UFC 142 - José Aldo's Homecoming

The best Brazilian in Mixed Martial Arts may not be Anderson Silva for much longer, given the rise of UFC Featherweight Champion José Aldo.
Aldo, who has an astounding 20 wins and only one loss, defended his WEC featherweight title two times before the WEC was dissolved and he was promoted to the Undisputed UFC Featherweight Champion. He has since defended his UFC title twice, against worthy competition in Mark Hominick and former lightweight title challenger, Kenny Florian. Aldo has finished 14 of his 21 opponents, with 12 of those finishes coming by way of knockout.
Aldo began his career with five straight stoppage victories in his native Brazil. He travelled to England for two straight fights, which took place in consecutive months, and won both by knockout. Aldo was at the top of his game, a perfect 7-0, heading back to Brazil for his first fight at lightweight against fellow countryman Luciano Azevedo. Aldo suffered his first, and only loss of his career to Azevedo, and dropped back to featherweight before rattling off three straight. After an impressive 10-1 start to his career, Aldo joined the UFC sister promotion World Extreme Cagefighting.
In his first four fights under the WEC banner, Aldo finished all of his opponents by knockout, and earned a number one contender bout against fellow rising prospect Cub Swanson. Swanson had 13 wins under his belt, with 10 finishes. Aldo came into the bout with a similar record of 14-1 with 11 finishes. It was sure to be an exciting fight to say the least. Aldo made quick work of his foe, knocking Swanson unconscious just eight seconds into the fight with a spectacular double flying knee. After ending the fight with possibly the biggest highlight of his career, Aldo moved on to challenge dominant champion, Mike Brown. Aldo made the champ look like an amateur, pushing the pace in the first round, and in the second round taking his back and raining down punches. The fight was halted at 1:20 of the second round, and Jos é Aldo was crowned the WEC Featherweight Champion.

WEC matchmaker Sean Shelby did not give Aldo any breaks as it was announced that his first title defense would be against former titleholder and a man many thought would never lose the title, Urijah Faber. In what could still be considered his most dominant performance, Aldo kept Faber at bay utilizing over 30 successful leg kicks that left Faber badly bruised following the fight. Aldo effectively dodged, as Faber only landed 27 strikes in their five-round affair. In the fourth round, Aldo sent Faber sprawling and pounced on him, quickly trapping Faber’s arm in a crucifix and raining down punches. The fifth round saw Aldo not engage much, and carefully secure the unanimous victory.
The next time Aldo entered the WEC cage, it was against The Ultimate Fighter 5 finalist Manvel Gamburyan. Aldo did not miss a step as he throttled his opponent with an onslaught of kicks and punches, ultimately knocking out his foe in fewer than two rounds. With his quick victory over the Armenian, Aldo was eager to defend his WEC belt again.
In October of 2010, the WEC merged with the UFC, and on November 20, 2010 Aldo was upgraded to the Undisputed UFC Featherweight Champion. After recovering from a neck injury, and after six-months on the shelf, Aldo was set to face the Canadian, Mark Hominick at UFC 129 in Hominick’s native Ontario. Slated as the co-main event alongside a welterweight title clash between Georges St-Pierre and Jake Shields, Aldo and Hominick stole the show, winning Fight of the Night honors.
The fight began with both fighters exchanging quick on the feet. Aldo’s speed advantage was immediately obvious, but Hominick looked to actually be a bit bigger than his Brazilian foe. The fight didn’t stay standing for long, as Aldo quickly tossed Hominick to the mat. To defend, Hominick quickly attempted to lock up and armbar but Aldo slipped out, and landed some heavy elbows. The second round continued much the same as Aldo scored two takedowns, and won on points.
The third and fourth frames saw Aldo and Hominick get into more than a few heated exchanges on the feet. In the third round, more strikes were thrown than in either of the previous two. If not for a perfectly timed one-two combination that set Hominick to the floor late in the round, Hominick would have walked away with a round. It was in round four that the biggest punch of the night was thrown, and fans saw possibly one of the most gruesome sights in MMA history.
