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2010
November
Aloha
State BJJ
Championships: Final Conflict
(BJJ & Sub Grappling)
(Kaiser H.S. Gym)
10/15-17/10
ETERNAL SUBMISSIONS: 1st Annual BJJ GI/NO-GI tournament
(BJJ & Sub Grappling)
(Kauai Beach Resort, Kauai)
August
Hawaiian
Open Championships of BJJ
(BJJ & No Gi)
(Kaiser H.S. Gym)
7/24/10
The Quest for Champions 2010 Martial Arts Tournament
(Sport-Pankration, Submission Grappling & Continuous Sparring)
(St. Louis High School Gym)
7/17/10
Maui Jiu-Jitsu Open
(BJJ & No Gi)
(Maui War Memorial, Wailuku, Maui)
6/26/10
Kauai Cage Match 9
(MMA)
(Kilohana, Gaylords Mansion, Kauai)
6/25-26/10
50th
State BJJ Championships
(BJJ)
(50th State Fair,
Aloha Stadium)
6/24/10
Quest for Champions
(Kumite/Grappling)
(St. Louis High School Gym)
6/19/10
Just Scrap
(MMA)
(Hilo Civic Center, Hilo)
6/18-19/10
Select
Combat
(Triple Threat)
(50th State Fair,
Aloha Stadium)
6/12/10
Destiny: Fury
(MMA)
(Blaisdell Center)
6/11-13/10
MMA Hawaii Expo
(Blaisdell Ballroom)
6/11-12/10
3rd
Annual Pacific Submission Championships
(BJJ & Submission Grappling)
(Blaisdell Exhibition Hall)
6/11/10
Legacy Combat MMA
(MMA)
(Blaisdell Exhibition Hall)
6/4/10
X-1:
Nations Collide
(MMA)
(Blaisdell Arena)
6/3-6/10
World
Jiu-Jitsu Championships
(BJJ)
(The Pyramid, University of California at Long Beach, Long Beach,
CA)
5/22/10
Destiny
(MMA)
(Waiphau Filcom Center)
5/15/10
Scrappla Fest 2
Relson Gracie KTI Jiu-Jitsu Tournament
(BJJ & Sub Grappling)
(Island School, Kauai)
X-1 World Events
(MMA)
(Waipahu HS Gym)
Mad Skills
(Kickboxing)
(Waipahu Filcom Center)
Boxing Event
(Boxing)
(Evolution Training Center, Waipio Industrial Court #110)
5/1/10
Galaxy
MMA: Worlds Collide
(MMA)
(Blaisdell Arena)
4/23/10
2010 Hawaii State/Regional Junior Olympic Boxing Championships
(Boxing)
(Palolo District Park Gym)
4/17/10
Hawaiian
Championships of BJJ
(BJJ & Sub Grappling)
(Kaiser
H.S. Gym)
Strikeforce: Shields vs Henderson
(CBS)
4/16/10
808 Battleground
(Waipahu Filcom Center)
4/8-11/10
Pan
Jiu-Jitsu Championships
(BJJ)
(University California Irvine, Irvine, CA)
4/3/10
Man Up & Stand Up
(Kickboxing)
(Waipahu Filcom Center)
Amateur Boxing Smoker
(Boxing)
(Palolo District Park Gym)
3/27/10
DESTINY: No Ka Oi 2: Oahu vs Maui
(MMA)
(Maui War Memorial Gym, Wailuku, Maui)
3/20/10
X-1: Champions 2
(MMA)
(Blaisdell Arena)
3/20/10
Hawaiian Championships of BJJ
(BJJ & Sub Grappling)
(Kaiser H.S. Gym)
3/14/10
Hawaiian Kimono Combat
(BJJ)
(PCHS Gym)
3/10/10
Sera's Kajukenbo Tournament
(Kumite, Katas, Grappling)
(Maui War Memorial Gym, Wailuku, Maui)
3/6/10
Destiny Fast N Furious
(MMA)
(Level 4 RHSC)
2/19/10
808 Battleground
(MMA)
(Filcom, Waipahu)
2/6/10
UpNUp 6: Unstoppable
(MMA)
(Maui War Memorial Gym, Wailuku, Maui)
2/5/10
Man Up & Stand Up
(Kickboxing)
(Waipahu Filcom)
1/30/10
Destiny
(Level 4,
Royal HI Shopping Ctr)
(MMA)
Quest for Champions
(Pankration/Sub Grappling)
(Kalani HS)
1/23/10
Kauai Knockout Championship Total Domination
(MMA & Kickboxing)
(Kauai War Memorial Convention Center, Lihue, Kauai)
1/17/10
X1: Showdown In Waipahu
(Boxing, Kickboxing, MMA)
(Waipahu H.S. Gym)
|
|
June
2010 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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at 8:00PM
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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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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 & Erwin Legaspi heads our Kali-Escrima
classes (Filipino Stickfighting) who were directly 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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Do
you believe Anderson Silva is turning over a new leaf?
It
appears that Anderson Silva and his manager Ed Soares realize
some damage was done at UFC 112. Silva danced and pranced his
way into becoming a very disliked figure not only with fans but
also with UFC president Dana White. White was so angry at Silva's
antics during his win over Demian Maia that he stormed out of
the arena, took a superfight against Georges St-Pierre off the
table and threatened termination if he fought like that again.
Silva
showed up at last week's UFC Fan Expo all smiles and even did
part of this interview in English. His next opponent Chael Sonnen
has unleashed a verbal barrage on Silva and it's only going to
get worse in the lead up to the fight at UFC 117.
Are
you buying Silva's new fan friendly approach or is it all window
dressing? To me, Silva needs to repair his image with months
of altered behavior in and out of the cage.
Source: Yahoo Sports |
Garcia
and Jung beat each other up, then head to Denny's
When
a fight is over, the two fighters often embrace and congratulate
each other on a hard-fought battle. Occassionally, they throw
a punch after the bell or jump a fighter silly enough to walk
into their cage.
Sometimes,
they head to Denny's to enjoy some Moons Over My Hammy.
That's
what Leonard Garcia and Chan Sung Jung did after their epic bout
at WEC: Aldo vs. Faber.
The
truth is, we went to the hospital together and then we went and
ate at Denny's together. Then we met again the next day. His
family that was down there wanted to meet me, and we also exchanged
shirts. That, to me, is the epitome of fighting. That's what
makes me want to do it so much. That's what makes all the pain
and the hurting sort of go away.
Garcia
and Jung's fight was ridiculously fun to watch. True, it wasn't
as technically strong as I usually like fights to be, but it
was clear that both fighters were laying it all on the line.
Neither held anything back, and afterwards, they had no problem
chilling out over some hash browns.
Source: Yahoo Sports |
Brilz
OK with Nogueira decision, moves on
You
would think losing a close split decision in the biggest fight
of his career would have Jason Brilz down in the dumps, but nothing
could be farther from the truth.
After
coming close, but falling short against Antonio Rogerio “Minotoro”
Nogueira at Saturday’s UFC 114, Brilz is actually in a more
positive mind frame.
“You
know, it was just a great opportunity,” Brilz told MMAWeekly.com.
“I thought I went out and performed well.
“My
whole game plan was to go out and perform. I had a chance to
finish the fight and I didn’t, so it is what it is. I’m
not too worried about it. If you leave it up to the judges, that’s
what happens. I’m just going to have to start finishing
fights, I guess.”
In
the eyes of many, Brilz managed to do well enough to win the
fight, or at least earn a return shot even with the loss.
According
to Brilz, his contract status is not up in the air to his knowledge.
“They
said I’ll be back,” he announced. “Joe Silva said
before the fight, ‘You’re doing me a favor here, thanks
very much and no matter what happens you’ll be back.’
“I
hope I’m not getting cut. Nobody told me if I am, but I’m
usually the last one to find out about that stuff.”
Having
spent the majority of his career working with the same team,
Brilz was asked if he feels he may need to travel outside his
comfort zone to be able to maintain at the highest levels of
MMA.
“I’m
just going to continue to do my thing,” he responded. “It’s
been working pretty good for me. I think we’ll probably
get some more people at our gym.
“If
the opportunity arises that I can go travel somewhere and workout
with other people, I’d welcome that. It’d be great
to do that, but at the same time I have my job commitment back
home and my family, and that stuff is always first.”
Either
way he goes, Brilz is committed to getting better, and plans
on fans seeing an even more explosive fighter when he returns
later this year or early next year.
“I
think with every fight I’ve had in the UFC, I’ve gotten
better,” he commented. “I’m not the best guy at
any one discipline, even at my gym, so I’m constantly learning
and picking up new things.
“I’ll
be back bigger, stronger, faster next time and more technical.
I’ve got the guys who know how to do it, they won’t
let me slack and it will be fun.”
Source: Yahoo Sports |
UFC
PPV COMING TO DENVER SOON
The Ultimate Fighting Championship’s roots run deep in Denver,
Colo., and the Mile High City is primed for a UFC pay-per-view
event in the near future.
“UFC
1: The Beginning” took place at the McNichols Arena on Nov.
12 1993, giving birth to the Octagon, and “UFC 2: No Way
Out” was held at Mammoth Gardens (now the Fillmore Auditorium)
in Denver on March 11, 1994, as was “UFC: The Ultimate Ultimate”
on Dec. 16, 1995. Then the well ran dry for more than a decade.
The
Las Vegas based mixed martial arts promotion returned to the
Centennial State for “UFC Fight Night 13” on April
2, 2008, 15 years after debuting there, and for “UFC on
Versus 1” in March of this year.
Both
events were aired on network television, but now the UFC plans
to bring a pay-per-view to Colorado.
“We’ve
had a couple of successful events out in Denver. We’ve done
Fight Nights. We’re definitely going to be bringing a pay-per-view,”
said UFC president Dana White.
“Some
of these markets, we go out and test them. We see how they’ll
do, and we’re definitely ready for a pay-per-view out in
Denver.”
Questioned
if the altitude of Denver poses an issue, White responded, “These
guys are professionals and wherever we’re fighting, whether
it’s Denver, Colo., where you have to adapt to climate.
Las Vegas guys have to adapt to the climate too. In Abu Dhabi
or wherever we go, they’re professionals and they know how
to do it.”
No
timeframe has been set for a pay-per-view in Colorado, but rest
assured one is coming soon.
Source: MMA Weekly |
LIVE
UFC RETURNS TO MOVIE THEATERS WITH UFC 115
The Ultimate Fighting Championship and NCM Fathom are teaming
up again to bring the UFC to the big screen.
NCM
Fathom will present UFC 115: Liddell vs. Franklin, broadcast
LIVE in high definition, on Saturday, June 12 at 10:00 p.m. ET
/ 7:00 p.m. PT, in local movie theaters across the United States.
Former
light-heavyweight champion and UFC Hall of Famer Chuck “The
Iceman” Liddell takes on former middleweight titleholder
Rich “Ace” Franklin in the main event broadcast live
from the sold out General Motors Place in Vancouver, British
Columbia, Canada.
The
UFC and NCM Fathom first teamed up to bring UFC 111: St-Pierre
vs. Hardy to local movie theaters in March.
Source: MMA Weekly |
CAN
BARRY FLIP THE SWITCH ON CRO COP AT UFC 115?
Everyone is entitled to have heroes.
From
a young pitcher who gets the chance to throw a fastball to their
all-time favorite hitter, to the linebacker who lines up and
looks eye to eye with a quarterback they followed in high school.
Heroes are an iconic part of sports, but rarely do people have
a desire to punch their heroes in the face.
Well,
that's exactly what Pat Barry is going to do to a personal hero
of his when he faces Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic in the
co-main event of UFC 115 in Vancouver, as the two former K-1
stars square off in the Octagon instead of the kickboxing world.
Barry
admits that Cro Cop is one of his all-time favorites, and goes
back several years watching the Croatian devastate the very best
with his unreal striking prowess.
"I
can go back 10 years. I can go back maybe 15 years, way before
I even started training, back when I was watching K-1 in ’93,
’95, before I had ever considered kickboxing as a hobby
or something I'd even consider doing. We were watching Cro Cop
back then," Barry told MMAWeekly Radio. "I had a poster
of the guy!"
Crediting
Cro Cop with the evolution of striking in MMA today is just one
compliment that Barry will heap on the former Pride Grand Prix
champion. He also says if anyone suggests Cro Cop is missing
a step right now they are welcome to try and take his place on
June 12.
"He
carved the evolution. If it wasn't for him, striking would still
be back in the stone ages in MMA, the way it used to be way back
when before he came in there," said Barry. "I mean
they had some guys that could throw some bombs, but nobody came
in with the amount of ability and force and just hate that this
guy came in with. It's because of him that there's guys like
me in MMA nowadays."
"Cro
Cop has not gotten worse. Cro Cop is not out of his prime. He
has not lost anything in the amount of speed or aggression or
anything. Everybody else had no choice but to get better. Cro
Cop is the same Cro Cop he's always been, it's that everybody
has had to up their game to be able to stand in the same world
as this guy."
It's
going to be hard for Barry to put the scowl on his face he's
expected to give when squaring off with Cro Cop at the press
conferences coming up, or even the weigh-ins where he plans on
having a surprise waiting for his opponent.
"If
I walked up at the weigh-ins and hand him a picture of himself
and a marker and ask him to sign it, that's not going to be a
joke," Barry said. "I'm going to be seriously asking
for an autograph. If he slaps it out of my hand, that's going
to hurt my feelings."
Make
no mistake, Pat Barry is a Cro Cop fan, but he also understands
an old pro wrestling saying... "To be the man, you have
to beat the man." Despite his obvious fan status, Barry
knows that if he lands a shot on Cro Cop, he'll go down just
like any other fighter.
"Cro
Cop is a legend, he's a living legend. He's one of my heroes.
He's a guy I had a poster of, a guy I had on my top five list
of never want to fight ever, and he's the man. He's killed all
types of people. He's done everything in the world," said
Barry. "You know what? When that cage door closes and the
bell rings, he's a man just like me. If you get hit, you're going
to fall down no matter who you are.
"If
I punch or kick anybody, they're going to go down."
Source: MMA Weekly |
UFC
JUST SAYS NO TO SUPER HEAVYWEIGHT DIVISION
Super heavyweight match-ups take place in mixed martial arts,
particularly in Japan, but UFC president Dana White isn’t
interested in them in his promotion.
Asked
during his keynote address at the UFC Fan Expo in Las Vegas if
the UFC would consider bringing in any super heavyweights, White
quickly answered, “No.”
“We’re
just getting to the point now where the heavyweight division
is probably the best it’s ever been in UFC history and more
and more guys keep popping up. As the sport continues to grow
and getting bigger, you’re going to see bigger guys that
would have played other sports get involved in mixed martial
arts,” he explained.
White
doesn’t think there’s a deep enough pool of fighters
above 265 pounds to justify the creation of the division.
“Everybody
was complaining in the beginning, ‘Brock Lesnar is too big
for everybody,’ but the reality is Brock Lesnar is a real
heavyweight.
“You’re
not going to go out and find too many super heavyweights out
there. There just aren’t enough big guys like that.”
Source: MMA Weekly |
HARRIS
VS. BRANCH ADDED TO UFC 116 IN JULY
An undercard bout has been added to UFC 116 on July 3 as Gerald
Harris returns to action to face first time Octagon fighter and
Renzo Gracie disciple Dave Branch.
The
bout was confirmed to MMAWeekly.com by sources close to one of
the fighters, and was first reported by MMAJunkie.com.
Since
returning to the UFC in January, Gerald Harris (15-2) is undefeated
in two fights with two impressive stoppages to his credit. A
TKO over John Salter and then another TKO over Matt Hume student
Mario Miranda have Harris on a nice streak heading into UFC 116.
Stepping
in to oppose Harris will be UFC newcomer Dave Branch (6-0) who
signed with the UFC just recently, and now makes his debut at
the July show.
A
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt under Renzo Gracie, Branch is
still undefeated in his young career and has not gone to decision
yet, finishing all six opponents no later than the second round.
Branch has also competed in Bellator Fighting Championships,
but now makes the move over to the UFC.
The
bout between Harris and Branch will be on the untelevised undercard
for the UFC 116 show taking place in Las Vegas.
Source: MMA Weekly |
Rankings:
Who’s on the take?
UFC
president Dana White made headlines last week when he essentially
said that reporters who rank fighters from non-UFC promotions
are on the take.
Now,
you might expect the same sort of moralizing, self-back-patting
retort that has come from most quarters in response to this statement,
but I have to come clean here: Dana is right! I accept payment
for the rankings, but only in the form of International Fight
League stock, and as you’ll see below, this month’s
entire Top 10 consists of fighters from the Seattle Tiger Sharks.
Next month we’ll feature the New York Pit Bulls, and then
the following month, the San Jose Razorclaws.
But
seriously …
Since
the beginning of 2009, only one non-Zuffa fighter has cracked
the top six. That would be Fedor Emelianenko, who just happens
to be 31-1, with his only loss on a controversial cuts stoppage.
And the only non-Zuffa fighter to reach No. 7, Jake Shields,
is a free agent who just happened to sit with White in the front
row at April’s WEC event. So if any pollsters are taking
money from competing promoters, those promotions are getting
a lousy return on their investment.
(And
yes, for those who are sarcasm-impaired, the IFL thing was in
fact a joke. Take a deep breath and step away from your blog-publishing
template.)
With
that little bit of silliness out of the way, it’s time for
this month’s rankings. The fighters in the top 10 remain
the same, but there’s a bit of movement within the rankings,
as Mauricio “Shogun” Rua’s convincing light heavyweight
title victory over Lyoto Machida had a ripple effect on the middle
of the pack. Rua jumped four spots to five and Machida dropped
two to No. 7.
This
month’s voting panel: Carlos Arias, The Orange County Register;
Denny Burkholder, CBSSports.com; Elias Cepeda, Inside Fighting;
Mike Chiappetta MMAFighting.com and Fight! Magazine; Steve Cofield,
Cage Writer and ESPN Radio 1100 in Las Vegas; Neil Davidson,
Canadian Press, Dave Doyle Yahoo! Sports; Ben Fowlkes SportsIllustrated.com
and MMAFighting.com; Josh Gross SportsIllustrated.com; Ariel
Helwani Versus.com and MMAFighting.com; Kevin Iole Yahoo! Sports;
Damon Martin MMAWeekly.com; Todd Martin, freelance; John Morgan,
MMAjunkie.com; Franklin McNeil, ESPN.com; Brad McCray, freelance;
Dave Meltzer, Yahoo! Sports and The Wrestling Observer; Brett
Okamoto, The Las Vegas Sun; Ken Pishna, MMAWeekly.com; Michael
David Smith, MMAFighting.com; Dann Stupp MMAjunkie.com. and The
Dayton Daily News.
Scoring:
10 points for a first-place vote, nine points for second, etc.,
down to 1 point for a 10th-place vote. Fighters who are under
suspension usage of performance-enhancing substances or drugs
of abuse are ineligible to be considered for the duration of
their suspensions; fighters who have been inactive for more than
12 months are ineligible for consideration until after the completion
of their next fight.
10.
Dominick Cruz
Points: 32
Affiliation: WEC
Weight class: Bantamweight (WEC bantamweight champion)
Hometown: San Diego
Record: 15-1 (has won past six)
Last month’s ranking: 10
Most recent result: def. Brian Bowles, R3 TKO, March 6
Analysis: Former featherweight champ Urijah Faber recently hinted
he is planning on dropping to 135, which could set up Cruz for
a rematch with the only opponent who has defeated him.
9.
Frank Edgar
Points: 44
Affiliation: UFC (UFC lightweight champion)
Weight class: Lightweight
Hometown: Toms River, N.J.
Record: 12-1 (has won past four)
Last month’s ranking: 8
Most recent result: def. B.J. Penn, unanimous decision, April
10
Analysis: Rematch with Penn is set for August 28 in Boston.
8.
Jake Shields
Points: 46
Affiliation: Free agent
Weight class: Welterweight/Middleweight (Strikeforce middleweight
champion)
Hometown: San Francisco
Record: 25-4-1 (has won past 14)
Last month’s ranking: 7
Most recent result: def. Dan Henderson, unanimous decision, April
17
Analysis:Strikeforce didn’t exactly try too hard on resigning
Shields, who is now free to negotiate with any MMA company.
7.
Lyoto Machida
Points: 60
Affiliation: UFC
Weight class: Light heavyweight
Hometown: Belem, Brazil
Record: 16-1 (lost previous fight)
Last month’s ranking: 5
Most recent result: lost to Mauricio Rua, R1 TKO, May 8
Analysis:A rumored match with Quinton “Rampage” Jackson
would make a good test for both coming off disappointing losses.
6.
B.J. Penn
Points: 69
Affiliation: UFC
Weight class: Lightweight
Hometown: Hilo, Hawaii
Record: 15-6-1 (lost previous fight)
Last month’s ranking: 6
Most recent result: lost to Frank Edgar, unanimous decision,
April 10
Analysis: Given that Penn remains ranked three spots ahead of
the man who took his title, voters clearly see the result as
a fluke.
5.
Mauricio Rua
Points: 92
Affiliation: UFC
Weight class: Light heavyweight (UFC light heavyweight champion)
Hometown: Curitiba, Brazil
Record: 19-4 (won previous fight)
Last month’s ranking: 9
Most recent result: def. Lyoto Machida, R1 TKO, May 8
Analysis:“Shogun” clearly wasn’t going to leave
his fate in the hand of the judges this time.
4.
Jose Aldo
Points: 147
Affiliation: WEC
Weight class: Featherweight (WEC featherweight champion)
Hometown: Rio de Janeiro
Record: 17-1 (has won past 10)
Last month’s ranking: 4
Most recent result: def. Urijah Faber, unanimous decision, April
24
Analysis: Still no word on Aldo’s next foe. Or on whether
anyone else at 145 pounds wants to face him.
3.
Fedor Emelianenko
Points: 168 (four first-place votes)
Affiliation: Strikeforce/M-1 (never lost PRIDE title)
Weight class: Heavyweight
Hometown: Stary Oskol, Russia
Record: 31-1, one no-contest (has won past 11)
Last month’s ranking: 3
Most recent result: def. Brett Rogers, R2 KO, Nov. 7
Analysis: Fabricio Werdum is up next for Emelianenko. After that,
if M-1 simply must make a match with Strikeforce heavyweight
champion Alistair Overeem if the promotion wishes to be taken
seriously.
2.
Anderson Silva
Points: 177 (six first-place votes)
Affiliation: UFC
Weight class: Middleweight (UFC middleweight champion)
Hometown: Curitiba, Brazil
Record: 26-4 (has won past 11)
Last month’s ranking: 2
Most recent result: def. Demian Maia, unanimous decision, April
10
Analysis:Chael Sonnen is already ramping up the trash talk for
their Aug. 7 fight. Will that be enough to coax “good”
Silva back into action and put “bad” Silva back on
the shelf?
1.
Georges St. Pierre
Points: 188 (11 first-place votes)
Affiliation: UFC
Weight class: Welterweight (UFC welterweight champion)
Hometown: Saint-Isidore, Quebec
Record: 20-2 (has won past seven)
Last month’s ranking: 1
Most recent result: def. Dan Hardy, unanimous decision, March
27
Analysis: Recent training with boxing great Freddie Roach demonstrates
St. Pierre’s commitment to his all-around game.
•
Votes for others:Rashad Evans 21, Brock Lesnar 12, Shane Carwin
9, Jon Fitch 7, Kenny Florian, Cain Velasquez 4; Gilbert Melendez,
Nick Diaz, Jon Jones 3; Ben Henderson, Joe Benavidez 1.
•
Upcoming matches for Top 10 fighters: No. 3 Fedor Emelianenko
vs. Fabricio Werdum, June 26, San Jose, Calif.
Source: Yahoo Sports |
‘TUF’
coaches fights a business boon
The
June 12 match between Chuck Liddell, and his fill-in “Ultimate
Fighter” coaching adversary Rich Franklin, in Vancouver
will mark the ninth battle between coaches in the 11-season history
of the series.
Chuck Liddell has lost four of his last five fights heading into
his June 12 bout.
(Jae C. Hong/AP)
While
television commercials are pushing that the two men, who coached
in the first and second seasons of the show in 2005, are gearing
up for another championship run, the reality is different. Liddell
(21-7) is now 40 years old, and has lost four of his last five
fights. Last year, after a knockout loss to Mauricio “Shogun”
Rua, Liddell – who even at that point was one of the company’s
biggest drawing cards – was declared retired by UFC president
Dana White. As with most fighter retirements, it was short-lived.
Franklin
(27-5-1), 35, a former middleweight champion, has fared better
in recent years, but is coming off a first knockout loss to Vitor
Belfort in his last fight on September 19 in Dallas.
When
people talk about the UFC’s flagship reality show, the discussion
usually centers on the stars created off the show, such as Forrest
Griffin, Josh Koscheck Diego Sanchez, Rashad Evans and Michael
Bisping. Or it turns to the now-legendary Griffin vs. Stephan
Bonnar fight in the first Ultimate Fighter finale.
But
as the current season showed, with Tito Ortiz being dumped as
coach with just five days left in the filming because neck surgery
wouldn’t allow him to face Liddell as scheduled, the season
is also about the pay-per-view match between the coaches after
the series airs.
The
UFC’s business model is based on pay-per-view business.
Thirteen weeks of exposure on basic cable’s Spike TV is
a tremendous vehicle for building a big fight, and no greater
example of this was Saturday’s Quinton Jackson vs. Evans
bout, the most successful non-title fight in company history.
While the coaches matches haven’t had many classic results,
in almost every case, they’ve led to business success on
pay-per-view.
A
rundown of the prior matches:
Season
one: Chuck Liddell vs. Randy Couture, April 16, 2005, Las Vegas:
At the time, Couture, approaching his 42nd birthday, was UFC
light heavyweight champion and the company’s biggest star.
With the first TUD season bringing UFC to basic cable for the
first time, hundreds of thousands of new fans had been created
over the prior three months. Liddell won the title with a first
round knockout. By getting the right kind of win at the right
time, Liddell became the biggest draw in the sport for the next
few years. The showdown set a company record for live gate ($2,575,450)
and on pay-per-view (280,000 buys). While both numbers seem modest
today, to show the difference television made, the first Liddell
vs. Couture match two years earlier did just 75,000 buys. This
match was significant not only in Liddell’s rise to fame,
but the company’s as well. The battle of the coaches formula
was shown to be a big-time moneymaker on pay-per-view, and still
is today.
Season
two: Coaches were Matt Hughes and Rich Franklin, who due to being
in different weight classes, opted not to fight. However, the
exposure from coaching turned them into much bigger stars than
they were before the show, who are still among the best-known
fighters today.
Season
three: Tito Ortiz vs Ken Shamrock, July 8, 2006, Las Vegas: This
season and fight was the promotional blue-print for some of the
biggest events in company history. While Liddell and Couture
in season one were the two biggest stars, as rival coaches, they
came across as two nice guys. From watching the show, they could
have mistaken for best friends, which they were not. But there
was no grudge match element promoted, just a battle between for
a championship.
Tito Ortiz celebrates his win over Ken Shamrock.
(Jane Kalinowsky/AP)
Ortiz
vs. Shamrock had issues dating back seven years. There were a
lot of skeptics when the match was announced. Ortiz beat Shamrock
in a one-sided fight nearly four years earlier. Shamrock at this
point was 42, and his reaction time had clearly slowed in a first
round knockout to Franklin. Insiders saw this as a one-sided
fight. But with the build-up on television, during what was the
highest-rated season of the series pre-Kimbo Slice, the match
destroyed all company business records, with a $3,452,123 gate,
and 775,000 buys on pay-per-view. Ortiz took Shamrock down and
hit him with several hard elbows on the ground, and ref Herb
Dean stopped the match in 1:18.
Shamrock,
as well as many fans, complained it was stopped early, which
set up a third match, which Ortiz won almost as quickly and with
no controversy. But the business results showed, regardless of
where a fighter stood in terms of age or previous losses, the
power of a television-built grudge match.
Season
four: This was the only season the show had no official coaches,
as they brought in different stars to work as coaches each week.
However, they did make sure and bring in Matt Hughes and Georges
St. Pierre at the same time, leading to St. Pierre’s first
welterweight title win on November 18, 2006, in Sacramento.
Season
five: B.J. Penn vs. Jens Pulver, June 23, 2007, Las Vegas: The
grudge match element was strong all season, as Penn clearly disliked
Pulver, who had beaten him five years earlier. But their respective
careers had gone in different directions. Penn was considered
by this point one of the most talented fighters in the sport,
looking to avenge that early loss, but Pulver had become largely
a journeyman fighter by that time.
Penn
talked about winning the fight as being a foregone conclusion,
and it turned out to be, as Pulver spent most of the fight just
trying to survive, before being choked out at 3:12 of the second
round. As a favor to Spike TV, this match was put on The Ultimate
Fighter final, where it did the fifth-highest rating for a UFC
televised event up to that point.
Season
six: Matt Hughes vs. Matt Serra, May 23, 2009, Las Vegas: This
was marketed as another grudge match. The issues between the
two stemmed from season four. Serra was a competitor and Hughes
was a guest coach, and Serra was vocal in making fun of Hughes
as the stereotypical high school jock bully. Serra not only won
the tournament, but went on to beat St. Pierre in one of the
sport’s biggest upsets in history to become the welterweight
champion. The original goal of this show was to build a title
match at the end of 2007. However, Serra suffered a serious back
injury. St. Pierre, his replacement, beat Hughes, knocking him
out of contention. St. Pierre then beat Serra in the rematch.
Between
injuries to both men, and Serra’s wife giving birth, the
fight actually took place 17 months after it was originally scheduled.
Hughes won a close decision.
But
there was a major lesson here. Some felt all the long delay would
have made people no longer care about the match, but it was clear
on that day, the long delay simply made fans crave the match
even more. It was important, because later, when something similar
happened with Quinton Jackson and Rashad Evans, the promotion
knew the match not taking place immediately after the season
was not a disaster.
Season
seven: Quinton Jackson vs. Forrest Griffin, July 5, 2008, Las
Vegas: The expectation was with two strong personalities, this
would be one of the most entertaining seasons. And while the
show did have moments, it never quite lived up to that. The fight,
on the other hand, didn’t have such high hopes as it was
largely expected Jackson was a level above Griffin, who had become
one of the sport’s most popular fighters after his win over
Bonnar in the first season finale.
Nobody
really considered Griffin as someone who would ever become champion.
Instead, in what was easily the best of these coaches fights,
Griffin captured the light heavyweight title in a close five-round
decision that was a fight of the year candidate.
Frank Mir tops Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira two days after Christmas,
2008.
(Eric Jamison/AP)
Season
eight, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Frank Mir, December 27, 2008,
Las Vegas: There was no strong personality conflict here with
the coaches, as Mir idolized Nogueira, but his cockiness on the
show made him a polarizing figure, against the ultra-polite Brazilian.
Few figured Mir had much of a chance in taking on the interim
heavyweight champion.
Nogueira
was generally considered the second best heavyweight in the sport’s
history, an iron man who had never been stopped in a fight. Mir
himself even remarked that for the first time, he was in with
somebody that even if he did everything right, he still may not
be able to beat.
As
it turned out, Mir did what was considered the unthinkable, dominating
Nogueira standing and knocking him out at 1:57 of the second
round to win the title. Nogueira wasn’t himself that night,
coming off a staph infection hospitalization, and those close
to him had urged him to pull out of the fight.
Season
nine, Dan Henderson vs. Michael Bisping, July 11, 2009, Las Vegas:
Henderson, a former two-time U.S. Olympian in Greco-Roman wrestling,
and Bisping, the most well-known U.K. fighter, were coaches in
a Team U.S. vs. Team U.K. season. It was a unique dynamic, since
Bisping’s antics made him super popular in the U.K. and
hated in the U.S. with his cocky attitude played up against the
quiet and reserved Henderson, who had vowed to take out his frustrations
on Bisping in the match. As part of UFC 100, the biggest money
MMA event in history, doing a record setting 1.6 million pay-per-view
buys, Henderson stopped Bisping at 3:20 of the second round by
brutal knockout.
