http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDIqw6FM588
Junie Browning Paul Buentello Josh Burkman Mikey Burnett Murilo BustamanteÂ
From the Blog
Chad Griggs Wants a ‘Real Big Name’ Opponent Next Video by Chad Griggs
Justin Eilers Jon Olav Einemo Per Eklund Jason Ellis Aleksander Emelianenko
As MMAjunkie.com first reported, August’s “UFC 133: Evans vs. Davis” event will feature a pair of UFC 133 contests on Spike TV’s next “UFC Prelims” special.
Now, the two guaranteed contests for the one-hour program are set.
Officials today confirmed that Alexander Gustafsson vs. Vladimir Matyushenko and Chad Mendes vs. Rani Yahya will be featured on the UFC 133 “UFC Prelims” broadcast.
Steve The Snake Claveau Rich No Love Clementi Mark The Hammer Coleman Wes Soldier Combs Ray CooperÂ
http://mmajunkie.com/news/27087/strikeforce-vet-ray-sefo-announces-kickboxing-match-with-mirko-cro-cop-filipovic.mma?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+mmajunkie+%28MMAjunkie.c…
Dan Bobish Vagam Bodjukyan Kotetsu Boku Tony Bonello Stephan Bonnar
UFC on FOX Predictions — My picks for UFC on FOX: Evans vs Davis predictions for the 3 main card fights and 7 of 8 prelims.Check out my MMA Rankings for all 7 UFC divisions; the UFC Champions and top 15 contenders for there respective titles. Ple…
Cyril Abidi Daniel Acacio Bernard Ackah Terrance Aflague Yoshihiro AkiyamaÂ
The MMA community found itself in a state of collective shock yesterday when the Nevada State Athletic Commission revealed former Strikeforce light heavyweight champ Muhammed Lawal had tested positive for steroids after his January 7 fight against Lorenz Larkin at Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Jardine. And, as it turns out, ?King Mo? was also apparently among [...]
Jimmy Ambriz Matt Andersen Alex Andrade Jermaine Andrè Yoji AnjoÂ
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
|
Rashad Evans is playing up the experience edge this week ahead of his main event fight with Phil Davis at UFC on Fox 2 in Chicago on Saturday night. The former Champion has been sending jabs Davis’ way about his level of readiness for this particular matchup, and on Wednesday that continued.
“Davis is intimidated,” Evans said, in comments released by the UFC. “I’ve seen him around and he’s not looking too confident. He’s not ready for this level, and he knows it. He’s coming to put up a good show, go back down a level, and come back again in a year or two. He’s not coming to take it to me, but I am gonna’ take it to him. After I had my year off (with injury) I came back with the attitude of never, ever leaving it up to the judges and just throwing hands all the time. That’s the way my career is going to go, and that’s how I am going to.”
Evans wouldn’t stop there, either, moving on to say Davis isn’t truly a fighter, and simply won’t be able to handle what he’ll present on Saturday.
“Phil is just a nice guy,” Evans said. “He’s not a fighter. He’s an athlete, a great athlete, but not a fighter. He has no killer instinct for this and he’s got no experience at this level. He’s never fought at heavyweight like I had to (in TUF 2) to get into the UFC. He didn’t get punched by Chuck Liddell and Rampage Jackson like I did. He’s not had to dig deep at all.”
“He’s in deep water, and I’m the shark.”
Penick’s Analysis: Evans is partially on point on the fighter/athlete discussion about Davis. Davis is immensely talented, but he hasn’t gone through a gritty battle in the cage yet to see what he’s capable of on that front. He might get that against Evans, and he might be able to battle through it, but he’s certainly unproven on that front. I doubt he’s intimidated by Evans, and Evans does like to talk in order to pump himself up – as well as the fight – but Davis will need to be at his best in order to upset the former Champ on Saturday night.
[Rashad Evans art by Grant Gould (c) MMATorch.com]
Delson Heleno Dan Henderson Josh Hendricks Ed Herman Heath Herring
Mark Munoz lost out on a huge opportunity when he had to bail on his UFC on Fox 2 fight against Chael Sonnen.
It looks like the middleweight contender had no choice. The injured elbow that got operated on, had that stuff floating around in it.
Munoz faces 4-6 weeks of recovery time and hopes to return to the Octagon in May. Michael Bisping was bumped up the card to face Sonnen with Chris Weidman sliding into Bisping’s spot against Demian Maia.
Antoni Hardonk Dan Hardy Lee Hasdell Musse Hasselvall Daiki DJ taiki Hata
Filed under: UFC
For a company that’s adopted an aggressive stance toward fighting online piracy of its pay-per-view events and other content, the UFC seems relatively unconcerned about its website getting hacked over the weekend.
After UFC.com was hijacked and briefly redirected to a site called UGNazi.com — supposedly in retaliation for the UFC’s support of the anti-internet piracy bill SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) — the UFC released a statement yesterday to assure fans that any information they might have given to the organization via its site was safe.
“On Sunday, January 22nd, the UFC.com website was redirected by a criminal hacker to another website,” a statement provided to MMA Fighting read. “The UFC website was quickly restored to the control of the UFC, and there is no evidence suggesting that any confidential information belonging to the company or its customers was compromised by the re-direction of the website. UFC representatives are continuing to investigate the matter and are working with law enforcement agents to prosecute those involved.”
