The Official MMA Thread

[Stickman]

**It was confirmed this week that UFC middleweight Anderson Silva also failed his pre and post-fight drug tests from the day of the Nick Diaz fight at UFC 183. The tests revealed that Silva tested positive for Drostanolone (the same anabolic steroid he tested positive for in his January 9th out of competition drug test) as well as the banned drugs Oxazepam (anti-anxiety drug) and Temazepan (sleep aid), which are both Benzodiazepines and are not allowed in competition periods.

**Anderson Silva, Nick Diaz and Hector Lombard were all given temporary suspensions today from the NAC and will have their formal hearings at a further date for actual punishment stemming from their positive drug tests.

**UFC women’s bantamweight Ashlee Evans-Smith was suspended for nine months and fined 30% of her $8,000 purse following her positive drug test for a diuretic after her loss to Raquel Pennington at UFC 181 in December. She will also have a pass a drug test before receiving licensing to fight in Nevada again

**The UFC held a press conference yesterday in Las Vegas with Dana White, Lorenzo Fertitta and Lawrence Epstein on hand to address the recent series of drug test failures and initiatives they are planning to introduce this year to further test fighters. Below are some of the highlights:
*Effective July 1st all title fights and main event fighters will be subjected to random out of competition drug testing throughout their fight camp
*Effective July 1st they will begin random drug testing year round for fighters under contract
*All fighters will be tested on fight night with any added expenses covered by the UFC (this is in regards to some commissions that only test certain fighters on the card whereas all of the UFC’s self-regulated events subject all fighters to fight night testing)
*Lorenzo Feritta also added that they would support a four year ban for a first time PED user (this doesn’t mean this would be put into effect as the commissions in charge of punishing fighters would have to adopt this penalty, which is the WADA standard)

It was a firm stance that the UFC is going to aggressively combat performance enhancing drug use in the sport and make every effort to police it as best they can with significant resources put behind the movement. There are a lot of logistics attached to this program they have outlined which still need to be resolved. Those include finalizing a third party drug tester (such as USADA or VADA), which they stated they are working on, testing their 585 contracted fighters in 45 different countries year round and working with the commissions to adopt similar penalties for offenders. The UFC appears to be very serious about this issue and are putting them in a position where it could be costly when it comes to putting their own cards in jeopardy and that comes with a major financial hit if a top level fighter is busted days out from a major pay-per-view and puts the entire card in jeopardy.

** White also noted during the press conference that with Hector Lombard’s recent positive drug test eliminating his fight with Rory MacDonald at UFC 186, that MacDonald will now be fighting Robbie Lawler for the welterweight title on July 11th at UFC 189. This is the International Fight Week event and joins the Jose Aldo vs. Conor McGregor featherweight title fight on the 189 show in Las Vegas.

**The Nevada Athletic Commission ruled today that Urijah Faber’s win over Francisco Rivera at UFC 181 will stand despite the accidental eye poke by Faber, which did lead to the submission finish for Faber.

**The UFC has confirmed that they will return to Adelaide, Australia for a Fight Night card on May 10th with the following fights confirmed for the show:
*Mark Hunt vs. Stipe Miocic in the five round main event
*Brad Tavares vs. Robert Whittaker
*Anthony Perosh vs. Sean O’Connell
*Jake Matthews vs. James Vick
*Bec Rawlings vs. Seo Hee Ham
*Dylan Andrews vs. Brad Scott
*Kailin Curran vs. Alex Chambers
*Brendan O’Reilly vs. Vik Grujic

[Stickman]

