Tag: UFC on ESPN 54

Michael Bisping, Anthony Smith suggest Sean Strickland as Chris Weidman’s next opponent

Michael Bisping and Anthony Smith want to see Chris Weidman face a marquee name next.

[autotag]Michael Bisping[/autotag] and [autotag]Anthony Smith[/autotag] want to see [autotag]Chris Weidman[/autotag] face a marquee name next.

Weidman (16-7 MMA, 12-7 UFC) picked up his first win since August 2020 when he defeated Bruno Silva at UFC on ESPN 54 – a TKO finish which was later ruled a unanimous decision after instant replay showed Weidman poking Silva in the eyes twice before dropping him.

Although there was controversy surrounding the finish, Smith thinks former champion Weidman still has the ability to face elite-level competition at middleweight.

“Skill for skill, I think he can compete with everybody in that division up to the very top,” Smith said on a recent episode of the “Believe You Me” podcast. “But it’s just, can he stay healthy enough to put a run together? … If you can get him a big name, halfway up, maybe fast-track him.”

Looking through the rankings, Bisping threw out the name [autotag]Sean Strickland[/autotag] (28-6 MMA, 15-6 UFC), who recently lost his middleweight title in a competitive battle against Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 297.

“Give him Sean Strickland,” Bisping said. “Sean Strickland-Chris Weidman: ‘The All-American’ against ‘Here’s the thing guys’ American. Do it. I think that’s a good matchup.”

Smith was on board with the idea right away.

“That’s a really good fight,” Smith said. “I didn’t even think about that. I’m going to text him that right now.”

Strickland would be considered a big step up in competition after Weidman rebounded with a win over unranked Silva. Prior to that, the 39-year-old dropped a decision to Brad Tavares at UFC 292 – his first fight back after suffering a gruesome leg break in April 2021.

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Daniel Cormier: No reason for UFC’s Manon Fiorot to accept anything other than title fight

UFC contender Manon Fiorot is “just standing on the verge of her championship opportunity,” and there’s no reason to risk it.

[autotag]Daniel Cormier[/autotag] advises [autotag]Manon Fiorot[/autotag] not to take another fight unless it’s for the UFC women’s flyweight title.

Fiorot (12-1 MMA, 7-0 UFC) extended her winning streak to 12 when she scored a shutout of highly touted contender Erin Blanchfield (12-2 MMA, 6-1 UFC) this past Saturday in the UFC on ESPN 54 main event.

If Fiorot does indeed opt to sit out, she will have to wait for flyweight champion Alexa Grasso and Valentina Shevchenko to settle their trilogy, which will take place only after the airing of Season 32 of “The Ultimate Fighter,” which is currently being filmed. “TUF 32” premiers June 4 and likely will air until the end of summer.

“If I’m Manon Fiorot, I’m not fighting,” Cormier said on his ESPN show “Good Guy/Bad Guy” with Chael Sonnen. “There’s no reason to go from the fights that she has had and take another one when she’s undefeated in the UFC. She’s looked increasingly better, and she’s just standing on the verge of her championship opportunity.

“I get it. I would like to see her fight Maycee Barber. But the way she looked last weekend, she looks like she’s ready now to fight for the belt, It’s more likely, in my opinion, that she weighs in as the backup fighter, she trains alongside that championship fight, and waits to have her opportunity.”

Fiorot outstruck Blanchfield over the course of five rounds and stuffed her three takedown attempts. Cormier was impressed with her performance and admits she exceeded his expectations.

“Her takedown defense looked really good,” Cormier said. “Her striking, as we know she is known for, looked amazing. She just seemed to be a step ahead of Erin Blanchfield.”

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 54.

Daniel Cormier: Chris Weidman ‘really did deserve to get a victory because he fought so well’ at UFC on ESPN 54

Daniel Cormier doesn’t have an issue with Chris Weidman getting his hand raised despite some egregious eye pokes at UFC on ESPN 54.

