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(All events on Oahu, unless noted)
2011
November
Aloha
State Championship of BJJ
(BJJ & Sub Grappling)
(Kaiser H.S. Gym)
October
NAGA
7/8/11
Chozun 2
(Kickboxing)
(The Waterfront at Aloha Tower Marketplace, Honolulu)
7/1/11
Man Up & Stand Up
(Kickboxing)
(Waipahu Filcom Center, Waipahu)
6/17-19/11
MMA Expo
(Blaisdell Convention Hall)
6/18-19/11
State
of Hawaii Championship of BJJ
(1st day gi, 2nd day no-gi)
(BJJ & Sub Grappling)
(Blaisdell Convention Hall)
6/2-5/11
World
Jiu-Jitsu Championship
(BJJ)
(California)
5/28/11
Man Up & Stand Up
(Kickboxing)
(Waipahu Filcom Center, Waipahu)
5/25/11
Kauai Cage Fights
(MMA)
(Kilohana Estates)
5/21/11
Scraplafest 3
(BJJ & Submission Grappling)
(Island School, Puhi, Kauai, behind Kauai Commuity College)
4/23/11
Man Up & Stand Up
(Kickboxing)
Waipahu Filcom Center, Waipahu)
Gladiators for God
(Amateur Muay Thai)
(Wet&Wild Water Park)
4/16/11
Hawaiian
Championship of BJJ
(BJJ
& Sub Grappling)
(Kaiser H.S. Gym)
4/15/11
Destiny
& 808 Battleground presents "Supremacy"
(MMA)
(Aloha Tower Waterfront)
4/9/11
Fight Girls Hawaii
(MMA)
(Waipahu Filcom Center)
4/2/11
Toughman Hawaii
(Kickboxing)
(Hilo Civic Ctr)
3/24-27/11
Pan
American Jiu-Jitsu Championships
(BJJ)
University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA)
3/26/11
Mad Skills
(Kickboxing, Triple Threat)
(Waipahu Filcom Center, Waipahu)
HUAWA Grappling Tourney
(Sub Grappling)
(Mililani HS Gym)
3/12/11
X-1:
Dylan Clay vs Niko Vitale
(MMA)
(Blaisdell Arena)
3/11/11
Chozun 1: "the Reckoning"
(Kickboxing)
(The Waterfront at Aloha Tower Marketplace, Honolulu)
3/5/11
Just Scrap
(MMA)
(Hilo Civic Auditorium, Hilo)
2/25/11
808
Battleground Presents
War of Warriors
(MMA)
(The Waterfront At Aloha Tower, Honolulu)
2/20/11
Pan
Kids Jiu-Jitsu Championships
(BJJ)
(California State University, Carson, CA )
2/19/11
Man Up & Stand Up
(Kickboxing)
Waipahu Filcom Center, Waipahu)
2/5/11
Garden Island Cage Match 10: Mayhem at the Mansion 2
(MMA, Kickboxing)
(Kilohana Carriage House, Lihue, Kauai)
Amateur Boxing
(Boxing)
(Palolo District Park Gym)
2/4/11
Amateur Boxing
(Boxing)
(Palolo District Park Gym)
1/29/11
Man Up & Stand Up
(Kickboxing)
Waipahu Filcom Center, Waipahu)
Battle At The Barn
(MMA)
(Molokai H.S. Gym, Molokai)
1/8/11
Hawaii Toughman
(Kickboxing)
(Hilo Civic Center, Hilo)
|
|
April
2011 News Part 2
|
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.
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
do not have a login, it's simple and fast to get one.
Click here to set up an account.
Don't worry about using Pidgin English in the posting. After
all it is the Hawaii Underground and what is a Hawaii Underground
without some Aloha and some Pidgin?
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go directly to the Onzuka.com Hawaii Underground Forum
click here!
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to Advertise on Onzuka.com?
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1 million hits and counting!
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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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Us? Shoot us an email by Clicking Here!
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St.
Pierre visualizes Toronto celebration
Fighting
is not easy, even if watching Georges St. Pierre tear through
the cream of the crop of the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s
welterweight division makes it seem so.
The
UFC welterweight champion has won 14 of his past 15 fights and
also won 30 consecutive rounds. Much of his success, obviously,
is due to physical gifts that the rest of us mere mortals don’t
possess, as well as a work ethic unsurpassed in the sport.
St.
Pierre isn’t content with being great; each time out, he’s
looking to improve upon his last performance.
He’ll
meet Jake Shields, perhaps his toughest test to date, in the
main event of UFC 129 on April 30 before a North American-record
crowd at the Rogers Centre in Toronto expected to be in excess
of 55,000. The pressure on St. Pierre will be immense, not only
because of the challenge that Shields offers, but also because
of the weight of the expectations he’ll carry with him into
the cage.
The
card will be the first major show held in Ontario since mixed
martial arts was legalized in the province last year, and St.
Pierre will be the overwhelming favorite of most of those in
attendance, as well as the millions around the world who will
watch on pay-per-view.
It’s
expected to be a zany scene inside the Rogers Centre. UFC president
Dana White has long campaigned to have the sport legalized in
Ontario and New York, the latter of which is an ongoing battle,
and the card on April 30 will be something of a celebration of
the sport.
White
has preached repeatedly about how fighters are often overcome
by UFC jitters and how the first time a fighter competes in the
promotion that it can be mentally overwhelming and sap him of
strength. He expects those pressures to increase tenfold for
the Toronto show.
“It’s
definitely going to impact some guys,” White said. “Nobody
has ever been around this. In Japan, there have been huge crowds
at PRIDE shows, but it’s dead quiet. Nobody says a word
there. In Toronto, it’s going to be insane. People are going
to be roaring and I have no doubt that some guys are going to
have a tough time handling that.”
It’s
almost impossible to prepare for the scene, since it’s never
been seen in MMA before, but nothing he encounters will surprise
St. Pierre. He’s already made the walk from the locker room
and stood in the center of the cage, gazing around at the raucous
crowd.
He
has, that is, in his mind. St. Pierre is a large believer in
visualization and took advantage of a promotional stop in January
to check out the stadium. He made certain to replicate the walk
he’ll make as he heads to the cage to meet Shields, and
to close his eyes and imagine the scene when he finally hits
the cage.
“It’s
something I’ve done for a while and it helps me to be more
comfortable in whatever the situation may be,” St. Pierre
said. “It’s going to be a huge crowd that night, and
I just went over in my mind what it will be like so there are
no surprises.”
It’s
called mental rehearsal and is almost always far more productive
than just “focusing,” as many athletes say.
Brian
Cain, the sports psychologist who worked St. Pierre’s corner
at UFC 74 when he fought Josh Koscheck in 2007, advises his clients
to be very specific when they mentally rehearse.
And
so, Cain doesn’t want a baseball player just to close his
eyes and see the pitcher he’ll be facing. He advises them
to visualize everything that will happen, take in the sights
and smells and sounds of the game, down to the minutest details.
White
said he’s never felt St. Pierre was weak mentally, though
he said he saw a dramatic difference prior to his last loss.
St. Pierre was knocked out in the first round by Matt Serra at
UFC 69 in 2007, though he had won eight in a row in dominating
fashion since.
But
on that night, White said St. Pierre wasn’t himself. Accompanied
by actress Laura Prepon, White visited the locker rooms of both
St. Pierre and Serra before the fight.
“I
don’t know what was going on in his life at that time, but
there was something happening,” White said. “I will
believe that forever. The way he acted backstage was so weird.
We went back to see Matt Serra and you know how he is? He was
laughing and joking and being himself. We walked down to GSP’s
locker room and it was completely the opposite. I had never seen
him like that. He was so tense and tight. Laura asked me, ‘Is
he always like this?’ ”
St.
Pierre was knocked out in the first round and lost his title
in what many regard as the biggest upset in UFC history.
Not
long after that, he began to use visualization, and the results
have been hard to argue.
“Even
before I became a world champion, I would see myself as the champion
and see myself as a role model,” St. Pierre said. “It
made a very big difference to me because I felt I was more prepared.
There were no surprises. It’s a very important part of what
I do.”
Source: Yahoo Sports
|
Lightweight
crystal ball: The 2012 rankings
It's
the deepest class in the world, so much so that the top of the
155-pound division could be turned on its ear by this time next
year. UFC champion Frank Edgar escaped with his title after fighting
to a draw against Gray Maynard at UFC 125. Edgar's a great fighter,
but people doubt him because of his size and lack of finishing
prowess. With challengers coming at him from all directions,
will Edgar still be the No. 1 lightweight in the world in Apr.
of 2012?
Maynard,
Anthony Pettis, Gilbert Melendez and Jim Miller are probably
all two wins away from being the undisputed top dog in the division.
With a hot 2011, Sean Sherk, Shinya Aoki, Melvin Guillard, Clay
Guida, George Sotiropoulos and Evan Dunham could all force their
way into the picture as well. Additional wild cards include Ben
Henderson and Eddie Alvarez, if he can escape Bellator. Now that's
depth.
Melendez
certainly did his part last weekend against Tatsuya Kawajiri.
He wasn't going to let judges screw up his first fight in front
of Zuffa management. The Strikeforce lightweight champ made sure
of that by unleashing a fury of elbows, knees and punches at
Kawajiri.
Melendez
is knocking at the UFC door for a fight against Edgar, Pettis,
Maynard and the rest of the elite crew in the bigger fight promotion.
Melendez
says his camp might be the best in the world. Looking at his
competition with the "Skrap Pack," it's hard to disagree.
"It's
discouraging in camp training with Nick [Diaz], Jake [Shields]
and Nate [Diaz]," Melendez told HDNet's Inside MMA. "You
question yourself, 'am I ready for this fight?' You know, you
have these bad days. I'm getting smashed by these guys sometimes.
And then you doubt yourself. And then you walk in there and you
dominate, and then you realize that's how great your team is.
We're evolving and we always constantly raise the bar against
each other."
Yahoo!'s
lead MMA writer Kevin Iole joined us to debate the future odds
on an Edgar-Melendez fight and how he'd matchup against some
of the other elite lightweights.
Here's my top 10 in Apr. of 2012:
1.
Gilbert Melendez
2.
Frank Edgar
3.
Eddie Alvarez
4.
Jim Miller
5.
Anthony Pettis
6.
Melvin Guillard
7.
Gray Maynard
8.
George Sotiropoulos
9.
Ben Henderson
10.
Evan Dunham
What's
yours?
Source: Yahoo Sports
|
Minotauro:
“Vin Diesel knows Jiu-Jitsu”
A
declared MMA fan, actor Vin Diesel went out of his way to be
sure his friend Rodrigo Minotauro would be at the world premier
of “Fast and Furious 5,” on Friday night in Rio de
Janeiro. The meeting was marked by remembrance of old times.
“I
met Vin Diesel in Tokyo in 2001, when I was still fighting in
Pride. He’s a big UFC fan and always watches us fight,”
says Minotauro.
The
black belt also reveals how the American actor knows a thing
or two about the gentle art.
“I’ve
trained with him a few times. He’s got skills, he’s
about blue belt level,” he says in conclusion.
Source: Gracie Magazine
|
“Banha”
another on UFC Rio card
A
fourth matchup has been announced for the card to feature at
the August 27 UFC Rio show. According to the UFC website, Brazil’s
Luiz “Banha” Cane is set to face Bulgaria’s Stanislav
Nedkov.
Nedkov,
who will be making his UFC debut, is undefeated in MMA with 11
fights on his ledger. The fighter has five knockouts and holds
a win over Kevin Randleman. Now Banha has seven fights in the
UFC, four of them wins (one by disqualification).
As
previously reported by GRACIEMAG.com, the other matches confirmed
feature Anderson Silva, Yoshin Okami, Maurício Shogun,
Forrest Griffin, Thiago Tavares e Spencer Fisher.
Check
out the card as it stands:
UFC
Rio
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
August 27, 2011
Anderson
Silva vs. Yushin Okami
Maurício Shogun vs. Forrest Griffin
Thiago Tavares vs. Spencer Fisher
Luiz Banha vs. Stanislav Nedkov
Source: Gracie Magazine
|
U.S.
Government Seizes Several Poker Sites That Were Big On MMA Sponsorships
A
major player in the world of MMA sponsorships may have just come
to an end.
Federal
indictments were handed down on Friday naming three major poker
sites: PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, and Absolute Poker, and the
companies’ executives.
The
legality of online gambling in the U.S. is a hotly contested
issue with several gaming sites finding ways to work around the
quagmire of laws on the topic, but the Federal government cracked
down on the aforementioned sites on Friday. According to a report
from the L.A. Times, the affiliates involved with the sites were
charged with bank fraud and money laundering with several arrests
already made.
“These
defendants concocted an elaborate criminal fraud scheme, alternately
tricking some U.S. banks and effectively bribing others to assure
the continued flow of billions in illegal gambling profits,”
Preet Bharara, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, said in a statement.
The
poker sites have been shut down by the government, and while
some people may still be able to access them currently, it will
only be a matter of time before they are shut down completely
and inaccessible.
In
the MMA world, poker sites had become a major sponsor of fighters
and promotions over the past several years. One manager speaking
to MMAWeekly.com on Friday stated that many of the poker sponsorships
rivaled the money of what any two or three other sponsors could
offer, and the poker sites considered it ‘chump change.’
Full
Tilt Poker, who had been a major sponsor of many fighters in
the UFC, have been banned from sponsorships in the organization
for the past two years. While speculation ran wild that the UFC
kicked Full Tilt Poker out for being a competitor to Zuffa owners
Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta’s own casinos, sources have indicated
it was for a different reason altogether.
Independent
sources confirmed to MMAWeekly.com that one of the major reasons
the UFC banned the online poker site had more to do with the
company wanting to avoid dealing with a sponsor who was allegedly
doing illegal business. The Federal government has long sniffed
around the online poker industry. UFC officials read the writing
on the wall, choosing not to do business with companies in that
industry.
Prosecutors
in the case are looking to shut down the sites permanently, send
their executives to jail, and recover over $3 billion dollars
from the companies.
Bellator
Fighting Championships had also banned the online poker sites
from sponsorships, but companies like Full Tilt Poker remained
in place as sponsors of fighters in Strikeforce.
It’s
unknown at this time how fast the money currently owed to some
fighters might get pulled or paid out. The company websites had
all been shut down and seized as of Friday night, but it’s
unclear what business will be going forward in regards to sponsorships
for fighters.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Joseph
Benavidez Has Flyweight Dreams, But Happy To Remain a Nightmare
at 135
WEC
fighter Joseph BenavidezWith a win over Ian Loveland at UFC 128,
former bantamweight title contender Joseph Benavidez successfully
made his transition from his former home in the WEC to his new
home in the UFC.
Now
the Team Alpha Male fighter is ready for another home. Literally.
Benavidez
recently bought his first house, and while he’s in the process
of moving and getting things in order, he’s taking some
much needed time off.
“Joseph
just bought his first house, he’s going to take a little
bit of time off, he’s been pretty active,” Benavidez’s
manager, Mike Roberts of MMA Inc., told MMAWeekly Radio. “He
wants to kind of get his life in order, just bought a house,
he’s going to be getting that together, which is a pretty
big step for a young guy.
“You
probably won’t see him back till around August.”
Benavidez
has picked up two wins in a row since a decision loss to current
bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz last August. It was the second
time he’s lost to Cruz in his career, but Benavidez has
remained near the very top of the 135-pound division with wins
in every other fight he’s had.
The
tough part for Benavidez right now, however, is that his close
friend and mentor Urijah Faber is now at 135 pounds and taking
on Cruz in July with the bantamweight title on the line. While
there is no doubt that Benavidez is one of the top fighters in
that weight class, with either Cruz or Faber sitting at the top,
he’s not likely to fight for the title again any time soon.
“Joseph
has made it very clear he won’t fight Urijah. Never say
never obviously and enough money will make anybody fight at some
point, but it would take a lot of money to get Joseph to fight
Urijah,” Roberts revealed.
“Urijah
was a big part in changing Joseph’s entire life, and not
just for Joseph, but for Joseph’s whole family. Honestly,
I think Joseph doesn’t feel like Urijah’s like a teammate
or a friend, I really feel like Joseph would feel fighting Urijah
would be like actually fighting his brother. That relationship
means more than any amount of money.”
Regardless
of titles or rankings, Benavidez isn’t shy in his belief
that he’s still the top bantamweight in the sport, and willing
to fight to prove it. It just won’t be against his good
friend Urijah Faber, and the UFC isn’t likely to make a
third fight between Benavidez and Cruz.
The
best future option for Benavidez to get a crack at gold would
be if the UFC ever adopts the 125-pound flyweight class, which
has long been planned, just not implemented yet.
If
the flyweights ever come into the UFC, Benavidez would be the
first one ready to drop the weight and challenge himself at 125
pounds.
“There’s
more than a pretty good shot, there’s about 150-percent
chance,” Roberts said about the odds Benavidez would drop
to 125 pounds.
“If
the flyweights ever come, I think you’ll see Joseph and
Charlie Valencia will be the first two guys signing up for that
weight division.”
But
for now the flyweight division remains on hold, and Benevidez
is happy to continue his run at 135 pounds, even if that means
fighting the best, but not fighting for the belt.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
World
Pro: Last day – Part 1
At
breakfast Friday morning at the Armed Forces Officers hotel,
Lucio Lagarto and Marcus Bochecha were loading up their plates
at the buffet when, unexpectedly, they bumped into each other.
The
two over-92-kg finalists thus dug into each other: “Make
sure in the final tomorrow you pull me to mounted position, aight?”
fired Lagarto. “Heck, why don’t you just pull me to
side-control, please,” replied the opponent.
The
two smiled and slapped each other on the back. That was when
Bochecha maneuvered his fork disastrously and let a piece of
pineapple fall off his plate. The athlete crouched, picked the
fruit up off the floor, and set it on a corner of the buffet
counter. It went unnoticed by everyone else at the restaurant,
except for the reporter’s imagination: could the fall of
the pineapple foreshadow ill tidings for the CheckMat athlete.
We
tuck the story away in mind and wait for the decisive match,
which took place at 2:30 pm Abu Dhabi time this Saturday. There
again the two fighters were face to face, now at the middle of
the competition match area. Lagarto didn’t pull side-controls,
as Bochecha had requested the day before. He pulled half-guard
and from there engineered an overhead-type sweep: 2 to 0. Bochecha
tried to rally back, but ended up conceding breaches his opponent
capitalized on by reaching side-control. When time ran out on
the clock, the score was 5 to 0 for Lagarto.
Still
on Friday, the GRACIEMAG.com crew – nosy as always –
cut in on the romantic stroll of Augusto Mendes and his girlfriend,
the always lovely Mackenzie Dern. Loaded with theories, we asked
the fighter: “Tanquinho, it can’t be said that you
train more than Rafa Mendes, nor that he trains more than you.
Both of you are extremely dedicated and focused on Jiu-Jitsu,
both are at your peak and are on a roll heading into the World
Pro Cup 2011 final. That said, what could make the difference
in the fight?”
Tanquinho
didn’t even stop to ponder the question: “Look, there’s
really no way to say whether I train more hours per day than
Rafa, but there’s no denying one thing: I’ve been training
longer than he has. So I feel my experience will be a positive
factor. Besides that, I know the rules better than he does, since
I specialized in refereeing, too. I know it sounds silly, but
it’s an important detail that counts in my favor. Now the
thing that will make the biggest difference is who wants the
win more. Let’s wait and see who that is,” replied
the Soul Fighters black belt.
In
today’s final, Rafa and Tanquinho fought to a 4-4 draw on
points and 1-1 draw on advantage points, and Tanquinho’s
advantage came at practically the last second of the match. The
athletes knelt at center ring while the referee requested the
votes from the side referees. Most of the crowd in attendance
shouted Tanquinho’s name. The judge returned to the match
area and raised the hand of Mackenzie’s boyfriend, who burst
into celebration. Now Rafa Mendes was clearly dismayed by the
result, not even stepping up to the podium to receive his silver
medal.
“He
did a good job moving around and I my gas wasn’t at its
best. Congratulations to my opponent,” said Celso Venícius,
still out of breath, after stepping down from the podium with
the silver medal around his neck. The medals are awarded right
after a final comes to conclusion, at the World Pro: the athletes
go straight from the mat to the podium, without even time to
catch their breath.
Celso’s
statement referred to the under-74-kg final, which he lost to
Leandro “Lo” Nascimento by 4 advantage points to 1
(the scorecard was 0-0 on points). There was no lack of praiseful
posts for Leandro on GRACIEMAG.com in recent hours. And they
are well-deserved. The black belt had a spectacular campaign
this World Pro, defeating extremely tough adversaries before
facing a valiant Celso in the final. One of those on the list
was none other than Michael Langhi.
World Pro:
Final day – final part
GRACIEMAG.com
stopped by the warm-up area just as the female finals were about
to kick off. While Penny
Thomas
warmed up in her blue gi, Gabi Garcia was standing in a white
gi with a look of concentration on her face, surrounded by her
allies from team Alliance. The opponents in the over-65-kg division
avoided trading glances. We asked Penny what the strategy for
beating her much bigger opponent would be. She replied: “I
have to stay on top at all costs.”
That’s
why the South African shot in on Gabi’s legs for a takedown
in the opening moments of the match. Gabi imposed her will, though,
sprawling and quickly moving to side-control, without allowing
her opponent the slightest chance at carrying out her strategy.
Gabi attempted a number of holds from the top and finished the
bout 9-0 in her favor.
The
other female match was the under-65-kg divisional final. There
wasn’t much action in the match between Luanna Alzuguir
and Bia Mesquita. It ended tied on points, but with a great deal
of opportunism Luanna managed an advantage point with 10 seconds
left on the clock, thus becoming the two-time winner of the weight
class.
From
the group of fighters that paid a visit to the dreaded roller
coaster at Ferrari World in Abu Dhabi (the fastest roller coaster
in the world!), Bruno Bastos was by far the least fearful black
belt. All the others were trembling in their boots.
Well
Bruno showed the same bravery in making it to the under-92-kg
final against the locomotive Rodolfo Vieira. At this crossing,
though, Rodolfo prevailed, scoring 15 to 0 and securing his first
gold medal o Saturday.
Vieira’s
second gold medal would come in the afternoon, in the absolute
final against Rubens Charles “Cobrinha”. Rodolfo was
rampant: he got back mount, then mounted, and ultimately finished
with a choke 35 seconds from the end. Rodolfo Vieira is unarguably
the big name of the 2011 World Pro.
Now
the big name of the 2010 installment of the event, Claudio Calasans,
had his own victorious campaign this year, he just didn’t
snag the absolute. Calasans won the under-83-kg division, beating
Vinicius Corrales by 2 advantage points (the bout was tied 6
to 6 on points).
Calasans:
"I lost a bit of focus and that counts a lot in the absolute."
“I
think I was a lot better in 2010 because I had more focus. I
trained specifically for the World Pro, I was better adapted
to the rules and less worn out. . .” explained Calasans.
“This year I did a number of championships before the World
Pro, so I lost a bit of the focus and these details count a lot
in the absolute division.”
Source: Gracie Magazine
|
Anderson
Silva Doesn’t Want to Be the Best, He Wants to Be the Best
Ever
Anderson
SilvaThe sport of mixed martial arts is still very young when
compared to other major sports like football, basketball or baseball.
But
even in those sports it didn’t take long for legends like
Ruth, Graham and Russell to emerge. MMA is no different. Current
UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva has put together an
ongoing streak that may never be matched, or at least not for
a very long time.
That
streak includes an undefeated mark since joining the UFC in 2006,
several title defenses, and even moving up a weight class to
test himself.
It’s
for that very reason that 36-year-old Anderson Silva’s goal,
as he winds down his career, is not just to be remembered as
one of the best. He wants to be remembered as the greatest of
all time.
“Anderson
always wants to fight the best, and fight the best potential
opponents that’s going to cement his legacy in this sport,”
Silva’s manager, Ed Soares, said in an interview with MMAWeekly
Radio.
“What
he’s done is going to be very difficult for anybody ever
to repeat… eight title defenses, 13 consecutive wins in
the UFC. I think the way the sport is evolving and how much better
these athletes and all these fighters are getting, I think for
you to roll off 13 wins consecutively in the UFC is something
almost next to impossible.”
Silva’s
reign of terror has been nothing short of remarkable.
In
those 13 wins, Silva has finished 11 of his opponents with either
strikes or submissions. In nine of those victories, the fight
never made it past the second round.
Silva
is often touted as the top pound-for-pound fighter on the planet
by UFC president Dana White, and his manager believes that he’s
not only on his way to being considered the greatest of all time,
he might already be there.
“I
really truly believe in my heart that Anderson Silva is the greatest
fighter of all time,” Soares commented.
The
numbers make it hard to argue.
Silva
has defeated every top contender the UFC has thrown at him, and
put most of them away in devastating fashion. Even when he went
up to 205 pounds, Silva was able to absolutely obliterate former
light heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin in less than a round.
The
next task that Silva hopes to conquer will be to defeat the last
fighter that put a blemish on his record. Yushin Okami, while
winning via disqualification for an illegal up-kick, still technically
holds a win over Silva and that’s something that just doesn’t
sit well with the Brazilian.
He’ll
look to settle that score on Aug. 27 at UFC Rio.
Date: August 27, 2011
Venue: HSBC Arena
Location: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
-Anderson
Silva (28-4; #1 Middleweight)* vs. Yushin Okami (26-5; #2 Middleweight)*†
-Mauricio “Shogun” Rua (19-5; #2 Light Heavyweight)*
vs. Forrest Griffin (18-6; #6 Light Heavyweight)*
-Spencer Fisher (24-7) vs. Thiago Tavares (15-4-1)
-Luis Cane (11-3) vs. Stanislav Nedkov (11-0)
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Chad
Mendes Heading to UFC 129 Intending to Challenge Aldo or Hominick
As
UFC 129 fast approaches, most eyes will be on the two main event
title fights that head the card. One of which will be the first
appearance of featherweight champion Jose Aldo defending his
belt against Mark Hominick.
One
person, who will be sitting cageside with his eyes locked on
that fight, will be current top 145-pound contender Chad Mendes.
The
undefeated Team Alpha Male fighter blew through former Sengoku
and Dream fighter Michihiro Omigawa in his last bout, and now
has every intention of challenging the winner of Aldo and Hominick.
“I
can tell you Chad will be sitting ringside in Toronto watching
Aldo and Hominick fight, and he has all the hopes in the world
that the winner of that will be his next fight. I believe he
deserves it, I believe he’s ready for it, and I think it’s
his time,” Mendes’ manager, Mike Roberts from MMA Inc.,
told MMAWeekly Radio recently.
“He’ll
be sitting front and center hoping to get that shot.”
The
UFC hasn’t officially declared Mendes the top contender,
but all the puzzle pieces fit for the one-time college wrestling
standout to challenge the winner of the upcoming featherweight
title fight.
Mendes
has rolled through all of the top competition in the division
that he’s faced, en route to a 10-0 record. His manager
even believes if the timing had worked out, he would be the one
facing Aldo in just a couple of weeks.
