Shahbazyan took part in his first headliner at UFC Vegas 5 against Brunson and was a betting favorite going into their middleweight bout.

Despite a promising start from the young prospect, Brunson took over in the second round as he used his wrestling to end the stanza strong with brutal ground and pound. A dazed Shahbazyan made it to the third but didn’t last long as Brunson would eventually finish him off early on via TKO.

While Brunson was pleased to have ended a hype train, he did reserve praise for the 22-year-old and also defended his head coach Edmond Tarverdyan, who has been a frequent receiver of criticism for his coaching methods.

Thanks for the fight young man . You’ll be back ! Blessings https://t.co/0wvKvSbexU

— Derek Brunson (@DerekBrunson) August 2, 2020

Edmond Tarverdyan was the head coach for Ronda Rousey who was 1 of the most dominate athletes on the planet & a got a 20 year old MW who he coached from youth,to the UFC who won several fights before finallly losing . Give that man some respect . Sounds like a good coach to me!!

— Derek Brunson (@DerekBrunson) August 7, 2020

That received a response from former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey, who was not only trained by Tarverdyan, but also manages Shahbazyan.

“Thank you @DerekBrunson, congrats on your well deserved victory and thank you for teaching @edmenshahbazyan lessons he needed to learn to be a champion ”

Thank you @DerekBrunson, congrats on your well derserved victory and thank you for teaching @edmenshahbazyan lessons he needed to learn to be a champion
https://t.co/sB1haYysmf

— Ronda Rousey (@RondaRousey) August 8, 2020

At the age of 22, Shahbazyan is already 4-1 with the UFC and if he comes out of this setback an even better fighter, his future will certainly remain bright, if not brighter.

The post Ronda Rousey thanks Derek Brunson for teaching Edmen Shahbazyan lessons needed to become champion appeared first on The Body Lock.

In wake of the legend’s recently announced retirement and the fallout from UFC Phoenix, it’s prompted a look back at those least deserving of an MMA chewing up and spitting out. These are the top 10 falls from grace in MMA history.

10. Josh Koscheck

Josh Koscheck was a part of the original cast of The Ultimate Fighter at middleweight. Debuting in the UFC in his third professional bout, he would go on to enjoy a lengthy run with the promotion.

Although he only earned one title shot in his career, Koscheck was always a perennial top 10-5 contender and staple of the welterweight division’s elite. Unfortunately, those times wouldn’t last.

Looking to put together another title shot worthy streak following his first, Koscheck would win back to back fights before being halted in a very close battle with Johny Hendricks. Prior to this fight, Koscheck had never lost back to back fights in his 23 fight career.

Including the Hendricks loss, Koscheck would five straight fights before exiting the UFC for Bellator. Those four losses that followed the Hendricks loss all came via finish (two submissions, two KO/TKOs).

In Koscheck’s Bellator debut against Mauricio Alonso, he would find some good success early on but inevitably get caught by Alonso thus leading to yet another knockout loss. Koscheck would announce his retirement in June 2018.

9. Miguel Angel Torres

Similarly to another entry coming up on this list, former WEC bantamweight king Miguel Angel Torres was once considered one of the pound-for-pound best in MMA as he boasted a staggeringly impressive record of 37-1 before suffering his second career defeat.

That defeat came in his fourth attempted title defense when he took on Brian Bowles who would stop him via knockout in the first round. In the fight that followed, he would be submitted by Joseph Benavidez before getting another win which came in the form of a rear-naked choke over Charlie Valencia.

After the Valencia win, the WEC would be absorbed by the UFC which gave Torres a great new opportunity at continuing to build onto his legacy despite his recent decisive losses. However, the MMA Gods had other plans.

Torres would end up going 2-2 in the UFC before being released after a brutal knockout loss to Michael McDonald. Life after the UFC wouldn’t be the worst for the former champion as he closed out his career 4-4.

Expectations were rightfully high for Torres as the UFC was getting close to bringing in the lighter weights. Unfortunately, their poster boy quickly faded out of the picture.

8. Jason “Mayhem” Miller

Perhaps the most upsetting entry on the list, Jason “Mayhem” Miller’s downward spiral still continues to this day.

Having now gone through countless legal troubles since the end of his MMA career, Mayhem was one of those cases of not being able to accept being without the UFC after getting back to it.

The world was in the palm of Mayhem’s hand. A top contender in the middleweight division outside of the UFC as one of the most underrated grapplers in the sport, he had a reality TV show, things arguably couldn’t have been better. That was until Strikeforce was bought out by the UFC.

