Upcoming
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(All events on Oahu, unless noted)
2011
12/9/11
Man Up & Stand Up
(Kickboxing)
Waipahu Filcom Center, Waipahu)
11/11/11
Man Up & Stand Up
(Kickboxing)
Waipahu Filcom Center, Waipahu)
November
Aloha
State Championship of BJJ
(BJJ & Sub Grappling)
(Kaiser H.S. Gym)
10/7/11
Man Up & Stand Up
(Kickboxing)
Waipahu Filcom Center, Waipahu)
October
NAGA
9/2/11
Man Up & Stand Up
(Kickboxing)
Waipahu Filcom Center, Waipahu)
7/22/11
Man Up & Stand Up
(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)
7/1/11
Man Up & Stand Up
(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)
6/19/11
UpNUp: On The Rise
(MMA)
(Neal Blaisdell Center, Honolulu)
6/18/11
Destiny: Fury II
(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)
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)
|
|
May
2011 News Part 2
|
Casca Grossa Jiu-Jitsu
is now the O2 Martial Arts Academy with 7 days a week training!
We are also offering Kali-Escrima (stick fighting) on Monday
nights with Ian Beltran & Erwin Legaspi.
Kickboxing Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday with Kaleo Kwan, PJ
Dean, & Chris Slavens!
Kids Classes are also
available!
Click
here for info!
Take classes from
the Onzuka brothers in a family-like environment! |
Onzuka.com
Hawaii Underground Forum is Online!
Chris, Mark,
and I wanted to start an official Onzuka.com forum for a while
now. We were searching for the best forum to go with and hit
a gold mine! We have known Kirik, who heads the largest and most
popular forum on the net, The Underground for years.
He
offered us our own forum within the matrix know as MMA.tv. The
three of us will be the moderators with of course FCTV808 being
the lead since he is on there all day anyway!
We
encourage everyone from Hawaii and our many readers around world
to contribute to the Hawaii Underground.
If you
do not have a login, it's simple and fast to get one.
Click here to set up an account.
Don't worry about using Pidgin English in the posting. After
all it is the Hawaii Underground and what is a Hawaii Underground
without some Aloha and some Pidgin?
To
go directly to the Onzuka.com Hawaii Underground Forum
click here!
|
Want
to Advertise on Onzuka.com?
Click here for pricing and more
information!
Short term and long term advertising available.
More than
1 million hits and counting!
|
O2
Martial Arts Academy
Your Complete Martial Arts School!
Click here for pricing and more
information!
O2 Martial Arts features Relson Gracie Jiu-Jitsu taught by Relson
Gracie Black Belts Chris and Mike Onzuka and Shane Agena as well
as a number of brown and purple belts.
We also offer Boxing and Kickboxing classes with a staff that
is unmatched. Boxing, Kickboxing, and MMA champions Kaleo Kwan
and PJ Dean as well as master boxing instructor Chris Slavens
provide incredibly detailed instruction of the sweet science.
To top it off, Ian Beltran & Erwin Legaspi heads our Kali-Escrima
classes (Filipino Knife & Stickfighting) who were directly
trained under the legendary Snookie Sanchez.
Just a beginner with no background? Perfect! We teach you from
the ground up!
Experienced martial artist that wants to fine tune your skill?
Our school is for you!
If you want to learn martial arts by masters of their trade in
a friendly and family environment, O2 Martial Arts Academy is
the place for you!
|
Want to Contact
Us? Shoot us an email by Clicking Here!
Follow O2 Martial Arts news via Twitter at:
http://www.twitter.com/O2MAA
Kauai
Knockout Championship II: Mortal Combat
Kauai War
Memorial Convention Hall, Lihue, Kauai
May 20, 2011
5:00PM Doors Open
|
Scrapplers
Fest Jiu Jitsu Tournament Tomorrow
Island School, Puhi, Kauai
(Right behind Kauai Community College)
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Kids
weights and brackets will be made that morning to make fairest
match ups!
White,
Blue belts and Beginner no gi (3 years and under) 131-under,
132-145, 146-159, 160-173, 174-187, 188-201, 202-215, 216-above
Purple-above belts and Advanced no gi (+3years)
159-below,
160-180, 181-201, 202-above
Also
having a 36 year old and above class for gi white belts and blue
belts!
***Not
advertised but Relson Gracie students get an additional $10 off
entry fees.***
Pre-Register
by May 20th and pay
kids/women-$40
Men-$60
Entry
fees on May 21st
kids/women-$50
Men-$70
Men
can add 36-above division to Men division only $10 more! Or just
compete in that division for the Men price
Weigh
ins at Scrappa Lifestylez store in Hanamaulu next to the post
office from 5pm-9pm on Friday May 20th.
Also,
tournament day weigh ins kids/adults till 9am!! And I mean 9am!
Kids
start at 10am
Adults start at 1230pm
Make
sure competitors are there at tournament site at least 1 1/2
hours before estimated times.
There
will be no food allowed in the gym. There will also be food and
drinks available there.
Also
no smoking on school grounds, and no one allowed on the school
playgrounds.
Spectators-
$5 for kids and $7 for adults.
Competitors
will receive competitor shirts while their size last!
Source: Pono Pananganan
|
145lbs
Matt Comeau vs. David Padilla
170lbs
Thomas Sedano vs. Bryson Kamaka
155lbs
Kris Kyle vs. Brensen Hansen
140lbs
Monica Franco vs. Rachael Ostovich
170lbs
Bruski Louis vs. L. John Borges
Heavyweight
Doug Hiu vs. Blayn Wagoner
155lbs
Eric Dean vs. Ryan Delacruz
135lbs
Drake Fujimoto vs. Jared Iha
125lbs
Keenin Cohen vs. Joey Balai
Heavyweight
Chris Bernard vs. Terrence Taanoa
185lbs
Apuauro Turano vs. Ezekiel Gonda
165lbs
Justin Burgess vs. Jacob Chun
145lbs
Nathan Maglinti vs. Cassius Kegler
125lbs
Jared Gonda vs. Jason Dumoal
135lbs
Kevin Natividad vs. Kolten Choy Foo
Source: 808 Battleground
|
Chael
Sonnen’s Indefinite Suspension Upheld, May Prompt Retirement
by Ken
Pishna
The long and winding road of Chael Sonnen’s career just
careened down a steep descent of switchbacks on Wednesday, possibly
signaling his retirement from mixed martial arts competition.
Sonnen, who just recently thought he would be reinstated as a
fighter in both California and Nevada, was back before the California
State Athletic Commission on Wednesday. He was trying to alleviate
a recent indefinite suspension handed down by California, but
the end result was a continuation of that suspension.
CSAC Executive Director George Dodd, in speaking with MMAWeekly.com
last week, confirmed the two factors behind the current suspension:
Sonnen’s guilty plea for his money laundering case in Oregon,
and also the possibility of false testimony during the UFC fighter’s
hearing before the commission on Dec. 2, 2010, to appeal his
last suspension.
“What we’re going to be looking at is his testimony
(about) his discussion that he had with the Nevada State Athletic
Commission,” Dodd explained. “Because that could have
led some of the commissioners to change or sway their vote as
far as… the testosterone use. So, we’re going to look
at that.”
And that is exactly the tack the commission took, under the representation
of deputy district attorney general Karen Chappelle, and with
testimony from Keith Kizer, the executive director of Nevada’s
athletic commission.
Sonnen was questioned heavily about his Federal money laundering
conviction in Oregon, and the statements he made not only to
the athletic commission at a December hearing, but also comments
he made in media interviews.
The commission argued that Sonnen had been misleading in some
of his statements both at the December hearing and in the media,
particularly about his interaction with the Nevada commission
regarding his testosterone therapy for hypogonadism.
Sonnen responded by saying he had relied upon poor information
from others, both in regards to whether or not he was clear to
fight while under the testosterone treatment and in regards to
the money laundering charge. He said that he had since taken
the step of handling such matters directly, not leaving issues
such as matters with the athletic commission to his manager,
Matt Lindland.
“If I am not granted a license to fight, I will be effectively
retired,” Sonnen pleaded, the emotion evident on his face.
“I don’t want to retire today.”
At the end of the day, the hearing about whether or not to license
Sonnen in California boiled down to his alleged inconsistent
statements and the money laundering conviction.
During deliberation, the consensus among commissioners was that
the inconsistent statements were the primary consideration regarding
Sonnen’s licensure in California, not so much the money
laundering conviction.
The commission openly doubted the sincerity of Sonnen’s
statements; commissioner Eugene Hernandez referenced a comment
Sonnen made during Wednesday’s hearing as to part of the
reason why.
“When I am on stage I am performing. No different than any
other actor. I charge for those interviews,” he had said
in regards to the media interviews that were called into question.
Following closing testimony, Hernandez motioned for Sonnen’s
current suspension to be upheld indefinitely. The motion was
quickly seconded by commissioner Christopher Giza.
After hearing public comment, which included a plea from Sonnen’s
mother, the commission voted 4-1 to uphold the indefinite suspension.
That means that Sonnen is under suspension until June 29, 2011,
when his current license expires. The soonest he would be allowed
to re-apply for a license in California would be June of 2012.
CSAC Executive Director George Dodd told MMAWeekly.com that the
action is under his jurisdiction only, and that Sonnen could
try to get licensed in other states, similar to Josh Barnett,
who has not regained his license in California, but will be fighting
in Texas in June. It is up to the other state commissions to
decide whether or not California’s ruling has any effect
on their consideration of granting Sonnen a license.
Sonnen was believed to be under strong consideration to coach
on Season 14 of “The Ultimate Fighter.” The outcome
of Wednesday’s hearing effectively knocks him out of any
further contention for the position.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Dream
Champ Zaromskis Headlines June 10 Card in Ontario
by Chris
Nelson
Dream welterweight champion Marius Zaromskis will add another
stamp to his passport next month.
Canadian
cable sports channel Score Television Network announced Wednesday
that Zaromskis will headline the June 10 installment of its Score
Fighting Series at the Hershey Centre in Mississauga, Ontario,
Canada. Standing across from the hard-hitting Lithuanian will
be up-and-coming Canadian prospect Jordan Mein.
Also
added to the card was a lightweight matchup between Toronto-based
Brazilian Jorge Britto and Saskatoon’s Kurt Southern, who
comes fresh off a March 11 win over regarded Canadian lightweight
Brad Cardinal. Other notables expected to compete include Rameau
Thierry Sokoudjou, Joe Doerksen, Luigi Fiorvanti and Antonio
Carvalho.
Zaromskis,
30, rose to prominence with a vicious run through Dream’s
2009 welterweight grand prix. The “Whitemare” scored
head-kick knockouts of both Hayato “Mach” Sakurai and
Jason High on a single night in July 2009 to become the Japanese
promotion’s inaugural 170-pound ace.
In
2010, Zaromskis suffered back-to-back first-round knockouts in
the Strikeforce cage, falling to both Nick Diaz and Evangelista
“Cyborg” Santos. The London Shootfighters representative
returned to Japan on Dec. 31 to defend his belt against aging
legend Kazushi Sakuraba, who he defeated by doctor stoppage in
just over two minutes.
A
native of Lethbridge, Alberta, Mein began his fighting career
at just 16 years of age. Now 21, “Young Guns” has racked
up a record of 21-7, including 12 knockouts and seven submission
wins. Mein has won eight of his last nine starts, falling only
to current Strikeforce signee High in an August unanimous decision.
The Canadian Martial Arts Centre fighter has fought and won thrice
in 2011, besting UFC veterans Joe Riggs and Josh Burkman, as
well as Canadian finisher Keto Allen.
“I
pride myself on being entertaining and putting on a good show
for the crowd,” Mein stated in a Wednesday release. “I
know Marius will give me a great fight and test my abilities.”
Source:
Sherdog
|
Another
dose of reality for The Ultimate Fighter; dos Santos a 70% favorite
over Carwin in Vegas
By Zach
Arnold
So, yesterday an alert was sent out to various members of the
MMA media that the UFC deems fit to be kept in the loop on conference
call notices. (And here I thought I would be on their list since
I’ve been on their payroll all these years.) Nevertheless,
an emergency conference call was issued by Zuffa and the call
started out like this from Dana White.
“Unfortunately, this isn’t a good call. It’s a
bad call. Former UFC Heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar has diverticulitis
again. He spent all day yesterday over at The Mayo Clinic, has
gone through a bumper-to-bumper I guess we’ll call it of
tests and, uh, you know, this thing acted up on him again. He’s
got some serious, uh… choices to make in the next couple
of weeks whether to fight this thing or to take, uh, the surgery.”
At that point, you had to be thinking a million different things.
Is Brock’s illness career-threatening? Is he backing out
because ratings have tanked so far for this season of The Ultimate
Fighter?
You should have been on Twitter & Facebook yesterday. The
venom spewed towards Brock Lesnar once this news broke was unreal.
You can never mix up an online reaction with the reaction of
mainstream fans, but the online reaction was so anti-Lesnar that
one could have mistaken him for being some sort of terrorist.
Tons of cracks about diarrhea, steroids, cowardice, and ‘he’s
taking his ball and going back to pro-wrestling’ were flying
by the second. There were definitely some fans who showed support
for Brock in terms of wanting to see him recover and get back
into good health, but the majority of the online response was
really harsh.
On the Thursday conference call, Brock answered all questions
thrown at him and went out of his way to be open about the situation.
“I’ve been dealing with some symptoms for the last,
I would say, three months. I felt a little bit while I was filming
The Ultimate Fighter and the only way to treat the symptoms is
by getting on antibiotics and allowing the antibiotics to take
its course and to fight the infection and during the course of
this training camp, I felt another infection, got another CT
scan done on my stomach where there was visible inflammation.
“What it does to you, it didn’t allow me to train to
my full capabilities and I was forced to make a decsion to go
back down to the doctor this week to figure out how far this
thing’s along and what it does is it drains my entire body
down. Basically you’ve got an infection in your stomach
and all my resources went to fight this problem instead of rebuilding
what I tore down in the gym so it’s not as serious as last
time. It just didn’t allow me to train the way I needed
to train for a #1 contender’s bout. I am forced with the
decision to either have surgery or do deal with this for the
rest of my life, so obviously I’m fighting a different fight
here, you know, than having to give up the fight on June 11th
so a lot of things go through your mind as an athlete, especially
myself, you know. This is something that has been wearing on
me for about a month now and different thoughts come to your
mind.”
He proceeded to say it wouldn’t be fair to himself, Junior,
or Spike TV to keep going with the scheduled June 11th bout in
Vancouver if he was sick. For fans of The Ultimate Fighter, it
was the third ‘blown payoff’ that the show has recently
produced. Facing a dwindling audience base for the television
program, UFC has every right to be concerned.
Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz were going to have another grudge
match. Tito ended up pulling out due to surgery needed. The payoff
was killed. Rich Franklin replaced Tito as coach. He then fought
Chuck in Vancouver and put Liddell into retirement. If you are
a Chuck Liddell fan, that was the worst kind of punch to the
gut you could possibly get.
Rampage Jackson, Kimbo Slice, and Rashad Evans had their triangle
(sort of speaking) which produced the big ratings you expected
it to. The payoff would be the two coaches fighting in Memphis
(Rampage’s stomping grounds). He blew that off to go film
the A-Team Movie. The payoff was delivered months later and did
great business. The fight itself was nothing to brag about and
there was plenty of online chatter about the fight in regards
to whether it should have been a five round contest (or not).
As for Rampage’s movie career, not so much movement after
the A-Team project. A year later, he’s a ‘cold’
act and stuck headlining a UFC 130 PPV that has little fan interest.
And now we have Brock Lesnar having to cancel his booking against
Junior dos Santos. A lot of truths were revealed once the series
started airing on Spike TV. The first truth is that too many
people hate Brock Lesnar to want to accept him for who he is.
They want Brock Lesnar: The Character, not Brock Lesnar: The
Person. Second, Junior dos Santos is not a mainstream star and
UFC should be concerned about whether or not he can attract casual
fans. Building upon that, the third truth is that UFC needs to
hope that mainstream fans will buy JDS as a credible top heavyweight.
I cannot get over the fact that 83% of ESPN viewers said Brock
Lesnar was a tougher fighter than JDS when this season of Ultimate
Fighter started.
UFC is very concerned about Brock’s future in MMA and rightfully
so. Brock went out of his way on the conference call to stress
that he would not retire.
“I’ll tell you one thing, I’m not retiring. This
isn’t the end of my fight career, OK? This is something
that I believe and I have a strong faith there’s a solution
to every problem, I just got to find the right solution to fix
this problem. I love this sport and I love what I do, this isn’t
the end of Brock Lesnar. This is a speed bump in the road and,
trust me, I’ve (endured) a lot of speed bumps throughout
my career and this is one of them. Instead of not facing the
music, I’m here to tell everybody because I’ve been
here before and we want to make it known that I want to state
that this is not the end of my career. Far from it.”
He was asked to elaborate on the problems the diverticulitis
created this time.
“I can just tell you my symptoms, you know, I have abdominal
pain and what happens to me is when I’m training I don’t
have the recovery. My immune system is going to fight an infection
inside of my stomach and my whole immune system, it runs me down.
So, because of what happened to me last time, I took it about
three weeks farther than I should have and didn’t address
the situation without antibiotics or the right medication, so
I don’t want to go down that road again so there isn’t
a fight in the world that’s more important than my health.
This fight is more important to me than a physical fight, so
that’s where I’m at right now.”
With GSP finishing the UFC 129 PPV in Toronto on a flat note
and Brock Lesnar now out of action for the time being, UFC is
on shaky ground with their major PPV drawing cards. Bet Nick
Diaz & Cesar Gracie are happier than pigs rolling in mud
right about now in terms of their negotiating leverage and power.
With so many injuries and big name draws dropping like flies,
UFC is in a really difficult predicament. Trying to make the
best of the situation with the Vancouver PPV, the promotion announced
that Shane Carwin would fill in for Brock Lesnar to fight Junior
dos Santos. The immediate reaction was one of universal glee
online. Now we have a more competitive fight with a guaranteed
finish that is sure to be magnificent. With that said, UFC’s
move serves as a double whammy. By booking this fight for the
Vancouver event, any oxygen that was left in the room for hardcore
fans to care about UFC 130 just dissipated. All of that energy
now will be focused on the Vancouver event and for good reason.
Meanwhile, the name ID value from Brock Lesnar to Shane Carwin
is a drop-off and I expect the casual, mainstream interest in
the Vancouver main event to take a hit from what it originally
was going to be. Now, I’m not suggesting that JDS/Lesnar
was setting the world on fire (it didn’t), but Shane Carwin
is about as low-key and mellow of a personality as you are going
to get to hype up a fight. Same with JDS. Two similar personalities
is not going to help sell PPV buys.
As for the initial fight line from the Las Vegas odds makers,
JDS is a -260 favorite. That translates to Vegas giving him slightly
over a 70% chance of winning this contest.
Was it the right move for UFC to book JDS vs. Carwin? Oh yes.
It was the only move they really had at this point. In a strange
way, the Frank Mir/Roy Nelson fight suddenly has more meaning
because of the shake-up with Brock taking time off.
As for the future of The Ultimate Fighter, what can be said that
hasn’t already been stated in the past? The format is stale,
old, and unproductive. In order to revitalize the meaning of
the show, the producers changed the focus of the show from actually
developing real major-league talent to focusing on hawking PPV
buys between two coaches feuding on television for weeks at a
time. What you ended up with is watered-down prospects and generally
lousy fights with coaches who often can’t deliver on a promised
payoff because of injuries or other commitments that take place
after the show is taped. On top of that, the ‘winners’
of the newer seasons aren’t active on television, are buried
on PPV dark match slots, and largely end up being relegated to
the dustbin of history. What’s the point of this exercise?
Why not just have two coaches build up a fight over the time
span of a few months without any sort of competition? A slow
build. What a novel concept.
Source: Fight Opinion
|
Thanks
to Matt Hamill, Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson Now Wants
to Break His Will More Than Ever
by Damon
Martin
Quinton “Rampage” Jackson isn’t particularly excited
to face Matt Hamill at UFC 130, but that’s not a slight
on his opponent, he’s just not excited to face anyone in
particular.
The former UFC light heavyweight champion spoke on Thursday about
recent comments he had made expressing that he didn’t find
a lot of excitement in his fight coming up on May 28.
It wasn’t necessarily anything against Hamill, but according
to Jackson, fighting is his job and how he puts food on the table.
That’s it.
“If they get to know me, I’m not really excited about
anybody I fight,” Jackson stated. “It’s my job
to me; it’s my career. I don’t get excited no more.
I’ve got almost 40 fights. I don’t get excited about
anybody I fight. I just go in and do it.”
If Jackson takes any heat for such statements, it doesn’t
really bother him because while he’s out to perform and
win every fight he’s involved in, his deepest concern lies
with taking care of his family.
Jackson loves the fans that support him, but ultimately he answers
only to the family that relies on him every single day.
“That stuff don’t bother me at all what they say or
what they think. It’s my life, it’s my family I take
care of, and I have my goals and my plans, things I’m going
to do to make me happy. That’s all I really care about,
me and my family,” Jackson said.
“The fans I’m just here to entertain them, but do I
care about them the way I do my family? Hell no.”
Excitement is different than motivation, however, when it comes
to Jackson’s feelings towards facing Hamill at UFC 130.
Hamill had made some comments about how he was approaching the
fight with Rampage, and how he believed he could break the former
light heavyweight champion’s will when they step into the
Octagon together.
Unwittingly, Hamill may have actually provided Jackson with just
the ammunition he needed to push those extra hours of preparation
in the gym to make sure he was really ready for their bout.
“I think Matt made a mistake when he actually said he’s
going to break my will, and that I’m going to overlook him,”
Rampage commented.
“That actually lit a fire up under my ass, and actually
made me train a little bit harder just so I could break his will.
So I could make sure I could outclass him.”
Jackson will try to prove that fatal error on Hamill’s part
when the square off in the main event of UFC 130 next weekend
in Las Vegas.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Miguel
Torres in Rhythm With Firas Zahabi Ahead of UFC 130
By Matt
Erickson
Watching Firas Zahabi talk to reporter after reporter in Toronto
last month, one almost got the feeling that he might be getting
tired of answering questions about Georges St-Pierre.
So
why not cut one of the most prominent trainers in the sport some
slack, let him get his mind off his welterweight champ for a
few minutes?
"Oh
– you want me to talk (crap) about Miguel?" Zahabi
asks, a smile on his face. "I can do that!"
Zahabi
is most famous for the work he does at his Tristar Gym in Montreal
with St-Pierre, the UFC welterweight champ, and ahead of GSP's
UFC 129 title defense in Toronto against Jake Shields, there
were plenty of questions for the coach. But in the last 10 months,
Zahabi has taken on a new challenge – revamping the fight
game of former bantamweight kingpin Miguel Torres.
And
so far, business has been good. Zahabi has helped Torres (39-3,
1-0 UFC) to back-to-back wins after he lost his WEC 135-pound
title to Brian Bowles in August 2009, his first career knockout
loss, and followed that up by tapping for the first time in a
bloody loss to Joseph Benavidez. In fact, Zahabi believes that
for Torres, the best is yet to come.
"I
still think he's got a lot of potential left, and it's going
to take some time to reach that," Zahabi said. "But
I don't think he's anywhere near where he's going to be in the
future."
But
Torres, who mostly self-trained at his own gym in Northwest Indiana
until taking up with Zahabi last fall, gives a slightly different
account of what his coach tells him in the gym.
"He
hasn't told me anything like that," Torres said Wednesday.
"Everything he tells me is pretty much negative – and
that I'm garbage – so I can get better. But I feel like
I'm getting better every day. When I came here, I saw what I
was lacking in my game. I knew how much more I could pick up
and how much better I could become."
After
a submission win over Charlie Valencia at WEC 51 last September
and a unanimous decision over Antonio Banuelos in his UFC debut
at UFC 126 in February, Torres was given Brad Pickett for UFC
130 next week. But five weeks before the fight, Pickett pulled
out with an injury.
Pickett's
replacement, Demetrious Johnson (9-1, 1-0 UFC), raised a few
eyebrows. Torres' Achille's heel has always been his wrestling.
And "Mighty Mouse"? He was a standout high school wrestler
in Washington and is coming off a dominating 10-takedown performance
to beat Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto in February. But Torres'
wrestling is what he has worked on at length since his last loss.
"When
I fought Benavidez, I had no wrestling skills whatsoever,"
Torres said. "Now it's been a year, and all I've been doing
is wrestling. Every training camp involves wrestling. Every fight
I go into involves wrestling. I'm very confident in my ability
to stop takedowns and use counter-shots to take people down."
Zahabi
also makes no bones about Torres' wrestling – but concurs
with his student that overlooking his ability in that part of
his game might be a mistake.
"It's
definitely his wrestling – I'll admit to that. I have no
problem – I like to say the truth," Zahabi said. "But
I'll tell you one thing: He's working very hard on that, and
he's not going to be easy to take down. He's going to be even
more difficult to hold down, and it's going to be very hard to
stop his submissions. So I'm confident for this fight."
And
so confident are Torres and Zahabi that they say Torres' height
and reach advantage – he's 5-foot-9 vs. Johnson's 5-3 –
will force Johnson to shoot. And bring it on.
"Johnson
shooting on me is the game plan," Torres said. "I want
the guy to try to shoot on me. My whole strength is developed
to hit guys – to force them to have to shoot. They can't
touch me, they can't strike with me – the longer we stand,
the more I win. The longer we stand, the more he has to shoot
to win the round. So as he shoots, as he comes in to try and
touch me, he's either going to get hit or he's going to get sprawled
out. Once he gets sprawled out, he's going to give up his back
or his neck. So for me, Demetrious shooting, him engaging me
in a shot is going to result in me being able to use my full
offense that has developed in the past year with Firas."
And
the past year, Zahabi has seen Torres grow from an almost reckless
fighter, doing it all on his own, to the kind who can admit his
shortcomings and allow himself to be called "garbage"
by his coach. (Even if that's a slight Torres exaggeration.)
"I'm
very happy with Miguel," Zahabi said. "He's taken some
serious steps to move himself forward. It takes somebody who
is very proactive, somebody who is very responsible to do that."
Torres
and Johnson fight on the preliminary card of UFC 130 on May 28
from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The fight will
be part of the Spike TV's live prelims broadcast, which starts
at 8 p.m. Eastern ahead of the pay-per-view at 9 p.m.
Source: MMA Fighting
|
Obstacles
facing MMA/UFC: CTE/concussions & legitimacy of sport
By Zach
Arnold
A couple of items I wanted to bring up here and you can pick
& choose what you would like to comment on.
First, a new article that I would recommend you read titled Sports
Television Ratings See Huge Growth; UFC Left Out Of The Party.
A lot of the points raised in the article are points that my
old friend Zack Nelson mentioned a couple of years ago when he
told me that MMA had jumped the shark and that things were only
going to go downhill.
In essence, the article addresses whether or not Zuffa is experiencing
a growth in ratings & legitimacy or if things are stuck in
neutral.
Second, Eddie Goldman produced a new episode of his radio show
talking about the issue of CTE, concussions, and combat sports.
This is an important topic because what he brings up on the radio
show (which I encourage you to listen to in full) is something
that boxing & MMA will have to address in regards to head
trauma. As more scientific research is done on the brains of
deceased athletes, we are learning more and more about important
issues that folks like Ivan Trembow & Dr. Margaret Goodman
have addressed in the past. However, the media spotlight is growing
on this matter because across sports like football & hockey,
concussions are being scrutinized.
“The lessons of this really have to be considered by those
in combat sports. Boxing isn’t going to consider anything,
it’s a pretty amoral and corrupt culture and it’s willing
to go to its death as a sport rather than change. I don’t
see much of a different culture in MMA and since that’s
been growing and more money has been coming into it, people haven’t
been considering this. But wait until the effects of MMA, which
has a more lot striking now than it used to, start to become
public and wait until the issue of CTE and brain trauma starts
to be considered by the Internet-savvy people around MMA. Hasn’t
happened, yet, but I think it’s going to happen at some
point in the near future.
“I think what’s likelier to happen rather than banning
with these sports is that those that can change will try to change
a little bit and they’ll lose viewership, they’ll lose
sponsors, they’ll lose networks along the way and they’ll
hope to hang on as smaller niche sports. We’ve seen a lot
of sports decline: boxing, baseball, horse racing, and so forth.
We’ve even seen the WWE decline to a certain extent where
so many people have died in that, although the mainstream media
refuses to honestly really look at how dangerous that type of
acting really is.”
The truth is that most people who want to watch boxing &
MMA currently are not clamoring about the issue of concussions
in combat sports. Drug usage is also not considered an important
topic because many fans assume that fighters, like football players,
are going to use whatever they have to in order to deliver superhuman-type
performances for fans paying their salary. I wish fans did care
more about CTE, concussions, and drug usage (steroids, HGH, EPO,
etc.) but I cannot turn a blind eye to the current fan atmosphere
in combat sports.
Eddie argues that if promoters and power players in the respective
combat sports don’t address the CTE issue soon, there may
be significant damage to financial bottom lines & scope of
their respective sports.
“What this could mean for MMA is that it’s elevator
ride to the top may stop, may get stuck somewhere midway. Because
the mainstream media gives MMA a pass to a certain degree but
not when prominent people start turning out to be vegetables,
when top athletes start showing the signs of CTE, of the dementia
pugilistica that we see in boxing, and if and when and I think
a lot of people believe it’s more of a when than an if,
some prominent fighter dies live in a nationally or internationally
televised Mixed Martial Arts card. Remember, it’s only a
short period of time that MMA has gotten any legitimacy and that
legitimacy is only in most of North America. It’s still
illegal in New York, it’s still illegal in France, it’s
not accepted in Germany, in Japan it’s been tainted of course
by the yakuza scandals, and it is growing in many, many different
countries but it’s far from being a part of the culture,
it’s far from being entrenched in the economic and political
institutions, it’s still has a rather tenuous existence
including on television in the United States where major networks
do not want to show Mixed Martial Arts events.
“So, what is this going to mean for the combat sports? Because
people in the combat sports see the need to promote this warrior
culture, promote these kind of macho events. There’s certainly
a large fan base for it and if MMA’s growth starts to become
stunted to one degree or another, where are people going to go?
What’s going to potentially take its place? Now, there are
a lot of different scenarios that you could come up with but
one of those scenarios involves getting legitimacy from the Olympic
games and also particularly in the MMA world, which again doesn’t
seem to understand how things go on in the world in general particularly
in the so-called MMA media, there’s not much understanding
of how you would get MMA or some limited form of it because you’re
not going to have full MMA in the Olympic games or grappling
in the Olympics. And I think it’s important to look at the
process of how sports get into the Olympics because there’s
talk, well, you’re going to have the 2016 Olympics in Rio
so let’s get Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in there and all this,
there’s a lot of naiveté about how this goes on,
about how this process works.”
Eddie went on to discussion how FILA is working on pushing for
Pankration in the Olympics and what it will take for MMA &
BJJ & other forms of grappling currently not in the Olympic
games to break in politically with the IOC. The idea is that
having a sport associated with the Olympics will bring enough
legitimacy to establish a line of equity of credibility.
Will CTE & concussions become major health & business
issues for Mixed Martial Arts in the future and, if so, how much
damage will the sport take in the eyes of the public?
Source: Fight Opinion
|
Sherdog’s
Guide to ‘The Ultimate Fighter’
by Scott
Holmes
“I
did something to my back,” complains Shamar Bailey to teammate
Justin Edwards at the start of this week’s episode, shortly
before Bailey’s upcoming opponent and resident snake-in-the-grass
Chris Cope slinks by.
Once
outside, Cope lets unleashes one of his now-traditional “Whooo!”
screams, which have really gotten under Shamar’s skin in
recent days. Bailey can’t wait to get in the ring and convince
Chris to abandon his morning bellows.
UFC
President Dana White surprises the fighters this morning by corralling
them for an impromptu meeting with UFC fighter and former U.S.
Marine Brian Stann. The “All-American” gives the contestants
a little speech on how being a Marine has benefited him as a
fighter. The talk stops short of a recruiting speech when Stann
transitions into how high-level fighters have to be just as disciplined
as the men in the military.
“Success
breeds success,” says Stann, imploring the young men to
“live your life at that level.” It’s like the
UFC’s version of the “don’t be a jackass”
and “surround yourself with the right people” talks
that rookies get when they enter the NFL and NBA.
The
first quarterfinal matchup is between Team Dos Santos standout
Ramsey Nijem and Team Lesnar’s Clay Harvison. Coach Junior
dos Santos works with Ramsey on a striking plan, and they talk
about adjusting the range when fighting Harvison. Nijem speaks
about being a Palestinian-American and his feelings on his current
position, geographically speaking.
“I’ve
been to Palestine and I’ve been through the stops. I’ve
seen the guns and the walls,” says Ramsey, all too happy
to be able to do his fighting in the cage.
Nijem’s
opponent, Clay Harvison, is still suffering from a dislocated
finger with a limited range of motion.
“Gotta
make do with what you got,” shrugs Harvison, ready to fight
just a week after his bone first poked out of his pinkie.
Coach
Brock Lesnar is prepping Harvison for the eventuality that Ramsey
will shoot in for a takedown. Lesnar draws on his experience
fighting Shane Carwin and demos a Carwin maneuver as an example
of how to cancel Nijem out. Whether it’s the editing or
a change of heart for Lesnar, he’s started to appear more
“coachey” in the past few weeks. It’s becoming
less about Brock and more about what Brock can do to help. Winning
might have had a little something to do with that, too.
Heading
into the weigh-in, Dana gives a quick breakdown of Harvison.
"Clay’s
a kid I have a lot of respect for,” says White, who has
grown accustomed to calling just about anybody on his payroll
under 40 a “kid.” It’s unclear whether they seem
like young kids to him, or if it’s a keep-you-in-your-place
thing. Maybe he just knows too many dang fighters, and “kid”
is much easier than having to remember their names.
At
the weigh-in, “Stripper” Ramsey lives up to his billing,
pulling down his pants to reveal some very revealing briefs.
Dos Santos buries his laughing, ruby-red face into his hands.
Nijem squares off with Harvison and then feigns a slight turn
of the head, as if going in for a kiss. Harvison pulls back before
a Heath Herring-type situation can surface. Everyone loves Nijem,
though, and they laugh it up. Even Brock sports a grin.
Just
before the fight, Ramsey pukes to relieve some of his pre-fight
jitters, while Harvison whacks away at the focus mitts, blocking
out any pain in his injured finger.
“Just
got to turn it on and hit the switch,” says Harvison. “When
we’re done, we’ll be cool again. We won’t be making
out, though.”
Harvison
comes out swinging with big shots, but Nijem slips under his
second set of strikes, shooting low for the takedown. Harvison
turns, allowing Nijem to take his back, where Ramsey methodically
lands a few set-up strikes to get his rear-naked choke. Harvison
taps within the first minute.
“Junior
dos Santos might be right,” says an impressed White. “This
might be the kid to beat.”
Nijem
celebrates while Harvison is dejected by his performance, despite
some accolades from Dana on his toughness.
“I’d
much rather get taken three rounds and just beaten to a bloody
pulp than fall for a rear-naked choke,” says Harvison. “I’m
pissed at myself.”
Next
up are Bailey and Cope. White explains that the fighters think
that Chris is the weakest guy, with Shamar being the toughest.
Dos
Santos speaks on Shamar’s back injury, saying that it’s
getting much better and won’t be a problem in his fight.
The wrestler Bailey plans to keep Cope backing up and take him
down at will.
“Even
though he doesn’t like me much, I like him a lot. I think
he’s a nice guy,” says Cope, who has drawn the ire
of Shamar. Cope’s hearty war-yelps used to stir Shamar from
slumber each morning; now that Bailey has put him on notice for
it, Cope seems to do it every five minutes.
