MMA News April 28: UFC 129, UFC 133, Matt Hughes, Gilbert Melendez and More
Bleacher Report's MMA News recap for Thursday, April 28:
Dana White thinks Lyoto Machida's decline was due to money.
UFC 133 fight card taking shape.
UFC 133: Phil Davis not guaranteed title shot with victory over Rashad Evans.
Matt Hughes and Diego Sanchez targeted for later in 2011.
Dana White supports Gilbert Melendez in the UFC.
Bleacher Report's Mike Hodges:
t's safe to say we won't be seeing any Strikeforce fighters in the UFC for the time being.
UFC President Dana White has made it clear that Strikeforce fighters must fulfill their contract obligations prior to joining the UFC. However that has not stopped the UFC boss from voicing his opinion on certain people, including Strikeforce lightweight champion, Gilbert Melendez.
Melendez, who has been preparing training partner, Jake Shields for his upcoming title bout against Georges St-Pierre at UFC 129, is one of those fighters who White has admired for quite some time.
"Gilbert's one of the top guys in the world, no doubt about it," White said during the UFC 129 press conference.
Click here to read the entire article.
Bleacher Report's Mike Hodges:
According to MMAJunkie.com, a welterweight bout between UFC hall of famer Matt Hughes and Diego Sanchez is scheduled for a soon-to be announced UFC event, expected to be held in the fall of this year.
"A matchup between two welterweight fan favorites has been verbally agreed to as Diego 'The Dream' Sanchez will face former UFC welterweight champion and Hall of Famer Matt Hughes," UFC president Dana White said.
Since transitioning to welterweight last year, Sanchez has had a comfortable run at 170lbs.
His debut saw him lose to John Hathaway but he has since rebounded with two consecutive wins, earning victories over Paulo Thiago and Martin Kampmann.
Sanchez will now meet Matt Hughes in what is sure to be an intriguing matchup.
Click here to read the entire article.
Bleacher Report's Sal DeRose:
If you thought Phil Davis would earn the top contender spot with a win over Rashad Evans at UFC 133—think a little harder.
Evans hasn't fought since last May when he beat Quinton "Rampage" Jackson.
Evans since then has held the top contender spot in the light heavyweight division, and instead of fighting, opted to wait for Mauricio "Shogun" Rua to heal and fight him for the title.
Well Evans waited and injured himself a month before his title shot with Shogun was supposed to happen. Jon Jones then stepped in and dethroned Shogun and became the youngest UFC champion.
Click here to read the entire article.
Bleacher Report's Sal DeRose:
UFC 133 has now become a hot card this summer with its big main event that now pits young up-comer Phil Davis against the likes of Rashad Evans.
Jon Jones had to pull out of his late summer/early fall bout with Evans due to an injury sustained in his hand.
So with a big main event like Davis versus Evans, UFC 133 has gone other routes to compliment the bout.
On the UFC 133 card is also a bout between light heavyweight UFC veterans Rich Franklin and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira.
Also set for UFC 133 is a bout between middleweights, Vitor Belfort and Yoshihiro Akiyama. Belfort had previously been making a push to appear at UFC 134 later in August in his home country of Brazil.
The UFC 133 card is expected to take place in Philadelphia on August 6.
Michael McDonald was previously expected to face Nick Pace at UFC 133, but an injury to Kid Yamamoto led McDonald to fill in for him at UFC 130.
Click here to read the entire article.
Bleacher Report's John Heinis:
How important is it for Lyoto Machida to beat Randy Couture at UFC 129?
Machida legitimately looked like he was going to be the poster child of MMA two years ago.
He went 14-0 as a professional fighter before winning the light heavyweight championship from Rashad Evans.
This was Evans first career loss, and it really wasn't even close. Machida controlled the pace of the fight and eventually knocked out the fellow undefeated fighter in the second round.
However, from there things began to go south for “The Dragon.”
At UFC 104, Machida won a unanimous decision over Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, but this was a match many felt that Machida lost.
While he managed to still do some damage with his elusive striking style, Rua legitimately hurt Machida for the first time in his career with his powerful Muay Thai work.
Click here to read the entire article.



0 Comments
Loading comments...
This comment and all replies have been deleted This comment has been deleted Undo delete