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(All events on Oahu, unless noted)

2010

November
Aloha State BJJ Championships: Final Conflict
(BJJ & Sub Grappling)
(Kaiser H.S. Gym)

10/15-17/10
ETERNAL SUBMISSIONS: 1st Annual BJJ GI/NO-GI tournament
(BJJ & Sub Grappling)
(Kauai Beach Resort, Kauai)

August
Hawaiian Open Championships of BJJ
(BJJ & No Gi)
(Kaiser H.S. Gym)

7/24/10
The Quest for Champions 2010 Martial Arts Tournament
(Sport-Pankration, Submission Grappling & Continuous Sparring)
(St. Louis High School Gym)

7/17/10
Maui Jiu-Jitsu Open
(BJJ & No Gi)
(Maui War Memorial, Wailuku, Maui)

6/26/10
Kauai Cage Match 9
(MMA)
(Kilohana, Gaylords Mansion, Kauai)

6/24/10
Quest for Champions
(Kumite/Grappling)
(St. Louis High School Gym)

6/11-13/10
MMA Hawaii Expo
(Blaisdell Ballroom)

6/11-12/10
3rd Annual Pacific Submission Championships
(BJJ & Submission Grappling)
(Blaisdell Exhibition Hall)

6/11/10
Legacy Combat 1
(MMA)
(Blaisdell Ballroom)

6/4/10
X-1: Nations Collide
(MMA)
(Blaisdell Arena)

6/3-6/10
World Jiu-Jitsu Championships
(BJJ)
(The Pyramid, University of California at Long Beach, Long Beach, CA)

5/22/10
Destiny
(MMA)
(Waiphau Filcom Center)

5/15/10
Scrappla Fest 2
Relson Gracie KTI Jiu-Jitsu Tournament
(BJJ & Sub Grappling)
(Island School, Kauai)

X-1 World Events
(MMA)
(Waipahu HS Gym)

Mad Skills
(Kickboxing)
(Waipahu Filcom Center)

Boxing Event
(Boxing)
(Evolution Training Center, Waipio Industrial Court #110)

5/1/10
Galaxy MMA: Worlds Collide
(MMA)
(Blaisdell Arena)

4/23/10
2010 Hawaii State/Regional Junior Olympic Boxing Championships
(Boxing)
(Palolo District Park Gym)

4/17/10
Hawaiian Championships of BJJ
(BJJ & Sub Grappling)
(Kaiser H.S. Gym)

Strikeforce: Shields vs Henderson
(CBS)

4/16/10
808 Battleground
(Waipahu Filcom Center)

4/8-11/10
Pan Jiu-Jitsu Championships
(BJJ)
(University California Irvine, Irvine, CA)

4/3/10
Man Up & Stand Up
(Kickboxing)
(Waipahu Filcom Center)

Amateur Boxing Smoker
(Boxing)
(Palolo District Park Gym)

3/27/10
DESTINY: No Ka Oi 2: Oahu vs Maui
(MMA)
(Maui War Memorial Gym, Wailuku, Maui)

3/20/10
X-1: Champions 2
(MMA)
(Blaisdell Arena)

3/20/10
Hawaiian Championships of BJJ
(BJJ & Sub Grappling)
(Kaiser H.S. Gym)

3/14/10
Hawaiian Kimono Combat
(BJJ)
(PCHS Gym)

3/10/10
Sera's Kajukenbo Tournament
(Kumite, Katas, Grappling)
(Maui War Memorial Gym, Wailuku, Maui)

3/6/10
Destiny Fast N Furious
(MMA)
(Level 4 RHSC)

2/19/10
808 Battleground
(MMA)
(Filcom, Waipahu)

2/6/10
UpNUp 6: Unstoppable
(MMA)
(Maui War Memorial Gym, Wailuku, Maui)

2/5/10
Man Up & Stand Up
(Kickboxing)
(Waipahu Filcom)

1/30/10
Destiny
(Level 4,
Royal HI Shopping Ctr)
(MMA)

Quest for Champions
(Pankration/Sub Grappling)
(Kalani HS)

1/23/10
Kauai Knockout Championship Total Domination
(MMA & Kickboxing)
(Kauai War Memorial Convention Center, Lihue, Kauai)

1/17/10
X1: Showdown In Waipahu
(Boxing, Kickboxing, MMA)
(Waipahu H.S. Gym)
 News & Rumors
Archives
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May 2010 News Part 2

Casca Grossa Jiu-Jitsu is now the O2 Martial Arts Academy with 7 days a week training!

We are also offering Kali-Escrima (stick fighting) on Monday nights with Ian Beltran and Kickboxing Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday with Kaleo Kwan, PJ Dean, & Chris Slavens!

Kids Classes are also available!

Click here for info!

Take classes from the Onzuka brothers in a family-like environment!



Fighters' Club TV
The Toughest Show On Teleivision

Tuesdays at 8:00PM
Olelo Channel 52 on Oahu
Also on Akaku on Maui

Check out the FCTV website!

Onzuka.com Hawaii Underground Forum is Online!

Chris, Mark, and I wanted to start an official Onzuka.com forum for a while now. We were searching for the best forum to go with and hit a gold mine! We have known Kirik, who heads the largest and most popular forum on the net, The Underground for years.

He offered us our own forum within the matrix know as MMA.tv. The three of us will be the moderators with of course FCTV808 being the lead since he is on there all day anyway!

We encourage everyone from Hawaii and our many readers around world to contribute to the Hawaii Underground.

If you do not have a login, it's simple and fast to get one.
Click
here to set up an account.

Don't worry about using Pidgin English in the posting. After all it is the Hawaii Underground and what is a Hawaii Underground without some Aloha and some Pidgin?

To go directly to the Onzuka.com Hawaii Underground Forum
click
here!

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More than 1 million hits and counting!

O2 Martial Arts Academy
Your Complete Martial Arts School!

Click here for pricing and more information!

O2 Martial Arts features Relson Gracie Jiu-Jitsu taught by Relson Gracie Black Belts Chris and Mike Onzuka and Shane Agena as well as a number of brown and purple belts.

We also offer a Boxing and Kickboxing classes with a staff that is unmatched. Boxing, Kickboxing, and MMA champions Kaleo Kwan and PJ Dean as well as master boxing instructor Chris Slavens provide incredibly detailed instruction of the sweet science.

To top it off, Ian Beltran & Erwin Legaspi heads our Kali-Escrima classes (Filipino Stickfighting) who were directly trained under the legendary Snookie Sanchez.

Just a beginner with no background? Perfect! We teach you from the ground up!

Experienced martial artist that wants to fine tune your skill? Our school is for you!

If you want to learn martial arts by masters of their trade in a friendly and family environment, O2 Martial Arts Academy is the place for you!


Want to Contact Us? Shoot us an email by Clicking Here!

Follow O2 Martial Arts news via Twitter at:
http://www.twitter.com/O2MAA


5/20/10

Sprappler Tournament Results

Kids Gi

White Belt

8-9 yrs 53-57 lbs

1st Damien Strom (Longman)

2nd Keanu Simao (Longman)

3rd Jessica Cezar (Relson/KTI)

8-9 yrs 65-70lbs

1st Zachary Kaina-Kokubun (Relson/O2)

2nd Jacob Alvarez (Relson/KTI)

3rd Andrew Cezar (Relson/KTI)

12-13 yrs 75-85 lbs

1st Larson Aiwohi (Longman/PH)

2nd Ezekiel Bagano (Longman/PH)

3rd Joshua Decambra (Maui Grappling Academy)

12-13 yrs 134-158 lbs

1st Matthew Cambell (Kauai 24 Hr Fittness)

2nd Abraham Catbagan (Kamole)

14-15 yrs 155-176 lbs

1st Quinton Bolosan (Relson/O2)

2nd Kaimana Casey (Longman)

3rd Wailea Kerr (Kamole)

16-17 yrs 120-138 lbs

1st Lowen Gonzales (Longman/PH)

2nd Mikey Beltran (Relson/KTI)

16-17 yrs 154-161 lbs

1st Elijah Souza (Longman)

2nd James Goode (Longman/PH)

White/Yellow Belt

8-9 yrs 53-57 lbs

1st Kaizen Nino (Relson/O2)

2nd Keanu Simao (Longman)

3rd Damien Strom (Longman)

8-9 yrs 60-75 lbs

1st Liam Mason (Relson/O2)

2nd Keawe Pimental (Longman/PH)

3rd Nikela Alvarez (Relson/KTI)

12-13 yrs 105-118 lbs

1st Jake Salmon (Longman)