That response, however, stands in stark contrast to the initial take offered by UFC president Dana White on Twitter.
“I’m in the fight biz not the website biz,” he wrote to one fan who asked him about the hack on Sunday. “Who gives a [expletive]!?”
One answer might be: fans who have given the UFC their credit card information at some point in the past. Between online pay-per-view purchases, merchandise, and UFC Fight Club subscriptions, thousands of fans have no doubt passed important confidential information to the UFC through one of its websites, and those people might have liked a little extra reassurance from the public face of the company.
By comparison, after online shoe retailer Zappos.com was hacked earlier this month and the information for a reported 24 million accounts exposed, the company quickly sent out an email to customers to alert them to the situation and advise them to change their login and password information on any other site where they used “a same or similar password.” Zappos also reassured customers that the “database that stores your critical credit card and other payment data was NOT affected or accessed.”
The UFC’s website was quickly restored by late Sunday afternoon for most visitors, but the group that claimed responsibility for hacking both UFC.com as well as Coach.com and CoachFactory.com — all for their support of SOPA — posted a message to its website that read simply: “We arn’t done…not even close.”
The timing of the attack coincided with a pro-SOPA opinion piece in the Las Vegas Review-Journal written by UFC executive vice president and general counsel Lawrence Epstein which accused “[f]oreign criminal websites,” such as those that offer illegal streams of UFC events, of costing “legitimate U.S. businesses more than $200 billion a year, siphoning off American jobs, hurting businesses and dampening our economy.”
Regardless, the SOPA bill remained unpopular with major online entities such as Wikipedia and Google, both of which participated in protests of the SOPA and PIPA (Protect Intellectual Property Act) bills last week before both were eventually shelved by lawmakers.
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Ian Freeman Don Frye Tony Fryklund Kazuyuki Fujita Masakatsu Funaki
Filed under: UFC
UFC heavyweight Pat Barry may have halted his two-fight losing streak with a brutal knockout of Christian Morecraft at the UFC on FX event in Nashville last Friday night, but he isn’t letting the success go to his head just yet. It was, after all, the lone win in his last three trips inside the Octagon, as he reminded Ariel Helwani on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour.
“I’ve been seeing the world say, ‘There you go getting back on the winning track,’ and ‘You’re back to your winning ways,’” Barry told Helwani. “I would like to say, let me win two in a row and then I’ll feel like I’m on a winning track. As of right now, I just won a fight. That doesn’t necessarily predict what’s going to happen in the next fight.”
What the victory over Morecraft did accomplish was to save Barry from the dreaded three-fight losing in the UFC, which is often the point when the organization will send a fighter packing. While Barry admitted to being “ridiculously nervous” heading into the fight in Nashville, he insisted it wasn’t due to the losing streak or the potential consequences of adding to it.
“That’s the state that I put myself into, just match-ready, knowing that anything could possibly happen.”
What happened in the fight against Morecraft — and what didn’t happen in many of Barry’s previous fights — was that Barry kept his cool after getting taken down, fought off his opponent’s submission attempts, and got back to his feet to deliver the deciding blow. The win showed significant improvement in Barry’s overall game, but the mere fact that he got to demonstrate his defensive ground skills means he’s still got a ways to go, he said.
“I was happy with what I did once I was already on the ground, like…staying poised, staying controlled, not panicking and being able to avoid submissions and getting back to my feet, but the one thing I wasn’t happy with was the fact that I even hit the ground. I showed submission defense and I showed a better confidence on the ground, being under somebody, but I didn’t execute the takedown defense like we had been planning on doing and the way we trained to do it.”
Much of the credit for his gains on the ground go to his coaches and teammates at the Death Clutch gym in Minnesota, Barry said. While some fans seem to believe that the gym has folded up shop ever since its most famous member — former UFC heavyweight champ Brock Lesnar — announced his retirement, Barry insisted the rest of the team was “still marching forward; we’re just down one man.”
“We still have [Bellator heavyweight champion] Cole Konrad, and when you have a Cole Konrad, you don’t really need much else,” Barry added. “That dude is a monster.”
According to Barry, the Death Clutch gym has turned out to be the perfect place to deal with his weaknesses as an MMA fighter — namely staying on his feet and out of submissions in a division populated with much larger fighters.
“There’s no secret to the flaws in my game. …What I did was I went and found a gym that consists of giant wrestlers who all do [jiu-jitsu], and with [Rodrigo] ‘Comprido’ [Medeiros], a seven-time world champion who is a super-stud on the ground. So I found a room with a bunch of guys who are a lot bigger than I am, they all wrestle and they all do jiu-jitsu. …What better thing [is there] for me to do?”
The work seems to have paid dividends for Barry in the win over Morecraft. One win might not be a streak, but at least it’s a start.
