Three “Huh?” Moments in MMA Last Week: August 21 Edition

There have been a bunch of fight announcements from various promotions in the month of August, but none received as negative a response as Bigfoot Silva’s return to combat sports. The reason? He’ll be competing in the first kickboxing bout of his career. Huh? Oh, and it’s against the Glory heavyweight champion and all-around badass Rico Verhoeven. HUH?

One of the marquee fighters in the history of the UFC’s heavyweight division, the rise and fall of Bigfoot is one of the most interesting stories in MMA. Unfortunately, as is the case in combat sports, the fall has been anything but graceful. Silva’s recent run results in a record of 1-8-1 in his last 10 fights, dating back to his UFC heavyweight title-loss to Cain Velasquez in May of 2013. In those eight losses, seven are via knockout, with five of those knockouts losses coming in the first round.

That’s not good. Silva’s health issues are well-documented, and getting continually knocked out can’t help much. Walking away from any career is easier said than done, and Silva isn’t the first fighter, and won’t be the last, to make fans audibly groan with each new fight announcement. In any case, Silva is excited for the opportunity headed his way this October in China.

“It’s a new experience for me,” Silva said. “I’m a professional athlete for years and I like to try new things, new challenges. I feel like an amateur going for his first fight, trying to show what he can do, and God willing everything will be alright.” – via MMA Fighting

Agreed, Bigfoot.

Everyday Bellator MMA begins to look more and more like the UFC of yesteryear. Their latest addition is former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir. Huh.

Bellator’s heavyweight division needed reinforcements, and Coker and Co. have added Roy Nelson and Mir to the stable of fighters this year. Joined by several other notable fighters, Mir’s signing continues the growth and expansion of Bellator in 2017. But, we won’t see him competing in the promotion until next year. After losing to Mark Hunt in March of 2016, Mir tested positive for banned substances, and was suspended by USADA until April of 2018.

It’ll be interesting to see who Mir gets in his promotional debut, and there are a few solid options. Matt Mitrione and Cheick Kongo are likely the top contenders in the division, which currently lacks a title belt. A rematch with Roy Nelson wouldn’t be the worst idea, considering their last bout came in May of 2011. There’s that Fedor Emelianenko guy, too.

Either way, Bellator seems like a good fit for Mir. At least he’s not kickboxing Rico Verhoeven.

With a few weeks without an event, and everyone focusing their energy and attention on that one boxing bout coming up this weekend, the UFC is taking advantage of the spotlight. Announcing fights on a daily basis, the premier promotion in MMA is filling in the rest of their 2017 event calendar. Early indications are we’re in for a fun few months of fights in the UFC.

Cards in Rotterdam, Pittsburgh, Japan, Poland, Norfolk, and more have received a handful of fights for fans to get excited about. But the major events have been getting touched-up, too. Huh?

First, the bad news. UFC 215 has had a tricky existence. Originally slated for Seattle in August, then moved to Edmonton in September, the pay-per-view event has a couple of solid title-fights in the main and co-main event slots. Featuring defenses from Demetrious Johnson and Amanda Nunes, the main card looked like a fun one for fight fans. Then, last week, Junior Dos Santos was pulled from the card and his bout with Francis Ngannou, due to failing a test from USADA.

UFC 216, taking place in early-October in Las Vegas, will feature a somewhat surprising main event. Tony Ferguson will finally get his shot at the interim lightweight belt, but will be fighting Kevin Lee, not the apparently still-recovering Khabib Nurmagomedov, which was the plan earlier this year. They’ll be joined by Fabricio Werdum and Derrick Lewis battling on the card, in an interesting matchup for the UFC’s heavyweight division. The usage of Lee, a Detroit-native, two months before UFC 218 (which takes place in Detroit) is also surprising, as he seemed an obvious fit for his hometown PPV.

The promotion may be in another situation where they’re running low on main event options, something we’ve seen throughout 2017. Then, they begin announcing bouts for UFC 217 at Madison Square Garden in November, and the idea of running out of main events starts to make sense. Why? Because they’re looking at doing three (four?) title-fights at MSG.

Currently, Georges St. Pierre’s long-awaited return to the UFC will come against Michael Bisping in the main event of UFC 217. MSG’s PPV will also feature one of the best matchups the UFC can make when Cody Garbrandt defends his bantamweight title against former 135-pound champion TJ Dillashaw. There have also been reports of a strawweight title-fight between Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Rose Namajunas. Oh, Wonderboy-Masvidal is on the card too. Huh.

A couple of former UFC heavyweights have found landing spots outside of MMA’s premier promotion. They are very different roads, but we wish both Bigfoot Silva and Frank Mir the best in their new ventures. While we wait for their next fights, we’ll be treated to a bevvy of bouts from the UFC, including some intriguing PPV events and high-profile title-fights.

I don't want to live on this planet anymore. pic.twitter.com/2gZw4MoW0u

— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) August 17, 2017