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Upcoming
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(All events on Oahu, unless noted)
2010
11/27/10
Aloha
State BJJ Championships: Final Conflict
(BJJ & Sub Grappling)
(Kaiser H.S. Gym)
11/6/10
X-1 Island Pride
(MMA)
(Blaisdell Arena)
Man Up & Stand Up Kickboxing Championship
(Kickboxing)
(Filcom Center, Waipahu)
10/30/10
6th Annual Clinton A.J. Shelton Memorial Match Event
(Boxing)
(Palolo District Park Gym, Honolulu)
10/29/10
808Battleground
(MMA)
(Dole Cannery Ballroom, Honolulu)
10/23/10
NAGA
Hawaii
(BJJ & Sub Grappling)
(Radford H.S. Gym)
10/15-17/10
ETERNAL SUBMISSIONS: GI/NO-GI tournament
(BJJ & Sub Grappling)
(Kauai Beach Resort, Kauai)
10/16/10
DESTINY: Undisputed
Beyer vs Manners II
(MMA)
(Waipahu Filcom Center, Waipahu)
Just Scrap
(MMA)
(Hilo Civic Auditorium, Hilo)
10/2/10
Mad Skills
(Kickboxing)
(Filcom Center, Waipahu
9/11/10
X-1: Heroes
(MMA, Kickboxing)
(Blaisdell Arena)
9/10/10
Man Up & Stand Up
(Kickboxing)
(Filcom Center, Waipahu)
9/4/10
DESTINY:New Era
(MMA, Kickboxing)
(Waipahu Filcom Center, Waipahu)
8/28/10
Big
Island Open
(BJJ)
(Hilo Armory, Hilo)
8/14/10
Hawaiian
Open Championships of BJJ
(BJJ & No Gi)
(Kaiser H.S. Gym)
USA Amateur Boxing
(Boxing)
(Lihue Convention Hall, Lihue, Kauai)
8/13/10
Battleground Challenge 2
(MMA)
(Dole Cannery Ballroom)
8/7/10
Just Scrap
(MMA)
(Hilo Civic Auditorium, Hilo)
8/6/10
Mad Skills
(Triple Threat/Kickboxing)
(Waipahu Filcom Center)
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)
Mad Skillz
(Kickboxing, Triple Threat)
(99 Market Shopping Center, Mapunapuna)
7/9/10
Man Up & Stand Up
(Kickboxing)
(Filcom Center, Waipahu)
7/3/10
Amateur Boxing
(Boxing)
(Palolo District Park Gym)
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)
4/28/10
Chris Smith BJJ Tournament
(BJJ)
(Hilo)
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)
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November
2010 News Part 3
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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 & Erwin Legaspi 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! |
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
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Don't worry about using Pidgin English in the posting. After
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O2
Martial Arts Academy
Your Complete Martial Arts School!
Click here for pricing and more
information!
O2 Martial Arts features Relson Gracie Jiu-Jitsu taught by Relson
Gracie Black Belts Chris and Mike Onzuka and Shane Agena as well
as a number of brown and purple belts.
We also offer 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 Knife & 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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Dana
White On UFC Lightweight Division: “It’s A Dog Eat
Dog World”
The
merger between the UFC and the WEC will begin in December with
several featherweights and bantamweights starting to pop up in
the Octagon, but one division will be a melting pot between the
two promotions.
The
best of the best in the 155-pound division from both the UFC
and WEC soon share a common home, and with current tallies in
place, over 70 lightweights will fill the roster.
UFC
president Dana White knows that the lightweight division has
always been tough and is possibly the deepest weight class in
the entire sport, and now the waters are even deeper.
“It’s
fun, it’s going to be crazy, but that’s what makes
for such great fights. It’s a fun division, I’m actually
really excited about it,” White told MMAWeekly.com.
Beyond
the mix of current UFC and WEC fighters, new and young talent
continues to emerge such as Brazilian Edson Barboza, who did
his best Jose Aldo impression on Saturday night at UFC 123, as
he battered opponent Mike Lullo’s legs until he could not
continue.
White
definitely sees the talent in Barboza and other 155-pounders
making their way to the UFC with each new event.
“There’s
a lot of guys coming up that are really talented,” White
commented about Barboza and the new lightweights in the UFC.
“I think the pool’s just going to keep getting bigger,
bigger, and bigger.”
The
one thing that can’t be ignored, however, are the numbers
that go along with a deep and talented lightweight division.
The
UFC president said that the promotion plans on putting on somewhere
around 30 to 31 fight cards in 2011, but still with over 70 fighters
comprising one division, does that mean the lightweights are
going to get thinned out at all?
“It’s
a dog eat dog world,” said White. “There’s so
many good guys out there. You’re literally fighting for
your UFC life every time you fight.”
The
influx of the WEC’s lightweights will begin soon, culminating
with the winner of the upcoming title fight between Ben Henderson
and Anthony Pettis facing off with whoever the UFC lightweight
champion is in 2011 for a unification bout.
Everyone
else will be making their way to the UFC with something to prove,
and Dana White along with the upper brass of the promotion will
be watching very closely.
Source: MMA Weekly
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Tyler
Toner Gets New Opponent for Ultimate Fighter 12 Finale
It
looks like Tyler Toner and Leonard Garcia are off the hook.
The
two friends and teammates were expected to fight each other on
“The Ultimate Fighter Season 12” finale on Dec. 4,
but the UFC re-shuffled the deck. Toner is now expected to face
Team Quest fighter Ian Loveland at the finale.
MMAWeekly.com
sources confirmed the bout, which was first reported by Sherdog.com,
on Friday.
Toner
(11-2) made a splash working for Zuffa – the parent company
of both the UFC and the WEC – at WEC 48, knocking out Brandon Visher in the first round.
He stumbled in his return bout for the promotion, losing a unanimous
decision to Top 10 featherweight Diego Nunes at WEC 51. He’ll
look to get back on track in his UFC debut at the TUF 12 finale.
Loveland
(13-7) stumbled through the fight scene bouncing back and forth
between SportFight in the Northwest and Ring of Combat on the
East Coast before putting together a strong run over the past
three years. He is currently on a six-fight winning streak that
has propelled him to a shot in the Octagon.
It
was unclear at the time of publication exactly why the Toner
vs. Garcia fight was cancelled, but it was likely a welcome change
for the two. Toner trains primarily at the Grudge Training Center
in Denver, while Garcia’s home base is Greg Jackson’s
gym in Albuquerque, N.M. The two facilities foster a close relationship,
considering themselves part of the same fight team, constantly
training together.
“The
Ultimate Fighter: Team GSP vs. Team Koscheck” finale will
determine the winner of this season of the reality series. First,
in a two-hour special on Wednesday night, Jonathan Brookins will
face Kyle Watson and Nam Phan will take on Michael Johnson in
the semifinal bouts to determine the Dec. 4 finalists at the
Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas.
Source: MMA Weekly
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Valentijn
Overeem Injured, Strikeforce Debut Nixed
Less
than a week after losing the novelty of former NFL great Herschel
Walker’s second bout in the cage, Strikeforce: Henderson
vs. Babalu 2 has suffered another blow.
Valentijn
Overeem, brother of Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair
Overeem, is injured and will be unable to fight Antonio “Bigfoot”
Silva as planned on the Dec. 4 fight card on Showtime, said MMAWeekly.com
sources. The nature of the injury was not disclosed.
The
bout was to be Valentijn’s Strikeforce debut. He is currently
on a two-fight winning streak, and was expected to be a strong
addition to the promotion’s heavyweight class.
Silva,
after losing to Fabricio Werdum at the end of 2009, surely wants
to remain on the fight card and build on the momentum he started
with a win over former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski
in May.
Strikeforce
has a strong roster of heavyweights, but with the bout being
just one week away coupled with strong rumors of an upcoming
heavyweight tournament, it sounds as if there aren’t too
many fighters suitable for the Showtime telecast willing to step
in on such short notice to face a fighter the caliber of Silva.
Strikeforce:
Henderson vs. Babalu 2 features former Pride champion Dan Henderson
fighting former Strikeforce champion Renato “Babalu”
Sobral in the main event. The card also features a strong support
cast featuring Matt Lindland against Robbie Lawler and Paul Daley
facing Scott Smith.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Daniel
Cormier Heads Strikeforce Challengers 13 Against Devin Cole
American
Kickboxing Academy product and Olympic wrestler Daniel Cormier
has wasted no time launching his mixed martial arts career. He’s
set to take the next step by headlining on Jan. 7 at Strikeforce
Challengers 13.
MMAWeekly.com
sources confirmed he will face Devin Cole. The bout was first
reported by Five Ounces Of Pain.
Cormier
has run his professional record to a spotless 6-0 with five wins
in 2010 alone. He has fought three times in the past for Strikeforce.
His most recent victory, however, was over Sao Palelei in Australia
in early November.
Cole
(18-8-1) has had a checkered past. Following an unsuccessful
run in the now-defunct International Fight League (IFL), he served
a 60-day jail sentence after pleading guilty to assault and sexual
harassment.
He
has since amassed a 6-2-1 record. Cole is coming off of a unanimous
decision loss to Strikeforce veteran Aaron Rosa at Shark Fights
13 in September.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
‘Cacareco’
drops to 185lbs for next UFC fight
Alexandre
“Cacareco” Ferreira’s UFC debut wasn’t like
the Chute Boxe team expected, but the first round TKO loss to
Vladimir Matyushenko won’t be his last chance in the octagon.
“Cacareco will have another opportunity, maybe in February
or March, and he’ll drop to middleweight”, said Rudimar
Fedrigo, leader of the Chute Boxe team. “It was a suggestion
that came from the UFC guys, they said it’d be better for
him to fight in this division”.
Source: Tatame
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Ximú
and the trainings with St. Pierre
Number
one among the welterweights pound by pound of the planet, Georges
St. Pierre will put his UFC belt in line on December 11th against
the American Josh Koscheck, and convoked the Brazilian Gustavo
Ximú for helping him on the trainings on the ground and
standing up. “I gave him many tips about the half guard,
whether he’s on top or on the bottom, in bad situations
on the grid, how to escape from foot locks, even if the guy doesn’t
completely gets him, using it to sweep the opponent”, tells
Ximú. Back to Brazil, the black belt chatted with TATAME
and analyzed the duel for the title, the future of the division
of GSP and a possible confront between him and the Brazilian
Anderson Silva. Check it:
How
were the trainings with GSP in Canada?
The
trainings were great, for me on the Wrestling part and for him
on the ground game and Muay Thai. We did many ground trainings,
Muay Thai and takedowns, it was pretty nice because the guy is
very humble when he is learning and also when he’s teaching
me something. It was a good thing for me to go there, like he
said… I gave him many tips about the half guard, whether
he’s on top or on the bottom, in bad situations on the grid,
how to escape from foot locks, even if the guy doesn’t completely
gets him, using it to sweep the opponent.
What
do you expect of this fight between him and Koscheck? Do you
think it’ll be like the first one?
I
think GSP is very prepared for it, training hard. I’m not
underestimating his opponent, but GSP is very strong, has a good
conditioning and has a good state of mind.
Jake
Shield might be the next one on the line for the belt. Do you
think that there’s someone on this weight class capable
to beat GSP currently?
I
think Jake is a hard and complicated guy, obligating GSP to be
more conditioned because, of course, they’ll be on fire
on the ground. But GSP is much more complete. Jake is good on
the ground game, grabs you on a position and stick to it, always
trying to get a submission.
Many
people speculate about a super fight between GSP and Anderson
Silva. Do you think this fight will happen?
It’d
be a tough fight, for sure. I think it won’t happen, GSP
said he’s too light to fight Anderson. At least until next
year, it won’t happen.
Even
if it was on a catchweight, like 80kg?
But
I think many things are about to happen to both of them, on their
own divisions, so I think they won’t meet each other along
their way. But Dana White is the guy, he leads it all.
Do
you think that Anderson will continue to be the champion in 2011,
facing opponents like Vitor Belfort e Yushin Okami?
I
don’t even think about Okami, both Brazilians can beat him,
Anderson or Belfort… It’ll be a tough fight. For example,
BJ Penn vs. Matt Hughes: who would expect a knockout in 21 seconds?
Both fighters are preparing themselves a lot.
It’s
true… Would you belt in any of them?
Two
Brazilians? It’s a hard one… It’ll be very tough,
Vitor is very explosive and Anderson is talented, as if he dribbled.
Source: Tatame
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Paul
Kelly vs. Sam Stout Agreed To For UFC 126
Each
coming off of a win in their most recent fights, it looks like
Paul Kelly and Sam Stout will add a 155-pound showdown with some
international flair to the UFC 126 fight card scheduled for Super
Bowl weekend in Las Vegas.
MMAWeekly.com
sources on Friday confirmed the bout has been verbally agreed
to. It was first reported by FightersOnly.com.
Kelly
(11-3) is a British fighter that recently defeated T.J. O’Brien
at UFC 123 in Detroit. The victory gave him a new lease on life
in the UFC having lost two of his previous three fights. He started
his Octagon career at welterweight, but dropped down to lightweight,
where he has gone 3-2, about a year and a half ago.
Stout
(16-6-1) last fought at UFC 121, where he defeated Kelly’s
countryman Paul Taylor. The bout put the Canadian fighter back
on track after suffering a split decision defeat at UFC 113.
Prior to beating Taylor, Stout had been on a three-fight streak
of winning Fight of the Night bonuses.
A
middleweight title showdown between UFC middleweight champion
Anderson Silva and challenger Vitor Belfort heads the Super Bowl
weekend fight card at the Mandalay Bay Events Center.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Featherweights
& Bantamweights May Have To Wait To Coach TUF
The
featherweights and bantamweights are moving to the UFC in rapid
fashion starting in December, but it may be a little while before
we see them coach on “The Ultimate Fighter.”
UFC
president Dana White, when the merger with the WEC was first
announced, mentioned that a show centered on the 145-pound and
135-pound divisions was a definite possibility in the near future,
but putting a top pair in as coaches may be a little further
off.
Speaking
to MMAWeekly.com over the UFC 123 weekend, White believes that
fans need to get to know the best of the best at featherweight
and bantamweight before taking them out of the picture for six
months to coach and appear on the show.
“Anything
is possible,” White said about the lighter weight fighters
becoming coaches on TUF. “The thing I don’t like about
doing them right now is you take these guys out of the mix for
months, and we’re just introducing these guys. The last
thing I want to do is introduce them and then put them on the
shelf for however long.”
The
UFC president knows that once fans set eyes on fighters like
Jose Aldo, Dominick Cruz, Urijah Faber, and Miguel Torres, that
they will become avid followers of the featherweights and bantamweights,
even without an “Ultimate Fighter” treatment to boost
their popularity.
“You
don’t have to watch ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ to
like Jose Aldo,” said White. “You just have to see
this kid fight. Now that’s he’s on the big stage and
he’ll get that co-main event slot. People are going to learn
who this guy is real quick.”
Obviously
the news that broke on Tuesday about Aldo’s removal from
the UFC 125 fight card sets that back just a bit, but the Brazilian
phenom is still just one of the many names that hope to stake
a claim to stardom when they enter the Octagon.
White
also said that the promotion has made little to no decisions
regarding the 13th season of “The Ultimate Fighter”
at this point, as far as coaches go. The UFC president has been
on the road for several weeks and hoped to sit down during Thanksgiving
week to start hammering out some details.
He
did admit that many fans and media are asking about a potential
coaching slot for Urijah Faber on the next season of the show,
but at this point, nothing has been decided.
“Everbody’s
been asking me that,” White said. “I don’t know.
I honestly, I swear to God, I really have not even thought about
it yet.”
The
casting process for the new season of the show has started however,
and with production set to begin in early 2011, the UFC will
likely make some decisions in the next month regarding the 13th
cast and coaches for “The Ultimate Fighter.”
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Palhares
wants a rematch with Marquardt
After
wating the chance of a win on his last fight, against Nate Marquardt,
Rousimar “Toquinho” Palhares continues working hard
to get on the top on his division on UFC. Leader of the gym Brazilian
Top Team, Murilo Bustamante revealed to TATAME that his student
just renew his contract with UFC.
“We’ve
signed a new contract for Toquinho today, he’ll fight four
more times, it’s renewed and we are on the expectations
to know about his next fight”, revealed Murilo, the first
Brazilian to conquest the belt of the division that Toquinho
fights on, guaranteeing that the mistake his student make has
been overcome and that the athlete’s wish is a rematch with
Nate Marquardt, who later was defeated by Yushin Okami, letting
the title shot escape from his hands.
“He’s
very motivated, he know that he let the victory escape, he made
a mistake, but these things happen in life, but he’s crazy
to fight Nate again. He wants this fight pretty bad and he’s
training for it. Rousimar is conditioned and training every day
as if he had a fight schedules. Our expectations are the best
possible ones and I’m sure that Toquinho and these new guys
from BTT will bring the Brazilians many reasons to be happy”,
concluded Bustamante.
Source: Tatame
|
Wagnney:
“I’ll change it all for my next fight”
Black
belt of Nova Uniao, Wagnney Fabiano got on WEC being respected
because his wins on the extinct IFL, but two loses in six bouts
made him alert. Aware of the need of a win on his next fight,
now on UFC, Wagnney talked to TATAME and commented the future.
“My last fight didn’t please me at all, I have skills
to do much more than that and I was very disappointed by the
way I lost”, said Wagnney, who was submitted by Joseph Benavidez.
On the exclusive interview, the fighter still talked about the
fusion between WEC and UFC and the learning from his defeat.
Check it below:
What
went wrong on this last fight?
It
was like a thump for me. I was well trained, feeling fine, but
I was defected at that time, I don’t know what happened,
I froze. I was fine on the two first guillotine chokes, but then
I stopped, froze again and, when I realized, it was too tight.
It was very frustrating for me. I know I still have four more
fights, but it doesn’t mean a thing. My loses bring much
learning to me and I’ll change it all for my next fight.
What
did you learn from this fight?
It’s
that thing: you won’t change a winning team... I’ve
been doing the same training for all my opponents, but this one
was completely different. I didn’t expect him to be so aggressive,
I thought he’d use his Wrestling skills, so I was lost…
I was cool, but then I just froze.
You
lost on a crucial moment of the merge between WEC and UFC. Did
they say anything about it?
I’m
there. I have four more fights to do, but it doesn’t mean
a thing, everybody knows that. My next fight must be different,
I’ll change it all, I have to go there and win because I
couldn’t get this one… Let’s move on and keep
the hard trainings, trying to improve more and more because that’s
the main goal: to keep improving. Let’s see, let’s
go there and try to bring this win home.
What
do you think of the merge of the events, worshiping the light
weights?
We
already expected that, everybody knew it. For me, it’s perfect.
Now it’s the dream come true, fighting on Ultimate. Here’s
the thing: I have to improve in all aspects, look for different
trainings, try to win this next fight. I’ve fought six times
there, I have four wins and now two loses. That, for sure, isn’t
a bad average, but it’s not what they are looking for. My
last fight was very disappointing, I have enough weapons to be
much better so I let myself down by losing the way it happened,
but let’s see. If it’s God’s wish, everything
will change.
Once
you’ve said you were frustrated with the financial matter
on MMA. Do you think it’ll change on UFC?
What’s
what everybody’s expecting (laughs). Everybody has a contract,
so I won’t say it’ll change the financial condition
of everybody because they’re not stupid, they are not there
to simple give people money… Everybody has to fulfill the
contract, but you know it’s UFC. If you submit a guy, you
get a bonus… They really incentive the fighters to pull
their heart out, to make good fights. Bonus, checks sent my mail
of US$30 thousand, so it really motivates the fighters to give
their best.
Source: Tatame
|
Dan
Henderson Discloses Medication Caused Weight Cut Struggles
For
Dan Henderson’s next fight, he will go back up to light
heavyweight for a main event bout against Renato “Babalu”
Sobral, but it’s not because he struggled making weight
for his last bout against Jake Shields.
In
his debut fight for the San Jose, Calif.-based promotion, Henderson
was hyped as one of the biggest free agent signings Strikeforce
had ever made. What resulted after a strong first round was the
Temecula, Calif. fighter being taken down repeatedly and outmatched
by Shields for almost 25 minutes.
Just
about everyone watching Henderson step onto the scales on the
Friday before the fight noticed he just didn’t seem himself
as he cut down to the 185-pound limit. Now Henderson has confirmed
that he did indeed struggle with the weight cut, but it had more
to do with prescribed medication than not shedding the last few
pounds the right way.
“It
was just some medication I had took for my back that kind of
helped keep the weight on me, and it just has to do with the
pain I guess,” Henderson explained when appearing on MMAWeekly
Radio. “I was just real flat that fight, and the weight
cut really zapped me.”
Now
off the medication, Henderson will return to 205 pounds where
he’s also had a successful career, but the decision was
based on Strikeforce asking him to take a fight against Sobral
and not any kind of declaration that he won’t be going back
to middleweight.
“I
never minded fighting at either weight, with the exception of
my last fight,” Henderson said.
Coming
from a wrestling background, Henderson has always been proficient
in cutting weight, but even he points out that not having to
cut those extra pounds right before a fight is a nice experience
he doesn’t mind repeating occasionally.
“I
just think it’s funner to not have to cut weight,”
he said.
The
door isn’t closed on Henderson going back down to 185 pounds
after this fight, but with a win, Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker
has said he would be in line for a shot at the light heavyweight
title in a bout against champion Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante.
Henderson
isn’t looking that far ahead though because he still has
to put in a night’s work against Sobral in a week.
“This
is a good match-up and has potential to be real exciting for
the fans,” Henderson commented.
The
two light heavyweights will square off in the main event of Strikeforce:
Henderson vs. Babalu 2 on Dec. 4 in St. Louis.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Soon
to make UFC debut, Fredson points out his Jiu-Jitsu favorites
Three-time
Jiu-Jitsu World Champion (2001, ’02, ’05) Fredson Paixão
is coming off back-to-back wins in the WEC, and as it will cease
to exist, sending the bantam and featherweight fighters on its
roster to the UFC, the black belt is getting ready to make his
debut in Dana White’s organization.
The
said debut will go down December 4, at TUF Finale 12, marking
the end of the twelfth season of the The Ultimate Fighter reality
show. Fredson will square off against Pablo Garza, who counts
nine wins and just one loss on his record, with six submissions
and one knockout. The bout won’t be in the lightweight division
Fredson has been fighting in, however. It will be at lightweight.
Check
out what the black belt had to say to GRACIEMAG.com.
What
was it like to, from one moment to the next, become part of the
UFC?
I’m
still trying to assimilate it. Everybody who pursues a career
in MMA dreams of fighting in the UFC. It’s like what the
World Cup is to a soccer player. Soccer players want to get on
their national team and then dispute the Cup, you know? It’s
a huge emotion and I thank God for it happening December 4.
What
do you make of your opponent, Pablo Garza?
I
watch his fights every day and he has some strengths, he’s
a dangerous guy. He kicks well and a lot of folks are overlooking
him because he lost on his UFC debut. But he accepted that fight
against Tie Quan Zhang when there was only a week to go. Losing
weight like that is rough and, this time, he’ll be much
better prepared. I’m going to impose my game, try for the
takedown, and be all about Jiu-Jitsu!
Garza
has six submissions. Did you focus primarily on your ground game?
I
focused on everything for this fight. These days you can’t
go thinking Jiu-Jitsu will take care of everything, that boxing
will take care of everything… You have to be prepared. But
I did do ground work specifically targeting him. I have my eye
on that aspect and I’ll be prepared.
Do
you miss Jiu-Jitsu competitions?
I
go to Carlinhos’s (Gracie, IBJJF president) events here
in the United States and I always get struck by longing. I really
miss the competitions and I’ll be back in them some time.
I even participated in some events recently, but I took it easy.
I’ve done a lot for Jiu-Jitsu already and I can’t go
getting hurt before a fight. But I do think about returning.
Next year, if my schedule isn’t too full, I’d like
to compete at the Worlds or the Pan. Who knows? – maybe
even in Brazil.
I want to face the Mendes’, I want my throne back!”
Fredson
What
is your take on the fighters who currently dominate your division
(featherweight) in the gentle art?
Cobrinha
is a really aggressive guy and a finisher, his game pleases me
the most. But I’ve seen the Mendes’ (Rafael and Guilherme)
and they are on a roll. They came out of nowhere and, man…
The only thing is that I feel this 50/50 business hampers their
game some. But they are some of the toughest I’ve seen.
I want to fight them, I want my throne back (laughs)!
Who
are your favorite Jiu-Jitsu fighters these days?
What
can you say about Roger (Gracie)? He’s way ahead, more mature
and more technically aware. He’s beating everyone. There’s
a lot of new guys who have been doing great as well. I like Cobrinha
and the Mendes’ right now. Those are the names that will
be at the forefront for some time still.
Source: Gracie Magazine
|
UFC
124 on 12/11 in Montreal at the Bell Centre
By Zach
Arnold
Undercard
matches
¦Lightweights:
Pat Audinwood vs. John Makdessi
¦Welterweights: TJ Grant vs. Ricardo Almeida
¦Middleweights: Joe Doerksen vs. Dan Miller
¦Welterweights: Matt Riddle vs. Sean Pierson
¦Middleweights: Jesse Bongfeldt vs. Rafael Natal
¦Lightweights: Mark Bocek vs. Dustin Hazelett
Main card
¦Welterweights:
Thiago Alves vs. John Howard
¦Lightweights: Joe Stevenson vs. Mac Danzig
¦Lightweights: Jim Miller vs. Charles Oliveira
¦Heavyweights: Stefan Struve vs. Sean McCorkle
¦UFC Welterweight title match: Georges St. Pierre vs.
Josh Koscheck
Source: Fight Opinion
|
Revisting
Pride: Rampage Jackson a Step Closer to Shogun Rua Rematch
by Erik
Fontanez
Quinton “Rampage” Jackson pulled out a narrow win over
Lyoto Machida in their main event at UFC 123. Many disagreed
with the judges’ scorecards, feeling that Machida was the
fighter with the edge that night in Detroit.
Shogun
Rua and Rampage Jackson at Pride Grand Prix 2005
This isn’t the first time a judges’ decision has been
criticized more than a Michael Moore documentary. After all,
this is MMA; what would this sport be without it’s scorecards
written in controversy?
Whether
you’re outraged over a lousy decision or happy to see justice
served, it is what it is and there is no sense in crying over
spilled milk. It’s done. Time to move on.
The
only thing to do from here on out is anticipate what good can
come from such a decision being made. And what good is that?
A revisit to a classic Pride match-up, of course.
The
UFC 123 victory for Rampage means he earns another step towards
title contention. He is, likely, already in a slot to fight the
winner of the Rashad Evans and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua
bout, which is tentatively scheduled to go down as the main event
in the UFC’s second trek to Abu Dhabi.
For
argument’s sake, let’s say Rua gets through Evans in
their anticipated light heavyweight title fight. What then? Insert
Jackson into the equation and you have a potential summer blockbuster
in 2011.
There’s
your revisit to Pride, hardcore fans.
Rua
and Jackson first battled back in 2005 where the middleweights
(that was the equivalent of a UFC light heavyweight back then)
met in that division’s Pride Grand Prix. The fight ended
with Jackson being at the wrong end of soccer kicks delivered
by eventual tournament champion Rua. A Muay Thai clinch moments
before that included a Rua knee that broke Jackson’s rib.
Rampage
agreed with Joe Rogan during their post-fight interview when
the two spoke of a rematch between Jackson and Machida, but is
that really what the fans want?
UFC
president Dana White has already cast his vote against a rematch
between Jackson and Machida, so don’t get too excited about
it.
A
Shogun-Rampage II headliner sounds like it might sell a bit more
than a Machida-Rampage II headliner. Jackson would probably like
it more too, seeing as he thought that Machida was boring leading
into their fight.
Revenge sounds like an enticing treat too. Jackson had a similar
taste for this back when he fought Rua’s former teammate,
Wanderlei Silva, at UFC 92. As many know, Jackson and Silva were
in two Pride match-ups that left monumental impacts on the sport.
Silva went 2-0 in those fights and finished them in devastating
fashion, especially the second meeting, where he kneed Jackson
through the ropes en route to a knockout win.
UFC
92 was the third and final meeting between Jackson and Silva.
It ended with Jackson exacting revenge when he landed a left
hand that put Silva to sleep.
A
rematch with Rua would likely draw more attention than Jackson’s
third dance with Wanderlei. The reasoning behind that is Silva
was the loser of three of his last four fights leading up to
UFC 92. The fight had no title implications and was simply put
together for the delight of those who remembered the Pride years.
If
Shogun successfully defends his title against Evans, a fight
with Jackson would have the same appeal as the Rampage vs. Silva
rematch, only this time it will be for a championship belt in
one of the UFC’s most fiery divisions. The fight can be
dubbed “a rematch six years in the making.”
A
Shogun-Rampage rematch makes a strong case for being one of the
most anticipated MMA rematches in recent history. Obviously,
the pairing would be an easy sell for the organization. Both
Jackson and Rua are about as marketable as you can get in MMA,
so it makes sense for this fight to happen if the cards fall
in place.
There
is no doubt, Shogun vs. Rampage 2 makes dollars and sense.
Lots
of dollars and sense.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Sherdog.com’s
Pound-for-Pound Top 10
Exit “The Dragon.”
Former
UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida has left the list
of MMA’s pound-for-pound best following a narrow split decision
loss to fellow ex-titleholder Quinton “Rampage” Jackson
at UFC 123 on Nov. 20 at The Palace of Auburn Hills in Auburn
Hills, Mich.
Despite
a third-round surge by the Brazilian karateka, Jackson’s
aggression in the first two stanzas won over the judges, leading
to a verdict that few predicted and many would question. Nonetheless,
Machida’s second career loss, coupled with his brutal dispatching
at the hands of Mauricio “Shogun” Rua in May, caused
his ouster from the rankings. As a result, UFC 205-pound title
contender Rashad Evans and Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert
Melendez each move up one spot.
Filling
the void left by Machida’s absence is WEC bantamweight champion
Dominick Cruz, who enters the list at No. 10. Currently ranked
as the world’s top 135-pounder, Cruz stuck-and-moved his
way to a five-round split decision title defense in his August
rematch against Joseph Benavidez. The Alliance MMA product has
tasted defeat just once in 17 bouts, having been submitted in
2007 by Urijah Faber -- a man who he could very well meet again
in the future now that “The California Kid” has dropped
to 135 pounds.
1.
Anderson Silva (27-4)
Undeniably the UFC’s greatest middleweight and arguably
its most dominant champion of all-time, Silva has notched an
unprecedented seven consecutive defenses of his 185-pound crown.
In his latest, at UFC 117, “The Spider” pulled out
an almost inconceivable come-from-behind win, submitting Chael
Sonnen with a triangle armbar after four and a half rounds of
being dominated by the wrestler. On the mend from a rib injury,
which he carried into that bout, the Brazilian already has a
pair of challengers queued up for his return. On Feb. 5, Silva
will meet countryman Vitor Belfort at UFC 126. Should that defense
prove successful, he would next face Yushin Okami in a rematch
of their infamous 2006 bout, which the Japanese fighter won by
disqualification.
2.