“I
guess Chris has been staying too positive for him in the house,”
laughs Lesnar.
“He’s
like an action figure,” whispers Charlie Rader as the ripped
Bailey steps onto the scale.
“I
honestly think the toughest guy is Shamar,” Chuck O’Neil
says, adding that “Chris is going to be the guy that outworks
you and takes your heart away. And if you let that happen, Chris
is going to beat you every time.”
White’s
not fooled by the musculature of Bailey, and the UFC boss notes
that he wasn’t impressed with Shamar’s first fight.
Shamar plans on changing that impression; unfortunately for him,
he gets nowhere with it in the cage. Cope’s length and upright
stance has Bailey bent backwards and out of the camera’s
frame, much less within punching distance.
Shamar
rushes forward, swinging at where Cope used to be. Cope dances
around until he’s pinned against the fence. This same sequence
repeats for the duration of the fight. Shamar tries to knock
or take down Cope, but Cope stays far away, stuffing shots and
adding up points with ear punches and body blows whenever Bailey
stalls.
Dana
figures that Shamar hit the wall: once he realized Cope couldn’t
be taken down easily, Bailey got frustrated and folded. After
two rounds, the scores read 20-18 on all cards and Cope upsets
the favored Bailey. Dos Santos and Bailey are both fully convinced
that Shamar won since Cope was always running away, but Shamar
never really mounted any offense. Shamar feels like Cope did
nothing but hide, and is increasingly convinced that he really
put on a show.
“I
just want to let you know I took a risk,” Bailey says as
he corners White in the hallway. “I could have took the
easy way out and just took him down, but I just wanted to let
you know I could do some other things too.”
Dana
shakes his hand, but says, “It looks like you tried to take
him down a bunch of times.”
“Well,”
Shamar says, pausing. “Back.”
Bailey
tells Dana how his injury played a major role in his inability
to put Cope on the ground. Dana doesn’t press him further,
but later he muses about Bailey’s situation.
“What’s
funny is, Shamar came in and said he wants this fight so he can
come in and kick Chris’ ass for waking him up every morning,”
laughs White. “Hey, Shamar, I bet you’re going to get
woken up now every day for the rest of the competition.”
Proving
Dana’s point, Cope lets out one more of his war-whoops as
he struts out the training center door.
Reader
comments are active below. Chime in with an opinion or thought
by signing in with your Facebook, Twitter, Google or Yahoo! account.
Source:
Sherdog
|
Marcelo
Garcia called up for ADCC 2011
by Ivan
Trindade
As Monday came to an end, Marcelo Garcia posted a rare tweet
from @marcelogarciajj.
“I was invited to ADCC 2011today. Really anxious to fight,”
he said.
The way is now open for a possible fourth encounter between Marcelo
and Pablo Popovitch in the under-77kg division.
The score stands at 2-1 in Garcia’s favor, but Popovitch
is the current champion.
As the days go by, ADCC 2011 is filling out with the greatest
virtuosos of the grappling arts.
Stay tuned to GRACIEMAG.com for all the ins and outs and breaking
news regarding ADCC 2011, and in August the GRACIEMAG at the
ADCC Blog will start up again.
Source: Gracie Magazine
|
‘Minotauro’
promises fight of the night at UFC Rio: “I’ll submit
(Schaub)”
By Marcelo
Barone
Officially
confirmed to be in UFC Rio card, on an event scheduled for August
27th, at HSBC Arena, in Barra da Tijuca, Rodrigo “Minotauro”
Nogueira was one of the names the fans craved to see in action.
Away from the octagon since February 2010, when he was beaten
down by Cain Velasquez, the heavyweight has to speed things up
to be at his bet on the event, where he’ll confront the
American Brendan Schaub.
With
his dream of fighting at home almost coming truth, the athlete
promises not to let the fans down, and claims it should be crowded
in there. On the chat with TATAME, Nogueira also talked about
the possibility of trying to regain the division’s belt,
promised to be among the bests of the event, revealed how he’s
doing and betted on a knockout coming from Anderson Silva and
Junior “Cigado” dos Santos, over Yushin Okami and Shane
Carwin.
How
was the feeling of being called in to be part of UFC Rio card?
We were waiting for the doctor to say I was good to go. I met
him this week, I’ve asked the guys from UFC to wait a little
longer (to tell that I’d be fighting in Rio), to check if
I would have conditions to do actually do it. The doctor told
me I’m ok, asked me to start training and he’ll be
side by side with me until the bout, to check how I’m doing.
I’m coming back after over a year without fighting, doing
my trainings and regaining speed, but I’m feeling fine.
I’m not 100% yet. The problem is my conditioning, because
I’m completely healed from my injury.
What
do you expect off this bout with Brendan Schaub?
I’ll do my homework and watch his bouts. He’s a good
boxer, uses the distance, but I’m prepared to strike. I
won’t keep trying to take him down all the time. I’ll
try to do my best, no matter where things are. I’m not worried
about him. I want to be at my best, in a good shape, because
I believe in myself. I want to be focused in being in my best
shape ever. He’s a tall and thin guy, knows how to deal
with the distance, he’s a good wrestler, he punches hard,
but I’ll really go for it.
Your
greatest motivation is to be fighting in Rio de Janeiro?
Absolutely. I speed things up on my healing process because of
this bout. I’ve focused on what I would need so that I could
fight in Rio. I’ve never fought in Brazil. It’s a dream
come true, fighting where I live, in my home. It’ll be nice,
exciting. Representing Brazil will be cool.
Have
you noticed any difference on your training, now with no pain
coming from your injuries?
I’m more balanced and more explosive. I’m doing my
physiotherapy sessions with Angela Cortes, who was pointed out
by my doctor. She helped on Gustavo’s (tennis player) healing
process and she’s really good. After the injury is completely
healed, I’ll keep doing physiotherapy so that I get more
stretched. We get hut every day. The truth is that a MMA fighter
is always injured. We need to do some stretches here and there.
I’m doing it three hours a day, from Monday to Saturday,
and I’m faster, more at ease. I used to do it on Sundays
too, but I’ve stop a couple of weeks ago. I was doing it
like five hours a day.
Will
your surgeries make it easier for you to use your Jiu-Jitsu on
the guard?
I was fighting injured, I wasn’t doing good at all, I was
slow, my leg was heavy, my hip was injured. I couldn’t really
explode because I was slow, less agile, less flexible.
Where
do you see yourself on this division currently?
I want to be on a good position again. I was last defeated by
the champion (Cain Velasquez), who’s been beating everybody
down. Many people try to let me down, saying that I’m not
that Rodrigo I used to be anymore, but as the bouts go by, I’ll
be among the tops again.
Do
you believe you can fight for the title again?
If I have the chance, absolutely. But I won’t fight Dos
Santos. Other than him, I’ll fight anyone.
Talking
about the other bouts scheduled for UFC Rio, do you believe Okami
has enough game to defeat Anderson?
He’s a tough guy, strategic, also left-handed, a good wrestler,
he’s one of the best to confront Anderson. But he won’t
keep it up to that something else that Anderson’s got. Okami
will feel Anderson’s coups, because he always uses something
you can’t imagine him doing, a surprise coup, one that makes
the difference. I believe Okami will be knocked out.
Among
the confirmed bouts, which one do you believe that will be the
best of the night?
It’ll be mine. I’ll submit him. It’ll be a good
bout. He (Schaub) is a warrior. It’ll be a pretty busy fight
for the heavyweight division.
What
do you hope to see happening in Junior Dos Santos vs. Shane Carwin?
I guess it’s easier for him (Dos Santos). (Brock) Lesnar
would take him down. Carwin is strong and likes to strike. It’ll
be another exciting bout, but he won’t handle the rhythm
that Junior will impose, because he has bad conditioning. Junior
is more talented and is also better on the ground too. I like
this match up. The guy’s a tough opponent, a tough guy,
but he had bad conditioning. I bet Junior will knock him out.
Source:
Tatame
|
DREAM
5/29 Saitama Super Arena (2011 Bantamweight Japan GP series)
By Zach
Arnold
Bantamweight tournament: Darren Uyenoyama vs. Atsushi Yamamoto
Bantamweight tournament: Yoshiro Maeda vs. Hideo Tokoro
Bantamweight tournament: Masakazu Imanari vs. Keisuke Fujiwara
Bantamweight tournament: Kenji Osawa vs. Takafumi Otsuka
Featherweights: Mitsuhiro Ishida vs. Joachim Hansen
Featherweights: Lion Takeshi vs. Koichiro Matsumoto
Featherweights: Kaoru Uno vs. Akiyo “Wicky” Nishiura
Lightweights: Katsunori Kikuno vs. Daisuke Nakamura
Lightweights: Shinya Aoki vs. Antonio McKee
Bantamweight tournament semi-final #1 (winner of fight #1 vs.
fight #2)
Bantamweight tournament semi-final #2 (winner of fight #3 vs.
fight #4)
Source: Fight Opinion
|
Noons-Masvidal Official
for June Strikeforce in Dallas
by Mike
Whitman
A rumored lightweight tilt between K.J. Noons and Jorge Masvidal is now official,
as Strikeforce confirmed the bout Wednesday morning.
Featuring
the remaining pair of quarterfinals in the promotion’s 2011
heavyweight grand prix, Strikeforce “Overeem vs. Werdum”
will be headlined by former Pride Fighting Championships rivals
Fabricio Werdum and Alistair Overeem. Former UFC champion Josh
Barnett will lock horns with hard-hitting Brett Rogers in the
co-main event.
Formerly
the first and only EliteXC lightweight champion, Noons has won
six of his last seven bouts. The 28-year-old made his Strikeforce
debut in June, outpointing Connor Heun in a split decision. Noons
followed that performance with a knockout win over Jorge Gurgel
in August before taking on reigning welterweight king Nick Diaz
in October. Though Noons stopped Diaz by causing a cut in their
original 2007 contest, Diaz would come out the victor in the
rematch, peppering the shorter Noons with crisp shots en route
to a unanimous nod.
Masvidal
(Pictured) has split his last four bouts. A competitor in Bellator’s
inaugural lightweight tournament, the 26-year-old kicked off
2010 with a split decision defeat at the hands of Luis Palomino.
However, “Gamebred” would rebound from the loss to
take a split nod of his own over Naoyuki Kotani in April 2010.
Masvidal then stepped up in weight to take on welterweight slugger
Paul Daley, losing a unanimous decision to the Brit in September.
Most recently, Masvidal cruised to a unanimous verdict over fellow
prospect Billy Evangelista at Strikeforce “Feijao vs. Henderson”
in March.
Source:
Sherdog
|
TUF
14 and Bisping Fight Off the Table, Will Chael Sonnen Return
to Fighting?
by Damon
Martin
It
was less than a year ago when Chael Sonnen was perched and literally
minutes away from defeating Anderson Silva to become the UFC
middleweight champion.
Sonnen lost the fight in the final moments as Silva submitted
him via triangle choke, and now he may have lost the ultimate
battle with the California State Athletic Commission. He has
been indefinitely suspended by the sanctioning body.
Due to the suspension, Sonnen will be sidelined in regards to
California at minimum until June 2012 when he can re-apply for
a license in the state. Add to that the fact that most major
athletic commissions, including Nevada, will likely uphold California’s
ruling, and Sonnen could be effectively sidelined for at least
a year.
Sonnen, during Wednesday’s hearing, basically echoed those
same sentiments as he pleaded with the commission to see his
side of things, and allow him to get back to work as a fighter.
“If I am not granted a license to fight, I will be effectively
retired,” Sonnen said. “I don’t want to retire
today.”
According to Sonnen’s testimony, he was in place, if the
commission had approved him, to become a coach on the 14th season
of “The Ultimate Fighter” opposite Michael Bisping,
with the two facing off after the season with a shot at the middleweight
title on the line.
Now, with this suspension firmly in place, Sonnen will not be
coaching and may not be fighting for a long, long time.
While Bisping and Sonnen seem to be perfect rivals for reality
TV, even the British born fighter expressed his displeasure in
the commission’s ruling that saw the Oregonian get suspended
and without a license to fight for the immediate future.
“Gutted for Chael Sonnen,” Bisping wrote on his Twitter
page. “People make mistakes, he paid his dues and should
be allowed to continue with his career. Real shame for the guy.
“I did wanna fight him, as it would have been awesome, and
a No. 1 contender match-up, but my own personal wants aside,
I do truly feel for the guy.”
Technically, Sonnen can still apply for a fight license in other
states besides California and Nevada, but most commissions tend
to honor the suspensions handed down by other licensing bodies.
As California State Athletic Commission Executive Director George
Dodd said when speaking with MMAWeekly.com earlier this month,
each state commission makes their own decisions, much like what
happened with boxer Antonio Margarito after he was suspended
in California, but still fought in a different state.
“It’s kind of like the (Antonio) Margarito hearing
(in boxing), where we had him on an indefinite suspension. Each
state can make a determination of what they want to do with him.”
Dodd went on to state that the Nevada State Athletic Commission
will also honor whatever suspension they hand down in regards
to Sonnen.
“Nevada and a lot of other states work together, and they
honor each others’ suspensions,” Dodd stated. “They
have chose to honor our suspension.”
MMAWeekly.com sent messages to Nevada State Athletic Commission
Executive Director Keith Kizer for comment to confirm their stance
on Sonnen’s suspension, but no response was given by the
time of publication.
Sonnen was actually set to appear before the Nevada Commission
this month before California stepped in and re-suspended the
fighter, forcing him to re-appear with that commission, which
effectively canceled any hearing he had with Nevada.
Was this ultimately a witch hunt to make an example out of Chael
Sonnen? That’s one question that remains to be answered,
but whether it was or not, the suspension is in place.
Beyond the issues that Sonnen will now have for at least a year
in states like California and Nevada, is what the UFC would be
willing to do with him while under suspension. The promotion
has free reign to use their athletes in other areas, even those
like the United Kingdom where no athletic commission is present,
they have typically always stood by any suspension handed down.
It’s not likely the UFC would have Sonnen fight in another
state or even another country because of the suspension, but
he is able to apply for a license in other states if they wish
to try.
What it means for certain right now is that Sonnen will not be
a coach on the next season of “The Ultimate Fighter”
and will likely not be able to face Michael Bisping, much less
face Anderson Silva in a rematch for the UFC middleweight title.
Sonnen has yet to make a statement following the meeting with
the commission on Wednesday, but for now the fighter that has
been called ‘the most interesting man in MMA’ will
have to wait and see if he’ll be able to continue with his
career.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
The
elephant in the room no one is addressing in regards to Chael
Sonnen
By Zach
Arnold
Without testosterone shots, will he physically be anywhere near
the same fighter as he previously was in the UFC before he got
suspended by the California State Athletic Commission?
That simple question is often overlooked in all of the melodrama
surrounding the hearings Mr. Sonnen has had with the California
State Athletic Commission. We know about the back-and-forth in
regards to his claim that he needs TRT for ’survival’.
We know Keith Kizer disputes what Sonnen claims in regards to
asking for TRT approval. In the grand scheme of things (as Josh
Gross pointed out), the CSAC looks pretty bad for not doing their
own investigative work as opposed to simply taking Chael Sonnen’s
testimony at face value. Of course, we all know what happened
once last December’s hearing took place. There was the mortgage
fraud situation in Portland.
Cageside Seats: Does Chael Sonnen deserve your sympathy?
Whether Chael’s license in California is revoked or not,
in the bigger picture he can still fight down the road. All this
talk about heading into retirement is that — talk. It certainly
provides an interesting test case in regards to UFC. If the promotion
wants to book him on foreign soil or book him in a state with
a commission that isn’t so strict, it can be done. Keith
Kizer, who I have long criticized as a do-nothing athletic commissioner,
has had no problems watching what has taken place in California
because someone else is making a decision for him. He just sits
back, waits, and reacts to whatever the fallout is from another
jurisdiction. In the past, I discussed the idea of Keith Kizer
getting into a PR Battle with UFC and just how untenable of a
situation that is given that Zuffa is the whole MMA business
on a major-league scale at this point in time.
Many will argue on Twitter, on FB, on web sites that Mr. Sonnen
has ‘paid his dues’ and should return to action shortly.
OK, if you believe that, then you believe it. Ultimately, the
call on what Chael Sonnen’s fate is happens to be in the
hands of Zuffa management. Most people are now at the stage of
debate as to whether or not Chael Sonnen can make Zuffa enough
money to justify all of the hassles he has put the organization
through. Well, we will find out shortly what Zuffa thinks. If
they want to push the envelope and push the issue, they will
book him. Simple as that. If they do, then it means they’ve
made the calculation that he can generate good revenue for them.
Sergio Hernandez: Justice is served, why Chael Sonnen’s
suspension is a good thing
However, what if the company decides to wash their hands of him?
Will it be in part because they don’t want to deal with
the headache any more? Or will it be in part because they are
afraid of what he will become as a fighter if he isn’t using
testosterone? Without testosterone, would he still be a Middleweight?
Would he balloon up in size or shrivel to a lighter weight class?
What would his physical condition be as a fighter now that he’s
on a short leash with major American athletic commissions?
Todd Martin: Chael Sonnen’s fighting future in doubt
My mailbox and media accounts were flooded with very angry Chael
Sonnen supporters who think that what has happened to him is
a travesty and that it’s become a witch hunt. Even Michael
Bisping thinks that is the case. Of course he would, given that
he and Sonnen would have been paired against each other on The
Ultimate Fighter. In the end, perhaps Mr. Bisping should take
this as a blessing in disguise given how bad the show has become
on a lot of levels.
I do think it is amazing how much martyrdom there seems to be
in the eyes of many MMA fans when it comes to Chael Sonnen. He
has been lionized to an amazing degree after his performance
against Anderson Silva. It’s as if many have forgotten that
he lost that fight. He gave Anderson everything he could, but
he did lose that fight. One unique phenomenon about Chael that
I’ve noticed is how dichotomous the rationale is amongst
his most ardent supporters, a mixture of humanization and dehumanization.
Humanization in that he claims he suffers from hypogonadism,
has had personal problems in regards to mortgage fraud, and should
be able to earn a living.
Dehumanization in the sense that people should somehow not take
what he has to say seriously because he’s an entertainer,
MMA is as much show-business as it is a sport, a large amount
of fighters are supposedly doping as well, so on and so forth.
You can have your own opinion on Chael Sonnen, love him or hate
him. While everyone is caught up in the moment, the most important
question to ask is whether or not the man will have a functioning
career if he isn’t able to use testosterone like he previously
was.
Source: Fight Opinion
|
HUAWA
Grappling Tournament 2011
Grappling Series II
Mililani High School Gym, Mililani, Hawaii
May 28, 2011
Multiple
Age & Weight Divisions
Children 6-11 years old free to grapple)
Novice (12-13 years old)
School boys/girls (14-15 years old)
Cadets (16-17 years old)
Juniors (18-19 years old)
Seniors
(20 and older)
Entry
Fee $25 online registration
$35 Walk-in registration ends 5/28/11 at 8:30AM
Must
have a current 2011 USAW card
USAW card $35 at the door
Weigh-in
Friday 6-7PM or Saturday 7:30-8:30AM
Competition
starts at 10AM
Contact:
John Robinson (808) 381-3048
robinsonj001@hawaii.rr.com
A
mixed martial arts exposition featuring companies and organization
promoting their products and services, displays, entertainment,
special appearances, games, giveaways, and contests.
*
Mixed Martial Arts Events
* Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu & Submission Grappling Tournament
* Special Guests Strikeforce Lightweight Champion Gilbert Melendez,
UFC Fighters Jake Shields, Chris Leben and Kendall Grove, and
X1 World Middleweight Champion Falaniko Vitale
* Automobiles & Motorcycles
* Electronics & Gadgets
* Watersports
* Clothing Exhibitors
* Entertainment
* Interactive Participation
|
 |
|
|
Dan
Hardy Relocates to Las Vegas to Work with Roy Nelson, Still Plans
to Train in the UK
Dan Hardy is making some big changes in preparation for his upcoming
fight with Chris Lytle at UFC on Versus 5 in August.
Most
notably the British born fighter is moving to Las Vegas to begin
training with heavyweight contender Roy Nelson starting this
week.
Hardy
has had a residence in Los Angeles for a while now, as he’s
been training with jiu-jitsu instructor Eddie Bravo over the
years, but now he’s packing up to see how Las Vegas treats
him.
“At
the moment I have a place in Los Angeles and I’m moving
to Las Vegas next week so I can start training with Mr. Big Country
himself,” Hardy told MMAWeekly Radio.
He
will pick up training with Nelson as the big man closes out his
camp ahead of his fight with Frank Mir at UFC 130. Then he will
head home to England for a few weeks to train with his teammates
at Team Rough House.
Hardy
and Nelson first met in 2010 at the UFC Fight Night 21 event
that Nelson was competing at. They became fast friends and will
soon become full-time training partners. Hardy believes working
with Nelson will give him a big help with his ground game and
wrestling in particular.
“We
were passing through Charlotte, N.C., when Roy fought Stefan
Struve, and he threw that big overhand right and knocked him
out. I thought that was pretty awesome. Obviously, I watched
the show as well, and we just got to chatting after the fights,”
Hardy explained.
“Obviously,
I have a gaping hole in my game and Roy’s a good black belt.
He’s been so kind as to help me out.”
The
new teammates have even coined the nickname “Hawk and Mullet,”
which may even turn into a reality show one day.
All
jokes aside however, Nelson plans on working with Hardy to help
him improve in a few areas, and believes that their partnership
will yield immediate results.
“I
think you’re going to see a more refined Dan where he’s
going to be confident in every strike that he throws, without
worrying about getting taken down,” said Nelson. “And
if he wants he can take somebody down.”
Source: MMA Weekly |
Antonio
McKee Out of Fight Against Shinya Aoki in Dream
And just like that, Shinya Aoki is without an opponent once again.
Less
than two days after Dream announced that former UFC and MFC fighter
Antonio McKee had signed to face Aoki at Dream 17, he’s
out.
Andrew
Simon of HDNet Fights first announced the change via Twitter,
and McKee’s manager also confirmed to MMAWeekly.com on Monday
that his fighter would not be fighting in Japan.
According
to sources, McKee was unable to secure a visa in time to travel
and fight in Japan.
McKee
was one in a long line of fighters that Dream had contacted to
face Aoki on the May 29 fight card. Former WEC champion Jamie
Varner, as well as former WEC fighter Willamy Frieire, had also
been contacted to take the fight, but it now appears all three
are off the table.
There’s
been no word if Aoki will remain on the card or not, but Dream
has been known to pull in opponents, literally, with just hours
remaining before a fight.
Source: MMA Weekly |
Romulo
Barral ready for the BJJ Worlds: “My confidence is back”
Romulo Barral left Italy without the absolute title in BJJ Professional
Cup, event that happened last weekend, but the golden medal proved
to himself that he’s ready to shine on this year’s
edition of World.
“When
the guy has good techniques, he’s trained and confident,
that’s dangerous. One thing I want to make clear is that
my confidence is back, and I’ll be in World to give the
guys headaches”, said Barral, believing that Roger Gracie’s
absence on the main tournament of the year give other contenders
bigger chances.
“If
Roger is not on the championship, it’s 50% easier on the
other athletes, because everybody knows Roger. Roger gets there,
everybody thinks he’ll not be trained, since he’s only
fighting one championship per year… Then he finishes everybody
out. I hope he fight”, cheers.
Check
below the complete interview with the world champion, who talked
about his healing process of a knee injury, the messy situation
between him and Bernardo Faria on the finale of the event, explaining
that the position he fit leaded the fight to an end, commented
about resting and the dream of getting an invitation to ADCC
2011.
You’ve
earned the weight dispute but got tired on the absolute, including
the finale, when Bernardo had fit a good position, but things
were so messed up, and no one could have seen that coming. What
indeed happened in there?
Actually,
I guess me and Bernardo were not thinking straight. Both of us
wanted to win. I fit a really tough position, I was trying to
make a position work against Bernardo because of his good half-guard
game. Bernardo said once or twice that I was twisting his knee
and I got it as a verbal abandonment. I let the position go and
he pushed me after that. I believe he should have been disqualified
right there. But then we stop and think about it, we both were
nervous… Bernardo is an excellent athlete, he’s to
be congratulated, and let’s move on
World
is coming, so I’ll show the World I’m not kidding here.
I’ve been fighting many tough guys, getting back to track
and using the experience I’ve got, that’s what I did
on that bout, when I fit a coup that he wasn’t expecting,
a position that many people who know Jiu-Jitsu doesn’t know.
Unfortunately, the outcome was not like I hoped it to be, but
that’s fine.
Both
in Samurai Pro and BJJ Professional Cup you had great experiences.
Did you get in good shape again for them?
Absolutely.
I fought Samurai Pro last week. So, two championships in two
weeks, and I also had to travel all the way here. I’m thrilled.
I got pretty mad back there, but I want to apologize for my fans
because I left… I lost my mind, I wasn’t thinking straight,
but then you realize what you did… Bernardo is to be congratulates.
Is
your knee 100% healed?
150%
(laughs). Everybody’s asking me this, but thanks’ God
what I need now is to regain my confidence. When the guy has
good techniques, he’s trained and confident, that’s
dangerous. One thing I want to make clear is that my confidence
is back, and I’ll be in World to give the guys headaches.
For
two years you’ve been confronting Roger Gracie on the World’s
absolute’s finale, but he might not be there this year.
Does his absence leave and open space, not just for you, but
for athletes who were finished by him?
If
Roger is not on the championship, it’s 50% easier on the
other athletes, because everybody knows Roger. Roger gets there,
everybody thinks he’ll not be trained, since he’s only
fighting one championship per year… Then he finishes everybody
out. I hope he fight. Roger’s a great athlete, you can enjoy
seeing him fighting, and I still believe he’ll fight and
put on a great show for the fans. God help me, but I want to
fight him on the finale again.
You’ve
said it now and you did it before… Do you think you’re
getting old? Are you thinking about retiring?
No.
I’m on these championships for a while. I’ve reached
a point on which I’m considering other things. I’m
thinking about my family, my gym… The championship is a
part of the total, but it’s a short thing, get it? I’m
thinking about something that lasts, maybe forever. I can fight
for a while longer, but it won’t be like more five to ten
years… I’ll probably fight few times more, and that’s
it.
Right
after your surgery you wanted to fight, and now you just been
on like five or six championships. How will you live without
fighting?
That’s
what everybody’s been talking about. Everybody that I mention
it don’t believe it, because I really like fighting, I like
to be with these guys. But, there comes a moment on your life
on which you have to think and decide. I can’t do both:
to be a fighter forever and don’t think about my gym, a
thing that I’m doing to guarantee a future for me. I believe
that’s more like it. I know that Jiu-Jitsu getting more
recognized and professionalized, there’re people putting
much money on it, but this money comes and goes easily. It’s
not a certain thing, get it? I say all these, but who know?
When
World’s done and I chill out for a while… I’m
not saying I’ll quit fighting forever, but, who know, maybe
give it some time, focus in my gym… Then I’ll fight
again, I can do MMA, Jiu-Jitsu… I’m still 28. I feel
fine, I don’t feel any pain at all, I’m 100%, but I’m
focused in World and my gym. I game all my best until World,
I’ve trained a lot, I’m feeling fine, but I’m
sure that after a while, I’ll have to take care of my gym.
When the championships come we’ll know if I’ll be there
or not.
And
what about ADCC? Do you plan on fighting it?
ADCC
would be in my plans. I’d take some extra time to train
and fight in ADCC, but only if I get an invitation with the due
time for me to get ready for it, because twice they’ve called
me in at the last minute, I couldn’t prepare myself for
it… If they invite me now, which I believe I deserve it…
Last ADCC I was called in a day before the event happened and
I fought on a different weight class. So I believe I deserve
an invitation. If they invite me now, I’ll focus on no gi
trainings, train it hard until September, and fight ADCC. It’s
a dream… But it if happens like one or two months after
World, I won’t be interested anymore. I want to go there
only if I’m prepared.
Source: Tatame |
Bernardo
Faria celebrates titles in Italy and dreams with ADCC 2011
Current world champion of Jiu-Jitsu, Bernardo Faria put on a
great show in Italy, but it didn’t all end up like the tough
guys were expecting it to in BJJ Professional Cup, which happened
last weekend.
After
defeating Raphael Abi-Rihan on the super fight and beating down
Lucio Lagarto on the finale of the weight division’s dispute,
he dueled with Romulo Barral for the absolute golden medal. The
victory came, but he “doesn’t feel like a champion”,
once the win came after Barral quite the fight because of Bernardo’s
complaints of a supposed illegal position. “It’s hard
to explain what I’m feeling… It’s not that feeling
like I’m absolute champion of Jiu-Jitsu”, regrets Bernardo.
On
the exclusive interview, which you check below, Alliance’s
athlete talked about his bouts, analyzed the position he used
against Barral and his focus on World of Jiu-Jitsu, not accepting
the favorite label. “There’re championships on which
I think I’ll win and I don’t. There’re championships
I don’t believe I’ll win and I go there and do so…
So it’s train and pray for me to be on a good day and win”,
said.
What
are your thoughts about your performance on the championship,
winning the super fight and your weight class title?
I
did just fine on the super fight. I did a good fight against
(Raphael) Abi-Rihan, who’s an excellent athlete, has a great
level. Thanks’ God I did a good fight. On my weight division,
I fought (Lucio) Lagarto, and I defeated him (2x), and then got
a vacancy on the finals beating down Chico, who I also submitted.
On the absolute dispute, I submitted my two first opponents and
I fought Lagarto again, and I beat him up (6x2), or something
like that.
But
on the absolute dispute things didn’t go like you wanted,
right?
It’s
true. On the absolut’s finale unfortunately that happened
and you all saw itand I got pretty upset. It’s hard to explain
what I’m feeling, it’s like I wasn’t really the
absolute champion. Romulo is a guy who I admire a lot. I remember
that when I left Juiz de Fora, I didn’t have anywhere to
go and he called me in to live with him, at his house, and I
won’t ever forget it. But unfortunately, on the mats, you
gotta put away the friendships, you try to forget everything.
He’s
one of the guys I most admire in Jiu-Jitsu… I believe everybody
knows that, even him. If I did anything wrong, I’ve apologized
for it. I always try to stick to the rules and I believe I didn’t
do anything wrong. But I was happy to be the weight and absolute
champion, and for winning the super fight… I wasn’t
really the champion on the absolute, right? (laughs). On the
absolute I got to the finals… I don’t know if I was
the champion or not.
How
was the position?
He
fit a leg-lock and it was right on the side of my knee, I complained
with the judge, but at any point I said ‘ouch’. I could
have gotten a warning or a punishment for my complaint, because
the fighter’s supposed to fight, not to talk, but other
than that, there was no reason why I should be disqualified.
Things got weird… There’s not much to be said about
it.
But
the party wasn’t complete as you were expecting it to be,
right?
Yeah…
But I’m satisfied because I did good fights, but I don’t
know about it, man.
Will
you focus on World now?
Absolutely.
And
about this big pot, will you invest in your career?
It’s
my career (laughs). That’s what I live for, I need to have
some income. The day I stop fighting, I’ll think about investing
in something else (laughs).
As
a current champion, you’ll be the one to be defeated. How
is like fighting like that?
Man,
I don’t worry about it. There’re championships on which
I think I’ll win and I don’t. There’re championships
I don’t believe I’ll win and I go there and do so…
So it’s train and pray for me to be on a good day and win.
And
what about ADCC 2011?
It’s
my biggest dream to fight at ADCC, and we don’t have anyone
from Alliance team at the -99kg category yet. I’d love to
be invited to fight there.
Source: Tatame
|
Frankie
Edgar Discusses Injury That Forced Him Out of UFC 130
UFC
lightweight champion Frankie Edgar has begun treatment for a
back injury with what could be a series of shots to address the
problem. On Monday's edition of The MMA Hour, Edgar said that
the injury that forced him out of his scheduled UFC 130 title
defense against Gray Maynard was due to an extreme flare-up of
an existing problem.
Earlier
Monday, he had an epidural injection to address the pain. It
will take up to four days to determine whether it worked. According
to Edgar, the ultimate solution is something more invasive, but
his doctors are trying to stem the pain and delay what might
be inevitable.
"I
think eventually I'm going to need surgery," said Edgar,
who also suffered a rib injury in training. "Hopefully these
shots will slow down the process and give me a couple more years
without having to do the surgery."
The
shots may prove an effective temporary solution, but if they
don't work, he could have another round of shots that will go
directly into his nerves.
Edgar
said his back issues go back to his past, and that he had surgery
11 years ago. Since then, he occasionally suffered small flare-ups
that would knock him out of the gym for a day or two, but about
3-4 weeks ago, he was hit with another flare-up that he quickly
realized was far more severe.
He
was in such pain that he could barely walk around.
It
soon became clear that he would not be able to fight, a disappointment
after going through a big portion of his camp.
"It
was one of the hardest things to do," he said of his decision
to withdraw. "Not only do I not want to let down my bosses,
Dana [White], Lorenzo [Fertitta] and those guys. I don't want
to let down my teammates. To be honest though, i was having a
pretty good camp other than the injuries. i thought I was performing
well in practice."
For
now, Edgar is in a holding pattern as he waits to see how his
body responds to shots. Even if they work, he will likely take
off a week to 10 days before beginning light training. Asked
how long he might be out, Edgar said he may not be back until
the fall, with late summer or longer possibility.
"Just
the rest alone made me feel a little better," he said. "I
think these shots will help me train at the capacity I need to
train."
Source: MMA Fighting |
Former
UFC champ Evans still doubts Jones but turning attention to Davis
Something
is not adding up for Rashad Evans.
UFC
light-heavyweight champion Jon Jones (13-1 MMA, 7-1 UFC) is fired
up to fight him. He knows that because Jones pulled him aside
on Wednesday at a Las Vegas nightclub and made it very clear.
But
with the recent news that Jones passed on a surgery that derailed
their fight, Evans (15-1-1 MMA, 10-1-1 UFC) believes the champ's
actions don't mirror his words.
In
fact, he thinks the hand injury that benched Jones is a bluff.
"Jon
doesn't need surgery," Evans today told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com).
"He did not need the surgery. No doctor will operate on
him. They say he doesn't need it."
Evans
and Jones were supposed to meet at UFC 133 before Jones withdrew
citing an old wrestling injury that resurfaced in his title-winning
fight against Mauricio "Shogun" Rua at March's UFC
128 event – a date that was originally reserved for Evans
before he injured his knee in training.
Evans
is now scheduled to meet the rapidly rising Phil Davis at the
late-summer pay-per-view card, which takes place Aug. 6 at Wells
Fargo Center in Philadelphia. A date for Jones' return is unknown,
but he is expected to fight by the end of the year.
Meanwhile,
the former training partners fight over Twitter in lieu of a
real scrap.
According
to recent reports, the two nearly came to blows at the Las Vegas
nightclub. Evans said it never got that far, but the two did
have an intense conversation in private.
"He
pulled me over, and he's like, 'I just want to tell you right
now – I'm going to destroy you,'" Evans recalled. "'You're
going to be my first knockout highlight.'
"I'm
looking at him in disbelief like, is this dude serious? So I
was like, 'Ok, you are. Then why didn't you take the fight?'"
Jones'
manager Malki Kawa today told MMAjunkie.com that the champion
was set to undergo surgery on Thursday in Nevada before a pre-operation
examination by a specialist raised doubts about the necessity
of the procedure. Although the only way to fix the injury –
a torn ligament in his right hand – is through surgery,
Jones elected not to go under the knife.
