Tag: Brian Bowles

MMA Submission of the Day: Déjà Vu Strikes for Former WEC Champion Brian Bowles

Former WEC Bantamweight Champion Brian Bowles made his UFC debut in March, taking on Damacio Page for the second time in his 10-fight career.Bowles hoped to erase the memory of his 2010 loss to current UFC Bantamweight Champion Dominick Cruz, and it al…

Former WEC Bantamweight Champion Brian Bowles made his UFC debut in March, taking on Damacio Page for the second time in his 10-fight career.

Bowles hoped to erase the memory of his 2010 loss to current UFC Bantamweight Champion Dominick Cruz, and it all started with his former foe, who came into the fight with a 15-5 record.

Three-and-a-half minutes into the first round, Bowles locked on a tight guillotine choke and put Page to sleep. To make the submission that more crazy, it occurred at the exact same time of their first fight where Bowles submitted him 3:30 into the first round with a guillotine choke as well.

The 31-year-old from West Virginia has won all of his fights by submission or knockout and has never been the distance in his career. His career highlights include his submission victories over Page and his knockout over Miguel Torres to become the WEC 135-pound champion.

Bowles’ last five fights have earned him three submission of the night awards and one knockout of the night award.

At UFC 132, Bowles (9-1) will be taking on Japanese standout Takeya Mizugaki (14-5-2). Mizugaki recently defeated Reuben Duran on the same card Bowles made his debut. The card also features standout bantamweight fighters Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber.

UFC 132: News, Predictions, Results and More

Remember to check out Sal DeRose’s knockout of the day article, here!

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

On This Day in MMA History…June 22

(Video courtesy of YouTube/Stemerm1)

Strikeforce: Shamrock vs. Baroni went down 4 years ago.

Why it matters:

• Frank Shamrock became Strikeforce’s inaugural middleweight champion after he defeated Phil Baroni at the EliteXC co-promoted event held at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California by choking “The New York Badass” unconscious with a rear-naked choke. Shamrock was criticized for “kicking” Baroni off of him after the bout. He explained the incident at the post-fight press conference. “He was heavy on top of me… he was squishing the life out of me… he was laying on my leg and on my chest… that’s it. And I thought it looked better on camera.” Shamrock would lose the strap one fight later to Cung Le.

• Following the bout California State Athletic Commission test results revealed that Baroni tested positive for Boldenone and Stanozolol steroid metabolites. He was fined $2,500 and suspended for a year from competing in California — a suspension that would be observed by every member agency in the Association of Boxing Commissions. Baroni denied any wrongdoing and appealed the decision and on October 31, 2007 Baroni’s suspension was reduced to 6 months without a even a shred of evidence presented that exonerated him.

• Murilo Rua defeated Joey Vilasenor to become the first EliteXC middleweight champion. He would lose it in his next fight with Robbie Lawler.

• Carter Williams was found by the CSAC to have tested positive for cocaine. As a result he was fined $1,000 and suspended for six months.


(Video courtesy of YouTube/Stemerm1)

Strikeforce: Shamrock vs. Baroni went down 4 years ago.

Why it matters:

• Frank Shamrock became Strikeforce’s inaugural middleweight champion after he defeated Phil Baroni at the EliteXC co-promoted event held at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California by choking “The New York Badass” unconscious with a rear-naked choke. Shamrock was criticized for “kicking” Baroni off of him after the bout. He explained the incident at the post-fight press conference. “He was heavy on top of me… he was squishing the life out of me… he was laying on my leg and on my chest… that’s it. And I thought it looked better on camera.” Shamrock would lose the strap one fight later to Cung Le.

• Following the bout California State Athletic Commission test results revealed that Baroni tested positive for Boldenone and Stanozolol steroid metabolites. He was fined $2,500 and suspended for a year from competing in California — a suspension that would be observed by every member agency in the Association of Boxing Commissions. Baroni denied any wrongdoing and appealed the decision and on October 31, 2007 Baroni’s suspension was reduced to 6 months without a even a shred of evidence presented that exonerated him.