Georges St. Pierre (20-2)
When St. Pierre and Josh Koscheck met for the first time in August
2007, St. Pierre walked away with a unanimous decision. When
they collide in a UFC title rematch three-plus years later at
UFC 124, it will be on the heels of the 12th season of “The
Ultimate Fighter,” which figures to build the second fight
with an easy and obvious face-heel dynamic. That dynamic will
only be reinforced by the fact that their Dec. 11 clash will
go down at the Bell Centre in St. Pierre’s hometown of Montreal.
3.
Jose Aldo (18-1)
Since entering World Extreme Cagefighting in June 2008, Aldo
has laid waste to every challenger put before him, embarking
on an 8-0 run through the 145-pound division, with seven wins
via stoppage. Most recently, the Brazilian dynamo disposed of
top contender Manny Gamburyan with a sound knockout in his second
title defense. During a ceremony at UFC 123, Aldo was formally
crowned the first UFC featherweight champion, a title he was
slated to put on the line for the first time against Josh Grispi
at UFC 125 until a back injury forced him off the bill.
4.
Frankie Edgar (13-1)
On Aug. 28 in Boston, Edgar proved that, no matter the controversy
surrounding his April UFC title win against B.J. Penn, he is
definitely the sport’s top lightweight. For five rounds,
Edgar was the superior fighter, ahead of “The Prodigy”
every step of the way, standing and on the ground. However, in
spite of two massive wins, fans are unlikely to be too taken
with Edgar’s accomplishments until he gets through his next
challenger -- Gray Maynard. The only man to beat Edgar, Maynard
outpointed “The Answer” in April 2008.
5.
Jon Fitch (23-3, 1 NC)
While not one to cause a stir with outrageous interviews, Fitch
has nonetheless proven a polarizing figure due to his wrestling-based,
results-oriented style of fighting. The former Purdue Boilermaker’s
resume speaks for itself, however, with 13 wins and only one
defeat inside the UFC’s ever-deepening 170-pound division.
The American Kickboxing Academy standout’s path will not
get any easier in February, as he faces former two-division UFC
champion B.J. Penn at UFC 127 in Sydney, Australia.
6.
Mauricio “Shogun” Rua (19-4)
Rua’s current resume remains a far cry from where it was
in 2005, when he tore through four Top 10 opponents in half a
year. Though he now holds the UFC title in one of the sport’s
deepest divisions, his problem remains the catastrophic knee
injuries he seems to suffer with regularity. Coming off his May
knockout of Lyoto Machida, Shogun’s third serious knee surgery
in three years has postponed a fight with former champion Rashad
Evans until March 2011. The pair will reportedly meet in the
United Arab Emirates at the as-yet-unannounced UFC 128.
7.
Jake Shields (26-4-1)
There was a time a few short years ago when Shields was reviled
for being one of MMA’s most loathsome fighters to watch.
During the last five years, the Cesar Gracie protégé
has transformed himself from a drab, peripheral contender into
one of the sport’s elite competitors. Shields won his long-awaited
UFC debut on Oct. 23, though not without some controversy. Nonetheless,
the win -- a razor-thin split decision over Martin Kampmann --
entitles the former Strikeforce middleweight champion to a shot
at the winner of December’s Georges St. Pierre-Josh Koscheck
170-pound title bout.
8.
Rashad Evans (15-1-1)
Evans’ win over rival Quinton “Rampage” Jackson
on May 29 did not exactly set the world on fire, though he walked
away with a unanimous decision. “Suga” will have the
chance to take his resume from strong to exceptional in the near
future, as his win over Jackson installed him as the UFC’s
top 205-pound contender. The real issue for the former champion
has become inactivity, as he will have to wait until UFC 128
in March 2011 to get a shot at rehabbing champion Mauricio “Shogun”
Rua.
9.
Gilbert Melendez (18-2)
In the biggest lightweight bout that could have been made outside
of the UFC, Melendez thumped on Dream champion Shinya Aoki for
five lopsided rounds on April 17, earning the most significant
and outstanding win of his career. The major challenge going
forward for the 28-year-old Cesar Gracie student will be securing
major fights within the confines of Strikeforce. To that end,
“El Nino” could be looking at a rubber match against
former sparring partner Josh Thomson next, though rumors of a
rematch with Aoki in Japan also persist.
10.
Dominick Cruz (16-1)
Cruz furthered his reputation as the world’s top 135-pound
fighter on Aug. 18, edging out a split decision win in his five-round
WEC title defense against Joseph Benavidez. Up next for Zuffa’s
lightest champion is another title bout, this time against Scott
Jorgensen at the final WEC show on Dec. 16. The winner will be
crowned the first-ever UFC bantamweight champion.
*
With his Nov. 20 split decision loss to Quinton “Rampage”
Jackson, previously eighth-ranked Lyoto Machida exits the top
10.
Source: Sherdog
|
Longtime
MMA trainer Shawn Tompkins takes on professional boxing
by John
Morgan
With a lifetime of training in karate, Muay Thai and mixed martial
arts, Canadian Shawn Tompkins is currently among the most recognized
and respected trainers in the sport of MMA.
Now
he hopes to establish himself as a premier coach in the sport
of boxing as well.
The
Team Tompkins head, who's currently based out of Las Vegas' TapouT
Training Center, is now the lead trainer for professional boxer
Ramon Montano (17-8-2), and Tompkins will oversee the 28-year-old
as he takes on undefeated prospect Jesse Vargas (12-0) on Dec.
11 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.
The
fight will be featured as part of the undercard for Amir Khan's
WBA world light welterweight title fight against Marcos Rene
Maidana.
"I
feel like in the boxing world, the only guys that are getting
trained right are the elite guys," Tompkins told MMAjunkie.com
(www.mmajunkie.com). "The rest of the guys, if you go to
a boxing gym, it's a different atmosphere than an MMA gym. The
only guys that get attention are either title-bound or in the
top 10. The rest of the guys get pushed aside. The rest of the
guys aren't getting strength and conditioning, getting sprint
work, getting actual padwork and getting the right sparring partners,
unless they're the Manny Pacquaios and the Floyd Mayweathers
and Amir Khans.
"I
have the chance, since I'm not a boxing gym and a boxing coach,
to put together a real camp for him, and we're going to go out,
and we're going to test the waters on Dec. 11."
Montano
currently serves as the boxing coach at the TapouT Training Center.
In October, the Mexican native took a fight on short notice in
California and asked Tompkins to travel with him for support.
Montano
said Tompkins refrained from trying to adjust his techniques
during the fight, but afterward, he asked if he could possibly
offer any pointers.
"He
took a two-week notice fight, and I went out just to support
him and be there for him," Tompkins said. "I saw what
he was doing and the ability that this kid has. I told him afterward
that I thought I could do a lot for him.
"My
interest has always been in the boxing and kickboxing side of
the sport. He gave me the chance, and a few weeks later, Golden
Boy approached us and gave him a three-fight deal."
With
19 years of training and more than 100 amateur fights to his
name to along with his professional record, Montano is just 2-4
in his past six fights and was looking for a change. In Tompkins,
he believes he's hit the jackpot.
"He
has good skills with the guys in MMA," Montano said of Tompkins.
"I have a long time in this sport, and I wanted to try something
new.
"I
can see the people who have a heart for this sport. Boxing has
a lot of bad people in the sport, and I don't want to be with
those people. Shawn is very clear with everything. I like his
personality, and I wanted to try it out."
Montano,
who has served as a sparring partner for both Mayweather and
Pacquiao during his seven-year career as a professional, said
Tompkins' approach has proven vastly different from what he's
seen earlier in his career.
"We're
friends, and I started training with him and feeling very comfortable,"
Tompkins said. "I like his style because he knows what I
want. He knows what I can do.
"I'm
a boxer, and my last trainer wanted me to be a brawler. It's
not my style. I want to use my footwork and speed, and he lets
me do that."
Tompkins
is jumping into the boxing game headfirst. In his first bout
as a head trainer, he'll see Roger Mayweather Sr. in the opposing
corner. That said, Tompkins has coached some of MMA's biggest
stars, and the longtime trainer welcomes the challenge as he
doesn't view this as any sort of one-and-done affair.
"I'm
not just doing this the way a boxing coach will jump in MMA for
one fight," Tompkins said. "I want to be involved in
boxing. I don't think one is better than the other. I believe
there's room for both, and I think there's a lot of people out
there that agree with me and want to see both."
Montano
also doesn't view the new partnership as strictly experimental.
He has lofty goals, and he believes Tompkins is the man to get
him there.
"I
feel great," Montano said. "He pushes me a lot. I'm
a hard worker. Whatever you tell me, I'll do it.
"I've
been boxing for 19 years. My goal is to be champion of the world.
I've been so close in the past, and I still want to do something
big with my life."
Source: MMA Junkie
|
Solving
stalling in five easy steps
By Jake
Rossen
Maiquel Jose Falcao Goncalves bested Gerald Harris for two rounds
Saturday and then ... stopped.
Boring
is a part of sports. No way around it. Basketball is constantly
being interrupted by referees. Boxers can put on their running
shoes. Baseball -- well, baseball was obviously engineered to
be boring. It's the cruelest joke ever perpetuated on humanity.
Even when you have complete control over the pace of something
-- like the WWE's ballet of groin shots -- you can still stink
up the place. It's impossible to completely supercharge anything.
Unless someone is on fire
The
idea, instead, should be mitigation: Keep the mind-numbing to
a minimum. In this, Japan should be considered a pioneer: At
a time when American promotions were still allowing endless time
in an ineffectual guard or clinch, referees there would use everything
short of batons and tazers to provoke action. (Give it time.)
Inactive? They'll take 10 percent of your purse. Stall? More
money taken away, or maybe your plane ticket home.
Thanks
in part to late notice and spectacular mismatches, leagues like
Pride had a pretty high good-to-blah work rate. Unfortunately,
they also treated fighters like cattle. Kazushi Sakuraba, a 15-year
veteran of such tactics, moves like he's walking through wet
cement. This is too much. But it's possible to promote more exciting
fights without compromising health or safety. Here's how:
The
referee needs a quicker trigger. How many times have we spent
minutes staring half-lidded at fighters in the clinch, jockeying
for position that isn't going to come? Eventually, the referee
comes in to break them up, but it's often too late; the crowd
is lost. Let's significantly shorten the duration given to fighters
who are tied up against the fence to 15 or 20 seconds. Could
it conceivably affect the outcome of the fight? It could -- but
so can keeping the match to three rounds instead of five or 10,
along with the other thousand variables that keep this an approximation
of a fight, not a 59-round John L. Sullivan homage.
Start
subtracting instead of only adding. The MMA judge's mindset is
to reward aggression and damage with 10 points in the round.
In the midst of multilevel action, it's an easy equation to remember.
But deducting points is every bit their obligation as well. Why
should a fighter who barely loses a competitive round be afforded
the same score (nine) as a guy who got his nose busted, his arm
tendons torqued and his rear end planted, especially if both
scenes play out in the same fight? Losers are supposed to get
"nine or less." Less is more.
Punish
passivity, aka "the staring contest." Confident he
had won the first two rounds, Maiquel Jose Falcao Goncalves did
virtually nothing in the third against Gerald Harris on Saturday.
Why risk trouble when the fight is in the bag? It's the same
principle that cost Oscar De La Hoya his infamous fight against
Felix Trinidad years ago. In the rules, the referee can deduct
a point for passivity. If he had, Falcao would have been looking
at a 10-8 round, and a 28-28 draw.
Shrink
the cage. The UFC has done everything within ethical reason to
encourage action: bonuses for finishing, locker room checks for
exciting fights and punishing boring fighters by delaying title
shots. It's all fine, but the problem is that those reprisals
are delayed. During the fight, the fighter is mostly concerned
with protecting his neck and winning. Forcing action needs to
begin as soon as the bell rings.
The
UFC's official Octagon is 30 feet in diameter; it shrinks only
for Ultimate Fight Night events or Spike's "The Ultimate
Fighter." That's a lot of space to gallop around like a
show pony. By contrast, the WEC's cage is (er, was) 25 feet.
Fighters have no place to move but directly into one another.
There's
a nice pageantry surrounding a big, enclosed fence, and the UFC
has rarely showed any interest in changing it. But fighters are
now adept in evasive maneuvering, playing for the cards and avoiding
exchanges. You can't turn it into a phone booth, but you don't
need a football field, either.
Stuff
the gloves. The No. 1 reason fighters are sometimes reluctant
to charge in: getting hit with five-ounce gloves absolutely sucks.
There's virtually nothing to prevent bone meeting bone and transmitting
horrible, nauseating force. A lightly padded MMA mitt is treated
with the respect of a glove wrapped in glass shards. Fighters
are wary of taking even one shot.
Getting
a few more ounces into the gloves without compromising grappling
or gripping would dull that effect by a decent amount. Blows
would become less severe and the fighter would be emboldened
to come forward and create more opportunities to land a combination
or a good shot that finishes it.
Granted,
there's ongoing debate about whether bigger gloves protect heads;
they might instead be better cushioning for the hand to deliver
a more potent blow. But a bowling ball dropped on your skull
is going to hurt whether it's wrapped in padding or not. And
because of the grappling element, MMA fighters will never sustain
the volume of head strikes that boxers do.
More
reasons?
Bigger
gloves: fewer cut stoppages.
Bigger
gloves: fewer hand injuries. Fighters fight more frequently.
Blow
up the gloves and see if the fighters don't feel more confident
eating less damaging shots to deliver their own. As the sport
evolves, it becomes necessary to make sure the trappings evolve
with it.
Source: ESPN
|
ROUNDTABLE
(pt. 1 of 2): Thoughts on the booking of B.J. Penn vs. Jon Fitch
following Penn's UFC 123 KO of Matt Hughes - Hansen, Lee, Hyden,
Hobaugh and Amadi
What is your reaction to the B.J. Penn vs. Jon Fitch booking
after Penn's UFC 123 knockout of Matt Hughes?
RICH
HANSEN, MMATORCH COLUMNIST
Well,
I was surprised by the speed of the announcement, that's for
sure. Clearly this fight was in the works, pending a B.J. win,
for quite a while. I don't really have a reaction to the booking
itself, since I never had enough time to contemplate a logical
next step for B.J. It absolutely shows that Penn, say what you
want about the guy, has no desire to take the path of least resistance
in his career. This is the most talented guy that he could have
been set up with, since there was zero chance of an Edgar or
GSP fight being booked next for him. If B.J. can avoid the clinch,
he'll win this fight.
ERIC
LEE, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR
This
match up doesn't make much sense to me. B.J. Penn has already
expressed that he thinks he can be Lightweight Champ again. And
Jon Fitch has been upset that he hasn't received a title shot
yet in the welterweight division. It's a great match up that
will probably sell a lot of pay-per-views. But whoever wins the
fight doesn't really move up much in their division.
FRANK
HYDEN, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR
I
think it's a good match-up. Both guys are just outside of the
title picture, and this fight will go a long way towards deciding
who's the next in line to battle for the #1 contenders slot in
the welterweight division. I like the fight, I just hope B.J.
is as motivated as he was for the fight with Hughes.
ERIC
HOBAUGH, MMATORCH SPECIALIST
B.J.
Penn did a nice job in his fight against Matt Hughes. He looked
in shape and determined. Hughes looked slow and old. The fight
with Jon Fitch is an intriguing one, but one that I feel B.J.
loses. Frankie Edgar did a great job in both of his fights with
Penn and used his wrestling strength to win and keep the Lightweight
Title. Very few wrestlers in the UFC can say they are better
wrestlers than Edgar. Jon Fitch is one of the few that can. Fitch
grinds this win out with a three round decision.
JASON
AMADI, MMATORCH COLUMNIST
This
is the type of matchmaking that sets the UFC apart from other
organizations. B.J. Penn fighting Jon Fitch solves problems for
the UFC that no one really saw a way around until the matchup
was announced.
B.J. Penn has two losses to both the UFC Welterweight and Lightweight
Champions. His rematches with Georges St. Pierre and Frank Edgar
were so one-sided that it would be impossible for the UFC to
drum up interest in a third fight with either champion. Penn
is still deserving of top level competition, so Jon Fitch is
the perfect opponent. While there is no title fight incentive
for Penn, as even a win over Jon Fitch might not put him near
a title shot at 170 lbs. or 155 lbs. anytime soon, there is a
degree of prestige that comes with handing a fighter like Jon
Fitch a loss.
For Fitch, there are absolutely title implications in this fight.
Jon Fitch may not be public enemy number one for the UFC, but
they certainly are in no rush to give him another title shot.
A win over a big name like B.J. Penn would be enough for the
UFC to be able to market him in a title fight, despite him not
exactly having an exciting highlight reel.
For the UFC, this is a win-win scenario. If Fitch wins, they
can finally market him to a casual audience, and if B.J. Penn
wins, they can finally stop looking for reasons not to give Jon
Fitch a title shot.
Source: MMA Torch
|
UFC-WEC
Merger Brings Excitement, Warning About Jobs on the Line
By Mike
Chiappetta
In theory, a bantamweight fighter shouldn't be able to end a
heavyweight's career, but that's the exact scenario that is likely
to play out at some point over the coming months as the UFC and
WEC officially merge and fighters jockey for precious roster
slots.
With
the Jan. 1 addition of the bantamweight and featherweight divisions
in the UFC – bringing the total of weight classes to seven
– the number of fighters looking for jobs will rise, but
the total number of slots available to fighters is expected to
hold steady.
That
means fighters who might have gotten one more chance in the past
after a questionable performance might no longer be so lucky.
Instead, they might find themselves on the outside of the octagon
looking in.
"It's
a dog-eat-dog world," UFC president Dana White said in the
hours after UFC 123. "There's so many good guys out there,
you're literally fighting for your UFC life every time you fight."
Among
the first casualties of the new era is Gerald Harris, a 31-year-old
middleweight who had a 10-fight win streak snapped in a unanimous
decision loss to newcomer Maiquel Falcao at UFC 123. Just hours
before, Harris seemed like a rising star, with three straight
wins in the UFC, all by knockout, and a first-ever slot on the
main card of a pay-per-view.
His
match with Falcao, however, was widely considered lackluster,
and long stretches were loudly booed by the crowd at The Palace
of Auburn Hills in Michigan. Afterward, in the post-fight press
conference, White noted his dissatisfaction with the bout, with
his criticism even extending to the winner Falcao, for his inactivity
in the third round (according to Compustrike stats, Falcao threw
only seven strikes over the last five minutes). Still, in the
past, Harris likely would have received a pass for his performance.
But on Tuesday, Harris, the owner of a 17-3 record, was informed
he was cut.
"It's
no different than any other professional sports organization,"
White said. "It's exactly the way it works. You want to
stay at the top of the food chain, you deal with it. If you don't,
you won't. You know how many guys get cut by the NFL and Major
League Baseball every day? It's crazy, staggering. Same thing
here, no difference."
Harris,
who fought four times for the UFC in 2010, was understandably
surprised by the decision, though he restrained himself from
public comment except to thank fans for their support. Fans quickly
rallied to his side on social media platforms, protesting his
dismissal from the company on Twitter and on message boards,
but it was not immediately clear if the grassroots campaign would
change White's mind. There is precedence for it.
White
gave Karo Parisyan a second chance in the UFC after once saying
he'd never again fight for the promotion. (After a first-round
knockout loss at UFC 123, Parisyan, like Harris, was cut.) Similarly,
it seemed that Tito Ortiz's days were done after his winless
stretch extended to five straight matches with a loss at UFC
121 in October, but White caved after Ortiz personally asked
him for one more chance.
White
of course has the power to change his mind, but he noted that
he made special exceptions in those instances for "guys
who have put on a lot of great fights for me over the years."
Younger fighters and others with no history of drawing power
won't have the same leverage.
Even
winning will not bring immunity from losing a job. White couldn't
remember recently cutting someone who had won, but noted his
growing impatience with fighters who get in the cage and refuse
to engage.
"This
isn't the f------ Ultimate Staring Competition, it's the Ultimate
Fighting Championship," White said.
The
UFC has examined the cold, hard numbers of the merger and come
to the conclusion that their roster will still house roughly
200 fighters under contract at any given time. In the past, that
meant about 40 fighters for each of five divisions. Now, it's
roughly 28 men for each of seven divisions.
The
reason the roster is not expanding is because Zuffa staged 32
events last year (24 UFC, 8 WEC), but with the loss of the WEC
brand, the company is likely to stage only 26 events in 2011.
White feels that the promotion has essentially maxed out the
number of annual pay-per-views at about 15 or 16 per year, so
that would leave 10-11 free events to be broadcast between cable
partners Spike and Versus.
That
number could increase if a new television deal is struck, but
if it doesn't, that's a net result of around 60 fewer matches
over the course of 2011. So growing the roster would actually
result in a glut of more fighters with fewer shows on which to
put them.
The
most obvious place for contraction is among the lightweights,
with overarching divisions in the UFC and WEC that will probably
result in matchups where fighters are essentially fighting for
their jobs; winner stays, loser gets a pink slip.
It
seems cruel and unfair, but such is the nature of sports that
you either perform to the boss' liking, or they'll find someone
else who will.
"Listen,
these are the big leagues, no different than Major League Baseball,
no different than the NFL," White said. "You perform
or you go away."
Source: MMA Fighting
|
Defining
Georges St-Pierre
Thomas Gerbasi
ArticleComments (1)UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre
has always been one of mixed martial arts’ greatest talents.
But what were the seven defining moments of the Canadian star’s
career as he approaches his December 11th title defense against
Josh Koscheck? Read on to find out on this updated list.
Matt Hughes I – October 22, 2004 – UFC 50
Result – Hughes Wsub1
The fresh-faced kid from Montreal made quite a name for himself
in his first UFC fights, decisioning fellow young gun Karo Parisyan
at UFC 46 and then stopping Jay Hieron at UFC 48. But just four
months after the Hieron fight, St-Pierre, just 7-0, found himself
in the Octagon with his fighting hero, Matt Hughes. As he told
me before his second bout with Hughes, “The first time I
fought him, I was fighting my idol,” he admitted. “It
was the first time I had done something like that, he was in
front of me, and for me in my mind, it was impossible to do anything
to him because he was too good.” GSP held his own for much
of the first round though, until Hughes was able to lock in an
armbar with seconds left in the opening frame. St-Pierre immediately
tapped, unaware that if he held on for one more second, he would
have gotten a reprieve. It was a move that made people question
his resolve, and a decision he regretted almost instantly. “The
moment I saw the replay of the fight, I realized I was doing
pretty well,” he said. “I totally realized that I could
beat that guy.” He would have to wait two years for that
opportunity.
BJ
Penn – March 4, 2006 – UFC 58
Result – St-Pierre W 3 (split)
It was a purist’s dream match, and it lived up to the hype,
but after the first round ended, not too many people would have
bet that St-Pierre would emerge victorious. “That first
round (against Penn) was the worst round of my life,” admitted
St. Pierre after the bout. “Actually, if you look at my
career, I had never lost a round against anybody (to that point).
Even when I fought Matt Hughes, the judges thought I was ahead
– I asked them if they would have given me the round. So
this round (against Penn) was the only round I lost.” GSP
more than lost it; he was bloodied and battered by the crisp
standup of Penn, and many wondered if he would fold. He didn’t,
showing the heart of a champion in roaring back and taking the
next two rounds and the decision. It was the gut check moment
all fighters have to go through, and St-Pierre passed with flying
colors. “It just proved to everybody that I’m a lot
stronger mentally than when I fought Matt Hughes,” said
St. Pierre. “I’ve been able to come back after a beating
and get the victory. I think that’s the difference between
a champion and a guy who will always be tough, but will never
be a champion. You can be as skillful as you want, but if you
don’t have the mental toughness, you’re not going to
go anywhere, and in our sport, sooner or later, you’ll need
that to win a fight.”
Matt
Hughes II – November 18, 2006 – UFC 65
Result – St-Pierre TKO 2
St-Pierre more than earned a second title shot at Hughes after
five straight wins against top-notch competition, and he was
a different fighter than he was two years earlier. Hughes, one
of the strongest fighters ever to step into the Octagon, found
that out early on when he tried to lock the challenger up and
St-Pierre tossed him away with little if any effort. By round
two, the result was academic, and when the Montrealer dropped
Hughes with a kick to the head in round two, seconds later a
new champ was crowned. It was expected to be a reign that would
last for as long as St-Pierre wanted it to. But you know that
old adage about the best-laid plans of mice and men…
Matt
Serra – April 7, 2007 – UFC 69
Result – Serra TKO 1
To most people, Matt Serra didn’t even need to show up for
his championship fight against St-Pierre at UFC 69. But there’s
a reason why people actually fight the fights and don’t
determine results on message boards or on talk shows, and that’s
because when two highly-skilled athletes are in competition with
each other, anything can happen, and in mixed martial arts, one
mistake or one missed second of focus can mean defeat. St-Pierre,
reportedly besieged by personal issues before the fight, found
that out the hard way as Serra walked into the Octagon loose,
well-prepared, and confident, and the New Yorker pulled the stunning
upset, stopping St-Pierre in the first round. It was a crushing
defeat for GSP.
Josh
Koscheck I – August 25 – UFC 74
Result – St-Pierre W 3 (Unanimous)
This may have been the most important fight of St-Pierre’s
career. After the loss to Serra, the whispers were that GSP was
ultra-talented but didn’t have that extra something to be
great. It shows you how soon people forget the way he came back
against Penn or dominated most of the 170-pound division on the
way to the title. St-Pierre kept quiet and went about his business,
determined to teach all the skeptics a lesson. The lesson he
taught in dominating wrestling ace Josh Koscheck at UFC 74 was
that you can’t keep a good man down, that he was back, and
that he wasn’t going anywhere.
Matt
Serra II – April 19, 2008 – UFC 83
Result – St-Pierre TKO2
If GSP was going to crack under the pressure, this was the night
to do it. Not only was he facing the man who knocked him out,
but he was doing it in his hometown of Montreal, where fans packed
the Bell Centre just to see their hero in action. Well, he didn’t
disappoint, stopping Serra in the second round with a disciplined
and dominant attack. “The pressure was there,” he said.
“But I’m at my best when I perform under pressure –
it keeps me sharp and aware of what can happen and what is on
the line.”
BJ
Penn II – January 31, 2009 – UFC 94
Result – St-Pierre TKO4
Nearly three years after their first bout, St-Pierre and Penn
locked horns again in THE superfight of 2009. Only this time,
it wasn’t a 15 minute back and forth war. The second time
around, St-Pierre, bigger and stronger than Penn – who was
coming up from 155 pounds for the bout – was in control
for four rounds until the Hawaiian’s corner decided that
they had seen enough and halted the fight before the final stanza.
After all the bad blood and trash talk before the match, it was
one of St-Pierre’s most satisfying victories and one that
entrenched him in the upper reaches of the mythical pound for
pound list.
Source: UFC
|
Boxing:
Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. to make an O.C. appearance
by Damian
Calhoun
Share Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. is scheduled to make an appearance
Monday at the MetroPCS store in Fullerton (205 E Orangethorpe
Ave, 92832) at 6 p.m.
Chavez
Jr. will sign autographs and meet with fans to promote his Dec.
4 fight against Pawel Wolak at Honda Center.
Source: OC Register
|
What
Makes a Fighter a Legend?
By E. Spencer
Kyte
Last
week as we prepared for UFC 123, regular reader Jedi Mind disagreed
with my assessment of B.J. Penn as more of a tale of what could
have been than a legendary figure in the sport. In the process,
JM questioned the criteria I use when applying the term legend.
This
is my answer.
More
than anything, I think the terms "legend" and "legendary"
are tossed around too liberally in this sport. If you're keeping
track, you can also add "world-class" and "elite"
to that list; those seem like the only adjectives some analysts
are able to use when describing a fighter's skills. Everyone
has "world-class" this or "elite" that, and
we all know that isn't the case.
Specific
to the question at hand, there are only a very select group of
fighters who earn the distinction of being considered legends
in my eyes, and Penn isn't one of them. Neither are Chuck Liddell,
Tito Ortiz, Ken Shamrock or Georges St-Pierre, though the latter
on that list is starting to garner legend buzz.; a couple more
dominant perfomances and the welterweight champ will join the
select group that follows.
Here
is my list of legends and the reasons why:
Randy
Couture: if I need to explain this one, we have bigger issues
to discuss.
Royce
Gracie: thousands of current fighters became fighters after seeing
Gracie dominate the early UFC events, not to mention being responsible
for the large-scale introduction of Brazilian (read: Gracie)
jiu jitsu to a larger audience. While his career trailed off
as the sport evolved, he was literally unbeatable in those early
events, routinely defeating fighters far larger than him.
Kazushi
Sakuraba: the Japanese superstar may not have the most glowing
record - and it only keeps getting more pedestrian as he keeps
stepping into the ring - but this is "The Gracie Hunter"
we're talkingabout. In addition to facing and defeating a number
of members of the first family of MMA, Saku has become the benchmark
for Japanese MMA fighters; every next great star is measured
against Sakuraba, and few - if any - have managed to live up
to his lofty standards.
Fedor
Emelianenko: without getting too deep into the "Fedor is
awesome / overrated" debate, he was the best heavyweight
amongst the best collection of heavyweights for an incredibly
long time, and didn't legitimately lose a fight until this past
summer. That is legendary.
Matt
Hughes: If you want to know how I feel about the former welterweight
champion, please read this article from last week.
In
addition to GSP, Anderson Silva is getting close to legendary
status, and there are a handful of emerging talents who have
the makings of becoming legends (Aldo, Velasquez, Jones), but
the journey is a daunting one and it will take a number of years
and a bunch of big-time accomplishments to get there.
Speaking
of accomplishments, here are my criteria for becoming a legend,
presented against the impressive Hawaiian who spurred this story
on:
Transcendent
Fights: You need at least one - if not a couple - fights on your
resume that go down as "I remember where I was when that
fight took place" kind of fights. Couture has his victories
over Liddell and Sylvia, and Gracie's battle with Shamrock and
Sakuraba fit the bill. Though Fedor doesn't have that one signature
fight (I consider his battles with Nogueira to be close), he
makes the list in other areas. Hughes has his fights with Carlos
Newton and Frank Trigg, as well as the overall run of dominance
I discussed last week.
Penn's
victory over Matt Hughes to claim the welterweight title certainly
hit the target here, but there hasn't been anything else since.
Incredible
Accomplishments: Not losing for nearly a decade is incredible.
Being older than dirt and winning championships meets the criteria
as well. Sakuraba doesn't have one crowning achievement - though
his 90-minute struggle with Royce could be counted here too -
but has an overall body of work and scoop of influence to merit
his place. Going 12-1 in a thirteen fight stretch that included
winning two welterweight titles counts as Hughes' incredible
accomplishment.
Capturing
belts in two weight classes is certainly something rare - Couture
and Dan Henderson are the only other two fighters to accomplish
the feat at the elite level - but Penn immediately walked away
from the welterweight title after beating Hughes and only got
back into the win column in the UFC's 170-pound division Saturday
night, going 0-3 previous to stopping Hughes.
Trail
of Bodies: Who have you beaten? Legends defeat other elite fighters,
not just a collection of pretty good opponents. Couture and Emelianenko's
resumes are undeniable, and while North American fans may not
give as much weight to some of Sakuraba's wins, victories over
four Gracies, Quinton Jackson, Carlos Newton when he was still
relevent, Vitor Belfort and others is a damn fine list of conquests.