2nd Lathan Aiwohi (Longman/PH)

3rd Josiah Alvarez (Relson/KTI)

Yellow Belt

8-9 yrs 53-75 lbs

1st Liam Mason (Relson/O2)

2nd Kaizen Nino (Reson/O2)

3rd Keawe Pimental (Longman/PH)

16-17 yrs 176-218 lbs

1st Matt Paulson (Longman)

2nd Robin Raza (Kamole)

Yellow/Orange/Green Belt

14-15 yrs 99-122 lbs

1st Elijah Koga (Kamole)

2nd Bobby Castle (Longman/PH)

3rd Ricky Bauajadia (Kamole)

Orange/Blue Belt

16-17 yrs 137-154 lbs

1st John Hommel (Relson/Shiraki)

2nd Keanu Pascua (Relson/HK)

3rd Hunter Ewald (Longman)

Girls White Belt

12-13 yrs 116-121 lbs

1st Elizabeth Oshiro (Longman)

2nd Natalia Alvarez (Relson/KTI)

Girls White/Orange Belt

12-14 yrs 107-133 lbs

1st Harmony Pacheco (Relson/O2)

2nd Neysha Laumatia (Relson/TPJJ)

3rd Elisabeth Oshiro (Longman)

Girls Yellow/Orange Belt

14 yrs 107-133 lbs

1st Neysha Laumatia (Relson/TPJJ)

2nd Harmony Pacheco (Relson/O2)

Adults Mens Gi

White Belt

131 lbs below

1st Bryce Beaver (Kamole)

2nd Matthew Domingo (Kamole)

3rd Mikey Beltran (Relson/KTI)

132-145 lbs

1st Loren Otake (Relson/Shiraki)

2nd Micah Bermoy (Longman)

146-154 lbs

1st Daniel Kong (Relson/Shiraki)

2nd Cody Woods (Longman)

3rd Devon Andrews (KG/Pure JJ)

160-173 lbs

1st Jonah Farias (Relson/KTI)

2nd Roy Simao (Longman)

3rd Bryan Manuel (Relson/KTI)

174-187 lbs

1st Kyle Myers (Longman)

2nd Bronson Tandal (Longman)

3rd Chris Hyde (Relson/KTI)

188-215 lbs

1st Jackson Rosser (Relson/Shiraki)

2nd Casey Kimaro (Kamole)

3rd Arnold Bumagat (Relson/KTI)

Blue Belt

131 lbs Below

1st Glenn Daguio (Relson/KTI)

2nd Arjay Balisacon (Relson/KTI)

3rd Justin Martins (Longman)

132-145 lbs

1st John Hommel (Relson/Shiraki)

2nd Nate Neikter (Longman)

3rd Noa Espirito (Relson/KTI)

146-159 lbs

1st Matthew Park (Kamole)

2nd Brandon Agan (Longman)

3rd Daniel Deanda (Kamole)

160-173 lbs

1st Nick Takashima (Relson/Shiraki)

2nd Nick Lee (Relson/Shiraki)

3rd Daryl Delima (Relson/O2)

174-187 lbs

1st Aaron Coyaso (Relson/KTI)

2nd David Cambell (Relson/KTI)

188-201 lbs

1st Dustin Aguiar (Kamole)

2nd Derek Kawakami (Relson/KTI)

3rd David Cambell (Relson/KTI)

212 lbs Above

1st Koji Ueunten (Relson/Shiraki)

2nd Steve Alvarez (Relson/KTI)

36 yrs Over 159 lbs Below

1st Kirk Carinio (Longman)

2nd Ashley Maldonad (Longman)

36 yrs Over 160-180 lbs

1st PJ Dean (Relson/O2)

2nd Seiji Yotsuda (Relson/KTI)

3rd Raymond Martinez (Kamole)

36 yrs Over 202 lbs Above

1st Steve Alvarez (Relson/KTI)

Adult Womens Gi

Blue Belt

Open Weight

1st Nancy Kapiko(Relson/TPJJ)

Purple/Brown Belt

159 lbs Below

1st Joe Scoval (Longman)

2nd Luke Hacker (Longman)

3rd Travis Talbo (Kamole)

160-180 lbs

1st Kawika Stewart (Longman)

2nd Taylor Sadler (KG/Pure JJ)

3rd Ka'ula Watson (Longman)

Open Belt

1st Grant Wells (Longman)

2nd Derek Kawakami (Relson/KTI)

3rd Aaron Coyaso (Relson/KTI)

Kids No-Gi

8-9 yrs 53-57 lbs

1st Kaizen Nino (Relson/O2)

2nd Jessica Cezar (Relson/KTI)

8-9 yrs 65-70 lbs Beg

1st Jacob Alvarez (Relson/KTI)

2nd Zachary Kaina-Kokubun (Relson/O2)

8-9 yrs 60-75 lbs Adv

1st Liam Mason (Relson/O2)

2nd Zachary Kaina-Kokubun (Relson/O2)

3rd Keawe Pimental (Longman/PH)

12-13 yrs 95-115 lbs

1st Jake Salmon (Longman)

2nd Lathan Aiwohi (Longman/PH)

3rd Josiah Alvarez (Relson/KTI)

14-15 yrs 99-122 lbs

1st Bobby Castle (Longman/PH)

2nd Jake Salmon (Longman)

3rd Chansen Auwae (Relson/TPJJ)

14-15 yrs 155-176 lbs

1st Quinton Boloson (Relson/O2)

2nd Robin Raza (Kamole)

3rd Alika Peleketi (Kauai Pankration)

16-17 yrs 120-138 lbs

1st Mikey Beltran (Relson/KTI)

2nd Lowen Gonzales (Longman/PH)

16-17 yrs 137-154

1st john Hommel (Relson/Shiraki)

2nd Keanu Pascua (Relson/HK)

16-17 yrs 180-183 lbs

1st Chris Hyde (Relson/KTI)

2nd James Goode (Longman)

3rd Kory Kaneholani-Davis (Kauai Pankration)

Girls No-Gi

12-13 yrs 116-121 lbs

1st Natalia Alvarez (Relson/KTI)

2nd Elizabeth Oshiro (Longman)

12-14 yrs 107-133 lbs

1st Harmony Pacheco (Relson/O2)

2nd Natalia Alvarez (Relson/KTI)

14 yrs 107-133 lbs

1st Harmony Pacheco (Relson/O2)

Adult Mens No-Gi

131 lbs Below Beg

1st Arajy Balisacan (Relson/KTI)

2nd Leon Alyvilla (Relson/KTI)

3rd Justin Martins (Longman/PH)

132-145 lbs Beg

1st Loren Otake (Relson/Shiraki)

2nd Arjay Balisacon (Relson/KTI)

3rd Jaron Sit (Longman)

146-159 lbs Beg

1st Cody Young

2nd Boz Nakahara (Relson/Shiraki)

3rd Brandon Largusa (Longman)

160-173 lbs Beg

1st Nick Lee (Relson/Shiraki)

2nd Nick Takashima (Relson/Shiraki)

3rd Sean James (10th Planet JJ)

174-187 lbs Beg

1st David cambell (Relson/KTI)

2nd Chris Hyde (Relson/KTI)

3rd Aaron Coyaso (Relson/KTI)

188-201 lbs Beg

1st Aaron Coyaso (Relson/KTI)

2nd Jackson Rosser (Relson/Shiraki)

3rd Derek Kawakami (Relson/KTI)

202-215 lbs Beg

1st Aaron Lee (Relson/KTI)

2nd Harold Bumagot (Relson/KTI)

216 lbs Above Beg

1st Koji Uenten (Relson/Shiraki)

2nd Aaron Lee (Relson/KTI)

3rd Steve Alvarez (Relson/KTI)

159 Below Adv

1st Luke Hacker (Longman)

2nd Joe Scoval (Longman)

3rd Matt Park (Kamole)

160-180 lbs Adv

1st Ka'ula Watson (Longman)

2nd Kawika Steward (Longman)

Chris Kaui (Relson/KTI)

36 yrs Over 159 Below Beg

1st Kirk Carinio (Longman)

2nd Ashley Maldonado (Longman)

36 yrs Over 160-180 lbs Beg

1st PJ Dean (Relson/O2)

2nd Seiji Yotsuda (Relson/KTI)

3rd Matt Oneil (Relson/KTI)

36 yrs Over 202 lbs Above Beg

1st Steve Alvarez (Relson/KTI)

Womens No-GI

Open Adv

1st Nancy Kapiko (Relson/TPJJ)

2nd Evrielle Blair (Longman)

3rd Alexis Carvalho (Relson/KTI)

Team Points

Kids Points

1st Relson Gracie 84 pts

2nd Longman 57 pts

3rd Kamole 11 pts

4th Kauai 24 Hr Fitness 3 pts

5th Kauai Pankration 2 pts

6th Maui Grappling Academy 1 pt

Adult Points

1st Relson Gracie 112 pts.

