Upcoming
Events
Do you want to list an
event on Onzuka.com?
Contact Us
(All events on Oahu, unless noted)
2009
10/10/09
NAGA Hawaii
(BJJ/Sub Grappling)
(Hawaii, Tentative)
6/4/09 - 6/7/09
World JJ Championships
(BJJ)
(California)
5/9/09 - 5/10/09 &
5/16/09 - 5/17/09
Brazilian Nationals JJ Championships
(BJJ)
(Carson, CA)4/18/08
NY International JJ Championships
(BJJ)
(Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
5/9/09
15th Grapplers Quest Las Vegas
(BJJ/Sub Grappling)
(Las Vegas, NV)
May 2009
Abu Dhabi World Submission Wrestling Championships
(Sub Grappling)
(Tentative)
4/4/09 - 4/5/09
NAGA World Championship
(BJJ/Sub Grappling)
(NJ, Tentative)
3/27/09
- 3/29/09
Pan Am JJ Championships
(BJJ)
(Carson, CA)
3/21/09 - 3/22/09
$30k Grapplers Quest/Fight Expo/Make a Wish Weekend
(BJJ/Sub Grappling)
(Del Mar, CA)
NAGA US Nationals
(BJJ/Sub Grappling)
(Georgia)
3/14/09
NAGA Vegas
(BJJ/Sub Grappling)
3/7/09
UFC 96
(PPV)
(Columbus, OH)
Grapplers Quest Beast of the East
(BJJ/Sub Grappling)
(Wildwood, New Jersey)
2/21/09
UFC 95
(PPV)
(London, England)
2/7/09
4th Annual Clint Shelton Memorial
(Boxing)
(Palolo Gym)
UFC Fight Night
(PPV)
(Tampa, FL)
1/31/09
UFC 93 BJ vs GSP
(PPV)
(MGM Grand, Las Vegas, NV)
1/30/09
MMA Event
(MMA)
(Schofield Barracks)
1/24/09
Eddie Bravo Seminar
(BJJ)
1/17/09
UFC 93
(PPV)
(Dublin, Ireland)
1/10/09
MAT ATTACK Jiu-Jitsu & Submission Grappling Tournament
(Sub Wrestling)
(Lihikai School, Kahului, Maui)
1/3/08
Uprising - Maui
(MMA)
(Paukukalo
Hawaiian Homes Gym)
Hazardous Warfare - Maui
(MMA)
(Lahaina Civic Center)
2008
12/27/08
UFC 92
(PPV, Las Vegas, NV)
12/13/08
The Ultimate Fighter 8 Final
(PPV, Las Vegas, NV)
12/10/08
UFC Fight
For The Troops
(Spike TV)
Got Skillz Fighter
(Triple Threat)
(Waipahu Filcom)
11/25/08
X-1 at Cirque Hawaii
(MMA & Kickboxing)
(Cirque Hawaii, Waikiki)
11/22/08
Longman Jiu-Jitsu Open
(BJJ)
(Kauai Veterans Center,
Lihue, Kauai)
Hawaiian
Classic Kickboxing
(Kickboxing)
(Kalaheo H.S. Gym)
11/21/08
UFC: Penn-GSP Press Conference
(Blaisdell Concert Hall)
X1 World
Events
(Boxing & MMA)
(O'Lounge Night Club)
Man Up & Stand Up
(Kickboxing)
(Waipahu Filcom Center)
11/15/08
Destiny
(MMA)
(Aloha Tower Pier)
Aloha State Championship
of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
(BJJ/Sub Grapping)
(Gym #1, UH Manoa)
UFC 91
(PPV, Portland, OR)
11/7/08
HFC Stand Your Ground IX
(Kickboxing & MMA)
(Dole Cannery Ballroom)
10/25/08
X-1
(MMA & Boxing)
(Palolo Hongwangji Hall)
UFC 90
(PPV, Chicago, IL)
10/19/08
Clay Guida Seminar
(Icon Fitness & MMA Gym)
10/18/08
Destiny
(MMA)
(Waipahu Filcom Center)
UFC 89
(PPV, Birmingham, England)
10/17/08
Hawaiian Amateur Pankration Association
Presents
Friday Night Fights At Pipeline Café
(MMA)
(Pipeline Cafe, Honolulu)
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)
EliteXC on CBS
(TV)
808MMA
(TV)
9/27/08
X-1 Presents Temple of Boom
(Palolo Hongwanji, Honolulu)
(MMA & Boxing)
9/20/08
Boxing
(Palolo District Park)
(Boxing)
9/17/08
UFC Fight Night 15
(PPV, Omaha, NE)
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)
|
|
December 2008 News
Part 3
|
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!
Kids Classes are also
available!
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
The Toughest Show On
Teleivision
Tuesdays at 8:00PM
***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
& 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!
|
Want to Advertise on Onzuka.com?
Click here
for pricing and more information!
Short term and long term advertising available.
More than
1 million hits and counting!
|
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.
New
O2MAA Kid's Jiu-Jitsu Class Starts Friday, December 5 from 5:30
to 6:30 PM!
Adult Wrestling Class Starts Starts Friday, December 5 from 8:30
to 9:30 PM!
|
Want to Contact
Us? Shoot us an email by Clicking Here!
Quote
of the Day
“It
is a mistake to try to look too far ahead. The chain of destiny
can only be grasped one link at a time.”
Sir Winston Churchill
|
Onzuka.com
Wishes Everyone a Safe New Year's Eve
Please
make sure if you are partying tonight, get a designated driver.
I am sure that you can find one of the boys (or girls) that is
not a drinker or can skip it for tonight's festivities. Try to
car pool. Chances are there will be one person that will stay
sober to drive everyone home if you all figure it out before
going out.
Stay safe!
|
JOE
STEVENSON VS DIEGO SANCHEZ
HEADLINES UFC 95
UFC
president Dana White, at the UFC 92 post-fight press conference
on Saturday night, confirmed a previously rumored lightweight
bout between Joe "Daddy" Stevenson and new 155-pounder
Diego Sanchez for UFC 95 in London, England.
According
to White, the fight will serve as the main event when the promotion
returns to the O2 Arena.
Sanchez
will step into the bout against Stevenson on a two-fight win
streak, but will be making his debut in the lightweight division.
The
New Mexico native has long talked about moving down to 155 pounds,
but with this confirmation, the former "Ultimate Fighter"
season 1 winner transitions into a stacked lightweight division
with a very tough test in his first fight.
Stevenson,
the season 2 winner of the "Ultimate Fighter," has
gone 1-2 in his three most recent bouts – losses to B.J.
Penn and Kenny Florian sandwiched a win over Gleison Tibau –
and looks to get back into contender's contention with a win
against Sanchez.
Stevenson
opened his own school in California while working at several
different gyms for his fight preparation recently.
The
bout between Sanchez and Stevenson will headline UFC 95, which
marks the promotion's first trip to England in 2009.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Change
in momentum leads Evans to title
LAS
VEGAS – Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweight
champion Forrest Griffin seemed like he was executing a sound
game plan early in his title defense Saturday night against Rashad
Evans.
But
the main event of UFC 92 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on Saturday
night turned another example how mixed martial arts is a sport
that can have many different types of sudden endings.
In
the third round, Evans got Griffin to the ground for the first
time in the fight. He broke through Griffin’s guard with
elbows and punches from the top, with Griffin’s head bouncing
on the mat before ref Steve Mazzagatti stopped it at 2:46.
Evans,
29, became the third fighter in the past two years to come from
winning “The Ultimate Fighter” reality series and capture
a UFC championship. Evans, the heavyweight division winner of
the show’s second season, followed in the footsteps of Griffin
and former welterweight champion Matt Serra, both of whom dropped
the title in their first defense.
Griffin,
who suffered a broken hand in the fight, said he must have been
hurt when he was taken down.
“I
had to have been hurt, as I had such a pathetic lazy guard,”
said the former champion, whose record fell to 16-5. “But
you have to hand it to Rashad.”
Griffin
had won the first two rounds on all three judges’ scorecards,
mixing up his punches with numerous kicks to Evans’ right
thigh. Griffin set a fast pace, but was unable to tire Evans.
Evans
started finding his range in the second round, which was a closer
round, that Griffin likely won on the final punch as time ran
out, which busted Evans’ left eye.
“My
corner told me to let my hands go more,” said Evans, whose
record increased to 18-0-1 with the win.
“I
knew I was behind when my corner told me that I lost the first
two rounds,” he said. “I thought that I needed to start
fighting.”
Evans
noted that when he got Griffin down, he started throwing punches
and Griffin started smiling, so he didn’t know if he hurt
him or not. He said he kept trying to hit him in his smile and
Griffin wasn’t doing much to defend.
Griffin
looked like he was tapping the ground as Mazzagatti stepped in,
but Griffin claimed it was an involuntary body movement that
looked like a tap.
UFC
president Dana White was upset after the match at Mazzagatti,
saying he thought the stoppage was late, but was more upset over
an earlier stoppage in which Cheick Kongo was bludgeoning Mostapha
Al-Turk.
“He’s
a nice guy, but he’s not a referee,” said White.
White
was non-committal over what would be next on Evans’ agenda.
One natural matchup people were talking about was Evans facing
Quinton Jackson, the former champion who scored a first-round
one-punch knockout of Wanderlei Silva earlier in the show.
Jackson
said he first wanted to avenge his July 5 title-losing defeat
to Griffin, before getting a title shot. If not Jackson, the
most likely first challenger would be the winner of the Jan.
17 match in Dublin, Ireland between undefeated fighters Thiago
Silva and Lyoto Machida.
Griffin
was the clear favorite to the crowd of 14,103 (which paid a $3.47
million gate) in his first title defense after coming off back-to-back
wins over No. 1 ranked light heavyweights Mauricio “Shogun”
Rua and Jackson. The crowd loudly chanted his name during the
first round, and exploded as his strategy seemed to be paying
dividends in the second.
While
Griffin weighed in at the maximum 205 pounds, and Evans weighed
203, the defending champion looked a solid weight class bigger,
as he was probably closer to 225 pounds after rehydrating. He
also had a four-inch height advantage and a significant reach
advantage.
It
was the most competitive fight of the company’s final show
of the year, which featured eight knockout or TKO finishes in
10 matches.
Evans’
base pay and winning bonus was $130,000, while Griffin’s
base pay was $100,000. Both fighters also received a $60,000
bonus for having the best match, and UFC routinely pays headliners
undisclosed bonuses after pay-per-view numbers come in.
Source: Yahoo Sports
|
‘Rampage’
strikes back
LAS
VEGAS – Mike Massenzio walked to the cage for his match
at UFC 92 against C.B. Dollaway on Saturday at the MGM Grand
Garden as AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck” blared over
the arena’s sound system.
But
the real thunder strike was about 10 minutes earlier, when Quinton
“Rampage” Jackson did what he’s been waiting for
more than four years to do.
Jackson
won the blood feud with Wanderlei Silva on Saturday when he cracked
the Brazilian with a counter left hook that landed on the point
of the chin. Silva was out immediately, but Jackson landed three
hard shots while Silva was on his back, two after referee Yves
Lavigne had stopped the bout.
It
was a brutal ending to one of the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s
hottest feuds.
Silva
had stopped Jackson twice while they were both in Japan’s
PRIDE Fighting Championship, once in the first round and the
other in the second.
Both
desperately needed a victory Saturday and had vowed to knock
the other man out. Jackson conceded it was a difficult bout for
him given what had occurred in the fights in Japan.
“This
was like a big mental fight for me,” Jackson said. “I
was the most nervous I’ve ever been in my life. A lot of
people thought the personal problems I’m going through would
disturb me. But I’m not that type of person. I put all that
stuff behind me. I always have problems a lot of times when I
fight. I just keep them on the down low. This one, everyone happened
to know about it.”
Silva
entered the bout having lost three of his last four and beginning
to show the wear and tear that a long and glorious career had
wrought. Silva was one of those guys who was always willing to
take three shots to land one, believing so much in both the quality
of his chin and the power in his fists.
The
former PRIDE 205-pound champion never landed a serious punch
Saturday and couldn’t take the sledgehammer hook from a
fired up Jackson.
Jackson
lost the light heavyweight title to Forrest Griffin six months
earlier, dropping a disputed decision at UFC 86. The colorful
and outspoken Jackson was not his usual self throughout the promotion
for Saturday’s card, going to England to train and speaking
with a grim determination when he did face the media.
He
went into a funk after losing to Griffin and faces a court date
on two felony charges in a reckless driving incident that occurred
about two weeks after he dropped the title.
On
top of that, Jackson had a falling out with his former trainer,
Juanito Ibarra.
It
left Jackson in a questionable frame of mind entering what had
to be the most significant bout of his career.
“The
last time I fought here, it wasn’t right,” Jackson
said. “I went to the Wolfslair in the U.K. and got my wolf
on. Rampage is back, baby.”
Silva
remains one of the most popular UFC fighters, but whether he’ll
be able to reach the heights he’s attained in the past is
open to debate. One of the great fighters in the history of mixed
martial arts, Silva now faces a very uncertain future. He’s
lost four of his last five and was knocked out brutally in several
of them.
He
didn’t move for several minutes after Jackson coldcocked
him and walked very unsteadily as he left the cage. He was taken
to a local hospital for a precautionary examination.
Silva
will undoubtedly fight on, but he’s going to drop significantly
in what is the UFC’s deepest division. Rashad Evans won
the title by stopping Griffin later on the card Saturday, but
there are 10 fighters good enough to be the champion.
Silva
has built a state-of-the-art gym in Las Vegas that is set to
open early next year and had said before the bout that he was
anxious to continue fighting, regardless of the outcome.
But
after such a hard knockout, he’s clearly fallen to second-tier
status in the division’s pecking order. For a man who has
accomplished as much as Silva and who has been such an icon of
the sport, that’s not a very good place to be.
It
will be hard for the UFC to keep giving him shots against men
who are in the title mix, so that likely relegates him for a
while to facing up-and-coming fighters anxious to make a name
by beating a legend.
UFC
president Dana White suggested Saturday he’d consider making
a rematch between Silva and former champion Chuck Liddell, but
said he needed to talk with Silva first.
Jackson
put himself back in the mix Saturday with a victory that ranks
with his title-winning first-round knockout of Liddell in the
same MGM cage about 18 months earlier as the signature performance
of his career.
Jackson
established himself as the elite 205-pounder in the world with
that knockout of Liddell and a subsequent title defense against
ex-PRIDE champion Dan Henderson.
The
loss to Griffin, the split with Ibarra and the traffic incident
raised serious questions, though, about whether Jackson could
deal with the pressure that goes along with being one of the
UFC’s biggest stars.
Jackson,
who has pleaded not guilty, has a court date in Orange County,
Calif., in January, but as long as he avoids jail time he’ll
again be the man that other 205-pounders in the UFC must measure
themselves against.
Jackson
wants another shot at the title, and White said “it makes
sense” for Jackson to get it. But Jackson said he’d
rather face Griffin, to avenge that defeat.
“Forrest
is the fight that haunts me,” Jackson said. “That’s
the fight that haunts me when I go to sleep. It’s the fight
I have nightmares about.”
There
are numerous big-fight possibilities for him, including bouts
against Evans, Griffin and Shogun Rua.
“If
I can’t promote this guy, then I have problems,” White
said.
It’s
Jackson who supposedly had the problems, but he fought as if
he were as carefree as ever.
But
it came down to one simple fact.
“I
hate losing, man,” Jackson said.
If
he keeps landing that left, he won’t have to worry about
it much longer.
Source: Yahoo Sports
|
Ronnys
Torres
With
eight straight victories in the last 11 months, Ronnys Torres
keeps showing an excellent job in MMA, and will have the biggest
chance of his career in 2009. The Nova União athlete has,
now, to prepare himself to his debut at UFC, entering in the
category dominated by BJ Penn. In an interview to TATAME, Ronnys
spoke about the emotion in making his international debut at
the biggest MMA event, analyzed the category in UFC and the dream
to get a change for the Ultimate belt.
How
do you feel signing with UFC?
I
am very happy, still don’t believe that I’ve signed
with the UFC… When I go to bed I keep imaging getting to
the octagon, and I already chose the gospel music in English
to play… I won’t go there and put gospel music in Portuguese,
the guys won’t understand anything (laughs).
Are
you already studying English?
I
am trying, I will have to study. I saw how much this is important
to the athlete, I went with Marlon to Japan now and I saw how
it is important to speak English. I have to study and I think
that it will help me very much to close fight. There is Dedé
(André Pederneiras) helping me a lot, but I have to learn
to develop with the guys there.
Which
is the expectation for you in UFC?
The
expectations are the best. My time has come, the moment of change
my life and of my family, I will count very much with the power
of all the team here. I always dreamed in fight outside the country,
I never used to imagine to get where I am now. I am living the
happiest moment of my career, I did not expect to sign with UFC.
I came to fight Jiu-Jitsu, I only entered in MMA because I was
getting without money and, today, I am the happiest guy in the
world for signing with the best event of the world. I received
messages of people that did not know me, telling that were my
fans, and now it is the opportunity of my life. If I already
used to train strongly, now it is to train the double, the triple…
I am with good mind, it’s my moment, and I trust very much
in my God. He gave me this opportunity and I’ll do my best.
For
whom do you think that have to pass to get a chance against BJ
Penn?
To
be in the UFC already shows that everybody is tough. It is step
by step that I will arrive to the top, I only ask that God illuminates
me, that everything goes right. Everybody is hard and won’t
have easy jobs, and I will try to conquer my space. It is a ladder
that I will go up until arrive, if God wants, in the belt, that
is my dream.
Who
would you like to face in this category?
Fight
with BJ is something everybody wants and it is one more dream…
I already realized many of them and to sign with is more than
a dream. The will of fight against BJ by the belt is my biggest
dream, get there and do my best, but always with humbleness,
step by step.
Source: Tatame
|
UFC
sends K-1 a big ’screw you’ message with Satoshi Ishii
Make
no mistake about it — this press release is pure gamesmanship
by Zuffa and a warning shot towards Kazuyoshi Ishii:
“Satoshi
Ishii has the potential to be very successful in mixed martial
arts,” said Dana White, UFC President. “We can’t
wait to start working with Mr. Ishii, we look forward to helping
him with his training, his career, and his eventual debut in
a professional fight.”
It’s
hard to take this seriously, considering how much money Ishii
would be leaving on the table by going to UFC instead of fighting
for K-1. However, this is a very interesting tactic for UFC to
take in relation to doing future business in the Japanese marketplace.
One
side effect of this kind of strategy is that it will solidify
the entire Japanese fight media on the side of Ishii and K-1.
The perception of the ‘evil foreigner invading Japan’
will become alive and well. If UFC does indeed run in Japan in
2009 (with the help of a promoter like Total Sports Asia), you
will see the same kind of panic from the power brokers in the
Japanese fight industry that you saw in 2003 when WWE tried to
make a push by running Yokohama Arena events. Eventually, WWE
flamed out and has scaled back plans for Japan to more or less
ancilliary business (opening an office, merchandising, airing
PPVs on a month delay, etc.) What is UFC’s goal exactly
in the Japanese marketplace?
Source: Fight Opinion
|
UFC
92 (12/27 Las Vegas)
Sounds
like UFC made the right call on the Okami/Lister fight, even
if Okami is essentially the #1 contender to Anderson Silva.
I
remember making a comment in November on Fight Opinion Radio
(does that show still exist?), stating that out of all the possible
match-ups involving combinations of Couture, Mir, Lesnar, and
Nogueira, that Mir vs. Lesnar would be by far the most appealing,
money-making match-up that the promotion could hope for. It’s
a re-match that had to happen sometime. How perfect is it for
UFC that Mir vs. Lesnar will happen in the Spring of ‘09
for the Heavyweight crown? Perfect fight — Lesnar wins,
he gets redemption. Mir can go into that fight claiming he’s
the real champion and if he wins the re-match, his credibility
skyrockets. Remember, in UFC, the fighter who won the first fight
wins a re-match around 70% of the time.
As
for Nogueira, his ‘fighting age’ may have likely caught
up to him. He has taken some vicious beatings throughout his
career. He’s enjoyed a long, prosperous MMA run for the
most part.
Regarding
Evans becoming the new champion… obviously, a match against
Quinton Jackson is tailor-made for him. Short-term, UFC booking
looks great for the first half of 2009. The one downside, however,
is that UFC has two weight classes (185 and 205) with legitimate
challengers that the promotion is (my opinion) deathly afraid
of booking in title matches — Yushin Okami (against Anderson
Silva) and Ryoto Machida (against Evans). You can bury those
guys on the undercards all you want, but eventually UFC is going
to have to deal with both fighters sooner or later.
Source: Fight Opinion
|
Quote
of the Day
“It
is a mistake to try to look too far ahead. The chain of destiny
can only be grasped one link at a time.”
Sir Winston Churchill
|
Fighters'
Club TV Tuesdays!
Channel
52
NEW TIME of 8:00 PM!
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!
|
RASHAD
EVANS TKO'S FORREST GRIFFIN TO WIN TITLE
The "Ultimate Fighter" produced its second ever champion
on Saturday night in front of 14,103 fans in Las Vegas as "Sugar"
Rashad Evans defeated Forrest Griffin to win the UFC light heavyweight
championship in the third round after a vicious ground and pound
attack put a stop to the fight.
The
test of a champion is always in a title defense and Forrest Griffin
showed very well for himself in the early going of his fight
against Rashad Evans using his reach advantage to land good punches
and leg kicks in the first two rounds.
As
Evans looked for just the right moment to unload a big punch,
it was Griffin who controlled the first ten minutes of the fight
with an outside striking game that kept his opponent off balance,
while punishing his lead leg with kicks.
At
the end of the 2nd round, Griffin hit Evans with a strong jab
that opened a small cut over the Michigan native's eye that seemed
to bother him as he headed to the corner.
It
was the third round that Evans took control and finished the
fight showing his prowess on the ground after putting Griffin
on the mat. Evans admitted after the fight that he didn't have
one specific gameplan going into the match-up, but wanted to
take every advantage that opened up.
"I
didn't want to go in there with one mindset to do anything because
when you do that sometimes it messes you up when it don't go
your way," Evans said.
A
good strike put Griffin off balance as Evans took advantage of
the position, landing in guard, but continued to stand up and
throw big shots at every moment.
Eventually
Evans loaded up with a big right hand that landed flush on Griffin's
jaw, and within seconds the former "Ultimate Fighter"
season 2 winner smelled blood in the water and began to throw
huge punches going for the finish.
Griffin
rolled and continued to eat punches until the referee stepped
in to stop the punishment and Rashad Evans was declared the new
UFC light heavyweight champion.
"That's
that ground and pound that we learn at Jackson's," Evans
professed after the title win. "Just get up and hit them.
I knew I had him in trouble. He kept smiling so I didn't know,
so I didn't know if he was hurt or not. They kept letting me
hit him so I was like alright."
In
a stacked 205lb weight class, Rashad Evans now stands as the
king of the mountain claiming the UFC light heavyweight title
in his first shot over a very tough and game Forrest Griffin.
"It
was a great fight, Forrest gave me everything I could handle
in those first two rounds," Evans commented about the win.
"It took a while for me to get warmed up, but I got there."
A
very gracious Forrest Griffin talked about the end of the fight
while giving praise to Rashad Evans on a job well done.
"I'm
not sure, when I went down I think I was hurt when I started
guard cause that was a pretty pathetic, lazy guard," Griffin
said of his performance. "Congratulations Rashad, he did
a great job."
Now
Rashad Evans will wrap possibly the most coveted UFC title around
his waist while he waits for the next great contender to step
up and face him as the 205lb champion.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
$60,000
BONUSES HANDED OUT AT UFC 92
On a night that saw two new champions crowned at UFC 92 in Las
Vegas, the promotion handed down the usual fight awards with
a $60,000 bonus as the reward.
The
"UFC 92 Fight of the Night" went to new 205-pound champion
Rashad Evans and now former titleholder Forrest Griffin for their
war on Saturday night. After an early advantage for Griffin in
the first two rounds, it was Evans who earned the win with a
TKO stoppage on the ground in the third.
The
"UFC 92 Knockout of the Night" went to former UFC light
heavyweight champion Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, who
exacted a measure of revenge against old foe Wanderlei Silva
when he landed a thunderous shot that put the Brazilian down
and out cold on the canvas.
None
of the fights on the 10-bout card ended in submission, and thus
the UFC handed out no "UFC 92 Submission of the Night"
bonus.
UFC
92 drew 14,103 fans into the MGM Grand Garden Arena to witness
the promotion's final event of the year.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
UFC
NEGOTIATING WITH OLYMPIAN SATOSHI ISHII
Japan's
Olympic Judo Gold Medalist, Satoshi Ishii, on Saturday started
exclusive negotiations to enter into a contract with the Ultimate
Fighting Championship.
Ishii,
who won the gold medal in the men's over 100-kilogram event at
the Beijing Olympics, arrived in Las Vegas on Christmas day to
experience UFC 92. Over the next two days, Mr. Ishii toured Las
Vegas and visited various MMA gyms, including the UFC Training
Center and Xtreme Couture, where he trained and sparred with
Randy "The Natural" Couture.
Earlier
this month, Mr. Ishii decided that he wished to start his MMA
career in the United States, and that his dream was to fight
in the UFC. He made his choice to negotiate with UFC last night
after watching UFC 92.
"I
was impressed with the training programs here in Las Vegas and
the UFC event," said Mr. Ishii. "I am looking forward
to working with the UFC and to developing my mixed martial arts
skills."
"Satoshi
Ishii has the potential to be very successful in mixed martial
arts," said Dana White, UFC President. "We can't wait
to start working with Mr. Ishii, we look forward to helping him
with his training, his career, and his eventual debut in a professional
fight."
