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(All events on Oahu, unless noted)
2011
12/9/11
Man Up & Stand Up
(Kickboxing)
Waipahu Filcom Center, Waipahu)
11/18/11
Island Heat 3: Tha Comeback
(MMA)
(Waipahu Filcom,Waipahu)
11/11/11
Man Up & Stand Up
(Kickboxing)
Waipahu Filcom Center, Waipahu)
11/5-6/11
Eternal
Submissions
(BJJ & Submission Grappling)
(Kauai Beach Resort, Kauai)
11/5/11
Hawaii Toughman
(Kickboxing)
(Hilo Civic Ctr)
Chozun-1
(Kickboxing)
(The Waterfront, Aloha Tower Market Place)
10/22/11
NAGA Hawaii
(BJJ & Sub Grappling)
(Radford H.S. Gym)
10/21/11
Destiny MMA
(MMA)
(The Waterfront, Aloha Tower Market Place)
10/15/11
Up N Up
(MMA)
(Kodak Room, Waikiki Shell)
10/7/11
Man Up & Stand Up
(Kickboxing)
Waipahu Filcom Center, Waipahu)
9/24/11
Aloha
State of BJJ
(BJJ/Sub Grappling)
(Kaiser HS)
Amateur Boxing
(Boxing)
( Palolo District Park Gym)
9/23/11
808 Battleground Presents: Unstoppable
(MMA)
(The Waterfront, Aloha Tower Market Place)
9/3/11
Australian Fighting Championship 2
(MMA)
Melbourne Aquatic & Sports Complex, Melbourne, Australia)
9/2/11
Man Up & Stand Up
(Kickboxing)
Waipahu Filcom Center, Waipahu)
8/27/11
Pro
Elite MMA
(MMA)
(Blaisdell Arena)
Toughman Hawaii
(Boxing, Kickboxing)
(Hilo Civic)
Add to events calendar
8/20/11
POSTPONED
Maui Jiu-Jitsu Open Tournament
(BJJ & Sub Grappling)
(Neal Blaisdell Center
Lahaina Civic Center, Lahaina, Maui)
8/13/11
Destiny
(MMA)
(Waterfront at Aloha Tower)
8/12/11
Up N Up: Waipahu Brawl
(MMA)
(Waipahu Filcom)
8/6/11
Just Scrap
(MMA)
(Hilo Civic Center, Hilo)
7/22/11
808 Battleground & X-1 World Events
Domination
(MMA)
(Waterfront at Aloha Tower)
Vendetta
(Kickboxing)
Waipahu Filcom Center, Waipahu)
7/16/11
2011 Sera's Kajukenbo Open Tournament
(Continuous Sparring, MMA (Controlled), and Submission Grappling)
(War Memorial Gym, Wailuku, Maui)
7/8/11
Chozun 2
(Kickboxing)
(The Waterfront at Aloha Tower Marketplace, Honolulu)
Rener Gracie Seminar
O2 Martial Arts Academy
$65
7-9PM
7/1/11
Mad Skills
(Kickboxing)
(Waipahu Filcom Center, Waipahu)
6/25/11
Kauai Cage Fights
(MMA)
(Kilohana Estates)
6/17-19/11
Big Boys & MMA Hawaii Expo
Neal Blaisdell Center, Honolulu)
6/18-19/11
Hawaii
Triple Crown
“State Championships”
(BJJ & Sub Grappling)
(Neal Blaisdell Center, Honolulu)
6/18/11
Destiny: Fury II
(MMA)
(Neal Blaisdell Center, Honolulu)
6/17/11
UpNUp: On The Rise
(MMA)
(Neal Blaisdell Center, Honolulu)
6/10/11
Genesis “76 South Showdown Kickboxing”
(Kickboxing)
(Campbell H.S. Gym, Ewa Beach)
6/2-5/11
World
Jiu-Jitsu Championship
(BJJ)
(California)
5/28/11
HUAWA Grappling Tournament 2011
Grappling Series II
(Submission grappling)
(Mililani H.S. Gym, Mililani)
Cancelled
Battleground 808
(MMA)
(The Waterfront, Aloha Tower)
Man Up & Stand Up
(Kickboxing)
(Waipahu Filcom Center, Waipahu)
5/21/11
Scraplafest 3
(BJJ & Submission Grappling)
(Island School, Puhi, Kauai, behind Kauai Commuity College)
5/20/11
Kauai Knockout Championship II: Mortal Combat
(MMA)
(Kauai War Memorial Convention Hall, Lihue)
5/14/11
Boxing Smoker
(Boxing)
(Palolo District Gym)
5/6/11
Just Scrap
(MMA)
(Hilo Civic Center, Hilo)
4/28/11
Destiny: Fury II
(MMA)
(Blaisdell Arena)
4/23/11
Man Up & Stand Up
(Kickboxing)
Waipahu Filcom Center, Waipahu)
Gladiators for God
(Amateur Muay Thai)
(Wet&Wild Water Park)
4/16/11
Hawaiian
Championship of BJJ
(BJJ
& Sub Grappling)
(Kaiser H.S. Gym)
4/15/11
Destiny
& 808 Battleground presents "Supremacy"
(MMA)
(Aloha Tower Waterfront)
4/9/11
Fight Girls Hawaii
(MMA)
(Waipahu Filcom Center)
4/2/11
Toughman Hawaii
(Kickboxing)
(Hilo Civic Ctr)
3/24-27/11
Pan
American Jiu-Jitsu Championships
(BJJ)
University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA)
3/26/11
Mad Skills
(Kickboxing, Triple Threat)
(Waipahu Filcom Center, Waipahu)
HUAWA Grappling Tourney
(Sub Grappling)
(Mililani HS Gym)
3/12/11
X-1:
Dylan Clay vs Niko Vitale
(MMA)
(Blaisdell Arena)
3/11/11
Chozun 1: "the Reckoning"
(Kickboxing)
(The Waterfront at Aloha Tower Marketplace, Honolulu)
3/5/11
Just Scrap
(MMA)
(Hilo Civic Auditorium, Hilo)
2/25/11
808
Battleground Presents
War of Warriors
(MMA)
(The Waterfront At Aloha Tower, Honolulu)
2/20/11
Pan
Kids Jiu-Jitsu Championships
(BJJ)
(California State University, Carson, CA )
2/19/11
Man Up & Stand Up
(Kickboxing)
Waipahu Filcom Center, Waipahu)
2/5/11
Garden Island Cage Match 10: Mayhem at the Mansion 2
(MMA, Kickboxing)
(Kilohana Carriage House, Lihue, Kauai)
Amateur Boxing
(Boxing)
(Palolo District Park Gym)
2/4/11
Amateur Boxing
(Boxing)
(Palolo District Park Gym)
1/29/11
Man Up & Stand Up
(Kickboxing)
Waipahu Filcom Center, Waipahu)
Battle At The Barn
(MMA)
(Molokai H.S. Gym, Molokai)
1/8/11
Hawaii Toughman
(Kickboxing)
(Hilo Civic Center, Hilo)
|
|
November
2011 News Part 3
|
Casca Grossa Jiu-Jitsu
is now the O2 Martial Arts Academy with 7 days a week training!
We are also offering Kali-Escrima (stick fighting) on Monday
nights with Ian Beltran & Erwin Legaspi.
Kickboxing Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday with Kaleo Kwan, PJ
Dean, & Chris Slavens!
Kids Classes are also
available!
Click
here for info!
Take classes from
the Onzuka brothers in a family-like environment! |
Onzuka.com
Hawaii Underground Forum is Online!
Chris, Mark,
and I wanted to start an official Onzuka.com forum for a while
now. We were searching for the best forum to go with and hit
a gold mine! We have known Kirik, who heads the largest and most
popular forum on the net, The Underground for years.
He
offered us our own forum within the matrix know as MMA.tv. The
three of us will be the moderators with of course FCTV808 being
the lead since he is on there all day anyway!
We
encourage everyone from Hawaii and our many readers around world
to contribute to the Hawaii Underground.
If you
do not have a login, it's simple and fast to get one.
Click here to set up an account.
Don't worry about using Pidgin English in the posting. After
all it is the Hawaii Underground and what is a Hawaii Underground
without some Aloha and some Pidgin?
To
go directly to the Onzuka.com Hawaii Underground Forum
click here!
|
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
Two
More Featherweight Bouts at UFC 142 in Rio
UFC
142 is shaping up to be a featherweight feast when the promotion
returns for its second offering in Rio in less than six months.
Not
only will UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo defend his belt
on his home turf against Chad Mendes, UFC president Dana White
on Thursday announced that two more 145-pound contest have been
verbally agreed to for Jan. 14 at the HSBC Arena in Rio. Yuri
Alcantara faces Michihiro Omigawa and Felipe Arantes squares
off with Antonio Carvalho.
Alcantara
(26-3) last fought on the promotion’s return to Rio at UFC
134 in August. He won a decision over Arantes in what was the
UFC debut of both fighters.
He’ll
now put his 12-bout winning streak on the line against Omigawa
(13-10-1), who recently scored his first win in the Octagon at
UFC 138 in England.
Arantes
(13-4) will look to erase memories of the loss to Alcantara against
Carvalho (13-4), who will finally be making his Octagon debut.
Source:
Yahoo Sports
|
Josh
Koscheck Just Became a Nick Diaz Fan
There’s
nothing most fighters want more than to avenge a loss, especially
when that loss occurs in a title fight.
Of
course, Josh Koscheck would like nothing more than to capture
the UFC welterweight belt, and beating Georges St-Pierre to get
it. But he knows that being one fight removed from that loss,
it’ll probably be a while before he gets another shot at
GSP.
In
the meantime, St-Pierre is slated to square off with Nick Diaz
at UFC 143 on Super Bowl weekend, and Koscheck is set to fight
Carlos Condit on that same fight card.
Perhaps,
surprisingly, until you hear why, Koscheck is pulling for Diaz
in that fight.
“I
like the Diaz kid. He brings something similar to what I bring
to the table. He’s not afraid to say what’s on his
mind,” Koscheck said at a recent question and answer session
with fans.
We
all know, however, that liking a fighter and him winning doesn’t
always correlate.
“Realistically,
I think GSP is a strategist and GSP is probably gonna come out
with a great game plan. That’s where he can play it safe
and get the victory,” Koscheck told fans, being realistic
about Diaz’s chances against the No. 1 ranked welterweight
fighter on the planet.
That
doesn’t mean that Koscheck won’t be rooting for Diaz,
though, because he wants back in the title picture.
“I’d
love to see Diaz win because when I beat Carlos Condit Feb. 4.
That means me and Diaz is for a title shot,” said Koscheck.
“And
that means it’s a big fight because he talks really good,
and I believe I can talk up the fight really good.”
Source:
Yahoo Sports
|
|
Pat
Barry: The Rock of MMA
When
you think of UFC heavyweight fighter Pat Barry, quite a few things
can come to mind.
On
the first day he stepped foot in the UFC Octagon, he was already
a dangerous striker with deadly kicks that looked like they could
chop down a tree.
Following
his first win in the UFC, however, Barry let his emotions out
about what it meant for him to even be able to fight and receive
the opportunity in the world’s biggest MMA organization.
Through
interviews and press conferences, Barry’s personality showed
through more and more and he became one of the most well liked
and popular athletes in the UFC.
From
stripping down to his underwear during the UFC Fighter Summit
earlier this year, to his always colorful and often hilarious
comments, Barry’s star power seems to transcend fighting.
Of
course his main goal is still to go out there and win fights
and entertain fans with his lightning quick kicks and devastating
punches, but that doesn’t mean his personality can’t
show through as well.
It’s
for that reason that Barry’s manager, Brian Butler of Suckerpunch
Entertainment, believes that the former K-1 kickboxer has a very
bright future ahead of him, inside and outside of fighting.
As
a matter of fact, he looks at Barry similar to WWE superstar
turned actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
“Pat
is one of those guys that has the character and charisma to have
a career after fighting in movies and stuff. I kind of see him
as The Rock of the UFC,” Butler stated.
“He’s
just very comfortable with himself and with people and in front
of the camera. He’s just a funny guy; he’s a great
guy.”
Barry’s
personality really is just how he is in everyday life. It’s
hard to forget his recent karaoke car performance of the Mamas
and the Papas classic “California Dreaming” alongside
friend and former opponent Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic.
Whether in interviews or just talking to fans, Barry’s talent
is more than just being able to kick an opponent’s head
off with his foot.
Much
like The Rock, Barry’s path to stardom comes with many talents.
When
Johnson came to the WWE several years ago, he was just a tremendous
athlete, a former football player from the University of Miami,
who was descended from professional wrestling greatness. As time
went on, however, Johnson showcased his true skills in and out
of the ring. One of the most popular stars to ever perform in
the WWE, every time Johnson picked up the microphone, fans went
crazy.
Now,
MMA is obviously not professional wrestling, nor should there
be any confusion about that, but Barry’s personality and
persona are very similar to what Johnson started building during
his time with the WWE.
An
athletic big man with no fear in the cage, when Barry gets a
microphone in front of his face, he’s not afraid to say
exactly what’s on his mind and it’s usually something
people are going to want to listen to.
Plus,
if movie producers are looking at Barry for a role, he has an
extra talent as well.
“Not
only that, but Pat can do his own stunts,” Butler joked.
“Have you ever seen anybody that big be that athletic? It’s
crazy how athletic he is. He had his start in gymnastics, so
I guess that’s why, but he’s a talented guy all around.”
During
Johnson’s time with the WWE, he also took on the moniker
“The People’s Champ” and if there’s one definitive
similarity he shares with Barry, it’s that.
A
fan favorite win, lose, or draw; Barry always has fans behind
him, so he may truly be The People’s Champ of the UFC.
While
it’s doubtful that you’ll see Barry grab the mic away
from Bruce Buffer before his next fight and shout “if you
smell what Pat Barry is cooking,” he will definitely have
a career waiting for him whenever he decides to dip his big toe
into the waters outside of fighting, and there will surely be
interested parties ready to listen.
Source:
MMA Weekly |
|
Jon
Fitch’s UFC Bucket List: Belt, GSP, Anderson
Jon
Fitch won 16 consecutive fights before getting his first UFC
title shot. He took Georges St-Pierre to limit, losing a decision
to the welterweight kingpin after five hard-fought rounds.
He
rebounded by winning five consecutive fights, including two Top
10 ranked fighters, but didn’t get a return invitation.
Instead he fought BJ Penn to a draw at UFC 127, despite most
feeling he was the No. 1 contender to GSP’s throne.
Ranked
No. 2 in the world with a 23-3-1 record, only one the loss to
St-Pierre coming during his six-year UFC tenure, most wonder
why Fitch has yet to be granted a rematch.
“I
really have no idea,” Fitch told MMAWeekly Radio’s
Weekend crew recently. “No one’s every come to speak
to me about doing anything wrong or right or whatever, so I’m
completely clueless.
“I
have no idea what’s expected of me to get the title shots.
No one’s ever come to me and said they don’t like what
I’m doing or I need to do more of something else. I’m
utterly and completely clueless in that regard.”
Title
shot or not, Fitch isn’t going anywhere. He’s still
doing what he loves to do and isn’t about to give that up,
whether or not he’s being passed over for another shot at
gold.
He
won’t let it ding his confidence either.
“I’m
living for the fights. That’s what I love,” he said.
“I don’t think there’s anybody out there who I
can’t beat. If I’m in shape and healthy and my timing
is on, there’s nobody in the world I can’t beat.”
Slated
to face Johny Hendricks at UFC 141 on Dec. 30 in Las Vegas, not
exactly the challenge he’d like to have staring him in the
face, Fitch will continue on, pursuing his goals, proving that
there isn’t anyone he can’t beat.
“My
goals are: one, to win the welterweight belt; two, avenge my
loss to GSP; and three, I would like to move up some day and
challenge Anderson (Silva) if he’s still around and undefeated,
just because that’s the kind of person I am.
“I
want to challenge the best. I want to go up against the best.
I want to prove to everybody that I’m the best.”
Source:
MMA Weekly |
|
Bellator
59 Results: Dantas Wins Shot at Title; Pellegrino Retires…
Again
Bellator’s
fifth season came to an end on Saturday night, but not without
some controversy and a no contest along the way.
The
card was headlined by the finals of the Bellator heavyweight
tournament pitting Eric Prindle against Thiago Santos, with the
winner getting a shot at champion Cole Konrad in 2012.
Unfortunately,
Konrad will be waiting for a little while before scoring his
next title challenger.
After
some early success taking the fight to the ground, Santos decided
to stand up with Prindle, but it was a kick straight to the groin
that was the most damaging blow in the fight. Prindle dropped
down and was given the full five minutes to recover, but just
couldn’t continue.
The
fight was ruled a no contest so Prindle and Santos will have
to do it all over again in 2012.
The
bantamweight tournament finals did come to a conclusion on Saturday
night however with Eduardo Dantas defeating former Olympic bronze
medalist Alexis Vila to earn a shot at Bellator champion Zach
Makovsky.
After
struggling to stuff the former Olympian’s takedowns in the
first round, Dantas fired back in the second, keeping the fight
on the feet and looking for knees throughout. In the final round,
Dantas blocked a takedown and slipped around to take Vila’s
back.
While
he couldn’t finish the fight, Dantas was able to control
the action for the better part of all five minutes and won the
round and the fight. Dantas will now move on to face Makovsky
during season 6 for Bellator next year.
Former
Bellator lightweight tournament runner-up Patricky ‘Pitbull’
Freire may have sent former UFC fighter Kurt Pellegrino to his
retirement on a bit of a sour note.
Pellegrino
walked away from fighting following his last bout in the UFC,
but opted to take another shot and returned at Bellator on Saturday
night. Unfortunately, less than a minute into the bout, Freire
swarmed on Pellegrino with punches, looking for the finish.
While
Freire did land a knockdown and appeared to have Pellegrino in
trouble, the referee swooped in for the stoppage, but most believed
it was premature.
Despite
the controversial nature of the stoppage, Pellegrino never complained
and simply chose to say goodbye to MMA for the last time.
“I
started my career in Atlantic City and I wanted to end it in
Atlantic City too, so I’m glad Bellator gave me this fight,”
Pellegrino said.
Former
‘Ultimate Fighter’ finalist Phillipe Nover was the
third casualty of controversy at Bellator 59, losing by decision
to Marcin Held.
Nover
was in trouble early, but bounced back strong and seemed to control
the biggest portion of the fight. The judges however saw it differently
and gave the win to Held.
Bellator
59 wraps up the fifth season for the promotion and they will
now kick off season six in 2012.
Source:
MMA Weekly |
My
First Fight: Miguel Torres
Miguel TorresNo fight fan is in any danger of confusing Miguel
Torres for Muhammad Ali. One's a skinny bantamweight MMA fighter
with a mullet, and the other is Muhammad Ali. But even though
they might be separated by a few decades and many, many pounds,
both owe the genesis of their fight careers to a specific type
of childhood anguish: the stolen bike.
Torres'
bike had been a gift from his uncle. It wasn't exactly top of
the line, but it had the word 'Ambush' written across the side,
which was undeniably cool for reasons Torres couldn't quite explain.
He'd made it even cooler by covering much of the bike in duct
tape.
"You
know, so it was camouflaged," he says.
One
Friday afternoon he rode his bike down to a local shrimp joint
to get a basket of french fries to split with his friends, but
the proprietor wouldn't let him bring his bike inside. Torres
didn't have a lock, so he left it just outside, where he could
see the front tire through the window.
"But
this was when [arcade game] Mortal Kombat first came out,"
he says with a sigh. "I came in for the food, but all I
heard was 'Finish him!'"
You
know where this is going. Torres had some change in his pocket,
and what kid in the early 90s could resist the magnetic pull
of a good video game -- especially Mortal Kombat? Torres tried
to keep an eye on that bike tire through the window, but he got
absorbed in the game, taking on one challenger after another.
When he glanced over his shoulder at the end of it all, no more
bike.
"It
was the first time I'd ever had anything stolen from me,"
he says. "I was crushed. I ran around the whole block screaming,
'Where's my bike!?'"
When
that didn't yield the result he was hoping for, Torres went home
to "lift weights." And by weights, he means bricks.
It was the closest thing he could find to a weight set in his
neighborhood, and all he knew was that he needed to get stronger
if he was going to be ready when he finally came face to face
with the bike thief. He also convinced his parents to let him
take some Taekwondo lessons, "until I found out it was all
bulls--t."
He'd
go to school and his friends on the wrestling team would taunt
him, calling him 'karate boy' and challenging him to show them
his stuff.
"Then
they'd take me down and get me in just the worst holds you can
imagine. It sucked."
But
little by little, Torres was learning different art forms from
whatever sources he could find. A little taekwondo here, some
wrestling there, even a trip to a local boxing gym where they
sparred on bare feet on a concrete floor. During one such session
Torres so angered an older sparring partner with his frantic
Jeff Speakman routine that the man threw off his gloves and double-legged
him onto the concrete floor before choking the teenage Torres
with his own t-shirt.
Afterward,
"the guy told me, 'That's jiu-jitsu.' I was like, I have
to learn that."
Somewhere
along the way Torres became a martial arts junkie. He read all
the books, held himself to a rigid diet he didn't fully understand,
took challenge matches wherever he could find them. All that
was left was to find a real fight, a pro fight, something that
would test him. This is where Finke's came in.
If
you look at Torres' record, it'll tell you that his first fight
was against Larry Pulliam at Finke's Full Contact Challenge in
March of 2000. That sounds pretty official, at least until you
realize that Finke's was the name of a local bar in Highland,
Indiana, and the "Full Contact Challenge" was more
or less a gimmick to try and drum up a crowd for those slow Monday
nights.
"I
had this idea about how it would be, but I walked in that bar
and it was almost empty. It was just these shady characters --
bikers, gang-bangers. They gave me this form to fill out, and
it was basically a cheap contract saying I wouldn't sue if I
got hurt or killed. After that, it was: real name, stage name,
height, weight, and age. That was it. There was no scale to check
your weight. No athletic commission. You could wrap your hands
if you wanted or you could not wrap your hands. All they checked
was mouthpiece and cup."
Even
that requirement proved difficult for some of the fighters. Some
of them had brought boil-and-bite mouthpieces -- the cheap ones
that you can form to your teeth after a quick dunk in hot water
-- but they hadn't even bothered to take them out of the package
before fight night. Maybe it was just as well, because they ended
up passing the mouthpieces back and forth, among other things.
"There
were guys literally saying, 'Hey, if you let me use your mouthpiece,
I'll let you use my cup,'" Torres says. "And they'd
be there after the fights swapping mouthpieces and cups. Guys
who weren't even wearing jockstraps were just shoving someone
else's cup in their shorts."
As
Torres was warming up backstage, one of his coaches stretched
him out while attempting to impart various Eastern philosophies.
Ebb and flow. Yin and yang. That sort of stuff. His boxing coach
had different advice, and it involved "[expletive]ing this
guy up" and then befriending the strippers who'd been hired
to serve as ring girls. Only maybe it wasn't quite so delicately
put.
"That
was the last thing I heard before I went in there. And in my
mind I had this idea of what a fight should be, just this war.
I had images of me hitting him and him hurting me and me getting
cut and bleeding, but coming back and winning the fight. Like
a Rocky movie or a kung fu movie. I thought the whole 15-minute
fight would be like that. I was thinking of all the Bruce Lee
books I'd read, The Art of War. All that."
Instead
what happened was that Pulliam came forward, was backed off by
a Torres head kick attempt -- "the worst kick you can imagine,"
he says -- and then came forward again, straight into a Torres
left hook. That was all it took. Pulliam went down, attempted
to get back to his feet, then collapsed again. The ref had no
choice but to stop it.
"I
looked at my corner like, that's it?" Torres says. "I
didn't want to get out of the ring. I was so upset. I wanted
to fight again."
The
crowd loved it. So did his coaches. But Torres left the ring
with a disappointed feeling in the pit of his stomach. That disappointment
continued when Finke's employees explained that, while he was
old enough to fight in their establishment, he wasn't old enough
to drink there.
"I
thought at least I'd get to hang out in the bar. But no, they
kicked me out because I was underage. They were all hanging out,
drinking with the strippers, but I was outside in the car eating
McDonald's."
Torres
stayed there waiting for his coaches to return for, by his estimation,
"about four hours." Not exactly the victory party you
imagine for yourself after your first professional win, but Torres
was already hooked. Even though 'MMA fighter' wasn't much of
an actual job description in the spring of 2000, Torres "knew
right away that this was what I wanted to do."
He'd
go on to fight many more bouts at Finke's while trying to keep
it a secret from his family, but word spread about the skinny
Mexican kid who never lost a bout. Not long after, Torres' father
was injured by a crane at a construction site where he was working.
When Torres went to see him in the hospital one day he found
that his father had had a visit from a work friend who told him
all about seeing his son fight down at the sports bar. The secret
was out.
"So
I told him all about it," Torres says. "He said, 'How
much are they paying you?' I was like, I don't fight for money.
I fight for the art, for respect. I was an idealist. And my dad,
from his hospital bed, he reached out and smacked me on the back
of the neck."
Torres'
father's friend had told him all about how the guys from the
construction crew loved these fight nights, how they paid $25
a head to get in, how the young Torres was quickly becoming a
major draw.
"My
dad said, 'You've got to get paid. This guy's making money off
you, and you're the one getting hurt.' So I went back and talked
to the promoter and told him I wanted to start getting paid."
And
he did. For his next fight, Torres made the princely sum of $100.
It was enough to fill his Camaro up with gas and still have enough
to take a girl out on a date. Plus, it was money he'd earned
with his art, his skills. It was perfect. It was everything he
thought he needed at the time, and it was just the beginning.
Source:
MMA Fighting
|
UFC
on Fox 2: Is Sonnen vs. Munoz on tap? Should there be a qualifier
fight before they get to face Silva?
Two
of the top middleweights in the world posed for a photo during
UFC 139. One looked like he was ready to scrap right there in
the crowd. It wasn't the case, there isn't any angst that we
know about between Mark Munoz and Chael Sonnen, but there may
be soon.
If
Anderson Silva is truly on the shelf until the UFC potentially
hits Sao Paolo next summer, the promotion may book a Munoz-Sonnen
fight. Between Sonnen's chops and Munoz's good guy image, it'd
be home run promotion with the old-guard sports media.