**Here are the results from the UFC Fight Night card last night in Porto Alegre, Brazil in front of 5,080 at the Ginasio Gigantinho venue:
*Ivan Jorge over Josh Shockley by unanimous decision (29-28 all) – this was notable because Jorge was the only favorite coming in to win his fight on the card
*Douglas Silva de Andrade over Cody Gibson by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
*Mike De La Torre over Tiago “Trator” dos Santos by KO at 2:59 of Round 1
*Matt Dwyer over William Macario by KO at 3:14 of Round 1
*Marion Reneau over Jessica Andrade by triangle choke at 1:54 of Round 1 – very impressive win and Reneau’s second win already of 2015 after defeating Alexis Dufresne at UFC 182
*Santiago Ponzinibbio over Sean Strickland by unanimous decision (30-27 all)
*Frankie Saenz over Iuri Alcantara by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
*Adriano Martins over Rustam Khabilov by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28) – this fight was terrible with little engagement and the first round was won on the slimmest of margins
*Sam Alvey over Cezar Ferreira by KO at 3:34 of Round 1 – Alvey has to be the most likeable person in all of MMA
*Michael Johnson over Edson Barboza by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28) – Johnson won all three rounds and this was the best performance of his career, lots of movement and volume and pressed forward for fifteen minutes and outpaced Barboza, after the fight Johnson challenged Benson Henderson
*Frank Mir over Antonio Silva by KO at 1:40 of Round 1 – Mir landed a beautiful left hook and followed with punches and elbows on top. I hate to write off any fighter but Silva just isn’t the same fighter off of TRT and for his long-term health he shouldn’t be doing this, much like the Andrei Arlovski fight he had no head movement, was stationary and was down with one strong shot.

**The UFC has officially announced that Cain Velasquez will defend the heavyweight title against interim title holder, Fabricio Werdum, on June 13th at the UFC 188 pay-per-view in Mexico City. The two were scheduled to fight last November but Velasquez had to pull out of the bout with an injury and led to the interim title being installed and Werdum defeating replacement Mark Hunt. Velasquez has not fought since October of 2013 when he defeated Junior dos Santos in their third bout at UFC 166 in Houston.

**Ariel Helwani reported today that Michael Page is injured and off this Friday’s Bellator 134 card for his fight with Curtis Millender. Brennan Ward is cutting down from middleweight on late notice to take the fight at welterweight with Millender.

**The UFC 184 weigh-ins will be airing live on Fight Network this Friday night at 7pm ET from Los Angeles.

**A flyweight bout between John Dodson and Zach Makovsky has been added to the UFC 187 card on May 23rd in Las Vegas. Dodson is returning from knee surgery and last fought in June of last year and has won his last two while Makovsky just defeated Tim Elliott last weekend in Broomfield, Colorado.

**Bellator is doing a lot of promotional events this week leading in to the Bellator 134 card on Friday night on Spike TV. Royce Gracie, Tito Ortiz and Aaron Pico will be doing a Q&A on Wednesday at 3:30pm at The Boys and Girls Club of Bristol in Connecticut. Later that day there will be a Bellator 134 press conference at 4:30pm with all of the main card fighters. They are also bringing in Fedor Emelianenko for promotional appearances and will hold a press conference with Kimbo Slice this Friday at 5:45pm at the Mohegan Sun venue prior to the preliminary fights.

**Below are the Countdown to UFC 184 videos focusing on Ronda Rousey vs. Cat Zingano and Holly Holm vs. Raquel Pennington:

[Stickman]

What happens when you challenge a UFC veteran

[Stickman]

**Pete Peterson, who is the owner of the Roundkick Gym in Iowa has spoken to MMA Junkie regarding the video that surfaced this week of Josh Neer beating down a man named Patrick Martin at the gym. The video shows Neer dropping forearms onto Martin and later appears to kick him while he is down. The story is that the two sides had been going back and forth online with Martin invited to the gym for a sparring match and then the video being posted afterwards. Peterson says it wasn’t a kick to face but rather Neer tripping as he got up and that Martin was never knocked unconscious. Martin has also spoken regarding the incident.

**The second episode of this week’s UFC Embedded is up featuring Mickey Rourke hanging out at the Glendale Fighting camp where Ronda Rousey and Jake Ellenberger train at:


**Bellator has announced a huge fight for June 20th in St. Louis, Missouri with Kimbo Slice scheduled to fight Ken Shamrock on the card. It will be both men’s first Bellator fight with Slice coming in at the age of 41 and Shamrock at 51. These two were scheduled to fight back in October of 2008 on the final Elite XC event but Shamrock cut himself while rolling the day of the fight and was replaced at the last minute by Seth Petruzelli, who beat Slice on CBS.