[autotag]Daniel Cormier[/autotag] doesn’t have an issue with [autotag]Chris Weidman[/autotag] getting his hand raised at UFC on ESPN 54.

Weidman (16-7 MMA, 12-7 UFC) picked up a controversial win over Bruno Silva this past Saturday at Boardwalk Hall – a unanimous decision that was initially ruled a third-round TKO. Weidman dropped Silva with a left hook but poked him in both eyes before landing the blow.

The finish was reviewed, and a slow-motion replay showed that Silva was clearly poked in the eye two times before Weidman dropped him and finished him on the ground. With Weidman up on the judges’ scorecards, the result was overturned to a unanimous decision, and Cormier agrees with the final outcome of the fight.

“There’s a rule in place, that if you go past a certain point in the fight, it’s scored,” Cormier said on his ESPN show “Good Guy/Bad Guy” with Chael Sonnen. “If there is an illegal blow, they score the fight and if you score that fight, Chris Weidman wins. So I think by them making it a decision, it saves the fight, staying a win for Chris Weidman – because he really did deserve to get a victory because he fought so well. He made one point that I thought was very important. He said, ‘I get it, but Bruno Silva has to understand you can’t fall to the ground and turn away from the fight because I am going to jump on you and finish the fight.’

“Chris Weidman did what his instincts told him, and that was to go finish Bruno Silva when Bruno reacted the way that he did from the eye poke. I’m only saying this because, to me, it felt like a soccer player when they get fouled and they’re rolling around on the ground when the guy barely touches them. Bruno Silva got eye poked, but I think he understood where he was in the fight. He was getting beat. He was losing. He fell to the ground. He reacted in the way he was reacting, hoping, ‘Wait, stop, stop, stop, poke to the eye. No contest.’ Instead, Weidman went and finished him.”

Weidman picked up his first win in almost four years, and his first since breaking his leg in a TKO loss to Uriah Hall in April 2021.

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 54.

Julio Arce wants new contract, then Nathaniel Wood after UFC on ESPN 54

Julio Arce hopes his finish of Herbert Burns will lead to a new UFC contract – and an eventual fight against Nathaniel Wood.

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. – [autotag]Julio Arce[/autotag] beat Herbert Burns with a second-round TKO Saturday on the preliminary card at UFC on ESPN 54 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J.

Take a look inside the fight with Arce, who was ineligible for a bonus because he missed weight for his featherweight debut.

Eye-poke controversy or not, Ray Longo happy with Chris Weidman’s performance at UFC on ESPN 54

Ray Longo is proud of Chris Weidman regardless of the controversy surrounding his fight at UFC on ESPN 54.

Ray Longo is proud of [autotag]Chris Weidman[/autotag] regardless of the controversy surrounding his fight at UFC on ESPN 54.

Weidman’s win over Bruno Silva this past Saturday was initially ruled a third-round TKO before getting overturned to a unanimous decision. The finish was immediately called into question after a slow-motion replay showed Weidman poking Silva in both eyes before setting up the fight-ending sequence.

Longo admits he was worried about the outcome after Weidman (16-7 MMA, 12-7 UFC) committed repeated unintentional fouls, but he thought the former UFC middleweight champion was en route to winning anyway.

“You have to address it because you don’t want to see it end in a DQ (disqualification), but he got his eye poked, too,” longtime coach Longo said of Weidman on “Unlocking The Cage.” “I don’t want to get crazy with this. There’s a picture where he’s getting thumbed right in the eye. He chose not to even complain about it, which I’m not saying is right or wrong, but yeah, you have to be concerned because the last thing you wanted to do is see that become a problem. But you’ve got to remember, too: The first round was clean. He won that convincingly.

“The second round, I think there was a minor eye poke where they stopped, but he won that round, too. So, he was up in the fight. Either way, I think he won that fight even if they went to the scorecards, which is exactly what they did at the end. But no, you have to be concerned with that. It’s like a guy when he knees a guy, and he’s not grounded. You’ve got to be careful. You don’t want the fight to stop for that. The eye pokes are a little different, I think, for some reason. But yeah, I was definitely concerned.”

