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2013
November
Aloha
State Championship
(BJJ
& Sub Grappling)
(Kaiser H.S. Gym)
August
Maui
Open Championship
(BJJ
& Sub Grappling)
(tba)
June
State
of Hawaii Championship
(BJJ & Sub Grappling)
(Kaiser H.S. Gym)
6/6-9/13
World
BJJ Championships
(BJJ)
(The Pyramid, University of California at Long Beach)
6/8/13
King of the Cage
(MMA)
(Maui)
5/25-26/13
NAGA:
Pacific Grappling Championships
(BJJ & Sub Grappling)
(Radford H.S. Gym)
5/4/13
Mad Skillz
(Triple Threat)
(Waipahu Filcom)
4/27/13
Star Elite Cagefighting: The Foundation
(Kickboxing)
(Aloha Tower Waterfront)
4/13/13
Hawaiian
Open Championship
(BJJ & Sub Grappling)
(Kaiser H.S. Gym)
Denny Prokopos
Eddie Bravo Black Belt Seminar
9AM-11AM
$50
@ O2 Martial Arts Academy
3/23/13
Man Up Stand Up
(Kickboxing)
(Waipahu Filcom)
3/20-24/13
Pan
Jiu-Jitsu Championships
(BJJ)
(Irvine, CA)
3/20/13
David Kama Seminar
Rickson Gracie Black Belt
8-10PM
$50
@ O2 Martial Arts Academy
2/23/13
Got Skills
(MMA, Kickboxing, Triple Threat)
(Waipahu Filcom)
2/16/13
Mayhem At The Mansion
Kauai Cage Match 14
(MMA)
(Kilohana Carriage House, Lihue, Kauai)
Boxing Event
(Boxing)
(Palolo Gym District Park Gym)
Uncle Frank Ordonez’s Birthday Tournament
(Palama Settlement Gym)
(Grappling, Sport-Pankration and Continuous sparring)
2/3/13
Diego Moraes Semainr
(BJJ)
(O2MAA)
2/2/13
World
Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championship: Hawaii Trials
(BJJ & Sub Grappling)
(McKinley H.S. Gym)
2/1/13
IBJJF Referee Clinic
(O2MAA)
1/19/13
Destiny
Na Koa 2
(MMA)
(Blaisdell Arena)
Just Scrap
(MMA)
(Hilo Civic Center, Hilo)
1/12/13
Reuben "Cobrinha" Charles Seminar
4-7PM
(Ku Lokahi Wrestling Club)
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May
2013 News Part 1
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Eddie
Alvarez Taking Fight Public in Legal Suit with Bellator MMA:
“The Gloves Are Off”
by Jeff
Cain
Lightweight free-agent Eddie Alvarez has gone public about his
legal dispute with Bellator MMA.
Alvarez has been in a legal battle with the fight promotion after
his contract expired in October. He received an offer from the
UFC and planned to sign with them, but Bellator invoked its right
to match the deal. Alvarez claims that the Viacom-owned Bellator
didn’t truly match what the UFC presented and in came the
lawyers.
Alvarez indicated on Thursday that there would be no settlement
and the two parties would go to trial.
On Friday, the 29-year-old continued to publicly comment about
the legal battle on Twitter, saying his beef is less with Bellator
CEO Bjorn Rebney and more with Spike TV and Viacom.
“This is a lot less about Bjorn guys and a lot more about
Viacom, I spoke with the higher ups and explained myself ,basically
was told too bad,” he wrote. “Bjorn only owns very
little and I’m really not sure he has a say at all, I went
over his head and spoke with his bosses, and here we are!”
Alvarez didn’t stop there.
“I might just dump just real (expletive) tonight until I
get a call from someone to stop. Soooo much to talk about now
that the gloves are off,” he wrote. “I’d be more
careful in what I said but I was told as long as I’m truthful
then I can say whatever I want.”
He then made unconfirmed allegations about Bellator’s treatment
of other fighters, including Cosmo Alexandre and Zach Makovsky.
“I am fortunate compared to guys like @CosmoAlexandre this
guy trains day and night to feed his fam and Viacom/ spike continue
to hurt him,” wrote Alvarez. “His story of getting
shafted might be worse than mine.”
“Not to mention how @ZachFunSize was bullied to take a smaller
pay day than contextually agreed or just sit after being champ,”
he added. “I have nothing to complain about I get paid
we’ll enough to keep bills paid but to bully guys like @ZachFunSize
and @CosmoAlexandre is a sin.”
Alvarez is right about at least one thing, the gloves are definitely
off.
Bellator representatives declined to comment on Alvarez’s
allegations.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
A
Series of Fortunate Events
By Brian
Knapp
On
Oct. 14, 2006, Anderson Silva captured the Ultimate Fighting
Championship middleweight crown with a vicious first-round knockout
against Rich Franklin. Two years, four months and six days later,
Chris Weidman made his professional mixed martial arts debut.
It seems their paths have been destined to cross ever since.
The
iconic 38-year-old Brazilian champion and the undefeated 28-year-old
upstart will meet on July 6 in Las Vegas, as Silva defends his
middleweight title against Weidman in the UFC 162 main event.
The challenger has had a theoretical date circled for quite some
time.
“When
I started MMA about four years ago, he was the champion at 185,
and when I made the decision to go to 185, I had to believe I
could beat the champion of the world or there was no reason for
me to do this,” Weidman said during a UFC Fight Club Q&A
on April 26. “From the get-go, no matter who I was fighting
coming up, I wasn’t only training to beat those guys I was
up against; I was training already at that point to beat Anderson
Silva and to be the best in the world. Now that I’ve finally
got the opportunity to get there, I’m not going to let the
opportunity slip through my fingers.”
Weidman
has opened his MMA career with a perfect 9-0 record, including
UFC wins over Alessio Sakara, Jesse Bongfeldt, Tom Lawlor, Demian
Maia and Mark Munoz. Still, it took a series of fortunate events
to ensure the “All-American” was paired with Silva
on a UFC marquee so soon. It began with his systematic annihilation
of Munoz at UFC on Fuel TV 4 in July, followed by his withdrawal
from a scheduled UFC 155 bout with Tim Boetsch and subsequent
surgery to repair a torn labrum in his shoulder. While Weidman
was on the shelf, Alan Belcher and Michael Bisping were victimized
in their respective matchups with Yushin Okami and Vitor Belfort.
Finally, former light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans, rumored
to be considering a move to 185 pounds, fell flat in a unanimous
decision defeat to Antonio Rogerio Nogueira at UFC 156.
Suddenly,
a fully recovered Weidman was the last man standing.
“It
really is crazy how it ended up working out,” he said. “Obviously,
I’m very grateful for the opportunity. When I got injured
-- and I was lined up to fight Boetsch -- I felt something good
was going to come from this. Regardless of not getting the Boetsch
fight, I felt like I was going to be fighting a bigger name,
maybe not Anderson at that point, because you had a couple other
guys, like Bisping [and] Belcher that were ahead of me.2006.
“Then
it got down to me and Rashad,” Weidman added. “I had
a meeting with [UFC President] Dana [White] and [UFC CEO] Lorenzo
[Fertitta] and they said, ‘Look, it’s going to be between
you and Rashad,’ and Rashad ended up losing. There was no
one left really.”
Stylistically,
many view Weidman as the prototypical foil for Silva. A four-time
collegiate wrestling All-American at Nassau Community College
and Hofstra University, Weidman defeated “The Ultimate Fighter”
Season 8 light heavyweight winner Ryan Bader as a senior and
tried out for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, only to have
a rib injury interrupt those plans.
Groomed
under former UFC welterweight champion Matt Serra and revered
striking guru Ray Longo, Weidman exhibited a startling aptitude
for submissions early in his development. Inside three months,
he won his first Grappler’s Quest tournament -- his weight
class and the absolute division -- and submitted all 13 of his
opponents in doing so. Moreover, Weidman qualified for the prestigious
Abu Dhabi Combat Club Submission Wrestling World Championships
in 2009 after just eight months of formal training and pushed
seven-time Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion Andre Galvao to
the limit in a memorable match in Barcelona, Spain. Though he
lost on points, he emerged as one of the tournament’s breakout
stars and has only gained momentum since.
“I
really feel like, on paper, I’m a nightmare matchup for
Anderson,” Weidman said. “On paper, you can’t
deny it. I’m definitely a better wrestler. I definitely
believe I’ve proven I have better jiu-jitsu. I think I have
the cardio, the athleticism. I think there are a lot of things
siding with me in this fight.”
Silva
was reportedly hesitant to accept a bout with the Baldwin, N.Y.,
native, but Weidman, at least publicly, did not view the Brazilian’s
posturing as a slight.
“I’ve
got enough incentive from my personal pride and just visualizing
this moment for four years,” he said. “I think I am
a nightmare matchup for him. If he had his way, he wouldn’t
be fighting me, but the UFC, Lorenzo and Dana wanted to make
the fight happen.”
Like
so many others before him, from Franklin and Belfort to Dan Henderson,
Nate Marquardt and Chael Sonnen, Weidman must grapple with the
mystique that comes with battling the most dominant figure in
UFC history. Silva has won all 16 of his fights inside the Octagon,
14 of them finishes.
“My
biggest concern right now is Anderson and getting that belt,”
Weidman said. “I think the best thing Anderson does is mentally
destroy people before they ever get in the cage with him. Once
you get in the cage with him, he does a great job of making you
feel like, ‘You don’t belong in this cage with me.
You’re terrible. I’m the man. You’re going to
find a way out of this fight.’ The thing is I’m very
confident. I know my skills.”
Sonnen
came closest to dethroning “The Spider” at UFC 117
in August 2010. Utilizing relentless takedowns, stout ground-and-pound,
fearless standup and a suffocating top game, the outspoken Oregonian
took the first four rounds from Silva before falling asleep inside
the champion’s guard and succumbing to a fifth-round triangle
choke. Weidman took notes.
“I’ve
seen what Chael has done to him, and I’ve seen his weaknesses,”
he said. “I think I can expose them again and look for a
finish. You just have to be confident. You can say anything you
want before the fight, but it’s all about when you touch
those gloves, that you still have the confidence, and I’m
going to make sure I do. It’s all mental.”
Having
the support and knowledge of a former UFC champion like Serra
in his corner has had a profound impact on Weidman.
“He’s
helped me a lot through my career, just getting used to how to
deal with the fans and how to handle the pressure and different
things like that,” he said. “Just being in the room
with the guy ... he doesn’t have to say a word. When you’re
around guys who’ve been where you want to go, it just gives
you a confidence to be able to achieve that.”
“I’ve
been in a rush since day one. I know this is going to be a short
career. I want to be a young champion.”
-- Chris Weidman, UFC middleweight contender
Weidman believes his time has arrived.
“I’ve
been in a rush since day one,” he said. “I know this
is going to be a short career. I want to be a young champion.
I’ve got nothing against Anderson. I think he’s the
greatest of all-time, but I’m going to go in there and try
to take his head off and put him on his back and look to submit
him. Nothing personal.”
Source:
Sherdog
|
Innocuous
phrase may have cost Eddie Alvarez seven figures
By Dave
Meltzer
A
legal battle over what the right to match an outside offer really
means has already cost Eddie Alvarez a huge amount of money,
and appears will also cost him a chunk of the prime of his career.
What
seemed to be an innocuous phrase in a contract signed with good
intentions, has turned into a battle that could have already
cost Eddie Alvarez upwards of $1 million.
And
it could lead to a legal ruling that in some form will set a
legal precedent in determining what the definition really is
of matching an outside contract offer.
Alvarez,
29, became regarded as one of the top lightweights in the world,
as well as one of the most exciting, while fighting in Japan
in 2008. When Bjorn Rebney formed Bellator later that year, and
got a television deal with ESPN Deportes for the first season
only in Spanish, a premium was placed on signing Hispanic fighters.
Alvarez, of Puerto Rican descent, was the perfect fit to be the
company's flagship fighter. He was marketable, exciting, had
beaten top level competition already, and was not under contract
with one of the top organizations in the U.S.
To
get Alvarez, Bellator offered a deal worth considerably more
money than UFC's offer at the time. Everything seemed positive
about the relationship. Unlike other stars who have failed to
deliver in the unpredictable environs of a tournament, Alvarez
came through in a big way during that first season. He became
Bellator's initial lightweight champion during the company's
first season in 2009, finishing all three opponents via submission.
Bellator
quickly upgraded from Spanish language television to Fox Sports
Net. From there, they moved to MTV2, where Alvarez suffered his
only loss in the Bellator cage, dropping his title to Michael
Chandler in what is generally considered the greatest fight in
company history.
That's
when problems started. The fight made a Chandler vs. Alvarez
title match the biggest fight possible in the promotion's history.
But Bellator's strict matchmaking rules made it impossible at
that point to put together the fight fans wanted to see more
than any other.
For
Alvarez to get a shot at Chandler, he'd have to enter and win
another three fights over three months. At the time he only had
two fights left on his contract, and turned down entering the
tournament. In October, after scoring knockouts over Shinya Aoki
and Patricky "Pitbull" Freire, Alvarez appeared to
be in an almost perfect position.
With
Bellator, by this point having a majority interest owned by Viacom
and headed to Spike TV, keeping the biggest star on the roster
was a major priority. For UFC, signing Alvarez would weaken Bellator
from a star standpoint in their move to Spike. UFC, under similar
circumstances, had signed up Bellator's middleweight champion,
Hector Lombard, a few months earlier. Lightweights were generally
considered UFC's deepest division when it came to talent, leaving
Alvarez an almost endless supply of fresh matchups.
The
timing couldn't have been better to be a free agent. UFC's offer
didn't disappoint. He was offered an immediate title shot at
the winner of a Dec. 8 match between champion Benson Henderson
and challenger Nate Diaz, earmarked for UFC 158 on March 16 in
Montreal. That show was headlined by Georges St-Pierre, the UFC's
biggest drawing card. Alvarez's UFC offer included a guaranteed
pay-per-view percentage on his first show with the company.
St-Pierre
had topped 700,000 buys on every show he'd headlined fight the
previous four years. There was no reason to believe that anything
should be different. This was even before Nick Diaz, easily his
best possible opponent to draw on pay-per-view in his weight
class, was announced as his opponent.
For
his first fight, Alvarez would make $70,000 in base pay, and
another $70,000 if he won. He'd also get $85,000 as the first
installment of a $250,000 bonus. Bellator matched all that in
a proposed match with Chandler.
The
value in winning the UFC title would open up all kinds of opportunities
that a Bellator title couldn't match. Alvarez's bonuses, provided
the show did 700,000 buys, would garner him another $850,000,
life-changing money. In one night, Alvarez would earn more than
he made in his four years in Bellator. Alvarez's pay-per-view
bonus for the show would have been $1.35 million if the show
hit 900,000 buys, or $1.60 million if the show hit the elusive
1 million mark. One could make an argument that adding a Henderson
vs. Alvarez title match to the St-Pierre vs. Nick Diaz show may
have increased the number above what it ended up doing, because
of how rare a show is nowadays with two title matches of that
caliber.
The
same pay-per-view bonus percentages offered by Bellator in its
matching the contract, which didn't kick in until 200,000 buys,
would likely be worth nothing. If Bellator would have or is to
put Alvarez vs. Chandler on pay-per-view, it would be almost
impossible to conceive of reaching even the bottom level for
a bonus.
Bellator
is matching the wording, but offering a contract nowhere close
to as lucrative as the UFC's in reality. This almost guaranteed
Alvarez and Bellator ended up in court.
Things
dragged out to where the deadline of getting Alvarez on the March
16 show had passed. Instead, his earliest debut if he could sign
with UFC was moved to UFC 159, April 27 in Newark, N.J., the
show headlined by Jon Jones vs. Chael Sonnen. That show was expected
to do well on pay-per-view, but not at St-Pierre vs. Diaz levels.
But
legal round one went to Bellator. Judge Jose Linares of U.S.
District Court in New Jersey ruled against Alvarez in his attempt
to be granted an injunction that would allow him to fight at
UFC 159. UFC's pay-per-view track record wasn't enough to convince
Linares that the contracts weren't of equal value. Linares also
wouldn't rule that a guaranteed fight on FOX (where UFC's last
three events have averaged more than 4 million viewers live)
wasn't an equal match for a guaranteed fight on Spike (where
Bellator averages 800,000 viewers per show live). But Linares
did say that a jury may rule differently. On April 17, Linares
ruled against Bellator, in its attempt to get the case thrown
out.
For
now, Alvarez has lost the opportunity at significant bonus money
that may not come up at that level again. He's also in the process
of losing a significant amount of time in the prime of his career
by sitting out until the case is resolved, as opposed to ending
the case and returning to Bellator.
But
no matter how the case turns out, for those in contact negotiations,
it serves as a warning that a phrase that seemed so fair, and
cut-and-dried, when put in a contract could end up being anything
but.
Source:
MMA Fighting
|
Tyson
Fury says he would fight Cain Velasquez in the UFC – for
the right price
Tyson
Fury said he would compete once in the octagon to beat UFC heavyweight
champ Cain Velasquez, then go back to boxing.
"I'm
definitely interested but the money would have to be right,"
Fury told U.K.-based tabloid The Daily Star.
The
unbeaten pugilist was responding to a challenge issued earlier
this month by UFC President Dana White, who said he would put
the matchup together.
"We'll
make a deal," White said this past month. "You want
to fight Cain? Come on over here. You will get smashed."
Fury
has dogged Velasquez in the press during his rise to prominence.
He's called the UFC fighter "a midget" that had turned
down several challenges to fight him.
Velasquez
has deflected Fury's words and said the boxer must work his way
up the MMA ladder like everyone else.
"I
didn't even know who he was until this and I think he's using
my name to gain publicity, which he has done," he told The
Star.
White,
though, accepted the challenge on Velasquez's behalf and added
that Fury was just the latest boxer to take aim at MMA.
"These
guys keep calling out and saying all this stuff," he said
during a media event for UFC 159. "Boxing is a game that
you use here, this is a fight. If they want a fight, the door
is open. Any one of them can come in here and fight. Anytime
they want."
Velasquez
(11-1 MMA, 9-1 UFC), a two-time champ who won back his belt at
UFC 155, won't be fighting Fury any time soon. First, the champ
is set to rematch Antonio Silva (18-4 MMA, 2-1 UFC) at UFC 160,
which takes place May 25 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
After
beating Steve Cunningham in an IBF title eliminator, Fury is
currently unbooked, and recently has sparred with fellow heavyweight
David Haye in the press.
Source:
MMA Junkie
|
UFC
Champion Jon Jones’ Foot Not Broken, Toe Already on the
Mend
UFC
light heavyweight champion Jon Jones’ broken toe isn’t
broken after all.
Following his victory over Chael Sonnen at UFC 159, Jones took
to the microphone for his usual post-fight interview with Joe
Rogan, but right away, Rogan noticed something was off kilter;
namely, Jones’ toe.
Jones’ toe was jutting out at an unnatural angle, bleeding,
with the bone trying to sneak a peak through his skin. It caused
more than a few stomachs to churn when the cameras focused on
his injured foot.
“Aw, man!” exclaimed Jones as he looked down at his
mangled foot. The Endicott, N.Y., native limped away in a brief
moment of disgust, but returned for his post-fight interview.
“Well, I wasn’t planning on breaking my big toe,”
Jones said with more than a hint of displeasure. “It’s
all nasty, man. I was supposed to go to Jamaica, man.”
A week removed from the fight, Jones tweeted that his toe was
not broken as was first thought, but severely dislocated.
“I recently found out that my toe was never broken, it was
just a really nasty dislocation,” he wrote on Twitter.
He was initially expecting to be sidelined for a few weeks before
returning to training, but with the discovery of the injury being
a dislocation instead of a fracture, the situation appears to
be progressing well.
“Right now my toe is in very little pain and already has
pretty good movement,” Jones continued on Twitter on Friday.
“Taking antibiotics as I wait for the stitches to heal.”
Jones at the UFC 159 post-fight press conference said he would
like to face Alexander Gustafsson next.
The toe injury looked like it might derail any hopes of a quick
return to the Octagon, but Jones’ current tweets could be
an indication that the timeline for his return could accelerate.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Roggan
Gracie, son of Rilion, makes successful MMA debut
Purple
belt Roggan Gracie fought in his first MMA fight in with his
father, Rilion, tuned in the corner.
Another
grandson of Grand Master Carlos Gracie, the first practitioner
of family, made his debut in the ring.
Son
of Rilion Gracie, Roggan had his first MMA fight last Saturday
in Lombardy, Italy at Milano in the Cage 3, one of the most well
known events in that country. The Gracie fought in the lightweight
division and defeated homeland fighter Marco Castorina by unanimous
decision.
The
full results of the card are as follows, according to Sherdog.com:
Milano
in the Cage 3
Milan, Lombardy, Italy
May 4, 2013
Filip
Kotarlic def. Alex Celotto won by TKO (retirement)
Roberto Rigamonti def. Sebastien Grandin by TKO
Massimo Capussela def. Ouadia Tergui by unanimous decision
Marvin Ademaj def. Nicolai Dudic by unanimous decision
Alessandro Botti def. Loenardo D’auria by TKO
Alen Amedowsky def. Roberto Fantasia by TKO
Valerio Saronni def. Anderson da Silva by disqualification
Luca Vitali def. Raffaele Spallitta by submission
Roggan Gracie def. Marco Castorina by unanimous decision
Stefano Paterno def. Simone Iuliano by submission
Eugenio Borsci def. Adrian Sebanowsky by unanimous decision
Marco Sigismondi and Pawel Szymanski fought to a draw
Elia Madau def. Mattia Sili by submission
Source:
Gracie Magazine
|
After
lengthy absence due to injury, apathy, Brian Bowles rediscovers
love for MMA
By Mike
Chiappetta
In
the world of sports, the next big things come and go with the
blink of an eye. They are disposable heroes, adored one minute,
forgotten the next. This is the fate of many, even if the reasons
for the rise and downfall are rarely fully explored.
A
recent mixed martial artist that neatly fits into the narrative
is Brian Bowles, a powerful bantamweight who won the WEC championship,
lost it partly due to injury, and then, a few fights and a short
time later, seemed to vanish without a trace.
At
least to the sporting world, Bowles hasn't been seen or heard
from since Nov. 19, 2011, when he lost to Urijah Faber on what
was perhaps the best night of major MMA in the last 10 years.
On the same evening that Dan Henderson outlasted Mauricio Rua
in a ferocious war of attrition, and Michael Chandler bested
Eddie Alvarez in a brilliant technical masterpiece, Bowles tapped
to Faber's vaunted guillotine. After that, he walked back to
the locker rooms at the HP Pavilion, out the arena's doors, and
disappeared into the California night.
Just
as quietly as he left, after 18 months away, Bowles returns.
At the upcoming UFC 160 event, he will face George Roop.
It's
a comeback a long time in coming. Bowles, who turns 33 next month,
said he originally intended only to take a short time off, but
saw the days and weeks multiply largely because of injury as
well as his own apathy for training.
"Sometimes
going in the gym, it wasn’t fun to me anymore," he
said on Monday's edition of The MMA Hour. "I started doing
this out of fun. I didn't start doing this because I wanted to
fight in UFC. I just started doing it for fun. When it became
my job, and all the pressure got on me, it quit being fun, the
grind of it."
Bowles'
issues were compounded by ongoing injures. He broke his hand
three times. He hurt his knee. He contracted staph infection.
He was diagnosed with two bulging discs and two degenerative
discs.
Of
all the problems, the back injury has been the most troublesome
to his career. Bowles said that he must constantly work hard
to stay in shape, doing pre-habbing and strengthening exercises.
Whenever he misses any time, it inevitably leads to disaster.
"When
I sit out and try to come back, I have to come back so slow to
get my back conditioned to it, that if I don't, I'll hurt myself,"
he said. "That actually happened to me. We tried to come
back too fast, and then I ended up hurting my back and that would
put me down for another month. Then before you know it, you're
out 5-6 months without doing anything just from trying to take
off a month or two."
The
solution, it seems, is to consistently stay active and stay on
his workout regimen.
For
this return, he has been training hard since last October, and
the workouts have allowed him to put his past experiences in
perspective.
"You
kind of get down on yourself when you're not training and you're
sort of laying around," he said. "You're like, 'Man,
I don't know if I want to do this.' I guess it's like you get
depressed because you're a fighter and you're not fighting, you're
not making money, you're not doing interviews, you're not doing
anything. But as soon as I got to training hard again, I realized
how much I loved it, and this is what I want to do."
Bowles
said the last 18 months of living without earning a fight purse
have been a financial challenge. He's lived off his past earnings,
as well as some investments he made. He's also tried to make
extra money by teaching classes and giving private instruction.
Incredibly,
the division has not passed him by. Bowles is still ranked No.
8 in the UFC's divisional rankings, where ostensibly, a couple
of wins should put him squarely in the hunt to challenge for
a belt. Bowles thinks a solid three-fight win streak will be
enough to gain him consideration, and the flashier the wins,
the better.
Against
Roop, he thinks the key is to find a way inside his range and
put himself into position for takedowns.
After
18 months of inaction, and seeing what life is like away from
competition, Bowles says there's no chance he's going back to
the dark time in his life when he lost sight of how fun it all
could be.
"Now
I realize what it’s like without it," he said. "I
don't want to feel that again. I realize when all that’s
gone, I was sitting around the house doing nothing. I need to
be out there fighting. Now that I'm back, I realize it was stupid
of me to get lazy like that, and I think it got me refocused."
