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(All events on Oahu, unless noted)
2011
12/9/11
Man Up & Stand Up
(Kickboxing)
Waipahu Filcom Center, Waipahu)
11/18/11
Island Heat 3: Tha Comeback
(MMA)
(Waipahu Filcom,Waipahu)
11/11/11
Man Up & Stand Up
(Kickboxing)
Waipahu Filcom Center, Waipahu)
10/22/11
NAGA Hawaii
(BJJ & Sub Grappling)
10/21/11
Destiny MMA
(MMA)
(The Waterfront, Aloha Tower Market Place)
10/15/11
Up N Up
(MMA)
(Kodak Room, Waikiki Shell)
10/7/11
Man Up & Stand Up
(Kickboxing)
Waipahu Filcom Center, Waipahu)
9/24/11
Aloha
State of BJJ
(BJJ/Sub Grappling)
(Kaiser HS)
9/23/11
808 Battleground Presents: Unstoppable
(MMA)
(The Waterfront, Aloha Tower Market Place)
9/2/11
Man Up & Stand Up
(Kickboxing)
Waipahu Filcom Center, Waipahu)
8/27/11
Pro
Elite MMA
(MMA)
(Blaisdell Arena)
Toughman Hawaii
(Boxing, Kickboxing)
(Hilo Civic)
Add to events calendar
8/20/11
POSTPONED
Maui Jiu-Jitsu Open Tournament
(BJJ & Sub Grappling)
(Neal Blaisdell Center
Lahaina Civic Center, Lahaina, Maui)
8/13/11
Destiny
(MMA)
(Waterfront at Aloha Tower)
8/12/11
Up N Up: Waipahu Brawl
(MMA)
(Waipahu Filcom)
8/6/11
Just Scrap
(MMA)
(Hilo Civic Center, Hilo)
7/22/11
808 Battleground & X-1 World Events
Domination
(MMA)
(Waterfront at Aloha Tower)
Vendetta
(Kickboxing)
Waipahu Filcom Center, Waipahu)
7/16/11
2011 Sera's Kajukenbo Open Tournament
(Continuous Sparring, MMA (Controlled), and Submission Grappling)
(War Memorial Gym, Wailuku, Maui)
7/8/11
Chozun 2
(Kickboxing)
(The Waterfront at Aloha Tower Marketplace, Honolulu)
Rener Gracie Seminar
O2 Martial Arts Academy
$65
7-9PM
7/1/11
Mad Skills
(Kickboxing)
(Waipahu Filcom Center, Waipahu)
6/25/11
Kauai Cage Fights
(MMA)
(Kilohana Estates)
6/17-19/11
Big Boys & MMA Hawaii Expo
Neal Blaisdell Center, Honolulu)
6/18-19/11
Hawaii Triple Crown
“State Championships”
(BJJ & Sub Grappling)
(Neal Blaisdell Center, Honolulu)
6/18/11
Destiny: Fury II
(MMA)
(Neal Blaisdell Center, Honolulu)
6/17/11
UpNUp: On The Rise
(MMA)
(Neal Blaisdell Center, Honolulu)
6/10/11
Genesis “76 South Showdown Kickboxing”
(Kickboxing)
(Campbell H.S. Gym, Ewa Beach)
6/2-5/11
World
Jiu-Jitsu Championship
(BJJ)
(California)
5/28/11
HUAWA Grappling Tournament 2011
Grappling Series II
(Submission grappling)
(Mililani H.S. Gym, Mililani)
Cancelled
Battleground 808
(MMA)
(The Waterfront, Aloha Tower)
Man Up & Stand Up
(Kickboxing)
(Waipahu Filcom Center, Waipahu)
5/21/11
Scraplafest 3
(BJJ & Submission Grappling)
(Island School, Puhi, Kauai, behind Kauai Commuity College)
5/20/11
Kauai Knockout Championship II: Mortal Combat
(MMA)
(Kauai War Memorial Convention Hall, Lihue)
5/14/11
Boxing Smoker
(Boxing)
(Palolo District Gym)
5/6/11
Just Scrap
(MMA)
(Hilo Civic Center, Hilo)
4/28/11
Destiny: Fury II
(MMA)
(Blaisdell Arena)
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)
|
|
August
2011 News Part 3
|
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?
To
go directly to the Onzuka.com Hawaii Underground Forum
click here!
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to Advertise on Onzuka.com?
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More than
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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Want to Contact
Us? Shoot us an email by Clicking Here!
Follow O2 Martial Arts news via Twitter at:
http://www.twitter.com/O2MAA
Pro
Elite Return Card: Arlovski, Penn and Grove All Win in Hawaii
Honolulu
was ready for ProElite’s Arlovski vs. Lopez matches at the
Neil Blaisdell Arena on August 27.
The
fight card, including the return of former UFC Heavyweight Champion
Andrei Arlvoski to the ring, the debut of Reagan Penn, and the
rematch between Kendall Grove and Joe Riggs attracted a crowd
that filled the stands of the arena.
Kendall
Grove vs. Joe Riggs
Kendall
Grove had his mind set on one thing tonight, a rematch seven
years in the making.
In
2004, Grove and Joe Riggs faced off at Rumble on the Rocks, and
Riggs walked away with the victory.
The
first time that Grove met Riggs in the ring, he stated that he
was just a boy. But once the gate closed in the ring at the ProElite
event, Grove proved he was no longer a boy but a man.
In
the beginning of round one, Riggs attempted to take Grove to
the mat, but Grove turned the tables when he flipped Riggs and
forced him into submission by guillotine choke all in the first
59 seconds of round one.
The
audience was on its feet within seconds as Grove leapt to the
top of the cage and threw up his arms in victory.
After
the match, Grove stated that he set out to defend Hawaii, and
he did just that.
Andrei
Arlvoski vs. Ray Lopez
Although
not exciting for the audience, Andrei Arlvoski the former UFC
heavyweight champion, dominated Ray Lopez in the third round
and showed everyone how his determination and strength earned
him that title.
Arlvoski
was able to use his power to take Lopez to the mat numerous times
throughout the match while letting his arms go on Lopez’s
often unprotected face.
Lopez
ended up on his back on almost every occasion, and the audience
kept yelling, “My dog does that at home.” However,
Arlvoski wasn’t swayed by Lopez’s attempts to rest
or re-strategize.
At
the end of round one Lopez managed to get Arlvoski in to an almost
rear-naked choke, but the bell sounded.
The
second round had the audience on its feet once again, but the
members weren’t cheering. “Boos” filled the arena
as Lopez ended up on his back once again causing the ref to have
the fighters restart.
Arlvoski
isn’t known for having fast hands, but his hands were flying
in the third round when he had Lopez pinned on the mat.
Despite
his win, there were more boos from the audience due to the lack
of action during the fight.
Reagan
Penn vs. Paul Gardiner
Reagan
Penn, brother of MMA notable BJ Penn, made his debut appearance
facing off with Paul Gardiner of Nashville MMA, and cut Gardiner’s
perfect 3-0 win streak short.
With
his quick movements, Gardiner immediately took Penn down, but
within the first 30 seconds of the round one Penn had Gardiner
in a headlock and delivered numerous punches.
A
minute in the ring with Penn was more than Gardiner could handle,
and he tapped out soon after Penn got him in a rear-naked choke.
Gardiner
stated before the match that he wouldn’t be a pushover and
that once he landed the first punch he would continue until it
was over. But Gardiner wasn’t even able to touch Penn, and
Penn showed everyone that he isn’t just “BJ’s
little brother.”
Mark
Ellis vs. Jake Heun
Mark
Ellis and Jake Heun gave a whole new meaning to grapple and pound.
In
the first round both fighters seemingly took turns taking each
other down, but Ellis proved that his ground game was stronger
even though he’s known for kickboxing.
While
Heun delivered some punches in round one, Ellis seemed to roll
with them and deliver strong strikes of his own.
The
second round could have gone both ways. Ellis managed to get
Heun in a choke, but couldn’t seem to finish the job. Immediately
after, Heun twisted Ellis’s elbow into an arm lock, but
Ellis managed to slip out.
The
constant change of power and control between fighters kept the
match interesting and both fighters out of breath.
Ellis,
who made his debut, had said he wanted to take Heun out, and
in the second round Ellis flipped Heun into a rear-naked submission
and received his first pro win.
Sarah
McMann vs. Raquel Pa’aluhi
Wrestling
silver medalist Sarah McMann said that ProElite always gives
her strong opponents, but she had never met a stronger one than
Raquel Pa’aluhi.
As
soon as the first round began, both women sent their hands flying
with quick strikes. But McMann wasn’t a wrestling silver
medalist for nothing. Her talent on the mat shone through as
she body slammed Pa’aluhi in round one.
Even
though wrestling is McMann’s strong point, her hands were
heavy as she delivered punch after punch. But Pa’aluhi was
vigilant and was able to keep McMann in a triangle choke for
the last minute of round two.
Both
fighters gave their all in rounds one and two, and round three
was no different. McMann received a well-executed knee to the
face, and Pa’aluhi felt the power of McMann’s right
kick.
Around
the two-minute mark in round three, McMann put Pa’aluhi
in an arm lock that Pa’aluhi couldn’t slip out of.
McMann,
who increased her record to 4-0, praised Pa’aluhi’s
strength and technique and said that she hopes ProElite sends
her more talented fighters like Pa’aluhi.
Drew
McFedries vs. Garrett Olson
The
first couple minutes of the match between Drew McFedries of Iowa
and Garrett Olson of Minnesota were mundane, but the end of round
one was as action-packed as it could get.
Olson
kept throwing upper cuts and right jabs, but none landed. McFedries
got tired of the no-contact stand up and dominated with his ground
game.
But,
you can’t have a fight if your opponent doesn’t fight
back. Olson remained on his back for much of the fight, and McFedries
charged at him every time. In his defense, Olson kicked his legs
wildly, which caused the audience to erupt with laughter.
McFedries
seemed to have had enough of Olson’s refusal to take offense
and delivered countless punches until the ref called a stop to
the match at the four-minute mark in round one.
“I
hoped he would take offense and engage, but he didn’t,”
McFedries said.
Main
Bouts:
Kendall Grove def. Joe Riggs by submisssion (guillotine choke)
at 59 sec., R1
Andrei Arlovski def. Ray Lopez by TKO (punches) at 2:43, R3
Reagan Penn def. Paul Gardiner by submission (rear naked choke)
at 1:10, R1
Mark Ellis def. Jake Heun by submission (rear naked choke) at
2:29, R2
Sarah McMann def. Raquel Pa’aluhi by submission (arm lock)
at 2:53, R3
Drew McFedries def. Garrett Olson by TKO (punches) at 4:04, R2
Preliminary
Bouts:
Kaleo Gambill def. Sale Sproat by TKO (strikes) at 1:31, R1
Dustin Barca def. Reno Remigio by Instruction by Ringside Physician
at 5:00, R2
Brent Schermerhorn def. Jesse Lundgren by TKO (punches) at 1:38,
R1
Amateur
Bout:
Joey Palemia def. Chad Thomas by Unanimous Decision, R3
Source: MMA Weekly
|
UFC
134 Rio Post Fight: Big Nog is Back, Ready to Fight in Japan
After
18 months out of the Octagon, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira was ready
to shout it from the rooftops of Rio after knocking out rising
heavyweight star Brendan Schaub at UFC 134 Rio on Saturday night…
“I’m
back man, I’m back!” he proclaimed in a UFC post-fight
interview.
“The
fight was tough. Brendan bring a lot of his heavy hands,”
said the elder Nogueira brother. “But I was saving the right
hand for him. I trained that a lot and I did (it). I knocked
him out in Brazil. (It) was my first fight in Brazil; my fight
number 40.”
It
wasn’t an easy road to Rio, however. Nogueira had long been
plagued with knee and hip related issues. When the pain finally
became too much, when he had enough of being told he looked much
older than his – at the time – 34 years, the former
Pride and UFC champion decided it was time to go under the knife.
“I
just had surgery on my hip eight months ago. I was walking on
crutches for four months. I had less than four months training
for this fight,” he recounted.
Leading
up to Saturday night’s fight in his homeland, Nogueira had
been telling everyone that he felt better than he had in years,
that the surgery shaved years off of the wear and tear of an
already storied career. And, to be honest, at 35 years of age,
he’s a little bitter about those that were saying it was
time for him to call it a day.
“At
the (pre-fight) press conference, some guys, they ask (UFC president)
Dana White, if I lose should I quit? You know, should he retire
me? That guy sucks!” declared Nogueira, not mincing any
words, even in his second language.
He’s
had mixed results since moving into the Octagon after the demise
of Pride Fighting Championships, where he vied with Fedor Emelianenko
for supremacy. Nogueira has now won four out of six bouts under
the UFC banner, not earth shattering, but nothing to be ashamed
of either, especially when the losses were to current UFC champion
Cain Velasquez and former champion Frank Mir. His hit list also
includes wins over former UFC champions Randy Couture and Tim
Sylvia.
But
even with his resurgence, Nogueira isn’t looking all that
far ahead. He’s got several teammates – Rafael Feijao,
Antonio Silva, and Junior dos Santos – with marquee fights
lined up, and he’d like nothing more than to help them be
successful, returning the favor they did recently for him.
Nogueira
is a company man, however. He’ll be ready to jump as high
as necessary when the UFC brass comes calling.
“I
want to help my friends right now. I’m not thinking about
the next fight, but I’ll for sure be ready. If they have
a fight in the U.S., I’ll be ready. When they have a fight
in February in Japan, I’ll be ready to fight over there.”
Source: Yahoo Sports
|
UFC
134 Post Fight: Maurcio ‘Shogun’ Rua Lives His Dream
with Win Over Forrest Griffin
If
Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua was haunted by visions of his
first fight against Forrest Griffin, he certainly had a productive
therapy session at UFC 134.
Coming
off a loss to Jon Jones at UFC 128 where he lost his light heavyweight
title, Rua had a lot to prove fighting back home in Brazil, while
also looking for a certain level of revenge for the man who kicked
off his UFC career with a loss.
Looking
at the fight that took place on Saturday night in Brazil, nobody
would even recognize the Maurcio ‘Shogun’ Rua that
fought Forrest Griffin the first time.
Like
a bull, Rua charged forward and was relentless with his attack
on Griffin from the moment go. Once Griffin fell to the ground,
Rua was on him like a pitbull, and after a blitzing series of
hammer fists, the fight was over.
“I’m
very happy because Forrest is a very good fighter,” Rua
told UFC.com after the win. “I fought Forrest in 2007, and
I wanted this fight, I know Forrest can fight. It’s a hard
fight for me, but I wanted this fight, and I wanted to win and
I win.”
It
was exactly the type of homecoming Rua wanted to have as he fought
in front of his fans in Brazil.
For
the long time veteran of Pride and the UFC, getting a win like
that at UFC 134 was everything Rua could have hoped for.
“This
is my biggest dream to fight in my home,” said Rua. “For
my people, for my family, for my team.”
The
win puts Rua back on track to hopefully earn another shot at
Jon Jones or whoever has the light heavyweight title in the future.
Now
the only question remains after a quick first round stoppage
win at UFC 134, how quickly will Shogun want to get back in the
cage again. Could he appear on the UFC on Fox debut show in November?
Only
UFC President Dana White knows the answer to that.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
UFC
134 Post Fight: Forrest Griffin Makes No Excuses, Dana White
Calls Him a Warrior
Going
into a fight it’s not unusual for a competitor to have doubts
in their mind. Whether it was a bad training camp or a nagging
injury, the mental side of fight preparation is second to none.
For
Forrest Griffin on Saturday night in Rio, the former light heavyweight
champion had probably one of the biggest mental distractions
any man could face on his mind when he stepped into the cage
with Maurcio ‘Shogun’ Rua.
Thousands
of miles away in Las Vegas, Griffin’s wife was due to go
into labor with the couple’s first child.
Still
despite this obviously mental distraction, Griffin offered no
excuses why he lost the fight to Rua, and actually didn’t
even mention his wife’s pregnancy until his boss took up
the cause.
“I’m
not 100% sure. I know I had a lot of opportunities to go and
I didn’t go. The game plan was to kind of get off after
he kind of missed, and he missed a couple times big and I just
stood there and let him off the hook. I didn’t stay in the
rhythm I wanted to,” Griffin said at the post fight press
conference.
“I
had a pretty decent camp going into this, pretty decent since
9 weeks since the last time we were here. I definitely could
have done a lot better. It sucks when you do poorly at your job.”
UFC
President Dana White then took the mic and let everyone know
just how proud he was of Griffin for even taking the fight, and
that he would be flying home immediately to be there for his
wife and child on the way.
“His
wife is literally getting ready to deliver their baby in Las
Vegas right now, so we’re going to try to get him home as
fast as we can,” White stated.
White
expanded on that following the press conference, stating that
it was obviously a very tough spot for Griffin to be in, fighting
in Rio with his wife expecting to give birth at any moment at
home in Las Vegas.
“Forrest
is a warrior. He wears his heart on his sleeve. I have so much
respect for him for coming and taking this fight in this situation,”
White stated. “He knew he was going to be in this situation.
He was just hoping, she was supposed to be nine days later. He
was just texting with her before he came in here, and she said
she thinks she’s ready to go, so I’m leaving tonight
and he’s flying home with me tonight.”
White
also believes that Griffin is as tough as they come, and despite
the loss to Rua on Saturday night, the former light heavyweight
champion is still among the elite at 205lbs.
“There’s
no doubt Forrest is top ten,” said White. “He can go
out and beat anybody on any given night, you never know with
him. He’s tough. He’s durable.”
With
a ride on the UFC’s private jet, Griffin heads home today
with a loss on his record, but much happier thoughts will soon
wash over him when he greets his new child at home in Las Vegas.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Dana
comments on the ‘loud’ Brazilian crowd
UFC
took a long time to return to Brazil, but Rio’s edition
of the event made the long waiting worth it. Success with the
fans since it started selling tickets for the show, Rio edition
will also be remembered for the interaction between the fans
and the results of the bouts. The Brazilians, who prestige the
show this Saturday, at HSBC Arena, applauded, sang, booed, called
names and, above all, made much noise.
“It’s
been ten years since we’ve been doing events around the
world and Brazil has the loudest fans of all times. One of the
amazing things that happened today (Saturday) was seeing the
arena crowded and making noise since the first fight”, highlighted
Dana White, president of UFC, on the press conference after the
event.
When
questioned about a new edition on the Wonderful City, the big
boss made some jokes about it.
“Maybe
we come down here every weekend. We’re talking to many cities
and we want to take the show everywhere in Brazil”.
Despite
not knowing who’s the next one on the line for a title shot
on the middleweight division, Anderson Silva, who is in a 14-fights
win streak, Dana White discard the hypothesis of matching Spider
up with the great Georges St. Pierre, who’s ruling on the
welterweight division.
“I
want to make something clear: absolutely Anderson is the best
pound by pound in the world and they are crazy the ones who think
otherwise after seeing what he does. But there still are some
fights for him on this division, which has many great names.
The truth is that he’s so amazing that it seems this division
is easy, but we’re getting to a point on which this fight
against GSP makes sense to both of them”.
Very
humorous, the American Forrest Griffin, who was knocked out by
Shogun Rua this Saturday, suggested that Dana called in two guys
to fight Anderson at the same time.
Source: Tatame
|
Star
of last UFC in Brazil, Rizzo feels no nostalgia
Thirteen
years ago, Pedro “The Rock” Rizzo was one of the stars
of the show. At the first UFC in Brazil, in 1998, the Marco Ruas
student brought the crowd to its feet to match sinews with barroom
brawler David “Tank” Abbott, and he came out with flying
colors. Now working behind the scenes on Anderson Silva’s
training team, Pedro doesn’t feel any nostalgia at all.
“It
was important. We were trailblazers, but there’s no way
to compare it with what the people of Rio are witnessing today,
in and out of the ring. It wasn’t just a different reality,
it was a different sport,” says Rizzo in analysis.
“There
were different rules, different facilities, different purses…
In a nutshell, it was a time when Tank Abbott was one of the
stars of the UFC. These days not one Tank Abbott would make it
into the UFC. The Tank Abbott of today would, perhaps, be Roy
Nelson, for his physique. In other words, the Tank of today is
much, much better and withstands a lot of punishment too,”
he says with a grin.
Source: Gracie Magazine
|
Silva
most brilliant on Brazilian all-star card
Anderson
Silva had long ago solidified his claim as the best middleweight
in the history of mixed martial arts. For most of the past few
years he’s been the consensus best pound-for-pound fighter
in the world.
After
the ease in which he dismantled Yushin Okami on Saturday night
at UFC 134 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the question that has to
be asked is if he’s the greatest fighter in the sport’s
modern history.
UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva keeps soaring to new
heights.
(Getty Images)
Silva
(29-4) finished the sweep of Brazilian legends at UFC 134, the
company’s first show in the country in 13 years, winning
by technical knockout at 2:04 of the second round.
After
a close first round that had few telling blows until a head kick
by Silva in the closing seconds, the middleweight champ came
out in the second and overwhelmed Okami (27-6) in similar fashion
to the way he took apart Forrest Griffin two years ago in Philadelphia.
Silva’s
win followed that of Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, who finished
Griffin in a battle of former light heavyweight champions and
re-established himself among the loaded division’s elite.
Earlier, former PRIDE and UFC champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira,
perhaps the biggest favorite of all to the Rio crowd, took out
Brendan Schaub in the first round of one of the loudest events
in UFC history at the sold-out HSBC Arena. Nogueira came back
from two hip surgeries, a knee surgery, and several months on
crutches to take the fight and didn’t disappoint the home
crowd.
Still,
the hometown favorite’s KO was overshadowed by the night’s
main event. It wasn’t just Silva beating Okami that was
so impressive, but the manner in which he did it. In the finishing
sequence, Silva put his hands down by his side and basically
dared Okami to take a free shot. The first time, Okami took a
chance and landed a shot. Still, with Silva’s ridiculous
reflexes, the champ landed a counter jab that knocked Okami down
faster than you could blink an eye.
At
that point, Silva wouldn’t go to the ground with Okami,
instead backing off and letting Okami get to his feet.
Silva
again baited Okami by putting his hands to his sides. This time,
Okami didn’t know what to do, having tasted the sting the
first time around. Ultimately, he couldn’t help himself
and took the gimme shot, landing a left. Once again, Silva landed
a solid right to the jaw to put Okami down. This time Silva figured
the time was right and swarmed him with punches on the ground
until referee Herb Dean stopped the fight.
Okami’s
only chance to win would have been a takedown and ground control
game, but despite being one of the better middleweights in that
kind of battle, he was never able to come even close to getting
Silva off his feet. If Silva has improved his takedown defense
– often considered one of his weaker areas – you’re
talking about a scarier version of Anderson Silva than ever before.
“I
train hard for the best guys in the world,” Silva said.
“‘Cigano’ [No. 1 heavyweight title contender Junior
Dos Santos] punches my face all the time.” Silva was overjoyed
with his win, probably because it was in his home country of
Brazil, where over the past few months he’s become a major
sports star due to the popularity of UFC on television and his
win over fellow countryman Vitor Belfort in February. In recent
months, he’s gotten major endorsement deals from Burger
King and Nike.
While
Brazil is considered MMA’s birthplace, it hasn’t really
been a hotbed for live events for more than 40 years. The top
fighters, like Silva, Rua and Nogueira, all had to leave the
country to become stars. Silva and Rua hadn’t fought on
home soil since early in their careers when they were not big-named
fighters. Nogueira, who trains one mile from the HSBC Arena and
lives three miles away, had never fought previously in Brazil.
The
win extended Silva’s three key UFC records. His all-time
Octagon win streak hit 14 bouts, even more impressive when you
consider only Georges St. Pierre has ever hit nine. His all-time
record for title defenses reached nine, and it really should
be 10 given the fact that Travis Lutter missed weight in a 2007
title challenge. That fight was made a non-title bout and Silva
submitted him in the second round. And since he will not be fighting
again before Oct. 14, he will become the first UFC champion to
hold a title for five consecutive years. Tito Ortiz ranks in
second place at three years and five months (2000-2003), although
Georges St. Pierre ties the mark at the end of next month.
Realistically,
in the modern era of MMA (dating back to the beginning of UFC
and Pancrase in 1993), there are three standouts in the mix for
all-time greatest: Silva, St. Pierre and Fedor Emelianenko. Younger
fighters like Jon Jones, Dominick Cruz and Jose Aldo Jr. have
impressive records, but it will take years on top before they
should be talked about in the same category.
For
years, the nod has gone to Emelianenko, who currently has a 31-4
record with one no contest, but he’s coming off three straight
losses. Emelianenko is a legend for the simple fact that he fought
as a small heavyweight, giving up size to most of his opponents.
But on the other hand, the heavyweight talent pool, when it comes
to all-around skilled fighters, isn’t comparable to other
weight classes. Silva does not possess the physical strength
of Emelianenko, but there is also a huge discrepancy favoring
Silva when it comes to the stand-up game.
Realistically,
if you throw out guys Emelianenko faced that were never legitimate
name heavyweights, you get a guy with a 10-3 record, and one
of those losses was Dan Henderson, a small light heavyweight
pretending to be a heavyweight.
Unlike
Silva, 36, and Emelianenko, 34, St. Pierre, 30, has several more
years to add to his legacy. He’s 22-2, and in one sense
is more dominant. He rarely loses even a round, which you can’t
say about Silva, but he’s also not the finisher Silva is.
St.
Pierre is 14-2 against what you’d call high-quality opponents,
which includes guys who have fought legitimately at a championship
level, but he’s only had six finishes in those 14 wins.
So it becomes a question of winning every round in a fight, which
St. Pierre did for seven straight fights against high-quality
opposition (his streak ended on April 30 against Jake Shields).
Emelianenko
has finished five of his 13 top-level matches.
St.
Pierre lost to Matt Serra in one of the biggest championship
upsets in history, but Serra is still a high-level fighter. His
other loss is to Matt Hughes, a genuine legend who St. Pierre
beat the next two times they met.
Emelianenko,
meanwhile, lost to Tsuyoshi Kosaka due to a fluke cut (one which
would have been a no-contest under modern rules), as well as
Fabricio Werdum via submission and Antonio Silva via TKO in addition
to the Henderson fight.
Silva’s
losses aren’t nearly as impressive, but they were also very
early in his career. The Brazilian lost to Luiz Azeredo by decision
in 2000 (15-10), Akihiro Gono, Daiyu Takase (9-13-2) and Ryo
Chonan (19-12, but who went 1-3 in UFC competition). The loss
to Chonan was one of the greatest submission set-ups and finishes
in MMA history.
Silva
is 10-1 against top-level opponents, and that lone loss was the
2006 disqualification against Okami.
Since
the Chonan loss, he’s won 17 of 18, with 15 of those wins
coming by finish. Not every opponent was a world beater, but
the list includes hard-to-finish fighters like Chris Leben, Rich
Franklin (twice, both quick and one-sided), Nate Marquardt, Henderson,
Okami and Belfort. It also includes Griffin, the former light
heavyweight champion who looked like a playground basketball
hotshot facing an NBA All-Star once their fight started.
Whether
you hold his early career losses against him in the all-time
greatest debate, it would be pretty tough to argue against the
fact that the Anderson Silva of the past seven years has more
decisively and handily beaten more top-level fighters than any
fighter in history over a similar career period.
Source: Yahoo Sports
|
UFC
134 Rio Post Fight: Big Nog is Back, Ready to Fight in Japan
After
18 months out of the Octagon, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira was ready
to shout it from the rooftops of Rio after knocking out rising
heavyweight star Brendan Schaub at UFC 134 Rio on Saturday night…
“I’m
back man, I’m back!” he proclaimed in a UFC post-fight
interview.
“The
fight was tough. Brendan bring a lot of his heavy hands,”
said the elder Nogueira brother. “But I was saving the right
hand for him. I trained that a lot and I did (it). I knocked
him out in Brazil. (It) was my first fight in Brazil; my fight
number 40.”
It
wasn’t an easy road to Rio, however. Nogueira had long been
plagued with knee and hip related issues. When the pain finally
became too much, when he had enough of being told he looked much
older than his – at the time – 34 years, the former
Pride and UFC champion decided it was time to go under the knife.
“I
just had surgery on my hip eight months ago. I was walking on
crutches for four months. I had less than four months training
for this fight,” he recounted.
Leading
up to Saturday night’s fight in his homeland, Nogueira had
been telling everyone that he felt better than he had in years,
that the surgery shaved years off of the wear and tear of an
already storied career. And, to be honest, at 35 years of age,
he’s a little bitter about those that were saying it was
time for him to call it a day.
“At
the (pre-fight) press conference, some guys, they ask (UFC president)
Dana White, if I lose should I quit? You know, should he retire
me? That guy sucks!” declared Nogueira, not mincing any
words, even in his second language.
He’s
had mixed results since moving into the Octagon after the demise
of Pride Fighting Championships, where he vied with Fedor Emelianenko
for supremacy. Nogueira has now won four out of six bouts under
the UFC banner, not earth shattering, but nothing to be ashamed
of either, especially when the losses were to current UFC champion
Cain Velasquez and former champion Frank Mir. His hit list also
includes wins over former UFC champions Randy Couture and Tim
Sylvia.
But
even with his resurgence, Nogueira isn’t looking all that
far ahead. He’s got several teammates – Rafael Feijao,
Antonio Silva, and Junior dos Santos – with marquee fights
lined up, and he’d like nothing more than to help them be
successful, returning the favor they did recently for him.
Nogueira
is a company man, however. He’ll be ready to jump as high
as necessary when the UFC brass comes calling.
“I
want to help my friends right now. I’m not thinking about
the next fight, but I’ll for sure be ready. If they have
a fight in the U.S., I’ll be ready. When they have a fight
in February in Japan, I’ll be ready to fight over there.”
Source: MMA Weekly
|
UFC
134 Post Fight: What’s Next for Anderson Silva? How About
Anderson Silva?
A
champion wouldn’t be a champion without the team that helps
to get them there.
As
dominant as Anderson Silva has been throughout his UFC career,
the sports’ top fighter won’t take credit for his success
without passing along the accolades to his coaches and team.
He
also wouldn’t feel right celebrating his own win without
including those victories by his close friends who also fought
at UFC 134.
“I’m
happy, my whole team this night, my master Minotuaro (Antonio
Rodrigo Nogueira), Erick Silva,” Silva commented after his
win at UFC 134.
The
champion was of course paying homage to his teammates who were
also successful in Brazil. Knockouts were a theme among the Team
Blackhouse fighters with Anderson Silva, Erick Silva and Antonio
Rodrigo Nogueira all winning that way.
For
Anderson Silva this was just the latest victory in a career of
stunning wins. While Yushin Okami was absolutely no slouch, Silva
was prepared to do what he did by the training he was prepared
with before he ever stepped foot in the Octagon.
“I
train for the best guys in the world. The best team in the world,
Team Nogueira is the best,” Silva stated. “I train
against Cigano (Junior Dos Santos), I train against Rafael Feijao
(Cavalcante), (Antonio) Rogerio Minotoro (Nogueira), (Antonio)
Rodrigo Minotauro (Nogueira). I’m training for the best
guys in the world.”
With
his record setting 9th consecutive title defense, Anderson Silva
continues his reign as the best pound-for-pound fighter in all
of MMA.
While
his dominance cannot be denied, Silva will always continue to
push himself and face the best fighters in the world.
So
with names like Chael Sonnen and Dan Henderson floating around
as potential opponents, who does the Brazilian legend see as
a real challenge?
“Next? My clone, yeah, my clone,” Silva said with a
smile when asked who he’d like to face for his next fight.
It
might take modern science and a really good clone to actually
give him a challenge at this point because in the sport of MMA,
there’s none better than Anderson Silva.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Minotauro
confesses: “I was pretty nervous”
Without
fighting for over a month and go through three delicate surgeries,
Rodrigo Nogueira showed his overcoming power and let the fans
present at HSBC Arena crazy, this Saturday (27th), as he knocked
out the American Brendan Schaub, yet on the first round. The
tough guy spent four months walking with the help of crutches,
but accepted the challenge so he could have the opportunity to
do his fortieth fight of the career, the first one at his “backyard”.
After
the fight, Nogueira dedicated his win to the Brazilian fans,
who screamed back at him. “I came from three surgeries,
I’ve spent a year and four months using crutches. I’ve
only accepted this fight three months ago, at the last minute,
so that I could fight for you, so thank you a lot for being here”,
said Rodrigo.
The
experience wasn’t enough for the former champion of UFC
and Pride to be cool while entering the octagon and Nogueira
guarantees he was pretty nervous as he walked in the cage. “When
I was walking towards the octagon, I confess I couldn’t
look at the crowd because I was pretty nervous. It was only when
the fight was over that I looked at the Brazilian crowd and I
realized how much noise they were making”, said, on the
press conference, Nogueira, who saw an old dream coming through.
“It
was like a dream come through because I went through three surgeries
last year, I stopped fighting for a year and I started training
again four months ago. I had the support of Anderson, Rafael
Feijao, my brother Rogerio and all my team. I thank everyone
who helped me to make this big dream come true so that I could
get this win in Brazil”, concluded Rodrigo.
Source: Tatame
|
UFC
Rio: statements from the winners – and the losers, too
Never
before has the crowd participated so much at a UFC event, Dana
White would tweet, while the show was rolling along. Even more
importantly, this Saturday evening at the HSBC Arena was packed
with great battles, which just further escalated the excitement
of those fortunate enough to be in the arena. At the end of the
party, Rodrigo Minotauro, one of the standouts on the night,
made his way through the ocean of fans on his way to the press
conference.
Check
out some of the highlights from the presser:
Dana
White: “I’d do another UFC in Brazil next weekend!
The event was a success even before it happened; tickets sold
out and these fighters delivered the goods.
Dana
White: “I’ve been doing events around the world for
ten years and Brazil’s crowd wins. The first fight already
seemed like a title fight.”
Shogun:
“Today the UFC is my motivation and the fans are my gasoline.”
Dana
White: “Anderson Silva’s next opponent?”
Forrest
Griffin: “For his next fight, Anderson has to face two fighters
at the same time! (cackles).”
Dana
White: “For sure Anderson is the best pound for pound fighter
on the planet. His division has lots of good fighters but he’s
fantastic and makes the others look easy.
Dana
White: “There are still a lot of fights for Anderson to
do in his division and Georges Saint-Pierre too. But it’s
about time for it to happen. I don’t know if we have a stadium
that could handle a fight like that.”
Anderson:
“I got my start fighting here in Brazil but hadn’t
fought here in a long time. Thank God, I got to do it again while
in the midst of great fighters, having people like Pedro Rizzo
and the people of Brazil on my side.”
Minotauro:
“It was a dream come true. I had to stop for a year, undergo
surgeries, use crutches to walk… Today was a dream. When
I was walking to the ring I was so nervous that I didn’t
even look around or notice the noise they were making.”
Dana
White: “We’re looking at a number of cities in Brazil
as possibilities and we could hold one anywhere. We want more
events, in Rio too.”
Forrest
Griffin: “I don’t know what happened. I had opportunities,
trained hard, and it was unpleasant. I know I could have fought
better.”
Dana
White: “I’m really thankful to Forrest for being here.
His wife is about to have a baby and even so he’s here.”
Dana
White: “I always say it and I’ll say it again, Okami
is an excellent fighter.”
Forrest
Griffin: “If everyone who loses to Anderson gets fired,
there wouldn’t be anyone left in his division in the UFC.
Source: Gracie Magazine
|
UFC's
Rio Event Not Without Challenges, but End Result Is Smashing
Success
RIO DE JANEIRO -- It's a little sad to think that Ian Loveland
could probably fight his whole career and never again walk out
to the kind of ovation that he got from the same Brazilian crowd
that would be booing him moments later.
In
Las Vegas, the first prelim fighters at a UFC event usually enter
to a mostly empty arena and an indifferent crowd. In Rio, the
HSBC Arena was packed to the rafters well before the first entrance
song blared over the speakers, and fans erupted in cheers as
soon as they got a look at the night's first fighter, which just
happened to be Loveland.
Then,
during the introductions, it sunk in for them that Loveland was
American, and the boos came raining down. Such was the double-edged
sword of the passionate Brazilian crowd for UFC 134, which UFC
president Dana White dubbed "the loudest crowd ever."
"The
first fight of the night sounded like a title fight," White
said, adding, "We might be here every weekend. It was a
successful event before it even happened."
The
ovations for Brazilian fighters were deafening all night long.
For foreigners -- Americans in particular -- it must have felt
like walking into a cavern full of faceless, frenzied enemies.
The only thing to do, as David Mitchell did when he entered to
the Jimi Hendrix "Star-Spangled Banner" intro portion
of U2's "Bullet the Blue Sky", was embrace the hate.
Of
course, when Mitchell's opponent, Paulo Thiago -- a soldier for
the BOPE special forces squad in Brazil -- entered a few moments
later to the theme from Elite Squad, a popular Brazilian film
about BOPE, the boos quickly turned into the kind of raucous
cheers Thiago never hears for his fights in the U.S.
Did
it alter the outcome of the fight at all? Maybe not, but since
only one foreign fighter managed to defeat a Brazilian (that
would be Stanislav Nedkov, who knocked out Luiz Cane, thus silencing
the crowd for a few shocked seconds) on a fight card that was
essentially Brazil versus the world, it doesn't seem like a little
hometown love hurt anyone's chances on Saturday.
They
cheered. They chanted. They sang songs that, at least according
to my bilingual seatmates, were sometimes profane, sometimes
funny, and sometimes just downright weird (naturally, several
Americans were also warned that they were about to die, and no
one seemed to think this was a strange thing to chant in unison
at a professional fight).
But
though the crowd was among the most vocal and inspired the UFC
has ever had, putting on an event in Rio wasn't without its challenges.
Earlier in the week rumors surfaced that the UFC had run into
problems with the venue, that it was understaffed and required
the promotion to provide everything from electricity to security,
putting the set-up dangerously behind schedule at one point.
When
asked about those difficulties following the post-fight press
conference, White flashed a knowing but weary smirk.
"No
matter how much support you get from the city, let me tell you
what, when you go to another country to put on an event, there
are a lot of obstacles and a lot of hoops to jump through,"
White said. "We did it. We got through it, man, and here
we are."
By
early indications, White and the UFC didn't just get through
the first Brazilian event under Zuffa ownership -- they killed
it. From the lucky fans who managed to score tickets to the fights
before they sold out, to the scores who watched on free TV at
home, this soccer-mad city was fully focused on the UFC for at
least one night.
