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(All events on Oahu, unless noted)
2010
February
BJJ Tournament
(tba)
2009
12/5/09
Aloha
State Championship
of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
(BJJ & Sub Grappling)
(Kaiser H.S. Gym)
11/21/09
LIGHTS OUT
Kekuaokalani Gym, Kailua Kona, Hawaii
UFC
106
(Mandalay Bay Events Center, Las Vegas)
11/14/09
UFC
105
(United Kingdom)
11/8/09
X-1 Scuffle at Schofield
(MMA)
(Tropics, Schofield Barracks)
11/7/09
Mad Skills
(Kickboxing/Triple Threat)
(Waiphu Filcom)
11/6/09
Up & Up
(MMA)
(Kapolei High School)
11/1/09
Boxing
(Palolo District Park Gym)
10/31/09
H.A.P.A.
Hawaii Amateur Pankration Association
Hit-And-Submit
#4
(Pankration)
(Filcom Center, Waipahu)
10/30/09
Niko's MMA Event
(MMA)
(Veterans Hall, Keehi Lagoon)
10/24/09
X-1:
Scuffle on Schofield 2: Homebound Heroes
Press conference, autograph signing & picture taking
(Tropics Rec Center, Schofield Air Force Base, Wahiawa)
UFC
104
(Staples Center, Los Angeles)
10/18/09
NAGA
Hawaii
(BJJ/Sub Grappling)
(Pearl City H.S. Gym)
10/17/09
Just Scrap
(MMA)
(Hilo Civic Auditorium, Hilo)
10/10/09
Man Up & Stand Up
(Kickboxing)
(Waipahu Filcom)
10/3/09
Destiny Unfinished Business
(MMA)
(Waipahu Filcom)
9/19/09
UFC
103
(American Airlines Center, Dallas)
9/16/09
UFC
Fight Night 19
(Cox Convention Center, Oklahoma City)
9/12/09
Hawaiian
Open Championship
of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
(BJJ & Sub Grappling)
(Kaiser H.S. Gym)
Up & Up
(MMA)
(Blaisdell Arena)
8/29/09
MAUI OPEN 2009
Submission Grappling Challenge
(Sub Grappling)
(Maui War Memorial Gym)
Island Assult
(Boxing)
(Blaisdell Arena)
UF1C
102
(Rose Garden, Portland)
8/22/09
Destiny: Maui vs. Oahu
(MMA)
(War Memorial Gym, Maui)
8/15/09
Mad Skills
(Kickboxing & Triple Threat)
(Filcom Center, Waipahu)
8/9/09
WEC
(Las Vegas, NV)
8/8/09
UFC
101: Declaration
(BJ Penn vs. Kenny Florian)
(Wachovia Center, Philadelphia)
8/1/09
Affliction: Trilogy
Fedor vs. Barnett
(Honda Cetner, Anaheim, CA)
7/25/09
X-1
Scuffle On Schofield
(MMA)
(Tropics Recreation Center, Schofield Barracks)
Amateur Boxing at Palolo
(Boxing)
(Palolo Gym)
Gracie Tournament
(Kalaheo H.S. Gym)
**Cancelled**
7/23/09
JUST SCRAP
(MMA)
(Pipeline Cafe)
7/20/09
Dream 10: Welterweight GP Final
(Japan)
7/11/09
UFC
100: Lesnar vs. Mir
(Mandalay Bay Events Center, Las Vegas, NV)
7/10/09
Man up and Stand up
(Kickboxing)
(Waipahu Filcom Center)
6/27-28/09
OTM's 2009
Pac Sub
(Gi & No-Gi competition)
(Blaisdell Exhibition Hall)
6/20/09
The
Ultimate Fighter 9:
Team US vs Team UK Finale
6/13/09
Destiny
(MMA)
(Waipahu Filcom)
UFC
99: Comeback
Silva vs. Franklin
(Cologne, Germany)
6/7/09
WEC: Brown vs. Faber 2
(Versus)
6/6/09
Quest for Champions 2009 Tournament
(Sport Pankration, Sub Grappling)
(Kalani HS Gym)
Strikeforce: Lawler vs. Shields
(St. Louis, MO)
6/4/09 - 6/7/09
World
JJ Championships
(BJJ)
(California State University Long Beach, Long Beach, CA)
5/30/09
Event of the Champions
(Triple Threat, Kickboxing, Grappling)
(Elite Auto Group Center)
5/26/09
Dream 9
5/23/09
UFC
98: Evans vs. Machida
(PPV)
5/16/09
KTI's Scrappa Lifestylez
Scrapplers Fest
(BJJ/Submission Grappling)
(Kauai)
5/9/09 - 5/10/09 &
5/16/09 - 5/17/09
Brazilian Nationals JJ Championships
(BJJ)
(Carson, CA)
5/9/09
X-1 Kona
(MMA)
(Kekuaokalani Gym, Kona)
15th Grapplers Quest Las Vegas
(BJJ/Sub Grappling)
(Las Vegas, NV)
5/2/09
Destiny
(MMA)
(Waipahu Filcom)
Uprising MMA
(MMA)
(Maui)
May 2009
Abu Dhabi World Submission Wrestling Championships
(Sub Grappling)
(Tentative)
4/25/09
MMA Madness Water Park Extravaganza
(MMA)
(Hawaiian Waters Adventure Park, Kapolei)
4/18/08
Kingdom
MMA
(MMA)
(Blaisdell Arena)
NY
International JJ Championships
(BJJ)
(Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
4/11/09
Hawaiian
Championship of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
(BJJ & Sub Grappling)
(Kaiser High)
X-1: Temple of Boom
(Boxing & MMA)
(Palolo Hongwangi)
4/10/09
HFC: Stand Your Ground XII
(MMA, Kickboxing)
(Dole Cannery Ballroom)
4/4/09 - 4/5/09
NAGA
World Championship
(BJJ/Sub Grappling)
(NJ, Tentative)
3/28/09
Garden Island Cage Match
(MMA)
(Hanapepe Stadium, Hanapepe, Kauai)
3/27/09
- 3/29/09
Pan
Am JJ Championships
(BJJ)
(Carson, CA)
3/27/09
Tiger Muay Thai Competition
(Muay Thai)
(Tiger Muay Thai Gym, Sand Island Road)
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
Hawaii Amateur Pankration Association: "Hit and Submit"
(Pankration & Muay Thai)
(O-Lounge Night Club, Honolulu)
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)
2/27/09
X-1 World Events
NEW BEGINNING"
(MMA)
(Maui War Memorial Gym, Wailuku, Maui)
2/21/09
Destiny
(MMA)
(Filcom Center, Waipahu)
UFC
95
(PPV)
(London, England)
2/15/09
X1 World Events
Temple of Boom: Fight Night III
(MMA)
(Palolo Hongwanji)
2/8/09
IWFF
Submission Wrestling Tournament
(No-Gi)
(IWFF Academy, Wailuku, Maui)
2/7/09
4th Annual Clint Shelton Memorial
(Boxing)
(Palolo Gym)
Manup and Standup
(Kickboxing)
(Kapolei Rec Center, Kapolei)
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)
|
|
November
2009 News Part 1
|
Casca Grossa Jiu-Jitsu
is now the O2 Martial Arts Academy with 7 days a week training!
We are also offering Kali-Escrima (stick fighting) on Monday
nights with Ian Beltran and Kickboxing Tuesday, Wednesday and
Thursday with Kaleo Kwan, PJ Dean, & Chris Slavens!
Kids Classes are also
available!
Click
here for info!
Take classes from the Onzuka brothers in a family-like environment! |
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Club TV
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Tuesdays
at 8:00PM
Olelo Channel 52 on Oahu
Also on Akaku on Maui
Check
out the FCTV website! |
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
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To
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click here!
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O2
Martial Arts Academy
Your Complete Martial Arts School!
Click here for pricing and more
information!
O2 Martial Arts features Relson Gracie Jiu-Jitsu taught by Relson
Gracie Black Belts Chris and Mike Onzuka and Shane Agena as well
as a number of brown and purple belts.
We also offer a Boxing and Kickboxing classes with a staff that
is unmatched. Boxing, Kickboxing, and MMA champions Kaleo Kwan
and PJ Dean as well as master boxing instructor Chris Slavens
provide incredibly detailed instruction of the sweet science.
To top it off, Ian Beltran heads our Kali-Escrima classes (Filipino
Stickfighting) who was trained under the legendary Snookie Sanchez.
Just a beginner with no background? Perfect! We teach you from
the ground up!
Experienced martial artist that wants to fine tune your skill?
Our school is for you!
If you want to learn martial arts by masters of their trade in
a friendly and family environment, O2 Martial Arts Academy is
the place for you!
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Quote
of the Day
“Thought
is action in rehearsal.”
Sigmund Freud
|
Fighters'
Club TV Tonight!
Channel
52
NEW TIME of 8:00 PM!
If
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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
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‘Mayhem’
goes mainstream with Strikeforce
Even
though Jason “Mayhem” Miller’s life for the past
11 years has been based around fighting, he’s best known
as the crazy host with the over-the-top facial expressions on
the MTV pseudo-reality show “Bully Beatdown.”
Miller
is banking on the idea that on Saturday night, he’ll become
known past the MTV crowd with another tag: Strikeforce middleweight
champion.
The
28-year-old, who has lived a nomadic existence since discovering
fighting at the age of 17, faces Jake Shields on CBS in the first
major network live MMA broadcast in 13 months. Miller vs. Shields
will be the semi-main event underneath the much more hyped Fedor
Emelianenko-Brett Rogers heavyweight battle that Strikeforce
and CBS are counting on to draw a network prime-time level audience.
“I’m
really pumped that Strikeforce is doing a great show on free
television,” he said. “There are big names. That is
what the sport needs, competition for the UFC.”
The
card, which takes place at the Sears Center in Hoffman Estates,
Ill., just outside of Chicago, can be argued is the most important
MMA event of the year in terms of the sport’s future. Emelianenko
may be the best heavyweight in the game, and is arguably is the
best in MMA history. But he has yet to prove his in-ring talents
translate into business numbers.
If
the show doesn’t do well in the ratings, and CBS isn’t
in it for the long haul, Strikeforce’s future plans will
become tempered. If the show does well, it is a sign that a promotion
other than the UFC can put big-time numbers on the board, and
can do so without a Kimbo Slice-type freak-show attraction.
Miller,
who fought once in the UFC, losing on a decision to Georges St.
Pierre in 2005 – before the sport exploded in popularity
– doesn’t see himself as a good fit for that organization.
He’s been a part of network television extravaganzas in
Japan the past two years. But since the boom of MMA in North
America, this will be his first fight before a large U.S. television
audience.
“I’m
the heavy underdog but I don’t see it that way, but I’m
happy to be in that position,” said Miller (22-6, 1 no-contest),
where the line is coming in at just under 3-to-1 against him.
“I think my submissions and wrestling can match up to him
and my kickboxing is definitely a significant advantage that
I have.”
Shields
(23-4-1) is a former San Francisco State University wrestler,
who now trains under Caesar Gracie along with his roommate, Gilbert
Melendez and Nick and Nate Diaz. Shields may be the best former
college wrestler in the sport at adapting to jiu-jitsu. He’s
won a number of jiu-jitsu tournaments and placed third in the
Abu Dhabi world submission championships in 2005. And Shields
has markedly improved his ground game since that time.
On
the ground, Shields is deadly. On the feet, though, he’s
human. But as simple as it sounds to just keep Shields standing,
he’s working on a 12-fight winning streak, dating back nearly
five years, and was the welterweight champion of the Elite XC
promotion. Shields beat Nick Thompson and Paul Daley by submission
on CBS shows last year. He has been generally considered the
best welterweight in the world not in the UFC for the past two
years.
In
Shields’ most recent match, he moved up to middleweight,
facing the Elite XC champion in that class, Robbie Lawler. Lawler,
with a good takedown defense and being bigger and a good slugger
was thought to have the style match-up to beat Shields, but Lawler
was ended up submitting to a guillotine in only 2:02.
“I
train all the time with black belts,” said Miller. “He’s
not going to show me anything I haven’t seen before.”
Miller
hope to bring with him a fan base from his Thursday-night MTV
show with an MMA theme that just ended its second season in late
October. The show did about 800,000 viewers for the original
prime-time showing, and with multiple repeats during the week,
the overall viewership was significantly higher, mostly with
teenagers and adults in their 20s, a key demographic CBS hopes
MMA will bring to its network on Saturday.
MTV
was auditioning prospective hosts two years ago for a show where
MMA fighters would garner revenge by beating up bullies, when
the producers were directed by YouTube videos of Miller. They
were so impressed with what they saw that he was offered the
job as host without even an audition.
But
Miller remained a fighter, most recently in Japan for the Dream
organization where he’s actually better known for his heavily
choreographed ring entrances than his fights. Like flamboyant
Japanese fighters Genki Sudo and Akihiro Gono, Miller comes out
putting on a show, looking like something more you would expect
from a Broadway musical than a fight event, but that type of
pageantry is popular on Japanese events.
Strikeforce
is going to allow him to do his trademark entrance, a new version
which he won’t give away ahead of time. His entrances often
involve dancing with people in monkey costumes, as Miller nicknames
his fan base the “Mayhem monkeys.”
In
a fight last year in Japan that he lost via decision to submission
expert Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza via decision, he came
out wearing a Hannibal Lechter mask, throwing fake money into
the crowd. When Souza got him in a heel hook, Miller smiled at
the crowd, gave a thumb’s up, and then escaped from the
move.
The
match was competitive enough that when Dream went to fill its
middleweight title after Gegard Mousasi (the current Strikeforce
light heavyweight champ, who faces Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou on
Saturday night) vacated the title, Miller and Souza were chosen
to fill the vacancy on May 26 in Yokohama, Japan. It ended in
a no contest when Miller accidentally kicked Souza in the forehead
while Souza was down, cutting him badly, to the point the fight
was stopped.
Most
likely, win or lose, Miller’s entrance will be one of the
most talked about aspects of the show, and will have people either
loving it for its creativity or hating it for making the event
seem less like a pure sports contest.
Miller
said he knew the sport would get this big back in 1998 when he
started buying tapes.
“I
remember waiting 20 minutes to download seven-minute fights and
going on Internet web sites to find out the news,” he said.
He
was originally from Fayetteville, N.C., and moved to Atlanta
to chase his dream. He said after he tapped Tito Ortiz in a training
session, that Ortiz wanted him to move to Huntington Beach, Calif.
and train with him. He spent a year living in his van outside
of the training center.
Since
that time, he moved to Las Vegas, then spent a few years in Hawaii working for Icon
Sports
as middleweight champion when the sport was drawing big crowds
regularly in Honolulu. He became a star when he defeated local
legend Egan Inoue in 2003. In 2006, he beat Lawler to win the
Icon Sports middleweight title with an arm triangle in the third
round. He lost the title lost in a brutal match to current UFC
fighter Frank Trigg.
In
2006, he did a freak show fight in Honolulu, where he faced a
6-foot-7, 350-pound Stefan Gamlin in a size vs. skill encounter,
tapping the giant out in 46 seconds with an arm triangle. After
the boom of regular major live events in Honolulu died down a
couple years ago, he moved to Orange County, where he’s
now based.
Source: Yahoo Sports
|
STRIKEFORCE:
FEDOR VS. ROGERS RESULTS & PLAY-BY-PLAY
Fedor Emelianenko, the number one heavyweight fighter in the
world, and Brett Rogers meet in the main event of Saturday night’s
Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Rogers. The event is a milestone for the
promotion, airing on network broadcast television as on CBS Saturday
Night Fights.
The
non-televised preliminary bouts are scheduled to begin at 4 p.m.
PT/7 p.m. ET. The main card airs on CBS live at 9 p.m. ET, but
is tape delayed on the West Coast.
MMAWeekly.com
is live in suburban Chicago to bring you results, live play-by-play
from the event as it happens. Refresh your browser window frequently
for the latest updates...
FEDOR
VS. ROGERS PLAY-BY-PLAY:
FEDOR
VS. ROGERS RESULTS:
-Fedor
Emelianenko vs. Bret Rogers
R1- Fedor gets a hold of Rogers early and tosses him to the ground,
but Rogers is quick to his feet. Rogers presses Fedor against
the cage, but they soon separate. Fedor connects with a big right
hand hurting Rogers. Fedor swarms and gets the fight to the ground
where he works from Rogers' half guard. Fedor goes for a kimura
and Rogers reverses, landing and top reigning down huge bombs.
Fedor goes for an armbar, but Rogers slips out. Fedor goes for
a head and arm choke, but Rogers is able to slip out and pull
full guard. Fedor moves out and swoops back in for a big punch
but misses. The round ends with Fedor on top of Rogers.
MMAWeekly scores R1 10-9 Fedor Emelianenko
R2-
Fedor starts to stalk forward with Rogers backing up. The two
engage and Fedor opens up a barrage of punches, mostly blocked
by Rogers and Rogers is quick to fire back. Fedor blasts Rogers
with a huge right hand that sends the big man down. Fedor follows
up with a few more strikes before referee John McCarthy saw enough
to stop the fight.
Fedor
Emelianenko def. Brett Rogers by TKO (referee's stoppage due
to strikes) at 1:48, R2
-Jake
Shields vs. Jason Miller
R1- Mayhem throws a good punch that tags Shields, but he immediately
shoots in and lands a great double leg takedown. Shields takes
Mayhem's back and Miller tries to roll away. Shields lands in
mount this time, but Mayhem reverses and gets back to the feet.
Shields gets the clinch and drags Miller to the ground again.
Shields continues to pepper away until they stand back up and
Mayhem picks Shields up and slams him to the mat. Mayhem misses
a bomb and Shields seizes the opportunity to pop back up. Mayhem
gets a body lock and lands a nice suplex just before the round
ends. Super close round.
MMAWeekly scores R1 10-9 Jake Shields
R2-
Shields goes for the clinch early on, but Mayhem ends up getting
the body lock again and gets a takedown. Shields reverses and
the fighters scramble on the ground, and eventually Shields gets
mount before Mayhem again reverses and ends up with Shields on
his back. Shields wraps his legs onto Mayhems and then goes for
a Twister, but Mayhem rolls out. Shields maintains top position
and again moves to take his back. Shields goes for a rear naked
choke, but Mayhem defends well. Mayhem gets the reversal and
works from the top as the round ends.
MMAWeekly scores R2 10-9 Jake Shields
R3-
Mayhem opens up with a nice takedown to open the third, but Shields
gets up and gets a takedown of his own. Shields moves to side
control and passes easily to mount. Mayhem gets back to half
guard as Shields continues his ground onslaught. Shields takes
Mayhem's back yet again and Mayhem looks tired for a moment,
but then explodes and gets a reversal, landing in Shields' guard.
Back to the feet before a brief stoppage to re-tape Mayhem's
glove. Shields pulls Mayhem down again working for ground control.
Mayhem reverses and gets Shields' back locking on a rear naked
choke. The choke looks very deep but the round ends possibly
saving Shields from a submission.
MMAWeekly scores R3 10-9 Jake Shields
R4-
Shields again opens up with a takedown against the cage as he
tries to improve position on Miller. The crowd becomes restless
and eventually referee John McCarthy stands the fight back up.
Mayhem lands a good combo, but is once again taken down. Shields
moves to half guard and then side control, and then slips over
for mount. Mayhem rolls and Shields rolls with him taking his
back and looking for a choke. Mayhem continues to try and roll
away, but Shields is relentless on the ground. Shields maintains
position until the end of the round.
MMAWeeekly scores R4 10-9 for Jake Shields
R5-
Shields gets the clinch early and looks to take Mayhem down again.
Mayhem defends well for a moment, but eventually gives up the
takedown once again. Shields gets mount and then takes his back,
putting on a body triangle and working Mayhem over. Mayhem slips
out and stands up for a second, but it's back to the ground courtesy
of Shields. Shields keeps pushing with the clinch on the ground
as the fight comes to a close.
MMAWeekly scores R5 10-9 Jake Shields
Jake
Shields def. Jason Miller by unanimous decision (48-47, 49-46,
49-46)
Jake Shields is the new Strikeforce middleweight champion
-Gegard
Mousasi vs. Thierry Sokoudjou
R1- Mousasi opens with a few high kicks, but none of them land
successfully. Sokoudjou seems willing to stand and trade with
Mousasi who accidentally hits him below the belt. Mousasi opens
up and staggers Sokoudjou with a good few shots, but Sokoudjou
uses his strength to force a takedown. Mousasi slips a great
reversal, landing in side control before they make their way
back to the feet. Sokoudjou locks on a guillotine, but Mousasi
slips out. Mousasi lands a beautiful heel trip takedown just
before the round ends. Very close round.
MMAWeekly scores R1 10-9 Sokoudjou
R2-
In the clinch, Mousasi puts together a great series of knees
to the legs of Sokoudjou. Mousasi pulls away and opens up a barrage
of punches as Sokoudjou defends, and then throws a combo of his
own. Mousasi goes for a takedown but Sokoudjou powers out and
lands in his opponent's half guard. Mousasi grabs a hold of an
arm for a kimura and doesn't let go until Sokoudjou has to give
up position and end up on the bottom. Mousasi finally gets a
few punches through and Sokoudjou finally turns away only to
eat a few more punches before the referee steps in to stop the
fight.
Gegard
Mousasi def. Sokoudjou by TKO (referee's stoppage due to strikes)
at 3:43, R2
-Fabricio
Werdum vs. Antonio Silva
R1- Werdum throws a high kick that misses to open the fight.
Werdum clips Silva to which Silva answers with a flurry of punches
that drops his opponent to the ground. Silva follows up and tries
to finish on the ground, but Werdum survives and Silva stands
back up. Another exchange and this time Werdum tags Silva with
a good shot, but Silva seems okay. The fighters clinch and as
they separate, Silva again throws a good combination. Silva pops
Werdum with another good shot when the fight hits the ground
again as the round comes to an end.
MMAWeekly scores R1 10-9 Antonio Silva
R2-
The fighters exchange again to open the round with Silva again
getting the better of the shots. Silva decides to play the ground
game a little bit and ends up being reversed and underneath Werdum,
but he defends and gets back to his feet. The fighters clinch
twice against the cage and Werdum is able to finally secure a
single leg takedown and begins work from inside of Silva's half
guard. Werdum moves to side control, tries for a kimura and then
rolls for a foot lock before Silva moves and ends up on top again.
MMAWeekly scores R2 10-9 Fabricio Werdum
R3-
Silva opens up the round with a few leg kicks and almost clocks
Werdum with a big knee from the clinch, but Werdum narrowly escapes.
Werdum swoops in again and lands a nice takedown, then moving
to Silva's back. Silva walks forward with Werdum on his back
and stands back up, but catches a hard knee as they separate.
Silva opens up a combination before Werdum tags him again with
another good knee. Werdum grabs the clinch again and pops Silva
with a knee and then drags him to the ground. Silva turtles up
and then rolls as Werdum passes into half guard. Werdum finishes
strong trying to pass guard and improve his position.
MMAWeekly scores R3 10-9 Fabricio Werdum
Fabricio
Werdum def. Antonio Silva by unanimous decision (29-28 on all
score cards)
-Roxanne
Modafferi vs. Marloes Coenen
R1- Coenen tags Modafferi early with a nice push kick, and as
Modafferi tries to engage again, Coenen drops her with a quick
punch. Modafferi recovers and ends up on top of Coenen, who swivels
her hips and locks on a tight armbar. Modafferi rolls to her
belly and has no choice but to tap out.
Marloes
Coenen def. Roxanne Modafferi by submission (armbar) at 1:05,
R1
-Jeff
Curran vs. Dustin Neace
R1- Both fighters open with some nasty leg kicks as Curran stays
aggressive. Neace lands a good body kick and Curran moves in
for the clinch. Curran lands two knees to the body and Neace
whinces in pain immediately and taps out, stopping the fight.
Jeff
Curran def. Dustin Neace by TKO (tap out due to knees to the
body) at 1:39
-Shamar
Bailey vs. John Kolosci
R1- Bailey wastes no time getting Kolosci to the mat to work
a ground and pound attack. Bailey does a good job of moving to
side control, but Kolosci battles and gets back to his feet only
to give up another takedown. Bailey rolls to go for a guillotine,
but Kolosci slips out and ends up on top. The fighters work back
to the feet and Bailey again gets the takedown, moves to mount,
but loses position and the fighters are back up again.
MMAWeekly scores R1 10-9 Shamar Bailey
R2-
Bailey slips a nice straight punch setting up another takedown
putting Kolosci down against the cage. Bailey and Kolosci scramble
and end up pinned against the cage with Kolosci trying to fend
off Bailey's takedown attempt. Bailey eventually lands it, and
as Kolosci is working his way up, Bailey throws an illegal knee
to a downed opponent. He doesn't catch Kolosci but the referee
pauses the action issuing a warning to Bailey, and a point deduction.
After the restart, Bailey again looks for the clinch as the round
ends.
MMAWeekly scores R2 10-9 Shamar Bailey
R3-
The third round brings another takeodown from Bailey who lands
in Kolosci's full guard this time around. The fighters get back
to their feet and Kolosci has time for one kick before being
stifled and taken down by Bailey again. Bailey spends the rest
of the round pressuring Kolosci for takedowns, with no other
action.
MMAWeekly scores R3 10-9 Shamar Bailey
Shamar
Bailey def. John Kolosci by unanimous decision (29-27 on all
cards)
-Louis
Taylor vs. Nate Moore
R1- The fighters trade a few shots early on and Taylor looks
for the clinch against the cage. Taylor throws a kick only to
be taken down by Moore, who begins to work from the top. Moore
moves to try and take Taylor's back, but he does a good job of
defending, but not improving his position much. The round closes
with Moore still trying to work for the back, but not much action.
MMAWeekly scores R1 10-9 Nate Moore
R2-
Taylor tries to land some big bombs to open round 2, but Moore
defends well and tags a few shots of his own before working to
take the fight back to the mat. Again, Moore is working to take
Taylor's back, mixing in a few knees to the body. Moore's perseverance
pays off as he sinks the hooks in and flattens Taylor out, and
starts working shots to the head and body. Moor continues the
punishment, and Taylor simply can't get out of the position and
taps out.
Nate
Moore def. Louis Taylor by TKO (tap out due to strikes) at 3:24,
R2
-Christian
Uflacker vs. Jonatas Novaes
R1- Uflacker lands an early takedown and works from Novaes' half
guard. Not much action on the ground as Novaes ties up Uflacker's
arms. A scramble for position ends up with Uflacker on his back
as Novaes goes for a leg lock, but loses it quickly and Uflacker
ends up back on top. The fighters are stood back up, and immediately
Novaes throws a high kick that glances Uflacker, before he shoots
in for the takedown again and the end of the round.
MMAWeekly scores R1 10-9 Christian Uflacker
R2-
Novaes puts Uflacker on his back early this time before getting
back to the feet and rapidly giving up another takedown to his
opponent. Uflacker lands minimal shots from the top, just maintaining
position, but Novaes can't battle out. An uneventful round grinds
to an end with Uflacker on top.
MMAWeekly scores R2 10-9 Christian Uflacker
R3-
Uflacker hits Novaes with yet another takedown to start the round.
With Uflacker working inside Novaes' guard, Novaes' throws three
consecutive kicks to the head while Uflacker's knees were on
the mat, clearly illegal blows. Uflacker remains down on the
canvas, clearly rattled from the kicks. Uflacker is given time
to recover, and the fight starts again. As soon as the fight
restarts, Uflacker puts Novaes down on the mat again. More inactivity
on the ground leads to a stand-up and then another takedown as
soon as the fighters are back up from Uflacker.
MMAWeekly scores R3 10-9 Christian Uflacker
Christian
Uflacker def. Jonatas Novaes by unanimous decision (29-26, 30-25,
30-25)
Main
Bouts (on CBS):
-Fedor Emelianenko vs. Brett Rogers
-Jake Shields def. Jason Miller by unanimous decision (48-47,
49-46, 49-46)
Jake Shields is the new Strikeforce middleweight champion
-Gegard Mousasi def. Sokoudjou by TKO (referee's stoppage due
to strikes) at 3:43, R2
-Fabricio Werdum def. Antonio Silva by unanimous decision (29-28
on all score cards)
Preliminary
Bouts:
-Marloes Coenen def. Roxanne Modafferi by submission (armbar)
at 1:05, R1
-Jeff Curran def. Dustin Neace by TKO (tap out due to knees to
the body) at 1:39
-Shamar Bailey def. John Kolosci by unanimous decision (29-27
on all cards)
-Nate Moore def. Louis Taylor by TKO (tap out due to strikes)
at 3:24, R2
-Christian Uflacker def. Jonatas Novaes by unanimous decision
(29-26, 30-25, 30-25)
Source: MMA Weekly |
COENEN
TAPS MODAFFERI, NOW TOP CONTENDER
HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. – The Strikeforce women's division
may have found a new No. 1 contender on Saturday night as Dutch
fighter Marloes Coenen made short work of short notice replacement
Roxanne Modafferi with an armbar submission at just over one
minute into the first round at Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Rogers.
Both
fighters came out aggressive early on, but it was very apparent
that Coenen was the taller and bigger fighter as she had quite
a bit of reach on the smaller Modafferi. A good push kick from
Coenen put Modafferi on notice that she could be in trouble from
such distance.
To
remedy the reach problem, Modafferi charged in with punches,
but instead got clipped by Coenen, dropping her to her knees
on the mat. Quick to get her senses back, Modafferi grabbed a
leg and got a takedown, but trouble loomed there as well.