Munoz
is now 7-1 at 185 pounds and just posted a dominant win over
Chris Leben at UFC 138. Sonnen, who dominated Silva for 23-plus
minutes at UFC 117, just ran through Brian Stann at UFC 136.
When
Sonnen appeared on ESPN1100/98.9 FM in Las Vegas two weeks ago
it sounded like he was fine facing someone while Silva stayed
dormant.
"I'm
not going to sit around and wait for him. [...] I don't just
need the title, I need to be the best fighter in the world. If
there's someone who can knock me off and beat me then I don't
deserve to be there. So god bless them and let that guy have
his shot," said Sonnen.
After
UFC 139, Dana White said there will be four fights on Jan. 28
in Chicago on the second Fox card. Sonnen-Munoz would be a great
headliner, but is it fair to the fighters?
Source:
Yahoo Sports
|
Rampage
Gets Wish, Faces Ryan Bader in Japan
Quinton
“Rampage” Jackson gets his wish after all.
The
former light heavyweight champion will travel to Japan for UFC
144 and face former “Ultimate Fighter” winner Ryan
Bader.
Sources
confirmed the fight to MMAWeekly.com and UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta
later confirmed the fight to ESPN.com.
For
months, former light heavyweight champion Rampage has been lobbying
to fight in Japan, a country he spent several years competing
in while under the Pride Fighting Championships banner.
Jackson
shot to stardom during his time with Pride, having some of his
best performances there with wins over fighters like Chuck Liddell
and Ricardo Arona.
Now,
Jackson returns to Japan for the first time since 2006 when he
defeated Dong Sik Yoon by unanimous decision at Pride 31.
Facing
Jackson at UFC 144 will be former “Ultimate Fighter”
winner Ryan Bader, who got back on the winning track in his last
fight after suffering a two fight skid.
Bader
made quick work of Jason Brilz at UFC 139, knocking out the Nebraska
native early in the first round. He has a new head coach in New
Mexico based trainer Tom Vaughn, and has stated that he will
continue to evolve as he progresses in his UFC career.
Now
he gets another major test against a former light heavyweight
champion.
Jackson
vs. Bader is expected to be a marquee fight on the UFC 144 fight
card in Japan, but no formal announcement from the UFC has come
about the placement for the bout on the show.
Currently
the lightweight title fight between Frankie Edgar and Benson
Henderson headlines the card taking place on Feb. 26 at Saitama
Super Arena in Japan.
Source:
Yahoo Sports
|
Welterweight
is in Benson Henderson’s Future
Top
UFC lightweight contender Benson Henderson has a lot of goals
he still wants to achieve in the 155-pound division, but he won’t
be there forever.
At
28 years of age, Henderson has been a wrestler and now a fighter
for most of his life, and he’s been cutting weight for the
last 16 years.
Like
anything, weight cutting takes its toll on the body and while
Henderson has no plans of leaving the lightweight division any
time soon, he eventually believes he’ll have to fight at
welterweight when the weight cutting becomes too hard.
“155
is my weight class and I’m going to own it. I want 55 to
be synonymous with myself, I want to be synonymous with the 55-pound
weight class, but that being said, the older you are the harder
it is to cut weight,” Henderson told MMAWeekly Radio.
“I’m
getting a little bit older now and cutting weight sucks.”
If
you’ve ever watched a weigh-in where Henderson is fighting,
it’s pretty common place for the former WEC champion to
need a towel and a complete lack of clothing to make the 156-pound
weight limit for his lightweight bouts.
Other
fighters, like current UFC contender Dan Henderson, have also
remarked how much weight cutting plays a factor when it comes
to the decision to choose what weight class they fight at. Henderson
has said on numerous occasions that the only fight that interests
him at middleweight is a rematch with current 185-pound king
Anderson Silva, but outside of that he has no desire to cut weight
that low again.
While
Benson Henderson has several years left at lightweight, he knows
that as age catches up to him and his body continues to change,
he’ll have to reevaluate decisions when it comes to cutting
weight.
“There’s
a few guys who’ve said things pretty similar as far as cutting
weight when you get older, how hard it is. Dan (Henderson) is
a perfect example. He’s wrestled forever. I wrestled and
cut weight six months, seven months out of the year since I was
12 years old. It’s kind of getting old. I don’t like
it so much anymore,” Henderson commented.
“It
is hard on the body. People don’t realize how much of a
factor it is. Thankfully, I hired a nutritionist, Travis Jeffries,
full time and been a little bit smarter about it. As I get older,
I eat healthier, try to eat the right things, make all these
little sacrifices that it takes to be a champion.”
While
he’s considered a very large lightweight, right now Henderson
would be on the smaller side of some of the fighters who currently
compete in the welterweight division. Monsters like Thiago Alves
cut from over 190 pounds to make the 170-pound limit, but Henderson
knows that with a new weight class comes new challenges to find
victory.
“Hopefully,
eventually my technique catches up where I can hang with guys
that are freaking 20 pounds heavier than me, and use more of
my speed when they’re bigger and slower, and my technique
makes up for them being stronger than me,” Henderson stated.
It’s
not happening tomorrow, but Henderson is in MMA for the long
haul and to ensure that his body holds up, a move to welterweight
will eventually be in the cards.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Henderson/Shogun
Better Than Griffin/Bonnar?
When
discussing the most important fights in UFC history, the conversation
usually stops and starts with Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar
from the finale of the first season of The Ultimate Fighter.
In
the UFC montage video that plays before every pay-per-view set
to The Who’s “Baba O’Riley,” some of the
knockouts or scenes may change, but with the song coming to an
end, the climax is always Griffin and Bonnar duking it out, with
a stunned crowed watching in awe.
The
epic slugfest between Griffin and Bonnar brought in millions
of new viewers as people literally started calling their friends
during the fight, telling them they had to tune in and watch
this instant classic.
But
for however great that fight was and the iconic status it will
always hold, even UFC president Dana White says the UFC 139 main
event between Dan Henderson and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua
surpassed it.
White
points out that what Griffin and Bonnar brought to the table
was a fight that everyone was talking about, and it became the
perfect storm to set the stage for the future of the UFC.
“Bonnar-Griffin
was three rounds between two guys who were trying to get into
the UFC. Bonnar-Griffin is an amazing fight and an important
fight for us at that point in time to get into the UFC. That
fight I think for the mainstream people that tuned in for the
first time on Spike, there was a lot of stand-up and back and
forth and display of heart and will and then both guys get the
contract,” White said recently about that fight.
For
as great as Griffin/Bonnar was, however, White points out what
was on the line when Henderson and Shogun met last Saturday night.
Shogun,
coming off a win over Forrest Griffin in August, was trying to
reclaim a top spot in the light heavyweight division, and possibly
get another crack at the man who took the title from him, Jon
“Bones” Jones.
Meanwhile,
Dan Henderson, fresh off a win over former top heavyweight Fedor
Emelianenko, has looked as good at 41 years of age as he ever
has before and wanted to make a statement that he deserved the
next shot at the UFC light heavyweight title.
It
was also only the second ever five-round non-title fight in UFC
history, and Henderson and Shogun certainly took advantage of
that, putting on one of the greatest fights in MMA history for
25 straight minutes.
White
looks at Griffin/Bonnar as the perfect way for the UFC story
to unfold, while Henderson and Shogun was simply one of the greatest
battles that MMA fans have ever had the pleasure of seeing.
“If
this was the WWE, we couldn’t have scripted that thing better
than the way that it went for us that night,” said White
about Griffin/Bonnar.
“But
when you look at the level that (Henderson and Shogun) are at
and the big fights that these two have had, and what was on the
line, and going five rounds, and the way this fight went. It
was one of the sickest fights I’ve ever seen.”
It’s
hard to argue with White on that point. Henderson and Shogun
may go down as the greatest fight in MMA history, at least until
someone else tops it.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
New
exams show Maiquel Falcao didn’t had a heart attack, says
manager
Maiquel
Falcao, admitted earlier this week after suffering a heart attack,
is still in the hospital Santa Casa de Misericordia de Pelotas,
Rio Grande do Sul, but surveys indicate that he may not actually
have suffered a heart attack.
Who
clarifies it is the fighter’s manager, Marcelo Brigadeiro,
in conversation with TATAME. "He's feeling better today.
It seems that nothing ever happened to him", says the manager.
"The cardiologists are telling that there wasn’t a
heart attack, because his tests all coming back normal now...
It may be something related to overtraining".
Maiquel,
of 30 years old, has a signed contract with Bellator, with debut
predicted to March of 2012, but he had a bout scheduled for December
in Bauru. “Until the doctors say something, it’s not
worth risking it. There’s no way it can happen”, reveals.
“Two
heart doctors said it wasn’t a heart attack. Who gave the
diagnosis was the general practitioner, but form Monday on he
started testing him and the results came back all normal”,
complements Brigadeiro.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Ian
McCall and Rob Emerson Latest Injuries to Strike Tachi Palace
Fights 11
And
the hits just keep on coming.
Tachi
Palace Fights 11 may soon be called ‘intensive care unit’
after two more injuries have occurred, including one to flyweight
champion Ian McCall who is now out of the main event.
Tachi
Palace Fights officials confirmed the news to MMAWeekly.com on
Friday.
McCall
was set to defend his 125lb title against Josh Rave, who himself
was a late replacement. Now the champion will be on the sidelines
as he waits to return in 2012.
Also
on the injury list is former ‘Ultimate Fighter’ competitor
Rob Emerson who was set to face Savant Young on the night’s
card.
With
Emerson gone, 11-4 Robert Washington has stepped in to take his
place.
McCall
and Emerson mark nine total changes for this Tachi Palace Fights
11 card thus far with the show just two weeks away.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Brock
Lesnar Honored to ‘Kick Overeem’s Ass’
UFC
on Fox is behind us. Junior dos Santos is the new heavyweight
champion of the world. But there’s another monster heavyweight
match-up just around the corner that decides the No. 1 contender
in the division.
Former
titleholder Brock Lesnar and former Strikeforce heavyweight champion
Alistair Overeem face off at UFC 141 on Dec. 30 at the MGM Grand
Garden Arena to decide who will face dos Santos next.
It’s
Overeem’s Octagon debut and the return of Lesnar, who has
been sidelined following surgery to repair the damage caused
by diverticulitis, an intestinal disorder.
Lesnar
said it took about six hours for him to feel like his old self
after surgery.
“I’m
back and I feel good,” proclaimed the former champion.
The
decision to undergo surgery wasn’t an easy one for the 34-year-old.
When first diagnosed with diverticulitis in 2009, Lesnar opted
for therapy.
“I
avoided the surgery as long as I could. It was just a major decision.
When you’ve got to go under the knife and have some of your
intestines removed, it’s a pretty big deal,” he said.
Healed,
healthy, and back weighing 278 pounds, Lesnar is focused on winning
the UFC heavyweight belt again, but the only fighter in combat
sports history to hold world titles simultaneously in kickboxing
and mixed martial arts stands in his way, Alistair Overeem.
“I’m
just trying to build my confidence in my stand-up and be a well-rounded
fighter. To come back and win this fight and to win the UFC heavyweight
championship back, that’s my dream,” Lesnar said during
a press conference promoting the event.
Lesnar
doesn’t’ have the experience of Overeem, but facing
a more experienced opponent has been the case in every fight
Lesnar’s had in his mixed martial arts career.
“Alistair’s
done a lot of good things overseas, and I think he’s got
a lot of fights. It’s an honor for me to get in the Octagon
to kick his ass,” Lesnar declared when asked about Overeem’s
more decorated resume.
Since
signing with the UFC, Overeem has left Holland and Team Golden
Glory to train in the U.S. at the Xtreme Couture Gym in Las Vegas.
Lesnar briefly trained with Xtreme Couture founder Randy Couture
after defeating the UFC Hall of Famer to win the title at UFC
91 in November of 2008.
“It’s
a free country,” said Lesnar about Overeem’s training
with Couture. ” He can train where he wants. It ain’t
going to really matter I don’t think.”
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Brittney
Palmer ‘Flattered’ To Be Back; Hopes to Return at UFC
140
A
couple of weeks ago, UFC president Dana White sent out a message
via his Twitter account asking if fans wanted to see former Octagon
girl Brittney Palmer back with the promotion.
Within
minutes, White had his answer and he responded in kind saying
that Palmer would be returning to the organization.
Well,
technically she never really left.
Palmer,
who was with the WEC before moving over the UFC when the promotions
merged, was a mainstay along with fellow Octagon girls Arianny
Celeste and Chandella Powell, but she decided to take a break
from the sport to focus on her another passion she developed
over the years.
Palmer
decided to enroll full time in art school in California, and
she knew that to focus on her studies meant taking a step back
from her duties with the UFC.
But
when White’s message went out over the internet, Palmer
was flooded with messages welcoming her back to the UFC, and
she couldn’t help but be a bit overwhelmed.
“It
was just as a shock to me as it was to everyone. I just woke
up to a couple thousand new followers, and all these things and
I’m like where is this coming from? Then I saw Dana’s
tweet and I was just like hell yeah, rock and roll,” Palmer
told MMAWeekly Radio.
“I’m
so excited and so stoked to be back, but I never really went
anywhere. I was just kind of taking a break to go to school,
and I just didn’t have time to start school and take every
class seriously and travel, so I knew I’d be back, I just
wasn’t exactly sure when. I guess sooner than later.”
Palmer’s
attention will still be on her art and school because it’s
something she’s very passionate about pursuing, and loves
doing.
“It’s
so amazing, I love it. Studying art itself and art history, just
everything, it changes who I am as a person and the way I look
at things, and the way I look at people,” Palmer said. “It’s
the most amazing experience I’ve ever had and I’ve
never felt more grounded and more fulfilled in my whole life.
It’s paying off.”
For
all the fame and attention that she’s received as a model
and Octagon girl, Palmer is most proud of the accomplishments
she’s making in her art, but she still loves what she does
at the UFC.
“It’s
so flattering. At the end of the day, I’m an Octagon girl,
I hold the card and that’s what I thought. Then everyone
kind of reached out and didn’t want me to go, and it was
such a big reaction, it’s flattering,” said Palmer.
“It’s
cool to think even though I’m just the girl that holds the
card, I have as many fans as I do. I feel blessed.”
While
no return date has been set for Palmer’s return to the UFC,
she’s hopeful to be back holding the cards in just a couple
of weeks when the promotion lands back in Toronto.
“I
don’t know, maybe the Toronto fight. Because I’ll be
there anyway for my clothing line,” Palmer revealed.
Whenever
she returns, Palmer will likely be greeted by a loud ovation
from the fans who are happy to see her back in the UFC.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
The
Evolution of John Alessio Includes Title Run
So
far, former UFC welterweight John “The Natural” Alessio’s
move to lightweight has been a successful one with his win over
ex-Pride star Luiz “Buscape” Firmino at SCC 3 earlier
this month.
“He’s
a real tough guy and it was a real tough fight,” said Alessio.
“He won the first round, but I was able to rally and pull
off the second and third (rounds).
“I
knew that going in that I was up for a tough one. It was me trying
to do damage, trying to finish the fight at all times that I
believe won me the fight.”
Alessio
told MMAWeekly.com that he was able to make 155 pounds with without
much difficulty, and it paid off against Firmino.
“I
was very disciplined,” he said. “I stayed to the plan
that Mike Dolce put me on 100-percent. I didn’t steer away
from it at all. In the long run it was easy. It was just a matter
of staying disciplined.
“I
felt great in the fight, too. Don’t get me wrong, I was
a little tired in the third round, but that’s because we
were battling it out in there. It was a real war of attrition.
Overall, I felt really good at that weight, and I’m really
excited to stay at that weight.”
Alessio
will again test the waters below welterweight as he squares off
against Ryan Healy in a 160-pound catchweight match at Score
Fighting Series’ upcoming Dec. 3 event, SCC 4, in Sarnia,
Ontario, Canada.
“Both
of those brothers are really tough guys; there’s no quit
in those two,” said Alessio of the Healys. “They come
to brawl, they come to fight, and in that respect it’s going
to be a tough fight for me.
“Being
in such great shape, I feel like I’ll be able to out-strike
him, out-strength him, and out-technique him. I’ll stay
the course in trying to go for the finish and not let it go to
the judges. It’s definitely not an easy fight. It’s
not a steppingstone by any means to get me to the next level
or whatever.”
Healy’s
intangibles will play a role in Alessio’s strategy for the
match.
“He
can take a beating and come out that next round going for more,
so I’m going to fight real smart and technical out there,”
said Alessio. “I’m definitely going to use finesse.
“I
feel if I push the fight, use my jiu-jitsu and lock something
up, he’ll have to tap. If he goes to sleep or I break something
that’s on him; I have no problems putting him out.”
If
recent history is a window into the future, Alessio may very
well be on the verge of a career high in the coming year.
“The
last two years have been awesome for me. I’ve won 10 of
11 fights. It just proves how hard I’ve been working,”
he said. “I’m continuing to learn every day. I’m
not just a fighter who prepares for fights. I’m a guy who
is in the gym all the time now trying to learn and evolve and
become the best mixed martial artist I can.
“I’m
looking to close this year with a big win over Ryan Healy, and
am looking to see what 2012 has in store for me. I know no matter
where or who I fight, the world is going to see an evolved John
Alessio. I feel like I’m just getting started. I’ve
got a lot to prove. At 155, I feel like I can do a lot of damage
and make a run for the title.”
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Exams
will show if ‘Cigano’ will need knee surgery or not
Minutes
after knocking Cain Velasquez out and becoming the UFC heavyweight
champion, Junior dos Santos revealed to the press in California
he had injured his knee 11 days before the bout, besides the
pains on his meniscus while he was warming up for the fight.
And
he hasn’t defined his future yet.
His
wife, Vilsana Picolli, told TATAME on Friday that he’s waiting
for the results of the tests made in Brazil to know whether he’s
having a local surgery or not, since his comeback to UFC’s
octagon in 2012 will be against the winner between Brock Lesnar
and Alistair Overeem.
Yet
in California, Cigano had talked to TATAME TV about his injury.
“I was feeling some pain on my knee for a while, but it
didn’t disturb me (during the fight). I was afraid it would,
but it was perfect for me”, said the heavyweight.
Source:
Tatame
|
Rockhold
expects to defend his Strikeforce title in January against Kennedy
Strikeforce
middleweight champion Luke Rockhold started the trainings for
his first title defense. On a chat with TATAME, the champion
revealed he hopes to fight Tim Kennedy, in January.
“I
think Tim Kennedy is out there, and from what I’ve been
told, that’s probably my next fight. Nothing’s official,
but they told me to get into train camp and get ready. So, I’m
thinking January I’ll be fighting and, most probably, it’ll
be Tim Kennedy”, said the fighter.
With
only four years dedicated to MMA, Rockhold holds a professional
record of six wins in seven fights, being the most important
over Jacare, while the former military Kennedy got 14 win in
17 bouts, suffering his last loss exactly to the Brazilian, in
2010.
Also,
Rockhold told TATAME he hopes Strikeforce to survive, but wants
a chance to go to UFC.
“I
also heard that Strikeforce might survive. Like I said, nothing’s
official, it’s all hearesay. I look forward going to the
UFC. I think me, Kennedy and Jacare would be very well in the
UFC. I think we’re on the way to go”, said.
So
far, there’s no officially confirmed Strikeforce event for
2012.
Source:
Tatame
|
Aldo:
“He (Chad) doesn’t know what he is messing with”
Featherweight
title challenger, Chad Mendes recently published a photo of himself
wearing a Vasco da Gama t-shirt, Flamengo’s biggest rival,
by which team his next rival, Jose Aldo Junior, is crazy about.
The
attempt to obtain support in Rio triggered the José Aldo’s
wrath.
“He
doesn’t know what he is messing with”, said the featherweight
champion to UOL Esportes. “He heated the fight, but Just
for him. He doesn’t get this rivalry between Vasco and Flamengo.
Our fight won’t be a local classic, but Brazil against U.S.
A Vasco fans will be with me and Flamengo will be even more against
him”, concluded.
After
all, Chad is a tough opponent, which guarantees strong emotions
for UFC 142 Rio.
Check
out the UFC provisional card at HSBC Arena, which confirmed yesterday
the presence of Paulo Thiago, Bope’s beast that excited
the crowd in August.
UFC
142 Rio
HSBC
Arena, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
January
14, 2012
José
Aldo vs Chad Mendes
Vitor
Belfort vs Anthony Johnson
Thiago
Tavares vs Sam Stout
Edson
Barboza vs Terry Etim
Fabio
Maldonado vs Stanislav Nedkov
Erick
Silva vs Siyar Bahadurzada
Rousimar
“Toquinho” Palhares vs Mike Massenzio
Antonio
“Pato” Carvalho vs Felipe Arantes “Sertanejo”
Rob
Broughton vs Ednaldo Oliveira “Lula”
Paulo
Thiago vs Mike Pyle
Source:
Gracie Magazine
|
Rampage
Gets Wish, Faces Ryan Bader in Japan
by Damon
Martin
Quinton
“Rampage” Jackson gets his wish after all.
The
former light heavyweight champion will travel to Japan for UFC
144 and face former “Ultimate Fighter” winner Ryan
Bader.
Sources
confirmed the fight to MMAWeekly.com and UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta
later confirmed the fight to ESPN.com.
For
months, former light heavyweight champion Rampage has been lobbying
to fight in Japan, a country he spent several years competing
in while under the Pride Fighting Championships banner.
Jackson
shot to stardom during his time with Pride, having some of his
best performances there with wins over fighters like Chuck Liddell
and Ricardo Arona.
Now,
Jackson returns to Japan for the first time since 2006 when he
defeated Dong Sik Yoon by unanimous decision at Pride 31.
Facing
Jackson at UFC 144 will be former “Ultimate Fighter”
winner Ryan Bader, who got back on the winning track in his last
fight after suffering a two fight skid.
Bader
made quick work of Jason Brilz at UFC 139, knocking out the Nebraska
native early in the first round. He has a new head coach in New
Mexico based trainer Tom Vaughn, and has stated that he will
continue to evolve as he progresses in his UFC career.
Now
he gets another major test against a former light heavyweight
champion.
Jackson
vs. Bader is expected to be a marquee fight on the UFC 144 fight
card in Japan, but no formal announcement from the UFC has come
about the placement for the bout on the show.
Currently
the lightweight title fight between Frankie Edgar and Benson
Henderson headlines the card taking place on Feb. 26 at Saitama
Super Arena in Japan.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Bellator
58 Bounces Back with 269,000 Viewers on MTV2
By Mike
Whitman
Bellator
Fighting Championships 58 earned an average of 269,000 viewers
with its Saturday night broadcast on MTV2, more than doubling
the previous week’s total of 129,000 viewers.
Headlined
by an exciting lightweight title fight pitting champion Eddie
Alvarez against Season 4 tournament winner Michael Chandler,
Bellator 58 emanated from the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino
in Hollywood, Fla.
Spike
TV officials announced the figure on Tuesday, noting that the
broadcast’s immediate replay netted an additional 160,000
viewers, making a combined total of 429,000 for both broadcasts.
Spike reps also revealed that the viewership peaked at 8:45 p.m.
ET, the show’s final quarter-hour, with 345,000 viewers.
On
the same night that Dan Henderson and Mauricio Rua went to war
at UFC 139, Alvarez and Chandler produced their own “Fight
of the Year” candidate, battling for three hard-fought rounds
before Chandler finished the champion with a rear-naked choke
to capture the title in round four.
The
event also saw middleweight champion Hector Lombard knock out
Trevor Prangley in a non-title, catchweight affair. Additionally,
Marlon Sandro and Jessica Aguilar posted victories during the
main card broadcast, besting Rafael Dias and Lisa Ellis-Ward,
respectively.
The
overall viewership for the Nov. 19 show tied the promotion’s
third-best all-time showing on MTV2, drawing even with October’s
Bellator 52. Also featuring Lombard, Bellator 44 still holds
the promotion’s viewership record, earning 325,000 viewers
this past May.
Source:
Sherdog
|
UFC
140 (12/10 Toronto) & UFC 141 (12/30 Las Vegas) cards
By Zach
Arnold
Venue:
Air Canada Centre (Toronto, Ontario, Canada)
TV: PPV
Dark
matches
Lightweights:
Mitch Clarke vs. John Cholish
Welterweights: Rich Attonito vs. Jake Hecht
Lightweights: Mark Bocek vs. Nik Lentz
Bantamweights: Yves Jabouin vs. Walel Watson
Lightweights: John Makdessi vs. Dennis Hallman
Middleweigths: Jared Hamman vs. Constantinos Philippou
Welterweights: Brian Ebersole vs. Claude Patrick
Main card
Light
Heavyweights: Krzysztof Soszynski vs. Igor Pokrajac
Featherweights: Mark Hominick vs. The Korean Zombie
Light Heavyweights: Tito Ortiz vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
Heavyweights: Frank Mir vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
UFC Light Heavyweight title match: Jon Jones vs. Lyoto Machida
Venue: MGM Grand Garden Arena (Las Vegas, Nevada)
TV: PPV
Dark
matches
Featherweights:
Manny Gamburyan vs. Diego Nunes
Featherweights: Nam Phan vs. Jim Hettes
Welterweights: Matt Riddle vs. Luis Ramos
Lightweights: Jacob Volkmann vs. TJ Grant
Welterweights: Dong Hyun Kim vs. Sean Pierson
Lightweights: Ramsey Nijem vs. Anthony Njokuani
Main card
Lightweights:
Ross Pearson vs. Junior Assuncao
Light Heavyweights: Vladimir Matyushenko vs. Alexander Gustafsson
Welterweights: Jon Fitch vs. Johny Hendricks
Lightweights: Nate Diaz vs. Donald Cerrone
Heavyweights (eliminator): Brock Lesnar vs. Alistair Overeem
Source: Fight Opinion
|
Kendall
Grove vs. Ikuhisa Minowa Targeted for ProElite 3
By Ariel
Helwani
Former
UFC middleweight Kendall Grove will meet Ikuhisa Minowa at ProElite
3 on Jan. 21 in Hawaii, MMAFighting.com has learned from sources
close to the fighters. When contacted by MMAFighting.com, ProElite
head of fight operations T. Jay Thompson would not confirm or
deny the upcoming fight.
