Fighter vs Writer: Brendan Loughnane predicts UFC 166 (The Results)

Fighter vs Writer: Brendan Loughnane predicts UFC 166 (The Results)

by Ben Heather @benheather

On Saturday night Brendan Loughnane stepped in to the hot seat to challenge Kingdom MMA in the latest Fighter vs Writer feature.

This week we put forward the one and only, the MMA Ranter himself Tommy Strong. Tommy certainly had his work cut out for him this week facing a very talented competitor but we hoped he could get the win for Kingdom MMA.
Below you will be able to see the results as the fights happened. It was a closely contested battle and Brendan certainly proved he isn't just a good fighter but also great at predicting the fights too and he was a respectable opponent for Tommy.

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.

UFC 166 Results

John Dodson Def. Darrell Montague by KO RD1

• Brendan Loughnane: Dodson by Decision - Score 1
• Tommy Strong: Dodson by TKO Rd 2 - Score 2

Score after the 1st fight: Brendan Loughnane - 1 Tommy Strong - 2

Gabriel Gonzaga Def. Shawn Jordan by TKO RD1

• Brendan Loughnane: Gonzaga by TKO Rd 1 - Score 3
• Tommy Strong: Jordan by TKO Rd 1 - Score 0

Score after the 2nd fight: Brendan Loughnane - 4 Tommy Strong - 2

Gilbert Melendez Def. Diego Sanchez by Unanimous Decision

• Brendan Loughnane: Melendez by TKO Rd 3 - Score 1
• Tommy Strong: Melendez by Unanimous Decision - Score 2

Score after the 3rd fight: Brendan Loughnane - 5 Tommy Strong - 4

Daniel Cormier Def. Roy Nelson by Unanimous Decision

• Brendan Loughnane: Cormier by Unanimous Decision - Score 2
• Tommy Strong: Cormier by Unanimous Decision - Score 2

Score after the 4th fight: Brendan Loughnane - 7 Tommy Strong - 6

Cain Velasquez Def. Junior Dos Santos by TKO RD5

• Brendan Loughnane: Velasquez by TKO Rd 5 - Score 2
• Tommy Strong: Velasquez by Unanimous Decision - Score 1

FINAL SCORE BRENDAN LOUGHNANE - 9 TOMMY STRONG - 7

Kingdom MMA would like to thank Brendan Loughnane once again for his participation in Fighter vs Writer even if he has become only the second fighter to beat one of our writers. All I can say is the best man won and it's going to be a long time before we put Tommy up to represent the site again.

Brendan proved what many people have been saying for a long time, Tommy is all talk!!

UFC finally sign another flyweight

Montague gets a tough debut at UFC 166

by Jack Broadey @J3cK_b

On October 16th, Darrell Montague will step foot in to the UFC's octagon to make his debut against John Dodson. There are plenty of very good flyweight fighters around and the UFC Flyweight division is very shallow. It should therefore come as no surprise the UFC have added Darrell Montague to its ranks.

Montague has long been rumoured to be in the UFC crosshairs and they've finally got there man. He brings a credible 13-2 record into the Octagon. In 2011 he defeated former UFC fighter Ulysez Gomez for the Tachi Palace flyweight title. He was defeated by current contender Ian "uncle creepy" McCall. He has since gone on a 4 fight winning streak.

His debut will be as tough as they come as he takes on former title challenger John Dodson. Dodson gave champion Demetrius Johnson everything he could handle but ultimately came up just short. He will be looking to bounce right back into title contention with a win here and in the process knock back another potential challenger. 

UFC 166 Fight Card Grows By The Hour

Boetsch vs Rockhold and Gonzaga vs Jordan added to UFC 166

by John Haigh @JohnBJayHaigh

The UFC 166 fight card booked for October 19th in Houston Texas is growing fast with two new fights added to the card.
First is a heavyweight bout between Gabriel Gonzaga and Shawn Jordan. Gonzaga (15-7) is in his second UFC tour, having won three of the four bouts since returning to the promotion at UFC 142 in January last year.
Shawn Jordan (15-4) is also on a run of a 3-1 in the Octagon, his last fight was a win over Pat Barry at UFC 161. Both fighters will be looking to make an impression on the already stacked Heavyweight division knowing that a win here could pit them against the elite of the division next time out.
Also added to the Houston fight card is Luke Rockhold vs. Tim Boetsch. Rockhold (12-2) is former Strikeforce Middleweight Champion and made the move to the UFC in January when Strikeforce closed its doors. He was welcomed to the octagon by Vitor Belfort on May 18, 2013 in the main event at UFC on FX 8. He lost the fight via a brutal spinning headkick knockout in the first round, after being caught with a spinning heel kick to the face.

Tim Boestsch (16-6) comes in to this fight having lost his last two fights, before that he had been on a four fight win streak. His most recent loss was to the returning Mark Munoz at UFC 162 in July.

Both fighters could be fighting for their jobs given that there are still too many fighters on the UFC’s books so will be looking to put on the performance we all know they can and have in the past.
UFC 166 is headlined by the trilogy fight between Cain Velasquez and Junior Dos Santos.

Roy Nelson re-signs with the UFC, fights Cormier at UFC 166

Big country pens new 9 fight deal, plans to retire with the UFC

by John Haigh @JohnBJayHaigh

UFC heavyweight Roy "Big Country" Nelson's new UFC contract is a nine fight deal, according to what Nelson told Ariel Helwani on Tuesday. The new deal was announced on UFC Tonight, as well as the first fight of the deal with Nelson (19-8) squaring off against Daniel Cormier (12-0). The fight will be the co main event on October 19th at UFC 166 in Houston Texas, underneath the Velasquez vs. Junior Dos Santos rematch

Nelson now 37, said that he is relatively happy with the new deal, using the term relative saying he didn't get everything he wanted. But he said he expects to finish his career in the UFC and wants to fight for another five years.

