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2012
October
Aloha
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1/15/12
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1/7/12
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March
2012 News Part 3
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Casca Grossa Jiu-Jitsu
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Dana
White Assures Everyone Silva vs. Sonnen 2 is Happening; Presser
Scheduled
by Damon
Martin
Don’t
let Chael Sonnen fool you, he’s fighting Anderson Silva
at UFC 147 in Brazil.
While
the official announcement from the UFC about the historic event
in Brazil came down earlier in the week, Sonnen has still been
quick to point out that he hasn’t signed a bout agreement
yet and raised some skepticism if the fight was actually a done
deal or not.
Well,
UFC president Dana White is here to tell you that the fight is
happening.
“I’d
have to hold press conferences just to squash all the (expletive)
that Chael says,” White said recently in response to Sonnen’s
latest comments about the rematch.
In
all reality, Sonnen will actually meet and greet the Brazilian
fans well ahead of his scheduled appearance in June as part of
the UFC 147 fight card.
He
will first travel to Brazil the following week after UFC 145
in Atlanta along with White for the UFC 147 announcement and
press conference.
“The
fight is happening. He has accepted the fight, and he will be
with me in Brazil for the press conference down there,”
White confirmed.
Sonnen
has made no bones about his desire to face Silva for a second
time after their first fight at UFC 117 in 2010. In that bout,
Sonnen was winning a lopsided decision, but got caught in a triangle
choke late in the fifth round, giving Silva a legendary come
from behind win.
Ever
since that time, Sonnen has been gunning for a rematch, and he’s
finally getting his wish.
“I
don’t like Anderson. I want everything Anderson’s got.
I’m going to bring him down and I’m going to bring
him down any means possible,” Sonnen told MMAWeekly in January.
The
event that Silva vs. Sonnen 2 will take place at in Brazil is
already set to be the biggest crowd in UFC history.
The
soccer stadium Engenhao will house the massive event and once
the UFC configures seating and arranges everything they expect
capacity to be between 60,000 and 80,000.
While
White admits that outdoor events aren’t his favorite, this
will be an outdoor show, although the Octagon itself will be
covered. The UFC actually tried to rent the staging set up from
the Irish rock band U2 for the show in Brazil, but couldn’t
get it together by June, so they will build one on their own.
The
end result according to White will make UFC 147 one of the biggest
events in the history of the sport, and it will rival any other
major sporting event in 2012.
“I
think this is one of the biggest sporting events of the year.
To take NFL, NBA, Major League Baseball, Formula-1, soccer, everything,
this is one of the biggest sporting events of the year,”
White said.
UFC
147 will take place on June 23 in Rio de Janeiro at the Engenhao
stadium with Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen leading the card,
while TUF Brasil coaches Vitor Belfort and Wanderlei Silva will
square off in the co-main event.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Post-PRIDE
five years later: What happened to the main players?
By Zach
Arnold
On
March 27th, it will be the 5th anniversary of the transactional
change between Dream Stage Entertainment & Zuffa over the
assets of PRIDE. The elaborate press conference in Roppongi Hills,
Tokyo was heralded as a chance to finally see ‘the Super
Bowl of MMA’ between UFC & PRIDE. Of course, that never
happened. When the sale went down, PRIDE marketed a Lightweight
tournament featuring UFC & PRIDE names for a May ‘07
event at Saitama Super Arena. That never happened.
What
did happen was a rather pathetic ending for PRIDE. Their final
show was in April of ‘07 at Saitama Super Arena and Nobuyuki
Sakakibara, the front man for PRIDE, used the occasion and the
show as his final goodbye. In addition to having graphics all
over the arena with his face on them, he had the fighters on
the card come out and talk about what a great man he was and
how sad they were to see PRIDE die. It was a pathetic, but fitting
spectacle for a man of such character.
Soon
after the sale took place, Zuffa hired Spectrum Gaming to run
the background check on DSE for ‘due diligence.’ Yes,
they did ‘due diligence’ after the transaction instead
of before it. I wonder why. This resulted in a legal battle between
the two parties over the asset sale agreement. The initial report
was that $70M USD was paid but most insiders believe the final
total was in the $10-13M USD range.
After
PRIDE died, K-1 had the whole Japanese market to themselves.
Kato & Shinoda, the right hand men & production power
w/ Sakakibara in PRIDE, created DREAM. Of course, as a play on
words, the parent company of DREAM is Real Entertainment. Sakakibara
& his henchman Noboru Yamaguchi, famously of Kami no Puroresu
magazine, continued on with Hustle pro-wrestling. When UFC relocated
point man Jamie Pollack to Japan to take over the PRIDE operations,
it was the Hustle crew that directed Japanese media to take photographs
at said offices while running goofy pro-wrestling angles involving
men like Kintaro Kanemura. UFC was completely oblivious to this
happening despite the fact that all the major sports newspapers
were running items on the angles.
Within
a few months of Mr. Pollack’s arrival in Japan, the disgruntled
DSE employees made their allegiance clear and ended up with DREAM.
What a shocker. UFC was left with no choice but to lay off everyone
and post a notice at the office to have the desks cleaned out
immediately. This gave the media a chance to portray UFC as the
cold-hearted foreign raiders that came to destroy PRIDE, made
false promises about keeping things afloat, but then bailed out
when no one was looking.
Of
course, we saw how well this narrative played out when UFC ran
at Saitama Super Arena last month. They won the battle but the
media continues the image war against them by selectively not
covering UFC despite the Japanese fight fans being desperate
for some sort of product to support.
K-1,
with DREAM as a tag partner, tried to fill the vacuum due to
PRIDE’s death. K-1’s grand plan was to control the
TV pipeline. If you wanted to be on TV, you had to play business
by K-1’s rules. K-1 split the TV rights fees with you in
exchange for you handling 100% of the risk for promoting the
live house – the insurance, the salaries, the gate, the
building & production rentals. DREAM initially did OK but
eventually tanked on Tokyo Broadcasting System.
K-1,
meanwhile, suffered declining numbers as well. Their relationship
with Fuji TV was not as solid as it used to be and Tokyo Broadcasting
System was their main partner. Some fighters were complaining
about not getting paid. Alistair Overeem won the World GP 2010
tournament at Ariake Colosseum. He had signed up with talent
agency Yoshimoto to make a big run in Japan. Within two months
of that proclaimation, his ties with Japan were done. He made
a shift to Strikeforce after he revealed that he, too, got stiffed
on money.
Overeem’s
last Japan fight was against Todd “TRT” Duffee and
he vanquished him in 19 seconds on New Year’s Eve. The NYE
event all but put K-1 out of financial commission. It was their
last gasp.
A
year later, DREAM would put on a New Year’s Eve event with
Antonio Inoki as the front man. Satoshi Ishii was the sacrificial
lamb to Fedor. The end result? Despite Fedor’s career cratering
in the States with big losses, he went back to Japan and immediately
became the #1 name again in MMA circles. Recently, he taped a
game show series featuring names like Bob Sapp, Vader, Wakakirin,
and “Hollywood” Tadao Yasuda. Fedor, of course, got
put over. Despite all the peaks & valleys in his post-PRIDE
MMA career, Fedor is still the King of Japanese MMA on a national
scale in that country.
So,
what has happened to all the major players that were involved
in the fight scene since the collapse of PRIDE? Let’s take
a look at some of the key players and where they stand now.
Nobuyuki
Sakakibara would soon leave after PRIDE’s death and Hustle’s
demise to go from Tokyo to… Okinawa. This is the equivalent
of a New York City power broker going to Mobile, Alabama. I have
nothing against the fine folks in Okinawa or Alabama, but when
you’re a big city player you don’t naturally make a
move to such a vastly different location. Any how, Sakakibara
got himself a soccer team and has tried to make it into the bigger
leagues of Japanese soccer. Last year, Tadashi Tanaka reported
that there was discussion of Sakakibara resurfacing in Tokyo
and getting the band back together again with Kato & company.
Since New Year’s Eve, DREAM has gone dormant. Real Entertainment
is now a de facto booking agency for Kato’s guys (Aoki in
Bellator, Kawajiri in One FC). Despite month-long claims that
DREAM would announce future show plans, there has been silence.
Kazuyoshi
Ishii, who saw everything fall apart and his grand TV pipeline
plan fail miserably with K-1 in the post-PRIDE era, is desperately
trying to make things work with K-1 but under different circumstances.
Ishii, who has aged considerably in the last few years since
his prison stint for corporate tax evasion, recently worked as
a referee for K-1 Koshien (high schooler) fights at Korakuen
Hall in Tokyo. This was an unfathomable image to ever consider
given how Ishii had made his bones by being connected with Soka
Gakkai and with other entertainment power brokers. He’s
reduced now to being a referee for young kids fighting. Ishii’s
new tact with K-1 Koshien is that prize money will be award in
the name of scholarships to top young fighters and that the event
will be a platform to promote positive social values. A street-fighter,
hard-living charmer is now suddenly professing to be straight
& narrow.
Seiya
Kawamata, the admitted K-1 yakuza fixer, is on the sidelines
but keeps reportedly telling everyone that he’ll get back
into the fight game. Kawamata was the central face for Shukan
Gendai’s negative campaign against PRIDE. Kawamata reportedly
wants back in as an event promoter and on a large scale. The
problem for him is that he always has wanted the limelight and
couldn’t accept being a behind-the-scenes shadow player.
In today’s Japanese climate where the police are waging
an all-out war (albeit with limited powers & tools at their
disposal), Kawamata is in no position to get back on television
ever again. He had his one shot with the Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye 2003
event on Nippon TV from Kobe Wing Stadium and blew it.
Ken
Imai, the former right-hand man of Kazuyoshi Ishii — who
turned on Ishii when the corporate tax evasion scandal hit and
became Sakakibara’s right hand man in landing Mirko Cro
Cop from agent Miro Mijatovic — is basically powerless now.
He was supposed to be the ‘book smart’ guy to Ishii’s
’street smart’ charm and it worked very well for many
years in K-1. However, once PRIDE died and Mirko’s career
didn’t pan out so well in the UFC, Imai lost his power source.
Miro
Mijatovic, the man who was the super-agent behind Fedor &
Mirko Cro Cop before PRIDE went to war with him, is out of the
fight game and is making money in various businesses including
the hotel industry. Despite having a Tokyo civil court clear
his name and validate his credibility as a honorable witness
in relation to what happened with the PRIDE & Kawamata cases,
Miro has been fighting to clear his name after he was destroyed
in the Japanese press as a crazy foreigner. Five years later
after the PRIDE transaction, he’s still fighting a lot of
his old battles and those in the press who tried to destroy him
were in shock when the Spike TV interview series came out. There
has been a self-imposed wall of silence by many of the major
sports writers in Japan who covered PRIDE during this time period,
as they do not want to talk about the yakuza or steroid (testosterone)
issues whatsoever. The mentality has never changed in the media.
Remember
Chris Benoit going on a rampage and killing his family? You hardly
ever saw the word ’steroid’ used at all in the Japanese
press when covering the story. Jushin Liger, who had booked Benoit
to win the Super J Cup ‘94 tournament, practically went
into silence mode when the death occurred. It was almost as if
Liger had never heard of the guy.
I
bring this story up for example because the media mentality of
what happened during the PRIDE implosion is the same mentality
that has always existed and will never change. Last week, NOAH
had to finally address their own yakuza scandal regarding a yakuza
couple that was swindling senior citizens Bernie Madoff-style
in order to finance their pro-wrestling joy ride. Only a handful
of newspapers touched the story and even fewer MMA/pro-wrestling
Japanese bloggers said a word about it.
When
I talk about the climate of fear and a climate of dishonesty
as far as the press goes in Japan, I am speaking from experience.
I know what it’s like to be double-crossed. I know how the
writers are going to behave before they even make a move. They
are so predictable. Not one article has been written in Japanese
about Rampage’s testosterone comments or the whole testosterone
issue in MMA since this thing blew up. I’m not just talking
about newspapers, either — I’m also talking about ‘new
age’ Japanese bloggers & reporters who had a track record
of translating what was said on this very site into Japanese
on their sites now refusing to talk about the two kinds of scandals
(yakuza & drugs) that can bring down the industry. They’re
cowards who don’t have any sort of accountability.
So,
let’s talk about the yakuza in 2012 as far as the fight
game is concerned.
UFC
drew well at Saitama Super Arena because they have a multi-year
show agreement with Dentsu, one of the world’s largest ad
agencies. They brought all the muscle to the table. UFC sure
wishes Dentsu was active in every country they run in because
their life would be a whole lot easier. UFC doesn’t have
to get their hands dirty since they aren’t a local Japanese
operation.
So,
what about PRIDE & NOAH? The police in Japan have a line
of demarcation between being a yakuza front company versus being
a company that ends up cooperating or working with another company
that’s connected to the yakuza. In the case of PRIDE, the
police clearly saw PRIDE as a front company where the money was
being cycled in and out to the owner who was labeled as “Mr.
I” (Ishizaka aka Kim Dok-Soo). In the NOAH scandal, you
had a yakuza couple that played the classic ’sponsor’
role but this time where they got the money was outed and it
was a sleazy senior citizen scam. In addition, the couple had
scammed Misawa’s widow out of a loan — yet another
classic yakuza scam.
Understand
that when it comes to big arenas for fight promotions, the yakuza
has always been their version of Ticketmaster. Yes, there’s
Lawson and e-plus, but when it comes to moving blocks of thousands
or tens of thousands of tickets, you deal with the gangs. First
off, you have to deal with them anyways in paying protection
money based on which location you’re running your show at.
The police are trying to crack down on this heavily but only
with moderate success. This factor is why you see so many promotions
run the Kanto region only now for shows (Tokyo, Yokohama) instead
of Osaka, Nagoya, Kobe, Hiroshima, Sapporo. Outside of Tokyo,
you are dealing with protection rackets. Promoters are so ingrained
to view paying protection money as a ‘mandated tax.’
So, after you pay the protection money, you’re dealing with
gangs that might want to come to the show to either be seen on
TV (celebrity/recruiting factor) or they want to show up for
a good time and to gamble on fights. So, you run a place that
has 16,000 seats, you may cut a deal with the gangs for a 50/50
split of receipts for 6,000 or more tickets. The gangs then take
those tickets and they go to various outlets/stores and they
cut deals through coercion with said stores for a cut of the
action.
Then
there’s the dummy company factor. Many production companies
in Japan are ran by the gangs. It’s easy cash to make and
to also launder money. Hey, here’s a million bucks for that
sound stage, thanks for being my friend here and helping me on
the show. Plenty of ‘fan service’ (merchandising) outlets
are also yakuza-owned or operated. By using dummy companies,
you can easily skim & launder cash in and out quickly.
I
bring up all these factors because they have as much meaning
in Japan in 2012 for running a fight business as they did in
2007 or the 80s or even the mid-50s. The fact that you have gangs
threatening cops by saying that they will turn Japan ‘into
Mexico’ as far as violence goes should tell you everything
to need to know about what the stakes are right now. Throw in
the fact that younger yakuza recruits are more willing to pick
a fight for the sake of violence and you have a terribly combustible
mix of cash, drugs, guns, money, and weak mealy-mouthed social
leaders who have been mentally & physically coerced into
submission but are now trying to fight back.
As
one Japanese writer recently stated to me, this could easily
be a lost decade if not more to come for the national fight scene
in Japan. For certain, there will be yakuza stooges who come
in to run a few shows to launder cash and throw themselves a
party. However, the police are adamantly telling TV networks
to no longer do business with companies connected to the yakuza.
With more and more police officers being hired by the networks
as lead security investigators, the squeeze is coming.
Nobody
knows what is going to happen in Japan, which is why there is
such abject panic & nobody with a real plan of attack five
years later after the death of PRIDE.
Source:
Fight Opinion
|
ALISTAIR
OVEREEM SENTENCED IN NIGHTCLUB INCIDENT
By Luke
Thomas - Senior Editor
Former
Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem, 31, was sentenced
in Las Vegas, Nev. court Tuesday to 50 hours of community service
and anger management counseling for battery charges related to
an incident in a Las Vegas nightclub. The top UFC heavyweight
also received a suspended 90-day jail sentence. If the terms
of today's sentencing are met, any follow-up punitive action
will be dismissed.
The striker faced a maximum of six months in the Clark County
Detention Center and not more than a $1,000 fine. Overeem must
appear in court again on Las Vegas on Sept. 26th.
The
charges Overeem faced resulted from an incident that took place
at the Wynn Las Vegas on Jan. 2nd of this year. A woman alleges
Overeem pushed her in the face, which caused her to "stagger
back".
The
former Golden Glory fighter was not in attendance at today's
hearing. He was instead represented by his attorney, David Shesnoff.
Overeem
was in attendance at today's press conference in Las Vegas promoting
UFC 146. He faces Junior dos Santos on that May 26th fight card
at the MGM Grand Garden Arena for the organization's heavyweight
title.
Source:
MMA Fighting
|
Dana
White, ‘Who Knows What Roy Nelson Could Achieve if He Applied
Himself’
If
Roy Nelson ever decides to make the move to light heavyweight,
it will be his own choice and not because Dana White is in his
ear trying to get him to drop weight.
The
UFC president has long rallied around Nelson cutting weight and
getting in better shape, but his days of trying to convince the
former Ultimate Fighter winner are over.
“I
don’t know how that guy makes 205. He has enough trouble
getting down to 250. I would be shocked. Maybe he just shaves
and he gets down to 205, I don’t know, but I don’t
know how he’s going to do it,” White said recently.
“I’m
done. I’m done with it. I’ve encouraged him to shave
his face and cut his hair too, but he doesn’t want to listen
to that either. Whatever.”
White
insists that he is still close with Nelson and there is no bad
blood at all between them, but the UFC’s commander-in-chief
just wishes he’d take things a little more seriously when
it came to his training and preparation.
“I’m
cool with him; I like him. Listen, he’s a tough guy with
a ton of heart. He goes in there and he gives it his everything.
My thing is I’ve always said to him, I’d love to see
you take this thing seriously and rip off some weight,”
said White. “When you’ve got a chin like that and a
heart like that, you can’t deny the guy’s got a great
chin, a ton of heart and he can knock people out. If he really
could get to 205, he’d be a force at 205. He’d be a
scary dude. He’s got great wrestling, awesome submissions,
great chin, a ton of heart, and has knockout power.
“Who
knows what Roy Nelson could really achieve if he applied himself.”
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Abu
Dhabi updates WPJJ athlete list
The
directors of World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championship sent GRACIEMAG.com
an updated competitor list. Check out who will be vying for top
spot come April 13 in Abu Dhabi:
SAN
DIEGO TRIALS
Mr.
Zak Maxwell / Black/Brown (-74 Kg)
Mr. Andre Galvao / Black/Brown (-83 Kg)
Mr. Alexandre Ribeiro / Black/Brown (-92 Kg)
Mr. Marcel Fortuna /Black/Brown (+92 Kg)
Mr. Brian Morizi /Purple Light Open (-74 Kg)
Mr. Nisar Loynab /Purple Open (-83 Kg)
Mr. Edwin Najmi /Blue Light Open (-65 Kg)
Mr. John Owning /Blue Open (-83 Kg)
Mr. Endhyr Meza / White Open (+92 Kg)
Mrs. Angelica Galvao / Female Black/Brown/Purple (-63 Kg)
Mrs. Michella Almeida / Female Blue/White Open (+63 Kg)
ENGLAND
TRIALS
Arya
Esfandeaz / White Absolute
Anna Bartkowiak /White/Blue Absolute
Nicholas Robinson /Blue Light Absolute
Marian Kolasowiski /Blue Heavy Absolute
Alex Cabannes /Purple Light Absolute
Marcin Tubura /Purple Heavy Absolute
Yasmen Wilson /Female Purple Light Absolute
Olga Lyashevska /Female Purple Heavy Absolute
Rafael Dos Santos /Black 65kg
Pedro Bessa /Black 74kg
Mathias Ribeiro /Black 83kg
Nilton Garcia /Black 92kg
Chris Bowe /Black +92kg
AUSTRALIA
TRIALS
Roumanos
Moussa /White belt Open Weight
Tony Torrisi /Blue belt Light Open Weight
Nikola Skoric /Blue belt Open Weight
Remo Curcio /Purple belt Light Open Weight
Shaher Khan /Purple belt Open Weight
David Marinakis /Brown/Black belt Under 65kg
Thiago Braga /Brown/Black belt Under 74kg
Kit Dale /Brown/Black belt Under 83kg
Neil Owen /Brown/Black belt Under 92kg
Michael Wilson /Brown/Black belt Over 92kg
Meagan Green /Female White/Blue belt Open Weight
Munn Sunny /Female Purple/Brown/Black belt Under 63kg
Maren Frerichs /Female Purple/Brown/Black belt Over 63kg
MALAYSIA
TRIALS
Jordan
Robert / White Absolute
Yang Seung Ho /Blue Absolute
Shane Kohei Suzuki /Purple Absolute
Magdalene Tan /Female White/ Blue Combined Absolute
ARGENTINA
TRIALS
Javier
Irigoitia / Purple Absolute
Christopher Moncayo / Blue Absolute
Ruben Belviso /White Absolute
Lira Aguilar /Female Absolute
CHINA
TRIALS
XU
XIN NING /FEMALE WHITE&BLUE BELT
LI YU LIANG / WHITE BELT OPEN
HUANG ZHENG HUA / BLUE BELT OPEN
KOJIMA KENSAKU / PURPLE BELT OPEN
SAN
ANTONIO, USA TRIALS
1.
Rafael Lovato Jr. / Brown/Black Belt Absolute
2. Manuel Diaz /Purple Belt Absolute
3. Raynald Ray /Blue Belt +163lbs Absolute
4. Tariq Radi / Blue Belt – 162lbs Absolute
5. Pete O’Neal /White Belt Absolute
6. Sijara Eubanks /Female Purple/Brown/Black Absolute
7. Danielle Alvarez /Female White/Blue Absolute
MEXICO
TRIALS
1.
Fabio Vargas /Purple Belt Absolute
2. Julio Cordova /Blue Belt Absolute
3. Sergio Verduzco /White Belt Absolute
4. Danae Morin /Female White/Blue Absolute
SELETIVA
ÁFRICA DO SUL
Kerry-Anne
Mathieson /Female White Blue Open
Penny Thomas /Female Brown Black Open
Brendon Groenewald /White belt Open
Jordan Machtle / Blue belt Open 74kg
Wesley George /Purple belt Open
Emyr Sanzel Lopes Queiroz /Brown/Black Open
MONTREAL,
CANADA TRIALS
Brandon
E. McGourty /Open White
Joel Hadden /Open Blue -74kg
Nick Alan Schrock /Open Blue +74kg
Alessandro Roman Camargo /Open Purple -74kg
Keenan Cornelius /Open Purple +74kg
Wellington Dias /Brown Black -65kg
Jonathan Torres /Brown Black -74kg
De’Alonzio Jackson /Brown Black -83kg
James Harbison /Brown Black -92kg
Peter Roberts /Brown Black +92kg
Satricia Knake /Women Wh/Bl Open
Mackenzie Dern /Women Pl/Br/Blk -63kg
Alison Tremblay /Women Pl/Br/Blk +63kg
NEW
YORK, USA TRIALS
1.
Roberto Abreu /Adult Brown/Black Belt Over 202
2. Roberto Alencar /Adult Brown/Black Belt -202
3. Lucas Leite /Brown/Black Belt -183
4. Lucas Lepri /Brown/Black Belt -163
5. Bruno Malfacine /Brown/Black Belt -143
6. Timothy Sprigg /Purple Belt +163lbs Absolute
10. Joseph Kay / White Belt Absolute
11. Valerie Worthington /Female Purple/Brown/Black +139lbs
12. Vianca Jager /Female Purple/Brown/Black -139lbs
13. Hana Fisher /Female White/Blue Absolute
PORTUGAL
TRIALS
Jedrzej
Loska /Black 65kg
Maxime Olivier /Black 74kg
Luca Anacoreto /Black 83kg
Marcelo Bernardo /Black 92kg
Vladimiro Afonso /Black +92kg
Kritin Doeblin /Female Black -63kg
Shanti Abelha /Female Black +63kg
Mille Pedersen /Blue Absolute
Luis Ramos /White Absolute
Victor Cardoso /Blue -74Kg
Aly Lopes /Blue +74Kg
Daniel Svensson /Purple -74kg
Arturo Salas /Purple +74kg
NATAL,
BRAZIL TRIALS
Dennys
Ricardo Diniz de Morais /Open White
Anselmo dos Santos Gomes /Open Blue -74kg
Max Santos Gimenis /Open Blue +74kg
Rafael Henrique Pereira /Open Purple -74kg
Fernando Andrade dos Reis /Open Purple +74kg
Thiago Barreto Marques /Brown Black -65kg
Leandro Lo Pereira do Nascimento /Brown Black -74kg
Bruno Almeida Alves /Brown Black -83kg
Antonio Carlos Barbosa Júnior /Brown Black -92kg
Bernardo Augusto Rocha de Faria /Brown Black +92kg
Jaqueline de Moraes Amorim /Women Wh/Bl Open
Marina Ribeiro Medeiros /Women Pl/Br/Blk -63kg
Luiza Monteiro /Women Pl/Br/Blk -63kg
MANAUS,
BRAZIL TRIALS
Victor
Cesar Braz da Silva /Open White
Rafael Ferreira Matos /Open Blue -74kg
Erberth Santos de Mesquita /Open Blue +74kg
Pedro Paulo Campi Agrizzi /Open Purple -74kg
Patrick Pontes de Moura dos Santos Gaudio /Open Purple +74kg
Luiz Fernando Costa Vieira /Brown Black -65kg
Antonio Carlos Farias /Brown Black -74kg
Diego Borges Silva /Brown Black -83kg
Caio Magalhães /Brown Black -92kg
Antonio Braga Teixeira Neto /Brown Black +92kg
Luana Azero Albernaz Muniz /Women Wh/Bl Open
Beatriz Mesquita /Women Pl/Br/Blk -63kg
Jessica da Silva Oliveira /Women Pl/Br/Blk +63kg
JAPAN
TRIALS
TANIGUTI
RODRIGO /BROWN + BLACK +92KG
CARIOCA CRISTIANO /BROWN + BLACK -92KG
SOUZA MARCOS /BROWN + BLACK -83KG
RIBEIRO EDERSON / BROWN BLACK 74kg
YANAGISAWA
TOMOYA / MALE BROWN + BLACK -65KG
SATOSHI
ROBERTO /MALE BROWN + BLACK ABSOLUTO
SEKI YUKO / FEMALE PURPE + BROWN + BLACK +63KG
SHIODA SAYAKA /FEMALE PURPE + BROWN + BLACK -63KG
SEKINE HIDEKI / PURPLE ABSOLUTO
KOIKE KLEBER /PURPLE ABSOLUTO -74KG
WON KEE ANDREW / BLUE ABSOLUTO +74KG
IKEJIRI SOUSUKE /BLUE ABSOLUTO -74KG
MIAO JIE /FEMALE WHITE + BLUE ABSOLUTO
SOUTH
KOREA TRIALS
Ahn
chul woong /white belt winner
Whang myung sae /blue belt winner
Jung ho won /purple belt winner
Kim eun ji /female winner
RUSSIA
TRIALS
Ivan
Farafonov /Men White Belt Absolute
Abdurahman Bilarov /Blue Belt Absolute
Vladislav Potatushkin /Purple Belt Absolute
Elena Zenkevitch /Women White\Blue Belt Absolute
POLAND
TRIALS
1.
