Tag: UFC Fight Night 233

Michael Bisping brutally honest with Anthony Smith on facing Khalil Rountree on short notice: ‘You gained nothing’

Michael Bisping didn’t hold back when advising his good friend Anthony Smith on how to handle his career.

[autotag]Michael Bisping[/autotag] didn’t hold back when advising his good friend [autotag]Anthony Smith[/autotag] on how to handle his career.

Smith (37-19 MMA, 12-9 UFC) stepped in on two weeks’ notice to face Khalil Rountree (13-5 MMA, 9-5 UFC) in the UFC Fight Night 233 co-main event this past December. He was stopped by third-round TKO.

Bisping can’t understand why Smith opted to take the fight. He saw it as a high risk, low reward move.

“I’m happy to hear that you still want to fight, but if you want to fight, you’ve got to be a little more meticulous about it, if you don’t mind me saying,” Bisping said on his “Believe You Me” podcast. “I’ll be honest: I said it when we watched the fight on the live (broadcast), and I didn’t want to go into it because it’s like I was betraying you or whatever. I hated it. I was on a walk – I think it was Thanksgiving day when I got the message – and I found out you were fighting. I hated it.

“I f*cking hated it. I didn’t understand it. You’re a fighter, 100 percent, and you’ve got balls of steel. You’re like, ‘F*ck it, let’s go. I can do this.’ I think with the trend lately of people stepping up on short notice, Tom Aspinall going out there and doing it, and Volkanovski stepping up. All right, he lost. But it’s been kind of a thing, people stepping up on short notice. You only really do that when there’s something worth risking it for. I did it, but that was a title fight. I didn’t understand it because you gained nothing from that.”

Smith admitted that his ego got in the way, and his pride wasn’t going to let him turn down the opportunity. “Lionheart” was criticized in the past by Daniel Cormier for not taking the disqualification win in his title fight vs. Jon Jones when he was illegally kneed in the head.

Moving forward, Bisping urged Smith to be more mindful of his decisions.

“You’ve just got to be more professional with it, as you say, in between camps with your weight and stuff like that leading up to fights and just making the correct choices,” Bisping said. “I would love to see you fight on a full camp against Khalil – and we can’t take away from Khalil’s performance. He did tremendous. But the purpose of a fight camp is not only to get you in shape, it’s to get you mentally ready, as well.”

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Anthony Smith knew fighting Khalil Rountree on short notice was an ‘uphill battle’: ‘It was shocking how fast he is’

Anthony Smith was fully aware that facing Khalil Rountree on short notice wasn’t ideal.

[autotag]Anthony Smith[/autotag] was fully aware that facing [autotag]Khalil Rountree[/autotag] on short notice wasn’t ideal.

Smith (37-19 MMA, 12-9 UFC) replaced Azamat Murzakanov on two weeks’ notice against Rountree (13-5 MMA, 9-5 UFC) in the UFC Fight Night 233 co-main event. He was stopped by TKO less than a minute into Round 3.

“Lionheart” took a risk fighting a dangerous, lower-ranked opponent on short notice, but he knew that going in.

“I knew I was in an uphill battle,” Smith said on the “Believe You Me” podcast. “I knew the position I put myself in was not going to benefit me. I knew that I would kind of put myself behind the gun, and I was fine with that. I knew exactly what I was getting myself into, and I knew what I was up against. I had quite a bit of weight to cut. That was the bigger issue.”

Other than the weight cut, Smith explains that he had issues seeing the left hand in practice, which ended up being a problem for him in the fight.

“He was just way faster than I had anticipated,” Smith said. “I knew he was going to be fast. It was shocking how fast he is, how he goes from 0-100 so fast. I struggled with the speed in the fight, and I didn’t really have any other options.

“I wasn’t seeing the left hand. He was faster than I was, and he was faster than I prepared for. Some of that is I wasn’t in fight shape. I was seeing things, but my body just wasn’t reacting fast enough because I haven’t been in camp, and that’s no excuse. That’s my fault. I put myself in that position. I knew it was a possibility.”

Although Smith was on a two-fight winning streak prior to the loss, he admits self-doubt started creeping in after getting stopped by Rountree. However, the former title challenger has no intentions of walking away.

“I still want to fight,” Smith said. “I’m not going anywhere. It’s probably the worst loss I’ve ever taken. If I had more time, or I was in better shape, or I had a whole training camp, or a lot of things are different, I think the whole thing looks different. I don’t think I aged overnight. I think I put myself in a tough spot.”

