The 3 Headed Monster of Featherweight Contenders

Swanson (left) and Lamas (right) are two
 of the best featherweights in the world.

Those of you who follow my blog know that I think Jose Aldo is the pound for pound best fighter on the planet today.  Better than Silva, GSP, Jones, and the rest of the MMA world.  Recently Anthony Pettis won the UFC Lightweight Championship and called out Jose Aldo to a fight for the 145 lb belt.  Although Dana White and many fight fans around the world want to see that fight, the time is not now.  Although it is a gamble to see if both Aldo and Pettis can keep winning, I think that fight generates more interest down the road.

As for the lightweight division, I think TJ Grant absolutely deserves the title shot he earned with a 1st round KO of Gray Maynard.  Following that fight, Grant/Pettis winner has another contender to fight.  Gilbert Melendez is fighting Diego Sanchez.  I am actually dismissing Sanchez as a real threat to Melendez and assuming Gil will win that fight.  Gilbert Melendez should take on the winner of Nurmagomedov vs Pat Healy in a top contender fight.  Melendez vs Healy (or Nurmagomedov) winner should fight the winner of Grant vs Pettis.  As you can see, Pettis is busy enough with legit contenders at 155.  Don't forget that Henderson, Thompson, or someone else could rise to prominence by then as well.

As for Jose Aldo, the list of contenders at featherweight continues to grow.  He recently defended his belt against Chan Sung Jung and Frankie Edgar.  Even with those two big wins, there are still 3 very relevant contenders.  Chad Mendes is coming off of a huge KO of Clay Guida to follow up a streak of 3 consecutive first round knockouts.  He lost to Aldo once but is an entirely different fighter now.  Duane Ludwig has turned Mendes and all the other Team Alpha Male guys into animals.  The case for Chad Mendes to get the next title shot is very strong after his win over Guida, but is he the best case?

I would argue that Ricardo Lamas should have received the UFC 163 title shot over Chan Sung Jung.  They were originally scheduled to be in a top contender battle before Pettis fell off the card.  Jung, not Lamas got the call for the title shot.  Lamas has a 4 fight win streak at featherweight and has a 4-0 UFC record.  He has wins over Matt Grice, Cub Swanson, Hatsu Hioki, and Erik Koch.  His finishes of Koch and Grice were violent finishes.  His submission of Swanson was crafty, considering that he is a BJJ black belt.  He is also a stylistic challenge to Jose Aldo with his powerful wrestling and dangerous ground and pound.  He is the 2nd of 3 worthy featherweight candidates to fight Aldo next.

Lastly, is Cub Swanson.  He last lost to Ricardo Lamas by submission in late 2011.  Since that fight he is 5-0 with 4 finishes, all in the UFC's featherweight division.  He is a perfect match with Gregg Jackson and has been a machine since his loss to Lamas.  It could be argued that Cub has jumped in front of Lamas in line for a title shot because Lamas only has 2 wins since the Swanson fight, and Swanson has 5 wins since that loss.  Being inactive could cost Lamas since Cub Swanson and Chad Mendes are two of the most active guys in the UFC.  Swanson vs Aldo would be a rematch of a WEC match that lasted only 8 seconds.

So who is the winner?  The inactive guy on a 4 fight winning streak that has never faced Aldo?  Or the two guys on 4 and 5 fight winning streaks that show no signs of slowing down, but have lost to Aldo in the past?  Or is Pettis the right man to get the next title shot at 145?

My answer is clear.  As I said, Anthony Pettis is busy at 155.  If he keeps winning and Aldo also keeps winning, the Pettis/Aldo superfight would generate as much interest as a Silva vs GSP or Silva vs Jones.  If they keep winning it could mean the Pettis/Aldo fight would set PPV records.  Save that fight for down the road, it is worth the gamble.

Chad Mendes and Ricardo Lamas are on 4 fight winning streaks.  Cub has won 5 straight.  Cub Swanson recently defeated the incredibly talented Dustin Poirier and finished the German superstar Dennis Siver.  Cub Swanson should get the next title shot at 145.  Mendes and Lamas should fight in a "Fight Night" main event to determine the next top contender.  The winner of Mendes/Lamas should take on the winner of Swanson/Aldo.  In the meantime, look for superstars like Frankie Edgar, Clay Guida, Dennis Siver, Dustin Poirier, Erik Koch, or even Conor McGregor to rise to prominence and get their deserved chance to fight for the title.  145 is now one of the deepest divisions in the sport, let the best man win.