Aldo came out with his typical strong leg kicks, and Hominick was beginning to slow. He knocked Hominick down again with a nice combination and began to rain down strikes from top position. A hematoma close to the size of a golf ball developed on Hominick’s head, but he continued to come forward, looking like sloth from The Goonies. The fight was halted to examine the lump, and the doctors allowed the action to continue, and essentially gave the okay for Aldo to destroy him for one more round. The fifth round saw Aldo and his traditional points stall. He had four rounds under his belt, and sat back and basically took a nap, much like the final round of his first title defense against Faber.
After a one-sided, and rather uneventful unanimous decision victory over former lightweight title contender Kenny Florian, Aldo was named one of the UFC’s most dominant fighters, and considered a pound-for-pound stalwart.
The Brazilian striker’s next challenge lies in undefeated wrestler Chad Mendes. Mendes, who was also a fellow WEC fighter, is a teammate of Urijah Faber, so he will have some insights into Aldo’s game. Mendes, one of the division’s top wrestlers, compiled a 30-1 record his senior year, so there should be no secret as to what his game plan is going into the biggest fight of his life.
Aldo’s takedown defense is the second best among champions in the UFC, at 90 percent; a statistic Mendes will have trouble swallowing. Another tool he will have in defending the takedown other than the outright sprawl is his vicious leg kicks. Look for Aldo to use those to keep Mendes off balance.
The takedown is really Mendes’s only option offensively, but he does have a decent counter striking game. His striking defense is an impressive 74 percent, and his takedown defense is even better than Aldo’s. He has never been taken down in his seven fights with the WEC and UFC. The weak side to this statistic is that he has only faced seven takedown attempts.
In his last four fights, Mendes has scored 20 takedowns. He earned eight of them in a fight against striker, Cub Swanson in 2010. It has been hammered over and over again, Mendes is an incredible wrestler, but what is it that Aldo possesses?
Aldo has over half of his career wins by knockout, and he has shown that he isn’t afraid to take chances in order to score the knockout early in his career, ala Cub Swanson. Lately, he has been rather cautious in his striking, and even gave up the fifth round to Hominick in a fight that he dominated. The question is whether we will see a motivated Aldo, or a bored one like we saw in the Hominick and Florian fights. The skill he possesses is unquestionable, but he hasn’t pushed the pace to apply in it some time. Is this the fight where we will see a highlight reel knockout?
If Aldo decides to sit back and admire his performance early like he has in the past, then we could see a new champion at the end of the night. Still, Aldo has enough skills on the ground, with his take down defense, and his submission skills to not get suffocated by Mendes. Mendes keeps it close, but Aldo pulls it out in the fourth, with a late knockout.

UFC 142 - Money Mendes Seeks UFC Gold This Weekend At UFC 142

Team Alpha Male, who has produced such stars as Urijah Faber and Joseph Benavidez, has another prospect making his way through the ranks and he has been hungry for the featherweight title for some time now.
Chad “Money” Mendes was promised a title shot at UFC 133. He was 10-0 at the time, and titleholder Jos é Aldo was running through opponents like water. He had just defeated Mark Hominick in stunning fashion, and Mendes looked to be the only potential threat to his title. Aldo declined the bout at UFC 133 due to a myriad of injuries sustained while fighting Hominick.
Mendes was undeterred, and to stay active took a fight with Brazilian Abu Dhabi Combat Club submission wrestler, Rani Yahya. When Aldo came back from injury, Mendes was booked, so he was signed to defend his belt against Kenny Florian. Needless to say, Chad Mendes’s title shot has been a long time coming.
His Mixed Martial Arts career started fast and took off even faster. He began his career fighting under the reputable Tachi Palace Fights banner. He went undefeated, the highlight of his run being his knockout of Steven Siler, a future competitor on The Ultimate Fighter, and at the time, riding a nine-fight win streak. Mendes took out the 21-fight veteran in just 44 seconds.