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Jesse Forbes Xavier Foupa Pokam Hermes Franca Rich Franklin Ian Freeman
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Rashad Evans’ management group has posted a very cool new video ahead of this week’s UFC on Fox 2 event, going behind-the-scenes (and behind-the-behind-the-scenes) with Evans ahead of his fight with Phil Davis. Evans is in both promo mode and reflective mode in the video, including one key segment talking about how he’s come around to fans booing him, saying “Boo me. That just means you love me, baby.” Check out “Sweet Home Chicago” below:
Video URL: http://youtu.be/Urn956FadZ8
At UFC on FX 1, Pat Barry showed that his ground game is coming along as he continues to develop in the sport of MMA. In four career losses, Barry has submitted three times and has looked generally uncomfortable every time the fight had hit the floor. This past Friday against Christian Morecraft, Barry found [...]
Jimmy Ambriz Matt Andersen Alex Andrade Jermaine Andrè Yoji AnjoÂ
By: Brad Walker, MMATorch Contributor
|
The show opens with Tony Schiavello describing the beautiful weather in Hawaii, which I would kill to be enjoying at the moment. On commentary alongside Schiavello is Pat Miletich. After the cutscenes of Hawaii and the fighters, they show us the awful Hawaiian outfits that Tony and Pat are wearing, the colors and leis almost set my eyes on fire as soon as they popped on screen. A quick rundown of the fights and what the fighters are vulnerable to followed, with a shot of Kendall Groves locker room. They toted Kendall coming off of a ‘big win’ against Joe Riggs ? avenging his loss in 2000, which to anyone here on earth is definitely not a big win for anyone but Grove himself. We will also be treated to McMann vs. Nakano and the final four of the heavyweight tournament.
Also worth noting; In ProElite as formerly with Strikeforce elbows to a downed opponent are illegal.
Writers note: This ring announcer is absolutely terrible. What the heck was that chick doing? I thought she didn’t speak English for the first 30 seconds of her screaming introduction.
Fight #1: Kaleo Gambill (2-0) Vs. Brent Schermerhorn (4-1) (Middleweight)
Round One: Gambill has a 3 inch reach advantage coming into the cage; everything else is pretty much the same. Gambill throws a couple jabs, looking for a spot, Schermerhorn gets him with a great combo and drops him, but he’s back up quickly. The back and forth striking continues. Schermerhorn is pushing the pace, and drops him with a huge left; Gambill is out cold and in Schiavello’s words “stiff as a box of Viagra.”
Winner by KO at 0:45 of Round 1 Brent Schermerhorn
Star Rating: (*+) ? A great display of striking by Schermerhorn, Gambill never got a chance to mount any offense, and got put out cold for his trouble. Schermerhorn looks like a good prospect, but now only 6 fights into his career and having only seen his striking we can only assess that which we see. His hands are solid especially that left. Very quick fight, blink and you miss it, but also one sided.
Fight #2: Patrick Cummins (1-0) vs. Tasi Edwards (2-0) (Heavyweight)
Holy Crap, if I have to hear this ring announcer the rest of the night I’m going to go so remotely insane I might wake up with an imported beer in my hand while wearing a Packers jersey. She’s truly awful.
Round One: We’re up and moving, Edwards throws a couple jabs and a body kick all miss. He keeps throwing strikes from way out of range, Cummins shoots and has a single leg, gets the takedown. He’s working to get out of the guard, but he’s so far kept at bay. Tasi attempts some up kicks, and Cummins slides into side control. Cummins working some ground and pound and stands back up then drops back into side control. Cummins seems to be rushing his positions, and Edwards is getting his guard back. Cummins with a knee to the body, and takes Edwards back, now working for a rear naked choke, it’s not fully sunk in. Edwards gets out of it, now Cummins is postured up in the mount firing rights. Edwards is trying to roll out, and does so successfully. Cummins jumps back into half guard, with knees to the body. Throwing great right hands from the top to the side of Edwards head, he moves for a choke but let’s up, Edwards is back to his knees, and bleeding. Tasi has given up his back again; Cummins has his left hook in and is trying to push him forward into an arm triangle. Cummins locks it in, and Edwards taps out.
Winner by Submission (Arm Triangle Choke) At 4:01 of Round 1 – Patrick Cummins
Star Rating: 1 ? Not a very exciting fight, Edwards threw a bunch of errant kicks and punches before getting taken down and essentially steamrolled by Cummins. Some good ground and pound from Cummins but he was very antsy in changing his position which led to him losing position a few times. All in all not a great fight, but a good submission.
Fight #3: Cody Griffin (5-2) Vs. Ryan Martinez (6-1)? (Heavyweight Tournament Semifinals)
Round One: These guys are big heavyweights, and not in a necessarily good way – think Roy Nelson at 260. A feeling out process, both men are hesitant to step into the others power. Griffin feints a couple jabs, Martinez moves forward with some leg kicks. Griffin throws a wildly inaccurate jab, Martinez connects with a jab to Griffins face, Martinez rushes in and lands a flurry, but Griffin lands a counter and slips away. Griffin is bleeding from his right eye. Martinez lands a kick to the ribs and then moved in not landing anything damaging. Griffin is tentative, throwing fakes; Martinez is controlling the cage, and connects with a huge and very loud kick to the ribs. Martinez continues with his powerful leg kicks, Griffins leg looks like chewed meat. Martinez pushes forward again but gets pushed back by Griffin. Schiavello just let us know he’s on the edge of his seat ? I’m not. Little jabs and weak kicks end the round.
