def. Brett Sizeland via 1st round Submission (Rear Naked Choke)

Brett Sizeland entered the ring with almost a year out between his last fight which was a loss to Denniston Sutherland at Cage Warriors 48, Ferrari himself was also coming into the fight on the back of a loss himself!

The fight started brightly and Fabio Ferrari and Brett Sizeland had the fans on the edge of their seats, as they come out from the bell throwing hands from the off. Ferrari lands a beautiful right hand flush on Sizeland that stuns hims, Ferrari taking advantage of this jumps of Sizelands back and locks in a tight rear-naked choke that left Sizeland with only one option, To tap!!

Ferrarri (6-2-1) bounces back with a win, and leaves Brett Sizeland (6-3) with back to back losses.

Premliminary Card Results:

Sean Carter def Adam Bousiff via Submission (arm-triangle choke) Rd 2 (3:58)
Arnold Allen def Andy Green via Submission (rear-naked choke) Rd 1 (4:00)
Brad Wheeler def Aymard Guih via unanimous decision (29-28 x 3)
Paddy Pimblett def Florian Calin via unanimous decision (30-27,30-27,29-28)


Ending note:

Amateur Light heavyweight bout Darren Springer def Emmanuel Cammarata via unanimous decision (30-27 x3)

I just wanted to honour one fight that wasn't televised and it was also an amateur fight, but felt I couldn't leave it out of my article as it was such a great fight.

It was between two light heavyweights Emmanuel Cammarata vs Darren Springer in a 3 round x 3 mins fight.

Both men came from their corners with only one thing in mind, that was to knock their opponent out! Springer landed some huge and flush punches onto Cammrata and looked like this fight would be over within minutes, but boy how wrong I was. Cammarata just wouldn't go down, instead firing back with punches of his own. How he survived that onslaught in the first round takes a great chin and courage.

Into the second and its much of the same, Springer landing the better of the punches and doing the cleaner work, though he's starting to tire and Cammarata isn't going anywhere! Into the 3rd Cammarata looks to have more in the tank but has left it too late to take the decision from Springer.

It goes to the official score cards and Springer def Cammarata (30-27 x 3)

Both fighters take a bow, as that was a brilliant fight!!


**Thanks to Cagewarriors for the allowing KingdomMMA press accreditation to cover CWFC56**

Roundtable: Is Chris Leben Finished?

Roundtable: Is Chris Leben Finished?

 

On Saturday night Chris Leben lost a lackluster, one sided decision (in the eyes of everyone who watch it baring the one judge who scored the fight to Leben) to relatively unknown mid-tier Middleweight Andrew Craig, his third loss in a row.

Prior to fighting Craig, Leben had dropped back-to-back loss, including brutal doctor stoppage loss to Mark Munoz at UFC 138 a fight which later saw Leben pick up a drug suspension when the pain killer Oxycontin (nicknamed Hilly Billy Heroin in The US) was found in his system , and another lackluster performance where he lost to UFC debutante Derek Brunson at UFC 155 upon his return.

Having dropped 3 of his last 4 fights now, that leads up to whats next for Chris Leben....... Tom Rooney, Ben Heather, and Chris Houten discuss.


As a fighter do you think Chris Leben still has something to offer,  or do you feel his performance in his last few fights indict he should retire?

Tom Rooney: I think he's finished, and there's no shame in that. He's 1/4 in his last five fights and at this level of competition that's not good enough. The UFC have been very patient with him and supportive when he's had problems, if he wasn't such a long-time servant he would have been cut by now. He has big enough name in the sport that he could retire and probably get a good coaching gig in one of the better camps.

Ben Heather: In my opinion and I'm saying this as a fan of Leben's. I think he is done... He has been near the top of the division and even at his prime didn't make it all the way but as fans we didn't care. We knew he would put on a show and unfortunately his past two fights seem to prove that has changed now so I think it's time to retire.

Chris Houten: Only Chris Leben can decide when to call it a day but at this stage of his career it might not be a bad idea for some one to steer him in the right direct. Its a fact, he has struggled in his last 2 fight against guys not many people expected him to loss to.

Chris Leben has had a good career, he should be proud of himself, and bow out gracefully. He has already took enough blows to the head, he definitely doesn't need to take any more.

Has being an out and out brawler caught up with Chris Leben, or do you feel his performance can be attributed to his past drug addition  and the lay off due to suspension?

Tom Rooney: It's not that his style has caught up with him, but that the sport has surpassed him. Look, the drug issues will certainly not have helped, but relying on haymakers and having cement-mixer for a skull isn't enough in modern MMA. Today, as supposed to when he got started a decade ago, there are fighters that are as equally tough and hit as hard as Leben, but are also far more well rounded and technically proficient. Also, there are some many up and comers that are hungry as hell that would love to make a name for themselves by taking Leben out, at this stage of his career and where he is in the rankings, he doesn't need that kind of target on his back.

Ben Heather: I think it has to be a mixture of all of them. The damage he has taken in fights and still carried on going forward looking for the win has to take an effect on any mans body. No matter how fit/ goof your chin is going through that many wars over the years has to take away his ability to carry on... Surely!!

Then that combined with his personal issues and abuse of his body which led to time he wasn't able to fight and I think it's get us to where we are today. A Leben that gasses after one round and didn't look like he has the power in him for that big haymaker.

Chris Houten: I think it has to be a little bit of both. There is no way in hell you can keep going out there fight after fight, plodding forward taking shots all in the name of courage. Leben is a brawler, his whole career has been based on dragging guys into slanging matches, taking shots with the aim of landing bigger one - a style that probably got him in trouble with the painkillers in the first place.

