MMA FIGHTS

Posts Tagged ‘Greatest’

MMA's Greatest Moment (and Ben Henderson's Worst) Makes Its Way into the … VICE (blog) Another day, another step toward mainstream acceptance for the sport of mixed martial arts. Today we saw a trailer for a new series of soon-to-be-released Electronic Arts video games powered by something called the “EA Sports Ignite Engine"–games, the …

View full post on MMA -mobile – Google News

UFC heavyweight competitor Mark Hunt may be one win away from fighting for the UFC title.  Yes, the same Mark Hunt whom the UFC once tried to pay to just go away and never fight for the promotion at all.

Hunt’s road from unwanted asset to title-fight contender is a crazy story. On Thursday, UFC president Dana White spoke about the tale of Mark Hunt.

When the UFC bought PRIDE FC, Hunt was part of that deal. His record at the time was 5-3, and he was coming off consecutive first-round submission losses to Josh Barnett and Fedor Emelianenko.  As White recalled, Hunt was not a fighter the UFC wanted: “We said ‘here, we’ll just buy your PRIDE contract out and pay you not to fight.’”

According to White, Hunt replied, “‘I want to fight, I want to earn it’ and he comes in and does what he did.”

What Hunt did and is still doing is to win. Sure he lost his first fight with the UFC, falling to a Sean McCorkle armbar at UFC 119, but since that loss, it’s been all victories for Hunt.

Hunt has won four straight fights. Two of them earned him “Knockout of the Night” bonus money, including his spectacular walk-off knockout of Stefan Struve on the UFC on Fuel TV 8 fight card.

White was asked if he admired the stance and accomplishments that Hunt has run up since their conversation about the possible buyout.  The UFC president took it one step further than mere admiration: “I don’t admire it, I absolutely, positively and completely respect it. What he’s been able to accomplish is one of the greatest stories in sports right now.  It’s unbelievable.”

Will Hunt take another step in his unbelievable journey?  We’ll find out on Saturday night when he faces Junior dos Santos in the co-main event of UFC 160.

All quotes were obtained firsthand by Bleacher Report MMA.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

View full post on Bleacher Report – MMA

UFC heavyweight competitor Mark Hunt may be one win away from fighting for the UFC title.  Yes, the same Mark Hunt whom the UFC once tried to pay to just go away and never fight for the promotion at all.

Hunt’s road from unwanted asset to title-fight contender is a crazy story. On Thursday, UFC president Dana White spoke about the tale of Mark Hunt.

When the UFC bought PRIDE FC, Hunt was part of that deal. His record at the time was 5-3, and he was coming off consecutive first-round submission losses to Josh Barnett and Fedor Emelianenko.  As White recalled, Hunt was not a fighter the UFC wanted: “We said ‘here, we’ll just buy your PRIDE contract out and pay you not to fight.’”

According to White, Hunt replied, “‘I want to fight, I want to earn it’ and he comes in and does what he did.”

What Hunt did and is still doing is win. Sure he lost his first fight with the UFC, falling to a Sean McCorkle armbar at UFC 119, but since that loss, it’s been all victories for Hunt.

Hunt has won four straight fights. Two of them earned him “Knockout of the Night” bonus money, including his spectacular walk-off knockout of Stefan Struve on the UFC on Fuel TV 8 fight card.

White was asked if he admired the stance and accomplishments Hunt has run up since their conversation about the possible buyout.  The UFC president took it one step further than mere admiration: “I don’t admire it, I absolutely, positively and completely respect it. What he’s been able to accomplish is one of the greatest stories in sports right now.  It’s unbelievable.”

Will Hunt take another step in his unbelievable journey?  We’ll find out on Saturday night when he faces Junior dos Santos in the co-main event of UFC 160.

All quotes were obtained firsthand by Bleacher Report MMA.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

View full post on Bleacher Report – MMA

The day was April 7, 2007. The event: UFC 69. The place: Toyota Center in Houston, Texas.

The card was headlined by defending UFC welterweight champion, Georges St. Pierre, and the Ultimate Fighter 4 winner, Matt Serra.

Las Vegas had listed the champion as an 11-to-1 favorite over the New York native, a staggering disparity for a title fight. Yet, no one seemed to argue.