Season
10, Quinton Jackson vs. Rashad Evans, May 29, Las Vegas: Due
to the presence of Kimbo Slice as a cast member, the weekly antics
between the two played out before largest audience ever to watch
to show. Jackson vs. Evans rivaled Shamrock vs. Ortiz as the
biggest grudge match in the show’s history. But the difference
was, Jackson vs. Evans was a pick-em fight between two former
light heavyweight champions still in their prime. While the pre-show
hype promised a brawl, Evans did everything to avoid that, fighting
a smart technical fight, playing to his advantages in speed and
conditioning, and won the decision.
Source: Yahoo Sports |
Mailbag:
Jackson-Evans as popular as expected
My
postfight column on Saturday’s main event of UFC 114 between
Rashad Evans and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson touched
a nerve. Yahoo! Sports readers get their turn to make their observations
on the fight in this week’s edition of the mixed martial
arts mailbag.
Rashad Evans pins Quinton "Rampage" Jackson against
the fence during their UFC light heavyweight bout.
Kevin,
did you really expect a brawl at the Jackson-Evans fight? Evans,
a smaller guy, a guy who wrestled at 167 and who is a part of
the Greg Jackson camp, isn’t about to come out brawling.
In any fight, the objective is to fight your fight, which is
exactly what Evans did. After his loss to Lyoto Machida, I don’t
think Evans will ever throw caution to the wind again unless
facing an opponent he is absolutely sure he’ll beat. Technically,
it was a good fight for Evans, not so good for Jackson. Evans
is now 19-1-1. That’s not too bad.
Mark
Boston
Mark,
if you read my column, you’ll note that I wrote, “Evans
fought a brilliant strategic fight,” “No one, particularly
Jackson, could have been surprised by Evans’ strategy,”
and “No one was asking Jackson and Evans to replicate Forrest
Griffin-Stephan Bonnar I … ” So no, I didn’t expect
Evans to rush Jackson and stand toe-to-toe with him. I was highly
disappointed in Jackson’s failure to put more pressure on
Evans. Rampage promised repeatedly to knock Evans out, but he
seemed to follow Evans around the cage and didn’t close
the distance well. And as I said high in my column, it was a
technical fight that would have been perceived differently had
there not been more than a year of buildup and trash talk.
Don’t
be a hater
Why
are you such a hater? That was a great fight between Rashad and
Rampage. Why cheapen good strategy with bad press? Every time
a fighter doesn’t get knocked stupid, you say it’s
a bad fight. It’s not fair to great fighters.
Phillip J. Wheeler
Shelbyville, Ill.
It
was a good fight, not a great fight, though Rashad’s strategy
was perfect. I thought the Jason Brilz-Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
fight was outstanding and no one was knocked stupid in it. I
think Rampage’s words at the postfight news conference say
a lot about what I think about the fight: “I feel tonight
wasn’t the real me. I hesitated too much and I just don’t
feel I was at my best.” In other words, he didn’t let
his hands go and he didn’t put on enough pressure. And after
he ran his mouth for more than a year about the harm he was going
to inflict upon Rashad, that was a letdown for me.
Ridiculous
column
Your
column on the Rampage-Evans fight being a disappointment is ridiculous.
Everyone I watched the fight with was on the edge of their seat.
I think you were too caught up in the emotion of the ignorant
crowd that was booing all night. Evans had an excellent game
plan and should be commended on executing it. Rampage looked
bad but it was only because Evans made him look bad.
Jerad H.
Columbia, S.C.
I
kind of had that edge-of-my-seat feeling throughout the fight,
too, but that’s because of expectations. We know Rampage
is one of the best knockout punchers in MMA. We know he has some
of the greatest slams. He once appeared on “Sports Science,”
which found that his slams generate 1,800 pounds of force. So
this fight boiled down to whether Evans could move in and out,
side to side, take Jackson down and avoid his big power shots.
But the threat of Jackson grabbing Evans and power slamming him
to the canvas was always there. So, too, was the potential of
a fight-ending punch. But when it didn’t come, it was a
letdown.
Evans
talked too big
Evans
made comments like, “You’re too slow,” “You’re
head’s too big,” and “I’m going to knock
you out,” and “I’m going to make you quit.”
None of that happened. Evans did not want to stand and trade
with Rampage. Having said that, Evans fought the fight he needed
to fight to win. Both are still great fighters, in my opinion.
Robert Glenn Barton
Pensacola, Fla.
I
think Rashad was right when he questioned Jackson’s speed.
Jackson looked very slow in comparison to Rashad. But I don’t
remember Evans saying he was going to go toe-to-toe and he repeatedly
said when asked that he’d stick to his game plan and keep
the emotions out of it. He did exactly that. He said he would
knock Jackson out and he failed there, but he never said he’d
engage in a slugfest. And he didn’t.
No
appreciation of MMA
Your
understanding of MMA based on what I read of your Evans-Rampage
column leads me to believe you just want to see people bloody
each other. It is a sport of skill and tactics. The booing by
the crowd and your booing with words is what makes the sport
difficult. People say it’s too violent, so it is hard to
get sanctioned in certain places. But when they prove it is a
game of skill, people complain it is boring. I knew exactly how
that fight was going to go. You play to your opponent’s
weaknesses. It amazes me that you seem to want blood or are just
misinformed on the sport.
George Stewart
Baltimore, Md.
George,
I am not one who says that every fight needs to end in a violent
knockout or that the fighters need to wind up a bloody mess for
it to be a great fight. Quite the contrary, some of my favorite
fights are ones that went to a decision. Two that stand out to
me are both Diego Sanchez fights, against Karo Parisyan and Clay
Guida. Now, anyone who says MMA is too violent, even in fights
where there is a knockout and a lot of blood, is clearly uninformed.
MMA’s safety record is exemplary. Much of that is because
the fighters don’t take repeated blows to the head over
an extended period of time like they do in a boxing match. I
do think it’s fair, though, that in a main event that is
more than a year in the making, where the trash talk reached
the levels it did in this fight, to expect a faster pace than
was delivered Saturday.
Rampage
didn’t press
In
the third round, the only reason Evans was able to come back
and hurt Jackson was because Jackson didn’t stay on him
after he had him rocked. If Rampage didn’t just stand there
while Evans recuperated, Jackson could have had the knockout.
Joe S.
Long Island, N.Y.
I
didn’t like the way Jackson fought, Joe, but I do think
he went for it when he hurt Rashad. Rashad did a great job of
surviving. Rampage came close, but close only counts in horseshoes.
Unhappy
with the fight
I
watched the Jackson-Evans fight and I am very unhappy with how
the fight went. From what I saw in that match, Evans was scared
of Rampage. He held him against the cage for two rounds. I thought
that this would be a slugfest and all I saw was Evans doing the
complete opposite of what he said he would do. He said that he
would knock Rampage out. He even sent the guy a Snuggie to keep
him warm after he knocked him out. In the end, he got one good
hit and when Rampage didn’t go down from it, he got scared
and tried to use his ground game to win. But in my opinion, he
was scared and ran the whole match.
Victor
Houston
I
definitely don’t think Rashad was afraid. No one who steps
into the cage, or into a ring, to fight in public is afraid.
Sometimes we might question their strategy or their execution,
but you can never question their courage. If Jackson had put
on the kind of pressure he said he would, it might have forced
Evans to fight a different fight. But the anticipated pressure
from Jackson never came and Evans was able to stick to his game
plan, which worked quite well.
Manufactured
rivalry
UFC
114 was a fun card to watch, for the most part. My favorite bout
was the John Hathaway-Diego Sanchez fight. There is something
exciting about a lesser-known fighter taking apart a proven veteran.
However, I was thoroughly disappointed with the Evans-Rampage
fight. Although I respect the technical nature of the bout, I
must ask myself, was there really any animosity between the two?
I am of the belief that if two people thoroughly hate each other,
they will be banging with each other in the ring. Do you believe
that the rivalry was manufactured to some extent?
Aravind
Toronto
I
don’t think they were ever close buddies or even acquaintances.
I think they disliked each other, but I think it was blown out
of proportion to try to hype the fight. By the way, I loved Hathaway’s
performance, too. I picked him to win, so I wasn’t surprised
he won, but I was surprised at how thoroughly dominant he was.
Brilz
was robbed
My
friends and I considered the result of the Antonio Rogerio Nogueira-Jason
Brilz fight to be evidence of a fix in a UFC event. Even Joe
Rogan was talking about how Brilz had won the first two rounds
against Little Nog and yet we get two judges scoring it two rounds
to one for Nogueira? Brilz landed more punches, scored more takedowns
and had more submission attempts. There’s absolutely no
way that Brilz lost that fight two rounds to one. Even if you
give Little Nog the third round, which I can understand, there’s
no way that you can give Little Nog either Round 1 or 2. I can’t
help but think that Little Nog probably has the bigger contract
and so it is in the UFC’s interest for him to win, because
there was nothing in that fight that made me think that Little
Nog won for any other reason.
Daniel Blanchette
Austin, Texas
Daniel,
I thought Brilz won, but to say the fight was fixed is beyond
ludicrous. Brilz clearly won the second round and Nogueira won
the third. The outcome of the fight is based upon who you thought
won the first. I gave it to Brilz, but I noted on Twitter that
it was a close round and that it could turn out to be the decisive
one in the fight. Before you start crying fix, you need to have
a little more evidence than two judges scoring a very close round
differently than you did.
Source: Yahoo Sports |
ROMERO
VS PETRUZELLI AGREED TO FOR UFC 116
New UFC signee Ricardo Romero now has a fight to go with his
new contract. MMAWeekly.com sources say the AMA Fight Club product
will square off with Seth Petruzelli on the undercard of UFC
116 on July 3 in Las Vegas.
Romero
(10-1) has spent his entire professional career working his way
up through the ranks of the venerable Ring of Combat promotion
in New Jersey. He is currently in the midst of a five-fight winning
streak that includes a victory over current UFC fighter James
McSweeney.
Petruzelli
(12-4) has fought in the UFC twice before, coming up short to
both Matt Hamill and Wilson Gouveia. However, he is most famously
known as the man who KO’d Kimbo. He knocked out Kevin “Kimbo
Slice” Ferguson in 14 seconds in the main event of a bout
the two had on an EliteXC fight card on CBS in 2008.
A
heavyweight title unification bout between current UFC champion
Brock Lesnar and interim titleholder Shane Carwin headlines UFC
116 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
DANA
THINKS BRILZ WON, NOGUEIRA DISAGREES
Controversial decisions in mixed martial arts have led to the
cliché often used by the highest profile promoter in the
industry and virtually every fighter, “Don’t leave
it in the hands of the judges.”
UFC
president Dana White even had the saying painted on the wall
of the UFC Training Center for “The Ultimate Fighter 11:
Team Liddell vs. Team Ortiz.”
The
fact that it’s a quote often used in mixed martial arts
is a testament to the vague scoring criteria, the ten-point must
system of scoring, and judges either not knowing the criteria
or simply not knowing what they’re judging.
A
controversial decision occurred in the UFC 114 light heavyweight
match-up between Jason Brilz and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira with
“Li’l Nog” coming away with a split decision victory.
UFC
president Dana White did not agree with the decision.
"I
thought Brilz won the fight. I'm always disagreeing with the
judges,” White commented at the post-fight press conference.
“I
just need to shut up, I'm not a judge, and I said earlier to
these guys that Brilz had the opportunity to knock Li’l
Nog out at the end of that second round. He hit him with like
three punches in a row and Nog was out on his feet, and Brilz
stopped punching him and there was like 20 seconds left in the
round. You left it in the hands of the judges."
The
implication is, you left it in the hands of incompetent judges,
or it wouldn’t be a constantly uttered term in the sport
at all.
Nogueira
disagreed with White’s assessment and felt he rightfully
was victorious.
“Yeah,
I think I won the fight,” Nogueira told the media.
“We
made a very, very close fight, but I’m very confident that
I won this fight, but he’s proved he’s a good guy.
He has a good game of jiu-jitsu and wrestling, too,” said
the Brazilian contender.
“I
was very confident to get the knockout, but he’s proved
he’s a tough guy.”
Source: MMA Weekly |
FRANKLIN
SAYS HE LOST BELFORT FIGHT 6 WEEKS OUT
Admitting mistakes is a big part of what helps a fighter move
forward in his career, and accomplish future goals. For Rich
Franklin, admitting that he was not in the right place going
into the Vitor Belfort fight last September led him to some much
needed time off and the mindset required to take a fight against
Chuck Liddell at UFC 115.
The
UFC 103 catchweight main event put Franklin in against Belfort,
who was returning to the Octagon for the first time in over four
years. The fight definitely didn’t go any which way the
former middleweight champion wanted. Just before the three-minute
mark of the first round, Belfort tagged Franklin with a big shot
that dropped him, and soon after the fight was stopped.
Franklin
talked about the ending of the bout during a recent UFC 115 media
conference call, and admitted that he was out of that fight before
it ever began.
"I
think it probably was a moment and I got caught perhaps, but
looking back at the tapes of that fight, I didn’t fight
well," said Franklin. "For me honestly, I think that
fight was lost six weeks before the fight even began."
Expanding
on that thought, Franklin explains that training for that fight
became a job that he didn't enjoy, and that's not the right place
to be when heading in to work.
"The
fact that I was mentally cashed," Franklin explained. "When
you start coming into the gym and the moment you walk in you
look at the clock, and count down the minutes to the time that
you leave, that's never a good thing."
"You
can't keep focused on your workouts, and put in 100 percent effort
like you need to be when you're walking into the Octagon."
Because
of that after effect and a few minor injuries, Franklin asked
for some time off to allow his mind and body some much needed
rest.
"I
didn’t have any injuries, little bumps and bruises here
and there, but like I know training for Wanderlei for example,
I had jammed two fingers and I couldn't make a complete fist.
Then after that fight I had to go back to do another camp unable
to make a tight fist, and to do punches properly," said
Franklin. "It was little kind of lingering things like that,
that add up."
The
time off was much needed and now Franklin is ready to get back
in the Octagon and put the last fight behind him. The best way
to do that of course is to beat Chuck Liddell, and he'll try
to do just that on June 12 when the two UFC legends square off.
Source: MMA Weekly |
CRO
COP'S FUTURE HINGES ON UFC 115 OUTCOME
There will be some major decisions facing both the UFC and Mirko
“Cro Cop” Filipovic after his UFC 115 fight against
Pat Barry. The former Pride Grand Prix champion enters the June
12 show in Vancouver on the last fight of his current contract.
Cro
Cop confirmed his contract status on Friday.
"This
is the last fight on the present contract," he said. "I
have to finish this fight, then we'll see."
The
weight of the decision will surely depend on how the Croatian
performs in the fight with Barry. Currently, Cro Cop sits with
a 3-3 record in the Octagon, while also picking up two wins and
one no contest outside of the UFC in between fights for the promotion.
The
plan is to face Barry and then sit down with the UFC brass and
see what the future holds.
"I'll
have to sit with Lorenzo and Dana and see about extending the
contract, but first of all I'm concentrating on this fight, and
I don't want to talk much before that," Cro Cop stated.
If
he becomes a free agent coming off of a win, it obviously increases
his bargaining position, and having fought for so many years
in Japan, there would still be interest there as well, but the
UFC is still by far the largest and most viable home for him.
Back
and healthy for the first time in two years, Cro Cop will first
look to get past Pat Barry at UFC 115, and then let the contract
negotiations begin.
Source: MMA Weekly |
Marcelo
Garcia wins fourth
With
a 2-0 win over game Claudio Calasans, Marcelo Garcia has returned
to his spectacular ways in the arena. The Alliance superstar
living in the United States had a great run over the weekend
and won yet another World Championship.
“I
didn’t have much of a game plan; I went after what my opponent’s
offered me,” said the radiant four-time world champion,
who also won in 2004, 2006 and 2009.
Langhi
beats Celsinho by judges’ decision
Lightweight
Michael Langhi is now a two-time champion of the world. The Alliance
professor beat Gracie SP professor Celsinho Venícius by
judges’ decision, after a very evenly matched final.
Source: Gracie Magazine |
Champion
Michelle Nicolini and Penny Thomas have riveting medium heavyweight bout
Michelle
Nicolini in photo by Alicia AnthonyLight featherweight from CheckMat
Michelle Nicolini took a risk and came up big. She vewntured
into the medium heavyweight / brown and black belt division and
with her “bizarre guard” managed to tame Penny Thomas
and beat 2009’s champion on advantage points.
“Penny
is really flexible and stronger than I am; it was great. Now
I’m going to hit the barbecue,” said the diminutive
champion after one of the great matches of the championship.
Congratulations, girls!
Source: Gracie Magazine |
FULL
LINE-UP FOR UFC 115 IN VANCOUVER CONFIRMED
The Ultimate Fighting Championship on Friday confirmed the full
line-up for next week’s UFC 115: Liddell vs. Franklin, which
takes place at General Motors Palace in Vancouver, British Columbia,
Canada.
Chuck
Liddell, who is currently a coach opposite Tito Ortiz on Season
11 of “The Ultimate Fighter,” headlines the card in
a light heavyweight bout with former UFC middleweight champion
Rich Franklin. Liddell was originally expected to fight Ortiz,
but Ortiz had to bow out due a neck injury that he eventually
had surgery to repair.
Mirko
“Cro Cop” Filipovic was once considered one of the
top fighters in Japan, winning the 2006 Pride Openweight Grand
Prix tearing through Ikuhisa Minowa, Hidehiko Yoshida, Wanderlei
Silva, and Josh Barnett. He has struggled in the UFC, where he
has garnered a 3-3 record.
Filipovic
recently bounced back from a loss to Junior Dos Santos by defeating
Anthony Perosh at UFC 110 in Australia.
He
faces fellow K-1 kickboxing veteran Pat Barry in the co-main
event of UFC 115. Barry made the jump from kickboxing to mixed
martial arts two years ago, accumulating a 5-1 professional record.
His only loss was to Tim Hague early last year. He rebounded
with a TKO of Antoni Hardonk at UFC 104 last September.
UFC
115 marks the promotion’s first venture into Vancouver.
Main
Bouts (On Pay-Per-View):
-Chuck Liddell (21-7) vs. Rich Franklin (26-5)
-Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic (26-7-2) vs. Pat Barry (5-1)
-Paulo Thiago (13-1; #5 Welterweight)* vs. Martin Kampmann (16-3;
#10 Welterweight)*
-Ben Rothwell (30-7) vs. Gilbert Yvel (36-14-1)
-Carlos Condit (24-5) vs. Rory MacDonald (10-0)
Preliminary
Bouts (On Spike TV):
-Mac Danzig (19-7-1) vs. Matt Wiman (11-5)
-Tyson Griffin (14-2) vs. Evan Dunham (10-0)
Preliminary
Bouts (Non-Televised):
-David Loiseau (19-9) vs. Mario Miranda (9-1)
-James Wilks (6-3) vs. Peter Sobotta (8-2)
-Claude Patrick (11-1) vs. Ricardo Funch (7-1)
-Mike Pyle (18-7-1) vs. Jesse Lennnox (11-2)
*Based
on the MMAWeekly.com World MMA Rankings
Source: MMA Weekly |
Shogun:
“Rashad made a good strategy”
UFC
light heavyweight champion, Maurício Shogun is waiting
for his next opponent be chosen for his first belt defense. All
roads lead to Rashad Evans, who defeated Quinton Rampage Jackson
on UFC 114, last Saturday.
“I
watched the fight between Rampage and Rashad and I think I was
a great spectacle. Rashad made a good and efficient strategy,
kept Jackson always in a short distance, kept himself close to
him and did good takedowns”, commented Shogun, who said
he will only think about a new strategy when he get to know who
his opponent is.
”I
know he might be my new opponent, but I haven’t think of
any strategy to block his game plan, because it’s not settled
yet, it’s only speculation… When Dana White calls me
and confirm it, I’ll start working according to my opponent’s
game. I’ll try to do a good job in order to represent my
team on the best possible way”, said the champion.
Source: Tatame
|
Minotauro
waiting for an opponent at UFC
After
Rogerio Nogueira’s victory at UFC 114, his twin brother
Rodrigo Minotauro Nogueira turns his focus to the UFC return.
In an exclusive interview to TATAME at San Diego, California,
the heavyweight spoke about his return, commented Brock Lesnar’s
return against Shane Carwin and UFC Fan Expo.
Do
you know when will be your next fight?
I
hope it’s soon. There’s nothing scheduled, we had Rogério’s
fight this weekend, a hard fight, he did a good fight, worked
on his Wrestling on the second round, won the first one, in my
opinion, sure won the third and he made his game… It was
a great fight! The focus was only on Rogério and now we’re
starting to focus on my training, I’ll do a new camp for
this next fight. Today we trained ground game, we’ve been
training with kimonos, here in San Diego, two or three times
a week. We started the training with the kimono and we end it
without, we’re trying to improve my Jiu-Jitsu. There’s
nothing scheduled yet, but I’m hoping to fight soon, I’m
anxious and I have good expectations for this next battle.
Do
you have any idea of who could be your next opponent? I heard
that Frank Mir, a guy you’d like to fight again, may face
Gonzaga next…
I
don’t know anything yet. We are waiting and I’ll fight
against whoever they tell me to. I’ll try to do my best
and got off there with a win. I’m waiting for some results,
and I’ll way for them to say something.
Brock
Lesnar vs. Shane Carwin... Who will win this?
Man,
I think Carwin is more aggressive, has a better hand, is coming
through a good phase on his career and I believe in his game.
But, for the future, I can see other athletes coming closer and
I think this belt will end on Brazilian’s hands, maybe Junior
dos Santos and me trying to win this belt, and I really want
to make it (laughs).
Do
you believe that, until the end of the year, your brother has
a chance to dispute the belt on the 205 division?
Rogério
has been having good results, he beat Banha, Jason Brilz…
I believe that a good fight would be one between my brother and
Rashad Evans or even Forrest Griffin. In 2005 Rogério
did the best fight of that year against Shogun and that’s
another fight I’d really like to see, because Rogério
has improved a lot since then on his trade of punches and on
his ground game as well. This would be a great fight. The one
on 2005 was, so I think it deserves a second round between the
two of them. They did a great fight on Pride, and they can do
it all again on UFC.
Would
you like to send a message to your fans?
I
would like to thank everyone from TATAME, everyone who supports
us. We just created a new website, which is www.minotaurosports.com.
We did a great meeting with José Aldo, Anderson Silva,
Wanderlei Silva, Ricardo Arona, everyone there, together, at
UFC Fan Expo. It’s good to have great names like that on
an event. I’d like to thank everyone that went there. It
was a great event, successful. I’d really like to thank
the presence of Brazilian fans on UFC Fan Expo, asking for autographs,
that’s really rewarding for us.
Source: Tatame |
TOM
WRIGHT: LEADING UFC'S CANADIAN CHARGE
“The UFC is not just about throwing a live event,”
said UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta recently in Toronto. “Canada
represents about 17 percent of our overall business as a company
now. So we look to grow that.
“In
addition to that, we have initiatives in new media, Video-On-Demand,
video games, a thriving merchandise business. We’re in the
process of rolling out UFC gyms in the market. The list really
goes on and on and on.
“There
is a whole business that needs to be run up here, PR, marketing,
the whole gamut, so that’s what Tom will be doing.”
The
Tom that Fertitta referred to is Tom Wright, who the UFC feels
is the right man to lead the charge as the company embarks on
a major push in Canada.
Wright
has been the head man in charge at Adidas Canada, Solomon North
America, and held the position of commissioner for the Canadian
Football League.
For
those unfamiliar, meet Mr. UFC Canada… Tom Wright…
Source: MMA Weekly |
UFC
117 OFFICIAL, FIGHT CARD ALREADY FILLING UP
The Ultimate Fighting Championship on Thursday made its first
foray into the Bay Area in California official. The promotion
will host UFC 117 on Aug. 7 at the Oracle Arena in Oakland.
Headlining
the card is a middleweight title bout pitting current champion
Anderson Silva against No. 2 ranked Chael Sonnen.
Though
it may be a one-sided affair, the trash talk between Silva and
Sonnen could reach record levels. Though Silva doesn’t typically
talk a lot prior to his fights, Sonnen has the gift for gab and
has been on that attack even well before Silva’s controversial
performance at UFC 112 in Abu Dhabi.
“When
we offered Chael Sonnen this shot at the title, he promised us
one thing: that he was going to make this a fight,” said
UFC president Dana White. “I know he means it, and after
beating three legit contenders in Nate Marquardt, Yushin Okami,
and Dan Miller, he's definitely going to bring the best out of
Anderson Silva on Aug. 7. And as far as Anderson is concerned,
he wants to remind everybody why he’s considered the best
pound-for-pound fighter in the world.”
The
UFC also announced a welterweight showdown between newly inducted
UFC Hall of Famer Matt Hughes and Ricardo Almeida. Almeida is
looking to avenge his mentor, Renzo Gracie, who lost to Hughes
at UFC 112.
Other
bouts made official for UFC 117 include Clay Guida vs. Rafael
dos Anjos, Thiago Silva vs. Tim Boetsch, Dustin Hazelett vs.
Rick Story, Ben Saunders vs. Dennis Hallman, Johny Hendricks
vs. Charlie Brenneman, and Rodney Wallace vs. Stanislav Nedkov.
A
highly anticipated rematch between top welterweight contenders
Jon Fitch and Thiago Alves is expected for the Oakland fight
card, as is a bout between heavyweight contenders Junior Dos
Santos and Roy Nelson, but the promotion has yet to officially
announce those two pairings.
Tickets
for UFC 117 go on sale Friday, June 11.
Source: MMA Weekly |
Perfect!
Roger Gracie rules the Worlds 2010
Collaboration
Samira Bonfim, Monte Massey and Eduardo Ferreira, directly from
California
Seven-time
weight champion, three-time absolute champion: Roger Gracie became
the greatest fighter in all history of Jiu-Jitsu. On an impeccable
performance, Roger suffered only four points during the whole
competition, and submitted all of his opponents, except Ricardo
Demente, who he confronted on the weight finale. Rômulo
Barral’s injury made things easier for the black belt, who
did not have to fight the finale to become the absolute champion.
“I
see people from all gyms closing up the finales, but this is
a sport, I don’t like doing that. If you compete for a medal,
I don’t see why you can abdicate your right to fight. You’re
not killing the guy, you’ll just fight with him”, said
Roger, making it clear he would confront Barral on weights finale.
Being the one with more titles won, Gracie does not think about
stopping: “I’m not retiring… That’s just
the beginning”. Gracie was brilliant and conquest 10 titles
on the black belt category. But World 2010 had another highlights.
MALFACINE
MADE HISTORY AMONG THE ROOSTERS
Before
World, things were pretty tense between Bruno Malfacine, current
champion, and Caio Terra. With the cards set, everything made
everyone believe the two of them would have a duel on the finale.
And so it happened. On a very busy fight, with a lot of standing
blows, Malfacine shone and made history being the first three-time
champion of the division, winning by vantages. “I trained
a lot to be at my best… Caio is a really tough athlete,
even though he hasn’t respected me… People said too
much, but I don’t, I come here and prove it”, provoked
the champion. “it was a very strategic fight, he get stuck
on things and I prefer to go for it”.
GRACIE
BARRA DOMINATES THE LIGHT FEATHER WEIGHT
Guilherme
Mendes was the favorite among the light feathers, but was surprised
and eliminated on his first fight, by Paulo Silva. John Doe himself
was eliminated on the quarterfinals, and Gracie Barra dominated
the competition until the finale, closing it up with Pablo Silva
and Samuel Braga. “It’s my first year of World, he
has three titles, so he gave it to me” explains Pablo, who
got the golden medal.
RAFA
BRAKES COBRINHA’S HEGEMONY
Rubens
Cobrinha wanted to make history and becoming the first five-time
champion on the feather weight division, and the so expected
finale between him and Rafael Mendes indeed happened. Just as
on World Pro 2009 and ADCC, who got it was Mendes, who beat Cobrinha
for the fourth time and won the only title left on his personal
collection. “I feel pretty good, it’s a dream come
true”, celebrates Rafa, who ruined his plans of becoming
five-time champion. “This is the fourth time I beat him,
and my strategy always was to try the submission. For me it’s
not about talent, it’s about training”.
LANGHI
OVERCOMES A PERSONAL DUEL WITH CELSINHO
World
champion on 2009, Michael Langhi had not confronted Celsinho
Venícius last year’s World. This year the division
was busy, with great names such as Gilbert Durinho, Lucas Lepri
and Jonathan Torres in action, but Langhi gave a private show
and won, for the second time in a roll, the title, showing he
is here to stay on one of the most disputed divisions of World.
MARCELINHO
IS NOW FOUR-TIME CHAMPION AND IS HERE TO STAY
When
he was two-time champion, Marcelinho Garrrcia announced we would
take a time off the mats to fight MMA. Years later, the black
belt came back in great style and won his third world title on
2009. On the next year, he wanted to closed it up again with
Serginho Moraes, but Claudio Calasans ruined his plans and made
him go until the end. “It wasn’t one of the easy ones”,
joked the four-time champion, who went through a hard time on
the last seconds of his fight with Calasans, who went for it.
“I’m used to it, when the guy comes will all his willingness…
You could see how I defended myself… I don’t have much
strategy, I just did what I trained to do”, concluded the
four-time champion.
TARSIS
DOES NOT SUBMIT, BUT BEATS BARRAL
Absolute’s
finalist, Rômulo Barral was the favorite on the weight
dispute, but it did not work out. While he attacked his opponent’s
knee, Tarsis Humphreys hurt Barral, who had to leave the two
finales he would dispute. “My strategy was to bring Barral
for the guard and try to be offensive. Rômulo’s guard
was very hard to brake”, commented the new champion, who
revenged his defeat on World 2009’s finale.
BERNARDO
CONFIRMS GOOD PHASE AGAINST XANDE
Xande
Ribeiro was the great favorite on the weight dispute and one
of the names quoted to be favorite on the absolute dispute as
well, but, when he lost on the absolute’s semifinal to Barral,
he started focusing only on the heavy weight dispute. But the
young Bernardo Faria, who was absolute and weight champion on
Pan Am, besides weight champion on Europe and absolute champion
on Brazil, did not came here to play. “This is the best
day of my life… I’ve always dreamed of this day”,
celebrated Bernardo, who cried a lot after his win, conquest
with a sweep on the second half of the fight.
WHO
CAN STOP ROGER GRACIE?
This
is the question everybody’s trying to answer after watching
closely another brilliant and perfect performance of Roger Gracie.
Suffering only four point during the whole championship, Roger
submitted all his opponents on his way to the finale, when he
confronted Ricardo Demente. Just so you can understand Roger’s
sovereignty, he was the only one who made Roger fight the whole
10 minutes, and lost with the scoreboard pointing 13x2 for Gracie.
“There’s no secret… It’s all about dedication,
believing in yourself and have goals”, resumed Roger, who
won his seventh title on the division. Does anybody know who
the favorite is for World 2011?
CAVACA
GO FOR THE FEETS AND REACHES THE TOP
Being
the only black belt who submitted his opponent on the finale,
Rodrigo Cavaca gave a particular show in California. After eliminating
the two-time champion Márcio Pé de Pano with a
triangle, Cavaca went for Antônio Peinado’s foot and
did the same with Roberto Abreu Ciborg and won the title of the
ultraheavy weight division. “I’m feeling great, it
was the only title I didn’t have yet. I fought seven times
and I submit 6 of my opponents, I only lost to Roger (on the
absolute’s dispute)”, celebrates Cavaca, the only guy
who submitted his opponent on male black belt’s finale.
“Of the six fight I submitted, five I did exactly the same
position”.
WOMEN
GAVE A GREAT SHOW IN CALIFORNIA
Each
World women are making improvements and making more exciting
fights. Despite the fact that female’s absolute ended without
a grand finale fight, thanks to the win of the friends Luanna
Alzuguir and Gabi Garcia, the weight disputes brought a lot of
emotion. Champion of the absolute, Luanna had to face her rival
Kyra Gracie on the light’s finale, and Gracie revenged her
defeat on 2009 on the judges’ decision, after the draw.
“I train a lot to get here. She has a great guard, we fought
five times and I knew today was my day. I always want to win
by submission, but World’s level is getting too high”,
celebrates Kyra.
