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source: abs-cbnnews.com

The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) needs to develop new stars after former heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar announced his retirement after UFC 141 last Friday in Las Vegas (Saturday in Manila).

Lesnar was dominated in his last UFC bout, falling to Alistair Overeem via technical knockout in the very first round.

Afterward, he announced his retirement, saying that the past two years have been difficult for him and his family. Lesnar’s bout against Overeem was his first in over the year, having dealt with diverticulitis and undergoing surgery.

According to Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports, Lesnar’s retirement will pressure the UFC into developing new stars who can become major pay-per-view draws.

In his short career, Lesnar became the UFC’s biggest pay-per-view draw. He brought casual fans into the sport, fans who recognized him from his time in the WWE.

“(Lesnar’s) impact upon the business side of the UFC and the sport of mixed martial arts was significantly greater than his actual fighting ability,” Iole wrote.

“Pay-per-view sales were the biggest when the big men fought. Tickets were harder to get when he was topping the bill. Media interest was at its highest. Merchandise sales were more robust. The celebrity quotient was off the charts,” he added.

According to Bloody Elbow, an MMA blog, the pay-per-views that featured Lesnar in the main event all brought in over a million buys.

“When it scheduled Lesnar, the UFC could reasonably count on a multi-million dollar paid gate and pay-per-view sales that would at least approach a million,” Iole said. “Without him, it’s a much greater, though hardly impossible, challenge.”

Iole believes that the UFC can survive Lesnar’s retirement in the short term, but will be pressured to develop new stars in the long term.

“It simply won’t work if some of the younger fighters on the roster, such a light heavyweight champion Jon Jones, don’t morph into reliable drawing cards,” he added.

Tough job

According to Josh Nason of Bloody Elbow, the UFC will find it difficult to find a fighter who can fill the void left by Lesnar.

Two of the sports’ biggest stars, Georges St. Pierre and Anderson Silva, are both injured, with St. Pierre out for the whole of 2012. Jones, the light heavyweight champion and one of the sports’ greatest talents, is still trying to break into the main stream.

“With 32 shows planned for 2012, the UFC will be challenged once again on how to make and create stars that people will plunk down money to see,” Nason said. “They need to create buzz, build challengers and somehow make pay-per-view matter again like they did so well in years past.”

Nason added that Lesnar “was the right guy at the right time for the UFC,” helping the sport elevate into the main stream and giving the promotion a huge financial boost.

“Perhaps (UFC President Dana) White’s toughest fight ahead is how to find the next right guy,” he said.

source: Joey Villar | philstar.com

Fil-Am Mark Muñoz, boosted by his recent victory over Chris Leben, has moved up to No. 4 in the middleweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship ranking currently paced by Brazilian Anderson “The Spider” Silva.

In the December rankings of Sports Illustrated, Muñoz, dubbed “The Filipino Wrecking Machine” in the UFC, is now behind the world’s mixed martial arts’ best pound-for-pound fighter Silva, Chael Sonnen and Vitor Belfort.

“If it were possible for you to see beyond the 1-2-3 of the division, you’d notice that there’s someone closing in on Belfort, so much so that he’s as much a No. 3 as he is a No. 4 and rising or at least with an opportunity to do so,” said SI’s resident MMA writer Jeff Wagenheim.

“I’m talking about Mark Muñoz, who beat up a pretty tough guy, Chris Leben, a month ago,” he added.

Muñoz, fighting out of Vallejo, California and a former two-time All-American wrestler, made good impression when he overpowered Leben in UFC 138 in Birmingham, England that hiked his record to 12-2 (win-loss) and boosted his stock in middleweight’s pecking order.

It also set up Muñoz against Sonnen, the No. 1 contender in the division, in an interesting showdown early next year.

“He’s 12-2, winner of four straight, and next on his dance card is a meeting with Sonnen as part of the second UFC on Fox telecast next month, that’s a bold step up for “The Filipino Wrecking Machine,” said Wagenheim.

Interestingly, Muñoz’s picture now appears for the first time in UFC’s official website www.ufc.com as one of the middleweight contenders alongside Sonnen, Belfort, Michael “The Count” Bispin, Wanderlei “The Axe Murderer” Silva, Japanese Yoshin Okami, Brian Stann and Jason “Mayhem” Miller.

Muñoz was actually one of the few Fil-Ams competing in the UFC including close buddy light heavyweight Brandon “The Truth” Vera.

source: Camille B. Naredo | abs-cbnnews.com

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) light heavyweight champion Jon “Bones” Jones successfully defended his title for the second time, submitting former champion Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida in the second round of the main event of UFC 140.

Machida’s unique striking skills gave Jones considerably more trouble than any previous opponent had as “The Dragon” was able to land clean punches and kicks at Jones.

But Jones took control late in the second round with a left hand to Machida, and followed it up with a knee to the body. The champion was able to catch Machida in a standing guillotine choke, and the referee stopped the fight after seeing Machida’s right arm go limp.

The official time was at 4:26 of the second round.

Jones admitted afterward that Machida’s range and kicks gave him some trouble. “It was a very tough puzzle,” he said.

