Kingdom MMA Awards 2013: Worst Fight of the year

Kingdom MMA Worst Fight of the Year Award 2013: Soa Palalei vs Nikita Krylov

by Ben Heather @benheather

Although 2013 has been a great year for MMA it has also had a few stinkers. So this is the wooden spoon award of the year. Thankfully for us all this was actually quite a hard award to think of a winner for because we really have been treated to some amazing fights in 2013.

However, we had three contenders which were put forward as the worst fight of the year, our first contender was the fight between Jake Shields and Tyron Woodley at UFC 161 where the pair clinched for most of the fight in which Shields failed to get Woodley to the floor in the first two rounds alone with a staggering 11 attempts. The fight was either spent tied up in the clinch or pushed up against the side of the cage but nothing of serious note happened. All in all a stinker of a fight. However, Shawn Jordan must have been watching and gave the fans something to cheer about as he knocked out Pat Barry within a minute in the next fight.

Then in July Rory MacDonald vs Jake Ellenberger met at UFC on FOX 8 was certainly a fight with very little happening during the fight. Rory was waiting for Ellenberger to make the move and when he did, did just enough to win the fight without doing much in the process. Thankfully Demetrious Johnson vs John Moraga came on after that fight and put on a show for the fans to make them rightfully forget that fight ever happened.

Our winner though comes from UFC 164 at the end of August when Soa Palelei faced off against Nikita Krylov. Before the fight both guys had impressive records, Soa was returning to the UFC after a one fight stint years before and Nikita was making his debut in the UFC so both really wanted to impress..... unfortunately for both men and us fans that did not happen on this night. The fans were instead treated to over 11 minutes of fighting between two clearly gassed fighters before Soa put Nikita out of his misery and picked up the TKO win. Soa however announced after the fight that he went in to the fight with an injury, having suffered a fractured rib the week of the fight which led to him putting on a lack luster performance.

Thankfully Soa made up for this recently as the UFC returned to his home nation and he quickly knocked out Pat Barry making people forget all about his previous fight.

We are sorry to do this, but the award for worst fight of 2013 goes to Soa Palelei vs Nikita Krylov. Please forgive us and we hope to see you perform well again in 2014.

Kingdom MMA Awards 2013: Submission of the Year

Kingdom MMA Submission of the Year Award 2013: Anthony Pettis
By chris Houten - @mrhouts

2013 has been a year full of great submissions. From Rose Namajunas submission of Kathina Catron at Invicta 5 to Takuya Eizumi submission of Teppei Masuda at Pancrase 250, fans have been left in the kind of awe that makes you show up at the local BJJ academy scratching for your first lesson, in a way only a drug addict would. 

With so many great submission in 2013 including the aforementioned, the staff at Kingdom MMA found it difficult to agree on winner of submission of the year with several championing Rose Namajunas’ flying armbar, and Eizumi getting a well deserved vote for his hip toss reversal into belly down arm bar. In the end though one man came out on top – Anthony Pettis for his UFC 164 submission victory over Benson Henderson, which earned him the UFC lightweight title.

Strange choice you may say, when you compare a regular old armbar which happens week in week at many events around the world, to a flying armbar, but in the end it was the magnitude of the victory, and the quality of his opponent which earned Pettis sub of the year.

Going into the fight with Pettis, the lightweight champion Benson Henderson was on a 7 fight win streak and was looking pretty cosy at the top of the lightweight division. What makes Pettis submission of Henderson even more impressive is the fact that Bendo has just earned his BJJ blackbelt a few months before, and had been competing and winning in high level BJJ tournaments for most of the summer.

As one of the best strikers in all of MMA, Pettis was given the advantage standing by fans and pundits a like; its fairly safe to say that not many people would have backed a Pettis submission at the bookies, even with Pettis’ notoriously active guard. And that’s what makes Pettis' victory even more impressive, he tapped out one of the finest lightweights of all time with ease, a feat that caused absolute hysteria in Pettis’ home town where the fight took place. Sometime its not the just the method of victory that makes a finish great it’s the complete packagage, and this one had it all.

By tapping out Henderson, Pettis becomes only the second man in 22 fights to submit Benson Henderson, earning himself the UFC Lightweight title, and Kingdom MMA’s 2013 submission of the year award – Pettis we salute you.

Fighter vs Writer - UFC Fight Night 27 - Poirier vs Heather

Fighter vs Writer: Dustin Poirier - UFC Fight Night 27
by Ben Heather @benheather

Welcome to another Kingdom MMA fighter vs writer challenge.