Source:
MMA Fighting
|
With
MMA-to-boxing transition, Mauro Ranallo working on 'less is more'
approach
Mauro
Ranallo has no shortage of fans. But he's always been quick to
admit he has his fair share of critics.
In
his line of work as a combat sports play-by-play man, that's
only natural. But Ranallo – the self-proclaimed "Bipolar
Rock N' Roller" – takes the constructive criticism
to heart. And perhaps now more than ever before, he's applying
it to his work.
This
past Saturday, Ranallo, the former MMA play-by-play voice for
Showtime best known for his work there on Strikeforce events,
as well as his work in Japan calling PRIDE fights, continued
his transition into boxing when he called the Floyd Mayweather-Robert
Guerrero fight for Showtime Sports.
He
acknowledged the amount of pressure when he thinks about history
looking back on a "Money" Mayweather title fight and
hearing his voice on the call. And it is that pressure that keeps
him working at those constant improvements.
"There
absolutely is a lot of pressure, and anyone who knows me knows
there's no bigger critic, no more force of pressure on me than
myself," Ranallo on Monday told MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio).
"For me, from Day 1, when I was 16 years old to now being
a 43-year-old combat sports broadcaster, not a day goes by that
I don't do as much research as I can on everything that interests
me. That's a wide variety of subjects. I know I'm not going to
come across as sympathetic to anyone because these are tough
times we're living in and I know just how tough of a struggle
it is for a lot of people, but for yours truly, I live, eat and
breathe what I do. I'm the luckiest man in the world. I know
that. But I also know how much passion, how much preparation
and how much love I put into each and every broadcast that I
do. I hope it comes across."
His
passion never has been at issue – and that same passion
has been the source of much of the criticism, constructive or
otherwise, that has been lobbed his way.
And
that's where Ranallo said he's utilizing some of that advice
and seeing how it plays out in the boxing world. It may have
been evident on Saturday in the Mayweather-Guerrero fight, a
unanimous decision win for Mayweather that had some fans critical
that the champ didn't go after a highlight-reel finish. He won
117-111 on all three judges' scorecards at MGM Grand Garden Arena
in Las Vegas, winning nine rounds to Guerrero's three.
Without
the same level of intensity as many times was there in fights
Ranallo would call in the MMA world, he started to take some
of those rein-it-in lessons to heart.
"I
still feel that I have to make a lot of adjustments," he
said. "And that's one of the things that people have loved
and criticized me about. I understand where people come from
who aren't exactly fans of my work. It's a subjective thing.
But with MMA and boxing, there are so many differences. With
boxing, the peaks and the valleys, there's rhythm, there's nuances,
there's subtlety, and at the end of the day, less is more. And
I'm still working on that – let the fight breathe, let the
punches resonate with the audience at home.
"But
when it comes to the action itself, I get excited."
It
was former CBS sportscaster Gus Johnson, though, who once gave
Ranallo a tip that sticks with him still today. In Strikeforce's
short-lived run with CBS, Johnson and Ranallo shared time at
cageside.
"I'll
tell you this much – Gus Johnson may have given me the best
advice that I've ever been given by anyone: 'You know, Mauro,
you have all the tools. Take a few miles off the fastball,'"
Ranallo recalled. "And I'm working on that."
Ranallo's
regular MMA work for Showtime came to an end when Strikeforce
shut its doors following its January finale card. He continues
to call MMA fights, though, with work for Invicta Fighting Championships.
With the UFC's broadcast teams firmly in place, and AXS TV with
its own regular crew, the MMA opportunities for Ranallo now are
fewer and farther between.
But
he's not closing the door on anything when it comes to the sport
– not even when it comes to the potential for Showtime to
one day be in the MMA broadcast business again. And his weekly
podcast, "The Show with Mauro Ranallo," keeps him always
with a hand in MMA, as well as pro wrestling and boxing.
"Boxing
is keeping me very busy," he said. "I still keep a
very close eye on mixed martial arts – I follow it as much
as I ever have because of my weekly responsibilities and because
I'm a fan first and foremost. I'm blessed to do Invicta, but
what else is there? I'm grateful boxing is keeping me busy in
the play-by-play chair, and I'm happy to be doing what I'm doing
in the limited role in mixed martial arts, but I'm always open
to new challenges – and maybe outside of combat sports.
... I do miss mixed martial arts at the highest level, and dare
I say Stephen Espinoza, the man in charge at Showtime Sports,
I think he misses mixed martial arts at the highest level. The
door has not been shut. I'm not trying to give false hope or
build a cliffhanger here, but who knows what the future of MMA
is on Showtime? I would not say it'll never happen again."
And
if that day comes, Ranallo will no doubt be first in line for
a chance to be back on the call.
Source:
MMA Junkie
|
Sherdog’s
Top 10: Non Pay-Per-View Main Events
By Tristen
Critchfield
MMA
fans are generally a loyal group, willing to shell out $50 to
$60 of their hard-earned cash on a monthly basis in order to
see their favorite fighters throw down on pay-per-view. It is
nice, however, to get a little something for nothing every once
in a while. As the sport has expanded in recent years, more and
more high-quality fights are being offered on free TV.
OK,
so if you receive a monthly bill from a cable or satellite provider,
you know “free” is a bit of a stretch -- even more
so if you factor in that premium channel charge that some might
have paid for Showtime when Strikeforce was still around. Nonetheless,
most anyone can appreciate the chance to view more violence without
those annoying pay-per-view charges.
In
honor of an ever-growing MMA lineup on television, a panel of
Sherdog.com staff has selected its Top 10 “Non Pay-Per-View
Main Events.” Entertainment value and all-out action are
obviously important, but so too are significance, hype and long-term
impact.
10.
Miesha Tate vs. Ronda Rousey
Strikeforce “Tate vs. Rousey” | March 3, 2012 -- Columbus,
Ohio
Showtime
In
recent months, women’s mixed martial arts has made huge
strides, but without the will of Rousey, the resilience of Tate
and the obvious disdain the two had -- and continue to have --
for one another, it is quite possible that progress might not
have been so accelerated.
Rousey’s
ascent to the top of the Strikeforce women’s bantamweight
division was rapid. After four first-round armbar finishes, including
two on the promotion’s Challengers circuit, “Rowdy”
was granted a shot at Tate. It did not sit well with the champion.
“She
just hasn’t accomplished what a lot of the other girls that
I’ve already fought have accomplished, yet she’s kind
of jumping ahead of a few of them,” Tate told Sherdog.com
before the fight. “I don’t necessarily feel that that’s
right, but the thing about Ronda is what she does do she’s
really good at ...”
Rousey,
of course, offered no apologies.
“If
you’re not going to take every single avenue to try to sell
yourself, if you’re only going to do it on performance only,
then it’s going to take longer,” the Olympic judoka
said. “If your performances aren’t that exciting and
your interviews aren’t that exciting and the way you present
yourself isn’t all that interesting, why do you expect people
to want to see you fighting?”
It
turned out to be a pretty good show while it lasted. Tate survived
longer than any previous Rousey opponent but eventually was forced
to tap out to the inevitable armbar at the 4:27 mark of round
one. However, “Cupcake” earned plenty of accolades
by aggressively attacking her foe and somehow escaping Rousey’s
first armbar attempt. It is probably no coincidence that a little
more than a year later women’s bantamweights are entrenched
on the Ultimate Fighting Championship roster.
9.
Roger Huerta vs. Clay Guida
“The Ultimate Fighter 6” Finale | Dec. 8, 2007 -- Las
Vegas
Spike TV
Guida
has come under fire for performances in recent bouts against
the likes of Anthony Pettis, Gray Maynard and Hatsu Hioki, as
his blend of herky-jerky movement and top-control wrestling prowess
has not made for the most crowd-pleasing affairs. To remember
what made “The Carpenter” such a fan favorite in the
first place, one need only travel back to his battle with Huerta,
who at the time was unbeaten in the promotion and regarded as
one of the lightweight division’s more intriguing potential
stars.
Guida
took down Huerta repeatedly in the bout’s first 10 minutes,
and at one point, it appeared that “El Matador” even
took a moment to admire himself on the video monitor. On the
feet, both men threw hands aggressively, with Huerta mixing in
the occasional high kick. Guida looked to be on the verge of
victory in round two, where he floored Huerta with a big right
hand after Huerta dropped to a knee to defend a takedown. From
there, the Chicago native began pummeling his adversary with
punches and hammerfists from above in hopes of a finish.
“This
is Clay Guida’s style -- relentless striker when he’s
on top,” UFC analyst Joe Rogan said.
Huerta
managed to survive and turned the tide in round three, landing
some solid knees that had Guida shooting out of desperation.
His tries were in vain, however, and Huerta spun out of a final
takedown attempt to take Guida’s back, locking in the decisive
rear-naked choke 31 seconds into the final stanza. While Guida
would go on to become a fringe contender at 155 pounds, Huerta
had peaked; he is 2-6 since his memorable comeback against “The
Carpenter.”
8.
Demetrious Johnson vs. John Dodson
UFC on Fox 6 | Jan. 26, 2013 -- Chicago
Fox
The
UFC introduced the flyweight division in 2012 with a four-man
tournament, but not everyone appreciated the type of action the
little guys brought to the Octagon. When Johnson squared off
with Joseph Benavidez to decide the promotion’s inaugural
125-pound king at UFC 152, the bout drew its fair share of boos,
much to the chagrin of UFC President Dana White.
Recognizing
that the flyweight brand needed more of a push, the UFC booked
Johnson against Dodson as the main event for its sixth offering
on Fox. The promotion wisely made UFC on Fox 6 its most stacked
card on the network yet, surrounding the pairing with marquee
stars such as Quinton Jackson, Anthony Pettis and Donald Cerrone.
At
the end of the night, there might have been a few more flyweight
converts, as “Mighty Mouse” cemented himself as champion
with a unanimous decision victory over the Jackson’s Mixed
Martial Arts representative. Dodson tested Johnson with his power
early, rocking his foe with big left hands in both the first
and second rounds.
“I
got dazed a little bit, but I’m in great shape,” Johnson
said. “[Getting hit is] going to happen. It’s like
going swimming. You’re going to get splashed.”
The
conditioning of the AMC Pankration product paid off as the contest
progressed. Johnson scored takedowns in every round, continued
to push the pace and punished “The Magician” in the
Thai plum in the championship periods. It was yet another example
of how closely contested bouts in the UFC’s smallest weight
class can be, and the masses tuned in: UFC on Fox 6 ratings surpassed
figures for the previous three installments on the network.
7.
Quinton Jackson vs. Dan Henderson
UFC 75 “Champion vs. Champion” | Sept. 8, 2007 -- London
Spike TV
Jackson
made his presence felt in the Octagon some three months earlier
by scoring a technical knockout victory over reigning 205-pound
champion and company figurehead Chuck Liddell in the first round
at UFC 71. Meanwhile, with the popular Pride Fighting Championships
promotion under Zuffa ownership and on the brink of closing up
shop for good, Henderson entered the UFC as the Japanese promotion’s
185- and 205-pound champion.
“Spike
TV is thrilled to present such a monumental bout between these
two great champions,” Spike TV General Manager Kevin Kay
stated in a release. “Not only will this be the first ever
unification bout but it is Spike TV’s first ever UFC title
fight.”
“Rampage”
earned the nod from the judges in a competitive five-round affair,
weathering an early onslaught from Henderson in the first two
frames to finish strong over the final 15 minutes. It showcased
a different side of Jackson, as he was able to prevail in a grind-it-out
battle instead of relying on the formidable power that dispatched
Liddell. With the win, Jackson was able to unify the belts from
the two promotions.
Though
the broadcast was tape delayed, it attracted an audience of 4.7
million viewers to the channel, besting the previous Spike TV/UFC
record of 3.1 million set by the show featuring the third and
final match between Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock in October 2006.
“The
ratings are further proof that the tide in American sports is
changing,” Kay said. “Young men, who constitute the
Spike TV core audience, prefer the incredible action and athleticism
of the UFC to more traditional sports.”
6.
Cain Velasquez vs. Junior dos Santos
UFC on Fox 1 | Nov. 12, 2011 -- Anaheim, Calif.
Fox
The
Ultimate Fighting Championship inked a seven-year deal with Fox
in the summer of 2011, potentially altering the mixed martial
arts landscape forever. For the promotion’s November debut
on the network, it needed to make a splash that would set the
tone for a partnership that would officially begin the following
year. Instead of a full main card, Fox executives requested a
single bout to whet the appetite of a curious new audience.
What
better way to fit the bill than by offering a heavyweight title
fight?
By
most definitions, dos Santos-Velasquez is too abbreviated to
qualify as an all-time classic -- “Cigano’s” 64-second
knockout victory left Fox with plenty of time to fill on its
hour-long broadcast -- but by offering a fight that would usually
fetch top dollar on pay-per-view, the Las Vegas-based promotion
set the tone for what looks to be a prosperous relationship for
both parties. Ratings peaked during headliner, as 8.8 million
viewers tuned in to watch the title fight; it was the most viewed
bout in the history of MMA on American television.
Of
course, part of the intrigue of any heavyweight battle is the
potential for such a quick finish, which dos Santos delivered
in emphatic fashion. The Brazilian floored Velasquez with an
overhand right behind the ear, followed his foe to the canvas
and finished the contest with strikes on the ground.
“I
don’t know if you guys are able to [understand how I feel].
I can’t explain how I’m feeling,” dos Santos said
at the post-fight press conference. “It was an important
fight for the whole MMA [community] and especially for me and
Cain.”
5.
Fedor Emelianenko vs. Fabricio Wedum
Strikeforce/M-1 Global “Fedor vs. Werdum” | June 26,
2010 -- San Jose, Calif.
Showtime
It
was, at least when it came to MMA sites, the day the Internet
broke. That is what happens when the sport’s mythical pound-for-pound
torch bearer, a man who had not lost in nearly a decade, dives
into the guard of one of the world’s most skilled Brazilian
jiu-jitsu practitioners. From beginning to end, it only took
69 seconds.
Emelianenko
fired the first salvo, sending Werdum tumbling to the canvas
with a flurry of punches. “The Last Emperor” showed
no fear as he followed the two-time Abu Dhabi Combat Club Submission
Wrestling World Championships gold medalist to the ground, and
he ultimately paid the price, tapping to a triangle armbar.
Emelianenko
escaped his opponent’s first armbar attempt, but Werdum
quickly latched onto a tight triangle. The Brazilian spent the
next few moments alternating between the armbar and triangle,
gradually manipulating Emelianenko’s left arm into the point
of no return. The Russian had made a habit of surviving precarious
situations over the course of his brilliant career, but there
would be no improbable comeback on this night.
“I
put Fedor in trouble with my best weapon -- my triangle. I took
away his balance,” Werdum would later say. “And when
he went in my guard, I knew I was going to win the fight.”
Meanwhile,
Emelianenko was as stoic in defeat as in he was in victory.
“The
one who doesn’t fall doesn’t stand up,” Emelianenko
said. “I was concentrating on the strikes. That’s why
I made the mistake.”
4.
Chan Sung Jung vs. Dustin Poirier
UFC on Fuel TV 3 | May 15, 2012 -- Fairfax, Va.
Fuel TV
Once
upon a time, “The Korean Zombie” was probably best
known for his rollicking scrap with Leonard Garcia at WEC 48,
a memorable slugfest from which Jung emerged on the wrong end
of a contentious split verdict. From there, it would have been
easy for Jung to embark on a career as a lovable brawler, winning
some and losing some but always pleasing the masses. However,
after a vicious knockout loss to George Roop, Jung began to rewrite
his story, scoring impressive finishes of Garcia and Mark Hominick
in his first two UFC outings.
Heading
into his first headliner against Poirier, one of the division’s
most highly regarded talents, Jung appeared to have turned a
corner, but he was still a considerable underdog against the
man known as “The Diamond.” For 16 furious minutes,
Jung brought together the best of his two worlds, combining his
all-action side with improved all-around polish to hand Poirier
his first career loss at 145 pounds.
The
Korean was the aggressor from the outset, scoring a trip takedown
and opening a cut near Poirier’s hairline with an elbow
in the first round. Jung’s output would only increase in
the second frame, where he hurt his foe with a flying knee and
uppercuts against the fence before threatening with a pair of
triangle chokes before time expired. A series of solid left hands
gave Poirier hope in round three, but he could not continue his
charge, as Jung secured a brabo choke 1:07 into the fourth stanza.
“For
me it was [the best moment of my career],” Jung said, “but
I’m waiting for the day I can become champion.”
3.
Benson Henderson vs. Anthony Pettis
WEC 53 | Dec. 18, 2010 -- Glendale, Ariz.
Versus
At
the moment, the video of the maneuver now known as “The
Showtime Kick” is at 4.4 million views and counting on the
Ultimate Fighting Championship’s YouTube channel. For most
of its existence, World Extreme Cagefighting was a hardcore fight
fan’s delight, an opportunity to watch any number of talented
lighter-weight competitors on Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday or
even Sunday nights.
Sure,
Urijah Faber was popular, and the promotion even ventured into
the pay-per-view realm once, but the WEC did not truly go mainstream
until the final minute of the final round of its final event,
when Pettis launched himself off the cage and into Internet immortality
with the memorable “Showtime Kick.” Not only was the
move bold, but it was successful, as the kick landed cleanly
on Henderson’s head, dropping him flat and sealing Pettis’
place as the organization’s last lightweight ruler. In what
was a competitive fight that could have been deadlocked on many
scorecards, all everyone remembers is Pettis’ athletic display.
The
highlight-reel move turned up everywhere, including ESPN’s
“Sportscenter,” the desired destination for pretty
much anyone who has played a sport at any level. Additionally,
it gave the WEC fighters a new level of recognition as they prepared
to transition to the Octagon. Today, Henderson is the UFC’s
lightweight champ, while Pettis, arguably the division’s
No. 1 contender, has a featherweight title bout with Jose Aldo
lined up for August.
“I
watch it every day,” Pettis told Sherdog.com shortly after
the victory. “Someone made a YouTube video of it, like in
slow-mo, and I wake up and watch it. It just puts a smile on
my face every time.”
2.
Donald Cerrone vs. Benson Henderson
WEC 43 | Oct 10, 2009 -- San Antonio
Versus
Before
Henderson became famous for winning title fights by the skin
of his teeth, he was just another promising title hopeful riding
a modest two-fight winning streak under the World Extreme Cagefighting
banner. Cerrone, meanwhile, had gained a level of notoriety thanks
to a controversial, split technical decision loss to then-lightweight
titlist Jamie Varner in a bout which would spark a heated feud.
With
Varner sidelined due to injuries suffered in that bout, the Zuffa-owned
promotion paired Henderson and Cerrone to vie for interim 155-pound
gold. When all was said and done, it was Henderson’s combination
of resilience and Gumby-like flexibility that won the day --
and the title -- in a fight that was chosen as Sherdog.com’s
“Fight of the Year” for 2009.
Cerrone
had his fellow Colorado native trapped in several serious submissions
-- including a tight guillotine 30 seconds into the fight, another
dire choke in round four and finally a wrenching omaplata/kimura
hybrid in the fifth -- but each time “Smooth” was somehow
able to escape.
“Every
time [Henderson escaped], I was like, ‘Hell yeah! Cool,’”
Cerrone said. “I was rooting for him, if that makes any
sense. I was like, ‘Hell yeah, you bad [expletive].’
That’s what’s going through my head. Hell yeah. It
was just cool, like inspiring, man.”
In
between, Henderson was able to land plenty of clever offense
of his own from inside Cerrone’s guard to earn unanimous
48-47 scorecards from the cageside judges. It was a bout which
sparked plenty of debate about how fights are scored, as many
rewarded “Cowboy” for doing good work from his back
on their unofficial scorecards.
“That
was an absolute war,” Henderson said afterward. “That’s
exactly what I wanted coming into the fight. Now I don’t
ever want to do it again.”
1.
Eddie Alvarez vs. Michael Chandler
Bellator 58 | Nov. 19, 2011 -- Hollywood, Fla.
MTV2
If
Bellator MMA had to choose only one bout on which to hang its
proverbial hat, it would almost certainly have to be the back-and-forth
fracas between Chandler and Alvarez at Bellator 58. It was still
more than a year before the promotion would move to Spike TV,
and the MTV2-televised card also had to compete with UFC 139
-- a pay-per-view which would feature an epic confrontation of
its own between Mauricio Rua and Dan Henderson -- for the attention
of the mixed martial arts fan that day. Those who tuned in did
not regret the decision.
In
one of the best fights of 2011, Chandler submitted Alvarez with
a rear-naked choke 3:06 into the fourth round to become Bellator
lightweight champion, a title he still holds. Both fighters had
their moments. Chandler dropped Alvarez with a Superman punch
almost immediately and then floored him again with a right hand
late in the opening frame.
Alvarez
recovered, as he is known to do, and launched an assault of his
own, arguably earning a 10-8 third round against an exhausted
Chandler. Somehow re-energized in round four, Chandler authored
one more definitive momentum swing, wobbling his foe with another
right before asserting his will with ground-and-pound and the
decisive choke on the mat.
“When
the fight was over, I couldn’t believe it,” Chandler
said in a post-fight interview. “I always knew I could win,
but when it happened, I was stunned. It was an honor to fight
a great guy like Eddie and to be in one of the best fights imaginable.”
***
Honorable
Mentions: Diego Sanchez vs. Karo Parisyan (UFC Fight Night 6),
Urijah Faber vs. Jens Pulver (WEC 34), Cheick Kongo vs. Pat Barry
(UFC Live 4), Dan Henderson vs. Fedor Emelianenko (Strikeforce
“Fedor vs. Henderson”), Wanderlei Silva vs. Brian Stann
(UFC on Fuel TV 8), Nick Diaz vs. Paul Daley (Strikeforce “Diaz
vs. Daley”).
Source
Sherdog
|
Why
is Spike TV giving deference to TNA over Bellator?
By Zach
Arnold
The
quick and dirty: TNA’s move from 9 PM-11 PM to 8-10 PM has
not changed ratings for the better. TNA viewers turn in at 9
PM, not 8 PM. TNA is the quintessential ‘treadmill promotion’
— a promotion that is constantly moving but never moving
forwards or backwards. It always remains in place no matter how
much energy is exerted.
TNA
from 8 PM to 10 PM acted as the lead-in for Bellator on Thursday
nights (10 PM-Midnight). Spike TV is reportedly going to move
TNA back to 9 PM-11 PM. This means Bellator is likely going to
get moved from Thursday nights to another night on the network.
Spike
TV isn’t the primary owner of TNA. They own Bellator. And,
yet, TNA remains a bigger concern for the network?
So,
what night will Spike TV move Bellator to?
By
process of elimination, days that are likely out of the question:
Sunday (wrestling PPVs, NFL), Monday (WWE, big sporting events),
Wednesdays (UFC on Fox Sports 1), Thursdays (TNA time change),
Saturday (fight PPVs, college football).
That
leaves us with Tuesdays or Fridays. Tuesdays makes the most sense,
by far, and might be a good spot for Bellator to get a chance
to have the night to their own on Spike. The one drawback is
that they won’t have a TNA lead-in, but I don’t know
how big of a deal it is. Fridays… ask UFC how that went
on a network like FX. Fridays would not be as awful as Saturday
night on MTV2 but… that would be a really revealing move
by Spike in regards to how they view Bellator and where MMA stands
right now in terms of priorities.
Source:
Fight Opinion
|
Matt
Brown vs. Thiago Alves Agreed to for First UFC on Fox Sports
1 Event
It
may not have a main event yet, but the UFC’s first event
on the yet to be launched Fox Sports 1 network has its first
bout.
UFC
welterweights Matt Brown and Thiago Alves have verbally agreed
to fight on Aug. 17 at TD Gardens in Boston, according to MMAWeekly.com
sources.
The
event is slated to help Fox Sports 1 – Fox’s new national
sports network – launch on the same day. The UFC will be
part of the network’s cornerstone programming when it takes
over the Speed Channel.
Less
than two years ago, Brown (17-11) was on the verge of receiving
a pink slip. Coming off of a loss to Seth Baczynski at UFC 139,
he had lost four of five bouts. But his fortunes turned quickly
after that fight.
Brown
has since gone on to win five consecutive fights, including four
in 2012.
He
most recently finished highly touted Strikeforce transfer Jordan
Mein, stopping him via TKO in the second round of their UFC on
Fox 7 Fight of the Night performance.
Alves
(19-9), however, is in a much different situation than Brown.
He has lost four of his last six fights, but hasn’t fought
for the past 14 months due to a series of injuries.
Alves
had to have surgery for a torn pectoral muscle in early 2012.
Before he could get back to the Octagon, however, his body required
further repairs.
“I
had to do my PCL and my ACL on my left knee,” Alves told
MMAWeekly.com.
His
knee had bothered him since 2009, but it wasn’t until trying
to return from the pectoral injury that he aggravated the knee
enough to finally opt for surgery.
The
fight with Brown will be Alves’ first since a submission
loss to Martin Kampmann at UFC on FX 2 in March of 2012.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
The
eight best cities for MMA
The
MMA world sometimes resembles a traveling circus. It moves from
one city to another, as the UFC or Bellator sets up shop, puts
on its show, then moves on. But some stops stand out.
Here
are Cagewriter's best fight towns. Cities were judged on support
of MMA cards, local MMA scenes, strength of commission and just
an overall feeling of MMA love. Here, in no particular order,
are the eight best cities for MMA.
