‘UFC on FX 4: Maynard vs. Guida’ event review
The first of a UFC double-header is in the bag, and ‘UFC on FX 4: Maynard vs. Guida’ provided us with some interesting talking points as new contenders broke away from the pack in Atlantic City, New Jersey last night. MMABay rounds up the night’s action on FX and takes a look at what’s next for the winners and losers, after the jump…
Maynard wins over the judges with aggression, takes nip-tuck decision over Guida
In the main event, former lightweight title contender, Gray Maynard, faced a frustrating incarnation of Clay ‘The Carpenter’ Guida and after five close and often baffling rounds, it was Maynard whose aggression won over the judges.
From the off, Guida circled and danced around ‘The Bully’, cutting him on the nose in round one but doing little real damage as Maynard stalked down the smaller lightweight and tried to cut off the cage. Maynard was visibly frustrated by round three, as all three frames had followed the same blueprint and Guida was proving too elusive for the former NCAA division one wrestler.
The crowd were growing tired of Guida’s movement and so was Maynard, in round four he came forward taunting while eating punches and after sprawling on a takedown attempt, he briefly threatened with a guillotine that Guida was able to slam his way free from.
In the final round, the crowd erupted when Dan Miragliotta eventually deducted a point from Guida for refusing to engage and Maynard continued to stalk his man down. With five rounds in the books, Maynard took the split decision, seemingly based on aggression alone.
Next for Maynard: ‘The Bully’ didn’t look amazing, but had few chances to shine against a rather timid Guida. Maynard, now training at AKA, nudges his way back into the title picture but he’ll need another signature win before getting a third shot at the gold – he’d be a great opponent for Diego Sanchez, who is planning to return to 155lbs before the year is out.
Next for Guida: ‘The Carpenter’ usually excites the crowd but last night was an exception and Guida falls to back to back losses. The Chicago native is getting no younger but still has gas in the tank – a run at featherweight would be interesting for Guida but should he stick at 155lbs, Jim Miller would make for good viewing.
Stout draws line under trilogy with Fisher, sends ‘The King’ out to pasture
The third and final meeting between lightweight sluggers, Sam Stout and Spencer Fisher, may have lacked the electrifying pace of the first two bouts but a fairly entertaining back-and-forth contest won ‘Fight of the Night’ honours nonetheless. After three close rounds, it was the Canadian, Stout, who got the nod and possibly sent Fisher into the retirement home.
Fisher was game, but despite landing better shots in round one he couldn’t hurt ‘Hands of Stone’ who came on stronger as things progressed. Stout mixed in a few takedowns, none particularly effective or clean, but they were enough to impress the judges and after fifteen minutes all three of them swung in Stout’s favour, handing him the unanimous decision.
Next for Stout: The Ontario native bounces back from defeat last time out and picks up a handy, if predictable, victory over an old rival to set him back on track. ‘Hands of Stone’ could tangle with lanky New Mexican banger, Tim Means, or the winner of UFC 148′s meeting between Melvin Guillard and Fabricio Camoes.
Next for Fisher: ‘The King’ has lost three on the trot and even if he holds off retirement for now, he’s entered the Octagon for the final time. Good luck to Fisher, who’s put on some cracking scraps over the years, but the time is right for the striker to hang ‘em up.
Ebersole forced to dig deep, ekes out decision over dangerous Waldburger
An entertaining welterweight fight on the main card saw seasoned veteran, Brian Ebersole, have to showcase his incredible submission defence as plucky underdog, T.J Waldburger, gave a fine account of himself in Atlantic City.
The Texan immediately dropped Ebersole with a short left hand then dived in with a beautiful brabo choke but ‘Bad Boy’ again proved impossible to tap out. Nonetheless, another nice right from the youngster got Ebersole’s attention and the veteran went to his corner a round down on the scorecards.
A great second round saw Waldburger get a takedown and then throw submission after submission off his back, but Ebersole kept calm and defended them all, landing some heavy ground and pound to possibly take the round, but it was close. ‘Bad Boy’ repeated the feat in the final frame, defending a triangle attempt andlanding enough from the top to take the 29-28 unanimous decision.