2nd Longman 56 pts

3rd Kamole

4th KGJJ 3 pts

5th 10th Planet JJ 1pt

Much Thanks to all of our competitors and sponsors for helping us run another great tournament!

50-kids & 95 Adults that competed

Thanks again to all our staff, especially our off Island staff and competitors!

Aloha

GSP: FROM ULTIMATE CHAMPION TO ULTIMATE COACH

Every season of “The Ultimate Fighter" has brought a different style of coach, and some of the best fighters in the world have taken a turn at the head of a team on the powerhouse reality show. For the first time ever, UFC welterweight champion and arguably pound-for-pound top fighter in the world Georges St-Pierre will take his turn as coach on the next season of the reality show, which starts filming in June.

The Canadian fighter leaves for Las Vegas in a few weeks, and has already started assembling his team of coaches and assistants that will help him along the way with the new season of hopefuls.

The cast of characters to support St-Pierre will be a who's who list of MMA's elite, as the champion has consistently surrounded himself with some of the best in the business.

"I'll take all my coaches, if they want to come, and so far they all want (to)," St-Pierre said when speaking to MMAWeekly Radio. "I'll also have some people that work with me that nobody knows yet, that aren't in my corner, but they play a huge role in my career."

The coaches that people do know will include his own head coach Firas Zahabi, as well as strength and conditioning coach Jonathan Chaimburg. Other coaches like Greg Jackson are sure to make appearances for St-Pierre's team throughout the season.

St-Pierre also promises some new faces that fans may not recognize, but after the reality show they may very well become household names.

"I have a guy from Paris, France, he's a champion in Muay Thai, he helps me before every fight, and nobody knows who he is cause he's not in my corner," St-Pierre disclosed.

What's odd is throughout the history of “The Ultimate Fighter" several past champions and legends in the sport have taken a turn coaching on the reality show, but due to timing and other issues St-Pierre will be making his debut with Season 12. The champion says everything worked out perfectly for this season, and plans on putting in a lot of work this year because he has a bout of his own to worry about in the latter part of 2010.

"It's perfect timing, I'm very happy that it happened right now actually," said St-Pierre. "It's going to be a good experience because don't forget I need to stay in shape as well, I need to train because I'm going to have a fight coming up too soon as well."

He will face his opposing Season 12 head coach Josh Koscheck in a rematch of the fight St-Pierre won in August 2007. A date for the rematch has yet to be announced, but won’t likely take place until after Season 12 has run its course on television this fall.

One aspect of the show that will surely be showcased will be St-Pierre's own legendary training techniques that have brought him to the pinnacle of the sport. His training methods are the stuff of legend, and St-Pierre plans on sharing with the next crop of "Ultimate Fighters."

"It's going to be the first experience for me. I'm excited because I do things quite differently than most of the fighters, the way I train, so I'm happy," said St-Pierre. "I'm going to be able to show people how I train, it's going to be a good experience."

The Canadian champion will head out to Las Vegas at the beginning of June to start taping, with the debut coming later this year on Spike TV.

Source: MMA Weekly

Parisyan, Bustamante, Sokoudjou, Kang, More UFC Vets Headed to Impact FC

Karo Parisyan, Murilo Bustamante, Jeff Monson, Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou, Paulo Filho and Denis Kang have been confirmed by the promoters with opponents for Impact FC's upcoming cards in Australia on July 10 and July 18.

Additionally, Monson and Filho are in for double duty, slated to fight on both cards. Monson is lined up to fight Bira Lima and then former UFC heavyweight champion Ricco Rodriguez. Meanwhile, Filho will take on Keith Johnson and then UFC and PRIDE veteran Kang.

The July 10 card is headlined by Josh Barnett vs. Geronimo Dos Santos and the July 18 card is headlined by Ken Shamrock vs. Pedro Rizzo.

Parisyan will be returning to action after 17 months away from fighting following a positive test for painkillers at UFC 94. Parisyan will meet 28-year-old Brazilian Luis "Besouro" Dutra Jr. with a record of 10-2.

Sokoudjou, who was saved last Friday with a DQ win over Dave Herman at ADFC 1, will face M-1 Challenge veteran Joaquim "Mamute" Ferreira of Rio de Janeiro.

Seen lately on UFC television as Rousimar Palhares' coach and translator, former UFC middleweight champion Bustamante will exit a two-and-a-half year hiatus and step in the ring against Jesse Taylor of The Ultimate Fighter fame.

July 10 in Brisbane, Australia:

Josh Barnett vs. Geronimo Dos Santos
Carlos Newton vs. Brian Ebersole
Karo Parisyan vs. Luis "Besouro" Dutra Jr.
Jeff Monson vs. Bira Lima
Paulo Filho vs. Keith Johnson

July 18 in Sydney, Australia:

Ken Shamrock vs. Pedro Rizzo
Jeff Monson vs. Ricco Rodriguez
Murilo Bustamante vs. Jesse Taylor
Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou vs. Joaquim Ferreira
Paulo Filho vs. Denis Kang

Source: MMA Fighting

Alistair Overeem-Fedor Emelianenko Fight Is the Only One That Makes Sense

Even though I know better, the temptation to make certain unhelpful comparisons between Alistair Overeem, Fedor Emelianenko, and their respective performances against a common opponent is almost overwhelming.

Don't worry, I'm not going to do it.

I'm not going to point out that while Fedor needed a round and a half to dispatch Brett Rogers, Overeem only needed a couple of minutes. I'm not going to contrast Fedor's smashed nose with Overeem's unmarred mug in the aftermath of the Rogers fight. Really, I swear I won't.

See, I know it doesn't work like that. There's no transitive property in MMA. The difference between styles, the fact that each fighter isn't necessarily the exact same man every time he steps in the cage, these factors make such comparisons useless.

At the same time, I'd be lying if I said that the ease with which Overeem destroyed Rogers didn't make me think twice about how the world's greatest heavyweight might stack up against the man with the cartoon superhero physique. And while no one knows for sure what goes on in the heads of M-1 Global executives, it's hard not to think that maybe Fedor's notoriously difficult handlers had some of the same thoughts watching last night's one-sided title fight.

The differences between Overeem and Rogers were mainly ones of power and attitude. In just under four minutes in the cage, Rogers never made the champ so much as consider the possibility that he might get hurt. Overeem's probably taken more damage doing yard work than he did defending his Strikeforce belt.

Afterwards "The Demolition Man" made it clear, once again, that he has his sights set on Emelianenko, but that he doesn't necessarily blame the Russian for the fact that the fight has proved so difficult to put together. Overeem prodded Fedor's management for keeping their fighter out of the Strikeforce title bout, but later expressed admiration for Fedor as "a legend."

It's a savvy trash-talk balancing act on his part, praising Fedor while making his management out to be the bad guys who are robbing fans of the fight they want to see, but I'm not sure it will have much effect on the M-1 Global crew.

If you couldn't tell by now, they don't particularly want to see their fighter take on Overeem. They have good reasons. As far as assets go, M-1 has Emelianenko, some logos that they'd love to plaster around various arenas and cages, and not a whole lot else.

Much depends on their ability to promote Fedor as the world's top heavyweight. If they put him into a fight with the bigger, stronger, and technically sound Overeem, there's too good a chance that they might lose that particular claim to fame. It's a risk, and no good businessman risks his most valuable asset unless he absolutely has to.

That's why M-1 opted for the safer choice of Fabricio Werdum as Emelianenko's next opponent even while Overeem was more than willing to meet him. Whenever you see a fighter's management go to such great lengths to keep him out of a title bout, you know something's up.

In all likelihood, Fedor will run through Werdum on June 26, but then M-1 is going to face a problem. While I'm sure they're already preparing to make the case that their fighter should take on Antonio Silva next instead of Overeem, that's not going to fly for long.

As Overeem's easy victory in St. Louis proved conclusively, Strikeforce has two great heavyweights on the roster. That's the good news. The bad news is, that won't mean much at all if it can't get them both in the cage together, and soon.