"It's
almost like you have a dent on a car, and in order to fix it,
you replace the entire door. The door works, so why tear it apart
to fix the issue? Jon's injury is serious. It will not repair
itself. But he's willing to fight through the pain for now, and
if it ever comes to the point where his hand simply doesn't work
anymore, that's when he'll go for the surgery."
Evans,
however, thinks the whole episode served another purpose.
"It's
obvious he doesn't want to fight," he said. "Because
if you don't need surgery and you're not going to have it, then
why tell the UFC that you're going to have surgery and not have
it?
"So
pretty much what it comes down to is this guy faked a surgery.
He's not fighting me. But he's so confident. He's saying he's
going to destroy me and he's Jon Jones the great, but yet he
doesn't even need surgery – or he's not going to have it."
Kawa
has denied any ulterior motive was at hand in the recent developments
and said the Jones camp has made decisions based on the information
available at the time. Although several doctors initially suggested
surgery, he said the specialist's recommendation was ultimately
heeded because of his stature in the industry. Jones has been
fitted with a removable cast and asked not to train until June
11.
Kawa
said he's informed the promotion of Jones' recent developments.
UFC president Dana White dismissed the idea that the champ is
faking the injury, as Evans today suggested on Twitter.
"Nobody
lies about injuries," White said. "We fly them to Las
Vegas to see our doctor."
But
Evans wonders aloud why the injury that Jones carried throughout
his UFC career has suddenly kept him from fighting. While he's
not about to suggest the promotion make the fight with the new
information, he won't be silent about his feelings.
"I'm
the kind of person that if there's going to be a story out, and
it's going to say something happened, then I'm going to tell
the truth about the whole situation," he said. "I'm
not going to lie about it to make myself look better. I'm going
to say what happened, and that's what happened.
"But
the truth of the matter is there's nothing wrong with his thumb."
Evans
said he's already begun preparations for his fight with Davis
and needs a good performance to put him in line for a shot at
Jones' belt.
The
current feud is merely a distraction.
"I
even hate the fact that I've got to talk about Jon Jones because
I've got a great fighter in front of me," he said. "I'm
coming back from injury and I need to go out there and have a
good fight. So that's my main focus."
Source: Yahoo Sports |
Wish
Granted: ‘Hybrid’ Faces Nogueira at UFC 134
It’s
official: Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira will face Brendan Schaub at
UFC 134.
Since
March, UFC up-and-comer Brendan Schaub has campaigned for a fight
with heavyweight legend Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. Today, he got
it.
The
UFC confirmed Monday that Schaub and Nogueira will square off
at UFC 134 “Rio” on Aug. 27. Set to take place at HSBC
Arena in Nogueira’s home base of Rio de Janeiro, the pay-per-view
event will be headlined by a middleweight title bout between
champion Anderson Silva and challenger Yushin Okami.
Lex
McMahon, Schaub’s manager, told ESPN.com on Sunday that
the Coloradan’s side had been “lobbying daily for the
fight” against Nogueira.
Schaub,
28, holds a record of 8-1 is viewed as one of the UFC’s
top heavyweight prospects. The Grudge Training Center representative
entered the Octagon by way of “The Ultimate Fighter”
reality show; Schaub reached the 10th-season finals, where he
was dealt the first defeat of his career in the form of a Roy
Nelson knockout.
Since
that December 2009 loss, Schaub has reeled off four straight
wins, including three via knockout. The “Hybrid” took
a unanimous decision over former title contender Gabriel Gonzaga
in October, and most recently served up a knockout of former
Pride Fighting Championships star Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic
at UFC 128 on March 19.
Another
heavyweight from the fabled Pride ring, Nogueira, 34, possesses
a career mark of 32-6-1 (one no-contest). The former UFC interim
titleholder has not competed since his February 2010 knockout
loss to current heavyweight ruler Cain Velasquez and has since
undergone both knee and dual hip surgery.
Since
entering the UFC in July 2007, “Minotauro” has posted
a 3-2 record, suffering the first stoppage losses of his career
to Velasquez and Frank Mir, while topping Randy Couture, Tim
Sylvia and Heath Herring. The Brazilian’s lengthy ledger
is bolstered by wins over “Cro Cop,” Josh Barnett and
Fabricio Werdum.
Source: Sherdog |
After
fight in Vegas, Mitrione says he’ll take on Tito
So
what REALLY went on in this fight with Matt Mitrione and Tito
Ortiz in Las Vegas? Well according to Mitrione, he merely went
up to introduce himself to Ortiz, when Ortiz began to push him.
This is when the altercation between the two began.
Ortiz
was apparently upset about some things Mitrione had said before
about Ortiz’s wife Jenna Jameson. Mitrione said he thinks
that Ortiz felt that he had to stand up for his wife and respects
him for that.
BUT…Mitrione
also says he’d be willing to cut weight and take Ortiz on
at a catch weight fight to prove who’s the manliest of the
manly men of course.
Source: MMA Weekly |
Jon
Jones not having surgery, fighting soon but not Rashad
Jon
Jones not having surgery, fighting soon but not Rashad.
Jon Jones recently dropped from his fight against former training
partner Rashad Evans, citing a hand injury that he believed required
surgery. According to friend and manager Malki Kawa, the UFC’s
doctor’s suggested that the surgery was to evasive for his
hand injury.
Via
Twitter: @MalkiKawa
“I
guess its time to put out the truth. @Jonnybones suffered a tear
in his thumb in 2 different spots… Every dr he saw said
to have surgery … We went to meet with the surgeon on wed
and after he looked at @Jonnybones he thought that surgery was
a bit invasive and bones didn’t have … to have if he
didn’t want to. @Jonnybones decided against surgery and
we immediately met with dana and lorenzo the next day to get
his next fight scheduled … For the record, every doctor
@Jonnybones saw was a @UFC referred doctor. The very last one
on the day before surgery thought against it … No @Jonnybones
is not fighting rashad. Rashad is fighting phil davis. I’ll
let you know who or when jon will fight real soon … (he’ll
fight again) by the end of the year. … And just so we’re
clear, @Jonnybones is not medically cleared to fight until June
11, But hey, I guess that’s all a lie, huh?”
With
surgery out the window Jones will be looking for a new challenger
to his 205 lb. belt and as Kawa says it will not be Evans since
he is already fighting Phil Davis at UFC 133. Evan’s responds
to the news with belief that Jones faked the operation to get
out of their originally scheduled belt.
Via
Twitter @SugaRashadEvans
“Question:
if u r or were so confident then y fake a thumb injury? Cuz just
between me & y’all he don’t need surgery! …
but I ain’t one 2 gossip so u didnt hear it from me! (ala
Living Color) 4 u young folk! Lol … If I’m lying, I’m
dying! Ask @jonnybones when is his surgery & who was his
dr! He so fake he fake surgeries!! Now that’s fake!”
If
not Evans or Davis to challenge for the title soon, who else
is free and deserving to fight the champ in the interim? Other
top light heavyweights Rampage and Hamill will fight at the upcoming
UFC 130 which could possibly be a contender match. Other than
that there is Forrest vs Shogun at UFC Rio, but that is not until
Aug. Any suggestions?
Source: Caged Fighter |
GSP
says eye 100% healed, back to training
GSP says eye 100% healed, back to training. The (22-2) UFC welterweight
champ Georges “Rush” St-Pierre has tweeted that the
eye injury suffered at UFC 129 by opponent Jake Shields has now
fully healed, and ready to start his new camp.
Rumor’s
of a likely match-up with another champ coming to fruition are
almost inevitable at this point as St-Pierre has cleared his
division. With Strikeforce champ Nick Diaz left feeling ‘unchallenged’,
the brawler has threatened to leave the sport for boxing unless
he is given St-Pierre. The battle is likely to be announced if
Zuffa is able to work out the details with Strikeforce partner
Showtime as Diaz is still under contract, but allotted boxing
fights in contract
Source: Caged Fighter |
Kenny
Florian Wants Jose Aldo Fight, but Not Done at Lightweight
Kenny
Florian has heard all the comments from the peanut gallery since
he made the decision to try his hand at featherweight.
Some
fighters regard the move as a good career choice, while others
have slammed almost anyone for cutting down a weight class as
a desperate move for career rejuvenation.
Florian
doesn’t really see it as either.
The
Boston area fighter isn’t dropping down to 145 pounds because
he couldn’t compete with the big boys at lightweight any
longer. That’s the furthest thing from his mind.
“As
far as I’m concerned, I know I’ve done well at 55 and
I know I can be a champion at 155,” Florian told MMAWeekly
Radio.
What
got Florian thinking about going to featherweight in the first
place was getting offered a fight with 145-pound champ Jose Aldo
in a lightweight bout. Aldo eventually opted to stay at 145 pounds
and forgo moving to lightweight, but the fight always stuck in
Florian’s mind.
“It
all started when I was offered a fight with Jose Aldo at 155
pounds, and when that opportunity arose, I just started thinking
Jose won’t go up to 155, could I be able to make it at 145?”
Florian stated. “Anyone can make 45, but the question of
getting there and being able to perform well (was there) and
(my coaches) felt that I would be able to do that.
“It
was also a factor at 55. A lot of the guys that I wanted to fight,
didn’t want to fight, and didn’t want to take the fight.
I’m at the point in my career where I wanted to face the
best, and when that wasn’t happening, I said let’s
try 45.”
With the featherweight division growing with new talent and challenges
ahead from fighters like Aldo and top contender Chad Mendes,
Florian is excited for the prospects of facing the best of the
best at 145 pounds.
It’s
just the challenge he was looking for.
“For
me, going down to 145, I see it as a new challenge in my career,”
said Florian. “I see it as an opportunity to face one of
the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world in Jose Aldo,
hopefully, down the line. That’s really what I see it as.
Going down to 45 as a new challenge, and I expect to be at 155
(again) soon.”
Florian
is hopeful to defeat Diego Nunes at UFC 131 in June, and then
be offered a fight with Jose Aldo later this year.
Either
way, Florian’s time at lightweight is far from finished.
“No,
not at all,” Florian answered when asked if he was done
at 155 pounds.
For
now, however, Florian will continue his strict diet and training
regimen to make the cut to 145 pounds for the first time when
he heads to Vancouver to be a part of the UFC 131 fight card.
Source: Yahoo Sports
|
An
In Depth Look at the UFC Fighter Summit
The
changing landscape of the MMA industry continues to evolve. With
that the UFC and Zuffa look to lead the way in innovating thinking
with the athletes who compete in the sport.
For
the past few years, Zuffa has flown almost every fighter under
contract out to Las Vegas for what has been dubbed the “UFC
Fighter Summit,” where the athletes meet with bosses like
UFC president Dana White and owner Lorenzo Fertitta, as well
as a litany of other speakers, and are presented with a bevy
of information on numerous subjects.
Somewhat
similar to the rookie meetings held in the NFL, the officials
at the UFC are trying to educate the fighters on different mediums
that can help make their careers more successful and longer.
Subject
matter at the UFC Fighter Summit ranged from the newly introduced
fighter accident insurance to social networking skills to doctors
giving seminars on weight cutting and concussions, all the way
to keynote speeches from the men in charge.
For
some fighters like UFC lightweight Yves Edwards, who has been
competing professionally in the sport since 1997, the UFC Fighter
Summit was like something he had never seen before. It was definitely
not something he saw coming when he first fought for the promotion
in 2001.
“It
was pretty good, it was continuing education,” Edwards said
when describing the meeting. “I think it was good to hear
some of the things that was talked about and some of the things
they touched on was pretty important.”
Welterweight
fighter Charlie Brenneman found out about the Fighter Summit
in an email from the UFC, and without knowing much about it,
because he was in the middle of a training camp, he asked his
coach and manager Mike Constantino if he could get out of going.
His
manager immediately answered not a chance.
Once
his two-day trip was over, Brenneman walked away with an entirely
new perspective on the business plan that White, Fertitta, and
the others in charge at the UFC had in store for the company’s
future.
“They’re
on top of everything. I equate them to Facebook,” Brenneman
said. “Mark Zuckerberg’s not your traditional businessman.
He has initiative. He does things differently. He’s not
the standard business guy. Dana and the UFC are the same way.”
FIGHTER
INSURANCE
One
of the biggest pieces of information relayed to the fighters
attending the UFC Fighter Summit was that at as of June 1, they
will all be covered under the new accidental insurance policy.
Fighters who previously had to go without medical treatment or
pay out of their own pocket for things like training injuries,
would now be covered with the Zuffa paying for the premiums.
The
change was a revolutionary idea in combat sports, something that’s
never been done before by any major organization or sanctioning
body.
Almost
all fighters have been banged up during a training camp and a
lot of them avoid the doctor simply because the cost of treatment
is too high. Without full-time medical insurance, a routine doctor’s
visit coupled with x-rays or treatment start running into the
thousands of dollars, and that’s something the average fighter
can’t afford.
Brenneman
had to take a step back when first hearing about the fighter
insurance, because he had to remember that the way he leads his
life or has led his life is different than so many other fighters.
This insurance could simply be seen as a lifeline.
“You
assume in my dealings with fighting and my career, you meet so
many new people, you just kind of assume that everyone’s
the same as you. That everyone went to college, and everyone
has a savings account, but really that’s not the reality
of it,” explained Brenneman. “So many of these guys
are completely on a whim and they don’t have any backing
in terms of health, so for those guys it’s unbelievable.
It’s like an answered prayer.”
For
fighters like UFC middleweight Tim Boetsch, a program like accident
insurance goes beyond just getting injured and having to drop
out of a fight. It’s also just going through the rigors
of everyday training, suffering a minor setback, and being able
to make a trip to the doctor just to get checked out.
“Guys
can take care of injuries as soon as they happen rather than
putting them off till they can save up enough coin to take care
of them, so it’s going to do good things for the sport,”
Boetsch said.
“It’s
only going to make performances better. Like I said, guys that
get injuries can go get them fixed and get back on track and
get in there and fight. It’s a great thing.”
Yves
Edwards takes an even different approach when looking at the
new UFC fighter insurance. He sees it as a major company looking
out in a major way for their employees, something he doesn’t
believe happens that often in the United States when you’re
talking about a billion dollar type industry.
“They’re
looking out for us to a degree and you have to appreciate that.
Ultimately, it is a business, so for me I completely understand
that, it’s capitalism. The first thing is for them to make
money, but you see all these companies that are shipping jobs
overseas and shutting down so their CEOs and their millionaires
can make more money,” Edwards stated.
“When
you live in a country where the rest of the world the CEOs to
the drones are making like 13 to 1, 14 to 1, 20 to 1, and we
are living in a country where the CEOs to the drones are making
475 to 1. It’s good that somebody actually cares about and
wants to take care of the guys who are bleeding for their company.”
SOCIAL
NETWORKING
Just
about everyone from ages 18 to 34 these days has a Twitter or
Facebook account, and the numbers are only continuing to grow.
Those age groups also happen to be the main demographics that
follow the UFC and the sport of MMA, so for that purpose alone,
social networking has been embraced by Zuffa and its athletes.
At
the UFC Fighter Summit, the fighters learned that not only are
they encouraged to utilize their Twitter and Facebook accounts,
but they would even be paid for their time.
With
bonuses totaling $240,000 a year (divvied up amongst the top
performers), the UFC will dole out money for fighters who add
followers and are deemed great at social networking. It’s
really a revolutionary step for a major sports brand to reward
athletes instead of penalizing them for embracing the social
network.
“What
I see the UFC doing is kind of aligning themselves with Twitter,
which is an ingenious idea because Twitter is the next big thing.
They were saying at one point the UFC had eight of the top trends
(on Twitter). When you can implant yourself like that on pop
culture it can only mean good things,” Charlie Brenneman
commented.
“It’s
the simplest way to get yourself out there and it costs nothing.”
For
some other sports, Twitter and Facebook actually cost the athletes
money. The NFL has cracked down on several players for using
Twitter in and around games, most notoriously Cincinnati Bengals
wide receiver Chad Ochocinco, who has been nailed with a few
fines, including a $25,000 hit, for tweeting during a game.
The
NFL even has policies in place that will fine players for tweeting
within 30 minutes of game time.
NBA
guard Brandon Jennings has also felt the sting of the league’s
crackdown on social networking. The Milwaukee Bucks player was
fined $7,500 just for tweeting after a game.
The
UFC and Zuffa have made social networking part of their marketing
approach. UFC president Dana White boasts over a million followers
on his Twitter page and routinely gives away tickets and prizes
to fans that follow him.
Digital
Royalty head Amy Jo Martin was brought in to teach the Zuffa
fighters ways to increase their presence online. When the week
was over, her presentations seemed to be the biggest hit among
nearly everyone in attendance.
“I’m
an Internet nerd. I spend a lot of time on YouTube and I do like
to tweet and Facebook and things, so some of the Facebook and
Twitter information was really good because I had no idea some
of that stuff was going on,” Edwards commented. “It
was kind of like a Facebook tutorial and Twitter tutorial. It
kind of opened my eyes to a few new things, and a few things
I can do on Twitter to make it more fun for me and the people
that follow me.”
Brenneman
is a fighter who has already embraced the social networking side
of promoting himself and his career. He got on Twitter right
away when he started fighting, and created a personal website
as well.
The
tasks and the time it takes as Brenneman says are taxing, but
hearing Martin speak about the future of social networking and
what it can do for his career, made him believe it was all going
to pay off.
“It
made that feel worth it,” Brenneman said. “That stuff’s
not easy to do. It’s time consuming, it takes energy, but
it just really made me feel like alright I’m on the right
path and this is great.”
Even
for a novice like Tim Boetsch, who admits that he forgets what
his Twitter handle even is sometimes, he learned the benefits
about social networking and plans on working to implement some
of the things he took away from the Fighter Summit to help him
build his career further than just fighting in the UFC.
“I
picked up on quite a few things,” Boetsch said. “I
definitely learned I’m pretty much a complete idiot when
it comes to using Twitter and those sorts of things, so I definitely
need to get better at that. But I’m trying and hopefully
can have more of a presence on there than I have in the past.”
NEWS
AND NOTES
The
fighters all took away something different and unique when the
UFC Fighter Summit was all said and done. Some of them learned
how to use Twitter, while others were extremely excited about
the insurance.
Despite
nearly 15 years of service in the sport, Edwards still enjoys
learning new things and says there were a lot of eye opening
subjects covered during the two-day event.
“Things
that I enjoyed the most or I felt like I got the most from was
listening to the doctors talk about weight cutting, and lacerations,
cuts, injuries and whatnot, different things to focus on and
different things to worry about. Also, the information about
the insurance was a big deal and it was good to get clarification
on what that was all about,” Edwards commented.
Of
course with a roomful of fighters there were bound to be a few
non-Summit related occurrences happening as well. As Roy Nelson
videotaped and documented, a heated exchange happened between
former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz and heavyweight
Matt Mitrione due to comments Mitrione had made about Ortiz and
his girlfriend Jenna Jameson recently.
Overall,
Brenneman was impressed with the level of professionalism shown
by the fighters, even when they were sitting just a few feet
away from the guy or girl they were getting ready to fight mere
weeks from then.
“I
was actually interested in that, but to be honest I didn’t
really see any guys that had this ongoing beef. (Anthony) Rumble
Johnson said it in a interview recently, and they were talking
about how he and John Howard were at odds, and he just said,
whatever, we have a beef, but if we go somewhere and we see each
other, we’re professionals and that’s where it ends,”
said Brenneman.
UFC
welterweights Josh Koscheck and Dan Hardy took to heart the teachings
about social networking. While they were literally just seats
away from each other, decided to talk a little trash via Twitter
instead of letting it boil over in the room.
Other
athletes decided to bring a little levity to the classroom setting.
New UFC middleweight Jason “Mayhem” Miller was dubbed
the class clown, cracking more than just a few jokes that kept
the room laughing, while UFC heavyweight Pat Barry opted for
a different comedic delivery.
While
a seminar was going on, Nick Catone, Charlie Brenneman, and Matt
Wiman sat in a row listening to the information being given out.
In the midst of this, Barry somehow had the time to strip down
all of his clothes and decided that sitting in class only in
his underwear was the best way to take in the knowledge.
“I
was literally sitting six feet away from him and talking to Matt
Wiman and Nick (Catone) tapped me on the shoulder and goes ‘look
at that.’ It was already done, he was just sitting there
in his underwear,” Brenneman said with a laugh.
CLOSING
STATEMENT
The
UFC Fighter Summit ended up lasting the better part of four days
with fighters from both the UFC and Strikeforce attending the
seminar.
As
each person left the building and headed to the airport, it seemed
to give them a renewed energy about ways they can be successful
in the sport of MMA. For every Georges St-Pierre, there are 20
undercard fighters who are striving to be him, and the UFC Fighter
Summit gave them a lot of tools to continue to build their brand
to get there.
Whether
it was educational seminars like doctors discussing concussions
or social networking classes that taught fighters how to use
Twitter, everybody took something away from the summit.
Brenneman
may have said it best after he flew back home to New Jersey,
“If I keep winning, life’s going to get really, really
good. That’s probably the biggest thing that I took from
it.”
Source: MMA Weekly |
Shinya
Aoki vs. Antonio McKee Finally Signed for Dream ‘Fight for
Japan’
The
revolving door of opponents for Shinya Aoki for the upcoming
Dream ‘Fight for Japan’ show has finally stopped swinging.
Antonio McKee is the fighter who will step up to the challenge.
Dream
officials confirmed the bout on Sunday.
MMAWeekly.com
first reported McKee’s possible involvement for the fight
a couple of weeks back, but because he still had to wait for
a visa, Dream continued to look for other possible opponents.
Among
them was former WEC lightweight champion Jamie Varner, but in
the end the Japanese promotion opted to go with McKee once he
secured his visa. Former UFC fighter Willamy Freire was also
in the running, but he could not secure a visa in time and he
was pulled from the fight as well.
McKee
hasn’t appeared since his lone fight in the UFC in which
he came up short losing a split decision to Jacob Volkmann. Following
the loss, McKee was unceremoniously released from the promotion,
and will now take a shot at Aoki to get back on track.
The
bout will take place at the Dream ‘Fight for Japan’
show, which will also kick off the Dream Japan Bantamweight Grand
Prix. Several other bouts will be featured as well.
Source: MMA Weekly |
UFC
Gym and BJ Penn Partner for Hawaiian Facility; More Gym-Fighter
Partnerships Expected
CORONA,
Calif. – The UFC on Saturday, during the UFC Gym grand opening
in Corona, announced plans to further expand its brand and partner
with B.J. Penn to open another gym in Waikiki, Honolulu, Hawaii.
Plans
are in the preliminary stages for the gym’s opening, but
early indications show that the gym will be available to the
Waikiki community some time in early to mid 2012.
“Now,
it’s going to be the B.J. Penn-UFC Gym. I’m very excited,”
Penn said while attending the Corona UFC Gym grand opening. “I
got my name on a building in Waikiki. I’m happy.”
With
Penn’s name attached to this new gym, one can only wonder
if more fighters will follow his lead and partner up with the
UFC and its gym brand around the country.
UFC
vice president of community relations Reed Harris confirmed that
Penn is only the beginning. In the coming years, the UFC and
its gym brand plan to partner with other marquee fighters to
open more gyms in several communities.
“Today,
they announced the UFC Gym in Hawaii,” Harris told MMAWeekly.com.
“And it’s going to be a partnership between the UFC,
the gym people, and also B.J. Penn. I think that’s also
something we’re going to be seeing more of is the UFC partnering
with signature fighters in their areas or the cities where they’re
from or training in. This is really about the brand and what
it’s going to be doing. The UFC brand, in the next few years,
we’re going to see this brand grow internationally. Even
with the gyms, et cetera, we’re going to see product everywhere.”
Penn,
in speaking with MMAWeekly.com, also confirmed there will be
several programs geared towards children at the Penn/UFC gym
in Hawaii. The goal of being a positive force in the community
looks to be one of the main focuses for Penn and the UFC Gym
brand.
“What
makes me very proud to be a part of this thing is that the company
involved in putting the UFC Gym on (is) very community (oriented),”
Penn said. “That’s a big thing for me when I get involved
with something in Hawaii.”
The
UFC Gym is known for making its efforts in reaching out to their
local community. The gym located in Rosemead, Calif., last year
implemented a program where over 300 children in the surrounding
community participated in MMA-style training, fitness conditioning,
and teamwork activities. The program was designed to help children
build confidence and character through field trips, assemblies,
and free passes to the gym. The UFC Gym’s program offered
a unique way for youth to better their physical and mental health
not seen in your typical community outreach program.
Source: MMA Weekly |
How
a loss changed Kron Gracie’s career
Kron Gracie was one of the highlight of BJJ Professional Cup,
a tournament that happened last weekend in Italy and gave 60
thousand Euros in rewards. After submitting Yan Cabral on the
matched bout, Rickson Gracie’s son conquered the absolute
title as he submitted Gilbert Durinho, and that’s only to
start with.
On
an exclusive interview with TATAME directly from Italy, Kron
talked about his participation on the tournament and his evolution
in Jiu-Jitsu, shinning again like he used to on the other belt
graduations. “After I was destroyed by Sergio Moraes (on
his first World as a black belt), it took a long time for me
to absorb it and to be cool about it. Now I'm feeling in my heart
again that fell of wanting to be a champion, the need to train
more and more to become better”, said the ‘mature’
Gracie. “I’ve turned into a man meanwhile… I was
just a boy before”.
Check
below the exclusive interview with the tough guy, who talked
about the feeling of spending a week with his dad, the gym he’s
opening in California, the possibility of fighting World 2011
among the light weights and a lot more.
You
won the super fight, beat up Yan Cabral again by submission,
and also earned the weight division title over Gibert Durinho,
a tough guy. How do you see yourself now?
It
was good. I came here focused. I was going to go for the absolute
title too, but what happened was that the guys would fight the
absolute before I would fight the finale, and I always want to
be done with one thing before starting another. I came him, I
travelled a lot, I wasted my time… I came all the way to
Italy and I wanted to guarantee a win against Yan and on my weight
division.
How
was it to fight Durinho on the finale? He started scoring 2x0,
but it seems he didn’t really believe in that position…
He’s
not called by Durinho for no reason: he’s really tough.
It was a tough bout, but it the end I got a position. I don’t
know what happened, but it just fit. I don’t know if it
was that he was too tired to escape from it, but I applied the
position and he tapped out.
You’ve
won Abu Dhabi’s qualifiers, but you didn’t go there
to fight. What happened?
What
happened was that I had 30 days to open my new gym and there
was anything done yet, and if I went to Abu Dhabi, I wouldn’t
have a place to train at when I returned. So I had to work hard
on it, do all the things I was supposed to, I had to open my
gym. It’s opening will be on June 1st, and lets go.
In
California?
Yeah,
right there. It’s a lot of work. Even for this event I couldn’t
train a lot, I was doing the things for my gym and training,
doing both, and I tried as hard as I could. Thanks’ God
everything worked out, and now I’ll focus on my gym and
in World.
How
will you come to Worlds? Will you fight among the medium weights?
I
don’t know. I’m getting lighter and lighter everyday
and I don’t know in what weight I’ll be then. I thought
it would be hard to fight -78kg, but I’m 76kg with the gi,
so let’s see how my body’s feeling when it’s time.
I don’t like losing weight, I like competing on the weight
I am at the time of the competition. I used to fight on the medium
division, but I’ve always fought among the mediums so I
wouldn’t have to lose weight. But I was always below the
weight limit, but I’ve always done it because I don’t
like losing weight. If I’m a light weight fighter now, I’ll
fight among the light weights… But I don’t know, let’s
see…
Time’s
short now, so if you want to fight among the light weights...
If
I do an effort I can easily fight among the light weights, but
I don’t like having to go through all that trouble. I like
eating what I like, feeling fine…
Your
father was at your corner once again, but now you’re in
California and he’s in Brazil… How do you deal with
it?
It’s
been a pleasure to me: to be paid to come here and spend a week
with my dad, which is something that never happen, almost never.
I barely see my dad, so I started winning even before fighting,
but I’m also getting paid to do what I love: competing with
the top guys and do my best. That’s the dream.
While
you were growing up, you used to submit everybody, but then when
you got the black belt it brought some difficulties with it.
What’s changed, now that you again are that Kron who comes
and win it all?
I’ll
tell you the truth: I grew old and became a man. After I was
destroyed by Sergio Moraes (on his first World as a black belt),
it took a long time for me to absorb it and to be cool about
it. Now I'm feeling in my heart again that fell of wanting to
be a champion, the need to train more and more to become better.
But now I’m really starting to feel that I have to do things,
like taking care of my gym and all that stuff. It’s not
just training, it’s not all about me. I have to help the
people around me too, so that makes me thankful for being on
the position where I currently am just by being here in Italy
competing, owning my own gym, being good in Jiu-Jitsu… To
me, there’s no more defeat. I won’t let a bad result
affect me like it did, not again.
Was
that the main part in your getting more mature thing?
Yeah.
I’ve turned into a man meanwhile… I was just a boy
before.
Source: Tatame
|
Roger
on the Blog: “I want to win another ten Worlds Championships
More
than ever before, Roger Gracie has become synonymous with the
mother of all Jiu-Jitsu championships. Besides being the winningest
champion in Worlds history, the Gracie, for some years now, has
decided to make the competition the only stage for gi-clad combat
on which to appear over the course of the year.
That
being the case, there’s nothing more fitting than to relaunch
the GRACIEMAG at the Worlds Blog with an exclusive interview
with the three-time absolute champion black belt. Still undecided
as to whether he will put in an appearance in Long Beach in 2011,
Roger didn’t sidestep controversy and spoke with candor.
In the conversation he revealed how he feels he is the most consistent
Jiu-Jitsu competitor of all times. He also said he’s more
concerned with his own Jiu-Jitsu than that of his opponents.
On Rodolfo Vieira, the big name in the gentle art in 2011, he
said he expects a great fight when they finally lock horns. In
wrapping up, he disclosed his not-at-all-modest objective: to
achieve perfection!
Source: Gracie Magazine
|
Lesnar
out of UFC 131 amid health battles
Former
UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar has had a reoccurrence
of diverticulitis and has been forced to withdraw from his June
11 fight against Junior dos Santos in Vancouver.
Lesnar,
33, said he is not planning to retire and is considering his
treatment options. Lesnar said during a hastily arranged conference
call Thursday that he spent 14 hours undergoing tests and meeting
with doctors Wednesday at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.
Surgery is an option, but Lesnar said he is still in the middle
of accumulating information.
UFC
president Dana White said Shane Carwin will replace Lesnar and
will face dos Santos in a No. 1 contender’s match in the
main event of UFC 131. Carwin has been training to fight Jon
Olav Einemo.
Diverticulitis
has forced Brock Lesnar to withdraw from UFC 131. He is seeking
treatment options.
(AP)
In
2009, Lesnar had to withdraw from a heavyweight title defense
against Shane Carwin at UFC 106, though he was able to return
to fight Carwin at UFC 116 on July 3, 2010. Lesnar submitted
Carwin in the second round but lost his title to Cain Velasquez
at UFC 121 on Oct. 23.
Lesnar
was training for the dos Santos fight after appearing with him
on Spike TV’s reality show “The Ultimate Fighter,”
but said he hasn’t been able to train the way he needs to
in order to be ready for June 11.
“I
dodged a bullet about two years ago with diverticulitis, at that
time not knowing what the problem was,” Lesnar said. “I
dodged the bullet by not having the surgery. Diverticulitis is
an illness that never goes away. It’s something I’ve
dealt with since my first occurrence, and I’ve been battling
with it. It’s something that’s in your colon for the
rest of your life, and I’ve been able to maintain it to
a point where it’s tolerable.
“I
was able to go through two training camps – Shane Carwin
and Cain Velasquez – and made it through those camps without
having a bout or any symptoms.”
Diverticulitis
is a condition of the colon that occurs when pouches form on
the colon and become inflamed. The only way to treat them is
with antibiotics, or they can be removed by excising a part of
the colon. Lesnar said he’s been battling symptoms for the
past three months but still hasn’t determined whether or
not to have surgery.
He
apologized to dos Santos, the UFC and Spike for having to pull
out, but said he wasn’t able to train anywhere near the
capacity needed to be ready to compete. However, he insisted
that he would find a solution and continue his career.
Lesnar
said the illness is not as serious as it was in 2009, when the
situation became life-threatening, but said it “drains my
entire body down.” He said he believed he would be able
to find a long-term solution that wouldn’t risk his health
but would allow him to resume his career.
“I
am forced to make a decision to either have surgery or to deal
with this the rest of my life,” Lesnar said. “I’m
fighting a different fight here than having to give up a fight
on June 11. A lot of things go through your mind as an athlete,
especially myself. This is something that has been wearing on
me for about a month now. Different thoughts come to your mind,
but it wouldn’t be fair to myself, or to my family, or to
the people who I have to get into the Octagon with and perform
in front of, because I wouldn’t have been 100 percent on
June 11. I’m not there now and I had to make a decision
this week, to allow the UFC enough time.
“I
have enough respect for them. My health is No. 1. My family is
No. 1. It was a hard decision. I’m choked up about it, and
there is nothing I can do. I’ll tell you one thing: I’m
not retiring. This isn’t the end of my fight career.”
Lesnar
said he wasn’t able to get himself to 100 percent after
his previous problem with diverticulitis and estimated that he
was 85 or 90 percent of himself in his bouts with Carwin and
Velasquez.
He
said he’d adjusted his diet and felt he was handling the
problem, which made the reoccurrence more frustrating.
“What’s
been so frustrating about this, when this thing came back to
bite me in the [behind] here, is that I’ve been just diligent
about [following doctor’s orders],” Lesnar said. ”
This is my life. I take this very seriously. If you ask anyone
about me, I’m very professional when it comes to my fight
career. I follow things. I haven’t gotten to where I am
today by not being dedicated. I have been very dedicated with
my diet. We’ve been doing different things, and new things,
and things that have probably carried me this far.”
Lesnar
said a normal person can manage it, but because he’s a professional
athlete competing at the highest level, he pushes his body harder
and asks more of it. He said, “I feel bad to say this, but
I’ve been unsuccessful being able to manage this [while
still] being an ultimate fighter.”
Source: Yahoo Sports
|
UFC
Champion Jon Jones Opts Out of Surgery, Gunning for Late Summer/Early
Fall Return
UFC
light heavyweight champion Jon Jones will not have to have surgery
to repair a tear in his thumb, and will be ready to return to
action sometime between September and November.
This
is according to Jones’ manager, Malki Kawa, who spoke to
MMAWeekly.com on Friday after reports surfaced that his client
was not going to be forced to go under the knife to repair damage
on his thumb.
Several
weeks ago, Jones was pushed to the sidelines after doctors advised
the UFC’s top light heavyweight that his thumb injury required
surgery and rehab that would put him out of action until at least
the latter part of 2011.
After
visiting with doctors referred by the UFC and the surgeon who
was going to do the work on Jones’ hand, they decided that
surgery wasn’t required and Jones made the decision to wait.
“The
message we got from everybody was that Jon needed to have surgery.
That’s what the report showed, that’s what the MRI
showed, that’s what every test and everything he had up
until Wednesday was saying,” Kawa said on Friday.
“The
UFC flew us out to their doctors here in Nevada on Wednesday.
We came out here, we met with the doctor. The doctor looked at
Jon and basically advised Jon that in his opinion that he thought
that surgery was maybe a bit drastic. He didn’t have to
have it if he didn’t want to if he could stand the pain
and he didn’t have to sit out and go through all that rehab.
Jon chose not to have the surgery. He wants to be back in the
cage and fight. He thought it was something medically he absolutely
(had to do) and this doctor gave him the option not to do it
if he didn’t want to.”
The
doctors in Las Vegas, in the process of doing tests on Jones’
hand, saw that overall he still had full range of motion with
little pain in most areas. The decision was ultimately left up
to Jones, and he opted out of surgery.
