(Photo courtesy of Zuffa, LLC.)
Benson Henderson vs. Nate Diaz: Henderson via Unanimous Decision (50-43, 50-45, 50-45), Round 5, 5:00
Mauricio Rua vs. Alexander Gustafsson: Gustafsson via Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26), Round 3, 5:00
BJ Penn vs. Rory MacDonald: MacDonald via Unanimous Decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-27), Round 3, 5:00
Mike Swick vs. Matt Brown: Brown via KO (Punches), Round 2, 2:31 Continue reading »
Nate Diaz (155*) vs. Benson Henderson (154.6)
Alexander Gustafsson (205.4) vs. Mauricio Rua (205)
Rory MacDonald (170.2) vs. BJ Penn (168.2)
Matt Brown (170.2) vs. Mike Swick (170) Continue reading »
(Photo courtesy of Zuffa, LLC.)
Gray Maynard vs. Clay Guida: Maynard via Split Decision (48-47, 47-48, 48-47), Round 5, 5:00
Sam Stout vs. Spencer Fisher: Stout via Unanimous Decision (30-27 30-27, 30-27), Round 3, 5:00
Brian Ebersole vs. TJ Waldburger: Ebersole via Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28), Round 3, 5:00
Ross Pearson vs. Cub Swanson: Swanson via TKO (Strikes), Round 2, 4:14 Continue reading »
Gray Maynard (155.0) vs. Clay Guida (155.5)
Sam Stout (155.5) vs. Spencer Fisher (156.0)
Brian Ebersole (170.0) vs. TJ Waldburger (170.5)
Ross Pearson (146.0) vs. Cub Swanson (145.5) Continue reading »
Former UFC Lightweight and Welterweight Champion BJ Penn (left) and former Strikeforce 170lbs. champ Nick Diaz (right) square off tonight in the UFC 137 headliner. (Photo courtesy of Zuffa, LLC.)
BJ Penn vs. Nick Diaz: Diaz via Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-27, 29-28), Round 3, 5:00
Cheick Kongo vs. Matt Mitrione: Kongo via Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-28, 29-28), Round 3, 5:00
Mirko Filipovic vs. Roy Nelson: Nelson via TKO (Punches), Round 3, 1:30
Scott Jorgensen vs. Jeff Curran: Jorgensen via Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27), Round 3, 5:00
Hatsu Hioki vs. George Roop: Hioki via Split Decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28), Round 3, 5:00 Continue reading »
"Dannyboy" Downes: Kick ass and all class. (Photo courtesy of SBoI)
Hey icemigos!
I caught up with UFC lightweight fighter and good friend of MMA Gospel and myself, “Dannyboy” Downes. He’s become a fan favorite for his gutsy style and self-deprecating wit, as well as the fact that such a nerdy intellectual has the ability to smash your face in.
We talked about his loss to Jeremy Stephens, his upcoming fight with TUF weirdo Ramsey Nijem, and training with Bellator Welterweight Champion Ben Askren. We also talked about his domination of the UFC’s “Tweets of the Week” column for nearly a year straight and his plan to expand his social media dominance with a new “Dannyboy” Downes YouTube channel. All this and more! Give it a listen, follow Danny on Twitter if you’re not already, and be sure to watch his UFC 137 fight free on Facebook, October 29. Continue reading »
Dear Dana White,
I like to consider myself an intellectual. Not in a pretentious way but more in the sense that I don’t think being smart or educated is something to be ashamed of or mocked. Early on in high school I was picked on by a couple of jocks. By in large most of them, like most of everyone else didn’t really notice my existence but a couple of jock douchebags decided to pick on me and my indifference to sports became a seething hatred for meathead jocks. Granted, it was unfair of me to judge a whole group of people, namely athletes, by the actions of a couple of assholes but when you’re fifteen you’re generally not blessed with a philosophical and objective perspective. Even to this day, despite being intellectually evolved and more open-minded, that knee-jerk prejudice against jocks is still there. I make a distinction here between “jocks” and athletes, which doesn’t erase my prejudice, just makes it more selective.
