Pat Healy vs Jorge Masvidal & Brad Tavares vs Yoel Romero added to UFC on FOX 11

Brad Tavares vs Yoel Romero,  Pat Healy vs Jorge Masvidal added to UFC of FOX 11
by Chris Houten  - @mrhouts

The UFCs Orlando debut is filling up with the addition of 2 more bout to the April card.

UFC officials confirmed today a lightweight bout between Pat Healy (31-17 MMA, 0-3 UFC) and Jorge Masvidal (25-8 MMA, 2-1 UFC) as well as a middleweight bout Yoel Romero (7-1 MMA, 3-0 UFC) takes on Brad Tavares (12-1 MMA, 7-1 UFC) has been added to the card

UFC on Fox is slated for April 19th, and will take place at the Amway Center in Orlando Florida, home to the Orlando Magic, and the host of the 2012 NBA all-star game. The event’s main card airs on FOX in the US following prelims on FOX Sports 1 and UFC Fight Pass.

Fighting for the 50th time in his professional career, Pat Healy enters the bout with Masvidal on a two fight losing streak, and will be hoping to rekindle the magic which he used to submit long time top 10 lightweight contender Jim Miller in his UFC debut, to earn both 'Submission of the Night' and 'Fight of the Night' bonus.

Unfortunately for Healy however, Healy tested positive for marijuana following the bout and was stripped of the win and the $130,000 he earned in bonuses. After the fight with Miller, the 30-year old former MFC Champion dropped decisions to Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 165, and Bobby Green at UFC on FOX 9, and may need a victory over Masvidal to save his UFC career.

Also coming into the bout on the back of a loss, Masvidal will be hoping to get back to winning ways against Healy having a 3 fight win streak snapped against Russian prospect Rustam Khabilov at UFC Fight for the Troops 3 in November. Prior to the loss, the former Strikeforce title contender had picked up wins against Justin Wilcox in Strikeforce, as well as Tim Means, and Michael Chiesa in the UFC, and was tipped as a possible future contender in the UFC lightweight division.

Currently enjoying a 5 fight win streak, Hawaii's Brad Tavares most recently defeated Lorenz Larkin at UFC Fight Night 35 in January. Prior to the victory over Larkin, the well travelled Tavares, who has fought in Japan and England for the UFC, defeated Dongi Yang, Tom Watson, Riki Fukuda, and Budda McDaniels and would be most-likely looking at a big, top 10 fight with a win over Romero.

Also featured on UFC Fight Night 35, Cuban, Yoel Romero came back from 2 rounds down to knock out Derek Brunson in the final round. The fight earned the Olympic Wrestling Silver medalist 'Fight of the Night' honours, his 2nd UFC bonus having picked up 'Knockout of the Night' bonus in his debut against Clifford Sparks, and also broke Brunson jaw on his way to victory. Although Romero has one of the best wrestling pedigrees in all of MMA, all 7 of the 36-year olds professional victories has come by way TKO / KO.

With the additions of Tavares vs Romero and Healy vs Masvidal,UFC on FOX 11 now includes:

Travis Browne vs Fabricio Werdum
Liz Carmouche vs Meisha Tate
Edson Barboza vs Donald Cerrone
Rafael dos Anjos vs Khabib Numagomedov
Pat Healy vs Jorge Masvidal
Yoel Romero vs Brad Tavares

Healy vs Nurmagomedov Set for UFC 165

Healy vs Nurmagomedov Set for UFC 165
by Chris Houten - @mrhouts

An intriguing lightweight match between Pat Healy(29-16 MMA, 0-0 UFC) and Khabib Nurmagomedov (20-0 MMA, 4-0 UFC) has been added to UFC 165, which takes place September 21st in Canada.

Healy who is ranked in the UFC Lightweight top 10 rankings, return to the octagon following a 90 day suspension following a positive drug test (majunana) after beating Jim Miller in a fight that earned Healy fighter of the night honours as we as sub of the night honours.

