Take a look back at the last seven days in mixed martial arts, which included fight cards from UFC, Cage Warriors, and several other promotions.
Along with looking back at the fights that took place over the weekend, this week-in review includes the latest news, TV ratings, and fight announcements.
The MMA Recap
1. With ten fights going to a decision and many of those bouts pitting lower-tier UFC fighters against one another, UFC Fight Night 36 left more to be desired from an entertainment standpoint, but a lackluster event here or there should come as no surprise in a sport that has an underlying theme of unpredictability.
Nevertheless, the event concluded with a nice reward to those that stayed up to watch Lyoto Machida (21-4) welcome Gegard Mousasi (34-4-2) back to the middleweight division. Machida flaunted his speed, striking expertise, and fighting IQ to get the better of Mousasi in a finesse-filled, technical match-up to win a unanimous decision.
The rest of the night’s main card saw Ronaldo Souza (20-3, 1 NC) continue his rise up the middleweight ranks with a convincing decision win that saw him outpoint Francis Carmont (22-8) on the ground in rounds one and three, Erick Silva (16-4, 1 NC) ran through Takenori Sato (17-9-7) by defending Sato’s takedown with brutal hammer-fists that led to a first round stoppage, Nico Musoke (12-2, 1 NC) survive an early scared to win a forgettable decision against Viscardi Andrade (17-6), and Charles Oliveira (17-4, 1 NC) obtained the first finish of the night when he secured a fight-ending triangle choke on Andy Ogle (9-4) in the third round.
And on the preliminary card, Joe Proctor (9-2), Rodrigo Damm (12-6), Francisco Trinaldo (14-3), Iuri Alcantara (29-5, 1 NC), Felipe Arantas (16-6-1, 2 NC), Ildemar Alcantara (20-6), and Zubaira Tukhugov (16-3) won decisions against Cristiano Marcello (13-6), Ivan Jorge (25-4), Jesse Ronson (13-4), Wilson Reis (17-5), Maximo Blanco (9-6-1, 1 NC), Albert Tumenov (12-2), and Douglas Silva de Andrade (22-1, 1 NC), respectively.
Lyoto Machida and Gegard Mousasi were given fight of the night honors, while the first two performance of the night awards were handed to Erick Silva and Charles Oliveira.
2. The Ultimate Fighter Nations continued with the fifth episode in the series, and Team Australia won it’s second fight as welterweight Richard Walsh (7-1) out-struck and outworked Team Canada’s Matt Desroches (4-0) in the clinch to win a two-round decision.
Richard Walsh has now advanced to the next round of the welterweight bracket, joining Canadians Chad Laprise (7-0) and Kajan Johnson (19-10-1). The fight scheduled for next week pits Australia’s Dan Kelly (5-0) against Canada’s Sheldon Westcott (8-1-1) in a middleweight bout.
3. After losing four of his last five fights, former WEC Bantamweight Champion Miguel Torres (41-7) got back on the winning track with a decision win against Giovanni Moljo (5-6) at a UCL card.
4. Cage Warriors 64 took place during the day on Saturday in London, England, and in the main event, bantamweight Cory Tait (8-2) finished his fourth consecutive fight when by submitting James Pennington (9-2) with a guillotine choke in the first round. Jake Bostwick (14-8, 1 NC) extended his winning streak to seven with a unanimous decision victory over Boubacar Balde (9-8) in a middleweight bout.
Also, two up-and-coming fighters worth keeping tabs on were victorious on the card. Welterweight Danny Roberts (10-1) beat Juan Manuel Suarez (13-6) on the judges’ scorecards, and Nad Narimani (7-1), a 145 pounder, tapped Benjamin Brander (6-1) out in the first frame with a rear-naked choke.
5. At West Coast Fighting 8, a match-up between two intriguing featherweight prospects ended with Josh Berkovic (5-0) becoming WFC champion when he used a guillotine choke to elicit a tap from Team Alpha Male’s Anthony Avila (11-3) in the first period.
The other Team Alpha Male representatives found more success than Anthony Avila as five-time UFC fighter David Mitchell (13-4) finished Fernando Gonzalez (20-11) in the third round with ground and pound, and featherweight Josh Emmett (4-0) increased his unblemished record to four with a decision win against Adin Duenas (1-1).
The News
1. The biggest story this past week was that top lightweight Gilbert Melendez (22-3), fresh off his UFC deal expiring, has signed a deal to compete in Bellator. Due to the nature of the UFC’s contract, the promotion has the ability to match Bellator’s offer.
2. UFC newcomer Patrick Cummins (4-0) will step in to replace Rashad Evans (24-3-1) and fight Daniel Cormier (13-0) at UFC 170. Cummins, an all-american wrestler that has spent time training with Cormier, earned the title shot after gaining some notoriety through twitter and an appearance on The MMA Hour.
3. Bloody Elbow’s Brent Brookhouse’s initial report of Jessica Eye’s probational suspension for her UFC 166 bout being a result of a positive test for marijuana was confirmed by Damon Martin of Fox Sports that displayed paperwork detailing the reason for her probational suspension.
