UFC 201: Lawler vs. Woodley – Fights to make

We’ve got a few big obvious fights to book this week, what with a belt changing hands and a presumptive no. 1 contender being crowned. For everyone else, things are a little more difficult, but I’ll do my best to navigate the murky waters of the UFC roster to get the best possible available fights for each person on the roster.

As always, I’ll be doing things on the Silva/Shelby model. Winners vs. winners, losers vs. losers, and similarly tenured fighters fighting one another. That should lead to the most UFC-possible fantasy bookings for each fighter. That said, let’s get to the fights!

TYRON WOODLEY: For the big winners on this list, the future feels pretty obvious. Stephen Thompson and Kelvin Gastelum are literally the only top ranked welterweights coming off wins, and Woodley already beat Gastelum. Condit vs. Maia could throw another name into the ring (but of course Woodley beat Condit too), but if the UFC can get Woodley to make a quick turnaround and defend his title this fall, that Wonderboy fight is absolutely the one to make. Tryon Woodley vs. Stephen Thompson for the welterweight title, hopefully at UFC 205.

ROBBIE LAWLER: Of course, with several top welterweights coming off losses, Robbie Lawler has options. He could fight Hendricks again (but that just doesn’t seem right), and of course there’s Matt Brown again, but we’ve seen that, just like we’ve seen Rory MacDonald twice now. I think the best option for Lawler right now is to wait for the loser of Maia vs. Condit. Condit/Lawler I was amazing and controversial, and if Condit somehow beats Maia, then Maia vs. Lawler is a fresh fight we haven’t seen yet between two longtime vets. Robbie Lawler vs. the Condit/Maia loser.

KAROLINA KOWALKIEWICZ: I said this was gonna be easy for the big winners and this one couldn’t be simpler. Kowalkiewicz vs. Joanna Jedrzejczyk for the women’s strawweight title. KK has been calling out JJ since she first set foot in the Octagon. They even have an old history, with JJ choking out KK back in an amateur bout in 2012. It’d be an all-Polish battle perfect for a return to the nation, or (if the UFC can’t make it back there in the next few months) great for the co-main of a PPV in the near future. Karolina Kowalkiewicz vs. Joanna Jedrzejczyk: book ‘em, Shelby-o.

ROSE NAMAJUNAS: Potentially another wake-up call for Rose Namajunas here. She’s a great young talent with fantastic physical gifts, but she can’t just take the fight wherever she wants whenever she wants. At least not yet. This could be a big opportunity for her to take on Valerie Letourneau, yet another volume striker near the top of the division, but I’d be more in favor of seeing her take a bigger step back. I know she doesn’t have the status of others in the division, but I’ll say Namajunas vs. Juliana Lima. Lima is a seasoned vet with a hard-nosed grinding style who keeps running into a wall at the top of the division. But she’s tough, athletic, and really hard to put away, and should make Namajunas work for a win. Rose Namajunas vs. Juliana Lima next.

JAKE ELLENBERGER: Well, Ellenberger got his chance, and he absolutely made the best out of it. The former top ranked welterweight likely just shot his stock right back into the rankings with a win over Matt Brown. If it weren’t for the whole Win/Loss thing I might say this is the time for Ellenberger vs. Hendricks. Hell it still might be. I’d also be happy to see Ellenberger take on Jorge Masvidal coming off his win. But, mostly I think he’s perfectly placed to be a stepping stone test for a fighter trying to make more of a name for himself. Jake Ellenberger vs. Gunnar Nelson.

MATT BROWN: Part of me says, rankings be damned, lets see Matt Brown vs. Rory MacDonald. But I’m not even sure Rory Mac is in the UFC right now, and I don’t know how long it’ll be before he fights again. So, in the interest of something more realistic, How about Matt Brown vs. Patrick Cote? I’d also be interested in seeing Brown vs. the loser of Cerrone vs. Story. But, taking the free and open fight as first priority, Brown vs. Cote is the fight to book right now. Oh, and Brown vs. Saffiedine could work (if Tarec can stay healthy for two fights in a row).