**The latest UFC Embedded episode:


**Josh Thomson is out of his fight with Gilbert Burns, which was set for March 21st in Rio de Janiero, Brazil. There has not been an announcement of a replacement for Thomson, who was in the co-feature fight with Demian Maia and Ryan LaFlare headlining the show.

[Stickman]

14 fuckin seconds.
Fuuuuuck.

[Stickman]

At the UFC 184 post-fight press conference, both Rousey and UFC President Dana White were repeatedly questioned about a potential superfight between MMA's two leading ladies.


**The UFC held a big press conference yesterday, promoting all the major fights coming up over the next few months. There was a great moment where Jon Jones and Anthony Johnson teased they were going to have a brawl ala Jones and Daniel Cormier and it freaked out Dana White before Jones and Johnson burst out laughing.


**Here are the main card results from Bellator 134 in Uncasville, Connecticut:
*Brennan Ward over Curtis Millender by rear-naked choke at 1:39 of Round 1
*Linton Vassell over Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou by TKO at 3:18 of Round 1 – Usually Sokoudjou is dangerous for at least one round and that wasn’t even the case in this one as Vassell won the first and Sokoudjou had nothing in the second and was finished with strikes and just wasn’t defending
*Paul Daley over Andre Santos by unanimous decision (29-27, 29-28, 29-28) – this was a good action fight, I felt Daley won all three rounds but Santos was tough and took a lot of strikes and stayed in throughout
*Muhammad Lawal over Cheick Kongo by split decision (30-27, 28-29, 29-28) – Kongo did not win a single round much less two. This wasn’t an exciting fight but given Mo was coming up in weight, he did the smart thing and took the larger Kongo down and won the match with his wrestling
*Liam McGeary over Emanuel Newton by unanimous decision (48-46, 48-47, 48-47) to win the light heavyweight title – Very close fight with Round 1 clearly for McGeary, I felt Round 5 was clearly Newton’s round and 2-4 were close rounds and you could argue score cards all over the place. I would expect a rematch and this was a really entertaining fight and McGeary’s submissions and Newton’s ability to escape were incredible throughout the first round

**Below are the results from the Invicta FC 11 card in Los Angeles with Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta attending the show at the Shrine Auditorium:
*Aspen Ladd over Ana Carolina Vidal by TKO at 4:21 of Round 1
*Christine Stanley over Laura Salazar by TKO at 2:59 of Round 1
*Amy Cadwell Montenegro over Brianna Van Buren by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
*Jamie Moyle over J.J. Aldrich by technical submission at 2:20 of Round 1
*Irene Aldana over Colleen Schneider by rear-naked choke at 1:05 of Round 1
*DeAnna Bennett over Norma Rueda Center by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
*Alexa Grasso over Mizuki Inoue by unanimous decision (30-26, 29-28, 29-28)
*Cristiane Justino over Charmaine Tweet by TKO at 0:46 of Round 1 to retain the Invicta featherweight title

**Invicta has announced that their next show will be on Friday April 10th with strawweight champion Katja Kankaanpaa defending her title against Livia Renata Souza at a location to be announced. They will also be running a show on Friday July 10th in Las Vegas during International Fight Week with Cristiane Justino defending her featherweight title against an opponent to be announced along with atomweight champion Herica Tiburcio defending her title against Ayaka Hamasaki.

**The UFC announced that the next season of Ultimate Fighter will feature American Top Team fighters against The Blackzilians teams and a battle of Florida based MMA gyms. The fighters announced are unsigned fighters with the winning team taking home $500,000. The season is also being promoted as the tenth anniversary of the series (Season 1 premiered in January of 2005 on Spike TV) and will debut on April 22nd on FS 1 with a two-hour season premiere. The following fighters were announced for the show:
*Team ATT – Steve Carl (former WSOF welterweight champion), Marcelo Alfaya, Steve Montgomery, Hayder Hassan, Uros Jurisic, Sabah Homasi, Michael Graves and Nathan Coy
*Team Blackzilians – Felipe Portela, Luiz Buscape (former Pride Bushido and DREAM fighter), Andrews Nakahara, Kamarudeen Usman, Valdir Araujo, Jason Jackson, Vicente Luque and Carrington Banks