Source: MMA Fighting

Jorge Santiago

Middleweight champion on Sengoku, Jorge Santiago wants to breathe different airs. After six wins on the Japanese event, the American Top Team athlete dreams about coming back to the American events, where he first became a champion. In an exclusive interview to TATAME, Jorginho revels that his biggest desire at this point is to fight on Strikeforce, talked about the trainings on ATT, the conditioning training of Antônio Pezão for his fight against Andrei Arlovski, this Saturday, remembered the rematch with Mamed Khalidov, revenging his loss in 2009, commented about the domain of Anderson Silva on UFC and a lot more.

After the fight, how is the training rhythm?

They are fine, I’m already back to the trainings. In February I spent a month in Brazil to rest, but came back to the trainings right after it. There was some athletes during their preparation to fight, so I didn’t have an easy time. Maybe could appear out of the blue one fight for me and I had to be prepared.

What did you think of the rematch with Mamed Khalidov?

It was hard, the guy is really tough and only a few knew him. After that fight I could tell who he is, I even searched information about him. He is a great name in Europe, has only one loss on his record. I happened to lose the first fight, so I got really alert on the second one so that I would not make any mistake. It’s hard to fight against a person you don’t know and don’t know what to expect. When the guy is known and is on the media, you can see what his game is like… So it was hard getting ready for him, but I had the pressure of having the belt in my hands and I wanted to keep it, so I settled a cautious strategy just for keeping the belt, that was the most important thing. In the other fight it was not a belt on dispute, bet there was on the last one.

Do you think it was decisive the fact that you didn’t know him on the first fight and on the second you could set a strategy for the fight?

Yeah. The strategy was more defined on this last fight. Of course I didn’t risk much on this fight, I confess I did a cautious fight, because there was a title involved. If you are the champion, you have to maintain your title, it doesn’t matter how the fight will go… The guy has to work really hard to catch you.

Do you have any expectations for your next fight in the matter of date of opponent?

They talked about it, but didn’t give me a name yet. Sengoku will come back in July, if I’m not wrong and I’m trying to fight on the United States. I’m looking for the opportunities, the events, I’m trying to figure it out what is it that they want, but it’s a maker of chatting. They switched me from the night to the day, but I believe I’ll soon be fighting here in the U.S. too.

Does your contract allow you to fight on the U.S.?

They are allowing. My only commitment with them is to, within a six months period, defend my belt on the middleweight division. Besides that, as long as it’s not UFC, because they demand an exclusive contract, I can fight anywhere, like on Strikeforce and other events, and it is exactly what I’m trying to do now. I want to defend my middleweight belt there every six months and meanwhile fight here in the United States.

How many more fight do you have on your contract?

I don’t have a fixed number, I only have the commitment to come back here and defend my belt. We are about to remake the contract. I’m waiting for them and, at the same time, looking for opportunities here on the U.S., so I’m just waiting to see what will happen and I’m ready. It there is a good thing, you can count me in.

How do you see the growth of events on your category like Strikeforce, Bellator and others?

Thank God my division is starting to grow. On America, besides UFC, I think that the division is getting better, because people on Strikeforce are counting with athletes as Robbie Lawler, Melvin Manhoef, Jacaré, there is a good crew. The until 84kg division will grow on America too and I hope that not only on UFC, but guys like these new guys on Strikeforce. I always want to fight these people.

How do you think you’d do in Strikeforce today?

I’m dying to fight these guys and that’s what I want, I want to fight on Strikeforce. If God helps me, I can face these guys. I had a situation here in Strikeforce, I won the GP as I knocked out on two fights, right? Unfortunately, my contract ended at that time and I signed with Japan, so I have pendency here. There are guys in American pretending they are champions on my division, but didn’t want to fight me and that was the deal. Unfortunately I had to get out of here, so I have to solve this case and end up with this pendency.

How do you see this domain of Anderson on your division, having no threatening opponents to fight against?

Some good guys got out of UFC, so our division has not the same level of athletes anymore. Nowadays I don’t see who could take Anderson off there. I admire a lot his fighting style, I told him that, I try to see him as a mirror and, for now, I really don’t see anyone beating him. UFC has to admit more guys, because it’s not fair having Anderson fighting on this division (laughs). He has to go up and beat everyone from the division above ours. I hope they call more people. They say they are already doing it, so maybe we’ll see new people on the event.

Don’t you think that Vitor Belfort would be a great name to try to get this belt off Anderson?

Vitor has a chance. In a fight you can never underestimate your opponent. He is one of the guys who have the potential to fight. I think that, nowadays, he would be the great name, but even tso I think Anderson would win. I think Anderson has a more complete game to put in practice in the octagon along with Vitor. Vitor is a great fighter, but he has do a lot more than Anderson, because Anderson is the champion, so he has to prove more and run after him.

Dana White said that, if Anderson wins his two next fights, he will try to force him to change divisions. Do you think it is right of Dana trying to force Anderson to change his division instead of bringing new challenges?

I bet the can change divisions and win two belts, man (laughs). Of course he has to do what is best for him, he has the conditions to became the champion on the light heavyweight division. He has no opponent on his level there, he’s very free.

Shogun said he would accept fighting Anderson. How do you think it would be this bout?

It’s hard to say because they are two talented guys. It would be a fight I would want to watch from the first line, sit with popcorn in my hands and I wouldn’t even blink, because if one of them messes up, the other will end the fight right away.

Source: Tatame

Wild West Virginia: A Look Inside a Commission

Jerry Jones arrived at Elkins High School in Elkins, W.V., this past March, mouthpiece in hand, and gave the attendant $10. A doctor listened to his lungs, took his blood pressure and put him on a scale. He was asked a series of questions: Have you ever been hospitalized? Have you ever had a concussion? Do you have any physical problems?

Jones answered: no, no and no. He was placed in a queue of dozens of men lining up to be crowned Elkins’ weekend warrior of the moment -- a trademarked Toughman in sweat-soaked 16-ounce gloves and battle-worn headgear.

Had he been truthful, he might not have been offered the chance.

“The seizures can occur at odd times,” he said. “They just come out of the blue. I had to lie to fight.”

Jones has epilepsy. This was his third Toughman event.

A Faulty Circuit

In the combat sports climate of West Virginia, amateur boxing is virtually non-existent; professional boxers draw only modest attention.

Instead, the state has become the single most prolific host of Toughman and Toughman-style events in the country. The two-night tournaments are supervised by the athletic commission, endorsed by promoters as safe, secure fun and reported on by local papers with the reverence afforded to organized leagues. Eleven of them took place there in 2009, admitting hundreds of fighters and thousands of spectators; eight have already transpired this year, not including the off-brand Rough ‘N Rowdy.

“Not even [Toughman creator] Art Dore puts on a bigger show than [local promoter] Jerry Thomas,” said Matt McCase, a sports and entertainment promoter in the state. “And the truth is, the audience you’re marketing that event to really wants to come and see that. It’s really hard for these people to sit and watch pro bouts. They don’t respect it so much.”

Toughman is as much entertainment as sport, with flashing lights, gyrating women and a pulsating soundtrack with a sense of humor. If a fighter is downed or mimes injury, audiences might hear Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust” or the sound of a baby crying. In a 2002 Harper’s magazine piece, author Kathy Dobie described the dynamic of promoters allowing uniformed police officers in for free so they can break up fights in the crowd. Virtually anyone -- including “bar room brawlers and street fighters” solicited by Rough ‘N Rowdy advertising -- can enjoy the adrenaline of being in a ring without any of the training, ability or sacrifice.

“True amateur boxing in West Virginia is Toughman,” added McCase. “That’s all these people know and all they want to know.”

The public appetite for these contests has led to the state’s Department of Revenue to exert control over proceedings via an organizational branch. But whether crowds show up for boxing, kickboxing or the state pastime of amateur brawling, the West Virginia Athletic Commission is displaying signs that its five-member, modestly budgeted staff is falling short in monitoring the health of participants.

Sherdog.com contacted six professional boxers who competed in the state in 2008 or 2009; four described conditions that would be intolerable according to the standards of the Association of Boxing Commissions (ABC), the American Association of Professional Ringside Physicians (AAPRP) or even the state’s own statutes. Pre- and post-fight physicals were either absent or fleeting, ignoring cuts or swelling; some were free to get their hands wrapped without the observation or approval of commission officials; another showed up for a fight with a “nasty gash” over his eyebrow that went ignored. (That same athlete suffered a cut in a separate bout: When he sought medical attention, his coach was given a butterfly bandage and told to apply it.)

“I never had to take a drug test, blood test or physical,” said one boxer. “They never took a urine test. I could’ve been on crack or cocaine. I could’ve had blood pressure through the roof. They never would have known it.”