Nelson was on a three fight win streak, all via knockout in less than three minutes off fighting over Dave Herman, Matt Mitrione and Cheick Kongo going into UFC 161 in Winnipeg. The streak had gained him the most popularity of his nine year career. But he couldn't match the speed, stamina, wrestling ability and footwork of Stipe Miocic in his last fight scoring a unanimous decision loss on June 15th.

Getting Cormier as an opponent, largely based on Nelson goading the former Strikeforce heavyweight Grand Prix winner, is the kind of match up somewhat unusual after such a decisive loss to a lower ranked opponent.

A win over Cormier would reverse all the damage of the Miocic loss and put Nelson back into contention in the UFC heavyweight division. It would also derail all the talk regarding Cormier dropping down to Light Heavyweight and getting an immediate title shot against the winner of the Jon Jones vs Alexander Gustafsson.

UFC announces more fights for UFC 166 and Fight Night 27

Latest fight announcements for UFC 166 and UFC Fight Night 27

by Jack Broadey @J3cK_b

Mike Rio vs Tony Ferguson has been added to UFC 166. Both men are in desperate need of a return to the win column. The TUF 13 winner Ferguson is coming off a loss to Michael Johnson and has taken time off to prepare for this fight.

Rio who is also a TUF veteran is coming off a big submission loss to Francisco Trinaldo.

It is certainly a fight both men can not afford to lose, I just hope they turn up to fight and not try and play it safe to get the win.

As well as that fight Jason High v James Head has also been added to UFC Fight Night-Condit v Kampmann 2. The bout fills up the nights card and the event is now complete. Head was originally scheduled to face Bobby Voelker but he was pulled to face Robbie Lawler for the upcoming card this week.

Both men are coming off losses. Jason High lost his UFC debit to Erik Silva at UFC on fuel 10. He had a  7 fight win streak snapped with that loss. Head meanwhile suffered a KO loss to Mike Pyle last December so is also returning from a little bit of a layoff.

UFC 166 Adds Lightweight Battle

Diego Sanchez vs. Gilbert Melendez Added to UFC 166 Fight Card

by John Haigh @JohnBJayHaigh

UFC officials on Thursday added a lightweight bout between the inaugural The Ultimate Fighter winner Diego Sanchez and former Strikeforce champion Gilbert Melendez to the 19th October UFC 166 fight card set for the Toyota Center in Houston Texas.

Since his split decision victory over Takanori Gomi in March, Sanchez (24-5) has been lobbying for a fight with Nate Diaz, Josh Thomson, or Melendez.

His win over Gomi was Sanchez' first fight back at lightweight since going (2-2) in his stint at welterweight, with a victory over Melendez and his win over Gomi they would go a long way towards moving Sanchez back towards title contention in the lightweight division. Sanchez previously failed in his only UFC title shot against then lightweight champion BJ Penn at UFC 107 in late 2009.

Melendez (21-3) made his UFC debut against lightweight champion Benson Henderson at UFC on Fox 7 in April, but fell short, losing a split decision. Now, like Sanchez, he is looking for the quickest route back to No 1 contender spot.

Melendez said in May that he was willing to fight anybody on the roster, as long as he wasn’t going back to ground zero. He wants to fight someone that will propel him back to a fight against whomever holds the belt.

“There’s a lot of good guys. Whoever is hot right now,” said Melendez. “Whoever is the hot dude who is closest to getting that title shot, I’ll take it.”

Announcing Sanchez vs. Melendez, UFC officials also confirmed the previously reported welterweight bout between Nate Marquardt and Hector Lombard for UFC 166.
The event is to be headlined by the rematch between UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos.

Nate Marquardt vs Hector Lombard announced for UFC 166

UFC 166 adds Marquardt vs Lombard

by Tommy Strong @Strong_tea

Former Bellator middleweight champion Hector Lombard will be facing another former champion Nate Marquardt, who was once the Strikeforce Welterweight champion.
The two will clash at UFC 166 which will see Hector Lombard make his Welterweight debut after a rocky start to his UFC career at middleweight losing two of his three fights since joining the organisation. When he first signed for the UFC there was even talk of a fight against Anderson Silva but his record soon stopped that talk. The fight will take place on October 19th in Houston Texas.

Lombard (32-4-1) joined the UFC on very lucrative deal from Bellator and to date the UFC haven't seen much value for their money. Losing his debut fight to Tim Boetsch in what could only be described as an awful performance. He looked slightly more impressive in his second fight which saw him knocking out Rousimar Palhares inside the first round.
Thinking Lombard would build on this win, he done quite the opposite when he fought Yushin Okami back in March, where he was defeated via split decision.

Nate "Not So Great" Marquardt (32-4-1) made fans stand up and be noticed when he dropped to Welterweight to compete for the vacant Strikeforce belt. In doing so, he knocked out Tyron Woodley in the 4th round to become the new Strikeforce champion. Only for him to lose the belt 6 months later when he fought Tarec Saffiedine on the very last Strikeforce show via a unanimous decision.
More recently on his return to the UFC in March he faced Jake Ellenberger and lost in devastating fashion being knocked out inside the 1st round.

With both fighters having a lot to prove and potentially a loss could see get cut we could be in for a very entertaining fight!

UFC 166 main event will see the trilogy fight between current Heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez and Former UFC heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos. Also the UFC have added a lightweight bout between Gilbert Melendez vs Diego Sanchez.