Archive for the ‘UFC’ Category

Former UFC Heavyweight champion and one of the most accomplished big men in MMA history, Josh Barnett, has been fielding offers from all comers since Strikeforce was killed off and sold for parts but none have really had the firepower to compete with UFC for Mr. Warmaster’s affection.

Just days ago, Barnett stated that signing with the UFC and fighting the top Heavyweights in the sport, was his goal — IF the offer was right, UFC’s first try wasn’t good enough but they have now ironed out the wrinkles and Barnett will re-debut in the Octagon later in the year.

Here’s the announcement from mmajunkie.com.

USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie.com today confirmed with promotion officials that former UFC heavyweight champion Barnett has signed a new multi-fight deal with the promotion and is expected to make his return to the octagon later this year. An official announcement is expected soon.

After news broke two weeks ago that Mark Hunt had an old case hanging over his head, the MMA community was collectively sighing, thinking “Not again…”

Those worries came to a guaranteed end today.

Mark Hunt will make the trip to Las Vegas to fight Junior Dos Santos in a possible title eliminator bout.  Hunt, who has fought the most talented fighters of any fighter in mixed martial arts history, will face possibly his fiercest challenge in recent time against Dos Santos, who is the former UFC Heavyweight Champion.

Hunt, if you will recall, not only won a K-1 Grand Prix, but was the man to put the brakes on Wanderlei Silva’s run in PrideFC.  On top of that, he has fought fighters such as Alistair Overeem and Fedor Emelinaneko as well as Hidehiko Yoshida and Josh Barnett.  With a 9-7 record, it looks quite deceiving, but Hunt is likely one of the most fearless, engaging fighters of our time.

Hunt meets Dos Santos at UFC 160, replacing Alistair Overeem in the co-main event of the evening.  The event takes place May 25th in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Rafael Dos Anjos was successful in his quest for a title bid Saturday evening, winning his fourth straight.

In a fight that saw both fighters go blow for blow, both Evan Dunham and Dos Anjos left it all in the octagon, leaving the judges to decide a 29-28 unanimous decision.  And while many fans were very unhappy with the decision, the hometown favorite did enough to impress the judges and take one away from Dunham.

Dos Anjos has been nothing short of impressive lately.  Since a loss to Gleison Tiebau, the Brazilian has retooled his game into one that sees him drag opponents into deep waters, showing much improved striking and cardio.  In his bout this evening, he again displayed that cardio which may have been the deciding factor in the third and final round.

Dos Anjos suffered a headbutt during the fight that opened up a cut over his right eye, but that did little to impair his ability.  Dos Anjos improves to 19-6 and is one step closer to a possible title eliminator fight in the very near future.

In a stunning revelation, Josh Thomson disclosed to BJPenn.com that Nathan Diaz failed to make weight for their recent fight.  Thomsons remarks come on the cusp of the Diaz camp making a huge to do about Georges St Pierre not making the approved weight with his older brother Nick during their championship fight.  In that contest, St Pierre was reportedly off slightly which caused a huge stir in the Diaz camp as GSP was reportedly a fractional margin over the contested weight, which then led athletic commission officials to round his weight to the nearest pound.

Thomson, who became the first fighter to ever stop the younger Diaz, looked phenomenal in their bout.  Landing headkicks nearly at will, he was able to stop Diaz and take claim as one of the top fighters in the UFC’s lightweight division. “I am going to say this directly to him; Nate, you didn’t make the weight, so how are you going to make the weight when we fight again? That’s the thing that’s discerning, we all let it slide because it was a huge fight, but you didn’t make the weight and you still lost. So unless you plan on fighting me a 170 then I’m not really interested. Like I said, I’m looking forward to the title shot, I’m looking forward to getting in there for the title. If I have to go through him again to do it, then so be it, maybe you should start watching what you eat, maybe you should start doing that to take care of yourself. You couldn’t make the weight the first time and that was something I was going to keep to myself, but you want to start talking trash? Saying all these things, knowing that I beat you fair and square, I guess next time we’ll take 20% of your purse if you don’t make weight.”

Shortly after the bout, Diaz went on the offensive, insisting on a rematch with Thomson.  Those comments caused Thomson to respond, which was likely something Diaz didn’t want. “It’s an issue I could have brought up and made a big deal about but I didn’t do it because that’s not the kind of person I am. I could have made a big fuss and taken it, rubbed some salt in the wound and taken 20% percent of your purse after you lost, but I didn’t That’s the kind of person I am, I moved on and I suggest you do the same thing.”

While both are two of the most exciting, talented fighters, they have fallen on rough times recently, granted they both are constantly fighting upper end competition.  Nate has stated that he plans to move back to 170lbs, a division that appeared to make him look much smaller than the opposition.  Whether or not Diaz follows through with this plan remains to be seen.  Diaz was dominated at 170 by Dong Hyun Kim and Rory McDonald before moving back to 155lb, where he looked better than he ever had.  Diaz now is riding a two-fight losing streak, losing to Benson Henderson and Josh Thomson.

Click the break for the entire interview via BJPenn.com

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