Can Rory MacDonald emerge from GSP's shadow?

With GSP gone for now, can Rory MacDonald take the limelight?

by Chris Marzella @ChrisMarzella

There is but one man who could stand to benefit from the recent semi-retirement of the longtime UFC welterweight king Georges St.Pierre.
Rory "Ares" MacDonald was the long time protégé of GSP. Always living in his shadow, taking a back seat to, quite frankly, the greatest welterweight of all time.
As GSP sails off into the sunset, at least for now, MacDonald now finds himself in a position where he can legitimately make a run at the UFC title.
For as long as St.Pierre ruled at 170-pounds, MacDonald would always be an after thought when you think of Canadian fighters, hell even Tristar fighters, and was certainly firmly behind the eight ball when it came to the UFC's consideration of top contenders due to his and GSP's unwillingness to get in the octagon and fight.
Now with the path clear MacDonald can re-focus himself and finally attempt to get his hands on the title so familiar to all at Tristar.
The first step in his attempt to bounce back from his split decision loss to title contender Robbie Lawler begins this Saturday night as he gets set to take on Demian Maia at UFC 170.
Perhaps the one criticism levelled at MacDonald on too many occasions is what seems to be his willingness to "play it safe" and play a point scoring game. Dana White recently publicly slated Alistair Overeem for doing the very same thing in his victory over Frank Mir at UFC 169 and it is that type of performance which could very well hold back the 24-year-old Canadian.
It would seem then that MacDonald has some way to go before he can convince the powers that be that he is the man to get a crack at either Johny Hendricks or Robbie Lawler. A Lawler win at UFC 171 against Hendricks for the vacant title would push MacDonald further away from that precious number one contender spot given the manner of his win over MacDonald.
A win however, is far from a foregone conclusion on Saturday night. Maia himself was edging close to title contention since his move from middleweight until he was dominated by Jake Shields at UFC Fight Night 29 last October.
What Saturday night does present for MacDonald is his first opportunity to realistically stake his claim for consideration to be a future UFC welterweight title contender.
A door that has always seemed firmly shut has suddenly opened and with GSP offering no definite retirement, it could be the case that MacDonald must impress now and get his opportunity before St.Pierre returns to claim back his crown.
A move away from the recent technical performances and a shift towards a win with riskier, more offensive strategy could see him catapulted back towards the top spot, a win of any kind will still be a huge feather in the cap, a loss pushes a title shot to one side at least for now.
If MacDonald ever had aspirations for the title then UFC 170 is the time to begin planning a route to his chance.
UFC 170 takes place Saturday 22nd February from the Mandalay Bay Events Center, Las Vegas.

A second TUF champion added to fight at UFC 171

Julianna Pena vs Jessica Andrade set to battle at UFC 171

by Ben Heather @benheather

After the recent announcement that the TUF 17 champ Kelvin Gastelum will face Rick Story at UFC 171 it has today been announced that he will be joined by the TUF 18 champ Julianna Pena will also fight on the card.

The first ever female TUF champion. Julianna Pena (5-2 MMA 1-0 UFC) is set to face Jessica Andrade (10-3 MMA 1-1 UFC) in her first UFC fight outside of the ultimate fighter tournament. Pena won the most recent series of The Ultimate by defeating Jessica Rakoczy by first round TKO after coming in to the tournament as team Tate's number 1 pick.

Her opponent at UFC 171 Jessica Andrade is very familiar to the UK fans after her one sided victory in her most recent fight against Rosi Sexton at UFC Fight Night Machida vs Munoz in Manchester this past October. In that fight she showcased her skills as a great martial artist, at just 22 and if it was not for the heart and determination of Rosi Sexton she would have won by TKO. I believe if she put the beating she did that night on anybody else, other than Rosi Sexton she would have been able to finish that fight but not that night in Rosi's hometown. Before that Andrade lost via TKO to Liz Carmouche in her UFC debut.

UFC 171 is headlined by the battle for the vacant UFC Welterweight Title between Johny Hendricks and Robbie Lawler.

