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2012
3/29-4/1
Pan
Jiu-Jitsu Championship
(BJJ)
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2/11/11
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(MMA)
(Kilohana Carriage House, Lihue, Kauai)
1/21/12
ProElite
MMA
(MMA)
(Blaisdell Arena)
1/15/12
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International BJJ Tournament
(BJJ)
(King Intermediate, Kaneohe)
1/7/12
Toughman Hawaii
(Kickboxing)
(Hilo Civic Center, Hilo)
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)
11/5-6/11
Eternal
Submissions
(BJJ & Submission Grappling)
(Kauai Beach Resort, Kauai)
11/5/11
Hawaii Toughman
(Kickboxing)
(Hilo Civic Ctr)
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(Kickboxing)
(The Waterfront, Aloha Tower Market Place)
10/22/11
NAGA Hawaii
(BJJ & Sub Grappling)
(Radford H.S. Gym)
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)
Amateur Boxing
(Boxing)
( Palolo District Park Gym)
9/23/11
808 Battleground Presents: Unstoppable
(MMA)
(The Waterfront, Aloha Tower Market Place)
9/3/11
Australian Fighting Championship 2
(MMA)
Melbourne Aquatic & Sports Complex, Melbourne, Australia)
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)
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December
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O2 Martial Arts features Relson Gracie Jiu-Jitsu taught by Relson
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UFC
141 ‘Lesnar vs. Overeem’ Results and Play-by-Play
MGM Grand
Garden Arena in Las Vegas
12/30/11
Manny
Gamburyan vs. Diego Nunes
Round
1
Nunes circles and changes angles around the outside, slapping
with outside kicks to the upper thigh and a turning kick to the
body. Nunes easily sprawls a takedown and backs out of the way
of an ill-intentioned overhand left. The Brazilian keeps the
low kicks coming and Gamburyan shoots again. Nunes fends him
off briefly, but Gamburyan keeps after it and drags “The
Gun” down at the base of the fence. Gamburyan tries to pass
to side control and Nunes sees an opportunity to scramble up.
Gamburyan looks to be limping slightly on his lead leg as the
thigh kicks pile up and another shot is stuffed. Nunes puts a
spinning kick in Gamburyan’s breadbasket before the round
ends.
Jordan
Breen scores the round 10-9 Nunes
Freddie DeFreitas scores the round 10-9 Nunes
Chris Nelson scores the round 10-9 Nunes
Round
2
Gamburyan grazes with an overhand and takes another thigh kick
in return. Nunes keeps his distance until another big right hand
finds its mark and wobbles him. The Brazilian stays vertical
as Gamburyan closes the gap, but Nunes nearly gives his back
as they grapple against the cage. Nunes gets his back to the
fence and thwarts an ankle pick from Gamburyan, but referee Steve
Mazzagatti warns the Nova Uniao fighter for grabbing the fence.
Another turning kick to the gut has Gamburyan shooting, and this
time the takedown comes with relative ease. Nunes establishes
half-guard and tries to push off the fence with his feet, to
no avail. Gamburyan lands a few short lefts and loops his left
arm around Nunes’ neck for a loose guillotine. Nunes shrimps,
gets to his feet and puts Gamburyan’s back to the cage with
about a minute to go. Gamburyan takes a knee inside, covers up
and circles out, negating a combo from Nunes. They finish the
round back on the feet.
Jordan
Breen scores the round 10-9 Gamburyan
Freddie DeFreitas scores the round 10-9 Gamburyan
Chris Nelson scores the round 10-9 Gamburyan
Round
3
As the final frame begins, Gamburyan continues to look for big
punches and Nunes keeps working his leg kicks. The taller Nunes’
strikes are more effective through the first 90 seconds, as the
fighters are keeping a good space between them. Gamburyan shoots
a high double-leg and Nunes sprawls against the fence, then breaks
off with a hard knee to Gamburyan’s gut. Nunes ducks an
overhand right, sprawls on another takedown try and punishes
Gamburyan with more sharp inside thigh kicks. Gamburyan slips
on a punch and blocks a head kick. The judoka sees an opening
but can’t keep Nunes on the ground after a well-timed spinning
back-fist counter. An inside thigh kick catches Gamburyan in
the cup and he takes a minute to compose himself. When they resume,
Gamburyan shoots again, but he can’t wrestle Nunes down
before the final horn.
Jordan
Breen scores the round 10-9 Nunes (29-28 Nunes)
Freddie DeFreitas scores the round 10-9 Nunes (29-28 Nunes)
Chris Nelson scores the round 10-9 Nunes (29-28 Nunes)
Official
result: All three judges -- Douglas Crosby, Sal D'Amato and Junichiro
Kamijo -- score the bout 29-28 for the winner by unanimous decision,
Diego Nunes.
Matt
Riddle vs. Luis Ramos
According
to a post on the UFC’s official Twitter account, Riddle
“is too sick to fight” and this bout has been scratched.
Jacob
Volkmann vs. Efrain Escudero
Round
1
Volkmann misses on some opening low kicks and the southpaw ducks
low to try and hop inside on the larger Escudero. Volkmann shoots
and gets snared in a guillotine, but he moves to side control
on Escudero’s left side soon after they hit the mat. After
extracting his head, Volkmann stands over the prone Escudero
and barely dodges an upkick. Escudero grabs for a leg and Volkmann
goes back down, flattening Escudero out from half-guard. Volkmann
lands a few short left hands and grabs a headlock as he keeps
heavy on top near the center of the cage. Referee Herb Dean tells
“Christmas” to get busy as the round enters its final
minute and Volkmann obliges with a flurry of left hands to Escudero’s
ribs. Volkmann briefly tries a guillotine of his own before posturing
up to finish with ground-and-pound.
Jordan
Breen scores the round 10-9 Volkmann
Freddie DeFreitas scores the round 10-9 Volkmann
Chris Nelson scores the round 10-9 Volkmann
Round
2
Volkmann shoots and has Escudero on his back again inside 30
seconds. The Minnesotan works from side control, gets stuffed
back to half-guard and goes back to short left hands. Escudero
offers some heels to Volkmann’s back and soon closes up
his full guard. With little happening on the floor, referee Herb
Dean stands the lightweights up. Volkmann quickly closes the
gap and presses Escudero into the fence, where they dance for
a moment before Volkmann drags his man down with a rear waistlock.
Escudero tries to stand and winds up on his knees, allowing Volkmann
to hop onto his back. Volkmann sinks both hooks in and twice
comes close with rear-naked choke attempts, but Escudero defends
well and sits up against the fence. Volkmann finishes the round
sitting up in Escudero’s half-guard, with Escudero unable
to escape.
Jordan
Breen scores the round 10-9 Volkmann
Freddie DeFreitas scores the round 10-9 Volkmann
Chris Nelson scores the round 10-9 Volkmann
Round
3
Same as the previous round, Volkmann wastes little time in getting
inside and plowing Escudero to the canvas. Escudero grabs for
a guillotine again and Volkmann goes straight to side control.
Now it’s a mirror position from the end of round two, with
Volkmann triangling Escudero’s left leg and peppering with
left hands. Escudero seems to have no escape, but with 2:50 remaining,
referee Dean stands them up. Escudero tries to strike, but Volkmann
is soon glued to his back. Turning around, Escudero is able to
defend a single-leg with his back on the fence, even landing
a few solid elbows. Escudero whips on a modified guillotine choke
from nowhere and they tumble to the ground. It’s a north-south
choke for Escudero now, and it is a very deep one. Volkmann somehow
defends, gets to his feet and is sent to his back with the choke
still on. He walks up the fence and stays alive, breaking loose
before the horn.
Jordan
Breen scores the round 10-9 Escudero
Freddie DeFreitas scores the round 10-9 Escudero
Chris Nelson scores the round 10-9 Escudero
Official
result: All three judges -- Mark Smith, Glenn Trowbridge and
Tony Weeks -- score the bout 29-28 for the winner by unanimous
decision, Jacob Volkmann.
Dong
Hyun Kim vs. Sean Pierson
Round
1
The welterweight southpaws graze one another with leg kicks to
begin. Kim’s kicks get harder and Pierson comes inside behind
a jab to clinch on the fence. Kim pushes him off and gets off
a pair of solid right hands, and Pierson gives him one back.
The South Korean wants to catch and counter a kick from his opponent,
but Pierson lands a few and trips Kim up by catching a front
kick. Kim stays up and begins to find his range, dipping in and
out of the pocket with left hooks and right straights. Kim ducks
low when Pierson rushes in and shoves him off. Pierson catches
another front kick and misses by a fraction of an inch with a
swiping hook. Kim grabs a guillotine and nearly wrestles Pierson
down, but Pierson gets back up. Pierson is tossed to the ground
but takes Kim’s back as they hit the mat and locks up a
body triangle. Kim puts his head on the ground and tries to shake
Pierson off for the last few seconds.
Jordan
Breen scores the round 10-9 Kim
Freddie DeFreitas scores the round 10-9 Kim
Chris Nelson scores the round 10-9 Kim
Round
2
Kim is looking to counter, using leg kicks to keep his range
and dipping to his left to fire off straight punches when Pierson
throws a combination. Pierson connects with some leg kicks, though
Kim answers with stiffer ones. Pierson pushes Kim into the fence
with an underhook, but they don’t stay there long. Kim keeps
the leg kicks and left hands coming as they hit the fight’s
halfway point. Pierson rushes forward with wide punches and gets
socked with a combination which has him clinching soon after.
Kim gives up his back standing, twists around and shoves Pierson
off. Kim lands the jumping front kick he’s been looking
for and puts a pair of follow-up punches on Pierson’s chin.
Pierson stays up, though, and gets off a few leg kicks as the
round ticks away. With 10 seconds to go, Kim lands the front
kick again and Pierson is wobbling all over the place. Kim pounces
but it’s too late and the horn sounds to save Pierson.
Jordan
Breen scores the round 10-9 Kim
Freddie DeFreitas scores the round 10-9 Kim
Chris Nelson scores the round 10-9 Kim
Round
3
Kim keeps control of the fight with distance, leg kicks and jabs
until 90 seconds in, when he whips Pierson down with a single-leg.
Pierson gets up quickly and they clinch on the cage until Kim
drags him down again. The fight slows in Pierson’s tight,
closed guard, so Kim stands to try a pass. The “Stun Gun”
sits down in Pierson’s side guard briefly before ref Yves
Lavigne stands them up. Kim goes for the jumping front kick again,
misses and steps out of the way of a few combos from Pierson.
They clinch on the cage again, Pierson on the outside, until
Kim circles out with 30 seconds left. Kim lands a Superman punch,
an inside thigh kick, a right hook. Pierson answers with his
own Superman punch and they’re still throwing at the horn.
Jordan
Breen scores the round 10-9 Kim (30-27 Kim)
Freddie DeFreitas scores the round 10-9 Kim (30-27 Kim)
Chris Nelson scores the round 10-9 Kim (30-27 Kim)
Official
result: All three judges -- Adalaide Byrd, Sal D'Amato and Tony
Weeks -- score the bout 30-27 for the winner by unanimous decision,
Dong Hyun Kim.
Anthony
Njokuani vs. Danny Castillo
Round
1
Castillo shoots from way out and Njokuani sidesteps it with ease.
Muay thai specialist Njokuani is throwing uppercut-hook combos
but not finding his range. Castillo gets inside, bowls Njokuani
to the floor, allows him up and ragdolls him back down again
with a rear waistlock. Njokuani gets to his feet but can’t
get his back free of Castillo, who drills knees into Njokuani’s
thighs. Castillo ropes Njokuani’s legs and pulls him to
the ground again, now at the base of the fence. Castillo is in
a low mount with Njokuani’s legs triangled, but he can’t
muster much offense from the position and Njokuani uses the fence
to get up. Castillo sticks to Njokuani’s back and brings
him down twice more. The second takedown nearly yields a rear-naked
choke, but Njokuani twists out and slaps on a standing guillotine
of his own. Castillo slams himself free and stays on top for
a moment before Njokuani works his way back up to finish the
round standing.
Jordan
Breen scores the round 10-9 Castillo
Freddie DeFreitas scores the round 10-9 Castillo
Chris Nelson scores the round 10-9 Castillo
Round
2
Njokuani sticks Castillo with a few stiff jabs from the orthodox
stance, partially connects with a kick to the body and stuffs
a shot. Castillo gets the next takedown but can’t keep Njokuani
down this time. A right straight-left hook from Njokuani bounces
off the Californian’s chin. Castillo tries a takedown and
winds up with his head in Njokuani’s Thai plum. The rangy
Njokuani punishes his man with hard knees to the body before
releasing him. A right hook buckles Castillo’s legs with
two minutes remaining and he keeps alive by driving forward and
dragging Njokuani to the mat. Njokuani locks things down from
his closed guard, though Castillo lands a few to the ribs and
a nice hammerfist when he postures up. Njokuani turns his hips
and gets back up with 20 seconds to go, but Castillo gets one
final takedown and finishes on top.
Jordan
Breen scores the round 10-9 Njokuani
Freddie DeFreitas scores the round 10-9 Njokuani
Chris Nelson scores the round 10-9 Njokuani
Round
3
Both men are missing more punches than they’re landing in
the opening minute of the final round, then Castillo charges
in for a double-leg. He gets Njokuani down after a brief struggle
and holds him against a cage post in half-guard. Njokuani gets
up with 2:40 remaining, Castillo still locked to his waist. Njokuani
avoids a slam and rolls through, shaking Castillo and getting
active on the feet with kicks and jabs. He soon finds himself
on the ground again after another Castillo takedown. Castillo
keeps Njokuani down briefly, then clinches on the fence when
Njokuani gets back to his feet. Njokuani blitzes with punches
and knees in the final 30 seconds, looking again for the Thai
clinch and narrowing the gap in what should be a close decision.
Jordan
Breen scores the round 10-9 Castillo (29-28 Castillo)
Freddie DeFreitas scores the round 10-9 Castillo (29-28 Castillo)
Chris Nelson scores the round 10-9 Castillo (29-28 Castillo)
Official
result: The judges score the bout 29-28, 29-28 and 28-29, awarding
a split decision victory to Danny Castillo.
Ross
Pearson vs. Junior Assuncao
Round
1
The southpaw Assuncao circles away from Pearson, who keeps coming
forward until he’s felled by a double-leg. Assuncao shoves
Pearson into the fence, then hops on the Englishman’s back
as he tries to stand. Assuncao can’t quite get his hooks
in as they stand against the fence and Pearson circles away.
Pearson’s just walking Assuncao down now, waiting for a
chance, and one comes when Assuncao dips inside and eats a knee.
The next takedown attempt comes against the cage and Pearson
keeps his balance to defend this as well. Assuncao is playing
defense, looking to counter as he circles in a wide open stance.
Inside the final minute now and the featherweights exchange combinations.
Pearson gets off a few good punches in the last seconds, but
Assuncao’s constant movement is making it tough to land
hard.
Jordan
Breen scores the round 10-9 Pearson
Freddie DeFreitas scores the round 10-9 Assuncao
Chris Nelson scores the round 10-9 Pearson
Round
2
Assuncao gets Pearson down with a single-leg in the center of
the cage, but Pearson is soon back to his feet and striking.
He manages only a couple shots before Assuncao charges in and
grinds him into the fence again. Pearson exits with a hard shot
and sprawls all over the next takedown attempt, then asks ref
Mario Yamasaki for a standup when Assuncao pulls guard. Assuncao
clinches up, can’t get the takedown and bolts before Pearson
can throw from the Thai clinch. Pearson rips a hook to Assuncao’s
body, doubles up on a jab and keeps the punches coming as Assuncao
tries to circle out. It’s Pearson pressing the matter on
the fence now, using a left underhook and short right hands inside.
Pearson drills a knee, a hook and eats an elbow as Assuncao exits.
They jockey for position on the fence, Pearson trips Assuncao
down and lets him back up. Assuncao takes advantage and takes
Pearson down, but it’s Pearson elbowing from his back as
the round winds down.
Jordan
Breen scores the round 10-9 Pearson
Freddie DeFreitas scores the round 10-9 Pearson
Chris Nelson scores the round 10-9 Pearson
Round
3
Pearson lands some low kicks before Assuncao comes inside for
a takedown, eating a jab on his way. Nonetheless, the Brazilian
ground specialist stays busy once they hit the floor, moving
to Pearson’s back and looking for a choke. Assuncao doesn’t
have it and loses his hooks as Pearson powers back to his feet,
then loses waist control when they stand. Assuncao gets another
waistlock on the fence, knees the leaning Pearson in the face
and keeps digging for a double-leg. Pearson keeps a good stance
on the fence, gets taken down and pops back up. Assuncao rushes
back in to clinch, disengages with a level elbow and takes a
chopping low kick from Pearson after they split. Assuncao, bleeding
and swollen beneath his right eye, goes to a single-leg on the
cage and Pearson, dripping blood from his nose, fends it off.
The “Real Deal” scores with a solid head kick and a
step-in knee before being clinched into the cage again. Assuncao
gets reversed and takes a right hand on the chin. He misses with
a sloppy punch and leaves Pearson an opening to rush with punches
and knees. Assuncao finishes the fight doubled over, trying for
a single-leg against the fence.
Jordan
Breen scores the round 10-9 Pearson (30-27 Pearson)
Freddie DeFreitas scores the round 10-9 Pearson (29-28 Pearson)
Chris Nelson scores the round 10-9 Pearson (30-27 Pearson)
Official
result: The three judges’ scorecards read 29-28, 29-28 and
30-27, all in favor of the winner by unanimous decision, Ross
Pearson.
Nam
Phan vs. Jim Hettes
Round
1
Hettes goes high with a head kick, then low for a successful
takedown in the center of the cage. Phan escapes to his feet
and moves toward the fence, only to be dragged back down seconds
later. The sequence repeats with Hettes slapping on a guillotine
the next time Phan stands. They roll to the floor and Hettes
goes wild, posturing up with nasty ground-and-pound in Phan’s
full guard. Phan seems to be in real danger, turning over and
giving up his back as ref Herb Dean hovers nearby. Phan survives
and shoves Hettes away, then scrambles to his feet. Hettes has
Phan against the fence and lands an uppercut, a knee. Phan drills
his man with a lead uppercut of his own before being bullied
into the cage again. A hip toss from Hettes puts Phan back on
the floor with 90 seconds to go. Almost effortlessly, Hettes
assumes full mount and falls off to Phan’s right side for
an armbar. Phan locks up his hands as Hettes slugs with hammerfist
rights and keeps trying for the submission. Down to the last
20 seconds, Phan seems to have weathered the worst of it, but
Hettes gets to mount before the horn to blast away with more
big punches.
Jordan
Breen scores the round 10-8 Hettes
Freddie DeFreitas scores the round 10-8 Hettes
Chris Nelson scores the round 10-8 Hettes
Round
2
Hettes tries a low single-leg, can’t get it and settles
for pressing Phan against the cage. Forty seconds in, Hettes
spins Phan down, then stands, allowing Phan to grab for a leglock.
Hettes sits down and takes mount again, then tries for a rear-naked
from the side. Phan guts it out and flips Hettes over, standing
up to try and blast through the guard of “The Kid.”
Hettes gets to his feet, digs a right underhook and shoves Phan
into the cage, using his free left hand to punch in addition
to shooting knees up the middle. Phan breaks away, but Hettes
catches up and trips him straight back down. Phan stands again,
and this time Hettes opts to strike, replying to a right hand
from Phan with half a dozen punches of his own. Hettes ties up
and hurls Phan down with ease. Phan is on his feet when the horn
sounds, but it will certainly take a finish from him in the third
to win this fight.
Jordan
Breen scores the round 10-9 Hettes
Freddie DeFreitas scores the round 10-9 Hettes
Chris Nelson scores the round 10-9 Hettes
Round
3
Phan is beginning to string together strikes at the top of the
third, but after a minute Hettes times an uppercut and floors
the veteran again. The exhausted Phan, now sliced open on the
outside of his right eyebrow, twice gets back to his feet, only
to be met with a double-leg and knees to the face. Phan gets
away on the second escape and digs a hook to Hettes’ body
before Hettes brings the fight down again. Hettes is nearly on
Phan’s back now, pounding away from half-guard with left
hands. Hettes switches to an arm-triangle choke, defended well
by Phan. Back to full mount for Hettes, where he drops elbows,
hammerfists and punches to the last horn.
Jordan
Breen scores the round 10-9 Hettes (30-26 Hettes)
Freddie DeFreitas scores the round 10-9 Hettes (30-26 Hettes)
Chris Nelson scores the round 10-9 Hettes (30-26 Hettes)
Official
result: The judges turn in lopsided scorecards of 30-25, 30-25
and 30-26, awarding Jim Hettes the clear-cut unanimous decision
victory.
Vladimir
Matyushenko vs. Alexander Gustafsson
Round
1
Gustafsson twitches and feints, threatening to jump in on the
smaller Matyushenko as both men circle in the orthodox stance.
Matyushenko slips while throwing a hard punch but Gustafsson
can’t capitalize and they stay standing. Matyushenko grabs
a kick and tries to box inside, only to be shoved away by his
younger foe. Matyushenko charges forward with a punch and gets
caught on the button by a short left jab. The “Janitor”
falls to the ground Gustafsson finishes off the turtling veteran
with punches, referee Yves Lavigne stepping in for the stop at
2:13 of round one.
Jon
Fitch vs. Johny Hendricks
Round
1
Fitch crouches low and throws range-finding punches at Hendricks,
missing. Hendricks steps forward and uncorks a massive overhand
left right on Fitch’s jaw. Fitch falls backward like a tree
and Hendricks only gets one follow-up shot in before ref Steve
Mazzagatti dives in for the save. It’s a sensational knockout
win for Johny Hendricks after just 12 seconds.
Nate
Diaz vs. Donald Cerrone
Round
1
The lightweights refuse to touch gloves and get to slugging as
soon as the bout begins. Diaz gets a waistlock and tries to drag
Cerrone down, winds up dirty-boxing against the fence. Cerrone
lands a knee inside and Diaz answers in turn. Cerrone shoves
him away and Diaz lands a nice two-punch combo, countered quickly
by Cerrone. Diaz is picking Cerrone apart now, landing long,
straight punches at will as the “Cowboy” wobbles about.
The shots keep coming, Diaz moving Cerrone into the fence and
blasting away with punches, elbows, knees. Cerrone gets off an
outside thigh kick but eats half a dozen clean punches in return.
There’s still half a round to go and Diaz is simply lighting
up Cerrone, who tries a head kick which Diaz partially ducks.
Diaz sticks his right hand in Cerrone’s face and jacks his
jaw with three quick punches. Cerrone is bleeding from the mouth,
slips on a kick. With 30 seconds to go, another big combo snaps
back Cerrone’s head. Five, ten more good shots land and
Diaz finishes the round holding Cerrone on the cage.
Jordan
Breen scores the round 10-8 Diaz
Freddie DeFreitas scores the round 10-9 Diaz
Chris Nelson scores the round 10-8 Diaz
Round
2
Diaz goes straight back to stuffing his fists in Cerrone’s
face until he’s chopped down by a Cerrone leg kick. He pops
right back up and keeps the punches coming, only to be sent to
the floor again with a low kick. Diaz stands up this time and
takes Cerrone’s back standing, but he’s quickly shucked
off. Diaz wades into close quarters to throw now, finding success
with uppercuts and defending a sweep from Cerrone. The Cowboy
falls backward after landing a head kick and can’t pounce
on the downed Diaz. Another leg kick trips Diaz to the ground;
he stands back up. Cerrone tries to sweep Diaz down again, leaving
himself open for a three-piece to the face. With two minutes
to go, Diaz seems to have slowed the momentum of Cerrone and
is now moving forward on the tired Greg Jackson pupil. Diaz hits
a standing elbow, misses with a step-in knee and connects with
a two-punch combo. He’s swept down again, but when Diaz
gets up, he sends Cerrone staggering backward with a left straight.
Diaz gets the better of the last 30 seconds with hooks to the
body and face.
Jordan
Breen scores the round 10-9 Diaz
Freddie DeFreitas scores the round 10-9 Diaz
Chris Nelson scores the round 10-9 Diaz
Round
3
Diaz flips double birds at Cerrone from across the Octagon as
the final round begins, then gets back to putting those same
two hands on Cowboy’s face. Diaz is getting his volume going,
mixing up combinations to the body and head. Diaz lands a kick
to Cerrone’s ribs, ducks in with a three-piece and zips
away before Cerrone can counter. Cerrone connects with a solid
knee to the solar plexus of Diaz, who’s keeping more space
as the bout enters its final three minutes. Cerrone sweeps Diaz
to the ground, lets him back up. Diaz, who’s showing damage
on his left eye, is still throwing plenty of punches but they’re
finally beginning to slow. Cerrone lands a knee and Diaz answers
with a harder one and a pair of punches. Diaz goes down again
from a leg kick, and again is allowed back up. Down to the final
minute now, Diaz is still coming forward, ripping combos to the
ribs and jaw of Cerrone, who’s looking for a big flying
knee. Diaz rattles off another dozen punches, blocks a head kick
and gets kicked down again. They finish throwing and shake hands
after the horn.
Jordan
Breen scores the round 10-9 Diaz (30-26 Diaz)
Freddie DeFreitas scores the round 10-9 9 Diaz (30-27 Diaz)
Chris Nelson scores the round 10-9 9 Diaz (30-26 Diaz)
Official
result: The judges’ scorecards read 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28,
all in favor of the winner by unanimous decision, Nate Diaz.
Brock
Lesnar vs. Alistair Overeem
Round
1
Referee Mario Yamasaki is the third man in the cage for tonight’s
scheduled five-round main event and heavyweight title eliminator.
Lesnar bounces on his toes to begin as Overeem crouches and approaches
with caution. Lesnar wades inside and ducks under an overhand
right. Overeem hops away from a Lesnar single leg but he’s
cut above his right eye. Stepping in, Overeem lands a solid knee
to the body, then shoves him into the fence. More knees up the
gut land on Lesnar and the ex-UFC champ is composed but moving
backward. Lesnar is throwing single left crosses and gets jacked
with another big knee. A kick to the liver sends Lesnar to the
floor, covering up. Overeem stands over his crouching, covering
opponent, socking Lesnar with heavy right hands until ref Yamasaki
steps in. The TKO finish comes officially at 2:26 of round one.
Source: Sherdog
|
UFC
144: Return to Japan Fight Card Rumors
UFC
Japan: Edgar vs. Henderson (UFC 144)
Date: February 26, 2012
Venue: Saitama Super Arena
Location: Saitama, Japan
Main
Bouts (on Pay-Per-View):
-Frankie Edgar (14-1-1; #1 Lightweight)* vs. Benson Henderson
(15-2; #7 Lightweight)*
-Quinton Jackson (32-9; #5 Light Heavyweight)* vs. Ryan Bader
(13-2)
-Mark Hunt (7-7) vs. Cheick Kongo (17-6-2)
-Yoshihiro Akiyama (13-4) vs. Jake Shields (26-6-1; #7 Welterweight)*
-Anthony Pettis (14-2; #9 Lightweight) vs. Joe Lauzon (21-6)
Preliminary
Bouts:
-Yushin Okami (26-6; #3 Middleweight)* vs. Tim Boetsch (14-4)
-Takanori Gomi (32-8) vs. George Sotiropoulos (14-4)
-Hatsu Hioki (25-4-2) vs. Bart Palaszewski (36-14)
-Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto (18-5) vs. Vaughan Lee (11-7-1)
-Riki Fukuda (17-5) vs. Steve Cantwell (7-5)
-Takeya Mizugaki (15-6-2) vs. Chris Cariaso (12-3)
-Tiequan Zhang (15-2) vs. Leonard Garcia (15-8-1)
*Based
on the MMAWeekly.com World MMA Rankings
UFC
Japan (UFC 144) Start Time:
Main Card on PPV: 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT (Live)
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
UFC
141 Preview: The Main Card
By Tristen
Critchfield
Overeem
has 33 finishes.
For
its final offering of 2011, the UFC shows consideration for the
social lives of the fight fan, scheduling its heavyweight extravaganza
on a Friday so as not to conflict with any ball-dropping, champagne-swilling
celebrations that might ensue on New Year’s Eve.
The
promotion could have taken a hard line stance because the showdown
between Brock Lesnar and Alistair Overeem is the type of tilt
that would force viewers to make difficult life decisions no
matter the air date. Both men pass the eye test when it comes
to looking the part of dominant heavyweight, and a future bout
with current champion Junior dos Santos awaits the winner. Though
the contest is scheduled for five rounds as a non-title main
event, few expect it to last that long.
Going
down from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, UFC 141 also
features a lightweight attraction between Donald Cerrone and
Nate Diaz, as well as a key welterweight tilt between Jon Fitch
and Johny Hendricks.
There
is nothing better than capping off a few weeks of holiday indulgence
than by watching highly skilled combatants burn calories in the
cage. Here is a look at the UFC 141 main card, with analysis
and picks.
Heavyweights
Brock Lesnar (5-2, 4-2 UFC) vs. Alistair Overeem (35-11, 0-0
UFC)
The
Matchup: The UFC is marketing this No. 1 contender’s match
as big on big, but the questions surrounding both men are supersized,
as well.
Overeem
has been on a tear of late, having won 10 straight mixed martial
arts bouts, with eight of those coming inside of a round. Until
a June fight with Fabricio Werdum, much of that dominance had
come against less-than-stellar competition. The K-1 champion
looked tentative against Werdum, content to throw one punch at
a time instead of putting together combinations. The Brazilian
actually outstruck Overeem while finding success with punches
down the middle, but his overall lack of aggression allowed “Demolition
Man” to take home the decision. Overeem’s lackluster
performance did little to strike fear into the hearts of future
opponents. Couple that with Overeem’s difficulties in supplying
a urine sample to the Nevada State Athletic Commission prior
to this fight, and there are plenty of doubts surrounding the
former Strikeforce champion as he makes his Octagon debut.
Meanwhile,
Lesnar has issues of his own, mostly regarding his physical well-being.
Ongoing bouts with diverticulitis have robbed the former heavyweight
champion of two potentially prime years of his MMA career. At
34 years old, there is no guarantee that Lesnar will ever become
the force many imagined after he destroyed Frank Mir at UFC 100.
In his last two bouts, Lesnar displayed an alarming lack of composure
when he was tagged, which is a point of concern when facing a
striker on the level of Overeem. The hulking Minnesotan will
have to show better standup defense than he did against either
Shane Carwin or Cain Velasquez, because neither of them possesses
Overeem’s technical skill on the feet.
This
is not to say that Lesnar is destined to go downhill, because
the former NCAA national wrestling champion might be healthier
than he has been in years. At his best, Lesnar displays frightening
athleticism for a man his size -- especially when shooting for
his patented power double-leg takedown, and the prospect of Lesnar
in top position is daunting, even for a man of Overeem’s
stature. Overeem has plenty of weapons to help him avoid playing
the wrestling game with the former World Wrestling Entertainment
star. He can land strikes from distances that Lesnar cannot,
and his timing at defending takedowns is excellent. If the fight
ends up in the clinch, Overeem can do damage with knees.
Overeem
appeared winded following his win over Werdum, and Lesnar might
find that his best chance at victory will come from wearing down
the Dutchman. While adept at preventing the takedown, Overeem
is not in the class of Velasquez when it comes to getting back
up.
Other
than his bout with Werdum, Overeem has not seen the second round
in a fight since 2007, and Lesnar figures to employ a pressuring
style that will tire his opponent much more quickly than Werdum’s
jiu-jitsu-centric approach.
The
Pick: Lesnar will have to use his standup to set up takedowns,
because bull rushing Overeem is a recipe for disaster. Regardless
of how well the fight goes for the Team Death Clutch representative,
at some point he is going to have to react to being hit. Lesnar’s
best chance is to fight in close quarters while persistently
pursuing takedowns. Overeem has the uncanny ability to make a
man question his chin, however, and his tools on the feet are
ultimately going to be too great for Lesnar to overcome. When
Lesnar leaves an opening, Overeem will capitalize for a second-round
technical knockout.
Lightweights
Donald Cerrone (17-3, 4-0 UFC) vs. Nate Diaz (14-7, 9-5 UFC)
The
Matchup: With 10 “Fight of the Night” bonuses between
these two, this has all the makings of a crowd-pleasing classic.
Cerrone has had one of the best years of anyone in mixed martial
arts, and a win over Diaz -- potentially his fifth of 2011 --
would launch him to the forefront of any lightweight title discussion.
One of the most entertaining fighters to come from the WEC, “Cowboy”
seems to have corrected the tendency to start slow, which had
previously plagued him in losses. In victories over Charles Oliveira
and Dennis Siver, the Jackson’s Mixed Martial Arts product
was the clear aggressor in earning a pair of first-round finishes.
Diaz
is one of the sport’s “tweeners,” a talented fighter
who cannot seem to decide if he is better suited for welterweight
or lightweight. In the past, Diaz has been a game competitor
at lightweight, dropping hard-fought split decisions to top contenders
like Gray Maynard and Clay Guida. If his performance against
Takanori Gomi at UFC 135 was any indication, Diaz should try
to stick it out at 155 pounds. In that bout, the Stockton, Calif.,
native badly outclassed his opponent on the feet before finishing
the contest with an armbar inside of a round.
As
his career has progressed, Diaz’s standup has become more
and more like that of his brother, Nick Diaz -- a high volume
attack that allows him to land multiple combinations while somehow
remaining at a safe distance. Cerrone figures to be more than
willing to oblige when it comes to trading in the pocket, which
should lead to some entertaining exchanges. Neither man has been
finished by strikes, and that type of toughness can only increase
the sense of daring in a high-octane slugfest. Cerrone, a former
muay Thai national champion, hits harder and has the more varied
offense, however. The Colorado native can mix head kicks and
knees to keep Diaz off balance, while his low kicks have slowed
many an opponent.
In
the past, Diaz has been most vulnerable to the stylings of dominant
wrestlers who could control the Cesar Gracie pupil from the top
without exposing themselves to his crafty jiu-jitsu game. In
Cerrone, Diaz finds himself with an adversary with a similarly
dangerous ground game and distaste for wrestling. It should be
noted that Cerrone’s wrestling has greatly improved in recent
bouts, however, and being able to score a few takedowns could
give him a slight edge in what could be an extended battle.
The
Pick: Diaz will give Cerrone his money’s worth, but Cowboy
should have enough answers both on the feet and on the mat to
answer the challenge. Cerrone wins by unanimous decision.
Welterweights
Jon Fitch (23-3-1, 13-1-1 UFC) vs. Johny Hendricks (11-1, 6-1
UFC)
The
Matchup: Fitch returns to action for the first time since battling
to a draw with B.J. Penn at UFC 127 10 months ago. The American
Kickboxing Academy representative had surgery to repair a partially
torn rotator cuff in his shoulder. A perennial contender at welterweight,
Fitch is always a good measuring stick for an up-and-comer in
the division. With his last nine bouts going to the judges, the
former Purdue Boilermaker has not established himself as a must-see
attraction. No matter how effective he might be, it is always
going to be an uphill battle when it comes to earning another
title shot in the UFC.
As
a four-time All-American and two-time NCAA national champion
wrestler at Oklahoma State University, Hendricks has credentials
that surpass Fitch. With three technical knockout wins in his
Octagon career, the 28-year-old has also demonstrated a dynamic
element to his game. What Hendricks and Fitch have in common
is hard-fought triumphs over fellow wrestler Mike Pierce. Fitch
employed his usual strategy for two rounds against Pierce before
receiving a scare in the final frame, while Hendricks credits
his clinch work for a highly contentious split decision win against
him at UFC 133. With two determined wrestlers going head-to-head
here, this fight could be as close as their respective meetings
with Pierce.
There
is no secret as to what Fitch wants to do. The Fort Wayne, Ind.,
native attempts to impose his will by forcing clinches, pressing
his foe into the cage and working for takedowns. Fitch’s
approach is not backed by superior speed or athleticism, however.
Instead, he relies on a dogged determination, often digging in
on takedown attempts until he can force the fight to the floor.
Once there, he is an expert at working enough to maintain the
position for extended periods of time. He constantly tries to
pass guard, and when his opponent attempts to escape from the
bottom, Fitch is adept at countering with ground-and-pound.
Despite
his decorated wrestling background, Hendricks is going to want
to keep the fight standing. While Fitch has improved his striking,
his lack of quickness can sometimes leave him vulnerable to counter
shots. He has gotten better at setting up takedowns with punches,
but Hendricks can drain Fitch’s gas tank if he is able to
sprawl and defend. If Hendricks can remain upright into the third
round, he has a chance at catching Fitch on the feet.
The
Pick: Hendricks is still improving his all-round skills, but
he is not quite ready for the relentless effort of Fitch. He
will have his moments, but Fitch will assert himself enough to
hold on for a decision win.
Light
Heavyweights Vladimir Matyushenko (26-5, 7-3 UFC) vs. Alexander
Gustafsson (12-1, 4-1 UFC)
The
Matchup: It has become fashionable to label Matyushenko as a
product of a bygone era given the fact that he once challenged
Tito Ortiz for the light heavyweight title at UFC 33, but it
would be unwise to dismiss “The Janitor” so easily.
Matyushenko has quietly won four of five fights in his second
UFC go around, with his only loss coming at the hands of current
205-pound champion Jon Jones.
For
all the talk of his perceived lack of athleticism, the Belarusian
looked explosive in dispatching Jason Brilz in 20 seconds at
UFC 129. Known primarily for his wrestling chops, Matyushenko
hit an uppercut followed by a straight right to drop Brilz before
finishing his opponent with a barrage of hammerfists on the ground.
It was his second straight stoppage inside of a round.
He
will need to bring his A-game against Gustafsson, an intriguing
prospect who has also won four of his last five Octagon appearances.
A lanky 6-foot-5, the Swede was spectacular in earning a technical
knockout victory against Matt Hamill at UFC 133, demonstrating
superior speed and movement while throttling the takedowns of
“The Ultimate Fighter 3” alumnus.
Matyushenko
presents a similar challenge, if only with more experience. Though
he demonstrated much improved striking in the win over Brilz,
The Janitor will likely want to get this one to the ground as
soon as possible. Gustafsson has plenty of pop and is capable
of stringing together solid combinations in a standup affair.
However, it is no guarantee that Matyushenko controls the action
if it goes to the mat, because Gustafsson has demonstrated a
willingness to take chances in order to improve position and
get submissions, and he is also decent in scrambles.
The
Pick: The odds are against Matyushenko wading through the attacks
of Gustafsson to impose his wrestling, but it is a risk he will
have to take. There is always a possibility of him landing something
substantial, as he did against Brilz, but Gustafsson has more
weapons at his disposal. The Stockholm native hurts Matyushenko
with strikes before tapping him on the ground in the third frame.
Featherweights
Nam Phan (17-9, 1-2 UFC) vs. Jim Hettes (9-0, 1-0 UFC)
The
Matchup: Phan was able to erase the bitter taste of his “The
Ultimate Fighter 12” Finale loss to Leonard Garcia in October,
outstriking “Bad Boy” -- again -- en route to sweeping
the judges’ scorecards at UFC 136. In that contest, Phan
showcased hand speed and pinpoint combinations while avoiding
the takedowns that might have led to his demise in the questionable
2010 defeat to the Jackson’s Mixed Martial Arts representative.
Phan
would like to follow a similar blueprint against Hettes, a 24-year-old
jiu-jitsu specialist who has yet to see a third round in his
nine-bout career.
Hettes
forced Alex Caceres to tap out to a rear-naked choke in his UFC
debut in August. After dropping a back-and-forth opening frame
to “Bruce Leroy,” Hettes found his groove in round
two, hurling his opponent to the floor twice with judo throws
before attempting at least three different submissions on the
mat. That is par for the course for Hettes, who has five different
submissions wins in his brief career to date.
Phan
-- who has solid conditioning and a decent chin to go with his
technical standup -- should avoid tangling with “The Kid”
at close range, where the Pennsylvanian can put his considerable
arsenal to work. Phan struggled in tight positions in a loss
to Mike Thomas Brown at UFC 133, as the former WEC featherweight
champion took him down five times before punishing the Californian
with ground-and-pound. When upright, the former Strikeforce and
Sengoku Raiden Championship veteran was in his element, however,
connecting with punishing shots to the head and body of Brown.
Phan
has a wealth of experience in addition to his well-known “Fight
of the Night” battles with Garcia, with fights against the
likes of Michihiro Omigawa, Billy Evangelista, Gesias “JZ”
Cavalcante and Josh Thomson outside of the Octagon. Having already
gone the distance 11 times will be an asset for him against Hettes,
who has no doubt grown accustomed to the quick finish.