“I
believe he should have got the shot before Hominick, but just
timing of Chad’s last fight and this one, I fully understand
why they had to book Hominick for the fight,” said Roberts.
“That being said, in our opinion, that automatically qualifies
Chad as the number one contender.”
Mendes
is up for facing either Aldo or Hominick next, and has even said
in the past that he’d be open to facing Aldo in his native
Brazil at the UFC Rio event in August if that’s what the
promotion wanted.
Even
with names like Kenny Florian, Tyson Griffin, and others dropping
down to the featherweight division, Mendes and his team believe
he’s the deserving person for a shot at the belt, and the
others should have to work their way up, the same way Mendes
did.
“I
know some other fighters they’re saying maybe they should
get it, but what they’ve done in other weight divisions
doesn’t matter,” Roberts commented.
“What
matters is what you’ve accomplished in that weight division,
and Chad’s undefeated, he’s never lost a round, and
we believe he’s ready.”
Mendes
has been out of action since his win in February and will be
sitting front row at UFC 129 with a very special interest in
the co-main event of the evening.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Andre
Gusmao Looks to Earn His Way Back to the UFC, This Time at 185lbs
In
a trivia game somewhere in the future, the question will eventually
be asked, “who did light heavyweight champion Jon Jones
make his UFC debut against?” The answer of course is former
IFL standout and Renzo Gracie student Andre Gusmao.
But
Gusmao, who gave Jones one of his toughest tests in the Octagon,
doesn’t want to be remembered as the guy who fought the
champion way back when. He wants to earn his way back to the
UFC, and start a new history for himself, this time at 185 pounds.
Gusmao
ended up with only two fights in the Octagon. The loss to Jones
and a knockout defeat to former “Ultimate Fighter”
competitor Krzysztof Soszynski.
What
many people may not remember about Gusmao, however, was his quick
start when he was fighting for the International Fight League
before making the move to the UFC.
Gusmao
showed off a diverse striking game that dispatched of fellow
former UFC fighter Mike Ciesnolevicz twice, as well as Brent
Beauparlant and Wojtek Kaszowski. The Renzo Gracie student also
comes with an array of interesting moves from his background
in Capoeira.
Gracie
and his students have often thought of Gusmao as one of the brightest
prospects to come out of the Manhattan academy, and he’s
looking to make a big impact in the coming year.
Now
that he’s down at middleweight, Gusmao bounced back with
his first win in his post-UFC career with a dominant performance
over Vagner Curio in Ring of Combat in New Jersey last year.
Now he’ll get back in action with a focus on returning to
the Octagon in 2011.
This
time around, Gusmao will face undefeated prospect Tim Williams
in the main event of Cage Fury Fighting Championships 7 happening
at the Resorts in Atlantic City, N.J., on Saturday night.
If
he’s successful, Gusmao will look to continue at his new
weight class until UFC matchmaker Joe Silva takes notice, and
makes the call to see what kind of damage he could do in the
middleweight ranks.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Bellator’s
Warren chases unprecedented trifecta
In
mixed martial arts, the quest to win a world championship is
an all-encompassing full-time job. Then defending the title becomes
your new full-time occupation.
Winning
an Olympic gold medal in wrestling? That requires years of single-minded
dedication.
For
the next year-plus, Joe Warren plans on doing all three, as he
defends his Bellator featherweight title, goes after the company’s
bantamweight title, and trains for the wrestling world championship.
No
fighter in history has ever pulled off something even remotely
close. Dan Henderson and Randy Couture in the late 1990s won
national championships in Greco-Roman wrestling after establishing
themselves as top stars in MMA. But that was long before the
competition in MMA was as high as it is now, and the need to
be strong in multiple disciplines wasn’t as important.
And
even Henderson and Couture, who originally got into MMA as a
way to fund their quest of making the 2000 Olympic team, both
eventually had to give up wrestling at the international level
to develop as top-level MMA fighters.
Georges
St. Pierre last year toyed with the idea of going for the 2012
Olympics, but made it clear that to even have a chance, he’d
have to give up MMA for two years to concentrate only on wrestling.
There
are comparable aspects in wrestling and MMA, and both sports
are based on instant reactions. Couture and Henderson’s
core fighting skills include the toughness, work ethic and conditioning
learned in the wrestling room. When an opponent goes for a move,
the reaction has to be instinctive. And unfortunately, what is
a positive reaction in one sport is exactly the opposite in the
other.
Warren
has been practicing both sports recently and noted that reacting
in wrestling with moves that set up submissions, like armbars,
made him happy because he could see his MMA skill set improving.
Unfortunately, in a Greco-Roman wrestling match, all that’s
going to do is get you disqualified.
Warren
(6-1), the self-professed baddest man of his size on the planet,
is the current Bellator featherweight champion. He says he’s
too small for the division, and in terms of all-around skills,
he’s also lacking the experience most champions have. That
has spelled trouble in many of his fights.
But
time after time, when he seems caught in a hold, or gets lit
up standing, he’s able to come back and win, largely due
to the sheer mental toughness that comes from being a world champion
wrestler.
“When
I faced Eric Marriott, he got me in a guillotine in the first
round,” he recalled about his Bellator debut on April 8,
2010. “My coaches screamed at me that there were only 15
seconds left in the round.
“I
told myself I wasn’t getting eliminated in the first round
of a tournament. So I held my breath. But they lied. It wasn’t
15 seconds left, it was 45 seconds. If it wasn’t for the
bell, I was done.”
Warren
is fighting a non-title fight at 137 pounds in the main event
of Saturday night’s live Bellator show on MTV2, facing Marcos
Galvao (9-3-1) in Yuma, Ariz. Galvao is a former two-time world
champion in Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
“I
should be fighting at 135,” he said. “The difference
between 145 and 135 is a huge deal. The guys have bigger bone
structures, bigger hands, they’re just bigger people. In
the UFC and Bellator, most of the 145 pounds train at around
170. I train at 150, sometimes 152 but that’s as big as
I can get.”
On
June 9, he has to get back into wrestling mode, to attempt to
qualify in Greco-Roman wrestling at 132 pounds for the U.S. national
team that competes in the world championships in September. Between
those dates, on August 20, he is scheduled to defend his featherweight
title against the winner of a tournament that is currently taking
place.
In
October, he is going to move to bantamweight, which he noted
is the weight class he should be fighting in, doing an eight-man
Bellator tournament over a three-month period to earn a shot
in 2012 at champion Zach Makovsky. As soon as that is over, he’s
back to wrestling, entering the U.S. Open in December.
At
34, Warren knows his window of opportunity is closing, so he’s
chasing three quests at once. MMA pays the bills, and he says
it’s more fun. But wrestling was his life long before MMA,
and this is his last chance to close the chapter in that sport
the way he wanted to.
“I
did everything you could do in wrestling, I was world champion
[2006], Pan American games champion [2006] and World Cup champion
[2007],” Warren said. “I did everything but win an
Olympic gold medal.”
There
is some bitterness from the last statement. Warren has told himself
for years that he would have won the gold medal in 2008. He had
tested positive for marijuana in 2006 and was suspended from
the sport for three months. In June 2007, he tested positive
a second time and was handed a two-year suspension. At the time,
it looked to be the end of his career.
“It
was our country’s Olympic committee that suspended me, not
an international suspension,” he noted. “Our Olympic
committee cost our country a gold medal in 2008 at 132 pounds.
I was going to win that Olympics. But I knew the rules. I can’t
complain.”
Warren
appealed, based on being diagnosed with major depression and
posttraumatic stress disorder in dealing with his wife’s
miscarriage in 2007, and that marijuana helped him sleep. He
argued the ban was too long for a drug that was not a performance
enhancer. He went to arbitration to try and get the suspension
down to one year, which would have enabled him to compete in
the Olympics, but his appeal was turned down.
The
suspension turned him into an MMA fighter. He had trained in
the past with Henderson, who recommended the sport. In 2009,
with very little training and two weeks of fight preparation,
he went to Japan for the Dream featherweight Grand Prix tournament.
Warren immediately beat former WEC bantamweight champion Chase
Beebe and Japanese legend Kid Yamamoto in his first two pro fights
before being caught in an armbar by Bibiano Fernandes in the
championship fight.
Warren
has been going through the grind of full-time training for the
2012 London Olympics at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado
Springs, Colo. He’s cut back to a few days a week of wrestling,
and concentrating on his striking and jiu-jitsu game to get ready
for Saturday’s fight.
Yet
another handicap he’s facing is that the Greco-Roman sport
he ruled five years ago has changed, in both tactics and scoring.
Warren is strongest at the standing game, but the new rules allow
for less time standing and more of an ability to stall on the
feet. Still, he feels his skill set is applicable once he gets
used to the new rules.
Wrestling
is not a sport you can often walk away from and then come back
and dominate. He wrestled in several tournaments, and he’s
picked up some losses. But he’s dedicating substantial time
and effort to rebuild his wrestling skills.
“In
my last tournament, the David Schultz Invitational, I lost to
an Olympic silver medalist and an Olympic bronze medalist,”
he said. “I was scoring points on them, but I was also doing
illegal things. My coaches have told me I’m exactly where
I need to be. If I can make the Olympic team, I’ll win it.
It’s not about being the best in the world, but being the
best on that one day.”
Source: Yahoo Sports
|
Yamato-Damashii
Diaries - Day 3: The Town That Was Taro
In
the wake of the March 11 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, former
Shooto heavyweight champion and Pride veteran Enson Inoue has
been on a one-man charity mission, traveling to northeast Japan
to directly help those in need.
For
his next visit to the Tohoku region, MMA Fighting joined Inoue
to document the journey and bring new light to the ongoing crisis
in Japan.
On
day three, we stocked up on supplies despite financial issues,
relive the nightmare of the tsunami and try to find the town
that was Taro.
Today,
we would be finally seeing the devastation caused by the tsunami.
Enson had visited our destinations, Miyako and Taro, in his last
trip to the Tohoku region and he was determined to bring a journalist
there to document what he had seen.
Enson
had grown an attachment to the evacuation centers in this area,
and we stopped at a shoe store along the way to pick up shoes
to bring along with the trunk full of clothes, toys and food
we were already bringing.
Unfortunately,
our issues with PayPal continued. PayPal had apparently labeled
Enson as a "risk account" and was now shutting him
down entirely. Enson was forced to return all of the $27,000
that was donated to his cause, forced to return the $6,000 he
had earned from his rosary making business (despite the fact
that he had shipped the orders) and paid hundreds of dollars
in fees in the process. It made no sense to us. This PayPal issue
was stressing us out beyond reason and detracting us from the
task at hand.
At
the shoe store we picked up 10 pairs of average-sized male shoes,
10 pairs of average-sized female shoes and 10 pairs of children's
shoes. Somehow, we ended up with 31 pairs of shoes. Enson was
still furious about the money troubles though and mentioned how
it could have been 100 pairs.
The
staff member serving us at the shoe store recognized Enson, and
had heard about his work in the area, and so he threw in another
large box of shoes, slippers and socks for free. We asked him
if he would like us to mention his name or the name of his store,
but the man insisted we mention neither, as his boss didn't know
about the goods he was donating. He would "deal with it."
I'm not sure what that meant but from what I could guess, it
would be coming out of his own salary. It was easily at least
three day's wages.
With
a car full of shoes, clothes, toys and supplies, we made our
way to the tsunami-ravaged coastal towns of Miyako at Taro. A
one-and-a-half hour trip from our base of Morioka, the drive
gave us time to attempt to prepare ourselves for what we would
see.
Enson
talked a lot about his willingness to die. He also talked a lot
about age. As an incredibly proud and strong man, the weakness
that inevitably comes with age seems to scare him. Dying in a
manner benefiting of a man bearing the alias of "Yamato-damashii"
or "samurai spirit" is everything to Enson. He talked
at length about how death can define a man.
While
weaving through snow covered peaks, Enson talked about his ex-wife
and son who he is no longer able to see. His marriage was short,
but his relationship with his son had affected him a lot. Although
he is extremely accessible, Enson Inoue is a powerful figure
in Japan, and the weakness that comes with having a family also
scared him but he spoke passionately about his son.
At
one point Enson said, "I was put on this earth to be a lone
samurai and I will die a lone samurai." He places a lot
of emphasis on the word "die." He has said this sentence
many times before. He is one of the most powerful speakers I
have ever met.
The
outskirts of Miyako was fine. I didn't notice until I looked
at the GPS that we had arrived. We checked in at an evacuation
center to see if they needed any help. Only a handful of the
evacuees were there though as they were all working, at school
or digging through what was left of their houses. With no one
there to help, we decided to come back later.
Driving
further into the town of 58,000 people, the evidence of the tsunami
grew and grew the closer we got to the wharf.
Footage
of the tsunami hitting Miyako was one of the first videos coming
out of this disaster that truly terrified me. I recognized a
fishing boat that was washed over the 50-foot high seawall by
the black wave of the tsunami and instantly lost my breath. That
video had never felt entirely real but seeing this boat from
the video made all that footage that I had seen over the last
month all too real to me.
Speechless,
we drove down to the bay area, passing a bank that had been looted
in the days following the tsunami. Enson had heard that around
$40,000 was stolen. I thought to myself how insignificant that
seems right now. Houses in this area were still standing, but
all the contents were washed away. People were lost, a bank's
money seemed petty.
The
houses and fish markets in the bay area were jaw dropping. A
truck was sticking out of a what was left of a post office. A
car was stuck in a second-story window. Only a few structures
were still standing and nothing was inside. Piles and piles of
people's belongings were strewn all through the area and photos,
records and clothes could be found hundreds of meters away from
the houses in the fish markets. Every time I saw a shoe I thought
I was looking at a foot.
When
I was young, I lived on a farm in rural Australia. I know the
smell of a dead animal. I've also lived in a fishing town. I
know the smell of dead fish. The smell in the bay area was the
pungent smell of tsunami victims. With a mask it was bearable,
but the thought of the source of the stench wrenched my insides.
The streets were clear of visible bodies, but the debris was
piled high. There was certainly bodies in there.
Enson
was constantly staring off into the bay. After an hour there,
he finally he snapped himself out of it saying, "When I
was here a couple weeks ago, bodies were filling with gas and
popping up in the water. I can't stop looking for them."
Dump
trucks were gathering the remains of the destroyed buildings
of Miyako and taking them to the wharf where four excavators
were working on a pile of rubble that was at least five stories
high in some places and was as big as a city block. It was only
the tip of the iceberg. A large percentage of Miyako would be
added to that mound in the coming months.
I
had thought Miyako was bad, but the neighboring fishing village
of Taro was in a different league entirely.
We
drove through 20 minutes of tunnels and breathtaking beauty before
eventually coming into a clearing where Enson said, "This
is Taro."
"Where?"
I replied.
He
showed me the GPS. Taro, a town of 5,000 had occupied this sandy,
barren plain. There was literally nothing there.
We
continued driving and went to the Taro docks. There were two
buildings left in this whole town. A hotel and some sort of building
on the waterfront. I guessed it was a fishing building of some
sort but there was no way to tell.
The
hotel showed the height of the tsunami as the bottom three stories
were completely demolished and the fourth story was covered in
debris. A tire was lodged in a balcony window railing around
100 feet high.
Aside
from that hotel, there was nothing recognizable. No way to tell
where buildings were. No concrete foundations. No iron beams.
Just sand from the tsunami and small mounds of cloth, wood and
metal. We saw one TV. Five thousand people had lived there, and
we saw only one TV.
Beyond
sadness. Beyond pity, frustration or a feeling of helplessness.
A city completely gone. I had thought that the footage and photos
I had seen prior to coming here was just showing select parts
of the city and that perhaps it was not that bad. But it was
all gone. Nothing left. It was impossible to comprehend and beyond
the scope of human emotion.
Two
things struck me.
Firstly,
there was no one there. Miyako had a few military personal around
but not a huge presence. Taro had a sole woman picking through
the rubble, looking for photos or valuables to take to a nearby
city hall. We wanted to talk to her but could think of nothing
to say.
Secondly,
there was no smell of death and it seemed strange how little
debris there was in Taro. Looking out into the ocean I saw why
that was though, as large concrete blocks from the two 50-foot
seawall were floating among pieces of Taro. The seawall that
failed to save Taro. The iron gates remained, but the walls were
bobbing up and down in the water.
Seagulls
were circling the around the wreckage floating in the bay. It
was a grim thought. but I couldn't help but know that the seagulls
were smelling all-too-familiar smell that we could not.
As
we were leaving the town Enson said,"I can tell we are in
different places right now. I could see that they had cleared
a bit of the rubble. That was a positive for me." I thought
out loud that there were no positives in this situation. There
was nothing positive to take away from that scene.
We
drove the rest of the way in silence. I tried to sleep in the
car but ... Taro was gone. I grew up in a town very much like
that.
Despite
the devastation that we witnessed today, we have heard stories
of much worse. Tomorrow, we head south to Rikuzentakata and Kesennuma.
Two larger cities that were unbelievably hit harder than Taro.
Yamato-Damashii
Diaries - Day 4: Ruins of Kesennuma, Missing Rikuzentakata
In
the wake of the March 11 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, former
Shooto heavyweight champion and Pride and UFC veteran Enson Inoue
has been on a one-man charity mission, traveling to northeast
Japan to directly help those in need.
For
his next visit to the Tohoku region, MMA Fighting joined Inoue
to document the journey and bring new light to the ongoing crisis
in Japan.
On
day four, we find ocean liners scattered through the burned remains
of Kesennuma, look for bodies in the missing city Rikuzentakata,
start our investigation into the looting, rape and murder we
had heard about and battle feelings of helplessness.
Two
days ago, I had mentioned to a friend of Enson's how pleased
I was that there was no crime and looting here.
"Dude,"
he responded, shaking his head. "There's loads of looting
going on up there, man. Armed gangs raping and murdering people
and there's no police to do anything about it."
That
story had haunted me for the last two days. I knew that there
was no police there. I needed to understand the psychology behind
someone who would kill or rape an evacuee. Knowing exactly how
Enson would react, I suggested that perhaps we should try and
find the gangs and confront them. He predictably greeted the
idea with enthusiasm.
We
had heard that the Chinese mafia was responsible for some of
the crime in the affected areas, and if that was indeed so, Enson
had contacts that would know. He called and had them investigate
it. We hear a lot of rumors up here and these stories may not
even be true. But if they were, we wanted to do something about
it. We are waiting to hear back.
During
our commute to the disaster zone, Enson talked about the 28 days
of jail time he served in 2008 and about his 2010 pilgrimage
through 108 temples on the island of Shikoku.
Enson
is intent on learning from every experience in his life. Jail
taught him patience and spirituality. The pain of walking 800
miles in 30 days around Shikoku taught him how to push himself
through mental and physical barriers. Both experiences gave him
appreciation for the simple things in life. I think this appreciation
is what drives him to help the people in the evacuation centers
here. He knows how good a small luxury can be when you are in
need.
As
Enson was telling stories of spirits in the forests of Shikoku,
I noticed all of a sudden that the river we were driving along
was covered in debris. I looked at the GPS and we were still
10 miles from the coast. The damage grew exponentially worse
as we continued and soon the GPS indicated that we should now
be in Rikuzentakata. We were still five miles from the coast,
but there was not a building in sight. As far as the eye could
see in any direction, there was nothing but piles of cars, rubble
and people's belongings.
The
town of Taro was 5,000 people. When I saw the damage there yesterday
I was stunned to the point that I could not feel or say anything.
Rikuzentakata was five times the size of Taro, and it was also
completely gone. It seemed impossible.
The
reason we came here is because we heard that there was a dam
that had hundreds of bodies stuck in it and authorities were
apparently unable to get them. We asked some people who were
walking around the rubble where the dam was but no one could
give us a straight answer. Orientation is difficult when you
have no landmarks. We decided to get out of the car and walk.
As
we were preparing to head out Enson said, "Are you ready
for this?"
I
replied that I was. "Me too," he said mostly to himself.
We
looked for the dam for some time and along the way followed our
noses, trying to find bodies so that we could show the world
what we were smelling. We felt it would illustrate all too clearly
how little was cleaned here. Our search was in vain. We later
learned that the dam was completely destroyed, and with the seawall
gone and the high tide, the bodies remained hidden underwater.
The
large fishing town of Kesennuma in northern Miyagi prefecture
was an entirely different picture of devastation.
The
tsunami here had swept fishing boats and enormous ocean liners
up to half a mile inland and sparked a fire that raged for four
days when fuel from the grounded vessels leaked.
It
was now one month since those fires were extinguished, and not
even a start had been made on the clean up. A road was cleared,
and the visible bodies were removed, but that was it. Ships were
scattered through the charred city like toys, and the ash combined
with the stench of burned flesh, was so bad that we were unable
to get out of the car for more than a few minutes at a time.
Over
the past two days, we had seen two cities damaged beyond comprehension
and two cities completely wiped off the map. There was nothing
positive to take away from the situation. There were clearly
thousands and thousands of bodies stuck in those wastelands and
there are only a handful of military personnel looking for them.
We saw no police, no aid workers and no other press.
Enson
and I talked at some length about the crushing feeling of hopelessness.
"If
everyone could just see and experience this," he started.
It was tough to finish sentences.
When
I got back to my hotel room in Morioka, some friends in Tokyo
called me to see how I was doing. Until that point I had kept
my emotional guard up. As I was explaining the damage, the smell
and the utter hopelessness I was feeling, I finally broke down.
Tomorrow,
is Enson's 44th birthday and we will finally be returning to
the evacuation centers to try to bring some smiles. Not only
to the evacuee's faces, but also to our's.
Yamato-Damashii
Diaries - Day 5: Smiles Return at the Miyako Evacuation Center
In
the wake of the March 11 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, former
Shooto heavyweight champion and Pride and UFC veteran Enson Inoue
has been on a one-man charity mission, traveling to northeast
Japan to directly help those in need.
For
his next visit to the Tohoku region, MMA Fighting joined Inoue
to document the journey and bring new light to the ongoing crisis
in Japan.
On
day five, it's Enson Inoue's birthday and we return to the Miyako
evacuation center to bring clothes, shoes, toys and smiles.
Today
was Enson Inoue's 44th birthday. For the last two days we had
seen, smelled and experienced nothing but death and sadness,
and so his present to himself would be the smiles at the Miyako
evacuation center.
Enson's
mood was entirely different. Heading into disaster zones he had
often talked about his experiences with life, death and loyalty.
When you are preparing yourself to see unimaginable devastation
the conversations were predictably heavy. Today though he was
different. Joking, laughing and clearly very excited at the thought
of helping people.
When
we arrived at the Miyako evacuation center, a converted elementary
school that houses approximately 80 people, the atmosphere was
dark. People sitting in their 10 square feet of personal space
and staring into the distance, restless children being hushed
by adults and the TV showing the news of the latest aftershock.
31
pairs of shoes, boxes and boxes of clothes, toiletries, fireworks,
toys and sports equipment goes a long way to changing a person's
mood when all they own is the clothes on their back and the blankets
supplied by the Japanese military.
The
darkness in the evacuation center seemed to evaporate. An excited
but orderly line was formed and the supplies were quickly snatched
up by evacuees with Enson talking to each person, asking what
they would need when we return later in the week.
Young
people were again socializing and laughing, children were playing
with new toys and the elderly were lacing up their new shoes.
Enson could barely contain himself, "This is the best present
I could ever hope for," he would say every few minutes.
Some
people in these centers are difficult to reach as they continue
staring off into the distance, not noticing anything happening
around them. Even after seeing what had happened to these people's
cities and towns, it is still difficult to imagine what they
had experienced. I often wonder if suicide will be a problem.
Enson was determined to reach them though.
Enson
advised the leader of the evacuation center that he would like
to buy a treat for the people. Caught up in the moment, he seemed
to try to think of the most difficult thing to get in Miyako:
sushi.
Finding
80 servings of fresh raw fish would be no small challenge when
almost the entire fishing fleets of Iwate and Miyagi prefectures
were wiped out and the Fukushima power plants were still leaking
dangerous amounts of radiation into the ocean. Unfortunately
the excited leader announced Enson's intentions on the loudspeaker
and the news drew a round of applause. We had no option but to
succeed in our search now.
The
stress from our financial issues and the memories of what we
had seen over the last two days dissipated.
"Yes,
1,000 smiles would be better than 100 smiles but one smile is
better than none," Enson told the people whose donations
he was forced to return.
Unfortunately,
Enson's birthday was spoiled by a phone call. A friend relayed
the story of a baby that had apparently died of starvation inside
the Fukushima evacuation zone. As with many of the stories we
hear up here, details were sketchy, but from what we could gather
there was now no food left inside the evacuation zone and there
were people still there who were not able to leave.
Some
calls to friends in the military didn't reveal any more details
on the story but just the thought that this may have happened
was enough to set Enson into action. One more phone call and
he had ordered an Israeli military radiation suit, a mask and
a truck. His plan was to seal up the vents on the truck, fill
it with food and drive into the evacuation zone to look for people
in need. He would also stop at evacuation centers housing Fukushima
evacuees and see if there was pets that needed feeding or anything
else they may need from their abandoned homes.
His
heart seemed to race with anticipation. "Maybe this is it,"
Enson said excitedly. "Something is pulling me to go there."
Enson
has talked numerous times of his willingness to die for a noble
cause. To die like a samurai. "Yamato-damashii." Before
I had ever met Enson Inoue I read a quote of his that perfectly
sum up his philosophies.
"Live
as a man. Die as a man. Become a man."
Reports
varied wildly on how dangerous it was in Fukushima but if there
was another explosion or fire while he was inside the evacuation
zone then it could be very bad for his health. He knew of one
friend that had lived only a few miles from the Fukushima power
plants and so he would certainly intend to go deep into the evacuation
zone. He was not planning to spend an extended period of time
inside the radiation or deliberately put himself at risk, but
Enson couldn't help but wonder if this was the noble cause he
had spent his life looking for.
We
had made a difference today but the news of the baby was a brutal
reminder that it was just one step in the long journey ahead.
Tomorrow
we take a day to rest, buy supplies and try to track down 80
servings of sushi for the people in the Miyako evacuation center.
Source: MMA Fighting
|
Maurcio
“Shogun” Rua vs. Forrest Griffin II Booked for UFC
Rio in Brazil
It
was considered one of the biggest upsets in the sport when they
fought the first time.
Now
Forrest Griffin will try to make it two for two when he faces
fellow former light heavyweight champion Mauricio “Shogun”
Rua at UFC Rio in Brazil on Aug. 27
The
bout has been confirmed to MMAWeekly.com by several sources after
first being reported by GracieMag.com.
After
blasting through the competition in Pride, Shogun (19-5) was
one of the first high profile fighters to move to the UFC after
Zuffa purchased the former Japanese powerhouse promotion a few
years back.
Just
about everyone assumed Rua would continue his reign of destruction
in the UFC, but former “Ultimate Fighter” winner Forrest
Griffin had other ideas.
Griffin
(18-6) stepped up to the challenge to welcome Rua to the Octagon,
and a back-and -forth war ensued during their fight at UFC 76
in 2007. Sticking around paid off for Griffin as he wore down
Shogun, and with seconds ticking away in the final round, he
sunk in a rear naked choke forcing Rua to tap.