Next for Ebersole: Now 4-0 in the UFC, ‘Bad Boy’ was given a run for his money last night but with a win, he’s primed for a big fight. Surging prospect, Erick Silva, could be next or perhaps the winner of the UFC 148 fight between BJJ wizard, Demian Maia and Dong Hyun Kim.
Next for Waldburger: The 24-year old has nothing to worry about – he’s proven he can hang with the big dogs and look good doing so. Expect the talented grappler to get a tune-up fight next, possibly a wrestler like TUF veteran, Justin Edwards.
Swanson shocks Pearson, knocks out Brit in stunning fashion
‘Knockout of the Night’ was awarded to Jackson’s MMA featherweight, Cub Swanson, who kicked off the main card in style by flattening TUF season nine winner, Ross ‘The Real Deal’ Pearson to shoot up the rankings.
Swanson looked the quicker man from the start and after regaining his footing following a big takedown by the Brit, he dropped him briefly with a right hand but ended the round on the bottom. However, the Californian came out throwing flashy strikes in round two, defending chained takedown attempts from the much bigger Pearson.
Pearson caught a kick, but as he came forward, two short right hands and then a flush left hook by Swanson sent the Brit hurtling into the cage and onto his back, where Swanson forced a stoppage with a few more punches,ending the fight at 4:14 of the second round.
Next for Swanson: The former WEC standout has earned a bigger test and is now 2-1 in the UFC with two amazing finishes to his name. The Jackson’s MMA featherweight could meet in-form TUF veteran, Steven Siler, in the summer months.
Next for Pearson: The Brit perhaps shouldn’t have bothered cutting to 145lbs, as he’s looked big but slower than his competition. If Pearson decides to stick around at featherweight, he could face Venezuelan slugger, Maximo Blanco.
Preliminary card round-up
A worthy headlining fight for the undercard saw Japanese featherweight contender, Hatsu Hioki, upset by Chicago’s Ricardo Lamas in a fun three-round battle. Hioki started well but spent much of the fight defending submission attempts from ‘The Bully’ who showed another side to his game and also outlasted Hioki in the cardio department – taking the impressive unanimous decision.
Next for Lamas: The strong wrestler has shown great striking and now solid BJJ skills in a 3-0 UFC run, so it’s time for Lamas to get his face on the main card, where he could face surging Brazilian youngster, Charles Oliveira.
Next for Hioki: Now 2-1, Hioki won’t fall too far down the pecking order and the submission wizard could meet the winner of August’s fight between Michihiro Omigawa and Manny Gamburyan.
Lightweight prospects locked horns on the FUEL TV prelims as TUF season thirteen finalist, Ramsey Nijem, picked up a second straight victory with a dominant stoppage of newcomer, C.J Keith. It was Keith who briefly secured mount early on but Nijem quickly recovered and mounted himself, unloading with rights and lefts as Keith floundered on his side, prompting a premature stoppage at 2:29 of the very first round, but an inevitable one as Keith was not defending.
Next for Nijem: The Utah native moves to 6-2 and looked impressive last night, and The Pit lightweight will probably face a recent TUF graduate such as Myles Jury later in the year.
Next for Keith: The Californian falls to 8-1 and was fined for missing weight, but Keith will get a final chance to impress on the prelims of a FUEL TV or FX card in the months to come, perhaps facing recent TUFcontestant, Mike Rio.
In welterweight action, down-at-heel contender, Rick Story, got back to winning ways by outworking UFC newcomer, Brock Jardine. ‘The Horror’ won the striking battle and hit a few takedowns, both defending and attempting submissions as Jardine gave a solid account of himself and kept busy until the end. Story took the clean-sweep on the scorecards, breaking a bad run.
Next for Story: Story and former training partner, Mike Pierce, were recently trading barbed words and now is the perfect time for the two heavy-handed wrestlers to bury the hatchet.
Next for Jardine: ‘The Machine’ falls to 9-2, but looked UFC standard and will trouble some of the lesser welterweights on the roster. An undercard fight with Mark Scanlon would separate the prospects from the also-rans.