Ishii
competed as a Judo heavyweight in the Olympics this year. Whether
he will attempt to compete as a heavyweight or light heavyweight
has yet to be decided.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Brock
Lesnar up close
Comprido speaks of his time spent with the giant
With
his win over Rodrigo Minotauro at UFC 92, Frank Mir is guaranteed
a fight with Brock Lesnar to unify the UFC heavyweight belts,
expected for June.
One
who knows Brock Lesnar personally is black belt Rodrigo Comprido,
who spoke to GRACIEMAG.com about what it’s like to be around
the fighter who took the octagon by storm, winning his title
after having fought only four times as an MMA professional.
“He’s
what we call a gentle giant. He’s super polite, speaks softly,
treats everyone with care and good manners. So that image we
have of him fighting in the WWF and making psycho faces really
has nothing to do with his true personality. That was stuff he
did in that context. In day-to-day life, he’s who wants
to know if you are doing well, is very attentive. He always asks
if you need something,” said Rodrigo Comprido, who confirmed
to GRACIEMAG.com how Lesnar already had a notion of Jiu-Jitsu
before training with him.
“He
needed someone more his size to practice positions with properly
and train him. He needed to be put in different situations, so
I was invited,” he added.
Comprido
says he is excited with Lesnar’s potential and has faith
in his famous student. “Brock just beat one of the greatest
fighters in history [Randy Couture], who is known as one of the
best strategists in MMA and one of impressive technique. Even
though Brock doesn’t have too many fights under his belt,
he is an extremely high level athlete. He was a wrestling champion,
so he is a super well-trained guy, super motivated. He’s
at the top and I don’t see him coming down from there in
the near future. I’ll be there doing everything I can to
help him conquer this title. Like I said, he’s just starting
out,” said Comprido.
Source: Gracie Magazine
|
Bitetti
comments on infernal evening
Brazilians devastated with losses of Wand and Nog
The
mood after UFC 92, which took place this Saturday, December 27th,
in Las Vegas, was not of the most pleasant for the Brazilians
involved. What they had hopes would be a night of raucous celebration,
turned out to be an absolute nightmare for the South Americans
in action and their fans. Wanderlei Silva, who had defeated Quinton
Jackson on two occasions prior, was knocked out handily, and
Rodrigo Minotauro, who was in line to face Brock Lesnar for the
definitive heavyweight belt, lost his chance as he suffered,
at the hands of Frank Mir, the very first knockout of his career.
Clearly
distressed, coach Amaury Bitetti spoke to Portaldaslutas.com,
GRACIEMAG.com partner site, while still in the dressing room,
about the hard knock. All at once, in the octagon two of the
greatest idols in MMA history fell.
“We’re
all here together, Demian Maia, Rafael Alejarra and the whole
team to get back on our feet. We’ll change our training
and tactics, we’ll see what went wrong. We’re going
to ameliorate all that and Minotauro has more fights up ahead
to become UFC champion. Wanderlei will also come back, I’m
sure of it,” said Amaury, very shaken from the losses.
“I
said he (Minotauro) had to take it to the ground, that Mir would
get tired. But he did the opposite and stuck with boxing. Unfortunately
the strikes found their mark. That’s how striking is: if
it goes in right, it knocks you down. And that’s what happened
to the both of them. Now we just need to work and get back to
winning. We’re going to work hard with Minotauro,”
he finished.
Source: Gracie Magazine
|
Mir
comes full circle, now ready for Lesnar
LAS
VEGAS – Sometimes even tough guys cry.
When
Frank Mir was announced as the new Ultimate Fighting Championship
interim heavyweight champion after defeating Antonio Rodrigo
Nogueira on Saturday night, he hid his face with his hat in order
to hide his emotion.
But
there was no shame in shedding tears. Four years after nearly
losing it all in a horrific motorcycle accident, the former UFC
heavyweight champion is back on top of the world.
Mir
put on a magnificent performance in winning the crown from Nogueira
in UFC 92’s co-main event. The Las Vegas native’s second-round
TKO of the former PRIDE champion at the MGM Grand Garden Arena
marked the first time in 38 pro fights that Nogueira was finished.
“I
faced those demons after my wreck to come back and fight the
best heavyweight who ever fought in the UFC,” Mir said.
“Everybody look at your lives; people always say you can’t
do [expletive]. Even I didn’t think I could beat him.”
Mir
(12-3) struggled for quite some time after his return from a
2004 motorcycle accident during his peak as UFC champion. In
his first several matches after missing nearly two years in recovery,
Mir was more miss than hit, losing to the likes of Marcio Cruz
and Brandon Vera.
“Most
people lose because of what they’re bad at, not what they’re
good at,” Mir said. “I’ve tried to work on my
strengths and weaknesses. Everyone here’s a well-rounded
fighter; if you’re not, you’re going to have a short
night. I just knew I had to adjust.”
More
than once, Mir heard the whispers that he never would be the
same after his accident, that the severely broken leg was too
much to overcome and his head never would get fully back in the
game. But an amazing 2008 that featured a submission win over
current UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar, followed by Saturday
night’s victory, proved the detractors wrong.
“When
I came back from what I came back from, I wish I could make the
statement that the odds were against me but you never quit,”
Mir said. “It’s not true. I wanted to give up. Your
heroes, when you look at them, they’re not always what you
think. The only reason I am where I am now is because of the
support, my wife, my family, my parents, my children.”
Mir’s
victory sets up the early leader for the biggest-money UFC event
of 2009, as Mir will fight Lesnar to unify the titles in a match
company president Dana White said likely will occur in the spring.
While Lesnar holds the official championship, a loss to Mir remains
the only blemish on the blond phenom’s record.
“I’m
not going to question Brock’s legitimacy or anything like
that,” Mir said. “He beat one of the all-time greats
of the game to win the title. Let’s go out and settle this.”
By
now, hardcore UFC fans know the story about how the UFC managed
to find itself with two heavyweight champions. In October 2007,
reigning champion Randy Couture attempted to quit the UFC midway
through his contract, unhappy with his pay.
During
the inevitable legal battle, which lasted roughly a year, the
UFC refused to strip Couture of the title, in order to strengthen
its position. At the same time, anticipating Couture would not
return, the UFC set up an interim championship match between
Nogueira and Tim Sylvia at UFC 81, on the same card in which
Mir submitted Lesnar.
Nogueira
(31-5-1, 1 no-contest) defeated Sylvia, then both fighters were
sidelined for several months as they served as coaches on the
eighth season of “The Ultimate Fighter,” with the idea
the two fighters would meet for the title at the show’s
conclusion.
Before
they could meet, though, Couture settled his dispute with the
UFC, leading to Lesnar’s win over Couture for the title
last month. Mir’s victory Saturday night completed the circle,
giving Lesnar, already a monster pay-per-view draw, the opportunity
to avenge his only career loss.
“Honestly,
I’ve been so focused on my match [with Nogueira], I haven’t
even had a chance to really think about Lesnar,” Mir said.
“Even when I watched Lesnar-Couture last month, it really
didn’t even register. People would tell me, ‘After
you beat Nogueira, you get to fight Lesnar again,’ but I
wasn’t thinking that far ahead.”
The
rematch wouldn’t have come about without Mir’s match
of a lifetime Saturday night, as he fought a near-flawless battle
against Nogueira. Mir took the standup action to Nogueira from
the outset, patiently working a straight left hand that Nogueira
seemed to have no answer for. Three times in the first round,
Mir took Nogueira to the mat, scoring a trip following a clinch
early, then dropping him twice with lefts, the last one in the
final seconds of the round.
“I
visualized winning the fight, but never by stoppage,” Mir
said. “I imagined knocking him down because I’ve seen
what I’ve been doing in my standup. I just wanted to go
out and win more rounds than him.”
Mir
refused to engage Nogueira, one of the great Brazilian jiu-jitsu
practitioners in the history of the game, on the ground, scrambling
back to his feet whenever it became apparent Mir wasn’t
going to score the finish.
“I
didn’t want to get overzealous and get caught,” he
said. “There are a whole lot of great fighters who have
made that mistake against him. I just wanted to win the most
rounds and come out the winner at the end.”
That
wasn’t necessary. In the second round, Mir connected with
a big overhand left to the cheek, followed with another to roughly
the same area before Nogueira hit the mat. Mir followed up with
nine uncontested punches on the ground, and referee Herb Dean
stopped the fight at 1:54.
“I
saw something I never expected to see in him; he was dazed,”
Mir said. “The first time I jumped on him [after the first
knockdown in the first round] he was ready; his composure was
regained before he hit the mat. The last time, it was different.”
Nogueira
was gracious in defeat.
“I
feel like I didn’t fight well tonight,” he said. “He
had a great fight tonight. He is a great fighter, had some good
shots in the beginning of the fight that changed things. He threw
some strong hands. I have come back stronger and faster.”
Source: Yahoo Sports
|
Quote
of the Day
“Be
entirely tolerant or not at all; follow the good path or the
evil one. To stand at the crossroads requires more strength than
you possess.”
Heinrich Heine
|
UFC
92 PRELIMS: OKAMI LINED UP FOR SHOT AT SILVA
LAS VEGAS – The UFC 92 preliminary fight card ended up being
a mix of lackluster affairs amidst some year-end fireworks, as
the Ultimate Fighting Championship returned to the MGM Grand
Garden Arena on Saturday night.
In
the evening's final preliminary bout, Yushin Okami continued
his quest to get back to a shot at current UFC middleweight champion
Anderson Silva. He controlled all three rounds of his bout with
Dean Lister, who continually dropped to his backside and tried
to bait Okami into an unwanted ground game.
Okami
used his striking to keep Lister out of his game and rack up
points on the scorecards. When Lister was finally able to get
him to the ground late in the fight, Okami ground and pounded
the master grappler, earning 30-27 scores from all three judges.
Okami
is 9-1 in his last 10 fights and considered as one of the top
contenders to face Silva the next time he defends his belt.
In
a heavyweight contest, Mike Wessel started strong in his UFC
debut. But Antoni Hardonk – caught on his back in round
two – swept the newcomer, took his back, and started raining
down punches and elbows. Wessel turned again, giving up full
front mount, and Hardonk took full advantage, continuing with
punches until the fight was stopped.
Addressing
the perception of being a one-dimensional kickboxer, Hardonk
said after the fight, "I know more than just kickboxing.
People talk about my kicks, and I take it as a compliment, but
there's more than that.
"As
soon as I was on top of him, it seemed like he didn't know what
to do."
He
was appreciative of his opponent though. Wessel stepped into
the fight on little more than a week's notice. "He took
the fight on short notice. I thank him for that, and it takes
courage to do that."
Matt
Hamill utilized his hands to keep Reese Andy at bay throughout
the first round. In the second, he found the sweet spot, dropping
Andy to one knee with a well-placed body shot. Hamill followed
with an onslaught of punches that forced the TKO stoppage.
The
win is Hamill's first since losing to Rich Franklin at UFC 88.
"My
first round was horrible and I got hit too much," he said
after the fight. "The second round was better, don't you
think?"
In
a welterweight contest, former International Fight League athlete
Brad Blackburn primarily used his hands to batter Ryo Chonan
over the first two rounds of their bout to capture a unanimous
decision. Chonan came back strong in round three, but it as too
little, too late.
Pat
Barry opened the night and his UFC career with a thunderous leg
kick that crippled Dan Evensen, leaving him unable to continue.
The fight was stopped 2:19 into the opening round.
UFC
92 Preliminary Bout Results:
-Yushin Okami def. Dean Lister by Unanimous Decision (30-27 x
3), R3
-Antoni Hardonk def. Mike Wessel by TKO (Strikes) at 2:09, R2
-Matt Hamill def. Reese Andy by TKO (Strikes) at 2:19, R2
-Brad Blackburn def. Ryo Chonan by Unanimous Decision (29-28
x 3), R3
-Pat Barry def. Dan Evensen by TKO (Kick) at 2:36, R1
Source: MMA Weekly
|
RAMPAGE
EXACTS HIS REVENGE, KO'S WANDERLEI
Former UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton Rampage Jackson
shrugged off the demons of years past to deliver an emphatic
return against nemesis Wanderlei Silva, knocking the former Pride
middleweight champ stone cold out in the first round.
Silva’s
form, an all-or-nothing style of fast power punching, only served
to hasten his defeat. Though he punished Jackson’s legs
with kicks, his punches were dangerously wide inside the pocket.
Jackson
found early success with a counter right hook, crossing the centerline
with the shot a split second after Silva’s last punch.
Jackson
fought far more upright than in recent memory, using head movement
and a strong guard to avoid the bombs. His jab was active, popping
Silva before he could be countered. Though he ate a big knee
during a takedown attempt, he stayed patient and continued to
trade.
Silva
came forward with another flurry. Jackson slipped again, and
this time, came across with a left hook. The punch caught Silva
flush on the jaw, knocking him lifeless to the canvas.
It
was the Brazilian’s third devastating knockout in two years.
Jackson
said the troubles of the past were over, and he would get his
mind right before begging the UFC for a title shot.
“Last
time I fought I wasn’t right,” he said afterwards.
“I came to the Wolfslair, got my wolf on. Now, Rampage is
back, baby!”
Heavyweight
Cheick Kongo made it two in a row against Mostapha Al Turk, stopping
the UFC newcomer and former Cage Rage champion with a brutal
onslaught late in the first round.
What
started out as a five-minute opening frame stretched out to almost
10 minutes, as multiple fouls stopped the action inside the cage.
Kongo
was clearly concerned about Al Turk’s ground and pound prowess,
and was tentative in letting his hands go in the opening exchanges
of the fight.
Al
Turk met expectations by diving for a takedown as soon as an
opening presented itself. Letting a see-it-from-mile-away haymaker
go, he dove for Kongo’s left leg and worked to get the Frenchman
to the ground. Kongo would not have it.
Then,
two knees went southward, first against Kongo, then against Al
Turk. When the action restarted, Kongo went after his foe with
a vengeance, chasing him across the ring with punches.
Two
rights within his flurry landed solidly, sending Al Turk careening
to the cage. The subsequent barrage by Kongo put Al Turk on the
downward spiral, particularly a right elbow which sliced open
the newcomer’s head.
Referee
Steve Mazzagatti had seen enough at 4:37 of the first round.
Afterwards,
Kongo made his plea for a title shot, or at least the upper echelon
of the division. Like training partner Quinton “Rampage”
Jackson, the trip across the pond had done him good.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
UFC
92: MIR SHOCKS THE WORLD; DOLLAWAY WINS
If there was ever a question if Frank Mir sat amongst the elite
heavyweights in the world, the answer came in emphatic fashion
as he tasted championship gold for the second time in his career
by finishing Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira in the second round of
their title fight at UFC 92.
At
the very beginning of the bout, it was quite obvious that it
was a much different Frank Mir that stepped into the Octagon
to fight Nogueira, as he looked comfortable on his feet, throwing
good punches and kicks in the first round.
Early
on, Mir landed a solid shot that put Nogueira down, but shortly
after moving to the ground the Las Vegas native let his opponent
up as he felt an advantage on the feet.
With
just seconds remaining in the first session, Mir hit another
big punch that put the Brazilian on the mat, likely landing him
a 10-8 round on the judges' scorecards.
The
second round saw much of the same as Mir looked calm and collected
as he threw and landed shots at will on the former Pride heavyweight
champion.
A
big left hook clipped Nogueira on the jaw and sent him crashing
to the canvas one more time as Mir followed up quickly to hit
quick and hit hard. A few seconds later, referee Herb Dean stepped
in to stop the action as Mir quickly celebrated and a very wobbly
Nogueira stood back up, realizing that he had just been finished
for the first time in his storied career.
"I
had no idea this fight could end faster than five rounds,"
Mir commented after the fight. "And if it was a short fight,
I figured I'd be at the losing end of it. 'Minotauro' is the
perfect name for him; I faced my mythological monster. I've never
been more afraid in my life as I was when I walked to the ring
tonight."
With
at least one part of the UFC heavyweight championship around
his waist, a very honest and emotional Mir addressed the crowd
about his road back to the title.
"I
faced such demons after my wreck, to come back and fight the
best heavyweight to ever fight in the UFC and get a win over
him after what I've gone through. It just shows, everybody right
now look at your life, people always say you can't do (expletive).
I'm proof you can do things. I didn't even think I could beat
Nogueira," Mir stated. "If I was a betting man, I wasn't
on Mir's side tonight. I came through this because of the love
of my family, my children, my wife, everybody you know who I
love. Thank you."
With
the win, Mir now moves into a rematch with Brock Lesnar who holds
the other piece to the UFC heavyweight title puzzle. Mir defeated
Lesnar by submission in the first round of their match-up in
February of this year.
"We'll
see if he can make it out of the first round," Mir said
about a rematch with Lesnar. "This time I'll make him famous
on the break that I do to him."
Former
All-American wrestler C.B. Dollaway moved to 2-0 in his career
in competition against Mike Massenzio, as the middleweight stopped
his former wrestling opponent by TKO in the first round of their
fight on Saturday night.
Massenzio
had made numerous comments heading into the bout talking about
their previous match in wrestling, but he stayed composed early
on and even landed a good punch that put Dollaway down on the
mat. As the two fighters scrambled, Massenzio locked on a guillotine
choke as Dollaway tried for the takedown. While the maneuver
seemed tight, the former Arizona State wrestler worked his way
out, taking advantage of the position soon after.
"I
don't remember it," Dollaway said about the choke. "Yeah,
maybe it was close, but I didn't feel it, got out, did what I
needed to do and pounded him out."
What
Dollaway did next was improve his position, taking the mount
and almost immediately Massenzio rolled to his belly to avoid
punches. It was that move that brought the end of the fight as
Dollaway flattened his opponent out on the canvas and pounded
him out with heavy shots from above.
"Mike's
a tough competitor," Dollaway commented after the win. "I
wrestled him in junior college nationals, he was tough there,
felt strong out there tonight, so I was just glad to come out
with a victory."
Dollaway
has now won his last two bouts in a row in convincing fashion,
as the Arizona Combat Sports team member moves on in the ever-competitive
UFC middleweight division.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
'Rampage'
prefers Griffin next over title shot
More than a title shot, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson prefers
to next avenge his loss to Forrest Griffin.
"Yeah,
I would like to get my title back," Jackson said at the
post-fight conference. "Everybody want to be the best, everybody
want to be the champ. But to be quite honest, I really want to
fight Forrest. That's the fight that haunts me when I go to sleep,
have nightmares about. That's the fight when I look at myself
in the mirror."
Jackson
lost the light heavyweight belt at UFC 86 in September unanimously
on the scorecards, which he felt he should have been the one
to get the nod.
"I
want the belt. I want to be champion," Jackson continued.
"But I would like to get Forrest first if I could, but like
I said it's up to the UFC."
Jackson
said he wished he could have came into the Griffin fight the
same way he did against Silva at UFC 92.
"I
wasn't prepared, I let myself go too much, and I didn't take
any supplements, and didn't worry about a diet," Jackson
said of his condition coming into his fight versus Griffin. "You
can't be a world class athlete acting like that."
With
a convincing win over Silva on Saturday to avoid a 3-0 sweep,
Jackson made a strong case for shot at reclaiming the light heavyweight
belt. But according to UFC president Dana White, the division
is so stacked that the organization is not set on who is the
number one contender.
Source: MMA Fighting
|
UFC
Rankings: Mir, Evans are number one
Frank Mir and Rashad Evans have moved to number one spots in
our UFC rankings.
Frank
Mir, #1 UFC Heavyweight - Frank Mir captured the interim UFC
heavyweight belt at UFC 92 by becoming the first fighter to ever
stop Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. Mir will look to repeat his win
over Brock Lesnar sometime in mid-2009 for the right to become
the undisputed UFC heavyweight champion.
Rashad
Evans, #1 UFC Light Heavyweight - Evans capped off an amazing
2009 with the light heavyweight championship belt around his
waist at UFC 92. This year, the TUF 2 winner was in two pay-per-view
main events where he knocked out Chuck Liddell and stopped Forrest
Griffin.
Our
World MMA Rankings will be released following "Dynamite!!
2008" on New Year's Eve.
Source: MMA Fighting
|
ADCC
Brazil with changes to ladies’ div
Women will have only two weight group options
General
secretary of ADCC South America Wagner Gomes contacted Guy Neivens,
organizer of the event in the United States, requesting information
regarding the female weight categories, as athletes had queried
him regarding the difference between one category, under 55kg,
and the other, over 55kg. The division proposed was different
from that of the trials in 2007, when there were four categories,
under 55kg, under 60kg, under 67kg and over 67kg, to be disputed.
“We
obtained information that the ADCC to be held in New York will
have only two weight groups: under 60kg and over 60kg. After
receiving this information we updated our site, so now athletes
can be aware of what weight they should be at to participate
in the event.
For
further information, visit the ADCC Brazil website: www.adccbrazil.com.br.
Source: Gracie Magazine
|
Quote
of the Day
"Nurture
your mind with great thoughts; to believe in the heroic makes
heroes."
Benjamin Disraeli
|
UFC
92 'The Ultimate 2008' Play-By-Play Results
UFC 92: The Ultimate 2008
Saturday, December 27, 2008
MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, NV
1. Heavyweights: Cheick Kongo (233) vs. Mustafa Al-Turk (237)
Kongo has a 4.5-inch reach advantage.
R1:
Kongo catches a right leg kick and throws Al-Turk down. Kongo
lands leg kicks before Al-Turk is able to get up. Al-Turk goes
for the takedown and they end up battling in clinch. Kongo connects
on a knee as Al-Turk continues to try to finish the takedown.
Al-Turk is working hard for the takedown. Kongo pushes Al-Turk
against the fence at the 2:43 mark. Al-Turk hits Kongo with a
right knee to the groin. The referee gives Kongo time to rest.
They touch glove and the fight resumes with 2:09 left. Al-Turk
swings a huge overhand right and misses. Kongo lands a kick while
Al-Turk shoots for a leg. Kongo defends it and they are back
in clinch. Kongo returns the favor by landing an even heavier
knee below Al-Turk's belt. Al-Turk walks it off. They resume
with a minute left. Kongo lands Al-Turk with a right punch and
Al-Turk is down. Kongo ground and pounds Al-Turk against the
fence. Al-Turk's face is a mess. The referee saves Al-Turk.
Kongo
wins via TKO - R1 (4:37)
Kongo
says he wants to be next in line for the heavyweight title.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.
Light Heavyweights: Quinton "Rampage" Jackson (206)
vs. Wanderlei Silva (203)
They choose not to touch gloves before the fight starts.
R1:
They briefly exchange punches and back off. Silva lands a leg
kick. Silva throws a punch combo that's blocked. Jackson counters
with a leg kick. Silva lands another leg kick. Jackson jabs.
Jackson shoots at 3:18 and Silva quickly stuffs it and they go
back to kickboxing. Silva connects loudly on two leg kicks. Silva
tries another but almost gets taken down. Jackson lands a jab.
Jackson drops Silva with a left hook and Silva is immediately
out cold. Jackson knocks out Silva!!!
Jackson
wins via KO - R1 (3:21)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.
Middleweights: CB Dollaway (186) vs. Mike Massenzio (184)
Dollaway
holds a victory over Massenzio from a junior college wrestling
national tournament.
R1:
They miss punches. Dollaway lands a body kick. They clinch and
Dollaway lands two knees. Dollaway throws a wild kick and almost
slips. Massenzio stuns with lefts. Dollaway is dropped. Massenzio
attempts a guillotine choke but Dollaway eventually pulls out
of it. Massenzio, in guard, tries a quick triangle choke attempt.
Dollaway escapes and works on strikes. Dollaway passes to full
mount. Massenzio gives up his back. Dollaway repeatedly drops
lefts and rights. Massenzio does nothing and the referee stops
the fight.
Dollaway
wins via TKO (punches) - R1 (3:01)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
UFC
heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar is interviewed cageside. Lesnar
says he's rooting for Mir tonight so that he can avenge his loss.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.
Heavyweights: Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (246) vs. Frank Mir (251)
Mir
walks out to Nas "Hate Me Now" and Nogueira enters
to the Rolling Stones's "Gimme Shelter."
R1:
Mir thows a high kick that's blocked. Nogueira throws a flurry
of punches. Mir misses a 2-punch combo. He tries it again and
lands a right uppercut. Mir takes Nogueira down. Mir walks away
to let Nogueira up. Nogueira lands a jab. Mir lands another right
with his 1-2. Mir throws a combo that ends with a blocked kick.
Nogueira snaps Mir's head back with another jab. Mir is winning
the standup game here. Mir drops Nogueira! Unable to finish with
ground and pound, Mir lets Nogueira back up. Mir connects again
with the right uppercut. Nogueira fires away with 20 seconds
left, but they're blocked. Mir drops Nogueira again with two
punches right before the bell sounds!
MMAFighting.com
scores the round 10-9 for Mir.
R2:
Mir throws a high kick that's blocked. Nogueira lands an inside
leg kick. Mir stumbles Noguiera with a left. He follows with
another left that drops Nogueira for the third time. Mir pounces.
The referee stops the fight!
Mir
wins via TKO (strikes) - R2 (1:54)
Mir
becomes the interim UFC heavyweight champion and will fight Brock
Lesnar for the right to be the undisputed UFC heavyweight champion.
Mir
covers his face with his cap to cover up his tears during the
result announcement. An emotional Mir gives an inspirational
message to the crowd.
This
was the first time Nogueira has even been finished in his prior
36 fights since 1999.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5.
Light Heavyweights: Forrest Griffin (205) vs. Rashad Evans (203)
R1:
They circle for the first 20 seconds. Griffin sneaks in a punch.
Griffin throws a high leg kick and Evans dodges it. Griffin with
a kick and punch combo. Evans misses with a right and eats a
leg kick. Griffin lands another leg kick. Griffin lands a body
kick. Evans answers back at the 3:03 mark with a leg kick. Evans
lands a jab. Griffin lands a leg kick and throws a punch combo.
