UFC 156 Huge for Black House

UFC 156 had a ton of hype going into Saturday.

Blackhouse was represented by Jose Aldo, Antonio Silva, and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira. Jose Aldo defended his title, and made a great case for being the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world. The only person that might have a higher P4P ranking would be his teammate, UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva.

Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva and Antonio Rogerio “Little Nog” Nogueira grabbed a couple of upsets at UFC 156 for the Black House camp, as well. A win over Alistair Overeem gets Antonio Silva into the UFC Heavyweight Title Conversation. Little Nog, meanwhile, got one step closer to a title shot as well.

2013 Looks grand for the lads at Black House so far!

Alistair Overeem hopefully learned from UFC 156

The “Demolition Man” was extremely confident going into his bout with Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva. The question has to be asked, “was Alistair Overeem too confident?”.

If the confidence shown by the former Strikeforce, K-1, and Dream Champion was just to push the fight, nobody told Bigfoot. After the 3rd Round TKO, Antonio Silva had to be pulled away by UFC Referee Herb Dean. It was clearly personal to Bigfoot. Well Antonio, you did it, without the talk. In the end, Alistair Overeem disrespected the wrong person – my guess is, we won’t see a “Overconfident Overeem” again for a long time.

Jose Aldo and Frankie Edgar for UFC 156 Prediction

This is a fight that I’ve been excited to see for a while!

Whoever holds the UFC Featherweight Title at the end of the night belongs in the top 2 pound-for-pound fighters in the world for a lot of people. Frankie Edgar is a top 3 Lightweight in the world, while the current UFC Featherweight Champion, Jose Aldo, hasn’t been beaten in the UFC yet. Something has to give in this fight.

I know the answer – it’s Frankie “The Answer” Edgar. That’s right, Frankie wins this bout, and it won’t be decided by the judges! Frankie Edgar will finish this fight, in the 4th Round, by TKO, and you can take that to the BANK!

Gilbert Melendez and Nick Diaz UFC Title Fights

In April, the world will have the pleasure of seeing the current Strikeforce Lightweight Champion, Gilbert Melendez, finally join the UFC. It was known that he would eventually get to the “Big Show”, and now he will take on the current UFC Lightweight Champion, Benson Henderson, in San Jose, California at the UFC on Fox 7 Event.

What will we learn from this match-up? First off, is Gilbert worthy of his current top 3 ranking? You’d have to figure there might be a “slight” home-field advantage in April.

Right now, the UFC Lightweight Champion looks near unbeatable in the division. The last victim of Ben Henderson was Nate Diaz, Melendez’s training partner.

One thing is for sure, the Strikeforce Lightweight Champion will have plenty of information on Smooth; five recent rounds with Ben Henderson makes Nate Diaz extremely valuable to the Cesar Gracie Camp. This is very similar to the five rounds of information that Jake Shields brings with UFC Welterweight Champion George St. Pierre for Nick Diaz.

2013 will definitely be interesting!

Cain Velasquez - To Find Gold, See Red

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Cain Velasquez – To Find Gold, See Red

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by Chris Matthews on 12/22/2012

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We are just a short seven days away from two of the top MMA Heavyweights on the planet meeting for a second time.

I’m of course talking about the current UFC Heavyweight Champion Junior Dos Santos defending his title for a third time, against someone he has already defeated, in Cain Velasquez.

The first fight didn’t last long. You have to think that Cain won’t make the same mistake he made then, trying to stand toe-to-toe with the best striker in the Heavyweight Division. For some reason, this fight seems just a little bit different.

Let’s be fair though, Cain Velasquez was coming off a 13-month injury layoff. In the fight Cain had with Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva, Cain looked like a man possessed…will Junior Dos Santos have to go against that same possessed Cain Velasquez, the one Bigfoot got introduced to? My gut tells me that Junior will see a much different Cain Velasquez in this fight. Cain has felt what the joyous feeling of winning the title, and the horrible feeling of losing it, is.

One this is for sure, this will be an exciting fight. My advice is this – don’t look at the first fight and assume that “the past equals the present”. Cain is coming for blood. Just ask Bigfoot.

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What's Next for Shogun Rua? Anderson Silva makes sense.

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What’s Next for Shogun Rua? Anderson Silva makes sense.

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by Chris Matthews
on 12/20/2012

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Former Pride Grand Prix and UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua is coming off a decisive loss to UFC Light Heavyweight contender Alexander Gustuffson at the recent UFC on Fox 5: Henderson vs. Diaz Event.

The big question is, “what’s next for Shogun”? Here’s a thought – UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson “Spider” Silva is nearing the end of his career, and would be a prime opponent for Shogun. Shogun isn’t a big UFC Light Heavyweight, and looks like he could cut pretty easily to get down to 185lbs.

There’s you’re UFC “Superfight”, folks. It’s not GSP vs. Anderson Silva, it’s Shogun vs Anderson Silva. Moving down from Light Heavyweight to Middleweight can be a good thing. If Shogun doesn’t believe me, ask Now-UFC-Top-Middleweight-Contender Tim Boetch.

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GSP vs. Nick Diaz...tune-up fight?

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GSP vs. Nick Diaz…tune-up fight?

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by Chris Matthews on 12/19/2012

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So the fight most MMA fans want is finally happening…right? Leading up to the March bout where George St. Pierre takes on Nick Diaz for the UFC Welterweight Championship, fans and critics will point to Nick Diaz’s loss to Carlos Condit, and ask “why is he more deserving of a UFC Welterweight Title shot than Johnny Hendricks?”

My question is this – is the UFC confident that GSP, the current UFC Welterweight Champion, is ready for those lethal hands of Hendricks, many observers’ top contender at 170?

Only time will tell. Until then, we have the UFC title fight set for UFC 158, GSP and Nick Diaz. Regardless of who the top threat is to GSP’s strap, this should be a fun fight for fans either way.

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Fabricio Werdum inching his way to the top of UFC Heavyweight Division

When Fabricio Werdum left the UFC in 2008, it was coming off a lopsided loss to current UFC Heavyweight Champion Junior dos Santos. Since leaving the UFC, Fabricio Werdum is 5-1, with victories over Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva, Fedor Emelianenko, Roy Nelson, Mike Russo, and Mike Kyle. His one loss was by decision to Alistair Overeem, one I had him winning on my scorecard.

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UFC 146 last thoughts and Fighter Grades

We are a couple days removed now, from UFC 146. As the dust settles, you wonder what is next for fighters like Stipe Miocic, Stefan Struve, Roy Nelson and Frank Mir. Stipe Miocic is now 9-0, with a 3-0 record in the UFC. You’ve to got figure, Joe Silva will raise the level of competition for Miocic. Stefan Struve might be raising it pretty high, literally. Still, Struve and Miocic would be a fun fight to watch. Brock Lesnar, just happened to be at UFC 146. This is looking like a possible return for the former UFC Heavyweight Champion. Roy “Big Country” Nelson, voiced that he’d be very interested in taking on Brock Lesnar. That would be an interesting match-up for sure.
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Raising Cain - UFC 146

Junior Dos Santos retains his title, against UFC Veteran Frank Mir. The Champion looked extremely sharp on his feet. He showed Frank Mir and the world, why he is one of the top boxers, in MMA. Cain Velasquez looked like a machine. Going into this fight, it was hard to figure who would react better, after a loss. Antonio Silva looked like a machine against Fedor. Daniel Cormier was the one that looked like a machine in his bout w/ Bigfoot. Cain Velasquez had the long layoff, after he won the Title from Brock Lesnar. He got dismantled by the current UFC Heavyweight Champion, Junior Dos Santos. So we made it to UFC 146, wondering who would rebound from the loss. Raising Cain. That’s what Cain Velasquez did. It was almost shocking, how much blood came from Bigfoot. When he was shaking his head, trying to get the blood out of his eyes, you knew the end had to be near. It’s not easy to get an MMA victory, when you have blood in you’re eyes, and you are getting hit by Cain Velasquez, at the same time. Dana White had to have liked, what he seen, from Cain Velasquez. His reaction definitely suggests that. Junior Dos Santos, will give Cain Velasquez a rematch, for the UFC Heavyweight Title. Roy Nelson called his shot again. He said he was going to knock out Dave Herman. Big Country did just that, in the First Round, all the way to a “Knockout of the Night” bonus.

Upcoming Blog: UFC 146 Main Card Conclusion and Fighter Grades

Chris Matthews- MMA Shock and Who will take Alistair Overeem's place at UFC 146

Performance-enhancing drugs are becoming more and more common in sports.  We aren’t
talking about creatine either.  Not too long ago, it was Human Growth Hormone, and
now Testosterone Therapy is the rage.  It’s been almost a week since Alistair Overeem’s
failed drug test became public knowledge.  It will be interesting to see what becomes
of this.  His hearing is set for April 24th, so that gives us another couple of weeks to
discuss “what ifs”.  This has been a shock sent throughout MMA, and what have we learned?  The Heavyweight Division
of the UFC is just as important as it is in boxing.  There has to be a solution found through
all of this.  I guess the question becomes, if another opponent has to be chosen, who will it
be?  Josh Barnett would be the obvious choice based on his fight results and rankings.  The
problem with Barnett is the fact that he has failed more than one drug test.  Wouldn’t it be
insane if Daniel Cormier was to get the title shot? IF he defeated Jr Dos Santos,would that
be unthinkable?  I’m by no means saying Strikeforce Heavyweight Daniel Cormier should be the
choice, but it wouldn’t lack intrigue for sure. If you stay in the UFC, Frank Mir or Fabricio Werdum, become intriguing options. The only thing we know for sure, is that we don’t know anything for sure.

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This blog belongs to Chris Matthews, Host, Salesman and Interview Coordinator for MMA Lockup and MMALockup.com.

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