ICYMI: UFC Fight Night 103: Rodriguez vs Penn Results

January 15, 2017, the UFC Fight Night 103 took place at Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix, Arizona. The featherweight clash between former UFC two-division champ BJ Penn and Mexican phenom Yair Rodriguez was stopped by referee John McCarthy at :24 of the second round. A UFC Hall of Famer got beaten up like that is painful to watch.

Penn failed to fire back and counter after absorbing punches and kicks from Rodriguez. When Penn fell to the mat, Rodriguez swept and pounded him with a flurry of hammer. Yair Rodriguez remains undefeated in the UFC with a 6-0 record (10-1 overall).

Joe Lauzon won on two judges’ scorecards but Lauzon said after the fight that it was not his fight. That it was Held’s fight. Held scored five takedowns and controlled Lauzon. Lauzon had a nice armbar at one point but Held escaped.

Sergio Pettis’ unanimous decision win John Moraga extended his win streak to three and made him climbed the top 10 of the flyweight division. He called out the no.4-ranked Jussier Formiga as his next opponent.

Rodriguez and Oleynik each received the $50,000.00 Performance of the Night bonus. The Augusto Mendes vs. Frankie Saenz garnered Fight of the Night honor.

Below are the results for the rest of the bouts:

Yair Rodriguez defeated B.J. Penn via TKO – Round 2, 0:24
Joe Lauzon defeated Marcin Held via split decision (29-28, 29-28, 27-30)
Ben Saunders defeated Court McGee via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Sergio Pettis defeated John Morago via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
Drakkar Klose defeated Devin Powell via decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Augusto Mendes defeated Frankie Saenz via split decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Aleksei Oleinik defeated Viktor Pesta via submission (Ezekiel choke) – Round 1, 2:57
Tony Martin defeated Alex White via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Nina Ansaroff defeated Jocelyn Jones-Lybarger via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 3, 3:39
Walt Harris defeated Chase Sherman via KO – Round 2, 2:41
Joachim Christensen defeated Bojan Mihajlovic via TKO – Round 3, 2:05
Cyril Asker defeated Dmitrii Smoliakov via TKO – Round 1, 2:41

The returning BJ Penn vs. Yair Rodriguez at UFC Fight Night 103 in Phoenix

It’s Ultimate Fighting Championship’s first event of 2017!

January 15, 2017, the UFC Fight Night 103 will takes place at Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix, Arizona. The bout is headlined by the featherweight clash between former UFC two-division champ BJ Penn and Mexican phenom Yair Rodriguez.

Yair Rodriguez remains undefeated in the UFC with a 5-0 record (10-1 overall). He made his debut in 2014 at UFC 180: Werdum vs Hunt and won The Ultimate Fighter: Latin America tournament. One of the most impressive fights for yours truly by this featherweight prospect was against Andre Fili at UFC 197: Jones vs Saint Preux. A high-flying left kick knocked out his opponent in the second round. His spun with kicks against Alex Caceres at UFC Fight Night 92 was very entertaining to watch as well. Their fight was an excellent exhibition of two skilled new talents.

After the the third set back BJ Penn has experienced on his return to competition in 2016 which even led to cancellation of UFC Manila 2.0, “The Prodigy” made the weight to 146 at the early official weigh-in on Sarurday and finally returns from retirement. It’s been almost three years BJ Penn hasn’t step into the octagon.

Will “Pantera” be able to extend his five win streak or BJ Penn emerge victorious on his comeback?

Injuries have forced a pair of changes to the card. In the flyweight division, former world title challenger John Moraga replaces the injured Jussier Formiga against Milwaukee’s Sergio Pettis. Plus, with Jordan Rinaldi forced to withdraw, unbeaten Drakkar Klose has stepped in to make his Octagon debut against his fellow UFC newcomer Devin Powell.

Jimmie Rivera vs. Bryan Caraway was expected to co-headline the event. However, Caraway pulled out of the bout on January 4 citing an undisclosed injury. He was replaced by Marlon Vera. Eventually, Rivera pulled from the fight as he felt going from a top-5 ranked fighter to an unranked one wouldn’t make sense at that moment. Jimmie Rivera wins the biggest one of his promising career which is against Urijah Faber at UFC 203. El Terror is the #6 ranked fighter in the UFC’s Bantamweight division.

Everybody needs to pay attention to the co-main event because Joe “ALWAYS exciting to watch” Lauzon squares off with Marcin Held. Whenever the warrior is in the card, I always hope his fight turns into a UFC 155-esque. Held is a black belt in jiu jitsu. Both are nasty in no gi. Looks like it’s going to be a ground war.

