Why Have We Forgotten Ronda Rousey?!

Ronda Rousey was and still is the most dominant female fighter in UFC history. Since her loss to Holly Holm at UFC 193 in Melbourne the world seemed to turn on Ronda. Holly won and deserved to be in the spotlight but that doesn't mean we should forget about the superstar. I don't think that Holly or Miesha are the best the division has ever seen and this is why.

The reason for Miesha not being the best is clear, she already has 2 loses to Ronda. Ronda Rousey's record is 12 wins 12 finishes and 1 loss. To those that say Holm beat her and she is undefeated so she is better I say no, Holm beat Ronda on that day and utilized her skills and a superbly designed game plan and that deserves it's props. However, Rousey has been fighting at the top level since the very beginning of her professional career. In her first 4 professional fights she finished them all by armbar in under 50 seconds of the first round, that is absolutely astonishing! This lead to her first title shot against Tate which she finished again in the 1st round by armbar, this was the start of an 8 title defence win streak finishing all of them in the first round apart from the second Tate fight which went to the 3rd round. In that run she became the first woman to hold titles in Strikeforce and the UFC, became the first Women's champion in the UFC, made women's fighting entertaining and popular, brought the UFC into the mainstream gaining hundreds of thousands of new followers,became a role model for female athletes and fighters of all ages all around the world and in my opinion the GREATEST and MOST DOMINANT female fighter in UFC history.

Update: I'm sorry!

Hey guys, although I've been following the insane twists and bends in the world of MMA over the past week I have not been covering it for one simple reason, UNIVERSITY WORK. I can't express to you how busy I've been with reading, researching and writing over the past 2 weeks so unfortunately I couldn't cover any of the events. Although I have now completed all of my work I now have to revise for my exams so there won't be much again for the next week and a bit BUT here's a quick catch up on my opinions of some of this past weeks events.

CONOR STOP PLAYING WITH MY EMOTIONS!

McGregor's tweets have kept me very entertained but also not fooled. I know that it was unlikely that Dana and the company would give in after saying he would definitely not be on the card at the 200 press conference, instead they much rather preferred having a 'who has the biggest dick' war with each other with Conor's main attack choice being twitter. I really wanted to see the McGregor VS Diaz fight but I'll settle for DC VS Jones 2.

What happened Jon?

Jones returned to the octagon after 15 months off and it really showed. He criticized himself after the fight with Joe Rogan and lots of fans said he looked rusty and the fight was boring. However, if you take another look it wasn't that bad. He beat a very dangerous fighter in a dominating fashion and got some rounds under his belt. It was a good performance but as Cormier said, it won't be enough to beat him. We expect to see a much better Jon Jones in the octagon on July 9th at UFC 200.

UFC Fight Night Tampa Predictions!

The UFC Fight Night Tampa card has been devastated by injuries and failed drug tests taking out two of the biggest names Tony Ferguson, Lyoto Machida, and Mauricio Shogun Rua. This caused a changing of the main event and a removal of a main card fight.

There are a lot of underrated talented strikers on this card and most of the are match-ups are against wrestlers/jiu jitsu fighters. So I predict the night of the finishes, I give the edge to the strikers.

UFC on Fox 19 Tampa Predictions:
Zaleski Dos Santos by TKO/KO
Bamgbose               by TKO/KO
Brown                     by TKO/KO
Dodson                   by TKO/KO
Makhachev             by Submission
McGee                    by Decision
Correia                    by Decision
Dariush                   by Decision
Swanson                 by TKO/KO
Nurmagomedov     by Submission
Namajunas             by Decision
Teixeira                  by TKO/KO

MACHIDA OUT OF HENDERSON FIGHT!

Lyoto Machida VS Dan Henderson has been cancelled following Machida failing a drug test. The bout was scheduled for UFC Fight Night Tampa, Florida this weekend. Dan Henderson will now fight Hector Lombard at UFC 199 on June 4th. This will be the last fight on Henderson's current contract.

Credit: UFC

Machida blames a supplement for his failure of the drug test and it looks like we're going to have a Romero incident all over again. Machida released a statement on facebook revealing he was taking the supplement 7-Keto which contains DHEA, which is a banned substance. However it was legal in 2015 before the introduction of USADA.

This is what Machida had to say on the issue. "I'm here to tell you that I was caught by surprise by this news,". "It has been very difficult for me. I've trained a lot for this fight, I've dedicated a lot with all my teammates. I want to tell you that I really didn't know about this substance, so I listed it on my declaration form amongst everything else I was taking, and this substance was recently banned in 2016, so I take the blame for not knowing that, and I'd like to say I'm really sorry and apologize to my fans, teammates, and my family... I always try to play by the book, but unfortunately this happened."

So another innocent mistake or do we now have an issue in MMA of fighters taking supplements containing performance enhancing drugs so it's an easy way out of the punishments for taking them?

UFC 200! BIG NAMES! Disappointing Match-ups?

The UFC 200 card is filling up now and largely with big names BUT there has been some criticism from the MMA world. There are a lot of big stars set to enter the octagon at UFC 200 but some of their opponents aren't what we'd hoped they'd be and some fights that just don't give you the sense of satisfaction that we're all looking for from this hopefully record breaking event. HOWEVER, It's not all doom and gloom, so let's take a look at some of the fights.

Conor McGregor VS Nate Diaz 2

Credit: bjpenn.com

A good way to sum up this rematch is 'understandable but frustrating'. Conor McGregor is the UFC's biggest star and is understandable that the UFC and McGregor want the rematch because if he wins then he is back to the unbeatable warrior and sets up a lightweight title fight. Another bonus for McGregor is that if he loses to Diaz again then they have the excuse that it was at 170 pounds and that he is still the featherweight champion and there will be the opportunity to defend his title then fight for the lightweight title.

