Carlos Condit pulls upset on Nick Diaz to take UFC interim welterweight title, loser says he’s done

Posted by on Feb 5, 2012 in Featured Articles, Fight News | 0 comments

 

By Steve Cofield

LAS VEGAS — Nick Diaz is brilliant at playing mind games with his opponents. Carlos Condit never took the bait before or during the fight, stuck to the gameplan and outsmarted Diaz to get himself a share of the UFC welterweight title.

Condit moved beautifully all night and landed 60-plus kicks. He never stood in front of Diaz for more than a few seconds. It all added to a unanimous decision victory, 48-47, 49-46 and 49-46, in the main event of UFC 143 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center.

Condit picks up the UFC’s interim welterweight belt. The champion Georges St-Pierre is sidelined until late 2012 after undergoing surgery for a torn ACL. UFC president Dana White couldn’t say for certain before the fight if the winner tonight would sit out 8-9 months until GSP is ready.

Condit was a pretty big underdog at plus-185. The Diaz-GSP fight was expected to be one of the fights of 2012. A St-Pierre-Condit fight won’t have the sizzle, but it should be a helluva fight based on what the new interim champ showed tonight.

Diaz’s behavior is nearly impossible to predict. He shocked few by complaining about the decision, but then threw everyone for a loop saying he’s had it with the sport.

“I’m not going to accept this as a loss. I pushed him back all fight. I’m happy for Carlos and his family, but I think I’m done with MMA,” said Diaz.

Diaz is just 29 years old and one of the rising stars of the sport. He’s got a bright future with massive earning potential.

“I don’t need this [expletive]. He ran from me this whole fight. I landed the harder shots.. He kicked me in the leg with little baby kicks. I don’t want to play this game no more. I’m out of this [expletive],” said Diaz.

The judges made the right call. The first round was tough to call with Condit starting out strong and Diaz closing well. Condit ran a little too much in the second and lost the round. He corrected his mistake from there and was simply brilliant in the final three rounds. Diaz stalked him for 15 more minutes ate kick after kick. By the time Diaz tried to settle and throw Condit was nowhere to be found. He scooted out of the way in most cases it looked like a classic Diaz 10-12 punch flurry was coming. The work to Diaz’s legs really sapped him late. He looked a step slow in the final round.

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UFC 143 Weigh-In Highlight: Koscheck vs. Pierce

Posted by on Feb 4, 2012 in Fight News | 0 comments

Watch UFC 143 Weigh-In Highlight: Koscheck vs. Pierce and Get Hype for UFC 143

 

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Terry Etim vs. Edson Barboza UFC 142 Spinning Wheel Kick Knockout Full Fight HD

Posted by on Feb 3, 2012 in Fights | 0 comments

Terry Etim vs. Edson Barboza Full Fight Video

MMA Full Fight Video of Terry Etim vs. Edson Barboza in a Main Card Lightweight Bout @ UFC 142 RIO: Aldo vs. Mendes in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on January 14th, 2012.

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Alistair Overeem vs. Brock Lesnar Full Fight Video HD

Posted by on Feb 3, 2012 in Featured Articles, Fights | 0 comments

Watch the full fight Overeem VS. Lesnar in full HD quality. 

Brock Lesnar took one last kick to his stomach and crumpled at the side of the cage, unable to fight back when Alistair Overeem pounced. Lesnar had been finished by a 6-foot-5 Dutch kick boxer in the first round at UFC 141. A few minutes later, the UFC’s former heavyweight champion finished his own meteoric mixed martial arts career.

Lesnar retired from the UFC after Overeem stopped him with one vicious kick to the body at 2:26 of the first round in their heavyweight bout Friday night, leaving the UFC heading into 2012 without its biggest pay-per-view star.

“This is the last time you’ll see me in the octagon,” Lesnar said.

Largely thanks to his fame from a career in pro wrestling, the hulking Lesnar (5-3) played a significant role in expanding the UFC’s profile and fan base over the past four years. He beat Randy Couture in 2008 to win the heavyweight title, defending it twice before losing the belt to Cain Velasquez last year.

But Lesnar has fought just three times in the past 2½ years while dealing with bouts of a lower-intestinal ailment that nearly killed him. The accumulation of pain and rehabilitation finally undid Lesnar, whose famed strength and stubbornness couldn’t overcome diverticulitis. “I’ve had a really difficult couple of years with my disease, and I’m going to officially say tonight is the last time,” Lesnar said.