For this challenge we challenge some of the biggest 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. Previously we have challenged the likes of Luke Barnatt, Jim Alers, Mike Wilkison, Phil Harris and Cathal Pendred. Last time out at UFC Fight Night 26, Cathal Pendred was defeated by Chris, which still leaves Jim Alers as the only fighter to beat one of our Kingdom MMA writers.

This weeks opponent needs no introduction. He is one of the biggest names in the Featherweight division and is currently ranked #6 in the UFC official rankings. He is also the star of the movie Fightville and holds impressive victories over Jonathan Brookings, Max Holloway and many more. He is of course Dustin Poirier and you can see him return to the Octagon on Saturday night against Erik Koch at UFC 164.

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 point. However, if the fight ends in a stoppage and you predict the round as well the method you could earn a third bonus point. If the fight goes the distance you can only earn a maximum of two points.

The Predictions
(Note: The fight card wasn't finalised when we spoke to Dustin so we will only be picking 5/6 main card fights)

Carlos Condit vs Martin Kampmann

Dustin's Prediction: Carlos Condit - Decision 

Heather: This is a big fight for both guys, a win could push both guys very close to getting the next title shot, however a loss could seriously damage that dream. I have to pick Condit here, I can't see a way which Condit loses. Yes he has lost his last two but against the champion and challenger for the belt. I think that's still respectable. That will be pushing Carlos to get back in the win column and he will come Saturday night.

Prediction: Carlos Condit - TKO Round 3

Donald Cerrone vs Rafael Dos Anjos

Dustin's Prediction: Donald Cerrone - TKO

Heather: Cerrone for me is in a similar group to Urijah Faber, he will beat almost anyone in the division other than the very elite guys and even then (Other than the Pettis fight) he will put up a bloody good fight. In my opinion he is also one of the most exciting fighters to watch. He always comes to fight and rarely disappoints the fans.

On the other hand Dos Anjos has improved so much over the past couple of years after starting his UFC career 4-4 he has gone on a 4 fight win streak and a win on Wednesday would certainly be the biggest of his career. Unfortunately for Rafael I don't see it happening and I see him being finished within the distance. I think Cerrone will be able to beat him a number of ways but I am picking a third round submission for this.

Prediction: Donald Cerrone - Sub Round 3

Kelvin Gastelum vs Brian Melancon

Dustin's Prediction: Brian Melancon - TKO 

Heather: As one of the few guys who predicted that Kelvin would defeat Uriah Hall in his last fight I am not going to pick against him today. Gastelum has a decent skill set and now with the drop down to welterweight he won't be one of the smaller guys.

Melancon has taken this fight on short notice after a very impressive debut in the octagon. That fight proved an upset as he defeated Seth Baczynski on the buzzer at the end of the first round and another win on Wednesday night would be just as big of an upset.

I think Gastelum will be able to grind out an early onslaught from Melancon but then control the fight to pick up a decision victory.

Prediction: Kelvin Gastelum - Decision

Court McGee vs Robert Whittaker

Dustin's Prediction: Court McGee - Decision 

Heather: Whittaker impressed me in the TUF Smashes and was definitely one of a couple of good fighters to come out of the house. At the same time in his last fight against Colton Smith I didn't expect to see the improvements I did and thought he would lose..... how wrong was I!! After that performance I am now expecting to see big things in this fight.

McGee on paper has faced greater competition than Whittaker and in his last fight looked very impressive in the first round before he looked like he was gassed and then just did enough to win the decision when really he should have finished the fight.

Against Whittaker he will not be given the ability to cruise and I think Whittaker will have enough to come away with the win in equally impressive style to his last fight.

Prediction: Robert Whittaker - TKO Round 1

Brad Tavares vs Robert McDaniel

Dustin's Prediction: Brad Tavares  - TKO

Heather: This is simple for me.... If Jon Jones wasn't his coach on TUF Bubba would not have been given a second chance and we wouldn't even have this fight. I really do not understand why this fight has even been made. Tavares has fought and beat a lot better fighters than McDaniel and I can see him cruising to another win come fight night.

Hopefully we will now see Tavares matched up with a big name fighter as he works towards the top 10 in the division. He certainly deserves a better opponent than Bubba McDaniels.

Prediction: Brad Tavares - TKO Round 2


So that's our predictions for the fights, we will be live tweeting on Wednesday 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 Dustin for providing us with his picks for this weekends fights and it just leaves me to say.... May the best man win!!

