"Ruthless" Robbie Lawler at B/R
The day "Ruthless" Robbie Lawler was the B/R office enforcer.
Lawler defends his belt tonight against "The Natural Born Killer" Carlos Condit at UFC 195.
The day "Ruthless" Robbie Lawler was the B/R office enforcer.
Lawler defends his belt tonight against "The Natural Born Killer" Carlos Condit at UFC 195.
Brian "T-City" Ortega is showing how jiu-jitsu should be used in MMA. Training out of the Gracie Jiu-Jitsu academy in Torrance, California, Ortega is a black belt under Rener and Ryron Gracie.
At UFC 195, Ortega faced Diego Brandao, a fellow jiu-jitsu black belt and an Ultimate Fighter Champion. Down 20-18 after two rounds, Ortega needed a finish. Starting in front headlock position, Ortega chained a beautiful set of transitions together: d'arce choke, to mount, to triangle.
Sunday saw the greatest career comeback in MMA history. The original UFC Bantamweight Champion, Dominick Cruz, recaptured his title over T.J. Dillashaw. Cruz had only fought one minute and one second in the UFC Octagon in the last four years because of three knee surgeries (all torn ACLs) and a torn groin. He also came into the fight with an undisclosed foot injury.
Cruz won a close and very technical match by split decision. Many analysts had Dillashaw winning the fight. Several commentators have already called for an immediate rematch. While the last match was fun and had decent buildup, there isn't an need for Cruz and Dillashaw to rematch right away.
Championship rematches have been overdone the last few years.
Saturday's UFC on Fox 18 (officially UFC Fight Night: Johnson vs. Bader) saw the derailment of the UFC hype train for 19-year-old prospect "Super" Sage Northcutt. UFC President Dana White signed Northcutt filming his reality Youtube series Looking for a Fight.
Northcutt set himself apart from the pack with his Abercrombie model looks, flashy style and humble aw-shucks personality in front of the camera. His UFC 192 pre-scrum video was picked by none-MMA sites like break.com. Besides being good on camera, Sage is also a karate champion, Brazilian jiu-jitsu purple belt and has seven professional MMA wins (all finishes and coming in 2-0 in UFC).
Despite all the weather delays getting out of San Francisco, I made it UFC 196 last week at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. This turned out to be one of the most talked-about MMA events in mainstream sports media. The main card was actually pretty boring, with three straight decisions to start off the card on pay-per-view. Fortunately, the top two fights saved the card, each ending in dramatic finishes.
Here are my official bets UFC on FOX 19: Evans vs. Teixeira:
Here are my official bets UFC 197: Jones vs. Saint Preux:
BREAKING: Jon Jones got popped and is out of UFC 200. You suck, Jon Jones.
On to the picks. UFC Fight Night 90 takes in at the MGM Grand Garden Arena and will be streamed live on UFC Fight Pass.