Healy who holds notable wins over Carlos Condit, and Brits Dan Hardy, & Paul Daley, entered the UFC on a 6-1 win streak in Strikeforce which was enough to earn Healy a lightwight title shot against Gilbert Melendez, which Melendez withdrew from due to injury on two occasions before both men joined The UFC when Strikeforce closed its doors.

His opponent, Russian import Nurmagomedov enters the bout having never been beaten in 20 professional MMA fights. Nurmagomedov, a combat Sambo champion made his UFC debut in January 2012 and his picked up wins over Kamal Shalorus, Gleison Tibau, Thiago Tavares, and Abel Truijillo. In his most recent fight at UFC 160 Nurmagomedov set a new UFC record for the number of takedowns landed in a single fight - 21 out of 27 attempts.

Although unconfirmed it is likely Healy vs Nurmagomedov will likely feature high on the main card, with the winner likely to enter the lightweight title picture.

UFC 165 takes place on September 21st at The Air Canada Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, with the main card fighting 2 title fights, with Jon Jones defending the light-heavyweight title against Alexander Gustaffason, and Reneo Barao defending his title between Eddie Wineland.

Stay tuned to kingdomMMA.co.uk for more on UFC 165

Diaz fined $20k and suspended for 90 days for twitter outburst

UFC waste no time in reacting to twitter outburst

by Tommy Strong @Strong_tea

Hardly a week goes by without one of the Diaz brothers making the headlines. This time its the turn of the younger brother Nate, who finds himself in deep water with the UFC after tweeting a controversial comment towards Bryan Caraway. This was following the news that Pat Healy failed a post fight drugs test where he had tested positive for Marijuana after his UFC 159 fight win over Jim Miller.

Healy defeated Miller via submission and ended up taking home the 'fight of the night' and 'submission of the night' bonuses. For doing this Healy picked up a whopping $130k in bonus money.

However, Healy's reckless decision and subsequent failed drugs test not only cost him his win which now goes in to the record books as a no contest it has also cost him his $130k in bonuses. On top of this he has been hit with a 90 day suspension. This turn of events is what lead to Brain Caraway being awarded the 'submission of the night' bonus instead after submitting Johnny Bedford earlier in the night.

Nate obviously annoyed with the news, took to twitter on Thursday to express his opinions on the matter.

"I feel bad for Pat Healy that they took a innocent mans money and i think the guy who took the money is the biggest fag in the world.."

UFC president Dana White was very unhappy with Nate's comments, and responded by saying that he will either fine, suspend or cut the fighter for his twitter outburst.

The UFC wasted no time dishing out punishment for his comments and released this statement:

“UFC lightweight Nate Diaz has received an immediate 90-day suspension and $20,000 fine for violating the UFC’s fighter code of conduct,” the UFC announced in a statement. “The language used in his tweet was regrettable, offensive and inconsistent with the values and culture of the organization, and is not tolerated.“The money will be donated to charity.”

Something tells me, this won't be the end of the matter!!

Pat Healy fails UFC 159 Post Fight Drug Test

Pat Healy Misses Out On $130,000 in Bonus Money Following Positive UFC 159 Drug Test

by John Haigh @JohnBJayHaigh

Following UFC 159 on April 27 at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. random drug test were carried out and Pat Healy’s came back positive for marijuana.

Healy quickly owned up to using the drug knowing it was a banned substance. The New Jersey Athletic Control Board handed Healy a 90-day suspension and changed the result of his third-round submission victory to a no contest, but that was not all that got changed.

Healy now misses out on both the submission of the night and fight of the night bonuses he had originally been awarded. The submission of the night has now been awarded to Bryan Caraway, who submitted Johnny Bedford.

“It’s known up front that checks are held until everyone passes the drug test,” “Brian Caraway get the SON now. Healy did himself dirty.” Confirmed UFC President Dana White via his twitter account.

