UFC on Fox 13

The UFC on Fox 13, held in Phoenix, Arizona, was a real christmas gift for all the fans who love heavyweight fights. The event was headlined by a bout between Junior Dos Santos and Stipe Miocić, preluded by confrontations between Matt Mitrione with Gabriel Gonzaga and Alistair Overeem with Stefan Struve. 

(fot. combatbear.com)

For Alistair Overeem the fight with his co-national was a chance to retaliate for two embarrassing losses against Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva and Ben Rothwell. In both fights Overeem was dominating but both of them ended knocked-out. If he didn't want to fall out of the top 10 of the division he had to win. And he did. Fighting against taller, and having a reach advantage, Struve, Alistair didn't want a kick-boxing match. He was trying to clinch, use his wrestling skills taking Struve down and strike him on the ground. Long limbs of Struve didn't help him to defend himself. Overeem knocked him out in the very first round. 

The main event of the evening gave us a response for the question in what form the former UFC heavyweight champion, Junior Dos Santos, is. Three battles against Cain Velasquez - and the punches that the current heavyweight champions has landed - have left an imprint on Dos Santos' game. The Brazilian won with Stipe Miocić by the unanimous decision, but - after what we've seen in the Octagon - it's doubtful that he could be given a forth bout against Velasquez.

UFC 180: WERDUM BEATS HUNT

The main event of the UFC 180 was a great show. We could see a bout for an interim heavyweight title between the most skilfull grappler in the division, three times brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion, Fabricio Werdum and a world class kick-boxer, very underrated by the MMA commentators because of lacking in ground game, Mark Hunt. 

Werdum with the belt (fot. foxsports.com)

Werdum had a huge reach advantage. However it was Hunt to controll the 1st round. In fact he knocked Werdum down two times and worked suprisingly good on the ground after taking the opponent down. Despite the reach advantage Werdum didn't deliver any significant punch. Hunt was stepping in and out very wisely. He knocked Werdum down also in the 2nd round. Although "The Super Samoan" did not incorporate to his game any kicks. It meant that he was forced to come very close in order to deliver a punch. That was a chance for Werdum. "Vai Cavallo" caught his opponent in the 2nd round with a flying knee when Hunt was ducking under. After delivering a clean knee to the chin, the Brazilian finished him with a massive "ground and pound". The referee gave Hunt all the time he could to recover, but "The Super Samoan" was not able to defend himself. The fight was over. Fabricio Werdum became the interim heavyweight champions and he's supposed to face Cain Velasquez by the end of the next year. Also in Mexico City.

UFC 180: WERDUM VS HUNT

The 15th of november 2014 UFC visits Mexico for the very first time in its history. The event takes place in Mexico City, at Arena Ciudad de México, and all the tickets - 21,000! - were sold out in only 8 hours. UFC 180 is headlined by the heavyweight bout between Mark Hunt and Fabricio Werdum.

The heavyweight division in the UFC is ruled by Cain Velasquez and the mexican show was supposed to contain the heavyweight title bout between Velasquez, as a champion, and Werdum as no. 1 contender. Unfortunately the best heavyweight fighter in the world is out due to serious knee injury. The champions was replaced by Mark Hunt, no. 4 in UFC heavyweight division ranking. The winner of the fight will become the interim heavyweight champion and will have an opportunity to face Velasquez when he'll recover. Also if Cain won't be able to fight before the march 2015, the title will be taken from him. In the history of the UFC there was a similar case, when Dominic Cruz wasn't able to defend his title for two years. The other interesting fight in the main card is a confrontation in the featherweight division between Ricardo Lamas - who lost his title-shot easily against José Aldo - and Denis Bermudez, no. 7 in the ranking.

INTRODUCTION

Hello, my name is Tomasz and I'm going to blog about the MMA (Mix Martial Arts) scene from all over the world. But firstly I'd like to introduce you to the history of this sport.

(fot. www.dreamsnest.com)

Despite the modern mixed artial marts formule is rooted in Vale Tudo tournaments, organised in the 20s of the XX century in Brazil, a full-contact combat sport was already known in the ancient Greece and it was called Pankration. It combined boxing and wrestling. Pankration, invented as an olympic sport by Greeks, was later adapted - as many other elements of culture - by the Romans. The International Federation of Pankration (IFPa) was created in the 1999 in order to revive an ancient sport, but due to the growth of the popularity of MMA it was not a successful movement. So, as I mentioned, the modern MMA formule evolved from brazilian Vale Tudo which was followed by Shooto-wrestling shows organised in the 80s of the XX century in Japan. What was Shooto? It was a new martial art, created in purpose to emulate - as realistic as it was possible - a real fight. First MMA tournaments are dated from the 90s, when UFC organised in the United States its first tournaments. The aim of the first UFC shows was to confront rapresentatives of various martial arts. So to confront, for instance, a judo fighter with a boxer, ecc. Within twenty years, the MMA reached a point where it became a distinct discipline.