On
the light feather weight, the best performance stay again in
Letícia Ribeiro’s hands, who submitted her first
opponent and beat Sofia Amarante by six points on the finale,
winning the title for the fifth time. Will she come back to try
the sixth title on 2011? “I train hard every day since I
started my Jiu-Jitsu career, so the results come with time”,
said the champion. The feather weight was dominated by Gracie
Barra, but, for the audience’s joy, the final fight happened.
With a sweep, Bianca Barreto beat her friend Fabiana Borges and
got the title.
The
medium weight was dominated by Hillary Willians, who beat Carol
de Lazze on the grand finale. “Oh my Gosh, she’s strong”,
vented the champion after the win. “I fought against her
on World Pro and she’s very tough, I can barely feel my
hands right now. She’s good in everything, but I got it
this time”, celebrates. The feather weight Michelle Nicolini
risked it all and fought on the medium-heavy division on World
2010, and got good results. “It’s not my regular weight,
but I decided to risk and I got it… I’ll call my friends
of Checkmat for a barbecue”, celebrates the black belt,
who beat Penny
Thomas
by 3x2 (vantages) and got the golden medal.
Leaving
the absolute’s title for her friends, the brown belt Gabi
Garcia shone once again on the weight dispute and won the title
after noting down 7 points ahead of her opponent, Katrina Weilbache,
who had beaten Luciana Dias. “I’m feeling great. I
wanted to do a complete work this year, wining weight and absolute
on Pan Am, World and World Pro”, celebrates, wanting more.
“I want to train more and more, there’re lots of hard
opponents out there… I want to go for the third title on
the heavy weight division”, concluded.
World
ended, but the action does not stop for TATAME. Stay tuned to
check the exclusive interviews, photo galleries and to know everything
about the biggest Jiu-Jitsu championship of the world!
Source: Tatame |
Cavaca
subs Cyborg and captures “missing title”
“It
had to be today. It was the only title I was missing, and today
I had seven matches and got the tapout in six of them. I only
lost to Roger (in the absolute),” said the grand champion
of the ultra heavyweight division, Rodrigo Cavaca.
The
giant from CheckMat caught Roberto “Cyborg” Abreu by
the ankle in the final, ending things quickly – the match
and the championship.
In
the female absolute, Luanna took the title. In the men’s,
Rominho left with a slight limp to hand Roger the win.
“I
got hurt when I tried to escape Tarsis’s hold; I just want
the fans to know it wasn’t my fault. Next year I’ll
be back here again,” said Barral.
Source: Gracie Magazine
|
Bernardo
Faria sweeps Xande and takes top spot
Heavyweight
Bernardo Faria showed why he’s known as the cyborg at Alliance
in São Paulo. He has stamina, grit and youth in his favor.
Thus he beat favored-to-win Xande Ribeiro in the final by 2 to
0 with a sweep he worked tirelessly on before finally succeeding
just before eight minutes on the clock.
The
results prove that Fábio Gurgel wasn’t completely
wrong in choosing Bernardo Faria and Tarsis to represent the
team in the absolute: both were crowned world champions, at least
in their respective weight groups…
“This
is the greatest day of my life,” said Bernardo.
Source: Gracie Magazine |
UFC
PLANS RETURN TRIP TO GERMANY
Die UFC ist wieder nach Deutschland kommen.
Translation:
The UFC is coming back to Germany.
After
a successful first show in 2009, it appears the promotion will
be heading back to Germany sooner rather than later. They aren't
backing down from the challenge of the local government that
wants to take the sport off of television there.
Never
one to back down from a potential challenge, UFC president Dana
White was adamant when asked about returning to Germany, and
he says this year is the plan in motion right now.
"We
are doing a show," White said about returning to Germany
in 2010. "One thing we don't do, we don't back down, and
we don't curl up and climb into the closet when things don't
go (our way). We're going to come out, guns a-blazing, and we're
going to keep going."
The
battle lines have been drawn with UFC programming being pulled
from networks in Germany due to the "extent of violence
shown to be unacceptable."
The
UFC has never stepped away from a situation that could be difficult,
and this will be another wall to climb for White along with co-owner
Lorenzo Fertitta, vice president Marc Ratner, and lead counsel
Lawrence Epstein.
White
stands by the fact that the UFC has stood for the sport of mixed
martial arts worldwide, and they will continue to do that in
Germany and other places where they may not be fully welcomed
yet, but they plan to change that.
"Our
job is to build the sport. We're not going to stop," said
White. "Not getting TV isn't going to stop us; we're going
to keep going. We can't get into Ontario; we're opening an office
there. It doesn't bother us."
The
UFC already has plans to travel overseas to England in October
for a live event, but there's no definite timeline for the return
to Germany. Any number of slots, however, could open up for the
promotion to go back.
The
last show in Germany was a rousing success locally and worldwide,
and the UFC plans on planting a flag there for future shows,
as well as more locations in Europe as time moves on.
Source: MMA Weekly |
FRANKLIN
NEW TUF COACH WITH ALL STAR SUPPORT
As “The Ultimate Fighter: Team Liddell vs. Team Ortiz”
winds down, the controversy on the show heats up.
During
the series’ filming, news reports revealed that Tito Ortiz
had to withdraw from a third bout with fellow Season 11 coach
Chuck Liddell and would be replaced at UFC 115 in Vancouver by
another former TUF coach, Rich Franklin.
Wednesday
night’s Episode 10 cleared up the drama surrounding that
situation. An injury to Ortiz’s neck forced him to back
out of the Liddell bout and, eventually, to have surgery performed.
UFC
president Dana White exiled Ortiz from the show following that
decision and not only inserted Franklin into the fight with Liddell,
but also brought him in to take over Ortiz’s spot as coach
for the remainder of the season.
Episode
10 closed with a teaser about one of Franklin’s assistant
coaches being a former UFC champion, but didn’t reveal the
former UFC middleweight champion’s supporting coaches.
The
UFC, oddly enough, in its recap of the episode on Wednesday night,
revealed Franklin’s assistants. Joining him for the final
episodes are former UFC light heavyweight champion and inaugural
“Ultimate Fighter” winner Forrest Griffin, as well
as lightweight contenders Gray Maynard and Tyson Griffin, according
to UFC.com.
The
series is down to its final two weeks with semi-final bouts pitting
Court McGee against Brad Tavares in one bracket and Kris McCray
vs. Josh Bryant in the other. Franklin and his assistants will
lead McCray, the only remaining member from Team Ortiz, into
his semi-final bout.
Franklin
squares off with Liddell on June 12 at UFC 115 in Vancouver.
Source: MMA Weekly |
ULTIMATE
FIGHTER 11 RATINGS REMAIN CONSTANT
Wednesday’s Episode 10 of “The Ultimate Fighter”
held steady in the ratings game, drawing 1.5 million viewers,
as did last week’s Episode 9.
That
number is slightly below the season’s average draw of 1.66
million viewers per episode.
Episode
10 revealed Tito Ortiz’s neck injury, which he eventually
had surgery to repair, and subsequent exodus from the Chuck Liddell
fight and firing as a coach on the show. UFC president Dana White
told Ortiz he could no longer coach on the show after backing
out of the Liddell fight and inserted past coach Rich Franklin
in his place.
Season
11 kicked off with an opening week episode drawing 1.9 million
viewers and peaked in week four with 2.0 million viewers.
Source: MMA Weekly |
RING
OF COMBAT VET RICARDO ROMERO TO UFC
Ring of Combat veteran Ricardo Romero has signed a four-fight
deal with the UFC, and will likely see action sometime this summer.
The
announcement was made by Romero's new coach, Mike Constantino
of AMA Fight Club, on Thursday.
With
a 10-1 record, Romero brings a successful string of victories
to the UFC where he is expected to compete in the light heavyweight
division. Having fought exclusively in Ring of Combat in New
Jersey prior to this signing, Romero has faced some tough competition
in his past and holds a win over current UFC heavyweight James
McSweeney.
“This
is a dream come true!" said Romero on Thursday. "I
will fight anyone, it doesn’t matter."
A
purple belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and a former wrestler at Rutgers
University, Romero has the ground skills to back up his stand-up
game which will be polished under the tutelage of Constantino,
along with fellow UFC fighters Jim and Dan Miller, and Charlie
Brenneman.
MMAWeekly.com
will have more information about Romero's debut when it becomes
available.
Source: MMA Weekly |
YAGER
CLEARS UP TWITTER CONTROVERSY WITH TITO
Jamie
Yager may have had a rough night on Wednesday watching his elimination
from “The Ultimate Fighter" Season 11, but nothing
like the storm of controversy he was hit with first thing Thursday
morning.
An
account on Twitter that was said to be Jamie Yager’s went
on a hate filled tirade aimed at Tito Ortiz, and several media
outlets picked up on the back and forth, reporting the heated
exchange between the former coach and fighter. The only problem,
Yager says it wasn’t him.
"Basically,
I woke up today about like 9 o'clock west coast time, and my
phone's blowing up like 'dude, what's going on? What's up with
you and Tito?’" he told MMAWeekly Radio on Thursday
night.
As
the confusion washed over him, Yager hit the Internet and saw
the barrage of messages and media outlets reporting on his "feud"
with Tito Ortiz. Blindsided by the whole incident, Yager immediately
alerted everyone involved that while he does have his own Twitter
account (www.twitter.com/jamieyager) the person posing as him
posting the messages was an imposter.
Yager
talked about the imposter, and when looking at the timelines
between the posts and his real Twitter posts, it was obviously
a fake.
"Come
to find out there's a Yager imposter out there on Twitter, and
I guess he's been hitting up a lot of people like telling people
when I'm training, where I'm to and from, and the times aren't
even accurate. He'd say I'm training at Huntington Beach when
I was out in D.C. with (Kris) McCray a couple weeks ago, and
the timelines aren't even matching up with where I'm actually
at," said Yager.
"I'm
never on the computer that much, so it's crazy to see that there's
people out there doing that (expletive)."
The
fighters on “The Ultimate Fighter" are generally given
advanced copies of the show to watch, and Yager says he saw the
episode prior to its airing on Wednesday and had already had
a conversation with Ortiz about his comments on the show. Yager
and Ortiz spoke last week prior to the UFC Fan Expo, where Yager
signed autographs at Ortiz's Punishment Athletics booth.
"Anybody
who watches the show would know that I'm one to speak my mind.
If I've got something to say to you, I'll say it," Yager
stated. "If I feel like telling you to (expletive) off,
I'll tell you to (expletive) off. If you did a great job, I'll
tell you, you did a great job. I'll speak my mind. I don't need
to hop on the Internet, start trash talking on people to get
my point across.
"I
called up on it immediately, you can ask Tito. I called up on
it immediately and we had a conversation over the phone, and
talked about it, and anybody who was at the fan expo would have
seen me signing with Tito Ortiz at his booth."
Yager
admits that because of the Twitter controversy he reached out
to Ortiz, who has yet to return his calls, but he considers the
matter done at this point. “The Ultimate Fighter" competitor
says he and Ortiz hashed this out last week, and that's the end
of the story for him.
"I
actually hit Tito up, I shot him a text and told him to call
me. He hasn't called me, and I'll leave it at that. I've already
talked to Tito about this issue, and what was going on and if
he wants to give me a call he can, and if not I understand. I
was just signing at a booth with him. Anything I had to say to
him I could have said to his face, and I did say to his face.
"I
saw the episode before it aired and when Tito called me up to
go sign with him at his booth. I told him, 'Tito you want this
(expletive) to sign with you? Do you want to sit down next to
this (expletive) and sign autographs? Is that what you want to
do Tito?' and all he did was laugh it off because he said 'you
know what Yager, I just care about you a lot, and I want to see
you do well, and sorry for venting the way I did' and I just
left it at that. I don't need a huge apology."
Putting
the issue behind him now, Yager is ready to move on to bigger
and better things. He hopes to fight again soon to wash away
the memory of leaving in an ambulance instead of having his hand
raised. There has been no word if Yager will compete on the upcoming
"Ultimate Fighter" finale show on June 19.
Source: MMA Weekly |
X-1:
Nations Collide Results
Blaisdell Arena, Honolulu, Hawaii
June 4, 2010
X-1: Nations Collide
Blaisdell Arena, Honolulu, Hawaii
June 4, 2010
By Chris Onzuka - Chris@Onzuka.com
X-1
returned to the Blaisdell with a card stacked with talent and
looked to crown a Bantamweight champion, set the path to a Light
Heavyweight champion and have the Welterweight champion defend
his title. Promoter Mike Miller brought in fighters from all
over the planet to participate in the tournament and test the
local fighters. Judo Gold Medalist Satoshi Ishii was disqualified
due to an exchange after the end of the first round. Tynanes
went down and the bell signaling the end of the first round but
that did not stop Ishii from unloading on Tynanes. After allowing
time to recover, Tynanes could not continue due to the illegal
strikes, so Ishii was disqualified. Tynanes told the crowd that
he would welcome a rematch. The match was set as an exhibition,
so Ishii's record would not be affected. X-1 Women's champ Raquel
Paaluhi took on a game and durable opponent in Jenny Trujilio.
Paaluhi landed good punching combinations causing Trujilio to
attempt to take her down. However Paaluhi ended up taking Trujilio
down and pounding her from the top. Trujilio came back in the
second round and landed some good strikes, but Paaluhi's wrestling
allowed her to regain the top and punish her. Trujilio had Paaluhi
in trouble after rocking her with an up kick and almost locking
in a Kimura variation. Paaluhi stayed calm, worked through the
bad position, and once again gained the mount and ended the fight
like the other rounds pounding on Trujilio. Another top contender
from Hawaii, Ricky "Hoku" Wallace showed that he is
still a top contender by KOing his Japanese opponent with a vicious
right hand. Russell Doane had a war with Riley Dutro. Both fighters
exchanged dominant position throughout and it was a tight fight
until Doane landed a solid punch that sent Dutro to the canvas.
Doane would not let Dutro recover and finished him to capture
the X-1 State Bantamweight title. Doane, now the World Bantamweight
champion is in line to challenge the current X-1 World Champ
in September.
This
all led to the Light Heavyweight tournament with fighters from
many different countries which made for interesting stylistic
match ups. The Light Heavyweight tournament featured fighters
from Russia, Korea and the US. Russia's Vitaly Shemetov impressed
everyone with lighting fast kicks and quick punching combinations.
Schemetov took out the veteran Shungo Oyama easily. Roy Boughton
showed off his superior grappling by sinking in a guillotine
on a tough Adam Akau. Local boy, Poai Suganuma pounded on a seemingly
indestructible Greg Schmidt for the better of three rounds, but
Schmidt kept coming back for more. And finally Sang Soo Lee showed
that he possesses KO power by rocking Daniel Madrid with a left
hook and then cleaning knocking him out with the next punch.
These four fighters made it to the second round of the tournament
which will be held on September 11th.
The
main event pitted current champ, Brandon Wolff against number
one contender, Dylan Clay. Clay has been tearing up the Hawaii
circuit for the last few years and has gained more experience
in the M-1 tournament series. This experienced paid off as Clay
stalked Wolff, while Wolff stayed on his bicycle and used a lot
of movement and landed some bombs. Clay took Wolff's best punches
and kept coming, wearing down Wolff. There was one point in the
fight where Wolff got poked in the eye, but being the warrior
he is, he shook it off and continued fighting. Clay punished
Wolff in the clinch and when Wolff was backed up against the
cage. Clay finally chipped away at Wolff's armor in the third
round when numerous body blows and a knee to the head sent Wolff
to the canvas. Clay locked in a tight arm lock that somehow Wolff
escaped. Clay then transitioned to a Kimura key lock and was
able to finish Wolff and earn the welterweight title.
135
lbs.
Van Shiroma def. Dwayne Haney (Bulls Pen)
Submission via rear naked choke at 1:40 in Round 1.
145
lbs.
Brensen Hansen (Team MMAD) def. Wayland Crenio (Hawaii International
MMA)
Unanimous decision after 3 rounds.
Exhibition:
HWY
Myles Tynanas def. Satoshi Ishii (Japan)
Disqualification due to Ishii's strikes after the end of Round
1.
HWY
Alex Stephenson (Team Xtreme) def. Bubba Paaluhi (Hakuilua)
TKO due to strikes at 2:07 in Round 1.
135
lbs.
Timothy Meeks (Hawaii International MMA) def. Jesse Thorton
Submission via guillotine at 0:30 in Round 1.
135
lbs. X-1 Women's Champion
Raquel Paaluhi (Hakuilua) def. Jenny Trujilio (Northern Cal Fight
Factory, San Jose, CA)
Unanimous decision after 3 rounds.
145
lbs.
Ricky "Hoku" Wallace (HMC) def. Toru Harai (Japan)
KO at 1:11 in Round 1.
145
lbs.
Dustin Kimura (Gracie Technics/Jesus Salud Boxing) def. Spencer
Higa (Hawaii International MMA)
Submission via guillotine at 0:57 in Round 2.
Pro
MMA 145 lbs.
Alvin Cacdac (Nor-Cal Fight Factory) def. Justin Mercado (Team
MMAD)
TKO via Referee stoppage due to strikes at 1:03 in Round 2.
Bantamweight
(135 lbs.) State Championship match:
Russell Doane (808 Top Team) def. Riley Dutro (I&I)
TKO due to Referee stoppage due to strikes at in Round 2
Doane becomes the X-1 Bantamweight State Champ and X-1 World
Bantamweight #1 Contender.
Co-Main
Event: 8-Man Tournament for the Light Heavyweight Title
Bracket A:
Vitaly Shemetov (Russia) def. Shungo Oyama (Team Oyama, Japan)
Knock out at 1:31 in Round 1.
Roy
Boughton (Cesar Gracie Stockton) def. Adam Akau (I&I)
Submission via guillotine choke at 2:57 in Round 1.
Bracket
B:
Poai Suganuma (BJ Penn) def. Greg Schmitt (Strike MMA, California)
Unanimous decision after 3 rounds.
Sang
Soo Lee (S. Korea) def. Daniel Madrid (Arizona)
Knock out at 3:06 in Round 2.
Main
Event:
X-1 World Welterweight Title
Dylan Clay (Durango Martial Arts) def. Brandon Wolff (Team MMAD)
Submission via Kimura arm lock at 4:06 in Round 3.
Clay becomes the new X-1 World Welterweight Champion.
|
2010
Hawaii State Open Boxing Championship
Our 2010 Hawaii State Open Boxing Championship will be held on
friday, June 4 (7:30p.m), sat. the 5th (6:30 p.m.), and Finals
Sunday the June 6th (1 p.m.) at the Evolution Training Center
in the Waipio Industrial Court room #110. The 4th will be non-tournament
bouts Admission will be $12 for friday and saturday, and $15
for finals on sunday. Boxers from Oahu, Maui, Kauai, Big Island
and maybe Molokai coming to compete.
Winners of Championship bouts advance to the 2010 USA National
Boxing Championships at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado
Springs, CO. on July 10 - 18. Top 4 boxers earn a berth on the
U.S.A. National Team and the top 2 will go on the USA-Boxing
payroll for 12 months.
If you have any questions email me back or call at 542-1181.
Thanks Always for the Support and Take Care,
Bruce Kawano
Interim Manager Amateur Boxing of Hawaii
Boxing Commissioner - Hawaii State Boxing Commission
Ringside Board of Advisors
NMU Task Force Appointed Member |
Destiny:
Fury
Blaisdell Center, Honolulu, Hawaii
June 12, 2010
Main Event:
-170lbs
(title match)
Johnavan Vistante (Team SYD) vs Kainoa Walther(Deamon MMA, Hilo)
-185lbs
(title match)
Danny Lopez (Bulls Pen) vs Gino Venti (808 FF)
-125lbs
(title match)
Jamin Tayaba (ICG) vs Keenin Colehan (Deamon MMA, Hilo)
-135lbs
Zach Close (Boars Nest) vs Jireh Torres-Umi (Molokai)
-155lbs
Sebastion Mariconda (HMC) vs Tyrone Oniel (Pain Train)
-170lbs
Daniel Manibusan (Team Villain) vs Nathan Harris (Molokai)
-175lbs
Micah Ige (Team Villain) vs Brennan Kamaka (Untamed Bloodline)
-Heavyweights
Jake Huen (UFS) vs DJ Poti (freelance)
-145lbs
Landon Yoshimura (HMC) vs Kiley Tanioka (Freelance)
-135lbs
Daniel Asuncion (Bulls Pen) vs Jahsiah Bales (Team Mixed Plate)
-145lbs
Jason Racamara (UCS) vs Mikela Texeira Jr.(All Nu)
-125lbs
Lawrence Lucius (Team Villain) vs Charlie Reyes (Equal Knockz)
-135lbs
Gabby Rodrigues (Bulls Pen) vs Kupono Debebar (freelance)
-165lbs
David Carter (Team Villain) vs Eddie Manu (High Intensity)
-125lbs
Alika Kumukoa (UCS) vs Jacob Rodrigues (High Intensity)
-145lbs
(female match)
Jessie Moniz (Bulls Pen) vs Stella Texeira (All Nu)
-135lbs
AJ Pang (HMC) vs Butch Anderson (High Intensity)
-145lbs
David Lacanaria (Team Villain) vs Wesley Nakano (Team Mixed Plate)
-140lbs
Josh Kolii (C-Side Soljahz) vs Joey Balai (Team Makaha)
-140lbs
(pankration)
Jonah Vistante (Team SYD) vs TBA
Fight Card subject to change.
Source: Event Promoter
|
3rd
Annual Pacific Submission Championships
June 11th
& 12th (Friday & Saturday)
Blaisdell Exhibition Hall
MMA Hawaii Expo
People
have been asking so we've locked in the dates. It will be during
the MMA Hawaii Expo (this expo is not the same as the past 2
years - MMA Hawaii is producing this event).
Registration
will soon be available online at www.grapplingtournaments.com
This
is a 2-day tournament with Gi and No-Gi divisions for kids, teens,
women, and men. We don't feed brackets but will try our best
to accommodate schools so students from the same academy are
not matched in the first round. Due to the kids, this is inevitable
and we will try our best to make sure the kids receive equal
opportunities.
Registration:
Kids (7-12) - $40/$70 (Gi & No-Gi)
Teens (13-14/15-17)- $50/70 (Gi & No-Gi)
Adults (18+) - $50/70 (Gi & No-Gi)
Any
questions please check out:
www.grapplingtournaments.com
or
email: info@pjjf.net
Source: Event Promoter
|
LEGACY
COMBAT MMA
Blaisdell Exhibition Hall, Honolulu, Hawaii
Friday, June 11, 2010
Amature
MMA
-Heavyweight
Eric Edwards vs Henri Berger
Sasae
Paogofie (Outkast) vs Tafa Samuela
Joe Noa (ALL NU) vs Kevin Herzog (MIXED PLATE)
Kahale DeLima vs TBA
-205
lbs
Christian Dayondon (ALL NU) vs Jude Kapua (Freelance)
Vincent Alama (Inner Circle) vs Ulaita Tyrell (Family Affair)
-190
lbs
Makana Vertido (God's Army) vs Anthony Lisett
-185
lbs
Tyrone Stovall (ALL NU) vs Herman Kalani (S.I.N)
-
175 lbs
Brandon Naleieha (Kurupt Ambitionz) vs Chad Puha (Family Affair)
-170
lbs
Miller Ualesi (UpNUp) vs Prey “Cracks” Kealoha (ALL
NU)
Raymond Gamurot (Freelance) vs Kyle Williams (MarineOne)
-155
lbs
Ben “Da King” Santiago (God's Army) vs Peter “Punisher”
DelaCruz (ALL NU)
Shaison “Ruthless” Laupola (God’s Army) vs Bryson
“Bulldozer” Okada (Freelance)
Andreb Acosta (Legacy) vs Joseph Enaena (All NU)
Justin Burgess (God’s Army) vs Benjamin Wilhelm (Freelance)
Arnold Ramos (UpNUp) vs Matthew Randles (Kurupt Ambitionz)
Albert Gallano (OSB) vs Fatu Tuitasi (808 FightFactory)
Colin “Intensity” Mackenzie (God’s Army) vs Bryce
Ganaban (Freelance)
-135
lbs
Jordan Fontes (Inner Circle) vs Sean Brooks (Legacy)
-120
lbs
Kailan Curran vs TBA
Pankration
Jaymin Tayaba (Inner Circle) vs TBA 125 lbs
Jan Quimayog (Inner Circle) vs Wesley Mossman (UpNUp) 135 lbs
Stephen Mandeville (Kurupt Ambitionz) vs Peter Vierra (Legacy)
155 lbs
Fight
Card subject to change.
Source: Event Promoter
|
KRAZY
HORSE OUT; NOONS VS HEUN IN LOS ANGELES
by Damon Martin
Krazy Horse will apparently have to ride another day, and K.J.
Noons will wait on revenge.
A
change has been made to the upcoming fight for the last ever
EliteXC lightweight champion as K.J. Noons is now set to face
off against Conor Heun in Los Angeles on June 16 as a part of
Strikeforce on Showtime. Charles Bennett, Noons' original opponent,
was forced to withdraw for unknown reasons.
Sources
close to the fight confirmed the news to MMAWeekly.com on Wednesday.
Heun
steps into the bout on just two weeks notice after being away
from the fight game for the past year. The Eddie Bravo trained
fighter last fought in June 2009 in a loss to former UFC lightweight
Jorge Gurgel.
There
was no official word as to why Charles "Krazy Horse"
Bennett had to withdraw from the fight, but the show must go
on and it will go on a little earlier than the originally scheduled
bout as well.
The
fight between Noons and Heun will now take place on the June
16 card in Los Angeles as opposed to the original date for the
fight with Bennett on June 26 in San Jose, Calif.
The
bout will remain on the night's main televised card set for Showtime,
which features a main event pitting Robbie Lawler against Renato
"Babalu" Sobral in a catchweight fight.
MMAWeekly.com
will have more information on this show as it becomes available.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
UFC
115 – 6/12 Vancouver, British Columbia (GM Place)
By Zach
Arnold
Dark
matches
¦Welterweights:
Mike Pyle vs. Jesse Lennox
¦Welterweights: Ricardo Funch vs. Claude Patrick
¦Welterweights: James Wilks vs. Peter Sobotta
¦Middleweights: David Loiseau vs. Mario Miranda
Spike TV matches
¦Lightweights:
Tyson Griffin vs. Evan Dunham
¦Lightweights: Mac Danzig vs. Matt Wiman
Main card
¦Welterweights:
Carlos Condit vs. Rory MacDonald
¦Heavyweights: Ben Rothwell vs. Gilbert Yvel
¦Welterweights: Paulo Thiago vs. Martin Kampmann
¦Heavyweights: Mirko Cro Cop vs. Pat Barry
¦Light Heavyweights: Chuck Liddell vs. Rich Franklin
Source: Fight Opinion
|
Fistic
Medicine: Examining a Knee Injury
by Matt
Pitt
The
human knee is beautifully designed for the majority of what man
has asked of it in the last 500,000 years. The simple structure
is near ideal for following the perambulations of migrating antelope
or fleeing predation from the alpha predators primitive man evolved
among. However, as Jared Hess demonstrated in his bout with Alexander
Shlemenko last Thursday at Bellator 20, the dynamics of an MMA
fight can far exceed what nature designed the knee to endure.
The
knee joint is composed of the long bone of the femur resting
on the relatively flat plateau of the tibia (the primary bone
of the lower leg). The femoral condyles transmit the weight of
the body to the smooth, cartilage-covered menisci of the tibia.
The patella, or kneecap, is not truly a component of the joint.
The joint is bound tightly together by four ligaments, which
are small bands of dense connective tissue. Within the deep notch
of the femur, “crossing” from anterior to posterior,
and vice versa, run the anterior and posterior cruciate ligaments.
To
either side of the joint, providing stability against forces
applied to the sides of the knee, are the medial and lateral
collateral ligaments. It was one of these, the LCL, that Hess
felt give way in the first takedown of the first round, well
before anyone but the fighter and the referee noticed anything
amiss.
“It
popped,” said Hess, who fought on an injured left knee for
more than 10 minutes. “My knee was done. It wasn’t
hurting. I just had no support. I couldn’t push off on it.”
His
corner gave him pragmatic advice: take the fight to the ground
and keep it there. That worked for the better part of two dominant
rounds, until early in the third when Shlemenko got to his feet
and got separation.
Public
Domain. Click to Enlarge.Hess dove for a takedown, trying to
protect his knee from a protracted standup battle. At the same
instant, Shlemenko threw a left knee. Video of the instant of
contact shows Hess’ left leg bearing a portion of his weight,
his left hip externally rotated, the left foot planted flat.
As Hess shifts his body to avoid the knee, the flexed left leg
takes on additional weight, as well as the force of Shlemenko’s
mass and momentum an instant later. The long femur acts as a
lever, with the medial condyle serving as the fulcrum. Resisting
this force, isolated by the position of the leg and angle of
the knee, the already injured LCL exceeds its tolerances. The
knee, already bowed slightly out, buckles and the leg collapses
inward and under the falling fighter. It all occurs in a fraction
of a second.
It
is probable that this is the exact moment the already injured
ligament completely tore. The fact that Hess was able to continue
to fight for an additional 77 seconds is remarkable, but not
inconceivable; with three of its four ligaments intact, the knee
maintains basic anatomic stability. However, as Hess continued
to fight, the remaining ligaments -- possibly also injured in
the collapse -- were enduring forces for which they were not
designed.
When
the fight was finally stopped, the first thing the doctor did
was bend the knee and pull the tibia forward -- an Anterior Drawer
test, checking the competence of the ACL. The leg moved more
than it should. The fight was over. Potentially a career as well.
After
being evaluated by ER doctors, Hess learned that in addition
to a ruptured LCL -- which he had known was shot -- he had a
meniscus tear and ligamentous laxity. It could have been worse:
Although knee dislocations are rare with isolated LCL tears --
particularly low energy dislocations -- they do occur. If the
tibia is disarticulated and driven back into the popliteal artery,
severe vascular compromise and even loss of the limb can occur.
If the tibia moves laterally and tears the nerves that cross
the joint, incapacitating foot drop can occur. Hess’ work-up
showed no sign of such injuries.
Currently
Hess is waiting to meet with his regular orthopedic surgeon to
plan a course of treatment. In this respect he is the beneficiary
of the long, broad road paved by football players and their doctors.
When a runner is low-tackled from the side, the disruptive forces
blow apart the medical collateral ligament (MCL), and often the
ACL and meniscus: the "unhappy triad."
The
technology developed to repair these injuries is directly applicable
to Hess’ damaged knee. Surgery, ideally arthroscopic, is
needed for total disruption of the ligament. In the simplest
case, the damaged ligament can be sutured back together, or sewn
or stapled back into place on the bone from whence it was torn.
In more severe cases, the entire ligament needs to be replaced,
either with an autograft, perhaps using a portion of Hess’
own hamstring tendon, or a cadaver allograft. Recovery is long
but has a high likelihood of being virtually complete.
For
many of us, watching and re-watching Hess’ injury, the most
amazing aspect of the entire event is not the failing of the
athlete’s knee but the success of the warrior’s mind.
Fighting and winning the better part of three rounds on an injured
knee, succumbing only when simply walking becomes impossible,
is a feat as impressive as any knockout of the night. It demonstrates
-- beyond strength of bone and muscle -- what truly separates
elite athletes from all others.
Source: Sherdog
|
Ric
Flair comments on MMA
By Jake Rossen/Sherdog.com
I have an odd preoccupation with people in the professional wrestling
industry commenting on MMA. Probably because I don't get pro
wrestling on any level other than the human drama that plays
out behind the scenes, and probably in part because I resent
the idea that wrestling birthed mixed martial arts on a global
scale. That may have been the trajectory in Japan, but in the
States, it was real (and often boring) wrestling exhibitions
that preceded choreographed matches. And I seriously doubt the
Vale Tudo matches of Brazil or the Gracies were in any way influenced
by men faking crotch shots. Give me that, at least.
Ric
Flair is the latest to offer an opinion on real fighting, and
it was not a ringing endorsement: Speaking with UK's Mirror,
Flair said he enjoyed the sport but that its fans "got nothing
going on for themselves."