According
to White, early polling numbers indicated that UFC Rio garnered
a whopping 20 percent TV share in Brazil on Saturday, which would
put the total estimated viewership here at about 30 million.
"Huge,"
White said. "It was a big night."
Inside
the arena, at least, it was also a night for Brazilians by Brazilians.
It wasn't just that they dominated the fight card, winning eight
of the nine fights in which a Brazilian took on a foreigner.
It was that they expressed such unified disdain for anything
non-Brazilian, even booing their own fighters when one of them
dared to speak a bit of English in his post-fight remarks, then
immediately reverting to cheers when he gave in and switched
to Portuguese.
And
when it was announced that Raphael Assuncao, who hails from Recife,
Brazil, was now fighting out of Jupiter, Florida, well, you can
probably guess what the crowd response was.
The
Brazilian unity vibe was put into words at the post-fight presser,
when Anderson Silva was asked about the mixed crowd reaction
to seeing him in a Corinthians jersey -- a Sao Paulo soccer team
and rival of the local Rio clubs.
"I
think what we need to make clear and what we need our fans to
understand is that we can and we should improve a lot of things
about our country," Silva said via an interpreter. "We're
not here to defend the jerseys of our team but instead to defend
Brazil so that we can have a better future for the sport."
Try
to imagine for a moment a scenario where Brock Lesnar calls for
putting personal allegiances aside in favor of national unity
and goal-oriented improvement across the country, and you start
to get a sense of how the general mood of this night differed
from the feel at a fight in the MGM Grand.
Anyone
could see that this was a special night for Brazilian MMA, but
where does it go from here? It's one thing to get a huge response
when it's a novel event, as the UFC received on its recent trip
to Toronto, but what about the next time?
What
are the UFC's future plans for the country that embraced it with
an almost terrifying fervor on Saturday night?
"We're
going to take this thing everywhere," White said after being
asked about rumors that the UFC plans a return to Brazil in a
100,000-seat soccer stadium. "We believe there's a lot of
cities [in Brazil] where we can be successful, and we're coming
back to Rio too."
When
it does, the UFC might want to warn its Brazilian fighters to
save the English for the post-fight presser. And maybe don't
advertise the fact that many of them do their training camps
in the U.S.
Source: MMA Fighting
|
UFC
134 Rio Post-Fight Bonuses: No Subs, but Three Fighters Nab $100,000
Each
UFC
134 took place in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday night and Brazilians
surely held their home turf, winning eight of the 12 fights on
the evening’s card. Of the three fighters who earned bonuses,
two of them were from the South American country and performed
well enough to pocket an extra $100,000 in cash.
Listed
in the sportsbooks as an underdog, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira shocked
everyone with a knockout of young up-and-comer Brendan Schaub.
“Big Nog” finished his opponent in the first round
of their meeting, and did so in his first ever professional fight
in Brazil. It took 40 fights, but he finally got to showcase
his abilities in front of his home crowd and walked away with
a healthy bonus for the Knockout of the Night.
Edson
Barboza and Ross Person punched their clocks mid-way through
the main card and traded shots for the length of their fight.
Barboza took home the split decision win, but not without Pearson
putting up some stiff opposition. Pearson, the British fighter,
stood with his Brazilian counterpart and put on some pretty offense
of his own. With the fight being as close as it was and both
fighters striking at their peaks, each of them walked away with
a bonus and earned Fight of the Night honors.
Even
though UFC Rio bonuses were $100,000 each, UFC president Dana
White’s wallet didn’t take as much punishment as a
typical fight card due to there being no submission victories
on Saturday night. No tapouts means no Submission of the Night
was awarded.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Bustamante
talks Palhares-Miller ‘false’-stoppage: “He is
just too naive”
Rousimar
Palhares defeated Dan Miller at UFC Rio after a three-round battle,
but his win could have come earlier on the first round, if the
Brazilian didn’t stop punching Miller after knocking him
down. Miller accepted the loss for a moment, before referee Herb
Dean told him he hasn’t stop the fight.
Palhares’
coach Murilo Bustamante, a former UFC middleweight champion,
clarified the confusion.
“(Palhares)
told me that he stopped because his opponent said ‘stop,
stop’ when he was punching him hard,” Murilo posted
on his Twitter account. “Then he stop to hit him and thought
that fight was over and went to celebrate… Who can say now
that Toquinho isn't a fair fighter? He is just too naive, but
he has a big heart”.
Source: Tatame
|
A
given Monday in NYC with GSP, Roger, Renzo, Barral, Gregor…
The
two o’clock training session, which brings John Danaher’s
Monday class to a close at Renzo Gracie academy in NY, is already
well known for always being packed and grueling.
But
today it was more packed than usual.
While
Roger Gracie and Rômulo Barral were locked in combat, Gregor
Gracie and Georges Saint-Pierre tangled nearby. Renzo was warming
up so he could get the next roll with Barral and then catch Roger
at the end of the session. David Branch, Bruno Tostes and a number
of other amateur and professional athletes added color to the
scene, a portrait of which can be seen in the exclusive images
GRACIEMAG.com snapped and posted below.
It’s
worth asking, dear reader: If you were nearby when a roll between
Roger and Barral was about to begin, or a grapple session between
GSP and Gregor, would you go about your training normally or
would you sneak a peek? Discipline or curiosity, which would
win?
Source: Gracie Magazine |
Anderson
Silva's Win Proves He's the Best, UFC Prez Says, So Now What?
RIO DE JANEIRO -- As flkyar as UFC president Dana White is concerned,
there hasn't been any doubt about where Anderson Silva stands
for some time now. But after Saturday night's destruction of
Yushin Okami at UFC 134, White said, it should no longer even
be a question.
"One
thing I want to make clear, and I've been saying this for a long
time, this guy is the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world,"
White said of Silva. "There's no debate. You're out of your
mind if you don't think this guy is the pound-for-pound best
fighter in the world. People will say, 'Oh, he needs to be challenged.'
The [185-pound] division has a ton of great fighters. The reality
is, this guy is so good, he makes it look like it's not."
Former
foe Forrest Griffin had a more succinct way of putting it when
discussing who Silva should face next: "I say he fights
two guys."
Fighting in front of his countrymen for the first time in his
UFC career, the middleweight champion easily dispatched Okami
in the second round, and seemed as if he might have even been
drawing the fight out to get it to last that long. From the opening
minutes of the bout, Okami wasn't much more than target practice
for Silva, who eventually dropped him with a punch combo and
then finished the woozy challenger with a barrage of strikes
on the ground.
For
Silva, who had watched the first UFC event in Brazil in 1998,
it was a dream come true, he said, and one that would have seemed
improbable at best back in the days of the UFC's first foray
into South America.
"At
that time I practiced other martial arts," Silva said via
an interpreter. "I didn't even consider doing mixed martial
arts. It was awesome to be able to fight here in Brazil, in front
of Brazilian people."
Of
course, at this point every Silva fight concludes the same way,
and that's with questions about when he might face UFC welterweight
champ Georges St. Pierre.
As
is typical, Silva didn't do much more than make silly faces as
potential opponents were mentioned at the post-fight press conference,
saying once again that, ideally, he'd like to face his clone
in his next fight.
Until
the scientific community can make that dream a reality, however,
it sounds like White has some other ideas.
"I
think there's a couple other fights out there for him at 185
[pounds]," the UFC president said of Silva before admitting
that both GSP and the middleweight champ are "getting into
a position here where that fight's going to make sense."
If
it does materialize soon, the biggest problem, according to White,
might be finding the right venue to host the dream fight.
"I
honestly believe, there's a couple more fights for Anderson and
Georges, and if they both win, I honestly don't know if there's
a stadium big enough for that fight."
As
for Okami, his future is less certain. The loss against Silva
tosses him back into the middle of the UFC's middleweight pack,
but that doesn't mean White is ready to take back any of the
praise he lavished on him in the lead-up to this bout.
"Yushin
Okami -- I said it before the fight and I'll say it again after
the fight -- he's one of the best 185-pound fighters in the world
and he's the best fighter to come out of Japan," White said
in response to a question about whether the UFC would keep Okami
on the roster.
But
once again, it was Griffin who put things in terms everyone could
understand.
"There's
a long list of guys who get beat up by Anderson," he said.
"If you fire them all, you're not going to have anybody
left."
Source: MMA Fighting
|
UFC
134 Rio Results: Stanislav Nedkov Silences Brazilian Crowd with
TKO Over Luiz Cane
It’s
not easy to make your UFC debut on the main card against a fighter
in their home country, but Stanislav Nedkov stepped into shark
infested waters in Brazil, and came out with a TKO win over Luiz
Cane.
With
an undefeated record of 11-0, Nedkov, a native of Bulgaria, was
still relatively unknown coming into his first fight in the UFC.
His debut was delayed because of injuries, but he finally showed
why he belonged in the UFC on Saturday night.
Facing
a dangerous striker in Luiz Cane, a shorter Nedkov struggled
to find his distance early, but repeatedly threw an overhand
right that the Brazilian just didn’t find a way to block.
Still
through the early part of the fight, Cane controlled the stand
up and busted Nedkov’s nose at one point, causing the Bulgarian
to grab at his nose over and over again, obviously bothered by
the injury.
Nedkov
was undeterred however and as he tossed the right hand one more
time he caught Cane, and followed it up with a left that rattled
the Brazilian, putting him on wobbly legs.
Seeing
his opponent was hurt, Nedkov rushed forward with strikes as
Cane crumbled against the cage. The pressure stayed on with Nedkov
blasting at Cane until the referee swooped in for the save.
The
Brazilian crowd was silenced as Nedkov TKO’d Cane in the
first round. A very proud Bulgarian, Nedkov paid tribute to his
home country after getting the win.
“Bulgaria’s
been waiting a very long time for this victory,” Nedkov
said following his debut victory.
Now
12-0, Nedkov moves forward in his UFC career looking to stay
undefeated.
Source: MMA Weekly |
UFC
134 Rio Results: Facebook Prelims Put Thiago Back on Track, Silva
Impresses in Debut
The
Brazil crowd showed up in force for the UFC 134 prelims on Facebook,
and the local favorites did not disappoint. Paulo Thiago got
back on track with a unanimous decision win, while Erick Silva
made the most of his debut with a knockout taking less than one
minute.
David
Mitchell vs. Paulo Thiago
A
loud and raucous crowd greeted Paulo Thiago with open arms, and
he responded with a dominant three round decision win over David
Mitchell to cap off the Facebook prelims at UFC 134.
The
Brazilian was actually bouncing back from two losses in a row,
so a win was the most important business for Thiago at UFC 134,
but having the Rio crowd behind him didn’t hurt. Ultimately,
it was Thiago’s strategy that won him the fight, taking
Mitchell down multiple times over three rounds.
Mitchell
put on a sloppy and uneven performance as he tried to showcase
his boxing, but never put together any real combinations to do
damage. Thiago meanwhile put Mitchell on his back over and over
again, and in the third round came close to a rear naked choke
after taking the American’s back.
Time
ran out before Thiago had a chance to finish the fight, but he
still put on the performance he needed to get the win and please
the Brazilian crowd.
“I
was going through a very tough moment in time, but I trained
a great deal for this,” Thiago said after the win.
After
several months off and two losses in a row, Thiago is now back
in the win column and wants to build on that with his next fight
in the Octagon.
“I’m
an employee, so whatever Lorenzo (Fertitta) decides, that’s
what I’m going to do and I’ll be happy for it,”
Thiago commented.
Raphael
Assuncao vs. Johnny Eduardo
Moving
down to 135lbs worked out well for Raphael Assuncao who picked
up his first win in the UFC defeating fellow Brazilian Johnny
Eduardo by unanimous decsion.
A
veteran of the WEC and the UFC, Assuncao definitely looked like
the more confident and level headed fighter when he stepped into
the cage on Saturday night. While Eduardo didn’t look bad,
it appeared his nerves along with the threat of the takedown
from Assuncao rattled his strategy.
The
2nd round was fairly even until Assuncao managed to get Eduardo
to the ground with less than a minute to go and slipped in to
take his opponent’s back. Assuncao ran out of time to finish
the fight, but was closer during that moment than at any other
time during the fight.
The
judges agreed with Assuncao’s performance and gave him 30-27
scores across the board.
“I’m
just coming off my weight cut to 135, and I feel great at 35,”
said Assuncao after moving to the bantamweight division. “I’m
going for contendership, and thanks to all my fans.”
Raphael
Assuncao
Erick
Silva vs. Luis Ramos
It
didn’t take long for Jungle Fight champion Erick Silva to
let his impact be known to the UFC, landing a huge right hand
to put away Luis Ramos just seconds into the first round.
There
wasn’t much of a feeling out period when Silva came over
the top with a big right hand, cracking Ramos on the jaw and
sending him crashing to the mat. Silva follwed up quickly with
a few more punches and while Ramos looked to block a couple of
them, the ones that slipped through sent his head bouncing backwards.
Referee
Herb Dean saw enough and stepped in to stop the fight before
Ramos could endure any more damage. Silva now moves to 1-0 in
the UFC with the first stoppage of the night on the UFC 134 card.
Yuri
Alcantara vs. Felipe Arantes
In
a battle of two Brazilians, Yuri Alcantara used better ground
control, wrestling and jiu-jitsu to beat his fellow countryman
Felipe Arantes.
Alcantara
showcased strong mat skills taking Arantes down repeatedly, and
quickly passing his guard into several different positions. During
the 2nd round, Alcantara got into the mount and when punches
weren’t working he tried for a rolling triangle choke, but
Arantes slipped out.
The
remainder of the fight was controlled by Alcantara with takedowns
and ground control to pick up a unanimous decision victory.
Ian
Loveland vs. Yves Jabouin
After
a 1-3 start to his Zuffa career, Canadian Yves Jabouin was definitely
in need of a win at UFC 134, but came out strong and ended up
with a split decision victory over Ian Loveland in Brazil.
The
early going saw Loveland put his Team Quest training to use as
he put Jabouin on his back and avoid the diverse striker’s
most dangerous weapon. Towards the end of the first round is
when Jabouin started to gain momentum after catching Loveland
with a quick punch, staggering the fighter and sending him backwards
towards the cage.
Loveland
survived, but from that moment on he struggled to get Jabouin
back to the mat into his kind of fight. Jabouin was able to establish
his stand-up, and out pointed Loveland for the majority of the
remainder of the fight.
Two
of the judges gave the fight to Jabouin, while one judge did
give the decision to Loveland. The victory puts Jabouin back
on track and guarantees him another fight in the UFC.
Source: MMA Weekly |
ProElite Results
ProElite: Arlovski vs. Lopez
Neil S. Blaisdell Arena, Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii
August 27, 2011
Like
a phoenix, ProElite was resurrected from the ashes by two of
the most experienced veterans of MMA in Hawaii, T.Jay Thompson
and Rich Chou. These two have brought together their collective
experiences to go big right out of the gate with their first
show "back". They pulled out all the stops with veteran
referees, "Big" John McCarthy, Yuji Shimata (of Pride
fame) and Hawaii's best ref, Chris West. They used a large circular
cage, two large screens, and put on a great production. Unfortunately
the action inside the cage was mixed. The younger fighters brought
a lot of energy and determination into the cage in the under
card, but the high profile veterans in the sport left a lot to
be desired. Power puncher and KO artist Drew McFedries, was tentative
and had a hard time pulling the trigger in his fight. And Andrei
Arlovski was also tentative and drew out his match much longer
than a fighter of his caliber should have. Arlovski had numerous
opportunities to finish Lopes from the full mount numerous times
to having him turtle up on his hands and knees. Disappointing
performances by two of the most exciting fighters to say the
least. However, both are working their way back up the long road
back to the top of their respective divisions and sometimes a
"W" helps build the much needed confidence to return
fighters to their true form. Let's keep our fingers crossed.
The highlight of the event was thankfully three fold, first the
action packed women's bout featuring Sarah McMann taking on Hawaii's
Raquel Pa'aluhi. These ladies put away the pigtails and fought
with as much ferocity as any man. Second, the hype of BJ Penn's
little brother, Reagan Penn's MMA debut. Many people don't know
that Reagan entered alongside BJ in their first World BJJ Championship
in Brazil. Only one of the brothers walked away with a title,
but it wasn't BJ. BJ came in second place in that tournament.
Reagan has also been travelling and training with BJ all these
years so there was huge hype and expectations leading into this
bout. Reagan did not disappoint, after a little take down defense,
Reagan pulled off a nice switch and transition to the side mount
and back mount and finished Paul Gardiner in a little over a
minute. It is a great start for possibly a new dynasty? Finally,
it took over 7 years for Kendall Grove to get his revenge from
a previous 2004 bout by choking out Joe Riggs in a hair under
a minute to end on a high note.
Main
Event:
MMA - Middleweight
Kendall Grove def. Joe Riggs
Submission via guillotine choke at 0:59 in Round 1.
MMA
- Heavyweight
Andrei Arlovski def. Ray Lopez
TKO via Referee stoppage due to strikes from the mount at 2:43
in Round 3
MMA
- Welterweight
Reagan Penn def. Paul Gardiner
Submission via rear naked choke at 1:10 in Round 1.
MMA
- Heavyweight
Mark Ellis def. Jake Heun
Submission via rear naked choke at 2:29 in Round 2.
MMA
- 135lbs
Sara McMann def. Raquel "Rocky" Pa'aluhi
Submission via Americana key lock at 2:53 in Round 3.
MMA
- Middleweight
Drew McFedries def. Garrett Olsen
TKO via Referee stoppage due to strikes at 4:04 in Round 2.
UNDERCARD
Feature Bouts
MMA - Middleweight
Kaleo Gambill def. Sale Sproat
TKO via Referee stoppage due to strikes at 1:31 in Round 1.
MMA
- Lightweight
Dustin Barca def. Reno Remigio
TKO due to Doctor stoppage (cut over eye) at the end of Round
2.
MMA
- Middleweight:
Brent Schermerhorn def. Jesse Lundgren
TKO due to Referee stoppage due to strikes at 1:38 in Round 1.
MMA
- Heavyweight:
Joey Palania def. Chad Thomas
Decision after 3 rounds.
|
UFC
134 Results & Live Play-by-Play
HSBC Arena
in Rio de Janeiro
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Yves
Jabouin vs. Ian Loveland
Round 1
Loveland comes straight forward winging long punches. A turning
kick from Jabouin backs the “Barn Owl” up momentarily,
but Loveland then tries to clinch. Jabouin shoves him off and
kicks high; it glances, but Loveland catches the leg and brings
Jabouin down in the center of the cage. Loveland tries to pass,
backs out and lands a few hard shots as he dives back in. Butterfly
guard from Jabouin and Loveland passes to half-guard. The American
looks for a far-side kimura that doesn’t come and referee
Marc Goddard pauses the action to cut a loose piece of tape from
Loveland’s glove. They restart on the feet and Jabouin puts
a solid switch kick on his man’s right side. Loveland answers
with a punch to the temple that staggers Jabouin momentarily.
Loveland lands a pair of solid right hooks and steps out of the
way of a turning kick. An overhand right taps Loveland’s
jaw and he stumbles backward. Jabouin rushes with a flying knee
and swarms with punches, but Loveland regains his composure and
rides out the last few seconds of the round.
Chris
Nelson scores the round 10-9 Loveland
Mike Whitman scores the round 10-9 Jabouin
Freddie DeFreitas scores the round 10-9 Loveland
Round
2
Loveland scores a takedown instantly, but Jabouin quickly reverses
and moves into Loveland’s full guard. Loveland swings his
legs around, hunting for an armbar, and winds up in mount. The
position only lasts for a second, as Jabouin stuffs him back
to half-guard. Loveland drives elbows and punches down from on
top until Jabouin scrambles free. Back on the feet, Jabouin tags
Loveland with a pair of right hands and another solid kick. The
next turning kick from Jabouin lands low, but Loveland only takes
a few seconds to recover. Jabouin goes straight back to the spinning
kicks; Loveland doesn’t seem to like him, as he plows Jabouin
down with 90 seconds left in the round. Jabouin pops right back
up. Inside the last minute now and Jabouin just misses a home-run
head kick. A solid uppercut to the guts of Loveland connects
and Jabouin hits a takedown right after to close out the round.
Chris
Nelson scores the round 10-9 Jabouin
Mike Whitman scores the round 10-9 Jabouin
Freddie DeFreitas scores the round 10-9 Jabouin
Round
3
Jabouin starts the final round looking to land kicks low, while
Loveland tries to come over the top with punches. Loveland comes
inside to grab underhooks and Jabouin just shoves him off. The
Rio crowd, which has been booing intermittently all fight, is
now getting restless as the pace slows. Jabouin scores a quick
takedown and Lovelan hops right back up. Jabouin glances with
a spinning backfist and Loveland unsuccessfully tries to tie
up again. Loveland is trying to time Jabouin’s kicks, but
the Canadian’s reaching the outside of his thigh before
Loveland can get to his chin. Jabouin shucks another takedown
and hits the leg kick-punch combo he’s been firing off all
fight. A turning kick slams into Loveland’s liver and Jabouin
tries to dump him to the floor in the last 30 seconds. Loveland
stays up, but eats a pair of right hands for his trouble. Jabouin
clinches and drives Loveland into the fence at the horn.
Chris
Nelson scores the round 10-9 Jabouin (29-28 Jabouin)
Mike Whitman scores the round 10-9 Jabouin (30-27 Jabouin)
Freddie DeFreitas scores the round 10-9 Jabouin (29-28 Jabouin)
Official
result: One scorecard reads 30-27 for Ian Loveland, while the
remaining two are 29-28 in favor of the winner by split decision,
Yves Jabouin.
Yuri
Alcantara vs. Felipe Arantes
Round 1
Alcantara pushes outward from the middle of the cage, lobbing
punches over the top while Arantes covers up on the perimeter.
The southpaw Alcantara swings an elbow over the top and splits
Arantes’ guard. Arantes responds with a few leg kicks, then
gets back on his bike while Alcantara stalks. Arantes lands a
kick to the body, but it’s caught by Alcantara, who drags
“Sertanejo” to the ground. Arantes shifts and twists,
trying to push Alcantara away. Alcantara sticks in half-guard
and Arantes puts a solid left hand on him from the bottom. Now,
Alcantara postures up in Arantes’ guard and lands a few
hard punches. Alcantara passes to the side, tries for mount,
but has to bail out when Arantes grabs at his leg. Arantes is
cut near the outside corner of his right eye as ref Mario Yamasaki
stands them up. Back standing, Arantes immediately leaps with
knees at Alcantara, who hits his man with another standing elbow.
Chris
Nelson scores the round 10-9 Alcantara
Mike Whitman scores the round 10-9 Alcantara
Freddie DeFreitas scores the round 10-9 Alcantara
Round
2
The Brazilians touch gloves again to start round two and both
men look to attack high with kicks. Neither lands flush and they
spend a minute feeling one another out until Alcantara rushes
Arantes and brings him down. Arantes throws his legs up, hunting
for a submission, but Alcantara passes to side control. With
three minutes left, Alcantara hops to full mount. He assesses
the situation and looks for an opening, eventually deciding to
try and lash on a triangle choke. It doesn’t work and Alcantara
is forced to stand and go back to Arantes’ full guard. Referee
Yamasaki stands them up with two minutes to go. Arantes looks
the fresher fighter on the feet, slapping the slowing Alcantara
with a head kick. Alcantara fires off a one-two and tries to
get inside; he does, but eats a hard knee to the gut as he drags
Arantes to the floor. It’s back to half-guard for Alcantara
against the fence as Arantes looks to his corner for advice and
the time ticks away.
Chris
Nelson scores the round 10-9 Alcantara
Mike Whitman scores the round 10-9 Alcantara
Freddie DeFreitas scores the round 10-9 Alcantara
Round
3
Twenty seconds into the round, Alcantara times a takedown perfectly
and leaps onto Arnates’ back. Before he can lock up a body
triangle, though, Arantes twists around and finds himself in
the guard of Alcantara. Some solid punches are getting through
for Arantes, though Alcantara is doing a good job of neutralizing
him with wrist control. With just over two minutes on the clock,
Yamasaki stands them up and Alcantara instantly drives Arantes
to the floor. Alcantara whacks Arantes with more elbows and tries
to pass to mount again, but stalls out in half-guard. Yamasaki
puts them back on their feet with 45 seconds left. Arantes tries
to get inside, but just as he steps in, Alcantara grabs a single-leg
and spins him down. That’s where it ends.
Chris
Nelson scores the round 10-9 Arantes (29-28 Alcantara)
Mike Whitman scores the round 10-9 Arantes (29-28 Alcantara)
Freddie DeFreitas scores the round 10-9 Alcantara (30-27 Alcantara)
Official
result: One judge at cageside scores it 29-28, while the remaining
two have it 30-27, all for the winner by unanimous decision,
Yuri “Marajo” Alcantara.
Erick
Silva vs. Luis Ramos
Round 1
Silva wades in behind a punch and tries for a takedown, then
has to back out when Ramos comes forward with a combination.
After a brief feeling-out period, Silva charges forward with
a lead left and then comes over the top with a massive right
hand. The right lands and Ramos crumbles to the mat. Silva finishes
the job with a flurry of punches, turning out the Shooto champ’s
lights. Referee Herb Dean steps in for the save just 40 seconds
into the opening round.
Raphael
Assuncao vs. Johnny Eduardo
Round 1
The Brazilians, both right-handers, go to their leg kicks early.
Assuncao lands one and Eduardo times it well, slamming his man’s
jaw with a hard counter right hand. Eduardo is moving forward
but looking to counterpunch, that is until Assuncao grabs a single-leg
and rushes the Nova Uniao fighter into the fence. Assuncao spins
him down and Eduardo closes up his guard. Eduardo tries to tie
up, but Assuncao bashes him with a few hard elbows from the top.
It’s not enough for ref Marc Goddard, who puts the bantamweights
back on their feet with a minute to go.
Chris
Nelson scores the round 10-9 Assuncao
Mike Whitman scores the round 10-9 Assuncao
Freddie DeFreitas scores the round 10-10
Round
2
The men clinch up and Eduardo nearly winds up on top, but Assuncao
slides out and takes his back standing. They walk to the fence
and Eduardo turns around, where Assuncao tries to spin him down
with a single-leg. Eduardo defends it, steps out and pops Assuncao
with a quick right straight, then a few chopping leg kicks. Assuncao
dives for a double-leg and Eduardo throws his hips back, sprawling
all over it. Assuncao isn’t done, though, and keeps digging
for the takedown against the fence. Eduardo gets loose and it’s
back to trading with 90 seconds left in the middle frame. Assuncao
connects with an overhand right, then another; Eduardo answers
with an outside leg kick. Assuncao ties up and gets on Eduardo’s
back standing, then drags him down. Eduardo’s on his knees
and Assuncao sinks in both hooks with 30 seconds left. Assuncao
rolls to his back and punches Eduardo’s head, trying to
soften him up for the rear-naked choke, but he can’t get
there before the horn.
Chris
Nelson scores the round 10-9 Assuncao
Mike Whitman scores the round 10-9 Assuncao
Freddie DeFreitas scores the round 10-9 Assuncao
Round
3
Assuncao’s looking to bring it back to the floor in the
final frame, but Eduardo socks him as he tries to get inside
and tie up. A stiff left jab gets through for Assuncao, then
a slapping leg kick which is answered in kind. Eduardo is pushing
now while Assuncao keeps pumping the left jab. Assuncao tries
a high takedown and Eduardo goes underneath for a leglock. It
doesn’t happen and Assuncao stacks him up at the base of
the fence, landing hard left hands to the face. Referee Goddard
stands them up with 80 seconds left and Eduardo gets to hunting
with wild right hooks. Assuncao snaps off a push kick and steps
out of the way of Eduardo’s turning kick. Eduardo lands
a right and Assuncao falls, but instantly hops back up.
Chris
Nelson scores the round 10-9 Assuncao (30-27 Assuncao)
Mike Whitman scores the round 10-9 Assuncao (30-27 Assuncao)
Freddie DeFreitas scores the round 10-9 Assuncao (30-28 Assuncao)
Official
result: It’s a clean sweep with all three judges scoring
it 30-27 for the winner by unanimous decision, Raphael Assuncao.
Paulo
Thiago vs. David Mitchell
Round 1
Mitchell comes inside to tie up and Thiago swings right hands
over the top. Mitchell just smiles and continues to press forward.
Now they stand in center cage and Thiago lands a side-kick before
ducking under a punch and putting “Daudi” on his back.
Thiago goes instantly to side control and hunts for an arm-triangle
choke, but he can’t find it and lets Mitchell back to his
feet. Mitchell flicks out long left jabs to keep Thiago at bay.
Thiago ducks under a punch again and gets underhooks, lifting
and slamming Mitchell to the canvas with about 90 seconds left.
Again, Thiago lands in side control and goes hunting for the
brabo setup. Thiago gets the crucifix momentarily; Mitchell extracts
his left arm, but can’t get out from under the Brazilian.
Chris
Nelson scores the round 10-9 Thiago
Mike Whitman scores the round 10-9 Thiago
Freddie DeFreitas scores the round 10-9 Thiago
Round
2
Mitchell comes straight ahead with his strikes again, but Thiago
is timing him well and looks the quicker striker. Thiago slips
on a kick, giving Mitchell the chance to clinch up and muscle
him into the fence. Thiago gets an underhook, though, and trips
Mitchell to the floor, then moves slickly to side control. Mitchell
does well to reverse and nearly takes Thiago’s back, but
settles for standing back up. Thiago brings him down, though
only briefly this time. The welterweights are back on their feet
and Thiago hits another takedown at the midway point of the fight.
Thiago lays in side control and Mitchell drills him with a few
elbows, drawing a warning from ref Mario Yamasaki to watch the
back of the head. Mitchell is cut around the bridge of his nose,
but it doesn’t look bad. Thiago lets his man up and goes
headhunting with a big lead uppercut that just misses. Mitchell
tries to do the same, but misses badly. Punch to the body lands
for Thiago and he covers up to block Mitchell’s retaliation.
Chris
Nelson scores the round 10-9 Thiago
Mike Whitman scores the round 10-9 Thiago
Freddie DeFreitas scores the round 10-9 Thiago
Round
3
Thiago stalks forward, trying to time Mitchell’s strikes
with his big right hand. A left hook sneaks around the corner
for Thiago, causing Mitchell to tie up. It’s Thiago who
whips the American to the floor, though, where Mitchell tries
a leglock. Thiago is having none of this and gets to his feet;
Mitchell is slower to do the same. Both men look spent, but it’s
Thiago moving backward, forcing Mitchell to give chase. Thiago
kicks high and connects; he tries for a single-leg, but Mitchell
gives him the slip. Both men throw single punches as we get into
the final 90 seconds of the fight. Still grinning, Mitchell lands
a right jab and a one-two. He tries a Superman punch and just
avoids a big right from the Brazilian. Thiago clips Mitchell
with a left hook, then an overhand right and hops onto his back
with 30 ticks to go. Both hooks are sunk in for Thiago; he applies
a rear-naked choke, but can’t get it under the chin of Mitchell
before time runs out.
Chris
Nelson scores the round 10-9 Thiago (30-27 Thiago)
Mike Whitman scores the round 10-9 Thiago (30-27 Thiago)
Freddie DeFreitas scores the round 10-9 Thiago (30-27 Thiago)
Official
result: All three judges score the bout 30-27 in favor of the
winner by unanimous decision, Paulo Thiago. The Rio de Janeiro
crowd, naturally, goes wild.
Rousimar
Palhares vs. Dan Miller
Round 1
Miller spends the opening minute at range, trying to establish
his jab. After about 60 seconds, Palhares gets inside and jumps
guard. He twists and angles for an armbar, but Miler slips loose
and they go back to their feet. Palhares snaps off a front kick
that clips Miller’s jaw and rushes in behind it. Miller
is hurt and Palhares lifts him up, dumping the American to the
canvas. Miller recovers and winds up on top in the scramble.
He doesn’t do much from the position except regain his wits,
however, and the middleweights are soon back on their feet. Palhares
scores with a right hand over the top and a knee to the gut.
Palhares puts a right high kick on Miller’s temple and Miller
goes down. “Toquinho” swarms with punches for a moment,
then walks away and straddles the cage. Referee Herb Dean beckons
him back down, informing him that he never stopped the fight,
and the pair get back to work with less than 30 seconds to go
in the round. Miller lands a combination that sends Palhares
down, but Palhares gets up and rushes Miller into the fence.
He lands a few shots from the top, including one which may have
come after the horn. Miller shrugs to ref Dean as the wild first
round comes to a close.
Jordan
Breen scores the round 10-9 Palhares
Chris Nelson scores the round 10-9 Palhares
Freddie DeFreitas scores the round 10-8 Palhares
Round
2
Miller paws at his eye after the opening exchange, apparently
having taken a finger there. The action doesn’t stop and
Miller is taken down, only to throw up a triangle. Palhares slams
his way free and Miller tries to pick the Brazilian’s ankle,
but Palhares wails away with punches from the top. Dean warns
Palhares for grabbing onto the cage to keep his position. Palhares
grabs the fence again a moment later, but no point is taken.
Miller throws up another triangle and eats an elbow, then gets
slammed and gives up the hold. The torrid pace finally slows
as Palhares moves to Miller’s guard. Palhares doesn’t
relent with his strikes though, battering with punches and elbows
that have Miller bleeding above his left eye. Miller is just
looking to tie up and negate the space as his cut worsens and
blood streams out. Palhares is just landing dozens of punches
while Miller squirms and tries to get away. Miller turns and
turtles, takes more right hands and goes back to guard. Palhares
slows down in the final seconds, but finishes the round on top.
Jordan
Breen scores the round 10-8 Palhares
Chris Nelson scores the round 10-8 Palhares
Freddie DeFreitas scores the round 10-9 Palhares
Round
3
All patched up, Miller pushes forward with an uppercut to begin
the final stanza. Both men look for openings, breathing with
their mouths open. A solid left jab-right hook combo gets through
for Miller, who times a leg kick from Palhares and zaps the Brazilian
with a right straight. Miller tries to repeat the same counter,
but Palhares ducks out of the way after his next leg kick. Left
jab from Miller is countered by a tired left hook from Palhares,
who follows up with an inside thigh kick. The left jab is landing
repeatedly for Miller, while Palhares finds less frequent success
with his harder overhand right. Miller sucks wind, looks up at
the clock and eats a left hook from Palhares. They end the fight
trading and embrace at the final horn.
Jordan
Breen scores the round 10-9 Palhares (30-26 Palhares)
Chris Nelson scores the round 10-9 Palhares (30-26 Palhares)
Freddie DeFreitas scores the round 10-9 Palhares (30-26 Palhares)
Official
result: The judges’ diverse scorecards read 29-27, 30-27
and 30-25, all in favor of the winner by unanimous decision,
Rousimar “Toquinho” Palhares.
Spencer
Fisher vs. Thiago Tavares
Round 1
Tavares slips early, pops right back up and goes to work with
kicks to Fisher’s ribs. It’s only 40 seconds in when
the Brazilian clinches up and rushes Fisher to the ground at
the base of the cage. Tavares tries to work from his opponent’s
open guard while Fisher looks to wall-walk back to his feet.
Now there are short left hands incoming from Tavares, who’s
doing well to keep Fisher on his hind side. Tavares keeps trying
to pull out the legs of Fisher to flatten the American out, and
Fisher keeps scooting back to the fence. Referee Marc Goddard
stands them up with just over two minutes to go. Tavares has
a pair of head kicks deflected and dips inside for a high double-leg,
dragging Fisher to the floor again. Tavares mashes and grinds
with elbows, passes to side control and then full mount. He hops
onto Fisher’s back, but can’t sink his hooks in, allowing
Fisher to stand before the horn.
Jordan
Breen scores the round 10-9 Tavares
Chris Nelson scores the round 10-9 Tavares
Freddie DeFreitas scores the round 10-9 Tavares
Round
2
Tavares slams Fisher back down to earth straight away and resumes
where he left off last round, trying to take Fisher’s back.
He can’t so, he goes back to punching and yanking Fisher
away from the fence to get distance. Fisher sits up and tries
to stall Tavares with the butterfly guard. Tavares pulls his
legs out, hops to side control and then assumes his back. Fisher
is on his belly, flattened out with Tavares on top raining down
punches. Fisher tries to turn over, but Tavares’ hips are
anchored. Out comes Fisher’s mouthpiece. Fisher isn’t
out, but he also doesn’t appear to be going anywhere. As
such, referee Goddard steps in and waves the contest off, awarding
Thiago Tavares the stoppage win at 2:51 of the second round.
Luiz
Cane vs. Stanislav Nedkov
Round 1
The southpaw Cane walks Nedkov toward the fence and the Bulgarian
backs him up with a big overhand right. A pair of short lefts
land for Cane, causing Nedkov to try and clinch. Cane won’t
have it and goes back to looking for his big punch, mixing in
leg kicks now. Nedkov keeps swinging his right over the top;
it’s landing, but doesn’t seem to faze Cane, who slips
on a kick and has to go on the run. A left hand from Cane has
Nedkov dazed. Cane is taking his time, stalking Nedkov, who’s
now bloodied around the nose and swinging wildly in defense.
Nedkov bounces a left hook off Cane’s temple and Cane retreats
on wobbly legs, pushing himself off the cage with his legs and
trying to cling on. Nedkov traps him against the cage and unloads
another dozen right hands, putting Cane out of commission and
forcing Mario Yamasaki into action at the 4:20 mark.
Antonio
Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Brendan Schaub
Round 1
Schaub tries to stick and move with his left jab, but Nogueira
gets inside and ties up. Schaub puts the Brazilian’s back
to the cage and throws uppercuts inside, then backs out. Again
they clinch on the fence; this time Schaub’s uppercuts get
through, snapping Nogueira’s head back. They split and Nogueira
moves slowly toward the American, who corks “Big Nog”
with a solid hook and an uppercut. Schaub kicks downward at the
knee of Nogueira and circles left. Nogueira strings together
a nice three-punch combo and then sticks Schaub with a left hook.
Punches from Schaub seem to have Nogueira wobbly, but it’s
tough to tell, as “Minotauro” is also trying to clinch.
Nogueira rushes forward and mashes Schaub with a left hook-right
straight combo. Schaub is already on his way to the canvas, but
Nogueira doesn’t relent. The Brazilian keeps punching, making
sure Schaub goes out as he flops to the canvas belly-down. Referee
Herb Dean rescues the limp American at 3:09 of the opening round.
Ross
Pearson vs. Edson Barboza
Round 1
Barboza fires off a high kick, then goes to the legs while Pearson
looks to counter with hard left hands. Pearson is pressing the
action with combinations, though there’s a lot of feinting,
bobbing and weaving through the first two minutes. Pearson digs
a right hand to the body of Barboza, who counters with one of
his own up top. Pearson jumps inside with a knee and glances
with a two-punch combo as he shoves the Brazilian into the fence.
