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« | Home | »

UFC 132 (7/2 MGM Grand Garden): Tito Ortiz shocks everyone, gives Dana White heartburn

By Zach Arnold | July 2, 2011

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Dark matches/preliminary fights

Main card

The fight odds & lines

Tito Ortiz (+400) was given about a 15% chance to win his fight against Ryan Bader. Bader closed as a -550 favorite. Oops. A lot of people who had Bader as part of their parlays got crushed. Tito said that UFC made him take ‘a big pay cut’ in order to get the Bader fight and now he’s going to cash in. The reaction from the crowd for Tito’s first win since 2006 was exactly what you thought it would be.

Inexplicably, Chris Leben was a +140 underdog. I scratched my head when I saw that line. He proceeded to reward those who had faith in him with a fast KO.

Carlos Condit was nearly even money going into his fight against Dong Hyun Kim. Those who had faith in him winning were paid off rather handsomely.

Rafael Dos Anjos at +190 pulled off what, on paper, looks to be an upset over George Sotiropoulos. Dos Anjos is part of the Evolve MMA gym series in both Singapore and Brazil. This is the gym that is recruiting fighters like Shin’ya Aoki.

Anthony Njokuanki (-155) turned to be a steal for gamblers, as he had little trouble dealing with Andre Miller.

Overall, a very solid night for underdogs on what turned out to be a very fun card.

Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 46 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

46 Responses to “UFC 132 (7/2 MGM Grand Garden): Tito Ortiz shocks everyone, gives Dana White heartburn”

  1. ttt says:

    what’s the deal with Wanderlei not fighting in Brazil

    • Light23 says:

      They probably don’t want to stick every single big name Brazilian fighter on the same card. It’s not going to help sell more tickets and it will kill PPV buys for the other cards.

      This is a pretty sweet card. Great title fight, potential FOTY as co-main event, two top WW contenders in Condit and DHK. Tito/Bader too.

      We get PPVs for free in the UK, but it must feel kinda irksome to pay for a title fight that would’ve been free a year ago. It’s sweet to see 135lbers get the limelight though.

  2. The Gaijin says:

    http://mmapayout.com/2011/05/cablevision-offers-mma-channel/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Payout+%28Payout%29

    Don’t know how I feel about this, it’s basically the Fight!Network (Cdn channel) opening up in the U.S. Quite frankly, if they don’t get a deal with the UFC to air content (e.g. at least some of UFC, PRIDE, Affliction, SF – didn’t SF own the library for like every other late 90’s-early 00’s regional U.S. promotions like Icon, ROTR, KOTC, EXC too? – etc.), they are going to die a quick death.

    Randy Couture is a part owner too and he seems to have a penchant for doing some dumb things with his money, so hopefully he worked some things out with DW and Lorenzo before he got involved or he’ll be coming out of retirement again (again).

  3. 45 huddle says:

    Decent card. Nothing too interesting for me. This will continue the transitional year for Zuffa as this PPV likely won’t do good business business.

    Zuffa has always sold events as the best one yet. That concept eventually gets old just like the freakshow in Japan. And what you are left with are the fans of the sport. I think there are still a lot of fans of the sport but some of their past PPV numbers were inflated based on the newness and freshness factor. Events like this won’t have that.

    Interesting that Mayhem isn’t even on SpikeTV.

    • edub says:

      I would guess Mayhem ends up there before all is said and done.

      Why in the world is Guillard-Roller on the undercard and Siver-Wiman isn’t. They are similar fights with one guy on a really good streak who destroyed a somewhat overhyped prospect last time out against a more or less overmatched opponent. Except Guillard is twice as marketable as Siver. He’s more athletic, he’s American, he beat the better guy last time out (Dunham>Sotiropoulos), and Siver got crushed by Guillard when they went head to head. On top of that he’s black, and I don’t want to stereotype but that is a fanbase that still isn’t as in to MMA as it is to boxing. You’d think Zuffa would be looking to capitalize on the emergence from Jon Jones and Phil Davis.

      I really don’t see what they see sometimes. It seems as if SIver is being tracked more to a title shot that Guillard. Doesn’t make sense.

      • fd says:

        Guillard being the top of the prelims means he’s basically “main-eventing” the Spike prelim broadcast. They put exciting guys they want to showcase in that position quite frequently because it’s a high visibility slot; many more people watch the prelims than buy the ppv.

        • edub says:

          Good point. I’m just not sure he will be positioned there.