The
Pick: Hettes has myriad options on the ground, but, even if he
gets Phan there, he will find his opponent difficult to submit.
The Vietnamese-American should be able to keep Hettes at bay
with his superior striking and survive a few tight spots to earn
a unanimous decision.
Source:
Sherdog
|
Finalized
match order for Inoki NYE card; TBS rejects airing show on TV
By Zach
Arnold
DREAM
Bantamweight tournament reserve match: Hideo Tokoro vs. Yusup
Saadulaev
DREAM Bantamweight tournament semi-finals: Masakazu Imanari vs.
Antonio Banuelos
DREAM Bantamweight tournament semi-finals: Bibiano Fernandes
vs. Rodolfo Marquez Diniz
Women’s MMA fight: Megumi Fujii vs. Karla Benitez
DREAM Featherweight match: Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Kazuyuki Miyata
DREAM Welterweight match: Hayato “Mach” Sakurai vs.
Ryo Chonan
Kickboxing match: Masaaki Noiri vs. Kengo Sonoda
Kickboxing match: Yuta Kubo vs. Nils Widlund
IGF rules match: Josh Barnett vs. Hideki Suzuki
Mixed rules fight (1R 3 minutes kickboxing, 2R 5 mins DREAM rules):
Yuichiro Nagashima vs. Katsunori Kikuno
DREAM Bantamweight tournament finals
IGF rules match: Jerome Le Banner vs. Tim Sylvia
IGF rules match: Kazuyuki Fujita vs. Peter Aerts
IGF rules match: Atsushi Sawada & Wakakirin vs. Kazushi Sakuraba
& Katsuyori Shibata
DREAM Feathereweight title match: Hiroyuki Takaya vs. Lion Takeshi
DREAM Lightweight title match: Shinya Aoki vs. Satoru Kitaoka
DREAM Heavyweight match: Fedor Emelianenko vs. Satoshi Ishii
Tokyo Broadcasting System passes on airing the event on TV
The
other shoe dropped. Satoshi Ishii has been understandably, but
still shockingly absent from the Japanese press. Fedor has been
doing the PR rounds. Not only did this show turn out to be a
one-fight show for the casual fans, it is turning out to be a
one-man show literally with Fedor as the centerpiece.
As
for Ishii, this is a lousy predicament. If he beats Fedor, the
impact will be marginalized because it’s not on TV. It was
still the right move for him to take the fight, but a lot of
the upside is lessened.
Here’s
Ed Buckley talking about the upcoming Fedor/Ishii fight. He says
the game plan is to have a stand-up battle. If that’s the
case, that likely will contradict Ishii’s prediction of
winning by decision because if this fight stays standing the
whole time then somebody’s going to get rocked.
Source:
Fight Opinion
|
UFC
141 Main Event Breakdown: Brock Lesnar vs. Alistair Overeem
By Mike
Chiappetta
In
analyzing a matchup, you look at past history as a projection
tool for future performance. But what does the recent past mean
for either Brock Lesnar or Alistair Overeem?
Lesnar
hasn't fought in over a year, time spent mostly recovering from
a serious recurrence of diverticulitis that necessitated removal
of a diseased 12-inch section of his colon. Life's also been
fairly rocky for Overeem, who split with his longtime team Golden
Glory, was temporarily released from his Zuffa contract, and
most recently returned home to help his mother battle through
cancer. His last time out in the cage wasn't exactly telling,
either. He fought just once in 2011, a bout which he won by decision
against Fabricio Werdum that is mostly remembered for lengthy
stretches of inactivity.
Suffice
it to say, neither fighter comes into the UFC 141 main event
with major momentum.
Complicating
the matter of predicting this fight is question marks in each
man's game.
For
Overeem, it's his defensive wrestling. We all know that Lesnar
will go for the takedown at the first available opportunity.
Will Overeem be capable of stopping him? According to FightMetric,
Overeem stops 76 percent of takedown tries.
That's
a great number, but when you look at who he's fought, how many
real wrestling threats he has had to shut down? He really hasn't
faced a prime functional MMA wrestler since 2003, when he lost
to Chuck Liddell. At the time, Overeem was 23 years old and practically
a stick figure compared to his current appearance.
Since
then, the only fighter he's faced with a strong wrestling background
was Kaz Fujita, who was 39 years old at the time and came into
the match losing four of six. Only two of his last 10 opponents
have managed to put Overeem on his back: Fabricio Werdum and
Mark Hunt.
Lesnar
has better wrestling credentials than any of those recent foes,
and he's also bigger and stronger than them.
On
the other hand, it's certainly fair to wonder how Lesnar will
respond to Overeem's vaunted striking game. Lesnar had big trouble
against each of his last two foes, Cain Velasquez and Shane Carwin
when it came to standup. A former K-1 World Grand Prix champion,
Overeem is far more accomplished than either of those men, and
he's KO'd three of his last four MMA opponents.
Overeem
is also known for his powerful knees, a technique that can be
a major deterrent for a wrestler looking to go at the legs for
a takedown.
Lesnar
once pointed out how he had a head "like a ball-peen hammer,"
but in each of his last two fights, he's taken a lot of punches
in a short amount of time, and didn't look like he much enjoyed
it. If he had spent a significant amount of time over the last
few months further adjusting to standup, we might expect him
to look more comfortable as he tries to close the distance, but
since he was simply in a bed recovering for a lot of that time,
it's unlikely to expect much change in that regard.
And
so this fight will be like an old-school MMA bout, the wrestler
knowing he can only win by taking it to the ground, and the striker
needing to stay on his feet.
Which
is more likely to happen?
I
expect this one to get off to a slow start as Lesnar decides
upon the timing of an approach and Overeem comes out ready to
defend the first shot. A lot of the fight's outcome will depend
on their first engagement.
If
Lesnar quickly takes Overeem down, he gets the early momentum.
And let's face it, most of Lesnar's opponents have not been able
to get back up when he's gotten them to the mat. He has great
positioning and can inflict some damage from the top.
But
Cain Velasquez showed it is possible to get back to your feet
against him. Of course, Velasquez, like Lesnar, has a decorated
wrestling background, so he's quite familiar with working his
way up from that position.
Overeem
doesn't have that in his background, and as previously mentioned,
he hasn't recently faced wrestlers, so we don't really know if
he'll wilt under there or be able to use his athleticism to get
back up. Overeem also hasn't let reporters in on his pre-fight
training, so we don't know how much exposure he had to top level
wrestlers.
Since
he had more than three months to prepare and spent some time
at Xtreme Couture, we have to assume that it was a focus of his
camp. And while it's not enough to completely cancel out Lesnar's
experience edge there, it might enough to keep him upright long
enough to hurt the former UFC champion.
UFC
president Dana White likes to point out that "styles make
fights," and that's exactly what's riveting about this one.
Generally speaking, a good wrestler beats a good striker 75 percent
of the time because he can control position, but heavyweights
bring so much power to the table that one strike can change the
outcome in a flash.
Overeem's
récent troubles are enough to keep a man unfocused, but
Lesnar wasn't even working out for most of 2011, and that seems
far more problematic. His surgery was seven months ago, and he
only began training again in September. That may have provided
him enough time to return to normal physically, but it didn't
allow him any time to expand his arsenal or even shake off ring
rust.
Overeem
has been more active and doesn't have any lingering doubt about
his body betraying him. If Lesnar still has doubts about his
own health, we'll see them. Overeem may only need to stop one
takedown to turn the tide for good. I'm betting he's able to
stay upright long enough to win. Overeem in a second-round TKO.
Source:
MMA Fighting
|
Jon
Fitch Won’t Beg and Won’t Plead; He Wants to Earn Another
Title Shot
by Damon
Martin
Thirteen
wins in the UFC. One winning streak of eight bouts, another of
five in a row, and his only loss in the promotion is to reigning
UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre more than three years
ago.
Despite
those sterling accolades, Jon Fitch is still struggling for relevancy
in the UFC’s welterweight division, and always seems just
one fight away from another shot at the title.
Prior
to his 2010 fight against Thiago Alves at UFC 117, it was declared
that the winner would get the next crack at the title, but still,
as 2011 closes, Fitch has not been offered or even been on the
short list of potential opponents for that elusive gold belt.
Some
say it’s Fitch’s fighting style that keeps him away
from another shot at the belt. A wrestler by nature, Fitch has
ground many opponents into the mat and wore them down to a nub,
but unanimous decisions don’t electrify the way that finishes
do.
While
his teammate Josh Koscheck got a shot at St-Pierre last year,
and former Strikeforce champion Jake Shields took a crack at
the champion in 2011, Fitch continued to work away. He’ll
do the same again at UFC 141 when he faces Johny Hendricks.
One
thing that Fitch won’t do however is change his style to
try and appease anybody. Winning is the first and foremost thing
on his mind, and as time goes on, he is committed to nothing
else and he believes his fans appreciate that.
“No,
and as time goes on, it gets less and less, even,” Fitch
told MMAWeekly Radio when asked if there was pressure on him
to change his fighting style.
“The
further I go and the better I do, I get more and more fans. I
feel kind of like Ron Paul. The more people who see me fight
and appreciate my fighting and understand MMA and understand
fighting, what a real fight is, it’s not pro wrestling,
I get more and more support. I have more fans supporting me now
than I ever have.”
Much
like his favorite presidential candidate, Ron Paul, Jon Fitch
would like to get elected one day too, but his goal is another
shot at the UFC welterweight title, not politics. What Fitch
won’t do to get it, however, is to beg, plead, or ask fans
to bombard Dana White via Twitter.
If
Fitch gets another shot at the welterweight belt, he’s going
to get it because he’s earned it and for no other reason.
“I
like things to happen organically. I don’t want to be begging
for people’s support. I don’t want to be like, ‘oh
please say this for me.’ I love it when people step up and
say it because that’s what they feel, cause to me that’s
real and that’s genuine,” said Fitch.
“I
don’t like anything fake. I don’t want to be gifted
anything, I don’t want to be handed anything, just because.
I like earning things.”
The
former Purdue wrestler admits he doesn’t even like receiving
Christmas presents because he’d rather go out and earn the
money to buy things for himself. Call it a strange way of thinking,
but Fitch would tell you he’s just willing to work for whatever
he gets.
That’s
what he’ll do once again at UFC 141 when he faces former
NCAA champion Johny Hendricks.
If
you look at any top ten ranking system, Hendricks isn’t
listed, but Fitch definitely is. If you look at the list of contenders
in line for a shot at the title, Hendricks generally isn’t
mentioned, but Fitch is always right there.
The
point is, Hendricks may not have the accomplishments, rankings,
or prestige attached to his name that Jon Fitch does, but the
Indiana native knows he’s just as tough as anyone out there.
See, Jon Fitch doesn’t take fights against lesser opponents.
He
only wants to fight guys that actually have a real, legit shot
at beating him.
“I
don’t fight anybody who’s weak sauce,” Fitch stated.
“The guys I fight are always very tough, and after my fights
they always carry on and have very full careers and do very well.”
He
expects nothing less out of Hendricks and, if he wins, he’ll
gladly accept a title shot if that’s what the powers-that-be
decide to offer him. He’ll even be ready in case either
Nick Diaz or Carlos Condit aren’t available for their bout
at UFC 143 on Feb 4.
“I’ll
probably make sure that I’m ready to go when those guys
are fighting in February too because you never know,” said
Fitch. “Somebody might get hurt or somebody might miss a
press conference. You never know.”
No
matter what happens, Jon Fitch is going to earn his way and wants
to be handed nothing.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
After
Japan, Shields plans move up in weight to dazzle again
Contributor:
Junior Samurai
Unable
to make the impact in the UFC welterweight division he would
have liked to, Jake Shields is now toying with the idea of returning
to the middleweight division, where he had a long run beating
top-flight competition. “It’s something I’ve thought
about before and I was thinking about it [before] this fight,
but they offered me this fight [and] I took it. Especially with
my teammate, Nick Diaz, challenging for the welterweight title,
it’s definitely in the back of my mind going up to 185 [pounds],”
the black belt is quoted as saying on the MMAWeekly.com website.
At
middleweight Shields won the Strikeforce title and even beat
the likes of Dan Henderson and Jason Miller. At welterweight
he didn’t see the same fortune, struggling to eke out a
split decision over Martin Kampmann, losing his title bid to
Georges Saint-Pierre, and losing to Jake Ellenberger by TKO.
A
Cesar Gracie student and training partner to Nick and Nate Diaz,
Shields sees a move up as a way to avoid not putting a strain
on his longtime friendships. “I’d fight sparring partners,
but [Nick and I] are different. We trained together for, like,
11 years; so it’s a little different. We’re not just
casual sparring partners. There’s a big difference,”
he says in the same article.
Shields’s
next date in the octagon comes at UFC 144 against judo stylist
Yoshihiro Akiyama, who will be making his welterweight debut.
The event will be held February 26 at Japan’s traditional
Saitama Super Arena, and the main event is a thrilling lightweight
title showdown between champion Frankie Edgar and Ben Henderson.
Check out the card:
UFC
144
Saitama Super Arena, Saitama, Japão
26 de fevereiro de 2012
Frankie
Edgar vs Ben Henderson
Quinton Jackson vs Ryan Bader
Cheick Kongo vs Mark Hunt
Yoshihiro Akiyama vs Jake Shields
Joe Lauzon vs Anthony Pettis
Yushin Okami vs Tim Boetsch
Riki Fukuda vs Steve Cantwell
Norifumi Yamamoto vs Vaughan Lee
Takanori Gomi vs George Sotiropoulos
Takeya Mizugaki vs Chris Cariaso
Tiequan Zhang vs Leonard Garcia
Hatsu Hioki vs Bart Palaszewski
Source:
Gracie Magazine
|
Dana
White on Torres rehire: “Your opinions don’t mean [expletive]
to me”
By Zach
Arnold
Now,
this… this turned out to be quite the interview for a lot
of reasons if you study the psychology of this man. He declined
to comment on the Alistair Overeem/NSAC steroid test situation.
He claims that Brock Lesnar is ‘nearly a 2-to-1 underdog’
to Alistair Overeem (Overeem is only a -140 favorite, 7 to 5).
That
wasn’t the only whopper. Sergio Non (@usatmma) recounted
this quip from Dana yesterday:
“When
I lie to you — I’m honest when I have to lie to you.”
The
real meat of this interview is at the beginning when he’s
asked to address why he fired-and-rehired Miguel Torres for his
‘rape tweet’ when Forrest Griffin got a pass for his
Twitter antics (on the night Joe Paterno got the axe from Penn
State) and Rashad Evans, despite getting eviscerated by Jim Rome
on ESPN for his Jerry Sandusky crack towards Phil Davis (UFC
Fox 2 Chicago presser), didn’t get the hammer dropped on
him.
In
short: Vince McMahon logic applies here. “Screw you, I’ll
do whatever I want.” OK, here’s the long version:
ARIEL
HELWANI: “We talked in Toronto. You said pretty definitively
he’s not coming back. No way, no how. Why did you change
your mind?”
DANA
WHITE: “Well… I don’t know if I said he’s
not coming back no way, no how. What I said, yeah, he’s
been cut from the UFC. You know, he went out… and talked
about something that you shouldn’t talk about on Twitter,
it makes absolutely no sense whether you’re joking, whether
it’s from a TV show, whatever it is… It makes no sense.
So, when I was away on vacation, his manager texted me and said,
‘can we come in next week and meet with you?’ And I
said yes and I set it up through my secretary. So, they did.
They came in here (yesterday) and Miguel Torres sat on that court
right there (yesterday) and, first of all, I haven’t talked
to Miguel Torres since this whole incident, I haven’t talked
to him at all. Umm… on his own, he went out and met with
five rape crisis centers in Chicago, he donated money to all
of them, he’s been taking rape sensitivity classes, and
this whole thing has been a pretty traumatic experience for him
and the things that he’s gone through the last, umm, the
last several weeks.
“I
am one of those people that ‘everybody f***s up, everybody
makes mistakes.’ I do, you do, believe it or not, everyone
who’s watching does. We all make mistakes and we will make
more. What I judge a person on is how they handle themselves
after they make those mistakes. You know… never once did
Miguel Torres flip out and say, ‘oh, this or that’
or point the fingers at anybody else. He went out and handled
his business like a man. There’s so many guys that I’ve
seen in this sport that get busted for something and deny it
and say that it’s not true and, you know, think that there’s
conspiracies against them and all kinds of bull****. The way
that Miguel Torres went out and handled this, I have nothing
but respect for him and I truly and honestly know that he learned
something from this situation and hopefully everybody else did,
too. Because I’ll be honest with you — when I sat with
him here today, it’s not like I haven’t through this.
I’ve been through this same [expletive]. I know what it’s
like, I know what happens. And everything that he said to me
(yesterday) was from the heart, he means it, and I get it and
I have nothing but respect for Miguel.”
ARIEL
HELWANI: “Are you at all concerned that now people will
say, all right, Dana says something…”
DANA
WHITE: “People say all kinds of [expletive]. I was criticized
for cutting him. Now I’m going to be criticized for bringing
him back. I don’t give a [expletive] what anybody thinks.
I don’t care what the fans have to say about it. I don’t
care what the reporters are going to say or write about it. You
know, you can all have your opinions. Your opinions don’t
mean [expletive] to me. I’m going to run this thing the
way that I want to and I’m going to do things the way that
I think it should be done. I know when I cut Miguel Torres that
I did the right thing and I know I did the right thing (yesterday)
by bringing him back.”
ARIEL
HELWANI: “Does he return to the UFC in the same spot that
he was in before this incident or does he have to sort of work
his way back up?”
DANA
WHITE: “No, he’s the same guy, the same fighter. He’s
in the same position he was. I mean, him coming back has nothing
to do with where he sits in this company or, you know, as far
as a fighter or whatever. You know, I’ve had a little bit
of interaction with Miguel Torres over the last several years.
Nothing big, nothing great. My interaction with Miguel Torres
(yesterday morning)… I really, really respect and like this
guy a lot. First of all, like I said, nobody told him to do this.
It wasn’t ‘go do this and maybe we’ll bring you
back in the UFC.’ Never. We didn’t talk to him at all.
… That’s the way I handle things. Everything is on
a case-by-case basis and we’ll deal with, you know, stuff
as it comes.”
*****
Later
on in the interview, Dana was asked to comment about Jon Fitch’s
concerns that MMA is devolving into pro-wrestling. The reply
was exactly what you would expect from Dana White in return.
“Heh
heh. I would say that… First of all, I’m sure if he’s
saying that guys who talk a lot a stuff, talking about a Chael
Sonnen… Chael came back… Say what you want about Chael
Sonnen, he backs that [expletive] up. Nobody’s ever in the
history of the UFC fought Anderson Silva the way that Chael Sonnen
did. Nobody. You know, he goes out, he puts on exciting fights,
and he backs up everything that he says. Is the guy nutty? He’s
nutty as hell, but he backs up everything that he says.
(Ed.
— And he did it while admittedly using testosterone. Don’t
let the facts get in the way of a good story.)
“People
can think pro-wrestling or whatever… The problem with Jon
Fitch is, you know, you hear this same thing from everybody about
Jon Fitch. ‘If I want to fall asleep and I can’t get
to sleep at night, I’ll put in a Jon Fitch fight.’
You know, and… whatever you think, Jon Fitch is one of the
best 170 pounders in the world and, yes, he’s in the hunt
for the title again. But everybody, I mean, find one person that
will tell you that they love a Jon Fitch fight, it’s the
most exciting thing they’ve ever seen and they just get
so excited for it. So, when you say that you have a fight like
(Donald) Cerrone and (Nate) Diaz on the card and a guy with a
record like [Fitch's] is on and people aren’t jumping out
of their seats for that fight, you know, I think Jon needs to
have a little bit of a, you know, he’s got to be a little
honest with himself and have a little bit of a reality check
when he talks about stuff like that.”
Source:
Fight Opinion
|
Dos
Santos doesn’t wanna revenge Minotauro Nogueira
by Evelyn
Rodrigues
The
Brazilian Junior “Cigano” dos Santos this Tuesday,
November 27th, on an event promoted by the UFC with children
with cancer held by “It Ain’t Chemo” association.
The event is part of “UFC Community Program” and it
happened at TUF’s gym, in Las Vegas. Besides Cigano, there
were on the event names like Roy Nelson, Dominick Cruz, Travis
Browne and Frank Mir. It was the first time Dos Santos stared
at Mir after the bout on which the American broke Rodrigo Nogueira’s
arm, a friend of the Brazilian, at UFC 140.
When
asked about how he felt to share the same room with Mir, Junior
stated: “I didn’t even talk to him. I said hi to Mir
because he said to me before”, said the Brazilian, who also
claimed not to be upset about the outcome of the fight between
the American and Nogueira. “I just think it was a complicated
fight for all Brazilians, mainly for us at Team Nogueira. He
(Rodrigo) had the win in his hands and with Frank Mir knocked
out in front of him, and, for some reason, he didn’t keep
punching him, he tried to fit a guillotine choke and Frank Mir
was lucky enough to grab his arm, and grabbed the chance when
he had one”, said Junior.
“The
problem was that he broke Rodriogo’s arm, and he has just
recovered, and now he’ll stay some time off. But we know
it already, I know what it’ll be the result of it: Rodrigo
will comeback and bring much joy to all of us”, completed.
Junior
dos Santos also stated he doesn’t want to revenge his friend’s
loss. “I don’t need to revenge him. I guess there’s
no such thing, I guess he (Rodrigo) can do it himself. But I
confess I have never picked out opponents and I won’t, but
if someday I fight Frank Mir, absolutely it’d be an interesting
fight”, affirmed.
Dos
Santos might train again in 10 days
On
a visit to Las Vegas to watch UFC 141, which main event will
define Junior dos Santos’s next opponent, the Brazilian
athlete takes some time off. The athlete remains in the city
until January 3rd. “I want to go shopping, spend some time
with my wife. I know I’ll have a good start in 2012, but
I can’t wait to train again”, stated the fighter, who
also explained that his recovering after the knee surgery is
going better than expected.
“It’s
great. There’re 17 days I’ve gone through the surgery
and I’m feeling fine. I just got to regain confidence and
train again, but in 10 days I’ll be training normally”,
completed.
As
for Brock Lesnar VS. Alistair Overeem, a bout that will define
his next opponent, the Brazilian said he believes it’ll
be tied. “It’s a tough fight for the both of them.
I’m saying it’ll be 50-50, but Brock has more chances
on the beginning of the fight because he’s more explosive
and goes for it”, analyzed the champion.
Source:
Tatame
|
Pros
Pick: Lesnar vs. Overeem
By Mike
Sloan
Everybody
loves a showdown between two explosive behemoths. The UFC 141
main event provides just such a matchup, as the 6-foot-3, 265
pound Brock Lesnar collides with the 6-foot-5, 256-pound Alistair
Overeem in a heavyweight title eliminator on Friday at the MGM
Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
Which
goliath will find a way to impose his will?
Sherdog.com
caught up with a number of professional fighters and trainers
to gauge their opinions on the UFC 141 “Lesnar vs. Overeem”
headliner:
Travis
Wiuff: I’m gonna take Brock by first-round head-and-arm
choke.
Nam
Phan: I say Brock by decision.
Kyle
Kingsbury: I got Lesnar with the endurance edge, smashing The
’Reem in the second with some nasty ground-and-pound.
Travis
Lutter: I think Lesnar wins this one. I think his wrestling will
be the deciding factor.
Cub
Swanson: I think Lesnar is definitely worried about getting hit.
That’s what makes me think he’s gonna win. He will
quickly get the fight to the ground and get to the ground-and-pound
finish in the first round.
Marc
DellaGrotte: Battle of the giants. This could be a body building
contest at the weigh-ins. Will the curse of the Octagon debut
be a factor? Can Overeem keep it standing? Can Brock get it to
the ground? Seriously, these guys are huge. Either way, this
fight probably won’t go the distance. Brock is and always
will pose a serious threat to anyone in the division, and he
is only getting better. I have followed Overeem for a long time
thru muay Thai. He has serious KO power and can do it with any
weapon. I’m a huge fan of both fighters and wish them a
fun, exciting fight.
Yves
Edwards: This fight is all about the takedown. If Brock can secure
the takedown and control, he wins. Problem with that is he’s
going to have to do that and get the sub or do that for five
rounds. Alistair has to stop the takedown and look for the KO.
We’ve seen Brock take a beating and come back from it; we’ve
also seen him get beaten and break. I think Overeem can break
him, but will he? My pick is Overeem.
Eddy
Millis: Overeem wins this by brutal KO in less than 60 seconds.
John
Hackleman: I think it’s going to be Lesnar [winning] just
by pure athleticism. I think he’s going to rush in, get
the takedown, get top position and win that way. I think if he’s
dumb enough to stand and use some of his newfound standup skills,
he will get KO’d, but I predict that he is going to rush
in: a bum rush, football rush, whatever it takes to get Overeem
down, to get top position and pound it out.
Gabe
Ruediger: It’s all decided by wrestling. How good is Overeem’s
defense? Lesnar has great credentials and if he puts Overeem
on his back, it’s his fight, and I think he will. Lesnar
wins by superior wrestling.
Mike
Ciesnolevicz: This is a tough fight for me to pick. My first
thought when the UFC announced the match was that Overeem is
going to kill him because Lesnar is scared to get hit. I wasn’t
thinking about the fact that Lesnar is nearly 300 pounds of muscle
and athleticism with a strong wrestling background and top Brazilian
jiu-jitsu game. This fight is such a toss up for me. If it’s
the Lesnar that showed up against Frank Mir in their second fight,
then Overeem is done for. If Mir was helpless on his back, then
Overeem will get destroyed if he gets stuck underneath. The other
side of the coin is that Lesnar still is not very comfortable
when strikes are coming his way. He tends to shy away from strikes.
Overeem is brutal with his punches and knees. When it comes down
to it, I can see Brock bull rushing after a few punches come
his way, with Overeem using his Thai clinch and knees to the
body. Overeem wins by TKO in round one.
Joe
Duarte: Lesnar is a freak athlete, but he doesn’t like getting
hit. His size has carried him a long way, but his fight with
Cain [Velasquez] exposed him. Overeem eats real horses, medium
rare, which will give him the ability to TKO Brock in the second.
Benji
Radach: I’m going to say Lesnar by smothering/suffocation/ground-and-pound,
unless he wants to have a standup war with a K-1 champ (laughs).
Not sure that’s the best idea.
Michael
Guymon: We all know that Lesnar would be a human piñata
if he were to try and stand with Overeem. There is no secret
where Brock wants this fight to end up. This is simple to call.
If it goes to the ground, Brock takes it. If this fight stays
on the feet, Overeem takes it.
Keith
Berry: Overeem by KO in the first round.
Pros
Picking Lesnar: 8
Pros Picking Overeem: 5
No Pick: 2
Source
Sherdog
|
Shane
Del Rosario Signs with the UFC
by Damon
Martin
The
list of Strikeforce heavyweights moving to the UFC keeps getting
bigger and bigger.
Undefeated
prospect Shane Del Rosario will join former Strikeforce fighters
Fabricio Werdum and Chad Griggs as the latest to move to the
UFC.
The
signing was announced by Del Rosario’s manager Jason House
at Iridium Sports Agency on Wednesday.
With
a perfect 11-0 record in his career, Del Rosario has long been
looked at as one of the top prospects in the heavyweight division.
If
not for an unfortunate car accident earlier in 2011, Del Rosario
may have been the fighter chosen as an alternate for former Strikeforce
champion Alistair Overeem in the promotion’s Grand Prix
tournament.
Instead,
Del Rosario healed up and is now signed to the UFC to compete
in the heavyweight division, starting in 2012.
There’s
been no word on when Del Rosario will debut, but with cards being
put together for the first few months of the year, the news could
come down the pipeline at any time.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
UFC
141 Today!
MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada
12/30/11
Hawaii
Air Times:
Prelims 4:00-5:00PM Channel 559 SPIKE
UFC 141 5:00-8:00PM Channel 701
Main
Bouts (on Pay-Per-View):
-Brock Lesnar (5-2) vs. Alistair Overeem (35-11)
-Nate Diaz (14-7) vs. Donald Cerrone (17-3)
-Jon Fitch (23-3-1) vs. Johny Hendricks (11-1)
-Vladimir Matyushenko (26-5) vs. Alexander Gustafsson (12-1)
–Nam Phan (17-9) vs. Jim Hettes (9-0)
Preliminary
Bouts (on Spike TV):
-Ross Pearson (12-5) vs. Junior Assuncao (13-4)
-Anthony Njokuani (14-5) vs. Danny Castillo (12-4)
Preliminary
Bouts (on Facebook):
-Dong Hyun Kim (14-1-1) vs. Sean Pierson (11-5)
-Jacob Volkmann (13-2) vs. Efrain Escudero (18-3)
-Matt Riddle (5-3) vs. Luis Ramos (19-7)
-Manny Gamburyan (11-6) vs. Diego Nunes (16-2)
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
A
Brock and a Hard Place
By Brian
Knapp
Brock Lesnar will walk through the Octagon door for the first
time in more than a year later this week, minus roughly a foot
of his colon.
The
34-year-old former World Wrestling Entertainment superstar will
face Alistair Overeem in a heavyweight title eliminator at UFC
141 on Friday at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, some
seven months after he underwent abdominal surgery to remove a
troublesome section of his intestine. The procedure was performed
after a second bout with diverticulitis -- a condition in which
small pouches form in the wall of the colon and become inflamed
or infected -- threatened his career and left him on the sidelines.
Recovery
has given rise to renewed motivations.
“I
feel good. I guess you’ve just got to roll with the punches,
be able to adapt and stay focused on what’s most important,”
Lesnar said during a pre-fight conference call. “At first,
my health was the most important thing to worry about. Now that
I feel good about that, it’s the fighting and everything
else. A guy just wants to be healthy. If you don’t have
your health, you don’t have anything.”
Lesnar,
then the UFC heavyweight champion, was first diagnosed with diverticulitis
in 2009, when he withdrew from a planned UFC 106 matchup with
Shane Carwin. After altering his diet and avoiding surgery, he
returned to the cage at UFC 116 and submitted Carwin with an
arm-triangle choke. However, success was short-lived, as Lesnar
succumbed to first-round punches from Cain Velasquez and relinquished
his title to the American Kickboxing Academy ace at UFC 121.
He has not fought since, as his illness returned and forced him
out of a scheduled showdown with Junior dos Santos over the summer.
In
retrospect, Lesnar admits it would have been wise to go the surgical
route in wake of the original diagnosis.
“Looking
back in hindsight, you do things differently, but I accomplished
a lot in that year,” he said. “You’ve got to take
the good with the bad. That’s where we were. We were trying
to figure out what we should do and how we should approach it.
You live with your decisions.”
Overeem
is a deft finisher.
A
formidable hurdle greets Lesnar in his return. Unbeaten in 11
outings, Overeem has finished six of his last seven opponents
inside the first round, four of them in less than 90 seconds.
The
hulking Dutchman has held major MMA titles in Strikeforce and
Dream and won the K-1 World Grand Prix in 2010. Wins over Russian
heavyweight Sergei Kharitonov, former UFC light heavyweight champion
Vitor Belfort, two-time Abu-Dhabi Combat Club Submission Wrestling
World Championships gold medalist Fabricio Werdum and 2000 Pride
Fighting Championships open weight grand prix finalist Igor Vovchanchyn
dot Overeem’s lengthy resume.
“This
is a dog-eat-dog division,” Lesnar said. “It’s
definitely getting more competitive, so I’ve got to be more
competitive. I’m going to go out and try to do my best to
win this fight, and that’s really all I can try to control.”
A
potent and proven finisher, 33 of Overeem’s 35 career victories
have come via knockout, technical knockout or submission. Neither
man has ever fought past the third round. As such, Lesnar does
not expect their main event to reach the judges.
“This
is a heavyweight fight that we’re both going into trying
to finish,” he said. “I don’t foresee it going
five rounds.”
Lesnar
will enter the cage with one pronounced advantage: wrestling.
A four-time collegiate All-American, he won a Div. I national
championship at the University of Minnesota in 2000. Since entering
MMA in 2007, the 6-foot-3, 265-pound South Dakota native has
piled up notable wins against UFC hall of famer Randy Couture,
former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir and Pride veteran Heath
Herring. Lesnar likes the finality MMA offers.
“At
the end of the day, somebody’s going to enter [the cage]
on Dec. 30 and win or lose,” he said. “That’s
the beauty of this sport. My intentions are to win, and I’m
sure those are Alistair’s [intentions, too]. The only thing
I analyze is wins and losses.”
Time
away from active competition has afforded Lesnar more time to
develop and hone his skills in the gym. Despite his status in
the sport, he still has less than 12 professional rounds under
his belt.
“At
the end of the day, I want to get better on my feet, and I want
to get better in general,” Lesnar said. “That’s
really what I focus on: just getting better to be a better fighter
all-around. I’ve had plenty of time to train. Being healthy
and once again motivated, I’ve been able to work on a lot
of different things.
“This
is a sport that you have to evolve in, and you have to get better
if you’re going to stay on top in this organization,”
he added. “We’ve put lots of hours in training, lots
of sparring and lots of grappling and lots of jiu-jitsu sessions.
There definitely hasn’t been a lack of trying here. I’m
excited for it, and I can’t wait to get back in the Octagon.”
As
has been standard practice with previous fight camps, Lesnar
has done much of his preparation at his secluded Minnesota gym.
There, he cuts himself off from external distractions and delves
into an isolated existence that fits him like a glove.
“A
guy just wants to behealthy. If you don’t have your health,
you don’t have anything.” -- Brock Lesnar, former UFC
champion
“Obviously,
it’s kind of hard to get away, but I’ve pretty much
centralized myself -- just my family and on my ranch -- and so
I really don’t know what’s going on in the outside
scheme of things,” Lesnar said. “Right now, I’m
focused on the fight and my family and trying to live a somewhat
normal life, other than being a UFC fighter. You’ve got
to be able to manage everything and stay on top of what’s
most important, and that’s the fight and my family.”
A
victory over Overeem, who has not lost in more than four years,
would thrust Lesnar into a five-round title bout with the newly
crowned dos Santos sometime in 2012. However, he does not risk
weighing the possibilities beyond the “Demolition Man.”
“I
can’t overlook Alistair,” Lesnar said. “Any fighter
that overlooks their next opponent ... it’s not a very good
thing to do. Under all the circumstances I’ve gone through,
this is an opportunity not too many people get, so I’m excited
about it.”
Source:
Sherdog
|
Antonio
Inoki’s shadow war on NYE
By Zach
Arnold
Kazushi
Sakuraba & Katsuyori Shibata talk about their upcoming tag
team match
If
the impending 2011 Inoki MMA/IGF card at Saitama Super Arena
looks like a familiar friend to you, that’s because it is.
The booking is reminiscent to the card produced by Inoki and
promoted by PRIDE in 2000 at the Osaka Dome, where you had a
mixture of MMA blending in with a pro-wrestling atmosphere. MMA
fighters want to be pro-wrestlers just like the wrestlers want
to be MMA fighters (if they could do so). The Osaka Dome show
would launch the kakutougi boom in Japan, a dream period that
Antonio Inoki had imagined was coming for decades. Lost in all
the talk about UFC on Fox is that PRIDE’s deal with Fuji
TV still remains, by far, the largest and most successful MMA/network
partnership in the history of the business. Ari Emanuel may have
brokered a sweeter cash deal for Zuffa with Fox paying out $90-$100M
USD/year but Fuji TV brought a hell of a lot more to the table
for PRIDE. We’re not just talking credibility with sponsorships
but flat out world-class production values that blows away what
we’re seeing right now with the standard UFC-produced show.
Oh, and Fuji TV paid PRIDE an estimated $50M USD a year, helped
Dream Stage amass top-level corporate sponsorship, and PRIDE
in return brought in 15-25 million viewers per telecast. UFC
has a long ways to go in that department and it’s doubtful
they will ever reach that kind of consistent level of audience
on broadcast television in the States.
The
difference between 2000 and 2011 is the health of the overall
fight industry in Japan. In 2000, Antonio Inoki was desperately
trying to transition New Japan into a company where he could
take the wrestlers and book them on high-level K-1 & PRIDE
events. He saw a dying wrestling industry due to lack of television
support. The days of being on network TV like New Japan was in
the 1980s was over. When you’re on network TV at 2 AM in
the morning, it’s an ‘image down’ and it’s
a lot harder to make new stars. Americans use DVR/PVR and are
mostly cable/satellite customers. In Japan, most people still
rely on network TV and do not pay for television services. Given
the trajectory of the wrestling business, Inoki tried his damnedest
to make Naoya Ogawa & the late Shinya Hashimoto into cornerstone
pieces for New Japan blurring the lines with MMA. When PRIDE
was launched, it was based on former yakuza boss Hiromichi Momose
backing Nobuhiko Takada and the old UWF crew. UWF died after
Takada & Yoji Anjoh inter-promoted with New Japan.
What
no one knew at the time was that matchmaker Riki Choshu killing
off UWF and giving Takada a golden financial parachute would
open the door for Momose and henchmen (Nobuyuki Sakakibara, an
executive from Tokai TV — the Nagoya affiliate of Fuji TV,
and Naoto Morishita) to kill off Japanese wrestling. PRIDE did
just that — they started poaching the biggest names from
the Japanese wrestling business. Inoki saw what was happening
and decided that he would get his boys involved in the action
by putting them on the cards that were getting on network TV.
It led to a bizarre mixture of guys succeeding and failing. He
wanted guys like Yuji Nagata to make it. Instead, they got high-kicked
into oblivion while guys like Kazuyuki Fujita & ‘Hollywood’
Tadao Yasuda, who failed to get over as pro-wrestlers, suddenly
got pushed to the moon because they beat guys in the MMA ring.
The
MMA boom in Japan left pro-wrestling in a perilous position.
Inoki made such a mess of New Japan that he did the unthinkable
and sold the assets to Yukes. If he hadn’t sold New Japan,
the company would have died. I said that ad nauseam at the time
and no one believed me. When Yukes got the assets, they found
out how many skeletons were in the closing and the process of
cleaning up the mess left behind by Inoki took a while. Inoki
got a sweetheart deal in that his likeness and he, himself, could
be booked for a fee to promote anything and everything. Call
it the George Foreman golden parachute, if you will. If there’s
one thing Antonio Inoki always has known how to pull off it’s
the concept of getting paid first to be a front man while letting
everyone else do the work.
(This,
ironically, is how we got the mess that was Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye on
NYE 2003 at Kobe Wing Stadium. Inoki was simply the front man
for admitted K-1 yakuza fixer Seiya Kawamata, who had plans of
running his own promotion after things fell apart between K-1
& PRIDE. Inoki got his wrestlers booked and paid by Nippon
TV on the show. Kawamata ended up walking away after the show
when his yakuza stooges allegedly turned on him in support of
PRIDE. The show turned out to be a ratings disaster. The event
and the days thereafter became the centerpiece of what would
result in the implosion of PRIDE and the Japanese MMA industry
in general.)
As
2011 closes out, the Inoki MMA show finds itself going back to
its 2000 roots but under totally different circumstances. The
wrestling business in Japan is producing solid matches but no
solid draws. Without a robust pro-wrestling industry to rely
upon, the MMA business in Japan does not have stars to generate
to run big shows. The symbiotic relationship between the health
of wrestling and the health of MMA is as relevant now as it was
in 2000. That link will never die, which is why all the talk
about DREAM and other MMA promoters needing to bring Japan into
the 21st Century is largely a worthless exercise.
Sting
vs. Hiroshi Hase (1/4/1993 Tokyo Dome)
Hiroshi
Hase & Keiji Mutoh vs. The Steiner Brothers (1/4/1994 Tokyo
Dome)
Japan
is all about history and tradition. In the 1990s, the biggest
yearly show on the calendar was New Japan’s annual 1/4 Tokyo
Dome event. The show drew 50,000+ year after year and it’s
drawing power couldn’t get killed off even though New Japan
got greedy and started running more than one Dome show a year
later in the decade. When Inoki pulled off the PRIDE-backed Osaka
Dome NYE show in 2000, the NYE date supplanted the 1/4 Tokyo
Dome date as the biggest show of the year.
With
network TV currently not as enthusiastic to support the NYE MMA
shows, Inoki is doing everything he can to keep the show relevant.
He’s going back to what he knows, which is blurring the
lines between wrestling and MMA. When we look at the 2011 NYE
card, this is Inoki’s attempt to not only save MMA on broadcast
television but also to try to save the image of pro-wrestling
as still being relevant. There is a New Japan event at the Tokyo
Dome on 1/4 but it’s got horribly weak drawing power and
little momentum headed into the show. The main event is Minoru
Suzuki vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi. New Japan is desperately trying
to push Tanahashi like he’s the Japanese version of Hulk
Hogan with better workrate by not having him lose in title matches
(similar to the run that Hashimoto had in the 90s that was largely
boring). For as solid of cards as New Japan is booking, there
is a big difference between solid wrestling and solid star-power.
