Report: Rourke’s opponent was living homeless, paid to take a dive in the 4th

For those living way outside the combat sports bubble over this last holiday weekend, Mickey Rourke fought an exhibition boxing match in Russia. The 62 year old returned to the ring for the first time since the 90’s in a continuation of his on-again-off-again ring career. This being an exhibition match, it wasn’t about to go on anybody’s record, neither Rourke’s 6-0-2, or his opponent, Elliot Seymour’s 1-9. Which, of course, sets the stage perfectly for a farcical fight in which more injuries were faked than blows landed. You can see the entire fight below:

And if the visual wasn’t enough to convince you that the fix was on, the Daily Mail is now reporting that prior to the match, Elliot Seymour was “pretty much living on the streets.” And that Elliot had often trained at the same gym as Rourke in the past, and was flown in especially to lose this fight. Given the results, that story sounds increasingly credible.

A source reportedly close to Seymour spoke to the Daily Mail:

‘There are people at Wild Card gym who know that Elliot’s in a really terrible situation and pretty much living on the streets, these are Mickey Rourke’s people who Elliot’s been around and known for some time.

‘I’d be surprised if they didn’t know something about his situation but they have decided to put him in the ring against Mickey Rourke.
…
‘All these headlines Mickey Rourke beat someone half his age… yeah he did but you’re not telling them the real story, the real story is he’s homeless and desperate and he will probably go back to living on the streets when he gets back. People have no clue about that.

‘There’s so much more to the situation than people know, and there’s so much that’s more important than the fact it was fixed, which is the fact he doesn’t have a home and he’s got some mental health issues.
…
‘They told him to throw the fight I hope he gets home safely and paid.

‘They wanted him down in the 4th.’

The Daily Mail also reportedly spoke to Seymour’s estranged mother, who was unable to speak specifically to the bout, but said that she didn’t believe the fight was fixed. All in all, it’s a pretty ugly situation. Hopefully, if nothing else can come of it, Seymour at least got paid some decent money for taking the bout.

Oddsmakers place Conor McGregor as massive favorite over Dennis Siver

While he’s drifting as low as -600 (to Siver’s +400) over on SportsInteraction.com. Those are the shortest odds on Conor McGregor over Dennis Siver, by a fair distance. McGregor opened at a smiliar number for 5Dimes, but has already shot to -1000. Numbers from Bovada and SportsBet aren’t much lower. McGregor is even riding at -462 to finish inside the distance. Long story short, gamblers appear to be looking at this matchmaking as nothing short of a squash match.

McGregor will enter his headlining bout against Siver on a four year, twelve fight unbeaten streak. Currently, he’s riding back to back first round knockouts over Diego Brandao And Dustin Poirier. Siver, on the other hand, is recently returned from a nine month suspension for performance enhancing drugs, following his win over Manvel Gamburyan (later turned to no contest). He’ll enter his bout against McGregor off a hard fought decision over UFC newcomer Charles Rosa at Fight Night: Nelson vs. Story. Siver’s last stoppage win was a rear naked choke submission over Andre Winner in 2010.

It’s tough to argue with the incredibly long odds against Siver here. His gameplan has slowly gone from scrappy, powerful kickboxer to ground-n-pound, top control fighter. And while he still enacts that game reasonably well against the right kind of opponent, they tend to be the kind of fighters who are very prone to being physically overwhelmed. Considering he’s not a huge KO or submission threat, it’s hard to see an easy way forward for him to get a win against McGregor. I wouldn’t be surprised if the odds move wider than they are already.

Paige VanZant looking to take back ‘fluke’ Torres loss

Practically every fighter has that one loss they’d love to get back, where they felt that things just didn’t fall into place, didn’t go the way they were supposed to. For young strawweight prospect Paige VanZant, it sounds like she’s already found the fight she wants to make right. She’s gunning for a rematch against her first, and only, pro defeat, TUF 20 competitor Tecia Torres. VanZant spoke to MMAJunkie about the prospect of getting a second bout against Torres, and what she felt went wrong in the first one.

“I want to get that loss back; that fight is definitely in the plan,” VanZant told MMAjunkie. “That was a fluke in my fight game. I went in there not ready. I wasn’t prepared for that fight. Of course, I took a loss and I’ll take that loss and wear it. But I’m very excited to hopefully get a rematch with her and avenge that loss.”