"I
actually think most of the male public that is crazy for that
are living vicariously for something they can never be,"
he said. "Wrestling is more entertainment-based. MMA is
what it is, those guys are out there trying to kill each other.
And the guys that are sitting at home going 'wow' could never
find that within themselves on the first day of their life."
I
do not want to paint professional wrestling's fans with too broad
a brush, but looking at some of the crowds assembled for events
-- and having attended several myself in my ill-advised youth
-- there seem to be few of them that delayed discovery of uranium
to attend. I would also offer that MMA has a disproportionate
number of fans who actually participate in activities resembling
the sport on a competitive level, even if it's only amateur grappling.
But
let's say they're all loafs; so what? Isn't the point of sport
to admire the physical abilities of those who can perform in
ways we can't?
Flair
seems like a swell guy. Maybe he just needs to have a chat with
Spencer Fisher.
Source: ESPN
|
Louisville
Confirmed for Middleweight / Featherweight June 24th Finals
By FCF
Staff
Bellator
Fighting Championship has confirmed that the Fourth Street Live
Entertainment District in Louisville, Kentucky, will be the location
for the promotion’s upcoming June 24th, middleweight and
featherweight tournament finals. The card will be broadcast live
on Fox Sports Net.
“If
you’ve ever been to Fourth Street Live, I think you can
envision what a spectacular and exciting event this is going
to be,” Bellator founder and CEO Bjorn Rebney was quoted
saying in a press release from the promotion. “We are extremely
proud to be partnering with The Cordish Company to bring the
Bellator brand of MMA to Louisville and the hundreds of thousands
of MMA fans in the Greater Louisville area.”
In
the finals of Bellator’s second season, featherweight tournament,
Joe Warren will face Patricio “Pitbull” Freire. Warren
(4-1) put together Unanimous Decision victories over John Eric
Marriot and Georgi Karakhanyan to earn his place in the finals,
while Freire (14-0) tapped out Will Romero and earned a UD victory
over Wilson Reis.
The
middleweight final will see Bryan "The Beast" Baker
(13-1) take on Alexander Shlemenko (29-4). Baker won his first
bout in the tournament by stopping Sean Loeffler, and more recently,
the middleweight tapped out Eric Schambari with a first round
triangle-choke. Shlemenko earned a UD win over Matt Major in
the tourney’s opening round, and in the semi-finals, he
was awarded the TKO victory over Jared Hess.
The
winners of the second season will move on to face either Bellator
featherweight champion Joe Soto, or middleweight champ, Hector
Lombard.
Source: Full Contact Fighter
|
Belfort:
Out of Place?
By Jake Rossen
Wednesday, June 2 6:21 am PT: Finally ready to return after an
injury kept him from an April fight against Anderson Silva, Vitor
Belfort seems to be expecting a title shot will still be on the
table when he returns in October. Unfortunately, unless the UFC
wants to shelve him indefinitely, that doesn’t seem like
the most logical course of action.
Silva
fights Chael Sonnen in August: assuming the winner is injury-free,
it’s doubtful either man would take a compressed training
camp. (Sonnen probably would, but cooler heads should prevail.)
That means Belfort is probably looking at a contender’s
fight in the fall, which would hardly be unreasonable: while
he had two nice wins outside of the UFC’s middleweight division,
one win over Rich Franklin inside the UFC is a generous path
to the belt.
Rematching
Wanderlei Silva -- Belfort blitzed him 12 years ago -- is long,
long overdue, but Silva seems to be enjoying a biannual fight
schedule; Alan Belcher would be less engaging, but so long as
Belfort fights, so much the better. Fighters make better athletes
than they do doorstops.
Source: Sherdog
|
Talk
Radio: What financial responsibility does Zuffa have to take
care of former stars who helped build the company?
By Zach
Arnold
From
Sherdog radio yesterday, the background to set this up is simple.
Jens Pulver still wants to fight, Zuffa doesn’t want him
to, so instead of giving him a commentating job he’s gone.
Pulver keeps saying he wants to fight despite retirement proclamations
several times repeated on house microphones.
The
discussion here takes a turn from Pulver to Stephan Bonnar, who
looks incredibly awkward on MMA Live and TV appearances. It transitions
into why Bonnar still has a job while other veterans who helped
Zuffa out may not be getting paid gigs like Bonnar is.
LOFTI
SARIAHMED: “There isn’t an obligation or the UFC is
under no obligation to give each one of their former stars a
nice landing spot. I mean, they want to, sure it’d be nice,
but they’re under no obligation to do it.”
TJ
DE SANTIS: “If you’re going to do it for one guy and
not the other, you’re going to have discussion from the
media, from the fans of why one person gets the treatment and
another one doesn’t. You know, I mean… I know what
Stephan Bonnar has done for Mixed Martial Arts, I know Stephan
Bonnar and Forrest Griffin have done with their fight but really,
I mean…”
LOFTI
SARIAHMED: “Is that a fair comparison to make, though?”
TJ
DE SANTIS: “Yeah, it is the comparison to make because Stephan
Bonnar, athletically, has no place in the UFC right now. No place
whatsoever.”
LOFTI
SARIAHMED: “No, in other words though, I don’t think
Bonnar has gotten any more than maybe a couple gigs, I mean a
couple spots. I think Florian’s the guy who has been front
and center a bunch more times compared to anybody else I think
because of his success before on a couple of UFC PPVs, because
of what he does on MMA Live, they just kind of want to go with
what works.”
JACK
ENCARNACAO: “Yeah, the man has a communications degree,
you know, he’s got the background. He can point to studies
you know as opposed to just you know being a decent sound bite.
I mean Stephan Bonnar got assigned to the Dana White look-alike
contest this past Saturday, I mean you know it’s not like
they’re going to make him the next Mike Goldberg.”
TJ
DE SANTIS: “That’s true, but I’m just saying,
you know, I don’t know. I just think there are better guys
for that, you know, here have some free money because we like
you job than Stephan Bonnar.”
JACK
ENCARNACAO: “To Lotfi’s point, totally correct. Of
course you know they’re not obligated although it would
be nice to create a landing pad, but around certain fighters
that conversation develops. You know if you didn’t want
to give the impression that was something you’re interested
in, you don’t give Jens Pulver a chance to do commentary
or you don’t bring it up in a lot of interviews you know
that, look his days are over as a fighter but we’d love
to keep him around. That’s the thing. With particular fighters
like Jens Pulver, that was the discussion. That was a direction
that was being proposed by the promotion. It wasn’t one
that being imposed on the promotion by fans or media. It was
one the promotion was saying they were prepared to do. Something
they were prepared, an accommodation they were prepared to make
and then when it just doesn’t happen as soon as they announce
that it would, there’s more to it. Period.”
TJ
DE SANTIS: “You’re right, Jack, I think maybe there’s
more to this story and we’ll see what happens with Jens
going forward but as now he did get his walking papers from the
WEC, which I mean… in a way, not that shocking. Sort of
shocked that he’s not in the booth, right away.”
Source: Fight Opinion
|
Could
MMA hinder Roger at the Worlds?
by Deb
Blyth
On May 15th, Roger Gracie submitted Kevin Randleman at Strikeforce
“Heavy Artillery” in Missouri, but he refocused his
mind on the upcoming World Jiu Jitsu Championship in California.
Gracie headed straight back to his academy in England, where
he started to train hard for the most important Jiu-Jitsu event
of the year. Now, he’s ready for the challenge.
Gracie says there’s a noticeable difference, mentally and
physically, in the type of training he has to do for Jiu-Jitsu
vs. MMA, and that it can be difficult to compete in a Jiu-Jitsu
tournament right after an MMA fight. Gracie says, “I have
to be really focused when I’m training MMA because I’m
not training with my gi. Now my whole focus goes back to gi training.
To fight one right after the other takes a lot of adaptation.
I have to work on my grips and my strength for gi fighting.”
But
Gracie is not concerned about the time he has left to adapt back
to Jiu-Jitsu from MMA, “I had enough time to train before
the Worlds,” he says, “My conditioning was already
really good.” Gracie says that MMA is more tiring than Jiu-Jitsu
because it’s more explosive and a faster game. “You
have to move a lot more,” he says, “In Jiu-Jitsu your
body doesn’t have to move as much. Of course, a Jiu-Jitsu
match can be really tiring if you go really fast.”
“Going
really fast” is not necessarily Gracie’s style. When
you watch him fight in any genre of competition, there is a common
theme that runs through all of them. Whether you are watching
him skillfully dominating on the mats in Jiu-Jitsu or moving
lithely around the cage of an MMA fight, there is always something
that separates him from the pack. It’s something that is
not only a part of his true nature, but also something he’s
developed over the years that he feels is essential to his success
so far, and that is: patience.
“In my opinion, patience is a fundamental that every fighter
should have in order to be good,” he says, “You have
to be patient. If you’re not, and your nerves show, you
make lots of mistakes. He who loses his concentration has a big
chance of losing the fight.” Gracie says he’s not a
“nervous or agitated” person. “I am naturally
calm,” he says, “My personality helps, but I’ve
also been fighting for so many years. I think that competing
a lot helps me.”
Gracie
says he has to work a little harder at staying as calm in MMA
as he is in Jiu-Jitsu because he’s usually competing in
Jiu-Jitsu wearing a gi, and “That’s my game,”
he says. “In MMA your opponent can strike you in all sorts
of ways. It’s not natural for me; it’s much harder.”
Gracie says the pace in MMA and Jiu-Jitsu is also very different.
“With Jiu-Jitsu you can take your time,” he says, “You
can wait and see which way the fight goes. In MMA, you can be
punched and kicked. Your have to have much greater concentration.”
Another
fundamental important to Gracie is his game plan. Even if someone
is scoring points on Gracie during a Jiu-Jitsu match, he manages
to stay calm, follow his game plan, and play it until he succeeds.
Gracie says that he always has a game plan in Jiu-Jitsu, but
that it’s never 100% because things always change. For MMA
he says he has to have even more of one. “MMA is a lot quicker,”
he says, “If you blink, you can get knocked out.” In
his fight against Randleman, Gracie says that for the most part
he was able to follow his game plan. Gracie says “the knee”
(that took Randleman down) was unexpected, but the fight itself
went as planned.
Gracie
is all about family and many of his family members and friends
flew in to support him behind the scenes at the Randleman fight.
Gracie says that having them there changed the environment for
him and helped him stay upbeat and calm. “I definitely feel
much better with them around,” he says, “You can feel
a bit lonely otherwise. They helped distract me in the locker
room and I laughed a lot more. Having them around was good for
my mind before the fight.” One person Gracie clearly loves
having around is his dad, Mauricio. Gracie says that his dad
attends all of his tournaments and fights. “He’s at
every single one. He’s always there. He helps me a lot in
my training, too.
Now with his focus back on Jiu-Jitsu and the upcoming Worlds
competition, Gracie is trying to pack on some pounds to be at
his preferred weight of 205 lbs. “I’m eating as much
as I can,” Gracie laughs. He had to lose about 16 lbs. for
the Randleman fight. “It was like starvation to get there,”
he adds, “I didn’t lose too much strength or explosiveness,
but I prefer to fight at 205. I feel better fighting at that
weight.”
Gracie
says he’s training as much as he can, about two to three
times a day. Gracie’s currently training at GB America in
Irvine. He says training with the other GB black belts will help
prepare him for the Worlds.
Roger
says he feels his greatest opponents this year will be the usual
crowd of stellar athletes. “There’s quite a few guys
who are training hard to get into top shape to fight,” Gracie
says, “Xande’s (Ribeiro) fighting. He’s definitely
a top contender. Romulo Barral – I’ve fought him twice.”
Gracie says the list of competitors is long, but he’s confident
he will win again this year. “It will be a pretty tough
final,” he says, “But my hope is that it’s me
in it!”
Source: Gracie Magazine
|
UFC
WON'T TAMPER, BUT SEES SHIELDS AS DONE DEAL
by Damon
Martin
It doesn't seem to be a question of if, but only a question of
when Jake Shields will become a UFC fighter.
The
current Strikeforce middleweight champion is still in a negotiating
period with his employers that allow them to try and retain his
services, but all signs point to Shields leaving the promotion
and signing with the UFC very soon.
UFC
president Dana White has made no secret of his desire to land
Shields.
"Here's
the reality, I can't talk to him while he's under contract. We
don't play like that, we don't do that," said White.
"I
don't think it's rocket science, everybody knows he doesn't want
to be with them anymore. They suck and we don't and he's coming
here."
Just
weeks ago before the Strikeforce show in St. Louis, rumors abounded
that the promotion had actually planned on releasing Shields
under the guise that they were already of the understanding that
he wasn't going to re-sign with them, but the actual release
didn’t happen.
Sources
close to the fighter indicted to MMAWeekly.com that Shields does
indeed intend on signing with the UFC when he's fully clear of
his Strikeforce contract, and plans on competing in the Octagon
as soon as they sign him.
Strikeforce
has maintained that they plan on reaching out to Shields and
his manager to try and work out a new deal, but as of two weeks
ago no contact had been made between the two sides.
If
everything stands true, Jake Shields will soon be a UFC fighter
and Dana White will have added yet another top fighter to his
growing roster of superstars.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
2010
Hawaii State Open Boxing Championship
Our 2010 Hawaii State Open Boxing Championship will be held on
friday, June 4 (7:30p.m), sat. the 5th (6:30 p.m.), and Finals
Sunday the June 6th (1 p.m.) at the Evolution Training Center
in the Waipio Industrial Court room #110. The 4th will be non-tournament
bouts Admission will be $12 for friday and saturday, and $15
for finals on sunday. Boxers from Oahu, Maui, Kauai, Big Island
and maybe Molokai coming to compete.
Winners of Championship bouts advance to the 2010 USA National
Boxing Championships at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado
Springs, CO. on July 10 - 18. Top 4 boxers earn a berth on the
U.S.A. National Team and the top 2 will go on the USA-Boxing
payroll for 12 months.
If you have any questions email me back or call at 542-1181.
Thanks Always for the Support and Take Care,
Bruce Kawano
Interim Manager Amateur Boxing of Hawaii
Boxing Commissioner - Hawaii State Boxing Commission
Ringside Board of Advisors
NMU Task Force Appointed Member
|
Ryan
Ford vs. Brandon Wolff Confirmed for July 17th
By FCF
Staff
Canadian
MMA promotion The Fight Club has confirmed that welterweight
champion Ryan “The Real Deal” Ford will face UFC veteran
Brandon Wolff, at the promotion’s upcoming July 17th event
in Edmonton, Alberta. TFC 11 “Destiny” will be hosted
by the city’s Shaw Conference Center and will be available
by PPV in Canada.
Ford
(12-2) will head into the bout having won 4 straight, since he
lost by Split Decision to Pat Healy at a Maximum Fighting Championship
in February, 2009. Since signing with TFC, Ford has earned victories
over David Mazany, Markhaille Wedderburn, John Walsh and most
recently, former “Ultimate Fighter” competitor Tom
Speer.
Wolff
(7-4) will be looking to end a two fight losing streak, as after
arriving in the UFC with just two losses on his record, the Hawaiian
fighter dropped back-to-back bouts against Yoshiyuki Yoshida
and Ben Saunders. Wolff holds a Split Decision victory over fellow
UFC vet Chad Reiner.
No
other bouts for TFC 11 were announced in the news release.
Source: Full Contact Fighter
|
JENS
PULVER RELEASED FROM WEC AND ZUFFA
by Damon
Martin
He's now a legend looking for a new home.
Jens
Pulver, former UFC lightweight champion and WEC featherweight
competitor, was released from his contract with Zuffa over the
weekend, and will not be retained at this time in any capacity.
The
news was first announced by UFC president Dana White following
UFC 114, and Pulver's agent, Brian Butler from Suckerpunch Entertainment,
confirmed the news to MMAWeekly.com on Wednesday.
The
other news about Pulver's release is that he will not be retained
as a commentator, as many had hoped, for WEC broadcasts. Pulver
has done commentary for several organizations over the years
including the UFC and WEC, but the company's plans took them
in a different direction for their future broadcast team.
The
Idaho native still plans on fighting in the future, but as of
right now has nothing definite in the works. Pulver was 1-5 during
his time with the WEC, and lost five straight bouts before being
released from his contract.
The
fighter was obviously emotional following his last fight in the
WEC, a submission defeat to Javier Vazquez, and retirement talk
loomed at the time, but whether in the WEC or not, Pulver told
MMAWeekly.com he will fight again.
The
commentary duties for the upcoming WEC show in Edmonton will
be turned over to UFC lightweight Kenny Florian, according to
a report on MMAFighting.com. UFC light heavyweight Stephan Bonnar
is also expected to return to the commentating booth again in
the future, as well, although WEC officials say it has yet to
be determined who will hold the position on an permanent basis.
Pulver
will continue to train and work in Idaho at his new gym, while
working towards the next step in his storied MMA career.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Ralek
Gracie: “Sakuraba’s good, but not like my brothers”
by Carlos
Eduardo Ozório
Ralek Gracie didn’t have the easiest of missions in his
third MMA outing. At Dream 14 in Japan, the young fighter faced
an old acquaintance of the family, locking horns with Kazushi
Sakuraba, who has beaten Royler, Renzo, Ryan and Royce in the
past. Still finding his feet in the style, Ralek had an opponent
known as “The Gracie Hunter” in his way, adding to
the weight on his shoulders. Nevertheless, after three rounds,
he secured victory via unanimous decision.
“I’m
really grateful to my crew, my cornermen. Everything went according
to plan. Sakuraba is really tough, strong, but I was in really
good shape and he wore out in the end,” said Ralek in analysis
at the post-event press conference.
“He’s
good on the ground, but not like my brothers. My training partners
got me in great shape to win. He’s tough, has a solid game,
so can train with us,” added the Gracie.
At
one point Sakuraba caused some discomfort with his traditional
kimura lock, which he has used on Renzo and Royler in the past.
“It
seemed like he was close (to finishing), but he wasn’t.
I felt comfortable,” said the fighter, who said he countered
the move just right. Nevertheless, even in victory, Ralek admits
that he faced a great opponent, despite Sakuraba’s advanced
age.
“He
threw some good body shots. I’ve taken some damage around
the eye; he hits hard”
The
Jiu-Jitsu black belt had nothing but good things to say about
the Dream promotion, and remarked that in the future he may drop
weight to fight in the division under his, the 88 kg weight class.
“It
was a great show and everything went smoothly. I enjoyed it a
lot. I’ll probably fight at middleweight in the future,”
he said in finishing.
Source: Gracie Magazine
|
Have
the balls to name names, Dana White.
By Zach
Arnold
So,
the UFC President says that the rankings lists online that you
see from various web sites are influenced by payoffs. And he
made this accusation while appearing on Bill Simmons’ ESPN
podcast:
“Most
of these goofy MMA sites, what you have to understand is, these
guys are in it for the money,” said White. “They get
paid from all the smaller promotions. They get paid a lot of
money from the smaller promotions. So they feel like they have
to put some of their guys. That’s the way it works. It’s
sick and drives me crazy.”
Josh
Gross counters back:
Hey
@DanaWhite, which MMA media are taking payoffs for rankings?
I’d really love to know. Sincerely. They should be shunned.
Proof, please.
No
response, yet.
Here’s
the deal — I get it. It’s a media tweak, Rush Limbaugh-style,
from the most powerful man in MMA. He gets his jollies by doing
this all the time. However, the accusation made is a very loaded
one and is as annoying as listening to a media personality interviewing
a subject with the dreaded “well some people say [insert
loaded allegation here]…” without actually naming anyone
specificly.
So,
Mr. White, name some names. Don’t waste my time if you don’t
have the goods. And if the rankings online are as meaningless
as you think they are, why are you wasting any time caring about
them? Stop being a mark for rankings if you think they’re
corrupt.
Here’s
a constructive idea for you — if you think all these ‘mark
MMA web sites’ are corrupt and are producing corrupt rankings
lists, why doesn’t UFC produce their own rankings lists
on their web site?
(One
answer to that question is because it would give fighters an
idea of how the promotion views their slotting in the company,
thus providing some leverage at the bargaining table. Remember,
I recently transcribed an interview with Eddie Alvarez where
he said that rankings lists only primarily matter in the sense
that it gives his manager an idea of what to ask for money-wise.
Seriously.)
For
the record (and to my knowledge), no one associated with the
Independent World MMA Rankings has taken a payoff. I have never
taken a payoff from a promoter or a fighter in my entire career,
which has spanned a very long time.
The
new Independent World MMA Rankings list comes out on Friday.
From
Jordan Breen’s show yesterday, a caller asked him why the
media accepts Dana White’s statements at face value and
how dangerous Mr. White is because he’s able to package
a kernel of truth into a hyperbolic balloon of rhetoric and not
get challenged on it.
CALLER:
“I don’t know, I just think you know like I said before
like I think it’s a real dangerous precedent that you know
the general media’s setting here with having Dana White,
you know, come and talk on their shows about anything MMA-related.”
JORDAN
BREEN: “I think you just hit on the big one that I kind
of thought that you were going to mention or I thought that was
going to come up in conversation and this goes deeper than just
him trying to make witty sayings. In general, it’s always
a deficiency when someone is kind of smart enough to tease out
a really important fact but then so hyperbolic that they undermine
themselves and make themselves look foolish and that’s what
Dana White often does. Because to listen, for instance, never
mind you know him trying to sort of position the idea that Sherdog
gets paid for the rankings. I would love, by the way, if someone
drove a Brinks truck up to my garbage crib and give me some money
because we wanted to rank Jake Shields or something. Never mind
the fact that, I love that he’s like ‘Oh, you know,
these sites, they’re getting paid to rank these guys’
and he’s talking about our pound-for-pound list… 8
of them are like Zuffa guys and one of them who isn’t he’s
trying to sign. So, what, like you don’t think Jake Shields
is any good? Why do you want him then? Like, what’s your
beef? The two guys that aren’t Zuffa employees on our pound-for-pound
list are Fedor Emelianenko and Jake Shields and he’s made
no bones about the fact that he wants both of them. So, what,
like, he wants them but they’re not really that good and
we need to be paid to recognize their greatness?
“What
I was going to say is… The idea of Fedor Emelianenko,, for
instance, not having fought the greatest competition consistently
in say the last five years, this is true and this is an important
fact and this is something that is worth saying. Yet, the way
in which he says it, ‘Fedor hasn’t fought anyone since
1999!’, like it makes him sound absolutely insane. And I
think that’s the biggest thing that Dana White does wrong.
He does himself a disservice by really, really catering, like
I always say one of the worst things about the new media is that
people become caricatures of themselves. Like they display their
natural personality and the way that people react to it makes
people go, ‘Oh, they like this about me or this is how I’m
supposed to be’ and they magnify already the most amplified
parts of their personality so they become these grotesque, distorted
versions of themselves and Dana White’s no different than
anyone else in that respect. So he gets more and more hyperbolic
as time goes on and it’s unfortunate because a lot of the
stuff he’s saying is true. It is true the kind of the things
he says about Fedor Emelianenko but the way in which he packages
them, the over-the-top way in which he portrays them makes him
sound absolutely insane.”
Source: Fight Opinion
|
Fighting:
A Very Bad Hobby
by Jake Rossen
Pick any piece of media leading up to Saturday’s UFC 114
and you’ll find Quinton Jackson swearing up and down he
was prepared for Rashad Evans. “Best shape of my life,”
he told training partners. (And, conveniently, television cameras.)
The movie-set-fed flab he showed up wearing for training camp
had melted off; he was properly irritated at Evans; he was arguably
the harder puncher and more violent fighter. If you gave it only
passing thought, he might have convinced you that a 14-month
layoff and months out of shape wouldn’t matter.
Of
course it does. Of course it did.
Jackson
had his moments in the fight -- particularly a third-round rally
where he knocked Evans down -- but lacked the fuel to follow
up. Evans darted in and out of danger, used his strikes to set
up his takedowns and generally looked like a fit athlete who
had his head on right.
Jackson’s
biggest issue was one that afflicts a portion of fighters, and
that’s the belief that fighting has an offseason. It’s
okay to indulge in artery-collapsing food and playtime because
they can snap back into shape so quickly. But does anyone stop
to think about what even a few months of carrying around an extra
30 lbs. does to your joints, your heart and your work ethic?
Jackson
is already pointing the finger at his movie commitments: pressure
from the studio to remain uninjured, shooting taking away from
training time, and the distractions of new celebrity. But no
one told him part of his obligation to acting would be to remain
sedentary, or become so unplugged from his first career that
he announced his retirement. Randy Couture shoots films and still
looks impossibly capable in the ring. (I’ve also never seen
him walk around at 250 lbs. That helps.)
Fighting
as a part-time investment, both physically and emotionally, is
a recipe for disaster, and nowhere is that on more grueling display
than in the UFC. There are no “warm-up” fights to coddle
fighters coming off a layoff, injury-induced or not. Virtually
every fighter in the organization is a stone-cold mercenary who
would rip your head off if it meant more sponsorship deals and
a title shot. Clocking in for half-days could work in Japan,
where you can alternate legitimate fights with circus tours;
in the States, it’s suicide.
Jackson
has a big choice in front of him. While common sense offers that
he has a lifetime to act and only a few years to be a competitive
athlete, the irony of Hollywood is that they may only be interested
while he’s a UFC commodity. That means possibly bagging
a career in acting for the highly uneven promise of pursuing
success in an increasingly competitive UFC field at the age of
32, with 10 years already logged on the circuit. Jackson’s
UFC deal is lucrative, but dropping another fight or two could
put him in serious danger of getting clipped.
The
ideal would be to take film offers when they come and not allow
yourself to soften up between fights. But you’re still facing
athletes who have no such distractions.
Athletes
want to be musicians; actors want to be athletes. No one ever
seems completely satisfied with their lot in life. But Jackson
may have proved that actors can’t be fighters.
Source: Sherdog
|
Badr
Hari Expects to Fight in K-1 World Grand Prix, Says Mike Passenier;
Bonjasky Wants to be K-1 Champ Again
by Dave Walsh
Rumors and speculation as to what will become of Badr Hari after
this weekend's It's Showtime event have been swirling around,
mostly due to Badr Hari's statement that was released after the
event. The statement claimed that he would take some time off
from fighting to re-evaluate himself and why he fights, try to
get his head in order, etc. This led many to believe that Badr
Hari would withdraw from the K-1 World Grand Prix, with the Final
16 coming in September. Apparently this is not at all the case.
According
to Jens Habermann of K-1sport.de, he spoke with Badr Hari's coach
and manager, Mike Passenier after the event and the few month
layoff was always planned for Badr Hari. Seeing as though Badr
Hari does not have to qualify for the K-1 World Grand Prix anymore,
the chances of him fighting over the summer were very slim, anyway.
Passenier said that the plan was for Badr Hari to take a break
after the Amsterdam ArenA show to rest up for the K-1 World Grand
Prix Final 16 in September. So, either due to poor translation
or deception, Badr hari is not taking a self-imposed sabbatical
to collect his thoughts as much as he will do as he did last
year; fight in the ArenA in May, then in K-1's Final 16 in September.
So
it looks like, much like last summer, Badr Hari will spend his
summer in Morrocco.
It
should also be noted that Habermann spoke with Remy Bonjasky,
who expressed that he of course wanted to become K-1 World Grand
Prix champion again, and is looking to actually fight soon. I
guess it is still a very big 'wait and see' situation with Bonjasky.
Who
knows, maybe we will get to see Badr Hari and Remy Bonjasky tangle
one last time.
Source: Head Kick Legend
|
Shinya
Aoki vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri Confirmed for July 10th
By FCF Staff
 
Dream has officially announced that lightweight champion Shinya
Aoki will fight Tatsuya Kawajiri at its upcoming July 10th card.
The fight was announced during the promotion’s fourteenth
event this past weekend, and now, the match-up has been added
to the official Dream site.
Aoki
(23-5) is coming off a Unanimous Decision loss to Gilbert Melendez
in the Japanese fighter’s Strikefore debut on April 17th.
There had been reports, prior to the fight, that the two might
have an immediate rematch in Japan, under Dream rules. After
losing just once from August, 2005 through July, 2008, Aoki has
now dropped two of his last five bouts. Last May, the renowned
submission artist was KO’d by Hayato “Mach” Sakurai
(who defeated Aoki by UD in 2005), before winning three straight
against Vitor Ribeiro, Joachim Hansen and Mizuto Hirota.
Kawajiri
(26-5-2) is currently riding a four fight winning streak and
has not lost since July, 2008, when he was stopped by Eddie Alvarez.
Most recently, Kawajiri competed in December, when he worked
his way to a UD victory over Kazunori Yokota. The Japanese veteran
also holds a decision loss on his resume to Melendez, who defeated
Kawajiri in December, 2006.
No
other bouts have been confirmed yet for the July 10th, Dream
15th event.
Source: Full Contact Fighter
|
Showtime:
We’re In for the Long Haul
by Loretta Hunt
From where Showtime Sports’ Ken Hershman is standing, mixed
martial arts is delivering, growing and has a promising future
on the premium network.
The
executive vice president of Showtime’s sports and event
programming oversees 25-plus live Showtime boxing events, 38
weeks of “Inside NASCAR” and 23 weeks of its Emmy-awarded
“Inside the NFL” series each year. In 2007, Hershman
welcomed mixed martial arts into the Showtime Sports family through
a deal with Pro Elite, a Los Angeles upstart that brought its
EliteXC brand to both the premium pay channel and its major sister
network, CBS, for 20 months. After Pro Elite closed its doors
in October 2008, Showtime inked a three-year deal with the San
Jose-based Strikeforce promotion in February 2009 to begin airing
its events.
Showtime
aired 10 Strikeforce-branded events in 2009 (including the promotion’s
Challengers series). Strikeforce/M-1 Global “Fedor vs. Werdum,”
scheduled for June 26 at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif.,
will be the eighth event to air on the premium pay channel in
2010, and eight more are expected per the yearly agreement. In
total, Hershman said Showtime would likely produce around 45
live event broadcasts between boxing and MMA by year’s end.
Hershman, who’s been with Showtime since 1992 and has headed
its sports group since 2003, clearly has a vision for mixed martial
arts on the network.
Why
MMA?
In
2007, Hershman was looking for the next big thing. Specifically,
he sought unique programming that would draw in a younger demographic.
“What
we’ve seen with the Showtime demographics is we tend to
be an older-based service with who our subscribers are because
it’s expensive to buy through (the cable packages) to get
to Showtime,” Hershman said. “What we saw with MMA
was the ability to attract that 18-to-34 demo with a product
that’s relevant to them.”
In
the last three years, Hershman says Showtime has grown from 13
million to 18 million subscribers. For a $11-$13 average monthly
fee, viewers are offered a carefully balanced lineup of theatrical
films, original series like “Dexter” and “Weeds”
and sports programming. MMA became a part of that package in
2007, and again in April 2009 with Strikeforce.
Hershman
said it’s difficult for the network to determine exactly
what MMA’s contribution has been to its latest subscription
boom, though he doesn’t doubt the addition of the sport
played a vital role in it.
“Strikeforce
has been an important part of it,” he said. “To me,
it’s part of the story and it has to be a part of that five
million.
“From
a subscribers standpoint, it’s been a hit,” Hershman
added. “From an acquisitions standpoint, it’s been
a great driver of our business in our 18-to-34 demo. Our business
is about getting subscribers and keeping subscribers, and to
do that, you need to give them programming that they’re
interested in and that they value and that they want.”
Ratings
TV
Ratings are a solid gage in determining a program’s growth
and popularity, but Hershman said he’s not beholden to ratings
alone because Showtime doesn’t hinge on advertising sales
for its income.
“I
don’t need to deliver the 1.9 rating to Proctor and Gamble
like other advertising-based broadcast and cable television networks,”
he said.
Which
is why Hershman was disappointed when recent reports suggested
that Strikeforce “Heavy Artillery,” which aired May
15, had fallen short of expectations with 308,000 viewers while
a rehash of UFC fights airing on Spike TV in the same time slot
garnered about 875,000 viewers. (Spike TV is available in 98
million homes to Showtime’s 18 million.)