Montreal
-- Canadians LOVE MMA. They're nuts about it. Nowhere is that
better exemplified than in Montreal, which consistently packs
the Bell Centre when the UFC rolls into town. UFC 83, the event
where native son Georges St-Pierre won the welterweight championship
belt back from Matt Serra, was the fastest sellout in UFC history.
Their fervor hasn't died down, and they are the home for Tri-Star
MMA, the training home of GSP.
Kansas
City -- Wait. You say. Kansas City? Have there been any UFC,
WEC or Strikeforce cards in Kansas City? Well, not recently.
But here's the thing that makes Kansas City an awesome fight
town: Kansas City fans support all MMA. There's a reason Bellator,
Invicta, RFA, Legacy, and other promotions keep returning, and
it's not just the excellent barbeque. Kansas City fans come out
for MMA. They also have the support of several MMA gyms, including
HD MMA, owned by Strikeforce and UFC fighter Jason High and WEC
veteran L.C. Davis.
Columbus,
Ohio -- Start with a well-run, thorough commission. Throw in
a crowd that gives every fight a college football game feel.
Add in underrated MMA gyms nearby and the yearly spectacle of
the Arnolds, and you have one great fight town.
Rio
de Janeiro -- At UFC 134, the UFC returned to the second biggest
city in fight-loving Brazil for the first time in 13 years, and
no one knew just how tight the city's embrace would be. From
fans lining up hours before the card to get into their raucous
celebrations when their Brazilian fighter won, Rio gave the UFC
good reason to return.
Saitama,
Japan -- Going to a fight at Saitama Super Arena should be on
every MMA fan's bucket list. Perhaps that would be best accomplished
with a time machine that could whisk you back to a PRIDE event
there, with a football-sized crowd and the amazing Lenne Hardt
screaming out the name of each fighter. But the UFC had an event
there in 2012, and it would be wise to return there to bring
fights to the knowledgeable fight fans of Japan.
London,
England -- London crowds make fights fun. Yes, they complain
-- A LOT -- if they feel if they've been slighted by a fight
card, but they also show up and support their fighters, no matter
what happens.
Los
Angeles and Orange County -- It may be cheating to group these
two, but together, they've been integral to the growth of MMA.
It's filled with fight gyms, and the fans have supported some
of the sport's biggest events. In February, two women headlined
for the UFC for the first time, and the southern California crowd
happily supported it.
Las
Vegas -- It's the fight capitol of the world. It's where the
UFC lives. It's where huge fight weekends take place, dozens
of fight gyms make their home, and the powerful Nevada State
Athletic Commission does its thing.
Source:
Yahoo Sports
|
Anderson
Silva vs. Jon Jones: Longevity puts the pound-for-pound question
to rest
UFC
light heavyweight champion Jon Jones already has one loss and
nearly suffered another Saturday, but no one has even come close
to defeating him in the cage.
Despite
his dominance of Chael Sonnen on Saturday at UFC 159 at the Prudential
Center in Newark, N.J., Jones was only 27 seconds away from losing
his belt. Jon Jones attends a press conference after UFC 159.
He suffered a broken toe while taking Sonnen down in the first
round. Had referee Keith Peterson not stopped the bout at 4:33
as Jones was pounding on Sonnen, it is highly unlikely that the
New Jersey commission would have allowed Jones to come out for
the second round because of the gruesome injury.
As
a result, Jones would have lost the bout by knockout, even though
a novice could see he was the far superior fighter.
Jones'
one defeat came in a non-title bout in 2009 as a result of a
highly controversial disqualification during a match with Matt
"The Hammer" Hamill. Jones was disqualified for throwing
an illegal elbow that caused Hamill to be injured. After reviewing
a replay, referee Steve Mazzagatti ordered the disqualification.
Mazzagatti's
call has been hotly disputed in the three-plus years since, but
what that defeat points to is the fine line between winning and
losing in mixed martial arts and the difficulty of compiling
a lengthy winning streak against top opposition. There are so
many ways to win and lose a bout that it's virtually impossible
to remain unbeaten for long. Women's bantamweight champion Ronda
Rousey is the only one of the eight UFC titleholders without
a defeat.
It's
also evidence of the remarkable nature of Anderson Silva's almost
eight-year winning streak in the UFC.
Silva
joined the UFC in 2006 amid much acclaim. And while his signing
was a significant one for the company at the time, it's not like
he was held then in the same regard he's held in now, in which
he's widely considered the best fighter in the world.
Silva
was 17-4 prior to joining the UFC, but his record since his debut
against Chris Leben on June 28, 2006, in Las Vegas is nothing
short of staggering.
Anderson
Silva toys with an opponent during a fight. (MMAWeekly)Silva
has gone 16-0 in the UFC, including 11-0 in title bouts.
Given
his remarkable two-year reign as champion, Jones is the flavor
of the month. But even he admitted following his win over Sonnen
on Saturday that Silva's streak deserves to keep him atop the
rankings.
"I
celebrated my two-year anniversary as champion this year, and
Anderson has been doing it for about six years," Jones said.
"That's phenomenal. That's phenomenal pressure that he's
been able to [endure] and continue moving forward with. I admire
him so much.
"Yes,
I've had some great fights, and I've had a great career, but
Anderson is still an amazing guy. He's still my idol and I'm
not going to disregard what he's done."
Jones
would likely be favored to defeat Silva were they to meet, as
he's physically bigger and is a dominant wrestler. Silva struggled
with Sonnen's wrestling in two title defenses, and Sonnen didn't
seem to be near Jones' league on Saturday.
MMA
oddsmaker Joey Oddessa said he'd open Jones as a "minimum
3-1 favorite" against Silva, potentially as high as minus-375.
According
to FightMetric, Jones was three of six for takedowns against
Sonnen, who was on his heels the entire fight. Sonnen, by contrast,
was 4-for-11 in takedowns over two fights against Silva.
All
the hype for Jones is deserved, but as UFC president Dana White
points out, that makes it easy to overlook what Silva has accomplished.
"Anderson
has made a lot of really good middleweights look really bad,
but that is not the most impressive thing he's done," White
said. "He's also gone up to 205 [pounds] and he's done the
same thing to guys there. He's won his fights just as easily.
"Now,
can Jon Jones move up to heavyweight and be knocking guys out
in the first round? Well, he wants to go there and try it, but
we don't know if he can do it because he hasn't done it yet.
How many 155-pounders can go up to 170 and take out guys there?
That doesn't really happen in this sport, but it's what Anderson
has done."
Silva
has to defend his title on July 6 in Las Vegas at UFC 162 against
top contender Chris Weidman. If he gets by him, there is a great
likelihood that he'll fight Jones later in the year. UFC titleholders
Cain Velasquez, Jon Jones and Anderson Silva pose for the media.
White
wouldn't commit to Silva fighting either Jones or welterweight
champion Georges St-Pierre – the other champion mentioned
as an opponent for a potential "superfight" with Silva
– but said he thought it was reasonable to expect that one
or the other could happen sometime in 2013 if Silva gets by Weidman.
If
he does, imagine a Silva-Jones fight on Nov. 9 at the Rogers
Centre in Toronto as the potential headliner for the UFC's 20th
anniversary show. It would be a massive event.
That
Silva is still good enough at 38 years old to be involved in
those kinds of matches says much about his greatness.
That's
easy to overlook in light of the hoopla over Jones' greatness.
"His
longevity and the guys he's beaten and everything, how can he
not be the No. 1 pound-for-pound guy?" White said of Silva.
"Jones is a great story and he's an incredible physical
specimen. He's got the size, the strength and the athleticism.
But it's not all about being big and strong. It's about being
an unbelievable athlete and Jon has that athleticism.
"Anderson
Silva, though, is almost 40 years old and he's beating these
guys and making it look easy. Year after year, you wonder, 'Is
this the year [he may lose],' but he keeps going on and on. The
guy is a freak of nature, man. He's incredible."
Source:
Yahoo Sports
|
|
Jon
Jones destroys Chael Sonnen at his own game; Anderson Silva wants
superfight
NEWARK,
N.J. – It was no coincidence that middleweight champion
and reigning pound-for-pound kingpin Anderson Silva chose to
call Dana White in the early hours of Sunday morning.
White
wouldn't say who Silva wanted to fight. Unquestionably, though,
Silva called White to ask for a match with Jones, because the
legendary Brazilian superstar saw what was plainly obvious to
all: Jones is getting closer and close – if he's not already
there – to surpassing Silva as the greatest fighter alive.
Jones
retained his light heavyweight belt with a first-round stoppage
of Chael Sonnen on Saturday before a crowd of 15,227 at Prudential
Center in the main event of UFC 159.
It
wasn't so much that Jones, won, though, that forced Silva to
dial White's number. It was the manner of the victory that caused
him to pick up the phone.
Jones
was a 9-1 favorite, so it's no surprise that he won, and perhaps
not even that he won big.
But
Sonnen is an elite wrestler and was an alternate on the 2000
U.S. Olympic team, yet Jones throw him around like a rag doll.
Through
a fluke circumstance, Sonnen wound up 27 seconds away from being
the champion. Jones broke his big left toe pushing off for one
of his takedowns. The toe was curving like an old country road,
and he spent only a brief time at the post-fight news conference
before heading to the hospital.
If
referee Keith Peterson didn't stop the bout at 4:33 of the first
as Jones was delivering some ground-and-pound to a helpless Sonnen,
the self-proclaimed bad guy probably would have gone home with
the belt.
Jones'
toe was so gnarly that there is virtually no way the New Jersey
commission representatives would have allowed the bout to continue.
To his credit, Sonnen wasn't taking the bait. He played the character
of an old-school pro wrestling bad guy in much of the build-up,
but he wasn't trying to fool anybody after the beating he absorbed
Saturday.
"You
know what? When I get in there, I just want to know who's better,"
Sonnen said. "I just want to feel these other guys. I want
to see what the hype's about. If they would have called the match
[in his favor because of Jones' broken toe], I wouldn't have
had any illusions. I knew in those first five minutes who the
better fighter was.
"I'm
sure it would have gone to a rematch and we'd have had to do
that again, because it would only have been right to Jon. But
I got my questions answered tonight."
Jones'
tied Tito Ortiz's light heavyweight divisional record by making
his fifth consecutive successful title defense. He said he'd
like to face Alexander Gustafsson the next time out – and
judging by the way his toe looked, it's going to be a while –
to go for the record by himself.
If
he does that, he said, he believes he'd owe it to himself to
regard himself as the greatest light heavyweight champion in
history.
It's
a joke, though, to believe that he doesn't already hold that
distinction.
He
won the belt two years ago in the same building after destroying
Mauricio "Shogun" Rua. That was a jaw-dropping performance,
and he's seemed to have put it all together since then. He's
now 6-0 in title fights and Saturday's was the first that didn't
come against a former or reigning champion.
He's
at a point now where it takes an extraordinary effort just to
remain close to him. He's gotten used to the pressures and the
demands of the championship, and he's at peace in his life.
All
of it has combined to make him as dangerous as any man alive.
"I've
grown," Jones said. "I've become [engaged], and I brought
another child into this Earth. I purchased my first home. Life
is good. Life is very good. I'm growing up. I'm becoming a man.
My goatee is connected now. It's a beautiful thing. I'm grateful."
Sonnen
was a man of his word and came to fight. As he was in the cage
awaiting Jones, he walked to the cage as he saw Jones slowly
making his ring walk. Sonnen shouted at him, "Let's go,
Jones. Wrap it up. Wrap it up."
When
the bell sounded, Sonnen burst out of his corner and went right
after Jones.
But
unlike in both of his title challenges against Silva, Sonnen
was unable to score an early takedown.
Jones
stunned Sonnen with the frequency and the ease with which he
got his own takedowns.
"I've
had a lot of fights, and they haven't all gone my way,"
Sonnen said. "But I've only been beaten up twice and that
was No. 2. And he beat me at my own game. It's frustrating and
it's tough. That's it.
"I
was [surprised by him]. I'll have to watch the replay to see
what he did. He was on my leg before I knew it. I don't know
how he set it up, if he threw a punch. I don't know what happened.
He was just in on my leg. I've been in that spot all my life,
and I haven't fallen down like that. I got up, and he did it
again. I got up and he did it again. I don't think I've been
taken down three times in my career, and he took me down three
times in one round."
It's
hard to imagine anyone at light heavyweight doing a better job
than Sonnen did on Saturday against him. Silva is himself a magnificent
fighter and has put together a long record of brilliance.
Jones,
though, is so good, and is improving so fast, that it's difficult
imagining even a fighting genius like Silva coming up with a
way to neutralize Jones' many strengths.
Jones
is good, perhaps even great.
The
most impressive thing about him, though, is that he's still getting
better.
Source:
Yahoo Sports |
Jones
vs. Sonnen draws UFC's second-best PPV numbers of the year
Preliminary
estimates have UFC 159 drawing between 520,000 and 550,000 pay-per-view
buys, putting it behind only the Georges St-Pierre vs. Nick Diaz
match for this year.
Preliminary
estimates for UFC 159, headlined by Jon Jones' successful light
heavyweight title defense against Chael Sonnen, indicate pay-per-view
buys coming in between 520,000 and 550,000.
If
those numbers hold up, it would be in line with most expectations
going into the fight. Sources in UFC had, well before the fight,
indicated the company's budgetary prediction for the show was
500,000.
UFC
159 took place on April 27 at the Prudential Center in Newark.
N.J. Jones vs Sonnen headlined the show, which included Michael
Bisping vs. Alan Belcher as the No. 2 fight.
There
was hope for bigger numbers in the days after the fight, due
to the strong ratings of UFC 159 shoulder programming. The weigh-ins
were the second-highest rated since Fuel began airing. The event
also drew the highest ratings for post-fight coverage of a pay-per-view
on Fuel. Prelim match ratings on FX were 32 percent above average.
The
number would be the company's second largest of 2013, trailing
UFC 158, with Georges St-Pierre vs. Nick Diaz, but ahead of the
now No. 3 event of the year, UFC 157, headlined by Ronda Rousey
vs. Liz Carmouche.
The number would be considerably above the 410,000 estimates
for Jones' previous title defense, against Vitor Belfort. Most
of his main events have fallen in the 450,000 to 480,000 range,
except for big numbers for his title defenses against Rashad
Evans and Quinton "Rampage" Jackson.
When
the fight was first announced, it came under heavy criticism
for the most obvious of reasons. Sonnen, who competed as a light
heavyweight earlier in his career, was moving up from middleweight
after two losses to champion Anderson Silva. He was given a title
shot ahead of candidates proven in the division including Dan
Henderson, Lyoto Machida and Alexander Gustafsson.
Sonnen
was being rewarded, even coming off a loss to Silva, because
of his strengths at selling a fight, and because the Jones vs.
Sonnen dynamic as coaches was expected to revitalize The Ultimate
Fighter reality show.
TUF was coming off its lowest-rated season in history. Ratings
were up significantly with Jones and Sonnen as coaches, from
season 16's 865,500 average to season 17's 1.2 million. However,
a good percentage of that increase also had to do with moving
the show off Friday nights, a bad night for the target demographic,
to Tuesday.
But
the season, praised for having strong fights, failed to have
the fireworks between the coaches that in the past has led to
blockbuster pay-per-view events like Ken Shamrock vs. Tito Ortiz,
Rashad Evans vs. Quinton Jackson and Georges St-Pierre vs. Josh
Koscheck.
The
number may also have been hurt because few saw Sonnen as a real
threat to beat Jones, moving up 20 pounds against the sport's
most dominant fighter of the past two years. Jones was as much
as a 9-to-1 favorite, the longest odds in any UFC championship
match in several years.
The
UFC does not release pay-per-view numbers. Final numbers can
often vary from the earliest estimates, which are usually based
off early reporting satellite systems.
Source:
MMA Fighting
|
Viewpoint:
Chasing History
Had they both met in their prime, Would a Tito Ortiz-Jon Jones
fight be competitive? Tell us below.
After
a hectic month of April, things slowed down a little bit in the
MMA world over the past week.
Sure,
there was Costas Philippou’s withdrawal from the UFC on
FX 8 co-headliner -- the second time in a month a cut has altered
a significant fight -- but fans have grown numb to the endless
array of injuries that ruin high-profile matchups.
Also,
Eddie Alvarez took to Twitter to announce that he and Bellator
-- his former employer -- would be going to trial, but a drawn-out
ordeal between those two parties was already expected. Oh, and
Chael Sonnen is not retiring just yet. Instead, the former middleweight
and light heavyweight title challenger is hoping for a crack
at Wanderlei Silva.
Some
interesting and important tibits, to be sure, but nothing especially
earth shattering, either. And really, everyone could probably
use a breather before the news cycle heats up again. Still, it
is nice to have Tito Ortiz around to stir the pot -- even if
he is speaking with tongue planted firmly in cheek.
“Well,
I may have to come out of retirement to beat [Jon Jones]. I can’t
let [him] beat my record,” Ortiz tweeted on April 27, the
same day Jones defended his 205-pound belt for the fifth time
against Sonnen at UFC 159. The former “Huntington Beach
Bad Boy” also defended the light heavyweight strap five
times from Dec. 16, 2000 to Nov. 22, 2002.
Ortiz
has been known to live in his own alternate reality from time
to time, but the UFC Hall of Famer was [probably] just having
a little bit of fun here. He admitted as much during a recent
appearance on “The MMA Hour,” which is just as well:
The Californian is just 1-7-1 in his last nine fights and appears
to have settled comfortably into a career as a manager/promoter.
A fight with Jones would be neither plausible nor competitive.
That
said, Ortiz remains one of the pioneers of the sport, someone
who understood what it meant to sell a fight. And before MMA
evolved, the brash wrestler often backed up his talk with a relentless
barrage of takedowns and ground-and-pound on fight night.
Sometime
in 2013, possibly November, Jones will likely surpass Ortiz’s
record of title defenses against a contender to be named later.
Then, he might leave the division to pursue heavyweight bouts
or a lucrative superfight against Anderson Silva.
Ortiz's
longest winning streak was six.
Ortiz never had such options. After stopping Ken Shamrock at
UFC 40 in his fifth title defense, the Team Punishment member
dropped a five-round decision to Randy Couture a little less
than a year later. He would never wear gold again.
The
fact that Jones already seems to be running out of challenges
at 205 pounds -- either Alexander Gustafsson or a rematch with
Lyoto Machida could be next -- suggests that he has already surpassed
Ortiz.
While
Ortiz has some nice wins on his resume, it still does not compare
to what Jones has done in approximately two year’s time.
Most would agree that either Sonnen or Vitor Belfort have been
the least deserving title challengers during Jones’ reign,
but both have credentials far beyond that of an Elvis Sinosic,
who Ortiz bested in his third defense at UFC 32.
A
head-to-head matchup of Jones vs. Ortiz, even in Ortiz’s
prime, would not be competitive.
“Bones”
has demolished one-dimensional wrestlers, and Ortiz would offer
nothing else on the feet that would give the champion pause.
This is not to diminish what Ortiz has accomplished -- he was
a household name before MMA was in very many households. The
fight game has simply changed, and Jones is currently the most
shining example of that evolution.
Ortiz
does not need to come out of retirement to be relevant. Hate
him or love him, his contributions will not soon be forgotten
-- even as his records are surpassed.
Here
Comes a Another Challenger, Maybe
Back
in August, Machida appeared to have earned another shot at Jones
after a knockout of Ryan Bader at UFC on Fox 4. However, when
Dan Henderson suffered a knee injury prior to his proposed meeting
with Jones at UFC 151, “The Dragon” was unwilling to
step in on short notice, and as a result, lost his place at the
front of the line.
Fast
forward to UFC 157, when the former titlist edged Henderson in
yet another potential title eliminator bout. Now, with Jones
on the mend from a gruesome toe injury, Machida has once again
altered his course, asking for a matchup with fellow contender
Alexander Gustafsson.
“I
am interested in this fight, because I think it’s a good
idea to put Gustafsson against me. He is the No. 2 contender,
and I am the No. 1 contender. Let’s see what happens,”
Machida recently told Fox Sports. “I would like to fight
before I fight for the title, maybe, because I don’t want
to wait for a long time. I need to fight.”
Machida’s
willingness to risk his No. 1 contendership in order to stay
active is refreshing, and possibly prudent. Having already lost
to Jones once, the Brazilian recognizes the formidable challenge
the Jackson’s MMA product presents, and that he should not
rush into another bout with the champion.
Gustafsson,
meanwhile, has long been targeted as the next most dangerous
opponent for Jones, a fact which “Bones” acknowledged
following UFC 159. Perhaps more than Machida, the Swede could
still benefit from some more seasoning, especially after a cut
forced him out of a showdown with Gegard Mousasi at UFC on Fuel
TV 9.
Machida-Gustafsson
makes sense, even at the risk of losing -- if “The Mauler”
is defeated -- an intriguing new foe for Jones, who has nearly
cleared out the division. Put the bout on a Fox card, perhaps
on the Aug. 17 bill, which marks the debut of Fox Sports 1, and
give Jones the winner late in 2013.
Health
of all parties permitting, it is the best and next logical step
for the light heavyweight division.
Source:
Sherdog
|
A
Series of Fortunate Events
On
Oct. 14, 2006, Anderson Silva captured the Ultimate Fighting
Championship middleweight crown with a vicious first-round knockout
against Rich Franklin. Two years, four months and six days later,
Chris Weidman made his professional mixed martial arts debut.
It seems their paths have been destined to cross ever since.
The
iconic 38-year-old Brazilian champion and the undefeated 28-year-old
upstart will meet on July 6 in Las Vegas, as Silva defends his
middleweight title against Weidman in the UFC 162 main event.
The challenger has had a theoretical date circled for quite some
time.
“When
I started MMA about four years ago, he was the champion at 185,
and when I made the decision to go to 185, I had to believe I
could beat the champion of the world or there was no reason for
me to do this,” Weidman said during a UFC Fight Club Q&A
on April 26. “From the get-go, no matter who I was fighting
coming up, I wasn’t only training to beat those guys I was
up against; I was training already at that point to beat Anderson
Silva and to be the best in the world. Now that I’ve finally
got the opportunity to get there, I’m not going to let the
opportunity slip through my fingers.”
Weidman
has opened his MMA career with a perfect 9-0 record, including
UFC wins over Alessio Sakara, Jesse Bongfeldt, Tom Lawlor, Demian
Maia and Mark Munoz. Still, it took a series of fortunate events
to ensure the “All-American” was paired with Silva
on a UFC marquee so soon. It began with his systematic annihilation
of Munoz at UFC on Fuel TV 4 in July, followed by his withdrawal
from a scheduled UFC 155 bout with Tim Boetsch and subsequent
surgery to repair a torn labrum in his shoulder. While Weidman
was on the shelf, Alan Belcher and Michael Bisping were victimized
in their respective matchups with Yushin Okami and Vitor Belfort.
Finally, former light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans, rumored
to be considering a move to 185 pounds, fell flat in a unanimous
decision defeat to Antonio Rogerio Nogueira at UFC 156.
Suddenly,
a fully recovered Weidman was the last man standing.
“It
really is crazy how it ended up working out,” he said. “Obviously,
I’m very grateful for the opportunity. When I got injured
-- and I was lined up to fight Boetsch -- I felt something good
was going to come from this. Regardless of not getting the Boetsch
fight, I felt like I was going to be fighting a bigger name,
maybe not Anderson at that point, because you had a couple other
guys, like Bisping [and] Belcher that were ahead of me.
Silva
has held the title since 2006.
“Then it got down to me and Rashad,” Weidman added.
“I had a meeting with [UFC President] Dana [White] and [UFC
CEO] Lorenzo [Fertitta] and they said, ‘Look, it’s
going to be between you and Rashad,’ and Rashad ended up
losing. There was no one left really.”
Stylistically,
many view Weidman as the prototypical foil for Silva. A four-time
collegiate wrestling All-American at Nassau Community College
and Hofstra University, Weidman defeated “The Ultimate Fighter”
Season 8 light heavyweight winner Ryan Bader as a senior and
tried out for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, only to have
a rib injury interrupt those plans.
Groomed
under former UFC welterweight champion Matt Serra and revered
striking guru Ray Longo, Weidman exhibited a startling aptitude
for submissions early in his development. Inside three months,
he won his first Grappler’s Quest tournament -- his weight
class and the absolute division -- and submitted all 13 of his
opponents in doing so. Moreover, Weidman qualified for the prestigious
Abu Dhabi Combat Club Submission Wrestling World Championships
in 2009 after just eight months of formal training and pushed
seven-time Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion Andre Galvao to
the limit in a memorable match in Barcelona, Spain. Though he
lost on points, he emerged as one of the tournament’s breakout
stars and has only gained momentum since.
“I
really feel like, on paper, I’m a nightmare matchup for
Anderson,” Weidman said. “On paper, you can’t
deny it. I’m definitely a better wrestler. I definitely
believe I’ve proven I have better jiu-jitsu. I think I have
the cardio, the athleticism. I think there are a lot of things
siding with me in this fight.”
Silva
was reportedly hesitant to accept a bout with the Baldwin, N.Y.,
native, but Weidman, at least publicly, did not view the Brazilian’s
posturing as a slight.
“I’ve
got enough incentive from my personal pride and just visualizing
this moment for four years,” he said. “I think I am
a nightmare matchup for him. If he had his way, he wouldn’t
be fighting me, but the UFC, Lorenzo and Dana wanted to make
the fight happen.”