• Murilo Rua defeated Joey Vilasenor to become the first EliteXC middleweight champion. He would lose it in his next fight with Robbie Lawler.

• Carter Williams was found by the CSAC to have tested positive for cocaine. As a result he was fined $1,000 and suspended for six months.

Brian Bowles was born 31 years ago.

Why he matters:

• Bowles is the former WEC bantamweight champion

• He holds wins over Charlie Valencia, Miguel Torres and Damacio Page.

• All nine of his wins came by KO, TKO or submission giving him a 90% finish rate — one of the best in the UFC.

Randy Couture was born 48 years ago.
(Video courtesy of YouTube/UFCEdit)

Why he matters:

If you don’t know, you’re on the wrong website.

What Captain America has accomplished in his storied MMA career will likely never be duplicated.

• The three-time All-American Greco-Roman wrestler from at Oklahoma State University is the only UFC fighter to win both the heavyweight and light heavyweight straps. Couture won both belts twice and the interim light heavyweight belt once.

• He successfully defended the heavyweight belt three times, but never defended the light heavyweight belt.

• Although his 19-11 record betrays what just how much he accomplished in his career, the majority of his losses came against current, future or former champions including Chuck Liddell (x2), Vitor Belfort, Ricco Rodriguez, Josh Barnett, Lyoto Machida and Brock Lesnar.

• His trilogy of fights with Chuck Liddell are three of the best selling cards in UFC history.

• It’s unlikely any other fighter will fight until they are 47 with the rate of success that Couture had.

That MMA Guy: Most Exciting Matchups of UFC 132

From here on out, the UFC is going to have some huge pay-per-views.Future fights fights include Rashad Evans battling Phil Davis, Anderson Silva fighting Yushin Okami for the second time, Jon Jones defending his belt against Rampage Jackson, the rubber…

From here on out, the UFC is going to have some huge pay-per-views.

Future fights fights include Rashad Evans battling Phil Davis, Anderson Silva fighting Yushin Okami for the second time, Jon Jones defending his belt against Rampage Jackson, the rubber match between Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard, Georges St-Pierre against Nick Diaz and Junior dos Santos trying to dethrone Cain Velasquez.

With all those great pay-per-views lined up, UFC 132 could potentially be the best card of the year. Not from a huge PPV-buy standpoint, but these fights stylistically have the potential to make this a UFC event no fan will ever forget.

These are the top five most exciting fights of this stacked UFC 132 pay-per-view card on July 2.

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MMA Top 10 Bantamweights: Mighty Mouse Makes a Move

Filed under: UFC, Rankings, BantamweightsDemetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson is the next big thing in the bantamweight division in mixed martial arts. Or maybe the next little thing.

Johnson is small even by bantamweight standards (if the UFC ever adds …

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Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson is the next big thing in the bantamweight division in mixed martial arts. Or maybe the next little thing.

Johnson is small even by bantamweight standards (if the UFC ever adds a 125-pound flyweight class, he’ll probably join it), but he showed once again in his UFC 130 victory over Miguel Torres that he has strong enough wrestling that he can take down bigger opponents, keep them down, and grind out decisions. And Johnson is so quick moving in and out that he has managed to avoid the “boring” label that’s too often fastened to fighters who rely on their wrestling like that.

There’s no telling how far the 24-year-old Johnson can go, but he’s already come a long way: See just how high he is on the bantamweight board below.

(Number in parentheses is the fighter’s rank in the last bantamweight list.)

1. Dominick Cruz (1): The champion is now less than a month away from his long-awaited rematch with Urijah Faber at UFC 132. In that fight, Faber retained the WEC featherweight title and handed Cruz the only loss of his career. This time Cruz is the champion, and the favorite.

2. Urijah Faber (2): Faber beat Cruz handily last time, but the big question is whether he’s as good a fighter now as he was then. The 32-year-old Faber has looked like he’s slowing down in the last couple of years, while the 25-year-old Cruz is still improving. It’s a tough fight to call.