[LoathedVermin72]

Goddamn I'm so excited for that Jones/Johnson fight

[Stickman]

**Here are the results from UFC 184 Sat night in front of an announced 17,654 and gate of $2,675,000 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles:
*Masio Fullen over Alexander Torres by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
*Valmir Lazaro over James Krause by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
*Derrick Lewis over Ruan Potts by TKO at 3:18 of Round 1
*Tim Means over Dhiego Lima by TKO at 2:17 of Round 1
*Roman Salazar and Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto went to a no contest after an eye poke to Salazar in the second round and he couldn’t continue
*Roan Carneiro over Mark Munoz by rear-naked choke at 1:40 of Round 1
*Tony Ferguson over Gleison Tibau by rear-naked choke at 2:37 of Round 1
*Alan Jouban over Richard Walsh by TKO at 2:19 of Round 1
*Jake Ellenberger over Josh Koscheck by north-south choke at 4:20 of Round 2
*Holly Holm over Raquel Pennington by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 30-27)
*Ronda Rousey over Cat Zingano by armbar at 0:14 of Round 1 to retain the bantamweight title

**The performance bonuses were given to Ronda Rousey, Jake Ellenberger, Tim Means and Tony Ferguson for $50,000 each.

**UFC president Dana White noted that Ronda Rousey is planning to go film a movie now that this fight is over and will leave a gap before her next title defence. Bethe Correia was at the show last night and working hard to be the next in line for the title fight but may need to fight someone in the interim. There were numerous questions about Cris “Cyborg” Justino at the post-fight press conference as that is the obvious fight but White was adamant that she needs to make 135 pounds and then she will get the fight.

**Jake Ellenberger winning by submission last night was a +1760 prop bet going into last night’s card. It was Ellenberger’s first submission win since 2006.

**The UFC has a rare weekend off this week and return on March 14th with the UFC 185 pay-per-view featuring Anthony Pettis vs. Rafael dos Anjos for the lightweight title and Carla Esparza vs. Joanna Jedrzejczyk for the women’s strawweight title in Dallas.

**In a move that wasn’t too surprising, Bellator announced today they were filing for an injunction to prevent Quinton Jackson from fighting at the UFC 186 pay-per-view card on April 25th in Montreal. Bellator states that Jackson signed a six-fight contract and has not completed the amount of fights agreed to and would seek to remove Jackson from the UFC card and return to Bellator. The following statement was released earlier today by Bellator:

Today, Bellator MMA was compelled to go to court to stop Quinton “Rampage” Jackson from fighting in an April 25th bout promoted by Bellator’s competitor, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Jackson, who has completed only three fights of his exclusive six-fight contract with Bellator, is barred by contract from fighting for any promoter other than Bellator. Our lawsuit for an injunction and related relief – filed in the Chancery Division of the Superior Court in Burlington County, New Jersey – will compel Jackson to honor his contractual agreement. We look forward to having one of our MMA stars fighting for Bellator again.

**Variety is reporting that Ronda Rousey will star in an action movie entitled “Mile 22”, with filming set to begin in May.


**Brock Lesnar showed up at the Staples Center in Los Angeles to sit in the front row for UFC 184 alongside Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta. The gamesmanship on Lesnar’s behalf was about as transparent as one could make it out to be. Lesnar left the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville this past Monday and not appearing on Raw due to a business disagreement with Vince McMahon prior to the show. Lesnar is contractually obligated for four more dates with the WWE with the next being Monday March 9th in Pittsburgh for Raw and finishing up this contract on Monday March 30th at Raw in San Jose.

Lesnar has major decisions to make and is using his leverage, which is sizeable, for all it is worth. It is not out of the realm of possibility that Lesnar would maneuver to stay with the WWE and still pursue the Frank Mir fight because that fight is on the table and the win by Mir last weekend has put the fight into a viable position to happen. If you are the WWE, it puts you in a unique spot where you could make several arguments both pro and con towards the idea of re-signing Brock Lesnar and also allowing him to fight in the UFC for maximum exposure and bringing fans back and forth. It is very uncharacteristic of a move for the WWE and they could dig their heels in the ground to prevent a contracted talent from having the ability to make a giant about of revenue of pay-per-view for another promotion.