While
not officially announced, ProElite 3 is scheduled to be held
at the Neil S. Blaisdell Center in Honolulu, HI, site of ProElite
1.
According
to sources close to the Japanese fighter, Minowa has signed a
three-fight North American exclusive deal with ProElite.
Minowa,
a 51-32-8 veteran of the sport, will be making his debut for
ProElite as a middleweight. He has fought for Pancrase, PRIDE,
DEEP, DREAM, and once in the UFC. The popular and charismatic
Japanese fighter, nicknamed "The Punk" and "Minowaman,"
among other names, has won his last four fights in a row.
The
29-year-old Grove got back on the winning track when he defeated
Joe Riggs at ProElite 1 in August. That fight marked his first
since his release from the UFC following a second straight loss.
The season 3 TUF winner ended his UFC run with a 7-6 record.
Also
rumored for the Jan. 21 event is the return of Sara Mcmann and
the semi-finals of the promotion's heavyweight tournament.
Source: MMA Fighting
|
Kamal
Shalorus Welcomes Undefeated Russian at UFC on FX 1
It
may be Thanksgiving day, but the UFC machine never sleeps.
UFC
officials on Thursday added another fight to its first offering
on FX, pitting Kamal Shalorus against Russian prospect Khabib
Nurmagomedov for UFC on FX 1 on Jan. 20 in Nashville.
“Undefeated
Russian fighter Khabib Nurmagomedov has verbally agreed to make
his UFC debut against powerful wrestler Kamal ‘Prince of
Persia’ Shalorus Jan. 20 in Nashville,” said UFC president
Dana White.
Following
a strong stint in the WEC, Shalorus (7-1-2) is still searching
for his first win in the Octagon. He suffered the only loss of
his career at the hands of Jim Miller at UFC 128, earlier this
year, losing by TKO stoppage.
Nurmagomedov
(16-0) is one of the top prospects coming out of Russia. Of his
16 victories, he has submitted or knocked 12 of his opponents.
Nurmagomedov
promises to be a difficult road for Shalorus to go down for his
first UFC victory.
Melvin
Guillard vs. Jim Miller headlines the UFC on FX 1 fight card
at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Fistic
Medicine: HGH Testing
By Matt
Pitt
The
names on the lips of those interested in the science of MMA in
the last month were not Penn and Diaz, but Issa and Newton. Darryl
Issa is one of the Congressmen demanding the National Football
League initiate testing for Human Growth Hormone this season.
Terry Newton is the British rugby player who, in November 2009,
became the first professional athlete ever to test positive for
illegal use of HGH.
Congressman
Issa’s crusade should be of interest to MMA fans because
the NFL leads the way in many issues that affect combat sports:
testing for performance-enhancing drugs, healthcare, brain injury,
etc. Whatever happens in that arena will inevitably trickle down
into renewed interest in HGH testing for MMA.
HGH
is a hormone secreted by a tiny gland in the brain known as the
Pituitary. For many years, synthetic growth hormone has been
available as a medical treatment for growth hormone deficiency,
a condition that leaves children profoundly underdeveloped and
leads to physical decline in adults. HGH increases size, strength
and promotes tissue healing: it is a natural drug for athletes,
particularly combat athletes, to avail themselves of. It is suspected
that synthetic HGH has been used by elite athletes since the
1970s, and, yet, for 30 years, there was no reliable test for
illegal HGH use in sports. Congressional pressure notwithstanding,
there may still not be.
There
are two primary problems with the current HGH testing scheme
the World Anti-Doping Agency is urging on the NFL and state athletic
commissions. The first is that a blood sample is required --
HGH exists in the blood at a hundred times greater concentration
than in urine. The challenge and invasiveness of obtaining and
handling samples is vastly greater for blood than for urine testing,
which is the athletic commission standard. More problematic is
the very short half-life of HGH in the body: about 2.5 hours.
A day after injecting HGH, serum levels are 0.1 percent of the
injection dose, and a week after using HGH, the drug is completely
gone from the system.
The
WADA test is, in effect, not an HGH test, but an I.Q. test --
catching only those who cannot figure out how simple it is to
evade. When Newton admitted to HGH use, he stated: “I have
made a grave error of judgment in taking a banned substance and
hope that, if nothing else, my stupidity will be a warning to
any other professional in any sport of the consequences of doing
so.” Surely, some athletes reacted to the first phrase,
reconsidering their own use of HGH, but just as surely, others
heard only the last phrase and recommitted themselves to not
being “stupid” and needlessly getting caught.
WADA’s
answer to the limitations of their HGH test is to utilize “intelligence”
and out-of-competition testing; “intelligence” in the
espionage sense of the word, as in secret information about an
athlete’s HGH usage: anonymous tips from disgruntled ex-girlfriends,
reports from poorly compensated training partners, confessions
from doctors implicated in drug dealing. Out-of-competition testing
requires athletes to register their whereabouts with WADA and
make themselves available on short notice for testing. One can
imagine an athlete’s distaste at being subjected to a system
where any confidante is a potential informer and in which registration
regulations can be stricter than those for sex offenders.
These
are legitimate issues, as is the cost -- an estimated $80,000
for a fighter’s training camp. The most anticipated boxing
match of the past decade fell apart over differences in how fighters
viewed WADA testing protocols. Floyd Mayweather Jr. judged the
cost and invasiveness of testing worth the benefits. Manny Pacquiao
did not.
WADA’s
best answer for the critics of HGH testing lies in the future.
The organization has spent millions developing a test it hopes
will detect the drug, not one or two days after use but as much
as three weeks out. Somewhere down the line, WADA hopes for cheap,
easy urine tests. The promise of these future advancements has
been enough to convince Congressmen Issa, but not the NFL Players
Union or athletic commission heads like Nevada State Athletic
Commission Executive Director Keith Kizer.
“[On]
HGH blood test, they’ve done thousands of tests and they’ve
only caught one guy,” Kizer stated in May 2010, when the
Nevada commission last considered HGH testing. “Either he
is the only guy doing HGH or there are a lot of false negatives.”
The
question men like Kizer are asking but which WADA is not required
to consider is will HGH testing help fighters and not merely
“purify” the sport? Is it right to subject hundreds,
if not thousands, of fighters to the disadvantages of testing
if only one in a hundred or one in a thousand cheaters will actually
be caught?
Those
of us who are advocates of aggressive drug testing in sports
have a tendency to ignore or minimize the human costs of testing.
We focus on the dangers of drug use, on the risk of PEDs filtering
down from the professional ranks into the lives and bodies of
high school athletes, on the purity of sport. However, the human
costs of testing are far from trivial. After failing an HGH test
that he quite likely could have effectively contested in court,
Newton lost his job and ended a successful career. Seven months
after being sanctioned, he walked into the garage in which he
had injected himself with HGH for years and hanged himself. He
was 31.
At
the very least, a better test is deserved by everyone.
Source
Sherdog
|
When
Fedor met Satoshi Ishii on NYE; card will not air on broadcast
TV
By Zach
Arnold
On
NYE at Saitama Super Arena:
Welterweights:
Hayato “Mach” Sakurai vs. Ryo Chonan
Featherweights: Hiroyuki Takaya vs. Lion Takeshi
Featherweights: Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Kazuyuki Miyata
DREAM Bantamweight tournament: Bibiano Fernandes vs. Rodolfo
Marques Diniz
DREAM Bantamweight tournament: Masakazu Imanari vs. Antonio Banuelos
DREAM Bantamweight tournament finals
The scuttlebutt coming out of Fedor’s decision win over
Jeff Monson in Russia is that he will fight on the Inoki NYE
card at Saitama Super Arena against Inoki-managed/owned-in-Japan
fighter Satoshi Ishii. On paper, the fight makes sense for both
parties. Fedor sees it as a chance to get a win, as ugly as it
may be, over a relatively green fighter and an easy payday plus
TV rights in Russia. Inoki’s camp views it as a chance to
get Fedor back in Japan (where he’s the most valued, still)
and that Ishii can somehow make the match ugly enough to get
a decision win as long as Fedor doesn’t tag him early and
knock his ass out.
So,
what’s the problem with the fight? First, it’s likely
going to be an ugly one to watch. Second, Ishii is not a draw
in Japan. The Overton window on fans converting into Ishii supporters
is done. It’s dead. This is a guy who in the time span of
a year got booed out of SSA on NYE last year when he fought Jerome
Le Banner. Japanese fans were backing a Frenchman over the Olympic
medal hero. Since that time span, Ishii fled Japan, came back
to get a divorce after 9 months with his (now) former wife who
was 19 or 20 years old, had media reports surface that he wanted
to become an American citizen so he could compete in the Olympics,
traveled to Kings MMA in So. Cal to train so he could fight Paulo
Filho in Brazil, to now ending up in the same location where
the tumultuous cycle started a year ago? Nobody is as impulsive
& reckless of a decision maker as this guy is right now.
He had everything to gain in his MMA career when he first entered
the business and totally squandered his golden ticket.
Remember
all the talk about Ishii wanting to be in the UFC? He could have
fit into the plans of UFC Japan and actually had a chance to
grow up as a fighter. Instead, he’s back to do the business
of Inoki by fighting a fading, yet accomplished & decorated
veteran who is likely going to produce a fan reaction that will
resemble the Le Banner fight. Of course, if Ishii beats Fedor
on NYE (even if he gets booed out of the building), I definitely
could see Dana marking out and paying Ishii a lot of money to
appear on the SSA card. It still wouldn’t change the fact
that Ishii isn’t much of a draw, but it would be a great
’screw you’ to send to the PRIDE fans for a vanity
show.
Speaking
of UFC Japan, here’s the updated card line-up:
UFC
Lightweight title match: Frankie Edgar vs. Ben Henderson
Lightweights: Anthony Pettis vs. Joe Lauzon
Welterweights: Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Jake Shields
Middleweights: Yushin Okami vs. Tim Boetsch
Featherweights: Hatsu Hioki vs. Bart Palaszewski
Heavyweights (rumored): Mark Hunt vs. Cheick Kongo
Think the fans will get up at 6 AM to watch the main card at
SSA at 10 AM if guys like Rampage aren’t on the card?
If
you’ve been following MMA Supremacy on Twitter, you might
have heard that the second Fox network show on January 28th in
Chicago will feature Rampage Jackson vs. Forrest Griffin (why?)
and Chael Sonnen vs. Mark Munoz. If Mark had trouble with Okami,
I wonder how the fight with Chael will turn out?
Source:
Fight Opinion
|
Boxing
coach compares Lyoto Machida to Muhammad Ali, Roy Jones Jr
Responsible
for sharpening the Boxing of names like Junior dos Santos, Anderson
Silva and Rodrigo Nogueira, among others, Luiz Carlos Dorea went
to Belem, Para, to help on the final phase of Lyoto Machida’s
preparation for the fight against Jon Jones on December 10th.
And
he was pleased with what he saw during the trainings.
“I’m
very glad he’s in such good shape… Machida family is
doing a great job”, compliments Dorea, commenting on his
impressions about the former champion, who now trains in a smaller
octagon than the one UFC uses, since he wants to focus on his
speed. “He’s doing amazing, he’s fast and strong.
Doing what he did on the light heavyweight division it’s
not usual… Lyoto has the weapons to defeat Jon Jones”.
Machida
is known for his Karate skills, once his family started practicing
the art the father, Yoshizo, taught them, but Dorea guarantees
that the karate fighter’s qualities at Nobre Arte equals
some of the best names of the rings and cages.
“I
have great Boxing experience and it’s hard to see a heavy
weight fighter who moves and does what he does… There’re
few: Anderson, Dos Santos, Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali), Roy Jones
Jr”, points out the coach, who for years trained the former
world champion Acelino “Popo” Freitas, believing on
a Brazilian triumph at UFC 140, in Canada. “I trust Lyoto,
I believe we’ll bring the fourth title to Brazil”.
Source:
Tatame
|
UFC
139 Salaries: Le, Hendo, Wand, Rua Collect Largest Checks
By Mike
Whitman
Cung
Le may not have walked away from the HP Pavilion with a victory
last Saturday night, be he did take home the evening’s largest
fight purse.
According
to numbers released Monday by the California State Athletic Commission,
Le earned $350,000 in defeat at UFC 139 in San Jose, Calif. The
sanshou specialist was knocked out by former Pride Fighting Championships
205-pound king Wanderlei Silva, who took home $200,000 for his
efforts.
Main
event winner Dan Henderson also left he building with a handsome
sum, pocketing $250,000 for his epic, five-round unanimous decision
victory over Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, who netted $165,000.
All
four aforementioned competitors were handed “Fight of the
Night” by UFC President Dana White, adding an additional
$70,000 to their respective totals.
“Knockout
of the Night” and “Submission of the Night” were
awarded to Michael McDonald ($14,000) and Urijah Faber ($64,000),
both of whom also walked away with an additional $70,000.
UFC
139 salaries:
Dan
Henderson: $320,000
(includes $70,000 “Fight of the Night” Bonus)
Mauricio
Rua: $235,000
(includes $70,000 “Fight of the Night” Bonus)
Wanderlei
Silva: $270,000
(includes $70,000 “Fight of the Night” Bonus)
Cung
Le: $420,000
(includes $70,000 “Fight of the Night” Bonus)
Urijah
Faber: $134,000
(includes $32,000 win bonus, $70,000 “Submission of the
Night” Bonus)
Brian
Bowles: $19,000
Martin
Kampmann: $58,000
(includes $29,000 win bonus)
Rick
Story: $19,000
Stephan
Bonnar: $68,000
(includes $34,000 win bonus)
Kyle
Kingsbury: $10,000
Ryan
Bader: $48,000
(includes $24,00 win bonus)
Jason
Brilz: $13,000
Michael
McDonald: $84,000
(includes $7,000 win bonus, $70,000 “Knockout of the Night”
Bonus)
Alex
Soto: $6,000
Chris
Weidman: $24,000
(includes $12,000 win bonus)
Tom
Lawlor: $12,000
Gleison
Tibau: $54,000
(includes $27,000 win bonus)
Rafael
dos Anjos: $16,000
Miguel
Torres: $60,400
(includes $30,000 win bonus)*
Nick
Pace: $3,200*
Seth
Baczynski: $16,000
(includes $8,000 win bonus)
Matt
Brown: $12,000
Danny
Castillo: $34,800
(includes $17,000 win bonus)**
Shamar
Bailey: $6,400**
*
- Pace forfeited 20 percent of his purse ($800) for coming in
overweight; $400 was given to Torres and $400 was given to the
CSAC.
**
- Bailey forfeited 20 percent of his purse ($1,600) for coming
in overweight; $800 was given to Castillo and $800 was given
to the CSAC.
Source
Sherdog
|
UFC
News: Mark Munoz Says Chael Sonnen Was Dirty in Their College
Match
By John
Heinis
Critics
of Chael Sonnen are going to be licking their chops when they
hear what Mark Munoz said about the UFC's favorite bad guy on
"The Fight Fix" with Dennis Green last Week (Nov.18).
Long
story short, Munoz said that Sonnen wrestled a dirty match when
the two former Division I wrestlers met on the mat over a decade
ago.
Interestingly,
Munoz accused Sonnen, a fighter criticized for not utilizing
jiu-jitsu in the cage, for trying two submissions during the
course of the match.
"We
end up going at it and I end up beating him pretty handily. But
in that, he tried to submit me in a kneebar and then changed
it into an ankle lock. No, sorry, a heel hook. Not a legal move
in wrestling," Munoz stated, as of course no submission
holds are legal in collegiate wrestling.
"He
tried doing that to me and I felt my ankle pop and was like ‘aah’
and I knew that he did it so that he could try to come back.
I was actually beating him pretty handily. I got upset during
that match and was just ruthless in that fight afterwards,"
Munoz said, clarifying that he was still able to hang on for
the win.
Funny
enough, Sonnen went out to dinner with Munoz and his wife years
later, where Mrs. Munoz was not particularly happy to see Uncle
Chael.
"Years
later we end up having dinner together and my wife is sitting
at the table and she gets pretty upset, saying 'What's Chael
Sonnen doing here? I hate that guy; he tried to hurt my husband,'"
Munoz recalled.
Surprisingly,
Munoz defended the fellow top UFC middleweight when he explained
what he did during that match.
If
the fight does get signed, who wins the UFC middleweight title
eliminator?
·Mark Munoz
27.9%
·Chael
Sonnen
72.1%
Total
votes: 391
"Out
of the blue, she said 'So, can you tell me why you did that?'
He pretty much explained himself and… he's a good guy, man.
He was like 'Can you blame me? I was getting beat!' So I guess...if
you ain't cheating, you ain't trying," Munoz said.
At
this point, everyone fully expects UFC middleweight champion
Anderson Silva out until June of next year, so a title eliminator
bout between Sonnen and Munoz makes a lot of sense.
Despite
the fight not being official yet, rumors persist that the two
top-tier middleweights will square off on UFC on FOX 2, set for
January 28th at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois.
Both
fighters are coming off impressive performances in their most
recent bouts.
Sonnen
finished off "The All-American" Brian Stann with an
arm triangle in the second round of their UFC 136 meeting, while
Munoz stopped Chris Leben via TKO after "The Crippler"
was unable to continue due to a nasty cut he suffered in the
second round of their UFC 138 affair.
Source:
Fight Opinion
|
Giving
Back: Chad Robichaux Retires from Fighting to Help Veterans Live
a New Dream
by Damon
Martin
Just
over a year ago, Chad Robichaux was an undefeated fighter and
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt running two successful schools
in Texas, while working his way towards a major promotion like
the UFC or Bellator.
Now
with an 11-2 record and over 700 students enrolled at his academies,
Chad Robichaux is walking away from fighting.
Typically
when a fighter retires from MMA it’s because they aren’t
getting what the want out of the sport any longer, be it wins
or simply just because time has caught up to them and they walk
away.
For
Robichaux however it was a calling that started more than a decade
ago as the Marine veteran went on 8 tours of duty throughout
the world, including time spent in Afghanistan and other parts
of the Middle East.
When
Robichaux returned home from active duty, he started exhibiting
signs of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a common psychological
disorder experienced by many veterans that have come back from
war or active duty in the field.
Over
time, Robichaux was able to get past his bout with PTSD, but
as he saw more and more of his brothers and sisters in the military
come home from overseas, he noticed that many of them were going
through the same issues, except not being treated or even being
diagnosed by professionals.
He
also saw so many of his fellow veterans come back to the United
States and go months or even years without jobs or gainful employment.
Robichaux started working with a group called ‘Soldier’s
Angels’ and as he promoted his last couple of fights, he
generally spent more time talking about helping veterans than
he did promoting himself.
“If
you followed my last few fights, you noticed I became a real
advocate for Soldier’s Angels and some other charities than
even trying to promote myself. It’s something that’s
been pulling on me for a long time,” Robichaux told MMAWeekly.com.
What
was pulling at him was a need to help his fellow veterans. So
with that, Robichaux decided to call it a career, walk away from
fighting as well as the day-to-day duties of running his gyms,
and forge a new path instead.
“I
knew one day I’d have to retire from competing, and I was
like that’s going to be really hard cause I love it so much.
With 700 students, I didn’t compete for the money, I competed
for the passion. Competing was something I did for me,”
Robichaux said.
“So
that the fact that I’m leaving something that was just for
me to do something for someone else, gives me a real peace about
it.”
What
Robichaux is doing instead is a program in Colorado where he
will take veterans that have come home and that are dealing with
PTSD, put them through a recovery program, and then teach them
something he’s all too familiar with.
“We’re
going to take them through a treatment called the combat training
healing manual, it’s a faith based program to help them
overcome their PTSD, and then we’re going to train them
in a skill set to help get them a job. That skill set of course
is what I’m good at, jiu-jitsu,” Robichaux revealed.
The
program will take veterans and teach them the art of jiu-jitsu,
but obviously not every soldier or veteran will want to take
on the physical side of teaching so there will be more to the
program than just earning a belt from Robichaux.
“I
have an MBA also, so we’re going to be giving them business
classes as well. We’re going to be using the Gracie-Barra
franchise as a manual to teach them the business side of jiu-jitsu,
how to run the gyms and all the marketing and different things
like that,” Robichaux commented.
“We’re
going to help get them healed, trained and employed.”
Robichaux’s
program called ‘The Mighty Oaks Foundation’ will be
a 12-month program, and he will kick off the first class in Jan
2012. His hope is to give back to the veterans coming home from
overseas that are dealing with some of the same issues he had
just a couple of years ago.
If
it means walking away from fighting, then Robichaux is happy
to give up his passion for competing for the passion of helping
his fellow veterans.
“I’ve
pretty much decided that I’m going to walk away from fighting
and focus on this, something I’ve been passionate about
for a really long time. I had an epiphany to just drop everything
and just 100% focus on this. That’s what I’m doing,”
said Robichaux.
“There’s
a huge need for it, and I don’t think there’s enough
people stepping up and taking care of these guys. I went through
it myself after 8 deployments and came back with severe PTSD
(post traumatic stress disorder) and overcame it with my faith
and my family and my friends. I’ve accomplished so much
since then I just feel compelled to give it back.”
Giving
back is what Robichaux is doing, and he hopes that he can set
an example for others to step up and help out the veterans coming
home that need jobs or the education necessary to get better
jobs.
His
new dream is watching a soldier that was once diagnosed with
PTSD, open their own jiu-jitsu academy, and flourishing under
a business of their own.
With
that kind of dream, Robichaux doesn’t feel like he’s
retiring from fighting. He’s just helping others reach for
the sky like he was able to do once upon a time.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
BJ
Penn Back in Hawaii Living Life Without MMA
“I’ve
got a daughter, another daughter on the way, I don’t want
to go home looking like this. I’m done.”
Those were the words of former two-division UFC champion BJ Penn
following his loss to Nick Diaz in the main event of UFC 137
in October.
He softened his stance, somewhat, a few days later, telling HDNet’s
Inside MMA, “I kinda think this is something that I should
have did after the first Frankie Edgar fight… step away
from the sport, take some time off.”
Now, a month later, Penn has started a weekly blog with MMAWeekly.com
content partner Bleacher Report to give readers some insight
into the real life of a mixed martial artist. He hasn’t
tipped his hand any further at whether or not he intends to retract
his statement about being “done” with fighting.
Penn has taken some time since the Diaz fight to be with family
and friends, but has done little by way of athletic endeavors.
“I haven’t been doing much as far as athletics go,”
he wrote. “This is partly because I think I sprained my
finger or something, so because of that I have just been kind
of laying low and enjoying life.”
Whether he has mentally or not, Penn’s body appears to be
going through withdrawals. The Hawaiian says his “body started
to get achy” from the inactivity, so he started running
again.
“I still haven’t gotten into the gym and done any type
of martial arts training yet, but the runs are definitely fun
and, like I said, they make my body feel better.”
Is this the precursor to Penn eventually deciding that he needs
MMA in his life? Could be, but it’s still too soon to tell.
Yes, it has been a month, but by the same token, it’s only
been a month. Whether or not to fight again is a life decision
for Penn and one month is a drop in the bucket of deciding.
For now, he’s reconnecting with his family after all the
time spent training and traveling for fights. He’s spending
time working on his charitable foundation, the “Penn Hawaii
Youth Foundation,” which helps at-risk youth through martial
arts. He’s also making a guest appearance on the hit TV
series Hawaii Five-O and challenging the owner of his longtime
sponsor, RVCA, to a surfing contest.
In short, BJ Penn is enjoying life, whether or not that life’s
future includes a return to the Octagon.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Competitive
Fire Still Burning for Lytle
Chris
Lytle has only been retired for a few months, but already he
understands why so many fighters struggle to walk away from the
sport for good.
“I
don’t believe that fighters are made. I think they’re
born, and it’s kind of who you are,” Lytle told the
Sherdog Radio Network’s “Beatdown” show. “With
me, I still have that competitive fire. It wasn’t a point
of me being like, ‘I hate fighting. I don’t want fight.’
It was a point of me deciding I’m going to [retire] because
I need to spend more time with my kids, but that doesn’t
make that competitive fire go away.”
Lytle
went out on a great note in August with a submission victory
over Dan Hardy at UFC Live 5. The bout capped a long career of
entertaining performances.
“When
you win, it’s just such a good feeling of achievement,”
Lytle said. “It’s kind of unbelievable, and not only
that, there’s fans there, thousands of people cheering for
you, everybody watching. It’s about as good a feeling as
it gets when you win. It’s about as bad a feeling you can
have when you lose. It’s addictive. When you win, you want
to always have that feeling.”
Lytle
also wanted to spend more time with his family, though, and he’s
doing that now. He’s staying involved with the sport as
well by training kids through the Indianapolis Police Athletic
League, coaching high school wrestling and putting on seminars.
All of those activities are rewarding and keep him occupied,
but they haven’t quenched his thirst for competition.
“It
doesn’t go anywhere,” Lytle said of the urge to fight.
“Maybe I’m hoping it will just kind of slowly, day
after day, maybe it will go away a little bit. I don’t know,
but it’s not really happening. I go to an event and I’m
like, ‘Man, this sucks.’ There’s no light at the
end of the tunnel. There’s no anything for me to kind of
look forward to in that aspect. It’s very tough. I’m
trying to fulfill it with other things. … I can see where
a lot of people, when they stop, they’re going to be bored.
They’re just not going to know what to do. It’s kind
of like being addicted to a drug, I think, but it’s not
a drug.”
Lytle
might find his fix in politics. He’s running for state senate
in Indiana and he plans on bringing a fighter’s mentality
to office if he wins.
“I
would love it if somebody’s going to try to tell me, ‘This
is how we have to do things,’” Lytle said. “Because
I’m going to say, ‘I don’t have to do them like
that. You’re not going to tell me to do them like that.
You’re not going to scare me.’ I think a lot of these
people get intimidated, and that’s all they want to do is
get in there and get reelected and stay popular. I don’t
care if I get in there and people like me or what not. I want
to try to do what’s best for the people around me and whatever
happens, happens.”
Source:
Sherdog
|
MMA
Link Club: The matchmaking direction of UFC Japan 2012
By Zach
Arnold
Here’s the card line-up so far for UFC Japan 2012 at Saitama
Super Arena:
UFC Lightweight title match: Frankie Edgar vs. Ben Henderson
Lightweights: Anthony Pettis vs. Joe Lauzon
Welterweights: Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Jake Shields
Middleweights: Yushin Okami vs. Tim Boetsch
I can already picture the conversation that is going to take
place with more frequency as we get closer to the show. I’ve
already gotten a taste of it online and it goes something like
this:
“This card is great on paper but the Japanese aren’t
going to care about it.”