Almost
as quickly as Modafferi landed in Coenen's guard, the Dutch fighter
swiveled around and locked on a tight armbar. Struggling to get
out, Modafferi fell flat on her belly as Coenen pulled harder
on the arm, forcing the tapout and a stop to the fight.
With
the win, Coenen likely earns a shot at current Strikeforce women's
champion Cris "Cyborg" Santos at some point in the
near future.
Source: MMA Weekly |
WERDUM
CONQUERS SILVA TO REMAIN A CONTENDER
In a battle to determine one of the top heavyweight contenders
to the Strikeforce title currently held by Alistair Overeem,
Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva and Fabricio Werdum fought
a competitive three-round battle on Saturday night in suburban
Chicago at Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Rogers.
Opening
the CBS telecast, Silva started out strong, using his size and
20-pound weight advantage to manhandle Werdum in the opening
round. Silva pressed his fellow Brazilian against the cage and
landed hard punches that dropped Werdum on a couple of occasions,
but he didn’t rush in to finish the fresh fighter.
But
as the fight wore on, Silva seemed to tire and to try and press
the action when the fight went to the ground, which he didn’t
do in the opening round. Werdum appeared to be the better conditioned
of the two to weather the exchanges, and slowly crept ahead of
Silva, constantly reversing position and deftly using knees from
the Thai clinch.
Neither
fighter was able to accumulate a great amount of damage, but
Werdum was much busier and more effective over rounds two and
three, winning a unanimous decision, 29-28 on all three scorecards.
Source: MMA Weekly |
Caio
Terra changes view to win again
No-Gi Worlds broadcast live online
The
No-Gi World Championship is this Sunday, and anyone who can’t
make it to the Long Beach Pyramid will have the chance to watch
the best parts of the championship live, on an internet broadcast
offered by the Budo Videos team free, nogi.com website.
It’s
a chance to check out the evolution in the games of a variety
of aces is coming along, like Caio Terra, a Cesar Gracie student.
Last
year’s light featherweight world champion (and runner-up
in 2007) Caio comments to GRACIEMAG.com about his expectations
for defending his title, with a curious revelation.
“I
like competing without the gi a lot – I just don’t
like practicing it. I’d rather train in the gi. But I’m
excited. The Gi Worlds is still bigger than the No-Gi one, but
a World Championship is a World Championship and the emotions
are always great,” he said.
“I’ve
been doing a lot of movement and I have some positions that may
surprise. Cesar led specific training and I trained with Nick
Diaz, Jake Shields, Gilbert Melendez, Nate Diaz, Matheus Andre,
Lana Stefanac, Barry Anderson, André de Freitas, Denny
Prokopos and other beasts. The one who helps me every day is
Samir ‘Careca’”, he said.
With
such tough training partners, you can tell why Caio is one of
the firm favorites. But he points out another fundamental factor
in achieving his second title: “This year I expect to perform
better. Now I have a totally different view of the style. I see
No-Gi Jiu-Jitsu as a very different style from the sport with
the gi. My game is totally different from my gi game, and I feel
I’m improving with every day.”
Source: Gracie Magazine |
Ninja
expects Dream return in December
Murilo
“Ninja” would fight on Dream 12, but decided to postponed
the comitment to help his brother Maurício “Shogun“
on his preparation to the fight on UFC 104. Focused on returning
to the rings, Ninja talked about his expectations to fight this
year. “I’m ok, training a lot to make a good show“,
guarantees, revealing where his next fight must be.
“I
have two more fights on the contract with Dream and maybe I’ll
fight this year, but if I don’t it’s fine, I’m
negociating with a Canadian and an American event, Shine. They
must answer me soon, but I’ll fight in December, that’s
for sure, I just don’t know in what event“, said Ninja,
who can also fight again in Brazil. “If I don’t fight
on Dream in December, I’ll fight in February, but there’s
still the Bitetti Combat in December, in São Paulo“.
Source: Tatame
|
Michael
Langhi celebrates the tough victory
The
year of 2009 is being perfect for the black belt Michael Langhi.
Besides shining on the main competitions of Jiu-Jitsu, the athlete
debuted with the right foot on Submission, getting the title
of the first Brazilian Without Kimono of CBJJ, that happened
last weekend in Rio de Janeiro. “I got very satisfied, because
I had never participated of a competition without kimono“,
revealed Langhi, on a quick chat that you see below.
What
did you think about your participation on Brazilian without kimono?
I
got very satisfied, because I had never participated of a competition
without kimono. That was the first time, but I was always training,
but unfortunally in all the timest hat this competition without
kimono happened I was busy with other stuff, as seminaries, like
these I made on Europe. I was very happy with my participation,
I could put my game and win.
For
how long did you train without kimono?
Before
I come to Alliance, Cobrinha and I trained once in a while, but
just a little. Here in Alliance, every friday the train is without
kimono, so I’ve been training without kimono for a couple
of years. When I was in Europe, I used to train four, five times
without kimono, they like it a lot up there... I’m excited,
I love to train without kimono and I’m adapting the Jiu-Jitsu
techniques to no kimono.
What
are the pans to the end of the year? Will you take some vacations?
No
vacations, dude... Actually, I’de like to compete the World’s
No-Gi, but I had an injury on my foot one week before the Brazilian,
I should have plastered, hold on, but it’s hard, I was crazy
to compete and I decided to go, but my foot got worse. I’ll
stop this week to take care of the foot, I won’t fight the
World’s.
Source: Tatame
|
NIGHT
OF UPSETS AS SENGOKU 11
World Victory Road on Saturday held its final event before the
big Japanese fight night, New Year’s Eve. Sengoku 11th Battle
proved to be a night of action, upsets, and even a little controversy.
The
main event featured a highly competitive bout between No. 3 ranked
featherweight Hatsu Hioki and a very tough Michihiro Omigawa
that ended in controversial fashion.
While
judging controversy has mostly been centered on the U.S. since
the UFC 104 main event between Lyoto Machida and Mauricio “Shogun”
Rua, Sengoku judges stirred their own controversy by awarding
a split decision victory to Omigawa.
Hioki
easily displayed the wider array of mixed martial arts skill
in the bout, attempting several submissions and showing a varied
arsenal of strikes. Omigawa, though, earned the judges’
nod, likely to due to his more powerful punches and landing more
damaging blows than those thrown by Hioki.
The
fight really seemed like it could be awarded in either fighter’s
favor without too much argument, but even Omigawa disagreed with
the judges. He took the winner’s trophy he received and
handed it over to Hioki’s corner, telling fans that he believed
Hioki had won the fight.
Sengoku
middleweight champion Jorge Santiago, in a non-title affair,
took Mamed Khalidov down early and was in total control with
his ground and pound attack from the top. Then, out of nowhere,
Khalidov threw a series of hammerfists from the bottom that hurt
Santiago, who then rolled off to the side, and was finished by
repeated heavy hands from Khalidov.
In
another upset, Jorge Masvidal manhandled former Sengoku lightweight
champ Satoru Kitaoka, brutalizing him with flurries of power
shots. He caught a Kitaoki kick midway through the opening round,
dropped the Japanese fighter to his back, then followed with
numerous hard right hands that knocked Kitaoka out cold.
After
the bout, Masvidal, who has now reeled off three straight victories
in Sengoku, said that he believes he deserves a shot at the belt,
currently held by Mizuto Hirota.
Top
10 ranked featherweight Marlon Sandro on Saturday put an exclamation
point on why he is considered among the world’s best. He
took out Yuji Hoshino midway through the opening round with a
combination of punches that ended with a right uppercut and right
hook that floored the Cage Force featherweight champion.
Dave
Herman ramped his record up to 16-1 with an impressive knockout
of Jim York. Herman was caught in an Achilles lock, but used
his free right leg to launch a series of chopping heel kicks
to the head and face that knocked York out.
Sengoku
11th Battle Results:
-Michihiro Omigawa def. Hatsu Hioki by Split Decision, R3
-Mamed Khalidov def. Jorge Santiago by TKO (Strikes) at 2:45,
R1
-Jorge Masvidal def. Satoru Kitaoka by KO (Strikes) at 3:03,
R2
-Tomoaki Ueyama def. Hirokazu Konno by TKO (Rear Naked Choke)
at 4:29, R1
-Kazunori Yokota def. Eiji Mitsuoka by Unanimous Decision, R3
-Stanislav Nedkov def. Kevin Randleman by Split Decision, R3
-Akihiro Gono def. Yoon Young Kim by Unanimous Decision, R3
-Marlon Sandro def. Yuji Hoshino by KO (Punches) at 2:33, R1
-Dave Herman def. Jim York by TKO (Kicks) at 2:25, R1
-Ronnie Mann def. Shigeki Osawa by Unanimous Decision, R3
-Ryota Uozomi def. Yuichiro Yajima by Submission (Armbar) at
1:06, R1
Source: MMA Weekly |
BONNAR
VS. SOSZYNSKI AT UFC 110 IN AUSTRALIA
Light heavyweights Stephan Bonnar and Krzysztof Soszynski are
expected to do battle at UFC 110.
MMAWeekly.com
learned of the match-up Friday from sources close to the situation.
Though bout agreements have not been signed, both fighters have
agreed to the fight and are expected to put pen to paper shortly.
UFC
110 has yet to be officially announced by the promotion but is
expected for Feb. 21 at the Acer Arena in Sydney, Australia.
Bonnar
(11-6) last appeared at UFC 100 in July, where he lost by unanimous
decision to former heavyweight champion Mark Coleman in the promotion's
blockbuster summer event. It was his second consecutive loss
on points after a setback to Jon Jones at UFC 94.
Since
emerging from the inaugural season of "The Ultimate Fighter,"
Bonnar has gone 5-5 in the Octagon.
Soszynski
(18-9-1) last appeared at UFC 102 in August where he lost a unanimous
decision to Brandon Vera. It was his first setback in four appearances
since emerging last December from the eighth season of "The
Ultimate Fighter."
The
bout's placement on the Australian card is unknown at this time.
Source: MMA Weekly |
Quote
of the Day
“He
that gives good advice builds with one hand; he that gives good
counsel and example builds with both.”
Francis Bacon
|
Fedor’s
legend grows with KO win
HOFFMAN
ESTATES, Ill. – Fedor Emelianenko rarely shows emotion before
or after his fights, and certainly not during them.
He
was true to form on Saturday at the Sears Centre, when he impassively
walked to the cage amid a raucous ovation, knocked out Brett
Rogers in mixed martial arts’ return to network television
in the U.S., and then looked as if he were about to fall asleep
at a post-fight news conference.
To
the imposing-looking Rogers, who suffered the first defeat of
his career when he was knocked down by a crunching right from
Emelianenko and finished on the ground at one minute, 48 seconds
of the second round, that is the secret to the Russian’s
success.
“What
threw me off was how loose he was,” Rogers said after the
torrid bout on CBS that had the sellout crowd roaring from start
to finish. “He was very loose and that threw me off.”
Emelianenko
has been a legend in the sport long before Rogers even gave it
a second thought. He raised his record to 31-1 with one no contest,
but entered the bout still largely unknown to an American audience
that only recently is discovering MMA.
The
sport’s hardcore fan base has known of him for years and
follows him passionately and devotedly. But the casual fan, who
might have only begun to follow the sport since “The Ultimate
Fighter” started in 2005, hasn’t had a chance to see
Emelianenko in large numbers until Saturday, when his fight was
broadcast live in primetime on CBS.
The
ratings won’t be known until sometime in the middle of the
week, but CBS did around 6 million viewers for its fights with
Kimbo Slice as the headliner in 2008, and it should do at least
as well with Emelianenko.
The
bout was also shown to the entire country in his native Russia.
But when a reporter prefaced a question about Emelianenko’s
relative anonymity in the U.S. with a statement about how he
is revered and worshipped in his homeland, Emelianenko finally
broke into a grin.
“I
think I’m better known in the United States,” he said,
grinning.
If
he wasn’t before, he will be now after a high-paced bout
that couldn’t have disappointed anyone who watched. The
crowd was sapped of much of its energy by the preceding match,
a middleweight title fight that was little more than a grappling
contest between Jake Shields and Jason Miller.
The
crowd was booing and not in a good mood as Shields and Miller
exited the cage.
But
as soon as Emelianenko’s image appeared on the video boards,
it was as if a switch was flipped and the crowd erupted in cheers.
Emelianenko, staring straight ahead with a blank expression,
walked to the cage and quietly awaited the bell.
“I
was more nervous than Fedor was, I think,” said Joost Raimond
of M-1 Global, which co-promoted the bout with Strikeforce.
Rogers,
too, was a bit nervous, and it may have been his undoing. For
all of his talk about taking the fight to Emelianenko, he couldn’t
get over the fact that Emelianenko was so calm. When the bell
rang, it was Emelianenko stalking Rogers and Rogers backpedaling,
which Rogers said he wouldn’t do.
“The
difference was he was more aggressive and I was giving him more
respect,” Rogers said. “He was playing the mind game
right. He was real loose. I didn’t come out aggressive like
I should have.”
Rogers
had won all 10 of his previous fights, nine by knockout. The
10th he won by submission due to punches. A heavy puncher smells
fear and preys upon it, but when Rogers saw Emelianenko moving
forward unafraid, it threw him off.
Yet,
Rogers established himself as a viable world-class heavyweight,
going toe-to-toe with the vaunted Russian for all of the first
round and much of the second. Rogers even doled out a good bit
of punishment on the ground, so much so that Emelianenko’s
forehead was filled with abrasions after the fight.
Emelianenko
never panicked, not even when Rogers had top position and was
firing hard punches.
“I
have big respect for Fedor,” said Fabricio Werdum, who won
a unanimous decision over Antonio Silva earlier in the night
and hopes to face Emelianenko next. “He’s the best
in the world. He has everything: great standup, ground. He has
so many knockouts and many, many submissions. He’s the best
in the world.”
There
was much talk of a rematch and Emelianenko didn’t seem adverse
to it. Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker said he’d sit down with
Emelianenko and M-1 officials in the next week or so and plot
out a strategy.
But
it’s pretty clear that Emelianenko’s next fight will
be a much bigger deal. He’s never been a big ticket seller
before and his pay-per-view numbers were atrocious, but the crowd
Saturday was clearly into it and the fight had to have been well-received
by those who didn’t walk away from their TVs after the dreadful
Shields-Miller match.
Those
who stayed were rewarded with an exceptional bout that is a hint
of things to come. Strikeforce doesn’t have a deep heavyweight
roster, but Coker hinted at several big signings at the post-fight
news conference.
One
more fight like that on network television and Emelianenko will
be able to carry a show by himself.
Yet,
he acted as if he couldn’t understand what all of the buzz
was about.
“MMA
is not dogs fighting in a cage,” Emelianenko said. “This
is a great sport. I like to meet my opponent and show that, first
of all, I respect him as a sportsman.”
Of
course, that respect ends when the bell sounds. In the city where
Michael Jordan became a legend by performing his best when he
was needed the most, Emelianenko did the same. He came through
in the clutch.
“Fedor,”
a grinning Coker said, “was phenomenal. It was a privilege
to watch.”
And
millions of others probably turned off
Source: Yahoo Sports |
Cro
Cop and Wanderlei fight same night
Croatian faces Rothwell at UFC Australia
After
his loss to Junior Cigano at UFC 103, Mirko Cro Cop hinted at
hanging up his gloves. On the occasion the idol from the days
of Pride, where he was GP champion, would admit he was no longer
the same. However, it seems he changed his mind. The fighter
was called up for UFC 110, to take place in Sydney, Australia,
on February 21st.
According
to MMAWeekly.com, Cro Cop will face off against Ben Rothwell
has a record of 30 wins and 7 losses.
Cro
Cop hasn’t had it easy in the UFC. After arriving in the
organization as a possible heavyweight contender, the Croation
lost two of his three outings. He then went three fights without
a loss, but at K-1 and Dream. Back in the octagon, he had a less
than convincing win and another loss.
At
the same event to mark the return of the former policeman kickboxer
since the knockout he suffered at the hands of Cigano, Wanderlei
Silva will see action against Yoshihiro Akiyama.
Source: Gracie Magazine
|
Marlon
Sandro with knockout at Sengoku
Randleman and Santiago lose in Japan
Remember
this name, Mamed Khalidov.
He’s
the one to overcome still-champion Jorge Santiago at Sengoku
11 today in Japan. The fight did not count for the title.
Playing
guard under Santiago, Polish national Khalidov did well on the
ground, and it was from there that he landed a potent punch to
the ATT representative’s chin, obliging the referee to interrupt
the fight 2:45 min into the fight, after a barrage of strikes.
“I
always dreamed of coming to Japan,” said the winner after
the match. The fighter now has 20 wins on his record and three
losses.
Santiago
went into the fight riding a nine-fight winning streak, and should
now be concerned about his championship belt.
Another
of the evening’s standouts was Brazilian featherweight Marlon
Sandro (15w, 1l), who overwhelmed Yuji Hoshino.
Now
Kevin Randleman lost to Bulgary’s Nedkov (8w, 0l) by judges’
decision.
Sengoku
11
Ryogoku Kokugikan Arena, Tokyo, Japan
November 7, 2009
Michihiro
Omigawa defeated Hatsu Hioki by splid decision
Mamed Khalidov defeated Jorge Santiago by technical knockout
at 2:45 min of R1
Jorge Masvidal defeated Satoru Kitaoka by technical knockout
in R2
Tomoaki Ueyama submitted Hirokazu Konno by rear-naked choke
in R1
Kazunori Yokota defeated Eiji Mitsuoka by unanimous decision
Stanislav Nedkov defeated Kevin Randleman by split decision
Akihiro Gono defeated Yoon Young Kim by unanimous decision
Marlon Sandro knocked out Yuji Hoshino in R1
Dave Herman knocked out Jim York with a high kick in R1
Ronnie Mann defeated Shigeki Osawa by unanimous decision
Ryota Uozomi submitted Yuichiro Yajima by armbar in R2
Source: Gracie Magazine
|
Thiago
aggressive and smart against Rashad
One
of the best UFC light-heavyweight contenders, Thiago Silva impressed
against Keith Jardine, and wants to keep the rhythm. Scheduled
to fight the former champion Rashad Evans at UFC 108, the Brazilian
spoke with TATAME.com and sharedhis expectations for the fight.
“Everybody
knows thay I’m an aggressive fighter, but I realized that
we have to be aggressive, but smart too. I’ll study his
game and find the easiest way to get the victory and I’ll
be done”, Silva guarantees, talking about his trainings
with Luis Cane, Kimbo Slice and Denis Kang, his nexts fights
in the UFC and the controversial Lyoto Machida vs. Mauricio Shogun
title fight. Stay tuned at TATAME.com.
Source: Tatame
|
Arona
injures knee; surgery is a possibility
Ricardo
Arona didn’t fight for more than two years, but he came
back winning on Bitetti Combat, that happened on September, in
Maracanãzinho, Rio de Janeiro. Besides the victory and
the proposals recieved after the triumph, an injury on the knee
may posptponed the plans to return to the rings. “My knee’s
ligament was totally broke, it’s serious“, revealed
Arona, talking with TATAME, that he may pass thru the surgery
table.
“I’m
coming from the doctor now, deciding what to do with my knee.
I’ll have to stop for a while, maybe I’ll have to make
a surgery... If I’ll make the surgery, will be for now“,
said the though guy, explaining how did he get hurt. “I
had a serious injury that got worse during the fight, when my
foot got stucked on the grid. It was the only thing that went
wrong and caused a lot of trouble“, said the ex Pride’s
fighter, who was rated to sign with Strikeforce. “I couldn’t
close any contracts because of that“, finished.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
SCOTT
SMITH WELCOMES BACK CUNG LE IN DECEMBER
Former Strikeforce middleweight champion Cung Le will make his
much anticipated return to the cage at the promotion’s year-end
show “Evolution” on Dec. 19 in San Jose, Calif.
The
heavy-handed Scott Smith, in his first appearance since a June
submission loss to Nick Diaz at “Shields vs. Lawler,”
will welcome the fighter/actor back to the cage.
Strikeforce
CEO Scott Coker confirmed the news exclusively to MMAWeekly.com
Saturday afternoon. MMAJunkie initially reported the bout’s
possibility.
In
September, Le relinquished the middleweight belt citing a busy
filming schedule as the reason he was unable to defend his title.
He had not defended his title since last March when he defeated
Frank Shamrock to win the belt.
The
37-year-old Vietnamese-born fighter recently had a starring role
in the major motion picture "Pandorum" starring Dennis
Quaid and Ben Foster and is due on screens this fall in the martial
arts flick "Tekken."
Coker
then told MMAWeekly.com that he would book the former champ when
his filming obligations lessened.
Smith,
30, migrated to Strikeforce last September when his EliteXC contract
was bought out by the San Jose promotion. The former union steel
worker and UFC veteran defeated Terry Martin and Benji Radach
before falling prey to Diaz.
At
press time, it was unclear whether the Le/Smith bout would headline
the December event.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
JEFF
CURRAN: "I AM DONE LOSING"
After a very tough stint in the WEC, Jeff Curran is ready to
get back into the win column. The Illinois resident makes his
Strikeforce debut Saturday night in suburban Chicago. Curran
recently signed a two-fight, non-exclusive contract with the
San Jose, Calif.-based organization.
Originally
scheduled to face Sam Thao, Curran will now take on late replacement
Dustin Neace.
“First
of all, the state of Illinois didn't seem he was reputable enough
and not enough fights,” Curran said of Thao. “So they
looked further into it and saw he had a pending suspension with
another state. We canceled it right then to look elsewhere.”
A
veteran of over 30 fights, Neace has fought frequently since
starting his career back in 2006.
“He
has decent BJJ according to his record, winning 14 by subs. But,
on top of that, he has 30 fights against a lot of good guys,
so he is game; not afraid to step in and take a challenge, which
is what I want,” commented Curran.
Having
lost his last four fights to a who’s who list of tough opposition,
Curran was released by the WEC. Looking forward, he is excited
to fight in front of his hometown.
“It’s
full circle man. I couldn't be happier than to do this in my
hometown in front of all my close friends, family, students,
and fans.”
After
his fight this Saturday, the “Big Frog” will step into
the cage again on Dec. 5. He will headline XFO 34 against Tomohiko
Hori, a veteran of ZST and DEEP in Japan.
“XFO
is my baby and I can't wait to help bring the show to the next
level with this fight. It's really a high level bantamweight
match-up that is legit enough to be in any large promotion out
there.
“He
is dangerous,” he said of Hori. “He trains with (Takeya)
Mizugaki and he is a great striker with good BJJ defense and
wrestling. This is exactly what the doctor ordered.”
If
Curran is successful in his upcoming fights, it could lead to
a re-entry into the WEC.
“I
am hoping for early to mid-2010 latest. If all goes as planned
I will discuss this mid-December with the matchmaker.”
Jeff
Curran is poised to rebound strong and get back into the win
column. He understands what’s at stake and he still has
something to prove.
“If
I can't win these next two fights, I don't belong in the sport
anymore. I want to show that not only I belong, but that I will
thrive in the division at the top levels for years to come. I
am done losing; done letting judges decide my fate. I will do
everything and anything possible to get back to the winning streak
that we are all used to. Stay tuned.”
Source: MMA Weekly
|
EVANGELISTA
EDGES GURGEL IN STRIKEFORCE
Fresno product, Billy Evangelista, kept his record perfect with
a tactical performance in defeating former UFC lightweight Jorge
Gurgel in the main event of the fourth edition of the Strikeforce
Challengers series Friday night on Showtime.
A
razor close fight throughout, Evangelista may have stolen rounds
from the aggressive Gurgel by landing several takedowns in the
bout. The closest point to a finish came in the second round
as Gurgel locked in a tight guillotine choke, but Evangelista
battled out to fight for another round.
Evangelista
countered well in the fight, hitting Gurgel with solid punches,
while mixing in a bevy of takedowns to keep his opponent off
balance. With the win, Evangelista moves closer towards a possible
showdown for the 155-pound title.
"Whatever's
next for me, I'll take it as it comes," Evangelista commented
about possibly taking a shot at the Strikeforce lightweight championship.
Always
his toughest critic, Gurgel was humble following the loss, while
taking time to thank his coaches and teammates for the work they
put in to get him ready.
"I'm
very embarrassed. I'll do better next time," Gurgel said
after the loss.
Pulling
a victory from the jaws of defeat, Shane Del Rosario somehow
battled out of an early knockdown to lock on an Omo Plata shoulder
lock forcing the tap from Brandon Cash in the first round of
a heavyweight bout.
Cash
came out aggressive early and landed a jaw dropping right hand
that put Del Rosario on the floor and immediately on the defensive.
Del Rosario did a great job of battle from the bottom, before
getting in the perfect position to lock on the omo plata and
getting the submission win.
American
Kickboxing Academy standout Luke Rockhold continued his impressive
winning streak with a rear naked choke submission of former "Ultimate
Fighter" competitor Jesse Taylor. Rockhold worked a beautiful
reversal after giving up his back, to lock on to Taylor and eventually
get the fight-ending choke.
Following
a year-plus layoff, Merritt Warren pulled off a heel hook submission
on San Shou fighter Thomas Diagne in the first round of their
lightweight matchup. Warren gave up a takedown, but immediately
looked for leg locks as the taller Diagne stood over him. Warren
snatched a leg and didn't let go until a yell and a tap brought
the end of the fight.
Zoila
Frausto used an active striking game to land the better shots
in her unanimous decision win over Elisha Helsper to kick off
the Strikeforce show on Friday night. Frausto threw a mixed bag
of kicks and knees to keep Helsper off balance all night en route
to a unanimous decision victory.
Strikeforce
Challengers 4 Results:
Main
Card:
-Billy Evangelista def. Jorge Gurgel by Unanimous decision, R3
-Shane Del Rosario def. Brandon Cash by Submission (Omo Plata)
at 2:57, R1
-Luke Rockhold def. Jesse Taylor by Submission (Rear Naked Choke)
at 3:42, R1
-Merritt Warren def. Thomas Diagne by Submission (Heel Hook)
at 3:49, R1
-Zoila Frausto def. Elisha Helsper by Unanimous Decision, R3
Preliminary
Card:
-Ben Holscher def. Johnny Goh by Unanimous Decision, R3
-Casey Olson def. Chris Culley by TKO (Strikes) at 2:36, R1
-Cole Escovedo def. Maurice Eazel by TKO (Strikes) at 1:47, R1
-Rico Altamirano def. Alex Trevino by Unanimous Decision, R3
(UPDATE
/ 10:15 a.m. PT, Nov. 7 – Added full listing of results.)
Source: MMA Weekly
|
JUNIE
BROWNING: IN HIS OWN WORDS
Since making his debut on “The Ultimate Fighter" two
seasons ago, Junie Browning has been the center of controversy
in just about every facet of his career. From glass throwing
to name calling to a recent arrest, he has made a name for himself
in the fight game more for his actions outside the cage than
inside, but following his recent incident in Las Vegas he says
he's ready to return to training and focus on his fight future.
Browning
was released from his UFC contract immediately following his
arrest in Las Vegas, and it seemed like the world could be spiraling
downward for the Kentucky native. Luckily, with the support of
his close friend and coach Shawn Tompkins, Browning was able
to put things back together. He recently signed with the Ohio-based
promotion “The MMA Big Show,” and returns to action
in November.
Never
one to back down from a tough subject, Browning opened up about
his recent dismissal from the UFC when speaking with MMAWeekly
Radio.
"It
was my fault. I don't have nothing against them. They did what
they had to do," Browning said about the UFC. "They
had to protect their image. They did as much as they could for
me and I (expletive) up, so it was all my fault. But I'll be
back. You can only beat up so many people outside the UFC before
they let you back."
While
The Ultimate Fighter has been a great vehicle for so many fighters,
Browning completely understands that his best chance to win the
show probably would have come two years after his appearance
when he would have had much more maturity.
"I've
always said I thought it was too much too soon," commented
Browning. "I didn't have that much experience, even the
two pro fights I did have I had within like the same month consecutively
pretty much. I just got enough fights to get on the show. With
me it's just a matter of time, has nothing to do with skill,
it's just time. The more time I get the better I'm going to be."
After
being arrested and subsequently released from the UFC, the former
Ultimate Fighter contestant looks back in retrospect and takes
full responsibility for his actions.
"Just
how dumb I am, and retarded mistakes I make," Browning answered
when asked what he takes away from the recent arrest. "Sometimes
it's not controllable for me to handle by myself. I'm trying
to get help; maybe I need to be on my meds. I get in the cage
and fight another human being for money; I'm not the most sane
person.
"There's
something wrong with all of us. I get kicked out of the UFC for
making a mistake, and some fighters can get in their truck and
lead the police on a five-mile car chase and they have to pull
him out at gun point and they're still fighting. We all make
mistakes."
Now
working out of the Tapout training center in Las Vegas with coach
Shawn Tompkins and fighters such as Sam Stout and Chris Horodecki,
it's the new focus that Browning believes will take him to the
next level. This time around, though, he's okay taking things
slow and easy, and the first step is his fight in The MMA Big
Show close to his hometown in Kentucky.
"It's
an unfortunate situation with the UFC, at the same time you've
got to make the best of it," said Browning. "The best
case scenario is that I'm going to have a lot more experience
in smaller shows, being in front of crowds, going out there and
putting on shows, getting to fight in front of my hometown."
Junie
Browning will make his return to action on Nov. 28 against Scott
Cornwell in The MMA Big Show at Belterra Casino in Indiana, just
outside of Cincinnati, Ohio.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Quote
of the Day
"I
not only use all the brains that I have, but all that I can borrow."