Like
so many others before him, from Franklin and Belfort to Dan Henderson,
Nate Marquardt and Chael Sonnen, Weidman must grapple with the
mystique that comes with battling the most dominant figure in
UFC history. Silva has won all 16 of his fights inside the Octagon,
14 of them finishes.
“My
biggest concern right now is Anderson and getting that belt,”
Weidman said. “I think the best thing Anderson does is mentally
destroy people before they ever get in the cage with him. Once
you get in the cage with him, he does a great job of making you
feel like, ‘You don’t belong in this cage with me.
You’re terrible. I’m the man. You’re going to
find a way out of this fight.’ The thing is I’m very
confident. I know my skills.”
Sonnen
came closest to dethroning “The Spider” at UFC 117
in August 2010. Utilizing relentless takedowns, stout ground-and-pound,
fearless standup and a suffocating top game, the outspoken Oregonian
took the first four rounds from Silva before falling asleep inside
the champion’s guard and succumbing to a fifth-round triangle
choke. Weidman took notes.
“I’ve
seen what Chael has done to him, and I’ve seen his weaknesses,”
he said. “I think I can expose them again and look for a
finish. You just have to be confident. You can say anything you
want before the fight, but it’s all about when you touch
those gloves, that you still have the confidence, and I’m
going to make sure I do. It’s all mental.”
Having
the support and knowledge of a former UFC champion like Serra
in his corner has had a profound impact on Weidman.
“He’s
helped me a lot through my career, just getting used to how to
deal with the fans and how to handle the pressure and different
things like that,” he said. “Just being in the room
with the guy ... he doesn’t have to say a word. When you’re
around guys who’ve been where you want to go, it just gives
you a confidence to be able to achieve that.”
“I’ve
been in a rush since
day one. I know this is going
to be a short career. I want
to be a young champion.”
-- Chris Weidman, UFC middleweight contender
Weidman
believes his time has arrived.
“I’ve
been in a rush since day one,” he said. “I know this
is going to be a short career. I want to be a young champion.
I’ve got nothing against Anderson. I think he’s the
greatest of all-time, but I’m going to go in there and try
to take his head off and put him on his back and look to submit
him. Nothing personal.”
Source:
Sherdog
|
Former
UFC Interim Heavyweight Champion Shane Carwin Announces Retirement
Former
UFC interim heavyweight champion Shane Carwin on Tuesday announced
that he has hung up his gloves for the final time, announcing
his retirement via his official Twitter account.
“Officially
retired 2day:-) thank you to my family, friends and fans! #dreambig
GOD BLESS!!!” he wrote.
Carwin
made his way to the UFC in May of 2008 on the strength of eight
first-round finishes in his first eight fights as a professional.
He
never looked back, winning his first four fights in the Octagon,
keeping his streak of first-round finishes intact. Carwin defeated
Christian Wellisch, Neil Wain, and Gabriel Gonzaga before demolishing
Frank Mir for the interim UFC heavyweight championship in March
of 2010 at UFC 111.
Carwin
lost his interim belt to returning heavyweight champion Brock
Lesnar in July at UFC 116.
He
was then slated to fight Roy Nelson, but had to pull out of the
bout due to back and neck pain that he eventually had neck surgery
to alleviate. The injury and surgery sidelined him for the remainder
of 2010 and the early part of 2011.
Carwin
returned on June 11, 2011, at UFC 131 for the longest fight of
his career. He took Junior dos Santos the full three rounds before
losing a unanimous decision. It was the only time in Carwin’s
career that one of his bouts went the distance.
It
would also end up being the final bout of his career.
Carwin
initially intended to return to the Octagon in late 2011 or early
2012, but succumbed to another surgery, this time on his back.
Midway
through 2012, Carwin was tapped to coach The Ultimate Fighter
16 opposite Roy Nelson. He fulfilled his coaching obligations,
but had to back out of their planned fight at the TUF 16 Finale
scheduled for December.
This
time it was Carwin’s knee that put him out of action.
During
his career, Carwin amassed a 12-0 record – winning every
fight in the first round – en route to becoming a UFC champion,
before slipping to a final 12-2 resume.
All
the while, he remained the same blue-collar, hard-working engineer
that he was when he began his journey. Carwin always held his
family up as his greatest achievement before anything he ever
accomplished in the cage.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Dallas
Open: a brand new Vella at the last stop before Long Beach
Gabriel
Vella defeated Roberto Cyborg at the 2013 Dallas Open
Black
belt Gabriel Vella is 30 pounds lighter.
His
secret is simple: “I cut gluten completely and I don’t
eat any carbs or sugar after 4 p.m., only proteins and salads.”
The
weight cut meant more gas and speed to Gabriel, but also a loss:
“With the weight I lost some strength as well,” he
revealed.
This
Sunday, May 5, in Denton, Texas, Gabriel displayed his new shape
during the adult black belt open class division.
In
two fights, he armbared Nic Ruben and then waged a 10-minute
war against Roberto “Cyborg”Abreu, won with a takedown
and the 2-0 lead.
Besides
weight division, Vella also changed addresses. He is now living
in California: “I decided to leave São Paulo, where
I was teaching at the same place for the last five years and
came here to compete and to teach. My goal is to open an academy
in the USA,” said Vella, who is training both at Street
Sports BJJ, in Santa Monica, and eventually at Fabio Leopoldo’s
Gracie Morumbi.
Vella,
33, is looking ahead and is already thinking in his new challenge,
roughly a month away: “I’m considering competing at
the Worlds!”
As
Vella, everyone else in the Jiu-Jitsu community is now thinking
about the next event in the calendar, the most important of them
all.
The
2013 World Jiu-Jitsu Championship kicks off next May 29 and stretches
for an unprecedented 5-days.
At
the last stop of the Gentle Art bandwagon, the 2013 Dallas Open
was a success.
Mackenzie defeated Fabiana Borges at the Dallas Open
Among
the black belt women, Mackenzie Dern rested in her weight category
to claim the open class gold in two fights.
First
she choked Sofia Amarante from the back and then she defeated
Fabiana Borges 4-2, with one takedown and one sweep.
In
the master and senior divisions, a Gracie Barra domination.
In
the master black belt open class division, Fábio Villela
defeated Alex Nascimento 6-0 for the gold.
In
the Senior 1 division, the absolute title went to Erik Wanderlei,
who closed the bracket with teammate Tyler Bosard.
The
other black belt champions were:
Male
Light-feather:
Luiz Sergio Correa closed out with Gustavo Carpio (Carpio took
gold)
Feather:
Denilson Pimenta closed out with Italo Silva (Italo took gold)
Middle:
Carlos Diego choked out Albert Hughes
Heavy:
Diego Gamonal was alone in the bracket
Super-Heavy:
Gabriel Vella was alone in the bracket
Ultra-Heavy:
Roberto Cyborg choked out Luis Rubalcava
Female
Light-feather:
Nyjah Easton defeated Sofia Amarante by Refs Decision
Feather:
Mackenzie Dern was alone in the bracket
Light:
Thayssa Silva won by WO over Fabiana Borges
In
the Teams Overall competition, the standings were:
1
– Nova União – 243
2
– Gracie Barra – 189
3
– KG BJJ – 127
Source:
Gracie Magazine
|
After
World Series of Fighting 3 Withdrawal, Tyrone Spong Enters Glory
9 Kickboxing Tournament
Kickboxing
star and MMA fighter Tyrone Spong was expected to fight in the
World Series of Fighting 3 co-main event against Angel Deanda
on June 14, but elected to withdraw from the card citing not
enough time to prepare for his second MMA fight.
Instead,
the prolific striker will compete in the one-night, single-elimination
Glory 9: New York tournament on June 22 at the Hammerstein Ballroom
at Manhattan Center in New York City.
“We
are excited to enter Tyrone into this historic, first GLORY championship
series event in the U.S. that will determine who is physically
and mentally the top athlete in kickboxing’s light heavyweight
division,” said Glory Sports International CEO Andrew Whitaker.
“Tyrone’s
recent performances in the ring have distinguished him as one
of the best and most powerful martial arts fighters in the world,
who can showcase our great sport at its highest level,”
continued Whitaker. “So we look forward to seeing him compete
against the other superstars who have been enlisted for action
in the tournament.”
Spong
made his mixed martial arts debut at WSOF 1 in November 2012,
knocking out Travis Bartnett in the first round. He plans to
compete in both kickboxing and MMA, and has also stated that
he expects to make his professional boxing debut in the near
future.
Spong
last competed on March 23 at Glory 5: London against kickboxing
legend Remy Bonjasky. He defeated Bonjasky by knockout in the
second round.
Spong’s
next MMA fight is yet to be determined, but he remains under
contract with WSOF.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
UFC
Women’s Champ Ronda Rousey Lands at No. 29 on Maxim Magazine’s
Hot 100 List for 2013
It
doesn’t quite rank with the same influence as Business Insider’s
“50 Women Who Are Changing the World,” but even in
sports, sex sells, and UFC women’s bantamweight champion
Ronda Rousey isn’t one to shy away from that aspect of promotion.
Just
days after she landed on the Business Insider list of influential
women and the cover of ESPN The Magazine’s 15th Anniversary
issue, Rousey revealed that she made the Maxim Hot 100 list of
the world’s sexiest women. She posted a provocative photo
of herself from a Maxim photoshoot across her various social
media accounts announcing her inclusion.
Of
course, it’s not the first time that Rousey posed nude for
a photo shoot.
Rousey
was featured in ESPN The Magazine’s 2012 Body Issue, which
features athletes in nude artistic poses. She even graced one
of six special covers of the magazine.
The
Maxim Hot 100 list is voted on by readers of the magazine. Rousey
landed in the No. 29 position for the 2013 list.
Only
a small portion of the list had been revealed on Tuesday. The
Top 10 has yet to be revealed, but Rousey already finds herself
amongst the likes of Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, Beyonce, Demi
Lovato, and Oliva Munn on the list.
Her
inclusion on the list is one of the latest representations of
how popular Rousey and women’s MMA have become, particularly
in the short amount of time since they have been ushered into
the UFC.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
|
Luke
Rockhold: Vitor Belfort doesn't pass eye test
Luke
Rockhold doesn't come right out and use the word "cheater"
when referring to his opponent on May 18.
But
the final Strikeforce middleweight champion doesn't really need
to. As far as Rockhold is concerned, Vitor Belfort's build simply
doesn't pass the eye test.
"Just
look at his physique," Rockhold said in a recent one-on-one
interview with Yahoo! Sports. "Look at how he looks at [36
years old]. You can't tell me that at his age, something like
that looks natural."
Belfort
is one of a handful of fighters in their 30s and beyond –
along with the likes of Chael Sonnen and Dan Henderson –
who experienced career resurgences after undergoing testosterone
replacement therapy (TRT), a controversial-but-legal treatment.
Rockhold,
though, isn't buying it.
"TRT
use is something I don't agree with at all," Rockhold said.
"It's a way to get around the system. They say TRT is needed
for low testosterone, that it's a medical condition. Well, what
causes low testosterone? Prolonged steroid use is one cause."
Belfort
was suspended by Nevada for nine months in 2006 after testing
positive for the banned substance 4-Hydroxytestosterone after
a loss to Henderson in a Las Vegas PRIDE card.
"It's
frustrating to someone like me, who's fought clean, has no reason
to cheat, and has done things the right way," Rockhold said.
The
TRT talk has created a charged atmosphere for Rockhold's first
UFC fight, which is the main event of UFC on FX 8 in Jaragua
do Sul, Brazil. For his part, Belfort, a Rio native, hasn't taken
one step backward from Rockhold's assertions. Luke Rockhold looks
on during a Strikeforce fight. (MMAWeekly)
On
Monday, he told MMAFighting.com he considers Rockhold's words
disrespectful. "I don't know what he did in the sport,"
Belfort (22-10) said. "I think it's disrespectful, the way
that he thinks. "But it is what it is. You cannot control
it, you cannot control people."
A
product of The American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, Calif.,
the MMA home of Cain Velasquez, Daniel Cormier, Josh Thomson,
and Jon Fitch, Rockhold first made waves in the sport by recording
his first seven career victories via first-round finish.
But
then the 28-year old Santa Cruz native had to sit through a couple
periods of prolonged inactivity. First, there was a 17-month
span in 2010-11 in which a shoulder injury kept him out of action.
Then, after winning the Strikeforce middleweight title, he's
only fought once in another 17-month stretch, as he, along with
the rest of the company roster, watched from the sidelines as
the company died a slow, painful death.
"Success
in this sport's so much about momentum," Rockhold (11-1)
said. "It's tough sitting out on the sidelines like that.
That's when I most appreciate being a part of a gym like AKA,
where you've got someone like Cain, who's dealt with a major
injury, someone like Daniel who's been through the ups and downs…
coaches who have been there and done that."
As
if the war of words over TRT weren't didn't already add intrigue,
Rockhold admits to carrying a bit of a chip on his shoulder on
behalf of his former company. Former Strikeforce fighters like
Cormier and Thomson have made successful UFC transitions in 2013.
Even those who have come up short, as former Strikeforce lightweight
champion Gilbert Melendez did in a split decision against UFC
champ Ben Henderson, have acquitted themselves well in defeat.
"To
this day, you hear it," Rockhold said. "You go online
and you see people putting down what you accomplished in Strikeforce,
and they say things like 'you're in the UFC now, they're going
to put you in your place. At this point it's like, have you even
been watching the fights? Did you see what Josh did to [Nate]
Diaz? So yeah, it's a little bit of extra motivation to prove
I belong." Luke Rockhold preps before a fight. (Yahoo)
With
a 10-fight win streak, few question whether Rockhold belongs.
But a victory would cement his place. For all the heated talk
between the two, Rockhold still respects what Belfort, who made
his UFC debut as 19-year old billed as "The Phenom"
at UFC 12 in 1997, has accomplished in the sport.
"He
was one of the very first fighters I followed as a fan,"
Rockhold said. "He's on the short list of guys, including
Randy Couture, who inspired me to give fighting a try. The closer
we get to the fight, the more real it becomes. I don't agree
with the choices that he's made in recent years, but I can't
deny what he's done in the sport.
Belfort's
only losses since 2007 have been to current UFC champions Anderson
Silva and Jon Jones. He rebounded from his September loss to
Jones with a head-kick finish of Michael Bisping in January.
"There's
a reason I wanted Belfort," Rockhold said. "I didn't
want a tune-up fight. I didn't want an easy fight. I asked for
this fight, when Vitor beat Bisping I saw a window of opportunity.
I didn't want to sit around and wait forever.
"I
want to take on the best, make the best impression, and show
that I'm worthy of a title shot. Vitor's still got his heavy
hands, I respect that and I'm cognizant of it, but I'm confident
I can take this fight anywhere he wants to take it. I can win
the fight standing and I can win it on the ground."
Source:
Yahoo Sports |
Chris
Weidman promises to ground Anderson Silva following recent media
tour cancellation
Anderson
Silva's next opponent isn't impressed with the champ's decision
to blow off a recent media tour.
A
day after "The Spider" was fined $50,000 by the UFC
for canceling a UFC 162 media event in Los Angeles, Chris Weidman,
his opponent on July 6, told MMAFighting.com, "I hope he
has a good reason why he didn't go."
Weidman,
who lives in New York and was en route to Las Vegas for his own
media event, noted he just got back from another media tour in
Los Angeles, not to mention stops in Montreal and Toronto to
promote the fight.
"I
just went out to Los Angeles for three days. I just wasted time
during my camp."
Silva's
camp wasn't available to comment on the situation.
"I
haven't been in this sport as long as him," Weidman said,
"but you watch these superstar basketball players like LeBron
James, and after every game, win or lose, he answers questions
from the media.
"There's
always stuff that you don't want to do when you're an athlete,
but you just have to do it."
Weidman,
who is new to the limelight, questioned whether Silva's priorities
were in tact before their middleweight title fight later this
summer.
"I
hope he's staying grounded," he said. "I hope his head
isn't getting so big that he thinks he doesn't have to do things
for the UFC, but who am I to judge?
"If
his head is really getting too big, I'm definitely going to bring
him down to earth on July 6."
Source:
MMA Fighting
|
Bellator
96 Kicks Off Summer Series with Michael Chandler Defending Lightweight
Title
Bellator
MMA on Wednesday announced the first event of its 2013 Summer
Series.
Lightweight
champion Michael Chandler headlines Bellator 96, putting his
belt on the line against Season 7 Lightweight Tournament winner
Dave Jansen in the main event on June 19 at WinStar World Casino
in Thackerville, Okla.
Chandler
(11-0) also kicked off Bellator’s Season 8, the promotion’s
first season on Spike TV. He submitted Rick Hawn in the second
round.
Chandler
has quickly risen to the upper echelon of the world’s lightweight
division since defeating Eddie Alvarez for the Bellator belt.
“I’m
excited to get back in the cage and defend the belt against a
tough guy like Jansen,” Chandler said. “He’s proven
to be a very tough and durable competitor. My plan is the same
as every fight, which is to show up new and improved and collect
another dominant finish for the fans.”
Jansen
(19-2) has been unstoppable since he exited the WEC in late 2010
and signed with Bellator. He has won all six of his bouts in
the Bellator cage, which includes capturing the Season 7 lightweight
honors, securing a shot at Chandler.
“I
really want this fight to be an absolute grind and make Mike
as uncomfortable as possible inside that cage,” Jansen said.
“I’ve been known in my career to really be able to
weather the storm and I really feel like I get stronger inside
the cage as the fight goes on, and I’m really looking forward
to having that full 25 minutes to work with and take this fight
in deep waters. This is just an incredible opportunity for me
and would a huge validation on my career to become a Bellator
world champion.”
Bellator
has loaded up the main card for its return to Spike TV for the
summer.
Aside
from the lightweight title bout, Muhammad “King Mo”
Lawal makes his return following a disappointing loss in the
Season 8 Light Heavyweight Tournament. He squares off with UFC
veteran Seth Petruzelli in a semifinal bout as part of the promotion’s
four-man Summer Series 205-pound tournament.
The
other half of the light heavyweight bracket includes Renato “Babalu”
Sobral, another recent high-profile signee that saw an early
exit in the Season 8 tournament. Babalu gets his second chance
at a Bellator tournament in a semifinal bout against Jacob Noe,
who had a nine-fight winning streak ended by Mikhail Zayats in
the semifinal round of last season’s eight-man tournament.
TUF
6 veteran War Machine – although he was Jonathan Koppenhaver
during his Ultimate Fighter stint – finally makes his Bellator
debut after a stint in jail kept him out of the cage for the
past year and a half. He faces WEC veteran Blas Avena, who enters
the fight coming off of a victory in his promotional debut earlier
this year at Bellator 91.
The
Bellator 96 main card will air live at 7 p.m. ET on Spike TV,
marking a shift to the promotion’s new summertime night
of Wednesday. The preliminary card will be streamed live on Spike.com
starting at 5:30 p.m. ET.
Bellator
96 Main Card:
-Michael
Chandler (11-0) vs. Dave Jansen (19-2)
-King Mo Lawal (9-2) vs. Seth Petruzelli (14-7)
-Renato “Babalu” Sobral (37-10) vs. Jacob Noe (11-2)
-War Machine (12-4) vs. Blas Avena (8-6)
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Greg
Jackson: For Jon Jones, Attacking Opponent’s Strength Has
Psychological Effect
After
his successful title defense Saturday at UFC 159, Jon Jones explained
his ground-and-pound strategy by saying he wanted to beat Chael
Sonnen at his own game.
That
was no mistake. In fact, attacking an opponent’s strength
is a strategy his camp often utilizes, according to trainer Greg
Jackson.
In
an interview Monday with the Sherdog Radio Network’s “Beatdown”
show, Jackson discussed game plans, preparation and more.
On
why Jones wanted to take Sonnen down: “You always have to
remember one of the dictums of our strategy is you don’t
necessarily stay away from a guy’s strength. If you feel
you can do better at it, you can head on attack it. If you take
away what your opponent is good at, if that is no longer an option
and your opponent hasn’t layered their game plan so there’s
no real plan B, where do you go psychologically? It’s always
a good idea if you know your guy can outdo the other guy at their
strength to charge right at that strength and basically just
break them mentally. You want to make sure you’ve taken
away their safety zone [and] you’ve taken away what they’re
supposed to do. That can have a very, very powerful psychological
effect on people.”
On
whether Jones set a positive precedent by declining to fight
Sonnen at UFC 151 on short notice: “I don’t know. I
don’t know if it was a good thing or a bad thing. I just
go from fight to fight. The outside parameter stuff is not stuff
-- because I’m not a promoter -- that I worry about that
much. I’m not sure what kind of a statement it made. I’m
not sure of any of the implications. I suppose that’s for
people to debate. All I know is … Sonnen is very tough.
He got dismantled, but understand that he’s a tough guy.
Every argument that you can bring that Chael’s not a tough
guy, I have a nice counter for. My favorite is the no punching
power and then he drops Anderson Silva. Obviously he’s a
very tough guy and he needs to be taken very seriously.
“Jon
hit the nail on the head. Part of the reason Jon looked so good
and is able to dismantle these people the way he is, is he’s
very well prepared. That has a lot to do with it. I think people
think that you can just jump in there and fight and win at the
highest levels with no preparation, that you just go in there
and fight, just do your thing and fight. It doesn’t work
like that. You see the people that believe that, that just go
in with no preparation, can get very far, but they’ll never
be at the top, top level because the world just doesn’t
work that way. You need to be prepared.”
On
whether he feels vindicated after Dana White had called him a
sport killer when Jones declined to fight Sonnen at UFC 151:
“No, I don’t think in those terms. Dana and I are cool.
It’s not like, ‘Oh, I’m going to prove to everyone.’
I just follow what strategy tells me to follow. Being prepared
for your battle and fighting your battles when you’re prepared
is a lot older than me, and a lot smarter people than I am have
said that.”
Source:
Sherdog
|
Demian
Maia vs. Josh Koscheck targeted for UFC 163 in August
By Ariel
Helwani
A
welterweight fight is about to be added to UFC 163.
Demian
Maia vs. Josh Koschech is slated to take place on the Aug. 3
card, MMAFighting.com confirmed with sources close to the fight
after Brazilian Web site News MMA first reported it earlier this
week. The UFC has yet to officially announced the 170-pound fight.
Maia
(18-4) is coming off a dominant unanimous decision win over Jon
Fitch at UFC 156 in February. That win improved his record as
a welterweight to 3-0.
Koscheck
(17-7) has lost his last two fights in a row. He most recently
lost via first-round TKO to Robbie Lawler at UFC 157 in February,
UFC
163 will be headlined by Jose Aldo vs. Anthony Pettis for the
UFC featherweight title. The event will take place in Brazil,
and while some outlets have reported it will be held in Rio de
Janeiro, that has yet to be made official by the organization,
as well.
Source:
MMA Fighting
|
Morning
Report: Anthony Pettis says featherweight drop 'not permanent,'
but promises 'fireworks' against Jose Aldo
By Shaun Al-Shatti
Now
that the four-week, four-event April blitz is finally behind
us, it's probably appropriate that we all take a moment to catch
our breath and recharge the batteries for what lies ahead.
The
upcoming summer schedule is a mighty one, but this weekend is
all about taking it easy. And nothing helps in that endeavor
like a morning chockfull of MMA goodness. We have a ton in store
today -- even the elusive double groin shot makes an appearance.
So without further ado, let's get to it with some headlines.
5
MUST-READ STORIES
Pettis
talks featherweight cut. Speaking to the New York Post, former
WEC champ Anthony Pettis vowed that his cut down to featherweight
was only temporary, then promised that he and Jose Aldo would
deliver "fireworks" regardless of the muddled division
outlook.
Kongo
released. After a seven-year, 18-fight run, the UFC elected not
to renew the contract of French heavyweight Cheick Kongo following
his first-round loss to Roy Nelson at UFC 159. Kongo racked up
an 11-6-1 record inside the promotion, but exits having lost
two of his last three in devastating fashion.
MMA
Roundtable. Luke Thomas joins yours truly to debate Jones vs.
Silva, change the Unified rules, look ahead to the summer schedule
and more.
Bellator
summer series. Bellator MMA launches its 2013 Summer Series on
June 19 with a main card headlined by a lightweight title fight
pitting Michael Chandler against season-seven tournament winner
Dave Jansen. In addition, a four-man light heavyweight tournament
kicks off with Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal vs. Seth Petruzelli
and Renato "Babalu" Sobral vs. Jacob Noe.
Peralta
suspended. UFC featherweight Robbie Peralta received a six-month
suspension after testing positive for marijuana following his
unanimous decision loss to Akira Corassani at UFC on FUEL 9 in
Stockholm, Sweden. Peralta's flub marks the seventh consecutive
UFC event held outside of North America to result in at least
one failed drug test.
Source:
MMA Fighting
|
Tito
Ortiz: “If Anyone is Going to Beat My Record, I’d Like
to See Jon Jones Do It”
In
just five short years, UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones
has rocketed into the conversation about the greatest fighters
of all time.
He
readily admits that it’s still too soon for him to challenge
Anderson Silva for top honors as the top pound-for-pound fighter
on the planet, but Jones fully intends to keep working in that
direction.
The
next step is laying sole claim to the UFC record for most light
heavyweight title defenses, which he currently shares with UFC
Hall of Famer Tito Ortiz.