Miller originally debuted in the UFC at welterweight in 2005. His opponent would be none other than the aforementioned St-Pierre who would defeat him by unanimous decision.

Six years later and Miller was back as one of the coaches for season 14 of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) opposite Michael Bisping. In the prime of his career and riding a dominant two-fight winning streak, a win over Bisping would have put Miller a fight or two at most away from a title shot. Obviously, that’s not how things played out.

After a solid first round in his favor, Mayhem would lose steam in the second and into the third as Bisping took over before finishing the BJJ black belt with ground and pound strikes.

In his following bout, the pressure was on as Mayhem took on CB Dollaway in a fight that he admitted he thought that if he couldn’t win against Dollaway, he didn’t deserve to be in the UFC. Mayhem would indeed lose via unanimous decision despite almost knocking out Dollaway on multiple occasions… However, Mayhem’s torn ACL made that almost an impossibility to fully capitalize on. Surely something that didn’t help him come to terms with the outcome mentally.

Miller would eventually return after a four-year retirement to fight in Venator FC against Mattia Schiavolin at middleweight. Miller clearly didn’t even attempt to cut weight as he weighed in well over the 185-pound limit at 207-pounds. Even prior to that fight and to this day, Mayhem Miller finds himself battling with the law more often than he ever did in MMA.

7. Chuck Liddell

Chuck Liddell was the face of the UFC before anyone else was. But even he didn’t get his Cinderella story.

The five-time UFC light heavyweight champion only suffered two TKO losses (out of three total losses) before he lost the title in his rematch with Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. Closing out his career, Liddell would go 1-6.

That lone win came in an all-time classic against Wanderlei Silva after a split decision loss to Keith Jardine. After that, Liddell would suffer three straight devastating knockout losses… That’s before returning to action eight years later to add on another one at the expense of his old rival, Tito Ortiz.

Despite all of Liddell’s initial three final knockout losses all coming to former or future champions, it was still shocking to see the legendary striker that was “The Iceman” be defeated in such fashion.

6. Gray Maynard

Very few fighters in UFC history have earned title shots without a single blemish on their record. Lightweight “Bully” Gray Maynard will go down in the history books as one of those.

After going 10-0 with a win over the then-champion Frankie Edgar, Maynard would get his title fight rematch. Finding massive amounts of success early on, Maynard would end up going to a draw with Edgar in one of the best fights MMA fans have ever seen. The trilogy bout would go similarly, except Edgar would find the knockout in the fourth. From here on out, Maynard was never the same.

Maynard has gone 3-6 since his last title fight with four of those losses coming via knockout.

During his time as an elite of the lightweights, imagining him losing to the likes of Alexander Yakovlev, Nik Lentz, Ross Pearson, and Ryan Hall just wouldn’t have been a reasonable thought. Yet he did… And clearly.

Not to disrespect those names either, but that’s just how good Maynard was against Edgar and prior to their last two meetings.

5. Hector Lombard

Like Torres, former Bellator middleweight king Hector Lombard once was one of the most highly touted fighters to ever enter the UFC. His 31-2-1 record and scary knockout power accompanied by world-class Judo was enough to put anyone on notice.

Immediately upon arrival, Lombard’s hype slowed down significantly in his debut with Tim Boetsch as the two fought rather cautiously en route to a questionable split decision loss. The Cuban would find some nice success with a knockout of Rousimar Palhares before dropping to welterweight to dispatch of Nate Marquardt, Jake Shields, and Josh Burkman… That was before he tested positive for banned substances.

Since then, Lombard hasn’t won a single fight with a stunning six straight losses. Three of which came via knockout.

As one of the fighters with the most potential arguably ever, Lombard just couldn’t live up to it and fell hard from when his spot on top.

4. Rashad Evans

Just like Maynard, The TUF 2 winner Rashad Evans would be one of the few fighters that have ever gotten a title shot with a perfect undefeated record. Putting him in an even rarer category would be the fact that he won the title.

Despite a devastating loss in his first title defense, Evans would grow from it and only look better as he rattled off four straight dominant victories. Meeting his match in his second shot at gold against longtime teammate, Jon Jones was when things took a turn.

Evans would finish his career going 2-7 after the Jones fight with the two wins coming over Dan Henderson and Chael Sonnen. With a lackluster stint at middleweight thrown in, “Suga” would find himself losing to Sam Alvey and Daniel Kelly before being violently knocked out by Anthony Smith.

As one of the greatest light heavyweights to ever do it, injuries could have eventually been the primary cause of what took Evans off the mountain’s peak.