Dustin Poirier talks to Kingdom MMA about UFC 164, fighting Cub Swanson in the UK, Conor McGregor and more

Kingdom MMA catch up with Dustin Poirier for a UK exclusive interview

by Ben Heather @benheather

Yesterday Kingdom MMA had the pleasure of catching up with Dustin Poirier to discuss his fights at UFC 164 as well as a lot of other topics. Dustin comes in to the fight off the back of a loss in the co-main event of UFC on FUEL 5 against Cub Swanson in Wembley Arena, London. Since then he has taken a bit of time out after two fights in the space of two months in December last year and then February of this year, but is now ready to get back to action.

Ben: Your last fight was in the UK, did you get chance to get out and see much of London while you was in the UK and what did you think of England?
Poirier: I was not able to see much but what I did get to see was beautiful, aside from it raining the entire time we were there.

Ben: Last time out you lost in a close battle to Cub Swanson, do you regret taking that fight on short notice?
Poirier: I don't regret taking the fight, it was a learning experience and I'm a stronger fighter because of it.

Ben: I caught up with you in the Hilton hotel a couple of hours after that fight against Cub and at that time you said that you thought you won the first and second rounds and did enough to win the fight. Did you watch the fight back and how do you think it should have been scored?
Poirier: I did watch the fight over and  I think the decision was right, we were one and one going into the third and I think he edged me out in the third.

Ben: Do you feel if you had the full camp before fighting Cub the result would have been different?
Poirier: I definitely think that if I had a full training camp it would have gone differently. I would've been in shape to push the third round.

Ben: Who do you think is now the number 1 contender at featherweight? It seems a lot of guys feel they deserve the title shot but who do you think should be next to get the shot?
Poirier: Ricardo Lamas deserves the next shot at the featherweight title.

Ben: If an opportunity arose and you were asked to step in on short notice for another fight like you did against Cub would you still take the fight?
Poirier: It depends on my weight at the time and if the fight is worth taking on short notice.

Ben: I believe in the past your weight fluctuates a lot when you are not preparing for a fight. How much weight do you normally have to lose during a fight camp? Also, on average how much do you have to cut for weigh ins?
Poirier: I lose an average of 15 pounds during camp and another 15 pounds for the weight cut.

Ben: You have now been training at American Top Team for coming up to a year, how do you feel this had improved your game and how different is it to where you previously trained?
Poirier: I feel like my game is more well rounded and I'm getting pushed by top level guys every day. I'm a completely different fighter than how I was a year ago.

Ben: It seems lately the name on everyone's lips in the UK is Conor McGregor, what is your opinion of him and would you be interested in a fight with him?
Poirier: Connor Mc who??

Ben: At UFC 164 you will finally fight Erik Koch. You were supposed to fight him back in Feb '12 at UFC 143 before he got injured. Has it been easier preparing for this fight due to the past preparation you put in for that first fight?
Poirier: No it's not easier because it's a different fight and we're both different fighters than we were a year ago.

Ben: You will be fighting Koch in what I believe is his hometown, does this add an exciting edge to the fight for you?
Poirier: For sure! I get to be the bad guy for the night and he's going to need a stadium full of fans to cheer him up after I beat him.

Ben: Have you been training on anything specific for your fight against Koch?
Poirier: I've been training and preparing for any way the fight could go but have been focusing on my kickboxing. Everyone looks at me as a jiu jitsu fighter but I started as a kickboxer before anything and you will see that in this fight.

Ben: How do you expect the fight to go at UFC 164?
Poirier: Me knocking Erik Koch out!!

Ben: Where do you think a win will put you in an already stacked division?
Poirier: Back where I belong...At The Top!

Ben: Would you say that putting on a show, entertaining the crowd with exciting fights and being known as an entertaining fighter is important to you? Or is it all about getting the win no matter if its a boring fight.
Poirier: It's all about getting the win for me but luckily, I don't know how to have a boring fight!

Ben: UK fighter and team mate of yours Brad Pickett is in action this weekend, how do you think he will get on against Michael Mcdonald?
Poirier: I think it will be a competitive fight first round and then Brad will pull ahead second and third.

Thank you for your time Dustin, we wish you all the best in your fight at UFC 164 and look forward to speaking with you again soon.

UFC 164 is headlined by the rematch between Benson Henderson vs Anthony Pettis for the UFC lightweight championship in a fight which the fans have been hoping to see ever since Anthony Pettis landed the showtime kick in the first fight between the two. UFC 164 takes place on 31st August and can be seen live on BT Sports in the UK.