Griffin is winning this fight so far with leg kicks. They exchange.
Evans lands a leg kick that trips up Griffin. Griffin back with
another leg kick. They exchange missed punches. Evans scores
with jabs. Griffin lands a right at the end of a combo. Griffin
hurts Evans with a kick to the body. Griffin misses a Superman
punch.
MMAFighting.com
scores the round 10-9 for Griffin.
R2:
Evans lands a jab. Evans backs away from a kick and loses his
balance, but quickly recomposes. Griffin misses a huge right.
They land jabs. Evans pops in a jab. Griffin lands a nice right.
They trade. Griffin is landing knees to Evans. Evans mocks Griffin
by pursing his lip, touching his cup and landing a punch. Griffin
lands another leg kick with 2 minutes left. Evans lands jabs
and Griffin just answers back with leg kicks. Griffin lands an
inside leg kick, and at the same time Evans lands a punch. Griffin
connects on a punch combo. Evans lands a nice right punch. Griffin
hits Evans with a Superman punch.
MMAFighting.com
scores the round 10-9 for Griffin.
R3:
Griffin taps a leg kick. Griffin with a combo. Evans catches
a kick and lands big rights on the side of a grounded Griffin.
Griffin survives the onslaught and closes his guard. Griffin's
mouth is bloodied. Evans lands more punches while trying to pass.
Griffin closes his guard. Evan hits a hammerfist and there's
2:36 left. Evans drops big rights. Evans continues raining down
punches, switching to lefts, and Griffin is out! The referee
allows Griffin time to fight back but Griffin is out. The referee
stops the fight.
Evans
wins via TKO (punches) - R3 (2:46)
Evans
becomes the UFC light heavyweight champion.
UFC 92: The Ultimate 2008
Saturday, December 27, 2008
MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, NV
Preliminary
Bouts:
1.
Heavyweight Bout
Pat Barry def. Dan Evensen via TKO (low kicks) - R1 (2:36)
2.
Middleweight Bout
Brad Blackburn def. Ryo Chonan via unanimous decision (29-28,
29-28, 29-28)
3.
Light Heavyweight Bout
Matt Hamill def. Reese Andy via TKO (punches) - R2 (2:19)
4.
Heavyweight Bout
Antoni Hardonk def. Mike Wessel via TKO (punches) - R2 (2:09)
5.
Middleweight Bout
Yushin Okami def. Dean Lister via unanimous decision (30-27,
30-27, 30-27)
Pay-Per-View
Bouts:
6.
Heavyweight Bout
Cheick Kongo def. Mustafa Al-Turk via TKO - R1 (4:37)
7.
Light Heavyweight Bout
Quinton "Rampage" Jackson def. Wanderlei Silva via
KO (left hook) - R1 (3:21)
8.
Middleweight Bout
CB Dollaway def. Mike Massenzio via TKO (punches) - R1 (3:01)
9.
UFC Interim Heavyweight Championship Bout
Frank Mir def. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira via TKO (strikes) - R2
(1:54)
10.
UFC Light Heavyweight Championship Bout
Rashad Evans def. Forrest Griffin via TKO (punches) - R3 (2:46)
Source: MMA Fighting
|
Winner
of BJ Penn vs. Georges St. Pierre To Face Anderson Silva?
By Jason Perkins
UFC President Dana White has publicly acknowledged that a super-fight
between Georges St. Pierre and UFC middleweight champion Anderson
Silva could develop if St. Pierre can get past BJ Penn next month
at UFC 94.
Upon learning of that possibility, Penn, who has never shied
away from a tough match up, stated that were he able to get past
St. Pierre, he'd be open to moving up to face the current middleweight
juggernaut.
Dana
White did his best to shoot down that possibility in a recent
piece appearing on ESPN.com.
"Is
he tough enough to do it? Absolutely. Is he talented enough to
go up there and do it? Absolutely. Does that mean he should do
it? Absolutely not," White told ESPN. "He doesn't have
the frame to carry that kind of weight and it just makes no sense."
Penn,
for his part, disagrees with White's belief that size matters
in a fight. Over the years he's backed up that belief by taking
on all-comers.
Penn,
who fights at lightweight (155 lbs.) and as a smallish welterweight,
(170 lbs.) has gone all the way up to middleweight for fights
against both Rodrigo and Renzo Gracie, winning both fights, and
even went up to light heavyweight (205 lbs.) where he lost via
close decision to current undefeated top UFC prospect Lyoto Machida.
"Jiu-jitsu
is created where the small man can beat the big man," Penn
told ESPN. "I've been doing jiu-jitsu since I was 17 years
old and that has always stuck in my head, throughout all the
time and all the way until now. I just think it's just that basic
ideology of martial arts and jiu-jitsu that's ingrained in me.
That's my lifestyle, that I believe I have a chance. I know something's
going to happen, the guy's going to make a mistake and I'm going
to get that armlock, I'm going to get that choke and it will
be done."
But
before either man can think about Silva, they will be focused
on one another in the UFC's first ever super-fight between current
belt holders. The event takes place on Jan. 31 at UFC 94 in Las
Vegas, Nevada; and holds with it tons of implications the future
of the UFC.
Source: Fight Line
|
UFC
94 bout order defined
Thiago Silva vs Lyoto Machida second to last on program
UFC
92 has not even taken place yet and the organizers are already
working on the upcoming shows. Set for January 31, in Las Vegas,
UFC 94 now has its official bout order. The main event of the
night will be the welterweight title face off between Georges
St. Pierre and BJ Penn. The all-Brazilian bout between Thiago
Silva and Lyoto Machida will be the second to last of the evening.
Check
out the official card released by the UFC organization and stay
tuned to GRACIEMAG.com for further information.
Georges
St. Pierre vs B.J. Penn
Lyoto Machida vs Thiago Silva
Stephan Bonnar vs Jon Jones
Karo Parisyan vs Dong Hyun Kim
Nate Diaz vs Clay Guida
PRELIMINARIES
Jon
Fitch vs Akihiro Gono
Manny Gamburyan vs Thiago Tavares
John Howard vs Chris Wilson
Jake O'Brien vs Christian Wellisch
Matt Arroyo vs Dan Cramer
Source: Gracie Magazine
|
'TUF
5' alum Andy Wang to return for GC title shot
"TUF 5" alum Andy Wang, who hasn't competed since his
June 2007 loss to Cole Miller at the live finale, will return
to action Jan. 25 at Gladiator Challenge "Revolution"
at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, California.
Wang (5-7) will fight champ Saad Awad (5-1) for the Gladiator
Challenge lightweight title.
Wang,
the only Taiwanese fighter to appear on the show, is a Brazilian
Jiu Jitsu black belt.
Two
additional championship bouts are scheduled for the card, David
"Kid Dynamite" Espinosa (6-2-1) vs. champ Rick McCorkell
(2-0) for the bantamweight title, and Court McGee (6-1) vs. Ray
Lazama (7-5) for the vacant middleweight title.
Source: MMA Fighting
|
Affliction
'Day of Reckoning' Fighter Wish Lists
Press Release
Seal
Beach, CA (December 22, 2008) - With the holiday season in full
swing, some of the top MMA fighters in the world fighting on
the extraordinary Affliction "Day of Reckoning" fight
card have made their holiday wish list, checked it twice and
set their sights on goals and resolutions for the New Year. From
cars to sushi dinners, a victory on January 24th isn't the only
thing these fighters are hoping for this holiday season.
Holiday
Wish List
Andrei
Arlovski-
"Gift
card to Dolce & Gabbana. Seriously, I just want to make my
family and friends proud for the upcoming fight, and do my best
for all my fans."
Josh
Barnett-
"That
everyone I care about can have the awareness and the ability
to be better human beings."
Babalu
Sobral-
"I
want to enjoy the holiday with my family and friends."
Vladimir
Matyushenko-
"A
nice gift card to a sushi place. I love sushi."
Chris
Horodecki-
"A
car...black Jeep Wrangler. I want to put the top down and cruise
around. Or a date with Halle Berry."
Brett
Cooper-
"A
laptop to use for my classes at Long Beach City College would
be great."
Dan
Lauzon-
"A
car...that moves."
Jason
High-
"Xbox
360."
Albert
Rios-
"A
new cell phone because I dropped mine in the toilet. I tried
to dry it off but it is going crazy. I can't tell who is calling
me anymore."
New
Year's Resolutions
Andrei
Arlovski-
"Beat
Fedor, for my family to stay healthy, and for peace in all of
the world."
Josh
Barnett-
"To
hold my own destiny."
Babalu
Sobral-
"I
want to continue the success of my gym in Cerritos, California,
stay healthy and I have a child coming so I'm really looking
forward to that."
Vladimir
Matyushenko-
"Make
a lot more money than I did last year. Also keep improving my
gym VMAT MMA and PT Training Facility in El Segundo. And spend
more time with my son who is about to turn 18."
Chris
Horodecki-
"Continue
the success of my gym Adrenaline Training Center in London, Canada."
Brett
Cooper-
"Don't
let girls get the best of me. Be a pimp and don't get pimped."
Dan
Lauzon-
"Give
up fast food. Taco Bell, KFC and Pizza Hut."
Jason
High-
"I
don't make them. They are stupid and nobody ever keeps them."
Albert
Rios-
"Stop
eating Thai food in the middle of the night. I eat a bucket of
noodles after training and it's not good when I'm trying to lose
weight."
Promoted
by Golden Boy Promotions and brought to you by Affliction Entertainment
and its partners, Donald J. Trump and M-1 Global, Affliction
"Day of Reckoning" is scheduled for January 24 a Honda
Center in Anaheim, CA. The loaded fight card includes 11 rousing
bouts of fierce, full-throttle action headlined byFedor Emelianenko
vs. Andrei Arlovski. The six-fight blockbuster PPV telecast,
beginning at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT, features MMA stars Josh Barnett,
Renato "Babalu" Sobral, Chris Horodecki and Matt Lindland
in separate bouts. As a prelude to the highly anticipated PPV
telecast, HDNet will televise live beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET/4:30
p.m. PT five additional fights with the marquee match-up of Antonio
Nogueira vs. Vladimir Matyushenko as the main event.
Source: The Fight Network
|
Profit-Topping
UFC Back to Ohio, Montreal in 2009
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
The
UFC seems to be heeding this advice by following a successful
live event formula in 2008 with return visits to Ohio and Montreal
in 2009.
UFC
96 was made official for March 7 at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus
through an announcement released Tuesday by the promotion’s
official fan club. This will be the promotion’s third collaboration
with the successful Arnold Sports Festival, a three-day health
and fitness expo that draws some 165,000 visitors to the Midwest
town.
UFC
97 will be held on April 18 at the Bell Centre in Montreal, nearly
a year to the day that local Georges St. Pierre retrieved the
welterweight title from Matt Serra at UFC 83 in 2008. UFC 83
holds the North American attendance record of 21,390 spectators.
MMAJunkie.com
reported on Monday that UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva
(23-4) and Thales Leites (11-1) had agreed to headline the promotion's
second effort in Canada. MMAWeekly.com reported that contracts
for the matchup has been signed as of Tuesday, according to Leites.
Silva is undefeated in his last nine bouts, including a criticized
third-round victory over Patrick Cote at UFC 90 on Oct. 25. It
is not known if St. Pierre, who was a considerable draw for the
first Montreal venture, will return for UFC 97. St. Pierre rematches
lightweight champion B.J. Penn for the welterweight title at
UFC 94 on Jan. 31 in Las Vegas.
Though
the lucrative promotion plans to veer off into new territory
with UFC 99 on June 13 at the Lanxess Arena in Cologne, Germany,
it is easy to see why it won’t stray too far from its proven
pattern.
Zuffa
LLC., which owns the UFC, looks to have matched and even surpassed
its 2007 live attendance and pay-per-view profits in 2008. The
UFC held 19 live events in 2007 and duplicated that number in
2008 (not including a Dec. 10 closed-to-the-public charity event
held for the military in Fort Bragg, North Carolina).
Three
of those events broke into the top-10 gates in Nevada this year,
with Dec. 27’s UFC 92 expected to follow the trend.
On
the pay-per-view front, the UFC offered 11 events in both 2007
and 2008, with 2007 estimated to have generated 4,885,000 buys,
according to unsubstantiated reports. The UFC is on track to
topping that number in 2008 with an estimated 4,950,000 buys
(UFC 91 currently at 850,000) already heading into its final
event of the year on Dec. 27.
Source: Sherdog
|
Hayato
'Mach' Sakurai added to 'Dynamite!! 2008'
by Suki
FEG, the parent company of K-1 and DREAM, held a press conference
today in Tokyo to announce two additional fights for "FieLDS
Dynamite!!" on New Year's Eve at the Saitama Super Arena.
Hayato
"Mach" Sakurai will face Katsuyori Shibata, while Yukio
Sakaguchi takes on Andy Ologun.
"I'm
going to fight in Mach's weight class and I need to lose 20 pounds,"
Shibata said, according to Sportsnavi. "I had never thought
about fighting him yet I accepted the offer immediately without
any hesitation. I'm very excited to fight him."
Sakuraiis
is training in Seattle and did not attend the conference.
Yukio
Sakaguchi fights in PANCRASE. His father Seiji Sakaguchi, is
a former pro-wrestler and his brother, Kenji Sakaguchi, is an
actor. Andy Ologun is from Nigeria, and his brother, Bobby Ologun,
is a comedian in Japan.
Current
"FieLDS Dynamite!!" fight card:
DREAM
(mixed martial arts bouts)
Hayato
“Mach” Sakurai vs. Katsuyoshi Shibata
Yukio Sakaguchi vs. Andy Ologun
Mirko Crocop vs. Hong Man Choi
Semmy Schilt vs. Mighty Mo
Hideo Tokoro vs. Daisuke Nakamura
Jerome Le Banner vs. Mark Hunt
Shinya Aoki vs. Eddie Alvarez
Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Kiyoshi Tamura
Joachim Hansen vs. J.Z.Calvan
Bob Sapp vs. Kinniku Mantaro
K-1 (kickboxing bouts)
Yoshihiro
Sato vs. Artur Kyshenko
Kozo Takeda vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri
Musashi vs. Gegard Mousasi
K-1 Koshien (Under-18 kickboxing tournament)
Hiroya
vs. Shimada Shota
Ryuya Kusakabe vs. Koya Urabe
Source: MMA Fighting
|
Cris
Cyborg looking for a new home
By Guilherme Cruz
After
two big victories in EliteXC, Cris Cyborg was getting ready to
face Gina Carano for the title of the event, but the end of the
American show cancelled, for now, the huge fight. While Rudimar
Fedrigo doesn’t signs a new contract for the fighter, Cris
continues to train strongly at the academy. "I'm training,
but I haven’t close fight yet... Maybe I'll fight in February,
but there’s nothing right yet”, says the fighter, that
doesn’t care if she won’t face Carano.
"Maybe
I'll fight in February, but not necessarily need to be with her.
My focus was her when she was with the belt, but now she doesn’t
have it, so we’ll run after fights, but this opportunity
is open, when I have the chance certainly I’ll want to do
it", said Cris, who liked to read in TATAME that Gina Carano
was elected the fifth most influent woman in the United States
in 2008. "This is a result of what we’re doing. I try
to do my best showing my technique, showing to people who think
that women doesn’t know how to fight, I wanna show that
we are capable and increasingly professional", guarantees.
When
it comes to her husband, Cris tells that Evangelista Cyborg is
still recovering from the elbow injury, suffered in the last
fight in Sengoku. "He’s doing physiotherapy, but I
think he will only be back to the rings at the end of March",
says. But who thinks that the injury prevents Cyborg to train
is very wrong: "He's psycho for training, I’ve never
seen someone like him... He is evolving increasingly, seeking
to grow... He’s training what doesn’t need to use arms,
does Boxing and Jiu-Jitsu, but without using the arm. He’s
like when he faced Melvin (Manhoef): he trained with his broken
hand until a while before the fight", said Cris.
Source: Tatame
|
Struve-Dos
Santos Set for UFC 95, Overeem-Hari Paired at K-1 Year-Ender
by Tim Leidecker
The UFC’s latest Dutch signing, Stefan Struve, will face
the stiffest test in his young career as he takes on one of Antonio
Rodrigo Nogueira’s top students in Junior "Cigano"
dos Santos on the undercard of UFC 95 on Feb. 21 in London, England.
Struve
(16-2) earned his ticket to the big time by removing two former
UFC veterans in Colin Robinson and Mario “Sucata” Neto
from his path in impressive fashion.
Meanwhile,
dos Santos (7-1) burst onto the scene at UFC 90 last October
with his shocking knockout of perennial contender Fabricio Werdum.
Once touted as a challenger to the heavyweight title, Werdum
was released from the promotion shortly after the loss.
The
6-foot-8 Dutchman is a total counter concept to the Netherlands
fighter prototype, for despite his size, the 20-year-old student
of notorious brawler Bob Schrijber has taken 12 of his 16 wins
by way of submission.
K-1
pairs “bad boys” Overeem and Hari
Alistair
Overeem, Sherdog.com’s No. 9 ranked heavyweight, will take
on Moroccan Bad Boy Badr Hari in a K-1 rules match at “Premium
Dynamite 2008” on New Year’s Eve in Saitama, Japan.
The kickboxing bout was confirmed by a representative from Mike’s
Gym, Hari’s camp in the Netherlands, via e-mail.
The
28-year-old Overeem was originally looking to continue where
he left off in his controversial September confrontation with
Croatian nemesis Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic, but promoter
Fighting & Entertainment Group had other plans and pitted
Filipovic against Korean giant Hong Man Choi in an MMA bout on
the same night.
The
fight against Hari, who was K-1’s heavyweight champion before
being stripped of the title for his antics during his bout against
Remy Bonjasky at the K-1 World Grand Prix Final, will serve as
an excellent barometer for Overeem’s striking ability.
There
are persistent rumors within the Dutch martial arts scene that
regardless of the outcome of their New Year’s Eve clash,
the hotheaded duo is again set to clash in May 2009, this time
under MMA rules.
Daniel
Tabera has signed with the Bellator Fighting Championships.Bellator
snaps up “the Gladiator”
Fledging
MMA promotion Bellator Fighting Championships has added another
fighter to its roster, which already includes breakout star and
Dream lightweight grand prix MVP Eddie Alvarez, American Top
Team’s Jorge Masvidal, and Pride Bushido veteran and recent
UFC castoff Paulo Filho, who has also verbally agreed to join
the promotion which launches four eight-man tournaments on ESPN
Deportes over 12 weeks in April.
With
the signing of Daniel Tabera, who hails from Valencia’s
S.h.o.o.t Spain team, Bellator now possesses another world-class
fighter who has the ability to compete in three different weight
classes: middleweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight. Tabera,
31, will compete in the promotion’s middleweight bracket,
confirmed Bellator reps.
Spain’s
No. 1 ranked fighter is the 2006 Mars middleweight tournament
winner, sports a 4-1-2 record in M-1 and has clocked in highly
competitive draws with Gilbert Yvel and Mamed Khalidov.
German
website groundandpound.de, the home of the official European
rankings, currently ranks Tabera at No. 4 in the light heavyweight
division, ahead of UK legend Ian Freeman, Polish high-flier Jan
Blachowicz and Croatian judoka Maro Perak.
100%
Fight To Host First Legalized Show in France
France
has suffered under a lot of repressive laws when it comes to
MMA. All the greater was the relief and joy when the French government
lifted their ban on the sport in January 2008. Though MMA under
Shooto rules was deemed legal in France as of Jan. 27, it took
promoters almost a full year to really seize their newly won
opportunity and put on a big show.
Parisian
promotion 100% Fight has announced its first event “Samurai”
on Jan. 10 at the 4,836-seat Stade Pierre-de-Coubertin in the
nation’s capital after two previous postponements.
In
the main event, Cyrille Diabate’s top student Gregory "Blade"
Babene will take on submission specialist Karl "Psycho"
Amoussou in a classic striker versus grappler confrontation.
The undercard is very strong as well, with Pride Bushido veteran
Luciano Azevedo taking on Pancrase vet Johnny Frachey and the
explosive Christian "Tonton" M'Pumbu going toe-to-toe
with Luta Livre black belt Leonardo "Chocolate" Lucio
Nascimento.
“Cipao”
gets offer he can’t refuse
Michal
Materla, a ADCC European champion and Brazilian jiu-jitsu brown
belt, will make his MMA comeback after sitting out for the last
20 months due to a lack of interesting offers. The heavily tattooed
middleweight will return to the ring on Feb. 22 at Pro Fight
III in Olsztyn, Poland.
While
an opponent for the KSW 6 tournament champion has not been found
yet, promoter Pawel Klimkiewicz confirmed to Sherdog.com that
Materla’s teammates Karol Bedorf (heavyweight, 4-1) and
Maciej Jewtuszko (welterweight, 2-0) will also see action that
night. Pro Fight, along with Baltic Storm from Gdansk and the
X Fights Series from Poznan, are all up-and-coming shows in Poland
looking to make a name for themselves like the nation’s
top dog KSW.
Irving
-- the Next UK Star?
The
arrival of the UFC on British soil has invigorated the UK fight
scene and motivated fighters across the country to train even
harder, with UFC stars Michael Bisping and Dan Hardy leading
the way. But also emerging are young talents like Terry Etim
and Jim Wallhead.
Another
fast-rising UK welterweight is Newcastle’s Peter Irving.
Despite a mixed professional record, the magpie grappler is currently
on a hot streak in his home promotion Strike & Submit, where
he is the European champion. In his last two bouts, he won a
decision over tough-as-nails Swedish wrestler Reza Madadi and
Germany’s once most promising prospect Daniel Weichel.
The
stream of tough challenges for the blonde-haired Brazilian jiu-jitsu
player from northeastern England will not let up as he defends
his title for the third time in just eight months taking on “Brazilian
Bad Boy” Igor Araujo at Strike & Submit 9 on Feb. 8
in Newcastle, England.
Araujo,
a Caveirinha black belt himself, recently bounced back from a
short-notice loss in his UK debut against Jim Wallhead with an
under-a-minute armbar victory over extremely experienced Russian
fighter Vener Galiev in the Russian’s hometown. The Brazilian
will certainly give Irving’s submission defense a stern
test.
Source: Sherdog
|
Quote
of the Day
"Be
civil to all; sociable to many; familiar with few; friend to
one; enemy to none."
Benjamin Franklin
|
Wand
promises show
"They can put my name on the check"
UFC 92 Tonight!
Hawaii Air time 4:30PM
Channel 701
When
the cover story for NOCAUTE 71 was being planned at the newsroom,
one name on the list could not be left out: Wanderlei Silva.
After all, who better than Mr. Pride himself to give his opinion
on the pressure of, aside from winning, pleasing the crowd. Wand
seems to have the idea of putting on a show etched in his mind,
such that on the bout with Quinton Jackson, to take place Saturday,
in Las Vegas, he doesn't mince his words.
"We'll
put on the best show of the year for our fans. I'll give it my
best, he (Jackson) will give his best. I already told my boss
(Dana White, UFC president) to put my name on the check for best
fight of the night, as I'm going to beat this guy and put on
the best fight of the night," Wand declared.
The
rivalry from the Pride days will always be remembered by the
Brazilian. "I don't like him, he doesn't like me. He has
been my rival for years, and, to me, it's much better to fight
rivals than guys you have a lot of respect for. We're professionals
and fighters, but I prefer to face someone I don't like. You
train harder, have more motivation," he remarked.
Wand
even used irony when the subject is the likelihood of one day
getting along with Quinton Jackson. "After this fight, I'm
going to invite him to train at my academy," he finishes.
Check
out the official card for UFC 92 and stay tuned to GRACIEMAG.com
for further information on the event.
Forrest
Griffin vs Rashad Evans - light heavyweight title
Rodrigo Minotauro vs Frank Mir - interim heavyweight title
C.B. Dollaway vs Mike Massenzio
Quinton Jackson vs Wanderlei Silva
Mustafa Al-Turk vs Cheick Kongo
PRELIMINARIES
Dean
Lister vs Yushin Okami
Antoni Hardonk vs Mike Wessel
Reese Andy vs Matt Hamill
Brad Blackburn vs Ryo Chonan
Pat Berry vs Dan Evensen
Source: Gracie Magazine
|
MMA
FIGHTER JUSTIN EILERS MURDERED
by Ken Pishna
Mixed martial arts fighter Justin Eilers was shot and killed
late Christmas night in Nampa, Idaho. Eilers' manager and friend,
Monte Cox, confirmed his death to MMAWeekly.com on Friday morning.
According
to KTRV Fox 12 in Nampa, Canyon County Sheriff's officers responded
to a domestic disturbance call in the 4600 block of Happy Valley
Road in Nampa around 10:45 p.m. on Thursday.
When
officers arrived on the scene they found that an adult male,
later confirmed by Cox as Eilers, had been shot and killed. James
Robert Malec, 48, was taken into custody and charged with second-degree
murder.
Details
surrounding the incident have not yet been revealed by police,
but sources close to Eilers indicate that Malec is the boyfriend
of Eilers' mother. He and Eilers reportedly got into some sort
of argument and Malec allegedly produced a gun and shot Eilers.
Emergency
workers attempted to revive Eilers, but were unsuccessful, according
to KTRV.
The
incident is still under investigation by the Canyon County Sheriff's
Office.
Eilers
– 19-7-1 as a professional MMA fighter – fought for
the Ultimate Fighting Championship in late 2004 where he won
his Octagon debut before exiting the promotion following a three-fight
skid. One of the losses was to then UFC heavyweight champion
Andrei Arlovski. He would later fight for World Extreme Cagefighting
a couple of times before losing an EliteXC heavyweight title
bid to Antonio Silva earlier this year in July.
