(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. Ariel Helwani reported that the World Series of Fighting has signed the controversial welterweight Rousimar Palhares (15-5) to a four fight, eighteen month contract. Despite winning his last UFC fight, Palhares was released from the organization because he injured the knee ligaments of Mike Pierce (17-6) by holding onto a heel hook submission for a disgusting period of time following the referee stoppage. UFC released Palhares because the offense was the second time that he had held onto a heel hook for too long.
Behind Ben Askren (12-0), Rousimar Palhares was the top free agent welterweight from skill level standpoint, but many believed he would have trouble finding a home outside of the UFC because of his reputation as a fighter that is a hazard for his opponents. Nevertheless, the WSOF will roll the dice on Palhares, and I can’t blame them.
When you’re the number 3 or 4 MMA promotion, taking a chance on a potential PR disaster like Palhares could pay dividends, and it’s a risk that’s worth taking. Is Palhares a superstar that’s going to dramatically affect the television ratings? Absolutely not. But fighters like that simply don’t exist for the World Series of Fighting. Rousimar Palhares is valuable because he’s considered a top welterweight and garners attention, not to mention that he’s one of the few free agent fighters that we’ve seen in recent memory coming off of a UFC win. (Original Report: http://bit.ly/1bQjZnv).
2. Speaking of World Series of Fighting signings, MMAJunkie reported that the organization has also signed light heavyweight Razak Al-Hassan (12-4), lightweight Luis Palomino, and Kelvin Tiller (6-0).
If Razak Al-Hassan’s name rings a bell, it’s probably of images of his arm being put in places it has no business being in courtesy of an armbar submission from Steve Cantwell (7-6) at the first Fight For The Troops card. Al-Hassan went on to lose his next UFC contest by split decision to Kyle Kingsbury (11-5, 1 NC) at UFC 104. Since being released by the UFC, Al-Hassan has gone 5-2 with his most recent win coming by way of submission against Tim Chemelli (10-4).
Following a submission loss to Pat Curran (19-5) at Bellator 46, Luis Palomino has won five of his next seven with notable victories over Gesias Cavalcante (18-7-1, 2 NC) and Charles Bennett (26-28-2) and losses to Efrain Escudero (21-7) and Luiz Firmino (17-6).
Kelvin Tiller is an undefeated 23 year-old middleweight prospect that has finished five of his six opponents. He’s competed three times in Bellator, beating Dan Spohn (8-3) by split decision, Jeremiah Riggs (7-8) with a kimura, and Amaechi Oselukwue (4-8) via TKO. (Original Report: http://bit.ly/1b3dMUd).
3. TheFightNation and Anton Tabueno of Bloody Elbow have reported that the UFC has signed bantamweight Leandro Issa (11-3), Dave Galera (5-0), and Royston Wee (2-0), and they will be competing on the Singapore Fight Night card on January 4th.
Brazilian bantamweight Leandro Issa (11-3) has a tremendous Brazilian Jiu Jitsu background that is highlighted by a world championship victory in the Mundials and a second degree black belt. His striking has improved thanks to training at EVOLVE MMA with muay thai experts such as Chatri and Saknarog Sityodtong. Issa is the a great addition to the UFC bantamweight roster. There aren’t too many 135 pounders who I believe are on equal footing with Issa on the ground, but his stand-up is suspect.
Dave Galera is the first Filipino fighter to be signed by the UFC. He’s trains out of Team Lakey and most recently won the URCC bantamweight championship by finishing Reydon Romero (6-4) with punches. In his fights, Galera has shown a trend of wanting to bring the fight down to the ground and control it from top position.
Galera’s opponent will be Royston Wee who, like Galera, is the first fighter from his home country to be signed by the UFC. Wee, a Singaporean, is a questionable signing on paper since he has only fought twice, and he last competed in December of 2011. But the context for Wee’s signing is that he tried out for the Chinese version of The Ultimate, and he was so impressive that he received an immediate call-up to the UFC. (Original Reports: http://bit.ly/186yLpt and http://bit.ly/1bRQLoq).
4. EVOLVE MMA gym owner Chatri Sityodtong wrote on Facebook that top featherweight Shinya Aoki (34-6, 1 NC) and Chinese lightweight Eddie Ng (7-1) received offers from the UFC, but the fighters “have both decided to stay in ONE FC due to more favorable economics.” While I’m sure we’ll eventually see Eddie Ng in the UFC, I have my doubts about Aoki. I’m sure he’s had other offers since he’s been on the radar of so many MMA fans for such a long period of time, and he must be content with making his living outside of the UFC. It’s a shame because it would be fun to see Aoki fulfill the fantasies of hardcore MMA fans by squaring off against the UFC’s finest featherweights.
