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(All events on Oahu, unless noted)
2008
11/21/08
Man Up & Stand Up
(Kickboxing)
(Waipahu Filcom Center)
11/8/08
Aloha
State Championship of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
(BJJ/Sub Grapping)
(Gym #1, UH Manoa)
10/18/08
Destiny
(MMA)
(Waipahu Filcom Center)
10/12/08
HFL Championships
(MMA)
(Waipahu Filcom)
10/11/08
NAGA
(BJJ & Sub Wrestling)
(Blaisdell)
10/10/08
Man Up & Stand Up
(Kickboxing)
(Waipahu Filcom Center)
10/4/08
The Quest
for Champions Martial Arts Tournament
(Sport-Pankration, Submission Grappling and Continuous Sparring)
(Kalani High School Gym)
9/7/08
2008 Samahan Filipino
Martial Arts Tournament
(Forms, Fighting, Masters Demonstrations)
(Pearl City High School Gym)
9/6/08
UFC 88:
Break Through
(MMA)
(PPV)
9/5/08
Got Skillz Fighter
(Kickboxing & MMA)
(Waipahu Filcom Center)
8/23/08 & 8/24/08
Hawaii Training Ctr Boxing
(Boxing)
(Waipio
Industrial Court)
8/15/08
MMA At The O
(MMA)
(O Lounge Night Club)
8/14/08
Paragon Fighter
(Kickboxing)
(O Lounge)
8/9/08
K-1 Hawaii Grand Prix
(Kickboxing & MMA)
(Stan Sheriff Center, UH at Manoa)
Man Up & Stand Up
(Kickboxing)
(Kalaheo High School)
UFC 87
(MMA)
(PPV)
7/26/08
Maui Jiu-Jitsu BJJ Tournament
(BJJ)
(Maui War Memorial Gym, Wailuku, Maui)
7/19/08
Kawano B.C., Palolo B.C., & USA-Boxing Hawai Amateur Boxing
Show
(Boxing)
(Palolo District Park Gym)
Affliction - Fedor vs. Sylvia
(PPV)
7/12/08
Aloha State
Mixed Martial Arts Competition
10AM - 7PM
(Kickboxing & MMA)
(Blaisdell Arena)
7/11/08
Hawaii Fighting Championships 10
(MMA)
(Dole Cannery Ballrooms)
7/5/08
UFC 86 - Jackson vs. Griffin
(PPV)
6/27-29/08
OTM Pacific Submission
Grappling Tournament
(BJJ/Sub Grappling)
(Blaisdell Exhibition Hall)
MMA Expo
(Blaisdell Convention Center)
6/21/08
Hawaii
Xtreme Combat
(MMA)
(Lahaina Civic Center, Lahaina, Maui)
Ultimate Fighter 7 Finale
6/20/08
Paragon
(MMA Hybred)
(O Lounge)
6/15/08
Grapplefest
(Submission Grappling)
Anderson Silva Seminar
Studio 4, UH at Manoa
1-4PM
$100
Mauricio "Shogun" Rua Seminar
Tropic Lightning TKD
Waipahu
5-7PM
$60
6/14/08
EliteXC
(MMA)
(Blaisdell Arena, Honolulu, HI)
6/7/08
UFC 85 - Bedlam
(PPV)
6/6/08
Punishment in Paradise
Pound 4 Pound
(Kickboxing)
(Ahuna Ranch, Maili)
6/5-8/08
World Jiu-Jitsu Championsihps
(BJJ)
(California State University Long Beach, Long Beach, California)
6/1/08
Hawaiian
Open of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
(BJJ/Sub Grapping)
(Gym #1, UH Manoa)
WEC 33
(Faber vs. Pulver)
(PPV)
5/31/08
CBS EliteXC
Saturday Night Fights
(9-11 p.m. ET/PT)
(CBS)
5/25/08
Man Up Stand Up
(Kickboxing)
(Filcom Center, Waipahu)
5/24/08
UFC 84 - Ill Will
BJ Penn vs. Sean Sherk
(PPV)
5/16/08
X-1: Legends
(MMA)
(Blaisdell Arena, Honolulu, HI)
5/9/08
Man Up Stand Up
(Kickboxing)
(Filcom Center, Waipahu)
Hawaii Fighting Championships 9
(MMA)
(Dole Cannery Ballrooms)
5/3/08
Hawaii
Fight League
Season 1, Event 3
(MMA)
(Filcom Center, Waipahu)
Full Force 4
(MMA)
(Maui War Memorial Gym, Wailuku, Maui)
Heart-of-a-Cage-Fighter
(Kauai
Veterans Center, Lihue, Kauai)
4/25/08
Punishment
in Paradise
(Kickboxing)
(Farrington High School)
4/18/08
Local Pride
Friday, April 18, 2008
(MMA)
(Dole Cannery Ballroom)
4/12/08
Man Up &Stand Up
(Kickboxing)
(Filcom Center, Waipahu)
4/6/08
GrappleFest: Submission
Sundays
(Submission Grappling)
(Hawaii Room, Neal Blaisdell Center)
3/29/08
Garden Island Cage Match 7
(MMA)
(Hanapepe Stadium, Hanapepe, Kauai)
Hawaii Fighting Championships 8
(MMA)
(Maui War Memorial)
3/28-30/08
Pan Jiu-Jitsu Championship
(BJJ)
(Californina State University, Dominguez Hills, CA)
Registration ends 3/22/08
3/16/08
Sera's Kajukenbo Open Tournament
(Continuous
Sparring, MMA, Submission Grappling)
(Maui High School Gym, Kahului, Maui)
Icon Fitness Gym Tournament
(Submission Wrestling)
(Icon Fitness Gym)
3/15/08
Icon Sport
(MMA)
(Blaisdell Arena)
3/9/08
2008 Pacific Invitational BJJ Tournament
(BJJ )
(Hibiscus Room, Ala Moana Hotel, Honolulu)
3/7/08
Got Skillz Fighter
(Kickboxing/MMA)
(Waipahu Filcom)
3/1/08
USA-Boxing
Hawaii, Palolo B.C. & Kawano B.C. Presents Amateur Boxing
(Boxing)
(Palolo District Park)
2/29/08
X-1 at the O-Lounge
Fight Club Meets Nightclub 4
(MMA)
(O-Lounge, Honolulu)
2/24/08
Icon Grappling Tournament
(Sub Grappling)
(Icon Gym)
2/17/08
Hawaiian
Championship of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
(BJJ/Sub Grapping)
(Gym #1, UH Manoa)
2/15/07
Midwest Invasion: Team Indiana vs. Team Hawaii
(MMA)
(Coyotes Night Club, 935 Dillingham Blvd, Kalihi)
2/8/08
Hawaii Fighting Championships 7
(Kickboxing & MMA)
(Dole Cannery Ballroom)
2/2/08
Man up and Stand up
(Kickboxing)
(Dole Cannery
Ballroom)
1/26/08
X1 World
Events: Champions
(MMA)
(Blaisdell Arena)
1/20/08
Big
Island Open Jiu-Jitsu Tournament
(Konawaena High School)
(BJJ/Sub Grappling)
(POSTPONED)
1/19/08
UFC 80: Rapid Fire
(BJ Penn vs. Joe Stevenson)
Newcastle, England
1/12/08
Hawaii Fight League
Season 1, Event 2
(MMA)
(Dole Cannery Ballroom)
|
|
August 2008 News
Part 2
|
Casca Grossa Jiu-Jitsu
is now the O2 Martial Arts Academy with 6 days a week training!
We are also offering Escrima (stick fighting) on Monday nights
with Ian Beltran and Kickboxing Tuesday and Thursday with Kaleo
Kwan!
Click
here for info!
Take classes from the Onzuka brothers in a family-like environment! |
In Memory of
Lars Chase
Rest in peace my brother
March 10, 1979 - April 2, 2008 |
Looking for a hotel
room on Oahu?
Check out this reasonably priced, quality hotel in Waikiki!
For the special Onzuka.com price, click on one of these banners
above! |
Check out the FCTV website! |
Fighters' Club TV
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Teleivision
Tuesdays at 7:00PM
***NEW TIME***
Olelo Channel 52 on Oahu
Also on Akaku on Maui
Fighters' Club TV Radio
The Toughest Show On
Radio
Mondays at 9:00-10:00AM
AM1500 The Team
(808) 296-1500
- Call
in with questions and comments
with hosts Mark Kurano
& Icon Sport's Patrick Freitas |
Onzuka.com
Hawaii Underground Forum is Online!
Chris, Mark,
and I wanted to start an official Onzuka.com forum for a while
now. We were searching for the best forum to go with and hit
a gold mine! We have known Kirik, who heads the largest and most
popular forum on the net, The Underground for years.
He
offered us our own forum within the matrix know as MMA.tv. The
three of us will be the moderators with of course FCTV808 being
the lead since he is on there all day anyway!
We
encourage everyone from Hawaii and our many readers around world
to contribute to the Hawaii Underground.
If you
do not have a login, it's simple and fast to get one.
Click here to set up an account.
Don't worry about using Pidgin English in the posting. After
all it is the Hawaii Underground and what is a Hawaii Underground
without some Aloha and some Pidgin?
To
go directly to the Onzuka.com Hawaii Underground Forum
click here!
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O2 Martial Arts
Academy Day Classes Start May 2!
Women & Kids Kickboxing Class starts May 4!
Click here
for pricing and more information!
O2MAA Relson Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Day Classes will be held on Monday,
Wednesday, and Fridays from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm and will be taught
by one of Relson Gracie's first black belts, Sam Mahi!
We will be starting a Womens and Kids kickboxing class on Sunday
afternoons from 5:00 pm to 6:00 pm. The class will be taught
by none other than O2's Kaleo Kwan! It will be a non-competitive,
fun atmosphere and allow the ladies and kids to get in a quick
workout and learn some legitimate kickboxing technique before
the long work week starts.
|
Want to Contact
Us? Shoot us an email by Clicking Here!
Quote
of the Day
"The
advantage of a bad memory is that one enjoys several times the
same good things for the first time."
Friedrich
Nietzsche, 1844-1900, German Philosopher
|
|
Bigfoot:
“Nobody in UFC can beat Nogueira”
Antônio
“Bigfoot” Silva’s life couldn’t be better.
With no losses for almost two years, the EliteXC heavyweight
champion is celebrating his win, but already thinks in his back
to defend his belt. “I’m happy, but I’m back on
training because I might come back in September to defend my
belt. I passed a week with my family and it was great, but I’m
back here (ATT) now”, said the athlete, that analyzed Rodrigo
Nogueira’s next fight in UFC.
“Frank
Mir is an excellent fighter, has a good ground game and is not
a fool standing up, but not because I’m a huge Nogueira
fan or friend, but nobody in UFC can beat him. Everything can
happen in a fight, but I believe nobody can beat him there”,
bet the athlete, cheering for his friend to keep his Ultimate
belt.
Source:
Tatame |
|
Olympics
a direct pipeline to MMA
If
the past is any indication, the Beijing Olympic competition in
wrestling and judo could be the springboard for future mixed
martial arts stars.
At
least 21 different Olympic medalists from the two sports have
gone on to compete in MMA. These days, it seems every member
of the U.S. teams in those sports has been asked numerous times
about making the jump.
But
if you’re looking at the how someone fared in Olympic competition
to predict who will and won’t make it in MMA, you’re
in for a rude awakening.
Olympic
success seems to have little correlation with later MMA success,
as many medalists hardly had distinguished careers switching
to MMA.
Arguably
the most successful mixed martial artist who made the transition,
former PRIDE double champion Dan Henderson, only placed 10th
in Greco-Roman in 1992 and 12th in 1996.
The
three most successful MMA fighters that have come out of the
Olympics were merican wrestlers Henderson, Matt Lindland and
Mark Coleman.
Henderson
(22-7), who turns 38 next week, ended up more feared for his
strong right hand than his wrestling ability. But it was the
combination of both that led him to becoming the first man in
MMA history to simultaneously hold major world championships,
the PRIDE belts, at both 183 and 205 pounds, until the company
folded last year.
Affliction’s
Lindland, 38, is the most successful MMA fighter to boast of
an Olympic medal. He captured a silver in Greco-Roman in 2000
at 168 pounds. Lindland is 21-5 in a 12-year MMA career and is
still ranked among the top middleweights in the world.
Coleman,
43, who recently signed with UFC and is looking at moving to
205 pounds after suffering an MCL tear prior to a match scheduled
for Aug. 9, with Brock Lesnar, is 15-8. The former national champion
at Ohio State placed 7th in the 1992 Olympics as a freestyle
wrestler at 220 pounds.
After
failing to make the 1996 team, he walked into the UFC and became
its top star, winning the UFC 10 and UFC 11 tournaments and then
capturing the heavyweight title from Dan Severn in his first
seven months in the sport.
Coleman
looked unbeatable in the early days of the sport as the master
of the takedown and ground and pound. In 2000, he captured the
PRIDE Open Weight tournament title, at the time the toughest
tournament in the game. His career struggled in recent years
as Coleman and teammate Kevin Randleman were always criticized
for not evolving their games past relying on their wrestling
strengths.
Back
in 1997, Henderson, Lindland and Randy Couture started experimenting,
using their Greco-Roman background to figure out what did and
didn’t work in a fight. This new form of fighting was considered
more a way for wrestlers to make some money to help continue
fund their Olympic dreams that it was considered a career path
in and of itself.
With
two weeks of preparation and a few training sessions, knowing
nothing but wrestling, Henderson made his MMA on June 15, 1997,
winning the Brazil Open middleweight tournament in Rio de Janeiro.
“I
did submit another wrestler,” said Henderson about his debut.
“It was kind of a wrestling move, a front headlock used
as a choke. I squeezed like hell, but I didn’t know what
I was doing.”
“Now
you can’t go in as a wrestler,” he said. “You’ll
get beaten up.”
Perhaps
the most famous example of this occurred four years ago. Karam
Gaber Ibrahim of Egypt, then 24, was the star wrestler in the
2004 Olympics.
Competing
at 96 kilograms (211.5 pounds) in Greco-Roman, he was throwing
world champions around like they were school children. But just
a few months after winning the gold medal, he fought on a New
Year’s Eve show in Osaka, Japan, against the larger pro
wrestler-turned-fighter, Kazuyuki Fujita, and was knocked out
cold from a punch that resembled a clothesline-style manuever
in just 1:07.
The
Gaber Ibrahim situation is common in Japan, where they look to
put their experienced MMA fighters against people in other sports
with international credentials, but inexperienced in the fight
game.
Still,
that doesn’t always work out for the Japanese.
On
the same night as the Ibrahim vs. Fujita fight, Rulon Gardner,
the 2000 gold medalist and 2004 bronze medalist as a superheavyweight
in Greco-Roman wrestling, on a rival show in Saitama, Japan,
faced former judo gold medalist Hidehiko Yoshida. Gardner’s
balance from wrestling enabled him to keep the fight standing,
and he used size and rudimentary boxing to batter Yoshida the
entire match to take the decision. But Gardner said he did the
fight as a one-time deal, had no interest in it as a career,
and never fought again.
Henderson
noted that Dremiel Byers, who placed seventh as a superheavyweight
in Greco-Roman on Thursday, has talked about training with his
camp after the Olympics. The other American superheavyweight,
freestyle Steve Mocco, whose competition begins on Thursday,
has also talked of trying MMA after the Olympics. Ben Askren,
who competed in freestyle starting on Wednesday, has brought
it up as well. Ronda Rousey, the bronze medalist at 154 pounds
in women’s judo, who trains with former Ultimate Fighter
runner-up Manny Gamburyan, talked about the possibility of going
MMA after winning her medal.
From
Olympic gold to MMA
Mark
Schultz : The 1984 Olympic wrestling gold medalist was in Detroit
on May 17, 1996, for a UFC show, when a medical exam the day
before the show revealed fighter Dave Beneteau had been concealing
a broken hand. Schultz, who had studied jiu-jitsu after being
submitted in a gym encounter with Rickson Gracie a few years
earlier, stepped in for Beneteau and decisioned Gary Goodridge.
UFC had high hopes for him, but the UFC’s image in those
days was so bad that Brigham Young University, where he was coaching
wrestling, told him he’d be fired if he fought again.
Kenny
Monday: Gold medalist in 1988 and silver medalist in 1992 at
163 pounds, Monday, considered a U.S. wrestling legend, is the
only gold medalist who won a major championship, beating John
Lewis for the Extreme Fighting Championship’s welterweight
title on March 28, 1997. But after EFC folded, and being caught
by Matt Hume in a submissions-only match, Monday never competed
again.
Kevin
Jackson: Gold medalist in 1992 at 181 pounds, the creation of
UFC’s marquee title, the light heavyweight title, originally
called the middleweight title, was due to Jackson, who was expected
to be the first champion. But Frank Shamrock submitted Jackson
with an armbar in 14 seconds in the first middleweight title
match. Due to UFC’s negative rep, Jackson, an Olympic team
coach, was, like Schultz, told if he continued to fight he would
lose his job, so ended his career in 1998 with a 4-2 record.
Hidehiko
Yoshida: Gold medalist in 1992 in judo at 172 pounds. Yoshida,
9-6-1, was one of the top stars of the glory days of Japanese
MMA, with wins over Don Frye, Royce Gracie, Tank Abbott and Mark
Hunt, plus two competitive losses to Wanderlei Silva. His matches
with Gracie and Rulon Gardner were two of the highest rated matches
in Pride history.
Pawel
Nastula: Gold medalist in 1992 in judo at 220 pounds, beating
another future MMA fighter, South Korea’s Kim Min-soo, he
is 1-3 in MMA, although his losses have been to Antonio Rodrigo
Nogueira, Josh Barnett and Aleksander Emelianenko.
Makoto
Takimoto: Gold medalist in 2000 in judo at 180 pounds, Takimoto
is 4-4, but does have wins over Yoon Dong-Sik and former UFC
middleweight champion Murilo Bustamante.
Rulon
Gardner: Gold medalist in 2000 in Greco-Roman wrestling beating
legendary Aleksander Karelin in one of the biggest upsets in
Olympic history as a superheavyweight, his December 31, 2004,
win over Yoshida in the only battle of gold medalists in MMA
history drew 27 million viewers on Japanese television.
Karam
Gaber Ibrahim: The biggest flop of the gold medalists, losing
in just 1:07 on December 31, 2004 to Kazuyuki Fujita after destroying
Olympic competition at 211.5 pounds in Greco-Roman wrestling
months earlier.
Istavan
Majoros Gold medalist in 2004 Greco-Roman wrestling at 121 pounds,
Majoros was fed to Kid Yamamoto on December 31, 2006, and knocked
out in 3:46.
Source:
Yahoo Sports |
Rankings:
Fallout after month of big fights
Never
in the yearlong history of the Yahoo! Sports pound-for-pound
Top 10 poll has there been a month like the one that just passed.
Three
of the last month’s top four fighters competed in high-profile
main events, and each looked dominant.
Last
month’s No. 1, UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva,
stepped up to light heavyweight on July 19 in Las Vegas and crushed
James Irvin with a TKO in just 1:01.
Georges
St. Pierre, July’s No. 2 ranked fighter, defended his UFC
welterweight title on Aug. 9 against Jon Fitch and put on what,
from a scorecard perspective, was the second-most lopsided performance
in UFC title history. The combined 19-point margin on the scores
(50-43, 50-44, 50-44) was surpassed only by the 23-point differential
Rich Franklin laid on David Loiseau in their middleweight title
match at UFC 58 (50-43, 50-42, 50-42).
And
former No. 4 Fedor Emelianenko didn’t take long in reminding
fans why he is the most dominant heavyweight in mixed martial
arts history. The Russian’s 36-second tail-kicking of two-time
former UFC heavyweight champ Tim Sylvia at Affliction: Banned
in Anaheim, Calif., was one of the most efficient displays of
skill and striking power ever displayed on these shores.
In
the end, though, Emelianenko’s beatdown wasn’t enough
to knock Silva off his perch. Silva took 10 first-place votes
and finished with 134 points, which keeps him atop the poll for
the eighth straight month. Emelianenko jumped from fourth to
second with 119 points, including the other four first-place
votes.
In
addition to his 10 first-place votes, Silva garnered two second-place
votes and two thirds. Emelianenko’s other votes broke down
to four second-place finishes, three thirds, one fourth and one
sixth.
St.
Pierre finds himself in the odd position of dropping a spot despite
his performance against Fitch. He dropped from second to third
with 117 points after taking six seconds, five thirds and three
fourths.
For
info on the Y! Sports MMA Top 10 panel, go here.
10.
Quinton Jackson
Points: 21
Affiliation: UFC
Weight class: Light heavyweight
Hometown: Memphis, Tenn.
Record: 28-7 (lost past one)
Last month’s ranking: 9
Most recent result: lost to Forrest Griffin, unanimous decision,
July 5
Analysis: “Rampage” still is ranked, but he faces an
uncertain future after his well-publicized escapades in Orange
County last month. There have been murmurs of a potential match
with Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, but rushing Jackson back
in the octagon before his legal situation is cleared up would
be a disservice to the fighter and reflect poorly on the UFC.
9.
Randy Couture
Points: 23
Affiliation: Under contract to UFC
Weight class: Heavyweight
Hometown: Gresham, Ore.
Record: 16-8 (won past two)
Last month’s ranking: 10
Most recent results: def. Gabriel Gonzaga, Round 3 TKO, Aug.
25
Analysis: The Y! Sports poll has a one-year inactivity clause.
Fighters who go 12 months without competing are ineligible for
consideration until they next square off. This is the last month
of eligibility for the 45-year-old Couture, whose back-and-forth
legal issues with his employer continues to creak its way through
our nation’s oh-so-efficient court system.
8.
Forrest Griffin
Points: 44
Affiliation: UFC
Weight class: Light heavyweight (UFC light heavyweight champion)
Hometown: Las Vegas
Record: 16-4 (won past two)
Last month’s ranking: 8
Most recent result: def. Quinton Jackson, unanimous decision,
July 5
Analysis: Griffin is taking a well-deserved break after his title
win. The Sept. 6 Chuck Liddell-Rashad Evans match in Atlanta
is just step one in a chain of events over the next several months
that will determine his next opponent.
7.
Miguel Angel Torres
Points: 56
Affiliation: WEC
Weight class: Bantamweight (WEC bantamweight champion)
Hometown: E. Chicago, Ind.
Record: 34-1 (won past 15)
Last month’s ranking: 7
Most recent result: def. Yoshiro Maeda, TKO R3, June 1
Analysis: Not many fighters boast near-flawless, world-class
skills in as many aspects of the game as Torres. While he finally
has experienced his breakthrough year and gotten his time in
the national spotlight, it could be that the bantamweight division’s
relatively low profile is the only thing keeping Torres from
placing higher on the list.
6.
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
Points: 57
Affiliation: UFC
Weight class: Heavyweight (UFC interim heavyweight champion)
Hometown: Vitoria da Conquista, Brazil
Record: 31-4-1 (won past 3)
Last month’s ranking: 6
Recent results: def. Tim Sylvia, R3 submission, Feb. 2
Analysis: Sorry, folks, there just isn’t a whole lot to
add when a fighter sits out for nearly a year. Frank Mir will
be a prohibitive underdog when the two finally meet, and unless
the UFC does an about-face and brings Couture or Emelianenko
into the fold, it isn’t hard to imagine Big Nog enjoying
a long reign as champion.
5.
Urijah Faber
Points: 84
Affiliation: WEC
Weight class: Featherweight (WEC featherweight champion)
Hometown: Sacramento, Calif.
Record: 21-1 (won past 13)
Last month’s ranking: 5
2007 results: def. Jens Pulver, unanimous decision, June 1
Analysis: Given the way Faber has torn through the competition,
there might be a temptation to dismiss his next foe, Mike Brown,
whom Faber meets Sept. 10. But that would be a mistake. While
Brown isn’t as well known as Jens Pulver, the American Top
Team standout has won 10 of his past 11 fights, including seven
in a row, a streak that includes victories over Yves Edwards
and Jeff Curran.
4.
B.J. Penn
Points: 100
Affiliation: UFC
Weight class: Lightweight (UFC lightweight champion)
Hometown: Hilo, Hawaii
Record: 13-4-1 (won past three)
Last month’s ranking: 3
Most recent result: def. Sean Sherk, R3 TKO, May 24
Analysis: If there were any doubt left that Penn wants a piece
of Georges St. Pierre, the UFC lightweight champion made sure
everyone noticed him on the floor at UFC 87. Penn was seen at
cageside openly rooting for the Quebecker, then jumped into the
octagon and grabbed the microphone. While there’s no dispute
St. Pierre was the legitimate winner of their first match, there’s
also no dispute the match was close enough to merit a rematch.
There’s likewise little dispute a rematch would produce
one of the UFC’s all-time best buy rates, which is why it
probably will get made.
3.
Georges St. Pierre
Points: 117
Affiliation: UFC
Weight class: Welterweight (UFC welterweight champion)
Hometown: Saint-Isidore, Quebec
Record: 17-2 (won past four)
Last month’s ranking: 2
Most recent result: def. Jon Fitch, unanimous decision, Aug.
9
Analysis: If you’re looking for any further proof St. Pierre
completely has expelled the demons of his upset loss to Matt
Serra, just look at the scorecards since the loss. GSP has fought
12 rounds in his past four fights. Two of those rounds ended
in stoppage victories. In nine of the remaining 10 rounds, St.
Pierre won on all three scorecards, with at least one 10-8 score
in three of the nine. He has not lost a round since dropping
the second to Josh Koscheck on two judges’ scorecards at
UFC 74.
2.
Fedor Emelianenko
Points: 119 (4 first-place votes)
Affiliation: Free agent (WAMMA heavyweight champion)
Weight class: Heavyweight
Hometown: Stary Oskol, Russia
Record: 28-1, 1 no-contest (won past nine)
Last month’s ranking: 4
Most recent result: def. Tim Sylvia, R1 submission, July 19.
Analysis: While there’s no disputing the dominance of Fedor’s
win last month, it also is clear through the benefit of hindsight
that Sylvia, who has lost three of his past four fights, couldn’t
hang with the world’s elite heavyweights. Sylvia fell short
against Emelianenko, Couture and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira in
the past 18 months. With Fedor sidelined for now with a hand
injury, expect his next foe to be whichever freak show Japanese
promoters serve up for his annual New Year’s Eve cupcake
dinner.
1.
Anderson Silva
Points: 134 (10 first-place votes)
Affiliation: UFC
Weight class: Middleweight (UFC middleweight champion)
Hometown: Curitiba, Brazil
Record: 22-4 (won past eight)
Last month’s ranking: 1
Most recent result: def. James Irvin, R1 TKO, July 19
Analysis: If we’re going to criticize Fedor for his caliber
of competition, we’ve got to be fair and do the same for
Silva. UFC is basically serving up Patrick Cote’s head on
a platter for the UFC 90 main event in suburban Chicago in October
in what on paper seems the most one-sided title match in quite
some time. But then, that’s the downside of cleaning out
the division in the manner Silva has.
More
•
Votes for others: Lyoto Machida 5; Narofumi Yamamoto 4; Eddie
Alvarez 3; Dan Henderson, Chuck Liddell 2; Carlos Condit, Shinya
Aoki, Jon Fitch 1.
Source:
Yahoo Sports |
|
ATT
loses its head trainer
Responsible
for the physical preparation at American Top Team, André
Benkei called TATAME to announce his leaving from the team. One
of the biggest names of the world on the physical preparation
at MMA, Benkei is responsible for the preparation of all ATT
athletes, but now leaves the team. “I left the team because
of some idealogical disagreements with the ATT headcoach, Ricardo
Libório. I had no trouble with the Dan Lambert or Conan
Silveira”, said Benkei, that will continue working on some
ATT athlete’s preparation.
“The
main athletes of the team will continue working with me as a
freelancer at Prime Time, but now I’m free to work with
any athlete of different teams. I don’t fight for a team
now, but Thiago Alves, Antônio “Bigfoot”, Thiago
Silva, Gesias Cavalcante and Marcus Aurélio confirmed
that they’ll continue with me. ATT will continue its life
witha new guy and Liborio’s way of working”, told Benkei.
For more about the changing at ATT, stay tuned on TATAME.com.
Source:
Tatame |
|
Thiago
Silva ready for Lyoto Machida
Getting
closer to the most important fight of his career, Thiago Silva
faces Lyoto Machida on the fight that might define the next contender
for the light heavyweight title. Training hard at American Top
Team, Thiago still doesn’t have a strategy to face him.
“I’m ready to fight. My preparation is good, I’m
really focused. I came to now, but I was training in and will
go to everything or nothing”, said Silva, that sees both
athletes pretty equal at the division. “I think we both
came where we are and faced great athletes, and who wins have
all right to fight for the belt, and he has even more than me
(laughs). But unfortunately I have to face another Brazilian
fighter”, said the athlete to TATAME.
Source:
Tatame |
Quote
of the Day
"You
cannot create experience. You must undergo it."
Albert Camus, 1913-1960, French Author and Philosopher
|
Fighters'
Club TV Tonight
Channel
52
NEW TIME of 8:00 PM!
A new episode
that features the Pac Sub tournament at the MMA Expo.
We
talk to the pound for pound best fighter in the world, BJ Penn.
East
coast to Guam transplant and technical wizard, Mike Fowler shows
off his leopard print hair and explains how he got his BJJ black
belt in only 4 years!
K-
Team and Relson Gracie competitor supreme, Brad Scott talks shop.
Last,
but certainly not the least, the lovely, but fierce Mrs. Bjjtek
expounds her roll as the enforcer of the Hawaii Ground better
known as the HG.
If
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POST
INJURY, ANTHONY JOHNSON PLANS RETURN
Fresh
off of a knockout victory over Tommy Speer in April, Anthony
Johnson seemed to have the upper hand towards a decision victory
against Kevin Burns at the July 19 UFC Fight Night. With just
90 seconds left in the fight, however, he suffered an inadvertent
poke to the eye that went unnoticed by referee Steve Mazzagatti,
but left Johnson on the losing end of a TKO with a detached retina.
Johnson
has since undergone surgery to repair the injury. “I had
laser surgery to reattach my retina and I got stitches in my
eyeball right now,” he recently told MMAWeekly.com. “The
laceration on my eye was from one end of my eye to the other.”
