Bellator 27 Weigh-In Results

Bellator Featherweight Championship
Joe Soto (144.8) vs. Joe Warren (143.6)

Bellator Season 3 Bantamweight Tournament Quarterfinals
Travis Reddinger (135) vs. Ulysses Gomez (135.2)
Zach Makovsky (134.4) vs. Nick Mamalis (135.8)
Bryan Goldsby (135.8) vs. Ed West (135)

Local Feature Fights
Andrew Craig (184) vs. Rodrigo Pinheiro (185)
Aaron Barringer (154.4) vs. Gilbert Jimenez (154.2)
Dale Mitchell (264.2) vs. Richard Odoms (260.4)
Joe Christopher (170.6) vs. Andrew Chappelle (169.6)
Jon Kirk (205) vs. Shane Faulkner (204.6)
Steven Peterson (145.5) vs. Ernest de la Cruz (144.4)

Behind the Scenes at Jackson's MMA: Part II

Last week, we revealed that Mike Winkeljohn was the first coach we spent some time with at our shoot at Jackson's MMA in Albuquerque, NM. It wouldn't have been a complete shoot, however, if we didn't have Greg Jackson himself step into the cage to show some techniques.

Check out these behind-the-scenes pictures, and make sure to check TapouTVTC.com for both Jackson and Winkeljohn's advanced training modules.

Jens Pulver: Driven - "The Plunge" Teaser Trailer

For those of you not familiar with Jens Pulver's life story, it is pretty remarkable. "Driven" is an upcoming documentary independent documentary on Pulver, and the creators just released a new teaser trailer called, "The Plunge." It's pretty riveting, and we at the TapouTVTC.com blog cannot wait to see the finished product.

Pat Barry vs. the punching machine

Pat Barry was all over the UFC Boston Fan Expo, signing autographs, posing for pictures and being the all-around goof that he is.

Barry found his way over to the Cagepotato.com booth and the punching machine that has humbled so many of us. Not content to simply punch the punching machine, Barry decided that the best course of action was to obliterate the machine with a series of kicks.

Look closely and you can see Barry wearing a TapouTVTC.com shirt.

UFC 124: St. Pierre vs. Koscheck II to take place in Montreal

Georges St. Pierre most likely would have had the crowd behind him in his next UFC welterweight title defense against Josh Koscheck no matter where the fight took place.

That is all but a certainty now.

Ariel Helwani of MMA Fighting reported that UFC 24: St. Pierre vs. Koscheck II will take place at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canda, on Dec. 11.

The face of Canadian mixed martial arts, St. Pierre will make his second trip to his hometown under the UFC banner. He defeated Matt Serra to reclaim the welterweight title at UFC 83 in April 2008.

This will be the fourth time that the UFC has been to Quebec. In addition to the aforementioned UFC 83, Quebec also hosted UFC 97 in April 2009 and UFC 113 in May 2010. 

UFC Division Snapshot: UFC 118 Edition

The UFC Division Snapshot is a segment designed to let you see where every fighter in the UFC stands in their weight class at a glance. Since sustained success is the quickest route to a UFC title, we order fighters first by win streak in the UFC, then by total number of wins in the UFC. Finally, if all other things are equal, we take into account overall records. Here are the results and movement from all UFC 118 fighters.

Note: This snapshot is NOT a ranking, or a representation of talent. B.J. Penn is not the 38th-best lightweight in the UFC, but that's where his current losing streak has him in this snapshot.

MAIN CARD:

Frankie Edgar: +0 (Was champion, remains champion) (lightweight)

If you pardon the pun, Edgar "answered" all the questions about his UFC 112 win against then-champion B.J. Penn with a dominant display at UFC 118. He will look to avenge his one career loss when he takes on undefeated Gray Maynard next.

B.J. Penn: -15 (Was 23, now 38) (lightweight)

A year ago, the only question asked about Penn was who in the lightweight division could possibly challenge him? What a difference a year makes. Will he move back to welterweight? Does he need to revamp his training camp and partners? All we know is that at the end of those five rounds, Penn looked lost for answers. 

Gray Maynard: +0 (Was 1, remains 1) (lightweight)

Maynard doesn't move up in the division, but only because he was already at the top. He will get his deserved title shot against champion Frankie Edgar next.

Randy Couture: +1 (Was 4, now 3) (light heavyweight)

While his fight with James Toney took place at heavyweight, Couture and the UFC have made it clear that Couture will stay at 205 moving forward. Couture did exactly we expected him to do, and the outcome was never in doubt once the fight hit the mat. At his advanced age, we will see if Couture has what it takes for one more title run.

James Toney: Enters at 24 (heavyweight)

Toney's inclusion in this list is semantics. A fighter enters the list when he makes his UFC debut, but is removed if he is cut, and Dana White already said that Toney is done in the UFC. For all his bluster, Toney was absolutely clueless once Couture took him down, and at the end of the day, it was his lights that were turned out.

Kenny Florian: -16 (Was 6, now 22) (lightweight)

Florian has tumbled down the lightweight division before, only to claw back up again. This time, though, the forecast that Florian will one day wear the lightweight strap is looking increasingly dim.

Demian Maia: +16 (Was 27, now 11) (middleweight)

No post-Anderson-Silva hangover for Maia, who dominated Mario Miranda for 15 minutes in route to a unanimous decision. He wasn't able to finish, but came close on several occasions, and should still be regarded as one of the more dangerous fighters in the division.

