Starting the year with a bang

Salamu

Things are heating up in the UFC ahead of UFC 169, which is set to start of the year with a bang. There is also significant movement in the middleweight division with call outs and challenges. And we have Benson Henderson making his first step back towards the summit of the lightweight division after his loss to Anthony Pettis at UFC 164 in August last year.

Weidman may be set for a long title reign

As I stated in the last edition of The Rear Naked Choke, the Welterweight and Middleweight divisions are

currently the drawcard divisions for the UFC. While the Welterweight division takes a break from the spotlight until UFC 171, where Johnny ‘Big Rig’ Hendricks takes on ‘Ruthless’ Robbie Lawler, the Middleweight division is making all of the news. Since the epic conclusion to the rivalry between Anderson Silva and Chris Weidman, there have been a number of fighters jockeying for position.

Currently, Vitor Belfor is the Number 1 contender to challenge Weidman.  But there is a lot of movement below Belfor. After Luke Rockhold’s win over the hard hitting Costas Philippou, Rockhold called out Michael Bisping to settle two ‘small’ matters. The matters in question is of course getting closer to challenging Belfor’s top contender status, but the other matter is settling the debate over Bisping calling himself the unofficial Strikeforce Champion. The comment in question was made by Bisping during a 2012 appearance on Spike TV’s short-lived MMA Uncensored program after recently sparring with Rockhold, the then Strikeforce king. Though the remark appeared to have been made in jest, Rockhold would nevertheless like a chance to settle the score.

From my experience of Bisping (which was gained while watching The Ultimate Fighter 3), Bisping is a light hearted Brit who likes to ‘take the piss’ out of his opponents and just have fun with them. But it is one thing ‘taking the piss’ with a regular person on the street or one of your mates, it is a different thing altogether to ‘take the piss’ with a fellow cage fighter who has a trigger temper and cant wait to beat your ass like you stole something. Now Rockhold has called Bisping out and it will be interesting to see Bisping’s response. To me the fight may well prove to be a great fight as both men have shown their abilities in the ring, but it may also turn out to be a major disappointment as Bisping is currently on the comeback trail after suffering a detached retina last year. Like Anderson Silva, I think Bisping should shelve his pride and just call it a day before a more serious injury is done.

But there are two other fighters we simply cannot ignore. Mark ‘The Filipino Wrecking Machine’ Munoz and Lyoto ‘The Dragon’ Machida. Munoz has just come back to his best after a long layoff and it has been proven that if you give a fighter a reason to fight (in Munoz’s case overcoming depression) they may be as dangerous as ever. And Munoz is no regular bum off the street corner, this boy can bang with the best. Machida is also trying to resurrect his career by making the drop from Light Heavy Weight to Middleweight where he may prove to be a problem. His fighting style suits the division and his experience may give the younger guys sleepless nights. Again, Machida is no regular bum off the street corner, and Rashad Evens and Quinton Jackson will confirm this.

Before we get to UFC 169, we see the return of Benson Henderson who is hoping to get another shot at Anthony ‘Showtime’ Pettis. Many thought that the loss to Pettis was a shock, but again, Pettis had the real motivation to win that fight. And he will now want to keep the belt for as long as possible. Henderson will want to prove that he is worthy of the top contender ranking when he takes on Josh Thompson at a UFC Fight Night event just before UFC 169. But while Henderson should make light work of Thompson (who is ranked number 7 in the division), there is a lot of talent stacked between the two fighters. Gilbert ‘El Nino’ Melendez is simply a machine and proved in his fight with Diego ‘The Nightmare’ Sanchez that he is one bad ass mudda. Granted, while there is nothing like seeing two Mexicans unleash all hell on each other, if Melendez can come anywhere close to finding some of that form in a possible fight against Henderson…Henderson better have his last will and testament in order.

And then, finally, it is time to see Bruce Buffer completely lose his shit at UFC 169. And it is a highly anticipated event. Renan Barao is set to take on Urijah Faber for the Bantam Weight crown. This is a great fight because both fighters are exciting to watch. While I am not the biggest fan of Brazilian fighters in the UFC, Barao is one Brazilian I do enjoy watching. He proved his worth against Eddie Wineland (who himself is a former WEC champion Boxer) when he was not intimidated by Wineland and knocked him out with a cracker of a roundhouse kick to the head. Faber is no slouch himself. He has fought a number of top fighters in the division and prevailed over most of them. The only two that he lost against was Barao and Dominick Cruz. My prediction for the fight, a Barao victory within the first two rounds.

The undercard for UFC 169 is stacked with talent as well. The co main event of the evening sees another Brazilian champion Jose Aldo taking on Ricardo Lamas, while the fight before that is Frank Mir against Alastair Overeem. That is a great fight as both fighters got the better of Brock Lesner.

It will be an interesting event and a great way to kick off 2014, although there was disappointment when Dana White revealed that the card would not feature the upcoming matchup between Jon ‘Bones’ Jones and Glover Teixeira,  the fight between Barao and Faber is a great filler.

Mei jua daima kuwa kabla yenu, na vivuli nyuma yako!