Brock Lesnar is set to defend his heavyweight championship belt Saturday night in Anaheim at UFC 121 and HeavyMMA.com was gracious enough to share a ton of great videos for this huge event, which you can find below.
Jeremy Botter of HeavyMMA.com is reporting that UFC 121 has been finalized and the fight card will feature 11 fights.
UFC officials confirmed the complete lineup this morning. The event, headlined by a heavyweight title clash between Brock Lesnar and Cain Velasquez, takes place Oct. 23 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Ca.The co-headlining feature will see Jake Shields make his UFC debut against Martin Kampmann.
In addition to the already-announced main card bouts, UFC officials finalized six preliminary card bouts, including two that will be televised on Spike TV.
In the headlining Spike TV bout, TUF 11 winner Court McGee will make his return to the Octagon to take on Ryan Jensen. McGee defeated Kris McCray in June to capture the TUF 11 championship. Jensen is coming off a 1-minute submission victory over Jesse Forbes at UFC 114.
Two more TUF veterans will meet when Patrick Cote and Tom Lawlor face off in the first Spike-televised bout. Both fighters will attempt to break two-fight losing streaks, and the loser of this fight is likely to be released from his UFC contract.
Four non-televised bouts were also announced for the preliminary card: Mike Guymon vs. Daniel Roberts, Sam Stout vs. Paul Taylor, Chris Camozzi vs. Dongi Yang and Jon Madsen vs. Gilbert Yvel.
10. Brock Lesnar I know, a heavyweight in pound for pound rankings? Well, Lesnar could fight at superheavyweight and wreck people there too. He’s improving every time he enters the octagon and may very well end up as one of the best heavyweight fighters ever.
9. Dominick Cruz Cruz (16-1) convincingly defended his WEC bantamweight title at WEC 50 by beating Joseph Benavidez for a second time. His lone defeat came at featherweight in 2007 against Urijah Faber, a fight he may get to avenge now that Faber has dropped to 135.
8. Gilbert Melendez Currently on a four-fight win streak with victories over Rodrigo Damm, Mitsuhiro Ishida, Josh Thomson and Shinya Aoki, Melendez has established himself as the No. 2 lightweight in the world. It will interesting to see where he ends up as he is in contract negotiations with Strikeforce.
After Brock Lesnar submitted Shane Carwin at UFC 116, the MMA world fell into a bit of a lull. The UFC was on their version of summer vacation, Strikeforce offered only last weekend’s Challengers Series event, and the real highlights of the remaining days were some overseas adventures from DREAM and Impact FC.
As July winds down and August draws closer, here’s hoping you took the time to get some rest and get those family obligations ticked off the to-do list.
Family camping trips need to be out of the way, your annoying cousin’s third wedding better be in the can, and the in-laws better not be expected any time soon. MMA’s summer vacation about to come to an end, and if you’re a fight fan, you don’t have much time for anything else.
The jam-packed month starts promptly on August 1, as the UFC makes their return to Versus on August 1st. Universally regarded as one of the best prospects in the sport, Jon “Bones” Jones headlines his second consecutive Versus event, this time facing the experienced Vladimir Matyushenko. While some have called for Jones to be fast-tracked to championship contention, the crafty former IFL champion is another legitimate litmus test for the recently-turned 23-year-old.
Despite defeating Shane Carwin in UFC 116, Brock Lesnar nearly was knocked out in the fight’s opening round. Did Carwin prove that the heavyweight champion’s game is flawed? Nate Lawson of Heavy.com breaks down the five biggest threats to Lesnar’s heavyweight belt, including Cain Velasquez.
Cain Velasquez
Heavy MMA HW Rank: 4
Record: 8-0
Last Five Fights: W-W-W-W-W
Notable Victories: Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (KO), Ben Rothwell (TKO)
Notable Losses: None
Next Opponent: Brock Lesnar for UFC heavyweight championship, date undecided
Status: Velasquez has risen to the top of the heavyweight division in a relatively short time and was put on the shelf awaiting the winner of Lesnar vs. Carwin. Lesnar took home the victory and the belt, and now Velasquez has the next shot at stealing away Lesnar’s hardware.
To read the rest of the breakdown of Velasquez, as well as the other four threats to Lesnar’s belt, click here.
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