[Alex]

who's gonna win?

[Stickman]

Report: Anderson Silva to Acknowledge Using Steroids as 'Aid in His Recovery'

By Steven Rondina

News that former UFC middleweight champion and possibly the greatest mixed martial artist of all time Anderson Silva had failed multiple drug tests surrounding his UFC 183 bout with Nick Diaz shook the entire sport to its core.

But while "The Spider" initially claimed ignorance in relation to the flags, he is reportedly changing his tune.

According to Brazilian news site UOL (via UFC.com), Silva is "planning to admit to using several banned substances" at his hearing with the Nevada State Athletic Commission.

From UFC.com:
“The [UOL] report makes clear that Silva will insist that his use of performance enhancing drugs wasn't to gain an advantage on his opponent, but rather as an aid in his recovery from the broken leg suffered in his December 2013 loss to Chris Weidman. Lawyers will also argue that the amount of the substances found in his system were minimal, thus giving him no advantage over his January 31 opponent, Nick Diaz.”

Nevertheless, drostanolone and androstane, the two anabolic steroids Silva tested positive for in a pre-fight drug test administered on January 9, are banned by the WADA. Silva then failed a post-fight drug test administered by the NSAC for drostanolone. As noted by UFC.com, he also tested positive for the anti-anxiety medications Oxazepam and Temazepam in a separate drug test.

Silva initially denied any wrongdoing and claimed that he planned to challenge the NSAC's findings. Two months before failing the pre-fight drug test, Silva stated that fighters who are caught using PEDs should receive a lifetime ban from the sport.

The former champ will appear before the NSAC next month and likely face a fine and suspension. His win over Diaz will also likely be reversed to a no-contest.

[LoathedVermin72]

His win over Diaz will also likely be reversed to a no-contest.

[Stickman]

**Burt Watson was a guest on MMA Junkie Radio to discuss his departure from the UFC coming out of UFC 184. Watson denies there was any problem specifically with Dana White, the Fertittas, Mark Munoz or Ronda Rousey.

**ONE FC welterweight champion Ben Askren will defend his title against Luis Santos on April 24th at the Asia Arena in Manila at ONE FC 26.

**The UFC has added a middleweight fight between Uriah Hall and Rafael Natal to the UFC 187 card on May 23rd in Las Vegas over Memorial Day weekend.

**Tryouts for TUF season 22 of the domestic version are taking place on Sunday March 29th in Las Vegas at the Palace Station. The season will feature welterweights and lightweights and will presumably be premiering in the fall. The 21st season will debut on April 22nd with a theme of rival camps facing off with a team of ATT fighters against a team from The Blackzilians and featuring gym owners, Dan Lambert and Glenn Robinson.

**Meanwhile filming for TUF Latin America season two will begin shortly with coaches Kelvin Gastelum and Efrain Escudero. Gastelum was the winner of season 17 in 2013 and Escudero won season 8 in 2008. Escudero competes at lightweight while Gastelum has been told he will have to fight at middleweight after missing weight yet again for his recent fight with Tyron Woodley at 170 pounds and therefore the coaches will not be fighting at the end of this season.

**A welterweight bout between Josh Burkman and Dong Hyun Kim has been added to the UFC 187 card on May 23rd in Las Vegas. Burkman returned to the UFC at UFC 182 in January and dropped a decision to Hector Lombard but that fight will likely be changed to a no contest after Lombard failed his post-fight drug test. Kim is coming off a loss to Tyron Woodley last August.

**A middleweight fight between Gegard Mousasi and Costas Philippou has been added to the UFC’s debut card in the Philippines on May 16th on same card as Frankie Edgar vs. Urijah Faber. They have also added a welterweight fight between Neil Magny and Hyun Gyu Kim to that same event.