Rick Story to meet Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 171

Welterweight battle added to UFC 171

by Ben Heather @benheather

On the 15th March 2014 the UFC will crown a new welterweight champion to follow in the footsteps of the greatest welterweight fighter ever. Georges St-Pierre's reign came to an end when he vacated the title at the end of last year and now another welterweight fight has been added to the card.

Kelvin Gastelum, the TUF 17 champion will return to the octagon as the UFC returns to Dallas where he will meet Rick Story.

Gastelum (7-0 MMA 2-0 UFC) capped off a real underdog story to be crowned The Ultimate Champion when he beat Uriah Hall last year. He then followed that up with a submission victory of Brian Melancon after dropping down to Welterweight and now remains at welterweight to meet Rick Story.

Story (16-7 MMA 9-5 UFC) will be looking to get his career back on track in 2014 after finishing 2013 on a high with a win over Brian Ebersole at UFC 167. The past few years he has bounced between wins and losses and a win over Gastelum would be a great way to do that.

UFC 171 is headlined by Johny Hendricks vs Robbie Lawler for the vacated Welterweight title and also on the card Carlos Condit will face off against Tyron Woodley in a fight which could see the new number one contender for the title.

If you enjoy Welterweight battles UFC 171 is the perfect event for you.

Johny Hendricks Meets Robbie Lawler For The Vacant UFC Welterweight Belt

Who will be crowned the new UFC Welterweight Champion? and is this the right match up?

by Tommy Strong @strong_tea

With the news that current UFC Welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre will vacate his title and take an indefinite leave of absence from the sport. Everyone was wondering, what would happen next?

Well, in true Dana White style it wasn't long before we found out!  Dana announced soon after that Johny Hendricks would be fighting Robbie Lawler for the vacant Welterweight bout which will be the main event for UFC 171, taking place in Dallas, Texas on the 15th March 2014.

Hendricks (15-2 MMA,10-2 UFC) who probably still can't believe he isn't already the welterweight champion after losing in controversial fashion to GSP in a razor thin split decision only last month at UFC 167. However, the news of this title shot surely would've eased the pain of that loss, knowing he will have the chance once again to win the title, this time in his own backyard!!

Many felt a little surprised that the opportunity would fall at the feet of Robbie Lawler (22-9-1 MMA,7-3UFC) having fought in Strikeforce prior and having a 3-5 record in his 8 fights with the organisation, you would've had to be mystic meg to try and predict what would happen next!!

He'd enter the UFC and in doing so, moving down from middleweight to welterweight, he'd  knock out the durable Josh Koscheck inside the first round on his return, following that up with a stunning KO over Bobby Voelker. Then to top things off being matched up with the fighter that many believed would go onto emulate GSP one day, and hold the welterweight belt for years to come. Lawler put on one of this best performances to date with a clinical display outscoring Rory MacDonald to win via split decision at UFC 167 in November.

Lets be honest here,  we've seen a fair few 'undeserving' title fights over the years, and more recently Chael Sonnen getting a title shot at light heavyweight when the last time he fought there was 2005!!
Yes you could make arguments for a few other fighters to get their chance, but here and now this is in my eyes is the perfect match up!

Lets look at a few other fighters in the frame:

Carlos Condit: 
Coming off Losses to GSP for the title and then Johny Hendricks more recently, it would be hard to gift him a title shot after getting back to winning ways beating Martin Kampmann via TKO.
A win against a Tyron Woodley will surely put him back into title contention.

Rory MacDonald: 
If he'd beaten Robbie Lawler there's no doubt we would've seen Hendricks vs MacDonald! Though this defeat is a setback for the young man! Up next for Rory is a really tough battle when he faces Demian Maia at UFC 170.

Jake Ellenberger: 
Seems to be the 'nearly man' Super talented fighter who just come up short when he's been in great positions. More recently losing via unanimous decision to Rory MacDonald in what will go down as a stinker. He's a couple fights away from being in the mix.

Jake Shields: 
Could arguably be in the frame if not for failing a drugs test after defeating Ed Herman at UFC 150. Though this was at middleweight he would've now been on a 4 fight winning streak since losing back to back fights against GSP (for the title) and Jake Ellenberger.