It
was a shocker at the time, but Griffin went on to win the UFC
light heavyweight title in his next fight, and has become one
of the toughest fighters in the sport.
Now
the pair will square off again, but this time it will be in Rua’s
home country of Brazil.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
UFC
Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones Saves The Day… Again
Jon
“Bones” Jones may soon need to change his nickname
to Superman or Batman.
The
current UFC light heavyweight champion has somehow gotten into
the hero business over the last couple of months, and business
is good.
Jones
hit the spotlight on the same day he fought Maurcio “Shogun”
Rua for the UFC light heavyweight title when he subdued a thief
after he broke into someone’s car and stole their belongings.
Jones,
along with his coaches Mike Winkeljohn and Greg Jackson, stopped
the thief and held him there until police could arrive to make
the official arrest.
Jones’
heroics don’t always involve stopping thieves.
While
on a business trip to Florida this week, Jones observed a young
woman along with her child involved in a somewhat loud conversation
over a cell phone while he was checking into his hotel.
Jones
overheard the young woman crying because she had apparently flown
to Florida to be with her boyfriend, and after an argument ensued,
he left her and her child to fend for themselves with no place
to stay and an airline ticket for a flight that didn’t depart
for two days.
Jones
took it upon himself to offer to put the young lady and her child
up in the hotel for the time she needed until her flight could
take her back home.
It
wasn’t until much later that the young woman was told that
she wasn’t just helped out by a young man trying to do a
good deed, he just happened to be one of the best fighters in
the world.
“It’s
just a good testament to his character,” Jones’ manager
Malki Kawa of Authentic Sports Management told MMAWeekly.com.
“I mean the guy walks into a hotel on South Beach, expecting
maybe to go to bed or maybe go to dinner, and he sees a young
lady that he’s got absolutely no responsibility to, and
a young boy that’s absolutely not his responsibility, and
just being a good citizen overheard a conversation and felt it
was important that he handled their situation for that night.
Just being the good guy that he is, helped a fellow citizen in
need.”
Jones
graciously paid for the room and went about his business, after
making sure the woman and her child were safe and taken care
of until they could make it back home. The UFC light heavyweight
champion might soon have to take on a second job as full-time
life saver.
“His
bat signal is a JBJ,” Kawa joked about Jon “Bones”
Jones, the hero. “You put JBJ up in the clouds, he’ll
probably come to the rescue.”
Chalk
one more up for Jon Jones – superhero.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Like
Japan, Dream Attempts to Soldier On to an Uncertain Future with
Bantamweight Grand Prix
Japanese
fight promotion Dream may be struggling just to stay afloat in
the mixed martial arts world, but on Thursday, the promotion
announced plans for its Dream Japan Bantamweight Grand Prix to
be held on May 29 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.
The
country of Japan has been working hard to recover from a massive
earthquake and tsunami disaster that reeked havoc across the
island nation in early March. Dream’s announcement is part
of a combined effort, entitled Fight for Japan, from various
combat sports promoters across the country to help aid in relief
efforts.
The
tournament will feature eight, 135-pound Japanese fighters: Keisuke
Fujiwara, Masakazu Imanari, Yoshiro Maeda, Kenji Osawa, Takafumi
Otsuka, Hideo Tokoro, Darren Uyenoyama, Atsushi Yamamoto.
Laying
out their plans, Dream officials said that the quarterfinal and
semifinal rounds of the tournament would take place on May 29
with the final taking place at an as yet unannounced event in
July. There will also be several non-tournament bouts on the
card, featuring the likes of Dream lightweight champion Shinya
Aoki, Joachim Hansen, Mitsuhiro Ishida, Katsunori Kikuno, Akiyo
“Wicky” Nishiura, and Caol Uno.
Dream
executive producer Sasahara Keiiti said that the event would
be held in a rather modest environment compared to past Dream
events. The Saitama Super Arena will be scaled down to its smallest
size configuration, in the neighborhood of 7,000 seats. The production
will also utilize “minimal production with minimal lighting”
in order to save energy as Japan continues its disaster recovery
process.
Current
plans call for the winner and runners-up of the Dream Japan Grand
Prix to then move on to a Dream World Grand Prix, where they
will take on an international field of competitors.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Underdog
or not, Rafael ‘Sapo’ wants to prove he’s an UFC
fighter
TATAME
published, yesterday, that Rafael ‘Sapo’ Natal will
return to UFC’s octagon against the Japanese Riki Fukuda,
and the news was not only a surprise to the fans. “I heard
I was fighting through TATAME, can you believe it? (laughs),
joked the fighter, on a chat with TATAME.
Chosen
to return to the octagon in August, on UFC 133, Vinicius Draculino
and Renzo Gracie’s pupil commented his expectations for
his third chance on the American cage, and guarantees he’s
ok with the ‘underdog’ label.
“I
know he’s a tough guy. I don’t hope for anything else
than the win on this bout. I’ve seen people saying he’s
the favorite, and it’s ok. I didn’t win my two last
fights, and I’m training hard to show UFC the fighter I
really am”, guarantees. “Whenever I was the underdog,
I got good results”.
Being
in a complicated situation after a loss and a draw, Sapo is aware
that only a win matters, and promise his full dedication to remain
on the greatest event on earth, guaranteeing that being considered
to be the underdog is like a powerful fuel for him.
“I
can’t change much because I always train and dedicate myself
to it, but the big difference is that I’m thirsty for this
win. People calling me the underdog is an extra incentive for
me”, said, seeing the dream of fighting in UFC Rio walking
away from him. “It still didn’t happen, but I keep
on dreaming about it”, concluded.
Source: Tatame
|
Tanquinho:
“There is no rivalry, I’m not the one who started the
ill feelings”
He’s
not the one who won both weight and open weight at the World
Pro – that was Rodolfo Veira –, but Augusto Tanquinho
is likely the name being mentioned most in Abu Dhabi. The rivalry
between him and team Atos was stirred up when he announced he
would be competing in the under-65-kg division – and became
more heated after he beat three opponents from the Rio Claro,
Brazil-based team and qualified for the final against Rafael
Mendes. His eeking out a judges’ decision win caused an
outcry of both disagreement and agreement.
Below,
Tanquinho lays out his opinion for GRACIEMAG.com and comments
on the significance of the win:
What’s
the big lesson you derived from the win?
There
was no big lesson, not much has changed in what I think about
winning or losing a championship, but I believe my win here was
a major lesson to a lot of other people. The most important of
all was to respect one’s opponent and not think the match
is won before it’s over. Here in Abu Dhabi I heard a lot
of things, major lack of respect and humility. They even said
I wouldn’t last three minutes with Rafael and wanted to
bet the 8-thousand-dollar prize money on him. So I feel there
are a lot of people who need to reconsider the moral values Jiu-Jitsu
teaches.
What
do you make of the final?
It
was a great match, as I thought it would be. It didn’t ever
come to a halt – the match area was big, like Rafael wanted
it, and I didn’t ever run away, like he said I do. I didn’t
talk to the refs, we just went in there and put in a good show!
Rafael swept me early on, then I swept him, he attacked for a
kneebar and got an advantage, then he got a verbal warning for
grabbing the inside of the sleeve of my pants, then he swept
me and got another warning for stalling. Then I swept and attacked
for a kneebar at the end and won by an advantage point. It was
a great match, 4-4 on points. They (Atos) is complaining, asking
for an advantage for a foot attack, but I was never in danger
of being tapped out – they called for an advantage after
a sweep by Rafa, but to me he was still defending the kneebar
and time ran out first. So I went out there, did my job, and
demonstrated how you win Jiu-Jitsu matches on the mat, not with
your mouth.
What
do you think of this rivalry that has cropped up between you
and Atos?
To
me there’s no rivalry – I wasn’t the one who caused
these ill feelings. It was a coincidence that I fought nearly
everyone from Atos. Some of the guys from over there, who were
unhappy with the fact that I went down the line of them, started
saying bad things about me and the way I fight. But I hold no
resentment, I let it go: the war stays on the mat and there’s
no need for us to lack respect for others. Some of the guys at
Atos talked to me and were super cool with me, others don’t
even talk to me anymore. I hope in the end everyone is mature
enough to see how it is all silliness and that as athletes we
need to train and accept defeat, victory and judges’ decisions.
It’s not the first time and won’t be the last time
that there will be controversy and complaining.
Do
you intend to stay in the featherweight division?
I
don’t know yet. I want to talk about that with my teacher
Álvaro, my brother Tank and my teammates. But I’m
fine with a move down in weight. If I can keep up my strength
and train close to that weight, I believe I’ll show up as
a featherweight at upcoming events.
What
are your goals now?
Now
I’m going to return to Brazil and train even more. The title
is a thing of the past, and I want to be prepared to win my next
challenge on the mat, as always. I should be at the ADCC tryouts
in Brazil, the Brazilian Nationals, and then the Worlds. Then
I’ll spend some time conducting some seminars I have schedules
and some others that should crop up.
I
want to thank everyone for the messages providing incentive for
this competition! Atama, Copacabana USA, and Mazwar are my sponsors,
and I want to thank them for believing in me and supporting me
in winning.
Source: Gracie Magazine
|
Calasans
celebrates another win before fatherhood
The
big name from the 2010 World Pro, Claudio Calasans, had a solid
showing this season as well. Despite his defeat in the absolute
division prior to reaching the final, the Atos black belt did
take top spot in the under-83-kg weight class. Direct from Abu
Dhabi, Calasans spoke with GRACIEMAG.com.
What
did you make of your performance this year?
I
always go in there to do my best, and this time was no different.
The level at the event was really high, I only had tough fights.
I went in really focused, and in all the championships I enter,
win or lose, I analyze the mistakes I make to be sure they don’t
happen again, always striving for perfection with my Jiu-Jitsu.
What
was missing in the absolute this time?
I
think I needed to spend some more time adapting to the six-minute
match duration. We’d been training hard for the Pan and
the Euro, where the matches last ten minutes, although I know
full well I had the right stuff to win the title this time. Unfortunately,
in my fourth match – against Cobrinha – I attacked
the whole time but made a mistake where I couldn’t make
one. It wasn’t meant to be this year – there are plenty
of absolutes coming up down the road and I know that I have what
it takes to win any absolute I enter, regardless of the opponent.
That makes me very confident.
What
are your goals now?
The
Worlds is coming up, so I’m going to focus on it. I don’t
know if I’ll be in any events before then, but regardless,
I’m going to gear my training towards the Worlds. That’s
the title I’m missing from my mantel and I’m going
to train just right so I get there in the best shape possible,
better prepared than for any event I’ve ever been in. Whether
I’ll be in the absolute or not is not for certain, but I
might very well be in that too!
What
do you make of your match against Vinicius Corrales?
The
final was one more tough match among so many. I started out falling
behind in the very first minute. However, I was really confident
I would win and forged ahead single-mindedly going for victory
from start to finish. I was getting too used to having an easier
time, since I was coming off to wins in important finals at the
European Open and Pan, where I got the finish in my matches.
The end result is what counts, and thank God I’m managing
to stay at the top of my division.
I
want to thank everyone who has been involved in my wins: my teach,
Atos; the folks from my hometown of São José dos
Campos who are always rooting for me and helping me at the gym.
Shoot, there are a lot of people to thank, many friends who support
me and are always encouraging me regardless of results. My family
that roots for me from home, especially my wife, who is five-months
pregnant and who helps me to focus on my profession, holding
up the fort at home. I’m really happy with the results!
Thanks!
Source: Gracie Magazine
|
Man Up & Stand Up
Waipahu Filcom Center
Saturday April 23, 2011
Doors open at 6:00 pm
Das
right Man-up & Stand-up fans. It’s back one mo’
gen with another hamma card getting set to blow up. There’s
Ethan Kerfoot defending his title against Joseph Garcia the former
title holder. These young guns will be firing hooks, uppercuts,
straights, knees, leg kicks and the kitchen sink in this bout.
Joseph puts his punch-kick-knee combinations together like he
wrote the book. But actually his coaches wrote the book, he just
was forced to read it. Chee-hu. Ethan also puts it together good
but has crazy and speedy kicks that may cause a problem for Joseph.
Is Ethan’s last name Quickfoot or Kerfoot? Joseph and Ethan
have never met each other on the Man-up & Stand-up battlefield
but Joseph is ready to take back what is his (at least, that’s
his thoughts) hee hee hee. Ethan on the other hand isn’t
ready to give up the belt just yet because the belt and his abs
has been spending a lot of time with each other that they wanna
get married and be together forever. Man-up & Stand-up can’t
wait to see who’s the best man? Holla
Another
defense title will feature Thomas Mathias against Ola Lum. The last time these
two guys fought Ola slammed some major leg kicks to Thomas’s
thighs. Thomas threw some fancy spinning heel kicks that he saw
in a Jackie Chan movie and put on an impressive showcase of some
powerful and quick hand speed that made him retain the belt.
Thomas has some mean body shots but please believe that Ola has
some of his own. I think Ola just recently found his at O2. But
as always Thomas was like “the ring is a jungle gym to me,
I was just playing around”. Well, Thomas has a lot swings
that can be found in his jungle gym / playground. Ola isn’t
ready to take a seat with one of his swings, instead he’s
all for the “bring your title and let’s see who’s
the bully of the playground”. I hope you guys get your tickets
to watch King of the Jungle on April 23.
The
main event is all about when the street meets the ring. Jude
Kapua faces Andymar
Renon.
Awhh yeah, Jude has major street cred on the Westside. Big-small,
he bang um all. He holds the one blow k.o. title on the beaches
of the Westside, this 205 pounder packs a punch. He don’t
rely on the snap of the punch, he’s all for the follow thru
punch. Meaning, all the way thru. Andy has fought guys from 205
– 300lbs. so it’s nothing new to him. Andy knows that
the ring and the streets has its differences. The difference
is the ring is Andy’s house. In Andy’s house, there
is no falsing and there is no beer bottles to whip. But the only
beer bottles that Jude whips, is the ones attached to his wrists
and those ones don’t break. As for the falsing, the only
false that he will deliver that night, is the false statement
that Andymar defeats Jude. Come down and see if this story is
thru or false. One of O2’s best heavyweights Man’s-up
& Stand’s-up against one of the Westside’s most
well known ANYWEIGHT fighter in the ring where RULES, REFEREES
and RESPECT is law. To all the Man-up & Stand-up fans, bring
your ALOHA not your attitude.
Man-up
& Stand-up fans are in for a treat on this night because
the M.C./ rapper/ announcer Mike McNaab will put down his mic
and put on the gloves against the bring your windmills, I get
something for you fighter Nick Rivera. Nick is the humble fighter
who took a decision against another Westsider named Mike Eli
in a grudge match at the end of the year show. It was a battle
all three rounds. Hopefully this Mike isn’t thinking he’s
entering the ring for a freestyle battle. Heeheehee. These two
big boys will bring it and we not talking about cheeseburgers.
Nah. Nick is the Grudge match champ and believe it or not Mike
claims that he is the exhibition champ. Chee-hu. Mike is all
fun and games until the bell rings. So it’s time for the
M.C. to Man-up & Stand-up for three rounds of Nick Rivera
2011. Champion vs champion. Just check out this card if you need
a little persuading to buy a ticket. See you guys at the Waipahu
Filcom April 23rd when all of this goes down.
JOSEPH
GARCIA
160
ETHAN KERFOOT
THOMAS MATTIAS
140
OLA LUM
(O2 Martial Arts Academy)
NUI WHEELER
146
ISAAC HOPPS
(O2 Martial Arts Academy)
KAENA DESANTOS
65
GAVIN FLINT
MAKOA DESANTOS
100
KALAI KWAN
(O2 Martial Arts Academy)
NYLEN KUKAHIKO
75
RAD RAH-JAH BRASWELL
SHAWN DESANTOS
125
ELIAS VELASCO
JOSH MAHUKA
125
NALU KAWAILIMA
(O2 Martial Arts Academy)
NAZ HARRISON
100
JARON GUILLERMO
(O2 Martial Arts Academy)
NALU
120
DJ CASERIA
(O2 Martial Arts Academy)
ROB JOSEPH
180
CHRISTOPHER STOCKSTAD
RICKY PLUNKETT
150
JUSTIN
DULAY (O2 Martial Arts Academy)
KEONI CHANG
140
MIKE MORALES
NICK RIVERA
185
MIKE MCNAAB
MATT STONE
185
ROB CONNELL
VINNIE JUERKIN
165
KANIALA KUKAHIKO
JOSEPH ENAENA
165
LAWRENCE HINOJOSA
ANDYMAR
RENON (O2 Martial Arts Academy)
205
JUDE KAPUA
MANA MCCALLISTER
120
EUGENE
ANGUAY (O2 Martial Arts Academy)
TOFI MIKA
140
ANTHONY MURAKAMI
KESUKE TOMITA
145
TRAVIS MIRA
DAVE CORDEIRO
(O2 Martial Arts Academy)
185
JUSTIN FONOTI
ISAIAH PASCUA
135
DARRYL DANO
ALEX ANSPACH
145
HARVEY
AUSTIN JACOBSEN
125
AJ DEGUZMAN
All
matches & participants may be subject to change.
Source: Event Promoter
|
2011
Hawaii State Jr. Olympic Boxing Championships
Source: Wally Carvalho
|
Strikeforce
Diaz vs. Daley Fighter Salaries: Nick Diaz Tops Payouts
The California State Athletic Commission on Wednesday released
the fighter salary information for Strikeforce: Diaz vs. Daley.
The event took place Saturday night at the Valley View Casino
Center in San Diego.
Strikeforce
welterweight champion Nick Diaz floored Paul Daley to win the
main event, while lightweight champ Gilbert Melendez finished
Tatsuya Kawajiri in the co-main event.
The
following figures are based on the fighter salary information
that promoters are required by law to submit to the state athletic
commissions, including the winners’ bonuses.
Although
mixed martial arts fighters do not have collective bargaining
or a union, the fighters’ salaries are still public record,
just as with every other major sport in the United States. Any
undisclosed bonuses that a promoter also pays its fighters, but
does not disclose to the athletic commissions (specifically,
pay-per-view bonuses, fight of the night bonuses, etc.), are
not included in the figures below.
STRIKEFORCE
DIAZ VS. DALEY MAIN CARD FIGHTERS
-Nick Diaz: $175,000 (no win bonus) def. Paul Daley: $65,000
-Gilbert Melendez: $150,000 (no win bonus) def. Tatsuya Kawajiri:
$97,612.50
-Gegard Mousasi: $150,000 drew with Keith Jardine: $25,000
-Shinya Aoki: $73,637.50 (no win bonus) def. Lyle Beerbohm: $10,000
STRIKEFORCE
DIAZ VS. DALEY PRELIMINARY CARD FIGHTERS
-Robert Peralta: $4,000 (includes $2,000 win bonus) def. Hiroyuki
Takaya: $2,740
-Virgil Zwicker: $3,000 (includes $1,000 win bonus) def. Brett
Albee: $1,000
-Joe Duarte: $2,000 (includes $1,000 win bonus) def. Saad Awad:
$1,500
-Herman Terrado: $1,500 (includes $500 win bonus) def. AJ Matthews:
$1,000
-Rolando Perez: $3,000 (includes $1,000 win bonus) def. Edgar
Cardenas: $1,000
-Casey Ryan: $2,000 (includes $1,000 win bonus) def. Paul Song:
$750
STRIKEFORCE
DIAZ VS. DALEY DISCLOSED FIGHTER PAYROLL: $769,740
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Champions,
Featherweight Semifinals Top 8-Fight Bellator 41 Card
Bellator Fighting Championships’ 145-and-under set will
be on display Saturday night, when Bellator 41 hosts a pair of
non-title bouts featuring the company’s featherweight and
bantamweight champions, as well as two 145-pound tournament semifinals.
The
promotion on Wednesday released the full eight-bout bill for
the MTV2-televised event, which emanates from Cocopah Resort
and Casino in Yuma, Ariz.
Headlining
the main card is 145-pound champion Joe Warren, who meets Ring
of Combat featherweight titlist Marcos Galvao in a 137-pound
catchweight affair. The action will be Warren’s first since
the hard-nosed wrestler claimed his gold from Joe Soto last September.
Galvao enters on a three-fight win streak and has not been defeated
since his 2009 exit from World Extreme Cagefighting.
In
the co-main event, Bellator bantamweight ace Zach Makovsky faces
unbeaten Texan Chad Robichaux. The 28-year-old champion went
6-0 in 2010, last entering the cage in October, when he notched
a five-round unanimous decision over Ed West in the third-season
tournament final. Robichaux, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt,
fought just once last year, taking a narrow split decision in
his Strikeforce debut against Humberto DeLeon.
Rounding
out the televised card are both semifinals in Bellator’s
Season 4 featherweight tournament. Brazilians Patricio “Pitbull”
Freire and Wilson Reis will square off in a rematch of the second-season
semis, while Team Bombsquad product Kenny Foster meets the streaking
Daniel Straus.
The
four-fight local undercard consists of a heavyweight bout between
Rudy Aguilar and Carlos Flores; a bantamweight tilt pitting Anthony
Birchak against Tyler Bialecki; a featherweight contest featuring
Michael Parker and Nick Piedmont; and a middleweight duel between
Brendan Tierney and Dano Moore.
Source: Sherdog
|
Rafael
'Feijao' Cavalcante vs. Ovince St. Preux Targeted for July1
By Ariel
Helwani
Strikeforce is targeting a light heavyweight fight between former
205-pound champion Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante and Ovince
St. Preux at a yet to be announced July event, MMA Fighting has
learned from sources close to the fight.
Feijao
vs. OSP has been discussed by all parties involved, however,
Strikeforce officials recently told MMA Fighting that "nothing
(is) finalized" just yet.
Cavalcante
(10-3) lost his title to Dan Henderson in March via third-round
TKO. He won the title last August when he defeated Muhammed Lawal
via third-round TKO.
St-Preux
(10-4) went 7-0 in 2010. He most recently scored a unanimous
decision win over Abongo Humphrey in January.
Recent
reports stated that St-Preux would be facing Lawal at Strikeforce's
June 18 event, but according to sources close to both fighters,
that fighter was never close to being signed.
MMARising.com
recently reported that Lawal would instead be facing Roger Gracie
on a July 9 card, which could be the same one to feature Feijao
vs. OSP.
Source: MMA Fighting
|
Eye
Injury Keeps Soto’s Future Cloudy
by Joe
Myers
There
is nothing worse for a mixed martial artist than being forced
to sit on the sidelines, which is what former Bellator Fighting
Championships featherweight titleholder Joe Soto has to do right
now.
“I
miss [fighting] a lot,” said Soto, who suffered a detached
retina during his second-round knockout loss to Joe Warren at
Bellator 27 in September. “It’s really hard not to
be able to do what I love in life. It’s like having a blessing
taken away from you.”
In
the days following the Warren loss, Soto -- a member of the North
California Fighting Alliance team -- started to develop black
spots in his field of vision, smaller at first but larger as
the days went by. After finally relenting and visiting a specialist,
he underwent immediate surgery due to the severity of his career-threatening
injury.
Recovery
from the surgery has been a long process, and the 24-year-old
Soto will have to undergo another surgical procedure later this
year.
“Immediately
after the surgery, it really sucked,” Soto told Sherdog.com.
“I couldn’t lift my head for two weeks after the surgery.
I could start looking up some after two weeks, but little things
would make me dizzy. I’m not sure how long it took for my
vision to get back to normal, but I’ve been working out
since January. I’ve been cleared to grapple, but I’m
not doing any live sparring.”
Before
the stunning knockout at Warren’s hands, Soto had won the
first nine fights of his career dating back to July 2006. He
made his Bellator debut at the promotion’s inaugural event
in April 2009, knocking out Ben Greer in the first round. He
followed that win with a unanimous decision victory over EliteXC
veteran Wilson Reis at Bellator 6 in May 2009 and submitted Yahir
Reyes in the second round at Bellator 10 in June 2009 to win
Bellator’s 145-pound championship. Soto, who has eight finishes
among his nine wins, followed his title win with a first-round
submission of Mike Christensen at Tachi Palace Fights 1 in October
2009 and a technical knockout of Diego Saraiva at Bellator 19
in May 2010.
Nicknamed
“The Hammer,” Soto wrestled collegiately at Iowa Central
Community College alongside a pair of current UFC champions:
heavyweight Cain Velasquez and light heavyweight Jon Jones. His
transition to MMA had gone according to script, until the injury.
While Soto’s eye has progressed since September’s surgery,
a return to competition is still a long way away.
“Eventually,
like in September, I’m going to have to have another surgery
on my eye,” said Soto. “I was told in February that
my retina is still attached and in good shape, but we still have
to make sure cataracts don’t develop and everything is OK
with my cornea. Hopefully, I can get cleared by my eye doctor
in the next month or two.”
Whether
or not Soto will fight again remains up in the air, but he does
not want for his loss to Warren to be MMA fans’ final image
of him.
“Whether
I fight again or not is still to be decided, but I think I will,”
said Soto. “I want to be out there in the cage doing things.
I know I can beat most of the best 145-pounders out there, and
it’s tough for me to see them out there and not have a chance
to take them on. However, I have to be realistic because I’ve
got to heal from these eye surgeries. If I can come through the
next surgery fine, I hope to be back by the end of the year.”
Source: Shedog
|
Anderson
vs Okami official for UFC Rio; coach says Silva is “motivated”
And
the rumors just became news today, as UFC president Dana White
announced, via USA Today, that Anderson Silva will put his middleweight
title on the line against Yushin Okami, on UFC Rio.
The
battle, set to take place at HSBC Arena, on August 27th, is a
rematch from Silva’s last loss, back in 2006 (at Rumble
on the Rock welterweight GP semifinal).
It’s
a perfect chance for the Brazilian to exclude any kind of doubt
that might be about his superiority towards the Japanese, since
Okami’s win came by disqualification, when Anderson knocked
him out with an illegal upkick.
Anderson
Silva’s coach in Rio de Janeiro, Josuel Distak always said
his athlete is moved by excitement and that he feels motivated
surrounded by great challenges. But is the Japanese a big challenge
which can threaten the champion?
“The
sport has evolved and Anderson evolved too, so it’s hard
for Okami now. I don’t see an extra motivation for Anderson,
he’ll train like he always does, whether it’s Okami
or anybody else. The only think is that Okami set good game plans,
but Anderson can also be strategic on the octagon… For Anderson
it’ll be 100% aggressive”, he said.
“Looking
the fight by Okami’s side, he has to set a good game plan
for Anderson, because (Anderson) is the best pound by pound ever,
there’s no arguing on that”, said Distak, who revealed
what will be Spider’s greatest motivational factor.
“I
guess the thing that motivates Anderson the most for this bout
would be if it was here in Brazil. If it actually happens, Anderson
will be a lot motivated, he’ll be fighting at home. I believe
that’s his motivation for Okami”, finished Josuel.
Source: Tatame
|
Anderson
Silva vs. Yushin Okami on Tap for UFC Brazil in August
Anderson
Silva vs. Georges St-Pierre? Not so fast.