          I don’t think I am exaggerating when I say this: Every single fight on the undercard has an argument for being placed on the prelims (aired). Koch is a knockout of the night winner, and Swanson is a fight of the night winner. Mayhem is probably the most visual guy to the fans marketing wise on the undercard, and Simpson has been featured on a few main cards. Bowles is a former WEC champ, and Mizugaki is a former title challenger. Sotiropolous has been featured on main cards, and Dos anjos has been on a few TV main cards. Andre Winner is a ultimate fighter cast off, and Njokuani is a staple for fighht night bonuses. This undercard is stacked.

      • David m says:

        Good post edub.

    • The Gaijin says:

      I too found it pretty odd that Mayhem looks like he won’t even make it to air. But I’d have to think there’s no way they sign him over and don’t even show him fight…Facebook maybe?

      Should be a decent and quite entertaining action card, but nothing particularly blowing my hair back. As a big Wandy fan I’m hoping he makes a successful comeback, Akiyama and previous fights showed Leben’s chin can be cracked and Stann showed he can be taken out if you follow up intelligently – hopefully that’s a blueprint for Wandy to follow.

      edub – I think fd said it best about Guillard, they probably see it as giving him the “ME” of the Spike broadcast and are hoping it’s a barnburner to pull in last minute buys. I’m sure he’d rather be on ppv tho.

  4. Isaiah says:

    Looks like the end of a string of really good shows. Also, while the main event looks OK (not great) to me, I don’t think I’ve ever seen one that I imagine will have less commercial appeal.

    • edub says:

      You think Hamil-Rampage has more appeal than this?

      • Isaiah says:

        It’s very weak too, but yeah, Rampage/Hamil has more appeal than two little guys fighting–one of whom is making his UFC debut and the other of whom just had a dud fight that was supposed to be a showcase and wasn’t heavily hyped.

  5. RossenSearchTeam says:

    Eh…

    jacob is burning me off of this one out of the gate.

    Nothing else I’m seeing is saving it.

    A resultser IMO.

    (Although admittadly a must have for Wandy fans.)

  6. David m says:

    Good show top to bottom, except Tito would even be a contender in Strikeforce and yet is on the main card against someone whose last fight was a squash match against JJ. I understand they think Tito still has some name value, but he doesn’t. He is done.

  7. edub says:

    Everybody if you want to see my take on the fights check out UFC 132 community predictions (shameless plug).

    In all honesty I think it’s pretty simple, for the main card at least: Cruz, Silva/Leben toss up, Condit, Bader, Siver. Cruz has just improved way too much for Urijah to hang with him for 5 rounds. Silva is a lot better than Leben, but his chin makes it a close fight. Bader does everything that Tito does, but better (he’s also younger, faster, and a better striker). IMO Kim has been fed a steady diet of opponents that are a little overrated. Kim very well could control Condit for 3 rounds, but I just don’t see that happening (even Kim wins he needs to be put in with a wrestler next). And lastly IMO Wiman has no shot against Siver. Dennis’s takedown defense has been steadily improving for the past couple of years, and IMO Wiman has never been that good. Look for Siver to blast him out in the first or second.

    Really hope Melvin can look good on the undercard, and get a high profile fight next. This bout with Roller is a step back, and definitely a “trap” fight.

  8. Chuck says:

    Why does this happen to so many people? It never happens to me. I had troubles posting here when I used to post using AOL, but since using Firefox it has been SO much better.

  9. Chuck says:

    Off topic, but Zuffa has released Brett Rogers from his Strikeforce contract over his arrest. He was arrested for stalking, third-degree assault, domestic assault by strangulation and child endangerment (things got ugly with his wife). Bail was set for $100,000. This was on Wednesday apparently. This is the first I have heard of this (via Sherdog).

    More than likely the right thing to do, but who thinks this was also an excuse to trim some excess fat? Or possibly Zuffa is trying to change their image, via this and the Nate Marquardt firings? If only Zuffa acted like this during all the Junie Browning fiascoes.

  10. david m says:

    Anthony Njokuani literally beat Andre Winner 90% to death in the first round, the fight surely should have been stopped, and 1 judge scored it 10-9. I give up.

  11. 45 Huddle says:

    Tito Ortiz will continue to give White heartburn, but this also means he won’t get cut and he won’t go to Bellator to help them get some named fighters for when they go to SpikeTV.

    So there is some underlining good in this for the UFC.

  12. EJ says:

    Wild of night of fights for sure tonight, here are my thoughts…

    1. The Natural Born Killer is officially back and badder than ever. Finally after a rough start to his UFC career, the real Carlos Condit has arrived and showed why so many people have been high on him for years. No I won’t pick him to beat GSP but he’ll give him the best fight of any other WW something which Diaz won’t do.

