Dominick Cruz Reclaims Bantamweight Title He Never Lost

January 17th, 2016

Former Bantamweight champion Dominick "Dominator" Crux defeated sitting Bantamweight champion TJ "Viper" Dillashaw to win back his UFC belt, after relinquishing his title due to devastating groin and ACL tears in 2014.  After making the transfer over from World Extreme Cagefighting in 2010, Cruz won the inaugural UFC Bantamweight title over Urijah Faber in 2011 avenging his only loss, which came to Faber in the WEC.  He defended his belt twice more before suffering a series of brutal injuries.  He tore two ACL's, a groin, and broke his right hand.  He fought only once in four years as a result from 2012 to 2016, with his only match a KO victory against Takeya Mazugaki in 2014.

His opponent, TJ Dillashaw was a finalist on the "The Ultimate Fighter" television series in 2011 which got him a contract with the UFC.  Dillashaw had lost only one fight officially in the UFC before Cruz to Raphael Assuncao.  He won the UFC Bantamweight title in July 2015, when he defeated Renan Barao by a TKO.

Cruz and Dillashaw fought to a split decision which came down to a close scoring of the first round.  Cruz's crazy unique style of fighting made it tough for Dillashaw to land quality strikes and the judges determined that Cruz had been the aggressor in three rounds to Dillashaw's two.

Nate Diaz defeats Conor McGregor at UFC 196

March 5th, 2016

Nate Diaz (19-10) surprised people around the world with his latest victory over Featherweight champion and Irish MMA superstar Conor "Notorious" McGregor (19-3).  The fight headlined UFC 196 after McGregor's original opponent Lightweight champion Rafeal Dos Anjos dropped out two weeks before due to a broken foot.  Instead, McGregor decided to continue with a replacement fighter, declaring that he would, "fight anyone, at any weight, at any time."

The UFC offered the fight to No. 6 ranked Lightweight Nate Diaz while he was on vacation following a unanimous victory against Michael Johnson on December 19th in which Diaz called out McGregor as someone he would like to fight.  For taking the fight on less than two weeks notice, McGregor agreed to fight at 170 pounds to officially be a catch weight fight.  This was seen as an enormous weight jump for McGregor who normally fights at 145 pounds.  Diaz fights at both Welterweight (170 pounds) and Lightweight (155 pounds).

McGregor out-boxed Diaz in the first round, opening up a gash above his eye which bled profusely.  Despite that, Diaz did not go down and took advantage of McGregor in the second round.  Diaz stunned McGregor with a series of punches, which led to McGregor attempting a take down on Diaz.  Diaz, a black-belt in Jiujitsu then set up McGregor for a rear naked choke which McGregor tapped out on.  All three of Conor McGregor's losses at the professional level have come via submissions.

After the fight, Diaz told UFC commentator Joe Rogan,"I'm not surprised", while McGregor admitted failure and vowed to,"take this one on the chin."

The two were set to fight again in July at UFC 200 until Conor McGregor tweeted in April that he was "retiring young".  McGregor exclaimed the next day that he would not actually be retiring but instead would debate his contract with the UFC in regards to his press requirements.  He exclaimed that he was not yet paid to promote and called his high profile media tour a distraction.

Dana White responded by pulling McGregor versus Diaz 2 off of UFC 200 and replacing the fight with Light Heavyweight title match Jon Jones versus Daniel Cormier 2.

Miesha Tate Wins UFC Bantamweight Title

March 5th, 2016

Miesha "Cupcake" Tate (18-5) defeated Holly "Preacher's Daughter" Holm (33-2-3) at UFC 197 by a fifth round submission to claim her first UFC Bantamweight title.  Holm received her first loss in the UFC.  Holm also lead the fight in total strikes late into round five when Miesha Tate got on Holm's back and grabbed on to a rear naked choke.  Holm did not tap out.  The fight was called when she went unconscious.

The fight was Holly Holm's first UFC title defense, fresh off of her two round victory of Ronda Rousey.  Holm immediately stated after the fight that she wanted a rematch, however Miesha Tate was immediately scheduled to fight Amanda Nunes at UFC 200.  There has been talks of a Holm and Rousey and rematch, but UFC fans will have to wait until Ronda Rousey is officially cleared of concussion protocol in July.

UFC 197: Demetrious Johnson defeats Henry Cejudo to maintain Flyweight Title

April 23rd, 2016

Demetrious "Mighty Mouse" Johnson defeated Olympian gold medal wrestler Henry Cejudo with a first round TKO in the UFC 197 co-main event.  Johnson (24-2-1) handed Cejudo his first loss in professional mixed martial arts (10-1).  Johnson extended his active record of UFC title defenses to eight.

The fight was called in 2:49 due to knees and punches.  Johnson dominated Cejudo in the clinch, further proving his case as the number one pound for pound fighter in the UFC.  Johnson is currently ranked second behind Light Heavyweight Interim Champion Jon Jones.  The fight was Cejudo's first title shot.  Cejudo was able to get a takedown on Johnson, but he quickly got right back up and took it to Cejudo.

Finding a new opponent will now be a tough task for UFC President Dana White.  Johnson has dominated everyone in his weight class.  Rumor has it that Johnson will either face the winner of "The Ultimate Fighter" or go up a weight class and face Bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz.