Alexander Trans
2. Bruno Ivan Tomasetti
3. Daniel Wrzesniewski
4. Eduardo Rios
5. Gerard Labinski
6. Janni Larsson
7. Kamil Dabrówka
8. Maciej Dluzewski
9. Maciej Kozak
10. Maciej Polok
11. Maria Malyjasiak
12. Monica Silva
ROMANIA
TRIALS
Camil
Moldoveanu /Purple Absolute
Remus Corbei /Blue Absolute
Ion Pascu /White Absolute
Tereza Cordeiro de Souza /white&blue female
GRAMADO,
BRAZIL TRIALS
Mayra
Mazza (Alliance)
Luanna Alzuguir (Alliance)
Fernanda Mazzelli (Striker JJ)
Altamir Júnior (Sul JJ)
Isaque Braz (Nova União)
Julio Lima (Nova União)
Paulo Miyao (P.S.L.P.B.)
Pedro Moura (Top Team)
Isaque Paiva (Saikoo)
Davi Ramos (Atos Guetho)
Victor Bomfim (Gordo JJ)
Alexandre de Souza (Gracie Floripa)
Marcus Almeida (Checkmat)
RIO
DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL TRIALS
MARCIO
GAMA DOS SANTOS JUNIOR
RODSON MATEUS SARMENTO TELES
JULIO CEZAR DOS ANJOS JUNIOR
JOÃO RICARDO BORDIGNON MIYAO
MARCOS VINICIUS DA SILVA TINOCO
GABRIEL WILLCOX FURLEY
VINICIUS TAVARES MARINHO
ADRIANO FERREIRA DE ARAUJO
RODOLFO VIEIRA
RICARDO FERREIRA EVANGELISTA
IRIS BATISTA DE OMENA SILVA
JESSICA CRISTINA ARLINDO DOS SANTOS
GABRIELLE GARCIA
FINLAND
TRIALS
Janne
Autio / Brown/Black Open weight
Hannu Karjalainen / Adult Purple Open weight
Risto Vesantp / Blue Open weight
Otto Kuikka / White Open weight
Eveliina Karelehto /Women White/Blue Open weight
Venla Luukkonen /Women Purple/Brown/Black Open
NEW
ZEALAND TRIALS
Dustin
Bouzaid / OPEN White
Sam Anderson / OPEN BLUE
Michael Torcasio / OPEN BLUE
Brian Falzon / OPEN PURPLE
Alex Scott /OPEN BROWN-
Jess Fraser /OPEN >> WOMEN WHITE-BLUE
Kate Aroa Crolin /OPEN >> WOMEN PURPLE-BROWN-BLACK
Source:
Gracie Magazine
|
Mighty
Mouse close to 2-to-1 favored status over Ian McCall in upcoming
rematch
By Zach
Arnold
Guests:
Brian Rogers (Bellator MW tournament semi-finalist) & two
professional gamblers
UFC
146: May 26, 2012
Las Vegas, Nevada
Fight-1:
Roy Nelson +140
Antonio Silva -170
Fight-2:
Gabriel Gonzaga +135
Shane Del Rosario -165
Fight-3:
Mark Hunt +115
Stefan Struve -145
*Bonus
Fight:
Ian McCall +145
Demetrious Johnson -175
Source:
Fight Opinion
|
Dana
White Calls Junior Dos Santos’ Fights Thus Far Very ‘Chuck
Liddell Like’
by Damon
Martin
When
looking at UFC heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos‘ record
inside the Octagon, it’s a pretty impressive list of victories.
The
Brazilian started out on day one facing countryman Fabricio Werdum,
who was at the time a top ten heavyweight and considered an extremely
tough test for any fighter, much less someone making his UFC
debut.
Dos
Santos knocked him out in the first round.
From
there Dos Santos went on to wreak havoc in the UFC’s biggest
division picking up wins over Stefan Struve, Mirko “Cro
Cop” Filipovic, Gilbert Yvel, Gabriel Gonzaga, Roy Nelson,
Shane Carwin, and then his title fight win over Cain Velasquez.
He
now faces former K-1 Grand Prix champion Alistair Overeem for
his first title defense, but despite his impressive accolades,
UFC president Dana White is still very interested to see how
he fares with such a difficult stylistic match-up.
“For
me, the question is how is Dos Santos going to deal with the
kicks and the knees and the elbows? Since he’s been in the
UFC, I’ve never seen him have to deal with that. It’s
stuff that he’s going to have to deal with from Alistair
Overeem,” White said recently.
White
believes that Dos Santos has emulated another of his favorite
fighters in Chuck Liddell thus far in his UFC career. Now that
is of course a compliment, but it also raises some questions
about Dos Santos’ readiness to face a striker as dangerous
as Overeem.
“He’s
fought a pretty one-dimensional fight, he’s fought very
Chuck Liddell like in that he’s great at defending the takedown,
he drops bombs, he throws heavy punches, but he’s never
dealt with anybody who’s going to throw kicks and knees
and work in the clinch the way that Alistair Overeem does,”
White stated.
“I’m
real curious to see how Junior Dos Santos is planning on dealing
with that.”
There’s
no question that Overeem’s striking credentials are almost
unmatched when it comes to heavyweights competing in MMA.
A
devastating power puncher with nasty knees and serious knockout
power, Overeem won the 2010 K-1 Grand Prix in kickboxing, and
in his UFC debut he punished former champion Brock Lesnar with
a body kick before finishing him on the ground with strikes.
Overeem
presents a set of skills that Dos Santos might not have seen
before in the Octagon, but will it matter?
Tune
in to UFC 146 in May to find out.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
UFC:
Barao doesn’t fear opponent exchange in the UFC
By Carlos
Antunes
After
having his opponent replaced, Renan Barao, on an interview with
TATAME, revealed not to fear the change and guaranteed to be
focused for his confrontation on July 7 in Las Vegas, at UFC
148.
Before
paired up against Jeff Hougland, now the Brazilian duels with
Ivan Menjivar. “I’m cool about that. What matters is
to stay well trained and show my work the best way I can”,
warns the bantamweight fighter.
Ivan
Menjivar was born in El Salvador, but lives in Canada and holds
a professional record of 24 wins and eight losses. His last fight
happened last February, when defeated John Albert. Despite that,
Renan affirmed not to worry about the good patch of his opponent,
and affirms he has to win a battle weight the weight before.
“It
didn’t make things more difficult. What matters is to be
well trained and focused. I guess I’m fine with fighting
anyone. The toughest part actually is to cut weight. I’ll
get there and I’m going to put on a hell of a show”.
Four
months before the bout, the Brazilian highlighted there is no
game plan set whatsoever. About the replacement, Barao said it
came at the right time and that he’s going to watch Ivan’s
matches.
“We
were at the very beginning of the prep, so we haven’t set
a game plan. It all happened at the right time, better than if
it was too close from the fight. I’ll watch some of his
fights to find the best way to defeat him”.
Always
talking on a serene tone, Renan believes that fighting Ivan is
a promise of a good one, reminding he already saw some of his
bouts.
“I’m
hoping for a great fight, a great match. He’s a strong guy
and has fought a lot. I’ve seen some tough bouts he did.
I could tell he’s a good striker and had good ground game.
I’m sure that he’s a good striker and know how to work
on the ground, but it’s fine, I’m prepared”.
Source:
Tatame
|
UFC’s
current stance on the testosterone issue: Not much of a plan
By Zach
Arnold
“If
you do steroids and fight in Nevada, don’t expect us to
roll out the red carpet for you.” — Keith Kizer, Nevada
State Athletic Commission
Except,
of course, when the athletic commissions don’t mind letting
guys use testosterone under the name of ‘replacement therapy.’
“His
6:1 T/E ratio IS a red carpet.” — Victor Conte (responding
to Keith Kizer)
I
find it hard to believe that the recent actions of AC’s
like Kizer’s is just simply normal protocol. ‘Random’
drug testing a bunch of guys at a UFC presser in Las Vegas looks
great on paper but it’s not something that you could consider
‘out of competition’ drug testing on its face, especially
when compared to the current Olympic/WADA drug testing programs.
No,
the media heat about the testosterone issue is undoubtedly getting
to the politicians & the promoters. The fighters who are
the face of TRT usage have been rather stupid in handling the
topic publicly. Keith Kizer even made the admission recently
that Rampage’s campaigning for testosterone usage has only
increased interest in said usage as far as trying to get exemptions
from various state athletic commissions.
The
bottom line is that testosterone usage in combat sports is dangerous
and it’s much more prevalent, publicly-speaking, in MMA
than it is in boxing right now. Why are all these fighters magically
suffering from hypogonadism?
Ask
yourself the following question — if low testosterone levels
in sports amongst high-level athletes was such an epidemic, wouldn’t
you think that we would have had plenty of sob stories in the
media about football & baseball players already? Wouldn’t
the pro-T spin already be out in full force? There’s a reason
it’s not. There’s a reason you don’t see high-profile
doctors backing the push for testosterone usage amongst MMA fighters.
Don’t believe me? Look at the various media interviews so
far on this issue where doctors have been put on the spot. They
start out by saying hypogonadism is a very debilitating issue
but then all but admit that muscular macho MMA fighters shouldn’t
be suffering from these kinds of issues unless there was previous
damage caused from anabolic steroid use or other kinds of abuse
to the body.
There’s
a reason why we’ve seen General Practitioners and chiropractors
outed as doctors who have supposedly led MMA fighters to get
testosterone prescriptions, not endocrinologists.
The
T issue is simmering in big sports media circles. There is close
attention being paid to the topic. When fighter X, who is using
T, ends up seriously injuring or killing fighter B, that is when
all hell breaks loose. Which is why the recent comments made
by Dana White (read them here and here) should be cause for concern
if you’re a UFC supporter.
Do
not misunderstand me here — the testosterone dilemma is
a huge industry-wide problem… but UFC is the king in the
sport right now and if they want to influence how everyone else
behaves, they have the hammer to lay down the message of ‘no
T’ if they want to.
Dana
White’s previous response to Dan Herbertson was rather enlightening
insofar as to show what the new PR strategy would be by Zuffa
on the topic of testosterone usage. Here’s Dana backing
up this new front-man stance:
“We’ve
got 375 guys under contract,” White said. “We’re
doing a zillion fights a year, traveling all over the world,
all these other things that we’re doing. Now, you really
think that we can crack down and [expletive] chase these guys
around everywhere they live all over the world and just randomly
test these guys all the time?”
In
addition, he claims that UFC has increased drug testing protocols
by having fighters who sign up for The Ultimate Fighter have
to take a pre-contract drug test screening. Newsflash: most companies
use this standard. A standard urine test is not exactly a ball-buster
when it comes to busting guys for steroids unless you’re
really, really dumb — and there are plenty of dumb people
in the business, no doubt.
“It’s
impossible,” he said. “I want to see [expletive] baseball
and football and all these other guys get tested the way we get
tested. There would be no baseball or football if they got tested
the way we get tested. I don’t want to throw this thing
at everyone else, but the point is, we’re the most regulated
sport on the planet, and that’s a fact.”
Do
you notice what media writers who question Dana don’t ask
him on this topic?
Why
does your staff allow fighters to use testosterone on shows you
‘regulate’ when there’s no AC in place at the
show’s location?
Several boxers have approached promoters about getting independently
tested with the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association and are currently
undergoing such testing. Why hasn’t this been the case for
MMA fighters who are interested in doing so in terms of getting
permission?
You’re basically admitting that testosterone usage amongst
fighters in MMA is due to past steroid abuse. As Lance Storm
noted last year, why should fighters with low testosterone levels
be given special treatment because they can’t make it without
drug usage in MMA?
If testosterone isn’t a performance enhancer, then why are
so many fighters & athletes interested in using it?
Keith Kizer likes to go around saying that the testosterone issue
is blown way out of proportion and that he’s only given
three guys TUEs. Well, that spin is totally missing the point.
There are plenty of MMA shows in foreign countries with no regulatory
oversight. There are 49 other states outside of Nevada and only
a handful actually know what the hell they’re doing when
it comes to standardized, not upgraded, drug testing protocols.
Commission shopping is ridiculously easy for guys who are testosterone
users who also just happen to be big drawing cards in MMA.
Chael
Sonnen is a perfect example. His first fight against Brian Stann
was in Texas, a state that just had another controversy this
past weekend involving boxer James Kirkland and urine test issues.
Sonnen’s next fight, against Michael Bisping, happened in
Illinois. His rematch against Anderson Silva this Summer is happening
in Brazil, a show that is regulated by… the UFC.
“Which
is good, but we want to stop guys from taking steroids when they
shouldn’t do it. No matter what short-term effects you have,
the long-term effects are much worse. It’s stupid, and that’s
what we’re trying to stop right now. But testosterone replacement
therapy is legal.
“There
isn’t a sport out there that goes above and beyond, whether
it’s the safety of the athletes, testing for all this crazy
[expletive], and the list goes on and on,” he said.
This
new corporate spin of ‘we shouldn’t punish guys for
past steroid use’ doesn’t wear very well amongst the
public. They see testosterone usage for what it is and for UFC
to not be prepared to take a hardline stance against this matter
is like lighting a firecracker in your hand and just waiting
for your hand to get blown off.
A
lot of the testosterone users outed so far publicly happen to
be household names. As the list continues to grow with new fighters
getting outed, the situation could very blossom into a list as
high-profile as the infamous list of 103 MLB players who failed
sample drug tests in 2003. It’s been a drip, drip, drip
treatment in the press over the years as far as who was on that
list and it’s been used as a sledgehammer against the players.
As MMA”s testosterone list continues to grow, I would expect
a high level of scrutiny towards the T-using fighters.
The
athletic commissions and promoters know this is a losing issue
for them. You can’t play Barney Fife by whacking someone
over marijuana usage (Nick Diaz), drostanolone (King Mo), and
then turning around and acting as if giving passes out to fighters
to use testosterone is going to make your drug testing protocols
look good. AC’s don’t even use Carbon Isotope Ratio
testing for urine testing. There’s no blood testing, either.
The
quickest way to influence the drug culture in MMA is by having
the promoters come out against it and put some teeth into the
anti-drug stand. We’ve already seen proof of this in other
sports and other entertainment fields, especially pro-wrestling.
When those in charge actually are serious about laying the hammer
down on drug usage, guys magically shrink on television over
the course of several weeks. The same thing would happen in MMA
if the power players wanted to put a stop to testosterone usage.
They should consider doing so before somebody gets really hurt
and a drug scandal engulfs the sport. That’s not an outcome
that anyone wants to see except those who want to bring down
the sport in the first place.
WWE
already had one guy who was using testosterone as part of a Therapeutic
Use Exemption that damn near brought the company to its knees.
The combination of brain damage (CTE) & drug usage. Handing
out Therapeutic Use Exemptions for testosterone was stopped by
WWE because of the abuse by the boys. UFC & various state
AC’s have now painted themselves into a corner publicly
where their position on testosterone is more lenient than WWE’s
stance on the matter.
The
media frenzy towards the UFC if a fighter, on a UFC-regulated
show, cripples or kills another fighter while using testosterone
will be voluminous. Let’s not go down this path in combat
sports. Clean up the mess now before someone pays a permanent
price. Once a major incident happens, the stain will be hard
to erase and the damage will be done.
Source:
Fight Opinion
|
UFC
to Pirates: ‘You Steal Our (Stuff), We’re Gonna Get
You’
The
UFC and company president Dana White have made it very clear
over the past few years that they are vigorously pursuing piracy
and protecting their copyrights. Several websites that illegally
stream live UFC events have already felt the wrath of the MMA
juggernaut’s crack legal team.
But
the UFC isn’t stopping there. They’re not only going
after the providers of the illegal streams, they’re also
going after the end-user as well.
“The
bottom line is the same guys that are saying why would you sue
the fans are the same guys that are going ‘you should pay
the fighters more.’ How do you think this thing works? You
think the Fertittas just pull the money out of their bank and
pay everybody? No, this is a real business,” explained UFC
president Dana White this week.
“There’s
this whole generation out there that grew up getting free (stuff)
on the Internet. So they think everything on the Internet should
be free. That ain’t how it works.
“You
steal our (stuff), we’re gonna get you. We may not get you
now, or next month, but eventually we will. We’re spending
a lot of money towards busting people who steal.”
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Is
the UFC Doing Enough to Combat Doping?
by Ken
Pishna
From
baseball to football to cycling, performance enhancement has
long gone hand-in-hand with professional sports. Any athlete
is always looking for ways to improve; it’s just a matter
of how they go about it that makes the difference.
And
as long as there are professional sports, drug testing to try
and expose athletes that try to gain an unfair advantage through
chemistry will be a hot-button issue.
Mixed
martial arts, despite its relative newness, is no different.
As much as Barry Bonds or Lance Armstrong is scrutinized, so
are Alistair Overeem and Brock Lesnar.
UFC
president Dana White, however, says that mixed martial arts,
and the UFC in particular, is at the forefront of trying to make
sure its athletes are clean.
“We
do more, and the athletic commission does more, than any other
sport on this planet,” said the UFC’s head honcho on
Tuesday.
The
testing, however, for mixed martial artists varies depending
upon what jurisdiction they are fighting in. In the United States,
each state that the UFC goes to has a regulatory body that oversees
testing, and if that state or other areas in the world do not
require drug testing, UFC vice president of regulatory affairs
Marc Ratner oversees testing.
Fighters
are typically required to test, at least at random, around the
time they compete, and are often subject to testing, as in Nevada,
at other random times, even out of competition.
Case
in point, the six fighters at the UFC 146 press conference in
Las Vegas on Tuesday – Junior dos Santos, Alistair Overeem,
Cain Velasquez, Frank Mir, Roy Nelson, and Antonio Silva –
were all tested without notice.
The
tests are typically conducted via a urine sample collected in
the presence of a commission of diagnostics lab official.
“Every
guy gets tested on The Ultimate Fighter. These guys living in
the house right now, first off, all of them tested negative for
any performance enhancing drug or any other drug and full background
checks,” said White, who also noted that TUF competitors
also go through a full medical check that often times has turned
up medical issues that a fighter didn’t know he had.
“That
and now we don’t sign guys to contracts without drug testing
them first.”
These
are important steps towards cleaning up a sport, like any professional
sport, that is always going to have certain athletes trying to
get the upper hand, and not always by legal means.
With
experts from the United States Anti-Doping Agency and the World
Anti-Doping Agency constantly working to improve anti-doping
standards across the globe, most professional sports are taking
notice and moving more and more towards both agencies’ recommendation
that the only way to catch cheaters is to institute no-notice,
anytime testing.
The
testing of the UFC 146 contestants following Tuesday’s press
conference was one example of how Nevada is trying to step up
its testing of combat sports athletes.
The
National Football League bolstered its drug testing policy as
part of its latest contract with the NFL Players Association,
including random and game-day testing, as well as required and
random testing for Human Growth Hormone.
Professional
cycling, once lauded as one of the dirtiest of sports, has undergone
rigorous changes that include quarterly blood tests, as well
as random test, from cyclists that are entered into a profile,
known as a biological passport, that follows a cyclist throughout
his career. Any anomalies over time in a cyclist’s passport
can lead to increased testing or sanctions.
Although
they aren’t tested daily, cyclists are required to provide
their daily whereabouts to make them easily locatable in case
they are selected for testing. Some of the blood samples from
their testing are also frozen to preserve them for “back
testing” as future drug tests are developed.
But
just how far can drug testing reasonably be spearheaded by an
organization?
In
the mythical world of no limits, athletes would be available
any time, anywhere, for any test deemed necessary. But in the
real world there are factors that influence just how far an organization
can or will go to detect cheaters.
Athletic
commissions are government agencies that are funded by tax dollars,
obviously with a limited source of funding. Commissions can only
do as much as their budgets allow.
The
UFC, much like the NFL or NBA or any other sports organization,
feels the heat to continually improve what they do to combat
doping as well. But again, money and logistics play a significant
role in just how far the promotion can or is willing to go in
its efforts.
“We
have 375 guys under contract. We’re doing a zillion fights
a year. We’re traveling all over the world. Do you really
think that we can track down and just chase these guys around
everywhere they live all over the world and just randomly test
these guys all the time?” White commented, visibly exacerbated
by questions about whether or not the UFC was doing enough to
combat doping.
“It’s
unrealistic for me to chase these guys all over the world. We
do more than any other sports organization on the planet. There’d
be no football, baseball, or anything else if they got tested
the way we do.”
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Sherdog’s
Top 10: Giant Killers
By Tristen
Critchfield
The
Ultimate Fighting Championship’s journey toward equal rights
for fighters of all shapes and sizes came to its end on March
2, when the flyweight division made its official debut at UFC
on FX 2 in Sydney. Now, fighters from 125 to 265 pounds all have
a chance to compete at the sport’s highest level at their
most ideal weight.
It
has not always been this way. In its formative years, “Ultimate
Fighting” made very few concessions for the little guy.
Outside the realm of the UFC, it was similar, sometimes even
more pronounced. Even as MMA evolved and more divisions were
added, some fighters stayed true to their roots, chopping down
the redwoods of the sport as a matter of pride. For others it
was a matter of necessity -- or at least a better paycheck.
Former
Fresno State University football coach Pat Hill lived by the
motto of “anyone, anytime, anywhere” during his days
leading the Bulldogs. In honor of that philosophy, Sherdog.com
unveils its list of Top 10 “Giant Killers” -- an eclectic
list of fighters whose heart has consistently exceeded their
size.
10.
Demetrious Johnson
Johnson
looks to have finally found a permanent home with the inception
of the UFC’s flyweight tournament. His 125-pound debut was
not without controversy, as Johnson was initially awarded a decision
against Ian McCall at UFC on FX 2. However, the discovery of
a tabulation error overturned that ruling, and fans were deprived
of a sudden-death round between the two dynamic competitors.
Beginning
with Johnson’s World Extreme Cagefighting debut, fans and
pundits alike claimed that few fighters would benefit more from
the creation of a flyweight division than “Mighty Mouse.”
His first WEC appearance indicated as much, as Brad Pickett took
down the AMC Pankration product at will in taking a unanimous
decision. However, Johnson would not lose again until he secured
a bantamweight title shot. Bolstered by blinding speed and boundless
energy, the 5-foot-3 Johnson took out Nick Pace,Damacio Page,
Norifumi“Kid” Yamamoto and Miguel Torres in consecutive
bouts.
Johnson
truly gained attention by beating Page, submitting the then-world-ranked
competitor with a guillotine in the third round. Despite his
visible size disadvantage, he was the aggressor throughout the
surprising affair.
“He
was basically drowning, and I was the shark that came up and
got him from underneath,” Johnson said after the bout.
Johnson’s
run came to an end at the hands of Dominick Cruz at UFC Live
6. Johnson was game, holding a slight edge on“The Dominator”
in significant strikes. In fact, Johnson has landed more significant
strikes than all seven of his foes in the WEC and the UFC. His
rise from undersized unknown to Top 10 bantamweight proves at
least one thing: speed kills.
9.
Igor Vovchanchyn
The
owner of 36-fight unbeaten streak and a finalist in the 2000Pride
Fighting Championships heavyweight grand prix, Vovchanchyn was
at one time considered to be the world’s best heavyweight,
this despite the fact that the Ukrainian stood 5-foot-9 and would
eventually drop to fight at 205 pounds. Light heavyweight was
even something of a stretch for “Ice Cold” -- in today’s
climate, his ideal home would likely be at middleweight.
One
of the most feared strikers of the 1990s, Vovchanchyn made up
for his lack of grappling prowess with fast hands, brutal knees
and whipping kicks. The kickboxer was a master of the eight-man
tournament; his seven victories in various versions of the three-fights-in-one-night
format are believed to be the most in MMA history.
During
a career that spanned roughly a decade, size was no obstacle,
as Vovchanchyn accumulated 55 victories -- 29 by knockout or
technical knockout. He could also be creative, as video footage
shows him forcing an opponent to cry uncle with head butts from
his back, and it is often suggested that Fedor Emelianenko emulated
his style of punching.