Johnson’s
manager, Ken Pavia of MMA Agents, has been working on an appeal
of the outcome, but Johnson doesn’t seem to let the result
faze him all that much.
“I
wasn’t really big on the whole appealing the fight anyway,”
he commented. “Every single champion has a loss on his record.
I’m trying to see myself as the bigger and better guy. If
he’s the champion one day, I’ll accept an ‘L’.
“Everybody
was hating on Mazzagatti because of the call, but he was on the
side I was blocking on, so he actually didn’t see the guy
eye gouge me. All he saw was the uppercut… he called what
he thought he saw and I respect him.”
Of
course he’s not happy with the decision. “I was disappointed
because I did lose like that… when it should have been a
no contest or a DQ. He saw what he thought he saw, so I’m
not hating on him about it.”
But
Johnson is already looking to the future instead of dwelling
on the past, planning a return to the Octagon before winter comes.
“The doctor said I can be cleared in September to fight,
but I don’t want to fight in September. I’m just going
to wait until October and get my eye right.”
Source: MMA Weekly
|
SEAN
SHERK: "I WANT TO FIGHT THE BEST OF THE BEST"
It
has been a year of anguish for Sean Sherk. First, he had to face
allegations of using a performance enhancing substance in his
UFC lightweight title defense against Hermes Franca, which was
upheld by the California State Athletic Commission. He went through
months of suspension and the stripping of his championship belt.
Then,
in his return to competition in May, Sherk suffered a rare TKO
defeat at the hands of current UFC lightweight champion B.J. Penn.
Still,
Sherk keeps his head up and looks forward to his next bout, and
an eventual return to title contention.
“I
have five fights left (on my contract),” he told MMAWeekly.com.
“I feel like I have a good, strong future with the UFC still.
I feel like I’m a strong part of the organization. Maybe
one or two wins will put me back in title contention again.”
Part
of his surety of returning to fight for UFC gold is Sherk’s
particularity in selecting opponents. He’s not interested
in taking on just anyone that happens to show a spark of talent
in the lightweight division. He wants to face the toughest competition
around, the guys that, if he defeats them, will leave no one
doubting that he should be back in the mix, fighting for a UFC
championship.
“I’ve
been real careful with who I’m going to fight. I want to
fight contenders; I want to fight top guys,” Sherk stated
to MMMAWeekly.com. “I don’t want to fight up and coming
guys… I want to fight the best of the best and that’s
what I’m doing with my upcoming fight.”
Though
it has yet to be announced by the UFC, sources close to both
camps say that Sherk’s next bout has been signed and he
will face rising contender Tyson Griffin. The bout is expected
to take place in Chicago on Oct. 25 at UFC 90.
The
winner will surely be propelled within a fight or two of an eventual
title shot, although the lightweight division is currently in
flux as champion B.J. Penn lobbies for a move up in weight to
rematch UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre, while retaining
the crown at 155 pounds.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Check
Mat takes No-Gi
Recently
formed by Leozinho Vieira after leaving Brasa, Check Mat is already
celebrating its first great achievement. With the results from
all the categories tallied up, the team was shown to be the winner
among teams of the 2008 No-Gi Jiu-Jitsu World Championship. The
overall result was corrected this morning by the International
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation (IBJJF) and placed Gracie Humaita
in second, followed by Alliance. The IBJJF apologizes for the
mistake.
The
corrected final results are as follows:
Adult
1- Check Mat 52
2- Gracie Humaita 47
3- Alliance 47
Gracie Humaita has 5 champions and Alliance has 4
Master and Senior
1- Alliance 95
2- Gracie Humaitá 94
3- Gracie Barra 55
Source: Gracie Magazine
|
Caio
Terra gets double in USA
Athlete takes both Gi and No-Gi Worlds at super feather
The
life of an athlete is no walk in the park. After being crowned
champion at the No-Gi Jiu-Jitsu Worlds at super featherweight,
Jiu-Jitsu stylist Caio Terra only managed to make it home at
2:30 in the morning, after a 500-mile drive. On his way to his
place, though, the black belt was content with the special significance
of the medal for his career. It’s that last year Caio participated
in the No-Gi Worlds and lost in the final to Samuel Braga (Gracie
Barra). This year, however, the story went differently. Caio
submitted Rafael Freitas (Gracie Barra) with a foot lock and
took super featherweight gold.
“The
fight with Rafael Freitas was the toughest I was in, but the
only one I got the submission in. I went for the kneebar and
he attacked my foot. I was chest down and they didn’t see
his foot, but when he attacked my foot, Rafael defended the knee
turning his foot inwards and letting the hold sink,” said
the fighter.
Still
in ecstasy for his victory, the Cesar Gracie athlete tells of
how he received many phone calls and 10 emails from his proud
mother. “Everyone thinks it’s awesome I won. Mainly
because only Cobrinha, Braga Neto and I won both the Gi and No-Gi
Worlds in the same year,” said Caio with excitement.
One
week before participating in the championship, Caio said in an
interview with GRACIEMAG.com that he was not putting much emphasis
on physical conditioning because he believed in “technique
over strength.” After putting theory to practice in the
CSU Dominguez Hills gymnasium, Caio confirmed his theory.
“I
don’t usually go in with a strategy for the fight. I feel
comfortable in whatever place or situation. I change my game
according to how my opponent fights, till he makes a mistake.
I was feeling good in the fight, he was moving around a lot,
the way I like it. I sunk an armbar and felt it was in real tight,
but it slipped and he got out. Already going for the calf crunch,
which surprised me, I defended but he swept me, going 2 points
ahead. But I didn’t worry about it, if just because anyone
who’s seen my fights knows at least 10 points are scored
or there’s a submission,” he said. I was more determined
than anybody, ever since I signed up for the No-Gi Worlds. I
could only think about it. God blessed me once again,” finished
confident Caio, who went further in saying his wish now is to
be the first two-time roosterweight champion and manage a place
in the ADCC next year.
Source: Gracie Magazine
|
Tussa:
twice heavyweight champ
Fighter talks of win over Bruno Bastos
Roberto
Tussa (Gracie Barra) managed to take gold once again this year
at the No-Gi World Championship, becoming the first two-time
champion of the heavyweight division. Tussa, in the final, beat
Bruno Bastos (Nova Uniao) by 2 to 0 (takedown).
“I’d
been keeping up with Bruno Bastos. He’s a very strategic
fighter. I studied his fights. He fought a friend of mine, Alexandre
Dante, and it was 2 to 2 and he managed an armbar at the very
end. I also knew he was good at flying armbars, so I already
knew who I would fight against. I’d never faced him, but
I had an idea. In my opinion he’s a guy who doesn’t
risk much, so [in the final] I practically just played his game
and we just traded grips. At about two minutes he messed up with
an armdrag, but ended up going out of the ring and I gained an
advantage. Then he tried another armdrag and left the ring again,
so I ended up getting two points. When I had 2 points and an
advantage, I started administering the fight. I’ll say I
didn’t stall, because I don’t like stalling, but I
was trying for takedowns and he wasn’t taking any risks,
so I didn’t take any risks either. I ended up using his
game to beat him,” confirmed Roberto Tussa.
Tussa
tried for the absolute, but didn’t get it, stopping in the
semifinal to Antonio Braga Neto (Ralph Gracie), the standout
of the championship for winning the absolute. Tussa took third,
as he did in 2007. “We fought really well and at 6 or 7
minutes he took my back and scored 6 points. Then he managed
to put in the hooks and scored another 4, so he ended up beating
me. I took third, but it was a learning and growing experience.
The next day I competed with my head in the right place and scored
21 points and got the finish with a triangle,” said Tussa,
who intends to return to training at full blast with the objective
of competing at the No-Gi Pan-American, to take place in the
first week of October, in New York.
Source: Gracie Magazine
|
Minotouro
smiling again
MMA star happy about Affliction
Rogerio
Minotouro was one of the top MMA fighters to suffer most with
Pride FC's demise. Since the end of the Japanese promotion until
his return to the ring, nearly 12 months have elapsed. The comeback,
held at the already-extinct HCF, was victorious, but the end
of the Canadian organization again left his career in limbo.
The creation of Affliction, however, opened a new door for the
Brazilian standout, and the positive debut against Edwin Deewes,
by technical knockout, made it clear he’s still got it.
Currently
responsible by Team Nogueira, in Florida, Minotouro welcomed
GRACIEMAG.com special collaborator Nalty Jr. for a talk. Check
it out:
You
went a long time without fighting. What is the importance of
Affliction to your career?
I hadn't fought for four or five months. This turned out to be
good, because I came back to the U.S., and MMA is strong here.
Everybody knows that Affliction is a good promotion, with good
fights, and I wanted to be a part of it. Thank God I was able
to get into their first card.
What
is the focus of your training? What specialty are you working
on the most?
In Brazil I’ll be training a lot of wrestling with Jefferson,
Rodrigo Artilheiro, Rafael Feijão. I’ll be training
muay thai with Anderson Silva and Luis Alves. And of course I’ll
continue with my ground training.
And what can you say about your fight?
It went as I expected. The guy came kicking, and when I noticed
he was going to kick me, I was able to connect a straight punch
on top of a kick, he felt it; then he started backing up a lot,
then felt a left punch. Then I saw the chance to get a knockout
and seized it.
You’ve
fought in the world’s greatest events. With your experience,
what did you think about Affliction?
A good show. They’ve been doing a good job, Pride-style.
Everything points to their success. They have good investors,
a good organization. This was just the first event. It’s
great, but it’ll get better.
How’s
the new Team Nogueira, the Miami training center coming along?
The academy opened its doors two months ago, we already have
a bunch of students, there’s already a group training to
become professional. Next month we’ll probably have two
athletes fighting in professional MMA. And it looks to get better.
We’re doing a serious job, dividing our time between the
U.S. and Brazil. The tendency is to find talent in Brazil and
bring it here.
Is
there a name you can reveal that will be representing the team?
Some time ago we revealed Drago, last year it was Feijao, but
now I prefer to wait for these new guys to start fighting before
I name someone. We already have some great talent here, but we
want to wait for the fights.
What do you think about MMA these days?
A serious, long-term marketing job was done, by the UFC for example,
and now the new events are following the line of work. The sport
is very strong in the U.S., evolving very fast. So I think this
is the right place to be. Here you can get athletes to fight
every weekend, and that’s a dream to someone in MMA. That
means the marketing work was very well done, people love MMA,
it’s one of the biggest sports in America, just like in
Japan. And now we hope Brazil catches this fever too.
Talk about the recent success, with mainstream media paying attention
to the work of the Nogueira brothers.
This is very gratifying. We have a lot to be thankful for –
coaches, training partners. Our work hás been recognized,
and we evolve every day. Thank God the fans appreciate what we
do. The more the fans like us, the more the media wants to show
us, and that’s good not just for us, but for the sport as
well.
Source: Gracie Magazine
|
Nutrition
and Training in Cole’s Corner #1
Is a low carb /high protein diet correct for MMA training?
Dear
Mike,
While
the low carb/high protein diet is all the rage among casual dieters,
it is not at all ideal for the MMA athlete. In fact, those who
rigorously train MMA (>90 minutes per day) greatly benefit
from a diet with a greater percentage of carbs than protein.
One
of the major reasons for this has to do with the different roles
that protein and carbs play for an athlete. Protein is used to
build muscle, bone, skin, tendons, ligaments and other various
bodily tissues. Carbohydrates on the other hand (along with fats)
are used to supply energy during exercise. If a minimal amount
of carbohydrate is available to fuel an athlete, the body compensates
by breaking down its own protein stores in muscles to build its
own carbohydrates for energy. Carbohydrates provide energy for
active muscles either from the blood stream, or from glycogen,
the stored form of carbs located in the liver and within muscles
themselves.
An
excess of protein may in fact cause adverse health effects for
the kidneys, and bones.
The
nitrogen that is at the heart of every protein can’t be
stored or metabolized by our bodies. The kidneys are responsible
for excreting all nitrogen from protein in urine. So having large
quantities of protein puts extra stress on the kidneys. High
levels protein in the diet may also cause dehydration since extra
water is needed to flush out the nitrogen in the urine. (Yet
another compelling reason to keep hydrated!)
Additionally,
a high intake of protein is associated with an increase in the
amount of calcium that is normally lost in the urine. Calcium
is a mineral that is vital to the integrity of strong bones so
obviously unnecessary losses should be avoided. There is also
some evidence to suggest that this phenomenon is more common
when athletes obtain their protein from purified protein supplements
that also contain phosphorus. (Obviously if someone is getting
their protein from fatty animal sources this increases the risk
of heart disease and atherosclerosis)
So
just how many grams of carbohydrates and protein should a fighter
aim for?
This
question is more precisely answered with reference to body weight
as compared to a percentage of total calories.
For
active male athletes regularly participating in strength and
endurance training (>90 minutes daily)….
Carbohydrates:
Maximum of 4.5 grams of carbohydrate per lb of body weight
Protein:
Maximum of .77 grams of protein per lb of body weight
To
calculate your own needs, simply multiply body weight by amount
of grams
Example:
A 165 lb male athlete.
Carbohydrate needs: 165 x 4.5 = 742.5 grams of carbs
Protein needs: 165 x .77 = 127 g of protein
Best
of luck with your training!
P.R.
Cole
MS, RD Candidate
Program in Nutrition and Applied Physiology
Columbia University
New York, New York
Source: MMA Fighting
|
Quote
of the Day
"If
you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people
or things."
Albert Einstein, 1879-1955, German-born American Physicist
|
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Imanari
wins bantamweight title at DEEP 37
Putting behind his featherweight title loss in May to Dokonjonosuke
Mishima, Masakazu Imanari was victorious Sunday for DEEP bantamweight
belt at DEEP 37.
Imanari,
arguably the most dangerous MMA fighter when it comes to leglocks,
captured the belt in spectacular fashion at the Korakuen Hall
with a heel hook in 29 seconds against Hiroshi Umemura, who walked
into the ring undefeated in his last eight fights.
Imanari
improved to 15-6-1 with his eleventh submission victory. Imanari
is also the holder of the Cage Rage featherweight belt.
In
a battle with the DEEP women's lightweight belt on the line,
Miku Matsumoto retained by knocking out Misaki Takimoto at 4:40
of the second round.
Source: MMA Fighting |
Minowa
taps out Frye with a kneebar at 'Gladiator'
The eccentric Ikuhisa Minowa submitted UFC 8 champion Don Frye
with a kneebar Saturday at "Gladiator" in Okayama,
Japan. The two PRIDE veterans were the headliners of the special
DEEP and CMA co-promoted event from the Momotaro Arena.
Minowa
took down Frye with a double-leg and began to work for a heel
hook before finishing with a kneebar at 3 minutes and 56 seconds
of the first round.
Frye's
last appearance in Japan was in April 2007 at the final PRIDE
event, where the 42-year-old from Arizona suffered a devastating
loss to James Thompson. Frye took a fight earlier this year at
a local event in Dallas and knocked out Bryan Pardoe in 47 seconds.
Minowa
split his recent appearances for DREAM, submitting Bum Chan Kang
with a kneebar at DREAM 1 and then losing a unanimous decision
to Taiei Kin at DREAM 2.
In
team action, the South Korea defeated Japan 4 to 1. Shooto, UFC
and DEEP veteran Jutaro Nakao notched the Japanese team's only
win with a second-round TKO over Yong Fun Lee. Michihiro Omigawa,
in his first fight back in Japan after two losses in the UFC,
lost to Chul Hyun Jung by unanimous decision.
Source: MMA Fighting |
MMAFighting.com
UFC Rankings for August 2008
Our UFC top ten rankings have been updated for August 2008 and
includes adjustments resulting from UFC Fight Night on July 19
and UFC 87 on August 9.
Georges
St. Pierre remains on the top of the welterweight division with
his successful title defense against Jon Fitch.
Brock
Lesnar might have single-handedly erased the stigma of being
a former WWE pro wrestler with a dominant win over Heath Herring.
Lesnar lands on the heavyweights list in the number six spot.
Please
note, these rankings are for UFC fighters only. Our world MMA
rankings can be viewed here.
MMAFighting.com
UFC Rankings - August 2008
Champions:
Heavyweights - Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
Light Heavyweights - Forrest Griffin
Middleweights - Anderson Silva
Welterweights - Georges St. Pierre
Lightweights - BJ Penn
Heavyweights
1: Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
2: Randy Couture
3: Fabricio Werdum
4: Gabriel Gonzaga
5: Frank Mir
6: Brock Lesnar
7: Heath Herring
8: Cheick Kongo
9: Brandon Vera
10: Cain Velasquez
Notable: E. Sanchez, S. Carwin
Light
Heavyweights
1: Forrest Griffin
2: Quinton "Rampage" Jackson
3: Chuck Liddell
4: Wanderlei Silva
5: Lyoto Machida
6: Mauricio "Shogun" Rua
7: Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou
8: Keith Jardine
9: Rashad Evans
10: Thiago Silva
Notable: M. Hamill
Middleweights
1: Anderson Silva
2: Rich Franklin
3: Yushin Okami
4: Dan Henderson
5: Thales Leites
6: Nathan Marquardt
7: Patrick Cote
8: Michael Bisping
9: Demian Maia
10: Ricardo Almeida
Notable: C. Leben
Welterweights
1: Georges St. Pierre
2: Thiago Alves
3: Jon Fitch
4: Matt Hughes
5: Josh Koscheck
6: Diego Sanchez
7: Karo Parisyan
8: Chris Wilson
9: Matt Serra
10: Akihiro Gono
Notable: M. Swick, D. Hyun Kim
Lightweights
1: BJ Penn
2: Sean Sherk
3: Joe Stevenson
4: Kenny Florian
5: Roger Huerta
6: Gray Maynard
7: Frankie Edgar
8: Tyson Griffin
9: Nate Diaz
10: Joe Lauzon
Notable: R. Clementi
Source: MMA Fighting |
STRIKEFORCE
DENVER EVENT TO AIR LIVE ON HDNET
Over the past two years, Strikeforce has carefully worked to
expand its brand outside of its home base of San Jose, Calif.
They
first took steps down the street to the Save Mart Center in Fresno
and later a little further into Southern California at the Playboy
Mansion in Beverly Hills. Earlier this year, Strikeforce ventured
north, out of state for the first time, to the Tacoma Dome in
the Seattle area of Washington.
The
promotion heads back to the Playboy Mansion in September, then
again ventures outside The Golden State. On Oct. 3, Strikeforce
heads up and over the Rocky Mountains to land at the Broomfield
Events Center on the outskirts of Denver.
The
main event features a rematch as local hero and UFC veteran Duane
“Bang” Ludwig looks to avenge a past loss to Ultimate
Fighter alumnus Sammy Morgan. Several other UFC veterans also
dot the card with a bout between Frank Trigg and Falaniko Vitale,
and the participation of Phil Baroni and Pete Spratt.
Along
with taking the live events on the road, Strikeforce has also
managed to line up a couple of television deals. One is a weekly
series on late Saturday nights on NBC that features fights and
highlights from past events. The other is a deal with HDNet to
air live events on the Mark Cuban-owned high-definition subscription-based
network.
At
the time that Strikeforce announced the Oct. 3 event, it was
unclear what, if any, television coverage the event would receive
outside of highlights being featured on the “Strikeforce
on NBC” series.
Company
vice president Mike Afromowitz confirmed to MMAWeekly.com, however,
that Strikeforce’s “Denver show will be televised live
on HDNet.”
Strikeforce’s
initial agreement with HDNet calls for the network to air four
of the promotion’s events live in 2008. The first such event
was the event at the Tacoma Dome in February. The Denver/Broomfield
event marks the second event to air live on HDNet.
No
other Strikeforce events have been announced for HDNet at this
time.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
HERRING
MOVING ON, WANTS REMATCH WITH LESNAR
Heath Herring was convincingly defeated by Brock Lesnar at UFC
87 on Aug. 9 at the Target Center in Minneapolis by unanimous
decision. Unhappy with his performance and the outcome, Herring
looks to the future and would eventually like a rematch with
the Division I collegiate wrestling champion and former World
Wrestling Entertainment superstar.
Herring
had high expectations heading into the octagon against Lesnar,
but was caught by a right hand in the opening moments of the
bout that sent him and his expectations crashing to the canvas.
"I
think that shot pretty much changed the whole dynamic of the
fight," said Herring. "I sure would like to know what
would have happened if it hadn't landed."
"Once
that right hand landed it was like I was fighting half blind,
or pretty much blind at that point. It was all pretty much downhill
from there," explained the 30-year-old heavyweight. "
I just tried to come back and mount some type of offense. Unfortunately,
I was never able to mount anything that significant...After getting
rocked with a shot like that, and not being able to see, you're
more in survival mode."
"It
doesn't sit very well with me. I'll be honest. I mean, you go
out there and right at the beginning of the fight get caught
with probably the biggest shot ever and you're starting off right
away in a negative position."
Lesnar's
post-fight antics and conduct in the final seconds of the match
have received as much attention as the right hand that nearly
finished the fight in round one. When asked his thoughts on Lesnar's
actions, Herring responded, "That's kind of what everybody
expected. Isn't it? I mean, that's where he comes from. He's
got the pro wrestling background. That's kind of what they do."
"If
the fans don't like it, the fans need to make their opinions
heard on it, but I expected as much," added Herring. "If
that's how he's going to behave, that's how he's going to behave.
I'd still like another shot at it, but we'll see how that goes
later."
During
the post-fight press conference, Lesnar commented that there
was bad blood between the two camps leading up to the event that
resulted in the taunting after the win. "That was for Heath's
camp because on the way out to the Octagon there was some things
said before the fight," stated Lesnar.
Herring
disputes the bad blood claims. "I don't know really where
all of that is coming from. I just recently heard any of that
to be honest with you," said the UFC and Pride veteran.
Following
the fight, rumors swirled about alleged injuries suffered in
the loss. Herring assured MMAWeekly.com that the damage is minimal
and expects a quick recovery.
"Everything
should be all right," said the Texas native. "They
thought I had a small orbital problem. But I think that's going
to heal up and everything should be okay."
"The
only thing I had was that left eye. That was it. I didn't have
any bruises, aches or pains otherwise, but that left eye was
enough to sway the battle in his favor."
Questioned
where he goes from here, Herring answered, "You just try
to move forward. I mean everybody can sit here and put their
two-bits in, or their two-cents in about this and that. Right
now, I've just got to move forward with this. I'm not happy with
the loss. I'm not happy with the fight at all. I've just got
to go back to the drawing board and start over."
Source: MMA Weekly
|
CAN
LIGHTNING STRIKE TWICE FOR AFFLICTION?
It's been almost a month since Affliction's debut event and the
buzz is still flying. Even though Affliction, on paper, spent
a reported $3.3M on the roster for the first show, most fans
believe it was a successful event. After all, Andrei Arlovski
had possibly his best performance in years against Ben Rothwell.
Josh Barnett was successful in his revenge victory against Pedro
Rizzo. The main event, albeit short, grew Fedor Emelianenko's
legacy even further with his 36-second demolition of former UFC
heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia.
With
all of the success that Affliction had in its debut event, it
needs to keep the momentum going. Pay-per-view buys will be crucial
to the promotion's success. Affliction does have the backing
of multi-billionaire Donald Trump to help its credibility. Affliction
vice president Tom Atencio insisted that their debut event did
over 100,000 pay-per-view buys, which would be considered a good
start.
Affliction's
second event will take place on Oct. 11 at the Thomas and Mack
Center in Las Vegas. While the hype may not be as high for their
sophomore show, Atencio remains optimistic that everything will
go fine. “We're gonna go out and do the best we possibly
can,” he said in a recent interview with MMAWeekly Radio.
“That's really what it comes down to. If we go out there
and do our job and do it right, everything else will happen.
It's part of marketing. There are so many different aspects that
we have to bring to the table. All we can do is our job and if
we do it right, we'll be successful.”
The
production in Affliction's debut show was good for the most part
considering it was their first foray into a mixed martial arts
event. There were some kinks to work out, particularly in the
fighter's entrances. Realizing the mistakes made, Affliction
is looking to build upon the foundation its built and work out
any problems in the subsequent show.
“I
think anybody that says that they're happy with everything they
do is lying,” stated Atencio. “There's mistakes. Did
a lot of people see them? No, a lot of people said that they
didn't. Did people see them? Absolutely. It was our first show
out of the gate. It's not like we did this before. I think as
a whole, if you look at it that way, we did a good job. Did we
make mistakes? Absolutely. Are we going to correct them? Absolutely.
Can we get better? 100%. I believe that. There were a lot of
things that we were anticipating and that's okay. I think we
did better than a lot of other companies did and I'm proud of
them. Just minor tweaks. For the most part, everyone seems happy
with what we did.”
The
hardest part for any upstart MMA organization is to differentiate
itself from the Ultimate Fighting Championship. The UFC has dominated
the mixed martial arts market for the past 15 years and doesn't
show any signs of slowing. Other organizations such as the International
Fight League, Pride Fighting Championships and the World Fighting
Alliance have tried to compete with the UFC only to be either
bought out or to fail financially.
Affliction
will be striding into the lion's den on Oct. 11 in Las Vegas,
which is the UFC's hometown. The main event will be between two
former UFC heavyweight champions: Josh Barnett and Andrei Arlovski.
The card is also set to feature Antonio Rogerio Nogueira taking
on Vladimir Matyushenko, as well as Ben Rothwell vs. Pedro Rizzo.
Affliction
believes that Las Vegas is the perfect spot to showcase its second
show considering Las Vegas' reputation for hosting big fights.
“MMA fighters like to fight in Vegas,” explained Atencio.
“Fans like to be in Vegas. I know I like to be in Vegas.
It's a big event city. It makes sense to bring something there.
It's a party town. It's an event town.”
In
some ways, the second event may be even more important than the
first mainly because anybody can have a debut event. The second
event is what establishes what possible longevity the promotion
may have in this sport. However, Atencio and Affliction feel
confident that they can hold their own and that they will be
here to stay.
They
have already signed an influx of talent thus far and most recently
signed lightweight standout Chris Horodecki as well as established
welterweight Jay Hieron. If Affliction continues to sign top
talent, its stock with the fans will rise, as should their pay-per-view
buys.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Quote
of the Day
"Life
lived for tomorrow will always be just a day away from being
realized."
Leo Buscaglia, 1924-1998, American Author and Expert on Love
and Human Relationships
|
2008
Samahan Filipino Martial Arts Tournament
September 7,2008 @ Pearl City High School Gymnasium
On behalf of the Del Mar School of Filipino Martial Arts, I would
like to invite you to the 2008 Samahan Filipino Martial Arts
Tournament. This is the first tournament of its kind and will
happen on September 7,2008 @ Pearl City High School Gymnasium.
It features an electronic scoring system, FIRST on in Hawaii
(possibly the WORLD) to utilize this system in an FMA (Filipino
Martial Arts) tourmanet. There will be Forms, Fighting, Masters
Demonstrations, Vendors, and Entertainment. Attached is a flyer
of the event and for more information you can visit www.myspace.com/fma_samahan.com.
Our goal is to unite Philippine Martial Arts groups and individuals
that will strengthen our community's cultural awareness.
TOURNAMENT
DETAILS
________________________________
Sunday,
September 7, 2008
Pearl City High School Gymnasium
2100 Hookiekie St Pearl City, HI 96782
REGISTRATION
FEES: Forms-$30, Padded stick fighting-$40, Both events-$50
*Download
the form and check out the pre-registration fees*
SAMAHAN
Registration Forms
SAMAHAN Official Rule Book
REGISTRATION
BEGINS: 9:00 A.M.
FIGHTERS BRIEFING: 9:45 A.M.
ALL
SCHOOLS WELCOME
Caranza-Forms Divisions
PADDED STICK FIGHTING DIVISIONS UTILIZING
AN ELECTRONIC SCORING SYSTEM
________________________________
Event
Sponsors
*Explosivehands.com*
*New Image Graphics Inc.*
*Tint Doctor*
*Young Guns*
*Lighting Services, Inc.*
*American Window Cleaning*
*Oahu Tae Kwon Do Center*
Respectfully,
Roderick Baranda
Del Mar School of Filipino Martial Arts
|
Dan
Inosanto Two Day Semi-Private Training Event!
On Saturday,
September 6th and Sunday September 7th, Burton Richardson and
JKD Unlimited will host Tuhon Dan Inosanto for a special semi-private
training event here in Honolulu. Tuhon Inosanto is considered
the most knowledgeable martial artist that the world has ever
known, as he has researched every system and style possible over
the last 50 years. He is best known for being Bruce Lee's number
one student and training partner, but is also famous for his
work in bringing previously unknown systems into the limelight.
From the Filipino Martial Arts to Muay Thai to Pentjak Silat
to French Savate and Burmese Bando, Inosanto's never-ending quest
is to make more martial arts available to students everywhere.
He is also a great example to follow, as this legendary martial
artist strapped on a white belt and took up Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
at the age of 60!
He is now a black belt under the Machado brothers. This will
be a very special seminar, as it will be semi-private. No more
that 20 participants will be enrolled. This will allow each attendee
to submit a particular question or request to be covered by Tuhon
Inosanto over the weekend. It will also mean that participants
will get more one on one interaction with this amazing instructor.
In addition, each participant will be invited to attend a dinner
with Tuhon Inosanto, to talk story with this legend. Ten will
go on Saturday's dinner, the other ten on Sunday's dinner.
The cost for this special weekend is only $500 per person. $250
is required to reserve your spot to be one of the twenty. Please
call 864-1620 for more information and to arrange for payment.
This will be a weekend to remember.
Aloha, Burton Richardson
|
BELFORT
OUT OF AFFLICTION FIGHT WITH LINDLAND
by Damon Martin
Vitor Belfort, who was scheduled to face Matt Lindland in a 185lb
showdown at Affliction: Day of Reckoning has been forced off
the card due to a hand injury as confirmed to MMAWeekly Radio
by Affliction Vice President, Tom Atencio, on Thursday night.
“Vitor
is out, I spoke with him I think yesterday and he told me,”
said Atencio. “Actually, it was on Tuesday we had a conversation
for about an hour or so, and yeah, I guess he broke his hand
in two places is what he told me and he had been having 2, 3
and 4 opinions on it. He finally got the opinion that he wanted
I guess and they told him to step out for a while.”