“Who cares? If the Japanese fans can’t get with the
program and like what the rest of the world likes, then that’s
their problem. It’s their fault if the card doesn’t
draw.”
“That’s not the point. Matchmaking in Japan has always
been about themes, emotion, and cultural significance.”
“What do you want UFC to do? They got paid to bring a sold
show to Japan and they’re bringing a great UFC card. This
is who they are. Why should we dumb down our product for the
Japanese fans?”
“If you’re not going to produce a card tailored for
Japanese fans who have to wake up at 6 in the morning and hit
the arena by 10 AM in order to see the show take place…”
“Listen, they’re bringing a great card to Japan and
once the Japanese fans see it, they will like it. The UFC bug
will spread like a virus and it will sweep the country.”
“An American company with an American face with an American
philosophy on matchmaking and there is no substantive broadcast
TV deal, so none of the fans know who the people fight on this
card are.”
“When WWE went to Japan, they did well at Yokohama Arena
in 2003.”
“That’s because they had a television deal with Fuji
TV to air on broadcast TV. Once Fuji TV ended the deal, WWE’s
drawing power in Japan for live shows evaporated.”
“When Mariah Carey has a concert in Japan, do the Japanese
fans expect her to sing in Japanese?”
“Well, no, but fighting is a whole different ball of wax
here…”
This kind of dialog is going to be building up in the coming
months. By the way, give Shu Hirata all the credit in the world
for exposing the fact that UFC got a sold show deal for UFC Japan
from Dentsu, Japan’s second largest ad agency. The whole
media theme about UFC Japan is how brave and courageous Dana
White is going back into the lion’s den after PRIDE has
died and how UFC is going to conquer the holy grail of Japan.
The reality, of course, is that Dana’s basically on a free
roll here for a vanity show.
Let me tell you, if Dana White and UFC had any sort of financial
risk heading into this show, there’s no way in hell they
would book the card they currently have for Saitama Super Arena.
When I say this remark, I know that it comes across horribly
as far as agents, trainers, and fighters thinking that I’m
not disrespecting them. I’m not doing that at all. In fact,
if this card was presented for a US show, I’d be very excited
to watch it. However, through experience and through the filter
I see things through in regards to what the Japanese care about,
this card line-up is not going to be red hot for appeal and,
in my opinion, Dentsu’s probably having second thoughts
about what they just got themselves into.
Source: Fight Opinion
|
Michael
Landsberg Explains Own Confusion With Strange Chael Sonnen Interview
By Ray
Hui
Michael
Landsberg, host of TSN's Off the Record, blames his own confusion
for an awkward interview conducted last week that abruptly ended
when UFC middleweight contender Chael Sonnen walked off the show
(video).
And
this was after the interview had already been once restarted
at Sonnen's suggestion.
"I
was really confused. I didn't know if he was mad or I didn't
know if he was joking," Landsberg said Monday on The MMA
Hour. "I didn't know if he was getting the whole thing."
Landsberg
is known for asking tough and arguably, aggressive questions
and the longtime Canadian sports journalist didn't start off
on the right foot when he opened the satellite interview by asking
Sonnen if he "backed down" from his initial offer of
putting his UFC career on the line against champion Anderson
Silva. Sonnen responded by asking Landsberg to check his tone
and facts.
Landsberg
said Monday he figured the opening question would be a good way
to push Sonnen's buttons in a gentle way to bring out the best
of Sonnen's outspoken personality.
"I
knew going in that he liked to be challenged -- or at least I
thought he did," Landsberg told host Ariel Helwani. "I
knew he's the greatest promoter ever. I know that he's at his
best when he's got a little edge to him."
Landsberg
said he had never spoken with Sonnen before that day, describing
Sonnen as a "total stranger." However, Landsberg felt
he hit it off with Sonnen when he introduced himself before the
recorded interview.
But
the tone quickly changed when the cameras started rolling and
Landsberg pressed Sonnen with the question of "backing down."
"I
thought this would go to a fun tongue-in-cheek place," Landsberg
said. "Like he clearly had his tongue in his cheek in the
Octagon when he challenged Silva. There was no way Silva was
going to accept those terms."
Landsberg,
who pointed out the shortcomings of interviewing someone via
satellite, admits he had difficulty reading Sonnen.
"I
was pissed off but I'm also trying to match his anger to do good
television," he said. "I wish from my standpoint I
would have done it better. It was tough to undestand what was
going on."
According
to Landsberg, Sonnen was the first person in 3,000 shows to walk
out of an interview with him.
"I
have no animousity towards him at all. This is my confusion more
than anything," Landsberg said. "He's a great interview.
He's the kind of guy where a show like 'Off the Record' lives
for."
Source:
MMA Fighting
|
Aoki
vs. Kitaoka Agreed for Dream NYE
by Andrew
Gladstone
In
a match-up of friends and former teammates, current Dream champion
Shinya “Tobikan Judan” Aoki (29-5) will meet former
Sengoku lightweight champion Satoru Kitaoka (29-10-9) at FieLDS
presents Fight for Japan “Genki Desu Ka” on New Years
Eve.
Sources close to the situation informed MMAWeekly that verbal
agreements are in place for the fight, when Aoki will put his
lightweight championship on the line.
Aoki last made an appearance at Dream 17 back in September, where
he submitted former WEC champion “Razor” Rob McCullough
via neck crank late into the opening round.
Kitaoka made his Dream debut back at Dream 17 and was able to
earn a hard-fought split decision victory over former Shooto
Brazil champion Willamy Freire.
At the present time, Aoki vs. Kitaoka is rumored to main event
the card, which will also feature a mix of K-1 and pro wrestling
as well as mixed martial arts contests.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Victor
Conte: Time for commissions to use Carbon Isotope Ratio testing
By Zach
Arnold
After watching Dan Henderson vs. Mauricio Shogun at UFC 139 on
Saturday night, I was reminded of this recent video where Rich
Franklin & Bas Rutten are talking about all the injuries
they’ve suffered in their fighting careers. The most basic
of life tasks are painful for them now and it’s a wonder
they’re still standing. The training is brutal and the punishment
during fights can be quite traumatic.
There’s no way you can give enough praise to both Henderson
and Shogun for the guts, heart, and iron will they displayed
in San Jose. They paid a physical price, that’s for sure.
Shogun’s knees are as bad as Keiji Mutoh’s & Kenta
Kobashi’s. Despite the punishment both men endured in that
fight, it’s clear that there is no stopping either man any
time soon because the financial & competitive rewards are
still great. In the case of Dan Henderson, however, one factor
that we cannot dismiss in regards to his physical ability to
still hang around in the sport is his reported usage of Testosterone
Replacement Therapy. After Dan beat Fedor last Summer, I stated
the following about the impact of TRT on the sport of MMA:
Whether you support the allowance of TRT by MMA fighters or not,
the truth is that it has the capability of altering the MMA landscape
in both good and bad ways. For fighters like Dan Henderson, TRT
has a positive impact because it allows older fighters to not
only hang around and not retire early but to also maintain physical
strength that simply would not happen if someone was not on Testosterone.
The longer someone is on TRT, the more experience they gain if
they are able to fight more frequently. This will most certainly
alter the way we look at veteran MMA fighters in the near future.
Dan Henderson is doing nothing out of the ordinary for top-level
athletes. You give an athlete a loophole and they are going to
exploit it for all that it’s worth. By the standards set
forth of the current & various state athletic commissions,
he’s not doing anything wrong.
It is interesting, however, that no one says much about the issue
of TRT & doping in MMA when fighters aren’t getting
caught. Fighters passing tests doesn’t mean that they aren’t
using performance-enhancing drugs and, yet, MMA promotions run
shows in states with toothless drug testing policies (Texas)
and nobody says a word. It seems we only talk about the issue
when someone gets caught and more people get angry at a fighter
for actually getting caught due to a sloppy cover-up rather than
the actual drug usage. Plus, it seems fans & media only relish
talking about the issue of doping in the fight game when the
person who gets caught is hated or despised as opposed to a person
who is anointed as a babyface.
(How many people think less of Royce Gracie today after the nandrolone
test situation in California? I hear crickets.)
Victor Conte, whose word on issues relating to PED usage in sports
is always valuable to listen to, has done a couple of great interviews
in the past that have largely gone under the radar. His interview
with Eddie Goldman was outstanding. Victor advanced the debate
about what athletic commissions should be looking for in regards
to basic blood testing analysis. Remember his discussion about
hematocrit levels?
“One thing I would like to say is that in the world of boxing,
I would like to see like they have in cycling as well as in Nordic
sporting events, if you have a hematocrit (which is the percentage
of red blood cells total whole blood volume) that is 50% of over,
they suspend you. Your blood is too thick and for what they call
health & safety concerns they just do not let you compete.
So, whether you’re dehydrated or you’re using EPO or
old-fashioned blood doping, whatever reason you have a hematocrit
of 50% or above, you probably shouldn’t be allowed to compete.
So, whether they’re finding the drugs or not, I think if
your red blood cell count is too high then, you know, you get
in a fight and you become more dehydrated and there’s a
chance of some serious adverse health effect. So, I would like
to see {suspensions].”
Unfortunately, we have not seen athletic commissions take a pro-active
stance and focus on these kinds of metrics for blood testing.
What about improving the analysis of the current drug testing
set-up involving urine testing? In a recent interview with Jack
Encarnacao, Victor proposed a new metric for urine testing analysis
that could done cheaply.
“The T/E ratio, testosterone to epitestosterone ratio, used
to be 6:1 and now they have reduced it down to 4:1 but athletes
can still very easily use fast-acting testosterone creams and
gels and water-based testosterone and you do microdosing and
keep it below the 4:1 ratio. So, it’s relatively easy for
an MMA fighter or any other athlete to circumvent the testing
if all they’re doing is the T/E ratio test.
“Which, let me put this in perspective. There’s a complete
panel of steroids that they do that includes the T/E ratio test
and back in the BALCO days I used to pay $80 for this and I’m
sure in volume that some of these organizations are paying as
little $50 for it. But there’s another test called the CIR
or Carbon Isotope Ratio test that can differentiate between a
natural testosterone that’s produced in your body and synthetic
testosterone and there are cases, Justin Gatlin who won the Olympic
gold metal in the 100m in 2004 is a specific example. They got
a tip that he was using testosterone, so they went and tested
him at a meet and even though his epitestosterone was actually
higher than his testosterone level and it came out that he had
an injection about two weeks previous to when the sample was
collected, they still found that he was positive for testosterone
based upon this CIR test and they banned him!
“And, so, what I’m saying is [athletic commissions]
need to incorporate this sort of test which is much more effective.
My understanding is that even now in boxing with Floyd Mayweather
in the last couple of fights against Mosley and Ortiz that they
had Olympic-style testing which I don’t think that’s
what it is because I believe Olympic-style testing is 24/7, 365,
that’s simply random testing for a given period of time,
8 to 10 weeks or whatever it is before the fight. So, I think
that, you know, they need to start utilizing this CIR testing
and then they’ll be catching a lot more of these athletes
that are using fast-acting gels and creams and water-based testosterone
because, at the moment, it’s fairly easy to circumvent the
testing.”
Victor also put into perspective why the current drug testing
programs amongst the various state athletic commissions is so
flawed and ineffective. Testosterone Replacement Therapy is one
area is concern that he sees right now in terms of who should
get a TUE (therapeutic use exemption) and who shouldn’t.
“What people don’t realize is that in terms of the
letter of the law with these commissions, the way it reads is
opposite of what goes on with WADA & USADA. It is unless
you have clearance from us to use a drug, then it’s prohibited.
So, unless you’ve submitted a request and then they’ve
approved, then it’s considered to be something that they
don’t allow and if they test and find for it, so it’s
actually broader instead of having extensive lists like WADA
does. The problem is they just don’t do the test. So, yes,
once in a blue moon they’ll catch somebody two weeks out
from a fight or they’ll do a random test and I think this
is more, you know, propaganda and for public relations than it
is a genuine effort to catch people. So, I think there needs
to be change.
“If there is a genuine interest in reducing the use of drugs
and I think in MMA it’s the hurt game, it’s the harm
game, that’s what it is and it’s not like the advantages
are running faster than the guy in the lane next to you as it
is in track & field. It’s to hurt this guy. At some
point, they’re going to have to take a more serious look
at what they can do to level the playing field because now it
has everything to do with who’s got the smart chemists and
the people that understand how to get around this and, you know,
this whole idea of using Testosterone Replacement Therapy and
I think, for the most part, what these MMA fighters have been
doing is they use steroids, it suppresses their own production
of testosterone, they go to a doctor and show the test that they
have low testosterone and then they get a prediction and then
they’re using i in a way that enhances performance.
“So, I think it’s something that certainly deserves
to be debated and discussed and I’m glad the issue is out
there and on the table. I just don’t know if there’s
going to be any real genuine change in terms of the reduction
of the use of drugs…”
Going back to where we started at the top of this post talking
about the various rigors of training that top-level MMA fighters
go through, Mr. Conte addressed the idea of training specifically
at high altitude in order to improve endurance. He says the technique
is counterproductive.
“In my opinion specifically regarding MMA fighters and boxers
is that this is just a horrible idea. I know that Tito Ortiz
and others like Shane Mosley and Oscar De La Hoya have trained
at Big Bear. The reason I think this is bad is because you don’t
get a deep and restful sleep, your heart rate will be 10, 15,
20 beats a minute higher sleeping at elevation because of the
low oxygen. This is really when you really heal, recover, regenerate,
repair, and grow is when you sleep. This is when the anabolic
hormones are produced, about 90 minutes after you go to sleep
in a single burst over 70% of your daily output of growth hormone
is produced in a single mass. The second four hours of sleep
is when testosterone is produced. So, I just think it’s
a bad idea. It may be okay for endurance athletes and that’s
the benefit that MMA fighters and boxers are trying to achieve
is to enhance oxygen uptake and utilization capacity, but at
the same time you sacrifice size and speed and power.”
Want to know how meticulous and measured fighters can be when
it comes to figuring out what they ingest and how calculating
they are to try to get maximum benefit?
“A study came out in Europe in 2010 where they looked at
about 100 elite sportsmen, 43% had low [iron]. So, training causes
significant bodily losses of micronutrients and you don’t
want to put these backs in megadoses because you have competitive
and antagonistic interactions. So, in other words, you can’t
take zinc and copper together or zinc & iron together or
calcium together with zinc because they significantly reduce
the absorption of each other. So, certain ones, let’s just
say chromium and copper, you take in the morning. Those both
enhance and regulate energy and metabolism, you take those in
the morning. Others like zinc and magnesium, which help with
healing and relaxation and sleep, you take at night before you
go to bed and then others that have competitive interactions
then you would take those at a different time in the afternoon.”
The more we learn about the nutritional & supplemental aspects
of athletes who compete in this sport, the less likely we are
to make excuses when someone tests positive for a drug and uses
the “I didn’t know what was going on” explanation
for public forgiveness. If athletic commissions can use inexpensive
tests to measure correct metrics such as hematocrit levels &
carbon isotope ratios, then I don’t see what kind of political
cover there is to not use these testing methods.
Then again, is the issue of drug testing for MMA fans treated
the same way sports fans want to eat ballpark hot food but not
know what the actual ingredients & ongoing contamination
may be because it’s happier to be ignorant about the health
consequences of everyone involved?
Source: Fight Opinion
|
Maiquel
Falcao suffers heart attack, hospitalized in Brazil
By Guilherme
Cruz
Maiquel Falcao has been fighting a really hard battle on the
last days. The former UFC fighter, who recently signed a contract
with Bellator, is hospitalized at Santa Casa da Misericordia
of Pelotas, in Rio Grande do Sul, after suffering a heart attack
earlier this week.
“Maiquel is still on the Intensive Care Unit and might stay
there for few more days, when he’ll go through a catheterization.
He’s lucid and improving fast”, his manager Marcelo
Brigadeiro told TATAME on Wednesday.
Source:
Tatame
|
Emelianenko
in Talks with Dream for New Year’s Eve Appearance
By Mike
Whitman
After
a four year absence, Fedor Emelianenko is in talks to return
to Japan for another of his once-annual New Year’s Eve bouts.
HDNet’s
“Inside MMA” first reported on Monday that the former
heavyweight king, as well as world-ranked lightweight Shinya
Aoki, will likely compete on Dream’s year-end card. Sherdog.com
confirmed with a source close to the Russian on Tuesday that
Emelianenko remains in negotiations for a potential appearance,
though no contracts have been signed.
From
2003 to 2007, “The Last Emperor” was a staple of Japan’s
year-end “kakutogi” extravaganzas, competing first
at Antonio Inoki’s “Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye 2003” festival
and later in Pride Fighting Championships’ “Shockwave”
series. The 35-year-old last appeared in the Land of the Rising
Sun on New Year’s Eve 2007, when he armbarred South Korean
giant Hong Man Choi under the banner of one-off, post-Pride group
Yarennoka.
Featuring
a featherweight title bout between champ Hiroyuki Takaya and
challenger “Lion” Takeshi Inoue, Dream’s Dec.
31 event will take place at Saitama Super Arena. The card will
also showcase the semifinal and final rounds of the promotion’s
2011 world bantamweight grand prix. The event will air on HDNet,
though it is currently unknown whether the show will be broadcast
live or via tape delay.
Emelianenko
snapped a three-fight losing skid on Sunday by outpointing former
UFC title challenger Jeff Monson in Moscow. The victory marked
Emelianenko’s first win since November 2009, when he knocked
out Brett Rogers. Following that victory, Emelianenko was finished
by Fabricio Werdum, Antonio Silva and Dan Henderson via submission,
doctor stoppage and technical knockout, respectively.
Source
Sherdog
|
A
tribute to Mark “Bison” Smith, dead at age 38
By Zach
Arnold
Throughout
the many years I’ve covered both the pro-wrestling &
MMA scenes in Japan, I’ve had the honor and privilege of
being friends with two men who unfortunately died way too young
— Gary Albright and, now, Mark Smith. Gary was the big,
scary gaijin giant in All Japan after he left UWF-International.
He and Steve Williams (along with Jim Steele) were the Triangle
of Power, the top foreign group in Giant Baba’s organization.
Gary was a great man who loved, in no particular order: fantasy
hockey, hockey, beer, food, his family, and fighting. It was
fascinating to talk to Gary during his tenure in All Japan because
he lived through a period of time in the Japanese fight game
where PRIDE was starting to take off and the two major wrestling
organizations (New Japan & All Japan) were facing a squeeze.
Yes, they were still popular, but the money was decreasing and
so was the network television support. He and I had a few conversations
as to whether or not he should leave All Japan to go to the UFC.
His reasoning was solid. Strong amateur wrestling background,
good size, and this was in the pre-Zuffa days. He was scared
about his job stability in All Japan and felt that touring every-other-tour
was going to be a demotion. In the end, he didn’t make the
jump to UFC. However, he died way too young when he had a heart
attack in January of 2000. It was later discovered that he had
an enlarged heart (with blockages) and was also diabetic. I’ll
never forget reading about his death online because it seemed
so surreal to be able to talk to someone directly and then, poof,
vanish before you know it.
That’s
how I happened to find out about the death of my old friend Mark
“Bison” Smith tonight as well. He died at the age of
38 in Carolina, Puerto Rico due to complications from a heart
attack.
I
knew of Mark when All Pro Wrestling in the Bay Area had their
famous “King of Indies” tournament. During this time
period, there was a split amongst the top APW wrestlers (Mike
Modest, Donovan Morgan, Mark, etc.) who had gotten a look from
NOAH and got their Japanese ticket punched. Eventually, a split
happened and you had APW (still around today) and Pro Wrestling
Iron, the offshoot group with Morgan, Modest, Smith, and others.
I first met Mark in 2001 at a spot show and then later met him
at another event when Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa
worked the same show in Northern California. (He, like I, was
perplexed as to why Misawa & Ogawa wanted their appearance
at the Iron show to be announced as a last-minute surprise.)
Nonetheless, I had a great time talking to Mark and became fast
friends. It was hard not to like him. Kenta Kobashi saw something
in him as a talent. With the Japanese scene struggling and talent
signing with other promotions, I thought Mark would become a
natural fit in NOAH.
Over
the years, Mark appeared on our radio show (which covered both
wrestling & MMA). We had lots of funny & insightful conversations
about life and the business. Mark had been based in the Bay Area,
working as a security guard at a local Target while off tour
from NOAH. Suffice to say, a couple of shoplifters got the surprise
of their life when they encountered him. Not a smart choice by
those individuals.
Mark
soon relocated back home to Colorado. He had moved from Colorado
to the Bay Area to become a wrestler with APW, so it was fitting
that he would go back home to be closer to his family. He also
was working for Victor Quinones and his promotion, IWA Puerto
Rico, based in Carolina. Mark told me a funny story about the
reaction he got from the NOAH office to this development. In
Japanese wrestling lore, Puerto Rico will forever be viewed as
the place where Bruiser Brody got murdered, therefore it’s
a forbidden place for anyone to go. Much of NOAH management consisted
of All Japan employees who lived through that period of time
in the 80s when Brody died. So, there were a lot of ‘be
careful’ messages sent to Mark by NOAH staffers.
Mark
loved Puerto Rico. He loved the people and the country’s
climate. It was exactly what he wanted. He had seriously considered
moving to Puerto Rico full time. Mark wrestled for Quinones during
a boom period of sorts in Puerto Rico when IWA PR & WWC,
Carlos Colon’s promotion, were feuding hot-and-heavy. Mark
was getting paid $750 a week and lived in one of Victor’s
houses with a couple of roommates. Mark never had a bad word
to say about Victor at all. Given Victor’s experience and
tenure in Japan, NOAH management was OK with the arrangement.
Then,
Victor died in April of 2006. Once Victor died, IWA Puerto Rico
fell apart. The scene in Puerto Rico struggled. Savio Vega and
others tried to get IWA PR back in the swing of things and Mark
decided later on to head back to PR to help out management. He
loved the Puerto Rican fans a lot. He loved Puerto Rico as a
whole. I’m convinced that he would have retired on the island.
Guaranteed.
I
talked with Mark off-and-on during the post-Quinones period in
Puerto Rico. However, I’ll never forget my conversations
with Mark after Mitsuharu Misawa died in June of 2009. Mark was
tagging with Akitoshi Saito versus Misawa and Kenta Kobashi’s
protégé, Go Shiozaki. I remember Mark telling me
that Misawa was in really rough shape physically but that Misawa
faced a tough challenge. When Nippon TV cut their network broadcasting
deal with NOAH, it financially decimated the company from being
able to run big arenas on a routine scale. This meant that in
order to run spot shows in the rural areas outside of Tokyo,
NOAH needed the backing of local promoters. The local promoters
wanted the big names (Misawa, Akiyama, Taue) to wrestle on shows
even if they physically weren’t in condition to do so. Because
there was so much pressure to make money and keep things going,
Misawa wrestled. Mark & Saito worked a fairly competitive
match with Shiozaki & Misawa when Saito back-dropped Misawa.
Misawa died in the ring. I will never forget seeing the video
broadcast on Nippon TV the next morning showing Misawa with his
wrestling boots on his feet while attempts to revive him with
an AED failed. Akiyama and Kobashi were both physically hurt
to the point that they couldn’t witness what was going on.
Misawa was stretchered out and pronounced dead at a local Hiroshima
hospital. Mark & Akitoshi were devastated beyond belief.
Because
NOAH was out West in Japan, the company chose to go through with
its event at Hakata star Lanes in Fukuoka. All the wrestlers
were emotionally spent. After wrestling on the show, a funeral
was held in Tokyo. The conversations I had with Mark during this
time period were startling. He had been through the death of
a leader (Quinones) but Misawa was in another class altogether.
He was the face of NOAH, he was a trainer, he was a businessman,
and he was the glue that kept things together politically. When
he died, things became factionalized between the Kobashi unit
(he wanted everyone kept around, old-school Japanese mentality)
and Ryu Nakata (who wanted to operate the company as a business
and keep things streamlined). In the end, Akira Taue & Naomichi
Marufuji took over as bad-cop, good-cop but things were never
the same. It was crushing for all the wrestlers to have Misawa,
Japan’s super hero, die in the ring. He had taken so much
punishment over the course of a few decades.
When
Misawa died, Mark struggled to figure out where he fit into the
grand scheme of things. He ended up having a couple of nice runs
as a wrestler in NOAH. He worked the promotion’s current
tour of the Global League tournament, a Champion Carnival-type
format. On November 14th at Korakuen Hall, Mark teamed up with
Kensuke Sasaki-allied wrestler Kento Miyohara to defeat Jun Akiyama
& Yoshinari Ogawa (Mitsuharu Misawa’s right-hand man).
Mark won in 8'01 with his trademark finisher, the Bisontennial,
on Ogawa. Ogawa landed at an awkward angle and needled to be
taken out on a ‘tanker’ (stretcher).
In
his last singles matches, he beat his tag partner Akitoshi Saito
and lost to KENTA. Of all the guys on the NOAH roster, Mark said
KENTA was ‘a tough little bastard’ who constantly blurred
the lines in the ring.
Mark’s
final NOAH match ever saw him team up with Shuhei Taniguchi in
a loss to Jun Akiyama & Yoshihiro Takayama. This was November
20th in Sapporo. If Mark knew that his last match would have
Takayama involved, he would have been a very happy man.
Of
all the Japanese wrestlers that Mark had a chance to meet and
be friendly with, Takayama was by far his favorite. He often
told me stories about how Takayama wanted to tour all 50 States
in a Corvette and basically go Southern Wild Boy while seeing
America. I’ve had numerous wrestlers tell me the same thing
about Takayama but every time I heard it in conversation, I couldn’t
help but laugh. Mark had plenty of stories to share about the
boys and he loved socializing after the matches in Japan. Mark
genuinely loved being friends with guys like Samoa Joe and Eddie
Edwards. He had plenty of kind things to say about Kenta Kobashi,
as well, even if it involved bizarre stories like Kobashi practicing
his machine chopping routine on blocks of butter or against inanimate
objects as practice before matches. Mark was always along for
the ride and he loved to travel.