On a side note, if Aldo does defeat at least 2 of the 4 possible matchups (Lamas, Swanson, Mendes, or Pettis), then he is without a doubt the pound for pound king.  Regardless of who GSP, Jones, Silva, or even Weidman beat.

UFC Fight Night 28: Teixeira vs Bader

Glover Teixeira and his hero Mike Tyson.

For the 3rd time in 8 days, the UFC is putting on a show.  Although not the deepest card, UFC Fight Night 28 has a trio of main event level fights.  Rather than bore you with a typical array of picks, I am going to go into depth on the three big bouts.

Joe Benavidez vs DJ was a battle for the first ever flyweight champion in the UFC.  DJ won that fight and has since defended his belt against both John Dodson and John Moraga.  Demetrious Johnson is one heck of a champ at 125.  However, Joe Benavidez still wants a piece.  He has looked incredible by winning a decision over Ian McCall and a body knockout of Darren Uyenoyama.  His opponent in Brazil is a hometown favorite, Jussier Formiga.  He lost a top contender bout to John Dodson but bounced back with a great win over Chris Cariaso.  Formiga with a win over Benavidez would rocket to the top of the division.  However, I believe Joe Benavidez will win impressively yet again and get that rematch with DJ.  Joe Benavidez with another TKO, in the 3rd round.

The co-main event features a hugely important middleweight bout between Yushin Okami and Jacare Souza.  Okami has been on a roll with wins over Belcher and Lombard.  His wrestling is smothering and he is a tough man to dictate the pace against.  He is just a suffocating wrestler that is powerful enough to control the fight.  Jacare Souza is one of the best submission artists in the game and has an ever improving striking game.  He was 7-1 in Strikeforce and 1-0 in the UFC with a very controversial loss to Luke Rockhold.  I rarely side against Yushin Okami, but Jacare is another level of fighter.  I do not know if Okami will be submitted, but I think he is dominated in the striking game as well as beaten in the grappling game.  Souza via decision on his way to his signature gator crawl.

Glover Teixeira is getting a lot of hype for someone who is only 4-0 in the UFC.  He has looked dominant in each of those 4 fights though including a win over former champ Rampage Jackson.  He is in line to take on the winner of Jones vs Gustafsson with an impressive win over Ryan Bader.  Ryan Bader is a guy that takes a lot of heat because he was submitted by Tito Ortiz.  If you look at his record, his only UFC losses are to current champ Jon Jones, and former champions Tito Ortiz and Lyoto Machida.  He has a win over former champion Rampage Jackson as well as a very impressive win over tough competitor Vladimir Matyushenko.  I think he has a good chance to win this fight. He is very under rated and I think it is ridiculous how big of a favorite Glover is.  That said, Glover Teixeira will most likely win.  I like Glover to win a decision, but not be overly impressive.  Glover is good, but is he that killer finisher we want him to be?  We will see on Wednesday night!  Glover Teixeira via 5 round decision win.

Updated Fighter Rankings: (9-1-13)

Jose Aldo (left) and Renan Barao (right)
 are training partners and 2 of the top
10 best fighters on the planet today.

For the second month in a row, a new champion has been crowned.  It is kind of funny that it was Benson Henderson, since I dropped him out of the pound for pound rankings to make room for Chris Weidman, and now he is definitely out.  Or is he??  I am now doing the top 20 instead of top 10 because so many divisions have a bunch of fighters on the cusp of the top 10.  It is almost as if they move in with a win, then fall out when another guy wins.  So top 20 it is! (except for flyweight)

Men's Pound for Pound:

1. Jose Aldo (1)
2. Jon Jones (2)
3. Georges St. Pierre (3)
4. Anderson Silva (4)
5. Chris Weidman (5)
6. Demetrious Johnson (6)
7. Dominick Cruz (7)
8. Cain Velasquez (8)
9. Renan Barao (10)
10. Anthony Pettis (NR)
11. Junior Dos Santos (NR)
12. Urijah Faber (NR)
13. Vitor Belfort (NR)
14. Johny Hendricks (NR)
15. Chad Mendes (NR)
16. Joe Benavidez (NR)
17. Michael McDonald (NR)
18. Benson Henderson (NR)
19. Frankie Edgar (NR)
20. Gilbert Melendez (NR)

Heavyweight:

1. Cain Velasquez (1)
2. Junior Dos Santos (2)
3. Travis Browne (5)
4. Fabricio Werdum (3)
5. Daniel Cormier (4)
6. Mark Hunt (6)
7. Stipe Miocic (7)
8. Josh Barnett (NR)
9.  Roy Nelson (9)
10. Antonio Silva (10)
11. Stefan Struve (NR)
12. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (NR)
13. Frank Mir (8)
14. Alistair Overeem (NR)
15. Gabriel Gonzaga (NR)
16. Ben Rothwell (NR)
17. Shawn Jordan (NR)
18. Alexander Volkov (NR)
19. Cheick Kongo (NR)
20. Soa Palelei (NR)

Light Heavywight:

1. Jon Jones (1)
2. Alexander Gustafsson (3)
3. Glover Teixeira (4)
4. Phil Davis (5)
5. Lyoto Machida (2)
6. Rashad Evans (6)
7. Dan Henderson (7)
8. Gegard Mousasi (9)
9. Ryan Bader (10)
10. Chael Sonnen (NR)
11. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (NR)
12. Shogun Rua (8)
13. Emanuel Newton (NR)
14. Muhammed Lawal (NR)
15. Attila Vegh (NR)
16. Rampage Jackson (NR)
17. Thiago Silva (NR)
18. James Te-Huna (NR)
19. Ryan Jimmo (NR)
20. Rafael Cavalcante (NR)

Middleweight:

1. Chris Weidman (1)
2. Anderson Silva (2)
3. Vitor Belfort (3)
4. Yushin Okami (4)
5. Ronaldo Souza (5)
6. Mark Munoz (6)
7. Michael Bisping (7)
8. Costa Philippou (8)
9. Luke Rockhold (9)
10. Tim Boetsch (10)
11. Tim Kennedy (NR)
12. Cung Le (NR)
13. Alexander Shlemenko (NR)
14. Thales Leites (NR)
15. Alan Belcher (NR)
16. Rich Franklin (NR)
17. Tom Watson (NR)
18. Yoel Romero (NR)
19. Francis Carmont (NR)
20. Lorenz Larkin (NR)

Welterwight:

1. Georges St. Pierre (1)
2. Johny Hendricks (2)
3. Rory Macdonald (3)
4. Carlos Condit (5)
5. Matt Brown (7)
6. Demian Maia (4)
7. Dong Hyun Kim (6)
8. Jake Ellenberger (8)
9. Robbie Lawler (9)
10. Ben Askren (NR)
11. Jake Shields (NR)
12. Josh Burkman (NR)
13. Josh Koscheck (NR)
14. Martin Kampmann (10)
15. Nick Diaz (NR)
16. Tarec Saffiedine (NR)
17. Nate Marquardt (NR)
18. Jon Fitch (NR)
19. Tyrone Woodley (NR)
20. Erick Silva (NR)

Lightweight:

1. Anthony Pettis (4)
2. TJ Grant (2)
3. Gilbert Melendez (3)
4. Michael Chandler (5)
5. Benson Henderson (1)
6. Josh Thomson (6)
7. Pat Healy (7)
8. Gray Maynard (8)
9. Khabib Nurmagomedov (9)
10. Rafael dos Anjos (NR)
11. Eddie Alvarez (NR)
12. Jim Miller (NR)
13. Nate Diaz (NR)
14. Donald Cerrone (10)
15. Shinya Aoki (NR)
16. Melvin Guillard (NR)
17. Edson Barboza (NR)
18. Jorge Masvidal (NR)
19. Joe Lauzon (NR)
20. Tatsuya Kawajiri (NR)

Featherweight:

1. Jose Aldo (1)
2. Chad Mendes (3)
3. Cub Swanson (2)
4. Ricardo Lamas (4)
5. Frankie Edgar (6)
6. Dustin Poirier (9)
7. Pat Curran (7)
8. Conor McGregor (10)
9. Chan Sung Jung (5)
10. Erik Koch (8)
11. Dennis Siver (NR)
12. Nik Lentz
13. Darren Elkins (NR)
14. Clay Guida (NR)
15. Hatsu Hioki (NR)
16. Charles Oliveira (NR)
17. Paticio Freire (NR)
18. Manvel Gamburyan (NR)
19. Steven Siler (NR)
20. Mike Brown (NR)

Bantamweight:

1. Dominick Cruz (1)
2. Renan Barao (2)
3. Urijah Faber (3)
4. Michael McDonald (6)
5. Eddie Wineland (4)
6. Rafael Assuncao (7)
7. Brad Pickett (5)
8. T.J. Dillashaw (8)
9. Scott Jorgensen (9)
10. George Roop (10)
11. Bibiano Fernandes (NR)
12. Yuri Alcantara (NR)
13. Mike Easton (NR)
14. Marlon Moraes (NR)
15. Takeya Mizugaki (NR)
16. Tyson Nam (NR)
17. Eduardo Dantas (NR)
18. Erik Perez (NR)
19. Joe Warren (NR)
20. Bryan Caraway (NR)