UFN: PHOENIX: FS1 MAIN CARD

Featherweight- Yair Rodriguez vs. B.J. Penn
Lightweigh- Joe Lauzon vs. Marcin Held
Welterweight- Court McGee vs. Ben Saunders
Flyweight- John Moraga vs. Sergio Pettis

FS1 PRELIMINARY CARD

Bantamweight- Frankie Saenz vs. Augusto Mendes
Heavyweight- Oleksiy Oliynyk vs. Viktor Pešta
Lightweight- Alex White vs. Tony Martin
Heavyweight- Walt Harris vs. Chase Sherman

UFC FIGHT PASS PRELIMINARY CARD

Women’s Strawweight- Jocelyn Jones-Lybarger vs. Nina Ansaroff
Lightweight- Devin Powell vs. Drakkar Klose
Light Heavyweight- Joachim Christensen vs. Bojan Mihajlović
Heavyweight- Dmitri Smoliakov vs. Cyril Asker

UFC 204: Bisping vs. Henderson Rematch

No. 13 Dan Henderson knocked out middleweight champion Michael Bisping at the historic UFC 100 in 2009. The Henderson vs. Bisping 2 is happening after seven years that will be held on October 8, 2016 at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England.

Dan Henderson confirmed that he will be retiring after this fight in an interview three months ago.  “I probably should give more thought to it being my last fight than I do, because it is going to be the last time. I’m not emotional, I’m not anything about it, it’s just another fight. I was ready at the last fight to be done, but obviously I couldn’t turn down a title shot. My body could easily go another four or five years if I really wanted to.”

Vitor Belfort vs. Gegard Mousasi will headline the co-main event. Belfort lost to Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza at UFC 198. The main event fighters Bisping and Henderson were both knocked out by Belfort as well as the former middleweight champion Luke Rockhold in 2013. Mousasi came from a win against Thiago Santos and Thales Leites and will be looking to extend his win-streak this year.

Ovince Saint Preux and Jimi Manuwa to cross paths in the light heavyweight division. Meanwhile, the bantamweight bout between Entwistle and Rob Font was scrapped due to medical condition. Entwistle slipped in and out of consciousness during the weight cutting process.

Official fight card:

Middleweight Michael Bisping (c) vs. Dan Henderson
Middleweight Vitor Belfort vs. Gegard Mousasi
Light Heavyweight Ovince Saint Preux vs. Jimi Manuwa
Heavyweight Stefan Struve vs. Daniel Omielańczuk
Featherweight Mirsad Bektic vs. Russell Doane
Bantamweight Brad Pickett vs. Iuri Alcântara
Bantamweight Davey Grant vs. Damian Stasiak
Welterweight Leon Edwards vs. Albert Tumenov
Lightweight Łukasz Sajewski vs. Marc Diakiese
Welterweight Danny Roberts vs. Mike Perry
Lightweight Leonardo Santos vs. Adriano Martins

Belfort vs Henderson III – Devastating Finishes and New Stars Emerged

It took the phenom less than one round to put away UFC legend Dan “Hendo” Henderson.  The two MMA stars were feeling each other out the first few minutes of their fight.  It seemed like the first and only exchange in the fight resulted in a head-kick KO that landed for Vitor Belfort. He followed up with punches on his grounded opponent until referee Mario Yamasaki stepped in to stop the fight!

Other standouts on this fight card were Glober Teixeira, Alex “Cowboy” Oliveira and Thomas Almeida.  All three of these fighters also finished their opponents via KO.

Here are the rest of the fight results for UFC Fight Night – Sao Paulo, Brazil

Vitor Belfort def. Dan Henderson via first-round KO

Glover Teixeira def. Patrick Cummins via second-round KO

Thomas Almeida def. Anthony Birchak via first-round KO

Alex Oliveira def. Piotr Hallmann via third-round KO

Rashid Magomedov def. Gilbert Burns via unanimous decision

Corey Anderson def. Fabio Maldonado via unanimous decision

Gleison Tibau def. Abel Trujillo via first round submission

Johnny Case def. Yan Cabral via unanimous decision

Thiago Tavares def. Clay Guida via first round submission

Chas Skelly def. Kevin Souza via second round submission

Viscardi Andrade def. Gasan Umalatov via unanimous decision

Jimmie Rivera def. Pedro Munhoz via split decision

Matheus Nicolau Pereira def. Bruno Rodrigues via third round submission

Belfort VS Henderson III – Is Going Down This Weekend in Sao Paulo Brazil

These two first met in 2006 under the PRIDE FC promotion.  Dan “Hendo” Henderson took that first match up via unanimous decision.  Vitor “The Phenom” Belfort got his revenge in 2013 when he knocked out Henderson with a devastating head kick!  There’s no doubt that these two fighters are future UFC Hall of Famers.  Who you got in the rubber match?

UFC Fight Night May 30

UFC Fight Night May 30

Its a weletrweight matchup between Carlos “the natural born killer” Condit and the “Pitbull” from brazil Thiago Alves. Both fighters looking for the big “W” to move up the rankings to have a title shot againstRobbie Lawler who is the current welterweight champion in the UFC..

The Pitbull needs to keep his 2 win momentum to move up the ranks while Carlos needs to rebond himself up after a big lose to Tyrone Woodley.

This could be a potential career win both fighters are looking for to reach there ultimate goal of challenging the champion.

Stay tune on May 30, for the UFC Fight Night Carlos Condit vs. Thiago Alves. For more updates on this fight stay tune at http://www.powcast.net