They split and Barboza connects with a clean back-kick. Pearson
shrugs it off and keeps coming forward. Pearson puts a combination
in Barboza’s face and follows up with a hard punch to the
gut. With 20 seconds left, Pearson clinches up on the fence and
closes out the round there.
Jordan
Breen scores the round 10-9 Pearson
TJ De Santis scores the round 10-9 Pearson
Chris Nelson scores the round 10-9 Pearson
Round
2
Barboza catches a kick, lands one of his own to the body and
zaps Pearson with an overhand right. It looks like trouble for
the Englishman as he falls to his posterior, but he hops right
back to his feet and quickly recovers. Barboza swings a murderous
uppercut which misses and Pearson backs him up with a left hook.
Another right hand lands flush for Barboza, but Pearson answers
with a combination and an inside low kick of his own. Pearson
dives for a single-leg from way out and Barboza sprawls all over
it. Two minutes to go and Barboza lands his right hand again.
Pearson doesn’t go down this time, continuing to walk forward
until Barboza backs him up with a turning kick. Superman punch
from Pearson splits the guard of Barboza and he sneaks a left
hook around the corner. Pearson rushes inside to tie up, but
backs out after eating a few knees up the middle.
Jordan
Breen scores the round 10-9 Barboza
TJ De Santis scores the round 10-9 Pearson
Chris Nelson scores the round 10-9 Barboza
Round
3
Pearson pops Barboza with a left hand and leaps in with a knee
on the fence. He backs out and absorbs another turning kick from
Barboza, then a switch kick. Barboza tries to jump in with a
knee which is caught by Pearson. A kick to the body connects
for Barboza and Pearson answers with a left hook and a single-leg
attempt. Barboza shoves him off and circles out. Pearson lands
a leg kick of his own, gets out of range of Barboza’s return
fire and shoots. Again, Barboza sprawls and easily defends the
takedown. Pearson sneaks a left hand through as the fight enters
its final minute. He backs Barboza into the cage and lands a
two-punch combo, but gets backed up by a stiff jab. Pearson is
bleeding from his right eye, waving Barboza on in the final seconds.
He leaps at Barboza with a knee and throws another wild combination
as the horn sounds.
Jordan
Breen scores the round 10-9 Barboza (29-28 Barboza)
TJ De Santis scores the round 10-9 Pearson (30-27 Pearson)
Chris Nelson scores the round 10-9 Barboza (29-28 Barboza)
Official
result: All three judges’ scorecards read 29-28, one in
favor of Ross Pearson and two in favor of the winner by split
decision, Edson Barboza.
Mauricio
“Shogun” Rua vs. Forrest Griffin
Round 1
Referee Marc Goddard is the third man in the cage for this evening’s
light heavyweight co-main event. There’s no touch of gloves;
Griffin takes the center of the cage and flicks out kicks as
Rua moves along the perimeter. Griffin tries to come in with
a left straight and eats an uppercut from Shogun, then a knee
to the gut. Griffin’s leg kicks are coming very slowly and
awkwardly. Griffin catches a right hook on the temple and falls
to a knee, shooting in desperation. Rua is all over him, bashing
Griffin with repeated hammerfists. Griffin goes in and out of
consciousness a few times as he’s battered. Referee Goddard
steps in at 1:53, giving Rua the knockout victory and revenge
for his 2007 defeat.
UFC
Middleweight Championship
Anderson Silva vs. Yushin Okami
Round 1
Referee Herb Dean is in charge of this middleweight title bout;
judges Douglas Crosby, Sal D’Amato and Chris Lee are cageside
to score the bout should it go the distance. The champion Silva
does his standard pre-fight bow and the combatants refuse to
touch gloves as ref Dean issues final instructions. Silva strikes
first with a low inside leg kick as he moves around the outside,
switching between southpaw and orthodox stances. Okami ducks
in and ties up, looking to land uppercuts which appear to be
mostly blocked. Silva is starting to dance, shuck and jive, planting
a left hook on Okami’s chin and circling out. Okami gets
inside and puts Silva’s back on a cagepost. There’s
not a lot happening as Okami puts punches on Silva’s body
and “The Spider” returns fire with sporadic knees.
Okami switches to a single-leg, quickly gives it up and goes
back to leaning on Silva as the Rio crowd boos. Silva lands a
crisp uppercut and a left head kick just before the horn.
Jordan
Breen scores the round 10-9 Silva
TJ De Santis scores the round 10-9 Silva
Chris Nelson scores the round 10-9 Silva
Round
2
Silva gets busy early in round two with stiff jabs and rapid-fire
leg kicks. The champ’s hands are by his side as he weaves
out of the way of Okami’s jab, then drops Okami with a single
shot. Silva wants Okami back up. His hands still low, Silva bends
at the knees, inviting Okami to come in and sidestepping when
he does. Another short right hook drops Okami and the Japanese
fighter is in deep trouble. Okami lays on his side, covering
his head as Silva drops punches and elbows to his head and body.
Referee Dean stands over the down fighter, hesitating for a moment,
but ultimately stepping in to halt the action at of 2:04 round
two. It’s another impressive finish for Anderson Silva,
who retains his UFC middleweight title for the ninth time.
Source
Sherdog
|
Meet
the TUF 14 Cast
by Brian
Knapp
Hawaii's
Bryson Hansen
Age: 24
Record: 5-1
Division: Featherweight
Hansen
has competed exclusively on the Hawaiian circuit. The once-beaten
24-year-old suffered the first defeat of his career in September,
when he submitted to a first-round triangle choke from Russell
Doane at an X-1 World Events show in Honolulu. Hansen trains
out of the same MMA Development camp that spawned “The Ultimate
Fighter” alums Scott Junk, Brandon Wolff, and Brad Tavares.
Source
Sherdog
|
Anderson
Silva vs. Dan Henderson Targeted as First UFC on Fox Main Event
by Erik
Fontanez
Fresh
off their recently signed seven-year television deal with Fox,
the UFC is believed to be in negotiations with Dan Henderson
to have the Strikeforce light heavyweight champion return in
a fight against UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva. The
bout would headline the UFC’s inaugural event on the Fox
network, which takes place on Nov. 12 in Anaheim, Calif. The
bout will be fought at 185 pounds.
MMAWeekly.com
sources close to the situation confirmed the information, which
was originally reported by Tatame.com.
MMAWeekly.com
has also learned that negotiations have reached a point where
nearly all has been agreed to for Henderson’s return to
the UFC. The major sticking points appear to be the purse for
the potential Silva-Henderson showdown, and, of course, the fact
that Silva already has another hurdle in front of him.
Silva
is currently gearing up for a middleweight title defense against
Yushin Okami at UFC 134: Rio on Saturday night. The Silva-Henderson
match-up depends on Silva winning his title defense this weekend.
Henderson,
in speaking with MMAWeekly Radio last week, explained that he
sees himself as a valuable asset and even said that his UFC return
would, more than likely, come down to the dollar amount.
“It
will probably come down to money, but it’s coming from the
same people,” Henderson said. “So, it’s a matter
of where they’re going to make the most money off of me
as well, and to be able to pay what I’m getting paid, they
need to be making money as well.”
The
Strikeforce 205-pound champion went on to comment that the biggest
fight the Las Vegas-based organization can promote is a title
unification bout with whoever the UFC champion is. Unfortunately,
UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones is already scheduled
to fight “Rampage” Jackson at UFC 135 in September.
Silva,
however, will have over two months to prepare for a Nov. 12 match-up
after fighting this Saturday. The timing might be right enough
for him and Henderson to meet in Anaheim on broadcast television.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Bellator
48 Earns 226,000 Viewers on MTV2
by Mike
Whitman
Bellator
Fighting Championships 48 raked in an average of 226,000 viewers
for its Saturday night broadcast, making it the promotion's fifth-most
watched event to air on MTV2.
Sherdog.com
acquired the viewership figure from an industry source on Tuesday.
Following its live broadcast at 9 p.m. ET, the event also netted
an additional 114,000 viewers during it's replay at 1 a.m. ET.
Headlined
by the Summer Series featherweight tournament final between Pat
Curran and Marlon Sandro (pictured), the event went down Aug.
20 from Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn. Curran ended Sandro's
night late in the second frame of their 145-pound contest, landing
a swift head kick that sent the Brazilian reeling. The American
followed up with punches to seal the deal, snatching the tournament
crown and gaining a shot at Bellator featherweight king Joe Warren.
Bellator's
heavyweight titleholder also saw action at the event, as Cole
Konrad cruised to a unanimous decision victory over Paul Buentello.
The heavily favored Konrad chose to stand with the former UFC
title challenger and consistently beating “The Headhunter”
to the punch.
Additionally,
the MTV2 broadcast saw Seth Petruzelli earn a devastating knockout
over former UFC heavyweight champion Ricco Rodriguez, while lightweight
prospect Rene Nazare battered Juan Barrantes en route to a second-round
doctor's stoppage.
Source:
Sherdog
|
PR:
Muay Thai Premier League debuts on September 2nd
By Zach
Arnold
Press
release
MUAY
THAI PREMIER LEAGUE MAKES INTERNATIONAL DEBUT IN LONG BEACH
Twenty-Four
Of The World’s Top Fighters Will Descend Upon The Walter
Pyramid In Long Beach For September 2 Event
Los
Angeles, Calif., August 24, 2011 – Martial arts fans will
have the opportunity to see 24 of the world’s top MuayThai
fighters in action on September 2 when the MuayThai Premier League
(MPL) makes its international debut at the Walter Pyramid in
Long Beach, Calif.
The
MuayThai Premier League, which was introduced earlier this year
by former five-time world champion and League President and CEO
Clifton Brown, is the first forum for the sport’s most skilled
athletes to compete on an international stage in a structured
league format. The Long Beach event is one of three MuayThai
events set to take place in the greater Los Angeles area over
the course of an eight-month season and promises to be the biggest
event in the sport’s storied history.
“MuayThai
has seen a steady increase in global popularity among fighters
and fans in the past decade,” said Clifton Brown, MPL President
and CEO. “While elements of this fighting style are used
in other martial arts leagues, we felt it was time to offer true
athletes of the sport a venue to showcase MuayThai in its purest
form. The new league format, with eight events globally, allows
us to provide an exhilarating show for the fans and gives us
an avenue to crown the true MuayThai World Champion.”
Tickets
for the Long Beach event may be purchased at www.TheMPL.tv. Doors
will open at 6 p.m. for the 7 p.m. event. The Walter Pyramid
is located at 1250 Bellflower Blvd. in Long Beach.
About
MuayThai and the MuayThai Premier League (MPL)
MuayThai,
also known as Thai boxing, is an extremely effective and lethal
form of martial arts utilizing punches, kicks, knees, and elbows.
Originally practiced in the once closed society of Thailand,
MuayThai has always flourished in the Asian region and has seen
a dramatic increase in international participation over the last
30 years – from the development of professional fighters,
to executives incorporating this form of martial arts into their
workout routines.
The
MPL is a structured league format comprised of five weight divisions
– four male, one female – where fighters must earn
their place in the finals. With eight competitors in each division,
the fighters are split into two pools. In the Round Robin stage,
each fighter faces the other three competitors in their group,
earning three points for a knockout victory, two points for a
decision victory, and one point for a draw. At the conclusion
of the Round Robin stage, the top two fighters in each Group
will advance to the elimination stage, where the top fighter
in Group A will compete against the second place fighter in Group
B and vice versa. The winners of these semi-final matches will
then advance to the finals to compete for the MPL and WMC World
Championships in their respective weight classes. At the conclusion
of the season, athletes who advanced to the elimination stage
will remain for season two, the following September. Fighters
who do not advance to the elimination stage will be replaced
with new competitors drafted by the league to compete in the
upcoming season.
Weight
Divisions
*
140 lbs/ 63.5 kgs- Super Lightweight (Female)
* 147 lbs/ 66.7 kgs – Welterweight (Male)
* 160 lbs/ 72.5 kgs – Middleweight (Male)
* 182 lbs/ 82.5 kgs – Super Light Heavyweight (Male)
* 210 lbs/ 95 kgs- Heavyweight (Male)
The
MPL boasts an impressive stable of world-renowned fighters, combining
to hold more than 220 Championship belts, with eight events across
the world over the course of the season.
MPL
Season
*
September 2, 2011 – Los Angeles, California
* October 8, 2011 – Venice/Padova, Italy
* November 5, 2011 – Amsterdam, Netherlands
* December 5, 2011 – Bangkok, Thailand
* January 17, 2012 – Los Angeles, California
* February 20, 2012 – Marseilles, France
* April 6, 2012 – Canada (Semi-Finals)
* May 25, 2012 – Los Angeles, California (Finals)
For
more information on the league, an overview of the competitors
and to purchase event tickets, visit www.TheMPL.tv or www.facebook.com/TheMPL.tv.
Media
Contacts:
Lindsey
Early, Edelman for MPL, 312-297-7514, Lindsey.Early@matter-edelman.com
Luka Dukich, Edelman for MPL, 312-297-6903, Luka.Dukich@matter-edelman.com
Source: Fight Opinion
|
Kazushi
Sakuraba Returns to Meet Nova Uniao's Yan Cabral at DREAM.17
By Daniel
Herbertson
DREAM's
first large-scale event for for the year got it's tenth bout
on Thursday afternoon as MMA legend Kazushi Sakuraba has signed
to fight DREAM newcomer and Nova Uniao submission ace Yan Cabral
at DREAM.17 on September 24 at Saitama Super Arena, Tokyo, Japan.
Kazushi
Sakuraba has not competed since his heavily cauliflowered ear
was partially torn off in his December 31, 2010 bout with DREAM
welterweight champion Marius Zaromskis. The gruesome ear injury
continued a run of losses for Sakuraba; the "Gracie Hunter"
also falling to the much less experienced Ralek Gracie and suffering
the first submission loss of his career since his debut against
Jason "Mayhem" Miller.
Yan
Cabral, a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt who first trained with
Carlson Gracie before joining the highly respected Nova Uniao
camp, comes into the bout with a perfect 9-0 record with every
victory coming by way of submission. Cabral is particularly adept
at the arm-triangle choke - a submission that has brought him
victory on four occasions and also gave Kazushi Sakuraba the
only submission losses of his career.
DREAM.17
- September 24, 2011 at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan
Shinya
Aoki vs. "Razor" Rob McCullough
Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Yan Cabral
Satoru Kitaoka vs. Willamy "Chiquerim" Freire
Caol Uno vs. "Lion" Takeshi Inoue
Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Joachim Hansen
Gerald Harris vs. Kazuhiro Nakamura
Bantamweight
World GP Opening Round
Hideo Tokoro vs. Antonio Banuelos
Bibiano Fernandes vs. Takafumi Otsuka
Masakazu Imanari vs. Abel Cullum
Yusup Saadulaev vs. Rodolfo Marques Diniz
Source:
MMA Fighting
|
Former
UFC Fighter Chris Lytle Now Puts Focus on Family and Politics
by Andrew
Gladstone
UFC
veteran Chris “Lights Out” Lytle has had his sights
set on entering the political arena for several few months. The
firefighter has had a long illustrious career in MMA, and currently
holds the record of 10 post-fight bonuses, but he’s finally
decided enough is enough, hanging up his gloves.
Outside
of the cage, Lytle is known as a father, a husband, and is universally
well liked.
The
humble 38-year-old believes that not only would entering the
political arena be beneficial to him, but also it would be beneficial
to his family, as he could work in the daytime when his kids
are at school.
“The
thing is, I’ve studied a little bit of the political realm
around here,” Lytle told MMAWeekly Radio.
“The
good thing about that is the Indiana legislature meets around
four months out of the year and it’s usually during the
day. I’ve already been looking into doing that and if I
were able to do that, that would still give me a lot of time
with the family and time to still do everything I want to do.
It shouldn’t interfere with that too much, so I would look
into that and it would take a lot less family time from me.”
In
the next week or so, Lytle will begin planning for his political
future and, at this time, he believes he will make a run in 2012.
With Lytle trading his TapouT shorts for a suit and tie, the
former mixed martial arts fighter is looking forward to shifting
gears.
“I’m
going to sit down with my political people in the next week and
talk about formulating what I want to do and see what direction
I’m going to go in.
“I
don’t have that much of that kind of stuff. Everybody, whoever
sees me, knows that I don’t dress real fancy. I don’t
know, I guess maybe I got to buy a couple of suits. I got a little
bit of money laying around now.”
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Kyra
Gracie set to soar in England
Following a week’s training with the Mendes brothers and
crew at Atos in São Paulo, Kyra Gracie is back in her
natural habitat, Rio de Janeiro, to continue with her prep work
for ADCC 2011, the most prestigious grappling tournament to be
held this year in Nottingham, England, in late September.
During
her week of training in São Paulo, Kyra shared some posture
tricks and other details with the folks at Atos and had the chance
to absorb special takedown knowledge from Claudio Calasans, as
well as Mendes bros specialties like guard passing and the finer
details of the “leg drag,” among other facets of No-Gi
Jiu-Jitsu. Next week she will be back training at Calasans’s
academy.
In
the meantime, Kyra is staying focused on conditioning work –
even while at the beach. As you can see in the photo the black
belt posted on Twitter, the Gracie is dead set on firing on all
cylinders when she gets to ADCC 2011
Source:
Gracie Magazine
|
K-1
Returns with 2011 World MAX 70 kg Japan GP
By Daniel
Herbertson
K-1's
70 kg division finally made its full-scale return official on
Thursday as FEG President Sadaharu Tanikawa announced the complete
card for the 2011 K-1 World MAX 70 kg (154 lbs) Japan GP, to
be held on Sept. 25 at Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium in Osaka,
Japan.
The
one-night sixteen-man tournament is set feature 2002 World GP
champion Albert Kraus taking on former All-Japan Karate champ
Yuji Nashiro and 2010 Japan GP finalist Hiroki Nakajima facing
R.I.S.E middleweight champion Takafumi Morita on one side of
the bracket, while 2009 World MAX World GP semi finalist Yuya
Yamamoto clashes with 2009 "Koshien" (High School)
winner Shintaro Matsukura and 2008 World MAX Japan winner Yasuhiro
Kido meets former Krush champ Kenta on the other side of the
tournament.
Cross-dressing
cos-player and 2010 World MAX Japan GP winner Yuichiro "Jienotsu"
Nagashima will also feature on the card in a 78 kg super-fight
against Masayuki "Kenmun" Sagara. Nagashima stayed
active during K-1's restructuring this year with a stint on the
local pro-wreslting circuit where he packed on a significant
amount of weight. Nagashima last fought a legitimate bout on
December 31, 2010 at Dynamite where he knocked out DREAM lightweight
champion Shinya Aoki in a mixed rules match.
K-1
promoter Fighting and Entertainment Group have seen significant
financial difficulties for the past few years and have been going
through a restructuring phase for much of 2011. K-1 have only
managed one other event this year, the down-scaled 63kg Japan
GP - an event that was broadcast live on YouTube but not on Japanese
TV.
Last
month it was revealed that the Japanese Trademark Registration
Database no longer has FEG as the owner of K-1 and its associated
trademarks. With the exception of K-1 Koshien, all K-1 trademark
rights have been transferred to real-estate company Barbizon.
FEG officials are yet to publicly comment on the situation.
2011
K-1 World MAX 70 kg (154 lbs) Japan GP - Sept. 25, Osaka Prefectural
Gymnasium in Osaka, Japan
Super
Fights:
Yuichiro "Jienotsu" Nagashima vs. Masayuki "Kenmun"
Sagara
Kizaemon Saiga vs. Valdrin Vatnikaj
Tournament
Quarter Finals:
Yuji Nashiro vs. Albert Kraus
Hiroki Nakajima vs. Takafumi Morita
Yuya Yamamoto vs. Shintaro Matsukura
Yasuhiro Kido vs. Kenta
Tournament
Semi Finals:
Nashiro/ Kraus vs. Nakajima/ Morita
Yamamoto/ Matsukura vs. Kido/ Kenta
Tournament
Final:
Nashiro/ Kraus/ Nakajima/ Morita vs. Yamamoto/ Matsukura/ Kido/
Kenta
Tournament
Reserve Bout:
Go Yokoyama vs. Yoshi
Source:
MMA Fighting
|
UFC
wants Anderson Silva vs Dan Henderson on FOX
By Guilherme
Cruz
Anderson
Silva will put his belt on the line this Saturday, but the organization
is already thinking on his next title defense. According to sources
close to the situation, the middleweight champion is in talks
with the UFC to fight Dan Henderson at UFC’s first show
on FOX, scheduled to November 12, in California.
Anderson,
who already defeated the former Pride champion in his long UFC
career, tapping him in a rear-naked choke at UFC 82, fights the
highly underdog Yushin Okami this Saturday, at UFC Rio, while
Henderson waits to define his future with the end of his contract
with Strikeforce.
Sources
also indicated that if Henderson didn’t agree to move down
to middleweight months after a heavyweight showdown against Fedor
Emelianenko, Chael Sonnen is the option to replace him against
Silva.
Sonnen
is set to fight Brian Stann at UFC 136, and if Henderson doesn’t
take this fight, he’d be taken out to fight Anderson. Stann,
on the other hand, would potentially fight Vitor Belfort.
Stay
tuned for more news on the UFC middleweight title picture.
Source:
Tatame
|
Joe
Rogan on why Edgar/Maynard III is important & how Fedor lost
his competitiveness
By Zach
Arnold
500,000
views of Pat Curran’s KO of Marlon Sandro last Saturday
in the Bellator cage. One of the many interesting comments Joe
Rogan made during this Tapout Radio interview is how he would
love to see a lot of the Bellator fighters in the UFC and that
he thinks they would do well. For instance, he would like to
see Pat Curran, Ben Askren, Hector Lombard, and Eddie Alvarez.
In fact, Joe went as far as to say that he thinks Alvarez could
be the #1 Lightweight in MMA and that the #1 spot in that weight
class can be claimed by several guys right now (both inside and
outside the UFC).
“You
see how high-level [Eddie's] striking has gotten. He’s a
gamer, he goes after you.”
We
won’t be seeing Eddie any time soon in the UFC if you believe
Tony Loiseleur’s report at Sherdog that Alvarez will get
to fight Shinya Aoki in 2012 in Bellator.
Joe
Rogan also thinks Gilbert Melendez has the right to stake a claim
at the top of the 155 pound division.
“There’s
so many good guys in that division. It’s such an exciting
time.”
Which
leads us to the comments he made on the Tapout radio show about
the upcoming Frankie Edgar/Gray Maynard trilogy fight and why
it’s such an important fight for UFC’s Houston event.
“Just
from a cinematic point of view, that last fight was so dramatic!
There was so much going on in that fight, you know, Frankie Edgar
getting ROCKED bad in that first round and it looked so close
to being stopped so many times. I mean, you wondered like how
does a guy come back from this, he’s getting battered and
then what he did do? He comes back in the second round and he
wins it and then he wins the third and he might have won every
round other than the first and the real question became, how
much damage did Gray Maynard do in the first? Some people think
it was like a 10-5 round, a 10-4 round, it was ridiculous. He
knocked him down, he hurt him, I mean is it just 10-8? If that’s
just 10-8, that seems a little silly, that’s as close as
you can get to stopping somebody and not stopping and beat him
up for the whole round? To me, it might like 10-6 or 10-7, you
know, it seems like a big round.
“So,
then that became the debate, how many other rounds did Gray Maynard
win? Did he win one other round? And it’s like, how the
did Frankie Edgar come back from that? Frankie Edgar is a MONSTER,
you got to put that guy away, his heart is INCREDIBLE! I mean,
the beating that kid took in that first round to come back and
start teeing off on Gray in the second round was ridiculous,
incredible. I didn’t know if it was even possible for him
to make it to the finish. I was like, is he going to be able
to go five rounds after the first round, is his body just going
to give out on him? I mean, that was a crazy first round.
“So,
I’m really curious to see what kind of alterations either
guy has made, you know, they must have watched that fight 100
times, they must be thinking about the moment what could have
been different. For Gray Maynard, maybe if he picked his shots
more and didn’t swarm, maybe he could have stopped him.
For Frankie Edgar, what was it that caused him to get hit, what
silly mistakes did he make, what did he do when he dropped his
hands, what was it? They’re going to study those tapes and
they’re going to come back and it’s going to be a fascinating
fight. So that one I’m looking forward to just from maybe
not even stylistically, just as a story, you know, just an amazing
fight.
“Plus,
that division is so crazy right now. With Ben Henderson’s
victory over Jim Miller and then (Donald) Cerrone destroying
(Charles) Oliveira, it’s like that weight class is STACKED,
God damn what a crazy shark tank that weight class is. You know,
everywhere you look at 155 there’s another killer, it’s
a weight class filled with savages. It’s almost too competitive,
it’s crazy.”
From
there, the interview discussion took an interesting turn in regards
to how quickly someone’s career can turn on a dime and the
name Jamie Varner was mentioned. Guys who were on top of their
game just a few years ago now are now often considered ‘washed
up’ and finished, both physically and mentally.
Fedor
should have had this conversation with Greg Jackson before he
fought Werdum
Then
the name Fedor came up… and whether or not he will be able
to make a come back as a competitive MMA fighter.
“I
think Fedor probably got tired of fighting but I also think Fedor
never fought the guys that he fought even when he lost before.
That Bigfoot Silva guy would have given him a hard time at any
point in his career, I firmly believe that. That guy takes a
tremendous shot, he’s a legitimate BJJ black belt, and he’s
a big . That guy’s big. He’s like 290, cuts down to
265, he’s got giant hands and feet, if he hits you it’s
like getting hit by a tree, you know? And he gets on top of you…
that legitimate black belt beast and he’s dropping bombs
on your head, try peeling that guy off of you, try hip escaping
when that guy’s got the mount on you. YOU’RE ! You
know, if a real BJJ black belt mounts you, there’s a certain
feeling like, OH , like this is like let Jean-Jacques Machado
mount you, let Jacaré mount you, and you get this creepy
feeling like OK, I’m never getting out of this, never, and
that’s the kind of mount that big guy has and he’s
punching you in the head? If Fedor fought that guy in PRIDE the
guy might have beat him. If the same Bigfoot Silva of today fought
Fedor in PRIDE five years ago, he might have beat him. I’m
not saying he would have but he might of.
“I
think it’s also him being an undersized Heavyweight that
quite frankly is fat, you know? He’s obviously very skilled,
you know, you can’t look at the way he came back and won
the Brett Rogers fight and not be impressed. You can’t look
at the way he timed Andrei Arlovski’s knee and KO’d
him, you can’t look at that and not be impressed. You can’t
look at the armbar that he nailed (Mark) Coleman with, the kimura
that hit (Kevin) Randleman with, you can’t look at those
and not be impressed. I’m forever going to be a Fedor fan,
he’s amazing, he’s an amazing fighter. But I think
when you compare him to the greats of all time, if there was
a 225 pound weight class you know he might have been one of the
greatest of all time. But as a heavyweight? I think there’s
always going to be guys that are like just going to be able to
beat him, I think that there’s a few guys that are just
too big and too strong and he’s certainly not the same guy
that he was back when he was in PRIDE, he doesn’t even physically
look like that guy in any more. He’s lost a considerable
amount of muscle mass. I know that he doesn’t lift weights
any more, he talks about it, but he just does fight training.
I need think he needs to life weights, man, I think your body
needs to be strong.
“Who
am I to question Fedor’s motivations or techniques for training
but I just think that strength & conditioning is part of
the program, man, you got to be strong to pull off sometimes.
A lot of it is technique but there’s time where you’re
going to rely on your body and if you look at Fedor’s body
from 2001 and Fedor’s body from now, he’s a different
dude. He always had the gut but he used to be way thicker, he
used to look like a guy that’s throwing kettlebells around
all the time, he used to look like what he was, this Judo/Sambo
champion.
“There
is a problem in losing the way he’s lost three times in
a row and the last two in really kind of devastating fashion,
he was really destroyed and that takes a lot of your motivation
away, man, it just does. But, technically, there’s no question
about it. He has to get in there and train with a camp of really
good guys that are going to test him, that are going to test
him hard. He can’t hang out with that Baby Fedor kid and
a couple of others and his brother and a few other fighters,
it’s not enough. He needs a world-class camp. I mean, he’s
going in there against Dan Henderson, he’s going in there
against Alistair Overeem, he’s going in there against a
Josh Barnett, he needs a God Damn world-class camp. He needs
a strength-and-conditioning coach. He needs someone to push him.
He needs someone to feed him correct food, you know. He needs
people to monitor his heart rate to make sure that when he gets
up in the morning that he’s not overtraining. He needs a
lot of . There’s a lot on the line when you compete at the
highest levels of the game, you know, and Fedor I don’t
think is getting the kind of training that he could have. It
was enough in the beginning, he’s so skilled, the Sambo,
he’s so skilled with striking, he’s such a wild man,
he’s so fearless, it was enough to beat a lot of people
for a long time but I don’t know if it’s going to be
enough to beat the guys of today. I think there’s a different
breed today and he’s not the same guy any more.”
Dan
Henderson’s name was mentioned as someone who is heading
in the opposite direction for his career.
“Dan
Henderson is a lot hungrier than him at 40 but Dan Henderson
is a savage. Dan Henderson is one of those guys that just, look,
you have to remember that he came from a wrestling background,
a pure wrestling background with really very little striking
training and he went and became one of the most dangerous one-punch
knockout artists in the history of the sport and that’s
for real, man. That knockout that hit Michael Bisping with, that
is going to be on highlight reels to the end of humanity. They’re
going to carve that in little cartoon blocks on a stone wall
after the nuclear holocaust, people that are going to be alive
that remember that knockout.
“There’s
knockouts that he hit like when he put Babalu away and Babalu’s
eyes started rolling in his head, dude… Dan Henderson is
a monster. He can punch and he knows he can punch. He knows that
all he has to do is clip you one time with a clean one and you’re
, you know, and the fact that he was able to do that Fedor and
the fact that he was able to do that to Feijao, how quickly that
Feijao fight turned around, he’s a monster, man. At 40.
But you know why? Because he still likes to fight.
“Everyone’s
different, man, you know, you got your motivations and it’s
different than Tom up the block, everybody’s got their own
thing for why they’re doing this sport but a certain point
and time some dudes start to question why. They don’t know
what their motivations are any more, they don’t know if
it’s smart, they don’t know if there’s other things
to pursue but there’s money involved in this and so they
keep doing it but they lose the passion (for) it. The guys that
don’t lose the passion, the Randy Coutures, the Dan Hendersons,
they can compete well into an elevated age that we have never
considered to be competing at like the highest level of combat
sports just a few decades ago. You know, there was no 40 year
old bad in 1988, you remember 1988 when (Mike) Tyson was the
king? Man, 40 year old dudes were done. If you were 40 you had
a gut and you looked stupid and you got your ass kicked always…”
‘Elevated’
is an interesting word choice here. A lot of guys in their 30s
and 40s back in 1988 weren’t using Testosterone Replacement
Therapy, either. Amazing how that works.
The
irony of listening to this radio passage hit me when Geno Mrosko
wondered whether or not Fox & mainstream media outlets would
investigate issues like TRT & steroid usage in MMA because
UFC will soon become ‘mainstream.’ You can read my
response here. When FNC is suddenly pushing Dana White &
UFC as what President Obama should start studying in order to
create new jobs, do you think that big media outlets are going
to apply heavy scrutiny in regards to UFC business practices
or the drug usage by fighters? Not a chance. Two years ago, Dana
White had his infamous rant on Loretta Hunt on Youtube. It sure
didn’t hurt UFC’s bottom line in getting $100 million
USD a year from Fox, did it? I expect UFC to largely get a free
pass from the mainstream media when it comes to potential scandals.
Source:
Fight Opinion
|
MMA
Top 10 Rankings: Bendo’s Back With Big Win Over Jim Miller
The
updated MMAWeekly.com World MMA Rankings were released on Wednesday,
Aug. 24. This system ranks the Top 10 MMA fighters from across
the world in each of the seven most widely accepted men’s
weight classes and the Top 10 pound-for-pound women fighters.
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:
WOMEN’S
POUND-FOR-POUND (all weight classes)
1. Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos
2. Megumi Fujii
3. Sarah Kaufman
4. Miesha Tate
5. Marloes Coenen
6. Zoila Gurgel
7. Tara LaRosa
8. Rosi Sexton
9. Roxanne Modafferi
10. Mei Yamaguchi
HEAVYWEIGHT
DIVISION (over 205 pounds)
1. Cain Velasquez
2. Junior Dos Santos
3. Alistair Overeem
4. Brock Lesnar
5. Fabricio Werdum
6. Antonio Silva
7. Josh Barnett
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. Dan Henderson
8. Phil Davis
9. Gegard Mousasi
10. Alexander Gustafsson
MIDDLEWEIGHT
DIVISION (185-pound limit)
1. Anderson Silva
2. Yushin Okami
3. Nathan Marquardt
4. Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza
5. Michael Bisping
6. Brian Stann
7. Mark Munoz
8. Demian Maia
9. Vitor Belfort
10. Chris Leben
WELTERWEIGHT
DIVISION (170-pound limit)
1. Georges St-Pierre
2. Jon Fitch
3. Jake Shields
4. Nick Diaz
5. Carlos Condit
6. Josh Koscheck
7. Thiago Alves
8. B.J.
Penn
9. Diego Sanchez
10. Jake Ellenberger
LIGHTWEIGHT
DIVISION (155-pound limit)
1. Gilbert Melendez
2. Frankie Edgar
3. Gray Maynard
4. Shinya Aoki
5. Eddie Alvarez
6. Melvin Guillard
7. Clay Guida
8. Dennis Siver
9. Ben Henderson
10. Jim Miller
FEATHERWEIGHT
DIVISION (145 pound-limit)
1. Jose Aldo
2. Chad Mendes
3. Hatsu Hioki
4. Mark Hominick
5. Dustin Poirier
6. Erik Koch
7. Kenny Florian
8. Pat Curran
9. Manny Gamburyan
10. Diego Nunes
BANTAMWEIGHT
DIVISION (135 pounds or less)
1. Dominick Cruz
2. Brian Bowles
3. Joseph Benavidez
4. Scott Jorgensen
5. Urijah Faber
6. Demetrious Johnson
7. Brad Pickett
8. Masakatsu Ueda
9. Miguel Torres
10. Michael McDonald
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
ProElite Today!
Powered
by Xyience LogoProElite Return
Date: August 27, 2011
Venue: Neil S. Blaisdell Arena
Location: Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii
Start time:
5:30PM
The August 27th fight marks the third time ProElite has staged
an MMA event in Hawaii.
Tickets can now be purchased at the Blaisdell Arena box office,
or online at ticketmaster.com. Reserved seats are
$28, $40, $65, and $90; Cage side seats are priced at $150 and
$200.
Main
Card (On Pay-Per-View):
Andrei Arlovski (15-9) vs. Ray Lopez (5-2)
Kendall Grove (12-9) vs. Joe Riggs (34-13)
Reagan Penn (0-0) vs. Paul Gardiner (3-0)
Mark Ellis (0-0) vs. Jake Huen (1-0)
Raquel "Rocky" Pa’aluhi (3-1) vs. Sara McMann
(2-0)
Drew McFedries (9-6) vs. Kala Kolohe Hose (7-5)
UNDERCARD Feature Bout
Chris Cisneros (11-3) vs Sale Sproat (6-0)
Dustin Barca (1-0) vs Reno Remigio (1-0)
Brent Schermerhorn (3-1) vs Jesse Lundgren (Debut)
Amateur
Bouts:
Ray
Cooper Jr. (Debut) vs Kyle Foyle (2-1)
Chad
Thomas (3-0) vs Jake Faagai (1-1)
|
Toughman
Hawaii Today!
Hilo Civic
Center, Hilo, Hawaii
August 27, 2011
|
UFC
134
Rio de Janeiro at HSBC Arena
8/27/11
By Zach Arnold
Dark matches/Facebook
Featherweights: Yves Jabouin vs. Ian Loveland
Featherweights: Yuri Alcantara vs. Antonio Carvalho
Middleweights: Rousimar Palhares vs. Dan Miller
Welterweights: Mike Swick vs. Erick Silva
Welterweights: Paulo Thiago vs. David Mitchell
Lightweights: Thiago Tavares vs. Spencer Fisher
Main card
Light Heavyweights: Luiz Cane vs. Stanislav Nedkov
Lightweights: Ross Pearson vs. Edson Barboza
Heavyweights: Brendan Schaub vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
Light Heavyweights: Mauricio Shogun vs. Forrest Griffin
UFC Middleweight title match: Anderson Silva vs. Yushin Okami
Source: Fight Opinion
|
UFC
134 Preview: The Main Card
by Jason
Probst
As
middleweight champion Anderson Silva continues to sail over the
bar in his inimitable ways, it seems fitting that he defends
his title next at UFC 134 on Saturday before his countrymen at
the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. At times breathtakingly
gifted, shockingly inventive and occasionally reluctant, Silva
takes on Yushin Okami in the main event.
Their
matchup is a contrast in virtually every conceivable category.
Silva
has racked up a UFC-record 13 straight wins and has yet to lose
inside the Octagon. Okami, meanwhile, has been one of the most
overlooked contenders in recent memory, largely because of a
judo-based style bereft of consistent highlight-reel moments.
He has managed to stick around the top of the middleweight division
due to persistence and a steadily improving game, whereas Silva
has looked all but unbeatable since his promotional debut ended
with a crushing stoppage of Chris Leben at UFC Fight Night 5
in 2006.
In
the co-headliner, former UFC light heavyweight champion Mauricio
Rua looks to avenge his stunning upset loss to Forrest Griffin
in 2007, as they meet in a rematch with legitimate contender
implications for the 205-pound division. Coming off his brutal
dethroning at the hands of Jon Jones at UFC 128, “Shogun”
undoubtedly wants to restore the reputation that made him one
of the most feared fighters in Pride history.
In
addition, UFC 134 features a heavyweight bout pairing “The
Ultimate Fighter” Season 10 finalist Brendan Schaub with
Brazilian legend Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, a lightweight tilt
pitting “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 9 winner Ross
Pearson against unbeaten prospect Edson Barboza and a light heavyweight
duel matching Luiz Cane with undefeated Bulgarian import Stanislav
Nedkov.
Here
is a closer look at the UFC 134 “Silva vs. Okami” main
card.