The fight of the night bonus is not expected to be awarded to a different bout. Healy loses his cheque but Jim Miller will not. The standard penalty for a first-time offense when a fighter tests positive for marijuana in New Jersey is a 90-day suspension, and if the fighter was victorious, his bout is ruled a no contest, according to NJSACB officials. That was the penalty handed down to Healy, as this was his first offense.

Healy is not expected to be fined further.

UFC 159: What's Next For The Winners?

UFC 159: What's Next For The Winners
by Chris Houten - @houts4thewin

Jon Jones 

Jones will most-likely be out now for 6 to 8 weeks while his toe heals. From there I'd love to see the Jones vs Silva superfight, but I think its more-likely we will see Jones vs Gustaffson or Machida. 

Personally I want to see Machida have another shot at Jones, purely for selfish reasons because I think Machida has the best chance of beating Jones with the style he employs - see round 1 of their previous fight, but realistically Gustaffson deserves the next shot.  

Michael Bisping

Bisping was simply brilliant on Saturday night. His cardio looked fantastic as always, he looked to be hitting harder than normal, and beat a solid striker in Belcher to the punch everytime. 

Bisping will be taking some time off following his win over Belcher to go under the knife, to correct a trapped nerve in his neck. Following the surgery I think a fight against the winner of Phillipou vs Souza should be next for Bisping. The winner of Bisping vs Phillipou / Souza would have a real claim at a title shot in a division which would be crying out for a challenger should Silva be victorious over Weidman........... if the mysterious superfight does not happen. 

Roy Nelson

According to Dana White, Daniel Cormier is most-likely next for Roy Nelson. 

Not gonna lie, I like it, I like it alot. Cormier's hand speed vs Nelson's one punch KO power, Cormier's wrestling vs Roy Nelson's Jui-Jitsu - awesome fight, end of!  

Phil Davis

Phil Davis' striking looked better than ever on Saturday...... but its still not quite there - yet!

I'd like Davis to fight the winner of Texeria / Te Huna next, with the winner in the mix for a title shot.  

Pat Healy

I was really impressed with Pat Healy on Saturday night, not only did he beat a tough opponent in Jim Miller, he finished him - a feat only previously achieved by Nate Diaz in Jim Millers 27 fights. 

Last week in "Fights to make after Fox 7" I wrote I would like to see Josh Thomson take on the winner of Miller and Healy, and I would still like to see that fight happen. It just makes sense - both guys coming over from Strikeforce, both are coming off impressive finish victories over top 10 UFC lightweights, and both seem hungry to carve a place in the top 10 of the UFC lightweight division.

UFC 159 Main Card Results - Jim Miller vs Pat Healy

Pat Healy defeats Jim Miller by Rear Naked Choke Round 3, 4:02

by Jack Broadey @J3cK_b

In the battle of the beards Pat Healy took his chance to prove he belongs in the UFC in his return to the octagon. The fight opened up the PPV and many expected an exciting battle that could potentially win Fight of the night. That's exactly what we got.

Jim Miller coming off an exciting fight of the year contender with Joe Lauzon, came out very aggressive in the 1st round. He went after Healy trying to end the fight early with power strikes. Healy however had the know how to survive the early onslaught.

As clearly as Healy knew he lost the 1st round he also knew he tuned the tables on a tiring Miller in the second with an effective ground game. As the old saying goes styles make fights and this stylistic clash was great. In a topsy turvey fight where both men found success,  Healy eventually took control of the fight in the 3rd and final round.

The effective ground game on a tiring Miller finally paid dividends with a late submission. Healy managed to sneak his hooks in to complete a rear naked choke after a long battle. Miller is as tough as they come and you could tell he was never going to tap out. Healy squeezed it in and put Miller to sleep to win a brilliant fight.

Healy was on quite a tear in Strikeforce before the promotion folded He will be pleased to prove he belongs in the upper echelons of the Lightweigt division after beating a perennial contender like Jim Miller. He has always been in contention himself though. He was twice scheduled to fight the ex Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez before the fights fell through due to injury.