For
now, he will be fitted with a cast and will have that on until
he can be medically cleared midway through June.
“He
has a tear, his thumb is torn. He was just like we’ll stabilize
it, and see if we can help make the pain go away some more and
after 30 days from now, you feel good, they’ll clear him
medically to fight,” Kawa stated.
“He’ll
still have the tear, it’s not going to heal on it’s
own, but he felt that the actual surgery was too invasive for
the tear that he had.”
As
far as fighting in August, Kawa believes that his client would
not have nearly enough time to train for a fight that soon because
even after being cleared in June, he still needs time to get
back into a full fight camp.
“Between
the September/November area hopefully,” Kawa targeted for
Jones’ return. “You’ve got to understand if he
comes back June 11, the first day he’d be back is that Monday,
and he’s not going to be able to go full speed that day
and start an eight-week camp from that moment (to fight) Aug.
6.”
Jones
was originally scheduled to face Rashad Evans, most likely in
August at UFC 133. After the UFC light heavyweight champion was
diagnosed with the thumb injury and was told surgery was required,
the promotion opted to give Evans another fight and he is now
scheduled to face Phil Davis on the Philadelphia card.
With
the new information regarding Jones’ recovery and timeline
for a return, it’s unknown if the UFC will change its schedule
and pull Evans from the bout to potentially fight for the title
a month or so later.
According
to Jones’ manager, there are all kinds of possibilities
on who his fighter could face next, but they are open to whatever
the UFC decides.
“I’m
thinking it could be Rampage (Jackson)/(Matt) Hamill, it could
be (Lyoto) Machida, it could still be Rashad, you never know,”
said Kawa. “At this point, it’s just the waiting game.”
Source: MMA Weekly |
JZ
Cavalcante vs. Justin Wilcox Targeted for Strikeforce Show June
18
It’s
been several months since Gesias “JZ” Cavalcante stepped
foot in the cage, but it appears he’s finally set for a
return to action.
Cavalcante
is expected to meet wrestling standout Justin Wilcox in a lightweight
bout on the upcoming Strikeforce card on June 18 in Texas.
Sources
indicated to MMAWeekly.com on Friday that the fight was agreed
to for the upcoming Strikeforce show.
Cavalcante
(15-4-1) has been out of action since last October when he lost
a controversial decision to former Strikeforce lightweight champion
Josh Thomson.
Since
that time, the Brazilian has been waiting for the call to get
him back in the cage, and the call finally came.
Facing
Cavalcante in June will be American Kickboxing Academy fighter
Justin Wilcox (11-3), making his return to the cage on a six-fight
winning streak.
The
wrestling powerhouse has reeled off the wins in impressive fashion
lately, and most recently put on a dominant performance over
Rodrigo Damm at Strikeforce Challengers in April.
The
bout between Cavalcante and Wilcox will serve as part of the
June 18 card headlined by the next round of the Strikeforce Heavyweight
Grand Prix, including the return of heavyweight champion Alistair
Overeem.
Source: MMA Weekly |
Bellator
44 Video: Hector Lombard KO’s Niko Vitale with One Punch
For two plus rounds, Bellator middleweight champion Hector Lombard
and Niko Vitale left a lot to be desired in their non-title superfight
at Bellator 44. The ending however delivered the dynamite people
were looking for.
With
one punch, Lombard put Vitale away to extend his current winning
streak to 18.
Check
out the video below to see Lombard’s latest KO win.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JH1Vb_tPM5E&feature=player_embedded
Source: MMA Weekly |
Nogueira
hopes for a good bout against Franklin 10h
With
his contract signed, the Brazilian Rogerio Nogueira “Minotouro”,
who’ll face Rich Franklin in UFC 133, in Philadelphia, United
States, only compliments his opponent. After fighting three wrestlers
in a row, the tough guy will finally show his striking game and,
in order to do it well, he’ll intensify his Boxing trainings.
After
two defeats in a row in UFC, Nogueira wants to redeem himself
on the event, a goal shared by his opponent, who was also beat
down on his previous bout. “The bout will be a good one,
Rich is a guy who likes the stand-up game. He’s skilled,
left-handed, a former champion a he has a big name. It’s
a pretty interesting matchup”, said the Brazilian, on a
chat with TATAME.
Minotauro’s
twin brother also told us how he intends to find his way back
into the winning track. “I’ll train Boxing for a while
with (Luis Carlos) Dorea in Bahia. I’ll do sparrings with
professional athletes and train Muay Thai with Anderson (Silva),
who’ll help me a lot due to the fact he’s also a left-handed
guy”, said the athlete, revealing the “Spider”
has given him some tips, since he knocked Rich Franklin out twice.
Source: Tatame |
Bernardo
and Kron shine at BJJ Professional Cup
After
winning their supermatches at the BJJ Professional Cup, Bernardo
Faria and Kron Gracie returned to the mats and were the big standouts
at the event.
Bernardo
had the most matches. In the superheavyweight division, first
he beat Lúcio Lagarto with a sweep, and then swept and
passed the guard of Chico Mendes in the decider, bringing the
bout to a close with a choke from back mount. In the absolute,
Bernardo got the finish in his first two matches before again
facing Lúcio Lagarto, in the most hotly-disputed match
of the day, putting on a fine display of sweeps and achieving
back mount (8 to 4).
The
decider, against Rômulo Barral, didn’t end how everyone
expected it would. Bernardo complained about how a footlock was
positioned and, following an argument between the fighters and
referee, Barral opted not to continue. Thus the Alliance representative
was the big winner on the day and he and Rômulo then buried
the hatchet. It’s worth noting that the absolute was worth
7,000 euros.
Now
Kron got the tapout in every match he was in. After beating Yan
in the superfight, his maiden middleweight outing ended with
a choke from back mount. Next, he used a guillotine in going
through to the final against Gilbert Durinho, who submitted Alan
Freitas and got past Eduardo Pessoa on points (6 to 2). In the
decider Durinho took the lead early on with an eyeful takedown,
but Kron struck back with a choke from the guard, placing him
at the top of the winners’ podium.
Another
with a fine display in Biella was Rômulo Barral, who finished
his first match with a choke, before facing Eduardo Rios and
then Raphael Abi-Rihan in the medium heavyweight final. Against
Abi the Gracie Barra black belt swept and sunk a snug reverse
triangle. Raphael escaped but was unable to turn the score around.
The
featherweight division ended with Fernando Vieira and Reinaldo
Ribeiro facing off in the final. With a sweep and guard pass,
Fernando took the gold and 4,000 euros in prize money.
Thiago
“Monstro” Borges won the ultraheavyweight division,
rallying back after falling behind on the scoreboard against
Ricardo Barros. He trailed by a sweep early on but secured the
win with a subsequent reversal and guard pass.
Master
– In the veterans division the Silva family was the big
standout, with twins Adriano and Thiago, two Barbosinha black
belts, coming up spades. Adriano won the medium heavyweight division,
overcoming Antônio Sérgio Canudo, while Thiago took
second at middleweight, beating Zé Beleza’s stalwart
student Felipe Souza, who overcame seasoned competitors like
Roberto Atalla.
In
the absolute the brothers set an example by locking horns for
real in the final. Adriano came out on top, winning with an arm-triangle
choke.
At
featherweight, Alvaro Bobadilla beat two opponents before going
into the final against Wellington Megaton, who went straight
through without having to compete. The decisive match saw Megaton
come out on top by 4 to 2, all the points coming from sweeps.
At lightweight Alan Vieira captured the gold after facing Eduardo
Azevedo in the final. The prize for the winners of the master
contest was 1,000 dollars for weight group winners and 2,000
for the winner of the absolute.
Source: Gracie Magazine
|
Shark
Fights 15 Full Fight Card Announced
The
card features a full pro card line-up in addition to some of
New Mexico’s top amateur MMA talent.
“We
are looking forward to our debut in New Mexico and putting on
a great show. We built the fight card with New Mexico fans in
mind and feel that we have a stellar line-up. The amateur portion
of the card marks another first for our organization and we are
very excited. These young talented fighters are now able to use
Shark Fights as a platform to advance their careers,” said
Wes Nolen of Shark Fight Promotions. “We are thrilled to
not only showcase A-list pro fighters, but also top level amateurs
looking to earn their pro cards. The card is stacked with elite
talent on all fronts.”
The
Shark Fights 15 card will feature a total of 11 bouts. In addition
to Camozzi vs. Villasenor and Branch vs. May the action-packed
fight card will also feature New Mexico’s own Bobby Huron
out of Jackson’s MMA, Bellator veteran Jared Downing of
Cedar Rapids Iowa, WEC veteran Frank Gomez, the long awaited
match-up between Kyle Bracey and Artenas Young, New Mexico’s
top amateur talent.
Official
Shark Fights 15 Line-Up:
Main
Bouts:
-Chris Camozzi vs. Joey Villasenor
-Jeremy May vs. David Branch
-Lionel Lanham vs. TBA
-Jared Downing vs. Bobby Huron
-Kyle Bracey vs. Artenas Young
-Timothy Snyder vs. Frank Gomez
Preliminary
Bouts:
-Robbie Guiterrez vs. Russell Wilson
-Kasey Yates vs. Fredrico Crosby
-Adam Gonzales vs. Zac Hynes
-Edgar Lopez vs. Eric Baca
-Armando Mendiblez vs. Randy Ray Sanchez
*Card
and Schedule Subject to Change
The
event will take place on Friday, May 27 at the Santa Ana Star
Center in New Mexico. Doors open at 6:30pm MT. Fights start at
7:30 pm MT. Tickets are available online at www.sharkfights.com
and www.santaanastarcenter.com. Fans can also purchase tickets
at the Santa Ana Center Box Office and the Santa Ana Star Casino
Rewards Desk.
Source: MMA Weekly |
Boxer
Jeff Lacy Calls Into Question If Nick Diaz Is Serious About Facing
Him
by Damon
Martin
Former middleweight boxing champion Jeff Lacy is ready to strap
on the gloves and welcome Strikeforce welterweight champion Nick
Diaz to the ring, but he’s questioning how serious the Stockton,
Calif. native is about actually boxing him.
Lacy has apparently already signed on to face Diaz later this
year, but now with all the talk about Diaz potentially facing
UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre instead of boxing,
he’s wondering if the fight will happen.
“I’ve agreed to the fight, his side sent out a press
release saying he had agreed to the fight. But I’ve heard
through the grapevine that he’s not serious about this,
that maybe his so-called heavy hands can’t back up his big
talk” said Lacy in a press release on Thursday.
The former boxing champion isn’t shying away from calling
Diaz out because he’s ready to face him, but not sure that
his potential opponent will walk the walk after talking the talk.
“Diaz started this and I’m going to end it. He called
me out, I accepted, that means we fight. That’s how it is
in the boxing world; hopefully in the mixed martial arts business
it works the same,” Lacy commented.
“I’ve been hearing for years about MMA taking over
boxing. We’ll see about that in the ring with Diaz and me.”
Diaz has actively spoken about pursuing a career in boxing after
his last win in MMA over top contender Paul Daley in early April.
In Diaz’s current Strikeforce deal it allows him to box
as well as do MMA, so he’s free and clear to do that, but
it doesn’t mean the people in charge are gung ho for the
idea.
UFC President Dana White has stated on several occasions that
he doesn’t believe Diaz should enter the boxing arena, despite
the fact that he has shown great stand-up in his MMA bouts.
White has said he plans on meeting with Diaz and his manager
Cesar Gracie to discuss the his possible future in boxing, but
as of yet they parties have not come together for a discussion.
Regardless of that meeting, Jeff Lacy is content to wait and
see if Diaz really wants to face him or not. The boxing promoters
have even titled the fight calling Diaz vs. Lacy ‘Breaking
History’ ahead of the potential match-up that would take
place later this year.
Lacy said he’s even picked out his ring entrance music,
and plans on that being a pre-cursor to what will happen to Diaz
if they meet.
“I’ve already picked out my ring walk music before
I pummel Diaz. AC/DC’s “If You Want Blood, You Got
It”,” Lacy stated.
“Hope to see you soon Nick.”
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Lesnar:
‘This Isn’t the End of My Fighting Career’
by Chris
Nelson
Brock
Lesnar had been noticing symptoms for three months, even while
filming the 13th season of “The Ultimate Fighter.”
He knew exactly what the problem was and how serious it could
be, but hoped nonetheless that it wouldn’t force him to
bow out of his scheduled June 11 engagement with rival “TUF”
coach Junior dos Santos.
On
Wednesday, the former UFC heavyweight champion spent 14 hours
at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., undergoing what UFC President
Dana White classed a “bumper-to-bumper” battery of
tests. The news wasn’t good: Lesnar’s diverticulitis
-- the intestinal infection which first disrupted his fighting
career in November 2009 -- was flaring up again.
“Diverticulitis
is an illness that never goes away,” Lesnar said during
a Thursday media conference call. “It’s something that
I’ve dealt with since my first occurrence and have been
battling with it. It’s something that’s in your colon
for the rest of your life.
“What
it does is, it drains my entire body down. Basically, you’ve
got an infection in your stomach and all my resources went toward
fighting this problem instead of rebuilding what I tore down
in the gym.”
Lesnar
had two decisions to address. One was fairly clear-cut, if not
easy to make: pulling out of his fight.
“The
first thing that came to mind was, from today until June 11,
I can’t be well-enough prepared to step in the Octagon and
face Junior dos Santos,” Lesnar explained. “It wouldn’t
be fair to myself or my family, or to the people I have to get
in the Octagon and perform in front of, because I wouldn’t
have been 100-percent on June 11 ... It was a hard decision.
I’m choked up about it. There’s nothing I can do.”
“It’s
not as serious as last time,” said Lesnar, whose first brush
with diverticulitis left him hospitalized and reportedly near-death.
“It just didn’t allow me to train the way I needed
to train for a No. 1 contender’s bout ... I only have three
weeks to turn this thing around. We just didn’t feel like
I could do that.”
The
second decision is one Lesnar is weighing more heavily.
“I
am forced with the decision to either have surgery, or to deal
with this for the rest of my life,” said Lesnar, who was
uncharacteristically emotive at times during Wednesday’s
call. “Obviously, I’m fighting a different fight here,
other than having to give up the fight on June 11.”
Doctors
originally urged Lesnar to have surgery, which could mend the
problem by removing a section of his colon, in 2009. At the time,
Lesnar resisted, instead relying on antibiotics and a strict
diet to fight the infection. Now, the 33-year-old finds himself
faced with the same choice in a different situation.
“Now
I’m at another fork in the road to where ... now, what do
I do?” said Lesnar. “I gotta follow-up with my doctors
and weigh the risks and rewards. I went down there yesterday
to figure out the problem. We’re waiting on a number of
different tests to come back.”
In
the meantime, Lesnar will be replaced by the man he beat in his
July 2010 return, Shane Carwin. Watching Carwin fight Dos Santos
at UFC 131 will no doubt be a frustrating experience for the
sidelined and hyper-competitive heavyweight, but Lesnar hopes
people will understand that there are greater things at stake.
“I
wanted more than anything to fight Junior dos Santos and to win
that fight and to get a shot at Cain Velasquez. I wanted nothing
more than that. But now, more importantly, my health and my family
are more important. So, we keep things in perspective,”
said Lesnar.
Regardless
of whether he goes under the knife in the near future, Lesnar
vowed that he will return to the Octagon.
“It’s
a matter of removing some of my colon and reattaching it, and
I can’t foresee that being a career-threatening ordeal.
At least, I hope not,” Lesnar said. “I’ll tell
you one thing: I’m not retiring. This isn’t the end
of my fighting career.
“I
believe there’s a solution to every problem. I just gotta
find the right solution to fix this problem. This isn’t
the end of Brock Lesnar. This is a speed bump in the road. I’ve
hit a lot of speed bumps in my career and this is one of them.”
Source: Sherdog
|
UFC
131 card (6/11 Vancouver, B.C. at Rogers Arena)
By Zach
Arnold
Dark
matches/TV prelims
Featherweights:
Michihiro Omigawa vs. Darren Elkins
Heavyweights: Joey Beltran vs. Dave Herman
Middleweights: Nick Ring vs. James Head
Light Heavyweights: Kryzysztof Soszynski vs. Anthony Perosh
Featherweights: Dustin Poirier vs. Jason Young
Middleweights: Jesse Bongfeldt vs. Chris Weidman
Lightweights: Sam Stout vs. Yves Edwards
Main card
Featherweights:
Kenny Florian vs. Diego Nunes
Middleweights: Demian Maia vs. Mark Munoz
Lightweights: Mac Danzig vs. Donald Cerrone
Heavyweights: Shane Carwin vs. Jon Olav Einemo
Heavyweights (#1 contender’s match): Brock Lesnar vs. Junior
dos Santos
Source: Fight Opinion
|
Shane
Carwin comments on Brock Lesnar pulling out of UFC 131, taking
his spot against Junior Dos Santos
By: Jamie
Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
My
manager said 'This is where you belong' and I am going to make
sure I do everything I can to prove him right.
Please
help make UFC 131 one of the biggest cards in the year.
I
hope Brock is able to recover. I look forward to facing him again
one day."
Carwin
was already scheduled to compete on the card in a bout with Jon
Olav Einemo, so he's already in the midst of his training camp
for this event. Now, he'll have a chance to earn another shot
at the UFC Heavyweight Championship with a win over Dos Santos
on June 11 in Vancouver.
Penick's
Analysis: They lucked out in having Carwin ready to go on this
event already, as he's the next best fight for this spot after
Lesnar. This is still one hell of a heavyweight fight, even though
it's not nearly as big as the fight between Lesnar and Dos Santos
would have been. Still, after being out nearly a full year himself,
Carwin finds himself in a very opportunistic spot, and this fight
with Dos Santos is a huge opportunity for him to get back to
a shot at the title once again.
[Shane
Carwin art by Cory Gould (c) MMATorch.com]
Source:
MMA Torch
|
Down
But Not Out: Brock Lesnar Declairs Diverticulitis Won’t
Stop Him
by Damon
Martin
Instead of hitting the gym, doing workouts and sparring with
his training partners on Wednesday, former UFC heavyweight champion
Brock Lesnar spent 14 hours at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota.
Lesnar, who defied odds and bounced back after he was stricken
with diverticulitis in 2009, hadn’t been feeling himself
for the past couple of months, and he knew deep down that something
wasn’t right… again.
The former NCAA champion knew what the symptoms surrounding diverticulitis
were because he had dealt with them before, but since that time
he had completely changed his diet and lifestyle to prevent it
from happening again.
“I knew right away that I was feeling the same feelings,
but you start lying to yourself and start looking at yourself
in the mirror like no, it can’t be,” Lesnar commented
about when he felt the illness returning. “My diet has carried
me this far. I’m feeling okay, but there’s always that
somebody knocking on the door saying that this illness, it’s
something that needs to be addressed.”
The symptoms surrounding this latest bout with the debilitating
disease started for Lesnar a few months ago while he was filming
Season 13 of “The Ultimate Fighter.” The Minnesota
resident did his best to battle through it, but in the end his
body couldn’t be pushed any further.
“I’ve been dealing with some symptoms for the last
I would say three months. I felt it a little bit while I was
filming ‘The Ultimate Fighter,’ and the only way to
treat the symptoms is by getting on antibiotics, and allowing
the antibiotics to take its course, and to fight the infection,”
Lesnar explained.
“During the course of this training camp I felt another
infection, got another CT scan done on my stomach where it was
visible inflation, and due to that what it does to you, it doesn’t
allow me to train to my full capability. I was forced to make
a decision to go back down to the doctor this week to figure
out how far this thing was along, and what it does, it drains
my entire body down.”
Doctors have been hard at work to try and help Lesnar in his
recovery, but are also at a loss because diverticulitis is rare
in men in their 30s, much less dealing with an athlete whose
body is literally his livelihood.
When he felt the effects of it this time, Lesnar, who admits
he was probably around “85 or 90 percent” when he fought
Shane Carwin and Cain Velasquez, just couldn’t push any
further with Junior Dos Santos right around the corner.
“Diverticulitis is an illness that never goes away. It’s
something that I’ve dealt with since my first occurrence
and have been battling with it. It’s something that’s
in your colon for the rest of your life. I’ve been able
to maintain it to a point where it’s tolerable, but I was
able to go through two training camps, Shane Carwin and Cain
Velasquez, and made it through those camps without having a bout
or any symptoms,” Lesnar said.
“It just didn’t allow me to train the way I need to
train for a number one contender’s bout.”
An athlete and a competitor for almost his entire adult life,
Lesnar understands how to fight and work towards an ultimate
goal. Right now, however, it’s not a heavyweight fighter
standing in his way, or a wrestler trying to pin him to the mat.
It’s a disease that is robbing Lesnar of his dream to compete
in the UFC and fight the best fighters in the world, but he’s
not backing down from this challenge just like he won’t
back down from fighting anyone in the Octagon.
“I’m fighting a different fight here than having to
give up the fight on June 11. My health is number one, my family
is number one, and it was a hard decision. I’m choked up
about it,” Lesnar stated.
“I told my wife and everybody else around me about a week
ago I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired. We’ve
got to find a solution to this.”
Lesnar is still in discussions with his doctor on whether or
not they’ll opt for surgery or continue with the treatment
to deal with the diverticulitis. He says there’s no certain
timeline for the decision, but he’ll deal with it soon enough.
One thing Lesnar wanted to deal with right away on Thursday,
however, is getting the word out that despite a second go round
with diverticulitis, fans haven’t seen the last of him in
the Octagon.
Brock Lesnar the fighter is far from finished.
“I’m telling you one thing, I’m not retiring.
This isn’t the end of my fight career,” said Lesnar.
“This is something that I believe, and I have a strong faith,
there’s a solution to every problem. I’ve just got
to find the right solution to fix this problem. I love this sport
and I love what I do, this isn’t the end of Brock Lesnar.
This is a speed bump on the road, and trust me I’ve incurred
a lot of speed bumps throughout my career, and this is one of
them.
“I’m here to tell everybody, because I’ve been
here before, I want to state that this is not an end of my career.
Far from it.”
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
MMA
Diet: Alcohol
by Cameron Conaway
It’s much easier to rationalize reasons in favor of our
habits than it is to seek the truth that may discredit them.
It’s why we tune in to the biased-towards-our-view news
stations and shun others. It’s why we jump on fad diets
that, truth be told, are remarkably similar to how we already
eat. And, yes, it’s where much of our justification comes
for drinking alcohol: “I need time out with the guys”
or “I just need to unwind, it’s been a rough week.”
Through
their highlight reels, masterful performances, inspiring training
routines and confident interviews, MMA athletes often appear
superhuman. The truth is, however, they are flawed and human
like us. They struggle with temptations and choices and insecurities
like us. If The Ultimate Fighter taught us one thing, it’s
that MMA attracts diverse personalities. It exposed us to fighters
who have bachelor’s and even master’s degrees, who
drink too much, who miss family, who are emotionally unstable,
who do meditative yoga when others are socializing, who are artists,
who are fathers, who eat vegan while the team BBQ’s steak.
In regards to alcohol, especially in a culture of aggressive
masculinity, there’s a sort of unquestioned assumption that
it’s “just what you do.” While research has proven
that occasional and moderate alcohol consumption does have some
positive impacts on human health, it’s also proven quite
the opposite – especially in regards to athletes.
Some
believe wholeheartedly in the French Paradox – that the
comparatively low rate of heart disease despite heavy butter
and cream consumption is caused by the frequency with which the
French drink red wine. It has spawned research on red wine, and
a booming supplement market has grown for what is believed to
be the power health factor found in it: Resveratrol. Others accept
that there are healthy ingredients in many alcohol products –
barley and grapes for example – but point out that alcohol
is involved in half of fatal vehicle accidents in the US and
how heavy drinking damages the liver, heart and can increase
the chance of developing certain cancers. Some researchers have
shown that “moderate drinkers” a vague and relatively
undefined term, tend to have higher HDL levels (the “good”
cholesterol). While other researchers suggest that this could
be because those who are moderate drinkers tend to have a healthier
bodyweight, get more sleep and exercise more frequently than
do heavy drinkers. It’s estimated that alcohol has been
around for 10,000 years. This debate and counter debate, this
rationalizing and discrediting has probably been going for just
as long. To date, there are no real long-term studies on alcohol’s
impact on the heart. And the much-publicized short-time studies
have only shown the obvious: That consuming four or five drinks
throughout the week is better than getting tanked on Saturday
night then abstaining until the following weekend.
So,
in the wake of all this rises our thesis. How might alcohol impact
an MMA fighter?
(1)
Sleep. Alcohol reduces the quality of sleep. Sleep is perhaps
the most important (and overlooked) factor when it comes to the
body’s ability to recover from training.
(2)
Testosterone. Alcohol can lower testosterone and increase estrogen.
Testosterone’s benefits on muscle growth and recovery are
well-known.
(3)
Dehydration. Most MMA fighters already supplement with electrolytes
in order to replace those lost in sweat during training. Add
to this that alcohol can cause dehydration and now they’ll
need to incorporate yet another step to ensure proper hydration
levels.
(4)
Fat. Because alcohol doesn’t carry much nutritional benefit,
it is considered “empty calories.” At seven calories
per gram, an MMA athlete can quickly add worthless calories to
their diet.
(5)
Protein. Alcohol can negatively impact protein synthesis –
the body’s ability to use protein to grow and repair itself.
(6)
Vitamins and Minerals. Alcohol causes many vitamins and minerals
to drain rapidly. Even small drops in these substances may cause
a fighter in training to not recover as quickly, be able to train
as hard. It may even lower their immune response.
Source:
Sherdog
|
Judging
how big Zuffa’s new insurance policy is for fighters
By Zach
Arnold
Yesterday, ESPN ran the news on their TV ticker that Frankie
Edgar vs. Gray Maynard was postponed from UFC 130 due to both
men suffering injuries. However, the much larger news announced
yesterday was not covered on ESPN. It was covered in a UFC/Zuffa
conference call.
Here
is how Lorenzo Fertitta introduced the news yesterday on the
conference call:
“The
issue of accidental insurance for fighters has been an issue,
obviously, for a long time. Of course, fighters have always been
and are covered for anything that happens during an event or
during a fight. The complexity comes as far as providing insurance
for fighters when they’re not in a fight, during their training,
during time in-between and it’s unprecedented in the fact
that in combat sports this has actually never been done. About
three years ago, me & Dana sat down with the rest of our
executive and, essentially, came to the decision that we were
going to figure out how to do this, no matter what. And after
a long, exhausting process of going through insurance companies
and trying to be creative to figure out how we could put together
a structure that would insure these fighters, we’re finally
at a point where we’re happy to be able to announce that
starting June 1st all of the fighters that are under contract
with Zuffa, which would include all of the fighters on the UFC
roster as well as the Strikeforce roster, will be covered under
this plan. The coverage will also be available worldwide, so
not only will this cover the fighters that live in the United
States but will also cover the fighters from no matter where
you are, whether it be Brazil, Europe, Asia, Canada, no matter
where that be. In addition to that, Zuffa will pay 100% of the
premium so this is a complete benefit to our fighters, they don’t
have to cover out of pocket for any monthly fees or monthly dues
or anything of that nature and the coverage will be up to $50,000
per fighter per year. It will cover everything from physician
services, lab tests, emergency room, anesthetics, physical therapy,
anything that would involve any type of an accident. So, with
that, Dana you want to add anything else?
“And
like Lorenzo said, this is a huge deal for us. This is a huge
deal for us, this is a big milestone in the company. You know,
you always hear me talking about milestones and all the things
we’ve accomplished, we’ve been trying to figure this
one out since we started the company. To be here today announcing
that we can finally cover these fighters… and not just for
fights but for training, like Lorenzo said, it’s a big day
not only for this company but for combat sports in general. It’s
never been done. People have talked about it, people have attempted
to do it, it’s never been done and now it finally has and
it’s a proud moment for us.”
The
fallout
There’s
a lot to react to here in regards to this news. I’m sure
you have your own opinions and I sure want to hear them. I’ll
start off by asking you this question: Is this announcement a
big deal, little deal, or no deal at all?
My
answer: Solid deal.
(Our
friend, Keith Harris, disagrees: “It’s not really that
different from what WWE does, except UFC pays for injury insurance,
while WWE pays for the medical bills when their wrestlers need
surgery.”)
In
response to Keith, I would say the following: old-school wrestling
fans know how tough it is for wrestlers to get insurance. Three
words: Lloyd’s of London. Those policies got discontinued
for a reason.
As
for yesterday’s Zuffa insurance news, the first thought
that crossed my mind is that this is a smart union-busting move
by a company that should not want to see a fighter’s association
(like Rob Maysey’s MMAFA) crop up. My second thought is
that this keeps the pressure off of the organization in regards
to the classification status of fighters as independent contractors
as opposed to employees. The truth regarding any business ran
by the Fertitta family is that unions always play a big part
in their decision-making and their corporate bottom-line. Hell,
it’s been a big part of the narrative in regards to why
MMA hasn’t been legalized in the state of New York. (Ask
Robert Joyner about that.)
Speaking
of New York (like Eddie Goldman did yesterday), I can’t
help but think that a positive benefit from this insurance announcement
is that it will indirectly help Zuffa out in terms of PR in the
state. No longer can politicians argue that fighters do not have
insurance to cover accidents while under contract.
I
thought Dana White’s comments were most telling on the conference
call. When he was talking about others in the past promising
to give fighters health insurance and benefits, that clearly
was a shot at the IFL. Remember them? They were going to bring
some heft and momentum to the table in regards to financial security
for fighters. It didn’t pan out the way it was supposed
to (on paper).
Most
curious to me regarding this announcement yesterday was how it
was done. It was done using a standard, basic conference call
where a few people are allowed to call and listen in. You would
think that for such a big announcement that there would be a
big press conference to discuss what amounts to a major PR triumph.
Dana White talked about how Zuffa’s new insurance policy
is something that we haven’t seen in the world of combat
sports. If that’s the case, why not go full-bore with a
media splash? The announcement was done in a pretty low-key manner.
What
will be most interesting is to see how other fight promoters
react. Will they try to copy what Zuffa is doing here? If so,
good. We may find out later on down the road that the insurance
policies Zuffa has purchased for their contract fighters is not
too expensive or not too fancy. Fine. The bottom is that they
have now got the ball rolling here on an important business matter
and I would much rather have other promoters try to copy it in
some fashion than ignore the precedent being set here.
Source:
Fight Opinion
|
Sherdog
Prospect Watch: Yuri Villefort
by Rodolfo
Roman
When
fans think of superstars from other sports, larger-than-life
figures spring to mind. Yuri Villefort wants to be that kind
of torch bearer for mixed martial arts.
“My
goal is to be like the Pele or Muhammad Ali of MMA,” he
said.
Villefort,
who holds a brown belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, is preparing for
an upcoming fight in May in South Florida. Unbeaten in six professional
outings, he has gone the distance only once. Villefort last appeared
at an Action Fight League in June, when he submitted Jason Fitzhugh
with a second-round armbar at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and
Casino in Hollywood, Fla.
In
March, Villefort celebrated his 20th birthday. He cautioned future
foes not to let his age fool them.
“I
see people my age, and guys don’t know what to do,”
he said, “but fighting has taught me what I want in my life.”
Born
in Brasilia, Brazil, he was spoon fed martial arts. At age 5,
he began studying judo with his brother, Marcus, and those lessons
remain with him more than a decade later.
“I
did it until I was 12,” he said. “For kids, judo is
the best because it teaches self-respect and self-defense.”
Villefort
gravitated naturally to combat sports competition. His father,
BJJ black belt Francisco Silva, was a jiu-jitsu legend, reportedly
winning 300 fights. Villefort, who fights at 170 pounds, never
had the chance to see his father compete, as he retired at 40.
“I
saw pictures of my dad fighting,” he said. “They were
black and white pictures. The people of his generation have a
lot of stories.”
Villefort
briefly ventured into soccer before moving to Rio de Janeiro
to begin BJJ training at Brazilian Top Team. There, he and his
brothers trained for a time alongside former WEC middleweight
champion Paulo Filho and the Nogueira brothers, Antonio Rodrigo
and Antonio Rogerio. Villefort competed in amateur BJJ and boxing
as a teen.
Opportunity
knocked when his brother, Danillo Villefort, was invited by Rafael
Dias to train at American Top Team in Coconut Creek, Fla. --
a school headed by Ricardo Liborio. Invited by his brother to
join him, Villefort packed his bags at 16 and left for Florida.
He spent roughly four years at ATT before parting ways with the
gym in March. The split, according to Villefort, was amicable.
“I
wasn’t happy over there,” he said. “I grew up
there. I love everyone. I don’t have problems with anyone.
It’s kind of like I just got my own wings and flew like
a bird.”
Now,
he, his brother and other fighters rent a warehouse in nearby
Boca Raton, Fla., and train on their own.
“We
don’t have a team. It’s just us,” Villefort said.
“We pay to use the facility. We don’t fight for anyone.
The sport is changing. The teams are getting too big.”
In
addition, Villefort spars with former ATT teammates Jorge Santiago
and Gesias Cavalcante, along with former UFC light heavyweight
champion Rashad Evans. He thinks MMA is undergoing major changes.
“I
believe that the sport is going to be like boxing, where you
rent a facility, train for a couple weeks and then you fight,”
Villefort said. “It’s hard to train with a big group
of people. I believe that [this] is the future. The focus on
the training depends on you.”
At
the start of his fighting career, he pushed back against stronger
and more experienced opponents with sheer talent and will. Those
challenges have shaped him into one of the sport’s most
promising prospects in any weight class.
“All
my fights have been against guys that were stronger than me,”
Villefort said. “I fight guys who are in their late 20s
and 30s. I’m 15 times stronger than I was, so I can defend
if someone wants to take me down.”
“We
don’t fight for anyone. The sport is changing. The teams
are getting too big.”-- Villefort on his “team.”
Villefort
follows a rigorous training schedule six days a week. The 20-year-old
prospect trains twice a day on Mondays and Wednesdays and three
times a day on Tuesdays and Thursdays. He also adheres to a strict
diet.
“You
are what you eat, so I watch my food,” Villefort said. “I’m
restrictive with my foods.”
Confident
in both his striking and submission grappling, Villefort has
focused much of his effort on improving his wrestling. In a division
populated by accomplished wrestlers, it seems a wise decision.
“In
my division,” Villefort said, “you have to know wrestling.”
Backed
by hard work and considerable talent, Villefort only sees more
success in his future. He wants to reach the pinnacle of MMA
and compete in the UFC: “I hope to one day fight with the
best.”
Source:
Sherdog
|
Winning
Bellator Tourney, Jay Hieron Prepares to Take Ben Askren’s
Title
by Mick
Hammond
At times, Jay Hieron has seemed crestfallen. From promotions
closing to contract negotiations stalling, he’s seen his
share of things not going according to plan.
So it is with great pleasure that with his win over Rick Hawn
to claim this season’s Bellator welterweight tournament
this past weekend, things are on track, both inside and outside
the cage.
“Everything went according to plan,” Hieron told MMAWeekly.com.
“I planned to use a lot of kicks, use my footwork and angles,
and that’s what I did.”
The win did come with some cost.
“In that last round, he re-broke my nose,” said Hieron.
“The last fight I had three, four weeks ago, I broke my
nose and couldn’t even spar or have any kind of contact
going into the fight.
“(Hawn) hit me somewhere in the second round and it just
swelled up and I couldn’t breathe, and that’s why I
was grabbing my nose a lot. Other than that, I felt great, sharp
as ever.”
Feeling his performance was strong, Hieron was surprised that
he won the fight via split decision.
“I thought it was unanimous all the way around,” he
stated. “I knew I won, but like they say: never leave it
in the hands of the judges. I give him a slight advantage in
the third because he was more rested and I could hardly breathe
at all.