Jones’
recent destruction of Chael Sonnen at UFC 159 put him on par
with Ortiz’s mark of five successful light heavyweight title
defenses. Now, before he considers moving into superfights or
the heavyweight division, he wants to break that record.
“One
thing I’ve been contemplating is first tying Tito Ortiz,
and then establishing that record of the most (light heavyweight
title defense) wins in my next fight, maybe in November, and
after that fight in November, entertaining superfights and heavyweight
fights,” said Jones.
Ortiz
has always carried his achievements proudly, but if anyone is
going to surpass him in the record books, he’s okay with
it being Jon Jones.
“I
don’t want to see him break my record,” Ortiz told
MMAWeekly.com content partner Knockout Radio on Wednesday night.
“But if anyone is going to beat my record, I would like
to see Jon Jones do it because he is that special of an athlete.
“He’s
got great speed, great balance, great wrestling technique, and
his mind is super strong. It’s just one of those things
that, if he does beat my record, I guess I can give him nothing
but respect because, if anyone is going to break my record, I
would like to see Jon Jones do it.”
Ortiz
would even go so far as to make sure he’s in attendance
at Jones’ next fight – whenever that should be –
to see if his record falls to the wayside.
“Of
course I’m going to show up,” he declared. “I’m
not going to miss that. I want to watch, in person, the guy who
is going to beat my record. I would love to be a part of something
great at that event.”
Jones
is currently nursing an injured foot, expecting to be sidelined
for the next few weeks, so it’s unclear just how soon he’ll
be bak in the Octagon, gunning for sole possession of the record.
But rest assured, he’ll be gunning for it.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
João
Gabriel, 18 golds in Brazilian Championships, reviews success
and setback in Barueri
With
all his weight and absolute medals, João Gabriel Rocha
(Soul Fighters) reached the incredible mark of 18 titles in 20
years at the Brazilian National that the CBJJF has held since
1994.
The
young black belt from Rio, a champion since he was four, has
gold medals from his years at yellow, orange, green, blue, purple,
brown and now black belt with an epic final over one of Alliance’s
aces, Leonardo Nogueira.
“If
I’m not mistaken, he didn’t win only two times. One
he lost while a yellow belt. The other, at orange belt, he didn’t
take part because the championship was on the belt examination
day at our gym,” says Bruno “Tanque” Mendes, a
leader of Soul Fighters.
In
the final, João beat Leo. He opened the score of 2-0 by
attacking Nogueira’s foot (photo). Then he passed the tough
guard of the Alliance ace, took the back, scoring 9-0. Leo defended
his back and swept, but then the champion swept back, 11-2.
“And
he didn’t want to fight the weight after losing the absolute,
Tatu and I pressured him to go. That classic Jiu-Jitsu psychology
worked,” says Tanque.
The
pupil of Leandro “Tatu” talked to GRACIEMAG about his
best moments in the championship in Barueri, and also the worst.
Check it out:
GRACIEMAG:
After 17 gold medals at the Brazilian National at all belts,
you finally win a gold at black belt. Was the feeling any different?
JOÃO
GABRIEL ROCHA: It was unforgettable but I think in the end I
went to fight very relaxed, as in all belts. I took all the pressure
of having to win and trusted a lot in my game and myself. And
it is not easy to fight with a good mind after losing the absolute.
I fought on Saturday against Roberto Tussa (GB), a great athlete,
but I think in the end I lost to myself. At the time of the match
I didn’t do the things I trained for and he used his experience
to his favor. After this fight, however, I learned that in the
black belt division you have to be patient. There aren’t
seven or eight minutes, it is ten minutes now.
What
was your biggest mistake in defeat, and the big lesson?
I
think I learned to pace myself during a Jiu-Jitsu match, and
to play with time in my favor.
How
was the feeling of getting to the final of super heavy and looking
at the double world champion Leo Nogueira on the other side?
Needless
to say, Leo is a great athlete. He is very complete, plays well
on top and bottom and is very dangerous. I knew that the fight
would be complicated. The solution was pacing myself throughout
the fight, and always putting him in danger. I couldn’t
focus only on his half guard; I had to pay attention to everything
because he is such a complete fighter. I attacked a lot, but
I also defended myself when he got his sweep, which worried me.
But everything worked out. Before the final I just thought I
got what it takes to be the champion. It only depended on me.
What
was the main factor of your victory?
The
mental part. I changed my mind completely from the absolute on
Saturday, to the weight division on Sunday. Competing since I
was very young helps a lot, I didn’t get lost. But the coaching
is key. (Leandro) Tatu was on me all the time. He believes in
me more than myself.
What
goes on in your mind after winning the Brazilian National at
all belt levels since you were 4 years old?
It
is a complete cycle. There were many years of learning and hard
training at Soul Fighters in Tijuca to get here. For the next
championships, however, I will be the same João, always
playing forward to submit.
Source:
Gracie Magazine
|
Eddie
Alvarez promises courtroom trial in case against Bellator
by Steven
Marrocco
Eddie
Alvarez plans to fight Bellator to the finish in a courtroom.
The
ex-Bellator lightweight champion on Thursday posted on Twitter
that he won't settle with the tournament-based promotion and
wants a trial.
"I
want to see this thing through and Let the truth come out in
the End," wrote Alvarez (24-3).
The
announcement appears to extinguish the possibility of a settlement
between the parties, who've been locked in a legal dispute for
the past five months. Near the start of this year, Bellator and
Alvarez, who became a limited free agent this past October, filed
dueling lawsuits with the respective aim of keeping him in the
promotional fold or releasing him to sign with the UFC, which
offered him a deal during a matching period that's now the at
the core of the dispute.
In
January, a federal judge struck down Alvarez's first attempt
at freeing himself from Bellator, and this past month, the same
judge denied Bellator's request to drop part of Alvarez's suit.
However, it was also revealed that the two sides had signaled
a willingness to enter settlement talks.
But
on Wednesday during an interview with MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio),
Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney said those talks recently had broken
down. He indicated a resolution was unlikely.
"The
court system is slow and methodical, and we're just going through
the process," he said. "I don't have any projections
of it getting settled at this point because we're not talking."
On
Twitter, Alvarez talked plenty today, issuing no less than 15
tweets about his current lot. In addition to proclaiming his
desire to see Bellator in court, he said he had renovated and
sold an investment property originally planned as a retirement
asset to support his family during the dispute. Additionally,
he said they were moving to Florida, where he may become a permanent
addition to the Jaco Hybrid Training Center gym in Boca Raton
owned by his manager, Glenn Robinson.
Alvarez
hasn't fought since this past October, when he fulfilled the
final obligation of his Bellator contract with a first-round
knockout of Patricky "Pitbull" Freire.
To
combat rust from his lengthened layoff, Alvarez has a plan.
"Ill
be Training as if I have a fight No matter what the circumstances,"
he posted on Twitter. "Miami has Unsanctioned fights somewhere
for Cash, Told my wife I might need to take the drive down there
on the Weekend 2 stay sharp."
Source:
MMA Junkie
|
Bummed
but not broken, Rich Franklin eying UFC return before end of
year
By Luke
Thomas
Former
UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin has accomplished quite
a bit in his mixed martial arts career. He's earned and defended
a UFC title, coached on a reality show, fought elite opposition
in two weight classes all over the world, earned the admiration
of adoring fans and the list goes on. At 38 years of age, however,
and acknowledging his time in the sport in 'limited', what's
really left for him to do?
Truthfully,
Franklin isn't entirely sure about what his fighting future's
going to look like. What he does know, however, is that no one
should be perceiving his silence since his loss to Cung Le at
UFC on FUEL TV 6 in November as proof he's mulling over retirement.
"I
haven't been sitting on my end thinking about retirement,"
Franklin told Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour Monday. "I don't
want any of the fans out there to think, 'Oh, Rich is just out
there contemplating retiring.'"
Fair
enough, but what has he been doing?
As
he explained, he's not done fighting, but knows he needs to at
least begin planning for what's next. He's in the process of
opening two juice bars in the Los Angeles area at the moment,
realizing he'll need to set up avenues of income when the UFC
checks stop coming in.
"The
loss to Cung was a big setback for me. Unexpected in my camp,"
Franklin said. "I'm kind of sitting here thinking what's
my next move going to be. And I realized I'm 38 years old and
my time is limited in the sport. I know that I'm not going to
be fighting another 10 years. I have to start think about the
things that I'm doing outside of MMA.
"At
this point in time, I'm actually out in L.A. currently. I'm looking
at some retail locations for an organic juice business that I'm
opening up. We were looking at some possible opening dates and
things like that and the opening dates got shifted back a little
bit," he said.
The
UFC was happy to give him the time off and as Franklin explained,
they told him to call them when he was ready to be scheduled
for another fight.
"I'd
have to check my contract. I have at least one more fight, possibly
two more fights left on my contract. I always said I would definitely
like to fulfill my contract, so, looking at that, I at least
have that much.
"I'm
not saying I'm only planning on fighting once or twice more,"
Franklin clarified, " but as soon as I get this stuff going
on my end with this juice business and things are kind of moving
in the direction that they should be moving, then I am going
to be focused more on, instead of recreationally training, back
on specific fight training. And I'll look at taking another fight
at that point in time, which could possibly be before the end
of the year."
While
the juice business plans might be in full swing, Franklin has
been reluctant to talk about that loss that caused him to take
free time to open the juice business to begin with: the devastating
knockout loss to Le. As Franklin explained, it was a particularly
difficult defeat to accept.
"Every
loss is unique," he lamented. "This one kind of took
a while. I'd moved back down to 185 [pounds]. I had a great performance
prior to that against Wanderlei [Silva] in Brazil and was feeling
really good. My body was in great shape. I'd conducted at least
half my camp down in Singapore at Evolve for that fight. Things
were going really well. I did everything I needed to do, made
all the sacrifices that I needed to make for that fight.
"I
think going into that, because camps had gone well and I made
the sacrifices I needed to make, I could never see how I would've
lost that fight. And then when you come up on the short end of
the stick, you're stuck wondering," Franklin said.
He
continued: "Often times when you lose a fight, you can at
least sit in your locker room or when you go back to the drawing
board, you can look and say, 'Here's where I messed up. There
was a day where maybe I cut this practice short or I should've
spent more time doing this or should've been doing that.'
"When
that happens, you kind of leave that situation scratching your
head saying 'what more could I have possibly done?' And the answer
to that question really is nothing. It's just, things happen
the way they do sometimes."
Franklin
isn't ruling out another title run, although he's the first to
acknowledge the Le loss was particularly bad for him in terms
of his divisional placement. He also contends he isn't delusional
about his age. While he knows he's not at his peak as an athlete,
his coaches around him state he hasn't lost a step yet. Even
former UFC welterweight champion Matt Hughes called him to say
retiring after the loss to Le would be a premature move.
That's
why Franklin's staying busy. While he mulls his next move and
figures out his calendar, he's planting the seeds for his post-fight
career. It's just time off, time away and maybe the chance to
reflect on what happened and what's next.
Whatever
it is, it isn't retirement.
"I
haven't really begun talking about retirement or anything like
that," Franklin insists. "I'm just kind of laser focused
onto something else for the time being."
Source:
MMA Fighting
|
Leslie
Smith Inks New Deal, Meets Jennifer Maia in 125-Pound Title Eliminator
at Invicta 6
By Mike
Whitman
Two-time
“Fight of the Night” award winner Leslie Smith has
signed a new, multi-fight deal with Invicta Fighting Championships.
Smith
will drop to 125 pounds to take on Jennifer Maia at Invicta FC
6 in a bout that will decide the next challenger for flyweight
titlist Barb Honchak. The event takes place July 13 at Ameristar
Casino Hotel in Kansas City, Mo., and will see 145-pound standouts
Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino and Marloes Coenen square
off for the vacant featherweight title in a rematch of their
2010 Strikeforce bout.
Smith,
30, recently saw a two-fight winning streak halted by a hard-fought
split decision loss to ex-Strikeforce queen Sarah Kaufman at
Invicta FC 5. Known for her resilience and volume punching in
the cage, “The Peacemaker” has earned a 2-2-1 record
under the Invicta banner since making her debut one year ago
at the promotion’s debut event.
Maia,
meanwhile, rebounded from her first-round knockout to Sheila
Gaff last year by posting back-to-back victories, first outpointing
Jessica Andrade to close out 2012 before doing the same to ex-Bellator
ruler Zoila Frausto Gurgel in her April 5 Invicta debut. The
24-year-old Brazilian has stopped five of her seven victims in
three years as a pro, picking up four of those wins by submission.
“We
are excited to bring Leslie under the Invicta Fighting Championships
umbrella for the long term and to watch her compete in a new
weight class that is becoming super competitive in our promotion,”
said Invicta FC President Shannon Knapp in the official release.
“Since we launched our live event series last year, Leslie
has demonstrated incredible tenacity and athleticism by putting
on some of the most memorable fights in our cage. She is a true
warrior, as is her opponent Jennifer Maia, so we are looking
forward to an explosive matchup between two of the sport’s
stars on what will be Invicta FC’s biggest fight card to
date.”
Source
Sherdog
|
Fight
Path: Jessy Jess found MMA after childhood wanderlust, living
in a van
by Kyle
Nagel
As
usual, the conversation about a fighter's life and background
begins with a question about the beginning.
Where
had Jessy Jess grown up?
"I
grew up going around in a van with my mom and brothers and sisters,"
she told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com), almost in passing.
"I'm
sorry," I said, thinking that the 14-hour time difference
between where I was sitting and Brisbane, Australia, was causing
problems with the phone connection. "It sounded like you
said van."
She
laughed. She had indeed said van, which showed in the first moments
that this interview was going to be a unique one.
Jess,
meanwhile, is trying to build her own unique resume as a professional
women's MMA fighter in Australia. She continued that this past
weekend when she earned a unanimous-decision victory over muay
Thai world champion Eileen Forrest at Combat 8:03.
Even
though that fight might not technically fall under the MMA category
– it was more like a mix between kickboxing and chute boxing
specific to that promotion – she is 1-0 as an MMA professional
after competing in kickboxing as well.
The
25-year-old Jess – she adopted Jessy Jess as her fighting
name to replace Jessy Rose – was raised with an appreciation
for alternative lifestyles gained from her mother, who was passionate
about learning from different communities. She then followed
a boyfriend into combat sports, which became her own passion.
It
was a natural fit for the former soccer, softball and basketball
player who was also a gifted student. And now, instead of working
for her carpenter father as she did when she finished school,
she's a full-time fighter hoping her next steps can help raise
her image.
"I
felt like (Saturday's victory) was a massive win for me,"
she said. "She's a muay Thai champion, and she's been competing
for longer than I've been training. So that was an important
win for me. I needed something like that."
Alternative
lifestyle
Back
to the van.
Jess
described her childhood as a continuous travel between alternative
communities, driven by her mother's passion for learning and
experiencing new things.
She
is the oldest of five children, so she, her mother, two brothers
and two sisters traveled in the van and learned about different
parts of life.
"We
would go to organic farms, nudist farms, all kinds of places,"
she said.
Much
of those early years were spent in wide-open areas, often sleeping
under the stars. That created a love for such places that she
still keeps. She often feels the need to get away to rural areas
or to the ocean.
When
she was 10, though, her mother felt it would be good for her
to have more structure. She moved in with her grandmother and
started formal schooling (she had been homeschooled until then).
It
was an experience in learning how others' expectations can affect
a person. She was put in a grade behind where she should have
been, and the school administrators tried to make it even two
grades behind.
"They
thought I would be stupid," Jess said with a laugh. "They
saw where I came from and thought I couldn't keep up. Then I
would come out on top (in class)."
She
also found organized sports, and she was good. Nothing at the
time compared to what her future would hold in combat sports,
but she gained a taste for competing. When she finished her school
at age 17, she starting working full-time, and she eventually
moved to work for her father in administrative and delivery positions.
She
didn't necessarily gain the carpentry skills, though.
"I
could build some things," she said. "But you might
not want to trust me with the big stuff."
But
bigger stuff was coming.
Taste
of combat
When
Jess was 20, a guy she was dating was into kickboxing. She was
interested, so she tagged along to see what it was about and
got interested.
"I
never looked back," she said.
That
started a series of moves in combat sports that would eventually
make her a professional fighter. Not long after her training
began, she knew she wanted to fight, but she ended up practicing
for close to three years before she entered competition.
Her
first fight of any kind was an amateur kickboxing bout, which
ended a period of frustration with some potential opponents backing
out of fights. Around that time, she took her first jiu-jitsu
classes as well, which opened her up to the possibilities of
MMA.
She
became part of Australia's growing MMA culture, which is still
a little light on female fighting, especially in the amateur
ranks. That's why, in MMA, she became a professional immediately
with her debut this past December in a victory.
In
the past year, she has both become a professional and earned
the ability to train and fight full-time with a sponsorship from
Australian company Unrivaled. The commitment from both her and
the company increased leading into her fight this past weekend,
which provided a boost of confidence.
The
next step, she said, is lining up fights with some of her country's
other top women, which is a growing group because of the sport's
popularity.
"It's
getting to be bigger, with a lot of promotions and a lot of ways
to fight," she said. "Female fighters are more rare,
but (MMA) is my goal. That's where I want my future to be."
Source:
MMA Junkie
|
UFC
162: Silva vs. Weidman Officially Announced for July 6 in Las
Vegas
The
Ultimate Fighting Championship is once again taking over Fourth
of July weekend in Las Vegas. The organization formally announced
today that UFCmiddleweight champion and undisputed pound-for-pound
king Anderson Silva will return to the Octagon on Saturday, July
6 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena to face undefeated No. 1 contender
Chris Weidman. That’s not all: this week in July also marks
the return of the UFC Fan Expo, as well as Fight Week, a series
of fan events, concerts, and appearances featuring your favorite
UFC fighters and personalities.
“The
best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, Anderson Silva, defends
the middleweight title for a record 11th time on July 6 when
he takes on unbeaten Chris Weidman,” UFC President Dana
White said. “Weidman is 9-0 in his pro career and has incredible
wrestling and power. He said he will shock the world at UFC 162
and end Anderson’s reign atop the middleweight division.
With UFC 162, the UFC Fan Expo and Fight Week, this is going
to be an amazing week for fight fans. You have to be in Las Vegas
this Fourth of July weekend!”
In
addition to the Silva-Weidman showdown, Frankie Edgar (15-4-1,
fighting out of Toms River, N.J.), a former lightweight champion
and currently the third-ranked featherweight in the world, battles
Brazil’s Charles Oliveira (16-3, 1 NC, fighting out of Guaruja,
Sao Paulo, Brazil), while former Strikeforce middleweights make
their UFC debuts as Tim Kennedy (15-4, fighting out of Austin,
Texas) takes on Rio de Janeiro’s Roger Gracie (6-1).
In
addition, fourth-ranked “The Korean Zombie,” Chan Sung
Jung (13-3, fighting out of Po-Hang, South Korea) returns from
a yearlong layoff due to injury to meet second-ranked Ricardo
Lamas (13-2, fighting out of Chicago, Ill.) in a fight that could
determine the next challenger for the featherweight title, while
fifth-ranked featherweight Cub Swanson (19-5, fighting out of
Palm Springs, Calif.) faces Germany’s sixth-ranked Dennis
Siver (21-8).
Other
bouts for UFC 162 include:
Seventh-ranked
middleweight star Mark Munoz (12-3, fighting out of Lake Forrest,
Calif.) vs. heavy-handed 10th-ranked contender Tim Boetsch (12-3,
fighting out of Sunbury, Pa.).
185-pound fan favorite Chris Leben (22-9, fighting out of Oahu,
Hawaii) vs. Andrew Craig (8-1, fighting out of Houston, Texas).
Northern Ireland’s Norman Parke (17-2) vs. Japan’s
Kazuki Tokudome (12-3-1) in a lightweight showdown.
Brazil’s Edson Barboza (11-1) challenges Montreal’s
John Makdessi (11-2).
Heavyweights Shane Del Rosario (8-1, fighting out of Irvine,
Calif.) vs. Dave Herman (21-5, fighting out of Temecula, Calif.).
Welterweights Seth Baczynski (17-7, fighting out of Apache Junction,
Ariz.) vs. Houston’s Brian Melancon (6-2).
Portland’s Mike Pierce (16-5) vs. David Mitchell (12-2,
fighting out of Santa Rosa, Calif.) in a welterweight contest.
Tickets for UFC162: SILVA vs. WEIDMAN, presented by BUD LIGHT,
go on sale Friday, May 10 at 10 a.m. PT. Tickets will be available
at all Las Vegas Ticketmaster locations (select Smith’s
Food and Drug Centers and Ritmo Latino). Ticket sales are limited
to eight (8) per person. Tickets also are available for purchase
at www.mgmgrand.com or www.ticketmaster.com. Ticket prices do
not include applicable service charges.
UFC
Fight Club members will have the opportunity to purchase tickets
to this event Wednesday, May 8 at 10 a.m. PT via the website
www.ufcfightclub.com. A special Internet ticket pre-sale will
be available to UFC newsletter subscribers Thursday, May 9 starting
at 10 a.m. PT. To access this presale, users must register for
the UFC newsletter throughUFC.com.
UFC162:
SILVA vs. WEIDMAN will be available live on Pay-Per-View at 10
p.m. ET on July 6.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
With
Jon Jones Injured, Lyoto Machida Calls for Title Elimination
Fight with Alexander Gustafsson
Everybody wants to fight Alexander Gustafsson… or so it
seems.
UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones, shortly after his victory
over Chael Sonnen on Saturday night, said that he would like
to fight the lanky Swede. And now, so does No. 1 contender Lyoto
Machida.
Although Machida is considered next in line in the UFC’s
205-pound division, Jones has already defeated him, so says he’d
rather fight Gustafsson next.
“I’ve fought Lyoto Machida before, and I fight for
the love of the sport,” said Jones. “I fight for the
people that support me, but I also fight to prove critics wrong.
“A lot of people believe that I have been successful because
I appear to be larger than my opponents. And with Alexander Gustafsson
that would be no more. So fighting Alexander Gustafsson, a guy
who is six-feet-six or six-five, pretty long arms himself, long
legs; I think that would be a great thing and that’s who
I’d love to fight next.”
Jones, however, suffered a broken toe on Saturday night that
should keep him sidelined for the next couple of months. Both
Machida and Gustafsson are in the right time frame for their
next fights, so putting the two together would make sense, a
concept not lost on Machida.
“I would like to fight before the title, maybe, because
I don’t want to wait for long time. I need to fight,”
said Machida in an interview for Fuel TV.
“I’m interested in this (Gustafsson) fight because
now I think is a good idea to put Gustafsson against me. He’s
a No. 2 contender; I’m a No. 1 contender.”
Machida believes it only makes sense to put the two together
with the winner getting the next shot at Jones, once the champ
returns from his injury. And the former light heavyweight champion
is ready to go.
“(I’m ready to fight) as soon as possible.”
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Viewpoint:
Disaster Averted
By Tristen
Critchfield
The
mixed martial arts gods, if they do indeed exist, were clearly
unhappy on Saturday. What other explanation could there be for
the bizarre confluence of events that went down at the Prudential
Center in Newark, N.J.? Two Ultimate Fighting Championship bouts
were cut short due to eye pokes, another because of a badly disfigured
thumb and a fourth was axed early in the morning as a result
of excessive dehydration.
It
could have been worse. If Chael Sonnen could have held on for
27 more seconds or if referee Keith Peterson had determined the
Oregonian was intelligently defending himself during Jon Jones’
final barrage, it could have been much, much worse.
The
UFC 159 main event was as thoroughly lopsided as one would have
expected a bout pitting one of the sport’s most dominant
champions against an opponent with exactly zero Octagon victories
at 205 pounds to be. Despite being more than 10 years his junior,
Jones gave Sonnen the big brother treatment for four and a half
minutes. He dominated the action from the start, landing his
first takedown inside of 10 seconds as the challenger rushed
forward. From there, Sonnen was given little room to breathe,
whether on the ground or against the fence, and he eventually
succumbed to Jones’ patented brand of elbow-infused violence
with 27 seconds remaining in the first frame.
“I
wanted to ‘Chael Sonnen’ Chael Sonnen,” Jones
quipped.
That
was something he undoubtedly did. By the time Jones put the finishing
touches on his fifth consecutive light heavyweight title defense,
it was clear who was the better man. Unlike his two meetings
with Anderson Silva, meetings in which Sonnen was somehow able
to rationalize victory despite not having his hand raised on
either occasion, there would be no post-fight posturing by the
“Gangster from West Linn.”
“Jon
is a lot better than I thought he was. To beat a guy is one thing.
To beat a guy at his game is another,” Sonnen said. “He’s
the best fighter I’ve ever fought. He was stronger than
Silva. The last thing I want to do is disparage Anderson Silva.
It’s tough. I whipped him for 30 minutes. He whipped me
for 30 seconds. I whipped Jon for zero seconds. He whipped me
the entire fight. If you’re asking me for my opinion, Jon’s
better.”
Despite
the high praise, any referee or ringside physician in his or
her right mind would have awarded Sonnen a technical knockout
victory had they noticed the gruesome broken toe that no one
apparently saw until UFC commentator Joe Rogan approached Jones
for a post-fight interview.
Then,
instead of lamenting the postponement of a Jamaican vacation,
Jones would have had far greater matters to attend to -- like
getting his belt back. Mangled digits are no joke. Just ask Yancy
Medeiros, who appeared to badly dislocate his right thumb while
defending a Rustam Khabilov takedown during an earlier preliminary
bout. Unlike Jones-Sonnen, that contest was very much in doubt,
but referee Dan Miragliotta halted the bout immediately once
he took a look at Medeiros’ hand.