VanZant went on to say that she’d be happy to face whoever the UFC put in front of her, not just Torres, but that certainly seems to be the fight she wants. It sounds like she’s already back to training and looking for a quick turnaround, with the big influx of new fighters coming, it wouldn’t be surprising to see her back in the Octagon soon.

Welcome to the UFC, Willie Gates

When a door closes for one fighter, somewhere else a new door has opened for a yet unknown talent. At least that’s how I tend to look at injury news. It’s always bad for the fighter who goes down, but for that fighter who’s just itching for a call to the big show, it’s instrumental. That’s where we find short notice flyweight replacement Willie Gates, who takes on John Moraga at UFC on Fox 13 on December 13th. Gates will be filling in for the injured Jussier da Silva, who bowed out due to a partial LCL tear just last week. MMAFighting first reported Gates’ signing on Tuesday. So…

Who is Willie Gates?

The 27-year old “Whoopass” Willie Gates comes to the UFC with a well traveled 11-4 record. Most recently, and most notably, he beat rising Alpha male prospect Hector Sandoval at Tachi Palace Fights 21. Prior to that, Gates had, more or less, the career arc you’d expect from a rising prospect, beating a string of similarly positioned young fighters after a rough first couple fights. Then he lost to Federico Lopez, and I’d be lying if I painted his record post 2012 as anything other than padding. In 6 fights with Gladiator Challenge, Gates’ opponents had a collected record of 2-38. His win over Sandoval makes up for that, Sandoval is a very legit opponent, but he’s essentially 1-2 since beating Carbajal back in June of 2012. Gates is training out of Millennia MMA, alongside Lorenz Larkin and recent UFC signee Jonathan Wilson.

What you should expect:

At 5′ 10″ Gates is about as big as any flyweight is ever going to get. He likes to throw a lot of kicks from the outside, using front kicks and leg kicks to dictate range. Behind that, he likes to move in and out of the pocket with big, dynamic strikes; lunging knees, overhand rights, and winging hooks make up a lot of his striking arsenal. Otherwise, Gates seems pretty limited in his counter-wrestling and clinch grappling ability. He scrambles well, but considering his size, seems very easy to take down. He does throw really solid knees in the clinch, when given the opportunity. Much of his grappling seems based around trying to slam, scramble, or wait out submissions.

What this means for his debut:

Hard not to give Gates a punchers chance, as he’s huge and has the diversity of technique to surprise Moraga. But, unless he’s made dramatic improvements in his overall skill set and wrestling and grappling ability, he should be primed to lose to this fight. Moraga may not have the most fluid game in MMA, but he’s great at taking advantage of opponents errors and has the kind of solid boxing and powerful grappling that should exploit Gates’ own weaknesses. Given that Gates is also coming in on short notice for his UFC debut, chances of him getting the W are slim.

To get us better acquainted, here’s Gates’ last fight, against Hector Sandoval for the Tachi Palace title:

‘Three-legged’ MMA fighter Matt Betzold signed to fight under Legacy FC banner

Well okay, maybe not three legged, but that was how he wanted to be known when he spoke to MMA Sentinel recently. And when you can really detach half your leg and carry it around with you, who am I to say you don’t technically have three? Betzold is continuing his assault on the able bodied in MMA this coming February, when he debuts for Legacy FC. He’s set to make his debut February 27th against a yet to be named opponent, MMAJunkie reported the news.

Betzold lost half of his left leg at the age of 6, after being poisoned by a lodger, staying with his family. Since then, he’s gone on to a decorated grappling career, eventually transitioning into an amateur MMA career. He went pro back in 2009. After a rocky 2-3 start as a pro, he’s gone on to win his last four straight, while that hasn’t been against the highest caliber of competition, it was enough to get him onto one of the larger stages for regional MMA in the US.

Here’s what he had to say about his motivation to fight, when he spoke to MMA Sentinel back in May:

I generally have a chip on my shoulder. I’m kind of prejudiced against guys with all of their limbs, so I like to take ’em off. I definitely go after those limbs because I’m mad at them. I’m kind of a bigot towards anyone with all of their limbs. I don’t even like my kids, cause they have two legs and two arms [laughs]. I’m just kidding.