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MMA Junkie’s Submission of the Month for December: Sean Brady mauls Kelvin Gastelum

With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie looks at the best submissions from December 2023.

With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie looks at the best submissions from December 2023: Here are the five nominees, listed in chronological order, and winner of MMA Junkie’s Submission of the Month award for December.

At the bottom of the post, let us know if we got it right by voting for your choice.

Nominees

USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie rankings, Dec. 12: Song Yadong, Khalil Rountree move upward

Check out the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie rankings following UFC Fight Night 233 in Las Vegas.

The UFC’s penultimate event of 2023 in Las Vegas produced a few moves in this week’s rankings update.

UFC Fight Night 233 took place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, and was headlined by a bantamweight bout between [autotag]Song Yadong[/autotag] and Chris Gutierrez.

Song, who entered the week at No. 9 in the USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie bantamweight rankings, soundly defeated Gutierrez by unanimous decision. As a result, Song’s performance was strong enough to climb one spot in this week’s update, settling in at No. 8 behind former champion Petr Yan.

Also making waves at the event was light heavyweight [autotag]Khalil Rountree[/autotag] in a bout against short-notice opponent Anthony Smith. Rountree badly rocked and dropped the former title challenger in Round 3, leading to a walk-off TKO stoppage. Rountree entered the week at No. 12, but climbed up one spot for the easy swap with Smith, who held No. 11.

Check out all the latest pound-for-pound and divisional USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie rankings above.

Talita Alencar: ‘There’s no way’ judges were going to crown Rayanne Amanda winner at UFC Fight Night 233

Talita Alencar is confident she did enough to beat Rayanne Amanda at UFC Fight Night 233.

LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Talita Alencar[/autotag] spoke to the media after UFC Fight Night 233 at Saturday’s post-fight news conference.

Alencar (5-0-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC) answered questions from MMA Junkie and other media members after her split decision win over Rayanne Amanda. Alencar discussed how she was sure judges were going to award her the fight, inflicting more damage, and wanting to make noise in the strawweight division.

UFC Fight Night 233 took place Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The card streamed on ESPN+.

Watch the video of Alencar’s complete post-fight media availability above.

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 233.

UFC Fight Night 233 winner Tatsuro Taira surprised by first octagon KO, eyes Muhammad Mokaev next

Tatsuro Taira explains why he called out Muhammad Mokaev at UFC Fight Night 233.

LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Tatsuro Taira[/autotag] spoke to the media after UFC Fight Night 233 at Saturday’s post-fight news conference.

Taira (15-0 MMA, 5-0 UFC) answered questions from MMA Junkie and other media members after his second-round TKO of Carlos Hernandez. Japan’s Taira discussed being surprised by his first UFC knockout, his callout of [autotag]Muhammad Mokaev[/autotag], and being open to David Dvorak.

UFC Fight Night 233 took place Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The card streamed on ESPN+.

Watch the video of Taira’s complete post-fight media availability above.

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 233.

MMA Junkie Radio #3420: UFC Fight Night 233 reaction, guest Sam Alvey, more

Check out the latest episode of MMA Junkie Radio with “Gorgeous” George and “Goze.”

Monday’s edition of MMA Junkie Radio with “Gorgeous” George and “Goze” is here.

On Episode 3,420, the dudes welcome guest Sam Alvey before the former UFC fighter makes his Karate Combat debut Friday in Las Vegas. The guys also recap the action from UFC Fight Night 233 and dive into some of the storylines heading into UFC 296 fight week. Tune in!

Steve Garcia crosses fingers for Nate Landwehr as next UFC challenge: ‘The kid is a stud’

It wasn’t really a callout, rather more of respectful suggestion – but Steve Garcia knows who he wants to fight next.

LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Steve Garcia[/autotag]’s win Saturday was a gory comeback that ended violently with opponent Melquizael Costa attempting a takedown on referee Chris Tognoni.

With a highlight comes attention. Garcia (15-5 MMA, 4-2 UFC) thinks his victory at UFC Fight Night 233 showed the masses who he truly is. He hopes his name will be circled on their mental bout sheets from here on out, if it wasn’t already.

“I want to be the guy they tune into when I’m on that stage,” Garcia told MMA Junkie and other reporters at a post-fight news conference. “Like, ‘It’s going to be a banger when Steve is on that card. Let’s tune in.’ I hope you guys enjoyed it.”