According
to reported ratings (Showtime does not release its numbers),
“Heavy Artillery” was the second lowest rated of the
six events the premium network aired thus far, falling 107,000
homes below the series’ average. The highest rated event
was reportedly Strikeforce “Carano vs. Cyborg” in August
2009, which garnered 576,000 viewers and peaked to 856,000 during
the final bout.
“No,
it wasn’t a bad rating,” Hershman said of the May 15
marks. “Ratings are just one part of what we look at to
evaluate the success of a genre of programming or a particular
piece of programming. We really got to almost half a million
viewers for the show (during the final bout), which out of the
(mostly male) audience that would be interested in mixed martial
arts -- we’re half male and half female, so we’re going
from 18 to 9 million and then we’re getting half a million
on any one Saturday night. That’s a pretty good number for
us.”
In
addition, Hershman said the network doesn’t have to necessarily
place emphasis on an initial airing’s rating to determine
its overall success.
“Ironically,
whether they miss a particular show and watch it on Monday instead
of Saturday, it has the same impact for us because they’ve
gotten to experience the show and they enjoyed it -- unlike the
ratings-based broadcast or cable network, where they’re
selling ads against that one airing,” Hershman said. “They
don’t want you to necessarily watch it on the Monday when
the audience will be much smaller and the ad rates will be lower.”
Then
just how do Hershman and Strikeforce monitor a Strikeforce show’s
success?
“I
look at it as the penumbra of success,” Hershman said. “For
us, we need to have our viewers and subscribers engaged. They
have to be interested. They have to be commenting on the show.
They have to be signing up to get the shows, and MMA is one piece
of the puzzle to get them in and keep them in. Any one individual
show rating is not what we judge success or failure by. We judge
success or failure by the amount of PR attention we’re getting,
by the amount of viewers we’re getting, by the amount of
subscribers we’re getting and the number we’re keeping.
That’s our business model.”
The
Strikeforce Relationship
Much
has been made of Strikeforce’s relationship with Showtime
and what the promotion likely had to sacrifice in the way of
control to forge an agreement with the premium channel. It’s
a new type of arrangement in a sport with a history forged in
going it alone.
Between
1993 and 2005, MMA promotions had little interaction with TV
networks. As the prime example, when Zuffa purchased the UFC
brand from Semaphore Entertainment Group in January 2001, it
inherited a relationship with the production company ConCom,
which oversaw a majority of the live pay-per-view events in the
promotion’s first seven years. When Zuffa’s deal with
cable-television outlet Spike TV expanded in 2005 to include
live “Fight Night” events outside of the Spike-produced
“Ultimate Fighter” reality series, Zuffa hired ConCom
and additional sub-contractors to produce the event broadcasts
under its sole direction.
With
mixed martial arts’ brief eight-year history on television,
fans are mostly familiar with and have grown accustomed to the
UFC’s model, an all-inclusive operation that seemingly allows
the promotion to control virtually every aspect of its product
with little to no disruption from others before handing it over
to broadcast partners.
The
Showtime-Strikeforce production dynamic is different. While the
promotion runs the actual event, Showtime Sports produces all
of the Strikeforce and Challengers telecasts on its channel,
which includes the selection of its broadcast announcing team,
among other presentation details.
Hershman
said this arrangement is the norm in television, and just as
the NFL creates its own schedule, oversees its teams and holds
its games nationwide, the various networks are able to pick and
bid for which games they want to broadcast.
“I’m
not sure what television network would ever just accept product
from some supplier without understanding and agreeing to the
quality they’re getting,” Hershman said. “I will
tell you that just like any television network, whether it’s
a scripted show, whether it’s a sport event -- nobody takes
just what’s given to them. I do not shy away from the fact
that I’m intimately involved in conversations with Strikeforce
about what’s going to show up on Showtime … and anyone
who thinks that’s wrong or improper doesn’t understand
the television marketplace or the business. To suggest that we
shouldn’t be involved in those conversations is so naïve,
it’s laughable.”
Just
how much Hershman and Showtime are involved in the promotion’s
planning prior to the event -- and particularly its matchmaking
-- has been scrutinized by fans and critics alike. In recent
months, some have gone as far as accusing Showtime of meddling
in Strikeforce’s overall vision by dictating or changing
bout selections. Some suggest this also slows down the promotion’s
ability to promote its cards with the same strong advance notice
that the UFC has down to a science.
In
the early stages of the relationship in 2009, two separate managers
informed Sherdog.com that the main card fights Strikeforce had
proposed were vetoed by Showtime. However, in the last six months,
no other instances have been reported to Sherdog.com.
When
asked if he’d ever turned down an MMA bout presented to
him for broadcast, Hershman answered, “I’m sure there
has been.”
This
might paint an incomplete picture of the process, though. While
Hershman wouldn’t go into the mechanics of how the two companies
sign off on event lineups, the Showtime vice president suggested
that the majority of cards presented to the channel are accepted
in whole.
“It’s
extremely rare that we’re not on the same page,” Hershman
said. “It is the rare exception.”
In fact, Hershman said he outright defers to Strikeforce’s
knowledge of the sport in building cards.
“There
has to be a level of name recognition, of skill, and they have
to be matched in a way that we think is going to be compelling.
It’s as simple as that,” he said. “Really we rely
on Strikeforce because I’m nowhere near as astute in mixed
martial arts as I am in boxing. We rely heavily on Strikeforce
to present to us the picture and the stories behind these fights.
They’ve done a tremendous job.”
And
while UFC President Dana White has publicly stated that it’s
Showtime, and not Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker, who ultimately
holds the promotion’s reigns, Hershman said that characterization
is far from the truth.
“I
think there have been allegations in some weird way that I run
Strikeforce in some way, which is ludicrous,” Hershman said.
“I don’t have the time, information and knowledge to
run Strikeforce and I don’t need to. Scott Coker is doing
a phenomenal job. I don’t need to run it. I’m in the
television business. I’m not in the mixed martial arts business
and I think that’s something that’s really been fudged.
I’m not a promoter. I’m not in that business. I’m
in the business of putting on great television.”
Hershman
said the collaborative process between promotion and broadcaster
has been extremely successful, calling Strikeforce “dream
partners” who are “smart, steady, responsible”
and dedicated to the sport and its fan base.
Another
facet of the UFC’s broadcast flexibility has been its ability
to offer additional preliminary bouts from its same-night pay-per-views
during recent live one-hour Spike TV telecasts. Fans tuning in
for two fights are sometimes treated to two, three and even four
more bouts than advertised. Fans have asked why Showtime might
not try to offer the same in the future on live telecasts.
“It’s
nice to say we could slot in a prelim fight here or there and
just do whatever we wanted, but the practical reality of what
you have to do to produce at the level we produce at, we need
to focus on the fights we’ve identified for television,”
Hershman said.
Hershman
added that the format likely won’t change in the future.
“I
think there’s a place for those prelim fights,” he
said. “Maybe streaming them on the Web will ultimately become
more viable and cost effective.”
Like
ratings’ comparisons, Hershman finds it unfair to compare
Showtime’s broadcast model to the UFC’s double-up system
through Spike TV and its own pay-per-views.
“The
business objective there is to sell pay-per-views and they use
Spike TV as a vehicle. They’re not doing it because they
love the fans,” Hershman said. “We’re doing our
events as individual, high-production level shows that can stand
alone, and if we have 20 fights (in one night), it will get watered
down.”
It’s
obvious that Hershman prides himself on the quality of the Showtime
broadcasts.
“We
bring to this sport a level of production quality that’s
second to none,” he said. “I defy anybody to watch
our show next to anybody else’s shows from a production,
lighting, directing, announcing standpoint and say that ours
isn’t, by far, the best.”
Hershman
said he offers the Strikeforce Challengers event series to expand
upon but also preserve the quality of the product. Since May
2009, Showtime has broadcast eight Challengers events, which
often features the promotion’s up-and-coming talent.
“To
me, I feel that we’re giving the fans what they want in
the prelims with our Challenger series and I think we do that
at a very high production level,” Hershman said. “Now,
we’d look to explore other alternatives with the prelims
(from Strikeforce events) if we hear that’s what (the fans)
want.”
Supportive
programming, much like the UFC receives from Spike TV and its
other broadcast partners in the form of “Countdown”
shows and other specials, are also in Hershman’s purview
down the road.
“Do
I want to support mixed martial arts programming with more behind-the-scenes
stuff? Absolutely,” he said. “But is it realistic?
It’s a function of money. It’s a function of network
time, and I think we’ll get there ultimately, but right
now we’re doing almost 50 weeks of live events, 38 weeks
of NASCAR, 23 weeks of NFL. We’re maxed out.”
In
the meantime, Hershman heralds the Showtime-Strikeforce relationship
as a solid one with a sound foundation to build upon.
“I
don’t think we’ve had one disagreement about what should
be on Showtime,” said Hershman, who added that he hasn’t
regretted one fight that’s been aired. “There’s
a plan here. There’s a progression. There’s a commitment
to certain weight classes and fighters and fights. We’re
looking to build a product here. We’re six (events) in,
(and) this is the beginning of the relationship, but we’re
looking to not just buy a fight. That’s not the way this
relationship is, and it’s not what this is about. We’re
looking to build a franchise and to build a product we think
will be second to none.”
Dana
White’s Criticism
In
2008, as Pro Elite hemorrhaged money and EliteXC withered, UFC
President Dana White was one of Strikeforce’s more vocal
supporters. That is, until Strikeforce and Showtime reached a
February 2009 broadcast agreement. White has since called Showtime
“slimy,” described its boxing broadcasts as “second-rate”
and often alludes to an ongoing quarrel he has with an always
unidentified Showtime executive.
“The
guy over at Showtime who I’m talking about knows who he
is and I dislike him very much, and my beef is with him and my
fight is with them, not really Strikeforce,” White told
media last August.
Hershman
won’t comment on any past dealings he might have had with
the UFC and White prior to the network’s signing of Strikeforce
as its main MMA content partner. Sherdog.com has confirmed that
White did meet with representatives from CBS, which owns Showtime,
on a few occasions before February 2009.
“You’d
have to ask him (who White is referring to),” said Hershman
of the unidentified Showtime executive. “I’m not going
to be dragged into an adolescent name-calling session with Dana
White. I don’t know (who he’s referring to). Honestly,
I don’t care. I don’t give a second’s thought
to Dana White, ever. He’s irrelevant.”
Hershman
proposed that White’s anger with Showtime is driven by the
fear of competition.
“The
reality is that we’re putting on a product that’s so
compelling in an environment where you don’t have to pay
50, 60 dollars for one show, that you get mixed martial arts
on a very high level consistently,” Hershman said.
He
went on to argue that Showtime offers not only MMA but also boxing,
original series and movies.
“You
get all of that for cheaper than you get for one pay-per-view
event, and I think that would be a threat to anyone whose business
model is a pay-per-view business model,” Hershman said.
“That’s why you’re getting this pushback. And
he can focus on us all he wants, but he’s not somebody we’re
focused on. We’re focused on Strikeforce and making the
best MMA product we can.”
The
Future
Hershman
acknowledges that when he signed on for MMA, he did so as a programmer
and not a fan. He said that’s changed, though.
“I
love mixed martial arts,” Hershman said. “I’ve
come around in a big way. I go to the fights now. I watch all
the fights I can’t attend and I’ve really enjoyed it.
I love the nuances of it and the sophistication of it and the
skill of the technicians. When it goes to the ground, I’m
proud of myself now that I know what’s going on and I’m
enjoying it.”
And
while others continue to debate Strikeforce’s future in
the shadow of the UFC’s massive market share, Hershman has
little doubt where the San Jose-based promotion is heading.
“We’re
committed to the sport. We’re fans of the sport. We’re
infusing a lot of money into the sport,” he said. “How
could that be bad for the sport, to give fighters an option,
another home, another outlet to demonstrate their skills? How
could any of this be bad for the sport? I couldn’t comprehend
a negative to any of it.”
Hershman
refrained from offering insight as to what CBS might be thinking
following an in-cage brawl that broke out between fighter camps
following the main event of a CBS-televised Strikeforce show
April 15 in Nashville, Tenn. Hershman called the incident “uncalled
for” and a “disappointment” but quickly steered
talk to the night’s ratings, possibly a more definitive
determinant in the Strikeforce-CBS relationship moving forward.
“Ratings
are going to fluctuate,” Hershman said. “You’re
going to win some, you’re going to lose some. I don’t
know that to think that it’s so show-by-show (would) probably
(be) a bit shortsighted. I don’t think things are ever as
bad as people would like to spin and believe, though it makes
for sexy headlines.”
A
sixteen-month relationship between Strikeforce and the network
has produced 18 broadcast events. Hershman vowed there will be
many more.
“Just
like we believe that Strikeforce is a very slow and steady and
professional organization, we’re not looking to do anything
irresponsible or irrational,” Hershman said. “We’re
here for the long haul. We have a long-term deal with Strikeforce.
We’re not going away just because somebody screams and yells
and makes a lot of noise. It’s not going to scare us off.
We’re in for the long haul and we’re happy with the
product and it’s only going to get better."
Source: Sherdog
|
Truths
and consequences for Showtime, GSP, Tito Ortiz. and Rampage Jackson
By Zach
Arnold
According
to this intriguing Sherdog interview, Showtime boss Ken Hershman
wants you to believe that he thinks Dana White is irrelevant
(his words) and that Scott Coker is doing a wonderful job. What’s
funny is reading Ken trying to minimize the impact Showtime has
had in running the show so far and to try to hype up Strikeforce’s
involvement so far. After all, they’re dream partners!
The
consequence of Georges St. Pierre playing it safe and fighting
to win on points and not get hurt seems to be eroding fan support
for him… but just a little bit. He is certainly starting
to hear some boos, though. When I heard the news that his title
fight versus Josh Koscheck might happen in Koscheck’s old
stomping grounds of Pittsburgh, my immediate reaction was…
even in Pittsburgh, Josh Koscheck is going to get booed very
loudly.
Jenna
Jameson manages to say something goofy on Twitter all the time,
including bashing Tito Ortiz “for partying in Las Vegas”
and leaving her behind. Of course, she ended up in Las Vegas
mugging the paparazzi cameras with Tito in ridiculous fashion.
A
few days ago on the web site, I said that either the UFC or the
Nevada State Athletic Commission should stop Tito Ortiz from
fighting again — despite what he’s saying right now.
MMA Junkie’s doctor won’t come out and directly say
it, but you get the feeling he wouldn’t recommend Tito fighting
again nor should he. Tito is saying the exact same things coming
off of this surgery that he said after he had the back surgery
from NuVasive. He may only be 35 years old, but the consequences
of him fighting in the cage against high-level competition at
this point could put him in a wheelchair in his 40s or 50s.
Jake
Rossen says that Rampage believed that fighters could have an
off-season and he found out the consequences of this last Saturday,
though Dana White thought that Rampage looked good.
Fighting
as a part-time investment, both physically and emotionally, is
a recipe for disaster, and nowhere is that on more grueling display
than in the UFC. There are no “warm-up” fights to coddle
fighters coming off a layoff, injury-induced or not. Virtually
every fighter in the organization is a stone-cold mercenary who
would rip your head off if it meant more sponsorship deals and
a title shot. Clocking in for half-days could work in Japan,
where you can alternate legitimate fights with circus tours;
in the States, it’s suicide.
Source: Fight Opinion
|
“The
cream of the crop will be at this year’s Worlds”
by Marcelo
Dunlop
That
statement was made by Master Romero Jacaré on his way
to the brackets setting session for the 2010 Worlds, to kick
off this Thursday.
Driving
on the highway from Los Angeles to Irvine, the master brought
up the fact he was on a mountain road and the connection could
break up. But GRACIEMAG.com didn’t miss a thing.
The
best of what the headmaster of Alliance had to say can be found
below.
Romero
heads a motivated group in Atlanta
Cobrinha’s fifth
“Cobrinha to me has a great shot at winning his fifth world
championship in a row as a featherweight; an unprecedented achievement.
He lost to Rafael(Mendes) just now at the Brazilian Nationals
in a bout that was decided in the details, 4 to 2 on points.
But I believe he’s more confident now, with Rafa’s
game in his head, and he spent a month training with Alliance
in Brazil. And Cobrinha has a good head on his shoulders, he
doesn’t let things get to him, doesn’t feel pressured.
That’s why I feel he has a great chance of winning and is
a favorite.”
Absolute
brown
“My money in the absolute brown belt is on Ian (McPherson)
from Atlanta, for what he has been winning for quite some time
now. But we have others in the mix, and some other surprises.
It’s worth remembering that only brown belts who make it
to the winners’ stand get in the absolute, so a lot of tough
guys will fall along the way. But we have Dave Kohl, a super
heavyweight under Franjinha, and Gustavo Goulart, who’s
been winning everything.
Cream
of the crop
To me this Worlds will have the cream of the crop in the sport,
and each year the level gets even higher. In the brown belt division,
for example, we may see the best matches of the tournament, like
our Michel Langhi against Ary Farias (Atos). Imagine what that
match would be like. And then there’s Gustavo Goulart and
Lucas Rocha (Gracie Barra). It will go off.
Kayron
in the black belt middleweight group
“I don’t see Kayron as a surprise when he won the Pan.
Even less experienced as a black belt than Sergio Moraes, he’s
been competing since he was a kid. He can’t be seen as a
surprise and he has the same chances as all the rest, as does
Abmar Barbosa.”
Last
training session in Atlanta
“The 30th was the last day of hard training for the Worlds.
We’re taking a team of 30 athletes from Atlanta, all really
well trained and ready to defend our team title. Not we just
need to gets things in place here in California – hotel,
academy… the final details. With the arrival of Fabio (Gurgel)
and Gigi (Paiva) from Brazil, as well as the teachers everywhere
else in the world, we’re solid, very motivated and confident.”
Source: Gracie Magazine
|
KIM
COUTURE ARRESTED FOR DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
by Damon
Martin
Kim Couture, former Strikeforce fighter and ex-wife of UFC Hall
of Famer Randy Couture, was arrested in Las Vegas the evening
of May 29 stemming from a domestic dispute, according to the
Las Vegas Police Department. She has since been released on bail
pending an investigation.
MMAWeekly.com
confirmed the arrest with Barbara Morgan from the Office of Public
Information with the Las Vegas Police Department.
"I
can confirm that in the evening hours of May 29 we responded
to a residence in the South West part of the valley reference
a domestic dispute," said Officer Morgan. "Officers
arrived, determined that a battery occurred, and Kim was arrested
for Domestic Violence."
The
office said no further reports would be released about her arrest.
According
to sources, Couture, who was arrested under her legal name of
Kimberly Holderman, got into a dispute with her personal assistant
and the resulting actions led to her arrest.
Couture
has yet to make a statement regarding the arrest, and at this
time nothing official has been stated about what charges she
may face in regards to the domestic violence arrest.
MMAWeekly
will continue to follow the story as more information becomes
available.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
X-1:
Nations Collide Today
Blaisdell Arena, Honolulu, Hawaii
June 4, 2010
7:30PM
www.x1events.com
(808) 591-2211
170lbs X-1 World Championship Bout
Brandon Wolff (Champion) vs. Dylan Clay (#1 Contender)
8-Man
Heavyweight Tournament
Bracket A
Maui Wolfgram (Hawaii) vs. Ricky Shivers (Alaska)
Adam Akau (Hawaii) vs. Hae Joon Yang (Korea)
Bracket B
Poai
Suganuma (Hawaii) vs. Vitaly Shemetov (Russia)
Tasi Edwards (Samoa) vs. Daniel Madrid
X-1 WORLD WELTERWEIGHT TITLE ON THE LINE
AND LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE TOURNEY BEGINS AS
X-1 PRESENTS “NATIONS COLLIDE”
2008 Olympic gold medal winner Satoshi Ishii also to compete
Honolulu,
HI (USA): Top Hawaiian fight promotion X-1 World Events is proud
to announce their next amazing MMA event, “Nations Collide,”
which will take place on Friday, June 4th, 2010, at the famed
Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu, Hawaii. The fight card will feature
combatants from all over the world, including Hawaii, Puerto
Rico, Russia, South Korea, the western United States, and Japan,
and some top young bantamweights, featherweights, light heavyweights,
and welterweights will showcase their skills. In addition, “Nations
Collide” will bring the talents of Olympic gold medalist
Satoshi Ishii, a Japanese national hero who finished first in
judo at the 2008 Games, to the Islands. Also competing on the
card will be longtime veteran of PRIDE, K-1, DREAM, and Rumble
on the Rock, Shungo Oyama, while Russell Doane and Riley Dutro
will also battle for the X-1 State Bantamweight Championship.
Doors
to the Blaisdell Arena will open at 6 PM, and the fights will
begin at 7 PM. Tickets are available at the Blaisdell box office,
all Ticketmaster locations, through Ticketmaster.com, and on
the phone at (800) 745-3000.
The
main event of “Nations Collide” will feature an X-1
World Welterweight Championship bout between Hawaiian favorite
Brandon Wolff (7-4 with three KO/TKO’s) and Dylan Clay (7-2
with five submissions). Wolff, the champ, is a veteran of the
UFC, EliteXC, and K-1, and has faced top-flight competition such
as Riki Fukuda, Chad Reiner, Ben Saunders, and Yoshiyuki Yoshida.
Looking to lift the strap from the Hawaiian will be Clay, a native
of Puerto Rico. A submission fighter, Clay defeated UFC veteran
Ronald “The Machine Gun” Juhn in his only X-1 appearance,
and has also fought in M-1, where he faced Brazilian fighter
Eduardo Pamplona. This highly-anticipated scrap will determine
welterweight supremacy in X-1.
The
co-main event will showcase a light heavyweight tournament that
will determine the new X-1 World Light Heavyweight Champion.
The first round of the tourney will take place at “Nations
Collide,” with the semi-finals and finals occurring on subsequent
shows. Participating in the tournament will be former EliteXC
headliner Poai Suganuma (9-3), California’s Greg Schmitt
(1-0), Adam Akau (3-1), Gracie-trained submission specialist
Roy Boughton (2-0), Russia’s Vitaly Shemetov, multi-time
PRIDE/K-1 veteran Shungo Oyama (8-12), South Korean SpiritMC
veteran Sang Soo Lee (13-8), and King of the Cage veteran Daniel
“Blackout” Madrid (6-1). One of these exemplary fighters
will become the new X-1 light heavyweight kingpin, but whoever
takes the belt will have a tough time getting there. It’s
a talented group with some deep experience.
Also
fighting at “Nations Collide” will be 2008 Olympic
gold medal-winner and Japanese submission sensation Satoshi Ishii
(1-1). This celebrated judoka made his MMA debut at K-1’s
New Years Eve show at the end of 2009, losing by unanimous decision
to fellow former Olympic gold medalist and Japanese MMA legend
Hidehiko Yoshida. However, this past weekend, Ishii got his first
MMA win, submitting Tafa Misipati via armbar in New Zealand.
At “Nations Collide,” Ishii will compete in his next
MMA bout against Myles Tynanes (0-0). Seen as the next great
Japanese judo player to carry on the strong tradition started
by Yoshida and Makoto Takimoto, Ishii has drawn a lot of attention
for his amateur background and skills, as well as his national
celebrity status.
“This
fight card is one of the best we’re going to see this year.
It shows that X-1 is committed to bringing in the best fighters
not just from the Islands, but from around the world,” said
Mike Miller, Owner/Promoter of X-1 World Events. “Fight
fans are in store from some hot action as the Hawaii summer gets
going. I can’t wait to see who wins the welterweight belt,
and who advances in the light heavyweight tournament. And don’t
forget that we’re bringing an Olympic gold medalist to the
Islands!”
Here
is the full fight card:
Main
Event: 170 lb. World Title Match: Brandon Wolff (HI) vs. Dylan
Clay (Puerto Rico)
Co-Main Event: 8-Man Tournament for the Light Heavyweight Title
(over 3 events)
Bracket A: Poai Suganuma (HI) vs. Greg Schmitt (California)
Adam Akau (HI) vs. Roy Boughton (California)
Bracket B: Vitaly Shemetov (Russia) vs. Shungo Oyama (Japan)
Sang Soo Lee (S. Korea) vs. Daniel Madrid (Arizona)
135 lbs. State Championship match:
Russell Doane vs. Riley Dutro
Undercard:
Pro MMA 145 lbs. Justin Mercado vs. Ed Newalu
145 lbs. Ricky Wallace vs. Toru Harai (Japan)
135 lbs. Raquel
Paaluhi
vs. Jenny Trujilio - women’s
135 lbs. Jesse Thorton vs. Timothy Meeks
HWY Satoshi Ishii (Japan) vs. Myles Tynanas
HWY Bubba Paaluhi vs. Chivas Antoque
145 lbs. Brensen Hansen vs. Wayland Crenio
145 lbs. Dustin Kimura vs. Kazuki Kenjo
145 lbs. Chad Pavao vs. Spencer Higa
135 lbs. Van Shiroma vs. Dwayne Haney
Fight
Night
Date June 4th 2010
Time 6:00 pm
Place Blaisdell Arena
|
2010
Hawaii State Open Boxing Championship
Our 2010 Hawaii State Open Boxing Championship will be held on
friday, June 4 (7:30p.m), sat. the 5th (6:30 p.m.), and Finals
Sunday the June 6th (1 p.m.) at the Evolution Training Center
in the Waipio Industrial Court room #110. The 4th will be non-tournament
bouts Admission will be $12 for friday and saturday, and $15
for finals on sunday. Boxers from Oahu, Maui, Kauai, Big Island
and maybe Molokai coming to compete.
Winners of Championship bouts advance to the 2010 USA National
Boxing Championships at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado
Springs, CO. on July 10 - 18. Top 4 boxers earn a berth on the
U.S.A. National Team and the top 2 will go on the USA-Boxing
payroll for 12 months.
If you have any questions email me back or call at 542-1181.
Thanks Always for the Support and Take Care,
Bruce Kawano
Interim Manager Amateur Boxing of Hawaii
Boxing Commissioner - Hawaii State Boxing Commission
Ringside Board of Advisors
NMU Task Force Appointed Member
|
UFC
114 PRELMINS ON SPIKE DRAW 1.6 MILLION
Spike
TV on Wednesday released the ratings for Saturday night’s
telecast of “UFC 114 Prelims Live,” which featured
a live telecast of Dong Hyun Kim defeating Amir Sadollah and
Efrain Escudero defeating Dany Lauzon.
The
show drew an audience of 1.6 million viewers, the second largest
audience since Spike began televising preliminary bouts at UFC
103.
“UFC
114 Prelims Live” represents a rebound from a series low
1.2 million viewers for UFC 111 in March.
The
telecast ranked second among Basic Cable Networks in the key
advertising demographics of Men 18-49 and Men 18-34 behind the
NBA Playoffs on TNT.
Past
results for preliminary bouts on Spike TV:
-UFC 103: 1.4 million viewers
-UFC 104: 1.4 million viewers
-UFC 106: 1.3 million viewers
-UFC 108: 1.5 million viewers
-UFC 109: 1.7 million viewers
-UFC 111: 1.2 million viewers
(All
totals according to Spike TV officials.)
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Report:
Murray Sentenced 10 Years in Moroccan Jail
Former UFC middleweight Lee Murray has been sentenced to 10 years
in a Morocco prison following his involvement in Britain’s
largest bank heist ever, reports the BBC News.
Murray
is said to have masterminded the £53 million ($77 million)
robbery of Kent Securitas depot in Tonbridge, England, in February
2006, then fled to Morocco, where he also has citizenship (Murray’s
father is Moroccan).
According
to the article, Kent officers began working with Moroccan authorities
when it was established that Murray could not be extradited back
to the U.K. to stand trial.
Murray,
who submitted Jorge Rivera with a first-round armbar at UFC 48
and went the distance with middleweight champion Anderson Silva
at Cage Rage 8 in 2004, was incarcerated in Morocco, but released
and re-captured while officials determined where he could be
tried.
The
30-year-old Murray, who survived a 2005 stabbing, is also known
for his July 2002 street fight involving former UFC champion
Tito Ortiz outside a London nightclub following UFC 38.
According
to BBC News, Murray left authorities key evidence that helped
lead to his arrest when he crashed his car a few days before
the robbery and fled the scene with his cell phone still in the
vehicle. Murray accidentally recorded a phone conversation about
the heist with an accomplice, which was used by prosecutors,
said BBC News.
Police
have recovered £21 million from the arrest, where 14 Securitas
staff were held at gunpoint by the group of robbers.
A
Sports Illustrated article about Murray has been optioned by
Time-Life Inc., for a potential film.
Source: Sherdog
|
Paulão
talks of next fight and challenges Shogun
by Carlos
Eduardo Ozório
Paulo Filho took almost everyone by surprise with his inclusion
on the card for this coming Friday’s Memorial Fight Qualifying
event, in the city of Santos, Brazil. GRACIEMAG.com had a chat
with the fighter after hearing of confirmation of his presence.
“I
have to fight. Time is going by and I can’t just sit around.
This opportunity came at the right time. I don’t know anything
about my opponent; what I want is to fight!” he says with
excitement.
Paulo
went on to explain the visa problems that kept him out of his
Bellator fight.
“They
told me the event would be in one place and the letter from the
organization that came in said another. When I went to the interview
at the consulate there was this mistake and I was turned down;
we didn’t even get to talk about it. They didn’t even
want to hear how I’ve been to the United States several
times without any problems,” he recounts.
I
couldn’t miss this chance to challenge Shogun,” Paulão
Paulão also remarked on the challenge he issued Maurício
Shogun. At Bitetti Combat 7, both were honored in the cage. Paulão
heaped praise on Shogun, but admitted he would like to face him
some day. Shortly thereafter he was cheering frenetically for
Murilo Ninja, once a rival of his.
“I
couldn’t miss the chance to challenge him. I want to fight
him and feel the pressure up close by the end of my career. That’s
just something I want. Shoot, I’ve been getting lambasted
on forums. Folks are acting with a lot of disrespect. But it’s
what I want and I know I can make it.”
Paulo’s
physical conditioning coach Julio Muniz guarantees the black
belt is in excellent shape for his coming challenges.
“I
can guarantee he’s clean. There’s no point in talking;
what he has to do is fight and win. We have four fights ahead
of us and he’s going to show how he’s in shape. He’s
going to trample everyone and prove it,” he warns.
Source: Gracie Magazine
|
SCOTT
SMITH-CUNG LE REMATCH
JUNE 26 – LIVE ON SHOWTIME® –
FROM HP PAVILION IN SAN JOSE
Josh
Thomson-Pat Healy Fight Also Added To “Fedor vs. Werdum’’
NEW
YORK (June 2, 2010) – Can Scott “Hands Of Steel’’
Smith, aka “The Comeback Kid,’’ do it again?
On
Saturday, June 26, at HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif., on SHOWTIME®,
Smith will attempt to make it two consecutive victories over
Cung Le in a middleweight (185 pounds) rematch of one of the
most incredible Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) comeback victories of
all-time.
The
eagerly anticipated return bout between Smith (17-6), of Elk
Grove, Calif., and Le (6-1), of San Jose, will take place on
an already-stacked STRIKEFORCE and M-1 Global fight card that
features the world’s No. 1 heavyweight and pound-for-pound
MMA fighter, Fedor “The Last Emperor” Emelianenko (31-1),against
two-time Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu world champion and top-ranked superstar
Fabricio “Vai Cavalo” Werdum (13-4) in the main event.
The
universally recognized No. 1 female fighter in MMA, Cris Cyborg
will defend her STRIKEFORCE 145-pound belt against Jan Finney,
marking the first time in history that both the No. 1 male and
female fighters will compete on the same card.
In
another featured fight, former STRIKEFORCE lightweight (155 pounds)
champion Josh Thomson (16-3), of San Jose, will try and regain
his winning ways against Pat “Bam Bam’’ Healy
(23-15) of Portland, Ore. Thomson lost a five-round decision
in his last start to Gilbert Melendez in one of the most wildly
exciting, give-and-take slugfests of the year on Dec. 19, 2009,
at HP Pavilion. Healy is coming off a well-deserved, unanimous
three-round decision over Bryan Travers during a STRIKEFORCE
Challengers event on May 21.
Tickets
are on sale at the HP Pavilion box office, all Ticketmaster locations
(800) 745-3000, Ticketmaster online (www.ticketmaster.com) and
STRIKEFORCE’s official website (www.strikeforce.com). For
more information, please also visit www.M-1GLOBAL.com.