And about his difficulty in finding fights on the regional scene:

I would have more fights and more wins on my record, but the fact of the matter is guys are scared to fight me. I get fights set up and then the week of the fight, someone will pull out. That or they accept the fight for a few days, then they pull out. These guys are a bunch of pussies. I thought we were all supposed to be fighters. That’s what I’m dealing with.

Now that he’s with Legacy that second issue should hopefully go away. They have an excellent track record of getting their fighters booked competitively, so more likely than not, Betzold will get the step up in competition that he’s looking for. Keep you eyes peeled for him, this February on AXS TV.

Image courtesy of Matt Betzold

SBNation MMA Featherweight Rankings: Cub Swanson, where you at?

The last time the SBNation panel gave the featherweight division a look was back in February. Since then a lot of things have changed and a lot of things have stayed the same. Jose Aldo, Frankie Edgar, Ricardo Lamas, and Chad Mendes still make up the top 4 spots. But, in that time Conor McGregor has blossomed from prospect to contender, white Chan-Sung Jung has gone from divisional mainstay to long-term hiatus. The cream of the crop may still be the same, but the sea of new talent is boiling beneath them.

Thus, our esteemed panel of MMA media members have gotten together to bring you their semi-official SBNation rankings for the featherweight division in November of 2014.

(Scoring: Fighters are given 10 points for a first-place vote, nine points for a second, etc., down to one point for 10th place. The results are then tallied up and presented here. Official SB Nation rankings policy: Fighters under commission suspension are ineligible to be ranked during the duration of their suspension or if they have licensing issues.)

If you want to get a better grasp on all the movement since the last time these rankings were compiled, here’s the last update, from February.

Upcoming fights for ranked fighters:

Jeremy Stephens vs. Charles Oliveira at TUF: A Champion Will be Crowned on December 12th

Conor McGregor vs. Dennis Siver at UFC Fight Night: McGregor vs. Siver on January 18th

Patricio Friere vs. Daniel Straus at Bellator 132 on January 16th

Welcome to the UFC, Justin Jones

The injury wheel never stops spinning, even for a moment. Or, at least I think it’s the injury wheel. Reports, at the moment are pretty unclear. For one reason or another UFC light heavyweight newcomer Jonathan Wilson has withdrawn from his bout against Corey Anderson, set to take place next weekend on December 6th at UFC 181. In his place will be a middleweight newcomer, moving up to 205 for the short notice fight. The UFC announced the signing of Justin Jones on Monday, but did not give a reason for Wilson’s removal from the card. So…

Who is Justin Jones?

“Lazy Bones” as he is also known, is a 27-year old middleweight  training out of Victory MMA alongside Toby Imada, Shannon Gugerty, and Rad Martinez. Jones is only 3-0 as a professional, having started his pro career back in January of this year. Still, it wouldn’t be quite fair to say that he has less than a year of cage time, as Jones kicked off his amateur career in early 2012. Still it’s an amazingly short turnaround, from pro debut to UFC contract, and shows just how quickly American prospects are getting scooped up by the UFC. In his career so far, Jones has wins over fellow prospects John Hackleman Jr. and Cordell Williams. So, while it’s not a long record, it’s about as good as a fighter could do over 3 pro bouts.

What you should expect:

Justin Jones is certainly a decent athlete, and has the hallmarks of being a promising prospect, but he’s really really early in his development as a fighter. Much of his takedown game seems based around power slams and throws from bodylock positions. On the ground, he can land some decent ground and pound, but seems to focus mostly on keeping a position and landing available shots, rather than looking to advance and find submissions. The focus of his game, however, is his pocket striking. Jones likes to sit down in the pocket and just wing hooks at his opponents. He throws powerful kicks from the outside, and grinds in the clinch, but mostly he likes to just stand and throw bombs, winging hooks to the body and head.