Belfort
was successful in his first bout for Affliction, knocking out
Terry Martin in his debut fight in the middleweight division.
Now,
Atencio and the Affliction team will make an effort to find Lindland
a new opponent as quickly as possible.
Speculation
has run rampant that current Elite XC welterweight champion,
Jake Shields, may be the fighter Affliction is courting to face
Lindland on the Oct 11 show, but Atencio had no comment.
“I
don’t confirm anything until I have all the papers signed,”
he simply said.
MMAWeekly.com
first broke the news on Thursday that Shields was still negotiating
on his next fight and that a prominent offer was pending for
him to fight at 185lbs in a different organization.
“Right
now I have a really good offer on the table to fight a top 185-pounder,”
Shields told MMAWeekly.com on Thursday. “I’m just waiting,
hoping Elite (XC) will give me that opportunity to go out there
and represent Elite and test myself.”
According
to Atencio, the promotion has great admiration for Shields, but
for now he is simply a fighter under contract to a different
organization.
“Jake’s
a great fighter, but nonetheless it doesn’t matter because
we don’t have him,” Atencio commented. “That’s
a fighter that Pro Elite has.”
With
Lindland versus Belfort now off the table, Atencio did dispel
the rumors that the fight between the two middleweights would
have been for a middleweight championship.
“At
this point I don’t think so. It just didn’t make too
much sense,” Atencio said about the title implications with
the fight. “We may go down that road again in the near future
when we do have them fight. I know that’s a fight both of
them want. Well, I know Vitor wants it and Matt (Lindland) will
fight anyone.”
Atencio
commented in the interview with MMAWeekly Radio that he would
like to have the next Affliction fight card finalized by the
end of next week, while also confirming that former International
Fight League fighters, Chris Horodecki and Jay Hieron, are likely
to be on the card as well.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
UFC
finalizes Sept. 6 'Breakthrough' card
The UFC finalized Thursday the Chuck Liddell and Rashad Evans-headlined
"Breakthrough" card on Sept. 6 with the addition of
a middleweight bout between Jason Day and Jason Lambert.
The ten-bout card, taking place at the Philips Arena in Atlanta,
will be the UFC's first stop in the state of Georgia since UFC
13 in May 1997.
Canada's
Day (17-6) won his UFC debut in April against Alan Belcher but
was completely outmatched in his next fight in a TKO loss to
Michael Bisping in June.
Lambert
(23-8), who opened his UFC and WEC career winning six out of
seven, has lost his last two fights this year. Lambert's biggest
win was against Renato "Babalu" Sobral via TKO at UFC
68 "Uprising" in March 2007.
UFC
88: Breakthrough
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Philips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia
Pay-Per-View
Card:
205
lbs. | Chuck Liddell vs. Rashad Evans
205 lbs. | Rich Franklin vs. Matt Hamill
170 lbs. | Karo Parisyan vs. Yoshiyuki Yoshida
185 lbs. | Dan Henderson vs. Rousimar Palhares
185 lbs. | Martin Kampann vs. Nate Marquardt
Undercard:
155
lbs. | Thiago Tavares vs. Kurt Pellegrino
205 lbs. | Tim Boetsch vs. James Lee
170 lbs. | Matt Brown vs. Dong Hyun Kim
170 lbs. | Roan Carneiro vs. Ryo Chonan
185 lbs. | Jason Lambert vs. Jason Day
Source: MMA Fighting
|
Reis
vs. Quach for Vacant EliteXC 140-Pound Title
Sam Caplan
Los
Angeles-based Elite Xtreme Combat will introduce its 140 lbs.
title on Sept. 20 in Albuquerque, N.M. at “The Pit”
when Wilson Reis and Bao Quach face each other for the vacant
championship.
FiveOuncesOfPain.com
spoke with EliteXC officials earlier in the week about the possibility
of the matchup being finalized by week’s end. EliteXC has
yet to officially announce the match but Reis informed his no
Gi jiu-jitsu class at Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu United in Jenkintown,
PA on Thursday night that the fight had been finalized earlier
in the day.
Reis
improved his record to 5-0 following a unanimous decision victory
over Bryan Caraway during the SHOWTIME portion of EliteXC’s
“Unfinished Business” on July 26. The 23-year renowned
jiu-jitsu black belt is considered one of the top competitive
grapplers in the world.
He’ll
be facing an opponent in Quach, who improved his winning streak
to nine following his unanimous decision victory against Mark
Oshiro during ICON Sport’s “Hard Times” event
on August 2. Originally known for being primarily a ground fighter,
Quach’s standup has become highly respected under the tutelage
of Colin Oyama.
EliteXC’s
“Showdown” on Sept. 20 will be broadcast on SHOWTIME
and is also expected to feature Joey Villasenor, Dave Herman,
and Cristiane Cyborg against opponents yet to be determined.
Five Ounces of Pain also broke the news on Tuesday that Paul
Daley will be in action on the show in a bout against undefeated
Team Tiger Schulmann welterweight prospect Lyman Good.
Source: The Fight Network
|
Shields
Pursues 185-Pound Bout Outside EliteXC
by Danny Acosta
Current EliteXC welterweight champion Jake Shields is not in
a rush to defend his belt. A fight at 185 pounds in a different
organization is being negotiated, according to his father and
manager Jack Shields.
MMAWeekly.com
was the first to report Shields’ surprise proposition Thursday.
"Jake
has been offered an opportunity to fight a top-five middleweight
and he would love to do it,” said the elder Shields.
Shields
did not reveal the intended opponent or the promotion courting
his son. It is not clear if Shields has an exclusive contract
with EliteXC.
The
development comes after the former Rumble on the Rock champion
was rumored to defend his title against UFC veteran John Alessio
in EliteXC.
“John
Alessio has been mentioned also sometime along the line, the
company just acquired him. Paul Daley, both good opponents,”
he said. “I'm sure Jake will fight both of them before his
time [in EliteXC is over]. But right now, a top-ranked middleweight
and Jake would like to take that chance."
The
Cesar Gracie black belt returned to training on Monday, but it
remains unclear whom the champion is preparing to fight. Possibilities
outside of the Pro Elite family are Strikeforce fighters Cung
Le and Frank Shamrock. Shields expressed a desire to fight Shamrock
after his defeat of Nick Thompson on July 26.
The
Affliction banner, which is actively signing top talent, could
be looking to alter an already-announced Matt Lindland -Vitor
Belfort clash to secure a fight with Shields. Dream, a promotion
that has been actively working with Shields teammate Nick Diaz,
will crown a tournament champion on Sept. 23 and may provide
a formidable opponent.
"Elite
has been cool in the past about letting their fighters fight
outside of their organization," said Jack Shields. "Jake's
a fighting champion and he likes a challenge and they know that.
We're trying to work it out with them.”
Source: Sherdog
|
Top
10 Randy Couture Fights
by Robert Rousseau
Anytime A&E does a Biography special on your life, you know
that you’ve made it big time. Add in an autobiography, the
UFC Hall of Fame, and championship belts in both the heavyweight
and light heavyweight divisions and voila, you have Randy “The
Natural” Couture.
In other words, there certainly have been enough fights to choose
from when determining Couture’s top 10 fights of all time.
Still,
here are the criteria. The fight and its significance to Randy
Couture. 2. The level of competition. In other words, highly
competitive fights will be deemed more worthy than blowouts.
Of
course, if one of these two criteria was over the top in a particular
bout that one might move forward on the list over another where
both criteria were more relevant but neither were over the top.
Honorable
Mention: Randy Couture vs. Chuck Liddell III
Event:
UFC 57
Result:
Liddell wins via KO in round two.
The
Skinny: The rubber match. Most believed that Liddell would win
coming in. Some believed, however, that Couture would once again
prove that he should never be counted out.
Even
Randy Couture is sometimes unable to win as the underdog, though.
Liddell
thwarted Couture’s takedown attempts and even got up from
one in the first round. In the second, a lightning- fast Liddell
right hand dropped The Natural and allowed the Iceman to retain
the belt. Afterwards, Couture made a significant announcement.
He
retired. Of course, we all know that the whole retirement thing
was short lived. This was a loss and it wasn’t right after
TUF 1, so it only makes honorable mention on this list. On Liddell’s
list?
Well
that would be a different story.
10.
Randy Couture vs. Maurice Smith
Event:
UFC Japan: Ultimate Japan 1
Result:
Couture wins via decision.
The
Skinny: Couture basically ground and pounded his way to a 21
minute decision victory in this one. To be frank, it ended up
being one of those striker versus grappler match ups where the
grappler dominated. Still, Couture won his first heavyweight
title in the fight, which is why it makes the list.
9.
Randy Couture vs. Gabriel Gonzaga
Event:
UFC 74
Result:
Couture wins via TKO in round three.
The
Skinny: Gabriel Gonzaga was young. Gabriel Gonzaga was athletic.
Gabriel Gonzaga was also very big and had stellar jiu jitsu.
In
other words, he was a lot like Josh Barnett and Ricco Rodriguez,
two fighters whose size had eventually worn Couture down, forcing
him to drop to the light heavyweight division in the first place.
Besides, Gonzaga had just knocked Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic
out with his own specialty.
A
high kick.
So
most thought that Gonzaga was the antidote to Couture’s
poison. People were thinking that he would finally put Couture
into a real retirement. Instead what happened was Couture beat
Gonzaga up in the clinch and took him down on multiple occasions.
Eventually, Gonzaga broke down near the cage wall and the referee
had no choice but to stop things under Couture’s ground
and pound onslaught.
Oh
yeah, and during the fight Couture sustained a broken arm. Didn’t
stop him, though.
8.
Randy Couture vs. Pedro Rizzo II
Event:
UFC 34
Result:
Couture wins via TKO in round three.
The
Skinny: Though their first fight had ended in a controversial
decision victory for Couture, the second fight—one that
many though Rizzo would win, surprise, surprise—was dominated
by Couture. His ground and pound was spot on all fight and during
the third stanza, he literally dragged Rizzo into the cage wall
and unleashed a furious assault that ended with the referee stepping
in.
Couture
had once again proven that to count him out was foolish.
7.
Randy Couture vs. Kevin Randleman
Event:
UFC 28
Result:
Couture wins via TKO in round three.
The
Skinny: Want the skinny? Well, here it is. Many believed that
Randleman was the better and more explosive wrestler coming into
this match up. In fact, it was the first time that Couture had
really ever been pitted against someone with a similar background
to his.
Guess
what, the underdog won out again.
In
the end, Couture got the takedowns he needed and outdid Randleman
at almost every turn. Simply put, he was the better fighter that
night. A big win.
6.
Randy Couture vs. Chuck Liddell II
Event:
UFC 52
Result:
Chuck Liddell wins via KO in round one.
The
Skinny: This fight had huge ramifications. First, it was a fight
between the two TUF 1 coaches, something that many seem to forget
about. Considering how TUF 1 had turned out—let’s face
it, the Stephan Bonnar- Forrest Griffin fight did a lot toward
bringing the sport to the mainstream—these two couldn’t
have been more popular. Many believed that Couture would do what
he did in their first fight—simply take Liddell down at
will and ground and pound him until the referee pulled him off.
Not
to be.
First,
Couture seemed pretty willing to stay on his feet with the Iceman
in this one, which history has proven is never a good idea. Further,
even when he did go for a takedown, Liddell stymied him easily.
Then came a big right hand.
A
few strikes later and that was all she wrote. Just like that
Couture was handed his only knockout loss on the biggest stage
of his career and many were left realizing something.
Randy
Couture was human.
This
one makes the list because of the immense stage after TUF 1.
5.
Randy Couture vs. Vitor Belfort I
Event:
UFC 15
Result:
Couture wins via TKO in round one.
The
Skinny: Vitor Belfort had been dominant coming into his UFC 15
match up with Couture. Actually, dominant didn’t even cover
it. How about this?
He
had defeated his four previous opponents—Scott Ferrozo,
Tank Abbott, Tra Telligman, and Jon Hess— in only three
minutes and four seconds total.
Along
with this, he threw punches with speed and power that simply
hadn’t been witnessed in the Octagon to date. What’s
more, he was a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu practitioner, which of course
made him look pretty unbeatable at the time.
Not
so after he fought Couture, however.
Surprisingly,
Couture defeated Belfort not with the patented ground and pound
that many expected him to utilize, but rather with a devastating
clinch game. He basically mauled Belfort inside.
It
was a glimpse of things to come when it came to the clinch. Further,
it was another huge upset victory; the first of his MMA career,
in fact.
4.
Randy Couture vs. Chuck Liddell I
Event:
UFC 43
Result:
Couture wins via TKO in round three
The
Skinny: There’s a repeating theme throughout Randy Couture’s
career. Basically, he looks very beatable for two or three fights—in
this case two consecutive against Josh Barnett and Ricco Rodriguez—and
then suddenly does something that no one believes he’s capable
of. Such was the case when he dropped down to the light heavyweight
division to take on Chuck Liddell, a man that would finally get
his title shot against Tito Ortiz if he won.
But
he didn’t win. That whole foregone conclusion thing just
didn’t pan out.
Couture
simply took Liddell down at will during the fight and tired him
out. Toward the end of the battle, in fact, he began to win the
stand up encounters as well. And eventually, with Couture executing
his patented ground and pound, the referee stopped the fight
in his favor against one of the better MMA fighters of all time.
A
huge win for The Natural.
3.
Randy Couture vs. Tito Ortiz
Event:
UFC 44
Result:
Couture wins via unanimous decision.
The
Skinny: Tito Ortiz just isn’t as popular and well- thought
of as he used to be. That’s what happens when you’re
the lovable bad guy wearing disrespectful tee shirts making fun
of your opponents after defeating them.
When
you fall off your horse a little bit, the masses begin to pounce.
Still,
Ortiz was one of the better fighters to ever grace the Octagon
in his prime and is still quite good today. However, back at
UFC 44 he was much more than that. Simply put, Ortiz was the
face of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He was widely considered
to be one of the best, if not the best, pound for pound fighters
in the game. Ortiz was also the UFC Light Heavyweight Champion.
Not
after this bout, though.
In
the end, when two fighters want to execute ground and pound on
one another. . . Well, the guy who has the better takedowns and
wrestling is going to win. There is no ground and pound without
being on top.
One
thing Randy Couture does better than anybody ever has in the
light heavyweight division is wrestle. Thus, The Natural found
himself on top of the Huntington Beach Bad Boy raining down ground
and pound for the majority of this fight, and even tapped his
shorts playfully as the fight ended with Ortiz going for a leglock
to no avail.
Once
again Couture had come through when few thought he could.
2.
Randy Couture vs. Pedro Rizzo 1
Event:
UFC 31
Result:
Couture wins via unanimous decision.
The
Skinny: One of the better fights of all time. The first round
saw Couture dominate Rizzo from a ground and pound angle. In
fact, he nearly stopped him. In the second, Rizzo unleashed a
furious leg kick assault on Couture that left him walking funny
for weeks afterward and nearly stopped him. The next three rounds
were a testament to heart, as it was hard to believe that either
was fighter was able to finish the five round war.
But
Couture was awarded a controversial victory when all was said
and done.
1.
Randy Couture vs. Tim Sylvia
Event:
UFC 68
Result:
Couture wins via unanimous decision
The
Skinny: What do you do when you find out that you just can’t
defeat a UFC Light Heavyweight Champion with awesome takedown
defense and ridiculous power? How about take on a heavyweight
champion that’s much bigger and fights similarly.
Huh?
Yup,
that’s what The Natural decided to do when he jumped in
the cage with then UFC Heavyweight Champion Tim Sylvia at UFC
68 in Ohio. The place was rocking.
And
speaking of rocking, Couture came out and immediately rocked
Sylvia with a right hand to start things off. Though The Natural
was unable to stop the fight after taking his opponent’s
back afterward, it didn’t matter.
From
there forth, he continually took Sylvia down over the course
of five rounds and pounded away at him. When it was all said
and done, Sylvia hadn’t even won a round.
This
one falls in at number one on the list because of the gravity
of the fight, Couture’s stellar performance, and the ridiculousness
of it all. You just don’t go up in weight and take the championship
belt after getting beaten by a lighter champion, particularly
at the age of 43.
Or
do you? After all, that’s the allure of Randy Couture. You’re
never really sure exactly what he is capable of.
Source: MMA Fighting
|
For
Penn, Lightweight is Right
Weight
by Jason Probst
B.J. Penn’s clearly excited
about the prospect of rematching UFC welterweight champion Georges
St. Pierre in December, but the prospect of the bout reveals
far more potential downside than payoff for Penn, and the sport
itself.
That’s
because mixed martial arts, despite its phenomenal growth of
late, still hasn’t produced a champion with a title reign
approaching any memorable ones in boxing -- the sport that MMA
has supplanted in so many ways for so many people. You don’t
grow a huge tree by replanting it every couple years, and the
same could be said for making guys like Penn into superstars
with major crossover appeal.
For
Penn to challenge GSP on Dec. 27, which is the rumored date for
their meeting (and very likely, given industry chatter), the
bout brings up a host of potential blowback problems, win or
lose for the lightweight champion.
Title
defenses build a legacy
As
MMA grows, an integral -- and often overlooked -- component to
its appeal are the storylines that develop as fighters build
a legacy, particularly as champions. Given the wild twists of
fate that can happen given the small gloves and myriad of wild-card
factors in a given bout, an extended championship run in MMA
is even more impressive than in boxing. The current record for
consecutive successful defenses in the UFC is five, with Matt
Hughes’ first run as welterweight king.
In
the sweet science, it’s more common for a champ to build
a string of title defenses, simply because the relative skill
levels of each man are far more consistently expressed -- a Larry
Holmes is able to make 20 defenses simply because he’s a
much better boxer than his challengers, with the requisite conditioning
and motivation to soldier on through rough moments.
The
consequences of “getting caught” are still grave, but
he is less likely to be put in an awful position in which his
advantages dissipate, like a wrestler on their back, or a jiu-jitsu
ace stuck in a standup battle because he doesn’t have world-class
takedowns. When Holmes ate a monster right hand from Earnie Shavers
-- who was probably the greatest single-shot hitter in the history
of the sport -- he was miraculously able to get up off the deck,
bounce to a neutral corner, and get key moments of recovery time,
then resume killing the clock en route to a stoppage four rounds
later.
In
MMA, that probably wouldn’t happen. Getting caught means
you’re in trouble. Take the equivalent of Shavers’
right hand, say, a bull’s-eye kick from a Mirko "Cro
Cop" Filipovic, and it would take a superhuman effort to
recover from that while avoiding a ruthless follow-up barrage
while you’re dazed looking at the ceiling (unless you’re
Mark Hunt, whose chin is made of otherworldly stuff).
That
is part of MMA’s appeal -- the sudden swings in momentum
-- and if anybody has the pluck and toughness to survive a few
of these, it’s Penn. Even though he’d be a 4-1 or better
favorite against any current lightweight challenger, give him
ten defenses, and he’ll surely have a couple of Holmes-Shavers
moments. That’s what fans remember, and what grows the sport.
Think
Matt Hughes-Frank Trigg II. A champion in trouble rallies to
defend his belt, leaving an indelible highlight-reel memory.
That’s memorable stuff.
Of
all 39 UFC title reigns, the belts have only been defended 46
times. That’s an average of 1.17 successful defenses each
time a new champ takes the throne. As far as UFC champions go,
they have the shelf life of a drummer for Spinal Tap. The sport
has done exceptionally well despite its rotating-door champs,
but imagine how much bigger it could be if there were long-reigning
title-holders?
You
cannot underestimate the marketing value and exposure factor
of defending a belt several times in a row. I’d say that
half the people who know who Urijah Faber is have only seen him
fight against Jens Pulver, his most recent title defense. Penn
is a well-known fighter but the folly of taking on GSP presents
all sorts of potential issues.
Fallout
If
Penn wins the welterweight belt, what do you do with him then?
Will he be satisfied to stick around much longer outside of a
rubber match with GSP? Having slain the top 170-pounder, will
he be motivated to stick around for the relatively lesser competition?
That’s doubtful. You risk devaluing the welterweight title
when Penn is gone. And you also throw the lightweights in disarray
with another dubious vacant title square-off. MMA isn’t
boxing -- yet -- but the prevalence of interim and vacant titles
is already an emerging trend.
Plus,
there’s the good possibility that Penn fights GSP, and gets
whipped, soundly. It’s still amazing that hordes of chat
room revisionists recap their first bout as some sort of one-sided
whipping by Penn, when in reality it was a close, hard-fought
contest where Penn tired down the stretch and gave up a couple
takedowns. He cut St. Pierre in the opening moments and basically
jabbed and countered for three rounds -- you’d think he
was Holmes and GSP was Tex Cobb. Penn put up a spirited effort,
but never had GSP in trouble, and was outwrestled in addition
to being even on the feet, at best.
The
reality is that Penn will be at a bigger disadvantage. St. Pierre
continues to improve, and in a five-round fight, he can push
Penn even further, and deliver a lot of punishment in the process.
Maybe that’s the kind of message Penn needs to stay in his
natural weight class -- because the mileage GSP could put on
the Hawaiian fighter’s body and mind might be more than
Penn accrues in his next ten fights at lightweight. There is
nobody at 155 that could physically dominate him, or really come
close -- GSP can, and probably will.
Lightweight
depth
The
155-pound division is the most stacked in the sport right now,
and it’s testimony to Penn’s ability that despite this,
he’d at least a 4-1 favorite over every existing challenger.
If you had to bet right now that Penn would win his next lightweight
fight at even odds, you’d jump on it. But what about five
in a row? Or ten? That’s the fascinating question, and the
right way to grow the sport as he builds a legacy of turning
back challengers. Fight fans want a top dog that sends challengers
home packing, sending a message of supremacy in a meaningful
contest.
Penn
does not lack for exciting challengers. Kenny Florian proved
he’s the top lightweight contender with his impressive decision
win over Roger Huerta last weekend. The vastly-improving Gray
Maynard would bring a grinding pressure style. If Tyson Griffin
beats Sean Sherk in a couple of months, he’d be on the short
list, too. And this doesn’t even touch on the possibility
of tough fighters currently battling it out in Dream, including
Eddie Alvarez, JZ Cavalcante, Joachim Hansen, and a rematch with
Takanori Gomi.
And
a year from now, a Faber-Penn bout would be insanely marketable
and a no-lose proposition for both men, as the WEC champ will
have virtually cleaned out the 145-pound division, “Kid”
Yamamoto or not.
There’s
plenty of fights at lightweight for Penn. The shame of it would
be if he turned his back on them now that he’s finally committed
himself to getting into shape. Show me a Penn with defined abs,
and I’ll show you the best fighter on the planet, pound
for pound. Throw him fifteen pounds north, and it’s like
making Secretariat do the Belmont with an overweight jockey.
He can still perform at a high level, but the added poundage
only slows him down.
The
Freewheeling Factor
Born
into a wealthy family, Penn’s one of the richest fighters
in MMA. As such, his situation is far different than most world-class
competitors; he doesn’t have to take fights to keep the
money rolling in lest he fall back on the hard times that defined
the early career of his world-class cohorts.
Fighters
get to a certain level of comfort and work to sustain it, the
sting of hard times never too far in the rearview mirror. Penn
has never needed to, and as such, he’s got an unpredictable
streak. The UFC has very little leverage keeping him there if
he’s bored.
And
when he’s bored, that’s when strange things happen.
After his submission victory over Hughes to take the welterweight
title in 2004, Penn was in a perfect position to negotiate with
the UFC, as that was the last fight on his contract. Instead,
he signed with K-1 and was stripped of the title. The guy basically
does what he wants, because he doesn’t really need the money.
It’s
a great thing that Penn wants to fight the biggest, baddest welterweight
out there (again) – but we need to be honest and assess
the potential fallout of this bout happening. Will it screw up
the welterweights?
Probably,
if Penn wins. Does it unfairly put the lightweights on hold for
several months while Penn decides what division to fight in after
he wins, or even loses? Quite likely. Champ vs. champ matches
are always better if you stir the pot and build toward them.
And
if Penn wins, you can bet he’ll want Anderson Silva (Pictures)
next. He’s a hard guy to keep in any one organization or
weight division, but that’s B.J. Penn. Focused, he is nearly
unbeatable against a man his size. Distracted or bored, he is
a tragic figure, his own worst enemy.
Solution
Have
Penn move up to welterweight only after he’s completely
cleaned out the weight class. That’s 3-4 more title defenses,
based on beating guys who probably will have to edge out other
top-10 contenders. By then, going up in weight will be the perfect
move if GSP is, expectedly, still ruling the welterweight roost.
By
then, both guys will have broken Hughes’ mark of five straight
title defenses (that’s a lot of ifs, but both seem dominant
enough to pull it off). Let the storylines collide then, instead
of squandering a superfight -- and potentially throwing two divisions
into chaos -- before its time. Hate to say it, but the UFC could
probably get 54.95 for that one if promoted right.
And
build a storyline and title reign while you’re at it. Penn’s
got the challengers at 155 to make a great run. It’d be
a shame if he left the neighborhood after such an impressive
return.
Source: Sherdog
|
BROCK
LESNAR IS A MIXED MARTIAL ARTIST
by Jeff Cain
When former Division I collegiate wrestling heavyweight champion
and World Wrestling Entertainment superstar Brock Lesnar made
the decision to compete in mixed martial arts, he set lofty goals.
After his debut win over Min Soo Kim in K-1, Lesnar set his sights
on the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
"I'm
a fighter, and I believe that if somebody should be holding a
belt in the UFC, it's Brock Lesnar," the 31-year-old wrestler
told MMAWeekly.com in August of 2007.
Lesnar
debuted in the UFC against former heavyweight titleholder Frank
Mir at UFC 81 and lost via kneebar in a fight he was dominating.
"I've been in front of a lot of crowds, but the one thing
I hadn't been in was the Octagon and fighting a former champion,"
commented Lesnar. "I put a lot of pressure on myself that
first fight. I had more pressure on my first fight I think than
I did this fight."
UFC
president Dana White had reservations about bringing Lesnar into
the UFC. "When Brock said he wanted to fight in the UFC,
I told him, ‘this isn't the place to learn how to fight.
You should fight in smaller shows,’" White told the
media during the UFC 87 post-fight press conference. "He
wanted to come here and test himself against the best."
After
Lesnar's performance against Heath Herring at the Target Center
in Minneapolis, White admitted something he rarely admits. "I'll
be honest, I didn't think he could come in here with no fights
and compete at this level. He proved me wrong. He looked unbelievable...
I'm very impressed and I think everyone else is too."
Following
his first win in the UFC, Lesnar told the media, "I got
really excited after I won. And I have every right to be. I came
off a loss. And it was tough. I don't like to lose. And it feels
good."
Lesnar
dropped Herring early in the first round with a right hand. Questioned
if he's been working on his striking, he answered, "I've
been working on everything, not just the right hand. It's one
of those things where we broke Heath Herring down. And the advantage
we had in our camp was Heath didn't have any footage on me and
we had everything on him. He was expecting me to shoot on him
and I faked a shot, faked a jab, and came with the right hand
and put it where I needed to put it."
Following
his impressive victory some criticized Lesnar for his post-fight
antics, comparing it to his pro wrestling days. "That was
just me. I was excited," stated the heavyweight fighter.
"That was for Heath's camp because on the way out to the
Octagon there was some things said before the fight. And I had
the last laugh and the last words to say. That's all that matters
to me.
"I
may have went a little overboard," he added. "But I
was having fun. You know? I like where I'm at and if I offended
anybody, I'm sorry. Ah… not really."
With
only three MMA fights, Lesnar hasn't shed that stigma of being
a former professional wrestler despite the fact that several
mixed martial artists also participate in pro wrestling matches
in Japan.
"First
and foremost, I'm an amateur wrestler," stated Lesnar. "I
was in the entertainment business for four and a half years.
I didn't forget who I was nor will I ever forget. I started wrestling
when I was five years old. Nobody gave me anything in my entire
life. I've had to fight for every damn thing that I've got and
I'm proud of it. I'm proud to be here."
Lesnar
admitted that two years ago he was at a crossroads in his career
and didn't know what direction he'd end up going. But the 280-pound
heavyweight has found a place in the UFC. "I feel at home
here. People bounce around from job to job their whole lives
and never find a home. I feel like this is where I belong."
White
appears to agree, “(Heath Herring’s) fought the best
fighters in the world. He got dominated… dominated by Brock
Lesnar. Brock Lesnar is a mixed martial artist, no doubt about
it."
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Matt
Hughes vs. Matt Serra Appears To Be A Go
Matt Hughes was the guest on the most recent edition of PWB's
Official Podcast Hotline with Lex and Ian. In a candid interview,
Hughes addressed several topics:
On a potential match with Matt Serra :
"Right
now, I've talked to Joe Silva quite a few times, and we're looking
at maybe January. He has told me it's going to be Matt Serra,
so I'm looking at January or February. That'll give my knee plenty
of time to heal, if it's natural. If I have to go under the knife,
I don't know what my time frame will be"
On
whether or not he was annoyed by Thiago Alves not making weight
for their fight:
"I
don't know that I'd say that it annoys me. I just think it's
unprofessional. You know, here we are, we're in a sport where
you gotta make weight, and he doesn't make weight, and he misses
weight by so much. I think four pounds or something. So really,
did he even try and make weight?
"If
I ever happen to not make weight, I will die trying. It will
never be four pounds over. It'll be, you know, Matt couldn't
make weight because he ran so much he had to go to the hospital."
On
the Georges St. Pierre/Jon Fitch fight at UFC 87:
"I
gotta be real honest. I was kind of bored with this match. It
was the last fight of the night, and halfway in the third round,
I got up, and I left the arena."
For
the full interview, including Hughes full thoughts on the health
of his knee, when his last fight will take place, UFC 87, hunting
and his autobiography, check out pwbpodcastlive.com, or search
pwb podcast on ITunes and subscribe today.