Al Iaquinta replaces injured Quinn Mulhern and takes on Ryan Couture at UFC 164

Another injury forces more changes to UFC 164

By Tom Rooney @oldmanrooney

Ryan Couture (6-2-0) will now face TUF Live finalist Al Iaquinta (5-2-1) at UFC 164 after his original opponent Quinn Mulhern (18-3-0) announced on Tuesday that he had sustained a fractured hand and would be unable to compete.

The lightweight bout is scheduled for the undercard of UFC 164, which will be headlined by 155lbs title-fight between Benson Henderson and Anthony Petits in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on Saturday, August 31st.

Couture, who lost his Octagon debut against Ross Pearson via KO at UFC Sweden in April, was part of the migration of fighters from Strikeforce after it was absorbed by Zuffa. Prior to his loss to Pearson, he was on a four fight win-streak, which he will need to resume with haste or he may be joining his errant father at Bellator.

Iaquinta, a member of Team Faber on TUF LIVE, has not fought in the UFC since the series finale in June 2012, when was submitted in the first round by Michael Chiesa.

Benson Henderson v Anthony Pettis 2 is on

Benson Henderson set to face Anthony Pettis at UFC 164

by Jack Broadey @J3cK_b

The lightweight title fight we all wanted is on. Albeit in controversial fashion. Anthony Pettis was due to face Jose Aldo at UFC 163 on August 3rd. He will now fight at UFC 164 on August 31st. He was forced to pull out of the Aldo fight with a minor injury on doctors orders. A mere 4 weeks later he will instead face off for the Lightweight title.

Pettis is no stranger to the title controversy. Pettis entered the UFC as the reigning WEC lightweight champion after Zuffa merged the companies. He was originally scheduled as the No1 contender in early 2011 until Frankie Edgar battled Gray Maynard to a draw. With no one winning the fight the rematch was scheduled straight away. Leaving the Pettis situation up in the air. He decided not to wait around and battled Clay Guida to a tough split decision loss. That loss cost him his number 1 contender status. 

Ben Henderson will know all about Anthony Pettis and will relish his chance to take revenge. Henderson was struck by the now infamous show time kick. Pettis launched himself off the cage to land a flying kick to Henderson face and drop in the 5th round off the last ever WEC bout. The fight was awarded fight of the year 2010 and the rematch is a long time coming. 

Henderson has now defended his UFC lightweight strap 3 times after controversially winning the title from Frankie Edgar. He edged another controversial Edgar decision before dominating Nate Diaz. He went back to the normal with another controversial decision this time over Gilbert Melendez. Henderson has been there and seen it all. He will hope his title experience will help in this much anticipated rematch.

TJ Grant gets his lightweight title shot at UFC 164

Benson Henderson vs TJ Grant title fight announced at UFC 164

by Tommy Strong @Strong_tea

UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson will be putting his belt on the line for the fourth time against number one contender in the division TJ Grant. Its been announced the fight will take place at UFC 164 on Aug 31st in Milwaukee, and will be the main event of the evening.

Benson (19-2) who is yet to lose a fight since signing with the UFC, will enter the octagon on a 7 fight winning streak with all fights coming via decision. Since beating Frankie Edgar to win the lightweight title, he went on to defend his belt in a rematch with Edgar in what many thought was a controversial split decision win. Next in line for Benson was Nate Diaz who he brushed aside in dominating fashion, this is often forgotten though when people say Benson is always in close decision contests.

Last time out Benson defeated Gilbert Melendez at UFC on Fox 7 in April, which proved to be an epic back and forth battle. Benson finally came out victorious to take a very close split decision win .

TJ Grant (21-5) has shot up the rankings in recent time, currently ranked number 3 in the official UFC Rankings. Grant was announced as the number one contender following a devastating knockout of Gray Maynard at UFC 160 in May. In the process he became only the second fighter to ever stop Maynard. Now its his turn to get a shot at the title. Can he be the first man to beat Benson Henderson in the UFC.... we will find out in August.

Grant will return to the octagon in August in a very confident mood, having won 5 fights on the bounce and his last two fights via KO with wins over Wiman & Maynard.

Lets hope this doesn't come down to the judges score cards and we're not talking about another close decision win that could have gone either way. I feel its time Benson pulled out all the stops and went for a stoppage inside the distance.

Also on the card we will see the return of Josh Barnett who will be taking on Frank Mir in a heavyweight bout. Josh will be making his first appearance in the UFC since March 2002 where he defeated Randy Couture to win the Heavyweight title at UFC 36. Only later to be stripped of the title due to testing positive for banned substances and released from the UFC.