The Canadian, a physical Adonis, had mowed down top 10 welterweights with relative ease to earn a rematch with Matt Hughes, a fighter GSP lost to in 2004. The fight was far different from their first, as St. Pierre defeated Hughes by technical knockout to win the welterweight championship.

However, Serra, a self-proclaimed “five-foot, six-inch meatball,” had amassed a record of .500 since joining the promotion in 2001. In a last-ditch effort, Serra joined the Ultimate Fighter: Comeback, which collected fighters who had yet to earn a title shot, a proverbial land of lost toys. With a win against Chris Lytle in the finale, Serra was given the exciting, yet daunting opportunity to fight GSP for the welterweight crown.

So when fight night arrived, who could blame the journalists and fans for a lack of enthusiasm? It was, after all, a fight between a sophisticated thoroughbred and a dark horse.

Serra, who had claimed he would shock the world, entered the cage with the calm demeanor of a man who was sauntering through a dream. GSP, on the other hand, moved like a machine programmed to kill.

“It’s time!” Bruce Buffer, in announcing the fighters, seemed to sever the air with a sharp “Pierre!”

The fight was on. GSP and Serra touched gloves and imparted proper spacing to feel out one another. Sure nothing happened in the first minute, but all seemed to believe it was a matter of time.

And then something did happen.

Serra clipped GSP.

On wobbly legs, the champion attempted to evade Serra’s attack, but the cage only has so much space. GSP was hit again. Then again. And then GSP was on the ground. Serra stood over him raining down punches. The crowd was on their feet. Could the 15,269 in attendance, and millions viewing around the world, really be seeing what they were seeing?

Yes!

GSP tapped. And Serra celebrated with a patented one-handed cartwheel. Before he even landed, his team was piling into the octagon. The celebration wasn’t just for a title; it was about overcoming the impossible. The crowd and journalists knew that. It was easy to spot on their agape mouths and silent faces. All of them had just witnessed history.

And, now, after three years of inactivity, Serra announced his retirement, barring a potential fight at Madison Square Garden.

Now whenever a fighter retires, journalists and fans always ask “what is his/her legacy?” Well, in truth, most fighters will never earn a legacy. Most will retire as quietly as they fought, never to be heard from again. But, in some rare cases, a fighter will leave behind a mark, a story, a moment that no one in the MMA community will forget.

So, despite the fact Serra’s UFC career ended with a 7-7 record, and despite the fact he didn’t successfully defend his title, he will always be part of UFC history, as the fighter who pulled off the greatest upset. Because while we cheer the unstoppable athlete, we always relate with the underdog.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

View full post on Bleacher Report – MMA

Lowkick.com Mass Debate: The Greatest Of All Time Results LowKickMMA Following the HUGE debate about my GOAT poll I asked you, the members of Lowkick, to provide me with your take on who is the greatest of all time. The arguments came flooding in, and along with some staff quarrels, I've put together some of the coolest … and more »

View full post on MMA -mobile – Google News

In MMA‘s fleeting history, plenty of fighters have flourished from formulating and executing offensive-minded game plans.

Fighters with offense on their brains rarely need a round or two to warm up and they never need to be reminded by a referee to step up the action.

From the instant the bell sounds, these shark-like figures emerge from their corners with intentions of quickly getting a taste for blood, a pursuit they almost always accomplish.

Here are the 10 greatest offensive minds in MMA history.

Begin Slideshow

View full post on Bleacher Report – MMA

Bleacher Report

The 10 Greatest Offensive Minds in MMA History Bleacher Report In MMA's fleeting history, plenty of fighters have flourished from formulating and executing offensive-minded game plans. Fighters with offense on their brains rarely need a round or two to warm up and they never need reminded by a referee to step up … and more »

View full post on MMA -mobile – Google News

Jon Jones dispatched Sonnen rather quickly, but another challenger may prove a bit more difficult.

View full post on Yahoo! Sports – Mixed Martial Arts News

Jones may have a leg up on Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson when you consider his body of work at such a young age.

View full post on Yahoo! Sports – Mixed Martial Arts News

There will be some old-school fans among those reading that will scoff at what I’m about to say. 

