credit www.ufc.com
Welcome to this week’s edition of “All Five Rounds”, our weekly look at the world of mixed martial arts and the fighters who have recently been making headlines within the sport.
With all of the recent fight announcements, several of the UFC’s upcoming events have begun to take shape. It’s been a busy summer and based upon the many developments within the UFC during the past couple of weeks, it looks as though it will be no different heading into the fall and winter of 2013..
Earlier this month, UFC legends and “The Ultimate Fighter” season one finalists Forrest Griffin and Stefan Bonnar, became just the 10th and 11th fighters to be inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame. It’s no secret that the pair of light heavyweights played an important role in the development of not only the UFC, but the entire sport of professional MMA. In the finale of the UFC’s first season of “T.U.F.”, the two widely unknown 205- pounders fought a three-round war that left Forrest Griffin the winner.. While the true impact of the fight was somewhat unknown at the time, fight fans everywhere saw the bout as a sign of the sports true potential and its popularity has continued to grow ever since.
Next up for the sport’s premier promotion is “UFC on Fox 8″, which is scheduled for July 27th and headlined by a flyweight title fight between the current UFC Flyweight Champion Demetrious Johnson (17-2-1), and challenger John Moraga (13-1-0).
Silva-Weidman Rematch Date Set
Despite his initial disinterest in a rematch, former UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva has agreed to once again compete for his former belt and will attempt to avenge his knockout-loss to current champ Chris Weidman on December 28, 2013 at UFC 168.
Also on the card, UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Ronda Rousey [7-0-0], will make her second title defense in a rematch with Miesha Tate.[13-4-1]. Originally scheduled as the main event for UFC 168, the bout will now be featured as the co-main event and will be Rousey’s first trip to the octagon since defeating Liz Carmouche earlier this year.
Tate will be replacing Cat Zingano [8-0-0], who was forced to pull out of the December 28th fight against Rousey after suffering an injury.
It only took a week for Anderson Silva to change his mind and according to UFC President Dana White, both Weidman and Silva have already signed their bout agreements.
Since the loss, rumors regarding the July 6th title fight and a possible “fix” have been relentless, despite Silva himself having openly admitted to “getting caught” unexpectedly in the second-round by a devastaing punch that actually left the world’s greatest MMA fighter unconscious for the first time in his legendary career.
Sonnen Still in the Spotlight
Not long after his knockout-loss to UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones, middleweight-light heavyweight contender Chael Sonnen (28-13-1), hinted at the possibility of retirement without a clear, defined path to another title shot.
As we now know, Sonnen will face MMA legend and former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua (21-7-0), on August 17th at the premier event for “UFC on Fox Sports One” in Boston, rather than retire.
Since his last trip to the octagon this past April, Sonnen has made headlines on several occasions, most recently due to a “beef” with NBA superstar Lebron James. According to Sonnen, James approached his former fiancée who is now Sonnen’s wife, and made an inappropriate comment of a somewhat sexual nature earlier this year. Recently, Sonnen threatened to “beat up” James as soon as the opportunity presented itself and in typical Sonnen-fashion, the former contender also stated that the “beating” would be videotaped and released on the internet. Fortunately for both James and the Miami Heat, the two have set their differences aside after James apparently apologized to Sonnen.
Also on the “UFC on Fox Sports One” main card, heavyweights Alistair Overeem (36-12-1), and Travis Browne (14-1-1) will square off, along with a battle between 135-pound contenders Urijah Faber (28-6-0) and Yuri Alcantara (27-4-0).
Other noteable matchups include fan favorite and possible future featherweight contender Conor McGregor [13-2-0], facing Max Holloway [7-2-0] and veteran welterweights Matt Brown [19-11-0] taking on Mike Pyle [25-8-1] in what could be an interesting bout.
Pettis To Get Lightweight Title Shot in Hometown
After a number of potential title fight scenarios were explored in order to give one of the UFC’s most exciting fighters, Anthony Pettis (16-2), a shot at the belt as soon as possible, it was decided that rather than wait for a rematch with current UFC Lightweight Champion Benson Henderson (18-2-0), Pettis would instead challenge UFC Featherweight Champion José Aldo in Brazil on August 3rd.
Unfortunately for Pettis, a knee injury caused the Milwaukee native to withdraw from the featherweight bout against Aldo and once again derailed his (Pettis) plans for a UFC championship. With TJ Grant’s concussion issues however, the UFC was forced to reconsider Henderson’s next opponent and the progress that Pettis has made with his knee injury, coupled with the additional 28 days of rest that he would receive (August 3-August 28), if he were to fight Henderson at the end of the month instead of facing Aldo at the beggining of August, was more than enough for the UFC to make a decision.
Initially, lightweight contenders Gray Maynard and TJ Grant fought to decide who would be the division’s next challenger to Henderson’s crown with Grant emerging victorious. Immediately following the win however, Pettis began to question Grant’s ability to not only defeat Henderson, but also his (Grant’s) potential (or lack thereof), to give the fans and exciting fight in Pettis’s hometown of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
In December of 2010, Pettis took the W EC Lightweight Championship from Benson Henderson in a five-round, unanimous decision victory and in doing so, became the final lightweight champion in the promotion’s history prior to the UFC.merger.
José Aldo (22-1-0), will now defend his UFC Featherweight Championship belt against Chan Sung Jung (13-3-0) on the August 3rd card in Brazil.
MacDonald-Ellenberger Set For July 27
While the main event for the upcoming “UFC on Fox 8″ fight card between UFC Flyweight Champion Demetrious Johnson and John Moraga has gotten fans intrigued, it’s the welterweight bout between top contenders Rory MacDonald (14-1-0) and Jake Ellenberger (29-6-0), that is generating the most buzz in the days leading up to the fight.
Set for July 27th, it’s widely believed that the winner of the Macdonald-Ellenberger bout could be next in line to challenge for the UFC Welterweight Championship, which is currently held by future Hall of Famer George St. Pierre.
After losing to welterweight contender Carlos Condit in June of 2010, MacDonald quickly bounced back with four-straight wins that included victories over Nate Diaz, Mike Pyle, Che Mills, and most recently, BJ Penn in December of 2012. Largely considered one of the potential welterweights who may “carry the torch” after GSP’s inevitable departure, MacDonald looked extremely impressive during his victory over an aging BJ Penn during his last trip to the octagon.
On the other hand, Jake Ellenberger has won eight of his last nine fights overall, losing only to welterweight Martin Kampmann in June of 2012 during that span. A former United States Marine with a university education, Ellenberger has also lost to Carlos Condit in the past and a win over MacDonald may be the biggest of his career.
Originally, neither MacDonald nor Ellenberger harbored any amount of dislike towards each other but after a recent “twitter war” between the two, fight fans everywhere have focused their attention on the bout that is already being considered as the favorite for either “knockout of the night” or “fight of the night”, on the July 27th card.
Current welterweight champ Georges St. Pierre, is scheduled to defend his title this November against the hard-hitting and always dangerous, Johnny Hendricks.