“… That’s just the style that I bring every time I come in here. Every time I’m in here, you might just see a dog. I tell people all the time. I don’t have the biggest bark or the loudest bark, but I have bite. I bite pretty damn hard. I’m just not going to quit. I’m going to keep coming for you. I’ll just keep gnawing at that fight however I can. I just need to figure out a way to win. I think I’ve had a couple fights to show that. We’re just going to keep doing it.”

After the fight, Garcia didn’t grab the microphone and cut a WWE-esque promo. Instead, he respectfully suggested a name he’d like to fight next when asked by interviewer Paul Felder.

“Out there, I kind of just threw out a name – a name I think people would like and I think he’s really good. his name is Nate Landwehr,” Garcia said. “The kid is a stud. I think the fans would love to see something like that. We’ll see if (my manager) Jason House and Sean Shelby and all those guys will want to put that together. If not, they got my phone number. We can figure it out. … March-April sounds good to me.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 233.

HyunSung Park unsatisfied with UFC Fight Night 233 TKO win, hopes for busy 2024 campaign

HyunSung Park wasn’t happy with his performance at UFC Fight NIght 233 despite stopping another opponent.

LAS VEGAS – [autotag]HyunSung Park[/autotag] may be his own biggest critic because he wasn’t pleased with his performance which resulted in his eighth consecutive stoppage victory.

The undefeated Park (9-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC) won the “Road to UFC” tournament in February, and picked up his first non-tournament win by TKO in the second round against Shannon Ross (13-9 MMA, 0-3 UFC) at UFC Fight Night 233.

“Nothing surprised me about him, but I surprised myself because I performed so bad,” Park told reporters through an interpreter at the post-fight news conference. “… Others may think it was a good performance, but for me, it didn’t meet my expectations. That was a bad performance from me and I’m going to go back and fix what was wrong.”

Aside from his professional debut, Park has finished every opponent he has faced. Regardless of the results, however, he seems to critical of his performances, thinking they didn’t “go well.” It was the same sentiment he shared in February after stopping SeungGuk Choi in the third round.

Additionally, traveling to Las Vegas and dealing with jet lag again was a burden the South Korean fighter hoped to avoid this time around. The event was originally scheduled to take place in Shanghai, China, but was moved to Las Vegas without a clear explanation.

“I had to pay a lot of taxes, and the time difference really killed me because the jet lag affected my performance,” Park said. “I’m not happy with my performance, and I’m going to do better next time.”

Whenever that next appearance may come, Park says he’ll be ready to take care of business. He plans to get right back into the training room to prepare for what he hopes is a busy 2024.

“I’m going to go right back into training, and next year I’m going to accept as many fights as possible,” Park said. “Whatever they give me, I’m going to try and be a good employee. This was just my first fight. I’m going to accept what they give me and accept as many fights as possible.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 233.

Nasrat Haqparast advocates for UFC Morocco event after big knockout

If the UFC is serious about going to Africa, Nasrat Haqparast says look no further than Morocco for the continental debut.

LAS VEGAS – If the UFC is serious about going to Africa, [autotag]Nasrat Haqparast[/autotag] says look no further than Morocco for the continental debut.

Following his UFC Fight Night 233 knockout of Jamie Mullarkey (17-7 MMA, 5-5 UFC) at the UFC Apex, Haqparast (16-5 MMA, 8-4 UFC) didn’t call for an opponent or event date. A North African location was all that was on his mind.

“I don’t have something in my mind like a specific date,” Haqparast told MMA Junkie and other reporters at a post-fight news conference. “But I really wish for the UFC to come to Morocco. Morocco is like my second home now. We have a great infrastructure. We have everything needed for the UFC (to go) there for the first UFC event in Africa. Actually, the FIFA World Cup, the biggest sporting event in the world is coming to Morocco in 2030 and I think it’s the right time for the UFC to make the move to Africa.

While no UFC Africa event or even a timeline has been revealed yet, UFC CEO Dana White has long been adamant it’s in the promotion’s plans.

For Haqparast, there is no better time than the present.

“Let’s say the beginning to middle of the year in Morocco would be amazing,” Haqparast said. “Let’s say if the UFC would want to put me as a headliner, it’d be greatly appreciated. But I think it’s the right time for the UFC to come to Morocco.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 233.