Guys
like Gary Albright and Mark “Bison” Smith come along
maybe once a decade, maybe once a generation as far as finding
someone with the combination of their personality types and physical
presence. Mark, like Gary, was not overtly political and was
someone who didn’t get involved in political warfare —
on purpose. They just wanted to wrestle, put on good matches,
have fun, make some money, and support their families. From the
bottom of my heart, I am honored to have known both men and am
extremely grateful for their honesty & true friendship in
a business where the climate is to act the total opposite. We
lost another one of the good guys tonight and the world is worse
off for it. Rest in peace, Mark. Oyasumi nasai.
When
approached by the media for a comment, Kenta Kobashi had nothing
but good things to say about Mark and is still in a state of
shock. Kobashi admitted that he was ready to consider Mark to
be his tag team partner for future matches.
Source:
Fight Opinion
|
UFC
on Fox: Happy Thanksgiving Dana White
by Ken
Pishna
What
is UFC president Dana White thankful for this Thanksgiving day?
That’s
a pretty easy one this year. Marking a milestone in the company’s
history, White is definitely thankful for the UFC’s new
television deal with Fox… and he’s made no secret of
it.
“This
is the deal that I’ve always wanted; we got exactly what
we wanted,” White told MMAWeekly.com’s Erik Fontanez
back in August when the deal went down, the UFC exec’s infamous
Cheshire grin stretching from ear to ear.
“Take
the UFC out of it and all the other stuff. Now these athletes
that you know, I know, and everybody watching knows deserves
to be up there on this platform up there with the NFL, Major
League Baseball, and the list goes on and on, now the rest of
the world knows.”
That
was, of course, well before the Nov. 12 UFC on Fox when challenger
Junior dos Santos knocked then-champion Cain Velasquez out a
little more than a minute into what was the only fight of the
UFC’s coming out party on Fox.
White
did come off a little perturbed in the post-fight commentary
on the telecast, but rumors of him being disappointed with the
broadcast are highly exaggerated. In fact, his reaction was quite
the opposite, especially when the TV ratings came back indicating
that the UFC on Fox 1 telecast peaked at 8.8 million viewers.
“I
hear all kinds of rumors about ‘oh, I hear he was flipping
out after the fight.’ No, I wasn’t flipping out,”
he said when asked about his post-fight reaction to UFC on Fox
1. “(But) yes, I did jump on a table and send everybody
home. It’s true. I was pretty excited.”
White
was ecstatic with the success of UFC on Fox 1, but not surprised.
He expected they would draw a large audience, and believes the
number could have been much, much bigger if the fight would have
been something more akin to Saturday night’s UFC 139 main
event.
“I
thought we could pull a big number. The tough part with the whole
thing is, you never know how long the fight is gonna go. What
worried me was, the thing never had time to peak, and get where
it could have,” White said, explaining his initial trepidation
about how the fight might fare.
“If
you could have a Shogun/Henderson type fight on TV, imagine what
that number would get to.”
Still,
you can bet that White is giving thanks for UFC on Fox this Thanksgiving.
“I
wouldn’t change a thing; it was perfect. It was a great
looking sporting event. The show came off professional like a
Fox Sports show.
“I’m
pretty happy.”
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Cain
Velasquez Already Back at Work
by Ken
Pishna
Many of the fighters at American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose,
Calif., are like family to each other. Josh Koscheck, Jon Fitch,
Mike Swick, Cain Velasquez, and numerous others have been together
for the long haul.
When fighters grow that close to one another, they’re always
available to lend support when one of them falters, such as what
happened when Cain Velasquez lost the UFC heavyweight championship
to Junior dos Santos in the UFC on Fox main event.
“I said to Cain after the fight, ‘You know Cain, it’s
not about winning or losing. You’re gonna get to go home.
You’re gonna have a beautiful wife, a beautiful kid. Just
cherish those things because you can come back from a loss. We’ve
all done it. We’ve all been there,’” Koscheck
said at a recent question and answer session with fans.
“Now it’s gonna show if you’re a true champion
or not, you’re ability to come back from this loss or not.”
Of course, comments like that would be expected of a teammate,
especially ones that are as close as Koscheck and Velasquez are.
But there are other times when support isn’t born of the
familiarity of friendship; it’s earned by action.
Velasquez is in that much more rare category, receiving support
from Koscheck due to his actions, the type of actions that reflect
on how he was able to become a UFC champion in the first place.
“He is a champion because Monday morning he was in the gym.
He was working out Monday,” revealed Koscheck.
It’s such action that goes above and beyond being a fighter
doing his job. Velasquez understands what it takes to be a champion,
and that includes the added weight placed upon a champion’s
shoulders.
“I was like, ‘Whoa, what are you doing here already?’”
said Koscheck. “He goes, ‘I let a lot of people down
and I need to get back to the top.’”
It’s that attitude that leads many to believe that, one
day, Cain Velasquez will again wear the UFC heavyweight title
belt around his waist.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Hioki,
Palaszewski Set for Feb. 26 Featherweight Clash in Japan
By Chris
Nelson
Japanese
featherweight standout Hatsu Hioki didn’t have to wait long
for a UFC fight on home soil.
Only
three weeks removed from a successful Octagon debut, the former
Sengoku and Shooto titleholder has agreed to square off against
another UFC 137 winner, WEC import Bart Palaszewski. Sherdog.com
confirmed Monday with a source close to the bout that both men
have verbally agreed to the contest, which was first reported
Sunday by MMAWeekly.com.
The
145-pound affair will be part of UFC 144, an event expected to
take place Feb. 26 at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.
Hioki was only 17 years old when last the UFC trekked to Japan
in December 2000 for UFC 29.
Now
28, Nagoya native Hioki has made a name for himself as one of
the world’s finest featherweights while compiling a 25-4-2
career mark. Entering the UFC on a four-fight hot streak, the
“Iron Broomstick” looked less than phenomenal in outpointing
George Roop on Oct. 29. Nonetheless, Hioki emerged with a split-decision
victory, adding Roop’s name to a ledger which includes wins
over Marlon Sandro, “Lion” Takeshi Inoue and Masanori
Kanehara.
A
longtime student of fellow UFC talent Jeff Curran, 50-fight veteran
Palaszewski holds a 36-14 record after nearly a decade in the
sport, as well as a 5-3 mark under Zuffa employ. The Poland-born
Illinoisan also made his UFC debut on Oct. 29, when he recorded
a blistering first-round knockout of former lightweight contender
Tyson Griffin.
Source:
Sherdog
|
Chael
Sonnen calls Anderson Silva a ‘fruity boy’ on TSN
By Zach
Arnold
In
one of the most execrable, wretched, content-free MMA interviews
you could possibly watch, Michael Landsberg did his best to be
insufferable, pretentious, ignorant, and obnoxious while talking
to one-trick gimmick pony Chael Sonnen. As mind-numbing of a
10-minute interview as you will ever endure in your life, this
transcript does not do it justice. Sonnen once again drops a
gay slur during an interview, this time on national television
in Canada and somehow manages to look like a babyface compared
to the atrocious showing here by Landsberg.
If you read the transcript alone and don’t watch the video,
you won’t understand where I’m coming from with my
comments. It’s one thing to read the transcript (below)
but … the interview tone … I can’t emphasize just
how stupid and smarmy it is.
Like the Forrest Griffin tweet controversy, I don’t expect
fighters to be MENSA members. However, now that UFC has signed
a deal with Fox, don’t think that there will won’t
be consequences for the behavior of their ‘independent contractors’
for the language & expressions they use to describe other
people. Great timing, too, given UFC’s PR blitz to attempt
to gin up positive attention by filing their lawsuit in New York.
The interview started with boilerplate Sonnen shtick where he
claims he’s the Middleweight champion and that he defended
‘his title’ against Brian Stann in Houston. Sonnen
challenged Anderson Silva after the fight and then went on Twitter
to give ‘Andy’ a deadline to accept his fight offer.
Landsberg starts off by basically insinuating that Sonnen is
backing down from the fight now.
MICHAEL LANDSBERG: “I just I want to make sure that I have
it correct…”
CHAEL SONNEN: “Well, you know what I said but you tell me
that I backed down.”
MICHAEL LANDSBERG: “I heard you backed down.”
CHAEL SONNEN: “That’s garbage. HOW? How do you just
say things like ‘I hear you backed down.’ Here I am
looking to pick a fight with Anderson (Silva). I backed down?
I stood there big and tall and he covered his mouth like a little
fruity boy and you’re going to come on ESPN and say that
I backed down while I give you a free interview? He’s the
one who backed down. How could you even say something so stupid?
Why don’t you go try to get a free interview with Anderson
Silva, see how that works out for you.”
MICHAEL LANDSBERG: “Hold onto that, I like that.”
CHAEL SONNEN: “You’re going to tell me that I backed
down? What do you want to do?”
MICHAEL LANDSBERG: “Does the offer stand?”
CHAEL SONNEN: “If I tell you I’ll sell you my car for
$10,000, you think I can just call you back a year from now and
say, hey, I’ll take that $10,000 for the car. That’s
not how offers work. Is that how you guys do business in Canada?”
MICHAEL LANDSBERG: “Yeah, that’s it.”
CHAEL SONNEN: “Because in my country that created business,
offers expire. I made him an offer. Apparently, it didn’t
work. He didn’t accept it. So, it’s not that I backed
down but apparently I need to present him with a new offer.”
MICHAEL LANDSBERG: “Okay.”
CHAEL SONNEN: “You guys probably don’t do that in socialism
but in America in a capitalistic society, that’s how things
work.”
A
minute later, Landsberg brings up the moment in the Oakland fight
where Sonnen got submitted by Anderson in the fifth round.
MICHAEL LANDSBERG: “Have you worked on your jiu-jitsu since
then? You certainly looked like you had against Brian Stann.”
CHAEL SONNEN: “I mean, I work on skills every day.”
MICHAEL LANDSBERG: “Would you agree that your jiu-jitsu
at that point was probably deficient?”
CHAEL SONNEN: “No.”
MICHAEL LANDSBERG: “No? So, how did you let a guy after
you dominated him for four rounds submit you in the fifth round?”
CHAEL SONNEN: “Well, look, it’s a two-man sport, it’s
not a matter of letting somebody do something. I’ve been
doing stuff my whole life… you know, guy walks his whole
life, it doesn’t mean he doesn’t stumble every now
and then.”
MICHAEL LANDSBERG: “Right. And, if you fight him again…
how do you prevent that from happening, the stumble?”
CHAEL SONNEN: “Oh, I… who cares if it does happen.
Who cares?”
MICHAEL LANDSBERG: “Who cares if it does happen? I don’t
get that.”
CHAEL SONNEN: “I’m sure you don’t.”
MICHAEL LANDSBERG: “No, but what do you mean?”
CHAEL SONNEN: “You don’t. That’s why you’re
a commentator and you don’t get locked in the Octagon. I
think you chose the right career path.”
MICHAEL LANDSBERG: “So, you don’t care if you lose
to Anderson Silva?”
CHAEL SONNEN: “Is this like gotcha questions? Let’s
just move (on). This is turning confrontational here while I’ve
given up my time to come and give you an interview. Do you have
anything pertinent to ask or are we just going around and around
here?”
MICHAEL LANDSBERG: “Well, I thought that was a pertinent
question. I asked you about jiu-jitsu.”
CHAEL SONNEN: “Well, it’s not! It’s a stupid question.
So, read the little palm of your hand that you wrote your points
down on and move (on) to the next one. Let’s see if we can
actually do something here today, give the people something to
watch.”
MICHAEL LANDSBERG: “Is the A in MMA the Art, is that dead?”
CHAEL SONNEN: “I don’t even know what Mixed Martial
Arts stands for, OK? I mean, I don’t know where that came
from. Mixed Martial Arts is a legal term that can date back to
the 2001 Nevada State legislature. I don’t work for the
Ultimate Mixed Martial Arts Championship. I’m not a martial
artist. I am a fighter. I work for the Ultimate Fighting Championship
and I don’t care about art or their little gis or their
little cotton belts.”
MICHAEL LANDSBERG: “And would that describe, for instance,
the Nogueira Brothers?”
CHAEL SONNEN: “… no, I… WHAT?”
MICHAEL LANDSBERG: “You’re talking about the little
gis and you’re talking about Anderson Silva, who’s
a black belt, right? And he got it from the brothers and I’m
asking you whether your description of the way Mixed Martial
Arts shouldn’t be describes those guys.”
CHAEL SONNEN: “We’re talking about Anderson Silva?
Since when? You just said… when are we talking about Anderson
Silva?”
MICHAEL LANDSBERG: “I was asking you. See, are you, are
you playing with me now or are you being serious? Because people
are watching this and going, what’s he talking about?”
CHAEL SONNEN: “I am truly confused. Here, do you have a
question for me? Let’s do that. I’m not trying to be
a jerk here but I am truly flabbergasted by this. Are we doing
an interview or what are we doing here? What is it that you want
to talk about? You’re bringing up a fight from two years
ago?”
MICHAEL LANDSBERG: “OH, C’MON!”
CHAEL SONNEN: “I’d be happy to talk about it but certainly
if you follow this sport at all you know that these questions
have all been covered. So, I mean, if this your first day in
MMA, I guess… I mean, I guess. Do you know what the Octagon
is? Have you heard of that before? I’m sorry, let me calm
down, I don’t want to give you nightmares tonight.”
MICHAEL LANDSBERG: “And why would I possibly have nightmares?
OK.”
CHAEL SONNEN: “Watching a guy out of control, just losing
control over here.”
MICHAEL LANDSBERG: “So, you think you’re totally in
control at this point?”
(pause)
CHAEL SONNEN: “Control of WHAT?”
MICHAEL LANDSBERG: “Of yourself!”
CHAEL SONNEN: “Of my domain? Sure.”
MICHAEL LANDSBERG: “It seems like Anderson Silva is a humble
guy. How has he gotten you so riled up? Is that a legitimate
question?”
(pause)
MICHAEL LANDSBERG: “IS THAT A LEGITIMATE QUESTION?”
(snoring)
CHAEL SONNEN: “What?”
MICHAEL LANDSBERG: “GSP, then. You like him as a fighter?”
CHAEL SONNEN: “Right! Grease St. Pierre.”
MICHAEL LANDSBERG: “Grease St. Pierre. Insinuating that…”
CHAEL SONNEN: “I do like him as a fighter.”
MICHAEL LANDSBERG: “You do?”
CHAEL SONNEN: “I think he’s pretty good.”
MICHAEL LANDSBERG: “Right.”
CHAEL SONNEN: “I think he’s excellent. I think he’s
great.”
MICHAEL LANDSBERG: “So, you said you stopped watching because
you like to watch hockey and rugby and any place where a fight
will break out, implying that he doesn’t really fight. Is
that correct?”
CHAEL SONNEN: “Yes.”
MICHAEL LANDSBERG: “But you just said you like him as a
fighter? I don’t understand. I must be missing something
here.”
CHAEL SONNEN: “I… you got that right.”
MICHAEL LANDSBERG: “SO, do you like his style of fighting
or not?”
(pause)
CHAEL SONNEN: “Yes.”
MICHAEL LANDSBERG: “Would you beat him if you fought him?”
CHAEL SONNEN: “I would do my best.”
MICHAEL LANDSBERG: “I would make the assumption you would
do your best any time in the Octagon, would you not? So that
doesn’t really tell me much.”
*removing microphone*
MICHAEL LANDSBERG: “So, you’re leaving now because
of what reason? This kind of has this Mike Tyson feel back in
the day. Perhaps, you should do a few sit-ups as well. Apparently,
that is the end of… a man that we were actually really looking
forward to talking to. Chael Sonnen, who is getting up, could
do a little play-by-play now and watch him as he apparently is
going to depart and I have to say 3,000 shows after we started,
it’s the first time…”
Source: Fight Opinion
|
The
Forward Roll: UFC 139 Edition
By Mike
Chiappetta
At
41 years old, Dan Henderson's forward march is downright ludicrous.
A winner of seven of his last eight fights, Henderson re-entered
the UFC paired with one of the most destructive strikers the
sport has known and again proved that he was far from ready to
being put out to pasture.
In
this sport, it's rare to be madly debating the future prospects
of a fighter his age, but Henderson is the rarest of birds. Not
only does he continue to excel, he is capable of being relevant
at two weight divisions. That will make his future trajectory
an adventure, because even if he loses at one weight division,
he can always switch back to another and poof, instant contender.
Dan
Henderson
It's so far yet unknown just how much time Henderson or his opponent
Mauricio "Shogun" Rua will need, but a lot of Hendo's
future plans depends on a recovery layoff. Over the weekend,
we heard rumors that middleweight champion Anderson Silva won't
be ready to defend his belt until June 2012. And of course, Chael
Sonnen remains the frontrunner for the spot. Since Silva is the
only divisional fight Henderson's interested in, it seems unlikely
that the middleweight class is in his immediate future. Instead,
he's much more likely to stay paired up with the big boys of
205, where he gives up size but no power.
Prediction:
Though it's hard to project the divisional outlook without knowing
when Henderson will fight again, there's only a handful of fighters
worth his time. The loser of the Jon Jones vs. Lyoto Machida
title fight sounds like a good matchup against a credible opponent.
Aside from that, how about a rematch with Quinton "Rampage"
Jackson?
Mauricio
Rua
You've got to feel for Rua, who is just 3-3 in his last 6 fights
but has two somewhat controversial losses included. Most felt
like he beat Machida in their first encounter, and against Henderson,
his late performance could have easily salvaged at least a draw.
Nevertheless, Rua remains one of the division's elite, and like
Henderson, should be matched accordingly.
Also
like Henderson, he's likely going to need a lengthy period of
time off to recover. Given the exciting performances he's taken
part in, he deserves every day necessary.
Prediction:
Rua faces Thiago Silva after Silva's suspension is lifted in
early 2012.
Wanderlei
Silva
It almost never fails that a once-great fighter left for dead
manages to have at least one last shining moment before fading
away. With Silva, we can't be quite sure if his win over Cung
Le is a middleweight rebirth or that last moment of glory.
Silva
looked good in the rematch, rebounding from an early stumble
in which he was rocked and knocked down to finish the Bay Area
star late in the second round. Now that he's won, he goes from
talk of retirement to a debate of where exactly he fits in the
division.
Prediction:
A date with Demian Maia would work well here, but given their
friendship, it's an idea not likely to get very far. So I'll
match him up with the winner of UFC 142's Vitor Belfort vs. Anthony
Johnson fight.
Cung
Le
It had been over a year since Le fought, and while his bout with
Silva was a crowd-pleaser, it's certainly not the result he wanted
in his UFC debut, and in front of his hometown fans. The big
question now is whether or not he will retire.
Even
though he's 39 years old and has a blooming film career, Le like
many other fighters likely can't stomach the thought of retiring
on a knockout loss. He feels he was competitive in the fight
and can still perform at a high level. Because of that, I doubt
he will seriously consider calling it quits. He may sit out for
a while, but he will fight again.
Prediction:
Le spends a few months on the sidelines, then comes back to the
octagon in mid-2012.
Urijah
Faber
There's no prediction to make here as we already know that by
virtue of his submission win over Brian Bowles, Faber will have
his third date with Dominick Cruz in a UFC bantamweight title
fight to be held sometime next year. It is worth mentioning though
that Faber is 0-4 in his last four title fights. After three
of those losses, he needed to win only one fight to get his next
championship opportunity. One other time, he needed two wins.
So all told, he's 5-4 in his last nine fights; 5-0 in non-title
fights and 0-4 for the gold. Bottom line: I don't think Faber
deserved this quick elevation. As impressive as his win was,
he should have fought Renan Barao for it. In this case, business
interests were moved ahead of fairness.
Brian
Bowles
For the first time, Bowles looked outclassed in the cage, as
he never really got started in his loss to Faber. There are a
couple possibilities for him, including a rematch with Miguel
Torres, who won on the undercard of the event. But I think another
track is more likely.
Prediction:
He faces Demetrious Johnson
Martin
Kampmann
After heartbreaking back-to-back decision losses to Diego Sanchez
and Jake Shields, Kampmann finally got the judges to see a fight
his way in the end. Kampmann remains an intriguing talent in
the division, because he has excellent skills in every department,
yet he rarely turns up his aggression level and has never truly
flashed fight-changing one-punch power. On any given day, he's
capable of beating anyone, but has to prove he's capable of beating
elite talents.
Prediction:
He faces Rory MacDonald
Michael
McDonald
Among the many storylines that flew under the radar on Saturday
night was the excellent performances from two prospects: bantamweight
McDonald and middleweight Chris Weidman. It's important for both
divisions, as bantamweight champ Cruz has beaten most of the
division's top five already, while the middleweight class has
little talent under the age of 30. McDonald's standup skills
have proven fantastic, and the 20-year-old is rapidly making
waves.
Prediction:
McDonald faces Takeya Mizugaki
Chris
Weidman
Given Weidman's displayed wrestling and grappling excellence
(he tapped out Tom Lawlor with a D'arce choke), it seems time
to match him up with someone who can cancel that out and see
if he passes the test.
Prediction:
He faces Aaron Simpson
Source:
MMA Fighting
|
Thiago
Alves Meets Martin Kampmann at UFC Event March 3
by Damon
Martin
It
doesn’t take long for UFC matchmaker Joe Silva to get cracking
for fighters that have just competed. Now he’s got two more
of them paired up for a new fight card in March.
Thiago “Pitbull” Alves, fresh off his win over Papy
Abedi at UFC 138 in England, faces Martin “The Hitman”
Kampmann, who was himself just victorious at UFC 139 last weekend,
in a fight set for March 3.
The new event has been rumored to be another UFC on Fox card,
but no further details have been made available at this time.
Location and details for the event should be released in the
coming weeks.
Sources close to the match-up confirmed the pairing to MMAWeekly.com
on Wednesday.
Thiago Alves will look to make it two in a row when he returns
in March to face Kampmann in a fight between two welterweight
contenders.
The American Top Team fighter most recently dismantled UFC newcomer
Papy Abedi in England at UFC 138, while picking up his first
submission victory since coming to the promotion in 2005.
He’ll have a tough test ahead of him in March when he returns,
however, facing the always tough and durable Martin Kampmann,
coming off a big win of his own just last weekend.
After back-to-back controversial losses to Jake Shields and Diego
Sanchez, Martin Kampmann returned at UFC 139 with a renewed sense
of urgency to go out and put the stamp on a win.
While the fight was closer than he would have liked, Kampmann
put on a strong performance against Rick Story, who actually
holds a win over Alves, to get back on the winning track.
Alves and Kampmann meet in a pivotal match-up as both try to
get back into the contender’s race in the welterweight division.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
The
Daily Line: BJ Penn's Pound-For-Pound Legacy
By Mark
Wayne
Going somewhat lost amidst the noise made by Nick Diaz following
their UFC 137 fight and the UFC's big debut on Fox was the possible
retirement of one of mixed martial arts' great talents, BJ "The
Prodigy" Penn. Sure, Penn declared his retirement at an
intensely emotional moment and has since left the door open to
a return, but he by no means assured that fans will ever see
him enter the Octagon again.
Penn has been a polarizing figure throughout his career, praised
for his otherworldly talent and criticized for what has been
perceived as a lack of work ethic; devotedly followed by a fiercely
loyal fanbase and written off by others as overrated. Though
opinions on The Prodigy vary wildly, what cannot be denied is
his status as one of the pound-for-pound best fighters to have
ever competed in the sport.
Penn, like Randy Couture, doesn't sport the most impressive record
on paper, but few other competitors can claim the kind of cross-divisional
success at a championship level like those two men can. Couture
and Penn are the only athletes ever to hold championships in
more than one weight class in the UFC, but Penn takes it further
than that.
The 32-year-old Hawaiian is a natural lightweight and could probably
compete at featherweight, but has fought as high as heavyweight
in his career. He didn't fight just anyone either; in 2005, after
vacating the welterweight title he took from Matt Hughes, Penn
met future UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto "The Dragon"
Machida in a K-1 Hero's bout where Machida weighed in at 225lbs.
and Penn at 191. The result was a closely contested decision
loss for Penn; by comparison, Machida has finished the likes
of Stephan Bonnar, Rich Franklin, Thiago Silva, Rashad Evans
and Randy Couture. He will now challenge for the UFC light heavyweight
title.
The bout with Machida was sandwiched between two middleweight
contests against then-undefeated Rodrigo Gracie and Renzo Gracie,
respectively. Penn defeated both men by unanimous decision. From
there, he would battle St-Pierre to a close split-decision loss,
handing the champion one of the worst beatings of his career
before heading down to lightweight, where he captured the UFC
title.
Though you could probably legitimately call in to question some
of Penn's career moves and lament his inconsistency amidst casually
brilliant performances, The Prodigy is best thought of as a fiery
battler who was willing to forego championship glory to test
his abilities against the best fighters in the world, regardless
of weight class. Though he may not have allowed himself to always
be as good as he was in the first Hughes fight or the majority
of his run as UFC lightweight champion, the fact is that Penn
was (and still could be) that good, often, against the best in
the world. He embodies the kind of bold, fighting spirit that
is rarely seen and possesses one of the most unique, effective
styles of any competitor, ever; for both, he deserves commendation."
Source: Fight Opinion
|
Paulo
Thiago vs. Mike Pyle at UFC 142, in Rio
By Guilherme
Cruz
The
“Elite Squad” will attack again at UFC Rio (142), on
January 14th of 2012, at HSBC Arena. Sources close to the situation
told TATAME on Tuesday that Paulo Thiago, who made the fans go
crazy when defeated David Mitchell, on August, is set to battle
Mike Pyle on the next edition of the event in Rio.
Paulo
increases to seven the number of fighters from UFC 134 that returns
to Rio’s 142 card, on January.
UFC
142 (Rio)
HSBC Arena, Rio de Janeiro
Saturday, January 14th of 2012
- Jose Aldo vs. Chad Mendes;
- Vitor Belfort vs. Anthony Johnson;
- Edson Junior vs. Terry Etim;
- Rousimar Palhares vs. Mike Massenzio;
- Paulo Thiago vs. Mike Pyle;
- Thiago Tavares vs. Sam Stout;
- Erick Silva vs. Siyar Bahadurzada;
- Fábio Maldonado vs. Stanislav Nedkov;
- Ednaldo Lula vs. Rob Broughton;
- Felipe Sertanejo vs. Antonio Carvalho.