4. Invicta FC announced that the promotion had signed fifteen new fighters with the two biggest names being Roxanne Modafferi (15-11) and Peggy Morgan (2-1), two contestants on the women’s bantamweight season of The Ultimate Fighter. Invicta added fighter to all five of their weight classes. Here’s a complete list on the fighters that the promotion signed per division.
Atomweight: Amber Brown (3-1)
Strawweight: Livia Renata Souza (5-0), Herica Tiburcio (7-2), Karolina Kowalkiewicz (4-0), Ashley Greenway (0-0), and Mellony Geugjes (0-1)
Flyweight: Valerie Letourneau (4-3), Delaney Owen (0-0), and Rachel Ostovich (0-1)
Bantamweight: Roxanne Modafferi (15-11), Peggy Morgan (2-1), Irene Aldana (3-1), Joanna Jedrzejczyk (4-0), and Cindy Danbois (5-1)
Featherweight: Faith Van Duin (4-0)
5. Former UFC champion turned MMA agent Tito Ortiz will no longer represent Cris “Cyborg” Justino (12-1-1, 1 NC). The announcement came on this week’s edition of Inside MMA. In his announcement, Ortiz cited the reason for him stepping being that he didn’t want to his volatile relationship with Dana White to hold Justino back from being signed by the UFC.
6. Brad Pickett (23-8) was scheduled to make his flyweight debut against Ian McCall (12-4-1) at UFC Fight Night 37, but the bout is off because Ian McCall suffered an injury. Pickett currently has no opponent for the bout that is scheduled to take place on March 8th.
7. The Ultimate Fighter will finally be branching out into the Latin American market. Through a press release, the UFC announced that there will be a season shot during the spring that will be made up of fighters from Latin American countries. The weight class and coaches have yet to be announced.
8. Earlier in the week, it was announced that knockout and submission of the night awards at UFC events will be no more. Instead of those honors, the UFC will give out two performance of the night bonuses as well as maintaining the fight of the night award.
9. Don’t expect to see Ultimate Fighter Nations middleweight Tyler Manawaroa (10-0) in the UFC anytime soon. As a direct result of an eighteen month-old highly insensitive and racist instagram post being made public by fellow cast-mate Kajan Johnson, Manawaroa will not being receiving a contract by the UFC, regardless of how he fares on the show.
Fight Announcements
UFC 170 – February 22nd
LHW Bout: Daniel Cormier (13-0) vs Patrick Cummins (4-0)
BW Bout: Raphael Assuncao (21-4) vs Pedro Munhoz (10-0)
BW Bout: Aljamain Sterling (8-0) vs Cody Gibson (11-3)
UFC on FOX 11 – April 19th
HW Bout: Derrick Lewis (9-2, 1 NC) vs Jack May (7-0)
Titan FC 28 – April 19th
LHW Bout: Vinny Magalhaes (10-7, 1 NC) vs Jason Brilz (21-5-1)
MFC 40 – May 9th
BW Title: Anthony Birchak (11-1) vs Kevin Croom (13-4)
LW Title: Tom Gallicchio (18-8) vs Kurt Southern (13-5)
Ratings Report
1. The fifth episode of The Ultimate Fighter Nations drew 187,000 viewers which is down from 384,000 that watched last week.
Quick Results
UFC Fight Night 36
Main Card
MW Bout: Lyoto Machida (21-4) def. Gegard Mousasi (34-4-2) via unanimous decision (49-46, 50-45, 50-45)
MW Bout: Ronaldo Souza (20-3, 1 NC) def. Francis Carmont (22-8) via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
WW Bout: Erick Silva (16-4, 1 NC) def. Takenori Sato (17-9-7) via KO (strikes) – Round 1, :52
WW Bout: Nico Musoke (12-2, 1 NC) def. Viscardi Andrade (17-6) via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
FW Bout: Charles Oliveira (17-4, 1 NC) def. Andy Ogle (9-4) via submission (triangle choke) – Round 3, 2:40
Preliminary Card
LW Bout: Joe Proctor (9-2) def. Cristiano Marcello (13-6) via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 29-28)
FW Bout: Rodrigo Damm (12-6) def. Ivan Jorge (25-4) via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
LW Bout: Francisco Trinaldo (14-3) def. Jesse Ronson (13-4) via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 30-27)
BW Bout: Iuri Alcantara (29-5, 1 NC) def. Wilson Reis (17-5) via split decision (28-29, 30-27, 30-27)
FW Bout: Felipe Arantes (16-6-1, 2 NC) def. Maximo Blanco (9-6-1, 1 NC) via unanimous decision (29-27, 29-27, 29-27)
WW Bout: Ildemar Alcantara (20-6) def. Albert Tumenov (12-2) via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 30-27)
FW Bout: Zubaira Tukhogov (16-3) def. Douglas Silva de Andrade (22-1, 1 NC) via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 30-27)