**The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is now requiring all approved testosterone products on the market to include health warnings including the increased risk of heart attacks and strokes. The FDA notes that testosterone should only be prescribed for those suffering from low testosterone as a result of specific medical conditions such as disorders of the testicles, pituitary gland or brain that cause hypogonadism. They are trying to restrict the use of artificial testosterone among men who are simply trying to combat aging.

**Here is a claymation version of the Ronda Rousey vs. Cat Zingano fight at UFC 184.

**Maria Burns-Ortiz, who is a journalist for ESPN and the sister of Ronda Rousey, has written a piece on five interesting facts about Ronda Rousey. The best tidbit involves the names that Ronda’s mother has given to her boyfriends.

[Stickman]

Rousey Breaks Web Show Host’s Ribs With A Violent Judo Throw

[Stickman]

**Tonight is the UFC 185 card from the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas. There is no question the UFC is riding a big wave of momentum for their pay-per-view business in 2015 and tonight’s show will determine how much of that wave they can ride out. On paper it looks to be a strong action card but there isn’t the Jon Jones, Anderson Silva or Ronda Rousey level star to propel this show to a giant pay-per-view number. Below is the full lineup with weigh-ins results in parenthesis:

MAIN CARD (10pm ET on pay-per-view)
*Anthony Pettis (155) vs. Rafael dos Anjos (155) for the lightweight title
*Carla Esparza (115) vs. Joanna Jedrzejczyk (115) for the strawweight title
*Johny Hendricks (170) vs. Matt Brown (171)
*Alistair Overeem (247) vs. Roy Nelson (254)
*Chris Cariaso (126) vs. Henry Cejudo (125) – this is a big fight for Cejudo as a strong win is going to fast track him in the division as Demetrious Johnson needs contenders and Cejudo represents a real threat to Johnson

PRELIMINARY CARD (8pm ET on FX in the U.S. and TSN in Canada)
*Ross Pearson (156) vs. Sam Stout (156)
*Roger Narvaez (186) vs. Elias Theodorou (186)
*Daron Cruickshank (157.5) vs. Beneil Dariush (156) – Cruickshank forfeited 20% of his purse for missing weight
*Josh Copeland (264) vs. Jared Rosholt (245)

FIGHT PASS CARD (6:30pm ET)
*Sergio Pettis (126) vs. Ryan Benoit (126)
*Joseph Duffy (156) vs. Jake Lindsay (156)
*Germaine de Randamie (136) vs. Larissa Pacecho (136)

**Below is the final episode of this week’s UFC Embedded going into tonight’s card:


**The latest on the Mark Coleman fundraiser is that they have raised over $30,000 for upcoming medical bills. Mark Hunt, Lenne Hardt, Mauro Ranallo and American Top Team are among those that have donated for Coleman. Wes Sims is on The MMA Report to discuss the problems Coleman is going through and the expenses he is facing.

**Jason Floyd reported on Thursday that former Bellator light heavyweight champion Emanuel Newton tested positive for marijuana from his post-fight drug test at Bellator 134 on February 27th. The first test came back inconclusive and it was a secondary test that confirmed the findings. Newton will be suspended for 90-days and suspended for $3,000 for the test failure and also provide a clean sample before his next bout. It was the Mohegan Tribe Department of Athletic Regulations that performed the drug test at the recent show in Uncasville, Connecticut.

[Stickman]

Man, that main event was pure domination.

[Stickman]