Source: Fight Line
|
Fabrício
“Morango” and his huge BJJ camp
By Eduardo Ferreira
Signed
to come back to EliteXC at August 15th, Fabrício “Morango”
Camões will face San Morgan, and try to win his six fight
in a row. With a great BJJ (three of his last five victories
came by submission), Morango now has a great training partners
at Universidade do Jiu-Jitsu, in San Diego . “Ronaldo Jacaré
came here now to get ready for his fight at Dream… My corner
now has three world BJJ champions. I believe my opponent will
give up when se sees it (laughs)”, said Morango, that will
have Xande Ribeiro (four times world champion at his weight and
two times at open weight), Saulo Ribeiro (six times at weight)
and Ronaldo Jacaré (two times on weight and open weight),
a total of 16 world titles, only at black belt competition.
Looking
after a future title shot at 73kg category, that now belongs
to KJ Noons, Morango works hard to earn his chance. “My
plans is the same. I’m with a great Jiu-Jitsu and grappling
game and I believe I’ll do a good fight. I know Morgan is
tough, he fought huge athletes like Cung Le and fought at The
Ultimate Fighter, but our camp at San Diego is very tought with
Xande training for Sengoku, Diego Sanchez training to face Thiago
Alves and Jacaré getting ready for Dream”, told Morango,
that is already studying the athletes that he might have to face
to get his title at EliteXC.
“I
hope I win this fight so that EliteXC gives me a huge fighter
to fight, like Nick Diaz, Yves Edwards or Edson Berto, to get
on the line for the title. Day after day will start to build
a Brazilian dominance at EliteXC. Rafael “Feijão”
is dominating the light-heavyweight category, Antônio “Bigfoot”
won the heavyweight category, Giva (Givanilso Santana) is doing
a great job at LHW and Wilson Reis will have a title shot and
maybe bring another belt to Brazil”, told Morango.
Source: Tatame
|
Purcell
'Rosy' Fight Will Transpire
by Mike Harris
Debi “Whiplash” Purcell (Pictures) really, really,
really hopes her scheduled Friday night fight with Rosi Sexton
on the ShoXC “Elite Challenger Series” actually transpires.
She
prays for it every hour on the hour. She keeps her fingers crossed
24/7, even during training, for good luck. And just in case that’s
not enough, she’s made the proverbial pact with the Devil
to sacrifice her soul and that of her firstborn just to ensure
the bout materializes.
That
may be a bit of an exaggeration, but not by much.
Purcell,
a pioneer of women’s mixed martial arts, has been in the
game since the early 1990s, yet has had only five professional
fights in that time. Many other bouts were cancelled due to injuries
and/or fly-by-night promoters -- an experience that has left
her deeply frustrated, even embittered at times.
Purcell’s
last fight was a loss to Hitomi Akano (Pictures) on Feb. 15,
2006. Her last bout before that was a win over Nicole Albrect
(Pictures) way back on Oct. 19, 2002 -- close to six years ago.
To say she’s hungry for the Sexton fight would be a gross
understatement.
“I’ve
been fighting professionally a long time -- too long to have
as little fights as I do,” Purcell says, trying to mask
her deep dissatisfaction with a throaty laugh. “I competed
in some amateur boxing and kickboxing, Tae Kwon Do, that kind
of stuff. The thing is, with MMA, it’s been a really rough
road because while I probably had over 35, 40 fights lined up,
my record reflects how many actually came through. Some of that
is due to my own injuries, but a lot of that is due to other
people not showing up or promoters cancelling the shows. It’s
been really bad.”
Purcell
(4-1) was scheduled to face Carina Damm in her EliteXC debut,
but that bout was called off in June after Damm was suspended
in wake of a failed drug test.
“I
was supposed to fight for Elite [in June], and the show got cancelled
two weeks before,” Purcell says. “I had an opponent,
then I had a different opponent and she tested positive for steroids,
so that got cancelled. But it’s always like that, you know?”
“The
Sexton fight is gonna happen,” she adds pointedly, almost
as if trying to convince herself that it actually will. “The
Sexton fight is going to go through.”
Yet
given Purcell’s luck and track record, there’s still
time for something to go awry. Stay tuned.
There
are probably worse spawning grounds for future MMA fighters than
their friendly, neighborhood punk rock scenes.
Exhibit
A is Purcell, who as a teenage punker not only had to survive
the rough and tumble, testosterone-soaked mosh pits at many an
Exploited and Wasted Youth show but also had to be badass enough
to beat the snot out of anyone in attendance perceived to be
even remotely a hippie.
“I
got into drugs and kinda into the whole punk rock/skinhead scene
when I was a teenager,” says Purcell, who hails from Huntington
Beach, Calif., which, back in the early 1980s, was ground zero
for the second wave of American punk rock, the frequently neo-fascist
uber-violent variety known as hardcore.
“That’s
actually why I started training in kickboxing,” she adds.
“I just wanted to beat people up. It was all about being
angry and fighting, so I started training for that reason. Ironically,
that’s what helped me clean up and get my life on the right
track. I wanted to compete. I wanted to train. I wanted to take
care of my body. And so I didn’t want to put junk in my
body anymore. The very thing that led me to this sport actually
helped me clean up my life.”
She
started boxing, followed by kickboxing, Tae Kwon Do and jiu-jitsu.
“When
there was an opportunity to compete in mixed martial arts,”
she says, “I started training with Marco Ruas (Pictures)
and mixing it all together, and that’s how it kinda started
out.”
Studying
Ruas Vale Tudo -- a hybrid of Brazilian submission fighting and
kickboxing -- under the tutelage of her legendary mentor became
a life-transforming experience.
“Absolutely
100 percent life-altering,” says Purcell, who eventually
earned a black belt in the discipline. “I mean, I had purpose
in my life outside of mixed martial arts, but I would say that
definitely, yeah, it changed my life. It led me onto the right
track.”
But
just because Purcell traded in the drug-infested mosh pits of
her adolescence for the clean-living MMA training pits of adulthood
does not mean her life as a professional fighter has always been
a Hollywood-ending bed of roses. Purcell is not bashful about
making perfectly clear that MMA has been one rough road to hoe,
due to the aforementioned frustrations over cancelled fights
and the personal sacrifices the professional fighting life can
exact from its adherents.
“I
give everything to this sport -- everything,” says Purcell,
who frequently spits out her words in aggressive, rapid-fire
cadences, the verbal equivalents of the combos she will undoubtedly
fire at Sexton’s head Friday. “Because of that, it’s
really hurt me in my life. I mean, it’s hurt my relationships.
When you obsess on something, when you fight professionally,
you have to be selfish. You have to put yourself ahead of everything
else.
“Training
with Marco, he was always going, ‘I don’t care if you’re
making money. I don’t care if you’re never fighting.
If you’re even going to say you’re a fighter, you’re
training two, three times a day, six days a week, and you’re
going to train like a professional,’” Purcell adds.
“At the time I was doing it, it wasn’t a professional
sport.”
It
was not all frustration and sacrifice. Along the way, Purcell
had her share of triumph and glory, too. She became the first
woman to compete and win in King of the Cage and later became
the first female to coach in the International Fight League.
As an assistant under Ruas, she cemented her status as a women’s
MMA trailblazer with the Southern California Condors.
If
the fighting life was not demanding enough, Purcell took on even
more. She promoted the women’s MMA cause by helping start
Fightergirls.net and becoming involved in the Women’s Martial
Arts Association.
“The
sport is exploding, and I don’t want to get left behind,”
she says. “What I didn’t want to happen is the sport
explodes, and like in every other sport, years later, the women
come in and try to start their own leagues and get the support.
I think because we’re such a young sport, the women actually
are growing with the sport.”
More
recently, she signed a three-fight deal with EliteXC.
“They
had offered me a fight for about the past year, and I finally
took them up on it and said, ‘OK, let’s go,’”
she says. “In the beginning, I was kinda like, ‘I want
to fight Gina [Carano], and I’m not fighting for you unless
you let me fight Gina.’ That was kinda my bad. I basically
was real stubborn and kinda bitter, but after a while I said,
‘You know what? I need a fight.’ They’ve been
really good to me, and I’m real excited to be fighting for
them.”
To
eventually step into the cage with Carano, Purcell realizes,
“I need to go win fights. I can’t just say, ‘OK,
well I want to fight her now.’ She’s been winning fights,
[and] I haven’t been active, so I can’t expect them
to just pair us up.”
First,
she needs to deal with Sexton (8-1), a tough Brit on a three-fight
winning streak, in a 130-pound matchup at the Table Mountain
Casino in Friant, Calif. The bout will air on Showtime.
“She’s
a great opponent,” Purcell says. “She’s really
tough. She armbarred Carina Damm, the girl I was supposed to
originally fight for Elite, so she’s like a step above that.
She’s great fighter. I’m excited about that.”
As
always, Purcell has trained with Ruas, plus her fiancé
-- Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt world champion Ronald Assumpcao
-- and fighter/coach Adam Lynn (Pictures), who also was a member
of the IFL’s Condors. She divided her time between Ruas’
gym in Laguna Niguel, Calif., and Lynn’s Subfighter MMA
gym in nearby Lake Forest, Calif.
“I’m
in the best shape of my life right now, and for the first time
-- and I don’t want to jinx myself cause I still have a
couple days left -- I have no injuries,” she says with that
raspy laugh. “I feel really good.”
Purcell
does not adhere to a training routine, preferring to mix things
up to keep her workouts interesting.
“I
think my biggest strength is that I’m well-rounded,”
she says. “That’s what I spent most of my years trying
to do. I don’t want to sound arrogant about it, because
I know I have some weaknesses in my game, but I think my biggest
strength is that I train equally in everything.”
Lynn
considers Purcell’s chief assets as a fighter to include
“her physical strength -- for a woman, she’s unbelievably
strong -- her athletic ability and just her experience level.
She only has maybe six, seven fights, but she’s been around
the game for a long time, 12, 13 years.”
As
far as a game plan goes, Lynn likes to keep it simple.
“Uh,
win,” Lynn says with a laugh of his own. “Basically,
she’s just gonna try to use her boxing technique, her size
-- she’s a little bit bigger than Rosi -- and see how it
plays out. She doesn’t want to come out and go balls to
the wall and burn herself out. She wants to really get back in
the ring and get a feel for it. We believe 100 percent that Debi
is a better technical fighter than Rosi, so wherever the fight
goes, she ends up on the bottom, she ends up on top, we have
a plan for it.”
Purcell
promises to pursue a decisive victory.
“I’m
gonna come in and go,” she says. “I’m doing everything.
I’m gonna take her down. I’m gonna be on the ground,
on the feet. I’m going for the win, either by knockout or
submission. That’s it.”
Of
course for any of that to happen, the fight actually has to take
place. Given all her past disappointments, no one could possibly
blame Purcell for going through some nervous time right about
now.
Source: Sherdog
|
Quote
of the Day
"Promises
are the uniquely human way of ordering the future,
making it predictable and reliable to the extent that this is
humanly possible."
Hannah Arendt, 1906-1975, German Political Philosopher
|
HAMMAN
WINS REMATCH AGAINST SUGANUMA; CAMOES, DIABATE,
SEXTON, LIZAMA ALSO VICTORIOUS ON EXCITING ELITEXC FIGHT CARD
Saturday, Aug. 15, 2008, at 11 p.m. ET/PT on SHOWTIME
Table Mountain Casino, Friant, California
FRIANT,
Calif. (Aug. 16, 2008) – This time, there was no controversy.
In
an inspired and impressive performance, once-beaten light heavyweight
Jared Hamman (11-1) got his revenge against Po’ai Suganuma (9-2), winning by 2:34, first-round
TKO in a fast-paced, exciting main event on ShoXC: Elite Challenger
Series Friday on SHOWTIME at the Table Mountain Casino.
The
crowd-pleasing mixed martial arts fight card, presented by Los
Angeles-based ProElite, Inc.’s live fight division, EliteXC,
aired on SHOWTIME at 11 p.m. ET/PT. It will be replayed on SHO
2 this Tuesday, Aug. 19, at 10 p.m. ET/PT and will be available
On Demand from Monday, Aug. 18-Sept. 14.
In
other SHOWTIME fights: talented lightweight contender Fabricio
“Morango” Camoes (11-4) of San Diego submitted (rear
naked choke) Sammy Morgan (19-11) of St. Paul, Minn., at 0:47
of the opening round; comebacking Cyrille “The Snake”
Diabate (15-6-1) of Rueil-Malmaison, France, scored a dominant
unanimous decision over game but outgunned Jaime Fletcher (9-4)
of San Bernardino, Calif., at 205 pounds; Rosi Sexton (9-1) of
Manchester, England, won an entertaining, hard-fought split decision
over Debi Purcell (4-2) of Laguna Hills, Calif., in a women’s
match at 140 pounds, and Ray Lizama (6-5) of Rancho Cucamonga,
Calif., registered an upset 2:15, second-round TKO (strikes)
over King of the Cage middleweight champion Keith Berry (7-3)
of Las Vegas in a non-title affair.
In
non-televised bouts: Katrina Alendale (1-2) of San Francisco
registered a hard-fought three-round unanimous decision (30-27
twice and 29-28) over Melanie La’Croix (1-1) of Redondo
Beach, Calif., in a women’s 140-pound fight; in a battle
of unbeatens at 150 pounds, Roberto Vargas (3-0) of San Bernardino
took a three-round split decision (29-28 twice and 28-29) over
Ralph Lopez (3-1) of Fresno, Calif. at 150 pounds; Jesse Brock
(7-3) of Sacramento won a unanimous decision (30-28, 29-27, 29-28)
over Josh Rave (8-5) of Fresno at 140; Lucas Gumaza (3-0) of
Stockton, Calif., scored a split three-round decision (30-27
twice and 28-29) over late substitute Kenny “The Poet’’
Johnson (1-1) of Redondo Beach, at 170 pounds; and David “Tarzan’’
Douglas (5-1) of Antioch, Calif., scored a 1:12, first-round
TKO (corner stoppage) over William Jacobson (0-2) of Los Angeles
at 155 pounds.
The
fights were scheduled for three, 5-minute rounds with the exception
of Sexton-Purcell and Alendale-La’Croix, which were slated
for three, 3-minute rounds. Pre- and post-fight interviews were
shown only at ProElite.com. Fighter pages are below.
Suganuma
dealt Hamman his lone loss in a controversial fight that lasted
all of 15 seconds on April 5, 2008, at the Table Mountain Casino
on ShoXC. Shortly thereafter, Hamman quit his day job - as an
assistant football coach at the University of Redlands (California)
– to devote himself to MMA.
“I
will coach again, but for now I am committed to being the best
I can be in mixed martial arts,’’ said Hamman, who’s
won all 11 of his MMA fights by stoppage – nine by TKO and
two by submission. Hamman has yet to have a fight enter the third
round.
“It
feels good to get revenge. But I feel bad for the guy. I respect
him as a fighter and as a person. Po’ai didn’t have
to take this fight. Others probably would have moved on without
giving me a rematch. But he did and I appreciate it. He gave
me a rematch. If that’s what they want, I’ll do the
same for him.’’
Suganuma
had a four-fight winning streak end.
Camoes,
who has won six in a row, was sensational again as he made short
work of Morgan, who seemingly is always matched tough.
“I
came to the United States to fight for the belt and that’s
what I want to do,’’ said Camoes, a black belt in Brazilian
Jiu-Jitsu who won his EliteXC and U.S. debut on the Hamman-Suganuma
undercard last April 5 with an eye-opening first-round TKO (strikes)
over Joe Camacho on ShoXC.
“My
job is to work hard and win fights. KJ Noons is the EliteXC lightweight champion.
I would fight him. I would fight anybody. I am willing to fight
whoever they want and do whatever it takes to get me closer to
fighting for the belt.’’
Diabate,
who was making his EliteXC debut and first start since April
21, 2007, gave the hard-trying Fletcher a brutal beating en route
to winning by 30-27 on the three judges’ scorecards. At
six-foot-six, Diabate used his height, reach, skills and ability
to batter, bruise and bloody Fletcher.
“I
felt a little ring rust, but I should be 100 percent for the
next fight,’’ the Muay Thai striking specialist said.
“I’ll fight anybody. A fight with the Brazilian, Rafael
Feijao, would be a great match. But it doesn’t matter who
I fight. It felt good to fight again and I am looking forward
to fighting again soon.’’
Sexton
won the first women’s 130-pound fight in EliteXC history
by 30-27 twice and 28-29.
“I
have nothing but respect for Debi Purcell and it was an honor
and a privilege to fight her,’’ Sexton said. “I
look forward to fighting the best in the EliteXC’s women
division.’’
Purcell,
who was appearing before a paying audience for the first time
since Feb. 15, 2006, offered no excuses.
“I
am very disappointed but I can’t blame inactivity or anything
else,’’ she said.
In
an excellent opening televised bout in which both were rocked
and wobbled, Lizama roared back from a first-round knockdown
to shock Berry.
“This
win erases anything I have done before,” said Lizama, who
was making his second ShoXC start. “I always felt in there
that I could match his handspeed and punch with him. This was
a tough guy. I got away from my game plan and got hit a couple
times.
“I
give him credit for staying up for as long as he did. I was hitting
him with some good shots. If he wants a rematch with his title
at stake, I would fight him, but those kinds of decisions are
made by my manager. I will fight whoever he says.’’
ShoXC,
an EliteXC presentation that pits developing fighters in tough
match ups, is a springboard for the future stars and champions
of EliteXC. ShoXC is patterned after the popular SHOWTIME boxing
series ShoBox: The New Generation.
SHOWTIME
announcer Mauro Ranallo called Friday’s play-by-play for
ShoXC with Stephen Quadros, The Fight Professor, serving as color
analyst. The executive producer of ShoXC is David Dinkins, Jr.
with Richard Gaughan producing and Rick Phillips directing.
For
more information on EliteXC and other MMA-related stories, including
bios, video-on-demand, photos, stats, Fantasy Fight Game TM and
more, please visit ProElite.com and EliteXC.com. For information
on SHOWTIME Sports, including exclusive behind-the-scenes video,
photo galleries and complete telecast information, please visit
http://www.SHO.com/Sports.
Fighter
pages for televised bouts: Suganuma (http:/poaisuganuma.proelite.com),
Hamman (http://jaredhamman.proelite.com), Camoes (http:/fabriciocamoes.proelite.com),
Morgan (http:/sammorgan.proelite.com), Diabate (http://cyrillediabate.proelite.com),
Fletcher (http://jaimefletcher.proelite.com), Purcell (http://debipurcell.proelite.com),
Sexton (http://rosisexton.proelite.com), Berry (http://keithberry.proelite.com),
Lizama (http://raylizama.proelite.com).
Fighter
pages for non-televised bouts: LaCroix (http://melanielacroix.proelite.com),
Alendale (http://katrinaalendale.proelite.com), Lopez (http://ralphlopez.proelite.com),
Vargas (http://robertovargas.proelite.com), Rave (http://joshrave.proelite.com),
Brock (http://jessebrock.proelite.com), Johnson (http://kennyjohnson.proelite.com),
Gamaza (http://lucasgamaza.proelite.com), Douglas (http://daviddouglas.proelite.com),
Jacobson (http://williamjacobson.proelite.com)
Source: Johnny Bey
|
Sidney
Silva Submission & MMA Hawaii Seminar
This seminar MMA,NO GI, SUBMISSION GRAPPLING it is about to show
you effective positions, the ones that really work, not the fancy
acrobatics ones, the real ones, the most commons attacks, transitions
between strikes and grappling, mistakes, combinations and of
course the defenses and escapes for all that.
It
is all about the details. Every body knows how to do an arm bar,
triangle, choke … right? But also a lot of time people miss
the positions because they miss the details. A little detail
can make the position successful or not, can be the difference
between the victory and the defeat.
Also
I would like to innovate with a new seminar style, which instead
of only showing you the positions and drills, like the traditional
types of seminar, you will also be allowed to ask your own questions
about specific positions and/or moves that you concern about.
I
want you, at the end, to feel that you learned as much as possible
and especially had fun.
So
I would like to invite you and your friends to learn and have
fun on September 07 at ICON gym. The investment is only $ 40
and you can also get a free seminar t-shirt if you are one of
the first 10 registrants, if you miss the registration you can
buy one over there for only $20.
The seminar will start at 3pm until 6pm and after will have lots
of time for free training.
If
you want to pre-register send a check or money order to:
SIDNEY
SILVA
1503 Punahou Street, #1C
Honolulu, HI 96822
Thank
you,
Sidney
Silva
|
Trigg's
Oct. 3 Strikeforce Opponent Confirmed
Sam Caplan
San
Jose-based MMA promotion Strikeforce issued a press release Thursday
evening confirming that it will be debuting in Denver, Colo.
at the Broomfield Center on Oct. 3.
The
release also announced a middleweight matchup between Frank Trigg
and Falaniko
Vitale.
While Strikeforce has officially announced the matchup, Trigg
himself has yet to confirm it.
When
contacted by FiveOuncesOfPain.com via e-mail on Wednesday, Trigg
said he had not signed with the promotion and that he would not
make any decisions about his next fight until after facing Makoto
Takimoto at Sengoku 4 on Aug. 2.
According
to MMAjunkie.com, Trigg said he plans to compete for Strikeforce
on Oct. 3 but that he doesn’t want to sign a contract and
fully commit and run the risk of not being able to fight. He
indicated that he also wants to remain focused on Takimoto.
The
release also confirmed a previously leaked matchup between Duane
“Bang” Ludwig and Sammy “The Squeeze” Morgan
with welterweights Phil Baroni and Pete Spratt announced to be
in action as well.
Source: The Fight Network
|
The
Olympic Crossover
by Tommy Messano
The 2008 Summer Olympic Games and their vast commercial reach
could serve as a launching pad for the next mixed martial arts
superstar.
With
NBC, MSNBC, the USA Network and various Internet outlets providing
more than 3,600 hours of Olympic coverage, a medal-winning athlete
with a compelling story could be in perfect position to crossover
to MMA. After all, it has happened before.
Many
Olympic wrestlers and judokas from various countries have gone
on to give MMA a try. Some enjoyed more success than others.
Karam
Ibrahim, for instance, dominated the Greco-Roman wrestling competition
at the 2004 Olympics. The gold medalist at 211 pounds made his
MMA debut against the solid but unspectacular Kazuyuki Fujita,
who knocked him out in little more than a minute at a K-1 show
in December 2004. Ibrahim has not fought since.
Kenny
Monday won Olympic gold in freestyle wrestling in 1988 and a
silver medal in the same discipline four years later. In his
lone MMA bout, he took on John Lewis -- one of the more accomplished
fighters he could have faced in 1997 -- and finished him in the
second round.
Mark
Schultz, a 1984 Olympic gold medalist in freestyle, was a late
replacement at UFC 9 in May 1996. Despite facing Gary Goodridge
at a time when he was one of the world’s most feared strikers,
Schultz stopped the Canadian on a first-round cut. He appeared
in only one other MMA match.
Japanese
judo gold medalists Hidehiko Yoshida and Makoto Takimoto have
had mixed success in MMA. Pawel Nastula, a judo gold medalist
from Poland, owns a subpar 1-3 mark in the sport, but his three
losses have come to former UFC heavyweight champion Josh Barnett,
reigning interim UFC heavyweight titleholder Antonio Rodrigo
Nogueira and Aleksander Emelianenko.
Of
course, at least one Olympian who failed to medal excelled in
MMA. Dan Henderson, who twice competed in the Olympics, remains
the only man to hold major titles in two weight divisions simultaneously.
His good fortune notwithstanding, Sherdog.com focuses on three
American wrestlers who medaled in the Olympics and went on to
high-profile MMA fights -- if not careers:
Kevin
Jackson
Olympics: 1992 (Barcelona, Spain)
Weight/Discipline: 82 kilograms, freestyle wrestling
Medal: Gold
The
27-year-old native of Lansing, Mich., stormed through the draw
in Barcelona, Spain, on his way to the top of the medal stand.
An
Iowa State University product, Jackson emerged from a stacked
group of Pool B wrestlers in which he was picked to lose on more
than one occasion. He responded in the clutch in the gold medal
match against Elmadi Jabrailov, as the American shut out his
opponent en route to victory.
Forever
linked to one man’s highlight reel, Jackson may be best
known to MMA fans for submitting to a Frank Shamrock armbar in
less than 20 seconds in the UFC’s first 205-pound title
match. Jackson competed in only two more professional fights
after his encounter with Shamrock and finished his MMA career
with a 4-2 record.
One
of only five American wrestlers to win three world titles, Jackson
is still considered one of the greatest freestyle wrestlers in
history. In 2001, he was named USA Wrestling’s National
Freestyle head coach and currently holds the position for the
2008 games in Beijing, China.
Rulon
Gardner
Olympics: 2000 (Sydney, Australia), 2004 (Athens, Greece)
Weight/Discipline: 130 kilograms, Greco-Roman wrestling
Medal: Gold, Bronze
It
took a mere nine minutes of mat time in September 2000 for Gardner
to become the best-known amateur wrestler in the United States.
Following a 3-2 semifinal win, Gardner was pitted against Russia’s
Alexander Karelin in the gold medal match. A three-time defending
Olympic gold medalist, Karelin was a heavy favorite to pummel
the American upstart.
The
two men battled to a scoreless tie at the end of regulation,
and Gardner scored the only point of the match in overtime. It
was Karelin’s first loss in international competition in
more than 13 years; he had not been scored upon in more than
six years.
Gardner
retired from wrestling after he earned a bronze medal at the
2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece.
The
Greco-Roman star’s MMA career lasted all of one fight, as
he collided with fellow Olympic gold medalist Hidehiko Yoshida
at Pride “Shockwave 2004.” In a fight remembered more
for Gardner’s significant size advantage over Yoshida, the
American was awarded a unanimous decision. Gardner has not competed
since.
He
will serve as a color commentator for NBC during its wrestling
coverage at the 2008 Olympics.
Matt
Lindland
Olympics: 2000 (Sydney, Australia)
Weight/Discipline: 76 kilograms, Greco-Roman wrestling
Medal: Silver
An
All-American at the University of Nebraska, Lindland began his
MMA career before he pursued his Olympic aspirations. In fact,
he won his first three fights.
On
the mats at the 2000 Olympics, Lindland dominated pool play and
earned a bye into the semifinals of the 76-kilogram Greco-Roman
competition. Lindland’s win over Ukraine’s David Manukyan
put him in the gold medal match against Russia’s Mourat
Kardanov. Following a 3-0 defeat to Kardanov, Lindland walked
away with the silver medal. He was fighting Yoji Anjo in the
UFC three months later.
Lindland
boasts an impressive 21-5 record in MMA and has become a mainstay
on middleweight top 10 lists, despite losses to Murilo Bustamante
and David Terrell. Now 38, he serves as the model for current
Olympians hoping to cross over.
Five
to Watch in Beijing
Since
the 2004 Olympics, the sport of MMA has stabilized financially
and gained mainstream acceptance. The time seems ideal for an
Olympian to capitalize on his fame and to think about making
MMA his post-Olympics profession.
The
latest crop of Team USA athletes competing in the Olympics is
young and mostly inexperienced in international competition.
Though none are favored to take home the gold, here are five
wrestlers to keep an eye on as the games unfold in Beijing, China:
Brad
Vering
Weight/Discipline: 84 kilograms, Greco-Roman
First Match: Aug. 14
The
185-pound Greco-Roman contender is one of only two members of
Team USA with prior Olympic experience. Vering was also a silver
medalist in the 2007 Greco-Roman championships, but he will have
to get past Russia’s Alexei Mishin to bring home the gold.
Daniel
Cormier
Weight/Discipline: 96 kilograms, freestyle
First Match: Aug. 21
At
211 pounds, Cormier is the other returning member from the 2004
squad, as he placed fourth in Athens, Greece. The multi-talented
Cormier was offered a scholarship to play football at Louisiana
State University coming out of high school.
Adam
Wheeler
Weight/Discipline: 96 kilograms, Greco-Roman
First Match: Aug. 14
Wheeler,
who has never made an Olympic appearance, made noise just by
making the team. His upset of five-time defending national champion
Justin Ruiz came as a surprise to many experts. Wheeler is a
former member of the United States Coast Guard.
Andy
Hrovat
Weight/Discipline: 84 kilograms, Freestyle
First Match: Aug. 21
Hrovat
pulled off the shocker of the U.S. Olympic trials when he upset
Team Quest Temecula’s Mo Lawel. The University of Michigan
product has had an up-and-down international career. A strong
showing in such a stacked weight division would come as a surprise
to many.
Ben
Askren
Weight/Discipline: 74 kilograms, Freestyle
First Match: Aug. 20
A
163-pound four-time All-American at the University Missouri,
Askren made waves by telling anyone who would listen that he
plans to take home the gold. He comes equipped with the marketable
long blond curls that have become his trademark. Despite his
predictions and signature haircut, Askren is ranked 30th in the
world at his weight. He recently announced his plan to shave
his head prior to his first match.
Source: Sherdog
|
IFL
CHAMP JAY HIERON TO SIGN WITH AFFLICTION
by Tom Hamlin
Former International Fight League welterweight champion Jay Hieron
has followed in the path of Xtreme Couture teammates Mike Pyle
and Chris Horodecki, announcing his intent to sign a one-year,
three-fight deal with Affliction.
Hieron
last week told MMAWeekly.com he had offers on the table from
EliteXC, UFC, and Affliction, but the clothing company turned
fight promotion brought the best deal.
“They
came and offered me what I thought I was worth, and I’m
happy to be a part of it,” he said.
Hieron
and his lawyer are currently in due diligence with the contract,
ironing out details of pay and exclusivity. He says he would
like to test his skills overseas if the opportunity were there.
“I
know I could definitely fight overseas, and I’m trying to
see what we’re doing entails in the States,” he said.
The
signing ends a two-month period of limbo for Hieron’s career
following the cancellation of the IFL’s Aug. 15 card at
the Izod Center in New Jersey. He said he had heard rumors of
the company’s demise, but didn’t take them seriously
until the event was cancelled.
“I’m
finally going to see where my career’s going,” he said.
“Now I can just put my mind at ease and train and know I
have a home. Get back to what I love doing, and that’s competing.”
Now,
the search is on to find the welterweight a worthy opponent.
A quick survey of Affliction’s welterweight ranks shows
that the company needs to import more talent to keep Hieron busy
in the next year. The only other notable fighter in the division
is teammate Mike Pyle, and that’s not even an option for
him.