NIKITA KRYLOV: Niki Thrillz has two sensible fights in front of him right now: Lil’ Nog and Shogun. I honestly think he could win both, but in the interest of stepping him up as slowly as possible and giving him as much time as he can take to start hitting the elite matchups in the division, Krylov vs. Lil’ Nog just makes the most sense.

JORGE MASVIDAL: There’s that Ellenberger idea I mentioned above, but Masvidal is a fight anyone, anywhere, anytime kind of dude, so there really are a ton of potential matchups he could get at any one time. I’d love, for instance, to see him face Dong Hyun Kim when Kim returns from injury, More than that, however (and with more chances of happening, I’d like to see Jorge Masvidal vs. Alan Jouban. Jouban isn’t the most technical striker in the world, but he’s fast and powerful and dynamic and I think he could draw a really fun war out of Masvidal. It’s also a big chance for Jouban to keep making a name for himself and for Masvidal a real chance to keep putting some kind of win streak together. Jorge Masvidal vs. Alan Jouban.

WILSON REIS: So, Demetrious Johnson is already tentatively booked for December 3rd and the TUF 24 Finale, but that’s a long ways off for him to sit on the sidelines without a fight. Assuming his recent injury isn’t so bad that he needs all that time then re-booking Reis fight is too easy and obvious to pass up. If that can’t happen, then Ian McCall could use a fight right about now, I’m guessing. Also Ali Bagautinov and Kyoji Horiguchi are just floating around there, waiting. I’d probably be more in favor of McCall vs. Makovsky, in reality. So Reis vs. Bagautinov would be my next choice. But all those things follow Wilson Reis vs. Demetrious Johnson for importance.

Other Fights: Perez vs. Gagnon, Benoit vs. Sasaki, Serrano vs. Sangcha-an, Herman vs. Lawlor, Pearson vs. Burkman, Hamilton vs. Harris, Sandoval vs. Nguyen, Graves vs. Till, Velickovic vs. Westcott, Brown vs. Franca

Bendo on McGregor vs. Diaz 2: If you box with the 209 ‘they’re going to have a good night’

It’s been a few years since Benson Henderson fought Nate Diaz, but given the onesided nature of their bout back at UFC on Fox 5 in 2012, it’s safe to say that Henderson still has a reasonable grasp on how you might go about winning that fight. It’s advice that might be especially helpful if your name happened to be Conor McGregor and you were potentially preparing to face Nate Diaz for the second time at UFC 202 on August 20th. I mean, just if you happened to be that guy…

Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz first faced off back at UFC 196, in a welterweight contest where McGregor started strong but faded going into the second round on his way to getting boxed up and choked out. McGregor and Diaz were supposed to rematch, as the headlining fight of UFC 200, until McGregor’s desire for fewer media duties caused the UFC to pull the plug on the fight. With the stars relatively back in alignment now, the two men are gearing up for the rematch. Fight Hub TV caught up with former Diaz opponent Benson Henderson at a recent Bellator media event, to get his thoughts on how McGregor might fare in the rematch:

“I think Nate’s pretty tough,” Henderson said. “I think if you box Nate, if you choose to do Nate’s game, I think he’s pretty good and he wins most of those fights. If you can change things up, if you can make Nate not box, but instead kickbox, or if you can make him not box, but instead wrestle, or if you can make him not box, but instead do something else then you’re better served there. But if you’re going to box Nate Diaz or Nick Diaz or any of those guys, they’re pretty good at boxing, they’re pretty good at what they do. So, I’d say if you do that they’re going to have a good night.”

Henderson himself is coming off a rough decision loss in his Bellator debut against welterweight champ Andrey Koreshkov. He’s now scheduled to face Patricio Freire in the main event of Bellator 160 on August 26th.

Dana White on estimated $360 million payday from UFC sale: ‘It bugged me out’

For most of us, the idea of ever getting even $100,000 in one lump sum would be pretty shocking. Sure, more money than that may change hands when you sell your house, but that’s usually just money that’s going right into another house. The idea of someone just cutting you a huge check is something most people just aren’t going to deal with. So, it’s a little hard to extrapolate out just what may have been going through Dana White’s head when the reality of the UFC sale hit him, and the reality that he’d be getting a check for $360 million.