The company does not have star power right now. There’s
a very good chance that the show will bomb at the Tokyo Dome
and that it will no longer be feasible for the company to run
the building.
In
many respects, Antonio Inoki is not only trying to keep NYE relevant
for MMA & wrestling on broadcast TV, he’s also dealing
with a shadow war of the annual 1/4 Tokyo Dome show and just
how far that deal has fallen.
There
will never be another Antonio Inoki in a lot of respects. At
age 68, he’s witnessed many of his contemporaries die. I
can imagine it’s getting very tiresome for him to get asked
by the media for comment on when another one of his old running
mates in the business dies. This week alone was living proof
of how Inoki has managed to blend the worlds of both his enemies
and friends while getting everything he ever wanted in life.
Umanosuke Ueda, his chief Japanese rival (who teamed with Tiger
Jeet Singh) in the Showa Era, died at the age of 71. Inoki had
a very famous nail board death match with Ueda that was anything
but conventional. And before Ueda’s death, we had the death
of Kim Jong Il (the North Korean dictator). Inoki has always
had close ties to the North Korean scene, having relationships
with both Kim Jong Il and his father. Inoki was in discussions
to have a tribute show to the father next year (similar to the
two-day 1995 Pyongyang Stadium shows).
In
Japan, being associated with North Korea right now is a hot button
topic (see: Zainichi.) Rikidozan, the Godfather of Japanese pro-wrestling
during the Reconstruction period, was born in North Korea. Rikidozan’s
family still maintains political ties to the current dictatorship
in North Korea. Inoki, one way or another, has been able to use
this as his angle to go back and forth between Japan and Pyongyang.
Anyone else in Japan trying to pull this off would face intense
media scrutiny. Inoki goes back and forth between the two countries…
and few people mutter a word. In fact, Inoki was one of the first
men in the world that the media rushed to for comment after Kim
Jong Il’s death was announced on North Korean state television.
Inoki’s
fascination with the world’s strongmen is quite a tribute
to his own psychological profile. No one has been a bigger cult
of personality in the modern Japanese fight game like Antonio
Inoki. We are entering 2012 and Inoki is still able to comfortably
get paid to be a front man for major events. When you’ve
lived a life based on promoting yourself as a virtue & value
in and out of the ring, you tend to sympathize with those who
act or behave the same even if they are violent in nature. From
politicians in Pakistan and the Philippines, to Idi Amin the
Ugandan savage, to Saddam Hussein who Inoki ‘negotiated’
with over hostages and got swords plus Iraqi pro-wrestling shows
in return for his efforts, to Kim Jong Il & family, to his
current fondness of Vladimir Putin (and overall romanticization
of Russian Communist politics which he based his late 1980s program
around involving Salman Hashimikov), nobody knows how to talk
& deal with political strongmen like the Cult of Personality
himself, Mr. Inoki. It’s his best asset, his main asset,
and the one asset he has in play that he thinks he can use to
try to save a dying industry on New Year’s Eve in Japan.
Source:
Fight Opinion
|
Overpraised
or Underrated: An Examination of Alistair Overeem's Recent Fight
History
By Mike
Chiappetta
Headed
into Friday night's UFC 141 main event, the question of just
how good Alistair Overeem is remains one of MMA's heated topics.
His supporters point out that he's won titles in Strikeforce,
DREAM and K-1. His detractors suggest he's done most of that
while facing non-elite competition.
In
some ways, both sides have valid points. Perhaps his performance
against Brock Lesnar will provide answers about his place among
the heavyweight elite, but until then, it's worth a look at his
recent history.
Overeem
shifted divisions to heavyweight for good in 2007, and since
then has lost only once. On the strength of an 11-fight unbeaten
stretch, most heavyweight rankings have him listed between Nos.
2-4. What's obvious about that stretch is that he's been fairly
dominant. Seven of his last 10 fights have lasted less than two
minutes. But less obvious is that he has seemed to benefit from
great timing. His bout with Lesnar will mark the seventh time
his last 11 fights he'll be facing an opponent coming off a loss,
an unusually high number for someone competing at a championship
level.
In
Lesnar's case, he's not just looking to rebound from a defeat,
but from an illness and surgery that cost him more than a year
of his athletic career.
It's
not the first time Overeem has faced down an opponent walking
in with little momentum. In fact, of his last 11 opponents including
Lesnar, the only one who could boast of any real momentum heading
into their bout was Fabricio Werdum, who had won four of his
last five and had just become the first man to defeat Fedor Emelianenko
in nearly a decade. That victory propelled Werdum to the No.
3 spot on the FightMatrix.com rankings at the time, the highest
ranking opponent Overeem has faced during his current stretch
until Lesnar.
During
his last 10 fights, Overeem has faced three fighters who were
ranked in the top 10 at the time, as ranked by FightMatrix's
computer formula. Aside from beating Werdum in a somewhat lackluster
decision, he steamrolled No. 8 Brett Rogers in May 2010 and fought
to a no contest with No. 8 Mirko Filipovic in September 2008.
The
rest of the 10 bouts were mostly a mix of mediocrity, veterans
on the way out, and unestablished prospects. Five of the 10 fighters
Overeem's faced during his streak are no longer active in MMA.
Three opponents -- James Thompson, Gary Goodridge and Lee Tae-Hyun
-- did not even crack the top 150 at the time they fought Overeem.
Thompson walked into his bout with four straight losses, Goodridge
-- then 42 years old -- had lost three in a row, and Tae-Hyun,
who was only in his third pro fight, lost in 36 seconds and never
fought again.
Tony
Sylvester was ranked No. 131 when Overeem fought him. Not surprisingly,
he lasted all of 83 seconds. Kaz Fujita was 39 years old and
No. 102. Overeem finished him off even quicker, in 75 seconds.
Mark
Hunt was a fairly credible opponent. He came in 5-3 but was unranked
because he hadn't fought MMA in over 18 months. Still, he tapped
to a keylock in 71 seconds.
Lesnar
currently sits at No. 3 on the FightMatrix rankings, one spot
ahead of Overeem (by comparison, MMA Fighting rankings have the
two flip-flopped). Whichever you accept, it still marks his second
straight time battling a top five foe. At the time of publication,
Overeem was considered a slight favorite in the matchup.
Even
with a win over Lesnar, Overeem likely won't silence all the
questions observers have raised about him. His recent record
is too dotted with non-elite opponents, and some will wonder
if Lesnar truly competed at full strength. Despite the skeptics
who dismiss his resume because of that, there is no question
Overeem has dominated the opposition he's faced and has shown
elite ability in several dimensions.
With
most of MMA's top heavyweights under the UFC banner -- or soon
to be there, given the recent Strikeforce announcement that they're
discontinuing the division and sending their talent to the octagon
-- Overeem has a chance to erase every last criticism of his
in-cage ability.
Here's
a closer look at his last 10 bouts and the competition he's faced
to vault up the rankings.
Opponent:
Fabricio Werdum
Previous five fights: 4-1
Prior fight: Win
Notable: First bout since beating Fedor Emelianenko
FightMatrix.com ranking at time of fight: No. 3
Overeem's ranking at time of fight: No. 8
Age at time of fight: 33
Result: Decision win
Current career record: 14-5-1
Opponent:
Todd Duffee
Previous five: 4-1
Prior fight: Loss
Notable: Accepted fight on 2 week's notice
FightMatrix ranking: No. 58
Overeem's ranking: No. 8
Age: 25
Result: 19-second KO
Current career record: 6-2
Opponent:
Brett Rogers
Previous five: 4-1
Prior fight: Loss
Notable: First fight since being KO'd by Fedor
FightMatrix ranking: No. 8
Overeem's ranking: No. 12
Age: 29
Result: TKO, 3:40 of Rd. 1
Current career record: 11-4
Opponent:
Kaz Fujita
Previous five: 2-3
Prior fight: Loss
Notable: Two straight defeats
FightMatrix ranking: No. 102
Overeem's ranking: No. 12
Age: 39
Result: 75-second KO
Current career record: 15-9 (retired)
Opponent:
James Thompson
Previous five: 1-4
Prior fight: Loss
Notable: Four straight losses
FightMatrix ranking: Unranked
Overeem's ranking: No. 13
Age: 31
Result: 33-second submission
Current career record: 16-14, 1 no contest
Opponent:
Tony Sylvester
Previous five: 4-1
Prior fight: Win
Notable: Sylvester's only career fight vs. a top 20 opponent
FightMatrix ranking: No. 131
Overeem's ranking: No. 13
Age: 31
Result: 83-second submission
Current career record: 11-3 (retired)
Opponent:
Gary Goodridge
Previous five: 2-3
Prior fight: Loss
Notable: Three straight losses
FightMatrix ranking: Unranked
Overeem's ranking: No. 12
Age: 42
Result: Submission, 1:42 of Rd. 1
Current career record: 23-22-1 (retired)
Opponent:
Mirko Cro Cop
Previous five: 3-2
Prior fight: Win
Notable: Cro Cop had lost two of his last three prior
FightMatrix ranking: No. 8
Overeem's ranking: No. 11
Age: 34
Result: No contest
Current career record: 27-10-2, 1 no contest (retired)
Opponent:
Mark Hunt
Previous five: 3-2
Prior fight: Loss
Notable: Overeem took the fight on short notice
FightMatrix ranking: Unranked
Overeem's ranking: No. 13
Age: 34
Result: 71-second submission
Current career record: 7-7
Opponent:
Lee Tae-Hyun
Previous five: N/A (third pro fight)
Prior fight: Win
Notable: Only 1-1 before Overeem fight
FightMatrix ranking: Unranked
Overeem's ranking: No. 13
Age: 33
Result: 36-second KO
Current career record: 1-2 (retired)
TOTALS
Opponents in previous five: 28-19 (.596 win percentage)
Average age: 33.1
Combined career record: 131-78-4 (.630 win percentage)
Top 10 opponents Overeem faced: 3
Unranked opponents Overeem faced: 4
Average Time of Fight: 3:03
Overeem's record: 9-0, 1 NC
Source:
MMA Fighting
|
Missing
Out on Fedor, Overeem Excited for Lesnar
Former
Strikeforce and K-1 heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem, after
years of yearning by fans, is finally set to make his mark in
the Octagon. He steps in the cage with former UFC heavyweight
champion Brock Lesnar on Friday night at UFC 141 at the MGM Grand
Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
Overeem,
during his tenure at Strikeforce, had always wanted to fight
Fedor Emelianenko, but that never happened.
When
he signed on with the UFC, he was offered a title shot, but refused
to wait in the wings for his turn at the plate.
Then
Lesnar’s name was put forth.
“Immediately
I got enthusiastic, said yes,” Overeem told MMAWeekly.com
in an exclusive one-on-one interview on Tuesday. So now the powerful
Dutch striker will debut against the former WWE superstar.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
What’s
Fernando “Margarida” been up to?
Mohamad
Jehad
The
youngest absolute champion in the history of the Jiu-Jitsu World
Championship, Fernando “Margarida” Pontes spent this
week teaching seminars in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do
Sul, specifically in the cities of São Leopoldo, Santa
Maria, Caxias do Sul and state capital Porto Alegre. While in
Brazil’s south, Margarida demonstrated the techniques that
led to his conquest of three world championships.
“Margarida
showed positional details to around 150 athletes in all. And
all of them were awed by his technique,” remarked black
belt Diandro Maciel of Sul Jiu-Jitsu academy.
For
next year, Margarida promises a return to competition—and
in Rio Grande do Sul itself: “It was a great visit; I met
up with great friends and was invited to take part in the Abu
Dhabi [WPJJ] trials in the town of Gramado. I aim to be in tip-top
shape in 2012. That Arabian title is all my career is missing,”
he said in closing.
Source:
Gracie Magazine
|
NYE
storylines: Who retires first after a loss, Fedor or Lesnar?
By Zach
Arnold
So,
our friends at FightHub.tv posted this video with one fighter
saying that Alistair Overeem will get exposed like Bob Sapp did.
I remember the moment Sapp got ‘exposed’ and that was
in March of 2003 at Saitama Super Arena. Sapp had been pushed
to the moon by Kazuyoshi Ishii as his big pet project —
so much so that Ishii himself was a special guest referee for
one of Sapp’s fights. Mirko Cro Cop was the man who shattered
the image of Bob Sapp and shattered his eye socket, too. People
made fun of Sapp for turtling up and screaming but I don’t
blame him. Mirko 2003 was something fierce and soon we would
end up seeing Mirko vs. Fedor, a program that will always age
well because of just how great that fight was promoted.
Will
Alistair fold up like Bob Sapp did? Who knows. Fabricio Werdum
was able to tag him pretty well and Brock Lesnar’s got a
powerful punch. He’s also got terrible striking defense
and Alistair is great at what he does. We know what the stakes
are for this fight — winner gets Junior dos Santos. But
what about the loser? If Alistair loses, he’ll still be
fighting because that’s what does and it is in his DNA.
If Brock wins, he has the table set up to make a ton of cash
in easy fashion. Cash is king and so is not having to slave labor
to make it. He loves to train all the times anyways, so getting
paid millions of dollars to keep training is great if you can
get it.
Overeem
is a -140 favorite heading into the fight. For a prop bet, you
can get +400 odds if you think Alistair will win by submission.
But
what if Brock loses? Sure, there are some sporadic fights left
for him (against Nogueira, against Mir… again). However,
will he have any desire left to hit the comeback trail? Brock
often likes to move onto different challenges when he thinks
he’s plateaued or has just gotten plain old bored. He did
that with WWE, he did that when he tried out for the Minnesota
Vikings, and he pulled that routine as well when he was given
everything on a silver platter by Antonio Inoki and New Japan.
He won the IWGP belt in a 3-way match over Masa Chono & Kazuyuki
Fujita in maybe the worst-ever attended Tokyo Dome show (a feat
that may be eclipsed by the upcoming 1/4 Tokyo Dome show headlined
by Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Minoru Suzuki), was given what he wanted
in terms of last-second travel itinery, booked in the same formulaic
title matches, and then… he just quit. He didn’t even
bother losing the title belt.
So,
yeah, Brock has a proclivity of shutting down when he decides
enough is a enough, no matter how logical or illogical it is.
Given that he is currently UFC’s #1 PPV drawing attraction
by a country mile, losing him would be a big blow for Zuffa.
The company still relies on PPV sales so heavily to finance everything
else. With Georges St. Pierre on the sidelines, Lesnar’s
value over everyone else is exponentially important. Jon Jones
is starting to develop a following but it’s only maybe half
of what a typical Lesnar fight can bring in at the box office.
The
other big NYE fight is Fedor vs. Satoshi Ishii. The Inoki card
at Saitama Super Arena has tons of fights on it (both wrestling
and MMA), but for all intents & purposes this is a one-fight
card in terms of how it has been promoted. Most of the value
goes to Fedor, believe it or not, as Ishii has really been kept
away from the press sans a couple of interviews with outfits
like Nikkan Sports newspaper. Shinya Aoki has been doing the
media rounds with Antonio Inoki, which has been quite the visual
to see. In his Nikkan Sports interview, Ishii said that he views
himself in ‘desperation mode’ right now and that he’s
come to accept him as a Mixed Martial Artist… although very
few people are sure of what he really wants in life mainly because
he has no clue himself. He’s been training at Reign (Mark
Munoz’s gym) with Ed Buckley, the Muay Thai coach of Team
Quest. Everyone who has ever been in the gym with Ishii (like
our friend the Hawaiian princess) will tell you that he’s
always in beast mode and yet when it comes to fight time he’s
OK but not overly dominating.
If
Ishii beats Fedor on NYE, I’m not sure where it leads him
as far as his career. His career is still managed by Inoki forces
and yet he has wanted to fight in UFC. I’m still doubtful
we will ever see him with Zuffa given how much Inoki wants to
maintain his power. I suppose Ishii will continue getting booked
on DREAM cards or maybe even a spot on a One FC card in Singapore.
If Ishii loses to Fedor, few people will be shocked and the experiment
will probably combust if the fan reaction gets pretty ugly fast.
At that point, Ishii’s only hope to salvage his career would
be to make a U-turn into pro-wrestling.
If
Fedor loses to Ishii, is this the end for him? The fight scene
in Japan is not getting any healthier. Sooner or later, M-1 is
going to run out of money marks to pay them to book Fedor. Where
do you go then? Would Fedor even care about fighting if he lost
to Ishii? If he beats Ishii, at least he can plausibly continue
to fight on and just hang around for a few more paychecks. But
if he loses, it’s entirely possible that he could announce
his retirement after the fight.
So,
which fighter in your estimation is more likely to retire after
a loss this weekend, Fedor or Brock?
Source:
Fight Opinion
|
Gonzaga:
‘I’ll do a memorable fight’
By Marcelo
Barone
Gabriel
Gonzaga left UFC in 2012 with two consecutive losses. But, in
2012, he’s coming back to rewrite his story in Ultimate,
against Ednaldo Lula, at its 142nd edition, in Rio de Janeiro.
In the middle of so many Jiu-Jitsu classes, the heavyweight fighter,
one of the most famous names on the card, talked to TATAME. Happy
for fighting at Barra da Tijuca, neighborhood where he was born
and raised, Gabriel celebrated the chance of fighting in front
of family and friends.
“When
I left Brazil and went to the United States MMA was doing well,
but not as it now is. I’m exciting to come back and see
the arena going down in a way only Brazilians know how. I’ll
do my best to do a memorable fight for the fans”.
On
the interview below, Gonzaga, famous for knocking Mirko Cro Cop
out with a spectacular high kick, analyzed the undefeated Ednaldo
Lula, claimed to go for the knockout and commented on his preparation
for the fight.
How
was it to hear you’d be fighting at UFC Rio?
Since
they’ve announced the first UFC Rio I wanted to be a part
of it. I was born and raised five minutes from the arena at Barra
da Tijuca. My friends, training partners and family members have
always asked me, but I wasn’t in the UFC anymore. I fought
in October and won Reality Fighting’s heavyweight belt,
at Mohegan Cassino. My manager, Marco Alvan, called me and asked
if I’d like to be at UFC Rio and I said ‘sure’.
He said I was in and I only needed to sign the contract. I was
really glad to be coming back home, which is the UFC.
On
October, when you last talked to TATAME, you said you wasn’t
sure if you’d quit fighting or not. What made you that motivated
to come with your full power?
I’m
fighting again because my students and fans kept asking me to.
I’ve always been a competitor and that’s in my blood.
I know I can get there and I’ll train a lot for it.
How
does it feel fighting again in Brazil?
When
I left Brazil and went to the United States MMA was doing well,
but not as it now is. I’m exciting to come back and see
the arena going down in a way only Brazilians know how. I’ll
do my best to do a memorable fight for the fans.
How
is your preparation going?
I’m
training at Ludlow, we’ve brought professionals and sparings
to help me and Ricardo (Func), because we’re fighting on
the same card. I’m training Boxing, Muay Thai, Wrestling,
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and MMA. I’m gonna be prepared for this
fight.
Being
the first to defeat Ednaldo Lula makes you more motivated about
this fight?
Absolutely.
Lyla is a great fighter, but my greatest motivation is my family,
my students and being returning to the UFC, an event that has
always supported me.
Have
you studied his game?
Lula
hasn’t a 13-0 record (13 wins and no losses) by chance.
This study thing I left for my team to do. I’ll set a good
game plan for this fight.
Lula
usually knocks out. How will you stop him?
That’s
the way I like to fight. I’ll also try to knock him out,
so let’s see what happens.
Do
you wanna leave a message?
I’d
like to send a message to all Team Link Brazil’s team, in
Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais, Manaus and warn I’m
here to fight my heart out and represent you. I wanna see everybody
there. I’ll get on that cage will all of you and we’ll
leave it as winners.
Source:
Tatame
|
Resting
Easy Under Fire
By Yael
Grauer
He
has lost only once in the last nine years, but, despite his run
of sustained excellence, he has been heavily criticized -- the
word “boring” is thrown around a lot -- by a segment
of UFC fans for not finishing more fights. While his last nine
bouts, seven of them victories, have reached the judges, Jon
Fitch finds the criticism a bit amusing.
“It’s
a little bit silly because the ideology behind that would be
that I’m not trying to finish fights,” he says. “So
what does that mean: I’m so good that I can beat these guys
so handedly that I don’t even really have to try? That’s
kind of absurd and insulting to my opponents.”
Dave
Camarillo, one of the 33-year-old’s trainers at the American
Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, Calif., points to his belief
that Fitch is a five-round fighter, not a three-round fighter.
“Fitch
would win probably every war of attrition,” Camarillo says.
“If he took [UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre]
10 rounds, he’d beat him. Most of the guys that he fights
three rounds that he’s not finishing, he would’ve finished
them in the fourth or fifth.”
Fitch
thinks his opponents play a role in his inability to close.
“I
think it takes two guys to make a fight, and if you’re fighting
somebody who’s relying on the referee to stand them up or
who’s just holding on and not trying to finish you or trying
to even win -- maybe they’re just trying to not be finished
-- it changes the fight and makes it very difficult to put people
away,” he says. “I think there’s some times when
I’ve been in a fight and the guy’s clearly not trying
to do anything except wait for the referee to stand us up and
I’m trying to drop elbows and hammer fists and constantly
be working. If a guy’s using that avenue to get stood back
up to his feet, I think he’s not really trying to fight.”
Camarillo
agrees with the analysis.
“I
think his opponents feel out-gunned in many areas when they fight
him, so they just shut down. They just try to survive,”
he says. “We’ve had people put submissions on knowing
they’re not going to finish it, and they just kind of hold
it or hold certain positions; they just don’t put themselves
out there, either, because he’s just going to shut them
down right away. So I think it’s a culmination, not just
of Fitch but the way his opponents react to being outclassed.”
Hendricks
is 11-1.
Fitch,
who has not finished an opponent since he submitted Roan Carneiro
with a second-round rear-naked choke in June 2007, claims he
does not lose much sleep worrying about viewer reactions to his
decision victories.
“You’ve
got to look at who the criticisms are coming from. Your average
fan who’s just watching a few times per year, they’re
not really an expert and they don’t really know what they’re
seeing or what they’re talking about,” he says. “That
would be like Stephen Hawking, the physicist, the guy who’s
a genius in the wheelchair ... that’s like asking him if
he gets upset or hurt that I don’t agree with his physics
theories. Does he really care what I have to say about his theory
on the space-time continuum? I’m just some guy who saw something
on the History channel once. Does that really mean that my opinion
on his philosophies on physics really matters? Not really; probably
not. I don’t think he wakes up at night or tosses and turns
thinking about that.”
Camarillo
views many criticisms of Fitch’s fighting style as unfounded.
“Many
fights don’t get finished,” he says, adding that fighters
who go out there just to finish fights are sometimes needlessly
reckless. “It’s very difficult to have a long career
finishing fights all the time. Fitch just beats people.”
Camarillo
has no trouble focusing on the positive aspects of Fitch as a
world-class mixed martial artist. He believes Fitch can beat
anyone in the welterweight division, despite the fact that he
lacks some of the overwhelming physical tools of many of his
peers.
“He’s
one of the easiest guys I’ve ever coached in my life, if
not the easiest. You tell him to do something, he does it,”
he says. “The guy’s not a B.J. Penn. He’s not
super athletic, like GSP. And, yet, he keeps winning, and that’s
what people need to focus on. I’ll tell you right now, there’s
very few fighters in the welterweight division who could stand
next to him on a mental toughness level. They just aren’t
there.”
The
last time Fitch stepped into the Octagon was when he fought Penn
to a draw at UFC 127 in Australia 10 months ago. The result still
stings.
“It
really sucked,” Fitch says. “I think I let a great
opportunity slip from my hands. I wasn’t mentally there
until halfway through the second period; I didn’t wake up
and realize we were in a fight, and I paid for it with that stupid
draw. Also, I kind of thought I was going to get the stoppage
at any moment in that third period, so I kept doing what I was
doing, where, if I would’ve kind of stopped and stepped
back and went back to the speed and throwing bigger punches from
there or tried to get a better position and a takedown from there,
then I might’ve been able to finish it.”
A
rematch was expected for UFC 132, but it was scrapped when Fitch
had to withdraw due to a rotator cuff injury. To deal with the
frustration, he put together a series of 10 YouTube videos detailing
the surgery and his road to recovery.
Before
facing Penn, the American Kickboxing Academy product was on a
five-fight winning streak. His only loss in the Octagon has been
to St. Pierre, and he has racked up 13 UFC wins, tying him with
former middleweight champion Rich Franklin for ninth on the all-time
list. Now, he prepares to fight two-time NCAA national wrestling
champion Johnny Hendricks at UFC 141 on Friday at the MGM Grand
Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
“As
I understand, Hendricks is looking to wrestle, because he moved
his camp to Oklahoma,” says Camarillo, who indicated that
wrestling, conditioning for wrestling and footwork were large
components of this Fitch fight camp. “Fitch has got to be
in shape and sharp everywhere.”
Fitch
respects the once-beaten Hendricks, who bounced back from his
only career defeat -- a unanimous decision to Rick Story -- with
consecutive victories over T.J. Waldburger and Mike Pierce.
“[Hendricks
is] really tough and has made a name for himself,” Fitch
says. “I think it’s a really good matchup for me. He’s
heavy-handed, he’s got really good wrestling and he’s
a tough guy.”
Despite
Hendricks not being on the short list of potential title contenders
at 170 pounds, Camarillo does not see this bout as a tune-up
fight by any means.
“This
is a tough fight,” he says. “Hendricks is tough. His
credentials in wrestling are better than Fitch’s. He’s
physically more impressive than Fitch. He’s got more power.
Hendricks lost to Story, and he had a tough fight with Pierce,
so he just hasn’t broken out yet, but I think it’s
only a matter of time until he does.”
Camarillo
expects Fitch to do what he does best: win.
“I
don’t think it’ll be easy, but I think he’s going
to get a really good start and build some damage, and it’s
just going to keep getting worse and worse for Johny,” he
says. “Johnny will bring it, but I think he’ll realize
quickly that he’s getting outclassed.”
Although
Carlos Condit and Nick Diaz will vie for the interim welterweight
championship at UFC 143, with St. Pierre on the sidelines with
a knee injury, Fitch does not believe they are the top fighters
in the division.
“A
lot of guys are doing this because they want to make money or
they want to be famous or they want to be rock stars or whatever,
but that’s not me. I’m just here to fight. I’m
a fighter.”-- Jon Fitch, UFC welterweight contender
“Honestly,
I think there’s lots of guys that can beat them,” he
says. “Guys that have good chins and strong wrestling pose
a very strong threat to those guys. I think [Jake] Ellenberger
can beat Diaz. I think Pierce can beat Diaz. I think [Josh] Koscheck
beats both those guys. The big factor is wrestling. Good cardio,
wrestling and a good chin beat those guys nine times out of 10.”
Although
Fitch holds to the claim that he will never fight Koscheck, one
of his AKA stablemates, he has a desire to test himself against
any of the other elite welterweights.
“I’m
a fighter. I’m here to fight. Line them up. I’ll fight
every one of them,” he says. “Whatever order it happens
in, it doesn’t really matter. That was always my reasoning
and my goal for winning the belt, not to be champ of the world
but because, when you’re that guy, you get to fight all
the best guys; they line up and fight you. And that was always
my reasoning.
“I
got into this fight game because I’m a fighter,” Fitch
adds. “I want to see how good I am and I want to fight all
the best guys, whether they have a big name or don’t have
a big name. A lot of guys are doing this because they want to
make money or they want to be famous or they want to be rock
stars or whatever, but that’s not me. I’m just here
to fight. I’m a fighter.”
Source
Sherdog
|
MMA
Link Club: The 2011 non-UFC story of the year is…
By Zach
Arnold
…surprisingly
not Viacom purchasing Bellator. In the years to come, this will
be a story that has impact.
For
2011, the non-UFC story of the year is the end of K-1 and Kazuyoshi
Ishii’s reign as emperor of the Japanese fight game.
You
must understand how much this has got to be eating at him right
now. I said that last year’s NYE event at Saitama Super
Arena felt like a public execution and it turned out to be so.
The conventional wisdom in Japanese insider circles is the following
— the reason K-1 didn’t get sold to Golden Glory or
other parties is because of Barbizon, a real estate company that
makes its money largely in Tokyo. One person claimed that Barbizon
loaned money to Mr. Ishii and that due to company debts, the
trademarks and IP went to Barbizon.
It
reminds me of what happened with Gen’ichiro Tenryu’s
WAR promotion in the early 90s when the shell company had some
problems (resulting in abandonment) and a new company was created
with different IP/trademarks. When former FMW President Shoichi
Arai committed suicide, he left behind a note saying his death
would activate an insurance policy to financially take care of
his family. Teikoku Databank, a large financial analytical firm
in Japan, didn’t show the name of the creditor listed in
records on television even though the debt was allegedly in the
$3M USD range. The FMW logo and IP went to the creditor.
Five
years ago, the foundation of PRIDE was on shaky ground due to
Shukan Gendai’s negative campaign that was largely aided
by admitted K-1 yakuza fixer Seiya Kawamata. The golden plan
post-PRIDE was for K-1 to control the network television pipeline.
If you wanted on network TV, you had to go through Ishii. The
plan was simple in theory — you promote a show and assume
the liabilities on that front, you get TV access but share the
TV revenue with him. However, there were many flaws with the
plan.
K-1
had been a strong live house promotion for kickboxing in the
90s and early part of last decade. They knew how to promote mega-kickboxing
events. Kickboxing, after all, is not hard for a casual fan to
understand in terms of rules. K-1 was never intended to be an
MMA play and they tried to capture those PRIDE fans when the
promotion collapsed in 2007. Unfortunately for K-1, they failed
miserably at attracting the old PRIDE supporters. HERO’s
was what it was. Then DREAM came along and it’s backed by
former PRIDE employees/supporters. DREAM never pulled in substantial
ratings for their broadcasting TV shows, which in turn meant
that K-1’s access on network television was tenuous at best.
Once K-1 started losing leverage with the TV networks (Nippon
TV & Fuji TV), the game was up. A combination of not being
good at promoting house shows combined with a lack of new native
star power resulted in the outcome that we have today.
It
was never supposed to end this way. Sure, Godfather Ishii will
come back in one way or another with a new venture… but
K-1 was his meal ticket into the world of Japanese celebrity.
He loves the limelight and being a socialite extraordinaire.
Within the time span of a decade, he’s gone from having
Norika Fujiwara & Kyoko Hasegawa hosting his shows on Fuji
TV to not even being in the ball game today. He thought the death
of PRIDE would permanently solidify his status as King of Japan.
Instead, he went from the penthouse to the outhouse.
The
larger question in regards to the Japanese scene is whether or
not a network television station will ever make a serious commitment
to an MMA, kickboxing, or pro-wrestling league ever again. With
heavy pressure being exerted by the Tokyo Metropolitan Police
department, I have some serious doubts about the future role
of Japan in the global fight scene (outside of boxing).
Source:
Fight Opinion
|
Miguel
Torres Back in the UFC
by Damon
Martin
Miguel
Torres has been granted amnesty and has been added back to the
UFC roster.
The
former WEC bantamweight champion was in attendance during the
UFC 141 pre-fight press conference, where he then joined UFC
President Dana White on stage to meet with reporters when the
press conference ended.
Torres
was originally released from the promotion after the Chicago
area fighter put a controversial message about a ‘rape van’
on his Twitter account.
The
quote was apparently from a TV show, but Dana White wasn’t
laughing and promptly released Torres from the organization.
White
defended his position after the face, saying that the tweet was
very ill-advised and Torres had to pay for his actions.
“You
can agree with me or disagree with me. But the bottom line is
nobody has any business making jokes about rape,” said White.
“We’re in the fight business. If you think you’re
funny, keep your jokes to yourself and your close friends, because
not everybody is going to think what you say is funny.”
Following
the incident, Torres issued an apology for his actions.
“I
am very sorry for upsetting my bosses at the UFC, and also to
my fans and everyone else who was upset by the language in my
tweets. I understand it was wrong, and I meant no harm or disrespect.
Given the chance, I will do whatever it takes to make things
right,” Torres stated.
Now,
Torres and the UFC have mended fences after the former champion
donated to a local rape center and visited them as well on his
own accord after the original incident.
Torres
will now re-join the UFC’s bantamweight roster and obviously
take a much closer look at what he tweets in the future.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Toughman
Hawaii
January 7, 2012
Hilo Civic Ctr
|
An
MMA Christmas List
There
was no gold on the line, only prestige and pride. Yet, in the
UFC 139 headliner on Nov. 19 in San Jose, Calif., Dan Henderson
and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua fought tooth and toenail
for five rounds. Blood and sweat were shed liberally.
Powered
by his thunderous right hand, Henderson looked to have the Brazilian
on the brink of defeat more than once. He won rounds one through
three with his heavy punches but ran into trouble in the fourth,
where he found himself winded, wobbled and nearly undressed by
a jarring Rua uppercut. The 2005 Pride Fighting Championships
middleweight grand prix winner grounded Henderson and kept him
there in the fifth round, moving to full mount on five separate
occasions and dropping punches as he worked through the exhaustion.
A
clear contender for “Fight of the Year,” the Henderson-Rua
classic will go down as one of the most memorable fights of 2011,
all because of a subtle but shrewd change in policy from Dana
White. In April, the UFC president announced plans to incorporate
five-round non-title fights into the matchmaking rotation. Henderson-Rua
was the second such bout to feature the change, and the fans
were the beneficiaries.
Upping
the frequency of five-round matches tops my Christmas wish list.
More
Five-Round Fights: If Henderson-Rua taught us anything, it was
that 10 additional minutes have the potential to change everything.
Through three rounds, Henderson had established himself as the
superior fighter. Rua survived his onslaught, however, and rounds
four and five provided him with an opportunity for redemption.
The Brazilian came ever so close to securing it, as he spent
nearly the entire fifth round mounted on a fading Henderson,
leading many to argue he deserved a 10-8 frame in his favor and
a draw on the judges’ scorecards. Henderson won a narrow
verdict, but without the fourth and fifth rounds, a true classic
would have been replaced by a one-sided 30-27 nod for the 41-year-old
two-time Olympian. Perhaps in the not-too-distant future the
UFC will consider making all main and co-main event fights five
rounds.
Less
Referee Involvement: Nothing drives up the old blood pressure
quite like a hyperactive referee bowing to pressures outside
the cage. Wrestling, clinching and grappling have been and always
will be integral parts of high-level mixed martial arts. If a
fighter on the bottom desires a restart on the feet, force him
to get there himself. The reliance of one-dimensional fighters
on external intervention has become quite an annoyance -- and
an unnecessary one. Fights should not include referees offering
instructions while hovering above two engaged fighters on the
ground or on the cage. Unless a complete and hopeless stalemate
becomes apparent with neither competitor gaining an advantage,
allow them to do their jobs. In other sports, quality referees
are often defined by how little we notice them. Some MMA officials
could learn a thing or two from the concept.
Fewer
Boo Birds: Every fan hopes to be entertained when the fists and
feet fly. However, the demand that every fight come through in
that regard is out of touch with reality. Proper respect is due
to any man or woman who enters the cage to risk life and limb
in the spirit of competition. Not every match will turn into
a barnburner. There will be plenty of duds along the way. To
hear boos -- alcohol-induced or otherwise -- cascading down around
two professional fighters who have spent hours upon hours, days
upon days and years upon years honing their skills has grown
increasingly unnerving. MMA fans need to come to grips with one
truth: the bottom line in sports is winning, not entertainment.
Sometimes, the two go hand-in-hand; many times, they do not.
Fighters from various backgrounds -- some of them flashy and
stylish, others downright boring -- will continue to do what
they do best in the pursuit of victory. That drive to succeed
exists in the DNA of any accomplished athlete. For every Anderson
Silva, there is a Jon Fitch. A true MMA fan has an appreciation
and a respect for both.
Professionalism,
Please: The UFC created some needless negative publicity with
how it handled the situations involving Forrest Griffin, Miguel
Torres and Rashad Evans. In short, all three made unsavory and
unfortunate comments in various public forums: Griffin and Torres
on Twitter, Evans at the end of a high-profile press conference
for the UFC’s forthcoming second appearance on the Fox network.
Griffin and Evans, two promotional lynchpins, kept their jobs.
Torres lost his. Double standards have no place at the professional
level. The UFC should establish a code of conduct and abide by
it. If Torres’ words were grounds for termination, then
it stands to reason that Griffin and Evans should have been given
the boot, as well. Generally speaking, the sport of mixed martial
arts could use an injection or two of professionalism -- from
those who compete in the cage, from those charged with promoting
fighters and fights, from those who carry the gavel in the form
of a scorecard and from those who cover the sport in the media
on a day-to-day basis. Am I the only one who cringes at the sight
of “journalists” walking the red carpet like celebrities?
Source:
Sherdog
|
Dave
Herman Moves On from UFC 136 Debacle
UFC
136 was a crazy event for heavyweight Dave Herman and he didn’t
even fight on the show.
Technically,
Herman was scheduled to fight on the show, but a pre-fight drug
test ordered by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation
revealed a positive result for marijuana.
Herman
was removed from the card and his fight with Mike Russow was
yanked altogether.
“Maybe
a month out, I got an email from the commission that said I had
to get a drug test, and then went and took it. Like another week
later, the results came in and they just said you’re pulled.
I was surprised,” Herman told MMAWeekly Radio.
While
he never denies the fact that he’s used marijuana years
before, Herman says he absolutely did not use anything leading
up to his fight. As a matter of fact, it had been quite some
time since Herman had done anything marijuana related.
“I
mean, I have before in college, but I don’t (now). I never
liked it,” Herman explained.
Since
that time, Herman has been retested by the commission and given
a clean bill to resume his career. He’s now scheduled to
face Stefan Struve at UFC on Fuel 1 in February.
Herman
has pretty much put the situation to bed in his own mind, and
he’s not even really worried about vindicating himself from
the previous claims because he just wants to move on with his
career at this point.
“Honestly,
I don’t even worry about it. It was a missed opportunity,
but all you can really do is move forward,” said Herman.
The
hardest part for him beyond missing a paycheck was the lost chance
to fight when he believed he was in the best shape of his life.
For his past couple of fight camps, Herman has been training
exclusively at Team Quest in Temecula, Calif., alongside former
Strikeforce and Pride champion Dan Henderson.
At
one time in his career, Herman was literally self-trained. It
wasn’t until he suffered his first defeat in MMA that he
finally decided to learn something about MMA. Now with a lot
more knowledge on his side, Herman was ready to go 2-0 in the
UFC back in October. That was the hardest part about the situation,
not the claims that he had done drugs before the fight.
“The
worst part was I was training really hard and I felt probably
the best shape I’ve ever felt for a fight, and I was just
ready to go. Then they’re like, no you’re not going.
That was probably the worst part,” Herman commented.
The
additional time off did allow Herman to continue his growth into
a full-fledged mixed martial artist. With a 21-2 record, Herman
has done well for himself, even though he admittedly didn’t
know that much about MMA in his early days.
Now
he’s picking up some new tricks and he’s planning on
introducing them to Stefan Struve in February.
“I
plan on being in great shape for this next one. That’s what
I did as soon as it got pulled cause I was already in shape,
so I had to take advantage of it and use that to work on technique
and stuff,” Herman said.
In
the past, he has been known for his tremendous punching power
and striking skills. Now with the added time off to learn a little
bit more about the ground game, is Herman ready to start throwing
a flying gogoplata into his arsenal?
“Pretty
much, yeah,” he joked.
Herman
faces Stefan Struve at the UFC on Fuel 1 show from Omaha, Neb.,
on Feb. 15.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Iron
Nakamura Believes Bellator’s Bantamweights will Soon Rival
UFC’s Best
Bellator
will have an influx of international talent for its upcoming
bantamweight tournament including DEEP and Shooto veteran Hiroshi
“Iron” Nakamura.
Nakamura
has been a mainstay on the Japanese fight scene for several years
and has picked up some big wins along the way including victories
over Masakazu Imanari and former WEC contender Yoshiro Maeda.
Now
Nakamura will look to have the same success in America when he
begins competing in Bellator in 2012.
“I
always wanted to fight someone very technical, and in terms of
MMA technique, I believe America is the best right now,”
Nakamura said in an interview with MMAWeekly.com. “On top
of this, Bellator already has so many strong fighters and when
I look at their bantamweight roster, I can see the promotion
can be a serious competition to UFC in the very near future,
and that is why I wanted to challenge the world’s top fighters
in Bellator.”
