HeavyMMA.com hands out their MMA Heavyweight rankings for February and Antonio Silva is the biggest mover of the month.
February’s biggest mover in the heavyweight division is Antonio Silva, who jumps up several spots based on the strength of his stunning win over Fedor Emelianenko. It’s true that Emelianenko is not what he once was, but that doesn’t make Silva’s win any less impressive. In 2005, he was heralded as the guy who had the tools and the size to defeat Emelianenko. In 2011, he finally made it happen, and his star is on the rise while Emelianenko’s is dangerously close to fading away for good.
Let’s take a look at February’s rankings for the heavyweight division.
1. Cain Velasquez Velasquez will be on the mend for the foreseeable future after undergoing a medical prodecure, but he has returned to light cardio work at American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose. Of course, “light cardio” for Cain Velasquez is about 10x longer than we’ve ever run in our entire life.
2. Brock Lesnar You’d never know it to be true, but Lesnar is still in Vegas and is said to be enjoying his time coaching The Ultimate Fighter a great deal. Once he finishes the coaching gig, he’ll return to Minnesota and begin preparations for Junior dos Santos.
UFC 121: Lesnar vs. Velasquez takes place Saturday night from the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. featuring a monumental main event for the UFC Heavyweight Championship. Here is my take on the card and who will win the main card bouts.
UFC Heavyweight Championship – Brock Lesnar (5-1) vs. Cain Velasquez (8-0): This is the biggest heavyweight bout the UFC could put together right now and Velasquez has a great chance to win the belt. The key will be for him to be able to stop the takedown attempts and keep the fight standing, where he has better striking and faster hands. Lesnar showed that he can be hurt in his last fight against Shane Carwin, but I think Velasquez has the endurance to see the victory through.
UFC Welterweight Bout – Jake Shields (25-4-1) vs. Martin Kampmann (17-3): Shields is making his UFC debut and many are penciling him in as the next to challenge Georges St. Pierre for the welterweight title, but I actually like Kampmann in an upset here as he has an all-around and aggressive style that can give Shields problems. Kampmann has only lost to strikers in his career, and Shields is far from an elite striker. I like Kampmann to win by decision in this one.
UFC Welterweight Bout – Diego Sanchez (23-4) vs. Paulo Thiago (13-2): Thiago has beaten some solid contenders in the welterweight division, but he has struggled with superior grapplers, losing to Jon Fitch and Kampmann. Sanchez got dominated in his last two fights and is desperate for a win, and I think he will come out motivated and looking to control the fight from the start with his pacing and wrestling. I like Sanchez to squeak out a decision against Thiago.
UFC Light Heavyweight Bout – Tito Ortiz (16-7-1) vs. Matt Hamill (10-2): Ortiz hasn’t won a fight since 2006 and while Hamill is lacking in some key areas, I think he has a better all-around game than Ortiz, who is pretty one dimensional with wrestling as his strength. Look for Hamill to move around and work kicks before scoring some late takedowns to get a decision win over Ortiz.
UFC Heavyweight Bout – Brendan Schaub (7-1) vs. Gabriel Gonzaga (11-5): Schaub has a lot of promise and is an up-and-comer while Gonzaga is still holding on to a little bit of relevance, but has lost four of his last seven fights, with all of the losses coming by TKO. Schaub has won his last two fights by quick KO, so this fight should have plenty of fireworks. Look for Schaub to get the win as he has the quicker hands and is the better technical striker.
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.
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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February’s biggest mover in the heavyweight division is Antonio Silva, who jumps up several spots based on the strength of his stunning win over Fedor Emelianenko. It’s true that Emelianenko is not what he once was, but that doesn’t make Silva’s win any less impressive. In 2005, he was heralded as the guy who had the tools and the size to defeat Emelianenko. In 2011, he finally made it happen, and his star is on the rise while Emelianenko’s is dangerously close to fading away for good.