UFC
Middleweight Championship
Anderson Silva (30-4, 13-0 UFC) vs. Yushin Okami (26-5, 10-2
UFC)
The
Matchup: Arguably the game’s best pound-for-pound fighter
heads into his ninth title defense fresh off his devastating
February stoppage of Vitor Belfort at UFC 126. For Silva, Okami
represents two compelling plotlines. First, the one chink in
his armor is wrestling, which Okami seems perfectly geared to
exploit. Second, Okami’s the last person to beat him, albeit
by disqualification in a bout Silva was controlling, until a
creative-but-illegal upkick from the downed Brazilian ended matters
halfway through the first round in 2006.
Since
then, Silva has become MMA’s preeminent wrecking machine,
as he has dominated and dispatched world-class opposition, all
while mixing in an occasional snoozer -- often the byproduct
of an opponent unwilling to engage him. When Silva wants to prove
a point, he does so to indelible effect, with dynamic offense
and an assassin’s detached cruelty.
Okami
finally gets a title shot after years of being one of the UFC
middleweight division’s most consistent grinders, putting
together winning streaks interrupted only by decision losses
in key fights against Franklin and Sonnen. With his durability
and the ability to dictate fights on the ground, he represents
the kind of aggressive foe that makes a fight against Silva interesting.
For Okami to turn the trick, he will need a perfectly executed
game plan, with few, if any, disruptions or nasty plot twists.
Okami’s
striking consists mainly of flicking right jabs from a southpaw
stance as he looks to tie up and muscle foes to the mat. If past
challengers are any indication, the biggest problem in dealing
with Silva is crossing the moat to transition from punching to
takedown and clinch range. Foes like Demian Maia and Thales Leites
were unable to do so, but Sonnen did an excellent job of it,
mainly because he was not afraid to step into the pocket and
followed exchanges with all-in takedown attempts.
If
and when Okami gets the fight to the ground, his task only becomes
somewhat easier from there. He is not known as a finishing, ground-and-pound-style
monster, and Silva has one of the best chins in the history of
the sport.
Even
when dogged by a rib injury that nearly led him to withdraw from
the Sonnen fight, he absorbed four-and-a-half rounds of heavy
punishment before pulling out a fight-winning submission in the
final stanza. Silva will mix up strikes standing and use angles
aplenty. If grounded, his wily, ever-changing guard has to keep
Okami reacting instead of initiating to improve position and
exact punishment.
It
is doubtful as to whether or not Okami can really do enough damage
even if he does score takedowns unscathed. Silva is a threat
to sweep and submit, in addition to unleashing offense from the
bottom. Look for Okami to give it an honest try. The harder he
pushes the affair, the more exciting the bout will be.
The
Pick: Okami may score a takedown or two, but Silva will eventually
counter and catch him with something significant mid-fight, culminating
in a one-sided stoppage in the third round.
Light
Heavyweights
Forrest Griffin (18-6, 9-4 UFC) The Matchup: Their first encounter
remains one of the sport’s all-time classic upsets. With
Rua migrating over from Pride and Griffin still viewed as a young
buck thrown into deep water, “The Ultimate Fighter”
Season 1 winner shocked the world with a blood-and-guts showing
and submitted “Shogun” in a thriller at UFC 76.
Since
then, Rua has shown flashes of his Pride-era brilliance, as he
took out Lyoto Machida in the rematch of their excellent first
bout and captured the UFC light heavyweight crown in the process.
However, his reign was short-lived, as he surrendered the belt
to Jon Jones in a one-sided drubbing at UFC 128 in March.
Griffin’s
return in February -- he won a decision against Rich Franklin
at UFC 126 -- came on the heels of a 14-month absence while recovering
from injury. He looked relatively sharp considering he layoff.
As always, Griffin relies on conditioning, workrate and an underrated
jiu-jitsu game to wear down opponents.
Looking
at the Jones defeat, it was not as much a product of Shogun’s
mileage as it was the fact that he simply faced an amazing talent.
Jones also smashed him with a flying knee that would have knocked
out many fighters in the opening moments of the bout. Yet, Rua
soldiered on and took a one-sided beating.
For
Rua to get his home-field revenge, he has to deny Griffin’s
takedowns and suck him into a striking match, where the Brazilian’s
edge in power and technique will serve him well. Griffin’s
best chance lies in making the rematch exactly like the first
fight: a down-and-dirty gut-check through which he can wear out
Rua while breaking his will to fight.
This
is a key crossroads match in the light heavyweight division.
Griffin will use volume and busy combinations to outpoint foes
and set up clinches, but if Rua was able to defuse Machida’s
puzzling attacks, he should be able to counterstrike and bang
his opponent here. Look for some rousing back-and-forth action,
as this one does not figure to go to the ground early.
The
Pick: Rua wins the exchanges, forcing Griffin to change tactics
and try to take it to the ground. He will get picked apart and
countered over three rounds en route to Rua winning a unanimous
decision in a solid fight.
Heavyweights
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (32-6-1, 1 NC, 3-2 UFC) vs. Brendan
Schaub (8-1, 4-1 UFC)
The
Matchup: A rising star in the heavyweight ranks, Schaub’s
athleticism and big-time power in his right hand have seen his
career surge since losing to Roy Nelson in the finals of “The
Ultimate Fighter” Season 10.
Going
4-0 since that knockout, he has developed into a better product
with each outing, as he outpointed a quality veteran foe in Gabriel
Gonzaga and then knocked out the faded Mirko Filipovic in March.
With each fight, one gets a growing sense that Schaub is putting
it together, especially in clinches and transitions, before he
drops the hammer with his fast-and-furious right hand.
Nogueira,
one of the game’s legends, is on the downslope of a career
defined by a desire to face the best. A fantastic guard, heart
and willingness to absorb punishment in search of a submission
-- which he often secured despite horrific beatings -- endeared
him to fans. Underrated boxing skills without one-shot knockout
power have been the source of many thrilling exchanges, and his
tenacious finishing instinct for submissions gives him the rare
dangerous guard in an otherwise wrestler-dominated heavyweight
division.
Schaub
wants to take another critical leap up the contender ranks, and
Nogueira is out to prove he can still compete at this level,
even after losing by brutal knockout in two of his last three
outings. There are few -- if any -- accidents in UFC matchmaking,
and this one has all the hallmarks of a test bout given to a
rising contender.
The
Pick: Schaub’s movement on the feet and sharp counterpunches
will carry the day here. Nogueira may land a shot or two, but
Schaub showed a decent ability to withstand Filipovic’s
occasional bombs that landed. Too much youth and power, as Schaub
moves, lands, sprawls and escapes a bad position or two on the
ground en route to a crushing second-round knockout.
Lightweights
Ross Pearson (12-4, 4-1 UFC) vs. Edson Barboza (8-0, 2-0 UFC)
The
Matchup: Barboza’s stock has been on a steady rise since
his leg-kick massacre promotional debut against Mike Lullo at
UFC 123. The deadly Brazilian reminds many of featherweight king
Jose Aldo, as he delivers shots with thudding power and no telegraphed
movement. Barboza eked out a unanimous decision in his last fight
over talented striker Anthony Njokuani at UFC 128, the route-going
effort resulting in his first long, competitive match.
Pearson
has proven a reliable, U.K.-based plugger, with a willing standup
style and strong punches. “The Ultimate Fighter” Season
9 winner rebounded from a submission loss to American Top Team’s
Cole Miller with a decision over Spencer Fisher in February.
Pearson’s ground game may be the hole in his arsenal, but
his standup and toughness have carried him to a 4-1 mark in the
UFC.
Pearson
will not initiate a ground battle and would not win one if he
tried, as Barboza wields decent takedown defense and excellent
jiu-jitsu. This becomes a case of a two-fisted slugger pitted
against a dangerous bomber -- the perfect fight for Barboza to
showcase his explosiveness.
The
Pick: Barboza will pick apart Pearson with strikes, movement
and angles, and his right-leg blast to the thigh remains an especially
lethal weapon with which to set up strikes to the head. Barboza
wins by first-round knockout.
Light
Heavyweights
Luiz Cane (11-3, 1 NC, 4-3 UFC) vs. Stanislav Nedkov (11-0, 0-0
UFC)
The
Matchup: Cane throws sharp strikes from a southpaw stance, letting
his hands go with commitment on his punches. He also fights with
something of a nasty streak, as opposed to the detached manner
of, say, an Anderson Silva or Lyoto Machida. His one-round stoppage
of Eliot Marshall at UFC 128 halted a slide that saw him lose
two in a row by knockout.
Nedkov
is a rugged Bulgarian with strong grappling credentials. His
standup and ground-and-pound remain raw, as he unfurls shots
like a robot. Nedkov also has good takedown defense befitting
his wrestling pedigree and seems to take special pleasure in
slamming people to the mat and thrashing them around in tie-ups.
Cane
needs to fight with a cool head in this one, playing the bull
to Nedkov’s matador. He will want to shoot smooth strikes
down the middle while keeping his right foot outside of Nedkov’s
left. This will open up punching opportunities and make tie-ups
and takedowns harder to secure.
Nedkov’s
stamina held up somewhat in a decision over Kevin Randleman under
the Sengoku banner in 2009. Though he looked tired and a little
plodding at times, he worked through the adversity to get the
decision.
The
Pick: The longer this one goes, the more it favors Cane, who
has the benefit of UFC experience. Given a year or two to refine
his standup and overall MMA game, Nedkov could become an intriguing
presence in the cage. However, Cane has too many key advantages,
and he will pick apart and wear down Nedkov in a tense back-and-forth
battle, scoring a knockout in the third round of an exciting
bout.
Source: Sherdog
|
Anderson
Silva’s Manager Amused, but has Choice Words for Chael Sonnen
by Damon
Martin
Whenever
a microphone lands in front of UFC middleweight Chael Sonnen‘s
mouth, anything and everything is fair game.
Sonnen
has frequently unleashed his verbal attack on UFC middleweight
champion Anderson Silva, his camp, his trainers, and even his
manager during different interviews.
Most
recently, during a Q&A session, Sonnen quipped, “I won
the middleweight championship. They tarnished and took it from
me after I whooped a man’s ass for 25 minutes, he wrapped
his legs around my head for eight seconds, and they declared
him the winner?”
His
shtick doesn’t go unnoticed. One of the recipients of his
lingual lashings does see the humor in Sonnen’s barbs on
the mic.
“I
think he’s very creative,” manager Ed Soares said of
Sonnen when speaking to MMAWeekly Radio. “I had a ton of
people texting me after his Q&A and it’s funny cause
it is what it is. I heard the one he said about ‘if there
was one empty barstool next to him and me, Anderson and the Nogueira
brothers walked in, we’d flip it over and each of us would
have a seat’ and it’s just to me, that is so funny
and so ridiculous, what can you do?”
Regardless
of how funny or ridiculous Sonnen’s comments might be to
some, Soares says eventually the brash former political hopeful
will eventually come face to face with one of the fighters he’s
been talking about and that’s when the verbal assault will
become physical.
“The
guy is out there saying what he’s saying, but eventually
he’s going to have to pay for everything that he says, and
it’s going to be inside that Octagon. Maybe that’s
why he’s doing that, he’s really looking to get another
shot at Anderson,” Soares said.
Because
of Sonnen’s comments, it only seems right that he gets a
response for his claim that he beat Silva for the better part
of the fight, but only lost in the waning moments of the bout
when the Brazilian slapped on a triangle choke, forcing the tap.
Soares
has a message for Sonnen if he feels he was somehow wronged in
that fight.
“At
the end of the day, I heard him say, ‘yeah I beat him up
for four rounds, and then for eight seconds, he slaps his legs
around me and he gets the belt strapped around him.’ Well,
that’s the game,” Soares stated.
“It’s
not the first time he got caught in a triangle, and I guarantee
it won’t be the last.”
Sonnen
may be able to earn another shot at Silva if he can get past
Brian Stann at UFC 136 in October, while the champion defends
his belt in his home country of Brazil this weekend against Yushin
Okami at UFC 134: Rio.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Odds
for #UFC 134
(8/27 Rio de Janeiro at HSBC Arena)
By Zach
Arnold
Dark
matches/Facebook
Featherweights:
Yves Jabouin vs. Ian Loveland
Featherweights: Yuri Alcantara vs. Felipe Arantes
Featherweights: Raphael Assuncao vs. Johnny Eduardo
Middleweights: Rousimar Palhares vs. Dan Miller
Welterweights: Paulo Thiago vs. David Mitchell
Lightweights: Thiago Tavares vs. Spencer Fisher
Main card
Light
Heavyweights: Luiz Cane vs. Stanislav Nedkov
Lightweights: Ross Pearson vs. Edson Barboza
Heavyweights: Brendan Schaub vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
Light Heavyweights: Mauricio Shogun vs. Forrest Griffin
UFC Middleweight title match: Anderson Silva vs. Yushin Okami
Lines for UFC 134 fights (according to our friend Nick Kalikas
at Betonfighting.com
Anderson
Silva (-500) is a 5-to-1 favorite over Yushin Okami (+400).
Mauricio Shogun (-250) is a 5-to-2 favorite over Forrest Griffin
(+180).
Brendan Schaub (-250) is a 5-to-2 favorite over Antonio Rodrigo
Nogueira (+200).
Edson Barboza (-300) is a 3-to-1 favorite over Ross Pearson (+220).
Luis Cane (-220) is a 11-to-5 favorite over Stanislav Nedkov
(+175).
Thiago Tavares (-240) is a 12-to-5 favorite over Spencer Fisher
(+180).
Rousimar Palhares (-260) is a 13-to-5 favorite over Dan Miller
(+200).
Audio
courtesy of Steve Cofield & Kevin Iole of Yahoo’s Cagewriter.com
team
“Let’s
be fair a little bit. You beat a guy and then he ends up getting
released from the company, they come out and tell us he’s
the #1 contender in the whole world and then three months later
he’s not even good enough to keep his contract… it’s
kind of hard for the record books to really reflect that and
act as though he’s done something impressive. There’s
a number of guys that can beat Anderson and have beat him, you
know, even in the practice room that he then avoids. And I don’t
know if that’s a tremendous insult, maybe I’m complimenting
him there. Maybe that’s the smart thing to do. Mike Tyson
did it for years, too. They told us Mike Tyson was the world
champion. Mike Tyson was never even the national champion. Mike
Tyson was never even the best fighter in America, ever, not for
one day of his life, ever, and they told us he was the best fighter
on Earth. So, you know, you kind of like at that from a fan’s
standpoint you go, yeah, this guy’s really great. You look
at it from me, one of the guys in the locker room, and I’m
my rolling my eyes going, c’mon, this is fake. This hype
isn’t real.”
You’ll
be able to hear more from Chael tonight in the States on the
UFC 134 Countdown special.
Source:
Fight Opinion
|
Saturday's
UFC 134 Prelims Get Full Spike, Facebook Treatment From Rio
By Matt
Erickson
The
last time the UFC was in Brazil, there was no such thing as Spike
TV or Facebook.
But
for Saturday's UFC 134, the promotion's first trip to the South
American cradle of MMA since 1998, fans can watch all 12 fights
on a combination of Facebook, Spike and pay-per-view.
This
will be the 15th consecutive event that the UFC has utilized
Facebook to air preliminary card fights, dating back to January.
And for the ninth straight event, each fight on the card will
be broadcast in some form. The first five UFC 134 prelims will
stream live on Facebook, followed by a pair of fights on Spike
leading into the pay-per-view broadcast.
A
pair of fights between Brazilians and Americans leads the Spike
broadcast. A middleweight bout between Rousimar Palhares and
Dan Miller kicks things off, followed by a lightweight bout between
Thiago Tavares and Spencer Fisher.
Palhares
(12-3, 5-2 UFC) fought exclusively in his native Brazil until
signing with the UFC in 2008. His last three wins have been by
submission. Miller (13-5, 1 NC, 5-4 UFC) has struggled since
starting his UFC career 3-0. He suffered a three-fight skid with
decision losses to Chael Sonnen, Demian Maia and Michael Bisping,
but rebounded with back-to-back wins over John Salter and Joe
Doerksen. But in March, he lost a unanimous decision to Nate
Marquardt in his native New Jersey.
Tavares
(15-4-1, 5-4-1 UFC) started his career 12-0 but has gone just
3-4-1 in his last eight fights. In March, he was knocked out
by Shane Roller at UFC on Versus 3. Fisher (24-7, 9-6 UFC) is
also coming off a loss. Ross Pearson took a unanimous decision
from him at UFC 127 in Sydney in February, giving the Iowa-based
fighter three losses in four fights.
On
the UFC's Facebook page, fans will get a Brazilian-heavy lineup.
An opening bantamweight bout between Canada's Yves Jabouin and
American Ian Loveland is the only fight on the card to not feature
a Brazilian. Three fights on the Facebook prelims feature Brazilians
debuting in the UFC against fellow Brazilians. And Paulo Thiago
(13-3, 3-3 UFC) looks to end a two-fight skid against David Mitchell
(11-1, 0-1 UFC).
To
gain access to the Facebook fights, which will begin at 6 p.m.
Eastern, viewers must "like" the UFC on Facebook. As
of Wednesday afternoon, the UFC had more than 6.2 million fans
at the site. When the UFC first started streaming prelims fights
on Facebook in January, it had approximately 4.5 million fans
at the social networking site.
The
UFC began streaming preliminary fights in January with its Fight
for the Troops 2 show at Fort Hood, Texas. Since then, the promotion
has included free Facebook fights for each event, regardless
of the main card's platform – be it on pay-per-view, Spike
or Versus. For the historic UFC 129 card in Toronto in April,
five prelims were aired on Facebook, followed by a pair on Spike
leading into the pay-per-view – meaning for the first time,
fans were guaranteed the opportunity to see each fight on the
card. That has continued for each of the eight events since then,
including Saturday's card in Rio.
UFC
134 features a main event middleweight title fight between champion
Anderson Silva and Yushin Okami, the last man to beat him –
albeit by disqualification when Silva delivered an illegal upkick
and Okami couldn't continue. The co-main event features a rematch
between former light heavyweight champions Mauricio "Shogun"
Rua and Forrest Griffin. And also on the main card, heavyweight
Brendan Schaub looks for his fifth straight win in a matchup
against Brazilian legend Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira.
Source:
MMA Fighting
|
Just
a Matter of Time? Zuffa Execs Plan on Reevaluating Strikeforce
by Erik
Fontanez
LOS
ANGELES – When Zuffa, LLC, the parent company of the Ultimate
Fighting Championship, purchased Strikeforce this past March,
rumors immediately began to circulate about the demise of the
mixed martial arts promotion headed by Scott Coker.
After
several months and nine fight cards, promises from UFC and Zuffa
executives to run Strikeorce with a “business as usual”
mentality have been kept, at least as far as rolling out events
and not going into any sort of “dark” period. The lingering
doubt of Strikeforce’s longevity continues to echo, however,
with the term of its current Showtime deal set to expire soon.
“I
think it’s right around February of next year,” Zuffa
CEO Lorenzo Fertitta recently told MMAWeekly.com about the length
of the deal between Strikeforce and Showtime.
According
to Fertitta, Showtime has extensions that could take the partnership
into 2014 and, until the initial deal expires, Zuffa will fulfill
the obligation written in the contract and continue to put on
events.
Once
the deal expires, though, it’s a whole different ballgame.
The
end of the contract will signal Zuffa’s freedom to do what
they want with Stirkeforce without the influence of Showtime.
From December being the final Strikeforce event to the Challengers
series acting as a farm system for the UFC, the list of possible
outcomes has been tossed around by a litany of speculators.
Fertitta
dismissed rumors like these and, again, stressed Zuffa’s
contractual obligation, but the sense that they will reevaluate
their position with Strikeforce is strong. In fact, Fertitta
said once the contract is done, they’ll take a look at their
options.
“At
the end of the day, Showtime is contracted to receive a product,
and we’re going to keep giving it to them,” he said.
“They want us to do the eight Strikeforce shows, the Challengers
shows. We’re going to do no different than what we’ve
been doing the last four or five months, since we owned the company;
keep delivering great fights and keep that going as long as the
contract says, and then, at that time, we’ll reevaluate.”
Strikeforce’s
next event will be the semifinals of the organization’s
Heavyweight Grand Prix, which is scheduled to take place on Sept.
10 in Cincinnati.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Minotouro:
“If it hits the ground, I’ll start celebrating”
Marcelo
Dunlop
No, it won’t be easy. Indeed, to a lot of fans, for Rodrigo
Minotauro to overcome the younger, more motivated and stronger
Brendan Schaub at UFC Rio would be a feat bordering on historic.
But to Rodrigo’s team there’s more than an off-chance
the near-miracle will be performed this Saturday at the HSBC
Arena.
“He’s
perfect on the ground, like he was in the old days, but he’d
gone awhile without recovering the footwork standing that he’d
need to get the fight to the ground. But he became a lot quicker
in recent weeks,” remarked Amaury Bitetti, one of Mino’s
coaches.
His
twin brother, Rogério Minotouro, is even more convinced
the outcome against purple belt Brendan will be a positive one.
“If
it goes to the ground I’ll start celebrating already. He’s
been submitting all the black belts at training, he’s really
sharp. Of course the other’s youth is an advantage but Rodrigo
is enlightened. Can you imagine if he gets the submission? The
house will come down,” said Minotouro with a smile and a
flicker in his eyes.
What
about you, do you believe in miracles? Comment below!
UFC
Rio/134
August 27, 2011
HSBC Arena, Barra da Tijuca, Brazil
Anderson
Silva vs Yushin Okami
Forrest Griffin vs Mauricio “Shogun” Rua
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs Brendan Schaub
Edson Barboza vs Ross Pearson
Erick Silva vs Luis Beição
Luiz Cane vs Stanislav Nedkov
Spencer Fisher vs Thiago Tavares
David Mitchell vs Paulo Thiago
Yuri Alcântara vs Antonio Carvalho
Yves Jabouin vs Ian Loveland
Raphael Assunção vs Johnny Eduardo
Source:
Gracie Magazine
|
“(UFC)
is the only sports property that is pure and works literally
around the entire world.”
By Zach
Arnold
Listen
to the boss of FX talk to the Yahoo Sports Cagewriter.com crew
about changes coming for The Ultimate Fighter and UFC programming
on Fox platforms
A
couple of interesting developments have surfaced in regards to
UFC’s new 7-year deal with Fox. Before we get to those developments,
I thought some of the comments Lorenzo Fertitta made last Thursday
should be highlighted here.
“Well,
we always really felt like we wanted to be on network and those
other deals just didn’t make sense for us, not just financially
but in a lot of different ways. The reason this deal works is
because of what you saw here (on Thursday). It’s not just,
hey, we’re going to throw a fight up on Fox and see if it
works. This is a 7 year commitment at every level – broadcast,
cable on a channel that is my favorite channel, it’s in
over 100 million homes, definitely at the front edge of new,
original programming. Now FX is not only going to have the UFC
but they got PAC 12 football, Big 12 football, so now they’re
jumping into the sports area in a big way and then also having
shoulder programming on Fuel and then count all the RSNs (regional
sport networks). So, it’s not just about this is a broadcast
deal, this is a major media deal at every level throughout the
spectrum.”
“I
mean, when you have the biggest sportscaster, biggest sports
media company in America coming to the UFC saying we’re
not going to just put you on, we’re going to embrace you
as part of our family, we’re going to treat you exactly
we treat the NFL, college sports, MLB, I mean, yeah, this is
a big deal.”
As
for how the deal got consummated, Middle Easy has been discussing
and pontificating on the role of Ari Emanuel as the ‘fixer’
between the two sides. Ari Emanuel, the brother of President
Obama’s former chief-of-staff Rahm Emanuel (the current
mayor of Chicago). It should come as no surprise given that Blago
talked about Rahm’s brother wanting MMA legislation in Illinois
and that UFC happens to be one of his clients. Who can blame
Zuffa?
The
next domino to fall — Spike TV. Who will they get behind
and promote? Will they end up working with Zuffa again to promote
Strikeforce? It would be an easy way for Zuffa to block potential
competition from getting some good cable real estate. Here’s
Lorenzo describing UFC’s current relationship with Spike.
“You
know, it’s been a real cordial situation. Let me tell you
what, what a run it had been over the last 7 years for the UFC
and for Spike. I mean, this relationship really benefited both
of us. The reality is, though, that come December 31st at 12
o’clock, there’s no more UFC original programming on
Spike. So, at some point we had to figure out where our home’s
going to be because you can’t just turn it on a dime. We
wanted to hit the ground running in 2012 with a lot of momentum
and a whole game plan going forward. Of course, we were going
to have to come out and tell people where we were going to be.
“Really,
what it came down to, it wasn’t a money issue, it was a
number of fights issue. We have to grow our business, we need
more fights. We need more programming. We’ve got more weight
classes and more fighters We’ve got fights we need to do
from an international standpoint. So, when you have one channel
that you’re broadcast on, one channel can only take so much
programming, right? Now, with what I explained here, Fox broadcast,
FX, Fuel, all the RSNs, so it opens up a number of pipes for
us to be able to provide original programming and live fights.
That’s really what the issue was.
“Look…
competition’s great. We love to compete, we wake up every
morning, that’s all we think about. It’s good. I hope
these guys step up and come up with a creative idea and challenge
us. I think it’d be good.”
Yes,
competition is great… for them to buy out and savage like
a carnivore, so I give Lorenzo credit for stating the obvious
that they do think about crushing others in their ’space.’
The
obvious answer for a replacement on Spike would be Bellator.
However, Dave Meltzer says that Viacom is not interested in seeing
Bellator move from MTV2 to Spike. What, are they concerned about
the Feds looking into the hedge fund money backing Bellator?
Bjorn Rebney seems to be hedging his bets and basically saying
he is powerless at this point in regards to what Viacom wants
done on Spike. Then again, what other alternative options are
there for Spike for replacement MMA programming? Bellator is
far ahead of Pro Elite in terms of structure and experience in
putting together a roster to run cards and produce events. Shark
Fights?
The
biggest question mark about this new deal with Fox is whether
or not the increased exposure will help grow UFC and, if so,
by how much.
“Fox
just got a sports property that is going to be the biggest sport
on the planet, right? It literally is going to be the biggest
franchise on the planet and we tell the story all the time. The
NFL doesn’t work outside of the United States. FIFA has
all the problems with the corruption and everything that is coming
of. There’s corruption in cricket and cricket doesn’t
work in other countries. This is the only sports property that
is pure and works literally around the entire world and I’ve
tried to explain because I think there’s still some people
out there here in the U.S. on the reporting side that just don’t
get the magnitude of what’s going on here. I mean, obviously
this is big for the male demographic 18-to-35, people in the
know, that generation. But a lot of people don’t know that
we’re going to go down to Brazil and literally take over
that country. There are signs in the airport in Brazil that say,
2011 UFC, 2014 World Cup, 2016 Olympics. They’re putting
us in the same frame work as the World Cup and Olympics and you
know how big that’s going to be in Brazil. We’re taking
over the country, the city of Rio is sponsoring the event, and
we’re expecting 30-40 million people, maybe more, being
conservative, [that are] going to watch Anderson Silva defend
his title against Yushin Okami. I don’t think people get
that here in the U.S. because we haven’t been on that broadcast
platform here in the U.S. to really show what we can do.”
UFC
growing and the sport of MMA becoming more stable is a benefit
to the fans, to writers, and to the fighters who depend on making
a living. At the same time, however, it is fair for someone to
be skeptical about whether or not we are going to see a real
growth explosion under this new business marriage. Yes, UFC going
from Spike to Fox is like an ice cream store going from a strip
mall to Mall of America, but they are still an ice cream store
that sells & markets one flavor of product.
I’m
of the belief that UFC running too many shows risks overheating
the company’s business machine and stretching their production
crews out too thin. They will be able to run in most world markets
(outside of a few like Japan) and do so very profitably. The
question is whether or not UFC can treat their business like
most retail stores (the Best Buys of the world) treat their bottom
line by encouraging investment simply due to sheer volume of
activity at the risk of having to contract later on down the
road when things get too bumpy.
As
for whether or not the broadsheet media in the U.S. will embrace
UFC on a different level thank to their new deal on Fox, my guess
is that there will only be a limited impact because most of the
stick-and-ball sports writers & editors will look at UFC
as a niche sport permanently. That’s something that UFC
simply can’t control.
The
best quote on the current media landscape covering MMA:
“Zuffa
has created a culture where the media is actually their promotional
partners. Zuffa believes media only there to promote their product.”
An
addition domino to fall — Zuffa has hired a New York City-based
legal firm to help them out with the current FTC investigation
against the company.
Source:
Fight Opinion
|
Forrest
Griffin Has 'Whole New Set of Reasons' for Fighting, but is It
Enough?
By Ben
Fowlkes
RIO
DE JANEIRO -- Forrest Griffin isn't crazy about being in Brazil
for UFC 134 this week, and he doesn't see the point in pretending
he is.
"It'd
be a great place to come on vacation," the former UFC light
heavyweight champion explained on Wednesday. "Not a great
place to work."
Why?
Take your pick of reasons. Griffin has plenty.
"I
can't read the labels on the food. I don't know what's going
on. I can't get anybody to cook my sweet potatoes. The scale
tells me weird numbers, I don't know what the f--k they are.
I've got to do math every time I get on the scale. You guys don't
have distilled water. ...Do you want me to keep bitchin'? Because
I will."
And
yet, despite all the complaining and the utter lack of enthusiasm,
there he was at Wednesday's open workouts on the famed Copacabana
beach, briefly doing something that sort of resembled a workout.
Almost. Well, not really.
He
got on the mats, at least. He stretched out, heaving his long
limbs around in slow, tortured circles like a father getting
ready to play a reluctant game of catch with his son after work,
driven entirely by a vague sense of duty. Only for Griffin, the
game of catch never came. He stretched, he contorted, he threw
a punch or two at the air. He worked his way along the edge of
the mat, smiling and waving just enough to please the crowd,
then he made his exit.
Maybe
he's saving the rest for Mauricio "Shogun" Rua on Saturday
night.
When
the UFC first told him it wanted him to book the rematch for
UFC 134 in Brazil, Griffin's thoughts on the matter were pretty
simple.
"Oh
God, please no," he said.
Gradually,
he moved through the stages of grief, he explained, arriving
finally at acceptance. As in: "When I got off the plane,
I accepted I was in Brazil," he said.
The
first time Griffin and Rua met was at UFC 76 in 2007. That one
took place in Anaheim, and Griffin probably wasn't eager to make
even that short trip. If he had it his way, he might only travel
from his home to the gym and back. Lately, even that little excursion
doesn't sound as if it's quite so fun for Griffin, who admitted
that he doesn't have the same kind of fire for the sport that
he had several years ago.
"It's
different," he said. "Life changes, you know? I do
this for a whole new set of reasons now."
Reasons
like money. The same reason most people get up and go to work
every day. The difference is that, unlike most people, Griffin
has to bleed for his cash. And so he does.
"My
parents [have] got to retire. My wife's parents [have] got to
retire. My little brother wants to go to college. I've got a
daughter coming. She's probably going to want to go to college,
and she's probably not going to be a genius, either. I've got
to make some money, got to win. Winning pays a lot more than
losing."
But
going up against an opponent who's fighting to not only even
the score, but also to revitalize his career after getting dominated
by Jon Jones in his first attempt at a UFC light heavyweight
title defense, you've got to wonder whether the paper chase alone
will be enough motivation for Griffin.
Rua's
fighting in front of his countrymen, and he's fighting a guy
who made him look bad in the later rounds of their first fight.
The difference this time, Rua said at Wednesday's open workouts,
is that he "trained for four months for this fight. The
first time I [fought] with Forrest, I [didn't] train hard, but
now I'm ready."
The
good news for Griffin is, that's more or less exactly what he's
expecting out of Rua.
"I
know one thing: when people beat me up I want to fight them again.
You train hard and you take it real serious when someone beats
you. I had that fear in the back of my head for the last nine
weeks, so I did the best I could. I knew he was going to come
out hungry and ready. I'm kind of expecting him to just close
the distance and come at it and get going."
And
at that point, with Rua in classic "Shogun" attack
mode and an arena full of rabid Brazilian fans screaming in his
ear, will a love of money and a sense of self-preservation be
enough to pull Griffin through?
Maybe
it depends how much he loves money. Or how much he fears being
without it.
"I
don't want to play it up or whatever," Griffin said, "but
I was poor once and I'll never be poor again."
It
might not be what we're used to hearing from pro fighters, but
at least it's sincere.
Source:
MMA Fighting
|
Fertitta
talks UFC Rio, Silva vs Henderson on FOX: "Anderson just
needs a win"
By Guilherme
Cruz
UFC
owner Lorenzo Ferttita landed in Brazil and already got to work.
After a trip to Manaus, where he met the governor, Fertitta went
to Rio de Janeiro for the UFC Rio hype, and he spoke to TATAME
about the expectations for the show, the possible return to Brazil
in 2012, at Manaus, and a potential Anderson Silva vs Dan Henderson
clash at UFC on FOX.
I
heard you were at Manaus. How was the meeting there?
It
was good. We’ve met with the governor of Manaus and they
want us to do a fight there. It’s interesting for us, because
Jose Aldo is from there, so it’s maybe an opportunity to
bring him back to fight in front of his home town.
They
said the show is already set for August 2012…
We’re
talking to them, trying to find a day, maybe July or August.
How
do you see the MMA market in Brazil? Do you already expected
the tickets to sold out in 70 minutes?
No,
we underestimated how popular it was here. If we could do it
again, we would do it in a big soccer stadium, you know? But
when we put the tickets on sale, we really didn’t know.
But it’s been amazing the amount of support, it’s unbelievable.
What
do you expect from this Saturday’s show?
I
can’t wait… I’m really looking forward when Anderson
Silva walks out for the fight – I think the arena it’s
gonna explode. I think the Brazilian fans are very passionate,
they’re gonna be loud, and I’m really looking forward
feeling the Brazilian culture in the arena.
We
spoke to Dana White, and he said he plans on doing a TUF Brazil
in 2012. Are you really working on that?
We’re
working on that, we’re really close to get something done.
We think it’s gonna be very successful – a Brazilian
Ultimate Fighter, all Brazilian fighters. One thing that is great
about this country is that you have so many great fighters, finding
talents is easy. There are some many good kids.
Do
you think a TUF Brazil would do a good rating in as a TC show
in the US?
I
think it would, because one of the things about this sport is
that people love to see fighters and good fights, so I do think
the Americans would watch Brazilians in a Ultimate Fighter.
There
was a report in a Brazilian newspaper saying that the UFC is
planning 12 shows in Brazil on the next year. Is that possible,
considering that the UFC did 24 shows all over the world last
year?
I
don’t think 12, maybe we’ll do 4 or 5 in Brazil. I
think it’s more realistic.
Will
Brazil host only pay-per-view card, or will we get some Fight
Night shows?
Yes,
we’ll do combinations of big pay-per-views, like we’re
doing in Rio, as well as Fight Nights.
What
do you expect for the future of the UFC in the US and all over
the world?
First
in the US, we just had a big announcement on FOX, the biggest
sport network in the country, and we think that is gonna make
this even more popular. On the same level as NFL. In other countries
as Brazil and South America, we’re competing, we wanna be
as big as soccer. That’s what we’re looking to do.
What
do you expect from UFC on FOX’s first edition? Do you already
have a main event set?
We
don’t have a main event set yet, we’ll find out probably
after this Saturday, these fights in Rio, then we’ll set
a main event. But it’ll be something big. It’ll be
a big fight.
We
reported this Monday that Anderson Silva could put his middleweight
title on the line against Dan Henderson, one he beats Yushin
Okami…
I
would love to do that. Anderson just needs a win.
Source:
Tatame
|
UFC
Announces Amazon Event for 2012 Brazilian Return
With
the UFC's return to Brazil rapidly approaching with Saturday's
UFC 134, the promotion has already set its sights on its next
trip to the birthplace of vale tudo.
The
promotion is targeting Manaus -- the Amazonas state capital --
for a show in 2012. Zuffa CEO Lorenzo Fertitta announced the
news on Tuesday following a meeting with state Governor Omar
Aziz, Frank Fertitta III and the United States' Brazilian ambassador,
Clifford Sobel.
The
show is expected to go down in at the Convention Center of Manaus
-- the city's sambadrome -- which has the capacity to hold 100,000
spectators.
“The
opportunity to bring the UFC to Manaus and to the home of some
of our great fighters makes us so excited,” Fertitta stated
at the press conference. “Our expectation is that Manaus
will set a new attendance record, with 100,000 people watching
the show.”
Manaus
is Brazil's seventh largest city, with a population of just over
1.8 million. However, it is one of the most important cities
for MMA, serving as the fight capital of Brazil's fertile northeast.
If
the venue indeed sells out, the event will shatter the UFC's
live attendance record, set at UFC 129 in April, when over 55,000
people watched Georges St-Pierre defeats Jake Shields at the
Rogers Centre in Toronto.
Zuffa's
chairman also admitted to underestimated the fan following in
Rio de Janeiro when the promotion booked the HSBC Arena for UFC
134, as the venue will fit only 16,000 people for Saturday's
show.
Additionally,
Fertitta revealed that one of the expectations is to expose the
city of Manaus and the state Amazonas to the entire world in
the same way the UFC promoted Abu Dhabi during its visit to the
United Arab Emirates in 2010, an idea which Aziz says is an exciting
one.
“Imagine
all those people from all around the world getting to know Manaus
and Amazonas,” said Aziz. “This will build a huge legacy
for our city. Jose Aldo and Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza
are two great fighters from here, and [the event] will bring
more [fan] interest for us. Not long ago, Amazonas was the second-largest
jiu-jitsu hotspot in Brazil. We hope to develop partnerships
with businessmen and media vehicles to make the show a success.”
Source
Sherdog
|
Eddie
Goldman: What’s the coded message the Fox Sports boss sent
about boxing & ufc?
By Zach
Arnold
Earlier,
we posted this item about Lorenzo Fertitta’s comments from
last Thursday’s press conference in Los Angeles at Fox Sports
HQ.
(For
a complete summary of what was said at the presser, check out
this recap by William Holmes at Boxing Insider.)
Gary
Andrew Poole at The Atlantic summarized the new UFC/Fox deal
in this manner:
Whatever
you think of mixed martial arts (and it is actually, in the opinion
of many including me, safer than boxing), blood sports have always
done well in poor economic times, and the UFC seems to be the
sport for our downtrodden era.
If
there was any doubt about the power of Fox branding, Dana White’s
brief appearance this morning on Fox & Friends on the Fox
News Channel sent a very loud & clear message. White was
introduced while footage of a Forrest Griffin aired on screen
with the graphic, “knockout jobs plan” and how President
Obama could learn from the UFC. During the course of three minutes,
the network aired three different graphics on-screen with headlines
such as:
“Hiring
in hard times — White’s UFC among most successful franchises.