White recently showed up on an episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live to talk about the UFC’s sale and how he made out from it, including details of his ownership stake at the time:

“I had 10, and then I sold a point to Abu Dhabi,” White explained, “when they bought a few years ago. And then we just sold this.”

When asked if that meant he made $360 million off the sale, White gave a somewhat evasive acknowledgement, saying that he “got a couple of bucks, yeah.” But he went on to confirm that he will be getting it all in one lump sum once the final details are done and dusted:

“So what they do is, when you do a deal like this it has to go through a bunch of regulation,” White said. “And once all the regulation is done and the thing finally closes, I guess you just get a check. Yeah, I guess that’s how it works.”

Kimmel pressed White on just what he’s going to do with all that money, and it sounds like even he has no idea, saying that after 20 years of work in the fight business, “I don’t know what else I need”

“I can tell you this,” White added, “and this is the honest to god truth, when this deal closed it bugged me out a little bit. I don’t know, it just… When you make that kind of money and… My partners, I’ve been with them for 20 years. So that’s all going to change, I have new partners now. And yeah, I kinda Howard Hughes’d myself up into a hotel room for a couple of days. Didn’t sleep or eat. It kind of freaked me out a little bit.”

Also while on the show, White confirmed at least one of the details of his new contract with the UFC, it’s for 5 years. So fans can at least expect him on board through 2020. I guess now it just remains to be seen if White will go out and get himself flight certified.

The MMA Prospectus: Namajunas, Grasso, Hawes & UFC 201

We’re back with another episode of Bloody Elbow’s scouting show, the MMA Prospectus. And this week we’re looking at a number of top flight prospects spread out over a number of promotions. In the UFC we’ve got Rose Namajunas (and Justin Scoggins who isn’t fighting). Over in Invicta Alexa Grasso, Jodie Esquibel, and Aspen Ladd are all looking to put on a show (among a host of other up and coming talents). And in the World Series of Fighting, Phil Hawes, Hakeem Dawodu, Marat Magomedov, and Lance Palmer all seem headed for big things. Throw in a Jungle Fight Card and a Shooto Brazil card and you’ve got a lot of potential top talent on offer.

As always if you enjoyed the show, give us a “Like” over on YouTube. And while you’re there, why not subscribe to MMANATIONDOTCOM? That way you’ll always be the first to get the latest BE shows, interviews, and analysis.

If you’re just in it for the audio, we’ve got you covered over on SoundCloud and iTunes.

Here’s our quick and dirty non-UFC prospect list this week:

Invicta
Grasso, Alexa vs. Esquibel, Jodie
Niedźwiedź, Agnieszka vs. Christine Stanley
Mizuki Inoue
Anderson, Megan
Simpson, Tessa
Ladd, Aspen

WSOF 32
Hawes, Phil
Dawodu, Hakeem vs. Magomedov, Marat
Lance Palmer

RFA
Clark, Josh vs. Giles, Trevin
Hernandez, Alexander

Gonzales, Brenda

Jungle Fight
Sousa, Herbeth
Duarte, Simone vs. Daimoni, Bianca
Quemuel Ottoni vs. Sidnei Souza
*Anderson Buzkia
Denis Silva vs. Rodrigo Praia
Leandro Soares
Diego Barbosa
Natalicio Filho

Shooto
Luciano Benicio
Daniel Virginio
Klinger Pinheiro vs. Eric dos Santos

The MMA Vivisection – UFC 201: Lawler vs. Woodley picks, odds, & analysis

It’s time for a slightly later than normal Vivi as Connor is out of town this week and Vic is stepping in at an hour more befitting his busy schedule. We’re here to talk about UFC 201 and a fight card with a mix of thrills, spills, and possibly just some mediocre fight. Oh, also Robbie Lawler is back in action. He’s taking on Tyron Woodley, which isn’t the most thrilling thing, but if the thought of Ruthless Bob doesn’t get you a little hot and bothered, then I don’t know what to tell you.

As always, if you enjoyed the video, give us a “Like” over on YouTube. And while your there, subscribe to MMANATIONDOTCOM. That way you’ll always be the first to get the latest shows, interviews, and analysis.

Find our audio over on SoundCloud and iTunes.

