More controversy in the UFC and the Irish female fighter who has a tasty looking rematch lined up are in this week’s wrap-up of the latest MMA news.
By Fergus Ryan
Crowning the Lord of the Flys
The UFC kicked off its tournament to crown the inaugural flyweight champion at UFC on FX 2: Alves vs. Kampmann last Saturday in Sydney, Australia. In keeping with recent UFC events this latest one threw up some controversy. According to UFC president Dana White “controversy has stuck to us like glue lately, but these things happen. Human error happens.”
Ian McCall fought Demetrious Johnson in the first semi-final flyweight bout. Unfortunately, a great fight was soured firstly, (in my opinion) by an unjust decision victory for Johnson and secondly by the revelation at the post-fight presser that scores had been incorrectly tabulated and the fight should have been declared a draw. The UFC had stated that in the event of a draw there would be a sudden death round to decide a winner so the tournament could proceed. McCall and Johnson have to do it again, possibly in April, to get an opponent for Joey Benavidez who knocked out Yasuhiro Urushitani in the other flyweight bout.
The first round was close in the striking but McCall landed two out of two takedowns and stuffed all three of Johnson’s attempts. Round two saw Johnson dominate the striking with neither fighter scoring a takedown. The final round saw McCall thoroughly dominate Johnson. McCall landed two takedowns where he passed into mount and took Johnson’s back then proceeded to land strikes a-plenty both times. McCall takes it two rounds to one on my scorecard.
Two judges gave the first round to Johnson and the third round a 10-8 to McCall making it a majority draw. It should have gone to the fourth round but maybe it didn’t need it. Takedowns usually weigh heaviest on a scorecard but this doesn’t seem to have happened in the first round where McCall landed two.
After the result was changed to a draw Johnson was disappointed but McCall felt a little vindicated. McCall stormed out of the Octagon after the result was announced but seemed in better form at the post-fight presser. “Things happen. Shoot, we get to fight again. You guys had a good time, right? We’ll put on another show. I’m happy, because I got a little vindicated, but we get to do it again, and that is awesome.” said McCall
Daly is back in Bellator
Bellator, the biggest MMA promotion outside of Zuffa in the US, launches its sixth season of fights on Friday, March 9 (Bellaotor 60) and will feature the usual tournament format in the bantamweight, featherweight, lightweight, welterweight, and middleweight divisions. More importantly for Irish MMA fans, Aisling Daly looks set to rematch Jessica Eye at Bellator 66 scheduled to take place on April 20th at I-X Center in Cleveland, Ohio.
Daly won the NAAFS flyweight title and handed Eye her first loss in June 2011. Eye has been victorious in her three bouts since then including a win at Bellator 51. Daly has gone 2-0 since winning the NAAFS title and will be straight back to work after Bellator when she’ll fight Rosi Sexton in the opening round of the Cage Warriors Fighting Championship flyweight tournament in Dublin in May.
Also slated for Bellator 66 is a bout between former Bellator lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez and Japanese grappling sensation Shinya Aoki.
Bellator Highlight reel
Rousey is the new Strikeforce Champion
Back in January JOE shared a few thoughts on why women’s MMA could make it into the UFC in 2012. Part of the rationale was the brewing rivalry between Miesha Tate and Ronda Rousey. Well, they finally squared off at Strikeforce last Saturday and all the pre-fight hype was worth it as the bout delivered some great action.
In claiming the bantamweight title (her debut at that weight) Rousey moved to 5-0, managed to double her time in the cage (her previous 4 bouts had totalled less than 5 minutes) and collect her fifth armbar victory.
Strikeforce Recap: Tate v Rousey
Changes to BattleZone 5 fightcard
The proposed welterweight title tilt between Vlad Malko (MMA Clinic) and Philip Mulpeter (SBGi) is off due to an injury to Malko. Stepping in will be Team Ryano stand-out John Donnelly. Donnelly recently had a hard fought loss against Domingos Mestre at Cage Warriors Fighting Championship – Fight Night 3 in Beirut, Lebanon. It was Donnelly’s first fight in nearly a year after breaking his hand beating Dustin West from the US at Rumble in Rush.
Tickets can be purchased through either the fighters or clubs participating on the night, or inquiries can be made through the Battle ZONE Fighting Championships Facebook page. To get you in the mood check out Battlezone 4 on Setanta Ireland on Thursday March 8 at 23.30.
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