Woodrow Wilson
|
Strikeforce
Results: Fedor vs. Rogers
Sears Centre Arena near Chicago, Ill.
WAMMA
heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko defends his title against
undefeated Brett Rogers in the main event.
CBS
Bouts:
-
Fedor Emelianenko def. Brett Rogers via TKO (punches) - R2, 1:48
- Jake Shields def. Jason "Mayhem" Miller via unanimous
decision
- Gegard Mousasi def. Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou via TKO (punches)
- R2, 3:43
- Fabricio Werdum def. Antonio Silva via unanimous decision
Non-televised
Bouts:
-
Marloes Coenen def. Roxanne Modafferi via submission (armbar)
- R1, 1:05
- Mark Miller vs. Deray Davis
- Jeff Curran def. Dustin Neace via TKO (injury) - R1, 1:39
- Shamar Bailey def. John Kolosci via unanimous decision
- Nate Moore def. Louis Taylor via submission (punches) - R2,
3:24
- Christian Uflacker def. Jonatas Novaes via unanimous decision
Source: MMA Fighting
|
X-1
Lights Out in Kona!
Event: "LIGHTS OUT"
What: Sporting Event
Start Time: Saturday, November 21 at 4:00pm
End Time: Saturday, November 21 at 10:00pm
Where: Kekuaokalani Gym, Kailua Kona, Hawaii
Source: Kaleo Padilla
|
Billy
Evangelista Defeats Jorge Gurgel, Shane Del Rosario Remains Undefeated
At STRIKEFORCE Challengers
______________________________________________________________________
Rockhold,
Warren and Frausto all winners on SHOWTIME®
from the Save Mart Center in Fresno, Calif.
FRESNO,
CALIF. (November, 6, 2009) - One night before the monumental
CBS/ STRIKEFORCE/M-1 GLOBAL SATURDAY NIGHT FIGHTS Fedor vs. Rogers
event LIVE on the CBS Television Network, hometown favorite Billy
Evangelista defeated Jorge Gurgel via unanimous in the main event
of Strikeforce Challengers on Friday night on SHOWTIME.
The
two lightweights traded punches from the opening bell until the
waning seconds of the first round when Evangelista (10-0) took
Gurgel to the mat. But, in the final 30 seconds of the second
round, Gurgel landed a powerful left kick that sent Evangelista
to the mat. Just when it looked as if Gurgel (13-6) was about
to submit get Evangelista with a guillotine choke, the Fresno
native was able to escape with just a few tics remaining.
The
third round featured some back-and-forth action, and Evangelista
won by scores of 30-27, 30-27, 29-28.
"The
guy is tough, it was exactly what I expected," Evangelista
said. "He was very aggressive; I have to take my hat off
to him. He almost had me with the guillotine, but I was able
to get out. It was a great fight, what else can I say?
Gurgel was clearly disappointed with his performance.
"Billy
fought a great fight," Gurgel said after the fight to SHOWTIME
MMA expert commentator Stephen Quadros. "I expected to get
booed. I just wanted to get some respect from the crowd, and
I think I got that."
While
Quadros was impressed with Evangelista's showing, he argued that
Gurgel looked great, even in losing.
"It
was everything we expected it to be," Quadros said. "Evangelista
showed a lot of guts in this because he had to fend off the wild
hits and submission attempts from Gurgel. He showed a lot of
heart in this fight.
"But,
based on his performance, even in this loss, people still want
to see Jorge Gurgel."
In
an explosive fight that few thought would go past the first round,
Shane Del Rosario (9-0) defeated local favorite Brandon Cash
"Money" (5-1) via first round submission in a matchup
of two hard-hitting heavyweights.
After
getting floored with a sweeping hook from Cash, Del Rosario was
in trouble early, taking an onslaught of punches while on the
mat. But, the undefeated prospect was able to get up and turn
things around, getting the previously unbeaten Cash into an omoplata
and ending things at 2:57 of the first round.
"That
was pretty good," Del Rosario said. "I knew he was
going to come out swinging. He caught me pretty good, but I bounced
back. I've been working on submissions a lot, and I was able
to get one here."
Rising
middleweight star Luke Rockhold defeated fellow 185-pound prospect
Jesse Taylor via rear naked choke in the first round in the third
SHOWTIME televised fight of the evening. The fight almost immediately
went to the mat, with both fighters attempting submissions. Rockhold
(6-1) was able to get Taylor into the rear naked choke, and with
Taylor (13-5) refusing to give up and unable to escape, the referee
ended the fight at 3:42 of the first round.
"That
was by far my toughest opponent, and I rose to the occasion,"
Rockhold said. "I think I proved myself tonight, and I'm
ready for whoever they give me next. I tried to keep the fight
standing up, but I trained with a lot of wrestlers and I was
ready for it. "
In
the quickest fight of the evening, Merritt Warren (5-2) defeated
Thomas Diagne (1-1) via heel hook submission. With both fighters
grappling on the mat, Warren got Diagne, who initiated the takedown,
in a heel hook, forcing the French San Shou champion to tap out
at 3:49 of the first round.
"This
guy had crazy kicks, but I was more technically sound,"
Warren said. "I landed some really powerful shots on the
floor. I went for it, he was really slick and I couldn't get
a hold of him, but I got the heel hook and I went for it."
In
a hard fought female MMA match, Fresno native Zoila Frausto (4-0)
defeated Elisha Helsper (0-2) via unanimous decision. Both fighters
wanted to stand and trade punches, but the fight turned in Frausto's
favor in the second round when she landed a devastating right
leg kick to Helsper's face.
"My
head kick really turned it around for me," Frausto said.
"I knew she was going to be tough. She kept coming, but
I fought back. We both wanted to stand there and trade.
"I've
been working on my kicks forever and I'm just happy I landed
it right."
Also
during the telecast, former Strikeforce middleweight champion
Cung Le announced that he would return to the ring on the Dec.
19 STRIKEFORCE event on SHOWTIME.
"I've
been staying in good shape and I'm ready to get back in there
for the fans," Le said. "I'll be fighting for Strikeforce
on Dec. 19."
STRIKEFORCE
Challengers is a proving ground for up-and-coming MMA fighters.
The series is designed to provide today's top prospects with
the opportunity to step-up their level of competition and demonstrate
their ability in a nationally televised event.
Friday's
fights will re-air on Wednesday, Nov. 11 at 11 p.m. ET/PT on
SHOWTIME 2. The telecast will also be available On Demand beginning
Monday, Nov. 9, and running through Dec. 6.
Saturday,
Nov. 7 on CBS, the World's No. 1 MMA Heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko,
will face undefeated American powerhouse Brett "The Grim"
Rogers on Saturday, Nov. 7 LIVE on CBS Television Network (9:00
PM, live ET/delayed PT) from Sears Centre Arena in Chicago.
Simply
referred to as "Fedor" by fans around the world, the
Russian is one of the most dominant fighters in the sport. He
is a master of the Russian military combat system Sambo and boasts
a record of 30 wins, one loss, no draws with 16 wins by submission,
seven knockouts and seven decisions. The 28-year-old Rogers (10-0)
is a massive physical specimen standing 6-feet, 5-inches tall
and weighing 265 pounds. He possesses two of the heaviest hands
in the sport of MMA, an attribute that has helped him knock out
all 10 of his professional opponents.
In
other broadcast fights, Jason "Mayhem" Miller, also
known for hosting of MTV's hit reality series Bully Beatdown,
will face fellow submission specialist Jake Shields for the STRIKEFORCE
Middleweight Championship. STRIKEFORCE Light Heavyweight Champion
Gregard Mousasi, who is riding a 13 fight win streak, will face
light heavyweight Judo expert Rameau Thierry Sokoudjo in a non-title
matchup of two, hard-hitting KO artists. Plus, heavyweights Antonio
"Big Foot" Silva returns to action against Fabricio
Werdum.
Complete
STRIKEFORCE Challengers Results:
Main
Card:
Billy Evangelista def. Jorge Gurgel - Unanimous decision (3 Rounds)
(30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Shane Del Rosario def. Brandon Cash "Money" - Submission
(omoplata) - 1st Round 2:57
Luke Rockhold def Jesse Taylor - Submission (rear naked choke)
- 1st Round 3:42
Merritt Warren def. Thomas Diagne - Submission (heel hook) -
1st Round (3:49)
Zoila Frausto def. Elisha Helsper - Unanimous Decision (3 Rounds)
(30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Preliminary
Card:
Ben Holscher def Johnny Goh - Unanimous Decision (3 Rounds) (30-27,
30-27, 30-27)
Casey Olson def. Chris Culley - TKO (Punches) - 1st Round (2:36)
Cole Escovido def. Maurice Eazel - TKO (Punches) -1st Round (1:
47)
Rico Altamirano def. Alex Trevino - Unanimous Decision (3 Rounds)
(30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Source: Matt Donovan
|
Report:
Emelianenko, M-1 Launch Suit Against Affliction
By FCF Staff
According to a report by MMAPayout.com, Fedor Emelianenko and
M-1 Global have brought suit against Affliction Clothing and
Affliction Entertainment, for allegedly breaching its contract,
when it failed to proceed with its third event this past summer.
Affliction has since ceased operations as a MMA promotion.
The
August 1st, “Trilogy” event was cancelled after Emelianenko’s
original opponent, Josh Barnett, allegedly tested positive for
banned substances, and was subsequently suspended by the California
State Athletic Commission. According to the story by MMA Payout,
the complaint alleges that Affliction opted to cancel “Trilogy’
after a sponsorship agreement had been reached with the UFC,
despite the fact that Brett Rogers was “ready” and
“able” to fight Emelianenko.
As
a result, the complaint states that “Affliction elected
to serve its own financial interests at the expense of its partners.”
According
to the report, Emelianenko was to be paid $300,000 by Affliction
for the bout, in addition to travel and accommodation costs.
The Russian heavyweight was also set to receive a “substantial”
payment from M-1. The complaint also reportedly states that the
discovery process will look to “determine what discussion
and agreements” took place between the UFC and Affliction,
which may result in an amendment of the complaint.
Emelianenko
went on to sign a three fight deal with Strikforce and will fight
Rogers this Saturday in Chicago, Illinois
Source:
Full Contact Fighter
|
Great
Masters dream with BJJ in Olympics
By Samira
Bomfim*
TATAME.com
brings with exclusivity the opening of the International Jiu-Jitsu
Association. On November 19 a press conference will announce
the foundation of the organization, that’s leaded by the
Board of the Great Masters, composed by all the red belts of
ninth degree.
Until
now, the board has Masters João Alberto Barreto, Francisco
Mansur, Flávio Behring and Álvaro Barreto. According
with the great masters, all the red belts can be on the board,
if they graduated until Great Master Helio Gracie’s death.
“Sport
belong to everyone”. The Great Master João Alberto
says to define the Board’s motivation, and completes. “We
need an international organization to lead and make the sport
popular all over the world. No one can own Jiu-Jitsu”.
AIJJ
is a non profitable organization in Springfield, Virgínia,
to develop the sport so Jiu-Jitsu can be on top of the amateur
sports as Wrestling, Judo and others. The organization is on
Uncle Sam’s Land, and by the federal revenue laws, all the
finances has to be published on internet.
Besides
the board of the red belts, the organization will have the World’s
Board of Black Belts. Each country that’s on the organization
will have two proxies, so all teachers and athletes can have
a voice on subjects as chance of rules, championships locations,
that will be voted by the Great Masters.
And
the Great Masters’ work already began, choosing Sylvio Behring
as president of the World’s Board of Black Belts and John
“Papa John” Gorman, who already was executive director
of Gracie Barra, as executive director of the International Association.
Everyone who practice or like the gentle art dreams about Jiu-Jitsu
in the Olympics, and this is like Wrestling structure around
the world. It brings the credibility to Jiu-Jitsu so this dream
of Jiu-Jitsu in Olympics starts to be true.
*TATAME’s
international correspondent
Source:
Tatame
|
Randy
Couture on 'Solving the Problem, Solving the Puzzle'
by Michael David Smith
The
referee Big John McCarthy once described Randy Couture as the
most mentally impressive athlete in the history of MMA. The way
Couture talks about his preparation for his UFC 105 fight with
Brandon Vera explains why Couture has always excelled at the
mental aspect of the sport.
"The
enjoyable part for me is solving the problem, solving the puzzle,"
Couture says. "It's always kind of been what's intrigued
me about this sport -- solving the equation. Seeing each and
every opponent as a problem, he poses different things, different
strengths and weaknesses and figuring out how I match up with
that and what's going to put me in the right places to overcome
him."
Couture
says that as he watches Vera, he knows the way to solve that
problem is "make Brandon wrestle." And he says he hopes
beating Vera is a step toward solving the ultimate puzzle of
the light heavyweight division, Lyoto Machida.
"A
title run is solving a string of problems. Right now the best
guy in the weight class is Lyoto," Couture says. "Brandon
is definitely a step in that direction."
Source:
MMA Fighting
|
DALEY
EXPECTS TO KNOCK CONDIT OUT AT UFC 108
by Ken Pishna
It’s
been rumored for quite some time, but a welterweight bout former
Cage Rage champion Paul Daley and former World Extreme Cagefighting
champion Carlos Condit finally has ink to paper. The bout will
take place on Jan. 2 at UFC 108.
Daley
(22-8-2) enters the bout following a TKO stoppage of Martin Kampmann
in the first round at UFC 103. The bout in Dallas put an exclamation
point on Daley’s Octagon debut against an opponent that
Condit lost a split decision to earlier this year.
“(Carlos)
is a great fight for myself,” Daley told MMAWeekly.com.
“He’s a great, game striker. Like’s to have a
bang, has some good submissions, and a bit of wrestling.
“But
in my opinion, he’s a slightly worse version of (Martin)
Kampmann, in that I don’t think he’s as solid in every
area as Kampmann is.”
Condit
(24-5) hasn’t sat idly by, however. Following the loss to
Kampmann, Condit’s UFC debut, he returned in September to
another split decision, but this time it was a victory over Jake
Ellenberger.
Daley
doesn’t intend for Condit to go to a third straight decision.
“Of
course I think I’m going to win and of course I think I’m
going to win by knockout.”
UFC
108 takes place Jan. 2 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
The Ultimate Fighting Championship has yet to name a headline
bout.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
World
champion leaves Alliance
Find out the story, as uncovered exclusively by GRACIEMAG.com
For
about a month ago, one of the main point scorers at Alliance
academy has not been training with the team in Sao Paulo.
Gabriel
Vella, ultra heavyweight world champion and bronze-medalist in
the 2009 absolute, confirmed to GRACIEMAG.com he officially exited
the team.
After
a long conversation with our reporter, the fighter made his statement.
“As
in every family, in every household, it’s normal that problems
arise in relationships between human beings. For relationship
problems, I opted to leave the team. Dirty laundry should be
washed at home. I see no need to expose anyone,” remarked
Vella to GRACIEMAG.com.
And
what now?
“After
making my exit, I’ll return to training at Ryan Gracie academy,
with the friends I never left behind – my friendship with
them never ceased to exist. The curious part is that, before
he died, Ryan had called me up and said I could return whenever
I wanted no problem. It’s even crazy to say, he left everything
in order here, put Celso (Venicius) in charge of classes. It’s
as though he’d prepared everything (before departing)…”
So
Vella won’t be heading back to Gracie Barra?
“We
had a first meeting and even started to talk about that. I don’t
understand how Ryan’s academy isn’t associated with
Gracie Barra these days… After all, I always competed at
big championships under Barra. To me, it’s the same as Renzo’s
guys not representing Gracie Barra at championships. So we’ll
see. But for now that’s it, I’m back in the Gracie
family,” he said in closing.
Source:
Gracie Magazine
|
8
Questions for Junior dos Santos
by Gleidson Venga
With
wins over 2006 Pride Fighting Championships open weight grand
prix winner Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic, 6-foot-11 submission
specialist Stefan Struve and the respected Fabricio Werdum already
behind him, Junior dos Santos will soon face another difficult
challenge inside the UFC Octagon.
The
Brazilian heavyweight contender will face Gabriel Gonzaga at
UFC 108 on Jan. 2 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
Dos Santos discussed his expectations with Sherdog.com, as he
prepares for a fight that could launch him into title contention.
Sherdog.com:
Will your next opponent be Gabriel Gonzaga?
Dos Santos: Yes, and unlike last time, the UFC booked my next
fight soon, which I liked. Last time, it took too long. There
was nearly seven months between my fight with Stefan Struve and
the one with Mirko.
Sherdog.com:
Gonzaga has his base in jiu-jitsu and was a world champion, but
he also has vastly improved his striking and is very confident
standing. With the results you have been getting, do you think
he will accept a stand-up fight with you or attempt to impose
his ground game?
Dos Santos: Well, he’s a complete fighter and very tough.
He even fought for the title. I believe that his main intention
is to try and take the fight to the ground. But surely there
will be some striking between us.
Sherdog.com:
Since you came into the UFC, you have had no easy opponents,
with three wins against top competition. Do you believe Gonzaga
will be your biggest challenge so far?
Dos Santos: I had the opportunity to meet big names in MMA in
the UFC and will do so once again. Gonzaga is a very tough fighter,
and, besides being a great heavyweight, he’s developed his
technique. I don’t know if it will be my biggest challenge,
but it will certainly be one of them.
Sherdog.com:
An aspect that has been criticized in Gonzaga’s game is
his conditioning. Do you also believe that this may be one way
for you to achieve victory?
Dos Santos: The fitness in MMA, in my opinion, is the main aspect
you need to have good results. I’ll be ready to fight three
rounds with him. If he happens to get tired, I hope to make the
best use of it.
Sherdog.com:
If you defeat Gonzaga, you will have posted four straight wins
in the UFC, three of them against top fighters. Do you think
it would be time for you to challenge for the title, provided
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira is not the man holding it?
Dos Santos: As I said at other times, I’m in no hurry to
challenge for the belt, but if the UFC thinks I should, for sure,
I’ll be ready. I say this, of course, only if “Minotauro”
is not the champion, but I believe that will happen soon.
Sherdog.com:
Are you going to train for your fight in Bahia, Rio de Janeiro
or the United States?
Dos Santos: I’m already training here in Bahia. We don’t
know if I’ll stay here or if I’ll go to the United
States. I’ll know that this coming week.
Sherdog.com:
The public has not had many opportunities to see your jiu-jitsu
or wrestling skills -- two arts that you may have to put into
practice in this next fight. How do you evaluate these two areas
of your game?
Dos Santos: This next fight, there are going to be a lot of chances
to go to the ground. I train a lot of boxing and I like the striking,
but it’s not any different with the jiu-jitsu, wrestling
and muay Thai. I practice these arts very well. I know that Gonzaga
is a black belt in jiu-jitsu and very good at what he does, but
I’m training with the best ground fighter in MMA -- Minotauro.
Believe me, I’ll be ready if the fight takes place on the
ground.
Sherdog.com:
You spent a long time in the U.S. preparing for the fight against
“Cro Cop.” Do you feel like your wrestling improved
during that time?
Dos Santos: I felt like it did. Americans are very good wrestlers,
and I had the opportunity to train with fighters who have represented
the United States in world championships and even the Olympics.
Mark Munoz -- a great wrestler and a UFC fighter -- helped me
most. Surely, there was good development in my wrestling skills.
Source:
Sherdog
|
Roxanne
Modafferi Sounds Like the Happiest Woman in Illinois
by Ariel Helwani
Roxanne
Modafferi will get the opportunity of a lifetime on Saturday
night when she faces Marloes Coenen on the Strikeforce undercard,
and if time permits, the bout will air on CBS. But even though
her fight isn't guaranteed to air on network television, Modaferri,
who currently lives and trains in Japan, sounds more excited
than anyone to just be a part of the card.
If
you are curious as to just how excited the 13-4 fighter is, take
a look at the massive smile she is sporting in her latest video
blog, which was shot in her Hoffman Estates, Ill., hotel room.
And
if that isn't enough proof, check out some of her recent MySpace
blog posts, in which she talks about asking Coenen, a fighter
she defeated in 2007, for her autograph, as well as being too
shy to ask Emelianenko how to properly pronounce his name.
"So
I met Marloes yesterday and I got her autograph. She was like,
"I can't believe we're gonna fight and you're asking me
to sign your magazine!"
Then
I saw Fedor in Sports Authority with his Russian Posse (scary
guys with long beards! XD) and introduced myself and shook his
hand and got his autograph! Then we ran into each other again
at the doctor's and he kind of winked at me as I was leaving.
XD XD I was gonna ask him "How do I REALLY pronounce your
name?" but I was nervous and forgot. ^^;;; I must have seemed
like SUCH a fan girl..."
Now
don't let her not-so-menacing looks or enthusiasm fool you: Modafferi
is one of the best female fighters in the world who has earned
the opportunity to fight on this card.
And
while it is certainly refreshing to see and read about Modafferi's
excitement heading into Saturday's event, I hope she has coaches
with her who are reminding her that she didn't make the journey
from Japan just to rub elbows with some of MMA's biggest names.
Source:
MMA Fighting
|
UFC
has big problems with injured champions
Jon
Fitch is again without an opponent. Ricardo Almeida would be
his first opponent, but had an knee injury. UFC was fast and
set a rematch against Fitch and Thiago “Pitbull“ Alves,
but the Brazilian also felt the knee and is out of the combat,
scheduled to UFC 107, on December 12.
UFC
WITHOUT LUCK ON THE END OF THE YEAR
The
last events of the year are giving a lot of headaches to UFC
organizers. In a few weeks, an injury and confusions forced many
fights to be postponed or cancelled. Check below the biggest
“damages“ caused on the next editions of UFC and stay
on to more news about the event.
UFC
105:
-
Dong Hyun Kim x Dan Hardy – the Korean had an injury and
was replaced by Mike Swick
-
Peter Sobotta x DaMarques Johnson – a military appointment
forced Sobotta to cancel the fight
UFC
106:
-
Brock Lesnar x Shane Carwin – the heavyweight champion needed
to postpone a fight due a flu
-
Tito Ortiz x Mark Coleman –Coleman torned the knee and is
out of the fight, being replaced by Forrest Griffin
-
Paulo Thiago x Thiago Pitbull – the American Top Team’s
athlete was replaced by Jacob Volkmann and was scheduled to face
Fitch
UFC
107:
-
Quinton “Rampage” Jackson x Rashad Evans – the
fight between TUF coaches had to be cancelled because of Rampage
plans on the movies, and his possible retirement
-
Jon Fitch x Ricardo Almeida – a knee injury forced “Big
Dog” to be out of the combat
-
Jon Fitch x Thiago “Pitbull” – the knee attacks
again, and now the victim is Pitbull
UFC
108:
-
Anderson Silva x Vitor Belfort – Silva’s elbow surgery
may postpone the fight
-
Lyoto Machida x Maurício Shogun – Machida’s
hand injury postponed the fight
Source:
Tatame
|
Quote
of the Day
"The
robbed that smiles, steals something from the thief."
William Shakespeare
|
Strikeforce:
Fedor vs. Rogers Today!
Hawaii air time:
8:00-10:00PM
KGMB Channel 7
Strikeforce 11/7 Chicago (Fedor/Rogers)
By Zach Arnold
Venue:
Sears Centre Arena (Hoffman Estates, Illinois)
TV: CBS
Welterweights
(170 pounds): Christian Uflacker vs. Jonatas Novaes
Middleweights (185 pounds): Louis Taylor vs. Nate Moore
Welterweights (185 pounds): Shamar Bailey vs. John Kolosci
Lightweights (155 pounds): Mark Miller vs. Deray Davis
Featherweights (145 pounds): Jeff Curran vs. Dustin Neace
Women (145 pounds): Roxanne Modafferi vs. Marloes Coenen
Heavyweights: Antonio Silva vs. Fabricio Werdum
Light Heavyweights (205 pounds): Gegard Mousasi vs. Sokoudjou
Middleweights (185 pounds): Jake Shields vs. Jason “Mayhem”
Miller
Heavyweights: Brett Rogers vs. Fedor Emelianenko
Source: Fight Opinion
|
Mad
Skills Today!
Nov 7 Saturday
Filcom Center
Doors open at 6:30.
Weigh in
Nov 6th Friday
6:00
Blazin Steaks Kunia
Please bring ID.
If under 18 must bring birth certificate, and parent to sign
Waiver.
Zack
Shepard 175 Ikaika Sylva
Colin
Mackenzie GRUDGE MATCH Curty dirty
Nui
Wheeler 140 Freddie Ramayla
Phillip
Akui 175 Saichi
Bronson
Calpito 155 Vince Leopoldo
Kaniala
Stanton 170 Lenny Augustine
Wilfred
Balon 185 Chevez Autoke
Shawn
K 160 Richard Marsch
Nick
Correa 145 Shawn Burroughs
Kolton
Choyfoo 145 James Leole
Jason
Rocemar 150 Robbie Ostavich
Valenz
Schultz 155 Robert Lee
Jessie
Lindley 185 Kaeo Kawaa
Joe
Molina SHW Nalu Lavea
Justin
Burgess 160 Kaleo
Brandon
Pai 130 Jed Harwood
Isaac
Hoops (O2 Martial Arts Academy) 145 Ricky Plunkett
Jaren
Diaz 85 Christian Racquedan
Mike
Vinano 190 Kainoa Forsythe
Jordan
Fontez 140 – 150 Tony Perera or Mike Uemoto
Neil
Dacanay 170 Byron Eliana
Triston
Reballizsa 155 Joseph Enaena
Albert
Napoleon (O2 Martial Arts Academy) 205 Charles Wills-Albegguer
Bill
185 Mike Eli
All
matches and participants are subject to change.
|
Scuffle
on Schofield 2: "Homebound Heroes "
Today!
5pm
|
STRIKEFORCE
IN-DEPTH: FEDOR VS. ROGERS
by Jeff Cain
Top
ranked heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko makes his Strikeforce debut
on Nov. 7 headlining against undefeated Brett Rogers at the Sears
Centre in Hoffman Estates, Illinois.
For
Rogers it’s an opportunity of a lifetime. A win over the
highly regarded Emelianenko on CBS would skyrocket the hard-hitting
Minnesotan’s reputation and popularity.
For
Emelianenko it’s the chance to fight on network television
in the United States and further solidify his legacy as “The
Last Emperor.”
Can
Rogers land the shot that ends Emelianenko’s seven year
reign atop the heavyweight division? Will the Russian simply
take Rogers down and submit him? We’ll know those answers
on Nov. 7, but here’s a closer look at the match up.
STRIKING
The
striking is not clear cut for either fighter. Nine of Rogers’
ten wins are by technical knockout or knockout, and his one other
victory came by way of submission due to strikes. If there’s
one thing Rogers possesses, it’s punching power. He will
also enjoy a reach advantage.
Emelianenko
also packs a punch, but the majority of his thirty victories
were won by submission. Where Emelianenko has an edge in the
striking department is experience. The 33-year old has competed
against world class strikers, and nothing Rogers brings to the
table standing will be out of the ordinary for the more seasoned
Russian.
GRAPPLING
The
grappling aspect of the match up clearly favors Emelianenko with
his Sambo and Judo backgrounds and wealth of experience on the
ground.
Rogers’
ground game may be better than we know, but no one outside of
his gym has seen it. If the fight hits the canvas, expect Rogers
to immediately try to get back to his feet, and if he doesn’t
look for Emeliankenko to put on a grappling clinic.
CAGE
CONTROL
Rogers
may have the edge in this department due to being used to competing
inside a cage with it’s subtle differences from a ring,
but it will be hard to control the action facing a more well-rounded
opponent.
On
paper, fighting inside a fence enclosed environment seems tailor
made for Emelianenko’s ground and pound style. We just haven’t
seen him in a cage yet. His threat for a takedown and solid clinch
game should be enough to dictate the pace.
CONDITIONING
Emelianenko
has a proven track record for being able to go the distance.
He’s competed in tournament formats having to fight twice
in the same night. He was also accustomed to the ten minute first
round system used by the Pride organization in Japan. His conditioning
hasn’t been a factor before and I wouldn’t expect it
to become an issue now.
Rogers’
conditioning is somewhat unknown because he usually finishes
his opponents in the first round. He’s only gone to the
second round twice in his career, and hasn’t had to put
in a full seven minutes of work in a fight thus far, but that
doesn’t mean he’s the less conditioned athlete.
Fedor
gets the nod in conditioning because we have evidence that shows
he’s able to take bouts into the later rounds and not get
fatigued. Rogers may be able to as well, but like his ground
game, we just haven’t seen it.
THE
“X” FACTOR
Pressure
is not always a bad thing depending on how a person responds
to it, and how Brett Rogers reacts to the bright lights and main
stage stress could hamper or help him.
Fighting
a legend who has a more well-rounded skill set and experience
on his side could seem like a daunting task for Rogers, or it
could have the opposite affect leaving the 28-year old heavyweight
with a sense of nothing to lose.
This
is the biggest fight of Brett Rogers’ career. He’s
fought on CBS and high profile fight cards before, but has not
headlined one and certainly not gone up against someone like
Emelianenko. Pressure could factor into the equation for Rogers.
On
the flip side of the coin, Rogers isn’t expected to win,
so he may not feel any pressure at all heading into the cage
at the Sears Centre on Nov. 7.
KEYS
TO VICTORY
Rogers
needs to keep the fight standing and not show Emelianenko too
much respect. His best chance at victory is letting his powerful
hands go, using his reach advantage to keep the smaller Emelianenko
on the outside and look for the knockout.