Brad’s Scorecard: 10-9 Martinez. He was a lot more active, controlling the cage landing some incredibly powerful leg kicks and opening up that cut above Griffins eye. He was definitely the aggressor over the round, while Griffin has taken on the role of passive punching bag.
Round Two: Both fighters come out; Martinez takes the center while Griffin circles to the right. Martinez throws a leg kick that hit nothing but Griffins cup, ref gives them a break. That looked like it hurt, in fact I feel a sudden need to plug in Schiavellos line “shaking the John Smallies” were back, they touch gloves, more leg kicks from Martinez, Griffins allowing himself to be walked down, body kick by Martinez, jabs by Griffin with some showboating, Griffins chin is out far enough to make Jay Leno jealous. More feeling out as we move along here, a lot of circling and wide punches, Griffin has finally started checking those leg kicks. And as quick as he started, he has stopped checking them, allowing his lead leg to take more damage. Martinez is just lighting up Griffins legs, and has basically accounted for all of the relevant offense. Griffin feints in a couple times with jabs, to no avail. The ref is telling them to actually do something, which they are currently not obliging, Martinez lands a good right, now Griffin is pushing the pace chasing down Martinez, not all that successfully. Another body kick by Martinez, and he ends with a flurry with Griffins back to the cage.
Brad’s Scorecard: 10-9 Martinez. Again almost all of the offense was from Martinez here, Cody Griffins lead leg looks absolutely awful, and he needs to start checking these kicks. Not a lot of punches landed that round, but Martinez controlled the pace for the majority of the round, Griffin hasn’t shown much of anything thus far in the bout. Griffin is pushing forward again, showboating and trash talking; it doesn’t seem to be doing much of anything so far. Martinez keeps landing those kicks and Griffin keeps landing a lot of nothing, Martinez just landed a huge right hook and Griffin was shaken, but back in the fight quickly. This round is just a beating upon Griffins legs, as he hasn’t checked anything and is visibly limping. Martinez is moving in for more punches and leaving his hands down reminding Griffin that he gave up 15 minutes of chances, and they end in a less than incredible exchange that leads us to the final bell.
Brad’s Scorecard: 10-9 Martinez ? Griffin offered less than nothing this round, he took a beating to his legs to the point of limping, and Martinez just swept this fight bell to bell.
Winner by Unanimous Decision (30-27 30-27 29-28) – Ryan Martinez
Star Rating: (*-) This was not a very exciting fight, nor was it action packed. Cody Griffin was completely outmatched by Martinez’s striking, and he definitely has a lot of potential in his game for bigger endeavors. His leg kicks were particularly brutal, but with this being a completely one sided fight, I can’t give it even a full star. It felt like an eternity of leg kicks.
Fight #4 Richard Odoms (6-0) Vs. Jake Heun (2-1)
Dear ProElite ? Never use this announcer lady again, she makes me want to pop my ear drums with one of my daughters pick up sticks.
Round One: Huen looks tiny next to Odoms, we’re on and fighting. Huen absolutely slams Odoms to the ground and jumps straight to the mount. Holy moly that was a big slam on an even bigger man who has a 30 pound weight advantage. He works some ground and pound and Huen rolls for an arm bar, but Odoms uses his insane strength and power his way out and into Huens guard. Huens is attempting a sweep and gives Odoms his back, now Odoms is working for a choke but Huen works back to his feet and gets a muay thai clinch. He lands a high knee before Odoms moves him back to the cage. Nothing doing against the cage, Huen maneuvers and takes Odoms back down. And he takes Odoms back easily. Huen has one hook in pounding on Odoms, now Odoms powers out and gets Huen into his guard, but quickly Huen passes to side control, and Odoms rolls to give Huen his back again. Huens rolls for a leg lock after some punches to the head, Huen releases the leg lock and Odoms is going for a heel hook, Huen is pounding on Odoms now, Odoms is in trouble finally he trips Huen, Odoms has Huen in a knee bar, while Huen is working towards the heel hook on Odoms. Huen is trying to get back to his feet, but their stuck in this awkward scissor position. Finally the bell rings.
Brad’s Scorecard: 10-9 Huen, with the explosive slams Huen barely took this round, it could have easily been 10-10 if he didn’t pull those both off, Odoms had some explosive breaks free from the submission attempts and tried to lock in a few of his own.
Round Two: The fighters come out and Odoms takes the center, landing an inside leg kick. Huen gets a body lock and pushes Odoms to the cage, where Odoms lands some knees and manages to get Huen to the ground, before jumping back up himself, clinched against the cage now; Huens throws Odoms straight into side control. Huen is working to the mount, and now has it. He’s slowly working some ground and pound; Odoms gives up his back again, and rolls Huen over and Odoms gets into his guard. Odoms takes Huen’s back and locks in the submission, Huen taps!
Winner by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) At 1:56 of Round 2 ? Richard Odoms
Star Rating: (**+) Great display of grappling and submission skills in the first around along with some pretty intense slams. Round two was fitting to be the same but Huen was clearly gassed and Odoms took the opportunity to choke him out. Not a bad fight, quite exciting for the short time it lasted.