UFC Notable Fights Results 2016

Main & Co-Main Events: 13

-UFC 196 Co-Main event- Nate Diaz win via 2nd round Submission versus Conor McGregor (Catch Weight: 170 lbs)

-UFC 196 Co-Main event- Miesha Tate win via 5th round Submission versus Holly Holm (New Title Holder: Women's Bantamweight 135lbs)

-Fox: Main Event- Dominick Cruz win via decision versus TJ Dillashaw (New Title Holder: Men's Bantamweight 135lbs)

-Fox: Main Event- Michael Bisping win via decision versus Anderson Silva

-UFC 197 Co-Main Event- Jon Jones win via decision versus Ovince Saint Preux

-UFC 197 Co-Main Event- Demetrious Johnson win via 1st round TKO versus Henry Cejudo (Title Defense: Men's Flyweight 125 lbs)

-Fox: Main Event- Glover Texiera win via 1st round KO/TKO versus Rashad Evans

-Fox: Main Event- Mark Hunt win via 1st round KO/TKO performance of night versus Frank Mir

-Fox: Main Event- Donald Cerrone win via 1st round Submission versus Alex Oliveira

-Fox: Main Event- Steven Thompson win via 1st round KO/Tko versus Johnny Hendricks

-Fox: Main Event- Anthony Johnson win via 1st round KO/TKO versus Ryan Bader

-Fox: Main Event- Ben Rothwell win via 2nd round Submission versus Josh Barnett

-UFC 195 Main Event- Robbie Lawler win via decision versus Carlos Condit (Title Defense: Welterweight)

I'm going to be doing break downs of these fights on my blog.  Stay tuned for more.

Other Notable Fights: 11

Stipe Miocic win via 1st round KO/TKO versus Andrei Arlovski

Travis Browne win via 3rd round KO/Tko versus Matt Mitrione

Edson Barboza win via decision versus Anthony Pettis

Junior Dos Santos win via decision versus Ben Rothwell

Rose Namajunas win via decision versus Tecia Torres

Khabib Nurmagomedov win via 2nd round TKO versus Darrel Horcher

Cub Swanson win via decision versus Hacran Dias

Neil Magny win via 3rd round KO/TKO versus Hector Lombard

Amanda Nunes win via decision versus Valentina Schevchenko

Derek Brunson win via 1st round KO/tko versus Roan Carneiro

Bryan Barbarena win via 2nd round Submission versus Sage Northcutt

UFC Fight Night Recap: March 2nd

Middleweight contender Michael Bisping may have walked out victorious against Anderson Silva during last weekend’s UFC Fight Night London, but he did so with a busted nose and stitches on his face

The bulk of the damage that was inflicted upon "The Count" happened during the dying seconds of the third round when he dropped his mouthpiece. Bisping motioned to referee Herb Dean, notifying him about what happened, but Dean instead let the action continue.

Silva then capitalized on those few moments of inattention by throwing a flying knee that landed squarely on Bisping’s face, immediately opening a deep gash.During a post-fight interview, Bisping pinned the blame on Dean, questioning the latter’s abilities as a referee. Dean has since responded to the fighter’s remarks in his recent appearance on The MMA Hour."Well, I don’t know, maybe he’s not aware of the rules. A lot of fighters, most of them read the fouls but they don’t read all the rules on the mechanics," Dean said. "Maybe he wasn’t aware of that. But the rule is to replace the mouthpiece during a lull in the action."

Dean also explained why he let the fight carry on, despite Bisping’s motions to get his attention."That’s the way the mechanic works, is that you replace the mouthpiece during a lull in the action. And (Bisping) signaled once, and Anderson was actually in the process of attacking him," he explained. For a lot of reasons that are pretty evident you can’t stop to replace the mouthpiece during a heated exchange, and that qualified as a heated exchange."If we were doing that, we’d have guys getting their bell rung, spitting out the mouthpiece to get a little extra time or sometimes you’re feeling a little tired, just spit your mouthpiece out," Dean continued. "So obviously we can’t do that in the middle of an exchange."

As far as determining whether or not Dean should've stopped the fight after Bisping was knocked down, he said Bisping wasn't unconscious when he fell."Well, Silva hit him with the knee and dropped him, and then he walked off and started to celebrate," he said. "He had been dropped, but you know, in MMA we don't stop the match just because someone gets dropped. I saw that when he fell he was not unconscious. He was facing Anderson. Anderson didn't give him a threat to protect himself from, but -- I don't want to start playing what if, what if he attacked and whatnot -- the bottom line is he didn't attack. The round ended and, because Anderson was celebrating, there was some confusion as to what was going on.

UFC 196 Preview

No one is happy that Rafael Dos Anjos was forced to withdraw from UFC 196, but Conor McGregor vs Nate Diaz is about as fascinating a replacement fight as you could ask for.

Not only is Diaz the first opponent of McGregor's career to top the Irishman's height and reach, but his technical approach to boxing makes him an interesting test for "The Notorious," who hasn't engaged in a tactical striking battle since the first round of his fight with Max Holloway in 2013.

That's not the only tantalizing matchup on the card, of course. UFC 196 also boasts the first title defense of Holly Holm following her stunning knockout of Ronda Rousey in November of last year. Contending for the belt is veteran bantamweight Miesha Tate. "Cupcake" wasn't happy at the time, but it seems like Holm getting the Rousey fight was the best thing that could have happened to her; now Miesha gets to throw herself at an opponent who has never faced such a dogged, resilient, and crafty mixed martial artist.

Tune in March 6th on Pay-Per-View.