It
appears the UFC has switched gears away from the proposed super
fight and opted to put middleweight champion Anderson Silva in
against the last man to technically hold a win over him, Yushin
Okami, at UFC Rio in Brazil on Aug. 27.
UFC
president Dana White confirmed the bout to USA Today on Wednesday.
Okami
earned a title shot by defeating Nate Marquardt last year, but
after Silva dispatched of Vitor Belfort in February, most thought
the next fight on the horizon for the champ would be a battle
to be declared the sport’s undisputed pound-for-pound best
fighter in a match-up against St-Pierre.
St-Pierre
of course still has a fight coming up at UFC 129 against Jake
Shields. If he is to ever face Silva, it now appears to be a
little farther off than many fans had hoped for.
Okami
gets his second shot at Silva after an illegal up-kick from the
Brazilian brought an abrupt end to their first fight at Rumble
on the Rock in 2006. After being taken down by Okami early in
the fight, Silva launched a head kick that knocked out the Japanese
fighter, leaving him unable to continue.
Okami
was declared the winner, and that was the last time Silva had
a blemish on his record. Now they will look to settle the score
in Brazil.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Dana
White: My competition goes beyond MMA
By Sergio
Non, USA TODAY
Recommend Other mixed martial arts promotions don't rate as rivals
in the Ultimate Fighting Championship's eyes.
"It's
hilarious to me that when all the media and the fans talk about
... Strikeforce and Affliction and IFL and all these other guys
that were out there," UFC President Dana White says. "My
competition is the NFL. My competition is Major League Baseball.
My competition is these other networks."
USA
TODAY spoke to White on Wednesday about several topics, including
his company's upcoming Toronto debut with UFC 129, managing growth
and giving reporters access to his events. Excerpts from the
conversation:
Georges
St. Pierre is fighting Jake Shields is your main event. If GSP
wins this, does he get any consideration as No. 1 pound-for-pound
in your book, or is Anderson Silva a lock there until he loses?
This
Jake Shields fight is a much bigger fight for Georges St. Pierre
than people realize. I know Georges St. Pierre knows it. A lot
of people who exactly know what they're talking about and know
what they're doing, know what a serious fight this Jake Shields
fight is for him and how tough it really is.
There's
no doubt that in my book he's the No. 2 pound-for-pound guy in
the world. But it's hard to knock Anderson Silva off that.
That's
why, if both these guys win their fights, we do the pound-for-pound
fight.
Dana
White has been president of the Ultimate Fighting Championship
since 2001. So until Anderson loses, you're keeping him at No.
1?
Yeah,
exactly.
So
is Anderson vs. Yushin Okami set for Rio? Is that the deal?
Yeah.
Co-main
event at UFC 129, you've got Jose Aldo vs. Mark Hominick. Who
fights the winner of that fight?
Let's
see who wins. ... Obviously, it'd be a different fight if Aldo
wins; it'd probably be a different fight if Hominick wins. We'll
see.
In
the past, you offered Aldo a fight at 155. If Aldo wins, how
much longer do you think he stays at 145?
That's
a good question. He's definitely a guy who could win titles in
both weight classes.
Can
you see him fighting a guy like Frankie Edgar? I know Frankie
has a fight coming up, but just purely from a match-up standpoint?
In
the future, yeah, he could definitely fight him. No doubt about
it. At '55 or '45.
Do
you think Frankie has any interest in dropping down, now that
you've absorbed the featherweight division?
No,
he actually gets mad at me when I talk about it, and say he's
in the wrong weight class, he should be in a totally different
weight class. He gets bummed out when I say that.
It
used to be a money issue, but now that 145 is in UFC, it shouldn't
be, right?
Well,
there's probably still bigger fights and bigger money fights
at (155). But definitely him and Jose Aldo's big.
Probably
the third fight that people are really looking at on this card
is Randy Couture-Lyoto Machida. But what do you do with these
guys after this fight? Does the winner get closer to a title
eliminator? What do you do with a guy like Randy?
I've
been saying it forever: I still think Randy's one of the 10 best
fighters in the world at 205 pounds. We'll see what happens between
him and Machida.
Again,
I don't like talking about what guys are going to do after this
fight. I don't look past fights. I know they don't. I don't either.
... There's so many different things. I don't know.
What
do you like about the Randy-Machida style matchup?
Machida's
style that made him Machida and kept him undefeated for so many
years -- it almost seems like that style has been backfiring
on him lately. I'm interested to see how he comes out and reinvents
himself in this Couture fight and how he looks.
The
thing about Couture that I love, he is the master of figuring
out game plans on how to beat people. He really does. If he can
go out there and beat Lyoto Machida, it's so huge for his legacy
and everything else.
You
seem to be a bit more open to the idea of interpromotional fights
if fans wants it. Which Strikeforce champ could you see getting
first crack at a UFC star?
I'm
not in the interpromotional fights now ...
Well,
which Strikeforce fighter will we see in UFC?
If
guys' contracts expire over there, I can sign them.
But
you still wouldn't bring, say, Gilbert Melendez in to fight one
of your top guys in UFC?
Not
until his contract's up.
What
if his contract allows it? Scott Coker says there's no contractual
impediment to having Strikeforce guys fighting in UFC.
I
agree, but we have a contract with Showtime. I could see going
that way before I could see guys coming this way.
So
you could send, say, Randy to fight Dan Henderson?
(chuckles)
That's funny.
Just
throwing that out there.
Hey,
you know my position on the friends thing.
You
decided to attend Strikeforce's first major show after the acquisition.
You said you didn't want to make people feel uncomfortable in
the locker room. When did you decide that wouldn't happen if
you showed up?
I
didn't go to the first (Challengers) show. ... Listen, I own
the (freaking) thing. At some point, you've got to get over it,
you know what I mean?
So
who's more powerful, you or Lorenzo Fertitta?
(chuckles)
If you really want to get into it, I guess if it came down to
that, Lorenzo owns more of the company than I do. But it's really
not like that.
Lorenzo
and I have a great relationship. And Frank (Fertitta). If you're
going to have the most powerful people, it would have to be the
three of us.
He
(Frank Fertitta) focuses on Stations (Casinos), but when we're
making big decisions, he's involved.
How
do you divide up responsibility day-to-day?
It
all just kind of works out. We have our things that we're either
good at or not good at, and things we like to do and don't like
to do. The way it works out, it's perfect.
When
you think about it, to make something successful, you have to
have all the right ingredients, and one of the biggest things
is the relationship itself. ... First and foremost, we're friends
and we have a great relationship. We just get (crap) done.
So
what are you good at?
Who
knows? Who knows what I'm good at. I don't know. I love this
(crap) and for me to sit around and talk about what I think I'm
good at is a little weird for me.
Well,
you said that's how you divide it up. So...
Yeah,
we do. We do.
Here's
what I'm not good at: Sitting in (freaking) meetings all day.
I don't have the attention span. I've got ADD. So I can't sit
in meetings all day.
Lorenzo?
Lorenzo's a meeting machine. He knocks out all these meetings.
Then me and Lorenzo get together later and he updates me on what
happens in these meetings, and we pull the trigger and make decisions.
Now
that you just bought your biggest remaining rival, do you feel
like you have to pay attention to what anybody else thinks anymore?
Who
was I paying attention to before?
I
don't know. You tell me.
I
didn't. I haven't paid attention to anybody. Never, in the whole
time that I was doing this. We kept our head down and kept doing
our thing.
Six
years ago, you and Pride Fighting Championships were the two
biggest MMA companies on the planet. If Pride hadn't run into
its own troubles and remained viable, there still might be two
big companies instead of one. Is that a situation you could have
lived with?
Yeah.
We lived with it for a long time. ... The reality is, there really
hasn't been anything (as a credible rival) since Pride.
Pride
was the one that was the big competition. They put on all these
big fights. They actually created stars, much like we do.
Could
I have lived with that? I did live with it. I lived with it for
years.
It's
fun. I like the competition. I love it. I (freaking) thrive on
it. That's the (crap) that gets me up in the morning. Make no
(freaking) mistake about it. I am a competitor and I like to
compete.
And
we do it in lots of things. It's not just other organizations
that are out there or other fight companies.
It's
for pay-per-view numbers. For ratings on television. For sponsorships.
For everything. Everything that you do when you own business
is you compete.
Not
to mention the fact that I also feel like we compete against
other sports leagues. We look at other sports leagues and say,
"Ok, we can be this big or bigger. How do we do it? How
do we get up every day and work and push the envelope and take
it to the next level?"
It's
hilarious to me that when all the media and the fans talk about
stuff -- when you guys talk about Strikeforce and Affliction
and IFL and all these other guys that were out there. Come on,
if that's seriously what you guys think is our (freaking) competition,
you guys are (freaking) way out of the loop. Way, way, way, way
out of the (freaking) loop.
My
competition is the NFL. My competition is Major League Baseball.
My competition is these other networks.
I
look much bigger than that.
You
like to control things in your business. At what do you think
the business becomes too big for you and your partners to continue
exercising the kind of control over the product that you prefer?
Never.
You can't do that. You can't let that happen. The day you lose
control of your business is the day you lose control of your
business.
Right.
But some guys deal with it just by capping their own growth.
We'll
never do that. We'll never be those guys.
We'll
never be the guys that were sitting in some ivory tower and we
don't know what's going on downstairs; don't know what's going
on in Toronto, don't know what's going on over in London; don't
know what's going on over in Beijing.
We're
on top of everything, every second of every day. We don't take
days off. There's no such thing as a day off. There's no holidays.
There's nothing. We're on the phone, and all we do is eat, sleep
and breathe this every day, all day. That's all we do.
I
understand that, but there's no rapidly growing business that
doesn't reach a point where it's hard to manage. What's that
point for Zuffa?
I
don't know. We keep going. We keep pushing. We keep moving on.
We keep building the sport.
I
just can't see that day happening. I won't let it happen. Neither
will Lorenzo; Lorenzo's not built that way either.
And
finally, something that's been generating some discussion in
recent days -- Sports Illustrated did something on it -- regarding
your media credentialing. Now that UFC's credential policies
have been extended to Strikeforce, some folks (Loretta Hunt,
Josh Gross and Sherdog.com staff) that used to cover Strikeforce
now can't...
Why
can't they? Nobody said they couldn't.
Right,
but can't as a credentialed journalist.
They
could buy a ticket. Listen -- and credentials? I don't have to
credential anybody. Credentials aren't mandatory. Credentials
are at our discretion on who we want to credential.
It
doesn't stop them from covering the event at all. She could have
absolutely flown out, got a ticket to the fight and covered the
event, and then gone back to the host hotel and interviewed every
fighter on Earth. There's no way that she couldn't have covered
it. And same thing with Josh or whoever else who's part of that
thing.
Let
me just make sure I make the record clear here. There's all these
things out there where, "Dana White didn't like stories
that they wrote because the stories they wrote wouldn't go in
his PR press clip."
Are
you (freaking) kidding me? Far from it. There's been lots of
people that say bad things.
It's
one thing if you give your opinion and your opinion is accurate
and based on fact, which makes you a real journalist, but you
have to understand a lot of these people ... I've never had any
dealings with you where you've act(ed) unprofessional and where
you've done things, as far as media goes, were bush league. Both
of them have.
Both
of them have, and have numerous times. It goes way back to the
days before this stuff was even covered by USA TODAY or any of
the other majors. It was back in the bush-league days, and these
guys did some stuff that was dirty -- dirty, dirty, dirty --
and very unprofessional.
And
they will not be credentialed in a company that I run. Period.
End of story. People can sit around and cry about it or whatever.
In
no way shape or form do I stop these guys from covering the sport.
There's many other ways to cover the sport. There's lots of people
who don't get credentialed for lots of sporting events who still
cover the sport and figure it out. They're just going to have
to get off their lazy (butt)s and figure it out themselves.
I'm
not sending a limo to pick them up, all-access credential and
everything else, for them to see a UFC or Strikeforce event.
The
counterargument to that is if Zuffa wants mainstream acceptance,
then it ought to let mainstream outlets like CBS or ESPN determine
who covers events. The NFL doesn't single out individual reporters
from covering an event. Why not let CBS or ESPN determine who
they want to send?
Are
you sure about that, that other leagues don't (ban individual
reporters)? You don't think they have problems with some reporters
that have done bad stuff that popped up from the Internet somewhere?
Me
and my partners are in this business now almost 11 years, back
when the Internet was just booming. A lot of these guys who are
now so-called reporters came from these crappy little websites.You
think these guys were making money off content, meaning off stories
they wrote? No, they used to sell UFC DVDs and they used to sell
all kinds of other merchandise on their sites, which is how they
made their money, which is how this entire beef started.
Believe
me, if I really sit down -- and maybe I'll do it with somebody
on camera sometime -- and explain where these people came from,
and how this beef really started, it's actually pretty sickening.
And a lot of people -- if not everybody, including all the journalists
-- I think would absolutely 100% agree with me and take my side.
I
don't give a (crap). I don't give a (crap) what anybody thinks.
I don't care. I can decide who gets a credential and who doesn't.
ESPN should be more careful about who they hire.
Listen,
how many times have you interviewed me? Leading up to a fight,
I do 1,000 interviews. Do you think I go and read them all? Do
you think that I care? If I cared, I wouldn't talk like this.
This wouldn't be my response. My response would be something
that my attorney wrote.
Your
opinion tomorrow in USA TODAY could be, "I can't stand this
guy; he's a moron; he's an idiot; he's this and he's that."
That's your opinion. You can think whatever you want of me.
But
if you went out and started writing stuff about my company that
was untrue; and that you didn't do your homework and was absolutely
wrong? Then yes, I would have a very big problem with you.
Source: USA Today
|
Rashad
Evans Decides Against Training at One Specific Gym for Jon Jones
Fight
By Ariel
Helwani
Instead of joining a new camp, Rashad Evans has decided to train
in several different locations in preparation for his light heavyweight
title fight against Jon Jones.
Glenn
Robinson, Evans manager at Authentic Sports Management, confirmed
with MMA Fighting on Wednesday that "Suga" is "not
going to train at one specific place" for the Jones fight.
"(Evans)
is going to do a private training camp headed by Coach (Mike)
Van Arsdale," Robinson said.
Robinson
added that Evans' camp will officially kick off in "a couple
of weeks," while the light heavyweight showdown between
the former training partners is still scheduled to take place
in late September or early October.
While
all the details surrounding Evans' training camp are still not
finalized, here is what Robinson was able to share:
Evans
will work with Van Arsdale in Arizona, he will spend time in
South Florida at Imperial Athletics with fighters like Antonio
"Bigfoot" Silva and he will also train "up north"
in either New York or Montreal.
While
Evans already announced that he will no longer be training at
Greg Jackson's camp in New Mexico -- Jones' current gym -- Robinson
was able to confirm that his client will not be training at the
Grudge Training Center in Colorado, which is affiliated with
Jackson's, either for this fight.
Van
Arsdale, a former UFC fighter, will serve as Evans' unofficial
head coach. The duo have been working together for several years,
and Van Arsdale was an assistant coach when Evans was a coach
on the tenth season of The Ultimate Fighter.
Source: MMA Fighting
|
'Cyborg'-Saffiedine
In the Works for July Strikeforce
by Mike
Whitman
It appears Strikeforce is once again eying a welterweight bout
featuring Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos and Tarec Saffiedine.
Originally
rumored in February, the pair was initially expected to square
off at Strikeforce “Feijao vs. Henderson” on March
5. That booking fell through, however, and the show went on without
a 'Cyborg'-Saffiedine throwdown.
After
a report was filed on MMAJunkie.com on Tuesday asserting that
interest in the match-up had been reignited, Sherdog.com confirmed
with a source close to one of the fighters that verbal agreements
are in place for a to-be-named event in the future, likely an
upcoming July show.
While
there has been no official word from the promotion regarding
either the welterweight affair or the July event, the show is
also rumored to play host to a catch-weight contest between Fedor
Emelianenko and current Strikeforce 205-pound champion Dan Henderson.
Santos
was last seen going toe-to-toe with Strikeforce welterweight
king Nick Diaz in an action-packed main event in January. Though
“Cyborg” gave an excellent account of himself in just
his second career effort at 170-pounds, he ultimately fell victim
to a Diaz armbar late in the second round. The loss snapped a
two-fight winning streak for the Brazilian, including a knockout
victory over Dream welterweight champ Marius Zaromskis last year.
Considered
one of MMA's brightest welterweight up-and-comers, Saffiedine
comes off a close, unanimous decision defeat at the hands of
fellow prospect Tyron Woodley at Strikeforce “Challengers
13” in January. Prior to that defeat, “The Sponge”
had rattled off consecutive victories in 2010 over the likes
of James Terry, Nate Moore and Brock Larson. Saffiedine, 24,
is a native Belgian and holds half of his career wins by submission.
Source: Sherdog
|
Diego
Sanchez Competes in Grappling Tournament During UFC Fan Expo
Diego Sanchez has his next fight set. Well sort of.
The
former “Ultimate Fighter” winner and one time Abu Dhabi
grappling competitor will return to his roots during the UFC
129 weekend and compete in a 4-man grappling tournament.
Sanchez
will square off with Canadian grappler Andrew McInnes in the
first round of the tournament, while Ryan Hall meets Jorge Britto.
The
opening round matches will take place on Friday, April 29 starting
at 1:30pm ET, and the final match takes place on Saturday, April
30 at 1:30pm ET.
Also
taking part in the grappling extravaganza will be famed trainer
and jiu-jitsu instructor Fabio Holanda as he takes on seven time
Grappler’s Quest champion Nolan Dutch in a special super
fight on Saturday, April 30 at 1:30pm ET.
The
four man tournament is presented by Grappler’s Quest as
a part of the UFC Fan Expo taking place at the Direct Energy
Center in Toronto.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Today
Competitor Fees:
Adults: $70
Kids: $50
Register at www.hawaiitriplecrown.com
Location:
Kaiser High School Gym
Event
Schedule:
Kids
Weigh-Ins: 8.30 t0 9.30 am
Adult
Weigh-Ins: 9.30 to 11.30 am
Source: Event Promoter
|
Results!
MMA 170 3x5
Bryson Kamaka vs. Thomas Sedano
No contest due to finger poke in the eye.
Lightweight
Championship
MMA 155 3x5
Edward Matsuura def. Kaleo
Kwan (O2 Martial Arts Academy)
Split decision
*Matsuura becomes new Destiny Lightweight Champion
MMA
Heavyweight tournament finals 3x3
Paea Paongo def. Ola Faamau
TKO via referee stoppage in round 1.
*Paea Paongo wins Heavyweight Tournament
Amateur
Lightweight Championship
MMA 155 3x3
Lowen Tynanes def Koa Ramelb
TKO via Referee stoppage round 3 due to towel thrown in by corner.
*Lowen Tynanes becomes Amateur Lightweight Champion.
MMA
145 3x3
Ian Dela Cuesta def. Colin Mackenzie
TKO via ref stopoage in round 2.
MMA
125 2x3
Cory Freitas def. Jacob Kauwe
Decision after a 3rd over time round
MMA
170 2x3
Kamu Kapuni def. Markus Kinblad
Decision
MMA
145 2x3
Cody Santos def Ken Sato
TKO via Referee stoppage in round 2.
MMA
155 2x3
George Perry def Tyler Pavao
Decision
Kickboxing
130 3x2
Nainoa Mesiona def. Denzel Davis
Decision
MMA
Heavyweight tournament semi-finals 3x3
Ola Faamau def. Terrence Taanoa
TKO via Referee storage in round 3.
MMA
Heavyweighttournament semi-finals 3x3
Paea Paongo def. Chris Barnard
TKO via Referee storage in round 2.
MMA
125 2 x 3
Matt Aoki def. Alika Kumukoa
Submission via D'arce choke in round 1
Kickboxing:
3x2
Tristin Kamaka def isaiah waller
By decision
|
Nate
Marquardt vs. Anthony Johnson Set as Main Event for UFC on Versus
4 Card
by Damon
Martin
The UFC’s first event in Pittsburgh finally has a main event.
It will feature the debut of a former middleweight title contender
at welterweight.
Nate
Marquardt has agreed to meet Anthony Johnson in the headline
fight for the upcoming UFC on Versus 4 card set to go down on
June 26 at the Consol Energy Center.
The
bout was confirmed to MMAWeekly.com by sources close to the match-up
on Wednesday, with verbal agreements in place for the June bout.
The UFC later confirmed the bout, as well.
Marquardt
(31-10-2) recently discussed the possibility of moving down to
welterweight, and now the decision appears to have been made.
A former title contender at 185 pounds, Marquardt has gone 2-2
in his last four fights. He will now face a new challenge in
the welterweight division.
While
he’s cutting to 170 pounds, his first opponent may make
him feel like he’s still fighting at middleweight.
Anthony
Johnson (9-3) steps back into action after a successful return
in March, where he dominated former title contender Dan Hardy.
Johnson had been out of action for over a year dealing with knee
injuries, but now gets a chance to face one of the UFC’s
best in a featured bout on the UFC on Versus 4 card.
The
UFC on Versus 4 show takes place at the Consol Energy Center
in Pittsburgh on June 26.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Strikeforce
'Diaz vs. Daley' Nets 528,000 Viewers
by Mike
Whitman
Strikeforce
“Diaz vs. Daley” netted an average of 528,000 viewers
during its April 9 broadcast on Showtime.
The
broadcast, which aired live on the premium cable network at 10
p.m. ET, peaked on Saturday night with 806,000 viewers. The numbers
represent a marked rebound from Strikeforce's last major event,
“Feijao vs. Henderson,” which earned an average of
412,000 viewers.
Headlined
by an exciting welterweight title fight between champion Nick
Diaz and heavy-handed challenger Paul Daley, Strikeforce's April
9 event emanated from the Valley View Casino Center in San Diego,
Calif.
Prior
to the back-and-forth main event that saw Diaz finish Daley by
TKO, Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez further
staked his claim as one of the world's best lightweights. “El
Nino” crushed challenger Tatsuya Kawajiri, flooring the
Japanese powerhouse and finishing the former Shooto champ with
elbows from top position.
Former
UFC talent Keith Jardine also gave a good account of himself,
despite taking his fight with Dream titleholder Gegard Mousasi
on just one week's notice. Though “The Dean of Mean”
sustained heavy damage during the light heavyweight contest with
the Dutch-Armenian, Jardine pushed forward to earn a majority
draw, benefiting from a point deduction handed to Mousasi after
an illegal up-kick in round one.
Shinya
Aoki also returned to his winning ways in the first televised
bout of the evening, as “Tobikan Judan” easily submitted
Lyle Beerbohm with a rear neck crank, handing “Fancy Pants”
his second-consecutive defeat.
Source: Sherdog
|
Yamato-Damashii
Diaries - Day 1: Tokyo to Fukushima
By Daniel
Herbertson
In the wake of the March 11 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, former
Shooto heavyweight champion and Pride veteran Enson Inoue has
been on a one-man charity mission, traveling to northeast Japan
to directly help those in need.
For
his next visit to the Tohoku region, MMA Fighting joined Inoue
to document the journey and bring new light to the ongoing crisis
in Japan.
On
day one, we made our way from Tokyo to Fukushima through ongoing
earthquakes, attempted to deal with massive funding issues and
we met the man who introduced Enson Inoue to the Japanese underworld.
Enson
Inoue is an interesting character.
Born
in Hawaii and of Japanese descent, he is the former Shooto heavyweight
champion and a Pride FC veteran. He is the man who brought Brazilian
Jiu-Jitsu to Japan and submitted UFC legend Randy Couture in
his prime in under two minutes. His fighting style and "Yamato-damashii"
or "samurai spirit," led to him developing close relations
with the Japanese mafia -- the heavily tattooed "yakuza."
In 2008, Inoue (now also heavily tattooed) was caught by police
with 16.9 grams of marijuana, and after 28 days spent in jail,
was sentenced to a 10-month suspended sentence and three years
of probation. With this resume, it would be easy to write Enson
Inoue off as a violent gangster. But that is not Enson Inoue.
Inoue's
work following the March 11 magnitude 9.0 earthquake and subsequent
tsunami in the Tohoku region of Japan is more indicative of his
character. In an interview with MMA Fighting, he revealed details
of an astounding one-man charity mission where Inoue, despite
many pleading with him not to travel through the radiation leaking
from the badly damaged Fukushima nuclear power plants, traveled
solo to devastated cities and evacuation centers, providing much
needed relief to those left stranded and without support from
charities organizations.
The
response to the interview detailing Inoue's work was overwhelming.
In one day, over 250 donations rolled in for a total of $14,000
and after two more days that total reached $27,000. Enson's promise
that 100 percent of all donations would go directly to earthquake
and tsunami victims was exactly what many people wanted to hear.
It was also exactly what the victims needed.
This
stunning influx of funds led to a couple of things.
Firstly,
with almost 10 times the budget of his first trip to the Tohoku
region, Inoue would be able to reach a lot more people and do
a lot more work.
Secondly,
it highlighted to me that the Western media was too focused on
the nuclear problem at Fukushima and not focused on the ongoing
human problem. The individual stories of the Japanese people
were not being heard.
With
these things in mind, I met with Inoue (during an evening in
the infamous club district Roppongi that was fitting of a retired
fighter with Mafia ties) and proposed that I accompany him on
his next trip to the quake and tsunami affected Tohoku region
to document his work and hopefully bring in more supporters of
his cause.
Fast
forward to Monday, April 11 when I received a call from Inoue.
"Hey
bro," he started in his unique accent. A Hawaiian/Japanese
hybrid. "Can you meet me in Utsunomiya in two hours?"
Utsunomiya
was more than two hours away from my apartment in Shinjuku, Tokyo,
but I said, "I'll be there as soon as I can," and quickly
packed my bags and called my family in Australia to inform them
that, "I'll be traveling around that nuclear power plant
that is melting down with a fighter who has ties with the mafia.
I don't know how long I'll be gone, and I may be difficult to
get a hold of for a while."
It
actually sat with my family surprising well.
Getting
to Utsunomiya to meet Enson was much more difficult than I expected.
Just as I made my way out the door of my Shinjuku apartment,
a 7.1 earthquake hit Fukushima (my destination). To make matters
worse, I attempted to withdraw money to fund my travels but was
thwarted by my bank card. The expiring date read, "03/2011."
I had around $50 in my wallet and no other way to get any money.
The only way to get cash was to wire it to another Japanese account
and that would take several days.
Still,
despite my money issues, and the fact that my destination was
currently shaking and glowing with radiation, I was determined
to press on.
I'm
not particularly proud of it, but due to my financial troubles
I was forced to pull the "gaijin sumashu." The technique,
which translates to "foreigner smash," is to initially
buy the cheapest ticket just to get through the gates and to
then, on your arrival, claim to have lost your ticket and pretend
that came from a nearby station. If questioned by station staff
you speak English very quickly and walk through the gates while
the staff try to make sense of what you are saying. Hence the
name: "foreigner smash." The end result is a journey
costing only $1 or $2 when it usually costs much more. Again,
I'm not proud of it, but I had no other option.