Since returning from his ban, Jake has done what he does best, grinds wins out with victories over Tyron Woodley and Demian Maia both via split decision.

The biggest downfall for Jake is his style of fighting which doesn't appeal to the masses.

Matt Brown: 
The guy I feel for the most here. Brown scheduled to fight Carlos Condit only this week had to pull out due to an injury, will now see the chances of him getting closer to that title shot fading away. Now Carlos has a fight with Tyron Woodley lined up, where does this leave Brown who is currently sat on a 6 fight winning streak?!!

I for one hope he gets a fight that pushing him closer to the title and up the rankings! Jake Ellenberger?

Whether you agree or disagree with Hendricks vs Lawler fighting for the vacant welterweight belt, I think there is one thing we will all agree upon.....

With two southpaws who love to throw bombs and both posses frightening punching power we can only imagine this fight isn't going the distance!!!

Is GSP right to go on a hiatus from fighting?

My opinion on whether GSP should have taken a break from MMA

by John Haigh @JohnBJayHaigh

On Friday 13th December during a media call GSP announced he was taking a step back from fighting vacating his UFC welterweight title in the process.
GSP told media members on a conference call that the pressures of being a champion, combined with the relentless pace of promoting fight cards while training for title defences became too much for him. As a result, St-Pierre said he needed to take an indefinite leave and agreed to vacate the title in his absence. GSP had the following to say.

“I’ve been fighting for a very long time, at a very high level,”
“It’s a lot of pressure. I know that UFC is a business. They have to keep things rolling, so I vacate my title."
“I need to have a normal life for a little bit,”
“If I come back some day, I will be even better.”

But is GSP justified in stepping away?
Having only fought four times in the last years, surely that’s plenty of time in between fights to rest up, have some time to himself and enjoy the fruits of his labour?

Undoubtedly GSP has already had a great career at just the age of 32, but are the last seven straight five round fights catching up with the former champ. We’ve seen the change in GSP’s condition after fights especially recently after the fights with Carlos Condit, Nick Diaz and most recently with Johny Hendricks, with the massive bruising and swelling to his face. It begs the question how long could he continue like this?

There have also been many rumours circulating since GSP’s distressed post fight interview with UFC commentator Joe Rogan, but with GSP liking to keep his private life away from the limelight. I’d be surprised if we ever found out the problems referred to in the interview. However, shouldn’t the former champ have just taken some time off to got his life back to where he wants it to be? Dana White even said “his problems are not as big as he thinks they are.” 

He’s not been fighting as regular as a lot of other champions so would people really even notice? Why not use the interim tittle option?

While many people in and around the MMA world are confident that GSP will one day return to the octagon, does he really need to? Are the risks worth it to him anymore? He’s clearly made plenty of money and could quite easily continue to do so without the stress of entering the cage.

So while the former champ takes time away from the cage to decide what he wants to do in the future, it leaves a change for a new champ to put their mark on the welterweight division.

As always, true to fashion UFC Dana White wasted no time in moving forward, “March 15, Dallas, Texas, Johny Hendricks will fight Robbie Lawler for the vacant UFC welterweight title,” White declared on Friday’s media call with St-Pierre.

Carlos Condit and Tyron Woodley set to fight at UFC 171

Welterweight contenders set to battle at UFC 171

by Ben Heather @benheather

On Friday it was announced that Georges St-Pierre has taken a break from MMA and in doing so has relinquished his UFC Welterweight title. This was confirmation of GSP's UFC 167 post fight interview in which he said he may need to take some time off but wasn't prepared to commit to that decision on the night.

This chain of events led to a couple of other fights being announced, the first was for the now vacant UFC Welterweight title between Johny Hendricks and Robbie Lawler. Dana White also mentioned that Carlos Condit would also be fighting at UFC 171 but at the time no opponent had been announced. He said that at the UFC on FOX 9 post fight press conference he would announce Condit's opponent. At that press conference Dana White announced that he had attempted to arrange the rematch between Condit and Nick Diaz but Diaz turned the fight down saying he was still retired. So until now the world was left waiting to hear who would fight Condit.