If
the fight finds it’s way to the ground, Rogers has to avoid
submissions and guard passes and get back to his feet as quickly
as possible. In the clinch he needs to impose his size and strength
on Fedor without falling victim to a throw.
Emelianenko
has to be careful striking with Rogers, respect his punching
power and not stand in front of him. Fedor can win a stand up
fight with the younger Rogers but getting the fight to the canvas
is the path of least resistance to successfully remaining the
top heavyweight in the world.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
'Mayhem':
Shields Fight 'Has to Be My Masterpiece'
by Ariel
Helwani
Saturday night's Jake Shields vs. Jason "Mayhem" Miller
fight hasn't received as much promotional attention as the Fedor
Emelianenko vs. Brett Rogers bout, but it is certainly worth
our attention, especially since the winner will be crowned the
new Strikeforce middleweight champion.
In
a new video from E. Casey Leydon of AllElbows.com, Miller talks
about why you shouldn't underestimate him against Shields, who
has won his last 12 fights in a row.
"I
think Shields is a great opponent, but there's some glaring weaknesses
in his game," Miller said. "Mainly in his stand-up
and his being more one-dimensional towards grappling.
"Jake
has a problem in that he relies on his grappling way too much,
and you know, with most opponents, he can submit them. He's not
going to be able to submit me, and he's going to have a hell
of a lot of trouble taking me down. So it's going to turn into
a kickboxing match, and I'm a better kickboxer."
The
most interesting aspect of this video is not Miller's confidence
heading into Saturday's title fight on CBS -- that is to be expected
-- but it's the fact that Miller appears to have put his fun-loving,
jovial persona aside, while sounding extremely focused on the
task at hand. Kind of like a fighter ready to produce a high-performance
masterpiece in the biggest fight of his life.
Source:
MMA Fighting
|
UFC
11/21 Las Vegas, Nevada
Venue: Mandalay Bay Events Center
Broadcast: Pay Per View
Dark
matches
Lightweights
(155 pounds): George Sotiropoulos vs. Jason Dent
Welterweights (170 pounds): Brock Larson vs. Brian Foster
Middleweights (185 pounds): Kendall Grove vs. Jake Rosholt
Welterweights (170 pounds): Ben Saunders vs. Marcus Davis
Main card
Welterweights
(170 pounds): Karo Parisyan vs. Dustin Hazelett
Welterweights (170 pounds): Amir Sadollah vs. Phil Baroni
Welterweights (170 pounds): Josh Koscheck vs. Anthony Johnson
Light Heavyweights (205 pounds): Tito Ortiz vs. Forrest Griffin
Source: Fight Opinion
|
Patrick
Cote Looking for “Big Fight” in 2010
By Kelsey Mowatt
It’s
been a frustrating year for Patrick Cote, to say the least, as
after climbing his way into a title shot against Anderson Silva
in 2008, the Canadian will go through 2009 without a fight. Cote
took Silva into the third round of their UFC 90 bout last October,
but an unfortunate knee injury brought the bout to a close, ending
Cote’s five fight winning streak. The 29 year-old-fighter
had hoped to return earlier this year, but after another knee
injury forced Cote to undergo surgery once again, the former
TUF competitor has been on the sidelines ever since.
“The
healing is going very, very, good,” Cote recently told FCF.
“My knee is very strong now and it’s just a question
of time before I can do fight training.”
“Injury
is the worst thing ever,” said Cote, who is hoping to return
in April, 2010. “But I'm very strong mentally and I have
good people around me; so I’ll easily go through all this
and run after the belt again soon!”
In
keeping with statements he made earlier this year, when Cote
was hoping to return from the initial injury he incurred against
Silva, the middleweight is still hoping to fight top notch competition
next. Cote’s earned his title shot through defeating Ricardo
Almeida by Split Decision, at UFC 86 in July, 2008.
“I
want a big fight right away,” Cote said. “A comeback
fight doesn’t interest me. But I will follow what the UFC
will give me and get back on the top before the end of 2010.”
It
will be interesting to see what the middleweight landscape looks
like in the UFC by the time Cote returns. Dan Henderson’s
future in the promotion still remains uncertain and Nate Marquardt
has seemingly been passed over by Vitor Belfort for a title shot,
although according to recent reports, Silva will not be ready
to fight Belfort January 2nd, due to his recent elbow surgery.
Injuries
aside, Silva and his manager Ed Soares have gone on record stating
that they don’t believe Belfort is worthy of a title shot
at this juncture, due to the fact the veteran has only one win
(a TKO stoppage of Rich Franklin at UFC 103), since returning
to the Octagon in September.
“I
believe in Vitor,” said Cote, when asked to weigh in on
the middleweight division’s title shot picture. “I’m
a big fan of him and I wish to fight him in the future. It would
be a big honor, but I think Marquardt deserves the title shot
right now against Silva.”
Source:
Full Contact Fighter
|
John
Koppenhaver becomes “Porn Machine”
Former UFC fighter, John Koppenhaver, as known as “War Machine”,
saw his sequence of five victories be broken on the beginning
of the month, but he’s happy. Fighting in smaller events
since he’s out of UFC, the athlete revealed that he is entering
in a new work.
“I signed with LA Direct Models this week and today I did
my first porn scene! I shot for Digital Playground with their
girl Riley Steele. Was f***ing awesome”, revealed the fighter
that’s experimenting the porn star life, but promises to
keep fighting.
”I
was nervous but I came through. I’m still gonna fight”,
Koppenhaver said. “Just gonna do this too because fighting
isn’t quite enough money and you all know I ain’t trying
to work! In life I have come to learn that all I enjoy is eating,
sleeping, fighting and f***ing! I’m living the dream getting
paid to fight and f***! What more could I ask for?”
Good
question, “Porn Machine”.
Source:
Tatame
|
Homage
to Helio Gracie in Federal Senate
Special Brazilian senate session November 17
An invitation from Senator Jose Sarney reaches the GRACIEMAG.com
email account, and is promptly passed on to readers.
The
president of the senate invites one and all for a special session
in tribute to the memory of Professor Helio Gracie, to be held
on the 17th of November, 2009, a Tuesday, at 10 am, in Brazil’s
Federal House of Senate.
The
special session will be held at the request of Arthur Virgilio
and other senators. Grandmaster Helio left this world on January
29th of this year.
Source:
Gracie Magazine
|
UFC
11/14 Manchester, England
By Zach Arnold
Venue: Manchester Evening News Arena
TV: Spike TV (delayed broadcast)
Dark
matches
Lightweights
(155 pounds): Andre Winner vs. Rolando Delgado
Light Heavyweights (205 pounds): Alexander Gustafsson vs. Jared
Hamman
Lightweights (155 pounds): Paul Kelly vs. Dennis Siver
Welterweights (170 pounds): Nick Osipczak vs. Matthew Riddle
Lightweights (155 pounds): Terry Etim vs. Shannon Gugerty
Welterweights (170 pounds): Paul Taylor vs. John Hathaway
Main card
Lightweights
(155 pounds): Ross Pearson vs. Aaron Riley
Welterweights (170 pounds): James Wilks vs. Matt Brown
Middleweights (185 pounds): Michael Bisping vs. Denis Kang
Welterweights (170 pounds): Mike Swick vs. Dan Hardy
Light Heavyweights (205 pounds): Randy Couture vs. Brandon Vera
Source: Fight Opinion
|
Return
of the King
by Jake Rossen
Even at its weakest, network television is still the circulatory
system for most entertainment: It’s familiar, it’s
accessible and it doesn’t need to buffer. Fedor Emelianenko’s
appointment with the Sears Centre in Chicago this Saturday will
be seen by, at minimum, several million viewers.
Some
people would say that this is not enough, and that CBS is not
doing itself many favors to help answer the question that will
be debated this week and in the weeks ahead: Can they make a
star out of Fedor Emelianenko?
Heading
into what promises to be a long and exhausting media build into
Strikeforce’s first over-air telecast, some observers have
settled on the idea that CBS is simply “not doing enough”
to promote their acquisition of the most effective Russian prizefighter
since Ivan Drago.
If
you look closely enough at that (paraphrased) statement, you
might realize the cause is idling in the symptom.
Emelianenko
cannot appear on a CBS talk show (his English is somewhere north
of Chuck Liddell’s); Emelianenko cannot appear in advertisements
displaying a ripped musculature (he doesn’t have one); Emelianenko
cannot have a speaking part on “CSI: Miami” (he might
be convincing as a corpse). As marketable athletes go, Emelianenko
is not very marketable.
What
he does have is a nearly unblemished 30-1 record and an unofficial
title -- given to him by his peers, who should know -- as the
world’s best fighter. CBS can and does put that in italics,
but because virtually all of his fight footage is owned by Zuffa,
you’ll have to settle for the “tell” rather than
the “show.” (Why his fight footage from Rings is rarely
seized is beyond me: It’s not in HD, but it’s not 8mm,
either.)
Is
all that winning enough? Emelianenko’s closest approximation
is Anderson Silva, who also speaks little English, doesn’t
have a physique cast in marble and has a reputation for being
an all-time great. Because of the UFC’s market posturing,
Silva rebounded from some lackluster performances to draw good
business for a bout against Forrest Griffin over the summer.
He’s well known but far from a household name.
Emelianenko
does not have the UFC machine propelling him, which might be
compensated for by CBS, except that their EliteXC broadcast that
failed to feature Kimbo Slice dropped off the ratings cliff.
CBS viewers, apparently, did not enjoy fighting so much as they
enjoyed Kimbo fighting. This is an important, depressing distinction.
But
Affliction -- a company that previously only had experience selling
T-shirts that looked like Megadeth threw up on their printing
presses -- managed some credible pay-per-view business with Emelianenko
at the top. And ironically, Emelianenko’s biggest push may
have come from the UFC itself: Summer’s drawn-out coverage
of his negotiations with the UFC ran rampant, and he came off
as a mythical figure the company desperately wanted. There’s
intrigue in that.
His
Nov. 7 date was mentioned during an NFL halftime show Sunday;
Emelianenko also appeared in commercials during college and pro
football telecasts, a direct appeal to likely viewers. What else,
exactly, could CBS do to trumpet this guy? Their “60 Minutes”
has invited controversy a handful of times over the years by
endorsing stories that had some connection to CBS business: a
book by Dick Clarke, former White house staffer, got the segment
treatment in 2004 without revealing parent company Viacom would
profit from its sales; “Guiding Light” got a send-off
on the show shortly before it ended 72 years on the air. In terms
of corporate synergy, a well-timed profile of the reputed toughest
man on the planet would not seem all that dysfunctional.
Print
advertising? It’s expensive, and there’s little evidence
it can directly influence sporting events. Hype programming?
Networks will rarely devote airtime to something that blaringly
self-serving, but pre-empting Craig Ferguson one night for Showtime’s
“360” show might have displayed a commitment to Strikeforce
that the network has so far been reluctant to share. (That episode
has been distributed to CBS’ local affiliates, who will
use their discretion on when and where to air it. My best guess:
4 a.m., just after Billy Mays makes a posthumous pitch for OxyClean.)
The
foreign athlete has it rough: Audiences like to see themselves
in their sporting attractions. Someone who dominates Americans
without speaking the language is not going to earn himself a
Wheaties box. Whether he can earn enough viewers to best “America’s
Most Wanted” is a question for the overnight ratings.
Emelianenko
is a star to a lot of fans; but those fans, in the scale of network
television, wouldn’t pay for a single 30-second Snuggles
spot. It may take time for the general public to warm up to a
cold guy. At 33, with nearly 10 years of wear, does he have the
time to spare?
Source:
Sherdog
|
‘Mayhem’
Miller’s Nonstop Hustle
by Lotfi Sariahmed
MMA's master of mayhem, Jason Miller is probably better known
in the United States for his work on MTV’s “Bully Beatdown”
than for his work in the cage.
On
Saturday, though, he’ll look to show off his fighting skills
on CBS when he takes on Jake Shields in a middleweight title
fight at Strikeforce/M-1 Global “Fedor vs. Rogers.”
“The
fact that my grandfather can switch the thing on as long as he's
got the stupid high-def converter box on his TV … that's
awesome,” said Miller on the Sherdog Radio Network's “Beatdown”
on Friday. “I mean, that's huge. That's really big. I know
I don't have my gold teeth anymore or a giant beard, but I hope
to draw at least some of the viewers.”
Miller
already attracts his own audience. Between his Web site, Twitter
and MySpace accounts, TV work, radio appearances and writing,
he has all major forms of media covered. Then there's that fighting
thing.
“I
look at myself as an entertainer,” Miller said. “I
enjoy entertaining the masses, and one of the ways I do that
is by kicking, punching and choking somebody. It's just a matter
of doing the prefight, the fight and the postfight. That's what
I'm into.”
But
Mayhem the Entertainer is no different than Jason Miller.
“It's
all me,” Miller said. “I just make sure I put it out
there for you. At the very least, you have to respect that about
me. I don't care if you don't get my jokes. You don't have to
be my fan. Go root for Jake Shields. If you want to be boring,
go ahead. But at the same time, I'm very honored that anybody
listens to me or anyone pays attention or anyone cares when I
fight.”
As
is the case with most successful fighters these days, questions
inevitably lead to when Miller could resurface in the UFC. He
actually finds Strikeforce more appealing, though.
“If
I'm the UFC welterweight champion, I've typecast myself into
one spot,” Miller said. “I know I have more talents
than just my fighting. If I'm owned by the UFC, I'm owned by
them. It's not a bad thing. It's just business. They're not stupid.
They don't want their fighters going outside their control. With
Strikeforce, they're a great organization, but they're going
to understand that they're going to benefit more from me being
on MTV, from me writing articles for Fight Magazine. Me doing
stuff outside the fight realm only helps them and helps their
brand.”
And
it helps Mayhem get his name out there as more than just a fighter.
“Every
other fighter in the world it seems like has this sense of, ‘OK,
I got to go. I got to be in the UFC, and that's going to be where
I make my money.' Well, dude, except for (Georges) St. Pierre,
(Chuck) Liddell, (Randy) Couture and (Tito) Ortiz, nobody else
is making big money. I just always knew that the way I was going
to make my money was in the mainstream, and where I was going
to make my money and be successful was by building this brand
and be me on a big scale. Be a fighter. Be a personality, and
I'm really still, every day, trying to do that. It's a nonstop
hustle.”
Once
he steps into the cage on Saturday, however, the man of many
hats has only one goal in mind.
“I
don't need to write a storyline for this,” Miller said.
“To me, my hand raised at the end, that's good enough. I
just want to show everybody, always bet on Mayhem.”
Source:
Sherdog
|
Fedor:
Marriage, No Effect on My Focus
Marriage
is a life-changing event, and tying the knot especially a month
before a fight could be a considered a distraction, but Fedor
Emelianenko insists that his recent marriage will have no effect
on his focus coming into the fight, negative or positive.
"I
don't think my marriage will affect anything in any way,"
Fedor told reporters Monday on a media call five days before
his CBS main event fight against undefeated Brett Rogers.
Fedor
married girlfriend of three years Marina the first weekend of
October in his hometown of Stary Oskol, Russia. Photos from wedding
can be viewed here.
Mauricio
"Shogun" Rua is a notable fighter who got married three
weeks before his UFC debut and lost to Forrest Griffin at UFC
76 in September 2007, though a knee injury contributed to the
loss, according to Rua.
Rogers
agreed on the call with Fedor, who previously married in 1999
before separating in 2006, that the former PRIDE champion's experience
both as a husband and fighter will allow for Fedor to properly
prepare without a wrinkle.
"I
doubt it. He's been a fighter for a long time," said Rogers,
when asked by reporter Cory Brady if Fedor's marriage is a sign
he might be taking the fight lightly. "As far as I'm concerned,
this is not his first marriage. He's kind of a been there, done
that kind of dude with that situation."
Source:
MMA Fighting
|
Quote
of the Day
"Success
doesn't come to you…you go to it."
Marva Collins
|
Strikeforce:
Fedor vs. Rogers Tomorrow!
Hawaii air time:
8:00-10:00PM
KGMB Channel 7
Strikeforce 11/7 Chicago (Fedor/Rogers)
By Zach Arnold
Venue:
Sears Centre Arena (Hoffman Estates, Illinois)
TV: CBS
Welterweights
(170 pounds): Christian Uflacker vs. Jonatas Novaes
Middleweights (185 pounds): Louis Taylor vs. Nate Moore
Welterweights (185 pounds): Shamar Bailey vs. John Kolosci
Lightweights (155 pounds): Mark Miller vs. Deray Davis
Featherweights (145 pounds): Jeff Curran vs. Dustin Neace
Women (145 pounds): Roxanne Modafferi vs. Marloes Coenen
Heavyweights: Antonio Silva vs. Fabricio Werdum
Light Heavyweights (205 pounds): Gegard Mousasi vs. Sokoudjou
Middleweights (185 pounds): Jake Shields vs. Jason “Mayhem”
Miller
Heavyweights: Brett Rogers vs. Fedor Emelianenko
Source: Fight Opinion
|
Mad
Skills Tomorrow
Nov 7 Saturday
Filcom Center
Doors open at 6:30.
Weigh in
Nov 6th Friday
6:00
Blazin Steaks Kunia
Please bring ID.
If under 18 must bring birth certificate, and parent to sign
Waiver.
Zack
Shepard 175 Ikaika Sylva
Colin
Mackenzie GRUDGE MATCH Curty dirty
Nui
Wheeler 140 Freddie Ramayla
Phillip
Akui 175 Saichi
Bronson
Calpito 155 Vince Leopoldo
Kaniala
Stanton 170 Lenny Augustine
Wilfred
Balon 185 Chevez Autoke
Shawn
K 160 Richard Marsch
Nick
Correa 145 Shawn Burroughs
Kolton
Choyfoo 145 James Leole
Jason
Rocemar 150 Robbie Ostavich
Valenz
Schultz 155 Robert Lee
Jessie
Lindley 185 Kaeo Kawaa
Joe
Molina SHW Nalu Lavea
Justin
Burgess 160 Kaleo
Brandon
Pai 130 Jed Harwood
Isaac
Hoops (O2 Martial Arts Academy) 145 Ricky Plunkett
Jaren
Diaz 85 Christian Racquedan
Mike
Vinano 190 Kainoa Forsythe
Jordan
Fontez 140 – 150 Tony Perera or Mike Uemoto
Neil
Dacanay 170 Byron Eliana
Triston
Reballizsa 155 Joseph Enaena
Albert
Napoleon (O2 Martial Arts Academy) 205 Charles Wills-Albegguer
Bill
185 Mike Eli
All
matches and participants are subject to change.
|
Scuffle
on Schofield 2: "Homebound Heroes "
Tomorrow
5pm
|
TITO
ORTIZ WANTS A THIRD BOUT WITH THE ICEMAN
by Jeff Cain
Former UFC light heavyweight titleholder Tito Ortiz re-signed
with The Ultimate Fighting Championship in late July ending 13
months of free agency, and “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy”
is already rekindling old rivalries.
Ortiz
takes on Forrest Griffin in his return to the Octagon in a rematch
at UFC 106 on Nov. 21 in Las Vegas, but the 34-year-old fighter
has been lobbying to get a third bout with his old nemesis Chuck
Liddell in 2010.
“I
know I’ve lost two matches. I still think I can beat him,
and I still think that’s a big fight,” Ortiz told MMAWeekly.com.
“I still want that fight. That would be awesome.”
Liddell
has been on hiatus from the sport since losing to Mauricio “Shogun”
Rua at UFC 97 in April. UFC president Dana White originally said
Liddell was retired, but has since backed off those statements.
“The Iceman” has been defeated in four of his last
five fights, but has indicated that he still has the desire to
compete.
“I
think if I call him out enough times I think he’ll be a
man and step up,” said Ortiz. “Why wouldn’t he?
That’s a huge fight and a big payday for him. It will be
good.
“I
think we can see one more,” he added. “Why not? I’m
down. I’m always game. You know me, I’m not afraid
to fight anyone, even though there was a picture that was painted
a long time ago that wasn’t true. I’ve fought him twice
already. I’m not afraid.
“He
already proved he’s not my friend, so the hell with it.
I’ve got nothing to lose. Lets make some money, and this
time I’m going to kick his ass.”
The
Liddell and Ortiz grudge is one of the most storied rivalries
in mixed martial arts’ short history, dating back to 2002.
Ortiz, who was champion at the time, was in prolonged contract
negotiations with the UFC, which led to Liddell fighting for
the interim belt before defeating Ortiz at UFC 47 and UFC 66.
That
obviously left a sour taste in Ortiz’s mouth... and the
feud continues.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Nogueira
and the debut: “Cane is not naive”
By Guilherme Cruz
With
the end of Pride, a big part of its athletes went to UFC, but
fans always asked themselves why Rogério “Minotouro”
Nogueira didn’t follow his twin brother to the American
organization. Two years and five victories later, the wait will
finally be over, and the Brazilian will debut on UFC against
his compatriot Luis “Banha” Cane, who has three victories
on the show.
“We
don’t know how it’s gonna be, fight is fight, we have
to be trained for everything, as on the ground, boxing and muay
thai... It’s gonna be good“, said Nogueira, who already
defeated athletes like Dan Henderson, Alistair Overeem and Kazushi
Sakuraba. “Cane is not naive, he won’t make a predictable
game“, bets, ready to debut on November 21.
Another
great name in the 205 pounds division, “Minotouro”
is another Brazilian athlete among the best. “This category
is very good, there are a lot of Brazilians, and now there’s
one more. I’ll try to make a good presentation and show
my value on this division“, Rogério said, exclusively
to TATAME.com.
UNREACHABLE
BELT FOR SIX MONTHS
With
a victory on the debut, “Minotouro” can be the next
in line for a title shot. “This fight is important and the
guys will consider the winner as a possible contender“,
Nogueira said. But the fighter doesn’t think about that.
“I didn’t hear none of this, and Lyoto went under surgery
now and might fight just in about six months“, said.
On
the last fight for the belt, that took place in October 24, the
controversial decision is still discussed by many, but Nogueira
wants to stay out of it. “It was a big fight, really tough.
It was a tight fight. If the guys gave it (to Lyoto), it isn’t
me who’s gonna say it’s wrong“, finished the fighter.
Source: Tatame
|
Will
Fans in Chicago Favor Fedor or Brett Rogers?
by Michael David
Many
MMA fans are of an age that they grew up watching Rocky IV and
similarly themed Cold War movies, but that doesn't change the
fact that on the three occasions when Russia's Fedor Emelianenko
has fought on American soil, he's been warmly received by the
crowd.
But
on Monday, I asked both Fedor and his upcoming opponent, Brett
Rogers, whether that could change when they step into the cage
together on Saturday night. After all, Rogers was born in Chicago,
only about 30 miles from where Saturday's fight will take place,
and Fedor has been subjected to something of a backlash from
American fans who are disappointed that he decided not to sign
with the UFC. Both fighters said they expect the crowd to be
split.
"I
hope the fans cheer me on, especially knowing that I'm from there,"
Rogers said. "I've got a lot of people coming out to support
me, but maybe it's going to be 50-50, I don't know."
Fedor
noted that he has plenty of fans -- including fans from the Russian-American
community -- in Chicago. But he said he realizes that a lot of
Chicagoans will get behind Rogers.
"A
lot of people will come and support Brett Rogers," Fedor
said. "I understand that. Certainly, Chicago is his birthplace
so a lot of people will come to support him. I understand that.
I do have some experience fighting where the audience supported
my opponent."
The
issue with Fedor's refusal to sign with the UFC is more complicated,
and Fedor said he hopes fans realize that.
"As
for the UFC and my fans being disappointed that I didn't sign
with the UFC, I think it would be good if they would understand
I couldn't sign a one-sided contract with the UFC," Fedor
said. "My managers and I believe we deserve a little bit
more."
My
own opinion is that Fedor will get louder cheers from the fans
than Rogers does on Saturday. Rogers isn't well known as a homegrown
talent among Chicago MMA fans, and the types of fans who would
boo Fedor for refusing to sign with the UFC probably just won't
show up. Fedor is the real star of this show, and I think that's
how the fans will treat him.
Source:
MMA Fighting
|
“Minotoro”
Nogueira vs. Luiz Cane Officially Added to UFC 106
By FCF Staff
As
expected, a light-heavyweight clash between Antonio Rogerio “Minotoro”
Nogueira and Luiz Cane, has been officially added by the UFC
to the promotion’s upcoming November 21st event. Nogueira,
who is the twin brother of former interim champion Antonio Rodrigo
Nogueira, will be making his Octagon debut.
Nogueira
(17-3) has gone 2-0 in 2009 to date, in January he KO’d
Vladimir Matyushenko at Affliction’s “Day of Reckoning”
event, and more recently, the Brazilian submitted Dion Staring
at a Jungle Fight card in May. The 33 year-old-fighter has now
won 5 straight since he was knocked out by Thierry Rameau Sokoudjou
at Pride 33 in February, 2007.
Cane
(10-1) is already well on his way to establishing himself as
a force in the UFC light-heavyweight division, as the 28 year-old
has now won 3 straight fights in the Octagon. In his last outing,
Cane defeated Steve Cantwell by UD at UFC 97 in April. The Brazilian’s
only loss came due to Disqualification, when he kneed a downed
James Irvin to the head at UFC 79.
UFC
106 will be headlined by a light-heavyweight tilt between former
UFC champions Forrest Griffin and Tito Ortiz. The Mandalay Bay
Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, will host the event.
Source:
Full Contact Fighter
|
WEC
11/18 Las Vegas, Nevada
By Zach Arnold
Venue: The Pearl at The Palms (9 PM EST)
TV: Versus
Dark matches
Bantamweights
(135 pounds): Seth Dikun vs. Frank Gomez
Lightweights (155 pounds): Ricardo Lamas vs. James Krause
Bantamweights (135 pounds): Antonio Banuelos vs. Kenji Osawa
Featherweights (145 pounds): Cub Swanson vs. John Franchi
Featherweights (145 pounds): Diego Nunes vs. LC Davis
Lightweights (155 pounds): Alex Karalexis vs. Kamal Shalorus
Main card
Lightweights
(155 pounds): Danny Castillo vs. Shane Roller
Lightweights (155 pounds): “Razor” Rob McCullough vs.
Karen Darabedyan
Featherweights (145 pounds): Manny Gamburyan vs. Leonard Garcia
WEC Featherweight title match (145 pounds): Mike Brown vs. Jose
Aldo
Source: Fight Opinion
|
Jiu-Jitsu
dictionary released in Middle East
Book offers positions and holds in English, Portuguese and Arabic
An
unprecedented book was just released in Jordan: a dictionary
of Jiu-Jitsu positions, exercises and moves in the Arabic language.
“This
endeavor has been in the making for some time,” says black
belt Zaid Mirza, leader of Team Jordan. “We had some trouble
getting students to understand the words in English and Portuguese.
A good part of the students, like soldiers in the army and kids,
had trouble. Now with the dictionary in Arabic it makes things
easier.”
Source:
Gracie Magazine
|
Maia
Trains Boxing with Nogueira
by Marcelo Alonso
After being defeated by Nate Marquardt at UFC 102, Demian Maia
decided to change his training for his next challenge against
Dan Miller at UFC 109. Three weeks after the Marquardt loss,
Maia, who has six wins and only one defeat in the UFC, called
his friend Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. He told “Minotauro”
that he was planning a trip to Cuba to sharpen his boxing.
“Going
to Cuba? No way!” Nogueira responded. “Come here to
my house in Salvador (Brazil) to train with me, Dórea,
Rogério and Cigano.”
Maia
did not hesitate to accept the offer.
“I’ve
been here for almost two weeks,” Maia said. “It’s
been a great experience to train boxing with master Luiz Dórea,
Minotauro, Rogério and Cigano. I intend to come here many
more times before my fight.”
Maia
acknowledged that he does not know much about Miller.
“I
haven’t started to study Miller yet,” he said. “The
most important thing is that I’m training hard to improve
myself as an MMA fighter, but I’m not forgetting the most
important aspect, which is my ground skills. Training here in
Bahia with guys like Minotauro, Minotouro and Cigano, it’s
been an amazing opportunity to keep my jiu-jitsu sharp.”
Source: Sherdog
|
NOGUEIRA
VS. VELASQUEZ POSSIBLE FOR UFC 108
by Ken Pishna
The
list of UFC heavyweight title contenders may get a little shorter
come Jan. 2... IF a bout between Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and
Cain Velasquez comes together. The fight is being worked on for
UFC 108 in Las Vegas.
MMAWeekly.com
sources on Wednesday initially confirmed that the bout, reported
by Tatame.com as confirmed by “Nogueira’s manager”
to SportTV, had been agreed to. Following our initial report,
however, additional sources injected some skepticism into the
situation.
It
appears that certain parties involved want the bout to happen,
while others do not, leaving its current status up in the air.
If
it does take place, the winner between Nogueira and Velasquez
would likely get the next shot at the UFC heavyweight championship.
After
losing the interim UFC heavyweight title to Frank Mir at UFC
92, Nogueira (32-5-1) returned with an impressive victory over
UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture at UFC 102 in August. The win
immediately put his name back in the hat of contenders to the
belt currently held by Brock Lesnar.
Velasquez
(7-0) is coming off a dominating TKO stoppage of Ben Rothwell
at UFC 104. Three years into the sport, Velasquez has made a
quick rise to the top of the heavyweight division with five of
his victories taking place in the Octagon and only one having
gone to a decision. Like Nogueira, he has also been mentioned
as a contender.