    2. Siver is in the mix, nice win tonight over Wiman i’d love to see him again Dos Anjos next.

    3. Ortiz showed exactly what I said about Bader was true, the guy was exposed by Jones and I have no clue why people didn’t see he was very beatable. Bader was broken in that fight like i’ve seen few top prospects get broken i’d love to see Tito face the winner of Lil’ Nog/Franklin in another legends fight.

    4. Leben got his grove back, after a horrible performance against Stann he got his stuff together and retired a legend. Wand is done no shame in that but once the chin goes there’s nothing you can do time to join Liddell in the UFC offices.

    5. Cruz is the man, he did to Faber what he’s done to everyone else he’s faced and I don’t see anyone taking the belt from him anytime soon. Forget about Silva vs. GSP the real champions superfight I want to see if Cruz vs. Aldo that has FOTY written all over it.

    • The Gaijin says:

      1. At least Condit is skilled/active/offensive enough off his back to make GSP work and to not be scared to take some chances on his feet with GSP. If GSP beats Diaz and Condit takes out someone a little higher in the rankings I am all for GSP-Condit.

      2. I like the Dos Anjos idea, or they could rematch Siver and Guillard or have one of them fight Miller.

      3. I think Tito vs. Nog/Franklin makes tons of sense, probably the best thing they can do with a newly redeemed Tito. Or maybe Tito vs. Rashad/Davis loser.

      4. 🙁 …the worst part is now Silva’s still showing no defense and getting KO’d by guys 20lbs lighter…not good.

      5. They desperately want Faber to be a poster child, but he keeps coming up short in title fights…I think he’s going to be a Franklin/Fitch – a guy that will continue to be at the top 3 in the division but will likely never win the big match. He’s just lost that extra step he used to have and he’s not fighting JEns Pulver anymore

  13. Mr. Roadblock says:

    I’m not good at going back and finding old posts. But remember how I said Tito would make an interesting bet? Couple told ya so’s for your Ryan Bader fans.

  14. The Gaijin says:

    I knew the NBA players were going to be hard up from the lockout b/c they live paycheck to paycheck, but I think Andre Miller should stick to playing point guard and not getting whipped by Anthony Njokuanki.

    Whaddya think Zach? 😉

  15. kutti says:

    is wand done ? …i´m shocked.

  16. Tradition Rules says:

    I was pulling for Silva, but KNEW Leben was going to win, as Wanderlei doesn’t even bother to cover up or protect his head,…he hasn’t in several years, he just comes out swinging like a mad man.

    I can appreciate the fact that he wants to give fans an exciting fight, but its time for him to employ traditional western boxing and head movement back into his muay thai style of mayhem striking. Will ad a few more years onto his career, and several more on to his life, as well as his ability to speak clearly.

    • The Gaijin says:

      Yeah, unfortunately I had resigned myself to this as well…sad to see but the guy refuses to acknowledge that he needs to implement defense into his game. He used to be able to take one, even if it stunned him/dropped him to a knee, in order to deliver a buzzsaw of violence but now one or two good ones and he’s out cold.

      Sad thing is he looked really good at the start there and stunned Leben, but instead of playing it smart and backing out and resetting he just went all hook happy…which is about the worst thing you can do with Leben. If he employed the Stann strategy he could have smoked him out as he was clearly much faster…c’est la vie…you can’t teach an old dog…

  17. Nepal says:

    The betting lines are often way off. Wandy favored over Leben??? I got Leban at +200 a month ago or so. Did well on that. Interestingly with Tito at +400 and above, I did take him on a small bet. I agree with what E.J. said. I always, always thought Bader was crap. So he KO’d Jardine, that’s not that impressive in my books. Tito, although he’s been out for a while still has his wrestling and we’ve seen some jitz with Machida, he was a good bet at those odds. I also won Dos Anjos but I lost the Bowles and Tavaras fights. Overall, positive night on the bets for me.

    It will be interesting to see what happens with Tito next. Also Bader, I can see The Master getting one more fight and then KO’d out of the UFC.

    Wandy needs to retire NOW.

    Faber vs Cruz was a great fight, 5 very competitive rounds. Not sure what Faber will do now. This is 4 title fight loses in a row for him. He’s great but he just can’t beat a guy like Cruz, nor can he beat a guy like Aldo.

    Condit added another feather to his cap but he is still a guy that lost 2 rounds in a row to a 20 year old kid and only won the fight because the 20 yr old gassed. Not that anybody thinks he has a chance vs. GSP, it’s just that he’s the next logical guy after Diaz (of course besides Fitch, which we’ve already seen).

    Melvin continued to look good. His chin was sticking out a bit, he hands a bit low and he got clipped for it once. If you’re looking for a guy to challenge Edgar, forget Guida, Aoki, Melendez, Alvarez. Melvin is looking like the man.