3. Joseph Benavidez (3): His fight with Eddie Wineland in August in Milwaukee will be a good challenge for Benavidez, who is 14-2 in his MMA career, with both losses coming by decision against Cruz.

4. Brian Bowles (4): The Cruz-Faber main event isn’t the only big bantamweight fight at UFC 132: Bowles fights Takeya Mizugaki on the undercard. A Bowles win could set him up for the next shot at the Cruz-Faber winner.

5. Demetrious Johnson (NR): The UFC really ought to give Johnson a pay raise. Earning $6,000 to show and a $6,000 bonus for winning just isn’t enough for a fighter who’s in the Top 5 of his weight class. Johnson isn’t a big draw now, but he looks like a future title contender, and a long-term contract extension would seem to make sense for both the UFC and Johnson.

6. Scott Jorgensen (6): Jorgensen showed off some very impressive ground and pound against Ken Stone at the Ultimate Fighter Finale, with a brutal right hand to Stone’s chin from inside Stone’s guard, knocking him cold. Jorgensen was outclassed by Cruz when they fought for the bantamweight title in December, and I wouldn’t give him much of a chance in a rematch, but he’s a threat to anyone else in the division.

7. Miguel Torres (5): It’s tough to see the way Torres has fallen: He’s lost three of his last five after starting his career 37-1. Torres still has plenty of good fights left in him, but it’s probably not realistic to think he’ll ever get the bantamweight title back.

8. Brad Pickett (NR): Pickett was supposed to fight Torres at UFC 130, but an injury forced him out of the fight and Johnson took his spot. Pickett beat Johnson in April of 2010, and you could make an argument that he deserves to be ranked higher than Johnson because of that, but I have Johnson ahead of Pickett based on how much Johnson looks like he’s improved in the last 14 months.

9. Eddie Wineland (8): Wineland lost to Faber in March but gave him a much tougher fight than most people expected, and now he’s got a big fight with Benavidez in August. Wineland has been around a long time (he was the first WEC featherweight champion), and sometimes that makes people forget that he’s only 26 years old and is still getting better.

10. Renan Barão (9): Barao’s unanimous decision victory over Cole Escovedo at UFC 130 runs his incredible streak to 26 straight wins (with one no contest mixed in). It’s time to see how Barao does against Top 10 competition.

 

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Brian Bowles vs. Takeya Mizugaki Added to UFC 132 Lineup

Filed under: UFC, NewsFormer WEC bantamweight champion Brian Bowles will look to continue his climb back towards a championship at UFC 132, when he takes on durable Japanese fighter Takeya Mizugaki.

The fight’s booking was confirmed by the UFC late on…

Filed under: ,

Former WEC bantamweight champion Brian Bowles will look to continue his climb back towards a championship at UFC 132, when he takes on durable Japanese fighter Takeya Mizugaki.

The fight’s booking was confirmed by the UFC late on Monday night.

MMA Top 10 Bantamweights: Cruz, Faber on a Collision Course

Filed under: UFC, WEC, Rankings, BantamweightsThe two best 135-pound fighters in the world will square off some time later this year for the first ever UFC bantamweight title match in what should be a great showcase for what has quietly become one of t…

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The two best 135-pound fighters in the world will square off some time later this year for the first ever UFC bantamweight title match in what should be a great showcase for what has quietly become one of the UFC’s most talented weight classes.

Before the UFC absorbed World Extreme Cagefighting, the smaller guys were largely overlooked by casual MMA fans. But now that the UFC has added the WEC’s bantamweights — and also snapped up some 135-pounders from other promotions — the bantamweight class is stacked. In fact, as I put together my latest ranking of the Top 10 bantamweights in mixed martial arts, all 10 of them are now under contract to the UFC.

The top two, as you probably suspect, are bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz and the only man to defeat him, Urijah Faber. Those two will square off at UFC 132. But the rest of the bantamweight division includes several talented fighters who could become worthy challengers to the bantamweight title in the years ahead.