Jones,
who appeared to suffer an open fracture of his toe while successfully
sprawling against a Sonnen takedown, would have been resigned
to the same fate, regardless of his own wishes. That is an outcome
that would have left no one, not Jones, not UFC President Dana
White, not even Sonnen himself, feeling remotely satisfied.
It
was clear from the start that Sonnen never had a puncher’s
chance in hell of beating Jones; a podiatrist’s chance,
perhaps, but nothing more.
Consider
the near catastrophe to be a warning from the MMA gods. UFC 159
was an event that emerged from the Sonnen cauldron of self-promotion,
and while the card seemed to generate a fair share of mainstream
media attention, the result -- like Georges St. Pierre-Nick Diaz
before it -- was fairly inevitable. Whether you believed Jones
was “pissed off beyond belief,” as Rogan implied, or
just mildly annoyed with his opponent’s routine, it did
not change the fact that competition was never a real selling
point of the fight.
Had
Sonnen survived round one, the UFC could potentially have had
a double-threat champion: a man who received a bout he never
deserved holding onto a belt he did not earn, all in the name
of entertainment, rebuilding the “The Ultimate Fighter”
brand and, in theory, pay-per-view buys. Now, imagine trying
to sell Jones-Sonnen 2 to the masses after what we just witnessed.
At
the UFC 159 post-fight press conference, there was some debate
as to whether Jones has accomplished enough to be regarded as
the top 205-pound champion in the promotion’s history. There
should not be. The man is already there, with victories over
so many of the division’s luminaries that he has been paired
with middleweight converts in his last two outings. Make no mistake,
Vitor Belfort and Sonnen are highly accomplished fighters, but
they are not part of the path Jones should be taking, not after
he went through Mauricio Rua, Quinton Jackson, Lyoto Machida
and Rashad Evans to begin his championship reign.
This
was a reminder that a professional athlete’s career, even
one as transcendent as Jones, is fragile and fleeting. It is
easy to say that Jones, still just 25 years old, has plenty of
time to tackle more significant challenges than Sonnen, but that
is not always true. Something as small as an eye poke or as cringe-inducing
as an open fracture, always has the potential to alter the trajectory
of a career.
UFC
159 was a carnival of the bizarre, but it was also a reminder
of just how brutal fighting for a living can be. Mixed martial
artists are as tenacious as they come, which is why Jones said,
“[My coaches] would have twisted [my toe] and sent me back
out to fight. I just want to be a warrior.”
It
would not, of course, have been his or his team’s decision
to make, but those mysterious MMA gods were merciful this time.
The rightful champion retained his crown and should recover to
fight another day. We can only hope that next time it is against
a serious contender.
Source:
Sherdog
|
Eddie
Wineland: Honey Badger Don’t Quit
By Zach
Arnold
Tyrann
Mathieu may be football’s Honey Badger, but Eddie Wineland
is MMA’s version
The
honey badger, known for its thick skin and ferocious defensive
abilities, has short and sturdy legs and strong claws that have
the potential to rip anyone’s face off. They are notorious
for their strength, ferocity and toughness – much like Eddie
“the Honey Badger” Wineland, who is up for an interim
Bantamweight title shot against Renan Barão at UFC 161
in Canada this June.
Fighting
out of New Breed Chicago, Vale Tudo, and Applied Strength and
Conditioning, Wineland is coming off a two-win streak in the
UFC. He most recently defeated Brad Pickett at UFC 155 in December
and took Fight of the Night at UFC on FX after he KO’d Scott
Jorgensen at 4:10 of round 2.
While
Wineland is no stranger to MMA, previously having a huge presence
in the WEC, little is actually really known about the elusive
Honey Badger. All we seem to know is that this feisty bantamweight
had a rough start upon entering the UFC in March 2011, losing
to both Urijah Faber and Joseph Benavidez, but has since regained
his footing and has been on a tear through the division ever
since.
On
April 12th, it marked Wineland’s 10th anniversary of his
first fight. Although he’s been a wrestler pretty much since
he could walk, the Honey Badger later began his MMA career right
out of high school. After just two months of training, he took
his first fight against a guy 10 years his senior and 20 pounds
heavier. Wineland ended up mounting and TKOing the “old
guy” after he kept bull rushing him. Ten years later, the
Honey Badger only wants to fight the best in the UFC and is now
up for a title shot.
In
a recent interview with Wineland, he talks about his upcoming
fight and training camp; his Uncle Creepy-esque mustache; the
history of his nickname “the Honey Badger;” and more
importantly, what to expect from him on June 15th.
On
being the underdog: “I myself don’t (consider being
the underdog)… I know wholeheartedly I’m gonna smash
him. But if you ask anybody else, apparently I don’t stand
a chance. I’m completely fine with that. It’s motivation.
Put all your money on Renan… I hope you put your life savings
on him because I’m gonna take it. When I go in and I do
what I know that I can do, I guarantee that there’s nobody
in the world that beats me at 135.”
On
his training camp: “We’ve plugging in more grappling,
more scrambling cause that’s what he catches people in…
the scrambling, the transitions. We brought in some Thai guys.
One guy, I sparred with for the first time last week and it’s
amazing how he mimics Barão. I mean just naturally he
fights identical to Barão. It’s absolutely incredible.
So I think that’s gonna be a big advantage by boxing with
him… and if I can get the better of him, we’re there.”
On
the nickname “the Honey Badger”: “It all stems
from Bob Hemmerich and some of the guys at Applied Strength and
Conditioning. One guy came in one day to the gym and he had said
something about a honey badger. I mean, you could literally see
he was terrified. It’s like he watched this video on the
honey badger and was like “OMG this animal is ridiculous.”
So we all kinda started doing a little bit of research and it
started out as a joke and stemmed into something bigger. I don’t
think it’s official yet because if Bruce Buffer doesn’t
say it, it’s not official. It’s just known amongst
friends.”
On
the mustache: “It’s turning into something glorious.
Me and a buddy from Applied Strength and Conditioning… we
grow them once a year. I start mine in December and he always
shaves his off at the end of March (cause he grows it through
the March Madness). I shaved mine off last year cause I got frustrated
with it. Growing one this year, I was kinda on the fence on wanting
to keep it. I started Googling handlebar mustaches. I remember
reading an article that said that the one thing that compliments
a handlebar mustache is a well-groomed haircut. I went to a buddy
of mine… and it’s a funny story, cause two nights previous,
a buddy of mine had approached me and he saw that my hair was
getting a little long and I didn’t really know what to do
with it and he goes, “Hey if you ever wanna get your haircut,
I’m a barber.” Two days later I went in and got a haircut.
I liked what I saw so now we’re gonna see what we can make
happen with it.”
What
to expect on June 15th: “It’s gonna be the same old
Eddie Wineland, you know, going 100 miles and hour and I’m
basically gonna tear him apart. That belt is mine and I’m
gonna punch him in the face, I’m gonna stop the takedown,
I’m gonna punch him in the face again and he’s gonna
fall down and I’m gonna win.”
If
the Honey Badger proves he’s the best Bantamweight in the
UFC on June 15th, you can expect him to keeping moving up from
there. Although Wineland wasn’t too picky when asked who
he would want to fight next, you can almost guarantee that a
match up between him and Dominick Cruz lays on the horizon.
The
Honey Badger is out to prove that he is the best bantamweight
in the UFC on June 15th. While most will say that he doesn’t
stand a chance against Barão, we can almost bet that as
each day gets closer to UFC 161, the Honey Badger is continuing
to sharpen his claws and prepare for battle. Like the saying
goes… “the honey badger don’t quit!”
Source:
Fight Opinion
|
Vitor
Belfort's surprising response to Luke Rockhold's UFC on FX 8
callout
by Dann
Stupp
Luke Rockhold created a bit of a stir when the final Strikeforce
middleweight champion said he wanted a "warmup fight"
before a potential UFC title fight and mentioned Vitor Belfort
as his preferred opponent.
But
Belfort, who recently joined MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com)
to discuss their upcoming UFC on FX 8 headliner, had a surprising
response to the Strikeforce import's comments.
Did
Belfort feel disrespected?
"Not
at all," he said. "I have all the respect for guys
like him. He asked, and he received it. ... I don't pick fights.
I accept fights. And he deserved it. I like his attitude. I see
it as a positive. I don't see it as personal. This is a job.
This is what makes people interested in seeing us fight."
Belfort
(22-10 MMA, 11-6 UFC) and Rockhold (10-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC) now headline
UFC on FX 8, which takes place May 18 at Arena Jaragua in Jaragua
do Sul, Santa Catarina, Brazil. The FX-televised fight marks
Belfort's third in Brazil since early 2012 and could set up a
title shot for the winner.
While
the middleweight division awaits the outcome of July's UFC 162
headliner between champion Anderson Silva and challenger Chris
Weidman, Belfort said he's not personally dwelling on anything
past the Rockhold fight.
"Tomorrow
will take care of itself," he said. "The key is to
take care of today."
That's
included a training camp with experts from all disciplines, including
kickboxer Tyrone Spong and world-class wrestlers, and all weight
classes. While once a mere boxer with exceptional raw power,
Belfort has rounded out his game during a recent career resurgence.
After all, after moving up a weight class, he nearly tapped out
light-heavyweight champion Jon Jones with an armbar back in September.
Against
Rockhold, who's won nine straight fights, Belfort believes his
new skills will be put to the test. And he likes his chances
of picking up a ninth win in his past 11 fights.
"It's
a great fight with a great fighter, very well-rounded, great
camp and has a lot of skills," Belfort said. "It's
a good fit for me. I'm excited. It's a good challenge for me.
I've prepared myself, and now it's getting closer.
"I'm
not just getting prepared for Luke. I'm getting prepared to be
the best I can be. That's how I can give back to the fans, my
family and to God for the gifts He gave me."
The
36-year-old Brazilian said he's now in the peak shape of his
career. However, his resurgence has drawn a fair number of critics,
most notably due to his long-suspected and recently confirmed
use of testosterone-replacement therapy.
Belfort,
though, said he simply avoids the negativity.
"The
haters are always going to be around," he said. "The
key is to just don't listen to it, to what people think, because
it doesn't change anything. You just have to stick to it. No
sacrifice, no glory."
He
said that mentality and positivity – as well as his faith
– will get him where he wants to be and satisfy the people
who mean the most to him.
"The
blood of Jesus washed me, cleansed me, healed me," he said.
"It gave me life. I have faith. The more people doubt me,
the more the Spirit grows in me. It's just the mindset that I
have. I'm just focused.
"I'm
not into impressing anybody. I don't care about people's opinions.
To me it doesn't change anything. What people think about me
doesn't make me who I am. What makes me who I am are the things
I do and what I believe. The people who mean the most to me are
already by my side."
Source:
MMA Junkie
|
UFC
pledges to hold at least four events per year in New York in
first three years of MMA legalization
By Ariel Helwani
The
Ultimate Fighting Championship continues to dedicate itself to
New York, despite getting the cold shoulder from the Empire State.
With
the chances of MMA legalization in New York in 2013 looking dimmer
with each passing day, UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta stated on Tuesday
that the promotion would hold at least four events per year in
the first three years MMA is legal and regulated once again in
New York.
"If
UFC hosted events in Buffalo’s First Niagara Center, Syracuse’s
Carrier Dome, Albany’s Times Union Center, and either of
New York City’s premiere venues, we would sell more than
85,000 tickets, generating more than $12 million in tickets sales
and more than $1 million – just from those ticket sales
– in direct state revenue," Fertitta stated in a press
release.
"That
does not begin to count the state and local sales tax revenue
from concession and merchandise sales at the arenas, parking,
hotel rooms, restaurants, and other expenditures by UFC fans.
It also does not count the income tax revenue from the union
workers who will be employed at those venues," Fertitta
said. "And that’s just UFC. We know there will be scores
more professional MMA events held across the state by other national,
regional and local MMA promoters."
Historically,
the UFC hasn't held more than two shows in the same state in
a calendar year outside its home base of Nevada.
The state Senate has passed legislation to legalize MMA four
times, including this year, however, the bill has never been
brought up for a vote in the Assembly. The bill must also pass
in the Assembly for it to go into effect. According to the New
York Daily News, 63 of the 150 Assembly members have signed in
favor of the bill so far.
The
same report also states that Zuffa, the parent company of the
UFC, has spent $1.6 million dollars since 2007 in lobbying and
campaign contributions to help get the sport legalized in the
state for the first time since 1997.
On
Saturday, the UFC held an event in Newark, N.J., headlined by
Jon Jones, a New York-native. The card drew 15,227 fans and a
gate of $2.7 million.
After
proclaiming late last year that the promotion had reserved a
November date at Madison Square Garden in New York for the UFC's
20th anniversary show, UFC president Dana White seemed much less
optimistic last week when discussing the possibility of holding
a show in Manhattan this year.
"It's
not even that I'm pessimistic," White said. "I just
don't care anymore."
"I'm
just over it."
Source:
MMA Fighting
|
UFC’s
Rousimar Palhares plans drop to 170 pounds
Rousimar
Palhares plans to drop to the UFC’s welterweight division.
(Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
After
joining Team Nogueira, under Rodrigo and Rogério Nogueira,
UFC middleweight Rousimar “Toquinho” Palhares has made
the decision to move down a weight division.
At
five foot eight and about 198 pounds, the fighter is undergoing
a series of clinical and physical testing for weight loss. The
process consists of diet and nutritional supplementation, along
with a team composed of a doctor, pharmacist and nutritionist.
“My
desire to get down to the welterweight division is great, but
I don’t want to make a hasty decision,” said Palhares
in a release sent to GRACIEMAG. “I will only really do it
if my body’s response is positive. I’m doing a fully
integrated work of nutrition, fitness, supplementation and orthomolecular
medicine. I’m with a very good team taking care of me.”
Toquinho
(14-5), known for his dangerous leg locks, has fought in UFC
since 2008 where he had 11 fights, submitting four by leg lock.
In his last fight in the Octagon, Palhares was defeated by Hector
Lombard in the first round.
In
addition, the athlete from Minas Gerais, Brazil was tested positive
during the UFC drug test, and remains suspended until December.
Source:
Gracie Magazine
|
Chael
Sonnen Stares Retirement in the Eye and Says No Thanks, Wants
to Fight Wanderlei Silva
by Ken
Pishna
Although
his UFC 159 post-fight comments lead to heavy speculation that
he might hang up his gloves, Chael Sonnen looked retirement in
the eye, but he didn’t waiver.
“I’m
not gonna be one of these guys that hangs around if there isn’t
a road to the title,” he said after losing to UFC light
heavyweight champion Jon Jones at UFC 159. “I think that
was probably my last opportunity.”
Sonnen
on Tuesday night’s edition of UFC Tonight, however, revealed
his plans for the immediate future, and they don’t include
retirement. Instead, Sonnen said he wants to continue fighting
and intends to remain in the 205-pound division.
Jones
made quick work of Sonnen on Saturday night in Newark, N.J.,
but Sonnen is willing to go to the back of the line and try again.
“I’ll
fight at 205. I’m not retiring,” he declared. “I’m
36 years old. I have a lot of goals and I’m not going to
reach them if I retire.
“I
don’t have a lot of options at 185. I’ve fought everyone
in the top 10, including the champion a couple of times. So I
moved up to 205, but I lost to the champ and it wasn’t a
competitive enough match to warrant another chance.”
So
how does that make sense?
It
doesn’t. But in the world of a professional athlete who
feels like he still has something to offer, it’s difficult
to stop before he’s reached his goal… even if the hope
before him is just a flicker.
“So
what do I do? It was a lot better experience, not having to get
the weight off. I’ll give up the size, but have a smile
on my face,” Sonnen continued. “I could be talked into
going back down if that’s where the fights are. The landscape
changes quickly. I think there will be a big shakeup on July
4th weekend when (Chris) Weidman gets his hands on Anderson (Silva).”
That’s
irrelevant to Sonnen’s current plans, however, as he intends
to fight at light heavyweight. Silva losing to Weidman would,
of course, open up a possible return. But even if Weidman were
to pull of the upset, Silva would likely get an immediate rematch,
which would take some time to play out.
Sonnen
instead is focused on 205, and already has his next target in
mind.
He
mentioned Wanderlei Silva at the UFC 159 post-fight press conference,
but on Tuesday night he zeroed in.
“Wanderlei
called me out before, but the fight never made sense. Now it
does,” he stated. “I’m not going anywhere until
me and Wanderlei straighten this thing out once and for all.
“Wanderlei
pulled a dirt bag move on me one time. He said something to me
that I couldn’t hear, and then put it on YouTube with subtitles
because he knew I couldn’t understand it and called me out.”
That
didn’t sit well with Sonnen, and he’s now ready to
forgo retirement to settle the score.
“If
you’re a fighter, that doesn’t fly. You must respond
to him, and I’m ready to respond to you Wanderlei.”
that
as long as Jon Jones and Anderson Silva have UFC belts wrapped
around their waists that it is unlikely that he’ll ever
sniff a title shot should he continue to fight.
That
fact alone – considering what he said following Saturday
night’s loss to Jon Jones – should close the door on
his fighting career. It should, but Sonnen has left the door
cracked open, if ever so slightly.
“I’m
gonna think it through,” he told Joe Rogan in the Octagon
when asked about retirement. “I’m not gonna be one
of these guys that hangs around if there isn’t a road to
the title. I think that was probably my last opportunity.”
The
retirement talk swirling around Sonnen isn’t for the fact
that he’s irrelevant in the Octagon. His record during his
recent run in the UFC is 5-4. That’s not stellar on the
surface, but if you look deeper, there’s actually some meat
on the bone.
Sonnen
lost his return to the Octagon back in 2009, being submitted
by Top 10 fighter Demian Maia. In the four years since, he has
since only lost to two men that, alongside Georges St-Pierre,
are considered among the three best fighters of all time: Anderson
Silva, twice, and Jon Jones.
The
five fighters on Sonnen’s hit list are no slouches either.
Four of the five have been considered Top 10 at one time or another,
and include Dan Miller, Yushin Okami, Nate Marquardt, Brian Stann,
and Michael Bisping.
It
is actually Sonnen’s performance outside of the Octagon,
however, that has people pushing him away from the mat and into
the broadcast booth.
When
he isn’t using his venomous poetry to hype fights, he often
takes to the microphone for pre and post-fight coverage, and
has landed a steady gig co-hosting UFC Tonight on Fuel TV opposite
Kenny Florian.
UFC
president Dana White has often said, “Fox loves Chael.”
He believes that the network will eventually utilize Sonnen’s
gift for gab and detailed analytical skills beyond its UFC coverage.
That’s
not lost on Sonnen.
“I
like to fight, but I love this business, and there are so many
different opportunities that are out there now that weren’t
here a number of years ago, and broadcasting is one of them.”
He
won’t shut the door, at least he wouldn’t on Saturday
night, but his self-analysis was spot-on. Anderson Silva and
Jon Jones have iron clad grips on the gold around their waists.
Those
are the big money fights in the two divisions that Sonnen competes
in, and without a shot at either of them, what’s the point?
If
he just loved to fight, Sonnen would have already committed to
returning to the Octagon. But his goal has always been the belt,
and without that, its’ difficult to see a strong enough
attraction to entice him.
Never
say never, but Sonnen realizes there lies plenty of opportunity
for him outside of fighting in a cage, and at 36 years of age,
it might just be time for a life change.
“I
love this company,” he declared on Saturday night. “But
as far as getting into the ring, that comes to an end at some
point, and I am by no means saying that happened tonight, but
at some point it comes to an end and I will find something else
for myself to do with the business.”
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
UFC
on FUEL 9 drug test results: Robbie Peralta suspended six months
for marijuana
By Mike
Chiappetta
Robbie
Peralta has been suspended six months after failing a UFC on
FUEL 9 post-fight drug test.
In
a statement, the UFC confirmed that Peralta had been flagged
for marijuana metabolites.
The
promotion said that the featherweight has agreed to attend drug
rehabilitation classes and must pass a drug test upon completion
of the suspension in order to be reinstated on to the active
roster.
Peralta
faced Akira Corassani on the opening fight of the FUEL broadcast
as a lopsided favorite, but was upset in a unanimous decision,
snapping his unbeaten streak at 10. Prior to that, he'd held
UFC wins over Mike Lullo and Jason Young.
The
27-year-old Californian has a career record of 16-4 with 1 no
contest.
The
suspension is retroactive to the date of the fight, making him
eligible to compete on Oct. 6, pending a passed drug test.
The
April 6 event was held in Stockholm, and was sanctioned by the
Swedish Mixed Martial Arts Federation. According to the UFC,
all 26 fighters on the card were tested.
Source:
MMA Fighting
|
Sherdog
Prospect Watch: Aljamain Sterling
By Joe
Myers
Aljamain
Sterling started his professional mixed martial arts career in
high gear, posting seven victories in as many fights in his first
16 months as a professional fighter.
However,
a shoulder injury has kept the Cage Fury Fighting Championships
bantamweight titleholder on the shelf since January, and the
Team Bombsquad member is growing increasingly impatient about
resuming his ascent in the 135-pound division.
“I
hurt my shoulder during wrestling practice and tore my labrum,”
Sterling told Sherdog.com. “I’d tweaked it when I wrestled
in college, and it just kept getting worse and worse until I
had to go to the doctor for it. I’d torn three-quarters
of the labrum, part of my biceps tendon and injured the glenoid
bone, as well. I had the surgery Jan. 24 and will be out about
six months.”
Sterling,
23, last fought at CFFC 16 in August, when he submitted Sidemar
Honorio with a second-round rear-naked choke at the Borgata Hotel
and Casino in Atlantic City, N.J.
“It’s
very frustrating to not be able to train,” he said. “Sitting
down and watching practices and not even being able to shadowbox
is really hard. To go from practicing three times a day, six
days a week to nothing just drives you crazy. I’ve been
sort of at a loss about what to do. I just got cleared to run
and lift weights, so I’m working my back to 100 percent,
but it still sucks.”
Sterling
was a two-time NCAA Div. III All-American at SUNY Cortland, where
he has been an assistant wrestling coach for the past two seasons.
During his three-year career, Sterling was 87-27 with 26 falls,
finishing fourth at the NCAA wrestling championships at 133 pounds
as a junior and sixth at 141 pounds as a senior. How he came
to become a professional MMA fighter involves a meeting with
a future Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweight titleholder,
the social networking website MySpace and a trip to the Team
Bombsquad gym.
“I’m
from a family of 20,” Sterling said. “I have six brothers,
and we used to fight a lot. My father wanted us to get into boxing,
and if that’d happened, that would've been cool. I started
by college career at [Morrisville State College], where I met
Jon Jones. He and I both transferred to different schools and
he sort of fell off the map. I saw a couple of pictures of him
on MySpace where he was fighting and grappling and we sent some
messages back and forth.
“I
don’t go on MySpace anymore, but I still have those messages
to this day,” he added. “He told me to come down [to
Team Bombsquad], and I came down and had my first boxing lesson.
I got beat up by a 14-year-old kid. I enjoyed the gym and thought
it was something I could do after wrestling in college.”
Sterling
started his MMA training when he was a sophomore at SUNY Cortland
and competed in several amateur fights during the offseason.
Soon after his college eligibility expired, he turned professional
with a three-round unanimous decision over Sergio da Silva in
April 2011.
He
delivered four victories in the first four months of his career
and sports four finishes -- one knockout and three submissions
-- among his seven wins thus far.
“I
didn’t want to waste any time,” Sterling said. “I
wanted to be the first UFC champion who was still in college,
but I had to finish my eligibility first.”
Ryan
Ciotoli serves as Sterling’s head coach at Team Bombsquad
and believes the 23-year-old’s main strengths revolve around
his wrestling and game planning.
“We’ve
known each other for about four years now,” Ciotoli said.
“He is a very smart kid. He’s like a chess master.
He thinks about his fights and attacks his opponent’s weaknesses
really well. He’s good at strategy. He’s also good
at mixing his jiu-jitsu with wrestling, but mixing those two
with his striking is what he needs to work on. The big thing
is working on his transitions, and he’s still young. Once
he does that, he could be a top contender.”
Sterling
took the counter wrestling route to his submission over Honorio.
He sees it as just another example of using his base skill to
earn a victory in the MMA arena.
“My
grappling is different,” Sterling said. “I’m able
to blend my BJJ and wrestling. I do a lot of things people don’t
traditionally do, and people don’t know what to expect from
me. I can set things up and be able to get dominant back control
on them. I also feel like my length is a big asset. I’m
5-foot-7, so I might be tall for the weight class, and that gives
me some advantages.”
Sterling
admits he needs to do a better job of hitting the ground running
in his bouts.
“I
think something I might be behind on is starting faster,”
he said. “When I get out there, there’s a feeling-out
process, and it might be close to a round before I really get
going. I need to do a better job of pulling the trigger and setting
the tone for the fight, that along with my striking and ground-and-pound.
I think I have decent ground-and-pound, but I want to make sure
every punch counts so I can put my opponents away. The whole
point of fighting is finishing fights. Going to a decision is
something I don’t like. I like clear-cut finishes.”
The
shoulder injury will keep Sterling sidelined until sometime this
summer or early fall. He has no interest in signing a long-term
deal, unless it is with an organization like Bellator MMA or
the UFC.