Lesnar
was scheduled to face Shane Carwin on Nov. 21 at UFC 106, but
had to withdraw due to illness. Rescheduling the bout has been
proposed for UFC 108, but apparently still suffering from flu-like
symptoms, it is not yet clear if Lesnar will have enough time
to prepare for a Jan. 2 date.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
PR:
MMA Bootcamp Now At R1 Training Center
By Zach
Arnold
Start
of press release
L.A.’s
original MMA training center, R1, has extended its innovative
MMA Bootcamp Program to run on a weekly basis. Well known for
developing many of today’s MMA champions the R1 gym now
has another focus, bring MMA style training to those interested
in realizing its overall benefits. After three successful month
long MMA bootcamps where members trained utilizing the same methods
that our pros were schooled in, we have decided to extend our
MMA Bootcamp program to Monday, Wednesday & Friday mornings
from 6AM – & 7AM.
That’s
correct 6AM, as one of our members told us “the AM training
works out best for my lifestyle. I haven’t been able to
do this kind of consistent training for over 15 years.”
Our
cutting edge MMA Bootcamp was designed by our world renowned
trainers to build stamina & lean body mass, increase focus
& awareness, teach you MMA & self defense skills. Get
acquainted with the world’s fastest growing sport in a safe
& clean environment with real MMA professionals. Our MMA
Bootcamp will teach you the complete game from standing to ground,
striking to submission and everything in between. We also take
great care in preparing the mind for a clean performance with
breathing, focus and body movement drills. There will be no sparring
whatsoever as the MMA Bootcamp is designed to enhance basic MMA
skills, drills and overall conditioning.
“I
could do this class for a year and would keep improving on my
basics & conditioning” is another comment that we have
been hearing, so the R1 management decided to give it a try.
If
you would like to try it out but are s bit skeptical please hit
the link below for a short video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kg86pGoOVVg&feature=player_profilepage
About
R1 Training Center
R1,
Los Angeles’ original MMA gym, has developed champions in
every major MMA organization around the world. Established in
2000,
R1
is known as a Mecca for champion MMA fighters and Martial Artists
who come to train with our staff and members. R1 is a complete
training facility dedicated to helping those in search of a way
to improve their performance.
For
additional information please got www.r1gym.com or call us at
310.322.5552.
Source:
Fight Opinion
|
Quote
of the Day
“The
rest of the world lives to eat, while I eat to live.“
Socrates
|
USA-BOXING
HAWAII, KAWANO B.C., & PALOLO B.C.
PRESENTS THE
5TH ANNUAL
CLINTON A.J. SHELTON MEMORIAL MATCH EVENT RESULTS!
SPONSORED BY WAIPAHU PAWN SHOP
NOVEMBER 1ST, 2009 AT THE PALOLO DISTRICT PARK GYM, 2 P.M.
BOUTS SUBJECT TO CHANGE.
RED CORNER WEIGHTS BLUE CORNER
CLUB/BIRTHDATE 3 ROUNDS CLUB/BIRTHDATE
1). Lilly Morse 28/170 (1 bout) female170 lost decision to Gardenia
Sims 28/170 (6 bouts
Kawano B.C. 10/01/81 1 min. 07/23/81 Kawano B.C.
2). Preston Saragosa 15/130 (1) 130 won dec. over Cory DeGuzman
16/132 (0)
Five-O B.C. 10/23/94 1 min. 01/06/93 Five-O B.C.
3). Lennon Sullivan 10/56 (1) 60 lost dec. to Kealii Alcos 11/59
(0)
Pearlside B.C. 08/07/99 1 min. 10/05/98 Kauai PAL
4). Nelson Santos 16/122 (0) 125 won dec. over Nickson Rivera
15/125 (0)
Evolution B.C. 12/04/92 1 min. 04/09/94 Kalakaua B.C.
5). Marco Pagaduan 19/165 (0) 165 lost dec. to Rudy Alvarado
27/163 (0)
Kakaako B.C. 10/25/90 2 min. 11/12/81 Kawano B.C.
6). Nathan Akamu 23/173 (0) 175 won dec. over Lenny Augustine
23/175 (0)
Palolo B.C. 02/22/86 2 min. 04/14/86 Unattached (Kimo)
7). Bartolo Saragosa 15/168 (0) 170 won dec. over Mervin Alcala
16/170 (0)
Five-O B.C. 08/16/93 2 min. 11/19/92 Kakaako B.C.
8). Jordan Higa 19/110 (1) female 110 lost retirement round 1
to Corina Ishikawa 32/110 (1)
Pearlside B.C. 05/01/90 2 min. 03/23/77 Kawano B.C.
*************************10 MINUTE- INTERMISSION- 10 MINUTE*************************
9). Carlos Garrido 15/145 (1) 145 lost dec. to Sheldon Crawford
15/140 (1)
Kailua-Kona B.C. 09/08/93 2 min. 11/08/93 Five-O B.C.
10). Sean Hamic 20/212 (0) 200 lost dec. to Paul Timas 24/193
(0)
PearlSide B.C. 03/19/89 2 min. 03/25/86 Kakaako B.C.
11). Mana Myers 20/168 (1) 170 won dec. over Faamanu Siuta 24/173
(2)
Kailua-Kona B.C. 10/10/89 2 min. 01/28/85 Kawano B.C.
12). Kainalu Lavea 21/292 (0) 201+ lost walkover to Elliot Edmunds
20/230 (2)
Unattached (Kimo) 06/17/88 2 min. 05/03/79 Kawano B.C.
13). Kaeo Myers 20/170 (4) 170 won dec. over Tyler Maekawa 25/171
(1)
Kailua-Kona B.C. 11/08/88 2 min. 10/16/84 Unattached (Mike)
In loving memory of Clinton A.J. Shelton, October 7, 1982 –
October 8, 2005
Also, Kenneth Oki from Oki Boxing Club., Kauai August 26, 1941
– October 16, 2008
Thank You to Waipahu Pawn Shop at Waipahu Shopping Plaza, 808-671-6555
owner Lloyd McKee, also our Volunteers, Coaches, Officials, Dr.
Carrie Marshall, and Dr. Myles Suehiro, Officer Ron Richardson,
and Officer Daryl Takata, Parents, Boxing Commissioners, Door
Workers, Hawaiian Fight Gear, Interm Manager- Blane Yoshida,
and “YOU” our Boxing Fans.
All boxers will receive gold medals for stepping in the ring,
these athletes are all winners!!
Mahalo for your Support and Thank You Again!!
Source: Bruce Kawano
|
RECENT
REPORT SAYS KIMBO MAY FACE ALEXANDER
The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights season has yet to conclude,
but rumors are already swirling that eliminated fighter and ratings
magnet Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson is on tap to face
Houston Alexander as part of the series finale on Dec. 5 in Las
Vegas.
Matt
Erickson of The Times of Northwest Indiana reported the possibility
of the bout on Saturday, citing sources close to Alexander’s
camp.
If
it comes to fruition, the fight would take place at a catchweight
of 215 pounds. The report suggests that Kimbo would be unable
to make the weight cut to the 205-pound light heavyweight division
where Alexander’s typically competes.
Lending
credence to the rumor is the fact that Alexander is on the docket
for an upcoming Nevada State Athletic Commission meeting, where
he will apply for his fighter’s license in the state. He
must do so in a special request to the commission due to his
age, 37. The procedure is a requirement of all fighters over
the age of 35 who wish to compete in Nevada.
If
accurate, an official announcement from the promotion isn’t
likely to come until much later in the series, or more likely,
following the conclusion of the series. Kimbo was eliminated
earlier in the season by Roy Nelson, but as in season’s
past, he could return to fill a slot by another fighter who has
to withdraw due to injury or other circumstances.
The
Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights season finale, aside from the
final bout to determine the winner of the series, is also slated
to feature a light heavyweight bout between Matt Hamill and Jon
Jones. It takes place on Dec. 5 at The Palms Resort Casino in
Las Vegas and airs on Spike TV.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
UK
FIGHTER BRAD PICKETT AT WEC 45 VS. KYLE DIETZ
Brad Pickett, WEC fighter. It must have a nice ring to it for
the veteran mixed martial artist.
For
years and years, “One Punch” has been slaving away
on the U.K. scene, continually developing his skills and hammering
his way through the featherweight division. The path has been
rocky, fraught with disappointments, some losses, and some hugely
impressive victories worthy of anybody on the world stage.
Finally
the day has come, so how does he feel about it?
“To
be honest, I was very surprised when Reed Harris made the announcement.
The contract has been signed, I have an opponent in Kyle Dietz,
so to all intents and purposes I am a WEC fighter, but part of
me is still not getting too excited until I am on American soil
and the cage door shuts.”
Pickett
realizes this is the part where he starts to live his dream.
Most would be ecstatic, but Pickett’s celebrations are muted
because he knows how complex a path it can be securing a working
visa in the United States.
“I
fought in L.A. before for Hero’s, which is a Japanese company,
and I was paid from Japan, so the visa wasn’t an issue.
I go to American Top Team for three month’s at a time to
train on a tourist visa, but this is different, I have to get
a U.S. working visa so I can be employed by an American company,”
explains the soon to be WEC bantamweight.
His
concerns date all the way back to an arrest at 19 years of age,
nothing that he feels should be a sticking point, but because
he has been scuppered in the past with dashed opportunities,
he is justifiably keen to cross the t’s and dot the i’s
before celebrating. Police documentation, passport, and everything
else in place: first stop, Nov. 11, the date he gets an answer
on his visa.
“I
just have the (worst) luck in the world,” exclaims Pickett,
adding that he just wants to get stateside and get the ball rolling.
“I
plan on cornering Mike Brown for his fight against Jose Aldo
and obviously train at ATT for my fight. Until everything is
sorted I just want to keep a level head. As soon as I have that
visa, a bag will be packed and I am off.”
So
assuming the visa is successful, and British MMA fans certainly
hope it will, Pickett will then make his first ever cut to bantamweight
and collide with Kyle Dietz. Does he have any concerns about
the cut?
“I
think I will only have to cut 6.5 kilograms (14.3 pounds) and
I don’t foresee that presenting any problems for me. I have
spent my career fighting guys who cut from lightweight or that
are big at featherweight. At this stage, I walk around at 69
kilograms (152.1 pounds), so it will make a change for me to
be big in a category.”
And
what does he make of his opponent?
“He’s
a tough guy, 5-1. I have seen some of his fights and he has even
fought against one of my teammates in Rafael Rebello, so I have
some inside track on what he is like. I think it will be a good
fight wherever it goes, standing or on the ground.”
On
Dec. 19, at WEC 45, Pickett will step into the cage, the weight
of an entire country’s expectations on his back, but as
soon as the cage door shuts, it’s a fight like any other
and Pickett will tool up for business.
“I
do kind of feel that I will be flying the flag for Britain, but
I am only here because of all the support from the fans and people
behind me here in the U.K. and all the guys over at American
Top Team who have looked out for me over the years. I have the
self belief to know I can handle myself well and I know I won’t
be out of place fighting anyone in the division.”
Source: MMA Weekly
|
UFC
CHAMPS HEALING, PLAN EARLY 2010 RETURNS
The Ultimate Fighting Championship is going to be without the
services of two of its champions for the next few events, but
when middleweight champ Anderson Silva and light heavyweight
titleholder Lyoto Machida do run return, expect them to be even
better versions of the athletes they already are.
Both
were due for a little maintenance after several years of fighting
and headed into the shop for a tune-up after their most recent
bouts. Silva had surgery on his elbow early in October, while
Machida had a cleanout performed on his hand this past Friday.
Neither
was suffering from a major injury, merely the normal wear and
tear that occurs over a combined 45 bouts.
“Our
guys aren’t the only guys that have (situations like this).
I’m sure every fighter out there goes through these types
of things,” Ed Soares, manager to both fighters, recently
told MMAWeekly.com.
Antonio
Rodrigo Nogueira, another teammate, underwent similar maintenance
following his loss to Frank Mir then returned strong, defeating
UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture at UFC 102.
The
only real downside is that in both cases, doctors found a little
more to repair than they initially expected, so the necessary
rehabilitation following such procedures will keep both champions
sidelined for the coming months, narrowing the field of available
main-eventers for the promotion.
In
Silva’s case, doctors had to remove three bone fragments
instead of the expected one. There was hope that he would be
able to fight Vitor Belfort at UFC 108, but that isn’t going
to happen.
“I
don’t want to rain on anyone’s parade, but he’s
not fighting Jan. 2,” confirmed Soares.
The
timing actually works out fairly well for the UFC. Heavyweight
champion Brock Lesnar recently had to withdraw from UFC 106 due
to a severe case of the flu, so his bout with Shane Carwin was
pushed back to UFC 108, providing a marquee match-up for the
main event.
Welterweight
titleholder Georges St. Pierre recently returned to training
and should be ready to go by UFC 109 in early February.
There
was speculation that Silva may be holding off because he doesn’t
want to fight Belfort. His camp truly doesn’t believe that
Belfort is deserving of a UFC middleweight title shot, but that’s
merely a difference of opinion says Soares. They don’t turn
down fights and fully expect Belfort to be Silva’s next
opponent when he is ready to return “by the end of the first
quarter” of 2010.
“He’s
a guy who is coming off of wins and if that’s who they want
to put in front of us, put him in front of us. We want to fight
the best and if that’s who they think the best is, then
great,” Soares stated.
“We
do think it’s going to be a good fight. Vitor is a dangerous
guy.”
The
camp has known Machida needed surgery even before he fought Mauricio
“Shogun” Rua to a controversial unanimous decision
victory at UFC 104, but they make no excuses that the champ felt
anything less than “100 percent” going into the bout.
“Lyoto
said, ‘Hey, I’m not gonna have surgery until after
the fight. I’ll rough it through,’” relayed Soares.
Machida’s
surgery was also slightly more extensive than expected. The doctors
found four points of repair in his hand rather than two.
He
will likely return in the spring of 2010 and already knows his
opponent... Shogun.
“I
think (UFC president Dana White) has already approved it. Shogun
wants it. We definitely want it,” Soares stated of the rematch.
“Lyoto
won that fight fair and square. Shogun came in with a great game
plan, fought a very, very good fight, but Lyoto won that fight.
But we want to go back in there and make sure there is no doubt
who the light heavyweight champion is. We accept the rematch
with a smile on our face.”
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Antonio
Silva
Without
fighting in United States for 16 months, the heavyweight Antônio
“Bigfoot” Silva will be back to American stages on
November 7 against Fabrício Werdum. Training hard at American
Top Team, Silva spoke with TATAME.com about the preparation,
the expectation to the fight, the bets on Fedor vs. Rogers and
the analyzes about the fight between Lyoto Machida and Maurício
Shogun.
How
is the training to fight Werdum?
It’s
great, thanks God. I’m coming from four months straight,
first I started the training to fight in Japan, that happened
on September 24, where I started to train on the half of July.
After this fight I started to train again six days later. I’m
physically well to fight three, five rounds, whatever they want.
What’s
your focus on the trainings?
I
trained a bit of everything. I enhance my Jiu-Jitsu and emphasized
standing up with Katel Kubis, who helped me a lot, with Thiago
Silva, Luis Cane, training Wrestling… I’m prepared
to be back to United States. I’ll respect Werdum before
and after the fight, but I’ll get in the cage for the knockout
or submission. I think my Jiu-Jitsu is as good as his, and I’m
prepared to be three rounds on the ground or striking, whatever
it comes.
Do
you think that he’s gonna be your toughest opponent?
On
theory, if you look his record, really, it’s amazing. He
fought with Minotauro, Napão (Gonzaga), with a lot of
good people, he has a good record, but I want my space among
the best and to be between the best I gotta pass trough him.
I have to fight well, do my work, what I’ve trained for,
always respecting Werdum. I’ll go there thinking the same
way Cigano (Junior dos Santos) went in and knocked him out quickly.
Record doesn’t mean anything, it’s past, what matters
is the present. I’ll go in with a lot of will and strength,
going inside all the time. I’ll go to knockout or submission,
I’m thinking on the victory.
Every
fighter’s dream is win a title, but Strikeforce’s title
is with Overeem, not with Fedor...
I’m
Strikerfoce’s employee and I’ll face whoever they think
that’s better. Of course that every athlete, whichever the
sport is, always wants to face the best, and it would be interesting
a fight against Fedor. But there’s a lot of people in front
of me and Alistair owns the belt and probably they’ll put
Fedor to fight for the belt. I won’t think about Fedor now.
I sleep thinking about Werdum, eat and wake up thinking about
Werdum, and I think about winning and that’s it. Then, yes,
I’ll think about what Strikeforce will decide to my future.
Fedor
debut on November 7 too. How do you think it’s going to
be his fight against Brett Rogers?
Brett
has a heavy hand and he proved it with a lot of knockouts. If
the hand comes in, it drops, but his game doesn’t fit with
Fedor’s, because he comes very open, he hits very open.
But that’s theory, practice is another thing. I think Fedor
wins, not because he’s the number one, but by Fedor’s
game. You can see on Brett’s fight against Arlovski, that
he comes very open. If you notice him, he didn’t correct
that open game and he gets vulnerable. Fedor is strategical and
he will see that. He annulled Minotauro’s ground game, Cro
Cop’s kicks game… I think that he’ll train to
hit on the line and take to the ground on the first chance, because
no one ever saw Brett fighting on the ground.
What’s
your opinion about the fight between Lyoto and Shogun?
I
was supporting Lyoto Machida, even to happen a rematch against
Thiago Silva, who’s always with me. In my opinion, that
decision should have been for Shogun. I don’t know where
the judges were looking at, if they were drunk or if they were
watching the tape of another fight. I don’t know what they
were doing, but I know that they weren’t watching that fight.
If you put someone who have never seen a fight before and put
in front of the television to watch that fight, definitely he
will say that Shogun won. That’s good to other fighters
see that now is Shogun, but tomorrow can be anyone. Unfortunately,
we’re in judges’ hands. We don’t know what’s
on their minds. Shogun must have done a hard work, trained a
lot, and if there was another round he would fight, He was really
focused. Besides I was supporting Lyoto, I think Shogun must
have won.
Source: Tatame
|
'The
Ultimate Fighter' recap: Mitrione's not here to make friends
By Maggie Hendricks
It's
Wednesday night, and that can only mean one thing: the week is
half over! Also, it means that "The Ultimate Fighter"
is on. Huzzah! Last week, Darrill Schoonover got back at Quinton
"Rampage" Jackson by beating his fighter, Zak Jensen.
Marcus Jones, Matt Mitrione, Scott Junk and Mike Wessel still
have to fight. Rashad Evans' team still has a shot at a sweep.
Can they do it?
The
show starts with Rampage and Rashad making fun of each other.
So original! Tiki Ghosn continues to be the Ed McMahon to Rampage's
Johnny Carson, laughing a bit too hard at Rampage's jokes, and
repeating them at will. Then Rampage comes out with, "Gay-shad!
Gay-shad Evans!"
Alright,
this paragraph right here is for just for Rampage. If your name
is not Rampage Jackson, you should skip to the next paragraph.
Rampage, it's 2009. Let's stop with the stupidity. Calling someone
gay as if that's a derogatory term is SO 1996. Cut it out. I'd
tell you to grow up, but that ship has clearly sailed. At the
very least, stay current with teasing trends.
Once
they get through the stupidity, the fight is announced: Scott
Junk vs. Matt Mitrione, which means the final fight will be Mike
Wessel vs. Marcus Jones. Junk and Mitrione face off, and Junk
doesn't actually put his hands up. He just keeps rocking back
and forth. The Wessel/Jones faceoff is nearly as comical, as
Jones towers over Wessel.
Hey,
you're going to be shocked at what happens next -- Rampage and
Rashad get in each other's face. Rashad tells Rampage, "I'm
gonna make you quit, like you quit this competition, and I'm
gonna make you quit in the fight." Rampage continues his,
"I'm not a coach" BS until the two came really close
to punching each other. All of this build-up leading to no fight
only guarantees one thing: there is no way in hell I'm going
to buy a ticket to see "The A-Team."
Mitrione
really is not here to make friends
Back
at the house, Junk says that Matt showed him a note saying Mike
is afraid to fight Scott, but Mike is not afraid to fight anyone,
darnit. Team Rashad is ticked at Matt for saying it. Does it
sound like junior high? Because that's what it felt like. At
practice, Rashad tells Matt to focus on what's important, namely,
winning your own fight and growing up.
Junk
is annoyed by Mitrione's game playing, and he's looking forward
to fighting. Junk is the best, most experienced fighter on Rampage's
team, so he probably has the best chance to win.
In
Mitrione's never ending quest to be a jerk, he drinks Madsen's
orange juice without asking, which prompts Madsen to say he's
going to slap Mitrione in the face. At practice, Mitrione goes
full out in a sparring session that is supposed to be light.
He gets extra meatheaded by flipping out when Madsen walks away
from the session. Rashad then puts together his most coach-like
speech of the season, telling Mitrione:
"Have
you fought yet? So why the [expletive] are you so concerned about
what he says to you when he's on your [expletive] team when you
haven't even fought yet? Please tell me! Why don't you save some
of this [expletive] aggression for the fight you have in a few
[expletive] days ... If you don't go out there, and you don't
fight like this at your fight, I'm gonna [expletive] you up myself."
The
good news for our own Zak Jensen is that the teasing in the house
has moved from him to Mitrione. They made a new calendar, counting
down to the day Mitrione cracks. Inexplicably, this leads to
Wes Sims dressing up in a black gi, sneaking arond the house
like a ninja, and jumping out of the bushes to scare Mitrione.
Not shockingly, Mitrione doesn't take the teasing well, but he
doesn't flip out again.
Despite
all the team unity with Team Rashad, you get the feeling that
Mitrione's teammates aren't cheering him on.
Matt
Mitrione (Team Rashad) vs. Scott Junk (Team Rampage)
Round
1: Mitrione knocksJunk down early, but Junk gets back up. This
happens again. And again. Mitrione clearly wants to avoid the
ground, even when it looks like he could finish Junk by going
to the ground. Mitrione easily avoidss a Junk takedown attempt,
and Junk doesn't land many punches. Round one ends with Junk
finally fighting back, and Dana White saying "Holy [expletive]."
The fight must have been more impressive in person.
Round
2: Junk lands a few clean shots, but doesn't cause much damage.
After a lot of trying, Junk gets a takedown and both fighters
halfheartedly throw punches. The ref stands them up, and though
Mitrione gets the better of the stand-up. They are both clearly
exhausted.
"Those
two stood in front of each other and threw bombs," Dana
White says. Huh? Were we watching the same fight? I saw two exhausted
guys praying for the bell to ring. Dana, that's not what you
saw?
Mitrione
is the winner, 19-19, 20-18 and 20-18. In case you were wondering,
this is the episode where Rampage rips apart the door.
Source: Yahoo Sports
|
Tito
Ortiz interview Part 2: Griffin quit on his fans
By
Steve Cofield
The
Mandalay Bay Events Center could feel like bizarro world on Nov.
21. At UFC 106, as he enters the arena to face Forrest Griffin,
Tito Ortiz may actually be the fan favorite. It's still unknown
as to whether fans have turned their backs on Griffin after two
straight losses and his odd behavior after the UFC 101 loss to
Anderson Silva. After being knocked out, he sprinted from the
cage back to the lockerroom.
Ortiz,
a polarizing figure, always says he's about the fans. He told
Cagewriter he's not so sure that's the case anymore with Griffin:
"After
any loss, that's the last thing you want to do, is run away from
your fans, not give an explanation, kind of quitting on your
fans." Ortiz said of Griffin's mad dash. "I've heard
a lot of people already talk about that."
There's
plenty of pressure on both fighters. Griffin can't afford a third
straight loss especially to a guy that Dana White, for the last
few years, said wasn't even a top 10 fighter anymore at light
heavyweight.MORE
"He
took this fight thinkng maybe Tito Ortiz isn't a 100-percent
after back surgery."
But
Ortiz says Griffin may the one who's not 100-percent:
"I've
seen time and time before where guys get knocked out and their
heads get soft. I hope he's getting weak."
Ortiz's
back surgery was back on Oct. 6 of 2008. Before that, he said
it felt like someone was stabbing him in the lower back with
an ice pick. Now pain free, he's ready to go.
Now
a main event fighter, Ortiz also has the pressure of trying to
sell an entire pay-per-view. Sure the fans got screwed with the
Brock Lesnar-Shane Carwin fight being dumped but it was Ortiz
who really took a hit in the wallet. Most high level fighters
with the promotion get some sort of back end PPV cut. Without
Lesnar, this card may have just gone from a buy rate of 1 million
down to around 300,000-400,000.
Listen to the end of the conversation where Ortiz says he thought
Mauricio Rua won the fight against Lyoto Machida at UFC 104.
He also says the judges and referees need a major overhaul in
California, pointing to his draw against Rashad Evans as an example.
Source: Cagewriter
|
Twitter
Q&A: Feder on Toughest Foes, Strikeforce Future
Dozens of mixed martial arts fans sent me questions on Twitter
@MichaelDavSmith for the sport's top fighter, Fedor Emelianenko,
and now Fedor has answered.
Taking
some time out of his preparation for his Strikeforce/M-1 Global
fight against Brett Rogers on November 7, Fedor answered FanHouse
readers' questions about how he prepares for his fights, who
his toughest opponents are and why he's sticking with Strikeforce
and M-1 Global instead of signing with the UFC.
The
questions and answers for Fedor are below.
AlexJBerkman
Has he changed his training to prepare for his first fight in
a cage? And if so how?
No, the training is the same every day. We made some incremental
adjustments for the cage.
antoinefafard:
Question for Fedor: Is your training the same every day or do
you sometimes focus more on certain aspects of the game?
In general the training is the same but the week is divided in
training sessions during which we focus on one aspect of the
game: wrestling, striking, et cetera.
RhythmSignal:
Fedor seems to challenge opponent's strengths (ground Nogueira
& Coleman-standing up Arlovski & Crocop). Is this intentional?
When you know the opponent's strength you put an emphasis on
it when preparing for the upcoming bout. My ground skills were
good before the bout against Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira because
I have the judo and sambo background. For the fight against Mirko
Cro Cop Filipovic, we went to the Netherlands, where I trained
the stand-up with the best strikers.
Carl_Hnatiuk:
Fedor, Strikeforce has a few decent heavyweights, but after a
few main events, what does the future hold for you in Strikeforce?
We'll see. At the moment I'm content with what M-1 and Strikeforce
has to offer. My contract is for three fights so we'll see after
that. I take one fight at a time.
dustinriddell:
After Brett Rogers who else would be a good opponent for you?
There are several top fighters in Strikeforce and M-1 now, and
keep in mind that a year is a long period. A new top opponent
might emerge. At the moment there is Brett Rogers, Fabricio Werdum.
Of course there is Alistair Overeem, the Strikeforce heavyweight
champion. Antonio Silva will fight Werdum on Nov. 7 during the
same Strikeforce / M-1 Global event I fight. There are free agents
like Josh Barnett and Andrei Arlovski. There is enough challenge
for me out there.
JohnKrolik:
You've said Cro Cop gave you the toughest fight of your career.
Why do you think he's struggled in the UFC?
I think it has to do with motivation. He had won the Pride Grand
Prix in 2006 and maybe he needed to have a rest after such a
big accomplishment. I don't know but I hope he will be alright.
joelmclaughlin:
I'd like to know if he's ever thought about (and if he's attempted)
making a cut to 205.
No, I've never attempted it and I don't see the point of making
such a cut in my case.
sir_roc_obama:
The question I have for fedor is the question EVERYBODY has for
fedor - why didn't you make the deal happen with UFC?
The conditions offered by the UFC were not good enough. There
were many points both parties were OK with, but at the same time,
there were some sticking points that were not resolved. I'm 100%
satisfied with what Strikeforce could offer me and my company
M-1 Global. We talked to them and I like their style, behavior
and the way they treat people with respect.
ThePatBurke:
When will Americans be able to see Aleksander, your brother,
fight in the US?
I think Aleksander himself should answer this question. He is
on his own right now -- managing his own career now -- so I can't
say definitely about that.
neyvit:
Fedor, what do you think is the ideal # of fights per year at
this stage in your career?
About three fights a year.
Resnicno:
: I'd like to know who are his favorite fighters and if he's
still thinking about an UFC debut in the future
I like watching Gegard Mousasi fight. He fights smart.
MTFIII
- Ask him if he's a fan of other sports, and whether he has met,
or would like to meet, other Russian professional athletes.
When I have some free time, I like watching sports. Last year,
I was honored to bear the Olympic torch with many other prominent
Russian athletes. Also when I come to Moscow or St. Petersburg
I meet professional athletes occasionally.
beewsee:
How much longer does Fedor plan on fighting?
I can't predict the future. All I can say now is that I enjoy
doing it today.
Source: MMA Fighting
|
Miguel
Torres: 'I Didn't Go Anywhere'
Miguel Torres has been a busy man as of late even though he doesn't
have a fight coming up. The former WEC bantamweight champion
recently filmed a movie with the likes of Kimbo Slice and Roger
Huerta and just returned from training with boxer Miguel Cotto
in Florida. Torres was offered a fight on WEC's upcoming Dec.
19 show, but didn't feel as though he had enough time to prepare.
FanHouse
spoke to the 28-year-old about when he expects to return to action,
what went wrong against Brian Bowles in August, and the evolution
of his famous mullet. Check out the video interview below.