After dominating all of his opposition in TPF, he was invited to compete in the UFC’s sister promotion, World Extreme Cagefighting. Mendes continued to use his wrestling base to suffocate his opponents, as he always had. Mendes, a former All-American wrestler at Cal Poly, finished his senior season 30-1 and placed second in the 2008 NCAA Championships at 141 pounds.
In his first fight in the WEC, he scored six takedowns en route to a unanimous decision win over Eric Koch. He followed up that impressive performance just one month later with a first round guillotine choke against Anthony Morrison. Mendes showed some impressive striking in his clash with Morrison. They weren’t knockout caliber strikes, but they set up his takedown nicely, and kept Morrison guessing.
His most dominant fight in the WEC came four months later in August against Cub Swanson. Mendes showed that he had some power in his hands with an early shot that rocked Swanson. He followed Swanson to the ground, and the two fighters eventually made their way back to their feet. After a short exchange, Mendes scored another takedown to end the round.
The second began much the same as the first. Mendes continued to use his striking to set up his monstrous takedowns. He wasn’t able to hold Swanson on the ground for very long, and did scattered damage. In the third, Swanson opened up his arsenal of submissions, almost catching Mendes in an omoplata. Mendes closed out the final round using his striking, and taking Swanson to the mat when he felt threatened.
Mendes didn’t do a lot of damage to Swanson, and he wasn’t able to keep Swanson on his back, so how can this be considered dominant? Mendes was able to execute his takedowns at will, whenever he wanted, and he completely neutralized Swanson as any kind of threat. Even when on the ground, Mendes was able to shrug off submissions, and on the feet, Swanson looked to only still be there because Mendes allowed it.
As the UFC did not have any weight classes below 155 when Mendes was coming up, the WEC was the outlet for smaller fighters to make their way into the big leagues when the UFC inevitably merged with the WEC. That merger happened in October of 2010, and all WEC fighters were transferred to the UFC’s roster. Mendes had one final exit fight in November, a unanimous decision win over Javier Vasquez, before his transfer to the UFC was official.
Since becoming a UFC fighter, Mendes has kept his undefeated streak alive, and is still a perfect 11-0, with four finishes to his credit. After a win over submission specialist Rani Yhaya, Mendes finds himself heading to his opponent’s native Brazil to challenge for the UFC Featherweight Championship.
As if the fight itself wasn’t tough enough, fighting in Aldo’s backyard will prove to be difficult to say the least. The last time the UFC was in Rio de Janiero in August of 2011, the HSBC Arena sold out to capacity of 14,000 in mere minutes. UFC President Dana White said that easily over 300,000 people were trying to get tickets to the event. There were plans in the works to book a soccer stadium to hold UFC 142, but plans fell through, so Aldo and Mendes will square off again at the HSBC Arena, to a sold out, fanatic Brazilian crowd.
The atmosphere and the crowd will be one thing to have to deal with, but Jos é Aldo will be another. With a four-inch reach advantage, and a one-inch height advantage, as well as being the vastly better striker, Mendes has his hands full. As if that wasn’t enough, Aldo is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt, and has shown his prominence on the ground before with a 90 percent takedown defense. With all this, it would be easy to say Aldo will dominate Mendes in yet another title defense, but I don’t believe that to be the case.
Mendes uses his striking well to set up his takedowns. I don’t expect him to look for the takedown until about the two-minute mark. Mendes wants to keep Aldo guessing, much as he did against Vasquez when he executed a front flip and landed on him, and when he did a somersault to escape Vasquez’s standing back control. He has expressed his desire to develop his standup, and its functionality in wrestling. He isn’t looking to be a knockout artist, but to find a way to meld his striking game to better his already incredible wrestling.
This one will stay very close, with no competitor having a distinct edge until its end. Mendes will work his ground game, stifling Aldo’s submission attempts, much like he did to Swanson. I see this fight playing out similar to Mendes’s fight With Swanson, except Aldo will be more of a force on the feet, landing combinations, and utilizing his hard leg kicks to wobble Mendes. I don’t see Mendes getting eight takedowns, but the two fighters will be up and down quickly. Mendes keeps it close, until Aldo defends his title with a late, fourth round knockout.