Flyweight:

1. Demetrious Johnson (1)
2. Joe Benavidez (2)
3. John Dodson (3)
4. Jussier Formiga (4)
5. John Moraga (5)
6. Darrel Montague (6)
7. John Lineker (9)
8. Ian McCall (7)
9. Tim Elliot (NR)
10. Louis Gaudinot (8)

Women's Pound for Pound:

1. Ronda Rousey (1)
2. Cristiane Santos (2)
3. Sara McMann (3)
4. Cat Zingano (4)
5. Jessica Aguilar (5)
6. Miesha Tate (6)
7. Alexis Davis (7)
8. Sarah Kaufman (8)
9. Liz Carmouche (9)
10. Marloes Coenen(10)
11. Michelle Waterson (NR)
12. Jessica Eye (NR)
13. Jessica Penne (NR)
14. Amanda Nunes (NR)
15. Carla Esparza (NR)
16. Zoila Gurgel (NR)
17. Megumi Fujii (NR)
18. Rosi Sexton (NR)
19. Shayna Baszler (NR)
20. Tara LaRosa (NR)

UFC 164 Recap

Pettis has now captured the WEC
and UFC belt from Benson Henderson.

It was early into my blogging career and the calender year that I said "Champions Beware."  I thought there was a lot of tough contenders and not weak, but vulnerable champions.  From DJ getting rocked twice by Dodson, to Rousey almost being submitted by Carmouche, I saw weakness in the UFC's best.  Anthony Pettis followed up Chris Weidman's act with an emphatic statement in his title win.  He did not simply win a title fight, he disposed of the champion early in a fight he controlled from start to finish.  Here is my take on that fight and the rest of UFC 164's bouts.

Facebook:

• Magnus Cedenblad had an awesome guillotine choke of Jared Hamman in the first round of their fight.  This would have won SOTN on most cards, but the main event submission eclipsed this one.
• Al Iaquinta had a tough time following his TUF Live finale loss but he finally returned to the Octagon in spectacular fashion.  Props to Ryan Couture for being tough and not being finished by Al, but boy did he take a beating.  Al Iaquinta's takedown defense and barrage of punches to both the body and head makes him look like a monster going forward.
• Soa Palelei and Nikita Krylov put on the most boring fight of the night.  The both gasses within a minute of the fight starting.  Soa was eventually able to muster up just enough to finish Krylov in the 3rd.

FS1:

• Chico Camus had the definition of a hard fought win over Kyung Ho Kang.  Kang used his powerful wrestling to control most of the fight but Camus was effective enough when the fight was standing to win.  His 3rd round upkick sealed the final round for him, as well as the fight.  Good for Camus to get a huge win at home.
• While there is NO WAY this fight should have won FOTN over Porier/Koch, I do have to say it was one hell of an entertaining bout.  Lim Hyun-Gyu and Pascal Krauss when toe to toe and swung for the fences.  Lim looked gigantic at welterweight and he eventually tagged Krauss with a shot that left him beyond jelly legged.  A couple punches and knees and the fight was over.  Great win for Lim and Krauss has regained my respect as a fighter as well.
• Tim Elliot absolutely thrashed Louis Gaudinot from the beginning of this fight to the final bell.  Elliot looked sloppy and crazy, but his lack of technique proved to be successful.  He threw very unorthodox strikes but they landed.  On the ground he was more active than Chael Sonnen and just never let Gaudinot breathe.  He also is huge for the flyweight division and he made a statement in this win.  Look for him to get a big name in his next fight.
• I actually did not get a chance to see any of the Tibau vs Varner fight but I think I am glad I didn't.  I am a big Varner fan but unfortunately he came out on the wrong side of a split decision.  Tibau apparently won with his takedowns.  Good for Tibau who might actually make a main card in his next fight.  Despite the vast experience of both Tibau and Varner, they are still under 30 and have bright futures ahead of them.