Gilbert Melendez would be a logical fight for the UFC to make next for Healy but I believe the UFC will want to avoid putting Strikeforce fighters in with each other too early. Not that Healy will care who he gets next. He won impressively on his return to the UFC after a long 7 year absence. That's all that mattered to him. In his words "All the 155ers out there, I'm putting you on blast,"

UFC 159: Weigh In Results

Weigh in Results for UFC 159

by Ben Heather @benheather

Tomorrow will see UFC 159 live from the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. The main event will see Jon Jones attempt to defend his UFC World Light Heavyweight title when he faces Chael Sonnen.

The two have recently been opposing coaches on the latest series of The Ultimate Fighter and now its time for the talking to stop and time for them to get in to the octagon to see who is the better fighter. Earlier today they both stepped on to the scales and made weight to make the fight official.

Also on the card is the fights between Michael Bisping vs Alan Belcher and Vinny Magalhaes vs Phil Davis both of these fights have become personal with insults going back and forth between the fighters. This will hopefully lead to some good fights for all of us fans to watch.

UFC 159 Full Weigh-in Results:

Jon Jones (205) vs Chael Sonnen (205)

Alan Belcher (185) vs Michael Bisping (186)

Cheick Kongo (237) vs Roy Nelson (258)

Phil Davis (205) vs Vinny Magalhaes (205.5)

Pat Healy (155.5) vs Jim Miller (155)

Johnny Bedford (136) vs Bryan Caraway (136)

Ovince St. Preux (206) vs Gian Villante (206)

Sheila Gaff  (133) vs Sara McMann (134)

Rustam Khabilov (156) vs Yancy Medeiros (155.5)

Leonard Garcia (145) vs Cody McKenzie (145)

Nick Catone (173) vs James Head (170.25)*

Kurt Holobaugh (145) vs Steven Siler (145.25)

*Catone will forfeit 20 percent of his fight purse after coming in 2 lbs overweight.

Writer vs Fighter - UFC 159 Main Card Picks Challenge - Heather vs Barnatt

UFC fighter Luke Barnatt challenges Kingdom MMA in a picks challenge

by Ben Heather @benheather

Welcome to Kingdom MMA's inaugural writer vs fighter challenge.

For this challenge we will be challenging some big names from the world of MMA to give us their picks and fight outcomes for specific MMA events. Then they will be challenged by one of our writers, who will make their own predictions.

For this first event we will be predicting the fight outcomes from UFC 159 which is headlined by Chael Sonnen challenging Jon Jones for the UFC light heavyweight championship. As this is the coaches fight at the end of the latest series of TUF, there was only one person we wanted to do the writer vs fighter challenge against.... As we said earlier we will be challenging some big names from the world of MMA and coming in at 6'6 there are not many guys bigger than "Bigslow" himself Luke Barnatt.

Luke Barnatt was part of Team Sonnen on the latest series of TUF where he made the quarter finals on the show. After filming for the show finished he spent the next few months training with Chael to prepare for his fight with Collin Hart at The Ultimate Fighter 17 Finale as well as helping Chael prepare for his fight this weekend against Jon Jones.

We had the pleasure of speaking with Luke this past week and he gave us one of the most open and in depth interviews Kingdom MMA has had, which can be read here. At the same time he provided us with his predictions for UFC 159.

The Scoring 

If you predict the correct winner of the fight you will get one point and if you predict the correct method of victory you will get an extra bonus point and if the fight ends in a stoppage and you predict the round as well you could earn a third point. If the fight goes the distance you can only earn a maximum of two points.

The predictions:

Main Event: Jon Jones vs Chael Sonnen

Luke: Mr Chael P Sonnen via devastating beatdown... pretty much a sequel of the Silva beating... but with a much happier ending.

Prediction: Sonnen

Ben: I cant look past Jon Jones in this fight, realistically he should still be undefeated and nobody has still looked like testing him. For that reason I can't predict anything other than a Jones win. However I do think Chael will put up one of the hardest tests that Jones has had yet.