Eilers
was 30 years old at the time of his death.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
UFC
92: The Ultimate 2008 Preview
by Robert Rousseau
UFC 92 will come to us all live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena
on December 27, 2008. It will be called “The Ultimate 2008”
for a reason.
Namely, that coming in it looks like the best MMA card of the
year.
First,
there will be the battle that TUF fans have been waiting for
as Frank Mir will take on Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira in a bout
sure to excite ground fighting enthusiasts. Speaking of bouts
that TUF fans have been waiting for, former TUF champions Forrest
Griffin and Rashad Evans will also square off in what assuredly
will become a battle of wills. Finally, a new and improved Quinton
“Rampage” Jackson will take on Wanderlei Silva for
the third time. For all of you newer MMA fans out there, it should
be noted that the first two bouts went Silva’s way in brutal
knockout fashion.
Perhaps
because of the history, former PRIDE fans are sure to tune in
droves. Now let’s get to breaking this one down.
Antonio
Rodrigo Nogueira (31-4-1) vs. Frank Mir (11-3): Nogueira has
shown time and time again throughout his storied MMA career that
you can count on two things with him. First, he has one of the
greatest hearts that the sport of MMA has ever seen. For reinforcement.
. .
In
two fights against Fedor Emelianenko, particularly the second
one, Nogueira was continually pounded on and yet never stopped
trying for that fight ending submission. Against Mirko “Cro
Cop” Filipovic, he was pelted with strikes that would’ve
stopped many before finally getting the Croatian fighter to the
ground and submitting him. In his most recent battle against
Heath Herring, Nogueira was in HUGE trouble of being stopped
after sustaining a kick to the face that dropped and dizzied
him but somehow persevered through for a decision victory. And
then there was his recent fight against Tim Sylvia, one where
he was dropped early on by a huge punch and managed to fight
through that and several more big shots before taking him to
the ground and choking him out.
Which
leads us to the second thing you can count on with Nogueira:
He’s got great jiu jitsu. In fact, he’s one of the
best submission fighters of all-time. Add in some solid wrestling
and standard boxing skills, and you have a guy capable of winning
any fight.
That
said, Nogueira’s lone weakness may be that he is not particularly
stellar as an athlete. It’s not that he isn’t athletic
or strong, but there are stronger and more athletic guys out
there. Speaking of them. . .
Frank
Mir has outstanding submission skills as well, and is widely
known to have some of the best jiu jitsu hips in the game. But
what makes Mir different is that he is also a very big, strong,
and athletic fighter, which is a rarity for a heavyweight submission
specialist. Further, he has solid wrestling skills, to include
takedowns, takedown defense, and ground control.
In
terms of weaknesses, Mir has never really shown striking skills
that were above the MMA average, and has gassed in past fights
that went into the later rounds. But that has always been overshadowed
by the sheer power of his early submission attempts.
When
Frank Mir sinks in a submission, call the doctor.
Prediction:
In the end, this is a highly intriguing match up. On one hand,
you have an athletic submission fighter in Mir looking to prove
that he is in fact back from a terrible motorcycle accident that
caused him to lose his UFC Heavyweight Championship belt. On
the other, you have a more experienced warhorse in Nogueira.
Could
Frank Mir pull off an early submission? Yes, he has the stuff
that could make that happen against anyone.
Still,
on their feet figure that Nogueira’s boxing will win out
on the scorecards. But this one will eventually end up on the
ground where a chess match between two worthy competitors will
take place. In the end, though, it’s hard to imagine anyone
submitting Nogueira (Barnett, another big and athletic submission
fighter, couldn’t pull it off). Further, five rounds won’t
even affect a guy like Nogueira; there is absolutely no quit
in him. Mir still has something to prove in that regard.
And
that could be the difference here.
Antonio
Rodrigo Nogueira wins via submission in round four.
Forrest
Griffin (16-4) vs. Rashad Evans (12-0-1): Griffin, like Nogueira
mentioned before, has proven to have one of the greatest hearts
we’ve seen in MMA. The difference is that he’s been
at this for far less time than most that have achieved such a
status. Along with his heart and unbelievable toughness, Griffin
brings very solid, technical, and diverse striking skills to
this match up (those kicks came in handy against Rampage). Not
to mention that he possesses more than solid wrestling and ever
improving submission skills. In other words, he’s the total
package as a fighter, even if he probably isn’t considered
to be at an elite level in any one area.
Except
for toughness. By the way, those striking skills of his are approaching
the elite level.
Rashad
Evans is an outstanding athlete with stellar wrestling skills.
Further, he has shown some serious power in spots on his feet
against the likes of Chuck Liddell and Sean Salmon (remember
that high kick?). Perhaps Evans’ heart hasn’t gotten
the kind of notoriety that it deserves. After all, remember that
fight against Brad Imes for the TUF belt? It was a war, and Evans
is the one that came out on top.
Beyond
the above, Evans is solid technically on his feet. In terms of
jiu jitsu, he doesn’t have much offensively. But he has
never been caught on the ground.
In
fact, he has never lost, period.
Prediction:
First thing’s first—it’s going to be hard to knock
out either of these guys because they’re both tough as nails.
Can it happen? Of course. But don’t figure on it.
So
on the feet look for the guy that can score more points to win
out. Griffin’s size advantage and solid low kicks may prove
to net him more points there. But it’s going to be close.
On
the flip side, Evans has the better wrestling skills. Though
Griffin’s jiu jitsu would seem more adept, he won’t
likely have enough to end the fight via submission if it does
go to the ground. So when the fight goes to the canvas guess
is that Evans will have more going.
Thus,
the question: Will Evans be able to put Griffin on his back enough
to win? Further, am I underestimating his striking skills after
knocking Chuck Liddell out in devastating fashion?
This
is a toss up. But the guess here is that Griffin will be able
to stay on his feet most of the time and use angles to score
points. That should allow him to pull out a squeaker of a decision.
Forrest
Griffin wins via unanimous decision.
Quinton
Jackson (28-7) vs. Wanderlei Silva (32-8-1): Wanderlei Silva
has pretty good takedown defense. He also has reasonable jiu
jitsu skills. But when it comes to power, Muay Thai skills, and
the ability to connect when all order breaks down in the ring
or cage, he finds himself in an elite class.
He’s
simply one tough hombre and a tremendous force on his feet.
Quinton
Jackson is one of the physically strongest fighters in the world.
He also possesses well above average wrestling skills, solid
technical skills on his feet, and a whole lot of power there.
Jackson doesn’t have much in terms of submissions, but his
submission defense is strong.
Of
course, the interesting fact here is that Wanderlei Silva knocked
the man they call “Rampage” out twice while competing
for the PRIDE Fighting Championships. And those two knockouts
were brutal. So much so, in fact, that after the second one Jackson
wasn’t the same fighter for quite a while.
Prediction:
First, the head game thing is on Silva’s side. After all,
his two past victories were of a brutal nature.
That
said, the Rampage of today is much better on his feet. Further,
he fights smarter and comes into his fights in excellent shape.
Make no mistake: He will be in shape for this one.
Rampage
probably has the wrestling skills to take Silva down and possibly
ground and pound his way to victory. That would be the smart
move. Will he choose to stand with him instead? That’s the
question. If he does, there’s a chance that he will lose
this fight, particularly early during one of those crazy Silva
flurries. If not, he may erase some of the worst memories of
his fighting life.
Very
tough call and the fight on this card that I am most looking
forward to. I think Rampage can win if he starts off taking Silva
down and pounding away. But somehow I see him wanting to throw
down on his feet.
Wanderlei
Silva wins via second round TKO. But this one could easily go
either way.
THE
REST OF UFC 92
Yushin
Okami (22-4) vs. Dean Lister (11-5): Okami is one of the strongest
fighters in the division. Lister is a great jiu jitsu fighter
that has never really been able to exert the kind of dominance
he’s shown in grappling tournaments in MMA. Okami’s
strength and takedown defense should allow him to keep this one
upright or at the very least stay on top on the ground.
Yushin
Okami wins via TKO in round three.
CB
Dollaway (7-1) vs. Mike Massenzio (11-2): When this one hits
the ground, it should be interesting. Guess is that Massenzio
will do well with submissions here in a mild upset.
Mike
Massenzio wins via submission in round two.
Cheick
Kongo (12-4-1) vs. Mustapha Al-Turk (6-3): Al-Turk has good wrestling
and power. Kongo’s game right now seems more refined.
Cheick
Kongo wins via first round TKO.
Ryo
Chonan (15-8) vs. Brad Blackburn (12-9-1): Both of these guys
are well rounded and good on their feet. Figure that Chonan’s
experience against top flight competition will shine through.
Ryo
Chonan wins via unanimous decision.
Mike
Wessel (6-0) vs. Antoni Hardonk (7-4): Wessel took this fight
on short notice. Though he's undefeated, that plus his lack of
experience against top flight adversaries may be his downfall.
Antoni
Hardonk wins via second round TKO.
Matt
Hamill (6-2) vs. Reese Andy (7-2): Both of these guys are strong
wrestlers, but Hamill won’t have to deal with Rich Franklin’s
striking this time.
Matt
Hamill wins via TKO in round two.
Dan
Evensen (10-3) vs. Pat Barry (3-0): Another fight where someone’s
getting dropped. Figure that it’s going to be Evensen.
Pat
Barry wins via first round TKO.
Source: MMA Fighting
|
UFC
92: IN NOG, FRANK MIR IS FIGHTING HIS IDOL
by Tom Hamlin
Frank Mir knows as much as anyone in the MMA business that an
intelligent mind can be a double-edged sword. You can talk yourself
into peak performance just as quickly as you can talk yourself
out of it.
Talking
is what Mir loves to do. If you speak to the former UFC heavyweight
champ for more than two minutes, you can tell he loves to dissect
things. You can hear it when he’s commentating for World
Extreme Cagefighting, or breaking down fighters on his new gig
as a post-fight anchor on ESPN – a fluid, multi-leveled
analysis of what’s going on in and outside of the cage.
You hear it when he talks about righting himself after the oft-discussed
motorcycle accident that nearly ended his career, and his struggles
to get in a winning frame of mind.
At
UFC 92, Mir faces his toughest challenge yet: a fight against
his idol, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. Before Mir was ever a famous
fighter, he was watching the Brazilian’s fights. It was
Nogueira’s jiu-jitsu instructional tapes that kept him on
track as he learned the ground game.
Now,
he’s watched Nogueira transition successfully from the rings
of Japan to America’s cage, winning a UFC interim heavyweight
title in the process. It’s the guy Mir will do everything
in his power to stop this Saturday, and he expects the same treatment.
That’s
a lot to think about for anyone, let alone a guy who’s overcome
great odds to reclaim glory.
“I
have the utmost respect for the guy. I think he’s a phenomenal
example of what a martial artist should always strive to be,”
Mir said. “During the night of the fight, I have every intention
of trying to snap every bone in his body. I hope to God that
I do.”
The
key to the fight is both easy and hard: getting his mind to work
to his advantage. Mir knows Nogueira will never quit – that’s
already been proven when the former Pride champ ekes out a win
in later rounds after a savage beating. It’s Mir’s
mind, and soon after his body, that will fail if he doesn’t
believe in himself completely. In that way, Nogueira has taught
him a lesson already.
“I
feel awesome about the situation, because everything that’s
been going on going into this fight,” he said. ”I think
the fact that I’m fighting Nogueira, who I think is one
of the most dangerous guys in the world in the heavyweight division,
has helped bring me up to a level I’ve never been before.
“I
think my own laziness and my own evaluation of other fighters
I’ve fought in the past has made me be content in my own
training, knowing that I’m talented enough that if need
be, I can pull it out. I realize that talent alone will not allow
me to beat Nogueira. If I don’t show up at 100 percent,
there’s no chance I have whatsoever, and I gotta hope that
he has a bad day at the same time.”
Win
or lose, Mir says a phenomenal fight will be the victory he needs.
He wants to fight at his best for five straight rounds, silence
critics who say he has no gas tank, and hopefully, take a step
closer to being the world’s undisputed best. All the scenarios
he envisions for defeat are different for his idol.
“That
mentality’s not the same. I can’t sit there and say,
well, eventually, he’ll make a mistake and I’ll catch
him. The pace that he sets, just stick with that pace and make
sure that every time he goes for a technique I have to beat him
at it and go one step further. There are no opportunities for
me to screw up my talent. I have to get an early lead and keep
an early lead and never once make a mistake.”
Given
his past connection to Nogueira, a victory will be bittersweet,
but that’s something to think about afterwards.
“At
the end of the fight, I tell everybody, I’ll cry either
way,” Mir said. “If I beat him, I beat my hero, but
at the same time, my hero lost.”
Source: MMA Weekly
|
WAMMA
Debuts Bantamweight Top Ten
Press Release
Over
the course of the last year, the bantamweight division has experienced
a tremendous amount of growth in MMA, thanks in large part to
the exposure afforded to it by World Extreme Cage Fighting.
The
weight class, which features combat sports athletes weighing
between 126 and 135 pounds, is home to some of the world's most-skilled
fighters, including WEC bantamweight champion Miguel Torres and
Shooto 132 pound champion Masakatsu Ueda.
And
now, it's with great pleasure that the World Alliance of Mixed
Martial Arts (WAMMA) announces it has debuted a bantamweight
top ten in its December rankings poll.
"The
bantamweight division in MMA has emerged as an exciting primetime
addition to an all ready action packed sport," said WAMMA
Chief Operating Officer Michael Lynch. "The weight class
shines with some of most talented fighters in Mixed Martial Arts
and #1 WAMMA ranked bantamweight Miguel Torres is truly a superstar
in the making."
WAMMA's
entire top ten ranked bantamweights can be viewed via its website,
which is located at www.GoWAMMA.com.
WAMMA's
December rankings also featured the debut of Mike Swick as a
top ten ranked welterweight. Swick, once a highly regarded middleweight
prospect, has gone 3-0 since his drop to 170 with wins over Marcus
Davis and Josh Burkman. His most recent welterweight win took
place at last Wednesday's "UFC Fight for the Troops,"
where he TKO'd Jonathan Goulet at just 33 seconds of round 1.
Aside
from Swick, WAMMA's December poll saw very little movement in
its top ten rankings with Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Forrest Griffin,
Anderson Silva, Georges St. Pierre, B.J. Penn, and Mike Thomas
Brown all retaining number one rankings in their respective weight
classes.
The
rankings also saw Eddie Alvarez and Shinya Aoki retain their
respective number two and three rankings in WAMMA's lightweight
top ten. The news comes amid rumors that a planned Alvarez vs.
Aoki matchup on Dec. 31 during FEG's "Dynamite!!" event
in Saitama, Japan could see WAMMA's vacant lightweight title
a stake.
"WAMMA
is actively in discussions to have the superfight between Alvarez
and Aoki award the very first WAMMA Lightweight Championship,"
said Lynch. "Support for the idea has been overwhelmingly
positive and it is our hope that New Year's Eve will ring in
a WAMMA Lightweight Champion in Japan at FEG's 'Dynamite!!'"
While
December saw very little movement in WAMMA's top ten rankings,
major changes could be in store in the next six weeks with major
cards set to be promoted by the UFC and Affliction Entertainment.
Both events will feature fights involving ranked fighters going
head-to-head.
On
Dec. 27, UFC 92 will promote three fights between competitors
ranked in WAMMA's top ten. Number one ranked light heavyweight
Forrest Griffin will defend his UFC heavyweight title vs. Rashad
Evans, WAMMA's number four ranked light heavyweight. Also, WAMMA's
number one ranked heavyweight and UFC interim heavyweight champion
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira will be matched up with WAMMA's ninth
ranked heavyweight, Frank Mir.
Meanwhile,
Quinton Jackson, WAMMA's number two ranked light heavyweight,
will be challenge by Wanderlei Silva, WAMMA's number five ranked
light heavyweight.
Also
included in the list of major matchups set to take place in the
next six weeks is WAMMA heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko's
first-ever title defense of his title against former UFC champion
Andrei Arlovski during Affliction's "Day of Reckoning"
event on January 24 in Anaheim, California.
"On
January 24th on PPV, Fedor Emelianenko and Andrei Arlovski will
go head-to-head for the most prestigious title in Mixed Martial
Arts: the WAMMA World Undisputed Heavyweight Championship,"
Lynch said. "With a fight card full of exciting match-ups
from start to end, Affliction's 'Day of Reckoning' is a must-see
event for both the casual and die-hard fan.
"WAMMA
is also excited about the upcoming UFC 92 event, which features
a card full of WAMMA ranked MMA superstars. After the smoke clears
at UFC 92, the WAMMA rankings will surely see movement in some
of the biggest names in Mixed Martial Arts today."
WAMMA's
group of pollsters -- which includes nationally recognized MMA
experts such as CBSSports.com's Denny Burkholder, MMAjunkie.com's
John Morgan, and Jose Rodriguez of the Calgary Sun -- will next
convene to vote on Monday, January 19.
Source: The Fight Network
|
UFC
96 in Columbus, Ohio announced
The UFC announced Tuesday that it will return to Columbus, Ohio
at the Nationwide Arena for UFC 96 on March 7, 2009.
Tickets for the general public will be available Saturday, Dec.
27 at. 10 a.m. ET.
For
presale dates, tickets are available first on Wednesday, Dec.
24 at 10 a.m. ET for UFC Fight Club members and on Friday, Dec.
26 at 10 a.m. by entering "BUCKEYES" as the passcode.
No
fights have been officially announced for UFC 96.
Upcoming
UFC events:
UFC
92 on Dec. 27 in Las Vegas, NV
UFC 93 on Jan. 17 in Dublin, Ireland
UFC 94 on Jan. 31 in Las Vegas, NV
UFC Fight Night 17 on Feb. 7 in Tampa, FL
UFC 95 on Feb. 21 in London, England
UFC 96 on March 7 in Columbus, OH
Source: MMA Fighting
|
UFC
94 Lineup in Place; Fitch Relegated to Dark Match Duty
by Brian Knapp
The next time Jon Fitch enters the Octagon, he will do so away
from the main card spotlight.
On
the heels of his high-profile dispute with UFC management, Fitch
will face Akihiro Gono in a non-televised welterweight bout at
UFC 94 “St. Pierre vs. Penn 2” on Jan. 31 at the MGM
Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. UFC officials released the full
card for the Super Bowl weekend show on Monday.
Fitch
was briefly released by the promotion in November after he refused
to sign an agreement to relinquish his likeness rights for a
UFC video game. The 30-year-old Fort Wayne, Ind., native later
signed the agreement, but throughout the media offensive he waged
after being informed of his release, the former Purdue University
wrestling captain made it clear he did not appreciate what he
viewed as UFC President Dana White’s “strong-arm tactics.”
Based
out of the American Kickboxing Academy, Fitch (17-3) saw his
15-fight winning streak end in his one-sided loss to welterweight
champion George St. Pierre in the UFC 87 main event in August.
While his last three bouts have all gone the distance, Fitch
holds a key technical knockout win against Thiago Alves, arguably
the sport’s hottest fighter.
Gono,
one of MMA’s consummate characters, has been finished by
only two men -- Dan Henderson and Mauricio “Shogun”
Rua -- in the last six and a half years. The 34-year-old Pride
Fighting Championships veteran finds himself on the rebound after
a split decision defeat to Dan Hardy at UFC 89 in October. Gono
(29-13-7) was the last man to defeat fast-rising Armenian Gegard
Mousasi, having done so by submission back in 2006. Mousasi has
since rattled off 11 consecutive victories.
In
other welterweight action at UFC 94, Karo Parisyan will make
his first appearance since an April loss to Alves when he meets
unbeaten South Korean judoka Dong Hyun Kim.
Parisyan
(18-5), a mainstay in the top 10 rankings at 170 pounds, has
posted 12 wins in 15 fights, losing only to St. Pierre, Alves
and Diego Sanchez in that span. Victories over former UFC welterweight
champion Matt Serra, one-time Bodog Fight titleholder Nick Thompson
and the controversial Nick Diaz highlight his resume. Still only
26, Parisyan has not finished an opponent in almost three years.
Kim
(11-0-1), who cut his teeth inside the Spirit Martial Challenge
and Deep promotions, defeated Matt Brown by split decision in
an underwhelming performance at UFC 88 three months ago. He has
delivered more than half (six) of his 11 wins by knockout or
TKO.
Elsewhere
on the “St. Pierre vs. Penn 2” lineup, Nathan Diaz
will collide with Clay Guida in what many view his toughest test
since he won season five of “The Ultimate Fighter”
reality series.
On
a five-fight winning streak, the 23-year-old Cesar Gracie disciple
last fought in September, when he eked out a split decision against
Josh Neer at UFC Fight Night 15. A brown belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu,
Diaz (10-2) has secured seven of his 10 career wins by submission.
His list of victims includes Kurt Pellegrino, Alvin Robinson
and Junior Assuncao.
The
well-traveled Guida (24-9), meanwhile, has not competed since
he outpointed former King of the Cage champion Mac Danzig in
September. The energetic Chicagoan has won three of his past
four fights and holds notable victories against reigning Strikeforce
lightweight champion Josh Thomson, American Top Team jiu-jitsu
ace Marcus Aurelio and Bart Palaszewski.
A
welterweight title bout between Georges St. Pierre and B.J. Penn
will headline UFC 94, along with a pivotal light heavyweight
showdown between Lyoto Machida and Thiago Silva, both of whom
remain undefeated.
UFC
94 “St. Pierre vs. Penn 2”
Saturday, Jan. 31
MGM Grand Garden Arena
Las Vegas
Georges
St. Pierre vs. B.J. Penn
Lyoto Machida vs. Thiago Silva
Stephan Bonnar vs. Jon Jones
Karo Parisyan vs. Dong Hyun Kim
Nathan Diaz vs. Clay Guida
Jon Fitch vs. Akihiro Gono
Manny Gamburyan vs. Thiago Tavares
John Howard vs. Chris Wilson
Jake O'Brien vs. Christian Wellisch
Matt Arroyo vs. Dan Cramer
Source: Sherdog
|
From
bad to worse for Station Casinos financially
By Zach Arnold
Originally
published on December 16th.
Reuters
reported yesterday that Station Casinos Inc is in a very precarious
position right now with creditors. This paragraph is scary enough:
The
failure of the debt exchange leaves the company in a precarious
position, as analysts anticipate it may trip terms in its bank
debt by the end of the year and will need to negotiate with bank
lenders to avoid a default.
Chapter
11 is certainly not Chapter 7 in terms of bankruptcy proceedings,
but this is certainly not a positive development. Neither is
this story about Station Casinos temporarily halting matching
401(k) contributions to current employees.
How’s
this news playing out internationally? The Sydney Morning Herald
in Australia reports that Crown invested $242 million USD into
Station Casinos and that the investment may now be ‘worthless.’
Standard & Poors has cut their rating on Station’s secured
debt to ‘negative.’
Update
(12/24): From bad to worse for Station Casinos. There will be
a lot of restructuring of debt, but a significant price will
be paid. The Las Vegas Review-Journal put it best today —
“Station Casinos taps credit line.” Merry Christmas.
Source: Fight Opinion
|
UFC
95 in London to air free on Spike TV
UFC 95, which takes place from the O2 Arena in London, England
on Feb. 21, is scheduled to be televised on Spike TV.
The event will air on same-day tape-delay at 9 p.m. ET/PT, according
to the official UFC website.
That
will be two straight UFC events on Spike TV as UFC Fight Night
17 "Lauzon vs. Franca" will happen two weeks prior
in Tampa, Florida.
No
fights have been announced for UFC 95, but a lightweight bout
between "The Ultimate Fighter" season one winner Diego
Sanchez and season two winner Joe Stevenson will likely serve
as the main event or co-headliner.
Source: MMA Fighting
|
Dec
22 MMA Update - Liddell Wants Jardine
John Pollock
**In
an interview with Sherdog.com, Strike Force light heavyweight
champion Renato "Babalu" Sobral has stated that he
would like to move down to 185 pounds as the main targets for
him at 205 are under contract to the UFC.
**MMAJunkie.com
has learned that a verbal agreement has been made between WEC
bantamweight champion Miguel Torres and Brian Bowles for a WEC
card in April. Both fighters are coming off wins on the December
3rd WEC card with Torres successfully defending his championship
against Manny Tapia and Bowles defeating Will Ribeiro.
**Sam
Caplan from Five Ounces of Pain.com reports that Brandon "The
Truth" Vera will fight Michael Patt at the UFC 96 show on
March 7th in Columbus, Ohio. Vera had a shaky 2008 with losses
to Fabricio Werdum and Keith Jardine and a lackluster decision
victory over Reese Andy.
**Same
site is reporting that Jake Rosholt will make his UFC debut February
7th at "Ultimate Fight Night 17" in Tampa, Florida
against veteran Alessio Sakara.
**Dave
Meltzer of the "Wrestling Observer Newsletter" is reporting
that the UFC is attempting to finalize a heavyweight bout between
Gabriel Gonzaga and Shane Carwin for the UFC 96 card in Columbus,
Ohio March 7th.
**Former
UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell was on the "Tom
Lykis Show" over the weekend and stated that he would like
to fight Keith Jardine in March. Jardine holds a split decision
victory over Liddell from September 2007 at UFC 76 in a fight
that had Liddell won he would have received a light heavyweight
title shot coming out of that fight.
**MMA
Junkie is indicating that a middleweight fight between Nate Marquardt
and Wilson Gouveia is close to being inked for the February 21st
show in London, England at UFC 95.
**Neil
Grove and Stefan Struve have been added to the aforementioned
UFC 95 card though no opponents have been named as of yet for
either fighter.