What that means for his debut:

Much like Wilson before him, Jones has a puncher’s chance, just because Anderson has yet to show any comfort in the striking game. Unfortunately, unlike Wilson, not only is he giving up a stylistic advantage, Jones will be giving up a size advantage as well. He’s not small, nor does he appear weak, but at 5′ 11″, he’s still going to be very undersized at light heavyweight. And facing a power wrestler like Anderson, that spells bad news. Also, Jones doesn’t seem to be much of one for footwork, preferring to just plant and let his hands go, so he’s pretty primed to be taken down by a well timed shot.

Normally I’d show some recent fight footage here, but almost all of Jones’ (save a grainy amateur debut) has been pulled from the internet.

Hindsight – UFC Fight Night: Edgar vs. Swanson in retrospect

Frankie Edgar wants to make it known that he is very definitely still somebody. And while his battle with Cub Swanson may not have quite been a career decider, it’s hard to ignore how much was at stake. Divisional relevance is basically measured in distance from a title shot, and anyone sitting outside of a fight or two from getting their hands on the belt, just isn’t that relevant. Otherwise, the UFC’s Austin Fight Night offering may not have offered the best action throughout, but it told us a ton about the fighters involved. I went 8-4 on fight picks, with a couple of big surprises, and a couple of not so big surprises on the card.

Disclaimer Time: From the sound of things, a lot of people did really really poorly on picking this card. Of course, that makes me regret not betting, so that I could have something to rub in people’s faces right now. But, that kind of karma would always come back around, no question. I’m better off just picking fights and talking odds, rather than losing what little money I’ve got. Still, it’s a good way to benchmark fighter development, so I’ll be using Best Fight Odds for the odds on each fight and taking the mode on each fighter. Now, on to the fights!

Dooho Choi (-450) vs. Juan Manuel Puig (+325) (I picked Choi, I was right)

• The Expectation: No sugarcoating it, Dooho was supposed to come out and crush Puig here. This was a setup fight, against an opponent who offered zero danger to a young, aggressive prospect. The fact that Dooho came out and met those expectations is great. The hype lives on.
• Fallout for Dooho: As I just said, they hype lives on. Choi got a matchup with someone who couldn’t challenge him with offense or defense. Next up, he’ll probably take a big step up in competition. It’d be hard for him not to. A matchup like Mike Wilkinson or Godofredo Pepey would probably be the way to go if the UFC wants to build Dooho quickly without killing another top prospect.
• Fallout for Puig: He may stick around in the UFC, just to give one of the TUF China or TUF Latin America guys another matchup, but two fights and two early first round KO’s basically have his ticket punched as non-UFC material.

Kailan Curran (-105) vs. Paige VanZant (-115) (I picked VanZant, I was right)

• The Expectation: This was definitely bookmarked as a close fight, but I’m a little surprised that the odds were so even. I called it for VanZant, but I figured her name value and association with TUF 20 would be enough to skew interest in her favor. That loss to Torres must have really downed her stock in ways I don’t understand. Eventually I think close to even odds was about right, but it’s not what I’d have expected going in.
• Fallout for Curran: As a newcomer right before the flood, she has the unfortunate problem of immediately getting swallowed up in the pack as another 16 new fighters enter the division behind her. It’s going to be hard for fans to remember that she’s a prospect to pay attention to, with a bunch of other new fighters to pay attention to. Still, it’s not an otherwise meaningful loss, excepting that it shows she needs to work on maintaining her range and staying off the cage, where she can be most effective.
• Fallout for VanZant: She got a big, big boost from this win, at least among the fans that saw it on fight pass. It was a hard fought, fun, scrappy battle, but she looked like the superior athlete throughout, and showed off a lot of her wicked, punishing clinch game along the way. It looks like her camp has calmed her range striking down as well, which is good, as she used to be all over the place. There are definitely going to be a lot of women at 115 that VanZant can beat right now, and she has a ton of time to develop.