“The
whole point of fighting is finishing fights. Going to a decision
is something I don’t like. I like clear-cut finishes.”
-- Aljamain Sterling, bantamweight prospect
“He
has an awkward style, but he's a dynamic fighter,” Ciotoli
said. “He competed at 133 and 141 [pounds] in college and
walks around at 150, so he’s not losing a lot of weight
to get to 135. The progress he made in his career has happened
really quick. He’s only been fighting professionally for
just over a year.
“He
just needs to continue to develop,” he added. “We’re
not in a hurry to get to that next level, but he’s more
than ready for it. It’s really just being patient. One of
these days a slot will open up and I think he’ll be ready
to jump in there if something does open up.”
Source
Sherdog
|
Joe
Rogan says Lloyd Irvin is mad about marketing sales rant
By Zach
Arnold
For
his Monday radio show (4/29/2013), Joe Rogan had some words to
say about the now-infamous Lloyd Irvin. For those trying to find
articles on why Irvin is a newsworthy subject, Brent Brookhouse
at Bloody Elbow gives you all the ammunition you need to know.
After
Lloyd Irvin previously apologized for purchasing LloydIrvinRape.com,
calling the move “in poor taste,” similar websites
were purchased again last month and, again, are now marketing
sites for Irvin’s gym and endeavors.
According
to Rogan on his Tuesday radio show, Irvin called him up and was
pissed about what Rogan had to say.
Here
is what Rogan had to say about Irvin’s alleged phone call
to him on Tuesday:
JOE
ROGAN: “So I got to talk about something because on the
podcast yesterday we talked about this web site, um… where,
uh… this guy Lloyd Irvin has this, uh, marketing web site
and we were making fun of it and so he called up me today. He
was upset that we made fun of it, but I told him I said, listen,
we can’t make fun of something that’s not stupid. And
if something looks ridiculous, I mean like you insult people’s
intelligence and that then there becomes humor, you know? And
his attitude is very interesting because he’s a very successful
marketer and one thing I got to say is like is I don’t know,
LIKE the guy’s had some issues I know but I don’t know
both sides of the story, I just know all the bullshit and the
rumors that you hear on the Internet. But as far as like what
he’s been able to do, he’s a phenomenal marketer. Like
this guy figured out how to get like way bigger schools than
anybody else has ever to do and then teaches people how to do
it and it’s super effective.”
REDBAN:
“He’s the Whitney of jiu-jitsu.”
JOE
ROGAN: “The Whitney Cummings?”
REDBAN:
“Yeah.”
JOE
ROGAN: “Yeah, you love her, dude, you like bring her up
all the time. She’s your example of like a hard worker.”
REDBAN:
“Yeah.”
JOE
ROGAN: “Well, the dude’s definitely a hard worker.
But I think in that style of marketing, it leaves you so open
to be criticized and I’m aware of that personally myself
because of my involvement with Onnit because there’s been
times where the people at Onnit have made like an ad or something
or said something that I thought was ridiculous so I made fun
of it on the show.”
[discussion
about a guy kissing his biceps in ad]
JOE
ROGAN: “My point is I make, look, I make fun of myself.
I think the only reason why someone would not want to be made
fun of is first of all you think it would effect your business
which is valid but also because you don’t want to look at
the fact that what you’re doing is fucking ridiculous.”
REDBAN:
“You don’t want to look foolish, that’s most of
it.”
JOE
ROGAN: “Yeah.”
REDBAN:
“You’re making fun of me. It’s like, well…”
JOE
ROGAN: “This is what I told him, this is the other thing
I told Lloyd because I like Lloyd, you know, my interactions
with him have always been cool even though I think the marketing
shit’s insulting. I said you need to do this, if you’re
going to do these things, and then give them to somebody to look
at, somebody who’s like a critical person, who’s going
to go no, no, no, no, no. Send them to me, I’ll tell you
what the fuck’s wrong with it. You can’t make people
think that you think they’re stupid, you can’t because
then you’re funny. Because then you become funny, you become
a silly person. When you know you write drafts to yourself, he
wrote an e-mail to himself and got busted like writing an e-mail
and pretending that it was this expert that was e-mailing him.”
REDBAN:
“Uhuh.”
JOE
ROGAN: “And the way he looked at it was very different.”
REDBAN:
“Yeah but who does he hang out with, like Mr. T?”
JOE
ROGAN: “This is how he looked at it, it was very fascinating.
He was like, if you saw an ad on TV and a celebrity is endorsing
something, do you think they really say those words? Like, they’re
reading something that someone wrote.”
REDBAN:
“Oh, yeah.”
JOE
ROGAN: “So, I thought it was interesting. Like, that’s
how he looked at it. So, he looked at it like he’s creating
a bit of fiction but ultimately his product is legitimate, that’s
how he looked at it. Which is, I kind of, I see that.”
REDBAN:
“Kind of a leap, though. Celebrities endorse something…”
JOE
ROGAN: “Not really, if the product wasn’t legitimate
I would say, yes. But since the product… I know for a fact
that that guy has made a lot of people a lot of money with his
techniques, like his marketing techniques. He’s made them
a lot of fucking money, so it does work. So, it’s interesting
that he’s saying. So, what he’s saying is like…”
REDBAN:
“That’s like what Disney had. Disney had that with
people coming out of a movie and everyone was saying, ‘oh,
it was great, it was amazing!’ and then you found out later
that they’re all Disney employees. I mean, it’s like….
it’s like you’re making people believe that this person
is not this person, you’re misleading them.”
JOE
ROGAN: “It’s dishonest. You treat them like they’re
fools and then it becomes funny.”
Source:
Fight Opinion
|
Junior
dos Santos Gets Title Shot with a Win at UFC 160; Mark Hunt?
Maybe… Maybe Not
by Ken
Pishna
Junior
dos Santos is in line for a quick return shot at the UFC heavyweight
title… if he gets past Mark Hunt at UFC 160 on May 25 in
Las Vegas.
It’s
not at all surprising that dos Santos, just one fight removed
from losing to current champion Cain Velasquez, hasn’t fallen
far down the heavyweight ladder.
His
record currently stands at 15-2, the loss to Velasquez being
the only one during his UFC tenure, which spans 10 bouts and
dates back to 2008. Perhaps more important than his overall record,
though, is his standing in the championship ranks.
dos
Santos defeated Velasquez to capture the UFC heavyweight championship
at the first UFC on Fox in November of 2011. He knocked Velasquez
out little more than a minute into the fight. Then dos Santos
defended the belt with a second-round TKO stoppage of former
titleholder Frank Mir.
Velasquez
took the belt back from dos Santos at UFC 155 in December. Velasquez
dominated, but couldn’t put dos Santos away, needing all
five rounds to recapture the title.
Should
dos Santos defeat Hunt – and especially if Velasquez successfully
defends his belt against Antonio Silva on the same card –
it makes sense for the UFC to put together a rubber match. But
even if Silva wins, it’s difficult to deny that a victorious
dos Santos shouldn’t be the top contender.
But
what about Mark Hunt?
Shouldn’t
he take dos Santos’ place if he pulls off the upset?
That’s
what was initially thought, but it doesn’t appear that the
decision is as clear-cut as we once thought.
“If
(Hunt) knocks Junior dos Santos out, I mean, how is this guy
not next in line? It would be crazy to think that he couldn’t,”
said UFC president Dana White in early March, shortly after Hunt
stepped into the dos Santos fight for an injured Alistair Overeem.
Asked
if the Hunt vs. dos Santos fight is a No. 1 contender bout, White
answered, “I would have to say yeah.”
He
has since backtracked on that statement.
Following
Roy Nelson’s victory over Cheick Kongo at UFC 159 on Saturday
night, White confirmed that dos Santos still gets a title shot
if he defeats Hunt, but revealed that they may have other plans
in mind for Hunt should he win.
“Me
and Joe (Silva, UFC matchmaker) never talk about fights the night
of the fights, but we talked tonight,” said White. “And
we like Roy Nelson vs. (Daniel) Cormier; or Roy Nelson –
if Mark Hunt wins – Roy and Mark.”
Until
a fight is signed on the dotted line, however, there is always
some wiggle room.
Cormier
has yet to reveal whether or not he is staying at heavyweight
for his next fight or dropping down to the 205-pound division.
That is a key factor in whether or not Nelson vs. Cormier could
come together, although Cormier on Saturday night sounded more
than open to the opportunity.
“Hey
@danawhite ur right I think Roy nelson and I would be a damn
good fight,” he tweeted, while the press conference was
ongoing. “How about it @roynelsonmma?”
Hunt
could just as easily sway consideration for a title shot to his
favor if he crushes dos Santos the way that he has three of his
past four opponents.
As
White said, “If he knocks Junior dos Santos out, how is
this guy not next in line?”
Only
one this is for certain, there are several enticing UFC heavyweight
match-ups coming in the near future.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
UFC
Programming Again Lifts Fuel TV to Record Setting Month in April
Ultimate Fighting Championship coverage continues to propel Fuel
TV to record numbers.
With UFC events every weekend in April, Fuel TV had a plethora
of UFC programming with and it drove the network to its most-watched
month in history.
During the month the network telecast four live UFC weigh-in
and post-fight shows, one live UFC Prelim show, and one UFC on
Fuel TV main card, in addition to several hours of shoulder programming.
Fuel TV was up 75 percent in household rating (0.07 HH vs. 0.04
HH) over April of 2012, but a more tangible statistic is that
April 2013 viewership was up 67 percent in total viewers (30,000
vs. 18,000) over 2012, according to figures released by Nielsen
Media Research. What that means is that at any given time in
April of 2012 there was an average of 18,000 people watching
Fuel TV programming. In April of 2013, there were 30,000 viewers
on average at any given time.
For the second straight year, driven by UFC programming, Fuel
TV is pacing first overall on HH percentage growth among all
ad-supported cable networks.
For 2013 year to date, Fuel TV is up 57 percent in HH (22,000
vs. 14,000), 50 percent in total viewers (27,000 vs. 18,000)
and 44 percent among Men 18-49 (13,000 vs. 9,000) compared to
the same period in 2012.
“UFC events and programming have shown significant growth
since debuting on Fuel TV last year, and that improvement is
typified by the network’s performance in April,” said
Michael Mulvihill, Senior Vice President, Programming and Research,
FOX Sports Media Group.
“It’s encouraging to see major growth in the hard-to-reach
Men 18-49 demographic that provides so much value to sports advertisers,
especially as much of this programming prepares to migrate to
FOX Sports 1 this summer.”
FOX Sports 1 is the company’s new national sports network,
which launches on Aug. 17, taking over what is currently the
Speed Channel. Much of the UFC programming that is currently
on FX and Fuel TV will then move to FOX Sports 1.
The UFC will help launch the new network with what is expected
to be a pay-per-view quality event.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Fight
Medicine: A Night to Remember
By Jon
Gelber and M.D.
UFC
159 “Jones vs. Sonnen” on Saturday at the Prudential
Center in Newark, N.J., resulted in a string of some of the craziest
injuries ever witnessed in a single night. It seemed at first
as if eye pokes would become the biggest story coming out of
the event, but soon, more significant injuries began to pile
up. Perhaps the three most significant were the thumb of Yancy
Medeiros, the eye of Alan Belcher and the big toe of Ultimate
Fighting Championship light heavyweight titleholder Jon Jones.
From
a medical point of view, it was a night to remember.
Medeiros
vs. Rustam Khabilov: While bracing his fall during a takedown
attempt, Medeiros appeared to dislocate his thumb. The joint
he dislocated is called the Metacarpal-Phalangeal joint. It is
the joint where the thumb joins the hand. Simple dislocations
usually can be put back into place and splinted only for a couple
of weeks. However, sometimes soft tissue can be caught in the
joint and the patient needs to be taken to the operating room
to move the tissue out of the way so the joint can be reduced.
In addition, if there is a fracture or ligament rupture, the
joint becomes unstable and may require surgery and a longer period
of casting for everything to heal appropriately. Is his career
over? No. How long does he need to recover? Anywhere from one
to three months, depending on whether or not he needs surgery.
Belcher
vs. Michael Bisping: Belcher’s eye is no stranger to the
injury list, as he has had a detached retina repaired, not once
but twice. A detached retina is a dangerous condition and can
cause blindness if not repaired. In Belcher’s case, he dodged
a bullet, so to speak. His eyeball was uninjured. Instead, it
appeared he had a significant lower eyelid laceration, which
was apparent when the ringside doctor pulled down his lower lid.
Belcher received several stitches in his eyelid. The tricky thing
about eyelids is that they have multiple, fragile layers and
include tiny structures such as tear ducts; if damaged, those
structures should be repaired using microscopes or other magnifying
instruments. This injury is similar to what Randy Couture suffered
at UFC 49, where Vitor Belfort’s glove grazed across Couture’s
eyelid.
Jones
vs. Chael Sonnen: In this match, Jones suffered what might be
the biggest freak injury we have seen in the UFC yet. While pushing
hard against Sonnen, Jones’ foot slid across the mat, and
in the process, his toe got caught on the canvas. His foot continued
to move, but his toe stayed where it was positioned, ripping
it partially away from the foot and injuring his interphalangeal
joint just below the nail of the big toe. Jones did not even
notice the injury until UFC commentator Joe Rogan pointed it
out during the post-fight interview. It remains a little unclear
whether Jones suffered a dislocation or a fracture-dislocation,
in which case there is a broken toe bone, as well as dislocation.
In either scenario, it looked like the injury was “open,”
meaning either the broken bone or the joint surface was exposed
to the outside environment. Kevin Ware, a guard on the University
of Louisville men’s basketball team, is probably the most
recent well-known example of a severe open fracture.
Normally,
our bones and joints are protected from the outside environment
by our skin and other soft tissues. However, once broken bones
and joints are exposed to the outside world, bacteria can get
into them. If the bacteria can gain a strong enough foothold,
they can cause an infection. An infection in the bone or joints
can lead to severe disability or even amputation in a worst-case
scenario. Therefore, Jones needed his injury “washed out,”
meaning cleaned with sterile saline. In small cases where there
does not seem to be a lot of obvious contamination with dirt
or clothing, open wounds can sometimes be washed out in the emergency
room and closed to protect the wound from further contamination.
This is what Jones had done. In a really severe injury, an open
fracture or dislocation is brought to the operating room and
cleaned out more meticulously in a sterile environment. It does
not appear Jones had this done. Many in the MMA media have raised
concern that Jones did not get a washout in the operating room.
They worry that his wound was not cleaned enough and that he
is at a higher risk for infection, and they are probably right.
An elite athlete with that injury would likely push a doctor
to take that same injury to the operating room. However, given
the small bones and joints involved and the timing, as well as
minimal obvious contamination, Jones will probably be fine. If
Jones does develop an infection, then fingers will rightfully
be pointed. That being said, the increased risk in his case,
with good health and blood flow to carry oral and intravenous
antibiotics and healing factors to the injury site, will probably
be clinically insignificant.
As
far as his injury is concerned, if it is only a dislocation,
it may be reduced and the skin closed. If it is stable, it may
only need a few weeks to heal, and then range-of-motion exercises
can begin to prevent stiffness. If it is unable to maintain reduced,
a pin could be used to hold it in place until the soft tissues
heal enough to hold the joint reduced. An open injury may take
even longer. In addition, if there is a fracture, it may need
surgery if it extends into the joint. Maintaining a stable and
congruent joint is paramount. If the fracture is outside the
joint and minimally displaced, it may be treated non-operatively.
However, it will still need around six weeks to heal and maybe
12 weeks before it can be really tested in heavy training.
Will
Jones develop an infection and a severe, chronic injury from
this? Unlikely. Is it a small possibility? Yes. Will he need
some time off to heal and rehab his toe? Definitely.
Source:
Sherdog
|
Floyd
Mayweather finds more to life than 'Money'
Jon Saraceno,
USA TODAY
LAS VEGAS — For Floyd Mayweather Jr., independence is paramount.
The man they call "Money" has discovered that enormous
wealth is indeed secondary.
Freedom
holds a lot of new possibilities for the undefeated welterweight
champion, 36, as he puts the finishing touches on preparations
for his title defense against Robert "The Ghost" Guerrero
on Saturday at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. It's Mayweather's
first fight since last May. Despite becoming one of the world's
richest athletes, he has averaged one fight a year over the last
six years.
Recently,
Mayweather signed a lucrative, mega-fight deal with Showtime,
potentially worth $200 million; he has reunited with his estranged
father, trainer Floyd Mayweather Sr., 60, who is suffering from
sarcoidosis (an incurable lung disease); and the reality TV star
is receiving nibbles about a potential foray into acting after
he retires, probably by 2015.
It
is quite a counterpunch from his life nearly a year ago. Last
June, with the world seemingly at his feet, Mayweather pleaded
guilty to a reduced charge of misdemeanor battery domestic violence,
and no contest to a pair of harassment charges. The case involved
a violent struggle between the fighter and former girlfriend
Josie Harris as two of their children watched in September 2010.
Mayweather is the father of four.
Mayweather
was sentenced to 90 days and found himself incarcerated with
convicted murderers and other serious offenders in Clark County
Detention Center. With the exception of attorney contact, he
spent 23 hours a day alone in his cell in maximum security.
The
detention center deemed it in his best interest for safety, said
attorney Shane W. Emerick, who did not represent Mayweather in
the case but visited him every day at the behest of the fighter's
legal team and manager Al Haymon. Mayweather believed the location
of his incarceration was unjust, Emerick said, but his request
to be added to the jail's general population was turned down.
Mayweather's bid for house arrest also was denied. He served
from June 1 to Aug. 3.
"Was
being in jail very bad, very rough for me?" Mayweather told
USA TODAY Sports as he sat this week in the expansive living
room of his $9 million, 22,000-square-foot mansion overlooking
the city. "There is nothing cool about saying, 'I've been
to jail,' or 'I've been to prison.' That's a place I won't go
back to."
'It's
about being classy'
Raised
in a dysfunctional, drug- and alcohol-saturated home, Mayweather
had been arrested numerous times during the last decade for violence-related
cases in Nevada and Michigan, his home state. But he always seemed
to avoid serious punishment, receiving suspended jail sentences
and fines.
In
17 years as a professional fighter, Mayweather (43-0, 26 KOs)
has never tasted losing. This time, it felt as if Judge Melissa
Saragosa landed one to his jaw. He also received community service
and was ordered to complete one year of domestic violence counseling.
He attended a session on the same day of his May 5, 2012, fight
against Miguel Cotto.
"What
I learned from my jail experience was that freedom is very, very
important," he said. "You can have money but no freedom.
It's just like you're poor, you're broke. It's like you have
nothing. I found out that freedom is more important than money."
Wednesday,
at the final major news conference to promote the Guerrero fight,
Ruben Guerrero — father and trainer of the challenger —
called out Mayweather.
"We're
going to beat up that woman-beater — the one that beat up
his (ex-girlfriend) in front of his kids," Ruben Guerrero
said from the podium. "He must have learned that from his
dad. We're going to eat that woman-beater (and) see how he's
gonna like it, and he's gonna get it from a real man."
No
one from Mayweather's camp, including the champion, responded
at that juncture. Later, the fathers of both fighters began jawing
at each other and had to be separated. Mayweather Jr. kept his
cool when asked about the name calling.
"My
thing is, I'm a lot older and I'm a lot wiser," he told
Showtime analyst Steve Farhood. "If I did or didn't do a
crime ... I served the time. It's about being classy. I was wild
when I was younger."
Those
who know Mayweather well say confinement gave him a dose of reality,
and that he is a changed person. They say he has made strides
to become more introspective, show greater restraint and sought
to be become less volatile in his personal relationships. He
shares his home with fiancée Shantel Jackson.
"Is
Floyd Mayweather misunderstood? Absolutely," he said. "But,
you know, that's life. You go through certain obstacles. Only
thing I can do is continue to live and try to become a better
person every day."
Twice
a week he was permitted to engage in a video visit with family
or friends. At times, it was humiliating for the former U.S.
Olympic star.
"They
strip-search you whenever they want — just because,"
Mayweather said. "This officer already was giving me a hard
time. I took all my clothes off. You have to open your mouth
(to be searched for possibly concealed items), lift your testicles
and other things that are very flagrant — squat (and) cough.
"After
he searched me, I reached for my clothes. He said, 'Stop! Put
them back.' Then the whole search (began) again. I'm like, 'Man,
(are you) for real? Is this really worth it?' That's all I said."
Bonus
video from Showtime's 'All Access: Mayweather vs. Guerrero' highlights
the men of The Money Team's security detail.
Emerick,
a retired criminal attorney, told USA TODAY Sports, "In
my 25 years in town, I've never heard of a misdemeanor inmate
being held in administrative segregation in maximum security."
Mayweather
said he controlled any urge to become angry.
"You
have to stay mentally strong; I knew I was coming home,"
he said. "Why put yourself in a position where you have
to stay longer? I conducted myself as a gentleman."
An
explosive person
That
hasn't always been the case for Mayweather, who was raised in
a fractured boxing family, one that includes Roger Mayweather,
a former world champion who is his uncle and ex-trainer. The
Mayweathers not only challenged others but famously rumbled among
themselves.
From
his youngest days growing up in Grand Rapids, Mich., Mayweather
said his life was consumed with fighting, most of it done inside
the ring. By the age of 3, his father, a former fringe welterweight
contender and defensive specialist who was knocked out by Sugar
Ray Leonard in 1978, had laced oversized sparring gloves on his
son's tiny hands.
"All
I did was study boxing from day one," said Mayweather Jr.,
a high school dropout. "That's the first thing I ever knew.
Before I knew anything about life, I knew about a boxing gym.
I knew how to throw punches."
To
this day, Mayweather sometimes wonders how he managed to persevere
through a difficult childhood environment.
"I
feel like I beat all odds being where I am today with my mother
(Deborah Orr) being on drugs, my father going to prison (for
drug trafficking), no stable home," Mayweather recalled.
"At one time, (we) stayed in New Brunswick, N.J., (with)
seven people in one bedroom."
These
days, the father and the son have repaired their relationship
to a degree. They will reunite for the first time on fight night
since the father worked his son's corner in 2000, shortly before
he quit.
"My
son and I have had collisions," the elder Mayweather told
USA TODAY Sports. "But since he got out of jail, I've seen
a better change in him."
"I
always had a bond with my son but not like now," said the
father. "He'll grab me and hug me; or I will grab him and
hug him. He'll tell me that he loves me."
While
the elder Mayweather battles sarcoidosis, Roger, 52, has diabetes
and is trying to fend off deteriorating vision. He is co-training
his nephew but will not be in the corner on fight night. He also
has served time relating to violence against women in battery
incidents.
Others
have tried to fill the void as a male role model for Mayweather
Jr. Some have been more successful than others.
Al
Mitchell was the head coach of the USA Boxing team at the 1996
Olympic Games in Atlanta, site of Mayweather's last defeat —
a hotly disputed 10-9 decision to Serafim Todorov of Bulgaria.
But despite the young amateur's talent, Mitchell, considered
a no-nonsense coach, says, "I thought Mayweather probably
wouldn't go anywhere (professionally) because of his attitude."
Today,
Mitchell can't help but beam when he looks at how Mayweather
persevered.
"Every
year, I've seen him change and adjust," Mitchell said. "I
pulled him aside (one evening) and said, 'Mayweather, you really
surprised me.' He really has matured. He's not the same guy I
knew. He's got smart people around him with Al Haymon and (adviser)
Leonard Ellerbe.
"People
don't realize that to hold an explosive person like that in check
is hard."
Emerick
made in-roads with the fighter during their many visits last
summer. Despite his educational background, Emerick found he
had more in common with Mayweather than the fighter initially
suspected: He, too, had come from a broken home where he lived
in public housing with his mom, a single mother of five. He later
served as an Army helicopter pilot and as a public defender.
"I
was like anybody in the public in my view of Floyd Mayweather
Jr., and what his reputation was. To me, it wasn't good,"
he said. "But after I got to know him, I realized he was
smart, had a good heart and is an amazing person.
"I
do believe the incarceration had a profound effect on him. He
really took it as God working in mysterious ways. He focused
on his family.
"After
he was released, you could see a change in him. He knows what's
important. I now see him as a very calm person. I think he is
well on his way."
Source:
USA Today
|
UFC
159: Chael Sonnen & Alan Belcher thoroughly dominated, night
of strange finishes
By Zach
Arnold
UFC 159 (4/27 at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey)
TV: FX/PPV
Featherweights:
Steven Siler defeated Kurt Holobaugh after 3R by unanimous decision.
Featherweights: Cody McKenzie defeated Leonard Garcia after 3R
by unanimous decision.
Bantamweights: Bryan Caraway defeated Johnny Bedford in R3 in
4'44 by submission.
Sara McMann defeated Sheila Gaff in R1 in 4'06 by TKO.
Light Heavyweights: Ovince St. Preux defeated Gian Villante in
R3 in 33 seconds by technical majority decision due to referee
stoppage.
Lightweights: Rustam Khabilov defeated Yancy Medeiros in R1 in
2'32 by TKO (dislocated thumb).
Lightweights: Pat Healy defeated Jim Miller in R3 in 4'02 by
submission (choke sleeper).
Light Heavyweights: Phil Davis defeated Vinny Magalhaes after
3R by unanimous decision.
Heavyweights: Roy Nelson defeated Cheick Kongo in R1 in 2'03
by KO.
Middleweights: Michael Bisping defeated Alan Belcher after 3R
by technical decision after Belcher was poked in the eye and
started bleeding.