After
many hours of illegally working my way north through ongoing
earthquakes and subsequent train stoppages, I finally made it
to meet Enson and his ominous looking black H2 Hummer. The CD
in the car was "Celine Dion – My Heart Will Go On."
I didn't expect that.
Enson
was fuming when I met him. The $27,000 that was donated to his
account had been frozen by PayPal as he had not provided proof
that he was a non-profit organization.
"But
I'm not an NPO! I'm just one guy and all those people wanted
to give me money to help those people! I don't get it? I never
tried to be a charity. I just said that I'm going to pass the
money and support on!"
With
his PayPal account frozen, Enson not only had no access to the
donations, he also had no access to all his other money from
his rosary making business. Funds that were also for the people
of Tohoku.
Despite
the wishes of the hundreds who tried to help, Enson would have
to fund this trip with his own cash for the mean time. He was
forced to return all of the donations, and had friends working
on the PayPal issue, but as we were now making our way into Fukushima,
it seemed folly to focus on legal matters.
Our
first destination was Koriyama, Fukushima. Koriyama is the town
that Enson first lived in when he came to Japan 21 years ago.
A city of 340,000 that is situated around 45 miles from the radiating
Fukushima power plants, Koriyama had a few buildings badly damaged
by the quake but was not affected by the tsunami. Due to the
ill-tempered nuclear power plant though, the town seemed largely
deserted.
After
arriving late and dropping off our things in a hotel, we went
next door to a bar that Enson used to frequent during his tenure
as an English teacher. After a couple round of sodas (despite
his image, Inoue does not drink) we were joined by the owner
of the bar and he and Enson took great delight at swearing at
each other in English. I'm not bothered by foul language at all,
but this was something special.
Enson
later tells me that he taught the owner how to swear, and the
owner was the one who introduced him to the world of the yakuza.
The story involves Enson throwing two low-level yakuza members
on a car during a street fight. With the bar owner's assistance,
the situation was smoothed over, and Enson was in contact with
the underworld.
Earthquakes
rattled the bar every 30 minutes, and after a short blackout,
sent us home. They were much stronger than in Tokyo and had grown
much more frequent over the last few days.
For
this first night, myself and Enson were to share a twin room.
Enson disappeared into the night and left me to work as his two
ferrets tore the hotel room to shreds. Fortunately for me, the
dogs, snakes, monkeys and piranhas all had to either be sold
or stay at home during this trip. He returned at 3:30 a.m., and
we slept poorly as the earthquakes continued through the night.
Tomorrow,
I will start to document the damage as we head to one of the
evacuation centers closest to the damaged Fukushima power plant.
Yamato-Damashii
Diaries - Day 2: Fukushima
By Daniel
Herbertson
In the wake of the March 11 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, former
Shooto heavyweight champion and Pride veteran Enson Inoue has
been on a one-man charity mission, traveling to northeast Japan
to directly help those in need.
For
his next visit to the Tohoku region, MMA Fighting joined Inoue
to document the journey and bring new light to the ongoing crisis
in Japan.
On
day two, we visit an evacuation center on the edge of the Fukushima
evacuation zone, assist a man who gave Inoue his start in Japan
and we start to hear dire stories of things to come.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
More Coverage: Day 1: Tokyo to Fukushima
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Our first night's sleep in Fukushima was short. Occasional earthquakes
and thoughts of what lies ahead kept me awake until early in
the morning. My two precious hours of sleep were rudely ended
by an earthquake alarm that sounded on Enson's phone. The warnings
usually only sound when there is a major quake coming, and so
we were both awake and alert instantly, although we did not move
out of bed. The quake was nothing more than a gentle sway in
our seventh-floor hotel room. It was severe down south in Chiba
and Tokyo and it sparked a fire at the Fukushima power plants,
some 40 miles away and a place we would be heading towards.
Enson Inoue hands out toys, clothes and supplies to evacuees
in an evacuation center on the edge of the Fukushima nuclear
power plant evacuation zone near Koriyama, Fukushima.
Daniel Herbertson, MMA Fighting
I
ate a complimentary breakfast posing as Enson Inoue (it caused
the waiter to pause for a moment when a blue-eyed white man presented
a coupon with a Japanese name), but it was far from enjoyable.
Japan usually hosts a fantastic breakfast buffet, but the lack
of any fresh food was an early morning reminder that we are now
much nearer to the disaster zone.
While
downing endless cups of coffee to make up for my lack of sleep
I scanned the news, looking for post-quake reports from this
morning. While the earthquake did not turn out to be so bad,
the evacuation zone around the Fukushima power plants had been
extended even closer to where we were and the nuclear crisis
level had been upped to the maximum of seven -- the same level
as the Chernobyl disaster. Just before I embarked on my trip
to Fukushima, a French friend revealed that his mother had contracted
cancer as a result of Chernobyl. I never wavered in my desire
to stay in this area, but it's not a nice thought.
Enson
Inoue is integrated in the Japanese community better than any
foreigner I have ever met in my five-year tenure in Japan. While
he has Japanese blood, he was born in Hawaii and speaks English.
For that reason, many considered him an outsider when he arrived
in Japan as an English teacher 21 years ago. After concluding
my breakfast, I met the man who helped Enson get his start as
a real citizen in Japan.
A
kindergarten teacher and (ironically) earthquake safety inspector
named Mashiko helped Enson get a car, obtain a visa and start
a business when he first came to Japan knowing no one and without
any money.
In
those days, Mashiko was a wealthy steel company boss, but over
the last decade, he had seen tough times and had lost his business.
The respect that Enson had for this man was clear as he would
lose himself in stories of kindness any time his name was mentioned.
Already down on his luck, the earthquake had destroyed many of
Mashiko's possessions and caused his wife to have a nervous breakdown
so Enson and his family repaid the generosity that Mashiko had
shown 21 years prior. As is typical in Japan, Mashiko refused
the money, but after some time, begrudgingly accepted. It was
clearly needed as both men were moved to the verge of tears.
Heading
out into the city, we finally saw some signs of life in Koriyama.
There had been no one around when we arrived the previous night,
but during the day the city seemed much more active. Nightlife
in Japan has taken a back seat to frugality over the last month.
The city was mostly in tact but some older buildings had crumbled
somewhat during the hundreds of earthquakes over the last month.
After
Enson showed me where he taught English when he first came to
Japan, we happened across a building that had been badly damaged
by the quake and was leaning at a significant angle. A scrawny,
sickly looking cat limped out of the bushes as we got out of
the car, and it warmly brushed against Enson's leg. The cat looked
to be abandoned by the damaged building's owner.
An
animal lover, Enson grabbed four cans of tuna for the cat and
emptied his water bottle into a dish. The cat was starving and
gulped down the fish, only to instantly throw it back up. I thought
to myself that this poor animal may be a lost cause, but it only
led Enson to grab two more cans of tuna, and we spent a good
20 minutes with the ginger cat as it struggled to consume the
food it desperately needed.
Eventually
moving on, we found more buildings that had collapsed, and while
surveying what we thought was a school, a government official
came out to talk to us, noticing my cameras and Enson's enormous
Hummer and tattoos. When he found out that we were here to help
at the disaster zones, the official bowed lower than a man of
his age and social standing ever normally would to an MMA fighter
and foreigner. I had seen this appreciation with Mashiko and
again with this man. We were only on the beginning of our journey
into the disaster area, but I was really beginning to understand
how much the help and care was sorely needed.
From
there, we made our way towards the damaged Fukushima power plants
and the edge of the evacuation zone to go to our first evacuation
center. A friend of Enson's, a Japanese-Hawaiian surfer named
Kirby, met us en route along with a troupe of musicians and clowns
that Enson had paid to travel through the evacuation centers.
Kirby
was finishing his trip around Tohoku just as we were starting
it. Talking to him gave me my first insight into the real situation
in the disaster areas. Kirby's stories were horrifying.
Groups
of armed gangs (some reportedly related to Chinese mafia) had
been entering the evacuation zones to loot vacant homes and businesses.
Kirby had heard stories of rape and murder by these gangs, but
as all the police were occupied, they had gone unnoticed and
unpunished. None of the large charities had reached the people
in need. He had just returned from one village that had received
no aid whatsoever and had hundreds of dead bodies stuck in harbor
gates. This was not the picture that was painted on TV in Japan.
The news in Japan was showing the Fukushima power plant. It was
not showing this.
Shaken
and disappointed by Kirby's stories, we arrived at the evacuation
center. I had intended to try to blend in and stay unnoticed
as I find that approach the most conducive to my photography.
That changed as soon as I entered the doors and was mobbed by
an army of the happiest children I have ever seen. Crawling all
over me, laughing, sticking their faces in my camera -- the children's
spirits were instantly raised by the sight of our party, and
after hearing Kirby's stories, I cried. I didn't want the kids
to see that so I managed to regain my composure quickly and started
taking in the atmosphere in the evacuation center.
There
were around 150 people living in the school gymnasium. No one
had any possessions aside from a blanket and a futon. Cardboard
boxes separated the families and there was no privacy at all.
Many people were in plaster casts or in wheelchairs and this
center also housed a significant amount of mentally handicapped
evacuees. The majority of people were elderly and they seemed
to enjoy my presence and actually asked to be photographed. They
were genuinely pleased that foreign press were visiting them.
Several
evacuees asked me why I didn't return to Australia when my government
told me to. I replied that Japan has been my home for a long
time now and that I don't want to leave my home. One lady responded
saying, "My son-in-law is Australian and he took my grandchildren
and daughter away. Thank you for feeling like Japan is your home."
It was horribly awkward, I could think of nothing to say.
The
musicians were Christian missionaries that Enson (he himself
becoming Christian during his stint in jail in 2008) was financially
supporting during their trip in the Tohoku region. Playing Japanese
pop favorites and English classics, the evacuees turned off the
news and stopped their somber conversations to enjoy a much-needed
break. The center had been short on support and there had been
no media coverage there, so the attention was appreciated. Enson
later confessed to me that he had started to tear up as he saw
how much people's spirits were raised, but he was also careful
to contain his emotion. Clowns followed the musical performance
and the evacuation center started to feel like a carnival until
Fukushima was again struck by an earthquake. This time a magnitude
6.3.
Children
screamed and started crying, and although the clowns and music
continued, the TV was switched back on as we nervously waited
to see the damage report and to see if a tsunami would again
batter the northeast coast of Japan.
There
were some reports of heavy damage in the surfing village of Iwaki.
Many of the people in that evacuation center would have been
from there, and Enson used to spend his summers there. The music
and clowns continued, Enson gave out toys and clothes that he
had bought and the children started to have fun again, with the
elderly especially enjoying the music. Unfortunately, the mood
had changed somewhat. What Enson was doing was clearly powerful,
but it was only a temporary distraction. The crisis here was
ongoing.
As
soon as I walked out of the evacuation center, I was completely
exhausted. As Enson noted, the positive vibes you try to give
out completely saps you of your energy. I noticed that my face
hurt from smiling too much, but it was different muscles that
ached. I wonder what kind of strange, contorted smile I was putting
on when I was I holding back the tears.
We
bid farewell to the entertainers and made our way north to Iwate
prefecture, one of the areas badly damaged by the quake and our
base for the next week.
As
soon as we were in the car Enson dropped his emotional guard,
and I could again see tears well in his eyes as he exclaimed,
"F**k PayPal! If only those motherf**kers could see what
we are seeing here! There is no one helping here?! They are stopping
me from helping people! Where the f**k is the Red Cross?!"
Enson's
PayPal account was still frozen due to legal issues he did not
care to understand right now and he did not have access to any
of his money or the donated funds. Although we agreed that care
and attention is what these people need, not money, the financial
issues still bothered Enson. We sat in silence for a time and
then Enson thought back to the cat he helped. That changed his
mood for the better. He had organized for a friend to go and
find the cat and the thought of it recovering made him ecstatic.
After
a several-hour drive, we arrived at Morioka, the capital of Iwate
prefecture and our base for our daily trips to the disaster areas.
After checking into our modest hotel, and catching up on some
work, we headed out to get something to eat.
Tomorrow,
we travel to Taro and Miyako. Two small cities that were among
the hardest hit by the tsunami. Taro is completely destroyed.
Miyako was the source of some of the most terrifying tsunami
footage to come out of Japan.
Source: MMA Fighting
|
Bustamante
thanks Dana White, his Jiu-Jitsu fan
GRACIEMAG 169 is about to hit a bookstore near you, and with
it comes an exclusive interview with UFC president Dana White.
The UFC top dog had a chat about his relationship with Jiu-Jitsu,
where he even described his training with the brothers Lorenzo
and Frank Fertitta.
When
the conversation got to gentle art fighters, he heaped praise
on Murilo Bustamante, a former UFC champion and a Carlson Gracie
black belt.
“I
need to thank Dana White for the kind words about me in the interview
in the latest GRACIEMAG. It means a lot to me,” remarked
Bustamante over Twitter (@murilobusta).
Source: Gracie Magazine
|
'TUF'
13: 'Dr. Clay' on cutting weight and much more
By Arin
Karimian, USA TODAY
Recommend For Season 13 of The Ultimate Fighter, USA TODAY will
chat about each episode with cast member Clay Harvison, one of
14 welterweights on this season's show. Born and raised in Marietta,
Ga., Harvison is 30 and stands 6-1, 185. Nicknamed "Heavy
Metal," he has a 6-1 professional record and has never gone
past the first round. You can follow @ClayHeavyMetal on Twitter
and check back here every Thursday morning to read Harvison's
thoughts on each episode.
Clay
Harvison holds a 6-1 professional record and was coach Brock
Lesnar's fourth pick.
In
the first few minutes, Brock said he noticed a change in Len
Bentley's attitude. Did you notice anything?
I
thought Len was ready to go, ready to fight. (Laughs) There was
a part in there when the camera was on him and Brock was calling
us chicken (crap) and Len has this look on his face like, "I
can't believe this guy's calling me chicken (crap)." We
were all still pretty dumbfounded, and it was funny, but Brock
sat us down and explained himself. And he (Brock) made a good
point, but we didn't know where he was coming from. Why would
we know? But then he explained it and it made total sense. It
was just funny. Everybody was just ready to roll, we were ready
to get another win, period. A perfect example is like I always
say, your foot is on the gas pedal, but don't press it, don't
push it.
Did
you agree with Brock's reasoning for picking Len to fight?
I
think they were trying to pick whoever they thought our No. 1
guy was and try to take out one of their guys. Ryan McGillivray's
definitely not a slouch, though. It was a very close fight, but
I thought there should've been a third round. No questions asked.
I
can't believe two judges saw it 20-18 for Ryan. It just didn't
make sense to me.
I'm
just wondering where they get these judges from. Do they just
get people off of a (freaking) bar stool? I was blown away, like
"wow." I thought it was even. I thought there was definitely
a third round. I think Ryan thought he had a third round too.
I
agree, I think the fight deserved it. You could see Len was tiring
a little towards the end of that second round, but who knows
what would've happened if they walked out for a third round?
Len
was still in the fight. I mean, Ryan definitely finished it strong,
which I guess that's why the judges gave him the decision. It
was a very close fight, for sure, but I thought a third round
would have decided things personally. Ryan finished so hard,
he might've tired in the third and Len might've caught a second
wind, I don't know. Great fight, though. That's how you fight.
That's what I like to watch. That's what people pay for.
We
saw Junior dos Santos' assistant coach, Lew Polley, run their
guys through some hard drills. Were you aware of this while you
were there or is this something you found out about after watching
the episode?
Chris
Cope told us that Lew's real straightforward and hard, and sometimes
comes with a bad vibe. The impression I got was that maybe this
has happened before. We didn't really know, we didn't have any
clue. We had no clue about Shamar Bailey getting cut. He was
like, "Yeah I was cut in training." I had no clue,
I thought that was a gash from some other fight. It was a good
cut, no doubt about it.
Len
disagreed with Chris talking to the other team. Did you have
any problems with Chris' friendliness towards the dos Santos
guys?
Yeah
I did have a problem with it. Because it was like (he) needed
our help to prepare for his fight, we were his support unit.
And as soon as the fight was done, Chris has vanished like a
fart in the wind before you know it. He's with the other team,
hanging out. We're the team that helped you out when you were
tripping out over your fight. We're all outside, hanging out
by the fire and it's like, "Who's not here? Chris."
And we're thinking, "Oh, is he upstairs talking about how
we're training? We don't know." That's not how you want
to conduct yourself when you're trying to build trust with people.
Exactly.
And Len pulled Brock aside and told him he was concerned because
Chris had been watching him closely in training and he was worried
he could tell the other team some secrets. Do you think Len was
a little too paranoid or would you have felt the same way in
the situation?
I
kept (Chris) at arm's length. I wasn't a fan of him for a while.
I was like, "Shady ass." It was interesting to say
the least. It was a shame. He's over talking to some of those
other guys and it's like, "What are you doing?" We
weren't happy about it.
He
definitely didn't handle it as well as he could have.
He
doesn't even know how to handle himself. It definitely irritated
me. I looked at Chris differently for a while. I told him to
his face, I said, "Listen, I don't trust your ass."
That's the way it is, you have to earn that.
Oh,
this reminds me. One of my favorite little stories from this
episode. We were in the kitchen, and it actually shows Ryan taking
all these pills. By the way, I take a ton of pills, a lot of
stuff. That's why Nordin Asrih always calls me Dr. Clay. Everybody
calls me Dr. Clay. I get all these pills, I have this stuff that
helps me sleep better. I'd give it to (Nordin) and it'd make
him loopy at night and me and Len were taking it to help us sleep.
It's kind of hard to sleep in a new environment, you know? You're
not used to it. So that's how they started calling me Dr. Clay.
Anyways,
we're in the kitchen, and Ryan, it took us a while to warm up
to Ryan because Ryan's like real straightforward. He just seemed
like Mr. Mature. "What this guy can't loosen up?" He's
just like as tight as can be. And he's in the kitchen taking
all these pills and Chris goes, jokingly, "What are those,
steroids?" And obviously in a joking way, because Chris
can be funny. And (Ryan) is just like, "Why? Does it look
I take steroids?" He's real tight, you know, he's a real
tight ass. And Chris is like, "You look swoll." Ryan
asks, "What's swoll?" And Chuck O'Neil comes walking
out of the pantry and he says, "It's Latin for handsome."
(Laughs) I was laughing my ass off. We used to call (Ryan) Canada
the whole time, we never called him Ryan. But after that fight,
I actually gained respect for him and he's actually a really
nice guy once you get to know him. He was a little tight ass
for a while. You gotta relax buddy.
This
episode showed him trying to cut 10 pounds to make weight. How
much do you normally cut and what's involved?
Week
of, I try to keep it 10 maximum. I'm sorry, I've cut a lot of
weight before. I've been down to 160 before. I don't like cutting
15 pounds, you just feel like (crap), it's no fun. You get in
the ring and they're like, "Here we go!" And you're
like, "Oh, wait a minute, I'm not feeling too hot."
I've pulled cuts out of my ass where I was like, "Wow, OK."
That's no good, though. It's a terrible feeling, I'm not going
to lie to you. If you can do it through diet and willpower and
just get into the sauna, steam room, it makes it a lot easier.
It's all diet, what you put into your body, straight up. Ryan
walks around a little heavier. Javier Torres is a bigger guy.
And
Chris and Ryan were always doing chew, I guess it curbs their
appetite. They were always spitting. I'm like, "You guys'
lips and jaws are going to fall off in two years." I thought
Chris knew a lot more (about nutrition) before he got there,
but I discovered how much he didn't know. He was always picking
our brains like, "Is this good? Is that good." I was
like, "Chris, shut the (freak) up." He's like, "Should
I eat this?" It's like if you need to ask, then no. We were
helping him out though, it was just funny.
We
briefly saw him using the blender. It looked he had fruit and
milk in there.
It
wasn't even blending! (Laughs) I'm pretty sure Chuck was thinking,
"What the (freak) are you making?" He was asking us
for directions all the time. What Ryan was doing (to cut weight)
in that tub, with all that alcohol and epsom salt, I don't play
that.
Yeah,
he was sweating heavily.
That
(method of cutting) is not natural. I don't do that (crap) unless
I get an IV. When I've had to cut like that; I have a friend
who's a medic and I get him out there, with maybe a couple of
them. If I don't have that IV in my house, or access to it, you
must be out of your mind. It's just, I'm not a big fan of stuff
like that. You cut weight by water intake and diet, and need
a little bit of sauna and sweating to do it the right way, not
overdoing it. And acclimate your body to it, like over a week's
or month's time, it's alright. Overdoing it like that? I don't
know, I'm not a big fan.
Brock
couldn't be there on fight day because of a personal matter.
Did it affect Len at all?
We
were all thinking no big deal. "Go in there Len and do work,
you're ready." Len was focused the same way. Brock's personal
life is his personal life. It's funny how they made him look
in the clip. He says, "Everybody knows my personal life
comes first!" And then it shows him just walk off camera.
(Laughs)
Heading
into the fight, Len said the feeling is like a rollercoaster.
How do you feel the night before, or day of, when you're fighting?
I
keep it as normal as possible. If I'm just chilling out with
my friends or cutting up or just dicking around, then I'm cool.
I don't like to be Captain Serious, I like to chill out in the
locker room, do what I have to do beforehand. My biggest thing
is to just relax.
What
was it like having Mauricio "Shogun" Rua visiting,
and did you get to interact with him at all?
I
got to shake his hand and say hi once he came out for the fight.
He's like my mentor man. He's who I've gotten all kinds of tricks
and my style from. It was awesome to meet him.
You
said you're driving to training now. How far do you normally
travel?
My
buddy who just got back from a fight in Amsterdam, Roan "Jucao"
Carneiro, he helps me out a lot. Jiu jitsu, wrestling, fighting
period. He's awesome, a top-tier guy. But I drive to Athens (Ga.)
Monday and Wednesday nights, which is like an hour away from
Atlanta, to train with Rory and Adam Singer at the Hardcore Gym.
... Brian Bowles is out of there. Cale Yarbrough. Stephen Ledbetter
helps me out a lot. My stand up coach that I train with is Manu
Ntoh out of Madhouse (in Smyrna, Ga.). Some of my other training
partners are Doug Lima, Dhiego Lima, and they fight in the MFC.
Doug just got the welterweight belt. He fought Terry Martin and
knocked him out last weekend. And then Raphael Assuncao and Junior
Assuncao help me out a lot as well. And their brother Freddy.
It
kind of bounces around. Monday and Wednesday nights we'll do
the hardcore training, then do strength and conditioning the
next morning. And then I'll come back to Atlanta and do boxing.
That's why I'm going to have to leave. I feel like I need to
go do a training camp somewhere just to mix it up. I've been
in Georgia forever, driving around all the time. Just a change
of environment, no distractions. It's what I'm about to do. Next
week, when I leave, there's a couple possibilities. I'm think
about Team Tompkins out in Las Vegas or in Utah to work on my
wrestling with Ramsey Nijem and those guys out there. High elevation
there too, which is awesome.
Source: USA Today
|
The
Hitman vs. Doomsday: Martin Kampmann Meets John Howard at UFC
on Versus 4
by Damon
Martin
Two welterweights looking to avoid three losses in a row will
meet at UFC on Versus 4. Martin Kampmann will face John Howard
in a bout on the fight card set for Pittsburgh on June 26.
The
UFC made the official announcement about the fight on Wednesday.
Kampmann
(17-5) technically enters his next fight on a two-fight losing
streak, but the context of those losses should be noted. The
first was a split decision loss to current UFC welterweight title
contender Jake Shields, in which Kampmann definitely had his
moments against the fighter who will challenge champion Georges
St-Pierre at UFC 129.
The
second loss was a controversial decision to Diego Sanchez back
in March. When the fight was over, Sanchez was left a bloody
mess, but the judges scored the fight in his favor, leaving Kampmann
with a loss. Now he’ll look for a bit of redemption in June.
John
Howard (14-6) has also had a mishap or two on his way to consecutive
losses. While there was no doubt Howard came up short in his
last fight against Thiago Alves, he didn’t really get to
finish his fight against Jake Ellenberger last August.
A
gigantic mouse appeared on Howard’s eye during the fight,
and the ringside doctor felt it best to stop the action. Howard
obviously wanted to continue, but medically, it just didn’t
seem prudent to the medical staff.
Howard
has been trying to land in a fight against rival Anthony Johnson,
but it appears the UFC has other plans.
Kampmann
vs. Howard will take place at UFC on Versus 4 in June, but there’s
been no word if the fight will grace the main card or not.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Manager
says no talks on Barboza vs Gomi for UFC Rio
By Guilherme
Cruz
Manager
of a lot of UFC and Strikeforce fighters, among them the lightweight
Edson Barboza, Alex Davis called TATAME this morning to talk
about the rumors on a fight between Barboza and former Pride
champion Takanori Gomi, that would take place at UFC Rio, on
August 27th.
“We
don’t have any information about that fight, and we’d
be honored if the UFC wants Junior to fight in Rio and against
Takanori Gomi”, Davis said.
UFC
Rio takes place at HSBC Arena, in Rio de Janeiro, and will probably
have the rematch between Anderson Silva and Yushin Okami as the
main event, for the middleweight title.
Source: Tatame
|
Loretta
Hunt: CBS Sports won’t cover UFC because of Zuffa’s
media policy
By Zach
Arnold
Jason
Probst & Loretta Hunt did a series of online segments on
Monday discussing the political and business fallout from last
Saturday’s Strikeforce show in San Diego which featured
Zuffa’s presence in terms of managing/running things. One
interesting note (which you can watch here) is Loretta claiming
that Mr. Kato, the man behind Real Entertainment and one of the
top suits during the PRIDE days (a buddy of Nobuyuki Sakakibara),
was there at the show in San Diego. Bet that was a fun encounter
with the Japanese and Zuffa brass. Zuffa sued Sakakibara after
the PRIDE asset sale agreement and we all know about reports
suggesting that Sakakibara & Kato are sharing an office in
Tokyo (with Kato wanting to become a public face for future Japanese
events).
An
item from the weekend that generated buzz online was the fact
that Zuffa took over the media credentials process for Strikeforce
shows. That means the standard UFC operating procedure with contracts
and media access now applies to SF events that were once very
much open to the press. The restricted media list includes Loretta
Hunt, Josh Gross (ESPN), Sherdog, and other media writers that
don’t have close business relationships with the organization.
Loretta
commented on not getting credentialed for the San Diego event.
“Did
it hurt me? Yeah, sure. That was my first assignment for CBS
Sports. I worked with one of the editors, producers over there
who does the NFL and also had done MMA in the past. His name
is Denny Burkholder, he’s a big fan of Mixed Martial Arts
and CBS Sports, I’m told, hasn’t really covered MMA
for the last year or so for various reasons I’m told because
they’ve had some difficulty with getting interviews and
things like that in the past, so they kind of cooled off from
it and then they were coming back in, this was the first show
that they were going to do in quite some time. They brought me
in, assigned me, and then we were turned down. So, CBS Sports
decided that they just weren’t going to do any coverage
at all of the UFC. They don’t want to be told who they can
send to their events and who they shouldn’t send to their
events representing them.