Prior to the unfortunate ending, Weidman was looking in much better form than he did in his return fight vs. Brad Tavares at UFC 292. He was kicking plenty with his repaired leg, and Longo sees that as a win itself.

Silva was understandably emotional at the way the fight played out, and Longo is open to the pair running things back.

“But either way, as a coach, even if it was a DQ, I’m happy with what I saw,” Longo continued. “For a guy that went through a horrific injury like he did to come back like that at 39 years old, going to be 40 in a couple of months, I thought it was fantastic. It’s a win either way for me, no matter what happened.”

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 54.

Video: What’s the ceiling for Manon Fiorot and Joaquin Buckley after UFC on ESPN 54 wins?

What should be next for both Manon Fiorot and Joaquin Buckley after their UFC on ESPN 54 wins? We discuss on “Spinning Back Clique.”

Video: What’s the ceiling for Manon Fiorot and Joaquin Buckley after UFC on ESPN 54 wins?Video: What’s the ceiling for Manon Fiorot and Joaquin Buckley after UFC on ESPN 54 wins

On the latest episode of “Spinning Back Clique,” the panel discusses [autotag]Manon Fiorot[/autotag] and [autotag]Joaquin Buckley[/autotag]’s wins at UFC on ESPN 54.

Fiorot (12-1 MMA, 7-0 UFC) defeated top contender Erin Blanchfield in a clean, unanimous decision win in the main event of the card, and Buckley (19-6 MMA, 8-4 UFC) stopped veteran Vicente Luque by TKO in the second round of their co-main event contest – both big wins.

What did their respective performances tell us about them, and what should be next following their victories?

MMA Junkie’s Brian “Goze” Garcia, Danny Segura, Nolan King, host “Gorgeous” George Garcia, analyze Fiorot and Buckley’s wins in the aftermath of the event.

Watch their discussion in the video above, and also don’t miss this week’s complete episode of “Spinning Back Clique” below on YouTube.

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Dennis Buzukja eyeing Newark and MSG for that Tristate homecoming after first UFC win

Dennis Buzukja got his first win in the UFC, as well as his first bonus, with a third-round TKO against Connor Matthews at UFC on ESPN 54.

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. – [autotag]Dennis Buzukja[/autotag] beat Connor Matthews with a third-round TKO Saturday on the preliminary card at UFC on ESPN 54 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J.

Take a look inside the fight with Buzukja, who got his first win in the UFC, as well as his first bonus.

Jacob Malkoun gives credit for bizarre UFC on ESPN 54 win over Andre Petroski to ‘crossface’

Jacob Malkoun got his first stoppage win in nearly five years when he beat Andre Petroski at UFC on ESPN 54.

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. – [autotag]Jacob Malkoun[/autotag] beat Andre Petroski with a second-round TKO Saturday on the preliminary card at UFC on ESPN 54 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J.

Take a look inside the fight with Malkoun, who got back in the win column with his first stoppage win in nearly five years.

Video: Chris Weidman’s return ended with an eye poke – and win. But should it have?

Should Chris Weidman’s win over Bruno Silva have been a DQ or a no contest instead of a win? We discuss on “Spinning Back Clique.”

On the latest episode of “Spinning Back Clique,” the panel, along with [autotag]John McCarthy[/autotag] – former referee and current PFL analyst – reacted to [autotag]Chris Weidman[/autotag]’s controversial return win at UFC on ESPN 54.

Weidman (16-7 MMA, 12-7 UFC) defeated Bruno Silva this past Saturday, but with plenty of controversy. The former UFC middleweight champion eye poked Silva three times before eye poking him a fourth time, which led to the end of the bout.

Despite the repeated fouls, Weidman was awarded a TKO win, which was then overruled to a technical decision win. It was a highly debated result that had many split. So was it the right call?