“It’s totally inappropriate
for a commissioner to be a
referee or judge in a fight.
What if you make a mistake?
You’re going to have to
discipline yourself.”
-- ABC President Tim Lueckenhoff.

“Every other place I’ve fought, right when you leave the ring, somebody checks you out,” said another. “I had awful swelling on the face. I was worried. My eye was just terrible. And nobody checked it. Someone else’s coach came up to me and said, ‘You need to get some aluminum on it real fast.’ It was wild.”

Because hand wraps aren’t regularly monitored, one athlete was told by a local resident that fighters could “skin” gloves -- the act of tightening the mitts closer to the knuckles to increase the chances for damage. Another fighter described having to help a commission member operate the scale for a weigh-in.

When informed by Sherdog.com that Athletic Commission Chairman Steven Allred was the listed ring official for several pro bouts in the state, ABC President Tim Lueckenhoff blanched. “It’s totally inappropriate for a commissioner to be a referee or judge in a fight,” he said. “What if you make a mistake? You’re going to have to discipline yourself.”

Allred’s brother Scott is also a listed referee for pro bouts; when Jim Frio was active on the commission, he was listed in a Morgantown show as both the commission supervisor and a fight judge. For an August 2009 contest between local favorite Tommy Karpency and the visiting Chuck Mussachio, Pete McGinley was installed as the referee despite a serious conflict of interest.

“Every time I felt like I was getting him on his heels and starting to do some damage, the ref would tell me to stop and watch my head or stop and tell him to watch his head,” Mussachio recalled. “At one point, he stopped the fight. I thought he was checking to see if Tommy was cut. But he was actually giving him a breather. He wiped the hair out of his eyes and said, ‘Continue.’”

Unknown to Mussachio at the time: the Morgantown gym where McGinley is a boxing instructor acts as an occasional training site for Karpency. Karpency has not lost any of his 15 fights in West Virginia. McGinley officiated at least six of them.

State of Denial

The acceptance of Toughman’s laymen and boxing’s pre-damaged might lead some into believing the state would have no problem with the callused bodies of professional mixed martial artists. Yet the House and Senate have failed to pass any one of three bills introduced prior to the 2009 and 2010 legislative sessions that would allow the competition; the idea of ground strikes and chokes is enough to turn athletic commission chairman Allred’s disposition into one of barely concealed contempt.

“If I had the wherewithal and the means,” he said, “I’d like to see MMA banned in other states.”

Allred arrived on the commission in 2000, around the time MMA promoter Jamie Levine was strong-arming his way into the territory with his World Extreme Fighting brand. Never lacking in volume, Levine portrayed his show as a public execution. Appalled, former commission Chairman Rick Modesitt sponsored legislation that clarified the commission’s power over freestyle fighting events.

“It was a very emotional issue, a very intense issue, in the state at the time,” remembered Modesitt. “The taste we got, right or wrong, was MMA being portrayed as a near-death match scenario by Mr. Levine.”

“Why would we allow a brutal sport to come into our state?” he said. “It is for money? Tell me it’s better than what we have, which already has its problems. The kids fighting in MMA, if they’ve had a concussion or two or three, haven’t even begun to experience their psychological effects. Those things take time. It doesn’t even manifest itself until 10 to 20 years after a career in football.”

By 2001, there was no ambiguity left: West Virginia would not host mixed martial arts competitions. It remains only one of three states with a law specifically prohibiting the sport. Forty-three states and Washington, D.C. sanction MMA while an additional five consider it legal and permissible without athletic commission oversight. New York has submitted sanctioning as part of its 2010-11 budget; Connecticut allows bouts on Indian land.

If New York’s legislation is processed, West Virginia will become the only territory out of 51 to completely rebuke the contests.

“I hear states do it for economic reasons,” Allred said. “You get to the point where, what are you going to allow for the sake of a tax dollar? Where do we stop? I’ll wear that badge, or target, with honor.”

Allred, who was appointed to the head chair in 2003 after Modesitt resigned, has taken that distinction to extreme lengths. In 2005, he sent a Cease and Desist letter to Ernest Hiles, who was set to promote a jiu-jitsu tournament without strikes. Hiles spent $6,000 taking the matter to court, which found in Hiles’ favor and issued a temporary restraining order against the commission. Allred tried similar tactics last year against Hiles’ grappling tournament at the West Virginia Games, an addition to the event requested by the city of Charleston. Other instructors have reported receiving similar orders.

“Jiu-jitsu is big here,” Hiles said. “We even have a tournament upcoming to raise money for cancer research. It's odd that he chooses to try and shut it down so often.”

Accused of being misinformed by proponents of MMA and grappling in the state, Allred says he agreed with the criticism and attended a jiu-jitsu school to take classes. He was unwilling to name either his instructor or the name of the academy. Citing his familiarity with other instructors in the area, Hiles believes he has never trained.

If he did, the classes would have to be modified significantly: While Allred professes a “great deal of respect” for grapplers, he cannot reconcile the option of chokes in competition.

“Respiratory choke, you’re cutting a guy’s oxygen off until he’s rendered unconscious,” he said. “A vascular choke, cutting a guy’s blood supply off until he’s unconscious or dead.”

USA Judo, which has registered 30,000 combatants in that style, allows chokes in athletes as young as 13. Their insurance company has recorded no injuries as a result of the techniques.

“There have been studies done, mostly in Japan and in Europe,” said Robert S. Nishime, M.D., who is tasked with overseeing injury issues for the organization. “Individuals were choked with cardiac and pulmonary monitoring. It’s consistently shown to be a safe technique.”

Fighting a Losing Battle

Largely unsuccessful in his attempts to have jurisdiction over grappling, Allred turned his attention to the increasing buzz in West Virginia’s political halls over sanctioning MMA. Appearing before legislation in 2009 during sessions held for a House Concurrent Resolution that mandated a study of both MMA and the state’s athletic commission -- the latter a study that was never arranged -- Allred submitted a host of documentation to delegates that presented the sport as a medieval and despicable anomaly, including material prepared by New York State Assemblyman Bob Reilly.

Among the paperwork was a letter from USA Boxing condemning MMA and signed by then-president Jim Millman. But Tom Virgets, Chairman of the organization that supervises amateur boxing, told Sherdog.com that Millman had never brought up the issue with the board and that USA Boxing has never issued any official statement on the topic.

“No one authorized Jim to speak on behalf of USA Boxing,” Virgets said. “We have made no official statement regarding MMA.” (Millman, who is no longer with the organization, could not be reached for comment.)

“I truly feel that MMA is
the most dangerous combative
sporting event known to
mankind at this point in time.”
-- Steven Allred.

Opponents did not restrict arguments to the legislative floor. Allen Saoud, D.O., the senior ring physician for the state, told an ABC affiliate in Clarksburg that he had personally witnessed elbows and knees causing injury to combatants during his supervision of MMA events in Ohio. Bernie Profato, chairman of the Ohio State Athletic Commission, retorted that Saud was “full of crap.”

According to the state’s records, Saoud only worked amateur bouts, which disallow knees to the head and elbows.

“I went and pulled his record and there wasn’t one situation where he advised anyone needing a follow-up CAT scan,” Profato said. “The few fights he worked, I looked at them, and he never had anything where he said someone had to be off for six months because he was beaten up.”

Despite the pockmarked evidence, Allred’s arguments were effective in calling up emotional responses from delegates who have stirred reputations for being easily swayed. Before a 2009 session intended to address adding calorie information to restaurant menus, several legislators were seen enjoying free biscuits provided by a local restaurant chain; a bill intended to raise taxes on beer was broken up by beer wholesalers throwing a party for delegates. Neither bill passed.

As far as MMA is concerned, Allred believes they did the right thing.

“You can’t have a baseline,” Allred said. “You can’t take one or three years and look at it and say, ‘We didn’t have any serious injuries.’ I don’t know you can do that fairly in a comparison against boxing. I look at MMA and it really scares me to death. Knees and elbows are bone against bone. That’s extremely serious.”

Allred cites the frequency of boxing matches relative to MMA as a reason for the former’s aggressive mortality rate. In 2002, the first full year MMA was sanctioned in Nevada, 63 MMA bouts were held in the state compared to 339 boxing matches. But by 2009, boxing held 238 fights to MMA’s 163. During the same year in California, 70 boxing events took place to MMA’s 76.

Three boxers in the U.S. died in 2009 due to injuries sustained in the ring; a fourth died in Australia while sparring; Z Gorres was put into an induced coma following a subdural hematoma. There were no serious injuries reported in state-sanctioned mixed martial arts, a statistic some ringside physicians attribute to diluted striking because of the grappling element and the availability of attacks other than those directed at the head.

