Cage Pages - A MMA blog for diehard MMA fans

UFC welterweight contender Josh Koscheck was demolished by current champion Georges St-Pierre in the main event of UFC 124 this past weekend. In the first round of the bout, Koscheck suffered a fractured orbital. The trash-talking villian did  not hesitate to show off his heart as he went all five rounds with GSP.

It is now 24-hours following the dominating performance by GSP, and Josh Koscheck posted a picture of his damaged eye.

Jim Miller seen unwinding with a cigar

Going into his fight with relative UFC neophyte Charles Oliveira, Jim Miller held an Octagon record of 7-1 with the only loss coming via a Gray Maynard decision special. His only other career loss came at the hands of Frankie Edgar. He was on a five fight win streak over decent competition coming into the fight. All of that, and yet he was a betting underdog to the guy that beat Efrain Escudero. Mark Bocek’s resume may be slightly less impressive, but its not too shabby at all. 8-3 with two of those losses coming from Miller and Edgar on Bocek’s octagon debut. He got picked apart by Danzig back when we still thought Danzig was going to go on a rampage. He hasn’t beaten great names, but I’ve always been impressed by his ground work. Before his loss to Miller he’d landed four straight rear naked chokes. And somehow Dustin Hazelett was a huge betting favorite going into the fight.

These aren’t just the two most slept on lightweights, these are the two most slept on fighters in the UFC. They just can’t get no respect.

Jim Miller’s critics are already arguing that he doesn’t deserve a title shot until he beats some top ten competition. I don’t disagree with that argument. Wins over Tibau and Duane Ludwig aren’t going to get you to the big stage. But its kind of hard for Miller to beat some top ten competition when Joe Silva seems to absolutely refuse to give Miller a fight worth his time. What kind of top ten fighter on a five fight win streak gets matched up against a 21 year old prospect making his PPV debut?

Continue reading this post »

UFC 124 takes place tonight at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The night features a main event of welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre and UFC bad boy Josh Koscheck. The two have a heated rivalry that reached new heights when they faced off as coaches on the latest season of The Ultimate Fighter.

The pay-per view card is filled with fights that promise to bring some great action. John Howard and Thiago Alves will meet in the octagon in a bout that is sure to provide fireworks. The two fighters have engaged in some trash talk leading up to the bout and someone is sure to get knocked out.

In another bout that has been filled with pre-fight verbal jabs, the UG’s hero Sean McCorkle takes on the 6-foot-11 Stefan Struve. Also on the bout are two lightweight showdowns between Jim Miller and Charles Oliveira, as well as Ultimate Fighter winners Mac Danzig and Joe Stevenson.

Continue reading this post »

For the first time ever, UFC president Dana White released the opening video for a pay-per view prior to the event. Here it is:

Main Card
Georges St-Pierre (170) vs Josh Koscheck (169)
Stefan Struve (253) vs Sean McCorkle (264)
Joe Stevenson (155.5) vs Mac Danzig (156)
Thiago Alves (171) vs John Howard (171)
Charles Oliveira (153.5) vs Jim Miller (155)

Preliminary Card
Joe Doerksen (185.5) vs Dan Miller (184.5)
Mark Bocek (155.5) vs Dustin Hazelett (155)
Rafael Natal (185) vs Jesse Bongfeldt (185.5)
Sean Pierson (170.5) vs Matt Riddle (170.5)
Ricardo Almeida (170.5) vs TJ Grant (170)
John Makdessi (155) vs Pat Audinwood (156)

ESPN loves them some Georges St Pierre, and so do I. Its great to see Georges get this kind of push from mainstream media, especially when it is hilarious.

UFC president Dana White takes us behind the scenes for his first UFC 124 vlog. UFC 124 is headlined by a welterweight title fight between champion Georges St-Pierre and Josh Koscheck in Montreal, Canada.

One of the more interesting parts of the vlog is seeing Dana White with Nam Phan backstage after the robbery of a decision in his bout with Leonard Garcia. It was then that Dana told Phan he would be receiving his win bonus.

“UFC Fight Night 23: UFC Fight for the Troops 2″ took a big hit today when headliner Kenny Florian was forced to withdraw from his highly anticipated bout against Evan Dunham that was set to headline the January 22nd card. Sources to MMAjunkie.com that Florian received an undisclosed injury during his training for the upcoming bout.

With Florian vs. Dunham now off of the card, there is no bout currently on the card that would excite fans as a headliner. One idea would be to promote the UFC 125 main card bout between Clay Guida and Takanori Gomi to the UFC Fight Night 23 main event. Guida-Gomi could be replaced on the UFC 125 by promoting Marcus Davis vs. Jeremy Stephens on the undercard.

We will have to wait and see what the UFC has in store to save the event because as it stands right now, no one will be excited about a Tim Hague vs. Matt Mitrione main event.

[UPDATE:

Heavy.com is reporting that Melvin Guillard has been tapped as a replacement for Florian and will face Evan Dunham in the night’s main event instead. Guillard was originally set to face former training partner Yves Edwards on the same card on the “Fight for the Troops” show.

MMAWeekly.com has yet to receive official confirmation that Guillard has indeed been pulled for the fight, but his current opponent Yves Edwards stated when reached for comment that he had not been notified of any change yet by the UFC.]

The UFC and WEC have previously invaded Columbus, Ohio from 2007-2010 to take advantage of the crowd brought into the city for the Arnold’s Classic. Zuffa has decided to abandon the spot this year to focus on worldwide expansion, but there could still be some MMA on display for the fans who attend the festival.

Strikeforce president Scott Coker said that his organization is a prime candidate to put on a show in March during the Arnold’s weekend.

“We’re in talks with the (Arnold) organizations,” said Coker,. “We think it could be a good fit for us I’d say it’s much better than (50/50) — much better. It’d be a big event, for sure. We’re working on it.”

During the weekend Coker said that light-heavyweight Dan Henderson will get a title shot against current Strikeforce champion Rafael “Feijao.” Perhaps the Arnold’s weekend could be the date that Hendo gets his shot at Strikeforce gold.

Some good news has come out of the criminal robbery of Nam Phan thanks to the judges at The Ultimate Fighter finale this weekend. Cindy O on The UG has stated that UFC president Dana White — who believed Nam Phan won the fight like every educated mixed martial arts fan — paid Nam Phan his win bonus for the night.

It is a great gesture from White and shows that while he may be a bit brash at times, he does take good care of his fighters and gives them the bonuses that they deserve.

Nam Phan confirmed the news to Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour today.

“Dana white came by backstage and told me, ‘You’re getting your win bonus because you won that fight,’ ” Phan said. “I thought business is business, and I just thought if I lost, I lost, and I would only get my base pay. That’s how it usually goes. But the UFC – Dana White takes care of the fighters. I really appreciate that.”