“He didn’t have me hurt, but he did punch me pretty good, he wobbled me a little bit,” Jones added. “I’m glad to prove to myself and to everyone that I can take a legit hit.”

Jones became the first light heavyweight champion to defend his title more than once since Chuck Liddell in 2006. Liddell defended the belt four times before losing it to Quinton “Rampage” Jackson at UFC 71.

Jones had defended his title against Jackson at UFC 135, also winning that bout via a guillotine choke.

Machida gave Jones the toughest test of his young career so far, often causing the champion to cover up from a flurry of punches. But he could not recover after being taken down by Jones in the middle of the second round, where a nasty gash opened up on his forehead due to an elbow from Jones.

The fight was Jones’ fourth bout in 2011, all of which ended in dominant victories for him. He also submitted Ryan Bader last February, and went on to defeat Mauricio “Shogun” Rua at UFC 128 to become the youngest champion in UFC history.

Jones and Machida each took home $75,000 bonuses for putting on the “Fight of the Night.”

Submission of the night

In the co-main event, former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir scored a stunning technical knockout victory over Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira in the first round of their fight.

Nogueira had Mir in trouble after connecting with a right hand, sending the latter to the canvas. Nogueira then attempted a guillotine choke, but Mir managed to escape the submission and caught Nogueira’s left arm in a kimura.

The referee stopped the fight just as Nogueira started to tap out after his left shoulder popped.

“I’m the first person to knock him out, and I’m the first person to submit him,” Mir said, referring to his 2008 knockout victory over Nogueira at UFC 92, which made him the interim heavyweight champion.

Mir won a “Submission of the Night” bonus of $75,000.

Meanwhile, Nogueira’s younger brother, Rogerio, defeated Tito Ortiz via a first-round technical knockout in their undercard bout.

Rogerio caught Ortiz with a left hand and swarmed him, targeting the former champion’s ribs. The referee stopped the fight after Ortiz could no longer fight back as he took more punishment from the Brazilian fighter.

In the first fight of the night, Chan Sung Jung knocked out Mark Hominick in only seven seconds to win the “Knockout of the Night” honors.

Jung tied Todd Duffee for the fastest knockout in the history of the UFC.

by Camille B. Naredo | abs-cbnnews.com

source: abs-cbnnews.com

Mixed martial arts (MMA) light heavyweight champion Jon “Bones” Jones is full of confidence going to his title defense against Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida this weekend.

The 24-year-old Jones said he was destined to fight Machida, the former light heavyweight champion.

“I always knew I’d fight Lyoto one day,” he said in UFC.com.

Jones will take on Machida in the main event of UFC 140. The fight will take place at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Canada on Saturday (Sunday in Manila).

“He’s unpredictable, and he’s fast. Lyoto works distance and I love distance, but I’ve got longer limbs and I believe I’m just as fast,” said the 6’4” MMA champion.

UFC 140: Jones vs Machida Preview Video

Jones said he will use his versatility and wrestling abilities against Machida, who is known for his ability to evade strikes.

“I have tons of confidence and faith on my wrestling abilities against Lyoto… I have tons of versatility in my take downs from the clinch,” said Jones.

Jones is coming off a successful title defense against Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, whom he defeated by submission in UFC 135.

Machida, on the other hand, beat MMA legend Randy Couture to retirement via knockout in UFC 129.

“I will defeat Machida,” said Jones. “That’s my destiny: to be UFC champion for many years.”

source: abs-cbnnews.com

An ESPN mixed martial arts (MMA) analyst believes Filipino fighter Mark Muñoz can potentially prevent the much awaited rematch between Chael Sonnen and Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) middleweight king Anderson Silva from happening.

Muñoz will face Sonnen at UFC on FOX 2, with the winner getting a shot at Silva’s championship.

Sonnen has already challenged Silva once, at UFC 117, and was able to give the dominant champion his toughest challenge yet. Silva pulled out the win, however, submitting Sonnen with a triangle choke late in the fifth round.

Fight fans have long been waiting for a rematch between Silva and Sonnen, but ESPN analyst Chuck Mindenhall says Muñoz is at the unique position of preventing that fight from happening. [http://espn.go.com/blog/mma/post/_/id/6788/munoz-in-colossal-spoiler-role]

“Muñoz is in the very unique spot to thwart perhaps the biggest rematch in the history of the UFC,” Mindenhall said.

Mindenhall says Muñoz can give Sonnen a very strong challenge inside the Octagon. Although both are wrestlers, Muñoz has a one-punch knockout power in his right hand that can end a fight quickly.

“This is not a stay-busy fight so much as a trap fight, with so much more than a title shot hanging in the balance,” Mindenhall said.

Muñoz, nicknamed “The Filipino Wrecking Machine,” has won his last four fights, including a technical knockout win over Chris Leben at UFC 138. Meanwhile Sonnen was impressive in his ring return at UFC 136, submitting Brian Stann is the second round.

Muñoz responded to Mindenhall’s article in his Twitter account, saying that he “would love the chance to rewrite history.”