Dana’s job creation advice for the President.”
“Knocking out unemployment — what President Obama can
learn from the UFC.”
“Business as Usual – how UFC is doing so well in this
tough economy.”
By the way, Dana White says that his issues with ESPN have been
‘resolved’ only a few days after he publicly said ‘
ESPN.’
Which
leads us to some discussion on Eddie Goldman’s radio show
recently about UFC’s desire to be covered and presented
on television like a mainstream sport. Given all of the scandals
right now in the major sports, UFC getting pushed as a shiny
new toy in the sports landscape is providing some interesting
contrasts. Eddie starts out by playing a quote from last Thursday’s
presser in which Fox Sports boss David Hill is talking about
how watching The Ultimate Fighter changed his mind on liking
the UFC.
“My
reservations were back in 2001 and the initial conversation that
I was having with Lorenzo and then I saw what was happening and
the key thing was the reference between boxing being one-dimensional
and this being three-dimensional and I changed my mind.
“It
was that program, it was watching that show. It was probably
more enjoyable on a visceral and cerebral level than any kind
of like martial art sports I’ve ever seen, I thought it
was fantastic. You get to know through the show the athletes
and they’re a different breed than the boxers that I’ve
known over the years. They’re intelligent, they’re
smart, they’re committed. It’s an entirely different
world than what I grew up in doing boxing like I said when pterodactyls’
the Earth.”
Which
led to this response from Eddie Goldman:
“If
you listen to what this guy said, why he likes MMA better than
boxing, he finds The Ultimate Fighter such an enjoyable show.
In other words, I guess he liked the pissing and getting drunk
and all of that. In particular he says the MMA fighters are a
different breed from boxers. Well, that’s an interesting
comment and could be a code word for a lot more.
“He
says, yeah, they’re more intelligent, they’re smarter,
they’re more committed. What boxers does he know? What is
this guy actually talking about? Is he going to say that if there
were a debate between Wladimir Klitschko and Brock Lesnar that
the MMA guy is more intelligent? If there were a discussion between
Bernard Hopkins and Chael Sonnen that the MMA guy is smarter?
If there were training that so many of these MMA guys are more
committed than Floyd Mayweather Jr. who has played a pioneering
role in raising the issue of Performance Enhancing Drugs in the
sport of boxing, what is this guy talking about?
“In
fact, this statement was so disgusting, I sent it to Dr. Margaret
Goodman, who of course is a practicing neurologist in Las Vegas,
the former head of the Medical Advisory Board of the Nevada State
Athletic Commission, former long time ringside physician and
one of the staunchest fighters for fighter safety, and this is
her reply to David Hill:
“I
am shocked and dismayed at such derogatory statements from the
chairman of Fox Sports, which has hosted and continues to host
boxing events. Anyone who has worked with boxers understands
the great amount of intelligence, fearlessness, heart, and devotion
it takes to step into a boxing ring. For someone to make such
comments insults every boxer, including the great champions of
the past and everyone who works in the sport.”
“I
think that’s a great statement and I think there’s
something else going on, too, in terms of the demographics, in
terms of this different breed that they’re looking at and
it’s even reflected in who they invited on the podium from
the UFC of the UFC fighters. There were four UFC fighters on
the podium but only two of their champions. They had Rashad Evans,
the former Light Heavyweight champion. Chuck Liddell, of course,
who held the title and is now retired. Frankie Edgar and Georges
St. Pierre. Why did they have only these two champions and these
four guys? Three of them are college-educated former wrestlers.
“Let’s
look at the other champions that were not invited there for one
reason or another. The UFC Heavyweight champion is Cain Velasquez,
a Mexican-American. He lives in California. He was not invited.
The 205 Light Heavyweight champion is Jon Jones. He’s African-American.
He was not invited. The Middleweight champion, 185 pounds, is
Anderson Silva who Dana White says is the #1 pound-for-pound
fighter in the world. He was not invited. The Welterweight champion,
Georges St. Pierre, who is from Quebec was invited as was the
155 pound champion Frankie Edgar. But Jose Aldo, the Brazilian
145 pound champion, he was not there nor was the 135 pound champion,
the Bantamweight division in MMA, Dominick Cruz (from San Diego).
According to the UFC.com profile of Dominick Cruz, he never went
to college and he grew up in Tucson, Arizona in a trailer with
his mother and brother and it says he was kicked out of his home
at age 19 for hosting a house party but he says the experience
was ‘the greatest thing that ever happened to me’ because
it forced him to become a man. But they didn’t have Dominick
Cruz there.
“You’re
going to tell me that’s not a compelling story? You’re
going to tell me what Anderson Silva went through or Jose Aldo
or Cain Velasquez or any of these other guys went through are
not compelling stories? And yet you invite your former college
wrestlers at various state schools, Liddell at Cal Poly, Rashad
Evans at Michigan State, and Frankie Edgar at Clarion, none of
them by the way were All-Americans although they were Division
I wrestlers. You’re going to tell me that these guys have
more compelling stories than the boxers, the people that have
had to overcome all sorts of incredible obstacles in their life?
Floyd Mayweather Jr. with his dysfunctional family, Bernard Hopkins
who didn’t graduate with a degree in anything except from
Graterford penitentiary in Pennsylvania and has never been back
since? You’re going to tell me that the stories of so many
of the great Mexican fighters from the veteran Juan Manuel Marquez
to the up-and-coming star Canelo Saul Alvarez are not compelling
stories?
“It
looks like for Mr. Hill’s taste and for those at Fox Sports
there are too many Black and Brown skins in the sport of boxing.
And even though you have such a diversity in the UFC champions
they were pretty selective in terms of who was invited. I really
do not think this was just some coincidence. So, this is the
way MMA is going to be positioned on Fox Sports — as an
elitist, predominantly White sport with a sprinkling of African-American
and Latino athletes to entertain a largely upscale, young, uneducated,
lover-of-trash-talking, White suburban male audience. This is
what mainstream sports is catering to today. This is what is
happening.”
Source:
Fight Opinion
|
Bellator
51 Hosts Season 5 Bantamweights; Warren Wants Two Titles
Bellator
Fighting Championships on Wednesday revealed that it would kick
off its Season 5 Bantamweight Tournament on Sept. 24 at the Canton
Memorial Civic Center in Canton, Ohio.
Bellator
51 plays host to the four bantamweight quarterfinal bouts of
this season’s tournament. Most notably, Bellator featherweight
champion Joe Warren will be using the tournament to try and put
him in the position to become the first two-division Bellator
champion.
The
Bellator Season 5 Bantamweight Tournament quarterfinal pairings:
Joe
Warren vs. Alexis Vila
Wilson Reis vs. Eduardo Dantas
Marcos Galvao vs. Chase Beebe
Ed West vs. Luis Nogueira
The
tournament features several notables, marking what could be Bellator’s
most stacked brackets to date.
Bellator
will be working in conjunction with local promotion The North
American Allied Fight Series (NAAFS).
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
ProElite
Tomorrow!
Powered
by Xyience LogoProElite Return
Date: August 27, 2011
Venue: Neil S. Blaisdell Arena
Location: Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii
Start time:
5:30PM
The August 27th fight marks the third time ProElite has staged
an MMA event in Hawaii.
Tickets can now be purchased at the Blaisdell Arena box office,
or online at ticketmaster.com. Reserved seats are
$28, $40, $65, and $90; Cage side seats are priced at $150 and
$200.
Main
Card (On Pay-Per-View):
Andrei Arlovski (15-9) vs. Ray Lopez (5-2)
Kendall Grove (12-9) vs. Joe Riggs (34-13)
Reagan Penn (0-0) vs. Paul Gardiner (3-0)
Mark Ellis (0-0) vs. Jake Huen (1-0)
Raquel "Rocky" Pa’aluhi (3-1) vs. Sara McMann
(2-0)
Drew McFedries (9-6) vs. Kala Kolohe Hose (7-5)
UNDERCARD Feature Bout
Chris Cisneros (11-3) vs Sale Sproat (6-0)
Dustin Barca (1-0) vs Reno Remigio (1-0)
Brent Schermerhorn (3-1) vs Jesse Lundgren (Debut)
Amateur
Bouts:
Ray
Cooper Jr. (Debut) vs Kyle Foyle (2-1)
Chad
Thomas (3-0) vs Jake Faagai (1-1)
|
Toughman
Hawaii Tomorrow!
Hilo Civic
Center, Hilo, Hawaii
August 27, 2011
|
Reagan
Penn makes MMA debut against Paul Gardiner at ProElite 1
by Steven
Marrocco
Reagan Penn (0-0), younger brother to UFC icon B.J. Penn, will
make his professional MMA debut against Paul Gardiner (2-0) at
ProElite 1.
ProElite
vice president of fight operations T. Jay Thompson today confirmed
to MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) that the welterweight bout
is signed, sealed and delivered.
ProElite
1 takes place Aug. 27 at storied MMA venue Blaisdell Arena in
Honolulu.
Penn
brings black belt credentials to the cage and a wealth of experience
outside it as one of his older brother's coaches and training
partners.
Tennessean
Gardiner, meanwhile, has ended all of his amateur and professional
fights with strikes and done so in the first round.
ProElite
1 is headlined by a heavyweight bout between Andrei Arlovski
and Ray Lopez. Additional bouts include a middleweight clash
between UFC vet Drew McFedries and Kala Hose, and a rematch between
"The Ultimate Fighter 3" winner Kendall Grove and UFC
vet Joe Riggs.
The
latest card currently includes:
Andrei Arlovski vs. Ray Lopez
Kendall Grove vs. Joe Riggs
Kala Hose vs. Drew McFedries
Reagan Penn vs. Paul Gardiner
Mark Ellis vs. Jake Heun
Sara McCann vs. Raquel Pa'aluhi
Source: MMA Junkie
|
UFC
134 Preview: The Prelims
by Jason
Probst
With the UFC returning to Brazil for the first time since 1998,
the UFC 134 undercard features nine Brazilians in seven fights
on Saturday at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro.
It
is a fitting showcase for the country’s huge boom of MMA
talent. Brazil’s MMA scene is rich and vibrant, with many
prospects getting a depth and breadth of experience that few
in other countries can match.
The
top two preliminary bouts -- Thiago Tavares-Spencer Fisher and
Rousimar Palhares-Dan Miller -- will air on Spike TV and Sportsnet
in Canada. The five remaining matchups will stream live on the
UFC’s Facebook page.
Lightweights
Spencer Fisher (24-7, 9-6 UFC) vs. Thiago Tavares (15-4-1, 5-4-1
UFC)
The
Matchup: Round-for-round, fight-for-fight, few in UFC have created
as much action and memorable moments as hard-traveled veteran
Fisher. Whether it was his comeback triangle of the much-larger
Thiago Alves, his flying-knee knockout of Matt Wiman or his two
epic battles with Sam Stout, “The King” brings it every
outing. With a penchant for turning fights into brawls and a
well-established disdain for taking it to the ground, Fisher
is a hard-boiled banger with whom most opponents would prefer
to avoid swapping punches.
Tavares
is precisely wired to follow the plan to take Fisher out of his
element. The Brazilian has decent takedowns and a stout jiu-jitsu
game, backed up by patience and conditioning. His standup looked
better than ever before Shane Roller blitzed him with a right
hand from nowhere in his last outing at UFC Live 3, and he will
be looking to overcome the ghosts of that dramatic loss in this
fight.
Game
planning is everything, especially with smaller fighters, for
whom conditioning and key swing moments are huge factors in winning
two of three rounds. Tavares will circle and use counter punches
to keep Fisher honest and then shoot for a takedown or a clinch.
Tavares excels at forcing extended tie-ups that lead to dragging
his foe to the mat. Like most grapplers, he wears on opponents
for takedowns rather than using a single high-energy shot. Once
he gets it to the floor, he will park and pile up points with
some ground-and-pound and positional improvements.
Outside
of landing a dramatic shot to win via knockout, this looks like
a tough fight for Fisher to win, as he has often had problems
with ground-oriented stylists.
The
Pick: Tavares by decision.
Middleweights
Rousimar Palhares (12-3, 5-2 UFC) vs. Dan Miller (13-5, 1 NC,
5-4 UFC)
The
Matchup: An action-packed matchup figures to unfold here, with
the aggressive and compact Palhares squaring off against Miller,
a reliable scrapper whose durability and never-surrender attitude
hold him in good stead despite decision losses to the better
class of the division.
Palhares
is one of the sleepers in the middleweight division, with the
kind of wrestling and willingness to exchange not always seen
in Brazilian jiu-jitsu exponents. His penchant for nasty, fight-finishing
holds makes him something of a scary prospect with which to deal.
For those who have not seen his brawl with Dan Henderson at UFC
88, that fight alone shows how relentless and tough he can be.
Miller
has a tough middle road to negotiate, as Palhares is even or
slightly superior on the feet and, yet, exceptionally dangerous
off his back. Both have go-forward styles and like to dictate
the action as opposed to countering, which should make for an
entertaining fight.
Palhares’
incredible upper-body strength makes him a difficult assignment
for anyone outside of the division’s elite wrestlers or
great strikers; Miller is neither. The AMA Fight Club standout
is tough and durable, but Palhares has too many weapons. He will
pile up points on the feet and with a grinding ground game, forcing
Miller to defend against an assault of passes, submission attempts
and ground-and-pound.
The
Pick: If Palhares gets a stoppage, it would send a major message
to the rest of the middleweight division, since Miller’s
five losses are all by decision. He will take over in the second
half of the bout and pound his way to a unanimous nod on the
scorecards.
Welterweights
Paulo Thiago (13-3, 3-3 UFC) vs. David Mitchell (11-1, 0-1 UFC)
The
Matchup: Thiago remains one of the toughest outs in the welterweight
division, without being wildly talented enough to dominate. He
is just resilient and savvy, and Mitchell faces a real test here
coming off his UFC debut, where he was outpointed by Anthony
Waldburger.
Thus
far, Thiago has faced far better competition, with some meaningful
signature wins over Mike Swick and Josh Koscheck. He also dropped
competitive decisions to Martin Kampmann and Diego Sanchez in
his last two outings. Thiago projects as a guy that could have
a long career in the UFC without necessarily contending for a
title, because he is a good measuring stick for rising talents.
It
is hard to see anything in Mitchell’s game that would threaten
Thiago. Thiago’s standup is better, and he is also superior
on the ground. Mitchell has a tendency to pull guard -- a bad
idea against a Brazilian jiu-jitsu standout like Thiago. This
one probably goes to the mat, where Thiago, who has proven exceptionally
relaxed when planted there, goes to work and wears down Mitchell.
The
Pick: Thiago is simply a different class of fighter and should
prove it readily, winning via submission in the second round.
Bantamweights
Raphael Assuncao (16-4, 0-1 UFC) vs. Johnny Eduardo (25-8, 0-0
UFC)
The
Matchup: Eduardo enters his UFC debut on an 11-fight win streak,
tearing through opponents in the best surge of his 15-year career.
He has crisp standup and is comfortable letting hard shots go,
showing the calm and comfort of an experienced striker plying
his trade in the pocket.
However,
Assuncao will have little interest in an extended standup battle.
He can bang a bit on the feet, especially with his thudding right
hand, but that is mostly a cover charge so he can close the gap
and get the fight to the ground.
His
battle with Urijah Faber in the WEC was an intricate duel of
high-level grappling, and he gave the talented former champion
all he could handle before succumbing via rear-naked choke in
the third round.
Assuncao
knows where his strengths lie and that he needs to get this to
the ground, where Eduardo has been submitted seven times. To
a jiu-jitsu specialist, stats like that are akin to putting steak
in front of a pitbull.
Assuncao
should be able to fight through some early sharp shots and counters
to force a clinch, get the takedown and working over Eduardo.
However, despite his losses by submission, Eduardo has proven
quite durable, a trait to be expected from a good striker.
The
Pick: Eduardo is a hard man to stop, but Assuncao will wear him
down en route to a second-round submission.
Featherweights
Yuri Alcantara (25-3, 0-0 UFC) vs. Felipe Arantes (13-3, 2 NC,
0-0 UFC)
The
Matchup: Alcantara could become a story in wake of this event.
With a gaudy record and a win inside the WEC via his first-round
blitz of Ricardo Llamas, the Brazilian has outstanding standup
and finishes fights on the feet and on the mat. He also has what
you love to see in a rising talent -- activity. In 2009-10, he
fought 17 times, which is Jeremy Horn-like in terms of keeping
a heavy schedule.
Both
Alcantara and Arantes are UFC first-timers. Arantes has six knockouts
among his 13 wins, but his results drop off considerable when
faced with better competition. Nothing he can use will pose much
of a problem for Alcantara in this one.
The
Pick: Alcantara has proven results against much better competition
and should steamroll Arantes on the feet en route to a first-round
knockout.
Bantamweights
Yves Jabouin (15-7, 0-1 UFC) vs. Ian Loveland (14-8, 1-1 UFC)
The
Matchup: A striker meets a wrestler in this one, with the winner
gaining some all-important leeway and breathing room in the lower
tier of the UFC’s 135-pound division.
Dropping
down from 145 pounds, Jabouin may be too weakened from the cut
to effectively keep it on the feet, which is the kind of fight
that favors him. He may prove that sentiment wrong, but a general
rule of thumb holds that dropping a weight class is always harder
for fighters who do not have a wrestling background to call upon.
Jabouin
is a talented striker with a solid all-around game. Loveland,
however, has the edge in wrestling and takedowns and showed a
degree of toughness in his decision loss to the talented Joseph
Benavidez at UFC 128 in March.
The
Pick: Loveland will take some shots early from the clever Jabouin,
but he eventually hits enough takedowns to slow him up and grind
out a late stoppage or decision win.
Welterweights
Erick Silva (12-1, 1 NC, 0-0 UFC) vs. Luis Ramos (19-6, 0-0 UFC)
The
Matchup: Ramos replaced the injured Mike Swick on a little more
than three weeks’ notice. Silva, an elite Brazilian prospect,
has better standup, with far less experience and a stellar record.
Ramos,
a Nova Uniao representative, is not much of a threat to knock
anyone out, and these two welterweights could cancel out one
another on the ground in what could become a fairly stalemated
match.
However,
Silva, unbeaten in his last nine fights, has better upside and
looks a bit more comfortable on the feet.
The
Pick: Silva by decision.
Source:
Sherdog
|
UFC
on Fox: Dana White Credits Chuck Liddell for Growth, Expects
Big Boom
by Erik
Fontanez
When thinking about the fighters that brought the UFC to the
point it’s at now, a few names come to mind. Randy Couture,
Tito Ortiz, and even Ken Shamrock are a few that helped propel
the promotion’s popularity and land it in spotlight that
it currently enjoys.
With the UFC’s recent broadcast deal with network powerhouse
Fox, mixed martial arts is now getting a chance to share the
mainstream stage with other major sports leagues, such as the
National Football League, Major League Baseball, and the National
Basketball Association.
For UFC president Dana White, recognizing the fighters that helped
him and the rest of the organization get to the next level has
his attention focused on one man…
…Chuck Liddell.
White, in an interview with Fox Sports’ Petros and Money
radio show in Los Angeles, explained why he feels “the Iceman”
sticks out to him as the fighter who helped carry the UFC into
the limelight.
“I would have to say Chuck Liddell.” White said when
advising which fighter he feels helped the UFC grow. “Chuck
Liddell was the guy who really carried this thing on his back
for the early years when we were getting this thing off the ground.
We had some guys who were big stars, but Chuck was really the
man. Chuck was the guy with that look and everything else. When
people saw him, you knew that was the ‘Ultimate Fighting’
guy.’”
Fox, which began showcasing live sporting events with the NFL
in 1994, has grown to become a major player in the broadcast
game, reaching millions of homes and rivaling other networks,
such as NBC, ABC, and CBS. By adding the UFC to the line of sports
it broadcasts, which includes the NFL, MLB, and NASCAR, Fox has
strengthened its place among the other networks.
Having sealed a lucrative deal with such a network juggernaut,
the UFC puts themselves in a position to reach millions of people
that might not have been familiar with it or had just heard about
it in passing. There will now be the opportunity to expose the
casual fan to one of the world’s fastest growing sports,
while spending a minimal amount of money, unlike a few years
ago, where the only destination for UFC entertainment was was
on pay-per-view.
White feels the deal with Fox sets the stage for what he calls
the UFC’s coming out party.
“What’s really happening now is, as big as this sport
has become, this is our new launching,” he said. “When
this thing goes on Fox in November, millions of people who have
never seen the UFC before will see it that night on Fox. Some
people are going to tune in who have heard of it. ‘Yeah,
I have heard of this thing, but I have never seen it.’ That’s
gonna be our big coming out party in November.”
The first UFC on Fox broadcast will be on Nov. 12 with a headliner
still to be determined. MMAWeekly.com will continue to follow
up on the event’s headliner and update as more information
becomes available.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Focus
for UFC shifts to more live, Friday night TV content on Fox for
7 years
By Zach
Arnold
Tomas Rios: “People, a major network has made a multi-year,
multi-platform, big money commitment to the UFC. This is the
biggest MMA story ever.”
Fascinating that ESPN has not discussed at all (either in TV
reporting or their newsticker) UFC moving from Spike to FX/Fox
family. Relations between ESPN & Fox are not as competitive
as they once were, especially given NBC & Comcast as one
unit now as the major competitor for programming (and Yahoo Sports
as the top online sports reporting hub). At least ESPN put up
a report on their web site.
The Ultimate Fighter will be more interactive in terms of airing
live fights and taping footage from the past week prior to said
fights airing. Friday night on FX will basically be UFC’s
cable footprint. I’m a bit skeptical about Friday nights
working out for them as opposed to Wednesdays or Thursdays.
Thankfully, the Gladiator graphic UFC has used forever is going
the way of the do-do bird. As I predicted, not many changes at
all to the UFC production layout (including their announce team).
Sports Business Journal says that Fox is paying UFC about $100
million dollars a year. The majority of UFC’s programming
will air on cable channel FX, with four network television specials
airing live each year on Fox terrestrial. Fox executives seem
to think that they have found a real growth play here.
Luke Thomas: “UFC source tells me new Fox deal does NOT
affect online distribution deals to Roku, Yahoo!, XBox or UStream.
Nothing changes.”
Both Loretta Hunt & Josh Gross were at the press conference
and credentialed. Loretta says that she shook Dana White’s
hand. Make of that what you will.
An interesting question/premise being debated yesterday on Twitter
about this new deal with Fox — will Fox force UFC management
& employees to change their behavior (i.e. Rampage ‘motorboating’
& Joe Rogan’s comments about Maggie Hendricks) or will
the status quo for behavior remain? I’m in the minority
in stating that absolutely nothing will change from a behavioral
standpoint. If Joe Rogan can come back to network TV (NBC) for
a new series run of Fear Factor after the online kerfuffle he
got into a few months ago, I don’t see how or why Fox is
going to make him change (business reasons or not).
What was fascinating to see during the press conference was the
reaction from Fox suits towards UFC’s production values.
They seriously will allow Zuffa to produce shows as they see
fit. When Fuji TV backed PRIDE, Fuji TV brought all of their
resources and production team to the table. If Fox is going to
allow UFC to produce shows the want they want to and pay them
nearly $100 million USD a year, that’s a sweet development
for UFC.
Source: Fight Opinion
|
Even
in the Rain, Brazilian Fans Make UFC Open Workouts Memorable
Affair
By Ben
Fowlkes
RIO
DE JANEIRO -- If the UFC held an outdoor open workout on Venice
Beach on a rainy winter weekday to promote an upcoming event,
you'd probably call them crazy. At the very least, you'd call
them poor planners, and you'd be right.
In
Brazil, however, the rules are different. Especially if you're
bringing UFC fights to a city of passionate sports fans who have
never seen an MMA event of this magnitude. And especially if
you've got Anderson Silva on the guest list.
Throngs
of energetic fans packed the sands of Copacabana beach in Rio
de Janeiro on Wednesday afternoon just to get a look at their
MMA heroes. What's usually a low-key fight week photo op quickly
turned into a beach party, and soon it became abundantly clear
that UFC 134 wouldn't be just another fight card. Not in this
city.
People
in costumes danced to imaginary beats. Fans broke out in impromptu
chants. A Brazilian reporter tried to handle a microphone in
one hand and his cell phone in the other, all while wearing a
pair of boxing gloves for some reason.
Did
any of them even notice it was raining? Did any of them care?
"Fighting's
popular in Brazil," said UFC light heavyweight Forrest Griffin.
"Who'd have thought?"
Griffin
was one of the first fighters to hit the mats in the afternoon,
though he didn't stay there long. The hired hands in raincoats
who penguin-walked with towels under their feet to dry off the
training surface never even had a chance to get out of his way.
Griffin waved to the crowd, did about three minutes worth of
stretches and calisthenics, then decided to call it good.
When
a Brazilian reporter asked why he didn't attempt an actual workout,
Griffin went into his usual deadpan.
"I
don't know. Why didn't I?" he shot back. "I mean, think
about it. Why would I want you guys to see my bag? You got to
pay money to see my bag. Or at least buy cable TV."
When
asked if that meant there was something significantly different
in his bag for his rematch with Mauricio "Shogun" Rua
on Saturday night, Griffin admitted it was mostly going to be
the usual stuff on his part.
"It's
new to Brazil though, dammit," he said.
But
then, these fans didn't really come to see Griffin, and he knew
it. It was UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva who most
of the chants and cheers were reserved for. That is, once he
finally fought through the afternoon Rio traffic and walked up
to claim his belt, which the UFC's Reed Harris had carefully
protected from the rain using a white beach towel.
Silva
might be regarded as one of, if not the best pound-for-pound
fighter when he's competing in the U.S., but it Brazil he's much
more than that. He's a superstar. He's Michael Jordan, Hulk Hogan,
and maybe one of the Kardashian sisters, all rolled into one.
Cameras
swarmed him as he stepped briefly on the mats, and the frantic
Brazilian media members nearly knocked each other to the ground
trying to get a word or two out of him. While a UFC open workout
in the states might only garner attention from MMA websites and
a few local news outlets, in Rio it seems that everyone with
a video camera and a microphone was willing to run one another
over to get a glimpse of the champ.
That
seemed fine with Silva, who showed up in glasses and earphones
and removed neither as he held court all in Portuguese (with
no translation provided by either his camp or the UFC), showing
a level of enthusiasm one doesn't typically see out of him at
most fight week media responsibilities.
But
this one was special. This one was for his countrymen, who jumped
up and down in the sand and cheered him like he was royalty,
even if he didn't bother to do much of a workout, which was,
ostensibly anyway, the whole purpose of the afternoon.
Then
again, it was a rainy winter's day in Rio. Not that anybody noticed.
Source:
MMA Fighting
|
Brendan
Schaub Takes His Training on the Road for UFC 134 Rio
by Andrew
Gladstone
Brendan “The Hybrid” Schaub (8-1) has parted ways with
famed Grudge Training Center founded by head coach Trevor Wittman.
The Colorado native has now decided to spend more time at Greg
Jackson’s camp in Albuquerque, N.M.
“The thing at Grudge, Shane (Carwin) got done with his fight
and has had some injuries, so he hasn’t really been around
and Shane’s usually my main training partner,” Schaub
told MMAWeekly Radio.
“Trevor Wittman, my boxing coach, he hasn’t had a lot
of time with his family and he’s decided to step back and
spend more time with his family and less focus on the upper level
guys in the gym because we require so much of his time. We both
agreed to go our separate ways and I needed a little change-up
in my career so I went to go work with different guys.”
Since his departure from Grudge, Schaub, in addition to being
at Jackson’s, has spent time in Florida at Imperial Athletics,
and Renzo Gracie’s school in New York. The idea for “The
Hybrid” to travel more and get different looks came from
UFC welterweight kingpin Georges St-Pierre, who explained to
Schaub the importance of not staying in the same place.
“I went down to Florida to work with Rashad and his camp,
I’ve been to Renzo’s in New York, and obviously I’ve
been here in Albuquerque working at Jackson’s. I couldn’t
ask for tougher training partners in Andrei Arlovski, Jon Jones,
Brian Stann, Keith Jardine; they just have a non-stop flow of
monsters.
“I think I got the idea from Georges St-Pierre. He told
me, ‘you can’t just go where it’s convenient,
man. You might have a gym up the road, but it’s not great
work. You got to pay your dues. If it’s expensive to fly
everywhere, it’s something you got to do,’ and I agree
with that 100 percent.”
The proof will be in the pudding, as they say, when Schaub steps
into the Octagon at UFC 134 in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday night
to square off with former UFC and Pride heavyweight champion
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
“Desire
comes and goes, dreaming is an endless journey. Fight for your
dreams”
A few days away from UFC Rio, Brazilian athletes participated
in an afternoon party this Tuesday the 23rd, as part of a UFC
in the Community initiative held at Nobre Arte Academy, located
in Rio de Janeiro’s Cantagalo community. Minotauro, his
brother Minotouro, Junior Cigano, Vitor Belfort paid a special
visit to 60 youths between the ages of 6 and 12, seeking to sway
them to take the path of having sport in their lives.
Received like heroes, the UFC fighters addressed the merits of
having values like discipline, dignity and desire to win. As
they walked through the streets of the community they were greeted
on numerous occasions and asked to take pictures with the residents
countless times.
Vitor Belfort, who has trained at Nobre Arte academy in the past,
left a message for the youths: “Twenty years ago I arrived
here at this academy with the dream of being recognized, mainly
in my country, and I’ve made it even farther than that.
Dreaming is an endless journey, desire comes and goes. Fight
for your dreams. Sport is one of the keys to life, we also need
to win our daily battles, having dignity, manners and respect,”
the fighter advised.
Led by Cláudio Coelho, one of the greatest boxing coaches
in Brazil, Nobre Arte has been teaching boxing to local residents
of the Cantagalo and Pavão-Pavãozinho communities
of all ages for the past 21 years. Such big-name MMA fighters
as Royce Gracie and Vitor Belfort have trained there. The NGO
created the project “Meninos do Boxe” (“Boys of
Boxing”) in 1996, later adding an educational complement
for children and teenagers, with the aim of producing upstanding
citizens. “The idea for this project arose 21 years ago.
Its aim is to integrate the poor communities on the hill with
the upscale neighborhood below, to occupy the time of these youths
at a critical juncture in their lives by providing them with
a healthy and educational activity, while monitoring their performance
at school,” explains Coelho.
Seated on the academy ring, the children awaited the speeches
the fighters had for them. Minotauro, who will fight Brendan
Schaub at UFC Rio on Saturday, was pleased to be able to take
part in the effort. “It’s a pleasure to see how successful
this academy has been as a place providing kids discipline and
respect. It doesn’t just encourage sport but education as
well.”
To
Junior Cigano “anyone involved in fighting knows Claudio
Coelho’s story, especially his work with children.”
The heavyweight fighter spoke a bit about his own life story.
“It wasn’t easy on me either. My dream was to be like
Minotauro and Wanderlei Silva, guys who inspired me. I have to
continue believing and working. Always believe in yourselves,”
he said.
Source: Gracie Magazine
|
Carlos
Condit thinks GSP will beat Nick Diaz by decision
By Zach
Arnold
RON KRUCK: “Well, speaking of success, you’ve won 12
out of 13, you’ve been on fire. How much do you attribute
training here at Jackson’s to your recent success?”
CARLOS CONDIT: “It’s a huge part of it. I started training
with Greg and out of Greg’s system when I was very young,
15 years old, and you know Greg Jackson was teaching Mixed Martial
Arts before most people even knew what UFC was so he’s got
a wealth of experience, you know, didn’t start off teaching
grappling or teaching striking, he started off incorporating
everything together and that’s why our fighters here are
so well-rounded.”
RON KRUCK: “Well, it’s paid off for you, there’s
no doubt about it and you’ve earned a huge fight with BJ
Penn. Give us your thoughts on first off before we break the
fight down really in fighting an MMA pioneer in BJ Penn.”
CARLOS CONDIT: “Yeah, you know, it’s an absolute honor
to be facing BJ, you know, it’s really amazing to have worked
my way up to facing somebody, you know, of legendary status in
this sport and I’m as motivated as I’ve ever been in
my career and, you know, I better be because I know I have a
very, very tough test in front of me.”
RON KRUCK: “Biggest fight of your career?”
CARLOS CONDIT: “Absolutely. You know, every fight’s
the biggest test of your career. They’re all important these
days, it’s always a tougher and tougher opponent so I’m
training for BJ as if he was the toughest guy that I’ve
ever faced because he probably is.”
RON KRUCK: “When you go up against a guy like Penn not only
a veteran with a ton of cage experience but a guy who’s
really well rounded, is there anything you’ve been concentrating
on in training to help prepare a little bit better or is he just
one of those guys you better practice everything?”
CARLOS CONDIT: “Yeah, BJ is very, very well-rounded. There’s
really nobody like him in the sport so it’s really hard
to get a training partner to emulate his style. So, you know,
right now I’m just focusing on working all aspects of my
game, being the best Carlos Condit that I can be and, you know,
hopefully I’m able to pull it off.”
RON KRUCK: “If you are able to pull it off, that would be
a huge victory for you. You’d win 13 out of 14, do you feel
that you should get the next title shot?”
CARLOS CONDIT: “Yeah, you know, I’ve not only been
winning my fights I’ve been winning them by stoppages, you
know, for the most part. Every one of my wins has been a finish
and… you know, I think that definitely qualifies for me
title contender status.”
RON KRUCK: “Who do you like in that next fight, Georges
St. Pierre is taking on Nick Diaz. First guy to really come over
from Strikeforce, which generates some interest but really a
match-up of two of the top fighters in the division. Who wins
and why?”
CARLOS CONDIT: “You know, Nick Diaz is a very, very tough
fighter, well-rounded, unorthodox striking style that works very
well for him but Georges St. Pierre does what he does so well
and he has his strategy and his style down and I really feel
that Georges takes this fight. I don’t see him finishing
Diaz but I think he gets the decision.”
Source: Fight Opinion
|
Yushin
Okami to Anderson Silva: “I'm not Chael Sonnen”
By Kinya
Hashimoto
UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva will put his title on
the line next Saturday against Yushin Okami in his homeland,
but the challenger is ready to do his best. On an exclusive interview
to TATAME, Okami talked about his expectations going on the fight,
the first time he fought Anderson, in 2006, and Silva’s
surprising performance against Chael Sonnen.
“I was expecting that Chael will be able to take Silva down,
but never thought he will overwhelm by using his mixed technique
of boxing and wrestling,” Okami said. “That looked
really effective and it is great reference, but I'm not Chael
so I should use my own skill and technique which will be able
to use my physical effectively”.
Check below the exclusive interview with the Japanese star.
The first time you fought, you won by DQ. Do you think Anderson
will come motivated for this fight?
I won by DQ, but I felt I lost that fight. It's very hard to
expect what will happen this time, but I'm sure that both of
us are improving in various point. Anderson always fight aggressively
so I promise that this fight will be exciting.
Anderson said you faked an injury not to return after the upkick.
Did you really felt the kick and had no conditions to return?
There was a damage. There is no point to talk about past things
so I don't really care of what people say about last fight. However,
that experience made me stronger and as a result I was able to
fight in UFC afterwards so I really thank and respect Silva.
The word that he says to that I was dressed in damage last is
past. I am not dressed. This time I will fight with respect and
it will be a chance to show who's the best.
Did you know Anderson at that time? Do you believed at that time
that he’d become the champion years later?
I knew him since PRIDE and watched his videos often. I knew he
doesn’t change his fight style a lot, but still tough and
he never lacks in his performance. I didn’t know if he will
be a champion, but suspecting to be one of the top fighter.
How do you see the Anderson from 2006 and the Anderson from today?
The biggest change is his experience of defending his title several
times at UFC. That must give him a lot of confidence, which I
could see from his recent fights. He has atmosphere that controls
opponent’s performance.
How do you think you evolved since that fight?
I improved almost everything, especially physical.
Do you think Chael Sonnen showed a way to beat Anderson Silva,
with the Wrestling?
I was expecting that Chael will be able to take Silva down, but
never thought he will overwhelm by using his mixed technique
of boxing and wrestling. That looked really effective and it
is great reference, but I'm not Chael so I should use my own
skill and technique which will be able to use my physical effectively.
You’ll have the chance to become the first Japanese champion
at the UFC. Do you think that brings an extra pressure? What
would that mean to you and the Japanese fans?
I always feel the pressure, but this time is a Championship,
a lot of fans are cheering for me. It's giving me a lot of power
to prepare for the fight and I'm highly motivated. I want to
change all of the expectations to positive pressure. I must not
compromise in any point and prepare for Aug 27th. I want all
of my fans to enjoy the fight and my peak performance.
You already came to Brazil in the past. What did you think about
the country and the Brazilian fighters?
I've visited Sao Paulo, Brazil in 2003 for Abu Dhabi. I trained
a little but there was no fighters that I knew. Brazil's image...
cute girls and Samba! I think Brazilians have natural power that
are suitable to be a fighter, great ability to be an athlete.
Brazilian fighters are strong minded and they never give up.
It sounds like a mix personality of Japanese and Europeans positive
parts.
What do you expect from the UFC Rio card?
There's a lot of Brazilian fighters, so it's sure to be an exciting
event. Silva is never defeated, everyone knows how tough he is.
There will be tons of Silva fans at the event, but if I show
everything I have and if the audience had satisfaction with the
fight, they will have respect on both of us, even if I win. I'll
do my best to prove my power and convince the MMA fans in Brazil.
Source:
Tatame
|
Pros
Pick: Silva vs. Okami
by Mike
Sloan
For the first time in more than a decade, the Ultimate Fighting
Championship returns to Brazil with UFC 134 on Saturday at the
HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
A five-round middleweight title bout between longstanding champion
Anderson Silva and Yushin Okami, the last man to defeat him,
will headline the pay-per-view event. Since being disqualified
for an illegal upkick on Okami in January 2006, Silva has rattled
off 14 straight wins, 13 of them inside the Octagon. Many now
consider him the greatest fighter of all-time.
Sherdog.com recently touched base with a number of professional
trainers and fighters to gauge their opinions on the UFC 134
“Silva vs. Okami” main event:
Jose Aldo: Anderson will win by KO or submission.
Jason Lambert: Anderson by TKO or KO.
Marvin Eastman: Unanimous decision [for] Silva. Okami won’t
trade with “The Spider.” He will run from him. If he
trades shots, he’ll get knocked out.