The
SHOWTIME telecast will begin at 10 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the
West Coast).
The
hard-hitting, never-say-die Smith is no stranger to dramatic,
stirring, come-from-behind victories. He rallied to knock out
Benji Radach on April 1, 2009, at HP Pavilion and registered
a highlight-reel second-round KO over the UFC’s Pete Sell
on Nov. 11, 2006.
Smith,
however, may have outdone himself with his courageous performance
against Le, coming back from the brink of absolute defeat to
triumph by third-round knockout last Dec. 19 at HP Pavilion.
Smith
had taken a frightful beating for two-and-a-half-rounds as southpaw
Le, making his first start in 21 months, totally dominated. The
one-sided proceedings seemed over at least a couple of times
as everything was going Le’s way. His trademark spinning
back kicks were connecting with startling frequency and were
knocking Smith around the cage.
At
one point, while Smith was on the ground after getting dropped,
Le seemed to throw more than 50 consecutive punches. He slammed
Smith once.
But
Smith, a proven finisher who has never turned down a challenge,
summoned the energy and heart – again – to twice drop
Le. After he connected twice on a downed Le, the referee stepped
in and halted the exciting battle at 3:25.
“This
was one helluva fight,’’ said Smith afterward. “He
had me the first two-and-a-half rounds, but I’ve got a hard
head. On the knockdowns, I faked the right and threw the left.
Everyone always looks for my right, but the left hook is my best
punch.
“It
took me until the third round to close the gap on him, but once
I did and he began to drop his hands, I could sense things were
starting to go my way. That’s when I feinted with the right
and landed the left. It never matters who I fight. I just want
these types of tough fights.’’
Le,
a former STRIKEFORCE middleweight champion who relinquished the
belt to concentrate on an acting career, offered no excuses but
has been clamoring for a rematch since.
“He
got the best of me last time with a good punch,’’ Le
said. “We both fought our hearts out that night, but I’ve
wanted a chance to turn the tables on him since that fight ended
and now my opportunity is here. I am very excited to fight a
warrior like Scott again.
“The
fans in San Jose and those watching on SHOWTIME are in for a
great fight again between Smith and me and a great night of fights.’’
Thomson,
who shut out Melendez across five rounds to capture the STRIKEFORCE
world 155-pound belt on June 27, 2008, lost a rematch by the
scores of 49-46 twice and 49-47.
Like
Le, the popular Thomson was coming off a lengthy layoff. It was
his first start before a paying audience in 15 months due to
injuries (he broke his left leg twice during training).
But
Thomson showed against Melendez that he’s healthy again
and he is excited about a possible rubber match. First, however,
he must get past Healy.
“I’m
up for a third fight with Gilbert if that’s what STRIKEFORCE
wants,’’ said Thomson, who had an eight-fight winning
streak end last time out. “I know this is a fight the fans
want to see again. But my sole focus now is on winning my next
fight. I can’t concern myself with future fights.
“For
me, the future is June 26 and beating Healy.’’
Healy
has defeated quality opponents since turning pro in August 2001.
He was impressive outpointing Travers (13-1 going in) by the
scores of 30-27 and 29-28 twice. It was a rare points’ victory
for the durable, well-conditioned wrestling specialist who has
won more than half his fights via submission.
A
winner of three in a row and five out of six outings, Healy is
getting an opportunity against one of the fighters he most wanted
to fight.
“’I’ll
fight anyone but there are two guys in the 155-pound as far as
I’m concerned and that’s Josh and Melendez,’’
Healy said. “A win over Thomson, then Melendez could be
next for me.’’
About
STRIKEFORCE
STRIKEFORCE (www.strikeforce.com) is a world-class mixed martial
arts cage fight promotion which, on Friday, March 10, 2006, made
history with its "Shamrock vs. Gracie" event, the first
sanctioned mixed martial arts fight card in California state
history. The star-studded extravaganza, which pitted legendary
champion Frank Shamrock against Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt
Cesar Gracie at San Jose's HP Pavilion, played host to a sold-out,
record crowd of 18,265. Since 1995, STRIKEFORCE, sanctioned by
ISKA, has been the exclusive provider of martial arts programming
for ESPN and, after 12 years of success as a leading, world championship
kickboxing promotion, the company unveiled its mixed martial
arts (MMA) series with "Shamrock vs. Gracie." In May
2008, West Coast Productions, the parent company of STRIKEFORCE,
partnered with Silicon Valley Sports & Entertainment (SVS&E),
an entity created in 2000 to oversee all business operation aspects
of the San Jose Sharks and HP Pavilion at San Jose. In March
2009, STRIKEFORCE signed a multi-year agreement with SHOWTIME®
to stage live events on the premium cable television network.
The promotion has since also produced two live, primetime events
on the CBS Television Network.
About
M-1 GLOBAL
M-1
GLOBAL (www.m-1global.com) has been one of the leading Mixed
Martial Arts (MMA) organizations in the world for well over a
decade. M-1 has promoted over 150 shows worldwide since 1995.
During the last two years, since the inception of M-1 GLOBAL,
the organization has promoted events all over the world, in over
20 countries and is shown on television in well over 100. In
2010 M-1 GLOBAL is promoting the Selection tournament, a competition
to find the best new talent in MMA the world over. 160 fighters
started in February from four global regions, and will be reduced
to 20 champions by September. M-1 Breakthrough will be taking
place in the U.S. and Europe starting in the fall and will pit
MMA's better known athletes and stars in a one-on-one competition.
Source: Event Promoter
|
Thompson
Talks Shine Fights; Veteran’s Future
By Kelsey
Mowatt
Nick
"The Goat" Thompson had been extremely excited to face
Eduardo Pamplona at Shine Fight’s scheduled May15th event;
upon the fight’s confirmation several weeks ago, the accomplished
veteran was quick to inform FCF that he was anxious to get back
in the ring. After all, Thompson had yet to compete in 2010,
after being stopped by Dan Hornbuckle at Sengoku’s “Tenth
Battle” event last September. In a strange and unfortunate
series of events, however, Thompson’s excitement soon turned
to disappointment, as a knee injury removed the fighter from
a bout, which never would have taken place anyways.
“I
was a late scratch from the card due to a knee injury. Even had
the event not been cancelled, I was unable to participate,”
said Thompson about the ill-fated May 15th Shine Fights event,
which was ultimately cancelled by North Carolina officials due
to reported regulatory requirement issues.
“And
I can't express my level of frustration with that fact,”
Thompson added. “From July 26, 2008 to now has been the
most exacerbating time in my career. I am 22-3 at welterweight,
with my losses being to the likes of Shields, Hornbuckle and
Parisyan and have wins over the likes of Daley, Weir, Alvarez,
Chalangov, Wilson, Wisniewski and Neer. Of those wins, only two
went past the second round. I should not have a hard time finding
fights. And yet, it has been a struggle. So to finally have someone
offer me a fight at welterweight and then to be hurt and have
to withdraw was a nightmare.”
Now
having gone nearly 8 months without fighting, the 28 year-old-fighter
/ lawyer could very well find himself back in Japan for his next
bout.
“I
am talking to several companies including Sengoku,” said
Thompson (38-12-1) while discussing his future. “Sengoku
is starting their welterweight tournament this summer and it
has long been my goal to be their champion. That being said,
they have used me three times in two years and are a part of
the reason for my frustration. For that reason, I am also talking
to other organizations. I talk to Bellator on a regular basis
regarding two of my clients, Cole Konrad and Dan Hornbuckle,
both of whom I expect to be Bellator title holders by the end
of the year, and am happy with my dealings with them. Thus, I
would be open to participating in their next 170lb. tournament.
And of course, I stay in touch with the UFC. I am hopeful that
before my career is over, I will return to the UFC as I still
feel I can beat nearly all of their welterweights.”
Despite
Shine Fight’s recent issues, which prompted the cancellation
of its May 15th event, Thompson has not closed the door on fighting
for the organization.
“As
far as fighting for Shine in the future, my teammate and client
Derrick Noble took my place on the card and if they pay him,
which they have emphatically said they will do, I would certainly
welcome the opportunity to fight for them in the future,”
Thompson told FCF. “I like that they are a company that
is run by fighters. While I do not like the disorganization that
eventually led to the shows being cancelled, I think they learned
a valuable, though costly, lesson and that they will be very
organized from hence forth. And ultimately, if they take care
of the fighters after losing and arm and a leg themselves, how
could I not fight for them?”
Source: Full Contact Fighter
|
TUF
11 RECAP: YAGER QUITS, ORTIZ OUT, ENTER FRANKLIN
by Jeff
Cain
A fighter quits on the stool, a coach leaves and a new coach
arrives on “The Ultimate Fighter 11: Team Liddell vs. Team
Ortiz” episode 10.
After
the opening montage of fighters kicking bags and fight scenes,
we picked up where we left off last week with UFC president Dana
White informing Chuck Liddell that Tito Ortiz has pulled out
of their scheduled third match up.
“I
told you he was going to do this bull(expletive). I told you
day (expletive) one,” barked an angry Liddell at White.
“I said that’s why I didn’t want to do this with
him.”
“I
got a text from Tito that said, ‘I’m out of the fight.
I’m hurt. My neck is messed up and needs surgery,”
explained White.
“Don’t
let that guy (expletive) fight anymore man,” said Liddell
right before referring to Ortiz as female genitalia. “Unless
I get to fight him, and then that’s a different story,”
he added with a smile.
“Tito
pisses me off. I mean I don’t like the guy and I didn’t
want to do the show with him. The only reward to the show was
getting to punch him in the head afterwards.”
Liddell
then questioned White, “What am I doing? So what do I do
now?”
White
informed Liddell, “You’re still going to fight at the
end of the show.”
Liddell
simply replied, “Yeah. Sure. Fine,” and left the room.
“Chuck
doesn’t understand. He doesn’t understand (expletive).
When I fought Forrest (Griffin), after the fight I had a lot
of tingliness in my ear. My legs would go numb. My arms would
go numb, “said Ortiz in the confessional. “And now
all of a sudden I’m having to go through neck surgery. I
guess it’s God seeing what type of person I am.”
It
was time for Team Ortiz’ Jamie Yager and Team Liddell’s
Josh Bryant to weigh-in for the final quarterfinal bout.
Josh
Bryant weighed in first at 186 pounds, and Jamie Yager tipped
the scales at 185.
Both
coaches were confident their fighter would come away with the
win.
“I
feel confident right now,” said Yager, predicting a knockout.
“I’m facing another guy who is a shorter wrestler guy
who is definitely going to try to take me down.”
“I
know he’s a tough guy. Everybody is tough at this point,
so I’m just going to try to take advantage of what I think
I’m better at than him,” stated Bryant in his pre-fight
confessional. “Yager’s going to be looking for me to
take him down, but that’s not at all my game plan. My game
plan is to hit him first, then take him down.”
JAMIE
YAGER VS. JOSH BRYANT
Yager
came out aggressive but was caught with a counter right hand
early in the first round before Bryant quickly closed the distance,
putting the taller fighter against the cage. Yager was able to
turn Bryant around and separate back to the center of the Octagon.
The
Team Ortiz fighter began working kicks from the outside looking
a little apprehensive to fully commit to his punches. With two
minutes remaining Yager picked up the pace, chasing his opponent
at times.
With
Yager in control of the round, Bryant rushed in with :20 seconds
remaining with a 1-2 combination that sent Yager to the canvas.
In
the second round the action escalated with Yager throwing flying
knees while Bryant let winging wild punches fly until he was
able to get a takedown landing in side control. But after a few
forearm strikes and elbows, Yager exploded off the bottom pressing
Bryant against the fence before the Team Liddell member worked
his way back to his feet.
Yager’s
jumping style was winning the round with kicks and knees but
with 90 seconds remaining he slipped and found Bryant on top
of him again. Bryant would spend the rest of the round in side
control landing short elbows and punches.
After
the bell, the exhausted Yager was extremely slow getting back
to his feet and back to his corner.
Dana
White announces that the judges declared it a draw and there
would be a third round.
Coach
Ortiz pleaded with his fighter, “Don’t you quit. Don’t
you quit.”
Yager
said, “I can’t see.”
Ortiz
tried to motivate his fighter to get off the stool and answer
the bell. “You will hate yourself for the rest of your life
if you quit this fight now,” said Ortiz.
Yager
would remain on his stool and remain silent when asked if he
wanted to continue despite Ortiz screaming at him to say ‘yes.’
The fight was called with Bryant declared the winner by TKO.
“I
would have never expected that from Yager,” commented White
after the fight. “It’s one thing to come in and play
the game and everything else. It’s another to quit on the
stool.”
Liddell
was elated with the win and celebrated telling Yager, “Just
like Tito. Just like Tito. He quit just like Tito.”
Ortiz
was beside himself calling Yager what Liddell called him earlier.
“You
can teach someone how to fight but you can’t teach someone
how to have heart,” said Ortiz. “Yager quit. Nothing
more than that. He quit. He was fine. He said the back of my
head, duh duh duh. No. He (expletive) quit.
“He
let me down. He let our coaches down. He let his team down, and
he let himself down.”
“If
you ain’t got no heart, you’re in the wrong mother(expletive)
sport,” Ortiz told his team as Yager was taken to the hospital
by ambulance. “No heart don’t work in this sport at
all.”
White
entered the Ortiz locker room asking to see Ortiz, and everyone
knew something was about to happen.
In
a closed door meeting with Ortiz, White played his best Donald
Trump and ended Ortiz’ stint as coach of “The Ultimate
Fighter 11.”
White
lined up Ortiz with a world renown surgeon to get a second opinion
on his neck and possibly further options to correct the injury,
but the catch was his time on the show ended then and there.
“The
way that this is going to work now - This has never happened
before in any season of The Ultimate Fighter. We never had a
coach fall out during the season. So you’re going to leave
tomorrow. Tomorrow is your last day,” White told the former
face of the organization.
Ortiz
was shocked at the decision, but White’s mind was made up
and another opponent for Liddell had been lined up.
“He
took me out of the show and said you’re fired,” commented
the emotional Ortiz. “I’ve never been fired at anything
in my life and it’s really hard to swallow it.”
“I
love to fight. I fight for my family. I fight for my fans. I
go through another surgery, I’ll be back,” said the
former light heavyweight titleholder. “I’ll take my
medicine like a man and I’ll continue on with my career.
I’m not going anywhere anytime soon. I‘ll be competing
again, for sure. This is not the last of Tito Ortiz.”
Ortiz
left the UFC Training Center without saying a word to anyone
while his team waited and wondered what was going on in a transport
van. Eventually White called the Team Ortiz members back inside
and broke the news to them expecting Ortiz to have already done
it.
The
Team Ortiz cast questioned the decision and raised concerns that
Kris McCray is still in the competition and how Ortiz’ exit
would affect his upcoming performance.
“Here’s
the thing, somebody else has signed on to fight Chuck,”
said the UFC president. “Somebody else is coming in and
they’re in route. They’re on their way.”
Specifically
addressing McCray, White stated, “I promise you that you’ll
have some good coaching. Trust me.”
The
team members were in disbelief that Ortiz left without saying
goodbyes, but Ortiz showed up at the fighter house a couple of
hours later for a final meeting with the athletes he trained
up until the semifinal round of the competition.
“It’s
hard being pulled away from something I have so much heart into,
and I have so much time into,” Ortiz told his team. “I
wish things could be different.”
“It’s
very hard for me to understand why I have to leave. I guess they
have to get the next guy in there to fight Chuck, and good luck
to him,” commented Ortiz. “I feel bad for Kris because
now all of a sudden he doesn’t have the coaches who got
him there.”
“I
just want to see you (expletive) win it Savage.”
And
with a final toast of drinks with his team, Tito Ortiz exited
“The Ultimate Fighter 11” to have successful neck surgery.
The
semifinal match ups came next with the teams gathered in the
training center. And the match ups are:
-
Brad Tavares vs. Court McGee
- Kris McCray vs. Josh Bryant
“I
don’t really care what anybody says, I fight to win and
I’ll beat Brad,” said McGee about the match up.
“He’s
a real tough guy. He likes to just break guys down and grind
them out. It’s the biggest fight of my life right now. After
this fight I make it to the finals,” commented Tavares.
Josh
Bryant defeated Kris McCray in episode 5 but McCray earned his
way back in the competition by winning the reality show’s
first wild card position by defeating Kyacey Uscola.
“Fighting
Kris twice doesn’t really matter to me. I came here to win
four fights. That’s what I’m going to do. I’m
going to win that fourth fight,” said Bryant after the rematch
announcement.
“Things
are going to be different this time around, “ stated McCray.
Now
it was time to find out who would be the replacement coach for
Kris McCray in the semifinals. We knew who it was by the fight
being announced already, but for those who don’t know, Rich
Franklin replaced Ortiz and will take on Liddell in the main
event of UFC 115 in Vancouver.
The
episode ended with and anticipation of who the assistant coach
for the former Team Ortiz will be. The preview for next weeks
episode gave us clues. He’s a former UFC Champion.
Whether
or not new shirts and jerseys had to be printed up remains unknown.
Also
next week we find out the first finalist as the winner of Brad
Tavares vs. Court McGee advances to the finale.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Talk
Radio: Number one contender fights and top eliminator bouts in
UFC should be 25 minutes long
By Zach
Arnold
From
this past Saturday night’s Sherdog radio show. Jordan Breen
has been leading the bandwagon for five round fights in non-title
bouts. So has Josh Gross of Sports Illustrated.
JORDAN
BREEN: “I think most people are content with Evans winning
because Rampage looked so blasé but I thought to me it
was another of those fight that reflected, I mean… if Evans
was the better man, I think he probably would have won those
next rounds and if Rampage did have the ability to knock him
out, I want to see it. It just seems like another one of those
fights that reinforces, these are guys that should be fighting
five rounds in total especially where one of the narratives going
into the fight is, ‘Oh, Rashad’s breaking down Rampage.”
Well if he’s going to break him down, I want to see him
break down. Give me rounds four and five. It seems a bit weird
to have a fight this big… Dana White made it explicit that
the winner, now Rashad Evans, is going to fight Mauricio Shogun
Rua later this year. It seems just wrong to have this be three
rounds. It seems anti-climatic and all too entirely short for
a fight of this magnitude.”
MARC
LAIMON: “Yeah, I agree. I mean, I kept making the mistake
thinking this was a five round fight and I was like, oh man they’re
getting close on time. And I was like, it was only three rounds
and I was like, oh man. Yeah, I did feel kind of gyped. You know
like I kept thinking this was a five round fight, five round
fight, and I was like, oh no, it’s only 15 minutes. It’s…
I really would have liked to seen what would have transpired
those last two rounds.”
JORDAN
BREEN: “Yeah, and obviously there then comes the issue and
this is the thing that I brought up with Keith Kizer basically
said, well when we go back and look at changing things in Nevada
we’re going to sort of allow these promotions to petition
us and say we would like this to be a five-round fight and then
we know that there’s always going to be an issue of what
fights become five round fights and you know where do you draw
the line. And again with Zuffa, this is a card where the main
event on a UFC card is still normally a title fight and this
ended you know basically five minutes before you know five to
seven minutes before they would have gone off on PPV. So, I mean
there are time considerations for PPVs but it seems like absolutely,
a title eliminator that Dana White explicitly says the winner’s
of this fight is going to be fighting a title, surely that has
to be the most appropriate step down from an actual title fight.
I mean, it’s the natural step below it, surely if anything
that’s the kind of fight that we can get behind for 25 minutes.”
Do
you think that eliminators or number one contender bouts should
go five rounds?
Talk Radio:
Did anything you see in the UFC 114 main event influence your
opinion on what the result of Rashad Evans vs. Mauricio Shogun
will be?
By Zach
Arnold
A
two-parter here from Jordan Breen’s conversation on Saturday
night with Marc Laimon. First, a discussion about the level of
wrestling we saw from Rashad Evans against Rampage Jackson in
the UFC 114 main event. The second part deals with the contrasting
styles of Rashad Evans and Mauricio Shogun and whose flaws will
get exposed more in that upcoming UFC Light Heavyweight title
fight.
First,
the passage on the wrestling skill displayed in the UFC 114 main
event:
JORDAN
BREEN: “I thought the most impressive thing to me was the
wrestling thing because in the past, like we saw in the Michael
Bisping fight and the Thiago Silva fight, even the Tito Ortiz
fight though he came on late, Rashad Evans pushes these guys
into the fence and it seems he always tires himself out more
than his opponent. This time around, it actually seemed to have
the intended consequence that he always hope that it will have.
He actually tired out Quinton Jackson more than himself. And
then on top of that, Rashad frankly because he’s a good
wrestler, because he has hand speed, he always you know it’s
this assumption ‘oh he’s athletic, he’s explosive’
and this time around, this was the first time we saw Rashad Evans
you know finish power double-legs away from the fence. He just
changed levels and exploded a couple of times. I thought this
was the most impressive implementation of his wrestling that
we have ever seen from Rashad Evans. Do you think that’s
a fair statement to make?
MARC
LAIMON: “I agree, yeah. He put on a you know very good display
and Rampage is not an easy guy to take down and he did it, I
don’t have the exact stats, but he did it a few times and
he played it well against the cage. I thought it was very impressive
wrestling by Rashad against a guy who a lot of good wrestlers
have looked bad against, you know Matt Lindland, Dan Henderson,
Kevin Randleman have all… you know lost to Rampage and those
are some high-caliber wrestlers there.”
Now,
the passage about the upcoming UFC Light Heavyweight title fight
and what kind of a chance Rashad Evans has in beating Mauricio
Shogun.
JORDAN
BREEN: “We’re going to get a title fight now. Rashad
Evans is all but locked up as #1 contender for Mauricio Shogun
Rua later this year. What do you make of an Evans/Shogun fight?
Because we’ve seen a lot of cross-over now at Light Heavyweight,
but this is a new, fresh match-up. What do you forecast for when
Evans get into the cage with Shogun later this year?”
MARC
LAIMON: “I can’t wait to see it. It’s going to
be a good fight. You know it’s going to be real interesting
to see how Rashad’s striking and Shogun’s striking
compare but I think the real interesting battle is going to be
if Rashad decides to take him down how Rashad’s wrestling
and his jiu-jitsu black belt will go against Mauricio Shogun
Rua and his jiu-jitsu black belt because they have very different
games and you know Shogun has very, very, very good half-guard.
He’s got some good leg locks that he’s gotten off that
in the past, but I’m really… I was really impressed
with his ability to get back up to his feet against (Lyoto) Machida
because Machida took him down rather easily and if I’m Rashad
looking at that I’d probably say, “Man, it’s pretty
easy to take that guy down,’ he thinks he might be able
to score some points that way to get a five-round decision. But,
you know, Shogun, is he going to be able to get back to his feet?
And then it’s going to be after he gets back to his feet
how much energy will he have to try to polish off Rashad standing
if he can, you know, it’s a nice contrast of styles. It’s
kind of the natural evolution from a striker/grappler into striker/grapplers
with a more well-rounded skill set, which should be rather entertaining.”
JORDAN
BREEN: “I’m definitely interested in seeing if Evans
can do anything if he gets takedowns because to me in my head
I think Evans gets a takedown, I can’t help but imagine
Shogun sweeping him within 30 seconds. I think his guard is so
underrated, from Omaplata’ng Ricardo Arona effortlessly
to how nicely he locked up that kneebar on Kevin Randleman. The
fact it was Kevin Randleman, notwithstanding. You know, he swept
Machida instantly and Machida’s a very good grappler on
the ground. I just find it hard to imagine a guy that really
couldn’t hold down Thiago Silva on the floor that he’s
going to be able to do a lot to Shogun. And then on the feet,
I see Shogun, yeah, you know maybe… I think a lot of people
go too far in saying that the cardio issues are done because
in the last couple of fights he’s got to fight at kind of
his own pace and control the tempo of the fight. But even then,
his ability to take shots to the face and the body is enormous.
I mean, Machida hit him square in the face in the first place.
He hit square in the body in both the first and second fights
and couldn’t really seem to put a dent in him. I think some
of the wide-open deficiencies that Shogun has are kind of going
to be masked by his toughness. I think it’s a tough fight
to imagine Evans getting in control enough in the stand-up, getting
in control enough on the ground for him to win. If you had to
go with a gut-instinct and make a pick at this point in time,
do you side with Shogun or do you think Evans can synthesize
a good-enough game plan where he can eek out that decision victory
or control Shogun and take his offense away?”
MARC
LAIMON: “Man, you know, I don’t know. That’s…
it’s going to be really interesting and I’d really
like to put in some tape study before I give a good analysis,
but… Man, my gut instinct you know just tells me like you
know Rashad you know his most recent fight with Thiago Silva,
he just really, did he throw three punches on the ground? He
never tried for a submission. Didn’t really advance position.
If you’re going to try to do that to a guy like Shogun I
think it’s going to be hard because he’s going to be
moving, disrupting your base, and then attacking submissions.
I mean, you talked about that Omaplata he hit on Arona which
was unbelievable you know what I mean, that was beautiful. And
then the way he can use that half-guard to either attack a leg
lock or attack getting back up to his feet is going to be issues
for Rashad and then if he can go to the next step and as he’s
getting up in those transitions where he knows those things leading
into integrating the striking in there, that could be a difficult
match-up for Rashad but you know Rashad can also make it a difficult
match-up for Shogun but man Shogun got taken down so easy by
Machida, you know I mean he took him down really, really easy
and I’d probably… Man, I don’t know. I don’t
know, but I really want to see the fight because that’s
a nice, nice match-up there you know. We could have had a re-match
with Rampage but now you got you know a fresh new fight with
Rashad and Shogun and I really want to see it and I hope we don’t
have to wait too long.”
After
the UFC 114 main event, I pegged Shogun at about a -300 favorite.
Probably on the high side, so let’s think about % wise.
I’ll give Shogun a 65% chance of winning.
Source: Fight Opinion
|
Bisping
wants Wand again and says he knows Jiu-Jitsu
by Carlos
Eduardo Ozório
Always controversial Englishman Michael Bisping had a smooth
ride to his win over Jiu-Jitsu black belt Dan Miller at UFC 114
this Saturday in Las Vegas.
“All
the Jiu-Jitsu guys think they’re going to submit me, but
I’ve been training Jiu-Jitsu for ten years. I won a championship
when I was 16 years old. People don’t know these things.
I just prefer to get the knockout,” says the fighter, who
is dying to get another stab at the man responsible for his last
loss.
“Wanderlei
Silva said he would take a rematch and I would love a rematch,”
he said.
Excited
about his latest result, Bisping projects what his hopes are
in the octagon.
“I
want to carry on like and by the end of the year or beginning
of next season get a shot at the title. I want to be the first
Englishman to win a UFC title. I’m the first to win The
Ultimate Fighter, the first to be in a main event and I’ll
be the first English champion of the world,” he says in
finishing.
Source: Gracie Magazine
|
MMAWEEKLY
WORLD MMA RANKINGS UPDATED
The latest MMAWeekly World MMA Rankings were released on Wednesday,
June 2. This system ranks the Top 10 MMA fighters from all across
the world in each of the seven most widely accepted weight classes.
Taken
into consideration are a fighter's performance in addition to
his win-loss record, head-to-head and common opponents, difficulty
of opponents, and numerous other factors in what is the most
comprehensive rankings system in the sport.
Fighters
who are currently serving drug-related suspensions are not eligible
for Top 10 consideration until they have fought one time after
the completion of their suspension.
Fighters
must also have competed within the past 12 months in order to
be eligible for Top 10 consideration unless they have a bout
scheduled within a reasonable time frame.
Below
are the current MMAWeekly World MMA Rankings, which are up-to-date
as of June 2.
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
HEAVYWEIGHT
DIVISION (over 205 pounds)
#1
Heavyweight Fighter in the World: Fedor Emelianenko
2.
Brock Lesnar
3.
Shane Carwin
4.
Cain Velasquez
5.
Junior Dos Santos
6.
Alistair Overeem
7.
Frank Mir
8.
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
9.
Fabricio Werdum
10.
Brett Rogers
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
LIGHT
HEAVYWEIGHT DIVISION (205-pound limit)
#1
Light Heavyweight Fighter in the World: Mauricio "Shogun"
Rua
2.
Lyoto Machida
3.
Rashad Evans
4.
Quinton Jackson
5.
Anderson Silva
6.
Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
7.
Forrest Griffin
8.
Jon Jones
9.
Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal
10.
Gegard Mousasi
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
MIDDLEWEIGHT
DIVISION (185-pound limit)
#1
Middleweight Fighter in the World: Anderson Silva
2.
Chael Sonnen
3.
Jake Shields
4.
Nathan Marquardt
5.
Demian Maia
6.
Dan Henderson
7.
Robbie Lawler
8.
Jorge Santiago
9.
Yoshihiro Akiyama
10.
Yushin Okami
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
WELTERWEIGHT
DIVISION (170-pound limit)
#1
Welterweight Fighter in the World: Georges St. Pierre
2.
Jon Fitch
3.
Thiago Alves
4.
Josh Koscheck
5.
Paulo Thiago
6.
Paul Daley
7.
Nick Diaz
8.
Matt Hughes
9.
Dan Hardy
10.
Martin Kampmann
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
LIGHTWEIGHT
DIVISION (160-pound limit)
#1
Lightweight Fighter in the World: Frankie Edgar
2.
B.J. Penn
3.
Gilbert Melendez
4.
Shinya Aoki
5.
Kenny Florian
6.
Eddie Alvarez
7.
Tatsuya Kawajiri
8.
Gray Maynard
9.
Ben Henderson
10.
Jim Miller
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
FEATHERWEIGHT
DIVISION (145 pound-limit)
#1
Featherweight Fighter in the World: Jose Aldo
2.
Manny Gamburyan
3.
Mike Brown
4.
Urijah Faber
5.
Raphael Assuncao
6.
Hatsu Hioki
7.
"Lion" Takeshi Inoue
8.
Leonard Garcia
9.
Bibiano Fernandes
10.
Josh Grispi
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
BANTAMWEIGHT
DIVISION (135 pounds or less)
#1
Featherweight Fighter in the World: Dominick Cruz
2.
Brian Bowles
3.
Joseph Benavidez
4.
Miguel Torres
5.
Scott Jorgensen
6.
Damacio Page
7.
Takeya Mizugaki
8.
Brad Pickett
9.
Masakatsu Ueda
10.
Charlie Valencia
Source: MMA Weekly
|
RASHAD
EVANS TOPS UFC 114 PAYROLL AT $435,000
The Nevada State Athletic Commission released the UFC 114 fighter
salary information to AOL Fanhouse. The main event featured a
grudge match between former UFC light heavyweight champions and
“Ultimate Fighter” coaches Quinton “Rampage”
Jackson and “Suga” Rashad Evans. The event took place
on Saturday, May 29, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
The
following figures are based on the fighter salary information
that promoters are required by law to submit to the state athletic
commissions, including the winners' bonuses. Any undisclosed
bonuses that a promoter also pays its fighters, but does not
disclose to the athletic commissions (such as pay-per-view bonuses),
are not included in the figures below.
MAIN
CARD FIGHTERS
-Rashad
Evans: $435,000 (includes $185,000 win bonus) def. Quinton Jackson:
$250,000
-Michael
Bisping: $190,000 (includes $15,000 win bonus) def. Dan Miller:
$15,000
-Mike
Russow: $24,000 (includes $12,000 win bonus) def. Todd Duffee:
$8,000
-Antonio
Rogerio Nogueira: $120,000 (includes $40,000 win bonus) def.