Source: MMA Fighting
|
Quote
of the Day
“Leadership
is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done
because he wants to do it.”
Dwight Eisenhower
|
Scuffle
on Schofield 2 ... "Homebound Heroes "
Saturday, Nov. 7th, 5pm
|
HAPA
Results!
Waiphu
Filcom
Saturday, October 31
Aaron "Action" Jackson Freelance VS. Brian "Hammer"
Castleton Wahiawa HMC
(165) Muay Thai 3Rounds X 2Mins
Jackson by KO Round 1, 1:25 Sec
Joseph
Guillaume Kurrupt Ambitions VS. Sam Rompon Freelance
(120) Pankration 3Rounds X 3Mins
Joseph by Guillotine Round 2, 1:12 Sec
Richard
Barnard Up & Up VS. Noah Lee Locals Only
(140) Submission Grappling 2Rounds X 3Mins
Barnard by Triangle Choke Round 2, 2:58 Sec
Ikaika
Hookano Freelance VS. Ryan DelaCruz 808 Fight Factory
(155) Pankration 3Rounds X 3Mins
DelaCruz by TKO Strikes Round 2
Scott
Higashi Kurrupt Ambitions VS. Anthony Murakami Team Island Thunder
(140) Muay Thai 3Rounds X 2Mins
Draw after 3 Rounds
David
Brown Up & Up VS. Zach Lee Locals Only
(165) Pankration 3Rounds X 3Mins
Lee by Triangle Round 2, 2:26 Sec
Bookie
Mandaville Kurrupt Ambitions VS. Waimea McKeague 808 Fight Factory
(155) Pankration 3Rounds X 3Mins
Draw after 3 Rounds
Landon
Soares Locals Only VS. David Borges Dogg House MMA Kauai
(185) Pankration 3Rounds X 3Mins
Borges by Guillotine Round 1, 25 Sec
Zach
Pang HK Jiu Jitsu
VS. Dennis Kam Locals Only
(205) Pankration 3Rounds X 3Mins
Pang by Armbar Round 2, 2:26
MAIN
EVENT:
Brandon
Naleieha Kurrupt Ambitions VS. Jason Keliiholokai No Mercy
(175) Pankration 3Rounds X 3Mins
Draw after 3 Rounds
|
FITCH
DRAWS PIERCE TO REMAIN ON UFC 107 CARD
Following numerous false starts, Jon Fitch is hopeful that he
will finally have an opponent for UFC 107 when the promotion
lands in Memphis, Tenn., for the first time.
Fitch
was originally slated to face Ricardo Almeida at UFC 106 on Nov.
21, but the Renzo Gracie black belt had to withdraw due to a
knee injury. Fitch was then re-scheduled for UFC 107 in a rematch
with fellow top five ranked welterweight Thiago Alves. Then,
on Friday, the American Top Team fighter also had to withdraw
due to a knee injury.
Fitch
(19-3) has now been lined up with Mike Pierce (10-1). He doesn’t
have the name value of Fitch’s two draws, but Pierce rides
a six-fight winning streak into the bout, fresh off of an impressive
victory in his UFC debut over Brock Larson at UFC Fight Night
19 in September.
The
bout with Pierce was originally reported by MMAMania.com and
subsequently confirmed by MMAWeekly.com sources.
A
bout with Alves would likely have put the winner near the top
of the list for contenders to current UFC welterweight champion
Georges St. Pierre. A win over Pierce would still keep Fitch
in the running, but doesn’t put as much luster on a rematch
with St. Pierre for the American Kickboxing Academy trained Fitch
as a win over Alves would have.
UFC
lightweight champion B.J. Penn and challenger Diego Sanchez headline
UFC 107 on Dec. 12 at the FedEx Forum.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
EXCLUSIVE:
COREY HILL MAKING THE COMEBACK
Corey
Hill thinks of Dec. 10, 2008 every day.
The
31-year-old lightweight won the first round of his fight with
Dale Hartt at UFC’s “Fight for the Troops” and
was just getting started in the second when Hartt kicked him
in the leg.
Hill
did what he usually did back then, which was to answer force
with force. He threw a counter leg kick, something to remind
Hartt there would be no free throws against him.
When
the five-foot-10-inch Hartt checked the right leg of six-foot-four-inch
Hill with his left shin, the impact shattered Hill’s tibia
and fibula.
Hill
spent four months completely bedridden, his leg held together
with steel rods and pins, wondering if he’d ever return
to fighting.
He
was almost completely dependant on his wife during the recovery
and experienced severe mood swings dealing with the helplessness
of the situation.
“I
had the support of my wife and my friends, but mentally, I was
like, something’s not right,” Hill told MMAWeekly.com
in an exclusive interview. “Why am I laying in bed? I should
be out there doing stuff.”
By
his and other’s accounts, that get-up-and-go spirit has
been the blessing/curse of Hill’s life – he can’t
sit still.
It
was hard to miss his infectious hunger for learning the fight
game on the fifth season of “The Ultimate Fighter.”
Back then, he had fought less than a year and for all intents
and purposes had made his professional debut on the show. Afterwards,
he did a short stint at Miletich Martial Arts before settling
at Gracie Tampa.
“It’s
wanting to learn everything overnight and being hard-headed about
it,” he said. “I want to learn jiu-jitsu and Muay Thai
and I want to learn it by next Wednesday, and it doesn’t
work like that. I tell people I’m probably bipolar.”
For
Hill, the accident presented a fork in his life’s road –
it was a sign to move on, or to push through and reach for his
full potential.
In
June, two months after rising to his feet again, he got off his
“pity potty.”
“It
would have been very easy for the MMA world to never see me again,”
he said. “A lot of my friends were like, ‘we can understand
if you don’t go back.’ But that was a copout. I’ve
been taught through life experience, if it’s easy, you usually
don’t appreciate it as much as if you work your butt off.
When you get there, it feels a lot better.”
The
problem, as he soon found out, was getting his body to agree.
His
mobility was severely limited. Any prolonged physical activity
brought swelling where the steel pins set. He ignored the discomfort
and played basketball; he tried to spar on one leg at Gracie
Tampa, propping himself against the wall and throwing hands.
His coach, Rob Kahn, nearly had a heart attack.
“He
was like, ‘I can’t take it! You can’t come in
here! You’ll drive me crazy!’” laughs Hill.
Kahn,
of course, was concerned for his safety, as his friends and family
were. Doctors had given him a grim prognosis: 16 months with
the pins in, eight months of rehab, then a slow climb back to
fight shape. He was looking at two-and-a-half years out of action
if he played by the rules.
No
way was he going to sit still that long. So he searched for doctors
who would take the pins out of his leg.
“I
had doctors saying ‘it’s my way or the highway,’”
said Hill. “And I’m like, ‘okay, I’ll see
you later.’”
By
the fourth doctor, he had found a sympathetic ear. Soon after,
in late June, he had the pins surgically removed.
“I
decided, you know what? This is going to be my greatest comeback
of all time,” he said.
With
less metal in his leg – the rod still remained – Hill
got some of his mobility back. Two weeks later, he returned to
Gracie Tampa.
There
were good days and bad days in his recovery. He couldn’t
spar at the drop of a hat. He couldn’t throw with abandon.
Before he even got started on the mat, he needed 20 to 30 minutes
of stretching.
He
still suffers pain, but it’s not debilitating.
“Now,
I can’t rely so much on pure athleticism all the time,”
he said. “Corey Hill has to have a game plan, versus, let’s
go out there and see where it ends up.”
If
you were wondering about the leg, he said that was the easiest
part of getting back in the groove.
“I’m
a modest guy, but my friends say I’m a little overconfident,”
he said. “For me, realizing the injury, and realizing that
someone may grab that leg, it was easy for me to start throwing
kicks with it. That way, I could remove doubt in my mind, and
the guys I’m sparring with know that ‘he’s not
afraid of the leg kick.’
“I
don’t just throw it out there willy nilly anymore. I’m
looking for a specific spot on your body and I’m really
trying to connect, versus, when the injury happened, just reacting.”
When
Hill overdoes it – and he still does, according to Kahn
– teammates remind him of the value of training hard versus
training smart.
“Once
I get warm, it’s the same old Corey,” he said.
Hill
is itching to get inside the cage again, but he wants to be smart
about his return. He knows the high level of UFC fighters and
doesn’t want to rush into a situation he’s not prepared
for. On the other hand, he and his family have gone almost a
whole year on one income (his wife works has a hairdresser).
“Fifty
percent of me wants to get back out there because I’m going
to be a great fighter, and the other 50 percent is financially,”
he said. “We went from two vehicles to one vehicle. But
we’re not doing anything that no one else in this economy
is doing.”
In
a best-case scenario, he hopes to be fighting “January-ish.”
“I
want to not just return, I want to return as a better fighter.”
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Wanderlei:
“Shogun is the new champion”
The
fight between Lyoto Machida and Maurício Shogun at UFC
104 is still being talked, and Wanderlei Silva gave his opinion
about judges’ decision in Lyoto’s favor. “I said
that Shogun would win and he won, we can’t discuss that.
He fought in a smart way with Lyoto, it was a big fight. Lyoto
gave some knee blows and some punches, but hasn’t that strength
that Shogun had on the fight, let’s say... He’s the
new champion“, Silva pointed, criticizing the judges, that
are on Wand’s aim since his defeat to Rich Franklin on UCF
99.
Source: Tatame
|
UFC
107: Paulo Thiago ready for newcomer
Paulo
Thiago would fight Thiago “Pitbull”, but the injury
of a third athlete messed UFC fights. With the fight anticipated
to UFC 106, which takes place at November 21, Paulo will face
the newcomer Jacob Volkmann, but he knows that he can’t
underestimate the opponents. Check below the exclusive interview
with the Brazilian welterweight, who promises a great fight.
How’s
the expectations to be back to UFC?
The
expectation is the best as possible... I lost a few days of training
because my fight was anticipated to UFC 106, but I was on a good
rhythm and I’m prepared.
Your
opponent is a newcomer. What do you know about him?
For
what I could see on the internet, he’s a wrestler, he has
nine fights and won all of them, with six victories by submission,
so it looks like he has a good ground game and a good takedown
game. He’s shorter than me, but all I gotta do it train
hard. My training changed a little, because my other opponent
was Thiago (Pitbull), but it’s all right.
Do
you expect for a ground fight?
I
think that he’ll look for the ground fight and I won’t
run away from that, but I’ll try to put my rhythm as standing
up as on the ground... I’ll be prepared.
You
ware going to face a Top 3 of the category and now you’ll
face a newcomer. What does it change for you?
I’m
calm, the organization knows what they’re doing. I’m
an employee and I fight with they told me to, for me it’s
okay. Besides he’s a newcomer, he has a good past, he didn’t
lose, so it’s gonna be a big challenge. I’m ready for
a tough fight.
UFC
106 had a few considerable changes on the maim fights, as Mark
Coleman and Brock Lesnar lefts, for medical reasons...
Yes,
but the organization has a lot of ways out, it’s organized
and putted (Josh) Kosheck against Anthony Johnson, a tough guy,
so it’s gonna be a cool event... And will even have Tito
Ortiz with Forrest Griffin.
How
do you think it’s gonna be Ortiz’s return to UFC?
I’m
betting on Griffin... Tito is out for a while, it makes difference,
so Griffin, besides he’s coming from a loss, is always fighting
and has more chances to win this fight.
Source: Tatame
|
Injuries
take toll on UFC schedule
Several
major UFC bouts that were scheduled or tentatively planned for
the next few months have started to unravel the past two days
because of injuries.
UFC
officials have confirmed that Lyoto Machida will need surgery
on one of his hands, thus delaying the planned middleweight championship
rematch with Mauricio “Shogun” Rua (18-4). Machida
injured his hand during his controversial win over Rua during
UFC 104 Saturday in Los Angeles.
Machida
(16-0) retained his championship with a unanimous decision, but
the vast majority of media and fans thought Rua had done enough
to take the championship. UFC president Dana White was among
those who thought the decision went the wrong way and wanted
to set up a rematch as soon as possible.
White
was hopeful to get the rematch in as soon as Jan. 2, when the
company has one of its traditional major events of the year at
the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Rua had agreed to the
date, but Machida’s surgery eliminates whatever slim possibility
there was that he would be fully recovered and ready in time
for that date. Right now, it is not known when the fight would
be able to take place.
In
addition, with Anderson Silva (25-4) recovering from elbow surgery,
the date for his match with Vitor Belfort (19-8) for the middleweight
title once scheduled for the same show remains up in the air.
Brock
Lesnar (4-1) defending the heavyweight title against Shane Carwin
(11-0) looks to be the main event of that show. That match was
moved from Nov. 21 because Lesnar was unable to get in a good
training camp due to a bad strain of the flu.
Machida
vs. Rua and Silva vs. Belfort will be rescheduled as soon as
Machida and Belfort are healthy. The company has two major events
scheduled for February, a Feb. 6 date in Las Vegas as part of
their annual night before the Super Bowl show, and a Feb. 21
date in Sydney, Australia.
Georges
St. Pierre, who has been out of action with a torn abductor muscle,
was expected to defend his welterweight title on one of those
two shows, but it is possible he won’t be available until
March.
The
scheduled Dec. 12 match for UFC 107 in Memphis that was just
put together in the last week, matching Thiago Alves (16-6) and
Jon Fitch (19-3, 1 no contest), also just fell apart.. Alves
suffered a torn posterior cruciate injury and will be out three
to four weeks, which would leave him with two weeks max of training
time for the fight. The match between the highly ranked welterweights
was scheduled as the No. 2 match on UFC 107, underneath the B.J.
Penn vs. Diego Sanchez championship match.
Alves’
camp asked for the fight to be moved to January, but because
UFC just moved Fitch from Nov. 21 to Dec. 12, it didn’t
want to move him again and is looking for a new opponent. Alves
later agreed to do the fight with limited training, until his
camp talked him out of it, noting that Fitch is the level of
fighter you have to prepare for.
Finally,
the Kurt Pellegrino (14-4) vs. Frank Edgar (10-1) lightweight
fight on Dec. 5 in Las Vegas, on a live Spike TV special that
would include the finals of the current season of “The Ultimate
Fighter,” has been scrapped. Pellegrino dropped out due
to a back injury. Edgar now is scheduled to face Matt Veach (11-0)
in what easily will be the biggest test of Veach’s career.
Source: Yahoo Sports
|
Rankings:
Shogun’s revenge
As
soon as the horn sounded on the fifth and final round of Lyoto
Machida’s UFC light heavyweight title defense against Mauricio
“Shogun” Rua in Los Angeles on Oct. 24, the reporters
in attendance were near-unanimous in their verdict. They had
Rua as the new champion, putting them on the same page as most
of the fans at the Staples Center and those watching at home.
The
judges, of course, saw things differently, giving Machida 48-47
scores across the board.
A
week later, though, “Shogun” gained a measure of justice,
as he became the first fighter in the nearly two-and-a-half years
of the Yahoo! Sports reporters’ poll voted into the Top
10 after a losing effort. Rua garnered 29 points, enough to put
him into a tie for seventh place with former WEC bantamweight
champion Miguel Torres.
Rua’s
performance against Machida, who couldn’t figure out a counter
for Rua’s onslaught of kicks, was his third impressive showing
in his personal redemption tour. “Shogun” was ranked
as high as No. 2 in the polls in 2007, but fell out after injuries
put him on the sidelines for an extended period. The Brazilian
TKO’d Mark Coleman in January and knocked out Chuck Liddell
in April to earn his title shot.
Machida,
meanwhile, dropped from No. 4 to No. 5, with UFC lightweight
champion B.J. Penn jumping up a spot in his place.
The
Yahoo! Sports Top 10 poll features 16 top mixed martial arts
reporters from leading sports web sites, newspapers, wire services
and blogs. Fighters receive 10 points for a first-place vote,
nine for a second-place vote, etc., down to one-point for a 10th-place
vote. Fighters under suspension for use of illegal drugs or performance-enhancing
substances are ineligible for consideration, and fighters who
go 12 months without competing are ineligible for consideration
until after the completion of their return fight.
For
a list of this month’s Y! Sports Top 10 poll panel participants,
go here.
10.
Brock Lesnar
Points: 22
Affiliation: UFC (UFC heavyweight champion)
Weight class: Heavyweight
Hometown: Webster, S.D.
Record: 4-1 (won last four)
Last month’s ranking: unranked
Most recent result: def. Frank Mir, R2 TKO, July 11
Analysis: Has sat just outside the top 10 for the past several
months. A bit of shuffling among the pollsters put Lesnar a point
ahead of Dan Henderson in the standings.
9.
Brian Bowles
Points: 26
Affiliation: WEC
Weight class: Bantamweight (WEC bantamweight champion)
Hometown: Athens, Ga.
Record: 8-0
Last month’s ranking: 9
Most recent result: def. Miguel Torres, R1 TKO, Aug. 9
Analysis: Rumor has Bowles defending his title against Dominic
Cruz on a double bill also featuring Miguel Torres’ return
fight sometime in February.
T7.
Miguel Angel Torres
Points: 29
Affiliation: WEC
Weight class: Bantamweight
Hometown: East Chicago, Ind.
Record: 36-2 (lost last one)
Last month’s ranking: 8
Most recent result: lost to Brian Bowles, R1 TKO, Aug. 9
Analysis: No doubt hungry to prove loss to Bowles a fluke.
T7.
Mauricio Rua
Points: 29
Affiliation: UFC
Weight class: Light heavyweight
Hometown: Curitiba, Brazil
Record: 18-4 (lost last one)
Last month’s ranking: unranked
Most recent result: lost to Lyoto Machida, unanimous decision,
Oct. 24
Analysis: Rua laid out the blueprint for neutralizing Machida’s
style. The hardest part – finishing Machida – will
be the key to the rematch.
6.
Mike Brown
Points: 67
Affiliation: WEC
Weight class: Featherweight (WEC featherweight champion)
Hometown: Portland, Maine
Record: 22-4 (won last 10)
Last month’s ranking: 6
Most recent result: def. Urijah Faber, unanimous decision, June
7
Analysis: A convincing win over nasty striker Jose Aldo on Nov.
18 could vault Brown into the top five.
5.
Lyoto Machida
Points: 105
Affiliation: UFC
Weight class: Light heavyweight
Hometown: Belem, Brazil
Record: 16-0
Last month’s ranking: 4
Most recent result: def. Mauricio Rua, unanimous decision, Oct.
24
Analysis: While some of the shine is off Machida’s undefeated
record, Rua never came close to finishing Machida, so let’s
not call the Machida Era over before it started.
4.
B.J. Penn
Points: 107
Affiliation: UFC
Weight class: Lightweight (UFC lightweight champion)
Hometown: Hilo, Hawaii
Record: 14-5-1 (won last one)
Last month’s ranking: 4
Most recent result: def. Kenny Florian, R4 submission, Aug. 8
Analysis: Penn’s one-sided loss to welterweight champ Georges
St. Pierre in February makes it easy to forget that since Penn
dropped to 155 two years ago. He’s 4-0 with four decisive
finishes in his weight class and has barely been challenged along
the way.
3.
Fedor Emelianenko
Points: 133 (four first-place votes)
Affiliation: Strikeforce/M-1 (never lost PRIDE title)
Weight class: Heavyweight
Hometown: Stary Oskol, Russia
Record: 30-1, one no-contest (won last 10)
Last month’s ranking: 3
Most recent result: def. Andrei Arlovski, R1 KO, Jan. 24
Analysis: Since reader feedback on Fedor is split right down
the middle, here’s a handy form to ease your email experience:
“Dear moron, How dare you rank Fedor so [low/high]!!!! Fedor
is [nature’s most unstoppable force/afraid of Kimbo Slice]
and [could kill a great white shark with his bare hands/would
get knocked out by Joe Benavidez]!!!! Get your head out of [Dana’s/Coker’s]
backside and put Fedor [No. 1/out of the Top 10] or I’m
never clicking on Yahoo! Sports again!!!! Love, [Reader].”
2.
Georges St. Pierre
Points: 144 (four first-place votes)
Affiliation: UFC
Weight class: Welterweight (UFC welterweight champion)
Hometown: Saint-Isidore, Quebec
Record: 19-2 (won last six)
Last month’s ranking: 2
Most recent result: def. Thiago Alves, unanimous decision, July
11
Analysis: Current chatter has St. Pierre returning from his injury
as early as February.
1.
Anderson Silva
Points: 150 (eight first-place votes)
Affiliation: UFC
Weight class: Middleweight (UFC middleweight champion)
Hometown: Curitiba, Brazil
Record: 24-4 (won last 10)
Last month’s ranking: 1
Most recent result: def. Forrest Griffin, R1 KO, Aug. 8
Analysis: Manager Ed Soares remains coy about Silva’s plans,
but by sliding Brock Lesnar-Shane Carwin into the Jan. 2 card,
UFC took away some of the middleweight champion’s negotiating
leverage.
More
•
Votes for others: Dan Henderson 21; Urjiah Faber, Quinton Jackson
15; Rashad Evans 12; Gegard Mousasi 5; Shinya Aoki 2; Thiago
Alves, Cain Velasquez, Jake Shields 1.
•
Upcoming matches for ranked fighters: No. 3 Fedor Emelianenko
vs. Brett Rogers, Nov. 7, Hoffman Estates, Ill.; No. 6 Mike Brown
vs. Joe Aldo, Nov. 18, Las Vegas.
Source: Yahoo Sports
|
WC
FITNESS: STRENGTH ROUTINE OR CIRCUS ACT?
With
the proliferation of different types of training - especially
different training tools - in recent years, different feats of
"strength" have become more and more commonplace, being
used as a measure of progress, strength, and/or capacity.
In
other words, if you can do (insert random feat here), this means
you're strong.
In
my opinion, most of it is B.S.
Most
of these "feats" aren't representative of strength
(and when I say "strength" in this article, it can
be mean strength, power, etc.) development. Rather, they're representative
of strength performance. Just because you can do (insert random
strength) doesn't mean you're strong. It means you can apply
the strength you have in a certain way.
In
most instances, these "feats" are generally very hard
to perform, but are still done with a very light weight, or make
a usually simple exercise very hard.
Let's
look at an example - the Kettlebell "Bottoms Up Press"
(KB BUP).
The
BUP is a pressing movement where you press a KB overhead, but
keep the KB upside down - the "ball" part of the KB
is above the handle the entire time. This exercise is so hard
because balance is such a big factor - you have to keep the KB
perfectly vertically aligned or else it wants to come down and
flip over. Wrist strength is of vital importance in this exercise,
as is tension.
Is
this a hard exercise? For sure. It's not uncommon for pretty
strong dudes to have a really hard time doing the BUP with just
a 53-pound KB.
But
here's the thing... say you're strong enough to do presses with
a 72-pound KB or 88-pound KB, but the 53-pound BUP gives you
trouble, and you can only really perform them well with a 36-pounder
Do
you think you're doing yourself a whole lot of good by messing
with presses that are half or less of what you're really capable
of?
Sure,
you're getting your wrists stronger, you're practicing tension,
blah, blah, blah. Who cares? If you're limited to a scant percentage
of what you're capable of (and you're not training maximum speed
for power), then you're doing yourself a disservice.
Here's
the deal - I can make any exercise "hard" or difficult
to perform. However, that doesn't mean that they're going to
do you any good. Remember what your goal is. If your goal is
to be a better overall fighter, would you be better off doing
something like a BUP when you could be spending your (what should
be limited) time doing strength and conditioning (S&C) work
with real strength and/or power work?
You
see, many of these "feats" are more about technique
and practicing the actual "feat" itself than it is
strength, power, or the like.
If
you can do KB presses with a 72-pound KB, I'm sure you could
spend some time practicing the BUP, and get it to a decent level.
And that's fine. But did you just get stronger, or did you just
get better at performing a certain movement?
There's
a HUGE difference.
That
is why I call many of these "feats" circus tricks.
Sure, they're cool, they look neat, they're hard as hell to perform,
and no, I can't do them.
But
I don't care, because outside of the performance of the actual
feat itself, how much application or carryover does it have to
anything else? If the answer is "very little," then
as a fighter, you're wasting your time.
Now,
hopefully all the KB fanatics won't flood my in-box with hate
mail - I'm not "hating" on the KB or the BUP. I'm just
using that as an example.
The
same goes for doing various movements (say squats) on a swiss
ball or Indo Board. This takes incredible balance and is very
tough to perform. But unless you're a surfer or skateboarder,
how much carryover is there? Probably not a whole lot.
Same
goes for various gymnastic exercises. Most gymnastic exercises,
by design, are done in a manner that puts your body at the most
disadvantageous position it can be in - that's what makes it
so hard. But the problem is that once you get over a certain
bodyweight, there is virtually no way you're going to perform
any of these feats. It's just basic physics. I don't care how
strong you are.
Yeah,
you might be able to do all the chins in the world, and do them
with a whole lot of weight added, but if you weigh 200 pounds,
chances are you'll never do an Iron Cross on the still rings,
let alone the planche moves (where you hold your body in a horizontal
position). The physics just aren't there for heavier guys.
And
that's fine. That 130-pound gymnast might be able to do an Iron
Cross, but he'll likely never squat or deadlift as much as you,
which means he'll never be as strong as you are. (We're talking
in an absolute sense - his relative strength very well may be
higher than yours, but that's another topic of discussion.)
Ultimately,
though, we have to go back to the original question - what are
you goals?
If
your goal is to become a better fighter, while these "feats"
are cool to be able to do and use to show off at parties, they
won't do that much toward developing more strength and power,
a higher work capacity, better conditioning, or the like.
Train
Hard, Rest Hard, Play Hard.
Matt
"Wiggy" Wiggins is a strength coach and author living
in Cameron, N.C. Having trained and designed Workout Plans for
16+ years, Wiggy is a strength moderator at mma.tv, columnist
for MMAWeekly.com, and an avid fan of Mixed Martial Arts Training.
His site, Working Class Fitness.com, is dedicated to designing
low-tech, high-result Workout Programs; earning praise from the
likes of UFC commentator and martial artist Joe Rogan, Ultimate
Fighter alumnus Jules Bruchez, world famous strength and conditioning
coach Charles Staley, UFC veteran Leigh Remedios, and others.
ATTENTION:
Physical exercise can sometimes lead to injury. The information
contained at WorkingClassFitness.com and MMAWeekly.com is NOT
intended to constitute an explanation of any exercise, material,
or product (or how to use/perform them). WorkingClassFitness.com
and MMAWeekly.com are not responsible in any way, shape, or form
for any injury that may result from any person's attempt at exercise
as a result of the information contained herein. Please consult
a physician before starting any exercise program, and never substitute
the information on this site for any professional medical advice
or treatment you may receive.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
DREAM
CHAMP ZAROMSKIS INKS STRIKEFORCE DEAL
Strikeforce on Saturday announced it has signed Dream Welterweight
Grand Prix champion Marius Zaromskis (13-3) of Lithuania to a
multi-fight agreement.
Known
for his explosive, highlight reel kicks, the 29-year-old Zaromskis
has won five fights in a row and nine of his last 10.
He
is coming off an utter destruction of Myeon Ho Bae, winning by
a first-round knockout on Oct. 25. The victory earned Zaromskis
the 2009 Dream Welterweight Grand Prix crown.
Remarkably,
it was the third consecutive time Zaromskis won a fight with
a head kick in the opening round. On July 20, 2009, he defeated
both Jason High and heavily favored Hayato “Mach” Sakurai
with head kicks to win Dream’s 170-pound tournament.
Zaromskis
turned pro on Feb. 4, 2000. He fought several times for UK-based
Cage Rage before joining Dream in early 2009. Two of his three
losses came against former Cage Rage British champion in Che
Mills.
His
promotional debut has yet to be announced, but could come as
early as Dec. 19 in San Jose, Calif., according to Sherdog.com.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Quote
of the Day
“I
never been in no situation where having money made it any worse.”
Clinton Jones
|
Fighters'
Club TV Tonight!
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!
|
Busy
Weekend for Fight Action!
11/8/09
X-1 Scuffle at Schofield
(MMA)
(Tropics, Schofield Barracks)
11/7/09
Mad Skills
(Kickboxing/Triple Threat)
(Waiphu Filcom)
11/6/09
Up & Up
(MMA)
(Kapolei High School)
|
Mad
Skills This
Saturday!
Nov 7 Saturday
Filcom Center
Doors open at 6:30.
Weigh in
Nov 6th Friday
6:00
Blazin Steaks Kunia
Please bring ID.
If under 18 must bring birth certificate, and parent to sign
Waiver.
Zack
Shepard 175 Ikaika Sylva
Colin
Mackenzie GRUDGE MATCH Curty dirty
Nui
Wheeler 140 Freddie Ramayla
Phillip
Akui 175 Saichi
Bronson
Calpito 155 Vince Leopoldo
Kaniala
Stanton 170 Lenny Augustine
Wilfred
Balon 185 Chevez Autoke
Shawn
K 160 Richard Marsch
Nick
Correa 145 Shawn Burroughs
Kolton
Choyfoo 145 James Leole
Jason
Rocemar 150 Robbie Ostavich
Valenz
Schultz 155 Robert Lee
Jessie
Lindley 185 Kaeo Kawaa
Joe
Molina SHW Nalu Lavea
Justin
Burgess 160 Kaleo
Brandon
Pai 130 Jed Harwood
Isaac
Hoops (O2 Martial Arts Academy) 145 Ricky Plunkett
Jaren
Diaz 85 Christian Racquedan
Mike
Vinano 190 Kainoa Forsythe
Jordan
Fontez 140 – 150 Tony Perera or Mike Uemoto
Neil
Dacanay 170 Byron Eliana
Triston
Reballizsa 155 Joseph Enaena
Albert
Napoleon (O2 Martial Arts Academy) 205 Charles Wills-Albegguer
Bill
185 Mike Eli
All
matches and participants are subject to change.
|
CREDEUR
VS. MASSENZIO IN WORKS FOR UFC FIGHT NIGHT 20
A middleweight clash between Tim Credeur and Mike Massenzio is
possible for UFC Fight Night 20.