Defeating Newton, GSP, Penn and others give Hughes a place on
this list.
Penn
has 16 wins in his career. The biggest names on the list are
Hughes (twice), Takanori Gomi, and Jens Pulver. The rest of is
conquests include Sean Sherk, Kenny Florian, Diego Sanchez and
Joe Stevenson, a group that epitomizes the words "pretty
good" in mixed martial arts. While Hughes and Gomi are quality
wins, and beating Uno back in the day was a major accomplishment,
Penn hasn't had the same kind of success against big-time challengers
since beating Hughes the first time around.
Bigger
Challenges: Did you step out and take a risk beyond the standard
fare? Not everyone has reached this point; Hughes hasn't, nor
has Emelianenko, but Couture's competing in two weight classes,
Sakuraba's willingness to fight just about anyone in any weight
class, and Gracie's early battles as nothing more than a welterweight
count as well.
Penn
earns points here, having stepped out against fighters from every
weight division the sport has to offer is incredible; in the
span of two years, he defeated Hughes at welterweight, lost to
Lyoto Machida at weighing 191-pounds, and beat Renzo Gracie in
a middleweight contest. The one thing I would say against Penn
is that he's just 5-4 in his forays outside the lightweight division,
beating guys like Duane Ludwig, Rodrigo Gracie and Hughes twice,
but losing to GSP two times, Machida and Hughes. Testing yourself
is noble and impressive, but beating lesser competitors in a
different division isn't as impressive an accomplishment to me
as it is to others.
*
* * * * * * *
The
thing with Penn is that he could have been a legend, and perhaps
that clouds my judgment of him in this area. While that may be
the case, Penn controlled his destiny and put himself into this
position; he walked out of the UFC after beating Hughes to go
on a two-year odyssey against a wide variety of challengers instead
of facing the very best opponents he could.
Steamrolling
the lightweight division after he returned had him back on the
right track, but getting smashed by GSP in a fight he didn't
seem to take all that seriously halted his momentum, and dropping
back-to-back decisions to Frankie Edgar ended the conversation
until further notice.
True
legends don't need to get motivated for certain opponents or
have a number of fights where you can legitimately say they were
not properly prepared, and you can't say either of those things
about Penn. If he approached every fight like the first Hughes
encounter - or the second one, or his demolition of guys like
Stevenson, Sanchez and Sherk - there would be no question about
Penn's place as a legend, but that isn't how it worked out.
Yeah,
he challenged himself outside of the lightweight division and
had some success doing so, but he also came up short in some
fights that could have solidified his standing as an all-time
great in the sport.
Source: The Province
|
Pederneiras:
Convincing Aldo Not to Fight was ‘Hell’
by Marcelo
Alonso and Chris Nelson
While
fans were no doubt disappointed to learn of Jose Aldo’s
withdrawal from UFC 125, the top-ranked featherweight’s
trainer says the news hit no one harder than Aldo himself.
“It
was such a really tough task for me to convince him not to fight.
He wanted to fight anyway. He was really excited to make his
UFC debut, but I told him [fighting] in such a crisis state,
he may have really serious problems,” Andre Pederneiras,
head of Nova Uniao, told Sherdog.com. “He argued that he
wanted to fight anyway, that people would think he was chickening
out, but I insisted and convinced him.”
On
Tuesday, it was reported that the newly-christened UFC featherweight
champion had been forced to pull out of his New Year’s Day
title defense against Josh Grispi, but Pederneiras says the injury
existed long before Aldo traveled to Michigan last weekend to
receive his new belt at UFC 123.
“He’s
felt this pain in his right arm for a long time, but you know
how the tough guys behave. He just took an anti-inflammatory
and kept training,” said Pederneiras. “But during training
for his last two fights, it started to be more painful and, even
with the medicine, he was complaining. Before we traveled for
UFC 123, we went to a doctor and he said that he believed Aldo
had some problem in his cervical spine, but he could only confirm
after seeing the images from the exam.”
When
the Nova Uniao team returned from the states, they got the bad
news.
“When
we returned, the doctor called me to say that Aldo had a reduction
of the space between some vertebrae, and between C5 and C6, it
was touching the medulla, which was causing the problem in the
arm,” Pederneiras explained. “The doctor said that
if Aldo doesn’t stop immediately for a month of physiotherapy
[to realign the vertebrae], he could have more serious problems
that prevent him from training for a longer time and require
him to have surgery.”
Then
came the toughest part: convincing the champ not to fight in
the biggest match of his young career.
“It
was really hard. It was like hell for me. He was really disappointed
and even cried after we made the decision,” Pederneiras
said. “But finally, now we made the right decision. He’ll
start physiotherapy and I think, in three months, he can finally
make his Octagon debut."
Source: Sherdog
|
After
Retiring from MMA, Shonie Carter Eyes the WWE
By Ben
Fowlkes
Shonie Carter has no regrets. It's been a long ride, and maybe
some things didn't turn out like he planned, but after more than
a decade as a professional fighter there's not much he would
do differently.
"I've
had my great adventures," Carter told MMA Fighting. "I
went to Tiananmen Square, just because I was there. I was on
the Great Wall before I knew ya'll. You know? I fought in Tokyo.
I wrestled a bear in Russia. It's been beautiful."
But
now it's over, according to Carter. After a decision loss to
Jeremy Knafo in Tel Aviv, Israel earlier this month, "Mr.
International" decided to hang up the gloves. So he says.
Now he has a new venture in mind.
"I
want to go to the WWE," Carter said. "I've talked to
CM Punk about it. He works out at my gym. ...I'm coming to acknowledge
the mid-life crisis that a lot of guys go through where they
get a Corvette and a hot blonde girlfriend with big boobs. I've
just decided to do the WWE."
And
before you ask, yes, he's serious. At least he claims he is,
though with Carter it's sometimes difficult to tell what's sincere
and what's schtick. Still, this is one he's not backing away
from. At 38 years old, Shonie Carter wants to become a pro wrestler.
He even has a stage name picked out.
"Overtime,
that will be my name. Overtime, because I work hard. I put that
hard hat on, I bring a lunchbox, and I punch in. If you get in
that ring with me, you better punch in too, because you're going
to be working overtime."
Give
him credit for this much, he has the mic skills. Carter has always
talked a good game, even in recent years when his performances
in the cage didn't quite measure up.
That's
why he's decided to call it quits, he said. After suffering five
straight losses in promotions from Australia to Israel to a recent
Bellator event in his hometown of Chicago, the time came to face
some difficult conclusions.
"I'd
been thinking about it," Carter said. "It's just, I'm
fed up with decision losses. I'm tired of younger fighters building
their credibility on my name."
But
coming from a guy like Carter, who by his own admission knows
"nothing else," how seriously are we supposed to take
this retirement proclamation?
"It's
about a 90 percent or 95 percent chance I'm done," he said.
"Matter of fact, [an organization in] Costa Rica offered
me a world title fight. Then I thought about and decided, I've
had five losses in a row. I don't want to be fighting for a title
with five losses in a row. What does that say about the state
of things? I've had world titles before. I want to do something
else."
However,
that's not to say he couldn't be talked into a return, Carter
admits. That is, if the conversation is lucrative enough.
"If
you even get an inkling of a rumor that I'm about to fight again,
I'll tell you this: it's going to be financially worth it. I've
paid my dues. I don't need to keep beating my body up for the
mere pittance I was getting offered."
If
he never fights again, Carter said, he can live with it. It will
take some getting used to, and he'll miss it, but that's the
way it goes. He'd like to be remembered as a pioneer and an innovator,
but realistically he knows it will probably be "that damn
spinning backfist" that fans remember him for. That, and
the speedos, the suits, the antics. And that's okay, he said.
"I
can't let it bother me. I got into martial arts not to get famous.
I started this journey to stay out of trouble. A lot of guys
get into MMA now just to get paid and get on TV. Some guys just
care about the TV. I did it as a means to stay out of trouble
and then found out I could get paid. I had a kid on the way,
was a black man with an art degree in Chicago. What are the chances
I'd be able to make a living some other way?
"I
can't regret it. I never made $1.6 million to fight like some
champions we know about. No, I did not get a Harley-Davidson.
I don't get to drink Gatorade for free. I don't get to train
in free Under Armour shirts. I don't even have a magazine cover.
I'll never forget what MMA is or what it has done for me. I'll
do whatever I can for it to help the next generation. I'll still
train and I'll still coach."
In
fact, Carter said, now that he's got some extra time on his hands,
he's even offering MMA fans a chance to train with him for free
at Keller's Martial Arts in Chicago. At least, it's free for
the first week.
"After
that," he said, "they got to pay."
Source: MMA Fighting
|
Aloha
State Championship
Today
Kaiser High School, Honolulu, Hawaii
November 27, 2010
This
is the third leg of the Hawaii BJJ Triple crown.
The
event will offer prizes in cash for some divisions.
For
more info, go to hawaiitriplecrown.com.
Source: Romolo Barros
|
What’s
Next for Matt Hughes Following UFC 123 KO Loss?
by Ken
Pishna
Matt
Hughes at UFC 52
Forty-five wins, eight losses.
Two-time
UFC welterweight champion, seven title defenses.
Eighteen
victories in the Octagon.
UFC
Hall of Fame inductee.
That
list of accomplishments can’t be mistakenly accredited to
any other fighter than Matt Hughes.
Entering
on a three-fight winning streak, Hughes was derailed Saturday
night at UFC 123 in Detroit. In the rubber match of their trilogy,
B.J. Penn knocked Hughes out 21 seconds into the fight.
“When
he hit me, I actually thought it was a knee or a kick,”
recalled Hughes after the fight. “It wasn’t a clip;
he hit me pretty hard.”
Of
his eight losses, Hughes has only been knocked out four times.
Even though three of those are among his four most recent losses,
those three are still spread out over a four-year span. No one
is going to compare that to fellow UFC legend Chuck Liddell,
who has been KO’d in his three most recent fights, spanning
less than two years.
Still,
like Liddell, the question swirls around the former champion:
should he hang up the gloves?
“I
don’t know what the plan is now. I had a perfect training
camp coming into this. This is one of those fights I would have
paid my purse to Dana White to put this fight together,”
Hughes told interviewer Joe Rogan in the Octagon after the fight.
“I
had a lot of momentum. I had a lot on the line. This was a huge
fight for me.”
It
was a huge fight. For many fans, it was the close of a trilogy,
an end to a rivalry that has spanned nearly seven years. But
much more than that, for Hughes, it may have ended his final
run towards title contention. It may have taken away his reasons
for remaining in the Octagon.
Penn
now moves into a showdown with the No. 2 ranked welterweight
in the world, Jon Fitch, at UFC 127 in February. A win there
propels him into the title mix.
Hughes
is now left to reassess just where he stands in the division
and whether there are still any more fun fights left for him.
Without a gold belt dancing on the edge of his vision, what is
left for a 37-year-old fighter with the unmatched resume that
he possesses?
Are
there any fights left that excite him to train at the level necessary
to fight in the Octagon? Does he want to be relegated to gatekeeper
status?
Matt
Hughes will always be one of the most storied champions in UFC
history. His legacy is etched it stone. The question is whether
there is anything left to add to that legacy in the Octagon.
Neither
he nor UFC president Dana White had the answer to that question
on Saturday night.
“To
be honest, I don’t know what goes on now,” Hughes said
on Saturday night.
“I’ll
talk to Matt Hughes next week, or whenever he’s done hunting
or whatever he’s gonna do, and we’ll figure it out,”
said White.
The
UFC president was, however, sure of one thing: what the former
champion has meant to his company.
“There
are guys that I have talked about for years. Guys that are loyal,
that helped build this company and helped us get to where we
are today and Matt Hughes is one of those guys.”
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Bitetti,
Bando de Loucos and Brazilian MMA
by Guilherme
Pinheiro
Soccer
isn’t just Brazil’s most popular sport, it’s the
tool by which all other sports are understood. Even in the home
of vale tudo, MMA is understood on futebol’s terms.
Anderson
Silva’s August fifth-round triangle choke over Chael Sonnen
has been immortalized in Brazil as having come “in the 45th
minute of the second half.” The Brazilian fight media have
recently dubbed lightweight prospect Charles "do Bronx"
Oliveira the “Neymar of the UFC,” referencing the gifted
18-year-old Santos striker. When discussing the booming fight
scene in Belem, the headlines ask, “Is MMA bigger than soccer
in Belem?”
Yet
despite Brazil’s enormous and ongoing contributions to MMA,
the sport’s reputation and profile still struggles inside
the country itself. The nation is full of dedicated fight fans,
but for much of the population, images of bloody vale tudo battles,
event riots, and luta livre-versus-jiu-jitsu fights on the beach
still mar the reputation of the sport, limit its visibility and
moneymaking opportunities.
So,
with Sport Club Corinthians Paulista partnering with Bitetti
Combat for the promotion’s eighth event, taking place Dec.
4 at the club’s stomping grounds, Alfredo Schurig Stadium
in Sao Paulo, the importance and potential for MMA growth in
Brazil cannot be overstated.
The
Life and Times of “The Big Team”
A
necessary history lesson: Corinthians was founded in 1910 by
a group of workers from Sao Paulo; it’s working class roots
made Corinthians known as the “people’s team”
from its inception. To this day, Corinthians is still widely
connected to the lower class. It’s the most popular club
in Sao Paulo, and second only to Rio de Janeiro’s Clube
de Regatas Flamengo in the whole country. However, amongst the
working class, it’s number one by a fair margin.
The
passion for Corinthians is something extraordinary; the team
is referred to –- and not in jest -– as “The Almighty.”
Indeed, Corinthians has followers, not supporters.
Famously,
in 1976, Corinthians played Rio de Janeiro’s Fluminense
in the Brazilian Championship semifinals. 70,000 Corinthians
fans traveled the 280 miles by bus to watch the game, destroying
any potential homefield advantage Fluminense would have had.
The
match, known as “The Invasion,” was a 1-1 draw after
full time. Corinthians went on to win dramatically in the penalty
shootout. To this day, the Guinness Book of World Records considers
it the greatest human displacement of people during peace time.
2010
is Corinthians’ 100th anniversary. While most clubs make
a big deal of their centennial celebration, Corinthians’
profile is such that the celebrations actually started three
years ago.
Ronaldo
helped turn around the fortunes of Corinthians.However, when
those festivities began, there wasn’t much to celebrate:
Corinthians had been relegated to the Second Division for the
first time in club history and was in financial and political
turmoil. When Andres Sanchez was elected club president in December
2007, he cleaned house, bringing in a new front office and players.
These
changes paved the way for superstar Ronaldo to join Corinthians,
a move that has seen the club’s TV ratings swell, despite
already having the highest TV ratings in the country. Nearly
half its games are now on national TV. The new level of exposure
led to Corinthians signing a sponsorship deal for the 2010 season
with Brazilian pharmaceutical giant Neo Quimica worth 38 million
reais, or over $22 million USD. It led to an agreement for a
new stadium, which will serve as the stadium for the 2014 World
Cup opening match.
“Whatever
Corinthians gets into, people want to know about,” says
Bitetti Combat press agent Carlos Ozorio.
Spreading
Democracia Corinthiana to MMA
It’s
estimated that some 30 million of Brazil’s roughly 186 million
citizens are Corinthians fans or “The Faithful” as
they’re known. That estimation makes the team’s fanbase
larger than the populations of Brazil’s neighboring nations
Peru and Venezuela. So, it is not necessarily cliché to
call Corinthians a nation. Its fans avidly consume whatever product
has the name Corinthians on it.
“Our
partnership with Corinthians is truly important for MMA to really
take off in Brazil,” says event promoter Amaury Bitetti.
Bitteti
Combat’s two-year deal works as follows: Bitetti and his
team do the matchmaking and event production, while Corinthians
brings the name -- and everything attached to it -- and the venue
for the event. The club also assists the promotion with potential
sponsors. Bitetti says he’s hoping to mobilize many of the
club’s most important organized fan groups –- Corinthians
is rich with dedicated fan sub-groups -- to get the word out
about the event. He is hoping to prominently publicize the event
at this weekend’s match against Rio de Janeiro’s Vasco
da Gama.
“It’s
great to see the No. 1 sport in Brazil surrender to MMA,”
proclaims Pride veteran Cristiano Marcello, who will take on
Argentina’s Guido Canetti on the Dec. 4 card. “But,
I do think they need to find a way to broadcast the event in
other countries; international sponsors are still avoiding Brazilian
events.”
There
is still some skepticism that the Corinthians-Bitetti cooperation
will endure.
“Corinthians
being involved with the sport can be beneficial to the sport,
since people are starting to realize that MMA is the sport of
the future,” says Marcos Barbosa, leader of Barbosa Jiu-Jitsu
in Sao Paulo. “But, it might just be one event. Right now,
there’s a lack of investment and people committed to the
growth of the sport.”
Bearing
this concern in mind, it is essential that everything goes as
smooth as possible, especially given the media attention the
event will receive because of Corinthians.
If
anything goes awry -– and we know how things can go wrong
in Brazilian events -– it could hinder MMA’s progress
in Brazil.
MMA
fans like to imagine that the sport is widely accepted in Brazil
due to the amount of high-profile fighters the country produces.
Unfortunately, it’s not the case, especially in metropolitan
Sao Paulo, where the sport simply isn’t part of the culture
the way it is in Rio.
“Whatever
Corinthians
gets into, people
want to know about.”
-- Carlos Ozorio
Historically,
apart from the likes of Vitor Belfort, who gained media attention
for marrying model Joana Prado and his stint on "Casa dos
Artistas" -- Brazil’s answer to Celebrity Big Brother
-- national media attention is hard to come by.
As
Barbosa alludes to, most MMA events in Brazil must rely solely
on fight apparel companies, if any companies at all, for sponsorship
dollars. When MMA has made it into the media in the past, it’s
been for unfavorable incidents, such as the riot that took place
at 1997’s Pentagon Combat in Rio. Incidents like this still
impact the public perception of the sport, a major factor in
preventing powerful, influential sponsors from getting involved.
This
is why a successful relationship between Bitetti and Corinthians
may prove formative, as Sao Paulo, Brazil’s financial capital,
is the home of the big money backers that can make a difference
in legitimizing MMA nationwide.
The Suffering and Its Survivors
Brazil’s
rivalry with Argentina is borne of soccer. It is so intense that
it has transcended the sport; it is now a quiet war that engulfs
many cultural avenues. MMA is one of them.
When
Argentinian Guido Canetti steps into the cage to fight Marcello,
the soundtrack to his walk to the cage will be an orchestra of
boos. This has nothing to do with fact that he’s fighting
a Brazilian, only that he is Argentinean.
This
is not even an isolated phenomenon on the bill; Argentina’s
Luciano “Izzy” Correa will face Marcelo Sandes on the
card in another Argentina-Brazil bout. Other major Brazilian
promotions such as Jungle Fight and Shooto Brazil have also staged
a multitude of Brazil-versus-Argentina bouts. Culturally, these
fights legitimize MMA in the eyes of the Brazilian public, because
they understand what these stakes mean on the soccer field, and
interpret them as such for other sports.
But,
more specifically, the Corinthians connection is so appropriate
for Bitetti because of the hardscrabble nature of the Corinthians
and Brazilian MMA communities.
Having
Flavio Alvaro, nicknamed “Sobrevivente,” on the card
is apropos. “Sobrevivente” means “survivor”
in Portuguese, an apt description of many of Brazil’s athletes
who rise from the slums to prominence, whether they play on the
field or in the cage.
Anderson
Silva is from Parana but he supports Corinthians.It is part of
Corinthians lore for poor Paulistas to grow up dreaming of putting
on the team’s jersey, and to actualize that fantasy. Current
Corinthians forward Bruno Ferreira Bonfim, nicknamed “Dentinho,”
is a recent example. He has said many times that, growing up
poor in Sao Paulo, he used to pretend that Ronaldo -- his idol
and now his teammate -- was his dad.
The
resolve it takes to rise from humble beginnings to greatness
imparts a different kind of toughness. It’s one of the charms
of MMA, and definitely one that a soccer fan can appreciate.
It is worth noting that Brazil’s two greatest fighters at
the moment, Anderson Silva and Jose Aldo, are both soccer fanatics,
who rose from impoverished beginnings to become world champions.
Silva
himself is an ardent Corinthians supporter. It might seem odd
that “The Spider,” as a native of Parana, is a Corinthians
fan, since the state has two traditional teams in Brazil’s
First Divison, Atletico Paranaense and Coritiba. However, Corinthians
is the most popular team in Parana. It’s fitting, as Parana
is perhaps Brazil’s greatest fighting state, with its muay
Thai prominence, its sheer volume of MMA shows, and playing home
to some of Brazil’s greatest MMA legends, like Jose “Pele”
Landi-Jons, Wanderlei Silva, Anderson Silva and Mauricio “Shogun”
Rua. Corinthians, right down to having a musketeer as its mascot,
symbolizes battle, on all fronts.
Flavio
Alvaro himself describes the inner connection between the soccer‘s
working class heroes -- fans and players alike -- and the MMA
community in stark terms.
“The
suffering is a part of us,” he says plainly.
It’s
a suffering Brazil knows how to relate to, embrace and lionize,
because of what it has seen happen on the football field. It
makes the potential for widespread MMA fandom that much greater.
Paulista
Paper and Octagon Investment
Despite
the hardcore fandom present in cities like Rio and Curitiba,
MMA in Sao Paulo is on the periphery.
Without
being embraced by Sao Paulo, Brazil’s financial capital
and the nexus of its arts and entertainment industry, the future
for MMA is limited. Rumors continue to swirl about a potential
return to Brazil for the UFC in the next year or two. If that
happens, it will likely take place at HSBC Arena in Rio. However,
if a UFC in Brazil will be financially successful, it will likely
be on Sao Paulo’s dime.
The
nation’s major investors reside in Sao Paulo. If there is
to be a solid promotional effort for the event nationwide, it
will be influenced by Paulista companies.
“The
suffering is
a part of us.”
-- Flavio Alvaro
MMA
relies on an affluent population with expendable income to make
its product successful, and Sao Paulo’s well-developed middle
class fits that bill the best. If the Octagon hits the HSBC Arena,
it is Paulista consumers that can spend whatever money necessary
to buy up tickets and travel to Rio.
Sao
Paulo’s indifference to MMA is a gentle one; it’s based
on a lack of exposure and familiarity, not any kind of metropolitan
snobbery about fighting. The understanding and passion is there
to be had: the same things that turn Paulistas -- from the lawyers
and doctors down to the poor laborers -- into Corinthians loucos
are the same things that drive Brazil’s passion for MMA.
We
won’t know the true impact of the Bitetti Combat-Corinthians
tie-up any time soon. But the money that MMA in Brazil needs
to flourish as a legitimate sport sits inside the banks of Sao
Paulo. Corinthians and its Faithful might have the combination
to those safes.
Source: Sherdog
|
MMA
Top 10 Light Heavyweights: Who's No. 2?
By Michael
David Smith
When you're trying to rank MMA fighters, it's easy to say you'll
just rank them based on who they've beaten and who they've lost
to inside the cage. It's a lot harder to actually create the
rankings when you realize that it's mathematically impossible
to rank every fighter ahead of the guys he's beaten and behind
the guys who have beaten him.
That's
the challenge of picking the No. 2 light heavyweight in the world
right now. UFC light heavyweight champion Shogun Rua is No. 1,
but there are three candidates for No. 2: Rampage Jackson, Lyoto
Machida and Rashad Evans. And there's simply no way to rank those
three without putting one of them behind someone he's beaten,
and another one ahead of a man who has beaten him. Machida beat
Evans, Evans beat Rampage, and Rampage beat Machida. Any way
you slice it, someone has to get ranked ahead of someone who
beat him in the cage.
So
who's No. 2? I make my choice below.
(Editor's
note: The individual fighter's ranking the last time we did light
heavyweights are in parentheses).
1.
Shogun Rua (1): The man who holds the UFC belt gets top honors,
even though it's frustrating that injuries have prevented him
from fighting very often. His knockout of Machida will go down
as his only fight of 2010, and he didn't fight at all in 2008.
Here's hoping Shogun, who fought as often as five times a year
in Pride, can get healthy and get active again in 2011.
2.
Lyoto Machida (3): In the Machida-Evans-Rampage triangle, where
everyone is 1-1, the most impressive win belongs to Machida,
who dominated Evans en route to a second-round knockout. And
the closest loss also belongs to Machida, who in my opinion deserved
to beat Rampage at UFC 123. So he's got my vote for No. 2. (I
should note that I had previously ranked Anderson Silva as the
No. 2 light heavyweight, but I'm no longer counting Silva as
a light heavyweight because he hasn't fought at 205 pounds in
a year and a half and has no plans to do so any time soon.)
3.
Rashad Evans (4): Evans now sits and waits for Shogun to get
healthy. If Shogun can't get healthy soon, a Rampage-Rashad rematch
would make a lot of sense for an interim title fight.
4.
Rampage Jackson (6): Whether you think Rampage deserved the split
decision win over Machida or not, any concerns that Jackson had
lost his focus during his year away from the sport while filming
The A-Team can be put to rest: He looked good physically and
seemed to be in a good place mentally, and he should have big
things coming his way in 2011.
5.
Jon Jones (5): UFC President Dana White has said Jones is about
a year away from title contention. That, of course, assumes he
keeps winning. He has his toughest test to date against Ryan
Bader at UFC 126 in February.
6.
Ryan Bader (NR): The 12-0 Bader is a heavy underdog to Jones,
but don't count him out. In two fights in 2010 he handily defeated
two solid veterans, Keith Jardine and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira,
and it's entirely possible that he'll get the better of Jones
and that Bader will be the one who's in title contention in a
year.
7.
Thiago Silva (8): Silva is easily overlooked because he's been
injured and out of action for a year, but he's better than many
people realize. In 16 pro fights Silva has 14 dominant victories,
one narrow loss to Evans and one knockout loss to Machida. If
he's finally healthy, look for him to bounce back in a big way
against Brandon Vera at UFC 125.
8.
Forrest Griffin (9): We'll finally get to see Griffin back in
the Octagon against Rich Franklin at UFC 126. Griffin hasn't
fought in more than a year, and he's just 1-2 in the last two
years, with the win being a lackluster decision over Tito Ortiz.
But Griffin's status as one of the sport's most popular fighters,
and his victories over Rampage and Shogun, mean that he could
easily get back in title contention if he can beat Franklin.
9.
Dan Henderson (NR): Henderson fights Babalu Sobral on Dec. 4
in a bout that will tell us whether he has much left at the age
of 40. If he wins, he fights for the Strikeforce light heavyweight
title next year. If he loses, his signing will be remembered
as a major disappointment for Strikeforce.
10.
Rafael Cavalcante (NR): We haven't heard much of anything from
Feijao since he won the Strikeforce light heavyweight belt in
August, but he should be ready to take on the Henderson-Babalu
winner some time early next year. That would represent the biggest
fight of his career.
Source: MMA Fighting
|
The
Quotable Mr. Koscheck
Thomas Gerbasi
ArticleComments (32)A polarizing figure to mixed martial arts
fans, Josh Koscheck has embraced his dual role as a fan favorite
and the man fans love to hate, and in the lead up to his UFC
124 main event against Georges St-Pierre, you will surely hear
some incendiary comments coming from the mouth of the Ultimate
Fighter season 12 coach and number one welterweight contender.
Here’s just a sample of Kos’ quotables from over the
course of his UFC career.
On tapping out (2006)
“Hell, I’m never gonna tap. That’s just saying,
‘no mas, you’re too good today’. I got a big heart
and I think there’s always a chance that I can get out of
it. There’s a certain point where some people may have to
tap, but I haven’t been in that position yet. As of right
now, I’m not tapping.”
On
getting choked out by Drew Fickett (2006)
“That’s Ultimate Fighting, and I’ve seen it happen
before, where people are dominating and they get submitted. It’s
part of the sport and I think about that all the time. What the
hell was I thinking shooting in there? There are always what
ifs, but it happened, that’s the nature of the sport, I
deal with it and move on.”
On
finishing fights (2007)
“With those bonuses and things like that that the UFC gives
as extra incentives, when you’ve got somebody hurt, it doesn’t
matter who it is, you’re trying to finish the fight. And
as a fighter, if you have somebody hurt, the fighting instinct
definitely kicks in, no matter who it is, and you’ve got
to do whatever you need to to finish the fight. For example,
if you look at my past fight with Drew Fickett, I probably had
plenty of chances to end that fight early. If I would have known
more about fighting or been more aggressive at certain points,
then I could have probably finished that fight. So you’ve
got to finish the fight, because bad things can happen the longer
the fight goes on because it is the UFC, and it’s crazy.”
Before
his first fight with Georges St-Pierre (2007)
“I think Georges St-Pierre is a well-rounded fighter, a
good fighter, but I think he has one area that he’s very
weak in and that’s his mind. I think that he’s mentally
not as strong as his skills are. That’s the area I’m
gonna work on and hopefully exploit in this fight, and hopefully
I’ll come out with a victory.”
More
thoughts on GSP (2007)
“If you look at the past history of Georges St-Pierre, he
said the reason he lost against Matt Hughes was because he was
fighting his idol. You don’t come out and say that. And
after the loss he had against Matt Serra, he came out and said
he didn’t train, and then came back and said he did train
hard and he made a mistake, that type of thing. From the outside
looking in, you would obviously think something’s wrong
with this kid if he’s making up those kinds of stories and
that type of thing. But now, I’m glad it’s out because
it’s just an advantage for me because I’m mentally
tough. I come from a wrestling background so the mental toughness
aspect is there, so it’s just a matter of getting my skills
to the level that I need to to compete with those guys.”
On
toughness (2007)
“One reason why I’m tough is Edinboro wrestling. Coach
Flynn, I had him fly out a couple of weeks ago, he trained me
for a week, and it’s just a lot different workout than you’re
used to. It’s pushing your body, but most of all, it’s
pushing your mind. He had me pushing a car for a mile after I
did 40 minutes of sprints, just to test me mentally and to see
if I wanted to win this fight or not. The next day he had me
doing a wheelbarrow with 300 pounds and he had me wheel it for
28 straight minutes, running. So it’s much more of a mental
game for me, and coming from a wrestling background, wrestlers
are used to that. We’re used to the grind, used to training
hard, used to being put in positions and situations in training
where the normal person would probably crack and fold. It’s
kinda how wrestlers are grown up, I would say.”
On
fighting St-Pierre (2007)
“Georges is a nice guy, but he’s trying to take food
off my table. I’m trying to build a career here. This is
something that I want and he’s trying to take that away
from me. I don’t care if he’s a nice guy – I’ve
got to kick his ass and it’s just that plain and simple.
I’ve got to believe that until this fight’s over –
&#$# Georges St-Pierre, he’s trying to take my dream
away and that’s becoming a UFC champion. I’m not going
to let him take that away from me. Maybe after the fight’s
over, I’ll believe differently, but right now, my mindset
is that he’s trying to take food off my table and take a
dream away from me, so he’s the enemy right now as far as
I’m concerned.”
On
fighting “nice guys” (2007)
“I’ve worked hard to get where I am, and I feel I gotta
do what I gotta do to make the fight go my way and think the
way I think because that’s just the way it is. In wrestling
I’ve wrestled plenty of nice guys, but when we’re out
there, it’s a competition and I want to win. I don’t
care about the other person and I don’t care about hurting
their feelings.”