While
the fighters that will challenge Nakamura are one thing, there’s
also the pressure that comes along with fighting in the United
States for the first time.
It’s
no great secret that several top flight Japanese stars have traveled
to the U.S. over the past several years with moderate success
to show for it. Nakamura has seen others have limited success
with a fair amount of failure mixed in, but he’s working
right now on identifying where he needs to be great so that doesn’t
happen to him.
“That
is a very difficult question for me to answer because I haven’t
fought in America yet, but one thing I can say is this, I think,
sometime, the timing is off when it comes to a decision making
in regards to what you need to do to win. You know, sometimes
you need to go somewhere to learn something new, but just didn’t
do it at the right time kinda thing,” said Nakamura.
“That
is why, in order for me to produce a good result in America,
I believe, I would have to identify what I am good at and what
I am not good at, and comprehend all of that in a positive manner.”
Nakamura
believes he is prepared for whatever Bellator throws at him in
regards to an opening round match-up. He’s a confident fighter
and that showed even before he officially landed in the deal.
See,
Nakamura’s management team at Suckerpunch Entertainment
had already negotiated a deal to have the Japanese bantamweight
fight in Bellator in 2012, but he had made a prior commitment
to compete one more time in DEEP.
Instead
of dropping out of that fight, Nakamura took the fight anyway,
knowing that a loss could result in him being removed from the
Bellator bantamweight tournament. A confidence inspiring performance
helped Nakamura get past Seiji Akao just this last weekend, and
now he’s preparing for his new home at Bellator.
It’s
that very attitude that gives Nakamura his edge. See he’s
faced these kinds of odds before, but he’s a fighter that
may bend, but he never breaks.
“I
actually went through more than a few rough periods as a pro
fighter. I couldn’t win till the third fight of the career,
and I also went through three fights without a win in 2006 to
2007. But I never gave up and I continued to work harder. So
I would like to the fans and fellow fighters to see, even a fighter
like me, as long as you keep on trying, you could make it to
the top league. And I would like everyone to feel something about
that,” said Nakamura.
“For
fans in America, well, I am sure my next fight is going to be
an exciting fight, and I hope fans in America would enjoy and
accept my fight style. I believe the tourney is scheduled to
begin in March and I will be fully ready for my first fight in
Bellator.”
Nakamura
isn’t sure who his first fight will be against, but he knows
it’s going to be a tough test no matter what. In the age
where you’re only as good as your last fight, he’s
excited to be a part of the tournament where he hopes to earn
a shot at champion Zach Makovsky.
“They
are all strong fighters,” said Nakamura. “Soon, I believe,
Bellator’s bantamweight division would be in the same level
as UFC’s bantamweight division.”
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Is
Brazil the Largest Market for MMA Worldwide?
UFC president Dana White has been saying for the past few months
that Brazil may be the new frontier for MMA in the worldwide
market.
After
a highly successful show in Rio earlier this year, the UFC is
now casting a new Ultimate Fighter reality show there with Vitor
Belfort and Wanderlei Silva cast as coaches, and UFC 142 will
head back to Rio in January.
During
the mid-year part of 2012, the UFC is also expected to put on
a major stadium show in Brazil that could see the largest audience
in the sports’ history in attendance.
For
all the talk about how big the sport is getting in Brazil, it’s
still relevant to get the perspective of somebody on the ground
there that lives and breathes MMA and lives in the country.
That’s
where well known Brazilian manager Alex Davis comes in.
Davis
works with some of the top fighters in the sport including Antonio
“Bigfoot” Silva, Rousimar Palhares, Edson Barboza,
and Thiago Tavares. He also resides full time in Brazil and has
literally seen the sport explode in the country ever since the
UFC came to town.
“Let
me just tell you this, you go to the bank and you hear people
talking about it. You catch a taxi cab and people talk about
it. I got a lot of media from the last UFC Rio, it was on open
TV, and now I can’t go to the supermarket in my hometown,
people keep stopping me wanting to talk about fighting. It’s
in the blood,” Davis told MMAWeekly Radio.
White
has infamously said time and again that he believes MMA will
be the biggest sport in the world over the next 10 years, and
while some may scoff at that idea, Davis isn’t one of them.
He
especially points to Brazil as a market that will not only sustain
the UFC, but grow the sport as a whole because fans there crave
fighting.
“It’s
absolutely true. I think that nobody realized it, they didn’t
realize it, I certainly didn’t realize it. If you asked
me two years ago if the UFC would come to Brazil, I always thought
that the financials here would not work for them. Every time
I tried to put up an event, and I put everything on a spreadsheet,
I couldn’t sell the ticket price and the number of tickets
sold wouldn’t make it successful,” said Davis.
“Now,
as UFC came to Brazil and it was on open TV. In Brazil you have
soccer as the main sport, and you have volleyball as a far, far
second. So MMA seems to filling that space between the two sports.
Now, everybody I know, everybody I talk to wants to talk about
fighting.”
Davis
also believes that the sport’s rapid growth and expansion
in Brazil will lead to bigger sponsors hopping on board as well.
UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva has already inked deals
with Burger King and Nike in Brazil, and Davis thinks more name
brands will be jumping on the MMA bandwagon soon enough.
“I
think what’s going to happen here in Brazil faster than
in other countries, is that you’re going to see big sponsors
jump on the sport. Companies that might not have jumped on in
the States or in Europe, in Brazil they will be willing to jump
on it,” said Davis.
It’s
not what anyone expected when the UFC first talked about going
to Brazil. Despite the country being the birthplace of jiu-jitsu
and the breeding ground for so many great MMA fighters, Brazil
has been a tough market to crack in the past.
The
UFC however has found a new home where they will excel and it
may already be the biggest market for the company outside of
the United States.
“I
don’t think anybody realized how big this market could be,”
Davis said. “I think when they came down here and they realized
it, they changed their whole plan and their whole strategy, they
accommodated Brazil.
“They
now have a TUF show down here, Lorenzo (Fertitta) was down here
last month and he was all over the place, now you have Dana (White)
down here, they realize it.”
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Lesnar,
Overeem don’t think they’ll go long
When
UFC president Dana White called Brock Lesnar in September, and
the latter agreed to fight on Dec. 30 against Alistair Overeem,
White noted that it would be a five-round fight.
Lesnar
said, “That’s fine, because it’s not going five
rounds.”
Aside
from both being two of the most physically impressive heavyweights
the sport has ever seen, Overeem (6-foot-5, 255 pounds) and Lesnar
(6-foot-2 ½, 270 pounds) have almost nothing in common
other than the belief that their battle for the next UFC title
shot at Junior Dos Santos will end decisively, and probably quickly.
“I’m
prepared for five rounds,” said Overeem (35-11, 1 no contest),
“I’ve been doing the five rounds forever now it seems.
But looking at myself, the type of fighter that I am, looking
at Brock, the type of fighter he is, looking at both our characters,
we’re aggressive.
“We’re
not the type of guys who back up,” said Overeem, the only
man in history to hold a world championship in a major MMA organization
(Strikeforce) and in the premier kickboxing organization (K-1)
at the same time. “We’re fighters. We want to finish
fights. And yes, I’m going to be doing that on Dec. 30.
I expect him to be doing that, so I don’t see really going
past the first or the second round. The second round maximum.”
“I
feel the same,” said Lesnar (5-2). “This is a heavyweight
fight that we’re both going in to finish. I don’t foresee
it going five rounds.”
While
statements like that from heavyweights may come across as hyperbole,
few expect anything different.
The
fight, billed in some places as the best heavyweight striker
(Overeem, at least, has the credentials as the winner of the
K-1 World Grand Prix last year, the highest level kickboxing
competition in the world) against the best heavyweight wrestler
(arguable, but Lesnar, Cain Velasquez and Daniel Cormier are
likely the three best heavyweight wrestlers in the sport), is
actually pretty simple to handicap, and it comes down to a few
questions.
Can
Lesnar take Overeem down, keep him there and damage him, mentally
break him and finish him from that position? Can Overeem either
stop Lesnar’s takedowns, or at least get up from them quickly
enough to get enough time standing to get the knockout? Can Overeem
catch him on the takedown with a knee or a guillotine?
Any
prolonged standing greatly favors Overeem. And after being an
eye witness to the Dos Santos title win over Cain Velasquez in
just 64 seconds back on Nov. 12, Lesnar is probably going to
be unlikely to fool around for too long standing against a fighter
who has finished seven of his last ten opponents out in less
than two minutes.
Before
Overeem’s somewhat disappointing performance in winning
a decision over Fabricio Werdum on June 18, the “Dutch Demolition
Man” hadn’t been to the second round in a fight since
2007. That was back in the days when he was a small light heavyweight.
With the exception of the Werdum fight, the new Overeem has been
a killing machine the likes of which has never been seen at the
top ranks of the 265-pound weight class.
But
that streak led directly to the wide dichotomy of viewpoints
on Overeem. His supporters label him the best heavyweight in
the game, pointing to his quick finishes, and his skill set.
His takedown defense as a heavyweight has looked strong. While
thought of as primarily a kickboxer, four of his last eight quick
wins have come via submission, and with his long but powerful
arms, he’s the master of the guillotine.
His
detractors say his record of quick finishes is padded, fattened
up on cans on the Japanese circuit. His record in kickboxing
shouldn’t count because it is a different sport. His takedown
defense may look good, but as a heavyweight, the closest thing
he’s faced to a wrestler was a past-his-prime Kazuyuki Fujita,
who is world’s away from Lesnar caliber.
Detractors
also point to Werdum as being the only top-15 heavyweight Overeem
has faced in his streak, and he didn’t look impressive there.
To be fair, Overeem came into that fight with a broken toe and
Werdum’s style of continually dropping to his back to try
and bait Overeem into a ground war made it impossible to look
good. And they point to his 11 career losses as a sign that when
he’s challenged he either gasses or folds.
For
all of Overeem’s experience, Lesnar has fought and beaten
a far tougher variety of heavyweight opponents.
Still,
Overeem comes into UFC 141 as a 9-to-6 favorite, the first time
in Lesnar’s career he’s the underdog. Yet many of the
top heavyweights, like Frank Mir and Daniel Cormier, strongly
favor Lesnar.
But
for all the questions about Overeem, there are just as many about
Lesnar.
Lesnar
is coming off a long fight with diverticulitis, a disease that
has consumed his life for two years and even threatened it at
one point. It’s his first fight back since surgery on May
27. While Lesnar says he feels younger, and better than he has
in years, the question at 34 is did the disease and time rob
him of the speed and physically dominating wrestling that was
his most amazing attribute as a fighter? Plus, his composure
after being hit is in question after his last two fights, in
which he was nearly finished by Shane Carwin, and then was finished
by Cain Velasquez.
“All
I can say is that I’ve had a great camp and this is the
best I’ve felt in a long time,” said Lesnar. “If
I had to put a percentage on it, I don’t even know.”
Marty
Morgan, who has worked with Lesnar since his college wrestling
days, said Lesnar’s strength levels going into this fight
are far above what they were while preparing for any of his fights
in at least three years.
In
Overeem’s weight gain from 224 pounds when he beat Paul
Buentello for the Strikeforce title in 2007 to 262 pounds when
he won the K-1 World Grand Prix one year ago, he’s faced
the kind of steroid allegations that Lesnar has heard since college.
This
led to a major ordeal in recent weeks. Overeem had a hearing
before the Nevada Athletic Commission after a delay in taking
a random drug test ordered on Nov. 17. He missed the 48-hour
deadline to take the test because he flew from Las Vegas to Holland
to be with his sick mother and missed getting the message.
Finally,
on Dec. 14, Overeem took a test in the U.K., and came up clean.
The commission ordered him to be tested once more before the
fight, when he arrives in Las Vegas after Christmas.
Lesnar,
unlike most in MMA who are consumed by the latest gossip, keeps
himself isolated for the most part. He doesn’t have Internet
at his home. He only has television to watch hunting shows and
when it comes to the plethora of MMA on television, he rarely
watches, usually just to see fights that one of his friends are
in. He only became vaguely aware of any Overeem’s testing
controversy on Dec. 14, and has barely given it a thought.
“I
just heard about it yesterday,” Lesmar said last week. “I’ve
been dealing with the same accusations my whole life, being part
of the spotlight and with the Internet and everything nowadays,
and being social media, everybody knows everything. It’s
part of the lifestyle. It comes with the territory. So I’ve
been used to it for many years now. So I don’t even follow
as much about what is going on with Alistair.”
Source:
Yahoo Sports
|
Mir
doesn’t like Overeem’s chances
LAS
VEGAS – Alistair Overeem is one of the most powerful strikers
in mixed martial arts. Getting hit on the chin by an Overeem
right hand is essentially the equivalent of James Harrison taking
a 30-yard running start and then delivering a helmet-to-helmet
hit on an unsuspecting quarterback.
You
go down and you usually don’t get up.
Logic
would then seem to dictate that Overeem should handle Lesnar
with few problems when they meet in the five-round main event
of UFC 141 on Dec. 30 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
Frank
Mir, another ex-UFC heavyweight champion, agrees it will be a
one-sided fight.
The
difference, though, is that Mir expects Lesnar to manhandle Overeem
and defeat him with very few problems.
“Unless
Brock decides for some unknown reason he wants to turn it into
a kickboxing match, it should be a pretty simple fight for him,”
Mir said.
Oddsmakers
disagree. Overeem is about an 8-5 favorite, but Mir makes a solid
case for Lesnar. He said that a fighter like ex-UFC light heavyweight
champion Lyoto Machida would have a much better shot to defeat
Lesnar than would Overeem, a powerful striker who is able to
match the ex-WWE star muscle for massive muscle.
Mir
thinks Lesnar has learned enough during his brief time in MMA
to know that he doesn’t want to be trading blows with anyone.
Randy Couture hurt Lesnar with a punch. Shane Carwin nearly finished
him with strikes. And Cain Velasquez pummeled Lesnar with his
hands in taking the title from him at UFC 121 last year at the
Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.
Lesnar’s
punches are like taking a mule kick, and early in his career
he often was willing to try to test his power against his opponent’s.
But Lesnar’s striking has plenty of holes that put him in
situations he didn’t want to be in, so Mir believes he’s
learned from it and won’t play that game anymore.
Lesnar
defeated Mir in the second round at UFC 100, but probably should
have stopped Mir in the first round given the way the fight was
proceeding. Lesnar, though, chose to try to strike a bit and
Mir stemmed the onslaught and survived the first round. The only
problem Lesnar had against him, Mir said, was when he opted to
try to strike.
“In
the first round, on the ground, he was completely demolishing
me,” Mir said of Lesnar. “All of a sudden, he lets
me up for a second because he wants to play stand-up. And all
of a sudden then, I come in with a combination and he starts
wincing and running away. I hit him with a flying knee and, ‘Boom!’
we go right back down to the ground again.”
Mir
said it’s an oversimplification to believe that just because
Lesnar has struggled on his feet in some fights that he’d
have no shot against Overeem. The style of striker he is facing
is significant, too, and Mir said Overeem isn’t the kind
of fighter who is going to incorporate speed and movement into
his striking.
Overeem’s
striking game, Mir said, is about brute force and power. He’s
going to stand in front of his opponent and try to turn it into
a brawl. If Lesnar stands and engages, he’ll be in trouble.
“If
Brock decides to kickbox with him, they’ll be looking for
his head in the second row,” Mir said.
A
striker like Machida would cause Lesnar far more problems, insists
Mir. Machida is light on his feet, very quick and elusive, and
darts in and darts out.
He’d
be able to get strikes off and land blows and then get out of
danger before Lesnar could get his arms on him and take him down,
Mir believes.
Overeem,
though, figures to be an ideal target for a Lesnar takedown,
Mir said. Fabricio Werdum is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt
whom Overeem defeated earlier this year in the Strikeforce Heavyweight
Grand Prix tournament. Werdum wanted to get the fight to the
ground so he could work on his submissions, but Overeem was able
to fend him off and keep the fight standing.
Mir
said it will be a different story against Lesnar.
“Werdum
is not known as a world-class striker, but he hit [Overeem] a
lot in that fight,” Mir said. “If you look at his defense,
when Werdum shot in, he sprawled. But believe me, that sprawl
is not stopping Brock. I hate to break this to everyone, but
that sprawl will do nothing to Brock.
“Brock
doesn’t shoot that low. He’ll put his forehead in your
chest, and he’s going to run you through. If he’s not
able to take you down with that initial blast, he’s going
to run you against the cage. Then he’s going to rip your
legs out from under you. Now, you should have gotten taken down
in the middle of the area, but instead, you’ve been taken
down against the cage [where it is more dangerous]. Speaking
from experience, that sucks.”
At
that point, Mir said, the fight would be nearly over.
“Now,
you have a guy who is not a black belt in jiu-jitsu and who is
not a wrestling All-American who is going to be able to get back
to his feet, so what does he do?” Mir said. “And if
the fight doesn’t get stopped in the first round, remember,
this guy is a kick boxer. He’s a kick-boxing specialist.
That’s his speciality. Are you going to try to tell me he’s
going to wrestle with a national champion wrestler for five minutes?
His cardio is going to suck [after wrestling with Lesnar for
a while]. I’ve seen guys with muscles like that, and that’s
why he slows down.
“Hey,
if he hits you in the first two minutes, he could knock down
a house. I’m not taking that away from him. Is he explosive?
Absolutely. But the other guy [Lesnar] has the same thing. Brock
is just as explosive, if not more. Brock is just as powerful,
if not more. But when you’ve wrestled, are you telling me
the striking is going to get easier as the fight goes on? No
way. The only way Overeem wins that fight is if he can knock
Brock out in the first minute, minute-and-a-half.”
The
advantage a wrestler has in a fight is that he can generally
dictate where the fight will take place. Mir said that even the
legendary boxer, Muhammad Ali, couldn’t do much when he
fought wrestler Antonio Inoki in an exhibition match in 1976.
Inoki moved around the ring like a crab and kicked at Ali’s
legs.
The
result was that Ali did next-to-nothing. Much the same way, Mir
doesn’t see Overeem, the striker, having much of a shot
against Lesnar, the world-class wrestler.
“If
Overeem has a shot, it’s not much of one, and he’s
got a small window to get done what he wants to get done,”
Mir said. “Otherwise, he’s going to be on his back
eating a lot of stuff from a pretty mean guy from the top.”
Source:
Yahoo Sports
|
Jason
‘Mayhem’ Miller Agrees with Dana White In Honest Response
After Loss to Bisping
Jason
‘Mayhem’ Miller hasn’t said much since his decisive
loss to Michael Bisping at the ‘Ultimate Fighter’ 14
finale, but he’s now opened up with a new post on his website.
Following
the performance that saw Miller lose by TKO in the third round
to his fellow former coach, UFC President Dana White panned the
‘Bully Beatdown’ host calling his stand up some of
the worst he’s ever seen in MMA.
White
also criticized Miller’s overall performance, and still
sits undecided if he’s going to give the colorful fighter
another shot in the UFC or if he’ll release him after only
one fight back.
Now
Miller is answering back to those comments, and he agrees with
everything that White had to say about him, and he’s taking
ownership of his performance.
“Dana
White was right,” Miller wrote. “He made some disparaging
comments about my performance, and I agree with him. I displayed
the worst of everything that night in the octagon. I was tense
in round one and I locked up after that. I didn’t perform
to my potential, and I take full responsibility for it. That
wasn’t a UFC caliber performance, and I’m not happy
about it.
“I
won’t, however, write a worthless diatribe on myself, because
that is not constructive. I elect instead to take this misstep
and make something positive out of it.”
It’s
not often that a fighter can look back on a performance and be
so honest to say that they simply didn’t show up on that
night. In a day where excuses seem to come flying from every
direction when somebody loses, be it an injury not revealed before
the fight, or some other mystery ailment, it’s refreshing
to hear Miller say he just didn’t do well.
Now,
Miller is moving on from the defeat and focusing on the positives
going forward. He’s revamping his training while working
in Holland along side fellow UFC fighter Siyar Bahadurzada and
famed Golden Glory coach Martin De Jong.
“We
are all the custodians of our own destinies, and we must all
try to do the absolute best with what we have to work with- sometimes
you will have great successes and other times colossal failure,
but if you don’t try time and time again, you will be left
on your couch with nothing but a bucket of “What-ifs.”
You have no choice in this life but to push forward and try to
do the best you can,” Miller said.
“My
challenge to you, and myself, is to continue to press on and
make the most of your adventure here on earth. At the end of
your life you want to be sure that you’ve made your best
effort to make a collection of epic stories. Some sorrowful ones,
some happy ones and some downright amazing, but the challenge
for you is to find and make the most of each of these adventures.”
There’s
been no word on when or even if Miller will get a second chance
to prove himself in the Octagon, but it sounds like he’s
focused on the right things and moving past the negative.
Mistakes
were made, that’s clear. Now Miller is working to fix those
mistakes and become a better fighter.
“I
made a lot of mistakes in this story- during the camp, during
the fight- but the key to living life is learning from your mistakes
and making positive change,” Miller stated. “I feel
very positive right now, and I hope you feel the same way, I
would be absolutely nothing without persistence and positive
thinking, and if there is anything i want you to take from my
blog it is that mentality.
“I
will continue on this amazing journey, looking to make the most
epic stories that I can.”
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Maldonado
and the “ambush” to Caio in UFC
Chosen
to fight at UFC Rio, which will happen on February 14, at HSBC
Arena, Fabio Maldonado would confront the Bulgarian Stanislav
Nedkov, who due to a visa problem had to give it up and be replaced
by the undefeated Brazilian Caio “Monstro” Magalhaes,
who’ll be debuting on the organization. Jiu-Jitsu experts
and South American champion of Shooto, Caio is a very different
opponent from Nedkov, what will lead to chances on the trainings
of Maldonado, who evaluated the situation.
“My
preparation has changes a little because Nedkov wasn’t much
of a kicker, but Caio has good kicks, I’ve watched his fights.
Caio has a better ground game than Nedkov, but the Bulgarian
has a heavier hand than the Brazilian and has better takedowns.
Caio is a smart guy when it comes to timing on the takedowns,
so I gotta be alert on the ground with him because I could tell
he’s tight. Despite believing in my Jiu-Jitsu, which has
improved day after day, it’s not the time for me to show
it, due to the skills of my opponent”, said Fabio.
Maldonado
has fought twice in the UFC, on his debut when knocked out the
English James McSweeney, and on his last fight, on which he was
defeated by Kyle Kingsbury. In the athlete’s opinion, the
experience on the greatest MMA event of the world will be an
advantage against the debutant Caio Magalhaes.
“I
want to make him like it, hit me a little and then I’ll
go for it. I’ll set an ambush for him, so that he starts
playing my game. He’s a good fighter, he’s undefeated,
has a strong punch, but since he has no experience, I believe
that after the first rounds things get better for me. I know
he trusts his Jiu-Jitsu a lot, but I also trust my hands and
on my power of being on the receiving end of the punches too”,
said Maldonado, who hopes the difference of styles doesn’t
screw the show.
“Everybody
who trains the ground game tries to stand-up, but it’s not
everybody who strikes that tries to play it on the ground. I
hope I can keep this fight on my area and get a good win. I believe
if I can keep the actions on the stand-up until round two, I’ll
get a knockout. I want to prevent his takedowns, but I hope it’s
not like Werdum VS. Overeem because they didn’t accept the
others game”, analyzed.
If
in current MMA the show is almost as important as the win itself,
Maldonado rather guarantee the victory since he’s coming
from a defeat and doesn’t feel pressured to put a great
show for the Brazilian fans. “I don’t care about winning
the fans, I’ll play my game, and I wanna win, it doesn’t
matter if it’s nice to see or not. If I can put a good show
for them, it’s even better”, concluded.
COMPLETE
CARD (it can be changed):
UFC
142 (Rio)
HSBC
Arena, Rio de Janeiro
Saturday,
January 14 of 2011
Main
card:
-
Jose Aldo VS. Chad Mendes;
-
Vitor Belfort VS. Anthony Johnson;
-
Rousimar Palhares VS. Mike Massenzio;
-
Erick Silva VS. Carlo Prater;
-
Edson Barboza VS. Terry Etim;
Preliminary
card:
-
Thiago Tavares VS. Sam Stout;
-
Fábio Maldonado VS. Caio Magalhaes;
-
Iuri Alcantara VS. Michihiro Omigawa;
-
Felipe Sertanejo VS. Antonio Carvalho;
-
Ednaldo Lula VS. Gabriel Napao;
-
Mike Pyle VS. Ricardo Funch.
Source:
Tatame
|
|
Edgar
and Diaz Slight Betting Odds Favorites Heading into UFC 143 &
UFC 144
The
odds for a couple of upcoming main events have been released
with a champion and a former champion coming in as slight favorites.
At
UFC 143, former Strikeforce welterweight champion Nick Diaz meets
former WEC champion Carlos Condit in a battle for the interim
UFC welterweight strap.
When
the fight was originally released by oddsmaker Nick Kalikas at
BetOnFighting.com, Condit opened as a slight favorite at -125
over Diaz.
In
just a few hours, however, the betting has already moved the
line to install Diaz as a slight betting favorite at -130, while
the comeback on Condit is even money.
It’s
likely this line could shift several times before the Feb. 4
showdown in Las Vegas.
As
for the main event at UFC 144 in Japan, lightweight champion
Frankie Edgar will finally experience what it’s like to
be a favorite as he goes into a title fight. The New Jersey native
has been installed as a -130 favorite over challenger Benson
Henderson, who currently comes in at even money as the underdog.
Again,
the lines may shift in a fight this close, so Edgar could still
end up as the underdog by fight time.
The
underdog role has worked out pretty well for Edgar, however.
The incumbent champion has been a betting underdog in each of
his last four fights, and he didn’t taste defeat in any
of them.
Source:
MMA Weekly |
|
Experience,
Attitude Make TUF Brasil Best Ever
UFC
president Dana White has been amped up for some time for the
prospect of the first international version of The Ultimate Fighter.
Now, after years of talking about TUF coming to Canada, the U.K.,
the Philippines, Australia, China, and more, the first internationally
flavored production of the reality series is underway… in
Brazil.
White
may have originally though it would happen elsewhere, but when
Brazilians went bonkers for UFC 134, the overwhelming response
hit White and UFC officials over their collective heads, making
Brazil a no-brainer.
“I
think the amount of talent that is going to be cultivated in
Brazil from The Ultimate Fighter alone is going to be phenomenal,”
said White. “I think you’re gonna see a lot of young
people in Brazil get into mixed martial arts and training.”
White
isn’t the only one who thinks that same way. Alex Davis,
one of the premier managers and a longtime veteran of MMA in
Brazil, agrees. He thinks that TUF Brasil will be a hotbed for
UFC talent and be one of the most successful versions of the
series from an entertainment standpoint as well.
“When
you see the TUF format in the States, you see kids that have
four or five or six fights, right? Out of the 32 odd fighters
you have in each division, I have a kid that has 10 fights and
one loss. I have another kid that has 15 fights and two losses,”
Davis told MMAWeekly Radio.
“These
kids’ records are way above what you usually see in TUF.
So I think the fighting aspect on that besides the entertaining
aspect, I think the fight aspect on the show is going to be awesome.”
And
for the uninitiated, having a ton of experience in the fight
game isn’t the only thing that courses the Brazilian blood,
so does machismo.
That
may or may not mean much in the Octagon, but on a reality show,
attitude can be everything. Is it death-defying stunts that lead
to reality success? Is it successfully attaining goals? Is it
coming to sometimes all-too brutal realizations?
Nope.
Nope. And nope.
Attitude
and personality are what sell reality TV. Why did fighters with
only two or three fights make it onto past seasons of The Ultimate
Fighter in the United States? Why did Kimbo Slice make it? Because
reality TV isn’t so much about reality, as it is about characters
that entertain… whatever form that entertainment may take.
“What
I think is gonna happen in TUF… Brazilians are very flamboyant
people. They got a lot of humor. For you to live in Brazil, you’ve
got to have a lot of flexibility,” said Davis.
“It’s
not like in the States. People will cross the street; they don’t
even look at the cars coming. The cars will stop. Here in Brazil,
if you put your foot off the sidewalk, the car that’s coming
will try to hit it,” he continued with a laugh, only half-joking.
“I
think that that attitude is going to come into the show. I think
this is probably going to be one of the most entertaining shows
that the UFC has done.”
Only
time will tell, but White and UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta are in
the same boat, believing that TUF Brasil will go gangbusters
for the promotion, the same as their events in the country are
doing.
Source:
MMA Weekly |
Chad
Griggs vs. Travis Browne Slated for UFC 145 in March
Chad Griggs' UFC debut will come against Travis Browne at UFC
145, the organization announced over the weekend.
The
33-year-old Griggs (11-1), who also works as a firefighter and
paramedic in Arizona, went 3-0 in Strikeforce after he was plucked
out of obscurity to be another opponent for Bobby Lashley in
Aug. 2010. He would go onto beat Lashley, then another prospect
in Gian Villante in February, followed by Valentijn Overeem in
June.
Zuffa
announced two weeks ago that Strikeforce's heavyweight division
would cease to exist, and just like that, "The Grave Digger,"
who fought just once between Nov. 2007 and Aug. 2010, was headed
to the big show.
Griggs
will seemingly have to prove himself all over again when he meets
the undefeated Browne (12-0-1), one of the UFC's top heavyweight
prospects, in March. "Hapa" is 3-0-1 in the UFC, recently
defeating Stefan Struve and Rob Broughton in his last two fights.
UFC
145 is expected to take place March 24 at Montreal's Bell Centre.
The UFC has yet to announce a main event for the card.
Source:
MMA Fighting
|
After
Narrow Loss to Hioki, Roop Wants to Make Statement
That’s
not to say he necessarily disagrees with the judges’ call,
though.
“I
thought the decision was, I guess, fair,” he told the Sherdog
Radio Network’s “Beatdown” show. “I felt
like it was a very close fight. If you look at the fight, I feel
like I won the fight in general because at the end of the night,
he didn’t want to be in there with me anymore. He wanted
out of there, and I inflicted more damage. But if you go back
and you score the rounds, the rounds were very close, especially
the first round. I really think that’s what it came down
to.”
In
other words, Roop nearly beat a fighter currently ranked No.
2 in the world. Still, it was a good performance, and he’ll
have a chance to bounce back Jan. 28 when he fights Cub Swanson
at UFC on Fox 2.
“All
I can do is look forward,” Roop said. “My next task
at hand is Cub Swanson. He’s going to be a handful. I plan
on going out there and being vicious and really making a statement.
I’m going to be very aggressive in this fight. I’m
not going to leave anything to interpretation. Everybody’s
going to definitely know who won the fight at the end of this
fight.”
Roop
is confident he’ll win, but he also respects Swanson’s
game.
“I
think Cub Swanson’s actually a real tough guy,” he
said. “He’s fought Jose Aldo and Chad Mendes both.
… Chad Mendes wasn’t able to finish him, and he’s
an outstanding fighter in the featherweight division. Cub Swanson’s
going to be a very good test for me. He’s very explosive
and he’s very well rounded.”
Roop
has studied plenty of film on Swanson. He didn’t learn much
from the Aldo fight (it was over too quick) or from the Mendes
bout (Roop said Mendes is “as exciting as watching paint
dry”), but he did pick up a few things from Swanson’s
other performances.
“I’m
really putting a good game plan together to really take it to
him and take him out,” Roop said. “I want to make a
statement. I want to show people that I am a top-10 fighter and
that I am making a run for the title.”
The
bout could have a substantial television audience if it gets
a slot on the Fox telecast. Roop’s obviously hoping it will.
“I
always show up to fight and I’m always ready,” he said.
“I never let the nerves get to me in the UFC, and I’ll
bring it. I just really hope that I get to show the Fox audience.
… I want them to say, ‘I want to watch that guy fight
again.’ That’s my perspective going into every fight.”
Source:
Sherdog
|
Werdum
wants to make a good show and stay in the UFC
Fabricio
Werdum couldn’t be happier. After four fights in Strikeforce,
the Brazilian achieved his goal to return to the UFC. The return
of the heavyweight fighter with the octagon will be against Roy
Nelson, on February 4, in Las Vegas. More mature and experienced,
the athlete who fights out of Rio Grande do Sul, on an interview
with TATAME, said he deserved to take some time off Ultimate
and guaranteed he will put on a great show for the fans.
“There’s
no easy fight anymore. Everybody knows a little bit of everything:
Jiu-Jitsu, Wrestling, Boxing, Muay Thai. It’s a different
time we’re living in. Nelson knocked Cro Cop out, he has
a very strong right hand, sharp Boxing, but I’ll impose
my rhythm and play by my game plan until I tire him out. Knocking
out or submitting, I want to make it a good show”.
The
Brazilian also talked about the differences between his first
season in Ultimate and now, revealed how he’s doing his
preparation, also that he’s training with the gi on again,
highlighted the chance to erase the bad impression of his last
bout, among other subjects.
How
did you react when you heard you’d return to the UFC?
It
was one of the happiest things I’ve heard the last times.
I had that goal in mind, I wanted to fight on the biggest event
in the world again. Since I’ve been there once, I want to
return for good. But, in 2008 I should have left. God gave me
the long path, but I was the one to blame for that. I didn’t
train like I should, I didn’t even try to renegotiate with
UFC. I was a little sad I lost to Cigano, I wasn’t very
pleased with myself, my mind and body. I was really supposed
to go through this long journey, because I’m more aware
of what I gotta train, that there’s no easy fight. I want
to show I’m on the top ten of the world and put on a great
show to remain in UFC for a long time. Anyway, Strikeforce was
a very good time for me. I got three wins in a row and lost to
Overeem.
It’s
good news for the big holidays, right?
The
best of the year, because I worked a lot, fought, launched a
campaign on Twitter, Facebook and everybody helped me with the
messages I sent. I wanted to thank the Brazilian people who joined
the campaign. There were over seven thousand messages sent to
Dana White asking for me to fight in Brazil. I’ll fight
now in Vegas, but the second or third I hope it’s in Brazil.
Just like when people chanted the “Tropa de Elite”
theme (movie), I can picture then yelling “go horse! Go
horse!”
He
had never been submitted and you’re a Jiu-Jitsu expert.
How will you deal with it?
I
analyzed Nelson when I signed with UFC, I watched his fights
and observed his stand-up. He’s a heavy guy, so I’m
excited about fighting guys like him and I’m training with
guys like him on top of me so I get used to it. I’ll impose
my rhythm. It’s hard to knock him out, but anything can
happen. If I find a loop, I’ll try to finish him. I was
watching Rodrigo Nogueira VS. Frank Mir and I’ve learned
that, when the opportunity presents itself, you gotta knockout
or submit. The important thing is to have your arm raised at
the end of the fight.
Is
this your chance to erase the bad performance you had against
Overeeem?
Back
then I was training too much and I suffered from overtraining.
The fight was cancelled twice. I don’t give excuses when
I lose, but it was different this time. I went through the line.
Now I got in my mind I gotta speak less and do more. UFC and
the fans want shows. I’ll get in the ring to knockout or
be knocked out, there’s no other way. I’ll do my best
in there.
What
are you training the most?
After
my last defeat I focused on weight lifting and conditioning trainings
because I guess I lacked strength against Overeem. I’m training
Jiu-Jitsu with the gi again, which is very important. Joao Assis
is helping me a lot.
What
differences do you see from 2008 Werdum and present Werdum?
I’m
much more experience, well structured when it comes to family,
because I was far from them before. In Brazil I used to live
in Porto Alegre and trained in Curitiba. I had a really good
structure at my team, Werdum Combat Team, with trainings with
Rafael Cordeiro at Kings MMA, preventive physiotherapy with Guto
Orelha. The market’s big today, we can never think we’re
good enough. We always have to train hard and keep focused.
Source:
Tatame
|
Dear
Santa: What fight fans want for the holidays
It's
a giving time of year, so why not ask Santa Claus for what we
want as fight fans? That, and a Red Rider BB gun.
An
exciting bout from Brock Lesnar and Alistair Overeem: They are
two hulking men, which can mean huge punches and a memorable
bout, or it can be painful to watch. As Ben Fowlkes put it, when
heavyweight fights go bad, they go really, really bad. So please,
Santa Claus. Make this fight an ending to 2011 that we will want
to remember.
Fuel
TV on every cable and satellite provider: The station is kicking
off 2012 with a marathon of UFC content. They'll follow that
with "Countdowns," pre-fight and post-fight shows,
nightly news, and live fights. Fuel is an MMA fan's dream come
true, but it still isn't distributed in the majority of homes.
So Santa? Can you talk to some cable executives and make sure
that every fight fan can watch Fuel?
Fewer
injuries to champs: In MMA, injuries are inevitable, but 2011
was an injury-palooza. Jon Jones' hand, Georges St. Pierre's
knee, Anderson Silva's shoulder, and Frankie Edgar's back and
rib had effects on four different title bouts. Cain Velasquez's
shoulder injury, sustained in 2010, put the heavyweight title
on ice for more than a year. We know you can't heal injuries,
Santa, but can you share some sort of a preventative salve over
fighters around the world? Perhaps a magic powder that you can
shake from your sled as it passes over Brazil, Canada and the
U.S?
Compelling
drama on "The Ultimate Fighter": The show that kickstarted
the UFC's growth has grown stale. With the move to FX, live fights
and a new format, there is hope for rejuvenation. Please, Santa.
Make this a must-watch show again.
A
coherent vision behind Strikeforce: Last week, Strikeforce and
Showtime announced that they will continue their relationship.
Until that deal was signed, Strikeforce's future seemed in doubt,
as SF champions Nick Diaz, Dan Henderson and Alistair Overeem
were all brought over to the UFC. Now that we know Strikeforce
has a future, knowing its purpose would be nice. Is it a feeder
system to the UFC? Will fights between UFC and Strikeforce stars
happen? Let us know, Dana White Santa.
Source:
Yahoo Sports
|
Know
who the bombshell dreaming of subbing Cris Cyborg is?
Tipped to be the next to take on Cris Cyborg, American judoka
Ronda Rousey has made it known that she’s excited about
having the chance to face the Brazilian, even after Cris’s
knockout win in just 16 seconds last weekend.
“I
really would like to fight her, and I think it would be easy
for her to drop weight if she agrees to it, but that’s up
to her,” Ronda told Yahoo Sports editor Dave Meltzer.
It
happens that Ronda, although having fought at featherweight,
has dropped to bantamweight in pursuit of Miesha Tate’s
title, while Cyborg has trouble making the featherweight limit—nothing
keeping the fight from happening at featherweight, though.
Now the 24-year-old Ronda has reason to be confident. A bronze
medalist at the Beijing Olympics and silver medalist at the 2007
World Championship in Rio, she has won all seven of her MMA fights
by submission—four of them professional.
Cris
Cyborg has also agreed to test her ground game against the stalwart
judo stylist. “For this fight [against Ronda] I’ll
have to make a major effort to make it to bantamweight. Perhaps
I’ll take a fight at a catch weight [between bantam and
featherweight] first to adapt and later make it to the right
weight. But I’ll make an effort to do so,” said Cyborg.
For
the time being, Ronda’s next mission is to try and get her
hands on bantamweight champion Miesha Tate’s belt.
To
Strikeforce president Scott Coker, the fight between Cris and
Ronda will be made—but further down the road. “Ronda
Rousey’s name has been on the rise, but I feel she’ll
fight awhile longer at bantamweight, even though she has expressed
interest in fighting for the featherweight title some time,”
he said. “Now Cris Cyborg has signed for four more fights,
and we’re scouring the planet for worthy opponents to challenge
her at middleweight, but that’s no easy task. She’s
the Mike Tyson of female MMA,” said Coker in praise.
Source:
Gracie Magazine
|
Winkeljohn
Analyzes Jones Versus Hendo, Evans
For
his next title defense, UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones
could face the winner of the Jan. 28 matchup between Rashad Evans
and Phil Davis. He could also face Dan Henderson, who’s
coming off a win in November over Mauricio “Shogun”
Rua.
Jones’
trainer Mike Winkeljohn likes how the champion matches up against
all three possibilities.
“They
all present different challenges,” Winkeljohn told the Sherdog
Radio Network’s “Savage Dog Show.” “I’m
not sure which one’s the biggest. Dan’s big right hand
is always a big challenge. [He’s] somebody that could be
able to close that gap and find a hole and try to get to Jon’s
chin. That’s probably the dilemma with him, but he’s
small. I don’t think he can outwrestle Jon. I think Jon
beats him everywhere. I don’t think he can hit [Jones] with
that right hand.”