Source:
Tatame
|
Run
of ‘Bad Luck’ Leaves Oft-Injured Swick Frustrated,
Resolute
By Joe
Myers
If
it was not for bad luck, Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight
Mike Swick might not have any luck at all.
Swick,
who last fought in February 2010, has been sidelined by numerous
illnesses and injuries, the most recent of which was a torn anterior
cruciate ligament, medial collateral ligament and meniscus in
his knee suffered just a few weeks before his scheduled bout
against Erick Silva at UFC 134 in August.
“It
couldn’t have been more frustrating,” said Swick, who
has 10 finishes among his 14 professional MMA victories. “Injuring
my knee was the defining moment of frustration for my career.
Every camp is going to be different, but I really felt like I’d
put my training and performance together, and for this to happen
two weeks before the fight was just really hard to swallow. But
I’ll just have to come back stronger.”
Swick,
a veteran of Season 1 of “The Ultimate Fighter,” is
about three months removed from surgery to repair his knee and
said the rehabilitation process is going well.
“Rehab’s
going good,” said Swick. “I’m doing as much as
I possibly can, but I have to re-build the strength in my knee.
This isn’t a bruise or something like that. This is the
worst injury I’ve ever had to come back from, and it’s
tough because I haven’t been able to do any kind of real
training.”
That
being said, the 32-year-old Swick has been able to do a few things
to start preparations for a return to the Octagon.
“I’m
healing fast,” said Swick. “I can do a little bit of
mittwork now and have been walking on stairs. I’m almost
to the point where I can run, but I’m sore a lot because
I’ve been doing about three hours a day of rehab. I’m
pushing hard, but the last time I went to the doctor, he told
me to take it easy [on the knee].”
Along
with rehabbing his knee injury, Swick has stayed busy opening
Nitor Muay Thai, an MMA fitness camp in Phuket, Thailand. Swick
helped open the gym, along with former UFC fighter Roger Huerta.
“I’ve
been active building the gym,” said Swick. “It’s
going to be a place to work on muay Thai, but it’s also
going to be a complete MMA gym, as well. Tons of MMA guys are
going to Thailand to train, and this gym will give them muay
Thai, MMA and fitness training all under one roof.”
Swick’s
list of wins is as respectable as it is lengthy, as he holds
victories over former UFC title challenger David Loiseau, Joe
Riggs, Ben Saunders, Jonathan Goulet, Marcus Davis and Josh Burkman,
among others. His losses were all against highly regarded opponents
in former title challengers Yushin Okami and Dan Hardy, Chris
Leben and Paulo Thiago. The losses to Hardy at UFC 105 in November
2009 and Thiago at UFC 109 in February 2010 were Swick’s
most recent efforts and snapped a four-fight winning streak.
However,
as hard as Swick is pushing with his rehabilitation, do not expect
him to be in the Octagon anytime soon.
“I’m
hoping to be fighting in five or six months,” said Swick,
who trains at the American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, Calif.
“I can almost do the mitts and run now. Give me a little
while longer and I’ll be ready to go. I’d love to come
back sometime between February and April. I want to come back
quickly, but I want to be ready.”
Swick
had high praise for the UFC’s new insurance policy, which
took care of the costs of his surgery.
“The
UFC has been really supportive of me,” said Swick. “They
understand about all of the injuries. It’s not the best
situation, but I have a good relationship with them and it’s
come in handy.
“I
appreciate the fact they’ve stuck by me, and the fact their
insurance covered me was huge,” he added. “That would’ve
been the only thing that made this injury worse was to have to
pay for everything myself. I’ve had a lot of injuries and
not been able to fight for the last couple of years. It’s
been a really bad run of luck, but the UFC covered everything
for me.”
Source
Sherdog
|
MMA
Top 10 Rankings: Faber Makes a Big Jump
The
updated MMAWeekly.com World MMA Rankings were released on Wednesday,
Nov. 23. This system ranks the Top 10 MMA fighters from across
the world in each of the seven most widely accepted men’s
weight classes and the Top 10 pound-for-pound women fighters.
Taken into consideration are a fighter’s performance in
addition to win-loss record, head-to-head and common opponents,
difficulty of opponents, and numerous other factors in what is
the most comprehensive rankings system in the sport.
Fighters who are currently serving drug-related suspensions are
not eligible for Top 10 consideration until they have fought
one time after the completion of their suspension.
Fighters must also have competed within the past 12 months in
order to be eligible for Top 10 consideration unless they have
a bout scheduled within a reasonable time frame.
(NEW FEATURE! Fighter’s previous ranking is in parenthesis.)
Below are the current MMAWeekly.com World MMA Rankings:
WOMEN’S POUND-FOR-POUND (all weight classes)
1. Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos (1)
2. Megumi Fujii (2)
3. Sarah Kaufman (3)
4. Miesha Tate (4)
5. Marloes Coenen (5)
6. Zoila Gurgel (6)
7. Tara LaRosa (7)
8. Rosi Sexton (8)
9. Alexis Davis (9)
10. Hiroko Yamanaka (10)
HEAVYWEIGHT DIVISION (over 205 pounds)
1. Junior Dos Santos (1)
2. Alistair Overeem (2)
3. Cain Velasquez (3)
4. Josh Barnett (4)
5. Brock Lesnar (5)
6. Fabricio Werdum (6)
7. Shane Carwin (7)
8. Frank Mir (8)
9. Daniel Cormier (9)
10. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (10)
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT DIVISION (205-pound limit)
1. Jon Jones (1)
2. Rashad Evans (3)
3. Dan Henderson (6)
4. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua (2)
5. Quinton Jackson (4)
6. Lyoto Machida (5)
7. Phil Davis (7)
8. Gegard Mousasi (8)
9. Alexander Gustafsson (9)
10. Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal (10)
MIDDLEWEIGHT DIVISION (185-pound limit)
1. Anderson Silva (1)
2. Chael Sonnen (2)
3. Yushin Okami (3)
4. Nathan Marquardt (4)
5. Michael Bisping (5)
6. Mark Munoz (6)
7. Demian Maia (7)
8. Vitor Belfort (8)
9. Brian Stann (9)
10. Alan Belcher (10)
WELTERWEIGHT DIVISION (170-pound limit)
1. Georges St-Pierre (1)
2. Jon Fitch (2)
3. Nick Diaz (3)
4. Carlos Condit (4)
5. Jake Ellenberger (5)
6. Josh Koscheck (6)
7. Jake Shields (7)
8. Thiago Alves (8)
9. Diego Sanchez (9)
10. Ben Askren (10)
LIGHTWEIGHT DIVISION (155-pound limit)
1. Frankie Edgar (1)
2. Gilbert Melendez (2)
3. Benson Henderson (3)
4. Gray Maynard (4)
5. Shinya Aoki (5)
6. Clay Guida (7)
7. Jim Miller (8)
8. Anthony Pettis (9)
9. Donald Cerrone (10)
10. Michael Chandler (N/A)
FEATHERWEIGHT DIVISION (145 pound-limit)
1. Jose Aldo (1)
2. Chad Mendes (2)
3. Hatsu Hioki (3)
4. Mark Hominick (4)
5. Dustin Poirier (5)
6. Erik Koch (6)
7. Kenny Florian (7)
8. Pat Curran (8)
9. Diego Nunes (9)
10. Marlon Sandro (10)
BANTAMWEIGHT DIVISION (135 pounds or less)
1. Dominick Cruz (1)
2. Urijah Faber (5)
3. Joseph Benavidez (3)
4. Brian Bowles (2)
5. Scott Jorgensen (4)
6. Renan Barao (6)
7. Michael McDonald (10)
8. Demetrious Johnson (7)
9. Brad Pickett (8)
10. Masakatsu Ueda (9)
Source: MMA Weekly
|
|
11/24/11
Happy Thanksgiving! |
‘Fight
of the year’ debate changes in one night
SAN
JOSE, Calif. – Just one week ago, lightweights Ben Henderson
and Clay Guida had a fight that was called a potential fight
of the year at the UFC on Fox event in Anaheim, Calif.
Seven
days later, it may not even be in the running. Dan Henderson,
no relation to Ben, faced Mauricio “Shogun” Rua in
what turned out to be the first full five- round non-title fight
in UFC history on Saturday night at the HP Pavilion.
The
two entered the arena to face a crowd that figured to be hard
to please, considering they followed a Wanderlei Silva vs. Cung
Le brawl that tore the house down.
But
the delivered one of the greatest matches in UFC history. The
fight, which saw both men on the verge of winning multiple times
over the course of 25 minutes, ended with Henderson surviving
a completely one-sided fifth-round beating to squeak out a 48-47
win on all three judges’ cards. Neither fighter was around
for the post-fight news conference, as both had to go to the
hospital after the bout.
“It
was one of the three best mixed martial arts matches of all time,”
said UFC president Dana White afterward. “It was better
than [Forrest] Griffin and [Stephan] Bonnar. Those were two guys
battling to get into the UFC. It was a great fight for our first
time on Spike.”
Yahoo!
Sports gave Rounds 1 through 3 to Henderson and Rounds 4 and
5 to Rua, with the fifth round scored 10-8 for a 47-47 draw.
White said he also scored the final round 10-8 and had the fight
a draw, but he added that in a fight like that, he would have
been fine with either man winning or a draw decision.
“I
thought ‘Shogun’ was out during the first round,”
White said. “I didn’t think he was going to make it
past the first. It went five rounds and he had the most dominant
round of the fight.”
Over
the summer, White made the decision that main events of fight
cards without a title match would be moved from three rounds
to five. The first of these bouts was held two weeks ago, the
Chris Leben vs. Mark Munoz fight in Birmingham, England, but
that fight only went two rounds before Munoz won.
Henderson-Rua
marked the first time a non-title main event went the five-round
distance. While the fight would have been very good if it had
ended after three, the decision would not have been in question.
The final two rounds not only added to the drama but also led
to debate about the decision.
“Yeah,
I hit him hard; I should have had him finished there,” Henderson
said. “The gas tank was running a little low. It started
out strong for me. He stayed in there like a champion should
and he finished strong.”
Henderson
felt he was safe in the fifth round as long as Rua didn’t
finish the fight, feeling he solidly won the first three rounds
and could have gotten at least one 10-8 round.
“
‘Shogun’ came back and dropped Dan in the first round,”
White said. “It was a war. I thought by the end of the second
round Dan Henderson was breathing so hard, I thought it was done,
and they went five rounds.” Going into the bout, there had
been talk that if Henderson won, he would drop back down to 185
pounds to face Anderson Silva in a match that White had attempted
to make back in 2009, a rematch of a bout Silva won the year
before. But right now Chael Sonnen appears next in line for Silva.
“All
I can say is that guy can take a [expletive] punch,” Henderson
said during his post-fight interview in the Octagon. “I
hit him hard. I thought I could finish him in the first or second
round. I thought I had the first three rounds easy.”
The
one fighter at UFC 139 who assured himself of a title match was
Urijah Faber, who finished former WEC bantamweight champion Brian
Bowles at 1:47 of the second round. Faber will face Dominick
Cruz for the bantamweight title at some point in the future.
“Hopefully
I have some different judges,” Faber said, referring to
the decision he dropped to Cruz in their July bout. “I know
it was a close fight, and I don’t want to raise a stink
and say I got robbed in a fight like that. That’s not fair
to the people who really have gotten robbed in fights. But I
don’t feel he’s a better fighter than I am. I don’t
think he proved it. “He tried to take me down 11 or 12 times,”
Faber continued. “I dropped him three times with my hands.
I think I did some good things. I think maybe you need more output
if you go to a decision. But I don’t want to think about
going to the decision. I’m looking to finish him. It’s
for the UFC title. It’s a personal vendetta. We’re
1-1, a trilogy, it’s a fight to find out who the man is
for the rest of our lives.”
Going
in, the co-main event between Silva and Le was the bout that
seemed to have the most crowd interest in San Jose. Le (7-2)
was the hometown favorite but got something of a mixed reaction.
Silva’s reaction was louder. There were two distinct crowd
bases. There were the San Jose area residents and fans from the
days where Strikeforce packed the arena who had seen Le as one
of the architects in building the local MMA scene. And there
was the traveling UFC fan base, who saw Le as a fighter from
a rival company and Silva as a legend of the sport. The loud
mixed reaction made for a memorable backdrop to the bout.
Le
knocked Silva (34-11-1, 1 no contest) down early, but Silva came
back late in the first round. Silva, who really hasn’t been
the same fighter since 2006, showed flashes of his former brilliance,
particularly in landing a series of devastating knees late that
led to a finish from punches on the ground.
White
was so impressed by Le and Silva that he gave each man a $70,000
Fight of the Night bonus, as he did with Henderson and Rua, one
of the few times he’s given two fights the best match bonus.
“It
was an awesome fight,” White said. “The thing that’s
so incredible is Cung Le was coming off inactivity, and he came
in and fought the war that he fought tonight. I have a lot of
respect for him.”
Silva
knew his back was against the wall, and with a loss, it was likely
to be his last fight in the UFC after losing six of his previous
eight bouts, although all six losses were against major names.
“We
fight in the best event in the world,” said Silva, whose
jaw was in question after his 27-second KO at the hands of Chris
Leben in his last fight but who stayed up after hard punches
and kicks throughout Saturday’s fight. “I know the
responsibility. We have space for only the best guys in the world.”
White
said he was convinced Silva earned his spot.
“He
looked good tonight against a guy who came in to finish him,”
he said. “The one thing I noted after the first round: His
body, his back, and his arms were all bruised up from those kicks.
He stayed in there and finished the fight. I’m happy to
have him here. He’s a guy we respect. Cung Le’s a great
guy too. Both of these guys are great guys. Cung Le’s one
of the nicest guys in the business.”
When
pressed on the other two fights White would consider the best
along with Henderson-Rua, he couldn’t name them.
“I’m
just giving myself some leeway,” he joked.
Source: Yahoo Sports
|
Henderson
Wants Next Crack at UFC Light Heavyweight Strap
Dan Henderson and Mauricio Rua put on a show Saturday night at
the HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif., beating the daylights out
of one another for 25 minutes in their UFC 139 headliner.
Though
both men showed great heart throughout the five-round affair,
it was Henderson who walked away with a narrow unanimous decision.
Just minutes after besting his fellow Pride Fighting Championships
alum, an exhausted but pleased Henderson offered up his thoughts
on his UFC future. Asked if he believed he was next in line for
a shot at the promotion’s 205-pound title, the former Strikeforce
belt-holder responded in his typically understated fashion.
“Absolutely,”
Henderson said in a backstage video interview with ClinchGear.com.
If
Henderson has indeed earned himself a title shot with his win
over Rua, it is well-deserved. The 41-year-old wasted no time
in lighting up “Shogun,” staggering him with a right
hand early in the first frame and immediately looking for an
opportunity to finish.
Though
Rua survived the initial scare, round two brought more of the
same, as “Hendo” cracked his man with a stiff uppercut
and generally dictated the round’s pace with his power punching.
Henderson’s
sledgehammer overhand right returned in round three, smashing
into the side of Rua’s skull and buckling his knees. This
time, Henderson committed to the kill, raining down a storm of
leather and elbows while hoping for a referee intervention. Somehow,
the Brazilian again survived, transitioning to a heel hook attempt
before regaining his vertical base.
“I
tried to finish him a couple of times. I think that tired me
out a little bit. He tried to ‘Rocky Balboa’ me and
wear me out with his head,” Henderson said. “I thought
it was one or two shots away from being finished. He tucked his
head in pretty nice. I tried to push him away and get some elbows
[in]. I couldn’t get any distance.”
Round
four was another competitive frame until Rua landed a sharp uppercut
of his own that wobbled Henderson. Rua pounced, scoring a takedown
and mounting his foe before briefly taking Henderson’s back
as the round expired.
The
final frame was all Rua, as “Shogun” took Henderson
down early and once again mounted him. Though “Hendo”
recovered half-guard several times, the Brazilian recaptured
the mount with as much regularity, cashing in on some payback
via ground-and-pound.
Though
few would argue that the fight was a competitive one, Henderson
claimed that he was not worried by his predicament in round five
due to his performance in the first 20 minutes of the bout.
“When
he got the takedown in the fifth round, I knew I had the fight
won. I just didn’t want to give him a 10-8 round,”
said Henderson. “I would have been very surprised if [the
decision] had gone the other way. I thought I won the first four
rounds, three of them easily, with a possible 10-8 round. So
I knew I had the fight won.”
Though
Henderson found himself trapped under his foe, the wily veteran
survived the position to hear the final horn sound. While not
ecstatic about finishing the fight on his back, Henderson admitted
that he would have made more of an effort to escape had he believed
the outcome was in jeopardy.
“That’s
not the way I like to finish fights, but he wasn’t doing
too much damage and I was still able to move on bottom. Had the
fight been real close, I would have tried to win that fifth round,”
said Henderson. “I think [it had to do with] a little bit
of fatigue and me knowing I had the fight won, so I didn’t
need to scramble.”
Source: Sherdog
|
Wanderlei:
Victory Over Le ‘Came at the Right Moment’
The stakes were high for Wanderlei Silva on Saturday night, and
“The Axe Murder” came through in vintage fashion, knocking
out Cung Le in the UFC 139 co-main event.
Following
a brutal knockout loss to Chris Leben in July, some fans and
pundits questioned how much longer Silva should continue to compete.
The man who reigned supreme for five years atop the Pride Fighting
Championships 205-pound stable, Silva had lost four of his six
UFC appearances, suffering bouts of unconsiousness courtesy of
Leben and former titleholder Quinton Jackson.
To
that end, it appeared Silva entered the Octagon with some trepidation
at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif., circling away cautiously
for much of the opening stanza. Traditionally known for his aggressive
style and overwhelming striking attack, the Brazilian took a
more measured approach against Le. His knockout loss to Leben
lasting just 27 seconds, Silva seemed intent on avoiding any
costly mistakes early.
“I
know this sport has no more space for falls,” Silva said
at the UFC 139 post-fight press conference. “We are fighting
in the best event in world and these are the best [fighters]
in the world. I know the responsibility of being here. There
is only space for the best guys in the world.”
Recovered
from a knockdown sustained in the first frame, Silva began round
two in much the same fashion as the opening stanza, keeping his
distance and absorbing a number of kicks from the former Strikeforce
middleweight king.
“[Le]
has heavy legs,” Silva told UFC.com following his win. “[He
throws] tough kicks and they hurt. [They were] strong kicks.”
As
the round progressed, however, Silva found his range and stepped
inside to deliver some of his patented hooks to Le’s head.
Pressing his foe against the cage, Silva landed a beautiful high
kick and grabbed a front headlock when Le tried to clinch.
From
his prone position, Le ate a series of knees while doing his
best to escape. Once again upright, Le found himself in the position
that helped build Silva’s legend: the Thai plum. The Brazilian
continued his attack, drilling Le with an elbow over the top
before badly breaking his nose with a knee to the face.
“My
coach told me to attack more in the second round. That was the
plan,” Silva explained. “I hit him hard with the knee
and I felt he was close to the finish.”
Following
the shot, a stunned Le fell to the floor before gamely digging
for a single-leg takedown. However, it was not to be, as Silva
met him with a solid sprawl and began pounding away with hammerfists
until referee Dan Stell waved off the contest at 4:49 of round
two.
Aware
of the bout’s importance and the potential effect of a defeat
upon his career, Silva expressed his jubilation after scoring
his first Octagon finish since 2008.
“It’s
wonderful [to win]. I can’t talk after my last fight [against
Leben] It’s embarrassing that I lost like that,” said
Silva. “But in this job, every weekend, [the UFC] makes
one event better than the [last]. It was a tough moment for me
[in my career], but this victory came at the right moment. This
was a great moment in my life.”
Source: Sherdog
|
UFC
on FX premiere: Miller vs Guillard on Jan. 20
Melvin
Guillard vs Jim Miller UFC on FX premiere: Miller vs Guillard
on Jan. 20New Network, same action. Two lightweight fighters
known for their finishes in the octagon look to square off on
the premiere of UFC on FX January 20 from the Bridgestone Arena
in Nashville, Tennessee. Jim Miller and Melvin Guillard both
have plans to rebound from a recent loss after peeling off win-streaks
in the division.
Guillard’s
five-fight win streak was snapped by the submission game of Joe
Lauzon at UFC 136 in Oct. Now the knockout artist, Guillard will
have to face another submission specialist in Jim Miller.
Miller
looked untouchable in his seven fight win streak, that is until
former WEC champion Ben Henderson showed up in the UFC. It was
a dominating unanimous decision loss for Miller in Aug. at UFC
Live. Henderson has since then defeated top contender Clay Guida
to earn himself a title shot against Frankie Edgar.
Also
announced for the fight card will be heavyweights Pat Barry vs.
Christian Morecraft and welterweights Josh Neer vs Duane Ludwig.
Source: Caged Insider
|
Shields
vs Akiyama set for UFC 144 in Japan
jake
shields 300x195 Shields vs Akiyama set for UFC 144 in JapanUFC.com
has just announced that Japanese star Yoshihiro Akiyama will
make his welterweight debut against former Strikeforce champion
Jake Shields. at UFC 144. The card will headline Frankie Edgar
vs Ben Henderson and will be the UFC’s first return to the
home of the rising sun since Dec of 2000. The event is scheduled
to take place Feb. 26 2012 from Saitama, Japan.
After
suffering three straight in the octagon to top opponents in the
middleweight division, Yoshihiro Akiyama will be trying his luck
at the welterweight division. The top tier opponents just keep
lining up as he has a tough challenger in Shields to battle in
his home country.
Shields
has not had the best of luck as of lately as well, losing back
to back fights after a remarkable 15 fight winstreak. A loss
to UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre and up and comer
Jake Ellenberger in a flash KO in the first minute of the fight.
An
interesting battle as we see top-of-the-chain wrestling take
on a Judo champion. Whether on the ground or feet we shall see
some interesting torso twists by two of the best in their specialty.
Source: Caged Insider
|
UFC
139 Prelims: Bader, McDonald Deliver KOs
“The
Ultimate Fighter” Season 8 winner Ryan Bader put in 77 seconds
worth of work and walked out of the Octagon with his arm raised.
Bader
knocked out Jason Brilz with a thudding right hand behind the
ear at UFC 139 “Shogun vs. Hendo” on Saturday at the
HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif. The 36-year-old Brilz (18-5-1,
3-4 UFC) went face down after his encounter with Bader’s
power 1:17 into round one.
“I
got him right here -- on my first knuckle,” Bader said.
“I stuck that long jab out, and he was going straight back,
so I caught him with that straight right hand.”
Bader
(13-2, 6-2 UFC), a two-time NCAA All-American wrestler and a
three-time Pac-10 Conference champion at Arizona State University,
entered the cage on a two-fight losing streak. He put the adversity
behind him in a hurry.
“I’ve
been working a lot,” Bader said. “Losing sucks.”
McDonald
Levels Newcomer Soto
Blue-chip
bantamweight prospect Michael McDonald zapped previously unbeaten
UFC newcomer Alex Soto with a beautiful counter right hand and
dismissed him with a brutal series of punches against the cage
in a preliminary bantamweight bout. The 20-year-old McDonald
(14-1, 3-0 UFC), the youngest fighter on the UFC roster, needed
just 56 seconds to close it out.
Soto
(6-1-1, 0-1 UFC) came out as the aggressor, but his approach
worked against him. McDonald countered perfectly, as he landed
a right hook on the chin that seemed to echo through the arena.
To his credit, Soto -- a late replacement for the injured Johnny
Eduardo -- battled back to his feet, but McDonald was patient
and merciless in his pursuit of the finish. He followed Soto
across the cage and knocked him unconscious with a wicked volley
that was equal parts accurate and violent.
“That
[right hand is] is one of my favorite moves,” said McDonald,
who has pieced together a seven-fight winning streak. “I’m
always looking for it, especially when someone is coming at me.
I was trying to finish him, but he grabbed a hold of me pretty
good. I was impressed. [I’m ready for] whatever the UFC
puts in front of me. I’m in no rush.”
Weidman
Choke Leaves Lawlor Unconscious
Unbeaten
former Ring of Combat champion Chris Weidman submitted “The
Ultimate Fighter” Season 8 quarterfinalist Tom Lawlor with
a first-round brabo choke in their undercard matchup at 185 pounds.
The choke left Lawlor unconscious 2:07 into round one.
Weidman
(7-0, 3-0 UFC), a heralded 27-year-old Serra-Longo Fight Team
product, struck for a takedown, drew Lawlor (7-4, 3-3 UFC) away
from the cage and masterfully set up the choke. He cinched the
hold, rolled and turned out the lights. A three-time collegiate
All-American wrestler whom many view as the top middleweight
prospect in the sport, Weidman has finished five of his seven
foes inside one round.
“I’m
real happy. Tom Lawlor is the best guy I’ve gone against
so far,” Weidman said. “Thanks to [coaches] John Danaher
and Matt Serra. I have God-given ability with these long arms,
and they make it work for me.”
Tibau
Takes Split Verdict
American
Top Team brute Gleison Tibau recorded his third consecutive victory
at 155 pounds, as he took a split decision from Rafael dos Anjos
in a competitive preliminary lightweight matchup. Two of the
three judges scored the fight in Tibau’s favor by 29-28
and 30-27 counts. A third cast a dissenting 29-28 vote for dos
Anjos (15-6, 4-4 UFC).
Sandwiched
between tight first and third rounds was a dominant second for
Tibau (25-7, 10-5 UFC). There, he nearly ruined dos Anjos with
a stout right hand and followed up with a series of power punches
that had his fellow Brazilian out on his feet. However, dos Anjos
made it to the horn and showed remarkable recovery powers. He
did his best work in round three, as he fired off low kicks and
punching combinations. Still, it was not enough to sway the scorecards
in his favor.
Torres
is 2-1 in the UFC.
Former WEC Champion Torres Outpoints Pace
Miguel
Torres utilized his superior range and standup skills, as he
took a one-sided unanimous decision over Team Tiger Schulmann
representative Nick Pace in a preliminary bantamweight bout.
All three cageside judges scored it the same: 30-27 for Torres
(40-4, 2-1 UFC).
Torres
set the tone from the start, striking from distance with kicks.
