Take a look back at the past seven days in Mixed Martial Arts, which included fight cards from the UFC, Bellator, WSOF, and 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. Last Sunday evening, Dan Henderson (30-11) fought back after being on the brink of defeat on multiple occasions to knock out Mauricio Rua (22-9) in the third round with a huge right. The fight, a re-match of a classic 2011 bout, headlined a UFC Fight Night event that took place in Brazil.
Also on the card, Ultimate Fighter Brazil winner Cezar Ferreira (7-3) suffered his first loss in the UFC when C.B. Dollaway (14-5) finished Ferreira with a violent combination within the first minute of their tilt. A lightweight match-up between Leonardo Santos (12-3-1) and Norman Parke (19-2-1) ended in a draw after Parke, who got the better of Santos in the last two rounds, was deducted a point for holding onto Santos’ shorts. Fabio Maldonado (21-6) used his boxing to thrash Gian Villante (11-5) in the latter two periods of their bout en route to winning a unanimous decision. Up-and-coming lightweight Mairbek Taisumov (21-5) lost a lot of luster in his fight with Michel Prazeres (18-1). Taisumov lost a lopsided decision to Prazeres after losing all three rounds and having two points deducted by Mario Yamasaki for grabbing the cage and landing an illegal kick.
Officialy, Rony Bezerra (14-4) finished Steven Siler (23-12) in the first round with strikes, but the stoppage in the fight was really questionable. Siler still appeared to have his wits about him, and he demonstrated that, immediately complaining once the fight was halted. Contrvorsary continued in the Jussier Formiga (16-3)/Scott Jorgensen (14-9) fight as Jorgensen was submitted with a rear-naked choke from Formiga directly after he was clearly shaken up when both fighters head-butted one another. Thiago Santos (9-2) made short work of Ronny Markes (14-3), dropping him early on with a body kick and polishing him off with punches to obtain the victory.
Also on the card, Kenny Robertson (13-3) ran through Thiago Perpetuo (9-3-1) by taking him down, landing ground and pound, and submitting Perpetuo with a rear-naked choke, Hans Stringer (22-5-3) won a lackluster split decision over Francimar Barroso (16-4), and Godofredo Castro (10-3) scored a highlight-reel flying knee knockout over Noad Lahat (7-1).
2. Season ten of Bellator continued on with Alexander Shlemenko (50-7) defending his middleweight championship and submitting Brennan Ward (9-2) in the second round of the Bellator 114 main event.
Brett Cooper (20-9) came one step closer to having a third match with Shlemenko as he advanced to the finals of the middleweight tournament by knocking out Kendall Grove (19-14, 1 NC) in the second frame after dropping the first.
In the two featherweight semifinal match-ups, Daniel Weichel (33-8) and Desmond Green (12-2) won their respective fights over Matt Bessette (13-5) and Will Martinez (9-3-1) on the judges’ scorecards. Weichel and Green were both able to take the fight to ground and control it from there throughout the contests.
3. A pair of former UFC fighters made their World Series of Fighting debuts at WSOF 9. Rousimar Palhares (16-6) won the promotion’s welterweight championship by submitting Steve Carl (21-4) with a heel hook in a little over a minute, and Yushin Okami (30-8) capped off a dominant performance against Svetlozar Savov (12-5) by submitting him in the second frame with an arm-triangle.
A champion was crowned in the WSOF bantamweight division as Marlon Moraes (13-4-1) dominated Josh Rettinghouse (10-3) through five rounds to a win a unanimous decision and the title.
And in a battle of welterweights, Josh Burkman (27-10) knocked out Tyler Stinson (27-10) in the first round with a powerful right.
4. In Ultimate Fighter news, Elias Theodorou (8-0) advanced to the middleweight finals on TUF Nations by winning a three-round unanimous decision over Tyler Manawaroa (10-0). Theodorou controlled the pace and where the fight played out with his wrestling.
On the third episode of the Ultimate Fighter Brazil 3, Wagner Gomes (3-0) outpointed Joilton Santos (9-2, 1 NC) in a middleweight bout that went to a sudden-death third round. Gomes, who won the first fight since all 32 fighters advance to the house, used superior grappling to deflate Santos.
5. XFC International 3 was headlined by Luis Santos (60-9-1) delivering a beautiful front kick knockout to Alfredo Morales (11-4) in the third round of their welterweight fight. Bantamweight prospect Allan Nascimento (12-2) submitted Matias Vasquez (9-4) with an armbar in the night’s co-main event.
XFCi 3 also had the women’s strawweight tournament semifinals and men’s middleweight tournament quarterfinals take place.
In the women’s tournament, Vanessa Melo (3-2) won a unanimous decision over Gloria Bravo (1-2), and Vanessa Guimaraes (3-2)was awarded a split verdict against Marcela Yineris (0-1).
In the middleweight quarterfinals, Thiago Rela (7-2) forced Julio Cesar Cruz (5-5) to tap out thanks to an armbar, Cristiano Frolich (4-1) put Juan Villanueva (0-3) with strikes in the first frame, Miguel Gentilini (6-0) topped Rosalio Medrano (0-1) in the second via TKO, and Alberto Uda (5-0) took home a unanimous decision over Wendres Carlos (11-6)
6. Cage Warriors brought it’s fighters to Jordan with CWFC Fight Night 10. In the main event, German middleweight Abu Azaitar (9-2) finished Jack Marshman (14-5) with strikes in the first round. Other fights on the card saw 27-year-old, two-time Bellator middleweight Norman Paraisy (14-3-2, 1 NC) win his third in a row, outpointing Allan Love (11-5), and Russian bantamweight Marat Pekov (11-5) submit John Cullen (17-8-2) with an armbar in the first frame.
7. Former Strikeforce heavyweight Brett Rogers (14-7) lost his second straight when he dropped a decision to Konstantin Erokhin (6-1) at Fight Nights 15.
The News
1. Chris Weidman’s next title defense against Lyoto Machida was rescheduled. Originally set to fight Machida at UFC 173, Weidman will now face Machida at UFC 175 because he suffered a knee injury.
2. Robbie Lawler’s next outing since losing a close decision to Johny Hendricks will be against Jake Ellenberger at UFC 173. Lawler replaces an injured Tarec Saffiedine, who was scheduled to take on Ellenberger at UFC 172.
The main event for UFC 173 will pit bantamweight champion Renan Barao against yet another member of Team Alpha Male. Barao is scheduled to take on T.J. Dillashaw.
3. Rousimar Palhares’ first title defense as World Series of Fighting welterweight champion will come against Jon Fitch. The pair of 170 pounders will fight in July at WSOF 11.
4. Following his loss to Desmond Green at Bellator 114, featherweight Will Martinez announced his retirement from the sport of Mixed Martial Arts.
Two other championship matches were also announced for WSOF 10. Georgia Karakhanyan will take on Rick Glenn in a featherweight title tilt, and Jesse Taylor will face David Branch in a middleweight championship clash.
Fight Announcements
Bellator 117 – April 18
LW Tourney: Marcin Held (17-3) vs Derek Anderson (11-0)
LW Tourney: Patricky Freire (12-5) vs Derek Campos (14-3)
UFC 173 – May 24
BW Title: Renan Barao (32-1, 1 NC) vs T.J. Dillashaw (9-2)
WW Bout: Robbie Lawler (22-10, 1 NC) vs Jake Ellenberger (29-7)
BW Bout: Takeya Mizugaki (19-7-2) vs Francisco Rivera (10-2, 1 NC)
UFC Fight Night 41 – May 31
MW Bout: Francis Carmont (22-8) vs C.B. Dollaway (14-5)
MW Bout: Luke Barnatt (8-0) vs Sean Strickland (14-0)
MW Bout: Magnus Cedenblad (11-4) vs Krzysztof Jotko (14-0)
WW Bout: Peter Sobotta (13-4-1) vs Pawel Pawlak (10-0)
UFC Fight Night 42 – May 31
FW Bout: Kevin Souza (14-3) vs Mark Eddiva (6-0)
LW Bout: Ernest Chavez (7-0) vs Elias Silverio (10-0)
UFC Fight Night 43 – June 7
FLW Bout: John Dodson (15-6) vs John Moraga (14-2)
LW Bout: Diego Sanchez (24-7) vs Ross Pearson (15-6, 1 NC)
BW Bout: Sergio Pettis (10-1) vs Yaotzin Meza (20-9)
UFC 174 – June 14
BW Bout: Mike Easton (13-4) vs Yves Jabouin (19-9)
BW Bout: Michinori Tanaka (9-0) vs Rolande Delorme (9-2, 1 NC)
WSOF 10 – June 21
FW Title: Georgi Karakhanyan (23-3-1) vs Rick Glenn (14-2-1)
MW Title: Jesse Taylor (27-9) vs David Branch (13-3)
UFC 175 – July 5
MW Title: Chris Weidman (11-0) vs Lyoto Machida (21-4)
WSOF 11 – July
WW Title: Rousimar Palhares (16-6) vs Jon Fitch (26-6-1, 1 NC)
Ratings Report
The ratings used in this section are the non-DVR preliminary viewership averages according to Nielsen sources.