5. An injury in training camp will force John Moraga (13-2) out of his flyweight fight with Darren Uyenoyama (8-4) at UFC on FOX 9. A replacement has already be announced as Uyenoyama will now fight Alptekin Ozkilic (8-1).
6. MMAFighting’s Dave Meltzer reported the Bellator averaged 691,000 viewers for the Bellator 109 broadcast on SPIKE TV on Friday, and Bloody Elbow’s Fraser Coffeen reported that Glory 12 averaged 476,000 viewers which is a vast improvement from a Glory 11 show that averaged 381,000. The Glory 12 number is promising, especially when you consider that it was going head-to-head against the undercard of the Pacquiao/Rios fight. (Original Reports: http://bit.ly/1fGRIqC and http://bit.ly/1bTd9xG).
7. California State Athletic Commission AD Andy Foster released an open letter to the media that criticized the current way fights are scored. While Foster made sure that the issue is worth discussing, his suggestion would be to decide a winner by simply asking each judge who won the fight. His proposition would still require judges to score rounds with the ten point must system, so that commissions can still monitor the thought process of judges. You can find his entire open letter here: http://bit.ly/1bUbibU
Fight Results
1. Fox Sports 1 brought us boxing goodness with a card headlined by a 45 year-old Anthony Tarver (30-6, 1 NC) returned from 1 and a half years outside of the ring and finished heavyweight Mike Sheppard (21-16-1) in the fourth round via TKO.
On the undercard, bantamweight Randy Caballero (20-0) stopped Jessy Cruz (10-5-1) in the seventh frame, light heavyweight Thomas Williams Jr. (15-0) won a unanimous decision against Yusaf Mack (31-6-2), and heavyweight Luis Ortiz (20-0, 1 NC) knocked Alex Gonzales (20-8) at 1:10 in the first period.
Fights Made
Ultimate Fight Night 33 – December 7th
Lightweight Bout
Ben Wall (7-0-1) vs Alex Garcia (10-1)
UFC on FOX 9 – December 14th
Flyweight Bout
Darren Uyenoyama (8-4) vs Alptekin Ozkilic (8-1)
Ultimate Fight Night 34 – January 4th
Bantamweight Bout
Dustin Kimura (10-1) vs Jon delos Reyes (7-2)
Lightweight Bout
Mairbek Taisumov (19-4) vs Tae Hyun Bang (16-7)
Featherweight Bout
Max Holloway (7-3) vs Will Chope (19-5)
Flyweight Bout
Royston Wee (2-0) vs Dave Galera (5-0)
Ultimate Fight Night 35
Middleweight Bout
Derek Brunson (11-2) vs Yoel Romero (6-1)
UFC on FOX 10 – January 25th
Welterweight Bout
Pascal Krauss (11-2) vs Adam Khaliev (6-0)
Ultimate Fight Night 36 – February 15th
Lightweight Bout
Joe Proctor (8-2) vs Cristiano Marcello (13-5)
Lightweight Bout
Vinc Pichel (7-1) vs Garett Whiteley (7-1)
Welterweight Bout
Nicholas Musoke (11-2, 1 NC) vs Viscardi Andrade (17-5)
MFC 39 – January 17th
Lightweight Bout
Kurt Southern (13-4) vs Tom Gallichio (17-8)
Middleweight Bout
Jason South (10-1) vs Gilbert Smith (7-2)
XFC 27 – December 13th
Featherweight Bout
Junior Assuncao (14-5) vs Daniel Swain (10-2)
Mayweather Promotions – December 6th
Middleweight Bout
J’Leon Love (15-0, 1 NC) vs Lajuan Simon (23-4-2, NC)
Super Featherweight
Mickey Bey (18-1-1) vs Carlos Cardenas (20-6-1)
Must Reads
1. Bloody Elbow’s Connor Ruebusch broke down some of the techniques showcased at UFC 167 here: http://bit.ly/1bSzICw
2. In one of my favorite pieces of the year, Jack Slack breaks down some of the aspects of Giorgio Petrosyan’s game here: http://bit.ly/1b2Lmd8
3. While we’re on the topic of Giorgio Petrosyan, liverkick.com has a niece piece up examining the idea of perfection in combat sports and digesting Petrosyan’s loss. You can read it here: http://bit.ly/1aSvGxj
That’ll do it for today’s Haymaker. Thanks for reading, and I’ll leave you with a quote from Wayne Dyer.
“Go for it now. The future is promised to no one.”
-Dan can be reached at [email protected] or @danielgal.
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