A thrilling featherweight clash saw TUF season fourteen’s Steven Siler move to 3-0 inside the Octagon by demolishing unbeaten debutant, Joey Gambino. Siler immediately opened up a vertical, deep gash on the forehead of Gambino with a well-placed knee, and despite being dropped momentarily by a bloodsoaked Gambino, he took down ‘The Raging Warrior’ and went to town. Siler mounted, took the back, dropped ground and pound and eventually sunk in a guillotine choke from the bottom, forcing a drenched Gambino to tap early in the very first round.
Next for Siler: ‘Super’ Steven Siler looked immense last night and continues to improve; he deserves a bigger name next time, possibly Jackson’s MMA banger, Cub Swanson.
Next for Gambino: The New Yorker was handed a brutal reality check, falling to 9-1 and losing his perfect record. ‘The Raging Warrior’ might be fighting for his job next time out, either against a newcomer or gritty all-rounder, Daniel Pineda.
Middleweight prospects, Nick Catone and Chris Camozzi, put on a fairly good show on the undercard as New Jersey’s Catone started well, ending round one with a takedown and some work from guard, with the second round following a similar pattern. But Camozzi, whose striking was starting to take its toll on ‘The Jersey Devil’, opened up a nasty gash on Catone’s eye and after a quick check, the doctor advised the fight be ended, handing ‘Kamikaze’ the TKO stoppage at 1:51 of the final round.
Next for Camozzi: The Colorado native finally secures back to back UFC wins, moving to 16-5 and setting himself up for a potentially televised fight later this year, against either Tom Lawlor or Buddy Roberts.
Next for Catone: The former NCAA wrestler has suffered some terrible injury problems since joining the big leagues and sees a decent run of form halted. Catone should get one more shot, probably facing the loser of July’s fight between Rafael Natal and Andrew Craig.
Gritty welterweight slugger, Matt Brown, notched up a third straight UFC victory after accepting a fight with Brazilian Luis Ramos at short notice, but it took ‘The Immortal’ some time to warm up. A sluggish first round was erased when Brown began hammering home knees and elbows from the clinch, sending a rocked ‘Beicao’ flopping to the deck. Brown eventually caged Ramos and let the short shots fly, getting the standing stoppage at 4:20 of the second round.
Next for Brown: ‘The Immortal’ is beginning to find his feet and with better grappling Brown could be a threat to many a welterweight up-and-comer. British prospect, John Hathaway, could be next for the aggressive brawler.
Next for Ramos: ‘Beicao’ falls to 0-2 in the promotion, being stopped twice and that should be the last we see of the Brazilian veteran.
New Jersey’s own Dan Miller made a successful debut at 170lbs, submitting Brazilian welterweight, Ricardo Funch. Miller constantly fished for his trademark guillotine choke, and after defending ably for two and a bit rounds, Funch succumbed at 3:12 of the third, handing Miller an impressive first win at his new weight-class.
Next for Miller: The grappler could be a solid addition to the welterweight division and will only improve as he gets used to the cut. Matt Riddle would make for a nice step-up in competition.
Next for Funch: ‘Golden Boy’ falls to 8-4 and with a paltry 0-4 UFC, its safe to say we’ll see Funch sent back to the little leagues in the weeks ahead.
Kicking off the prelims on Facebook were bantamweight hopefuls, Dustin Pague and Ken Stone, who hardly lit a fire under the early arrivals in the crowd as they put on a stop-start striking battle, punctuated with the odd failed takedown attempt. Stone did enough to warrant a split decision, but it could really have gone either way.
Next for Stone: The American Top Team prospect climbs to 11-3 and moves to 2-1 in the UFC, meaning he should get a bump in competition. A scrap with Mexican livewire, Erik Perez, would be entertaining and could produce a new contender to keep tabs on.
Next for Pague: Now 11-6, Pague shouldnt have accepted two fights in as many weeks in hindsight but ‘The Disciple’ will be given a chance of redemption against a bottom-dwelling bantamweight such as Byron Bloodworth.
That’s ‘UFC on FX 4′ wrapped up, now a few hours to wait until ‘UFC 147: Silva vs. Franklin II’ lands on our screens. You can watch the preliminary card action live on UFC.tv before switching to ESPN UK at 3am for the main card live from Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
By Steve Davies
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