**Canadian
Mixed Martial Arts are going to be getting a late Christmas gift
starting January 10th as Jeff Osbourne's Hook ‘n Shoot promotion
will be airing the 2007 Hook ‘n Shoot Grand Prix on Viewer's
Choice Canada. The show features 8 of the top women in the world
and three huge knockouts on the show. Fighters in action on the
card include Tara LaRosa, Meisha Tate, Jan Finney and a host
of others. The event will air throughout January and into February.
The 2009 Grand Prix event will be taking place January 17th in
Evansville, Indiana with an 8 woman tournament featuring women
in the 115 pound weight division.
Source: The Fight Network
|
Wanderlei’s
10 Most Vicious Maulings
by Jake Rossen
You nickname a guy the “Axe Murderer,” and you can
pretty much figure out what comes next.
After
a short, brutal stint in Brazil’s fighting circuit, Wanderlei
Silva washed up -- swimming the Atlantic and feeding on raw fish,
one assumes -- on American shores with the “Axe” handle
courtesy of former UFC matchmaker John Perretti. Perretti likely
had little idea that Silva would go on to inflict substantial
physical trauma on some of Pride’s biggest stars, many of
whom wound up looking like they had just been through a paper
shredder.
With
a third fight against Quinton Jackson tapped for this Saturday
-- the first two meetings had downright felonious endings courtesy
of Silva -- now might be the time to reflect on some of the most
horrible, viscerally disturbing beatings of his career. Merry
Christmas.
10.
Keith Jardine (UFC 84, 5/24/08)
Coming
off the worse for the wear in a long-hoped-for war against Chuck
Liddell, some doubted Silva’s ability to return to his feral
fighting style. Those concerns were put to rest shortly after
the Brazilian downed Jardine and then proceeded to use one hand
to batter him while half-choking, half-securing him with the
other.
Level
of Brutality (LOB): A standard-issue prison assault.
9.
Kazuhiro Nakamura (Pride Critical Countdown, 6/26/05)
Silva
may be a good sport, but he’s hardly above using his opponent’s
poor timing to his advantage. Against Nakamura, whom he had been
steadily punishing, Silva wasted little time in pouncing when
the Japanese judoka decided to discard his gi. By the time Nakamura’s
hands were near his face again, it was to collect pieces of his
nose.
LOB:
Delayed reaction to Pearl Harbor.
8.
Yuki Kondo (Pride Final Conflict, 8/15/04)
One
can imagine a pre-pubescent Silva watching soccer star Pele treat
the ball like it owed him money; as a fighting adult, he’s
often tried scoring goals with craniums. The most jarring incident
was against Kondo, who lay in the missionary position while Silva
drilled heel after heel into his expressionless, empty face.
Not a great first fight to show to athletic commission members.
LOB:
A solid puppy kick.
7.
Kazuyuki Fujita (Pride Critical Countdown Absolute, 07/01/06)
Fujita,
while thick of skull, is not the most agile of combatants. Once
Silva was able to put him in a corner, it was an academic series
of knees to the stationary head that robbed the Japanese fighter
of his ability to make change without using his fingers.
LOB:
A two-story fall.
6.
Kazushi Sakuraba (Pride 13, 3/25/01)
The
ultimate demise of reasonable premiums for Sakuraba’s life
insurance came after his first meeting against Silva. Bored with
his last fight against Dan Henderson, which had the ignobility
of going the distance, Silva decided to be pithy and end it with
a puree of kicks, knees and stomps; Sakuraba’s face resembled
a “Fangoria” layout.
LOB:
Anesthetic-free root canal.
Note:
This article was revised to correct the show and date on No.
6
5. Tatsuya Iwasaki (Pride Shockwave, 8/28/02)
Further
proof that Pride executives often improvised shortly before airtime:
Kyokushin karate champion Iwasaki -- who had never fought with
closed-fist strikes to the head -- was thought to be a reasonable
opponent for a man who takes his behavioral cues from Conan the
Barbarian. If you can’t recall what happened next, you’ve
probably blocked it from memory. Good thinking.
LOB:
A Dunkin’ Donuts coffee lap spill.
4.
Kazushi Sakuraba (Pride 17, 11/3/01)
Having
been decimated in their first meeting, Sakuraba teased his home
crowd by going the first-round distance in the rematch. It was
delaying the inevitable: With one punishing slam, Silva was able
to snap Sakuraba’s collarbone like a breadstick. Even more
alarmingly, a puzzled Saku regarded his protruding shoulder with
passive curiosity.
LOB:
An Olympic Judo match -- on concrete.
3.
Quinton Jackson (Pride Final Conflict, 11/9/03)
Fairly
exhausted from his bout with Chuck Liddell a couple of hours
earlier, Jackson had little fuel in his tank for Silva’s
speed. After a tussle, the Axe Murderer locked on a Thai clinch
and proceeded to deliver enough knee strikes to topple a T-1000.
While smiling broadly.
LOB:
Childbirth.
2.
Guy Mezger (Pride 10, 8/27/00)
There
are moments in MMA when the immediate departure of consciousness
is an alarming sight: Silva’s flip of Mezger’s “off”
switch -- courtesy of a corner-located assault -- is one of those
times. Going down, Mezger resembled a gunshot victim, a hint
of shock registering on his face before the mind bid a hasty
retreat.
LOB:
An easy candidate for “Faces of Death IV.”
1.
Quinton Jackson (Pride 28, 10/31/04)
Grounded
for much of the first round, Jackson experienced a restless Silva’s
fury midway through the second. After landing a solid blow to
the jaw, a follow-up knee put Jackson lifelessly through the
ropes. The sight of his defeated, deflated frame hanging over
the ring supports like drying laundry guarantees a grimace from
houseguests, who aren’t likely to come back for another
visit.
LOB:
Black Friday at Wal-Mart.
Source: Sherdog
|
Cro
Cop calls up basketball player
Objecive to train for giant Korean
No
one can accuse Mirko Cro Cop of not being creative. Called upon
to face the South Korean giant Hong Man Choi, of 2.19 meters
in height, at Dynamite!!, the Croatian fighter went to a basketball
player popular in his country and called him up to do a little
training.
Franjo
Arapovic, of 2.11 meters, is a well-known Croatian athlete, having
expressive achievements on his CV like his silver medal from
the Barcelona 92 Olympics, as well as on from Seoul Olympics
88, representing the now extinct Yugoslavia.
Check
out some photos from Cro Cop's bizarre training session, originally
published on Croatian website Sportal.hr.
Source: Gracie Magazine
|
THE
NORTHERN TOUCH: CANADIAN MMA
GSP Named Sportsnet’s Canadian Athlete of the Year
By Kelsey Mowatt
A
Canadian sports television network, Sportsnet, has announced
that Georges St. Pierre has been named its Canadian Athlete of
the Year for 2008. According to a report posted on the network’s
official website, St.Pierre received 89% of the reader’s
votes to win the award, from a field of notable Canadian athletes
which included Calgary Flame’s right winger Jarome Iginla,
Paralympian Chantal Petitclerc, tennis player Daniel Nestor and
Minnesota Twin’s first baseman Justin Morneau. St.Pierre
is the first mixed-martial-artist to win the award in the sports
network’s history.
"It's
an honour for me to have this award and being the first MMA guy
to receive something like this," St-Pierre was quoted saying
in the Sportsnet.ca report. "I want to congratulate the
other nominees because they have done an incredible job in their
respective sports, making this an even more special honour.”
Although
St.Pierre (17-2) competed just two times in 2008; the year will
certainly go down as a memorable one for the 27 year-old fighter.
After concluding 2007 by defeating Matt Hughes for the second
time in his career, and laying claim to the UFC welterweight
interim title, St. Pierre went on to entrench his status as the
promotion’s world champion this past April. Fighting in
his hometown of Montreal, Quebec, at UFC 83, St.Pierre avenged
his loss to Matt Serra one year earlier, by stopping the veteran
fighter in the second round.
At
UFC 87 on August, 9th, St.Pierre was impressive in his first
and only title defense of 2008, when he outscored number one
contender Jon Fitch over five rounds to earn the Unanimous Decision
win.
St.Pierre
will next compete on January, 31st, when he will face current
UFC lightweight champion BJ Penn in Las Vegas, Nevada, at UFC
94. The welterweight bout will be a rematch for the two highly
regarded fighters, as at UFC 58 in March, 2006, St.Pierre defeated
the former 170lb. champion by Split Decision.
Source: Full Contact Fighter
|
Quote
of the Day
"The
world stands aside to let anyone pass who knows where he is going."
David Starr Jordan
|
MAT
ATTACK Jiu-Jitsu & Submission Grappling Tournament
Happy Holidays!
We would like to invite you to MAT ATTACK Jiu-Jitsu & Submission
Grappling Tournament.
Change in venue: Lihikai School instead of Binhi At Ani Filipino
Community Center.
Name of event: MAT ATTACK Jiu-Jitsu & Submission Grappling
Tournament.
Open to Kids and Adult competitors.
Info can be forwarded to this email or contact number 250-4882.
Event is scheduled to take place on Saturday, January 10 @ Lihikai
School in Kahului. For more information you can email us or call
(Tyson) 250-4882.
Mahalo.
We hope to see you at the event!
Aloha!
--
Tyson & Leinell Coloma-Nahooikaika
Island Warriors
Freestyle Fighting Academy
1552 Mill Street
Wailuku, Hawaii 96793
www.myspace.com/iwffacademy
"If you can dream it...you can live it!"
|
Palolo
Gym Boxing Postponed Again
Our boxing show at Palolo Gym has been rescheduled for Feb 7th
at Palolo Gym 6 p.m.. We'll inform everyone when the new date
is confirmed.
It will be the 4th Annual Clint Shelton Memorial.
Clint Shelton was a amateur boxer with 5 bouts from the Palolo
Gym.
He passed away on his 21st birthday.
Thanks, Bruce Kawano
|
Wombat's
World of Combat
Predictions for "UFC 92: Ultimate 2008"
By Jeff
"Wombat" Meszaros
I
have spent this entire week shut inside my tiny, filthy bachelor
apartment, snowed in like a rat in a cave. Drinking expired eggnog
and obsessively watching cartoon Christmas specials on youtube,
I have been feeling more like the Mad Trapper of Rat River than
a credible sports journalist; not to imply that I have ever been
credible. On rare forays outside of my snow-den, various friends
and neighbors ask me about this next UFC and, from deep within
the gloom of my ferocious, egg-nog-blotted beard, I answer them,
despite my suspicions that they have been poisoning my water
supply; driving me deeper and deeper into my supply of spiced
rum. Can Forrest Griffin hand Rashad Evans his first-ever loss?
Does Mir have any business whatsoever in the cage with "Minotauro"?
Will "Rampage" fall beneath the swinging limbs of "The
Axe Murderer" for a third time? These are the questions
on the lips of fight fans who, like children waiting to sit on
the lap of a strange old man in a false beard, are filled with
giddy anticipation; generously frosted with uncertainty.
Forrest
Griffin vs. Rashad Evans
It
may be the fact that cabin-fever has taken a tight grip on my
mind, but for some reason this match reminds me of the time Clint
Eastwood and Sammie Davis Jr. got in a vicious bar fight outside
a Las Vegas nightclub. Before you go looking for that on google,
I should add that it's very possible (probable even) that that
never happened. Griffin is a grinder. I can only imagine, of
course, but I think fighting him must be like trying to strangle
a wolf with your bare hands. He would sooner bite both of your
thumbs off than surrender to the blissful grip of unconsciousness.
Evans is a mover. Earlier in his career, he looked like he was
drunk in every fight, and constantly on the verge of falling
down. Now he looks like he is jazz-dancing; and that is what
is so deceptive. But before you criticize him for sliding around
like Michael Flatley in roller-blades, consider that, according
to NASA, Chuck Liddell's mouthguard was last seen passing the
third moon of Saturn. My Guess: Evans by decision.
Antonio
"Minotauro" Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Frank Mir
Fans
used to speculate about this match back when Nogueira was the
Pride champion and Mir was the UFC champ. As I recall, the sheer
mention of it was enough to reduce anyone into fits of hysterical
laughter. With all due respect to Mir, and the marketing engine
at the UFC who have strived to make this match seem competitive,
"Minotauro" has Mir beaten in literally every aspect
of the game. Anyone who says otherwise deserves a shin kick in
the face; and before you say that Mir is a lot younger than Nogueira,
allow me to point out that "Minotauro" is only 32,
even though he looks as grizzled as a 44-year-old who has spent
his entire life working in a coal mine. My Guess: Nogueira by
TKO.
CB
"The Doberman" Dollaway vs. Mike Massenzio
Some
fighters would rather have their arm broken than tap out. In
case you're suffering from short-term memory loss, allow me to
refer to Razak Al-Hassan, who sickened a nation this month by
refusing to tap out, despite being locked in the Guantanamo Bay
of armlocks. To no one's surprise except apparently his own,
his arm broke. Dollaway is not the kind of guy to let this happen.
As Amir Saddolah showed twice, when Dollaway gets caught in submissions,
he taps out; as he rightfully should. Given the fact that Massenzio
is a stone-cold killer, and just about tore off Drew McFedries'
arm, I see this one being an upset. My Guess: Massenzio by submission.
Wanderlei
"The Axe Murderer" Silva vs. Quinton "Rampage"
Jackson
Silva
trounced "Rampage" twice in Pride; first in November
of 2003 and then again in October of 2004. While I can't recall
the exact play-by-play details of each fight, I do recall that
Silva knocked Jackson around the ring in both matches like the
time a bird flew into the house and I tried to knock it out a
window with a tennis racket; with rather chaotic results. Now,
with a third showdown set to occur in the octagon, fans are asking
if anything will be different. The short answer is "yes".
"The Axe Murderer" and "Rampage" have both
slowed with age; and are now required to pass steroid tests.
Also this match will go down under UFC rules, which forbid soccer
kicks and stomps as "ungentlemanly". Finally, and this
is the big thing, this is the first time "Rampage"
has stepped back into the octagon since he went on a namesake-worthy
frenzy in Newport Beach and wound up cooling his heels in a mental
institution. My Guess: Silva by TKO.
Cheick
Kongo vs. Mostapha Al Turk
I
am shocked that nobody has given Mostapha Al Turk the nickname
"Big Turk". At 245-pounds, it seems like a dead giveaway
since, especially, his last name is Turk. If you don't know what
a "Big Turk" is, it's a candy bar made with chocolate
and a mysterious red gelatinous substance. My Guess: Kongo by
TKO.
Yushin
"Thunder" Okami vs. Dean "The Boogeyman"
Lister
As
a raging grappling nerd, this is one fight I seriously was to
see. So it seems fitting that this is one "may not be broadcast".
Of course, it's entirely possible; likely even, that this will
be one of the slowest-paced fights in UFC history, as Okami struggles
to ground and pound his way to a decision and Lister squirms
around to find a submission from underneath. Also, am I the only
one who wonders where Okami got the nickname "Thunder"?
Perhaps he has a flatulence problem. My Guess: Okami by decision.
Antoni
Hardonk vs. Mike "The Juggernaut" Wessel
Hardonk
trains kickboxing with Ernesto Hoost and jiu-jitsu with Rickson
Gracie. Now he just needs to get Alexander Karelin to teach him
wrestling and his coaching staff will be complete. According
to my research, there are now at least five fighters called "The
Juggernaut". Are they all unstoppable objects? The only
way to find out is to have them all run right at each other and
see who comes out the other side. My Guess: Hardonk by TKO.
Matt
"The Hammer" Hamill vs. Reese "Riptide" Andy
Both
of these guys are wrestlers who like to box so you'd think the
question would be "who is the better boxer"? Wrong.
The question is still "Who is the better wrestler"
because the better wrestler will still take down the other guy,
taking boxing out of the equation entirely. Also, it doesn't
matter who is a better cook. My Guess: Hamill by decision.
Ryo
"Pirhana" Chonan vs. Brad "Bad" Blackburn
Chonan
is just straight-up scary, and I'm not sure why. There's something
about him that just gives me the willies, and vaguely reminds
me of the 1986 movie "Critters" which I just now am
realizing has three sequels I haven't seen. If Blackburn had
been born 600 years ago, he probably would've been a pirate.
With a name like that, it would've been his only career choice.
My Guess: Blackburn by decision.
Dan
"The Viking" Evensen vs. Pat Barry
Evensen
once told me that he hates all wrestlers everywhere because "real
fighting is punching and kicking". Barry will be happy to
oblige him in that, since he trains with world kickboxing champ
Duke Roufus and lists one of his heroes as "Sagat"
from street fighter. Personally, I prefer Blanka because he can
electrify his skeleton. How cool is that? My Guess: Barry by
decision.
Source: Full Contact Fighter
|
Total
MMA: The book
By Zach Arnold
A
couple of years ago when the collapse of PRIDE happened, I thought
about writing a book covering the history of Japanese MMA. Then,
I thought about it, and realized how much work would have to
go into it and how few people in the end would probably be interested.
At least I was focused on the Japanese scene. I never could have
imagined trying to write a book on the history of modern MMA
worldwide and how the past ties into the present and the future.
Thankfully,
I won’t have an opportunity to do this. Jonathan Snowden
decided to take it upon himself and go for it. The end result
is a new book, Total MMA, that is a pretty remarkable book that
has a little bit for every type of MMA fan — both casual
and hardcore fans will appreciate the effort that went into writing
this book. There are actually quite a few pictures in the book
that will bring back a lot of memories for old-timer fans.
What
makes this book a cut above most, if not all, MMA-related books
is that you can see a layering process at work in terms of historical
storytelling. It’s as if a time line was created, all the
pieces laid out in preparation, and then the final product consisted
of one smooth story. Think of the way this book was written in
the same manner that musicians create songs on the computer with
multiple tracks, with each track having its own beat. Now, think
about how long that process takes, and then throw on top the
goal of telling a complete historical account of a very complicated
business in a not-so-complicated manner in which a fan or even
non-fan of the industry can read and understand. Jonathan managed
to pull this off in a big way with Total MMA and this book deserves
more media spotlight than other MMA books that have gotten hype
over the last couple of years.
Places
where you can buy the book online:
Amazon.com
Budovideos.com
Barnes & Noble
Source: Fight Opinion
|
This
Day in MMA History: Dec. 22
by Brian Knapp
It happened 2,922 days ago Monday. Fedor Emelianenko lost a fight.
Eight
years later, his controversial and disputed defeat to Tsuyoshi
Kohsaka at a Rings show in Osaka, Japan, remains the lone blemish
on an otherwise pristine resume. The then unknown 24-year-old
Emelianenko slipped a looping punch from the Japanese veteran
and was sliced open by Kohsaka’s elbow as it zipped past
his head in the opening exchange. Few even noticed damage had
been done.
Blood
poured from the wound above the stoic Russian’s right eye
as the referee separated the two clinched men in the center of
the ring. Doctors deemed Emelianenko unfit to continue, and the
bout was stopped just 17 seconds after it began. He threw only
two punches in the fight.
Because
the match -- just the fourth of Emelianenko’s career --
was part of the 2000 King of Kings tournament, organizers insisted
a winner be declared. Had it been governed by standard Rings
rules, under which elbows were illegal, it might have been ruled
a no contest. As it was, Kohsaka took his bow and advanced.
The
loss did nothing to throw Emelianenko’s career off track.
In 26 bouts since, he owns a 25-0 mark with one no contest. He
has finished 18 of those 25 wins (72 percent) inside one round,
eight of them -- including his 36-second thrashing of two-time
UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia at Affliction “Banned”
in July -- in two minutes or less. He holds a pair of victories
against interim UFC heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
and UFC hall of famer Mark Coleman, plus other high-profile wins
against one-time UFC heavyweight titleholder Kevin Randleman,
2000 Olympic silver medalist Matt Lindland and 2006 Pride open
weight grand prix winner Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic.
No mixed martial artist has approached Emelianenko in terms of
sustained dominance.
Kohsaka
-- who was 32 fights into his professional career and already
held three UFC victories by the time he met Emelianenko -- lost
his next two bouts and five of his next six after his controversial
win. Included among those setbacks was a decision loss to Randy
Couture in the King of Kings 2000 Final two months later.
Emelianenko
did not let his only defeat go unanswered, either. He met Kohsaka
for a second time in the Pride “Bushido 6” main event
on April 3, 2005 at the Yokohama Arena in Yokohama, Japan. By
then, Emelianenko was two years into his reign as Pride Fighting
Championships heavyweight titleholder and had business to finish.
After he battered Kohsaka for 10 full minutes -- he nearly grounded-and-pounded
his head permanently into the canvas -- doctors stopped the fight
in between the first and second rounds.
Source: Sherdog
|
Bob
Sapp to fight anime character at 'Dynamite!! 2008'
by Suki
Bob Sapp fought a comedian at last year's "Dynamite!! 2008"
New Year's Eve event, and he'll return this year with an even
more unlikey opponent -- a cartoon character.
FEG, the parent company of K-1 and DREAM, announced today that
Sapp will take on a fighter under DREAM rules by the name of
Kinniku Mantaro, a character out of the manga and anime series
"Ultimate Muscle."
The
fighter portraying Mantaro is Akihito Tanaka, a 7-time All Japan
wrestling champion who joined K-1 in 2004. Tanaka currently trains
with Kazushi Sakuraba at the MMA legend's Laughter 7 gym.
The
fight is being produced by DJ Ozma, whom Akihiro Gono spoofs
for his entrances in the UFC and PRIDE Bushido.
Current
“FieLDS Dynamite!!” fight card:
Dream
Rule
Mirko
Crocop vs Hong Man Choi
Semmy Schilt vs Mighty Mo
Hideo Tokoro vs Daisuke Nakamura
Jerome Le Banner vs Mark Hunt
Shinya Aoki vs Eddie Alvarez
Kazushi Sakuraba vs Kiyoshi Tamura
Joachim Hansen vs J.Z.Calvan
Bob Sapp vs Kinniku Mantaro
K-1 Rule
Yoshihiro
Sato vs Artur Kyshenko
Kozo Takeda vs Tatsuya Kawajiri
Musashi vs Gegard Mousasi
K-1 Koshien
Hiroya
vs Shimada Shota
Ryuya Kusakabe vs Koya Urabe
Source: MMA Fighting
|
Affliction
Day of Reckoning Update
Darko Milivojevic
Seal
Beach, CA (December 17, 2008) - The colossal Affliction "Day
of Reckoning" fight card has now been finalized with explosive
bouts set for both Pay-Per-View and HDNet telecasts. The scheduled
11-fight MMA extravaganza, including the much-anticipated main
event battle between two of MMA's most notorious heavyweights:
Fedor "The Last Emperor" Emelianenkoand Andrei "The
Pitbull" Arlovski, promises to be an entertaining night
of raging, all-star fight action.
"Day
of Reckoning" takes place on Saturday, January 24at Honda
Center in Anaheim, California and will be televised live on Pay-Per-View
at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT. The show is stacked with great match-ups
and some of the best talent in MMA today. The Emelianenko vs.
Arlovski bout will decide who will be the reigning heavyweight
champion of the world.
Emelianenko (28-1), universally recognized as the most dominating
heavyweight in MMA, is the former undisputed PRIDE® Heavyweight
Champion and Russian M-1 legend. He defends his newly acquired
World Alliance of Mixed Martial Arts (WAMMA) Heavyweight Championship
belt against hard-hitting striker and former UFC® Champ,
Andrei Arlovski (14-5), who is on a five fight winning streak,
with impressive performances over Ben Rothwell at "Affliction
Banned" in July and most recently, Roy Nelson on the October
4 EliteXC show. When "The Emperor" and "The Pitbull"
meet in the ring, it's sure to be a fiery clash of will and technique.
Produced by Belmonte Productions, the blockbuster PPV telecast,
which has a suggested retail price of $44.95, features other
top-tier MMA stars battling it out in the ring, including Josh
"The Baby Faced Assassin" Barnett (23-5), who is one
of the top 10 heavyweights in the world, a celebrated wrestling
star in Japan, and (formerly) the youngest UFC® Heavyweight
Champion of all-time. He will go toe-to-toe with the hot-tempered
Gilbert "The Hurricane" Yvel (35-12), in a match that
has been labeled 'highly combustible.'
Rounding out the Pay-Per-View telecastwill be Brazilian fighter
and former UFC® Light Heavyweight Champ, Vitor "The
Phenom" Belfort (17-8) facing off against former Olympic
wrestler and Oregon State politician Matt "The Law"
Lindland (21-5). Brazilian National Wrestling Champ and former
UFC® Heavyweight Title Challenger, Renato "Babalu"
Sobral (31-7), will fight Cameroonian mixed martial artist Thierry
"The African Assassin" Sokoudjou (5-3). Lightweight
standout Chris "The Polish Hammer" Horodecki (12-1)
will face off against rising star Dan "The Upgrade"
Lauzon (11-2), who is the brother of lightweight champ Joe Lauzon.
As a prelude to the epic PPV event, fans can tune in early to
HDNet for the rest of the impressive "Day of Reckoning"
undercard, with five additional fights. The telecast features
the marquee light heavyweight rematch of Antonio "Minotoro"
Nogueira (15-3) vs. Vladimir "The Janitor" Matyushenko
(21-3) as the main event, live at 7:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m. PT.
Lil' Nog will be looking to extract his revenge from "The
Janitor" in this re-match which has been six years in the
making. Also on the HDNet telecast, former IFL® Welterweight
Champion Jay "The Thorobred" Hieron (16-4) will fight
undefeated welterweight champ Jason High (8-0); nine-time TKO
Featherweight Champion Mark "The Machine" Hominick
(16-8) fights life-long wrestler LC Davis (12-1); and teacher
and Cage of Fire Champion Albert "Al Boogey" Rios (11-3)
squares off against Mexican Lightweight Champion of UCM Antonio
"El Tigre" Duarte (11-1).