When I first became aware of MMA I didn’t know it was MMA. I, like a lot of people saw it for how it was marketed at the time, as a brutal, no rules, barbaric bloodsport. Unfortunately, this angle repulsed me. It seemed to be everything I hated: dumb, meathead, uber-agro jock dicks that thought bashing someone’s face in and sending them to the hospital was cool. If they didn’t market it like that, I likely would’ve become a big fan of Royce Gracie – this little Brazilian beating much bigger and stronger guys with technique, with brains. I would’ve eaten that shit up at the time, if I had known and understood more about the sport; if it was marketed as mixed martial arts and not “No-Rules Cage Fighting”. It was your doing with The Ultimate Fighter that showed me that this was a real sport with athletes who trained. Martial artists rather than blood-thirsty barbarians. Not to say it’s not violent and primal and occasionally brutal and not to deny the visceral appeal of that element but it’s also a lot more. And we also got to see that most fighters weren’t typical jocks. They’re athletes but most of them had to be a little bit nuts to want to do this for a living. Continue reading »
The UFC crowned Tony Ferguson as the thirteenth "Ultimate Fighter" on Saturday following his one-sided KO win over Ramsey Nijem. (Photo courtesy of Zuffa, LLC.)
The UFC brought its thirteenth season of The Ultimate Fighter reality show to a close last night in front of a sold-out crowd at the Palms Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada as “El Cucuy” Tony Ferguson (11-3) blasted through Ramsey Nijem (4-1) in less than five minutes to become the next Ultimate Fighter. The co-main event of the evening featured lightweights “The Carpenter” Clay Guida (29-11) and “Showtime” Anthony Pettis (13-2) while the rest of the card followed the template set forth by previous seasons by featuring a host of The Ultimate Fighter alums including “Crazy” Tim Credeur (12-4), “Short Fuse” Ed Herman (16-8), and “Kingsbu” Kyle Kingsbury (12-2). Virtually every fight on the card had the interesting added danger of a cut from the UFC or at least a serious career setback for the losing fighter as many of the competitors were in a precarious situation coming into their fight. Kicking things off was a battle between TUF 13 runners-up “C-Murder” Chris Cope (5-1) and “Cold Steel” Chuck O’Neil (8-4). Continue reading »
(Photo courtesy of Zuffa, LLC.)
Tony Ferguson vs. Ramsey Nijem: Ferguson via KO, Round 1, 3:54
Anthony Pettis vs. Clay Guida: Guida via Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27), Round 3, 5:00
Tim Credeur vs. Ed Herman: Herman via TKO (Strikes), Round 1, 0:48
Fabio Maldonado vs. Kyle Kingsbury: Kingsbury via Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28), Round 3, 5:00
Chris Cope vs. Chuck O’Neil: Cope via Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27), Round 3, 5:00 Continue reading »
Tim Credeur (left) has had a rough two years since his last time in the Octagon but is still better off than his opponent, Ed Herman, who has been sidelined by serious injuries. (Photo courtesy of Zuffa, LLC.)
This Saturday, June 4 the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada will welcome the final event in the current season of The Ultimate Fighter as ten men step into the cage to make a statement to the Zuffa management team. Opening the broadcast TUF Season 3 finalist “Short Fuse” Ed Herman (15-8) seeks to reverse his ill fortunes against TUF Season 7 middleweight Tim Credeur (21-3) who has spent almost as much time on the disabled list as Herman himself. Next, “Kingsbu” Kyle Kingsbury (11-2) looks to add a fourth win to the streak he started after going 0-3 on Season 8 of TUF at the expense of internationally experienced Fabio Maldonado (7-1). The night prefaces the main event with the final bout of the thirteenth season of the UFC’s The Ultimate Fighter reality show as Team Dos Santos wrestler Ramsey Nijem (4-1) steps up to face “El Cucuy” Tony Ferguson (10-2) for a coveted spot on the UFC roster . Then, for the main event of the evening, should-be title contender “Showtime” Anthony Pettis (13-1) puts the title shot he won by securing the WEC lightweight belt on the line against “The Carpenter” Clay Guida (28-11), a man who has always fallen just short of contention. The card is by no means a star studded affair, but it does possess quite an interesting storyline as many of the bouts feature fighters who highlight the arguments against the relevance of The Ultimate Fighter as they strive to regain the respect of the fans even as two new finalists join their ranks.