Lyoto Machida: Anderson has shown so many times why he is the
champion. He’s been the top fighter for a long time. Technically
you can't compare the two. Okami’s only chance will be a
surprise punch or if Anderson underestimates him, which I don't
believe will happen. Anderson will win this.
Travis Wiuff: Anderson wins this fight easily in the second round
by strikes.
Dan Hardy: I have Silva by TKO in the second. He will win by
jumping spinning split kick and credit [Jean Claude] Van Damme,
his new coach, for the win.
Erik Paulson: Anderson is at the top of his game right now and
nobody has beaten him [in the UFC] yet. I think he will continue
to win until he retires, unless he fights [Jon] “Bones”
Jones. Then, it’s a tossup. We’re having an Italian
dinner [before] the fights. If Okami beats Anderson, I will probably
shoot my spaghetti dinner noodle out my nose.
Yves Edwards: I have Okami winning a unanimous decision. He has
the same skill set as Chael [Sonnen], and I don’t think
he’ll get tired enough to not get to half guard.
Javier Vazquez: Anderson should win this fight handily. It would
be nice to see someone challenge Anderson, and my vote is for
Sonnen. I think this fight was made as a placeholder till Sonnen
can fight again. The only problem I see is if Sonnen can’t
get past Brian Stann. I think Anderson beats Okami easily by
KO or TKO in the second round.
Antonio Rogerio Nogueira: Anderson will impose his rhythm and
will confirm why he is the favorite. He takes it.
Jeff Monson: Silva by KO.
Sam Hoger: Okami, by dry hump.
The
pros are confident in Silva.
Eric Pele: Okami, for s---- and giggles.
Thiago Tavares: Okami won’t find the distance to take Anderson
down and will be easy prey on the feet. Anderson by KO.
Jorge Lopez: I think Silva will win via TKO in the third. This
can be a very dangerous fight for Anderson considering Okami’s
height and speed. Anderson rarely fights guys that are as tall
and fast as him. Okami needs to take Anderson down and control
[him], like the first time they fought.
Mike Whitehead: Silva by KO, round one.
Mike Easton: Silva wins.
Juanito Ibarra: KO by Anderson.
Cristiano Marcello: I believe Okami will try to exchange punches
early in the fight, as he knows Anderson isn't easily taken down.
Meanwhile, Anderson will dominate the fight and win.
Nick Thompson: This fight reminds me of something that happened
to Derrick Noble and me. I was incarcerated at the time. Derrick
was working for the FBI and was tasked with interviewing me.
His boss believed that my insights might be helpful in the pursuit
of serial killer nicknamed “The Destroyer.” Apparently
The Destroyer, who was later identified as Sean Loeffler, was
skinning people and wearing their skins around with the wiener
tucked under, kind of like a woman. I offered to profile The
Destroyer if I could be transferred to a different prison. Instead,
I began a game of quid pro quo, offering Noble clues and insights
about The Destroyer in exchange for information regarding his
past. After first making Derrick relive his traumatic childhood,
Derrick used my insights to find and kill Loeffler. Meanwhile,
I used the transfer as a means to escape. Last time Derrick and
I talked, I phoned him from an airport in Bimini and told him
I would not pursue him and asked that he do the same for me.
I then had an old friend for dinner. Anderson by KO in one.
Keith Berry: I don’t see anyone touching Silva at 185 pounds;
the only fight I’d like to see is a rematch with Sonnen,
so I’m saying Silva via second round TKO.
Josuel Distak: I don’t see any other possibility except
for an Anderson Silva win.
Tom Gavrilos: Okami is strong and well-rounded, but he will be
overwhelmed by Silva’s striking; Anderson by TKO.
Scott Epstein: It really depends on what kind of shooting glasses
Steven Seagal used while training Anderson for the fight. More
importantly, is Steven related to Katie Sagal, who played Ed
O’Neill’s wife on [the] “Married ... With Children”
[television series]? Ed is a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu,
and this would help Anderson’s odds greatly. Silva in the
second by Kogeki; that means something in Aikido lingo.
Dewey Cooper: Silva, absolutely.
Rafael Cordeiro: Anderson will put on a great show and will finish
Okami before it goes to the scorecards.
Bill Mesi: TKO late first or early second. I see a near-death
beating coming Okami’s way.
Paulo Thiago: I bet on Anderson's victory.
Jason Dent: Silva by TKO round two. I will be really surprised
if anyone picks against him. Hope it’s a fun exciting fight
for the fans.
Ricardo Liborio: I’ll go with The Spider via TKO.
Ray Elbe: Muay Thai technique is going to be too much for Okami,
and Silva is going to utilize an impressive Thai clinch game.
Andre Pederneiras: Anderson will win.
Mike Ciesnolevicz: I think Okami is just one of those guys that
make every fight boring. He is a big, strong, athletic guy but
never really goes for the kill. He is content to grind out decisions.
I think Anderson is going to counter Yushin and play it safe
and use a lot of movement, fakes, etc. [Silva] might slow this
fight down like he has in past fights, such as Demian Maia, Patrick
Cote and Thales Leites. The only reason I’m excited about
this fight is Anderson might land a big strike and KO Yushin
at some point. I’m not very interested in this fight at
all, but I say Anderson pulls it out in a decision.
Robin Black: Okami is a very bad man. Okami is gonna shock the
world. Okami by TKO.
Ron Foster: Anderson will be very light on his feet, using various
angles and striking to keep Okami off balance. Okami will have
no answers for The Spider; Anderson [via] KO in round one.
Pros Picking Silva: 31
Pros Picking Okami: 4
Source
Sherdog
|
Pat
Curran kicked Marlon Sandro so hard, he might send Bellator off
MTV2 & to Spike TV
By Zach
Arnold
Pat Curran has been looking to rebound since his decision loss
to Eddie Alvarez. On Saturday night, he delivered in ways Cole
Konrad could only dream of.
Marlon Sandro was winning the stand-up war against Pat Curran
and looked to be primed for a decision or a late finish. Instead,
he got caught moving backwards and Pat blasted him with a career-defining
kick that knocked Sandro out cold. It was a brilliant finish
for the promotion’s Featherweight tournament. Whether he
actually gets his title shot against Joe Warren, who knows. (Warren
has to first deal with Patricio Pitbull.)
Warren wants to fight in the promotion’s Bantamweight tournament
and win that title. He may have to defend his 145 pound crown
first and, barring hideous judges, Curran will likely be the
man to take the Featherweight title away from him.
The immediate screaming about Sandro being overrated because
of the hype from his Japanese bouts is warranted, but not too
much so. Hatsu Hioki is Zuffa bound and Curran is starting to
build a nice career resume at age 23. Curran’s knock out
of Sandro was a much-needed outcome to wash the bad taste out
of everyone’s mouth over Cole Konrad’s three round
decision win over Paul Buentello. The only highlight of that
fight was listening to Neil Grove on commentary, who I thought
did a solid job as the third man in the booth.
Seth Petruzelli dispatched of Ricco Rodriguez and says he wants
to fight at Light Heavyweight. He was sporting the Tri-Coasta
name, headed up by the lovely Michelle Lee and Korean Zombie
nation.
Jack Encarnacao said that he saw a Spike TV presence at the Mohegan
Sun event. If there was any doubt that Spike is ready to make
the move into Bellator’s camp, those doubts should be erased.
For MMA fans, Bellator obtaining a great slot on Spike TV is
a good development for the business. It means Bjorn Rebney will
be able to make some money and not have fighters stuck in contractual
limbo (like they would be if the promotion went bankrupt).
It means that Sam Caplan and company will be able to develop
new talent Stateside and either keep the stars they create or
watch them move up to Zuffa. No matter how you slice it, Bellator
heading to Spike TV would be a very solid move for both parties
and for the sport of MMA itself.
Somehow, I don’t think Mr. Rebney will be saying things
like ‘ ESPN‘ in negotiations. The idea of UFC getting
$100 million USD/year from Fox one week and Bellator signing
a deal with Spike TV the next week would really cement the stability
of the sport. There’s no other way to state it. I’m
all for Bellator moving to Spike TV… and I don’t think
they’ll need Ari Emanuel’s help in brokering a deal.
That, and watching Spike TV run non-stop Bellator ads during
upcoming UFC telecasts.
Source: Fight Opinion
|
BAMMA
Looks to Expand into International Markets in 2012
by Lee
Whitehead
BAMMA is gathering momentum and a very busy schedule appears
to be in the works for the British based mixed martial arts promotion
in 2012. They already have six domestic events lined up in England,
but are now looking to expand horizons and add four international
shows to the mix.
Multiple sources indicate that Dublin is looking increasingly
likely as the first expansion show, with an additional European
show to follow, as well as two shows in North America.
While the specifics of location are yet to be determined, it
is understood that the Eastern seaboard is a prime target, most
notably the New Jersey area. There is also the possibility of
reaching into Canada.
BAMMA stands for British Association of Mixed Martial Arts, however,
with the expansion plans and a rumored U.S. cable TV deal in
the works with an as-yet unannounced partner, the promotion has
got its sights set outside of its domestic catchment.
Recent signings of U.S. talent such as Frank Trigg, Nate Marquardt,
and Joey Villasenor only serve to bolster the promotion’s
prospects for taking its product to the international market.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
‘Mayhem’
Arrested for Simple Assault, False Imprisonment
UFC
middleweight Jason Miller was arrested in North Carolina on Aug.
7 on charges of simple assault and false imprisonment.
TMZ.com
first reported the arrest on Friday. According to the report,
“Mayhem” attended a house party with his sister, who
attempted to leave the gathering. Miller allegedly prevented
her from doing so by placing her in a headlock, the report said.
Miller’s sister then reportedly escaped the hold and notified
the Chatham County Sheriff. TMZ reports that Miller was arrested
later that night.
The
Chatham County Sheriff’s Office has documented the arrest
on its website, confirming that the 30-year-old Californian was
arrested by Sergeant Eric Lindley on charges of simple assault
and false imprisonment. Miller was released on $5,000 bail and
is scheduled to appear in Chatham County District Court in Siler
City, N.C., on Aug. 16.
In
2006, Miller was acquitted on charges of burglary and assault
after he was accused of forcibly entering a girlfriend’s
Hawaii apartment and assaulting another man in December 2005.
A Circuit Court jury found Miller not guilty on charges of first-degree
burglary, third-degree assault and fourth-degree criminal property
damage.
“Mayhem”
will serve as a coach opposite Michael Bisping on the upcoming
14th season of the UFC’s long-running reality show, “The
Ultimate Fighter,” on Spike TV. Miller recently signed a
new deal with the world’s largest promotion after his Strikeforce
contract expired this year. The host of MTV’s “Bully
Beatdown” reality series, Miller’s lone Octagon appearance
came in 2005, when he suffered a unanimous decision defeat to
future welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre at UFC 52. Miller’s
management could not immediately be reached for comment.
Source:
Sherdog
|
Josh
Koscheck Returns at UFC 139 in San Jose, May Jump to Middleweight
After a lengthy layoff following his title shot against Georges
St-Pierre, Josh Koscheck is finally ready to return.
Koscheck
said on his Twitter feed Sunday night that he is the latest addition
to the UFC 139 card that takes place in San Jose on Nov. 19 –
in the heart of his training ground.
But
perhaps more interesting is Koscheck saying the fight, against
a yet-unnamed opponent, is likely to be at middleweight, moving
him up from 170 pounds for the first time since 2005. "My
next fight is in San Jose ...," Koscheck said. "Good
chance fighting at 185lbs. Should know real soon who."
After
a three-fight win streak – a KO of Frank Trigg, a submission
of Anthony Johnson and a decision over Paul Daley that got the
Brit booted from the UFC for a post-fight sucker punch –
Koscheck got a Season 12 coaching spot on "The Ultimate
Fighter" opposite St. Pierre.
In
their welterweight title fight at UFC 124 last December, St-Pierre
peppered Koscheck (15-5, 13-5 UFC) with jabs throughout the bout
and broke his right orbital bone. The subsequent surgery has
kept Koscheck on the shelf, and his Nov. 19 return will mean
a layoff of nearly a year.
Koscheck
fought at middleweight on Season 1 of TUF, but dropped from 185
to welterweight after his win over Chris Sanford on the TUF 1
Finale in April 2005. His 18 fights in the UFC make him one of
the promotion's longest-standing veterans. His five losses include
two to St-Pierre and one to former title challenger Thiago Alves
in a fight he took on short notice.
Koscheck
is the second fighter to get a "home" fight on the
UFC 139 card. Cain Velasquez, his training partner at the American
Kickboxing Academy, located in San Jose, headlines the card to
defend his heavyweight title for the first time against Junior
dos Santos.
Koscheck's
move to middleweight is one he has talked about in the last several
months. He has said often he will not fight his AKA teammates,
and Jon Fitch is one of just a few welterweights that would make
sense for Koscheck to fight who don't already have a match booked.
But
the move up also gets him one weight class closer to Stephan
Bonnar, one of his housemates on TUF 1. Bonnar and Koscheck have
been trading barbs on Twitter and in the media after Bonnar's
Trash Talkin' Kids t-shirt line made an "Osh Kosh B'Gosh'
shirt mimicking Koscheck. Though other fighters, including St-Pierre,
Roy Nelson and Brock Lesnar, took the playful shirts in good
humor, Koscheck threatened a lawsuit, obtaining former UFC fighter
Christian Wellisch as his legal representation. Earlier this
year, Bonnar's company, NGauge Inc., shut the shirts down entirely
and started a new line called Punch Buddies in its place.
But
a fight between Koscheck and Bonnar would mean Bonnar would have
to move down from light heavyweight – or that Koscheck would
have to move up even more to light heavyweight, or to an agreed-upon
catchweight fight. Bonnar has not fought since last December,
and had to pull out of a scheduled fight against Karlos Vemola
at UFC on Versus 5 earlier this month with a knee injury.
UFC
139 will be the company's first fight in San Jose, the former
home base of one-time rival Strikeforce before its purchase by
Zuffa earlier this year. Though not yet made official, it will
take place at the HP Pavilion. Aside from Koscheck's return to
middleweight and the heavyweight title bout between Velasquez
and dos Santos, UFC 139 will feature a bantamweight contenders
bout between former champions Brian Bowles and Urijah Faber,
plus a welterweight bout between Martin Kampmann and Rick Story.
Source:
MMA Fighting
|
Bob
Sapp Doesn't Mind Being Mocked, as Long as He Gets Paid
If you ask Bob Sapp, he'll tell you that it doesn't matter what
his record is as a fighter.
It
doesn't matter how many times he's been beaten up, or how many
times he's simply folded up. It doesn't matter what people say
about him on message boards or in YouTube comments. It doesn't
matter that he's lost six of his last eight in MMA, or seven
straight as a kickboxer.
It
doesn't matter that his DIY promotion for an August 26 fight
in Germany features him ripping a pair of lederhosen off his
thickly muscled torso and smashing an egg on his own face in
between cartoonish shouts and flubbed lines.
It
doesn't matter if he's a walking joke to you. So he says.
"We
determine success in the fight business by revenue," Sapp
said when I spoke with him this week as part of his media tour
to promote his role in the new Conan the Barbarian remake.
In
other words, he's in this strictly for the money, as if there
was ever any doubt.
If
he gets that money by slipping into an oversized caricature of
himself -- an alter-ego he refers to, in all seriousness, as
"The Beast" -- then so be it. If his lot in combat
sports is the giant who gets routinely slayed, he doesn't mind
that either -- as long as there's a paycheck in it.
"Even
if you're getting knocked out a lot, [a promoter] wants to put
you on his card so you can get knocked out on his card and make
things exciting," Sapp said. "He knows at least something's
going to happen. If you're very good, that can sometimes actually
hurt you. How? Well, the promoter might say, man, he's going
to come over here and beat our champion and will raise his price
or will never come back and defend the belt."
With
Sapp, there's no such concern. It's even part of his appeal.
There's zero danger that he's going to roll to a boring decision.
There's very little danger he'll even make it out of the first
round.
At
the same time, when you establish a reputation as the enormous
buffoon who can be depended on to crash and burn more often than
not, isn't there a point when the money is a hollow comfort?
According
to Sapp, not really.
"For
me, it's cold, hard business," he said, explaining that
the fans who mock him on the internet aren't important because
"they don't have the power to hire, nor do they have to
power to fire."
"You
see the comments made about me on the internet, and the internet
is a negatively-charged machine when it comes down to talking
fighters," said Sapp. "You never -- or very rarely
-- see fighters on there talking bad about other fighters. The
reason for this is simple: both of them are giving and receiving
brain damage for a living, so neither one wants to put each other
down because they're in the same boat. You look at keyboard warriors
who just want to get on and talk bad about the people in the
sport, and the problem is that everyone who's talking bad, they
wouldn't even be able to fill a stadium with three thousand people."
It's
a convenient view of the sport from Sapp's perspective, one where
drawing power trumps all. Who cares why people are coming to
see you, as long as they're coming? It's also a pretty cynical
view, but one that has been lucrative for Sapp.
"What
it tells me is, they pay if they like you and they pay if they
hate you," he said. "That translates to me making a
living."
When
it comes to sheer career hustle, it's hard to knock the guy.
He gets paid as a fighter, a pro wrestler, and an actor. In the
new Conan movie he even got to "tackle a horse" thanks
to movie magic, he said. In his opinion, "it looks really
cool."
And
while some people might look at his record and conclude that
he doesn't seem to be taking the sport seriously much of the
time, he said, they don't realize that it's all a consequence
of that same hustle.
"My
schedule fills up so ridiculously hard that you see me fighting
and I take a loss or you see me fighting and I look terrible,
but you have to go back and if you could see the schedule that
I'm on you'd say, this is crazy. There's nobody who should be
fighting on this kind of schedule."
And
maybe he's right. Maybe nobody should be doing it the way he
has. Not unless their goal is to make as much money as quickly
as possible, and they don't care what anyone thinks about them
once the ride is finally over.
Source:
MMA Fighting
|
|
UFC
President Dana White Says ESPN Bagged Interview Because of Fox
TV Deal
The
Ultimate Fighting Championship earlier this week announced a
landmark television deal that will see their programming spread
across the airwaves of the Fox family of networks. The deal,
which is for seven years, will put UFC programming in various
forms on Fox, FX, and Fuel TV, at the minimum.
The
mixed martial arts juggernaut will move its reality series, The
Ultimate Fighter, from Spike TV to FX, with a complete revamp
to a “jive-live” format. FX will also carry at least
six live UFC events per year and Fox will carry four. Fuel TV
will be a home for other UFC programming, including UFC Prelims
Live.
The
UFC, Fox, fighters, and fans rejoiced over the news on Thursday,
but not everyone is as pleased. Spike TV, of course, lost a programming
cornerstone for their target demographic, Men 18-34 years of
age.
But
it also appears that ESPN may not be too pleased with the arrangement,
at least according to UFC president Dana White.
As
is customary from the UFC exec, White took to his Twitter account
late Friday night to take a shot at ESPN for cancelling an upcoming
promotional interview, he says, due to the Fox deal.
“ESPN
always hated us and now they hate us more now that we are on
FOX. They canceled my (interview) next week for UFC Rio. (Expletive)
ESPN,” he tweeted, before adding, “(Jim Rome) is the
only good thing about ESPN.”
UFC
Rio: Silva vs. Okami is an especially important event to the
promotion. It marks the UFC’s return to Brazil for the first
time in nearly 13 years. The promotion also sees it as a big
step into the Latin American market that company officials have
long coveted.
Mixed
martial arts, and the UFC in particular, has crept into ESPN’s
on-air programming over the past couple of years, after starting
out as part of the sports media giant’s online offerings.
Mixed
martial arts can sometimes be seen on SportsCenter and other
ESPN news shows, and ESPN does have its own MMA magazine-style
show in MMA Live, which is hosted by Jon Anik and often includes
analysts such as UFC fighters Rashad Evans and Kenny Florian.
ESPN
representatives were unavailable for comment at the time of publication.
Source:
MMA Weekly |
Karo
Parisyan Trying to Put the Past Behind Him, Hoping to Fight Sakuraba
Next
UFC
veteran Karo Parisyan (19-7) will look to reinvigorate his career
after back-to-back losses to Dennis Hallman and Ryan Ford.
The
28-year-old experienced a low point after dominating much of
the fight between himself and Ryan Ford before losing via third
round doctor’s stoppage. However, even in the loss, the
Armenian looked like his old self again when he went on a tear
in the UFC.
“Anytime
you lose a fight because of a stoppage, not a referee stoppage,
but from a doctor’s stoppage, it’s always misfortunate
and it’s always bad,” Parisyan told MMAWeekly Radio.
“Why
I was really upset and frustrated was that they didn’t really
try to stop my cut, they didn’t pick the correct procedures
to stop the cut, stop the bleeding, and let’s get out there
and fight.
“They
didn’t even let the cut man in, they let the doctor in right
off the bat. (The doctor) put his thumb on my forehead for like
30 seconds and he goes, ‘the blood won’t stop, maybe
I got to stop the fight.’ Still, if I cut my finger, I put
30 seconds of pressure on it, and it wouldn’t stop my fight,
the cut or the bleeding. Why wouldn’t you actually take
the time to work on the cut, when I’m winning this fight?”
Parisyan
was very angry about Ford’s post-fight celebration, as well.
The Armenian felt like Ford had no reason to celebrate a cut
victory, especially since Ford was losing the fight.
“I
saw some clips and I saw his dumbass celebrating on the cage
like he was kicking my ass and it got me really pissed. Man,
it drove me nuts. I know deep down inside I won the fight. It
was an unfortunate mishap, but you got to let the fighters continue.”
Sometimes
in life you got to take the good with the bad. Parisyan claims
that he is sick of the drama, and just wants to move forward.
His next step forward be a fight against legendary Japanese fighter
Kazushi Sakuraba under the Dream banner in September.
“I
don’t like the drama. I’m sick of the drama because
it follows you. Whatever you say people take it any way they
can, they talk about it you know? I let go of my past. A lot
of the stupid stuff that happened I let go of it.
“I
need people to try and look forward with what I’m trying
to do right now. Let them go based off of how he was in his last
fight, ‘oh he was bad, okay good, let’s see him in
his next fight,’ because God willing I could fight Sakuraba
at the 24th of September in Dream. So, I got a lot of stuff a
head of me.”
UPDATE:
According to Parisyan’s managers at Apex Sports Agency,
the one time UFC fighter will now fight at Amazon Forest Combat
in Brazil on Sept 14 against Jordan Smith. According to sources,
Kazushi Sakuraba may not be ready in time for the upcoming Dream
card, and Parisyan wanted to stay busy and opted for the fight
for Brazil instead.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
|
UFC
Featherweight Mike Brown Learns His Lesson About Overtraining
Mike
Brown is an unlucky man. For someone with as much skill as he
possesses, it’s odd to see him go through so many ups and
downs over his past eight fights.
First,
at WEC 41, he successfully defended his WEC featherweight championship
in a second fight against Urijah Faber. Then, he got trounced
by Jose Aldo and lost the belt. You think he might be back on
track following a finish over Anthony Morrison, but then he got
knocked out by Manny Gamburyan at WEC 48.
Sprinkle
on one more win with two subsequent losses and you have the roller
coaster ride that has been Mike Brown’s career over the
last two years. The up-and-down motion would make the common
man suffer from nausea.
Tough
luck.
“I
think it’s a bit of bad luck,” Brown told MMAWeekly
Radio Weekend Edition when discussing his recent peaks and valleys.
“I have a lot of good, strong positions and I hit really
hard, so I always have the capability of finishing people. That
can happen any time and when it happens quick, it looks really
dramatic and good. So, I’m really dangerous in that way.
If I string a couple of those together, it looks like, ‘damn,
this guy can’t be beat.’ But sometimes they don’t
always go that way.”
In
one of his most recent losses, Brown took on dangerous featherweight
Diego Nunes. The result of the fight saw Brown dropping a split
decision to the Brazilian fighter, while some may think that
it could have easily gone the other way. But not Brown. In fact,
the American Top Team fighter gives credit to his former opponent,
admitting that Nunes won the fight fair and square. Where Brown
feels he went wrong was his preparation for Nunes. Spending too
much time working his body in training camp was a key factor
in Brown’s inability to pull out the win over Nunes.
“I
felt Diego won that fight, honestly,” Brown admitted. “Going
in, I overtrained for it. I was getting really tired in training
camp. It was a strange thing and it happened in the fight. I
was hoping it wasn’t going to. And I faded.”
Now,
the Brown roller coaster has hit a peak with a recent win over
Nam Phan at UFC 133: Evans vs. Ortiz. The featherweight pulled
out a unanimous decision over a fighter that a lot of people
gave the advantage to straight out of the gate.
What
was different this time around? Well, sparing sessions got cut
down a bit.
“I
wasn’t overtraining,” Brown said about his approach
to the Pham fight. “I stopped sparring so much. I was sparring
nearly every day before.”
In
sports, it’s important that you give your body ample time
to rest and recover before going out and putting it through hell
again. Brown put his body through the ringer before his recent
losses, causing him to fatigue more than he’s used to. It
didn’t make any sense before, but now, he knows better.
“It
was taking a toll on my body,” Brown said about his training.
“I was banging up my joints, tearing up the muscles so much
all the time, that I wasn’t really giving them a time to
heal. So, in the middle of camp, I started getting in worse and
worse shape.”
Now,
with an opportunity to recover and focus on resting his body,
Mike Brown is patiently anticipating his next call from UFC office
personnel offering his next fight. This time, he’ll be sure
to try and take the opportunity with the best timing and not
take a fight too soon.
But
if he gets an offer he can’t refuse, who knows what he’ll
do.
“I
don’t want to fight until at least November,” he said.
“November, December, January would be good for me. So, I’m
not looking to fight next month by any means, although, if Sean
(Shelby) called me, I don’t know what I’d say.”
Source:
MMA Weekly |
Nogueira’s
physical trainer says he’s ready for UFC Rio
If
the physiotherapist Angela Cortes is the guarden angel of Rodrigo
Nogueira, the heavyweight’s physical trainer, Claudio Pavanelli,
might be a sort of a protector saint of the fighter.
Working
with the athlete since April, Pavanelli, who works as a physiologist
of Flamengo’s soccer team, being used to work high level
soccer players, and others like the yachtsman Robert Scheidt
and the motorcycle pilot Alexandre Barros. But, for the first
time, he had a MMA fighter as his patient.
With
three sessions a week, Pavanelli found a fighter who had just
gone through a hip surgery and was willing to relive the great
moments of his career as a UFC champion. On an exclusive chat
with TATAME, the coach told us details about his trainings with
Rodrigo, who, after training really hard, is in a good condition
to face the battles ahead of him.
“We
did a different work, since he was coming from a surgery, so
Rodrigo couldn’t risk getting injured between his healing
process and the day he’s fighting in. It’d be a big
problem for him. We’ve set a goal and we’ve starting
getting him ready and doing much strengthen work along with his
physiotherapist so that he would prevent any injury. Our goal
was to improve his performance safely and put him in condition
to train his techniques and the specific trainings for the fight.
I’ve always worked with circuits, that’s how we call
it. It’s a very dynamic work, which makes you batter faster
and even more efficiently, which was exactly what he needed”,
said Claudio, explaining why the Brazilian fighter needed to
gain resistance, the so called ‘stamina’, and not muscles.
“It
gets more intense because of the sequence of exercises we do,
and not for the load. The goal wasn’t making him stronger.
Gradually, he could handle heavier loads for a larger period
of time, bringing power and not only strength. Intensity trainings
when done for a long period is the perfect way to reach our goal”.
Few
days before Rodrigo’s return to the octagon, scheduled for
August 27th, when he’ll fight Brendan Schaub, in UFC Rio,
Pavanelli has been following closely the tough guy’s trainings.
And he has no doubts the Brazilian guy is ready to go.
"We’ve
talked on Monday because since the beginning, in April, our question
was: will he make it on time? And I told him he would get in
the perfect shape on the week he was fighting in. and that’s
what we’re getting. He’s doing great and handling well
all great trainings with good intensity. You know when you finish
training and you’re exhausted? Well, he’s not like
that. He’s managing to finish it with the programed wear
out”.
Confirmed
to be on the event in Rio, Claudio Pavanelli also said the fighter’s
dedication has been a key element so that he’ll be in a
great shape when he enters the cage.
“It’s
easy working with him. When a person is that determined, it’s
easier to work with. He knows what is really important, what
makes difference for him. There’s no such thing as ‘we’ll
find it out later’.
Rodrigo
knows exactly what will happen to him”.
Source:
Tatame
|
Anderson
and Belfort share a beer
It’s
not the first time that Anderson Silva and Vitor Belfort appear
together in the same endeavor. Both of them contributed to the
new levels of popularity MMA is enjoying in Brazil right now,
through the entire process leading up to their February fight
at UFC 126. Now, the stars and declared rivals, feature together
in another promotion.
The
UFC is heading back to Brazil, and Budweiser beer, besides sponsoring
the event, inked a deal with Anderson Silva, a fighter undefeated
in the UFC. Silva will take part in a reality show covering his
preparations in the 12 days leading up to the Ultimate Fighting
Championship event.
Titled
Budweiser Champion Experience, the reality show will be broadcast
exclusively on Facebook and will feature a contest to win tickets
to UFC Rio and weigh-ins. On Budweiser’s Facebook page,
www.facebook.com/BudweiserBrasil, fans will be able to watch
videos of the fighter’s preparations, find out curious items
of interest, and see never-before-seen scenes first hand.
To
participate, users should post messages of support for the athlete.
The two best phrases posted during the period, one from Facebook
and the other from Twitter #vaianderson, will win a pair of front-row
VIP-seating tickets to the event and access to Bud Lounge, a
lounge at the UFC exclusively for Budweiser’s guests. Now
the best phrase posted each day will enter the running for premier
seating at weigh-ins and a chance to take pictures with “The
Spider”.
But
what does Belfort have to do with all that? Bud will be holding
a launch party in Rio on the 23rd, and the “Phenom”
will be there for a showdown with the fans. According to the
invite, there will be an “unprecedented battle.” What
could it be they have in mind?
Source:
Gracie Magazine
|
Ronda
Rousey: Women's MMA Needs Attitude, Not 'Some Nice Girl'
Ronda Rousey doesn't mind the controversy surrounding her recent
win over Sarah D'Alelio at Strikeforce Challengers 18.
She
doesn't mind controversy in general, really. Something has to
bring attention to women's MMA and, at least the way Rousey sees
it, all the fighters trying to out-nice each other isn't going
to do it.
"My
goal is not the be the most liked girl in women's MMA,"
Rousey told Ariel Helwani on Tuesday's edition of The MMA Hour.
"I want to be the most talked about girl in women's MMA.
If there's a lot of controversy, people saying I suck, I'm cocky,
or it was a good fight or an amazing move -- as long as there's
polarizing opinions and people want to discuss it."
Rousey,
who won an Olympic bronze medal in women's judo in the 2008 Beijing
games, improved her MMA record to 3-0 with a first-round armbar
victory over D'Alelio on August 12. Referee Steve Mazzagatti's
stoppage at the 25-second mark of the bout drew immediate criticism,
as D'Alelio clearly didn't tap to the submission.
After
the bout, D'Alelio admitted that she'd made some verbal indication
of pain when Rousey jumped into the armbar, and that was apparently
good enough to bring the bout to a halt.
"I
think the referee was right to stop the fight," Rousey said.
"They tell you the second that you walk in, like right before
you walk in, they tell you, 'If you're in a submission, anything
verbal, like if you yell or scream or anything like that we'll
call the fight.' So she was very aware that that was the case.
It's not like she didn't know that that was the rule or something
like that, because they literally tell you right before you walk
out."
In
case you couldn't tell, Rousey isn't one to hold her tongue,
nor is she aiming to be the Ms. Congeniality of the women's MMA
world. She had enough of that on the U.S. Olympic judo squad,
she said, and she doesn't think it helps raise her profile or
that of the sport to do it now.
"When
I was in the Olympics and I was representing the United States
I had to be very proper, like, yes, this is the right thing to
say and I won't say anything about how I think [George] Bush
is a retard," Rousey said. "I'm just going to go say
what they want me to say and look bright and shiny and go win.
"But
doing MMA, you're representing yourself. You're not representing
your country. I feel like what women's MMA needs is not some
nice girl. Everyone's playing the nice card and they're not willing
to go under any kind of criticism and I really feel that that's
not what we need if we want to get as much exposure as possible.
We need someone more like a Tito Ortiz-type personality -- not
that I'm trying to be that much of a d--k, no offense to Tito.
But I want to be one of those people who people either love then
or hate them and groups of people actually have heated discussions
about it. I want there to be attention on the sport, and if I
have to attract some bad attention to get that, then fine I'll
be willing to be that person."
Not
that Rousey is exactly new to being a bit of a renegade, she
admitted. Like most male fighters, she did her share of fighting
outside of a sporting context, even if it only brought her trouble.
"I've
never gotten away with a fight in my entire life. I even got
jumped by a bunch of guys once and I beat them up, and they sued
me for assault. Every fight I got into in school, I always got
a suspension or community service, and it's just never been worth
it to me. If I could get in a fight without there being legal
repercussions, I would be in a fight every single day. I don't
go out to clubs at all, because I know if someone grabs my a--
I'll punch them in the face."
But
now that she's trying to make a career out of MMA, Rousey isn't
afraid to make herself a lightning rod for criticism, or to use
her looks to get attention from fans, even if all her peers might
not like it.
"I
fought for a long time to get in the Olympics and win an Olympic
medal wearing, like, a bathrobe, and I ended up with ten grand
and a handshake," she said. "What do you really want
me to do? If it was a perfect world where I could walk in there,
just roll out of bed and go in there and make the same money,
then fine. But I fought for pride for a long time and ended up
with nothing but a box full of medals. If I want to make this
a career I have to play up the looks side. The people that criticize
it are the people that aren't in that situation."
The
fact the more attractive female fighters stand to make more money
shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone, Rousey said, even if
it's a topic some in the sport would rather ignore.
"I
mean, it's more entertaining to watch two [attractive] girls
wrestling around than two ugly girls wrestling around,"
said Rousey. "I'm sorry I had to like, point out the elephant
in the room, but that's the truth. That's what people want to
see and that's what's going to sell tickets and that's what's
going to make money and that's what's going to get all of us
a better salary. So yes, I think it's very important for there
to be good-looking girls fighting."
Instead
of depending on Gina Carano to be the face of women's MMA, she
said, the sports needs "a couple of girls that are very
skilled and decent-looking and we wouldn't be in a position where,
if one girl goes off to do movies, then the whole sport itself
is screwed."
It
might not be exactly what every fight fan wants to hear, but
then, that's sort of the point. If by speaking her mind, Rousey
then makes herself more of a subject of conversation, she seems
fine with that.
And
while she wouldn't name her next opponent aside from hinting
that it would be "an interesting fight," she does have
some plans for her fighting future.
"In
the perfect world, after this contract was over I'd like to fight
Gina Carano and then I'd like to fight Cris "Cyborg"
[Santos]."
At
least there's one thing Rousey will never be accused of, and
that's setting her sights too low.
Source:
MMA Fighting
|
Spike
TV Executives Attend Bellator 48
UNCASVILLE,
Conn. -- The presence of Spike TV executives at Saturday night’s
Bellator Fighting Championships event in Connecticut stoked speculation
that the tournament-based promotion could land on the MMA-friendly
cable network after the UFC leaves Spike next year for Fox.
Spike
TV senior vice president of sports and specials Brian Diamond
attended the Bellator event, and spent time in the production
truck and at cageside. Diamond declined a Sherdog.com request
for comment, saying he was “working.”
“They’ve
been at all of our shows,” Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney said
of Spike honchos. “They’re part of the MTV networks
family. Our deal is with MTV Networks, it’s not a deal that
we did with MTV 2, or a deal that we did with MTV Tres. So we’ve
been able to leverage that expertise.”
Rebney
said Spike representatives have assisted in tightening the production
elements of Bellator’s television show. He said the promotion
is free to call on such assistance because Spike and MTV2 are
in the same family of networks, both owned by media giant Viacom.
Spike’s pro wrestling program has been plugged on Bellator’s
MTV2 broadcasts regularly since the promotion started on the
channel in March.
Asked
if Bellator would need to negotiate a new contract to move to
Spike, Rebney responded, “That’s a good question.
“I
mean, I don’t know,” he said. “I know what the
specifics are of our agreement with MTV2, but from a transitional
perspective, our deal is with the bigger corporate entity and
they make all of the programming decisions. [I’m a] big
fan of Spike and an enormous fan right now of MTV2 as well.”
Rebney
said a possible move to Spike was in the back of his mind when
striking the deal earlier this deal with MTV2, which the promotion
was rumored to choose after discussions with FX.
“When
you look at any kind of potential alliance with a large corporate
entity and you’re making that move, you’re always thinking
in the back of your mind, ‘Where could this end up, or where
could it push? What could they decide from a programming perspective
to do?’ We were all kind of aware of the fact that the UFC
had a home with Spike and potentially might move to Comcast,
might buy G4, might end up with ESPN, might end up with Fox.
So there’s a lot of things in the back of your mind.”
Source:
Sherdog
|
Ronny
Markes drops to middleweight division for second bout in the
UFC
Ronny
Markes debuted with a win in UFC, accepting the invitation at
the last minute to fight on the 205lbs division, against Karlos
Vemola, but his future on the organization will be in other weight
class.
On
a chat with TATAME, the coach of Kimura team, Jair Lourenco,
revealed his student will go down to the middleweight division,
same weight class he was used to fight at in Brazil. After the
win, which happened on UFC on Versus, Ronny talked to our crew
about his performance on the fight.
“It
didn’t happen like we wanted it too… I wanted to finish
it earlier, but we all get scared when we’re debuting in
an event, and I fought a guy who had fought many times there
before… I wanted to knock him out, but I followed the plan
B”, tells Ronny, who took the wrestler down and dominated
the actions for the entire 15 minutes. “They’ve told
me he was a wrestler, but in there we’re fighting MMA, it’s
not a Wrestling bout. You have to find the right moment to use
your tools”.
Source:
Tatame
|
Jungle
Fight: Jiu-Jitsu wins new champion the belt
Jungle
Fight set up shop in Itu, São Paulo state, this Saturday,
and a new champion of the promotion was crowned in the main event
of the six-fight card.
Marcelo
Guimarães gets the title-winning choke. Photo: Carlos
Ozório.
Marcelo
Guimarães is the new champion of the promotion, after
dominating Lucas Rotta by using his Jiu-Jitsu to good effect
during the first round. In the second, the fighter made it to
mount on three occasions, tried for an armbar, swept, got back
mount, where he sunk a snug rear-naked choke that put the stubborn
Rotta to sleep. On a sidenote, the new middleweight champion
of the event is a former drug addict who recuperated through
the martial arts.