Akbarh Arreola (+215) vs. Yves Edwards (-270) (I picked Edwards, I was wrong)

• The Expectation: The odds probably could have been narrower, all things considered, but it still made sense to see Edwards as the favorite. Edwards is 38, and has been fighting since 1997, but Arreola is 31 and has been fighting since 2002. Both men have been around for a while. But, it turns out that for as good as Edwards has been, he’s a lot further off his prime than Arreola is right now.
• Fallout for Edwards: It’s hard to look at where Edwards is now and see a next step that involves continuing to fight. Akbarh Arreola is just not a guy he should have lost to, ever. And certainly not by decisive first round stoppage. This didn’t look like a bad night, or the end of Edwards’ time as a top guy, this looked like the point where Edwards is no longer competing at a level remotely close to what the rest of his division is on. That’s not a good place.
• Fallout for Arreola: No question, as bad as Edwards looked, Arreola looked great here. He’s still got a funky game, as a range kicker and a guard submission grappler, but if he gets just the right matchups he might steal a few UFC wins. He’s definitely set on the track to be a matchup for some of the recent TUF offerings, but Arreola gets to fight another day in the UFC, and after his long road to get there, that’s a good thing.

Nick Hein (+230) vs. James Vick (-280) (I picked Vick, I was sorta right)

• The Expectation: Honestly, even as a big supporter of Nick’s, I expected him to get dusted here. That’s where the odds were, that’s what the matchup was. Color me extremely impressed then, that that’s not what happened at all. This ended up being a razor thin, competitive bout, and one I’d argue that Nick came out on the better end of, even in a loss…. which I thought he won.
• Fallout for Hein: The big win here, is that Hein continues to show he has a lot of potential for growth. He displays great natural power and good timing. Otherwise, two big problems are becoming apparent. The first and foremost is that he’s a very undersized LW and it’s potentially effecting the tools he can use in his fights. He used zero of his grappling in this bout, and it’s hard not to look at giving up 9 inches of height as a potential reason why. The second, and closely related, problem is that Nick appears to be essentially a one handed fighter right now. If his combination kickboxing doesn’t improve, future opponents aren’t going to have trouble solving his style.
• Fallout for Vick: Vick seems to have a real talent for getting the ugly win and sooner or later it’s likely to come back around hard. Honestly, this is probably the worst he’s looked in a win, as he checked his trademark aggression at the door, and went for an ugly point jabbing style. He doesn’t have the technique or volume to make that work and almost lost a decision because of it. If he takes a step up from the lower ranks of 155, he may meet with a decisive loss.

Luke Barnatt (-400) vs. Roger Narvaez (+325) (I picked Barnatt, I was wrong-ish)

• The Expectation: Okay, two things. 1) I was all in on Barnatt to win this fight. 2) These odds are way, way too long. Barnatt is/was a pretty decent, well rounded fighter. But, he’s nicknamed “Bigslow” for a reason. He’s not a blue chip athletic prospect, and as such, he’s going to have to be on his game every time out to win fights. Picking him to win felt like the sensible move, but not at these odds.
• Fallout for Barnatt: I’m not sure if he’s in a “rebuilding” stage or what, but it looks like he’s gotten worse since his move to Alliance. Barnatt used to be a pretty solid infighter and clinch grappler, but for his last two bouts, he’s relied on some ugly and fundamentally barren range striking, and gotten outpointed by slim margins each time. It’s possible that more time, and more work on this style will mold it into something functional, but it feels like most of his functional game has been lost in the process. Hard to pick him to win going forward.
• Fallout for Narvaez: This was a really good, solid win for Narvaez, who needed desperately to prove that he was UFC caliber after a bad first showing. He’s got a few incidental things going against him, like age and a full time job, but he looked much improved this time out, and whatever kickboxing coach he’s working with, seems to have turned his striking around. If he can keep improving, he has the size and physicality to be a decent action fighter in the UFC.

Josh Copeland (+170) vs. Ruslan Magomedov (-210) (I picked Magomedov, I was right)

• The Expectation: Solid, sensible odds on a low powered kickboxing heavyweight like Magomedov. He’s likely to win any matchup against a lower tier heavyweight, but without the ability to put guys away, he should never drift too high in the odds. That said, this was always Magomedov’s fight to lose and he proved it.
• Fallout for Magomedov: He continues to be a young heavyweight to watch, sort of. As a guy under 30 and with less than 5 years of cage time, Magomedov is a relative baby in UFC terms. Given his depth of striking talent, he’s also a prospect, no doubt. But he had Copeland badly outclassed here, and never really came that close to finishing him. He just doesn’t have power, and heavyweight is a division that lives and dies on power. Magomedov is still a great fighter on the rise, but it’s hard to see just how high he’ll go.
• Fallout for Copeland: This wasn’t a huge setback for Copeland, although it was a decisive loss. He proved he can go three rounds in the UFC without horribly gassing, and that he has the basic athletic tools to compete, including a solid chin. Now, he just needs some actual technique. He got by on the regional scene with a swarming striking game into cage control, but without technical footwork and a more varied arsenal, he’s going to be little more than a fun brawler in the UFC.