Prediction: Jones by TKO Round 4

Co Main Event: Michael Bisping vs Alan Belcher

Luke: Michael has Alan beat everywhere... I see this being a 1st round stoppage. Bisping has fire brewing inside from the Belfort fight. he'll come out fast and hard.

Prediction: Bisping by TKO Round 1

Ben: I agree with Luke, I think Bisping wants to win this fight more than any other in his career so far. Yes obviously he wanted to win his last one which would have got him a title shot but if he losses this weekend he may struggle to get back up the ranks again. A win is vital and I predict Bisping to win on points.

Prediction: Bisping by Unanimous Decision

Roy Nelson vs Cheick Kongo

Luke: Who Cares??

Prediction: N/A

Ben: I think this is another fight where Nelson will finish the fight early, Kongo has had his chin tested a few times and buckled and nobody hits harder than Nelson.

Prediction: Nelson by KO Round 1

Phil Davis vs Vinny Magalhaes

Luke: Vinny Magalhaes via 2nd round Leg Lock ;)

Prediction: Magalhaes by Submission Round 2

Ben: I again agree with Luke on this fight I think the underdog will come through and pick up the win. Davis is a good fighter and his record shows that but I think Vinny has enough to be in a position at some point to get hold of a limb and keep hold of it long enough to finish the fight. Most likely via an armbar.

Prediction: Magalhaes by Submission Round 3

Jim Miller vs Pat Healy

Luke: This is a tough one... but after what Miller did to Lauzon, I can't see a way he can lose this fight.

Prediction: Miller

Ben: Miller wins this fight for me 9/10 and I don't think Saturday will be the exception. Healy has been on a great run lately and should have had his chance to fight for the Strikeforce title but against Miller I don't think he will be able to enforce his game plan and Miller will be able to pick up a tough, hard fought Unanimous Decision victory.

If its anything like his fight with Lauzon we will be in for a treat.

Prediction: Miller by Unanimous Decision

So that's our predictions for this fights, we will be live tweeting on Saturday night as always and we will keep you all informed as to how the challenge is going with latest scores throughout the main card.

Thanks again to Luke for providing us with his picks for this weekends fights and it just leaves me to say.... May the best man win!!

UFC 159 Main Card Predictions

Kingdom MMA: UFC 159 Main Card Predictions

by Tommy Strong @strong_tea and Jack Broadey @J3cK_b

On Saturday night we will finally be able to put an end to the legacy of UFC 151 as Jon Jones and Chael Sonnen meet in the octagon at UFC 159. The two have recently been coaches on the latest series of The Ultimate Fighter in which Kelvin Gastelum from Team Sonnen won the contract to the UFC.

A lot of people have got an opinion as to whether or not Chael deserves this title shot but the talking will end on Saturday night and we will find out who the better man is.

Below you will find the predictions from some of the guys at Kingdom MMA for the main card.

Jon Jones (17-1) LHW Champ vs Chael Sonnen (27-12-1) #9 MW
 

Tommy: I feel this match up was more to do with boosting the TUF series ratings than it was to do with the fight, one in which Chael shouldn't be anywhere near. But that's a different topic altogether.

We all know Chael is the most entertaining fighter in the UFC and certainly has brought more hype to this fight. He may have won the battle of the TUF series, but it will be Jon Jones that wins the war!

Chael's wrestling is one of the best in the UFC, but Jones has shown he's very hard to take down with a 100% take down defence in all of his UFC fights. I find it impossible to find a way that Chael can win this fight. Even if Chael can get him to the ground, he's very vulnerable to submissions.

Prediction: Jones by TKO Round 2

Jack: I believe this could get more interesting than people think. Sonnen without doubt has the game to put Jones on his back. Although Rashad struggled to take there fight to the ground I believe Sonnen is the better wrestler. That being said Jones should work his way up and deal with Sonnen. Not as quickly or as easily as some think though.

