Metal Reviews

He's got to pass a few random drug tests, all at his own expense, before he can become fully licensed. I agree he shouldn't get the shot after just failing a test, but at least he'll be clean for this fight, and if he can't stay clean, then I'm sure the Jacare/Mousasi winner or Rockhold will take his spot.

Not one person has said anything about ANDERSON FREAKING SILVA vs NICK MOTHERFUCKING DIAZ!

Fight of the century right there.

Always hated the douche nozzle Diaz brothers. Hopes for a healthy Silva to tapdance across that face!

I hate the Diaz's too, but they can sell a fight, especially Nick. And him vs Anderson will be a strikers dream match-up. Dana says if Nick wins he could challenge Wiedman for the title, but I think Diaz will drop back down to 170 if he somehow manages to best the GOAT.

Anybody see the Jones/Cormier dust up? Think it's real or staged?

At first I thought it was real, as Cormier falls off the stage pretty hard (with a bum knee too). But the fact that the UFC is promoting it on FIght Pass and ufc.com kind of has me thinking this is all some marketing ploy. Still, I already was, and now really am excited for this fight. The whole PPV is quite amazing actually.

Also, Gunnar Nelson will headline the UFCs return to Sweden at Fight Night 53 (I think), taking on Rick "The Horror" Story. Story is one of only two men to ever beat current champion Johny Hendricks. The other being Georges St-Pierre.

Nelson boasts an undefeated 13-0-1 record, going 4-0 in the UFC. Majority of his wins coming by submission, most recently choking out Zak Cummings. Story is coming off a submission win himself over Leandro Mafra, and will be looking his first winning streak since 2011.

It's pretty hard for me to believe this was a real scrap. Dana is infamous for promoting bogus pre-fight beefs like this. In spite of the fake posturing, I'm also super-hyped for this fight. Should be a great match.

The "Korean Zombie" Chan Sung Jung also makes his return to action this night in the co-main event vs. Akira Corassani. Jung hasn't fought since a 4th round TKO loss to current champ Jose Aldo. Corassani is coming off a TKO loss himself to Dustin Poirier (whom the Zombie has beat).

Jones-Cormier postponed till next year due to a leg injury to Bones. Arrrgh!

Yeah and now UFC 177 really really sucks. At least it had 2 title fights to look forward to... Now Danny Castillo vs Tony Ferguson as the co-main? That is far from $65 PPV quality. The free cards before and after UFC 177 are better.

Main Event for Fight Night 51 is Arlovski vs Big Foot. Big fight for both these guys as Arlovski tries to re-establish himself in the UFC and Silva works to regain his credibility after the post-Hunt failed drug test. Silva is the definite favorite in my eyes after Andrei's lackluster performance against Schaub at UFC 174. Not necessarily title implications for either fighter but a strong step in that direction with a win here. It would be a huge victory for the Pit Bull if he can somehow pull this one out.

I think Arlovski will look better in this fight than he did against Schaub. He admitted after the Schaub fight that he was feeling terrible, very nervous, threw up a lot back stage. I think those nerves will be gone when he steps into the cage with Bigfoot. He will still lose, but he will look better. If he can somehow win this, it will put him a fight away from a title shot IMO. Heavyweight is so weak, he's a name, a former champ, and if he wins he's on like a 4 UFC fight winning streak.

Anybody else fall asleep to Bader-OSP? I didn't, but I was certainly close. Still, Bader dominated and showed that OSP has a lot of work to do to be a legit top 10 guy. His striking is all over the place, nice kicks but those punches were terrible and his takedown defence was atrocious. I know Bader is a top rated wrestler, now sits 2nd all time (behind Rashad Evans) for most takedowns in UFC/WEC/PRIDE/Strikeforce 205 lbs history, OSP didn't stuff one of them. Bader went a perfect 9 for 9, and as soon as he gets on top, even though he doesn't do much, it's really hard for the guy on the bottom to get out. Anthony Johnson says he'd love to fight Bader in October, but in the post fight interview, Bader did say something about healing up some injuries.

And then Ross Pearson got back to his KO ways with his 2nd round TKO of Gray Maynard. I think Maynard has now lost 3 straight all by T/KO, which usually means time for "that talk" with Dana. While Pearson got a much needed win as he was winless in the 2 fights previous to this one (no-contest with Melvin Guillard and the worst decision call in MMA history, a split-decision loss to Dirty Sanchez).

Now we have a double-header coming up this weekend. A Fight Pass event live from China on Saturday morning, Michael Bisping vs Cung Le (also the TUF China finale will finally happen). Then at night is Fight Night 48 (maybe 49, I'm losing track) on Fox Sports 1. One of my favourites in the main event, "Smooth" Benson Henderson takes on the always tough Rafael dos Anjos. I think Bendo has got this, but RdA is a top 5-10 guy for a reason, serious muay-thai and jiu-jitsu skills. Anybody going to be tuning in to any one of these events? I will be there for both, just wont be watching the China event live as I am not getting up at 6:30 am on a Saturday to watch a bunch on unknown Asian fighters with .500 records. I'll save that for lunch time.

Picks? Just on the "bigger" fights?

Cung Le KO's Bisping and BenHen wins a hard fought decision over dos Anjos.

This still has me bummed out. I thought the scrap was legit given how if I was DC I would not want to be tumbling off of the stage, but the ESPN interview argument made it seem rather hoax-ish.

Eddie Alvarez officially signed with the UFC yesterday and will fight Donald Cerrone at UFC 178 in the co-main event. Alvarez leaves Bellator as the lightweight champion and one of their best fighters ever. Winner of this fight could very well fight for the title next.

If that's the case then hopefully Eddie can get the win. Cerrone didn't fare to well against Pettis in their last fight and I don't see why the outcome would be any different now.

I've yet to watch the fights from this morning, but I just saw a picture of Cung Le and he looks like he got beat the fuck up.

Cerrone admitted after that fight (and the one against dos Anjos) that he was not in it mentally anymore. He was just showing up to fight because that was his job, not because he loved to do it anymore. Now he's won 4 in a row, making some money again, and seems to be re-motivated, his words. I don't think he will ever beat Pettis (or Henderson for that matter) but that doesn't mean he can't fight for the title. If he beats Alvarez, that's 5 straight wins against elite competition. Who else would be ahead of him should he beat Alvarez? Bendo is far off having already lost to Pettis twice. RdA could be next should he defeat Henderson tonight, but it wont happen. Bobby Green needs at least 1 if not 2 more wins against ranked opponents. That leaves the Cowboy.

Damn. Went 0-2 this weekend. Dos Anjos jumped all over Henderson Saturday night even though Big John stopped the fight a little early in my opinion. Rafa has now won 7 of his last 8 fights including a decision over Cerrone and should make a big move up the lightweight power rankings. Bisping dominated Le for pretty much the whole match. It's a big win for the Count after a horrible showing against Tim Kennedy this past April. Possible match-up with Luke Rockhold next. A ton of smack talk has been flying between the two and Dana will no doubt capitalize on the ready made feud. Also, Tyron Woodely gets back in the win column after drubbing Dong Hyun Kim.