He mixed in a flurry here and there and later threatened Pace
(6-3, 1-2 UFC) with a guillotine choke and kimura. The former
WEC champion attacked with kicks to the head, body and legs in
the second round and allowed his stiff jab to do the work in
the third, as he outclassed and frustrated Pace on the feet.
The
30-year-old Torres, a Carlson Gracie protégé who
now trains out of the Tristar Gym in Montreal, has posted three
wins in four outings.
“A
guy like Nick Pace is real dangerous; nothing to lose, so I had
to be careful in my approach,” Torres said. “He’s
real durable. I hit him with some good shots. I knew he was waiting
for that right hand, so I had to be smart.”
Baczynski
Guillotine Finishes Brown
“The
Ultimate Fighter” Season 11 quarterfinalist Seth Baczynski
extended his winning streak to four fights, as he submitted Matt
Brown with a second-round guillotine choke. Brown (12-11, 5-5
UFC) tapped to the choke 42 seconds into round two.
Brown
was effective so long as he remained upright. The 30-year-old
Xenia, Ohio, native weathered a first-round takedown and landed
often with knees from the clinch and punches to the head and
body. However, Brown left himself exposed for the choke inside
the first minute of the second period, and Baczynski (15-6, 2-1
UFC) capitalized. Brown tried in vain to free himself but had
no choice but to ask out of the fight.
Castillo
Stops Bailey in First
Team
Alpha Male representative Danny Castillo stopped “The Ultimate
Fighter” Season 13 quarterfinalist Shamar Bailey on first-round
punches in a preliminary lightweight duel. The end came 4:52
into round one.
A
wrestler by trade, Bailey (12-5, 1-2 UFC) was victimized by multiple
Castillo takedowns, the first coming less than a minute into
the match. On his back, the 29-year-old Strikeforce veteran was
no threat to Castillo (12-4, 2-1 UFC), whose onslaught grew more
intense and violent as the fight deepened. The WEC import lashed
away at Bailey with punches, compromising his guard and ultimately
forcing him to shy away from the attack. The bout was called
soon after.
Source: Sherdog
|
UFC
139 domination: Faber fabulous in earning another shot against
Cruz
SAN
JOSE, Calif. - Urijah Faber was tired of hearing he didn't deserve
an immediate rematch against Dominick Cruz for his UFC bantamweight
title, so he took matters into his own hands and laid some lumber
on Brian Bowles.
Faber
crushed Bowles with an uppercut in the second. The Georgia native
was stunned and eventually found himself on his back after Faber
nailed him with a knee in close quarters. Faber went into overdrive
on the ground. Bowles couldn't fend him off. Faber eventually
got control of Bowles' head and locked him on a mean guillotine
choke to get the submission victory at 1:27 of the second round
at UFC 139 in the HP Pavilion.
Just
seconds after the fight was finished, Faber (26-5, 2-1 UFC) immediately
turned his attention to his nemesis Cruz.
"Dominick,
you can run but you can't hide. Throw some gel in that widow's
peak and let's do some work. Let's battle," Faber said.
Faber
and Cruz brawled for five hard rounds at UFC 132. Cruz won via
unanimous decision, but Faber believes the judges blew it. Before
Saturday's fight, he admitted he needs to play to the judges
more to get a win against Cruz, who is a whirling dervish that
wins over MMA judges with his high-volume style.
Tonight,
Faber showed some stones trading shots with the heavy-handed
Bowles throughout the first. Bowles' lone path to victory was
probably landing a big right hand. Faber's movement, fakes and
speed threw Bowles off. He wasn't aggressive.
In
the second, Faber took advantage of a very flat-footed Bowles.
The 5-foot-6 Faber covered roughly five feet of space in a split
second and landed the huge uppercut.
"I
feel really good man. I feel great. I came out looking for the
win and get a big finish like that. I think Brian Bowles is a
warrior. I like that guy a lot. I had a general game plan going
out there but I had to be ready. I'm sad for him but I'm really
stoked for me right now," Faber said.
Bowles
simply couldn't recover from the bomb landed by Faber.
"It
was a tough fight, there isn't really much I can say about it.
I went out there and I just really never got in my groove. Took
a big punch, got rocked. He gave me a couple pounds on the ground
and I didn't recover. I was rattled when he got the choke and
I just never got back," Bowles said.
Source: Yahoo Sports
|
Anderson
Silva Likely Sidelined Until Mid-2012
UFC
middleweight champion Anderson Silva is currently nursing an
injured shoulder and it appears he will be on the shelf for several
months.
Following
his win in Brazil in August, Silva was reported to have bursitis
in his shoulder that forced the reigning 185-pound king to take
some time off to allow the healing to begin.
All
signs were pointing towards Silva returning in early 2012 to
defend his middleweight belt against top contender Chael Sonnen.
Not
so fast.
Apparently,
Anderson Silva’s shoulder injury is serious enough that
he won’t likely return until approximately June 2012.
Following
the UFC 139 post fight press conference, UFC president Dana White
was asked point blank if reports that Silva could be out until
June were true, and he simply answered ‘yes.’
The
unfortunate side of that news is the fact that a highly lucrative
rematch between Silva and Sonnen has to be put on hold.
The
other side, however, is that Sonnen could possibly be available
to fill a main event slot on the upcoming UFC on Fox 2 show on
Jan. 28 in Chicago.
“It’s
possible,” White answered when asked about Sonnen ending
up on that card.
Sonnen
has stated in different interviews that he would happily keep
busy and take another fight instead of sitting, waiting for Silva
to get healthy.
So
it looks like for now the heated rivalry between Anderson Silva
and Chael Sonnen will have to cool down until the champion can
get healthy and return to action.
Source: Yahoo Sports
|
Even
in Victory, Wanderlei Silva Knows He’s One Loss Away From
Retirement
Wanderlei
Silva reminded everyone why he’s a legend in combat sports
on Saturday when he defeated former Strikeforce middleweight
titleholder Cung Le by technical knockout at UFC 139 at the HP
Pavilion in San Jose, Calif. While logging an impressive performance,
some are suggesting Silva should hang up his gloves, including
UFC president Dana White.
Even
in decisive victory, White expressed his opinion that Silva is
one fight away from being persuaded into retirement.
“In
my opinion, I’m no doctor, but when it gets to a point where
you start getting knocked out on a regular basis; I don’t
want to see that anymore. I don’t want to see it,“
said White following the UFC 139 event.
“Wanderlei
is a warrior. He’s been around forever. People love him
and I love him. He’s been great to us and to the sport.
I’m not going to have that stuff happen,” added the
UFC president. “I’m not doing that. I don’t want
to see these guys stick around past their prime.”
Yes,
it is true. The former Pride champion known as the “Axe
Murderer” is no longer in his prime, but he’s still
a fan favorite and competitive. He’s built a career on his
aggressive style and highlight reel finishes, and while his best
fighting days may be behind him, he’s still providing fans
with clips to add to his highlight video.
White
isn’t concerned whether or not Silva still puts spectators
in the seats. He’s concerned for Silva’s well-being,
even after a UFC 139 Fight of the Night performance.
“I’ve
been very open and honest about it. He looked good tonight,”
stated White about Silva’s performance.
“Wanderlei
Silva is a guy whom we in this company respect and care about
very much. He is a very good person. He’s been a great asset
to us,” said White during the UFC 139 post-fight press conference.
“I said it about Chuck Liddell and I’ll say it about
Wanderlei Silva too.
“When
guys start getting consecutive knockouts and you keep them in
there fighting… Can we keep Wanderlei Silva rolling and
keep him fighting? Of course we can, but I don’t want to
make one dollar of that kind of money. I want to make sure that
Wanderlei Silva is healthy,” explained White.
“He’s
got a great business in Las Vegas. He’s got a gym and a
school. We’ve seen it in boxing and I just saying, I don’t
care what anybody says or what anybody thinks, we’re not
going to see it here in the UFC. When it is time, I’ll sit
down with these guys and we’ll talk about options and we’ll
go from there.
“We’re
not the type of promoters that say, ‘alright Wanderlei,
it’s over. See you later and good luck to you.’ Wanderlei
Silva has been a very good guy to all of us in this company.
We respect him, we care about him, and we don’t want to
see him stick around inside the Octagon too long. That’s
why I talk about guys hanging it up when I think it’s time.”
Silva
knows where he stands with the UFC organization and its president.
“I
know there’s no more space for fouls. We’re fighting
in the best events in the world. I know the responsibility to
be here. They only have the space for the best guys in the world
over here, you know. There’s no more space for fouls. I
know that,” said Silva at the press conference following
the event.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Details
Emerge for UFC on Fox 2 and UFC on FX
Details
have begun to emerge for the UFC’s first shows of 2012 under
the Fox and FX banners respectively.
UFC
President Dana White has kept his cards close to the vest thus
far, but did leak out a few details after UFC 139 in San Jose
ended on Saturday night.
First
for the UFC on FX show that’s rumored to go down on Jan
20, while a few fights have been confirmed for the card, initial
reports had the event happening in Nashville at the Bridgestone
Arena.
Now
according to White, the UFC will indeed go to Nashville, but
he says it’s not for the initial UFC on FX event as originally
thought.
“No,
Nashville isn’t the FX show, but we are going to Nashville,”
White said. “I think so (in January).”
Could
this be another UFC pay-per-view in January? Currently the promotion
already has three events scheduled for January including UFC
142 in Brazil, the UFC on FX event on Jan 20 and the UFC on Fox
show on Jan 28.
It
seems unlike that they would try to squeeze another pay-per-view
in that month, but anything is possible with this new, very busy
UFC schedule.
A
far as the UFC on Fox show goes, the event will go down on Jan
28 at the United Center in Chicago. White has hinted that there
is at least a main event on tap, but couldn’t release details
about who is involved until next week at the earliest.
He
just promised a big match-up.
“I
don’t think you’re going to see a title fight, but
I don’t think you’re going to be disappointed with
what you’re going to see. We’re giving you some good
fights,” White stated.
Early
bets have either former UFC light heavyweight champion Rashad
Evans as a headliner, or possibly middleweight contender and
self-proclaimed champion Chael Sonnen as potential main event
material.
“It’s
possible,” White answered when quizzed if Sonnen could end
up on the Fox card.
As
MMAWeekly.com reported late Saturday night, UFC middleweight
champion Anderson Silva is expected to be out of action until
June, so Sonnen could be the perfect candidate to fill the slot
on the UFC on Fox show.
One
potential opponent could be fellow top ten middleweight Mark
Munoz, who is coming off a win over Chris Leben in early November,
and he has also been gunning for a shot at Anderson Silva’s
title.
The
format for the second UFC on Fox show will also change dramatically
from the initial offering just last weekend.
More
time will be opened up for the Fox broadcast as well as several
more fights that the debut event, which showcased only the UFC
heavyweight title fight between Cain Velasquez and Junior dos
Santos.
“2
hours, 4 fights,” White revealed.
Now
it’s just a matter of who will fill the time for those 4
fights. MMAWeekly.com will have more details on the debut UFC
on Fox event when they become available.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
One
Week Late, UFC and Bellator Deliver Dual Masterpieces of Violence
The UFC's Fight of the Year might not have even been MMA's Fight
of the Night. That's how good last night was in the MMA world.
Separated by a few hours and a few thousand miles, Bellator's
Michael Chandler and Eddie Alvarez and the UFC's Dan Henderson
and Mauricio "Shogun" Rua staged two of the sport's
all-time epic fights.
In
the former, Chandler upset Alvarez in a rollicking, explosive
fourth-round submission win; in the latter Henderson outlasted
Rua in an ferocious war of attrition.
"That's
the best fight I've ever seen," Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney
said of his lightweight title clash.
"It
was the greatest fight I've ever seen" UFC president Dana
White said of his veteran battle.
Somehow,
they were both right.
Let's
start with Henderson-Rua, since there's no doubt it was watched
by more viewers.
If
last weekend's UFC on FOX was about spreading the MMA gospel,
UFC 139 was about the sport in its purest form of competition.
The event itself was always in the shadows of its network cousin,
with promotion minimized due to the UFC's expiring contract with
Spike. But when it came time to fight, Henderson and Rua conducted
a symphony of violence that surpassed any fight to take place
in the UFC's octagon this year.
"Without
a doubt, it was one of the top three fights ever in MMA,"
White said afterward.
By
the time it was over, both competitors were a mess. Rua was bleeding
from near his puffy left eye, his bottom lip was swollen, his
once-white shorts were stained pink with drying blood. Aside
from a knot on the left side of his head, Henderson's face was
not quite as marked up, but in his post-fight interview with
Joe Rogan, he draped his arm over Rogan's shoulders, either unable
or unwilling to stand on his own power. Henderson also needed
help walking backstage. Both men skipped the post-fight press
conference to visit a local hospital for observation.
It
was the kind of fight that shortens careers, which granted, sounds
a bit ridiculous in regards to Henderson since he's 41 years
old. The hammer-fisted Californian nearly knocked out Rua on
at least two occasions.
"That
guy can take an f'n punch," Henderson said. It was certainly
true, and it also applied to him. According to FightMetric, Rua
landed an astonishing 161 head shots -- and lost.
It
was a level of violence that might not have been easily palatable
to a network audience. While Velasquez-dos Santos ended with
a knockout, it was clean, fast and simple. There wasn't a lot
of time to digest what was happening.
On
the other hand, Henderson-Rua was a physical grind, a war of
attrition that seemed on the verge of a fight-ending explosion
at any moment, from either side. If you are the type to squirm
or shriek at the moments when a fighter is on the verge of being
finished, this wasn't the fight for you. There was a lot of that,
nearly every round, it seemed.
Newcomers
to the sport may have been blown away or turn off. There probably
would have been no in between. But for those of us who watch
regularly, it was a perfect example of why we watch.
It
wasn't that it was a display of perfect technique or MMA fundamentals,
but it was a primal battle of wills. Both fighters refused to
be put away in situations where lesser fighters would have wilted.
Momentum shifted often and unpredictably.
For
Rua, it came exactly two fights after his light-heavyweight title
loss to Jon Jones, in which he received some criticism for his
performance. If there were any questions about his durability
or heart, they were answered even in defeat. And for Henderson,
he is constantly combating the question of age. It's only fair
to wonder how much longer he can keep doing it, and yet here
he is in his early 40s with a four-fight win streak and knocking
on the door for a title shot.
The
Chandler-Alvarez fight was every bit as exciting. Alvarez was
nearly knocked out in the first, only to roar back in a fight
that quickly began to take on a see-saw affect with all the momentum
changes. By the end of the third, both fighters' faces were covered
in blood.
Chandler
appeared to be fading, and the champion seemed to be taking control
in the fourth until Chandler landed a fight-changer, a straight
right hand that floored Alvarez. Seemingly recharged, Chandler
pounced on top of Alvarez, rained blows and sunk in a fight-ending
rear naked choke with Alvarez gave his back.
Say
what you will about Bellator being a rung below the UFC in talent
pool -- and many will point that out -- but the fight was contested
at a high level of technical proficiency and like Rua-Henderson,
showcased the gutsy efforts that matter to most fans as much
as winning and losing.
Maybe
these fights were one week late in coming. Or maybe it's best
that they were left to us, the smaller, more loyal audience that
helped the sport get this far, as a sort of "thank you."
There is a certain school of thought out there that once things
go mainstream, they are never quite the same. It gets watered
down, or played out.
That's
not always true of course. Most of the time, it's not the same
simply because it's not "yours" anymore. It's not the
same when you don't have an inside secret. But why would we want
to keep this secret? Either fight would have served the sport
well in front of a nation's eyeballs. MMA may be easier served
up in 64-second knockouts, but eventually the bandage will have
to be ripped off and they'll have to learn just how beautiful
the right kind of violence can be.
Source: MMA Fighting
|
Dana
White Wouldn't Have Wanted Dan Henderson-'Shogun' Rua Fight on
FOX
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Five rounds of bloody, back-and-forth action.
That's what UFC president Dana White got out of Dan Henderson
and Mauricio "Shogun" Rua at UFC 139, and what he must
have hoped he would get out of Junior dos Santos and Cain Velasquez
for the UFC's FOX debut last weekend, right?
Not
so fast, said White, who admitted that while the 64-second heavyweight
scrap on FOX didn't offer much chance to build up the ratings,
a brutal 25-minute fight like the UFC 139 main event would have
had some negative consequences for the organization's network
debut.
"If
you could have like a [Rua-Henderson] type fight on TV, I mean,
imagine what the [ratings] number would get to," White said.
"But that's not the fight you want for your first time on
network television."
With
a peak of 8.8 million viewers, White has reason to be pleased
with the first FOX offering. Following the UFC 139 press conference
he confirmed rumors that he celebrated the ratings milestone
by leaping up on a table in the UFC offices and sending all his
employees home early.
"I
hear all kinds of rumors about, oh, I heard he was flipping out
after the fight and all this [expletive]," White said. "No,
I wasn't flipping out and yes, I did jump on a table and send
everybody home. I was pretty excited."
But
as much as hardcore fans might have liked to see something on
par with the Henderson-Rua scrap on network TV, White suggested
it might have been too violent for mainstream FOX viewers to
handle right off the bat.
"I
said it before and I'll say it again: if I could go back in a
time machine and do the FOX fight over again, it would be done
the same exact way. Exactly the same way. The hardcores can bitch
about that fight, I could care less what they think about that
fight. I don't care. And people are like, 'Oh, you don't care
what the fans think?' No, I do not care what you think. That
fight had to go the way that it went because none of you guys
understands what goes on behind the scenes. If that fight that
happened tonight went on FOX for the first time ever, let me
tell you what, I would not be having a good time these last five
or six days."
That's
because, White said, the UFC is "still in the education
process" when it comes to introducing mainstream sports
fans to his product. Even with the quick, bloodless debut, White
said there were still opponents who didn't want it on network
TV.
"These
people come out of nowhere, attacking this sport, literally saying
that it should go away, that we shut down the UFC and this thing
should go away," said White. "That's realistic. But
those are the kind of people that come after you. It's crazy."
But
as White has been repeating ever since the FOX debut, the UFC
still needs to "ease into" the mainstream rather than
charging in with a bloody battle like Henderson-Rua, which might
be hard for the uninitiated viewer to stomach. Just don't expect
that easing process to last very long, according to the UFC president.
"In
my opinion, we eased into it already. We did it, we put the first
fight on FOX, now we're going with four fights. And the more
fights you do, the more chance you have to have one of these."
In
theory, maybe. In practice, you could put on MMA fights for years
and not see anything like what Hendo and Rua produced on Saturday
night. That's what makes it so special, whether the mainstream
viewer is ready for it or not.
Source: MMA Fighting
|
What
: Man-up & Stand-up / Kickboxing
Where : Waipahu Filcom Center
When : Saturday, Dec. 10, 2011
Doors open @ 5:30 pm
Happy
holidays to all of you fight fans. Das right, the end of the
year is near and you know what that means. It’s the time
when Man-up & Stand-up gives back to all of the top fighters
that supported the show throughout the year. Fighters will be
battling for belts at their respected weights. There will be
grudge matches, title defenses, rookie of the year battles and
the list goes on. If you haven’t been to one of these events
then the end of the year show is definitely the one that you
don’t wanna miss. Amateur stand up action at its finest.
This event is scheduled for 25 fights and please believe that
it will be action packed because you know how its done here on
Man-up & Stand-up. It’s all about the knockdowns, not
the takedowns.
As
you all know. The grudge matches are usually the most vicious
and least sportsmanlike battles when the timekeeper rings the
bell. One of the grudge matches that will have the crowd bouncing
again is the Aiona vs Kapua match. Aawh yeeeeeaaaaaahhh, When
a belt is on the line it makes things more intense. Man-up &
Stand-up heard of their beef on the streets and asked them if
they both would wanna settle it in the ring instead of the streets
where police and jail time are involved. They agreed, they battled,
they shook hands. In their first meet & greet, Kapua was
like a pitbull off of his leash which had the judges labeling
him as the aggressor in the fight. But Aiona used his reach and
movement which helped him to get the decision over Kapua. That
fight was so close that Man-up & Stand-up asked them if they
wanna do it one mo’ gen but for a belt. They agreed, they
will battle but this time they will probably raise each others
hands at the end of the fight unless one of them is on the mat
snoring. Jude is training twice as hard and Aiona changed his
training camp for this rematch. Can’t wait to see the outcome
on this one.
Two
of Man-up & Stand-up’s undefeated fighters of 2011 will
face each other for the most outstanding 140 pounder of the year.
They both participate in triple threat, pankration, kickboxing
and they do fairly well in all of them. They have dominated every
opponent in kickboxing that Man-up & Stand-up has given them.
Now, Man-up & Stand-up will give them each other to see who
will rise to the top to receive the title. Big Islands Kai Kunimoto
will go to war with Westside’s Kaylen Stafford. Kunimoto
is the taller of the two and throws some punishing leg kicks.
Stafford is the more aggressive of the two and favors his hands
more. Both have excellent counter punching and both have the
same intentions of walking out of the ring with the bling. So
be there to see who wants it more. Big islander or the Westsider.
There
will be 2 titles going out to 2 worthy kids that started off
this year just learning the basics of kickboxing. As they fought
throughout the year, their skills have improved as well as their
love for this sport. The Ceno brothers go up against two of Up
N Up’s 9 year olds that have waited for this moment from
the beginning of this year. There are not too many young kids
that favor this sport so these 4 kids take pretty much whatever
they can get, as long as the weight and age aren’t outrageous.
But all four of these kids have earned the right to battle for
something more than just a mark under the W. If you seen these
kids fight, you would agree with Man-up & Stand-up. And if
you don’t, come down to the Filcom on Dec 10 to be amazed.
Be
sure to get your tickets early for only a limited amount of tickets
will be made. Others will have to pay at the door. Man-up &
Stand-up will try to keep the card updated every week and hopefully
have a new write up on some of the other upcoming matches. All
of these matches will be something to talk about over the holidays.
Thank you for all of your support throughout the year and happy
holidays to you all. Check out the talent that is about to be
let loose on Dec. 10.
Man
Up and Stand Up
Saturday
Dec 10 2011
Waipahu
Filcom Center
Doors
open at 6:00
KEONI
CHANG
140
TOFI MIKA
JUSTIN
DULAY (O2 Martial Arts Academy)
160
WALTER WALKER
KAI KUNIMOTO
140
KALEYN STAFFORD
EUGENE
ANGUAY (O2 Martial Arts Academy)
130
ISAIAH PASCUA
NALU KAWAILIMA
(O2 Martial Arts Academy)
135
ELIAS VELASCO
ISAAC HOPPS
(O2 Martial Arts Academy)
146
JASON LEDWARD
DAMON APPLEBAUM
(O2 Martial Arts Academy)
SHW
BEN BOYCE
ROB CONNELL
185
MILLER UALESEI
EVAN QUIZON
130
DENNIS MONTIRA
JUDE KAPUA
200
BRYCESON AIONA
KANANI JUHN
155
STEPHANIE KOENIG
NAZ HARRISON
100
MAKOA DESANTOS
CHEVES ANTOQUE
185
HOKU CUBAN
BRYSON
"FO REAL" LUM (O2 Martial Arts Academy)
150
JON MENDONSA
DARRYL DANO
145
NEVADA HARRISON
CHANTE STAFFORD
125
DONTEZ COLEMAN
JOEY BALAI
125
SHAWN DESANTOS
MONICA FRANCO
135
JENNA GANABAN
JOHN TURMER
185
KALANI PARKS
LOMBARD MADALORA
175
KAI
LOPAKA CENO
60
JONAH CARTER
CHANCE CENO
65
AINSLEY
CHERISSE HAIOLA
130
TAYLOR ENGCABO
JORDAN ROBERTS
125
ALFONSO MARTINEZ
All
matches and participants are subject to change.
|
‘Fight
of the year’ debate changes in one night
SAN
JOSE, Calif. – Just one week ago, lightweights Ben Henderson
and Clay Guida had a fight that was called a potential fight
of the year at the UFC on Fox event in Anaheim, Calif.
Seven
days later, it may not even be in the running. Dan Henderson,
no relation to Ben, faced Mauricio “Shogun” Rua in
what turned out to be the first full five- round non-title fight
in UFC history on Saturday night at the HP Pavilion.
The
two entered the arena to face a crowd that figured to be hard
to please, considering they followed a Wanderlei Silva vs. Cung
Le brawl that tore the house down.
But
the delivered one of the greatest matches in UFC history. The
fight, which saw both men on the verge of winning multiple times
over the course of 25 minutes, ended with Henderson surviving
a completely one-sided fifth-round beating to squeak out a 48-47
win on all three judges’ cards. Neither fighter was around
for the post-fight news conference, as both had to go to the
hospital after the bout.
“It
was one of the three best mixed martial arts matches of all time,”
said UFC president Dana White afterward. “It was better
than [Forrest] Griffin and [Stephan] Bonnar. Those were two guys
battling to get into the UFC. It was a great fight for our first
time on Spike.”
Yahoo!
Sports gave Rounds 1 through 3 to Henderson and Rounds 4 and
5 to Rua, with the fifth round scored 10-8 for a 47-47 draw.
White said he also scored the final round 10-8 and had the fight
a draw, but he added that in a fight like that, he would have
been fine with either man winning or a draw decision.
“I
thought ‘Shogun’ was out during the first round,”
White said. “I didn’t think he was going to make it
past the first. It went five rounds and he had the most dominant
round of the fight.”
Over
the summer, White made the decision that main events of fight
cards without a title match would be moved from three rounds
to five. The first of these bouts was held two weeks ago, the
Chris Leben vs. Mark Munoz fight in Birmingham, England, but
that fight only went two rounds before Munoz won.
Henderson-Rua
marked the first time a non-title main event went the five-round
distance. While the fight would have been very good if it had
ended after three, the decision would not have been in question.
The final two rounds not only added to the drama but also led
to debate about the decision.
“Yeah,
I hit him hard; I should have had him finished there,” Henderson
said. “The gas tank was running a little low. It started
out strong for me. He stayed in there like a champion should
and he finished strong.”
Henderson
felt he was safe in the fifth round as long as Rua didn’t
finish the fight, feeling he solidly won the first three rounds
and could have gotten at least one 10-8 round.
“
‘Shogun’ came back and dropped Dan in the first round,”
White said. “It was a war. I thought by the end of the second
round Dan Henderson was breathing so hard, I thought it was done,
and they went five rounds.” Going into the bout, there had
been talk that if Henderson won, he would drop back down to 185
pounds to face Anderson Silva in a match that White had attempted
to make back in 2009, a rematch of a bout Silva won the year
before. But right now Chael Sonnen appears next in line for Silva.