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McCarthy and MMA Junkie’s Brian “Goze” Garcia, Danny Segura, Nolan King, host “Gorgeous” George Garcia, discussed Weidman’s win and whether it was the right ruling.

Watch their discussion in the video above, and also don’t miss this week’s complete episode of “Spinning Back Clique” below on YouTube.

John McCarthy explains Chris Weidman eye-poke debacle at UFC on ESPN 54 – and how commission … got it right?

Bruno Silva won’t like what “Big” John McCarthy had to say about the controversial ending to his UFC on ESPN 54 fight with Chris Weidman.

[autotag]Bruno Silva[/autotag] won’t like what “Big” John McCarthy had to say about the New Jersey commission’s handling of the controversial ending to his UFC on ESPN 54 fight with [autotag]Chris Weidman[/autotag].

This past Saturday, Weidman came away victorious after initially stopping Silva by ground-and-pound for a third-round TKO at Boardwalk Hall. The result was instantly called into question after a slow-motion replay showed Weidman egregiously poking Silva in both eyes a moment before the finishing sequence. Upon further review by referee Gary Copeland and the State Athletic Control Board, which regulated UFC on ESPN 54, the fight went to the judges’ scorecards because the fight entered Round 3, resulting still in an announced unanimous decision (but actually technical decision) win for Weidman.

The controversial outcome naturally upset Silva and didn’t sit well with many observers on social media, but McCarthy, a former referee and current PFL analyst, explained Monday on his “Weighing In” podcast that the commission ultimately got it right – even if he did take umbrage with Copeland’s lack of warnings against two previous Weidman eye pokes before the two that led to the finish.

“When Gary Copeland has Chris Weidman, who is putting his fingers out like it’s a pitchfork – you need to address that as the official,” McCarthy told co-host Josh Thomson. “I don’t care that you’re in New Jersey where Chris Weidman is a hero. I’m being honest: I wanted Chris Weidman to win this fight. … But I can’t have Chris Weidman getting preferential treatment as far as you’re the one creating this problem. You need to address the problem and make sure the individual who is creating the problem doesn’t do it anymore. Well, he did do it more.”

McCarthy continued: “I don’t think Gary saw the eye pokes (just before the finish), so that was understandable. He makes the call of stopping the fight. Once he makes the call of stopping the fight and they look at the tape, you can see that he did get poked in the eye. … They need to have the judges score whatever part of the third round they’ve seen. Who won that round? You already have two rounds that have been judged. This need(ed) to go to a technical decision. It’s not a unanimous decision victory. It’s a technical decision victory for Chris Weidman.”

“Chris had won the first two rounds. And if you’re gonna say the third round, I think Chris was winning that one for the most part, too. So I knew Chris was gonna win the fight, but that way it’s not on the fact that a foul occurred and the referee made a decision to stop it without seeing the foul. Now (the commission is) saying, ‘OK, we see the foul. This is what we do.’ Based upon the fact that the fight had entered the third round, you could go to a technical decision. If the same thing had happened in the second round, it would’ve ended up being a no contest. You would not have had a technical decision, because they can only go to that technical decision if the fight enters the third round.”

Even if the commission got it right based upon the rules in the end, Silva is still sure to feel wronged. Silva told MMA Fighting that he plans to appeal the result, but McCarthy explained how that is likely to be a futile process for him.

“What they’re doing is, by going to that technical decision, it’s the right thing to do. I’m just gonna tell you straight out,” McCarthy said. “Because giving Chris Weidman a victory off of TKO, then you’re saying that you’re not addressing the fact that there was a foul. They are addressing that fact. Gary Copeland could’ve decided to have taken points for the fouls. He didn’t do that. That’s his decision. … So the commission actually did the right thing. But, yes, by doing that right thing, they’re taking the ability of Bruno Silva to protest the stopping of the fight as a TKO and making it a no contest later on. They’re taking that away by doin the right thing.”

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 54.