Jason Brilz: $11,000
-John
Hathaway: $22,000 (includes $11,000 win bonus) def. Diego Sanchez:
$50,000
PRELIMINARY
CARD FIGHTERS
-Dong
Hyun Kim: $64,000 (includes $32,000 win bonus) def. Amir Sadollah:
$15,000
-Efrain
Escudero: $30,000 (includes $15,000 win bonus) def. Dan Lauzon:
$15,000
-Melvin
Guillard: $38,000 (includes $19,000 win bonus) def. Waylon Lowe:
$6,000
-Cyrille
Diabate: $12,000 (includes $6,000 win bonus) def. Luiz Cane:
$19,000
-Aaron
Riley: $20,000 (includes $10,000 win bonus) def. Joe Brammer:
$5,000
-Ryan
Jensen: $16,000 (includes $8,000 win bonus) def. Jesse Forbes:
$6,000
UFC
114 DISCLOSED FIGHTER PAYROLL: $1,371,000
Source: MMA Weekly |
RAMPAGE
SAYS HE WAS NEARLY SUED FOR FIGHTING
There is no denying the pressure a fighter can feel when heading
into one of the biggest fights of his career. For Quinton "Rampage"
Jackson that pressure was compounded by his recent role in the
"A-Team" movie, which almost resulted in a lawsuit,
as well as contemplating future commitments that still loom overhead.
Jackson
said very candidly after his loss to Rashad Evans that he indeed
does have regrets about leaving the UFC to film the movie, and
that the pressure continued to build as Saturday night’s
fight grew nearer.
"I
never had any pressure like this my whole fighting career. I
focused really hard, and I trained really hard on this fight,
but me having this damn movie. I kind of almost regret doing
the damn movie and stuff now," Jackson said.
The
movie company that signed Jackson to reprise the role of B.A.
Baracus, made famous by Mr. T in the 1980's television show,
threatened a lawsuit when the found out he was fighting in the
UFC on Saturday. Jackson didn't mention if it was because the
date so closely coincided with the release of the A-Team movie,
which is set for June 11.
"Cause
there was so much pressure. Fox-Cannon threatened to sue me if
I lost and everything cause they didn't know I was fighting,"
he told reporters. "It was just a whole bunch of pressure
and stuff like that. I never fought under this much pressure
before in my life."
Now
that the filming is over and the movie is scheduled for release,
Jackson will hit the road with other cast members to help promote
“The A-Team” at various premieres and media functions.
Admitting that he'd rather just be at home with his kids, Jackson
will fulfill his press obligations and then try to get past all
the stress.
"I'm
just so happy for everything to be over with," he commented.
"I've got to leave tonight to go on tour for this damn movie
and everything. Regret I even did the movie almost. I'm a fighter,
and I tried to go into a whole new adventure and I didn't even
know anything about tours and stuff for movies. I had no idea
I had to do this stuff, so it's very stressful."
Still,
the movie business can be lucrative and Jackson has other offers
on the table should he choose to continue his acting career.
The former Pride fighter knows that to be either a fighter or
an actor it has to be full-time, and he has some decisions to
make.
"I
have a few movie offers on the table. They've been there for
a while, but I was just focusing on this fight and I wasn't worrying
about it," said Jackson. "I don't know; I've got to
make decisions. Cause it looks like it would be hard to do both.
I've got to think about which one I want to do."
Source: MMA Weekly |
BEERBOHM
OUT OF PROPOSED FIGHT WITH THOMSON
Josh Thomson may still be fighting in June, but his opponent
will not be Lyle Beerbohm.
Originally,
Strikeforce had hoped to place the winner of the Lyle Beerbohm/Vitor
Ribeiro fight in against Thomson in June, and while Beerbohm
won the fight he suffered an elbow injury that will prevent him
from taking the fight.
Beerbohm's
manager, Phil Lanides, confirmed the news with MMAWeekly.com
on Sunday, stating that the elbow simply wouldn't be ready in
time for him to take the fight just weeks away.
The
good news for Beerbohm is that Strikeforce has assured the young,
undefeated fighter a high profile fight on television when he
does return.
Currently
3-0 in Strikeforce and 14-0 overall, Beerbohm is one of the most
exciting prospects on the roster, and promises to be in title
contention in the near future if he keeps the winning streak
alive.
There
has been no word on who Thomson will face on the June show, assuming
the American Kickboxing Academy fighter is still set to return
at that time. No word from Strikeforce yet on Thomson's next
fight either, but with the timeline for the show closing in,
expect an announcement in the coming days.
Source: MMA Weekly |
UFC
WILL HONOR SUSPENSION IF DIAZ IS PUNISHED
The bad decisions surrounding the Strikeforce brawl in April
may affect a UFC fighter's upcoming bout in August depending
on what the Tennessee Athletic Commission ultimately decides.
Nate
Diaz, who was in the corner of his friend and teammate Jake Shields,
was also a part of the melee that broke out between the Cesar
Gracie team and Jason "Mayhem" Miller in April when
a fight erupted after Shields' victory over Dan Henderson.
Diaz
is expected to be disciplined along with Miller, Shields and
others involved in the brawl, according to a report by Sherdog.com
earlier this week. If Diaz lands a suspension, it could affect
his scheduled fight against Marcus Davis in August.
While
the suspensions could range anywhere from three to nine months,
if that timeline falls in with Diaz's fight, the UFC will honor
the suspension and he would have to be replaced.
"If
he gets suspended we're going to honor it," said UFC president
Dana White on Saturday following UFC 114.
Jason
Miller has already felt the ramifications of the brawl. He was
yanked from a proposed bout against Robbie Lawler in June.
While
Nick Diaz is also expected to face disciplinary action, he still
went to Japan and fought on Saturday night, submitting Hayato
"Mach" Sakurai at Dream 14.
White
says that if you do the crime you have to do the time, and that's
what Diaz will have to face if the commission hands down a suspension
or fine.
"I
didn't hear that he was going to get suspended. I didn't hear
that, but if he does, it is what it is," said White. "These
things happen when you get in a fight like that."
The
Tennessee Athletic Commission suggested a nine-month suspension
and upwards of a $20,000 fine for the athletes involved, but
that could be reduced to a three-month suspension and a much
lesser fine if the fighters don't contest the ruling.
A
three-month suspension from the April would not affect Diaz's
standing for the August fight, but there has been no final word
yet released from the commission. Expect more news on this situation
to be released when the Tennessee Athletic Commission reaches
a final verdict for the fighters.
Source: MMA Weekly |
MACHIDA
VS. RAMPAGE COULD BE NEXT
Now that Rashad Evans is set to face Mauricio "Shogun"
Rua for the UFC light heavyweight title later this year, what
about the two fighters they defeated to make that championship
fight?
Well,
it looks like Lyoto Machida will sit down with UFC president
Dana White very soon to decide his next fight and it may very
well end up being against the other fighter in this equation,
Quinton "Rampage" Jackson.
"I'm
going to get together with Machida in the next couple of days,
maybe Rampage," said White on Saturday night following UFC
114.
Machida
suffered the first loss of his career in May when he was TKO'd
by Rua in a rematch of a fight the two had in 2009. Their first
bout ended in controversial fashion with Machida winning a decision
in a bout most observers scored the other way.
Obviously
looking to get back to the title, Machida's fastest path to that
may be fighting another top light heavyweight and Jackson more
than fills that requirement.
A
former light heavyweight champion in his own right, Jackson suffered
a tough loss to Evans on Saturday night, and admitted that the
pressure from the fight and from filming the "A-Team"
movie got to him, along with ring rust from being out of the
game for 14 months.
A
bout between Machida and Jackson would surely vault the winner
into striking distance of a title shot, and possibly revenge.
More
news about Machida's next fight should be released in the coming
days when White has a chance to sit down with the Brazilian and
his manager.
Source: MMA Weekly |
Mario
Yamasaki: “Dana White’s a good boss”
UFC
referee and Jiu-Jitsu black belt Mario Yamasaki will see action
this Friday at Bitetti Combat in Rio de Janeiro. To make it for
the occasion, Mario had to ask to be released from his duties
at UFC 114 in Las Vegas this Saturday. What were his reasons
for doing so? To support MMA in his country.
“To
give you an idea, there’s going to be a UFC this Saturday.
I spoke to Bitetti and Fernando and they told me they wanted
me at their event. I chose to stay out this time because I want
to help MMA in Brazil. The sport started in Brazil and we have
to be strong. People have to support the events and not just
try and get in free or criticize. What we need in the country
is support and sponsors,” he told GRACIEMAG.com.
The
fact he will referee at BC doesn’t mean he is unsatisfied
with the UFC. Indeed, Yamasaki is more than satisfied with the
biggest event in the world, even with his boss, the controversial
Dana White.
“He’s
always been great to me and is a great guy. I have no complaints.
There are a lot of people who criticize Bitetti Combat, for example.
But the guys at the event have always dealt with me properly
and that’s why I’m here. Dana’s a good boss.”
In
the USA the ref supports different events too, like he did with
Washington Combat recently, where he had Pedro Rizzo and Gustavo
Ximu put in appearances.
“What
I do is support the event, whether it be by using my fighter
or sponsor contacts. I can’t get involved in the production
because I’m a referee. I leave that to my brother, but I
give all the support needed for success,” he says in finishing.
Source: Gracie Magazine |
Dana
White wants 100 UFCs per year
The
UFC is becoming an even more worldwide promotion with every day.
After recently holding events in England, the United Arab Emirates
and Canada, not to mention the United States, the organization
looks to expand into Asia. President of the promotion Dana White
said they should be opening an office in China.
“Lorenzo
(Fertitta) has been in China for the past ten days and we’ll
see what happens,” says White.
Dana
is keen on the Asian public, however, that doesn’t divert
his attention from continuing to promote the organization’s
growth in the USA, where he awaits the go-ahead to hold MMA events
in strategic locations like New York.
Lately
the UFC held four events in less than a month. The UFC top dog’s
outlook is even grander then that, though.
“It’s
a work in progress. If you told me six or seven years ago that
we’d be holding 34 events in one year, I’d say you
were crazy. It’s possible and likely that we will reach
100 shows per year,” he told MMAJunkie.
Source: Gracie Magazine |
Worlds
2010: black belt with Italian seasoning
Andrea
Verdemare, 25, has nothing but respect for his opponents Bruno
Malfacine, Caio Terra, Felipe Costa and Bernardo Pitel, not the
mention the hard-nosed Japanese competitors in his weight class.
He
does amuse himself by declaring, “I’m not the favorite,
but I’m still first!” though.
The
roosterweight is a true rarity in the Worlds 2010 to start up
this June 3. He’s an Italian black belt. He’s the first
of his ilk to compete in the adult division; he himself did the
research.
“I’ve
been training in Rome since 2002 with Professor Federico Tisi
at Tribe Jiu-Jitsu Roma academy,” he begins. “I train
and teach a lot, but I feel what distinguishes me from other
competitors is that I spend eight hours a day working in an office.
That gets in the way of my training, resting and training again
like the other professional fighters do.”
Yes,
Verdemare is a Jiu-Jitsu teacher in his off hours; during the
work day he works in software development for an IT company.
“It’s
really hard for me to reach the level of the other elite fighters
because of my routine, but it’s still my dream. That’s
where I want to be. And that’s why I forsake everything,
all my time and energy, because my dream is to be a champion,”
says the Italian, who has been through an experience “a
la Jacaré” at a Worlds before.
“I’ve
been competing at all the Worlds’ since the 2006 one, in
Rio. My best result was silver in 2008 as a purple belt. I felt
a bit like [Ronaldo] Jacaré because my opponent in the
semifinal broke my wrist and I forged on and won. There was no
way to go through with the final, though, because I only had
the use of one hand,” he recalls.
Andrea
has won several tournaments in Europe, but he’s famous in
Italy for one no-gi win: weighing 56kg, he submitted an opponent
weighing 115kg at a domestic edition of the ADCC.
“It
was a true demonstration of technique over strength,” says
he, who like any good Italian ends complaining… about GRACIEMAG:
“After my black belt debut at the 2010 European Championship
in January, the magazine wrote that Bruno Malfacine messed me
up in a match. But when you fight a champion of his level, it’s
all about not making any mistakes or leaving openings to get
submitted. I couldn’t let him get my back because then there
would be no way out. But anyone who watches the match on youtube
will be able to appreciate my attacks and escapes.”
So
what are the brave little gladiator’s expectations for the
2010 Worlds? “I want to bring honor to sport Jiu-Jitsu and
– who knows? – maybe even surprise you guys.”
Source: Gracie Magazine
|
2010
Hawaii State Open Boxing Championship
Our 2010 Hawaii State Open Boxing Championship will be held on
friday, June 4 (7:30p.m), sat. the 5th (6:30 p.m.), and Finals
Sunday the June 6th (1 p.m.) at the Evolution Training Center
in the Waipio Industrial Court room #110. The 4th will be non-tournament
bouts Admission will be $12 for friday and saturday, and $15
for finals on sunday. Boxers from Oahu, Maui, Kauai, Big Island
and maybe Molokai coming to compete.
Winners of Championship bouts advance to the 2010 USA National
Boxing Championships at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado
Springs, CO. on July 10 - 18. Top 4 boxers earn a berth on the
U.S.A. National Team and the top 2 will go on the USA-Boxing
payroll for 12 months.
If you have any questions email me back or call at 542-1181.
Thanks Always for the Support and Take Care,
Bruce Kawano
Interim Manager Amateur Boxing of Hawaii
Boxing Commissioner - Hawaii State Boxing Commission
Ringside Board of Advisors
NMU Task Force Appointed Member |
What
next for ‘Rampage,’ Evans?
LAS
VEGAS – Quinton “Rampage” Jackson admitted that
he was told over and over about ring rust.
Jackson
kept denying it was an issue, but after losing to Rashad Evans
in what may have been the most anticipated non-championship match
in UFC history on Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena,
he admitted he recognized it was a problem all along.
The
big question going forward for the star of the soon-to-be-released
“A-Team” movie is this: Where does he go from here
in his attempt to balance fighting and acting? Even Jackson said
it’s something he’s going to have to think hard about.
“I
feel like tonight wasn’t the real me,” Jackson (30-8)
said after his UFC 114 main-event loss. “I feel I hesitated
too much. I’m not going to make excuses.
“Rashad
is a good fighter. He had a good strategy. He’s a good wrestler.
I was surprised he took me down. I still feel I’m at another
level [than Evans as a fighter]. I feel if I hadn’t taken
a long time off the fight it would have been a different fight.
He may still have beaten me, but it would have been more competitive.”
Jackson, the former UFC light heavyweight champion, hadn’t
fought since winning a split decision over Evans’ training
partner and good friend Keith Jardine nearly 15 months ago –
the night the public war of words between Jackson and Evans started
when Evans got into the cage and confronted Jackson.
The
long delay came initially when Jackson turned down a shot at
Evans due to a jaw injury. Then Evans lost the light heavyweight
title to Lyoto Machida, Jackson’s replacement. The two then
coached on Season 10 of “The Ultimate Fighter,” and
with the delay between filming and airing, it would have meant
a break until all the episodes aired in mid-December.
But
after filming, Jackson got the “A-Team” lead role as
B.A. Baracus and pulled out of the fight. After filming, Jackson
came to camp at 251 pounds, meaning he had to drop significant
weight.
There
was some thought that the delay would lessen interest in the
fight, with the reality-show hype fading from people’s memories.
But in recent weeks it was pretty clear that the opposite was
true. The live attendance of 15,081 fans, heavily pro-Jackson,
was the largest for a UFC event in its home market of Las Vegas.
There were several closed-circuit locations opened up around
the city for the overflow, the first for a UFC event that didn’t
include a championship match.
“It
was a killer weekend,” said UFC president Dana White, who
ran a Fan Expo convention in conjunction with the fight that
drew a total of 125,000 people to the Mandalay Bay Convention
Center on Friday and Saturday. “People were asking me if
the fact the fight was put off made it more dramatic. I’m
happy it all came together. [Jackson] made a great movie, he
really killed it, it’s going to be a big summer hit, and
we still got to do this fight. People who aren’t normally
into MMA were into this fight.”
While
most fighters take a vacation after a big fight, Jackson has
to leave immediately to help promote the movie, which is being
released on June 11.
Jackson’s
reality is that while he’s acting and touring to promote
his movie, his competition in a deep light heavyweight division
is focusing on only one goal instead of having their attention
divided.
“I
never had any kind of pressure like this in my whole career,”
he said. “I kind of regret doing this movie. I normally
perform well under pressure. I’m happy everything’s
over with. I’ve got to leave on tour for this movie.
“When
I did it [the movie] I never knew about [promotional] tours.
When I finish this tour I’ll be with my kids and at last
in my house. I got no injures. I’m good.”
Both
men embraced after the fight, but depending on where their futures
take them, a rematch is certainly possible.
“I
was giving him his respect,” Evans said about the reaction.
“He came back from doing a movie and he has a lot of things
on his plate. It was hard for him to commit himself. He fought
a lot harder than I thought he was going to fight. When you fight
someone for 15 minutes and you give him everything you got, you
have to respect him.”
Exactly
where Jackson goes from here is unknown, other than he made it
clear he needs to fight more often. He noted that people were
telling him he needed a tune-up fight before Evans, but he felt
that in the UFC, there’s no such thing as a tune-up. After
the event, White said he didn’t know what would be next
for Jackson but he did mention someone like Machida, now a former
champion after having lost to Mauricio “Shogun” Rua
three weeks ago in Montreal, as a possibility.
“I’d
like to get in there as soon as possible,” said Jackson.
“This fight is going to haunt me for a long time.”
With
the win, Evans (20-1-1), will get the first title shot at Rua.
Evans, like Jackson, said he came out of Saturday’s fight
injury free, so he would be ready for the title fight with a
relatively short turnaround, with a fall date looking likely.
Evans
would match up completely different with Rua than Jackson. The
Brazilian-born champion is quicker than Jackson, not quite as
hard hitting but still with knockout power and with a wider variety
of weapons. With Jackson, Evans mainly had to be concerned with
the big right hand. Rua brings strong low kicks. He’s also
much more dangerous on the ground when it comes to submissions.
His takedown defense may not be as strong as Jackson’s,
but being on top on the ground was safe with Jackson and wouldn’t
be with Rua.
Jackson
made it clear he wanted a rematch, and Evans seemed fine with
that, although he admitted being relieved the first fight was
over.
“I’m
happy I don’t have to talk about Rampage anymore,”
said Evans.
“I
talked about him all day, every day. I got tired of it. He was
haunting me in my dreams. I couldn‘t even get away from
him in my sleep.”
“I
think anything can happen,” said White. “It depends
on what paths they take. He’s [Evans] going to fight Shogun
and we’ll see who Rampage fights, and we’ll see from
there. They’re two of the best light heavyweights and they
could meet again.”
As
parting shots, the two were already starting the build-up.
“Rashad
can still kiss my ass,” said Jackson. “He had a good
fight. I’m not a sore loser. I still haven’t forgotten
all the stuff he said. He can kiss my black ass.”
“He
can kiss my ass, too,” said Evans.
Source: Yahoo Sports |
‘Rampage’-Evans
fails to live up to billing
LAS
VEGAS – The interest, and particularly the hype, surrounding
the main event of UFC 114 was so over the top that on Saturday
afternoon, UFC president Dana White sent President Barack Obama
a message on his Twitter account asking who he thought would
win the grudge match between Rashad Evans and Quinton “Rampage”
Jackson.
Obama
missed a good card with a series of action-packed fights, but
unfortunately for White, he didn’t miss much by not catching
the main event.
The
fight was a letdown after literally months of over-the-top trash
talking from both men. It was a tactical, technical affair that
would have been a perfectly acceptable match had it been stuck
in the middle of a card somewhere.
After
all the trash these men talked, through a season of “The
Ultimate Fighter,” three episodes of a preview show, during
a circus-like conference call, throughout innumerable media appearances
and on their personal Twitter accounts, Evans’ unanimous
decision before a sellout crowd of 15,081 at the MGM Grand Garden
Arena on Saturday was clearly a letdown.
Listening
to the booing from an angry crowd that was there to watch someone
get concussed, it was almost like being at one of Anderson Silva’s
recent middleweight title fights.
Evans
earned a light heavyweight championship shot against Mauricio
“Shogun” Rua with the win. Judge Sal D’Amato scored
it 29-28, while judges Glenn Trowbridge and Marcos Rosales each
had it 30-27 for Evans. Yahoo! Sports also favored Evans, 30-27.
A
Rua-Evans match will undoubtedly be more respectful during the
buildup, but they may actually make a more action-packed fight
in the cage.
For
all the smack both Jackson and Evans spoke, the match was bereft
of drama, with few major punches landed and fewer changes of
momentum.
Evans
fought a brilliant strategic fight, using his quickness to circle,
move in and out and neutralize Jackson’s crushing one-punch
knockout power. He took Jackson down several times and, except
for a brief sequence in the third round, was never in trouble.
Evans
landed a powerful overhand right in the opening seconds of the
bout that sent Jackson staggering back against the cage. But
they grappled for position against the fence for what seemed
like an interminable length of time before referee Herb Dean,
much to the crowd’s delight, broke it up and sent them to
the middle of the ring.
Jackson
caught Evans with a combination along the fence about halfway
through the final round that knocked Evans down. Jackson quickly
pounced and, for a few seconds, it seemed there would be plenty
of drama.
Evans,
though, managed to regain his senses, scramble back to his feet
and win the remainder of the round. He hurt Jackson with a punch
that knocked the star of the upcoming movie, “The A-Team,”
down and then landed several hard blows on the ground.
For
the most part, however, this was a bout in which the fight didn’t
live up to the trash talk. It was not a bad fight, but it failed
badly to live up to the billing as one of the most significant
matches in UFC history.
Worse,
though the fighters shook hands when the bout ended and professed
respect for each other, the bitter feelings didn’t end with
the final bell.
“Rashad
can still kiss my ass,” Jackson said. “He fought a
good fight, but he can still kiss my ass. He said a whole lot
of stuff and I ain’t going to forget it. We’re both
warriors and I’m not a sore loser. I’m a fighter and
I’ve been a fighter all my life. But with the stuff he said,
he can kiss my black ass.”
The
nearly 15-month layoff clearly had an impact on Jackson, who
wasn’t able to force Evans to stand and fight him. Evans
dictated when, where and how the fight was fought, and Jackson
looked a step slow.
Jackson
attributed that to making the movie and the pressure he felt
as a result. He said that FOX threatened to sue him when it learned
he accepted the fight against Evans.
He
said he prepared for Evans to move and wrestle him, but he said
his timing wasn’t what he wanted it to be.
“I
feel tonight wasn’t the real me,” Jackson said. “I
hesitated too much and I just don’t feel I was at my best.
I’m not going to sit here and make excuses. Rashad is a
good fighter. He proved that. That’s why I respect him.
He proved that. He had a good strategy and he was real quick.
I was surprised he took me down, but I still feel I’m on
another level.”
No
one, particularly Jackson, could have been surprised by Evans’
strategy. He simply couldn’t afford to stand and trade punches
with the powerful Jackson.
Evans’
game plan was all about defusing Jackson’s power. At one
point in his career, Jackson’s wrestling was a major factor
for him and he won fights by wrestling. But he is now at a stage
where he’s almost a one-dimensional puncher.
Evans
recognized that and took that aspect of the game away from him
for the most part.
“One
thing I wanted to do was I wanted to keep him guessing,”
said Evans, who came out of the fight with no injuries and said
he’d be able to fight Rua whenever the UFC wanted. “Rampage
is probably the best in the game when it comes to timing people
pulling back and catching them with the uppercut. I wanted to
keep him guessing and not know what I was going to do. I had
picked up on a couple of things he was doing in anticipation
of my shot and I wanted to exploit that.”
The
crowd booed frequently, though it booed throughout much of the
night of what was a very solid card.
White
correctly noted that the buildup of the main event left the crowd
wanting blood.
“People
were booing at stupid stuff tonight,” White said. “Guys
aren’t going to run out there and throw haymakers. There
is strategy and these guys have game plans. They’re not
going to run in like a train wreck at each other. The crowd was
really fired up tonight. The referee would say, ‘OK, let’s
go,’ and the guys wouldn’t even get to each other and
they were booing.”
No
one was asking Jackson and Evans to replicate Forrest Griffin-Stephan
Bonnar I or stand in front of each other like Rock ‘Em,
Sock ‘Em Robots, but after a season’s worth of taunts
on “The Ultimate Fighter,” and months more in the prefight
buildup, they had a right to expect a little more than they got
on Saturday.
When
they didn’t get it, they booed.
And
while they were out of line on many occasions, they weren’t
in the main event, even if Evans didn’t see it that way.
“One
thing that you understand really quickly as a fighter that the
fans don’t understand is that we don’t have eight-
or 10-ounce gloves on,” Evans said. “We have four-ounce
gloves on and underneath that is a cast. I wasn’t taking
no shots for no amount of boos.”
There
were a lot of “Holy cow!” moments during Saturday’s
card.
Too
bad there were precious few of them in the main event.
Source: Yahoo Sports
|
UFC
114 FIGHTER BONUSES, GATE & ATTENDANCE FIGURES
A sold-out crowd of 13,081 spectators jammed inside the MGM Grand
Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday night to witness UFC 114
headlined by the grudge match between former UFC light heavyweight
titleholders “Sugar” Rashad Evans and Quinton “Rampage”
Jackson. Gate ticket sales garnered $3.895 million.
The
UFC handed out $65,000 bonus checks for UFC 114 in-Octagon performances
to Ryan Jensen, Mike Russow, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, and Jason
Brilz.
Knockout
of the Night honors went to Mike Russow, who was trailing the
entire fight against hot prospect Todd Duffee when he landed
a right hand in the final round, knocking his opponent out.
The
Submission of the Night bonus money went to Ryan Jensen for his
guillotine choke win over Jesse Forbes in UFC 114 preliminary
action.
Antonio
Rogerio Nogueira and Jason Brilz took home the Fight of the Night
award for their back and forth three-round war where Brilz was
impressive. Loud boos from the fans after the decision was announced
told the tale of how close of a fight it was.
$260,000
in bonus money was awarded at UFC 114.
Source: MMA Weekly |
RASHAD
EVANS SETTLES THE SCORE WITH RAMPAGE
It was possibly the most heated grudge match in UFC history,
but in the end Rashad Evans settled the score with his former
"Ultimate Fighter" coach, defeating Quinton "Rampage"
Jackson by unanimous decision on Saturday night in Las Vegas.
Bad
blood couldn't even begin to describe the feelings between Evans
and Jackson heading into the fight, throwing out just about every
profanity and insult they could think of for one another before
the actual fight ever started.
An
intense staredown before the fight started, and referee Herb
Dean had to order the fighters to separate and get back to the
corner before the action started. Just moments later it looked
like the fight could have ended.
As
the fighters look to trade punches, Evans unloaded a big right
hand on Jackson's jaw that sent him flying backwards towards
the cage.
"I
caught him with the straight right coming in, and he didn't see
that one coming," Evans said about the shot after the fight.
Jackson
did a good job regaining his composure while clinched with Evans
against the cage, and the fight continued. While after the fight
he claimed he didn't have a specific strategy heading into the
fight, Evans certainly was workman like in his approach to use
his speed on the feet, and then the clinch and the ground where
he had an obvious advantage.
"The
gameplan was simple, it was just not to have a gameplan at all.
Just know what I do well, know what he doesn't do well, and stay
out of positions I'm not too good at," Evans stated.
Keeping
Rampage guessing with superior footwork and takedowns also fell
into the mix for Evans, who put on one of his most masterful
performances on Saturday night. Showing great footwork and head
movement, Evans seemed to confuse Jackson, who loaded up on punches
but whiffed when he threw them as his quicker opponent was already
out of the way.
The
plan was working to perfection until the third round.
During
an exchange, Jackson caught Evans with a big punch that buckled
the former Michigan State wrestler's knees and he was soon on
his back staring up at the lights looking to recover.
"I
went numb for a little bit, but that's what happens sometimes,"
Evans commented about the shot that knocked him down.
Quickly,
Rampage tried to rush in to get a finish after losing the first
two rounds, but Evans persevered and got his faculties back,
and recovered well enough later to land another takedown, virtually
locking up the victory.
"It's
a huge relief," said Evans about getting the win. "Me
and Quinton wanted to put on a good show, and you know what if
he want to do it again, I'd love to fight him again."
Humble
in defeat, Jackson let all the trash talk fall by the wayside
and in a very classy manner gave credit to his opponent for outworking
him on Saturday night.
"I
tried my best, Rashad is really tough I can tell he worked really
hard, he was faster than I anticipated," Jackson stated.
"He was the man here today."
With
the win and a rivalry settled, Evans can now focus on the next
task at hand. Like going from the frying pan into the fire, his
next challenge will come by the way of reigning light heavyweight
champion Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, with the 205lb title
on the line likely later this year.
Source: MMA Weekly |
BARONI
VS. SALTER SET FOR UFC 118 IN BOSTON
It's back to middleweight for the New York Badass. Phil Baroni's
trip to the welterweight class appears over for now as he's set
to return to 185lbs in his next fight when he faces John Salter
at UFC 118 in Boston on the undercard of the show.
The
bout was confirmed to MMAWeekly.com by sources close to the fight
on Saturday.
With
a 13-12 record, the pressure is definitely on Phil Baroni to
succeed in his upcoming fight. The New York native has bounced
around to several different organizations over the last few years,
and made it his goal to get back to the UFC again, something
he accomplished in November 2009.
Baroni
made it back, but fell short in his fight against Amir Sadollah,
losing by unanimous decision. Now back at middleweight, Baroni
has to know the pressure is on to get a win or possibly find
a new fighting home.
Facing
Baroni in Boston will be Alabama fighter John Salter (5-1) who
had an unfortunate ending to his last fight in the UFC when opponent
Jason MacDonald snapped his leg in the first round of their fight
at UFC 113 in May.
An
accomplished wrestler, Salter has also taken home titles at several
grappling tournaments and posted an undefeated record in MMA
before stepping in on 6 days notice to face Gerald Harris in
January. Salter lost the bout in the third round, but definitely
showed up to fight and now looks to build on his last performance
when he faces Baroni in August.
The
bout between Baroni and Salter will be a part of the untelevised
undercard for the UFC 118 show in Boston slated for August 28.
Source: MMA Weekly |
WEC’s
Diego Nunes joins Nova União camp
The
featherweight Diego Nunes, one of the great Brazilian names on
WEC, has a new home. The preparation for the fight against Raphael
Assunção, which will happen on June 20 on WEC 49,
has been done on Nova União, the team of the current champion
of the division, José Aldo. On a quick chat with TATAME,
Diego commented the change, talked about the expectations for
the fight against another Brazilian and rejected the idea of
confronting Aldo, accepting the label of guardian. “Whoever
wants to reach the belt has to beat me first”, warns Diego,
on the interview you can check below.
What
are the expectations for the fight?
Very
high… I’m coming from a loss, I’m burned, and
I want to make it up. I came here to fulfill all my needs and
I’ll go for it.
What
are the strong points of Raphael?
Raphael
is very versatile, likes to stand a little, has a good ground
game, he’s consistent. He has a lot guts, like every Brazilian,
we do not give up… I’ll try to submit him, but I’m
ready for a war… It’ll be a Brazilian war.
Do
you mind confronting other Brazilians?
I’m
used to it... it’s the second time I fight a Brazilian,
it’ll be another Rafael on my way, but I’m ready to
divert from all things that I found in my way (laughs), that
won’t disturb me. It’s not nice, we’re Brazilians
and we know it’s not easy having the fight as your meal
ticket. Every Brazilian wants to travel abroad and beat other
guys, but it’s a part of the job. It will be a fight of
good neighborliness.
What
have you learned with your first loss?
A
lot... I usually say that we learn from our wins, but we learn
even more with our losses. I wanted the win so badly, but this
loss made me stop and analyze a lot of things. To be honest,
it took a while for me to put things in their places, I gave
up a fight before, but you can be sure that, if I’m here
in Nova União it’s because of my loss, and I’m
learning a lot more. This loss was a great victory.
Have
you already trained with José Aldo on Nova União?
Not
yet, we just met on fighting days, when he won the belt. He’s
a great person, I can say we have a similar career. I’m
a big fan of him, Anderson, Lyoto and Shogun… I really admire
them.
And
if WEC decides to put you two facing each other for the belt?
This
fight won’t happen. I don’t want to fight for the belt
on this division, I think of changing to a lighter division in
the future. He is my friend now, an extraordinary person…
I want to train with him, and whoever wants to reach the belt
has to beat me first.
Source: Tatame |
Who
will be the next absolute champion?
Each
year the World of Jiu-Jitsu brings more fans and fighters to
California with the dream of becoming the champion of the most
glamorous event of the soft art. It will not be any different
in 2010 and TATAME already is on its way to California to follow
every detail of the fifteenth CBJJ World.