Hieron
said he has already begun training for Oct. 11’s “Day
of Reckoning,” and should know more about his opponent soon.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Demian
comments another submission
By Guilherme Cruz
"I
wanna fight to be the champion, and wanna face whoever stays
on my way"
With three submissions in three bouts in UFC, Demian Maia now
is 7-0 in MMA, but in his las fight he had more trouble to finish
Jason MacDonald. For the first time ever, Demian needed three
rounds to beat his opponent, but it’s not bad at all. Speaking
to TATAME.com, the BJJ black belt chat about his last fight,
the training with Wanderlei Silva and Rafael Alejarra, the plans
for the extra money with the best submission of the night and
his next fight in UFC. Check below the complete interview with
Demian Maia.
What
are your thoughts about your fight against Jason MacDonald?
I
liked it a lot, it was a three round fight for the first time.
I felt more expert, knew how to manage a position on the right
time and it was very important to me.
Were
you worried some time in the fight?
Actually,
I got worried. He’s one of the top guys in my division,
I read on an American magazine that he was a Top 5, but I was
only thinking about fighting because the submission would come.
I wanted to control the position and submit. And it was the best
submission of the night. The fight was one of the best, it was
cool.
Do
you have plans for this extra money?
Man,
I do... I’ll start to build my house and was looking for
a money to buy a flat to my mother, and I’ll invest my money
in training. I’ll pay my coaches and travel to Las Vegas
, to train with Wanderlei Silva too.
What’s
the importance of training with Rafael Alejarra and Wanderlei
Silva to help you to win?
I
trained with Alejarra for a long time, more than two months in
Vegas, and then we came to to train here too. Wanderlei helped
me a lot too, and Alejarra is great, put me in shape for the
fight, he’s the best physical professional… Wanderlei
spoke a lot with me about technical stuff, his experience in
MMA, helped me a lot.
Do
you know when you’ll fight again?
Man,
they said about fighting again this year. I prefer to fight in
December, because in January is more difficult for me, to find
sparrings… I believe I fight again in December.
What
did you thought about the other fights of the night?
Excellent,
it was a great event. GSP was amazing, man, one of the best fights…
I liked Brock Lesnar’s fight too, and I liked Kenny Florian
against Roger Huerta, I like Florian a lot, he has a great style
and is really nice.
Is
there anyone you like to face?
No,
nobody in special… I wanna fight to be the champion, and
wanna face whoever stays on my way.
Anderson
Silva now faces Patrick Cote at December… Do you believe
with one more victory you’ll get a title shot?
Sincerely,
I believe I’m getting more experience yet... I can even
fight him, but I don’t know if it’s the right moment
to do it. I think I’ll have more fights, but let’s
wait. I’m be ready by the time they want.
Source: Tatame
|
Jackson
Arraignment Postponed
by Loretta Hunt
The arraignment of former UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton
“Rampage” Jackson, scheduled for Friday, has been postponed
pending further investigation into his July 15 arrest in Costa
Mesa, Calif.
Jackson
was arrested on suspicion of felony evading, reckless driving
and hit-and-run charges following a chase by authorities that
saw elite fighter’s Ford pick-up truck bounce off other
vehicles, jump street medians and swerve onto sidewalks, which
“caused pedestrians to flee in terror,” according to
a Costa Mesa police department report.
“The
district attorney’s office is responsible for filing charges
and that case is still under investigation based on some new
evidence that has been discovered,” said Farrah Emami, spokesperson
for the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.
Emami
said Jackson, 30, would be notified of a new court appearance
date once charges have been filed. Emami could not provide a
timeline as to when the district attorney’s office, in conjunction
with the Costa Mesa police department, would complete its initial
investigation.
The
outspoken Jackson, who shot to celebrity status with his first-round
knockout of light heavyweight king Chuck Liddell at UFC 71 in
May 2007, was also involved in two separate collisions on the
55 Freeway prior to his pursuit through Costa Mesa and Newport
Beach. Holly Griggs, 38, of Huntington Beach, was reportedly
sideswiped by Jackson in her 2007 Escalade vehicle, and has since
miscarried a 16-week pregnancy.
“There
were different incidents that occurred in different jurisdictions.
There was Highway Patrol, there was Costa Mesa, there was Newport
Beach. We’re looking at all of this as one potential case,”
said Emami. “The recommendations of the police are taken
into consideration, but it could be more charges or less charges,
depending on what the evidence reports.”
Jackson
was released on 25 thousand dollars bail on July 15, but was
detained by police the next day following reports of erratic
behavior by his friends and acquaintances, who had congregated
at the fighter’s home in Irvine. Jackson was placed under
a 72-hour mental observation at a local hospital and was later
released.
The
Memphis native made his first public appearance at a pre-fight
press conference for UFC 87 at the Mall of America in Minneapolis
last Thursday. Flanked by UFC President Dana White, a lighthearted
Jackson was cheered on by an enthusiastic audience.
“Everybody
goes though a little something,” Jackson told the crowd.
“UFC’s got my back. I’m doing good.”
White
said Jackson’s behavior was caused by exhaustion, dehydration,
and “delirium,” following the fighter’s five-round
decision title loss to Forrest Griffin at UFC 86 a week before
the incident.
“He
hung out in Vegas for a week,” said White. “He was
hanging out by the pool and he was fasting, and he wasn’t
drinking, he wasn’t eating. And he was drinking energy drinks.”
Source: Sherdog
|
Rothwell
vs. Rizzo Confirmed For "Day Of Reckoning" By Matthew Brothers
First it was Rothwell/Rizzo, then it appeared Rothwell would
be fighting Siala “Mighty Mo” Siliga. Well, Ben Rothwell
confirmed to CagePotato.com today that he will in fact be fighting
the recently KO'd Pedro Rizzo at Affliction's sophomore effort
titled "Day of Reckoning".
Rothwell was also defeated July 19th when he faced Andrei "The
Pit Bull" Arlovski who will now face the man that KO'd Rizzo,
Josh Barnett.
Rothwell
had this to say:
"I’m
excited about the fight," he said. "For me on a personal
level, Rizzo’s a guy that I watched when I was first starting
in the sport, and always looked up to him. I think he’s
one of the most down to earth, coolest guys. I’ve had some
mental blocks of whatever sort, but I feel like I’ve got
that situated and I’m prepared to do what I’ve got
to do."
Affliction:
Day of Reckoning will take place at the Thomas & Mack Center
in Las Vegas on October 11th and features the aforementioed main
event of Barnett/Arlovski.
Stay
locked on Fightline.com for all the current updates on "Day
of Reckoning" and for all the latest news coming out of
the world of MMA.
Source: Fight Line
|
Quinton
Jackson's Arraignment Postponed
Adam Morgan
Sherdog
is reporting that Quinton “Rampage” Jackson’s
arraignment, which was scheduled for tomorrow, has been postponed
pending further investigation into his arrest. Jackson was arrested
on July 15 for suspicion of felony evasion, reckless driving,
and hit and run charges. The District Attorney’s Office
of Orange County gave these comments regarding the postponement:
“The
district attorney’s office is responsible for filing charges
and that case is still under investigation based on some new
evidence that has been discovered,” said Farrah Emami, spokesperson
for the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.
“There
were different incidents that occurred in different jurisdictions.
There was Highway Patrol, there was Costa Mesa, there was Newport
Beach. We’re looking at all of this as one potential case,”
said Emami. “The recommendations of the police are taken
into consideration, but it could be more charges or less charges,
depending on what the evidence reports.”
By
no means am I a lawyer and by no means do I know what this postponement
means for Jackson. But I do know that the longer this thing goes
on, the worse it is for Jackson. The quicker that this thing
can get buried and put behind Jackson, the better it is for him
personally and professionally.
Source: The Fight Network
|
A
Fight Unlikely, Shields Still Watching GSP
by Danny Acosta
SAN FRANCISCO -- Jake Shields expresses his desire to fight the
best in mixed martial arts any time the opportunity arises.
So
when Georges St. Pierre stepped into the Octagon against Jon
Fitch on Saturday in a battle between the sport’s top-ranked
fighters at 170 pounds, Shields watched intently to see who might
stare across the cage from him one day should he ever get his
wish.
The
Northern Californian had opted to forego the excitement of attending
the live event or a fight-centric party, choosing instead to
watch the pay-per-view at his friend’s cozy home. San Francisco’s
beautiful mix of ocean scenes and power lines were visible from
the residence, where Shields arrived just before UFC 87 commenced.
Dressed
in what former Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez
would later describe as a “hipster” blue-on-blue checkered
hoodie, stylish jeans and American Asics, Shields sat on a couch
that was tearing at its cotton-candy-colored seams. Absent from
the Cesar Gracie black belt’s wardrobe was his EliteXC championship.
The gold would have made the room -- which was filled with Jurassic
5 and Damien Marley posters, oversized speakers and a high-end
drum -- feel less like a jam session closet and more like an
MMA showroom. But Shields was just a fan among friends.
The
opening bout between Demian Maia and Jason MacDonald had captured
Shields’ attention as soon as he learned of it. Once the
ground clinic commenced, the American jiu-jitsu stylist was more
than impressed. Even Shields, a former Abu Dhabi Combat Club
competitor, had trouble calling the fast-paced action on the
mat.
Melendez
entered the room shirtless, wearing board shorts reminiscent
of his World Extreme Cagefighting days. He had taken advantage
of the mildly sunny day -- all San Franciscans rejoice when the
weather shows any signs of giving up its gloominess -- at the
nearby beach. Also wondering who was on the card, “El Nino”
asked Shields, his roommate, what was going on. Shields informed
him about the enthralling match in progress.
Maia’s
fight-ending rear naked choke brought high praise from Shields
and Melendez. MacDonald, too, was dubbed surprisingly gutsy.
Yet
the night’s progression diminished Shields’ interest.
He ate cherries from a grocery bag during the following fights.
He texted. Aside from a quick cheer for Jesse “The Body”
Ventura, there was little fandom. A husky puppy strolled in and
stole attention from time to time. By the time the heavyweight
tussle between Heath Herring and Brock Lesnar began, Shields
was lounging across the couch.
But
when prefight hype between Fitch and St. Pierre started across
the screen, Shields got his blood circulating again. He grabbed
a Tecate -- his one and only -- and was hard-pressed to make
a prediction.
“I
think it’s going to be a war,” he said, “but I’ll
take Jon Fitch in a fifth-round TKO.”
A
casual training partner of Fitch’s, the fellow black belt
may have been a bit biased. He predicted the Hoosier’s grinding
style and will to win would give him the edge against the French-Canadian.
“I
can’t root for anyone prettier than I am,” Shields
added with a laugh, showing off the features that have helped
land him on Showtime and CBS.
From
the outset, however, it was obvious that St. Pierre’s good
looks weren’t winning him the fight -- it was his game plan
and precision. Shields was surprised Fitch made it out of the
brutal first round. When Fitch came out on steady feet and with
improved head movement in the second stanza, the EliteXC welterweight
champion was hopeful the previous five minutes were just a wake-up
call.
A
clean right hand landed by Fitch caused Shields to applaud, but
the fight was soon all St. Pierre again. The Greg Jackson-trained
fighter’s fluidity in combos amazed Shields. He implored
Fitch to shoot and gain top position -- his best chance at winning
would be testing the 170-pound king on his back. Fitch, he explained,
does not have the knockout power or submissions from his back
to counter someone like St. Pierre, especially as the fight wears
on. Top position was a must.
When
Fitch finally worked his way to the top after being knocked to
the ground in the third round, Shields said he knew the challenger
was tough, but he “keeps surprising.” St. Pierre regained
his dominant position and launched another offensive, prompting
Shields to call him “The Canadian Project.”
Going
into the fourth round, Shields asked if St. Pierre had ever went
into the championship rounds in a somewhat-hopeful tone for his
friend Fitch. But the song remained the same. Melendez, who was
watching in the next room, walked in during the official decision
and simply said, “F--k, bro.”
The
room was quiet from the shock of seeing such a dominant performance
by St. Pierre but also Fitch’s grit. Melendez lightened
the mood, yelling as he exited, “He’s not a machine;
he’s a man! He’s not a man; he’s a machine!”
“Looks
like I’m gonna have to dominate my next few fights,”
said Shields, who scored the fight 50-44 in favor of the champion.
Now
with a clear target in St. Pierre, Shields’ only problem
is that the UFC does not cross-promote. An EliteXC champion will
not be meeting a UFC champion anytime soon, no matter how worthy
the matchup.
The
recent introduction of the World Alliance of Mixed Martial Arts,
a sanctioning body that crowned Fedor Emelianenko (Pictures)
heavyweight champion after the Russian’s win over Tim Sylvia
(Pictures) at the July 19 Affliction event, does not mean much
to Shields, either. Ranked third at 170 pounds by WAMMA (behind
only Fitch and St. Pierre), Shields figures to move into the
No. 2 spot with Fitch’s loss and his own recent win over
top-10 nominee Nick Thompson (Pictures).
Yet
in Shields’ view, his ranking holds little significance
because the UFC will not work with WAMMA. The UFC even denied
recognizing the WAMMA welterweight belt in a bout between two
UFC fighters. At this point, Shields will have to fight whoever
EliteXC can find for him. Options are limited, as evidenced by
the fact that nine of the top 10 welterweights in Sherdog.com’s
rankings -- Shields ranks sixth -- are under contract with Zuffa,
which owns the UFC and WEC.
Shields’
situation is perhaps a positive one financially, though. He’s
a star in EliteXC, and his rash of finishing opponents adds to
his marketability as a good-looking, well-spoken dedicated father,
potentially propelling him to stardom outside of the UFC. But
with competition as his top priority, a dichotomy that is packaged
in the ugliest aspects of the sport develops.
Shields’
next opponent should be decided soon. For now, however, the EliteXC
champion is back in training.
While
St. Pierre is on his mind, it’s uncertain if he will ever
be in his future.
Source: Sherdog
|
Quote
of the Day
"If
nothing ever changed, there'd be no butterflies."
Source Unknown
|
High
Octane Entertainment & Revolution Motor Sports
Presents
MMA At
The O
Tonight!
O
Lounge, Honolulu, Hawaii
1349 Kapiolani Blvd
August 15, 2008
Doors
open at 6:30PM
Fights
start at 7:30PM
Tickets:
$25
Presale
$30
at the door
Thomas
Sedeno vs. Kona Ke
Colin
Mackenzie vs. Bryson Hansen
For
more information, call 741-0322. |
PENN WILL HOLD ONTO LIGHTWEIGHT
TITLE FOR NOW
by Damon Martin
Not before and not since Dan Henderson won the Pride 183-pound
and 205-pound titles has a fighter in a major organization held
two belts in two weight classes simultaneously, but it appears
current Ultimate Fighting Championship 155-pound king, B.J. Penn, will try to do that
very thing as he sets his sites on welterweight champion Georges
St. Pierre later this year.
But
what does that mean for the 155-pound weight class and the lightweight
championship if Penn is off fighting for another title in a different
division?
"B.J.'s
not vacating the 155-pound title,” according to UFC president
Dana White following UFC 87 in Minnesota last weekend.
Of
course this puts possibly the deepest weight class in all the
UFC on hold for an indefinite amount of time as Penn and St.
Pierre aren’t likely to clash before late December and the
lightweight title could be out of the picture until some time
deep into 2009.
The
current lightweight champion feels confident in his abilities
to defend both titles if he is able to defeat St. Pierre.
"I'm
moving up to the welterweight division and moving down to defend
the lightweight title,” said Penn in a recent interview
with MMAWeekly.com
Kenny
Florian, who defeated Roger Huerta at UFC 87, is most likely
next in line to face Penn for the 155-pound crown, but he doesn’t
plan on waiting around for a title shot. Instead he will try
to compete again later this year against a different opponent,
but he’s still not sold on Penn retaining the title the
entire time.
“I
know B.J.’ s gameplan is to win the welterweight title and
defend both belts at the same time. I don’t know if Dana’s
going to allow him to do that,” Florian stated during an
appearance on MMAWeekly Radio. “If he beats GSP is he going
to stay in the welterweight division? If he loses it’s probably
more probable that he’ll go back to 155. So I don’t
know, there’s a lot of ‘ifs.’
“I
want to stay busy. I need it for me for me for my game mentally,
physically I want to stay busy. I think it’s important.
I want to keep making money, I want to keep fighting.”
For
the time being it appears set that Penn will hold onto the lightweight
title while waiting to fight St. Pierre and Florian will look
for another fight this year.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
UFC
88: Break Through
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Doors
open at 3:30 PM
Fights Start at 4:00 PM
|
Local
Boy Eric
Moon's
Ironheart Crown Event In Chicago, IL Is Back!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
IRONHEART CROWN XII: RESURRECTION
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2008
525 S. RACINE: UIC PAVILION – CHICAGO, IL
DOORS OPEN AT 6PM; FIGHTS START AT 7PM
CHICAGO, IL - Wake up, Fight Fans! This is the moment you’ve
been waiting for! Following two years of inactivity and a seven
year exile in Hammond, Indiana, the Ironheart Crown is finally
returning to its home in Chicago! After being driven across the
border in 2001, the Ironheart Crown is being welcomed back into
the Windy City with open arms after recent legislation was passed
to legalize mixed martial arts (MMA) in the State of Illinois.
The
Ironheart Crown is Chicago’s oldest mixed martial arts production
and remains the area’s leading arena for professional competition.
Long recognized as a definitive proving ground for Midwestern
fighters, the Crown has produced a number of local heroes including
WEC World Champion, Miguel Torres and UFC standout, Stephan Bonnar.
On Saturday, November 8 the legend continues as the Ironheart
Crown steps up production with a move back to Chicago and into
a much larger downtown venue, the UIC Pavilion. Headlining the
card will be a long anticipated match between UFC veteran Gideon
“the Gladiator” Ray and the Miguel Torres’s undefeated
protégé, Juan de Dios Magana.
The November 8 show will be the first local production to host
an all-pro card within the city limits under the State’s
new sanctioning policies. Ironheart promoter Eric Moon is excited
about the move back home.
“It’s an absolute thrill to be right on the forefront
of Chicago’s MMA Renaissance,” Moon explains, “We’re
helping to rebuild the local MMA scene. We’ve always been
one of the area’s better shows, but with our move back home
we’re revamping every aspect of our production! The new
venue is incredible, and we have a very deep pool of local talent,
old as well as new.”
Beaming like a proud father as he speaks, Moon continues, “I’ve
put a lot into this, and it may not all come back to me, but
I plan to have fun with it regardless of the outcome. We’ve
booked all of Crobar’s go-go dancer’s to accentuate
the production and we’ll local club DJ, Adrie Marie spinning
her tunes under nightclub-inspired lighting and effects. This
is going to be an incredible event that Chicago’s fight
community will never forget. I’m really hoping that this
show will change the face of our local MMA community.”
The notoriety of the Ironheart Crown is much greater than a local
phenomenon. Ten of the eleven shows have been featured in national
magazines, and the Ironheart Crown has even been aired on Comcast
Sportsnet in Chicago as well as on SkyTV in Japan. With nearly
a decade of proven excellence, the Ironheart Crown has demonstrated
its resilience and passed the test of time.
This kind of merit simply can’t go unnoticed, and as a direct
result of the show’s integrity, the Crown was recently signed
as the primary Midwestern affiliate for the up and coming American
Fight League (AFL), a national organization that is quickly gaining
recognition. AFL CEO, BJ Santiago holds Eric Moon & his show
in high regard and had nothing but good things to say about the
Chicago promoter and his show.
“We knew we were bringing a motivated promoter in as soon
as we talked with Eric,” Santiago says, “He's a guy
with a big vision… the Ironheart Crown has an impeccable
reputation as one of the best organizations out there and it
is a perfect addition to the AFL team. “
While still being fine-tuned, the undercard is shaping up to
be a “who’s who” of Chicago area fighters, stacked
from the top to the bottom with heavy hitters and high-end talent.
Featured competitors will include the likes of Tommy Lee, Matt
Fiordirosa, Christian Uflacker, Eddie Wineland, Chris Albandia,
Louis Taylor, Mark Vives, Adril Villa, Mustafa Hussaini, and
more. Full details will be posted on the event website in the
next few days and announced in future press releases.
“I know the UFC will be here in October,” Moon comments,
“But I honestly believe that our show has the potential
to be every bit as exciting, and we are definitely going be the
next big thing to hit the city. This is a very exciting time
for us, and its an exciting time for Chicago’s fight community
as well.”
The Ironheart Crown will be held on Saturday, November 8 at the
UIC Pavilion, located at 525 S. Racine Avenue in Chicago. Tickets
are on sale now and a limited number of ringside and VIP seats
are available. Exclusive ringside seats will include complimentary
cocktails and appetizers. Tickets may be purchased directly from
the promoter, or online at Ticketmaster. For more information
on this event, visit the official website at www.ironheart.com
or contact the event’s promoter at 773-793-6555.
|
Couture,
Fedor Want 'Dream Match' A Reality
by Loretta Hunt
It appears Randy Couture (Pictures) and Fedor Emelianenko (Pictures)
are stepping up their games to collectively ensure they will
get the opportunity to face one another in the ring. However,
the top-ranked heavyweight pair still have a few hurdles to scale
to make the sport’s “dream match” a reality.
On
Monday, Couture, Emelianenko, and their management teams quietly
met on multiple occasions in Los Angeles, the purpose of which
both fighting legends confirmed to Sherdog.com Tuesday.
“We
talked a little bit about everything,” Emelianenko said
at a luncheon hosted by Affliction Entertainment. “Certainly,
one of the main topics was the possibility of having a fight
together and the realities that we both face -- mainly that he
[Couture] faces -– and whether the reality of having a fight
can happen.”
The
congregation of east and west was a first for the sport, one
born out of necessity as the 45-year-old Couture faces an ongoing
legal stalemate while the 18-month, four-fight promotional contract
he signed with the UFC in early 2007 is reviewed by a Las Vegas
arbitrator in the coming months.
Couture
(16-8) resigned from the UFC on Oct. 11, 2007, citing conflicts
with pay and treatment. Most notably, Couture lamented that the
UFC’s parent company, Zuffa LLC, failed to sign the number-one
ranked Emelianenko -- the one fighter Couture wished to face
-- into their heavyweight stable. Couture left the organization
to seek out the fight with Emelianenko (28-1, 1 NC) in a rival
promotion, though the UFC insists the heavyweight champion retired
from their ranks and still owes them two more fights if he decides
to come back from sabbatical. Couture and his attorneys believe
his promotional (or fight) agreement expired on July 19.
Monday’s
meetings -- which took place over breakfast, a photo shoot session,
then later at dinner –- were friendly in nature according
to both parties, though they also involved a certain degree of
strategic discussions.
“It
was an honor to spend a little time with Fedor,” Couture
told Sherdog.com Tuesday. “We’re just trying to exhaust
every option to make this fight a reality.”
An
obvious option would lead both men back to the UFC, the least
risk-involved promotion capable of building the bout into a million-plus
pay-per-view giant.
Vadim
Finkelstein, Emelianenko’s manager and confidante, said
he is not against negotiating again with the world’s leading
fight promotion, though it’s clear the Russian businessman,
who also owns the M-1 Global promotion, would have stipulations.
“We,
M-1, we’re not in any way against working with the UFC.
We’ve spoken to them before about the possibility of working
with them together. Anything’s possible,” said Finkelstein.
Finkelstein
proposed that an agreement for Emelianenko-Couture could be reached
if UFC President Dana White was willing “to meet halfway.”
What
constitutes “halfway” may be the rub though.
“It’s
similar to what we’re doing with Affliction,” said
Finkelstein. “Our relationship we’re currently seeing
with Affliction is a co-production and a co-promotion and a partnership.
If things aren’t monopolized and we can work together, then
it’s a possibility.”
A
co-promoted event between the Russian outlet and the UFC was
rejected by Zuffa in September 2007, as White pursued Emelianenko,
now a free agent, following the crumbling of Pride Fighting Championships
in Japan.
Instead,
Finkelstein said the UFC presented the nearly unblemished Pride
heavyweight champion with a stringent, binding contract –-
one that pledged his exclusivity to their organization and prevented
him from competing in sambo, which Emelianenko is a national
spokesman for in his homeland.
“Many
of the terms were oppressive and there really wasn’t any
negotiation,” said Finkelstein. “It was a ‘take
it or leave it.’ Basically, as Fedor just said, ‘You
know what? You’re going to come back to us anyway. It’s
either this or we’ll see you later when you come back.’”
Instead,
Emelianenko signed a two-year, six-fight deal with M-1 Global
in October 2007. White blamed the failed negotiations on his
inability to deal with the "crazy Russians."
“Of
course, he can’t deal with us because he can’t deal
with anybody,” a still stinging Finkelstein said Tuesday.
“He wants to have everything in his own control, but we
can’t deal with people that want to control everything.”
Mudslinging
aside, another attempt to negotiate was made. In November 2007,
M-1 Global, in agreement with Couture, again presented a co-promotion
opportunity to Zuffa privately, this time for the heavyweight
unification bout between Couture and Emelianenko. Zuffa turned
the offer down.
Emelianenko
has since floated between promotions like the now-defunct Bodog
Fight, Japan’s Yarennoka and most recently, Affliction.
At
Affliction “Banned” on July 19, Emelianenko clobbered
former UFC champion Tim Sylvia (Pictures) in a tidy 36 seconds,
but chipped the bone at the base of his right thumb for his efforts.
While
the injury will not require surgery, it could prevent the 32-year-old
from competing at the World Sambo Championships for Russia in
November, as well as cancel the Russian’s annual fight appearance
on New Year’s Eve in Japan.
Also
in the U.S. to negotiate his second bout with Affliction for
February or March, Emelianenko and his managers say the elusive
bout with Couture continues to loom on the sidelines.
If
round two of negotiations with Zuffa were to take place shortly,
Finkelstein said he might be open to a two-fight deal with Couture
the first opponent on the ledger. However, Finkelstein seemed
less than assured that the UFC would budge from the original
offer they made nearly eleven months ago.
“This
is unfortunately the only company right now that is attempting
to monopolize and essentially do everything themselves,”
said Finkelstein. "That’s not what we’re about."
Source: Sherdog
|
The
Couture vs. Fedor Solution
Sam Caplan
I have read a lot of articles in recent days discussing the not-so-secret
secret meeting between Randy Couture and Fedor Emelianenko in
Los Angeles this past Monday. When Couture’s camp leaked
the pictures, it was unclear just exactly what the two parties
were meeting about. However, recent reports confirmed the two
did discuss a potential mega-fight involving the two heavyweight
champion fighters. It just so happens that Affliction held several
small press gatherings in LA around the same time.
The
renewed Couture vs. Fedor talk has prompted some to speculate
that a settlement that would allow Couture out of his contract
with the UFC could be near. Others have even speculated that
the UFC could now be open to a co-promotion that would allow
the Fedor vs. Couture fight to happen.
To
be honest, it all sounds like wishful thinking to me. While I
have read quite a few articles with writers trying to get our
hopes up, nobody has reported in any sort of definitive fashion
that the UFC’s stance has changed. Until we have proof that
the UFC is either open to the idea of letting Couture walk or
the possibility of a co-promotion, we have no reason to be any
less pessimistic about a Couture vs. Fedor fight than we were
three months ago.
It
doesn’t matter that the UFC’s buck now stops with Lorenzo
Fertitta on a daily basis. If you recall, Fertitta, who is notorious
for shying away from UFC media events, made it a point to appear
during the UFC’s press conference late last year in Las
Vegas that was called to dispute some of Couture’s claims
against the company. Just because Fertitta may not be anywhere
near as outspoken as UFC President Dana White, it doesn’t
mean his policies towards working with competitors are any different.
And
a co-promotion? If the UFC was worried about the possibility
of their heavyweight champion losing to Fedor before Affliction:
Banned, then I don’t think Fedor’s brutal assault of
former UFC champion Tim Sylvia on July 19 did anything to help
ease their concerns. It also needs to be noted that the UFC has
no interest in working with the World Alliance of Mixed Martial
Arts. Couture is still the company’s recognized heavyweight
champion and if he were to lose to Fedor, that would boost the
credibility of WAMMA’s heavyweight title.
It’s
obvious that Couture and Fedor’s camps want to not only
renew talks with each other, but also the UFC. While I’m
sure the UFC will listen, I don’t see talks being very fruitful.
But despite my belief that Fedor vs. Couture will never happen,
I still really want it to take place, as do most of the people
reading this site. It’s not just a fight that people want
to see, it’s a fight that needs to happen for the growth
of the sport.
In
thinking of various scenarios in which this fight could still
happen, one idea came to mind that I think makes sense to all
parties involved. Instead of the UFC being involved in a co-promotion,
let them be the co-producer (or co-owner) of a Fedor vs. Couture
fight.
The
first thing that needs to happen is for the UFC to strip Couture
of their heavyweight title. I think it’s silly that he’s
still recognized as their heavyweight champion. I also think
it isn’t helping Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira become a bigger
star in the U.S. by constantly being referred to as the interim
champion. The UFC needs to move on and distance themselves from
Couture so that when he does fight Fedor, he won’t be perceived
as the UFC’s heavyweight champion.
Once
the UFC publicly distanced themselves from Couture, they would
need someone to host the event. As much as Affliction and HDNet
want to be involved, the UFC will never do anything that could
help line their pockets. So why not allow M-1 Global to spearhead
the effort and host the fight in Russia? The UFC wouldn’t
attach their brand in any way to the event and M-1 Global would
underwrite the entire show. The UFC would control the U.S. pay-per-view
distribution of the event and be entitled to 50% of all revenue
generated from the fight. The event would take place in January
or March so that it wouldn’t compete with the UFC’s
New Year’s Eve and Super Bowl weekend shows in December
and February.
Here’s
a breakdown of what each party would get:
The
UFC -
-
50% of all profits generated from the Couture vs. Fedor fight
- M-1 agrees to underwrite the entire show, including the purses
of all fighters
- Domestic rights to the PPV, DVD sales, and footage
- The ability to promote Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira as its undisputed
heavyweight champion
- Exclusive promotional rights of Randy Couture should he defeat
Fedor. This means the UFC could promote Couture vs. Nogueira
and Couture vs. Lesnar fights in the future.