On
the evolution of Josh Koscheck (2008)
“I think my fighting style has changed a lot since GSP.
Mentally I was a little bit not there. I didn’t really work
very much on my wrestling back then, so I’ve become more
of a complete fighter and that’s one of the lessons that
I’ve learned from fighting Georges St-Pierre.”
On
happiness (2008)
“Now I’m happy. I told my management that I want to
fight more. I want to fight as much as possible, and this year
has been great because this is my fourth fight. It means I’m
making money, and I’m happy.”
On
the fans swinging over to his side (2008)
“It’s been a good reaction. I think the fans are starting
to appreciate the fact that I am a true fighter and it just took
me some to get around to that.”
On
his love / hate relationship with the fans (2008)
“They love you even more after they’ve hated you, so
if you can make someone hate you and then fall in love with you,
you’ve got a hook for life. I look at it as a relationship.
These fans might not like me, and I may not get every fan to
like me, but I can’t control that. All I can control is
winning and losing and training my butt off so I don’t have
any lapses like the last fight (against Thiago Alves). I’m
not concerned with being the good guy or the bad guy – I
just want to win fights, because at the end of the day, that’s
what it’s about. I’m an entertainer, but I’m also
a fighter. I like to entertain people and I want them to get
their money’s worth. What the hell is this crazy kid gonna
do next? What is he gonna say next? And that’s the way I
live. You gotta live on the edge and you’ve got to live
life to the fullest.”
On
trash talk (pre-Paul Daley fight - 2010)
“And when I talk trash – guess what? I show up and
I fight. And that’s what this guy’s gonna have to do.
He’s gonna have to realize that come May 8th, once we get
into the cage, there is no more trash talking. He’s gotta
shut his mouth and fight, and that’s the difference between
me and this guy. He’s had a couple of good fights, but he
hasn’t fought anybody like me, that’s for sure. I can
guarantee that this fight won’t go past the second round.
It will probably end in the first, but I may carry him to the
second round.”
On
being a complete fighter (pre-Paul Daley fight - 2010)
“The way I see it, Paul Daley is just a guy that just likes
to talk trash and he’s a one-dimensional fighter. Those
guys are from the old days – like the one-dimensional wrestler
or the one-dimensional striker. Those days are over, and you’ve
got to become a complete mixed martial artist. But I was at that
point once. I was a one-dimensional wrestler, and coming from
The Ultimate Fighter days, if you look at the evolution of Josh
Koscheck, I’ve changed and I’m excited about the transition
I made and the sacrifices I made to get here. I can submit guys,
I can knock guys out, I can head kick guys, and I’m not
gonna have a problem standing toe-to-toe with Paul Daley. He’s
not gonna hit me with anything I haven’t been hit with.”
On
winning (pre-Paul Daley fight - 2010)
“I feel like I’ve been through a lot to get here, and
it’s been a tough six months with training and with everything
going on. I’ve never done drugs, but you hear about people
getting addicted to something, and while I don’t have an
addictive personality, God, I love winning. When you win, there’s
always an emotion that goes through your body that most people
will probably never get a chance to feel, and it’s definitely
unique.”
On
the beautiful struggle (pre-Paul Daley fight - 2010)
“I’ve been in training camp for so long and it’s
finally coming to an end – this is what you work for and
what you dream about. All those nights thinking about the fight
and the struggles to get here, I call it the beautiful struggle.
It’s a struggle getting through training camp, getting up
every day and pushing yourself and motivating yourself, and at
the end of the day, the beautiful thing is that I get to go and
beat somebody up for 15 minutes in front of a packed house in
Canada and millions of people on Pay-Per-View. How much sweeter
does it get than that? When you walk out of that tunnel and you
look up, you think ‘Yeah, I made it.’”
Source: UFC
|
If
K-1 has to do a pay-for-play deal for NYE, it would be disastrous
By Zach
Arnold
Japanese
MMA photographer Dan Herbertson dropped a big item this morning:
FEG
is paying to broadcast this year’s Dynamite!! on TBS. I
don’t have time to check right now but I believe this is
the first time.
I
was taken aback by this because this would be the ultimate story
of 2010 in the Japanese fight landscape if true. Later on, Dan
revised the item and found out from a source that K-1 and TBS
are currently negotiating the terms of their deal for New Year’s
Eve.
But
what would happen if K-1 was forced into a pay-to-play deal with
TBS for their New Year’s Eve event? Considering this a what-if
article.
It
would be devastating news that could very easily spell the end
of K-1 as we know it.
Pay-for-play
is something that we have seen done in recent years in Japan
with the smallish TV-Tokyo network. Promotions like All Japan
Pro-Wrestling, ZERO-ONE, Hustle, and Sengoku all paid for air
time on the smallest of the free-to-air broadcast networks in
Japan. None of those companies who bought time ended up making
any substantial progress from doing so. It’s (generally)
a money-losing concept.
In
essence, buying time from a broadcast network for a pay-to-play
transaction puts you in the same standing and regard as an infomercial.
Except, infomercials are mostly profitable. When I say that pay-for-play
puts you in the same standing, what I mean is that the TV network
is taking a check from you for air time and is taking zero risk.
You buy the time, you sell the advertising, you handle the matchmaking
(mostly), and the risk is on you.
Pay-for-play
situations on broadcast networks are extremely expensive, even
if we’re talking middle-of-the-night time buys. However,
what if your time buy is on a major television day like NYE in
Japan and it’s in ‘golden time’ (prime time)?
I asked one long-time office source in Japan to estimate to me
what kind of price tag it would be to buy time in such a slot
and the source estimated a price tag of $4 million USD.
For
the sake of argument, let’s assume that K-1 has to pony
up the cash and is $4 million USD in the hole. What about advertising?
K-1 will be forced to sell their own advertising and that is
simply not the company’s usual standard operating procedure.
There will be enormous stress placed on everyone working for
the company to not only lean harder on their current sponsors
but to also try to attract new sponsors within a month. To put
this into perspective, let’s look at how past NYE shows
worked on major TV platforms like Fuji TV and Tokyo Broadcasting
System. As a promoter, you work closely with a major sports TV
executive producer. You come up with a general frame work for
a card by mid-September, early October at the latest. You work
with one of the major ad agencies in Japan (Dentsu the largest,
followed by Hakuhodo and Asatsu) and give them about three months
to start selling ad time and attracting clients. The TV network
executives help shape a card that they think will draw the best
ratings and end up paying a rights fee to the promoter in exchange
for ownership rights to the footage and (sometimes) production.
In
a pay-for-play scenario, K-1 has to handle all of these aspects
and do so within a compressed time frame. Almost impossible to
achieve without financially taking a gigantic hit. In many respects,
K-1’s NYE 2010 event could end up as a much more costlier
version of DREAM where it’s on PPV to buy and a shortened
version on broadcast television with limited sponsorship support.
If
the ad agencies told Tokyo Broadcasting that there was enough
sponsor support/demand for K-1’s NYE show, the network probably
would continue doing business-as-usual with K-1.
On
pay-for-play time buys with broadcast networks, network support
for such programs (like infomercials) is very limited. Granted,
TBS would want to draw good ratings on NYE because NYE has become
the biggest day of the year for the ratings war in Japan. However,
if K-1 is paying them for the time and it’s a disaster,
TBS already got the money and can simply cut ties with K-1.
Without
the generous television money to back their show, K-1 would not
be able to pay for big-name talent to appear at their Saitama
Super Arena event. Not having stars on the show would mean a
show that attracts low ratings and that in turn would seal K-1’s
fate with Tokyo Broadcasting, if not Fuji TV as well.
If
K-1 has to buy time on Tokyo Broadcasting System, this will in
effect be the end of Kazuyoshi Ishii’s grand ‘pipeline
strategy’ plan. When PRIDE collapsed, K-1’s big strategy
to control the entire fight business in Japan was to control
the major broadcast networks. If you wanted to be on a network
(think: Yarennoka with former DSE staff), you had to work with
K-1 and do business on their own terms. K-1 collected the rights
fees from television and let the promoters collect whatever they
could for the live gate. It was a dominant position for them
to be in. It also kept the competition away from acquiring a
substantial television deal (ask Sengoku) and created a strangle
hold. However, that strangle hold is only as strong as the ratings
that K-1 attracts and their product has gone completely cold
with the public. Both their kickboxing and MMA properties have
failed to appeal to the Japanese television audience.
By
having to do a pay-for-play situation with Tokyo Broadcasting
System, K-1’s pipeline plan is killed. K-1 losing television
means significantly more than a vacuum being created. It would
mean that the fight business would encounter ‘ghost town’
status amongst television executives looking for programming
to attract ratings. When the Reconstruction period happened,
Rikidozan was the major star on Nippon TV. The next generation
was Antonio Inoki and Giant Baba. In the 90s, wrestling declined
and older TV executives who used to be big backers of the fight
game faded away from supporting the product. Newer executives
came into power and fewer of them have the same kind of sentimental
thoughts about fight programming that their predecessors had.
This lead to New Japan and All Japan airing on network TV at
2 AM in the morning. It led to a decline in interest for house
shows and ratings, resulting in a collapse of the pro-wrestling
industry. The same thing is happening for K-1 now and the erosion
process is very hard to stop, let alone reverse.
If
K-1 ended up doing a pay-for-play scenario for their NYE event
on Tokyo Broadcasting System, they would be paying for their
own corporate funeral — a very expensive one at that. The
funeral wouldn’t feature Gilbert Melendez vs. Shinya Aoki
II, either.
Source: Fight Opinion
|
Herschel
Walker Out of Strikeforce Dec. 4 Fight
By Mike
Hatamoto
Former NFL superstar Herschel Walker will withdraw from his scheduled
Dec. 4 showdown with Scott Carson, after sustaining a cut during
training as camp winds down.
During
training with Daniel Cormier at the American Kickboxing Academy
(AKA), Walker was cut from a knee strike.
Walker
had this to say:
I
feel terrible about this. I know things like this happen in all
sports, but I had trained very hard and was excited to be returning
to the cage again. I hope to fight again as soon as the cut heals.
Strikeforce
is expected to announce a replacement for Walker sometime in
the near future.
Strikeforce
will make its return to St. Louis featuring Renato “Babalu”
Sobral fighting Dan Henderson in the main event, with Valentijn
Overeem vs. Antonio Silva, Paul Daley vs. Scott Smith, and Matt
Lindland vs. Robbie Lawler also on the card.
Source: MMA Opinion
|
The
Fighters Only World MMA Awards
The Fighters Only World MMA Awards are now in their third year
and the 2010 ceremony promises to be the biggest yet.
We
have had unprecedented levels of interest from fans, fighters,
industry figures and the world at large - so much so that the
awards online voting site has crashed more than once under heavy
traffic from people registering their votes.
Yesterday
was our busiest day yet and also featured the busiest hour of
voting we have seen so far, with just over 4,000 votes being
cast in a 60-minute period towards the evening.
Some
categories are extremely close and with voting closing this Friday,
we strongly urge you to get involved and make your choices if
you have not already done so. Several awards are hanging on a
knife-edge and your vote really could make all the difference.
We’re
going to be releasing more facts, figures and exclusive information
via our Twitter account @fightersonly so please add that to your
follow list if you haven’t already.
Remember,
voting closes midnight on Friday and the awards ceremony takes
place Wednesday December 1st (one week yesterday) at The Pearl
in the Palms Casino Resort, Las Vegas.
The
awards will be streamed live and will also be broadcast shortly
afterwards on Versus TV in the US. In the UK, several networks
have expressed an interest in broadcasting the ceremony and talks
are ongoing.
Source: Fighters Only
|
Barry
vs. Beltran, Jung vs. Yahya completes UFC Fight Night 23 "Troops"
lineup
The lineup for the UFC's second-ever "Fight for the Troops"
card is now complete with 11 bouts.
UFC
officials recently announced a pair of bouts previously reported
by MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com), as Pat Barry meets Joey
Beltran and Chan Sung Jung faces Rani Yahya at "UFC Fight
Night 23: UFC Fight for the Troops 2."
Barry
vs. Beltran takes place on the evening's Spike TV-broadcast main
card, while Jung and Yahya meet on the evening's un-aired preliminary
portion.
Featuring
a matchup between top lightweight contenders Evan Dunham and
Kenny Florian, UFC Fight Night 23 takes place Jan. 22 at Fort
Hood in Killeen, Texas.
The
bout is Barry's (5-2 MMA, 2-2 UFC) first fight since he took
on his idol, Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic, at UFC 115.
Although he dropped Filipovic early in the fight, he also broke
his hand in the process and later injured his foot on a kick.
That set in motion a late-fight surge from Filipovic, a former
PRIDE champion, and a rear-naked choke that forced him to submit
in the third round.
The
injury put Barry on the bench for several months, though he healed
up by summer's end and took residence with then-heavyweight champion
Brock Lesnar's camp as the former champ prepared to defend his
title at UFC 121 against Cain Velasquez.
Beltran
(12-4 MMA, 2-1 UFC) returns to action after a grueling encounter
with "The Ultimate Fighter 10" veteran Matt Mitrione
at UFC 119. He took a lot of punches during the three-round bout
but stubbornly refused to quit and several times returned the
favor in frenzied exchanges with the former NFL player. Still,
judges declared him short on points and awarded a unanimous decision
to Mitrione.
The
loss snapped a two-fight win streak for "The Mexicutioner,"
who stopped Rolles Gracie in his UFC 109 debut and followed with
a decision victory over Tim Hague at UFC 113.
"The
Korean Zombie," Jung (10-3 MMA, 0-2 WEC) forever earned
in his place in fans' hearts with a razor-thin split-decision
loss to Leonard Garcia at WEC 48 that many MMA observers believe
is 2010's best fight. Despite the buzz surrounding Jung, the
South Korean was stopped cold by a George Roop high kick at WEC
51, dropping Jung's record to 0-2 in the WEC.
Meanwhile,
Yahya (15-6 MMA, 4-3 WEC) is a one-time WEC bantamweight title
challenger. The submission ace fell short in his bid against
Chase Beebe at WEC 30, though he quickly became a staple of future
WEC cards after a one-fight stint at K-1 Premium 2007 Dynamite!!
Yahya
put together a three-fight win streak with the WEC against John
Hosman, Eddie Wineland and Yoshiro Maeda, and all three fights
saw the Brazilian claim "Submission of the Night" status.
However, since then, Yahya has dropped back-to-back outings to
Takeya Mizugaki and Jospeh Benavidez.
The
complete lineup for "UFC Fight Night 23: UFC Fights for
the Troops 2" includes:
MAIN
CARD
•Evan
Dunham vs. Kenny Florian
•Tim Hague vs. Matt Mitrione
•Mark Hominick vs. George Roop
•Pat Barry vs. Joey Beltran
•Cole Miller vs. Matt Wiman
PRELIMINARY CARD
•Yves
Edwards vs. Melvin Guillard
•David Mitchell vs. Mike Swick
•Mike Guymon vs. DaMarques Johnson
•Chan Sung Jung vs. Rani Yahya
•Willamy "Chiquerim" Freire vs. Waylon Lowe
•Amilcar Alves vs. Charlie Brenneman
Source: MMA Junkie
|
Phil
Davis Discovers Two-Inch Gash Requiring 36 Stitches After UFC
123 Win
by Damon
Martin
A victorious Phil Davis celebrated his win over Tim Boetsch like
any fighter might, but first he was checked out by the doctors
following his fight to make sure he was all together with no
injuries.
Davis
seemed above board considering he took little to no damage in
the fight. He finished his opponent with a submission, so not
so much as a hand injury from punching someone too much.
Needless
to say, Davis was surprised when he found a gash over two inches
long on his shin that was somehow missed in his post fight examination,
simply because he didn’t know it was there.
“I
have no idea. I just kept kicking, and I would not stop kicking,
and if I felt like he was going to kick, I kicked him first,”
Davis told MMAWeekly Radio about his lack of knowledge about
the injury or how it happened.
“This
is how bad it didn’t hurt… it didn’t hurt at all.
You walk off the stage, and the doctor’s like, ‘does
anything hurt?’ I’m like, ‘no bro, I feel awesome,
I just won.’ Then you go into the back and the doctor’s
ask again like, ‘is anything hurt?’ They sit you down;
they’re checking you out. I missed it, the UFC doctors missed
it, and we saw a little blood trickling, but neither I nor the
doctor had any idea it was as bad as it was.”
Davis
then proceeded to watch some of the other UFC 123 fights in Detroit,
but just before B.J. Penn hit the Octagon for his third and final
fight against Matt Hughes, the former NCAA All-American noticed
the cut was a little worse than just a small trickle of blood.
He
went back and had the doctor look at his leg. What they discovered
was a nasty cut that could have become infected if not treated
properly.
“Thank
God I didn’t go home like that. Knowing me being me, I wouldn’t
have gotten medical attention right away and I would have gangrene
and I’d probably lose my foot or something. Not even joking.
It was cut all the way to the bone. It was about two inches to
maybe two and a half inches long,” Davis explained.
The
surprise about the cut basically came from the fact that little
to no blood came out of Davis’ leg from the injury, even
though the gash went all the way to his bone.
“It
was deep and it should have been bleeding a lot,” Davis
said.
He
had the doctor stitch up the cut. What resulted was 36 stitches
in his leg. Even after everything he went through, Davis still
had an amazing tolerance for the pain that would have sent most
people to the doctor begging for a painkiller.
The
former wrestler from Pennsylvania has an easy explanation why
the pain didn’t affect him.
“Well
you know, I went to Penn State,” Davis said.
The
fighter will be taking some time off to let the leg heal and
spend some time with family around the holidays before getting
back to business.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Sherdog
Official Mixed Martial Arts Rankings
UFC
123 had some surprises in store.
Quinton
Jackson was presumed to be an also-ran at 205 pounds inside the
UFC, destined to lose a commanding decision to fellow former
champion Lyoto Machida. Instead, fighting through the flu, “Rampage”
showed off a bit of the game that made him UFC champion three
years ago and earned a hotly contentious split decision over
“The Dragon."
B.J.
Penn entered his rubber match with rival Matt Hughes as a favorite.
However, no one saw “The Prodigy” steamrolling the
all-time great welterweight in a mere 21 seconds. Now, Penn has
earned himself a Feb. 27 date with welterweight second banana
Jon Fitch at UFC 127 in a bout filled with implications for the
170-pound division, the weight class that will take center stage
in the month of December, as Georges St. Pierre stakes his crown
against Josh Koscheck at UFC 124 on Dec. 11 in Montreal.
Heavyweight
1.
Cain Velasquez (9-0)
During his first week at the American Kickboxing Academy, trainers
thought Velasquez was a future UFC heavyweight champion. On Oct.
21 in Anaheim, Calif., he made that a reality, blowing away Brock
Lesnar in the first round to claim the UFC heavyweight crown.
While he can celebrate for now, Velasquez will have to return
early next year to defend his throne against fellow young heavyweight
Junior dos Santos.
2.
Brock Lesnar (5-2)
Following his lopsided loss to Cain Velasquez in October at UFC
121, the next step for Lesnar remains unclear. UFC President
Dana White started laying the groundwork for a rubber match with
rival Frank Mir in the media, but fans and pundits alike were
quick to skewer the bout, forcing White to publicly rethink the
matchup. For now, Lesnar remains without a dance partner.
3.
Fabricio Werdum (14-4-1)
On Aug. 18, Werdum underwent surgery and had 27 loose bone fragments
removed from his left elbow. Now physically cleared to resume
his training, the author of this year’s most significant
upset now targets a return to action in the first quarter of
2011. He hopes to secure a fight outside of Strikeforce before
meeting either Alistair Overeem or Fedor Emelianenko in a rematch.
4.
Fedor Emelianenko (31-2, 1 NC)
The chicanery of another Emelianenko pre-fight has begun. Emelianenko’s
promoters at M-1 have openly announced their interest in fighting
Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem, on the condition
that the Dutchman submits to Olympic-style drug testing. Naturally,
little headway has been made surrounding Emelianenko’s next
bout.
5.
Junior dos Santos (12-1)
Dos Santos’ next step is now clear. Courtesy of Cain Velasquez’s
thrashing of Brock Lesnar at UFC 121 on Oct. 23, “Cigano”
will challenge Velasquez for the UFC heavyweight crown in early
2011 in a great pairing of thrilling young heavyweights.
6.
Shane Carwin (12-1)
Carwin was scheduled to face “The Ultimate Fighter”
Season 10 winner Roy Nelson at UFC 125 on Jan. 1. However, due
to ongoing spinal problems, he opted for surgery. After a successful
procedure, the Colorado native looks to get back into training
sometime in early 2011.
7.
Frank Mir (14-5)
At UFC 119, Mir and Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic underwhelmed
the Indianapolis crowd for 14 minutes with a dreadful exhibition
of aimless clinching. Finally, with just 58 ticks left in the
fight, Mir landed a colossal knee that crushed the Croat, notching
one of the least impressive highlight-reel KOs in recent memory.
8.
Alistair Overeem (33-11, 1 NC)
The Strikeforce heavyweight champion’s efforts continue
to come in kickboxing rather than MMA. “The Demolition Man”
earned an easy first-round KO over Aussie Ben Edwards on Oct.
2 in Seoul, South Korea, to advance to December’s K-1 World
Grand Prix finale in Yokohama, Japan. As for an MMA return, it
remains anyone’s guess for now.
9.
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (32-6-1, 1 NC)
Back in December 2008, Nogueira was taken out by Frank Mir in
lopsided fashion. He was scheduled for a chance at redemption
against Mir at UFC 119 on Sept. 25, until a hip injury struck,
forcing “Minotauro” from the fight and onto the surgeon’s
table.
10.
Antonio Silva (14-2)
Silva’s hope was that he would get to face Strikeforce heavyweight
champion Alistair Overeem. With “The Demolition Man”
dealing with his K-1 duties in December, “Pezao” will
instead meet the Dutchman’s older brother, Valentijn Overeem,
on Dec. 4 in St. Louis.
Other
contenders: Josh Barnett, Cole Konrad, Roy Nelson, Ben Rothwell,
Brendan Schaub.
Light Heavyweight
1.
Mauricio Rua (19-4)
“Shogun” underwent another knee surgery, stemming from
an injury suffered in his May 8 title capture against Lyoto Machida.
Recovery and rehab have postponed his bout with former champion
Rashad Evans. Their encounter now looks as if it might be greenlit
for March, as Rua and Evans could headline the proposed UFC 128
bill in the United Arab Emirates.
2.
Rashad Evans (15-1-1)
The wait continues for the toe-tapping Evans, who will remain
on the sidelines until Mauricio “Shogun” Rua fully
rehabilitates his knee and allows the two stars to contest the
UFC light heavyweight crown. It now appears they will collide
in March, possibly at the rumored UFC 128 event in the United
Arab Emirates.
3
Quinton Jackson (31-8)
It was hardly a sterling performance, but Jackson showed more
motivation and aggression in his Nov. 20 bout with Lyoto Machida
than he did in his May defeat to Rashad Evans. The MMA populace
seems split down the middle on who deserved the nod, but two
judges had the match for Jackson, giving him a crucial split
decision win.
4.
Lyoto Machida (16-2)
For 16 bouts, Machida did not taste defeat and seemed unbeatable.
Now, he has lost back-to-back bouts after dropping a highly contentious
split decision to Quinton “Rampage” Jackson at UFC
123. Though Machida and his management seemed to like the idea
of a rematch, it is not a bout they will be afforded by UFC President
Dana White in the immediate future.
5.
Forrest Griffin (17-6)
With his second book penned and injuries healed, Griffin is due
for his return to the Octagon. He will take on former middleweight
champion Rich Franklin at UFC 126 on Feb. 5 in what could be
a highly entertaining affair at 205 pounds.
6.
Ryan Bader (12-0)
It was not a thrilling victory, but at UFC 119 on Sept. 25, “The
Ultimate Fighter” Season 8 winner earned a unanimous decision
over well-established veteran Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, the twin
of his reality series coach. The win sets up Bader for a Feb.
5 showdown with fellow fast-riser Jon Jones at UFC 126.
7.
Jon Jones (11-1)
The 23-year-old Jones seems destined for greatness. The next
step in the evolution for “Bones” will be a major prospect-versus-prospect
showdown come Super Bowl weekend. Jones expects to meet fellow
blue chipper Ryan Bader at UFC 126 on Feb. 5.
8.
Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (19-4)
Nogueira made a sterling UFC debut back in November 2009 but
has been lackluster in two subsequent bouts against Jason Brilz
and Ryan Bader. Next up for “Minotoro” will be former
UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz in March, possibly
at UFC 128 in the United Arab Emirates.
9.
Rafael Cavalcante (10-2)
Cavalcante will defend his Strikeforce light heavyweight title
for the first time in early 2011. He will get a look at his next
contender on Dec. 4, when Dan Henderson and Renato "Babalu"
Sobral square off in a de facto title eliminator. Strikeforce
CEO Scott Coker has indicated the winner would be the first title
challenger for “Feijao.”
10.
Muhammed Lawal (7-1)
“King Mo” had his crown taken by Rafael "Feijao"
Cavalcante on Aug. 21 in Houston. A slow start and an overreliance
on his stand-up skills saw Lawal play right into Cavalcante’s
game. It got him stopped just 74 seconds into the third round,
as he suffered the first loss of his MMA career.
Other
contenders: Rich Franklin, Matt Hamill, Vladimir Matyushenko,
Gegard Mousasi, Thiago Silva.
Middleweight
1.
Anderson Silva (27-4)
At UFC 126 on Feb. 5, Silva will square off with fellow Brazilian
Vitor Belfort. However, should he get past his countryman, the
MMA world already knows the identity of his next foe. Yushin
Okami, the last man to beat Silva, albeit by disqualification,
waits in the wings for the Silva-Belfort winner. If Silva takes
out “The Phenom,” he will get the chance to put five
years of controversy to rest in a rematch with “Thunder.”
2.
Chael Sonnen (24-11-1)
The bizarre tale of Sonnen continues. He allegedly failed his
post-UFC 117 urinalysis test after it revealed elevated testosterone
levels and now faces a one-year suspension if his appeal is denied.
Though Sonnen has formally appealed, he has yet to speak on the
issue, and a potential rematch with Anderson Silva is now off
the table.
3.
Yushin Okami (26-5)
In the past, Okami had always let the moment get away from him
in big fights. Such was the case in his clashes with Jake Shields
and Rich Franklin. However, at UFC 122 in Oberhausen, Germany,
“Thunder” capitalized on his opportunity. A more aggressive
Okami outboxed and outwrestled the favored Nate Marquardt to
earn a unanimous decision, as well as a crack at the winner of
the UFC 126 bout between middleweight champion Anderson Silva
and Vitor Belfort.
4.
Nate Marquardt (30-10-2)
Marquardt’s three-year journey to earn another shot at middleweight
ruler Anderson Silva hit another speed bump in Oberhausen, Germany.
For the better part of 15 minutes, Marquardt was outboxed and
outwrestled by a surprisingly aggressive Yushin Okami, who took
the unanimous nod and with it a UFC middleweight title shot.
The defeat dropped Marquardt back into the rest of the population
at 185 pounds.
5.
Demian Maia (13-2)
At UFC 118, Maia dominated a tough Mario Miranda for 15 minutes
and returned to the win column after his April debacle against
middleweight champion Anderson Silva. The grappling ace will
be back in the cage on Dec. 4, when he meets “The Ultimate
Fighter” Season 3 winner Kendall Grove at “The Ultimate
Fighter 12” Finale.
6.
Vitor Belfort (19-8)
After injuries canceled two scheduled title clashes with Anderson
Silva in 2010, it seemed Belfort would have to go through the
rugged Yushin Okami at UFC 122 to secure a UFC middleweight title
shot. However, Chael Sonnen’s alleged UFC 117 drug test
failure has forced the UFC to switch up Silva’s next fight,
meaning Belfort will likely face “The Spider” for the
gold at UFC 126.
7.
Dan Henderson (25-8)
In April, Henderson’s much-anticipated Strikeforce debut
ended in ennui, as he was outwrestled for the majority of his
bout with Jake Shields en route to losing a unanimous verdict.
The former two-division Pride Fighting Championships titleholder
will return on Dec. 4, when he takes on Renato Sobral, a man
who defeated him in the final of the Rings King of Kings tournament
in 1999.
8.
Jorge Santiago (23-8)
In a rematch of last year’s most underrated fights, Santiago
and Kazuo Misaki turned in arguably the best bout of 2010 so
far. The back-and-forth five-round war culminated in Santiago
-- who had already been nearly knocked out and submitted in the
fight -- retaining his Sengoku middleweight crown by pounding
on a hapless Misaki until his corner threw in the towel.
9.
Ronaldo Souza (13-2, 1 NC)
“Jacare” became a father on Aug. 20, just a day before
he became Strikeforce middleweight champion by besting Tim Kennedy
in Houston. The grappling king will likely return to the cage
in February to make the first defense of his crown.
10.
Michael Bisping (20-3)
The UFC seems keen to use Michael Bisping when it returns to
Australia for UFC 127 on Feb. 27. A potential matchup with suddenly
relevant journeyman Jorge Rivera could be in the cards, should
Bisping accept the bout. The Rivera camp has described the fight
as “95 percent likely.”
Other
contenders: Alan Belcher, Robbie Lawler, Chris Leben, Hector
Lombard, Wanderlei Silva.
*
Although sixth-ranked Vitor Belfort has not fought in 365 days
with a bout scheduled within 90 days of that period, he was originally
set to compete on Nov. 13 at UFC 122 against Yushin Okami, which
would have fulfilled that obligation. In following the spirit
of Sherdog.com’s rules regarding ranking eligibility, Belfort
will remain eligible unless he should pull out of his Feb. 5
bout with Anderson Silva.
Welterweight
1.
Georges St. Pierre (20-2)
A season of “The Ultimate Fighter” accentuated the
good guy-bad guy duality of St. Pierre and forthcoming title
challenger Josh Koscheck, setting the stage for their UFC welterweight
showdown. When St. Pierre and Koscheck square off at UFC 124
on Dec. 11 in Montreal, a challenger will already await the victor,
as Jake Shields has been declared the next UFC title contender.
2.
Jon Fitch (23-3, 1 NC)
After besting Thiago Alves for a second time, Fitch was hopeful
he would get another crack at the UFC welterweight crown. That
opportunity will be going to Jake Shields. Instead of another
title shot, Fitch draws former two-division champion B.J. Penn
at UFC 127 on Feb. 27 in Sydney, Australia.
3.
Thiago Alves (17-7)
A lackluster loss to Jon Fitch in August, coupled with missing
weight, seemed to signal Alves’ move to 185 pounds. Instead,
“Pitbull” has linked up with MMA fighter-slash-nutritional
guru Mike Dolce, who has vowed to get him in shape and on weight
for a 170-pound clash with John Howard at UFC 124 on Dec. 11.
4.
Jake Shields (26-4-1)
Shields took a split decision over Martin Kampmann in his UFC
debut in October, but whether one wants to call it “successful”
or not was another story. However, it does appear the former
Strikeforce middleweight champion has done enough to earn a UFC
title shot. Shields figures to take on the winner of December’s
Georges St. Pierre-Josh Koscheck clash in the spring.
5.