While
Henderson would bring a great deal of experience into a bout
against Jones, Jones would actually be the veteran in a matchup
against Davis. An NCAA champion wrestler at Penn State, Davis
has picked up the MMA game quickly. Winkeljohn doesn’t think
his striking is on Jones’ level, though.
“I
think Jon kills Phil Davis with his standup,” Winkeljohn
said. “I think Phil Davis is a tremendous wrestler and I’m
sure his standup’s going to get better daily. We’ll
see how much better it’s improved when he fights Rashad.
That will tell me a lot about where he’s going with his
training and what he’s doing.”
When
discussing the possible opponents, Winkeljohn often mentioned
their ability to close the distance on Jones. He cited Evans
in particular as dangerous in that regard, but he doesn’t
sound especially worried about him as a challenger either.
“I
think Rashad Evans is probably capable of closing the gap, if
he wants to, faster than anybody out there in trying to strike
with Jon,” Winkeljohn said. “But I think [against]
all of them, Jon’s got the ability to just pick them apart
from long range like he has with all of his other fights and
break them down and then finish the fight when it’s time.”
Of
course Jones and Evans are former teammates. They’ve trained
together and were friends, at least for a while, but now they’re
more like enemies. Evans has expressed plenty of confidence in
his ability to beat Jones, but Winkeljohn likes his fighter’s
outlook on a potential encounter.
“I
think he’s prepared to fight Rashad,” Winkeljohn said.
“I think mentally, I don’t have a problem with where
his head’s at with Rashad. He believes in his heart that
he can beat Rashad. So no matter what Rashad says, it becomes
posturing. … I think Jon sees that and I’m not worried
about it.”
Source:
Sherdog
|
Big
Nog blames recent loss on Ref. Herb Dean
So
what really happened at UFC 140 when Frank Mir literately twisted
and snapped Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira’s arm? It looked as
if Big Nog tried to choke Frank Mir out, and it didn’t end
up working in his favor. According to Big Nog though, it wasn’t
really anything he did wrong, but in the fault of ref. Herb Dean,
who told him the punches he was delivering were illegal.
Nogueira
reported via his official website:
“Last
Saturday I fought and lost via submission for the first time
in my career; it was a bad feeling, but it’s part of the
sport. Everything that happens in a fight is quick and the fighter
acts most based on his instincts and reflexes than [what's] on
his mind. I knew I made a mistake as I tried to submit [my opponent]
on a fight where I could have won by KO,” Nogueira wrote.
“But when Frank Mir was practically knocked out I heard
the referee tell me to stop punching him at the neck and that
is when I tried to choke him. Mir put himself together and must
be congratulated for submitting me. I checked the videos and
I wasn’t hitting him on the neck, but on Mir’s side
of the head, which is allowed.”
And
although it was quite clear that Dana White was baffled and a
little disappointed with Big Nog at the post-fight press conference,
Nogueira assured us he has received the best of care when had
surgery on his arm this past Monday.
“But
I’m not here to apologize. I lost. I’ll recover from
my arm injury and then move on, probably on the second UFC Rio
of 2012. The good thing about the loss was that I got many supporting
messages, and I really thank the great treatment that the boss
(Dana White) gave me in Canada. Dana used to tell me ‘Nog
we’re not sparing any expense, you’ll have the best
experts so you come back soon and well. I’m sure I’ll
still fight for many years. I fight because I like it and I feel
I’m in one of the best moments of my career.”
Source:
Cage Fighter
|
Heavyweights
Added to UFC on Fuel TV 1 Card
As
2011 comes to a close, the inaugural UFC on Fuel TV fight card
grows bigger, literally. UFC officials on Wednesday announced
the addition of a heavyweight bout matching up prospects Stipe
Miocic and Phil De Fries.
“Undefeated
heavyweights will collide as verbal agreements are in for 8-0
Phil De Fries versus 7-0 Stipe Miocic on February 15 in Omaha,
Nebraska,” said UFC president Dana White.
Miocic
has been fighting professionally for less than two years. After
rolling through the competition in his native Ohio, Miocic made
his Octagon debut with a unanimous decision victory over Joey
Beltran at UFC 136 in Houston.
He’ll
return to the cage against De Fries, who has little more experience.
He has been in the cage professional for a little over two and
a half years, but has been just as successful, never losing a
bout.
De
Fries made his UFC debut with a unanimous decision victory over
Rob Broughton on his home turf at UFC 138 in England. The Brit
will now cross over the Atlantic for the first time to face Miocic.
A
welterweight contest between Top 10 fighters Diego Sanchez and
Jake Ellenberger heads the UFC on Fuel TV 1 fight card in Omaha.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Maynard
gets impreesed by training with Aldo
One
of the toughest guys in UFC witnessed the best fight of 2011
against Frankie Edgar it’s the lightweight Gray Maynard,
who came to Rio de Janeiro exclusively to help the featherweight
Jose Aldo. When he heard the Brazilian would fight Chad Mendes,
Maynard offered himself to help Aldo at Wrestling and arrived
on Wednesday (21st) at the Wonderful City, where he intends to
stay for three weeks. The fighter trained with Jose Aldo and
went through a hard to take the Brazilian down. “He knows
how to defend the takedowns very well, I trained with him and
it was hard for me to take him down. I can tell you he doesn’t
need my help all that much, he’s pretty good at this”,
guaranteed. Check below the exclusive interview with the fighter,
who guaranteed Chad Mendes won’t be able to defeat the champion,
Jose Aldo.
How
did you end up here at Nova Uniao?
Me
and Jose Aldo met few times at UFC’s backstage. But it was
at UFC 136 I met him at the pre-fight press conference. I like
the way he fights, and I have always admired him as a person
and a fighter. He has always been nice to me and when I knew
he’s fight Chad Mendes I offered him some help and he said
he’d be grateful. Jose Aldo is a great guy and that’s
how I end up here. I arrived yesterday and went straight to the
Jiu-Jitsu classes and it was really good.
How
was training with so many tough guys on the same mat?
Everybody’s
helping me, this is a wonderful place and I want to help the
champion a lot during these three weeks. The train is good around
here, there are guys with completely different styles and you
can tell how talented they are. It’s impressive how such
a small room can fill so many great guys, there’re many
tough guys from Amazonas, you can tell just by the look in their
eyes they really love training and fighting. They are friendly
and really are there to help you.
Could
you tell how Jose Aldo’s takedown defenses are?
He
knows how to defend the takedowns very well, I trained with him
and it was hard for me to take him down. But actually I’ll
stay for a short period of time, so he knows what he knows, he
knows what he gotta do, but we’ve watched many of his fights
and I can tell you he doesn’t need my help all that much,
he’s pretty good at this. I’m just here to push him
and help him with the little things and, if I’m able to,
cooperate. I’ll try to tell him about my experience at college
at Wrestling.
What
are your thoughts about Aldo VS. Mendes? Do you believe Mendes
has chances?
The
way I see it, Chad Mendes is a great athlete, a very mature kid,
but honestly I don’t believe he’s ready to fight Jose
Aldo. I think it’s too soon, he needed to fight few more
times, but well… I’m not the one to decide that, it’s
just my opinion on the subject. Jose Aldo is a great champion,
you can tell he feels comfortable at the cage and it seems he
does what he wants to do in there. He’s an impressive guy
a while now I’ll do whatever it is I can do to help him
out. It’s a pleasure training with a guy that talented.
I can only say “thank you, Jose Aldo”.
Source:
Tatame
|
“We’ll
see Brock Lesnar at full potential for the first time”
Lesnar
and Comprido in cell phone snapshot so there is no delay in the
news reaching GRACIEMAG.com readers
This
end of the year, all anyone is talking about is presents, travel,
and Brock Lesnar vs. Alistair Overeem.
Thus,
GRACIEMAG.com got on the radio and called up one of Lesnar’s
coaches, Rodrigo “Comprido” Medeiros, between training
sessions with the heavyweight who drew new fans to the UFC in
droves.
During
the conversation, Comprido came off as being sincerely optimistic
about the outcome of the UFC 141 main event and touched on the
shape the former champion will be in when he steps into the octagon
this coming 30th in Las Vegas.
“Brock
is in great shape. Undergoing surgery was the best decision he
could have made. I believe we’ll be seeing Brock at full
potential for the first time,” Comprido told reporter Nalty
Junior.
“I’m
truly excited about this fight. They’re two giants, two
monsters on a collision course—I don’t think I’ve
ever seen two guys as big and skillful as they are. If Alistair
isn’t 100%, he’d best not show up, because Brock is
super well prepared; I guarantee it,” added Comprido.
What
about you, astute reader? Who’s going to end up on the right
side of this train wreck?
UFC
141
Las
Vegas, United States
December
30, 2011
Brock
Lesnar vs Alistar Overeem
Nate
Diaz vs Donald Cerrone
Jon
Fitch vs Johny Hendricks
Vladimir
Matyushenko vs Alexander Gustafsson
Nam
Phan vs Jim Hettes
Under
card
Ross
Pearson vs Junior Assunção
Anthony
Njokuani vs Danny Castillo
Preliminary
card (Facebook broadcast)
Jacob
Volkmann vs Efrain Escudero
Dong
Hyun Kim vs Sean Pierson
Manny
Gamburyan vs Diego Nunes
Matt
Riddle vs Luis “Beição” Ramos
Source:
Gracie Magazine
|
2012
MMA crystal ball: Who’s a UFC champ 12 months from now?
We
keep hearing about mixed martial being in a period of dominant
champions. Is that really true? Try to project the champions
in each UFC weight class for the end of 2012 and see what you
come up with.
Yahoo!
Sports' Kevin Iole, Frank Trigg and myself debated four of the
UFC's title belts during our "The MMA Insiders" show
on ESPN1100/98.9 FM in Las Vegas.
My
choices are:
125
pounds - Joe Benavidez
135
pounds - Urijah Faber
145
pounds - Jose Aldo Jr.
155
pounds - Gray Maynard
170
pounds - Georges St-Pierre
185
pounds - Anderson Silva
205
pounds - Jon Jones
Heavyweight
- Junior dos Santos
Trigg
and Iole disagreed with me on 155 and heavyweight. They also
came up with a few deep sleepers at lightweight and welterweight.
Source:
Yahoo Sports
|
The
Guy Behind the Guy – Ed Soares
Some
call him the manager of champions, but Ed Soares just calls himself
lucky to work with such a great group of fighters.
With
roots in the sponsorship business back when he founded Sinister
Clothing, Soares made a trip to Japan for the Pride Grand Prix
several years ago and found himself right in the middle of the
chance to start representing fighters.
Fast
forward to less than a decade later and Soares is one of the
top managers in all of MMA working with fighters like Anderson
Silva, Lyoto Machida, Jose Aldo, and both Nogueira brothers.
Soares
is the latest manager featured in MMAWeekly.com’s “Guy
Behind the Guy” series. He opens up about how he got involved
in the business, the perception that he somehow handpicks fights
for his fighters, as well as his translation skills.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Ricardo
Lamas Steps in to Face Dustin Poirier at UFC 143
It
didn’t take long for UFC matchmaker Sean Shelby to find
a replacement to step in and face Dustin Poirier at UFC 143.
Following
an injury to Erik Koch, fellow former WEC featherweight Ricardo
Lamas has stepped in and will face Poirier on the Super Bowl
weekend card. UFC officials announced the switch late Tuesday
night.
Ricardo
Lamas has gone two for two so far in his UFC career since moving
over from the WEC after 2010.
Lamas
blasted through Matt Grice in his debut fight, and then earned
“Submission of the Night” honors as he put away Cub
Swanson at the UFC on Fox show in November.
He
will now face one of the best featherweight contenders in the
world in Dustin Poirier.
The
bout between Lamas and Poirier will take place on the UFC 143
undercard, headlined by the welterweight interim title fight
between Carlos Condit and Nick Diaz.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Chad
Griggs Latest Strikeforce Heavyweight Moving to the UFC
The
migration of former Strikeforce heavyweights to the UFC continues
as Chad Griggs has signed a new deal to move over to the UFC
in 2012.
Sources
close to the fighter confirmed to MMAWeekly.com on Tuesday that
Griggs will move to the UFC and begin fighting there in the new
year.
Chad
Griggs originally came to Strikeforce as an opponent for highly
touted prospect Bobby Lashley. Most expected that he was brought
in as a sacrificial lamb for Lashley, who was a fast rising star
after his time spent in the pro wrestling world and then transitioned
into the fight game.
Griggs
was anything but a sacrifice, however.
He
tired out and then pummeled Lashley to win by TKO when his opponent
couldn’t continue after the second round.
Griggs
returned a few months later and put away another prospect in
Gian Villante before defeating Valentijn Overeem in brutal fashion
during the alternate rounds of the Strikeofrce Heavyweight Grand
Prix.
Now
the Arizona firefighter will make his move to the UFC where he’ll
try to keep his winning streak alive against a new crop of heavyweight
opponents.
There
has been no date for his debut, but Griggs is expected to end
up on one of the UFC cards during the first part of 2012.
MMAWeekly.com
will have more information on Griggs’ debut when it becomes
available.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
ProElite
Adds Olympic Judoka to Jan. 21 Fight Card
ProElite
on Wednesday announced the return of Olympic silver medalist
Judoka Sara McMann. She will square off with highly regarded
Japanese fighter Hitomi Akano at the promotion Jan. 21 event
at the Neal Blaisdell Center in Honolulu.
McMann
(4-0) submitted Racquel Pa’aluhi at ProElite’s last
event in Hawaii on Aug. 27. That moved her professional record
to 4-0, but she knows that Akano will be the toughest test she’s
been handed in her mixed martial arts career.
“This
will be my biggest test since the Olympic Games, so I’m
very excited to be competing against Hitomi,” said McMann.
“I’m confident I belong in the top 5 in the world and
beating her soundly should put me there.”
Akano
(18-8) far outstrips McMann in MMA experience, having competed
against the top women in the world. After losing a unanimous
decision to Miesha Tate at Strikeforce, Akano rebounded with
back-to-back victories, including a win over highly regarded
Roxanne Modafferi in July.
“I’m
as excited for this WMMA fight as I am for the Main Event,”
said ProElite Head of Fight Operations T.Jay Thompson. “Two
Top 10 ranked fighters putting all on the line. That’s what
ProElite is all about!”
The
main event features UFC vet Kendall “Da Spyder” Grove
facing off against Japanese star Ikuhisa “Minowaman”
Minowa.
The
main card also includes the semifinals of ProElite’s Heavyweight
Grand Prix: Ryan Martinez vs. Cody Griffin and Jake Heun vs.
Richard Odoms, as well as a bout pitting Brent Schermerhorn against
Kaleo Gambill.
The
ProElite: Da Spyder vs. Minowaman main card airs live at 10 p.m.
ET on Jan. 21 on HDNet.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Winkeljohn:
Jones’ Standup Will Be Silva-Like Soon
Jon Jones may have lost the first round against Lyoto Machida
at UFC 140, but he stormed back in the second to choke him unconscious.
After
the fight, Jones’ trainer Mike Winkeljohn joined the Sherdog
Radio Network’s “Savage Dog Show” to discuss their
strategy, the finish and more.
On
Jones’ struggles early in the fight: “He maybe overthought
it a little bit, actually, and stood in that space where we knew
Machida was going to throw to after he punched and kicked a couple
of times. He got hit for it. Lesson learned. It’s something
he will never do again in the future. That being said, other
than that one thing that he kept doing over and over at first,
he overcame getting hit. He started pulling his head off to the
side when he was striking and he beat Machida with everything
he did from that point on.”
On
the strategy: “[Jones] was sticking to the game plan for
the most part, except for failing to move his head off that line
that we knew Machida was going to be striking on. Machida’s
very linear with what he does, and so we don’t want to be
there. [Jones] was not doing that, and it’s my fault for
not, I guess, instilling the confidence in him to do that at
first. It did take to the second round for us to get him to do
that, but the game plan was to pick him apart a little bit from
the outside. I figured we would catch him with the standup and
hurt him and then when he goes down, we’d be able to finish
him.”
On
whether he thought Jones could win by submission: “I definitely
thought that was a possibility just because I figured, as we
did with Rampage and with Shogun, you break them down so much
that their want to defend these positions will be lessened. I
thought a submission was definitely a possibility with Machida.
I figured it would be more of a ground-and-pound and maybe get
him to turn, maybe take his back and choke him more traditional
than a guillotine, especially standing. But Jon does that. He’s
able to impose his will when he turns it up, and people kind
of fade.”
On
Jones’ ability to get better: “He’s constantly
wanting to learn and evolve. He’s much better than people
have even seen at this point. He’s capable of so many more
things that he does in the gym quite often. He has knockout power
in both hands when he wants to throw them. He’s just at
that point where he doesn’t have enough experience yet to
trust his motion and his distancing as Anderson Silva does now.
But soon, he’ll be Anderson Silva-like with his standup.
And of course he’s at a whole different level when it comes
to the ground game.”
On
Jones’ striking: “The sky’s the limit for the
kid. People don’t understand. He does have knockout power
in both hands, and his feet are getting to the point where people
don’t want to be taking those kicks. They will be at the
highest K-1 kickboxing level here soon. It’s just a matter
of time through repetition and confidence to get there. People
haven’t seen how explosive his knees are. We’ve seen
him drop elbows on people, but he can do that standing up as
well. I know one buzzed by Machida early in the fight. He’s
capable of becoming so much better than he is right now. He’s
just scary. I don’t know what people are going to do with
him. Really. He’s getting faster. I think he’s going
to have a jab that’s going to be comparable to a Muhammad
Ali jab as far as dominating his opponent when he wants to use
it.”
On
the perception of Jones some critics hold versus who he really
is: “I guess I don’t pay enough attention to how he’s
perceived on the Internet and stuff, but there’s always
those people that are haters. I think a lot of it’s just
jealousy of the fact that he’s come up so fast. Maybe fear
that somebody’s going to dominate, but he’s not that
bad guy. He’s a good kid. He’s giving and caring and
he tries to help other people in the gym. He’s kind of become
a leader in the gym in a small way, even though [he’s] a
young guy.”
Source:
Sherdog
|
Little
heat in Japan for Fedor/Ishii on Inoki NYE show
By Zach
Arnold
To
make a long story short, whatever heat that has been generated
by the upcoming Fedor/Satoshi Ishii fight has been largely due
to Fedor. His name still has a lot of romantic value amongst
the hardcore Japanese MMA fans. Ishii, on the other hand, may
as well be walking into this fight as a ‘foreigner’
in the eyes of many in the country. In many cases, he’s
treated more like a foreigner with ‘you suck’ heat
as opposed to ‘hey, you’re representing our country’
kind of heat. Ishii does not have a dynamic personality. If anything,
I would consider his personality to be stunted, idiotic, and
impulsive. What makes his predicament so unusual is that he gives
you the bad, ugly, and awful and yet everyone you talk to who
has ever trained with the guy says that he’s a total beast
in the gym and gives you everything he has. So, how does someone
who shows you heart in the gym not give the fans much to care
about when it’s go time?
Ishii
will be bringing Ed Buckley, Team Quest Muay Thai instructor,
with him to Japan as his second. Ishii has been training at both
Reign (Mark Munoz’s gym) and Black House in Southern California.
For
the casual fan, the Inoki NYE show at Saitama Super Arena is
a one match card. The problem for the promoter (DREAM) is that
Ishii is an OK TV ratings draw (around 11% peak value) but not
a good live house draw at all. Nobody really cares about him
passionately nor has he given anyone a reason to care. The problem
is that the status of this show airing on Tokyo Broadcasting
System is still up in the air. Even if the network decides to
take a chance to air the show, it’s not like the network
is going to invest much in terms of promotion. If the network
was serious about backing this show, they would have made the
arrangements a couple of months ago.
Back
to Ishii for a minute. The difference between someone like him
versus an Antonio Inoki or Hiro Matsuda in terms of career path
is that Inoki left Japan to go to Brazil, worked some fights
in the States and elsewhere, then came back with New Japan in
1972 to make Japan home base. Matsuda left to go to Brazil and
ended up making more of a name for himself at the Grand Olympic
Auditorium in Los Angeles and across the States with his programs
involving Danny Hodge. Ishii inherits the worst aspects of both
men’s careers in that he possesses the athletic ability
without the desire to embrace Japan or make it home base and
no sort of fiery personality to become an ace. Matsuda was well-respected
wherever he went but he was never a huge name in Japan. Sure,
he got some air time on TV-Asahi when Asahi would air footage
of Inoki, Seiji Sakaguchi, and crew from the Olympic Auditorium
shows but Hiro never was fully embraced by Inoki. Of course,
the two men grew to despise each other even though there were
some elements of a cold peace.
Steve
Cofield says this card sucks. Jordan Breen thinks this NYE card
is a good step by DREAM in actually advancing the Japanese MMA
game into this decade. The problem with DREAM is that they often
book the worst aspects of the old world and new world. They try
to give you some nostalgia with Fedor but then they give you
Ishii. You get a mixed rules fight with Yuichiro Nagashima. You
end up with Shinya Aoki vs. Satoru Kitaoka, the kind of fight
that may sell 1,000 tickets max. Without real television support,
it’s going to be impossible for DREAM to make the new kind
of MMA stars to advance the scene into this decade as far as
the UFC-level goes.
One
of my great hopes about the UFC Japan card was that Zuffa would
give enough respect to the Japanese fans to delicately treat
the event as a real cornerstone show of transitional & historical
importance. You could have put all the major PRIDE gaijin on
the show (Shogun, Mirko, Nogueiras) and also put the best UFC
names on the card so that, yes, you tip your cap and honor the
history but also draw enough eyeballs to show the new school
product. Dave Meltzer says that 7,000 tickets have been sold
in advance for the UFC Japan show at Saitama Super Arena. Given
that I felt the over/under was 10,000 for success or failure,
UFC is right on track. Better than Ryogoku but less than Budokan
or Yokohama Arena. In other words, no surprises so far.
One
reason I was hoping for Zuffa to come through on that front is
because I was afraid that we would see guys like Mirko hang around
in Japan long after their UFC tenure… and sure enough, there’s
a ‘fight offer’ for Mirko to face Jerome Le Banner
on the Inoki NYE show. It’s going to be 2012 and this fight
is still being considered relevant? This move by Mirko to not
get booked on the UFC Japan show and instead end up on the Inoki
show just reeks of Ken Imai’s influence. Imai was Kazuyoshi
Ishii’s old right-hand man who ended up turning on him and
joining Nobuyuki Sakakibar as one of his right-hand men during
PRIDE. Imai found a way to skate past the K-1 tax evasion/phony
contract scandal and he found a way to skate past the yakuza
scandal that imploded PRIDE.
When
PRIDE collapsed five years ago, I said that the Japanese scene
would go one of two ways. We would see new blood and a new transition
period or we would see the same old cast of characters hang around
and try to give it a go again because nobody new would want to
get involved in putting their cash in a business with the kind
of politics & crime that takes place in Japan. Unfortunately
for the Japanese fans, they’re continuing to get the worst
of all worlds.
On
the bright side, at least the Japanese fans didn’t have
to endure last night’s Strikeforce card from San Diego.
Keep hope alive!
The
updated card for the DREAM/Inoki NYE event at Saitama Super Arena:
DREAM
Bantamweight tournament reserve fight: Hideo Tokoro vs. Yusup
Saadulaev
DREAM Bantamweight tournament: Bibiano Fernandes vs. Rodolfo
Marques Diniz
DREAM Bantamweight tournament: Masakazu Imanari vs. Antonio Banuelos
Featherweights: Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Kazuyuki Miyata
Welterweights: Hayato ‘Mach’ Sakurai vs. Ryo Chonan
Lightweights (Mixed rules fight): Yuichiro ‘Jienotsu’
Nagashima vs. Katsunori Kikuno
DREAM Bantamweight tournament finals: Fernandes/Diniz winner
vs. Imanari/Banuelos winner
DREAM Featherweight title match: Hiroyuki Takaya vs. Lion Takeshi
DREAM Lightweight title match: Shinya Aoki vs. Satoru Kitaoka
IGF rules match: Kazuyuki Fujita vs. Peter Aerts
IGF rules match: Kazushi Sakuraba & Katsuyori Shibata vs.
Atsushi Sawada & Wakakirin
Heavyweights: Fedor Emelianenko vs. Satoshi Ishii
Source: Fight Opinion
|
Think
Brock Lesnar Can't Take a Punch? He Begs to Differ
By Ben
Fowlkes
As
isolated as Brock Lesnar is in his Minnesota training camp, and
as successfully as he manages to avoid the internet most of the
time, some criticisms still find their way out of the petri dish
of MMA and into the former UFC champ's world. But as he told
me when I spoke to him for a Sports Illustrated story this week,
the key is not so much in avoiding those criticisms entirely,
but rather in knowing what to make of them once they get there.
For
instance, take the oft-repeated claim that Lesnar can't take
a punch.
"I
think it's a bunch of bulls---," Lesnar said. "The
fights that I've gotten hit, I've stood and banged with Heath
Herring, Randy Couture, Frank Mir -- I've taken a lot of shots.
I mean, Shane Carwin. And I've yet to be knocked out. I had refs
stop a fight for a submission and a TKO, which is a referee stoppage.
I've never been knocked out cold."
In
fact, the 'it's a bunch of bulls---' response turns out to be
Lesnar's go-to move when confronted with MMA fans and media criticisms.
It's not that he doesn't hear them -- trust me, if you were around
for the reception he got at the UFC on FOX event in Anaheim,
you'd know there's no way around it sometimes -- it's that he
dismisses it as just another instance of haters hating. Not in
those words, of course.
"Any
time you're on top, whatever it is, and I don't care if it's
the business world or it's in farming or fighting -- and those
are all things that I'm in -- there's people out to get you,"
he said. "There's criticism. I don't know if it's just that
people don't like to see other people succeed, or just if they
want to see them fail."
Which
is, according to Lesnar, exactly what's happening with Denver
Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow right now.
"There's
a stand-up guy who's doing a lot of good things, a stand-up role
model for kids, and this guy is taking a lot of criticism,"
Lesnar said. "I guess it comes with the territory. When
you're in the spotlight and you're one of the best people in
your division, you better have some heavy armor."
People
can say his chin was exposed in the Cain Velasquez fight, Lesnar
said, but as he pointed out, "in the heavyweight division,
if guys are putting leather in the right spots, it's hard to
come back from that."
As
for Alistair Overeem, who has vowed to take Lesnar apart "piece
by piece" at UFC 141, there's no ill will there, according
to the former WWE star.
"I
don't hardly even know him," said Lesnar. "...He's
an opponent. He's a guy I'm facing next Friday night, who I will
have no remorse for, and who I will show no mercy to. I don't
have any emotions when I fight, for myself or anyone else."
Source:
MMA Fighting
|
Fabricio
Werdum Confirms UFC 143 Fight with Roy Nelson
by Damon
Martin
Fabricio
Werdum’s return to the UFC is official and he’ll kick
off his second campaign against Roy Nelson at UFC 143.
Werdum
made the announcement about his return on Tuesday at his gym
in California, where he answered fan questions and talked about
his new deal via Ustream.
The
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu ace confirmed that he has signed a new 4-fight
deal with the UFC that kicks off Feb 4 in Las Vegas.
Werdum
also confirmed independently when speaking with MMAWeekly.com‘s
Erik Fontanez on Tuesday that he has verbally agreed to face
Roy Nelson on the card.
The
bout between Werdum and Nelson will definitely be on the main
card for the show, but current rumors have placed the fight as
a co-main event for the show.
The
headliner will feature an interim welterweight title fight between
Carlos Condit and Nick Diaz.
MMAWeekly.com
will have a featured video interview with Werdum later on Tuesday.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
TUF
Brazil shrouded in mystery and expectations
The
names of the 70 fighters who made the cut for TUF Brazil remain
under wraps, and the expectations surrounding the no-holds-barred
Big Brother are enormous.
With
the added excitement of being broadcast on Brazil’s biggest
network TV channel, O Globo, and the rivalry between the two
coaches, Vitor Belfort and Wanderlei Silva; the Brazilian version
of the UFC reality show is all set to shake up Sunday programming
starting on March 25. Among the names likely to appear once the
show is underway, some well-known entities from the Brazilian
domestic martial arts scene look to be sure things, such as Sérgio
Moraes, Antonio Braga Neto, Munil Adriano, Renato Moicano, Rony
Jason, Thiago Jambo and André Chatuba.
The
UFC is aiming high with the show, as you can see in the video
below. What do you think, dear reader, what do you expect from
the face-off between Wand and Belfort’s teams?
Source:
Gracie Magazine
|
ROUNDTABLE:
Will Gegard Mousasi regain the Strikeforce Light Heavyweight
Title in 2012? Why or why not?
Will
Gegard Mousasi regain the Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Title
in an expected bout against the winner of "King Mo"
vs. Lorenz Larkin? Why or why not?
RICH
HANSEN, MMATORCH COLUMNIST?
Mousasi
will chew up Lorenz Larkin, but he'd be looking at a rinse and
repeat versus Mo Lawal. As we all knew going into his fight with
Ovince St-Preux, Mousasi is very capable of dominating overmatched
inexperienced fighters who can't get him to the ground. But I
didn't see anything on Saturday night, or since Mousasi lost
to Lawal in 2010 to indicate that Mousasi's takedown defense
has improved by leaps and bounds. Lorenz Larkin, like OSP, is
a tantalizing prospect. But since he made the mistake of signing
with Strikeforce, he's either going to dominate overwhelmed opponents
that can't hang with him, or he's going to be pushed into the
spotlight against an opponent he has no chance against. In a
just world, Larkin (and OSP for that matter) would be fighting
on undercards of UFC shows against similarly talented fighters.
Instead Larkin and OSP are stuck dominating guys who have no
business in the cage with them (Gian Villante, Joe Cason, etc)
and as a result they get nothing more than a paycheck and a 'W',
or they get overwhelmed by a Gegard Mousasi or a Mo Lawal, and
they get nothing but a paycheck, a 'L', and a beating.
And
here I thought I wouldn't be able to continually rip on Strikeforce
in 2012 and beyond.
FRANK
HYDEN, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR?
I
think Mousasi gets the belt back, but only if he implements his
gameplan and fights to his potential. The last time he fought
King Mo he laid on his back for the whole fight. I know King
Mo had something to do with that, but Mousasi looked listless
and disinterested in the last fight. If he comes to win, I think
he can beat either guy.
ERIC
HOBAUGH, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR
?
Gegard Mousasi should win against either King Mo vs. Lorenz Larkin.
He is one of the most well rounded fighters in the Strikeforce
Light Heavyweight division. He matches up well against either
fighter, and if he utilizes the strength of his striking game,
he should definitely win.
?ALEX
WILLIAMS, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR?
No.
I see King Mo winning the rematch with his wrestling abilities,
the same skills that gave him the edge in his first bout with
Mousasi.
ANWAR
PEREZ, MMATORCH COLUMNIST
Assuming
"King Mo" gets past Larkin, I don't see Mousasi getting
the belt anytime soon. "King Mo" has already defeated
Mousasi and while it looks as if Mousasi has sort of peaked,
"King Mo" continues to get better and better with each
fight. Expect Mousasi to be highly disappointed in a supposed
rematch against "King Mo."
Source:
MMA Torch
|
Werdum
wants to make a good show and stay in the UFC
By Marcelo
Barone
Fabricio
Werdum couldn’t be happier. After four fights in Strikeforce,
the Brazilian achieved his goal to return to the UFC. The return
of the heavyweight fighter with the octagon will be against Roy
Nelson, on February 4, in Las Vegas. More mature and experienced,
the athlete who fights out of Rio Grande do Sul, on an interview
with TATAME, said he deserved to take some time off Ultimate
and guaranteed he will put on a great show for the fans.
“There’s
no easy fight anymore. Everybody knows a little bit of everything:
Jiu-Jitsu, Wrestling, Boxing, Muay Thai. It’s a different
time we’re living in. Nelson knocked Cro Cop out, he has
a very strong right hand, sharp Boxing, but I’ll impose
my rhythm and play by my game plan until I tire him out. Knocking
out or submitting, I want to make it a good show”.
The
Brazilian also talked about the differences between his first
season in Ultimate and now, revealed how he’s doing his
preparation, also that he’s training with the gi on again,
highlighted the chance to erase the bad impression of his last
bout, among other subjects.
How
did you react when you heard you’d return to the UFC?
It
was one of the happiest things I’ve heard the last times.
I had that goal in mind, I wanted to fight on the biggest event
in the world again. Since I’ve been there once, I want to
return for good. But, in 2008 I should have left. God gave me
the long path, but I was the one to blame for that. I didn’t
train like I should, I didn’t even try to renegotiate with
UFC. I was a little sad I lost to Cigano, I wasn’t very
pleased with myself, my mind and body. I was really supposed
to go through this long journey, because I’m more aware
of what I gotta train, that there’s no easy fight. I want
to show I’m on the top ten of the world and put on a great
show to remain in UFC for a long time. Anyway, Strikeforce was
a very good time for me. I got three wins in a row and lost to
Overeem.
It’s
good news for the big holidays, right?
The
best of the year, because I worked a lot, fought, launched a
campaign on Twitter, Facebook and everybody helped me with the
messages I sent. I wanted to thank the Brazilian people who joined
the campaign. There were over seven thousand messages sent to
Dana White asking for me to fight in Brazil. I’ll fight
now in Vegas, but the second or third I hope it’s in Brazil.
Just like when people chanted the “Tropa de Elite”
theme (movie), I can picture then yelling “go horse! Go
horse!”
How
do you see Roy Nelson?
There’s
no easy fight anymore. Everybody knows a little bit of everything:
Jiu-Jitsu, Wrestling, Boxing, Muay Thai. It’s a different
time we’re living in. Nelson knocked Cro Cop out, he has
a very strong right hand, sharp Boxing, but I’ll impose
my rhythm and play by my game plan until I tire him out. Knocking
out or submitting, I want to make it a good show.
He
had never been submitted and you’re a Jiu-Jitsu expert.
How will you deal with it?
I
analyzed Nelson when I signed with UFC, I watched his fights
and observed his stand-up. He’s a heavy guy, so I’m
excited about fighting guys like him and I’m training with
guys like him on top of me so I get used to it. I’ll impose
my rhythm. It’s hard to knock him out, but anything can
happen. If I find a loop, I’ll try to finish him. I was
watching Rodrigo Nogueira VS. Frank Mir and I’ve learned
that, when the opportunity presents itself, you gotta knockout
or submit. The important thing is to have your arm raised at
the end of the fight.
Is
this your chance to erase the bad performance you had against
Overeeem?
Back
then I was training too much and I suffered from overtraining.
The fight was cancelled twice. I don’t give excuses when
I lose, but it was different this time. I went through the line.
Now I got in my mind I gotta speak less and do more. UFC and
the fans want shows. I’ll get in the ring to knockout or
be knocked out, there’s no other way. I’ll do my best
in there.
What
are you training the most?
After
my last defeat I focused on weight lifting and conditioning trainings
because I guess I lacked strength against Overeem. I’m training
Jiu-Jitsu with the gi again, which is very important. Joao Assis
is helping me a lot.
What
differences do you see from 2008 Werdum and present Werdum?
I’mmuch
more experience, well structured when it comes to family, because
I was far from them before. In Brazil I used to live in Porto
Alegre and trained in Curitiba. I had a really good structure
at my team, Werdum Combat Team, with trainings with Rafael Cordeiro
at Kings MMA, preventive physiotherapy with Guto Orelha. The
market’s big today, we can never think we’re good enough.
We always have to train hard and keep focused.
Source:
Tatame
|
9
Questions for Wanderlei Silva
By Gleidson
Venga
He may be in the twilight of his remarkable career, but on Nov.
19 in San Jose, Calif., former Pride Fighting Championships titleholder
Wanderlei Silva broke out some vintage material and gave longtime
MMA fans a taste of the days when “The Axe Murderer”
was in his prime.
Silva
put away former Strikeforce middleweight champion Cung Le on
second-round knees and punches in the UFC 139 co-main event.
Though many have called for the Brazilian icon to retire, his
latest triumph served as a springboard into a coaching stint
opposite Vitor Belfort on “The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil.”
Once the season wraps, the two will collide in a long-awaited
rematch. Belfort blasted through Silva in 44 seconds at UFC 17.5
in 1998.
In
this exclusive interview with Sherdog.com, Silva discusses his
forthcoming role on “The Ultimate Fighter,” his relationship
with Belfort and his thoughts on everything from the rise of
reigning UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones to the continued
success of 41-year-old Dan Henderson -- a man he has faced twice.
Sherdog.com:
What did you think of the UFC’s choice of you and Belfort
as coaches for “The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil?”
Silva: It was the best choice possible. It will be an excellent
program, with the rematch everyone wanted to see closing the
show as the golden key.
Sherdog.com:
You have always said that you do not like Belfort very much.
Do you think your rivalry will be as strong during the season?
Silva: No, times are different. I met him and apologized. Once
in Las Vegas, I was disrespectful. I went back to old times and
talked some nonsense. Then I apologized and admitted I had done
wrong. You have to be man enough to take responsibility. It’s
alright now, and we’ll solve it the way we have to: by trading
punches (laughs). I have the best job in the world. I can go
in there, settle my differences the best way possible and still
make some money.
Sherdog.com:
Will you return to Brazil with your family to record the show
and train for the fight?
Silva: I’ll work it out with my wife and see what we do.
I’ll have an apartment in Sao Paulo.
Sherdog.com:
You will have the opportunity to train some excellent athletes
during the show. What are you expecting?
Silva: It will be very good. We’ll show that we’re
able to do one of the best TUFs in history. Each fight will be
a separate program. The guys will have opportunities to fight
on national television and share their lives. I wish I’d
had it in my time.
Sherdog.com:
Did you expect to still be fighting and see the day when Rede
Globo, Brazil’s largest broadcaster, supported MMA?
Silva: No one imagined it, but all this is because MMA is a wonderful
sport and the toughest sport in the world. You have to be fast
and strong, lose weight, control emotion. You have to be a super
athlete, and the guys are humble people. In other sports, like
football, the athletes got started earlier. They have more structure,
monitoring and supplementation. I didn’t start taking protein
until I was in Pride.
Sherdog.com:
You have long been recognized as one of the sport’s greatest
idols. What do you expect to hear from an audience supporting
you in Brazil, with perhaps as many as 70,000 people in a soccer
stadium?
Silva: Oh, it will be great. Hopefully, the stadium will come
down. I hope there’s a reception like the athletes received
at UFC 134 in Rio. That was one of the best audiences in the
history of MMA.
Sherdog.com:
What are your thoughts on how UFC light heavyweight champion
Jones has performed?
Silva: It has been impressive. [Lyoto] Machida did the best so
far. He won the first round and landed more blows.
Sherdog.com:
Do you think the fight between Mauricio “Shogun” Rua
and Henderson at UFC 139 should have been ruled a draw?
Silva: I think so. I think there should be a rematch. I wanted
the rematch yesterday. Shogun did not have his best night, although
he fought well. He fought with heart. Against Forrest [Griffin
at UFC 134], he was at 70 or 80 percent. Against “Hendo,”
he was 50 to 60 percent. He stayed in the fight because he’s
a phenom, but he was far from his best. Shogun has a lot to revamp
in his training. Everyone believes he can beat anyone at 100
percent, so he has to go into these fights at 100 percent. I
was sad about his loss. I went into the locker room and saw him
hurting. It broke my heart because he didn’t have to go
through that. And Hendo cannot take three rounds from Shogun.
I’ve trained with Mauricio and faced Hendo twice. Shogun
is the most talented guy I’ve ever seen. I was watching
video of the Pride Shogun and saw a strong Shogun. Under these
conditions, he can defeat Jones. He’s the guy to beat the
champion, but he has to be 100 percent.
Sherdog.com:
Is Henderson an example for you, in that he is 41 years old and
just beat Fedor Emelianenko and Shogun?
Silva: He’s an example for everyone. To do five rounds with
Shogun at his age ... I have to take my hat off to him. He also
beat [Renato] “Babalu” [Sobral] and [Rafael] “Feijao”
[Cavalcante]. I hope I can be like him at 40 years old.
Source
Sherdog
|
Randy
Couture: Yeah, Title IX has really crippled wrestling programs
badly
By Zach
Arnold
There
are two groups of people who would like to see some very different
visions for the future of fighting. One is hoping for a renaissance
of Catch-as-Catch-Can… and the other has a more futuristic
view of where the fight business should be heading.
First,
the fine group of humans who are interested in catch wrestling.
As you can see up above, I highly recommend Jake Shannon’s
book on Scientific Wrestling. He and many others are doing their
best to emphasize the importance of Catch on the sport of MMA.
Randy Couture did an interview with Eddie Goldman last Friday
talking about this very issue in relation to his new book called
The Last Round w/ Sara Levin (who worked for USA Wrestling).