- An agreement by Couture not to disparage the company publicly
- A written guarantee that the Couture vs. Fedor fight will not
be promoted as the UFC vs. WAMMA or UFC vs. M-1 Global
M-1
Global -
-
50% of all profits generated from the Couture vs. Fedor fight
- Permission to promote Randy Couture for one event outside of
the U.S.
- International rights to the PPV, DVD sales, and footage
- B-Roll footage of Randy Couture for promotional purposes
- A guarantee from the UFC that they will not counter-program
the PPV on Spike TV
When
it’s structured in the way laid out above, it becomes nothing
more than a cash play for the UFC with any downside virtually
eliminated. The fight would take place and the UFC would make
money off of it without building up one of their primary competitors
and without the risk of its heavyweight champion losing to a
fighter that is not contracted to its promotion.
Source: The Fight Network
|
Diaz
Report
Nick Diaz awaits word on his next fight. His win over Thomas
Denny was a crucial test for him. He needed to prove he could
make weight and pass California's stringent anti-marijuana drug
policy. Diaz easily made weight and passed the drug test. His
recent wins have convinced EliteXC that his next fight should
be a rematch with KJ Noons at the October 4th CBS show. However
it is still unclear if KJ's camp will take the fight.
Should
they refuse then Diaz could be cleared to fight Mach Sakurai
in Dream at the end of September. Diaz has wanted to fight Sakurai
for the Dream Champioship Belt, but a stumbling block to this
fight has been that as of now Dream has still not paid him a
cent for the last fight he participated in for their organization
almost 3 months ago.
After
fighting and securing 3 TKO victories in the last 3 months, Diaz
has no plans on slowing down. Since there are no fights scheduled
for August, he will set his sights on returning to gi competitions.
At the August 23rd Gracie Open he hopes to compete against Kron
Gracie. Afterwards we will see him return to what he is best
known for, fighting..always fighting.
Source: Gracie Fighter
|
The
Pound-for-Pound Debate
by Jake Rossen
I hate rankings.
They
are MMA’s equivalent of collard greens or steamed vegetables,
stuff to be pushed off your plate so you can enjoy everything
else. I haven’t participated in any kind of voting on the
subject in years, initially because it was impossible to quantify
elite athletes when they were separated by the Pride/UFC turf
war; now, because the absence of even one single top fighter
(Norifumi Yamamoto (Pictures) in U.S. featherweight action, for
example) throws the whole system into tumult.
I’m
obviously in the minority, since a favorite vocation of fans
and observers is to shuffle athletes in ascending order of talent,
accomplishments, physiques, body hygiene and acting ability.
And when pundits grow tired of hierarchal discussion within divisions,
talk usually turns to who the “pound-for-pound” king
is, the guy that expresses the most complete understanding and
application of mixed martial arts irrespective of his size.
Though
I’m a miser when it comes to applying these kinds of labels,
it’s hard to argue that the pound-for-pound crown could
only conceivably be awarded to three possible men: UFC middleweight
king Anderson Silva (Pictures), freelance mercenary Fedor Emelianenko
(Pictures) or UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre (Pictures).
Emelianenko?
He’s fast, he’s powerful, his stand-up is devastating,
his ground-and-pound is IQ-altering and he’s got an arsenal
of submissions. His dominance in the heavyweight division is
so appreciable that we can’t even examine his losses --
save for one illegal elbow that sliced him open in 2000, there
aren’t any. We can only point to sporadic instances where
he seemed in danger of losing: when Kazuyuki Fujita (Pictures)
had him doing the ice-rink shuffle, or when Mark Hunt (Pictures)
landed in side control.
As
an all-ranges fighter, he’s ridiculously complete. As a
fighter who makes a habit of facing significant threats, he’s
a disappointment.
In
three years, he’s throttled only one opponent -- Tim Sylvia
(Pictures) -- that presented a substantial challenge to him.
When you’re busy fighting oversized henchmen from James
Bond movies in Japan, claims to be the sport’s best are
hypothetical. Emelianenko displays near-absolute mastery of this
young sport, but against largely mediocre competition, it’s
not hard to come off looking like a wrecking ball. He’s
out of the equation.
Anderson
Silva: the most effective striking in the sport today, an offense
so properly calibrated that he frequently comes out of bouts
with barely a scratch on him. He’s got knockout power and
formidable submissions, and they’ve been put on display
against solid competition: Dan Henderson (Pictures), Nathan Marquardt
(Pictures) and Rich Franklin (Pictures) could all be reasonably
assessed as top-tier middleweights at the time of their encounters
with Silva. Best of all, he’s prone to finishing fights.
A
recent move up in weight proved -- well, it proved he could knock
out James Irvin (Pictures), which is not something I’m sure
was under much dispute.
Hobbling
Silva’s hypothetical “best fighter ever” status
is his wrestling, which appears incapable of defending takedowns
or even executing some of his own. The slight hasn’t impacted
his career much, of course, but if we’re to consider a Best
Ever contender, it would seem necessary to have a better freestyle
game than the one Silva currently possesses. MMA is a trifecta
program: wrestling, grappling and striking. He is but two-thirds
deadly. (Granted, it’s a little like saying a venomous snake
is one-dimensional.)
That
leaves us with St. Pierre, who just left welterweight contender
Jon Fitch (Pictures) looking as though he had been hit in the
face with a Louisville Slugger. Despite not having much in the
way of collegiate wrestling credentials, St. Pierre took down
Fitch repeatedly, just as he had done with accomplished grapplers
Matt Hughes (Pictures), Sean Sherk (Pictures) and Josh Koscheck
(Pictures). He’s capable of blitzing people on the feet,
as he did against Hughes. In his UFC career, he’s stomped
more top-ranked opposition (six, by my count) than anyone else
respective to their division. Besting both Hughes and Serra in
rematches cements St. Pierre’s claim to have beaten everyone
ever put in front of him.
Gripers
are likely to point out that St. Pierre fell victim to Matt Serra
(Pictures) not long ago, and that loss demotes his status. But
it also hasn’t been an eternity since Silva tapped to a
flying heel hook courtesy of an otherwise underwhelming Ryo Chonan
(Pictures).
Quantity
of quality opponents? St. Pierre. Efficiency in all ranges of
fighting? St. Pierre. Apparent lack of weaknesses? St. Pierre.
At
the risk of damning my patriotism, the French-Canadian is --
in my mind -- the current king of the ring.
Source: Sherdog
|
Alistair
Overeem Vs. Mirko Cro Cop Off For DREAM 6
By Jason Perkins
Mirko Cro Cop Filipovic recently stated his willingness to face
Alistair Overeem at DREAM 6. Click here to view his comments.
That willingness has either wained or DREAM has decided not to
make the fight for some as yet undisclosed reason; financial
concerns could be a possibility. Whatever the case, the fight
will not occur at DREAM 6 as had been rumored. The news comes
from Alistair Overeem himself.
"Well, there is an interest for sure but I cannot confirm
any date yet," Alistair told intheguard.tv I just recently
heard we will not be fighting at Dream 6 so...
Alistair
also appears frustrated with Cro Cop stating that the former
PRIDE Champion has consistently ducked him while telling the
media that he can't find opponents.
"My
desire to fight Cro Cop began when I read his interview stating
nobody wanted to fight him and that's why he fought some walking-punching-bag-guy
[Tatsuya Mizuno] at Dream 3," said Overeem. "My management
offered me a fight with him at that event and he declined. Then
at the K-1 Amsterdam event my opponent got injured and the promoter
attempted to arrange for Mirko to fight, again he declined...this
really pissed me off because now my fight was canceled because
this douche-bag didn't want to fight me while he was saying nobody
wants to fight him. That's crap, and that's why I grabbed the
microphone, and I'll keep doing so until I get this fight. I
will get him."
Source: Fight Line
|
Strikeforce
Eyeing Early '09 Return For Cung Le
By Matthew Brothers
Strikeforce middleweight champion Cung Le will reportedly be
taking the rest of the year off from MMA to focus on his acting
career. The news came from a recent interview with Strikeforce
VP Mike Afromowitz.
"It's good for us, having a movie star as a champion,"
Afromowitz said. "As long he continues training, it helps
our league with him the face of the organization. We try to support
those types of things with our fighters."
Le,
who is currently undefeated in MMA with a record of 6-0, recently
scored the biggest win of his short career when he took down
UFC vet Frank Shamrock. Le and Shamrock are arguably the promotion's
two biggest stars and their fight in San Jose back in March was
the most successful Strikeforce show to date. The event pulled
in 15,192 live spectators for a gate of $1,100,000.
Le
will be starring as "Marshall Law" in the big-screen
adaptation of the popular video game "Tekken". He also
plays a part in upcoming film "Fighting".
Additionally,
Le has roles in the science-fiction/action film "Pandorum"
as well as "The Take Down," two movies that will also
be released in 2009.
As
far as Le's first title defense is concerned, there are many
possibilities for viable contenders between Strikeforce and EliteXC
talent. The two companies have a history of co-promoting, including
the Shamrock/Le showdown. Compelling matchups for Le include
Scott Smith, Robbie Lawler, and recent Strikeforce signee and
PRIDE veteran Kazuo Misaki.
Stay
tuned to Fightline.com for updates on Cung Le, Strikeforce, and
all the latest news coming from the world of MMA.
Source: Fight Line
|
VARNER'S
SIGHTS ALREADY SET ON NEXT CHALLENGER
by Damon Martin
World Extreme Cagefighting lightweight champion Jamie Varner
showed once again why he is considered one of the elite 155-pound
fighters in the world when he dispatched of top contender Marcus
Hicks at WEC 35.
The
now defending champion has been very happy with his home in the
WEC and looks forward to any top challenger they bring in to
fight him for his title.
“I
love my home in the WEC and would not rather be in any other
organization,” said Varner during a recent appearance on
MMAWeekly Radio. “I’m not too worried about the lack
of opponents or opposition in the WEC. They’re always going
to find somebody for me to fight and people want to be in that
organization. I’m so proud to be a part of the WEC.”
The
next opponent for Varner will likely be crowned on Sept. 10 as
the WEC travels across the country to Florida where former champion
“Razor” Rob McCullough faces off against undefeated
Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone.
Both
fighters are working very hard at earning a shot at Varner’s
title, and while the champ has nothing but respect for Cerrone,
it’s McCullough that he’s gunning for.
“I
want Rob to win, I really want Rob to win. I like Donald Cerrone,
he’s a great fighter. I’d like to fight both of them,
but I’ve just got a bone to pick with Rob,” Varner
commented.
“I
just didn’t like the way him and his camp handled everything
after our fight, like post-fight they just made a lot of excuses.
I felt like you win like a man, you lose like a man, and I just
felt like he made a lot of excuses.”
Because
of the timing of the McCullough/Cerrone fight, Varner isn’t
sure he’ll get a chance to fight again in 2008.
Don’t
worry though, as the champ will stay busy competing in grappling
tournaments and training fighters at his home camp, Arizona Combat
Sports, just to keep his competitive edge.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Sobral
vs. Southworth Confirmed for “Strikeforce at The Mansion
II”
By FCF Staff
Strikeforce
has announced that the promotion’s light-heavyweight champion
Bobby Southworth, will look to defend his title against former
UFC contender Renato “Babalu” Sobral, at the upcoming
September 20th, “Strikeforce at the Mansion II” event.
The card will take place on that date at the world famous Playboy
Mansion in Beverly Hills, California.
Sobral
(30-7) will head into the bout on a 3 fight winning streak. Most
recently the Brazilian fighter was impressive en route to a three
round, Unanimous Decision win over Mike Whitehead, at Affliction’s
debut event on July 19th.
"He
is the protector and I am the hunter,” Sobral said about
his upcoming bout with Southworth in the promotion’s new
release. “I am already in shape and prepared to take it
from him. I want to be the new Strikeforce world champion and,
if I could become champion while fighting at a venue like the
Playboy Mansion, that would make a good win even better.”
Southworth
(9-5) is also coming off a victory, at Strikeforce’s “Melendez
vs. Thomson” event in June, the former “Ultimate Fighter”
competitor worked his way to a Unanimous Decision victory over
Anthony Ruiz. The win avenged Southworth’s loss to Ruiz
last November, when, in a non-title affair, Ruiz was awarded
the TKO win, after Southworth could not continue due to a cut
around his eye.
Earlier
this week, Strikeforce confirmed that highly regarded Japanese
middleweight, Kazuo Misaki, will fight UFC vet Joe Riggs at the
September 20th event.
Source: Full Contact Fighter
|
Shields
vs. Alessio Not a Done Deal
Sam Caplan
Despite
reports to the contrary, a EliteXC welterweight title defense
by Jake Shields against former UFC and WEC veteran John Alessio
to take place on Sept. 20 in Albuquerque, N.M. is not a done
deal.
FiveOuncesOfPain.com
learned of this development after contacting Jack Shields, Jake
Shields’ father and manager.
According
to Jack Shields, his son has received an offer from EliteXC to
fight Alessio but that another organization has offered Shields
an opportunity to fight a “top five” middleweight on
their show this fall.
The
feeling is that a fight with Alessio will be available at a later
date now that he is a part of the EliteXC roster while the shot
at the unnamed middleweight will not. The elder Shields indicated
that whether or not Shields can accept the fight will come down
to whether the two promotions can reach an agreement.
Shields
could not divulge the identities of the promotion or the fighter
in question, however, sources have informed Five Ounces of Pain
that Shields has been discussed openly as a potential opponent
for Frank Trigg during Strikeforce’s debut in Denver, Colo.
on Oct. 3.
Source: The Fight Network
|
Quote
of the Day
“What
your heart thinks is great, is great. The soul's emphasis is
always right.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1882, American Poet and Essayist
|
Destiny
- Event: Destiny (all mma event)
- Date: Saturday, October 18th
- Location: Waipahu Filcom Center
Looking
for pro and amateur mma fighters
Please
email info to destiny@clearwire.net or call (808) 277-2335
for more info.
Source:
Japheth "Jay" Bolos
Owner
Westside Fight Gear
94-144 Farrington Hwy
Suite #112
Waipahu, HI 96797
(808) 277-2335
|
FLORIAN
PLANS TO FIGHT AGAIN IN 2008 REGARDLESS OF PENN SITUATION
Heading into UFC 87 it seemed like a perfect scenario that the
winner of Kenny Florian versus Roger Huerta would be on the fast
track to challenge current lightweight champion, B.J. Penn, for
his title later this year.
Now
it appears Penn is on a collision course with UFC welterweight
champion, Georges St. Pierre, and Florian, who won a dominant
decision over Huerta on Saturday night, may have to let nature
take its course before he gets his shot at the title.
“(Penn)
made the decision that he wants to fight GSP and I tell you what
as a fan I want to see that fight,” said Florian during
an appearance on MMAWeekly Radio Monday night. “I think
it’s going to be an unbelievable fight, I think it’s
great for the sport. Two guys at the top of their games, two
champions in the UFC are going to fight which is huge. “
“I
don’t want to wait around either, it’s kind of frustrating
at the same time. I do want to fight the top guys, B.J. obviously
is a legend and when you want to make your mark, that’s
what I want to do, I want to have my legacy in this sport as
well, so give me a chance.”
Building
off the momentum of the win over Huerta, the former “Ultimate
Fighter” season 1 member is planning on taking at least
1 more fight before 2008 is over, whether it’s B.J. Penn
or not.
“At
the same time, it’s a risky move and some people have criticized
me for it, but I still want to get another fight in,” Florian
commented. “I want to fight again before the year’s
end and I want to fight someone tough.”
Someone
tough could include any number of top lightweights including
fighters such as Joe Stevenson, Frankie Edgar, or possibly a
super fight that would give Florian an international opponent.
“Maybe
I could fight the winner of (Tyson) Griffin-(Sean) Sherk, I don’t
know how the timing works out for that,” said Florian. “Maybe
we can bring someone in like a (Joachim) Hansen or (Shinya) Aoki
or someone, to have kind of a super fight.”
Florian,
who along with brother Keith will open “Florian Martial
Arts Center (www.florianmartialartscenter.com) later this month,
and then it’s back to business.
“I
don’t care, I want to fight top guys, I want to stay busy
and all I’ve got to do is keep winning,” stated Florian.
“There’s still some fights out there for me. It’s
not like I’ve cleaned out the division completely. There’s
plenty of challenges out there at 155 for me.”
Source: MMA Weekly
|
ALVAREZ
WANTS HANSEN, GOMI AND GOLD
Coming off of one of the most impressive tournament runs ever,
in the Dream lightweight Grand Prix, Eddie Alvarez is back home,
his eye is just fine, and he’s got 20/20 vision locked on
to several possible opponents for his next fight.
When
the 2008 Dream lightweight Grand Prix was finished, Alvarez stood
as the only fighter still undefeated, but unfortunately an injured
eye following his fight with Tatsuya Kawajiri prevented him from
fighting in the finals.
Now
ranked as the No. 3 lightweight in the world according to MMAWeekly.com’s
World MMA Rankings, Alvarez is back in the gym and ready for
at least one more fight in 2008.
“I
don’t want to lose momentum. I’m actually back in the
gym already,” said Alvarez in a recent interview with MMAWeekly
Radio.
The
Philadelphia-based fighter doesn’t have to worry about options
for his next fight as he has many. Obviously, getting a crack
at Joachim Hansen, the fighter that went on to win the lightweight
Grand Prix, is at the top of the list.
“I
want the Dream belt. I want to show people that’s my belt,”
Alvarez stated. “I feel like people know in their hearts
that I’m the champion. I also feel like I’m the champion,
but I don’t have the belt or the check to prove it.”
Currently
Alvarez has contracts with both EliteXC and Adrenaline MMA in
America, but he will ultimately go wherever puts him in the best
fight possible.
“It’s
all up to my management and what makes the most sense,”
he said. “I somehow want to get to a point within these
next two fights to fight tough competitors where it will put
me in line to fight someone that eventually is higher than me.”
EliteXC
vice president Jared Shaw spoke to MMAWeekly.com about Alvarez’s
future in their organization, a possible title fight against
current champ K.J. Noons, as well as their willingness to allow
him to pursue his dream in Dream.
“Eddie
definitely deserves an opportunity also to fight for the title,
there’s no doubt about it that Eddie and Nick (Diaz) are
1, 2 and they’re interchangeable,” said Shaw.
“I’d
like to discuss with Eddie what his thoughts are. I’d really
like him to come and fight for EliteXC before the year ends.
I also want to talk to Eddie on how he feels about fighting (Joachim)
Hansen, because he really does deserve that title and we want
to be fair to the kid. At the same time, I want to use him.”
The
opportunities don’t stop with just those fights either as
Alvarez has made no bones about a fighter that he wants in the
ring or cage in the very near future as well.
“I
really would like to get to (Takanori) Gomi somehow within these
next two fights,” Alvarez commented. “And whoever I’ve
got to fight to get there that’s what I want to do.”
Source: MMA Weekly
|
PAUL
DALEY CONFIRMS ELITEXC BOUT, SHIELDS NEXT?
A month removed from a knockout victory over Bojan Kosednar at
the latest Cage Warriors event, top British welterweight Paul
Daley confirmed to MMAWeekly.com that his next bout will be in
the U.S. for EliteXC.
“I
will be fighting Sept. 20 in New Mexico, most likely against
an undefeated ex-IFL fighter who cannot be named yet,” said
Daley. “I'm really looking forward to it.
“ProElite
have been awesome considering, and I went against their wishes
in fighting for Cage Warriors in the U.K., but I was going through
a bad time and it made sense to have the comeback in the U.K,”
he continued, referring to circumstances that have led him in
and out of retirement over the past year. In the process, Daley
relinquished the championship titles he held with Cage Rage,
FX-3, and King of the Ring.
He
seems to be on an upswing of late, however, following his win
over Kosednar with a quick return in September and a strong training
camp.
“Right
now I’m training my ass off. I’m always a slow starter
in training camp, but I'm in my rhythm now,” informed Daley.
“I leave for Holland this weekend for two weeks of training
camp out there with Mike's Gym and Melvin Manhoef before going
to the U.S.A. and training with my secret weapon.”
Despite
giving up the gold that was already around his waist, Daley has
his sights set on more… possibly a showdown with EliteXC
welterweight champion Jake Shields?
“I
beat this guy (on Sept. 20), I will no doubt be fighting for
the EliteXC title next!” stated and emphatic Daley.
As
he stated in a recent interview on MMAWeekly Radio, Daley doesn’t
lack confidence to challenge the best that EliteXC has to offer.
“Eddie Alvarez, Jake Shields, Nick “The Goat”
Thompson, K.J. Noons, whoever is put in front of me, I’m
going to be knocking them out. My record at the moment is like
a 73% knockout rate. That is going to go a lot higher, you better
believe that.”
Source: MMA Weekly
|
UFC
WORLDWIDE: DANA WHITE TALKS EXPANSION
The road show that’s been the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s
strategy as of late will continue to cross borders, according
to UFC president Dana White.
At
the post-fight press conference for UFC 87 in Minneapolis, White
made some broad sketches of the future pins in the UFC’s
travel map.
First
on that list was a stop in the Philippines, which currently airs
UFC fights. It’s also the native land of newly minted light
heavyweight Brandon Vera, who counts president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
among his fans.
White
also re-affirmed an anticipated trip to Mexico, in which several
UFC fighters, including Roger Huerta, Eddie Sanchez, and Diego
Sanchez, have ethnic roots.
"When
I say we're going everywhere, I mean we're going everywhere,”
White said.
Canada
is also a high priority for Zuffa, LLC. Georges St. Pierre’s
rematch with Matt Serra at UFC 83 was a smashing success, drawing
the largest MMA crowd ever in North America. Since then, White
said the company wants to expand its reach in the U.S.’s
northern neighbor. “We're really focusing on opening up
Canada,” he continued. “Canada has become a really
big market for us. We didn't expect that.”
On
the home front, White says the UFC is still focusing on getting
sanctioning in Massachusetts and New York. As of yet, neither
state regulates MMA.
In
Massachusetts, legislation to regulate the sport was left out
of the 2009 state budget proposal, according to a report in The
Boston Globe. State Senator James E. Timilty, who authored the
bill, will not be able to re-introduce new legislation until
December, making it highly unlikely that Bostonians will see
the UFC in their backyard for most of 2009.
Though
White anticipated an early 2009 appearance for the UFC in New
York, a similar scenario exists for the Empire State. State Assembly
Bill 1-11458-A, which would legalize MMA in New York, did not
pass in the June session and would not be up for another vote
until January of 2009.
While
there’s no doubt UFC employees will be putting a few more
stamps on their passports, not every city has welcomed them.
Still, the ones who have, like Minneapolis, were a pleasant surprise
for White. “I can’t tell you how much I like this place,”
he told reporters. “I’ve been having too much fun.
I gotta get the hell out of here or I’m going to die.”
Source: MMA Weekly
|
DISTRIBUTION
PARTNER SIGNS "FIGHTING FEDOR"
Blue Entertainment Sports Television (BEST) today announced the
signing of top ranked Russian MMA fighter Fedor Emelianenko within
their Fight Sports/MMA division. Currently ranked as the No.
1 heavyweight fighter in the world by MMAWeekly.com, Fedor will
look to BEST for his various marketing and television deals.
In
addition, BEST is the U.S. representative of M-1 Global and will
assist the company in television, sponsorships and strategic
partnerships as well as promoting other M-1 fighters. Fedor joins
the likes of fellow fighter Houston Alexander as well as athletes
such as Andy Roddick, Rasheed Wallace, and Reggie Bush.
“I
have been blessed with great success in my career and I’m
excited to work with another company that also is similar drive,”
says Emelianenko. “BEST is leading the industry in innovative
branding for their clients and I am confident that they will
assist me in reaching the next level.”
Fedor
most recently became the first-ever W.A.M.M.A. heavyweight champion
by beating former UFC Champion Tim Sylvia in a surprising 36-second
match. The last person to hold the Pride heavyweight championship,
Fedor made the unique choice to forego the largest promoter of
mixed martial arts, the UFC, and sign a three-fight deal with
Affliction Entertainment.
M-1
Global and BEST will launch a Fedor reality show entitled “Fighting
Fedor” later this year to give an aspiring fighter the chance
to train at the fabled Red Devil Fight Club in St. Petersburg,
Russia. The winner of the series will get the opportunity to
fight Fedor.
BEST
will be also be distributing the M-1 Challenge worldwide this
coming year, a series of 22 one-hour HD shows of the nation vs.
nation mixed martial arts competition. The next challenge will
take place in Korea.
“We
are thrilled to be working with Fedor as he continuously showcases
his growth in talent and success within the MMA space, “
says Dennis Spencer, Executive Vice President, BEST Television.
“We look forward to building his marketability and presence
within the United States and abroad as he defends his position
at the top spot.”
Source: MMA Weekly
|
AFFLICTION
ADDS IFL CHAMP ROY NELSON
In
order for one thing to begin, another must usually end. Such
is the case of the careers of the fighters who had been contracted
to the International Fight League.
Three
years after its debut, the company has ceased to be, and now
many of their fighters have begun the process of finding a new
home.
One
of the more successful fighters to have transitioned to a new
promotion is IFL heavyweight champion "Big Country"
Roy Nelson, who recently agreed in principle to a deal to compete
with the new Affliction promotion.
“We’re
still filling out the minor details, but it does appear that
way, yes,” said Nelson of his inclusion on Affliction’s
Oct. 11 Las Vegas show.
“It’s
going to be multi-fight, and I’ll be there as long as they
want to keep having the best there.”
His
main reason for joining the promotion is the fact that he has
always strived to prove himself in the heavyweight division,
and to do that he has to be where some of the top fighters in
the weight class are.
“Affliction
has the best heavyweights in the world, and I’ve got to
go (there),” he explained. “The only way I can fight
the best is to be where the best is.”
First
up for Nelson will be a fighter who made his successful Affliction
debut at their first show this past July.
“It’s
going to be Paul Buentello,” he announced.
“He’s
been around the block; he’s fought for the UFC heavyweight
championship and been in there with the biggest names in there.
He’s a gamer and he’s there to fight.”
This
is the opportunity that Nelson has always wanted, and felt he’s
been ready for, for quite some time.
“I’ve
always believed that since I’ve been in the fight game.
I’ve felt I could fight the best in the world, even if it
was five fights ago,” he stated.
Speaking
of his previous company, the IFL, Nelson believes it was a good
place for him to gain the notoriety that ultimately led to his
current situation to fight on Affliction’s pay-per-view
events.
“They
gave me some opportunities and a fan base where more people could
experience how I fight and what kind of fighting style I actually
have,” he said.
“It
gave me an opportunity to hone my skills a little more, showcase
them and the chance to go out there and display the best fighting
that I have. Now, hopefully, I’ll just move up to bigger
and better guys.”
Interestingly
enough, not only does Nelson have his eye on the current heavyweights
of Affliction, but another well-known fighter who has spoken
about entering the division a couple of times over the years.
“The
only side-track to the whole Affliction thing is, is that if
Tito (Ortiz) does sign with Affliction, I want to be the first
heavyweight he faces,” proclaimed Nelson. “If he can’t
beat this fat boy, then he needs to stay down at 205 (pounds).”
First
things first, however, for Nelson, his promotional debut in October;
where he hopes to show the world that he is a legitimate contender
in the heavyweight division and down the line add another belt
to his collection.
“I
appreciate everybody that’s stuck with me and kept on believing
in me,” he closed out. “I can’t wait. It’s
like an opportunity of a lifetime.”
“Anybody
that’s out there that wants all the news, go to MMAWeekly
or RoyNelson.com.”
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Quote
of the Day
“Losers
make promises they often break. Winners make commitments they
always keep.”
Denis Waitley, American Author/Speaker/Peak Performance Expert
|
2008
Ringside World Championships
Some Hawaii
Boxers who I have results from the 2008 Ringside World Championships
in K.C., Missouri.
Ringside Tournament broke records for the largest amateur Boxing
Tournament in the History of Boxing.
Over 1400 boxers from all over the U.S. and other countries participated.
7 Rings going on at the same time from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Hawaii
Boxers Results:
Waipahu Boxing Club #1- Gold medal to Keoni Adric Jr. at the
9/10 yr old div. 75 lbs.
Villaver
Boxing Club- Gold to Eric Auelua in the 9/10, 85 lbs div.,
Silver to Logan Yoon 9/10 at 65 lbs.
Kawano
B.C.- Gold Medal Winners- Justly Laquihon 13/14 at 95lbs,
Female- Gina Ramos Adult at 101 lbs,
Defending Champion- Female Alyssa Lende-Kane 13/14 at 119lbs.
Silver Medal- Koichi Tanji Adult at 125lbs.
|
High
Octane Entertainment & Revolution Motor Sports
Presents
MMA At
The O
O
Lounge, Honolulu, Hawaii
1349 Kapiolani Blvd
August 15, 2008
Doors
open at 6:30PM
Fights
start at 7:30PM
Tickets:
$25
Presale
$30
at the door
Thomas
Sedeno vs. Kona Ke
Colin
Mackenzie vs. Bryson Hansen
For
more information, call 741-0322. |
Man
Up and Stand Up Results
SATURDAY
NIGHT WAS DEFINITELY A NIGHT OF ACTION. KALAHEO GYMNASIUM WAS
PACKED WITH A LOT OF SATISFIED KICKBOXING SPECTATORS. THE FIGHT
OF THE NIGHT WENT TO THE MAX HALLOWAY VS BRONSON CAYETANO MATCH.
BRONSON IN HIS OWN BACKYARD OF KANEOHE HAD A HARD TIME DISPLAYING
HIS QUICK FLASHY LEGS AGAINST MAX. BUT HE GOT IN A FEW WHEN MAX
EASED OFF TO RESET HIMSELF. THE ACTION WAS NON STOP FROM THESE
TWO YOUNG AND TALENTED TEENAGERS. MAX REALLY DID HIS HOMEWORK
ON BRONSON AND HARDLY LEFT ANY SPACE FOR BRONSON TO UNLEASH HIS
DANGEROUS KICKS AS MAX PRESSED BRONSON WITH NUMEROUS FLURRYS
FROM HIS FISTS TO WIN THE FIGHT.