Josh Koscheck (15-4)
A coaching stint on Season 12 of “The Ultimate Fighter”
gave Koscheck ample opportunity to play the heel and build hype
for his UFC 124 showdown with Georges St. Pierre. “Kos”
has filled that role ably, strengthening the hero-villain dynamic
-- and likely the buyrate -- for the UFC welterweight title fight.
6.
Martin Kampmann (17-4)
Kampmann gave former Strikeforce middleweight champion Jake Shields
all he could handle in his Octagon debut at UFC 121 on Oct. 23.
However, Kampmann did not do enough to earn the nod, losing a
contentious split decision many observers feel he deserved.
7.
Carlos Condit (26-5)
Condit’s resurgent 2010 campaign has earned him an all-action
fight to kick off 2011. At UFC 127 in Sydney, Australia, the
“Natural Born Killer” will take on free-swinging veteran
Chris Lytle in a fight that promises wild action and bears welterweight
contender consequences.
8.
Dan Hardy (23-8, 1 NC)
Europe had been magical for Hardy during his UFC tenure. However,
that was not the case at UFC 120 on Oct. 16. “The Outlaw”
was smashed with a brutal left hook from Carlos Condit that took
him out of consciousness and away from the top of the UFC welterweight
division.
9.
Nick Diaz (23-7, 1 ND)
In one of the year’s most entertaining affairs on Oct. 9,
Diaz exorcised some three-year-old demons, as he outboxed rival
Karl James Noons over five fun rounds in San Jose, Calif., and
took a unanimous decision. Diaz’s next challenger remains
uncertain, but with Paul Daley wielding a Strikeforce contract
and up-and-comer Tyron Woodley making strides, there are exciting
affairs to look forward to.
10.
Paul Daley (25-9-2)
By the skin of his teeth, Daley edged out a decision win over
usual lightweight Jorge Masvidal on Sept. 11. The win set up
“Semtex” for a multi-fight deal with Strikeforce, which
will begin Dec. 4 when the British banger makes his promotional
debut against Scott Smith in St. Louis.
Other
contenders: Ben Askren, Jake Ellenberger, John Hathaway, Jay
Hieron, Mike Pyle.
Lightweight
1.
Frankie Edgar (13-1)
In August, Edgar proved he was no fluke, dominating B.J. Penn
over five rounds. However, the major hurdle for Edgar will now
come as we enter 2011. On Jan. 1 at UFC 125, he will defend his
title for the second time, risking the strap against unbeaten
Gray Maynard -- the only man to beat “The Answer.”
2.
Gilbert Melendez (18-2)
With his girlfriend giving birth to their first daughter in August,
Melendez is now primarily concerned with paternal duties. However,
fans and media are beginning to bang the drum for a Strikeforce-versus-Bellator
Fighting Championships showdown between Melendez and Eddie Alvarez
-- the most attractive lightweight bout that can be made outside
the UFC.
3.
B.J. Penn (16-7-1)
Penn and Matt Hughes were rivals for nearly six years. However,
in the rubber match between the former UFC champs, it took “The
Prodigy” just 21 seconds to brutally put down Hughes for
the count. Next for Penn will be another fight at 170 pounds
-- and a major one, at that -- as he meets Jon Fitch in the UFC
127 headliner on Feb. 27 in Sydney, Australia.
4.
Gray Maynard (10-0, 1 NC)
Maynard has been vocal for months about deserving a UFC lightweight
title shot. “The Bully” will finally get his chance
as the year rolls over. He meets champion Frankie Edgar on Jan.
1 at UFC 125 in his own adopted backyard of Las Vegas.
5.
Shinya Aoki (26-5, 1 NC)
In a no-brainer, Aoki returned to the promotion that launched
his career -- Deep -- for its 10th anniversary show on Oct. 24.
It took him only 60 seconds to keylock MMA neophyte Yokthai Sithoar,
a former muay Thai and boxing world champion. Now, the Dream
lightweight titleholder will await an opponent for K-1 “Dynamite”
on New Year’s Eve.
6.
Eddie Alvarez (21-2)
In his Oct. 21 bout with Roger Huerta, Alvarez was positively
destructive, using his uppercut and newly found low kicks to
batter the UFC veteran and force the doctor to halt the fight
after 10 minutes. Alvarez took the post-fight opportunity to
call out Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez, and
the promotion itself further exacerbated the call for the crossover
mega-fight.
7.
Kenny Florian (14-5)
Florian did not fight up to expectations in August, when he had
little to offer Gray Maynard in their 155-pound title eliminator.
There will be no soft bounce-back fight for the Bostonian, as
“Ken Flo” has signed on to face fast-rising lightweight
prospect Evan Dunham in the UFC “Fight for the Troops 2”
on Jan. 22.
8.
Tatsuya Kawajiri (26-6-2)
Many tabbed Kawajiri to be the next Dream champion, figuring
he had exactly the right skill set to replicate what Gilbert
Melendez did to Shinya Aoki in April. However, on July 10, Kawajiri
spent most of the night fending off foot locks, until finally
tapping out to Aoki less than two minutes into the first round.
9.
Sean Sherk (36-4-1)
After 16 months on the shelf due to a plethora of injuries, Sherk
returned to action at UFC 119 against unbeaten up-and-comer Evan
Dunham. After a strong first round, Sherk flagged in the bout,
losing in the eyes of most onlookers. However, two of three people
that matter -- the judges -- sided with Sherk, who secured a
crucial but highly unpopular win.
10.
Evan Dunham (11-1)
At UFC 119, there was much weeping and gnashing of teeth over
Dunham’s controversial split decision loss to Sean Sherk.
However, Dunham continues to be treated like a winner. He will
meet divisional standout Kenny Florian in the main event of UFC
“Fight for the Troops 2” on Jan. 22.
Other
contenders: Takanori Gomi, Benson Henderson, Jim Miller, George
Sotiropoulos, Josh Thomson.
Featherweight
1.
Jose Aldo (18-1)
As the sport’s top featherweight and one of MMA’s most
dynamic fighters, Aldo will naturally be a focal point of the
UFC-WEC merger. That project will come to a head on Jan. 1 at
UFC 125, when Aldo puts the newly coined UFC featherweight crown
on the line against Josh Grispi in his third title defense.
2.
Manny Gamburyan (11-5)
With his corking of former WEC champion Mike Thomas Brown in
April, Gamburyan earned his shot at Jose Aldo. However, when
the two met at WEC 51 on Sept. 30, the tough Armenian had very
little for Aldo, who leisurely strolled through the first round
before turning up the heat and halting Gamburyan in the second,
seemingly at will.
3.
Mike Thomas Brown (24-6)
In April 2004, a lightweight Brown tapped out to Japanese vet
Genki Sudo in the first round. Nearly seven years later, Brown
will return to the Octagon as a featherweight to tangle with
once-beaten Brazilian Diego Nunes at UFC 125 on Jan. 1.
4.
Michihiro Omigawa (12-8-1)
Having solidified himself as Japan’s top featherweight,
Omigawa is being sought by the WEC. Whether or not he signs and
accepts a fight at WEC 53 on Dec. 16 will hinge on whether his
management group, J-Rock, feels it can secure the 34-year-old
a top-notch bout on New Year’s Eve in Japan.
5.
Marlon Sandro (17-1)
The dominance of Sandro’s teammate, Jose Aldo, has been
so extreme that many fans have taken to downheartedly dreaming
of what it would be like if the two Nova Uniao studs could square
off. However, Sandro still might have a high-stakes affair in
Japan, should Sengoku line up a defense of his featherweight
title against Hatsu Hioki.
6.
Bibiano Fernandes (8-2)
In the final of the 2009 Dream featherweight grand prix, Fernandes
hung tough through a late salvo from Hiroyuki Takaya, taking
a split decision and the title. At K-1 “Dynamite” on
New Year’s Eve, he will defend his crown for the second
time in a rematch with the “Streetfight Bancho.”
7.
Hatsu Hioki (22-4-2)
On Aug. 22, the Shooto world champion returned to the Sengoku
ring, where he embarrassed “The Ultimate Fighter” alum
Jeff Lawson en route to a first-round submission. However, the
real big ticket fight for Hioki remains a showdown with SRC champion
Marlon Sandro, which would be one of the biggest fights to be
made outside of a Zuffa promotion, regardless of weight.
8.
Josh Grispi (14-1)
As part of the ongoing WEC-UFC merger, the 22-year-old Grispi
has been given a monumental opportunity. “The Fluke”
will try to avoid becoming the next victim for 145-pound kingpin
Jose Aldo, when he challenges for the UFC featherweight title
at UFC 125 on Jan. 1 in one of the event’s two title bouts.
9.
Joe Warren (6-1)
Warren claiming to be “the baddest man on the planet”
seems a tad dubious. However, the former Greco-Roman wrestling
world champion showed in his Sept. 2 bout with Joe Soto that
he was otherworldly tough, with some power to spare. He came
back from a hellacious beating in the fight’s opening round
to stop Soto and take Bellator’s featherweight title 33
seconds into round two.
10.
Diego Nunes (15-1)
In September, Nunes moved his WEC mark to 4-1 with a unanimous
decision win over Tyler Toner. Now, “The Gun” will
move to the UFC Octagon, where he will face the sternest test
of his career. At UFC 125 on Jan. 1, Nunes will take on former
WEC featherweight champion Mike Thomas Brown in a fight with
major featherweight stakes.
Other
contenders: Raphael Assuncao, L.C. Davis, Mark Hominick, Chad
Mendes, Joe Soto.
Bantamweight
1.
Dominick Cruz (16-1)
As the WEC gained momentum, it seemed like Miguel Torres would
be the fighter to carry the bantamweight division on his back
and bring it to the masses. Now, Cruz has that chance. After
a successful first title defense against Joseph Benavidez in
August, Cruz will try to prove he’s the real deal -- and
not just a placeholder -- when he defends his crown against a
red-hot Scott Jorgensen in December.
2.
Joseph Benavidez (13-2)
He might have two losses to Dominick Cruz, and he might be best
suited to fight at 125 pounds, but, apart from the WEC bantamweight
champion himself, no 135-pound fighter picks off more top fighters
than Benavidez. Stepping in for an injured Brian Bowles, Benavidez
put another top 10 win on his ledger by dominating Wagnney Fabiano,
choking the Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt into submission in
the second round at WEC 52.
3.
Brian Bowles (8-1)
Injury woes have struck Bowles again. After breaking his hand
in his March defeat to Dominick Cruz -- the fight in which he
lost the WEC bantamweight title -- he was expected to return
against Wagnney Fabiano at WEC 52 in November. However, a foot
injury has put Bowles back on the shelf.
4.
Scott Jorgensen (11-3)
After steadily rising up the ranks of the bantamweight division,
Jorgensen has earned his shot at the throne. When WEC 53 heads
to Glendale, Ariz., on Dec. 16, “Young Guns” will have
his chance to prove himself the top 135-pounder in the world.
There, the former Boise State Bronco takes on champion Dominick
Cruz.
5.
Urijah Faber (24-4)
Faber was originally set to make his 135-pound debut at WEC 50
on Aug. 18, but a knee injury postponed his bout with Takeya
Mizugaki. “The California Kid” made the wait well worth
it, as he choked Mizugaki unconscious in the WEC 52 main event
on Nov. 11 at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas.
6.
Miguel Torres (38-3)
Torres will be one of the first WEC talents to receive major
UFC exposure. The former WEC bantamweight titleholder will make
his Octagon debut on Super Bowl weekend, when he meets Antonio
Banuelos on the main card at UFC 126 on Feb. 5 in Las Vegas.
7.
Takeya Mizugaki (13-5-2)
The first time Mizugaki headlined a WEC event, he turned in a
barnburner with Miguel Torres at WEC 40. The second time, however,
was a harder pill to swallow. Former featherweight ace Urijah
Faber made a successful bantamweight debut against the Japanese
import at WEC 52, taking Mizugaki’s back and choking him
unconscious inside the first round.
8.
Rani Yahya (15-6)
A lackluster effort against Takeya Mizugaki in April, coupled
with a growing difficulty to make 135 pounds, has Yahya eying
a featherweight return. He will step back up to 145 pounds to
take on “The Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung at UFC “Fight
for the Troops 2” on Jan. 22.
9.
Masakatsu Ueda (11-1-2)
It will be a difficult road back to the top of the Shooto 132-pound
division for Ueda, who was shocked by Shuichiro Katsumura in
a failed title defense back in March. However, coming off a sound
win over Akitoshi Tamura in May, Ueda will return to the Shooto
ring on Jan. 10 against a yet-to-be-named opponent.
10.
Wagnney Fabiano (14-3)
Fabiano was viewed as an imminent title contender when he cut
down to 135 pounds. That is clearly not in the cards. After a
pair of lackluster wins, Fabiano was dominated en route to another
surprising submission loss, this time to Joseph Benavidez at
WEC 52.
Other
contenders: Demetrious Johnson, Zach Makovsky, Michael McDonald,
Brad Pickett, Eddie Wineland.
Flyweight
1.
Jussier da Silva (7-0)
After sitting around and waiting for offers from Shooto Japan,
da Silva finally has a place to fight. “Formiga” has
inked a four-fight deal with Tachi Palace Fights and will debut
Dec. 2 for the promotion against WEC veteran Danny Martinez.
2.
Yasuhiro Urushitani (17-4-6)
It was a non-title fight, but in his Nov. 19 appearance against
a tough Takuya Mori, Urushitani looked every bit the top 123-pounder
in professional Shooto. Urushitani brutally bashed Mori in the
first round, earning his first knockout in the Shooto ring in
his decade-long career.
3.
Mamoru Yamaguchi (24-5-3)
Yamaguchi’s best performances in recent memory, oddly enough,
have come inside King of the Cage and Shoot Boxing. However,
the afroed ace gave the Shooto faithful a highlight reel to remember
on Nov. 19, as he crushed up-and-comer Fumihiro Kitahara with
a brutal head kick in the first round.
4.
Yuki Shojo (10-5-2)
In a more entertaining outing than his September majority points
win over Junya Kudo, Shojo earned a lopsided unanimous decision
victory over tough Guam product Jesse Taitano on March 22. With
it, he kept pace in the Shooto 123-pound division.
5.
Ryuichi Miki (10-4-3)
A third bout with Yasuhiro Urushitani was the chance of a lifetime
for Miki, who had the opportunity to vie for the Shooto world
title. However, the first two bouts between Miki and Urushitani
already told us who was the better fighter, and it was Urushitani
who walked out the victor and champion on May 30.
6.
Kiyotaka Shimizu (6-3-1)
In June 2008, Shimizu started his professional career with a
loss to Mitsuhisa Sunabe. In February, he avenged it by taking
the flyweight King of Pancrase from the Okinawan. Now, on Dec.
5, the flyweight rivals will settle the score with a rubber match,
and Pancrase’s 125-pound strap will be on the line.
7.
Alexis Vila (8-0)
The best kept secret in the flyweight division, the former Olympic
wrestling bronze medalist posted his eighth career win on June
25, as he savaged tough veteran Omar Choudhury, stopping him
in the second frame. One can only hope the win will position
the dynamic Cuban for a bigger bout in the 125-pound division.
8.
Fumihiro Kitahara (9-2-1)
Kitahara’s first bout against a real A-level flyweight did
not exactly go as hoped. The 2008 Shooto rookie champion took
on former two-division Shooto world titleholder Mamoru Yamaguchi,
who needed just two and a half minutes to put his shin on Kitahara’s
head, leaving him flat on the mat.
9.
Mitsuhisa Sunabe (13-6-3)
After taking the flyweight King of Pancrase title last year,
Sunabe seemed poised to become Pancrase’s first flyweight
star. Instead, in February, Kiyotaka Shimizu upset him and took
the throne. On Dec. 5, Sunabe and Shimizu will square off for
the third time and determine Pancrase’s top 125-pounder.
10.
John Dodson (9-5)
Though “The Magician” continues to be dogged by a perceived
lack of focus in the cage, he looked every bit his nickname in
May. He bashed then-unbeaten Jessie Riggleman over three lopsided
rounds, showing off the blistering speed and striking skills
that make him a wild card at 125 pounds. Dodson will next meet
the unbeaten John Moraga under the Nemesis Fighting banner on
Dec. 11 in the Dominican Republic.
Other
contenders: Louis Gaudinot, Ulysses Gomez, Isao Hirose, Alexandre
Pantoja, Masaaki Sugawara.
Source: Sherdog
|
Aloha
State Championship
Tomorrow
Kaiser High School, Honolulu, Hawaii
November 27, 2010
This
is the third leg of the Hawaii BJJ Triple crown.
The
event will offer prizes in cash for some divisions.
For
more info, go to hawaiitriplecrown.com.
Source: Romolo Barros
|
Strikeforce:
Robbie Lawler Expects a Tough Night for Matt Lindland
by Erik
Fontanez
“Ruthless” Robbie Lawler hits hard… really hard.
That pretty much sums up the former EliteXC middleweight champion.
He’s
won fights in a number of organizations, including the UFC, a
tale for Lawler that ended six years ago.
With a record of 19-6, Lawler is now getting his payday in the
Strikeforce middleweight division. The San Jose, Calif.-based
company has been Lawler’s home for the past year-and-a-half,
and the time there has given him some bright spots and some dark
ones.
In
his last outing, Lawler went three rounds with former Strikeforce
light heavyweight champ and fellow UFC veteran Renato “Babalu”
Sobral. The fight ended with Sobral taking the unanimous decision
win, but many fans, media, and critics believed the fight had
been judged incorrectly.
Previous
to that fight, however, Lawler pulled a “Doug Flutie”
and threw a miracle in Miami to knock out Melvin Manhoef in the
first round of their fight. Lawler was being picked apart for
a majority of the round, but threw a surprise overhand right
to clip Manhoef, ultimately leading to the stoppage of the bout.
In
this writer’s opinion, the Lawler-Manhoef bout remains one
of the best comebacks in the sport’s history.
Lawler’s
next opportunity to shine comes at Strikeforce: Henderson vs.
Babalu 2 on Dec. 4 in St. Louis when he takes on veteran Matt
Lindland. Those hard hits that were mentioned earlier are something
that Lawler expects to use come fight night.
“I
except Matt to come out and be in my face and me to have a chance
to hit him,” Lawler said recently. “I think he is a
smart fighter. I don’t think he is just going to go in there
and wrestle from the start. He’s been working on all his
skills, so I am ready for a little bit of stand-up before he
closes the distance.”
The
rush that a fighter feels when he drops his opponent is surreal.
Lawler will look to do this when he faces Lindland. The chance
to knock another out cold is exciting. The result is all positive
for the one who is still standing after the impact.
“It
feels good,” Lawler described the sensation. “When
you hurt someone, you just have to go in there and look for the
finish and get it done.”
Lawler
explained that his training is going well and he feels good.
This paints a picture that illustrates a fighter who is primed
and ready for war. As you may know, war is never easy, and that’s
exactly how Lawler sees this fight being for Matt Lindland.
“I
don’t know how he thinks it is going to be, but I have been
working on my skills, my wrestling, and I have been working on
everything,” he said. “I think you have to ask Matt
how easy he thinks it will be. I think he thinks it will be tough…
and it will be.”
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Early
Looks at Future Greatness at the All-Star Classic
by Joseph
Zigler
FRESNO,
Calif. -- I am not in-the-know when it comes to college wrestling,
but I was assured by those who are that the National Wrestling
Coaches Association All-Star Classic is a pretty big deal.
“The
greatest pool of possible future MMA talent under one roof,”
I was told. “It’s like the Pro Bowl and All-Star game
of wrestling. Someone at this event will be a MMA star.”
Naturally,
I was excited to be at the Selland Arena in Fresno for its 45th
iteration.
In
the last 25 years, the event has hosted 17 athletes who went
on to become Zuffa veterans, either of the UFC, WEC or “The
Ultimate Fighter,” including Randy Couture, Brock Lesnar,
Matt Hughes, Josh Koscheck, Matt Lindland, and unbeaten prospects
Johny Hendricks and Phil Davis. That list doesn’t include
the non-Zuffa notables, such as Cole Konrad, “King Mo”
Muhammed Lawal, Ben Askren, and others right on down the line
to Tom Erikson.
One
event! All That talent!
And
yet, the place is a ghost town. For an event that features some
of the greatest college athletes in the country, there is very
little public interest. I suppose there is a reason that there
is currently such a strong grassroots movement to “save”
collegiate wrestling in California. Then again, in the last 20
years, the event has only drawn a crowd larger than 5,000 spectators
twice, both times in Iowa, where over 8,000 turned up. Typically,
it’s a 2,500-3,500 spectator affair, and this day is no
different. Yet, for those in attendance, the excitement is obvious.
The line-up lists a who’s who of top-ranked wrestlers, meeting
one another in head-to-head exhibition match-ups to really kickoff
the young 2010-2011 wrestling season. The match-ups do not count
toward wrestlers’ season records; only bragging rights are
on the line.
Just
as impressive as the talent on the mat is the talent sitting
around watching: Josh Koscheck, Urijah Faber, Phil Baroni and
Olympic silver medalist Stephen Abas were all there. Team Thirsty
compatriots Mo Lawal and Daniel Cormier conversed in a corner.
I spot two-time NCAA national champion and Bellator welterweight
ace Ben Askren. I hoped he might have some info on wrestlers
planning to compete in MMA in the future and could help me in
my story-writing pursuit. “Flip a coin,” he muses.
“They’re not going to talk about it now. They’re
focused on wrestling. But, half these guys could be MMA stars
in five years.”
He
is right. A decade ago, the NWCA All-Star Classic might feature
one future MMA fighter, maybe two. In recent years, it seems
every year has multiple notables. For instance, in 2006, Hendricks,
Konrad, Rosholt and Paul Bradley all competed. A few coaches
clue me in on which wrestlers they think I should talk to. Zack
Bailey, the No. 3 ranked 141-pounder out of Oklahoma, says maybe
he will consider fighting one day after the Olympics. Meanwhile,
Clayton Foster, the fourth-ranked 197-pounder from Oklahoma State
-- whose coaches assured me is one of the toughest dudes ever
-- says he isn’t sure of an MMA future and had no plans
beyond wrestling.
Fortunately,
the one athlete who professes an immediate future in MMA turns
out to be perhaps the day’s finest competitor.
Bubba
Jenkins“After I win this national championship, I’m
in MMA. I’m not really looking to be an Olympic champion
or anything like that. I kinda want to knock some folks out and
make some entertainment,” boasts Bubba Jenkins, the fourth-ranked
157-pounder out of Arizona State.
Jackpot.
Jenkins
was a surprise runner-up for Penn State in the 2008 NCAA national
tournament, losing to Brent Metcalf, who won that year’s
Dan Hodge Trophy as the nation’s top collegiate wrestler.
Jenkins finished his career with a .973 winning percentage, tied
for fourth all-time in NCAA history. He has also tasted success
in international wrestling, having captured gold in freestyle
at the 2007 Junior World Championships.
Jenkins’
2008 breakout run didn’t portend greater success: ankle
and back injuries led him to not even place at the 2009 tournament,
and then forced him to redshirt his next year.
When
new coach Cael Sanderson -- an Olympic gold medalist who never
tasted defeat in his college career -- came to Penn State, he
and Jenkins were at odds with one another. With one year of eligibility
left, Jenkins transferred to Arizona State.
That’s
not to say all his ties with the Nittany Lions are severed. Here
to support him is former Penn State national champion-turned-light
heavyweight prospect Phil Davis. Davis is not even 24 hours removed
from his second-round submission of Tim Boetsch at UFC 123 in
Auburn Hills, Mich. He has not slept yet. After the post-fight
festivities, Davis boarded a plane out to Fresno to watch his
friend and former teammate compete.
On
the mat, Jenkins takes on the 157-pound division’s top-ranked
wrestler, Adam Hall of Boise State, a team soaring high on the
mats and not just the football field. Watching the match, you
could never guess who the No. 1 was.
Almost
immediately, Jenkins shoots a powerful double-leg which Hall
defends. Jenkins springs up, gets a front headlock and snaps
him down in the blink of an eye. The moment Hall is on the mat,
Jenkins rips him over for a near fall with a cement mixer. In
MMA, it might have been an anaconda choke instead. The fight
could’ve been over in 30 seconds. When all is said and done,
Jenkins earns a major decision over the top dog in his weight
class with a score of 12-4. It was never even competitive. The
only comparable performance on the day is Jenkins’ teammate,
fifth-ranked 125-pounder Anthony Robles, who dominated No. 3
Zach Sanders of Minnesota to a 20-2 technical fall. Robles, a
congenital amputee, was born without his right leg.
With
Jenkins’ remarkable athletic ability and energetic personality,
he has the skills and marketability to become a huge star in
mixed martial arts, not unlike his former teammate Davis. His
goal -- after winning the national title, of course -- is to
get a coaching job and start training for MMA immediately.
“I
am thinking of getting on staff at Arizona State next year where
I have a steady income,” he explains. “Take some classes
in a grad program, and then pick up an MMA training program."
“There
are a lot of great gyms [in Arizona]. I love wrestling, but I’m
ready to go on to the next step,” he continues. “I
already started boxing when I started wrestling. I got quick
hands and I’m pretty good on my feet. After I win this national
championship, I'm boxing, I’m jiu-jitsu’ing, I’m
MMA’ing.”
“After
I win this national
championship, I’m in MMA.
I’m not really looking to
be an Olympic champion or
anything like that. I
kinda want to knock some
folks out and make some
entertainment.”
-- Bubba Jenkins
Arizona
State is an appropriate place for Jenkins. Few universities have
given as much to MMA: Dan Severn, Don Frye, Dan Henderson, Cain
Velasquez, Ryan Bader, C.B. Dollaway and Aaron Simpson all came
from the Sun Devils' program to MMA prominence. Arguably the
greatest Sun Devil wrestler ever, Eric Larkin, is now signed
with Bellator and looks to be a serious featherweight prospect.
In
May 2008, ASU cut their wrestling program, only to reinstate
it 10 days later due to public outcry. During an era in which
many college wrestling programs are fighting to survive, and
a time in which MMA is putting a greater emphasis on the college
mats, it seems fitting that the reborn Sun Devils line-up is
led by a future fighter.
“I
love wrestling, but I think I'm gonna leave my shoes on the mat
at my last match. I'm ready to go on to the next step,”
Jenkins says with confidence.
That
next step is toward a path marked by great footprints -- footprints
that also mark the mat at the NWCA All-Star Classic.
Source: Sherdog
|
MMANews
Injury forces new champ Aldo off UFC 125
Jose
Aldo has had to pull out of his first title defence as UFC featherweight
champion because of injury.
UFC
president Dana White confirmed the news via text Wednesday.
Aldo,
who has held the WEC 145-pound crown in November 2009, had been
scheduled to meet Josh Grispi at UFC 125 on Jan. 1 in Las Vegas.
On Saturday he was officially presented with his UFC belt at
a ceremony prior to UFC 123 in Auburn, Hills, Mich.
Heavy.com first reported the injury, saying the Brazilian had
a compacted vertebrae and withdrew from the bout after sensing
tingling in his arms.
"Everything
happens for a reason," Grispi wrote on Facebook. "I
wish Aldo a speedy recovery, I will keep him in my prayers. I
have hurt the discs in my back before too, it's horrible!"
Grispi
had been slated to fight Nov. 11 on the WEC's penultimate card,
but was pulled off so he could meet Aldo in January. He will
reportedly fight another opponent at UFC 125. The WEC is being
absorbed by the UFC, its parent company, after its final Dec.
16 card.
The
UFC featherweight title fight was originally offered to Canadian
Mark Hominick, but the Thamesford, Ont., native had to decline
as he was recovering from a hand injury suffered prior to his
last win over Leonard Garcia at WEC 51 in September. His arm
was put in a cast at the beginning of October.
Hominick,
who told sporstnet.ca he just had the cast removed and won't
be ready to resume full training until next week, is currently
slated to take on Team Tompkins training partner George Roop
at a UFC Fight for the Troops event on Jan. 22.
NOTES
-- The UFC has cut middleweight Gerald Harris after his weekend
loss to Maiquel Jose Falcao Goncalves at UFC 123. "Yes it's
true I have been released from the UFC. Thanks for the support,
it was great, & I'll keep my head up," Harris said on
Twitter. Harris, caught in a choke, was saved by the bell in
the first round with reports suggesting the horn marking the
end of the round may have gone off prematurely. The Michigan
commission says the matter is under review ... UFC 123 in Auburn,
Hills, Mich., has produced several medical suspensions: 30 days
for Michael Lullo, Timothy O'Brien and Karo Parisyan, and 60
days for Matt Hughes. Michigan officials also said Lullo and
George Sotiropoulos will require specific medical clearances
before their next fight. ... The UFC has released Parisyan and
Nick Osipczak, who lost Saturday, as well as Seth Petruzelli,
who was a loser at UFC 122 in Germany the week before, according
to online reports.
Source: Sportsnet
|
Strikeforce
Going Head to Head With TUF 12 Finale on Dec. 4th
by Nick
Thomas
146
comments Email Print.Which one will you watch live on Saturday,
December 4th?
Strikeforce:
4th on Showtime @10pm TUF 12 Finale on Spike @9pm
Dan Henderson vs. Renato Sobral Stephan Bonnar vs. Igor Pokrajac
Robbie Lawler vs. Matt Lindland Finalist #1 vs. Finalist #2
Paul Daley vs. Scott Smith Kendall Grove vs. Demian Maia
Antonio Silva vs. Valentijn Overeem Johny Hendricks vs. Rick
Story
Tyron Woodley vs. TBA [rumored] Rich Attonito vs. Dave Branch
Fernando Bettega vs. Wayne Phillips Ian Loveland vs. Tyler Toner
Justin Lawrence vs. Max Martytniouk Pablo Garza vs. Fredson Paixao
Terrell Brown vs. Patrick Cummins Will Campuzano vs. Nick Pace
Source: Bloody Elbow
|
Thanksgiving
stuffing
By Jake Rossen
Carbsgiving is upon us, and you know what a major holiday means
for writers on deadline: labored "theme" pieces that
roll out like defective Toyotas.
Who
am I to break tradition? In the spirit of the overeating season,
10 things I've gotten more than my fill of:
The
dormant Fedor Emelianenko: Who's to blame? Who cares? Whether
you think he's a top heavyweight or not, Emelianenko has a skill
set that's extremely fun to watch. Benching him when he may not
have many competitive days left is an all-time shame. Memo to
the pen jockeys holding up his return: The guy isn't immortal.
Glove him up already.
The
self-aggrandizement of Mauro Ranallo: Ranallo remains a popular
kickball in this space, but it's not solely because his delivery
is so overcooked; it's because he will happily derail a broadcast
to make sure every last viewer is aware he's gotten his facts
straight. In the case of last weekend's Strikeforce card, Ranallo
was so busy insisting his interpretation of an eyepoke ruling
was accurate that he never stopped to consider it wasn't. (And
it wasn't.)
Fighters
who think fans "don't get it:" Anderson Silva and Jon
Fitch are among those who criticized fans for being disappointed
with their performances in the ring -- audiences just don't understand
what they're watching, they said. But prizefighting isn't in
a vacuum; it's a fight for a prize, and that prize is paid for
by ticket and television sales. If those people aren't happy,
you've got a problem, and condescension isn't the solution.