“I’m opposed to the sport not because I’m a boxing guy, and not because I just don’t like MMA, but because I think it’s dangerous,” Allred said. “I just find it very difficult for me to dive in to MMA, to think that it’s a safe sport, that it’s not harmful to participants.

“I truly feel that MMA is the most dangerous combative sporting event known to mankind at this point in time.”

Source: Sherdog

ARLOVSKI ADMITS MISTAKES, WANTS TO FIGHT SOON

Back to the drawing board.

It's an old saying, but it stands true in just about any sport. It holds true for Andrei Arlovski, who has now lost three fights in a row dating back to early 2009, and he's working to get back to the form that saw him regarded as one of the best heavyweights in MMA just a few shot years ago, the UFC championship belt around his waist.

The Belarus native faced a tough test against Antonio Silva at Strikeforce: Heavy Artillery on Saturday night, where he struggled in the stand-up game during most of the fight, which has become his strong suit in MMA.

Arlovski will take the brunt of the criticism for his performance, but still needs to figure out what has to change if he's going to get back to the top of the division.

"I feel kind of upset because I put down my trainers. We had a great camp. I don't know, after 11 months (out of action) it's kind of hard to come back, but I think I did okay," said Arlovski. "I took his couple of shots on my chin. I guess I showed the fans my chin's not weak. It was a tough fight. He's tough.

"It just wasn't my night."

The strategy going into the fight was a very specific direction, but the former UFC champion admits he didn’t follow it very well and it cost him in the end.

"The game plan was very simple, straight punches and move to my right. Obviously I didn't do enough," Arlovski said. "I have to do some more combinations, more three, four, five punch combinations"

As Arlovski mentioned he was coming back after a long layoff due to taking a turn in the boxing world, but tasting a trifecta of defeats is enough and he's focused on MMA and MMA only for the immediate future.

"Right now I'm focused on my MMA career because when I took the fight on short notice against Brett Rogers my mind was focused on my pro boxing and as a result he knocked my ass out in less than 20 seconds," said Arlovksi. "Of course I wanted to box, but in MMA I have three losses in a row. I'm 15-8 right now and it's horrible. I just have to train I guess even harder and try to fight even harder."

The game plan for now is get back in the gym, and get back in the Strikeforce cage as soon as possible.

"I feel great. I could fight maybe tomorrow. It's up to Scott Coker," said Arlovski. "I want to fight, fight, fight."

The Strikeforce president commented that Arlovksi would be back "sooner than later," so Arlovski will now work to re-establish himself as a relevant heavyweight in a burgeoning division.

Source: MMA Weekly

PALHARES READY FOR TEST AGAINST MARQUARDT

His nickname when translated may mean "Shorty," but Rousimar "Toquinho" Palhares has been anything but short in his UFC career. The Brazilian middleweight currently stacks up with a 4-1 record and is currently slated to face off against Nate Marquardt at UFC 118 in Boston.

Training under legendary fighter Murilo Bustamante, Palhares has made a name for himself as one of the most devastating submission fighters in the game, and it was a submission in his last fight that cost him a suspension from the New Jersey Athletic Commission.

After snatching a leg from opponent Tomasz Drwal, Palhares wrenched up a heel hook and quickly had a submission win in the first round, but the referee and athletic commission believe that he didn't release the hold fast enough and suspended the fighter following the bout as a disciplinary action.

Palhares, now moves on, but still has a sour taste in his mouth from the whole experience believing he did nothing wrong.

"I think it was unfair," Palhares told MMAWeekly.com. "I didn't have any intention to hurt my opponent. In my opinion, unfortunately the referee was too far from us and took too long to interrupt the fight. If he was faster nothing of that would happen."

When the heel hook was released, Drwal was in obvious pain, but Palhares explains that he only did the job that he had to do to finish the fight and meant no ill will or harm towards his opponent.

"I did my job. I held until the referee stopped the fight," Palhares explained. "That's what Murilo always tell me to do, because he had (a) bad experience before with this subject."

The experience that Palhares referenced was a 2002 fight in the UFC between Bustamante and Matt Lindland in which the Brazilian Top Team fighter appeared to finish the fight with an armbar, but due to confusion with the stoppage, the fight was allowed to continue. Bustamante eventually submitted Lindland in the third round, but most believe he actually won the fight earlier with the armbar.

Palhares is ready to move forward now and face possibly his toughest test in the UFC. He is expected to face Colorado based fighter Nate Marquardt at UFC 118 in Boston. While the fight is still not confirmed, Palhares talked about the possible match-up and what kind of danger Marquardt brings into the fight.

"He is a great fighter, it will be a good test for me," said Palhares. "I am working hard to develop and improve my game. My dream fight (is) a title shot some day, and if God helps me become a champion. I know that to reach my dream, I will have to work hard and fight the best fighters in the world. Right now I am feeling totally secure and confident about my skills. Let them come. I want the best opponents I can have. It is time to test myself against them."

The last fighter to defeat Marquardt, Chael Sonnen, will now face Anderson Silva at UFC 117 with the middleweight title on the line. Beating Marquardt would be a big step forward for Palhares putting himself in a solid position to deserve a title shot, and he's ready for that challenge.

"I think it would be a big step in my career, and put me closer than what I am now," Palhares stated. "It is my dream, but I know I have to be ready when this time comes."

For now though, Palhares will focus on facing Marquardt in August and a win will go a long way to proving he belongs with the top middleweights in the world.

Source: MMA Weekly

SHINE FIGHTS CANCELLATION EXPLAINED, MATCHMAKER RESIGNS

The fallout from the Shine Fights cancellation from the weekend continues into the new week as matchmaker Ron Foster has now resigned from the promotion amidst speculation of disorder and disorganization at the event in North Carolina on Saturday. The North Carolina Boxing Authority has also responded with why the event was canceled and it had nothing to do with Ricardo Mayorga.

On Monday morning, Ron Foster announced his resignation to fighters and managers by sending an e-mail saying that he was stepping down from his duties as matchmaker for Shine Fights. When reached for comment on Monday by MMAWeekly.com, Foster was traveling at the time, and requested more time for an official response.

In the e-mail sent out on Monday Foster said, "because of the actions that took place on Saturday, Sunday and Monday I no longer feel that Shine Fights is the place for me."

Speculation ran wild on Saturday as to why the North Carolina Boxing Authority had pulled the plug on the show, but Executive Director Ken Pike and Superintendent Terrence Merriweather responded to MMAWeekly.com, answering all the questions about why the show was canceled.

"There were concerns about fighter safety and well being, that's why the fight was canceled," said Merriweather on Monday. "What we're talking about specifically is failing to have a doctor at the event, at the time for the fighters to be seen before the fights had started."

Pike and Merriweather confirmed that in North Carolina it's the responsibility of the promotion to provide the doctor, and one was not on scene for the fights on Saturday. A financial problem arose as well, as the members of the Boxing Authority explained.

"North Carolina rules and (regulations) require the promoter to have all purse amounts to the boxing authority two hours before the first match-up, and those requirements were not met," said Merriweather.

The full purse means funds to cover all the contracted bout agreements had to be paid to the commission prior to the event to guarantee fighter pay, and according to the members of the Boxing Authority, Shine Fights never followed through with that commitment.

Speaking with MMAWeekly.com anonymously on Monday, a source close to the event said that the situation at and around the show on Saturday was chaotic at best.

Shine Fights CEO Devin Price, as previously reported by MMAWeekly, was not present at the event due to the legal hearing held in Florida earlier in the day to deal with the fallout of the injunction filed on behalf of Don King who was Ricardo Mayorga's boxing promoter.

According to sources at the event, fans were already in the building and seated when the commission decided to cancel the show, and that refunds would be issued this week.

Also fighters on the card were set to be paid by Shine Fights as Price disclosed on Saturday following the event's cancellation. MMAWeekly.com has confirmed that fighters were told they would be paid, and that different fighters will get a different percentage of their fight purse depending on the contractual obligations set forth when deals were signed.

Representatives from Shine Fights declined to comment to MMAWeekly.com at the time of this publication.

Source: MMA Weekly

UFC EXTENDS REACH WITH ROKU SET TOP STREAMING

For the first time ever, just as UFC light heavyweight rivals Rampage Jackson and Rashad Evans enter the Octagon and touch gloves, Roku users all over the country will be able to see what happens next and who emerges the winner of this ultimate grudge-match live on TV via their Roku streaming video player.

