(The Daily Haymaker is a daily series that takes a look back and covers the news, fights being made, and all the other insanity revolving around combat sports. The Haymaker’s purpose is to keep you up to date with the ever changing combat sports world and also provide thought-provoking [hopefully] analysis from yours truly.)
The News
1. Thiago Tavares talked to MMAFighting’s Guilherme Cruz and informed him that he plans to drop down to the featherweight division in his next fight.
2. MMAFighting reported that the World Series of Fighting has signed Jessica Aguilar. Aguilar is the first female fighter to be signed by the promotion. She’s has amassed a 16-4 professional record with five of those wins coming in the Bellator. WSOF’s latest acquisition is a strawweight that most recently beat Megumi Fujii, one of women’s MMA true legends, for the second time at Vale Tudo Japan 3.
3. Expert face-puncher Gennady Golovkin’s next fight is scheduled to take place on February 1st. A victim [opponent] has yet to be named.
4. The fight between Nate Diaz and Gray Maynard is still scheduled for three rounds even after being moved to the main event position of The Ultimate Fighter 18 finale card. The lightweight contest was moved up to the top status after an injury to Anthony Pettis forced him out of the headliner at UFC on FOX 8, which resulted in the original main entree at the TUF 18 finale, Demetrious Johnson vs Joseph Benavidez, being moved to UFC on FOX 8.
5. Anthony Pettis’s trainer Duke Roufus talked to MMAJunkie about the lightweight champion’s injury. Roufus essentially said that Pettis suffered the knee injury in the Benson Henderson fight, and he’s been suffering from it ever since. The injury became more severe through sparring and grappling practice in camp . With the injury’s condition worsening and not healing properly, Pettis ultimately made the decision to pull out of the Thomson fight.
6. A broken rib has sidelined One FC fighter Adam Kayoom from this Friday’s card. Kayoom was scheduled to square off with Nobutatsu Suzuki in the main event of One FC 12, a main event that would crown the company’s inaugural welterweight champion. Suzuki will now face Vitor Pinto, but the fight won’t be for a championship.
7. Speaking of fights being off, Rick Glenn has been withdrawn from his featherweight championship contest against Georgi Karakhanyan at WSOF 7. Reasons for Glenn being pulled from the card are unknown. Also unknown is Karakhanyan’s new opponent.
8. When the injury bug rains, it pours. ESPN reported that an elbow injury will sideline Willie Nelson from hisDecember 7th fight against fellow middleweight boxer Matthew Macklin.
Fights Made
Glory 13 – December 21st, 2013
Hesdy Gerges (42-13-1) vs Ewerton Teixeira (11-3)
Background: Gerges is a kick-boxer that’s been on the surface of breaking through and being considered one of the top guys in the game, but he hasn’t done that yet. Recently, he’s had trouble maintaining any consistency, having lost five of his last eight [all of his losses are against highly respectable opponents]. It’s insane to think that Teixeira last fought in late 2010. Surely, he’ll have rust, but Teixeira started his career off promising having gotten into a few K-1 Grand Prix top eights.
Excitement Level: 5.5 out of 10. Sure, neither striker is known for being exciting, but this match-up intrigues me from the career path perspective for both fighters. Both kick-boxers are in desperate need of a victory, and a win could spark a big 2014.
Mosab Amrani (50-8-4) vs Yuta Kubo (40-5)
Background: Amrani is a Moroccan-Dutch kickboxer who was last seen where lost in the semifinals of Glory middleweight Grand Prix to Masaaki Noiri. Kubo like Amrani, last fight was a loss to Noiri. Prior to his loss, Kubo had compiled a seventeen fight win streak that contained a win over Masaaki Noiri to win the Glory 8 middleweight grand prix.
Excitement Level: 6 out of 10. Yuta Kubo is an enjoyable artist to watch, and Amrani presents serious challenges that’ll force Kubo to answer some of the questions presented in his last outing against Noiri.
One FC 12
Welterweight Bout
Nobutatsu Suzuki (10-1-2) vs Vitor Pinto (7-0)
Background: At the age of 36, the time is now for Suzuki to exact his potential as a fighter, and he started doing that by finishing Phil Baroni with strikes at One FC 9. Suzuki’s only loss came to Keita Nakamura in the fight before his scrap with Baroni. Pinto is a relatively unknown Portuguese athlete that has finished 57% of his opponents.
Excitement Level: 4 out of 10. I was more excited for the Kayoom/Suzuki fight, but the potential of Pinto taking advantage of a big opportunity and declaring himself as a major prospect at 170 pounds has piqued my interest.
Flyweight Bout
Adriano Moraes (9-0) vs Yusup Saadulaev (10-3-1)
Background: Adriano Moraes has a new opponent in Yusup Saadulaev. Moraes is an undefeated Brazilian prospect that was last seen finish Dileno Lopes with a body kick in the third round. Saadulaev’s claim to fame is the time he obliterated Hideo Tokoro with a suplex in Dream. Since then, Saadulaev has gone 1-2 in One FC.
Excitement Level: 4 out of 10. This fight is similar to the Suzuki/Pinto match. It’s a match that could end up being a showcase for a prospect or another win for the veteran.
Must Reads
1. Bloody Elbow’s Connor Ruebusch wrote a fantastic technical breakdown of how Rustam Khabilov landed his spinning hook kick. Check it out here: http://bit.ly/1aAI0xI
2. Mixed Martial Artist Santino DeFranco wrote a story on Fightland about the time Drew Fickett got arrested in a Dallas airport. It’s a fun read that can be found here: http://bit.ly/1aP73TN
3. Reed Kuhn put together a brilliant statistical analysis of the UFC 167 match-up between Johny Hendricks and George St. Pierre. Read it here: http://bit.ly/19e6hJr
4. Chuck Mindenhall has broken into the 1990’s with his reflection on the first twenty years in UFC history. Read his recap of 1999 here: http://bit.ly/1aABfvR
5. On CagePotato, Brian J. D’Souza takes a look at the disparity of fighter pay between boxers and mixed martial artists and and what MMA managers can learn from boxing’s history. Read the intriguing article here: http://bit.ly/1dYYnck
That’ll do it for today’s Haymaker. Thanks for reading, and I’ll leave you with a quote from Gloria Steinem.
“Without leaps of imagination, or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning.”
-Dan can be reached at [email protected] or @danielgal.
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