The
cup: Bank on at least one inadvertent kick to the groin stopping,
slowing or radically altering a fight during every card. Can
no one create a shock-absorbent protective cup that's fit to
transmit the force of a kick from below? Scientists are working
on invisibility cloaks and we can't deliver a package back to
the locker room safely? Really?
"Grudge"
matches: The new model for fight promotion: say dumb things about
your opponent, then hug and tell everyone it was just to "hype
the fight." Vince McMahon has poisoned any ring we build.
"The
biggest fight in … Promoters promote. But lately the UFC's
hype machine has been set on "nuclear." Every main
event has been either "the biggest fight in UFC history,"
"the biggest fight in [insert division] history," or
"the most important event in all of recorded mankind."
Exhausting.
No
consequences: Wanna start a riot on network television? The promotion
might reward you with a "grudge" match. Wish AIDS on
a rival on Twitter like Marcus Davis did to opponent Dan Hardy?
You rascal, you. Goony behavior doesn't carry many repercussions.
Celebrity
whining: Keith Berry thinks Herschel Walker is an "embarrassment"
to MMA; Antonio Silva chuckled at Brock Lesnar's skill set. They're
missing the point: Lame or not, bankable names from other sports
bring attention to this one. Laugh if you want, but more eyes
mean more attention (and money) for everyone. If I'm a guy struggling
to make it, I'm hoping Lesnar or Kimbo Slice are headlining.
The
Bob Reilly army: This is an often ugly sport to watch; the jury
is still out on whether athletes will have quality-of-life issues
similar to football players and boxers. If it's not your thing,
believe me, I get it. But keep your morality confined to your
own household and don't dictate what others want to do (or see)
on their own time.
Lists:
After this one, they're done. Honest.
Source: ESPN
|
Report:
No Aoki-Melendez rematch for New Year's Eve
Recommend Dream lightweight champion Shinya Aoki won't get his
shot at redemption against Strikeforce counterpart Gilbert Melendez
on New Year's Eve, after all.
Japanese
combat sports promoter Fighting and Entertainment Group, the
parent company of Dream and K-1, hoped its traditional year-end
blockbuster would include Aoki-Melendez II. But Melendez's lack
of a long-term contract with Strikeforce had him balking at taking
the fight, MMA Fighting reports, citing officials from FEG and
Strikeforce.
Melendez
defeated Aoki via unanimous decision in April. It's Aoki's only
loss in his last 10 fights as a lightweight.
FEG
hopes to find another opponent for Aoki, the No. 5 lightweight
in the USA TODAY/SB Nation consensus rankings. Melendez is No.
3.
While
Melendez hasn't fought since April, Aoki has recorded wins over
top-10 fighter Tatsuya Kawajiri and veteran Marcus Aurelio.
Source: USA Today
|
UFC
123 compared to UFC 9, it Ain't so Bad
This
past weekend we saw the UFC return to Michigan. Its 14-year hiatus
was the second longest in the promotion’s 17-year existence
(the longest to date is Oklahoma) and with UFC 123 we got a little
bit of controversy, probably not as much as UFC 9 though.
It
was just before Detroit’s first event when local politician
Calvin McCard protested at UFC 8. This sparked Senator McCain’s
assault on MMA and we all know that story well. Maybe because
of the massive criticism, Judge Arthur Lombard rendered a decision
just two hours before UFC 9 was set to take place at the Cobo
Arena. The fights would go on minus headbutting and strikes with
a closed fist to the head.
Big
John McCarthy warned the fighters for closed-fist strikes throughout,
and the promotion offered a flimsy threat of a $50 fine for repeat
offenders (nobody had to pay) and there was even talk of arrests
(nobody was arrested). Despite this rule the first six fights
all ended in TKO, one due to bleeding, one due to a broken nose,
and we almost had our first death during a sanctioned event in
the sport...as I wrote in my first book: MMA: An Interactive
Guide: ...Besides, it would seem it wasn’t a strike to the
head former Marine Cal Worsham, who fought in the first bout
of the evening, needed to worry about. He took a knee to the
chest from Zane Frazier and as told by Jake Rossen at Sherdog.com
the blow broke ribs, damaged his heart, and collapsed a lung.
Worsham spent a week in the hospital and was told his chances
of survival were questionable. Thankfully he recovered and oh
yeah, after the knee and all that damage, he took Frazier down
and eventually WON the fight via TKO!
Then
there was the main event. It involved a highly anticipated rematch
between Dan Severn and Ken Shamrock. The night had been exciting,
Big John’s warnings were half hearted, and everyone was
ready to see “The Clash of the Titans II.” A lot was
on the line and Ken Shamrock even had some possible deals with
Sports Illustrated and CNN lined up if he won. Unfortunately,
the new rules, an odd strategy, and a couple injuries conspired
to make The Clash become The Dance in Detroit. And it will live
in infamy amongst old school MMA fans.
Fast
forward to last weekend, the only controversy is coming from
a hell-bent politician in New York and another hell-bent politician
in Germany. Neither caused problems with UFC 123. Two fights
were shown live on Spike TV, there were 11 fights in all (four
more than UFC 9), the crowd had grown by a little over 6,000,
and I’m gonna take a wild guess that the gate of just over
two million dollars was a tad better than UFC 9’s gate.
For
sure the controversy was much tamer last weekend. Then we have
the main event between Lyoto Machida and Quinton Jackson. In
some ways it was the Detroit Dance 2 as both men were just a
little less reluctant than Severn and Shamrock to engage for
long stretches of the fight.
When
they did engage it was exciting, and two razor close rounds left
the fight undecided heading into the final frame. Lyoto rocked
Jackson in the third and controlled him on the ground. He easily
won the round, but not the fight. A surprised Quinton Jackson’s
hand was raised and a whole new controversy is boiling over.
The
fans filed out, the internet forums fired up, and everyone is
throwing in their two cents on whether or not Jackson deserved
the win. I can see it either way, and just like every Tom, Dick,
and Harry I have ideas on how to fix the scoring and judging,
but at least we can say UFC 123 was a success...no open fists,
no court decisions in the final hours, no near deaths after getting
your heart kneed through your lungs and into your spine, and
no impending PPV blackout.
So
yeah UFC 123 once again brought to light some of the current
issues in the sport, but I guess we can all deal with that. We’ve
come along way in the last 14 years!
Source: Sports By The Numbers
|
Dana
White: Rampage’s my boy
By Zach
Arnold
Suffice
to say, he wasn’t upset by Rampage Jackson’s win at
UFC 123 on Saturday night.
ARIEL
HELWANI: “You said on Wednesday that you never really know
what kind of Rampage you’ll see out there and considering
the fact that he went on this three month promotional tour for
the movie and changed his training camp and all that. Were you
surprised by his performance, that he looked that good?”
DANA
WHITE: “I thought he looked a million times better than
he has in his past fight. You know, the question I had, for me
I thought he looked slow in his last couple of fights. He did
not look slow [at UFC 123]. We know who he was in there against,
a guy who is very fast, agile, and the thing about Machida, too,
is, uh… Machida shows these signs of brilliance where he
just, like he threw that flying knee that hit Rampage hard right
in the stomach and… you know Rampage is a human being, no
matter how tough he is, you know he’s hurt and instead of
starting to kick the body again and go after him because you
know you hurt him, he starts running around and moving away.
You don’t win fights like that. I know that some people
are saying Machida won the fight — you need to watch it
again. He lands like maybe 5 or 6 punches in the third round.
You know, that doesn’t win you a fight.”
ARIEL
HELWANI: “Do you like watching Machida fight?”
DANA
WHITE: “Um, yeah, no. I appreciate Machida’s style
and the things that this guy, that’s what, you know, you’ll
get these people that start booing… Listen, guys, there’s
so much on the line. Guys are going to fight smart fights and
there’s a difference between a smart fight and a boring
fight. Going into a fight, you know what two styles are. Did
people think that Rampage, that Machida was going to walk out
to the center of the Octagon, plant his feet, and just trading
with Rampage Jackson? No, none of you thought that. What he’s
going to do is he’s going to use, and I said it leading
up to this fight, did you ever hear me in any interview say,
‘this is going to be a bangfest, these guys are going to
go toe-to-toe.’ No, I said, I think what we’re going
to see from Machida is that elusive style that got him here.
He’s going to stay outside, try to pick Rampage apart with
kicks and punches and frustrate him and beat him and, uh, and
I think Rampage is going to have to, if he’s in shape and
if his timing is on, he’s going to move forward, he’s
going to move forward, try to blast him, try to use his wrestling,
and he actually did a lot more things than I said he would do.
I thought he fought the fight perfectly and I thought Machida
fought the fight that I thought he would fight.”
ARIEL
HELWANI: “You’ve been announcing a lot of fights here
which is sort of unusual because you need some time to think
about. So, I’ll ask you — what do you think is next
for Rampage?”
DANA
WHITE: “Um… you know, I don’t know. It’s
funny, I had all these answers for all these other fights, but
I don’t know about Rampage. We’ll see what’s next?”
ARIEL
HELWANI: “What do you make of his entrance song? Sort of
a tip of the cap to the old PRIDE days.”
DANA
WHITE: “Yeah, you know, I think he said I want to come back
and fight like the old Rampage from PRIDE, so that’s what
he wanted to walk into for this fight.”
ARIEL
HELWANI: “Speaking of turning back the clock, BJ Penn looked
fantastic and I had a chance to see him and he sort of looked
at me and said, ‘I really needed that one, Ariel’ in
sort of a very sincere way. What does this mean to BJ in terms
of, you know, just continuing his career and he sort of said
that you’ll call where he’ll fight next, so I ask you,
where do you think he’ll fight next, which division?”
DANA
WHITE: “Well, yeah, he did look good. I think he looked
like the old BJ and I actually like BJ at 170 pounds. He came
in talking to himself, all crazy and swearing at himself and
fired up, he looked like the BJ from the old days, so, you know,
uh… I think I like him at 170 pounds and we’ll do him
and (Jon) Fitch in Sydney.”
ARIEL
HELWANI: “As the main event?”
DANA
WHITE: “Yeah.”
ARIEL
HELWANI: “Fitch was supposed to fight Jake Ellenberger.
Why is he not fighting him?”
DANA
WHITE: “Because he’s going to fight BJ instead.”
ARIEL
HELWANI: “Just switched it up?
DANA
WHITE: “I announced it at the press conference.”
ARIEL
HELWANI: “Based on his performance?”
DANA
WHITE: “Uh, yeah.”
ARIEL
HELWANI: “I’m guessing maybe the winner of that fight
potentially could be a number one contender considering how high
Fitch was up in the rankings?”
DANA
WHITE: “Yeah, they’re definitely in the mix. Yep.”
ARIEL
HELWANI: “And Dennis Siver-George Sotiropoulos. How long
was that on your mind?”
DANA
WHITE: “Um… yeah, we said if he won the fight that
that would be an interesting fight.”
Source: Fight Opinion
|
Pacquiao:
"Yes" To Martinez, Floyd, Mosley - "No" Marquez
By Mark
Vester
During a recent interview with ABS-CBN, Manny Pacquiao was asked
questions regaring several potential opponents. Prior to the
questions on opponents, Pacquiao made it clear that he is not
going to retire and plans to fight again by the month of May.
He was also asked the question of the hour, whether or not he
would consider fighting WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez.
Pacquiao
said he would consider fighting Martinez, but the fight would
have to take place below 150-pounds. That's not going to happen.
Martinez told BoxingScene.com that he won't drop "below
155-pounds for anyone." The Argentine champion has grown
into a middleweight and the lowest he can go, without killing
himself, is 155. Martinez is honest with himself. He recently
told BoxingScene that a Pacquiao fight won't happen because Manny
is "too small."
Shane
Mosley, who is regarded as the frontrunner to fight Pacquiao,
was given the green light by the Filipino champion. He said a
Mosley clash is fine because "he's a good fighter and a
champion."
Floyd
Mayweather Jr. was also given a positive nod. Pacquiao said -
"no problem. That would be a good fight."
In
a surprising move, Pacquiao ruled out a third meeting with Juan
Manuel Marquez. He told the paper - "because no one would
watch it." At the moment, Marquez is fighting two weight
divisions below Pacquiao. The Filipino champ is worried that
because of the size difference, the fans won't take the fight
seriously and the pay-per-view numbers would be low.
Pacquiao's
answers on potential opponents would show that he's siding with
promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank, and business adviser Michael Koncz.
Both Arum and Koncz are very much in favor of a Pacquiao-Mosley
clash. On the other hand, Pacquiao's trainer Freddie Roach, and
his conditioning coach Alex Ariza, view Mosley as a very easy
fight that nobody would watch. Roach and Arize are pushing for
a third meeting between Pacquiao and Marquez.
Source: Boxing Scene
|
Fitch:
Need to Elevate MMA Fight Abilities
By Mike
Hatamoto
MMA
welterweight contender Jon Fitch is a skilled fighter able to
punish and grind down opponents throughout the fight. Since losing
against Georges St. Pierre in a UFC welterweight championship
fight at UFC 87 in August 2008, Fitch has rattled off five straight
wins.
Fan
frustrations reach a higher level because Fitch is a top-ranked
welterweight with a strong overall MMA game, but elects to be
safer and grind out wins over fifteen minutes. Once in a dominant
position on the ground, Fitch relies on strong wrestling to smother
opponents.
A
nasty downside from these dominant wins, however, is that they
all come after three rounds and 15 minutes of fighting (all unanimous).
Here
is what Fitch had to say regarding efforts to finish fights,
and what it takes to stay at the top:
Elevate
and evolve. It just means more. More of what I’m already
doing to break and wear my opponents down. To finish them. To
get me to that point where there’s no doubt that I not just
dominated, but disposed of my opponent.
Fitch
also knows it’s one thing to control opponents for 15 minutes,
but it’s completely different to get a stoppage victory.
“I
take that as a personal challenge to myself, because as a martial
artist, I need to be evolving and getting better. If I keep winning
fights the same way, I don’t see myself as evolving. If
we’re not evolving in martial arts, then we’re dead.”
Since
his last victory against Thiago Alves at UFC 117 in August, Fitch
has been in the gym working on his training style. In addition
to keeping with his traditional training methods, the AKA fighter
also has worked on new techniques and will try to be more aggressive.
It’s
one thing for Fitch to say he’s making changes and trying
to evolve, but it’s another thing to actually go out and
do it. He will next stand across the cage from BJ Penn at UFC
127 in February, with the winner possibly moving closer to a
title shot.
Source: MMA Opinion
|
Matt
Mitrione Squashes WWE Rumors
By Ariel Helwani
Roy Nelson, Shonie Carter -- they're all clearly interested in
pursuing a career in World Wrestling Entertainment.
Matt
Mitrione, on the other hand, is not. And quite frankly, he isn't
sure why you think he is.
A
rumor began circulating around the MMA world following Mitrione's
win over Joey Beltran at UFC 119 that the former NFL player turned
MMA fighter was going to cut short his promising fighting career
to pursue a life as pro wrestler.
Not
so, says Mitrione.
"That's
such a weird situation that my name got thrown in the mix, and
then after that, that Pat Barry's name got thrown in the mix,"
Mitirone said on Monday's episode of The MMA Hour. "Like,
why is my training camp getting assaulted by the WWF people,
man?"
When
reminded that the current name of the wrestling promotion is
WWE, not WWF, Mitrione said:
"I
would much rather be leaving the UFC to go to the [World] Wildlife
Foundation (ed. note: it's actually called the World Wildlife
Fund) than I would be to pseudo-fighters."
Mitrione
said he had no idea who started the rumor of his career change.
"It
might be all the dramatics I put on the show, plus I am kind
of a weird cat," he hypothesized. "I don't know, man.
"
... But I will tell you this much: I think Pat Barry and I would
make one hell of a tag team wherever we're going," Mitrione
said jokingly.
Mitrione
(3-0) is scheduled to face a returning Tim Hague (12-4) at UFC
Fight for the Troops 2 on January 22. After ending his first
UFC run on a three-fight losing streak, the Canadian Hague is
returning to the Octagon following two wins outside the organization.
Mitrione
and Hague are friendly, and they weren't on each other's radars,
but "Meathead" isn't ready to start picking and choosing
his fights at this point in his career.
"I'm
not in a situation or place where I can tell or ask for anyone
in any kind of ranking. The fact that they are even giving me
another fight is something I'm so flattered by. So I haven't
really thought about asking for people. I think I could have
been putting the cart a little bit ahead of my horse last time
when I said, you know, There's some people that I would really
like to fight, but I don't know if I was really ready for them
at that time."
Source: MMA Fighting
|
Strictly
Business: Every Sport Cuts Players, So Why Shouldn't the UFC?
By E. Spencer
Kyte
Tuesday night, news broke that the UFC had parted ways with middleweight
fighter Gerald Harris.
The
news was met with frustrated reactions from fans and media, confused
about the decision to release a fighter with a 3-1 record and
a pair of Knockout of the Night performances after a single poor
showing. Harris had slammedhis way onto ESPN SportsCenter with
his win over David Branch, and was viewed as one of the few 185-pound
fighters who might be able to emerge as a potential contender
in the coming year, but all that was dashed with awful outing
last weekend and subsequent release.
While
the decision to send Harris on his way came as a little bit of
a surprise, the move is not too hard to comprehend if you remove
emotion from the equation. The addition of the WEC has left the
UFC with a bloated roster, and an absolutely brutal performance
like the one Harris offered Saturday night will put you in danger
of getting dropped, simple as that.
What
has amazed and, to be honest, frustrated me with this situation
has been the objections to this move that have called the decision
rash, personal and out of character with the decisions of major
professional sports like football and baseball. To me, nothing
could be further from the truth.
While
I will concede that having a singular figurehead like Dana White
at the forefront of these decisions can cast the appearance of
the moves being personal and made without cause, the truth is
that athletes get released from teams all the time, only we don't
have general managers and personnel directors speaking freely
and openly with the media about these decisions.
Just
because Harris had some success prior to his fight with Maiquel
Falcao shouldn't mean he automatically receives another opportunity
in the Octagon, and that is a theme that plays out in the major
sports every season.
Randy
Moss is a first ballot Hall of Fame inductee, but he's currently
playing for his third team this of the year in Tennessee, and
the fifth team of his highly-productive career. All-stars end
up on the waiver wire or assigned to the minors in baseball and
hockey with some frequency, especially when their performance
trails off.
Cutting
Harris after a single underwhelming performance might be a bit
hasty, but ultimately, it is a decision that gets made in all
sports, all the time with little to no fanfare, so why the uproar
over Harris?
His
powerslam of David Branch was a great finish and one that put
him on the map, and as far as I can tell, that is the performance
that hooked people onto Harris. No one was overly excited about
the former TUF 7 contestant after he stopped John Salter in his
UFC debut, and while his win over Mario Miranda started a little
momentum moving in Harris' direction, the slam of Branch sold
people on his viability as a middleweight contender, even though
it was premature if you ask me.
The
problem - or what I see as the problem - is that there are a
ton of fans who are interested in only explosive performances,
and every fighter who has a highlight reel finish gets a bump
in popularity and support. As crazy as this sounds, people were
literally saying that "boring fighters" like Jake Shields
and Jon Fitch should be careful in the future, because their
lack of excitement will earn them a fate similar to Harris.
One
- Gerald Harris is not in the same category as Fitch or Shields;
he's a middle-of-the-pack competitor who was competing for Shark
Fights this time last year.
Two
- no matter how little you like Fitch or Shields, they just keep
winning and while flashy performances seem to capture the audience's
attention, wins keep you employed.
Three
- You're only as good as your last fight, and if that fight is
a stinker, you might want to start making some "just in
case" calls.
Is
there a double standard when it comes to the upper echelon and
more marketable fighter? Absolutely, and that shouldn't come
as a suprise either. As much as we love the UFC for the sporting
performances they offer, it is still a business and the guys
who bring in the most money and have the most recognition are
going to have a little more wiggle room when it comes to situations
like this. Brock Lesnar isn't getting cut no matter how bad his
last fight is...
Additionally,
as much as the "you're only as good as your last fight"
mantra ignores previous successes for the here and now, the here
and now is really all that matters when you're outside of the
upper echelon; you have to keep winning to keep earning opportunities,
no matter how entertaining you were last time out.
If
you don't perform, you don't keep playing, no matter what sport
we're talking about; it holds true in the major sports and applies
to the UFC as well. Decisions like this get made by general managers
all the time, and the collective UFC personnel department decided
to make a move in regards to Harris.
For
all his earlier successes, his last effort was awful, and as
such, Harris won't be stepping into the Octagon again any time
soon.
As
much as some people don't like the decision, I'm sure there were
a bunch of Vikings fans who didn't like hearing that Moss was
being released either.
Source: The Province
|
Thiago
Alves promises the best 'Pitbull' ever at UFC 124
by Eduardo
Cruz
Quoteworthy:
“This
Pitbull of December 11th will be the best ever. I’ve never
been feeling so good, I’m more mature and professional.
Everything happens for a reason and God knows how much I want
to be the champion. God knows how hard I work to make it. The
losses I had happened because I didn’t deserve to win for
I didn’t do the correct work to get where I wish (the belt).
But I learned and fixed all I had to enhance here at ATT. Now
it’s time to stop speaking, get there and show my job. Everything
happens for a reason and God knows how much I want to be the
champion. God knows how hard I work to make it”.
Former
number one welterweight contender Thiago Alves -- who now appears
to have God in his corner -- looks to recover from two consecutive
losses when he battles John Howard at UFC 124. The American Top
Team prospect chalks up the back-to-back defeats as learning
experiences and promises he will get back to his winning inside
the Octagon on Dec. 11 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Keep in mind,
however, Alves has not been fighting cream puffs -- he lost to
division champion Georges St. Pierre and former number one contender
Jon Fich. Certainly no shame in that. But he recognizes he made
mistakes preparing for them and vows to have made the necessary
corrections just in time for Christmas ... almost. Is this just
typical talk or do you expect to see the best "Pitbull"
in just a few weeks?
Source: MMA Mania
|
UFC
123 Results: B.J. Penn Turns The Tide, Sinks Matt Hughes
Penn
righted the ship at UFC 123: Rampage vs. Machida, and he did
it in stunning fashion. Almost as quickly as his fight with Matt
Hughes began, it was over.
Penn
came out pressing the action and quickly dropped Hughes with
a straight right hand, then followed him down and land a couple
more solid shots before the referee stepped in for the stoppage…
21 seconds into the opening round.
And
with that, Penn erases a loss to Hughes in their second meeting.
He goes up two out of three in the series, but more importantly,
he ended a two-fight skid that put a pall over his career.
He
was ecstatic after the fight, letting all the fans, UFC president
Dana White, and just about everyone else on the planet know how
much he loves them.
Hughes,
however, was left in bewilderment after the loss, unsure what
comes next.
“He
hit me pretty hard,” said the man widely regarded as one
of the greatest champions in UFC history.
“I
don’t know what the plan is now. This is one of those fights
I would have paid my purse to Dana White to put on this fight.
I had a lot on the line. This was a huge fight for me. To be
honest, I don’t know what goes on now.”
Source: MMA Weekly
|
UFC
123 Results: Phil Davis Remains Perfect With “Wonderful”
Finish
Mr.
Wonderful may have to change his name to Mr. Perfect.
Phil
Davis continued his ascent up the lightweight heavyweight ladder
at UFC 123: Rampage vs. Machida on Saturday night in Detroit,
upping his record to 8-0.
He
didn’t just win; he thoroughly dominated Tim Boetsch. He
kept Boetsch, a good striker, in close while standing, driving
home knees to the body and bruising him with short punches. Before
Boetsch could find his range, Davis put him on his back, mauling
him for the latter half of the round. Boetsch got back to his
feet briefly before the bell, but ate several more knees to the
midsection for his efforts.
Davis
quickly took Boetsch down in round two, patiently wading his
way through a tight guillotine choke. That was when everything
spiraled down for Boetsch. Davis locked up his arm in a Kimura
position, continuing to work at it until he had the leverage
to finish the maneuver even though he only had a grip on it with
one of his own hands.
Joe
Rogan, in the post-fight interview, said he had never seen such
a finish and dubbed it “The Mr. Wonderful.”
Source: MMA Weekly
|
UFC
123 Results: Maiquel Falcao Wins Fight, Not Fans In Octagon Debut
Chute
Boxe fighter Maiquel Falcao won his Octagon debut, but he didn’t
exactly win over the fans of Detroit at UFC 123: Rampage vs.
Machida.
Following
a slow start, Falcao stormed Geral Harris near the end of the
opening round. He dropped Harris with knees to the body, followed
him down, and unleashed a fury of ground and pound. Harries weathered
that storm, then had Falcao on his back locking on a choke. He
still managed to make it to the bell.
Falcao
continued with his striking prowess in the first half of round
two, both on the ground and on the feet. The pace slowed as the
round went on, although Falcao landed a cracking head kick in
the latter portion of the round, but Harris didn’t go down.
Falcao
must have known he had the first two rounds in the bag, because
he did nothing in round three, other than defend a couple Harris
takedown attempts. Harris was exhausted at this point, just surviving
the fight.
Fans
were booing heavily by the final bell, but Falcao walked out
of the Octagon with his first UFC victory, pushing his overall
record to 26-3.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Mike
Swick
Coming
of two straight losses, Mike Swick sees his future in the UFC
in line on his next fight in the UFC octagon. Set to fight David
Mitchell at “UFC: Fight For The Troops2”, the American
welterweight came to Brazil to sharp his Jiu-Jitsu. “It
was my dream to come to Brazil to see the land and train…
I think this is gonna be the best performance of my career, I’m
training so hard, with the right mentality. I going there to
make an statement”, he told TATAME Magazine after a hard
day of sparring sessions. On the interview below, Swick talked
about his future in the event, his travel to Brazil, the teammate
vs. teammate debate on AKA fighters, Cain Velasquez challenge
against Junior Dos Santos and a lot more.
Why
you decided to come to Brazil?
I’ve
been in MMA since 1997, and back in 97 Brazil was big, big in
MMA, I watched great fighters and great fights, so it was my
dream to come to Brazil to see the land and train. I couldn’t
afford to do it in early career, I had to wait, but I had time
before this fight and I figured it’d be good to come here
to start my camp and then go do AKA to finish my camp for the
fight.
Where
have you trained here?
I
trained Jiu-Jitsu at Rico Vieira and Nova União.
What
do you think about the training here?
Oh,
very good, I’m training so much. Yesterday I had two sessions
of BJJ and today I had BJJ and came to Nova União. I’ve
been working so much, it’s a good jump start for my fight
camp.
You’re
only training here or you had time to visit some touristic places?
The
first two days I had to tour, I visited Corcovado and Sugar Loaf,
and today was the first day that the sun came out, so I’m
going to the beach, but I’ve walked on the beach every day.
Most of it was just training.
What
do you expect from your next fight?
I
wanna put on the best show of my life, you know? I wanna show
that I’m healthy and I’m back, I wanna show what to
expect from me from now on. That’s a point I wanna make.
I know he’s a good Jiu-Jitsu guy, and I’m training
Jiu-Jitsu, Wrestling, stand up… I think it’s gonna
be a great fight and hopefully I’m gonna make a big impression.
You
were in a great win-streak in the UFC, and then lost to Dan Hardy
and Paulo Thiago. Do you think this is an important fight for
your future in the UFC?
Yeah,
I think this is an important fight for my future in the UFC.
I think every fight is important, but you got your back against
the wall when you have two losses. It’s kind of the same
mentality when I got in the UFC, I knew that with one loss I
could be cut, so I’m gonna fight this fight just like I
fought those. I’m gonna fight like it’s my last, pretending
like I’m never fighting again. That’s how I’m
gonna perform from now on.
You
got the knockout of the night bonus in your last win, against
Saunders. Do you think it’s the best way to come back?
I’ve
here training Jiu-Jitsu, I’ve been training Jiu-Jitsu and
Wrestling more than anything from the past two years, and I’m
still going in for the knockout, that’s my style. It’s
great to have the Jiu-Jitsu and the Wrestling to fall back on,
it gives me more confidence in my stand up, I’m not afraid
to get taken down or going to the mat, but this fight is no different,
I’m going to try the knockout of the night, win by KO.
Who
was your toughest sparring here in Brazil, at Nova União?
All
these guys… Thales Leites is really good, Marlon (Sandro)
is really good.. All these guys, man, they’re really good
sparring partners. All of them are so good in Jiu-Jitsu and they’re
so different. It’s good to go with new people that gives
you problems you’re not used to. Sometimes when you train
with the same people you kind of expect, but here it’s 4’oz
gloves with big guys, 205 pounders, full on sparring, and I don’t
know what to expect. I got the nerves, I have no idea who my
sparring is, I don’t know if he’s good on the striking,
good on the ground, it brings like the matches of a real fight.
It poses problems you have to deal, sometimes when you train
with the same people you know what to expect… It’s
very, very good for me.
I
learned that Lyoto Machida went to AKA to train. How was that
experience?
It
was really good, he trained with us twice. He came with his brother
the last time. He’s a really good guy and I like him a lot,
he was an asset to our gym, he showed us a lot of cool stuff.
What
do you think about his style?
He
was one of the trickiest guys I’ve ever sparred. He actually
caught me a couple times when we were training for Tito (Ortiz,
because he throws the kicks like it was a push kick and then
flips over, and he caught me really good times (laughs). It’s
unorthodox, but it works. Get popped by Machida in the face wakes
you up, makes you a little nervous about not making any mistakes.
He’s
fighting Rampage this Saturday. What’s your prediction for
this fight?
I
don’t know, it’s gonna be a really good fight. I really
like Rampage a lot, I like Machida a lot… Machida has a
chance to pick him apart, be elusive and strike when he’s
open, landing points to win the fight. It depends on how Rampage
comes to fight. If he lands some good punches it can be a good
night for him.
Talking
about the AKA, Cain Velasquez just became the UFC heavyweight
champion. Did you expected such a fast and impressive win against
Brock Lesnar?
I
know it’s hard to believe, but a lot of us at AKA expected
exactly what happened. It’s unbelievable training with him.
He does that with everyone, every single person we put, crush
them all. The only way I ever see him losing is getting completely
knocked out unconscious, you have to stop him. He’s never
going to quit, he’s never stop coming forward. He’s
gonna be the champion for a long time, I think.
Do
you think Junior dos Santos won’t beat him?
I
think Dos Santos is going to be his toughest test, and I think
he poses a lot bigger challenge than Lesnar. Lesnar doesn’t
have the right tool to beat Velasquez, Santos does have the only
tool that can ever beat Velasquez. Cain has to be very careful
to not get caught in one of those hard punches. I think it’s
gonna be tougher than any of his other fights because Dos Santos
is very, very hard.
Your
training partner, Josh Koscheck, is fighting or the welterweight
title against Georges St. Pierre. What do you expect from this
fight?
H’s
been training or really hard and really long, he’s been
in shape for like months. There’s no doubt that he’s
gonna be in the best shape of his life. It’s up to him how
he comes out , I think it can be an incredible fight and he can
be a champ. The thing with GSP is if you make a mistake or don’t
make a perfect fight he wins. It’s a very, very tough test.
People
keep saying about the teammate vs teammate fight, specially with
you, Jon Fitch and Koshceck. What do you think about that?
I
don’t think that’s an issue. I was in the picture for
a title shot but then I lost… The thing about it is that
none of us will never fight each other, we’re like brothers.