The world’s largest live pay-per-view event content provider, the Ultimate Fighting Championship, and Roku, Inc. on Monday announced a multi-year deal to feature all major UFC events on Roku, starting with UFC 114: Rampage vs. Evans taking place Saturday, May 29 live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

“We are always looking at the latest technology and the newest ways to bring the UFC experience to our fans,” said Dana White, UFC President. “Roku is another way for fans to get more UFC and watch all of the UFC events live and in HD, starting with UFC 114 on Saturday, May 29th.”

“The Roku player is capable of delivering amazing live events, in HD, on the TV. We are excited to be UFC’s lead partner in bringing the total UFC experience – from live events and classic fights to insider previews, countdowns, and training coverage – to fans everywhere, whenever they want it,” said Anthony Wood, founder and CEO of Roku, Inc.

“The new UFC channel joins a growing list of major streaming content services for the TV that started first on Roku, including Netflix, MLB.TV, and Amazon Video On Demand – further strengthening our position as the leader in delivery of premium streaming content.”

In addition to UFC 114 and future live fights, Roku users will also have access to the UFC Vault, the world’s largest collection of archived fights, as well as live access to UFC pre-fight events including the official weigh-ins, and pre- and post-fight press conferences, hosted by White.

First introduced in May 2008 as the original Netflix player, the Roku streaming player is a little box that allows you to instantly stream entertainment on your TV without a PC. Roku’s rapidly expanding library of instant entertainment includes over 50,000 movies and TV shows, live sporting events, music, and more.

Roku players start at just $79.99 for the standard definition model and $99.99 for the HD model.

Source: MMA Weekly

5/19/10

Octagon observations: What now for Kimbo?

1. End of The Kimbo Show: The legendary street brawler’s stint in the UFC did about as well as could be expected. UFC got what it wanted in using Kimbo to breathe ratings life back into “The Ultimate Fighter,” and Slice earned respect in the community by making a real commitment to become a legitimate mixed martial artist. Ultimately, he didn’t make it, but it wasn’t for a lack of effort. UFC president Dana White summed it up on Saturday night: “He deserved another fight in the UFC and he lost. I’ve got nothing but respect for Kimbo and I like him as a person. And I think he’s carried himself really well.”

Slice will make another big payday somewhere if he still feels like fighting. He’s tailor-made for Japan’s matchmaking style, which often values showmanship ahead of pure skills. In the United States, some promoter somewhere will throw money at him in order to get some attention. And it will probably work.

2. “Shogun’s” tale: Who doesn’t love a good redemption story? Mauricio “Shogun” Rua was all but written off in many circles – including here – as just another ex-PRIDE washout. But Rua never complained in public about his plight, took the time to heal his injuries, and mounted a serious effort to get back to the top. Whoever wasn’t already on the “Shogun” bandwagon hopped aboard after he was on the wrong end of a highway robbery in his first attempt at Lyoto Machida’s title. Saturday night, Rua became the fifth fighter to hold the light heavyweight title in just under three years. If he can return stability to the 205-pound weight class, the “all-time great” status expected of him when he competed in PRIDE will be his after all.

3. What’s next? Let’s slow down on the Rua-Anderson Silva talk for the time being. Silva has to defend his title at middleweight again and prove he won’t spit on the fans who shell out $45 to watch him headline before getting rewarded with a crack at the 205 belt. Besides, the next UFC event features two former light heavyweight champions in Rashad Evans and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, who, due to various circumstances, never got their title rematch. White wouldn’t quite commit Saturday to giving the winner a title shot – the guess here is that White doesn’t quite trust Jackson not to flake if he beats Evans – but this makes more sense than any other scenario at the moment.

4. “The Dragon” will return: MMA is a “what have you done for me lately” sort of game, but let’s hope Lyoto Machida isn’t forgotten based on a single bad loss, which, after all, was the first defeat of his career. Machida’s point karate and sumo training gave longtime fans a blast from the past and the firepower he displayed in his wins over Thiago Silva and Rashad Evans demonstrated that he is close to a complete package. Rua shattered Machida’s invincible aura with his fearlessness on Saturday night, so it will be intriguing to see how a fighter as cerebral as “The Dragon” responds to his first major setback.

5. Do the right thing: For all the criticism, fair and otherwise, that White has received for his decisions at the UFC helm, Saturday night demonstrated why he is the sort of leader needed to successfully run a promotion in a business as cutthroat as mixed martial arts. There’s a code of honor and respect in MMA and there are lines you simply don’t cross if you want to compete in the major leagues. What Paul Daley did to Josh Koscheck, sucker-punching him after the fight was over, is a zero-tolerance infraction. White sent an unequivocal message by cutting Daley on the spot. No doubt, some reporters and bloggers will look at every single decision White has ever made in a decade as company president and try to trump up some sort of charge of hypocrisy or inconsistency in his decision making, but White made the right decision in this case, period, end of story.

6. In the money: Make no mistake about it, Georges St. Pierre against Josh Koscheck for the welterweight title is a money fight. Koscheck cemented his place as the fighter UFC fans most love to hate with his performance in his victory over Daley and with his trash talk afterward. And that’s before we get several months of Koscheck’s mug all over “The Ultimate Fighter” as a coach. As for the title match itself, while it is still hard to see Koscheck beating GSP the second time around, he was, in fact, the last person to win a round against the current champion, back in 2007, and does figure to give the champ his most competitive matchup in quite some time.

7. True talent: It’s hard to believe that Alan “The Talent” Belcher is the same fighter who was TKO’d in short order by Jason Day in Montreal two years ago. Since then, Belcher has become one of the sport’s most improved fighters, and he never looked better than he did in hostile territory on Saturday night. Belcher returned to the Bell Centre and finished a motivated Patrick Cote in front of a sellout crowd that was vociferously rooting for the Quebec City native. Belcher says he wants to fight Anderson Silva, and Dana White sees it as feasible. “I was very impressed with Belcher tonight,” he said. “He’s in the mix. I don’t disagree with him.”

8. Woe Canada: It appears the easiest way for a UFC fighter worried about job security to keep his job is by moving north of the border. After Saturday’s action, the five Canadian fighters on the non-televised undercard – Jason MacDonald, Tim Hague, Joe Doerksen, T.J. Grant and Jonathan Goulet – are a combined 2-13 in their past 15 Zuffa fights. Granted, this is a bit unfair to MacDonald, who lost due to a freak leg injury on a takedown, but only the cagey veteran Doerksen, who suckered Tom Lawlor into a rear-naked choke, left the Bell Centre cage as a winner.

Source: MMA Weekly

OVEREEM DEMOLISHES ROGERS, CALLS OUT FEDOR

It was short night for the return of Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem as he simply outmatched and punished Brett Rogers for a first round win, and now the only thing on his mind is Fedor Emelianenko.

After spending 2 ½ years away from the promotion, Overeem came back on fire Saturday night, displaying his usual aggression to put Rogers on his heels early. Landing some good leg kicks combined with combinations, Overeem maintained control and even tossed Rogers down to the mat when the opportunity arose.

Once on the ground, Overeem was just too much, passing the guard of Brett Rogers, and dropping bomb after bomb on the Chicago native. As Rogers turned to his side to try and avoid the punishment, Overeem continued to crush him with punches, and referee John McCarthy mercifully stopped the fight.

Spending time in Japan focusing primarily on kickboxing, Overeem promised to come back soon to the Strikeforce cage and solidified his spot as champion on Saturday night.

"It's been a while, but I'm back, and I'm the champion of Strikeforce and I'm here to stay," Overeem said in victory.

It was uttered before the fight and it continued afterwards that the only fight that Overeem wants right now is a match-up against the top heavyweight in the world.

"Fedor Emelianenko," Overeem answered when asked who he wanted to fight next. "His management declined to fight me tonight, respect for Brett because he stood up and wanted to fight me like a man. I think now it's Fedor's time."

Fedor will return to action in just over a month to face Fabricio Werdum in San Jose, and Overeem will continue to call for the fight that seems almost like an inevitable match-up for the Strikeforce heavyweight belt. Now it's just a matter of Strikeforce and M-1 Global coming to terms to make it happen.

That looks to be the biggest challenge of all.

Source: MMA Weekly

GRACIE UPHOLDS FAMILY NAME, PLANS 2010 RETURN

Gracie...

The most iconic name in all of mixed martial arts and the latest family member to step into the very large shoes to fill with that last name is Roger Gracie, who debuted for Strikeforce on Saturday night. He choked out former UFC and Pride fighter Kevin Randleman in the second round in St. Louis.

Admitting that he hasn't focused fully on MMA in some time, Gracie looked strong in his first fight back in two years, cracking Randleman with a good knee before finishing the fight on the ground. The pressures that go along with the last name Gracie can't be ignored, but Roger is well aware and plans on carrying the legacy forward.