“All
I can say is that guy can take a [expletive] punch,” Henderson
said during his post-fight interview in the Octagon. “I
hit him hard. I thought I could finish him in the first or second
round. I thought I had the first three rounds easy.”
The
one fighter at UFC 139 who assured himself of a title match was
Urijah Faber, who finished former WEC bantamweight champion Brian
Bowles at 1:47 of the second round. Faber will face Dominick
Cruz for the bantamweight title at some point in the future.
“Hopefully
I have some different judges,” Faber said, referring to
the decision he dropped to Cruz in their July bout. “I know
it was a close fight, and I don’t want to raise a stink
and say I got robbed in a fight like that. That’s not fair
to the people who really have gotten robbed in fights. But I
don’t feel he’s a better fighter than I am. I don’t
think he proved it. “He tried to take me down 11 or 12 times,”
Faber continued. “I dropped him three times with my hands.
I think I did some good things. I think maybe you need more output
if you go to a decision. But I don’t want to think about
going to the decision. I’m looking to finish him. It’s
for the UFC title. It’s a personal vendetta. We’re
1-1, a trilogy, it’s a fight to find out who the man is
for the rest of our lives.”
Going
in, the co-main event between Silva and Le was the bout that
seemed to have the most crowd interest in San Jose. Le (7-2)
was the hometown favorite but got something of a mixed reaction.
Silva’s reaction was louder. There were two distinct crowd
bases. There were the San Jose area residents and fans from the
days where Strikeforce packed the arena who had seen Le as one
of the architects in building the local MMA scene. And there
was the traveling UFC fan base, who saw Le as a fighter from
a rival company and Silva as a legend of the sport. The loud
mixed reaction made for a memorable backdrop to the bout.
Le
knocked Silva (34-11-1, 1 no contest) down early, but Silva came
back late in the first round. Silva, who really hasn’t been
the same fighter since 2006, showed flashes of his former brilliance,
particularly in landing a series of devastating knees late that
led to a finish from punches on the ground.
White
was so impressed by Le and Silva that he gave each man a $70,000
Fight of the Night bonus, as he did with Henderson and Rua, one
of the few times he’s given two fights the best match bonus.
“It
was an awesome fight,” White said. “The thing that’s
so incredible is Cung Le was coming off inactivity, and he came
in and fought the war that he fought tonight. I have a lot of
respect for him.”
Silva
knew his back was against the wall, and with a loss, it was likely
to be his last fight in the UFC after losing six of his previous
eight bouts, although all six losses were against major names.
“We
fight in the best event in the world,” said Silva, whose
jaw was in question after his 27-second KO at the hands of Chris
Leben in his last fight but who stayed up after hard punches
and kicks throughout Saturday’s fight. “I know the
responsibility. We have space for only the best guys in the world.”
White
said he was convinced Silva earned his spot.
“He
looked good tonight against a guy who came in to finish him,”
he said. “The one thing I noted after the first round: His
body, his back, and his arms were all bruised up from those kicks.
He stayed in there and finished the fight. I’m happy to
have him here. He’s a guy we respect. Cung Le’s a great
guy too. Both of these guys are great guys. Cung Le’s one
of the nicest guys in the business.”
When
pressed on the other two fights White would consider the best
along with Henderson-Rua, he couldn’t name them.
“I’m
just giving myself some leeway,” he joked.
Source: Yahoo Sports
|
Roger:
“I need to train differently to win in MMA”
In
Jiu-Jitsu, three-time absolute world champion Roger Gracie is
pretty much untouchable. Now in MMA, he’s still a rookie
with just five fights on his ledger. Roger, who has admitted
to having some holes in his game, ended up getting knocked out
by King Mo in their September encounter at Strikeforce.
A
champion through and through, in the video below Roger admits
to his needing to train differently to be successful in MMA.
“I need to train more professionally. The plan remains the
same, but unfortunately I lost my last fight,” says the
Gracie, who went one further by saying he’ll be at the 2012
Worlds and even addressed the ADCC. “It was one of the greatest
of the recent installments, because the crowd was there too.”
Source: Gracie Magazine |
UFC
139 Morning After: Pride, Strikeforce and WEC Never Die
The path to UFC 139 began in 2007 with the acquisition of Pride,
continued in 2010 with the absorption of World Extreme Cagefighting,
and was finished in 2011 with the purchase of Strikeforce. The
six fighters in the top three fights from Saturday night's card
all came to the UFC from those business moves.
Pride
never died, the WEC never died, and Strikeforce never died. At
least they all still seemed alive at UFC 139.
The
main event was a classic, with former Pride and Strikeforce champion
Dan Henderson beating former Pride Middleweight Grand Prix champion
Shogun Rua. This was exactly the type of bout that fight fans
hoped we'd see inside the Octagon when the UFC purchased Pride:
A brutal, bloody battle between two Pride stars that had all
the best elements of the Pride glory days.
But
it was more than just that. It was Wanderlei Silva, perhaps the
greatest of all the Pride stars to sign with the UFC after the
Pride purchase, having perhaps his greatest victory inside the
Octagon. And doing it against former Strikeforce middleweight
champion Cung Le, who came to the UFC after it purchased Strikeforce.
And
there was also another tremendous fight that's probably going
to be largely overlooked this morning, thanks to all that came
after it: Former WEC featherweight champion Urijah Faber beating
former WEC bantamweight champion Brian Bowles. Faber and Bowles
both came to the UFC from the WEC, and they gave the kind of
great show that the WEC was famous for.
In
theory I like the idea of competition among MMA promotions, and
I watch MMA regardless of the promotion: I was watching two TVs
on Saturday night, one with the UFC and one with Bellator, which
put on a tremendous fight of its own between Michael Chandler
and Eddie Alvarez. So I don't necessarily want the UFC to swallow
up every MMA promotion on earth.
But
I must say that I can't think of many times I've ever enjoyed
the top three fights on a card more than I enjoyed the top three
fights at UFC 139, and we got to see all of them because the
UFC has absorbed Pride, Strikeforce and the WEC. Saturday night
was a night when it was hard not to enjoy the UFC's dominance
of the MMA landscape.
UFC
139 Notes
-- Miguel Torres won an easy unanimous decision over Nick Pace,
30-27 on all three judges' cards, but he didn't do anything spectacular,
which is what he's going to need to do if he wants to fight for
the bantamweight belt. There's a lot to be said for fighting
smarter and fighting safer, which is what Torres has tried to
do recently, but when it comes to earning a shot at the title,
the fact is there are style points. Torres may need to regain
some of his old reckless form if he wants the UFC to give him
a chance to fight for the title.
--
You can make a good case that it's really not fair to the rest
of the bantamweight division to give Faber another shot at champion
Dominick Cruz, but realistically I think that's the only option
available to the UFC right now. From a business perspective,
Cruz-Faber 3 is really the only bantamweight title fight that
the UFC can sell, and the UFC is, ultimately, a business.
UFC
139 Quotes
-- "I felt really disrespected at the weigh-in. You're supposed
to be professional. Don't come in two pounds overweight and then
tell me you can't lose any more weight." -- Danny Castillo
after beating Shamar Bailey, who had come in at 158 pounds for
their lightweight fight. Castillo is absolutely right: Professional
fighters need to make weight, period.
--
"He's a super gnarly dude. I knew I had a fight on my hands."
-- Seth Baczynski after submitting Matt Brown with a guillotine
choke in the second round.
Good
Call
Chris Weidman is to be commended for immediately alerting the
referee that he had choked out Tom Lawlor. The fighters and the
referee are all in a difficult position when a fighter passes
out from a choke and the ref doesn't realize it, but Weidman
did the best thing he could, telling the ref that Lawlor was
out. The ref then stepped in and separated the two of them, and
Lawlor was back on his feet moments later.
Bad
Call
The judge who gave Rafael dos Anjos a 29-28 decision over Gleison
Tibau should be forced to publicly explain it -- that's a tough
score to understand. The other two judges scored it 30-27 and
29-28 for Tibau.
Stock
Up
Michael McDonald looks like a future UFC bantamweight champion.
McDonald needed just 56 seconds to knock out Alex Soto -- a man
who entered the fight undefeated -- and is now 14-1 in his MMA
career, at only 20 years old. I'd love to see McDonald get a
Top 10 opponent in his next fight.
Stock
Down
Jason Brilz is reeling right now, with back-to-back ugly knockout
losses, first to Vladimir Matyushenko in April and now to Ryan
Bader on Saturday. When Brilz lost a hard-fought split decision
to Antonio Rogerio Nogueira in May of 2010, a lot of people thought
he deserved to win and would have some big fights ahead of him.
Unfortunately, Brilz now looks like he's on the verge of getting
cut from the UFC.
Fight
I Want to See Next
Dan Henderson vs. Rashad Evans. Henderson vs. Evans would be
a great fight, and a great way to determine who's the next contender
for the light heavyweight belt. Evans has already been promised
a title shot, of course, but the way the timing has worked out,
I don't think it's realistic for Evans to wait around for the
Jon Jones-Lyoto Machida winner. If Henderson and Evans are both
healthy and ready to fight in early 2012, that's the fight to
make.
Source: MMA Fighting |
Bellator
58 Results: Chandler and Alvarez Have Fight for the Ages
Michael
Chandler and Eddie Alvarez did their part to give Bellator Fighting
Championships their own personal Griffin vs. Bonnar on Saturday
night.
In
a lightweight title fight for the ages, Chandler and Alvarez
battled it out deep into the fourth round before the upstart
challenger clipped the incumbent champion, then finished him
with a rear naked choke.
Chandler
was the aggressor as soon as the fight started, stalking forward
and caught Alvarez with a shot and then flurried on him against
the cage. Alvarez came back with a big shot of his own, rattling
Chanlder’s chin and backing him off.
The
second round saw Chandler again headhunting for Alvarez, trying
to put together the perfect combination to sink the Bellator
champion. As close as he came on a couple of occasions, Alvarez
escaped and came back strong in round three.
Alvarez
started pushing the pace more with his strikes in the third round
as Chandler slowed and it appeared the early onslaught left his
reserves in question. Chandler stopped putting together as many
combinations, and Alvarez looked like he was back in business.
That
was until the fourth round.
Like
he got a shot of adrenaline between rounds, Chandler woke up
in the fourth round and started gunning for Alvarez all over
again. Chandler caught the champion and staggered him, but this
time he rushed to the mat to get the position he needed for a
finish.
Chandler
quickly advanced to mount and started to punish Alvarez, until
the Philadelphia native rolled away, trying to escape. Instead,
Chanlder sunk his legs in and looked for the rear naked choke.
With nowhere to go and no escape in sight, Alvarez tapped Chandler’s
arm, signifying the end.
Chandler
becomes the new Bellator lightweight champion after one of the
best fights in MMA history, and becomes the first fighter in
over two years to hand Alvarez a loss.
“I’ve
got to say my face looks pretty darn good,” said Chandler
after the win. “Eddie’s the man, I don’t know
that we could do a better fight that that. He brought it to me
the whole time.”
Chandler
now moves to 9-0 as a pro fighter, and 6-0 in Bellator.
“I
told you I was going to be standing right here, over a year ago,
I told you I was going to be standing right here,” Chandler
said with the Bellator belt around his waist.
As
for Eddie Alvarez, the loss is a tough one to swallow considering
his placement as a top ten lightweight, and Bellator’s longest
reigning champion. Still, Alvarez took the loss as nothing more
than a fight that will be remembered for the ages, and he was
a part of it.
“Me
and Joachim Hansen fought a fight like this not too long ago,
and in this case I don’t think there’s any losers on
this one. Congratulations Mike,’ said Alvarez.
Hector
Lombard won his 20th fight in a row on Saturday night as the
Bellator middleweight champion dismantled veteran Trevor Prangley.
Lombard
showed no fear of the South African’s takedowns, and just
continuously looked to land the knockout blow to put the fight
away.
Finally,
in the second round Lombard landed the shot he was looking for
that left Prangley on wobbly legs. Lombard stormed in and hammered
away at Prangley until he got the stoppage win.
Lombard
now moves on to face recent Bellator tournament champion Alexander
Shlemenko, who gets a second shot at the title after a unanimous
decision loss to him in 2010.
Jessica
Aguilar avenged the first loss in her professional career with
a dominant win over Lisa Ellis-Ward, to pick up her third win
in a row.
Aguilar
beat Ward to the punch throughout the fight, and peppered her
opponent with good combinations and quick striking. The victory
move Aguilar one step closer towards her goal of facing Megumi
Fujii in the near future.
Kicking
off the Bellator broadcast, Marlon Sandro made quick work of
Rafael Dias, but not without almost getting finished himself.
Sandro got caught with a good shot from Dias on the feet that
dropped him, but luckily he recovered quickly.
It
was Sandro’s turn for a slick move because he grabbed a
standing arm triangle choke before pulling Dias to the mat, where
he got the submission locked tighter and eventually got the tap.
Source: MMA Weekly |
Fedor
Defeats Monson, Faces Ishii Next
Earlier
Sunday morning (US time, Sunday evening Moscow time) Fedor faced
Jeff Monson at the main event of the evening during M-1 Global’s
“Battle of the Legends” at the Olympic Stadium in Moscow,
as he was greeted by 22,000-plus people in attendance including
the Russia’s prime minister Vladimir Putin at ringside,
and many more around the world via PPV; from Japan and Korea
to North America and Canada.
During
the course of three rounds Fedor showed composure and patience
while taking Monson apart round-by-round. As Jeff Monson had
made several attempts for takedowns starting with some early
in Round 1, Fedor successfully escaped each one, refusing to
play Monson’s game, and returning fire with precise leg
kicks and repeatedly delivering jabs and the right hands that
dropped Monson twice in the first round and couple more in the
second. Fedor did not go to the ground for the finish and allowed
Monson to stand. Round 3 comes to an end with Fedor connecting
more lefts and rights. Judges score a unanimous decision as Emelianenko
(32-4) picks up his victory and breaks out of the loosing streak,
while Monson (43-13) suffers his second loss in nine fights.
During the post fight press conference, M-1 Global’s Vadim
Finkelstein mentioned that Fedor will be meeting Olympic gold
medalist Satoshi Ishii at DREAM’s big year-end event in
Japan.
Official
results:
Fedor
Emelianenko def. Jeff Monson via Unanimous Decision
Daniel Weichel def. Jose Figueroa via KO (strikes) – Round
1 (becomes new M-1 lightweight champion)
Alexander Yakovlev def. Juan Manuel Suarez via TKO (punches)
– Round 2
Yuri Ivlev def. Jerome Bouisson via TKO (punches) – Round
1
Mairbek Taisumov def. Joshua Thorpe via KO (punches) – Round
2
Mikhail Malyutin def. Seydina Seck via KO (punches) – Round
1
Albert Duraev def. Xavier Foupa-Pokam via submission (triangle
choke) – Round 2
Salim Davidov def. Sergey Kornev via unanimous decision
Source: MMA Weekly |
Viewpoint:
‘Shogun’ Deserved 10-8 Fifth
It
may sound cliche, but Dan Henderson and Mauricio “Shogun”
Rua left it all in the arena at UFC 139 on Saturday. By the time
their five-round classic inside the HP Pavilion in San Jose,
Calif., had concluded, neither man had the energy to answer questions
at a post-fight press conference. Instead, both fighters were
ushered to the hospital to receive treatment for the exhaustion
and ailments that only 25 minutes of all-out exertion in the
Octagon could warrant.
It
was the type of bout in which Mike Goldberg’s statement
proclaiming “this is the greatest bout in UFC history”
wasn’t so easily dismissed as the analyst’s usual bit
of hyperbole. If you watched it live, you made sure to text or
call those who didn’t. If you weren’t able to catch
the historic bout as it happened, you’re damn sure thinking
about ordering the encore.
When
a fight features as much memorable ebb and flow as the clash
between “Hendo” and “Shogun” did, sometimes
important details get swept aside so as not to tarnish the moment;
details such as scoring and when to properly apply a 10-8 tally
in a round of dominance. In reality, the first-ever meeting between
the two former Pride Fighting Championships competitors should
have been a draw. There is plenty of time to debate where the
bout ranks in the annals of the UFC and mixed martial arts. It’s
possible that Rua-Henderson might not even have been the best
fight from Saturday night: Michael Chandler and Eddie Alvarez
staged an epic back-and-forth battle of their own at Bellator
58 in Hollywood, Fla. That’s an argument for another day.
Instead
of discussing whether Henderson should fight for the 185- or
205-pound belt in the near future, we should be considering the
merits of a rematch between Henderson, the former Strikeforce
light heavyweight champion, and Rua, the former UFC light heavyweight
champion.
“This
is one of those tough fights,” UFC President Dana White
said at the post-fight press conference. “You give Henderson
the first three rounds, you give Shogun four and you give Shogun
[a] 10-8 in the last round for a dominant round. It’s a
draw; that’s how I scored it, but who the hell am I?”
He
wasn’t alone. Two of Sherdog.com’s three unofficial
judges had the bout scored 47-47, as well, as did many other
major MMA media outlets. While the UFC president is one of the
most powerful men in the sport today, he clearly doesn’t
share a like mind with a California State Athletic Commission-appointed
judge. All three cageside judges for Henderson-Rua -- Steve Morrow,
Susan Thomas-Gitlin and Ralph McKnight -- played it safe, giving
the winner of each round a 10-9 mark. It’s hard to fault
their decision making when awarding the rounds, because it was
clear that the first three rounds belonged to Henderson, while
Rua finished strong in the fourth and fifth.
However,
the criteria for awarding a 10-8 round must come into question.
According to MMA’s unified rules, “a round is to be
scored as a 10-8 round when a contestant overwhelmingly dominates
by striking or grappling in a round.”
Henderson
has won four straight.
By now, serious fans of the sport can recite that criteria by
heart, but how easy is it for judges to apply such a vague standard
to a fight? After all, it’s difficult enough to differentiate
between a 10-8 round and a 10-7 round that asks for a competitor
to “totally dominate.” The difference between the words
“totally” and “overwhelmingly” seems minimal
at best. What was clear is that Rua controlled round five in
a way that no other round of the closely contested bout was controlled.
According
to FightMetric.com, Shogun outlanded the Team Quest product 26-0
in significant strikes, 79-8 in overall strikes and mounted him
five times in the final frame. While overwhelmingly or totally
might be in question, dominant was not. Meanwhile, Henderson
saw reason for a 10-8 round to be scored in his favor, as well.
“I
knew I had the first three [rounds] won easy,” he said.
“I thought I had one of those rounds 10-8.”
Not
quite. Henderson is referring to the third round, when one of
the Californian’s trademark right hands sent Rua tumbling
to the canvas. As Hendo followed up with punches on the ground,
the situation appeared dire for the Brazilian. Rua somehow recovered,
gathered his wits and got the better of Henderson in the second
half of the round. Henderson’s knockdown was likely the
most damaging punch of the entire fight, but he didn’t control
the round. The former two-division Pride champion only connected
with four more significant shots than his opponent, while Rua
landed the only takedown and attempted the only submission of
the period. In trying to finish the fight, Henderson punched
himself out and didn’t end with the flourish that would
seem to be required of a 10-8 round.
Before
the final round began, Henderson’s corner urged him to clinch
and avoid exchanges with Rua. That plan didn’t come to fruition,
and the Greco-Roman specialist spent the majority of the stanza
on his back in full-blown survival mode. In an alternate universe
where fights go longer than five rounds, Hendo would have been
done.
So
why wasn’t Rua given his due for the fifth round? Athletic
commissions offer no clear-cut way to determine what truly constitutes
dominance in an MMA round, so the risk outweighs the reward for
those filling out the scorecards. Anyone awarding a 10-8 round
is almost always subjected to instant scrutiny. Ironically, there
was one judge who threw caution to the wind at UFC 139. In a
bout that didn’t necessarily need it, Jackie Denkin awarded
two 10-8 rounds to Stephan Bonnar in his unanimous decision triumph
over Kyle Kingsbury. Whether correct or not, at least Denkin
wasn’t afraid to be bold.
Talk
may center on Henderson getting a title shot at a yet-to-be determined
weight class, but middleweight champion Anderson Silva will be
on the shelf for a while, and, tough as he is, nothing about
Henderson’s performance against Rua suggests he’s ready
to topple Jon Jones at light heavyweight. To Rua’s credit,
he didn’t lobby for a rematch or complain about the scoring
after the fight. Perhaps he was too drained to do so.
“I’ll
come back stronger next time,” he said. “I’m sorry.”
In
making up one half of one of the most exciting bouts in recent
memory, Rua has nothing to be sorry about. His next time in the
cage should be against Henderson, too.
Source: Sherdog
|
Is
Rampage Jackson vs. Stephan Bonnar On Deck?
Following
UFC 139, it appears that Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson
and Stephan Bonnar are trying to do Joe Silva’s job for
him.
Bonnar
was successful in his fight on Saturday night, defeating Kyle
Kingsbury by unanimous decision, and he already mentioned that
he wanted to fight Rampage next.
Now
according to UFC President Dana White, the former UFC light heavyweight
champion has requested the exact same thing.
“Rampage
texted me tonight and said he wants to fight him too,” White
said about a potential fight with Stephan Bonnar. “I don’t
know we’ll see”
Rumors
have placed Rampage as a leading candidate to fill a slot on
the upcoming UFC 144 card in Japan. Jackson fought in Japan for
much of his career when he was competing under the Pride Fighting
Championships banner.
According
to several reports, there is some history between Bonnar and
Jackson, although no details have surfaced exactly why the two
fighters are asking to face off in the Octagon.
Bonnar
is currently riding a three fight win streak after his victory
on Saturday night, while Rampage is coming back from a loss to
UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones in September.
Source: MMA Weekly |
Two
Fight of the Night Bonuses at UFC 139
The
Ultimate Fighting Championship handed out $70,000 bonuses following
UFC 139 for in-Octagon performances at the HP Pavilion in San
Jose, Calif., on Saturday night. Dan Henderson, Mauricio “Shogun”
Rua, Wanderlei Silva, Cung Le, Urijah Faber, and Michael McDonald
collected the extra cash.
There
were two Fight of the Night awards given at UFC 139 to the two
main event fighters, Dan Henderson and Mauricio “Shogun”
Rua, for their five-round Fight of the Year candidate performance
and the co-main event between Wanderlei Silva and Cung Le.
Henderson
had Rua in trouble early, knocking him down twice, but couldn’t
put away the Brazilian. A bloodied and battered Rua came back
to win the final two rounds. The judges scored Henderson the
winner by unanimous decision following the grueling bout.
In
the co-main event, Silva came back from adversity early to finish
Le late I the second round. Le knocked Silva down with a spinning
backfist in the opening moments of the fight. Silva recovered
and caught Le with a right hand in the second stanza that knocked
him down. Silva followed with a knee from the clinch and finished
with punches on the ground.
Urijah
Faber received the Submission of the Night bonus for his second-round
guillotine choke finish of Brian Bowles. The bout was a No. 1
contender’s match with Faber securing another shot at champion
Dominick Cruz.
Knockout
of the Night was awarded to Michael McDonald for his 56-second
knockout of UFC newcomer Alex Soto.
The
UFC awarded a total of $420,000 in bonuses following UFC 139.
Source: MMA Weekly |
UFC
139 Draws Solid Gate and Attendance
UFC
139 posterMauricio “Shogun” Rua and Dan Henderson put
on what was easily a Fight of the Year candidate, and what was
designated for UFC 139 co-Fight of the Night honors by UFC president
Dana White.
That
fight, and a laundry list of other exciting fights and finishes,
ushered in a reported attendance of 13,173, according to White
at the UFC 139 post-fight press conference.
He
added that gate receipts totaled $1.268 million, although the
California State Athletic Commission will have the official numbers
of record sometime next week.
UFC
139: Shogun vs. Henderson took place on Saturday, Nov. 19, at
the HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif., the longtime home base of
Strikeforce.
Source: MMA Weekly |
Bellator:
Vitor Vianna loses his mind and middleweight tournament
Vitor
Vianna was one step away from a title fight in Bellator, but
stumbled on the finale of the division GP, against Aleksander
Shlemenko, a duel that would define the next on the line against
Hector Lombard. Back to Brazil, Vitor regreted the “mistakes”.
“I
didn’t follow through my game plan, I lost my mind and stood
up for three rounds striking with him”, explains the BJJ
black belt, revealing that his game plan was to use Jiu-Jitsu
against the Russian. “My tactic was to take him down and
submit him, but I landed good coups and he hit me with some others,
I lost it and fought. I forgot my game plan and wanted to fight,
that was my mistake”.
After
the marathon of three fights in 12 weeks, Vitor will take some
time off in Brazil until January of 2012, when he’ll return
to the United States to train at Wanderlei Silva’s gym,
in Las Vegas.
“I
need to improve my takedowns and my Muay Thai”, acknowledges.
“I gotta get back to Las Vegas on the beginning of the year.
The trainings here in Brazil were great, but there I have my
job, by students and my team. I’ll try to get my coach there
with me to keep the Boxing work I’ve been doing”.
Source: Tatame
|
Nine
bouts added to UFC 142 card with Felipe Sertanejo vs. Antonio
Pato
Another
bout is set to UFC’s return to Rio de Janeiro, on January
14. Chute Boxe talent Felipe Sertanejo battles Canadian star
Antonio “Pato” Carvalho. Curiously, Sertanejo replaced
Carvalho at UFC Rio, on August, when he lost to Iuri Alcântara
and both fighters ride a 13-4 record.
UFC
142 (Rio)
HSBC
Arena, Rio de Janeiro
Saturday,
January 14 of 2012
-
José Aldo vs. Chad Mendes;
-
Vitor Belfort vs. Anthony Johnson;
-
Edson Junior vs. Terry Etim;
-
Rousimar Toquinho vs. Mike Massenzio;
-
Thiago Tavares vs. Sam Stout;
-
Erick Silva vs. Siyar Bahadurzada;
-
Fábio Maldonado vs. Stanislav Nedkov;
-
Ednaldo Lula vs. Rob Broughton;
-
Felipe Sertanejo vs. Antonio “Pato” Carvalho.
Source: Tatame |
|