Retrospective 2014: May to August – problems, fights, Barão’s ordeal and more problems

Jones x Cormier fight, Sonnen x Wand confusion and Barão's fall marked the second quarter. Photo: SUPER FIGHTS Production

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RETROSPECTIVE 2014: January to April – the year begins turbulently for the UFC

In the first part of the SUPER LUTAS 2014 Retrospective, you followed the turbulent start to the year of the main MMA organization on the planet, the UFC. He recalled the title fights, the fights and the problems. In this second part, which covers the months between May and August, you will see that things haven't changed that much.

Once again, a fight between two of the main athletes on the planet took over the sports news, anti-doping tests and injuries also caused real damage to the schedules and new champions were crowned, both in Ultimate and in rival organizations.

Check out the main highlights of the year month by month:

May: the zebra walks in the rings

Barão (left) is punched by Dillashaw (right) at UFC 173. Photo: Josh Hedges/UFC

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With the output of Chris Weidman e Lyoto Machida, whose fight was postponed until July, the UFC 173 card received the last-minute addition of a fight between the bantamweight champion Renan Barao and the North American challenger TJ Dillashaw. Undefeated for almost a decade and with an impeccable recent record against the main rivals in his category, the Brazilian was a clear favorite to retain the title against Dillashaw.

However, what happened on the night of May 24th was one of the biggest upsets in UFC history. TJ Dillashaw not only broke the bank by winning Renan Barao, as he did in an absolute and undeniable manner, dominating his opponent over five rounds until knocking him out in the final round.

Barão's defeat left Brazil with just one belt, that of his Nova União teammate José Aldo at featherweight, and presented the Brazilian public for the first time in years with the chance for the country to be left without any representatives among the champions of the largest MMA organization on the planet. Subsequently, a rematch between Renan and Dillashaw was announced for UFC 177, at the end of August.

Bellator 120 poster after last minute changes. Photo: Disclosure

But it wasn't just the UFC that experienced difficult days in the fifth month of the year. Great rival Bellator tried for the second time to promote its first card in pay-per-view and again experienced last-minute problems that put the event at risk. However, this time, unlike what had happened in 2013, when the organization decided to cancel the PPV that would be headlined by Quinton Rampage e Tito Ortiz, the marketing of the card was maintained and there was only one change in the main fight.

Bellator 120 took place on May 17th, in Mississippi (USA), and, instead of the lightweight belt dispute between Michael chandler and Eddie Alvarez as the main fight, there was a duel for the interim title of the under-70 kg division between Michael chandler and Will Brooks as co-main event. With this, the settlement of accounts between Quinton Rampage Jackson and "King mo” Lawal was promoted to main combat.

And the zebras also took over the circular cage. Without fighting in almost two years and coming off an injury that delayed his Bellator debut, the UFC Hall of Famer Tito Ortiz submitted the organization's then middleweight champion Alexander Shmelenko, in a fight valid for the light heavyweight category. In the interim title fight, favorite Chandler was surprised by Will Brooks, who won in a split decision from the judges. From a commercial point of view, the pay-per-view reached the mark of 100 thousand units sold.

Wand (right) was cut from the fight against Sonnen (left) at the end of May. Photo: Reproduction

But May still had big surprises in store in its final stretch. While most of the Brazilian press was in São Paulo (SP) to cover the TUF Brasil 3 Final, a big bombshell came from the United States on the 30th: Wanderlei Silva had escaped a surprise drug test in Las Vegas and was out of the fight against Chael Sonnen, scheduled for UFC 175 in July. To replace “Crazy Dog”, Ultimate announced the entry of Vitor belfort, who would first need to have his license to fight granted by the Nevada Athletic Commission.

The announced interview Wanderlei Silva e Chael Sonnen during the event in São Paulo it was highly anticipated, but the Brazilian did not appear at the Ibirapuera Gymnasium. Only Sonnen showed up and, alone, had space to shine in a chat with the press. The loudmouth once and for all embraced his new status as a “good guy” and the positive fame acquired among the Brazilian public during TUF Brasil 3 and spoke with good humor for almost 30 minutes about Wand, TUF, the fight against Vitor and several other topics .