**Here are the results from the UFC 185 show last night in front of an announced crowd of 17,160 and live gate of $2,155,000 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas:
*Germaine de Randamie over Larissa Pacheco by TKO at 2:02 of Round 2
*Joseph Duffy over Jake Lindsey by TKO at 1:47 of Round 1
*Ryan Benoit over Sergio Pettis by TKO at 1:34 of Round 2 – after the fight was stopped Benoit kicked Pettis while he was down in his backside and immediately apologized claiming he was caught up in the moment but received a lot of boos for the kick
*Jared Rosholt over Josh Copeland by TKO at 3:12 of Round 3
*Beneil Dariush over Daron Cruickshank by rear-naked choke at 2:48 of Round 2
*Elias Theodorou over Roger Narvaez by TKO at 4:07 of Round 2
*Ross Pearson over Sam Stout by KO at 1:33 of Round 2
*Henry Cejudo over Chris Cariaso by unanimous decision (30-27 all) – this was a dominant performance from Cejudo, who wants to fight on the June card in Mexico and is already very close to a title fight given the lack of options for Demetrious Johnson at the weight
*Alistair Overeem over Roy Nelson by unanimous decision (30-27 all)
*Johny Hendricks over Matt Brown by unanimous decision (30-27 all)
*Joanna Jedrzejczyk over Carla Esparza by KO at 4:17 of Round 2 – Jedrzejczyk dominated this fight with her striking as Esparza had one game plan and that was to take her down and failed on 16/17 takedown attempts and Jedrzejczyk made her pay every time she shot in and picked her apart with her strikes
*Rafael dos Anjos over Anthony Pettis by unanimous decision (50-45 all) to win the UFC lightweight title – this is the best dos Anjos has ever looked and it was his complete game of striking, wrestling and grappling that was on display. Pettis stated after the first strike of the fight he couldn’t see out of his right eye and threw him completely off for the rest of the fight.

**The $50,000 performance bonuses were awarded to Rafael dos Anjos, Joanna Jedrzejczyk, Ross Pearson and Beneil Dariush.

**UFC president Dana White acknowledged after the fight that dos Anjos tore his MCL a few weeks ago. Dos Anjos noted he couldn’t do any wrestling for the last few weeks and it is unknown if he will need surgery on the knee.

**The UFC is holding a world tour to promote the UFC 189 card (which is the International Fight Week card with Jose Aldo vs. Conor McGregor and Robbie Lawler vs. Rory MacDonald). The tour kicks off this Friday in Rio de Janiero and continues on March 23rd in Las Vegas, March 24th in Los Angeles, March 25th in Boston, March 26th in New York City, March 27th in Toronto, March 30th in London, England and wraps up March 31st in Dublin.

**The UFC has added the following cards for this year:
*Wednesday July 15th in San Diego (UFC Fight Night)
*Saturday August 8th in Nashville (UFC Fight Night)
*Saturday October 3rd in Houston (UFC 192)

**The promotion is going to be running four cards in the span of seven days with UFC 189 on July 11th, a Fight Night card in Las Vegas on July 12 (which will likely be the TUF finale), July 15th in San Diego (which is a tie-in with the San Diego Comic Con, which is running at the same time) and then July 18th they are in Glasgow, Scotland for their first show in that country. There is also an Invicta FC card on Friday July 11th, which would make it five cards in eight-days.

[warehouse]

pettis bought into his own hype

[Stickman]

Little bit of that sure, but being half blind after the 1st punch didn't help either.

[Stickman]

**All 24 fighters made weight today at the UFC Fight Night weigh-ins in Rio de Janeiro for tomorrow night’s card. The card features Demian Maia taking on Ryan LaFlare in the main event with Josh Koscheck returning after three weeks since his loss to Jake Ellenberger, to fight Erick Silva.

**Ronda Rousey and Bethe Correia appeared at the UFC World Tour press conference in Brazil earlier today with UFC president Dana White confirming that the two will headline UFC 190 on August 1st in Rio de Janiero. The storyline began with Correia holding up her four fingers after defeating Jessamyn Duke (one of the four horsewomen) and then placing one finger down on the suggestion of a member of her team. The hand gesture immediately drew attention and led to Correia facing Shayna Baszler in her next fight with the next logical opponent being Rousey.

Rousey and Correia appeared alongside Jose Aldo and Conor McGregor, who meet on July 11th at UFC 189 in Las Vegas for the featherweight title and was the kickoff to the week-long world tour to promote the UFC 189 card. Rousey noted that the movie she was off to go film was moved around scheduling wise to accommodate this fight for the UFC.

**Dana White also announced at the press conference that Meisha Tate and Jessica Eye will be fighting “sometime in June” but no specific date or event was listed for the women’s bantamweight fight. That fight would theoretically set up Eye as the next title contender if she beats Tate (and Rousey defeats Correia because a loss would lead to an immediate rematch one would think) unless a miracle deal is worked out with Cris Justino.