Isaac Vallie-Flagg (+160) vs. Matt Wiman (-175) (I picked Wiman, I was right-esque)

• The Expectation: I figured that this was a fight where Wiman would get beat up a bit on the feet, but eventually be able to drag Vallie-Flagg down, and work him over with his more complicated wrestling and grappling game on the ground. The odds looked like that was the popular pick, and even coming off a long layoff, Wiman more or less met expectations. The one surprise was really that Vallie-Flagg seemed to dictate all the range in the bout, but chose the wrong range a lot.
• Fallout for Wiman: Honestly, this may be one of those times that the time off has really done a fighter good. He still looked a little rusty out there, and got muscled around a bit, but once the fight was in his arena, he had complete control. I’m not sure that his skill set will carry him toward the top 15, but he’ll probably be able to hang as a tough mid-division gate keeper that shows scrappy strikers what’s missing from their game.
• Fallout for Vallie-Flagg: It’s not as bad as the Yves Edwards loss, by any measure, but it is hard to see a next fight for Isaac Vallie-Flagg. He’s been a good, scrappy veteran fighter for a while now, but where he was once on the winning side of those split decisions, he’s now dropping them. This Matt Wiman fight was winnable, but Vallie-Flagg tends to push the fight to his opponents not just with his striking but with wrestling and grappling as well. Since he’s not exceptional in any one area, it leaves him open to pushing the fight right where his opponent wants it. That seemed to be his downfall here.

Joseph Benavidez (-437) vs. Dustin Ortiz (+354) (I picked Benavidez, I was right)

• The Expectation: As the odds showed, Joseph Benavidez was supposed to walk right through Dustin Ortiz. There’s no question that Ortiz is talented and tough, but he just hadn’t shown the depth of skill to get past a fighter like Benavidez, the skill to threaten for a title. At the end of the day, I think he did a lot better than anyone expected, but he still ended up being on the wrong side of a pretty one sided beating.
• Fallout for Benavidez: Honestly, this may have been as bad as I’ve seen Joe-B look in a win. Early on, he had Ortiz totally outclassed. Then, to start out the second, it looked like he just decided to go for the kill, and threw technique out the window. In doing so, Ortiz caught him hard at least once, and turned a one sided beating into a brawl. Benavidez still won that brawl handily, but it’s one he didn’t really look like he needed to be in.
• Fallout for Ortiz: I guess, for fans looking for an excuse to mark Ortiz as a top 10 talent this was a good way for them to do so. He acquitted himself well, and competitively in a loss, but it was still a pretty decisive loss, and didn’t gain him much ground from his position as a guy who can beat the rising talent at 125, but can’t get over against top guys. He’s still fairly young, and has time to develop, but this fight established that he needs to round out his game into something more dynamic to compete for a shot at the flyweight title.

Oleksiy Oliynyk (+305) vs. Jared Rosholt (-375) (I picked Rosholt, I was wrong)

• The Expectation: I think, if I had to pick this fight a hundred times, I’d pick Jared Rosholt to win it every time. The flip side of that is that I’m not really surprised at all that he lost. Anyone who has paid attention to Rosholt’s fighting style could see a loss like this coming, one where his wrestling game didn’t get going, and he ended up stranded on his feet with a more powerful puncher. In this case, it seemed he wanted to be on his feet, and thus became the harbinger of his own downfall.
• Fallout for Oliynyk: A contender on the rise? Probably not. Oliynyk looks to be establishing himself more as a gatekeeper to the more one dimensional heavyweight talents than anything else. He can wrestler, grapple, and strikes with power. He’s got a chin, and he’s experienced enough to keep his cool. How long all that lasts, it’s hard to say. Oliynyk is a perfect example of everything that’s weird about heavyweight because there’s no telling when a guy like him stops winning relevant fights.
• Fallout for Rosholt: People saying this kills Rosholt’s chances as a future contender are probably missing the mark. The same could have been said about Fabricio Werdum or Mark Hunt a couple of times. Heavyweight just doesn’t work that way. That said, Rosholt looked like he went out there to prove that his striking wasn’t a “fatal flaw” and had it shown to him that it really still was. While he actually looked better than ever, heavyweight is unkind to minor improvements. If he can go back to his wrestling and mix in the boxing as a change of pace, there are still plenty of dudes he can beat with ease.