'Ubereem' Looks To Clinch a Title Shot With Win at UFC 141

Alistair “The Demolition Man” Overeem, possibly the most highly touted heavyweight since the heydays of Fedor Emelianenko, will finally grace the UFC Octagon on Friday.
With 35 wins and 11 losses, all outside what many consider to be the sport’s top promotion, fans have been waiting for a long time for the Dutchman to make the transition. Overeem made a name for himself in Pride Fighting Championships as a light heavyweight, fighting some of the best in the sport. He is most well known for his battles with Shogun Rua, Chuck Liddell, Vitor Belfort, and Antônio Rogério Nogueira.
In 2005 until mid-2006, while fighting under the Pride banner, Overeem flirted with fighting at heavyweight, bouncing back and forth between his natural weight at 205 pounds, and at one point fighting as heavy as 256 pounds against Fabricio Werdum. He lost the fight with Werdum by submission in the second round, setting up their rematch years later.
In 2007, he decided to make the move to heavyweight a full time occupation. After a rematch with Kharitonov that ended with Overeem on his back seeing stars, he moved on from Pride to Strikeforce to capture the vacant heavyweight title after forcing opponent Paul Buentello to submit early in the second frame.
After becoming the Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion, Overeem went on a two-fight win streak, finishing both of his opponents. He also squared off with Mirko Cro Cop in a highly anticipated bout under the Dream banner, but it ended in a no contest after Overeem landed an inadvertent knee to the groin while working in the clinch.
Overeem was set to make his first title defense against the then unbeaten, Brett Rogers. The fight was scrapped due to Overeem sustaining a hand injury. In his off time Overeem decided to turn his sights back to the world of K-1 Kickboxing, where he had fought since he was 17 years old. He shocked the kickboxing world when he upset the legendary, three-time champion, Peter Aerts by decision. Overeem couldn’t finish the tournament with a victory, bowing out in the final following a loss to Badr Hadri.
Overeem later made his first Strikeforce title defense against Rogers, but it was after Fedor Emelianenko had already bested Rogers, handing him his first loss. Overeem handled Rogers effectively for half of the first round before ending the fight with a TKO. Just seven months after Overeem successfully defended his title, he went on to win another, this time besting Aerts again for the K1 Kickboxing title. The fight lasted just one round, and Overeem was able to secure the finish to definitively win the K1 World Grand Prix 2010 title.
As if a kickboxing world title, along with the Strikeforce Heavyweight title wasn’t enough, Overeem was booked to fight ex-UFC fighter, and former UFC record holder for the fastest knockout, Todd Duffee under the Dream banner at its annual New Year’s Eve bash. In appropriate fashion, Overeem knocked Duffee unconscious with a strong left hook just 19 seconds into the fight to win the vacant Dream Heavyweight title. With the win, Overeem became the first man in history to win the esteemed K1 Kickboxing tournament, and hold two MMA championship belts at the same time.
The next challenge for the Dutchman came in the form of another tournament, this time in the cage. Overeem was cast as part of Strikeforce’s eight-man heavyweight tournament, where he was set to face Fabricio Werdum in a rematch of their bout five years prior. In the opening round, Werdum looked comfortable to stand and strike with Overeem, which was puzzling to the champ. Overeem took it in stride and began to work his game, but when he shot back with punches, Werdum shot to his back, hoping to bait Overeem into a ground exchange. Overeem would have none of it. The fight played out much the same for the two remaining rounds, and Overeem cautiously played his way to a decision win.
After his quarterfinal win, Overeem was set to advance in the tournament, awaiting the winner of Josh Barnett vs. Brett Rogers. A controversy between Overeem’s management, Golden Glory, and the UFC’s parent company, Zuffa LLC, caused strife in the negotiations for his next fight. The fissure between the two sides proved to be too great, and Overeem was released from Strikeforce and pulled from the tournament, vacating his title in the process. He later went on to express his dissatisfaction with the way Golden Glory had handled the situation, and fired them.