“That’s
true, but only to some extent,” Vovchanchyn told Bloody
Elbow. “More people were trying to imitate it, including
Japanese [fighters]. They called it ‘Igor Vovchanchyn’
punching. I can remember myself entering a gym there and seeing
everyone practicing my style of punching.”
It
is not surprising that his style was imitated, considering that
any “Ice Cold” highlight reel is violence at its uninhibited
best. A roundhouse kick courtesy of Mirko “Cro Cop”
Filipovic spelled the end of Vovchanchyn’s run at heavyweight
in 2003, and he left the sport for good in 2005 at age 32.
8.
Joseph Benavidez
Regarded
by some as the best flyweight in the world, Benavidez lived up
to the hype by beating Yasuhiro Urushitani via technical knockout
in the second round at UFC on FX 2. He will eventually face the
Demetrious Johnson-Ian McCallwinner at a to-be-determined event
to crown the first-ever UFC 125-pound champion.
Prior
to introduction of the smallest weight class in the world’s
largest MMA promotion, Benavidez was forced to make a living
at bantamweight. He acquitted himself quite nicely, beating former
WEC bantamweight champion Miguel Torres, grappling specialist
Rani Yayha and Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt Jeff Curranalong
the way. Like most everyone else who has faced the current UFC
135-pound king, Benavidez was twice unable to overcome Dominick
Cruz before the WEC dissolved. However, Benavidez has come closer
than anyone -- including Team Alpha Male stablemate Urijah Faber--
to beating “The Dominator” during his current reign.
Benavidez
lost a unanimous decision to Cruz in a No. 1 contender bout at
WEC 42. He would face the Alliance MMA product again at WEC 50,
where he lost a closely contested split decision to the champion.
It was as stern a test as Cruz has faced to date, as Benavidez
demonstrated good counter punching and appeared to break his
opponent’s nose with a knee from the clinch in round four.
It was a noteworthy dose of punishment absorbed by the notoriously
hard-to-hit Cruz, and the effort solidified Benavidez as the
No. 2 bantamweight in the world. At his natural weight class,
he has even more potential.
“I
felt like I would bring power to this division,” Benavidez
said after he finished Urushitani. “I think this is going
to be a sign of things to come in the flyweight division.”
7.
Ikuhisa Minowa
A
few of the key figures in the MMA career of Minowa: 5-foot-9
inches tall, 185 pounds, 94 professional fights. Known as“Minowaman”
for his entertaining ring entrances and cape, the now 36-year-old
native of Nagoya, Japan, earned the appropriate moniker“The
Giant Killer” for his fistic feats.
While
some might view much of Minowa’s career as a gimmick better
suited to the professional wrestling audiences of Japan, there
is no doubt that his ability to navigate through the 300- and
400-pound demographic has helped to keep him gainfully employed
over the years. Notching wins over the likes of Bob Sapp, Eric“Butterbean”
Esch and the Paulo Cesar“Giant” Silva might not gain
him entry into anyone’s hall of fame, but sport is also
about entertainment.
Besides,
it is not like “Minowaman” does not have some signature
victories to go along with his sideshow exploits. Sometimes,
they can co-exist, as they did when he won the Dream Super Hulk
Tournament. In a bracket that started out with current UFC heavyweight
Mark Hunt, former Strikeforcelight heavyweight king Gegard Mousasi,
as well as oddities such as Sapp, Hong Man Choi and Jose Canseco,
Minowa made his way to the final, slaying the 360-pound Sapp
and 7-foot-2 Choi along the way. In the final, he bested former
UFC competitor Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou with punches in the first
round.
Minowa
also owns notable victories against Phil Baroni,Gilbert Yvel
and Kimo Leopoldoin his career. Most recently, he picked on someone
his own size and fell to “The Ultimate Fighter 3” winner
Kendall Grove at ProElite 3 in January. Somehow, the thought
of“Minowaman” fighting his fellow 185-pounders does
not seem nearly as fun.
6.
Randy Couture
In
terms of wins of losses, Couture garnered mixed results against
the giants of the sport, but, as a three-time UFC heavyweight
champion, “The Natural” fared better than most would
have imagined, especially when he toppled Tim Sylvia at UFC 68.
Going into that bout, Couture was 43 years old and had lost two
of his previous three fights to Chuck Liddell at light heavyweight.
It seemed a tall order --literally -- for the future UFC hall
of famer to defeat the 6-foot-8, 265-pound Sylvia.
Fresh
off a premature retirement, Couture floored “The Maine-iac”with
a right hand and kept his foot on the gas pedal from there. Couture
took Sylvia to the mat in round two and pushed the pace throughout
to become an unlikely heavyweight champion.
“Not
bad for an old man,” Couture would say shortly after the
bout’s conclusion.
The
three-time All-American from Oklahoma State University would
successfully defend his title against Gabriel Gonzaga at UFC
74 before being overwhelmed by the sheer size ofBrock Lesnar
more than a year later. Still, it was an amazing feat for a man
who looked out of his league after back-to-back losses toJosh
Barnett and Ricco Rodriguez had forced him to return to 205 pounds
some five years earlier.
With
victories against Maurice Smith, Kevin Randleman and Pedro Rizzo(twice),
Couture had proven he could have success against the heavyweights
of the UFC’s earlier years. By beating the super-sized Sylvia,
Couture struck a definitive blow for the underdogs of the world.
5.
Kazushi Sakuraba
It
only makes sense that Sakuraba got his start in professional
wrestling, because in the muscle-bound world of sports entertainment,
weight classes exist only in the imagination.
During
his MMA career, Sakuraba refused to be restricted by the boundaries
of weight, fibbing on his actual weight to gain entry into the
UFC’s “Ultimate Japan” heavyweight tournament
in 1997. Some 60 pounds lighter than his opponent, Marcus Silveira,
Sakuraba’s first meeting with the Brazilian resulted in
a premature stoppage by referee John McCarthy. In a rematch on
the same night, Sakuraba submitted Silveira with an armbar.
As
he became a star in Pride Fighting Championships, it became a
recurring theme: the man who came to be known as “The Gracie
Hunter” would consistently hold his own with opponents who
were at least 20 pounds larger. Wins over the likes of Vernon
White,Vitor Belfort and Ebenezer Fontes Braga were classified
as open weight affairs, masking the discrepancy. An even more
valiant effort came in 2000 at the Pride open weight grand prix,
where Sakuraba returned to the ring following his 90-minute epic
with Royce Gracieto square off with Igor Vovchanchyn, who had
approximately 50 pounds on his exhausted opponent. Sakuraba nearly
forced Vovchanchyn to tap to an armbar, but, eventually, the
Japanese star’s corner threw in the towel.
As
his career progressed, Sakuraba would notch several more notable
victories over fighters a full weight class above him. His clash
with Quinton“Rampage” Jackson was credited with launching
“Rampage” into superstardom, as Sakuraba survived several
powerful slams before submitting the future UFC light heavyweight
champion with a rear-naked choke.
Prior
to the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s return to Japan
on Feb. 25, UFC President Dana White called Sakuraba one of his“favorite
fighters ever.” In the past, White has also questioned whether
the open-weight spectacle proved detrimental to Sakuraba’s
career. For many, Sakuraba was a favorite for that very reason.
4.
B.J. Penn
At
his natural weight class of 155 pounds, Penn is one of the best
ever, but “The Prodigy” has never been able to fully
focus on cleaning out that division. Perhaps that is because
the Hawaiian’s first taste of championship gold came at
UFC 46, where he moved up in weight to topple Matt Hughes.
At
the time, Hughes was in the midst of a dominant run in which
he had won six fights in a row, including five title defenses.
Against one the sport’s greatest welterweights in the prime
of his career, Penn was superb. The Brazilian jiu-jitsu black
belt bloodied the champion’s nose with a punch and quickly
took his back. At 4:39 of the opening frame, Hughes was forced
to tap.
Though
Penn would never quite reach such lofty heights again at welterweight,
he has proven ready and willing to take on opponents of all sizes.
The win over Hughes marked a stretch in which Penn fought seven
straight bouts at 170 pounds or greater. For an open weight K-1
showdown with Lyoto Machida, Penn weighed approximately 190 pounds,
while “The Dragon” tipped the scales at 220. Penn lost
a decision to Machida, but he was victorious against middleweights
-- Rodrigo Gracie and Renzo Gracie-- and another welterweight
-- Duane Ludwig-- before he returned to the UFC.
Consecutive
losses to Georges St. Pierre and Hughes prompted a return to
lightweight, where Penn remained -- with the exception of a super
fight versus St. Pierre-- until UFC 123. There, he concluded
his 170-pound trilogy against Hughes with a 21-second knockout.
“Well,
he hit me hard,” Hughes said. “When I felt the hit,
I thought it was a knee or a kick. It wasn’t a clip. He
hit me hard.”
For
one more night at least, Penn had proven he was plenty dangerous
fighting out of his comfort zone.
3.
Frankie Edgar
To
this day, “The Answer” hears the rumblings. Even after
an impressive run at lightweight that saw Edgar lose just once
in five years en route to capturing the 155-pound belt, everyone
from fans to UFC President Dana White has been trying to nudge
him into the featherweight division.
The
reign of the Toms River, N.J., native recently came to an end
at the hands of the larger Benson Henderson at UFC 144, and those
cries have gotten louder. While Edgar lobbied for and received
a rematch with Henderson -- they are expected to meet again this
summer -- White first appeared to be dangling a showdown with
145-pound champ Jose Aldo as bait.
“I
have so much respect for Frankie Edgar,” White said. “He
did what he had to do at 155 pounds because there wasn’t
a 145-pound division. He did it.”
That
he did. While many of his opponents were cutting from as high
as 170 pounds, Edgar endured almost no weight cut prior to his
lightweight fights. It did not seem to matter, as he utilized
superior speed and movement to take victories over the likes
ofTyson Griffin, Mark Bocek,Spencer Fisher and Sean Sherkearly
in his career.
His
greatest achievement came during a four-fight run from April
2010 to October 2011, when he compiled a 3-0-1 mark againstB.J.
Pennand Gray Maynard. Few gave him a chance to dethrone Penn,
who was also a former welterweight champion, and Edgar shocked
the world twice. Those same doubters expected Maynard to control
Edgar much the way he did in their first meeting at UFC Fight
Night 13, but that scenario never transpired. Edgar was rocked
in both of his meetings with the larger, stronger Maynard, but
both times he recovered. After a draw with “The Bully”
at UFC 125, Edgar rallied from the brink of defeat to finish
him with strikes at UFC 136.
Edgar
might someday listen to his boss and drop to featherweight, but
it would not be a surprise if he kept fighting larger adversaries
at 155, either.
2.
Dan Henderson
These
days, Henderson does not appear to have much interest in cutting
to 185 pounds -- unless it involves an encounter with UFC middleweight
champion Anderson Silva -- but the truth is “Hendo”
has spent his mixed martial arts career as a decent-sized middleweight
capable of doing significant damage across three divisions.
“I’ve
been wrestling for a long time, but I never get any money for
it,” Henderson would say prior to competing in the Brazil
Open lightweight tournament in 1997. That would change, as the
Greco-Roman specialist consistently proved he was willing to
fight bigger men to earn a paycheck.
Henderson
was not at a serious size disadvantage in capturing that four-man
tournament with victories over Crezio de Souza and >Eric Smith,
but he would move up the food chain a few years later. On February
26, 2000, the Californian beat a pair of heavyweights-- Gilbert
Yveland Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira -- and a light heavyweight --
Renato “Babalu”Sobral -- to win the Rings “King
of Kings” tournament in Japan. That was the launching point
of what would be a remarkably successful career. The Team Quest
representative won titles in the Pride Fighting Championships
middleweight and welterweight divisions and, in the process,
became the first fighter to hold two major titles in separate
weight classes at the same time.
After
bouncing between 185 and 205 pounds in the UFC from 2007 to 2009
and beginning his Strikeforce career with a loss to Jake Shieldsfor
the middleweight title, Henderson won the San Jose, Calif.-based
promotion’s light heavyweight crown in 2011. He looks primed
to finish his career at that weight class as he awaits a title
shot in the UFC, but Henderson did fire off one final salvo at
heavyweight in July 2011, knocking out the legendary Fedor Emelianenko
in the first round.
“I’ve
been a huge fan of Fedor’s forever,” Henderson said
in the cage that night. “I respect him so much. That’s
a huge accomplishment compared to a lot of the things I’ve
done.”
1.
Royce Gracie
Though
he did not corner the market on the “Giant Killer”
moniker-- Keith Hackney and Ikuhisa Minowa earned that distinction
-- Gracie was the first mixed martial artist who taught us that
superior technique trumps size when properly applied.
When
the UFC held its inaugural event in Denver on Nov. 12, 1993,
Brazilian jiu-jitsu was a little-known technique. By the end
of the night, the approximately 175-pound Gracie had dispatched
of three larger men -- Art Jimmerson, a boxer, Ken Shamrock,
a shoot fighter, and Gerard Gordeau, a savate specialist -- via
submission inside of a round. The Brazilian in the gi used crafty
groundwork to become an overnight sensation, and it was just
the beginning.
At
UFC 2, Gracie stormed through the competition yet again, winning
four fights by submission. His final two victories came over
natural heavyweights Remco Pardoeland Patrick Smith. At UFC 4,
wrestler Dan Severn used his 250-plus pounds to keep Gracie pinned
to the canvas for the majority of their bout but fell victim
to a triangle choke after the pay-per-view went off the air.
That night, angry viewers who missed the ending to the bout felt
the same confusion that many of Gracie’s larger, stronger
opponents experienced upon going to the mat with the grappling
whiz.
Gracie’s
jiu-jitsu expertise translated to the spectacle of K-1 when he
submitted sumo wrestler Chad “Akebono” Rowan in a little
more than two minutes in 2004. Over time, the jiu-jitsu popularized
by Gracie and the rest of his family became more of an MMA necessity
than a curiosity. While a fighter could no longer hope to overwhelm
larger, clueless opponents as Gracie once did, a schooling in
the art of BJJ became essential on the path to“well-roundedness.”
It would not have gotten started, however, if Gracie had not
empowered the little guy nearly two decades ago.
Source:
Sherdog
|
Damage
control: NOAH yakuza crisis (the state of Japan in 2012)
By Zach
Arnold
Given
how close we are to the fifth anniversary of PRIDE’s transactional
death to Zuffa, this story seems all too fitting… and predictable.
When
Cyzo first came out with information last January regarding a
‘black money’ scandal in NOAH involving a yakuza couple
taking 50M yen from the widow of Mitsuharu Misawa, it created
a ripple effect. NOAH, no longer on broadcast television (Nippon
TV), basically saw their chances of getting back on network TV
crushed.
According
to Cyzo, the yakuza couple got involved in essentially being
a glorified money mark of sorts for NOAH wrestlers to keep them
around by gifting them. The classic term ’sponsor’
in Japan often means a yakuza money mark in the fight game. What
blew up in the face of Misawa’s wife is that she trusted
the couple and didn’t know they were yakuza. Read our link
from January to find out how deep the yakuza scamsters got their
hooks into Misawa’s wife, now the owner of NOAH. She ended
up going to civil court in Tokyo to seize the couple’s house.
As
would soon be revealed, it was long-time veteran hand Haruka
Eigen & Mitsuharu Misawa right-hand man Ryu Nakata (the famous
ring announcer from All Japan) who had hooked up NOAH with the
yakuza money people. Eigen essentially took over the role of
Mitsuo Momota (Rikidozan’s son), who promptly left NOAH
after Misawa’s death. Nakata became the GM of NOAH and the
iron fist after winning a political battle with Kenta Kobashi
over how to manage the company. It is Nakata who has taken a
‘hardline’ tact of releasing wrestlers.
What
blew up the black money scandal for NOAH is that it was revealed
that the yakuza couple in question were basically stealing money
from senior citizens and financing their charades with the NOAH
boys. In other words, a Bernie Madoff-type scandal.
Last
week, publisher Takarajima released a new scandal book on NOAH.
The angle of the book was from ‘an insider’s perspective’
on what happened. It turns out that the face of said book is
Jun Izumida, former All Japan & NOAH wrestler. Izumida’s
reputation is well-known — permanent mid-carder for life,
coffee boy like Tamon Honda was for Misawa. Izumida made a lot
of money during his wrestling career, way more than you would
expect. So, for him to publicly be the guy to lay the hatchet
down, that was quite a statement.
Around
the same time as the release of the book, Kodansha publication
Flash soon jumped on the black money scandal story. At that point,
NOAH was in crisis mode.
Today,
the company released a statement saying that both Haruka Eigen
& Ryu Nakata would be demoted, at the very least, if not
resign. Akira Taue claimed that NOAH would implement new anti-yakuza
protocols and that management would undergo training soon on
how to avoid yakuza connections.
Whether
the resignations are real or not, Japan has always been about
saving face and image first more than substance — especially
in the fight game. Last year, Keiji Mutoh ‘resigned’
as President of All Japan after a major scandal involving a wrestler
(Nobukazu Hirai) getting beat up & crippled backstage at
a show in Hyogo. Despite said resignation, Mutoh is still the
face of All Japan. No one’s batted an eye and nobody brings
up Hirai’s name any more.
So,
yakuza involvement in the Japanese fight game is nothing new
but it’s still as corrosive as ever. Without yakuza money,
it’s hard to see where money is going to come into play
for promoters in the fight game. As one friend put it to me recently,
they see the Japanese fight scene as having their own version
of a ‘lost decade’ if not longer over what has happened.
DREAM
is dormant and basically Real Entertainment is a booking agency
at this point. Despite all the big talk & promises about
a come back, Kazuyoshi Ishii is impotent as far as his power
goes. He’s also aged very much in the last few years. New
Japan is the only real player because of the fact that they are
backed by Bushiroad, which isn’t afraid to throw around
cash. However, it should be noted that Bushiroad acquired New
Japan from Yukes when it was revealed that Bushiroad had made
a significant loan to Yukes to keep things afloat.
All
of this is bad news for the Japanese scene. The police are furiously
moving into territory they haven’t gone after before with
such aggression. Will they win the war? Can a fight scene exist
in Japan without yakuza money or scamsters looking to glom on?
History says no.
Source:
Fight Opinion
|
DANA
WHITE BELIEVES CURRENT UFC HEAVYWEIGHTS MATCH UP WITH PRIDE HEYDAY
By Mike
Chiappetta - Senior Writer
Leave
it to Frank Mir to bluntly answer a question that's been asked
ad nauseum. Since the announcement of UFC 146's all-heavyweight
main card, many have wondered what exactly it says about us that
we seem to care more about MMA's biggest than any other weight
class.
The
former UFC champ addressed that question on Tuesday at a press
conference to promote the event. Using the bantamweight division
as an example, Mir said that a lighter weight fighter could be
the best at his division, but that doesn't mean he has the total
respect of everyone watching. Human nature being what it is,
some will inevitably walk away with a twinge of doubt.
"I
think a lot of people, when they're watching the fights, in the
back of their mind, they kind of feel like, 'I'm 220. Even though
he knows how to fight, I can probably kick his ass,'" Mir
said. "We’re the heavyweights. If you’re thinking
that, you’re stupid."
As a result, you have relevant fights that are likely to capture
the public's attention. From the estimation of UFC president
Dana White, it's the strongest division the promotion has ever
boasted. In fact, he said, it may even come close to equaling
PRIDE at its best.
"Their
heavyweight division was awesome," he said. "That's
where a lot of legends were built, over there. Absolutely, I
think that's where our heavyweight division is finally getting,
and the division has been great and stacked for a few years now."
UFC
146's 10 fights feature 2,539.5 pounds of heavyweight monster,
those numbers coming at last count of the most recent weigh-ins.
While the event booking might be seen as an advertising gimmick,
it's at least a good one, with a championship on the line as
well as a near-certain reshuffling of the top 10 based upon the
night's outcomes.
But
what does it say about the future of the UFC's biggest weight
class that the smallest of the 10 heavyweights scheduled to populate
the main card is the division's champion?
Two-hundred-thirty-nine
pound Junior Dos Santos reigns over the land formerly controlled
by giants like Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin, who threatened
to run the lighter, more agile fighters out of the division.
At least for now. The rest of the story will be told on May 26,
when the MGM Grand reinforces its famous buffet for the event's
arrival.
The
night's key matchups will no doubt rock the boat one way or the
other. Aside from Dos Santos' first title defense against Alistair
Overeem, Mir faces Cain Velasquez in the former champ's first
fight back since losing his belt.
Velasquez
admitted that his defeat was the first time he'd suffered a loss
in competition since wrestling in the NCAA collegiate championship
tournament way back in 2006. That means he's been living in a
foreign world for the last few months, attempting to rebound
into the win column rather than continuing on the momentum he
had built for himself.
To
hear him tell it, he's been able to draw upon those experiences
to help him move forward after this more recent setback.
"It's
not difficult, no," he said. "I love what I do. In
wrestling, you have a loss, it's not the end of world. You have
to come back stronger, be healthy, watch film and see what you
did wrong. Learn from your mistakes. You can't dwell on that
kind of stuff. You have to move forward and try to get better."
That's the same thing the UFC did with its biggest division,
which went through some lean times a few years ago. In the years
since, talent has been added, most recently bolstered by the
arrival of the Strikeforce heavyweights. It's an improvement
that's been welcome by even the old guard. As Mir explained,
it's for the benefit of all.
"Back
in the day, the fights got spread out a bit farther because there
wasn't as many guys to match up against. Anytime you're trying
make a run towards the title, the worst thing in the world is
to get an opponent, that when you tell people you're fighting
him, they ask who that is. At least now, we don't have that issue.
Almost everyone in the top 10 of the UFC is a household name,
recognizable, and that makes it much more pleasurable to train
and fight. There’s always a risk when you walk in the octagon,
I’d rather take that risk against someone who's considered
dangerous than take that risk against an unknown."
Source:
MMA Fighting
|
Ian
McCall vs. Demetrious Johnson 2 Headlines UFC on FX 3 as Three
Round Main Event
by Damon
Martin
The
bad news for Ian McCall and Demetrious Johnson is because of
a scoring error they have to rematch in June to find out who
will face Joseph Benavidez for the first ever UFC flyweight championship.
If
there is a silver lining of good news for the two fighters it’s
that they get to headline the upcoming UFC on FX 3 show on June
8.
UFC
President Dana White confirmed that the rematch between McCall
and Johnson will indeed be the main event for the June 8 show,
but unlike other headliners it will be a three round fight.
“They
would never fight a five round fight. It’s not going to
happen. Because if they fought a five round fight and it was
a draw, they’d have to go to a sixth round. It’s a
three round fight, if it goes to a draw, and they add it up as
a draw, it will go to a fourth round,” White explained on
Tuesday.
“It
is the main event, it’s going to main event. It’s the
main event, those guys deserve to be the main event and especially
the way that everything went down. As great as that fight was,
and it will be a three round because if it goes to a draw it
will be a four round fight.”
The
June 8 card is slated to be UFC on FX 3, although the location
and venue for the event have yet to be announced.
White
stated that the Harley-Davidson contest where fans could vote
for their city to be the host location has closed, and an announcement
should be coming shortly where the upcoming show will be held.
The
only clue White would give is that it’s a city they have
not been to in some time.
McCall
and Johnson will rematch to decide who will face Benavidez later
this year to determine the first ever 125lb champion in UFC history.
The
first fight between McCall and Johnson ended originally with
Johnson declared as the winner, but then an error was discovered
that revealed the fight should have ended in a draw.
Now,
McCall and Johnson will do it all over again as this time they
headline UFC on FX 3, to finally decide who moves on in the flyweight
tournament.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
GRACIEMAG.com’s
Jiu-Jitsu Pan-American 2012 picks
GRACIEMAG.com isn’t a betting site, but it does tend to
get it right when providing tips on who is favored to win the
big competitions. The 2012 Pan-American Jiu-Jitsu Championship
will kick off on the coming 29th in Irvine, California, and sign-ups
are over. Plenty of first-rate competitors showed up just as
role was about to be called, as you will find here.
Once
the dots on the finalized roster are connected, what takes shape
is a major constellation of stars, and we point out who to us
is most likely to get their hands on the gold. The absolute contest,
as always, will be the main battle, but the competition in the
other divisions is deep, meaning there’ll be no lack of
excitement.
Check
out our predictions, and comment as to whether you do or don’t
agree. In the end, who are your favorites, gentle reader?
ROOSTER
The
skillful and controversial Caio Terra shares favorite status
with Rafael “Barata” Freitas, the current divisional
champion. But Felipe Costa, Brandon Mullins, Fabbio Passos, Joseph
Capizzi, Takahito Yoshioka and Koji Shibamoto are obstacles the
two top seeds had best not take lightly.
Predicted
final: Caio Terra vs. Rafael Freitas
Winner: Caio Terra
LIGHT
FEATHERWEIGHT
Guilherme
Mendes and Bruno Malfacine are the favorites, for their always
masterful Jiu-Jitsu, while running in the outside lanes are Pablo
Silva, Láercio Fernandes, Samir Chantre, Daniel Beleza,
Bernardo Pitel and newcomer Francielio Costa.
Predicted
final: Gui Mendes vs. Bruno Malfacine
Winner: Gui Mendes
FEATHERWEIGHT
The
current champ, Rafael Mendes, is without a doubt one of the kingpins
of the competition. It’s just that at the other end of the
bracket there sits his nemesis, Rubens Charles “Cobrinha”
Maciel, who yearns for a fifth Pan-American title. And not to
be counted out: Mário Reis, Justin Rader, Renan Borges,
Osvaldo Moizinho, Wellington Megaton, Sandro Santiago, David
Juliano and Paulo Eduardo will be looking to unseat the favorites.
