ROUSEY AND NUNES MAKE WEIGHT, OTHERS DON’T
The official and public weigh-ins for UFC 207 both went down on Thursday and, while Ronda Rousey’s appearances on the scales were uneventful, two of the usual suspects failed to make weight.
Johny Hendricks weighed in this morning at 173.5 pounds for his 170 pound fight with Neil Magny. This would mark the second consecutive time Hendricks has missed weight after weighing in heavy by a quarter of a pound for his fight with Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 200 this past July. Hendricks has had close calls in the past as he nearly missed weight for his UFC 171 fight with Robbie Lawler, but made it on the second try.
Hendricks will be fined 20-percent of his purse, which will go in the pocket of his opponent.
UFC flyweight Ray Borg also missed weight, coming in well over the limit at 129.5 pounds. Borg is also a repeat offender, having missed weight once in 2015. Borg will be fined 30-percent of his purse, which will go to his opponent Louis Smolka.
Both fights will proceed as planned.
As for Rousey, the weigh-ins were uneventful by her standards. Rousey weighed in in the morning at 135 pounds and swiftly left the room without as little as a pose for the media on hand. At the public weigh-in, Rousey did her traditional cold-eyed staredown with Amanda Nunes, but then again, walked straight off stage and did not stay for an interview with Joe Rogan as is customary for UFC main events.
UFC 207 airs tomorrow night on pay-per-view. Be sure to check out MMATorch.com’s coverage of the entire event beginning with the prelims at 7:30 p.m. ET.
Hiscoe’s Analysis: Rousey has been consistent with her focus on the fight all week, and tonight was no exception. Many questioned Rousey’s mental state last year after she threw a punch at Holly Holm at the weigh-ins and then went on to produce a nearly incoherent, emotionally-charged interview directed at Holm afterwards, and it was at that point that people started to think Holm could win the fight, which obviously she did. None of that was evident tonight, so Rousey’s head appears to be 100 percent in the game. Either that, or she’s so checked out she can’t even be bothered. We’ll find out tomorrow.
As for Johny Hendricks, his decline since the second Robbie Lawler fight has been sad to watch. I’d like to say that he could have a resurgence at 185 pounds as Kelvin Gastelum has, but I’m not so sure he has it in him. You can blame the wars with Lawler, the long term effects of extreme weight cutting, or you can even blame USADA, but for one reason or another, Hendricks is a very different fighter than he was two years ago.
THURSDAY NOTEBOOK ITEMS…
-Regarding Conor McGregor, Dana White told the media that “I’m not even thinking about Conor. Conor is not in my plans for the next 10 months.”
-White also said that he doesn’t feel Cain Velasquez wants to fight after reading the interview he gave to ESPN. “I love Cain,” he said. “Cain’s one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet. But if you read that article, it does not sound like he wants to fight.” (SOURCE)
-MMA Junkie has reported that Chael Sonnen has passed two out-of-competition drug tests ahead of his January 21 bout at Bellator 170.
-The Rizin World Grand Prix quarter finals happened early today from Japan. The main event saw Mirko Cro Cop defeat Bellator’s King Mo Lawal by TKO in the second round. Cro Cop will next fight Baruto Kaito in the semi-finals while Valentin Moldavsky will fight Amir Aliakbari after each won their respective bouts. Below are the full results from the show:
Mirko Cro Cop def. King Mo Lawal via technical knockout (Round 2)
Amir Aliakbari def. Heath Herring via unanimous decision
Valentin Moldavsky def. Szymon Bajor via unanimous decision
Rin Nakai def. Kanako Murata via submission (rear-naked choke) (Round 3)
Baruto Kaito def. Tsuyoshi Kosaka via unanimous decision
Tenshin Nasukawa def. Nikita Sapun via technical knockout (Round 1)
Kazuyuki Miyata def. Andy Souwer via submission (arm-bar) (Round 1)
Yuki Motoya def. Allan Nascimento via split decision
Tatsumitsu Wada def. Kai Kara-France via unanimous decision
Yusuke Yachi def. Mario Sismundo via technical knockout (Round 1)
Alyssa Garcia def. Kanna Asakura via unanimous decision
Vadim Nemkov def. Alison Vicente via knockout (Round 1)
Satoru Kitaoka def. Daron Cruickshank via submission (guillotine choke) (Round 1)
-Cody Garbrandt and Dominick Cruz’s teammate Jeremy Stephens got into an altercation at the early weigh-ins this morning. Stephens gave the following account of the events to MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani: “I was a little bit further behind, grabbing a couple bags, and I see Dominick getting into it with Cody. The UFC is then, like, okay, you can go over there. So of course, I’m following behind, kinda seeing them get into an altercation. Dom kinda turns around, he’s talking crap and Cody walks away. As I’m doing that, the UFC guys tell me I have to go through a certain door. So I turn my back and I take a couple steps and then I hear someone say, ‘Yeah, you better keep walking. You and your whole team blah blah blah.’ I look over, and it’s Cody approaching me. He’s coming at me fast, like he’s going to push me. I just put my arm out, and the security guy picks me up, moves me out. Cody starts getting all hot-headed, screaming, trying to throw his shirt off, trying to fight me. I’m laughing. Like, ‘Hey bro, you better get serious, you’re fighting my teammate tomorrow.’ I’m here for Dom. Then they broke it up. I was just shocked by the whole situation. This dude has got a fight coming up and he’s mad at me. I thought me and him were cordial. I got no problems with him. I’m here to support my teammate.”
FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENT ROUND-UP
-John Moraga is stepping in for an injured Jussier Formiga to fight Sergio Pettis at UFC Fight Night Phoenix on Jan. 15.
-Josh Burkman vs. Michel Prazeres at UFC’s Brazil show on March 11.
THROWBACK THURSDAY…
Dominick Cruz vs. Urijah Faber 3 from UFC 199: CLICK HERE
NOW CHECK OUT YESTERDAY’S UPDATE: WEDNESDAY NEWS DIGEST 12/28: Rousey speaks, Goldberg out of UFC after Saturday, Cain explains health (w/Hiscoe’s Analysis)
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