In the Octagon, on the 31st, Warlley alves beat Márcio Lyoto to become TUF Brasil 3 champion in the middleweight category. In the heavy ones, Antonio Shoe Guy passed by Vitor miranda and took the title. In the main fight of the third Brazilian event of 2014, last-minute replacement Fábio Maldonado was quickly knocked out by Stipe Miocic.

June: change at Bellator and sales embarrassment at UFC

S. Coker (photo) became the new CEO of Bellator. Photo: Disclosure

The month of June began with news that shook the backstage of MMA: the departure of president and founder of Bellator Bjorn Rebney from the organization and his subsequent replacement by the former director of the now defunct Strikeforce Scott Coker. For undisclosed reasons, Rebney was passed over by the management of Viacom, a group that is involved in the event and runs the organization's partner television network.

The arrival of Scott Coker has already brought about some drastic changes in the UFC's biggest rival. Right away, Coker announced the end of Bellator's traditional seasonal tournaments and its new schedule based on events distributed throughout the year. Furthermore, the new director's aggressive stance caused the organization to enter into several disputes over athletes with the UFC, as in the case of former Strikeforce champion Gilbert Melendez.

Sonnen, during an interview in Brazil. Photo: Lucas Carrano/SUPER FIGHTS

Started at the end of May, the soap opera Chael Sonnen e Wanderlei Silva came to a melancholic end with the North American being caught twice in surprise doping tests and also being removed from UFC 175, which also led to the withdrawal of Vitor belfort of the card. After the series of controversies, Sonnen was suspended by the Nevada Athletic Commission and announced his retirement from professional MMA.

UFC 174 had a low audience return on PPV. Photo: Disclosure

With the strong competition from the World Cup, held in Brazil between mid-July and July, the UFC reduced the pace of events, but still had time to stage one of its biggest sales embarrassments in history. For the first time, a card was headlined by a fight for the flyweight belt (up to 57 kg) and the result could not be more disappointing. Although the organization does not disclose official numbers, data from specialized vehicles indicate that the event headlined by the fight between the champion Demetrious Johnson and Russian challenger Ali Bagautinov in Vancouver (Canada) sold just 115 thousand units of pay-per-view, the organization's worst record since UFC 53, in 2005.

July: Spider returns, event canceled and Machida defeat

Lyoto (left) was no match for Weidman (right) at UFC 175. Photo: Josh Hedges/UFC

The first week of July brought MMA fans a boost: the holding of International Fight Week – a week of special events promoted by the UFC –, UFC 175 and TUF 19 Finale. In the most important fight of the period, Lyoto Machida tried to wash the Brazilian soul, avenge his friend's defeat Anderson Silva and win the middleweight belt against the North American Chris Weidman.

The “Dragon”, however, was not successful in his attempt and increased to two the number of Brazilians defeated by Weidman in fights valid for the belt. In a very busy duel, and considered by many as one of the best of the year in the sport, Lyoto had difficulties in the face of the champion's greater size and, in addition to the wrestling of the rival's very high level, he also had a bad time in his striking. Despite this, Lyoto left a good impression at the end, with an overwhelming sequence against his rival in the final seconds, which raised the audience in Las Vegas (USA).

In the UFC 175 co-main event, Ronda Rousey had already given another show. The blonde knocked out the jiu-jitsu specialist Alexis Davis in a few seconds, extending his undefeated streak to ten consecutive victories. On the same weekend, but on Sunday, the long-awaited return of B.J. Penn to the octagon, in the trilogy against Frankie Edgar at the TUF 19 Finale. The “Prodigy’s” performance, however, was disappointing. The crushing defeat to Edgar made him rethink his condition and announce the definitive end of his MMA career.