  18. Jaosn Harris says:

    I can’t help but chuckle a bit at the posters who were griping that this was such a terrible card, and they were going to watch that OMG AMAZING boxing fight instead. I watched the Klitscko-Haye….wow, what a shit fest. Didn’t know soccer flopping was a viable boxing strategy. Meanwhile the UFC card was great fight after great fight. Glad I didn’t choose one over the other, although I could have spent the time of the boxing fight doing something more interesting, like watching my lawn grow.

    • Well, if I were to have watched the majority of the UFC PPV fights the day after illegally, I could have done so in approximately 5 minutes. I’m glad you felt you got your money and time worth out of the UFC.

    • The Gaijin says:

      OH NOEZ!!!1!

      People having different opinions on FightOpinion?!? My word.

      Glad you feel vindicated that your $55 was money well spent, I guess?

      What a douchebag.

    • Dave says:

      They aren’t different sports or anything, and UFC only has blockbuster fights, right?

    • edub says:

      There was really no way to know Haye would’ve fought the way he did…

      However, there was also NO REASON to ever turn it into a discussion about “which one” you would rather watch. If you have HBO then you were going to get the fight at 4:45 PM (fight started around 5:30 pm because Haye bojangled in both coming to the ring and taking off his shirts in the ring). There was plenty of time to watch both.

      If you also ordered the PPV you got a good fight between a fringe top ten guy and a fringe top fifteen guy (Siver-Wiman). A great upset by a former champ over a guy close to the top 5 (Ortiz-Bader). A replay of the badassness that is Melvin Guillard. A legend getting KOd, and maybe going into retirement. And lastly a great fight between the #1 and #2 BWs in the world (Faber moves above Benavidez and Bowles in my rankings even in the loss). It was a great night of fights.

      • edub says:

        I forgot to mention Condit proving idiots wrong again. The guy should be fighting GSP next, and if Dana didn’t fall into the Diaz trap it would’ve been the perfect showcase fight.

      • Chuck says:

        Haye is blaming his performance on a broken toe he suffered a few weeks back. That man will put blame on everything EXCEPT himself.

      • Wow – for $55 I would get to see a replay of a 3 minute that was on free TV an hour earlier? What a bargain!

        • edub says:

          Is that all you got Alan, to nitpick the only part of my comment that added to your point? Cmon you’re better than that.

      • Jason Harris says:

        “However, there was also NO REASON to ever turn it into a discussion about “which one” you would rather watch.”

        That’s why I thought it was funny, I watched the fight on HBO and it ended about the time the first Facebook prelim fights were going on for UFC, so the whole “I’m going to watch this instead because the UFC fight sucks!” notion was silly and childish in the first place.

        The fact that it was a great night of MMA and an awful night of boxing is just icing on the cake of that ridiculous statement.

        It’s funny that the more the internet fans whine a card isn’t worth it, the more they tend to be awesome cards.

        And now I think Alan is somehow complaining that the fights were too short? Or bragging about pirating it? I can’t even tell anymore.

        • Jonathan Snowden says:

          It’s funny how often MMA fans mistake “explosive yet mediocre” for “great.”

        • Jason Harris says:

          Let me get this straight, Jonathan Snowden is complaining about something in modern MMA? Who’d have thought. I’m eagerly awaiting the feature article where Snowden proclaims the last UFC event to be the harbinger of UFC’s impending doom, like he has done for every event that’s happened in UFC since the SEG era. Trolls gotta troll.

        • IceMuncher says:

          I think it’s funny that Snowden is so jaded by MMA that a card headlined by a #1 vs #4 (possibly deserving #2 or #3?) title fight supported by a handful of good fights is “mediocre”. That’s “good”, not “mediocre”. Mediocre is what we get on Versus or Spike or at any promotion outside the UFC.

          We had 3 fighters ranked between 1-5 in their division, and another 4 in between 6-10. Snowden expects at least double that number before a fight card is worthy of being better than “mediocre”.

        • edub says:

          Snowden: Please explain your comment a little further. I fail to see how anything in that main event was mediocre, but I am open to the discussion. As long as you’re open to the rebuttal.

        • The Gaijin says:

          I just find it humourous that internet mma fanboys claim some sort of “personal victory” because there were lots of “exciting finishes.” Ooooohhh sparkly!

          Again, “sweet!” that you feel you spent your $55 well…I’m sure it was “very exciting” to the 280k people that bought it as well. I think I said numerous times before that it would be an entertaining card, but that not that many people would buy it because outside of Condit-Stun Gun and Cruz-Faber, these fights are pretty irrelevant to the grand scheme of things at the top of their respective divisions.

          Given the fact that they’ve already said Condit has another fight before he gets a title shot…well, I guess it was one fight.

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