It’s an individual sport, but it’d be a horrible sport
for the fans that no one trained with no one. It wouldn’t
be as good as it is now. The reason you have fighters fighting
with their abilities is that they have good teams and partners
who push them. It is a team sport in that way. It’s tough
to say you’re fighting your brother. I don’t see a
reason.
What
can the fans expect from your next fight in the UFC?
I
think this is gonna be the best performance of my career, I’m
training so hard, with the right mentality. I going there to
make an statement.
Source: Tatame
|
Penn,
Sotiropoulos, Lauzon, and Davis take home extra 80 grand
The
UFC handed out 80-thousand-dollar best-of-the-night bonuses.
BJ
received the reward of best knockout for the conclusion to his
fight against Matt Hughes.
Now
the best fight went to submission savant George Sotiropolous
and Joe Lauzon, in a fight won by the former.
Best
submission went to Phil Davis, for his kimura variation against
Tim Boetsch.
Source: Gracie Magazine
|
Mendes’
win in Japan
As
previously reported by GRACIEMAG.com, brothers Rafael and Guilherme
Mendes took off for Japan, where the Rickson Cup took place this
Saturday. The duo comments on how things went in Kawasaki:
“We
just got back from the championship, it was great! The organization
was first rate and thank God everything went well, according
to plan!” recounts Rafael, with Guilherme filling in:
“Rafael
scored 12 to 0 before finishing from back mount in his first
match; I scored 8 to 0 before finishing with a choke from a guard
pass in my first match, also against a local fighter. In the
semifinal, Rafael got another choke from back mount, from a positions
we’ve been practicing a lot in the academy, and I beat Shane
Rice by 8 to 2. I passed guard and took his back, but he defended
well and escaped.”
The
trip to Japan was no easy one, but it was all worthwhile. Besides
overcoming their respective opponents, Rafael and Guilherme,
as is apparent in the photos, are treated like true celebrities
by Jiu-Jitsu lovers in the Land of the Rising Sun.
“We’re
really pleased because we got in last night, we could hardly
sleep and we still had excellent matches. We always compete looking
to innovate, to come up with new positions, and try to create
moves that will surprise people. It worked out yet again!”
says Guilherme.
“We
were really happy with this win, especially for the honor of
fighting in Japan. The affection and respect the people of Japan
have for fighters always makes us want to come back. As soon
as we get back to Brazil we’ll start training for the European
Open. Guto Campos is already in Rio Claro for that. Finally,
we can’t leave out our thanks for the guys at the gym who
help us so much. We believe our wins don’t just come down
to the work we do, but their work too. Thanks Durinho, Frazatto,
Calasans, Ronaldinho, Ed, Denison, Lazaro, Ferrugem, Walker,
and Thiago Mendes, our physical conditioning coach. We can hardly
wait to get back and train all together again!” says Rafael
in finishing.
Source: Gracie Magazine
|
Justin
Wilcox defeats Shaolin at Strikeforce
Strikeforce
Challengers 12 went down this Friday in Mississippi.
In
the evening’s main event, Justin Wilcox overcame Vitor “Shaolin”
Ribeiro via unanimous decision. With the win, Wilcox notches
his fifth in a row and fourth in Strikeforce. Shaolin, on the
other hand, is seeing hard times, as he loses his third in a
row.
“I
looked to fight standing. At AKA (American Kickboxing Academy)
we have the best standup game,” said Wilcox, now tipped
to face the undefeated Lyle “Fancy Pants” Beerbohm.
Check
out the complete results:
Strikeforce
Challengers 12
Jackson, Mississippi, USA
November 9, 2010
Justin
Wilcox defeated Vitor “Shaolin” Ribeiro via unanimous
decision
Ovince St. Preux defeated Antwain Britt via unanimous decision
Waachim Spiritwolf versus Marius Zaromskis ended in a no contest
Liz Carmouche defeated Jan Finney via TKO at 1:30 min of R3
Caros Fodor submitted Derek Getzel via choke at 4:39 min of R1
KKent DuBose defeated Travis Robertso via unanimous decision
Joel Cooper submitted Brian Burse via armbar at 1:27 min of R1
Thomas Vasquez defeated Brian Hall via TKO at 2:11 min of R3
Anthony Mitchel submitted Jeffrey Hedgepeth via guillotine at
2:02 min of R1
Jeremiah Riggs defeated James Sharp via unanimous decision
Jacob Noe defeated Wes Little via unanimous decision
Wes Shivers defeated Goldman Butler via KO at 2:15 min of R1
Source: Gracie Magazine
|
Aloha
State Championship
Kaiser High School, Honolulu, Hawaii
November 27, 2010
This
is the third leg of the Hawaii BJJ Triple crown.
The
event will offer prizes in cash for some divisions.
For
more info, go to hawaiitriplecrown.com.
Source: Romolo Barros
|
ISC
World Ranking on November 2010
Flyweight
/ -52.0kg
C. Rambaa Somdet M16 (Thai)
1. Junji "Sarumaru" Ito (Japan)
2. Atsushi "Atch Anarchy" Takeuchi (Japan)
3. Hiroyuki Abe (Japan)
4. Katsuya Murofushi (Japan)
5. Shinya Murofushi (Japan)
6. Junji Ikoma (Japan)
7. Michael "Maicon" Willian (Brazil)
8. "Heat" Takeshi Sato (Japan)
9. Yusei Shimokawa (Japan)
10. Takehiro Harusaki (Japan)
Bantamweight
/ -56.0kg
C. Yasuhiro Urushitani (Japan)
1. Jussie Formiga (Brazil) *South Americas Champ
2. Fumihiro Kitahara (Japan)
3. Mamoru Yamaguchi (Japan)
4. Ryuichi Miki (Japan)
5. Yuki Shojo (Japan)
6. Shinichi "BJ" Kojima (Japan)
7. Shinpe Tahara (Japan)
8. Takuya Mori (Japan)
9. Daiji Takahashi (Japan)
10. MasaakiSugawara (Japan)
Featherweight
/ -60.0kg
C. Shuichiro Katsumura (Japan)
1. Koetsu Okazaki (Japan) *Pacific rim Champ
2. Eduardo "Dudu" Dantas (Brazil) *South Americas Champ
3. Hiromasa Ogikubo (Japan)
4. Darren Uyenoyama (USA)
5. Masakatsu Ueda (Japan)
6. Tetsu "Hadairo" Suzuki (Japan)
7. Teruyuki Matsumoto (Japan)
8. Carlos Roberto "Betao" (Brazil)
9. So Tazawa (Japan)
10. Akitoshi Tamura (Japan)
Lightweight
/ -65.0kg
C. Hatsu Hioki (Japan)
1. Taiki Tsuchiya (Japan) *Pacific rim Champ
2. Renan Barao (Brazil)
3. Gustavo Falciroli (Australia)
4. "Lion" Takeshi Inoue (Japan)
5. Issei Tamura (Japan)
6. Hideki Kadowaki (Japan)
7. Johnny Eduardo (Brazil) *South Americas Champ
8. Tenkei "Fujimiya" Oda (Japan)
9. Matteus Lahdesmaki (Finland) *Europe Champ
10. Akiyo "Wicky" Nishiura (Japan)
Welterweight
/ -70.0kg
C. Vacant
1. Kotetsu Boku (Japan/South Korea)
2. Kenichiro Togashi (Japan)
3. Yusuke Endo (Japan)
4. Paulo "Bananada" Goncalves Silva (Brazil) *South
Americas Champ
5. Shinji Sasaki (Japan)
6. Yoshihiro Koyama (Japan)
7. Giovani Diniz (Brazil)
8. Daisuke "Amazon" Sugie (Japan)
9. Takashi Nakakura (Japan)
10. Takanori Gomi (Japan)
Middleweight
/ -76.0kg
C. Luis "Beicao" Ramos (Brazil)
1. Yoichiro Sato (Japan) *Pacific rim Champ
2. Hernani Perpetuo (Brazil) *South Americas Champ
3. Roan "Jucao" Carneiro (Brazil)
4. Emanuel "Junior Killer" Silva (Brazil)
5. Takuya Wada (Japan)
6. Akihiro Murayama (Japan)
7. Igor "Chatubinha" Fernandes (Brazil)
8. Tommy Depret (Belgium)
9. Zelim Felican (Belgium)
10. Shiko Yamashita (Japan)
Lightheavyweight
/ -83.0kg
C. Siyar Baharduzada (Holland/Afghanistan)
1. Sauli Heilimo (Finland) *Europe Champ
2. Andre "Chatuba" Santos (Brazil)
3. Petras Markevicius (Lithuania)
4. Carlos "Indio" Alexandre Pereira (Brazil) *South
Americas Champ
5. Leandro "Batata" Silva (Brazil)
6. Grazhvydas Smailis (Lithuania)
7. Nathan Schouteren (Holland)
8. Rolandas Agraba (Lithuania)
9. Mikkel Guldbaek (Denmark)
10. Bastiaan Rejen (Holland)
Source: International Shooto Commission
|
Rampage
beats Lyoto on split decision
One
of the best event of the year, UFC 123 kept the Brazilian fans
tuned all night long last night. The main event of the evening,
the bout between Lyoto Machida and Quinton “Rampage”
Jackson was as good as everybody expected, but the outcome wasn’t
like that. After two very tied rounds, the American dominated
the center of the octagon and the Brazilian counterattacked,
Lyoto ruled the last round, punishing his opponent on the stand-up
and controlling the ground game.
As
the bell rang, even Rampage raised Lyoto’s arm, recognizing
his superiority, but the judges saw it differently. On a split
decision, Rampage got the win. “You win”, said Rampage
to Lyoto right after the official announcement, shocked about
his own win. “Machida finished me (laughs)… I have
to give him a rematch”, concluded the American, applauded
by the fans for his noble gesture.
Upset,
Lyoto complimented the attitude of his opponent and say he’s
comfortable enough for a rematch with Rampage. “Quinton
Jackson is a great champion, he recognized my win, so let’s
go for the next one. I did my best, the judges are here to judge”,
regretted Machida, feeling on his own skin the flood of controversy
MMA results that’s been out there, mainly on UFC. Is a rematch
coming?
BJ
PENN STOPS HUGHES IN 21 SECONDS
Considered
for many years the best light heavyweight on earth, BJ Penn was
“lost” on his weight class after two losses to Frankie
Edgar. It was enough motivation so that he wanted a third met
with the former UFC champion Matt Hughes, a guy he has fought
twice, winning the first and loosing the second. Back to the
welterweight division, the weight class he was champion for the
first time on UFC, BJ gave a great show. In only 21 seconds of
fight, BJ sent Hughes to the floor with a nice sequence of punches,
getting the quickest knockout of the evening and making the fans
crazy. After the win, BJ ran all over the octagon, just like
he did when he knocked Caol Uno out on UFC 34. Back at that time,
the Hawaiian won by a KO in only 11 seconds.
MAIQUEL
FALCÃO MAKES A GREAT DEBUT
The
team Chute Boxe needed a great act on UFC, mainly after the loses
of Vinicius Spartan and Alexandre Cacareco, and so Maiquel Falcão,
who debuted on the event after a sequence of seven wins in Brazil,
showed up. Impetuous and aggressive, Maiquel started with a quick
exchange and hit his opponent a lot on the ground, getting his
back and attacking on the rear naked choke. When his opponent
was about to tap out, the bell rang announcing the end of the
round. Falcão maintained the rhythm on the second round,
completely dominating the fight. After a warm third round, the
judges gave Falcão a win on his debut on UFC.
KIMURAS
OPEN THE SHOW IN GREAT STYLE
The
Greek George Sotiropoulos proved to have a much tougher ground
game than his opponent on UFC. Fighting against the lightweight
Joe Lauzon, Sotiropoulos did a very busy first round, filled
with sweeps on the floor and exchange standing up. Just when
the second round began, George dominated the stand-up fight,
fitting punches on the body and knees on the clinch. Taking the
fight to the floog, Sotiropoulos ran over Lauzon, attacking his
arm and submitting with a kimura in a little more than two minutes,
getting his seventh win in a row.
On
the following fight, the promising Phil Davis noted down another
win on his professional record. Getting to the eighth consecutive
triumph, the American dominated the exchange on the first round
and showed his sharp ground game on the second round. Just like
Sotiropoulos and Lauzon fight, Phil finished the fight with a
kimura on the second round, but the way he got to the position
was a little weird. Tim Boetsch, his opponent on UFC 123, used
the grid to defend his arm, but Phil abandoned the mount to attack
Tim’s arm from behind, making him yell and tap out.
EDSON
JUNIOR KNOCKS OUT AMONG THE PRELIMINARIES
The
Brazilian striker Edson Junior did his debut on UFC after winning
his previous six fights, and showed a sharp Muay Thai against
Mike Lullo, who was called at the very last minute for the duel.
Dominating the stand-up combat, Edson used a lot of his low kicks
to undermine his opponent’s leg who was completely exhausted
at the end of the second round. At only 26 seconds of the final
round, the necessary time for him to kick his opponent three
times, the Brazilian got the win on Pedro Rizzo’s style,
winning by TKO on his debut on Ultimate.
Back
to UFC after a polemic left, being fired via Twitter, Karo Parysian
was defeated quickly by Dennis Hallman. Karo defended the takedown
right on the beginning of the fight and fit a hook, but Dennis
answered with a right crossed that knocked Parysian out. Dennis
punished his opponent on the ground and the referee decided to
interrupt the duel in less than two minutes. Mark Muñoz,
who has trained with the Nogueira brothers, Anderson Silva, Renato
Babalu and Rafael Cordeiro, beat Aaron Simpson on the judges’
call.
Pupil
of the Brazilian Marcelo Brigadeiro, who teaches Wrestling in
England, Paul Kelly did a nice jog among the preliminaries. Better
on the first round, the guy got the win on the third round, fitting
a crucifix choke and punishing him with punches and elbows, winning
by TKO. On the first fight out the evening, the experienced Tyson
Griffin did a tough fight with Nik Lentz and, despite being better
on the combat, was defeated on a split decision. With three loses,
he might lose his job on Ultimate.
FULL
RESULTS:
UFC
123
Michigan,
United States
Saturday,
November 20 of 2010
Main
card:
-
Quinton “Rampage” Jackson beat Lyoto Machida on a split
decision of the judges;
-
BJ Penn knocked out Matt Hughes
at 21s of 1R;
-
Maiquel Falcão beat Gerald Harris on a unanimous decision
of the judges;
-
Phil Davis submitted Tim Boetsch with a kimura at 2min55s of
2R;
-
George Sotiropoulos submitted Joe Lauzon with a kimura at 2min43s
of 2R;
Preliminary
card:
-
Brian Foster submitted Matt Brown with a guillotine choke at
2min11s of 2R;
-
Mark Muñoz beat Aaron Simpson on a unanimous decision
of the judges;
-
Dennis Hallman beat Karo Parisyan by TKO at 1min47s of 1R;
-
Edson Junior beat Mike Lullo by TKO at 26s of 3R;
-
Paul Kelly beat TJ O’Brien by TKO at 3min16s of 2R;
-
Nik Lentz beat Tyson Griffin on a split decision of the judges.
Source: Tatame
|
UFC
Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo Awarded Title Belt
Jose
Aldo on Saturday officially became the first-ever UFC featherweight
champion.
UFC
president Dana White awarded Aldo his belt at a ceremony in the
Octagon on Saturday afternoon in Detroit before members of the
media.
Aldo
blasted his way to the WEC featherweight championship in his
sixth fight for the promotion, knocking out all six of his opponents.
He never lost a fight under the World Extreme Cagefighting banner,
two defenses of the belt upping his record in the promotion to
7-0. He has an overall professional record of 18-1.
He
recently was offered a fight with Kenny Florian in the UFC lightweight
division, but declined. Soon after, parent company Zuffa LLC
announced that the WEC would fold into the UFC, making Aldo the
promotion’s first featherweight titleholder.
Aldo
makes the first defense of his newly minted belt in the co-main
event of UFC 125 on New Year’s Day. Frankie Edgar defends
his lightweight strap in the main event against Gray Maynard.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
UFC
123 Preliminary Bout Results: Brian Foster and Mark Munoz Shine
Brian
Foster, following an up-and-down start to his Octagon career,
started ramping up some momentum with an impressive victory at
UFC 123: Rampage vs. Machida in Detroit on Saturday night.
He
and Matt Brown battled back and forth over a razor-thin first
round, hitting the mat over and over, scrambling for position.
Round
two started the tide in Foster’s favor. He quickly put Brown
on the mat and started grounding and pounding. Brown made a move
to escape, but Foster caught him in a guillotine choke, fell
back and cinched it tight, causing Brown to tap.
“I’m
ecstatic. I wanted this so bad man,” said Foster with tear-filled
eyes after the fight. The win put him on a two-fight winning
streak.
Mark
Munoz and Aaron Simpson set their friendship aside on Saturday
night, throwing everything they had at each other for three full
rounds, but neither was able to put the other away.
The
fight was fairly even all night, especially in the opening round
where neither could gain much advantage.
As
the fight wore on Simpson was able to time Munoz’s right
kicks and catch them, but every time he did, Munoz would follow
up with punch combinations, getting the better of the exchanges.
Munoz also stepped up his general pace in rounds two and three,
consistently beating Simpson to the punch and landing many more
strikes.
Munoz
was particularly effective in the clinch, driving knees home
to Simpson’s body, and catching him with uppercuts, and
just staying much busier over the last two rounds. It was enough
for the judges to award him a unanimous decision victory.
“I
was prepared to go three rounds and go as hard as I can,”
said Munoz after the fight. “I know Aaron doesn’t back
down and I didn’t back down for three rounds.”
Source: MMA Weekly
|
UFC
123 Results: George Sotiropoulos Continues to Rise
Aussie
George Sotiropoulos, racing towards a lightweight title shot,
was nearly sent rocketing off course at UFC 123: Rampage vs.
Machida in Detroit on Saturday night.
Lauzon
came out fast and furious rocking Sotiropoulos throughout the
first round. Lauzon opened with powerful right hands, Thai clinched
and drove home knees to the midsection, sprawled takedown attempts
an returned fire.
Sotiropoulos
finally managed some offense near the end of the round, moving
his way to full mount. Lauzon, however, scrambled out and landed
another wild flurry of elbows from side control before the bell.
Just
as furiously as Lauzon opened the fight, he faded away at the
bell for round two. Lauzon was the complete opposite of his round
one self, standing in front of Sotiropoulos, taking whatever
the Aussie dished out.
Sotiropoulos
took Lauzon to the mat, immediately starting work from side control,
shifting to north-south position, missing Kimura and armbar attempts
from Lauzon’s right side. He never relented, quickly moving
to Lauzon’s other side and finishing him with a Kimura on
the left arm.
“I
weathered the storm and I knew I’d find my range,”
Sotiropoulos said confidently after the fight.
“This
is for you guys in Australia. I’m gonna see you guys Feb.
27 down under,” he added, referring the UFC’s return
trip to Sydney for UFC 127. “I want to face the best. I
want to make my case for the belt.”
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Lyoto
Machida training with Steven Seagal
Before
his fight against Chael Sonnen, Anderson Silva had some training
with the actor and fighter Steven Seagal. This time, the TV show
“Passando a Guarda”, of the manager Jorge Guimarães,
shows scenes of the training between Seagal and the former champion
Lyoto Machida, who will fight next Saturday against Quinton Jackson.
On the internet, there’s a joke about the “cold feet”
of Seagal, once Anderson had to suffer for 23 minutes vefore
conquering the win over Sonnen, and now it might “attack”
Machida. On an interview conceded to TATAME, Anderson rejected
the joke. “It’s a bad joke, he’s a great master
and a great teacher that stood there with me, gave me his hand
all the time, and helped me a lot. On the beginning of my trainings
he showed me some techniques that worked and he deserves the
respect of all of us. He’s a great master a good person.
I think people have to be respectful”, affirmed the middleweight
champion.
Source: Tatame
|
Words
and futures of UFC 123 stars
Following
the heated disputes from this Saturday in Detroit, the fighters
cooled off and made themselves heard at the traditional post-event
press conference. After admitting in the octagon that he was
surprised with the result from his fight with Lyoto Machida –
resulting in a scolding from Dana White – Quinton Jackson
changed his tone a bit.
“My
trainers said I won. When I was fighting, all I had in my head
was knocking him out. In the third round, he came at me and I
forgot about what happened in the first two rounds,” he
commented.
Rampage
surprised with win.
Before
the showdown, Rampage voiced criticism regarding Machida’s
style of fighting – monotonous in his view. In practice,
now he has a different opinion.
“Fighting
Machida is different from watching him. Now I have more respect
for his style. I’d like to be able to move like he does.
I have more respect for his style, but I still don’t like
watching him,” he said.
On
the possibility of the rematch Quinton mentioned in the octagon,
Dana White put to rest any talk of one in the near future.
The
heavily-anticipated match between BJ Penn and Matt Hughes –
their third – broke the tie in score.
“I’m
not thinking about becoming champion, I don’t want that
type of thing in my head. Now I just want to fight,” said
BJ, who according to White, will face Jon Fitch at UFC 127 in
Australia.
“When
I saw Matt on the ground, I thought: I have to finish this now
and not let him get up. I kept hitting until the referee intervened.
What do I want to remember? I want to remember what happened
this evening. Matt’s my idol and always will be,” added
the Jiu-Jitsu black belt.
“He
hit me hard. I thought it was a knee or a kick,” stated
Hughes.
Promotional
first-timer Maiquel Falcão surprised everyone who didn’t
know him, with his win over Gerald Harris, who was undefeated
in the UFC in three fights.
“He
was a great adversary and the UFC is now within me. I love this
here and today was a perfect day for me. I used strategy, and
that was the patch to victory,” he said in analysis.
George
Sotiropoulos carries on with his impressive ways – now counting
seven wins in the UFC –, with his submission over Joe Lauzon.
The fighter isn’t yet lined up for a shot at the title,
but he’ll be able to fight at home again, in the Land Down
Under.
“I’m
really pleased about being able to fight in Australia for my
next fight. After a few days of rest, I’ll be back in training.
I can hardly wait!” said the submission savant, who now
has Dennis Siver ahead of him.
Source: Gracie Magazine
|
Penn
Stops Hughes in 21 Seconds at UFC 123
by Brian
Knapp
A savage, surgical attack from B.J. Penn wiped out Matt Hughes
in less than half a minute.
Penn
split the air with a beautiful counter right hand that leveled
Hughes and then finished off the hall of famer with four clean
punches on the ground in the UFC 123 “Rampage vs. Machida”
co-headliner on Saturday at The Palace of Auburn Hills in Auburn
Hills, Mich. Hughes met his demise 21 seconds into round one,
as the trilogy between two of the sport’s fiercest rivals
came to a decisive climax.
“Matt,
you’re my idol,” said Penn, who snapped a two-fight
losing streak with a spectacular return to the welterweight division.
“You will always be my idol. Thank you.”
Hughes
was never in the fight. The counter right from Penn put him on
his back, and it was over a few seconds later, the former welterweight
champion teetering briefly near unconsciousness.
“Well,
he hit me hard,” said Hughes, whose 24 Octagon appearances
rank first all-time. “When I felt the hit, I thought it
was a knee or a kick. It wasn’t a clip. He hit me pretty
hard.”
Hughes
entered the rubber match with Penn on a three-fight winning streak.
The decisive defeat -- only Dennis Hallman has finished him more
quickly -- left the 37-year-old’s immediate future uncertain.
“I
don’t know what the plan is now,” Hughes said. “I
had a perfect training camp. This is one of those fights where
I would have paid my purse to [UFC President] Dana White to put
this fight together. I had a lot on the line. To be honest, I
don’t know what will go on now.”
Rampage
Gets Split Nod Over Machida
In
a battle between former light heavyweight champions, Quinton
“Rampage” Jackson earned a controversial split decision
against Lyoto Machida in the UFC 123 main event. All three cage-side
judges scored it 29-28, two of them siding with Jackson.
Aggression
was Jackson’s primary weapon, as he controlled the center
of the cage and kept Machida’s back to the cage. However,
Machida landed more strikes of consequence.
“I
think [me being the aggressor is] the only thing that earned
me a decision,” Jackson said. “I think that’s
what the judges saw -- me being aggressive. The fight was so
close that it’s unfair for Machida. Even though I don’t
want to, I have to give him a rematch.”
At
a distance, Jackson struggled to find the range on his power
punches. He invited the clinch on more than one occasion and
scored from in tight with uppercuts, knees to the body and foot
stomps, but much of what he delivered was of little substance.
Machida
closed strong, as he rattled Jackson with a multi-punch combination
in the third round, backed him against the cage and landed two
knees, one to the body and another to the head. Rampage answered
but left himself open to a takedown, and Machida obliged. The
Brazilian worked from half guard, passed to side control and
ultimately moved to mount with 90 seconds left. He threatened
Jackson with an armbar but released the submission when Jackson
hoisted him skyward for one of his patented slams. Somewhere,
Ricardo Arona shuttered.
“Machida
whooped my ass tonight,” Jackson said. “My coaches
must be so mad at me. I didn’t do what I wanted to do; then
he took me down and he bloodied my nose. I consider that an ass
whooping.”
Machida
was humble in defeat.
“I
did the best that I could tonight, but if the judges thought
that Quinton won, then that’s what they saw,” he said.
“That’s up to the UFC, but I’d like an immediate
rematch also.”
‘Big
Rig’ Decisions Harris
Chute
Boxe Academy representative Maiquel Jose Falcao Goncalves defeated
“The Ultimate Fighter” Season 7 alum Gerald Harris
by unanimous decision in a featured middleweight match. Scores
were 29-27, 29-28 and 29-28 for Goncalves, who has rattled off
eight consecutive victories.
Goncalves,
29, dominated and nearly finished Harris in the first round,
as he wobbled the Tulsa, Okla., native with a flurry of lightning-quick
punches and put him down with a knee to the body. The Brazilian
then worked for a rear-naked choke in the closing seconds of
the round and had the submission all but wrapped up when the
horn sounded.
Harris,
who carried a 10-fight winning streak into the cage, again found
himself in deep trouble in the second round, threatened by another
choke. He rebounded briefly with one of his patented slam takedowns
but could not string together any offense of note. An uneventful
third period saw Goncalves coast, much to the chagrin of those
in attendance; they answered the inactivity from the two middleweights
with a chorus of boos.
Tim
Boetsch was no match for the strength, skill and athleticism
Phil Davis brought with him to the cage. They call him “Mr.
Wonderful” for a reason.
Davis
submitted the International Fight League veteran with a modified
second-round kimura in a featured light heavyweight duel. Boetsch,
who entered the match on a four-fight winning streak, tapped
to the hold 2:55 into round two. Afterward, UFC color analyst
Joe Rogan suggested Davis name the submission the “Mr. Wonderful.”
“All
right,” Davis said. “Well, that’s what we’re
gonna call it.”
A
four-time collegiate All-American wrestler at Penn State University,
Davis scored with takedowns in both rounds and manhandled Boetsch
from the clinch. He pounded on the Lincolnville, Maine, native
from half guard for much of the last half of round one and made
quick work of Boetsch when the two hit the ground in the second.
Davis
worked for a far-side kimura against the cage, broke free from
Boetsch’s loose half guard and wrenched his opponent’s
arm behind his back. Helpless to defend and in visible pain,
Boetsch tapped out after a brief struggle.
“I
kind of make the rules up as I go,” said Davis, who moved
to 4-0 in the UFC. “I almost didn’t go for it. I was
trying to get it on Rodney Wallace [at UFC 117], and it didn’t
work, but I was, like, nah, I gotta go for it. I do what I can
out here. I’m trying.”
Sotiropoulos
Submits Lauzon
Surging
Australian lightweight contender George Sotiropoulos submitted
“The Ultimate Fighter” Season 5 semi-finalist Joe Lauzon
with a second-round kimura in a pivotal showdown at 155 pounds.
Lauzon, his arm torqued awkwardly behind him, succumbed to the
hold 2:43 into round two.
Lauzon
roared out of the gates in impressive fashion, as he popped his
foe with a series of straight right hands in the first round
and stuffed an early single-leg takedown attempt. Sotiropoulos
rebounded to take mount on Lauzon in the closing seconds of the
round but surrendered position in search of an armbar.
“There’s
always the calm before the storm,” Sotiropoulos said. “I
weathered the storm, and I found my range.”
As
the second round dawned, it became clear Lauzon was not the same
fighter. Visibly winded and slowed, his mouth agape, he did not
have the steam necessary to hold off Sotiropoulos. The Aussie
scrambled into side control, isolated Lauzon’s arm and finished
him there. The victory improved Sotiropoulos to 7-0 inside the
Octagon.
“I
want to face the best,” he said. “I want to make a
case for the belt. That’s the goal. That’s the destination,
and I’ll continue making my case.”
Tyson Griffin vs. Nik Lentz
Round 1
Referee Herb Dean starts UFC 123 off as Nik Lentz and Tyson Griffin
meet in a lightweight affair. Lentz launches a kick to the body
of Griffin and then shoots in and secures a takedown. On the
floor, the Minnesotan passes to side but Griffin gets a base
and stands. The Xtreme Couture product shoots in for a takedown
and Lentz fishes for a guillotine but nothing is there. Griffin
tries to slam Lentz and a scramble ensues with Griffin remaining
on top. Griffin is trying to keep Lentz down but he is working
back to his feet. Lentz can't break free and is forced to fight
off the takedowns while standing in the clinch. The Michigan
crowd is restless while the two men jockey for position. After
a brief takedown, Lentz gets back to the feet and creates separation.
Neither man lands anything substantial as the first round expires.
10-9 Griffin.
Round
2
The lightweights take the center of the Octagon and look to exchange.
Griffin finds a home for a right straight on the jaw. Lentz fires
a low kick to the lead leg of his opponent. Tyson feints the
jab and grazes. Lentz with a right. Lentz shoots and nearly gets
Griffin down. The Minnesota Martial Arts product lands a couple
of punches on the way up but Griffin gets free. Griffin shoots
in and Lentz works for a kimura, but has nothing and works from
his back. From the open guard Tyson looks to work. At the end
of the frame Griffin stands and slams Lentz to the floor. 10-9
Griffin.
Round
3
The final frame starts with a bang. A straight right floors Lentz.
The Minnesotan rises to eat a punch and kick to fall again. Still
with it, Lentz is back up but Griffin shoots and puts him on
the floor. Lentz looks for an armbar but eats an elbow for his
effort. Lentz is able to get to his base and stand. He works
a takedown and Griffin grabs a guillotine. Lentz works free of
the guard and the choke. From half, Lentz is trying to work but
Griffin is able to move and a scramble allows him to get back
to his feet. Lentz shoots in for another takedown attempt and
gets it. The round expires. 10-9 Griffin.
Official
scores: The judges see it 29-28 Lentz (Sal D'Amato), 30-27 Griffin
(Nelson Hamilton) and 29-28 (Jeff Blatnick) for the winner Nik
Lentz. The crowd is shocked by Lentz's split-decision win.
Paul
Kelly vs. T.J. O'Brien
Round 1
Kelly bullies his way in and pushes O'Brien up against the cage.