Fight 5: Hitomi Akano (18-8) Vs. Sarah McMann (4-0)
Round One: They take the center, McMann taking the center and throwing some strikes, Akano is hesitant to lock up with Sara. Sarah takes a double leg and is caught in a guillotine; she powers out and gets side control. Sarah is denying Akano any chance to break free of her grip. Shes landing some ground strikes to the body, and is now in half guard. Akano is holding onto her doing whatever she can to control poster and slow down the strikes to her body. McMann tries to posture up and loses position to the guard. Sara is working back to half guard, and makes it, but is quickly pushed back to guard, landing a couple right hands. Akano throws her legs up looking for a submission but Sara lands a punch in return. McMann is working the body really well, and now the ref stands them up. McMann has a huge reach advantage, 8 inches and is trying to use it. McMann side steps a leg kick and drops Akano on her back very hard, and into side control with some knees going to the body. She works to the full mount and winds up taking her back. Akano has good wrist control so far, McMann is trying to free her hands up now back to the mount and she’s dropping punches at Akano, we get the bell for the end of the first round.
Brad’s Scorecard: 10-9 McMann ? she controlled the entire round with her wrestling, her skills on the ground are incredible, she showed some serious power with her slams and is downright scary to watch fight.
Round Two: We’re back for round two, McMann and Akano both jump to the center, McMann slams Akano to the mat again, and gets half guard. Shes pounding on Akanos body, Akano rolled for an arm bar and wound up getting guard back. Akano has Sara’s arm locked up really well and a very high guard, Sara powers out again, and Akano almost has a triangle in, she just needs to lock the feet, but Sara again uses her power to break free. Sara lands a short right to Akanos face, and Akano keeps working up that high guard, but to no avail. The ref stands them back up. Sara lands a huge right hand to Akano and rocks her, and follows her to the cage, Akano seems to have recovered, but is back peddling, McMann shows some inside leg kicks, and takes Akano down again. Akano is trying for a shoulder lock, but Sara is holding firm. Sara just picked her up with one arm and re-slammed her, and moves to take Akanos back, but winds up in her guard. McMann has taken a thumb to the eye, and they stand the fight back up. McMann immediately pancakes Akano back to the mat and lands in half guard, not a lot going on in this grappling war, Akano lands a number of shots to the top of McManns head as the round closes out.
Brad’s Scorecard: 10-9 McMann ? again she controlled the entire round, and landed some huge strikes, Akano offered very little in return and basically got tossed around like a ragdoll again. McMann is legitimately scary at 135 pounds.
Round Three: Coming out for round 3, McMann lands a kick and immediately gets the weirdest takedown I’ve ever seen, she just kind of jumped on her. Shes in full guard, with one butterfly in by Akano, but McMann’s body shots are clearly hurting Akano. Good shots coming from McMann, to both the body and face. Akano is trying to raise her guard for a triangle or arm bar, but McMann is using her power to stall the position. Akano has McManns head and arm trapped, but McMann is fighting out of it, still stuck but working her way out of it while Akano lands strikes to the head, McMann is landing knees to the glutes, and finally breaks free and lands a big right hand to Akanos head. The ref stands them back up. McMann moves in with a big flurry and ties Akano up against the cage and slams her to the matt again like a ragdoll, her power is incredible. Half guard here for Akano, McMann working her way on top, and some ground and pound, now back to full guard. McMann is avoiding the high guard again from Akano, who is desperately trying to a submission; McMann just moves to the side and gets back into half guard. Akano stands back up and throws a great left into McManns head, but Sara picked her up and slammed her again. And that’s the end of the fight.
Brad’s Scorecard: 10-9 McMann – superior control, and some very powerful and scary slam from how Akano was landing. McMann is going to be a powerhouse in this division; Akano was beaten in every aspect of the game.
?Winner by Unanimous Decision (30-27 x 3) – Sara McMann
Star Rating: (*+) The slams were really fun to watch while Sara absolutely dominated Akano, but other than that there wasn’t a whole lot going on. Very impressive and dominant showing from McMann and she has a great future in the sport, especially if she stays in the 135 division, her wrestling is the best I’ve seen in a long time. Domination domination domination is all that I can say to describe the entirety of this fight.
Fight #6: Minowaman (51-32-8) Vs. Kendall “Da Spyder” Grove (13-9) (Middleweight)
Round One: Grove has B.J. Penn in his corner. Minowaman has the weirdest entrance I’ve ever seen. No touch of the gloves. Grove comes out using his kicks to establish distance. Minowaman throws a very wild overhand right and misses, Grove walks him down and throws a big right. Leg kick from Minowaman, whose name to type is really awkward. Grove lands a couple punches and misses on a head kick. Minowaman does a somersault to get away from the cage ?very odd. Grove doesn’t find it funny; he’s stepping up the leg kicks. Grove lands a good front kick, Minowaman throws his hands up and Kendall obliges with a front kick to the chest. Minowaman drives Grove up against the cage, stalling here and he gets Grove down with a single leg. Grove is trying to wall walk back up, but Minowaman grabs onto a double leg to keep him down. Full guard now from Grove, and has him very well tied up, trying to roll over for an arm bar with the cages assistance which didn’t work out, Grove can’t seem to get off of his back, but seems to be in no imminent danger. That’s the end of the round.