“I definitely won the first two rounds hands down. My output
was way more than his: punches, kicks, strikes, and I had a takedown
on him in the second. I would love to the see punch stat numbers;
I doubled his (output).”
Having won the tournament, Hieron now moves on to his next objective:
taking the Bellator welterweight title from Ben Askren.
“I can’t wait,” he exclaimed. “The tournament’s
been a grind and it’s definitely been hard to come off a
fight being injured and having to fight a few weeks after that,
but it’s made me that much more confident and mentally stronger
than before.
“Going into this next fight I’m coming in 100-percent
healthy and even that much sharper than I was my last few fights.”
With a few months before their title fight, Hieron is already
feeling he’s got a definite edge on the champion.
“He is a great wrestler, but that’s about it,”
said Hieron. “I’m not looking past anybody – he
is a tough dude – but I have a great game plan going in,
I’ll be well rested and ready to kick it into sixth or seventh
gear.
“Everything I’ve done has gotten me to this place,
and I’m going to make the best of it when I get there.”
After numerous issues delayed his assault on the top of the 170-pound
ranks, Hieron is finally on track and will continue full steam
ahead towards accomplishing his next goal.
“Thanks to Xtreme Couture and the fans for checking me out
and staying behind me when I was down and wasn’t fighting;
they gave me a lot of positive feedback,” he concluded.
“Look for me next time when I get my title shot.”
Source: MMA Weekly
|
The
Natural: A Retrospective
A
Retrospective
For
14 years, he embodied toughness, grit and smarts, a master strategist
and ultimate warrior all wrapped up in one. He was brilliant
and vicious, thoughtful and cruel. There could be no better ambassador
for the sport of mixed martial arts. On April 30, the man they
called “The Natural” walked off into the sunset in
front of more than 55,000 fans at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.
Couture’s
career spanned three decades and encompassed 30 professional
bouts, more than half (16) of them UFC title fights. He leaves
the sport with 16 wins inside the Octagon, trailing only fellow
UFC hall of famer Matt Hughes (18). Couture defeated seven former
UFC champions -- Vitor Belfort (twice), Maurice Smith, Kevin
Randleman, Chuck Liddell, Tito Ortiz, Tim Sylvia and Mark Coleman
-- and remains one of only two men, B.J. Penn being the other,
to win UFC titles in two weight classes.
As
the 47-year-old legend turns over a new leaf in retirement, Sherdog.com
staff members and contributors weigh in on their most vivid memories,
reflections and appraisals of Couture’s trials, triumphs
and importance to MMA.
Cameron
Conaway: In the history of combat sport, no athlete has defied
age as consistently or on as large a scale as Randy Couture.
There has been talk of how the UFC will replace him. It won’t.
There will be talk of how his record will tarnish his impact.
It can’t. Like any great artist, Randy leaves behind his
body of work. We owe it to ourselves and to the future of MMA
to remember it, share it and continue to use it for inspiration
Todd
Martin: The fight that established Couture’s legacy to me
was the first bout with Chuck Liddell. Liddell was riding the
long winning streak, and Couture appeared to be a spent force.
When Couture turned the tables on Liddell with a shockingly dominant
win, it taught the MMA world that Couture could never be counted
out. That theme defined the rest of his career.
Rob
Fitzpatrick: I remember the raucous laughter as we watched him
control “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy,” taking him
down several pegs with their bout at UFC 44. Randy always had
such class and pride, win or lose -- a man who, at his age, didn’t
have to prove anything, but did it anyway. To this day, my mother,
back home in the UK, only knows Randy in MMA. “Such a nice
man,” she would say, “if it wasn’t for those ears!”
Chris
Nelson: Even as countless others copped his dirty-boxing, wrestle-grinding
style through the years, one thing became apparent: we’ll
never see another fighter quite like Randy Couture. His pure
talent and physical ability, his accomplishments and particularly
his longevity in the sport combined to form a career which, while
never flashy or ostentatious, was nonetheless magnificent. Of
the 30 fights Couture leaves us with, it’s almost impossible
to isolate a single great moment, but I’ll say this: my
heart has never pounded while watching one person try to hold
another down for 25 minutes as it did when “The Natural”
came out of retirement to beat Tim Sylvia for his third UFC heavyweight
title.
Freddie
DeFreitas: When I first came aboard at Sherdog.com, I had the
pleasurable task of creating many of the fighter highlight videos
the site had become widely been known for hosting. When it finally
came time for Randy’s turn to be immortalized on the Web,
Joe Rogan was busy singing the praises of our beloved “Captain
America,” so naturally, we ran with it. Couture’s film
was the first to feature a hand-drawn comic in the vein of the
Marvel superhero -- and last to ever grace the pages of Sherdog.com.
Jason
Probst: There will never be another Randy Couture, which makes
his departure from the sport all the more meaningful. Randy wasn’t
just a longshot entry into the game; he was a 34-year-old wrestler
when he faced the then-unbeaten Vitor Belfort in 1997. He was
pretty much seen as fodder and dumped that premise on its head,
along with Belfort, in a great fight. In addition to popularizing
the effective techniques of dirty boxing, Couture also inspired
in ways that made his fights can’t-miss propositions. Throw
in his masterful showings against Tim Sylvia and Gabriel Gonzaga
and a very credible performance in defeat against a much bigger
Brock Lesnar, and that pretty much defines Couture. Like George
Foreman did in boxing, he probably will inspire a lot of people
to keep going well into their 40s, though it’s doubtful
a fraction can accomplish what he did.
Ryan
O’Leary: I thought Couture’s coming out of retirement
to fight Tim Sylvia was a bad idea, a desperate and money-grabbing
opportunity for the UFC and Randy. “The Natural” did
look sharp in “Pros vs. Joes” versus former high-school
jocks, but coming off a knockout loss to “The Iceman”
at light heavyweight didn’t seem like the proper stepping
stone to a heavyweight title shot a year later. Prepared for
a Couture beatdown, I have never jumped off the couch so fast
or high as when Randy dropped the giant with his big right hand.
When the wrestler took Sylvia’s back shortly after, it just
reminded me again that there are no scripts in MMA and anything
is possible, especially when “Captain America” is fighting.
Lutfi
Sariahmed: Couture’s legacy is twofold. One part of this
is about what he did in the cage. It’s about his stepping
up as an underdog time and again. It’s about his trilogy
with Liddell and beyond. But it’s also about what Couture
did outside of the cage. The impact he made outside the cage
has yet to be truly felt. He’s the first fighter to really
march to his own drum, going so far as to challenge the UFC to
become more independent as a fighter. His rise outside of the
cage has helped and will only continue to help the development
of fighters as individual brands, as opposed to just pieces underneath
the Zuffa banner. For all Couture has done in the cage, it may
be what he ends up doing outside the cage for other fighters
that could be his biggest accomplishment.
Chris
Foster: A 40-year-old just taking on fighters such as Tito Ortiz,
Chuck Liddell and Vitor Belfort is amazing. Beating them is what
made him a legend. Many times I picked against him in a fight,
only to be proven wrong once again. He’s a genuinely great
guy with a huge heart and well-respected. Legends never die.
Jack
Encarnacao: Randy Couture’s win over Tim Sylvia at UFC 68
was the most dramatic one-sided fight I’ve ever seen. I
watched it in a bar-stroke-arcade. People truly came unglued
when Couture slugged the heavyweight champ to the mat in the
first exchange and were counting down aloud the final seconds
of the fight. It’s easy to forget how badly people thought
Sylvia was going to hurt Couture in that fight. But just as the
film “Rocky Balboa” hit theatres, Couture was Sylvester
Stallone-esque in coming out of retirement to replicate his most
dominant performance against Chuck Liddell in 2003. He completely
silenced those who declared him shopworn, and his first post-fight
remark -- “Not bad for an old man” -- is impossible
to forget.
J.R.
Riddell: What I find most memorable about Randy’s career
is the willingness and desire he displayed in taking fights that
presented him with obstacles and challenges. Many fighters claim
that they want to challenge themselves, but who can argue that
Randy didn’t epitomize that notion throughout his fight
career? He chose to close out his career with a fight that presented
him with serious challenges. He knew that Lyoto Machida was lethal,
and his last battle was fueled by the desire to solve the Machida
puzzle. As if his record of opponents wasn’t enough, the
man has a work ethic that puts fighters half his age to shame.
Finally, I would be remiss in not calling out my respect for
this warrior as a fellow veteran. Before becoming known as “Captain
America,” Randy spent six years as a member of the 101st
Airborne Division. Bravo on a successful career as a warrior,
and I’ll look forward to watching you perform your roles
as an actor and fighters advocate.
Tristen
Critchfield: To me, Randy Couture was mixed martial arts’
most marketable hero -- sort of a John Wayne meets Rocky Balboa
come to life in the Octagon. While he didn’t always win,
“The Natural” was never afraid to challenge the odds.
Whether it was facing the giants (Tim Sylvia and Brock Lesnar),
attempting to solve a Rubik’s Cube (Lyoto Machida) or simply
sending a message (James Toney and Tito Ortiz), Couture always
did what he did with dignity and professionalism. His 19-11 record
isn’t the stuff of legend, but his impact on the sport transcends
wins and losses. In retirement, I expect more of the same, with
Couture serving as MMA’s ultimate ambassador, all while
eventually making 50 look like the new 30.
Wojek
Rysiewski: Randy Couture had many great moments in his 14-year
career, from his upset victory over a young Vitor Belfort and
five-round war with Pedro Rizzo to his memorable trilogy with
Chuck Liddell. However, what impressed me the most was his 2007
heavyweight run. At 43-years old, a natural light heavyweight
was able to completely dominate two Top 5 heavyweights and claim
the number two spot in the world. By beating Sylvia and Gonzaga,
Couture defied the casual perception that size is the essential
aspect of the sport and proved that technique, speed and intelligence
are equally, if not more, important.
Bobbie
Clark: The most impressive thing about Randy Couture's career
isn’t his longevity, masterful game plans or intense training
regimen. It’s his mastery of the Jedi mind trick. Time and
time again, he fooled the general public into making him the
underdog. It started with Vitor Belfort at UFC 15 and ended with
Gabriel Gonzaga at UFC 74. Along the way, he employed this ancient
art to make it seem like he was a few steps behind in fights
against Pedro Rizzo, Tito Ortiz, Chuck Liddell and Tim Sylvia,
when he was actually several steps ahead. Randy Couture is the
Yoda of MMA. I only hope he has found a worthy Padawan to pass
along this tremendous gift.
Joe
Zigler: No one gave Couture a chance against Vitor Belfort or
Tim Sylvia. Couture’s wrestling and limited experience were
not going to be enough to match the natural talents and explosiveness
of “The Phenom,” and he was too old and one dimensional
to fight against the size and power of “The Maine-iac.”
In both cases, Couture came out and did what he became known
for. He proved everyone wrong. He was not supposed to get the
better of Belfort on the feet boxing in the clinch, and he wasn’t
supposed to drop Sylvia with his first punch. And he certainly
wasn’t supposed to compete professionally until he was 47
years old. But he did all three. Couture kept us guessing, he
kept us excited and he will forever stand as a legend of the
sport.
Traci
Ratzloff: I will never forget my first interview with Randy Couture,
almost a decade ago. I was so green and very nervous. Randy took
time out of his very busy schedule, on Valentine’s Day no
less, to speak with me over the phone for nearly an hour. His
gentle way helped a very young journalist relax and get her job
done. I will forever appreciate his sincerity, as well as the
level of athleticism and good sportsmanship he brought to the
fight game.
Joe
Ortiz: While Couture proved me wrong on a number of occasions,
the only one that truly stood out as remarkable to me was his
heavyweight title bout with Tim Sylvia. I remember having a couple
of friends over for the event, both of them casual fans who knew
who Randy was and what he had accomplished. They ultimately deferred
to me when I told them he was too old and too small to stand
much chance against the gigantic UFC champion. Within seconds
of the opening bell, I was made to look utterly foolish, as Couture
sent Sylvia crashing to the mat. My friends and I were too busy
screaming our heads off to care either way. We remained awed
by the performance through the entirety of the 25-minute bout
and for the rest of the night, as well, as we went to the local
watering hole to share drinks and reflect on what an old badass
Randy Couture was.
Brian
Knapp: Couture never took the easy way out. That tells you all
you need to know about the man. Never was that more evident than
in his final appearance, when he took on Lyoto Machida -- a brilliant
former champion in his prime. At 47, Couture could have bid farewell
against a far less dangerous opponent. Instead, he went out on
his shield. The MMA world can ask nothing more of its heroes.
The fighters who comprise the next generation would be wise to
follow in Couture’s footsteps.
Daniel
Archuleta: I have clear memories of Randy Couture that pop into
my head when I hear the icon’s name. One came at UFC 44
against Tito Ortiz, who at the time was my favorite fighter.
Late in the fifth and final round, Ortiz scrambled from underneath
Randy and maneuvered for a leg lock. “Captain America”
braced himself against the cage for leverage and showed the crowd
and referee “Big” John McCarthy that he was in no danger
by literally spanking Ortiz on the behind, much like he had done
during the entire fight. The theme of the pre-fight hoopla was
about the young gun Oritz, out to retire the old lion Couture.
How fitting the fight ended with Couture dominating the fight
and leaving Ortiz with a memory of a father putting his arrogant
son in his place.
Mick
Bower: At UFC 70, the boys and girls came out of the cupboard
to pack the M.E.N. Arena for the UFC’s European return.
A few celebs get flashed on the big screen and are greeted with
a ripple of applause; then Randy’s face comes up. He is
over on ambassadorial duties and suited up cageside. As one,
the crowd stands and goes nuts. A wave of goodwill laps around
the hall. This is by far the largest gathering of MMA fans in
the UK. For years, we lived on a subsistence diet of domestic
small hall offerings and traded VHS tapes. The giant tanned face
of Randy beams back at his children like a benevolent god. The
perfect moment is broken when a chant of “Randy! Randy!”
breaks out. The sight of thousands of my countrymen yelling “randy”
in unison (randy: British slang adjective meaning sexually excited
or aroused) changes the mood from the sublime to the ridiculous.
Rodolfo
Roman: Randy Couture exemplifies the heart of a champion. He
is the perfect role model for an upcoming mixed martial artist
or Average Joe. Despite any obstacle or outcome, Couture always
steps inside the Octagon ready to perform to a maximum level.
John
Evans: There is temptation to recount my most vivid Randy Couture
moment as occurring in the Port Columbus International Airport
at 7:23 a.m. on March 4, 2007. It involved some warm Diet Rockstar,
a screaming geek from Iowa still wearing his press pass and the
irony of Jeff Monson’s near-saintly patience with the Continental
Airlines counter staff. However, there’s a reason why Randy
Couture went on from the stigma of an Olympic alternate to become
arguably the most revered figure in MMA today, and that reason
has a lot to do with the universally euphoric atmosphere I witnessed
that March morning four years ago. The next chapter in the story
of Randy Couture might not be written in the cage, but it’s
going to be a good one. We’ll be doing this again.
Mike
Fridley: Couture shares a legacy with an elite and far more exclusive
group than his hall of fame or championship credentials are able
to boast. Nolan Ryan, George Blanda, Archie Moore, George Foreman
and Randy Couture: athletes that peaked professionally years
after their peers had faded away from active competition. Someday,
when your grandchildren see highlights of Jack Nicklaus taming
Augusta in his mid-40s, don’t forget to remind those young
whippersnappers that their grandpappy saw “The Natural”
perform superior feats in the Octagon’s early days.
Joe
Myers: When I think of Randy Couture, his nickname of “Captain
America” is the first thing that comes to mind. To a lot
of fans of mixed martial arts, myself included, he was just that:
a larger-than-life superhero who would defy the odds time after
time and prevail in the end. Couture fought at a high level long
past the time when most fighters have hung up their gloves, and
the best way I can sum up my feelings about “The Natural”
is to take a page from Joe Rogan’s quote book: “That
guy is my hero.”
Sam
Genovese: In the moments before Lyoto Machida channeled his inner-Steven
Seagal to flatten Randy Couture for -- hopefully -- the last
time, I was nervous. But as I watched Machida’s foot turn
Randy’s lights out, I felt a sense of relief. I felt relieved
because the knockout was a moment I never really wanted to come,
but when it did, it was not as painful as I thought it would
be. I had seen Randy get knocked out before and I had seen Randy
pick himself up off the canvas and continue on. I reminded myself
that Randy would, once more, pick himself up off the canvas and
continue on. I thought to myself, the knockout did not kill Randy.
It merely sent him on his way.
TJ
De Santis: Upon returning home after Couture’s UFC 49 win
over Vitor Belfort, I was fortunate to do an interview with Couture
-- in transit -- with my co-hosts Caleb Quinn and Mike Reilly
for InsideFighting.com’s “MMA Evolution.” During
the interview, we could hear sirens, but we kept going. It was
clear that the driver of the car was being pulled over. I could
hear the officer asking the driver questions. When we asked Randy
what was the matter, he responded, “There is apparently
a problem with the tint of my friend’s windows.” When
he said that, the officer must have noticed that Randy was on
the phone and said something along the lines of, “Sir, you
need to hang up the phone.” Randy kindly responded with,
“I’m sorry officer. I’m doing a radio interview.”
I don’t know if the patrolman recognized Randy or if it
was just the Couture smile and charm that made the difference.
Tony
Loiseleur: I was folding my laundry and watching UFC 44 a few
days after it happened. Hearing Mike Goldberg’s and Joe
Rogan’s genuine excitement for this old guy's round-by-round
domination of Tito Ortiz, a guy that my grappling teacher claimed
months earlier was the most dominant and “bad ass”
champion in the world, made me stop doing the laundry. The takedowns,
the dirty boxing and the incredible positional dominance were
one thing, but the spanking Grandpa Couture gave Ortiz in the
final moments sealed it for me. By the time the fight was over,
Rogan summed up my own feeling best by saying, “That guy
is my hero.” And he was. Randy Couture made me care about
wrestling, about cages and about MMA in a different way. For
someone who now works in and studies MMA for a living, that’s
no small feat.
Mike
Whitman: As a youngster, I was a big pro wrestling fan. Upon
watching UFC 13 for the first time, I instantly recognized the
Finnish hulk standing across from Couture as Ludwig Borga --
a real mean cat from the WWF who liked to jump off the top rope
and decapitate people with his tree-trunk thighs. Borga -- whose
real name was Tony Halme -- dwarfed Couture. Add to this the
promo that Halme cut leading up to the fight wherein he discussed
pulling off each of Couture’s limbs, and I honestly wasn’t
sure what would happen when “Big” John McCarthy told
them to get it on. Couture hit a double-leg instantly, and it
became clear that it was all over. With Halme on his back, Couture
landed some ground-and-pound before calmly transitioning to the
back and sinking a rear-naked choke. Maybe I like to look at
it through rose-colored glass, but to this day, I still think
that was the fastest double-leg I’ve ever seen. Though Couture
would go on to become a five-time champion and hall of famer,
his first fight is still the most special to me.
Tracey
Lesetar: The next time you watch Jet Li’s 2003 film “Cradle
2 the Grave,” make sure to look for Randy Couture in the
cagefighting scene. He is credited as “Fighter #8.”
For a moment in film history, he was cutting his teeth as an
on-screen MMA henchman. And this is how I will remember Randy
Couture; not just as a bellwether fighter in the MMA industry
but truly a jack of all trades and someone who was always reinventing
himself. From his military career in the 1980s to being an alternate
on the U.S. Olympic wrestling team and becoming a fledgling action
star, “The Natural” has shown us many faces. And as
the industry has evolved, we have most often found him at the
helm, aging and yet still defeating the many younger fighters
that were thrown at him. Now, at 47 years old, he has the most
UFC title reigns of anyone in the sport and was the first man
to hold UFC championship titles in two different weight divisions.
An entrepreneur, coach, champion and father, there is very little
that Randy Couture hasn’t done. He is a unique brand of
sportsman that comes along once or twice in a generation.
Mike
Sloan: There is one moment of his career that sticks out more
than the rest, and it came after he was battered and stopped
by Josh Barnett back at UFC 36. At the post-fight press conference,
Couture was so genuine and classy in defeat. He made no excuses
and explained exactly why he lost. He said he made a mistake
and Josh took advantage; Barnett was the better man that night.
While he spoke, Couture was obviously disappointed that he lost
his UFC heavyweight title, but he appeared genuinely happy for
Barnett to have become the UFC champion. Couture heaped a mountain
of praise onto Barnett and said, “If it’s time for
me to pass the torch onto to a younger fighter, I’m happy
to be giving it to a man like Josh Barnett. He deserves it, and
I’m sure he’ll carry on the tradition of being a great
champion for a long time” -- or something along those lines.
Never in my life have I ever witnessed a man take defeat with
such class, and right there, I knew that Couture, whether he
would win another title or not, was a one of a kind fighter and
man. His attitude after that loss spoke volumes of the type of
legend he’d eventually become.
Greg
Savage: Couture was one of the first big stars of our sport,
and his persona has grown so much since that May night in 1997
when he made his MMA debut as a spry 33-year-old. This was about
a year or so before I started covering the sport as a journalist,
and I was little more than a casual observer when he took to
the cage against Tony Halme. The big group of friends that had
gathered to watch UFC 13 were there to see local favorite David
“Tank” Abbott fight young phenom Vitor Belfort, but
it was “Randy from Oregon” who we all ended up rooting
for. He looked like he jumped off a logging truck right into
the Octagon. Couture was relentless in his attack and notched
a pair of wins to take home the UFC’s heavyweight tournament
championship. That same group of friends was on hand five months
later when “Randy from Oregon” jumped back into the
cage to face Belfort, who was 1997’s equivalent of Jon Jones
-- the unbeatable uber-champion. Couture grinded him into pebbles
and secured a title shot against heavyweight champion Maurice
Smith. And, in typical Couture fashion, he battled Smith tooth
and nail and earned a majority decision and his first of six
UFC titles. Little did I know that spring night that nearly 14
years later he would retire from the sport as one of the most
accomplished and well-loved competitors to have ever graced MMA’s
stage.
Jordan
Breen: It is unfair to sum up Randy Couture in a paragraph. His
fingerprints are everywhere in MMA. He taught us to reconsider
the impact of age in prizefighting and sports. He shed light
on the efficacy of clinch work and dirty boxing. In a sport where
“We’re gonna stand and bang” still passes for
preparation, Couture brought true depth to tactics, strategy
and game planning in MMA. He became a quintessential ambassador
for a sport desperate for one. He helped entrench the “anything
can happen” ethos of the MMA community with repeated upset
performances and remains a standard for multi-divisional success.
His first bout with Pedro Rizzo established the gold standard
for five-round wars. He even usurped the Bible itself in his
ability to popularize the adage “iron sharpens iron.”
And yet, he was hardly a lawfully good superhero: he butted heads
with Zuffa and the UFC in a way no star ever has publicly, left
RAW Team and Team Quest on less-than-ideal terms, had a string
of high-profile failed marriages and held on to his career too
long for many people’s liking. He’s a complicated and
difficult character study, and it is no surprise given how deeply
he’s embedded in modern MMA’s DNA.
Source:
Sherdog
|
Enson
Inoue’s Efforts To Help Japan
If
you did not have the chance to attend Enson and Egan Inoue’s
fundraiser for Japan, there is another way you can help his efforts.
Before you do anything else, please watch Enson’s Yamato
Damashii’s Diaries on MMA Fighting.com. Click on the link
below:
http://www.mmafighting.com/2011/05/12/yamato-damashii-diaries-video-wrapup/
Enson
documents his travels to tremendously damaged cities in Japan
where he helps by buying food, shoes, and other items for the
people in those cities. He really takes you to another level
by providing an intimate view of the children and people still
in shelters and the unbelievable damage that is still there.
He is funding the majority of the supplies out of his own pocket.
After watching this you can’t help but feel the need to
jump in do whatever you can to help. Enson has been personally
designing bracelets, rosaries and other custom items and using
the proceeds to help the people of Japan.
Please
take the time to check out this site because there is a lot of
very unique items on it. You can pick up a unique piece of jewelry
and provide much needed help to the devastated people of Japan.
http://www.stronginjapan.org/
Source:
MMA Fighting
|
Scrapplers
Fest Jiu Jitsu Tournament
Island School, Puhi, Kauai
(Right behind Kauai Community College)
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Kids
weights and brackets will be made that morning to make fairest
match ups!
White,
Blue belts and Beginner no gi (3 years and under) 131-under,
132-145, 146-159, 160-173, 174-187, 188-201, 202-215, 216-above
Purple-above belts and Advanced no gi (+3years)
159-below,
160-180, 181-201, 202-above
Also
having a 36 year old and above class for gi white belts and blue
belts!
***Not
advertised but Relson Gracie students get an additional $10 off
entry fees.***
Pre-Register
by May 20th and pay
kids/women-$40
Men-$60
Entry
fees on May 21st
kids/women-$50
Men-$70
Men
can add 36-above division to Men division only $10 more! Or just
compete in that division for the Men price
Weigh
ins at Scrappa Lifestylez store in Hanamaulu next to the post
office from 5pm-9pm on Friday May 20th.
Also,
tournament day weigh ins kids/adults till 9am!! And I mean 9am!
Kids
start at 10am
Adults start at 1230pm
Make
sure competitors are there at tournament site at least 1 1/2
hours before estimated times.
There
will be no food allowed in the gym. There will also be food and
drinks available there.
Also
no smoking on school grounds, and no one allowed on the school
playgrounds.
Spectators-
$5 for kids and $7 for adults.
Competitors
will receive competitor shirts while their size last!
Source: Pono Pananganan
|
ADCC
announces Zé Mario vs. Renzo and Royler vs. Bravo
The 2011 ADCC, coming up September in England, truly intends
to return to be the charming No-Gi tournament of old. Despite
slipping up before – notably in 2007 in New Jersey –,
the championship founded by Sheikh Tanoon looks good to go off
in 2011.
The
demonstration of force came in the wee hours today, with earth
shaking announcements made over Facebook: Zé Mario Sperry
will take on Renzo Gracie, while Royler Gracie will rematch Eddie
Bravo.
Well
known from his days fighting in Pride FC, Zé Mario has
been training at the academy of an old teammate of Renzo’s,
Roberto Gordo. The Carlson Gracie student won the 1998 and 1999
installments of the ADCC and won the absolute category at the
World Championship in 1998; while Renzo, another Pride FC star,
now in the UFC, won the No-Gi tournament in 1998 and 2000 and
was the champion of a 1993 “prototype” for the Brazilian
Nationals. How much weight will separate the two athletes? We’ll
let you know shortly.
Now
Renzo’s cousin, three-time ADCC champion Royler, will face
off with Eddie Bravo. The encounter has been the subject of a
lot of talk over the years, ever since the American’s unexpected
win in São Paulo at the excitement-packed ADCC 2003 event.
Eddie submitted Royler with a triangle, after which he lost to
Léo Vieira and then did not make it to the third-place
match.
Source:
Gracie Magazine
|
Royler:
“Lightning never strikes twice, nor kills the same horse”
by Marcelo
Dunlop
This
Wednesday in California Royler’s telephone was ringing off
the hook. “What a bomb, huh?” said the black belt with
a laugh, when he picked up a call from GRACIEMAG.com.
The
subject was, of course, the September ADCC tournament in England
and Royler’s supermatch against Eddie Bravo, the only man
to ever submit him in no-gi grappling, with a triangle that came
out of left field in the quarterfinals at ADCC 2003, in São
Paulo. Eddie’s next match saw him lose to Léo Vieira
by 15 to 0.
In
another supermatch, Renzo Gracie will face Zé Mario Sperry.
Now the ADCC superchampion-deciding bout is between Bráulio
Estima (2009's absolute champion) and Ronaldo Jacaré (winner
of 2009 superfight).
“Even
though he beat me, every now and again I catch word that Eddie
Bravo wants to go again,” said Royler. Perhaps Bravo wants
a sequel to prove it was no fluke. “So I’ll let him
have a rematch,” said the Gracie, jokingly.
The
match contract hasn’t been signed, but to Royler it’s
a done deal: “I spoke with Renzo yesterday and the folks
in Abu Dhabi really want to put together these two matchups,
so I feel it will go through. I’ve never been out of shape,
but it’s always nice to have a good reason to train hard;
it’s a match a lot of folks have been asking for and one
I’d like to do too.”
“I
didn’t talk to Renzo about his plans for training, but we’ll
discuss it; Renzo’s really strong right now, has been doing
those grueling training sessions he likes so much, so I don’t
think he’ll have too much difficulty, even if Zé
Mario may be heavier. Renzo is always charged up, always putting
himself to the test, so Zé Mario had best show up well
trained, otherwise he’ll be biting off more than he can
chew,” said Royler with excitement.
Now
about his match with Bravo, might Royler fear having another
lapse and getting blindsided with another submission? Royler
was quick to respond: “Lightning never strikes twice in
the same place, nor kills the same horse.”
Before
bidding farewell, Royler commented on Royce’s return to
the UFC. “I don’t know of any news; what we spoke about
in Toronto was a potential matchup between Royce and Matt Hughes,
but as Matt signed to fight Diego Sanchez, the idea was put on
the back burner. As far as I know, he won’t be fighting
in Rio,” the Gracie said in closing.
Source:
Gracie Magazine
|
Bellator
44 Preview: The Rundown
By Ray
Hui
Bellator middleweight champion Hector Lombard in action, and
Patricky "Pitbull" Freire vs. Michael Chandler in the
finals of the lightweight tournament, are the anchors for this
Saturday's Bellator 44 in Atlantic City.
With
two episodes remaining, the season four tournaments are winding
down while other bouts are potential qualifiers for next season's
tournaments in September.
After
the jump, let's take a look at five of the storylines heading
into Bellator 44.
The
Best Middleweight Outside of Zuffa?
Hector Lombard (28-2-1) could very well be the best 185-pounder
not under contract with the UFC or Strikeforce, which means Lombard,
along with lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez, will continue
to be talked about as "what ifs" as they stand as Bellator
champions outside of the UFC looking in.
Especially
with Lombard, we don't know how he stacks up since his biggest
wins in recent years have been against UFC castaways and there's
no change here as he heads into a non-title showdown against
the past-his-prime Falaniko
Vitale.
All
we know for the most part is that he's blowing past lesser competition
in convincing fashion. The American Top Team fighter clearly
possesses the tools, but once again, we're back to enjoying Lombard's
performances for what they are, exciting showings, and not necessarily
indicators of where he rests in the world middleweight standings.
Hawaiian
Connection
If there's ever a Hall of Fame for Hawaiian MMA, Falaniko Vitale (29-9) is a candidate,
if not a shoe-in. Vitale is approaching his eleventh year in
MMA competition and has been a major face in the local scene,
headlining the old SuperBrawl events and later IconSport. He's
had stints with UFC and Strikeforce and holds wins over Yushin
Okami, Dave Menne and Matt Lindland (though the win over Lindland
was from Lindland knocking himself out). On Saturday, Vitale
is looking at what could be his last moment in the national spotlight
in this nothing to lose and everything to gain fight against
Lombard.
Winner
Gets Eddie
Bellator's third lightweight tournament will come to an end with
Patricky "Pitbull" Freire (9-1) meeting Michael Chandler
(7-0) for a chance to challenge Eddie Alvarez for the lightweight
title at a later date and the $100,000 grand prize. Currently
out of Xtreme Couture, Chandler, a former collegiate wrestling
teammate of Strikeforce up-and-comer Tyron Woodley, has two wins
with Strikeforce and four under the Bellator banner. Freire joined
Bellator this season, quickly elevating himself within the promotion
with (T)KO wins over "Razor" Rob McCullough and Toby
Imada.
Season
Five Tournament Spots
Besides being the selling point of the promotion, tournaments
have been great for fighters trying to put their name on the
map and a fighter's stock can be raised even in elimination (as
Toby Imada has done with a string of submissions). Next season's
bantamweight and welterweight tournaments in particular are shaping
up to be ones to watch.
Already
slotted for the 135-lb. tournament are Bellator 145-lb. champ
Joe Warren, former WEC champ Chase Beebe, Brazilian prospect
Luis Alberto Nogueira, Shooto South American champ Eduardo Dantas
and for a spot Saturday is WEC vet Anthony Morrison vs. risk-taker
Bryan Goldsby.
Though
non-televised, Eddie Alvarez's training partner Sam Oropeza faces
a Giedrius Karavackas in a welterweight duel for a potential
spot in next season's tournament, expected to feature the newly
signed prospect, Douglas Lima.
Meanwhile
on the main card, the winner of Alexander Shlemenko vs. Brett
Cooper will join next season's middleweight tournament.
Two
More to Go
Season four of Bellator saw the promotion begin its three-year
deal with MTV2. While ratings haven't been exactly stellar, averaging
184,000 viewers per event, the promotion finally went live and
at a consistent time.
After
Saturday's event, the season finale of Bellator will take place
the following week on May 21 in Lake Charles, La., closing out
with Patricio "Freire" vs. Daniel Straus in the featherweight
final and Richard Hale vs. Christian M'Pumbu in the light heavyweight
final.
Bellator
44 Fight Card:
MTV
2 Bouts
Hector Lombard (28-2-1) vs. Falaniko Vitale (29-9)
Michael Chandler (7-0) vs. Patricky Pitbull (9-1)
Alexander Shlemenko (38-7) vs. Brett Cooper (12-5)
Anthony Morrison (17-10) vs. Bryan Goldsby (15-13)
Preliminary
Bouts
Sam Oropeza (4-1) vs. Giedrius Karavackas (4-1)
Jamall Johnson (2-1) vs. Randy Smith (11-8-1)
Jay Silva (6-4) vs. Gemiyale Adkins (6-1)
Jeff Lentz (6-3) vs. Anthony Leone (8-2)
Source:
MMA Fighting
|
Cordeiro:
No Miracles, But Shogun Will Improve
by Gleidson
Venga
Few
men know Mauricio “Shogun” Rua as well as Rafael Cordeiro.
Now that he has his star pupil back in the fold at Kings MMA
in California, Cordeiro has set out to shore up the holes that
were present in Rua’s one-sided defeat to Jon Jones at UFC
128 in March.
“He
entered the academy with his head held high, as a champion who
was looking for the path to regaining his title,” Cordeiro
told Sherdog.com. “The training here will make him stronger,
but we’re not a miracle house. We don’t do miracles.
This is a place where he’ll work hard, a place where he’ll
make sure he’ll never again fight like he did against Jones.
That’s the only guarantee we gave him.”
After
10 days of hard work, Shogun plans to head home to organize matters
before returning to the United States in the middle of the month.
Cordeiro vowed to help Rua evolve for his rematch against Forrest
Griffin at UFC 134 on Aug. 27 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Conversations
to bring Rua to Kings MMA, according to Cordeiro, began long
ago and picked up steam before he surrendered the light heavyweight
title to Jones at UFC 128.
“We’ve
been talking a long time about him joining Kings MMA. We talked
before the Jon Jones fight, but some family issues prevented
him from coming to the U.S.,” Cordeiro said. “Right
after UFC 128, Shogun decided to join us, and he has already
looked for places to live with his family, car, stuff like that
to spend the two and a half months of the camp.
“It
was easy to convince him because of our friendship and affection,”
he added.
“I
was his coach from the time he was a white belt until he was
a black belt. No one knows him as I do, and I can say there is
a lot we can add here to improve on his game.”
Colin
Foster contributed to this report.
Source:
Sherdog
|
UFC
130: Jorge Santiago is Back for Some Unfinished Business
by Erik
Fontanez
For Jorge Santiago, it’s the second time around in the UFC
when he makes his return to the organization for the first time
in five years at UFC 130: Rampage vs. Hamill. He will square
off against Brian Stann in Las Vegas.