“Yeah,
I mean that I’m sad this door closed. I mean, a door really
did close. CBS Sports is not going to look at MMA for at least
a little while.”
The
premise of CBS Sports not covering MMA extensively because they
can’t get credentialed by Zuffa is a fascinating topic in
and of itself. It should be noted that I’ve offered in the
past to write articles on CBS for nothing and that got turned
down, so Loretta is right in saying that the political brass
did not want to touch MMA content.
With
that said, Sherdog finds plenty of ways to interview fighters
without having Zuffa show credentials. Nobody’s stopping
them and Crave Online from making a nice bottom line for business.
Interestingly,
you could juxtapose this to the kerfuffle that happened at The
Masters over the weekend in Augusta when security banned a female
reporter from a media room to cover the event. That said, Augusta
has always been an easy whipping boy for the press for being
a good ‘ol Southern white sexist club dating back to Martha
Burk’s protests of Hootie Johnson, so there’s no surprise
that the media would have a field day with a controversy like
this. However, you rarely hear anything about the way UFC handles
the press in the manner in which they do. The only time it blew
up in their face was Dana’s infamous video rant against
Loretta two years ago (you can read the transcript here). Rampage
Jackson also is no fan of hers.
Just
like Augusta had to apologize to the reporter in question, Dana
White issued his own apology but it was with a lot less slobbering
and a lot more mocking.
Back
to what Loretta had to say about where CBS Sports stands when
it comes to covering MMA and why the topic should matter to everyone.
“Yeah,
you know, I don’t want to speak out of turn. I just, I had
some conversation with CBS Sports a little bit. They just haven’t
really covered Mixed Martial Arts so much because, uh, you know,
because like I said I don’t want to speak out of turn but
I definitely got the indication that, you know, when they were
running the Elite XC events on CBS which was a competitor, you
know, I think some of the access that they wanted to get in interviewing
certain people and stuff was difficult for them. They felt some
kind of restriction, so they kind of backed away from it and
this was them kind of dipping their toe back in the water again
and, you know, something like this happens again and it just
reinforces, you know, the UFC and their take on the Mixed Martial
Arts media and them trying to decide, you know, who they want
to sent and who they don’t want to send and… you know,
there’s no… there’s no secret that, uh… there’s
some kind of vendetta against me. You know, I’m not welcome
at the UFC shows, I haven’t been for some time. I’ve
been in and out of this media ban since October 2005 when I started.
You know, I’m obviously not welcome at the events probably
for any outlet that I work for. You know, I’m with Sports
Illustrated now and still if I apply for a credential with SI
I’m not going to be allowed in either.
“But,
you know, the bigger picture here is, it’s not just about
me, there’s other people involved, too. There’s other
media that’s not allowed in. It’s the UFC’s decision
that they’re going to do this because, from everything I’ve
been told, this doesn’t happen in other sports. Journalists
are granted credentials if they work for a reliable media outlet
and, you know, are responsible reporters. I don’t think
it’s been proven that any of us on this banned/restricted
list were ever irresponsible in our reporting, we haven’t
been. So, you know, that’s the bigger picture with the media
ban for people are kind of stepping into this and seeing this
for the first time.”
After
this comment, she and Jason fretted over a recent online post
by Mark Cuban in which he talked about how useless the online
media is for sports and that they don’t carry themselves
like the print media did in the past. He talked about how broken
the financial model is for sports media and that he could buy
out most writers if he wanted to do so and draw as much business
on his platforms than the ones currently being used. He also
heaped praise on UFC’s way of handling media and this upset
Loretta, but I think Mark was more or less praising UFC for their
media strategy on the social networking sites (especially Facebook)
and with Dana’s vision for where content is heading for
online/on-demand distribution.
In
this last video clip, listen to what Jason had to say about how
‘ambivalent’ he is in regards to MMA because of the
kinds of fans that go to the shows. He puts it in context of
trying to do his job and how hard it is without getting media
credentials to do things like live PBP, shoot interviews, so
on and so forth. For four minutes, it’s a burial of MMA
fans and a regret that he didn’t go into covering a sport
like curling. If I’m a casual MMA fan who goes on Twitter
or FB and I stumble in seeing two MMA media writers talking about
how they are banned from getting credentials for Zuffa shows,
the last thing that would persuade me as a fan to believe they
deserve any credentials is getting buried (as a fan) for how
I look, what I wear, and how I behave at the fights.
Anyways,
here was the final comment Loretta had to say on the matter.
“(Zuffa)
wants to move into being a mainstream sport and a mainstream
league at this point, like I don’t think that’s there
any argument that UFC is now the our league of our sport, right?
The thing that we didn’t think would happen but it happened
and, you know, I gladly I can admit that and say that about this
sport. If they want to be like all the other leagues, you know,
the NBA like you know barring whatever Mark Cuban is considering,
the NFL, all these other guys they don’t restrict the media
and I bet you they don’t like the media that comes through
because they are probably a lot more critical in other sports
than the hardest critics are in Mixed Martial Arts. So, what’s
happening is extraordinary and makes us seem kind of hokey, you
know, Mixed Martial Arts compared to all the other sports. What
other big promotion do you know that doesn’t let the media
in? It’s the WWE, it’s the professional wrestling.
They don’t let certainly media in that they don’t like,
who they don’t want covering certain things. Dave Meltzer’s
been banned from the WWE for years. So the UFC’s following
a model of a fake sport!”
Source: Fight Opinion
|
Sakara-Rivera
Rebooked for UFC 133 in Philadelphia
by Mike
Whitman
Perhaps
the third time will be the charm for Alessio Sakara and Jorge
Rivera.
The
UFC announced Tuesday on its official website that the veteran
middleweights have verbally agreed to square off at UFC 133,
an event expected to take place Aug. 6 at the Wells Fargo Center
in Philadelphia.
Sakara
and Rivera were initially supposed to meet at UFC 118, but Sakara
was forced to withdraw from the August contest with an injury.
The bout was rescheduled for November’s UFC 122, but the
Sakara was struck by illness just hours prior to the bout and
was again forced to withdraw on the advice of doctors.
Sakara
finally made it back into the cage at UFC Live 3 in March, dropping
a unanimous decision to decorated wrestler Chris Weidman. Prior
to the loss, “Legionarius” had won three consecutive
fights dating back to September 2008, including knockouts of
Joe Vedepo and James Irvin. A 12-time UFC veteran, the heavy-handed
Italian holds nine of his 15 career victories by knockout.
Like
his foe, Rivera also comes off a loss. Following a lengthy and
bitter build-up highlighted by a series of now-famous YouTube
videos, Rivera was knocked out by Michael Bisping at UFC 127
in February. Rivera, too, had won three straight before his most
recent defeat, knocking out Rob Kimmons and Nate Quarry along
the way. Nearly a 10-year pro, “El Conquistador” holds
a UFC record of 7-6.
Source: Sherdog
|
UFC
Middleweight Alan Belcher Eyeing September Return Following Career
Threatening Injury
by Damon
Martin
That
was the last time UFC middleweight Alan Belcher stepped foot
in the Octagon. Since his last appearance, Belcher has undergone
two major surgeries and endured a lot of recovery time, but now
that he’s back in the gym and training again, a return to
action isn’t far off.
It
was during training for a fight against Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu whiz
Demian Maia that Belcher suffered the eye injury. At one point,
it looked like it might end his career altogether.
Lucky
for him, Belcher’s recovery went better than expected. He’s
training again and starting to get back into the form that saw
him threaten as one of the more dangerous 185-pounders rising
up in the UFC’s middleweight division.
“It
looks like Alan will probably make his return sometime in September,
is what I’m hoping for. It’s the date that we kind
of targeted as the date that he wants to come back,” Belcher’s
manager, Malki Kawa of Authentic Sports Management, told MMAWeekly
Radio recently.
Belcher
had originally looked towards the early part of summer 2011 for
his return, but it appears he’ll push that target date back
just a little bit to ensure he’s 100-percent ready when
he gets back in the cage.
The
UFC has already started to put together fights for as late as
August of this year, so it probably won’t be long before
matchmaker Joe Silva starts looking towards September’s
cards, including a UFC Fight Night show set for New Orleans,
La.
Belcher’s
management believe the UFC will accommodate the fighter’s
timeline for a return, adding that Belcher is looking forward
to getting in there and competing again.
“I
think that’s something the UFC will probably help make a
reality,” Kawa stated. “I’m prematurely saying
this, but I think I’m almost okay in my assessment and think
that September is the time frame for Alan to come back.”
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Tonight!
Presale:
$30
Door: $40
VIP: $60
***20% OF EACH TICKET WILL BE DONATED TO THE DAUGHTER OF KEVIN
FREEMAN. FREEMAN WAS TRAGICALLY KILLED LAST FRIDAY, APRIL 8TH
IN THE WAIKELE EXPLOSION. HE WAS A CLOSE FRIEND OF PROMOTER JAY
BOLOS.
DONATION BOXES WILL ALSO BE AVAILABLE @ GATE ALONG WITH T-SHIRT
SALES...THE ENTIRE PRICE OF SHIRTS WILL GO TO DAUGHTER MALEIA
WHO WILL BE IN ATTENDANCE. SPECIAL MOMENT OF SILENCE & TRIBUTE
FOR FREEMAN WILL TAKE PLACE DURING INTERMISSION***
Bryson Kamaka 170 Thomas Sedano
Lightweight
Championship
Edward Matsuura 155 Kaleo
Kwan
Amateur
Lightweight Championship
Lowen Tynanes 155 Koa Ramelb
Ian
Dela Cuesta 145 Colin Makenzie
HEAVY
WEIGHT TOURNAMENT (Winner takes home both DESTINY & 808 BG
Heavyweight Belt)
Chris
Barnard
Terrence Taanoa
Paea Paongo
Ola Faamau
Frank
Lucero 185 Neale Johnson
Cory
Freitas 125 Jacob Kauwe
Markus
Kinblad 170 Kamu Kapuni
Cody
Santos 145 Sam Sniffen
George
Perry 155 Tyler Pavao
kala
sapla 170 Tony Irvine
Jan
Quimoyog 125 TBA
Zach
Ching 135 Matt Aoki
Alika
Kumukoa 125 Jared Gonda
Alika
120 Isaiah Waller
macky
kauwe 185 Kevin Aguigui
Naino
Mesiona 130 Denzel Davis
|
Tomorrow
Competitor Fees:
Adults: $70
Kids: $50
Register at www.hawaiitriplecrown.com
Location:
Kaiser High School Gym
Event
Schedule:
Kids
Weigh-Ins: 8.30 t0 9.30 am
Adult
Weigh-Ins: 9.30 to 11.30 am
Source: Event Promoter
|
MMA
Top 10 Rankings: Gilbert Melendez Reaches The Top (UPDATED)
The updated MMAWeekly.com World MMA Rankings were released on
Wednesday, April 13. This system ranks the Top 10 MMA fighters
from all across the world in each of the seven most widely accepted
weight classes.
Taken
into consideration are a fighter’s performance in addition
to win-loss record, head-to-head and common opponents, difficulty
of opponents, and numerous other factors in what is the most
comprehensive rankings system in the sport.
Fighters
who are currently serving drug-related suspensions are not eligible
for Top 10 consideration until they have fought one time after
the completion of their suspension.
Fighters
must also have competed within the past 12 months in order to
be eligible for Top 10 consideration unless they have a bout
scheduled within a reasonable time frame.
Below
are the current MMAWeekly.com World MMA Rankings:
HEAVYWEIGHT
DIVISION (over 205 pounds)
1. Cain Velasquez
2. Fabricio Werdum
3. Brock Lesnar
4. Junior Dos Santos
5. Alistair Overeem
6. Antonio Silva
7. Fedor Emelianenko
8. Shane Carwin
9. Frank Mir
10. Sergei Kharitonov
LIGHT
HEAVYWEIGHT DIVISION (205-pound limit)
1. Jon Jones
2. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua
3. Rashad Evans
4. Quinton Jackson
5. Lyoto Machida
6. Forrest Griffin
7. Ryan Bader
8. Dan Henderson
9. Phil Davis
10. Gegard Mousasi
MIDDLEWEIGHT
DIVISION (185-pound limit)
1. Anderson Silva
2. Yushin Okami
3. Nathan Marquardt
4. Demian Maia
5. Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza
6. Jorge Santiago
7. Michael Bisping
8. Robbie Lawler
9. Hector Lombard
10. Vitor Belfort
WELTERWEIGHT
DIVISION (170-pound limit)
1. Georges St-Pierre
2. Jon Fitch
3. Jake Shields
4. Thiago Alves
5. Nick Diaz
6. Josh Koscheck
7. Carlos Condit
8. B.J.
Penn
9. Paul Daley
10. Diego Sanchez
LIGHTWEIGHT
DIVISION (155-pound limit)
1. Gilbert Melendez
2. Frankie Edgar
3. Gray Maynard
4. Shinya Aoki
5. Eddie Alvarez
6. Jim Miller
7. Anthony Pettis
8. Melvin Guillard
9. Tatsuya Kawajiri
10. Dennis Siver
FEATHERWEIGHT
DIVISION (145 pound-limit)
1. Jose Aldo
2. Chad Mendes
3. Manny Gamburyan
4. Diego Nunes
5. Hatsu Hioki
6. Dustin Poirier
7. Mark Hominick
8. Erik Koch
9. Michihiro Omigawa
10. Josh Grispi
BANTAMWEIGHT
DIVISION (135 pounds or less)
1. Dominick Cruz
2. Brian Bowles
3. Joseph Benavidez
4. Scott Jorgensen
5. Urijah Faber
6. Miguel Torres
7. Brad Pickett
8. Demetrious Johnson
9. Masakatsu Ueda
10. Michael McDonald
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Matches
to Make After Strikeforce ‘Diaz vs. Daley’
by Brian
Knapp
Nick
Diaz kept his submission skills in his back pocket.
The
Strikeforce welterweight champion beat Paul Daley at his own
game in the Strikeforce “Diaz vs. Daley” headliner
on Saturday, as he put away the British striker with first-round
blows in a memorable encounter at the Valley View Casino Center
in San Diego. Daley met his demise with only three seconds remaining
in round one, as he was stopped on strikes for the first time
in 39 professional appearances.
A
meeting with Daley’s widowmaker of a left hook left Diaz
on all fours with a little more than a minute left in the first
period, but the rugged Stockton, Calif., native made himself
a moving target on the ground, weathered the punch and returned
to his feet. There, he rushed and finished Daley with another
one of his trademark volleys. Diaz has stopped nine of his 10
foes during his current winning streak, during which he has established
himself as one of the world’s premier welterweights and
one of the sport’s most entertaining gladiators.
A
closer look at four matches we want to see after Strikeforce
“Diaz vs. Daley” follows:
Nick
Diaz vs. Tyron Woodley: Still raw and relatively unproven, Woodley
poses perhaps the most difficult style matchup for Diaz. An NCAA
All-American wrestler at the University of Missouri -- he teamed
there with current Bellator Fighting Championships welterweight
titleholder and 2008 Olympian Ben Askren -- he wields the kind
of wrestling pedigree that has given Diaz pause in the past.
Undefeated in eight professional starts, Woodley has positioned
himself for a run at the belt at exactly the right time. Diaz
has all but run out of potential suitors under the Strikeforce
banner. Whether or not Woodley’s defenses could withstand
Diaz’s spider bottom game remains a real concern, but one
has to figure matchmakers will strike while this iron is hot.
Woodley’s athleticism, speed and top-flight wrestling make
for an intriguing matchup with the champion.
Gilbert
Melendez vs. K.J. Noons: Melendez put together what will likely
go down as the most complete performance of his career, as he
dismantled respected Japanese veteran Tatsuya Kawajiri in the
co-main event. His heavy right hand had the former Shooto champion
on his heels from the start, and he never relented. Ultimately,
Melendez made Kawajiri pay for a desperate takedown attempt,
as he sprawled, punched and elbowed his way to a violent finish.
It was as beautiful as it was brutal, and Melendez can now make
a real case as the world’s top lightweight. Noons showed
his fortitude in going five taxing rounds with Diaz at 170 pounds
in October. At lightweight, he is a brute. Perhaps the purest
striker in MMA, his quick, powerful and precise punches can change
a fight in an instant. Couple those abilities with his ever-improving
takedown defense, and he poses a significant threat to Melendez’s
throne.
Gegard
Mousasi vs. Dan Henderson: Minus takedowns, Mousasi controlled
his fight with UFC veteran Keith Jardine from start to finish.
However, an illegal first-round upkick from Mousasi cost him
a point and resulted in a majority draw that was panned by many.
Few are blessed with more natural ability than the former light
heavyweight champion, who has competed at three different weight
classes in the last two years. Mousasi owns a 17-1-1 mark in
his past 19 outings. At 40, Henderson remains one of MMA’s
elite competitors, and a return to the 205-pound division has
breathed new life into the former two-division Pride Fighting
Championships titleholder. Carving out an historic niche in the
sport, Henderson added the Strikeforce light heavyweight crown
to his resume in March, when he dethroned Rafael “Feijao”
Cavalcante with his fabled right hand at the Nationwide Arena
in Columbus, Ohio. No matter who comes next for the two-time
Olympian, he will be difficult to knock off the mountaintop.
Shinya
Aoki vs. Josh Thomson: Aoki’s second appearance on American
soil went far better than his first. The Japanese submission
ace capitalized on a major strategic blunder from Lyle Beerbohm
and submitted “Fancy Pants” in a little more than a
minute and a half. Despite a number of high-profile and embarrassing
hiccups throughout his combat sports career, Aoki has long been
established as one the world’s best at 155 pounds. The talented
but oft-injured Thomson wields the kind of wrestling chops needed
to keep a fight against Aoki standing and the kind of striking
ability required to make him fold. Thomson, who turns 33 in September,
has not fought since losing a unanimous decision to Kawajiri
on New Year’s Eve in Japan. The American Kickboxing Academy
representative, respected for years as one of the division’s
scrappiest competitors, has never been submitted. That alone
makes for an interesting storyline against Aoki.
Source: Sherdog
|
MMA
Top 10 Lightweights: Gilbert Melendez Makes His Case
By Michael
David Smith
Gilbert Melendez thinks he's the best lightweight in mixed martial
arts. Is he right? I don't think so, not yet. But I sure would
love to find out.
The
best thing about the UFC buying Strikeforce is that it means
we'll eventually see the champions of the respective promotions
fighting each other. For now the mantra is "business as
usual," but we all know it's just a matter of time before
we see the best of Strikeforce inside the Octagon. And there
might not be a better fight out there than Melendez taking on
the top of the UFC lightweight division.
It
will probably be 2012 before we get to see that: UFC lightweight
champ Frankie Edgar has to fight Gray Maynard in May, and the
winner of that fight is expected to fight the winner of the June
Anthony Pettis-Clay Guida bout after that. But it sure would
be fun to see Melendez retiring the Strikeforce belt to his trophy
case and fighting for the UFC gold.
Find
out where I think Melendez stacks up in the lightweight division
below.
(Editor's
Note: The fighter's rankings the last time we ranked the lightweights
are in parentheses.)
1.
Frankie Edgar (1): The UFC champion remains at the top of the
heap at least until he fights Gray Maynard at UFC 130. The third
meeting between the two will, I hope, tell us once and for all
which one of them is really the superior fighter.
2.
Gray Maynard (2): Maynard could certainly make the argument that
he actually deserves to be ranked ahead of Edgar, since Maynard
beat Edgar the first time these two fought. I'll stick with Edgar
for now because Edgar's overall lightweight resume is more impressive,
but these two are basically equals.
3.
Gilbert Melendez (4): Now that Melendez has destroyed Tatsuya
Kawajiri, I think he's behind only the UFC lightweight champion
and No. 1 contender. I love watching Melendez because he's so
active and tenacious: He took the fight to Kawajiri and showed
off a great killer instinct in finishing him with the recently
legalized elbows to the head on the ground. The question now
is whether any lightweights on the Strikeforce roster can even
be viewed as credible threats to Melendez, or if he's going to
have to start fighting guys in the UFC.
4.
Kenny Florian (3): For now, I'd pick Florian to beat just about
any lightweight in the sport. But Florian has lost two lightweight
title fights and doesn't appear close to getting a third chance,
so he plans to drop down to featherweight and pursue the belt
there. When he does move down to featherweight, I'll take him
down the lightweight list -- and I expect him to quickly rise
up the featherweight ranks.
5.
Shinya Aoki (5): There really wasn't any question that Aoki would
make quick work of Lyle Beerbohm, but there are a lot of questions
about Aoki's future: Will he stay with Strikeforce and keep fighting
second-rate opponents? Will he go back to Japan and try to be
a part of revitalizing the MMA scene in his homeland? Will he
finally step into the Octagon?
6.
Jim Miller (8): It's time for Miller to take a major step up
in competition: His 20-2 record consists of wins against a bunch
of guys who aren't even close to the Top 10, and losses to the
two best in the world, Edgar and Maynard. Ideally I'd love to
see Miller against Melendez or Aoki, but if we're not going to
get UFC-Strikeforce crossover fights yet, Miller probably will
continue fighting overmatched opponents outside the Top 10.
7.
Eddie Alvarez (7): The Bellator champ is a lot of fun to watch,
but it's going to be awfully tough for him to move up in the
rankings as long as he remains in Bellator, which just doesn't
have any elite opposition for him to face. Alvarez may have the
talent to beat anyone at 155 pounds, but he's probably going
to have to sign with the UFC if he wants to prove it.
8.
Anthony Pettis (10): The thing that's so exciting about Pettis
is that he's doing so many new things at such a young age. It's
not just the "Showtime Kick," although that's obviously
what he's best known for: It's a combination of creative striking
and an aggressive ground game, especially off his back, that
makes Pettis different from any other fighter in the lightweight
division. The 24-year-old Pettis is the youngest fighter on this
list and is only getting better.
9.
Clay Guida (NR): Guida has always been a fan favorite because
of his brawling style, but it's been somewhat overlooked that
his technique, especially on the ground, has noticeably improved
in the last year. Guida is now on a three-fight winning streak,
and if he makes it four in a row against Pettis, a title shot
could be next.
10.
Tatsuya Kawajiri (9): Kawajiri has had some great wins in his
MMA career, but he was simply no match for Melendez. At age 32,
he appears to be on the down side of his career, but there are
still some fun fights for him: I'd still love to see a rematch
of the classic 2005 Pride fight between Kawajiri and Takanori
Gomi.
Source: MMA Fighting
|
Vitor
Belfort on Wanderlei Silva: “He needs to learn to talk less
and fight more”
By Erik
Engelhart
Former UFC champion in two weight divisions, Vitor Belfort had
the opportunity to conquest the third title, but was then stopped
by the champion Anderson Silva, on UFC 126. Back to the trainings,
the “Phenom” was challenged by Wanderlei Silva via
TATAME’s website and accepted the challenge.
UFC’s
president, Dana White has spoken and claims to be pro this fight
and the fans started wondering if it could happen in UFC Rio.
But Wanderlei disappointed the fans as he stated, on his Twitter,
he’d like fighting Chris Leben. Frustrated, Dana answered
Wand’s request, and Vitor now doesn’t have a next opponent
in plain sight.
On
the exclusive interview with TATAME, which you can check below,
Belfort comment on the challenge proposed by Wanderlei, talked
about fighting in UFC Rio among many other subjects.
How
are your trainings and your life in general, after being defeated
by Anderson Silva?
It’s
fine, I keep on training hard as usual, life goes one. You can
be sure I’m the guy who most trains on that gym and I’m
in a good state of mind.
Do
you know when you’ll be back on the octagon, or do you have
any Idea of who you might confront next?
I’m
still waiting. They’ve offered me Wanderlei and I accepted
it, but it seems that he didn’t want to fight me after all,
so I’m waiting now for an opponent.
Wanderlei
challenged you via TATAME and you accepted his proposal. Dana
White seemed favorable to this rematch and things were all good,
then Wanderlei started asking for Leben on his Twitter. What
are your thoughts about that?
Well,
my friend, what can I do? The thong is a men’s whip and
he needs to learn to talk less and fight more. But, what I can
do, right? That’s life, bro, I don’t care about it,
I’m focused for my next challenge. I don’t care about
names, I don’t pick my opponents, and I always focus 100%
in my next fight, independently of who I’ll fight with.
Were
you disappointed when you heard you weren’t fighting Wanderlei
anymore?
For
me it’s ok, I don’t live to build up my expectations
on men, I hope things come through God, and that’s just
life. Sometimes we lose, you can get surprise other times and
we have to be prepared and ready for it, because we can’t
guarantee results. I’m the kind of guy who likes to do what
I say, I don’t like saying and don’t keep up with it.
Do
you dream of fighting on in UFC Rio, where you was born and raised?
Do you hope to get this invitation?
That’s
everything I want. That’s the dream, to fight in Rio de
Janeiro, in my country. Fighting for my people has always been
my dream. Since I was one of the firsts on the sport in Brazil,
it’s a kind of rewards for me for everything I done.
How
Vitor “Phenom” has changed since the beginning of your
career until now?
Some
white hair, for sure (laughs). I have spent amazing days with
my son Davi, who gives me headaches (laughs), and I have a wonderful
wife, that God put on my way and now we have a family together,
and it’s my life. Now I’ve learned that everything
in life, whether it’s inside or outside the octagon, doesn’t
always happen the way you wish they did, and that the most important
thing is that you let some things go, and that’s what I
call being mature. Success is measure by titles, money, cars,
but I don’t think that way, I don’t care what you have,
but who you are.
Source: Tatame
|
Dana
White’s Strikeforce party in San Diego
By Zach
Arnold
We
all know how similar Dana White & Vince McMahon are (scary).
However, tonight may have been the moment where we truly say
that we saw that McMahon-like quality to rub it into people’s
faces. Other than showing up with Jake Shields on camera during
the WEC PPV last April, this was the top rub-in moment. Dana
White shows up in a Strikeforce t-shirt to basically throw himself
a party and watch fights for the competition he just bought.
“It
just feels like being at another fight.”
He
observed the way Showtime produced the show and hinted at changes
to come to make the live house experience better — a complaint
that was almost universal at last February’s Izod Center
SF show.
“Without
sounding like a dick, I think we’re the best in the business.”
He
gives the proverbial middle finger to Rockstar by drinking Xyience,
the drink of choice for the Fertitta empire, and has the cage
canvas plastered with a UFC PPV ad graphic. Everywhere you looked,
Dana was in an over-joyous mood. The mood got even better when
Nick Diaz knocked around Paul Daley.
“When
I listen to Nick Diaz talk, you know, this kid’s talented.
He’s well-rounded, you know. I like his attitude and the
way that he carries himself… to a point. He always crosses
the line every time he gets out there and talks publicly and…
he can be such a big star. This kid could be a big star if he
would just calm down a little bit and not so be so angry with
everybody. I mean, seriously, who the fuck wants to beat up Ariel
Helwani, man? Other than other reporters, who wants to beat up
Ariel Helwani?! It’s just… Nick has this talent and
he talks about the big money and all the other things. He can
make this big money. He can do that. He can be that guy. He could
fight GSP. He could have all these opportunities. He’s got
to tone it down a little bit, you know, and I don’t think
that many people out there would disagree with me and I’m
not asking Nick Diaz not to be Nick Diaz. I like Nick Diaz. I
like the way he is and it’s part of the appeal of him, you
know. But you gotta tone it down just a little bit.