Book ordering/background information can be found on Amazon &
Facebook.
In
the book, he says the following: “I will always be a wrestler.”Here’s
his explanation for why he said that remark:
“I
think wrestling is just one of those sports that, once it grabs
you, once it bites you, I mean you’re… you’re
(hooked) forever, it never changes. I have a wrestler’s
mind, I look through wrestler’s eyes, a wrestler’s
mentality, and I transfer all those things and used all those
things to become a Mixed Martial Artist and in MMA it’s
the foundation for my fighting style and I think that, you know,
those things will never go away. They become part of my character
and part of who I am, so I think for that reason I’ll always
be a wrestler.”
Now
that he is retired from Mixed Martial Arts, Randy was asked about
the state of amateur wrestling and what role Mixed Martial Arts
can play in helping bring more attention to the sport.
“I
think, unfortunately, Title IX has been pretty hard on our sport
over the years and I’ve done some fundraising and been involved
in kind of raising some awareness about that and some of the
college problems that have been put on the chopping block in
recent years like Fullerton and University of Oregon’s program
and others and hopefully, you know, through Mixed Martial Arts
I think we can turn the tide. I think, again, it’s about
the constituencies and what they want and I think wrestling is
getting a better nod and being considered more of a martial art
now than it ever was in the past because of our exposure in Mixed
Martial Arts. In a lot of ways, MMA has become the professional
outlet for amateur wrestlers and collegiate and now Olympic-style
wrestlers alike and I think all those things are good but…
you know, I don’t know what else we can do other than continue
to educate people and turn them on to this sport of wrestling.
It’s the oldest combative sport around for a reason.”
A
big avenue he sees in promoting knowledge about wrestling techniques
in Mixed Martial Arts is through education about the Catch style.
“I
have my black belt from Neil Melanson and I’ve kind of,
him and I worked very hard together in kind of developing techniques
that comes from the wrestling world and implementing it into
the Catch style. Obviously as a wrestler, you know, that’s
where collegiate wrestling came from, from Catch as Catch Can,
so it’s something I feel strongly about and I also see that
as a big positive thing for collegiate-style wrestling and ultimately
Olympic wrestling is kind of resurrecting the Catch style as
the submission style for MMA. I think it’s widely used and
grounded people just don’t the terms, they don’t know
that’s the things they’re doing, we’ve gotten
so caught in the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu style that we failed to
overlook that the original combative sport in the Olympic games
was boxing and wrestling and Catch wrestling, Pankration, all
those things have a ton of merit. It’s just putting on the
right glasses to look through the Catch wrestling in wrestling
glasses instead of the Jiu Jitsu glasses and I think in a lot
of ways I’m an example of the style and it’s success.
“I
would like to see Neil develop either a book or some instructional
tapes and help him kind of come up with an outline that, again,
further educates on the style, how the style works, how it’s
implemented into Mixed Martial Arts and the fight game as a whole.
“With
Neil, we’ve had our first tournament at Xtreme Couture under
the kind of Catch wrestling rules. Neil kind of came up with
some rules and a scoring system that he thinks kind of epitomized
what Catch is all about and I think we want to continue to build
on that and make it a bigger, more annual type of event and just
continue to, again, educate and foster this style.”
The
other, more colorful vision of where fighting is going
Japanese
engineers and minds of great intellect are involved, of course.
Get ready for ‘this is robot entertainment.’
There’s
a futuristic world of pro-wrestling & MMA out there involving
robot battles and suplex machines ready to rip limbs off and
eat metal carcasses. On Christmas day at Buddhist Hall in Tokyo,
that vision comes to life. It’s only a matter of time before
we get some performance-enhancing cheating scandals.
Background
information here on how we’ve gone from robot dancing contests
to now having Bantamweight & Flyweight robot wrestling &
MMA tournaments. Try measuring up to that, Dana.
On
Christmas, we get the ultra-deluxe bombastic edition of robot
pro-wrestling & MMA that will make Antonio Inoki completely
envious and jealous. Four-legged & five-legged robots unite.
You can follow all the action & inside information on this
new world of wrestling & MMA on Twitter @IKETOMU.
What
the epic Christmas fight card looks like: The main event is for
the Kanto Robot Heavyweight championship as Saaga the Suplex
Machine takes on Monster. Other fights on the card include a
Last Man Standing (Texas Death rules) match, a battle royal match
under Royal Rumble rules, a retirement match, and … an Extermination
death match (winner must completely physical destroy their opponent).
There are also MMA fights on the card and they are under youknowwhat
rules (10 minute round).
Even
though it’s not the main event, one of the top fights on
the card would make Atsushi Onita orgasmic — a Japanese
no-rope electrical exploding barbed wire time bomb death match.
Source:
Fight Opinion
|
Is
Antonio ‘Bigfoot’ Silva UFC Bound?
by Damon
Martin
Antonio
“Bigfoot” Silva is looking to get back in action in
the first part of 2012, and he’s hopeful it’s in the
UFC.
The
Brazilian is currently one of several heavyweights in limbo while
Strikeforce works to eliminate that division next year.
Silva
has been out of action since a TKO loss to Daniel Cormier in
September that finished his run in the Strikeforce Heavyweight
Grand Prix. Cormier moved on and will face Josh Barnett to crown
the Grand Prix champion.
The
winner of that final will then meet a “heavyweight contender”
for one final fight in Strikeforce before the bulk of the roster
moves to the UFC, as its sister promotion concentrates on the
other divisions and moves away from the heavyweights.
Silva’s
manager, Alex Davis, is hoping to find out his fighter’s
future very soon. He’s making the push to get him into the
UFC now as opposed to later.
“What
have I heard? As much as I try to hear something, I’m still
not getting any news back,” Davis told MMAWeekly Radio.
“But what I think, I anticipate Antonio being in the UFC.
I think there’s a lot of great fights for him there.”
Silva
has gone 3-1 in his last four fights including a dominant victory
over former No. 1 ranked heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko. Davis
believes his fighter can be just as dominant against the top
heavyweights in the UFC.
“I
think he’s going to be in the top five in no time there,”
said Davis. “Guess what? He has it. He’s the guy, he
is top ten in the heavyweight (division) even though he took
that loss from Cormier, which it is what it is, it’s MMA,
but I think he’s going to fit like a glove in the UFC.”
Right
now, the dialogue has been limited between Davis and the matchmakers
at the UFC, but he’s keeping his ears open for the right
opportunity for Silva to pounce on.
His
hope is Silva gets to follow fellow Strikeforce heavyweight Fabricio
Werdum back to the UFC in early 2012. Werdum recently re-signed
with the UFC and will make his return to action at UFC 143 against
Roy Nelson.
“My
timeframe is for March. That’s as far as I’ve managed
to get, and it’s nothing definite. Antonio did just go through
a shoulder operation cause he hurt his shoulder a little bit,
and he had a lingering problem there so he took care of it,”
Davis revealed.
“He’s
going to be ready by the end of February. I’ve already informed
the UFC and Strikeforce about it, and now I’m waiting for
an answer. Joe (Silva), Sean (Shelby), and Dana (White), they’re
busy people, so I think in the next few days we’re going
to find out. I’m hoping that Junior gets a big fight and
personally I’m really, really hoping and pushing for it
to be in the UFC.”
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Barnett
and Sylvia Go Wrestling for NYE
While
the MMA world is gearing up for a No. 1 contenders bout between
Brock Lesnar and Alistair Overeem at UFC 141 on Dec. 30, the
next day, two former UFC champions will go pro wrestling to ring
in the New Year.
Dream officials recently announced that former UFC champion and
current Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix finalist Josh Barnett
will fight for the promotion under IGF pro wrestling rules on
New Year’s Eve. Barnett steps in to wrestle Hideki Suzuki
at Fields presents Fight for Japan “Genkidesuka!! Oomisoka!!
2011,? while he waits for Daniel Cormier to heal up so they can
determine the winner of the Strikeforce tournament.
Another former UFC champion, Tim Sylvia, is also expected to
try his hand at pro wrestling in Japan on the New Year’s
Eve extravaganza. Sylvia and Jerome LeBanner have long been trying
to put a fight against one another together in mixed martial
arts, but will instead go the IGF rules wrestling route, according
to a report by Heavy.com.
Sylvia was initially expected to face Brett Rogers under MMA
rules on Dec. 31, but Rogers ran into complications stemming
from an arrest over an alleged domestic dispute, causing the
fight to be cancelled.
Fields presents Fight for Japan “Genkidesuka!! Oomisoka!!
2011” features a mixed card with bouts ranging from MMA,
mixed rules alternating between MMA and kickboxing rules, and
IGF rules pro wrestling matches. Fedor Emelianenko heads the
card in an MMA bout against Olympic gold medalist Satoshi Ishii.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Strikeforce
‘Melendez vs. Masvidal’ Draws 460K Viewers on Showtime
By Mike
Whitman
Strikeforce earned an average of 460,000 viewers for its live
Saturday broadcast of “Melendez vs. Masvidal” on Showtime.
Sherdog.com
on Tuesday confirmed the figure with an industry source, who
also revealed that the program earned a 1.35 household rating.
Headlined
by a lightweight title bout between champion Gilbert Melendez
and Jorge Masvidal, the Dec. 17 event emanated from the Valley
View Casino Center in San Diego, Calif. Melendez retained his
155-pound strap, outpointing his scrappy challenger en route
to a unanimous decision victory.
Preceded
by the finals of Showtime’s Super Six World Boxing Classic,
which earned an average of 495,000 viewers and a household rating
of 1.43, the show also featured the return of women’s 145-pound
champion Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos.
Santos
showed no signs of ring rust after contract negotiations with
Strikeforce kept her out of the cage for 18 months, as the consensus
No. 1 female on the planet knocked out challenger Hiroko Yamanaka
in just 16 seconds.
Strikeforce’s
ratings peak on Showtime occurred in February, when an average
of 741,000 viewers tuned in to see Antonio Silva knock off Fedor
Emelianenko in the quarterfinals of the promotion’s heavyweight
grand prix. The Zuffa-owned organization will continue to broadcast
on Showtime in 2012, kicking off the new year on Jan. 7 with
“Rockhold vs. Jardine” at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino
in Las Vegas.
Source: Sherdog
|
What’s
not said about drug testing in combat sports
By Zach
Arnold
After all the hullabaloo that the Nevada State Athletic Commission
put Alistair Overeem through in regards to taking a urine drug
test, he’s touting how he’s been drug tested the most
out of anyone in the sport. It makes for a media-friendly tag
line heading into his fight against Brock Lesnar on Friday, December
30th at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
On this site, we’ve focused on the issue of doping in MMA
and what kind of tests athletic commissions could implement if
they really wanted to catch more guys in the act of doping. Suffice
to say, we don’t buy what Keith Kizer is selling in regards
to the claim that urine drug testing is more effective than blood
testing. It may be effective for catching idiots who are using
horse drugs like boldenone which have a long half-life, but you’re
not going to catch any sort of substantive/sophisticated testosterone
usage unless you use a Carbon Isotope Ratio test.
Dr. Margaret Goodman appeared on the Sherdog Rewind show this
past weekend and did an interview with the inimitable Jack Encarnacao
on this very topic. She is launching a new organization called
VADA (Voluntary Anti-Doping Agency) which will allow fighters
in the combat sports to be able to be independently drug tested
at a higher standard than what the current athletic commissions
are using. You can find out more details about VADA on Twitter
and Facebook.
If you’re looking for a perfect example of how VADA can
be utilized, Jack brought up the example of Josh Koscheck when
he said he wanted to have more stringent drug testing for his
fight against Georges St. Pierre. Instead of being lauded for
the request, Dana White told him to be quiet and that the commissions
are the ones who handle drug testing protocols.
As for why VADA has been established, Dr. Goodman says that the
current testing standards simply aren’t modified to test
for standards that are important in boxing & MMA.
“The way commissions order tests now, the prices might have
changed, but for example to do the regular drug screens that
a commission would order, let’s say that they do the complete
panel that goes through Quest labs. It could be somewhere in
the neighborhood of 125 items, most of which are either drugs
of abuse and a lot of other things that maybe aren’t even
applicable to combat sports that’s included in the panel
and then you’ve got the large amount of numbers of things
that are done in the anabolic screening panel and diuretics and
masking agents. That may only cost $300 but unfortunately the
problem becomes is that you’re missing all these other items.
You’re missing EPO, you’re missing checking the blood
count which can only maybe cost you $8. But you’re missing
all those other things and that’s why the process needs
to be advanced and done the right way or not done at all.
“That’s another thing that we really want to do with
VADA is we want to educate the athlete on these aspects. When
I started working as a ring doctor (and I always go back to this
silly story), but when I first started as a ring doctor and I
would sit with the fighters and one of the ways you examine a
fighter is by hearing them talk and seeing how they respond to
questions. You kind of know if somebody’s brain is working
well by just doing something simple like that and I would ask
them what they were taking. We had a sheet where they had to
write down any medications they were on and attest that that’s
the only things they were taking. But a lot of fighters would
write down that they were taking aspiring and I would say to
them, ‘Don’t you know the risks of taking aspirin right
before a fight?” and they had no clue and the fighters that
had been taking a lot of aspirin you’d often see in a fight
those are the guys not just with the nosebleeds but those were
the guys that had faces that ended up looking like Elephant Man
after five or six rounds. And so to me it was all about education
and at first I remember when I would talk to fighters about these
things at the weigh-in, you don’t have a lot of time when
you’re doing your exam but the trainer would come up and
say, ‘don’t, don’t, you’re going to scare
them! You’re going to tell them all these things.’
But you know what? I think fighters are different, especially
we know with a lot of the UFC fighters they’ve had other
jobs in life, some of them are very medically trained. They need
to understand all of these different issues so that they know
what they’re putting into their bodies (and what) could
be detrimental and life-threatening to them.”
Dr. Goodman also think that focusing on anabolic steroid use
as opposed to focusing on blood doping is not a good idea given
the kinds of health risks involved in that kind of drug usage.
“[Blood doping] is extremely dangerous and it’s probably
one of the most dangerous things that an athlete can do and I
don’t think that really any commission, at this point in
time and for whatever reason, takes this problem as seriously
as they should and whether it’s EPO, whether it’s somebody
infusing their own blood to bring up their blood count, I mean
the risks are just so devastating that it really has to be looked
into… I mentioned to you, to do a simple blood count, I
just negotiated this with a lab that will be doing it for VADA,
I mean it’s going to cost $8 and when you look at the expense
of all these other things that are coming up in these drug panels
that commissions are often doing that are really of no pertinent
value to the safety of the fighter because you order a panel
and it’s got a bunch of stuff in it that you didn’t
really ask for but it’s just the way the lab has their panel,
you know a simple hematocrit, installing that (in a panel) is
really going to tell if they’re at a place where they shouldn’t
be training and I don’t know the exact rules in Cycling
but I do know that they follow the 50% rule and if an athlete’s
higher than that, you know they’re not being suspended because
someone thinks that they’re blood doping they’re also
being suspended because it’s unsafe for them to train when
you have too many blood cells that have no room, no place to
go, they’re going to get clogged in your arteries and your
brain and in your heart and next thing you know you got athletes
keeling over for no necessary reason.
“You know what happens? It’s just the same way in other
sports is people say, ‘well I’m going to just do it
for a short period of time and when the fight’s over or
when my competition’s over I’ll go off of this stuff
and I’ll just be fine,’ and that’s probably true
90% or maybe even 99% of the time but there’s those risks
there and then you put it together with what kind of family history
do these athletes have, do they have a family history of heart
attack and stroke, what are any other medical issues that they
may have that are undisclosed or undiscovered… you know
it’s all about education and I think that not only MMA athletes
but I think boxers are smart enough to understand this but somebody
has to take the time to explain it to them. It shouldn’t
just be that we’re testing athletes to catch them, that
we’re trying to prove a point or we’re trying to prove
that our system is good enough that obviously they’re not
using because we don’t catch them…
“Unfortunately, I can tell you some personal experience
in my regulatory days is that if a fighter dies, everyone gets
all upset because there’s all this (negative) press and
obviously everyone’s concerned about the poor individual
that passed away but nobody sits down and looks at why, nobody
wants to deal with these issues and you really have to …
not be afraid to hear the answers. And so after it’s out
of the media, these things fade away and that was one of the
reasons why I left as a ring physician, it was just so frustrating
to me that these issues weren’t taken seriously enough and
weren’t acted upon enough.”
As for the great debate about urine vs. blood testing to catch
doping, Dr. Goodman agrees with Keith Kizer’s premise…
only on one condition, a condition that we’ve brought up
before in numerous articles on this site.
“I do agree that urine is better for certain things but,
once again, you want to test for everything that’s important
and by not testing with blood in addition you’re missing
a lot of things. You’re missing every possible instance
of blood doping and that can really be lethal to an individual
even more so in a lot of respects than someone taking anabolic
steroids. The other thing that we’re missing here is, yes,
something will stay in someone’s system longer but unfortunately
if you don’t do certain kinds of testing, there’s a
test (Carbon Isotope Ratio) called CIR. Bottom line is if you
don’t do the right test to look for synthetic testosterone,
you may miss it any way! The main thing that’s important
is this is a growing body of knowledge. Things are changing all
the time. Panels that are tested for are changing and if you
talk to people now it’s not so much that fighters are using
these anabolic steroids that stay in somebody’s system for
a long time, they’re too smart for that. Those aren’t
the most effective ones out there. They can use creams and gels
and things that they can take that are out of their system in
just a few hours. Sticking with some kind of urine test so you’re
going to catch something that someone took months ago, those
aren’t the drugs that these guys are using and we were talking
about Carbon Isotope Ratio testing which is a way to make sure
whether or not somebody could be using some kind of exogenous
testosterone and you might not pick it up in the urine when you’re
testing for anabolic steroids specifically but this specific
test can often tell you in a much shorter period of time within
maybe several hours to days to really pick up and find out whether
or not somebody’s been using.”
One of the unique aspects of the drug testing debate is that
those who believes the commissions are doing enough or shouldn’t
be doing any testing at all say that doping really doesn’t
help MMA fighters win fights (based on how many fighters have
gotten caught and what their win % is in those fights where they
got busted). So, if there’s no winning benefit to doping,
then why are so many fighters involved in the practice? Dr. Goodman
believes, like you and I do, that there are short-term benefits
(that come with higher health risks) when it comes to doping.
“Of course (there are) benefits. The one thing it may not
help and I can tell you from years ago when Fernando Vargas lost
a fight and then tested positive for Winstrol and he was one
of the first major fighters to ever test positive in boxing for
anabolic steroids… it certainly didn’t help his chin.
So, yeah, there are certain things it won’t help but will
it help you train more? Will you be able to train for frequently?
Will you then get the benefits of that? Of course you will! And,
of course, it can make your stronger and make you faster and
maybe it helps on the takedowns. I mean, there’s a whole
bunch of different things. Of course it’s valuable but the
other side of the coin is that the dangers of it aren’t
really appreciated and understood and that’s what makes
it so wrong. I just think that the knowledge is partially there
not enough and commissions tend to not do as good of a job as
maybe they would like to or maybe they even care to.
“I was talking to someone about this that was very much
on the inside, not with the commission, but someone very involved
in boxing and they said, ‘don’t you understand that
this is hell for us? Nobody wants to see fights not take place.’
And so every time, for example, when we started doing MRI testing
on fighters nobody was really concerned about the MRI itself
but they were concerned about what was going to happen if we
found an abnormal result. I mean, I can tell you that there was
a very well-respected promoter in boxing (this was before we
started having MMA) and the promoter was like, ‘well, do
you understand, what (a famous fighter) if he has an abnormal
scan?’
And I just looked at him like… well, that’s the point!
Isn’t that the point? If someone has an aneurysm or a hemorrhage
in their head and he was looking at it from the perspective of
the promotional side that ‘that fight won’t take place!’
And, so, that’s another problem with doing drug testing
and I sure understand that and I can see why an organization
like VADA or even trying to enlist other organizations like WADA
or USADA involved in combat sports are not going to be welcomed
because no one wants to have anything that can stop a fight and
they don’t like to look at the repercussions that it could
save somebody’s life, that somebody wasn’t using some
substance or some dangerous (agent) to make their performance
better.”
Source: Fight Opinion
|
Zuffa
Should Consider Sending BJ Penn to Strikeforce to Face Gilbert
Melendez
By Mike
Chiappetta
If
Dana White won't bring Gilbert Melendez to the UFC, he should
bring the UFC to Melendez. Or at least, someone for him to fight.
After beating Jorge Masvidal at last night's Strikeforce event
in San Diego, what more is there for him to do? Who else is there
for him to beat? What matchup are fans clamoring to see? The
answers are nothing, no one and none.
Melendez
is a top five fighter with nothing left to prove in the division
as it stands right now. He's beaten Masvidal, Shinya Aoki and
Josh Thomson, three of the best lightweights outside of the UFC,
but there's no signed fighter in the division who has truly earned
the right to face one of the best. Sure there are fighters like
KJ Noons and Gesias "JZ" Cavalcante with some name
value, but both of those guys have won exactly one fight in a
row.
Solution:
Bring someone over from the UFC to fight him. It doesn't have
to be the champion. Bring one of the many quality guys over to
challenge him. I have just the guy. He's a big name, he can bring
attention to the promotion, and he offers the instant credibility
that only a former UFC champion can provide. Bring over BJ Penn
to fight Melendez.
Right
now, Penn is on a break from fighting. He's home in Hilo, Hawaii
spending time with his family after his hard-fought loss to Nick
Diaz in October. But Penn does plan to fight again, and he even
said that he'd be willing to rematch Diaz.
That's
not going to happen, as Diaz has moved on to preparing for a
big interim UFC welterweight title fight with Carlos Condit.
So we need to find something that excites Penn, something that
motivates him. Regardless of the skeptics who still refuse to
believe that Melendez is for real, Penn knows the truth, that
Melendez is for real and has a set of skills that would provide
a challenge. Because of that, a bout with Melendez might interest
him. As an added bonus, Melendez comes from the same Team Cesar
Gracie as Diaz, making the marketing of the fight simple. BJ
Penn comes looking for revenge against Diaz's teammate.
Penn
loves fighting for belts, and as long as Frankie Edgar is the
lightweight champ, Penn is stuck. He isn't going to get another
shot against Edgar after losing to him twice. The same holds
true for his chances of getting a welterweight title fight. He's
already lost to Georges St-Pierre twice and Diaz once, so his
chances of earning his way back for another title bout anytime
soon are slim. So where does that leave him? He's in a legend-at-large
role, looking for interesting matchups wherever they might appear.
And is there really anything in the UFC that is so much more
interesting than Penn-Melendez?
Let's
face it, Penn would be one of the biggest stars ever to fight
in the Strikeforce hexagon, with only Dan Henderson and Fedor
Emelianenko able to rival his popularity. He's a former two-division
champ in the UFC, every MMA fan knows him, and his presence would
certainly bring attention to the promotion. Just as importantly,
it would illustrate that Zuffa is serious about Strikeforce.
Just
last week, White promised that Strikeforce wouldn't be a B-league,
or a feeder system for the UFC. They would go after top talent,
he said. They would find a way to make Strikeforce's best fighters
happy, he said. That would mean leaving Melendez where he is,
and bringing talent to him. This match would prove that White
meant what he said.
The
biggest hurdle in this plan would be making it worth Penn's while.
Because Strikeforce is on Showtime and not pay-per-view, the
pay scale is different, and White would have to dig into his
his pocket to make him whole.
That
investment would be worth it for Zuffa, to show that they are
truly committed to Strikeforce as its own promotion. It's one
thing for White to say it on a conference call, it's another
entirely for him to send over a UFC legend. That's a statement.
That's a promise kept.
BJ
Penn would be just the fighter to satisfy White's promise, fan
interest and Melendez's ambitions. Melendez doesn't just need
a legitimate challenge, he deserves one.
Source:
MMA Fighting
|
Management
Built on the Mats
by Damon
Martin
There
are a lot of different managers in mixed martial arts.
Some
come from law backgrounds, others from business backgrounds,
and some are trainers that have become managers. A growing trend,
however, with the sport of MMA getting some years behind it,
is former fighters taking a role in management.
Well,
this is a story about a former Olympian and fighter who became
a manager.
Ali
Abdel-Aziz, who was born in Egypt, was an athlete his whole life,
and fell in love with Judo at an early age. His passion for the
sport turned into a lifestyle and it then turned into an Olympic
dream.
“I
went to the 1996 Olympics. I represented Egypt in the Olympics
and this is how I started,” Abdel-Aziz told MMAWeekly.com.
“I was a five-time national champion in Africa, and after
that I went to the Olympics and then I moved here, and I was
living in Colorado and I started fighting for Sven Bean.”
Sven
Bean is the promoter and owner of the Ring of Fire promotion
and Abdel-Aziz fought there for the majority of his MMA career
before a shoulder injury put him on the sidelines.
While
he was rehabbing and recuperating, Abdel-Aziz traveled to New
Mexico where he lived and trained alongside famed MMA coach Greg
Jackson and his team of fighters. From there, the former Olympian
decided to move to New York and work with the team at Renzo Gracie’s
academy in Manhattan.
It
was there that he fell into the management game.
“I
moved to New York and I started training at Renzo’s (Gracie),
and at the time I wasn’t fighting, I was just training a
little bit to get my shoulder better. I saw a lot of problems
in New York and I started talking to Renzo and all the guys down
there, and they asked me if I could help them and managing them
and stuff,” Abdel-Aziz explained.
Even
though he came from athletic roots, Abdel-Aziz was also a businessman
by nature. He had continued to work even while training before
and after the Olympics, and when Renzo Gracie asked him for some
assistance with his own fighters and his career, Abdel-Aziz was
honored to help him out.
His
first clients were a trio of Gracie family members: Igor, Gregor
and Rolles Gracie. He even started managing Renzo’s career
full time as well. From there it started to snowball as more
and more fighters started working out of Gracie’s academy,
and they noticed the work Abdel-Aziz was doing on the management
side of things.
The
other interesting part, however, was that most of the fighters
that met Abdel-Aziz first rolled with him on the mats before
they ever knew he was a manager.
“My
first business I had I was 15 years old and for me I’ve
been around sports all my life, and I want to be involved. Like
the lifestyle for me, I get up in the morning, I get on the phone
and I go work, in the afternoon I train, then I go work again,”
said Abdel-Aziz.
“For
example, yesterday I woke up in the morning I got some work in
and Frankie Edgar comes to the gym and we had some jiu-jitsu
sparring, me and Frankie and Igor Gracie and Rolles Gracie and
all these guys, and after that I went back to work. Then I come
home and I start watching videos on fights and scouting and guys.
It’s a lifestyle to me and I love it.”
Training
is just part of life for Abdel-Aziz and he works on a daily basis
with the team at Renzo Gracie’s academy, along with his
roster of fighters. He’s not only a business partner for
his client list, he’s a training partner as well.
“I’m
doing this first of all for a passion, this is my passion. The
second thing, I’m helping my teammates get prepared for
fights to be a good training partner, it’s just a lifestyle
for me I can’t get away from it,” said Abdel-Aziz.
“I train everyday.”
Part
of who Ali Abdel-Aziz is comes from his background as an athlete
and the experiences he learned in his own fight career. It’s
from that history that he wants to be able to help young fighters
work their way up to making it into an organization like the
UFC or Strikeforce. He’s seen the ups and downs, and experienced
the good and bad himself, and he hopes he can impart some of
that knowledge on the next generation of MMA fighters.
“I’ve
never asked one person to manage them. Gregor and Igor and Rolles
and after that Renzo had a fight coming back and he asked me
to talk to the UFC, and I went to the UFC to talk to Dana and
those guys. After that I started signing guys like Derek Brunson
and Frankie (Edgar), he had a falling out with his manager, and
I think Renzo recommended me to him and we started working together
and he’s one of my best friends in the world,” Abdel-Aziz
stated.
“A
lot of UFC fighters come through there and I train with them,
but I never say ‘I want to manage you.’ In this sport,
it’s good to be asked instead of asking them. If you do
good work, your reputation is going to be good.”
Now
Abdel-Aziz, under his Dominance MMA management group, works with
several UFC and Strikeforce fighters including UFC lightweight
champion Frankie Edgar, new UFC lightweight John Cholish, Strikeforce
contender Keith Jardine, former UFC fighter Roger Huerta, and
he still works with several members of the Gracie family that
train and work at the gym.
2011
has also turned out to be a very good year for Abdel-Aziz and
his list of clients, as they have boasted 17 wins altogether
this year. That’s what’s most important to the former
Egyptian Olympian.
He
wants the fighters he works with to be successful in and out
of the cage.
“I’m
not one of these managers that wants to have 60 or 70 guys. I
want to have all the guys and take care of them. I want to make
sure everybody’s happy. I do contracts, but if any fighter
wants to leave, they leave. I don’t lock them down. I don’t
want to manage someone that doesn’t want to be managed by
me. I’ve never had a guy leave me, but I’m very lucky
to have this lifestyle,” said Abdel-Aziz.
“I
came here and I’m living my American dream.”
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Fedor’s
brother back to winning
Contributor:
Junior Samurai
A
savvy boxer at the top of the heap at now-defunct Pride FC—where
he took out the likes of Carlão Barreto, Assuério
Silva and Sergei Kharitonov—Alexander Emelianenko hadn’t
tasted victory since May of 2010. After suffering two knockout
losses in a row—one in just 23 seconds last month—Fedor’s
brother rediscovered his winning ways this Wednesdayat Bushido
50, in Kazakhstan. Alexander caught his opponent, Tolegen Akylbekov
with a kimura arm lock, notching his 18th career victory.
Source:
Gracie Magazine
|
Santos
is MMA's most vicious fighter
By Josh
Gross
Following
Strikeforce's final card of 2010, Scott Coker caught his breath
inside an empty press room. He'd just wrapped the busiest year
of his promotional life and was well within his rights to take
a moment.
Reflecting
on what was and predicting what would be, Coker declared Strikeforce,
then the closest thing resembling a competitor to the Ultimate
Fighting Championship since Pride disappeared, ready to move
beyond the "building block" stage.
It
was, he said, time for "Phase 2."
As
it happened, Coker was correct. Only partially and briefly, but
there's no denying he was on to something in St. Louis.
Twelve
months later, Strikeforce chugs headfirst into yet another incarnation,
one that hardly resembles what its founder and CEO touted at
the time. That buzz-worthy heavyweight division? It's all but
been dismantled. (The final chapter comes sometime in 2012, when
the promotion is set to hand over its heavyweights altogether.)
Promotable names like Alistair Overeem, Nick Diaz and Jason Miller
are gone. There was a sense among some fans that Strikeforce
represented an option for MMA outside the Zuffa frontier, a sort
of Americanized Pride, which engendered a sense that this upstart
was worth supporting. That's all gone. In its place exists an
unsettled road, one paved in the wake of Strikeforce's sale to
Zuffa and a pared-down broadcasting deal with Showtime.
A
year after Coker sounded so energized, so eager to move forward,
his baby, for which he was handsomely paid to relinquish, seems
more likely headed to purgatory than the promised land. Building
blocks, it seems, all over again. Except he's not the one tasked
with building it anymore. And those who are might have something
better to do.
Strikeforce's
new shot-callers -- UFC president Dana White and Showtime Sports
boss Stephen Espinoza -- have touted the promotion as a legitimate
home for the sport's best fighters. It's a hard sell. Does anyone
really believe Strikeforce and UFC are going to bid against one
another for prospects, contenders or champions? Of course not.
The same people are cutting the checks. So questions surrounding
Strikeforce's role clearly won't center on its potential status
as a competitor to the UFC.
If
history is our guide, Strikeforce is in for a rough ride.
For
as much as Zuffa has excelled by promoting the UFC, it has equally
failed to build other properties. World Extreme Cagefighting,
for example, featured far more talent than Strikeforce does today,
and that show was eventually chopped down before getting folded
into its money-generating big brother. If Zuffa couldn't turn
Jose Aldo, Dominick Cruz, Urijah Faber and many others into consistent
rating and pay-per-view draws without attaching "UFC"
alongside their names on the poster, what hope do Gilbert Melendez
or Luke Rockhold have when they're tied at the hip to "Strikeforce"?
While
some fighters should benefit from Strikeforce's new lease on
life -- solid paydays and televised roster spots exist where
they wouldn't otherwise -- that won't come without a price, namely
MMA's Zuffa-dominated purse structure. So what is Strikeforce's
purpose exactly? A feeder league for the UFC? A world-class promoter
of mixed martial arts? A cultivator of top talent? A mechanism
to maintain control over the vast majority of top mixed martial
artists?
Only
time will tell.
In
the end it comes down to the fights. Can Zuffa find opponents
for Melendez or Rockhold that will inspire fans to pony up for
the product on Showtime? And if so, for how long?
Whether
the conversation takes place today or a year from now, eventually
it will lead to the same place: Let these guys fight against
the best in the UFC.
Look
no further than Melendez's escapades leading up to his Strikeforce
lightweight title defense against Jorge Masvidal on Saturday.
Few people considered the challenger a legit threat. That was
the storyline leading up to the fight. Masvidal's performance
did little to change anyone's opinion. And afterward, Melendez
was forced to defend his performance and status. That's how it
will be with this deal.
On
to the action in the cage. From A to F, here's how fighters on
the last Strikeforce event of 2011 fared.
Source:
ESPN
|
Cain
believes in new chance against Dos Santos
by Eduardo
Ferreira
Cain
Velasquez is confident that he will have, soon, a chance to regain
the heavyweight title, today in Junior dos Santos’s hands.
And who says so is Javier Mendez, founder of AKA, gym where the
former champion trains at. On an interview given to TATAME, he
affirmed Cain believes UFC will offer him a rematch in case he
wins two of three fights.
“Cain
knows he blew it, that he stopped before the guy (Junior), but
he’s confident that he’ll have the chance to fight
for the championship again. Possibly in two or three fights from
now. He first has to prove he deserves that chance, so he’ll
have to defeat his two next opponents, or at least one in a convincing
way so that Zuffa says “ok, you deserve another shot”.
When Zuffa offer us that fight, we’ll work on it”.
Javier
also analyzed Velasquez’s performance on the night he lost
his belt to the Brazilian, in November, at UFC on FOX. He complimented
the power of Junior’s right hand and highlighted he had
warned the American not to stand still before the challenger
because it could be fatal.
“When
we started training, the first thing I told him was not to trade
punches with Junior. I told him not to stand before him because
the guy’s a great boxer, the best in activity. Once you
do that, you’re screwed. I did my job. The fight presented
itself, Cain stood in front of him for a seconds and Junior landed
a powerful right hand. Junior came prepared, Cain was prepared,
but the win went to the one who imposed first his game, and that
was Junior”.
Source:
Tatame
|
Matches
to Make After Strikeforce ‘Melendez vs. Masvidal’
By Brian
Knapp
Gilbert
Melendez outstrikes strikers, outwrestles wrestlers and outgrapples
grapplers. There can be no clearer sign of one’s completeness.
Melendez
retained his lightweight championship with a lopsided unanimous
decision over American Top Team’s Jorge Masvidal in the
Strikeforce “Melendez vs. Masvidal” main event on Saturday
at the Valley View Casino Center in San Diego. Scores were 50-45,
50-45 and 49-46 for Melendez, who finds himself on a six-fight
winning streak.
The
29-year-old Californian attacked Masvidal, a respected standup
fighter, with two-, three- and four-punch combinations throughout
their 25-minute encounter. It was not the first time Melendez
had beaten one of his counterparts at his own game, and, from
all indications, it will not be the last. The Cesar Gracie disciple
has made himself into a polished mixed martial artist, capable
of throttling worthy foes in a blitz of ground-and-pound elbows
or outlasting them in five-round wars of attrition.
Though
UFC President Dana White intends to keep Melendez in Strikeforce,
it figures to become more and more difficult to keep him out
of the Octagon.
“It’s
inevitable,” Melendez said prior to his bout with Masvidal.
“I think some of the top fighters need to go to the UFC,
and I’m one of those guys. The goal is to be UFC champ,
and the only way to do that is by getting the UFC title.”
Perhaps
the time has come. In wake of Strikeforce “Melendez vs.
Masvidal,” here are half a dozen matches we want to see
made:
Gilbert
Melendez vs. Frankie Edgar-Ben Henderson winner: Simply put,
there is nothing left for Melendez to prove or accomplish in
Strikeforce. A brilliant all-around competitor with strong takedowns,
savage ground-and-pound, effective standup and a limitless motor,
he has outgrown the competition around him and proven himself
fit for a leap to the UFC. Widely regarded as the number two
lightweight in the world, he would become a title contender the
instant the UFC introduces him to the 155-pound population. Edgar
and Henderson will do battle in what has already been pegged
as an early “Fight of the Year” contender at UFC 144
in late February. With all Strikeforce hurdles cleared, it makes
perfect sense to make the move with Melendez now.
Cristiane
“Cyborg” Santos vs. Ronda Rousey: Absent from the MMA
scene for a year and a half, Cyborg returned with a vengeance.
The Strikeforce women’s featherweight champion blitzed the
overmatched Hiroko Yamanaka in 16 seconds, adding yet another
victim to her list of devastating finishes. Some have wondered
whether or not Cyborg can cut to 135 pounds, but, given her build,
such talk seems bold at best and unrealistic at worst. Rousey,
an Olympic silver medalist in judo, has raised more than a few
eyebrows in her first four professional fights. She has submitted
all four of her opponents in less than a minute, all by armbar.
There may never be a more opportune time to make this fight.
Strike while the iron is hot.
Fodor
shocked Wilcox.
K.J.
Noons vs. Caros Fodor: Noons has looked better, but, in his unanimous
decision victory over Billy Evangelista, he showed off new weapons
in his arsenal, including a perfectly executed double-leg takedown
in the first round.
The
former EliteXC champion carries with him some of the cleanest
striking in the sport, and the fact that he appears unwilling
to allow his game to grow stagnant should be taken as a positive
sign. Fodor, a rising star at 155 pounds, made an emphatic statement
in dispatching American Kickboxing Academy standout Justin Wilcox
in 13 seconds. Wilcox had not been defeated since September 2008.
A potent clinch fighter, Fodor could pose major problems for
Noons in close quarters, just as Evangelista did.
Gegard
Mousasi vs. Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante: Despite his
inconsistencies in big moments, Mousasi remains one of the sport’s
most skilled and dangerous competitors at 205 pounds.
Still
only 26 years old, the former champion roughed up Ovince St.
Preux for two rounds with accurate strikes on the feet, timely
takedowns and heavy ground-and-pound. He nearly finished the
former University of Tennessee linebacker twice in the first
round. However, Mousasi ran out of steam down the stretch, ceded
the third round and settled for a unanimous decision. Feijao
returned with a bang in September, as he knocked out Yoel Romero
Palacio in two rounds and rebounded nicely from his March defeat
to Dan Henderson. A Mousasi-Cavalcante showdown for the vacant
Strikeforce light heavyweight crown might make some sense at
this point, with former champion Muhammed “King Mo”
Lawal also in play.
Jorge
Masvidal vs. Gesias “JZ” Cavalcante: Masvidal made
a spirited run at Melendez’s title but came up short, as
he was unable to deal with the champion’s relentless offensive
output. A fighter like Masvidal will always be in demand, whether
he remains in Strikeforce, moves to the UFC or finds a home somewhere
else. The 27-year-old wields polished all-around skills that
make him a threat to virtually anyone outside the upper echelon
at 155 pounds. Should he stick with Strikeforce, perhaps a reunion
with former American Top Team stablemate Cavalcante would pique
his interest in the aftermath of his loss to Melendez.
Ovince
St. Preux vs. Lorenz Larkin-Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal
loser: St. Preux is a talent. That much is certain. However,
his defeat to Mousasi exposed glaring holes in his game, as he
was vulnerable to takedowns and oftentimes appeared lost on his
back. Still, there can be no shame in losing to a former champion,
and St. Preux will undoubtedly use the experience to his benefit.
His stock does not figure to fall much, and he could find himself
locked in the cage with the winner of the Larkin-Lawal matchup
on Jan. 7.
Source
Sherdog
|
Fighter
of the Year: 'Bones' Jones rolls over opposition
By Sergio
Non, USA TODAY
Light-heavyweight
champion Jon Jones might have gone through the best 12-month
stretch ever for a fighter.
He
started in February by submitting Ryan Bader, rated No. 5 at
the time in the USA TODAY/MMA Nation consensus rankings. Six
weeks later he won the Ultimate Fighting Championship's 205-pound
title by dismantling one of the all-time greats, Mauricio "Shogun"
Rua. He defended the belt twice in the fall by choking two former
champions, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson and Lyoto Machida.
