The five biggest UFC bouts that never happened in 2012

Obviously 2012 has been a year that held huge potential for MMA. While I wouldn’t say it was a horrible year for fighting, the insane amount of injuries and other controversy that wrecked cards is unprecedented. From main events all the way down to preliminary cards, we saw an unheard never of fights shifted, canceled, and just generally thrown into the muck. UFC 151’s cancellation was just the icing on the cake in what was the weirdest year MMA has ever seen.  And it’s not over yet. Let’s take a look

UFC 149 Results: Renan Barao wins Interim title, Tim Boetsch upsets Hector Lombard

UFC 149 from Calgary, Alberta, Canada is finished and Renan Barao has emerged with the UFC Interim Bantamweight title wrapped around his waist. He got there by using great striking and utilizing great wrestling defense. Faber could never get anything going against Barao, and while he had good movement, his offense was nonexistent at times. He appeared tentative in what may have been his final title bout. Barao will look to unify the belts against Dominick Cruz whenever Cruz is fully recuperated from knee

Bahadurzada injured and out of UFC 149, Matt Riddle to face Chris Clements

UFC officials announced late Saturday night that Siyar Bahadurzada was the latest fighter to drop from UFC 149 due to injury. Bahadurzada’s scheduled opponent, Chris Clements, will now face Matt Riddle.
The Afghan-born fighter responded woth a series of tweets to fans this afternoon:

(1/2)Thank u all for the cool tweets! I’m sorry i’ve let u down! When i’m back i’ll make it up with another KO of a top 5 fighter! @ufc
— Siyar Bahadurzada (@SiyarTheGreat) July 1, 2012

(2/2)I’m used to walking

Thumbs Down: 5 fights that didn’t happen in 2012

It is midway through 2012, and it seems to be a bad year for injuries in the UFC. Five important fights have been cancelled or postponed this year due to injury, surgery, illness or suspension. These things are all part of the fight game and have been since day one. The nature of the sport is brutal, but injuries are not isolated to fights. Most fighters suffer their injuries in training.  As well-rounded as a UFC fighter is expected to be, it is quite easy to “overtrain”, that is, put the body

Big Nog is out of UFC 149, Shawn Jordan to step up as a replacement

UFC 149 has undergone yet another change to the card’s lineup. First Jose Aldo was out, then it was Thiago Silva, followed by Michael Bisping, Mauricio Rua and now it looks like it is Big Nog’s turn to bow out.The latest casualty affecting UFC 149 is none other than Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. “Big Nog” has not fully healed from his broken arm at the hands of Frank Mir from UFC 140 on December 10, 2011. He has been forced to drop out of his planned match-up against Cheick Kongo. According to Sherdog,