The former American Top Team fighter spent time away from the
UFC to hone his craft in different places and with different
faces. In doing so, he’s set himself up to compete with
a new and restructured UFC; one that he views as different from
the UFC he knew during his first tenure.
All along, however, Santiago knew he’d be back in the UFC.
No matter how far the Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt traveled,
and no matter what drew his focus away since his departure from
the Zuffa-owned company, Jorge Santiago always knew he’d
be back.
Now, with a new team in Florida that includes Rashad Evans as
a training partner, Santiago has returned to take care of some
unfinished business.
“I left (the) UFC in 2006,” Santiago told MMAWeekly
Radio Weekend Edition. “I went to Japan, (got) more experience
fighting different guys. I always knew, one day, (I would get)
back to the UFC and finish the job I was doing there.”
For those who don’t know who Jorge Santiago is, do a quick
Google search and you’ll find out that the guy is the textbook
definition of a veteran. Not only has he fought in the UFC, but
stints in Strikeforce, King of the Cage and the now-defunct Bodog
Fight are written on Santiago’s resume as promotions he
has fought for previously.
Most recently, Santiago fought for Sengoku and successfully defended
the promotion’s middleweight title with a victory over Kazuo
Misaki. During his time with Sengoku, Santiago amassed a 7-1
record, spanning over two years. His only loss came against Mamid
Khalidov, whom he defeated in a rematch just five months later.
Wins for Santiago have come in all types; a mix of finishes.
Defining his style is difficult, even if coming straight from
the horse’s mouth. He’ll try to explain it, but it
all just comes down to one thing: being a versatile fighter.
“It’s kind of hard to explain my style,” he said.
“I’m a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, but the past
few years, I learned a lot of kickboxing and different kinds
of martial arts. So, it’s kind of (difficult) to say how
(my fight is going to be) and how I’m going to finish my
fight. If you see my record, you’re going to see knockouts
and submissions and TKOs. I consider myself a mixed martial artist.
I fight everywhere.
“I just try to take the chance and finish the fight. That’s
what I like.”
When thinking about his fight with Brian Stann, Santiago likes
his chances. He considers himself a fighter that enjoys a good
tradeoff of strikes, and with Stann, he’s confident that
he’ll get the opportunity to do just that.
He holds a certain amount of respect for the damage the former
WEC light heavyweight champion can inflict with a single strike,
but feels this fits his style as well as the right piece to a
puzzle.
“I think he has a lot of power,” Santiago said about
Stann, his UFC 130 opponent. “My game matches very well
when I fight with guys who like to come and bang.”
With standing and banging on the mind, Santiago proclaims he
will surely look for the finish come May 28 at the MGM Grand
Garden Arena.
“One thing I know for sure, this fight is not going to end
(in) decision. This fight is going to end in about the second
round or first round. That is (the truth). If not, my fans need
to know, I always fight to finish the fight. No matter how and
when, even the fifth round; the second, like, my last fight.
And Brian Stann likes the same thing, so, that’ll be fun.
You cannot blink.”
Source: MMA Weekly
|
UFC
130 card (5/28 MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas)
By Zach
Arnold
Dark matches/Spike TV bouts
Bantamweights:
Chris Cariaso vs. Michael McDonald (filling in for Kid Yamamoto)
Lightweights: Cody McKenzie vs. Bart Palaszewski
Middleweights: Kendall Grove vs. Tim Boetsch
Bantamweights: Renan Barao vs. Cole Escovedo
Bantamweights: Miguel Torres vs. Demetrious Johnson
Welterweights: Thiago Alves vs. Rick Story
Main card
Middleweights:
Brian Stann vs. Jorge Santiago
Heavyweights: Stefan Struve vs. Travis Browne
Heavyweights: Frank Mir vs. Roy Nelson
Light Heavyweights: Quinton “Rampage” Jackson vs. Matt
Hamill
Source: Fight Opinion
|
Shane
Carwin Quickly Accepts Opportunity to Put Himself Back in Contention
by Ken
Pishna
It is sometimes odd how the winds of change alter life.
Former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar felt the cold wisp
of the wind on Thursday as he had to drop out of his proposed
number one contenders bout with Junior dos Santos at UFC 131
in June. Lesnar is again battling diverticulitis.
He’ll have some tough medical decisions to make in the coming
days, weeks, and months, but he has declared he’s not giving
in without a fight, and plans to one day return to the Octagon.
Stepping in for him at UFC 131 in Vancouver is former UFC interim
heavyweight champion Shane Carwin.
“Junior is a serious fight and not the type of fight that
you would normally take on a 30 day notice, but I have a dream
to chase and I do not have a lot of time to chase it,” Carwin
wrote on his web site on Thursday. “This is an opportunity
to put myself in contention for the title. I know my coaches
will have me ready so I have everything to gain.”
Jason Genet, Carwin’s manager, told MMAWeekly.com that,
just as it would have been for Lesnar, a win by Carwin will earn
him a shot at current UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez.
Carwin has had to undergo his own battle, although not life threatening
like Lesnar’s, dealing with a problem called lactic acidosis.
It’s a condition that caused his body to basically start
to shut down during his fight with Lesnar at UFC 116 last summer.
Carwin has been working for months to make sure the problem doesn’t
recur, and believes he has it under control. He was already on
the card for UFC 131, expecting to take on Octagon newcomer Jon
Olav Einemo.
UFC president Dana White said on Thursday that they haven’t
yet addressed a new opponent for Einemo.
“My manager said, ‘This is where you belong,’”
Carwin wrote, “and I am going to make sure I do everything
I can to prove him right.”
“I hope Brock is able to recover,” he added. “I
look forward to facing him again one day.”
(Additional reporting by Damon Martin)
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Zuffa’s
Twitter policy is a matter of playing with fire
By Zach
Arnold
When the news broke yesterday that Zuffa (UFC/Strikeforce) would
start giving out bonuses to fighters if they increase their social
media footprint, my initial reaction was a mixed one. Then I
thought about ESPN’s infamous Twitter policy and how derided
it was by various sports writers/bloggers.
After
further review, I think Zuffa’s encouragement of fighters
increasing their social media footprint has more negatives than
positives.
I
realize what the realpolitik is as far as Zuffa’s business
calculation goes. Have a bunch of fighters go from being nobodies
to somebodies and from somebodies to stars by using the tools
at their disposal. And, should a fighter pull a Rashad Mendenhall
or a Reggie Bush and say something stupid, you can cut them.
However,
in order for that justification to work, you have to rely on
the following. You have to admit to yourself that fighters, in
a business full of testosterone, are willing & able to filter
themselves before pushing the ’send’ button on a Tweet.
You are relying on fighters to use their best judgment. In a
business full of horrific examples of really bad judgment, that
is a gamble. Second, let’s say a fighter says something
really stupid and reprehensible. What if it costs UFC a sponsor
or some sort of business deal? UFC can’t turn around and
cut a guy while saying they have no responsibility in the matter
because the fighter isn’t an employee. Well, by implementing
this new social media policy, Zuffa is encouraging their fighters
to use the power of the UFC/Strikeforce brands to build an online
footprint. Lorenzo Fertitta always talks about how it’s
most important to focus on brand-building as opposed to building
certain individuals because fighters come and go quickly.
In
order for Zuffa’s social media policy not to back fire,
they have to hope that the status quo remains. That MMA remains
a niche sport that’s popular but well enough below the mainstream
media’s radar that, should a fighter say something that’s
a slur or worse, anything negative flies under the radar. Remember
what Marcus Davis said about Dan Hardy and HIV/AIDS? Fighters
have a proclivity of saying really dumb things at times.
Predictions:
A lot more fighters are going to say dumb things on Twitter that
will cost them money as opposed to saying things that will make
them money. (In other words, I expect more fighters to get cut
because of the dumb remarks they say than those who get bonuses
for increasing the amount of followers they have.)
Do
I think Zuffa is dumb in the calculation they’ve made here?
No, but it is a risk and you cannot deny it. I understand that
Dana White says outrageous things all the time online and gets
away with it. Furthermore, because he says the things he says,
it’s almost as if people just get so immune to it that they
tune it out as white noise whereas if another major sports figure
had said the same remarks that he has in the past, they’d
be in hot water. If I was a betting man, I wouldn’t bet
on the ‘immunization logic’ as sound logic for the
long haul.
People
want MMA to get mainstream media coverage. There are others who
love to get mainstream-level type of coverage without having
to endure any sort of scrutiny. You have to be careful what you
wish for. Look at some of the headlines lately being generated:
UFC’s Chael Sonnen suspended in CA for perjury & money
laundering , Matt Lindland getting sued over marijuana claims
and now another lawsuit involving a fight over the Team Quest
name with Dan Henderson, Matt Hughes allegedly getting into an
altercation at a bar, and TMZ running with the headline of “you
JACKED my brother’s remains!’
Don’t
get me wrong — I think Zuffa’s intentions with this
new social media policy are well-meaning. However, history and
human nature in this industry suggest that the company is asking
for trouble here.
Source:
Fight Opinion
|
Rafael
dos Anjos ready for a Jiu-Jitsu clash with Sotiropoulos
By Guilherme
Cruz
The
BJJ black belt Rafael dos Anjos is glad to be chosen to fight
in UFC 132, especially since he’s fighting a guy who likes
to do the ground game, George Sotiropoulos. On an exclusive interview
with TATAME, the novice of Roberto Gordo analyzed the bout and
affirmed to be go and to prove he’s better on the gentle
art, talked about his healing process after a jaw surgery and
analyzed the busy lightweight division, believing that Gilbert
Melendez, Strikeforce’s champion on the same weight class,
couldn’t keep the same success against UFC fighters.
How
are the trainings on your return to UFC?
The
trains are hard, I’m training for three months now. I was
guessing I would have a bout scheduled around July, August…
I’ve been training hard for a while, and now I just have
to train harder and then slow it down a month before the bout.
How
was the healing process of your jaw surgery?
It
was pretty complicated, man. I’ve been through much, but
with God’s help everything finally worked out, I’m
fully recovered and I’m confident. My chin’s harder
than before.
What
do you hope of this bout with Sotoropoulos, who’s a tough
guy on the ground, like you are?
I
guess that all of us who hold a black belt on our waist enjoy
fighting on the ground. Until today, all my opponents in UFC
tried to escape from the ground game, so I’m thrilled because
I’ll fight a guy who’ll like to go there and fight
me, like he does in all his fights. I’ve been training Jiu-Jitsu
a lot with my master Gordo, training a lot with the guys at Evolve’s
gym, and I believe I have all weapons in my hand to win this
fight and comeback even better… Coming back beating up a
respected name on the event will be a great deal for me.
The
only guy who didn’t try to run away from fighting you on
the gorund was Terry Etim, who was then submitted…
Yeah,
that’s true… He has a good guillotine choke, but I
was better that day.
What
did you think of Sotoripoulos last bout, on which he was defeated
by Dennis Siver? Could you see some holes on his game?
He
knows good Jiu-Jitsu, he has a good conditioning and good Boxing
skills. He doesn’t use his legs to kick much… His Wrestling
ain’t that good either, so I have to work harder on that
part, focus on his flaws and train it really hard.
All
Brazilian fighters wanted fight in UFC Rio. Were you upset to
be left off this event’s card?
No.
I’m in UFC 132. What I wanted was to fight. The way I think,
it’s not that I’m off UFC Rio, but I’m in another
event. I wasn’t upset, I wasn’t anything. I’m
just thrilled to fight again.
There
would be a title fight between Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard,
but both athletes got injured… Do you think it’ll make
the division even busier, since it already was the most crowded
weight class in UFC?
Yeah,
man. It did. The guys had that rematch, their third fight…
So I guess it’s busier now, and I’ll take longer now
for the guys who are there, on the line for a title shot, but
that’s good too. There’s too many people on this weight
division, there’re many hired guys who UFC will be able
to test, there’re the guys who came from WEC. So that delay
for the belt dispute will have UFC plenty time to test other
guys… I guess they’re doing like a qualifier, and for
now they’re testing the guys and letting people go because
there’s too many fighters on the division.
And
now they’ve bought Strikeforce, and there’s already
some people asking for a bout between Frankie Edgar and Gilbert
Melendez…
Yeah.
They got it all. It’s UFC evolution, they’re much bigger
than the others MMA events. It’s like that: you can beat
them, so join them.
Do
you believe Melendez may have a chance on a title shot in UFC,
against names like Edgar, Maynard or Anthony Pettis?
I
don’t believe so. But in MMA it’s hard to predict…
It’s a sport that it’s not hard for you to be defeated.
On a bout, there are things that happen, like a slightest detail,
and just like that you can be beaten down. Even if you are way
better than the other guy, it’s not guaranteed you’ll
win. You can be doing just fine on a bout, but then you were
hit by a punch and everything changes… You can break your
jaw, like I did… It’s a complicated sport, but, if
everything goes like it should, with no surprises, I’d say
he has no chances standing side by side with UFC guys.
You’ve
spent some time in Singapore while you were on the healing process
from your broken jaw. How is your evolution on the stand-up game?
Do you intend to go there before this fight again?
No…
I went to Singapore to get completely healed, I needed that break.
I trained Muay Thai got the last month and a half that I was
there. I was getting over with my healing process, in vacations
with my family too. I can’t go there before this fight,
especially because it’ll be in Las Vegas, and it’s
a completely different time, weather, everything… So I have
to stay here.
Source:
Tatame
|
Loretta
Hunt: UFC has created a climate of fear that has killed real
reporting
By Zach
Arnold
I was listening to a few different audio interviews the past
couple of days and one interview stuck out to me. It was an interview
that Loretta Hunt did with Sportstown Chicago about the politics
of MMA writing. To set the stage for the quotes you will read
from that conversation, here is how the interview played out.
Loretta was asked to give her thoughts about what Randy Couture’s
future looks like now that he has retired from active competition.
The hosts obviously asked her about this because she worked with
Randy Couture on his book, Becoming the Natural: My Life In and
Out of the Cage. She talked about the fact that she ended up
watching the fight on a television at a bar in Anaheim after
spending time at a comic book convention/meeting of sorts. This
obviously led to the segue about her not being at the UFC event
in Toronto and media credentials.
“I
think with the media ban, you know, I think it’s becoming
aware now, slowly but surely that a lot of the media’s kind
of afraid to talk about this for fear that they’ll lose
their credentials as well and I guess I made the decision not
too long ago that I’m not just going to be quiet about it
any more, it’s not going to do anything to change the situation.
If people want to find out more about it, you know, I’ll
put the information out there so people can understand that there
is no valid reason that they’re denying me and others like
Josh Gross & Sherdog credentials, no matter what (Dana White)
says.
“A
couple of weeks ago he alluded to me and Josh (writing) some
dirty things in the past or whatever and there is nothing. I’d
love to hear what that is, you know, he said when he has the
time some day he’ll sit down and talk about it and I hope
he does because I obviously need to hear what it is that I did
that was so dirty. The rest of the MMA community remembers me
sitting in the press section with Josh many times and maybe a
couple more people and that was it covering the sport when no
one was really interested in it and I’ve always tried to
be as professional as I can and I guess I’ll just continue
to do that. So, there’s not much else I can do right now
other than speak honestly about what’s happening and try
& keep doing a professional job. I’m not just speaking
up for myself but I’m speaking up for other people, you
know, other smaller outlets and people that are just starting
out in this business. I don’t want people to invest all
this time in their lives into this sport as journalists, you
know, only to be silenced and made to feel intimidated to not
write what’s really going on. I want the history of this
sport to be documented truthfully, not what we’ve got going
on right now where people are just kind of afraid to talk about
things. It’s not what journalism is about. And it’s
not like this in any other sport.”
That
set the stage for discussion about Dana White’s remark from
a couple of weeks ago that media outlets need to be careful in
who they hire as far as who they send to UFC events.
(Remember
the situation with CBS Sports hiring Loretta Hunt only for UFC
to not credential her and CBS in returning not covering the Strikeforce
event in San Diego?)
“Well,
I think Josh Gross was hired by ESPN.com. I’ve been hired
by SI.com and others, The Los Angeles Times, and I do my books.
I think our body of work speaks for itself and there’s reasons
why these outlets have hired us, despite Dana White’s efforts
to not get us hired and make sure that we kind of just float
away in the sport and never come back. You know, for Dana to
say that ESPN and SI needs to be careful about who they hire,
you know, that’s… that’s an interesting remark
to make, you know, to top news sports outlets in the world that
have a super-stringent hiring process and, you know, pride themselves
on only hiring the best in each of the sports. So, um… you
know, but I don’t suspect this will be the last time he
says something like that.”
What
was addressed next is why Dana White is mad at her and Josh Gross.
Remember this Sherdog article about managers/agents getting credentials
(or not) backstage for UFC events? That was the article that
caused Dana White to flip out and do his infamous Youtube video
rant that drew tons of heat.
“I
think with me in particular, I wasn’t giving my opinion
when I wrote that story two years ago that got him all upset.
I was reporting fact. I was reporting facts based on numerous
on-and-off the record sourcing, so I haven’t even brought
my personal opinion not so much. I don’t really like to
write that way. In fact, it’s very rare that you’ll
see me write an opinion piece, it’s not something that I
do too much in the sport in the past. Maybe it’s something
that I’ll do in the future because I am being asked actually
for some opinion-based work. But, um… yeah, no, it’s
not even about writing opinions. It’s presenting the facts
of a story in a true and honest manner and I overwhelmingly did
that and I think we need to go back to that story that he freaked
out over. It bothered him so much and obviously it had something
to do with the content of the story, about him denying backstage
managers and picking who he gave credentials to and who he doesn’t.
Which, ironically, where are we experienced that in the sport
as well? We’re experiencing it IN THE MEDIA! So, it was
a very ironic story for me to write.
“But,
um, the managers came to me, a bunch of them came to me and they
were upset and they were fearful. They felt that not only, you
know, they would have to either take one of the corner men’s
credentials to get backstage with their fighters or they would
have to sit out, you know, and not go backstage and that worried
them on a whole level of reasons. And even a reason I didn’t
talk about too much in the article was, you know, how do you
think the fighter feels when their manager can’t get backstage?
So, they know now that Zuffa doesn’t like or Dana White
doesn’t like their manager, you know what I mean? It really
puts a strain, it can put a strain on the fighter and manager’s
relationship and I don’t think that necessarily is a great
thing, either, that comes out of this.
“But,
um, yeah, I want people to remember that I don’t go around
writing sensational stories or anything like that and I think
he’s trying to categorize me as that lately, I don’t
really know. But, you know, I see people saying, ’she’s
built her career on writing sensational stories.’ If you
guys look at my body of work and, at this point, I’ve written
I don’t even know how many articles I’ve written about
MMA, I never counted, I never thought I would be doing this for
10 years-plus but it’s got to be at least 3,000, maybe 4,000,
maybe 5,000. The majority of them are positive about this sport.
I was obviously a proponent of this sport very early on, so,
you know, I just find it kind of funny that, you know, I guess
people that have come into the sport recently and don’t
really understand and didn’t bother to read the article
or don’t care and that’s their prerogative, you know,
some people don’t want to get into the politics of this
sport and they just want to enjoy the fights. Believe me, if
I could do that, I would but, you know, in reality when Dana
White doesn’t want me to come to UFC events, you know, get
credentialed and he doesn’t allow me to come to Strikeforce
events, that effects my ability to make a living and that’s
what we’re getting down to.”
When
it comes to big MMA media sites writing controversial or heavy-hitting
stories, there are plenty of politics involved in what gets published
and what gets spiked.
(Ask
MMA Supremacy and Robert Joyner for more discussion about this
topic.)
Loretta
says the reason she is choosing to be more vocal about the politics
between Zuffa and the media is because people are afraid to discuss
it publicly in fear of losing their credentials and, in turn,
not being able to make a living covering the MMA industry.
“Yeah!
I’ve had people tell me! I’ve had people, you know,
my peers tell me. I’ve had outlets say to me, you know,
‘we’re just trying to fly under the radar so Dana doesn’t
get mad at us.’ Like, these are out major outlets and, you
know, like when Jeff Wagenheim did the story for SI.com, he did
a mailbag a couple of days later and when I talked to him about
the original story, I said, “Jeff, you know, they are media
that have told me that they’re afraid to write about this
media ban. Like, you’re being brave to do this.’ And
he was just like, oh, okay, like Jeff told me later, he said
he was like, “okay, Loretta,’ you know. But when he
wrote the story he said all these media people contacted him,
thanking him for writing the story but then saying they wouldn’t
dare write the story ourselves and he said, you know, ‘Loretta,
now I believe you, I believe there is some kind of ear and intimidation
going on in this sport.’ And it’s not just writers
afraid about to write about the media ban, there’s ton of
other subjects in the sport that could potentially ruffle Zuffa’s
feathers or not that media just don’t even touch, you know,
our sport, the media in the sport… there’s a lot of
stories out there that they could be hunting and when they tell
me, God, you know, thanks for doing that story, and it’s
been said to me, too, I can’t help but think there’s
people that are, media that are intimidated by Zuffa and the
UFC and particularly Dana White.”
Source:
Fight Opinion
|
Fistic
Medicine: Insuring Fighters
by Matt
Pitt
Health
insurers do their thinking with a calculator, summing risks and
costs. Until UFC Chairman and CEO Lorenzo Fertitta’s breathtaking
announcement of the UFC’s commitment to provide training-related
health insurance to its fighters, the math has been solidly against
mixed martial artists. The many positive attributes fighters
have as potential insures -- young, generally male, fit -- have
been wholly overshadowed by their massive career-dependent health
liability. Fighting for a living is a health insurance deal breaker.
Beyond
the risk of their job, several factors make MMA fighters almost
uniquely disadvantaged in finding health insurance in America.
MMA
is a new sport, and there are a vanishingly small number of professional
fighters. As a result, the health risk statistics associated
with MMA are based on perhaps 2,000 poorly documented work years;
for, firefighting the number of work years with which to build
statistical models is in the multi-millions.
Is
the risk of paralysis one in 100,000 or one in 160,000? Is there
a 0.03 per annum risk of biceps tendon rupture or a 0.11 percent
risk? Does a fighter go to the emergency room five times in a
career or 20? For firefighters -- another profession with high
work-related injury risk -- these numbers are known. For mixed
martial artists, they are not; that uncertainty represents hundreds
of thousands of dollars’ worth of exposure for an insurer.
MMA
fighters are independent contractors -- not employees -- and
are thus unable to purchase insurance as a group. Individually
purchased insurance is substantially more expensive than group
insurance. Widely disparate pay grades among fighters insure
divergent interests and needs regarding insurance coverage and
make collective labor action unlikely.
Neither
this column nor this website has hesitated to speak critically
of the actions of the world’s preeminent MMA organization,
but the UFC’s actions on Monday deserve the highest praise.
Without any apparent competition, political pressure or threats
of unionization on the horizon, the promotion is stepping in
to fill a gaping hole in the care of fighters.
A
well-known fact in combat sports holds that only a tiny fraction
of a fighter’s time is spent involved in competition. For
every minute in the ring, there are uncounted hours in the gym.
Although the minute-by-minute risk of injury is highest while
in competition, the greatest total risk to a fighter is incurred
while training. The various state athletic commissions have studiously
turned blind eyes to this reality. Fertitta and UFC President
Dana White have turned their attention to it.
By
giving fighters primary coverage for their most likely health
care needs -- injuries in competition and training -- it should
make it far easier and cheaper for fighters to buy limited insurance
plans to address non-traumatic healthcare costs.
The
$50,000 per anum coverage should be entirely sufficient for all
but the most catastrophic injuries. The vast majority of orthopedic
surgeries, rehabilitation regimens and emergency care falls under
this ceiling. Eye injuries, dental injuries and perhaps even
staph infections will be covered.
The
fact that the insurance is not limited solely to training-related
injuries is a necessary provision. The current state of affairs,
with fighters covered only for injuries sustained in the ring,
puts them in an untenable position.
Some
insurance policies for athletes -- and other high value performers,
such as actors -- include stipulations limiting risky behavior.
Per White, no such stipulations are attached to the UFC plan
and for good reason; there are few activities the average man
or woman is going to undertake more dangerous than mixed martial
arts. Skydiving is allowed. Health insurance companies love skydiving,
as injuries are uniformly either trivial or fatal, both of which
are cheap to cover.
Overs
years of speaking with ringside physicians, fighters, trainers
and other medical professionals interested in and involved with
MMA, one of the recurring themes I have encountered is how professional
the UFC is when dealing with the health of its fighters. The
UFC health insurance announcement is more than professional.
It is exactly what White described it as -- landmark.
Having
proved itself superior to boxing by the criteria of most fans,
the UFC has now set the bar for all of combat sports in the most
important metric of all -- the welfare of its fighters.
Matt
Pitt is a physician with degrees in biophysics and medicine.
He is board-certified in emergency medicine and has post-graduate
training in head injuries and multi-system trauma. To ask a question
that could be answered in a future article, email him at mpitt@sherdog.com.
Source:
Sherdog
|
Former
WEC Matchmaker Sean Shelby Takes Over Matchmaking for Strikeforce
by Damon
Martin
Business as usual has been the statement of Zuffa since purchasing
Strikeforce a couple of months back, but a few changes have taken
place within the organization, including the matchmaker position.
According to several MMAWeekly.com sources, former WEC matchmaker
Sean Shelby has now taken over the matchmaking duties at Strikeforce.
Shelby was the lead matchmaker at the WEC when the organization
merged with the UFC, where he was handling the matchmaking duties
for the smaller weight classes alongside longtime UFC matchmaker
Joe Silva.
Strikeforce had used a few different matchmakers over the years,
but primarily Bob Cook and Rich Chou handled those duties.
It appears as of now that both have been let go by Zuffa and
Shelby has stepped in to handle the job on a day-to-day basis.
Cook had been with Strikeforce for several years, but also handles
fighters out of the American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose,
Calif., and runs Zinkin Entertainment alongside DeWayne Zinkin,
managing fighters like Forrest Griffin, Cain Velasquez, and Jon
Fitch.
Rich Chou has worked for several different MMA promotions throughout
the years including time in the Hawaiian organization Rumble
on the Rock, as well as the now defunct EliteXC.
Shelby will now take over the matchmaking duties and has reportedly
been on the job already building the upcoming cards for Strikeforce
Challengers as well as planned Strikeforce events this summer.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
American
Samoa’s First MMA Event!
Last
Saturday night at the Maliu Mai Beach Resort, American Samoa
held its very first Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) event, called the
‘4:11 Combat Sports Challenge’ presented by Samoa Combat
Sports Inc. It featured bouts in Wrestling, Boxing and Mix Martial
Arts.
History
was made right here in the territory last Saturday night, as
American Samoa held its very first Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) event,
called the "4:11 Combat Sports Challenge" presented
by the Samoa Combat Sports Inc. at the Maliu Mai Beach Resort,
in front of a sellout crowd.
It
featured three bouts of Combat Wrestling, composed of six of
Oceania's top wrestlers, followed by four bouts of Combat Boxing
with eight of American Samoa's top boxers, and topping the evening
off, were four bouts of MMA fights, with some of American Samoa's
toughest fighters stepping into the ring to battle it out with
discipline, heart, determination and all around toughness.
Before
the show began, American Samoa's very own, MMA professional fighter
Deutsch Pu'u delivered the welcoming remarks for this historic
event. He told the crowd that these fighters were not professionals
but amateurs and the number one concern of the night was safety
and thanked everyone for showing their support for all of the
combatants.
Pu'u
also stated that if any young person wants to fight, they should
not do it in the streets, school, or anywhere else; but should
come on down to Booyaa gym in Leone and train for free and learn
what real fighting is all about with discipline and great training.
Pu'u
was the very first professional MMA fighter from American Samoa
to fight in an off island event, on April 22 this year. He won
his professional MMA fight within 22 seconds, during the Gladiator
(Hostile) Challenge in California. Currently, Pu'u is at this
time undefeated in his MMA career.
He
along with the president of the American Samoa Wrestling Association
(ASWA) Ethan Lake, were the two main driving forces that pushed
for this historic day to take place.
"We
had a great turn out, the crowd was very supportive and really
got into the action. These fighters trained really long and hard
for this day. They did very well and they should be proud of
themselves. We will be having another Combat Sports Challenge,
keep informed to Samoa News for the exact day and location. We
had no problems and everything went smoothly. At this time I
would like to thank the sponsors, Booyaa, Liquid Nitro, Off Da
Rock Tattoos, Sports Domain and CII," said Lake.
You
could see the intensity on each combatant, as they prepared themselves
mentally before they entered their arena of battle, as this was
the night that all of the hard disciplined work was put to the
test.
Samoa
News spoke with some of the fans, with one couple saying they
came all of the way from the East Side to watch the event and
were glad they did, saying the event was professionally done,
while another couple stated that they hope that MMA would continue
to have events like this, as long as they keep running them well.
The
first combatants to enter the ring to start the evening off,
were two 165 lb. wrestlers who were no strangers to each other
in one of the toughest sports known to man kind.
It
was the American Samoa High School Athletic Association (ASHSAA)
champion wrestler Bruce Scanlan, against one of the top wrestling
contenders, Ammon Autele. As they battled back and forth, it
was a tie at the end of the regulation bout, forcing it to go
into extra time - Autele took the win in the very first bout
of the night.
The
next wrestling bout was between two 189 pounders, Simanualii
Tuisamoa and Stephen Leasilagi. These two combatants were neck
and neck, until Tuisamoa caught Leasilagi in a three quarter
nelson late in final period, for the pin and win.
The
220 lb. wrestlers featured the Jr. Olympics and Oceania wrestler
Manu Sualevai going against Joseph Xavier Liukuey. Liukuey who
was a last minute substitute, had trouble early on against the
more experienced Sualevai, who was in control from the start.
The match was stopped in the second period, due to an injury
to Liukuey's shoulder, giving the win to Sualevai.
Next
up was some of the best boxers in American Samoa battling it
out. In the first match it was Wayne Gasolo of the Maliu Mai
Boxing club going against Kalepi Fata of the Henry Tavake Boxing
club, both weighing in at 135 lbs. These two boxers battled it
out until the very end, with Fata winning on a split decision.
The
next bout of boxing featured two 155 pounders, Sonny Asisiga
from the Tama Seugogo Boxing Club versus Lilo Mafulele of the
Tagiilima Boxing Club. Mafulele won this match in one of the
closest matches of the night, with both fighters trading punches
with pinpoint accuracy.
The
165 lb. weight class, showcased two of the more skilled fighters,
as Neru Maleisea of the Maliu Mai Boxing Club went up against
George Tanoa Jr. of the Henry Tavake Boxing Club. This fight
had Maleisea coming out strong in the first round, trying to
set the pace. But it was Tanoa Jr. who came back in the 2nd and
3rd rounds to take a unanimous decision win.
Next
up were two 175 pounders that featured Asomliu Vili of the Mr.
Lavalava Boxing Club, versus Junior Auomanu of the Tulolava Boxing
Club. These two heavy hitters battled to a split decision, with
Auomanu taking the win.
Last
up was what the crowd was waiting for and that was the MMA fights.
These fighters laid it all on the line and gave the fans what
they came to see.
The
first two combatants who weighed in at 210 lbs. was Roy Clemons
of Fagaalu, who was a judo expert, going against Josh Faamai
of Malaeloa, an MMA fighter.
The
first round had Clemons catching Faamai off guard, as Clemons
threw Faamai with some perfect judo throws. But in the end, it
was Faamai taking the win in a split decision, making Faamai
the first ever MMA winner in the first MMA event in American
Samoa.
In
the next fight, it was Tahiti Tuifatu taking a first round TKO
win against a valiant Sebastian Scanlan. Even though this fight
was one of the shorter fights of the evening, these two 210 lb.
warriors fought with the heart of gladiators, while showing good
sportsmanship after the fight.
Next
up was two 160 pounders, Tavake Fomai, an MMA fighter of Leone
against Jerry (The Marine) Tuitaumasania, another MMA fighter.
The ‘Marine' entertained the crowd with lightning quick
hands and good takedowns. Fomai showed quickness as well, but
it was the takedowns that gave the ‘Marine' an unanimous
decision win over Fomai.
The
main event fight was filled with what every fight fan wants to
see and that is heart, power and determination.
It
was Henry (Bad News) Wells of Faleniu going to battle with Able
Soliai aka Bad Boy of Asu. These two heavyweights clashed from
the very first bell to the last. The bigger Soliai moved well
for big man, while Wells relied mainly on his hand speed to try
and outbox Soliai. Soliai impressed the judges more with his
takedowns than the smaller Wells did with his boxing, with the
Bad Boy pulling out the split decision to win the last event
of the night.
Source: Wally Carvalho
|
MAN
UP & STAND UP
WAIPAHU FILCOM CENTER
SATURDAY MAY 28 2011
DOORS OPEN AT 6:00
ERIC EDWARDS210+BEN BOYCE
ELYJAH LAGAFUAINA200BRYSON DELACRUZ
EDDIE CENTIO130ANU REING-ABY
DONTEZ COLEMAN125NALU H.
NUI WHEELER145IKAIKA TAMPOS
JAMES STANFORD185MATT STONE
JESSIE LINDLEY185MILLER UALESEI
PAUL AUSTRIA130NEVADA HARRISON
DENNIS MONTEIRA130EVAN QUIZON
CHANCE CERO65KONA BOY
JONAH CARTER60KAMAKANI WAIALAE
NALU KAWAILIMA125DARRYL DANO
NICK RIVERA185MIKE MCNAAB
RYAN WATANABE170ROYCE EDRALIN
JOSH MAHUKA115KALAI KWAN
EUGENE ANGUAY125ELIAS VELASCO
JARON GUILLERMO100KEKOA KURITA
JACOB CARTER55KOA
BRYSON LUM150ANDREW QUIZON
JUSTIN FONOTE175SCOTT ENDO
JEFF LAGAMAN145KAI KUNITOMO
ITO SUALAAU185ALBERT NAPOLEON
CHRISTIAN BAUTISTA170WALTER WALKER
RICHARD BARNARD152SOLOMON AMADEO
ISAIAH PASCUA135TOFI MIKA
All matches & participants are subject to change.
Source: Derrick Bright
|
Chael
Sonnen: More Details Emerge About Indefinite Suspension and Hearing
by Erik
Fontanez
UFC middleweight and former title contender Chael Sonnen has
been placed under an indefinite suspension by the California
State Athletic Commission (CSAC), making him ineligible to obtain
a license to fight in the state of California. MMAWeekly.com
first reported the news on Tuesday.
The suspension comes two months after having completed his previously
reduced suspension for testosterone use, stemming from his Aug.
7 title bout against UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva.
CSAC Executive Director George Dodd, in speaking with MMAWeekly.com
on Tuesday, confirmed the two factors behind the current suspension:
Sonnen’s guilty plea for his money laundering case in Oregon,
and also the possibility of false testimony during the UFC fighter’s
hearing before the commission on Dec. 2, 2010, to appeal his
last suspension.
“What we’re going to be looking at is his testimony
(about) his discussion that he had with the Nevada State Athletic
Commission,” Dodd explained Wednesday morning. “Because
that could have led some of the commissioners to change or sway
their vote as far as… the testosterone use. So, we’re
going to look at that.”
Sonnen’s appeal of the indefinite suspension will take place
on May 18 from 9:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at the Ronald Reagan State
Office Building in Los Angeles.
“Karen Chappelle, who is a deputy district attorney general
for us, is going to be leading that case and she’s been
reviewing that,” added Dodd.
The indefinite suspension stretches to California borders only,
according to the executive director. It is up to the other states
to either abide by the suspension or choose to ignore it, but
most athletic commissions in the United States typically honor
other state’s suspensions.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Hardy-Lytle
Targeted for UFC Live 5 Main Card
by Mike Whitman
The UFC’s fifth live outing on cable network Versus will
feature a welterweight tilt between fan-favorite slugger Chris
Lytle and former title contender Dan Hardy.