Except
for one round against Machida, none of it was close. At times
his fights almost resembled target practice against hapless victims.
The
only run that holds up as a comparison happened six years ago
when a 23-year-old Rua crashed through Pride Fighting Championships'
205-pound tournament. But even that achievement lacked the definitive
nature of Jones' work this year because Rua did not fight the
beltholders of Pride and UFC.
Jones
views his 2011 as a "crazy" experience.
"It
really wasn't about who I beat or anything like that," he
said. "It was about just improvement of the quality of my
life and how I set a goal and I stuck to it."
He's
already won more consecutive title bouts than any UFC light-heavyweight
champion since Chuck Liddell's run ended in 2007. The next opponent
will come from the winner of next month's bout between Rashad
Evans and Phil Davis. Ex-Strikeforce champ Dan Henderson might
be on deck.
After
that? Even Jones' promoter has a hard time dreaming up legitimate
challenges for the 24-year-old titleholder.
"I
don't know how you deny the guy anymore," says Dana White,
president of UFC's parent company, Zuffa. "He's literally
walked through everybody. He's fought four times this year, probably
the nastiest schedule in the history of the company. He's incredible."
Incredible
enough to be USA TODAY's 2011 Fighter of the Year.
Runner-up:
Dan Henderson
This
year offered a microcosm of Henderson's history as a mixed martial
artist.
He
won a major title. Knocked out a legend despite giving up almost
20 pounds. Returned to the sport's biggest stage by taking part
in a Fight of the Year.
Henderson
has no secrets after 14 years in the sport. He can break down
opponents in the clinch or smother them on the ground, but these
days he prefers to bomb away with a right hand. Everyone knows
it's coming, yet no one can avoid the blow. It ruined Rafael
"Feijao" Cavalcante's night in March to earn Strikeforce's
205-pound title for Henderson. It left heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko
unconscious, at least momentarily, for the first time in the
iconic heavyweight's career.
White
loved the Emelianenko result so much that he brought Henderson
back to UFC, two years after deriding him as a lackluster draw.
UFC immediately plugged Henderson into a main event and reaped
the reward when he crafted a five-round monument to brutality
with Rua in November.
The
2011 accomplishments of Henderson would mark a career apex for
most fighters. For the 41-year-old, it's simply the latest in
a long line of noteworthy achievements — but still noteworthy,
all the same.
Also
worth noting:
•
Donald Cerrone: The lightweight known informally as "Cowboy"
was quite the gunslinger, going 4-0 to start his UFC career after
coming over from World Extreme Cagefighting.
He
hit for the cycle of fight-night awards, winning Submission of
the Night, Knockout of the Night and Fight of the Night. A win
against Nate Diaz next month ought to vault Cerrone into the
infamous "mix" of contenders.
•
Michael Chandler: Nothing says you've arrived like going from
unranked to consensus No. 10 after one fight.
Chandler's
title victory against perennial top-five lightweight Eddie Alvarez
followed a dominant run through Bellator's spring tournament
that earned him the chance at a championship bout.
•
Daniel Cormier: He picked up where he left off from last year,
and did it against vastly more experienced competition. Devin
Cole had 18 wins by the time he fought Cormier. Jeff Monson had
43 victories and highly ranked Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva
had 16. Cormier made them look amateurish.
The
win against Monson earned Cormier a replacement spot in the Strikeforce
Heavyweight World Grand Prix and the knockout of Silva put him
in the final. Not bad for a guy who has yet to reach double-digits
in his pro-fight total.
•
Nick Diaz: So far this year, Diaz has told reporters that he
runs from bad neighborhoods into good neighborhoods and back
again, drives a broken-down Honda, can't pay his sparring partners
for boxing and doesn't want friends outside his small circle
of teammates. He never learned how to buy a house and skipped
promotional appearances because he has difficulty focusing outside
of his training sessions.
But
that training paid off handsomely.
Two
bruisers, Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos and Paul "Semtex"
Daley, couldn't last a round against him. He beat up BJ Penn
so badly that the two-time UFC champion retired on the spot,
though he later softened his stance.
The
performance against Penn was so impressive that UFC put Diaz
back into the title shot that was stripped from him after he
missed press conferences. In the end, White knows that no matter
how erratically Diaz behaves outside the cage, no one is more
reliable when it comes to giving his all inside it.
•
Ben Henderson: WEC's penultimate lightweight titleholder has
done nothing but win since moving to UFC. His last two victories
came at the expense of two top-10 fighters on hot streaks, Jim
Miller and Clay Guida. They would have received title shots for
beating him. Instead, Henderson will fight lightweight champ
Frankie "The Answer" Edgar in February.
•
Mark Munoz: "The Filipino Wrecking Machine" is one
of UFC's most soft-spoken athletes, but he spoke loudly in the
cage in 2011. Munoz's 3-0 mark this year includes surviving on
the ground against jiu-jitsu genius Demian Maia and a beatdown
of rugged brawler Chris Leben, who couldn't beat Munoz even with
cheating; after the fight, Leben admitted to taking banned painkillers
that were uncovered by test results.
Munoz
now rates as the consensus No. 4 middleweight. Next month he'll
fight former collegiate rival Chael Sonnen for the right to face
champion Anderson Silva.
Source:
Fight Opinion
|
Junie
Browning Turns Himself In To Police
Former
“Ultimate Fighter” castmember Junie Browning‘s
long, strange trip through Thailand may finally be coming to
a close.
Browning
was sought by police after he was involved in a bar brawl in
Phuket last week, and has since sent out pleas to the U.S. Embassy
seeking refuge to exit the country and get back to the United
States.
According
to the latest report from Phuketwan.com, Browning turned himself
in to police on Wednesday, but was not arrested.
This
is where the story takes a turn for the strange.
Browning
was a part of the brawl at the bar in Phuket, as well as another
incident hours later at a local hospital where he and some of
the other participants in the fight once again engaged in some
sort of violence.
On
Wednesday, Browning and his girlfriend, along with a lawyer,
showed up at the Phuket police station to face authorities who
had been looking for him since the incident occurred.
Browning
had originally fled Thailand, apparently fearing for his life.
Now,
he’s gone back and is speaking with the authorities, but
even still no charges may end be being levied on the Kentuckian’s
head.
Authorities
apparently have several different versions of how the fight actually
started, who the aggressors were, and what happened once the
brawl got out of hand.
They
are now working towards a mediation in which the parties involved
may have to reach restitution for medical bills and damage done
at the bar, but at this time it doesn’t sound like anyone
will be charged with a criminal act.
None
of the parties involved, including Browning, were held by the
police overnight.
According
to the report, Browning was urged to seek out the police and
turn himself in when a resident of Phuket and warden to the U.S.
Embassy contacted the former UFC fighter.
Browning
will now hopefully reach a mediation with the authorities and
the other parties involved, and put the incident behind him.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Rodrigo
Nogueira Undergoes Successful Surgery
Antonio
Rodrigo Nogueira could be back in the Octagon much sooner than
originally anticipated, although he was unable to avoid surgery
as originally anticipated.
Nogueira had the humerus of his right arm broken when he waited
too long to tap out to a Frank Mir Kimura (shoulder lock) at
UFC 140 in Toronto.
Following a visit to doctors in Los Angeles, it was originally
believed that Nogueira could avoid surgery, using a removable
splint and ultrasonic treatment on a daily basis. After a few
days of seeing little progress, Nogueira and his camp sought
out further opinions, which pointed to the need for surgery to
repair the fracture.
Nogueira on Saturday had surgery done at the Steadman Clinic
in Vail, Colo., the same clinic where he had two successful hip
surgeries. Dr. Tom Hackett performed the surgery, fixing the
fracture with a plate and 16 screws.
Prior to surgery, Nogueira had very little strength in his hand
and no strength in his thumb, due to the radial nerve being pinched
by the fractured bone. Hackett also treated the nerve during
surgery, and less than 12 hours later, Nogueira already had functionality
returning to his hand.
“If all goes well, (Nogueira) will start full training in
the coming months and should be 100-percent to fight in six months
or less,” said Dr. Hackett on the Nogueira Brothers’
website. “We anticipate a full and complete recovery.”
That is much better than the original prognosis of Nogueira being
out of action for nine months.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
By
the Numbers: Strikeforce
By Tristen
Critchfield
Strikeforce
put one of its best talents on display at the Valley View Casino
Center in San Diego on Saturday night, and Gilbert Melendez did
not disappoint. For five rounds, the lightweight champion put
his improved standup to work, keeping Jorge Masvidal off guard
with numerous combinations.
Masvidal
was able to do some significant damage to his opponent's right
eye, but for the most part "Gamebred" was never able
to find a consistent rhythm. With yet another title defense to
his credit, Melendez is already looking toward his next challenge
as he continues his Strikeforce reign.
Also
in search of a challenge is women’s featherweight title
holder Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos, who needed just 16
seconds to dispatch Hiroko Yamanaka. As it stands, Santos is
head and shoulders above all competitors in the division. There
are plenty of elements that make up a champion, but for now,
it's time to let the data do the talking. A by-the-numbers look
at Strikeforce “Melendez vs. Masvidal,” with statistics
provided by FightMetric.com:
228:
Difference in total strikes thrown by Melendez (500) and Masvidal
(272) over the course of their bout. While “Gamebred”
proved to be more accurate, connecting 37 percent of the time
to Melendez’s 24 percent, the champion was able to dictate
the pace for the majority of the fight.
118:
Significant strikes landed by Melendez, the best total of his
Strikeforce tenure. His previous best of 103 came in a win over
Josh Thomson in 2009, and he landed 98 against Clay Guida to
first capture the Strikeforce lightweight strap in 2006.
36:
Total strikes to the head by which Melendez outlanded Masvidal.
While many expected the Californian to put his wrestling on display,
Melendez was more than comfortable attacking his foe with multiple
combinations on his feet.
8-1:
Record for Melendez in Strikeforce lightweight title contests
-- his lone defeat came at the hands of Thomson in 2008.
.800:
Winning percentage for Melendez in five-round fights. Prior to
outpointing Masvidal, the Strikeforce lightweight champion was
the owner of 25-minute victories against Shinya Aoki, Thomson
and Guida. He dropped a five-round affair to Thomson at a Strikeforce
event in 2008.
19:
Combined UFC appearances for Melendez's opponents. While "El
Nino" is considered to be among the best fighters not currently
under contract with the UFC, he has faced only three men with
Octagon experience in a 22-fight career: Guida (15 fights), Thomson
(3) and Jeff Houghland (1).
2:
Rounds where Masvidal landed more significant strikes than Melendez.
Despite being on the wrong end of two 50-45 scorecards, the American
Top Team product outstruck his opponent 19 to 18 in round one
and 25 to 20 in round three.
8:
Low kicks landed by Masvidal against Melendez in the opening
frame. The Bellator veteran would land only 11 more over the
course of the next four rounds, however.
1.71:
Amount by which Masvidal's takedown rate decreased -- from 5.48
per 15 minutes to 3.77 -- after getting Melendez to the mat just
once in 25 minutes. In his previous nine rounds of action, Masvidal
had scored a combined 16 takedowns in wins over K.J. Noons, Billy
Evangelista and Ryan Healy.
180:
Strikes by which Cristiane Santos has outlanded her five Strikeforce
opponents. Marloes Coenen, who landed 19 power strikes in a 2010
title fight, has done the most damage against “Cyborg.”
Meanwhile Yamanaka, who was regarded as the No. 2 woman in the
world at featherweight, managed no offense on Saturday night.
6-to-1:
Ratio of strikes to knockdowns for Santos against Yamanaka. The
tenacious Brazilian floored her opponent twice during their short-lived
145-pound scrap.
19:
More significant strikes landed by Gegard Mousasi in the first
round (29) than in rounds two (8) and three (2) combined in his
unanimous decision triumph over Ovince St. Preux.
4:
Successful takedowns for Mousasi against St. Preux, the best
documented total of The Dreamcatcher’s career. His previous
high of three came versus Keith Jardine on April 9.
.250:
Winning percentage for K.J. Noons when his opponent lands more
significant strikes than him. Billy Evangelista hit 71 power
strikes to Noons' 64 on Saturday, but Noons was able to capture
a 29-28 decision on all three judges’ scorecards.
0:
Takedowns by Noons in his previous nine fights before he momentarily
landed one against Evangelista in their lightweight duel.
Source:
Sherdog
|
Keith
Kizer: Urine is ‘obviously’ better than blood for steroid
testing
By Zach
Arnold
Tuesday proved to be quite the day on the radio circuit if you
were interested in commentary about the situation between Alistair
Overeem and the Nevada State Athletic Commission over drug testing.
If you didn’t follow the details of Monday’s NSAC meeting,
read the details here.
Keith Kizer appeared on Mauro Ranallo’s show yesterday and
stated the following:
“Well, it depends on what you’re testing for. If you’re
testing for steroids, then it’s obvious that urine’s
the better test. There’s, yeah, no doubt about that, yeah.
In fact, those blood tests done by [Overeem's] doctor wasn’t
even for steroids, per se. It was done for testosterone, DHEA,
FSH, LH, and I think prolactin as well. And, again, all those
came back in normal ranges and that was good to see that, as
well. But, a) it wasn’t a steroid test and b) it wasn’t
a urine test and even if you tested for steroids in the blood,
they usually get out of your system within 6-to-20 hours as opposed
to the urine test where it takes quite a while to get out of
your system, maybe in some cases months.”
“It’s not like there’s sports not going on in
Holland. Of course, they’re big in things like soccer and
volleyball and bicycle racing and other things as well where
they do [perform] drug testing, so I’m not certain why his
doctor ordered that test other than just perhaps it’s something
his doctor’s not familiar with or doesn’t get involved
with. Maybe he’s a general practitioner, I don’t know
the answer. But, nonetheless, it was the wrong test and he needs
to jump through these initial hurdles because of that. So, it
may be a situation where what I’m going to try to do is
develop some sort of written protocol to send to these fighters
explaining exactly what the basic steroid panel is. I think most
doctors would understand that but if there a couple out there
that don’t the fighter can take this written protocol with
him or her to the doctor’s office and it and lay out exactly
what types of diuretics, what kind of steroids, and what type
of masking agencies that are done on the basic steroid panel
that Quest does and Labcore does and a lot of other, the UCLA
lab, they all kind of follow the same guidelines via WADA. What’s
tested in those three categories: steroids, diuretics, and masking
agencies and that should be a benefit to everybody to have it
written out.”
He would go on to say that Alistair Overeem would give a urine
sample at a Quest Diagnostics accredited/affiliated lab in the
UK and that the sample would be transferred to Atlanta for examination.
As Dr. David Black, the man who worked with the NFL & WWE
in drug testing programs, said on 60 Minutes: testosterone is
the base chemical of steroids. Blood testing also is better for
HGH detection. It also happens to be an excellent barometer if
you measure for hematocrit levels as Victor Conte has suggested.
A hematocrit standard by athletic commissions would catch many
more cheaters. It’s that simple.
But, no, urine tests are supposedly better at catching steroid
users according to Keith Kizer. Loretta Hunt appeared on the
radio show after Mr. Kizer’s interview and backed up his
claims on the matter. Travis Tygart of USADA, of course, believes
that you need both urine & blood testing for effective detection
of drug abuse. Yes, urine testing can be useful — to a degree
— if you use Carbon Isotope Ratio examination, as Don Catlin
has backed. However, do you expect CIR tests to be done on all
urine samples by various state athletic commissions? Unfortunately,
no.
Regarding the claim about some half-life elements still existing
in urine samples months after drug usage, you’re talking
about boldenone (equipose). Only the stupidest of steroid users
would get caught using it in MMA, given how long the half-life
is (up to six months in your system).
Perhaps it would be a good time to remind everyone about the
launch of the Voluntary Anti-Doping Agency. They’re on Twitter
& Facebook, as well.
There were some other incredible comments made by the Executive
Director of the NSAC. He claimed that contacting representatives
of fighters as opposed to the fighters themselves for getting
the drug test samples is better because it doesn’t give
fighters as much suspicion about an upcoming ‘random’
drug test request from the commission. I don’t even know
where to begin in response to that line of thinking.
If you want random out-of-competition drug testing, you don’t
give fighters or their reps any advance notice. You approach
the fighter through the mail (with an immediate time demand)
or approach them in person like you would when issuing a subpoena
and you tell them where to go get tested immediately. If you
can’t live up to that standard for administering such tests,
then don’t call your drug testing procedure ‘random’
because it’s not. Again, the issue in the Overeem/NSAC case
is that the commission, in my opinion, did not do its job in
executing the drug test request or the procurement of the drug
testing sample. Read on and you’ll see what I mean.
Keith Harris:
Another reason for immediation resignation (of Keith Kizer) is
allowing Brock to take his urine sample three days late, no questions
asked!
Wojslaw Rysiewski:
According to (Dave) Meltzer, Lesnar took his ‘random’
test 4 days after the notice from Kizer.
Eddie Goldman presented an evisceration of Keith Kizer’s
arguments on his radio show and laid out just why the Nevada
State Athletic Commission looked foolish during Monday’s
agenda meeting.
Start of commentary
“First of all, they were discussing their so-called ‘random
out-of-competition testing program.’ The fact is this program
is a joke because they give the athletes notice. It’s not
what WADA, the World Anti-Doping Agency, and its affiliates do
which is random, unannounced testing. That’s what people
like Floyd Mayweather have insisted upon for his fights where
they show up, unannounced, and they say you have to take the
test right then and there. This is not what (Nevada’s) doing.
They contact the representatives and they were bragging how within
24-to-48 hours they get this done. There’s a lot of stuff
that goes out of your system within 24 hours, let alone 48 hours
but they were bragging about this and it only involved urine
testing and not blood testing. Remember the nonsense from Keith
Kizer of the Nevada commission that they can get everything they
want from urine testing, which of course is not true because
there’s all kinds of banned substances that you need blood
testing for and, in fact, the Nevada commission does blood testing
for things like Hepatitis and HIV and things like that but for
drug testing they don’t do it, they still refuse to do it.
So, whom are they protecting?
“And, also, the fact that they give notice makes this so-called
‘random testing’ preposterous to even call it that
and I e-mailed Victor Conte… and he wrote back:
‘I don’t know how it can be considered random drug
testing if the athlete is given prior notice. It doesn’t
make sense to me.’
“The commission said that there was not a sense of urgency
on the representative of Alistair Overeem but the fact is [the
commission] are not set up to deal with these situations internationally
while Overeem was on his way to Holland. So, eventually, Overeem
does take a test the following week and he said this was on November
23rd and he went to a hospital and it was a blood test, but again
the Nevada commission wanted a urine test and they really didn’t
give him instructions or a place on how exactly do you do this.
This is because the Nevada State Athletic Commission are a bunch
of political appointees in the state of Nevada, in the United
States. They are trying to regulate an international sport where
people like Overeem, who is from Holland… they’re trying
to regulate this sport and they are not set up to do it and they
end up looking like a bunch of clowns in trying to do it.”
The absurdity of sending Overeem to the UK for collecting a urine
sample
“The fact is, there is drug testing in the Netherlands and
the Netherlands is a signatory to the various protocols that
the World Anti-Doping Agency has. In fact, if this pathetic commission
knew how to use the Internet or more importantly cared about
this…
“If they worked directly with WADA they would very easily
find the WADA affiliate in the Netherlands called Anti-Doping
Authority Netherlands (Logo Dopo Autoriteit). … There are
all sorts of phone numbers and e-mail addresses on their (web
site), so if you’re really working with them, if you’re
really serious about this, it’s pretty easy to find who’s
doing this in the Netherlands. It’s a very advanced country
and they’re part of WADA, so it could be done. But the Nevada
commission wants to pretend that they’re going to replicate
their own international anti-doping network. It’s absolutely
preposterous and absurd and that’s the real issue that they’re
not working as part of WADA. They’re avoiding doing it.
“Now, WADA also has what’s called an Athlete Whereabouts
program for just these kinds of situations because WADA’s
involved with all sort of international federations and international
sports and so athletes are traveling and living and training
all around the world and you have to be able to get in touch
with people and the athlete has to let your local affiliates
of WADA know where they’re going to be if they’re not
going to be training at home. So, they have this all set up,
this has been done already. Instead of this nonsense that ‘well,
(we) called his representative and Overeem was flying and the
representative didn’t call back until Monday’, then
they had to find Overeem in the Netherlands, this that and the
other thing… all this stuff is a big excuse. These problems
have been solved already, long before 2011. WADA’s Whereabouts
program is also easily found on the Internet, the WADA web site
wada-ama.org and you just look up their Whereabouts program.
“So, what’s happening here is that Overeem is taking
the blame for the failure of the Nevada State Athletic Commission
to do all of this kind of testing with WADA and follow their
protocols. This is utterly preposterous.
“That’s the reality of having these local political
hacks try to regulate international sports. This is bad governance,
it’s terrible governance, and it’s something that can
easily be done in a country like The United States.
“USA Wrestling, which is the governing body for wrestling
in the United States and is part of the US Olympic committee
and the International Olympic Committee and FILA, the international
wrestling federation, and all of that has better drug testing
for their own athletes through the Olympic program and they’re
generally not a professional sport (although some of the wrestlers
do get some stipends and do win some prize money for winning
various tournaments in the Olympics and that sort of thing) but
it’s not a professional sport like Mixed Martial Arts and
boxing are.
“So, if USA Wrestling can do all of this and I applaud them
for that, why can’t these commissions do it as well? There’s
a reason. They don’t want to do it! And if you read a lot
of the comments of people again in the so-called combat sports
media they don’t want them to do it, either, which is why
there’s so much confusion being spread on these issues.
“So, [the NSAC members} sound all haughty, if you heard
any of that hearing or you read about it, they sound all serious
and concerned and they tried to make Overeem apologize and all
this kind of stuff. You know what? I don't blame the athlete
on this because he went and he took a blood test! And then they
said, 'oh, it's the wrong test.' So, then, he went to his own
doctor to take the urine test because he said in Holland you
just don't go to a facility. Well, maybe he didn't know that,
maybe his own personal doctor didn't know that... But in the
Netherlands the WADA affiliate would know that and [the NSAC]
did not direct him to that, given the information on that, they
did not direct him to the Anti-Doping Authority Netherlands which
could have cleared up all this kind of stuff. In fact, they should
be working with these various international affiliates of WADA
but they’re not. They’re not even working with USADA,
the US Anti-Doping Agency in The United States. So, how the hell
are these local yokel political hacks from Las Vegas going to
work with international affiliates in all these other countries,
half of which they probably couldn’t even find on a map?
“It’s really pathetic and I think it speaks about how
bad the governance is in the combat sports and Mixed Martial
Arts and boxing that we’re still discussing these kinds
of issues and, again, the media particularly in the United States
is so poorly educated on this or don’t want to be educated
on this that you’re not getting very much information on
it.”
Source: Fight Opinion
|
'Mayhem'
Miller on Performance Against Michael Bisping: 'Dana White Was
Right'
By Ariel
Helwani
Jason "Mayhem" Miller has opened up for the first time
since his loss to Michael Bisping at the The Ultimate Fighter
14 Finale.
In
a blog post on his Web site entitled "Push Positive,"
Miller agreed with UFC president Dana White's critical assessment
of his performance against Bisping and vowed to focus on the
positives that came out of the loss.
"Dana
White was right," Miller wrote. "He made some disparaging
comments about my performance, and I agree with him. I displayed
the worst of everything that night in the octagon. I was tense
in round one and I locked up after that. I didn't perform to
my potential, and I take full responsibility for it. That wasn't
a UFC caliber performance, and I'm not happy about it- I won't,
however, write a worthless diatribe on myself, because that is
not constructive. I elect instead to take this misstep and make
something positive out of it."
Miller's
blog post is an honest and refreshing read. I suggest taking
some time out to read it.
December
20, 2011 — adventure, Fight, story
As someone who goes to my website, you are well aware that I
lost my recent
fight. I am very disappointed about it, but have used the past
couple weeks to reflect on everything and have come to some conclusions.
Dana White was right. He made some disparaging comments about
my performance, and I agree with him. I displayed the worst of
everything that night in the octagon. I was tense in round one
and I locked up after that. I didn’t perform to my potential,
and I take full responsibility for it. That wasn’t a UFC
caliber performance, and I’m not happy about it- I won’t,
however, write a worthless diatribe on myself, because that is
not constructive. I elect instead to take this misstep and make
something positive out of it.
We are all the custodians of our own destinies, and we must all
try to do the absolute best with what we have to work with- sometimes
you will have great successes and other times colossal failure,
but if you don’t try time and time again, you will be left
on your couch with nothing but a bucket of “What-ifs.”
You have no choice in this life but to push forward and try to
do the best you can.
My challenge to you, and myself, is to continue to press on and
make the most of your adventure here on earth. At the end of
your life you want to be sure that you’ve made your best
effort to make a collection of epic stories. Some sorrowful ones,
some happy ones and some downright amazing, but the challenge
for you is to find and make the most of each of these adventures.
I made a lot of mistakes in this story- during the camp, during
the fight- but the key to living life is learning from your mistakes
and making positive change. I feel very positive right now, and
I hope you feel the same way, I would be absolutely nothing without
persistence and positive thinking, and if there is anything i
want you to take from my blog it is that mentality. I will continue
on this amazing journey, looking to make the most epic stories
that I can.
Currently I’m in Holland, working on my kickboxing with
Siyar Badaharzada (@siyarthekiller) and one of the greatest MMA
trainers in the world, Martijn De Jong (@martijndej) as well
as teaching here in Europe.
I can’t tell you how much it means to me that you support
me through good times and bad- but I can say that I will put
every bit of effort I can muster to succeed in every area of
my life, and I hope you’ll be right there to watch.
The
UFC has yet to announce when the 30-year-old Miller, who's currently
in Holland training with Team Golden Glory, will fight again.
Source:
MMA Fighting
|
Brock
Lesnar Finds Focus in Family and Fighting
by Erik
Fontanez
Time
away from the cage, while no part was easy dealt with, has helped
former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar. Since recovering
from complications with diverticulitis for a second time, Lesnar
says he’s been able to put time in the gym and focus on
things that are going to make him a better fighter.
The 265-pound Minnesotan appears to have taken the positive out
of being sidelined with a horrible condition.
“I’ve had plenty of time to train,” Lesnar said
on Monday, while addressing the media on a conference call. “I’ve
been able to work on a lot of different things.”
Dec. 30 marks the date for Lesnar’s return to the Octagon.
That night he’ll face former Strikeforce heavyweight champion
Alistair Overeem in the main event at UFC 141.
The build-up to the fight advertises a battle between two physically
imposing athletes, and certainly makes for some pre-fight buzz
on the Internet. Social media sites, such as Facebook, Twitter,
and countless forums drum mumblings of anticipation, but that’s
not to say people don’t criticize Lesnar and his pending
opponent.
Recent speculation as to whether Overeem uses banned substances
has been a hot topic among MMA regulars on the World Wide Web.
Overeem addresses that speculation the best way he knows how,
but Lesnar says he’s used to it because it’s part of
being in the spotlight. The former WWE Superstar’s method
of handling such Internet chatter is to simply stay away from
cyberspace.
There are other – presumably more important – things
Lesnar focuses on, especially this time of year.
“I’ve pretty much centralized myself with my family
and on my ranch,” Lesnar said when asked if staying offline
is helpful. “I’m focused on my fight, my family, and
the holidays, and trying to live a somewhat normal life, other
than being a UFC fighter.
“You (have to) be able to manage everything and stay on
top of what’s most important – the fight, my family,
and the holidays.”
As much as he stays away from Internet hype, one thing that Lesnar
cannot ignore is the competitive nature of the UFC heavyweight
division. The talent pool seems deeper, more balanced, and diverse
than it’s been in recent memory. Lesnar recognizes this
and ups his competitive nature in turn. This allows him to compete
at his highest level and focus on one of the only things he says
he can control: beating Alistair Overeem on Dec. 30 in Las Vegas.
“This is a dog-eat-dog division. It’s definitely getting
more competitive, so I (have to) be more competitive,” he
said. “I’m going to go out there and do my best to
win this fight. That’s really all I can try to control.”
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Know
who the bombshell dreaming of subbing Cris Cyborg is?
Contributor:
Junior Samurai
Tipped
to be the next to take on Cris Cyborg, American judoka Ronda
Rousey has made it known that she’s excited about having
the chance to face the Brazilian, even after Cris’s knockout
win in just 16 seconds last weekend.
“I really would like to fight her, and I think it would
be easy for her to drop weight if she agrees to it, but that’s
up to her,” Ronda told Yahoo Sports editor Dave Meltzer.
It happens that Ronda, although having fought at featherweight,
has dropped to bantamweight in pursuit of Miesha Tate’s
title, while Cyborg has trouble making the featherweight limit—nothing
keeping the fight from happening at featherweight, though.
Now the 24-year-old Ronda has reason to be confident. A bronze
medalist at the Beijing Olympics and silver medalist at the 2007
World Championship in Rio, she has won all seven of her MMA fights
by submission—four of them professional.
Cris Cyborg has also agreed to test her ground game against the
stalwart judo stylist. “For this fight [against Ronda] I’ll
have to make a major effort to make it to bantamweight. Perhaps
I’ll take a fight at a catch weight [between bantam and
featherweight] first to adapt and later make it to the right
weight. But I’ll make an effort to do so,” said Cyborg.
For the time being, Ronda’s next mission is to try and get
her hands on bantamweight champion Miesha Tate’s belt.
To Strikeforce president Scott Coker, the fight between Cris
and Ronda will be made—but further down the road. “Ronda
Rousey’s name has been on the rise, but I feel she’ll
fight awhile longer at bantamweight, even though she has expressed
interest in fighting for the featherweight title some time,”
he said. “Now Cris Cyborg has signed for four more fights,
and we’re scouring the planet for worthy opponents to challenge
her at middleweight, but that’s no easy task. She’s
the Mike Tyson of female MMA,” said Coker in praise.
Source: Gracie Magazine
|
Jordan
Breen: People wouldn’t intensely hate Jon Jones if he was
white
By Zach
Arnold
This is not a new charge from the Sherdog personality. However,
he certainly stepped up the theory since Jones won big over Lyoto
Machida at UFC 140 in Toronto and did the ESPN ‘car wash’
of interviews/TV shows on Tuesday.
Take it away, Jordan:
“The way and the specific dudes that Jones took out in the
fashion in which he did it in is ridiculous and I think this
is easily the best year we’ve seen in Mixed Martial Arts.
It’s not just that he dominated a bunch of guys that are
on the list of all-time great Light Heavyweights to begin with,
it’s the fact that he beat Shogun so horrifically that if
there was a rematch you would have a feeling in your gut that
Shogun could die in the cage. He forced Quinton Jackson to raise
the white flag in a way that we just really hadn’t seen
Quinton Jackson do. Normally, if you’re going to stomp Quinton
Jackson you better beat the ever-loving hell out of this guy
and leave him laid out bleeding out of his face on the ropes.
And then against Lyoto Machida someone who his lone real incident
of serious adversity was getting cracked by Shogun, someone who
concede has some freaky sort of power, Jones then dropped Lyoto
and then dropped him again like a sack of potatoes after choking
him unconscious. So, I think it’s probably the most impressive
three fight span that I can think of in Mixed Martial Arts to
go along with probably the most impressive year… and by
probably the most impressive year, I mean quite certainly the
most impressively year I’ve ever seen in MMA.
“So, I think if you’re looking for someone to beat
Jon Jones, acting like some guy’s going to pull out this
great game plan over 25 minutes? I don’t know. I’m
more interested in a guy that, even if he might go down in a
flaming car wreck of a disaster, might actually have the offensive
power to put him away. Dan Henderson can sucker guys into an
exchange, he can land really heavy powerful punches, maybe he
lands the one big right overhand that does it. I think he’s
got a better chance than Rashad Evans who always takes his time,
is measured, is a stocky, compact guy. I think Rashad Evans is
going to get ripped up against Jon Jones because he’s a
slow starter and Jon Jones can just come forward and go-go-go.
But Dan Henderson, maybe he can get a right hand in there, maybe
he can make that kind of thing work. If he doesn’t, he’s
going to be in a world of hurt and I think it’s going to
turn into an epic beatdown. But I think that’s the kind
of dynamic you look for. I’m still interested in seeing
if a guy like King Mo or Phil Davis could put Jon Jones on his
back and see what happens from there. But… as far as guys
at the top of the division that might actually be challenging
soon, Henderson is a guy who piques my interest because even
if he has the chance of just getting assaulted in lopsided fashion,
I do think he’s the one guy that kind of maybe land that
one big kind of haymaker that might put Jon Jones down on queer
street and possibly be finished. Because I don’t see another
guy that has a great chance of setting it up.”
Dan Henderson is the best remaining opponent for Jon Jones? I
guess we shouldn’t care about the Rashad Evans vs. Phil
Davis fight then in Chicago?
“I did MMA Nation with Luke Thomas on Sunday night and he
said that the two people, that when he posts videos or radio
segments about, that there’s the most vitriolic feedback:
Amir Khan and Jon Jones. And, oh my God, is it any questions
that they’re both part of races that polarize people on
different sides of the Atlantic? No way! The thing that I find
amusing is… race isn’t everything but it’s not
nothing. I find it amazing that I still get e-mails from people
and, to be fair, I think if Jon Jones was white I still think
he would polarize people but I don’t think so many people
would react so intensely as they do and found and rationalize
their hate in the way they do if he was white. And the same thing
for Amir Khan. If Amir Khan was white… Amir Khan is…
he’s even more of an innocuous personality. I mean, he gets
a lot of the same sort of criticism for being sort like fake
or inauthentic but ultimately… if he was white and not brown,
would people feel that way on either side of the Atlantic? I’m
not so sure, you know. So, I think there are guys that they wouldn’t
be ultimately the most popular dudes in the world if they were
white, they would still polarize people, I think, but I don’t
think there would be the intensity, the magnitude of the venom
that goes with it because some of the e-mails and tweets I get
about Jon Jones at this point in time, you’d think this
guy was some kind of genocidal dictator not just a fighter in
the UFC.
“Seriously, like… why? And this is the thing, I’m
not saying, ‘oh, Jon Jones, a great dude’… like
I said and I have said for a long time, Jon Jones is, you know,
not… he is not every bit the son of the Preacher man he
attempts to be. He is, in that way, not a genuine personality
and, yet, he’s an incredible, incredible fighter who is
not responsible for all of the evils in the world, who did not
do a terrible thing by breaking when John McCarthy said break
and let Machida fall to the canvas, who is not some kind of demonic
entity. It’s totally OK to dislike Jon Jones but… as
I said on Twitter, if this guy announces his entire purse was
going to go to cancer research, people would ask why he hates
AIDS victims. It’s crazy.”
Jordan then had a caller on his show lay out some non-racial
reasons as to why MMA fans hate Jon Jones so much:
“Two other reasons besides just race as to why he’s
hated, this is me being objective looking at it from both sides.
Something I saw posted on a Sherdog forum, he said like Jon is
like, we all know you’re cocky, so why don’t you just
come out and be the cocky champion and we’ll love you for
it. And I kind of understand it, I kind of feel like, yeah, he
tries so hard to put this image on and, you know, I really don’t
think it’s him. I think the other thing is, the last point
why I think so many fans hate him so much, most MMA fans especially
internet fans are people who aren’t really into sports too
much, right, they’re not into like football or basketball
or baseball, you know, MMA was like *their* sport and, to them,
it was like something they could see themselves doing and I think
with Jon Jones they see an athletic and explosive, there goes
that term again, athletic and explosive athlete who probably
could have started at receiver in the NFL or played, you know,
the 3 spot in the NBA just come in to the UFC and basically just
dominate, you know, their sport and I think they almost see it
as like the future and they don’t like that and I think
that really has to do with like a lot of hate for this guy to
come out of nowhere and basically destroy all heir PRIDE heroes
and you know how much they love PRIDE and all that and basically
makes it to the point now where you don’t even want to see
a rematch (because) he’s beating people so bad. I mean,
now, I’m hearing stuff like on these boards now they’re
saying that he should be a heavyweight? Like, c’mon, he
walks around at 220…”
Which lead to this response:
“One of the major charges led against him is this idea that
he’s not an authentic personality, that he’s someone
that tries to act like this wholesome Christian well-manicured
sort of dude and really he’s about as rowdy and bawdy as
any 24 year old who might be the baddest dude on the entire planet.
That’s absolutely insane. In fact, it’s crazy that
Jon Jones just isn’t absolutely wild as a person because
if I woke up tomorrow and not only was the UFC Light Heavyweight
champion but I realized I had the ability to essentially destroy
almost any dude I get my hands on, I might go mental. So, it’s
crazy that he’s not even at that point. But secondarily,
I think, that’s another point, too, that’s come up.
It almost seems like early on people were thrilled at how many
exciting things Jon Jones could do but he’s made so many
great fighters look ordinary now it almost seems like defeating
the purpose of having fights, it almost seems unfair. And I think
with this, one of the heard ideas you’ve heard more and
more recently, ‘oh, go fight Heavyweights!’ I have
a news flash for you, by the way — if you don’t to
see Jon Jones do crazy stuff and embarrass guys, you don’t
want him to fight at Heavyweight.”
If people hate Jon Jones, they’re certainly willing to pay
to watch him if you believe the initial PPV buy rate estimates
from Dave Meltzer (in the upper 400,000s, near 500,000). Running
out of potential opponents in the future could be a problem,
for sure… so I’m guessing a fight against Anderson
Silva might be desirable at this point.
Source: Fight Opinion
|
Nogueira
explains why he didn’t knock Mir out
After
having the wino n his hands and wasting it trying to choke Frank
Mira t UFC 140, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira had to pay a high price,
since he was submitted with a kimura and broke his arm. The defeat
might have been one of the most painful ones on the legend’s
career, due to the way it happened, since Mir was the first one
to ever knock the Brazilian out, and now the first to submit
Rodrigo. On his official website, the tough guy talked about
what happened and tried to explain it to his fans.
“Last
Saturday I fought and lost via submission for the first time
in my career, it was a bad feeling, but it’s part of the
sport. Everything that happens in a fight is quick and the fighter
acts most based on his instincts and reflexes than on his mind.
I knew I made a mistake as I tried to submit on a fight where
I could have won by KO. But when Frank Mir was practically knocked
out I heard the judge as me to stop punching him at the neck
and that exactly when I tried to choke him. Mir put himself together
and must be congratulated for submitting me. I checked the videos
and I wasn’t hitting him on the neck, but on Mir’s
side of the head, which is allowed”, revealed Rodrigo, who’s
now focusing on recovering to overcome the most exceptional obstacle
of his career.
“But
I’m not here to apologize. I lost, I’ll recover from
my arm injury and then move on, probably on the second UFC Rio
of 2012. The good thing about the loss was that I got many supporting
messages, and I really thank the great treatment that the boss
(Dana White) gave me, yet in Canada. Dana used to tell me “Nog
we’re not sparing any help, you’ll have the best experts
so you comeback soon and well”. I’m sure I’ll
still fight for many years , I fight because I like it to and
I feel I’m in one of the best moments of my career”,
concluded the athlete.
Source:
Tatame
|
Dean
Hoped Nogueira Would Submit Before Arm Broke
Referee
Herb Dean knew Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira was in serious trouble.
Frank
Mir had locked up a deep kimura during their bout Saturday at
UFC 140, but Nogueira would not submit. Mir kept cranking, and
Nogueira’s arm began to climb up his own back.
“In
my mind, I was hoping that he would tap,” Dean told the
Sherdog Radio Network’s “It’s Time!” show
with Bruce Buffer. “Like, ‘Please, please make this
easy for me. That looks like it’s on.’ I definitely
[had a] heightened awareness at that time. I was really focused
on that arm. But that’s how Antonio became who he is --
he didn’t get there by giving up. That guy’s done things
that everyone thought was impossible time and time again because
he never gives up.”
Technically
Nogueira did tap, but that was after his humerus had already
snapped.
“I
stopped it because I saw the arm break,” Dean said. “The
tap came after. I don’t stop it when I believe it’s
locked on or even if I believe the guy’s in jeopardy because
I don’t know what that person can take. I don’t know
what their limits are, but if I see an injury that is too dangerous
for the fight to continue, that’s when I’m going to
stop the fight. Or if I see the fighter tap.”
It
can be a tough situation for a referee when a fighter’s
caught in a submission like Nogueira was. Dean explained that
with professionals, it’s not his job to intervene when he
thinks something could break. In amateur fights, though, the
game is a little different.