Chico Camus (+155) vs. Brad Pickett (-180) (I picked Camus, I was mostly right)

• The Expectation: I want to say that I’m really, really surprised that Camus was the underdog, but I’m not. He has zero name value with fans and, coming off loss where he got dominated, it’s hard to get any sort of hype going. That said, he’s essentially in his prime right now. That prime may not be quite as high as Pickett’s was, but Pickett’s not there and this bout more or less showed that.
• Fallout for Pickett: Pickett probably gets another shot at flyweight, a chance for another young fighter to make their name off beating him, but I’m not sure how he’ll be looking to win much more. His staple has always been his wrestle-grappling. The boxing and brawling he did was a secondary tool to get to those staple skills. Only, he’s not getting there anymore. Pickett’s getting left as just a boxer-brawler at flyweight and he doesn’t have the tools to win those types of fights.
• Fallout for Camus: I doubt that Camus has a title run in him, even at his peak, but he should be good for a few entertaining high-to-mid level scraps. His style isn’t really made to win consistently in the UFC, and unless he ups his output, he’s likely to end up with more split decision losses than wins, but he’s proven he can do some exciting things with the right type of matchup.

Edson Barboza (-150) vs. Bobby Green (+125) (I picked Green, I was wrong)

• The Expectation: I may have had a dramatic misreading on Green going in here, but I was shocked that he was the underdog. I figured that his decent, movement based boxing, combined with his athletic wrestling/scrambling game would give him just the right set of skills to beat Barboza, but he may just be much more of an in-and-out range striker than I thought. At that point, Barboza eats that kind of fighter alive, as long as they can’t crack his chin, and Green couldn’t.
• Fallout for Green: Hard to say. He’s talked about retiring, and if he want’s to, it’s hard to fault him. MMA is no easy way to earn a living and any fighter that wants to step away probably should. If he stays, however, this fight showed some real gaps that could prevent him from rising further up the ranks. Guys like Barboza are a rarity at the lower end of lightweight, but at the top, they’re closer to the standard. RDA, Cerrone, Pettis, even Melendez and Henderson, all have solid pressure kickboxing games. Green’s low output style just isn’t made to win that kind of fight.
• Fallout for Barboza: This win was a huge deal, the type of win that could put him close to contention. And while he may have a very beatable gameplan, he also has the kind of singular skills that make him dangerous against any opponent. Barboza’s next matchup and next fight are going to be a big deal, win that and he may be fighting for title contention.

Frankie Edgar (-175) vs. Cub Swanson (+145) (I picked Edgar, I was right)

• The Expectation: There were a lot of reasons that Frankie Edgar was the slight favorite in this fight, and mine may have ended up being the least valid. My thoughts ran along the lines that, even in a standup battle I’ve seen Cub come up short recently, and that’s the one area where he has any sort of advantage. The majority opinion, that Edgar was just the more complete and talented fighter seems to have been the right one, as Edgar was able to dominate with ease using his wrestling.
• Fallout for Edgar: This may be one of the most singularly dominant displays of wrestling I’ve ever seen in MMA. Edgar wen for a couple of “tester” takedowns early, to get a feel for Cub’s defense and then just blitzed him for the rest of the fight. His top control, never a real center point of his game, was crushing, and just drained all the fight out of Swanson. And, he was even reasonably competitive standing, for as long as the fight stayed there. Overall, it looks like Edgar is molding his game to a more skill-based, less springy athleticism based style, which could keep him a force for a few more years.
• Fallout for Swanson: Nothing good. There is literally nothing good to be taken away here. Swanson got beat like rented mule for 5 rounds, before tapping to a neck crank. He’s past the point of “I need to work more on X” and may be past the point of having another run in him. Featherweight is a division that’s quickly filling up with new, top tier talent. Swanson can still win fights in the top ten right now, so it’s not utter devastation. But there’s nothing good to take from this loss.