Promoted by Golden Boy Promotions and brought to you by Affliction
Entertainment and its partners, Donald J. Trump and M-1 Global,
Affliction "Day of Reckoning" is scheduled to include
11 rousing bouts of fierce, full-throttle battle headlined by
Fedor Emelianenko vs. Andrei Arlovski. The event will take place
on January 24, 2009 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, CA and live
on Pay-Per-View beginning at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT.
Ticket prices range from $50-$450 and can be purchased through
Ticketmaster (available online at www.ticketmaster.com or at
all Ticketmaster outlets, by phone at 714-740-2000) and at Honda
Center Box Office (714-704-2500).
FIGHT CARD LINE UP
Pay-Per-View Fight Card
Fedor Emelianenko vs. Andrei Arlovski
Josh Barnett vs. Gilbert Yvel
Vitor Belfort vs. Matt Lindland
"Babalu" Sobral vs. Thierry Sokoudjou
Chris Horodecki vs. Dan Lauzon
Paul Buentello vs. Kiril Sidellnikov (Baby Fedor)
HDNet Fight Card
Antonio Nogueira vs. Vladimir Matyushenko
Jay Heiron vs. Jason High
Mark Hominick vs. LC Davis
Albert Rios vs. Antonio Duarte
Swing
Bout
Brett Cooper vs. Patrick Speight
Source: The Fight Network
|
Anderson
vs Thales on the horizon
Bout should take place in April
Considered
the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world by the president
of the UFC, speculation is always rampant as to who Anderson
Silva’s next opponent will be. The latest name to come out
of the rumor mill is that also-Brazilian ground stylist Thales
Leites will be meeting the challenge in Montreal, Canada, in
April, according to sources in the Nova Uniao fighter’s
camp.
With
eight consecutive wins in the octagon, Anderson is only one victory
from becoming the biggest back-to-back winner in UFC history.
Nevertheless, after his last appearance, when he defeated Patrick
Cote by doctor’s stoppage, he was heavily criticized in
the press for having shown a more conservative fight style.
Source: Gracie Magazine
|
ULTIMATE
FIGHTER 8 FINALE DRUG RESULTS CLEAN
Ultimate Fighter 8 finale on Dec. 13 in Las Vegas have returned
negative results, according to Keith Kizer, executive director
of the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
Those
fighters that were tested and passed include Phillipe Nover,
Efrain Escudero, Ryan Bader, Vinny Magalhaes, Roli Delgado, Shane
Nelson, Tom Lawlor, Eliot Marshall, Krzysztof Soszynski, Junie
Browning, Wilson Gouveia, and Anthony Johnson.
The
event produced ticket revenue of $405,000 based on sales of 1,496
tickets, also according to Kizer.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
UFC
92: WANDERLEI SILVA
Silva Ready for Jackson
By Steven Marrocco
In
a recent media teleconference promoting his upcoming fight with
Quinton Jackson at UFC 92 on December 27, Wanderlei “The
Axe Murderer” Silva said he had a surprise for his old nemesis.
Of
course, it’s hard to imagine Jackson being any more surprised
than he was in their previous two fights, when Silva’s knees
removed him from consciousness, but anything is possible.
Silva
says he’s called in a former nemesis, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira,
to help him with his jiu-jitsu and wrestling in the final moments
of preparation for the fight. Back in Brazil, the two were members
of rival gyms Chute Boxe and Brazilian Top Team. Both have since
moved on to greener pastures in America and the UFC. Pride, and
all of its politics, is in the past, according to Silva.
Silva
stresses his victories over Jackson will not determine their
future. Four years have passed since their last fight. Jackson
has grasped the UFC light heavyweight title, defeating the man
Silva could not in Chuck Liddell. Silva has been brutally knocked
out twice, his reign over Pride long over.
“They
are different moments for me and for him,” Silva said. “The
rules don’t matter, because fighting is fighting, and I’m
so excited to fight with him here. I know I am going to give
the best fight of the night.”
Undoubtedly,
Silva is excited by the fact that the winner of the fight will
likely get a shot at the light heavyweight belt. Liddell is out
of the picture, at least for now. The current light heavyweight
champ, Forrest Griffin, is a fighter he’s dominated in training
sessions at Xtreme Couture in his adopted hometown of Las Vegas.
Evans is a question mark (as he always seems to be), but Silva’s
road to UFC gold suddenly seems shorter.
“This
is my great opportunity,” he said.
It’s
unclear whether the former Pride middleweight champ still harbors
any hatred towards Jackson. The two nearly came to blows hyping
up their 2004 rematch. Four years later, two sides of Silva’s
feelings emerged. During the teleconference, he was civil.
“Of
course I respect everybody,” he said. “He's a great
fighter. He's a very tough
guy. He's top three you know. Fighting is fighting... this is
my job. I'm professional too, no problem.”
Jackson
said he didn’t like Silva, but the fight was just a job,
and nothing more.
“It
ain’t no secret that Wanderlei and I don’t see eye
to eye,” he said. “But I’m a professional, and
this is my job.”
To
Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports, Silva wasn’t so diplomatic.
“Every
fighter wants to be [the champion] and I am no different,”
Silva said. “But whether I am champion or not, nothing has
made me work harder and train better than the opportunity to
fight this guy again. And you know what? I don’t just want
to beat him. I want to knock him out. Of course, I always go
for the knockout, but with this guy, this is very important to
punish him and get that kind of a finish.
“He’s
got a big mouth and he’s always out on the Internet talking.
But we’ll see how much talking he does once we fight again.”
Silva
says he will have no problem fighting Griffin should he emerge
victorious on Saturday night, and predicts Griffin will take
his title bout against Rashad Evans. But maybe that’s just
wishful thinking.
“I’m
thinking Forrest is going to win,” Silva said. “He
has good boxing, has good defense of the takedowns. He is taller.
He’s going to win by knockout in the second round.”
Silva’s
third meeting with Jackson is an unusual rematch, considering
Jackson lost both previous fights, but it’s indeed a different
time for both fighters. There’s no bigger stage to fight
on than the UFC, and Silva is behind Jackson in proving himself
to American fans. He says he plans to put on a fight of the night
performance, and prove he still has Jackson’s number. Then,
he can worry about UFC gold.
“It’s
a great opportunity to fight for the belt in the future, but
first, I need to fight Rampage again.”
Source: Full Contact Fighter
|
Will
looks to recover
Fighter showing signs of improvement after motorcycle accident
Carlos Osorio, portaldaslutas.com
The
news of Will Ribeiro’s accident shook the MMA world. On
December 16th, the Carioca (native of Rio de Janeiro) was thrown
from a motorcycle and is being held in critical condition at
the Andarai Hospital, in Rio de Janeiro. According to Will’s
master at Boxe Thai, Luiz Alves, the fighter with exceptional
performances in the WEC cage and Shooto Brasil’s ring, is
so far winning his latest battle: the fight for his life.
“I
spoke with his grandfather a short while ago and he said he is
getting better. He is already moving his arms and legs and recovering.
But he is still sedated. So as not to feel pain and not move
much, which gets in the way of recovery, he needs to be kept
in an induced coma. But he is recovering, thank God,” said
Luiz.
Another
important piece of news is of Will’s perspectives after
recovering. It is still too soon to know whether the fighter
will be able to return to the ring, but hopes are high.
“At
this point, from what the doctors say, he is recovering well
and his progress could well be better than what was expected.
Even the loss of sight in one eye may not be definitive. The
doctors explained that, with the impact, his skull was broken
a bit and that ended up affecting the nerves of his eye. That
is why the eye is very swollen and black. We have to hope for
his recovery, but we are quite confident he won’t lose his
sight,” said the master in finishing.
Source: Gracie Magazine
|
AMIDST
ECONOMIC DOWNTURN, UFC STILL HIRING
by Tom Hamlin
UFC president Dana White says his company has managed to evade
the recession gripping the country... at least for now.
On
the eve of UFC 92, he says he is “very impressed” with
ticket sales for the Saturday event, and merchandising revenue
remains strong.
“The
numbers that we’re doing now, we’re going, ‘wow,
what would these be in a good economy?’” White told
reporters following a press conference for UFC 92.
Going
into 2009, the industry leading fight promotion is still eyeing
expansion, not only beyond the borders of the US, but the buildings
around its Las Vegas headquarters as well. Their current office,
off “The Strip” a few steps from an In and Out burger
chain, is undergoing renovation to accommodate more employees.
Two adjacent buildings have been purchased as well.
White
says they’ve already hired four employees in the States,
and are looking to hire more in Europe to bolster international
operations. The company employs 110 people in the U.S. and U.K.
“We
were really lean in the early years,” he said. “I almost
got laid off a few times.”
Still,
with the UFC apparently lagging other industries in feeling the
economic crunch, he admits 2009 may be a scary time to do business.
“We’re
focused on navigating through the financial (expletive) of 2009,”
he said. “We know some pretty powerful guys in the financial
world that are saying ‘wait till you see what happens in
09.’ Companies that are going to make you (expletive) in
your pants are going to go out of business.”
White
predicted boxing would face more hardship in the coming years.
With mega-cards bearing the weight of the entire industry, he
said the retirement of top draw Oscar De La Hoya would spell
big trouble for “the sweet science.”
“When
De La Hoya goes away, they’re really in trouble,” he
said. “After his last fight, I’d say he’s done
fighting. He looked terrible. I bet on him, I’m pissed.”
Despite
the UFC's aggressive expansion efforts, White maintains the secret
to its success is to avoid overextending itself.
“We
manage the business,” he said. “What I’ve always
said from day one, when everybody was like ‘you’re
not doing this, and you’re not doing that,’ we’re
running a (expletive) business is what we’re doing. You
have to run this thing like a business or you’re going to
be like all these other guys, that are out of business.”
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Jeff
Monson wins Gold at World Grappling Championship
Former UFC heavyweight Jeff Monson won a Gold medal on Saturday
in Ucerne, Switzerland at the first official World Grappling
Championship.
Monson, who last week avenged a loss against Ricco Rodriguez
from UFC 35, won Gold in the 125kg division.
The
other pro MMA fighter walking away with Gold was Fatal Femmes
Fighting flyweight champ Lisa Ward, who was first in the women’s
48kg division.
Miesha
Tate, who defeated EliteXC vet Elaina Maxwell in June at Strikeforce,
took home Silver in the women's 72kg division.
The
World Grappling Championship was organized by the International
Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles (FILA) and the Swiss
Wrestling Federation.
Source: MMA Fighting
|
Quote
of the Day
“A
bird does not sing because it has an answer. It sings because
it has a song.”
Chinese Proverb
|
FREE
FROM AFL, ASSUNCAO GOING BIG IN 2009
Raphael
Assuncao, ranked as the No. 9 featherweight fighter in the world,
has been very successful to this point in his career, all without
the backing of a major fight promotion. That is something that
should change as he heads into 2009.
Assuncao
says that he's in the midst of negotiations that would land him
on the biggest stage of his 12-1 professional career in the coming
year.
"2009
is going to be a year that everything is going to fall in place
for me," he told MMAWeekly.com recently.
He
was one of many fighters that had been contracted to the American
Fight League. With the promotion currently struggling to move
forward, Assuncao finds himself in a position to redirect his
career.
"I
am released from the AFL. I'm a free agent right now," he
said, before adding, "I haven't signed a deal yet, but I'm
talking with Bellator and WEC."
Bellator
Fighting Championships is currently putting its roster together
for its programming on ESPN Desportes. Bellator has plans for
a program that is part fight show and part reality series for
ESPN's Spanish language channel.
World
Extreme Cagefighting, of course, is the sister promotion of the
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). The WEC has continued to
expand its offerings since being purchased by Zuffa, LLC in late
2006, and can currently be seen on the Versus network.
Either
option is a leap forward in Assuncao's career, giving him the
exposure he needs to land better fights and bigger paydays.
Tired
of being promised more than what is eventually delivered, he
is also mired in the search for consistent management, another
facet of his career that he plans to have straightened out in
2009.
"Right
now, I'm just like at a point in my career where I'm working
to see who's going to be my manager and things like that. I'm
shopping for the best management, the best organization,"
stated Assuncao.
"I'm
very excited for 2009."
Source: MMA Weekly |
UFC
92: FORREST GRIFFIN BREAKS DOWN RASHAD
Known throughout the industry as one of the hardest working competitors
to fight in the sport of mixed martial arts, Forrest Griffin
will have the opportunity to defend his UFC light heavyweight
title for the first time on Dec. 27 when he squares off against
Rashad Evans at UFC 92 in Las Vegas.
While
Griffin's physical abilities have never been questioned, it's
his mental game that has earned him a place among the best fighters
in the world. He has a distinct ability to pick his opponents
apart in such a way that he takes them out of their game on his
way to a victory.
As
he prepares for his fight with Evans, the champion has nothing
but respect for his opponent, and understands exactly the task
at hand.
"Rashad's
a guy that's undefeated, never been knocked out, never been submitted.
I've never seen him hurt, knocked down," Griffin told MMAWeekly
Radio recently. "I mean, I've seen him look tired, but I've
never seen him ever quit moving. He's a guy with a lot of strengths
and few weaknesses."
When
analyzing past fight performances by Evans, Griffin admits to
being surprised at the way he was able to knock out Chuck Liddell
in his last fight, but believes that their match-up has a much
different dynamic.
"I
don't know if Rashad's gameplan in that fight will apply to the
fight we're going to have. Chuck is a special guy and he had
the right gameplan, did all the right things, and he capitalized
on a mistake that Chuck made with that incredible speed he's
got, but I’m not a one punch knockout guy," Griffin
stated. "Obviously I see a fight with myself and Rashad
a little more like his fight with Bisping."
In
the fight with Michael Bisping, which resulted in a three-round
split decision in Evans' favor, the former Michigan State wrestler
showed his takedowns early on, but focused on the stand-up portion
of his game for most of the fight, which was back and forth for
all 15 minutes.
Getting
past that performance, Griffin also looks at how Evans will react
to a 25-minute title fight, something he's never had to prepare
for. The former "Ultimate Fighter" season 1 champion
learned his championship pedigree preparation on the way to peak
at the right time from none other than the legendary Randy Couture.
"I
would train hard and then taper and then show up and feel good
on the day you need to feel good. Not the day after the fight
or two days before, but the day of the fight, make that day your
best day to perform," Griffin said about what he learned
from Couture.
Griffin
is also cognoscente of the wrestling game that Evans brings into
this fight, something he's faced before when squaring off against
fighters like Tito Ortiz.
"A
wrestler of Rashad's caliber, if they don't like the way things
are going, even if they do like the way things are going on the
feet and they feel the takedown there, they're probably going
to be asked to go for it," Griffin said.
As
he breaks down the fight, Griffin has nothing but compliments
for his opponent, and he never shies away from some self-deprecating
humor when describing his own fight techniques.
Regardless
of jokes or strategy going into the fight, one thing has been
made certain. Forrest Griffin is ready to fight and defend his
light heavyweight title at UFC 92.
Source: MMA Weekly |
Belfort
wants to box
Babalu praises Sokodjou
Vitor
Belfort is excited about getting back in the ring. Not having
fought since July, when he knocked out Terry Martin at the inaugural
Affliction event, the Brazilian confirmed he will be facing Matt
Lindland on January 24, when the organization will hold its second
show. At a press conference, Belfort commented on the bout and
further revealed his desire to return to boxing, a sport he has
shown a desire to compete in on Brazil’s national team in
the Olympics.
“It
will be a great fight, as will all the others on the card. I
heard Golden Boy (boxing promotion company) will be promoting
the show. I always wanted to do boxing professionally. I hope
the involvement with Golden Boy might give me the opportunity
to fight in an event that has both boxing and MMA. I know Arlovski’s
fight (against Fedor Emelianenko) will be good, but I think mine
will be the best of the night,” said Victor.
Another
Brazilian called up for the event, Babalu also hopes to put on
a great spectacle for the crowd. “Here we go again. I’m
coming back to face Sokodjou. He’s a really strong fighter,
who has knocked out a lot of really good athletes. He didn’t
have much luck in the UFC, but the fight should be good,”
he stated.
Check
out the official Affliction 2 card and stay tuned to GRACIEMAG.com
for further information regarding the event.
Fedor Emelianenko vs Andrei Arlovski
Josh Barnett vs Gilbert Yvel
Vitor Belfort vs Matt Lindland
“Babalu” Sobral vs Thierry Sokoudjou
Chris Horodecki vs Dan Lauzon
Paul Buentello vs Kiril Sidelnikov
PRELIMINARIES
Rogério
Minotouro vs Vladimir Matyushenko
Jay Heiron vs Jason High
Mark Hominick vs LC Davis
Albert Rios vs Antonio Duarte
Brett Cooper vs Patrick Speight
Source: Gracie Magazine |
MMA
Buzz for Dec. 20 - Marquardt vs. Gouveia
-
The British Fighters Only magazine is reporting that Dutch heavyweight
Stefan Struve (16-2) is the latest fighter to join the UFC roster.
He is scheduled to make his debut at UFC 95 on Feb. 21 at the
02 Arena in London, England. An opponent has yet to be announced.
"I think I can beat most of the guys there," Struve
told Fighters Only. "They have five or six really good heavyweights.
The other guys... not so good, I think."
-
The same source is reporting Paul Taylor (9-4-1) is taking longer
than expected to recover from broken ribs sustained in his fight
against Chris Lytle at UFC 89. A previously rumored bout between
Taylor and Matt Brown at UFC 95 will not happen after all. Fighters
Only reports Taylor has signed a new four-fight contract with
the UFC despite a mediocre 2-3 record accumulated fighting in
the promotion.
-
Fighters Only also reports heavyweight newcomer and Cage Rage
veteran Neil Grove (6-1) will also make his UFC debut on the
UFC 95 card. No opponent has been announced.
-
MMAJunkie.com reports a lightweight fight between Shannon Gugerty
(11-3) and Jeff Lawson (12-2) has been added to UFC 95. Lawson,
who is on a 10-fight winning streak, will be making his promotional
debut in the bout.
-
Sam Caplan of FiveOuncesOfPain.com is reporting that Nate Marquardt
(27-8-2) will meet Wilson Gouveia (12-5) in a middleweight bout
at UFC 95. Marquardt is coming off a dominant first-round TKO
of Martin Kampmann at UFC 88, while Gouveia recently toppled
Canadian Jason MacDonald on The Ultimate Fighter 8 Finale.
-
Sherdog.com was first to report that Diego Sanchez will make
his lightweight debut in the co-main event of UFC 95 against
Joe Stevenson. A featured bout has yet to be announced.
-
The same source is reporting that WEC veteran Jake Rosholt (5-0)
will make his middleweight debut in the UFC when he meets Italian
journeyman Alessio Sakara at UFC Fight Night 17 on Feb. 7 at
the USF Sun Dome in Tampa, Florida. The card is headlined by
Joe Lauzon vs. Hermes Franca in lightweight action, plus two
other 155-pound outings pitting Gleison Tibau against Rich Clementi
and Mac Danzig against Josh Neer.
-
Cain Velasquez (4-0) will also make his return at UFC Fight Night
17 against newcomer Denis "The Menace" Stojnic (5-1).
The heavyweight match-up is expected to air on the Spike TV telecast.
-
Caplan also reports that a heavyweight clash between Gabriel
Gonzaga (10-3) and Shane Carwin (10-0) is tentatively slated
for UFC 96 on March 7 at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio.
-
FiveOuncesOfPain.com has revealed that Scott Coker and his San
Jose-based Strikeforce promotion are in the process of finalizing
a deal to complete the ProElite acquisition. The story states
that Strikeforce was $1 milion short of the highest bid received,
but is still a leading candidate to acquire the assets. Additionally,
CBS is reportedly pushing for ProElite to sell its assets to
Strikeforce.
-
In a video interview with FiveOuncesOfPain.com, welterweight
competitor Phil Baroni states that he is interested in returning
to the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
Source: The Fight Network
|
White
invites, Ishii accepts, invitation to UFC 92
Just two days after Satoshi Ishii made it clear his interest
in fighting for the UFC, UFC president Dana White has extended
his hand to the 2008 Olympic judo gold medalist.
According
to a report on Nikkan Sports, White released a statement today
through WOWOW, which televises UFC events in Japan, saying that
Ishii has the potential to become a great mixed martial arts
fighter. White applauded Ishii's decision to fight in the UFC
and invited the judoka to Las Vegas to watch UFC 92 "The
Ultimate 2008" on Dec. 27, to which Ishii has accepted.
Ishii
said on Wednesday that he wants to fight for the UFC instead
of DREAM and plans to go in March to train with the American
Top Team in Coconut Creek, Florida for his mixed martial arts
debut sometime late 2009.
Source: MMA Fighting |
Jeff
Monson wins Gold at World Grappling Championship
Former UFC heavyweight Jeff Monson won a Gold medal on Saturday
in Ucerne, Switzerland at the first official World Grappling
Championship.
Monson,
who last week avenged a loss against Ricco Rodriguez from UFC
35, won Gold in the 125kg division.
The
other pro MMA fighter walking away with Gold was Fatal Femmes
Fighting flyweight champ Lisa Ward, who was first in the women’s
48kg division.
Miesha
Tate, who defeated EliteXC vet Elaina Maxwell in June at Strikeforce,
took home Silver in the women's 72kg division.
The
World Grappling Championship was organized by the International
Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles (FILA) and the Swiss
Wrestling Federation.
Source: MMA Fighting |
Forrest
Griffin vs. Rashad Evans: Whose heart is greater?
Every now and then, you hear a fighter quote that causes you
to simply nod. Back in the May 2008 issue of Fight! Magazine,
UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, Forrest Griffin came up with
one of them.
“Renzo
Gracie’s mentality is that no man is gonna break him in
fifteen or twenty minutes,” he said. “That works for
me.”
It
works for him because it encapsulates what Griffin has been about
during his MMA career. From his TUF 1 war with Stephan Bonnar
to the way that he’s come through in an underdog role against
the likes of Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and Quinton “Rampage”
Jackson, Griffin has always displayed tremendous heart and a
never say die attitude since we all first got the chance to see
him first hand on television.
The
thing is that Griffin’s soon-to-be UFC 92 opponent, Rashad
Evans, is from the same ilk, even if he isn’t always given
that kind of credit. Perhaps it’s because Evans’ fighting
spirit wasn’t as obvious early on. He initially didn’t
get along with Matt Hughes on the show, an MMA icon, which hurt
people’s opinion of him. Further, his early fights weren’t
always exciting.
But
we were all missing the point at the time. Evans was the shortest
and second lightest of all the TUF 2 heavyweights that started
the show. Keyword: Heavyweight. In other words, Evans was taking
on people way over his fighting weight, was the underdog in each
of wins over Tom Murphy, Mike Whitehead, and Keith Jardine, and
yet still kept on winning.
However,
when he took on six-foot-seven, Brad Imes in the finale and managed
a split decision victory in a fight where both combatants were
hurt on multiple occasions, people began to truly take notice.
Sure, Evans was athletic, a good wrestler, and fast.
But
he also fought with a lot of heart and desire.
Recently,
Evans said that his, “worst moment (in fighting) is every
time I get tired.” Well, the reality is that he looked awful
good against Imes when he was fatigued way back when. Perhaps
it’s a powerful motivator.
Of
course, if you look up the discussions on this one, talk eventually
turns to strategy. Forrest Griffin noted that Evans’ camp,
Jackson’s Submission Fighting, “always come up with
a real good strategy,” for their fighters. He further noted
that Evans’ ability to train with Keith Jardine there, a
man that had previously knocked him out, had to help in getting
ready for their upcoming bout.
On
the flip side, Evans noted all the right things about his adversary,
saying, “ever since I came off the show (TUF) I’ve
been trying to keep up with Forrest because he set the tone coming
off the show. He did excellent, and I was like, ‘I’ve
got to show everybody I can do my thing as well’.”
All
sounds good, doesn’t it? Technique, trying to model your
fighting career after someone else—these are two fighters
that don’t talk much junk. There’s no doubt that both
of their camps—remember that Evans isn’t the only guy
with a good one, Griffin trains at Xtreme Couture—will allow
them to come in with a great strategy. Further, both guys will
bring some outstanding skills into this one.
But
in the end, when Griffin takes on Evans at UFC 92, heart will
go a long way toward settling things. Who wants it more?
“You
know, whatever fight you’re in always seems like the toughest
fight you’ve ever had, you know?” says Griffin. Well,
if the toughest ones are about fighting those with heart, then
beating an undefeated fighter who is on a high after a terrific
knockout victory over Chuck Liddell certainly will feel that
way as well. As Quinton Jackson said, “Rashad will rise
to the occasion.” We all know Griffin will too.
You’ve
got to wonder whom will be the last man standing.
Source: MMA Fighting |
Quote
of the Day
"Take
a chance! All life is a chance. The man who goes furthest
is generally the one who is willing to do and dare."
Dale Carnegie
|
Fighters'
Club TV Tuesdays!
Channel
52
NEW TIME of 8:00 PM!
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!
|
BIG
IN 2008, STRIKEFORCE PLANS TO EXPAND IN 2009
It has been a banner year for mixed martial arts. Viewership
and popularity grew to record numbers, but that success was not
without a cost.
While
the Ultimate Fighting Championship soared above all others, 2008
saw the downfall of the International Fight League and apparently
ProElite and its MMA promotion EliteXC.
Still,
there were survivors, most notably California-based promotion
Strikeforce, which achieved its highest levels of exposure and
revenue since its inception two years ago.
“I
think it was a very good year,” stated company Director
of Communications Mike Afromowitz. “We did some positive
things like expand into new markets, Denver and Seattle, and
produced some solid shows there as well as the markets we’ve
been to in the past. We had some new top competitors join our
ranks and we’re looking to build upon that in 2009.
“I’d
say in some ways we met expectations, and in some ways we exceeded
them.”
One
area in particular Afromowitz feels the company succeeded the
most was in achieving airplay on a major television network.