Brad’s Scorecard: 10-9 Minowaman ? Once he got Grove to the ground, he kept him there very well, he didn’t do any real damage on the ground but controlling the round for that long gave him the advantage. Grove needs to keep it on the feet.
Round Two: Grove looks amped taking the center immediately. He chases down Minowaman with kicks and punches but eventually gives up chase. Grove controlling the pace, Minowaman fakes a takedown, and Grove is back to walking him down. Minowaman shoots for a single leg but gets stuffed and rolls onto his back scooting after Grove on the ground. Ref stands him back up, and Grove seems irritated by Minowamans antics, Minowaman drives through on a double leg but the cage saves Grove who drops on top of Minowaman in half guard. Some decent ground and pound with his fists by Grove, and some elbows to the body. Hammer fists are dropping and Grove goes for a D’arce choke, but Minowaman breaks free. Grove takes his back and locks in a body triangle; Minowaman is in trouble Kendall is working to break his hands free of Minowamans grip. Grove lands a couple of punches to Minowamans head from the back and loses the body triangle, but keeps his hooks. Now he is moving for a mount, but winds up on the back still landing punches and locks in a not very deep choke as the bell rings.
Brad’s Scorecard: 10-9 Grove ? he dominated from bell to bell in that round, stuffing the takedowns and maneuvering to his back as well as the attempted D’arce choke, I have it one round apiece so Round 3 may be the great deciding factor.
Round Three: Grove immediately takes the center and backs Minowaman to the cage, Minowaman comes forward with a jumping overhand right but misses, shoots for a single leg, and grove drops to his knees to hold him in place and stop the takedown. Kendall is dropping hammer fist bombs on Minow’s head. Kendall sprawls out and takes the back, and puts in both hooks and rolls over Minowaman. One hook falls out but as they roll Grove lands in full mounts. He’s using a very high mount and Minowaman gives up his back gain, while Grove works for a submission. Grove locks the body triangle back in, and is landing short shots to free up his hands, Grove almost had a rear naked choke but the arm wasn’t completely under the neck. Grove keeps working for the submission but Minowaman has great wrist control. The body triangle has been broken as Minowaman rolls over and Grove continues to hold on. This is a war for the rear naked choke. Minowaman is defending with what little energy he has left as Grove continues to work for the choke and locks in the body triangle on the half-standing Minowaman who looks completely gassed. The final bell rings as Grove releases the body triangle.
Brad’s Scorecard: 10-8 Grove, he controlled that round better than I would have ever imagined. He had the back most of the round, and absolutely made Minowaman fight for every extra second of the fight. Many shots at a choke but none were successful, and Minowaman just put up nothing at all.
Winner by Unanimous Decision (30-27 x3) – Kendall Grove
Star Rating: (*+) -This was not an incredible exciting fight, Minowaman’s tactics that go over in Japan with pro-wrestling like maneuvers were just kind of hokey and don’t belong in the cage. Grove should have had a submission somewhere in this fight and somehow didn’t even come close. Grove doesn’t look like a better fighter than he was when UFC let him go, I don’t expect to see him on a large stage anytime soon. As for Minowaman I would rather not see him fight again… ever.
This card was lackluster in all aspects. The fights that went to decision were one sided for the most part. Sara McMann provided some excitement with her throws and hard slams that were very impressive. The heavyweights provided a finish, but nothing that was worth going back to watch. Schermerhorns knockout in the very first fight was the only really exciting moment of the whole card. It was an improvement from ProElite 2, but still not something the casual MMA fan is going to sit and watch without wanting to mash the fast-forward button just to get past all the irrelevant crap going on in the background. The matchups were poor, the fighters were unimpressive (minus McMann) and nothing is worth trying to watch. Do yourself a favor and don’t go out of your way to watch this card.
I’m going to go sneeze and immediately forget this card, because it is more forgettable than anything else I’ve watched in the last few months. A strip tease by Cabbage Carreira would have been less painful to watch.
Marvin Eastman Stav Crazy Bear Economou Yves Edwards Justin Eilers Jon Olav Einemo
The Strikeforce light heavyweight championship scene was left on life support after Dan Henderson departed the organization with the title in tow and top 205-pound contender Muhammed Lawal tested positive for steroid use. However, the company appears to be doing its best to fix the mess that?s been made by booking a bout between Gegard [...]
Peter Graham Forrest Griffin Tyson Griffin Karn Grigorian Karen Grigoryan
Tonight the beautiful shores of Hawaii welcomed the latest offering from the revamped ProElite promotion, a card headlined by Ultimate Fighter 3 winner Kendall Grove looking to build off the success of his opening round submission of Joe Riggs by beating Japanese legend Ikuhisa Minowa. Grove did just that, controlling Minowa from start to finish [...]
Jason Grace Crosley Gracie Gregor Gracie Ralek Gracie Renzo Gracie
Last Monday night the WWE delivered a solid show that furthered a few storylines and planted seeds for a handful of others likely to unfold over the next few months as the company builds towards Wrestlemania. Things kicked off with Mick Foley making an appearance in hopes of being named to the field for this [...]