JACOB SMITH WHO IS ALSO A KANEOHE NATIVE HAD THE HOUSE ROARING
WITH HIS AERIAL KICKS THAT COULD HAVE CAME OUT FROM A JACKIE
CHAN - JET LI MOVIE. FIRST TIMER DESMOND TALUB TRIED TO CLOSE
THE DISTANCE BETWEEN THE YOUNG SEASONED FIGHTER BUT JACOB WAS
NOT GOING TO BE CAUGHT ON THE ROPES FOR NOONE. HIS MOVEMENT WAS
TO FAST TO BE TRAPPED. DESMOND DEFINITELY CAME TO FIGHT FOR HE
TRIED EVERYTHING IN THE BOOK TO TATOO THIS KID BUT EXPERIENCE
CONQUERED AGE AND JACOB PULLED OUT THE WIN.
THE MOST CONTROVERSIAL FIGHT WAS THE MAIN EVENT WITH JARED IHA
BEATING COLIN MACKENZIE. THE FIGHT WAS INTENSE WHICH IS ACTUALLY
THE NAME THAT COLIN GOES BY AND HE DEFINITELY LIVED UP TO IT
UNTIL HE GOT BLASTED WITH A MAJOR SIDEKICK TO HIS GROIN (SO IT
SEEMED) FOR COLIN WENT DOWN HOLDING HIS GROIN AREA. BUT WHEN
MAN-UP & STAND-UP REVIEWED THE VIDEO. IT WAS CLEAR THAT JARED
BURIED HIS HEEL INTO COLINS RIBS RIGHT BEFORE COLIN WAS GOING
THROW A PUNCH THAT WOULDVE SENT JARED SNORING. JAREDS TIMING
WAS JUST AS PERFECT AS COLINS ACTING (NAH JUST KIDDING). ON THE
REAL, ANYONE WOULDVE GOT SENT, THAT SIDEKICK WAS A LITTLE TOO
MUCH TO EAT FOR A LIGHTWEIGHT. THANKS TO ALL THE SPECTATORS,
COMPETITORS AND THE COACHES THAT TAKE THEIR TIME TO CREATE SUCH
GREAT DISCIPLINED ATHLETES. SEE YALL AT THE NEXT MAN-UP &
STAND-UP ON OCTOBER 10TH. BE THERE!!!
THANK YOU GUYS AND A THANK YOU TO JAY BOLOS AND THE WESSIDE FIGHT
GEAR STORE AND ANDY FROM HAWAII FIGHT GEAR FOR HELPING ME OUT
AT THE EVENT.
ALIKA 110 TONY PERERA
UNIVERSAL COMBAT WAIANAE KICKBOXING
EXHIBTION
ROBERT BANIS 149 FREDDY WAGNER
WESSIDE CONNECTION HSD
NO SHOW
JORDAN SCANLAN 115 MELVIN
ANIMAL HOUSE FREELANCE
WINNER BY DECISION
IKAIKA SILVA 200 ROYAL LONO
TEAM SOLJAH TEAM ANILAND
WINNER BYREFEREE STOPPAGE
CLEM HALLOWAY 140 JUSTIN PRATT
GODS ARMY BULLSPEN
WINNER BY DECISION
MAX HALLOWAY 145 BRONSON CAYETANO
GODS ARMY SMITH TAEKWONDO
WINNER BY DECISION
RYAN DESOTO 165 IKAIKA BULLOCK
GODS ARMY HSD
WINNER BY DECISION
KOA RAMELB 155 AARON DEVICTORIA
JESUS IS LORD BULLSPEN
WINNER BY DECISION
KEALE UNCIANO 125 ARMAN KATOKU
NANAKULI KICKBOXING TEAM ISLAND THUNDER
WINNER BY DECISION
EVAN QUIZON 125 ISAIAH MANALO
TEAM DEVASTATION EAST OAHU
WINNER BY DECISION
DESMOND TALUB 165 JACOB SMITH
NAKOA FIGHT CLUB SMITH TAEKWONDO
WINNER BY DECISION
LAA KAHOOKELE 155 MATT KANAHELE
NANAKULI KICKBOXING NO REMORSE
WINNER REFEREE STOP
NUI WHEELER 135 JULIO MORENO
TEAM SOLJAH BULLSPEN
WINNER BY DECISION
JUDE KAPUA 230 KOLOA KAHALEWAI
FREELANCE TEAM ANILAND
WINNER BY DECISION
AUSTIN FIGUROA 230 DENVER GONZALVES
STAND ALONE HSD
DRAW DRAW
MAKANA VERTIDO 205 KOALI CASTILLO
GODS ARMY NO REMORSE
WINNER BY DECISION
DALE KAMAI 140 TYLER MAYEKAWA
TEAM SOLJAH NO REMORSE
WINNER BY DECISION
JAY WESTBROOK 260+ OTTO HOOPII
TEAM SOLJAH STAND ALONE
WINNER BY DECISION
JARED IHA 140 COLIN MCKENZIE
NO REMORSE GODS ARMY
WINNER BY DECISION
RICHARD BARNARD 150 KAINOA HUTCHINSON
TEAM ANILAND
EXHIBITION
|
St.
Pierre blazes the path others will follow
MINNEAPOLIS
– Georges St. Pierre delivered a glimpse of what the next
generation of mixed martial artists will be like on Saturday
in his welterweight title bout with Jon Fitch at UFC 87 at the
Target Center.
St.
Pierre retained his UFC belt in his most impressive performance,
battering Fitch and turning his face into a mass of welts and
contusions, in a one-sided unanimous decision.
St.
Pierre won by scores of 50-44 twice and 50-43 in a stunningly
brilliant exhibition of MMA fighting.
There
are few men who can combine the disciplines as effortlessly and
as completely as St. Pierre, who was far too quick and far too
technically proficient for the incredibly game Fitch.
Fitch’s
face looked like someone had hit him multiple times with a sledgehammer,
but he kept fighting back even after St. Pierre hit him hard
enough and often enough to knock out two guys.
St.
Pierre (17-2) said he was stunned to see Fitch (21-3) keep battling
despite the punishment he was taking.
“That
was the first time I’ve ever gone five rounds in my life
and it’s tough, I’m telling you,” St. Pierre said.
“After the third round, I was looking at the clock and Jon
Fitch, he never died. I tried to finish him. In the first round,
I tried everything. I saw him fall down and come back, and I
thought, ‘My God, what am I going to have to do to stop
this guy?’ It was discouraging.”
St.
Pierre had no reason to be discouraged, though, because he has
more tools than just about anyone and implements them together,
transitioning from one to the other flawlessly.
He
said he trains exclusively in individual disciplines such as
wrestling, boxing and jiu-jitsu until a month before he has a
fight, when he puts it all together and practices fighting MMA
style.
His
game is the essence of the sport. St. Pierre is not the best
striker, he isn’t the finest wrestler and there are those
with greater jiu-jitsu credentials. Few, other than heavyweight
Fedor Emelianenko and UFC lightweight champion B.J. Penn, are
able to combine them like St. Pierre does, though.
In
the early days of MMA, fighters who were good at only one discipline
were able to survive. In the second generation, fighters have
brought a base of one sport and then added to it.
The
next generation is going to be like St. Pierre, studying all
aspects concurrently and mixing them together flawlessly.
He
needed to be flawless on Saturday because Fitch was so damn tough.
In there was an appendage on his body capable of delivering punishment,
St. Pierre used it, but Fitch simply gritted his teeth and pressed
forward.
“I
told you you’d have to kill me,” he said, jokingly,
to St. Pierre.
After
the post-fight news conference ended, Fitch became emotional
and began tearing up. He said he let his friends and family down.
“They
don’t have a lot of money and they sacrificed a lot to get
here to see me,” said Fitch.
What
they saw was one of the most courageous performances in the UFC
in a long time. Fitch was outmanned in just about every area,
but hung in with St. Pierre and made him use every bit of his
technical brilliance in order to win.
Despite
a long MMA winning streak and a UFC record-tying win streak of
eight, Fitch had been largely overlooked and unappreciated prior
to fighting St. Pierre.
In
his most devastating defeat, though, he convinced many of his
excellence and ended forever doubts about his legitimacy. He
proved to St. Pierre and the sellout crowd of 15,082 in the Target
Center that there is no tougher, gamer man in the sport.
But
he also proved that he would have likely beaten any other 170-pounder
in the world other than the one he was facing Saturday.
“What
else do I have to do to prove to people, to get a little love?”
Fitch said, managing a chuckle. “I won eight fights in a
row and then laid the whole heart and soul out in a five-round
fight with the world champ. If that doesn’t win (the media)
over, nothing will.”
Fitch
said he had fought stronger men than St. Pierre, but said he
never fought anyone nearly as quick as St. Pierre.
“I’ve
seen a lot of fighters where his opponents would sit and wait
for him, but with his speed, you can’t do that,” Fitch
said. “It took me about all of the first round to adjust
and by that time, he’d hit me so many times in my left eye,
I couldn’t really see him.”
Penn
will likely be the next to get a chance at St. Pierre in a rematch
of a March 4, 2006, fight, that St. Pierre won on a disputed
decision. Penn insists he was robbed of the decision and has
sought a rematch since.
St.
Pierre said Saturday he doesn’t want to be perceived as
a coward and wanted to defend the belt against anyone who deserved
a chance at it.
White
said he’d make the fight because “it’s a big fight
and both guys want it,” but insisted Penn wouldn’t
be abandoning the lightweight division.
As
good as Penn is – and he’s awesome – he might
like the thought of fighting 155-pounders if St. Pierre improves
at the rate he has been.
He
said personal issues in his life that bothered him greatly and
which detracted from his performance have been solved. He’s
gotten his training down to a science and said Penn will find
a different type of opponent than he did in 2006 in Las Vegas.
“I’m
way more skilled than I was before,” St. Pierre said.
That
may be a scary thought for anyone on the short list of opponents
to fight him next. But get used to it.
St.
Pierre is the blueprint for the coming generation of MMA fighters.
Source: Yahoo Sports
|
Florian
flusters a heated ‘Matador’
MINNEAPOLIS
– Popular UFC lightweight Roger Huerta goes by the moniker
“El Matador.” But Saturday night, the nickname was
more fitting for his opponent.
Kenny
Florian played a brilliant strategic game against Huerta in their
UFC 87 matchup at the Target Center. Knowing Huerta is at his
best when he gets into a down-and-dirty brawl, the jiu-jitsu
black belt from Boston masterfully stuck and moved en route to
a unanimous decision in a highly anticipated showdown. Each of
the three judges scored the bout 30-27 for Florian.
“You
can’t get into a brawl with him,” said Florian (10-3).
“He’s like a bull. You can’t just go straight
at him and expect to beat him. You have to go in and frustrate
him.”
Florian
has dubbed himself “The Finisher” for his ability to
take out his opponents. But Saturday, he channeled the notoriously
patient Lyoto Machida in his approach. Huerta (20-2-1) had the
hometown crowd of 15,082 on his side, but Florian flustered his
foe, keeping his head and feet moving and effectively countering
most of Huerta’s attempts at offense.
“That
was something I worked on a lot with my coaches,” Florian
said. “They kept yelling at me to circle, circle, circle.
That was the best Roger ever looked. He hits really hard, and
I was just smart enough to not go straight at him.”
When
Florian did press the attack, he made his shots count, keeping
Huerta guessing with a wide variety of strikes.
“That
was by design,” said Florian’s trainer, Mark DellaGrotte.
“Kenny mixed in a lot of kicks, kept going high and going
low, we didn’t want to let Roger get into his comfort zone.
I’ll tell you what, I’m glad he fought Roger now and
not a year from now.”
“I
gotta give props to Kenny,” said Huerta, who suffered his
first UFC defeat. “He had a good game plan and fought a
very technical fight. I was doing good things in the first round,
but then I went back to my old habits and tried to chase him
down, being the stubborn kid that I am.”
The
victory was Florian’s fifth in a row since he lost a unanimous
decision against Sean Sherk in a match for the vacant lightweight
title at UFC 64 on Oct. 14, 2006. Each of the previous wins in
his current run were finishes, with three submissions and a TKO.
By
beating better and better opponents each step along the way and
finishing four of five, Florian has moved his way to the top
of the lightweight contenders ladder and seems ready for his
second crack at the title.
But
the 155-pound crown could be on the back-burner for a bit, as
current champion B.J. Penn is bent on challenging welterweight
champ Georges St. Pierre in a rematch of St. Pierre’s 2006
split-decision victory.
During
the post-fight news conference at the Target Center, UFC president
Dana White indicated that St. Pierre-Penn is in the works, but
Penn would not be vacating the lightweight title in the interim.
“I
don’t know,” White said, “B.J. was here tonight
all fired up cheering for GSP; they both really want that fight.
I’m gonna let that fight happen. After that, I’ll figure
out what will happen at 155.”
Florian
is fine with that.
“I
just want to keep fighting top guys,” he said. “I’m
in the top company, and I’m in the top division. I’ve
just got to keep winning. I don’t want to wait around (while
Penn fights St. Pierre); I want to keep fighting.”
The
loss puts the 25-year old Huerta in an interesting career spot.
Huerta was groomed by the UFC from his 2006 company debut, as
the UFC finally had a good-looking, media-friendly Latino fighter
it could build into a star. Huerta held up his end by delivering
exciting performances inside the cage and doing whatever the
UFC asked outside.
But
a controversy brewed in the buildup to the fight when Huerta,
who has one fight remaining on his UFC contract, made comments
construed as anti-UFC in a magazine interview.
“I
never bashed the UFC,” Huerta said. “I was never saying
the UFC is bad. If it wasn’t them, if it wasn’t for
their 40 million in the hole, we wouldn’t be there. We wouldn’t
be looked at as professional athletes.
“All
I can say, as a retirement plan, we can only do this so long.
As a business decision, if someone offered you something better,
you would do that. Anyone would. That’s that. I have nothing
bad to say about the UFC.”
Source: Yahoo Sports
|
GSP
lets others talk Penn
There
are people salivating at the prospect of a Georges St. Pierre-B.J.
Penn fight before the end of the year.
It
seems to be all UFC lightweight champion Penn talks about these
days.
For
St. Pierre, it’s a different story. A little over a year
ago, the two-time welterweight champion, who defends his title
against Jon Fitch in the main event of Saturday’s UFC 87,
looked past an opponent and learned one of the most valuable
lessons of his career.
After
winning his first title in one-sided fashion over a legendary
champion in Matt Hughes at UFC 65, most of the fight world was
thinking about the highly anticipated rematch.
But
in the interim, St. Pierre dropped the title to Matt Serra, an
8-to-1 underdog.
“I
don’t even think about B.J. Penn,” said the 27-year-old
St. Pierre, who is generally considered with Anderson Silva,
Penn and Fedor Emelianenko as among the four most talented fighters
in the world today. “I’m going to fight Jon Fitch for
my first title defense. I have a chance to succeed where I failed
the last time. It’s almost a year-and-a-half since I lost
my first title defense and now I have a chance to redeem myself
and succeed.”
St.
Pierre’s story had a happy ending, as in what St. Pierre
called the greatest moment of his life, on April 19, before the
largest crowd in UFC history, St. Pierre regained the title from
Serra in his hometown of Montreal.
The
win, in front of 21,390 and a record Canadian pay-per-view audience,
made St. Pierre (16-2) a Canadian sports hero who has been on
the cover of numerous fighting, fitness and sports magazines
in his native land.
St.
Pierre finds himself a 7-to-2 favorite in this go-round in a
sport where long lines are often the kiss of death to bookmakers.
He headlines UFC 87 on Saturday night against Fitch at the Target
Center in Minneapolis.
Fitch
is not as gifted an athlete as St. Pierre, but is an overachiever
with a reputation for hard work and intense dedication dating
back to high school. Fitch went to Purdue University as a walk-on
and left as the team captain. He got blown out in his first MMA
fight, but he comes into his title shot tied for Royce Gracie’s
UFC record of eight straight wins, set in 1993-94.
After
college, Fitch moved to San Jose, to train at the American Kickboxing
Academy, and budgeted himself $800 a month to live on in one
of the most expensive markets in the country, $500 of which went
to rent.
He
had three shirts to his name. He did little but train and live
on eggs, tuna and Ramen.
When
Javier Mendez, the owner of AKA and strategic mastermind behind
Fitch for the fight, talked recently of the most talented athletes
to walk through his doors, Fitch did not make the list. Mendez
noted that nobody works harder than Fitch or improves any faster.
Fitch,
22-2, has reeled off 15 straight wins since losing at the end
of 2002.
“MMA
is my life,” Fitch said. “All I do is train. The only
thing that might change is I’m doing more interviews and
I get recognized a little bit more.”
While
St. Pierre-Serra was billed as a grudge match, with Serra masterfully
playing the role of the villain, you’d be hard pressed to
get either St. Pierre or Fitch to say much negative about the
other.
“The
guys at the top are professional,” said the 30-year-old
Fitch. “Guys who talk trash don’t last. They do it
because they suck as fighters. We have to do what we have to
do. For 25 minutes, we’ll hate each other, and after that,
we’ll be fine again.”
St.
Pierre said he likes Fitch, has studied a lot of tapes of him,
and has his game plan that he won’t talk about. He said
Fitch is good in every aspect. But he also believes he’s
better than Fitch in every aspect.
“He’s
got a big heart,” St. Pierre said. “He never gives
up. I’ve met him and he’s a nice guy.
But
does that have any relevance to the fight?
“Not
at all,” he said. “He can be my friend after our fight
on Saturday night. I’m still going to hit him in the head
as hard as I can.”
About
the only thing testy Fitch has said is he thinks St. Pierre is
gun-shy about the stand-up, citing that since the loss to Serra,
the first thing he’s done in every fight is take his opponent
down.
“If
he thinks I’m gun-shy, he’ll find out on Saturday night,”
said St. Pierre, who noted he’s been training his stand-up
game of late with a Steve Thompson, a kickboxing world champion.
St.
Pierre’s strategy since the loss to Serra is to beat everyone
at the best part of their game. He outwrestled Josh Koscheck,
a former NCAA champion in the sport. He outwrestled Hughes, a
two-time All-American who was considered the sport’s all-time
best welterweight relying primarily on his wrestling to physically
wear everyone out. He took Serra down immediately, and Serra
was supposedly at his best on his back. With the exception of
the second round against Koscheck, he’s dominated three
fights, facing two champions and a top contender from start-to-finish.
Meanwhile,
Fitch’s last two wins have been struggles. He scored a split
decision over Diego Sanchez in his highest-profile fight, winning
largely because he was physically bigger and stronger. In his
most recent fight, he faced a game Chris Wilson, winning by decision
March 1 in Columbus, Ohio, but it also exposed his trademark
trick of baiting an opponent by faking like he’s leaving
an opening. The opponent sees it, and goes for the submission.
He sits back and calmly defends, often for several minutes, while
the opponent burns out his arms or legs in trying to put on the
squeeze. With the opponent spent, Fitch gets out of the move,
and takes over the fight. But you can only play that card so
many times before opponents recognize the opening they perceive
is really part of Fitch’s game plan.
But
for all the talk of skill, guts or athleticism, St. Pierre figures
the key to the fight is what both men have already done in training
camp and said thinks Fitch is the toughest opponent he’s
faced.
“Probably
who will win is who has the best conditioning,” he said.
St.
Pierre said he thinks he’s had the best training camp of
his career, mostly based out of Montreal, although he’s
taken detours through Albuquerque and even Rio de Janeiro, Brazil,
sparring with the likes of Roger Huerta, Rashad Evans, Keith
Jardine, Nathan Marquardt, Denis Kang, David Loiseau, Patrick
Cote as well as assorted Montreal-based boxers and wrestlers.
“I’m
training to fight an army,” he said. “I have a fresh
guy, one after the other, and they’re tough guys.”
“I
don’t worry about pressure,” said Fitch. “It’s
a game to me. It’s fun.
I’m
living a dream. There is no pressure. Win, lose or draw, it doesn’t
matter. I’m having fun.”
St.
Pierre has a different mentality in the hours before the fight.
“I’m
always nervous,” he said. “Very nervous. Very excited.”
Source: Yahoo Sports
|
Sherk
meets Griffin at UFC 90
Sean
Sherk’s quest to regain his Ultimate Fighting Championship
lightweight belt begins again in Chicago.
After
losing the strap to B.J. Penn at UFC 84 in May, Sherk will face
off with Xtreme Couture standout Tyson Griffin at UFC 90. Both
fighters have agreed to the bout, and are in the process of signing
bout agreements, according to sources close to both camps.
Since
his loss to Frankie Edgar at UFC 67, Griffin has been on a four-fight
tear, recently defeating American Top Team’s Marcus Aurelio
at UFC 86 in July.
Griffin’s
camp had reportedly been wanting for the fight for quite some
time, and with Sherk’s loss, everything seems to have worked
out nicely.
In
an interview with MMAWeekly.com this past weekend, Sherk would
not confirm the fight, but spoke about his next opponent and
UFC future.
“I’ve
got five fights left, and I feel like I have a good strong future
with the UFC,” Sherk said. “Maybe one or two wins and
I’ll be back in title contention again.
“I’ve
been real careful with who I’m going to fight. I don’t
want to fight up-and-coming guys. You start fighting up-and-coming
guys and you have to fight more guys to make your way up to the
top. I want to fight the best of the best, and that’s what
I’m doing with this upcoming fight.”
Griffin,
on a week-long camping trip, was unavailable for comment.
Source: Yahoo Sports
|
Fight
Biz: October return to CBS vital for EliteXC
EliteXC’s
future on CBS likely rests on the shoulders of its two highest-profile
stars, Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson and Gina Carano,
and the audience they are able to draw to the small Screen in
October.
After
the July 26 edition of “Saturday Night Fights” on CBS
produced a final rating that slid 43 percent from its inaugural
broadcast in May, EliteXC is relying on Slice and Carano to bring
back the viewers.
While
it was a lock that the second installment of SNF would not match
the May 31 debut on CBS it had neither the star power nor strong
promotion behind the ratings drop-off was huge. Overall, the
first show drew an average audience of 4.85 million viewers,
while the July 26 telecast managed an audience of only 2.62 million
and was trounced in the 9 p.m. timeslot by “America’s
Most Wanted” (4.73 million viewers) on FOX and NBC’s
re-run of “Law & Order” (3.76 million).
As
if that were not bad enough for EliteXC and CBS, another blow
came when the re-broadcast of UFC 84 on Spike TV beat SNF head-to-head
among men in both the 18 to 34 and 18 to 49 demographics, as
MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) reported last week. The most-recent
UFC Fight Night card July 19 on Spike, which averaged 3.1 million
viewers, also topped the CBS audience.
The
ratings results have to be especially disheartening to EliteXC
and CBS considering that the broadcast delivered a more polished
and professional production than the first telecast and had solid
fight action from start to finish.
However,
the bottom line remains that EliteXC is a promotion with only
two true superstars Slice and Carano and a thin bench of supporting
players. The likes of KJ Noons, Nick Diaz, Jake Shields, Antonio
Silva and Robbie Lawler are all gifted, talented fighters. However,
they are not draws outside of the hardcore fan base, and EliteXC
has not done enough to build them into stars to back the promotion’s
headlining duo.
That
makes the handling of Slice and Carano all the more important
â and challenging. These are two fighters who are wildly
popular primarily because of their outside-the-cage personas.
In Slice’s case, it’s the street cred from his YouTube
bare-knuckle days, while Carano’s cover-girl looks are primarily
what have most male fans in a lather. Both are still developing
as fighters, which results in a high-risk, high-reward proposition
for EliteXC.
Based
on the outcome of recent bouts, fans seem to want Slice versus
Brett Rodgers and a Carano-Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos
match-up on the Oct. 4 show at BankAtlantic Center outside of
Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. Neither fight is set, and the latest report
is that Carano will draw Kelly Kobold-Gavin instead. Kobold-Gavin
hasn’t fought since August of 2007. Draw your own conclusion
there.
With
significant advertisers on board, including Ford, Burger King,
Corona and Taco Bell, CBS is generating revenue with the SNF
franchise. However, those advertisers won’t stick around
if the ratings continue to slide.
Even
with Slice and Carano on the card and heavy promotion of the
show, the Oct. 4 telecast faces an uphill battle to match the
May ratings. While MMA on cable has fared well in the past head-to-head
against college football and the baseball playoffs, the CBS telecast
will face increased competition from both.
While
the current agreement between EliteXC and CBS calls for four
prime-time specials, how SNF performs the third time out will
have considerable impact on the long-term viability of EliteXC
on the Tiffany Network, and whether or not the promotion is invited
back for four more.
PPV
could be next for EliteXC â Prior to his resignation as
Chief Strategy Officer of the company, ProElite’s Doug DeLuca
talked about pay per view being a key part of EliteXC’s
plans.
DeLuca
discussed how both the CBS and Showtime telecasts could drive
viewers to pay per view, which is the revenue-generating vehicle
all promotions crave. While the partnerships with CBS and Showtime
have generated exposure for EliteXC, they don’t produce
meaningful revenue.
For
example, in the first quarter of this year, ProElite booked only
$1.2 million in revenue from its Showtime partnership, on the
way to losing a total of $5.7 million during the three-month
period.
DeLuca
said ProElite would seek to produce a pay-per-view event in early
2009. Although his exit from the company might alter that time
line, ProElite appears to have little choice than to pursue the
strategy as a means of stemming the flow of red ink on its balance
sheet.
WEC
airs in Mexico â This past Sunday’s World Extreme
Cagefighting show from Las Vegas was the first to air in Mexico
as part of a new WEC agreement with Cadena Tres â one of
the country’s free broadcast networks.
WEC’s
pact with the network will distribute the promotion’s fight
cards to the Mexican audience through 2009.
Steve
Sievert is the lead staff writer and business columnist for MMAjunkie.com.
He is also the former MMA beat writer and blogger for the Houston
Chronicle.
Source: Yahoo Sports
|
Quote
of the Day
“Never
let a day pass that you will have cause to say, I will do better
tomorrow.”
Brigham Young, 1801-1877, American Religious Leader
|
Fighters'
Club TV Tonight
Channel
52
NEW TIME of 8:00 PM!
A new episode
that features the Pac Sub tournament at the MMA Expo.
We
talk to the pound for pound best fighter in the world, BJ Penn.
East
coast to Guam transplant and technical wizard, Mike Fowler shows
off his leopard print hair and explains how he got his BJJ black
belt in only 4 years!
K-
Team and Relson Gracie competitor supreme, Brad Scott talks shop.
Last,
but certainly not the least, the lovely, but fierce Mrs. Bjjtek
expounds her roll as the enforcer of the Hawaii Ground better
known as the HG.
If
you are not on the Onzuka.com Hawaii Ground forum, you are missing
the latest news from upcoming events, get to rub elbows with
numerous promoters and fighters, and get to voice your opinion
on any subject you can dream up. Hit the links above to sign
up for a free account and start posting away!
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Notes
from Dana White's Q&A session in Toronto
UFC President Dana White took part Wednesday at noon in a special
Q&A session with approximately forty fans in Toronto.
Here
are the highlights from the Q&A:
*
White said he wants to bring the UFC to Massachusetts and New
York in early 2009.
*
White called the CBS "60 Minutes" piece on the IFL
(which aired Dec. 2006) "one of the most irresponsible journalistic
things" he's ever seen. White said he knew from day one
that the IFL would fail. The "60 Minutes" story made
it appear that the IFL would be a huge success, and a lot of
people lost money as a result. The story boosted the IFL's stock
to over $15, but the company's stock would keep declining, dropping
to as low as a penny by July 2008.
*
The UFC estimates that Affliction lost 4 to 4.5 million dollars
on its first show.
*
All the heavier (middleweight and light-heavyweight) WEC fighters
will be moved to the UFC, and the WEC will eventually be all
lighter weight fighters.
*
White said he was bummed to lose Andrei Arlovski to Affliction,
but Arlovski wanted to box and the UFC requires its fighters
to compete exclusively for the company.
*
White said Ontario "no doubt" doesn't want MMA, but
the UFC will eventually take the time and money to educate the
commission and get MMA sanctioned in the province.
*
Among the fighters he's especially close with that he considers
his buddies are Chuck Liddell (White called Liddell his best
friend in the industry), Matt Hughes, Forrest Griffin and Rich
Franklin. The two fighters on White's "hate list" are
Tito Ortiz (#1 on White's hate list) and Frank Shamrock, whom
White called a moron.
*
The reason the UFC signed Mirko "Cro Cop" was to take
away one of PRIDE's biggest stars, making it easier to buy the
Japanese promotion. White said: "It was really a business
move to buy PRIDE, that's why we signed 'Cro Cop.' It wasn't
like we brought 'Cro Cop' in because we thought was going to
take over the heavyweight division. I think that's what the fans
thought -- the hardcore fans that thought they knew a lot about
PRIDE. It was a business move to kill PRIDE."
*
White said the continual destruction of "The Ultimate Fighter"
house has gotten too ridiculous and "won't be happening
anymore."
*
White likes Mike Swick and wants to give him big fights but Swick
is injury-prone and that has slowed his career down.
*
White doesn't believe the Fedor Emelianenko hype. Said he "couldn't
have been f--kin' happier" with Fedor's win over Sylvia:
"Tim Sylvia's been boring me from years, and finally it
was good to see him get wrecked. The only good thing he did was
break Fedor's hand with his face, apparently." Said Fedor
needs to prove himself by fighting the best in the world.
*
Quinton "Rampage" Jackson had delirium due to exhaustion
and dehydration. After his loss to Forrest Griffin, the deeply
religious Jackson went on a fast. Jackson didn't eat anything
or drink water, and all he consumed were energy drinks.
*
Matt Hughes hurt his knee in the Thiago Alves fight. As soon
as Hughes' knee is healed, he'll be back.
Source: MMA Fighting |
Mendes
bros shut out weight group again
At purple, Easton student surprises NFL player
As
logic prevailed, Sunday at the 2nd No-Gi Worlds opened with the
featherweight title, brown belt, title divided between brothers
Rafael and Guilherme Mendes, of Brasa, who submitted two opponents
each to shut out the weight group. Will Leo Vieira and Ramon
Lemos finally give the two their black belts? That is a mystery
GRACIEMAG.com will unshroud shortly.