UFC Light Heavyweight title match: Jon Jones defeated Chael Sonnen
in R1 in 4'33 by TKO.
Source: Fight Opinion
|
Dana
White Following UFC 159 Controversy: “We Really Need to
Revamp Some Rules”
by Jeff
Cain
Following two technical decisions at UFC 159: Jones vs. Sonnen
on Saturday, UFC president Dana White says it’s time to
revamp the rules.
In preliminary action that aired on FX, Ovince St. Preux and
Gian Villante were in the third round of their light heavyweight
match-up when St. Preux accidentally poked Villante in the eye.
Referee Kevin Mulhall called for time and asked Villante if he
could see. Villante responded, “No,” and Mulhall immediately
stopped the fight.
“He should have had a doctor come in,” said White following
the UFC 159 post-fight press conference. “You stop the fight.
You send the guy to a neutral counter. You have a doctor come
in a check him out, and the doctor determines whether he can
go on or not. That’s what should have happened.”
Typically, the scenario White explained is what takes place when
a fighter is accidentally poked in the eye, but it obviously
didn’t happen that way in New Jersey.
“The guys said, ‘can you see?’ He said, ‘I
can’t see,’ so he stopped the fight. He said I can’t
see because I got poked in the (expletive) eye. Give me a minute.
But apparently, what Joe Silva (UFC matchmaker) was telling me,
there’s no poke in the eye rule here,” explained White.
“If you get kicked in the groin you get five minutes to
recover from it. There’s nothing in the rules about a poke
to the eye because in boxing there is no poked in the eye. Guys
don’t get poked in the eye anymore in boxing,” said
White.
During the UFC 159 co-main event between middleweights Michael
Bisping and Alan Belcher, Belcher was poked in the eye in the
closing minutes of the third round and the fight was stopped.
“What needs to happen is that ABC (Association of Boxing
Commissions) needs to get together and we need to come up with
a few things,” said the UFC president. “We really need
to revamp some rules and regs.”
The eye poke issue isn’t the only rule White would like
to see addressed.
“Obviously the eye poke thing is a big deal. We need to
talk about that. And the other thing is this three-point thing
where you can’t get kneed if you have your finger on the
ground. That’s not what the rule was meant for, so I think
we’re due.”
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Ruben
Guerrero really wants you to look at Floyd Mayweather Jr. as
a woman beater
By Zach
Arnold
What
a way to promote a fight in a devoutly Christian manner.
There’s
a reason the rhetoric can’t hide Robert Guerrero remaining
an 8-to-1 underdog against Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Did
he decide to watch the anti-MMA forces in New York last week
accuse UFC of promoting fighters who encourage rape and sexist
insults? And why aren’t these forces out in Las Vegas this
week to protest the Mayweather/Guerrero fight?
Here’s
a pro-Mayweather puff piece from Tim Smith in the New York Daily
News about Mayweather being a changed man.
He’s
Ruben Guerrero, father of Robert Guerrero, praising Roger Mayweather
and dumping on Floyd Mayweather Sr. & Jr.
“Oh,
I respect him, he’s one of the best, man! Him, he’s
a clown! He’s a clown. Roger’s the best trainer, baby!
Roger should be the main guy. I want to fight a real guy that
knows what he’s doing, not a loser.”
“He
started this shit, he started his crap, he ran his mouth, talking
shit, he’s going to do this to me, he’s going to do
that. Hey, I’m for real, I don’t hide behind nobody.
I go to the death, that’s what we do, we go down to the
wire, to the death, baby. They’re going to have to kill
us in this fight because we’re going to win, baby.”
“I’m
a nice guy right now, before I was worse. I would have dragged
his ass right away if I wanted to. I’m calm now, I would
have dragged him right away. I would have knocked his ass out,
whatever.”
“Look
at the way he’s talking about my son, he’s a hypocrite.
He don’t talk about his story, right? Hitting his woman,
his kids, in front of his wife. Hitting his wife in front of
his kids, all this bullshit, you know. I read all that bullshit
on the Internet, man, you know, that’s not right when you
hit a woman in front your kids, you know? Hey, that’s why
man, you know, hey… we’re going to find out when he
gets in the ring because he’s going to fight a real man.”
“I’m
letting it out with my heart. This is not to get under his skin.
We’re ready to go, baby, we’re ready to go.”
Robert
may be getting ready to go to Rikers after the fight when New
York throws the book at him over gun charges.
In
response to Ruben, Floyd Sr. was busy showing off his hand speed
to anyone who cared to watch and claimed Ruben wouldn’t
last more than a round or two with him in the ring if they had
a charity boxing match.
Source:
Fight Opinion
|
Beat
an opponent where he's strongest? Dumb strategy, says UFC 159's
Phil Davis
by Steven
Marrocco
Phil Davis might have said he planned to submit his most recent
opponent, Vinny Magalhaes. But if you believe that, then he has
some land he'd like to sell you.
"Why
would you ever give away your gameplan?" Davis told MMAjunkie.com
Radio (www.mmajunkie/radio). "It's silly. A lot of guys
kind of give away their game plan when they're doing these pre-fight
interviews.
"Listen,
you're not getting nothing out of me."
When
the two met at this past Saturday's UFC 159 event after extended
sparring sessions in the media, it wasn't Davis (11-1 MMA, 7-1
UFC) trying to get the fight to the ground, but Magalhaes (10-6
MMA, 1-3 UFC), who hoped to use his strong suit of jiu-jitsu
to win the day.
Instead,
the Brazilian found himself eating punch after punch as the fight
played out over three rounds. In the end, Davis won a unanimous
decision for his crisp striking.
Afterward,
some fans wondered aloud whether Davis, a former NCAA Division
I national champ at Penn State, was afraid of Magalhaes' ground
game and preferred to avoid it altogether. But Davis said that's
an idea only a fan would have.
"They
don't understand the way things are," he said. "As
simple as it gets, it's a fight, and you're in a real fight when
you're out there. There's three areas that are game: There's
striking, wrestling, and there's grappling or whatever. If I
find a weakness, I will beat you there."
Not
every one subscribes to that theory, of course. Light-heavyweight
champion Jon Jones, who headlined UFC 159 at Newark, N.J.'s Prudential
Center, said he specifically wanted to beat opponent Chael Sonnen
by attacking him at his strongest point, wrestling.
It
worked well for "Bones." The referee saved Sonnen from
a serious beating late in the first round as he lay against the
cage taking elbows.
Davis,
though, said he isn't the type to want to hurt opponents or prove
his dominance through violence. He simply wants to win and move
on.
"I
don't need to prove how big of a man I am and fight with some
huge ego and try to submit you where you're strongest just to
prove I'm this or that," he said. "That's not the way
I do things. That's not the way you win a war. That's not the
way you do anything successfully. Not in competition."
Now
one step closer to competing for the kinds of fights that would
put him on the path to meeting Jones, Davis, who this past year
was forced to take a six-month layoff due to a knee injury, is
confident that he's taking the right approach to his career.
"It's
just a matter of waiting your turn, and right now, it's so interesting
what might happen in our division if guys start fighting often
and Jones is out for a while," he said. "Hopefully,
he comes back pretty soon."
In
the meantime, Davis might get a few jiu-jitsu lessons from Magalhaes,
who squashed their beef backstage.
"I
definitely want to hit him up and pick his brain," he said.
Source:
MMA Junkie
|
Sherdog.com’s
Pound-for-Pound Top 10
Jon
Jones’ first-round stoppage win over Chael Sonnen at UFC
159 on April 27 showcased some of the characteristics that keep
him situated near the top of these rankings month after month:
a blend of skill and aggression, finesse and brutality.
Of
course, Jones’ sterling résumé doesn’t
hurt, either. The Greg Jackson-trained light heavyweight ace
has been unstoppable in the last three years, winning nine straight
fights and finishing world-class talents like Lyoto Machida,
Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and Vitor Belfort in decisive
fashion. While Jones’ victory over Sonnen came at a cost
-- a gruesomely fractured big toe on Jones’ left foot --
it also furthered his reputation as a thrilling fighter to watch
and set the stage for some big bouts upon his return.
The
only shift in this month’s update sees Gilbert Melendez
slide down one spot to No. 7 after losing a hotly contested five-rounder
to UFC lightweight champ Benson Henderson.
1.
Anderson Silva (33-4)
There
is not much left, if anything at all, for Silva to accomplish
at middleweight. He’s the most dominant champion the division
has ever seen and has mopped the floor with virtually every challenger
sent his way. When a fighter is this good, it’s hard to
find worthy opponents, but the UFC seems to think it has one
in Chris Weidman, who will attempt to dethrone the 38-year-old
Brazilian come July 6 at UFC 162. How do the middleweights match
up? While Weidman is an accomplished wrestler and unbeaten in
MMA, he has fewer fights (nine) than Silva has consecutive title
defenses (10).
2.
Georges St. Pierre (24-2)
St.
Pierre kept his chokehold on the 170-pound class by dominating
Nick Diaz in a five-round rout at UFC 158, adding the brash Californian
to a list of victims which includes Carlos Condit, Jake Shields,
Jon Fitch, B.J. Penn and Matt Hughes. Still only four months
removed from an 18-month hiatus due to ACL reconstruction, GSP
said after the bout that he’s looking to take a break. Whenever
he returns, St. Pierre will have to deal with another tough challenger
in Johny Hendricks.
3.
Jon Jones (18-1)
Facing
an undersized opponent he was expected to handle with ease, Jones
still impressed with his April 27 demolition of Chael Sonnen.
The first-round TKO tied “Bones” with Tito Ortiz for
a record fifth defense of the UFC light heavyweight title and,
more importantly, paved the way for even bigger and more competitive
bouts. When the 25-year-old mends from a nasty toe injury, he’ll
return to an increasingly crowded 205-pound division which includes
the likes of Alexander Gustafsson, Gegard Mousasi and, potentially,
Daniel Cormier.
4.
Jose Aldo (22-1)
In
his first title defense since January 2012, Aldo held off hard-charging
former lightweight champion Frankie Edgar in the UFC 156 headliner.
Shortly thereafter, 155-pound contender Anthony Pettis informed
UFC President Dana White that he would like to drop a weight
class to face the Brazilian champion. After initially balking
at the match, Aldo and his team have agreed to square off with
Pettis at UFC 163 on Aug. 3. The deal comes with an added incentive:
if he is victorious, Aldo will receive an immediate title shot
at 155 pounds.
5.
Benson Henderson (19-2)
After
a dominant victory over Nate Diaz in December, “Smooth”
returned to his habit of winning closely contested decisions
at UFC on Fox 7. Paired with former Strikeforce titlist Gilbert
Melendez, Henderson held off his foe to earn a razor-thin split
verdict. There will be no immediate rematch for “El Nino,”
however, as Henderson will next defend his crown against the
winner of the UFC 160 matchup between Gray Maynard and T.J. Grant.
While Henderson has yet to finish an opponent in seven Octagon
appearances, his resume -- which also includes wins over Frankie
Edgar (twice), Jim Miller and Clay Guida -- remains one of the
strongest in the sport today.
6.
Cain Velasquez (11-1)
Velasquez
has been awaiting his next opponent since he avenged his only
defeat with a dominant five-round verdict over Junior dos Santos
at UFC 155. The course of the heavyweight division took a dramatic
detour on Feb. 2, however, when Antonio Silva knocked out No.
1-contender-in-waiting Alistair Overeem at UFC 156. With no obvious
title challenger on the horizon, Velasquez will now face “Bigfoot”
for the second time in a year on May 25. Their initial meeting
was far from competitive, as the American Kickboxing Academy
product used a violent ground-and-pound assault to decorate the
Octagon floor with Silva’s blood at UFC 146.
7.
Gilbert Melendez (21-3)
At
UFC on Fox 7, Melendez proved that he belonged among the divisional
and pound-for-pound elite by giving reigning UFC 155-pound champion
Benson Henderson all he could handle in the headliner. It was
not enough to get the nod from two of the three cageside judges,
however, as the Skrap Pack member’s pace slowed slightly
down the stretch en route to losing a controversial split decision.
The narrow nature of the defeat means that “El Nino”
won’t be too far removed from title consideration. Expect
a bout against another big name when the Californian returns
to the Octagon.
8.
Demetrious Johnson (17-2-1)
As
we begin to wonder what various pound-for-pound greats might
look like fighting a weight class above the one they dominate,
Johnson is becoming one of the few truly successful fighters
to actually fulfill the “drop a weight class and dominate”
expectation. Johnson remained unbeaten at flyweight and established
himself as a champion with staying power at UFC on Fox 6. In
front of a national television audience, “Mighty Mouse”
survived the knockout power of John Dodson early, then had plenty
left in reserve for the championship rounds to close out a unanimous
decision victory in his first 125-pound title defense. Johnson’s
second title defense will also take place on network television,
as he takes on surging contender John Moraga at UFC on Fox 8.
9.
Joseph Benavidez (18-3)
For
years, while he toiled and overachieved at 135 pounds, MMA fans
and pundits believed Benavidez had the potential to be the best
flyweight fighter in the world. With the 125-pound class now
installed in the UFC, the 28-year-old Team Alpha Male representative
is doing his best to prove them right. Despite falling to Demetrious
Johnson in a close September five-rounder for the UFC flyweight
belt, Benavidez is already back in title contention after outworking
former divisional ruler Ian McCall in a unanimous decision at
UFC 156 and knocking out Shooto veteran Darren Uyenoyama at UFC
on Fox 7.
10.
Renan Barao (30-1)
Barao
successfully defended the UFC interim bantamweight strap against
22-year-old prospect Michael McDonald at UFC on Fuel TV 7 in
February. With a resume that includes triumphs over Brad Pickett,
Scott Jorgensen, Urijah Faber and the aforementioned “Mayday,”
Barao has earned his place atop the division, even if his title
comes with a “temporary” label. The date for a desired
showdown with Dominick Cruz remains unknown, as the reigning
135-pound king has yet to establish a timetable for his return
from multiple knee surgeries. In the meantime, Barao has a date
with former WEC champ Eddie Wineland in the main event of UFC
161.
Source
Sherdog
|
Wanted:
Name of person who pushed Don King, others at HBO boxing show
last Saturday
By Zach
Arnold
Deadspin
posted the video from last Saturday night’s telecast of
the Chris Arreola/Bermane Stiverne fight and labeled it as “Don
King’s acting like a crazy person again.” The back
story on the situation, however, is different.
The
fight, promoted by Goossen-Tutor Promotions w/ Don King &
Roy Englebrecht, saw an unnamed woman pushing around several
people during the show at ringside. We’ve talked with people
who were at the show about this person in question and have obtained
the following information. The woman, who we have circled in
the picture, is believed to be an assistant floor director for
HBO — but nobody who is willing to talk can confirm this
fact. In the screen capture, you can see Danny Goossen to the
left and a security guy who works for the arena in the red jacket
on the right. One source near ringside claims that the unnamed
woman told security to not let anyone walk down the aisleway
that HBO had set-up for Bob Papa and the post-fight interview.
The woman in question allegedly ignored California State Athletic
Commission authority and was characterized as acting like an
authority figure.
At
the beginning of the Deadspin video, you can see this woman tugging
on Don King and grabbing him repeatedly to try to prevent him
from being on camera for the post-fight interview. A reputable
source claimed that she was laughing and having a great time
while ordering and bullying others around, including Chris Arreola’s
manager. The problem with this situation is that members of the
Commission only found out about what stunts this woman was pulling
after the show was done because the regulators were busy doing
their jobs — Mark Relyea (top athletic inspector) completing
paperwork, Dr. Paul Wallace tending to Chris Arreola’s battered
face, so on and so forth. If members of the commission saw this
woman in action, they would have put an immediate stop to her
behavior and read her the riot act.
As
you can see in the video, the woman gives up on pushing &
holding King when Bob Papa and others turn around to watch what
she is doing. As King tries to get down from the ring, he takes
a turn with a steep drop based on the way the steps are pointing.
However, watch the woman’s left hand carefully — she
tries to cheap shot King by giving him a push as he’s trying
to climb down to the floor. He stumbles. Notice who Don points
at after right after he stumbles. He knows what’s up.
There
are officials who worked the show who want to know more about
this woman and are interested in talking with her.
A
big reason why there is interest behind the scenes in identifying
who this woman is has to due with concerns regarding liability
issues and whether or not this woman will do something down the
road that will result in a legal mess.
There
are many interested parties involved with the event last Saturday
night who are looking for the name of the woman in question and
they need your assistance. We have many people inside the fight
industry (HBO, Showtime, etc.) who read this site and may possess
more knowledge about this person in question. If you know who
this woman is and have more information, please e-mail me directly
at puroresupower@hotmail.com. All communication will be kept
confidential. I do not burn sources. Your help in identifying
who this person is would be greatly appreciated.
Source:
Fight Opinion
|
Newly
re-signed Patrick Cote would love to coach Canada vs. Australia
'TUF'
by Steven
Marrocco
Patrick Cote (19-8 MMA, 6-8 UFC) thinks he has the experience
and knowledge to guide the careers of up-and-coming Canadian
fighters.
Cote,
who recently signed a new four-fight deal with the UFC, said
he would be honored to accept a job as coach if a rumored Canada
vs. Australia version of "The Ultimate Fighter" materializes.
"I
think I can teach something to those guys, and I'll go there
to help, not for my personal exposure," Cote told MMAjunkie.com
(www.mmajunkie.com). "It could be fun. If they ask me to
do it, for sure I would say yes."
A
recent report stated that the fourth international version of
the long-running reality show was to begin filming in the near
future, but the UFC has yet to confirm its plans, and UFC President
Dana White has declined to answer questions about the rumored
"TUF."
Cote,
a onetime UFC middleweight title challenger who this past month
successfully debuted at welterweight, said he didn't have any
additional information on whether the rumored season was a go,
but has a team in place if things change.
He
cited his longtime jiu-jitsu coach and MMA vet Fabio Holanda
as one person he'd bring on set, as well as his striking and
wrestling coaches.
"I
have a lot of good people around me who can give me the help
I need and help those guys," he said. "I'm going to
bring everything I can, but I can bring experience, because I
fought for a title. I know what it is to fight on a big stage."
Now
33 years old, Cote made his octagon debut at UFC 50, when he
stepped in for an injured Guy Mezger to fight Tito Ortiz. After
going winless in his next two outings, he rebuilt himself on
the regional circuit before accepting a spot on Season 4 of "The
Ultimate Fighter," which featured UFC veterans gunning for
a guaranteed shot at the title. He was eliminated in the finals,
but returned to win four straight and earn a fight with middleweight
champ Anderson Silva at UFC 90. A blown ACL ended his title bid,
and subsequent losses sent him back to the regional circuit.
Returning
to the UFC this past year, Cote suffered a decision loss to Cung
Le before winning bouts against Alessio Sakara (via disqualification)
and, most recently, Bobby Voelker.
After
recent talks with UFC matchmakers, Cote has penciled in a return
in September, which he said will coincide with his current effort
to become a certified nutritionist and biomechanics expert. He
has yet to hear of a proposed opponent.
The
UFC previously has filmed two international seasons of "TUF"
in Brazil, the second of which is set to conclude next month
at a live event in Fortaleza, Ceara, Brazil, and one in Australia,
which pitted Australian fighters against U.K. fighters.
Canada
has long been considered one of the strongest international markets
for the UFC, which has held a dozen events in the country. Several
of them have been instant sellouts. Australia, meanwhile, has
hosted four events.
Source:
MMA Junkie
|
World
Series of Fighting 3 Fight Card Grows with the Addition of Jacob
Volkmann vs. Lyle Beerbohm
by Ken
Pishna
The World Series of Fighting continues to fill out the fight
card for its third event, which is slated for June 14 at the
Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.
The latest addition is a bout between Jacob Volkmann and Lyle
Beerbohm.
Volkmann initially tweeted the bout, which MMAWeekly.com also
confirmed with WSOF matchmaker Ali Abdel-Aziz.
Each fighter is making his promotional debut.
For Volkmann (15-4), WSOF is the first promotion that he will
have fought for outside of the UFC since 2009. He went 6-4 in
the Octagon, but exited the promotion following a loss to Bobby
Green at UFC 156 earlier this year.
Beerbohm (21-2) fought several times for Strikeforce, but was
show the door following back-to-back losses to Pat Healy and
Shinya Aoki, two of the top lightweight fighters in the world.
He has since gone on a streak of six consecutive victories.
Jon Fitch vs. Josh Burkman headlines WSOF 3 on June 14 at The
Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. The event
will air live in the United States on NBC Sports Network.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
2013
NAGA PACIFIC GRAPPLING CHAMPIONSHIP
The North American Grappling Association (NAGA) is the world’s
largest mixed grappling tournament circuit with over 170,000
competitors worldwide. On Saturday & Sunday, May 25 &
26, 2013, NAGA comes to Honolulu, Hawaii for its 1st annual NAGA
South Pacific Grappling Championship No-Gi & Gi tournament.
NAGA is inviting teams from Japan, Guam and other countries to
make it Hawaii's largest grappling tournament of all time! Come
as an individual or as a team to compete. You do not have to
live in Hawaii to participate in this event. This event is nationally
RANKED!
DOWNLOAD EVENT FLYER/REGISTRATION FORM
PRE-REGISTER
ONLINE HERE or download the registration form, print it out and
mail it in to the address on the form along with your check.
1
Division = $80; 2 Divisions = $100. Spectator passes are $10.
The price goes up to $15 after the pre-registration deadline.
For family rates, download the event flyer/registration form,
or click the Pre-Register Online link. Pre-registration closes
at 5PM on Friday, May 17.
For
weight classes, age category, and skill level information click
the DIVISIONS tab above.
For
weigh-in and registration location and times click the DIVISIONS
tab above.
TWO DAY TOURNAMENT: ADULTS ON SATURDAY / CHILDREN/TEENS ON SUNDAY
Due to the large amount of competitors that this NAGA tournament
attracts, this event will have 12 competition rings and will
take place over two days. All adults (both gi and no-gi) will
compete on Saturday. All children 13 yrs. & under and teens
14-17 years old (gi & no-gi) will compete on Sunday. The
2 day tournament format makes both days end much earlier than
a one day tournament.
100 CHAMPIONSHIP BELTS AWARDED
NAGA is very pleased to be awarding 100 CHAMPIONSHIP BELTS to
all its Children, Teen, Adult, Masters, Directors and Executive
Expert Division Winners.
SAMURAI SWORDS TO CHILDREN & TEENS WINNERS
NAGA is awarding custom engraved SAMURAI SWORDS to all non-expert
Children & Teen 1st place winners. Medals will be awarded
to all 2nd & 3rd place winners along with non-expert Adult
division winners. Adult competitors who place 1st-3rd will have
the opportunity to obtain a samurai sword at the NAGA T-shirt
booth for a nominal fee. For having the courage to compete, all
children and teens who do not place 1st through 3rd will take
home an award.
TEAM
CHAMPIONSHIP CUPS AWARDED
NAGA awards customized championship cups to the tournament team
champions. A cup can be won in: Adult Overall, Adult No-Gi, Adult
Gi, and Children & Teens Overall. We are also awarding an
overall Individual Team award. This will be awarded to a team/school
with a single location that scores the most team points. Please
make sure your team registers under the same team name.
CHAMPION GI PATCH
All Children, Teens & Adults who place 1st in any NAGA Gi
Division (White Belt through Black Belt) will receive a NAGA
Champion Gi patch. These patches are not sold, only earned by
the best Gi competitors.
GET YOUR GRAPPLING GEAR AT THE EVENT
NAGA is bringing a truckload of grappling gear (Board shorts,
gi bags, rash guards, t-shirts, hats, gi hoodies, patches, skull
caps, stickers, dog tags, etc.) in children and adults sizes,
for males and females. Check out the huge selection of gear and
apparel at the NAGA event.
NAGA ON THE WEB
NAGA has established a presence online through our website and
social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. We
are expanding the material that is offered on these sites outside
of the NAGA website. If you use any of these sites, please join
us and be kept up to date with the latest NAGA news.
- Get the monthly NAGA email by filling out this form. If you
have already competed in NAGA you do not need to fill this out:
http://www.nagafighter.com/index.php?module=joinpage
- "Like" NAGA on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/nagafighter. You will be notified
of the latest NAGA news and events.
- Follow NAGA on Twitter: http://twitter.com/naga_fighter or @NAGA_FIGHTER.
We will start to tweet what divisions are coming up at tournaments
to help you as a competitor or fan stay informed.
- Our YouTube page is: http://www.youtube.com/user/nagagrappling Submit links to YouTube
videos of you competing in NAGA to youtube@nagafighter.com so
that we can share your video with the rest of the NAGA community.
NATIONALLY RANKED EVENT
All NAGA events are part of the nationwide ranking system entitled
RANKED. Our goal is to determine who the best grapplers in the
country are for various age, gender, and skill levels. This tournament
will be nationally ranked so do not miss your opportunity to
gain points towards a true national title. More details can be
found at www.nationallyranked.com.
SANDBAGGERS BEWARE
NAGA works diligently to prevent "sandbagging", or
the practice of fighting down skill levels to ensure one takes
home an award. NAGA has been working with RANKED to track all
fighters and ranked grappling events to produce true "national
standings." A by-product of these standings is our knowledge
of who has competed and at which level. Front door personnel
will use RANKED data to determine whether or not individuals
who have fought in past events belong in a higher skill level
(i.e. placed 1st at a prior NAGA event).
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