Predicted
final: Rafael Mendes vs. Rubens Cobrinha
Winner:
Rubens Cobrinha
LIGHT
This
division will be a festival of first-rate Jiu-Jitsu, starting
with current champ Lucas Lepri. But don’t blink, as the
frenetic Zak Maxwell, Leandro Lo, Rodrigo Caporal, Claudio Caloquinha,
Vinicius Marinho, Bruno Amorim, Jonathan Torres, Rodrigo Simões,
Rafael Rosendo, Philipe Furão, rising star Ryan Beauregard
and others will be bringing the goods. With so many worthy candidates
for the title and plenty of plausible alternate picks, we opted
to be conservative: we stuck with the beast from Alliance.
Final
prediction: Lucas Lepri vs. Zak Maxwell
Winner: Lucas Lepri
MIDDLEWEIGHT
Current
middleweight champ Cláudio Calasans is a strong candidate
retain his title; however, Kron Gracie has what it takes to make
divisional headlines. There are others whose chances are just
as good, though, like: Victor Estima, Abmar Barbosa, Murilo Santana,
Gabriel Goulart and Marcos Yoshio. There’s no shortage of
elite grappling aces, and there’s still Marcelo Lapela,
Vitor Henrique and Jonatas Novaes, not to mention the game Clark
Gracie, all of whom are worthy of title contention.
Predicted
final: Claudio Calasans vs. Victor Estima
Winner: Claudio Calasans
MEDIUM
HEAVYWEIGHT
This
very well could be the most riveting division of them all, thanks
to the prospect of André Galvão, Rômulo Barral,
Rafael Lovato and Kayron Gracie facing off. And the four teachers
are in tip-top shape, too. Others adding intrigue to the mix:
Marco Antônio, Wancler Oliveira, Ben Baxter, Oliver Geddes,
Diego Gamonal and Renan Vital.
Predicted
final: Rômulo Barral vs. André Galvão
Winner: André Galvão
HEAVYWEIGHT
With
11 athletes on the roster, the forerunners for the title are
Lucas Leite, Gustavo Pires, Yuri Simões, Fabiano Leite,
Ricardo Mesquita and Roberto “Tussa” Camargo.
Predicted
final: Lucas Leite vs. Roberto Tussa
Winner: Lucas Leite
SUPER
HEAVYWEIGHT
Bernardo
Faria is the favorite. He won’t have it easy, though: CheckMat
Paraíba ace Antônio Carlos “Cara de Sapato”
is the real deal when it comes to winning titles.
Final:
Bernardo Faria vs. Antonio “Cara de Sapato”
Winner: Bernardo Faria
ULTRAHEAVYWEIGHT
The
division offers the prospect of a showdown between two new-generation
ace: Danish demolition machine Alexander Trans and the mesmerizing
Marcus Bochecha. One can’t be too carefull when the likes
of Ricardo Evangelista, Gustavo Elias and Luiz Pedro are lurking,
though.
Predicted
final: Alexander Trans vs. Marcus Bochecha
Winner: Marcus Bochecha
ABSOLUTE
Predicted
final: Bernardo Faria vs. Marcus Bochecha
Winner: Marcus Bochecha
BROWN
BELT ABSOLUTE
Predicted
final: Orlando Sanchez (GB) vs. João Gabriel (Soul Fighters)
Winner: João Gabriel (Soul Fighters)
Source:
Gracie Magazine
|
Testosterone
MMA HOF grows as backers ramp up the rhetoric
By Zach
Arnold
Last
night, Spike TV aired a segment on Testosterone Replacement Therapy.
They had over 500,000 viewers watch it. Josh Gross, earlier this
week on ESPN Radio, hosted a roundtable show on testosterone
use in MMA. The New York Daily News ran a Victor Conte op-ed
on Rampage Jackson’s infamous Fighters Only interview about
using testosterone from an ‘age management doctor’
while fighting on the UFC Japan card.
Don’t
think the T story is picking up steam in media circles? I told
you this was only the beginning. Again, I’ll repeat what
I’ve said before — the T issue is a losing one for
promoters and it’s an even bigger loser for fighters. Keith
Kizer can embarrass himself by talking about how testosterone
usage amongst MMA fighters shouldn’t be a scarlet letter
and that he doesn’t want to violate basic human rights all
he wants. The fact is that his spin, IMO, is not holding up well.
How
can you tell it’s a losing issue for fighters? Rampage opened
his mouth again and said testosterone critics suffer from a ’slave
mentality’ against such users. He actually managed to outdo
Kizer on this front. The hyperbolic responses from both men should
tell you a whole lot about who has the losing hand here.
Mike
Chiappetta at MMA Fighting has an article talking about the link
between concussions & low testosterone. Mike dropped a little
item in his article that, reportedly, Shane Roller is the newest
member of the testosterone brigade. Given that we don’t
know anything about TUE exemptions or PED suspensions from state
commissions like New Jersey which don’t release such information,
this is the public list so far of testosterone users:
Dan
Henderson
Todd Duffee
Shane Roller
Nate Marquardt
Chael Sonnen
Dennis Hallman
Bristol Marunde
Rampage Jackson
Ken Shamrock
If you had those guys on your roster, you could put on a show
tomorrow that draws fairly well. These guys are names in the
business. These aren’t undercard nobodies. That’s what
makes the development of the T story so damning – the big
boys are using it. You can’t cover that up.
Not
included on the ‘official’ list – Joe Rogan, who
on September 11th, 2007 talked about turning 40 years old:
Now,
I don’t “look” or “feel” like the average
40 that I see because I work out constantly and take a fuck load
of supplements (including hormone replacement therapy) to keep
my body healthy – but the reality is no matter how you slice
it, I’m fucking 40.
On
one hand our perceptions of what’s possible at an older
age have definitely been changed by modern athletes that compete
at the highest level WAY later than they did decades in the past
because of the advances in science and nutrition. For example,
one of the baddest motherfuckers on the planet, the UFC heavyweight
champion Randy Couture is 44 years old, baseball’s homerun
king Barry Bonds is 43, and boxing’s light heavyweight champion
of the world and one of the best pound for pound fighters alive,
Bernard Hopkins is 42. When I was 15 a 40-year-old athlete might
as well be dead.
“40
is the new 30!” Whatever the fuck that means.
Joe
has had foot-in-mouth disease on this topic before in relation
to Randy Couture.
Ben
Fowlkes adroitly noted on Friday that the UFC’s hands-off
spin about testosterone usage in MMA is disingenuous given that
they’ll pick a fight with anybody over anything – New
York MMA legislation, Oklahoma taxes, fan piracy, their own fighters,
so on and so forth.
Yesterday
on Spike’s TRT segment, Mike Straka gave his second biggest
whopper to date on the show (him claiming I work for Cage Potato
was the biggest whopper) by claiming that Dana White has come
out on multiple occasions against TRT usage. FALSE. As Warner
Wolf would say, let’s go to the tape!
“If
you take a guy who’s talented enough to be in the UFC, right?
he’s talented enough to be in the UFC yet for some stupid
reason this guy’s using or abusing [Performance Enhancing
Drugs]. What it does is the long terms effect of this… when
guys get off it, they stop producing testosterone. It [expletive]
with guys mentally, physically, emotionally, it does so much
damage to a professional athlete… there’s no way in
hell we want guys coming in doing this stuff. The problem is,
it happens. It’s happening now and what we want to try to
do is stop this before it gets, you know, to a point where, you
know… young guys get damaged and could have, you know, gone
on and had great careers in the UFC.”
The
UFC knows the T issue is a hot potato but hasn’t come out
against it. After all, Rampage & Marquardt have fought on
foreign UFC shows ‘regulated’ by the promotion during
time periods where the men in question said they were using T.
Jim Miller, who’s brother Dan fought Marquardt before the
fiasco blew up in Pennsylvania with Nate’s situation, called
T usage for what it is — a performance-enhancer. Jim’s
trainer, Mike Constantino, also came out and blasted TRT usage.
Dr. Johnny Benjamin was featured as well in the Spike segment
and called testosterone usage in MMA for what it is. Dennis Hallman
played the role of being the sympathetic spokesman for TRT usage.
Clips of Chael Sonnen proclaiming TRT to be legal were also aired.
However,
the most effective part of the Spike TRT segment came from a
short two-minute interview between Craig Carton & Dr. Armand
Dorian. The good doctor talked about the risk of testosterone
usage in relation to increasing your chances of getting cancer.
Doc was starting to talk about how serious hypogonadism is but
found himself agreeing with virtually all of the premises Craig
mentioned regarding how the majority of fans see TRT as PED usage
and how testosterone is, in fact, a performance-enhancer that
works.
Go
out of your way to watch the Spike TRT segment because it was
well-done in regards to taking a complicated subject and boiling
it down to what your gut told you testosterone usage was (good
or bad) in the first place. The issue is a loser for promoters
and a bigger loser for fighters, which is why the backers &
users of testosterone in MMA are squealing like pigs headed for
slaughter.
Source:
Fight Opinion
|
UFC
Engenhao: tickets on sale in May
UFC
officially announced this Monday (26th) morning that Ultimate
event at Engenhao, soccer stadium in Rio de Janeiro, is taking
place on June 23, and the tickets will be available for purchase
starting on May.
On the main event, Anderson Silva defends the middleweight title
against the contender Chael Sonnen. On the same night, Wanderlei
Silva seeks revenge against eternal rival Vitor Belfort, besides
the definitions of TUF Brazil champion on feather and middleweight
divisions.
The new Rio edition of the show might bring a new tickets selling
record for the organization, overcoming 55 thousand tickets sold
at UFC 129, in Canada.
“This will be the biggest sporting event of the year”,
said UFC president Dana White. “Bigger than NFL, the NBA,
you name it – UFC 147 will be the biggest. The whole world
wants to see this fight between Silva and Sonnen. We are broadcast
in over 150 countries in 22 languages in half billion homes.
Wherever those fans are, they are going to be watching this fight”.
More information regarding on-sale dates for UFC 147 and the
fight card will be announced in April.
Source:
Tatame
|
Fueled
by Failure
By Brian
Knapp
Close
to five months have passed, but the taste in Ben Saunders’
mouth has grown no less sour.
The
28-year-old American Top Team Orlando export had designs on challenging
for the Bellator Fighting Championships welterweight crown in
2011, but his ill-fated encounter with Douglas Lima in November
resulted in his being knocked out 81 seconds into the second
round at Bellator 57. It halted a four-fight winning streak for
Saunders and, more importantly, left him one step shy of his
desired goal.
The
defeat to Lima in the Bellator Season 5 welterweight tournament
final only added fuel to Saunders’ inner fire.
“I
can’t even put into words how disappointed and frustrated
I am with my last fight against Lima,” Saunders told Sherdog.com.
“I’m just really frustrated, and all I want to do is
beat someone up. The only thing that’s going to make me
feel better is getting that cage and beating the crap out of
someone.”
The
man who calls himself “Killa B” will get his chance.
Saunders will face the unbeaten Raul Amaya in the Bellator Season
6 welterweight tournament quarterfinals atBellator 63 on Friday
at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn. The winner of the
talent-laden eight-man draw -- which also includes Jordan Smith,
David Rickels, Carlos Alexandre Pereira, Bryan Baker,Chris Lozano
and Karl Amoussou -- will earn himself a six-figure payday and
the opportunity to vie for 170-pound gold against either Lima
or reigning Bellator welterweight champion Ben Askren. They meet
next week at Bellator 64.
“Coming
up just short in the tournament last time has left me extremely
angry,” Saunders said. “Unfortunately for the next
three guys I fight in this tournament, they’re going to
have to deal with that. I know that this bit of rage I have boiling
inside me isn’t going to be the only reason I win this tournament,
but I definitely think me fighting angry could be a very bad
thing for my opponents.”
unblemished 9-0.
His path now crosses with Amaya, who has spent his entire professional
career competing under the Art of Fighting banner in Florida.
The 26-year-old Bradenton, Fla., native has finished all nine
of his foes, five by submission and four more by knockout or
technical knockout.
“To
be honest, I’m just looking to go out there and really beat
the crap out of Raul,” Saunders said. “I’m a little
pissed off right now. I have a little bit of rage in me. I think
it might be hard for me to be calm out there. I’ll have
some respect for him if he survives the first round. I’m
going to try to take him out as soon as possible.”
Saunders’
ability to finish and to do so violently has never been in question,
as evidenced by his six first-round finishes. Blessed with a
long and lanky build, the 6-foot-3 UFC veteran has become known
for his damaging clinch game featuring sharp knees and elbows.
Ask Marcus Davis, Brandon Wolff and Matt Lee, among others.
“Raul
has never fought anyone like me,” Saunders said. “I
feel that way in all of my fights because I bring something unique
in the cage that’s very hard to train for. Sometimes I ask
my opponents after I fight them who they brought in to prepare
for me because, with my style, it’s not easy to mimic me
in the gym. At times, I can be all over the place, so it’s
not simple.”
A
quarterfinalist on Season 6 of “The Ultimate Fighter,”
he has not lost consecutive fights since being released by the
Ultimate Fighting Championship after back-to-back decision defeats
toJon Fitch and Dennis Hallman in 2010. Saunders believes his
combination of skill and big-fight experience will be far too
much for Amaya to overcome.
“I
just keep getting better and better, so I can honestly say that
I believe that I’m better than Raul everywhere,” he
said. “I just can’t say by how much. I’m very
confident in my strengths, and I’m working on my weaknesses
so much that they’re becoming my strengths.”
Still,
Saunders views Amaya with a wary eye. The Floridian last appeared
in September, when he choked Jesse Lawrence unconscious with
a guillotine in the fourth round of their five-round title bout
at Art of Fighting 13. Such performances do not go unnoticed.
“Raul
is a scrappy guy,” Saunders said. “He’s undefeated,
and he’s a champion of a promotion out here in Florida.
I see him as the wild card of the tournament because nobody really
knows much about him,” Saunders said. “Raul is going
to be trying to have his breakthrough performance in this fight,
and I’m going to be trying to break his face.
“That’s
pretty much how it’s going to go,” he added. “Just
another day in the office for me.”
Source
Sherdog
|
Upcoming
New Jersey Combat Sports Medicine seminar on April 6th
By Zach
Arnold
The
New Jersey State Athletic Control Board (NJSACB), the Association
of Boxing Commissions (ABC) Medical Chair and lead MMA/Muay Thai
physician for the NJSACB, Dr. Sherry Wulkan, in conjunction with
Atlantic Health of Morristown Hospital, is pleased to announce
a CME accredited symposium in Combat Sports Medicine.
“The
symposium kicks off the first Combat Sports fellowship elective
in the nation. We believe this approach toward proactively training
physicians in the nuances of Combat Sports medicine will help
meet the need for well versed ringside doctors for these increasingly
popular athletic contests now and in the future.” Dr. Wulkan
“In
the interest of fighter health and safety, we hope both the symposium
and this novel approach to Sports Medicine Fellowship training,
sparks interest in incorporating Combat Sports Medicine into
medical curricula throughout the country.” Dr. Wulkan
What:
Combative
Sports Medicine Symposium – This comprehensive symposium
will introduce participants to Combative Sports medical issues
from pre-evaluation to post fight.
Where:
Atlantic
Sports Health Conference Center
111 Madison Avenue
4th Floor
Morristown, NJ 07960
When:
Friday
April 6, 2012 from 8:00 AM to 5:45 PM EDT
Attendees
may earn up to 7.50 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits.
Registration:
8:00 AM to 8:30 AM
Agenda:
8:30am
– 8:40am: Introduction to Combat Sports Medicine, Damion
Martins, MD / Sheryl Wulkan, M.D.
8:40am – 8:50am: Opening Remarks: A Commissioner’s
Viewpoint, Commissioner Aaron Davis, NJSACB
8:50am – 9:00am: A Fighter/Trainer’s Perspective On
Medical Issues in Combat Sports, Jim Miller and Mike Constantino
9:00am – 9:45am: An Overview of Ringside Medicine, Dominic
Coletta, M.D.
9:45am – 10:15am: Legal Issues in Combat Sports, What every
ringside physician should know : Nicholas Lembo J.D. L.L.M.,
Association of Boxing Commissions Legal Committee Chair
10:30am – 11:30am: Facial Lacerations and ENT Issues in
Combat Sports Medicine: Kenneth Remsen, M.D., F.A.C.S. and Howard
Taylor, M.D., F.A.C.S.
11:30am – 12:20pm: Neurologic Concerns in Combat Sports
Medicine, Theodore Conte, M.D.
1:00pm – 2:00pm: Ophthalmologic Concerns in Combat Sports,
Steven Rodis, M..D.
2:00pm – 2:50pm: Infectious Diseases in Combat Sports, Robert
Smick, D.O.
3:00pm – 4:00pm: Orthopedic Concerns in Combat Sports, Michael
Kelly, D.O.
4:00pm – 4:45pm: Injury Prevention and Rehabilitation for
Combat Sports Participants, Dr. Sharon Wentworth
5:00pm – 6:00pm: Current Controversies in Ringside Medicine:
Sheryl Wulkan, M.D.
6:00pm – 6:30pm: Ringside Acuity: Fight Clips with Discussion:
Sheryl Wulkan, M.D.
For further information or registration assistance, please contact
Sheryl Wulkan, MD at Sherry.Wulkan@gmail.com.
Source:
Fight Opinion
|
USA
Boxing’s Elite Women Prepare for the 2012 Continental Championships
in Canada
(COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO) – A full squad of USA Boxing’s
top female boxers will test their skills against elite women
from north, central and south America at the 2012 Women’s
Continental Championships, April 4-7, at the NAV Centre in Cornwall,
Ontario, Canada. The United States will send a full squad of
10 athletes to the event with the three Olympic Trials champions
joining the 2012 USA Boxing National Champions in the seven non-Olympic
weight divisions.
The
competition will be the first for flyweight Marlen Esparza (Houston,
Texas), lightweight Queen Underwood (Seattle, Wash.) and middleweight
Claressa Shields (Flint, Mich.) since winning gold at the first-ever
U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Women’s Boxing in mid-February.
The seven reigning national champions who will join the trials
trio are: light flyweight Alex Love (Monroe, Wash.), bantamweight
Christina Cruz (New York, N.Y.), featherweight Tiara Brown (Lehigh
Acres, Fla.), light welterweight Mikaela Mayer (Los Angeles,
Calif.), welterweight Raquel Miller (San Francisco, Calif.),
light heavyweight Franchon Crews (Baltimore, Md.) and heavyweight
Victoria Perez (Ventura, Calif.).
Six of the seven national champions competed in the Olympic Trials
before changing weight classes for the 2012 USA Boxing National
Championships with Perez being the lone Continental Championships
team member who was not an Olympic Trials participant. Love,
Brown and Miller all moved down in weight to vie for spots on
the Continental and World Championships squads with Cruz, Mayer,
and Crews all jumping up a weight division.
2000 Olympic Coach Israel Acosta (Milwaukee, Wis.), Bruce Kawano
(Pearl City, Hawaii) and Gloria Peek (Norfolk, Va.) will serve
as the coaching staff for the 2012 Continental Championships
with 2008 Olympic Team Manager Joe Smith (Chattanooga, Tenn.)
filling the same role in Canada. Dr. Ted Mills (Glen Cove, N.Y.)
will join the squad as Team Physician with Patricia Pliner (Janesville,
Wis.) working as the AIBA official for the event.
The 2012 Women’s Continental Championships team will convene
at the U.S. Olympic Training Center, March 25-April 1 for a preparatory
training camp before traveling to Canada for the event. Preliminary
round competition will begin on April 4 prior to quarterfinal
action on April 5 and the semifinal round on April 6. Tournament
finals will be contested on April 7 and Team USA will return
home on Sunday, April 8.
United States’ Women’s Continental Championships Team
106 lbs/48 kg: Alex Love, Monroe, Wash.
112 lbs/51 kg: Marlen Esparza, Houston, Texas
119 lbs/54 kg: Christina Cruz, New York, N.Y.
125 lbs/57 kg: Tiara Brown, Lehigh Acres, Fla.
132 lbs/60 kg: Queen Underwood, Seattle, Wash.
141 lbs/64 kg: Mikaela Mayer, Los Angeles, Calif.
152 lbs/69 kg: Raquel Miller, San Francisco, Calif.
165 lbs/75 kg: Claressa Shields, Flint, Mich.
178 lbs/81 kg: Franchon Crews, Baltimore, Md.
178+ lbs/81+ kg: Victoria Perez, Ventura, Calif.
Head Coach: Israel Acosta, Milwaukee, Wis.
Coach: Bruce Kawano, Pearl City, Hawaii
Coach: Gloria Peek, Norfolk, Va.
Team Manager: Joe Smith, Chattanooga, Tenn.
Physician: Dr. Ted Mills, Glen Cove, N.Y.
AIBA
official: Patricia Pliner, Janesville, Wis.
Source: Bruce Kawano/USA Boxing
|
Justin
Lawrence Near 2 to 1 Favorite Over Cristiano Marcello for TUF
Live Fight
The
new concept behind the Ultimate Fighter Live showcases each week’s
match-up happening in real time and shown life on FX.
No
more taped episodes or fights recorded months ago with the possibility
of spoilers or advanced knowledge of what happens leaking out
in the fight.
Thus
as we head into this Friday night’s highly anticipated bout
between Team Cruz’s No. 1 pick Justin Lawrence against former
Chute Boxe coach Cristiano Marcello, there are also odds on the
match up.
According
to Nick Kalikas from BetOnFighting.com, the odds are currently
sitting at nearly 2 to 1 in favor of Team Black House’s
Justin Lawrence, after his rousing knockout performance to kick
off the show a couple of weeks back.
Lawrence
currently sits as a -240 favorite while the come back on Marcello
is +190.
“I’m
really glad the UFC has decided to start announcing the fight
matchups at the end of each episode. The diehard MMA sports betters
have been asking for betting lines on this season’s TUF-15
live weekly action, excited that we can deliver,” said Kalikas.
“My
line for this weeks Episode-3 fight has been released to the
sports books. In what should be one of the best match ups of
the entire season, Justin Lawerence is entering as just over
2-1 Favorite over Cristiano Marcello. I’m expecting a back
and fourth war that likely wont go to the cards. Cristiano Marcello
is very talented fighter, with a definite edge in experience
and a very dangerous submission game. Justin Lawrence has shown
us all a glimpse of his incredible striking ability but make
no mistake, he’s far more evolved then your typical striker.
His overall skill set is the reason why I have him as the betting
favorite heading in.”
The
bout between Lawrence and Marcello was an early favorite for
the show’s finale with both competitors being pegged as
top fighters as soon as the first episode ended.
Instead,
Lawrence and Marcello will battle it out this Friday night live
on FX with the winner moving onto the next round of the Ultimate
Fighter Live.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Junior
dos Santos Looking to KO Overeem at UFC 146, Says Jiu-Jitsu is
‘Plan B’
By Gleidson
Venga
The
fight card for UFC 146 features several Brazilians in high-profile
matchups, but none are more high-stakes than Junior dos Santos’
UFC heavyweight title defense against former Strikeforce titleholder
Alistair Overeem.
Since
joining the UFC in 2008, dos Santos has conquered a number of
talented foes, including Fabricio Werdum, Gabriel Gonzaga and,
most recently, ex-champ Cain Velasquez. While “Cigano”
took on legendary striker Mirko Filipovic in 2009, the Brazilian
has never faced a world-class kickboxer in his prime. That is
exactly the task he faces with his next bout against Overeem,
a grand prix champion in the world’s most prestigious standup
event, K-1.
“I
think it’s the ultimate test for my striking,” said
dos Santos, who has publicly contemplated an Olympic boxing bid
for 2016. “It’s still the biggest challenge. He was
a K-1 champion, which is the greatest striking event in the world.
He’s a very strong guy, good, but I trust in myself a lot
and I try for the knockout in all of my fights. Regardless of
him being a striker or not, I’m going for the knockout.”
Of
course, like any good champion, dos Santos has a backup plan
to surprise the Dutchman.
“Jiu-jitsu
can be Plan B. I’m an MMA fighter, training in everything,”
dos Santos said. “I’m well prepared to fight, whether
standing or on the ground, and if I find it necessary to take
it to the ground, it will happen.”
Despite
training alongside ground wizards the Nogueira brothers, grappling
hasn’t been easy for dos Santos. After taking the belt from
Velasquez in November, Cigano underwent knee surgery, which delayed
his return to jiu-jitsu training. Now, however, all is well and
the champ expect to be at full strength when he takes on Overeem
at the end of May.
“The
preparation has already begun. I’m training hard for the
fight, feeling well. Now is the time to get strong, to then endure
the hard training and get to 100 percent for the fight,”
explained dos Santos.
Recently,
dos Santos received some praise from an unlikely source. Middleweight
contender Chael Sonnen, known for his controversial comments
about Brazilians, named the heavyweight as a Brazilian who he
admires in MMA.
“I
was surprised, because he speaks ill of Brazilians and now names
me as a favorite,” said dos Santos. “For me, it’s
strategy, and if it’s working, I think he really has to
do it. His focus is Anderson [Silva], but if I serve as inspiration
or anything else, if I help him with anything, good for him and
thanks for appreciating my work.”
Dos
Santos’ teammate, heavyweight Antonio Silva, recently signed
with the UFC and will also compete at UFC 146 against Roy Nelson.
For now, the defending champ expects “Bigfoot” to be
a sort of“guardian of the title shot,” even while acknowledging
that the training partners’ paths may cross in the future.
“We
will adapt to how things will be, but the important thing is
to support each other.”