3. Ronda Rousey

Perhaps a controversial entry but mind you, this is an MMA specific list.

Before Conor McGregor burst onto the scene, Ronda Rousey was the bonafide MMA megastar, the household name. The undefeated arm collector, everyone knew her name whether they were a fan of the sport or not.

When she finally lost and in the fashion she did, it was an absolute shock to the world.

Holly Holm brilliantly picked apart Rousey over the course of six minutes before landing one of the most significant head kicks in MMA history. After that, Rousey essentially vanished for an entire year before returning to try and reclaim her title.

However, that didn’t go much better as, by that point, Amanda Nunes had obtained the gold strap and was not going to give it back. Especially after being so promotionally overshadowed.

Nunes only needed 48 seconds to spoil Rousey’s comeback party and that was the last time she was seen in an MMA setting. With little to no words spoken in regards to the sport in general since her first loss, Rousey’s massive MMA spotlight shrunk with an insurmountable quickness… Whether it was partially her own fault or not.

2. Johny Hendricks

Stylistically, Johny Hendricks had everything required to be a dominant long-time champion.

A powerful wrestler with one punch knockout power and the ability to mix up striking combinations with ease, Hendricks had his first career title shot come against the legendary Georges St-Pierre… Who has been mentioned a time or two in this list…

Hendricks would go on to lose a unanimous decision in a fight that many believe is one of the biggest robberies in MMA history. Hendricks was the first man in several years to give St-Pierre a competitive run for his money, unlike anything we had seen before.

In his title fight that followed after St-Pierre vacated, Hendricks would put on one of his best and most thrilling performances opposite Robbie Lawler en route to a clear unanimous decision win. Thus awarding him with the title, no controversy afoot.

With Hendricks then shelved with a bicep injury until December of that year, Lawler had re-earned a title shot by that point thus setting up a rematch, which led to the controversy making a comeback.

Hendricks would lose via split decision in another robbery-like fashion. However, fans weren’t too upset with the decision going to Lawler due to Hendricks’ more “boring approach” to this fight compared to the first.

After that loss, things snowballed rapidly for the Oklahoman former champion.

Hendricks lost five of his last seven bouts before retiring from MMA. His once mind-blowing power had seemingly disappeared and he became the one getting finished with strikes as that was the result of three of those losses.

Accompanied by an inconsistency in making weight at both welterweight and middleweight, Hendricks had just done a complete 180 as a fighter.

To make things even worse, he would go on to debut in bare-knuckle boxing in November 2018 only to suffer another knockout and not receive a single penny for his efforts from the promotion the fight was held by, the World Bareknuckle Fighting Federation.

1. Renan Barao

Could it have been anyone else?

Throughout the list, relations have been made between several fighters. However, Renan Barao’s story is somewhat a combination of them all, unfortunately.

Mind-blowing win streak, dominant UFC champion, weight issues, considered a pound-for-pound great while on top, decisively lost to fighters we never could have imagined him losing to.

Barao was at the pinnacle of MMA. Becoming a champion during Dominick Cruz’ absence, Barao looked about as dangerous as anyone in the world as evidenced by his destruction of Brad Pickett, and complete shutdowns of Michael McDonald, Eddie Wineland, and Urijah Faber (twice).

Then in came the underdog, TJ Dillashaw to flip Barao’s world upside down.

Since the first encounter between Dillashaw and Barao, the former bantamweight champ literally has not been the same. 2-6 following the fight, Barao currently finds himself on a four-fight skid with weight misses in three of those four. The most recent loss came at UFC Phoenix this past weekend and was very well his last fight in the UFC.

Even though he’s still only 32-years-old, Barao has fallen unbelievably far from the spot that he was once at. Perhaps he can still turn things around… But until then, his fall from grace tops them all.

The post Top 10 falls from grace in MMA history appeared first on The Body Lock.

So, why on earth is Holly Holm vs. Ronda Rousey considered the UFC’s greatest upset?

Significance vs. Quality

Love her or hate her, Rousey’s crossover stardom was the impetus for deep investment in WMMA by the UFC.

Regardless of her attitude or over-promotion, Rousey meant a great deal to female athletes. Fighting is about as hyper-masculine as it gets, and to watch a strong woman dominate pay-per-view numbers was empowering. She accomplished this without diminishing her femininity, posing in Sports Illustrated while hitting back at critics who considered her chubby. One only needs to see the clip of a little girl rushing to hug Rousey during a martial arts demonstration to understand what she meant to many fans.