While
the black belts of the Master and the ladies warm up, there is
time to tell of who shone Saturday night, as the gymnasium was
emptying. The greatest standout was Chaun Sims, of Easton BJJ,
who went running through the fields of CSU Dominguez Hills after
managing to, in the end, Chaun turned the fight around to defeat
former NFL player Jarrod Bunch (BHJJC), student of Marcus Vinicius
who has been winning everything at purple belt, without the gi,
with a triangle at the very end, while losing by a takedown –
Jarrod tried to defend with a slam and was disqualified.
Another
to stand out at purple belt was the eternal pupil of Ronando
Jacare, the tiny Aryzinho Silva. The featherweight for the Amazon,
at 18, won three fights and took his first gold at the No-GI.
At blue belt, the absolute champion was brave Elias Ramirez,
of Gracie Barra, beating Jason Schoeffer, Alexander Chrispin
student in the final.
Source: Gracie Magazine |
Hermes
Franca, Godoi and Draculino go through
No-Gi Worlds catching fire
“I’m
going to sleep here, to hell with it,” thought Paulo “Maromba”
Gaze, caught in Marcelo “Uirapuru” Azevedo’s triangle.
He neither went to sleep not tapped, and the fight ended at 10
to 0 for the Gracie Barra – BH fighter. Maromba, who had
trained on the ground with Quinton Jackson in Huntington Beach,
had run 8 miles during the wee hours of the morning to lose weight,
and came out just fine.
As
you can see, aside from the constellation of stars in the stands
at the CSU Dominguez Hills gymnasium, like MMA fighter Urijah
Faber among others, the beasts are also stepping on the tatamis.
Starting
at 11:30 in the morning in California, the Masters and Seniors
division took the crowd by storm with the presence of renowned
tough guys. Spectators were left without a doubt when watching
the matches (on average three to the gold) of Vinicius Draculino,
Hermes Franca (with an MMA fight scheduled against Gleison Tibau,
in the UFC in September), Cleber Luciano, Roberto Godoi, Jorge
Pereira, Marcelo Uirapuru, Lloyd Irving, Hawaiian Baret Yoshida and the fight between
friends Paulo Guillobel and Wander Braga, won by the former.
The
finals will take place shortly, don’t miss them – here
on GRACIEMAG.com.
Source: Gracie Magazine |
Lucas
vs Lucas raises the roof
Riveting fight between rivals of same name
The
2008 No-Gi Worlds experienced a great moment this Sunday afternoon
in one of the middleweight black belt adult category quarterfinals.
The rival Lucas’ Lepri (Alliance) and Lucas Leite (Check
Matt) faced off and didn’t disappoint the spectators.
Losing
by 8 to 2, Lepri defended for five minutes an attempted submission
by Leite, who managed to take the back. After squirming out of
the tight spot, the 2007 lightweight world champion managed to
get the fight back standing, when he pulled half guard and sunk
a kneebar, taking the win. Lepri now goes through to the semifinal.
Stay tuned to GRACIEMAG.com to find out everything there is to
know about the 2008 No-Gi Worlds.
Ana Laura
walks through absolute
Female champions crowned in California
All
the champions in the brown/black adult femal category have been
defined. Once again the standout was the brown belt from Gracie
Barra, Ana Laura Cordeiro. After beating Penny Thomas (GH) by 4 to 2 at medium heavyweight,
the instructor of the girls' class at Gracie Barra America walked
through the decision of the absolute against Katrina Weilbacher
(Alliance). The title came by way of the impressive score of
25 to 0. Check out the results.
Medium
heavyweight: Ana Laura Cardoso (GB) defeated Penny Thomas (GH) by 4 to 2 in advantage points
after 2 to 2 draw.
Heavyweight:
Gabrielle Garcia (Xtreme) defeated Katrina Weilbacher (Alliance)
by two to zero
Super
featherweight: Leticia Ribeiro (GH) submitted Miriam Cardoso
(GB) by armbar.
Featherweight:
Bianca Barreto (GB) submitted Felicia Oh (Jean Jacques) by kneebar.
Lightweight:
Michelle Nicolini (Brasa) submitted Gabriela Bermudes (GH) by
armbar from the triangle.
Absolute:
Ana Laura Cardoso (GB) defeated Katrina Weilbacher by 25 to 0.
Source: Gracie Magazine |
List
of entrance songs played at UFC 87
The following is a list of songs that fighters walked out to
at UFC 87: Seek and Destroy.
Jon
Fitch
"Rusty Cage" - Johnny Cash
Demian
Maia
"Main Title (The Last of the Mohicans)" - Randy Edelman,
Trevor Jones
Jason
MacDonald
"Turn The Page" - Metallica
Kenny
Florian
"Playing with Fire" - Lil Wayne
Rob
Emerson
"Paper Planes" - M.I.A.
Heath
Herring
"Buono Il Brutto Il Cattivo (Titoli)" - Ennio Morricone
Brock
Lesnar
"Shout At The Devil" - Motley Crue
Dan
Evensen
"Gods of War" - Manowar
Source: MMA Fighting |
Quote
of the Day
"Any
person who contributes to prosperity must prosper in turn."
Earl
Nightingale, 1921-1989, American Motivational Author and Radio
Broadcaster
|
Fighters'
Club Radio Today!
AM1500
9:00 to 10:00 AM
Kurano
and Freitas
Call
in at 296-1500
|
Posted
on: Sunday, August 10, 2008
Takata
goes 2-2 in judo in Beijing
BEIJING
— Wahiawa's Taylor Takata, in his first Olympics and just
the fourth judoka from Hawai'i to compete in the Games, opened
with two wins before being knocked out in repechage today.
Advertisement
The
'Iolani alum posted two wins in the men's 66-kilogram (145.5
pounds) weight class.
Takata
lost to Cuba's Yordanis Arencibia, the 2004 Athens bronze medalist,
10-0, in the quarterfinals.
In
Takata's first repechage match, he fell to Aheen El Hady of Egypt
by ippon. El Hady was seventh in the 2005 world championships.
In
Takata's first match, he defeated Greece's Tariel Zintiridis.
The
two were scoreless after the 5-minute time limit and went into
a "golden score" period, where the first person to
score wins. Takata scored on a yuko (partially successful throw)
29 seconds into the golden score to win.
Takata
beat Dex Elmont of the Netherlands in his second match, also
in the golden score when Elmont was penalized.
Source: Honolulu Advertiser
|
UFC
87 REVIEW: GSP STILL THE MAN
The
Ultimate Fighting Championship made its debut at the Target Center
in Minneapolis, Minn. this Saturday in front of 15,082 fans.
Georges "Rush" St-Pierre headlined the UFC 87 fight
card defending his UFC welterweight title against Jon Fitch.
Brock Lesnar returned to the Octagon taking on Pride and UFC
veteran Heath Herring while Roger Huerta and Kenny Florian faced
off in a lightweight match that could determine the next contender
for BJ Penn's belt.
Jon
Fitch brought his impressive 15-fight winning streak into the
biggest match of his career when he faced UFC welterweight champion
Georges St-Pierre. Unfortunately for Fitch, his momentum was
stopped when he ran into a brick wall that was the French Canadian
There
were countless times when St-Pierre had Fitch in trouble but
the American Kickboxing fighter showed an incredible heart and
somehow managed to persevere. Despite his will to survive, Fitch’s
championship dream was cut short as he would go on to lose a
unanimous decision and give St-Pierre his first successful title
defense
After
the fight, BJ Penn entered the Octagon to officially challenge
St-Pierre. The champion later responded, “I will give a
shot to everyone who deserves it. BJ Penn deserves it.”
The
crowd erupted as Brock Lesnar made his entrance into the Octagon.
After losing his UFC debut to Frank Mir, Lesnar needed to make
a statement. He did so with his first punch. One clean right
landed from the former wrestler that sent Herring reeling back
to the canvas and Lesnar dominated the rest of the round with
his incredible strength and control. The remainder of the fight
mimicked the first round as Lesnar’s wrestling prowess proved
too much for the “Texas Crazy Horse.” The hometown
favorite enjoyed his first UFC victory and showed the world his
potential.
“Can
you see me now? Can you see me now?” yelled Lesnar after
the fight. “I fell off the horse when I fought Mir and I
got back on that stallion and rode off on it. I’ve been
trying to work on everything every day to be a complete fighter
and a contender in the UFC.”
In
the big upset of the evening, Rob Emerson made quick work of
the heavily favored Manny Gamburyan. Emerson dropped Gamburyan
with a right hook at the start of the round and followed up with
a fight ending left hook as Manny attempted to get up. It was
an impressive 12-second performance for the underdog.
Ultimate
Fighter season one runner-up Kenny Florian delivered a message
in arguably the highest profile fight of his career. The cheers
of the Minnesota fans were overwhelming as they listened to the
introductions for the highly anticipated match-up between Florian
and Roger Huerta. “El Matador” had the support of the
crowd.
The
first two rounds were close and could have gone either way on
the judges scorecards. In the third, both fighters had great
scrambles and entertained the crowd with subtle acknowledgments
of landed shots. Florian landed the cleaner strikes in the final
round and earned a unanimous decision by all three of the judges.
“I
know how hard it was to fight Roger Huerta. I trained very hard
for him and he’s going to be a champion,” said Florian
after the fight. “I didn’t want to get into a brawl
with him; I wanted to be technical and I think I was able to
do that.
“I
was very surprised I wasn’t able to submit him. He’s
very strong, very technical with his hips. He’s tough as
nails,” added Florian. “I really wanted to have a dominant
performance against Roger. It’s up to the UFC (whether I
get a title shot).”
Jason
MacDonald showed great poise in avoiding and defending the submissions
by Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Demian Maia. When most fighters
would have tapped, MacDonald endured and won the approval of
the fans in an entertaining grappling match. Unfortunately for
MacDonald, Maia showed why he is a jiu-jitsu world champion when
he submitted his Canadian opponent with a rear naked choke in
the third and final round. The win put the Brazilian into a list
of potential contenders for the UFC middleweight title.
In
a fight that Joe Rogan coined as the “battle of the nerds,”
Tamdan McCrory and Luke Cummo faced off in welterweight action.
McCrory was the aggressor early on, leading in with strikes and
landing uppercuts from the clinch. The fight went to the ground
on many occasions and the “Barn Cat” displayed his
jiu-jitsu skills as he controlled the fight from Cummo’s
back. McCrory had many slick transitions but was unable to submit
the tough Cummo. In the end, all three judges awarded Tamdan
McCrory the unanimous decision in what was easily considered
the best preliminary fight of the night.
Cheick
Kongo put himself back into the heavyweight title picture with
a first round TKO over Dan Evensen. In a fight that many expected
to be a stand-up war, the French kickboxer took the fight to
the ground. After the fighters were stood up for a second time,
Kongo landed a devastating straight right hand that dropped Evensen.
Subsequence strikes on the ground forced the referee to halt
the fight.
“Everyone
knows I deserve a title fight,” said Kongo. “I want
to be the best fighter in the world and I will show more than
I did tonight when I get a title shot.”
In
the battle of the newcomers, IFL veteran Andre Gusmao and Jon
Jones put on an entertaining fight with a few spinning backfists
and a couple of unfortunate low blows. Jones played the role
of aggressor for the entire fight, using his reach to fatigue
his opponent. The fight had a few memorable flurries but was
highlighted by Jones’ striking and athleticism. The judges
saw it the same and awarded Jones the unanimous decision.
Team
Quest fighter Chris Wilson earned his first Octagon victory with
a dominating performance against Steve Bruno. Throughout the
fight, Bruno attempted numerous takedown attempts only to have
almost all of them defended against, allowing Wilson to control
from a dominant position. The American Top Team from dropped
on many occasions by Wilson but showed a lot of heart in enduring
the subsequent punishment. After three rounds, Wilson earned
a unanimous decision.
Former
Ultimate Fighter contestant Ben Saunders submitted newcomer Ryan
Thomas in the evening’s opening bout. The two fighters exchanged
early with Saunders landing left kicks to Thomas’ side.
After two rounds, the effects of the kicks took its toll and
Thomas crumbled to the mat, allowing Saunders to finish with
an armbar.
“I
thank Ryan for taking the fight on short notice. He’s a
warrior,” said Saunders.
-Georges
St. Pierre def. Jon Fitch by unanimous decision (50-43, 50-44,
50-44)
-Brock
Lesnar def. Heath Herring by unanimous decision (30-26 on all
cards)
-Rob
Emerson def. Manny Gamburyan by KO at 0:12, R1
-Kenny
Florian def. Roger Huerta by unanimous decision (30-27 on all
cards)
-Demian
Maia def. Jason MacDonald by submission (rear naked choke) at
2:44, R3
-Tamdan
McCrory def. Luke Cummo by Unanimous Decision (30-27, 29-28,
30-27)
-Cheick
Kongo def. Dan Evensen by TKO (strikes on the ground) at 4:55,
R1
-Jon
Jones def. Andre Gusmao by Unanimous Decision (30-27, 29-28,
30-27)
-Chris
Wilson def. Steve Bruno by Unanimous Decision (30-27) on all
cards
-Ben
Saunders def. Ryan Thomas by submission (armbar) at 2:28, R2
Source: MMA Weekly
|
2008
K-1 USA GP RESULTS
HONOLULU, August 9, 2008 -- Kickboxer Gokhan Saki upset the field
tonight to win the USA GP '08 at the Stan Sheriff Center in Honolulu.
The 24 year-old Turk -- a late substitute who came into the tournament
with but four K-1 bouts to his name -- turned aside three opponents
en route to victory.
The
K-1 World Grand Prix '08 in Hawaii featured the K-1 USA GP tournament,
along with a trio of Superfights and other bouts featuring local
and international K-1 fighters.
The
K-1 USA GP followed the classic K-1 elimination tournament format
-- eight fighters meeting in quarterfinal bouts, the winners
advancing to a pair of semifinals, the victors there going head-to-head
in the final.
In
the first of the quarterfinals, 185cm/6'1" American slugger
Mighty Mo, who won the Hawaii tournament last year, faced compatriot
Justice Smith, a 206cm/6'9" kickboxer. Smith circled with
the jab to start, but Mo got a hard right in on target. There
was a protracted time stoppage after a Smith knee smashed Mo
in the orchises. Mo had anguish tattooed on his face, but after
a few minutes of recovery time was able to resume. An aggressive
Mo barreled in on his opponent with the fists swinging, but the
closed-up Smith weathered the storm and responded with a knee.
In the course of the ruckus, head-to-head contact opened a cut
on Mo's face, prompting another time stoppage for a doctor's
check, and a one-point penalty for Smith.
In
the second Mo got in and connected with uppercuts, hooks and
knees; but Smith took the blows, responding with front kicks
to open up the distance and escape the round. Figuring he was
behind on the cards, Smith threw a couple of desperate high kicks
in the third, but could not sustain the attacks. Mo closed again,
pumping in the right hook and uppercut. Smith would not go down,
and these were two fatigued fighters by the final bell. Mo took
the majority decision.
In
the second tournament matchup, it was rotund American boxer Butterbean
taking on multidisciplinary fighter Hawaiian Wesley "Cabbage"
Correira of Hawaii.
Slow
going through the first round, the fighters standing center-ring,
and but for a occasional low kick the action confined to punches
that could make it across Butterbean's prodigious physical form.
But then, early in the second, from out of nowhere a Cabbage
high kick clocked his opponent on the side of the jaw. A look
of astonishment flashed across Butterbean's face as he clutched
at his opponent's leg to stay his fall. But fall he did. A KO
win for Correira and a trip to the semis.
Opening
the second tournament bracket were Saki, who had been promoted
from the reserve bout a day earlier when scheduled fighter Chalid
Die Faust could not secure a visa; and the German-born, Hawaii-based
boxer and muay thai fighter Deutsch Puu.
Saki
threw the hard quick low kicks to start, while Puu -- who desperately
wanted to get close and punch it out -- never got his chance.
The hapless Hawaiian's legs were gone by midway through the first,
when Saki's kicks earned him two quick successive downs to make
it official.
The
last of the tournament quarterfinals pitted Danish karate stylist
Nicholas Pettas against kickboxer Rick Cheek of the United States.
This one started promisingly with Pettas throwing low kicks and
just missing with a high kick, Cheek stepping in when he saw
an opening. But suddenly, a wincing Pettas offered up his glove
to Cheek, who appeared to not understand what was happening.
Actually nobody seemed to know what was happening as Pettas turned
away and walked to his corner. The referee, who likes to know
what is happening, followed Pettas, who made an explanation,
whereupon the ref waved his arms to signal an end to the fight.
The last ones to know what was happening were the crowd, who
by now had began to jeer. Pettas took the ring mic to say he
was injured and could not continue, and later explained he had
aggravated a groin injury sustained in training weeks earlier.
Another
injury changed the matchup for the first semifinal -- it was
announced prior to the bout that Mighty Mo could not continue
in the tournament due damage suffered in his scrap with Smith.
Under K-1 rules, reserve fight winner Randy Kim took Mo's spot
against "Cabbage" Correira.
An
aggressive start to this one, Kim firing in kicks, Cabbage closing
with fists. Kim had the more varied attacks through the first
-- low kicks, knees, a spinning back punch and a couple of good
right crosses that made contact -- but could deliver the decisive
blow. In the second, however, it was evident that Correira's
trailing leg was hurt. Kim focused his attacks there, striking
on the inside of the calf to score a down, then kicking the leg
again to get a second down and pick up the win.
The
second semi saw Saki and Cheek in a spirited contest. Cheek came
out with some good stuff, sailing a high kick wide and making
partial contact with a spinning back kick. But Saki was smart
and steady with his hard kicks and one-two combinations. It was
a couple of Saki kicks that brought Cheek down the first time,
and an expertly-timed left to the body that put him on the mat
again to send Saki through to the final.
And
so Saki met Randy Kim in the final. Saki started with some fancy
kicks and combinations, planting a high kick that Kim ably blocked,
the Korean stepping through with the fists to keep it close,
then putting an ax kick long and onto the shoulder blades. In
the second, Saki timed a left perfectly to drop Kim, but the
Korean jack-in-the-boxed to his feet to barely the count. Kim
was standing but he was hurting.
Smelling
blood, Saki went on the offensive, approaching his closed-up
opponent with fists. Kim endeavored to rally, spinning a back
kick short then stepping in with a right, which Saki coolly countered
with a left that sent the Korean down. This time Kim did not
beat the count, and Saki had the win and the tiki-adorned USA
GP trophy
With
his victory, Gokhan Saki earns a spot at the K-1 World GP '08
Final 16 Tournament, set for September 27 in Seoul.
"I
feel really good," said Saki afterward. "Although I
was scheduled for the reserve, I trained to be ready to fight
through the entire tournament, because the same thing happened
to me two years ago in Amsterdam, when I went from the reserve
to the final [losing to Bjorn Bregy]. So my conditioning was
good, but still I was little nervous in the first fight. It was
nice having the crowd get behind me as I progressed through the
tournament -- I feel like my team and I are the new Hawaiians!"
In
the evening's Superfights:
K-1
Heavyweight Champion Badr Hari of Morocco met Croatian MMA fighter
Domagoj Ostojic. It was Hari by KO when these two met three years
ago, and Ostojic had vowed to avenge the loss tonight. But Hari
had other ideas.
The
bell rang, the fighters closed to the center of the ring, Ostojic
tossed a low kick, and then, the fighters simultaneously threw
lefts. Both punches landed, and although a rattled Hari stumbled
backward and into the ropes, it was Ostojic who went down. The
Croatian could not beat the count, and Hari had the win at 0:19.
"I
just opened with the jab and he went over," said Hari in
his post-fight interview. "I normally knock people out with
my right, but I think I showed tonight that I can do it with
my left as well -- I'm becoming a dangerous man! I'm a little
disappointed I couldn't show the fans more, but I showed them
a KO. I'm satisfied, because it's a fight, and the nicest things
you can do in a fight our not get hurt, and knock people out!"
Australian
muay thai fighter Paul Slowinski took on Moroccan kickboxer Aziz
"Iceman" Jahjah in a thrilling back-and-forth contest.
A
fine start to this one, Slowinski moving forward with tight technical
kick and punch combinations, Jahjah scoring points from in close
with the fists. In the second, Jahjah turned on the hurt, sinking
a punch for a down then chasing Slowinski. The Aussie fighter
got the down back with a right straight punch on a counter, but
Jahjah soon connected with a right hook to score his second down.
At this point it was looking bad for Slowinski -- but after sending
the Aussie stumbling, Jahjah pulled away, apparently believing
he'd won the fight. Slowinski stayed in his feet and made it
out of the round. The lack of finish would come back to hurt
Jahjah in the third round.
Here
a refreshed Slowinski chased the increasingly fatigued Jahjah
with punches to earn a standing count, then, to the delight of
the crowd, pumped in a right hook and an uppercut to drop the
Turk. Jahjah was hanging by a thread now, and Slowinski dispatched
him with a couple of hooks.
"I
had a game plan," said Slowinski, "but Aziz's right
just kept coming in so quickly that I had to scrap the game plan
and fight a brawl instead. I'm glad I got the win!"
In
the third Superfight, it was American MMA fighter Scott Junk
versus Min Soo Kim, a South Korean judoka.
Junk
tossed low kicks and led with the right cross to start, and was
looking good until he ran into a Kim straight punch and went
down. Kim scored a second down with a left hook from close to
take a strong lead on the score cards. There was some trash talk
in the ring after the bell to end the first, cornermen stepping
in to help the referee separate the fighters. In the second Kim
the southpaw took a number of low kicks to his right leg before
closing with fists, but Junk's blocking was sound and the American
continued to put up points with his legs. In the third Junk again
chopped at Kim's leg with low kicks, but found only fists or
the clinch when the distance closed. Junk could not get the down
he needed to get it close, and Kim coasted to a unanimous decision.
All
three undercard fights acted as reserve matches for the USA GP
tournament.
In
the first reserve, South Korean shot putter Randy Kim (196cm/6'5")
stepped in against the 180cm/5'11" Vilitonu Fonokalafi,
a Hawaiian MMA and muay thai stylist.
Fonokalafi
passed Kim's low kicks to strike in the first, Kim replying to
the invitation with some good fistwork of his own before coming
in with a knee that rattled Fonokalafi. By early in the second
Fonokalafi appear to be entirely out of gas, and Kim needed only
the limpest of lefts to send him to the canvas, where he stayed.
Gokhan
Saki's promotion to the tournament had opened up a spot in the
second reserve fight. The last-minute replacement was German
K-1 veteran Stefan Leko, who went up against Junior Sua, a 41
year-old Hawaiian. Some might have figured Sua as way out of
his league here, but the local fighter marshaled a terrific effort,
surprising Leko with a right hook to score an early down. Leko
had a smile on his face as he rose from the canvas, and now found
his form, scoring two quick downs -- the first a standing count,
the second courtesy a knee -- to bring this one to its logical
conclusion.
In
the last of the undercard bouts, Japanese kyokushin fighter Koichi
made his K-1 debut against Dutch muay thai stylist Rico Verhoeven.
The boys mixed it up well, both getting the strikes through,
both tough enough to take them. It went to the cards where Verhoeven
took a unanimous decision.
All
bouts were fought under Official K-1 Rules (3Min. x 3R, with
a possible tiebreaker round, two possible tiebreakers in the
tournament final and the Superfights)
The
K-1 World Grand Prix 2008 in Hawaii attracted a crowd of 8,807
to the Stan Sheriff Center in Honolulu. Hawaiian hero and former
sumo wrestler Akebono, the event's co-promoter, took the stage
early to encourage the crowd to make some noise, and they obliged
big time -- bringing a terrific energy to the arena, spurring
on the fighters.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
LESNAR
PROVES HIS WORTH AT UFC 87
Brock Lesnar's second appearance in the Ultimate Fighting Championship
garnered the former NCAA heavyweight wrestling champion and former
World Wrestling Entertainment superstar his second career mixed
martial arts win.
In
only his third MMA fight, Lesnar took on UFC and Pride veteran
Heath Herring at UFC 87 from the Target Center in Minneapolis,
Minn. Saturday.
Herring
has taken on the top heavyweights in the world, including top
ranked Fedor Emelianenko and UFC heavyweight titleholder Antonio
Rodrigo Nogueira on three occasions.
Lesnar
wasted no time, opening the bout with a flying knee before dropping
Herring to the canvas with a right hand and charged in like a
linebacker with his sights set on the quarterback.
The
stunned Herring rolled but found himself underneath the gigantic
Lesnar absorbing punches to the head and knees to the body. Surviving
the first round, Herring would see much of the same in the second.
Herring
came to life in the third round, moving forward and landing shots
on Lesnar who simply reverted back to his wrestling experience
and took the beaten and battered Herring down.
Following
the fight, Lesnar asked the cheering crowd. "Can you see
me now? Can you see me now?"
"I
fell off the horse against Frank Mir and tonight I got on that
stallion and rode out of town,” stated the 31-year-old heavyweight.
“I’ve just been trying to work on everything, every
single day to get better, to be a well-rounded heavyweight fighter
and a contender in the UFC.”
After
his performance on Saturday night, Lesnar may not have shown
that he's well-rounded, but he sent a resounding message to the
heavyweight division that he is a contender.
Source:
MMA Weekly
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BONUSES
HANDED OUT FOLLOWING UFC 87
The Ultimate Fighting Championship took Minnesota by storm on
Saturday night with an unbelievable array of exciting fights,
closing out the show with welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre
winning a unanimous decision over top contender, Jon Fitch.
After
a 5 round war between champion and challenged, St. Pierre and
Fitch picked up Fight of the Night honors at UFC 87 and each
fighter picked up a $60,000 bonus for their efforts in the championship
affair.
Following
his toughest test to date in the Octagon, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
ace Demian Maia won the Submission of the Night for his third
round rear naked choke win over Canadian, Jason MacDonald.
Knockout
of the Night went to former “Ultimate Fighter” season
5 competitor, Rob Emerson, who finished off his former housemate,
Manny Gamburyan in only :12 seconds en route to a devastating
finish.
Both
Maia and Emerson also earned an additional $60,000 payday bonus
for their award winning performances.
Source:
MMA Weekly
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QUINTON
JACKSON RETURNS TO THE PUBLIC EYE
MINNEAPOLIS
– Former UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton “Rampage”
Jackson – recently the subject of a police chase in California
– re-emerged in the public eye on Thursday, of all places,
at the pre-fight press conference for UFC 87 in Minneapolis.
Though
not delving too deep into his legal situation, both Jackson and
Ultimate Fighting Championship president Dana White addressed
the media and a throng of fans that gathered for the press conference
at the Rotunda at the Mall of America.
“Rampage
lost the fight to Forrest Griffin. He hung out in Vegas for a
week. He was hanging out by the pool and he was fasting. He wasn’t
drinking; he wasn’t eating. He was drinking energy drinks,”
explained White.
“You
saw what happened on TV, the problems that he had,” he continued.
“They took him in for psychiatric evaluation for over 72
hours. What they came back with was that there was nothing wrong
with him mentally; it was physically.
“He
was exhausted. He had severe dehydration. And that caused something
called delirium.
According
to the Mayo Clinic, “delirium is a decline in attention,
awareness and mental clarity often triggered by serious illness.
The signs of delirium may include restlessness, agitation and
combativeness.”
Researchers,
again according to the May Clinic, have not determined an exact
cause of delirium, but it is often triggered by “a combination
of changes or stresses… For example, a new medication, sleep
deprivation or a change in environment may cause delirium when
the body is already acutely stressed by blood loss, dehydration,
infection or heart attack.”
As
White mentioned, in line with the Mayo Clinic’s possible
triggers for delirium, Jackson was apparently sleep deprived,
fasting, and by drinking energy drinks instead of water, he was
effectively dehydrating his body.
“Apparently
they tell us he’s over it now,” White stated of Jackson’s
delirium episode. “He is healthy mentally and physically.
He will be back in the UFC soon.”
Jackson
agreed, saying, “I’m already training, so my next opponent
better watch out.
“But
that was the worst mistake I ever made, I got Dana over my back
all the time. ‘Did you eat? Did you sleep? Drink your water?’
It’s like I’m two years old, but it’s all good,”
he continued. “I love Dana man. He’s the first one
to really take care of me and show me love.”
Despite
the pair’s assertions that Jackson will be back in the UFC,
seemingly sooner rather than later, White admitted Jackson still
has a road to go down before he’ll be able to return to
the Octagon.
While
leading police on a chase, Jackson allegedly hit a 2007 Cadillac
Escalade driven by 38-year-old Holly Griggs, who happened to
be pregnant at the time, according to the Daily Pilot newspaper
in Newport Beach. About a week later, Griggs suffered a miscarriage,
losing her baby.
Officials
have not yet filed charges against Jackson.
“Yah,
he’s got some legal issues, definitely,” stated the
UFC president. “The first thing we were worried about was
that Rampage was okay physically, mentally… he’s okay.
Obviously, with what happened, he’s got some legal issues
he’s got to deal with now. Definitely.”
Source:
MMA Weekly
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THALES
LEITES VS GORAN RELJIC AT UFC 90
Recently, rumors were circling that Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu ace Thales
Leites would make his return at UFC Fight Night in Omaha, Neb
against Dean Lister. Unfortunately, an injury befell Lister and
now Leites will move to Oct 25 and face Croation fighter, Goran
Reljic.
The
bout has been signed and confirmed to MMAWeekly.com by sources
close to the fighters.
Leites
is coming off of a win over former top contender, Nate Marquardt,
back in June in which the Brazilian fell victim to two separate
illegal strikes from his opponent. Leites survived the incidents
and came out with a split decision victory.
His
opponent at UFC 90, Goran Reljic, made a very impressive debut
at UFC 84 in May putting away American Top Team fighter, Wilson
Gouveia, by TKO in the 2nd round of their match-up.
Reljic
looked devastating with crisp striking that helped him pick apart
his opponent en route to victory.
Leites
vs. Reljic could be another pivotal fight in the middleweight
division as contenders are still being built as possible opposition
for 185lb king, Anderson Silva.
More
fights will be announced for UFC 90 in the coming weeks.
Source:
MMA Weekly
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