Looking at MMA in September 2013

A Look at MMA in September 2013.



The UFC is scheduled to hold two shows this month. The first will be on September 4th which will be a Fight Night on Fox Sports 1. The main event is between Glover Teixeira and Ryan Bader. The co-main event will see Yushin Okami take on Ronaldo Souza. On September 21st, the UFC will hold their UFC 165 show. The main event will be Jon Jones defending the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship for a sixth time against Alexander Gustafsson. The co-main event will also be a title fight as Renan Barao will defend the UFC Interim Bantamweight Championship against former WEC Bantamweight Champion Eddie Wineland.

The UFC will also bring back the Ultimate Fighter with Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate as the coaches. The new season begins September 4th.

(Thoughts: The UFC is holding less events in September than they did in August and I think it's a great move. Two shows is perfect with one PPV and one fight night. It gives us plenty of action but not too much and it's probably more important since the Ultimate Fighter is returning this month. The title fights should be fun and Glover can punch his ticket to a title shot.)

Bellator makes their return with season nine. Along with the usual tournaments, the promotion will also have several big fights. On September 7th, Alexander Shlemenko will defend the Bellator Middleweight Championship against Season 8 tournament runner up Brett Cooper. On September 13th, former IFL Light Heavyweight Champion and former UFC Light Heavyweight Title contender Vladimir Matyushenko will debut against another former UFC Light Heavyweight making his Bellator debut Houston Alexander. On September 20th, Bellator hopes third time's the charm as they will have Douglas Lima vs. Ben Saunders in the finals of Season 8 Welterweight Tournament. This is the third time Bellator has tried to book the fight with the fight being booked on March 21st & July 31st but Lima pulled out of both times due to injury. The company will also see the beginning of Season 9's Featherweight, Lightweight, Welterweight, and Middleweight tournaments with Bantamweight & Heavyweight possibly being added as well as the conclusion of the Summer Series Bantamweight.

(Thoughts: Excited to see Bellator back. The card haven't been finalized yet but look solid. MMA fans should look forward to a series of potentially fun fights. My only complaint is the fact that Brett Cooper is getting a title shot. In defense of Bellator, Cooper was the runner up in the recent tournament but I still would prefer it to be non-title and if he wins then he gets a title shot.)

WSOF will hold their fifth event on September 14th. The main event will feature the return of Andrei Arlovski taking on the debuting Mike Kyle. Another heavyweight fight features the debut of Rolles Gracie taking on Derrick Mehman. The event will also begin a 4-man tournament to crown the first ever WSOF Middleweight Champion. The fights include Dave Branch vs. Danillo Villefort and Elvis Mutapcic vs. Jesse Taylor.

(Thoughts: Should be a nice card. Compared to UFC and Bellator, WSOF's cards obviously pale in comparison. However to their defense, they are a new company putting on their fifth event and even UFC & Bellator had to start somewhere. It's nice to see WSOF begin to crown champions since it gives fighters something to fight for and the company fighters to promote as the best in the company and possibly some of the best in the world.)

ONE FC is making their return after taking the summer off with ONE FC: Champions & Warriors on September 13th. The main event will feature Shinichi Kojima taking on Andrew Leone while the co-main event will feature former and first ever ONE FC Lightweight Champion Kotetsu Boku attempting to bounce back from his title loss to Shinya Aoki against Vuyisile Colossa.

(Thoughts: I'm a big ONE FC fan but I have to call it like it is, this is unquestionably the weakest card ONE FC has ever put on. I know that the main event got ruined when Yasuhiro Urushitani pulled out of the fight with Kojima and prevented ONE FC from crowning their first ever Flyweight Champion and ONE FC tries to give unknowns chances but this card has no excuses. To make matters worse, this isn't like the UFC putting on so many shows and needing to spread out talent, ONE FC hasn't run a show since May and to come back with this isn't the best way to come back.)

KSW returns with KSW 23 on September 28th. The event will feature former PRIDE fighter and Olympic gold medalist Pawel Nastula taking on Karol Bedorf to determine the first ever KSW Heavyweight Champion. The event also has Maciej Jewtuszko defending the KSW Lightweight Championship against former UFC fighter Andre Winner.

(Thoughts: I haven't seen a lot of KSW but it looks like a solid card and it's nice to see the company crowning their first heavyweight champion.)

Pancrase will hold their 20th anniversary show on September 29th and has many big names. The main event is Pancrase Super Flyweight Champion Kiyotaka Shimizu taking on Atsushi Yamamoto. Former Pancrase Featherweight Champion Marlon Sandro makes his return to Pancrase to take on Yojiro Uchimura. Current Pancrase Middleweight and former Light Heavyweight Champion Ryo Kawamura will fight former Pancrase Heavyweight Champion Kazou Takahashi. Other fighters on the show include former ROAD FC Middleweight Champion Shungo Oyama, current DEEP Lightweight and former Sengoku Lightweight Champion Satoru Kitaoka, and former Sengoku Featherweight Champion Masanori Kanehara.

(Thoughts: I don't follow Pancrase but congratulations to them on 20 years which is an incredible accomplishment. It's great to see Pancrase bringing in many names for this show.)