Ricardo Arona Noboru Asahi Marcus Aurelio Mikhail Avetisyan Luiz AzeredoÂ
Full video of the UFC on FX 1 post-fight press conference.
Yasubey Enomoto Mark Epstein Tom Big Cat Erickson Martinsh Egle Eric Butterbean Esch
Welcome back to Brazil! After waiting nearly 13 years before returning to the country for UFC 134 in August, this time the UFC waited just four months to make another trip back with UFC 142 this past Saturday in Rio de Janeiro.
Read all about the UFC 142 fallout, including questions that remain and future matchups, in the latest Reaction to the Action.
Rodrigo Gracie Roger Gracie Rolles Gracie Royce Gracie Royler Gracie
ProElite 3 MMA fight videos of Jake Heun vs. Richard Odoms. The bout took place on January 21, 2012 in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States.
Clay Guida Jason Guida Melvin Guillard Cody Guinn Jorge Gurgel
So much for the lack of finishes from Jose Aldo. The UFC’s featherweight champ ended the “Rocky IV” dreams of Chad Mendes with a big knee and two brutal punches.
At the end of the first round, the champ beat the clock by landing a vicious knee. Mendes went limp and fell to his back where he ate two more punches squarely to the face. Referee Mario Yamasaki stopped things at the 4:59 mark of the first round in the main event of UFC 142 in Rio de Janeiro.
Aldo can be a lunatic sometimes when it comes to the post-fight celebration. Tonight, he set a new standard.
At the end of the fight, the second the Octagon door opened, he flew through it running into the crowd. In what was a near riot-like scene as the fans went crazy on Aldo. He was eventually carried on their shoulders and got back into the cage after a few minutes.
Aldo (21-1, 3-0 UFC) runs his win streak to 14 straight. He hasn’t lost a fight since 2005.
“Jose is a great champion. I wanted keep the pressure on and close the distance and get my hands on him,” Mendes said. He’s got great takedown defense and footwork. Watching a lot of his fights, I knew it would be tough to take him down. He was the better man.”
Mendes, a former elite college wrestler, had to get the fight to the ground to give himself a shot. Aldo was simply too big and too athletic. The champ stuffed all five of Mendes’ takedown attempts.
In between those tries, Mendes (11-1) ate kick after kick on his lead leg. It took roughly three minutes for the challenger to switch stances to protect that leg.
With just under a minute left in the round, Mendes actually got into a favorable position. He had standing back control and delivered some solid knees to the back of Aldo’s legs. Aldo freed himself with eight seconds left in the round. Mendes turned, ducked his head and tried to shoot forward for another takedown. Aldo’s reaction time was ridiculous as he landed a quick left knee. Mendes fell to his back where he ate two huge punches to force the stoppage.
Other popular Y! Sports content:
? Video: Is the condensed NBA schedule hurting the Mavs?
? Passan: One night of moves makes World Series faves out of Yankees
? Shutdown Corner: G-Men’s offseason gambles are paying off
Jimmy Ambriz Matt Andersen Alex Andrade Jermaine Andrè Yoji AnjoÂ
James Toney and Ken Shamrock are supposed to fight sometime in the fall of 2011. The two had a short press conference in Van Nuys, California to announce the fight, but started to get physical a little early.
Marvin Eastman Stav Crazy Bear Economou Yves Edwards Justin Eilers Jon Olav Einemo
Watch more video of MMA Fan Fest on flowrestling.org
Chael Sonnen, he of the brilliant post-fight speeches and the trash talking that inspires entire countries to hate him, spoke to a group of young wrestlers before the Journeyman Duals in New York state in November.
He discussed the subject of intensity and how a wrestler must always one-up his opponent to get better. Sounds great, until he wanders off into examples.
“If he clubs you, you club him back as hard or harder. If he slaps you, punch him. If he punches you, kick him. If he kicks you, stab him. If he stabs you, shoot him. If he shoots you, go kill his whole family.”
Ah, Chael. Luckily, the children burst into laughter immediately after this speech, signaling that they know Sonnen is not serious in telling children to shoot and stab each other. Sonnen also points out that he doesn’t want anyone to get hurt.
Bernard Ackah Terrance Aflague Yoshihiro Akiyama Gilbert Aldana José AldoÂ
With Justin Edwards sidelined by an injury just days after receiving a replacement opponent for UFC 143, welterweight Dan Stittgen has signed with the UFC and will debut against fellow newcomer Stephen Thompson at the February 4 event in Las Vegas.
Jason Hollywood Chambers Ryo Piranha Chonan Dan The Sandman Christison Logan The Pink Pounder Clark Steve The Snake ClaveauÂ
Dana White UFC on FX 1 Vlog.
Jason Grace Crosley Gracie Gregor Gracie Ralek Gracie Renzo Gracie
Kyle Noke has a new opponent for UFC on FX 2 in his home country of Australia, as undefeated newcomer Andrew Craig has replaced injured middleweight Jared Hamman against Noke on the March 3 card in Sydney.