Sherdog.com
confirmed the news with a source close to the negotiations on
Wednesday following an initial report from ESPN.com. UFC Live
5 will go down Aug. 14 at Bradley Center in Milwaukee and is
expected to feature a lightweight bout between contenders Jim
Miller and Benson Henderson.
Lytle
had a four-fight win streak halted by fellow veteran Brian Ebersole
on Feb. 27 in Australia. The 36-year-old began his professional
career in 1999 and started his most recent run with the UFC in
2006 following a stint on “The Ultimate Fighter” Season
4.
Known
for his willingness to stand and bang, Lytle has won “Fight
of the Night” honors on five separate occasions. Though
“Lights Out” has also competed as a pro boxer in the
past, the bulk of the veteran’s MMA wins have been earned
through grappling, as Lytle has posted 19 of his 30 career wins
via submission.
Never
one to shy away from a stand-up battle, Hardy is also known for
his willingness to trade on the feet. Since beginning his UFC
career in 2008 with four consecutive victories, the Brit has
hit the hardest skid of his career. The Team Rough House representative
was first turned away by welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre
in March 2010, and then knocked stiff on his home soil Carlos
Condit in October. Most recently, the 28-year-old was decisioned
by Anthony Johnson at UFC Fight Night 24 in March.
Source:
Sherdog
|
GSP’s
camp responds to criticism that he’s lost his killer instinct
to finish fights
By Zach
Arnold
On two separate radio shows yesterday, Firas Zahabi and Greg
Jackson responded to questions & criticism about Georges
St. Pierre’s performance against Jake Shields at UFC 129.
Whether
it was online or in the Toronto newspapers, the question that
a lot of fans, media, and some fighters (Ben Askren perhaps being
one) are asking is this: Has GSP lost his killer instinct to
seal the deal against opponents that he should finish off in
his Welterweight title defenses?
“He’s
just as sharp as he’s always been,” responded Mr. Zahabi
in an Monday interview with Mauro Ranallo. “You know, his
eye was injured, you could see it half-way through the third
round, there was a swipe at the eye from the right side to the
left side. It’s on the internet, the video’s on the
internet, it’s everywhere. I retweeted the video, somebody
sent it to me. It’s clear as day and when you fight with
one eye, your depth perception is very well altered.”
MMA
Weekly is reporting that St. Pierre suffered some bleeding in
the eye but not a detached retina, which is good news. As for
the fight against Shields, the injury played a big role in how
the rest of the fight played out and the kinds of punches he
started to throw.
“I
think it had a lot to do with why he was missing his shots,”
exclaimed Mr. Zahabi. “It was a little bit hard for him
to gauge, you know, the depth and I don’t want to make any
excuses. I mean, Jake looked phenomenal, he was better (than
he ever has been) and it was a great fight. But the fact of the
matter is, Georges did tell me several times he couldn’t
see out of his left eye and things were going really well for
him the first three rounds and even though he got a knockdown
in the fourth round, the good left high-kick to the head…
you know, he was still having trouble in that round until he
got that high kick.”
As
for why he didn’t jump on Shields after the high kick and
go for a finish on the ground?
“That’s
just textbook. when you stun a guy, you don’t jump on him.
You make space because when you jump on him, you create a clinch,
buying him time to recover. It’s textbook. In boxing, when
you stun a guy you’re supposed to check the guy, you’re
supposed to keep him at arms length and keep punching, keep working.
But, you know, he did the right thing. Let the guy get up, hurt
him again, put him back down, knock him back down, make space,
don’t let him get into a clinch. You don’t want to
get tied up on the ground with Jake Shields, that’s not
the way you’re going to knock him out, so. Georges was definitely
working for a knock out that night.”
In
an interview Monday with Jack Encarnacao, Greg Jackson discussed
the stand-up style of Jake Shields and said his open-handed stance
is similar to what you see in a street fight (he made the same
remark about Nick Diaz as well). He didn’t think that Jake’s
eye-poke of St. Pierre was intentional.
“Well,
it’s obviously a mistake, you’re not allowed to poke
each other in the eye and I don’t mean street fighting as
in like he was trying to poke Georges’ eye. When you open
your hands up, especially if you’re fighting somebody’s
bigger than you and they’re really launching a lot of power
shots at you it’s important to put something in the way,
like you can’t always just put your hand against your head
like you do in boxing because the force isn’t dispersed
in a large glove. So, a lot of times when you’re dealing
with stronger people and you’re fighting them, bigger people,
you have to really kind of put your hands in the way and your
arms in the way of their big shots and parry their big shots
so they don’t get clean shots on you because one shot can
end your night or your day. With the hands open like that, it’s
much more of like trying to anticipate the parry when punches
come and stuff. I think what happened is Jake didn’t think
and he threw a jab but his hand was still open, even though he
threw a jab. So, I don’t think Jake did it on purpose, I
know him pretty well and he’s a good guy and I don’t
think he would do that on purpose.”
The
Albuquerque trainer felt that GSP could finish the fight either
on the ground or standing up.
“I
felt like if we could do enough damage standing up and then some
good ground ‘n pound, Georges might have a good chance of
submitting him. He could also knock him out on his feet. We were
trying to finish but I think what threw us off of that whole
plan was Georges’ eye. When he got that eye poked and he
couldn’t see things happening, he just wasn’t himself,
you know what I mean? He had to really step up and be brave and
focus on staying calm & relaxed and just using that jab as
a range-finder and laying down that right hand to punch. But
I think at that point, Georges just wanted to make sure that
he didn’t get caught with something silly.”
Mr.
Zahabi said that he was happy with GSP’s fight performance
given the circumstances.
“He’s
a warrior, you know, he didn’t back down from the fight
at all. He kept engaging Shields. He could have ran around and
sat on the first three rounds and just played it safe, he could
have just kind of tied up with Jake. No, he kept striking, he
kept working for the knockout. He was very adamant about getting
it. You know, he saw that with the overhand right, you know how
many did he throw? And some of them, you know, a good few landed
and backed Shields up, but they just weren’t on the jaw,
they were a little too high and some just missed by an inch or
two. But he was going for it, Georges was going for it, so I’m
really happy with that.”
“If
you look at the guys Georges is fighting, all of the guys that
he’s fought, who’s finished these guys? Who’s
finished Jon Fitch? Who’s finished Jake Shields? Who’s
finished these guys? They’re hard to finish these guys,
man, they’re really high-caliber fighters and, just, people
don’t understand, it’s not always easy. I’m not
making excuses. All the coaches are working hard to get all our
fighters in our camp to finish, definitely. But it just, you
know, it’s just not easy.”
Source:
Fight Opinion
|
Bob
Reilly Questions Motives Behind Zuffa's Accident Insurance
By Ariel
Helwani
Mixed martial arts' most vocal critic in New York acknowledges
that Zuffa's new accident insurance for its fighters is a positive
move but won't go as far as saying it will help get MMA legalized
in the Empire State.
MMA
Fighting contacted Assemblyman Bob Reilly to discuss whether
Zuffa's new insurance policy could help pave the way for the
legalization of MMA in New York, and while he at first admitted
to not hearing the news, he offered -- for perhaps the first
time -- a compliment to the MMA promoters.
"I
certainly wouldn't disparage that," Reilly said. "I
think that's a good thing."
The
praise ended there, though, as Reilly quickly questioned the
motives behind the decision.
"What
immediately came to my mind was, What's the need for insurance?
Because advocates for MMA have been touting how safe this sport
is and that no one is ever injured, and in fact, the testimony
here is that the worst that ever happened was a broken arm. But
I don't think that insurance is going to do anything for the
very prevalent brain damage that fighters will suffer.
"I
think what MMA should be doing is, instead of providing insurance
for injuries, is to do away with injuries."
When
I explained to Reilly that the UFC fighters were already covered
for injuries suffered in fights and the new insurance would cover
injuries, suffered in or outside of the gym, while training or
not for an upcoming fight, Reilly added:
"It's
certainly not a bad thing that they provide this insurance, but
it really does little or nothing to solve the problem of what
will happen to fighters financially, of the physical damage done
to fighters or the fact that this violent sport begets violence
in our society. So it does nothing to address the systemic problems
of MMA.
"I
think it's a positive thing, but I don't think it's a positive
step. In the sense that it doesn't address the systemic problems
of MMA. But it's certainly not a negative thing."
Prior
to Monday's announcement, Zuffa provided a $100,000 policy to
each of its fighter to cover injuries sustained during a fight.
However, if a fighter injured themselves in training or at home,
they were not covered by this policy. As of June 1, though, Zuffa
will pay 100 percent insurance premiums for all its fighters
and will assign a full-time employee to work on claims.
The
insurance policy, which will be underwritten by Houston-based
specialty insurance group HCC Insurance Holdings, will offer
$50,000 to each fighter in worldwide, 24-hour medical-life insurance
and dental coverage, as well as emergency medical evacuation
to the fighters.
"Our
athletes are some of the very best in the world and we've committed
significant financial resources to provide them with insurance
that complements the gold standard we have set for event-related
coverage," UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta stated in a press release.
"We're pleased to provide coverage that enables our athletes
to seek and receive treatment for injuries sustained while preparing
for bouts."
Source:
MMA Fighting
|
Before
Worlds Blog hits the air, the bomb: Roger may be out
Readers praised it and implored to have it back – the GRACIEMAG
at the Worlds Blog returns this year and is set to drop on the
coming Monday, the 16th of May.
Prior
to launch day, though, reporter Ivan Trindade dropped a bomb
on GRACIEMAG.com: Roger Gracie’s presence on the mats in
Long Beach is less than certain.
“I’m
not sure if I’ll be able to compete this year yet,”
revealed the Gracie Barra athlete, from London.
“I
suffered a leg injury and have been out of training for five
weeks. I just started training again now. I’m already training
hard and doing my best to be 100% by the Worlds. If I’m
feeling well, I’ll fight for sure,” added the three-time
absolute world champion.
Get
ready for the GRACIEMAG Blog, with more exclusive news on the
Worlds.
Source:
Gracie Magazine
|
Brock
Lesnar Out of UFC 131 With Illness; Shane Carwin Steps Up
by Ken
Pishna
Former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar is on the sidelines
again with another bout with diverticulitis. UFC president Dana
White announced the news in a special announcement on Thursday
afternoon.
That means not only is he out of the proposed fight with Junior
dos Santos at UFC 131 in Vancouver, but he also has to make some
decisions about his future in the sport.
“Brock spent all day yesterday at the Mayo Clinic,”
said White. “He’s got some choices to make in a couple
of weeks, whether to fight this thing and continue fighting or
not.
“Junior dos Santos will fight Shane Carwin instead of Brock
Lesnar.”
Lesnar, however, has already made one decision, despite what
White says.
“This isn’t the end of my fight career. I believe there’s
a solution to every problem,” Lesnar stated. “I just
have to find the right solution to fix this problem.
“This isn’t the end of Brock Lesnar.”
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Mike
Dolce Not Working With Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson for UFC 130
By Ariel
Helwani
Mike Dolce, one of the key members of Team Quinton "Rampage"
Jackson for the last couple of years, has not been helping Jackson
prepare for his UFC 130 fight against Matt Hamill.
Dolce,
a fighter who was a cast member on the seventh season of The
Ultimate Fighter but has gained notoriety as of late for his
work as a nutritionist and strength and conditioning coach, had
been working closely with Jackson since his UFC 92 fight against
Wanderlei Silva.
The
pair didn't have a falling out, however, Dolce was just already
booked to work with Thiago Alves for his fight against Rick Story
at the same event.
"Business-wise,
it's a great problem," Dolce said on Monday's episode of
The MMA Hour, "but as a friend, emotionally, it's really
hard for me. I had a really tough time with that. I felt like
I was leaving my friend; I was leaving my team behind in moving
on with my professional responsibilities."
Dolce
said he asked Jackson if he had any fight plans coming up prior
to agreeing to work with Alves for this event. At the time, Jackson
said he was only planning on fighting again in the summer and
gave Dolce his blessing to work with someone else for UFC 130.
"What
he's doing for this fight with Matt Hammil, I'm out of that picture
right now because I'm here with Thiago for the last month or
so. But [Jackson] is a different guy. You know, Quinton was winning
in PRIDE on McDonald's, he was eating McDonald's twice a day
in PRIDE when he fought Wanderlei in those fights. When he beat
Chuck [LIddell] he was living off fast food and Subway, Wendy's
and Sonic.
"So
you can never count Quinton out, he's just such a talent. But
at the same time, I would love to be there. I think I bring some
things to the table, and I can help bring out that championship
performance out of him."
Dolce,
who holds an MMA record of 4-10, lives with his client to help
them prepare for a fight, which would have made it impossible
for him to work with both Alves and Jackson at the same time.
"With
Quinton, it's a little harder to have that constant communication.
He's a big star and he has a lot of people around him and sometimes
it's hard to get him to look me in the eye, let's say, and really
have that coach/athlete discussion. So I kind of handed off that
responsibility to some people that can be on the ground with
him and deal with him on a 24-hour basis."
Jackson
turned down an opportunity to fight Shogun Rua for the light
heavyweight title on six weeks' notice after Rashad Evans withdrew
from the fight due to a knee injury. Instead, Jon Jones stepped
in and, well, you know how that went. Jackson cited poor timing
and his weight for turning down the fight.
The
former UFC light heavyweight champion has been known to gain
weight between fights, which is why Dolce had been such a key
member of his team.
But
there are no hard feelings between the two, and Dolce expects
to be working with Jackson again the next time he fights.
"I
love the guy. He's one of my best friends in the whole wide world.
We have a very strong bond."
Source:
MMA Fighting
|
Popovitch
to train with Sheikh Tahnoon, but first stirs the pot of controversy
by Marcelo
Dunlop
Following some trying times, fortune has begun to smile on our
GMA Pablo Popovitch (Avengers team), a Rio-born Jiu-Jitsu teacher
living in Florida.
After
losing his mother and his Teresopolis home with everything in
it in January, the 31-year-old black belt was invited to bolster
the training sessions of another stalwart Jiu-Jitsu stylist:
none other than Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed, a three-stripe black
belt – and the prince of Abu Dhabi.
The
invitation came after Pablo himself made the cover of GRACIEMAG.
He is currently hard at work training to defend his ADCC 2011
title, not to mention an unbeaten streak dating back four years.
So
what is it Popovitch is grumbling about? Well, after watching
some footage from the 2011 World Pro, there were a few issues
that caught the teacher’s attention, and he took it upon
himself to share them with GRACIEMAG.com readers.
“Our
training camp at Avengers in Florida is underway already, with
a number of our students who have been standing out lately participating
– like my black belt Vagner Rocha, who took third at the
Abu Dhabi No-Gi Pro at both weight and open weight, losing both
by referee decision. What I’ve been noticing is that the
Gi game is based mostly on grips, strength and weight, with a
lot of wins coming by way of a single advantage point and sneakiness,”
Pablo told GRACIEMAG.com.
“The
champion, Rodolfo Vieira, really does have a tight pass game
in the gi. Without the gi, in my opinion, it’s another story:
I see the weaker fighter fighting on even terms – and with
greater chances of using technique to win. Such was the case
with Vagner, who lost to Rodolfo in a fight a lot of folks felt
he won. And Vagner only weighs 77kg (170 lbs). The same deal
with Rafael Mendes, who lost by judges’ decision. No-Gi,
in my eyes, annuls the grip game, evening the playing field when
there’s a big weight difference involved. That’s my
opinion.”
Source:
Gracie Magazine
|
Former
WEC Champ Mike Brown Meets Nam Phan at UFC 133 in Philadelphia
Former WEC featherweight champion Mike Brown will look to bounce
back from recent loss
es when he faces former ‘Ultimate Fighter’ competitor
Nam Phan at UFC 133 in Philadelphia.
The bout was announced by the UFC on Wednesday.
Mike Brown (24-8) has been having a bit of a rough time since
losing his WEC title to Jose Aldo in 2009.
Since that fight, Brown has gone 2-3 overall and suffered back-to-back
losses in his most recent fights. The American Top Team fighter
has been super active as well however over the last several months,
so with some time off a rejuvenated Mike Brown will return in
August to face Phan in Philadelphia.
Nam Phan (16-8) didn’t have the UFC debut he was hoping
for because he lost a very controversial decision to Leonard
Garcia last December. Phan was set to return in March in a rematch
with Garcia, but a late training injury forced him out of the
bout and back to the sidelines.
Now that he’s healthy, Phan will bounce back against Brown
in Philadelphia as a part of the UFC 133 undercard in August.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
UFC
131 in Vancouver to Feature Video Monitors for Judges
by Mike
Whitman
Judges
at UFC 131 will have video monitors at their disposal come fight
time.
Sherdog.com
on Wednesday confirmed that the UFC’s request for the cageside
judging aide has been approved by the Vancouver Athletic Commission.
“Anything
we can do to give the judges another tool is great,” Marc
Ratner, UFC vice president of regulatory affairs, told Sherdog.com
“We’re very excited about it.”
The
news comes on the heels of the UFC’s request that the Nevada
State Athletic Commission provide judges with video monitors
at UFC 130 on May 28. The jury is still out on that topic, however,
as the request will be brought up at the next meeting of the
NSAC in the coming weeks.
UFC
131 will be headlined by a heavyweight No. 1 contender bout between
“Ultimate Fighter” Season 13 coaches Brock Lesnar and
Junior dos Santos. The event, which goes down June 11 at Rogers
Arena in Vancouver, B.C., Canada, will also feature Shane Carwin’s
Octagon return, as the former title challenger locks up with
Norse heavyweight Jon Olav Einemo. Former two-time lightweight
title contender Kenny Florian will also appear on the card in
featherweight debut against Diego Nunes.
Source:
Sherdog
|
So,
about that proposed Fedor vs. Dan Henderson fight…
By Zach
Arnold
As Jonathan Snowden reported the other day, July 30th at Hoffman
Estates, Illinois we will see these two men fight under the Strikeforce
banner at a reported catch-weight of 220 pounds. MMA Supremacy
points out the obvious, which is that Zuffa will be co-promoting
an MMA event with M-1. I kid you not. That ought to be fascinating.,
especially if Fedor wins and Zuffa wants to roll Fedor over to
the UFC.
As
for the fight itself…
Stamina
Fedor’s
gas tank is not what it used to be and he took a beating from
Antonio Silva last February. The body can only take so much wear
and tear. We know Dan Henderson can hang for three or five rounds
(ask Rampage about that). If Henderson can get this fight to
the ground, he can quickly sap out Fedor’s strength. Advantage:
Henderson.
Speed
& Power
I
think it’s a wash for speed. Fedor has better speed standing
up and he’ll be fighting a guy of comparable size, which
bodes well for him. Henderson has certain punches he aims to
deliver and Fedor’s great at countering. On the ground,
can Fedor sweep Henderson or will he get stuck if Dan gets top
position on him? Dan has power on the mat and he has lots of
power standing up (ask Wanderlei). Dan has the power advantage
and I think it gives him a better shot of winning this fight
than most online seem to be giving him.
(Go
to various forums and you’ll see Fedor being touted as the
‘overwhelming’ favorite.)
Recent
experience
Look
at the level of competition each man has fought recently.
Fedor:
Tim Sylvia (W), Andrei Arlovski (W), Brett Rogers (W), Fabricio
Werdum (L), Antonio ‘Bigfoot’ Silva (L). Five fights
in the last three years and his fight against Rogers was in the
Chicago area.
Henderson:
Rich Franklin (W), Michael Bisping (W), Jake Shields (L), Renato
Babalu (W), Feijao (W). Five fights in the last 2 1/2 years.
No
question that moment is on Dan’s side and I’d say that
Dan has faced a slightly higher level of competition. He ran
into a locomotive when he faced Anderson Silva (nobody’s
beating him) and his title match against Rampage was a really
tough battle.
Current
skill
If
there’s anything Fedor’s recent fights has taught us,
it’s that he’s incredibly weak against BJJ players.
He won’t have to worry about it in this fight, but he should
worry about getting pounded hard and pushed against the cage.
Look what Brett Rogers did to Fedor and how much trouble he put
him in.
If
this stays a stand-up war, I see Fedor clipping Dan and putting
him down. If this goes to the ground, Fedor’s in for a rough
five rounds (unless a doctor stops the fight). He could very
easily get cut in the face here.
Addendum:
Yes, I know about his fights with Nogueira. I don’t want
anyone to act as if I’m a newbie or anything. Take note
that I said “recent fights.”
Early
thoughts
I
think it’s a 55/45 fight in favor of Fedor, but I wouldn’t
be overly confident going in as a 55% favorite. Dan presents
lots of challenges and the Fedor fear factor is long gone. If
I had to make an early prediction, I’d take Dan by decision
(three rounds of punishing ground ‘n pound).
My
initial assessment of this fight is probably different than everyone
else’s, so let’s hear it. Break down this fight in
the categories that I used here and make a case as to why which
guy will win.
Source:
Fight Opinion
|
Houston
Chronicle reports next UFC stadium show could be at Reliant
Dana
White pointed out accurately that Toronto's UFC 129 at Rogers
Centre was a special case.
The
UFC won't be putting on mega-events at a stadium every quarter.
It has to be perfect match. That's why we were a little surprised
to see the future Houston event in October mentioned as a candidate
for a stadium show.
Sources
tell Brawl Sports that if Brock Lesnar wins his bout against
Junior dos Santos at UFC 131 next month, the company will give
serious consideration to running the UFC event at Reliant Stadium
and not the previously-reported Toyota Center. If dos Santos
wins, they'll almost certainly run Toyota Center. The winner
of that UFC 131 bout will face Cain Velasquez in a bout that
will almost certainly take place in Houston.
Jeremy
Botter throws a little cold water on the idea by mentioning two
important notes:
1.
Filling a stadium the size of Reliant won't be easy. While Lesnar
has historically been the best pay per view draw on the planet,
he's not a very good live draw. They'll need more than just a
heavyweight title fight to fill that card.
2.
There's just one small problem: the Texans have a game scheduled
against Oakland the next day. While I've seen the UFC brass tear
down an arena in just a matter of hours, I can't imagine they'd
be able to get an entire stadium ready for a football game the
next day at noon. It simply isn't possible, not with the amount
of bleachers and video screens they would be bringing into the
stadium for a custom setup.
Botter
thinks an NFL lockout is all but a certainty and says the Oct.
8 date at Reliant Stadium could open up. I'd be shocked if the
NFL lockout reaches October, but you never know. I'd also be
a little surprised if Lesnar beats dos Santos. He's got a lot
of ground to make up in the stand-up game. If Lesnar didn't like
getting hit by Cain Velasquez, imagine his reaction to the power
and speed of JDS.
Source:
Yahoo Sports
|
Couture
finishes career with head held high
TORONTO – The cheers came raining down from three packed
decks of the Rogers Centre, 55,000 fans screaming goodbye to
Randy Couture. He’d just been flattened by Lyoto Machida
courtesy of a flying kick to the face that knocked both him and
one of his 47-year-old teeth out. It was one last, violent sign
that it was time to retire.
The
fans weren’t letting go easily. Couture had gotten up and
done a post-fight interview. Now they weren’t letting him
walk out of that Octagon for the last time in shame. It was never
really about wins and losses with Couture, whose legacy far surpasses
his 19-11 record.
So they kept stamping and chanting for everything else –
for what he meant, for what he gave, for what he represented
to a sport they had come to love along with him.
Couture’s
first MMA fight came in 1997, at UFC 13, in front of maybe 1,000
people he said in an old civic center in Augusta, Ga. The night
before they held a public weigh-in at a Holiday Inn and Couture
isn’t sure a dozen people showed up.
The
sport doesn’t get here to UFC 129, in a rocking stadium,
with a $12.1 million (US) gate and a worldwide pay-per-view audience,
without Randy Couture.
And
everyone here knew it. So no one wanted the moment to pass.
Machida
cut short his post-fight interview to declare Couture a “hero.”
Ring announcer Bruce Buffer bowed to him. The Octagon girls were
clapping. From all over the floor seats, fighters were standing
and cheering, from old rivals to young phenoms, there was no
mistaking what Randy Couture meant.
“It
was awesome,” UFC president Dana White said.
“That
ovation,” Couture said, “was very special.”
Couture
is retired now and he says it’s for good this time. This
isn’t 2006, when he last called it quits. He has plenty
of ways to make money outside the Octagon – in movies, with
endorsements, as a trainer. There is no need to deal with these
assassins two decades his junior. He could’ve, and probably
should’ve, shut it down a while ago.
This
was a curtain call though, which, since it is still cage fighting,
means he wound up in the hospital. All things considered, it
was a fitting conclusion. “He went seven minutes with Machida,”
White noted, and yes, he had a point there.
“This
is it,” Couture said immediately after the fight, promising
his career was over. True to form, he quickly broke into a joke,
“I think the last time we had this conversation I had all
my teeth.”
Machida
had drilled him with a straight kick to the left side of his
mouth, a move inspired by one of Machida’s corner men, actor
Steven Segal. It came so fast, Couture thought it was a punch.
After the doctors revived him and got him to his feet, White
approached him to judge his condition.
“I
said, ‘You all right, you all right?’ ” White
said. “[Couture said] ‘Yeah, he hit me in the tooth.’
And his tooth fell out as he was showing me.”
Couture
was still quick enough to catch it and laugh. White could only
shake his head at the memory. “[I said] ‘That’s
all right, we’ll get you a better one than that when we
get back to Vegas.’”
Couture
got into MMA for a simple reason, he needed the money. He was
33 years old, had three kids and was working as an assistant
wrestling coach at Oregon State. He had boxed during a six-year
stint in the Army, been an Olympic alternate wrestler after that
and had never been afraid of just about any kind of fight.
So
when he heard of this UFC thing, he figured why not?
“Everyone
thought I was pretty much crazy,” Couture said of the days
leading up to that first victory, when he submitted Tony Halme.
His mother told him he’d lost his mind. His friends thought
it was a Toughman contest.
“It
wasn’t even understood as a sport,” Couture said. “They
just thought I was flat nuts. They kept asking what had gotten
into me.”
It’s
all different now. Now these guys train for years, hone their
skills, raise their games. No one attempts it on a lark. Everyone
realizes its big business.
It’s
the sport Couture helped create, powered now by the generations
of fighters he helped inspire around the globe.
His
triology of fights against Chuck Liddell from 2003-06, drove
MMA to a then-unheard of level of popularity. His 2003 grudge-match
victory over Tito Ortiz, his stunning 2007 upset of the hulking
Tim Sylvia (complete with his classic “Not bad for an old
guy” line afterward) and his upset defense of the heavyweight
title against Gabriel Gonzaga all pushed it further.
Mostly
he was the bridge from the old days to these days, from when
this was an outlaw deal to a multi-billion dollar enterprise.
He
was the clean-cut hero, nicknamed “The Natural” and
“Captain America.” He’d fight anyone, anytime.
His win-loss record isn’t much to look at, but a record
15 of those fights were title bouts. He won the light heavyweight
belt three times and the heavyweight belt twice. He won maybe
a dozen times as a significant underdog, always at his best when
everyone had counted him out.
In
the meantime he invested in the sport. He has a clothing line.
He’s trained hundreds of fighters and even NFL players.
He’s appeared in over two dozen movies and television shows.
He wasn’t afraid to fight for what was best for himself
and, by proxy, other fighters – even getting into contract
disputes and legal wrangling with White and the UFC.
It
was just one more battle in a career of them. White doesn’t
hold a grudge.
“He’s
an incredible human being,” White said. “He’s
been a great ambassador for the sport. He’s been great for
the brand. Yeah, I love Randy Couture.”
They
all loved him Saturday in Toronto. This wasn’t just a fight
card for the UFC. It was a milestone, the promotion’s first
stadium show. For the fans it was a night to celebrate what MMA
had become: this rollicking, traveling circus they no longer
have to apologize for loving. This is mainstream, a long way
from those humble days of near-empty Holiday Inn ballrooms.
So
it was a night for Randy Couture, who lost a fight, lost a tooth
and stood in the middle of all those thundering cheers anyway,
waved back at the crowd and smiled a big, now-broken grin.
Source:
Yahoo Sports
|
Jay
Hieron Sweeps Tourney, Earns a Bellator Welterweight Title Shot
Former
IFL welterweight champion Jay Hieron kept his return streak alive
on Saturday night at Bellator 43 in Newkirk, Okla., moving into
a title fight with Bellator champion Ben Askren.
Hieron
used his experience and savvy to keep former Olympic Judoka Rick
Hawn at bay for the better part of their three-round bout. While
Hawn continues to sharpen his striking arsenal, Hieron used an
evasive countering style against Hawn’s aggressive, pressuring
tactics.
Hawn
closed strong, improving as the seconds ticked away, but Hieron
was sharper earlier in the fight, constantly stinging Hawn with
an array of punches, knees, and kicks, as he circled away from
Hawn’s power.
It
was a close fight, with an exciting flurry at the final bell,
but Hieron left with cage with a split decision victory and a
ticket to a title shot.
“Hard
work pays off, I live by that,” said Hieron, $100,000 richer
as the tournament champion.
“Askren,
shine up my belt for me, I’m coming for it!”
Bryan
Baker at one time fell just one fight short of a Bellator middleweight
title shot, but he’s on the road to recovery. Since losing
in Season 2 middleweight tournament final, Baker has won back-to-back
fights, the second of which was an impressive knockout victory
over UFC veteran Joe Riggs on Saturday night.
The
opening round was primarily a long feeling out process; although
Baker landed a couple head kicks to keep Riggs on his heels.
Round
two was much the same, albeit at a higher pace than the first,
but it was Baker that found the button first. One left hook on
the chin sent Riggs face down… fight over.
“That’s
exactly what I was looking for to get in, finish, and show my
greatness,” Baker said after the fight.
Former
WEC bantamweight champion continued his run back towards the
top of the division by submitting Jose Vega. It was obvious from
the onset that Beebe was searching for the guillotine, latching
it on a couple of times early in the opening round from the standing
position. Slightly more than four minutes in, he locked it on
for good when the fight hit the ground.
With
the victory, Beebe ran his streak to four consecutive victories,
and joined Eduardo Dantas in Bellator’s Season 5 bantamweight
tournament.
Heavyweight
bruiser Ron Sparks may have wanted to pound Vince Lucero out,
but it wasn’t to be. He did batter Lucero early with some
heavy punches, but put him on the mat by kicking his leg out.
Spark dropped down into side control and was served up with a
keylock for the tap.
Bellator
43 Main Card Results:
-Jay Hieron def. Rick Hawn by Split Decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
-Bryan Baker def. Joe Riggs by KO (Punch) at 3:53, R2
-Chase Beebe def. Jose Vega by Submission (Guillotine Choke)
at 4:06, R1
-Ron Sparks def. Vince Lucero by Submission (Keylock) at 2:18,
R1
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Jamie
Varner Has Not Signed to Face Shinya Aoki, Fight Not Likely to
Happen
Despite
reports stating that Shinya Aoki vs. Jamie Varner is a done deal
for Dream’s May 29 event in Japan, the fight is anything
but a sure thing.
Varner
has been in the running along with former MFC lightweight champion
Antonio McKee to face Aoki in the upcoming ‘Fight for Japan’
show, but neither fighter has signed for the fight yet.
Varner’s
management team at KO Reps told MMAWeekly.com late Saturday night
that no contracts have been signed for the fight, and at this
time the bout is looking less and less likely to happen.
Varner
is currently scheduled to compete at next weekend’s XFO
event in Illinois, and should still be fighting on that card
regardless of if the Aoki fight gets signed or not.
Aoki
has had three different opponents rumored for Dream 17, with
none of them signing on the dotted line to make a bout official.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Fighting
for Freedom: Tim Kennedy and Brian Stann Reflect on Osama Bin
Laden’s Death
Tim Kennedy still remembers exactly where he was on Sept. 11,
2001.
Less
than two weeks after his first professional MMA fight, Kennedy
was working in California, in the midst of grad school, and had
been at work since about 6 a.m. As he was sitting on his computer
working that morning, he heard the news about a plane flying
into the World Trade Center.
At
a loss to understand what was happening, Kennedy switched on
the television and turned to CNN to see exactly what was going
on. That’s when his life changed forever.
“I
watched live on CNN as the second plane flew into the building,”
Kennedy said. “By that afternoon I was knocking on the recruiter’s
door asking if I could get on a plane to fly to Afghanistan.”
Kennedy
joined the Army after seeing the horrific events of Sept. 11
unfold. He would spend the next several years overseas, working
his way into the Army Special Forces as they searched for the
man most singularly responsible for the acts on that fateful
day.
Fast
forward nearly 10 years later, and Kennedy, now living in Texas,
was at home when he received a call about getting ready for training
camp, as Strikeforce was ready to put him back to work in the
cage this summer. As nighttime approached, Kennedy started getting
text messages on his phone that alerted him to something happening.
Kennedy
hopped on his computer trying to see what was going on. When
the news flashed across his screen, instead of the sick feeling
he had in September 2001, it was a feeling of relief that washed
over him.
“I
started getting texts from my buddies at Fort Bragg saying like
‘hey dude some pretty awesome stuff’s going on, start
paying attention in about an hour.’ So I was up looking,
and I’m still a part of a Special Forces unit here in Texas
and they had gotten activated for the possible retaliation of
what would happen. So I was up on the computer waiting for something
to happen, and it started populating ‘Osama Bin Laden is
dead,’” Kennedy recounted.
Kennedy
himself had spent much of his time in the Army Special Forces
dedicated to searching for Osama Bin Laden. So when he heard
the news about his demise, he admits it was a wave of emotion
he wasn’t expecting.
“It
was a lot of really weird emotions. One of course a feeling of
finality, of closure, for something that has been going on for
such a long time. By no means is the war over, but in the sense
of I’ve been in Afghanistan and Pakistan and Iraq, and some
of those trips were specifically looking for that guy. The book
has not been written, but it’s a chapter that’s seemingly
been closed,” said Kennedy.
“I
was excited and thrilled, but at the same time I was kind of
disappointed, I felt really left out. I’m always torn when
I’m not with my brothers overseas of why I’m not there,
if I’m doing the right thing by fighting. It’s the
same thing when I’m deployed. I’m always like ‘man,
I wish I was fighting.’ So it’s always this back and
forth battle.”
That
internal turmoil is something that Kennedy deals with every day
because he loves being a part of the American military, and wants
to serve alongside other soldiers overseas. He’s said many
times that he wants to give his fighting career a big push over
the next few years, and then go back into military service.
But
on a day like May 1, when President Barack Obama announced to
the world that Osama Bin Laden had been killed during an American
operation, Kennedy was ready forgo his fight career and head
back into the field.
“It
makes me want to, like right now, I just want to get on a plane
and go back over there,” expressed Kennedy. “I know
that the spring forward Taliban movement and Al-Qaeda is happening,
so every time it starts getting warm all the foreign fighters
start coming back into Afghanistan and get really excited about
fighting for their cause, and now they have even more fuel to
their flame is that their leader has just been killed.”
Kennedy
has opted to stay at home and fulfill the commitments he promised
his wife and himself for his fight career, but that doesn’t
mean he won’t be wishing he could be back alongside his
fellow Rangers as they continue to mission in the Middle East.
It’s
that continuing mission that former Marine Captain Brian Stann
wants to make sure people don’t lose site of even though
the death of Osama Bin Laden is seen as a victory in America.
Stann hopes that this is the first step towards freedom in the
Middle East, and a youth uprising to step out from the shadows
and out from under the boot heels of oppressors in their nations.