Among
all the athletes that want to win on the weight divisions, some
of them also seek the absolute. Pointed out as the main names
of the division, Roger Gracie and Xande Ribeiro may write another
chapter on the Jiu-Jitsu’s history. Two-time world absolute
champions, both wants to win the third title. TATAME’s subscribers
bet on Roger while Xande hopes for another finale against Gracie
for the dispute of who will be three-time absolute champion.
“It
would be very interesting to fight against Roger on this finale,
there are a lot of good fighters I’ll have to beat first,
and he is one of them. Of course I want to fight against him
and I’m sure he feels the same about me, and I believe it
will be an historical Jiu-Jitsu fight. Let’s go there and
fight for this third absolute title, but I’m also thinking
about other titles, like the fifth title on the heavy weight
division, something no one has”, said Xande.
One
of the favorites on the weight dispute, Bráulio Estima
wants to surprise on the absolute. “I’m focused on
the World. I’ve been training Jiu-Jitsu, let’s do our
best on this World. I want to fight against Xande really bad...
World without him is not the same thing, it’s very satisfying
to fight with him and let’s hope for a fight with him on
the finale o on the absolute”, said Bráulio, who
would have his MMA debut on May 15, but it did not happened.
One
of the big surprises of World Pro of Abu Dhabi was Cláudio
Calasans. Working silently, the tough guy won both weight and
absolute exactly against Bráulio, and wants to do the
same in California. “My main goal is the World, I’ll
win. I’m not worried about who will I fight against, I’ll
get there with all the confidence on my training and on what
I do everyday”, warns Calasans, who won US$28 thousand on
the Arab Emirates.
With
the second place on last year’s World, Rômulo Barral
is another strong name on the reach for the title, besides Marcelinho
Garcia. Bernardo Augusto, who won the absolute on Pan Am an Brazil
wants to keep on this good phase in California, and the names
of Ricardo Demente and Gabriel Vella promise to make it harder
for the other fighters. Click here to check a special section
of World 2010 and to know everything about the tournament, which
will happen in June between the days 3 and 6 on the USA.
Source: Tatame |
Where
I Was Wrong: Todd Duffee, John Hathaway, Jason Brilz
Before
every big fight card, I write up a preview and predictions piece.
Invariably, some of my predictions are wrong. Here I'll examine
where I went wrong and why on my UFC 114 preview and predictions.
Todd
Duffee: I picked Duffee to beat Mike Russow, and I even wrote
that the 24-year-old Duffee could challenge Junior dos Santos
for the title of the best young heavyweight in MMA.
For
the first few minutes of the fight Duffee looked like he would
prove me right. But two things started to happen: Duffee started
to run out of gas, and Russow showed off an incredible chin and
refusal to go down. Eventually Duffee had punched himself out
and started to drop his hands, and then, in the third round,
Russow landed a punch right on the money that knocked Duffee
out.
I
probably overreacted when Duffee set the record for the fastest
knockout in UFC history by finishing Tim Hague in seven seconds
at UFC 102, so I'm going to try not to overreact in the opposite
direction to this fight. Duffee is a good young heavyweight prospect
with the power to be a real threat in the future. But Russow
showed how an experienced opponent with a good chin can weather
the storm and beat Duffee.
John
Hathaway: I knew Hathaway was a very good young welterweight,
but I didn't think he was quite ready for an opponent on the
level of Diego Sanchez. As it turned out, Hathaway thoroughly
dominated Sanchez from start to finish, winning 30-27 on two
judges' cards and 30-26 on the other. I'm very excited about
what Hathaway can do in the future.
Jason
Brilz: Technically, I wasn't wrong about this one. I said Antonio
Rogerio Nogueira would win his fight with Brilz, and Nogueira
did win. But I was completely wrong about how the fight would
go. I referred to Brilz as "a much weaker opponent"
for Nogueira than his originally scheduled opponent, Forrest
Griffin, and I said Nogueira would finish Brilz in the first
round.
As
it turned out, Brilz took Nogueira to a very close split decision
that I personally scored for Brilz, 29-28. And in retrospect,
I actually think Brilz fought Nogueira better than Griffin would
have: I thought Brilz did a great job of taking Nogueira down
and using his wrestling to control him on the ground, and I'm
not sure Griffin would have been as successful.Brilz lost, but
he proved a lot of people wrong -- including yours truly.
Source: MMA Fighting
|
X-1:
Nations Collide
Blaisdell Arena, Honolulu, Hawaii
June 4, 2010
7:30PM
www.x1events.com
(808) 591-2211
Tickets
on Sale Now!
170lbs X-1 World Championship Bout
Brandon Wolff (Champion) vs. Dylan Clay (#1 Contender)
8-Man
Heavyweight Tournament
Bracket A
Maui Wolfgram (Hawaii) vs. Ricky Shivers (Alaska)
Adam Akau (Hawaii) vs. Hae Joon Yang (Korea)
Bracket B
Poai
Suganuma (Hawaii) vs. Vitaly Shemetov (Russia)
Tasi Edwards (Samoa) vs. Daniel Madrid
X-1 WORLD WELTERWEIGHT TITLE ON THE LINE
AND LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE TOURNEY BEGINS AS
X-1 PRESENTS “NATIONS COLLIDE”
2008 Olympic gold medal winner Satoshi Ishii also to compete
Honolulu,
HI (USA): Top Hawaiian fight promotion X-1 World Events is proud
to announce their next amazing MMA event, “Nations Collide,”
which will take place on Friday, June 4th, 2010, at the famed
Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu, Hawaii. The fight card will feature
combatants from all over the world, including Hawaii, Puerto
Rico, Russia, South Korea, the western United States, and Japan,
and some top young bantamweights, featherweights, light heavyweights,
and welterweights will showcase their skills. In addition, “Nations
Collide” will bring the talents of Olympic gold medalist
Satoshi Ishii, a Japanese national hero who finished first in
judo at the 2008 Games, to the Islands. Also competing on the
card will be longtime veteran of PRIDE, K-1, DREAM, and Rumble
on the Rock, Shungo Oyama, while Russell Doane and Riley Dutro
will also battle for the X-1 State Bantamweight Championship.
Doors
to the Blaisdell Arena will open at 6 PM, and the fights will
begin at 7 PM. Tickets are available at the Blaisdell box office,
all Ticketmaster locations, through Ticketmaster.com, and on
the phone at (800) 745-3000.
The
main event of “Nations Collide” will feature an X-1
World Welterweight Championship bout between Hawaiian favorite
Brandon Wolff (7-4 with three KO/TKO’s) and Dylan Clay (7-2
with five submissions). Wolff, the champ, is a veteran of the
UFC, EliteXC, and K-1, and has faced top-flight competition such
as Riki Fukuda, Chad Reiner, Ben Saunders, and Yoshiyuki Yoshida.
Looking to lift the strap from the Hawaiian will be Clay, a native
of Puerto Rico. A submission fighter, Clay defeated UFC veteran
Ronald “The Machine Gun” Juhn in his only X-1 appearance,
and has also fought in M-1, where he faced Brazilian fighter
Eduardo Pamplona. This highly-anticipated scrap will determine
welterweight supremacy in X-1.
The
co-main event will showcase a light heavyweight tournament that
will determine the new X-1 World Light Heavyweight Champion.
The first round of the tourney will take place at “Nations
Collide,” with the semi-finals and finals occurring on subsequent
shows. Participating in the tournament will be former EliteXC
headliner Poai Suganuma (9-3), California’s Greg Schmitt
(1-0), Adam Akau (3-1), Gracie-trained submission specialist
Roy Boughton (2-0), Russia’s Vitaly Shemetov, multi-time
PRIDE/K-1 veteran Shungo Oyama (8-12), South Korean SpiritMC
veteran Sang Soo Lee (13-8), and King of the Cage veteran Daniel
“Blackout” Madrid (6-1). One of these exemplary fighters
will become the new X-1 light heavyweight kingpin, but whoever
takes the belt will have a tough time getting there. It’s
a talented group with some deep experience.
Also
fighting at “Nations Collide” will be 2008 Olympic
gold medal-winner and Japanese submission sensation Satoshi Ishii
(1-1). This celebrated judoka made his MMA debut at K-1’s
New Years Eve show at the end of 2009, losing by unanimous decision
to fellow former Olympic gold medalist and Japanese MMA legend
Hidehiko Yoshida. However, this past weekend, Ishii got his first
MMA win, submitting Tafa Misipati via armbar in New Zealand.
At “Nations Collide,” Ishii will compete in his next
MMA bout against Myles Tynanes (0-0). Seen as the next great
Japanese judo player to carry on the strong tradition started
by Yoshida and Makoto Takimoto, Ishii has drawn a lot of attention
for his amateur background and skills, as well as his national
celebrity status.
“This
fight card is one of the best we’re going to see this year.
It shows that X-1 is committed to bringing in the best fighters
not just from the Islands, but from around the world,” said
Mike Miller, Owner/Promoter of X-1 World Events. “Fight
fans are in store from some hot action as the Hawaii summer gets
going. I can’t wait to see who wins the welterweight belt,
and who advances in the light heavyweight tournament. And don’t
forget that we’re bringing an Olympic gold medalist to the
Islands!”
Here
is the full fight card:
Main
Event: 170 lb. World Title Match: Brandon Wolff (HI) vs. Dylan
Clay (Puerto Rico)
Co-Main Event: 8-Man Tournament for the Light Heavyweight Title
(over 3 events)
Bracket A: Poai Suganuma (HI) vs. Greg Schmitt (California)
Adam Akau (HI) vs. Roy Boughton (California)
Bracket B: Vitaly Shemetov (Russia) vs. Shungo Oyama (Japan)
Sang Soo Lee (S. Korea) vs. Daniel Madrid (Arizona)
135 lbs. State Championship match:
Russell Doane vs. Riley Dutro
Undercard:
Pro MMA 145 lbs. Justin Mercado vs. Ed Newalu
145 lbs. Ricky Wallace vs. Toru Harai (Japan)
135 lbs. Raquel
Paaluhi
vs. Jenny Trujilio - women’s
135 lbs. Jesse Thorton vs. Timothy Meeks
HWY Satoshi Ishii (Japan) vs. Myles Tynanas
HWY Bubba Paaluhi vs. Chivas Antoque
145 lbs. Brensen Hansen vs. Wayland Crenio
145 lbs. Dustin Kimura vs. Kazuki Kenjo
145 lbs. Chad Pavao vs. Spencer Higa
135 lbs. Van Shiroma vs. Dwayne Haney
Fight
Night
Date June 4th 2010
Time 6:00 pm
Place Blaisdell Arena
Source: X-1 World Events
|
KIM
STUNS SADOLLAH, ESCUDERO VICTORIOUS AT UFC 114
Almost a year away from the Octagon didn't seem to power down
the "Stun Gun", as Dong Hyun Kim didn't miss a beat,
dominating Amir Sadollah for all three rounds in their bout at
the UFC prelims on Spike Saturday night.
It
didn't take but mere seconds for Kim to shoot in when the fight
started and take Sadollah down, where he proceeded to work relentlessly
to pass his opponent's guard and get into a better position.
At one point, Kim trapped Sadollah's arm across his own face
and started to reign down shots.
Sadollah's
defense was good, but he simply could not get out of the iron
clad grip of Kim's grappling, continuously moving and keeping
the former "Ultimate Fighter" guessing. Try as he may,
Sadollah just couldn't get anything going and Kim was fluid with
every move he made.
The
win, Kim's fourth in the Octagon, re-introduces him to the welterweight
division where he may soon make waves in a top fight as the South
Korean remains undefeated in the UFC and his career.
Former
training partners, Efrain Escudero and Dany Lauzon set their
friendship aside for a fight at UFC 114, and it was the former
"Ultimate Fighter" winner who came out the victor showing
better stand-up and cardio throughout.
A
very public feud opened up prior to the fight between Dan Lauzon
and his older brother Joe, and it couldn't be ignored to notice
that the younger Lauzon brother just did not look in rhythm on
Saturday night. On the other side, Escudero displayed crisp striking
and opened up a few combinations that punished Lauzon.
The
third round cost Escudero a point after he kicked Lauzon low
at two different points in the fight, but the deduction didn’t
matter in the end. Efrain Escudero picks up a solid win in his
third fight since leaving the reality show, while Lauzon will
look to rebuild after two losses in a row.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
LIL
NOG SLIPS PAST BRILZ WITH CONTROVERSIAL DECISION
A late replacement was almost the downfall of Antonio Rogerio
Nogueira at UFC 114 as the Brazilian escaped the night with a
controversial split decision win over Jason Brilz, who stepped
in and took the fight on just four weeks notice.
With
nothing to lose, Brilz fought a smart gameplan and didn't back
down from the challenge standing in front of him. Hitting a series
of takedowns, Brilz almost caught the Brazilian with a guillotine
choke in the second that had referee Yves Lavigne stepping in
to see if Nogueira was unconscious.
Nogueira
battled out and got his wind back in the third round, which was
by far his strongest of the fight. Finally getting his distance,
Nogueira opened up some good punches on Brilz, who started to
fade. The first two rounds seemed to go Brilz' way, but when
the judges' decisionw as read he lost a very controversial split
decision.
The
crowd in Las Vegas voiced their displeasure booing the decision
loudly, but Nogueira still believes he did enough to win, and
deserved the decision.
"I
thought I win, because I was more aggressive," said Nogueira.
"He got me with some shots, some takedowns, but I think
I deserved to win because I fought for the knockout all of the
time."
Brilz
was in the fight due to a shoulder injury to original opponent
Forrest Griffin, and Nogueira admitted that the switch of fighters
and styles did effect him in the bout.
"We
had to change all the gameplan," Nogueira stated. "Because
you know Forrest is a good striker, Brilz is a very tough guy,
very good wrestling guy. But I had to change all the plans, that's
why I think I had some difficulty."
Nogueira
moves to 2-0 in the UFC, but will have to rebuild after this
fight because of his less than impressive performance, and a
questionable decision win.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
RUSSOW
KO'S DUFFEE, HATHAWAY IS A NIGHTMARE FOR SANCHEZ
The Hitman and the hit heard round the world were the running
themes in the fights of John Hathaway and Mike Russow as they
both came out victorious at UFC 114 on Saturday night in Las
Vegas.
It
only took one punch for Mike Russow to erase the first 12-minutes
of his fight against Todd Duffee when Chicago's finest ended
his opponent's night with a thunderous knockout in the third
round of their fight Saturday night.
Following
a 7-second knockout in his first fight, Todd Duffee looked to
make his second fight go just as quickly. The former American
Top Team fighter pummeled Russow in the first round with a blistering
attack of punches. Russow's best weapon in the first two rounds
was his granite chin that kept him alive.
Duffee
started to slow down just a little bit with each minute that
passed in the fight, and in the third round he overextended and
it cost him big time. Missing with a punch, Duffee dove forward
and Russow crushed him with a right hand. Falling like a skyscraper
tumbling down during demolition, Duffee dropped and Russow looked
to follow up but then realized his opponent was clean out.
"This
was an awful fight, I didn't execute my gameplan at all,"
said Russow. "My goal was just to hang in there the whole
time and just keep trying to pressure him. It was an awful fight.
I need to get back in the gym, a lot more work to do."
Self-deprecating
or not, Russow didn't want to give himself much credit, but his
knockout will go down as one of the best comebacks in UFC history.
The
Hitman became a nightmare for Diego Sanchez at UFC 114 as young
British sensation John Hathaway punished the former "Ultimate
Fighter" winner en route to a unanimous decision win to
kick off the pay-per-view.
The
decision to move back to welterweight for Diego Sanchez after
a few fights at lightweight confused some, and maybe the New
Mexico native will rethink the decision after he ran into a taller,
stronger fighter on Saturday night. John Hathaway, making his
U.S. UFC debut, did not disappoint using his reach advantage
to drill Sanchez with straight punch after straight punch.
In
the first round as Sanchez shot for a takedown, Hathaway slammed
him with a perfectly timed knee strike that rocked the former
"Ultimate Fighter" winner. Hathaway looked to finish
and credit to Sanchez for being able to recover, but he was getting
blasted with punches and elbows.
"I
was I hoping I would, but obviously Diego's incredibly tough,
I mean he pulled through very well," Hathaway said about
the near finish in the first round.
The
last two rounds followed suit with the first as Hathaway lived
up to his nickname, hitting Sanchez at will and he just didn't
have an answer to the stand-up of the Brit. Hathaway stays undefeated,
while Sanchez takes a step back and questions will surround him
about what weight class he will compete at next.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
MICHAEL
BISPING GETS BACK ON TRACK AT UFC 114
Michael “The Count” Bisping bounces back from a close
decision loss to Wanderlei Silva at UFC 110 in Feb. by defeating
Dan Miller at UFC 114 by unanimous decision.
In
a back and forth first round, Bisping’s right hand found
it’s mark regularly, but Miller absorbed the impacts and
pressed forward.
As
the bout wore on the Brit became more confident in his striking
and took over the fight landing right hands frequently, busting
up the New Jersey native.
Miller
came out in the third round with a sense of urgency and picked
up the pace, landing sporadic punches, but it was too little
too late.
With
2:40 remaining, Miller got his only takedown of the fight with
a well-timed double leg, but Bisping put his back against the
fence and immediately worked his way back to his feet where he
picked up where he left off, picking Miller apart.
“I
want to thank Dan Miller. He’s a great guy. He’s got
great skills,” Bisping said following the fight. “He’s
tough man. I hit him with some big right hands and he stood there
and took them like a man. I respect it.”
“I’m
a little annoyed with myself for not finishing it,” added
the 31-year old athlete.
For
Bisping it was a much needed win after losing two of his last
three fights prior to the UFC 114 match up with Miller.
Source: MMA Weekly
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Hatsu
Hioki, Yasuhiro Urushitani Capture Shooto Titles, Willamy "Chiquerim"
Freire Retains
TOKYO,
Japan -- Despite DREAM's strong featherweight showings this weekend,
the best action in that division was to be found in Shooto at
JCB Hall. In one of the best fights of the year, Hatsu Hioki
captured "Lion" Takeshi Inoue's 143lb Shooto World
Title after three rounds of back and forth striking action.
Nagoya's Hatsu Hioki is arguably one of the most talented ground
fighters in all of mixed martial arts but has often been the
victim of terrible game planning, ignoring his ground acumen
and instead electing to stand and trade instead. A dangerous
striker like the defending 143lb world champion "Lion"
Takeshi looked like a dangerous matchup for Hioki as Lion's power
can easily put an end to anybody's night.
Lion
came at Hioki right from the opening bell, rushing in with punches
and attempting to end Hioki's night early. Hioki stayed in the
pocket though and slipped Lion's looping fists to land counters
which rocked the defending champion. Lion recovered quickly and
traded punches and kicks in the center of the ring but found
himself having problems getting past Hioki's parries and range.
In
the second, Lion started to find his mark with the jab, drawing
blood from Hioki's nose and reddening his eyes. Hioki's combinations
with his hands, lengthy kicks and knees from the clinch kept
Lion busy but it was Hioki's jab that had the champion truly
on the back foot.
Finally
in the third round, Hioki attempted with earnest to take the
fight to the mat but lacked the power in his shot after two solid
rounds of standup action. Abandoning his attempt to bring the
fight into his own domain, Hioki tried to re-establish his jab
but Lion found his mark with this right and backed up the challenger.
In the final minutes, desperation filled the arena with a divided
crowd sensing that the title may be up for grabs depending on
what happens from here. Standing in the center of the ring, both
fighters stood toe-to-toe throwing combination after combination
to the face and body, attempting to bring each other down. At
the end of the bout, Lion's nose and mouth finally started to
show signs of the war, but with his performance in the final
round it was not clear who the judges were going to side with.
The
judges were split, one for the champion and two for the challenger,
fulfilling Hioki's career goal of capturing a Shooto World Title
and indicating that perhaps his standup game has finally caught
up to his talent on the canvas.
Willamy
"Chiquerim" Freire took exactly five minutes to dispatch
Yusuke Endo in their first outing but the rematch was much closer.
Defending his Shooto 154lb title, Freire and Endo both had trouble
establishing their dominance in the first round, struggling to
get through each other's defense. After being docked a point
for a low blow in the second, Freire dropped Endo with a right
causing Endo to fall to the canvas and turtle to avoid a barrage
of blows. Endo was in trouble of being stopped but was ultimately
saved by the bell and due to the point deduction, drew the round.
The
third was to be the deciding round and Endo gave up a dominant
position early after missing with a single and instead getting
taken down himself. Freire maintained his control on top and
hammered away at the challenger's head for the rest of the bout
and easily winning the round.
Despite
the strong finish, one judge didn't it see that way and Friere
was awarded a split decision to retain the belt. Post fight,
Freire returned his title informing the audience that he has
signed an exclusive promotion with a major promotion, stopping
him from being able to defend his Shooto 154lb title.
Ryuichi
Miki held a 0-1-1 record against Yasuhiro Urushitani and going
into this 123lb title fight hoped to even the score with the
counter striker. It was not to be though, over the course of
three rounds Urushitani was able to consistently land the better
punches and counter Miki whenever he would over commit in desperation.
It was a comfortable win for the new champion who took the strap
which was vacant after Shinichi "BJ" Kojima returned
the title in March, but a long time in the making. Due to his
passive-aggressive countering style, Urushitani has racked up
an astonishing six draws which has halted his progression in
the division and led to some difficult matchmaking situations
for promoters.
"The
Shooto Junkie" Ryota Matsune had been retired since 2006
due to recurring knee injuries but his return to action was spoiled
in brutal fashion by Joe Silva favorite Rumina Sato. Through
the first round Matsune was attempting to shake out the cobwebs
of inactivity, working his boxing but unable to keep to get into
his rhythm due to the threat of Sato's knees from inside. Early
in the second stanza, a knee from Sato found the mark and laid
out Matsune and Sato dived in with punches to bring about the
referee stoppage at only 21 seconds of the second round.
Masakatsu
Ueda returned to form after a shockingly losing his 132lb title
to Shuichiro Katsumura in March. Ueda showed off his new found
striking ability in his decision win against former 143lb champ
and WEC veteran Akitoshi Tamura.
Eduardo
Dantas confirmed his status as a top prospect at 132lb with a
third round submission over Hiromasa Ogikubo. Dantas was looking
dangerous to then champion, Masakatus Ueda in his last venture
to Japan in July 2009 but his inability to play to Shooto's rules
cost him points and ultimately the decision. Dantas was in danger
of suffering the same fate against Ogikubo, grabbing the ropes,
hitting the back of the head and landing a low blow which had
the referee close to calling the fight a DQ. He managed to play
fair long enough to survive and a secure a rear naked choke in
the third round however. The 21 year old is sure to have a bright
future if he can tame his aggressive game to work within the
confines of the rules.
Matches
for July 16th's "Way of Shooto 4" were announced, Shooto
115lb World Champion Rambaa "M-16" Somdet will make
his first title defense against Hiroyuki Abe, Taiki Tsuchiya
will face one of Japan's top prospects in Issei Tamura and Kenichiro
Togashi will also be on the card.
Shooto
- The Way of Shooto 3: Like a Tiger, Like a Dragon - Results
143lb
Shooto World Title Match
Hatsu Hioki def. Takeshi Inoue by Split Decision
154lb
Shooto World Title Match
Willamy Freire def. Yusuke Endo by Split Decision
123lb
Shooto World Title Match
Yasuhiro Urushitani def. Ryuichi Miki by Unanimous Decision
Rumina
Sato def. Ryota Matsune by TKO - Knee and Punches, Round 2, 0:21
Masakatsu Ueda def. Akitoshi Tamura by Unanimous Decision
Eduardo Dantas def. Hiromasa Ogikubo by Submission – Rear
Naked Choke, Round 3, 1:21
Kotetsu Boku def. Yoshihiro Koyama by Unanimous Decision
Shintaro Ishiwatari def. Wataru Miki by Majority Decision
Source: MMA Fighting
|
Ninja
gets first round victory at Bitetti Combat
The
audience was not very crowded, but Bitetti Combat 7 gave great
emotions to the people that were in Fundição Progresso,
in Rio de Janeiro, last night (28). On the most expected fight
of the evening, things did not start well to Murilo Ninja,who
was facing the Paraguayan Arturo Arcemendes. After suffering
a knockdown on the beginning of the combat, Ninja managed to
dominate the fight with a good Jiu-Jitsu, sweeping, mounting
and fitting the katagatami, submitting on that same first round.
With
his opponent replaced at the last minute, Glover Teixeira confronted
Tiago Mônaco and did not have much trouble ending the fight.
Dominating the fight while standing, Glover brought his opponent
down, tried to fit two rear naked chokes and end up the fight
with his ground and pound game. On the previous fight, Fábio
Maldonado had a hard time facing the Dutch Jeffie Gibbs, but
showed perseverance and got the win by technical knockout on
the second round.
The
only foreigner who celebrated on BC 7 was the Costa Rican Alejandro
“Mandarina” Solano. Confronting the experienced Cristiano
Marcello, “Mandarina” suffered on the first round,
both standing ando n the ground. Owner of a great Jiu-Jitsu,
Cristiano decided to lead the fight standing, but then he regretted
that decision. On the trade of punches, the referee gave Solano
a TKO victory with an early stoppage, which made Cristiano and
his team very furious.
Against
the Peruvian David Cubas Ytanaque, BTT’s athlete Milton
Vieira showed a very complete game, punching while standing and
ending the fight on the ground game with an armbar. The striker
Vitor Miranda did not give any chances to his opponent, Cássio
Drumond, who gave up on the time out after the first round. The
surprise of the night was in the hands of Cesar Mutante, who
beat Cassiano Tyschyo by medical intermission, while Leandro
Batata won his fight over Wagner Tiburcio.
Check
below the full results of the event and stay tuned to check,
tomorrow, an exclusive photo gallery of the fighting show.
FULL
RESULTS:
Bitetti
Combat 7
Fundição
Progresso, Lapa, Rio de Janeiro
Friday,
May 28 of 2010
-
Murilo Ninja submitted Arturo “Tutu” Arcemendes (Paraguai)
with a katagatami at R1;
-
Glover Teixeira beat Tiago Mônaco by technical knockout
at R1;
-
Fábio Maldonado beat Jeffie Gibbs by technical knockout
at R2;
-
Milton Vieira submitted David Cubas Ytanaque with an armbar at
R2;
-
Alejandro “Mandarina” Solano beat Cristiano Marcello
by technical knockout at R2;
-
Vitor Miranda beat Cássio Drumond by desistance after
R1;
-
Cesar Mutante beat Cassiano Tyschyo medical intermission at R2;
-
Leandro Batata beat Wagner Tiburcio by technical knocout at R1.
Source: Tatame
|
3rd
Annual Pacific Submission Championships
June 11th
& 12th (Friday & Saturday)
Blaisdell Exhibition Hall
MMA Hawaii Expo
People
have been asking so we've locked in the dates. It will be during
the MMA Hawaii Expo (this expo is not the same as the past 2
years - MMA Hawaii is producing this event).
Registration
will soon be available online at www.grapplingtournaments.com
I've
spoken with Mad Tiger about the failure to produce posted results;
apologies and I will not let this happen as we will be working
on posting live results as the brackets are completed.
Any
feedback from the past two tournaments I welcome as we will work
on it now to assure these problems can be corrected.
This
is a 2-day tournament with Gi and No-Gi divisions for kids, teens,
women, and men. We don't feed brackets but will try our best
to accommodate schools so students from the same academy are
not matched in the first round. Due to the kids, this is inevitable
and we will try our best to make sure the kids receive equal
opportunities.
Registration:
Kids (7-12) - $40/$70 (Gi & No-Gi)
Teens (13-14/15-17)- $50/70 (Gi & No-Gi)
Adults (18+) - $50/70 (Gi & No-Gi)
Any
questions please check out:
www.grapplingtournaments.com
or
email: info@pjjf.net
Source: Event Promoter
For more info, click here! |
50th
State Fair “SELECT COMBAT”
Friday, June 18 & Saturday, June 19
ITINERARY:
Friday,
June 18th
4:00pm Staff Meeting
5:00-6:00pm SC One Tournament Weigh-ins
6:30-7:00pm Rules Meeting for Tournament and Fight
7:00-9:00pm SC One Tournament
7:00-8:00pm SC One Fight Weigh-ins
Saturday,
June 19th
3:00pm Staff Meeting
4:00pm Keiki matches (10) matches
12
& under:
(2 min) Takedowns
(2 min) Positions
13 – 18 yrs old:
(1 min) Kickboxing
(1.5 min) Boxing & Takedowns
(2 min) Jiu Jitsu
5:30pm Adult matches (15) matches
(1 min) Kickboxing
(1.5 min) Boxing & Takedowns
(2 min) Jiu Jitsu
8:00pm End
TICKET
PRICES:
Pre-sale
tickets (up to June 18th) – $20 per adult / $8 keiki
School
Groups of (10) or more – $15 per adult / $6 keiki
Door
- $25 adult / $10 keiki
50th
State Fair “50th State BJJ Championships”
Friday,
June 25 & Saturday, June 26
ITINERARY:
Friday,
June 25th
5:00pm
Weigh-ins begin
5:30-6:00pm 1st seminar / exhibition
6:15-6:45pm Rules Meeting
7:00-7:30pm 2nd seminar / exhibition
8:00pm End of weigh-ins
Saturday,
June 26th
8:00am Staff Meeting
9:00am Keiki matches start
11:00am Women’s matches start
1:00pm Men’s matches start
6:00pm Tournament ends
PRICE:
Pre-registration
(before June 18th)
$60 per adult / $35 per keiki (12 & under)
Regular
Registration (June 18th-June 25th)
$75 per adult / $50 per keiki (12 & under)
Walk-Up
(day of tournament)
$100 per competitor
Door
- $10.00
Source: Egan Inoue
|
Garden
Island Cage Match 9:
Mayhem at the Mansion
Kilohana Carriage
House
June 26th 2010
Tickets
go on sale next week!
Since this venue is a little smaller than the Stadium the tickets
will sell out twice as fast so be sure to get on board quickly!
This an exclusive venue for us and very please to have acquired
this merger.
Sponsorship
packages now available! Please contact me for further information!
Mahalo!
Vance Pascua
808-634-0404
Source: Event Promoter
|
The
Quest for Champions 2010 Martial Arts Tournament
Saturday, July 24th, 2010
St. Louis High School Gym
Featuring: Sport-Pankration, Submission Grappling and Continuous
Sparring
For more info please contact Kempo Unlimted HI (kunltd@hotmail.com)
Source: Tommy Lam
|
In
October 2010, Eternal Fight Wear proudly presents...
ETERNAL SUBMISSIONS! 1st Annual BJJ GI/NO-GI tournament on Kauai
Kauai Beach Resort, Kauai
This will be a 3 Day Event.
Friday, October 15th. beginning at 5pm will be weigh-ins with
Live local entertainment, Exhibitions, Door Prizes & more.
Saturday Oct. 16th we will host the GI portion of the event starting
with kids at 10am.
Sunday we will finish off our tournament with the NO-GI portion.
Outer island competitors will be allowed to weigh in on Saturday.
Kauai residents must weigh in on Friday.
NO same day registrations will be allowed.
Cut of for pre-registration is October 7th (for free tshirt)
all other registrations must be in by October 13th (if mailing
registration, it must be postmarked by the 11th) We have locked
in the dates and will be offering special discounted rates at
the hotel. There will be food/beg. for sale at the event. We
will be having superfights as well (TBA). All pre-reg competitiors
will receive a free competitor tshirt. There will be door prizes
each day too! Winners of the matches will receive very nice medals,
we will be awarding team trophies and best -of awards. Absolute
and Superfights winners will be awarded championship belts.
We will be hosted a first ever in Hawaii 'kids absolute' and
as well!!!!
This will be an event Hawaii does not want to miss!!!!
Pre-Reg is be up shortly and we will be notifying you as soon
as it is or updated info add us on facebook: ETERNAL FIGHT WEAR
Any questions you can call me (Shauna) at 808.652.6849 or email
me shauna@hawaiilink.net
Source: Event Promoter
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