Another
fight showcasing plenty of technique was the heavyweight clash
between Kleber Orgulho and Edson Conterrâneo. The lighter
of the two, Orgulho used his boxing skills well throughout the
three rounds, relying mainly on his uppercut. Conterrâneo
tried for takedowns and even managed to get some, but it was
too little, as Kleber was awarded the unanimous decision. Next
for the fighter from the Brazilian state of Bahia is the Jungle
Fight light heavyweight GP.
Gil
Freitas tirelessly lit up Marinho Conceição with
strikes. In the second round, Marinho dropped to the ground and
Gil followed him down and struck away until the ref stepped in.
Now local fighter Douglas Bertazini, a Miguel Repanas student,
brought the crowd to its feet in his fight against Joni “Little”.
The first round was evenly matched, but Douglas dominated the
second two rounds, landing on top in several instances and connecting
with strikes. His efforts were rewarded with a unanimous decision
win.
In
the international matchup, Fernando Kioshi tried his best on
the ground, sinking a triangle and making it to the mount, but
Peru’s Diego Akita proved to be superior, getting the better
of the standup action, which earned him the split decision. In
the opener, João Paulo met fierce resistance at the outset
but soon found his feet, landing a takedown, passing guard, mounting
and getting back mount, where he submitted Marcelo Cruz with
a rear-naked choke.
Check
out the results and check back with GRACIEMAG.com later for photos:
Jungle
Fight 31
Itu, São Paulo
August 20, 2011
Marcelo
Guimarães submitted Lucas Rotta via rear-naked choke in
R2;
Kleber Orgulho defeated Edson Conterrâneo via unanimous
decision;
Gil de Freitas defeated Marinho de Conceição via
TKO in R2;
Douglas Bertazini defeated Joni “Little” Eduardo via
unanimous decision;
Diego Akita defeated Fernando Kioshi via split decision;
João Paulo Pereira submitted Marcelo Cruz gia rear-naked
choke in R1.
Source:
Gracie Magzine
|
Chris
Cisneros Replaces
Injured Rick Hawn in Bellator 49 Quarterfinal Bout
Bellator
Fighting Championships MMA LogoBellator Fighting Championships
on Saturday confirmed that Chris Cisneros will replace an injured Rick Hawn in Bellator’s
upcoming Season 5 Welterweight Tournament. Hawn suffered a knee
injury during a training session, and will be unable to compete
in the Sept. 10 Welterweight Quarterfinals airing on MTV2. Cisneros
will replace Hawn, and face UFC veteran Ben Saunders in opening
round action.
Cisneros
joins Bellator with an impressive 11-3 record, including a current
five fight win streak. A former kickboxer and skilled striker,
Cisneros has had a tremendous amount of success within the Hawaiian
MMA circuit and is looking forward to showing off his skills
under the Bellator banner.
“This
is a tremendous opportunity for me, and I’m looking to make
some noise in this tournament,” Cisneros said. “It’s
always a tough thing to see another fighter go down because of
injury, but it happened, and now I have a chance to fight for
an unbelievable promotion like Bellator.”
“Rick
had a tremendous run for us in our Season 4 Welterweight Tournament,
and was really looking forward to seeing him back in this tournament,”
said Bellator Chairman & CEO Bjorn Rebney. “Unfortunately
Rick suffered an injury that will keep him out for a few months,
and I expect him back with Bellator in short order. I know Chris
is going to come into this tournament hungry, and his fight with
Ben should be a great one on Sept. 10 live on MTV2.”
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
MMA
to return to Brazilian roots for UFC 134
There
are many who consider Brazil the birthplace of mixed martial
arts, but on Aug. 27, when UFC returns to the country after a
13-year absence with a show at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro,
it will be presenting something far different from the legendary
vale tudo matches that are the sport’s roots.
As
far as where the sport started, like most early sports histories,
there is a combination of fuzzy memories and legends passed down
by generations. The idea of mixed styles fighting may really
date back to the sport of Pankration at the original Olympics
in Greece some 2,800 years ago. There were also fights of this
type in the late 1800s in Japan. But the UFC itself was the brainchild
of Rorion Gracie, son of Helio Gracie, a sports legend in Brazil
for his vale tudo fights dating back to 1930. The term translates
roughly from Portuguese as “anything goes.”
While
coming to Rio de Janeiro was hardly a business miscalculation,
UFC President Dana White now looks at this in one sense that
he blew something of incredible potential. He underestimated
the appeal.
“This
fight in Rio, in the city, they’re talking about the major
sports events in Rio, the Olympics, the World Cup and the UFC,”
he said. “We went on sale with 14,000 tickets and sold out
right away. The first day, they had 350,000 phone calls from
people wanting tickets. We could have done the soccer stadium.
We’d come off Toronto (where they sold out the Rogers Centre
with 56,000 fans), but I got scared and (wimped) out. We blew
it. It could have been something crazy.”
Anderson Silva will be one of the headliners at UFC 134 in Rio
de Janeiro, the sport's first appearance in Brazil in 13 years.
UFC
134, in other words, could have been a bigger money-maker than
it will be.
“The
thing is in Rio, when you have an event, like a rock concert,
they sell so many tickets it’s ridiculous,” said Kid
Peligro, a jiu-jitsu historian. “It becomes a happening.
It’s like, you have to be there, it’s a must-see thing.
Anyone who is anyone has to be there. With this show, it’s
a combination of the popularity of the sport and it being a big
event. Brazil is very trendy.”
But
it was nothing like this some 80 years ago in what can be called
the infancy of the sport.
“In
1930 in Brazil, it was still, ‘The Law of the Strongest
Man,’ ” said Pedro Valente, a ninth-degree red belt
under Helio Gracie and a vale tudo historian. “So they would
use jiu-jitsu to teach that the strongest man doesn’t always
win the fight.”
These
early fights were not held with blaring music or TV cameras.
There was no big money at stake. Except during the heydays of
the 1930s and again from 1950 to 1962, the fights usually took
place in small buildings, and sometimes empty gyms. The biggest
fights were often held in private to avoid being shut down by
the authorities.
During
its popularity peak, fights would be held sometimes in large
outdoor soccer stadiums, sometimes without a ring (cages didn’t
exist). Other times, fights were held on basketball courts, where
fighters would be taken down and thrown on hardwood floors.
During
most of the last 80 years, the media and the government wanted
the events banned. Often, the promoters had to earmark money
to charities or be forced to shut down. At various periods, they
were outright banned.
But
the sport created two fighting legends, Helio Gracie, who was
by many accounts Rio de Janeiro’s local sports hero even
though his sport was often not in any kind of spotlight, and
Helio’s nephew, Carlson, a generation later. Carlson never
achieved the notoriety of Helio because in his athletic prime
the fights were banned in Rio de Janeiro, and he was forced to
have many of his biggest fights in the northeast of Brazil, which
didn’t get nearly as much attention.
The
roots started at the turn of the 20th century. Mitsuya Maeda,
a 5-foot-4, 145 pound judo/jiu-jitsu specialist (at the time
judo and jiu-jitsu were terms for essentially the same art, before
both separated and became sports with a different set of rules)
toured the world as a pro wrestler and martial arts instructor.
He did both real and fake fights, billed as world judo and world
jiu-jitsu champion.
At
the time, those terms were interchangeable for essentially anything
goes non-striking fighting, basically today’s submission
grappling. It wasn’t long after that point that judo and
jiu-jitsu became separate sports with specific rules and point
systems, veering away from either being true free fighting.
Maeda,
better known as Conde Koma, was an expert both in the Japanese
free fighting styles and in catch wrestling, a submission wrestling
art from Europe. He wound up in Brazil and met Gastao Gracie,
who hired Maeda to teach his techniques to his oldest son, Carlos.
At the time, similar to the U.S. as late as the early 1990s,
most Brazilians believed boxing was the ultimate in fighting.
Carlos
taught his brothers what he’d learned. The youngest, Helio,
a frail teenager, would observe and constantly think of new wrinkles.
At about 155 pounds, Helio became the unlikely fighting star
of the family a few years later. By the 1930s, judo was more
about using leverage and technique for a smaller man to throw
a bigger man to the ground. Jiu-jitsu was more about using submissions
to finish a man once he got to the ground.
In
many ways, Helio was very much like his son Royce, the first
UFC star. His fame came because he was skinny and by the looks
of him, nobody would think he was a fighter. But because of his
understanding of what a real fight was, he could overcome people
who didn’t have that knowledge.
Just
as Royce was like Helio, Rorion is similar to Carlos. Rorion,
one of the original founders of the UFC in 1993, had his skinny
younger brother Royce fight far more physically imposing men
billed as world champions from other sports, and when his brother
would win, it would push the family’s business of teaching
their techniques.
One
could argue the origin of a modern mixed martial arts dates back
to Jan. 16, 1932 in Rio de Janeiro, promoted by Carlos, who billed
his new sport “Lutas Mistas,” which translated, means
“Mixed Fight.” They fought in a boxing ring, and the
competitors wore four-ounce boxing gloves, fascinating because
it was a few years after UFC started in the U.S. before similar
gloves became the norm.
“Since
the type of event was controversial, the authorities didn’t
like it,” noted Valente, who has a scrapbook filled with
the newspaper clippings covering the fight. “Carlos organized
and promoted it, and it was only allowed to happen because he
said he would donate the proceeds to the Brazilian Olympic athletes
to help pay for them to attend the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles.
That’s how the event was saved.”
The
event, pushed as Omori (a jiu-jitsu fighter) vs. Crespo (a boxer),
was on a show filled with similar matchups. Helio, who was 19,
fought in a preliminary fight against boxer Antonio Portugal.
Helio took him down immediately and submitted him with an armbar
in less than one minute. Helio came out of the first show as
its biggest star, the skinny teenager who finished the boxer
in seconds.
Helio Gracie became a legend during the early days of mixed martial
arts in Brazil.
Helio
had a number of big fights between 1932 and 1938, always against
much larger men coming from other sports brought in from foreign
countries billed as legitimate world wrestling champions, always
giving up substantial size. He won some, and went to time-limit
draws in others, but never lost.
Probably
the most famous of his wins came against Dudu, billed as a Brazilian
giant, in 1935. In the first move of the fight, Helio threw a
kick to the face, almost identical to the kicks thrown by Lyoto
Machida to Randy Couture, and Anderson Silva to Vitor Belfort
earlier this year. Dudu then spit out two teeth. The fighters
were not wearing mouthguards. They ended up going 19 minutes
in of one of the most violent fights of the era, ending when
Gracie faked another kick to the face, but instead kicked the
body, breaking two of Dudu’s ribs.
Even
while Helio Gracie was widely respected and revered, his sport
was not. From the start, the media felt it should be banned,
and a few years later it was.
Helio
had a second heyday, coinciding with pro wrestling becoming big
in the country. Masahiko Kimura, considered by many as the Babe
Ruth of judo in Japan, the world champion who never lost in his
sport since 1935, had been recruited and taught pro wrestling
in Hawaii, and became a big drawing card. A newspaper in Brazil
brought him and other judo champions in to start a pro wrestling
promotion in 1951. The group became big in Rio de Janeiro, where
Helio, 37 at this point, was teaching and was still a local sports
hero remembered for his fights in the 1930s.
Gracie
vs. Kimura was held at Maracanazinho Stadium and was a huge event
at the time, drawing politicians, national media coverage and
about 20,000 fans.
“Helio
was so revered,” Peligro said. “He was truly a national
hero back then. All the politicians wanted to train with him
and knew him, presidents, ministers, he was a national figure
of the largest scale.”
Kimura,
who was bigger and more powerful, threw Gracie around for much
of the match. Eventually he caught him in a hammerlock, a move,
because of this match, that is called the Kimura in MMA. Gracie
refused to tap, even though his tendons were ripping.
“I
thought he would surrender immediately, but Helio would not tap
the mat,” wrote Kimura in his autobiography. “I had
no choice but to keep twisting the arm. The stadium became quiet.
The bone of his arm was coming close to the breaking point. Finally,
the sound of bone breaking echoed throughout the stadium. Helio
still would not surrender. His left arm was powerless. “Under
this rule, I had no choice but to twist the arm again. There
was plenty of time left. I twisted the left arm again. Another
bone was broken. Helio still did not tap. When I tried to twist
the arm once more, a white towel was thrown in.”
Helio
became a bigger legend in losing.
“People
thought Kimura was a world sports superstar,” said Peligro.
“He let his arm be broken and wouldn’t tap. People
saw him as a brave man.”
Helio’s
last famous match came on May 24, 1955, not at a soccer stadium
with thousands of fans, but inside the ACM, basically a Brazilian
version of a YMCA gym. He was 41, and faced arguably his toughest
student, Waldemar Santana. Santana was at least 40 pounds heavier
and a great athlete to boot. Santana had become a pro wrestling
star and Helio hated the sport because it was fake. Helio fired
him from the academy and Santana, bitter, started attacking Helio
in the newspapers.
This
was a private challenge match, behind closed doors, with only
a few friends and the press invited. The day of the fight, Gracie
was sick with the flu, and was told to postpone the fight for
a few weeks. But he would only push it back a day or two. Santana
knocked Gracie out with a kick to the head in a fight that lasted
three hours and 45 minutes.
This
loss was devastating to the family. Students left the Gracie
Academy for a school Santana set up. Carlson, who had been Santana’s
close friend, was chosen by the family to exact revenge. Santana
became an even bigger star from pro wrestling and knocking out
Helio. The broad interest from this closed-door match enabled
organizers to get vale tudo fights legalized. This led to a series
of fights between Carlson and Santana.
The
first and most famous took place on Aug. 3, 1956 at Maracanazinho
Stadium before 40,000 fans. Carlson weighed 158 pounds and Santana
weighed 195 pounds. It ended at 39 minutes when Santana’s
corner threw in the towel. They fought several other times, either
with Carlson winning or ending in time-limit draws.
Valente
remembered being at one fight at a soccer stadium with the canvas
on the grass. They fought way off the canvas. There was a dry
moat about six feet wide and six feet deep around the perimeter
of the field. The two fell into it. They continued fighting until
officials pulled them both out. Then they started once again.
“If
it were not for me, after I beat Waldemar Santana, the Gracies
would be selling bananas in public market,” said Carlson
Gracie before his death in an interview with Full Contact Fighter.
Royce Gracie won the first UFC tournament in 1993, but the Brazilian
media ignored him.
Carlson
became a well-known fighting star in Brazil, although he was
never the national sports hero Helio was. Arguably the mainstream
peak of the sport was from 1960-1962, when Carlson and Helio
hosted a show called “Heroes of the Ring,” which aired
live vale tudo fights. The boom ended quickly after a fight with
Joel Alberto Barreto against Vinagre which saw a television close-up
of an armlock that led to Vinagre’s bone sticking through
the skin in a compound fracture.
The
sport once again was banned in Rio de Janeiro and didn’t
come back until 1975 when Kung Fu and Karate had become popular
based on Bruce Lee movies. Every few years there would be events,
usually based on rivalries between the jiu-jitsu and luta livre
factions. In 1993, when Royce Gracie won the first UFC tournament,
the Brazilian media didn’t even cover it. With 63 years
of knowledge of what happens when you put a Brazilian jiu-jitsu
fighter against an opponent unfamiliar with the art, Brazilians
had come to expect that outcome.
In
1997, as the Brazilian jiu-jitsu vs. luta livre rivalry reached
its boiling point, a show was held in a small gym between Renzo
Gracie and Eugenio Tadeu. At the 14:45 mark, the lights went
out, a full scale riot broke out and gunshots were fired. At
the time, Brazilian jiu-jitsu was getting a bad reputation because
there were constant street fights that made the newspapers. Once
again the sport was banned in Rio de Janeiro. But this time,
the forces against vale tudo had a surprising ally – Helio
Gracie.
Helio,
83 at the time, was quoted saying it had got out of hand. He
also lost interest in UFC when they added more rules and most
importantly, added judges, which he was dead set against, and
implemented time limits. Plus, in his mind, there was no longer
a need for these fights. That’s the reason that in 1998,
when UFC came to Brazil for the first time with a show headlined
by Frank Shamrock vs. John Lober and Vitor Belfort vs. Wanderlei
Silva, it was held in Sao Paolo, not Rio de Janeiro.
In
the last few years, there has been a major resurgence of interest.
The biggest reason was UFC becoming strong on television, combined
with the success of Brazilian fighters, Belfort in particular.
“Vitor
has been in the limelight in Brazil for a long time,” said
Peligro. “He fought in UFC Brazil when he knocked out Wanderlei.
He’s been a star. He married a star (a famous Brazilian
model/actress). He’s very popular from his fighting, but
he’s very charismatic and good looking. Anderson (Silva)
has been around almost as long and has had a good career, but
he’s never been as exposed as Vitor. When Vitor was fighting
in the UFC way back when, he was everywhere. He was on all the
big talk shows, so he became a big deal.”
The
Anderson Silva vs. Belfort fight in February was a huge breakthrough
as well, as it was promoted in Brazil as “The Fight of the
Century,” garnering far more interest in Brazil than any
UFC event ever had. But even as late as last year, Brazil was
not even on the UFC’s radar, figuring it was not economically
worth going there. Once Brazil got the
2016
Olympics, everything changed and the event was scheduled.
Valente
was actually the first pick to referee the first UFC show in
1993, but turned it down because he was the Secretary of Health
in the Rio de Janeiro government and his superiors felt that
type of event was something he should not participate in. After
following the sport for seven decades, he sees the publicity
as the show is a week away and notes it’s nothing like anything
he’s ever seen before.
“Heavy
promoted, TV, newspapers, everywhere,” he said.
As
far as how that compares to the ’50s and the big show at
the soccer stadiums?
“It’s
very difficult to compare because of technology, this has radio,
TV, all the papers,” he said. “The media is completely
different. But at that time, in Master Helio’s day, it was
also very big.”
Source:
Yahoo Sports
|
Fighters
could benefit most from Fox deal
Dana
White was the biggest winner Thursday when he fulfilled a long-time
dream by signing a deal with Fox to put live UFC events on network
television. Fox reportedly is paying the UFC an annual license
fee of approximately $100 million for the right to air four live
fights per year as well as to put a slew of programming on its
cable channels, FX, Fuel and Fox Sports Deportes.
Fox
will benefit by attracting the highly desirable 18-to-34-year-old
male demographic, which the UFC rules and advertisers crave.
And fans will benefit by the increase of exposure for the sport.
No
one, though, will benefit more than those who have turned the
sport into what it is: its fighters.
UFC
fighters like Chael Sonnen might not see their salaries immediately
increase, but they could benefit from sponsorship opportunities.
UFC.com
“Fox
is a bigger stage than Spike, a bigger stage than Versus, a bigger
stage than any outlet the UFC has,” said former UFC fighter
Frank Trigg, a broadcaster who once hosted an MMA magazine show
on Fox’s regional sports cable channels.
“Fox
is the No. 1 network in the United States and this is a huge
deal for the fights to be live in prime time. This is mainstream
coverage and it’s going to reach an infinitely larger audience
than they’ve ever reached. It’s what is going to propel
them over the top and that is going to make the fighters major
stars.”
The
UFC will rake in nearly $750 million over the seven-year lifetime
of the exclusive deal it signed with Fox, which should lead to
an increase in fighter pay. But the visibility the fighters will
receive on Fox will lead to far more lucrative endorsement contracts,
as well as open other business opportunities for them.
Fox
has been known for the great job it does cross-promoting its
programming during sports broadcasts, and it would be no shock
to see UFC fighters appearing on popular Fox shows such as American
Idol.
“This
is huge for everybody in the sport and I think it’s going
to create a lot of opportunities for, maybe not all fighters,
but for a lot of fighters, it’s going to open a lot of different
opportunities,” said Mike Roberts, the COO of MMA Inc.,
which manages UFC fighters such as Chael Sonnen and Urijah Faber.
“The endorsement opportunities and the sponsorship money
will go up for most of the fighters. I hope [salaries] do [increase]
in the UFC, but I’m not sure they will, at least not right
away.
“Right
away, it’s not going to be a huge difference, but long-term,
it’s going to be huge. It’s going to happen quickly,
but it’s not going to be instantaneous, but as these fighters
get out there and get promoted and fight on Fox, they’re
going to become household names very quickly.”
White
has always scoffed at the notion that the UFC has hit the mainstream.
Very few newspapers in the U.S. report regularly on the UFC or
run the results of its shows in the agate section. UFC news is
generally not included on the local news. FoxSports.com doesn’t
have a full-time MMA writer on staff.
That
will change over time as the events are broadcast and as the
network lends its credibility to the sport. This is the same
network that broadcasts the Super Bowl and the World Series paying
just about three-quarters of a billion dollars to broadcast cage
fighting.
“This
isn’t the end, because we still have a lot of work to do,”
White said. “Millions of people have never seen the UFC.
That’s hard for guys like you and me to believe, because
we exist in this tiny bubble, but not only is the UFC not mainstream
yet, it’s not even close. This is an opportunity for us
to take it to that next level.
“This
is another platform and a way we can let people know that these
are the greatest athletes in the world and that this is the greatest
sport in the world. I always say that once you see your first
live fight, you’re hooked, but I think just getting this
out to as many people as we’re going to be able to reach
as a result of this deal can’t be overstated.”
It’s
not MMA’s first foray onto network television – Elite
XC had a deal with CBS in 2008 and Strikeforce bought that contract
when Elite XC went out – but Trigg said they don’t
compare.
The
UFC on Fox, Trigg said, is the major leagues of MMA on the largest
network in the country.
“Everything
is better in the UFC than those other leagues, the production
value, the fighters, everything,” Trigg said. “If you
look at the Top 10 rankings, 85 percent of all of the top fighters
are fighting in the UFC.
“It’s
like in football. You can put the Arena [Football] League on
CBS or the European league but it’s still minor league football.
It doesn’t register because it’s not the highest level.
But the UFC is the highest level and you’re putting that
on the No. 1 network. If I were a UFC guy starting my career
now, I’d be a very, very happy guy.”
Source:
Yahoo Sports
|
UFC
Vet Vladimar Matyushenko Wants Third Fight With Rogerio Nogueira,
Return Expected by Year’s End
Vladimir
“The Janitor” Matyushenko (26-5) is well on his way
to healing up after sustaining an injury prior to his UFC 133
bout with Alexander Gustafsson.
According
to Matyushenko’s management, the light heavyweight is expected
to fight before the end of 2011. Who the Belarusian fighter will
face is still up in the air, but a desire to have a third match-up
with Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (19-5) lingers as unfinished business.
“We
always wanted Rogerio Nogueira,” MMAWeekly.com learned from
Nima Safapour, a member of Matyushenko’s management team
at Alchemist Management. “It’s a fight that makes sense
for both guys.”
Mayushenko
and Nogueira have met each other twice before. The first meeting
was in Japan back in 2002, where the two went the distance and
Matyushenko got the nod by unanimous decision. Seven years later,
the two met again, this time on American soil at Affliction:
Day of Reckoning in January of 2009. Nogueira got his payback
and won the fight via knockout in the latter moments of the second
round.
A
third match-up between the 205-pounders seems like fight that
makes sense, according to Matyushenko’s management. In fact,
they think it’s a great idea and they’d like to see
it happen soon.
It’s
Matyushenko’s goal to fight for a championship, and not
only is fighting “Lil’ Nog” a step in that direction,
but it will close a chapter in his career that opened nearly
a decade ago.
The
end of the saga needs to happen.
“First
of all about Vladimir Matyushenko, his goal is the championship,
but he also wants great fights,” Safapour explained. “He
fought Rogerio and beat him decisively in their first bout. And
despite the fact he beat him decisively, he granted him a rematch
and Rogerio won the rematch fair and square with Vladimir having
a very, very serious injury. So, we want to fight the final chapter
to that story.”
Both
Nogueira and Matyushenko were scheduled to compete on the UFC
133 fight card that took place recently in Philadelphia. Unfortunately,
both were injured prior to the evening of fights and unable to
compete. As both fighters recover from the injuries holding them
out of the Octagon, one has to wonder if a third duel between
the two will happen in the near future.
If
Matyushenko has it his way, he’ll get his chance to bring
an end to his Nogueira trilogy before the calendar turns to 2012.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Paulo
Thiago feels “no pressure” heading to UFC Rio
Paulo
Thiago will represent Cruzeiro (Brazilian sports club) in UFC
Rio, when he fights David Mitchell, and he doesn’t feel
pressured by the fact he’s coming from losses. It’s
just the opposite: the thrill of fighting on his own country,
on August 27th, is only been helping the fighter who fights out
of Brasilia.
“I’m
cool, I’m feeling motivated to be fighting at home. I want
to go for the win now because I’m coming from a loss, but
I’m under no pressure”, guarantees the fighter, on
an exclusive interview with TATAME TV, revealing he got some
days off BOPE. “I’m not working right now, I’m
ministering a class, so it’s not that hard to train. Until
I’m done with the classes, I’m cool”.
Check
below the exclusive chat with the welterweight talent.
Are
you good to go?
I’m
fine. I’m just recovering now, ready for my next challenge.
How
is your final phase of the trainings going?
It’s
pretty intense now, it’s the final part of the trainings,
but that’s it. Then we’ll start to slow it down. I’m
feeling better each day, and when the day comes I’ll be
ready to go for it and bring the win home.
16
thousand people will be there cheering for you. How does it feel
to fight in UFC in Brazil?
I
really wanted to be part of this card. When they announced there
would be an edition of UFC in Brazil, I really wanted it. It’s
like a soccer player hopes to be called in to fight on Brazilian
professional soccer team. I was really hoping I got this opportunity
and, thanks’ God, UFC has given it to me. I’ll be fighting
in Brazil and I’m really thankful for that. I’m doing
my best to represent Brazil well and bring the win home.
Are
you under pressure, since you’re fighting at home and you’re
coming from losses?
I’m
cool, I’m feeling motivated to be fighting at home. I want
to go for the win now because I’m coming from a loss, but
I’m under no pressure. I’m really motivated.
Have
you been released from the squad so you could train for this
fight?
I’m
still working on BOPE, but I’m not working right now, I’m
ministering a class, which’s called “body to body”,
so I’m teaching more than anything now and that makes it
easier for me to train. Until I’m done with the classes,
I’m cool because I’m training my techniques when I’m
over there.
What
did you focused your training in?
I’ve
trained it all, like I always do. I trained striking, I trained
the ground game, but I guess my conditioning trainings were a
lot harder this time because we really focused on it, since I
got tired on some of my last fights. We might have been mistaken
on my recovery, or we might have been mistaken in some tactical
matter, so many things might have been played an important role,
so we focused a lot on my physical trainings so I can get there
and don’t lack it.
So,
are you saying you’re in your best shape ever?
I
guess so. I guess I did my best prep ever and I’m sure I’m
really prepared for it.
Source:
Tatame
|
Langhi
comments on latest challenge
Michael
Langhi has packed his bags for Florida, where he will open a
new academy, as GRACIEMAG.com readers already know. In the following
interview the black belt comments on his hopes in his career
as a teacher and addresses talk following his first loss after
three years undefeated: “I’m not retired.”
Here’s
what he had to say:
Why
move to the USA?
Here
in Brazil we know that that’s the best move for the future.
We aren’t worth what we would be teaching abroad, where
we are more appreciated. So I’ve had this idea in my head
for a while now. I’ve been mulling it over with [Rubens]
Cobrinha and decided to accept a good offer I was made. I’ll
get to teach what I know.
Where
will competitions fit into this new routine of yours?
I’m
not going to stop competing. I read some comments about that
on GRACIEMAG.com. There comes a time in an athlete’s life
where he has to change paths a bit. Now I’ll get to work
on my new academy, but I’m going to continue competing at
events like the Pan and the Worlds. Unfortunately, I won’t
be able to participate in some others, like the European Open,
but I’m going to be competing to win. I’m not retiring,
nothing of the sort. I’m just thinking about my future and
I’m still going to be taking everyone on.
But
how will you be able to keep up the quality of training you’re
used to, have you thought about that?
I’m
only going to be an hour’s plane ride from Atlanta, where
there are lots of tough training partners. I’ll be a two-hour
flight from New York, where Lucas Lepri is. I’ve also worked
it out so I’ll be able to go to Brazil to finish up training
prior to the Pan and the Worlds. Of course I won’t have
the level of training I have here, but that doesn’t mean
it’s a determining factor. Cobrinha left Brazil with one
world title and won another four while living abroad. Marcelo
Garcia left here with two titles and won another four while abroad.
I know what I have to do and will always be able to rely on friends
like my brother [Michael Langhi], Bruno Malfacine, Gabriel Gulart.
Every two months someone will come stay with me.
Will
you be in any other competitions this year? Will you be at the
ADCC?
Marcelo
is in my division at the ADCC and they don’t invite two
athletes from the same academy and weight group. Marcelo to me
is the best No-Gi athlete in the world, so I know the academy
will be well represented. I fly out the last week of September
and in late October there’s the Miami Open, who I’ll
compete at to motivate the guys at the academy. We’ll see
if compete at the No-Gi Worlds, but I’ll be at the Miami
Open for sure.
What
challenges do you think await you as a teacher?
I
try to be at my best in whatever I do. It’s what I love
doing. I’ve been a black belt for four years, competing
at all the tournaments and going three years without losing.
In the Jiu-Jitsu of today, I feel that’s a great achievement.
It’ll be the same thing as a teacher, I want to be the best
I can be. I know this year I didn’t perform that well, but
even so I had good results. I won the Pan and Euro, beat Durinho
in the World Pro qualifiers, made it to the podium at the Brazilian
Nationals and the Worlds, where I lost to Kron Gracie but feel
I deserved to win. I’m going to keep giving my all.
Source:
Gracie Magazine
|
Will
Chad Mendes Get the Winner of Jose Aldo vs. Kenny Florian?
As
UFC 138 draws closer and the featherweight title fight between
champion Jose Aldo and challenger Kenny Florian gets ready to
take place, the UFC still hasn’t determined without a doubt
who the next contender is.
The
most obvious choice is the No. 2 ranked featherweight in the
world, Chad Mendes, who picked up his 11th win at UFC 133 with
a unanimous decision victory over Rani Yahya.
Still
there seems to be some question if Mendes will get the next shot
despite his standing in the division and his flawless record.
UFC
president Dana White hasn’t committed to Mendes being the
next challenger for the winner of Aldo vs. Florian, but that
doesn’t mean he’s not still at the top of everybody’s
list for contenders.
“I
think Mendes was the guy who was in line and probably deserved
it most,” said former WEC featherweight champion Mike Brown
when talking about the 145-pound title picture.
A
matter of timing led to Mendes taking his fight at UFC 133 after
originally being rumored to face Aldo on that card. An injury
pushed Aldo out of an August fight, but Mendes decided to stay
busy and took a bout on the show anyway.
Most
have considered Mendes the top contender in the division since
his win over former Dream and Sengoku veteran Michihiro Omigawa
earlier this year.
“Chad
Mendes is pure determination. From his work ethic to his confidence
in hitting exciting moves in battle, he keeps upping his toolbox
and that is why he is the best around, and like me, undefeated,”
said UFC middleweight contender Chael Sonnen when asked who he
considered the top contender in the division. (Editor’s
Note: Sonnen’s record actually sits at 25-11-1, for those
keeping track.)
The
former college wrestler suffered a slight hand injury in his
fight at UFC 133 against Yahya, but x-rays following the bout
revealed only a sprain and nothing broken.
A
few weeks of rest and recovery and Mendes will be back in the
gym preparing for his next bout. The only question at this point
remains will it be a title fight against the winner of Jose Aldo
and Kenny Florian?
“Chad
Mendes has all the tools of becoming a champion,” UFC middleweight
Mark Munoz told MMAWeekly.com. “His work ethic and mentality
of success will get him to the top.”
Stylistically,
Mendes would appear to create the most problems for a fighter
like Aldo. A collegiate wrestler and NCAA All-American, Mendes
has shown to have tremendous takedowns and has dominated his
way to 11 wins in as many tries.
The
only other viable candidate that appears on the radar for the
featherweight title picture is Japanese transport Hatsu Hioki,
who makes his Octagon debut at UFC 137 in October against George
Roop.
Hioki
has won his last four fights in a row and nine out of his last
10. The only problem is Hioki will be seen for the first time
by many fans in the United States when he makes his debut in
October, while Mendes has been in several big fights in both
the WEC and UFC since moving there earlier this year.
Mendes’
coach and close friend Urijah Faber believes that his fighter
is already the top contender for the belt, even if Kenny Florian
is the one challenging for the belt in October.
“Chad
Mendes is one of the only fighters in the world to have never
really been pushed or really challenged by his opponents,”
Faber told MMAWeekly.com. “I believe that he has the best
takedown in MMA and at 11-0 is relatively new to the sport, and
already at the top.”
Mendes
has spent more time competing under the Zuffa umbrella than he
did outside of their shark infested waters. He debuted with five
fights to his record and has since amassed a 6-0 record between
the WEC and the UFC.
Always
happy to play by the rules and fight whomever the UFC tells him,
Mendes is ready for the challenge of fighting for the featherweight
strap. If it takes asking for a title shot to get it, Mendes
is making that request.
“In
my mind, I am the best featherweight in the world. Kenny Florian
is not the No. 1 contender, I am,” Mendes said. “I
chose not to wait and I’m happy with that decision. I want
the winner. Whoever wins, I’ll be waiting for (him).”
Mendes
plans on being front and center for UFC 136 in Houston when Aldo
faces Florian for the featherweight title. It’s unknown
at this time if Dana White will make the call for him to be named
the No. 1 contender by then or not.
While
there are definitely a lot of great featherweights currently
vying for a top spot in the UFC’s 145-pound title race,
it’s hard to deny that Chad Mendes has earned his place
as the next in line.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Maldonado
ready for Rosa: “I still haven’t show how good my Boxing
is”
Fabio
Maldonado showed his sharpen striking skills in two fights in
UFC, knocking out his first opponent and making the best fight
of the night later. But he’s still unsatisfied. “I’ve
never shown in a fight how good my Boxing is, I still haven’t
show you my Boxing game”, guarantees the athlete. Called
in to return in UFC on Versus 6, on October 1st, against Aaron
Rosa, Maldonado talked to TATAME about his trainings, his expectations
for the fight, the pressure he’s under since he’s coming
from a loss and a lot more. Check it:
What
do you think of Aaron Rosa?
I
guess he’s a good opponent... He’s not a top guy, he
goes up and down, but he’s a good opponent. He’s defeated
Jefferson Tanque, Abe Wagner, who later knocked out Tim Sylvia
in 32 seconds, but is coming from a loss… It’s that
old story: each fight is different, so let’s respect it.
Do
you think he’ll want to stand against you?
I
don’t think so... I guess he’ll try to find some space
and take me down.
So,
are you focusing you trainings on takedown defenses?
Of
course, but, besides that, I’ll focus in my Boxing, do more
Boxing sparrings. I’ve never shown in a fight how good my
Boxing is, I still haven’t show you my Boxing game, and
I’m gonna fight it lower this time. Even training much takedowns,
I like to have a straight fight, so it may be hard on his to
take me down. I’ll try to get in there lowered, what can
make me more vulnerable to be hit by his knees, but it’s
harder for him to take me down.
Are
you under much pressure since you’re coming from a loss?
A
little, but we’re all under pressure in life. Of course
there’s some pressure in my shoulders because I lost and
I need to win to remain here (in UFC), but each fight brings
you a particular pressure with it. There’s always the chance
you might get beaten down. When I was hired by UFC, I could be
defeated in my first fight and be fired, so we’re always
under pressure. But I won’t think about it.
Where
are you doing your preparation at?
Until
after UFC Rio I’ll be going from Rio to Sao Paulo a lot,
but on the 27th (of August) I’ll talk to Thiago Tavares
and my coaches and I’ll see what I’ll do. I’ll
try to spend the last days of August in Rio, and then I’ll
see where I’ll train at. Rio, absolutely, is the most complete
place to train MMA, but there’s a lack of Boxing sparrings
too, and in Sao Paulo there’re many bodies. You can train
Wrestling, Jiu-Jitsu, Boxing and everything in Sao Paulo, but
the traffic is pretty bad, so you gott pick one neighborhood
where you can do everything. But it’s likely I stay in Sao
Paulo for this fight.
Source:
Tatame
|
Brazilian
numbers in UFC history
After
nearly 13 years, the Ultimate Fighting Championship will be returning
to Brazil, the homeland of its founder, Rorion Gracie, and countless
athletes who helped build the organization’s history. With
its return date approaching, the UFC released statistics on the
Brazilians who have taken part throughout the almost 18 years
of the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
For
example, Murilo Bustamante is the first Brazilian champion of
the promotion, once the title was accompanied by a belt. Royce
Gracie is the one with the most submission wins, Belfort has
the most knockouts, and Anderson Silva the winningest, while
Wanderlei Silva holds the most losses.
Read
on for more:
Brazilian
UFC champions
1.
Murilo Bustamante
2. Vitor Belfort
3. Anderson Silva
4. “Minotauro” Nogueira
5. Lyoto Machida
6. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua
7. Jose Aldo
The
"Spider" has been in nine title fights. Publicity photo.
Brazilians
in UFC title fights
1. Patino vs Pat Miletich – UFC 18
2. André Pederneiras vs Pat Miletich – UFC 21
3. Wanderlei Silva vs Tito Ortiz – UFC 25
4. Rizzo vs Kevin Randleman – UFC 26
5. Rizzo vs Randy Couture I – UFC 31
6. Rizzo vs Randy Couture II – UFC 34
7. Bustamante vs Dave Menne – UFC 35
8. Bustamante vs Matt Lindland – UFC 37
9. Belfort vs Randy Couture II – UFC 4610
10. Belfort vs Randy Couture III – UFC 49
11. “Babalú” vs Chuck Liddell II – UFC
62
12. Anderson vs Rich Franklin I – UFC 64
13. Franca vs Sean Sherk – UFC 73
14. Anderson vs Nate Marquardt – UFC 73
15. “Napão” vs Randy Couture – UFC 74
16. Anderson vs Rich Franklin II – UFC 77
17. “Minotauro” vs Tim Sylvia – UFC 81
18. Anderson vs Dan Henderson – UFC 82
19. Anderson vs Patrick Cote – UFC 90
20. “Minotauro” vs Frank Mir – UFC 92
21. Anderson vs Thales Leites – UFC 97
22. Lyoto vs Rashad Evans – UFC 98
23. “Pitbull” vs Georges St-Pierre – UFC 100
24. Lyoto vs “Shogun” – UFC 104
25. Anderson vs Demian Maia – UFC 112
26. Lyoto vs “Shogun” II – UFC 113
27. Anderson vs Sonnen – UFC 117
28. Anderson vs Belfort – UFC 126
29. “Shogun” vs Jon Jones – UFC 128
30. Aldo vs Hominick – UFC 129
Wand
is the Brazilian with the most losses. Photo: Josh Hedges.