Source:
Sherdog
|
Shaq
O’Neal Accepts Jose Canseco’s Challenge to MMA Fight
by Tom
Ngo
Former
MLB star Jose Canseco desperately needs a paycheck, and it appears
Shaquille O’Neal (Pictured) is willing to do his best to
oblige.
Canseco
was recently fired from a Mexican baseball league after it was
discovered he was taking testosterone. Since the 47-year-old
is nearly out of options for generating income, he took to his
Twitter to repeatedly challenge O’Neal to a mixed martial
arts scrap.
Bring
it on, says Shaq Diesel.
“I
challenged him a long time ago. If he wants it done, he knows
where to find me,” O’Neal told ChicagoTribune. “He
can be high off whatever, and I’ll be high off Frosted Flakes.”
The
former Laker previously said he’d be interested in fighting
fellow giant Hong Man Choi (or as UFC president Dana White once
unforgettably called him “Long Duck Dong”), but the
bout has yet to came to fruition.
Speaking
of “Long Duck Dong,” Canseco was humiliated by the
South Korean at “Dream 9” in May of 2009. After submitting
via strikes after merely 77 seconds of action, Canseco never
returned to MMA following his unsuccessful debut.
To
his credit, Canseco does hold black belts in karate and taekwondo.
He has also worked with the Nick and Nate Diaz at Cesar Gracie
Jiu Jitsu.
O’Neal
has never competed in a professional fight, but has trained MMA
off-and-on since 2000. He worked on boxing, BJJ, Muay Thai and
wrestling at Jonathan Burke’s Gracie Gym.
Source:
5th Round
|
MMA
ROUNDTABLE: IS IT REALLY THE END FOR TITO, UFC'S ALL-HEAVYWEIGHT
CARD, MORE
By Mike
Chiappetta - Senior Writer
Another
week is going by without a UFC event. Are you getting twitchy
yet? In case a steady diet of Bellator and TUF Live aren't satisfying
your craving for all things MMA, my colleague Luke Thomas and
I decided to head on down to the trusty MMA Roundtable (it exists,
just in a secret location) and debate a few of the topics in
the news.
Among
this week's offerings: will Tito Ortiz's just announced match
with Forrest Griffin really be his last, what should we make
of UFC's upcoming all-heavyweight main card, and who's going
to win the war for MMA souls in Asia. Let's get to it.
1.
Will UFC 148 match truly be Tito Ortiz's last?
Luke
Thomas: Yes, and not a moment too soon.
Fans
are rightfully bellyaching about the UFC 148 rubber match between
former light-heavyweight champions Ortiz and Forrest Griffin.
No one outside of Ortiz and Griffin themselves asked for this
bout. That isn't to say it won't necessarily be competitive or
offer some other measure of entertainment. It's just that both
fighters are thoroughly known quantities. We know their strengths,
weaknesses, tendencies and habits. This bout does nothing to
illuminate new, relevant information about them as fighters.
We won't get anything new. We know how this movie ends.
If
anything, it suggests both are basically out of ideas (Ortiz
much more so than Griffin). Ortiz campaigned hard for this fight
and has previously indicated it would serve as a retirement match.
Ortiz believes the fight is winnable or that he could be entertaining
enough to grab a bonus check in a losing effort. That fact alone
suggests he knows he needs to exit before things get worse. He
also knows his drawing power as an attraction has been badly
eroded and outside of Griffin, there's really no one left to
fight that makes sense for either combatant. Ortiz needs a port
in the storm. He knows it, the UFC knows it and so do the fans.
The uncomfortable truth is that it's not clear fighting Griffin
- who is still very competitive - is really any sort of shelter.
The
reality is this: Ortiz has done enough for himself and for MMA.
He doesn't need my sanctioning or anyone else's personal approval.
He's one of the most important figures in the history of the
sport. However, that most of his accomplishments which contributed
to making him the figure he is today took place many, many years
ago should be a reminder the sun is quickly setting on his career.
Once more into the breach, dear Tito.
Mike
Chiappetta: Most likely it will be his last fight. But let me
paint you an alternate scenario: If Ortiz upsets Griffin, he
can point to a 2-2 record in his last four fights. Not riveting,
but not terrible, either, with wins coming against a former UFC
champ and a young buck in Ryan Bader. You're telling me he's
going to want to exit stage left that way?
The
thing that may ultimately cause him to call it quits is that
despite all his ups and downs with the UFC, Ortiz is a company
man at heart. There's few viable alternatives for him, either.
With all due respect to Ortiz's fight career, I don't think Bellator
will want to pony up big bucks for him, and most promotions couldn't
dream of paying the money he'd ask for in free agency. He's not
going to be Peyton Manning with multiple suitors throwing big
bucks at him. Unless some ambitious, international startup league
fires major money his way, UFC 148 will be the end for Tito.
2.
Is UFC 146's all-heavyweight main card a good idea?
Chiappetta:
No, not a good idea; a great idea. Remember back to the announcement
of the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix? The opening round
in February 2011 remains the highest-rated Strikeforce/Showtime
broadcast ever, with almost 750,000 viewers tuning in to watch.
There
may be better talent elsewhere in the UFC -- as a matter of fact,
there most certainly is -- but there's something about the heavyweights
that lures us in. It's probably the rising possibility of spectacular
knockouts. But as an added bonus, the main card fights on UFC
146 actually matter. Not only is the heavyweight championship
on the line between Junior Dos Santos and Alistair Overeem, but
Cain Velasquez will have a chance to return into top contender
status, Mark Hunt looks to continue his improbable rise, and
solid prospect Shane del Rosario gets a featured slot.
All
in all, it's a great way to re-launch the division shortly after
the retirement of Brock Lesnar, who was one of the biggest draws
in MMA history.
Thomas:
It's risky. The payoff can either be huge or audiences will tire
of what could become sloppy, quick fights.
I
tend to think my colleague is right here. UFC clearly recognized
the attention Strikeforce generated with it's Heavyweight Grand
Prix and wanted to recreate it. A tournament in MMA these days
seems destined for failure, but if they can make something like
that happen on a single fight card, why not? And as Mike rightly
points out, there are bouts of significance on the card. It's
not just blood and guts. It's title fights and number-one contender
bouts.
It
should also be pointed out this is the single-greatest fight
card in MMA history showcasing ranked heavyweight talent. RINGS
was a great tournament, but never had one card like this. PRIDE
obviously had a deep roster, but nothing that matched the ranked
depth of this heavyweight fight card.
We'll
see how things turn out, but so far it looks like the UFC has
managed to add novelty to this card without being gimmicky. To
keep that balance as fighters get injured and replacements are
needed will prove tricky. And they have to keep their fingers
crossed that the action delivers on fight night in the best way
possible. If the UFC has demonstrated anything, it's that they're
good about taking appropriate risks while hedging their bets.
I believe they've achieved that balance and I can't wait to see
it unfold.
3.
With One FC in southeast Asia, RUFF in China and Super Fight
League in India, who will win the battle of Asia?
Thomas:
The far East is like the wild West right now.
Regional
promoters, some with intriguing products and others of dubious
value, are trying to cash in on MMA's growth by getting out in
front of the curve. Will MMA really take off in Asia as it has
in North and parts of South America? Obviously some of the ingredients
are there, but it's still very much an open question.
If
I had to single out a promotion that seems to be ahead of it's
peers, it's ONE FC. They've got a lot going for them: strong
TV deals, a home base in a developed economy, a network of gyms,
a relatively strong roster, organizational resources and more.
That isn't to say other organizations like URCC or RUFF MMA aren't
doing interesting work. Perhaps our Western bias isn't allowing
us to see the lay of the land more clearly. It's still precariously
early in this process to try highlighting a clubhouse leader.
For
me, the key consideration is whether pan-Asian domination is
even possible. I can envision a scenario where one regional promoter
clearly demonstrates their superior infrastructure, box office
drawing power and even a better product, but could be hindered
by geographical limitations. Is it so hard to imagine India's
Super Fight League having the comparative advantage in India
over ONE FC, but ONE FC being a larger and even better MMA organization,
head to head? Not really. Asia is a wildly diverse place and
that we unite this vast geographical, cultural expanse with a
single term only hinders our ability to understand what's going
on. Whether any organization can become a hegemonic power - even
the UFC - seems far from certain. But it will be fun to watch
them compete.
Chiappetta:
One FC has been impressive so far, but I think the promotion
with the best long-term potential is China's RUFF. Why? For one,
the league has the government's blessing to promote MMA as a
sanctioned sport in China, no small thing in a communist country,
let alone one of over 1.3 billion with growing economic clout,
most of whom grew up practicing some type of martial art.
One
word of caution here is that RUFF has only produced two events
thus far, with the third set to go this weekend. Early returns
are strong though, as RUFF has already secured Nike and Ducati
as sponsors. The potential audience is huge, but of course with
that the case, others will show up attempting to take market
share.
Super
Fight League is the newest of the three offerings, so it's hard
to project their future success, but their theme song is…
well… yeah.
4.
TUF Live ratings: What do the relatively low numbers mean?
Chiappetta:
The first two weeks of the rebooted Ultimate Fighter franchise
haven't delivered huge ratings, with 1.3 million fans tuning
in for the premiere, and that number dipping to 1.1 million for
the second episode. But let's not start pressing the panic button
just yet.
We
need to take into account the fact that TUF not only changed
formats, it switched nights and networks. That's a lot of change,
and so it's possible that some of the audience hasn't found it
yet. Add in the fact that on the same night, TUF's old home at
Spike is hosting repeat episodes hosted by Kimbo Slice, and on
MTV2, Bellator has live events, and you can see that the MMA
audience has been effectively fractured.
That's
not to say there shouldn't be some worry. TUF has faced some
ratings difficulties in recent seasons, with even the season
that featured Brock Lesnar struggling at times. The new "jive-live"
format was an attempt to freshen things up, but perhaps the lower
numbers simply prove that after 15 seasons, the show has peaked.
Given the show's still impressive demographic pull, that's not
exactly an indictment.
Thomas:
I'm mostly with Mike here. The ratings in and of themselves aren't
great - and signs that they decline over the course of the show's
airing are worrisome - but panicking at this juncture seems premature.
As
UFC President Dana White has indicated, TUF: Live is on Friday
nights because FOX wants them there. And if you look at FX's
ratings in that timeslot this time last year, the UFC has dramatically
improved them. That's nothing to scoff at. If FOX is happy and
FX is performing above the previous status quo, that's a reason
to smile.
Conversely,
though, there are structural problems. The live format was designed
to make the show destination programming ('DVR proof'), but it's
not clear that's working. There's also the inherent and seemingly
inescapable problem that with the growth of regional MMA and
promoters like Bellator who cater to rising prospects, it's increasingly
difficult to find talent anyone knows or cares about. MMA is
a star-driven sport, so it's hard to get ratings for a show with
a bunch of mostly anonymous figures.
UFC
and FX went back to the drawing board with this season of TUF.
That's not easy and they deserve credit for coming up with a
novel approach. It's just not clear that facelifts or even renovations
are really going to return the show back to it's glory days.
Source:
MMA Fighting
|
Dan
Miller Moves to Welterweight, Returns at UFC on FX 4
Dan
Miller will get the chance to fight near home when he fights
at UFC on FX 4 in Atlantic City, and he’ll have a new weight
class as well.
The
long time middleweight has decided to move down to the welterweight
division. He will make his debut at 170 pounds on June 22 when
he faces Ricardo Funch.
UFC
officials announced the bout on Wednesday.
After
10 fights in the UFC and a record of 5-5 overall, New Jersey’s
own Dan Miller will try his hand at a lower weight class. Miller
has dropped his last two in a row to Nate Marquardt and Rousimar
Palhares, but will now try to revitalize his career at the lower
weight.
Still
searching for his first win in the UFC will be Miller’s
opponent in New Jersey, Ricardo Funch.
The
Team Link fighter, who trains alongside UFC heavyweight Gabriel
Gonzaga, has gone 0-3 thus far in UFC fights, but hopes to change
that trend when he fights in June against Miller in his welterweight
debut.
While
no formal announcements have been made regarding the placement
of the fight on the UFC on FX 4 card, it’s like Miller vs.
Funch will be a preliminary bout on the show.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Who
will reign at the 2012 IBJJF Pan Jiu-Jitsu Championship?
Four
days away from the end of sign-ups for the 2012 Pan—the
biggest and most familiar IBJJF tournament of all—and the
stars are already sharpening up their claws at the main Jiu-Jitsu
academies in the USA, Brazil and the rest of the world.
The
stars are already coming together, at least on the list of confirmed
participants. Check it out here, and get in the mood by watching
a match from last year.
Besides
plenty of action guaranteed to unfold between the promising talent
in the base categories, the black belt division looks set to
go off. The elite roosterweight contest is sure to be a show
of sweeps and masterful technique, and there are no favorites.
In the mix: Fabbio Passos (Alliance), Felipe Costa (Brasa Warrior
International), Brandon Mullins (GB Texas), Joseph Capizzi (Renzo
Gracie), Takahito Yoshioka (Tokushima BJJ) and Koji Shibamoto
(Tri-Force). Will any other diminutive aces signing up at the
last minute make things even rougher for them than they already
are?
At
light featherweight, the competition is even harder to digest,
with the level akin to that of the Jiu-Jitsu World Championship—and
there are a bunch of world champions in there, too. The current
one, Gui Mendes (Atos Jiu-Jitsu), will try to show why he’s
still the favorite this year by overcoming the likes of Pablo
Silva Santos (GB Texas), Bernardo Pitel (Nova União),
Laércio Fernandes (Lotus Club), Francielio Costa (Alliance)
and Henrique Costa e Silva (Marcelo Garcia), among others.
Featherweight
features top dog Rafael Mendes (Atos) and another handful of
handfuls. Though two-time world champ Rafa is the favorite, things
may get nasty. Training away earnestly at his academy in Los
Angeles, Rubens Cobrinha may join the mix in Irvine. Also threats
to Rafa’s reign are Renan Borges (BTT), Justin Rader (Lovato)
and Paulo Eduardo (GB Campinas) and more.
The
lightweight division deserves an entire day, to be sure Jiu-Jitsu
fans don’t miss anything. But that being infeasible, don’t
take your eyes off of Lucas Lepri (Alliance), Leandro Lo (Cicero
Costha), Bruno Amorim (GB Texas), Rodrigo Caporal (Atos), Claudio
Caloquinha (GB BH), Vinicius Marinho (GFTeam) and, last but not
least, home nation sons Ryan Beauregard (BJJ Revolution) and
Jonathan Torres (Lloyd Irvin). So who will tbe left with the
throne once the dust settles?
Middleweight
looks to be the second hairiest of the weight classes. With Claudio
Calasans (Atos), Marcos Yoshio (Bonsai), Marcelo Lapela (CheckMat),
Vitor Henrique (GFTeam), Jonatas Novaes (Brasa) and Clark Gracie
(Carley Gracie) all in it to win it, the mats might not handle
the pressure.
At
medium heavyweight, Rômulo Barral (GB Northridge) has the
difficult task of defending his post as divisional kingpin, facing
at least 13 new values gnashing their teeth as they eye the gold,
including Marco Antônio (CheckMat), Wancler Oliveira (GFTeam),
Ben Baxter (Ribeiro JJ) and Oliver Geddes (Roger Gracie).
PROMISE
OF CLASSIC IN FEMALE DIVISION
In
what is so far a sparsely populated division, heavyweight has
teachers Gustavo Pires (GB America) and Yuri Simões (CheckMat)
as favorites, with Fabiano Leite (Alliance) and Daniel O’Brien
(Solis) on their coattails.
Now
the mission at superheavyweight is to put the brakes on Bernardo
Faria (Alliance), something Antônio Carlos “Cara de
Sapato” (CheckMat) and James Puopolo (Lovato) will do everything
in their power to get accomplished.
At
ultraheavyweight, two aces who may get up to no good in the absolute:
Alexander Trans (CheckMat) and Ricardo Evangelista (GFTeam).
In
the female tournament, the big stars are in, with Gabi Garcia,
Hannette Quadros, Luanna Alzuguir, Sofia Amarante and Fabiana
Borges all having put their names on the roster. In the absolute,
expectations abound for a Gabi-versus-Hannette classic, in a
repeat of their electrifying No-Gi final last year in Abu Dhabi.
Source:
Gracie Magazine
|
Jose
Aldo: If Frankie Edgar won't come to 145, I'm going to move to
Lightweight
by Joey
Santosus
"Edgar
thinks he won against Henderson, so he really had to stay in
his division and get the rematch. If he comes to Featherweight,
we’ll fight. Many people want to see it. Having Edgar, a
former Lightweight champion, would be amazing for the Featherweight
division. But, if he doesn’t come down [to 145 pounds],
in the future, I’m going to have to move to Lightweight."
- For more from Jose Aldo, visit Sherdog.com
If
Frankie Edgar won't come to Jose Aldo, Jose Aldo will go to Frankie
Edgar.
That's
according to the Featherweight Champion himself, who says that,
though he understands why Edgar remained steadfast in his quest
for a rematch with Ben Henderson, he still wants a crack at "The
Answer."
After
losing the Lightweight belt at UFC 144, Edgar was offered an
instant shot a Aldo's title should he make the drop to 145. The
former champ declined, however, insisting that the close nature
of his fight with Henderson warranted an instant rematch, which
he was later granted. With Edgar now set to meet Henderson again
this Summer, and Aldo likely to face the Dustin Poirier vs. Chan
Sung Jung winner, it's a showdown that will have to wait. But,
what do you think LowKick'ers? Is a date with Edgar worth making
the move to 155, or should Aldo sit tight and wait for "The
Answer" to come to him?
Source:
Low Kick
|
Demian
Maia ready for Dong Huyn Kim, new challenges in the UFC
By Guilherme
Cruz
Demian
Maia decided to change classes in the UFC and already know what
is waiting for him. This Wednesday afternoon (21st), the organization
announced that he has been paired up against South Korean Dong
Huyn Kim, and TATAME already talked to BJJ black belt about the
expectations for this double challenge.
“It
couldn’t be any different, I knew they’d give me a
hard guy. I had many tough fights in the UFC and I can’t
wait for anything other than tough guys too (in this new weight
division). It’ll be a hard test but I’m hoping it all
works just fine in this weight cut and that I do a good fight
and win”, the Brazilian fighter said.
Dong
Huyn Kim suffered only one loss in 18 professional fights, and
it happened when he was knocked out by current interim champion
Carlos Condit. But Demian had the time to study his game already.
“I
could tell he has good stand-up skills, a lined Boxing style,
is left-handed like me. He’s not just good at Judo, which
is his strong point, but his Boxing ain’t that bad, so we
can go anywhere, and I’m guessing he won’t have a problem
in fighting me on the ground because he’s a Judo expert”.
The
Brazilian has started his new diet eyeing the welterweight division.
Current he weighs 193lbs and seems to be cool about it: “It’s
cool, I don’t have to cut like a lot of weight”.
His
bout is scheduled to take place in Las Vegas, on July 7, and
Demian does no regret being left out of UFC card in Engenhao,
soccer stadium that will host another Rio de Janeiro event, scheduled
for June.
“I
couldn’t do it even if I wanted because of my hand. In July
I’ll have a couple more weeks and it’ll make a huge
different on training because my hand is not 100% repaired yet.
If (the event) it was in Sao Paulo I would get upset but I know
I’ll fight in Brazil eventually, so it’s ok”.
Source:
Tatame
|
Demian
Maia Moving to Welterweight for UFC 148 Bout Against ‘Stun
Gun’ Kim
By Mike
Whitman
UFC
officials Wednesday announced the addition of two new matchups
to UFC 148.
Jiu-jitsu
ace Demian Maia(Pictured, right) will make his welterweight debut
against well-rounded South Korean “Stun Gun” Dong Hyun
Kim, while middleweight talent Riki Fukudawill meet heavy-handed
Constantinos Philippou.
Expected
to take place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on July 7, UFC 148
will also feature a pivotal 185-pound collision betweenMichael
Bisping and Tim Boetsch, as well as a light heavyweight rubber
match pitting Forrest Griffin against Tito Ortiz.
Maia,
34, has competed for the UFC 13 times as a middleweight, debuting
with the promotion in 2007. After notching five-straight submission
victories to start his Octagon career, the Brazilian has posted
a 4-4 record in his last eight outings, most recently dropping
a unanimous decision to prospect Chris Weidman on Jan. 28 at
UFC on Fox 2.
Meanwhile,
30-year-old Kim has officially tasted defeat just once as a professional,
emerging victorious in six of his eight UFC outings. The judo
black belt was last seen outpointing Sean Piersonon Dec. 30 at
UFC 141, rebounding from a knockout loss to current interim welterweight
champion Carlos Condit six months prior.
Fukuda
made his UFC debut in February 2011 and had a seven-fight winning
streak snapped in a controversial decision defeat toNick Ring
at UFC 127. The onetime Deep champion rebounded from the loss
by outpointing Steve Cantwell at UFC 144 in February.
Representing
the Serra-Longo Fight Team, Philippou has posted a trio of Octagon
victories since dropping his UFC debut to Nick Catoneone year
ago. The Cyprus native posted a pair of triumphs to close out
2011, outpointing Jorge Riverain August before knocking out Jared
Hamman at UFC 140 on Dec. 10. Philippou earned a unanimous nod
over “Ultimate Fighter” Season 11 winner Court McGeethree
weeks ago at UFC on FX 2.
Source Sherdog
|
UFC
on FX 4 Fight Card Growing: Riddle vs. Ramos, Story vs. Attonito
UFC
matchmakers Joe Silva and Sean Shelby are in the midst of a flurry
of fight cards, filling up a plethora of late spring and early
summer events.
The
latest fight card to start reaching capacity is UFC on FX 4,
which takes place on June 22 in Atlantic City, N.J. Several bouts
have been added this week, including a couple of welterweight
battles pitting Matt Riddle vs. Luis “Beicao” Ramos
and Rick Story vs. Rich Attonito.
Riddle
(6-3), who was born in nearby Allentown, Penn., is coming off
of a split decision victory over Henry Martinez at UFC 143 that
likely saved his UFC career. Prior to that, he had lost back-to-back
bouts.
Ramos
(19-7) will be trying to erase the memory of his Octagon debut
at UFC 144 in Japan. He lost via a 40-second TKO to fellow Brazilian
Erick Silva.
Story
(13-5), once rocketing towards a title shot, has fallen on hard
times in his last two outings, losing unanimous decisions to
Martin Kampmann and Charlie Brenneman. He’ll be trying to
get back on track on his home turf in New Jersey.
Attonito
(10-5), another Jersey boy, will also be trying to right his
career. He lost his most recent bout, getting TKO’d by Jake
Hecht at UFC 140 last December in Toronto.
A
lightweight contender bout between Gray Maynard and Clay Guida
headlines the UFC on FX 4 fight card.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Keith
Kizer: Rampage’s testosterone cheerleading has led to more
TUE requests
By Zach
Arnold
I
wanted to give Josh Gross credit for the excellent radio show
he recorded this week about the issue of testosterone in MMA.
He interviewed a lot of people for the show, including George
Dodd of the CSAC, Keith Kizer of the NSAC, and Dr. Margaret Goodman
of the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association. Marc Ratner, according
to Josh, reportedly declined to be interviewed on the topic.
That’s no surprise given what a hot potato issue the T deal
is right now in MMA. And, right on cue, UFC announced Chael Sonnen
(a poster boy for testosterone usage) against Anderson Silva
this Summer in Rio at a soccer stadium… an event under UFC
‘regulation.’ So, just like Rampage Jackson was (allegedly)
using testosterone at the UFC Japan show, Chael will be doing
his testosterone dealio for the Brazil fight.
I’ve
said before and I’ll say it again – the T issue is
a loser for promoters but it’s an even bigger loser for
the fighters. It stinks. People don’t need to go through
the complex spin to know that testosterone is the base chemical
of steroids. The three primary ways MMA fighters can damage their
endocrine system:
Previous
anabolic steroid usage, resulting in low levels and using TRT
is basically double-dipping.
Severe/bad weight cutting.
Concussions/head trauma, leading to a decrease in one’s
production of testosterone.
If you have suffered so much head trauma that your body can’t
produce testosterone any longer, you shouldn’t be given
a Therapeutic Use Exemption for testosterone usage so that you
can repeat the vicious cycle and suffer from more head trauma.
You shouldn’t be licensed to fight if you’re at that
physical stage as a fighter.
As
for anabolic steroid users or those who made bad decisions regarding
weight cutting, having guys like Ken Shamrock or Rampage or Sonnen
as the face of testosterone usage isn’t going to help your
cause.
Josh
opened up his radio show with this monologue:
“Should
he be able to feel 25 years old when he’s 33? Is that OK?
When you watch athletes compete and, all of a sudden, being an
old man doesn’t mean you’re an old man any more? You
know, there was something really cool about the idea of seeing
a veteran athlete still able to do his thing later in life against
younger guys and… not because he was taking something or
she was taking something that allowed them to do that but simply
because they were capable of it, because they had another dimension
in the game that made them special and this levels the playing
field. This makes everybody special. This means if you get the
creaking pains in your elbows and your knees are bugging you,
maybe you can’t train as hard as you used to, all of a sudden
you have access to this because you’re diagnosed with low
Testosterone, isn’t that just a normal part of life? Aren’t
we all having low testosterone as we get older? I think I do.
Does that entitle me to take this stuff simply because it’s
a natural course of life? I don’t know, it’s an interesting
question. It’s a medical question. It’s a moral question.
It’s one that I think has many sides & many angles to,
not the least of which is ‘fair play’ which I think
in my mind is paramount. Is it fair? It is a backdoor to cheating?
How do you differentiate the two? I’m not sure.