They’ll issue a hearty laugh, or they’ll roll their eyes and then leave a comment about how I don’t know what I’m talking about. You’d think I’d try to avoid those kinds of scenarios, right? But I guess I’m a glutton for punishment, so here we go. 

If Benson Henderson beats Gilbert Melendez this weekend, he’ll be the greatest lightweight competitor in the history of mixed martial arts. 

Let that sink in for a moment, will you? It’s quite a thing to say. But it’s true, or at least I think it’s true. And I think that those of you who are gearing up to argue with me—you’re stretching out your fingers and shaking your heads and just can’t wait to put your hands on that keyboard in front of you so you can call me an idiot—I think that if you stopped to actually consider the statement for a moment instead of rushing wildly to defend B.J. Penn and his place in history, well, I think you’d probably agree with me.

In beating Melendez—and as much as I like and admire what Melendez has done outside of the auspices of the Octagon, I believe he’s going to lose to the current champion—Henderson will be the lightweight king. At the very least, he’ll tie Penn’s record for most consecutive wins in lightweight championship fights. Penn beat Joe Stevenson, Sean Sherk, Kenny Florian and Diego Sanchez in title fights, while Henderson bested Frankie Edgar two times, followed by Nate Diaz. 

Penn beat Stevenson to capture the lightweight title. After losing to Penn, Stevenson went on to lose 8 of his next 11 bouts. As nice as Joe Stevenson is—and you won’t find many people who will say a bad word about him—he wasn’t exactly a top lightweight fighter even when competing for the belt. He got his place in the title fight opposite Penn simply because there were no other outstanding candidates. Right place, right time. 

Sherk, Florian and Sanchez were all formidable opponents. They were the best available for Penn at the time. But I have to believe, as I have for over a year now, that beating Frankie Edgar two times means so much more, especially when you consider Edgar’s battles with Gray Maynard. “The Answer” was tested through blood and fire and came out with his hand raised on the other side. For Henderson to beat that man, and to (in my eyes) do it convincingly, is an impressive thing.

Henderson also went out in the cage last December and utterly dismantled Nate Diaz. You’ll hear folks tell you now that Diaz never deserved to be in the cage anyway, which wasn’t true and never will be. Diaz was completely deserving; wins over Takanori Gomi, Donald Cerrone and Jim Miller were enough to ensure that he was a credible title challenger. And Diaz didn’t just beat those guys, he utterly annihilated them. He made them look hapless. If that isn’t the hallmark of someone who deserves to fight for the title, well, I don’t know what you’re looking for. 

So yes, Diaz was a deserving title challenger, and Henderson still crushed him. He made it look easy, scoring 50-45 on two judging scorecards and even a 50-43 on a single card. So great was Henderson’s beatdown of Diaz that one judge gave him at least two 10-8 rounds, and this happened in an era when 10-8 scores are much more rare than they should be. 

Next on the docket is Melendez, a deserving challenger if there ever was one. Let’s nip that one in the bud right now: Melendez has seven wins in a row and he’s coming over to the UFC from Zuffa’s old top competitor. You can talk all you want about Melendez and his quality of opposition all you want, but the simple fact is that a champion vs. champion fight is intriguing as hell, especially on free television. I mean, we’re going to see this fight on network television. I’m getting excited just typing this up. 

Henderson hasn’t cleaned out his division yet. Far from it. You’ve still got Gray Maynard and T.J. Grant hovering around the outside edges of title contention, and there are plenty of challengers like Khabib Nurmagomedov, Pat Healy and even Jamie Varner working their way up the ranks. 

Apologies to Mr. Penn, who was a fantastic competitor for his time and will be one of the UFC’s enduring superstars from the early days; he was on a different plane from all other lightweights when he competed with the best.

But Henderson is thriving in the deepest lightweight division the UFC has ever known, and he’s establishing himself as the baddest bully in a playground absolutely filled to the brim with savages. 

By beating Melendez—particularly in dominant fashion—Henderson will establish himself as the absolute greatest lightweight of all time.

And if I were you, I’d make sure to tune in on Saturday night, because you’ll be watching history in the making. 

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

View full post on Bleacher Report – MMA