The poster for the never-to-be-held UFC 176. Photo: Disclosure

However, Ultimate didn't even have time to celebrate the good results on the US Independence weekend. On the Monday following the busy schedule, July 8th, the organization officially announced for the second time in its history that it was canceling an event in pay-per-view, this time UFC 176.

The card, which would take place in Las Vegas (USA) and would feature a rematch between José Aldo e Chad Mendes as the main fight it was suspended after the Brazilian's injury and due to the lack of last-minute replacements. As a result, a “forced break” of three weeks was created in the organization’s calendar, which remained without events between July 26th and August 16th.

A. Silva (photo) returns to the octagon against N. Diaz. Photo: Josh Hedges/UFC

The month of July, however, was not just marked by bad news for the sport, especially for Brazilian fans. On the 29th, the Ultimate organization confirmed the long-awaited return of Anderson Silva to the octagon. After suffering a serious fracture in his left leg in the rematch against Chris Weidman, Spider had his return announced for UFC 183, on January 31, 2015, when he will face the controversial Nick Diaz.

Gustafsson (left) x Jones (right) 2 was another fight postponed in 2014. Photo: Josh Hedges/UFC

At the end of the month, there was still time for another bombshell to shake up behind the scenes of the biggest MMA organization on the planet. With the “Fight of the Year 2013” ​​rematch confirmed against Jon Jones, the Swedish Alexander Gustafson He suffered an injury during his training and ended up being cut from combat. To replace him, the UFC promoted the undefeated fighter to the position of challenger. Daniel Cormier, who had recently dropped from heavyweight. The duo Jones and DC would still give something to talk about…

August: the Jones x Cormier fight and Barão’s ordeal

Dave Sholler tries to avoid a fight between Jones and Cormier. Photo: Josh Hedges/UFC

With the hiatus in Ultimate events, it was expected that the first weeks of August would be calm, but whoever bet on that made a big mistake. On day 4, Jon Jones e Daniel Cormier they attracted the attention of the entire sports community, even going beyond the boundaries of MMA itself, with the fight during a promotional event in the lobby of the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas (USA).

The clash quickly became an instant classic, with several memes involving UFC public relations director Dave Sholler (responsible for trying to separate the pair during the confrontation that started the fight, as president Dana White was on vacation). Furthermore, other much lower and less funny moments marked the confusion, such as Jones' war cries after the incident and Cormier's fateful shoe throw, which ended up accidentally hitting a Brazilian reporter covering the event.

The feud between the pair did not stop there and extended to Jones and Cormier's participation in the Sportscenter program, on the North American channel ESPN. Without knowing that they were being recorded, the athletes exchanged threats, including death threats, and further intensified the rivalry between them.

All the expectations generated, however, culminated in a true anticlimax just over a week later, when Jones suffered an injury during his training at Jackson's MMA and the long-awaited duel with Cormier was postponed until January 2015.

With Barão gone, Dillashaw (left) had to face Soto (right). Photo: Josh Hedges/UFC

But if things already seemed bad, they were even worse for Renan Barao. After losing his unbeaten streak of almost a decade and, as a bonus, the bantamweight belt in May, the Brazilian found himself in an even worse situation in the last week of the month. Escalated to face TJ Dillashaw again at UFC 177, in Sacramento (USA), Barão felt unwell during the weight cut, passed out, had to be rushed to the hospital and was removed from the event just 24 hours before it took place.

To replace the Brazilian, the UFC hastily selected newcomer Joe Soto, who would fight on the preliminary card of the night and became the challenger to later enter a title fight in the organization's history. Barão suffered the consequences of the incident, had his new chance at the title withdrawn, did not receive payment for his participation in the event and lost prestige with the Ultimate management.

With Barão's departure, UFC 177 did poorly in sales, with only 125 PPV packages sold. In the main fight of the night, TJ Dillashaw beat Joe Soto in a tougher fight than anyone could have imagined. The champion's triumph in his first title defense came via knockout in the fifth round.

Check out the other parts of the 2014 SUPER LUTAS retrospective in the coming days, with the main stories from the world of MMA from May to December.