“I
mean, look, Dan Henderson has done amazing things in his career
later in life. Would he have been able to do those things without
TRT? Probably not. Does it make it OK? I guess, I don’t
know, I mean I think that’s something that each individual
person as they watch these athletes compete have to make the
determination on and whether you’re fine with that. I think
judging by the reaction from most people to Performance Enhancing
Drugs, most people don’t give a damn, they don’t care.
I do. I think some people do and the issues of ‘fair play,’
again, linger as we discuss this.”
There’s
a difference between someone who is not a fighter who is using
TRT as opposed to active fighters who are using it and getting
into a cage to pummel someone with four ounce gloves. How hard
is this to understand? It’s not your God-given right to
have a fight license.
Of
the three major interviews that Josh did for his show, I would
say that Mr. Dodd was thorough but cautious & politically
safe. Keith Kizer was over-the-top in assuredness and stepped
in it a couple of times. Dr. Goodman came off as reasonable and
educated on the issue of drug usage in combat sports. She’s
been able to work out a deal to have VADA drug testing Amir Khan
and Lamont Peterson for their upcoming boxing fight. She reportedly
contacted UFC about having VADA drug test a fighter but has not
supposedly been granted permission from the UFC for said fighter
to get drug tested by VADA & the regulatory body overseeing
that fighter’s upcoming bout.
Regarding
the upcoming April 9th hearing in Sacramento about public comment
on TUEs for testosterone usage, Mr. Dodd said that fighters who
want to apply for a TUE would have to do so in a public hearing
where the public can show up and comment on said matter. At the
public hearing, a TUE request would require a four-month review
period with a six-person medical panel. Even if a fighter already
has a testosterone TUE in another state, they will have to underdog
a separate California-only medical review.
The
major weakness in this process, of course, is that any promoter
with a big name fighter that’s using testosterone can simply
go to a foreign country and ‘regulate’ their own show
or go to a state with a weak athletic commission or no athletic
commission at all. When asked by Josh if promoters should be
at fault if something goes awry on the T issue, Mr. Dodd said
that the blame ultimately ‘falls back on the individual
themselves.’
While
Mr. Dodd’s interview was measured in tone and balanced in
perspective, the same could not be said for Mr. Kizer. He went
after critics of fighters getting TRT TUEs by talking about ’silly
articles’ discussing the testosterone issue in MMA and how
easy it is for guys to use T/do TRT. Newsflash: Guys are using
T while fighting on overseas MMA shows and right now there’s
a lot of them. Hence, why Rampage’s interview in Fighters
Only has fighters ready to get in on the T action.
Kizer
tried to put over the TUE standards of the Nevada AC by saying
it’s WADA + additional standards. He labeled it ‘a
platinum standard on top of the gold standard.” He blamed
’silly articles’ claiming T is easy to get permission
to use along with Rampage’s interview for the new-found
requests he’s gotten over the last couple of weeks to apply
for testosterone TUEs.
And
then Mr. Kizer proceeded to take a swipe at WADA & USADA
in regards to their tough stance against drug usage in MMA &
how other regulatory bodies are or are not performing to the
level of regulation that they currently are functioning at.
“But
WADA, who I have great respect for, their attitude is —
if you don’t agree with us 100% of the time, then you don’t
care. And USADA kind of has the same attitude and that’s
just not true.”
So,
he’s managed to take a swipe at me and at people like Travis
Tygart right out of the box.
When
discussing the issue of ‘the fine line’ regarding TUEs
for testosterone, he preached about how fighters have “basic
human rights” that shouldn’t be violated. That was
just the start of the absurdity. He admitted during the interview
that Rampage’s interview with Fighters Only (release the
recorded audio, jokers) has resulted in the following:
“We
probably had about, maybe, a couple of handful of athletes over
the years ask for it and, like I said, I’ve had three guys
who competed on it, so not much… but I have a feeling, like
I said, from the recent influx of people e-mailing me or calling
me and wanting to know, ‘well, what’s the procedure,
my doctor says I have this issue,’ and, okay, well, if that’s
true, you’re going to have to jump through all these hoops.
I mean, again, we require what WADA requires and then some additional
things. So, I’m not sure how you can get more serious than
that? But on the flip side, too, I don’t want it to be a
scarlet letter, you know. I mean, that seems to be the attitude.
You see some people, even some people that have medical degrees
make comments like, ‘well, they should not allow any TRT
exemptions.’ Really? Really? That’s about the most
ridiculous thing that I’ve ever heard in my life! That’s
one thing.”
The
influx comment is in response to Rampage. So, Kizer basically
kills any of his other points in terms of defending the usage
of T by MMA fighters by pointing out the blatantly obvious —
that Rampage has opened the floodgates for T usage and since
UFC allegedly let him fight while using T in Japan, what’s
to stop dozens of fighters from now fighting on T during UFC
‘regulated’ events in foreign countries?
If
you’re an active fighter and you need TRT to function, you
shouldn’t be in the cage or the ring. If you’re not
active, that’s a different story. If you need testosterone
to function as a fighter, something is seriously wrong. (More
on this later.)
This
whole ’scarlet letter’ labeling is a pathetic attempt
at sympathetic sophistry. Victor Conte said it best – only
2% of adult males have a legitimate problem with low testosterone
levels. Starting at the age of 30, your T level decreases by
1% each year. And yet we’re supposed to believe that a bunch
of big-name MMA fighters suffer from supposedly low testosterone
levels due to natural circumstances?
BTW,
the ‘medical degrees’ swipe by Kizer is about Dr. Margaret
Goodman. So, he’s gone after me, Travis Tygart, and Dr.
Goodman without using names. Which side would you rather be on
for this issue?
“Forget
about the athletic part of view. Look at what harm can come,
especially of a man … where they have this testosterone
deficiency and, again, it’s not just that you’re low-normal,
you’ve got to be below normal and look at the medical consequences,
the dire medical consequences of leaving that untreated. That’s
the starting point of all TUEs, including for TRT, is the damage
done if a person doesn’t get the treatment. And, again,
they don’t necessarily get the treatment they want. Sometimes
you have to if there’s another medication that can treat
it just as well but wouldn’t lead to any concerns either
from an undue risk standpoint or advantage standpoint for competition,
you’d have to use that medication instead. It may not apply
to TRT so much as it does it to maybe other things, other conditions
you’d have or you might use a non-anabolic medications like
Adderall for example.
As
I said up above, if you need testosterone so badly to function
as a human being, chances are there’s a lot more wrong with
you medically-speaking that should keep you out of a cage.
But,
anyways, that’s the starting point of all. So, just to say,
‘well, the easy thing to do is just not allow it all.’
That is very irresponsible to say because it puts these athletes
at almost a subhuman level that they don’t deserve to get
proper medical treatment, even if it can be done in a fair &
legitimate manner. So, that’s kind of where my starting
point is and that of the commission. But, again, it doesn’t
mean that it’s easy to get. It’s not easy to get. Most
people are turned down because in some cases they’re not
even trying to game to the system. They just think, ‘hey,
I’m at 300 ng on my testosterone level.’ Well, that
may be low-normal but it’s not 148 ng. You’re not going
to get a TRT exemption.”
Utter
political BS. TRT is the easiest way for anabolic steroid users
to continue using drugs *and* get a chance to double-dip. If
you need TRT due to concussion damage, you shouldn’t be
fighting anyways.
I
will not make the blanket statement that all TRT users in MMA
are steroid users, however.
Take
note at the end when Kizer is talking about testosterone levels.
“The
normal levels do fluctuate and I’m just going to use, you
know, it kind of differs. There’s some differing on where
it begins and where it ends but just… practically speaking,
it’s usually between 300 ng and 1200 ng. So, if you’re
between 300 ng and 1200 ng, you’re normal, you know? Now,
some guys might be at 1000 ng and some guys might be at 300 or
302 or 350 but they’re all normal, you know, and again,
yeah, the odds are that people at the 350 or 400 ng level are
probably older than the guys in the 800 ng or 900 ng level but
they’re all normal.
This
is important to note because Rampage has claimed in multiple
interviews that his T level was at 420 ng and that his ‘age
management doctor’ told him it was ‘very, very low.’
Rampage then claimed that his doctor raised it up to 600 ng but
wouldn’t go to 800 ng because he would ‘get into trouble.’
Just by supposedly increasing from 420 ng to 600 ng, Rampage
gained 15 pounds of muscle easily as he put it. So, you mean
to tell me that if someone comes in and has a level of 300 ng
but ends up going to, say, 1000 ng that somehow it’s OK
because it’s not 1200 ng? This is crazy.
So,
by Kizer’s definition, Rampage being at 420 ng wouldn’t
be considered a ‘very, very low’ level after all.
But
if you do fall below normal and it’s an ongoing issue, you
may have to for your own sake, again, forget about athletics,
for your own sake to live a healthy life and not have these complications
either currently or later in life, you may have to get some kind
of treatment and it may include TRT. There’s other less
invasive programs, medical programs that they may try on you
first before you go to the level of TRT but, you know, even then
you can’t then say, “OK, now I can be as high as I
want.’ We still expect the athlete to be somewhere in the
mid-range, even if they are on TRT but they come back us and
say the high level is 1200 ng and they come to us and they’re
1250 ng, you’re not fighting, you’re not getting the
exemption. Your doctor’s over treating you purposely or
non-purposely and there’s definitely a line there. I mean,
there have been several athletes that we’ve popped in the
last 12 months or so with elevated testosterone T/E ratios and
they’re sitting on the suspension sidelines for quite a
while here. So, there’s definitely a before and a after,
you know, before you have to below normal, not just low-normal,
and after you can’t be above-normal. And, again, maybe it’s
a good thing that there’s such a wide range of normal between
300 ng and 1200 ng roughly that it gives the doctor the ability
to fine-tune it. So, again, there’s no unfair advantage
in the fighter taking it nor an undue risk to him taking it.
If he’s got too much in his system, there’s going to
be, we don’t want them to end up like Lyle Alzedo.”
After
airing Kizer’s interview on his show, Josh interviewed Dr.
Margaret Goodman. Just like another famous Goodman in Vegas is
getting ready to set the Nevada AC director straight on drug
testing, Doc MG had a rebuttal of her own.
“What
are they treating with testosterone replacement therapy? They’re
treating a hypogonadism. They’re treating a condition that’s
obviously in of itself can be very serious and can cause a whole
host of medical conditions. So, number one, obviously you want
to know whether someone has it or not and if they do have it,
how long ago was it diagnosed and what kind of symptoms did they
have as a result of it? You know, the symptoms that are a result
of that can be very disabling and it’s not like these guys
are in an age group where they should be developing this to some
extent just by being a little bit older. It’s very, very
unlikely for them to have it in most of the age groups that these
guys are supposedly being diagnosed with it.
Memo
to Nevada AC: You wouldn’t have a rush of fighters contacting
you about testosterone usage if there already was a natural problem.
Predictably, the sniffing started once Rampage opened his mouth
and created an even bigger mess than there already is for drug
usage in MMA.
And
Dr. Goodman is right — why are all these muscular guys,
who go on fitness magazine covers and flex, crying hypogonadism?
Funny how that works.
“So,
let’s say, play devil’s advocate, that they really
do have this problem and if they do, you know, what are the symptoms
that they had along with it and were those in and of themselves
something that should have disqualified them from competing?
So, I think it’s something that has to be diagnosed over
time. Obviously, the athletic commissions are faced with a difficult
issue.
“It’s
going to take a great deal of time to diagnose and you need extensive
documentation and once you have the documentation you’ll
see how many symptoms these individuals could have had and that
needs to be documented and proven before you even say whether
or not they’re being adequately treated.
Nate
Marquardt last year brought up the issue of concussions as possibly
leading to his decreased T levels. How often is that a valid
reason for T usage in MMA?
“For
example, we know that head trauma, getting hit in the head can
cause problems with the pituitary gland in the brain that will
cause a whole host of hormonal issues and can lead to the need
for testosterone replacement therapy. But that’s super,
super rare and most individuals that would have developed Hypopituitarism
or this kind of glandular problem, that gland controls a lot
of different hormones in the body besides affecting testosterone
you would have expected that they would have had evidence of
other chronic neurological problems maybe related to getting
hit in the head before that would be an issue. So, I think that’s
pretty rare. I know that there has been some studies that have
looked to see that there’s been problems with the pituitary
associated with brain injury but I would have expected, like
I said, other neurological problems.”
Dr.
Goodman made a closing observation about an obvious elephant
in the room on the T issue.
“What
boxers are asking for TUEs for testosterone? I don’t know,
I’ve never heard of any, and obviously I’m not totally
in the know here but I would be curious to know if it’s
all MMA fighters. If it’s all MMA fighters, what does that
tell you? I mean, that’s kind of an interesting fact in
and of itself. I’m just concerned that this is coming up
more and more often. I don’t want to see it be made into
an excuse for usage of these substances and it just isn’t
a way that they’re cheating. I tend to agree with the people
from WADA that have spoken out on this in the past, not obviously
in relation to combat sports but have talked about this relation
to the Olympics when these TUEs are given for testosterone it’s
almost unheard of. So, with all the thousands of athletes that
they deal with, it should be really unheard of in MMA and boxing.”
I’ve
been asked repeatedly why I think the usage of T will explode
as a mainstream issue in the future in MMA. It’s simple
— it’s a numbers game. If Fighter A gets crippled at
the hands of Fighter B (who’s using the magic T) and it
happens in, say, New Jersey, then the promoter can shift the
political blame onto the AC. But if Fighter A dies at the hands
of Fighter B, a well-known T user, on foreign soil under ‘UFC
regulation’, then all of a sudden you will see an outcry
in the media. It will be combustible and given how Fox has already
been reportedly toning down Joe Rogan’s act, it would be
the kind of nightmare that they simply would not want to deal
with.
So,
people should be cleaning up this mess now and being proactive
instead of reactive when it’s too late. Watching ACs and
promoters acquiesce in giving muscular fighters TUEs for T is
like watching an oncoming car wreck. You know what the end result
is going to be but the participants involved are turning a blind
eye.
Source:
Fight Opinion
|
Georges
St-Pierre vs. Anderson Silva, Dana White Would Love to Do It
by Jeff
Cain
A
Georges St-Pierre and Anderson Silva match-up has been discussed
ad nauseum for years. Sometimes the biggest fights that can be
made are between two fighters in different weight classes.
It’s
happened before and St-Pierre was involved. B.J. Penn put his
lightweight title on hold to move up to face St-Pierre at for
the welterweight championship at UFC 94.
A
match-up with Anderson Silva has been something St-Pierre has
considered.
“I
have considered it, of course, but the thing is, right now, I’m
focusing on one thing at a time, focusing on my knee. Once my
knee will be 100-percent, I will focus on getting back to my
title,” said St-Pierre on Wednesday when asked about the
possibility of facing Silva.
“When
I get back to my title, depending on what’s going on, I
might have to take another fight. If everything goes, like stars
align and everything, maybe we’ll see one day in the near
future what is going to happen. Depending if I’m going to
go up or if he’s going to come down, it’s too far away
to think about it right now, but it’s something that could
happen, of course,” said the injured welterweight titleholder.
The
potential champion vs. champion match-up is something Dana White
would love to promote, but a lot of things have to come together
before then.
“Obviously
it’s a fight that people have been talking about for a long
time. So like Georges said, first of all, he has to get healthy.
Then he’s got to fight (Carlos) Condit. Anderson is fighting
Chael (Sonnen), and then we’ll see where we go from there,”
said White.
White
stated that if the bout does eventually happen, St-Pierre would
have to move up to the middleweight division or they’d have
to meet at a catch-weight.
“I
know that Anderson couldn’t make 170, so it would depend
on Georges moving up, or those guys meet at a catch-weight or
something like that,” White said.
“I
want to put on big fights. I want to put on fights the fans want
to see. I know how big that fight is,” continued the UFC
president. “Imagine if we did Anderson Silva vs. Georges
St-Pierre anywhere in Canada, how big that fight would be. Believe
me, I’d love to do. We’ll see what happens.”
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Not
Easily Discouraged
By Brian
Knapp
Patricky“Pitbull”
Freire hit the ground running on American soil, as jaw-dropping
finishes on former World Extreme Cagefighting champion “Razor”
Rob McCullough and the well-traveled Toby Imada made him a clear
favorite in the Bellator Fighting Championships Season 4 lightweight
tournament.
Michael
Chandler provided the reality check.
Not
even a badly damaged left eye and a point deduction for repeated
low blows could stop Chandler in the final, as the decorated
amateur wrestler and Xtreme Couture Mixed Martial Arts representative
worked over Freire for three rounds at Bellator 44 and captured
29-27 verdicts from all three judges.
A
four-time NCAA qualifier at the University of Missouri, Chandler
stood toe-to-toe with the Brazilian for the majority of their
first nine minutes together, ultimately scoring his first takedown
near the end of round two. He did little to capitalize on the
position, but it provided a safe haven from Freire’s potent
right hand and allowed him to alter the tone and tempo of the
bout. Chandler had a point deducted for a low blow in the third
round but delivered another takedown and belted his fellow finalist
with heavy punches from the guard.
Chandler
moved on to defeat Eddie Alvarez and become Bellator’s second
lightweight champion six months later. Freire went back to the
drawing board, unsatisfied but ever determined to return and
finish what he started.
The
25-year-old Brazilian will look to take an important first step
back towards title contention when he collides with the once-beatenLloyd
Woodard in the Bellator Season 6 lightweight tournament quarterfinals
at Bellator 62 on Friday at the Laredo Energy Arena in Laredo,
Texas. Motivation does not figure to be an issue for Freire,
as a crack at Chandler awaits the man who emerges from the eight-man
draw.
“Winning
this tournament means I can have a rematch against the last guy
to defeat me,” Freire told Sherdog.com. “Also, becoming
tournament champion means I’m halfway to becoming the world
champion. To me, that will be a dream come true. At the same
time, it also means putting food on the table for my family;
I don’t want my family hungry.”
is 11-1.
Freire (10-2) bounced back from his defeat to Chandler in stirring
fashion at Bellator 59 in November, as he needed less than a
minute to dispatch UFC veteran Kurt Pellegrino with punches at
Caesar’s Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, N.J. He has
won six of his last seven bouts, finishing five foes in that
span. However, Freire does not believe he has peaked.
“I
want to show the world how much I’ve improved since last
year,”he said. “I want to show that I’m dangerous
on the feet and on the ground. I also want to show everyone how
much I’ve improved my conditioning. If the fight goes to
the judges, I want everyone to see how much I’ve improved
physically.”
Woodard
shares a common bond with Freire, as he, too, fell prey to Chandler
in the Season 4 tournament. “Pitbull” does not take
the man they call “Cupcake” lightly.
“From
what I’ve seen of Lloyd, it looks like he has a lot of heart
and never gives up,” said Freire, who, like Woodard, has
never been finished as a professional.
“Lloyd
is the kind of guy that’s always walking forward trying
to finish the fight and doesn’t back down. His heart and
desire to win are two of his biggest strengths, but his aggressive
style can definitely end up playing to my advantage.”
Prior
to his 15-minute encounter with Chandler at Bellator 40 in April,
Woodard had rattled off 11 consecutive victories, six of them
resulting in first-round finishes. His list of victims included
Strikeforceveteran Alonzo Martinez and Jackson’s Mixed Martial
Arts representative Carey Vanier. The 27-year-old Montana native
underwent surgery six months after his decision loss to Chandler
and has not fought since. Freire views his foe as a well-rounded
threat.
“Lloyd
looks like he has good standup and knows jiu-jitsu,” he
said. “His reach can help him as much as it can hurt him
in the standup and on the ground. He’s not shy on the ground,
and it can give me [openings to exploit in] his game.”
Friere,
who holds the rank of black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, has
surrounded himself with an all-star cast of training partners
at the Team Nogueira dojo, where he has worked alongside his
younger brother, fellow Bellator mainstay Patricio “Pitbull”
Freire, reigning UFC middleweight king Anderson Silva, former
Pride Fighting Championships heavyweight titleholder Antonio
Rogerio Nogueira and current UFC light heavyweight contenderAntonio
Rogerio Nogueira.
“I
want everyone watching to see how much I’m trying to improve
in order to become Bellator champion,” he said. “I
want people to think that I am one of the best lightweight fighters
in the world.”
Freire
has Woodard in his crosshairs.
“I’m
coming into this fight to knock Lloyd out or to submit him,”he
said. “If he says he wants to stand with me, I’m definitely
looking forward to it. If he lied, I’ll be anxious to battle
him on the ground. I see this fight ending with me knocking Lloyd
out or submitting him and having my hand raised by the referee.”
Source: Sherdog
|
Mike
Kogan has had enough of Rampage’s complaining w/ UFC
By Zach
Arnold
When
we last joined you on the Rampage/UFC saga, Rampage was doing
the media rounds on Thursday and managed to create more trouble.
This time, he apparently name-dropped his sports doctor —
which appears, based on photographs & postings on his own
web site, to be Dr. William Kessler (chiropractor) who works
with various MMA fighters.
Rampage
continued making claims that Dr. Kessler allegedly bills the
UFC and that supposedly the UFC pays Dr. Kessler.
In the now infamous Fighters Only interview, the interview attributes
comments to Rampage saying that his doctor supposedly tells UFC
what is going on regarding his health.
Rampage continued defending his usage of testosterone and once
again claimed that his doctor (Dr. Kessler) led him to a “Russian”
age management doctor, where he ended up with the prescription
for testosterone. Rampage has claimed that he pays for the T
prescription out of his pocket as opposed to billing the UFC
for it.
Rampage’s comments have raised key issues regarding Testosterone
usage in MMA and also the role of doctors & alleged relationships
with the UFC. This is his own doing, for better or for worse,
and Rampage clearly thinks he’s on the right end of this
PR battle.
With
that as the latest background, fighter agent Mike Kogan has had
enough of Rampage’s act.
Mike
raises an interesting angle to the current UFC/Rampage crapfest
and that’s which fighters supposedly get their doctor bills
paid for and which ones don’t. Given the current Zuffa ‘insurance
policy’ plan and King Mo’s struggles with medical bills,
you could see why Mike is frustrated for his client. How effective
are the insurance policies for fighters in terms of what gets
covered and by what criteria? There’s that debate. Then
there’s the debate as to whether or not certain doctors
are getting preferred status or not, plus the cash or insurance
payment angle to this story.
Of
course, it should be duly noted that there’s bad blood now
between King Mo & Rampage. Mo also has an upcoming hearing
in Nevada on the 27th regarding his failed drug test.
There’s
a million questions that can be asked now given that Rampage
claims Dr. Kessler supposedly led him to an age management doctor
which resulted in a prescription for T, combined with the fact
that Rampage fought at the UFC Japan show — an event that
the UFC ‘regulated’ on their own. Who in Zuffa allowed
Rampage to fight on T via a Therapeutic Use Exemption (if there
was one in the first place)?
As
far as where the heat will go in regards to the current UFC/Rampage
PR battle, count on Rampage getting the majority of the heat
from those inside the business. He’s an easier target and
he’s not feared like Zuffa is. Zuffa’s the only game
in town, so fighters & agents are grateful for whatever they
can get. Rampage complaining about his current situation is rubbing
people the wrong way, which is entirely the opposite of what
he is trying to accomplish with his current PR campaign against
the UFC.
For
now, I’ll close with a quote from Chris Barton: What kills
me about this thing is that there is apparently a horrible disease
running rampant through the MMA community wrecking all of these
poor fighters “natural testosterone levels”. When will
we ever find the culprit!?
On
a related side note, The New Scientist has an article out today
about the future of drug testing. Hint: not blood or urine testing.
Try ‘muscle biopsy.’
Source:
Fight Opinion
|
KEN
SHAMROCK ADMITS PAST TRT USE, SAYS ITS USE IS DIFFERENT THAN
STEROIDS
By Mike
Chiappetta - Senior Writer
MMA
legend Ken Shamrock admitted past TRT usage, and said it's partly
the pressure from opposition and fans that is fueling the growing
trend.
When
it comes to PED's in mixed martial arts, the new battleground
is testosterone replacement therapy. Among those who have received
therapeutic use exemptions for the treatment are Quinton "Rampage"
Jackson, Dan Henderson, Chael Sonnen and Nate Marquardt.
The
hot-button topic doesn't seem likely to disappear anytime soon.
As MMA pioneer Ken Shamrock recently pointed out, athletes searching
for an edge or in some cases, to level the playing field, is
no new phenomenon. On Monday's edition of The MMA Hour, Shamrock
admitted his own past use of TRT, and though he wouldn't specify
a time period for his use, said that in his experience, the treatment
has little to do with generating great success.
"The one thing I realized over the years is that that doesn't
make you an athlete," he said. "The fact is, I think
that's what some people have been trying to explain to people
for so long. It doesn't make you hit a baseball. You have to
have the reaction time, you have to have hand-eye coordination,
you have to have the fundamentals, you have to be a great athlete
to do that, to be able to hit a 100 miles per hour fastball out
of the park. Enhancements don't do that for you. Same with football
or anything like that. You have to already be an athlete. You
have to have that already."
On
the other hand, Shamrock, who is 28-15-2 in a career that's spanned
over 18 years, acknowledged that the hormone replacement which
can delay the effects of normal aging does offer an edge to its
users.
He
offered a "chicken or egg" theory that some of those
who have embraced the treatment are doing so out of fear that
their opponents are gaining an advantage on them, necessitating
them to seek out the same therapy.
"It's
not fair for a guy to have to compete for his job against a guy
who is using it," he said. "But how are you going to
ban it? That's the question. They’re not legitimately trying
to test to keep it out of sports. My opinion is, if they were
going to do this all the way across the board, our sports would
be better, our athletes would be healthier. They wouldn't go
through so much trauma on their bodies. The bottom line is, it’s
been going on for too long, and they haven't legitimately tried
to keep it out."