Prediction: Jones by Submission Round 3

Michael Bisping (23-5) #4 MW vs Alan Belcher (18-7) #10 MW

Jack: I think this is a good fight for Bisping. Belcher is actually quite good everywhere and probably has the edge in jiu jitsu. For that advantage to come into play though he has to get Bisping down or rock him. I don't see either happening. Belcher doesn't deal well with pressure.  Something Bisping happens to be excellent at with his gas tank.

I think we see the old Bisping pressure style here maybe looking for a clinch for some Knees.

Prediction: Bisping by TKO from Ground and Pound following knees in the clinch Round 3

Tommy: I feel this really is the last chance saloon for Bisping to get the title shot he probably deserves.

Belcher will prove a very stern test for him on Saturday night. Belcher has a brilliant ground game and that was shown against Palhares, that he can submit very good fighters. Though Bisping has proved time and time again he has one of the best take down defences, and showed against Sonnen he's difficult to take down and keep down.

Bisping has a lot to prove after his loss to Belfort and after a lot of trash talking I feel he's going to back up and stop Belcher for the first time in his career.

Prediction: Bisping by TKO Round 2

Roy Nelson (18-7) #6 HW vs Cheick Kongo (18-7-2)

Tommy: Not ashamed to admit it, but I'm a massive Roy Nelson fan. Since winning the Ultimate Fighter back in 2009, I've really taken to him. He has a granite chin, and power that can knock out any heavyweight fighter!

I don't think Kongo has the power to knockout 'Big Country' and would be wise to keep the fight at range and pick his way to victory.  But at some point Roy will get close to him and land something heavy on Cheick and knock him out.

Prediction: Roy Nelson by KO Round 1

Jack: This fight to me should be easy to pick and see how it plays out. Of course we all know this is MMA and anything can happen though. I will keep this one brief. Both men hit hard. Only Nelson has a good chin. That points to one thing for me.

Prediction: Nelson by KO Round 2

Phil Davis (10-1-1) #8 LHW vs Vinny Magalhães (10-5-1)

Jack: This is classic wrestler vs grappler match up. What's the best weapon Wrestling or BJJ?

I'm a firm believer that a solid wrestling practitioner with some solid defensive BJJ should be able to shutdown the offensive BJJ side with good positioning and strikes. Although Vinny is a threat here I see Davis having enough know how to keep out of submissions.

Prediction: Davis by Decision

Tommy: Both fighters seem to have a dislike for each other after a war of words over twitter. Magalhaes is brilliant on the ground with 8 out his 10 wins coming from submission. Though getting a world class wrestler like Davis to the ground will be near on impossible. Giving Davis a huge advantage on their feet.

This is not really a fight I'm looking forward too and I find Davis one of the most boring fighters in the UFC, but he is a tough fighter to beat and will dictate where the fight goes. For this reason I can see Davis winning a UD.

Prediction: Davis by Unanimous Decision

Jim Miller (22-4) #4 LW vs Pat Healy (29-16)

Tommy: Jim Miller really impressed me in his fight of the night (year) win against Joe Lauzon back in December.

Pat Healy comes into the fight on a 6 fight win streak, and since moving down to lightweight he's looked a top contender, with only injuries to Gilbert Melendez costing him the opportunity to fight for the StrikeForce Lightweight belt.

This could have fight of the night written all over it. Both very tough and pressure fighters who come to fight. I think Miller has a more rounded game than Healy and will just edge this. Though I wouldn't be surprised at all if Pat Healy was to get a decision in a very close fight.

Prediction: Jim Miler by Split Decision

Jack: This fight really excites me and is my pick for fight of the night. Great fight to open the card with and it's a tough one. Healy is on a role of late coming in from Strikeforce. Miller is always tough whoever he's put in with. I see a lot of action on the mat and Miller should be able to control the majority of rounds.

Prediction: Miller by Decision