Mario Miranda: -11 (Was 23, now 34)

Miranda wilted under Demian Maia's jiu jitsu onslaught, and could do little more than survive once the fight went to the ground. Since coming into the UFC undefeated, Miranda has gone 1-2 in the promotion.

Nate Diaz: +5 (Was 14, now 9) (welterweight)

Diaz improved his welterweight record to 2-0 with two dominant performances. Talks of moving down to lightweight should be shelved, this is Diaz's best weight class.

Marcus Davis: -10 (Was 13, now 23) (welterweight)

Davis dropped to 1-3 in his last four UFC appearances. More worrisome, though, is that he's been stopped in two of those losses after only getting stopped twice in his first 21 professional bouts.

Preliminary bouts and full snapshots after the jump...

TapiN Preview: Dan Hardy

TapouTVTC.com spent some time bombing around California with Dan Hardy for his TapiN feature. Check out this exclusive segment, where Hardy tells the story behind the custom mouthpiece that he used in his title shot against Georges St. Pierre.

FightMetric Scores for UFC 118: Penn vs. Edgar II

Need any more proof how dominant Frankie Edgar was against B.J. Penn at UFC 118? Ya, us neither, but FightMetric.com has released their score for Penn vs. Edgar II, and the results are pretty telling.

Leger: Frankie Edgar (FE), B.J. Penn (BP), Total Strikes (TS), Significant Strikes (SS), Takedowns/ Attempts (TD/ATT), Fight Metric Effectiveness (EFF), Ten-Point Must System (Score)

	FE TS	BP TS	FE SS	BP SS	FE TD/ATT	BP TD/ATT	FE EFF	BP EFF	SCORE
ROUND 1	9	20	8	8	2/3	0/0	41	52	10-9 BP
ROUND 2	18	8	18	6	1/3	0/0	56	39	10-9 FE
ROUND 3	31	14	30	12	0/3	0/0	121	31	10-9 FE
ROUND 4	32	8	16	6	0/0	1/1	80	47	10-9 FE
ROUND 5	52	6	22	4	0/0	1/2	86	33	10-9 FE
TOTAL	142	56	94	36	3/9	2/3	385	203	49-46 FE

What does this tell us? Well, besides from the first round (which FightMetric actually scored for Penn), Edgar owned a significant advantage in the striking department. This makes it even more obvious that Penn came in with the wrong game plan. If Penn had looked for takedowns in the opening rounds, he very well have reclaimed the championship belt. At very least, the fight would have been much closer than it ultimately was. Congrats again to Frankie Edgar, who put on a display for the ages last Saturday.

UFC 118 Post-Fight Reaction

- When Frankie Edgar beat B.J. Penn at UFC 112, it was almost universally written off as a fluke. There will be no such write-off this time, as Edgar was thoroughly dominant, using his blazing boxing and takedowns to frustrate Penn for a full 25 minutes. Last night, Edgar proved once and for all that he is not a fighter to be underestimated.


- Well, at least until his next fight, because Gray Maynard has the type of style Edgar could not handle the first time the two met. I wonder what the record is for UFC champions defending their titles as underdogs, because I'd be willing to bet that Maynard will be favored when the two meet again.


- Had Penn adjusted and gone for takedowns from the opening bell, this would have been a very different fight. When he finally did mix his game up, he was down three round to none, and needed a finish. The biggest contrast in the bout was the two corners. Any time Penn had success, it was in spite of his corner men, who offered such pearls of wisdom as, "F*ck his speed," and, "He stole something from you, get it back." There was no strategy, no adjustments, just some pep talks you would usually hear in a high school football locker room.


- Gray Maynard is the lightweight equivalent of Jon Fitch. His style won't win him any fans, but can you really fault him when he is so successful?

- Coming off of his bout with against Clay Guida, I thought that Kenny Florian's takedown defense had improved enough that he would find some success against Maynard, but that wasn't the case. It's possible that K-Flo will work his way back to a title shot, but for now he has firmly cemented himself as the ultimate gatekeeper.

- I won't waste much space on James Toney, because far too much space has already been wasted on him. Randy Couture did exactly what everyone expected him to, and the result was never in doubt once the fight hit the ground. I doubt it will be the last we hear from Toney, but it is thankfully the last time we will see him in the Octagon.

- I love how Demian Maia is constantly looking to finish the fight on the ground, but I wonder if it is sometimes detrimental. Multiple times he gave up good position on Mario Miranda to fish for arm bars, and Miranda was able to squirm away each time. Maia might be better served to hold position longer and pound out his opponents instead.

- Instead of dropping back down to lightweight, Nate Diaz should continue to focus on welterweight, where he has looked really good in his two fights. He didn't exactly finish two world beaters, but his combination of unorthodox boxing and jiu jitsu create style fits for his opponents.

- Diaz beat Marcus Davis to the punch on every exchange, and Davis had no answer. Davis looked slow and old, and you start to wonder just how much he has left in the tank.

UFC 118: Penn vs. Edgar 2 Post-Fight Awards

$60,000 fight-night bonuses:


Submission of the Night: Joe Lauzon
Fight of the Night: Nate Diaz vs. Marcus Davis

The event drew 15,575 fans for a live gate of $3,000,000