Shamrock
does make some differentiation between steroids and hormones.
In his opinion, steroids should never be used, but has a different
outlook on hormones due to the fact that they are naturally occurring
in the human body.
As
he noted, age management clinics are popping up throughout the
country, allowing even the population at large to receive legal
treatment that delays the onset of the normal aging process.
That
type of therapy would prove to be beneficial for fighters, Shamrock
said, as long as athlete's levels are regulated within normal
ranges. TRT is supposed to function that way, but Shamrock has
his doubts about the way it is monitored. That's why he believes
it should be all or nothing. Either everyone should be able to
do it within fair levels, or it should be completely against
the rules.
"Believe
me, I’m not pro or con," he said. "What I'm saying
is, if we're going to do this, then it needs to be done all the
way across the board, otherwise people's dreams will be shattered
because someone else is able to do it."
The
MMA pioneer said he doesn't yet consider himself retired though
he hasn't fought since Nov. 2010. He's still willing to compete
if he gets offered a fight that he believes fans will be interested
in seeing.
But
it's the same fans, he believes, that are complicit in the surge
of PED use in MMA and sports in general.
"If
you're being truthful and you're coming out and absolutely speaking
the truth, the bottom line is that’s what we’re faced
with and it isn’t going to change anytime soon," he
said. "You know why? They don't want it. They want the home
runs, They want the hard hits. Listen man, if you could take
the sports and make them even all the way across the board, I
think every single athlete in world would love that. Would love
it. Because they'd know going in they don't have to do anything
to follow their dreams. They don't have to do any of that stuff.
Because they'd know across the board they don't have to worry
about that. The bottom line is, that's just not the way it is."
Source:
MMA Fighting
|
Joseph
Benavidez: Waiting Will Just Make Winning the Title That Much
Sweeter
by Damon
Martin
Joseph
Benavidez‘s trip to Australia for UFC on FX 2 started out
pretty good.
The
former bantamweight title contender made an easy cut to 125 pounds
for the first time, and then proceeded to knock out former Shooto
star Yasuhiro Urushitani to advance to the finals of the first
ever UFC flyweight title tournament.
That’s
when the night took a turn into a strange series of events.
Benavidez
had watched Demetrious Johnson defeat Ian McCall from his dressing
room while he was getting warmed up for his fight, and as he
walked towards the cage to face Urushitani, he had it in his
mind that with a win he’d soon be facing “Mighty Mouse”
for the first ever UFC 125-pound championship.
Following
the event ending, Benavidez joined the other fighters for the
customary UFC post-fight press conference and that’s where
he heard the news that felt like an anvil being dropped on his
head like something out of a Wild E. Coyote/Roadrunner cartoon.
The
commission in Australia had messed up adding the scorecards in
the Johnson/McCall fight and it should have actually been declared
a draw. So instead of fighting a fourth “sudden victory”
round in the case of a draw like the UFC had planned ahead of
time, Johnson and McCall would have to battle it out again to
see who would face Benavidez in the finals of the tournament.
“It’s
really a shame not only for me cause I have to wait to go fight
for a title and everything, but it’s just a shame that an
opportunity for the sport like that was messed up,” Benavidez
told MMAWeekly Radio.
“I
think that would have been great for the sport, just the first
ever sudden death fight. I feel like Bruce Buffer announcing
that the fight is going into sudden death after they already
fought their hearts out for three rounds, I feel like the crowd
would have just erupted. People would have been calling their
friends and telling them to turn on their TV’s and stuff
and it would have just been great for the division.”
Benavidez
was obviously disappointed with the way things turned out in
Australia, especially after he made such an emphatic statement
in his fight with the knockout of Urushitani.
The
Team Alpha Male fighter knows that there is still a pot of gold
at the end of the rainbow, he just has to wait a little bit longer
to find it.
“I’ve
obviously got to wait to fight for the title, but it will be
worth the wait,” said Benavidez. “I’ll just be
getting better during the time. I want to fight the best guy.
I don’t want there to be any question that I beat the next
best guy in the division. I’m willing to wait and there’s
no one more deserving than those two guys.”
Keeping
a positive outlook on the situation, Benavidez will use this
time between fights to his benefit.
First
things first, he’s going to head to Las Vegas to help his
teammate Urijah Faber train his new crew of fighters on The Ultimate
Fighter: Live, while he also helps prepare Faber for his third
fight with Dominick Cruz this summer at UFC 148.
It’s
also a crucial time for Benavidez to work on learning new tricks,
improving on any areas he feels might be weak points, and just
becoming a better overall fighter.
That’s
the part McCall and Johnson should worry about. Benavidez promises
to be an even better version of what they saw on March 3 in Australia.
“There’s
definitely positives out of this. Everything happens just like
it’s supposed to happen; you’ve just got to roll with
it and keep moving forward. One of the main things is I’m
going to get a lot better in this time. The longer I wait to
fight means I’m going to be even better for the fight. This
is a full time job for me; I keep getting better,” Benavidez
stated.
His
full time job may be fighting, but for one night Benavidez is
hoping to add a new skill to his resume.
He’s
hoping to sit cageside by UFC play-by-play man Jon Anik and analyst
Kenny Florian when they call the fight between McCall and Johnson
in June.
“I’m
hoping actually to commentate it,” said Benavidez. “That’s
what I’m looking for. I think that’d be cool, since
I’m going to fight the winner. I think it would be cool
for them to bring me in. So if anybody’s listening, I’m
definitely going to make a case for that.”
And
while there’s no doubt that Benavidez is bummed that he
has to wait an even longer time now to fight for the UFC flyweight
title, he’s thinking of it like putting up his Christmas
tree in June and scouring the floor with presents that he can’t
touch till December.
“I
have to wait a little longer,” said Benavidez. “But
it’s just going to make it that much sweeter.”
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
To
get good at Jiu-Jitsu, work your lower back and sell your motorcycle
One
of César “Casquinha” Guimarães’s
brood at Top Brothers, recent revelation Davi Ramos feels the
time has come to shine among the lightweight elite. Ramos, representing
team Atos, this month won the Gramado tryouts for the Abu Dhabi
WPJJ without a point scored against him, but he feels he’ll
fly even higher in 2012.
“I’m
ready to fight for top spot in Abu Dhabi next April, and then
at the Worlds in June. At last year’s worlds I was having
a great match against Michael Langhi but I was missing fine tuning,
and he turned the fight around. Now I managed to fight through
the injuries and, with constancy, show a much more well-rounded
and tighter game than I did before,” Davi told GRACIEMAG.com
over the phone.
The
Rio de Janeiro lightweight went on to state that his solid performance
in Gramado came down to two key lessons he learned in Jiu-Jitsu,
ones he was kind enough to share with GRACIEMAG.com readers.
“At
the tryouts I had six matches, winning three by submission and
without getting a point scored against me, advantage points neither,”
he says, before remembering, “Truth be told, I did get a
penalty point scored against me, but now I understand the new
rule; I won’t make that mistake again. Now I learned two
things that were key in making progress in Jiu-Jitsu. First,
I had to sell my motorcycle. I had a motorcycle, and one day
I suffered a near fatal accident in Rio; I got all messed up
and had to stay in the hospital for ages. An artery burst, I
lost lots of blood and then took forever to get back to training.
I realized that motorcycles and Jiu-Jitsu don’t mix.”
WATCH
DAVI RAMOS VS. THIAGO BAIANO IN GRAMADO
“The second lesson has to do with improving my guard. I’m
really good at foot and leg locks but I had to improve my guard
and reversals. So the thing I learned was that you should really
strengthen your lower back, to make progress with sweeps. Have
a good talk with your physical conditioning coach and strengthen
your lower back. That will help prevent injury, get you more
confident in your guard and in sweeping,” Davi prescribes.
Ramos
has been training at Top Brother in Rio, and in the final stretch
of training he will head over to Atos for Ramon Lemos to help
him polish up his game and strategy. “I accompanied “Big
Monster” for his fight at Bellator, but I’m already
getting back to training with the guys for the World Pro; guys
like Bruno Frazatto, Guto Campos, Ary Farias, Ed Ramos, Alan
Salgado, Ronaldo Candido e Denilson Bischliari,” he said
in closing.
Source:
Gracie Magazine
|
Anderson
Silva Feels Like He Has 10 Years Left In MMA
By Dana
Becker
When
reports of Anderson Silva's retirement come up, the UFC middleweight
champion tends to avoid making it known what he actually feels
like will be the end date for his career. However, in a recent
interview with Globo SporTV, "The Spider" claims he
has several years left in MMA.
"Everyone
things that. I've imagined myself in a lake, fishing with my
grandchildren and my wife calling me into the house...joke,"
Silva said. "Not thought of yet. I think I still have another
10-year career, but have not discussed my contract with the UFC.
After this fight, I think there are still two or three, I'm not
sure. They just call me and say they need 'The Spider.' And then
I go."
Silva's
next fight will be against Chael Sonnen in a rematch. The bout
is likely to happen later this year in Brazil, which would give
Silva a huge advantage in terms of crowd support.
Source:
Fight Line
|
Mario
Sperry: Jones is a tough fighter, but Rashad is “phenomenal”
By Guilherme
Cruz
One
of the greatest names of the gentle art, Ze Mario Sperry was
called in to sharpen the ground game of Rashad Evans for his
title fight against Jon Jones in the UFC. On an interview with
TATAME, the former Pride fighter and winner of ADCC 2011 super
fight complimented the American`s ground skills.
˜Rashad
is a phenomenal athlete. He has a great ground game and he`s
from wrestling, so he`s fiscally privileged. In terms of gi Jiu-Jitsu
I can`t tell, but in terms of MMA Jiu-Jitsu he has a pretty efficient
game˜, compliments Ze Mario, aware of the talent of Rashad`s
opponent.
On
the chat, Sperry talked about fighting ADCC 2013 and the possibility
of training the Hollander Alistair Overeem, new training partner
of Rashad, for a title shot against Junior dos Santos.
How
did you get the chance to go to Florida to train Rashad?
Last
October I spent 15 days in Disneyland with my daughter and guys
heard it, because there`re many Brazilians on the team. Danilo
Villefort called me and asked if I wanted to step by, come to
visit them and I accepted at the spot. I love training, I was
in shape, had just fought Renzo, one months before. I actually
came to the gym and trained with the guys, I leaded them actually.
I
guess they had a good first impression, not only of the training
but the way I acted. The team manager started getting in touch
with me and asked if I wanted to joint their Jiu-Jitsu crew.
For professional reasons, I could`t accept it at the time. When
Rashad x Jon Jones was announced, he called me and asked more
aggressively if I wanted to come and help Rashad not only on
his Jiu-Jitsu trainings, but in terms of game plan too. I actually
had some time off from my professional activities and then I
came here.
Sergio
Babu was the responsible for his Jiu-Jitsu trainings back then.
How was he when you first got there?
Rashad
is a phenomenal athlete. Rashad is a phenomenal athlete. He has
a great ground game and he`s from wrestling, so he`s fiscally
privileged. In terms of gi Jiu-Jitsu I can`t tell, but in terms
of MMA Jiu-Jitsu he has a pretty efficient game. The rest of
the teams have some highs and lows. There`re people with excellent
Jiu-Jitsu level but some don`t really know it. But, in general,
I guess their level is reasonable for having a good fight.
Rashad
is fighting Jon Jones, who has shown sharp ground game against
Rampage and Lyoto on his last fights…
Jon
Jones is very talented. I guess it`s a hard fight for anyone
whether it`s on the middleweight, on the light heavyweight or
even on the heavyweight. He really knows how to use Jiu-Jitsu
techniques mixed with MMA techniques, more precisely MMA techniques
that really hurt, like knees, elbows, ground and pound. He`s
tall, very tall, We`re working on his game, which is very efficient.
How
do you see this fight between them since they`ve trained together
in the past? Did he comment some of weak point about the champion`s
game?
Absolutely,
but I don`t think that`s that relevant because each fight is
different. It`s going to be decided on the day they fight, they
are in different moments now than back when they trained together.
You
got prepared for ADCC 2011 at Team Nogueira, in Rio. Now Overeem
is at Blackzilians. Did they ask you to train him?
They
haven`t say anything. I`m going to Brazil after Rashad`s fight.
I don`t intend to stay here for Overeem`s fight.
Overeem`s
getting in Miami on early-April, three weeks before Rashad fights.
Would you accept training him if that`s the case?
Look,
I`m actually leaving (to Brazil). He will be here, but I guess
he`s more focused on Muay Thai trainings. It doesn`t make sense
talking about it now because one thing is for sure: I won`t be
here for Overeem`s training camp.
Next
year there`s another ADCC show. Last year you fought Renzo Gracie
and won. Do you want to fight there again?
Of
course, It`s always a pleasure to be part of the biggest Submission
event in the world. If I`m invited by ADCC I`ll bring a game.
Is
there anyone in particular you would like to confront after fighting
Renzo?
I
don`t have preferences, I guess it`s up to the organization.
I`ll fight whoever they tell me to and it`ll be a great pleasure
to be back.
Source:
Tatame
|
8
Questions for Antonio Silva
By Marcelo
Alonso
When
Zuffa LLC acquired Strikeforceand announced subsequent plans
to fold its heavyweight division into the Ultimate Fighting Championship,
Antonio Silva emerged as one of the fighters who stood to gain
the most from the transition.
Silva
will make his long-awaited Octagon debut against “The Ultimate
Fighter” Season 10 winner Roy Nelson atUFC 146 “Dos
Santos vs. Overeem” on May 26 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena
in Las Vegas. The 32-year-old Brazilian has not fought since
being knocked out by Daniel Cormier in the Strikeforce heavyweight
grand prix semifinals in September.
In
this exclusive interview with Sherdog.com, “Bigfoot”
discusses why a much-talked-about matchup with former UFC heavyweight
champion Cain Velasquez never materialized, opens up about his
training withTeam Nogueira and American Top Team and handicaps
his place in a heavyweight division that includes training partners
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Junior dos Santos.
Sherdog.com:
When did the deal get done for your first UFC fight?
Silva: We were negotiating for a few days. It started with Cain
Velasquez, but he had undergone elbow surgery and wound up signing
to fight against Frank Mir. So, [UFC matchmaker] Joe Silva came
up with Roy Nelson, and we agreed to it.
Sherdog.com:
Where will you train for the fight?
Silva: I’m in Florida. I live here, and I’m training
at American Top Team. Thiago Silva and Alessio Sakara are good
people, and they’re helping me here. Six weeks before my
fight, I will travel to Rio de Janeiro to train with Team Nogueira.
Silva will debut against Nelson.
Sherdog.com:
Will you train with dos Santos, who will be fighting Alistair
Overeem at UFC 146?
Silva: “Cigano” will stay in Salvador, with friends
and family. He will spend more time there than in Rio.
Sherdog.com:
Did you start training soon after your shoulder surgery?
Silva: I stopped for two weeks and was released slowly into running
in cycling. I started in December, and I never stopped.
Sherdog.com:
How do you assess Nelson as an opponent?
Silva: Nelson is a great athlete who’s tough and can absorb
punishment. He knocked out [Mirko] “Cro Cop” [Filipovic]
and stood against “Cigano” and [Fabricio] Werdum. Beating
Nelson is complicated. We’ll meet with the guys at Team
Nogueira and come up with a good strategy. My strength and conditioning
coach, Andre Benkei, will also help. Nelson only goes forward:
one step back and three steps forward. However, I’ve noticed
that he gets tired from the second round, although he does keep
fighting. I’m going to work on physical conditioning, which
will be
important for this fight.
Sherdog.com:
Nelson said he would drop to light heavyweight if he received
100,000 “likes” on his Facebook page. Do you think
that is the best weight class for him?
Silva: Hopefully, he won’t get to 100,000 until our fight
(laughs). I think if he has the opportunity to move down in weight,
he should move down. If you can do it without getting sick, I
think it pays off. There are several fighters who went down a
weight class and did well. If I could get down to light heavyweight,
I would do it. I saw Forrest Griffin the week he fought Anderson
Silva, and he weighed about 233 pounds. Thiago Silva walks around
at 229 pounds when he’s not fighting. And they cut weight
very well.
Sherdog.com:
You mentioned working with Benkei. Will you be at the gym he
is opening in Barra da Tijuca?
Silva: No, it will all be at Team Nogueira, but I can go to his
gym for meetings and such. I have doors open to me everywhere.
I also have an invitation from Pedro Rizzo to go train with him.
The most important thing is having a good relationship with everyone.
However, everything will really be at Team Nogueira.
Sherdog.com:
How do you plan on competing in a division that includes your
longtime friend, “Minotauro” Nogueira, and your training
partner, “Cigano,” as champion?
Silva: The march towards the title is still in the beginning
stages. I’m crawling. In fact, I haven’t even been
born (laughs). I have a long way to go, especially when you consider
the belt is already at home at Team Nogueira. Why would I want
to rob a brother of mine? If he happens to lose it one day --
and I hope he doesn’t-- I’ll seek to bring it back
to us at Team Nogueira. “Minotauro”is my godfather,
an example of life inside and outside of fighting. He embraces
many causes, the most recent of which was Victor Miranda’s
family after they lost their son. “Minotauro”welcomed
him and is giving him his full support. Facing him is not possible,
but I’m happy with the realization of a dream. I dreamed
about facing Fedor [Emelianenko], and I was able to overcome
him. Now, I’ve realized the dream of going to the UFC. The
next dream is to confront and defeat Overeem.
Source
Sherdog
|
Exclusive:
‘Dolce Diet’ Founder Mike Dolce on Weight-Cuts, Roy
Nelson’s Quest for 205 + More
By Jonathan
Shrager
Though
he first landed on our radars as a competitor on TUF 7, fighter/trainer
Mike Dolce has become much more famous for The Dolce Diet —
the health and nutrition system he employs to help MMA stars
hit their weight limits while retaining peak performance on fight-day.
Fresh off his wizard-like guidance of Thiago Alves earlier this
month, we decided to get the Living Lean author on the phone
to find out exactly how he does it. Enjoy…
JONATHAN
SHRAGER: Hi Mike, thanks for taking the time to talk with us.
You are arguably the most renowned nutritionist in MMA nowadays.
MIKE DOLCE: Well, thank you. I prefer “performance coach”
actually, but people often refer to me as a nutritionist because
I’ve become synonymous with The Dolce Diet, so I understand
why. I do quite a bit, including nutrition and Strength &
Conditioning.
So
who is the current crop of fighters that you’re working
with?
Thiago Alves, of course, with whom I travelled to England. Chael
Sonnen, Vitor Belfort, Jake Ellenberger, Jay Hieron, Mike Pyle,
and I started working with Jorge Masvidal in advance of his Strikeforce
lightweight title fight with Gilbert Melendez. Jorge is a great
guy and a super-talented athlete.
I
recently interviewed Jorge, and he confessed his love of junk
food including McDonald’s. Have you ever caught him attempting
to eat any junk food behind your back? Is his love for McDonald’s
difficult to contain?
Haha! No, Jorge is very committed to performing at the top of
his potential. He is so dedicated to his craft, there is nothing
to pull him off course. But he did admit his love of McDonald’s
to me and we agreed that would be his victory celebration.
Post-fight,
do you allow your fighters a little leeway to have a week off
and eat what they want? Do you yourself ever celebrate with the
fighters by eating some greasy or sugary foods?
Yes, I employ a principle of earned meals, a concept established
to allow athletes or individuals to enjoy a meal that may not
be consistent with their goals. For my athletes, I usually give
them until Wednesday after the fight to ignore my phone calls
before we start dialing their lifestyle back in. The great thing
about guys or girls who follow The Dolce Diet, is that they lose
the old cravings for junk and instead just look for larger portions
of what we’ve been eating all camp. After a fight, I’ll
usually indulge in a burger or slice of pizza with the team,
but that’s usually because we don’t leave the venue
until after midnight and our options are limited.
Following
his fight with Frank Mir, Dana White suggested that Roy Nelson
should try to make 205 lbs in an attempt to rejuvenate himself
and his career. Roy subsequently claimed that this would require
him to lose a limb, but now he says he’ll try to do it if
he gets enough Facebook fans. Would you be the man to help Roy
shed the belly?
Well, I don’t want to use Roy’s name specifically,
but when I worked with Rampage, he began his training camp at
255 pounds, and he made 205 pretty easily. Quinton is shorter
than Roy, and Roy, at his heaviest, weighs 260 pounds. So, if
Rampage can achieve it, and he probably has more muscle, then
I think it’s safe to predict that Roy could make 205.
And
do you think that 205 would prove to be Roy’s optimal fighting
weight?
I think that Roy looked great in his fight at heavyweight against
Cro Cop. With that being said, I think he’s fine at heavyweight.
What makes a guy like Roy so special is that he could fight in
two different weight classes. If he doesn’t have to lose
the weight then why should he? I’m a health advocate more
than a performance coach, so being healthy is the most important
thing.
After
working with Quinton Jackson prior to the Rashad and Machida
fights, you weren’t part of his coaching staff in the build
up to Jon Jones. Are you and Quinton on good terms?
The schedule has really become a problem. I don’t leave
guys that retain my services for somebody that may have a higher
profile. I was booked before Quinton’s fight with Jonny
Bones, and Quinton understands. He and I had a great conversation
in which he told me that he knew this issue might arise because
of my talent in the area of health, nutrition, and fitness. It’s
not a bad problem to face, but unfortunately I’m not able
to work with everybody for every camp. I have been booked solid
for up to four months but I prefer not to commit to anything
too much further in advance.
How
does your role work logistically if you collaborate with multiple
fighters? Do you focus solely on one fighter at a time during
their training camps?
I do work with one athlete specifically, and then I’ll work
with a couple athletes as close as I can. I was living with Thiago
prior to his fight in the UK against Papy Abedi, but also Jake
Ellenberger, Chael Sonnen, and Gray Maynard all fought during
that timeframe. So, I would leave for their weight-cuts and the
weigh-ins, to be present for the fighters at the last hurdle.
But throughout the entire process I would consult with the fighters
on multiple occasions every single day. Fighters text me their
weight upon waking up, and how they’re feeling during the
day, so it’s a hands-on process. I work with ten athletes
consistently, but the one who books me first is the one I’ll
physically be with throughout the training camp.
Is
weigh-in day even more stressful for you than fight night?
For me it is. My job focuses on the health and peak performance
of my athlete. The scale inevitably stands in the way of that
main objective. We must fulfill the contractual obligation to
weigh in at a predetermined weight — usually much lighter
than the athlete normally walks around at — without doing
any harm to their body, which would adversely affect performance.
Once we get by the scale, everything else is a breeze.
What’s
the most drastic cut that you’ve had to help a fighter achieve?
I helped Duane “BANG” Ludwig lose over 40 pounds in
less than two weeks to take a short-notice fight against Jim
Miller in January 2010. What made that cut even harder is that
Duane fought in early December, went on vacation with his family
and fully embraced the typical holiday menu. But, Duane is such
a strong individual, it is doubtful any other athlete could have
done that. I have had other guys lose nearly 60 pounds in less
than eight weeks. Of course, health is always the most important
factor and we strive to accomplish such goals in the healthiest
manner possible.
I
saw Mike Pyle eating a Nutella and banana sandwich on rye bread
during one of his blogs, as recommended by “The Dolce Diet.”
Are there any other foods which you recommend that people may
be surprised by?
Most people are actually shocked when they read my book, The
Dolce Diet: Living Lean, because of all the recipes it contains
that I use with my athletes. We have pasta, pancakes, omelets,
fried chicken, and many other delicious meals. The difference
lays in my selection of ingredients and the preparation techniques
that turn garbage into gold. Anyone can eat boiled chicken breasts
and steamed broccoli but my approach is to embrace the natural
flavor of whole foods, which is why guys like Belfort, Alves,
Rampage, Maynard, Ellenberger and many more of the sport’s
elite chose to work with me. I add enjoyment to an otherwise
Spartan existence.
Would
you relish the challenge of working with fighters who are notorious
for missing weight such as Paul Daley?
I don’t necessarily relish the challenge of “who can
drop the most weight,” but instead embrace the duty to help
these guys achieve their goals while maintaining a vibrant state
of health. I am first and foremost a longevity advocate and my
number one priority is to keep these guys healthy. In my view,
the healthier an athlete is, the better the athlete will be able
to perform. This is why I employ a whole-foods method combined
with intelligent periodization and restorative methods to produce
world-class performances. This, I believe, is the future of peak
performance.
You
work with a lot of Brazilian fighters, and Chael Sonnen. What
are your Brazilian clients’ opinions on Chael and his recent
remarks about their country? Is Chael as funny behind the scenes
when you are working with him on a daily basis as he appears
to be on camera?
Chael is a polarizing character, but most of the people I talk
to love what he is doing for the sport. He creates excitement
outside of the cage and certainly backs it up when he steps inside.
Of course, some people don’t like a few of the things he
says, but the general consensus is that he is hilarious. In my
own experiences with him, Chael has a great sense of humor, a
warm heart, and actually, a brilliant mind. I would put him on
stage with Howard Stern, John Stewart, and Bill Maher, and have
full confidence that Chael would talk circles around those guys.
Follow
Mike Dolce on Twitter @TheDolceDiet, and pick up his book Living
Lean on Amazon.com!
Source:
Cage Potato
|
Brian
Foster Unable to Get Medically Cleared, Jordan Smith in at Bellator
63
by Damon
Martin
Bellator’s
upcoming welterweight tournament has undergone a late change
as Brian Foster will be unable to compete on the Bellator 63
fight card at the Mohegan Sun in Connecticut. He will be replaced
by up-and-comer Jordan Smith.