At the same time Leben looks a shadow of himself since his return, he looks like he has no soul left. Drug addiction is a nasty place to be, and it feels like it has left him completely empty.

Should Leben continue to fight, do you feel he is likely to get cut from the UFC? If so who do you think he will sign for?

Tom Rooney: Yes. They guy has a lot of miles on the clock and is almost twelve years as a professional and when you take the drug problems into consideration, there is only so much a person's body can take. He looked so lethargic, almost broken on Saturday night. The sport is too dangerous and competitive for a guy to be fighting if he's not firing on all cylinders, that's how serious injuries happen. Dana White seems to really care about him, so if he's cut it will be done very tactfully and he'll probably find Leben a job in the company if he wants it -a la Liddell/Griffin. If chooses to keep fighting, Bellator might snap him up or, if he fancies a change of pace, he can come to Europe and fight for Cage Warriors!

Ben Heather: This one is simple for me. No Leben shouldn't fight again. I wouldn't like to see Leben fight for any other organisation but I also wouldn't want to see him get cut. A sit down with Dana where he is advised to retire even given a role to advise young fighters what could happen and try not to do like he did with his career would be better than to see him fight again.

Chris Houten: At this stage he deserves to get cut, but then so did Dan Hardy and look how he has bounced back. I know Leben has recently moved over to Alliance MMA and you never know it could see a change in fortune for him, but at this point I don't see it.

I also don't see many people willing to take a punt on him, least of all Bellator due to their Viacom ownership. If Leben does fight outside of the UFC, I feel the best he can hope for is World Series of Fighting.

If Leben were to in fact retire what would you fondest memory be of the man?
Tom Rooney: The pre-fight press conference in Birmingham before his might with Mark Munoz at UFC 138. He was in flying form, telling the journalists that the only food you can get in England or Ireland has to be boiled, fried or put between two pieces of white bread. The guy's a character and seemed to have a great rapport with the fans and journalists.

Ben Heather: My highlight on a personal level is him headlining 138 as that was my first live event. But a Leben career highlight was him taking back to back fights on 2 weeks notice. After knocking out Aaron Simpson he didnt just Fight but submitted Akiyama on just two weeks notice!! That sums up Leben in my eyes.

Chris Houten: Moment wise the one that sticks with me is Leben knocking out Wandi in just 27 second - Oh Wow, but I will mostly remember Leben for his heart and courage...... a true warrior!

UFC 162 Weigh in results

Weigh in Results for UFC 162

by Ben Heather @benheather

Tomorrow nights UFC live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas Nevada, is now set after the weigh ins have now made the fights official. The main event sees Anderson Silva attempt to defend his UFC Middleweight title for a record 11th time against Chris Weidman. Silva already holds the UFC record for most title defenses which currently stands at 10, however a lot of people have been saying that Weidman is different to all the other challengers and could me the man to beat the greatest MMA fighter of all time.  Both men weighed in within the 185lbs limit to make the fight official. Now its just a matter of time before we see if Anderson stays undefeated in the UFC or will Weidman shock the world and defeat the GOAT. All we know is somebody will be losing their undefeated record in the UFC tomorrow night.

In the co main event, we will see a featherweight fight as Frankie Edgar is set to battle Charles Oliveira in a bout which has could have title implications. Both men weighed in under the 146lbs limit at the weigh ins, and they both know that a big win will move them a step closer to a potential title shot. Frankie comes in to this fight needing to get a win, he has no worries for his job but having lost his last three fights (all of which were title fights in which many people thought he did enough to win each time but the judges gave it against him) he is desperate to get back to winning ways and work his way back in to contention.

That is not the only featherweight fight on the card as Cub Swanson will face Dennis Siver in a fight that was originally scheduled to be the co main event on the UFC on Fuel TV 7 event in London back in February. That time Siver had to pull out due to injury but now they will meet in the octagon. Again like the Edgar vs Oliviera fight a big win could put them at the front of the queue for a title shot. Cub certainly has done enough to get one in my opinion.

Also on the main card we have two middleweight contests in Roger Gracie vs Tim Kennedy we see two men making their debuts in the UFC and after Kennedy's comments before this fight he may need a good performance and more importantly a win if he intends on having more than just the one fight in the UFC. The other middleweight contest sees two former contenders try to get back to winning ways as Tim Boetsch and Mark Munoz meet in the octagon.

All of the fighters made weight when they stepped on to the scales making all of the fights official.

A full list of results from today's weigh in can be found below.

Main Card - Live on ESPN at 3am Sunday 7th July 2013

Anderson Silva (c) (184lbs) vs. Chris Weidman (185lbs)
Frankie Edgar (146lbs) vs. Charles Oliveira (144lbs)    
Tim Kennedy (186lbs) vs. Roger Gracie (186lbs)
Mark Munoz (185lbs) vs. Tim Boetsch (186lbs)
Cub Swanson (144lbs) vs. Dennis Siver (145lbs)   

Prelims - Live on ESPN at 1am Sunday 7th July 2013

Chris Leben (186lbs) vs. Andrew Craig (186lbs)    
Norman Parke (156lbs) vs. Kazuki Tokudome (155lbs)   
Gabriel Gonzaga (262lbs) vs. Dave Herman (242lbs)   
Edson Barboza (155lbs) vs. Rafaello Oliveira (155lbs)

Facebook Prelims - Live on facebook

Seth Baczynski (170lbs) vs. Brian Melancon (170lbs)   
Mike Pierce (171lbs) vs. David Mitchell (171lbs)