Those are my collected thoughts on UFC Fight Night: Edgar vs. Swanson. So much of what I wrote seems obvious now, but as always, that’s the benefit of hindsight. Swing back around, two weeks from now, when I’ll be talking about “Still welterweight champion Johny Hendricks” and “Still lightweight champion Anthony Pettis.” Until then!

*This week’s quote courtesy of the movie American Gangster.

Eminem throws shade at Ronda Rousey: ‘she’s slaughterhouse in a blouse’

For fans looking for those breakthrough moments, where MMA truly enters the main stream, a big one has definitely arrived. Eminem is throwing shade at UFC champion Ronda Rousey in one of his new tracks. In his newly released album, Shady XV, Eminem name drops Rousey in the album’s title track. I mean, 50 Cent and Jon Jones are good buddies, where’s that Jones themed track at? BJPenn.com transcribed the lyrics from Eminem’s new album:

I got a Magic Johnson
It’s like a Magic Wand allows me to not let a blonde arouse me
If Ronda Rousey was on the couch with the condoms out
Holding a thousand Magnums at once to pounce me
I’ll laugh in response to how she dances and flaunts it around me
Her flat little badonkadonk is bouncing around
And all I see is Paulie Malignaggi, she’s slaughterhouse in a blouse

That’s certainly an interesting image. Malignaggi does have some pretty pouty expressions.

Welcome to the UFC, Cody Garbrandt

When you look at the career path for the typical American top prospect, look no further than Cody Garbrandt. A young fighter with a strong background in combat sports, aligned with a major camp, has arrived in the UFC just two years and five fights into his pro career. Garbrandt is now scheduled to take on Marcus Brimage at UFC 182 on January 3, in Las Vegas, Nevada. The UFC announced the matchup on Saturday. So…

Who is Cody Garbrandt?

A standout high school wrestler and University of Michigan recruit, the 23-year old Cody Garbrandt has been flirting with an MMA career for a long, long time. Garbrandt started an amateur boxing career at the age of 14, racking up a 32-1 record. At the same time, Garbrandt also started in on an amateur MMA career, taking his first bout in 2009. He turned pro just two years ago, at the age of 21, and stormed out to a 5-0 unbeaten record, with five knockouts, four in the first round. All of his wins come over decent, young rising fighters. More recently, he’s started training with Team Alpha Male, which should be a very solid fit, given his wrestling and boxing background. The total package carries all the hallmarks of a fighter fans should be paying attention to.

What you should expect:

Garbrandt has a nicely fundamental striking game, working out of a technical kickboxing base. He uses footwork nicely, to stalk and cut off opponents, and throws a good variety of strikes in combination. To accompany that, he has a very nice clinch game, throwing good knees, while maintaining control and looking for trips and foot sweep opportunities. His outside wrestling game isn’t terribly well connected to his striking yet, and he doesn’t have the world’s most dynamic shot, but he wrestles very well once he’s in on a body lock. On the ground, Garbrandt’s game still needs some work. He’s not the most effective ground striker and can get a little stalled out in dominant positions. Still, he doesn’t make many overly aggressive grappling mistakes, so that’s not so much a problem as an area to improve.

What this means for his debut:

Tricky stuff. Marcus Brimage has, essentially taken seven and a half years to get where Cody Garbrandt is right now. Obviously, he’s probably picked up a few more tricks of the trade in that time, but he’s currently packing a very similar skill set of combination kickboxing, perhaps with a little less effective clinch grappling involved. If Garbrandt can get that part of his game going against Brimage, he may be able to mix up the rhythm of the fight just enough to keep Brimage from feeling comfortable. Otherwise, this may be a case of “UFC Jitters” and too much too soon. Brimage is a much better fighter than anyone Garbrandt has beat so far, but that doesn’t mean he’s not capable of doing so. This one could be too close to call.

To get us better acquainted, here’s Garbrandt’s most recent bout, against Charles Stanford: