Bloody Elbow

Tom DeBlass, Rafael Natal, And Marcelo Guimaraes Featured In Three New Bouts For UFC On Fuel 4

2012-05-16T21:00:11Z

A trio of new bouts was reported today for the UFC's July 11th event in San Jose, California, which will serve at UFC on Fuel TV 4. In light heavyweight action, New Jersey-based grappling standout, Tom DeBlass, will face Canada's Nick Penner as reported by TheScore.com, while Renzo Gracie protege, Rafael Natal, tweeted that he will face Andrew Craig in a middleweight bout, and talented Brazilian, Marcelo Guimaraes will make his UFC debut against Dan Stittgen in the welterweight division, according to Globo's SporTV.com.

DeBlass, despite posessing an outstanding BJJ pedigree under Ricardo Almeida, made the decision to take his first UFC fight on extremely short notice against Cyrille Diabate in Sweden. Although he was never in danger of being finished, DeBlass's lack of a full training camp was evident as he quickly tired and was unable to impose his ground game against Diabate, who wound up winning the decision. Penner, who made his bones on the Canadian regional scene, also lost his UFC debut when he got TKOd by Anthony Perosh at UFC on FX 2.

Natal, a BJJ black belt better known as "Sapo", is surpisingly under a three-fight unbeaten streak under the UFC banner, having gone to a draw with Jesse Bongfeldt in late 2010, and then following that with two consecutive decision wins against Paul Bradley and Michael Kuiper. Craig surprised many at UFC on FX 2, when, filling in for Jared Hamman on short notice, he upset hometown favorite, Kyle Noke, in a decision win that saw Craig drop the first round only to come back and control the final two frames, unleashing some serious ground and pound on Noke.

The undefeated Guimaraes make his UFC debut after a successful run in Brazil's Jungle Fight promotion, where he held the welterweight title. A former training partner of fellow UFC fighters, Erick Silva and Paulo Thiago, Guimaraes is now training with Wanderlei Silva in Las Vegas. Guimaraes is notable for having tried out for TUF: Brazil, only to be signed to a UFC contract without having to go through the competition. Much like another Brazilian prospect, Ronny Markes, Guimaraes uses a strong wrestling game and a smothering top control style to wear down his opponent. Unfortunately for Stittgen, an Ohio native and Jorge Gurgel student, he seemed to be cannon fodder for young karateka, Stephen Thompson, when they both made their UFC debuts in February, and ended with Thompson KOing Stittgen via head kick in the first round.

The current card for UFC on Fuel TV 4, which takes place at the HP Pavillion in San Jose on July 11th, now includes:

-Mark Munoz vs. Chris Weidman
-Brandon Vera vs. James Te Huna
-Jon Fitch vs. Aaron Simpson
-Anthony Njokuani vs. Paul Taylor
-T.J. Dillashaw vs. Vaughan Lee
-Raphael Assuncao vs. Issei Tamura
-Chris Cariaso vs. Josh Ferguson
-Tom DeBlass vs. Nick Penner
-Rafael Natal vs. Andrew Craig
-Marcelo Guimaraes vs. Dan Stittgen

SBNation coverage of UFC on Fuel TV 4

UFC 146: Junior Dos Santos' Coach Says Cigano Better Than Frank Mir Striking And On The Ground

2012-05-16T20:00:27Z

UFC Heavyweight Champion Junior dos Santos' coach had strong words concerning how his fighter matches up with former UFC Champion Frank Mir. This fight has been put together on short notice following the fallout of the Alistair Overeem scandal and it has given both fighters precious little time to prepare their strategies for one another.

The immediate reaction was the the Champion held a imposing advantage on the feet. Junior dos Santos has a rare combination of speed, power and size that makes him extremely dangerous on the feet. Most fans agreed that Mir's chances are pretty slim on the feet and his only path to victory is to somehow wrestle dos Santos to the mat. There Mir's years of black belt experience in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu could help him secure a submission victory.

From that point of view the biggest challenge Mir faced was somehow closing the distance and solving the puzzle of how to get dos Santos down. The Champions ground grappling ability is completely discounted, in large part because we've haven't seen dos Santos forced to use his grappling in years.

Guilherme Cruz of Tatme caught with dos Santos' jiu jitsu coach Yuri Carlton while he helped prepare the champion for his UFC 146 match with Mir and when asked how dos Santos' skills compares to Mir's, see what he had to say after the jump...

SBN coverage of UFC 146: Dos Santos vs. Mir

This speculations about Mir being better on the ground is bullshit. Cigano is better on the stand-up and on the ground. I'm positive about it!

Strong words to be certain, but not shocking. Coaches are supposed to stand by and instill confidence in their fighters. But what was interesting is what came next.

I'm positive that Cigano's Jiu-Jitsu is better. He trains with the Best guys in Brazil: Minotauro, Minotouro, Anderson, Demian, just to name a few... Frank Mir trains in the United States with some Brazilians, but we have the privilege of training in Brazil. When you're talking about Jiu-Jitsu, Brazil is the place to be.

Training in Brazil vs training in the United States is a debate that has continued in both Mixed Martial Arts and BJJ communities for years now. In the modern realities of both sports to simply assume that not training with Brazilians means that one will have weak grappling is laughable.

The fact that Carlton takes such a direct shot at who Mir is training with is interesting, as Mir's grappling coach is Robert Drysdale. In the lead up to the Forrest Griffin vs Anderson Silva match, Drysdale made several remarks about Anderson Silva's jiu jitsu that did not sit well with the Nogueira Brothers camp. Drysdale is a very accomplished in competitive grappling, more so than Demian Maia or the Nogueira brothers, having won IBJJF and CBJJF world championships, and ADCCs but has never been given the same level of respect by the Brazilian community.

UFC Veteran Paul Kelly's Home Raided During Drug Bust In England

2012-05-16T19:00:27Z

According to a report from the Liverpool Echo (HT: MMA Convert), former UFC fighter, Paul Kelly (12-5), along with several others, has been arrested and charged for drug offenses after a drug bust in Liverpool, England.

Cannabis, ammunition, and "drugs believed to be heroin" were reportedly found in the several locations that were raided during the sting. From the report:

THREE men were charged with drug offences last night after raids across Merseyside.

Police swooped on addresses in Liverpool and Sefton yesterday and arrested six men and a woman after seizing Class A drugs and firearms ammunition. The force’s Matrix unit supported by neighborhood officers executed the dawn raids and also confiscated large amounts of money.

...

Christopher McGirr, 27, of Carina Court, Aigburth, and Paul Kelly, 27, of Swanside Road, Knotty Ash, were charged with conspiracy to supply Class A and B drugs. Paul Rogers, 27, of Smithford Walk, Roby, was charged with conspiracy to supply Class A drugs.

All three men were held in custody and were due to appear at Liverpool magistrates court this morning.

Kelly has since responded, saying there was nothing illegal found on his Liverpool home:

@paulkellymma
paul kelly Just to clarify yes my house was raided by mersyside matrix division who found no drugs or anything ov any criminal nature
May 16 via Mobile Web Favorite Retweet Reply

Kelly compiled a (4-4) record in the UFC and last fought in the promotion on February 2011, losing to top contender, Donald Cerrone. After being released by the promotion, the Brit competed in Super Fight League 2, losing to Ryan Healy by a lopsided decision.

Dana White's UFC On Fox Ratings Rant Against Dave Meltzer Was Too Much

2012-05-16T18:00:21Z

Promoters will always be promoters. Just look at Don King, a man who keeps smiling, spiking his crazy hair and waving mini-American flags regardless of what he's pushing. No matter what, he always focuses on the positive, regardless of what the naysayers are trying to counter with. And with boxing these days, that can be a lot.

UFC president Dana White is a different breed of promoter. He isn't afraid to taunt or fire back at anyone on any subject, something that endeared himself to many as the UFC rose through the sports muck to prominence over the past seven years.

Sometimes he has been right on the money and other times, he has been horrendously off base. When forced to, he's apologized for the really bad stuff, but has never apologized for being open and honest. To say the least, he is the 'anti Roger Goodell' -- a sentiment against a perceived PR-friendly figurehead as opposed to someone shooting from the hip.

But White's video tirade this week against Wrestling Observer founder/MMA journalist Dave Meltzer crossed the line -- not just because it came across as childish and petulant but because it was simply mean spirited in a direction that it never should have gone in.

In the interest of full disclosure, I do some work with the Observer, both writing, editing and appearing on podcasts. I consider Meltzer a colleague and someone that I respect immensely in the business. He is one of the most relentless workers in all of sports journalism and while it's easy to dismiss pro wrestling coverage, Dave has also covered UFC from its inception and is well-versed in everything combat sports. I'm certainly not alone in my feelings and I'm sure White would say the same.

If you're late to the party, Meltzer did some writing on the recent UFC on Fox 3 ratings, numbers that were the lowest of what they've done so far on the big network. He outlined some of the the potential issues that could have affected the rating but also didn't pull any punches in saying what many thought: it wasn't a great number and that the August show is a very important one for the future of the relationship.

White was furious with the analysis, unleashing with a diatribe like we haven't seen in a while. He said the UFC was No. 1 in the key male demos and the last quarter hour of the show was No. 1 among all adult and male demos. He laid out some of the same arguments for the low rating that Meltzer did (without acknowledging that) and tried to make an NBA playoffs analogy that didn't make any sense.

I have no issue with White defending his company amidst the perceived negatives from their latest network TV outing. Whether or not the Fox brass agrees is another story, but as long as they are giving the UFC primetime slots on Saturday nights four times a year, that's a positive thing. I'm somewhat glad White did go behind the curtain a bit because it slightly drives me nuts when he says, "What people don't understand..." Helping people understand his point of view is important, even if it's not impartial.

My issue is the vitriol in which White decided to attack Meltzer. He doesn't have a history on unfounded attack pieces on the UFC, so why would this suddenly elicit this type of reaction? White did tell Meltzer about what was coming and Meltzer didn't do what many weaker than him would have done: issue some sort of apology or do a make-good column to ease any conflict. He has a job to do and I would trust his accuracy over that of a promoter, regardless of who it is.

If I had a gun to my head and had to answer anything about TV ratings or the pay-per-view industry to save my life, Dave Meltzer would be my first call. He's got too much cache, industry relationships and history not to trust him.

The worst and most inaccurate part of White's comments were about Meltzer "being fired" from Yahoo and that he shouldn't be giving business advice. Anyone that has a clue about what is going on at Yahoo knows they released nearly their entire MMA staff amid company-wide cuts and that the company has been in trouble for a long time. White made it sound like Meltzer was released due to bad work which is about as unprofessional as it gets.

I know it's fun for people to compare and contrast White to other major sports heads in that he is completely anti-establishment. However, that isn't always a good thing and this is one of those cases. Had he simply made his case with the numbers and moved on, that's one thing. To portray Meltzer as some sort of dimestore writer that got fired for incompetency is another. NFL commissioner Goodell may never swear in front of cameras, but he also wouldn't release a video blog ripping apart Sports Illustrated's Peter King.

The MMA media is in complete disarray these days and the last thing it needs is the sport's most important figure doing video blogs attacking one of its most well known and respected figures for doing their job. There are way more important things to do to ensure the sport's future than to rip on someone analyzing its present.

UFC Results: The Korean Zombie Is Next In Line For The Featherweight Title

2012-05-16T17:30:03Z

For the second time in a row, The Korean Zombie has come into a fight as the underdog and not only pulled off the win, but done so in spectacular fashion. Last time, it was former UFC Featherweight title challenger Mark Hominick on the receiving end of a 7 second knockout; this time, it was Dustin Poirier being choked out in the main event of UFC on Fuel TV 3. He's proven himself as true contender, a great underdog story and managed to bring the fans into his fights like few others at 145. And now?

The Korean Zombie is the #1 contender to the UFC Featherweight title.

Post-fight, Dana White was at first a bit tentative, telling Ariel Helwani that Jung "may" get the next shot. But at the post-fight press conference, White confirmed that Jung would indeed be the next title challenger. He's moved past Hatsu Hioki, and claimed his spot as #1.

And that is undoubtedly a good thing. Brent Brookhouse already laid out the positives last night - primarily, that Jung is a name fans know and respond to. Sure Hioki may have the better resume (though after the Hominick and Poirier wins - does he?), but fans don't know him. And that's what this young division needs right now - a challenger fans know.

Champion Jose Aldo is currently getting ready for his 4th UFC title challenger. Of those 4, only Kenny Florian was a name opponent to most fans. The rest - Hominick, Mendes, Koch - were simply "the challenger", men in there against Aldo, but not their own individual stories. Jung will change that and make this a fight where both combatants matter.

'Korean Zombie' Chan Sung Jung Vs. Dustin Poirier Fight Video Highlights From UFC On Fuel 3 Main Event

Despite this, there are some arguments against Jung. He's outclassed. He was KO'd be George Roop not long ago. He can't win. Maybe that's all true. But it's also the exact same thing I said before he faced Hominick, the exact same thing I said before he faced Poirier. And, I admit, I was wrong. Twice.

When Jung does get his shot, particularly if that shot comes against Jose Aldo, I'll probably pick Aldo. I think he's too good with his kicks, too good on the ground, too good of an all-around fighter for the Zombie. But I keep underestimating Jung. Am I underestimating him once again? Can he be the man to dethrone pound for pound great Aldo? I won't be betting on him, but in my heart, I'll be rooting for him to prove me wrong yet again. And that is what a world title fight is all about.

SBN coverage of UFC on FUEL TV 3

Strikeforce's Josh Thomson Voices Frustration With MMA Media

2012-05-16T17:00:24Z

In the dawning hours of arguably the biggest Strikeforce card this year, rumors have flown around regarding possible injuries to one of the athletes fighting in the lightweight title match. About a week ago, rumblings that Josh Thomson had suffered a serious knee injury started making their way across Twitter feeds, bringing to mind the question, 'Will The Punk be fighting on Saturday?' In a quick TapouT Radio interview, Josh discussed his feelings on how the MMA media handles rumors, and gave some insight to these final days leading into his third outing with lightweight champion, Gilbert Melendez.

Frustration With MMA Media

There's no injury, everything is good. I tweaked my wrist and I tweaked some of my other body, but nothing bad. There's always little injuries going into a fight, but nothing that is going to take me out of it.

The thing that upsets me the most, is when the media, or whoever they are, come online, and let's just say a guy did have an injury, but the media guy guessed wrong. He's like 'Oh yeah, he hurt his wrist'. and let's just say his wrist was kind of bugging him, but he guessed wrong, and it wasn't anything too bad. Now that puts out a little bit of a target, and could end up basically affecting the guy's fight. At least verify with the camp, or just say, 'Hey, is there an injury?'

Maybe the media will learn that if you do things like that for the fighters, you'll end up getting more interviews and coverage later on down the road. Maybe you'll get the inside scoop on something later on versus just throwing something out there.

It kind of rubbed me the wrong way. It's just typical of the low level of MMA media stuff, where they automatically just jump the gun because they want to release this story, without ever verifying anything. It's just kind of gotten old, and after years and years of dealing with it, it kind of boiled over for me.

You know, I'm always injured, so when am I not hurt is something that's always just bugging me [laughs]. Seriously though, if something had happened to my knee, and somebody just went and threw that out there, now I've got my opponent knowing something is hurt. That kind of rubs people the wrong way, I think.

The big majority of MMA media are not journalists. They're just fans that picked up a pen and started writing. That's the problem with it. A lot of these guys haven't gone to journalism school, and a lot of them haven't developed any real relationships with the fighters. They take the most negative things in the article, I mean, the guy could have said a thousand nice things about his opponent, but they pick the one negative comment to post. Maybe that sells, but later on, I'll be thinking, 'No matter what I say, this guy is just going to write whatever the hell he wants.'

The thing that was written about me said, 'Oh he has a torn PCL', but if you have anything torn, you wouldn't even be contemplating the fight. Even if there was an injury, at least give the fighter a chance to pull out of the fight, or at least confirm that there is an injury.

I understand that it's up to the media people to break the news first, but the best part about it all, was how some of the media guys, especially this idiot that was on there. He gets on there (Twitter), and after I've denied it, says, 'I know I'm right. I've confirmed with three sources. I'm right and you're wrong. You're going to get your ass kicked on Saturday, anyway.' And I'm thinking, 'This is a guy that just wants to drop some information, whether it's true or not.' That's just so typical, I think, of the MMA media.

These people are quick to say, 'Oh you're washed up. You're a has-been', but do they know I was fighting in the UFC back in 2000, when there was only five shows a year, and you knew you were the top fighter in the world. What does that tell you? Don't be disrespectful just because you're stuck behind a keyboard. You've got to calm down dude. Just slow down with your negative crap.

It drives me insane to see guys like this just trying to slam fighters. It doesn't matter even if you're a kid on the undercard. At least that kid is trying to fulfill his dream. He's trying to do something that he really loves doing. You can't say that about 99% of the United States. Maybe the journalists are trying to fulfill their dreams, as well, but they just need to go about it a little bit differently.

Thoughts On Upcoming Fight With Gilbert Melendez

Really, this just comes down to me implementing my gameplan. In the second fight, I totally got away from the gameplan. I went in there pretty cocky and arrogant. After I felt like I won the first round, I felt like I could just go in there and do it again.

It was going OK in the second round, but then I got clipped and dropped. From there, I felt like I was fighting from behind. When you have a fighter like Gil, with that kind of confidence, he stuck with his gameplan and was able to win.

In this fight, I've got to come in with that same type confidence and arrogance, but I've just got to be smart about it. I think it has to be all about me following the gameplan, sticking with it, and making the needed adjustments here and there, from round to round.

A five round fight is a long time. The two of us have fought a lot. Ten rounds is no joke, and not to mention all the rounds that we trained with each other before we fought. We know each other pretty well. I know he's got a big right hand, and there's a lot of talk that he's going to try and open up and take some risks.

With all the talk about Gilbert being number one, and I do believe he is the number one guy in the world right now, especially with what's going on in the UFC. They don't really have a settled, number one guy there. They haven't really settled their championship there. That really leaves Gil to slide into that spot and be the number one guy. With that being said, he's really got to produce, with all that talk about beating all the best or fighting all the best. Now he needs to prove it.

If he has a lackluster five rounds with me, it doesn't really show well for him, because I'm not ranked in the Top 10. When you look at the rankings, I really feel bad for the guy, because he knows it's going to be a tough fight. I think this is going to be different. He dominated Aoki. He dominated Masvidal. I'm the last guy he hasn't dominated. It's not going to be an easy fight for him.

Follow Josh via his Twitter, @TheRealPunk

The Article That The UFC's Dana White Couldn't Let Go Unanswered

2012-05-16T16:16:54Z

We've covered UFC president Dana White's response to Dave Meltzer's analysis of the UFC on Fox 3 ratings and we've covered Meltzer's response to Dana, but we haven't actually covered the Wrestling Observer article that got Dana so worked up.

Here are some of Meltzer's main points:

He called UFC on Fox 3, "a genuine XFL caliber ratings disaster"
"Males 18-34 declined from a 3.2 to a 1.6. These are not the kind of numbers that can keep you in prime time."
"The show did 34% below what COPS was doing this season in the time slot."
Meltzer acknowledges that a number of factors hurt the ratings including the Floyd Mayweather bout, the opening weekend of The Avengers, Cinco de Mayo, Kentucky Derby and NBA playoffs.
"...the show was not well marketed. FOX didn't advertise it as hard as the previous shows."
Says the question "is whether MMA on network TV is a novelty with a short shelf life, just like Celebrity Boxing..."
"...the (Fox TV) contract has had a lot of growing pains for both sides. No matter what is said publicly, FOX didn't pay the money it did for the ratings it's getting. And UFC can't be happy that less people are watching the product than on Spike."
"If this is part of a pattern, it is a big deal. As it is, this was the single most significant television ratings for any pro wrestling or MMA event since Shamrock vs. Ortiz (in Fall 2006) changed the way the television industry viewed UFC."
"If the issue is that UFC has burned out its audience with too much product, and this is just an example of this, along with the TUF ratings, then it's disastrous. The reason is, overexposure is a killer that it takes a long time to recover from, if you can. More so, overexposure, ie, burning out the audience, by the time you've figured out you've done it, the damage was done months or even years earlier."
"MMA has been around in Brazil since the 1930s, and gone through three booms, and it had a boom in Japan, and the end result is that in all cases, it never sustained."
"It's likely to wind up similar to boxing, where rank-and-file shows don't mean anything, but big shows with the two or three major superstars can set records on PPV."
"It's been successful for long enough that it's not a fad, but boxing isn't a fad either and if you put a secondary show on FOX on Saturday night, it's not going to last, That's why boxing hasn't been on network TV in prime time in eons."
"To me, the 8/4 show at the Staples Center in Los Angeles becomes the single most important event in UFC history. Another rating like that and it will give UFC the reputation that it's fine as a cable property, but it's simply not mainstream and can't survive in the expensive real estate section of network prime."

It should be clear from reading just these notes why Dana responded so strongly. Meltzer may have a relatively small audience at the subscription-only Wrestling Observer but his reputation as an analyst of the cable TV and pay-per-view businesses is well established.

UFC On Fuel 3 Winners And Losers

2012-05-16T16:00:43Z

UFC on Fuel 3 is in the books, and it definitely had some highs and lows. An early contender for fight of the year in the main event was obviously a high, as was the earlier bout between Igor Pokrajac and Fabio Maldonado. Some poor refereeing and a dull co-main event might have dragged it down a bit, but not enough to say it was a bad card or anything. One thing that was poor was the attendance though - 4,592 fans in a 10,000 seat arena isn't that great, even on a Tuesday. Anyway, let's get onto the winners and losers:

Winners

Chan Sung Jung: This man is a warrior, folks. He came into the bout dealing with injuries and it didn't faze him at all. Yes he gassed early in the third, but who cares when you win the fight in the fourth? The Korean Zombie still gets hit a lot, but he put on a masterful display of grappling and transitions to control the first two rounds and get the finish early in the fourth. He was also very smart to try and connect with the audience by saying four words in English - "I want Jose Aldo". You couldn't ask for a better performance.

Donald Cerrone: That was vintage Cowboy. After he got a feel for the range and knew Stephens was no match for him on the feet, he turned it into a 15 minute sparring session. He was trying out a bunch of fancy stuff, taunting a bit, and generally enjoying himself. It certainly won't be like that against guys that match him in reach and put more pressure on him, but Cerrone is clearly one of the best strikers at 155. A bout with Anthony Pettis next would be great.

Yves Jabouin: Jabouin shouldn't have heard the final bell in that fight. After the spinning back kick in the first, the referee totally screwed him over by jumping in front of him when he tried to go in for the kill, then backing off and telling Jabouin to continue. You could see that Yves was all sorts of confused, and it probably impeded his ability to finish then and there. The ref was just as bad in the third when Yves was close to finishing as well, admonishing him and making a nuisance of himself. Still, Yves is one of the flashiest strikers at 135 and is now 3-0 as a bantamweight. Going back to the Mike Easton fight would make a lot of sense if Easton will be back relatively soon.

Igor Pokrajac and Fabio Maldonado: One man lost the bout, but in the long run I think they are both winners coming out of this bout. They went to war, each using different styles which likely led to the scoring difficulties. Maldonado's boxing has flaws (as Brent pointed out last night), but his body work is second to none in MMA. Pokrajac took a ton of blows and continually came back with huge, damaging punches and knees. Both men showed off iron chins and a lot of heart, and I definitely want to see them both on a main card again soon. Does anyone else think that Maldonado should maybe consider 185 though, or is it just me?

Losers after the jump.

SBN coverage of UFC on FUEL TV 3

Losers

Dustin Poirier: I wouldn't say he got "exposed" or anything like that, but he definitely needs to work on his takedown defense and striking defense. He's 23 years old though, so it's not like there's any panic. He showed a lot of heart in some bad positions and came back to win the third round, but the Zombie proved to be too much for him at this point in time. I still see a really bright future for Poirier though, and it should start with a bout they tried to make before - Poirier vs. Erik Koch, after Koch gets lit up by UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo in July.

Amir Sadollah: Let's face it, Amir didn't really deserve that decision. Lopez handled him in the first round and Sadollah got taken down a lot. His saving grace was Lopez' gas tank, but I still don't believe he won two rounds with a few strikes here and there. Either way though, the worst possible thing happened to Sadollah's career last night - a boring fight. The UFC has constantly been giving him main card fights because his bouts are generally entertaining. That came to an end tonight, albeit partially because his opponent was content to clinch against the fence continually. But if there was still a tiny group of fans that wanted Amir on TV, well...it probably evaporated last night.

Jorge Lopez: The man has skills. He just doesn't have the gas tank to match them. He came out and looked excellent in the first round, mixing up striking and grappling well and controlling the tempo. Once his tank was shot though, he had to resort to a tired gameplan that ended up costing him the fight and any place on the main card anytime soon. Just getting a win in the UFC would be a start.

Jeremy Stephens: Totally. Outclassed. I'm not trying to be mean here, but Stephens has never seemed like a world-class fighter to me. His two biggest wins are probably over Rafael dos Anjos and Marcus Davis, and he was getting dominated for most of both fights before he pulled out the miracle popeye punch to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. He earned a split with Pettis because Pettis inexplicably tried to grapple instead of strike. Cerrone wasn't about to do that, and he showed the difference between a top lightweight striker and an average striker with big power. Stephens should be back on the preliminary card.

Marcus LeVesseur: When your opponent has exactly one weapon, why in the world would you basically walk right into it? He just sat there and waited to be guillotined by Cody McKenzie. He also didn't take advice well from his corner, and just fought the wrong fight against a one-dimensional guy he could easily beat with a smarter gameplan. It goes to show how important fight IQ really is in MMA.