Today it was announced that Tyron Woodley, who has been sending Dana about 15 text messages a day trying to get a big name fight would be the man to face Condit with the winner more than likely becoming the new number one contender for the UFC Welterweight title.

Woodley has had a mixed run going 2-1 since joining the UFC from Strikeforce, that being said in the two fights he has won he has put on brilliant performances knocking out Jay Hieron and most recently Josh Koshcheck. That fight with Koscheck was a brutal battle in which he rocked Koscheck a few times before putting him away towards the end of the first round. His only loss since joining the UFC was against Jake Shields at UFC 161 where he lost via split decision.

Condit got back to winning ways last time out against Martin Kampmann, that win was his first win for three fights having lost back to back unanimous decisions firstly in the Welterweight title unification battle with GSP and then against Johny Hendricks. He was due to fight Matt Brown in what would have been a great fight last weekend at UFC on FOX 9 but Brown had to pull out of that fight injured and will not be back in time to be fit for UFC 171.

A win against Tyron Woodley would be enough to potentially set up a rematch for Condit against Hendricks.

I am not sure how each fight will pan out, only time will tell but what I do know is the welterweight division still has enough talent and contenders to keep the division moving whether GSP returns or not is up to him but the UFC Welterweight division is still an exciting division for us fans.

Josh Koscheck vs Tyron Woodley UFC 167

ANOTHER WELTERWEIGHT BATTLE ADDED TO UFC 167
By Tommy Strong @strong_tea

UFC 167 adds another welterweight bout to its card. With the news that Josh Koscheck will face Tyron Woodley on November 16th 2013.

Josh Koscheck (19-7) was scheduled to fight Damien Maia in August at UFC 163, but was forced to pull out due to an injury. Josh will now get the chance to redeem himself after losing his last two fights , a split decision to Johny Hendricks and more recently a 1st round defeat in February to Robbie Lawler.

His opponent Tyron Woodley (11-2) made a spectacular UFC debut in February with a 1st round victory knocking out Jay Hieron in 36 seconds. Though it was polar opposite when he faced Jake Shields in June 2013 losing a split decision in one of the worst fights I've seen to date.

This fight could go one of two way, either be a barn burner or a contender for worst fight of the year!
Lets hope both fighters turn up to entertain the fans!

UFC 167 will be headlined by welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre vs Johny Hendricks, also confirmed for the card will see another welterweight bout between Rory MacDondald vs Robbie Lawler.

Rory MacDonald vs Robbie Lawler set to fight at UFC 167

Top Welterweight Contenders Meet in November

by Tommy Strong @strong_tea

Rory MacDonald will face Robbie Lawler at UFC 167 in a Welterweight bout that will take place on November 16th at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

With both fighters so close to a title fight, the winner could well see their dreams come true with a win in November.

MacDonald (15-1) who recently come through an under whelming unanimous decision win over Jake Ellenberger in July at UFC on Fox 8. Will be eager to put on more of a display over Lawler to prove he's worthy of a title shot. A win over Lawler may have to see MacDonald put his views to one side about training partner GSP in order to get the title shot. Unless of course, the heavy handed Johny Hendricks can over come the odds and snatch the belt from GSP which happens to take place on the same night.
Robbie Lawler (21-9-1,NC) had a very topsy turvy time in Strikeforce with only a 3-5 record. Though 18 of his 21 victories have come the way of knockout which will make him a very dangerous fighter for MacDonald.

Since signing for the UFC and returning back to Welterweight Lawler has knocked out Josh Koscheck and more recently Bobby Voelker earning himself a shot at MacDonald and now sitting at number 9 in the UFC welterweight official rankings.

With so much at stake, both fighters will be looking to put on an impressive fight to earn the ultimate goal..

UFC 167 will be headlined by the welterweight title fight as champion Georges St-Pierre finally meets Johny Hendricks in what could be the toughest test to his belt in recent history.