**The Nevada Athletic Commission will be holding their monthly hearing this Monday with the disciplinary hearings for Nick Diaz and Hector Lombard on the agenda. Both failed their post-fight drug tests in January with Diaz testing above the allowable limit for marijuana metabolites in his system after his bout with Anderson Silva at UFC 183 and Lombard tested positive for the designer steroid, Madol (Desoxymethyltestosterone) after his win over Josh Burkman at UFC 182 on January 3rd. The agenda also lists Vitor Belfort, who will be applying for a license in the state for his fight with Chris Weidman on May 23rd in Las Vegas at UFC 187.

**Anderson Silva requested a delay in his disciplinary hearing and will have his hearing at a future NAC meeting.

**The UFC has added an additional two Canadian dates for the UFC 189 press tour with stops in Vancouver on March 24th and Calgary on March 25th. Welterweight champion Robbie Lawler and Rory MacDonald will be the only fighters appearing on these two dates.

**Invicta FC has announced their next card for Friday April 24th in Kansas City, Missouri featuring Katja Kankaanpaa defending the women’s strawweight title against Livia Souza.

**Daniel Cormier turns 36 years old today.

**It was reported on UFC Tonight that new lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos will be out for three-months from a partially torn MCL but won’t require surgery for the injury. Conversely, it was also announced that Anthony Pettis suffered a fractured orbital bone in his right eye and led to vision problems throughout the fight after absorbing a strike early in the fight. Pettis will be on the sidelines for six-weeks due to the orbital bone fracture.

[Stickman]

**Here are the results from last night’s UFC Fight Night card in Rio de Janiero, Brazil at the Ginasio do Maracanazinho:
*Fredy Serrano over Bentley Syler by KO at 1:34 of Round 3
*Christos Giagos over Jorge de Oliveira by rear-naked choke at 3:12 of Round 1 – this was the first bad call for referee Eduardo Herdy, who was late to stop the fight despite de Oliveira tapping from the choke
*Leonardo Mafra over Cain Carrizosa by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26) – hard to justify a 10-8 in any of these rounds
*Leandro Silva over Drew Dober by technical submission at 2:45 of Round 2 – this was one of the worst stoppages you will ever see. Silva had a guillotine loosely applied from half guard and as Dober was about to free his head from the hold, Eduardo Herdy stopped the fight. The announcers were stunned and everyone knew it was a bad call including Dana White, who was livid about the stoppage and is hoping it is changed to a no contest.
*Kevin Souza over Katsunori Kikuno by KO at 1:31 of Round 1
*Francisco Trinaldo over Akbarh Arreola by unanimous decision (30-27 all)
*Godofredo Castro over Andre Fili by triangle choke at 3:14 of Round 1
*Gilbert Burns over Alex Oliveira by armbar at 4:14 of Round 3 – Burns was down by two rounds heading into the third and was trying so hard to get an omaplata, he then went for an armbar, lost it and then got the submission with less than a minute to go in the fight and saved the fight for himself
*Amanda Nunes over Shayna Baszler by TKO at 1:56 of Round 1 – Nunes continued to attack Baszler after it was clear the fight was over and referee Mario Yamasaki looked upset when speaking to her after the fight
*Leonardo Santos over Tony Martin by rear-naked choke at 2:29 of Round 2
*Erick Silva over Josh Koscheck by guillotine at 4:21 of Round 1 – Koscheck could not take Silva down and clinched with him against the cage, he ate some big shots before the finish and Silva has a tight guillotine and this might be it for Koscheck, who was on the last fight of his current UFC deal
*Demian Maia over Ryan LaFlare by unanimous decision (48-46 all) – if you enjoy a high level jiu-jitsu player having his way with someone then you would like this fight but it was essentially Maia taking him down throughout the fight and working for submissions for 25 minutes. LaFlare has great conditioning and was still in the fight towards the end and even won the fifth round. Maia was deducted a point at the end of the fight for stalling after being warned earlier by John McCarthy, so Round 5 was a 10-8 for LaFlare

**The $50,000 performance bonuses were given to Gilbert Burns, Godofredo Castro, Kevin Souza and Fredy Serrano.