TheGarv.com
was the first to report the match-up Friday morning, and MMAWeekly
subsequently learned that at least one fighter has agreed to
the match-up with bout agreements expected shortly.
UFC
FIght Night 20 has yet to be officially announced by the UFC
but is expected for Jan. 11 at the Patriot Center in Fairfax.
Va.
Credeur
(15-3) won Fight of the Night honors for a three-round slugfest
against Nate Quarry at UFC Fight Night 19, though he came up
short on the decision. It was his first loss in four appearances
since his turn on the seventh season of "The Ultimate Fighter."
Massenzio
(11-3) spent much of 2009 recovering from injuries to his neck
and knee. In his last appearance, he lost to former wrestling
foe CB Dollaway at UFC 92, reversing a successful Octagon debut
at UFC Fight Night 15. The Team Bombsquad fighter recently returned
to active training.
Source: MMA Weekly |
MIZUGAKI
VS. JORGENSEN SIGNED FOR WEC 45
World Extreme Cagefighting has added a bantamweight bout to its
year-end event on Dec. 19 in Las Vegas.
The
WEC announced via its official Twitter account that general manager
Reed Harris confirmed a bout between number four ranked Takeya
Mizugaki and rising talent Scott Jorgensen.
The
bout will likely be on the main card in support of the WEC 45
headline bout between lightweights Donald “Cowboy”
Cerrone and Ed Ratcliff.
Mizugaki
(13-3-2) enters the bout having gone 6-1 over the past two years,
his only loss being to then-bantamweight champion Miguel Torres
at WEC 40. Jorgensen (7-3) is hot off a win over Ultimate Fighter
alumnus Noah Thomas at WEC 43.
This
is a key bout for the promotion. Both fighters are but a victory
or two away from a shot at current WEC champion Brian Bowles.
WEC
45: Cerrone vs. Ratcliff will be the second of back-to-back events
for the promotion at The Palms Resort Casino in Las Vegas.
Source: MMA Weekly |
ORTIZ
TAKES THE HIGH ROAD WITH COLEMAN
Just a month ago, Tito Ortiz was slated to make his return to
the Octagon and face UFC Hall of Famer Mark Coleman. An injury
forced Coleman out of the bout, but the talk turned ugly days
later when Coleman's manager got personal with an attack on Ortiz
and his wife, Jenna Jameson.
Mike
DiSabato, Coleman's friend and manager, lashed out against Ortiz
after he made a Twitter post commenting on Coleman pulling out
of the fight. DiSabato went on to insult Ortiz's wife, making
derogatory remarks towards her, later apologizing for his insensitive
remarks.
Speaking
with MMAWeekly Radio on Wednesday, Ortiz responded to the comments
personally, by not fueling the fire already burning between he
and Coleman's camp.
"I've
grown up. I've really, really grown up," Ortiz said about
the Coleman situation. "I'll take the high road. I'm going
to be the bad boy inside the cage, but no longer outside the
cage."
Ortiz
believes it's his job to do the right things to make a good example
for anybody watching MMA, especially kids growing up on the sport
today.
"For
me to be a role model for kids that look up to MMA fighters out
there like myself, I've really, really, really worked hard to
get my name where it is today," Ortiz commented. "For
Mark Coleman's manager saying the stuff he did personally about
my family is very disrespectful and it just shows what type of
man he is."
It
is still unfinished business for the "Huntington Beach Bad
Boy." He welcomes a shot at Coleman when he gets healthy
and makes it back to the Octagon, and believes that he needs
to check his representation for making remarks like he did.
"I
feel sorry about Mark Coleman having him as a manager. Hopefully
he'll get his knee healed up and hopefully they'll still be able
to stick me in that fight because there's some really bad blood
there. There's some really monstrous things that should have
never been said about my family," said Ortiz. "I would
have never said anything about Mark Coleman's family."
Being
a high profile fighter and having a high profile wife, Ortiz
understands that people are always going to target him in trying
to make a name for themselves, and he's just going to look past
it now and in the future.
"They're
looking for attention," Ortiz said about his detractors.
"I've grown up and (want) to be a role model for a lot of
kids. It's really about me being a father. I'm going to be the
bad boy inside the cage; outside the cage I'm going to stop myself
and it's time for me to just smash people. Get my world title
around my waist again."
Source: MMA Weekly |
ROXANNE
MODAFFERI GETS HER CHANCE TO STRIKE
Patiently awaiting her opportunity to step into the Strikeforce
cage, Roxanne Modafferi will finally get her chance, albeit on
only nine days notice, as she faces Marloes Coenen in a fight
that could determine the number one contender for Cris “Cyborg”
Santos’ 145-pound women's title.
A
veteran of several top promotions, such as GCM and Hook 'N' Shoot,
Modafferi brings a ton of experience into her second fight with
Coenen. Modafferi defeated the Dutch fighter by split decision
in mid-2007. Working with manager, Shu Hirata, Modafferi has
spent the majority of her time in Japan, but now looks to conquer
American women's MMA.
"I've
been training my butt off consistently," Modafferi said
in an interview with MMAWeekly.com on Thursday. "I don't
have to worry about weight-cutting. Right now, I'm a little heavier
than my usual competition weight, but it turned out to be a good
thing."
The
fight with Coenen will take place at 145 pounds, which is 10
pounds heavier than Modafferi's typical fight weight of 135 pounds.
While definitely not ignoring the size difference, she is confident
her experience will carry her across the finish line.
"She's
definitely bigger and stronger than me. But so are most of my
training partners," stated Modafferi. "It's just another
challenge of the fight. I have beaten bigger opponents before."
The
body of work that Modafferi has put together brings her to the
unique position of fighting in Strikeforce for the first time
in a bout that may end up on the CBS portion of the fight card,
which would be another huge step forward for women's MMA in the
United States.
"I
am thrilled beyond all belief," Modafferi said when asked
about joining Strikeforce. "I train my heart and soul out
every day. So to me, it means a validation of all my hard work,
and a chance to show my skills to the world. Objectively, I think
we are both trained veterans, and hopefully it will do female
fighters proud too, if it’s shown on TV."
With
such a short time to prepare, Modafferi believes that she knows
what to expect from her opponent, and she's ready for the battle
ahead.
"I
don’t know if she has any weaknesses. I pretty much see
her as a dangerous, well-rounded opponent," she said. "I’m
just going to go in and assume she’ll do everything right.
I have to focus on my game and roll with it."
"I’m
going to punch her in the face, and execute my new power-move:
su-pa-tobi-hiza-bakku-fisuto."
Not
overlooking her opponent in any way, the chance to fight for
a title could loom overhead for the winner of this fight, and
Modafferi admits it would be a dream come true.
"To
be honest, Cyborg is big and scary! I never suspected I’d
have the chance to fight her, since she’s out of my normal
weight division. But my dream is to defeat all women fighters
in the world," Modafferi said. "So she would be just
another opponent to beat on the way to reaching my dreams."
As
she prepares for the biggest opportunity of her life, Modafferi
also thanked the people that helped get her to the stage on which
she will perform next Saturday night in Chicago.
"I
just went freelance, actually, but I want to thank all my former
training partners at Wajyutsu Keisyukai, as well as ‘Big
Brother’ Hiroyuki Abe and Megumi Fuji for their guidance,
and my fantastic coach Kiuma Kunioku. Thanks to Sprawl, iFight
Athletics, and also my bosses for being so understanding,"
Modafferi said in closing.
Roxanne
Modafferi will face Marloes Coenen at Strikeforce: Fedor vs.
Rogers on Nov. 7 in suburban Chicago.
Source: MMA Weekly |
Jon
Fitch with new opponent for UFC 107
Injured knees for Pitbull and Cachorrao change UFC’s plans
Jon
Fitch at last knows who he’ll be fighting at UFC 107, on
December 12 in Memphis, Tennessee. Mike Pierce is the third adversary
named to face top-ranked Fitch, according to MMAMania.com.
Welterweight
Fitch (19w, 3l) was initially set to face Ricardo “Cachorrao”
Almeida in his divisional debut, but the Brazilian suffered a
knee injury and had to pull out. Next, another Brazilian, Thiago
Pitbull, Was called up, but he too suffered an injured knee and
had to withdraw.
Considered
number 2 on the welterweight rankings of several websites, Jon
Fitch comes in off back to back wins in the UFC, over Akihiro
Gono and Paulo Thiago. Previously, he would lose to Georges St-Pierre
by judges’ decision, at UFC 87 in August of 2008.
Mike
Pierce (10w, 1l) comes in riding a six-fight winning streak,
the last in September over Brock Larson, at UFC Fight Night 19.
Source: Gracie Magazine |
‘I
snorted, but didn’t tap’
Gaia comments on both encounters with Ceconi at Miami Open
Black
belt Thiago Gaia (Nova Uniao) will carry as baggage with him
to Macar distinct memories from the Miami Jiu-Jitsu Open, held
yesterday, at Miami Dade College.
In
the super heavyweight division, Thiago Gaia added another gold
medal to his collection, after sweeping Alexandre Ceconi (Rilion)
twice, winning by a score of 4 to 0.
In
the absolute, though, Thiago was winning on advantage points
when Ceconi sunk a snug triangle around his neck.
Gaia
relates what transpired: “It was the semifinal, to determine
who would face (eventual champion) Big Mac. He was in the process
of sweeping me and sunk a triangle. I did in fact snort, but
I already had my legs in to escape, when he released and started
celebrating. The ref turned to me and said he thought I’d
tapped, but I swear I hadn’t!”
Gaia
was thus left with the bronze, but could sleep in peace knowing
he’d beaten Ceconi in the final at weight.
Overall,
Gracie Barra took top honors, followed by American Top Team and
Brotherhood JJ in third.
Check
out the black belt champions, an find out the complete results
from the Miami Open.
Black
belt adult
Light
featherweight:
1- Saul Alencar (American Top Team)
Lightweight:
1- Guilherme Tavares (Gracie Barra)
Middleweight:
1- Mike Fowler (Lloyd Irvin)
2- Jonathan "JT" Torres (Lloyd Irvin)
3- Antonio Passos (Brotherhood JJ)
3- Vagner Rocha (Brotherhood JJ)
Medium
heavyweight:
1- Rodrigo Ferreira (Gracie Barra)
Super
heavyweight:
1) Thiago Gaia (Nova União)
2) Alexandre Ceconi (Rillion Gracie)
3) Gustavo Pires (Gracie Barra)
3) Marcelo Meleiro (Nova União)
Ultra
heavyweight:
1) Luiz Felipe Theodoro (Godói JJ Club)
2) Stephen Hall (Alliance)
Absolute:
1) Luiz Felipe Theodoro
2) Alexandre Ceconi
3) Thiago Gaia
3) Mike Fowler
Black
belt Master
Featherweight:
1) Renato Filho (ATT)
2) Michel Porfirio (Carlson Gracie Team)
Middleweight:
1) Marcio Silva (ATT)
2) Rodrigo Ramos (ATT)
3) Gilson dos Santos (Carlson)
3) Edson Diniz (ATT)
Medium
heavyweight:
1) Ailton Barbosa (ATT)
Heavyweight:
1) Marcelo Braga (Rilion)
Ultra
heavyweight:
1) Luigi Mondelli (ATT)
2) Fabio Costa (Gracie Barra)
3) Cleverson Silva (CMS)
Absolute:
1) Edson Diniz (ATT)
2) Marcio Silva (ATT)
3) Ailton Barbosa (ATT)
Source: Gracie Magazine |
Demian
training boxing with Minotauro
After
the knockout loss to Nate Marquardt on UFC 102, Demian Maia decided
to change a little his training to the next challenge, against
Dan Miller on UFC 109. Training at São Paulo, the middleweight,
who has six victories and only one loss at the UFC, called Rodrigo
“Minotauro” Nogueira and said that he was planning
to train boxing in Cuba and asking for some tips to his friend.
“Forget
about Cuba, come to my house in Salvador to train with me, with
(Luis) Dórea, Rogério (Minotouro) and (Junior)
Cigano (dos Santos)”, heavyweight said. With the friend’s
invitation, Demian didn’t hesitate. “It’s being
an excellent experience, I want to come back here more times
before the fight“, guarantees.
Helping
on the training, Luis Dórea commented the preparation
of the middleweight with Nogueira brothers and Dos Santos. “We’re
doing a nice work here for a couple of weeks. He doesn’t
rest even on Sundays, you’ll see his evolution“, Nogueira’s
boxing trainer said. “He can get the technique very well,
he has a good line. We’re doing a work that it’s good
to his action area, attacking and defending well. The important
is the transition from the striking to the ground, where he’s
an expert, above the normal“.
Source: Tatame |
José
Aldo focused on Mike Brown
After
five knockouts in a row at WEC, the chance for the featherweight
crown has came, and José Aldo promises a great fight against
Mike Brown, the reign champion of the organization, at November
18.
“My
expectations are the best as possible, I’m training a lot
to make an excellent fight”, Aldo said. “My fans can
expect the best of me and I’ll represent Brazil very well.
I’m studying his strong sides, he has a good Wrestling and
standing up he’s dangerous. I don’t see an specific
place that I could win, so I’m preparing well in all the
ways, emphasizing the stand up and the ground and training a
little of Wrestling too. I’m 100% ready to any situation
and the audience can expect a good fight“.
Happy
for the title shot, Aldo sorrows the loss of his team’s
partner Wagnney Fabiano, who was submitted with a triangle choke
by the newcomer Mackens Semerzier. “His loss really surprised
me, because he’s really though”, the contender said.
“But the fact that he trained more on Canada than here in
Brazil may have made the difference on this loss, but I think
that it was just an unhappy day and I’m sure that if he
fights again with this opponent, he has total chances to win“.
Source: Tatame |
Quote
of the Day
“Success
is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue
that counts.”
Winston Churchill
|
Soares
soars to power-broker status
Sometimes,
it seems like Ed Soares is nothing more than the voice of fighters
embroiled in controversy.
He
faced an angry press at the side of Ultimate Fighting Championship
middleweight king Anderson Silva in April, defending Silva’s
performance at UFC 97 in a victory over Thales Leites.
He
delivered light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida’s version
of events on Saturday at UFC 104 to media that largely believed
Machida was given a victory at UFC 104 that belonged to Mauricio
“Shogun” Rua.
Soares,
though, is not only the interpreter for mixed martial arts superstars
like Silva, Machida and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. He’s also
one of the industry’s most influential managers with a deep
and talent-laden roster and an uncanny ability to make deals.
Whenever
you have a portfolio that includes two of the four best fighters
in the world, as Soares and partner Jorge Guimaraes do, you instantly
command respect.
It’s
been a long road for the 37-year-old native of Redondo Beach,
Calif., who got his start in business as a ski instructor, nightclub
promoter, hip-hop band manager and apparel salesman.
His
parents are native Brazilians and, though he was born in Southern
California, Soares spoke only Portuguese until he entered kindergarten.
Fate, though, might have brought him into mixed martial arts
long before he even realized it.
Soares’
mother, Sonia, babysat for Guimaraes’ daughter, Gabrielle,
in Redondo Beach, so the two got to know each other and become
friends. Soares said Guimaraes has “always been like a big
brother to me.”
Guimaraes,
a Brazil native, was a close friend of Rorion Gracie, who initially
conceived the idea of the UFC as a way of proving the superiority
of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu over other fighting forms.
Soares
and Guimaraes drifted apart but reconnected in 2003, when they
met in Japan at a PRIDE Fighting Championship event. Soares owned
Sinister Clothing by then and attended the event with UFC star
Chuck Liddell, for whom he designed his now-familiar fight shorts.
Guimaraes was producing an MMA television show at the time, and
Soares offered to help. He began frequently interviewing fighters
for the show and helped Guimaraes find an affiliate in Los Angeles.
But
Soares had been on the fringes of the MMA industry for years
prior to reconnecting with Guimaraes. When his soon-to-be wife
became pregnant with his first child, Soares decided that being
a nightclub promoter didn’t jive with his idea of what a
family man should be. So he made the move to the apparel industry.
Guimaraes
brought him fully into the business after their 2003 meeting
in Japan. Guimaraes had so many connections with MMA fighters
in Brazil that they began thinking about changing businesses.
They
both believed the sport was going to erupt and felt they could
impact the industry as managers. They’d developed relationships
with fighters and promoters while doing their television show,
which at the time was one of the few – if not only –
MMA show on U.S. television.
Their
production company, Tough Media, eventually became the name of
their managerial firm.
“It
was a natural evolution,” Soares said.
And
while Soares concedes he was a neophyte when it came to the nuances
of the MMA business, he actually was well prepared for it.
He
knew how to structure contracts and cater to clients from his
days as a band manager. Guimaraes, who had managed fighters in
Brazil, had a pipeline to elite talent that would fill the client
list.
“There’s
not that much difference from managing a hip-hop group or managing
a band and managing [MMA fighters],” Soares said. “Yeah,
there are a few differences, but at the end of the day, it’s
about putting asses in seats and getting these guys well known.
It’s pretty much the same formula with a few different variables.”
Soares
and Guimaraes are very top-heavy with elite talent, but don’t
have a deep stable. He likes to keep only 10 or 15 fighters under
contract in order to provide the personal attention he thinks
the fighters deserve. As a result, his company is one of the
industry’s smaller firms, but there are few that are more
influential.
Start
with Silva, who is No. 1 in the monthly Yahoo! Sports rankings,
and add Machida, the only major undefeated champion, and it’s
a good start. Nogueira has been a star and an elite fighter for
years, but Soares and Guimaraes also manage Junior dos Santos,
a heavy-fisted Brazilian who figures to be in the heavyweight
title picture by mid-to-late 2010.
“We
don’t have a tremendous amount of guys in comparison to
some who are out there,” Soares said. “I’ve seen
some management companies with 60, 70 guys that they’re
representing. I kind of look at it as a car dealership. When
you look at the car dealership, well, thank God there are Toyota
dealers. There’s nothing wrong with Toyotas. They’re
great cars, reliable cars, but there are 3,000 of them on the
lot. Walk into a Bentley dealership, though, and there are only
12, 15 cars in the place.
“There
are two things about that: The guy’s walking in to buy the
car, and you know they’re not going to be negotiating price
when they’re buying a Bentley. And that’s how I feel
about our fighters. You want one of our fighters, you’re
going to get a high-performance fighter. I like to keep it that
way.”
It’s
hard not to like it when your top-end clients are on just about
everyone’s short list of the world’s best fighters.
But
perhaps the reason for Soares’ success, in addition to his
intensity and preparedness, is the passion and respect he has
for his clients. He clearly is in love with his fighters and
is willing to go to just about any length to protect them or
advance their causes.
“We
have what I consider our ‘Three Kings,’ ” Soares
said. “Anderson Silva is the pound-for-pound king. Lyoto
is the king of karate, and we have Nogueira, who is the king
of heart because he has so much heart. Those are our three big
cards.
“In
a card game, if I were playing poker and I had three kings, I’d
think I had a pretty good hand.”
Add
Soares and Guimaraes to the three kings and it becomes an MMA
Royal Flush.
Source: Yahoo Sports
|
SHIELDS'
MOVE TO 185 MAY NOT BE PERMANENT
Jake Shields officially makes the move to middleweight from the
170-pound weight class where he’s ranked third in the world
for a shot at the vacant Strikeforce 185-pound title against
Jason “Mayhem” Miller on Nov. 7, but the leap in weight
class may not be permanent.
“I
just think right now in Strikeforce, they have more names at
middleweight, so I decided to stick there,” Shields told
MMAWeekly.com. “I’m certainly willing to go 170, but
they don’t have any big names to offer me.
“There’s
obviously Jay Hieron and he’s a talented opponent, but I’d
like to see him get a little bit more build-up first and this
fight made a lot more sense,” added the former and only
EliteXC welterweight titleholder.
“I’m
just looking for big fights. If all of a sudden it gets built
up at 170, I’ll drop back down, but I think for now the
185-pound division is the spot to be at in Strikeforce.”
Former
champion Cung Le vacated the Strikeforce middleweight belt on
Sept. 17 to further pursue an acting career, a move that didn’t
surprise Shields.
“I
kind of figured Cung would give up the belt. I don’t think
Cung wants anything to do with fighting top tier fighters. I
expected that. I think he’ll come back and fight, but I
think he realized having the belt meant that he was going to
have to fight top fighters now and that’s not something
he wants to do,” said the Cesar Gracie trained athlete.
“I think he’s going to fight guys like Frank Shamrock,
so I expected that. Cung’s not really fighting for the belt.”
Shields’
last bout was a victory at a catchweight of 182 pounds against
former EliteXC middleweight titleholder Robbie Lawler in June.
The fight with Miller will be his official 185-pound debut.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
VETERANS
ADVANCE AT TUF 11 TRYOUTS
LOS ANGELES – There were 190 middleweights and 81 light
heavyweights who showed up cauliflower ears and all in hopes
of becoming the next “Ultimate Fighter.”
Tryouts
for the eleventh season of the reality show – one of the
longest running reality series on TV – took place Monday
at the Renaissance Inn near LAX and went from 8:45 a.m. until
two the next morning.
You
could cut the testosterone with a knife.
UFC
president Dana White called it a low turnout and said he was
looking to recruit three or four fighters that day. After season
nine’s tryouts drew 700 welterweight and lightweights, he
was perplexed by the drop-off.
“It’s
very weird,” he said. “You would think right now in
these hard economic times... I thought this would be the biggest
turnout we ever had.”
Most
of the fighters who showed up had little or no experience on
the big stage. A few, however, had decorated resumes that included
time in the Octagon.
One
of them, 32-year-old Jason Lambert, has made eight UFC appearances
– three on pay-per-view – and has 45 fights to his
credit. He hit hard times recently, and two days prior, he lost
his fifth straight fight. He saw the reality show as a new start.
“If
this is another avenue I can take to get back in the UFC, great,”
he said. “I just figured, why not?”
Twenty-eight-year-old
Nick Thompson’s Sengoku contract has expired and he wants
more stability for his wife and three-month-old baby. A veteran
of 63 fights, he was 1-1 in the UFC and has wins over Paul Daley
and Eddie Alvarez. In 2005, he was in the final running for the
show’s second season and was under consideration for the
fourth.
“It’s
been a few years since I’ve fought in the UFC, and this
would be a great way to rejuvenate my career... switch gears
and come back home,” he said.
Thompson’s
teammate, 24-year-old middleweight Logan Clark, also ran out
of time on his Sengoku deal and was just along for the ride.
“I
don’t give a (expletive),” he said. “This is come
out, see some friends and family, do the audition, whatever.
I went into the light heavyweight group because the line was
shorter.”
Potential
contestants faced three sections of the tryout: grappling, striking,
and the interview. They were given two minutes each of grappling
and striking. At the end of each section, cuts were made. Then
came the interviews, which were overseen by Spike executives
Craig Piligian and Brian Diamond.
“Craig
(expletive) with these guys a lot after they get to a certain
(level),” said White. “After we find out who can fight,
and who has decent records and who can be on the show, then they
get into the reality side of it and it’s not fun for the
guys.”
Thirty-nine-year-old
Bobby Southworth spoke to MMAWeekly.com after the grappling session,
hands on his knees, sucking air. He had been a cast member of
the show’s inaugural season and was escorting six of his
teammates to the tryouts when he tried out on a whim after seeing
Lambert and Clark.
Southworth
was released from the UFC in 2005 following a loss to Sam Hoger
in the show’s season finale and was acquired by Strikeforce
shortly thereafter. He said the San Jose, Calif.-based promotion
reneged on a promised four-fight deal early this year when they
formed a broadcast alliance with Showtime.
“When
I did the first season, I was coming off the worst year of my
life,” said Southworth. “I got kicked out of the jiu-jitsu
program I spent six years building, had a tumor removed from
my chest, found out my son had autism, all within about a three-month
span. I walked away from the sport. Looking back, it was one
of the greatest experiences of my life. For any of these guys
coming up, it’s the chance of a lifetime.”
Not
all veterans made it past the first round. International Fight
League (IFL) and EliteXC veteran Wayne Cole was among those who
were cut after the first round of grappling.
“I
don’t know what I did,” he said in the waiting room.
“I’m just really disappointed. I paid a lot of money,
and did a lot of things to make it here. Just a little hurt right
now.”
His
voice broke.
“I’m
going to fight in the UFC before it’s over with,” he
said. “I’m definitely not going to give up.”
Diamond
said three weight classes were under consideration for the upcoming
season – welterweights, middleweights, and light heavyweights,
though White said the show would likely center around light heavyweights.
The odds to get a spot, however, remained steep.
“We
put them through the rigors,” he said. “They can always
come back.”
Lambert
said he’d be a perfect fit for the show and believed he’d
dominate the field.
“It’s
like when people get in there, they forgot what they signed up
for,” he said. “You’re gonna be in the house,
and you’re not going to have a cell phone and all these
things. I’ve been trying to get rid of my cell phone for
two years. I would love to not have a cell phone, go back to
the old days where you’d get home and mom says, ‘so
and so called for you.’ I’d be like, yes!”
Thompson,
meanwhile, thought the veteran’s chances were slim.
“I’m
sure none of them will get on, and we’ll see a bunch of
guys that are terrible but think they’re the best fighters
in the world,” he laughed. “The truth is, if you’re
a really good fighter it’s because you train hard, you don’t
drink, and you’re doing the right things, which makes for
boring TV. That’s why they haven’t had a second season
of the veterans. All the veterans sit around and say, ‘oh
man, we can’t drink, we’ve got to get up at seven in
the morning and run.’”
A
lawyer in his spare time, Thompson had a backup if his suspicions
were confirmed.
“If
this doesn’t work out, I applied to a bunch of the JAG core
positions, in which case I’d be gone for basic for nine
weeks anyways,” he said.
As
it turned out, he was wrong, at least for the time being. A Spike
representative on Wednesday confirmed that Thompson, Southworth,
and Lambert had made it past the first day of auditions. That
opened the door for interviews in Vegas, which would bring the
fighters one step closer to getting on the show.
Then
again, it was possible none of them would get the call, depending
on what the show’s producers wanted.
Diamond
said he and his team were still working on the “twist”
for Season 11. Season 9, U.K. versus U.S.A. Season ten, it was
heavyweights. He acknowledged the channel needed to come up with
something snappy to match the ratings of Season 10, bolstered
by National Football League (NFL) players and Kimbo Slice.
For
Southworth, it was better to take the chance to audition and
fail then not take the chance at all.
“You’ve
got to take the good with the bad in this business,” he
said. “It’s a rough business; you’re only going
to be remembered for your last fight. I have many more good fights
in me, and hopefully I’ll get an opportunity to show that.”
Source: MMA Weekly
|
ALVES
WITHDRAWS FROM UFC 107 BOUT WITH FITCH
Following
an abundance of conflicting information, MMAWeekly.com can confirm
that Thiago Alves has withdrawn from his scheduled UFC 107 bout
with fellow top contender Jon Fitch.
The
news of his withdrawal came early Friday morning from Ariel Helwani
at MMA Fanhouse. Attempts to confirm the report brought conflicting
information, but there was good reason for that. Alves himself
was unsure of his status.
Alves
tore a posterior cruciate ligament, one of the four major ligaments
that stabilize the knee joint. Not wanting to pass up the opportunity
to rematch Fitch, he wanted to try and fight through the injury
and remain in the Dec. 12 bout.
The
two fought a little over three years ago at UFC Fight Night 5,
where Fitch won late in the second round by a TKO stoppage.
Alves’
camp tried to get the bout moved to a later date, but all the
fight cards within reason were already booked.
The
injury would take at least three to four weeks to heal properly,
and with the fight just six weeks away, that would leave Alves
virtually no time to prepare for a fighter of Fitch’s caliber.
In
the end, cooler heads prevailed and Alves relented, as American
Top Team representative Dan Lambert confirmed to MMAWeekly.com
that due to the knee injury his fighter would not compete at
UFC 107.
Both
fighters have come up short in attempts to wrest the UFC welterweight
title from current number one ranked welterweight Georges St.
Pierre and were looking to their showdown as a springboard back
to title contention.
Fitch
(19-3) is currently number two in the welterweight division,
while Alves (16-6) sits at number four.
Fitch
is expected to remain on the Memphis, Tenn., fight card, which
features a main event title bout between UFC lightweight champion
B.J. Penn and challenger Diego Sanchez, but at the time of publication,
it is unclear whom he will face.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
MATT
VEACH IN TO FACE EDGAR AT TUF 10 FINALE
A back injury has forced lightweight Kurt Pellegrino to withdraw
from a fight with Frankie Edgar at the Season 10 finale of "The
Ultimate Fighter" on Dec. 5 in Las Vegas.
MMAFanhouse
was the first to report the news this morning, and MMAWeekly.com
subsequently confirmed it via sources close to the situation.
Stepping
in for Pellegrino is the H.I.T. Squad's Matt Veach, who was scheduled
to take on jiu-jitsu specialist Mark Bocek on the main card of
the event. Bout agreements have yet to be signed, though both
fighters have agreed to the fight.