She wasn’t the magic bullet by any means; WMMA fighters are judged disproportionately by their sex appeal and their divisions lag in terms of skill and depth compared to their male counterparts. But Rousey is directly responsible for women headlining PPV cards and getting spots in UFC commercials.

The question is whether that automatically means Rousey was a high caliber champion. And the answer to that is a resounding no.

Ronda Rousey was a questionable queen

Think that WMMA divisions are shallow today? Well, they were laughable a half-decade ago.

Fighters carried skill-sets reminiscent of early 2000’s UFC, being competent in one discipline and marginal in all others. The strikes were often pushed rather than snapped and a lot of the wrestling amounted to a bull-headed, clumsy takedown. There were few serious weight-cutters and no contenders that matched Rousey’s height. The best fighter Rousey beat was Miesha Tate, who would later go on to win the title. But Tate matched up horrendously against Rousey, as her telegraphed double-leg takedowns were perfect judo fodder.

Most of her challengers went on to become middle to bottom-middle fighters who won and lost in equal measure.

Against this level of competition, the UFC marketed her as a savant and casual fans lapped it up. These same fans guffawed when her critics pointed out that Holly Holm was a dangerous opponent.

A true challenger approaches

At first glance, Holm was tall and undefeated, and that’s about it. Her performances against Raquel Pennington and Marion Reneau were comfortable if uninspired. Certainly nothing that indicated she could upset the UFC’s golden girl. But anyone who bothered to look closer realized she was light years ahead of Rousey’s other challengers.

She wasn’t just tall, but cut a lot of weight without sacrificing cardio. Whereas most of her division plodded and shuffled, she bounced in and out. Her left cross and head kick carried true fight-ending power, and she knew how to set them up. She was deceptively strong in the clinch, valuable against a judo fighter. No one predicted that Holm would wax Rousey inside two rounds, but her victory was considered plausible by knowledgeable fans.

There’s a reason that Amanda Nunes destroyed Rousey in one round, and that Valentina Shevchenko would likely do the same in two or three.

The UFC began marketing Rousey’s title reign just as the UFC experienced an explosion in mainstream interest. It seems that most of the fans got swept up in the hype and, without historical context or analysis, believe they witnessed the greatest giant-slaying in the company’s history.

So who owns the real greatest upset in UFC history?

The underdog of underdogs

Before UFC 69, Georges St-Pierre sat majestically atop the welterweight division. He was riding a five-fight win streak that culminated in a title-winning knockout over Matt Hughes, avenging his only career loss. He looked every inch the unstoppable welterweight juggernaut he’d be remembered as.

He’d defend his belt against the stocky fireplug, Matt Serra.

Standing only 5′ 6″ with a 68″ reach, Serra sported a 9-4 record overall and went 3-3 in his last six. He’d spent five straight fights at lightweight before returning to welterweight for his most recent two, which he split. Despite being a talented BJJ practitioner, Serra won the majority of his UFC fights by decision. Had Dana White not promised a title shot to The Ultimate Fighter 4 winner, Serra wouldn’t have even sniffed the belt. He gave up height, reach, skill and strength, and everyone expected that the Canadian wonder would roll him.

And for the few couple minutes, St-Pierre looked to do just that. His long strides and natural athleticism let him dart in and out with ease. He exploited his reach advantage and fired off the same high kicks that had crumpled Matt Hughes. But Serra held fast and deployed his own, sneaky strategy, targeting St-Pierre’s ribs with swinging right hands. They weren’t fight-ending shots but carried enough sting that the champion couldn’t ignore them. So when Serra stepped deep and wound up his right hand three minutes in, St-Pierre lowered his hands.

Except Serra was swinging his right hand over the top.

The blow caught St-Pierre behind the ear and he stumbled. Serra swarmed the champion, using his compact reach to fire right hand after right hand to the temple, repeatedly dropping GSP. 30 seconds later, Serra landed cleanly to the chin and pounded St-Pierre out.

The greatest upset in UFC history had been completed.

One of a kind upset

The magnitude of his upset can never be duplicated. Most other “underdogs” went on to have great careers, showing they were undervalued rather than under-skilled. The feedback loop between casual fans and UFC promotion created the Holm vs. Rousey “upset” when the challenger actually stood a good chance. TJ Dillashaw and Rose Namajunas beat the champions they upset in a rematch, revealing they weren’t underdogs at all.

Conversely, Serra lost his belt in a rematch with St. Pierre and finished his career on a 1-3 skid. He pulled off a devious plan to win the belt and could never duplicate the magic.