Most
wins
1. Anderson Silva 13
2. Royce Gracie 11
3. Thiago Alves 10
4. Vitor Belfort, Lyoto Machida, Pedro Rizzo, Gleison Tibau 9
5. Demian Maia 8
Most
losses
1. Wanderlei Silva 6
2. Thiago Alves, Vitor Belfort, Ricardo Almeida, Gabriel Gonzaga,
Pedro Rizzo, Hermes Franca, Gleison Tibau 5
3. Renato Sobral, Fabiano Iha, Jorge Gurgel, Wilson Gouveia 4
Most
knockouts
1. Vitor Belfort 9
2. Anderson Silva 8
3. Thiago Alves 7
4. Pedro Rizzo 6
5. Gabriel Gonzaga 5
Demian
is one of the Brazilians with the most tapouts. Photo: Josh Hedges.
Most
tapouts
1. Royce Gracie 11
2. Demian Maia, Wilson Gouveia 5
3. Renato Sobral 4
4. Anderson Silva 3
First
Brazilian UFC champion
Royce Gracie – UFC 1
The
Ultimate Fighter who went on to the UFC
Jorge Gurgel (TUF2)
Thales Leites (TUF 4)
Vinicius Magalhaes (TUF8)
Shogun
in one of his fights against Lyoto. Photo: Josh Hedges
Brazil
vs Brazil
1. Tulio Palhares vs Adriano Santos – Ultimate Brazil
2. Cesar Marsucci vs Paulo Santos – Ultimate Brazil
3. Gabriel Gonzaga vs Fabiano Scherner – UFC 60
4. Diego Saraiva vs Jorge Gurgel – UFC 73
5. Gabriel Gonzaga vs Fabricio Werdum – UFC 80
6. Thiago Silva vs Antonio Mendes – UFC 84
7. Hermes Franca vs Marcus Aurelio – UFC 90
8. Fabricio Werdum vs Junior Dos Santos – UFC 90
9. Lyoto Machida vs Thiago Silva – UFC 94
10. Anderson Silva vs Thales Leites – UFC 97*
11. Lyoto Machida vs Mauricio Rua – UFC 104*
12. Rousimar Palhares vs Lucio Linhares – UFC 107
13. Junior Dos Santos vs Gabriel Gonzaga – UFC on VERSUS
14. Anderson Silva vs Demian Maia – UFC 112*
15. Lyoto Machida vs Mauricio Rua II – UFC 113*
16. Demian Maia vs Mario Miranda – UFC 118
17. Anderson Silva vs Vitor Belfort – UFC 126*
18. Gleison Tibau vs Rafaello Oliveira – UFC 130
*
Title fight
Undefeated
in the UFC
Anderson Silva 11-0
Junior Dos Santos 7-0
Tulio Palhares 1-0
Ebenezer Fontes Braga 1-0
Marcello Mello 1-0
Cesar Marsucci 1-0
Rafael Carino 1-0
Edson Barboza 2-0
Maiquel Falcao 1-0
Jose Aldo 1-0
Renan Barao 1-0
Ronny Markes 1-0
Recorde
dos brasileiros em estréias
37-58-1, 1 NC
Source:
Gracie Magazine
|
Curran
knocks out Marlon, Renê Nararé still undefeated
Marlon
Sandro started out well in the Bellator featherweight GP final
against Pat Curran. The aggressor for much of the fight, but
met with a kick to the head that abruptly ended the action, dropping
an unconscious Sandro to the canvas, where Curran followed up
with three more strikes before te referee stepped in.
Now
black belt Renê Nazaré showed his boxing is up to
speed. The Brazilian had a good showing in the first round that
continued in to second, cornering Juan Barrantes and tagging
him with strikes. Landing a takedown, he worked the ground and
pound and tried for a guillotine, but it was his merciless use
of the elbow that had the greatest effect, as manifest in the
battered state of the Costa Rican’s eye. Following a doctor’s
check, Barrantes was barred from returning to action. The win
is the tenth in the Brazilian’s undefeated career.
In
the all ex-UFC figher matchup, Seth Petruzelli got the better
of Ricco Rodrigues, landing a lethal uppercut and following up
with hammer strikes on the ground for the win over the former
UFC champion.
Complete
results:
Bellator
48
Connecticut, United States
August 20, 2011
Pat
Curran defeated Marlon Sandro via TKO in R2;
Cole Konrad defeated Paul Buentello via unanimous decision;
Seth Petruzelli defeated Ricco Rodriguez via TKO in R1;
Renê Nazaré defeated Juan Barrantes via doctor’s
intervention in R2;
Nik Fekete defeated Mark Griffin via TKO in R2;
Saul Almeida defeated Tateki Matsuda via unanimous decision;
Jeff Nader defeated Dan Cramer via TKO in R3;
Ryan Quinn submitted Brett Oteri via guillotine in R1;
Andrew Calandrelli submitted Matt Nice in R1.
Source:
Gracie Magazine
|
Josh
Neer Working His Way Back Into the Spotlight, Headlines SCC 2
With
victories in five of his last six fights, including his current
three-fight winning streak, former UFC fighter Josh Neer has
gotten back on track after a rough 2009 in which he had difficulties
both inside and outside the cage.
As
Neer told MMAWeekly.com, his resurgence can be credited to work
dedicated to eliminating bad tactical habits from his fight game.
“I’ve
been working on my foot movement and stuff like that,” he
said. “I had a problem with a lot of guys; I chase them
and that’s why I get taken down. I’ve really been working
on not chasing people, and cutting them off at the right angle
and working my takedown defense, too.
“The
last guy I fought (Jesse Juarez) was an NAIA National Champion
(in wrestling), and he couldn’t take me down. So I feel
like my takedown defense has improved a lot.”
Improved
ground defense could be a big key in Neer’s upcoming bout
with former WEC fighter Blas Avena at Superior Cage Combat 2
at the Orleans Casino in Las Vegas on Saturday night.
“I
think his game plan is to try to take me down and submit me;
I’m looking to stand up and knock him out,” said Neer.
“If he takes me down, I’ll try to submit him; if not,
I’ll try to get back up – same as always.
“I
don’t really think he’s ever won a fight past the first
round, so I’ll have to be ready in that first round and
maybe survive a couple of submission attempts. I think as the
fight goes on, I’ll be able to wear him down and finish
him.”
With
over 40 fights in nine years of fighting, there’s not much
that Neer hasn’t seen, but still, he understands he needs
to continue to grow and not rest on his laurels if he wants to
prolong his recent success.
“I’ve
got to stay the course, but I’ve got to tweak things,”
he said. “I feel like I’m pretty good at every area,
but I feel I could be great at every area. I’m just trying
to get better at everything, really.
“With
the guys that are coming up now, you can’t just rely on
what you did in the past. You’ve got to get better every
day and try to learn new tricks every day. I’m definitely
trying to improve.”
While
some people may know him more for his troubles in the past, Neer
is working hard to change their impressions of him and make the
most of his remaining time in MMA, starting with Saturday’s
event at The Orleans.
“I
think that SCC is going to put on a great show,” Neer said
in closing. “Their first show went really well, and they’re
treating the fighters really well, so come out and support everyone.”
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
UFC
Vet John Gunderson Looking to Bounce Back at SCC 2 on Saturday
Night
After
the rollercoaster ride of alternating wins and losses in his
last six fights, former UFC lightweight John “Quick Guns”
Gunderson is looking for a little stability.
In
particular, Gunderson’s loss to Dominique Robinson in February
was particularly painful.
“I
shouldn’t have even shown up, I was so sick,” he said
to MMAWeekly.com. “I had strep throat and shouldn’t
have been there, but I’m one of those guys who shows up
when I sign to fight.
“We
had a little history where leading up to the fight where I was
a little upset and took it personal; and you can’t do that
against an athlete like the kid I last fought – of course
you’re going to lose. In my next fight, I’m going to
show up 100-percent and when I do that, my chances of winning
are real high.”
Gunderson
acknowledges a night and day-like level of performance of when
he’s 100-percent versus not.
“I’ve
just really focused on being healthy,” he said. “I’ve
just had so many fights and so many injuries. Where the injuries
come is training for the fights. I can’t take fights on
short notice. The only place that you should do that for is the
UFC.
“I’ve
got enough experience and enough of a skillset that I’m
a hard fight for anybody when I’m healthy.”
To
further his turnaround and to help prepare for his upcoming fight
at Superior Cage Combat 2 at The Orleans Casino in Las Vegas
on Saturday night, Gunderson brought in an Xtreme Couture training
partner to get him in shape.
“For
this fight I hired a conditioning coach who is an ex-fighter
(in) Dennis Davis,” said Gunderson. “He comes out to
the gym where I work a couple times a week and he trains me.
“I’ve
had a lot of great conditioning coaches in the past, but to have
one who’s fought and know what it takes (to compete in MMA),
it helps a lot. It’s good to have someone there to help
that’s been there and done that.”
Gunderson
explains the move was a necessity after he had a career first
against Robinson that he never wanted.
“That
was the only time I’ve never made weight,” he said.
“I was talking about fighting at 145 (before the fight),
and I couldn’t even make 155 because I was so sick.”
Now
that he’s got his health issues taken care of, Gunderson’s
focus is on facing James Birdsley at SCC 2.
“I’ve
watched the guy early in his career, and when I was first starting
out, he was hell on wheels,” said Gunderson. “At this
point and time, I’m a much better fighter.
“I
feel that if I can get after him, I don’t think he’ll
handle it at all. If I pressure him I feel like I can finish
him. It’s going to be a fight; a scrap. I’m a counter-fighter,
but when I’m aggressive, fights usually fall in my favor.”
Gunderson
doesn’t want to look beyond Birdsley and think about a return
to the big show, but instead intends to focus just on what he
can control.
“At
this point, I don’t really know (when I’ll return to
the UFC),” he said. “You’re only as good as your
last fight and I had what I feel like was my worst performance.
“If
it happens, it happens; if it doesn’t, it doesn’t.
I’m just going to continue on enjoying fighting. You can
be called up at any time, and I’m willing to fight anybody.
Any lightweight out there; I’ll fight anybody.”
With
further refinements to his life, Gunderson hopes that his Aug.
20 fight will be the start of a stable chapter in his career
after a lot of uncertainty.
“Come
check out Superior Cage Combat 2,” he closed out. “They’re
doing a lot of big things with a lot of name fighters.
“There’s
going to be some great fight, especially mine. I’m going
to come in there like it’s a street fight; just go in there
and get him out of there.”
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
‘The
Ultimate Fighter’ Goes Live on FX Starting on Friday Nights
in Spring 2012
by Damon
Martin
The
monumental deal that will put the UFC on FOX for at least the
next seven years will also include a major shift that will see
“The Ultimate Fighter” go live on FX.
The
long running reality show, which enters its 14th season in September,
will move to the FX Network and air on Friday nights starting
with Season 15 in the Spring of 2012.
The
new format will take the show in a completely different direction,
which includes fighters being on “The Ultimate Fighter”
for 13 weeks total, with each elimination fight airing live on
FX on Friday nights.
“Over
the last seven years and the last 14 cycles of ‘The Ultimate
Fighter,’ they’ve been taped over six weeks, then they’re
in the can and edited for three, four months and then they make
it their way to air. Now the show’s going to be shot over
13 weeks and each installment will be edited the week of and
then aired that week. What happened that week will be airing
on FX Friday night followed by a live fight,” said John
Landgraf, president of FX Networks.
UFC
president Dana White gave a few more details as far as how the
show will be taped during the week and then the actual fight
taking place on live television.
“‘The
Ultimate Fighter’ will now be live. Where we used to go
in and the guys would stay there for six weeks and it would be
in the can and we’d release the show months later. (Now
it will be) four or five days of filming – it’s what
I call ‘jive live’ – the reality will be jive
live and every fight will be live. So people will be tuning in
and watching ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ live,” said
White.
Another
wrinkle added to the new version of TUF will have the coaches
for the season train alongside their team for all 12 weeks, and
that will then lead to their fight, which will take place on
pay-per-view.
“The
reality will have happened over the last couple of days and the
two coaches that come in to coach will also be there, their training
camp will be there for that 12 weeks, and all these fights leading
right into the finale. Also, when the coaches fight on pay-per-view,
(it) will all line right up and it will be live,” White
commented.
The
new show format will be 12 weeks of “The Ultimate Fighter”
with all 12 elimination bouts airing live on FX on Friday nights.
“The Ultimate Fighter” finale will then happen on week
13 with the show again airing live on FX.
Twenty-six
total weeks of live fights per year for “The Ultimate Fighter”
on FX in addition to the six UFC Fight Night events that will
also air on the network brings the total to 32 weeks of live
programming for the UFC on FX.
One
other major change in the show will be that fans will now have
the power to help pick the fights that take place on “The
Ultimate Fighter.” Each week fans will have the chance to
vote on what fight they want to see for an elimination bout,
and the following show the results will be announced.
“This
is revolutionary television right here,” White stated.
The
15th season of “Tthe Ultimate Fighter” will kick off
in Spring 2012 with episodes airing live Friday nights on FX.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Jonathan
Shrager: Interview with Tom ‘Kong’ Watson — “I
stand by my training partner Nate Marquardt”
By Zach
Arnold
By Jonathan Shrager
You
can follow Tom “Kong” Watson on Twitter @TomKongWatson.
Jonathan
Shrager: “I’d like to begin by asking about your unfortunate
withdrawal from the Frank Trigg title defence at BAMMA 7?”
Tom
Watson: “Yes, injuries are an inevitable bane of a sportsman’s
life. It doesn’t matter at what level you compete, there
are few things worse for a keen sportsman than not to be able
to ply his trade and perform his art, whether through being on
the substitutes’ bench, on the treatment table, or even
worst case scenario on the operating table. The bottom line is
that being sidelined is difficult to take, not only physically,
but also mentally. And yet it is a sentiment with which you have
to become accustomed to dealing through experience.”
Jonathan
Shrager: “And can you elaborate a little on the specific
injury which has forced you out of the fight?”
Tom
Watson: “I had a scan the other day on my back, but even
prior to assessing the images the doctor predicts that I have
at least one ruptured disc. It’s pretty uncomfortable because
the ruptured disc in my back is hitting a nerve resulting in
constant nerve spasms. Consequently, I’m also struggling
to stand for 15 minutes without having to sit down, and vice
versa. I’m spending most of my days lying down.”
Jonathan
Shrager: “Ok, well obviously everyone hopes that the scans
reveal that the injury isn’t too serious, and that you can
return to the cage ASAP. Prior to the Trigg fight, I heard Ariel
Helwani had been in contact with you to discuss the fight. This
highlights the rising prominence of BAMMA when you’re on
the radar of the industry’s most recognisable interviewer?”
Tom
Watson: “Indeed, I am proud to be fighting for BAMMA, and
prior to its advent there weren’t many promotions outside
of the UFC that were staging respectable events. The principal
issue for BAMMA originally was attracting and signing high profile
fighters, which it has successfully managed to address. And in
terms of the live shows, the production values, the entertainment,
and the treatment received by the fighters, the organisation
is top notch. This will all be amplified by BAMMA’s recent
global distribution deal with Content Media Corporation, which
can only serve to significantly increase exposure and profile
in numerous countries, and in turn attract even bigger marquis
name fighters and sponsors. All positive implications.”
Jonathan
Shrager: “Fantastic, and what do you think of Ariel as an
interviewer?”
Tom
Watson: “Ariel is undoubtedly a weasel, but he’s great
at his job. In his line of work, a stirrer attains results. It’s
no coincidence that Ariel is the man who always manages to obtain
the exclusive interviews with Dana White at UFC events.
“Simply
put, he captures the interviews that people want to see, full
of media sensationalism. He broaches the topics and poses the
questions that other interviewers may choose not to through concern
of offending the fighters. I saw his recent sit-down with Chael
Sonnen in which Chael defamed PRIDE and lambasted Brazilian fighters.
Whilst extremely close to the bone, people enjoy such spectacles,
including myself admittedly. And the proof is always in the pudding;
Ariel is now arguably the single most successful and well-recognised
reporter within MMA. From relative obscurity to prominence within
a short time frame is a testament to his skill.”
Jonathan
Shrager: “So you’re evidently a fan of his?”
Tom
Watson: “Yes, I quite like Ariel. He only asks the questions,
and it remains the fighters’ prerogative whether to respond.
What does frustrate me is the occasions on which a reporter will
purposefully modify your words, or omit certain sentences, in
order to achieve the desired effect for their article.”
Jonathan
Shrager: “It appears that the bitter war of words between
BJ Penn and your teammate Nate Marquardt has recommenced following
Nate’s assertion that BJ is a “Pothead”. Other
fighters contributed with their input when the feud initially
began. What did you make of fellow countryman Dan Hardy’s
statement that Nate should work as a male stripper if banned
indefinitely?”
Tom
Watson: “Yes, Dan Hardy emerged with a characteristically
humorous citation, but can Dan substantiate his comments about
Nate’s medical background? At the end of the day, it’s
all pure speculation. Referring to Nate’s past record with
PEDs is futile since Nate has served his suspensions so that
should be left in the past. And by Dan claiming that he doesn’t
understand why 30 year-old men need TRT, well that’s an
ignorant statement on behalf of Dan. Seemingly robust young athletes
have suffered grave medical issues which nobody could anticipate
so we shouldn’t always judge a book by its cover without
knowing the hard facts. It’s a little bit silly for Dan
to be involving himself in the debate, but then again I suppose
he needs the publicity after his recent skid.”
Jonathan
Shrager: “It’s evident that in MMA, fighters will always
defend their teammates over countrymen. It underscores the bond
that can be created between training partners.”
Tom
Watson: “Well, I’ve never really trained with Dan Hardy,
as when I’ve been with the team Roughhouse boys in Nottingham
(Paul Daley, Andre Winner, Dean Amasinger), Dan has generally
been out in the States. I always look out for his results, because
he’s a Brit, he trains with guys I know, and he’s usually
involved in exciting fights, but on the flip side, when he fought
GSP I was one of Georges main training partners. And that’s
the curious thing about MMA; you don’t always necessarily
ally with your compatriot. The gym set-up resembles the military
in that respect, in that sometimes different nationalities will
unite to fight for a common cause. So I consider my training
partners at Jackson’s as my brothers, as opposed to an unfamiliar
fighter who happens to be of the same nationality.”
Jonathan
Shrager: “And Chael Sonnen claimed that Nate might be omitting
certain details. What’s your opinion on that?”
Tom
Watson: “I’ve trained with Nate sporadically over the
last few years, and he’s a good friend. I don’t like
to offer an opinion, since the UFC, Nate and his medical advisors
are the only parties privy to the specifics. What I can confirm,
echoing the sentiments of many personalities within the MMA world,
is that Nate is a great guy, and an honest man. It’s not
as if he fought and was subsequently caught, but rather Nate
was open about his TRT, and there were legitimate reasons for
the treatment, so it’s a difficult situation.
“With
respect to Chael Sonnen’s assertion that Nate was omitting
certain details during his expose on Ariel Helwani’s MMA
Hour, Chael found himself in a position which compelled him to
make such a statement, in order to make it appear as if there
was some point of distinction from his case of TRT following
the Anderson Silva fight. Chael will soon be fighting one of
my close friends and main training partners Brian Stann, which
I don’t think is a favourable fight for Sonnen. Sonnen will
probably enter the fight as the bookies’ favourite, so when
Brian bests him, it’ll automatically thrust “The All-American”
into title contention. I’ve become particularly close with
Brian since his drop to middleweight, and following my fight
with Murilo “Ninja” Rua I flew straight out to Vegas
for his fight with Santiago, and then stayed at his house for
a week.”
Source:
Fight Opinion
|
Monumental
TV Deal Expands UFC's Reach, but Sport Remains the Same
By Ben
Fowlkes
Farewell, Gladiator Intro Man. We hardly knew yet.
The
UFC is headed to Fox, which, according to Dana White, means big
changes are in the works. That gladiator who's been gearing up
at the start of every televised event for what feels like centuries
now is just the first to go. You can bet he won't be the only
casualty as the UFC upgrades its TV presence courtesy of a seven-year
deal with FOX, which will bring a live UFC event to network TV
this fall.
In
other words, remember how your grandfather used to tell you about
boxing's heyday, when you could sit down on Friday night and
watch Rocky Marciano or "Sugar" Ray Robinson duke it
out on network TV in between commercials for shaving cream and
hair tonic?
Yeah,
this is kind of like that. Or at least, it could be, even if
it probably won't change the entirety of the MMA landscape the
way some might expect.
Here's
where we are obliged to remind ourselves that this is not MMA's
first foray into live network TV. EliteXC did it, and so did
Strikeforce, but both organizations did it with CBS, which never
got entirely comfortable with being in the "bloodsport"
business and so didn't push MMA quite as hard as it could have.
But
with a seven-year deal that will bring UFC programming to several
different FOX properties, from the cable TV hinterlands of Fuel
and FX to the network giant itself, the UFC now has a TV partner
that isn't just dipping its toe in the water. As White likes
to say, the big challenge for a promoter is simply letting people
know there's a fight on Saturday night. When you can wave that
banner during NFL games and sitcoms alike, that part of the job
gets a lot easier.
At
the same time, there were some conflicting messages coming out
of Thursday's press conference to announce the landmark deal.
For starters, take the bold claim from FOX executives that you
can hardly find an 18-35 year-old man in America who doesn't
know something about the UFC.
A)
That's not completely true, as any MMA journalist who has ever
tried to explain what he or she does for a living to a confused
stranger on an airplane already knows, and B) Even to the extent
that it is true, what does that mean for the sport's potential
growth via network television if the public has already heard
about MMA and formed an opinion on it?
Say,
for example, you're an average American pro football fan. Say
you see an ad for an upcoming UFC event on FOX flash across the
screen while you're watching your beloved Seattle Seahawks play
(a stretch, I know, but stick with me). Say you're one of those
aforementioned American males who has heard of the UFC before,
who maybe even knows who Brock Lesnar is, but who has never seriously
considered sitting down to watch an entire event before.
What's
going to change your mind this time?
Maybe
it will be the fact that it's on free TV, and on a channel you
don't have to search for. Maybe it will be the association that
already exists in your mind between FOX and pro sports you enjoy.
Or maybe it will be nothing, since you've heard of the UFC before
and made either an unconscious or conscious decision not to learn
anything else about it, plus the Seahawks just fumbled on the
goal line so you have other things to worry about just now.
The
difference may be the UFC's willingness to roll out its biggest
stars for free events on FOX, foregoing short-term pay-per-view
dollars for the opportunity to create some long-term fans. The
things that make Lesnar a guaranteed pay-per-view draw are the
same things that might convince John Q. Sportsfan to forego his
Saturday night movie date so he can stay home and watch the UFC
on FOX.
Is
that guy going to become a Gray Maynard fan after that one night?
Probably not, and he may never get interested enough in the sport
to so much as chip in on a pay-per-view. Does it matter? Not
really. That's because the UFC is already legitimate. It's already
mainstream, or at least as mainstream as two men fighting in
a cage is ever going to get.
The
FOX executives are mostly right when they say that, in general,
most American males have some idea of what the UFC is. They also
have some idea of whether they like it or not, and the channel
it's broadcast on isn't likely to make a huge difference either
way.
Of
course more people will watch a UFC event on FOX, if only because
more people watch what's on network TV in general, even when
it's godawful. Some people might even take it more seriously
when they see it on network TV, but some will also see it as
the sporting version of 'Temptation Island' and dismiss it just
as easily as they did when it was stuck way up on the cable dial.
Still,
the increased viewership on those network TV nights will make
a huge difference to sponsors and to the fighters who rely on
those sponsors for a hefty chunk of their annual income. Make
no mistake: this is big.
But
the fact that the UFC managed to make a seven-year deal with
a network like FOX should tell us that MMA is already big. The
UFC is not becoming mainstream or legitimate because of this
deal; the UFC got the deal because it's mainstream and legitimate.
That
doesn't mean the entire world will suddenly fall in love with
MMA. Anything with this much real blood in it has built-in limitations.
If you hated the idea of two guys in compression shorts elbowing
each other in the face on Spike TV, you'll probably still hate
it on FOX and FX.
Too
bad though, because you're probably going to have to hear about
it a lot more often now.
Source:
MMA Fighting
|
UFC
on Fox: Lightweight Champ Frankie Edgar Weighs in on the Deal
and Gray Maynard
As
the hours tick by, the impact of the UFC’s announced television
partnership with Fox on Thursday continues to build in its perceived
significance.
That
feeling is spilling over in several directions, and it’s
something that wasn’t missed by UFC lightweight champion
Frankie Edgar, who was flown out to Los Angeles to take part
in the announcement.
“My
career’s been a fun ride thus far, to be able to look back
some day and say I was a part of this is something I’ll
be proud of. This is probably one of the biggest days in UFC
history,” he told MMAWeekly.com‘s Erik Fontanez.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Matt
Serra Says Only a Small Percentage of Fighters Don’t Use
PEDs
by Crooklyn
from TapouT Radio
Former
UFC welterweight champion Matt Serra is still a very busy man.
With a brand new daughter and another location of Serra BJJ opening
up soon, he barely has time to make the sauce for his wife’s
pasta.
One
thing he’s not too busy for, is to weigh in on the recent
issues of performance enhancing drugs that have plagued all sports,
but particularly MMA, of late. When asked his thoughts on the
subject, Serra had several things to say.
“It’s
wrong man, it’s really wrong. Let me tell you something.
I got to the title without doing anything. I didn’t use
anything,” Serra commented. “Me and BJ Penn are in
that small percentage that don’t do (expletive). There’s
a lot of guys that are considered legends, and they’re doing
the GH and doing this and that, and it’s obvious, it’s
freaking obvious.”
Serra
points out that the danger of performance enhancing drugs can
lead to serious injury, as well as simply giving fighters an
unfair advantage in a fight.
“It’s
one thing if you’re fighting for an hour, but you got 15
minutes in there. There’s certain teams out there that look
like they got a freaking chemist assigned to them,” said
Serra. “It’s not that I want to judge anybody, but
hey man, I’m fighting these people. Next thing you know
you’re in there fighting a guy with unlimited energy that
looks like a He-Man figure. I don’t give a (expletive) if
it’s happening in baseball, but when a guy can kick your
head off, someone can get hurt. There’s a chance for serious
bodily harm.”
Serra’s
Career and Weight
While
he doesn’t currently have a bout set up for the immediate
future, Serra claims he’s not done fighting yet, despite
the chemistry going on in the sport.
“I’m
like herpes. I’m not going anywhere,” Serra said. “Like
Rocky 6, I’ve still got some (expletive) in the basement.”
On
the subject of his weight, he says he’s currently on the
wrong side of 200 pounds, but that he loses weight easily. UFC
president Dana White even took a jab at Serra’s heavier
set self at the UFC 133 post fight press conference when speaking
about his student, Costas Philippou, training with a heavyweight.
He
says he needs three months, solid, to prepare for a fight, and
if the right offer comes along, he’d be ready, possibly
by December. Questioning about opponents he’d be interested
in fighting led to some discussion of Brian Ebersole.
Serra
commented that he heard Ebersole was interested in fighting him,
and it’s a fight he’d happily accept.
“I
think that would be an interesting fight because the guy does
freaking cartwheels in there. It’ll be a freak show,”
Serra stated. “The guy is six-foot-one so I might be below
his arrow.”
Matt
closed by giving his thoughts on the upcoming bout between Georges
St-Pierre vs. Nick Diaz. He feels that St-Pierre won’t be
able to match Diaz’s striking or jiu-jitsu, and said that
the only way he saw GSP winning is with takedowns and wrestling.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Focus
for UFC shifts to more live, Friday night TV content on Fox for
7 years
By Zach
Arnold
Tomas
Rios: “People, a major network has made a multi-year, multi-platform,
big money commitment to the UFC. This is the biggest MMA story
ever.”
Fascinating
that ESPN has not discussed at all (either in TV reporting or
their newsticker) UFC moving from Spike to FX/Fox family. Relations
between ESPN & Fox are not as competitive as they once were,
especially given NBC & Comcast as one unit now as the major
competitor for programming (and Yahoo Sports as the top online
sports reporting hub). At least ESPN put up a report on their
web site.
The
Ultimate Fighter will be more interactive in terms of airing
live fights and taping footage from the past week prior to said
fights airing. Friday night on FX will basically be UFC’s
cable footprint. I’m a bit skeptical about Friday nights
working out for them as opposed to Wednesdays or Thursdays.
Thankfully,
the Gladiator graphic UFC has used forever is going the way of
the do-do bird. As I predicted, not many changes at all to the
UFC production layout (including their announce team).
Sports
Business Journal says that Fox is paying UFC about $100 million
dollars a year. The majority of UFC’s programming will air
on cable channel FX, with four network television specials airing
live each year on Fox terrestrial. Fox executives seem to think
that they have found a real growth play here.
Luke
Thomas: “UFC source tells me new Fox deal does NOT affect
online distribution deals to Roku, Yahoo!, XBox or UStream. Nothing
changes.”
Both
Loretta Hunt & Josh Gross were at the press conference and
credentialed. Loretta says that she shook Dana White’s hand.
Make of that what you will.
An
interesting question/premise being debated yesterday on Twitter
about this new deal with Fox — will Fox force UFC management
& employees to change their behavior (i.e. Rampage ‘motorboating’
& Joe Rogan’s comments about Maggie Hendricks) or will
the status quo for behavior remain? I’m in the minority
in stating that absolutely nothing will change from a behavioral
standpoint. If Joe Rogan can come back to network TV (NBC) for
a new series run of Fear Factor after the online kerfuffle he
got into a few months ago, I don’t see how or why Fox is
going to make him change (business reasons or not).
What
was fascinating to see during the press conference was the reaction
from Fox suits towards UFC’s production values. They seriously
will allow Zuffa to produce shows as they see fit. When Fuji
TV backed PRIDE, Fuji TV brought all of their resources and production
team to the table. If Fox is going to allow UFC to produce shows
the want they want to and pay them nearly $100 million USD a
year, that’s a sweet development for UFC.
Source:
Fight Opinion
|
UFC
Maintains Control of Production Under New Fox Deal, But Plans
on Changing Everything
by Damon
Martin
As
the UFC embarks on the new deal with Fox, one of the biggest
questions was what changes, if any, would be made to the production
of the broadcasts?
In
past dealings with television networks, UFC president Dana White
has admitted that they didn’t want to give up complete production
control to other entities.
It
appears with Fox, the UFC will remain in complete control of
their productions, however they will happily sit down with their
new partners to discuss any relevant changes.
“I
think their production is first class, and I doubt that there’s
anything that we could bring. There will be discussions as the
months and years go on about production, but I think they’re
doing a fantastic job as it is,” said David Hill, Fox Sports
Media Group Chairman.
One
addition to the new UFC on Fox deal will be pre- and post-shows
that will air on the subsidiary station Fuel TV in conjunction
with all live broadcasts and UFC pay-per-views. Fox will handle
those programs, but outside of that the UFC will maintain regular
control of their shows.
“The
production’s going to be done the same way it always has
been,” said White. “Me and my crew will run the production,
and Fox Sports will come in and we’re going to have a pre-show,
a post-show, and they’ll bring in their guys, the Fox guys,
for the pre- and post-show. The UFC’s going to run the production.”
Much
like their time with Spike TV and other television partners,
the UFC will sit down with executives and production teams at
Fox to collaborate and make sure they are putting the best version
of their product on television.
“We’re
going to sit down with the team at Fox and collaborate on things,”
said co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta.
While
the UFC will maintain production control over its programming,
it doesn’t mean major changes aren’t already in the
works.
White
is viewing the deal with Fox like a rebirth for the company and
several big shifts will be made in everything from the UFC Fight
Night broadcasts to a new look for the pay-per-views.
“I
look at this Fox deal as a fresh start for us, so I want to change
everything,” White stated. “I want to change the look
of the pay-per-view, graphics, show open, the show opens in our
Fight Nights, everything’s going to have a different feel
to it.
“We’ll
be working with these guys, I love what they do in sports, and
to enhance the look and feel of a UFC event.”
What
those changes will entail haven’t been revealed yet, but
with the first Fox broadcast set for Nov. 12, fans won’t
have to wait very long to find out.
As
far as the broadcast team goes, Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan will
still be the voices of the UFC shows, but just because of the
sheer amount of programming, the UFC will be adding new talent
as well.
“Obviously,
Goldie and Rogan are going to be the main broadcast team for
our big fights, pay-per-views, fights on Fox, fights on FX. Some
additional programming, you know, we’re going to probably
have to bring in some new talent because it’s just not physically
possible for these guys to do that number of events and still
have a life,” UFC co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta told MMAWeekly.com.
“So,
yeah, we’re going to be adding new talent, whether it be
on live fights, whether it’d be on magazine shows, whether
it be on pre-shows, post-shows.”
One
big difference, however, to the look and feel of the UFC pay-per-views
will be a change to the opening sequence that has run for the
last several years.
“What
about the gladiator opening?” asked UFC commentator Joe
Rogan.
“It’s
going away,” White responded.
The
change will most likely be greeted well by fans, but maybe not
as much from the band Stemm, whose song “Face the Pain”
will fade into obscurity and possibly a special place as a question
in Trivial Pursuit or Jeopardy in a few years.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Man up and Stand up
Waipahu Filcom Center, Waipahu, Hawaii
Sept 2, 2011
JONAH
AFOA
215
KANOE KAHIKINA
DUSTIN CULLASTRO
230
BEN BOYCE
EVAN QUIZON
130
TONY RODRIGUES
ISAAC HOPPS
(O2 Martial Arts Academy)
145
CORY ESTRAD
MIKE MORALES
145
MAURICE PHILIPS
BRYSON AIONA
205
JUDE KAPUA
CHRISTIAN BAUTISTA
175
MICAH ABREU
COLIN MCKENZIE
145
LAA HOOKELE
NALU KAWAILIMA
(O2 Martial Arts Academy)
125
KALEI AIWOHI
KEONI CHANG
140
MARK YARCIA
MAKANA WIGGLESWORTH
145
KAI KIWASAKI
KAYLEN STAFFORD
140
DARRYL DANO
JONAH VISTANTE
153
JORDAN ANDUA
OLA LUM
(O2 Martial Arts Academy)
140
DEREK MINN
AJ DEGUZMAN
125
DENNIS MONTIRA
RODNEY BANIS
170
TOLO SARAGOSA
DAMON APPLEBAUM
(O2 Martial Arts Academy)
215
AARON ROSE
MARC KUMAI
185
PELETI FAUMUINA
BRADA
130
BRYAR
BRYSEN
4 REAL LUM (O2 Martial Arts Academy)
150
LANCE BELL
ANGELO
DEAN BONGO (O2 Martial Arts Academy)
105
MAKOA DESANTOS
STANFORD HOKOANA
155
JUSTIN
JUSTIN BURGESS
160
JOSEPH GARCIA
DARIUS
LONDO (O2 Martial Arts Academy)
175
LOMBART MALEDONA
DUSTIN JACOBSEN
125
SHAWN DESANTOS
CHRIS DE
AQUINO (O2 Martial Arts Academy)
200
SPENCER QUELL
JEFF LAGAMAN
145
MAKAIO ALVARADO
BRANSON
TADAKI (O2 Martial Arts Academy)
140
NOA KAMELAMELA
All
matches & participants may be subject to change.
Source: Derrick Bright
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ProElite
August 27 Fight Card Rumors
Powered
by Xyience LogoProElite Return
Date: August 27, 2011
Venue: Neil S. Blaisdell Arena
Location: Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii
ProElite
leaks partial card for August return
ProElite, Inc. announced a press conference yesterday, scheduled
for Friday, July 29th in Honolulu, to reveal the matchups on
the upcoming August fight card. However, the poster above which
was recently released on their site offers a few spoilers.
The
poster reveals “The Pitbull” Andrei Arlovski fighting
someone with a last name of “Lopez”, Kendall Grove
fighting Joe Riggs, and confirms the debut of MMA debut of Reagan
Penn. Conor Heun has been speculated to be on the card, but is
not confirmed on this poster. “I am confident that MMA fans
will not be disappointed with the matchups, which will be announced
later this week. It’s exciting to have the MMA community
on the edge of their seats awaiting the next ProElite news,”
stated Paul Feller, President and CEO of Stratus. “I am
confident that MMA fans will not be disappointed with the matchups,
which will be announced later this week.”
T.Jay
Thompson, head of Fight Operations said, “This is just the
start of ProElite’s return to a dominant player in the industry.”
“We look forward to regaining the support of the MMA global
audience.”
The
August 27th fight marks the third time ProElite has staged an
MMA event in Hawaii.
Tickets can now be purchased at the Blaisdell Arena box office,
or online at ticketmaster.com. Reserved seats are $28, $40, $65,
and $90; Cage side seats are priced at $150 and $200. Info via
Fight Nerd fan Jeff Youngs.
Main
Card (On Pay-Per-View):
-Andrei Arlovski (15-9) vs. Ray Lopez (5-2)
-Kendall Grove (12-9) vs. Joe Riggs (34-13)
-Drew McFedries (9-6) vs. Kala Hose (7-5)
-Raquel Pa’aluhi (3-1) vs. Sara McMann (2-0)
-Mark Ellis (0-0) vs. Jake Huen (1-0)
-Reagan Penn (0-0) vs. TBA
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Toughman
Hawaii
August
27, 2011
Hilo Civic Center
|
UFC
134
Rio de Janeiro at HSBC Arena
8/27/11
By Zach Arnold
Dark matches/Facebook
Featherweights: Yves Jabouin vs. Ian Loveland
Featherweights: Yuri Alcantara vs. Antonio Carvalho
Middleweights: Rousimar Palhares vs. Dan Miller
Welterweights: Mike Swick vs. Erick Silva
Welterweights: Paulo Thiago vs. David Mitchell
Lightweights: Thiago Tavares vs. Spencer Fisher
Main card
Light Heavyweights: Luiz Cane vs. Stanislav Nedkov
Lightweights: Ross Pearson vs. Edson Barboza
Heavyweights: Brendan Schaub vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
Light Heavyweights: Mauricio Shogun vs. Forrest Griffin
UFC Middleweight title match: Anderson Silva vs. Yushin Okami
Source: Fight Opinion
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