Lesnar’s return from a 14-month injury absence was a short, one-sided beating. After taking damage from two knee blows early on, he couldn’t recover from a kick to the liver from Overeem (36-11), who made a stellar UFC debut despite getting cut near his right eye by a punch from Lesnar.

The 34-year-old Lesnar’s announcement stunned fans who already realized he faced a difficult matchup in the UFC’s traditional end-of-the-year event in its hometown. The matchup was a classic MMA clash of styles, with Lesnar’s brute wrestling contrasting sharply with Overeem’s vicious striking. “I had no idea he would do that, (but) am I surprised? No,” UFC President Dana White said. “Brock Lesnar has made a lot of money in his career and has achieved a lot of things. … He brought a lot of excitement to the heavyweight division. What he accomplished in a short amount of time is amazing, but I get it. It doesn’t shock me.”

Overeem is three years younger but much more experienced than Lesnar, hurting the former champion at least twice earlier in the round while Lesnar failed in his attempt at a one-legged takedown.

“I promised my wife and my kids if I won this fight, I would get a title shot, and that would be my last fight,” Lesnar said. “But if I lost tonight … you’ve been great.”

Overeem will get the next shot at UFC heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos, who watched from a seat near the octagon.

Overeem is a champion kick boxer who has fought in multiple promotions over the past decade, winning titles in Dream and Strikeforce with nearly unbeatable striking and size. He joined the UFC in September, finally presenting his formidable skills and intimidating physique to the sport’s largest audience. “My experience in UFC was, it’s huge,” Overeem said. “I think it’s like 100 times bigger than Strikeforce. K-1 (kick boxing) is big, but this is a lot bigger. I was a little bit blown away, still am. I loved every second of it.”

White might have given an immediate title shot to Overeem if the timing had been better, but Dos Santos only claimed Velasquez’s belt in early November. Overeem welcomed a debut against Lesnar, even guaranteeing a knockout in the first two rounds. “First or second round, I promised,” Overeem said.

Lesnar hadn’t fought since losing his heavyweight belt to Velasquez in October 2010, cancelling a bout against Dos Santos last June in Vancouver after another flare-up of diverticulitis. The former NCAA wrestling champion and fake WWE wrestler kept his unparalleled popularity during his recovery, and Lesnar used the time off to modify both his diet and his standup game, attempting to improve his biggest weakness. As it turned out, Lesnar couldn’t improve enough to contend with the supremely skilled Overeem, who embraced Lesnar afterward.

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UFC 128 Jon Jones VS Maurcio Shogun Rua Full Fight (Video)

Posted by on Feb 1, 2012 in Fights, MMA EVENTS | 2 comments

Watch The New HD Link To the Full Fight Video Jon Jones VS Maurcio Shogun Rua

 

Is there anyone at 205lbs. who can stop Jon ‘Bones’ Jones (13-1-0)?


The 23-year-old phenom, now the youngest fighter to ever wear a UFC championship belt, was nearly flawless in his dominant victory over the usually aggressive Muay Thai striker Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua (19-5-0) who seemed to run out of gas midway through the second round due to the barrage of attacks being landed by his sizable opponent whom commentator Joe Rogan described as looking a full weight class larger than Rua, though the official scales said otherwise.

The fight played out in similar fashion to almost all of Jones’ previous thirteen victories as he orchestrated a mix of unorthodox attacks using spinning back kicks, flying knees, explosive elbows, and some spectacular throws that combined into an overwhelming force which had turned Rua into astumbling punching bag by the third round.

Being a battle tested veteran and proud Brazilian, Rua showed true grit in his efforts to push through the punishment, but midway through the third frame referee Herb Dean had seen enough and put and end to the massacre by calling the fight in Jones’ favor via TKO at 2:37, which caused the crowd to erupt in celebration while Jones flopped to the canvas seemingly stunned by his own historic accomplishment.

Immediately following the bout Jones friend and training partner ‘Suga’ Rashad Evans (15-1-1) was introduced as the next light heavyweight contender though the fans in attendance tried to drown Evans in a hail of boos once he took the microphone to address the newly crowned champion. No word yet on when the Jones vs Evans title contest will take place, but it is hard to imagine Evans faring any better than Rua if/when he steps in against the one they call ‘Bones’.



 

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