UFC Fight Night 38: 936,000
Bellator 113: 507,000
Quick Results
UFC Fight Night 38
LHW Bout: Dan Henderson (30-11) def. Mauricio Rua (22-9) via TKO (strikes) – Round 3, 1:31
MW Bout: C.B. Dollaway (14-5) def. Cezar Ferreira (7-3) via KO (punches) – Round 1, :39
LW Bout: Norman Parke (19-2-1) fought Leonardo Santos (12-3-1) to a majority draw (28-28, 28-28, 29-27 Santos)
LHW Bout: Fabio Maldonado (21-6) def. Gian Villante (11-5) via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-27)
LW Bout: Michel Prazeres (18-1) def. Mairbek Taisumov (21-5) via unanimous decision (30-25, 30-25, 30-25)
FW Bout: Rony Bezerra (14-4) def. Steven Siler (23-12) via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 1:17
MW Bout: Thiago Santos (9-2) def. Ronny Markes (14-3) via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, :53
FLW Bout: Jussier Formiga (16-3) def. Scott Jorgensen (14-9) via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 3:07
WW Bout: Kenny Robertson (13-3) def. Thiago Perpetuo (9-3-1) via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 1:45
LHW Bout: Hans Stringer (22-5-3) def. Francimar Barroso (16-4) via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
FW Bout: Godofredo Castro (10-3) def. Noad Lahat (7-1) via KO (flying knee) – Round 1, 2:39
Bellator 114
MW Title: Alexander Shlemenko (50-7) def. Brennan Ward (9-2) via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 2, 1:22
FW Tourney: Daniel Weichel (33-8) def. Matt Bessette (13-5) via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
FW Tourney: Desmond Green (11-2) def. Will Martinez (9-3-1) via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
MW Tourney: Brett Cooper (20-9) def. Kendall Grove (19-14, 1 NC) via TKO (strikes) – Round 2, 3:33
FW Bout: Rad Martinez (15-3) def. Edson Berto (17-12-1) via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
LW Bout: Justin Wilcox (14-6, 1 NC) def. Jason Fischer (6-3) via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
LW Bout: Bubba Jenkins (6-1) def. Sean Powers (8-5) via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
LHW Bout: Linton Vassell (13-3, 1 NC) def. Trevor Carlson (7-2) via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 1:54
WW Bout: Gavin Sterritt (6-1) def. Mike Estus (6-2) via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 1, 3:29
MW Bout: Joe Rodriguez (3-2) def. Eric Wahlin (5-3) via submission (arm-triangle choke) – Round 2, 2:06
WSOF 9
WW Title: Rousimar Palhares (16-6) def. Steve Carl (21-4) via submission (heel hook) – Round 1, 1:09
BW Title: Marlon Moraes (13-4-1) def. Josh Rettinghouse (10-3) via unanimous decision (50-44, 50-44, 50-44)
MW Bout: Yushin Okami (30-8) def. Svetlozar Savov (12-5) via submission (arm-triangle choke) – Round 2, 4:46
WW Bout: Josh Burkman (27-10) def. Tyler Stinson (27-10) via KO (punch) – Round 1, 2:15
LW Bout: Jonathan Nunez (5-0) def. Ozzy Dugulubgov (5-2) via split decision (28-29, 30-27, 29-28)
FW Bout: Mike Corey (13-3-1) def. Shane Kruchten (11-3) via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 2:59
BW Bout: Bryson Hansen (7-1) def. Sean Cantor (1-1) via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, :46
FW Bout: Chris Gruetzemacher (12-1) def. John Gunderson (34-16-2) via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26)
FW Bout: Brenson Hansen (6-2) def. Boostayre Nefarios (2-2) via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
WW Bout: Danny Davis (9-8-1) def. Phil Dace (9-5) via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
LW Bout: Jimmy Spicuzza (3-0) def. Gil Guardado (2-1) via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 3:14