St-Pierre, meanwhile, changed his entire fighting philosophy after the loss. Serra changed him from a striking-centered fighter to the wrestling machine we love to hate. He frequently cites this fight as his biggest learning experience and would never lose another fight, finishing his career with a jaw-dropping 26-2 record.

So next time a “fan” mouths off about how Holly Holm vs. Ronda Rousey was the greatest upset in UFC history, educate them. Remind them of the difference between an upset in the mind of the uneducated and an upset in the truest sense of the word. Insist they do their research instead of taking the UFC promotional material as gospel.

And then tell them of Matt Serra. Tell them of the portly, aging American who bet it all on a right hand he had no business landing. The man who changed the entire style of the man who may be the greatest fighter in UFC history.

Remind them that a decade ago, you saw a man catch lightning in a bottle.

The post Stop calling Ronda Rousey vs. Holly Holm the greatest upset in UFC history appeared first on The Body Lock.

How did she get here?

The dark horse 

When Holm was first announced as Ronda Rousey’s next challenger, few people gave her a chance. Casual fans (many of whom Rousey attracted to the sport) had a litany of “evidence” in her favor. She was undefeated at 12-0 and finished all but one of those fights in the first round. Her opponents looked pathetically outmatched, flailing desperately before Rousey took them down and pounded them out. On the flip side, Holm had only beaten Raquel Pennington and Marion Reneau by decision.

But a small minority of educated fans recognized Holm as the most dangerous challenger Rousey would face.

If WMMA suffers from depth issues now, it was downright laughable in Rousey’s heyday. Other than Tate, Rousey’s opponents were all journeywomen with rudimentary striking and grappling. Tate’s only strengths were bullish toughness and a relentless double leg takedown, but this was easily countered by Rousey’s judo. It would be incorrect to say the UFC was spoon-feeding Rousey challengers because there weren’t any quality contenders to begin with.

Until Holm.

At 5′ 8″ with a 70″ reach, Holm was a giant at bantamweight. Prior to entering the UFC, Holm had won all but one of her fights by knockout. Despite being a world champion boxer, Holm had finished five opponents by kicks. She moved beautifully and understood how to set up her finishing shots. Her performance in the UFC seemed indicative of her cautiousness rather than her skill level.

The girl who shook the world

Even the small minority of fans who predicted Holm would make a fight of it were shocked by what happened next.

At range, Holm pasted Rousey with stiff left crosses and kicks to the obliques. If Rousey got into brawling range, she’d catch her with a check hook and circle away. The one time Rousey managed to ground her, Holm was so strong that she was able to tear free of the armbar and got back to her feet. Eventually, she compromised Rousey’s already porous defense badly enough that she decked her with a head kick.

It wasn’t the upset that many people make it out to be, but it was a perfect performance against the UFC’s premier star. It’s like getting called onstage by David Blaine and interrupting the performance to correctly guess his social security number.

Overnight, Holm’s star had soared higher than the UFC’s biggest draw.

Surprising limitations

And then, after the greatest performance in WMMA history, Holm dropped three straight fights.

The loss to Tate was surprising but forgivable. After all, Holm had won every round until Tate gutted out a takedown and secured the choke in the fifth. People (justifiably) complimented Tate instead of ragging on Holm. But more consecutive losses to Valentina Shevchenko and Germaine de Randamie revealed a flaw that has plagued legendary counter fighters throughout history: Holm couldn’t lead.

When forced to initiate the offense, Holm would move in on a straight line with straight punches and the occasional kick. That’s not a terrible combination to come in on, but she was so passive and predictable that opponents managed to repeatedly time her. \

Another, weirder flaw showed itself during the de Randamie fighter: a war cry.

Perhaps out of habit or maybe just frustration, Holm literally shouts before each strike in a combination. This is great in Street Fighter but terrible in an actual combat sport. Even if Holm attempted a combination other than a 1-2 kick, de Randamie could still time her counters to Holm’s voice. I’m not saying Stevie Wonder could beat her in a fight, but he could probably dodge most of Holm’s combinations.

One more shot at history

Because the WMMA featherweight division is so barren, Holm is in a unique position.

Despite being 1-3 in her last four with her only win being against an overrated Bethe Correia, Holm finds herself getting another title shot. Once again, she’ll face off against the consensus best WMMA fighter in the world and once again she’ll come in as the underdog. If she wins, all of her struggles will be erased. No one cares that you lost three straight after winning the title when you’re the only WMMA fighter to win a title in two divisions.

Winning cures everything, and Holm has the sickness.

The post Holly Holm: Desperate giant killer appeared first on The Body Lock.