Here’s the fight card:

PPV Card

Robbie Lawler vs. Tyron Woodley – 1:09:39

Rose Namajunas vs. Karolina Kowalkiewicz – 1:01:57

Matt Brown vs. Jake Ellenberger – 57:11

Francisco Rivera vs. Érik Pérez – 50:11

Ian McCall vs. Justin Scoggins – 40:49

FS2 Card

Ed Herman vs. Nikita Krylov – 34:52

Ross Pearson vs. Jorge Masvidal – 27:08

Anthony Hamilton vs. Damian Grabowski – 23:00

Wilson Reis vs. Hector Sandoval – 17:16

Fight Pass Card

Michael Graves vs. Bojan Veličković – 11:21

Ryan Benoit vs. Fredy Serrano – 5:20

César Arzamendia vs. Damien Brown – 1:44

BJ Penn responds to White’s criticisms: ‘I’m just trying to prove myself’

A few days ago, UFC president Dana White got caught by TMZ and asked to name the fighter he thought had showed the most talent, but least motivation over the course of their careers. His answer, which was unsurprising to some, was BJ Penn. Penn has, for years been held up as the poster boy for pure natural gifts in the UFC. Combined with his spotty record of wins and losses, he’s a fighter many feel has underachieved.

In a recent interview with khon2 news, Penn responded to White’s comments. And while fans may have expected him to give the UFC’s president of operations a piece of his mind, the former lightweight champ was pretty staid in choosing his words:

“It’s flattering and it makes you sad at the same time,” Penn responded. “It’s strange for me to talk, because it’s like one side we’re talking about this Hall-of-Fame career guy, and on the other side, I’m just trying to prove myself.

“You got to talk about two different people, two different BJs at times. It’s his opinion and he’s entitled to that, and all I can do for my side is get in there and show them,” he added. “Maybe Dana White will look back and be like, ‘You know what? Look at him now. That guy really did reach his full potential.’”

Penn also spoke about his return to MMA and his recent training as he prepares to make his return to the cage, while serving a 6-month suspension for improper IV use. Penn had been scheduled to face Cole Miller at UFC 199 on June 4th, before being removed from the card by USADA. You can check out his full interview below.

Source: UFC sale to WME-IMG not closed yet

It sounds like fighters are going to have to wait just a little bit longer before hailing their new overlords and masters. At least that’s the latest update according to Dave Meltzer and the Wrestling Observer newsletter. The latest issue contains a lot of details about Brock Lesnar and the fallout from his UFC 200 return and subsequent drug test failure, but this particular note caught our eye.

It’s about the UFC sale, which seemed to be completed after the promotion sent around a memo to their staff and fighters announcing the transfer of the UFC to an investment group principally involving the talent agency WME-IMG. Dana White himself even commented saying that the promotion looked forward to taking MMA to “the next level” under their new ownership. But, while the sale is still expected to go through, it may not be actually 100% a reality just yet:

“Regarding the sale of UFC, while the announcement was made and it is certainly expected, it hasn’t officially closed. It’s much like the 2001 announcement that Fusient had purchased WCW, which everyone expected to happen, and then ended up falling through. Not to say I expect this to fall through, just noting it hasn’t closed yet. The word is it may close on 8/16 if everything comes through, but there will be a big changeover at that time.”

That should mean that the deal will be finalized in the next week or two, but it’s interesting to note that all the i’s may not yet be dotted and all the t’s may not yet be crossed. And until they are, who knows what could happen?

The MMA Vivisection – Invicta FC 18: Grasso vs. Esquibel picks & analysis

It’s Invicta time! The WMMA promotion is back with another night of fights this Friday, July 29th in Kansas City, Missouri. The fight card is a bit short on star power, but there are plenty of prospects and, as always, plenty of action expected. The headliner for the evening’s entertainment is a strawweight bout between top prospects Alexa Grasso and Jodie Esquibel. The featured co-main was supposed to be Irene Aldana vs. Taila Santos, but that bout was cancelled only a few days out, due to visa issues for Santos. Instead, Christine Stanley vs. Agnieszka Niedźwiedź has been bumped into the penultimate slot.