Bellator
officials announced the change on Thursday.
Foster
was not medically cleared to fight by the Mohegan Sun Commission
and will have to be screened and go through additional testing
before he’s able to compete again.
In
2011, Foster was pulled from UFC 129 in Toronto after a pre-fight
medical scan revealed a brain hemorrhage. He subsequently left
the promotion. Foster returned to action in October 2011 and
picked up back-to-back wins before signing with Bellator.
Unfortunately,
the commission at the Mohegan Sun was unable to clear Foster
in time for next weekend’s fights, so he will have to wait
for his Bellator debut for another day.
“Brian’s
a hugely talented fighter who we were hoping to see next Friday,
but his Bellator premiere will need to be delayed just a bit,”
Bellator Chairman and CEO Bjorn Rebney said. “But to pick
up a rising star in Jordan Smith and place him into the fire
of our $100,000 Welterweight Tournament is what makes great moments.
The Mohegan Sun Commission is one of the best in the world and
we support their decision.”
Jordan
Smith jumps in the Bellator welterweight tournament with an impressive
17-2 record overall, and recently picked up a win over former
UFC contender Karo Parisyan in Brazil.
Smith
will now face David Rickels in the opening round of the Bellator
welterweight tournament kicking off next Friday at the Mohegan
Sun.
“This
is the best opportunity I’ve ever had in my career,”
Smith said. “This is the break I’ve been waiting for.
What I like about Bellator is there’s a clear line of sight
to the title.”
While
there’s no time to waste on getting ready for the new fight,
Smith is confident that his experience will carry him through
as he attempts to earn his way to a Bellator tournament win.
“It’s
such short notice that I haven’t had a chance to do much
research on Dave,” Smith said. “I see that he’s
undefeated and most of his wins have come by submission. From
the clips I’ve seen it looks like he finds a way to win.”
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Silva
vs. Sonnen 2 Announced for Soccer Stadium Show in Rio
by Damon
Martin
While
Chael Sonnen says he’s waiting for a contract for his rematch
with Anderson Silva, the UFC has already booked him for a flight
to Brazil.
According
to UFC president Dana White, the long awaited rematch between
UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva and rival Chael Sonnen
will take place this summer in possibly the biggest event in
MMA history.
White
was in Calgary on Wednesday announcing a slew of new events for
Canada, but also let one other bombshell out regarding the most
highly anticipated rematch in UFC history.
“Think
about this, the Chael Sonnen/Anderson Silva fight, I’m probably
going to put my foot in my mouth again, and probably not supposed
to be talking about this either, but I always do it so, this
thing’s going to be in a soccer stadium in Rio,” White
said.
“This
thing’s going to have over 80,000 people are going to be
at this event down there.”
While
White didn’t go into specifics regarding the venue, the
most likely landing spot appears to be the Estadio Olimpico Joao
Havelange, also known as Engenhao.
The
Engenhao will be a host stadium for the 2016 Summer Olympics,
which will also land in Brazil, and for soccer matches generally
holds around 45,000 people. The stadium is home to the Botafogo
football club in Rio.
For
the upcoming Olympic games, the stadium is expected to fit closer
to 60,000 fans.
Some
have speculated that the Maracana could be the stadium White
was speaking about due to its immense size and ability to pack
in over 80,000 fans, but the only problem is it’s currently
closed for renovations until 2013.
While
the numbers don’t match up with White’s estimations,
even with nearly 60,000 fans, that will still break all previous
records for the biggest event in UFC history. The current record
stands with UFC 129 held in Toronto in 2011 with more than 55,000
fans packing into the Rogers Centre.
The
card will likely take place on June 16 in Rio with Silva vs.
Sonnen 2 headlining the show.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
6
Questions for Mario Sperry
By Marcelo
Alonso
Mario
Sperry was spawned by martial arts royalty. A protégé
of the late Carlson Gracie, he became one of the found members
of Brazilian Top Team, a legendary fight camp that produced Antonio
Rodrigo Nogueira, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, Vitor Belfort, Paulo
Thiago and Rousimar Palhares, among others.
Though
he has remained active on the Brazilian jiu-jitsu scene, Sperry,
now 45, has not competed in mixed martial arts since July 2007,
when he submitted Lee Hasdell with a first-round rear-naked choke
at Cage Rage 22. Of his 17 professional bouts, seven came under
the Pride Fighting Championships banner, including his November
2001 submission against Igor Vovchanchyn. Sperry still keeps
his finger on MMA’s pulse and recently joined forces with
the Imperial Athletics dojo in Florida.
In
this exclusive interview with Sherdog.com, Sperry discusses the
opportunity to help train Rashad Evans for his upcoming title
bout, Evans’ chances of dethroning light heavyweight champion
Jon Jones atUFC 145 and the possibility of restarting his own
fight career:
Sherdog.com:
How did the invitation to work with Rashad Evans come about?
Sperry: Last year, through fighter and friend Danillo Villefort,
I received an invitation from manager Glenn Robinson to help
out with training with the “Blackzilians.” At the time,
I could not accept for personal reasons. However, I pointed them
to Flavius [Silva]. I knew him a long time ago and met him again
through Everaldo Penco, who was the head coach for my match against
Renzo [Gracie] at the [Abu Dhabi Combat Club Submission Wrestling
World Championships] in 2011. I was impressed with Flavius’potential,
not only for his fighting and a coaching ability but for his
transparency and character. I was very comfortable in endorsing
him. Everyone liked him, and, today, Flavius is responsible for
the jiu-jitsu training for the team. In November, I went to Disney
World with my family and visited the gym. I met Glenn personally,
trained with the fighters and taught a ground training class
focused on MMA. Soon after, Glenn reached out to me to find out
what it would take for me to go to the United States and help
Rashad with training. At first, I couldn’t accept, but I
fixed my work schedule so I could spend some time there.
Sherdog.com:
How would you describe your training at Team Nogueira for your
ADCC match with Renzo Gracie?
Sperry: First, I have to thank Sheikh Tahnoon, who invited me
to compete in the ADCC. I spent some time training sporadically
at Gordo JJ, where I felt entirely at home. However, the practice
time was not compatible with my work schedule, which hindered
my ability to keep a workout routine. After being invited to
compete, I went to Team Nogueira, where I was forced to train
hard again. I took a beating from some of the younger guys, but
I got back in shape with the help of jiu-jitsu and conditioning
coaches Everaldo Penco and Diogo de Souza. With the improvement
in training, I could see why competing makes me happy, and I
haven’t stopped training since. With the passion to compete
back in my life again, I was inclined and honored to accept the
invitation [to train Evans]. I saw it as one more opportunity
to get close to the martial arts world, one more opportunity
for me to expand my history in the sport by participating in
the biggest promotion in the world. Besides, I really liked Glenn.
He’s a good person, straightforward and transparent. Doing
business with him is a privilege.
Sherdog.com:
Do you believe someone from the Chute Boxe and Brazilian Top
Team heydays could defeat UFC light heavyweight champion Jon
Jones?
Sperry: Jones is one of the most complete fighters today. It’s
very difficult to guess what would happen between him and a Brazilian
Top Team or Chute Boxe fighter at the height of his career. Today,
we’re in a completely different world. The athlete’s
access to information is on another level, and the business side
of the sport is entirely different. The athletes are much more
prepared today.
Sherdog.com:
What are Evans’ chances against Jones at UFC 145?
Sperry: In my estimation, the chances of victory are real. I’ve
never liked to lose, so I would have accepted the invitation
if I didn’t think Rashad could win. The fight is difficult,
but we define ourselves by the challenges that we choose to face.
You’ll see the path to victory on the day of the fight.
Sherdog.com:
How long do you plan to be with the“Blackzilians” camp?
Sperry: Forty days. Fortunately, today, I have the reins of my
business in my hands. I’m surrounded by people who are very
competent and much better at what they do than me. Florida is
next door and, with the Internet, everything became easier as
it relates to communication.
Sherdog.com:
Do you think about fighting again?
Sperry: It would be a privilege to fight again. However, I don’t
see how I could combine training with my other duties. I think
about it almost every day. Maybe soon, I’ll find away. Until
then, I’ll keep training with several professional athletes
at the Nogueiras’ training center, where I learn every day,
try to stay fit and, at the end of the day, find what we all
seek: to do what we like to do and become even happier.
Source:
Sherdog
|
Rampage
suddenly says the magic of T isn’t helping his knees
By Zach
Arnold
This
is why you read our site and folks like Smoogy who could see
what was coming a mile away.
To
recap the festivities this week:
Rampage
Jackson is claiming that using testosterone is going to add 10
more years to his fighting career. He has been pushing testosterone
as his miracle elixir for his damaged knees, claiming that modifying
his T levels from 420 ng to 600 ng (he wanted to go to 800 ng)
has now ‘re-healed’ his knees.
Rampage continued to claim on Twitter that he wanted to fight
Mauricio Shogun. This is a fight that he wanted to have on the
UFC Japan card but instead got to face Ryan Bader.
UFC & Dana White went on their ‘UFC Tonight’ program
on Fuel TV and claimed that Rampage’s last UFC fight will
be ‘in the Summer’ against Mauricio Shogun. As Smoogy
noted, this was designed for the MMA media to run with the headline
unchallenged — and it worked beautifully. Even ESPN ran
the headline on their news ticker. Of course, all it was in reality
was UFC boxing Rampage into a corner by announcing that he would
fight Shogun. So, basically, they announced the scenario that
they wanted for Rampage in terms of when his last fight is going
to be and who it’s going to be against.
When this announcement happened, I predicted on the site that
UFC would consider a way to book Rampage/Shogun in Brazil on
the same card as Anderson Silva/Chael Sonnen and that they could
play the testosterone card against him by not allowing him to
fight on a UFC ‘regulated’ event while using testosterone.
Which leads us to what happened on Thursday. UFC knows that when
it comes to their PR & business battle with Rampage that
they are dealing with a mental midget. Compare how Rampage handles
his business to, say, Nick Diaz’s camp. Yes, I just said
compare Rampage to Nick Diaz. Nick looks like a genius compared
to Rampage (and for good reason).
Without
having PR reps or lawyers doing his bidding, Rampage is fighting
the Zuffa machine by himself and is performing as disastrously
as you would expect him to.
Now,
let’s flashback to a rant he did on Monday:
So,
Rampage wants you to feel sympathy that he missed weight. But
we know why he missed weight. He was using testosterone, as he
admitted, and suffered from water retention.
Having
a full day to absorb UFC’s announcement on Fuel TV, Rampage
attempted to put a stop to the talk about him fighting Shogun:
You
mean to tell me all that testosterone boosting suddenly isn’t
matching up with what the MRIs told him? Or…
The
idiot can’t keep a story straight. He tried to claim that
things were ‘made up’ during that Fighters Only interview,
only to not refute any of the seven major points raised during
said interview. He claims that his knees have been ‘re-healed’
thanks to testosterone usage and that he’ll fight for 10
more years… but then claims he got an MRI… and says
that he needs surgery on both knees… only to come back half
a day later to say that he wants to fight on his own terms.
Newsflash:
UFC will simply ice you out on your contract and you won’t
make any cash. You better hope that rapping career takes off
really well. Don’t worry, your buddy Michelle Beadle on
her 0.15 QH-rated SportsNation show put over your Japanese rap
performance today — while Skip Bayless trashed your rapping
as lame and said your rapping career will be going nowhere.
I
did laugh that ESPN credited the video to “ShuHirata1968.”
Yes, that Shu Hirata.
The
face of T usage in MMA speaks up
Chael
Sonnen did his usual troll job, this time attacking Josh Gross
and Rampage on Spike TV’s MMA show last night. Of course,
what he doesn’t say every time he’s defending his testosterone
usage is that the doctor he brought to the California hearings
was Dr. Mark Czarnecki, a general practitioner and not (to my
knowledge) a board-certified endocrinologist.
Every
time one of UFC’s top fighters brings up the T issue, it’s
terrible publicity for them and for the sport. How can people
inside the business think that the public will buy what they
are selling on this topic with a straight face?
Oh
yeah, Chael, here’s a reminder from Dr. David Black: ‘testosterone
is the base chemical of steroids.’
Source:
Fight Opinion
|
ANTHONY
PETTIS SCHEDULES SURGERY AFTER NOT GETTING TITLE SHOT
By Ariel
Helwani
Anthony
Pettis has decided to have surgery to correct a lingering injury
instead of fighting in the next few months.
Chael
Sonnen, who is represented by the same management team, MMA Inc.,
as Pettis, broke the news on Tuesday's episode of UFC Tonight
on FUEL TV. MMAFighting.com subsequently confirmed the news with
Pettis' manager, Mike Roberts. Roberts would not disclose which
part of Pettis' body he was having surgery on or how long the
injury had been bothering "Showtime" for.
According
to Roberts, Pettis decided to go under the knife after finding
out that the UFC decided to give Frankie Edgar the next title
show against new 155-pound champion Benson Henderson. Roberts
said that if Pettis would have been chosen as the next title
contender, he would have delayed the surgery for a later date.
Pettis'
injury is not considered serious, and Roberts said he expects
him to be back in the cage by mid to late-summer.
Pettis
(15-2) most recently knocked out Joe Lauzon at UFC 144 last month
in Japan.
Source:
MMA Fighting
|
Jose
Aldo Headlines UFC 149 in Calgary, Dana White Promises ‘Sick’
Card
by Jeff
Cain
UFC
president Dana White announced that featherweight champion Jose
Aldo will headline UFC 149 in Calgary on July 21.
“The
headliner here will be Jose Aldo. He’ll be defending his
title here,” said White during a press conference in Calgary
on Wednesday.
One
side of the UFC 149 main event is in place, but Aldo’s opponent
will be named at a later date.
“We
don’t know that. This card is still so far away, we’re
working on it,” answered White when asked who Aldo will
face.
It
will be the fourth UFC title defense for Aldo, who sits atop
the 145-pound rankings and near the top of most pound-for-pound
lists.
Aldo’s
opponent and other featured bouts on the card will be announced
as bout agreements are signed, but the UFC president promises
a UFC 149 will be a “good one.”
“You
know I want to bring a sick card here. We’re going to bring
a good one here to Calgary, I promise.”
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Alvaro
Romano with new plans in MMA
A
physical conditioning coach to the MMA stars, Jiu-Jitsu black
belt and Ginástica Natural expert, Alvaro Romano has dropped
out of Vitor Belfort’s team and will not be training him
for his showdown with Wanderlei Silva next June at UFC Brazil.
“I
won’t be coaching Vitor anymore. I’m off his team,
after having worked with him for his last two fights, two victories.
Now I have some offers to work on producing new athletes,”
Romano told GRACIEMAG.com. “My idea is to set up and execute
a plan alongside professionals from all the areas of training.
That’s the right way to do things. That’s how I always
did it, and the results have been 100% victorious in the UFC
so far. I want to spearhead the evolution of conditioning for
MMA.”
“I
LEAVE THE TEAM WITH HIM VICTORIOUS”
A GRACIEMAG columnist, Romano denies any falling out with Belfort,
but he does say he is open to work with other MMA stars.
“I
want to deal more with the planning, while my son Raphael would
work more directly with the UFC and MMA stars in their training
camps,” he elucidates.
The
Rolls Gracie student remembers how he took up Belfort’s
training at a difficult moment, when the two first struck up
their partnership.
“Fifteen
years ago, I started training him after he lost to Randy Couture
at UFC 15, in 1997. After another unfortunate incident, his loss
to Anderson Silva in 2011, we started working together again.
Now I leave the team with him victorious and at a good point
in his career. I have other offers, and I want to devote myself
to new plans for Ginástica Natural and training athletes,”
Alvaro added.
Source:
Gracie Magazine
|
Cesar
Gracie Says Pettis or Penn Might Challenge Melendez Next
According
to Gilbert Melendez‘s trainer, Cesar Gracie, the UFC are
in talks to have either former UFC lightweight champ BJ Penn
or former WEC lightweight champ Anthony Pettis challenge his
charge for his Strikeforce strap next.
Gracie
informed TATAME of the development today.
“Melendez’s
situation is complex right now. We still don’t have an opponent,
date or place set. They said he could fight in San Jose but it’ll
probably change. They mentioned Josh Thomson but then said it
was not going to happen”, Gracie explained.“I spoke
to [UFC matchmaker] Joe Silva and he told me maybe some UFC fighters
will go to Strikeforce. We would really like to see him fighting
Pettis or BJ, but we are still not sure about what’s going
to happen.”
Given
that “Showtime” mentioned yesterday that he is considering
dropping down to featherweight to challenge Jose Aldo in the
near future, it would seem that the UFC brass are leaning towards
“The Prodigy” for the bout. It would make sense since
Penn has been uncharacteristically mum about his fighting future
since his last fight and likely would have been mulling over
the offer to swing over to the UFC’s sister promotion, considering
how much less promotion and exposure it gets.
Melendez
confirmed in a recent interview that reps from Zuffa indicated
that he would no longer be facing Josh Thomson, who was thought
to be his next opponent.
Another
name that has been mentioned as an opponent for “El Nino”
is Tyson Griffin, who was quietly suspended by Zuffa for failing
a post-fight drug test for marijuana after his UFC 123 loss to
Nick Lentz. Although it would create an interesting storyline
since Griffin once trained under Gracie before leaving for Xtreme
Couture, it’s unlikely considering he is 1-4 in his last
five outings and rumor has it he’s been dropped by the UFC.
We’ll
have more news on Melendez’s next opponent as it becomes
available.
Source:
Cage Potato
|
Marcelo
Guimaraes expected to sign with the UFC
By Carlos
Antunes
Away from the octagons since August 2011, Marcelo “Magrao”
Guimaraes, revealed to TATAME his plans for the future, commenting
on testing a new division, welterweight class, and also a negotiation
with Ultimate.
The Brazilian has eight professional fights and remains undefeated,
holding the title of Jungle Fight. That way he has been showing
enough talent to try a vacancy at Ultimate, and he’s been
under tests to drop to a lighter division.
“I was small in comparison to middleweight fighters. Not
in Brazil, but I have plans to drop in case I fight in international
events where guys are much bigger. Anderson Silva, for instance,
weighs almost 220lbs and drops to 185lbs. I usually weigh 198
and fight weigh-in 170lbs. I guess I should weight something
around that˜.
The last event Marcelo fought in was Jungle Fight. Since then
the Caveira Team athlete hasn`t performed and remains training
hard. However, he affirmed there`s a greater reason for that:
he`s negotiating with the UFC.
˜I`m waiting for an answer to joint UFC`s cast. But it`s
never that fast. I was talking to Erick (Silva) and he told me
he had to wait like eight months. I`ll give it some time, like
until mid-2012. I`ll go to Las Vegas next week to train and when
I come back, if it`s not set in stone I`ll get a fight in Brazil,
said.
˜Wallid said he`s negotiating and it`s seems I`ll fight
(in the UFC), but I don`t wanna make a mistake and fight in some
other event and jeopardize myself. I`ll wait until June or July˜,
completed.
Marcelo also guaranteed he doesn`t mind this time off the rings.
According to the athlete, some time away could mean improving
his game and bring some surprises for his future opponents.
˜This time I had to take off is actually being good for
me because when you keep fighting non-stop people get to know
you better. Now I can improve some details and learn new things.
I`m training like if I had a fight scheduled˜.
Despite wishing to fight abroad, ˜Magrao˜ highlights
the events in Brazil, affirming that the quality is high and
doesn`t discard fighting again in his country. ˜MMA events
in Brazil are also good. There`re good events to fight at˜.
Source:
Tatame
|
The
Sunday Morning Rumor Mill: The Wednesday Night Edition
Zeus
You
know all those animals in the Cadbury commercial with the faux
bunny ears? They're all dead now. That advertisement was shot
like over a decade ago. Now tell that to your kids. While you're
at it, stop putting pictures of your kids as your Facebook profile
picture. That's not even remotely close to being socially acceptable.
You're already living vicariously through your offspring. Life
is over for you, you might as well give me those shoes you're
wearing and sign over your will to Wallid Ismail. It's the only
way you can prove that you're not 'cheeken' in your soon-to-be
posthumous state.
Oh,
check out the Sunday Morning Rumor Mill - The Wednesday Night
Edition. The following items are not verified, but are just what's
floating around in the MMA world. If you repost any item with
the words 'MiddleEasy reports...' then you don't deserve to reproduce,
ever.
·
Earlier this week, Gilbert Melendez told us that he will be fighting
on May 19th in Strikeforce, but it will not be against Josh Thomson.
This lead to a wide range of speculation in the MMA community.
The two names that were heavily mentioned was former UFC champion
BJ Penn and former WEC champion, Anthony Pettis. I've heard that
the Gilbert Melendez fight was offered to BJ Penn, but he considers
himself 'retired' and turned it down last month. That left Anthony
Pettis fighting Gilbert Melendez, a rumor that was heavily refuted
by Anthony Pettis' manager. Yesterday, I heard from a source
that Takanori Gomi had a five-fight contract with the UFC and
as of UFC 144, it ended. Therefore, one can only assume that
Gomi could be tapped to fight Melendez. This rumor hasn't been
confirmed or refuted, but from a progressive stand point this
seems like a step back for Gilbert. What's left is Gray Maynard,
Clay Guida or Strikeforce's Bam Bam Healy.
· An all-heavyweight main event was something the UFC
wanted to do since late 2010. However a long string of unexpected
injuries prevented this from taking place. Now with UFC 146,
their concept has finally been realized -- fingers crossed, of
course.
· Legend FC has canceled their March show in Indonesia
due to low ticket sales. It appears the promotion plans to move
the card to Hong Kong.
· M-1 Global.com is no more. It appears the promotion
did not pay their webmaster/IT person and it's rumored the domain
will be 'up for grabs' in the next few days.
· A few people theorized that UFC leaked an unsigned Rampage
vs. Shogun fight so that MMA outlets can publish the news and
'back Rampage into a corner' to accept the fight. Due to the
fact that Rampage has asked for the fight both on Twitter and
in interviews, I don't think this is the case.
· Brett Rogers will be fighting on Super Fight League's
second show, going down in April.
· Urijah Faber claimed that he kicked Miesha Tate out
of Team Alpha Male because she owned him money. Miesha Tate's
version of the story is somewhat different.
· It appears MTV/Viacom is in full control of the development
of the new Bellator videogame.
· The Nevada State Athletic Commission has accused Nick
Diaz of lying in his pre-fight screening at UFC 142. Apparently
they claim he failed to disclose prescription medications (non-marijuana)
he was taking before the bout.
· Apparently TapouT's 'Punkass' is threatening former
employees of TapouT and allegedly this screen cap is proof.
· Despite the rumors, DREAM's next event will not be held
in April.
Source:
Middle Easy
|
GSP
Hopeful for November Return in Montreal
by Ken
Pishna
Rehabilitation
from any major surgery is a slow, drawn out process. It’s
not any different, even if you are UFC welterweight champion
Georges St-Pierre.
An
athlete in top condition, like GSP, can accelerate the healing
process, but it still doesn’t go away completely. And that’s
something St-Pierre and his fans have had to come to accept.
As
much as everyone wants to see St-Pierre back in the Octagon,
defending his belt, the champ continues to warn that his return
from ACL surgery is a lengthy process. In fact, even though he’s
feeling great, now is one of the most critical times for him
to restrain his desire to push harder and attempt to come back
too soon.
“My
rehab is going really well. My doctor says it is the fastest
rehab they have seen for an ACL surgery,” said St-Pierre
at Wednesday’s press conference in Calgary. “Even though
I’m feeling almost 100 percent right now, I’m halfway
through my rehab and I can’t push too much because my graph
is still not fused properly.”
The
UFC announced a trio of dates and location for Canadian events
in 2012, and it’s surely no coincidence that St-Pierre’s
hometown of Montreal is on the docket for UFC 154 on Nov. 17,
the same timeframe that St-Pierre has been targeting for his
return.
St-Pierre
would like nothing better than to be ready for a showdown with
interim champion Carlos Condit at the Bell Centre, but maybe
as much to keep his own hopes in check as those of his fans,
he won’t say that he plans to be ready by then.
“Hopefully
I’ll have a chance to fight in front of my Canadian fans
in November, but (UFC president Dana White) is the boss and he
is the one that decides everything. But hopefully, I cross my
fingers, and I hope that will happen,” said GSP.
“I
wish and I pray that I have a chance to perform in 2012, no matter
where it will be. I want to come back and fight in 2012.”
Even
White, who will “take him as soon as we can get him,”
was cautiously optimistic about GSP’s return happening later
this year in Canada.
“It
depends on when he is healed and when the fight could happen,”
White said, tiptoeing around the issue. “Obviously Georges
St-Pierre fighting anywhere around the world is big. Georges
St-Pierre, I’ve said it many times, he’s pound for
pound the biggest pay-per-view star in the sport. We’ll
see what his timetable is on his return and we’ll go from
there.”
But
GPS or no GSP, Canadian fans will be rewarded for their patience
with three pay-per-view events in 2012 and three more events
in 2013.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Source: Romolo Barros
|
The
Quest For Champions Martial Arts Tournament 2012
Featuring:
Sport-Pankration * Submission Grappling * Continuous Sparring
Saturday, May 19, 2012
St. Louis High School Gym
9:00am
For more Information, please contact Kempo Unlimited Hawaii
kunltd@hotmail.com or 808-778-3601
Source:
Tommy Lam
|
Scrappler's
Fest is Set for May 19!
Kauai's premier BJJ and Submission Grappling tournament has secured
a date for its next event.
Scrappler's Fest
Kauai
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Start preparing your team and start saving up for the trip to
compete against Kauai's best grapplers from Kauai Technical Institute
(KTI), Powerhouse, Longman, New Breed, Kamole, amongst others.
|
|