“The
things that are taking place in Egypt and Yemen and Libya and
also in Syria are very important, and it’s a sign that you
cannot stop the flow of information,” Stann told MMAWeekly
Radio recently. “Despite the lack of freedoms in those countries
they still have smartphones and they still have social media,
and the use of information and the fast rapid movement of information
is helping them unite to take a united front and say ‘hey
this is wrong and we want to live differently.”
Stann
heard the news in much the same way that his close friend and
teammate Tim Kennedy did that Sunday night. Working away in New
Mexico as he gets ready for his July 2 fight against Jorge Santiago,
Stann heard the news and a smile crept over his face, but there
was still a sadness inside his heart.
“It
takes a lot to get me excited. It’s not like the death of
Osama Bin Laden can bring any of my Marines back, or any of my
friends or any of those family members from New York City that
day or the Pentagon, but it’s definitely a positive thing
for us,” Stann said.
“There’s
still troops that are deployed overseas, there’s still a
battle to be won, and we still need to remain vigilant against
terrorists in this country. It’s not like we can let our
guard down just because Osama Bin Laden’s dead.”
There
was a certain level of controversy raised after Sunday night’s
announcement that so many Americans were celebrating the death
of Bin Laden. Some argued we shouldn’t celebrate anyone’s
death.
Stann
looks at it from a different angle. He believes the exploitation
of the mission to capture or kill Osama Bin Laden is important
to the bigger cause of shutting down global terrorism.
“The
enemy does a very good job of publicizing any little success,
even if they twist the facts like they normally do, but they
publicize the heck out of it via Al-Jazeera and their networks
and really ignite the morale of their people and really make
it look like they’re winning the war on terror. So something
like this is a major blow to their information operation. This
is their hero of everything,” Stann stated.
“We
have to remember and it’s very unfortunate, but there are
people out there that their main goal is to kill Americans. It’s
just a fact. They’ve just been brainwashed that it’s
the right thing, and they have no problems whatsoever killing
innocent people. They have no problem killing children. I’ve
seen it first hand, and it’s very unfortunate.”
Stann
does believe this news has a positive influence on the troops
still stationed overseas. With some military personnel spending
several months or even years on deployment away from their families
and friends back home, news like this can once again let them
know what they are fighting for, and encourage them that the
work does pay off.
“Something
like this can definitely boost your morale for the coming weeks
and really move you forward, and keep your spirits high, while
you’re really in a very demanding time of your life,”
Stann said. “I definitely see this as a morale boost. I
see it as a morale boost for America and I think it’s great
for us in an area that has been weak in comparison to our enemy,
which is information operations.”
After
hearing the news that Sunday night and watching President Obama
relay the statement about Bin Laden’s death, Tim Kennedy
felt like a weight had been lifted off his chest. Something he
hadn’t felt since Sept. 10, 2001.
“That
was the first night that I’ve slept so soundly in such a
long time.”
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Wanderlei
Silva Had Doubts of Coming Back, Now Holds Chris Leben’s
Feet to the Fire
Wanderlei Silva is an icon in mixed martial arts. “The Axe
Murderer” ruled the roost as the Pride middleweight champion
in Japan. But even after Zuffa bought the venerable Japanese
fight promotion and ultimately had to close its doors, Silva
is as popular as ever.
He
has struggled through his time in the Octagon. His record is
just 2-3 in his latest stint in the UFC. Fans, however, forgive
his losses because they simply love watching Wand fight. They
don’t care if he holds a belt, or is rocketing up the rankings.
He’s
well aware of that fact.
Silva
hasn’t fought in more than a year due to some surgeries,
recovery time, and a little bit of doubt.
“There
were moments of doubt if I was going to come back,” Silva
said in a recent video post on his YouTube channel.
He
relies very heavily on his fan support. Silva’s fans came
through for him, helping him through the recovery process, and
ultimately leading him to a fight against Chris Leben at UFC
132.
“Every
sentence I read, each day, is a great help,” Silva said
of his fans. “You guys give me great strength.”
Silva’s
overall record is 33-10-1. He is a fighter, much like the recently
retired Randy Couture, that transcends wins and losses. The title
runs are all well and good, but when Wanderlei Silva steps in
the Octagon, his passion for the fight is what shines through.
He is a fighter’s fighter, as well as a fan’s fighter.
He loves to scrap.
Silva
was offered a fight with Brian Stann, but Stann, as good a fighter
as he is and every improving, doesn’t bring the same fight
to the table that Leben does.
“Chris
Leben is a brave guy that comes to fight. His fighting style
is pretty similar to mine,” Silva assessed.
Leben
is cut from the same cloth and should make for the type of fight
that Silva is known for, the type of fight that his fans crave.
Neither fighter is expected to pull any punches and that’s
how Silva wants it. In fact, he demands it.
“I
want to show everyone that I am ready again,” he said. “Leben,
train hard, because my fans want to see a show on July 2.”
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Boxing
Smoker at Palolo Gym
Hi
Everyone,
Just wanted to inform you that our next Boxing Smoker is this
Saturday, May 14, 2011 at 6 p.m. at the Palolo District Park
Gym. Haven't done the matches yet, but we should have between
10-15 matches.
Thanks for Your Support!!!
Source: Bruce Kawano |
Rankings:
‘El Nino’ crashes the party
Over the past several years, Gilbert Melendez told anyone who
would listen that he is a Top-10 talent.
Other
fighters will tell you that the rankings don’t matter, but
“El Nino” wears his heart on his sleeve and felt he
was due recognition for his skills.
He
heard the criticisms: Strikeforce didn’t have a deep roster
at lightweight, the company’s ban on ground elbows didn’t
help him, and so on.
Melendez
knew these critiques were about things that were beyond his control,
so he did the only thing he could, given the situation: He went
out and improved as a fighter. He fought whomever Strikeforce
put in front of him. He took fights in Japan. Give Gilbert Melendez
a chance to improve his game, and he’ll take it.
More From Dave Doyle
*
Octagon Observations: Hominick steals show May 1, 2011
The
Northern California-based fighter is finally being rewarded for
his persistence. In his first Strikeforce lightweight title defense
under Zuffa’s watch (and the first under full unified rules),
Melendez went out and made a statement. “El Nino” went
out and destroyed the well-regarded Tatsuya Kawajiri on April
9. Melendez’s standup was as crisp as it was ferocious,
as he needed only 3:14 to finish his foe.
With
that, Melendez vaulted himself right into the heart of the conversation
about the logjam of elite lightweights – and into the Top
10 itself. Melendez finished with 31 points, good for 10th place,
one point behind Gray Maynard, who rematches Frankie Edgar for
the UFC lightweight title on Memorial Day weekend.
Melendez’s
Top 10 entry was facilitated by Jake Shields’ UFC 129 loss
to Georges St. Pierre, which both dropped the former out of the
Top 10 and didn’t help the latter, either. Last month, out
of 22 ballots, Silva was in first place with 14 first-place votes
and St. Pierre second with eight. GSP remained in second this
month, but this time out, only grabbed two first-place votes
out of 21 cast. Silva claimed the remaining 19 first-place votes
and garnered 207 points overall, 16 ahead of St. Pierre.
This
month’s voting panel: Denny Burkholder, CBSSports.com; Elias
Cepeda, Inside Fighting; Mike Chiappetta MMAFighting.com and
Fight! Magazine; Steve Cofield, Cagewriter and ESPN Radio 1100
Las Vegas; Neil Davidson The Canadian Press; Dave Doyle Yahoo!
Sports; Ben Fowlkes, SportsIllustrated.com and MMAFighting.com;
Josh Gross, ESPN.com; Ariel Helwani, Versus.com and MMAFighting.com;
Kevin Iole, Yahoo! Sports; Damon Martin, MMAWeekly.com; Todd
Martin, freelance; Franklin McNeil, ESPN.com; Brad McCray, freelance;
Dave Meltzer, Yahoo! Sports and The Wrestling Observer; John
Morgan, MMAjunkie.com; Ken Pishna, MMAWeekly.com; Michael David
Smith, MMAFighting.com; Mike Straka, HDNet; Dann Stupp, MMAjunkie.com
and The Dayton Daily News;Jeff Wagenheim, SI.com.
Scoring:
Ten points for a first-place vote, nine points for second, etc.,
down to one point for a 10th-place vote. Fighters who are under
suspension for use of performance-enhancing substances or abuse
of drugs are ineligible to be considered for the duration of
their suspensions. Fighters who have been inactive for more than
12 months are ineligible for consideration until the completion
of their next fight.
10.
Gilbert Melendez
Points: 31
Affiliation: Strikeforce (lightweight champion)
Weight class: lightweight
Hometown: San Francisco
Record: 19-2 (won past five)
Last month’s ranking: unranked
Most recent result: def. Tatsuya Kawajiri, R1 TKO, April 9
Analysis: No offense to Anthony Pettis, but no one is more deserving
of the Edgar-Maynard III winner than Melendez.
9.
Gray Maynard
Points: 32
Affiliation: UFC
Weight class: lightweight
Hometown: Las Vegas
Record: 10-0-1, 1 no-contest (draw in previous fight)
Last month’s ranking: 10
Most recent result: vs. Frankie Edgar, majority draw, Jan. 1
Analysis: Last time out against Edgar, Maynard went all-out in
the first round, didn’t finish, and ended up with a draw.
Will he better pace himself this time around?
8.
Jon Fitch
Points: 37
Affiliation: UFC
Weight class: welterweight
Hometown: San Jose, Calif.
Record: 23-3-1, 1 no-contest (draw in previous fight)
Last month’s ranking: 9
Most recent result: majority draw vs. B.J. Penn, Feb. 21
Analysis: Fitch just underwent shoulder surgery; if all goes
well, he’ll be back in 4-6 months.
7.
Cain Velasquez
Points: 75
Affiliation: UFC (heavyweight champion
Weight class: heavyweight
Hometown: Salinas, Calif.
Record: 9-0 (won past nine)
Last month’s ranking: 7
Most recent result: def. Brock Lesnar, R1 TKO, Oct. 23
Analysis: An October date in Houston, likely against the Brock
Lesnar-Junior dos Santos winner, is in Cain’s cards.
6.
Dominick Cruz
Points: 93
Affiliation: UFC (bantamweight champion)
Weight class: bantamweight
Hometown: San Diego
Record: 16-1 (won past seven)
Last month’s ranking: 6
Most recent result: def. Scott Jorgensen, unanimous decision,
Dec. 16
Analysis: Cruz and his UFC 132 challenger, Urijah Faber, are
already yapping at one another. Come July 2 we should have ourselves
one of the year’s hot grudge matches.
5.
Frankie Edgar
Points: 115
Affiliation: UFC (lightweight champion)
Weight class: lightweight
Hometown: Toms River, N.J.
Record: 13-1-1 (draw in previous fight)
Last month’s ranking: 5
Most recent result: split draw vs. Gray Maynard, Jan. 1
Analysis:The guy with the belt is 0-1-1 against his May 28 challenger.
A win over Maynard is needed to keep his top-five ranking.
4.
Jon Jones
Points: 140
Affiliation: UFC (light heavyweight champion)
Weight class: light heavyweight
Hometown: Endicott, N.Y.
Record: 13-1 (won previous four)
Last month’s ranking: unranked
Most recent result: def. Mauricio Rua, R3 TKO, March 19
Analysis: One second-place vote and five thirds show many believe
Jones is already knocking on Silva and St. Pierre’s door.
A sixth and a seventh show not everyone is convinced.
3.
Jose Aldo
Points: 156
Affiliation: UFC (featherweight champion)
Weight class: featherweight
Hometown: Rio de Janeiro
Record: 18-1 (won past 11)
Last month’s ranking: 3
Most recent result: def. Mark Hominick, unanimous decision, April
30
Analysis: Aldo looked like death warmed over on the day before
his fight with Hominick, so the voters aren’t penalizing
him much for not winning by finish. But the competition at 145
will only get tougher from here.
2.
Georges St. Pierre
Points: 191 (two first-place votes)
Affiliation: UFC (welterweight champion
Weight class: welterweight
Hometown: Saint-Isidore, Quebec
Record: 22-2 (won past nine)
Last month’s ranking: 1
Most recent result: def. Jake Shields, unanimous decision, April
30
Analysis: Count me among those who think the criticism of GSP
has been unfair – try fighting Jake Shields with one eye
closed and report back to me on how you do – but a fight
with Nick Diaz could go a long way toward re-establishing St.
Pierre as an exciting fighter.
1.
Anderson Silva
Points: 207 (19 first-place votes)
Affiliation: UFC (middleweight champion
Weight class: middleweight
Hometown: Curitiba, Brazil
Record: 28-4 (won past 13)
Last month’s ranking: 2
Most recent result: def. Vitor Belfort, R1 KO, Feb. 5
Analysis: Silva’s next fight is against Yushin Okami, whose
disqualification win over Silva in 2006 is the latter’s
last official loss. While most fans don’t regard it as a
“real” loss, that won’t stop Silva from seeking
revenge.
More:
•
Votes for others: Jake Shields 24; Nick Diaz 15; Mauricio Rua
11; Rashad Evans 5; Fedor Emelianenko 4; B.J. Penn, Lyoto Machida
3; Joe Benavidez 2.
•
Upcoming matches for ranked fighters: No. 5 Frank Edgar vs. No.
9 Gray Maynard, May 28, Las Vegas.
Source:
Yahoo Sports
|
Diaz
signs boxing fight; will he get GSP instead?
The
pressure has started for the Ultimate Fighting Championship to
offer Georges St. Pierre to Strikeforce welterweight champion
Nick Diaz after boxing promoter Don Chargin confirmed Friday
that Diaz and former IBF super middleweight champion Jeff Lacy
signed for a boxing match in the fall.
“Right
now, the bout is signed with Jeff Lacy and Nick Diaz,” said
Chargin, whose idea is to have it headline a show that would
include both boxing and mixed martial arts fights.
Diaz
and his camp have been talking since his win over Paul Daley
on April 9 in San Diego that his next fight would be in a boxing
ring and not a cage. Zuffa, the parent company of both UFC and
Strikeforce, insists on all of its fighters signing exclusive
contracts to prevent things like this from happening. But Diaz’s
contract, signed with Strikeforce before Strikeforce was purchased
by Zuffa in March, negotiated in the right to do a boxing match.
UFC president Dana White has said that in the purchase, they
will honor all the terms of the existing Strikeforce contracts.
While
a number of MMA fighters have had boxing matches, including Diaz,
Anderson Silva, Chris Lytle, Jeff Monson, Marcus Davis and Jens
Pulver, this would be the first time a major organization champion
would take the risk. And Lacy, 34, would be the highest-profile
boxer that a big-name MMA fighter would have faced under boxing
rules.
While
the two sports have a completely different demographic profile,
there is still a natural rivalry between the two, particularly
from promoters, because it is viewed they are battling for supremacy
both with the media and general public as to which is the most
popular form of fighting.
Lacy
(25-4, 1 no-contest) has struggled of late, losing three of his
last four fights, including a decision to Jermain Taylor in 2008
and a TKO loss to Roy Jones Jr. the next year. Lacy won his first
21 fights before losing the IBF belt to Joe Calzaghe in 2006.
Known as a knockout artist with power in both hands, he was bothered
by shoulder problems in recent years and in his last fight, on
Dec. 11 in St. Petersburg, Fla., lost via decision to journeyman
fighter Dhafir Smith.
Chargin,
who admitted knowing almost nothing about mixed martial arts,
said he’s been in talks with Diaz about boxing for about
five or six months. He said that originally he was looking at
matching Diaz against Fernando Vargas, but due to health issues,
the fight fell through.
Chargin
noted that he senses Diaz is far more marketable now than when
the talks first started with his three recent title defenses
on Showtime. With the exception of Herschel Walker and Fedor
Emelianenko, Diaz has proven to be Strikeforce’s best ratings
draw of the past year.
The
brooding fighter, who is known for stream-of-consciousness interviews
that cover a variety of topics, has the unique ability to generate
both love and hate, but never indifference, from audiences.
Diaz
has shown some of the best boxing skills in mixed martial arts
in both winning and retaining the Strikeforce title against a
diet of stand-up fighters, including pro boxer K.J. Noons, slugger
Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos and most recently, Daley,
one of the most feared strikers in the division. Daley, a kickboxer
who migrated to MMA because there is more money in that sport,
knocked Diaz down twice in the first round before Diaz came back
to win and keep the title in one of this year’s most exciting
MMA fights.
Diaz,
27, trains extensively in boxing, including with Andre Ward,
but boxing in an MMA fight and in a boxing match are entirely
different, not only the obvious difference in glove sizes, but
the stance and mechanics.
In
MMA, while boxing, you have to defend against kicks, elbows and
takedowns. With the smaller gloves, the defensive game is also
different.
“I’m
bringing in a couple of good 10-round fighters to train with
him and get him ready,” said Chargin, whose comnpany sent
out a press release on Friday announcing the fight.
White
mentioned Diaz (25-7, 1 no contest in MMA), who has won his last
10 fights, as a potential next opponent for St. Pierre, the UFC
welterweight champion, after St. Pierre’s win over Diaz’s
teammate, Jake Shields, on April 30 in Toronto. But Diaz’s
manager, Cesar Gracie, who confirmed on Friday in a text message
to MMAWeekly.com that Diaz had signed an agreement, said no formal
offer or negotiations for such a fight have started. Some see
this announcement as a way to pressure UFC into action for a
fight which would be, by far, the most high-profile of Diaz’s
career. White did not respond to a request for comment.
“This
is a very dangerous fight for both men,” said Chargin. “Not
only is this fight dangerous but stylistically it is very intriguing.
I expected more resistance from fight fans and media in regards
to this matchup, but its amazing as to the hundreds of calls
and emails I’ve received from fans on both sides wanting
to see this matchup take place. I’ve received more than
a few inquiries from some other very high-profile boxers that
want to step up and fight Nick. It’s been a real whirlwind.”
Chargin
said he’s only seen one Diaz MMA fight, on DVD, which he
believed was his fight from last year against Hayato Sakurai
from Japan. But he said he has watched him train in boxing and
was very impressed.
“I
haven’t been impressed by most MMA guys,” he said,
“But he has a good jab, can throw good hooks, he’s
a real fighter.”
Chargin
also said he would announce on Monday a world champion in boxing
who would be Diaz’s next opponent should he beat Lacy.
But
that may be getting ahead of things.
Diaz
has only had one pro boxing match, and that was a four-rounder
six years ago, which he won via decision over Alfonso Rocha in
Sacramento, Calif., during a period when he was a UFC fighter,
but before UFC insisted on exclusive rights to promote its fighters.
The
few name boxer vs. MMA fighter matches that have taken place
thus far have all been under MMA rules. The most high-profile
was former multi-division boxing champion James Toney being taken
down and easily finished by multi-time UFC champion Randy Couture
on Aug. 28 in Boston, and former boxing heavyweight champion
Ray Mercer’s two forays: a loss in an exhibition fight to
Kimbo Slice, and nine-second knockout win over former UFC heavyweight
champion Tim Sylvia.
Source:
Yahoo Sports
|
MMA
Top 10 Featherweights: Aldo on Top, Mendes No. 2
Jose
Aldo has now made his UFC debut and won the UFC's first featherweight
title fight, an entertaining if not terribly competitive unanimous
decision over Mark Hominick at UFC 129. So what does the UFC
do with Aldo from here?
The
fight I think the UFC really wants to make for Aldo is against
Kenny Florian, who has more name recognition than anyone else
on the UFC's featherweight roster. If Florian wins his featherweight
debut against Diego Nunes at UFC 131, he'll instantly step into
title contention -- and into the featherweight Top 10.
But
for now, the No. 1 featherweight appears headed toward an August
showdown with the undefeated Chad Mendes -- and on my featherweight
rankings, that's the right call.
(Number
in parentheses is the fighter's rank in the last featherweight
list.)
1.
Jose Aldo (1): Aldo looked great at UFC 129, but we did see a
few chinks in his armor. Off his back with Hominick on top of
him he struggled to defend himself, and he appeared to tire as
the fight wore on, raising questions about his cardio. He's unquestionably
the No. 1 featherweight in MMA, but he doesn't have the unbeatable
aura of a Georges St. Pierre.
2.
Chad Mendes (7): At 10-0 and coming off a big win over Michihiro
Omigawa, Mendes is absolutely worthy of being next in line for
a featherweight title fight. Mendes will have a tough time standing
with Aldo, who is a much better striker and has a big reach advantage,
but Mendes is a great wrestler who could get on top of Aldo for
25 minutes and win a decision.
3.
Hatsu Hioki (2): It's an unfortunate reality of MMA in Japan
these days that Hioki, who owns championship belts in both Shooto
and Sengoku, just doesn't have many interesting fights available
to him. In the UFC, however, there would be a nearly never-ending
supply of good fights for him to take. The sooner the UFC can
sign Hioki, the better.
4.
Manny Gamburyan (3): Gamburyan's fight with Tyson Griffin in
June promises to be a lot of fun, and an example of something
we're going to see a lot of in the months ahead: Former UFC lightweights
dropping down to 145 pounds.
5.
Michihiro Omigawa (4): After Omigawa struggled with Mendes, his
job in the UFC could be on the line against Darren Elkins at
UFC 131. Omigawa had a great run in Japan in 2009 and 2010; now
he needs to show that he can beat an American wrestler.
6.
Marlon Sandro (5): While the UFC builds up its featherweight
division, Bellator is quietly developing a very exciting featherweight
division of its own. The best of the bunch in Bellator is Sandro,
who's 17-2 in his career and who's as fun to watch as anyone
in the sport. Sandro will compete in a Bellator featherweight
division that also includes Joe Warren, Patricio "Pitbull"
Freire, Ronnie Mann and Daniel Straus. There are great featherweight
fights ahead for Bellator.
7.
Mark Hominick (NR): Hominick deserves all the credit in the world
for the toughness he showed against Aldo, continuing not just
to finish the fight after he was badly hurt, but to win the fifth
round. Yes, Aldo was the better fighter, but Hominick gave Aldo
a tougher fight than any of his eight previous Zuffa opponents
had given him. Hominick showed he legitimately belongs in the
Top 10.
8.
Erik Koch (NR): Koch is 12-1, with the only loss coming against
Mendes, and he's won the Knockout of the Night award in his last
two fights. Koch, who has Cub Swanson at UFC 132 next, is rapidly
becoming the kind of fighter fans love to watch.
9.
Diego Nunes (9): The 16-1 Nunes is coming off his biggest win
to date, against Mike Brown in January, and next he gets Florian
in June. If he can beat Florian, he has to be considered a future
title contender.
10.
Dustin Poirier (8): UFC 131 may be the year's most significant
card for the featherweight division: In addition to the aforementioned
Florian-Nunes and Omigawa-Elkins fights, UFC 131 also features
Poirier taking on Jason "Shotgun" Young. Poirier looked
phenomenal in his featherweight debut against Josh Grispi at
UFC 125, and at age 22 he may have the most exciting future of
anyone at 145 pounds.
Source:
MMA Fighting
|
|
My
First Fight: Jens Pulver
Jens
PulverLooking back now, Jens Pulver can't say exactly what he
was expecting that day. A test, maybe. A way to find out something
about himself that he'd only guessed at before.
The
name of the event – The Bas Rutten Invitational 2 –
sounded official enough. If the Dutch Pancrase fighter was affiliated
with it, and if they'd already done it once without anything
terrible happening, how bad could it be?
But
since this is small-time MMA in 1999, we're not talking about
a fancy event at a civic center. We're talking a couple hundred
people packed into a Muay Thai gym in Littleton, Colorado, a
town where just four days earlier two heavily armed teenagers
had walked into Columbine High School and killed 12 classmates
and one teacher before taking their own lives.
It
seemed like an unusual time and place for grown men to gather
and beat one another up for sport, but the date had already been
set and the tournament participants had been rounded up. No one
knew what to do except proceed as planned.
"It
was really strange," Pulver recalls now. "Columbine
had just happened, so we went out and visited what was basically
a memorial. I remember all the news trucks out there and all
the flowers. We went over there and paid our respects, and it
was pretty heavy. We were out there trying to do this sport,
and right there something as horrific as Columbine had happened."
Pulver
had come to Colorado because although he knew a little bit about
fighting after his wrestling career at Boise State and assorted
"underground" fights against local tough guys, he knew
there was a whole other world to it that he had barely touched.
In the late 90s, being a professional MMA fighter was still more
a state of mind than anything else. If you arrived at the fight
reasonably on time and put your hands up when the bell rang,
you were a pro. Aside from being able to tell your friends about
it afterward, there weren't a lot of other rewards involved.
But
when Pulver heard about the tournament in Colorado, he knew he
had to go check it out. He'd hit a heavy bag in a boxing gym
a couple of times. He'd been introduced to the idea of submissions,
even if he was far from well-versed in them. But at his core,
Pulver says, he was still just a wrestler with a chip on his
shoulder. That's how he planned to fight, right up until he got
an unexpected pep talk a few minutes before he was scheduled
to go on.
"It
was crazy because I was just sitting there and I remember [former
UFC matchmaker] John Peretti coming up before the fight saying,
'All right, you've got to be exciting. You've got to do this
and that.' I was just like, oh my God. But at the same time,
okay, I guess I can do that. It just seemed like so much. It
was like, you want me to do what? Stand up? Okay. It was wild
to me."
Still,
something about it appealed to him. There had been plenty of
times during his college wrestling days when he'd thought to
himself, this match would go down very differently if they'd
let me punch you in the face. Now here was his chance. The only
problem was that the other guy would be punching back.
"I
was really nervous, because I knew they could do more to me than
just wrestle. All I could do was just hold on to my britches
and go. I was a wrestler, born and raised, but I got in there
and just started blasting punches. Just swinging. I had great
conditioning because I was a wrestler at Boise State, and I just
got after it. I just went wild. It was crazy."
His
first fight was a furious three minutes against a guy named Curtis
Hill. Pulver remembers hitting him with a big left that wobbled
him, then moving in close for an uppercut. After another left
hand Hill was sent reeling, and that's when his corner stopped
the fight.
"It
was a rush," Pulver says.
He
didn't know it at the time, but it was that aggressive, slugging
style he'd come to be known for later in his career. His love
affair with power punching started that day, and the relationship
wasn't always a healthy one.
"I
think I took it too far later on because of that. Like Pat [Miletich]
said, early on my base was getting people down and pounding on
them. But then I got into always wanting to stand with everyone.
I wanted to stand there and hit you. But it gets costly. You're
basically just shooting the lights. They can catch you and you
can catch them."
While
he was glad to get the win in his first fight, Pulver was equally
glad that the tournament structure would allow him another chance
to fight that same day.
"I
just wanted to keep going, keep figuring it out," he says.
He
got his chance against a fighter by the name of David Harris,
who was practically an MMA veteran compared to Pulver. Harris
had gone 4-0 earlier that same year when he made his own debut
at the first Bas Rutten Invitational. Harris had submitted John
Alessio in his first round bout that day, but Pulver was determined
to give him more of a challenge.
"We
went for what felt like forever, and I threw this kid everywhere,"
Pulver recalls. "I'm tossing him this way and that way and
man, that kid was so tough. I hit him with everything. I about
brought the kitchen sink down on him. Then I remember he shot
in for a single-leg [takedown] and I just thought, there is no
way you're taking me down. I had my wrestling shoes on and everything.
I just thought there was no way."
By
then they'd been at it for almost twelve minutes without any
round breaks. Pulver's cardio was holding up well, and he felt
certain that there wasn't a man in the room who could take him
down with something as basic as a single-leg. The fact that Harris
was even attempting it seemed like a sign of desperation.
"All
of a sudden he wraps around my knee and I feel my foot go in
a different direction, and it was like, what in God's name? What
is this? I didn't know anything about footlocks. To me it was
just wrestling with punches until I got caught in that."
Confused,
and in an increasing amount of pain, Pulver was forced to tap
out from a toe hold 11:57 in. He'd had his first win and his
first loss in the same day, and by the time he left the little
gym in Colorado it was fair to say he was hooked on MMA.
He
had no idea that he would make a career of it for the next decade
and then some, becoming a UFC champion and a fan favorite in
the process. All Pulver knew was that he wanted more, though
he had no idea where that pursuit would take him.
"I
had no clue. You had to be a fool just to want to do it. I had
a job. I was coaching wrestling at a high school. I told my family,
you know, this is what I want to do. They were like, are you
insane? Again, it's legal in like three states at this time.
They don't even have my weight class. This doesn't have retirement
or benefits. But my desire to want to compete and be an athlete
was just too much. I had to do it."
Source:
MMA Fighting |
|
Aloha
everyone,
Source:
MMA Weekly |
Hieron
Ousts Hawn, Eyes Askren in Bellator
A
10th consecutive victory came by the narrowest of margins for
Jay Hieron.
Hieron
took a razor-thin split decision from the previously unbeaten
Rick Hawn to win the Bellator Fighting Championships Season 4
welterweight tournament at Bellator 43 on Saturday at the First
Council Casino in Newkirk, Okla. Two of the three cageside judges
-- Jim Lambert and Gary Ritter -- saw it 29-28 for Hieron. A
third, Jason Greenwalt, cast a dissenting 29-28 score in Hawn’s
favor.
“I
feel awesome,” Hieron said. “Hard work pays off. I
live by that. I train my butt off.”
The
win gives Hieron a perfect 3-0 mark inside Bellator and secures
his shot at the promotion’s reigning welterweight champion,
2008 Olympian Ben Askren.
Though
he spent much of the fight circling and backpedaling in the face
of a relentlessly advancing Hawn, Hieron countered beautifully
throughout the competitive 15-minute affair. He utilized a variety
of strikes -- jabs, leg kicks and spinning back kicks among them
-- to offset Hawn’s aggression.
Rounds
one and three appeared fairly clear cut in terms of scoring,
with Hieron taking the first and Hawn capturing the third. Round
two was far more difficult to call, as Hawn stalked and landed
and Hieron countered as he came forward.
Hawn,
a 2004 Olympian in judo, finished the stronger of the two. He
wobbled Hieron with a clubbing right hand, met him with a series
of stiff left jabs and attacked the legs with opportunistic kicks
in the third round. Still, his excellent work was not enough
to sway the scorecards fully in his favor.
A brutal left hook from WEC import Bryan Baker spoiled the promotional
debut of Joe Riggs and brought a decisive conclusion to their
featured middleweight matchup 3:53 into the second round.
Action
was sparse between the two 185-pounders in the first round, outside
of some counterpunching from Riggs and two flying knees from
Baker. They picked up the pace in round two, as Baker drew the
UFC veteran into the clinch, where he softened up Riggs with
knees to the body and legs. Ultimately, they separated and exchanged.
Baker landed with authority, as he dropped his foe with the left
and hovered above him for a few awkward seconds until referee
Jason Herzog saw Riggs was in no condition to continue.
“That’s
exactly what I was looking for -- to get in, finish and show
my greatness,” said Baker, a 25-year-old judo black belt
who has won nine of his last 10 fights.
Afterward,
Baker dropped to a knee and proposed to his girlfriend. She said
yes.
Former WEC champion Chase Beebe qualified for the forthcoming
Bellator Season 5 bantamweight tournament, as he submitted Jose
Vega with a first-round guillotine choke. Vega met his demise
4:06 into round one.
The
two bantamweights traded takedowns and spent much of their time
engaging one another in the clinch. Beebe tried two standing
guillotines earlier in the fight, and Vega freed himself without
much of a problem. Later, as they grappled against the cage,
Beebe landed another choke, dragged Vega to the ground, arched
his hips and finished him there.
“He
threw me off,” said Beebe, who has rattled off four consecutive
victories. “He was a lot tougher than I
anticipated. I’m just happy I got to finish it.”
Hulking
undefeated heavyweight Ron Sparks submitted journeyman Vince
Lucero with a first-round keylock in a featured matchup between
two beefy big men. The end came 2:18 into round one.
Sparks
chopped down Lucero with a series of thudding low kicks, the
last of which put the International Fight League veteran on his
back. He moved to side control without much resistance, isolated
Lucero’s arm and cinched the keylock. His face contorted
by visible pain, Lucero surrendered.
Source:
Sherdog |
Scrapplers
Fest Jiu Jitsu Tournament
Island School, Puhi, Kauai
(Right behind Kauai Community College)
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Kids
weights and brackets will be made that morning to make fairest
match ups!
White,
Blue belts and Beginner no gi (3 years and under) 131-under,
132-145, 146-159, 160-173, 174-187, 188-201, 202-215, 216-above
Purple-above belts and Advanced no gi (+3years)
159-below,
160-180, 181-201, 202-above
Also
having a 36 year old and above class for gi white belts and blue
belts!
***Not
advertised but Relson Gracie students get an additional $10 off
entry fees.***
Pre-Register
by May 20th and pay
kids/women-$40
Men-$60
Entry
fees on May 21st
kids/women-$50
Men-$70
Men
can add 36-above division to Men division only $10 more! Or just
compete in that division for the Men price
Weigh
ins at Scrappa Lifestylez store in Hanamaulu next to the post
office from 5pm-9pm on Friday May 20th.
Also,
tournament day weigh ins kids/adults till 9am!! And I mean 9am!
Kids
start at 10am
Adults start at 1230pm
Make
sure competitors are there at tournament site at least 1 1/2
hours before estimated times.
There
will be no food allowed in the gym. There will also be food and
drinks available there.
Also
no smoking on school grounds, and no one allowed on the school
playgrounds.
Spectators-
$5 for kids and $7 for adults.
Competitors
will receive competitor shirts while their size last!
RULES AND REGULATIONS FOR ALL BELTS AND LEVELS
PERMITTED
TECHNIQUES
" Straight ankle locks
ILLEGAL TECHNIQUES
" No Neck Cranks (cervical without chokes)
" No Leg Locks and Toe Holds (Exception: Purple Belts and
Above/Advanced No Gi)
" No Heel Hooks
" No Wrist, Bicep or Calf Locks (Exception: Purple Belts
and Above/Advanced No Gi)
" No Attacks to Windpipe, Eyes, Small Joints or Groin
" No Fish Hooks, Hair Pulling or Biting
" No Hands, Elbows or Knees on Face
" No Scissors Takedown
" No Striking of any kind
" No Slamming your opponent on the mat
" No Submission for Kids under 10years of age, Gi or No
Gi
¢ Any intentional use of an illegal technique, abuse of
an official or show poor sportsmanship will result in immediate
disqualification or ejection of the competitor, coach or spectator.
¢ Refereeing is a subjective task, and as such, is prone
to personal interpretation, judgment, and human error. Any dispute
of match or calls must be made before the next match commences.
In the name of fairness, referee will make all attempts to resolve
disputes and disagreements, but REFEREES possess the FINAL authority
on all decisions and designations of winners.
¢ All competitors are required to attend their designated
rules clinic. Competitors will be allowed to address questions
and concerns surrounding competition rules and match points scoring
system during the rules clinic.
¢ The Kimono(GI) must be washed and dried with no unpleasant
odors. The Kimono(GI) must be free of tears and of proper length.
The jacket is to be of sufficient length down to the thighs,
sleeves must reach the wrist with arms extended in front of the
body.
¢ Competitors who fail to appear when their names is called
will forfeit their match.
¢ In case of victory the athlete must remain at the designated
mat until the next match.
Source: Pono Pananganan
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Aloha everyone,
Hope
all is well with everyone. Our 2011 Sera's Kajukenbo Open Tournament
will be held on Saturday, July 16th at War Memorial Gym in Wailuku,
Maui. This year, in addition to 1st and 2nd place trophies for
each division, we will be awarding Team Champions trophies for
each of the three events (Continuous Sparring, MMA (Controlled),
and Submission Grappling). Attached is an event flier for your
reference and distribution. If you have any questions, e-mail
or call me at 205-9133. Mahalo,
Sigung
Trent Sera
Sera's Kajukenbo
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