“I’ve
told him that when he did and didn’t work for me. And I’m
sure he’s heard me say it many times and I’m sure he’ll
hear me say this, you know, and his brother Nate & I have
a great relationship. Nate is like Nick in a lot of ways, you
know, they’re brothers, they’re close and they train
together and they come out of the same camp but, you know, Nate
is Nate without always crossing that line, you know, if we could
get Nick to a point where he doesn’t cross the line and
he doesn’t get so crazy all the time, he could be a big
star. People like him. And people dislike him, too. That’s
not a bad thing.”
We
all know what the end game here is. Showtime’s essentially
paying Zuffa and giving them a media platform to push upcoming
PPV events. Some suggested that they should grateful that they
stumbled into obtaining a Zuffa-based product. I suspect Ken
Hershman is not one of those people.
“Showtime’s
actually been great to deal with.
“It’s
been great, and no, I haven’t talked to them. You know,
Lorenzo (Fertitta) talked to them originally and then flew out
and talked to them a couple days ago and everything’s been
great. There’s no hard feelings on that side and there’s
no hard feelings on this side. We’ll figure this thing out.
“There’s
some guys over at CBS & Showtime that I’ve had great
relationships with and never had a problem with and then there’s
some that I’ve butted heads with.”
After
everything was said and done Saturday night in San Diego, Dana
White lives in an MMA world where he is the judge, jury, and
executioner. His verdict is often final. Just ask Chael Sonnen.
Mr. Sonnen has had a lot of experience dealing with judges and
verdicts lately.
“I
think the kid’s paid his dues as far as time goes and financially.
He’s taken his lumps. He’s paid his dues, so time to
get back and get to work. ASAP.”
DW
translation: Get your head out of your ass, Keith Kizer. You’re
not going to stop us. No one else has been able to, so far.
Source: Fight Opinion
|
Silva
vs. Okami at UFC Rio, but Manager Still Believes GSP Super Fight
Will Happen
by Damon
Martin
When the news broke on Wednesday that the UFC had booked Anderson
Silva vs. Yushin Okami for UFC Rio in August, everyone wondered
what happened to the potential super fight between Silva and
current UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre.
All
of the roads seemed to be leading to a blockbuster match-up between
the two fighters that occupy just about everyone’s slots
as the No. 1 and No. 2 fighters among the pound-for-pound best
in the sport.
After
Silva’s first-round knockout of Vitor Belfort in February,
all eyes were focused on St-Pierre’s title defense against
Jake Shields on April 30 at UFC 129. Now Silva will defend his
belt against Okami in August, but that doesn’t mean a Silva/GSP
super fight couldn’t happen down the road.
According
to Silva’s manager, Ed Soares, the Brazilian champion wanted
to stay active and defend his belt, and was concerned the timeline
for a St-Pierre fight may have put him on the sidelines for too
long.
“I
don’t think it’s anything about switching gears,”
Soares answered when asked why the UFC opted to go with Silva
vs. Okami instead of Silva vs. GSP. “Whether GSP wins or
loses or whatever happens to GSP, the show must go on. There’s
what seven champions? They’ve got to stay busy. That’s
the first thing.
“The
second thing is GSP has mentioned that he’s going to have
to put weight on. So even if he fought the end of April, it’s
not like he’s going to be able to fight in at least six
months, seven months; he’s going to have to put weight on.”
Understanding
that Silva’s end goal for his career is to retire as an
undefeated UFC fighter, with more title defenses than anyone
could possibly catch up to, a bout with St-Pierre still fits
the bill as one of the biggest fights ever.
St-Pierre
has waffled a bit as far as his desire to go up to 185 pounds,
the Canadian doesn’t even want to entertain the idea until
he faces Jake Shields at UFC 129.
For
now, he won’t have to field as many questions about facing
Anderson Silva, but that doesn’t mean the fight won’t
happen down the road.
“I
think that’s still a potential,” Soares told MMAWeekly
Radio about the super fight. “That’s still a huge potential.”
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Brian
Foster suffers brain hemorrhage
By Josh
Gross
Welterweight Brian Foster is out of his UFC 129 fight against
Sean Pierson on April 30 because of a brain hemorrhage, the 27-year-old
fighter announced Tuesday through his Twitter account.
An
MRI required by the Ontario Athletic Commission 60 days prior
to the bout revealed a damaged blood vessel, an injury Foster
believes took place during a hard sparring session before the
test.
A brain hemorrhage will force Brian Foster to miss his fight
against Sean Pierson at UFC 129.
"I was dealing with a really good boxer and he caught me
with a left hook that rocked me a little bit," Foster said.
"I hadn't been rocked like that very often. I've never been
knocked down. My record says I've been knocked out before but
I was not unconscious in that fight.
Foster's
manager, Marc Fiore, forwarded the MRI results to UFC physician
Dr. Jeff Davidson, who made the call to pull the fighter from
the event at Toronto's Rogers Centre. Foster was informed Tuesday
morning.
"When
you hear something like that you think of the worst. I'm glad
we got that scan," Fiore said. "Brian's a fighter.
He's young and has that attitude that he'll fight no matter what.
But it's not the right thing to do. I want him to be a father
to his kids for a long time."
Foster
will undergo an MRI in six weeks to determine whether or not
he's fit to fight. The camp hopes the broken vessel will be completely
healed and he will be cleared to compete. This is the first time
Foster has dealt with a brain-trauma issue, Fiore said.
"He's
not supposed to keep his blood pressure up," Fiore said.
"He's supposed to do nothing for six weeks. My job as a
manager, trainer and friend is to keep him away from anything
that keeps his blood pressure up. Just enjoy life. Enjoy your
kid.
"Brian
is one of those guys, he's a leader. We say he's a captain of
the team of fighters. He'll be here for the guys on the H.I.T.
Squad roster. He's going to be here help coaching and keep these
guys motivated. It's in his blood. If he's not fighting, he wants
other guys to get ready."
Said
Foster: "I plan to listen to the people that I trust most
and take what they say into perspective."
Foster
(15-5), who trains out of Granite City, Ill., at Finney's H.I.T.
Squad, a facility formerly owned by UFC welterweight champion
Matt Hughes, won his last two bouts in the Octagon. He's 3-2
in UFC competition.
"I
understand I have stuff to look forward to," Foster said.
"It doesn't bother me. I love to fight. I love to compete.
My kids look up to me because of this. Everyone looks up to me
to perform well. I just like making people happy. This is all
negative. There's no positive to this situation here.
"It's
positive that we caught it but negative that it happened. I have
six weeks and I'm going to get another head scan. I'm 100 percent
sure in my heart and my mind that I'm fine. I'll be back in the
UFC and make a statement."
Though
the UFC has not officially commented on the injury, the promotion
intends to find a replacement to fight Pierson, a source said.
Josh
Gross covers mixed martial arts for ESPN.com.
Source: ESPN
|
Overeem’s
Royal Lineage Uncovered
by Marcelo
Alonso
Alistair Overeem (above) recently discovered he shares a bloodline
with King William III.
A
champion in Strikeforce, Dream and K-1, Alistair Overeem has
grown accustomed to wearing crowns. Now, he can say he has the
blood of a king running through his veins.
A
recently discovered fact in Overeem’s family tree connects
him to King William III, who ruled the Netherlands for nearly
half a century (1849-90). That royal connection, along with Overeem’s
success in combat sports, led Prince Willem Alexander to invite
the world-ranked heavyweight for a visit and dinner at the Dutch
Royal House.
Besides
his royal visit, Overeem had a number of other social activities
on his agenda in recent weeks. The 30-year-old Golden Glory product
worked as a volunteer for the Netherlands Red Cross, making donations
to victims of the earthquake- and tsunami-related catastrophe
in Japan. In addition, he graced the cover of the Wall Street
Journal, met with the Japan Prime Minister Naoto Kan and had
dinner with world boxing champion Manny Pacquiao.
His
social outreach aside, Overeem has a clear goal inside MMA --
to become UFC heavyweight champion. Undefeated in his last 10
appearances, the Pride Fighting Championships veteran last fought
at K-1 “Dynamite!! Power of Courage 2010” on New Year’s
Eve, when he blitzed Todd Duffee in 19 seconds at the Saitama
Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.
“With
the belt of K-1, Dream and Strikeforce, Overeem continues to
build his legacy,” manager Bas Boon wrote in an e-mail.
“His main plan for the future is to challenge for the UFC
belt.”
Colin
Foster contributed to this report.
Source: Sherdog
|
Charles
Oliveira Ready to Get Back in Action, Hoping for UFC Brazil Fight
Damon Martin
Undoubtedly,
there will be a long list of native Brazilians who will want
to end up on the UFC card in their home country in August.
One
young fighter who still lives and trains in Brazil full time
is throwing his name in the hat and hoping the UFC pulls it out
when matchmaker Joe Silva starts putting things together for
the historic show.
Charles
Oliveira has been out of action since a surprising submission
loss to Jim Miller last December. Not surprising so much that
Miller won seeing as he’s a top ten lightweight, but that
Oliveira got caught by a submission after showing off his slick
jiu-jitsu game through so many of his own fights.
Now
that he’s ready to return, Oliveira is hoping the UFC places
him on the Brazil card, because that truly would be his best
chance to fight in front of his friends and family.
“I
would love to fight in my home country of Brazil. I’ll fight
wherever the UFC wants me, but it would be extra special in Brazil,”
Oliveira told MMAWeekly.com
“A
lot of my friends and family would be in attendance.”
Currently
sitting with an impressive 14-1 record, Oliviera brings a lot
of talent into the lightweight division in the UFC, and could
easily match-up with anybody in the division.
For
his part, the young Brazilian has never picked an opponent before
and he won’t start now, and even if the UFC doesn’t
see fit to put him on the card in his home country, he’ll
live with that also.
Ultimately,
the humble Oliveira is just looking for a shot to redeem himself
after the first loss of his career, but nothing would be better
than fighting at home.
“Either
way, I’m ready to get back into the Octagon,” Oliveira
stated. “I want to show the world my talents.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Randy
Couture Talks UFC 129, Doesn’t Want To Be the Brett Favre
of MMA
Former
UFC champion Randy Couture’s retirement has been a hot topic
of conversation several years now. He is questioned about being
at the end of his run after every fight.
Couture
himself sees the end of his career as, well, open-ended.
He
came close to calling it quits after his last fight, a first-round
drubbing of heavyweight boxing champion James Toney, saying that
if he couldn’t get a fight that excited him, Couture would
walk away.
One
of the fights he wanted was former UFC light heavyweight champion
Lyoto Machida. Couture sees Machida as an interesting puzzle
to solve.
For
a time, it didn’t look like the fight he wanted would come
to fruition, but eventually, the UFC brass made it happen.
Couture
doesn’t see the Machida as the next step to another title
run.
“(Another
title run would be) just the icing on the cake. That’s not
really what it’s about for me at this point,” he told
MMAWeekly.com.
Without
a title run in his plans, will the Machida fight at UFC 129 on
April 30 be Couture’s swan song?
He’s
not quite ready to make that declaration either, not wanting
to become “the Brett Favre of MMA.”
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Paul
Daley on Diaz Fight: “Only If’s” Will Haunt Me
For a While
Paul
Daley has very little to be ashamed of after his performance
on Saturday night that saw him seconds away from claiming the
Strikeforce welterweight title from Nick Diaz.
The
British fighter hurt Diaz midway through their brief fight, and
looked like he might finish him with strikes on the ground, but
the savvy champion was able to recover and bounce back for the
win.
The
stoppage of the fight came under some scrutiny as Diaz tagged
Daley with a few solid shots on the ground, but with just 3 seconds
on the clock, many wondered if the fight couldn’t have continued.
Now
that he’s had the chance to go back and watch the fight,
Daley understands where the stoppage came from and he’ll
just be haunted by what could have been if his performance had
just gone a little differently.
“Just
watched over the Diaz fight again, and can see I am rocked early
on by a right hook to the temple, I’m spending the rest
of the fight, fighting on guts and instinct until the 2nd knock
down, Diaz face plant,” Daley wrote on Monday on his Facebook
page.
“Like
I said lost composure and was swinging for the fences, but now
I see why. “Only if’s” will haunt me for a while.
But what’s done is done.”
Daley
deserves a lot of praise for his performance and after dropping
Diaz with a big shot during the first round, it probably wouldn’t
take much for him to earn another chance to face the champion
in the future.
After
a very busy start to 2011 for Daley and Diaz, both fighters are
likely to take some much needed time off and return during the
summer months.
Daley
has already returned home to England where he will rest and recover,
and wait for his chance at redemption in Strikeforce.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Strikeforce:
Diaz vs. Daley Medical Suspensions, Diaz and Daley On List
The
California State Athletic Commission on Monday released the post-fight
suspensions for Strikeforce: Diaz vs. Daley, initially to MixedMartialArts.com.
The event took place Saturday night at the Valley View Casino
Center in San Diego.
Both
main eventers, Nick Diaz and Paul Daley were on the list. Diaz
was suspended for 60 days due to an eye laceration, while Daley
received a standard 45-day suspension for precautionary measures
due to the TKO stoppage.
Tatsuya
Kawajiri, who suffered a TKO stoppage at the hands of Strikeforce
lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez, like Daley, received a
precautionary 45-day suspension due to the stoppage.
UFC
veteran Keith Jardine, who fought to a draw with Gegard Mousasi,
received a 60-day suspension due to a right eyebrow laceration
and a nose laceration.
On
the preliminary fight card, Hiroyuki Takaya was suspended for
60 days due to a right cheek laceration. Brett Albee was also
suspended for 60 days for nose and temple lacerations. Saad Awad
received the longest suspension, 180 days, stemming from a fractured
right hand. AJ Matthews received a 45-day suspension as a precautionary
measure due to losing by knockout. And finally, Paul Song was
suspended indefinitely due to right elbow pain and must get his
elbow cleared by a physician.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Joe
Lauzon Draws Curt Warburton at UFC on Versus 4 in Pittsburgh
Joe
Lauzon at the UFC 123 Prefight Press ConferenceJoe Lauzon will
get to stay on the East coast for his next bout as the Boston
area fighter will face British born Curt Warburton in a lightweight
match-up at UFC on Versus 4.
The
bout was confirmed by the UFC through ESPN.UK.com.
Lauzon
(19-6) will try to rebound after a tough loss in his last fight
to Australian born George Sotiropoulos at UFC 123. Lauzon has
bounced back and forth between wins and losses over his last
four fights and will try to get back in the win column in June.
As
for Curt Warburton (7-2), the Team Wolfslair fighter will try
to make it two in a row in the Octagon after beating Maciej Jewtuszko
in his last fight at UFC 127.
Currently,
Warburton sits at 1-1 in his UFC career.
Lauzon
and Warburton are the latest addition to the growing UFC on Versus
4 fight card taking place in Pittsburgh at the new Consol Energy
Center.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
St.
Pierre exclusive: “Anderson has no holes in his game”
The best welterweight in the planet, Georges St. Pierre is also
considered one of the best pound for pound fighters in the MMA,
and the UFC’s desire to watch him against the other pound
for pound king, the middleweight champion Anderson Silva, increases
each day. With a victory over Jake Shields at UFC 129, on April
30th, GSP will move his win streak to nine fights inside the
UFC octagon, and a battle against Silva would make sense.
On
TATAME Magazine’s April edition, we analyzed every part
of the game on a super fight between Silva and St. Pierre, and
also published an exclusive interview with the welterweight champion,
who spoke about his title fight against Jake Shields, the weight
issue in a possible fight against Anderson Silva and his thoughts
on the fight.
“As
a MMA fan, I wanted to fight him. I believe he’s the best
pound for pound fighter of the world, but like I said: no one
is unbeatable, If I find a way to defeat him, I’d set the
right strategy to do it”, said St. Pierre, believing he
wouldn’t have any advantage in the fight, even in the wrestling
part. “Anderson has no holes in his game”, he said.
Source: Tatame
|
Ready
for Brilz, Matyushenko eyes third fight with Nogueira in UFC
Rio
At
the age of 40 and holding a professional record of 25 wins in
30 bouts, UFC’s athlete Vladimir Matyushenko doesn’t
think about retirement and keeps putting on great shows. The
Russian was coming from two good wins on UFC, then got knocked
out by Jon Jones, current champion of the division. Vladimir
is now recovered from this tough defeat to the American with
a quick knockout over the Brazilian Alexandre Cacareco and now
is chosen to confront Jason Brilz, on UFC 129, whichi happens
on April 30th in Canadá. With the appointment scheduled,
the fighter seems not to have overcomed a defeat to another Brazilian:
Rogério Nogueira. As Vladimir had defeated the Brazilian,
in 2002, he can’t wait for UFC to give them a rematch, and
he thinks it’d be better if it happened in UFC Rio, as he
stated exclusively to TATAME. The Russian also talked about Jon
Jones’ conquest of the belt, his next opponent, Jason Brilz,
and the thrill of fighting to the biggest UFC event ever, and
you can check it all below.
What
are your thoughts about Jon Jones’ conquest of UFC light
heavyweight title?
I
think he deserved that title. Jon Jones proved that besides being
a young and talented fighters he’s also a professional example
and that he does his homework and sharpening his techniques,
studying his opponents and worried about evolving. It’s
not enough to be talented, you have to be updated because things
change pretty fast in our sport.
When
you were knocked out, yet on the first round, did you suspect
you were defeated by the champion-to-be?
Right
after my fight with Jones I said I believed he’d reach the
top fast. After the fight I joked and told him after beating
me up he’d have to become the champion because I don’t
like losing to bad fighters (laughs).
You
had a striking win over the Brazilian Alexandre Cacareco and
will now face Jason Brilz, who’s coming from a defeat to
Rogério Nogueira, who you confronted twice. Brilz stated
to an American website that he wants to make things clear and
finish the fight on the first round. How are you preparing and
what are the expectations for this bout?
Before
I say anything, you must “do your homework”, like I
did when i fought Cacareco. I’ve watched Jason versus Rogério
Nogueira and I guess he’s a good fighter. Despite Nogueira
won on the decision of the judges, it was tight. Anyway, this
is a pretty import fight for the both of us. On MMA you can’t
never know what will happen, but I’m prepared and I believe
I’ll win, whether it takes me two minutes of three rounds.
You’ll
fight in UFC 129, the greatest UFC event ever, having the biggest
number of fans watching it from the spot. Does that motivate
you?
I’m
extra excited with this bout because it’ll be the greatest
event UFC has ever produced. There were 55 thousand tickets sold
four months before the event. I’ll be great to feel the
energy of 55 thousand MMA fans. I’m happy to see the sport
growing so much! As you know, I’m an old man on MMA and
the recognition of the fans makes me want to work more and put
on great shows for them. It would only be better if UFC match
me up with Nogueira in Brazil in August, when UFC Rio happens.
Source: Tatame
|
UFC
on Versus 4 Fight Card Grows with Matt Mitrione vs. Christian
Morecraft
UFC
officials are obviously busy at work putting together their summer
events, as noted by a slew of fight announcements on Monday.
The
latest announcement is a heavyweight bout for the promotion’s
June 26 UFC on Versus 4 event in Pittsburgh pitting Matt Mitrione
against Christian Morecraft.
“Big
men collide as verbal agreements are in for 7-1 Christian Morecraft
vs. undefeated Matt Mitrione in a heavyweight matchup,”
said UFC president Dana White.
Mitrione
is undefeated in his professional mixed martial arts career since
emerging as a competitor on the tenth season of “The Ultimate
Fighter.” All four of his professional fights have taken
place in the Octagon, where Mitrione, a former NFL player, has
slowly built up his level of experience.
Morecraft
was similarly undefeated, at 6-0, when he first set foot in the
Octagon. He has since gone 1-1 under the UFC banner, winning
his last fight against Sean McCorkle at UFC Fight Night 24 in
Seattle.
No
clear headlining bout has yet been announced for UFC on Versus
4.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
World
Pro: reencounter of finalists, on Abu Dhabi’s royal mats
Abu
Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 9:47 pm on Saturday. Just a few
hours after locking horns in the final of the World Pro No-Gi
absolute division, Rodolfo Vieira and Rafael Mendes are again
side by side on the mat, decked in shorts and lycra rash guard
provided by their sponsors, and ready to train.
No,
they weren’t looking to settle their differences after the
abbreviated zero-zero match that defined Rodolfo as the grand
champion a bit early. They were guests of His Highness Sheikh
Tahnoon Bin Zayed and awaited the arrival of their host, who
came straight from a weight-lifting session, with me and Renzo
Gracie tagging along.
The
two were smiling, excited, and they didn’t train with each
other. Rodolfo opted to summon this scribe, who had only disembarked
in the capital of the Emirates with Renzo in time to drop the
bags at the hotel and shove off to meet the two stars of the
World Pro there on the white mats at Tahnoon’s villa.
Just
21 years old and carrying a solid 95-kg frame, Rodolfo took it
easy on me for some 15 or 20 minutes, while our host, Tahnoon,
practiced with Rafael and then Renzo. Tahoon and Rodolfo were
up next, and the champion was impressed by the sheikh:
“It’s
a good thing he wasn’t in the absolute today,” said
Vieira, half joking half serious.
He
studied Jiu-Jitsu for another hour, Tahnoon bringing up the subject
of reverse triangles and anaconda chokes, not to mention foot
locks and an assortment of other chokes, all interspersed between
a lot of defensive guard work.
Until
the sheikh politely asked that his guests train with his local
students, before calling a close to the session and bidding farewell.
There were still hours in the evening for the traditional game
of paddle tennis and a supper thronged with superfoods –
all outdoors, in the refreshing desert air.
Now
it’s already past midnight in Abu Dhabi, and the athletes
are already back at the hotel. But they will be left with the
lingering remembrance of a night where winning a championship
didn’t mark the end of their Jiu-Jitsu lesson.
Source: Gracie Magazine
|
Strikeforce’s
Three Stars: Diaz, Melendez and Aoki
Strikeforce's
first major event under Zuffa ownership was not without its odd
moments, but it was dominated by two champs who train together
at Cesar Gracie Jiu-Jitsu.
No.
1 star -- Nick Diaz: Throughout their one-round scrap, both Diaz
and Paul Daley were wobbled. The difference was in how each fighter
recovered. Diaz's mixture of body shots and strikes to the head
added up on Daley, and the damage at the end of the round was
too much for Daley to handle.
No.
2 star -- Gilbert Melendez: How do you stop a wrestler? By punishing
him every time he tries for a takedown. Melendez tagged Tatsuya
Kawajiri early with a right hook, and then followed up with punches,
kicks, takedowns and elbows until the fight ended with a TKO.
He held onto his Strikeforce lightweight championship, but Melendez
has his eye on more: the UFC lightweight belt.
No.
3 star -- Shinya Aoki: His first fight in the U.S. didn't go
so well, but Aoki has been on a tear since losing to Melendez
a year ago. He continued that streak on Saturday, cranking Lyle
Beerbohm's neck until "Fancy Pants" had no choice but
to tap.
Honorable
mention -- Elbows: One of Zuffa's first changes to Strikeforce
after taking over was to remove the ban on elbows. Strikeforce's
fighters responded by using their new weapon with delight. Melendez
used short elbows on the ground to finish off Kawajiri and Diaz
used them effectively throughout his win over Daley.
Source: Yahoo Sports
|
Chael
Sonnen Compliments Jon Jones, Rips 205 Division and Predicts
GSP Loss
For
30 minutes, Chael Sonnen spoke solemnly, seriously about the
suspended state of his career and his attempts to revive it.
But when the topic switched to the current state of MMA, Sonnen
seemingly flipped a switch and became the soundbyte machine we've
come to expect.
Appearing
on Monday's edition of The MMA Hour, the UFC middleweight took
aim at the weight division directly above his. While praising
the recently crowned UFC light-heavyweight champ Jon Jones, he
blasted the rest of the weight class' contenders for what he
sees as their unwillingness to face him.
"He
brings more to the table than just being the world champion,"
he told host Ariel Helwani. "He brings integrity, he brings
class, he's good for the industry and he's good for the sport.
And most importantly, you need to do what's good for sport. I
get real frustrated with these guys who are just in it for themselves.
"But
listen, Ariel, Jon Jones is not the hot topic of 205 pounds,"
he continued. "The hot topic that everybody should be talking
about is that he's been the champion for three weeks and not
one coward at 205 has challenged him. Not one guy has called
him out and said, 'I want to fight that guy.' If you're all scared
of a 23-year-old kid, turn your gloves in, sign your pink slip
and show yourself the door."
Sonnen
further railed that even the man that will fight Jones, former
champ Rashad Evans, showed hesitance about facing Jones. Evans
and Jones at one time said they would not fight each other, citing
their bond as teammates on the Greg Jackson fight team, but have
since agreed to the bout. Sonnen said many mixed martial artists
get caught up on the word "fight" when it should be
stripped down to competition, the same as the type that college
wrestlers face when jockeying for the starter's spot on a collegiate
roster.
"The
one guy they say gets to fight him comes out and says, 'I don't
want to fight him.'" he said. "If you don't want to
fight him, go. This is a business to become champion. All these
guys want to tell everyone they're in the UFC, but they don't
want to have to carry the heavy water. Challenge Jon Jones if
you're at 205. But what do you expect from a weight class that
allowed a karate guy [Lyoto Machida] to be champion."
Asked
if he would fight Jones, he said, "I will fight any man
God ever made, period."
Though
Sonnen hopes to one day rematch Anderson Silva for another shot
at the UFC middleweight championship, it's likely he has some
work ahead of him before getting that opportunity. Among the
obstacles in the way is re-licensing in Nevada, and he would
likely have at least one match before being thrust into a title
fight. By then, it's very possible that we could be preparing
to see the long-awaited superfight between Silva and Georges
St. Pierre.
Sonnen
says St. Pierre will need a title shot in the weight class, as
he expects Jake Shields to dethrone the long-reigning champ.
Sonnen recently spent a week in California training with Shields
and Team Cesar Gracie, and came away amazed at Shields' intense
work ethic.
"GSP
is going to need the shot," he said. "GSP is going
to lose his welterweight championship in T-minus 20 days to Jake
Shields. So I hope GSP does get the shot. It's going to be the
only way he'll get a championship, because he's not going to
have one after Jake Shields is in that weight."
Source: MMA Fighting
|
Overeem
vs. Werdum Fight Card
Alistair
Overeem takes on Fabricio Werdum on June 18.Alistair Overeem
vs. Fabricio Werdum and Josh Barnett vs. Brett Rogers will highlight
the next Strikeforce event on June 18 in Dallas to determine
the remaining two semifinalists in the 2011 Strikeforce Heavyweight
Grand Prix.
Overeem,
the current Strikeforce heavyweight champion, will look to avenge
a 2006 submission loss to Werdum at PRIDE Total Elimination Absolute
in Japan.