“The
launch of the NBC series I would say definitely was a big feather
in our cap,” he commented. “To be able to put our product
out on one of the major networks and have as many as 1.1 million
viewers see a single episode in the time slot it’s in is
a big thing.
“It’s
really helped build our band, so I would say that was one of
the biggest things we did.”
Next
year Afromowitz hopes to expand the promotion’s presence
on network television by providing live coverage in addition
to the Saturday late night show.
“We
can only hope that we’ll be given the opportunity to go
primetime sooner than later,” he stated. “NBC has been
very supportive of the product through their other platforms
online and Universal HD.
“Things
are going well in the TV business and we just need to build off
it, and hopefully we’ll get the opportunity to do that.
With more and more networks embracing MMA, hopefully we’ll
have that opportunity to showcase that live on one of the major
networks.”
Not
only did Strikeforce provide content to NBC, but the promotion
received exposure on Mark Cuban’s HDNet as well as appeared
on major pay television on Showtime as part of a business deal
the promotion had with the now in limbo ProElite company.
Afromowitz
addressed the EliteXC debacle by saying, “It was a business
relationship that stemmed from the Frank Shamrock situation,
but we’ve always been independent.
“I
think some people may have been confused because we co-promoted
fights and thought we were under the same ownership. That’s
incorrect. The confusion is understandable, but we’re independent
from EliteXC, and we’re going to move on and do our thing
in 2009.”
Not
only did Strikeforce make its presence felt on network television,
other media outlets took notice of the promotion, such as the
G4 network.
“It
was a great opportunity to promote the Playboy Mansion show,
which is a unique property in and of itself,” commented
Afromowitz. “Getting our fighters on there was the main
thing and we’re really thankful G4 gave us back-to-back
days of coverage.”
Having
achieved many goals this year, Afromowitz stated what he feels
the overall goal for 2009 will be for the company.
“I
think building our viewership on TV is something we’re shooting
for and working towards a primetime slot so we can really showcase
our product to the masses and gain new fans,” he said.
“There’s
always new fans to be made out there. I think it’s a great
thing that more people have taken to the sport, and there’s
always more that can be done there.”
Not
to worry though, Afromowitz reiterated that while the company
looks to expand in the coming year, they haven’t forgotten
the people that have helped them succeed in today’s tumultuous
fight game.
“We
appreciate all the fan support,” he concluded. “The
fans make the sport and it’s really great that they’ve
been so supportive and helped out product grow. We appreciate
it and we want to put on the best fights for them; the fights
they want to see.”
Source: MMA Weekly
|
BOB
SAPP RETURNS TO JAPAN ON NEW YEAR'S EVE
K-1 on Monday announced that Bob Sapp will make his return to
Japan one year to the day of his last appearance.
Adding
him to the Fields Dynamite!! New Year's Eve event at the Saitama
Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, Sapp will face the mysterious
Kinniku Mantaro in a mixed martial arts bout. Little is known
about Mantaro and even the K-1 announcement contained no information
about him.
Sapp
last fought in Japan – also for K-1 – on New Year's
Eve 2007. He was successful then, defeating Bobby Ologun by TKO
in the opening round. He has fought in mixed martial arts only
one other time since then, losing to fellow K-1 veteran Jan Nortje
when Strikeforce took its show on the road to Tacoma, Wash.
Sapp
was marketed heavily in Japan early in his career by Pride in
MMA and K-1 in kickboxing. He hasn't had as much popularity in
his recent career, but his return to K-1 in mid-2007 marked the
end of a year-and-a-half period of inactivity for Sapp after
he and the promotion had a falling out over contractual issues.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
JZ
on Hansen rematch
Says Norwegian on his mind since 2004
Gesias
Cavalcante will be given the opportunity to kick off 2009 on
the right foot, should he beat Joachim Hansen at K-1 Dynamite!!
this coming December 31st. The match is one he has been thinking
about since dropping a unanimous decision to the Norwegian fighter
in July of 2004.
“Hansen
is a guy who brings the fight to you and is of the same type
of mentality as me. If he has to trade strikes he trades, if
it goes to the ground goes. He’s all in it. If you mess
up, he’s all over you. And that’s the style I like,
get in there and go for it, with attitude. Get in there and show
attitude. He’s a solid guy who keeps coming at you. Sometimes
he’ll take a knockdown, sometimes he’ll drop a position
and keep going, but I’m training to undermine that in him.
I want this win,” Gesias affirmed.
“I
love fighting. I make the most of my time preparing to get in
the ring and let God bless me. So this is my greatest concern:
to get there, be well prepared, do what I’ve been practicing.
I’ve been training every day, training hard, believing.
I’m going to do what my parents taught me to do: if you
want it, do it. But give it your best. My expectation is that
I’ll go and fight, put on a good show, represent my people
with grit and determination,” said the fighter in finishing.
Check
out the updated Dynamite!! 2008 card
Semmy
Schilt vs Siala "Mighty Mo" Siliga
Daisuke Nakamura vs Hideo Tokoro
Artur Kyshenko vs Yoshihiro Sato*
Mark Hunt vs Jerome Le Banner
Eddie Alvarez vs Shinya Aoki
Tatsuya Kawajiri vs Kozo Takeda*
Gegard Mousasi vs Musashi*
Kazushi Sakuraba vs Kiyoshi Tamura
Gesias "JZ" Calvancante vs Joachim Hansen
Hiroya vs Shimada Shota*
Kusakabe Ryuya vs Urabe Koya*
* K-1 rules fights
Source: Gracie Magazine
|
Overeem
criticizes Cro Cop
Dutchman wants another fight with former policeman
It
didn’t take long for Alistair Overeem to make his opinion
known about the decision to put Mirko Cro Cop against South Korean
Choi Hong Man in Dynamite!! 2008, this coming December 31. Throughout
the entire second semester, the two swapped accusations in the
press, because of the controversial fight they had in July ending
in a no contest after Overeem struck the Croatian below the belt.
Ever
since, the Dutchman has been accusing Cro Cop of running from
the fight, and his words would strengthen once he realized he
won’t be getting his hands on his rival so soon. “It’s
like I’ve been saying. He doesn’t want to fight me.
Cro Cop has been faking injury since our fight and now he chose
not to face me, preferring to fight Choi. He knows very well
he doesn’t have a chance against me. I would love if we
could fight again, but I really doubt he’ll accept. To me
it’s not even an objective anymore. His career is at the
very end,” Overeem said to MMAMania.com.
Source: Gracie Magazine |
Legendary
Nogueira far from finished
If
there’s a secret regarding the legendary durability of Antonio
Rodrigo Nogueira, it might be his vivid memory.
The
former PRIDE heavyweight champion, who has fought some of the
biggest and baddest men in the sport in 37 professional fights,
has never been stopped, even though he’s spent plenty of
time getting pounded and been in situations often that would
have stopped virtually all competitors.
Frank
Mir, who challenges Nogueira on Dec. 27 at the MGM Grand Hotel
in Las Vegas for the Ultimate Fighting Championship interim heavyweight
title, refers to him as being like a cockroach that can’t
be killed.
But
at 6-3 and 242 pounds, Nogueira’s got to be the biggest
and most dangerous cockroach on the planet, and based on credentials,
would have to be considered the second-best heavyweight in the
history of the sport.
Whether
he’s being powerbombed on his head by 360-pound Bob Sapp,
punched out by a prime Mirko Cro Cop, knocked down repeatedly
by a giant Tim Sylvia, caught in a kneebar by submission expert
Josh Barnett or on the receiving end of Fedor Emelianenko for
20 solid minutes, he’s always survived. And with a 31-4-1
record, with one no contest, he’s usually come out on top.
How?
When things get hairy, he starts thinking about what happened
when he was 11 years old.
“I
was at a birthday party and a truck backed up and the wheels
ran over my chest,” he recalls vividly. “I lost part
of my lung and my liver. I was in a coma for a long time and
in and out of the hospital for a year.
“For
sure, when I’m in a fight and having a hard time, I think
back to that time because that was the worst. No matter how bad
things are, my attitude is that it’s nothing compared to
what happened then. Thank God I survived it.”
Nogueira,
nicknamed “Big Nog” because he has an identical twin
brother, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira – “Little Nog”
– who fights mostly in Japan, is the only man in history
to capture championships in both the UFC and PRIDE. He’s
coming off an 11-month layoff, the longest of his career, to
face Mir in a five-round championship match. The winner faces
Brock Lesnar to unify the UFC heavyweight title, likely next
spring.
The
interim title was created after Randy Couture quit the company
as heavyweight champion in late 2007. To strengthen UFC’s
legal position against Couture, there was a clause in his contract
that said as long as he held the championship he couldn’t
fight for another organization, UFC wouldn’t strip him of
the title.
But
at the time, there appeared to be a good shot Couture would never
return to the UFC, so Nogueira and Sylvia squared off on Feb.
2 in Las Vegas to create an interim champion, who at the time
figured to be considered the real champion when all was said
and done.
Things
weren’t looking good for Nogueira through the first two
rounds of the fight. His left eye was nearly swollen shut. He
was knocked down and losing the stand-up, unable to keep Sylvia
on the ground. He lost the first two rounds. But in round three,
he caught Sylvia in a guillotine and came out as champion.
Despite
his Japanese fame, Nogueira was largely unknown in America when
he fought Sylvia. But after three months of television exposure
as a coach on “The Ultimate Fighter,” fans will have
more of a connection with him, and hence, it should greatly help
both his popularity and marketability in an industry where Brock
Lesnar and Kimbo Slice are huge draws, and the best pound-for-pound
fighters, Anderson Silva and Emelianenko, are not.
The
crowd reaction at the MGM Grand should be interesting. Nogueira
clearly came off better than Mir on the small screen. Mir’s
fighters took the early edge in the first round of the competition.
But when the filming of the show ended, Nogueira had three of
the four finalists, and because of a bet made between them, Nogueira
shaved Mir’s hair on the show’s final episode.
But
Mir is a native of Las Vegas who was a crowd favorite even during
the days he was seemingly down-and-out as a fighter after a broken
leg suffered in a motorcycle accident seemed to snuff out a once-promising
career.
“Eleven
months off, I don’t like that,” said the 32-year-old
Nogueira. “It makes you get out of shape. I was out of shape
when I got there (to do the reality show, which started filming
in late May). When I was training with the guys, I got motivated.
They were all hungry and gave me great motivation to train hard.”
While
Nogueira lives most of the year in Florida, he went back to Brazil
for his main fight preparation where he had a dozen strong training
partners, then headed back to Las Vegas last week’s “Ultimate
Fighter” finals.
Nogueira
is a 3 ½-1 favorite in the fight, largely because if you
look at the history of the two, Nogueira has never been stopped
and Mir usually has not looked good past the first round.
“He’s
strong at the beginning of the fight,” said Nogueira. “He’s
good with armbars and leglocks. I have to be cautious early on,
when he’s very good. His endurance is not as good as mine
and the longer the fight goes, it’s better for me. He’s
got good kicks as well, but I’ve been training a lot of
new things.”
Come-from-behind
wins are his specialty. He was dominated by Sapp in
2002
before 71,000 fans at Tokyo National Stadium in a fight that
made both men household names in Japan. Sapp picked him up and
dropped him hard with a power bomb, and the stunned Nogueira
took punishment on the ground for nearly 14 straight minutes
before Sapp finally ran out of gas and was armbarred. He had
a similar bout the next year with Cro Cop, in a match which at
the time was figured to determine who the second best heavyweight
was behind Emelianenko. Cro Cop, the most feared striker in the
sport at the time, was taking Nogueira apart with punches and
kicks, and seemed to have him finished at the end of the first
round.
But
Nogueira took the punishment, got Cro Cop to the ground, and
armbarred him as well.
Two
of his four career losses ended up being avenged: A controversial
2000 split decision loss to a much smaller Dan Henderson was
avenged in 2002 with an armbar; a 2006 split-decision loss to
Josh Barnett in a fight that could have gone either way was avenged
three months later with a close but solid decision victory.
His
only career black marks have been to Emelianenko, who beat him
by decision in 2003 to win the PRIDE heavyweight title. A rematch
in 2004 ended in a no contest, when after an accidental head-butt,
Emelianenko suffered a deep forehead cut and the match had to
be stopped. Nogueira believes he was en route to winning the
fight at the time. But a third meeting, on the 2004 New Year’s
Eve show, saw Emelianenko win another unanimous decision.
Both
losses were due to Emelianenko being able to muscle Nogueira
around, as even he never came close to finishing. Because of
those losses, he’s worked harder on weights and his boxing,
and has gained some size, which he feels would lead to a different
result if the two were to fight again.
Source: Yahoo Sports |
Michael
Bisping Talks TUF, Names Coaches
It
was a natural fit, with the announcement that the ninth season
of “The Ultimate Fighter” would pit the U.S. vs. the
U.K., that British fighter Michael “The Count” Bisping
would get the call to be the coach of the England based team.
Now
that the decision has been made, Bisping is already gearing up
for Jan. 17 when he will watch Rich Franklin battle Dan Henderson
for the other coaching spot on the show. Bisping is excited to
get back to the place that helped build his own career and put
the next batch of Ultimate Fighters on the right track.
“When
I found out I was going to be a coach, I was very excited. I
know I’m going to have a good time. I’m going to enjoy
it,” Bisping said in an exclusive interview with MMAWeekly
Radio. “I think it’s going to help me out as a fighter.
I enjoy coaching. It’s going to help my career, so everything’s
good. I can’t see any negative aspects to it.”
While
Bisping is genuinely excited to get the chance to coach the U.K.
team, he has no plans of taking it easy on his home country fighters.
“I’m
definitely planning on being a tough coach to be honest. I’m
going to train these guys the way I train for a fight. The people
are going to see I don’t mess around. It’s all business
when I train for a fight, and that’s the way I’m going
to train these guys,” he stated. “If anyone’s
coming on the show just to get a bit of airtime and be on TV,
then they might as well not bother turning up. Because there’s
going to be a lot of six o’clock in the morning runs, and
just a lot of hard work. Blood, sweat and tears, definitely.”
During
his appearance on the show, Bisping also disclosed the coaching
staff that will accompany him to the show to help bring along
the new fighters that will make up the team.
“It
was pretty much a no brainer to be honest. The Wolfslair coaches
do a fantastic job with me, so you know I’ve got to pay
homage to the Wolfslair, and I’m respecting my coaches,”
he said.
“So
on the grappling side of things I’ll be bringing in Mario
Sukata, who is my jiu-jitsu and my wrestling coach. Fantastic
coach, he’s a bit of a legend in Brazil, so he’ll be
doing that side of things, and Dave Jackson, who’s a Thai
boxing coach, he’ll be coming out there and helping out
with the striking side of things.”
The
former Ultimate Fighter season 3 winner also plans on inviting
some of the fighters from around the United States to come in
and help out as well.
“I’ve
got a lot of friends out in the States who might be stopping
by from time to time, coming in and offering their experiences,”
Bisping commented.
While
no date has been set for the newest season of The Ultimate Fighter
to debut, Bisping is expecting the filming to begin just after
Rich Franklin fights Dan Henderson on Jan. 17 in Dublin.
“I
haven’t actually got an exact day of when I’ll be traveling,
but I know it’s around the end of January,” Bisping
said. “So Jan. 17 in Dublin, (then) I’ll probably go
home, pack some things, throw some stuff in the suitcase, and
then yeah probably straight in out to Vegas, probably within
a week.”
Source: MMA Weekly
|
ProElite
Sale Details, Ortiz the Announcer
*
Sam Caplan is reporting at FiveOuncesofPain.com that a deal to
acquire the assets of ProElite is nearing completion. Sources
in the industry believe that the reason CBS/Showtime backed off
its plan to auction the company’s assets, move on with a
new MMA partner, and leave the financial backers of ProElite
holding the bag was potential litgiation regarding the foreclosure
transaction. The transaction may have been tainted by the fact
that Showtime’s Ken Hershman was/is a member of the ProElite
Board of Directors. As a result, he may have had a fiduciary
duty to disclose the pending CBS transaction to ProElite. Rumor
has it that rather than risk litigation CBS/Showtime canceled
the auction and made it clear to potential suitors that anybody
that wanted the TV deal would have to buy out/off ProElite.
* Yesterday Affliction announced Tito Ortiz as announcer on its
Day of Reckoning pay-per-view telecast on 1/24. The move has
been mildly panned with many speculating that Ortiz’s addition
will detract rather than enhance the broadcast. However, while
inexperienced as announcer, he showed potential as a television
personality during a recent appearance on Inside MMA on HDNet.
Ortiz was clearly well prepared and turned in a solid performance.
While a different form/format, the appearance suggested that
Ortiz might have a future as commentator.
Source: MMA Payout
|
Quote
of the Day
“We
are so vain that we even care for the opinion of those we don't
care for.”
Marie Ebner von Eschenbach
|
RYAN
BADER NOT JUST A WRESTLER ANYMORE
Ryan "Darth" Bader made his professional mixed martial
arts debut on March 31, 2007, and within a year's time the former
Arizona State wrestling stand out had racked up a 7-0 record
heading into The Ultimate Fighter season 8. With his technical
knockout victory over Vinicius Magalhaes in the season finale
to become The Ultimate Fighter, Bader showed he's not just a
wrestler anymore.
"What
I love about having that good wrestling base is that if I want
to take him down, I can take him down if I'm losing on the feet.
But, like the fight I had last Saturday, if I don't want to go
to the ground, which I didn't, I can keep it from going there
also. So, I just love having that wrestling aspect," Bader
told MMAWeekly Radio. "It's one of the hardest things to
learn. If you already come in there a well accomplished wrestler,
the stand up and jiu-jitsu game is kind of, you know, it's still
hard to learn, but it's a little easier than teaching that fifteen
years of wrestling to somebody."
Heading
into the bout with Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt, Magalhaes,
Bader had no intentions on taking the fight to the ground. "The
game plan was to keep it kind of in the center of the cage and
just pop-shot him here and there and try and land my right hand,"
said the two-time Division I All-American wrestler. "That
was the game plan and I went in there and it went exactly how
we predicted. Everything worked out perfect on Saturday."
"The
whole training camp we worked out with me not even going for
takedowns. Like I would be in MMA sparring with fresh guys coming
in and I just had it in my head that a takedown wasn't even in
the cards," explained the Arizona Combat Sports trained
light heavyweight. "Even if I was getting my butt kicked
in the stand up game, I just had to take it. We were just training
and conditioning my body and whatnot. I wasn't even thinking
about it. That was the game plan, to stand up the whole time."
The
game plan worked flawlessly with Bader landing a right hand that
sent Magalhaes to the canvas where the 25-year old fighter finished
with a series of hammer fists. "I felt that it hit pretty
hard, and after the fight he told me that I hit him in the temple.
My right hand is pretty heavy, and that overhand right just kind
of glanced off his wrist and hit him in the temple," said
Bader.
"Right
when it hit I knew that I had him, if not knocked out, I had
him hurt pretty good. And then I saw him fall and I got pretty
excited. But that thing clicked in my brain that said, wait,
he might be baiting you. Don't run in there. So, I just kind
of tried to gorilla stance over him and and throw hammer fists,"
he continued. "I was just trying to throw as many punches
as I could just to get the ref to stop it. He was curled up on
the ground. I knew it was going to end at that point."
Bader
plans to take three weeks off from training to let some injuries
heal up before heading back into the gym. The Ultimate Fight
8 light heavyweight winner commented, "I'm going to take
a good three weeks off from doing nothing because I had some
injuries going into the fight that I just want to heal up...I
was going to try to heal up so I'm 100% before I go back in there
and go really hard."
Source: MMA Weekly |
YOSHIDA
RECOVERING, PLANNING SPRING RETURN
Following a knockout loss to Josh Koscheck at the UFC "Fight
for the Troops" show, Japanese judoka Yoshiyuki Yoshida
was taken to the hospital and later released. MMAWeekly.com received
word from Yoshida's camp on his condition and his plans for a
return.
According
to his management team, Yoshida was taken to the hospital after
the fight for a CT scan, which showed no problem. At the time
of his arrival for medical attention, Yoshida actually had no
memory of fighting Koscheck, but about three hours later, upon
his release, he began remembering entering the Octagon and throwing
a left high kick at his opponent.
Yoshida
also received a large cut on his left ear that required more
than 20 stitches. The cut was result of a strike from Koscheck
early in the fight.
The
UFC provided Yoshida an extra day's stay in North Carolina, and
he returned home to Japan on Dec. 12. He is now resting at home
and will be heading back to the doctor to have an MRI done and
other neurological exams for extra care.
"Please
expect me to be much better in the next fight," Yoshida
told MMAWeekly.com. "This loss is going to make me a stronger
MMA fighter."
Yoshida
is very anxious to get back in the cage and fight again, but
his management and training team are shooting for him to be back
in the UFC around April or May of 2009.
Source: MMA Weekly |
UFC
92: EVANS AIMS TO SILENCE THE DOUBTERS
Most fighters will say that at least 70 or 80% of fight preparation
is mentally being ready for the battle ahead. One shining example
of a fighter who works to out-think his opponent before the cage
door ever closes is No. 1 light heavyweight contender Rashad
Evans, who is not only physically ready for his title shot against
Forrest Griffin, but he's as mentally prepared as ever.
When
the "Ultimate Fighter" season 2 winner stepped into
his fight against Chuck Liddell most people were somehow counting
him out before it even started. The Michigan native was happy
to disappoint, as he landed a thunderous punch that put the "Iceman"
out cold, giving him the win.
After
the fight, Evans credited his coaching staff of Greg Jackson
and Mike Winklejohn for coming up with the perfect strategy to
beat Liddell. The next fighter to break down will be Forrest
Griffin at UFC 92 on Dec. 27.
"We're
working on a gameplan and going over it extensively, me and Coach
Winklejohn and Greg Jackson. They see what I do well and they
just capitalize on that and try to make me do what I would do,
but just do it better and just add a few things here and there,"
Evans said recently during an appearance on MMAWeekly Radio.
He
understands all to well that Griffin is a much different type
of fighter than maybe anyone he's faced in the past. His fellow
Ultimate Fighter champion is seen as a hard worker and sort of
a "jack of all trades" when it comes to his MMA style.
"It
can be more difficult in some areas because he's just so well
rounded in all avenues, but it just means I have to step my game
up another notch," Evans commented about his fight preparation.
"He's definitely talented in all areas and he has a gas
tank that can just keep going and going, so I welcome the challenge."
The
camp at Greg Jackson's gym consists of the regular rogue's gallery
of training partners including Keith Jardine, Nate Marquardt,
Georges St. Pierre, Joey Villasenor, and Eliot Marshall. Still
despite an undefeated record and an overall impressive fight
resume, Evans will enter the Octagon on Saturday night as the
decided underdog.
"I
don't know if I like playing that role, but it's a role that
I've gotten used to," he said about being the underdog in
the fight. "I just learned not to pay it any mind. When
you're playing a favorite, you fight from a different position.
You're fighting from a position that everybody you're telling
about the fight is talking about, 'awww man, I don't even know
if I should wish you luck. I know you going to mop him up.' So
that puts pressure on you in a different kind of way.
"But
when you're the underdog it kind of puts pressure on you in the
fact that you want to prove everybody wrong."
The
biggest lesson that taught Evans how to battle out of that underdog
role was his 2007 fight against Tito Ortiz. In the bout, Evans
was admittedly giving too much respect to his opponent and not
fighting his fight, which cost him early on. Now, he feels like
he has the mental aspect of his game down as well.
"You
can't get to the point where you make it such a mental game that
saying, 'Oh I have to win this. This is my only chance. I'm never
going to get another opportunity, another title shot.' I'd like
to go in there and win the fight, but I'm going to go in there
and compete, and if I go in there and compete to my best then
the bi-product of that is going to be a win," said Evans.
"If things aren't going in my favor, I can definitely climb
that mountain again and enjoy the journey all the way up to the
top once more."
With
all the hard work and training winding down, Evans is simply
happy to get back in the cage and fight again and with a win
this time around, everyone will cease calling him "Rashad"
or even "Mr. Evans." He will simply be "Champ."
"That's
going to be the greatest feeling in the world. I can't lie,"
he stated. "To have that title, it just says that I put
in the work and I reaped the reward for doing that work and it
would just be an amazing feeling."
Source: MMA Weekly |
Jordan:
Leo Leite and Braulio in absolute final
Leo left and Carcara beats Vella in close semifinal
Leonardo
Leite and Braulio Estima go through to the absolute final at
Capital Challenge International, and fight tomorrow in Amman,
Jordan. The black belt weight-group disputes will also take place
this Saturday, in the Orthodox Club gymnasium.
Today,
before the eyes of princes and military leaders, the first day
of the championship saw more than a thousand spectators bear
witness to the event, with swarms of children carrying Jordan
flags and many hard-nosed blue and white belts. At 6:45pm, the
absolute black belt division kicked off with Leonardo Leite against
Igor Araujo, with the Alliance athlete winning by submission
(choke while passing guard). The judoka later went on to beat
Fabricio Werdum, with a guard pass (3 to 0), and submitted Igor
Silva (Brasa) with a choke from side-control.
In
the other bracket, Braulio Estima and Gabriel Vella went at it
to see who had the toughest bracket. Carcara from Gracie Barra
submitted Tiago Pereira with an arm-and-neck choke, went past
Charles Cachoeira with a fast paced 0 to 0 score, and reached
the semifinal with Vella. The Alliance athlete, on his part,
dispatched Cleber Lopes (Leao Dourado) and beat teammate Tarsis
Humphreys in an excellent fight (5 to 0).
During
the seven minutes of fighting, according to local rules, Braulio
and Vella had a hotly-disputed match, going from passer to guard
player, with Vella moving incessantly on top, and Carcara frustrating
his pass attempts. In the end, the three referees conferred with
each other, and gave the win to Braulio, to the dissatisfaction
of the Alliance team.