PPV:

• I always elude to the 10 fights you cannot miss.  Poirier and Koch lived up to the #3 spot I gave it.  I believe this was the fight of the night as well as a very important fight.  Round 1 very well could have been the Round of the Year.  It started out with a striking match that Poirier was winning before Koch trapped him in a deep triangle choke.  I have no clue how Dustin didn't go to sleep when Koch tightened it up.  After he escaped he caught Koch with a hook that rocked him.  Poirier threw nasty ground and pound before eventually putting Koch in his signature d'arce choke.  Koch looked ready to tap until he heard the 10 second warning.  He held on for his life until the end of the round saved his consciousness.  Round of the Year easily!  I would argue it was more Leonard Garcia and Dustin Poirier that made Chan Sung Jung exciting rather than the other way around.  Take nothing away from Jung, but I'd rather watch a Poirier fight because he is more exciting.  Even in fights he wins easily, he gets d'arce chokes and mounted armbar/triangle combo chokes.  Dude is talented and exciting.  Back to the fight, the second round was largely dominated by Dustin Poirier in both the standup and ground game.  Koch mounted a comeback in the third round but could not finish Poirier.  He even had his back and put a neck crank in but Dustin put his finger up waving that he was fine.  The hugged it out in appreciation of each other's talents making it an excellent fight.  Koch lost the decision despite coming so close to a first round finish and dominating the third.  Both guys are just 24 and will be back for more.
• Brandon Vera looked very good in his return to heavyweight.  He picked apart Ben Rothwell for two rounds before Rothwell found his groove.  He did some crazy head motions showing he still had something left in the gas tank in the third round.  The crowd went crazy and Vera looked puzzled.  Rothwell threw some hooks, uppercuts, and knees until he finally finished off Vera.  Rothwell called out Travis Browne wisely, but Browne is far too high in the heavyweight standings to even think about Rothwell at this point.
• Clay Guida is a tough guy and a dominant wrestler.  If he wants to take you down, he will.  Unless you are Chad Mendes.  Mendes took Guida down when he wanted.  His sprawls were so good they almost worked as takedowns.  Guida was outmatched in the wrestling game like I have never seen before.  Oh and Guida has been finished before, but never by punches.  Again, insert Chad Mendes.  It took until the 3rd round, but Chad Mendes threw a nasty combo against the cage that had the ref stepping in and pulling Mendes off of Clay.  Mendes needed only 3:34 seconds to dispose of his last 3 opponents.  So Clay Guida, the man who had never been stopped due to punches, seemed like a bad matchup for Chad.  Mendes looked unbelievable in overcoming this threat to his climb back into title contention.  More to come about the status of the 145 lb division coming soon.
• Josh Barnett made a triumphant return to the Octagon when he stopped Frank Mir in the first round.  While I agree Mir could have taken more damage before the ref jumped in, I think the fight was over. Barnett looked outstanding and Mir continues to struggle when people put him against the fence.  In his last 4 losses, 3 of those guys won the fight on the fence.  Carwin was the first and since then Daniel Cormier and Barnett have used that blueprint.
• It was one of the most spectacular title fights of all time.  It was the best fight in WEC history.  It was the coolest kick ever.  The first fight between Ben Henderson and Anthony Pettis was all of the aforementioned things.  The second fight was an ass whooping from the new champ to the old.  Anthony Pettis landed a bunch of punches and kicks to the body of Henderson which clearly hurt him.  Those kicks stopped Cerrone and really appeared to hurt Henderson.  Finally he threw a weird spinning kick which Henderson capitalized on by taking Pettis to the ground.  Out of nowhere pettis threw his legs up and snatched the arm of Henderson.  Pettis rolled over and then all of the sudden they both stood up.  Nobody knew what happened, but the fight was over.  Henderson verbally tapped to the armbar and Pettis became the new champ in his hometown of Milwaukee.  Pettis then called out Jose Aldo and everyone went crazy.  More to come about Aldo and the 145 lb division this week.  Henderson had better hope somebody beats Pettis because he will not get the third fight anytime soon.  Maybe welterweight is in Benson's future?  On a side note I find this slightly funny.  Benson Henderson has been known of as the man of rubber nobody could submit since his fight with Cowboy Cerrone.  He bent his body in ways I did not understand to avoid a submission.  They kept talking about how he got his black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu before the fight.  Then he got submitted in the first round.  I found this to be a funny aspect of the fight.

Pick totals entering event: 123/213
Picks during event: 8/12
Pick totals: 131/225

UFC Bonuses:

FOTN: Lim/Krauss

SOTN: Pettis

KOOTN: Mendes

In my opinion UFC Bonuses should be:

FOTN: Poirier/Koch

SOTN: Pettis

KOOTN: Mendes and Lim

Brutal Sports Awards:

Beatdown of the Night: Elliot

Sketchiest Decision of the Night: Probably the split one between Varner/Tibau

Upset of the Night: Poirier

The Cut List:

• Hamman
• Vera??

Three Stars:

1. Pettis
2. Iaquinta
3. Mendes