“In
amateurs we talk about stopping it before, and I’m not even
sure how I feel about that exactly,” he said. “In amateurs
we do stop them a little bit before we believe it’s totally
locked out. At the end of the day, I don’t know when it’s
going to break. I don’t know what that guy can take. So
for a professional fight, that’s part of being a professional
fighter is knowing how to look after yourself and knowing what
you can and can’t take and knowing when it’s time to
tap.”
Sometimes
fighters submit too late, though. Dean has seen his share of
injuries, and not everyone handles it like Nogueira did. He was
in the cage once with a fighter who kept screaming in agony after
having his arm dislocated, but Nogueira did the opposite.
“He
was very calm,” Dean said. “He’s an exceptional
person. Even during that, with coordinating with the physicians
and him getting out of there, at some point he started taking
an active role. ‘OK, Herb, I want you to help me up.’
He was pretty calm through it.”
Source
Sherdog
|
Strikeforce
CEO Says Gilbert Melendez Would Beat Frankie Edgar
by Damon
Martin
Strikeforce isn’t going anywhere and with a new deal in
place at Showtime, they are continuing to build and brand their
top fighters.
At the front of the line is Strikeforce lightweight champion
Gilbert Melendez, who is widely considered one of the top 155-pound
fighters in the sport.
Most recently, Melendez beat Jorge Masvidal in a five-round unanimous
decision victory to move his winning streak to six with three
successful title defenses.
Even before that win, Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker had proclaimed
that he believed Melendez was the No. 1 lightweight in the sport,
and the victory over Masvidal only strengthened his convictions.
“I believe he is the No. 1 lightweight in the world,”
said Coker in an interview with MMAWeekly Radio that will air
next week.
To justify his belief in Melendez beyond just looking at his
record, Coker thinks that Melendez would best the other top lightweights,
particularly UFC champion Frankie Edgar.
“Believe me, those other guys, I take nothing away from
them. Listen, styles make fights, and I’m really looking
at Frankie Edgar and Gilbert, that match-up as to who would win
that fight and how that fight would look,” said Coker.
“Ben Henderson, Cowboy Cerrone, all those guys are extremely
talented, but like I said styles make fights. I think Gilbert
and Frankie would be a great fight, but I think Gilbert would
come out on top.”
Edgar currently sits atop the MMAWeekly World MMA Rankings at
No. 1 with Melendez just behind him at No. 2.
With the new Strikeforce deal in place and Melendez solidified
as a star in that promotion, it’s not likely that he’ll
be facing Edgar at any point in the near future.
But the debate will do nothing but continue to promote Melendez
as one of the best fighters in the world, and that will surely
build his stock in Strikeforce and the sport as a whole.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Jorge
Masvidal Entered Title Fight with Injured Right Hand
Strikeforce
lightweight Jorge Masvidal apparently went into his bout against
Gilbert Melendez on Saturday night with an already injured right
hand.
According
to Masvidal’s representatives through a press release on
Sunday, the American Top Team fighter suffered a hand injury
a couple of weeks before the fight, but opted to push through
and take the fight with Melendez anyways.
He
suffered the injury on his right hand and after the early part
of the first round in his title fight against Melendez, he abandoned
using it for most of the rest of the fight.
“We
attempted to seek additional treatment on his hand prior to the
fight; however, were told by the commission it was too late,”
said Ron Foster, one of Masvidal’s managers. “Masvidal
was determined to push forward and he did. We are proud of his
performance under the circumstances.”
Masvidal
admitted after the fight that the initial plan was to actually
take Melendez down to the ground due to the injury to his right
hand, but the strategy never came to fruition.
“I
should have listened to my corners and tried to take him down
more,” said Masvidal. “At the end of the day Melendez
won fair and square. He’s a great fighter and I have a lot
of respect for him. I just hope I get the chance to fight him
again.”
Once
he returns home to Florida, Masvidal will have the hand checked
by doctors to determine if it is broken or what further treatment
he’ll need to get back in the cage.
The
end result on Saturday was a unanimous decision win for Gilbert
Melendez, but Masvidal is hopeful to get another shot one day.
“I
want that belt and I will work my way back up until I’m
given the opportunity at it again,” said Masvidal.
The
American Top Team fighter will head home on Sunday and see his
doctors in the coming days. The California State Athletic Commission
will release their medical report over the next week as well,
and will determine if Masvidal will be suspended for any extended
time for the injured hand.
There’s
been no word yet if his pre-fight testing revealed any injuries
or not.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Chad
Mendes: "I' m definitively gonna be aggressive"
Challenger
at Jose Aldo’s featherweight title, at UFC 142, event that
will take place in Rio de Janeiro, on January 14, Chad Mendes
is very excited about it. At the press conference for the event,
that happened this Tuesday (13th), at Windson Hotel, in Barra
da Tijuca neighborhood, the Californian talked to TATAME. Undefeated
for the last 11 fights, the American bets on aggressiveness to
overcome the champion, and has been training with Urijah Faver,
who has fought the Brazilian before. On the interview you check
below, Mendes guaranteed he will dictate where the actions will
happen, promised a good fight and revealed that his greatest
concern is about the time difference, since he really trusts
his Wrestling game.
Are
you planning on being aggressive against Jose Aldo?
I’m
definitively gonna be aggressive, I think that’s one thing
I’m good at: dictating where it goes, where the fight goes.
You know, that’s what I’m gonna do in this fight and
I’m gonna try to wear Jose down, to slow him down because
he’s very explosive, very fast. I think my game plan is
going to be to slow it down. We’re gonna make him less dangerous
than he is and get that belt.
Being
in Brazil makes this fight more difficult?
In
some senses, yes. It’s a long place for me, it’s a
14-hour flight from where I am. The longest fight I’ve ever
been before this was five hours, so coming here for the first
time was kind of a test, it taught me to get used to the fight,
the time difference here. But other than that my training is
great, I’m definitively gonna be prepared for this fight.
We’ll be ready when January 14 comes.
What’s
the biggest danger you can present to Jose Aldo?
I
think dictating where the fight goes. If I wanna take him to
the ground, I’m gonna be able to take him to the ground.
I need to slow him down, like I said. He’s fast, he’s
explosive, where he’s most dangerous is on the feet. My
strength is my Wrestling, it’s what I’ve been doing
since I’m five years-old, my entire life, and that’s
what I hope that’ll take this fight.
How
to improve your game plan for Jose Aldo?
One
way I’m improving is just having someone like Urijah Faber
in the room. He already fought Jose and he’s felt him out.
Having a person like that in my camp, as one of my main instructors
and training partners, it helps me tremendously. I mean, he’s
felt him, he know what is like in every position. We’ve
set a great game plan for this camp. I think me, pushing the
pace the trying to catch Jose Aldo is gonna be the key for this
fight.
What
do you expect of this fight?
I
can’t say where this fight’s gonna go. I can tell you
this: it’s gonna be very fast, energetic, high paced fight.
Jose is very quick and athletic and so am I. I’m very strong,
athletic and I can see some things happening. It’s gonna
be very exciting for the fans.
What’s
the difference fighting here and in country?
I
mean, basically, the difference for me is the time difference.
For me, it’ll be the most difficult thing for me to get
used to. Six hours ahead here from where I’m at. But once
I get used to that, we’re gonna switch up training, start
training late at night just to try to get used to it. Other than
that, I’m excited to get here and fighting for the Brazilian
fans. It’s gonna be fun.
Source:
Tatame
|
Overeem:
Thoughts after a busy week
By Ailstair Overeem/Special to Yahoo! Sports Dec 16, 6:18 pm
EST
I’ve
had an interesting, busy week.
On
Monday I had a hearing with the Nevada Athletic Commission about
getting my license to fight Brock Lesnar in Las Vegas on Dec.
30. I appeared at the hearing via phone from Holland.
The
issue was over a random drug test requirement – which I
didn’t know about until I came to Holland – and I understand
it from their side. The fact is, they didn’t get what they
needed when they needed it. I am happy to have got my license
under the conditions the commissioners set out. I am also happy
they accepted and stated on the record that there was no attempt
by myself to avoid any test.
I
always try – and sometimes you can’t – but 99
percent of the time I manage to mentally turn things around to
a positive. And on the positive side of all of this, I now know
that if I train in Holland for a UFC fight again, I will need
to go to England to do a test because the medical rules in Holland
are too different to those in Nevada. It also helps me make my
mind up to train in the US for my next UFC fight as long as I
don’t have the same family issues to consider like I do
right now.
Another
positive is that I’m now the most tested fighter in the
sport. I will be tested four times in three weeks, and then at
least twice more in the next six months in addition to any testing
for my next fight.
I
have had people – I will politely call them ‘haters’
– accuse me of taking steroids since I was a 185-lb. kickboxer
at the age of 17. When I was 20, I’ve fought at a weight
of 222 lbs. I am now aged 31, and weigh 35 lbs. more. I don’t
think 35 lbs is too much to grow in 11 years from a 20-year-old
to 31-year-old.
Facts
are, I have been tested with the commission numerous times before
when I fought in the U.S. and got tested in Japan. I always passed
any testing, so hopefully now with these next tests coming and
the fact of me being the most tested fighter in the sport, the
critics may be satisfied. And if not, well, that’s not my
problem, that is their problem.
I
am looking forward to the fight. This distraction hasn’t
taken any of the excitement away from me fighting Brock Lesnar
in my UFC debut. This is a huge fight for the sport and a dream
fight for the fans. Some fans probably never thought they’d
see this fight, as I was cleaning house outside the UFC while
Brock was in the UFC.
I
always intended to come into the UFC, but thought I would do
that after winning the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix and
maybe a few more fights in Japan. I thought I would probably
come to the UFC sometime in late 2013, but a lot can happen in
two years and the whole landscape of the division can change
but a fight of Brock against me was always considered a dream
match-up.
But,
on Dec. 30, the fight will be a reality. There are bigger fighters
than myself and Mr. Lesnar, but I think we are the two biggest
fighters who are not only big but also very athletic. You have
the best striker in the division, which a lot of people are saying
I am, and in my opinion the best wrestler in the division in
Mr Lesnar. There is a lot on the line for us both.
I’m
not interested in his opinion on my skills or how he matches
up with me in terms of strength and size. Someone in an interview
this week asked me if Brock is stronger than me. Maybe he is,
but that’s not important. We are not having a weightlifting
competition or a wrestling match, we are in the Octagon fighting
MMA where there are more factors in play then just who is stronger
and wrestling.
This
fight is not going to last two rounds. That’s my official
prediction, that I knock him out in the second round but, the
more I think about it, the more I think it will end in the first
round. We both like to finish fights quickly so people don’t
blink because it might be over in seconds.
Brock
Lesnar is one of the best wrestlers out there, but he has a weakness
which I can capitalize on. His biggest weakness is my biggest
strength – I’m the better striker, that’s for
sure.
I
don’t talk in detail about my camp, but what I will say
is that I am fully prepared. Brock is a very straightforward
fighter. Look at his fights, you know right away what he is about:
takedowns and ground and pound. There’s nothing unique or
tricky about his style. It just so happens he is very good at
that thing he does.
I
don’t think that is good enough to beat me. I respect him,
but I don’t think he faced a fighter of my caliber as a
mixed martial artist.
Source:
Yahoo Sports
|
Machida
considers drop to 185 lb. if no title shot on horizon
Following
the recent loss to Jon Jones (15-1 MMA, 9-1 UFC) at UFC 140,
former champion Lyoto Machida (17-3 MMA 9-3 UFC) feels that he
now has a better blueprint to defeating the current champ. Should
a title shot elude Machida, the former champ says he will reluctantly
drop weight classes to the 185 lb. middleweight division.
Via
Fighters Only Magazine:
Of
course any loss is painful for a fighter. I lost but I still
have three more fights at UFC and now my main goal is to be the
champion of the weight class and bring the belt back to Para.
Now it is a challenge to beat Jones and bounce back. We already
know the path to get to him and in the next fight the things
should happen with more ease. I wanted to thank the fans for
the support. I know we gave our best and I know we did our best.
We hired everybody we could but the result is not always the
way we want. I think we always have to be learning something
out of this and it is through the loss that we learn more than
with the victory. I have been reading some messages on Twitter,
on the Internet, and I only got to say thanks and say everything
is okay with me, it’s alright, let’s go to the next
one. I am a professional and it is part of my career: to win
or to lose. I hope the next time we can celebrate together!”
“Now,
I don’t want to change [to middleweight]- but if I am not
the light heavyweight champion it really could happen.”
Should
Machida drop weight, he has stated in the past that he would
not want to fight his friend and training partner Anderson Silva.
Is a move down in weight the best decision for Machida?
Source:
MMA Fighting
|
‘Iron’
Nakamura Added to Bellator Season 6 Bantamweight Tourney
Deep veteran Hiroshi “Iron” Nakamura is set to follow
countryman Masakatsu Ueda into Bellator Fighting Championships’
sixth-season bantamweight tournament.
Bellator
officials Saturday announced the addition of Japanese standout
Nakamura, bringing the number of fighters confirmed for the upcoming
135-pound bracket to seven. Previously announced was the participation
of Alexis Vila, Ed West, Marcos Galvao, Rodrigo Lima and Luis
Alberto Nogueira, who will vie for a shot at the Bellator bantamweight
title in 2012.
Bellator’s
sixth season is expected to begin in March and will air Friday
nights on MTV2. In addition to the bantamweight draw, the Chicago-based
promotion will hold tournaments in the featherweight, lightweight,
welterweight and middleweight divisions.
A
winner in five of his last six fights, Nakamura has spent the
majority of his six-year pro career fighting in the Deep and
Shooto organizations. The Tokyo Yellow Mans representative has
fought four times in 2011, besting former Deep bantamweight champion
Masakazu Imanari in a February non-title affair before falling
to Takafumi Otsuka in an effort to capture the vacant strap this
past June. The 30-year-old rebounded from the loss by posting
back-to-back wins, outpointing Yoshiro Maeda and Seiji Akao on
Oct. 29 and Dec. 16, respectively.
Source:
Sherdog
|
Strikeforce
notebook: Noons, Evangelista conspire; Mousasi, Fodor open to
title shots
SAN DIEGO – Strikeforce lightweight K.J. Noons (11-4 MMA,
3-2 SF) is no stranger to a little in-cage conversation, but
it's generally laced with a few R-rated phrases and a mother
reference or two.
So
when Noons and Billy Evangelista started jawing at each other
in the third round of their back-and-forth "Strikeforce:
Melendez vs. Masvidal" contest, it didn't seem out of the
realm of possibility that expletives were coming hard and heavy.
However,
Noons said he and Evangelista weren't making threats. They were
making a deal.
"It
seems like a lot of my fights there's always talking in the ring,
but this one wasn't [expletive]-talking," Noons told MMAjunkie.com
(www.mmajunkie.com) following his unanimous-decision win in San
Diego. "I think he felt like it was close. The last 30 seconds,
he said, 'Let's just stand and bang and give the fans a fight.'
I said, 'Really?' He said, 'Yeah.' He goes, 'No takedowns.' I
said, 'You promise? OK.'"
Sure
enough, the two slugged it out until the final bell, and while
Evangelista had claimed the opening frame on all three judges'
cards, Noons battled back to claim the final two, earning the
unanimous-decision nod.
Noons,
who often relies almost exclusively on his boxing skills, added
in a few kicks during the 15-minute contest and before the deal
was struck had also worked to take the fight to the floor. It
was a complete effort from Noons in the card's unofficial "Fight
of the Night," and the former EliteXC champ admitted it
was a much-needed result following back-to-back losses to Jorge
Masvidal and Nick Diaz.
"I
felt like I hurt him a couple of times, but the guy's tough –
he kept coming forward," Noons said. "It feels good
to win, especially coming off of a couple of losses. I really
changed my camp up, and we had a new gameplan this fight because
you've got to win. It's about winning.
"I've
been going in lately just wanting to put on a good show all the
time. I've got to win some, so it felt good to win."
Like
just about every fighter on the Strikeforce roster, Noons' next
move isn't completely clear. He's capable of competing in two
divisions and does have a penchant for exciting fights, but even
with a new broadcast deal in place, the Strikeforce promotion
still feels as if it's in some sort of odd transition period.
Noons
doesn't seem too worried about what comes next. Basking in the
glow of a hard-fought win, the 29-year-old said he's up for anything.
"I'll
just take whoever Strikeforce throws at me," Noons said.
"I put on fights for the fans. Every single time, no matter
who I fight, whether they're the best or whatever, I always put
on the best fight of the night – every time. I just want
to get better as a fighter and put on more exciting fights.
"You're
going to get your money's worth when K.J. Noons shows up, no
matter what. I'll fight anybody at any weightclass, and I'll
put on a good show, but I want to be the best. I'm ready to get
back on this winning streak and put on good shows."
Mousasi's
impressive win could net title shot
One
of the biggest surprises of Saturday night's fight card was Gegard
Mousasi (32-3-2 MMA, 3-1-1 SF), who channeled the soul of a Division
I wrestler en route to a unanimous-decision win over highly touted
prospect Ovince St. Preux (11-5 MMA, 4-1 SF). Mousasi was the
favorite heading into the matchup, but many MMA pundits picked
St. Preux to score a minor upset by following a gameplan laid
by Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal and Keith Jardine: exploit
Mousasi's wrestling deficiencies.
Except,
at least on this night, they didn't seem to exist.
"I've
been working on wrestling and fighting against the cage,"
Mousasi said. "I believe he got only one takedown. I think
I am good at scrambling even better now. If they take me down,
I can get up. Also, on the bottom, I feel like I can always protect
myself. I don't get in very much danger."
Mousasi
looked as if he was going to stop the fight in the first round,
and he continued to control in the second. If there was a critique
to be made, it's that Mousasi slowed in the third and allowed
St. Preux to climb back into a fight he had no business winning.
Mousasi admits he was disappointed in his efforts over the final
five minutes.
"I
could have done better in the last round, I think," Mousasi
said. "I think I should have trained a little more serious."
With
Dan Henderson now fighting under the UFC banner, Strikeforce's
light heavyweight title is currently vacant. While he wouldn't
make a firm committment, Coker hinted that Mousasi, a former
champ, may factor into the re-issuing of that belt, with the
winner of the Jan. 7 contest between Lawal and Lorenz Larkin
as the prime candidate for an opponent.
"I
think the fight we had tonight definitely had title implications
for that championship belt," Coker said. "Then on Jan.
7, we've got the fight between 'King Mo' and Lorenz Larkin which
will have title implications, as well. It hasn't been decided,
but I think that's kind of the path it's headed in."
Fodor
take big step forward with impressive win
While
Saturday night's preliminary card was not broadcast, lightweight
prospect Caros Fodor (7-1 MMA, 5-0 SF) took a huge step forward
in Strikeforce's 155-pound rankings with a 13-second knockout
win over Justin Wilcox.
"The
Future" has now scored five wins in 17 months on the Strikeforce
roster, but Saturday's was unquestionably the most important
to date.
"I
feel real good," Fodor said following the win. "I wasn't
expecting that fight to go like that. I was ready for a three-round
battle. I'm just happy I pulled out the win. I just plan on keep
going and keep busting out some wins."
Terry
was expected to feature in the lightweight title picture had
he picked up a win, but he'll have to go to the back of the line.
Meanwhile, Fodor headlined this past June's Strikeforce Challengers
16 event but remains relatively unknown to most casual MMA fans.
Thoughts
of a title shot might be a little ambitious for the 27-year-old
at this point, but the AMC Pankration product and Marine won't
turn down the opportunity if given a chance.
"I'd
like to keep winning," Fodor said. "If Strikeforce
feels I'm ready for that title shot, I will come prepared, and
I will be a worthy opponent.
"A
lot of people thought that if Justin beat me, he would get a
title shot, so I think beating him secured my position among
the top guys. I'd like to continue to fight guys and keep winning
and getting better."
Source:
MMA Junkie |
Viewpoint:
Melendez’s Talent Wasted in Strikeforce
Many feel lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez has outgrown
Strikeforce. | Photo: Sherdog.com
It
did not take long for Gilbert Melendez to throw down the gauntlet.
Shortly
after throttling Jorge Masvidal for five rounds to retain his
Strikeforce lightweight title inside the Valley View Casino Center
on Saturday in San Diego, “El Nino” made a passionate
plea to no one in particular: “They need to bring some guys
over here to challenge me. I’d like to challenge the champ,
whoever it is in the UFC. Come to my hexagon, and let’s
fight.”
Given
the course of events over the past week, the term “they”
could refer to a handful of people. It could mean UFC President
Dana White, who, in October, said Melendez’s Octagon debut
would arrive sooner rather than later. Then again, White had
no trouble speaking on behalf of Melendez in the days leading
up to his fight with Masvidal.
“Gilbert
is pumped to stay in Strikeforce,” White said during a conference
call announcing the promotion’s new deal with Showtime.
“If he wins his next fight, he will continue to defend his
belt in Strikeforce, and he is absolutely [expletive] excited
about it.”
It
sure seemed like Melendez was more pumped about the prospects
of a potential title shot against the winner of the UFC 144 showdown
between Frankie Edgar and Ben Henderson, calling a move to the
promotion “inevitable.” In fairness, White has different
needs now than he did in October, and they include filling six
to eight Strikeforce cards with viable talent. Given the gradual
depletion of the roster, Melendez could conceivably headline
three or four events in 2012.
Perhaps
the “they” was Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker. In the
past, Melendez has lauded Coker for finding him tough opposition,
pointing to bouts against Shinya Aoki and Tatsuya Kawajiri as
proof. Coker, in turn, is effusive in his praise for the champion,
consistently referring to him as the top 155-pound fighter in
the world today. However, there is one problem with Coker finding
worthy opponents in the current Strikeforce climate: he does
not make the matches. Those duties fall upon Sean Shelby, who
was the matchmaker for the WEC before it dissolved at the beginning
of the year.
Noons
could be next in line.
Ultimately, the recipient of Melendez’s request does not
matter nearly as much as the action that follows it. Despite
his status one of the world’s best lightweights, El Nino
is not currently well-known outside of the sport’s most
fervent followers. A decision over Masvidal, who was extremely
competitive despite losing 50-45 on two scorecards, is not likely
to bolster his status among casual fans. However erroneous the
view might be, they will see Masvidal not as a well-rounded veteran
of Strikeforce, Bellator Fighting Championships and Sengoku Raiden
Championship but as a fighter who has never competed inside the
Octagon.
Moving
forward, Melendez will be hard-pressed to find as competent a
challenger as “Gamebred” in the Strikeforce pool of
lightweight contenders. In a post-fight interview with Showtime
Sports, Melendez targeted K.J. Noons as a possible No. 1 contender.
While Noons deserves credit for his spirited battles with Nick
Diaz, he has lost two of his last three fights, including a dissection
at the hands of Masvidal in June.
Caros
Fodor looks like an intriguing opponent for Melendez -- several
fights down the road -- and Pat Healy has been solid in fashioning
a three-fight win streak, but nobody is clamoring to see him
compete for the belt.
Most
of the time, Melendez has said the all the right things regarding
his status, but his post-fight statement on Saturday suggests
the champion is acutely aware of the dearth of competition in
his future. The California native’s suggestion of cross-promotion
makes little sense when both Strikeforce and the UFC are Zuffa-controlled
operations, however. There is no incentive for a top-flight UFC
star to face Melendez in the hexagon at this point in time, especially
when the promotion can add virtually any Strikeforce star at
its leisure.
Co-promotion
is much more interesting if the two organizations are not owned
by the same company. In 2010, Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney floated
the idea of a super fight between Melendez and then-Bellator
lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez. Both Alvarez and current
155-pound Bellator king Michael Chandler remain attractive options
for Melendez, but Zuffa’s ownership of Strikeforce makes
either matchup highly unlikely.
Then,
there are the lightweights outside of the Zuffa and Bellator
realms. Some, like Aoki, have already fallen to Melendez. Others,
like Brian Cobb, Antonio McKee, Jadamba Narantungalag, Mizuto
Hirota and John Alessio do not have the clout to help the champion
headline a card.
After
he had calmed down from the initial excitement of his eighth
career victory in a Strikeforce title bout, Melendez expressed
confidence in the promotion’s ability to keep him suitably
occupied.
“I
have faith that Strikeforce and Showtime will bring me someone
really tough to continue to prove myself in the sport,”
he said.
It
is the least they can do for a 29-year-old champion in the prime
of his career. In reality, Melendez needs the UFC more than it
needs him. His best years should be spent competing in the deepest
division for the largest organization in the sport today, not
scrounging for decent opponents. White says that Strikeforce
is Melendez’s home for the foreseeable future, but he has
changed his mind before. It would not hurt to do it again.
Source:
Sherdog
|
Shooto
Crowns 2011 Rookie Tournament Champions in Tokyo
Pro Shooto crowned its 2011 crop of rookie champions at Shinjuku
Face on Sunday.
TOKYO
-- Continuing the tradition that spawned promotional greats such
as Tatsuya Kawajiri, Yasuhiro Urushitani and Takeya Mizugaki,
Shooto crowned its 10th batch of rookie champions with Sunday’s
2011 rookie tournament finals at Shinjuku Face.
In
a rollicking 132-pound tilt, Michinori Tanaka took both his division’s
rookie crown and the 2011 rookie tournament MVP title with an
impressive and controlling decision over Akihito Ishihara.
Despite
his impressive technical abilities, it wasn’t all smooth
sailing for the 21-year-old Reversal Gym Yokohama Ground Slam
prospect. When Tanaka botched an attempted triangle choke from
mount in the opening round, Ishihara quickly capitalized by taking
his back. Tanaka escaped shortly afterward to reassert himself
in side-control, where he dropped heavy hammerfists until the
bell, stealing a round which could easily have gone Ishihara’s
way.
“I
don’t think I was calm enough in there. My corner was telling
me to enjoy the fight,” said a reflective Tanaka to Sherdog.com.
“It was a competitive fight, though. My hard training was
what gave me the edge to push the fight in the end.”
132-pound
rookie champ Tanaka dominated with his grappling.
The second frame was a more dominant one for Tanaka. After powering
his way out from under Ishihara’s half-guard, he again captured
the mount. Unable to finish with a guillotine attempt, Tanaka
contented himself with dropping punches on the hapless Ishihara
to the bell, thus securing lopsided 20-17 scorecards from judges
Tomohiro Tanaka, Hiroyuki Kanno, and Toshiharu Suzuki.
“My
fight went to the judges -- it wasn’t a knockout or a submission.
I’m not sure I deserve the MVP title, but I’m thankful
for it,” said a humble Tanaka. “I think I can fight
stronger opponents in the future, so please continue to support
me in my endeavors.”
The
154-pound rookie tournament final ended with a bit of a twist,
as Yusuke Kasuya surged back to put away Nobumitsu Osawa away
via submission.
After
a crowd-pleasing exchange of heavy fire on the feet, an Osawa
flurry sent a dizzied Kasuya to the canvas, allowing “Tyson”
to lunge and take mount. Though by all appearances about to get
his face smashed en route to a TKO loss, a desperate Kasuya bridged
and exploded under the shellacking punches, escaping through
the back door. Kasuya then quickly captured a foot and twisted,
getting the toe-hold tap-out at 2:25 of the first round. For
this thrilling comeback, the Akimoto Dojo Jungle Junction product
was justly awarded this year’s rookie tournament “Fighting
Spirit” award.
Equally
impressive was Yuya “Monkey” Shibata, who lived up
to his nickname in the 123-pound rookie tourney final by climbing
his way to Hiroshi Osato’s back before cinching up a rear-naked
choke. Rather than tap to the furry-shorted Shibata, the stubborn
Osato slumped unconscious in his corner, prompting referee Suzuki
to save him at the 4:12 mark. For his economical grappling and
efficient finish, Shibata netted this year’s “Best
Technique” award.
Murofushi
Bros. Split Results, 2009 Rookie Champ Yachi Nets Decision
At
115 pounds, Shinya Murofushi handily dispatched 2010 rookie champ
Masayoshi Kato by way of submission in the second round. While
the fight stayed even on the feet in the bout’s opening
moments, the younger of Shooto’s Murofushi brothers pulled
ahead once he secured Kato’s back, where he threatened with
rear-naked chokes and punches to the side of the head.
The
younger Murofushi's armlock was Aoki-esque.
It was much the same story in the second until Murofushi attempted
to finish with an armbar. Kato narrowly escaped and made his
way into Murofushi’s guard, but this recovery was short-lived
as the Shizuoka-based fighter scissored his legs around Kato’s
body and wrenched his left arm behind his back. Kato tapped to
the hammerlock at the 3:15 mark, signaling the first defeat of
his career.
Immediately
prior, Tadaaki Yamamoto and Katsuya Murofushi put on an explosive
115-pound tilt. The shorter Yamamoto was aggressive from the
opening bell, pursuing the elder Murofushi with lunging low kicks
and combinations, but Murofushi’s counterpunching served
him well and twice dropped Yamamoto.
Regardless,
the bloody-nosed Yamamoto was undaunted and pursued Murofushi
with vicious intent until the bell. His speedy aggression paid
off in the second stanza, when, after missing a flying knee,
Yamamoto landed behind a ducking Murofushi. Taking opportunity
of the position, “Onibozu” immediately leapt onto Murofushi's
back and sunk the rear-naked choke, quickly rendering Murofushi
unconscious and prompting referee Suzuki to peel Yamamoto off
of at 0:25 of round two.
Yusuke
Yachi, 2009 rookie tournament winner at 143 pounds, took a solid
decision over 2007 rookie champ Kazuhiro Ito after two largely
conservative rounds. Both fighters kept their distance in the
first period, circling each other while throwing token single
shots. While Yachi racked up low kicks to the inside of Ito’s
lead leg, not much transpired in the initial five minutes.
Things
picked up some in the second and final frame when, after a Yachi
takedown, Ito failed a guillotine attempt, prompting his Krazy
Bee-trained opponent to take side-control and drop blistering
punches. Yachi took the fight with two 20-18 cards courtesy of
judges Kanno and Suzuki, and a 20-17 card from judge Yokoyama.
Nakamura,
‘Jun Requiem’ Take Rookie Tourney Titles
In
the year’s 143-pound tournament final, Yoshifumi Nakamura
played the bull to Chuji Kato’s somewhat ineffectual matador.
Over the course of two rounds, Nakamura charged Kato with wild
punches, missing as often as he connected.
The
elder Murofushi wasn't as lucky as his brother.
The rangy Kato played a conservative game, throwing jabs and
kicks while circling away and locking up Nakamura in the clinch,
but ultimately offered little offense from the position. While
judges Tanaka and Suzuki ruled the fight a draw after two rounds
-- with only judge Kanno submitting a 20-19 Kato card -- Nakamura
was able to capitalize in the extension round, slapping an arm-triangle
choke on the exhausted Kato at the 2:58 mark.
Jun
“Requiem” Nakamura appeared intent on setting a new
world record for most submissions attempted in his 115-pound
rookie final against Akihito Sasao. After catching an early Sasao
kick, Nakamura attempted heel hook after heel hook while eating
his opponent’s defensive punches from bottom.
Nakamura’s
sub attempts diminished some in the second period, but he nonetheless
kept top position and dropped punches through Sasao’s guard,
eventually taking a 20-19 card from judge Tanaka and a pair of
20-18s from judges Yokoyama and Suzuki.
Last
but not least, in the 168-pound rookie final, Yuki Okano beat
on Gota Yamashita for two rounds to take a well-earned decision.
Though the fight started a wild slugfest on the feet, Okano eventually
found his edge on the ground, where he pounded on Yamashita from
guard and mount for a round and a half, taking 20-18 scorecards
from judges Tanaka, Yokoyama and Suzuki.
Source:
Sherdog
|
Strikeforce
Results: Gegard Mousasi Does Enough to Beat OSP
Maybe
it was his loss to Muhammed ‘King Mo’ Lawal, but Gegard
Mousasi was determined to show off his improved wrestling against
Ovince St-Preux.
The
methodology worked well with Mousasi landing several takedowns
en route to a unanimous decision win.
It
was apparent in the opening moments that St-Preux, who took his
biggest step up in competition with this fight, was slightly
overwhelmed by the moment with a very slow start. Mousasi took
advantage by swooping in for a takedown and almost grabbing a
kimura.
St-Preux
scrambled and got out, and that moment seemed to wake him up
from his haze, but it didn’t prevent Mousasi for more of
the same as the fight wore on.
Mousasi
continued to grab takedowns while looking to improve positions,
and even landed in the crucifix where he started to unload shots
on trapped Ovince St-Preux, but the round came to an end before
he could potentially end the fight.
The
final round was a much more back and forth affair with St-Preux
finally landing some big shots and attempting a D’arce choke,
but Mousasi battled free. It appeared that by the end of the
15-minute war that Mousasi was struggling for air, which he explained
after the fight ended.
“I don’t want to make excuses, but I was sick before
the fight and it took a lot of my conditioning away. I think
I did enough to win,” Mousasi said.
The
win does Mousasi back into place where he may have the chance
to reclaim the Strikeforce light heavyweight title he held once
upon a time. Of course, Mousasi would be happy for that chance,
or if he has to fight another contender first, that would be
satisfying as well.
“If
I were to get the chance, I would definitely do it,” said
Mousasi. “But there are some other contenders for the title
so maybe an elimination fight with Mike Kyle, (Rafael) Feijao,
King Mo and me.”
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
EXCLUSIVE:
Junie Browning Says He is in Hiding, Seeks U.S. Embassy Help
Former
UFC lightweight Junie Browning is in hiding in fear for his life
after an altercation in Thailand that left the 26-year-old fighter
with multiple injuries. Injured and scared overseas, Browning
is in seclusion, calling for help from the U.S. Embassy to get
him back home.
Browning
was involved in a bar fight on Dec. 12 in Phuket, Thailand. Reports
quickly surfaced that Browning was a fugitive on the run being
sought after by local authorities. Browning challenged those
claims to MMAWeekly.com on Sunday.
“I
was in fact the victim in this case, and it is important I am
able to tell my side of the story and provide you with pictures
and evidence to support it. There was an attempt to end my life
and I am begging for help from the U.S. Embassy.”
The
initial reports alleged that Browning fled the hospital before
police arrive, but Browning provided photo evidence that disputes
those claims.
Recalling
what he could from the night in question, Browning tells a different
tale than was originally reported by media outlets.
“Sunday
night, we arrived at a small bar in Karon with two other females,
one of which was friends with the owner. It happened to be the
owner of the bar’s birthday, Simon Wilson Menzies. So he
was surrounded by a group of 12-15 of his closest friends who
had been drinking in celebration previous to our arrival. My
girlfriend and I had a few drinks, and seeing we didn’t
know anyone, had decided to leave to go home. We had contacted
a cab and he was on his way to meet us. He would call when he
arrived. A discussion via text message with one of the girls
I had arrived with resulted in MJ Castro and Simon Menzies confronting
me in the street,” recalled Browning.
“MJ
was screaming and swinging her hands in front of my face. I do
not know why she was mad. Nothing that I had said involved her
or her friends whatsoever. I assumed she was mad that we were
leaving the party because we were on our way out to meet our
cab. Without any notice I found myself in a physical altercation
with Simon in the street.”
Browning
quickly realized he was over-matched and out-numbered.
“I
could tell from the moment he stepped in front of me, he was
looking for a fight. At this point, it just involved me and Simon,
my girlfriend standing next to us. In only a few seconds, my
girlfriend was thrown across the street and I had been hit from
behind in the back of the head by a glass beer bottle. I stood
up looking for my attacker and found myself surrounded by a mob
of people.
“It
was no longer a man on man ‘bar brawl’ but a fight
for my survival. I was trying to defend myself in the street
when at some point I fell back to the ground. They drug me back
into the bar where they pummeled me with punches and kicks. It
was me against everyone. For a second time I received a mass
blow over the head with a thick glass mug that split my head
open and made me fall to the floor. I curled up in the fetal
position, submissive, and I continued to be kicked and hit. My
arms up covering my face I felt a slice to my forearm and another
stab to my neck,” Browning told MMAWeekly.com.
Browning
appeared on the eighth installment of The Ultimate Fighter reality
series on Spike TV. He immediately became the bad boy of the
season with his antics.
He
was released by the organization in 2009. On Oct. 6, 2009, Browning
was arrested and accused of assaulting three nurses in a Henderson,
Nevada, hospital following a possible suicide attempt.
The
altercation in Thailand also spilled over from the bar to the
hospital, but the situations were drastically different, according
to the Kentucky native.
“They
began to assess my wounds and stitch up the three large gashes
on my head. Without any consideration to my safety or the events
that had just occurred, they placed both Menzies, accompanied
by MJ Castro, and the man who had attacked me with a mug, in
the beds right beside me. Needless to say, I became furious and
again words were exchanged. As it escalated a second time into
a physical fight… Security and Patong Police arrived and
restrained all parties. I was taken into the waiting lobby on
a stretcher in handcuffs in front of numerous people to finish
giving me medical attention,” recounted Browning.
“At
no point was I rude or uncooperative with either the medical
staff or the police. Taken into consideration the severity of
my wounds and my demeanor and my girlfriend’s statement,
the police officer removed my handcuffs. We were told by the
officer that we should stay the night in the hospital to have
my head monitored and would be able to go home with no charges
the next morning. It was obvious to him that I was the victim.”
Following
the second altercation at the hospital, Browning began to fear
for his life.
“My
intentions were to file a police report in the morning and deal
with this in a civil manner. Hours later, my phone began to ring
with numerous reliable sources stating that we were not safe
and we needed to leave now! They said that local Thais and mafia
had a price on my head and were headed to the hospital and both
my girlfriend and my life were at risk. We were told to trust
or talk to no one and to just leave. We are aware that the mafia
is a real thing and took this very seriously. We panicked and
decided that our best option was to escape in the middle of the
night and hope we could make it home,” he said.
“My
girlfriend pulled out my IV and jumped a fence to find a taxi
to come pick me up. When one arrived, I jumped in and we headed
home to pack. Two friends came banging on the door, which we
didn’t answer for fear of who it might be. They continued
to bang on the windows until we realized who it was. We do not
want to mention their names to protect them from being associated
with the situation and any harm that may come to them. They said
there was no time, that I needed to hide. They even mentioned
that if my girlfriend was found, they would kill or harm her
in attempt to find me,” he added.
On
the advice of friends familiar with Thailand, Browning fled the
country. He refuses to disclose his current location and pleads
the U.S. Embassy for cooperation to get him home.
Wounded
and on the run, Browning is concerned about the severity of his
injuries.
“To
this point I have been unable to seek the medical attention that
I desperately need. My vision in my right eye is impaired; I
am in severe pain; I am going through fainting and dizzy spells,
and have severe head trauma,“ said Browning.
“All
we are asking for is help from people we can trust which brings
us here now. We are victims of a viscous assault and attempt
on our lives. We are seeking the assistance of the U.S. Embassy
and want to clear my name of the wrong-doing I was accused of.”
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Exclusive:
Paulo Thiago is out of UFC 142
BJJ
black belt from Ataide Junior and one of the athletes who was
most chanted at in UFC Rio, when he entered the cage with the
theme song of the movie “Tropa de Elite”, the cop Paulo
Thiago is the first one to be cut off “UFC Rio 2”.
According to what reliable sources revealed firsthand to TATAME,
the fighter wrenched his elbow during Wrestling trainings at
his gym Constrictor Team, in Brasilia, and won’t be able
to fight Mike Pyle at UFC 142. Another athlete who will be off
the party is the Bulgarian Stainslav Nedkov, who didn’t
get his visa, and left the Brazilian Fabio Maldonado with no
opponent so far. Stay tuned on TATAME to know soon what will
be decided than. Check below the current card of the event.
Source:
Tatame
|
Morumbi
stadium to gain cover for UFC
The
UFC has held events in stadiums in the past, as it has in open-air
arena’s, and it has also put on a show in São Paulo
before. Next year’s show, however, is meant to make MMA
history, and the promoters and the cities representatives are
already busy at work to make it happen.
According
to Máquina do Esporte website’s Guilherme Costa,
the UFC in São Paulo will be held at Cícero Pompeu
de Toledo, or Morumbi, stadium, with a 60,000-spectator capacity.
The UFC’s record attendance to date was set by UFC 129,
held at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Canada.
The
stadium, home field to São Paulo Futebol Clube professional
soccer club, will be decked with a temporary cover, and the movable
seating will be added to the bottom part up until the field,
making for a prime seating with access to the VIP boxes. Still
according to the journalist, the UFC captaincy was at Morumbi
field this week to iron out the final details regarding the event.
São
Paulo hosted the UFC back in 1998. UFC 17.5 took place at Canindé
gymnasium, when Vitor Belfort knocked out Wanderlei Silva in
44 seconds. The rematch is set to take place at Morumbi, as will
Anderson Silva’s title defense against the winner between
Chael Sonnen and Mark Muñoz.
Source:
Gracie Magazine
|
|