Another MMA fighter is in trouble with the law. This time it’s former UFC middleweight Tim Credeur, who, according to MMAjunkie.com, today surrendered to police in his native state of Louisiana after a warrant for his arrest was issued three weeks ago based on drug and firearm charges against him. Credeur gave himself up today and then posted two bonds worth $5,500 total on one charge of possession of marijuana and one charge of possession of a firearm in the presence of a narcotic. According to the story on MMAjunkie.com, the charges were related to an incident with police back in April. This is bad news for Credeur, who was cut by the UFC two years ago after losing back-to-back fights against Ed Herman and Nate Quarry. Prior to that the Louisiana native had won three-straight bouts in the Octagon and looked to be a promising prospect, but the two back-to-back losses and a lot of time out of the cage due to injuries were enough for the UFC to can him. After hearing this news today, there’s absolutely no way the UFC brings Credeur back into the organization, not even if he goes out and wins a bunch of fights on the regional circuit. Although he’s a talented submission fighter, he’s aging and hasn’t fought in years and this arrest is obviously a bad thing. At this point, I’d be surprised if Bellator even took a shot at Credeur, and so I’d say his time fighting at the top levels of the sport is over. More news about this story will likely come out soon, but for now Credeur joins the long list of MMA fighters who have gotten into trouble with the law, and honestly, does it even shock anyone at this point? UFC on FOX Sports 1 3 Gets Two New Fights As MMAoddsbreaker.com reported earlier today, the UFC announced two new bouts for the upcoming UFC on FOX Sports 1 3 card: a light heavyweight bout between Glover Teixeira and Ryan Bader, and a middleweight matchup between Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza and Yushin Okami. Here are my thoughts on the matchups:
- Teixeira vs. Bader: I’m not really a fan of this matchup as I believe Teixeira deserved a bigger step up in competition after taking out James Te Huna with ease at UFC 160. In my opinion, Teixeira should be fighting a title eliminator against Rashad Evans next, because that’s the fight that makes the most sense for him at this point of his career as he’s won 19-straight-fights overall and four-straight fights in the UFC. The fight with Bader is going to take place in Teixeira’s backyard of Brazil and I expect him to absolutely maul Bader. Although “Darth” is a very good light heavyweight and has good wrestling and boxing, Teixeira is on a whole other level and I expect him to win the fight inside the distance—inside the first two rounds—of this fight, which is likely to be contested for five rounds as the evening’s main event. Wait until the odds are released but if Teixeira is available at anything under -300 he will be worth a play, and hopefully we can even get the inside the distance prop at plus money.
- Souza vs. Okami: I’m not a fan of this matchup either as I believe it will be quite boring. Although Souza showed how good he is on the ground against Chris Camozzi in his UFC debut, Okami has been known to make good fighters look bad with his wall-and-stall tactics and I expect him to try and implement that gameplan against Souza this fall. Although Souza should be able to keep the fight standing for the most part, the striking is very close and although Souza has more power, Okami has an excellent jab that he can outpoint Souza with. Still, I do think that Souza has enough edges that he should be the favorite, but honestly, unless we get him at -150 or less, I’m passing on this fight.