Tank Abbott Hiroyuki Abe Cyril Abidi Daniel Acacio Bernard AckahÂ
Remember Erick Silva’s bizarre disqualification at UFC 142? The one that caused the Brazilian prospect to go from jubilant to despondent in about .15 seconds? The one that made UFC commentator Joe Rogan call out referee Mario Yamasaki’s judgment while in the Octagon? The one that made us all wonder why there’s no instant replay in MMA?
Yeah, that one? It won’t be overturned. Since the fight was in Brazil, with no regulatory commission, the UFC served as the regulator of the fight. They announced that they have no plans to change the fight to a no-contest.
From Marc Ratner, the UFC’s vice president of government and regulatory affairs:
“Based on the referee’s verbal warnings and his determination that the blows were intentional and a disqualifying foul, this is not the type of decision that can be reviewed,” Ratner stated. “Therefore, the decision stands.”
However, Ratner did share some good news. The UFC will start using instant replay at their self-regulated, international events, and will encourage state commissions to come into the 90s and use replay.
While it may not be the exact outcome that MMA fans — or Erick Silva — wants, it’s still a good sign that the UFC is willing to make a change to improve the sport overall.
Branden Lee Hinkle Tank Abbott Hiroyuki Abe Cyril Abidi Daniel Acacio
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Weigh-ins take place this afternoon for tomorrow night’s UFC on FX event from the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn. Headlined by a lightweight bout between Melvin Guillard and Jim Miller, the event will bring four fights live to the network. Check back here this afternoon as the weigh-ins stream live on the embedded video below at 5PM ET:
Video URL: http://youtu.be/HjBkLbk6jKo
Siyar Bahadurzada Bao Ligao Josh Barnett David Baron Phil Baroni
Today we lost a true legend, a soulful female singer that was simply above the rest. Music’s original bad girl.
R.I.P. Etta, at least heaven has a…
Rich No Love Clementi Mark The Hammer Coleman Wes Soldier Combs Ray Cooper Kit CopeÂ
Hear from Dana White, Junior dos Santos, Shane Carwin, Kenny Florian, Diego Nunes, Sam Stout and Yves Edwards at the UFC 131 pre-fight press conference held June 9 in Vancouver, BC.
Patrick The Predator Côté Randy The Natural Couture Dan Cramer Alberto Crane Marcio Pe de Pano Cruz
Melvin Guillard doesn’t want to go the way of George Sotiropoulos, Anthony Pettis and Evan Dunham.
Last year was a horror show for those guys. On the verge of getting a title shot, all three suffered a loss or two that sent that sent them tumbling down the lightweight ladder.
Guillard faces Jim Miller tomorrow night on FX (9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT), with both fighters facing the same fate if they lose – at least another year before they sniff a title shot.
Guillard (29-9-2, 10-5 UFC) was hot as a pistol before UFC 136 in October, but lost his shot at Frank Edgar with a 47 second submission loss at the hands of Joe Lauzon. He knows this Miller fight is make or break time.
“It was kinda dumb, but I am young enough to learn as long as realize the mistake. I made the mistake, it didn’t just happen,” Guilard said referencing the loss to Lauzon. “I know that but I also know I’m still one of the best fighters in the division. But I am ready for this fight with Miller. He’s a top guy, maybe the No. 3 or No. 4 in the division, and if I perform like I can do, I think it will be hard for people to say that I didn’t deserve a UFC title shot.”
Guillard is managing the delicate balance between fighter under control, but not losing his explosiveness
“It’s not going to affect my style of fight, just so you guys know. I’m still going to go in and be the fast, explosive kid that I am. But right now, I just want to stay focused and grounded,” said Guillard.
Miller is no easy prey and he enters the fight with the same motivation. He’s coming off a rough loss to Ben Henderson. Miller (20-3, 9-2 UFC) fought with a flawed strategy and got lit up by Henderson, who locked up a title shot with the victory.
Per Eklund Jason Ellis Aleksander Emelianenko Fedor Emelianenko Yasubey Enomoto
Watch more video of MMA Fan Fest on flowrestling.org
Chael Sonnen, he of the brilliant post-fight speeches and the trash talking that inspires entire countries to hate him, spoke to a group of young wrestlers before the Journeyman Duals in New York state in November.
He discussed the subject of intensity and how a wrestler must always one-up his opponent to get better. Sounds great, until he wanders off into examples.
“If he clubs you, you club him back as hard or harder. If he slaps you, punch him. If he punches you, kick him. If he kicks you, stab him. If he stabs you, shoot him. If he shoots you, go kill his whole family.”
Ah, Chael. Luckily, the children burst into laughter immediately after this speech, signaling that they know Sonnen is not serious in telling children to shoot and stab each other. Sonnen also points out that he doesn’t want anyone to get hurt.
Jesse Forbes Xavier Foupa Pokam Hermes Franca Rich Franklin Ian Freeman
http://www.sherdog.com/news/news/Update-King-Mo-Lawal-Tests-Positive-for-Steroid-Manager-Denies-Use-39245
Steroids really are the shit, and I don’t believe for one second any of the top tier…
Edwin Dewees Nick Diaz Tadhg Steamfist Dixon Joe Doerksen Chris Dolman