Continue reading »
First off I want to congratulate Sergio aka @iTzPrimo on Twitter who won the #1 Icemigo award. What’s the #1 Icemigo award? It’s some shit I invented just for Primo because that mofo RTs all my shit and comments on this column all the time. What did Primo win? Well, I don’t want to spoil the surprise for him but it’s either totally awesome or he’s totally getting KOS’d!! Or Maybe a little of both. Ha ha! See, I reward my loyal Icemigos. I’ve spent *$40,000 out of my own pocket giving away shit to people since I started the Spilled Bag of Ice Twitter account way back in February of 2010. As for my enemies, *I’ve smashed their faces and crushed their souls. I’ve kidnapped their pets, made them love me and trained them to attack their former owners on sight…their children, too.
(*claims may be somewhat exaggerated for dramatic effect) Continue reading »
“The Titan” Lew Polley talks to MMA Gospel about his stint on “The Ultimate Fighter” as Team Dos Santos’ wrestling coach, which has caused quite a stir in the MMA community. (Photo courtesy of Rebecca Lee)
“The Titan” Lew Polley (10-4) is a name that, up until just a couple of months ago, may not have been particularly well known among many MMA fans. The ability to fly under the radar certainly changed for Polley once he accepted the role as wrestling coach for Team Dos Santos on the most recent installment of Spike TV and Zuffa’s hit reality show, The Ultimate Fighter. An otherwise relatively mellow season has been a roller coaster ride of highs and lows for “The Titan”, whose own experience on TUF 13 left much to be desired; ultimately, after several weeks of back-and-forth conflict and escalating tension levels between Polley and “Cigano” Junior Dos Santos (12-1), Polley was asked by the Black House fighter to leave the show. It was a first for The Ultimate Fighter.
Following the controversial dismissal, MMA Gospel Editor-in-Chief Mallory Mejia spent 120 minutes talking to Lew and getting his take on The Ultimate Fighter 13. This two-part interview explores Polley’s own credentials in respect to MMA, his favorite previous seasons and coaches of The Ultimate Fighter, changes he would make to the TUF program, who he found to be the most viable contenders among the Season 13 fighters, his response to both the shit talkers and the supporters, and of course, a whole lot about the highly publicized feud between himself and his friend, TUF 13 head coach opposite Brock Lesnar (5-2), Junior Dos Santos. Continue reading »
I’ll tell ya what, Icemigos… So far, I’m not feeling this season of The Ultimate Fighter. I mean, I’ll keep watching it but how I miss people getting KOS’d. Plunger fights. A Male Nurse. Jean-Charles: The French kickboxing badass who liked to get drunk before sparring. Cody McKenzie and his “McKenzietine”. Those were the days! When the most entertaining thing that happens is Ramsey Nijem whipping his junk around and Brock Lesnar saying “chickenshit” again, you start to curse fate for not letting Chael Sonnen be one of the coaches this season. Seriously, Dana, you owe us one. Next season better have Chael and Michael Bisping as the coaches. Or “Mayhem” Miller and Nick Diaz. Here’s what I’ve learned thus far from this season of TUF: Continue reading »
(Photo courtesy of Zuffa, LLC.)
Out with the old and in with the new? Probably not, but the “new” are coming whether the “old” like it or not. The thirteenth installment of the UFC’s hit Spike TV reality series The Ultimate Fighter has revealed the featured fighters of its upcoming welterweights-only cast. Opposing coaches in former UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar (5-2) and Team Nogueira fighter “Cigano” Junior Dos Santos (12-1), who themselves will face off at UFC 131 on June 11 in attempt to claim the title of top heavyweight contender and get the next shot at reigning heavyweight king Cain Velasquez’s (9-0) belt, lead the 14 UFC hopefuls through the six-week TUF journey. Continue reading »