Women's
MMA superstar Gina Carano will also make her return after taking
time off fighting to act in Steven Soderbergh's upcoming film,
Haywire.
The
current fight card is below.
Current
Fight Card
Alistair Overeem vs. Fabricio Werdum
Josh Barnett vs. Brett Rogers
Gina Carano vs. TBA
Daniel Cormier vs. Shane Del Rosario
Chad Griggs vs. Valentijn Overeem
Source: MMA Fighting
|
Fedor
vs. Henderson Super Fight Likely to End Up as Heavyweight Special
Attraction
More
details about the pending Fedor Emelianenko and Dan Henderson
super fight have begun to emerge as the bout comes closer to
being a done deal.
According
to sources close to Emelianenko’s management team at M-1
Global, the fight is currently in the works for a late July date
in a co-promoted M-1 Global/Strikeforce show.
While
final agreements are not in place, the current plan is to feature
Emelianenko vs. Henderson in a special heavyweight attraction
with the agreed weight for the fight to be at 220 pounds.
One
major point in this whole thing is to remember that pen has not
yet been put to paper, so there are plenty of hiccups that could
derail the fight, but at this point, it appears a deal is imminent.
If
the final weight agreement comes in at 220 pounds, that of course
takes Henderson’s light heavyweight title off the table,
making this a special attraction main event, but not a championship
bout.
A
few more details need to be ironed out, but if all comes to fruition,
look for Emelianenko and Henderson to square off on a show in
late July, possibly on Showtime, but most likely on pay-per-view.
Emelianenko
will be returning to action for the first time since suffering
back-to-back losses, something the Russian legend has never faced
before. After a submission defeat at the hands of Fabricio Werdum
last year, Emelianenko fell short against Antonio “Bigfoot”
Silva in the first round of the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand
Prix in February.
He
will be looking to bounce back against Henderson, who just recently
claimed the Strikeforce light heavyweight title by defeating
Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante.
One
other interesting note to this fight, if nothing changes between
now and July, the fight with Emelianenko would be the last on
Henderson’s current agreement with Strikeforce.
The
Team Quest fighter confirmed when Zuffa purchased Strikeforce
last month that he had one fight remaining on his deal, and unless
an extension is reached before the fight with Emelianenko comes
together, he would technically be a free agent when the bout
is concluded.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Breakdown
of first Strikeforce under Dana White and Co.
Last
Saturday, some of Strikeforce’s biggest names took to the
cage for the first major installment of the event since UFC parent
company Zuffa took over the show. One of the promotion’s
top fighters, Fabrício Werdum was caught hanging out with
the UFC top brass, as can be seen in the photo.
“It
was like the same old Strikeforce, but it looks like it’s
about to start changing. The event was put together by the normal
crew, but all the Zuffa gang were there. They were watching what
was going on, I think to see how the other team goes about its
business. The event was real cool, the only difference being
that the UFC guys were there, and I think little by little they’ll
take control of the organization,” says Werdum.
With
a bout against Alistair Overeem scheduled for June 18 in the
heavyweight GP, the fighter comments on his outlook and the chat
he had with Dana White and the Fertitta brothers.
“They
said it was nice to see me again, that they’re with me in
this fight against Overeem, and they congratulated me on my success.
I had thought the heavyweight GP’s days were numbered after
the event had been sold, but I’ve changed my opinion a bit.
I think they’re going to let the GP go through, but I don’t
know what will happen. The public wants the GP, so it has to
happen,” he remarks.
“I
was big at Strikeforce, with all kinds of perks and things –
real cushy. That’s how it was at the event in San Diego,
but that may change a bit to fit UFC policy,” adds the black
belt, who carries on determined in his preparations for Overeem.
“Training’s
going 100%. I’m there with Rafael Cordeiro and Mark Munoz
the whole time. I’m doing everything just right, just got
out of the weight room now. Wanderlei Silva is coming to train
with us again. The energy is back where it was when I faced Fedor,
and that’s great,” he says in closing.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
2011
Hawaii State Jr. Olympic Boxing Championships
Source: Wally Carvalho
|
UFC
Rio: Anderson accepts main event with Okami
Anderson
Silva looks good to face Yushin Okami at UFC Rio on August 27.
That’s what Rodrigo Minotauro leaked in his column in Brazilian
newspaper Extra this Saturday. The title fight should be the
evening’s main event.
As
discerned by GRACIEMAG.com, Anderson was advised of the challenge
and agreed to it. Although agreed upon, nothing has been signed
yet and is thus not official.
Currently
the top Japanese fighter in the UFC, Okami is coming off three
wins in the organization, the last of which came against Nate
Marquardt. Further spice for the likely showdown, Okami was the
last person to defeat the “Spider.” At the January
2006 Rumble on the Rock Silva ended up disqualified for an illegal
upkick.
Source: Gracie Magazine
|
Strikeforce
in Dallas Gets Gina Carano, Overeem vs. Griggs, and Del Rosario
vs. Cormier
Strikeforce
on Saturday night held its first major event under the ownership
of Zuffa, LLC, the parent company of the UFC. The promotion used
its telecast on Showtime to promote its next big event, the second
half of the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix quarterfinal bouts
on June 18 in Dallas.
Strikeforce
heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem will face Fabricio Werdum
in a non-title bout on the card as part of the Grand Prix. The
other quarterfinal bout will be Josh Barnett vs. Brett Rogers.
Strikeforce
on Saturday night also announced additional participants for
the event.
The
promotion confirmed the participation of former women’s
middleweight champion Gina Carano, although they didn’t
name an opponent for the former American Gladiator.
They
did announce two additional heavyweight bouts, however.
Alistair’s
brother, Valentijn Overeem, will fight on the Dallas card, facing
Chad Griggs. Overeem (29-25) is coming off of a win over Ray
Sefo at Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Silva. That was Valentijn’s
first fight under the Strikeforce banner. Griggs (10-1) defeated
Gianpiero Villante on that same fight card. The winner is likely
to be considered one of the top alternates should one be needed
in the Heavyweight Grand Prix.
The
other heavyweight announcement included two of Strikeforce’s
rising talents, Shane Del Rosario and Daniel Cormier. Both fighters
are undefeated and coming off wins on Strikeforce Challengers
events. Del Rosario (10-0) defeated Lolohea Mahe in his last
bout, while Cormier scored a victory over Devin Cole.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Negotiations
Underway for Fedor Emelianenko vs. Dan Henderson for Strikeforce
July Pay-Per-View
It
appears that a Fedor Emelianenko vs. Dan Henderson super fight
is in the works, and likely to take place at the July Strikeforce
pay-per-view.
As
MMAWeekly.com first reported, Henderson has already been slated
for a return to action in July, but as of Saturday he hadn’t
been formally offered the fight with Emelianenko.
Sources
on Sunday confirmed that Strikeforce officials had first reached
out to Emelianenko’s camp at M-1 Global to begin the negotiations
to make the fight happen. ESPN.com initially reported the contact
with Emelianenko’s camp about the potential of a Henderson
fight.
The
sticking point in the negotiations comes down to what weight
the fight would take place at. Sources in Emelianenko’s
camp have confirmed that the fighter is mulling over the idea
of possibly dropping down to light heavyweight or doing an undisclosed
catchweight bout with Henderson.
The
other sticking point is the possibility of the fight airing on
Showtime or a pay-per-view broadcast.
MMAWeekly.com
first broke the news that Strikeforce was targeting a July date
for a pay-per-view broadcast with former light heavyweight champion
Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal facing Roger Gracie on the
card.
One
other major factor that will push the Emelianenko vs. Henderson
fight to happen is the fact that Gegard Mousasi, who was the
other fighter in the running to potentially face Henderson, ended
up fighting to a draw with late replacement Keith Jardine in
their bout at Saturday night’s Strikeforce show in San Diego.
If
Mousasi had won, he could have been a possible opponent for Henderson
in July as well, but with the fight ending in a draw, that all
but eliminates him from contention for now.
If
the deal gets done to put Emelianenko in the cage with Henderson,
all signs are pointing towards a pay-per-view fight, but nothing
is a official at this point.
It
could be several weeks before everything is finalized because
of the negotiating points that have to be ironed out.
MMAWeekly.com
will update the details of a potential Emelianenko vs. Henderson
super fight as they become available.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Wagnney
Fabiano cut by Zuffa folowwing loss to Benavidez
Former IFL featherweight champion, Wagnney Fabiano signed with
WEC with a 10-1 record, but couldn’t keep the good performances
for a long time. Besides winning four of his six fights under
WEC banner, sources told TATAME.com that the fighter was cut
by Zuffa and didn’t signed with the UFC after the merge
with UFC. With Wagnney cut, Brazil now has 34 fighters under
contract with Zuffa.
Source: Tatame
|
Bart
Palaszewski vs. Cody McKenzie Added to UFC 130 Undercard
Bart
Palaszewski will look to make the most of his UFC debut when
he takes on “Ultimate Fighter” veteran Cody McKenzie
at UFC 130 in May.
The
bout was confirmed by Palaszewski’s management team at Suckerpunch
Entertainment on Sunday.
Palaszewski
(35-14) last appeared in the final WEC show in December, dropping
a split decision to Kamal Shalorus. The Team Curran fighter was
happy to hear however that despite losing his last WEC fight,
he would make the transition for a shot in the UFC.
Looking
to keep from dropping two in a row himself is former “Ultimate
Fighter’ competitor Cody McKenzie (12-1) who tasted defeat
for the first time in his professional career when he was submitted
by Yves Edwards in January.
The
man who has won 10 of his 12 fights by guillotine choke will
look to bounce back against another veteran when he faces Palaszewski
in May.
The
bout between Palaszewski and McKenzie will be part of the undercard
for UFC 130.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Strikeforce:
Diaz vs. Daley Quick Results
Main
Bouts (On Showtime):
-Nick Diaz def. Paul Daley by TKO (Strikes) at 4:57 of the first
round.
-Gilbert Melendez def. Tatsuya Kawajiri via TKO at 3:14 of the
first round.
-Gegard Mousasi and Keith Jardine fight to a majority draw (29-27,
28-28, 28-28).
-Shinya Aoki def. Lyle Beerbohm at 1:33 of the first round via
submission (neck crank).
Preliminary
Bouts (Non-Televised):
-Robert Peralta def. Hiroyuki Takaya via split decision (30-27,
30-27, 28-29)
-Virgil Zwicker def. Brett Albee via TKO at 1:46 of round 1.
-Joe Duarte def. Saad Awad via armbar submission at 2:45 of the
second round.
-Herman Terrado def. AJ Matthews via TKO at 4:16 of round 1.
-Rolando Perez def. Edgar Cardenas via unanimous decision (30-27
x3)
-Casey Ryan def. paul Song via triangle at 1:39 of the first
round.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Strikeforce
Results: Shinya Aoki Dominates Lyle Beerbohm
It
took Shinya Aoki just 33 seconds to dispatch of Lyle Beerbohm
and earn his first victory on American soil.
Beerbohm
closed the gap immediately, putting Aoki against the cage. After
a few moments on the fence, Aoki was able to leg trip “Fancy
Pants” down and transition to his back. The Brazilian jiu-jitsu
black belt secured a body triangle and Beerbohm succumbed to
a tight neck crank shortly after.
An
emotional Shinya Aoki could be seen crying in the cage afterwards.
The
win was the Dream lightweight champion’s fourth straight
victory in MMA. He hasn’t lost since dropping a decision
to current Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez
a year ago.
MMA
in Japan was already in disarray, and the recent earthquake and
tsunami disaster have only amplified the dire situation in that
country. And with UFC parent company Zuffa, LLC recently acquiring
Strikeforce, earning a win under the promotion’s banner
was an important step for Aoki’s future
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Strikeforce
Results: Mousasi and Jardine Battle to a Majority Draw
If you wanted a battle at Strikeforce on Saturday night, light
heavyweights Gegard Mousasi and Keith Jardine absolutely delivered.
The
only downside of their three round war was that it ended in a
majority draw after a point deduction in the first session cost
Gegard Mousasi the chance at a win.
Stepping
up on short notice, former UFC contender Keith Jardine showed
up in San Diego ready for the test ahead against Mousasi, and
looked very strong in the early part of the fight. Jardine, who
has stated over the past few months that he wants to start fighting
smarter, showed off a different part of his game by taking Mousasi
to the ground several times.
It
was during one of those exchanges on the ground that Mousasi
threw an upkick, clocking Jardine on the chin. The referee stopped
the action immediately and eventually deducted a point from Mousasi
for the illegal move.
When
the fight was over, that point meant the difference between a
draw and a victory.
Mousasi
controlled the majority of the fight with stiff punches and an
aggressive striking attack. Turning Jardine’s face into
hamburger, Mousasi didn’t fade much as the fight wore on,
but during an exchange in the third round after hurting Jardine
he went for a takedown instead of following up with punches.
Mousasi
finished strong, but Jardine deserves a large amount of credit
for stepping up on literally a week’s notice to face arguably
one of the top ten light heavyweights in the world.
“I
got tired, I guess that’s what training camps for,”
Jardine said after the fight about his conditioning that backfired
during the first round.
For
his part, Gegard Mousasi apologized to Jardine for the illegal
kick in the first round, and was gracious towards his opponent
even though most felt he did enough to take home the win.
“Keith
is an amazing fighter and I want to thank him for taking the
fight,” Mousasi commented.
The
fight ended in a draw but also results in two more actions.
First,
Keith Jardine will now get another shot in the Strikeforce cage
after taking this fight on short notice. The second thing is
that if Gegard Mousasi was in the running to face Strikeforce
light heavyweight champion Dan Henderson in July, a draw on Saturday
night virtually guarantees he won’t get that fight.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Diaz,
Melendez retain Strikeforce titles with first round KO
Strikeforce
again brought its fans awesome fights, and the champions present
on the show put on great performances. On the main event of the
evening, the controversial Nick Diaz was full of himself at first,
and almost lost it, but proved he still is one of the best there’s
out there, while Gilbert Melendez didn’t give his opponent
a chance. Check below how the fights in California went:
Nick
Diaz gives a striking show
BJJ
black belt and owning a pretty sharp ground game, Nick Diaz once
again confronted a striker in Strikeforce, and it was all about
the stand-up game again. Coming from victories over Evangelista
Cyborg and KJ Noons, Cesar Gracie’s novice didn’t get
intimidated by the powerful striking of Paul Daley, who came
from two quick knockouts, and kept poking him. With a low guard,
Nick asked to be hit, and almost had to pay a high price for
that. the English got a knockdown on the first minute and it
almost ended there, but Diaz turned it up and punished his opponent
with though coups on his waist.
Then
it was Paul who turned it up and went forward, taking the champion
down once again. Diaz showed much heart and stood up again, showing
his striking game to Paul. There were 30 seconds before the first
round was done, Nick cornered his opponent on the grid and launched
touch coups on his face and body, making Daley dizzy and then
down. The champion, as a predator, went for it with all his power
and punched him until the referee interfered, three seconds before
the end of the first round.
Melendez
runs over Japanese and remains on the top
The
American Gilbert Melendez didn’t give any chance to his
challenger Tatsuya Kawajiri and remain as the number one of Strikeforce’s
lightweights. Since the first second of bout, Cesar Gracie’s
novice pulled his heart out and fit better coups while striking,
bringing the Japanese to a complicated situation. The punishment
kept on going until the Japanese went down, but then Kawajiri
managed to stand up again. The American didn’t show Kawajiri
any mercy, punishing him with hard elbows (which now are allowed
in Strikeforce, after it was purchased by UFC) until the referee’s
intermission. “What about merging belts”, shoot the
champion after the win, wanting Frankie Edgar (UFC’s champion)
next.
Gegard
Mousasi draws with Keith Jardine
Chosen
to fight the former champion Gerard Mousasi nine days in advance,
the former UFC fighter Keith Jardine was considered the underdog
entering on this fight, but he showed a lot of heart on the cage.
Launching tough coups while striking with Mousasi, the American
insisted on the takedowns on the initial round, and brought the
Armenian down all times he tried to, without working the submissions
on the ground. The Armenian stood up quickly all times he was
token down and connected better coups while standing up, turning
Jardine’s face red, but then he was punished for fitting
an illegal coup. MOusasi dominated the following round and almost
finished the fight with a guillotine on the third round, but
the fight went for the judges’ decision. On the majority
win, the draw was declared, and it let the fans frustrated.
Shinya
Aoki wins on the United States
The
Japanese guy Shinya Aoki finally proved his talent off his homeland.
Facing the young promise Lyle Beerbohm, the tough guy started
energetic on the stand-up game, launching a high kick. Surprisingly,
Beerbohm tried to take the fight down and paid a high price for
it. On the floor, Aoki grabbed his opponent’s back and fit
a rear naked choke at 1min33s, for the happiness of the fans.
Submission
and knockout show on the prelims
The
card started in high speed in San Diego, and Casey Ryan did his
part on the show. Chosen to fight Paul Song, the fighter only
needed 99 seconds to finish it, submitting his opponent with
a tight triangle choke. The third bout of the evening also ended
on the first round, with Herman Terrado beating up AK Matthews
by TKO at 44 seconds before the first round was finished. On
the following bout, Joe Duarte submitted Saad Awad with an armbar
on the second round, while Virgil Zwicker wrote down his second
knockout of the night against Brett Albee.
FULL
RESULTS:
Strikeforce:
"Diaz vs. Daley"
San
Diego, California, United States
Saturday,
April 9th of 2011
Main
card:
-
Nick Diaz def. Paul Daley by TKO at 4min57s of R1;
-
Gilbert Melendez def. Tatsuya Kawajiri by TKo at 3min14s of R1;
-
Keith Jardine vs Gegard Mousasi - DRAW;
-
Shinya Aoki submitted Lyle Beerbohm with a rear naked choke at
1min33s of R1;
Preliminary
card:
-
Robert Peralta def. Hiroyuki Takaya by split decision;
-
Virgil Zwicker def. Brett Albee by TKO at 1min46s of R1;
-
Joe Duarte submitted Saad Awad with an armbar at 2min45s of R2;
-
Herman Terrado def. AJ Matthews by TKO at 4min16s of R1;
-
Rolando Perez def. Edgar Cardenas by unanimous decision;
-
Casey Ryan submitted Paul Song with a triangle at 1min39s of
R1.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Bucking
the Mainstream
After
his UFC debut in 2003, when he armbarred rival Jeremy Jackson
to win their rubber match in three tough rounds, I spotted Nick
Diaz standing alone at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, as endless
waves of people milled through the casino. UFC 44 had ended,
yet as a virtual unknown, he stood there looking around, unmoving
and unnoticed, a hoodie zipped over his head. He looked like
someone had stolen his wallet.
I
congratulated him on his win and asked him why he looked so bummed.
“I
dropped out of school to do this,” he said, like a man who
had been given a harrowing diagnosis from his physician.
“But
you won,” I said. “And you did it against Jackson.”
“Yeah,
but now I’m going to have to do this for a living,”
he replied.
It
was one of the more puzzling postfight interviews I have ever
had, particularly with a winner.
Diaz’s
line of logic makes sense to me now. It is not the fighting part
that bothers him. Placed in danger against the game’s biggest
hitters, he is placid, unflappable; place a microphone in front
of him, and, at times, he looks like most of us would if we were
thrown in the cage -- out of sorts and clearly not wanting to
be there.
Chris
Rock perfectly summed up President George W. Bush’s distaste
toward caring what other people thought of him: “If Bush
had a pocket full of [expletives], he still wouldn’t give
you one.”
No
nickname? Check.
After his first-round knockout of Daley, one could definitely
say the same about Diaz. Outside of teammate Jake Shields, who
faces George St. Pierre on April 30 at UFC 129, who besides Diaz
is a hugely marketable fight for the UFC welterweight champion?
And
with Shields in the ironic position of denying him a title shot
should he upset St. Pierre -- Diaz has stated he would never
fight his friend and longtime stable mate -- he will probably
just stick around and fight whomever at whatever weight.
Like
public figures in other realms, there is a weird charisma exuded
by the athlete that honestly, truly, 24/7 just does not give
a [expletive]. Plenty of athletes cultivate the image and some
generate street cred with it, but few can pull it off with the
riveting across-the-board consistency that Diaz does.
If
you comprised a checklist of Things That Mean a Fighter Really
Doesn’t Give a [Expletive] What You Think of Him, Diaz’s
would have few equals.
•
No nickname? Check.
•
Favorite sport to compete in is not MMA? Check.
•
Playing with nunchucks during media conference call and then
posting video of it on the Web? Check.
•
Fighting in multiple weight classes simply because there is a
dude there that wants some? Check.
•
Refusing to apologize for being a pot legalization advocate?
Big-assed check.
As
required by state law, Diaz has a medical marijuana prescription
card -- like tens of thousands of other Californians.
In
a sport where fighters’ attention to their “image”
is only outsized by their handlers’ admirable-if-sometimes-overbearing
attempts to build them as marketable brands, Diaz is a refreshing
antithesis to that. He does not manscape, paint his toenails,
tan or spew canned trash talk that everybody knows is “promotion,”
but we listen anyway.
The
only plastic surgery he is ever going to get is the removal of
scar tissue over his brows, after which he went right back to
fighting his ass off exactly the same way he did before.
He
has not a whit of vanity, except when it comes to seeing if you
can knock the piss out of him before he does it to you. In that,
he is just about perfect in recent years. You can hold him down
or beat him on a cut stoppage, but you are not going to break
him.
It
is not easy to climb the mountain when you refuse to play the
game in any possible way, except for the actual fights, and Diaz
has essentially climbed it on his own terms, holding both middle
fingers aloft during the ascent.
This
should not be taken as a paean to Diaz as some holy figure; he
can, in the same sentence, complain about why he does not get
coverage and respect and then complain about his interviewer
or wander off course verbally.
He
can be impossibly hard to pin down, even when you have slogged
through the extensive PR/handler moats and conveyed to him that
the piece you want to write is not a hit job but a feature --
the kind of piece he has often complained he does not get, you
explain. Still, the trail goes cold.
Yet
for the most part, despite this inaccessibility and sometimes-hostile
attitude, media and fans have nothing but respect for Diaz, precisely
because he just does not give a [expletive]. It is a rarified
commodity in any sport, much less one undergoing a massive growth
spurt where huge dollars await the slightest uptick in popularity,
along with a good image to build a brand.
It
is going to take one hell of a fighter to beat him, especially
over five rounds
Source: Sherdog
|
Melendez:
‘I’m Here to Kill’
Make
no mistake about it: when Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert
Melendez enters the cage, he is single-minded in his purpose.
Following
the successful defense of his title against challenger Tatsuya
Kawajiri in the co-main event of Strikeforce “Diaz vs. Daley”
on Saturday night, “El Nino” elaborated on the in-cage
demeanor that earned him his fifth-straight victory.
“I
always have bad intentions when it comes to fighting,” Melendez
said in a video interview on Sho.com. “I’m here to
kill. Not to be a jerk, but that’s the way I fight. I saw
a body with a blurry face and it was a big target. It didn’t
matter who it was out there. I [was] trying to hurt him.”
Melendez
previously met the “Crusher” in 2006, earning a hard-fought
unanimous decision on Kawajiri’s home turf of Japan. Over
four years later, the rematch did not resemble the original,
as Melendez controlled the contest from the get-go. Initially
landing a beautiful counter right hand that buckled the challenger,
the Cesar Gracie product went for the kill and did not let up,
battering Kawajiri across the cage and eventually finishing the
job with some newly legal elbows from top position.
“It
feels euphoric. I’m patient out there now and I don’t
get too nervous. This is my job. I’m happy with my training
camp and, win or lose, I can live with myself. When you work
hard, there’s no pressure walking in there. That’s
why I perform,” said Melendez.
According
to the champion, he now understands the philosophy of using the
right tool for the job, alluding to classical kung fu forms to
illustrate the point.
“I’ve
got weapons of all kinds. I’ve got a great muay Thai coach.
I’m using knees, I’m using elbows. Whatever I need
to do, I’ll pull it out,” said Melendez. “Now
I understand [the style concept] of [kung fu], like tiger style
or crane style. In MMA, I pull out different styles for different
fighters. I used to think that was a joke, but now I understand.”
To
that end, Melendez expected his foe to approach their rematch
differently than the way Kawajiri did on Saturday. However, the
champion simply adjusted his game plan and took what the challenger
gave him.
“I’m
a mixed martial artist. I’m ready for [multiple] scenarios,”
said Melendez. “I thought he was going to come at me and
charge me, but he waited, so we started playing a little bit
of chess and we had our flurries, and I was able to pick my punches
and land.”
Source: Sherdog
|
John Visante vs Bryson Kamaka
Destiny Lightweight Champion
O2 Martial Arts Academy's Kaleo Kwan
VS
Edward Matuura
Koa Ramelb vs Lowen Tynanes
|
Competitor Fees:
Adults: $70
Kids: $50
Register at www.hawaiitriplecrown.com
Location:
Kaiser High School Gym
Event
Schedule:
Kids
Weigh-Ins: 8.30 t0 9.30 am
Adult
Weigh-Ins: 9.30 to 11.30 am
Source: Event Promoter
|
Man Up & Stand Up
Waipahu Filcom Center
Saturday April 23, 2011
Doors open at 6:00 pm
JOSEPH
GARCIA
160
ETHAN KERFOOT
THOMAS MATTIAS
140
OLA LUM
NUI WHEELER
146
KAWIKA SOREN
ERIC EDWARDS
210 +
TBA
KAENA DESANTOS
65
GAVIN FLINT
MAKOA DESANTOS
100
KALAI KWAN
NYLLEN KUKAHIKO
75
RAD RAH-JAH BRASWELL
ELIAS VELASCO
125
SHAWN DESANTOS
KALEI HIGA
125
NALU KAWAILIMA
NAZ HARRISON
100
JORDAN GUILLERMO
DJ CASERIA
120
ALIKA THOMPSON
ROB JOSEPH
180
CHRISTOPHER STOCKSTAD
RICKY PLUNKETT
150
JUSTIN
DULAY
KEONI CHANG
140
MIKE MORALES
NICK RIVERA
185
MIKE MCNAAB
MATT STONE
185
ROB CONNELL
ELFREDO VANGAS
165
KANIALA KUKAHIKO
JOSEPH ENAENA
165
LAWRENCE HINOJOSA
ANDYMAR
RENON
205
JUDE KAPUA
MANA MCCALLISTER
120
EUGENE
ANGUAY
TOFI MIKA
140
ANTHONY MURAKAMI
ALEX ANSPACH
145
TRAVIS MIRA
DAVE CORDEIRO
185
JUSTIN FONOTI
VINNIE JUERKIN
160
AARON TERRY
DARRYL DANO
135
EDDIE CENTIO
NEVADA HARRISON
135
ISAIAH PASCUA
KESUKE TOMITA
145
HARVEY
All
matches & participants are subject to change.
Source: Event Promoter
|
Order
Your Toughman Hawaii DVD
Order you official DVD of the event for $25 dollars delivered
right to your front door, shipping included.
Go to www.visualplugmedia.com
or
email info@visualplugmedia.com for the order form
and details.
Source: Wally Carvalho
|
|