"Today
is my father birthday, I promised him the title", said (the
youngest) Braulio Estima.
Source: Gracie Magazine |
Survey
says: Silva best in 2008
Who
was the best mixed martial arts fighter of 2008?
There’s
no universally accepted way of determining a true No. 1, especially
when there’s no lack of quality candidates.
But
if you use the Yahoo! Sports monthly poll of the North America’s
best mixed martial arts writers, it was no contest. UFC middleweight
champion Anderson Silva took over the top spot in January and
ran the table en route to a UFC record nine-fight win streak.
Silva
topped UFC welterweight champ Georges St. Pierre and the world’s
best heavyweight, Fedor Emelianenko.
We
took each month of the poll from January through November and
gave fighters 10 points for a first-place finish, nine for a
second, and so on, down to one point for 10th place. Fighters
who placed in the “others receiving votes” category
in any given month did not get points.
The
results, along with the fighter’s 2008 record and point
total:
1.
Anderson Silva (3-0), 110 points: The UFC middleweight champion
took over the top spot in January, after voters were less-than-impressed
with Fedor Emelianenko’s win over inexperienced Hong Man
Choi on New Year’s Eve. Silva ran the table beat Dan Henderson,
James Silva and Patrick Cote and ran his win streak to a record
nine.
2.
Georges St. Pierre (2-0), 87 points: St. Pierre claimed the No.
2 spot in the rankings after beating Matt Hughes for the interim
welterweight title on Dec. 29, and kept it after beating Matt
Serra for the real 170-lb. crown in April. In one of the more
curious results in the poll, he dropped to No. 3 after beating
Jon Fitch in August in one of the most one-sided five-round title
fights in UFC history. He’s stayed at No. 3 in the rankings
since.
3.
Fedor Emelianenko (1-0), 84: Few dispute that Emelianenko is
the greatest heavyweight fighter in the history of mixed martial
arts. But he dropped to an artificially low rank of sixth in
May, in large part because he had not fought a quality opponent
in more than a year at the time. Emelianenko quickly reminded
everyone where he stands on July 19 with his awe-inspiring thrashing
of Tim Sylvia in Anaheim. He’s been ranked No. 2 since.
4.
B.J. Penn (2-0), 71: Penn shot up the rankings with a pair of
one-sided wins this year, the first being his lightweight title
victory over Joe Stevenson and the second his three-round tail-kicking
against Sean Sherk. Penn peaked at No. 3 in June before dropping
a spot.
5.
Quinton Jackson (1-0), 56: It almost seems hard to believe, but
“Rampage” spent the first half of the year ranked No.
3. Considering that he lost a close fight to Forrest Griffin,
his only loss in three years, it’s almost as hard to believe
that he’s dropped as low as No. 10 since.
5.
6. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (1-0), 51: Big Nog led a charmed
life in 2008, beating Tim Sylvia for the interim heavyweight
title in February with a third-round armbar after getting dominated
in the first two rounds. Then he spent the rest of the year on
the sidelines filming The Ultimate Fighter. He bounced between
Nos 6 and 7 over the course of the year based on how others fared.
7.
Urijah Faber (2-1), 50: The man who put lighter-weight fighters
on the map debuted in the poll at No. 8 in January and rose to
No. 5 before losing his WEC featherweight title in an upset against
Mike Brown last month. Faber won 13 consecutive fights before
the loss.
8.
Miguel Torres (3-0), 30: There are those who consider Torres
the finest all-around fighter in the world. The WEC bantamweight
champ debuted in the March poll after dropping Chase Beebe to
take the title, then gradually improved his position during the
year with solid wins over Yoshiro Maeda and Manny Tapia.
9.
Randy Couture (0-1), 23: The UFC Hall of Famer stayed in the
top 10 while embroiled in a legal dispute with the company and
didn’t fall out until August, when the poll’s one-year
inactivity clause kicked in. Lesnar put in a game effort in neutralizing
Brock Lesnar in their Nov. 15 fight until Lesnar caught him.
10
(tie). Dan Henderson (1-1), 16 points: Back-to-back high profile
losses to Jackson (in 2007) and Silva dropped Henderson out of
the poll, but September win over Rousimar Palhares was a reminder
that he’s not done yet.
10
(tie) Forrest Griffin (1-0), 16 points: Griffin forced his way
into the poll with his decision victory over Jackson to claim
the light heavyweight title.
Source: Yahoo Sports |
‘Rampage’
evokes rare anger from Silva
LAS
VEGAS – Wanderlei Silva doesn’t even attempt to hide
his disdain for Quinton “Rampage” Jackson.
The
culture of mixed martial arts is such that most fighters go to
extremes to praise their opponents, even when such praise isn’t
warranted. Silva follows that unwritten code religiously.
He
does, at least, under most circumstances. But when the conversation
turns to Jackson, Silva’s contempt for the man he defeated
twice in the PRIDE Fighting Championship can’t be controlled.
They’ll
meet for a third time on Dec. 27 at UFC 92 and, for one of the
few times in his career, Silva is doing more than a bit of trash
talking. The popular Brazilian doesn’t like Jackson and
is taking the bout far more personally than any other.
“There
are few very people I don’t like,” Silva said. “Very
few. Honestly. But of course, I don’t like this guy. I just
don’t care for him. He jokes at bad moments. He’s not
the kind of guy I like. And so I am very thankful that I have
the opportunity to fight him again.”
Silva,
the former longtime PRIDE 205-pound champion, scored a pair of
devastating victories over Jackson when both fought in PRIDE.
His knees and his kicks were the difference and in each fight,
Jackson needed to be saved by the referee.
The
losses haven’t humbled Jackson, who said in an interview
with UFC.com that he’s not afraid of Silva and that he doesn’t
expect Silva to get lucky again.
Jackson
didn’t speak as if Silva’s pair of resounding victories
over him would matter.
“I
think Wanderlei was very lucky the first two times I fought him,
but I think his luck ran out,” Jackson said during the UFC.com
video interview. “He don’t look lucky no more. He hasn’t
been looking lucky lately. His luck has run out.”
It’s
that kind of brash smack talk that has made Jackson one of the
most popular fighters in the world. But it’s also the kind
of talk that infuriates Silva.
And
though Silva will likely get a light heavyweight title shot sometime
in 2009 should he beat Jackson, that’s not his primary motivation.
He covets the belt, but not nearly as much as he covets putting
another beating on Jackson, the former champion.
That’s
why their fight figures to be of the most interest to those in
the MGM Grand Garden and those watching on pay-per-view, even
though it’s third on the card and two other fights will
come after it.
“Every
fighter wants to be [the champion] and I am no different,”
Silva said. “But whether I am champion or not, nothing has
made me work harder and train better than the opportunity to
fight this guy again. And you know what? I don’t just want
to beat him. I want to knock him out. Of course, I always go
for the knockout, but with this guy, this is very important to
punish him and get that kind of a finish. It’s going to
be a great fight.”
Both
men are predicting at least the Fight of the Night, if not the
Fight of the Year. And it wouldn’t be a shock were that
to happen.
Much
has changed since their last bout, which was held on Oct. 31,
2004, in Saitama, Japan.
Silva
has gone just 5-5 in his 10 fights since and has split his two
bouts since joining the UFC. He lost a slugfest to Chuck Liddell
at UFC 79 before returning to knock out Keith Jardine in just
36 seconds at UFC 84 on May 24.
Jackson
joined the UFC at the start of 2007 and won the light heavyweight
belt by knocking out Liddell. He defended it in a PRIDE vs. UFC
showdown against Dan Henderson before surrendering it to Forrest
Griffin at UFC 86.
Silva
concedes that Jackson is a far better fighter now than he was
when they last met. Jackson, though, won’t soon forget his
knees, Silva said.
“Every
fan wants to see this fight again because he’s a big guy,
a strong and tough guy, and he’s improved,” Silva said.
“He is a lot better now. He’s a different fighter.
My two fights with him I think were probably the two best fights
of my career.
“I
think he’ll remember my knees. My knees were very good.
I don’t think he’s ever forgotten those knees. But
I don’t have just knees. I can fight him many different
ways. My preparation for this fight, it’s better than ever.
My cardio, my mental training, my attention to the smallest things,
I have worked so hard on all of them. I want to give the best
show ever and I want him to remember me forever.”
Jackson
said he hasn’t forgotten and wants to exact revenge. Like
Silva, he also vowed to inflict plenty of punishment upon his
rival.
“If
I were Wanderlei, I wouldn’t be looking forward to Dec.
27,” Jackson told UFC.com. “I hope he has a great Christmas
and spends a lot of time with his family, because Dec. 27, the
28th and New Year’s, he ain’t gonna be too happy.”
It’s
that kind of talk, Silva said, that aggravates him so much. And
he’s happy he doesn’t have to hear it much longer.
“He’s
got a big mouth and he’s always out on the Internet talking,”
Silva said. “But we’ll see how much talking he does
once we fight again.”
Source: Yahoo Sports |
Cachoeira
celebrates Asian Cup
Fighter overcame Vella in heavyweight final
As
the old Japanese proverb goes, “even a thousand-mile journey
starts with a single tiny step.” Which is true. And the
path of Brazilian Charles Cachoeira, 27, on his way to the Asian
Super Cup title, in the United Arab Emirates, started with a
simple step: his signing up for the Abu Dhabi Pro qualifiers,
held in Porto Alegre, on November 2. There, the fighter planted
the seeds for the fruit of his labors he would harvest this December
13th, with his conquest of the tournament in the UAE, in the
+90 kg category, earning him 28 thousand dollars.
Days
before embarking for Abu Dhabi, anxious for the tournament to
get underway, Cachoeira spoke with GRACIEMAG.com about his expectations
for the competition. “For sure I’ll give my all in
Abu Dhabi and Jordan too, going for wins and finishes. If possible,
I also looking to represent Brazil well and show that even though
I’m from a small town (Tubarao, SC), I have what it takes,
strength of will and the character to be champion,” he said
in the interview.
In
his trajectory, Cachoeira managed to keep up his excellent performances.
In the qualifiers in Porto Alegre, he submitted all his opponents;
in the Emirates, Cachoeira didn’t have it easy. He faced
tough Alliance fighter Gabriel Vella on two occasions: in the
+90 kg category and in the absolutes. In his category, Cacheira
came up spades, winning by 9 points to 0. In the Absolute, Vella
came up best and won by 2 to 0 in advantage points.
“I’m
really happy about my conquest, I trained and prepared hard to
do well and be able to win the Asian Super Cup. It was a great
victory and a great step forth in my career. My two finals against
Gabriel Vella were very exciting and very important for my career.
I consider him to be a great athlete, and in the first final
in the 90kg category I had a bit of an advantage for him not
knowing my game, but he overcame me with good standup in the
final that followed, in the absolute,” said Cachoeira.
The
Asian Super Cup title also was of special significance to Cachoeira.
Queried about what went through his mind moments before the final,
the athlete revealed, “I only thought of winning and being
able to dedicate my victory to my great friend Moises Edgar Luiz
who died last month fighting at the South American championship
in Florianopolis last month. I came to Abu Dhabi to win and to
do this last homage to him.
According
to the fighter, the money received in the competition (28 thousand
dollars for the category and 600 for being runner up in the absolute),
will be saved. Ambitious, the black belt already has another
goal. “My desire now is to win Capital Challenge here in
Jordan. The repercussions of the event are really great and the
prize money is surely the biggest of all times in Jiu-Jitsu,”
said Cachoeira, who for 2009 hopes to manage sponsorship money
to fight at the Worlds and the European.
Source: Gracie Magazine |
Quote
of the Day
"Take
a chance! All life is a chance. The man who goes furthest
is generally the one who is willing to do and dare."
Dale Carnegie
|
The
UFC Does The Troops Proud
By Tim Ngo
December 10th was a big night not only for the UFC but for the
Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund as well. The event allowed the UFC
to raise over $4 million dollars for any military troops that
have been injured in any way protecting the United States.
Ultimate Fight Night For The Troops had over 2 million viewers
tune in to see Josh Koscheck score a KO victory over Yoshiyuki
Yoshida.
Fans
were then given a phone number that allowed them to call in and
donate money to the fund.
We
should expect more events like this in the future to help raise
money for worthy causes.
Source: Fight Line
|
Olympic
judo gold medalist Satoshi Ishii eyes UFC
by Suki
After all the speculation as to where Satoshi Ishii would go
-- DREAM or Sengoku -- it turns out the Olympic judo gold medalist
wants to join the UFC.
Ishii said Wednesday after a training session that he has decided
he wants to start his MMA career in the US. Ishii initially decided
on DREAM but has changed his mind because he couldn't give up
his dream to fight in the UFC.
"I
finally made up my mind," Ishii said, according to Nikkansports.
"The UFC is where I [want to] fight."
Ishii
has yet to debut in MMA but he's banking on his credentials to
land a fight in the biggest MMA promotion in the world.
"If
I was an unknown judoka, I would definitely build up my MMA experience
in Japan first," Ishii continued. "However, I've decided
to use my title as a Judo gold medalist. I believe my name value
will attract the UFC. I'm sorry that my indecisive behavior confused
the DREAM staff and fans.
He
understands that the UFC won't easily give out an opportunity
to fighters who don't have much experience in MMA.
"I'm
a white belt in MMA," Ishii said. "I understand the
possibility of starting in the WEC."
There
is currently no heavyweight division in the WEC, but it is not
inconceivable the UFC would not bring him in considering current
UFC heavyweight champ Brock Lesnar joined the UFC with only one
fight under his belt.
Ishii
plans on going to the US first before contacting the UFC. He
intends on going to Coconut Creek, Florida in March to train
with the American Top Team.
Source: MMA Fighting
|
Franca:
“I’m Really Excited to Fight”
Veteran Fighter Eager to Face Lauzon February 7th
By Kelsey Mowatt
On
February 7th, Hermes Franca will have another opportunity to
demonstrate that he is still a formidable presence in the Ultimate
Fighting Championship’s lightweight division, as the veteran
fighter will take on the up-and-coming Joe Lauzon in Tampa, Florida.
Since Franca (19-7) failed in his bid to lay claim to the promotion’s
lightweight crown against Sean Sherk in July, 2007, the veteran
fighter has gone 1-1, losing by Unanimous Decision to Frankie
Edgar this past summer, and then most recently, defeating Marcus
Aurelio via the judge’s scorecards at UFC 90 in October.
The 24 year-old Lauzon (17-4) has been impressive since he signed
with Zuffa, and has gone 4-1 thus far in the Octagon, with his
only loss coming at the hands of the highly regarded Kenny Florian.
“I
don’t care who I fight,” the 34 year-old Franca told
FCF. “I’ll fight anyone. I’m really excited to
fight because I get to fight in my hometown in Florida you know?
He’s a good opponent. He’s strong. I think it’s
going to be a good fight.”
In
addition to fighting in his home state of Florida, Franca’s
tilt with Lauzon will be the main event of the Fight Night card,
which as always, will be broadcast on Spike TV.
“I’ve
been fighting in the UFC for six years and this is going to be
my first main event,” said Franca. “So I’m excited.
I don’t want to disappoint my people. I don’t want
to disappoint my training partners and I don’t want to disappoint
the UFC, so I’m going to come strong.”
Although
11 of Franca’s 19 career victories have come way of submission,
the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt has also demonstrated that
he has heavy hands to accompany is somewhat unorthodox striking
style. His second round stoppage of Spencer Fisher, at Fight
Night 8 last January, provided a good example of this. As a result,
it will be interesting to see what sort of game plan Lauzon will
employ against Franca on fight night.
“I
really don’t care,” Franca said when asked for his
thoughts regarding Lauzon’s possible plan of attack. “That’s
why I train so hard because I don’t want a surprise. If
he wants to stand with me; let’s do it. If he wants to go
to the ground then he’ll be in my home. In any situation
I’m going to be comfortable.”
Franca
will head into his bout with Lauzon coming off his aforementioned
win over Aurelio, which, in addition to ending his 2 fight losing
streak, likely made this upcoming high profile bout a possibility.
“We
kind of had a beef before the fight,” said Franca, who at
one time trained under Aurelio at American Top Team, before leaving
the squad. “But what was more important was getting the
win. Any victory for me is better. It doesn’t really matter
if it was Marcus or another fighter, it was a win, and that’s
what’s more important.”
2008
will close out with Franca having only fought twice, a sharp
departure from 2006, when he fought 7 times over an 8 month span.
The veteran fighter maintains he would like 2009 to be a busier
year.
“12
fights,” said Franca when asked how many times he would
like to compete next year. “That’s what I wish. I’m
going to train hard and I’m going to look forward to 12
fights in 2009.”
Source: Full Contact Fighter
|
Quinton
Jackson Feels Loss to Griffin Helped Him
By Tim Ngo
During a recent UFC 92 conference call with the media, Quinton
Jackson was the attention getter for obvious reasons. Following
his run-in with the law and subsequent arrest, Jackson has since
parted ways with his former trainer/manager in Juanito Ibarra.
Many felt that the loss of his Light Heavyweight title to Forrest
Griffin this past July at UFC 86 was the breaking point for Jackson,
but he felt it actually had the opposite effect on him.
"My
last fight was the best thing that happened to me, I got rid
of some old baggage," Jackson said during the call.
With
an 0-2 record against his UFC 92 opponent, Jackson will look
to rebound from the Griffin loss and use a win over Wanderlei
Silva as a starting point to a re-match for the title he once
held.
Source: Fight Line
|
The
face of a (alleged) shooter
By Zach Arnold
Some
updates on the death of Justin Levens and his wife. First, The
LA Times reports the following:
A
handgun was found near Justin Levens’ body, and Amormino
said if it’s established to be a murder-suicide, the MMA
fighter was “definitely the shooter.”
KTLA
reports that Levens and his wife were due in court for an assault
charge, but that their bodies were found on the same day of the
court date. Read the article for further background.
Sherdog
reports that drugs were supposedly found at the crime scene:
Authorities
also took into custody what appeared to be prescribed painkillers
and anti-depressant medication, though they were not found in
the standard-marked pharmaceutical containers denoting whom they
belonged to.
Fox
11 has more on the drug situation. ABC News has a profile article
on the background of Justin Levens and how he got into MMA. The
article immediately tries to tie in the Chris Benoit situation.
AOL Fan House has more on the media coverage of this story.
Source: Fight Opinion
|
Nikolai
Valuev beats Evander Holyfield… by majority decision
By Zach Arnold
There
may not be a more pointless ‘big’ boxing fight booked
since… well, a few days when the re-match of Chad Dawson
vs. Antonio Tarver was announced. Because, as you know, Dawson/Tarver
I did really big business. Sure.
So,
how close was the Valuev/Holyfield fight? The score cards said…
116-112 and 115-114 for Valuev, a draw on the third card.
What’s
the controversy coming out of this fight? That Holyfield should
have won the fight. We’ll start with comments from Bryan
Armen Graham at Sports Illustrated. Boxing Scene has a report
headlined with this title: Nikolai Valuev robs Evander Holyfield
of historic title win.
Source: Fight Opinion
|
JAKE
SHIELDS OPEN TO ELITE, BUT WANTS UFC & GSP
by Tom Hamlin
Top ranked welterweight Jake Shields is tired of waiting and
wondering. He wants job stability, and more importantly, to establish
himself as the world’s best.
“I’m
just sick of not knowing when I'm going to fight,” he told
MMAWeekly.com.
In
recent months, Shields has had anything but stability. Since
the financial woes of ProElite virtually closed the organization
and put a lock down on communications with its fighters, Shields
has been in the dark about his future.
“No
one really knows what’s going on,” he said. “I
keep hearing they’re coming back in a couple of days, but
I’ve been hearing that for weeks though, so it’s getting
a little bit frustrating.”
To
keep himself busy, Shields has focused on a gym he recently opened
in Berkeley, Calif., a block from the University of California
campus. He’s training every day, waiting for a conclusion
to the saga that’s placed him in limbo.
Shields’
search for stability and top competition has led him, unsurprisingly,
to the UFC’s door. Though UFC president Dana White has expressed
interest in securing Shields, the organization has maintained
it will not attempt to break existing contracts. At the moment,
Shields says he’s “pretty much free” of his ProElite
deal, yet serious negotiations with the UFC have not taken place.
“I
feel like it’s been the top show for a while, and I feel
like most of the competition at my weight is in the UFC,”
he says of the Las Vegas based promotion. “The guys I need
to fight, like GSP, B.J. Penn, Jon Fitch, Diego Sanchez.”
One
option that Shields is not sold on is fighting in Japan. He spent
three years of his career there fighting for the Shooto promotion,
and that, combined with the experiences of friends and teammates
like Nick Diaz and Gilbert Melendez, make him hesitant to make
the trip again.
“It’s
difficult doing business with Japan,” he said. “They’re
really bad on last minute (fights), they’ll let you know
(with) two weeks notice, they’ve been doing that forever.
Everyone that fights over there talks about – even Pride,
two, three weeks notice, and that’s just not enough time
to train for a fight. That’s something I think the Japanese
do on purpose against foreign fighters to try and get an edge.
Stuff like that, and especially some of the shows have been paying
people late. I would fight in Japan, but it would have to be
a contract (with) more notice, and maybe some money up front.”
Should
he fight for the UFC, Shields wants to avoid climbing the ranks.
He's already fought for millions on CBS, and doesn’t want
to toil in the relative obscurity of an undercard fight.
“I’d
probably just stay on CBS than go fight on an undercard,”
he said. “That would make no sense for me at this point.
I would hope to step right up against a top fight. I’d love
to fight somebody like Diego or Koscheck or one of their top
guys for my first fight to show that I belong there.”
Shields
says his goal is to have a UFC title shot by the end of 2009.
He hasn’t lost sight of a bout with Georges St. Pierre,
the man widely considered to be the world’s best at 170
pounds.
“I
wouldn’t want the fights if I didn’t think I could
win them,” Shields said of UFC competition. “I’m
not saying I’m going to run through the guys, but I think
I can beat them. I think there are going to be some really tough
fights, but I see myself beating anyone out there right now.”
If
EliteXC, or something resembling it, comes back on the MMA marketplace,
Shields is open to fulfilling the remainder of his contract –
but at a price.
“I’d
be open to it,” he said. “But I think it would be time
to re-negotiate.”
Source: MMA Weekly
|
UFC
confirms full lineup for
UFC 92 'The Ultimate 2008'
The UFC 92 has confirmed the full lineup for its "The Ultimate
2008" year-end event on Dec. 27 in Las Vegas.
"The
Ultimate 2008" will close out 2008 with two championship
bouts along with Quinton "Rampage" Jackson vs. Wanderlei
Silva, a third meeting between the former champs.
Pay-Per-View
Card:
205
lbs. | Forrest Griffin vs. Rashad Evans (Title)
265 lbs. | Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Frank Mir (Title)
185 lbs. | CB Dollaway vs. Mike Massenzio
205 lbs. | Quinton "Rampage" Jackson vs. Wanderlei
Silva
265 lbs. | Cheick Kongo vs. Mustafa Al-Turk
Undercard:
185
lbs. | Yushin Okami vs. Dean Lister
265 lbs. | Antoni Hardonk vs. Mike Wessel
205 lbs. | Matt Hamill vs. Reese Andy
185 lbs. | Ryo Chonan vs. Brad Blackburn
265 lbs. | Dan Evensen vs. Pat Barry
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Matt
Hamill Training With Renzo Gracie
Matt Hamill has gone back to the drawing board. The stellar wrestler
came up short in his last outing at UFC 88 against former UFC
champion Rich Franklin in a performance that many felt lacked
heart and desire.
Hamill has since rededicated himself to the sport and in doing
so has been spotted training with Brazilian jui-jitsu legend
Renzo Gracie.
Hamill,
who trains regularly with Gracie disciple Bruno Tostes, appears
to be working on his ground game in preparation for his upcoming
match up against Reese Andy on Dec. 27 at UFC 92. Gracie, who
is the subject of an interesting new documentary, runs a gym
out of New York not far from where Hamill trains and could do
nothing but help the naturally gifted grappler add a new dimension
to his MMA arsenal.
Hamill
burst onto the mainstream MMA landscape with a controversial
decision loss to Micheal Bisping in a match up that many, including
UFC President Dana White, felt he won.
He
went on to dominate Tim Boetsch in his next outing at UFN 13
and appeared headed for a possible title shot before being derailed
by friend and mentor Rich Franklin at UFC 88.
To
his credit, Hamill never made excuses for the loss, but many
close to the fighter have stated that Hamill simply couldn't
fight someone he felt close to and he wasn't able to pull the
trigger when he got into the cage.
Hamill's
next fight could go a long way toward determining his viability
as a UFC fighter. Should he win, Hamill can catapult himself
back into light-heavyweight prospect status along with the likes
of Thiago Silva, Goran Reljic, James Irvin and others. Should
Hamill lose however, his future with the UFC could be very much
in doubt.
Source: Fight Line |
KING
MO RETURNS AT SENGOKU 7
World Victory Road on Friday confirmed three more bouts for its
Jan. 4, 2009 Sengoku 7 event in Saitama, Japan.
The
event is headlined by a pair of previously announced title bouts.
Kazuo Misaki will face Jorge Santiago for the Sengoku middleweight
championship, while Takanori Gomi, despite losing his most recent
bout, will fight Satoru Kitaoka in a lightweight title bout.
In
bouts announced on Friday, making his third appearance at a Sengoku
event is Muhammed Lawal, know to the Japanese crowd as King Mo.
He faces a tough Yukiya Naito. Although Lawal is 2-0, Naito should
be a stern test. The Japanese fighter maintains a 15-4-2 professional
record and is currently riding a six-fight winning streak.
The
two other bouts revealed on Friday pit Maximo Blanco against
Seigo Inoue and Hidetada Irie vs. Minoru Kato.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
|