Ronda Rousey answers the bell after a quick turnaround. | Photo:
Dave Mandel/Sherdog.com
UFC
170 “Rousey vs. McMann” gives television viewers -- at least
those with $60 in expendable cash -- a break from the ice hockey,
curling accidents and slope crashes of the 2014 Winter Olympics in
Sochi, Russia. Not to be outdone in the hardware department, a judo
bronze medalist will battle a wrestling silver medalist for
Ultimate Fighting Championship gold on Saturday at the Mandalay
Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, all with running water and
individual toilet stalls.
Photo: D.
Mandel/Sherdog.com
Can Cormier excel at 205 pounds?
How We Got Here: Miesha
Tate’s blood had hardly dried on
Ronda
Rousey’s fists before she was ushered into the UFC 168
post-fight press conference. An already-made poster displayed the
champion’s next fight, opposite Olympic silver medalist
Sara McMann.
Rousey was given a mere 56 days between matches to prepare, a quick
turnover for championship-level mixed martial artists ...
Daniel
Cormier, the third Olympian on the UFC 170 bill, enters Sin
City on a pit stop in pursuit of
Jon Jones’
light heavyweight title. His 205-pound debut was once reserved for
former champion
Rashad
Evans, but “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 2 winner was forced
off the lineup due to an injury. Despite a roster of nearly 30
light heavyweights -- and one eager
Chael Sonnen
-- matchmaker Joe Silva could not find a current UFC fighter to
fill the Evans void in 10 days. As a result, he looked outside the
company, tapping 4-0
Reign MMA member
Patrick
Cummins, Cormier’s old wrestling training partner ... Three
welterweight bouts round out the pay-per-view portion of the card,
highlighted by fringe contenders
Rory
MacDonald and
Demian
Maia.
Big City Lights: Rousey’s star is on the rise. She
is not just at the top of the UFC’s women’s bantamweight division;
she
is the division. UFC President Dana White proclaimed her
the company’s biggest star now that
Georges St.
Pierre and
Anderson
Silva are floating around in MMA purgatory. Hollywood has taken
notice, as Rousey will soon appear in two lucrative international
movie franchises: “Fast & Furious 7” and “The Expendables 3.” Even
more opportunities will await once the dust settles at UFC 170. The
27-year-old has spent more than two decades training in one of the
toughest Olympic sports and finally appears to be cashing in on the
sweat with fame and money. Will she leave the training, weight
cutting, bumps, bruises and cauliflower ears behind for the glitz
and glamour of the silver screen?
Photo: D.
Mandel/Sherdog.com
Koch is worth watching.
Get There Early: The UFC’s last two events were
back-to-back record-setters, but they were not the kinds of fight
cards White proudly displays on his refrigerator. UFC 169 and UFC
Fight Night 36 each resulted in 10 fights going to the judges.
Decisions by themselves are not exclusively bad. Remember
Jones-
Alexander
Gustafsson,
Gilbert
Melendez-
Diego
Sanchez,
Antonio
Silva-
Mark Hunt and
Michael
Chandler-
Eddie
Alvarez in 2013? However, mostly forgettable fights were on
display in Newark, N.J., and Jaragua do Sul, Brazil. UFC 170 boasts
an excellent undercard with high potential for action.
Erik
Koch-
Rafaello
Oliveira,
Zach
Makovsky-
Joshua
Sampo,
Raphael
Assuncao-
Pedro
Munhoz and
Alexis
Davis-
Jessica Eye
are all worth clearing your afternoon schedule to check out.
Almost Famous: The world of professional sports
provides a wealth of
Athlete-A-Replaced-Athlete-B-to-Face-Otherworldly-Stud-Athlete-C
stories. Cummins fits the mold. The NCAA All-American wrestler out
of Penn State University was working the morning shift at a coffee
shop when he put down the foamer to answer a call from White. At
4-0, “Durkin” is the least-experienced fighter at UFC 170, and he
is challenging arguably the card’s best fighter in Cormier. A life
of serving lattes to Orange County housewives was halted by an
opportunity few will ever receive. The light heavyweight was stuck
between a rock and a hard place, unable to find fights because of
his wrestling pedigree but short enough on experience that few big
shows were ready to sign him. Cummins, 33, also served jail time
for a burglary conviction in 2011. Try putting that on a resume. If
Cummins even makes it competitive against the heavily favored
Cormier on 10 days’ notice, he could easily become the feel-good
story of 2014.
Tipped Scales: Lost in the Evans-to-Cummins
shuffle is Cormier’s weight cut. The Oklahoma State University alum
refuses to face
American Kickboxing Academy teammate
Cain
Velasquez for the heavyweight strap, so UFC 170 will mark the
first time Cormier will weigh in at 205 pounds since his amateur
wrestling days. Questions abound: Will the weight cut hurt his
performance? Will he be a better fighter without the spare tire?
How will Cajun restaurants in the San Jose, Calif., area survive
without the Louisiana native’s business? The 34-year-old is among a
tiny handful of fighters with the potential to dethrone Jones.
Making weight and performing inside the light heavyweight division
are the next steps for Cormier.
Useless Fact: All four combatants in the main
event and co-main event are undefeated: Cormier (13-0), Cummins
(4-0), McMann (7-0) and Rousey (8-0). In MMA, it is not a matter of
if but when a zero in a fighter’s loss column goes away. Barring
draws, two undefeated UFC fighters will walk out of the cage as
one-loss combatants. Enjoy the random abnormality.
Photo: D.
Mandel/Sherdog.com
Pyle consistently entertains.
Awards Watch: First off, the
Smartest Guy at the Bar lifts his glass in salute to the UFC’s new
performance-bonus system. Two ambiguous “Performance of the Night”
awards replace the traditional “Knockout of the Night” and
“Submission of the Night” bonuses. Only “Fight of the Night”
survived the change. This new system prevents underwhelming KOs and
submissions from winning awards based solely on being the only KO
or submission on any given night. It also helps dispel the notion
that only fighters who finish put on good fights … Cormier and
Cummins have history between them and White is a sucker for fun
storylines, so the two light heavyweights have the inside track for
“Fight of the Night” …
Mike Pyle is
just a little better at everything than
T.J.
Waldburger. The aggression of the man they call “Quicksand”
will be awarded with a bonus … A Rousey armbar is due a post-fight
performance bonus every time, right?