The UFC quickly snatched him up and negotiated a deal, with his first fight being a number one contender bout against former UFC Heavyweight Champion, and NCAA wrestling Champion, Brock Lesnar. The matchup could not be more perfect, as there is no other MMA athlete that can come close to Overeem in size, and their skill sets could not be more different. To the naked eye, this is a matchup of a specialist versus a specialist, but upon closer inspection, it becomes clear that Overeem has a significant upper hand. Lesnar, while his wrestling base can be considered among the best in the sport, lacks the skills to even be considered a competent boxer. His footwork is dismal, and his chin lies untested because of the fact that he simply can’t tolerate being hit. The loss to Cain Velazquez exploited this, and Overeem will look to improve upon that notion.
Brock has no choice but to get this fight to the ground as fast as he can, but I’m not sure that will be enough. Overeem, while he doesn’t possess the wrestling chops that Lesnar does, owns over half of his wins by submission. Now to be fair, three of those submissions are due to strikes. Only counting legitimate submissions, The Demolition Man has exactly half of his wins by submission, still an impressive and often-overlooked fact.
Lesnar did show vast improvement in all of his skills in his UFC 116 fight with Shane Carwin, where he won by an arm-triangle choke. Overcoming an early onslaught, Lesnar showed a solid chin, and he didn’t turtle up when he was hit by one of Carwin’s bombs. After overcoming an adverse first round, Lesnar showed a deadly new tool to add to his ground game with a submission. Lesnar already possesses undoubtedly the best ground and pound skills since Mark Coleman invented the technique, and if he can add the threat of submission, his ground game could become one of the best in the division.
Still, even with such a stellar ground game, it won’t be easy to take down the 250 plus pound behemoth that is Alistair Overeem. Overeem doesn’t have a fantastic sprawl, but what he does have is what many call the “Uberknee.” Overeem’s clinch knees are among the best in MMA, and he owes several of his victories solely to the tree trunks he calls legs. If Lesnar chooses to use his trademark bulrush to take Overeem to the ground, he may find one of Overeem’s brutal knees greeting him on the way in. The only protection Lesnar has from these knees is that his takedowns aren’t a typical double-leg. When Lesnar goes in for a takedown, he uses his hips to lift his target, and puts his head into the chest, not next to the hip. With his head elevated, he won’t be as susceptible to the night-ending knee. He still won’t be safe from the clinch game, and that is where Overeem will stop Lesnar’s takedowns, and end his night with a late second round TKO.

Brock Lesnar, A Kickboxer's Worst Nightmare?

From the WWE, to the NFL and to the UFC, former UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar has done it all in the sports world. After losing his title to up-and-comer Cain Velasquez, Brock Lesnar has dealt with several bouts of diverticulitis, and come out on the winning end, with an insatiable bloodlust. He wants his title back, and it seems nothing can stop him.
Lesnar, a former NCAA National Champion wrestler at the University of Minnesota, began his career in MMA relatively young, considering his various other athletic ventures. Lesnar entered into the MMA landscape in 2007 after a storied career in the WWE, and after being cut by the Minnesota Vikings following a short stint with the team in 2005.
At the age of 30, Lesnar made his MMA debut against Min-Soo Kim. Lesnar quickly blitzed the former K-1 World Grand Prix finalist and pummeled him for almost the entire first round before Kim simply tapped due to strikes. With such a dominant debut, and given his prior fame as one of the WWE’s biggest stars, the UFC quickly came calling, and Lesnar was signed to the heavyweight roster, eyeing an early year debut with the promotion. Lesnar was set to face former UFC Heavyweight Champion Frank Mir, who would later become Lesnar’s biggest rival.
At UFC 88, the two met, and Lesnar immediately looked to bring the fight to the ground. He gained a dominant position and began reigning down punches, but referee Steve Mazagatti halted the fight and deducted Lesnar a point for repeated strikes to the back of Mir’s head. The inexperience of Lesnar proved to be a factor in the closing seconds of the fight. He stood up to get out of Mir’s guard, instead of passing to a more dominant position. As he did so, Mir rolled spectacularly into a kneebar, forcing Lesnar to tap out at 3:30 of the opening frame.