Soa Palelei set to fight Nikita Krylov at UFC 164

Heavyweights Soa "The Hulk"Palelei vs Nikita "The Al Capone" Krylov booked for UFC 164

by Jack Broadey @J3cK_b

Palelei was due to face Stipe Miocic at UFC 161 but the match was rebooked with Roy Nelsen taking his place. Paleli, or "the Hulk" as his fans affectionately call him. From Australia he has won 8 straight fights including a knockout win over UFC Veteran Sean McCorkle in his last outing.

In a battle of cool nicknames promotional newcomer "the al capone" Nikita Krylop will be in the opposing corner. Krylop has only been a pro for 2 years. However he has won all 14 of his fights all by stoppage and all in the 1st round. He has been kept remarkably busy for a young Heavyweight making his way in the game.

The bout will got down on August 31st in Milwaukee.

Josh Barnett set to meet Frank Mir in UFC return at UFC 164

Barnett v Mir on for UFC 164

by Jack Broadey @J3cK_b

The UFC yesterday announced a heavyweight addition to the UFC 164 card on August 31st in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Frank Mir will take on Josh Barnett in his UFC return.

This will mark Barnett's return to the organisation after an 11 year absence. His last fight in the UFC was a win over Randy Couture where Barnett won UFC Heavyweight gold. He was later stripped of the title due to testing positive for banned substances. This would also be Barnett's last fight with the company as he would leave to fight in Japan after this fight.

Barnett was initially hesitant to sign a contract with the UFC after his Strikeforce folded. He was expected to go and fight on the Japanese circuit again where he could do Pro Wrestling as well. Barnett had a change of heart and has since signed with the UFC again.

They both have a common opponent as both were defeated by Daniel Cormier in there last fight. Frank Mir was supposed to head over to Strikeforce to fight Cormier but due to injury this was scrapped and they fought in the UFC on Cormier's debut. Mir is currently on a 2 fight losing steak after losing in a title fight to Junior Dos Santos and then dropping a decision to Cormier in his UFC debut.

He will welcome Barnett back to the UFC as well in what should be a great ground battle. It's a classic Wrestler vs grappler match and will no doubt be very exciting to see who comes out on top.

Mendes vs Guida scheduled for UFC 164

Chad Mendes finally set to meet Clay Guida at UFC 164

by Tommy Strong @Strong_tea

Two of the UFC's top featherweights Clay Guida and Chad Mendes are now scheduled to battle it out at  UFC 164 on August 31st in Milwaukee. The pair had original been due to fight in April at UFC on Fox 7, but Guida had to pull out of the fight due to an injury setback in March.

Mendes (14-1) went on to fight Darren Elkins that night, and took just over a minute into the 1st round to TKO Elkins, putting him on a 3 fight win streak. With each win seeming to look more impressive than the last. The only loss on his record is to Jose Aldo when they squared off for the featherweight title back in January 2012 at UFC 142. A defeat he is desperate to avenge.

Guida (30-13) made his featherweight debut in January, with a split decision win over Hatsu Hioki at UFC on Fox 6. The win came off the back of two losses at lightweight with a split decision loss to Gray Maynard and unanimous decision loss to the current UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson. The Guida of late has been fighting differently to the fighter all the fans loved to watch that changed during the Maynard fight. Which Guida will we see in August?

Fights that have also been announced for UFC 164:

Dustin Poirier vs Erik Koch
Brandon Vera vs Ben Rothwell
Diego Sanchez vs TBA

Ben Rothwell vs Brandon Vera targeted for UFC 164

Vera to return to heavyweight for UFC 164 battle

by Tommy Strong @Strong_tea

Brandon 'The Truth' Vera (12-6-1 NC) will be heading back to Heavyweight for the first time in 5 years to take on the 'Big' Ben Rothewell (32-9) at UFC 164 which is scheduled to take place on August 31st 2013 in Milwaukee.

This will be the a return to Heavyweight for Vera who last fought at the weight back in 2008 in a first round defeat to Fabricio Werdum at UFC 85. After a very rocky spell at Light Heavyweight this could be the last chance saloon for Vera, who is coming into the fight on the back of a 4th round defeat to Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua at UFC on Fox 4 in which was he put in a very good performance.

'Big' Ben Rothwell meanwhile will be looking to get back to winning ways with after his 2nd round submission loss at the hands of Gabriel Gonzage at UFC on FX 7. Rothwell's record currently stands at (L/W/L/W/L) in his 5 fights with the UFC so he will be hoping this continues for at least the next fight.

The news was first broke via MMAjunkie, but there has been no official announcement by the UFC.