He catches a kick and lands a hard right hand. They separate
and move back to the middle. Kelly slams a right hand into the
face of his opponent that sits him down. O'Brien stands back
up and eats another right hand. Kelly pushes into the clinch
and lands another right hand before clinching back up. O'Brien
looks at Miragliotta and gets the break. Kelly hits a takedown
and settles into the guard. O'Brien shifts for an armbar and
Kelly retreats to his feet. Kelly controls the first round and
earns a 10-9 score on the Sherdog card.
Round
2
Kelly misses a spinning-back kick to start the second frame.
Kelly bashes O'Brien with a left hand that drops him. He swarms
his fallen foe but can't dole out the finishing blow. O'Brien
is back up and throws a tires Kelly to the mat. He takes mount
and goes to work. Kelly gives up his back and shakes him off
when he gets too high. Kelly takes side, then side-crucifix and
beats O'Brien down with punches and elbows until Miragliotta
finally decides to step in at 3:16 of the second round giving
Paul Kelly the TKO win.
Edson
Mendes Barbosa vs. Mike Lullo
Round 1
Overseeing this lightweight tilt is referee Marc Fennel. The
two men meet in the center of the cage and Lullo fires a kick
to the lead leg of Barboza. Lullo ties again with a kick but
misses high. He shoots in for a takedown but Barboza counters
and gets Lullo to the mat. They stand after a brief moment on
the floor. Barboza on the feet clinches and gets double underhooks.
Lullo is forced to the mat and gets rubber guard. Lullo forces
his shin underneath Barboza's chin but there is no gogoplata
finish to be had. After a moment on the floor Barboza stands
and Lullo falls off. The two fighters stand and Barboza kicks
the back leg out of Lullo. Barboza is starting to find his rhythm
on the feet and the round ends. 10-9 Barboza.
Round
2
Lullo comes out firing but Barboza rips off a jab that puts Lullo
on his heels. A high kick finds the head of Lullo, which is followed
by a kick to the body. Lullo shoots and settles to just go to
his back. On top Barboza is nullified while Lullo goes for mission
control and looks for another gogoplatta attempt. Barboza is
too smart for the hold and is able to stand and get away. On
the feet again, Barboza lands a hard low kick to Lullo's lead
leg. The Chicago native has had enough of the striking and clinches
to pull guard. Again Lullo is working the rubber guard and settles
into mission control. From here Lullo is is landing weak punches
to the side of the head. Barboza stands and fires a kick to the
lead leg of Lullo. This grounds the lightweight until Marc Fennel
says he must stand. The hurt Lullo hobbles and the round ends.
10-9 Barboza.
Round
3
The round is over before it can really get going. Lullo's lead
leg is trashed and it's the main target for Barboza's kicks.
Lullo is dropped with chopping kicks and forced to stand. He
is drops again after a vicious kick and the ref has seen enough.
Edson Barboza is the winner at 26 seconds of round two.
Karo
Parisyan vs. Dennis Hallman
Round 1
Parisyan jumps right into the fray and lands a one-two to open
the fight. He pushes in and clinches Hallman along the cage.Referee
Dan Miragliotta steps in and breaks them up due to inactivity.
Hallman lands a left jab and a right hand that drops Parisyan.
Hallman pounces and punches away for the stoppage at 1:27 of
the opening period.
Aaron
Simpson vs. Mark Munoz
Round 1
Referee Marc Fennell is in charge for this middleweight bout.
Simpson comes inside with a combination, punches Munoz in the
gut, then lands a leg kick, backing Munoz into the fence. Simpson
looks for a takedown, can’t find it, and they clinch briefly
before disengaging. They clinch again in the center of the cage
and Munoz drills a few knees to the midsection of Simpson. Knees
to the legs by Munoz now, but Simpson lands one of his own which
causes Munoz to break off. Munoz shoots long and gets sprawled
on. Simpson dumps Munoz to the mat with a double-leg, then jumps
on Munoz’s back, but “A-Train” is too high and
slips off. Clinch work along the fence and Munoz begins scoring
with short elbows, uppercuts and knees. Simpson looks to be in
trouble momentarily, but regains his com
Jordan
Breen scores the round 10-9 Munoz
Chris Nelson scores the round 10-9 Munoz
Mike Whitman scores the round 10-9 Simpson
Round
2
Simpson opens the second round same as the first, with a right
hand to the ribs of Munoz. He catches a kick from Munoz and drags
him down, but Munoz is quickly back on his feet and immediately
lands a hard right hand. Both men tee off with Munoz landing
some solid shots before dragging Simpson to the floor and scoring
a couple punches to his turtling opponent. Simpson scrambles
back up and misses on a knee, catching Munoz in the groin with
his shin. Munoz is bleeding from a cut in the middle of his forehead,
but he’s ready to roll some 30 seconds later. Munoz still
trying to throw leg and body kicks, but Simpson is beginning
to time them well. Munoz smacks Simpson on the cheek with a head
kick and Simpson doesn’t blink. Simpson scores a takedown
and is almost immediately stood up by Fennell. Very quick restart
there. The fighters clinch and Simpson takes a low blow of his
own. He quickly recovers and they get back to work with 90 seconds
left. Simpson with another takedown, but Munoz quickly hits the
switch and gets right back up. Munoz pushes Simpson into the
fence and closes out the round with inside knees and a level
elbow.
Jordan
Breen scores the round 10-9 Munoz
Chris Nelson scores the round 10-9 Munoz
Mike Whitman scores the round 10-9 Munoz
Round
3
The wrestlers embrace at the start of the final round. Simpson
catches another Munoz kick and brings him down, where Munoz quickly
reverses and takes his back, delivering some hard shots from
behind. As they get back to their feet, Munoz lands a left hand
and Simpson says he caught a finger in the eye. Replay shows
that the punch looked clean, and they’re back to work quickly.
Munoz muscles Simpson against the cage and sends knees up the
middle. Referee Fennel not giving them much time to work, as
he restarts them after about 15 seconds of clinching. No matter:
they get right back to the same position, where Munoz gets busy
with his strikes. Munoz throwing huge combos and walking Simpson
down with two minutes left. Simpson answers by pushing Munoz’s
back to the fence, but eats more knees and punches for his trouble.
Munoz gets another leg kick caught and trips to the mat, and
Simpson grabs for a guillotine, but the choke doesn’t come.
Both men finish the fight lobbing bombs, but as was the case
throughout most of the fight, Munoz landed more.
Jordan
Breen scores the round 10-9 Munoz (30-27 Munoz)
Chris Nelson scores the round 10-9 Munoz (30-27 Munoz)
Mike Whitman scores the round 10-9 Munoz (29-28 Munoz)
All
three official judges score the bout 29-28 for Mark Munoz, the
winner by unanimous decision.
Brian
Foster vs. Matt Brown
Round 1
Herb Dean referees this welterweight scrap, the 1,500th bout
in UFC history. Brown chops with a leg kick, then misses when
he goes high. Foster clinches up and brings Brown down, but he’s
quickly back up. Brown ties a takedown of his own, briefly gets
caught in a guillotine by Foster, and then extracts himself as
he moves to north-south position. Brown working from side control
on Foster’s right now. Foster escapes out the back door,
lands a few punches from the side before giving up the position.
Brown winds up on top and hunts for a brabo choke which he can’t
seal up. Foster scores another takedown, but Brown sweeps again,
this time into mount. He doesn’t stay there for long, winding
up high on Foster’s back. Brown looks to be slipping off
with 60 seconds left, but “The Immortal” switches to
an armbar. Looks dicey for Foster momentarily, but he slips the
lock and dives into Brown’s guard with punches. Elbows by
Brown from the bottom, and the round ends with Foster standing
over him. The pair jaw at one another after the horn sounds.
Jordan
Breen scores the round 10-9 Foster
Chris Nelson scores the round 10-9 Brown
Mike Whitman scores the round 10-9 Foster
Round
2
The fighters trade kicks early and Foster appears to catch one
low, but wants to fight through it. Dean gives him a moment,
they resume, and Foster takes another groin shot on a spinning
back kick. Again, Foster recovers quickly, and then catches a
kick from Brown and dumps him to the canvas. Brown scoots as
Foster scores with leg kicks from above before following Brown
into guard. Tight guard from Brown, but Foster busts free and
lands some hard shots from the top. Brown pushes forward for
a single-leg and Foster snares a guillotine. Foster falls back
to guard and Brown is forced to tap at 2:11 of the second round.
George
Sotiropoulos vs. Joe Lauzon
Round 1
Marc Fennel draws officiating duties for the first bout of the
pay-per-view. The lightweights touch gloves and then begin firing,
with Lauzon scoring a few hard rights in the exchange. Lauzon
pushes forward, Sotiropoulos changes levels and tries for a single-leg,
but Lauzon keeps his balance and lands another flurry from the
clinch, mixing in some knees. Lauzon sprawls on another takedown
attempt and drills elbows to the side of Sotiropoulos’ head
as the Aussie presses him into the fence. Lauzon gets an underhook
and pushes free. Sotiropoulos changes levels again as Lauzon
comes inside, and Lauzon winds up on top, nearly in mount. Lauzon
winds up in half-guard, trying to pass, but thinks better of
it and stands. Lauzon pulls guard now and tries to use the butterfly
guard to push Sotiropoulos away, but Sotiropoulos winds up on
Lauzon’s back. The American gets his back onto the mat,
but Sotiropoulos is in north-south, then side control. Sotiropoulos
takes full mount with 10 seconds left, then spins for an armbar,
but it allows Lauzon to get loose and “J-Lau” finishes
the round on top with a few elbows.
Jordan
Breen scores the round 10-9 Lauzon
Chris Nelson scores the round 10-9 Lauzon
Mike Whitman scores the round 10-9 Lauzon
Round
2
Sotiropoulos comes out aggressive with his punches, scoring better
here than in the first frame. Lauzon stuffs a takedown and they
clinch along the cage with Sotiropoulos holding on to a high
single-leg. Sotiropoulos relents and resumes punching, then lands
knees from the clinch. Sotiropoulos gets the takedown this time
and quickly moves to side control, then full mount. For the second
time, Sotiropoulos spins for an armbar but can’t find it,
but this time he stays on top. Lauzon looks completely drained.
Sotiropoulos moves to north-south and wrenches a kimura on the
left arm of Lauzon, eliciting the tap at 2:43 of the second round.
Phil
Davis vs. Tim Boetsch
Round 1
Veteran official Herb Dean is back inside the Octagon for this
205-pound tilt. Both men landing leg kicks early, and Davis is
going upstairs, too. Tentative exchanges in the first 90 seconds.
Davis throws a kick to the body which Boetsch catches, and Boetsch
unintentionally lands a punch to the back of Davis’ head.
Davis ducks a punch from Boetsch, grabs a body lock and plows
him to the mat. The NCAA wrestling champ gets to work from half-guard,
punching to Boetsch’s body and head after sizing up an arm-triangle
choke. Davis seems content to do damage from half-guard, not
looking to pass as he slams elbows into the head of Boetsch.
Perhaps sensing an escape, Davis hops back to his feet, where
he clinches with Boetsch and lands a few outside knees before
the horn.
Jordan
Breen scores the round 10-9 Davis
Chris Nelson scores the round 10-9 Davis
Mike Whitman scores the round 10-9 Davis
Round
2
Davis clinches and looks to trip Boetsch down, but Boetsch defends
well and lands a few knees to the body. Davis retaliates with
some of his own, and then changes levels. Boetsch snares a guillotine
as he’s taken down, but it’s a bad angle and Davis
pops free. Davis working for a far-side kimura on the left arm
of Boetsch, can’t finish, so he wrenches the arm behind
Boetsch’s back. It looks gruesome and Boetsch submits at
2:55 of the second frame.
Gerald
Harris vs. Maiquel Jose Falcao Goncalves
Round 1
Referee Dan Miragliotta is in the cage for this one. Harris is
flicking out his right jab and changing up levels, threatening
to shoot early as Falcao keeps his distance. Boos rain down from
the crowd after two minutes of relative inactivity. Falcao finally
throws a hard right kick to the guts of Harris. Falcao finally
explodes with a flurry of punches and a knee to the body. Harris
falls and Falcao chases him down, moving to half-guard and firing
off more punches in rapid succession. Harris has regained his
senses, but Falcao continues to punch away until Harris gives
up his back. Falcao can’t finish with a rear-naked choke
attempt, but sinks another in as Harris stands. This time it’s
deep, and Harris is saved by the horn at the end of the round.
Miragliotta warns Falcao for holding the choke too long, but
the Brazilian says he didn’t hear the horn.
Jordan
Breen scores the round 10-9 Falcao
Chris Nelson scores the round 10-9 Falcao
Mike Whitman scores the round 10-9 Falcao
Round
2
Falcao explodes on Harris with vicious punching combos again
early in the second and winds up back on top. The Chute Boxe
product jumps on Harris’ back and tries for the rear-naked
choke again. Falcao can’t quite get his arm under the chin
of Harris and lets the hold go, reverting to punches from back
mount. Harris slips loose and pushes Falcao into the cage until
Falcao grabs underhooks and reverses. Back to striking and Harris
is trying to reestablish his jab. Harris shoots and is stuffed
by Falcao, but Harris is relentless and eventually slams him
down. Falcao pops right back to his feet, though, and kicks Harris
in the midsection, then launches one to the head. Another weak
shot from the tiring Harris is sprawled on by Falcao, who takes
the opportunity to send a few punches upside Harris’ head
before the round ends.
Jordan
Breen scores the round 10-9 Falcao
Chris Nelson scores the round 10-9 Falcao
Mike Whitman scores the round 10-9 Falcao
Round
3
Hard inside leg kick from Falcao is the only real offense of
the first 90 seconds. Miragliotta implores the fighters to get
active and Harris tries to land a few wild haymakers. Falcao
seems to be sitting back, knowing he’s got the fight in
hand, but Harris isn’t pushing the pace either. Falcao is
slipping almost all of Harris’ punches and not throwing
any of his own. Harris finally shoots with 60 seconds left in
the fight, but he’s spent and Falcao sprawls all over it.
Harris shrugs his shoulders as boos rain down and the uneventful
final round expires.
Jordan
Breen scores the round 10-10 (30-28 Falcao)
Chris Nelson scores the round 10-10 (30-28 Falcao)
Mike Whitman scores the round 10-9 Harris (29-28 Falcao)
Official
scores: The judges have the match 29-27, 29-28 and 29-28, all
for Maiquel Falcao, who makes a successful UFC debut.
B.J.
Penn vs. Matt Hughes
Round 1
Dan Miragliotta returns for the co-main event of the night. Penn
comes out swinging and tags Hughes right off the bat. Seconds
later, another right hand lands and sends Hughes onto his back.
Penn pounces and lands a few more punches that turn out Hughes'
lights, and Miragliotta rescues him from further damage. The
official time is 21 seconds of the opening round.
Quinton
“Rampage” Jackson vs. Lyoto Machida
Round 1
Referee Herb Dean presides over the main event of the evening.
No surprise, it’s Jackson pressing forward as the action
begins, feinting punches and trying to cut off Machida’s
angles. Machida lands four or five inside leg kicks for his first
offense. Jackson charges in, winging punches, but Machida is
on his bike. Now, “Rampage” initiates the clinch and
stomps the taped feet of Machida as they work along the fence.
They split and Jackson hits a glancing uppercut, while Machida
lands a kick to the body. Another kick allows Jackson to clinch
again, but they soon disengage. “Rampage” whiffing
on his punches in the last 30 seconds. He eats another leg kick
from Machida.
Jordan
Breen scores the round 10-9 Machida
Chris Nelson scores the round 10-10
Mike Whitman scores the round 10-9 Machida
Round
2
A knee and a kick from Machida cause “Rampage” to tie
up, where he catches Machida low with a knee. Machida shakes
it off quickly and they restart in the center. Knee to the body
by Jackson before they clinch and “Rampage” scores
a takedown. Jackson trying to pin Machida against the base of
the cage, but Machida pops back up and takes the dominant position
in the clinch. Jackson lands a hard-but-glancing shot as they
break. Liver kick by Machida is followed by a solid uppercut
from “Rampage.” Machida slaps a kick to the back of
Jackson’s thigh and they tie up again. Machida tosses Jackson
to the canvas at the end of the round and Machida launches a
kick at his head right at the buzzer, for which he apologizes
immediately.
Jordan
Breen scores the round 10-10
Chris Nelson scores the round 10-10
Mike Whitman scores the round 10-9 Jackson
Round
3
Jackson coming with some leg kicks of his own now, but his follow-up
punches are out of range. Machida stuns Jackson with a combo,
sending “Rampage” backward into the fence. Machida
chases him down and scores with a few knees from the Thai plum,
but Jackson fires right back with a flurry. Machida trips Jackson
to the mat and lands in half-guard, where he tries to pry his
right leg free and pass to Jackson’s right side. He stops
trying to pass for a moment to work for a kimura on Jackson’s
right arm. Machida finally passes with about 90 seconds left,
and then hops into full mount. Machida lays an elbow across Jackson’s
face, then postures up and spins for an armbar on Jackson’s
right limb. Jackson picks him up for the slam and Machida releases
the hold with 40 seconds left. Back on the feet, Machida gets
underhooks and presses Jackson into the fence, then gets a waistlock
and tries to drag him down. Machida drops for a leglock and pulls
guard in the waning seconds.
Jordan
Breen scores the round 10-9 Machida (30-28 Machida)
Chris Nelson scores the round 10-9 Machida (30-29 Machida)
Mike Whitman scores the round 10-9 Machida (29-28 Machida)
Official
scores: Quinton Jackson takes a split decision with scores of
29-28 (twice and 28-29).
Source: Sherdog
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Strikeforce
and their difficulties in booking their heavyweights
By Zach
Arnold
In
the last couple of days, we’ve seen media reports about
both Fabricio Werdum and Alistair Overeem that make it seem unlikely
that Scott Coker will be able to put together the big heavyweight
fights that he thought he would be able to book by ‘the
first quarter of 2011.’ Werdum says he wants to fight in
Japan or Abu Dhabi next before fighting in Strikeforce again.
By the time he returns to Strikeforce, it’s very conceivable
that Cain Velasquez will have already fought Brock Lesnar and
won the UFC Heavyweight title and have his first title match
against Junior Dos Santos. Alistair Overeem appears to be scheduled
to return to Strikeforce next May or June. That means a year
in between fights for the promotion.
Where
does this leave Strikeforce? They’re trying to negotiate
a new deal with Fedor and M-1. Right now, it would seem likely
that Fedor fights again for Strikeforce… but is in no hurry
to do so. With the way things are declining in Japan, it’s
hard to see him fighting there — even on NYE. I’m not
putting it past K-1 to panic and pay a ton of money for Fedor
to try to bolster what appears to be an extremely weak NYE card,
but the odds are against this move happening right now.
Which
leaves us with Josh Barnett. He’s going to want to fight.
Does he end up fighting someone like a Shane Del Rosario? Bigfoot
Silva? He’s going to want to fight and will (perhaps) be
Scott Coker’s most reliable heavyweight, for what it’s
worth. Of course, he has the taint on him right now and there’s
the long-expected December hearing where both he and Chael Sonnen
will be dealing with the appeals board that oversees the California
State Athletic Commission rulings.
The
situation regarding Werdum and Strikeforce is ridiculous. Yes,
he has a contract that allows him to fight for other promoters
not based in America. However, why is he not fighting in Strikeforce?
There is zero momentum going for him on a national scale in the
States because he’s been off television since beating Fedor.
The promotion hasn’t marketed his big win nor have they
really circled the wagons around him to make him their visual
‘ace’ in ad campaigns. It’s almost like Strikeforce
doesn’t mind Werdum being out of the spotlight because people
might forget that he beat Fedor…
It
should also be noted that Scott Coker had talked and talked about
a Middleweight tournament and how it could span two shows. Then
he booked Jacare Souza vs. Tim Kennedy and the winner (Jacare)
got their vacated 185-pound title. Quietly afterwards, the promotion
announced that there wouldn’t be a Middleweight tournament
in the end. Strikeforce managed to take the one division that
they had real strength in (their Middleweights), promise something
that sounded tenable or at least partially workable, and in the
end produced nothing.
The
promotion closes out the year with a show in Jackson, Mississippi
this weekend and then their St. Louis event on December 4th.
They need a much stronger campaign in 2011 and the ability to
make more important fights more frequently. This is a performance
business. No excuses.
Strikeforce
12/4 in St. Louis at the Scottrade Center
¦Heavyweights:
Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva vs. Valentijn Overeem
¦Welterweights: Paul Daley vs. Scott Smith
¦Heavyweights: Herschel Walker vs. Scott Carson
¦Middleweights: Robbie Lawler vs. Matt Lindland
¦Light Heavyweights: Dan Henderson vs. Renato Babalu
Source: Fight Opinion
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Chuck
Liddell's next challenge: Marriage
By Maggie Hendricks
UFC Hall of Famer Chuck Liddell is still undecided on the future
of his fighting life, but he has made a major commitment in his
personal life. Liddell recently proposed to his girlfriend Heidi
Northcott.
According
to People Magazine, Liddell popped the question after the two
went on a helicopter ride of the Grand Canyon. On Twitter, they
responded to congratulations messages from baseball player Brad
Penny and Liddell's "Dancing with the Stars" castmate,
Karina Smirnoff.
The
pair have not shied away from headlines. They starred in a viral
advertisement that showed Liddell and Northcott working out in
the nude. Before his bout with Rich Franklin at UFC 115, Liddell
credited Northcott for helping him refocus on training and fighting.
He went on to get knocked out in that bout.
Source: Yahoo Sports
|
Ultimate
Fighter Season 12 Continues Strong Ratings in Week 10
“The Ultimate Fighter” Season 12 continues to pull
in steady ratings.
Week
10 pulled in an average of 1.8 million viewers, the same number
as last week’s episode. That is also right in line with
the season’s average of 1.74 million viewers per week.
The
series also continues to well in the coveted 18-34 male demographic
as well as the 18-49 male demographic.
After
deciding the quarterfinals in Episode 10, the semifinal round
of fights is set for next week. Coaches Georges St-Pierre and
Josh Koscheck will square off in a rematch following the series
on Dec. 11 in Montreal.
Source: MMA Weekly
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Zelaznik
expects TUF search for new weight classes
Urijah
Faber put down a marker with victory over Takeya Mizugaki on
his bantamweight debut at WEC 52, and Marshall Zelaznik anticipates
there will soon by a TUF series to scour the globe for new talent
in the UFC's soon-to-be-added divisions.
A
former featherweight champion, Faber stepped down to 135lbs in
Las Vegas and looked in phenomenal shape as he pursued Mizugaki
in typically relentless fashion. Having started his assault with
a guillotine attempt, Faber eventually secured back mount to
lock on a rear naked choke which left his foe unconscious with
10 seconds remaining of round one.
"I
didn't realize he was out for so long," Faber explained
at the post-fight news conference. "But I knew he was going
out, because I could tell how deep it was. For the most part,
I was choking him with one arm. I looked up, and he was stiffened
up on top of me, and it was kind of scary. You don't want to
do that to someone."
Such
was the class of Faber's victory that he is already being linked
to a title shot against the winner of Dominick Cruz and Scott
Jorgensen at WEC 53, and Faber knows who he wants.
"[Scott
and I] have a good relationship. He's a guy I helped get into
the sport a little bit. We've trained a bunch together. He's
mentally tough," said Faber. "I'd rather fight Dominick,
but I'm rooting for Scott [to win that fight]."
The
imminent merger of the WEC with the UFC will see a bunch of smaller
fighters added to the UFC roster at bantamweight and featherweight,
but UK UFC president Zelaznik anticipates the organisation launching
a TUF series to add to their selection.
"We
would select which fighters will be on the show, we would have
the try-outs, then the production, so it's many months down the
road, which allows Joe [Silva] to anticipate their arrival,"
said Zelaznik, explaining the process that must be implemented.
"I
think we're doing middleweights for the next TUF series (TUF
13), but I'm sure Dana and Joe will be talking about the new
weight categories to give these fighters the notoriety that they
need."
Source: ESPN
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Children
as young as 3 enrolling in mixed martial arts (MMA) classes
STEVE RUSSELL/TORONTO
STAR
Alex Horkay
Staff Reporter
It’s 5 p.m. and a dozen children have hit the mat at a Toronto
club, training to be fierce combatants in one of the most brutal
sports around — mixed martial arts.
But
nobody’s getting their head jammed through the floor. To
Tally Bodenstein-Kales, a child psychologist watching her 8-year-old
son, Noah, learn the sport, it’s all good.
“What
they see on TV is certainly the ugly side of the sport, the side
that doesn’t appeal to many women, for sure,” she said.
“But in reality when they actually go into these classes,
it’s nothing like that. It’s very gentle and very elegant.
“And
I think it’s been really good for his self-esteem,”
she added.
Mixed
martial arts are exploding in popularity due to ferocious Ultimate
Fighting Championship bouts shown on pay-per-view TV. The McGuinty
government’s decision in August to allow professional MMA
fights in Ontario is also fuelling their popularity.
“And
wait till it happens next year that there’s an event. Just
wait. That’s going to be huge. We haven’t seen anything
yet,” said Joel Gerson, president of Revolution MMA, which
operates clubs in North York and Thornhill.
But
gentle? Elegant? Mixed martial arts?
“The
kids’ MMA that we do is very controlled. There’s very
little contact to the face and to the head. It’s much more
focused on the art and the self-discipline and the confidence,”
said Gerson, whose club offers courses for children as young
as 3.
“It’s
not always about making the other kid tap out and squeegeeing
blood off the mat.”
Joey
de Los Reyes, an owner of the Kombat Arts Training Academy in
Mississauga, agrees. “We really pride ourselves in teaching
kids the other aspects of martial arts, things like discipline,
focus being civil to people, humility, all that kind of stuff.”
Meanwhile,
most adults interested in MMA are there for the fitness aspects.
“The
reason is that people see these fighters and they’re in
the best shape of any athlete,” Gerson said. “The fitness
systems that these MMA athletes are using will get you in the
best shape the fastest.
“I
can come... not get punched in the face … and get in great
shape and I’m not stuck on a treadmill staring at red dots
for 45 minutes watching Seinfeld.”
People
who want serious MMA training need to be careful because now
a lot of fitness gyms and karate schools are offering MMA-type
classes, Gerson warned.
“There’s
probably just a handful of clubs that have the coaching, facilities
and bodies enough to get someone to a level where they can be
competitive and it’s not going to be your mom-and-pop karate
shop.
“And
the big thing is the safety,” he said. “You just can’t
get just anybody (as an instructor) in there.”
Training
for MMA can also be costly. Not much equipment is needed, but
the lessons are very specialized, Gerson said.
“You’re
looking at between $1,000 and $2,000 for your kid for a year
typically.”
It’s
worth it for Bodenstein-Kales. Her son gets exercise and help
with listening through MMA classes.
“It
helps him with his memory as well because he has to remember
these certain moves that he’s doing. So it’s been great
on many fronts,” she said.
Source: The Star
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Jay
Hieron Signs with Bellator FC
One
of the sport’s top free agent welterweights, the veteran
Jay Hieron, has signed an exclusive contract with Bellator Fighting
Championship and will compete in the promotion’s upcoming
fourth season.
“Jay
Hieron is a fantastic signing for us at 170 lbs.,” said
Bellator Chairman and CEO Bjorn Rebney in the official announcement.
“Jay is a world-class fighter with serious talent. I can’t
wait to see him back on National television competing against
other top fighters where he belongs. Jay’s a spectacular
addition to our upcoming season 4 welterweight tournament, where
he could earn a shot at our Bellator Welterweight World Champion,
Ben Askren.”
Hieron
(19-4) will make his Bellator debut riding a seven fight winning
streak. The Xtreme Couture fighter hasn’t competed since
January, however, when he worked his way to a unanimous decision
win over Joe Riggs at Strikeforce’s “Miami” card.
“It’s
just a great fit for me,” said Hieron. “At this point
in my career, I want to stay as active as possible, and the tournament
format allows me to do that. It’s a great organization,
and it’s just the perfect fit.”
The
former collegiate wrestler began transitioned into professional
MMA in 2003. Since that time Hieron has competed for various
organizations, including the aforementioned Strikeforce, the
UFC, Affliction, the International Fight League and Ring of Combat.
Bellator’s
season four welterweight tourney will begin sometime in 2011.
Source: Full Contact Fighter
|
On
The Rebound, Shaolin Ribeiro Returns At Strikeforce Challengers
It’s understandable that the past couple of years are a
disappointment for former top-ranked lightweight Vitor “Shaolin”
Ribeiro.
After
years of dominance, which cultivated in a Shooto title, Ribeiro
is coming off a stretch where he’s lost three of his last
four fights and now finds himself as a fighter in need of a rebound.
“I
really know how I lost those fights,” Ribeiro told MMAWeekly.com.
“After the (last two) fights I try to see my mistakes, and
why those fights went all three rounds, and why the fight going
to the judges is not good.
“My
goal right now is to finish the fight before three rounds. It’s
always hard when you leave it to the judges, because you never
know (how they see the fight). So right now I think a win in
this fight for me means a lot. I think it means my career and
everything I appreciated in my life… it means everything.”
While
some fighters in the same position may feel extra pressure on
themselves to succeed, Shaolin says otherwise when it comes to
himself.
“I
don’t try to put any extra pressure on my shoulders,”
stated Ribeiro. “I’ll always have the regular pressure
about my opponent, about this, about that, so I don’t try
to bring anything in to add more pressure.
“I
feel I had a really good camp for this fight and I think everything
is going to go good from here. There’s nothing to complain
about.”
Being
a top caliber fighter means no fight is going to be easy for
Ribeiro, as is the case with his upcoming Strikeforce Challengers
Series clash on Nov. 19 in Jackson, Miss., against American Kickboxing
Academy up and comer Justin Wilcox.
“He’s
a very strong guy and a very powerful guy, a good wrestler, and
his boxing is pretty good too,” said Ribeiro of Wilcox.
“I really tried to train everything, but I (especially focused
on) protecting my head, (avoiding) his right hand and looking
for the best chance to take him down.
“I
don’t know if he’ll take me down, he’s a wrestler,
so I have good submissions to help me out (if he does take me
down).”
When
asked if he feels the fight will come down to strength versus
finesse, Shaolin replied, “I like the finesse, but sometimes
in MMA you don’t have a lot of space for finesse, so you
have to use speed versus power, and see who has more.
“But
for sure if I can get space, I’ll use the skills that I
have because I know it will make a lot of difference.”
Having
perhaps gotten caught up in the break-neck pace of early successes,
Ribeiro plans to keep his plans simple and close to home going
into 2011.
“After
2006, I realize that the best thing to do is just wait for the
next step,” said Shaolin. “My next step is going to
be to come back to my school, get my kids ready here, train hard,
and wait for the matchmaker to give me another good fight.
“They’ll
give me another name, I’ll accept it, start training hard,
and then we’ll see. That’s always my next step. It’s
not thinking too much about (opponent’s) names, it’s
about coming back, doing good things for my family, and waiting
for a call.”
Having
been to the top of the mountain once before, Ribeiro can get
there once again if he heeds his own advice and continues to
learn from mistakes and moves forward one step at a time.
“I
want to say thank you to Peak Performance and Hurley’s here
in New York,” concluded Shaolin. “Thanks to everybody
for support me, and come out to the fight, I hope to see you
there.”
Source: MMA Weekly
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