The loss to Mir, albeit a controversial one, didn’t set Lesnar back much, as after a decision victory over Heath Herring, Lesnar found himself in the fight of his life against UFC Hall-of-Famer Randy Couture for the UFC Heavyweight strap. After a contentious first round, Lesnar dominated the older Couture to become the Undisputed UFC Heavyweight Champion at just 32 years of age.
After becoming champion, only one thing was on Lesnar’s mind, and that was avenging the only loss on his ledger. He wanted Frank Mir, and he got him as the headliner for the historic UFC 100. The rematch was rather unspectacular as Lesnar beat his opponent into the ground early. Securing the early takedown, Lesnar pushed Mir against the cage, and beat his head through the mat. There was no controversy, there was no question, Brock Lesnar was for real and he was at the top of the sport’s biggest division.
The Minnesotan was next set to face supreme knockout artist, Shane Carwin to defend his UFC Heavyweight Title for the second time. The champ quickly became concerned with a bigger foe than Carwin, and thus began his first bout with the digestive tract disease, diverticulitis. Lesnar was out of action for almost three-quarters of the year, but came back strong when he finally faced Carwin at UFC 116, ten events later than their first scheduled meeting.
The fight began frustrating at the very least for Lesnar fans. Carwin rocked Lesnar early on with his heavy hands, and followed up with an onslaught on the ground. With a meager three power strikes landed in the first round, versus Carwin’s 40, the champ looked to be completely outmatched. In a stunning turn of events, Lesnar looked completely rejuvenated in the second round. Carwin had completely gassed himself out, in an attempt to end the fight, and Lesnar pounced on him. Shortly after taking the fight to the mat, Lesnar transitioned to full mount and wrapped up an arm-triangle choke. He quickly stepped over into side-control to tighten the choke, and his chokehold on the UFC Heavyweight division.
After his defense against Carwin, Lesnar was matched up against another top wrestler in the undefeated Cain Velasquez. Velasquez, who has eight of his nine wins via knockout, chose to handle Lesnar on the feet, and handle him he did. Lesnar was tossed around the Octagon like a child, and looked lackluster at best. Velasquez opened a cut on Lesnar’s cheek midway through the first round that still hasn’t healed properly to this day, en route to a first round TKO victory. Lesnar had finally lost the title after 707 days, the longest single reign for a UFC Heavyweight.
The future for Lesnar was uncertain, as he was manhandled by a fighter who he outweighed by more than 35 pounds. Lesnar was next set to coach on The Ultimate Fighter opposite Junior Dos Santos. The two agreed to a bout to fight to decide the number one contender for Velasquez’s title, but after the filming of the show had concluded, Lesnar entered into his second bout with his intestines. The bout concluded with a surgery to remove a 12-inch section of his colon, and put him on the shelf for close to seven months.
Upon his return, it was announced that Lesnar would face off against former Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion, former Dream Heavyweight Champion, and K-1 Kickboxing World Champion Alistair Overeem. That’s a tall order, even for a man with all the accolades Brock Lesnar possesses. Lesnar will have to get it to the mat quickly to stand even a chance, given his poor boxing skills. Look for Lesnar to shoot for a takedown early, much like he did at UFC 88 against Mir. The fight looks to take place in several series on the ground, as I don’t see Lesnar being able to control Overeem on the ground for long.
Overeem will look to deny Lesnar’s takedowns with his striking, rather than a sprawl. Lesnar can still achieve a dominant position when sprawled, and there has yet to be a fighter to sprawl him. Overeem will pepper Lesnar with strikes on the way in, and bring the fight up to the clinch, into his domain. From there he has a completely new arsenal of strikes to unload on the former wrestler, who has shown he is not particularly fond of taking a punch. Look for Overeem to keep his distance and wait for Lesnar to attack with a takedown, and then end the fight in the clinch, likely by way of a brutal “Uberknee.”