Legends Mma Fighters
Georges Saint-Pierre is one of the greatest UFC fighters and bona fide MMA legends. He’s up there on the Mount Rushmore of the most elite mixed martial artists and will forever be regarded as a shining example of what a great MMA fighter should be. A two-weight world champion, “GSP” did most of his magic at welterweight. A legendary MMA fighter and UFC champion, Liddell is a fighter responsible for bringing the sport to the wider masses in the early to mid-2000s. An incredibly exciting fighter, “The Ice-Man” was all-action. His wars with Randy Couture and Tito Ortiz saw him raised to. To date, Legends MMA has held 6 events and presided over approximately 19 matches.
What mattered most at UFC Fight Night 184 on Las Vegas? Here are a few post-fight musings …
1. Cory Sandhagen's 'KO of the Year' should lock title shot
Legends MMA trains fighters the base of the original style of boxing to sharpen up our hands to incorporate them into Kickboxing and MMA. Boxing uses a lot of cardio so it is also used for people who just want to lose weight, get in shape, or stay healthy. We have our very own boxing team here at Legends MMA.
Wow. Just wow. Even the morning after the fight, I’m still not over what Cory Sandhagen (14-2 MMA, 7-1 UFC) did to Frankie Edgar in there. We’ve seen Edgar put down with strikes by Brian Ortega and Chan Sung Jung before, but those were nothing compared to this.
The flying knee strike Sandhagen landed to stiffen Edgar up like a board and flatten him on the canvas was one of the most beautiful and frightening things I’ve ever seen happen inside the octagon. Considering I’m almost a decade into working in the business – with many years following the fight game before that – it says a lot about how violent the finish was.
If Sandhagen’s masterpiece isn’t high on the list for “Knockout of the Year,” or simply the outright winner by the time the end of December rolls around, we’re in for some real doozies this year. It’s going to be tough to beat, though.
My criteria when handing out “KO of the Year” combines style, stakes and shock value. This one had it all. It was a title eliminator against one of the all-time legends of the sport, and Sandhagen ended it quick, clean and in a fashion that should instill some worry into every other bantamweight.
The list of candidates worthy of the next title shot at 135 pounds starts and stops with Sandhagen. I don’t want to hear anything about him fighting T.J. Dillashaw right now after his finish of Edgar, and knockout of Marlon Moraes before it. He’s the man, and unless something crazy happens in the UFC 259 title fight between Petr Yan and Aljamain Sterling like a super controversial result, Sandhagen is the clear choice to fight the winner.
2. The end for Alistair Overeem and Frankie Edgar?
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The 40-year-old Alistair Overeem (47-19 MMA, 12-8 UFC) already has spent more than two decades as an active competitor in MMA, and now he’s at a crossroads with a crucial decision to make about his future after suffering a second-round TKO loss to Alexander Volkov in the main event.
Will Overeem, who has been very self-aware about his limits and fighting timeline during his “one final run” to a heavyweight title shot, make the difficult but correct choice to hang up his gloves? With another UFC championship opportunity likely out of reach for good, that would be the ideal scenario.
The other option, however, is Overeem chases a final moment of success, because he doesn’t want his lasting moment to be his bloodied face getting dropped and stopped. That’s a dangerous game, though, because there’s no guarantee the next fight won’t end in the same manner, or perhaps with something worse.
Edgar (24-9-1 MMA, 18-9-1 UFC) finds himself in essentially the same boat after his highlight-reel knockout loss. He’s creeping up on age 40, and he’s got nearly eight hours of fight time under the UFC banner alone, which is the all-time record.
The bantamweight division is filled with some real savages, and after getting put out like he did against Sandhagen, it does feel like a potentially scary turning point where thing could go from bad to worse with regard to his long-term health.
List Of Mma Fighters
Overeem and Edgar are two absolute legends of the sport, and their respective bodies of work should never be forgotten. I’m not saying definitively that both need to retire right now, but watching them get eaten up by the younger hungry lions of the game within minutes of each other was perhaps a sign that should taken seriously.
3. Alexander Volkov shows his sharpness
Credit to Alexander Volkov (33-8 MMA, 7-2 UFC). He seems to be a resilient guy who is dedicated to his craft, and after getting utterly washed by the wrestling of Curtis Blaydes for five rounds back in June, he’s managed to put together back-to-back finishes of Overeem and Walt Harris.
Although Overeem came into the headliner with all the striking credentials, it was Volkov who showed superiority on the feet. He methodically worked over his opponent with a disciplined but highly effective striking game, bloodying Overeem to a gruesome degree before finishing him off in the second round.
If someone let’s Volkov strike from his most comfortable range without mixing it up on him, it’s likely not going to end well. The Russian has asserted himself as one of the best heavyweights right now, but can he break through into that championship tier?
The top four in the heavyweight title picture at this time are champ Stipe Miocic, Francis Ngannou, an incoming Jon Jones and Blaydes. Those fights are all a handful for Volkov on paper – and we already saw what happened against Blaydes in reality – but if he keeps winning, it won’t be long until he can’t be denied a chance to prove himself against one of those guys.
4. Clay Guida's historic night comes with a win
Legends Mma Fighters Champions
Legends Mma Fighters Fighting
Unlike his veteran colleagues Overeem and Edgar, it was a landmark night in the career of Clay Guida (36-20 MMA, 16-14 UFC) as he became just the eighth fighter in UFC history to step in the octagon 30 times. What made it even more special, though, is that he left the cage with a win.
Guida was able to outwork fellow lightweight veteran Michael Johnson over the course of three rounds to win a unanimous decision in what was a rather classic showing from “The Carpenter,” who will turn 40 at the end of this year.
Although he’s had a lot of peaks and valleys over the course of his storied tenure, Guida is still a familiar and serviceable name on the roster who finds ways to get his hand raised. The wins have been fewer and further between as the years have gone on, but the fact he’s stuck around as long as he has, with limited easy fights along the way, says a lot about how he should be remembered.
5. Beneil Dariush continues to cruise
Beneil Dariush (20-4-1 MMA, 14-4-1 UFC) has now won six consecutive fights in the ultra-competitive lightweight division, and it seems only now he’s going to crack the top 10 of arguably the deepest weight class in the sport.
Dariush showed once again that he’s the better man to Diego Ferreira, taking a split decision in a rematch of a fight he also won on the scorecards in October 2014. He’s more than proven himself at this point, and we can only hope he gets an opportunity to move way up.
At one point in late 2020, Dariush was scheduled to fight Charles Oliveira in what seemed like the perfect opportunity for him. It fell apart when “Do Bronx” with withdrew, and the Brazilian went on to beat Tony Ferguson in another matchup and has obviously graduated beyond a matchup with Dariush.
Still, though, Dariush deserves something on that level going forward. Hopefully it can happen for him, because he’s earned it the hard way.