But A lot of people are annoyed with this rematch, One notable is Frankie Edgar. Frankie Edgar was next in line for a shot at the featherweight title, a shot that he has arguably he has been owed for a long time. This is the second fight in a row that McGregor has fought at welterweight and there is frustration from the fans.

Frankie Edgar VS Jose Aldo 2

Credit: blogs.telegraph.co.uk

At UFC 200 there will be a new interim featherweight champion. After a short absence at the top of the featherweight division there will be action again and a challenger will emerge that McGregor will HAVE TO fight or vacate the title.

In their first bout Aldo took a unanimous decision win in a 5 round war and good news is we can expect more of the same. Aldo is coming off just his second career loss and his first loss in almost 10 years of ruling the featherweight division wherever he went. Edgar is on a 5 fight win streak including knockouts of top contenders such as Chad Mendes. When these two meet in the middle of the octagon at UFC 200 we can expect a great fight.

Miesha Tate VS Amanda Nunes

Credit: Zuffa

Miesha Tate will make her first title defence against... Amanda Nunes. Yes... the fight that literally no one was calling for.. the UFC have once again side stepped the fans, with the influence of Tate and her team and made a fight of their own back. There are so many missed opportunities in the set up for this fight:

1. A rematch with Holm. This fight would result in the winner having a huge rematch with Ronda Rousey and this would also be a good rematch.
2. NO RONDA ROUSEY. Although this couldn't be avoided as the former champion is not due to return to competition until October/November but this is arguably the biggest downfall of the UFC 200 card. The absence of the joint biggest star in the UFC cannot be replaced
3. No one wants to see Nunes win. Nunes winning would mean she has the fight with the returning Rousey and further complicates the title picture with 3 women owed a rematch for the belt.

The current absence of Robbie Lawler

The current absence of the welterweight champion Robbie Lawler from the UFC 200 card is very disturbing. We can only assume that a fight between Lawler and Tyron Woodley is in the pipelines because it would be devastating if one of the most exciting champions and divisions doesn't feature in the card. Especially seen as we'd like to see a whole range of rematches including Condit, a possible insane return of GSP and an explosive fight with Stephen Thompson should he quickly put away Rory McDonald.

Rumours! Rumours! Rumours!

Tony Ferguson was supposed to be the opponent of the highly anticipated returning Khabib Nurmagomedov. Tony Ferguson is unfortunately injured and the world of MMA goes into speculation, rumours and we wait for hints or potential call outs.

There are many rumours as well as twitter call outs, Donald Cowboy Cerone has offered to fight Khabib but on the condition that he still gets to fight Patrick Cote in June. There are also rumours that BJ Penn has offered to fight Khabib.

BUT ALSO, perhaps the biggest development from this, the champion Rafael Dos Anjos has taken to twitter https://twitter.com/RdosAnjosMMA/status/717551331238486016
to say "Sorry to hear Ferguson is out. @TeamKhabib We have some unfinished business, I'll be ready in July" This is a great move by RDA and it's the rematch we all want to see. However many people think it's too soon for Khabib after a 2 and a half years off. But the crucial nail in the coffin is July is a confirmed no for Khabib because of Ramadan. So let the speculation live on!

UFC CUTS BIG NAME FIGHTERS!

In a very uncharacteristic event the UFC has cut several solid fighters which don't make a lot of sense. The UFC has cut fighters Mike Wilkinson, Jared Rosholt and Norman Parke.

These cuts are very strange for several reasons. Norman Parke and especially Jared Rosholt are two very well known names and two very good fighters. Norman Parke and Mike Wilkinson are not only two solid fighters but also a chance to extend the very scarcely explored markets the United Kingdom and Ireland. This not only gives the opportunity to extend business and exposure to a huge largely unexplored market but it is also an opportunity to develop new talent in these markets.

Mike Wilkinson is a young, talented and exciting fighter. He came into the promotion with a 7-0 record with 6 finishes and after a close loss to Makwan Amirkhani he was told that he was being cut. On the MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, Wilkinson understandably said he was "in a bit of shock" but also said "everything happens for a reason", "brush it off and we'll go again" and with a record of 9-2 and an exciting style he is in a perfect position to build his career and no doubt we will see him back in the UFC.

Update: We're back online!

Sorry for the delay in setting up a new twitter account after the last one decided it wasn't working. The account will be used to keep up to date with the blog especially for people who aren't on google, it will also have updates from me and the world of MMA. The account will also have additional content and quick reactions to live events and much more!

Follow me @TheMMAGenius

Apologies

Having some issues with the twitter account, it will be sorted soon.

Update: I'm on Twitter!

Hey guys, another update here and I'm on twitter! This is so more people can follow the blog, get updates faster and more quick reactions to events as the unpredictable world of MMA unfolds. Everyone please go follow https://twitter.com/TheMMAGenius @TheMMAGenius on twitter.

Top 10: MMA Fighters Of All Time!

This was actually very hard to decide on, there were so many fighters that I wanted to include, this is what I came up with, tell me what you think.

1. Jon "Bones" Jones
2. Anderson Silva
3. Georges St. Pierre GSP
4. Fedor Emelianenko
5. "Rowdy" Ronda Rousey
6. Demetrious "Mighty Mouse" Johnson
7. Jose Also
8. BJ Penn
9. Bas Rutten
10. Dominic Cruz

Honourable Mentions:
Mauricio "Shogun" Rua
Lyoto Machida
Matt Hughes
Cain Velasquez
Conor McGregor
Randy Couture