The
search for Bocek's new opponent is currently underway.
Veach
(11-0) was successful in his February Octagon debut, defeating
Matt Grice by TKO in the first round.
The
finale is headlined by a light heavyweight bout between Jon Jones
and Matt Hamill and will crown the winner of the heavyweight
reality show.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Starting
all over again
Thales comments on his next challenge of Lister and swears he
holds no resentment for the UFC
Thales
Leites prepares for his first fight since exiting the UFC, where
he even challenged Anderson Silva for the middleweight title.
The bout is set to take place December 4 at the MFC, in Canada.
In
a chat with GRACIEMAG.com sister site Portal das Lutas, Thales
says he holds so resentment for the UFC, comments on working
with Josuel Distak and explains what his hopes are for his next
fight.
Here
is what he had to say:
What
are your thoughts on facing Dean Lister, a top-notch ground fighter?
I’m happy to be able to face Dean Lister, a guy who was
champion of the ADCC and has fought in both Pride and the UFC.
He’s been around, with a really dangerous ground game. He
is the second guy I face who comes from Jiu-Jitsu, is not a striker.
But regardless of both of us representing Jiu-Jitsu, it’s
going to be MMA and we’ll fight wherever it goes. I’m
also really happy because the MFC is a really solid event, now
at its 23rd installment.
I see the challenge as starting all over again. I’m coming
off two losses and it’s another chance to show my work.
I’ve modified some things in my game and it’s all about
always training, with a positive mindset.
You
were released by the UFC. Do you hold any resentment for your
former bosses? Or do you believe you may return to the octagon
should you have a good performance?
No, I hold no grudge at all. They are a company and if the fighter
isn’t proving salable, if it’s not worth if for them,
then go somewhere else. That’s what happens in MMA and any
profession. On one hand I thought it was good, because it opened
my eyes to other things. I’m happy with this event, I’m
focused on it. Whatever should come next, if it’s the UFC,
then great. But my focus now is the MFC – I want to be champion
here.
How
is your striking coming along? After all, you’ll be two
ground fighters, and the standup aspect could be a great advantage.
Yes, that will make the difference. It’s what I’d been
saying and I should have changed it earlier. The business is
MMA. You won’t always manage to take the guy down and, should
that happen, everyone knows my Jiu-Jitsu is up to speed. So you
can’t get stuck in that, that’s what happened to me.
I have to trust my hands more and go for it. That’s the
trend, and that’s what folks want to see. When possible,
get the take down and do some lively ground action. Otherwise
it’s boring for folks to watch.
You
are in Nova Uniao, but you also count on the help of Josuel Distak
for your standup…
I’m training at both places, at Nova Uniao, as always, and
with Distak. Folks there treat me well and I feel fine. It’s
great. We prioritize the striking, which is the school he comes
from.
Source: Gracie Magazine
|
Murilo
Santana reigns in Tijuca
No-Gi Brazilian Nationals raises the roof this Saturday, in Rio
The
No-Gi Jiu-Jitsu Brazilian Nationals has its black belt champions,
announces Carlos Ozorio, of Portaldaslutas.com, directly from
the Tijuca Tennis Club.
Murilo
Santana (Barbosa JJ) was the big champion among adults, catching
Nova Uniao’s Nilson Ricardo “Capoeira” with an
arm-and-neck choke, in the open weight deciding match. With the
submission, Murilo was crowned the first Brazilian national champion
without the gi in history.
Bruno
Malfacine won once again, this time at light featherweight, and
without the “suit coat”. The “Bad Boy” from
Alliance submitted Leandro Escobar pulling a kneebar out of his
lycra sleeve, and is now Brazilian national champion both with
and without the gi.
At
featherweight, black belt with slick wrestling skills Raoni Barcellos
overcame Gabriel Willcox and took the unprecedented title as
well.
Jiu-Jitsu’s
main standout of the year in Michael Langhi, also of Alliance,
lived up to expectations and took gold at lightweight, having
overcome Helder “Bob Sponge” Medeiros, of Checkmat,
on advantage points.
At
middleweight, the title went to Barbosa academy: Murilo Santana
proved it was his day and closed out with good fellow Tiago Alves.
Gracie
Humaita representative Felipe Varella shone and beat Victor Bonfim
(Gordo) at medium heavyweight.
At
heavyweight, Bernardo Augusto (Alliance) won the final with a
takedown and sweep over Mauro “He-Man” Cesar, of Gracie
Barra BH.
And
Igor Silva (Brasa) was the big name in the ultra heavyweight,
having submitted Eder Lima (Gracie Barra) with a rear-naked choke.
Source: Gracie Magazine
|
'Cigano’
looking for the KO against Gonzaga
Heavyweight
sensation in the UFC, Junior “Cigano” dos Santos will
have one more tough challenge ahead. After knocking Fabrício
Werdum out and pass thru Mirko “Cro Cop”, the heavyweight
faces the compatriot Gabriel “Napão” Gonzaga
at UFC 108, on January 2, and he’ll keep the strategy of
the last fights. “I must be calm is every fight and always
search for my best, so I always look for the knockout“,
said, ready to any kind of fight.
How
is your expectation to your next fight?
Is
the best possible... “Napão” is a dangerous
guy, very complete, but my preparation already started.
Facing
Brazilians on UFC is not a new for you anymore, isn’t it?
If
I could, I wouldn’t face Brazilians out there, but nowadays
Brazilians are doing a great job, so the UFC is putting a lot
of Brazilians to face Brazilians. This next fight is gonna be
like this too, but what can I do, he’s not from my team,
we have never trained together or anything, so let’s go...
You
always looks the knockout on your fights... I this your focus
now?
My
teacher Dórea taught me that I must be calm on every fight
and always search for my best, so I always look for the knockout.
We don’t know how this fight is gonna be, so we have to
train a lot in all areas to be prepared where the fight develop.
We’re doing this work to keep the rhythm of competition
and be ready.
Gonzaga
is from Jiu-Jitsu, but he’s fighting more standing up on
his last fights. Do you think that he is going to exchange with
you?
I
think that Napão, if the exchanging happens, won’t
run away from fight, but I think that his main intention is to
take me down, where I believe that he has his main weapon. He
exchanges really well, but he will want to play safety and take
the fight down. I hope that, with good Wrestling trainings that
I made on United States, I be prepared to develop a good Jiu-Jitsu.
Source: Tatame
|
Cyborgs
back to Strikeforce in December
Chute
Boxe’s leader, Rudimar Fedrigo is smiling from ear to ear
with his team back to the good phase. With Fabrício Werdum,
Cris Cyborg and Alexandre Cacareco’s victories, the Fedrigo
expects an exited end of the year, with the couple Cyborg in
action on the same night by Strikeforce. “We’ll talk
to the president of the event and know who’s gonna bet he
opponents, but Cris and Cyborg will fight on the same event“,
Rudimar said, revealing that Evangelista “Cyborg” drop
to welterweight division.
Cacareco
received proposals from Shine and UFC. Why did you chosen Shine?
It
was a really good proposal, the event surprised us. He can do
three great fights and then go to UFC. But at this moment Shine
showed bigger interest, made a good offer, everyone got satisfied
with the values.
Cris
and Cyborg are on Strikeforce. When will they fight again?
He’ll
finally debut at the 170 pounds category, in December, at Strikeforce.
He’ll fight, but hasn’t a chosen opponent yet, and
then he’ll be back to Brazil to the end of the year. We’ll
talk to the president of the event and know who’s gonna
bet he opponents, but Cris and Cyborg will fight on the same
event.
After
two years reorganizing the team, this year was a great year to
the team, that closed good deals, the athletes had a lot of victories...
Do you have any idea of the percentage of victories of the team?
I
can assure that was a really good year, in results and motivation.
All the team has to have motivation and this was a spectacular
year, amazing. It was, also, one year of conduction of Nilson
Castro’s method of training, his style to lead the trainings.
I’d say that the team’s patrimonies, now, are the coaches.
What
did you think about the fight between Lyoto and Shogun?
I
couldn’t watch the fight yet, but, in conversations, with
trainers and students of the gym, everyone thinks that Shogun
won. To have an opinion I have to watch the fight. I think that
he used Muay Thai’s strength, that’s he’s base,
and everyone here in the gym thinks that he used the Muay Thai’s
strength, using kicks on the legs and going for it all the moment.
It made the difference.
Source: Tatame
|
Quote
of the Day
"If
I'd known I was going to live so long, I'd have taken better
care of myself."
Leon Eldred
|
USA-BOXING
HAWAII, KAWANO B.C., & PALOLO B.C.
PRESENTS THE
5TH ANNUAL CLINTON A.J. SHELTON MEMORIAL MATCH EVENT
Today!
SPONSORED BY WAIPAHU PAWN SHOP
NOVEMBER 1ST, 2009 AT THE PALOLO DISTRICT PARK GYM, 2 P.M.
BOUTS SUBJECT TO CHANGE.
RED CORNER WEIGHTS BLUE CORNER
CLUB/BIRTHDATE 3 ROUNDS CLUB/BIRTHDATE
1). Lilly Morse 28/170 (1 bout) female170 Gardenia Sims 28/170
(6 bouts)
Kawano B.C. 10/01/81 1 min. 07/23/81 Kawano B.C.
2). Preston Saragosa 15/130 (1) 130 Cory DeGuzman 16/132 (0)
Five-O B.C. 10/23/94 1 min. 01/06/93 Five-O B.C.
3). Lennon Sullivan 10/56 (1) 60 Kealii Alcos 11/59 (0)
Pearlside B.C. 08/07/99 1 min. 10/05/98 Kauai PAL
4). Nelson Santos 16/122 (0) 125 Nickson Rivera 15/125 (0)
Evolution B.C. 12/04/92 2 min. 04/09/94 Kalakaua B.C.
5). Marco Pagaduan 19/166 (0) 165 Rudy Alvarado 27/163 (0)
Kakaako B.C. 10/25/90 2 min. 11/12/81 Kawano B.C. 6). Nathan
Akamu 23/173 (0) 175 Lenny Augustine 23/175 (0)
Palolo B.C. 02/22/86 2 min. 04/14/86 Unattached (Kimo)
7). Bartolo Saragosa 15/168 (0) 170 Mervin Alcala 16/170 (0)
Five-O B.C. 08/16/93 2 min. 11/19/92 Kakaako B.C.
8). Jordan Higa 19/110 (1) female 110 Corina Ishikawa 32/110
(1)
Pearlside B.C. 05/01/90 2 min. 03/23/77 Kawano B.C.
************************10 MINUTE- INTERMISSION- 10 MINUTE***********************
9). Carlos Garrido 15/145 (1) 145 Sheldon Crawford 15/140 (1)
Kailua-Kona B.C. 09/08/93 2 min. 11/08/93 Five-O B.C.
10). Sean Hamic 20/212 (0) 200 Paul Timas 24/193 (0)
PearlSide B.C. 03/19/89 2 min. 03/25/86 Kakaako B.C.
11). Mana Myers 20/168 (1) 170 Faamanu Siuta 24/173 (2)
Kailua-Kona B.C. 10/10/89 2 min. 01/28/85 Kawano B.C.
12). Kainalu Lavea 21/292 (0) 201+ Elliot Edmunds 20/230 (2)
Unattached (Kimo) 06/17/88 2 min. 05/03/79 Kawano B.C.
13). Kaeo Myers 20/170 (4) 170 Tyler Maekawa 25/171 (1)
Kailua-Kona B.C. 11/08/88 2 min. 10/16/84 Unattached (Mike)
In loving memory of Clinton A.J. Shelton, October 7, 1982 –
October 8, 2005
Also, Kenneth Oki from Oki Boxing Club., Kauai August 26, 1941
– October 16, 2008
Thank You to Waipahu Pawn Shop at Waipahu Shopping Plaza, 808-671-6555
owner Lloyd McKee, also our Volunteers, Coaches, Officials, Dr.
Carrie Marshall, and Dr. Myles Suehiro, Officer Ron Richardson,
and Officer Daryl Takata, Parents, Boxing Commissioners, Door
Workers, Hawaiian Fight Gear, Interm Manager- Blane Yoshida,
and “YOU” our Boxing Fans.
All boxers will receive gold medals for stepping in the ring,
these athletes are all winners!!
Mahalo for your Support and Thank You Again!!
Source: Bruce Kawano
|
Strikeforce
Matchmaker Rich Chou on How Fights Get Made
by Michael
David Smith
Strikeforce is less than two weeks away from promoting one of
the biggest MMA shows of the year, when Fedor Emelianenko takes
on Brett Rogers on CBS Nov. 7. But while fans are focusing on
Fedor vs. Rogers, Strikeforce's new matchmaker, Rich Chou, said
in an interview with FanHouse that his job is as much about making
sure Strikeforce can put on scores of good undercard fights each
year as it is about major main events.
Chou
also talked about how Strikeforce goes about finding new fighters,
and who he thinks the promotion's top prospects are. The full
interview is below.
Michael
David Smith: What is the job of matchmaker? Is it as simple as
deciding, "This guy will fight this guy"?
Rich Chou: It's a little more complicated than that -- it's looking
at the bigger picture of making every match a step toward a bigger
goal. It's getting matches that have good storylines -- we're
in the sports and the entertainment business and I think storylines
are important.
Is
it your job to decide who fights who, or is it Scott Coker or
CBS or Showtime or the fighters themselves?
We have a world-class roster of guys who will fight anyone you
put in front of them. I'm part of a team with Bob Cook and Scott
Coker and we put together the fights, along with our partners
at Showtime.
I
thought you were hired to replace Bob Cook -- is he still involved
in Strikeforce's matchmaking?
Yes, he's still part of the team. Bob is a talent consultant,
but the bottom line is he's part of the team, and no matter what
your title is, we just have a lot of people who view themselves
as part of the team.
How
much of your job is finding new fighters?
That's the most difficult part of the job and the most important
part: Finding that next generation of fighters. Finding a guy
who can start in the Challengers Series, grow and develop into
a champion. I think Brett Rogers is a good example. When I was
with EliteXC and we signed Brett no one knew who he was, and
now he's worked his way up to where he's fighting Fedor on CBS.
Sometimes signing the top free agents out there is what works,
but what we're really trying to do is develop talent. Finding
talented fighters who put on exciting fights is the key.
How
do you find those young fighters?
YouTube has been a huge tool for us. We can get bios and records
and letters from managers, but we've got to see them fight. If
possible we like to see them live, and see if they represent
the sport well. I think between Bob, Scott and me, our network
in the fight community is pretty vast. We know trainers and managers
all over the world, and we hear about all the top prospects.
Many of the top prospects gravitate to the big camps, and those
camps contact us.
Name
for me a guy you consider to be one of Strikeforce's top prospects.
Tyron Woodley. We saw footage of him, we knew his wrestling pedigree
was really solid, we gave him a shot and we found him to be the
real deal. Those are the types of guys we're looking for: Young
guys with the potential to be the best in the world.
You're
going to do 20 shows in 2010?
At least 20.
So
that's 200 fights or so that you'll be making next year.
Yeah, we're going to be looking for a lot of guys. We have a
pretty full roster at the moment but we're looking at building
up our roster. And there are certain guys you'll see fighting
several times next year. Tyron is a good example: He just fought
for us on Sept. 25, and he'll be back for us in Kansas City on
Nov. 20.
Is
it realistic to ask fighters to fight on just two months' notice
and fight four, five, six times a year?
Well, six times is a lot -- we definitely don't want to make
the mistake of burning a guy out -- but three is the standard
and we have guys who would like to fight four or five times a
year, and as long as they're not hurt I think we can do that.
Signing
the 47-year-old Herschel Walker seems like it's the opposite
of developing young, up-and-coming talent. Where does he fit
in with Strikeforce?
Herschel will be arriving in San Jose shortly and do a training
camp at AKA and we'll see how he does. He won't get any preferential
treatment. Bob won't play favorites.
Where
is Strikeforce in its negotiations with Dan Henderson?
I know Scott and Dan talked but that's about it.
But
is Dan on the verge of signing with Strikeforce?
Dan is a great fighter and I think it's a no-brainer that any
promotion would like to have Dan on the roster, but all that's
happened so far is he and Scott had coffee.
The
fights everyone would like to talk about are the title fights,
but are those the big part of your job?
The bigger part of the job is figuring out how to have a deep,
talented roster and make sure the fights at the bottom of the
card are building toward something. Take the heavyweight division:
It doesn't take a genius to figure out that any combination of
the top guys on our roster -- Fedor, Brett Rogers, Alistair Overem,
Fabricio Werdum -- is going to produce fights that fans will
want to see. But what I have to spend a lot of time on is finding
good fights with younger, undiscovered talent.
As
a matchmaker, what is your opinion of tournaments?
I was involved with a great tournament of welterweights with
Rumble on the Rock in 2006. That had about the best field of
welterweights in the world at the time: Anderson Silva, Frank
Trigg, Jake Shields, Carlos Condit, Renato "Charuto"
Verissimo, Dave Menne, Yushin Okami, they were all in that tournament.
It was exciting. I loved that tournament, I loved watching the
Pride tournament, and I think they're a lot of fun. Sometimes
a tournament doesn't give the fans the match-up they want in
the finals, but that's part of the drama. That happened with
our tournament, when Yushin Okami beat Anderson Silva by disqualification
-- the last time Anderson Silva didn't win a fight.
And
Jake Shields ultimately won that tournament.
Yeah, and he had to fight 30 hard minutes, against Okami and
Condit, on the same day, to win it. I think a tournament is a
great way to turn someone into a star -- that really solidified
Jake, winning that tournament. We're talking about doing a female
tournament: Showtime has always been a leader in women's MMA
and that's something we could do to continue that. Women's MMA
is a fairly new sport and a tournament would be a great way to
see who some of the top fighters are.
When
do you think we'll see Gina Carano again?
I'm not sure. Gina is pursuing acting, but when she's ready after
that we'll put her back in there. I'd think maybe middle of next
year. I think she's going to come back strong after losing to
Cyborg.
Which
other fighters are you excited about matching up soon?
King Mo and Jacare are going to be fighting soon in the Strikeforce
cage. Vitor "Shaolin" Ribeiro will be making his Strikeforce
debut soon. Andre Galvao is a guy we have who's just a phenomenal
talent, and he's going to make his Strikeforce debut soon. He
lost a split decision to Jason High in the Dream welterweight
Grand Prix, and he's just a phenomenal talent. He's still green,
but he's going to be really good.
We've
also got some guys we're working on who I'm not able to divulge.
But I'm very excited about a lot of the guys we're picking up.
That's the fun part -- the fantasy MMA part. And in the fight
game, everybody is an expert and thinks they can do your job
better than you can. It's fun talking to fans because they're
constantly suggesting fights to me. I just get excited thinking
about these guys.
Will
you be able to put together fights with fighters in other promotions?
Scott has a great relationship with Dream, dating back to years
ago when they were working together on K-1, and we will work
with them. MMA is the purest form of competition, and we'd love
to work something out where we're putting our guys up against
guys from other promotions. We're working with M-1, we're working
with Dream, and we're putting together some great fights. We're
committed to putting on great fights. I've always had this philosophy
that we just want to put on fights that make fans say, "Wow.
Holy s**t. That was awesome."
Source: MMA Fighting
|
Put
a fight with Josh Barnett on your CV
Star
signed up for No-Gi Worlds on the 8th
The
biggest (and heaviest) name on the No-Gi World Championship roster
signed up today. He is none other than the historic rival of
Randy Couture and Rodrigo Minotauro in MMA, the “Baby-faced
assassin” Josh Barnett.
The
former UFC heavyweight champion awaits solid opposition at the
No-Gi Worlds in California, to take place this coming 8th of
November. Do you feel your ground game is up to the task of facing
this beast?
Source: Gracie Magazine
|
Options
limited for UFC 11/21 Las Vegas show with Lesnar out
By Zach
Arnold
Now
that Yahoo Sports reported that Brock Lesnar has canceled his
booking on the November 21st card due to illness, it didn’t
leave the company with many options as far as booking a replacement
fight.
On
paper, booking Shogun vs. Machida in the re-match here would
have made sense because both men last trained for each other
and there’s a desire for a re-match… but there’s
no way either could fight due to medical suspensions by the California
State Athletic Commission. Same case with Cain Velasquez, as
you could have naturally booked him and Shane Carwin for the
November 21st show in a #1 contender’s match (but not with
the standard medical suspensions).
Which
leaves us with Tito Ortiz vs. Forrest Griffin, a perfectly acceptable
fight for business. I would anticipate it drawing better numbers
than previous UFC shows over the last few months, but certainly
the card could use a boost. Dan Henderson getting a new deal
here would make a lot of sense, as a fight with him and Marquardt
would really legitimize the card and get the attention of both
casual and hardcore fans.
As
for Carwin/Lesnar happening on January 2nd in Las Vegas, I wonder
if that means Anderson Silva vs. Vitor Belfort becomes the semi-main
event or if Silva’s camp backs off of taking that booking.
You would think that with Lesnar’s name attached to the
PPV that it would increase the chances of Silva’s camp taking
the fight because of the bigger buyrate, which in turn means
bigger $$$$.
Source: Fight Opinion
|
EXCLUSIVE:
TOUGHILL SAYS IT'S NOT A WEIGHT ISSUE
by Steven
Marrocco
Erin Toughill told MMAWeekly.com on Thursday that her weight
was not an issue going into a Nov. 7 bout with Marloes Coenen
at Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Rogers.
Toughill
has a walk-around weight between 160 and 165 pounds and was well
on her way to her contracted weight limit of 145 pounds before
a medical issue arose.
One
month ago, she began experiencing several abdominal pains during
training and went to a doctor to get checked out. After several
tests, doctors told her she had ovarian cysts that had ruptured
during training.
“It’s
a common occurrence for women to have this issue,” she said.
“But there’s four or five different levels of the medical
issue I have. It could go anywhere from benign, which is what
I have, to cancerous. The type of thing I have is exacerbated
by me taking hits to my body and throwing and doing very intense
training.”
Toughill
said she has medical documentation to prove her condition.
The
Nov. 7 event was originally scheduled to feature a 145-pound
title bout between Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos and Coenen
on the main card, but Santos was forced to withdraw due to injury.
Weeks later, Toughill signed a new seven-fight contract with
Strikeforce and agreed to face Coenen, whom she had defeated
in 2004 by knockout, on the swing bout of the suburban Chicago
event.
Toughill
said she was 12 pounds away from making the 145-pound weight
limit, aided in part by her lack of appetite after the problem
arose.
“If
anything, a situation like this would make it easier for me to
lose weight because I wasn’t eating and I was training very
hard,” she said.
Doctors
told her that continued training or fighting could cause further
complications to her reproductive system including internal bleeding
and infection. Weighed against the risks, she chose to halt her
camp and pull out of the fight.
“Could
I have probably pushed through it and fought and been in pain
and bleeding? I’m sure I could have,” she said. “But
why would I risk something like that when it’s not worth
it to me. Fighting is a part of my life and I love it and I still
have fights left in me. But it doesn’t rule my life and
define who I am.”
Toughill
said she would be out of action for a month before being able
to train again. She stressed that she still wanted to fight,
though she understood if Strikeforce was upset with her.
“It’s
their prerogative,” she said. “I imagine they will,
because they only have – I couldn’t even count on my
one hand who they have in their 145-pound division.
“I’ve
been doing this a long time. I’ve been doing this sport
longer than most of the men involved in this sport, and for normal
things not to happen to a woman’s body. I’m 33 years
of age and I’ve been fighting since I was 21.”
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Lindland-Jacare
Proposed for Dec. 19 Strikeforce
by Ariel
Helwani
Strikeforce is gearing up for a busy November, but the organization
already has plans in place for their year-end show as well. Strikeforce
CEO Scott Coker said on this week's edition of The MMA Hour (which
will be featured later this week on MMA FanHouse) that the organization's
next big Showtime event will take place on Dec. 19 from the HP
Pavilion in San Jose, Calif.
Coker
also mentioned that recent Strikeforce signee, "King"
Muhammed Lawal, is scheduled to make his debut on the show, but
no opponent has been signed just yet.
Also
proposed for the event, according to Coker, is a middleweight
match-up between another two Strikeforce rookies: Matt Lindland
and Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza. Coker said that bout has
yet to be made official, though.
FanHouse
recently reported that Scott Smith and Robbie Lawler are also
scheduled to fight on the Dec. 19 show.
The
organization has three shows scheduled for November, including
back-to-back events on Nov. 6 and 7.
Source: MMA Fighting
|
Lesnar’s
illness: “a blessing in disguise”
The UFC heavyweight champion, Brock Lesnar is out of UFC 106
due an illness. More specifically, a flu. Rodrigo Comprido, Lesnar’s
Jiu-Jitsu coach, emailed TATAME.com yesterday and commented the
postponement, promising a great performance at 2010:
“I think you already know, but Brock had to postpone the
fight because he had a terrible flu and couldn’t train for
two weeks. We tried again today (yesterday) and he couldn’t
do anything, so we decided to postpone the fight. It’d be
impossible to fight well starting the third week without conditions
to train well.
The fact is that, whenever the fight is set, he’ll present
even better than the last time. And I say that because the beginning
of this training camp was fantastic, the better start I’ve
ever seen. We had a lot of high level sparrings and the coaches
are even more connected. But the important is that Brock was
very well physically and technically. Like people say, a blessing
in disguise.
Wait and see, this fight will be memorable.
Best regard,
Rodrigo
Comprido
Source: Tatame
|
Will
DREAM keep the cage?
By Zach
Arnold
The
one top story coming out of the show in the various Japanese
newspapers was Sakuraba surviving for 100 seconds in the cage
to beat Zelg “Benkei” Galesic and pull off the win.
No
attendance was listed in any of the papers regarding the DREAM
12 at Osaka Castle Hall, a building the promotion really should
have not booked — especially coming off of a Yokohama Arena
show a couple of weeks ago.
Nevertheless,
everyone involved in the event seemed very happy with the cage.
The fans, fighters, and event promoters. One thing that stuck
out to me in listening to the various top foreign fighters (Overeem,
Alvarez, Beebe, etc.) is that while they prefer the ring, they
thought that the cage DREAM used was good. DREAM is an interesting
position — they are pushing talent that UFC and WEC aren’t
and it’s good to have some fresh faces. The problem is that
long-term the promotion can’t book super elite talent because
they don’t have the financial resources that UFC has. Much
like the pro-wrestling boom in Japan in the early 90s, once the
cash starts drying up so does the amount of foreign talent being
brought in.
However,
I think the cage format is an interesting way for DREAM to appeal
to some big name foreign fighters to perhaps come and fight for
the promotion in the future. It’s an ironic situation, given
that Dana White has long argued publicly that he wants to see
MMA leagues around the globe use the same rules and structure
(a cage and the Unified rules). In this case, DREAM shifted towards
that model a bit with the Osaka show and the experiment worked.
The question now is whether or not DREAM in the long term will
use the cage more often and how it will effect the outcome differently
for certain match-ups.
Source: Fight Opinion
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Hillary
gets brown belt
Fighter to test drive new belt at No-Gi Worlds
Competitor
Hillary Williams is the latest brown belt under professors Roli
Delgado and Matt Hamilton.
Proud
and beyond overjoyed, the talent American med student was caught
off guard at the academy. She is signed up for the No-Gi Worlds
as a purple belt, but the IBJJF should make the change soon.
“Now
I feel there’s no more room to fool around. I’m at
the top of the food chain, and hungry to train even harder still.
I need to prepare for the Pan and the Worlds that are coming
up. But I’m still stoked and ready for the challenge,”
she told GRACIEMAG.com reporter Gabriel Menezes.
Source: Gracie Magazine
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Randy
Couture Had It 4-1 Shogun
by Michael
David Smith
Lyoto Machida's unanimous decision victory over Shogun Rua at
UFC 104 has been the talk of the MMA world this week. Because
hardly anyone who watched the fight agreed with the three judges
that Machida won it. Count Randy Couture among those who think
Shogun deserved to win.
"I
thought Shogun came out with an interesting game plan, stuck
to it, and it proved to be pretty effective," Couture said
Wednesday in an interview with FanHouse. "I thought his
leg kicks controlled the tempo and did the most damage. I was
surprised by the judges' decision -- I thought it went the other
way -- but it was a great fight."
Couture
said he'd stop short of the cries of "robbery" or "outrage"
that some fans have expressed, but he said he scored it 49-46
for Shogun, and he had a hard time seeing the fight as 48-47
for Machida, which is how all three judges scored it.
"It
was pretty close," Couture said. "Who knows what the
judges are seeing? Robbed? I don't know about robbed. I thought
it was four rounds to one for Shogun, but it was a very close
fight and you just never know what the judges are looking at.
Unfortunately, that's the fight game sometimes when it's that
close."
Couture
said he doesn't think the criteria of judging need to be overhauled,
and he doesn't think MMA needs to get rid of the 10-point must
scoring system. He just thinks MMA needs more judges who have
more of an understanding of the sport.
"The
scoring system is fine," Couture said. "Finding judges
who know exactly what they're scoring, what they're looking at
and what they're judging on is what we need. MMA is still so
new that a lot of the judges are crossing over from other combative
sports and don't have a lot of competitive background themselves,
and it's hard to say what they're focused on and what they're
looking at."
A
full interview with Randy Couture, previewing his November 14
UFC 105 fight with Brandon Vera on Spike TV, will be coming in
a couple weeks here at FanHouse.
Source: MMA Fighting
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Aloha
State Championships of BJJ
12/5/09
Kaiser High School Gym
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