We’re here to breakdown all the fights, with our personal picks and insights. So as always, if you enjoyed the video, give us a “Like” on YouTube. And while you’re there, subscribe to MMANATIONDOTCOM. That way you’ll be the first to get all the latest Bloody Elbow shows, interviews and analysis.

If you’re looking for our show audio, you can find it over on SoundCloud and iTunes.

Here’s a look at the fight card as it stands now:

Fight Pass Card

Alexa Grasso vs. Jodie Esquibel

Christine Stanley vs. Agnieszka Niedźwiedź

Mizuki Inoue vs. Lynn Alvarez

Cindy Dandois vs. Jessamyn Duke

Megan Anderson vs. Peggy Morgan

Tessa Simpson vs. Simona Soukupova

Aspen Ladd vs. Jessica Hoy

Sijara Eubanks vs. Amber Lynn Orr

Invicta odds have not yet been posted, but you can check the latest lines over on OddsShark

Holly Holm: ‘I don’t want to be known for one great fight’

When a dominant champion loses, divisions often enter a stage of extreme flux. Think light heavyweight in the post-Liddell era, when Rampage, Griffin, Rashad, Shogun, and Machida all had very brief “eras.” Or, if you don’t remember back that far, middleweight today is a good example. Anderson Silva falls, and then we get Weidman, Rockhold, and now Bisping (of all people).

This rule seems exceptionally true of women’s bantamweight in the post-Rousey world. Holly Holm was queen for a day, before getting toppled by Miesha Tate, who has now been toppled by Amanda Nunes. Holm was looking to regain her spot as a top contender quickly, with a win over fast rising contender Valentina Shevchenko. The problem is, she didn’t win.

After her latest loss, the question for many has become: was Holm’s win over Ronda Rousey more abnormal than normal? Is she just another overnight champ who will fade away in comparison to the legacies of the GOATs? At the UFC on Fox 20 post-fight show on FS1, Holm made it clear that she’s working to make sure that’s not the case (transcript via MMAJunkie):

“Coming off a loss, all you want, I think, is just to get back in there,” Holm said. “But here we are again. I think that I just need to take whatever opportunity comes. I still feel that way. A lot of people are asking about taking a fight (instead of waiting to rematch Rousey), but I don’t want to be known for one great fight. I don’t want to be known for a few great fights. I want to be known for doing a lot. I don’t want to be content with one performance. I want to do more.”

Speaking to the loss itself, Holm didn’t pinpoint any specific flaw in her game, except perhaps her inability to pull the trigger when she needed to:

“I can’t say that I was surprised by anything – I just didn’t perform to the best of my ability and I didn’t leave it all out there,” Holm said. “I had more to give for sure. I knew it was a close fight, but I knew I had to do more. I don’t ever want it to be a close fight. I don’t ever want it to be like that.”

“I’m just angry, that’s all,” Holm continued. “Who wants two losses in a row? But what can you do? … It’s still onward up, it’s still forward.”

Obviously it’s still too early to know what might be next for the former women’s bantamweight champion, but for the moment it seems that the focus for her next bout needs to be all on making sure she uses all of her tools on fight night. Maybe then, she’ll find that string of “great fights” that she’s looking for.

Tweet of the Day: Wineland shows off unwrapped knuckles after KO win

Without fail, when Eddie Wineland fights, Joe Rogan will start in on his “Don’t teach your kids to fight like Eddie Wineland,” speech. Of course, what he means is, don’t fight with your hands down, chin up, back stiff, and entirely reliant on foot-speed and head movement to create defense. What he probably wasn’t thinking of was being a power puncher who doesn’t wrap his hands.

Still, if Wineland deserves any particular stylistic claim to infamy, perhaps there’s no more fitting one than that. The fighter recently posted a shot of his “wraps” shortly after KOing Frankie Saenz in the third round of their UFC on Fox 20 bout.

Fact: I hate hand wraps so the commission requires “something” Here are my wraps from last night! #hardhands pic.twitter.com/yFt4viJxWD

— Eddie Wineland (@EddieWineland) July 24, 2016

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As you can see, there’s about as little as possible covering his hands and knuckles, just enough to pass pre-fight inspections. After that, any injury prevention and/or KO power is all down to technique and bone density.

But hey, if it works, why fix it?