"I think every Gracie has some sort of a responsibility when he fights because he's representing the whole family when he's fighting," he said. "You have to learn to deal with that sort of pressure because you can't let that interfere with the way you fight or your concentration, so I think I've gotten pretty used to it."

The gifts he's received from the Gracie lineage is a lifetime of instruction from some of the best in the world. Renzo Gracie sat in Roger's corner at Strikeforce on Saturday night, while surely the entire family was rooting for him from all over the world.

Gracie hadn't fought MMA in two years before coming back in Strikeforce, but was active in grappling tournaments all over the globe. He admits that fighting MMA is a different feeling, but the activity he's had kept him from having any real ring rust.

"I wasn't fighting MMA, but I was still active in jiu-jitsu and grappling," Gracie said. "That's definitely helped me a lot. The hardest thing is to deal with the pressure before the fight, all the adrenaline and things like that. It's the same. It doesn't matter the modality you're fighting. That sort of thing is just like for every single fight."

As for his future, many have already begun asking how quickly he'll rise up the light heavyweight division after only his third professional fight. Keeping a busy schedule in all facets of his career, Gracie says fans can expect to see more of him in 2010.

"The last time I fought was in (2008), but I'm pretty sure I"ll be fighting soon," said Gracie. "I don't know exactly when, but hopefully the second half of the year. We'll see, but I will be fighting more often."

The entrance of Gracie starts to build and stabilize a light heavyweight division, which has been in flux over the last couple of years in Strikeforce, but now has a Top 10 ranked champion and a list of contenders that continues to grow.

Source: MMA Weekly

MELENDEZ VS ALVAREZ: IF DEAL'S RIGHT, LET'S DO IT

"I want to make a statement, I want to be No. 1. I'm back on track, and I'm almost there, I want to prove it. I'd love to fight someone like Eddie Alvarez. Eddie Alvarez is a guy I'd really like to fight," Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez told MMAWeekly.com recently.

“Gilbert is a great fighter who’s got a lot of momentum going right now,” Alvarez responded. “This is the match-up that all the fans want to see and it’d be a shame if it didn’t happen. I want to do it.”

Well... it appears those that can make that fight happen are paying attention.

“As an MMA fan, first and foremost, Alvarez versus Melendez is an awesome fight at 155 that deserves to be seen and needs to be made,” Alvarez’s boss, Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney said on Saturday.

“Gilbert has the heart of a warrior, just like our champion Eddie. I will do everything I can to get Gilbert what he asked for. Gilbert wants the fight, Eddie wants the fight and I want the fight. All we have to do is get Scott Coker on board and together we can make this happen.”

Coker, the CEO of Strikeforce, is listening. He’s not ready to fully commit to the fight, but he told MMAWeekly.com on Saturday night that he is open to working with Bellator to make it happen.

"We'd consider it. It depends on the timing," he said.

"We had a conversation about Roger Huerta (currently under contract with Bellator) fighting for us, but the terms and conditions weren't something that was attractive to us, so we passed. But we've had some good conversations with Bellator and the door's open for anybody."

Strikeforce has already proven that it isn’t averse to partnerships. The company agreed to co-promotions with M-1 Global to win the Fedor Emelianenko sweepstakes, and also has a strong fighter sharing partnership with Japan’s Dream promotion.

The Huerta negotiation however is indicative that Strikeforce isn’t jumping into a situation just to make a good fight happen. It’s got to make sense.

"I think it's about the deal,” Coker stated, “but if the deal's right, let's do it."

Source: MMA Weekly

NO MATTER WHO, NO MATTER WHERE, JACARE READY

It took Ronaldo “Jacare” de Souza all three rounds, but he came out on the winning end of the equation in his bout with Joey Villasenor at Saturday night’s Strikeforce event in St. Louis.

"It was a war and it was a great fight,” said Jacare later. “I was prepared for that."

He dominated the majority of the fight, doing just enough on his feet to stay away from Villasenor’s power and take the Greg Jackson-trained fighter to the mat, over and over, for the course of the fight, earning a unanimous decision.

So what’s next for the Brazilian jiu-jitsu specialist?

Many would think a title shot, but with Strikeforce middleweight champion Jake Shields’ status up in the air – he’s likely to bolt for the UFC – the status of the title belt remains in the upper stratosphere as well.

That’s all right by Jacare; he’s just looking to fight again.

"Strikeforce is my home,” he said after the fight. "I'm waiting for Strikeforce to tell me what will be the next fight."

Now sitting at 12-2, both Jacare and his boss want to keep the momentum building after back-to-back wins over Villasenor and Matt Lindland.

"You'll see Jacare back sooner than later,” said Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker. “What I mean by that is he fought in December (against Lindland) for us and it's been about five months, but we plan to have Jacare back in the next three months or the next four months."

Against who remains a mystery, but the promotion’s middleweight division contains the likes of Robbie Lawler, Dan Henderson, Scott Smith, and Cung Le, among others, so Jacare is sure to get an opponent that will be every bit as challenging as Villasenor when the time comes.

Source: MMA Weekly

FOR ALISTAIR OVEREEM IT'S FEDOR OR BUST!

I want to fight Fedor.

Give me a fight with Fedor.

Fedor, fight me.

There are many variations on the theme, but the refrain is the same... Alistair Overeem wants to fight Fedor Emelianenko.

With the Strikeforce heavyweight champion’s first round demolition of Brett Rogers on Saturday night, it would seem the fight could now happen. Not so fast.

Remember, Fedor has another fight on his hands first. He is scheduled to face Fabricio Werdum in a Strikeforce and M-1 Global co-promotion on June 26 in San Jose, Calif.

If he wins there then let’s talk.

“I know Alistair would love to fight Fedor, and that's a conversation that will happen after June 26,” said Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker on Saturday night. “You can't assume. Fabricio Werdum is an amazing fighter and what if he beats Fedor? So then it shuffles the deck again.”

Most fighters will say that they want to fight whoever the promotion wants or whoever wins the fight. Not so for Overeem. He has a definitive match-up in mind.

"Definitely Fedor. Fedor is a way more exciting fighter. He's always looking for the kill, fighting stand-up or on the ground, like me,” Overeem explained of his desire to fight the No. 1 heavyweight in the world.

“Werdum is more ground. I prefer fighters who go for the kill. It’s more exciting fights instead of fighters who stall. I'm not saying that Fabricio is a stalling fighter, but the Fedor fight is a little more attractive, more aggressive, less stalling."

Let’s face it, Fedor is regarded by most as the top of the heap in the heavyweight division. It is nearly unanimous... save for UFC president Dana White.

So why wouldn’t Overeem have his sites fixed on the top of the mountain?

“Fedor is a legend,” said Overeem, “and if you want to become a legend you have to fight a legend and you have to beat the legend.”

Coker is happy with Overeem’s return because his heavyweight division is now brimming with solid match-ups.

“What I am excited about is now there's some amazing heavyweight match-ups that we're going to be able to put together with Alistair and Andrei (Arlovski) and (Antonio) ‘Giant’ Silva and Fedor in the mix, so the heavyweight division is looking strong."

But to Overeem there is only one name in that mix that he cares about. Say it with me, “Fedor!”

Coker won’t budge... talk of Overeem vs. Fedor will just have to wait until June plays out.

“Alistair has told me many times that he would love to fight Fedor,” said Coker. “He's called Fedor out when he fights in Japan all the time. So he's looking forward to taking that fight, but that's going to be something where we're going to have to sit down after the June 26 fight.

“And like I said, you can't count Fabricio out. The timing could be right for him to move forward. So I think that when you look at that fight it has to be something that M-1 and Strikeforce will sit down after that fight is over."

Most everyone believes Overeem vs. Fedor is the premier match-up in Strikeforce’s heavyweight division.

Overeem lived up to his end of the bargain by crushing Brett Rogers.

Now it’s Fedor’s turn with Werdum, but that’s no given.

It would, however, give Overeem, and everyone else, the match-up that we all want to see.

Source: MMA Weekly

BTT bets on Palhares against Marquardt

With four wins in five fights on UFC, Rousimar “Toquinho” Palhares will have his chance to stick to the tops of his division on UFC 118. TATAME.com learned from close sources that the black belt will face Nate Marquardt on August 28, on the United States.

Searched by TATAME, Murilo Bustamante, Brazilian Top Team leader, did not confirm the duel, but commented the meet of Toquinho and Nate Marquardt. “We will do it all with him, each time more try to keep the fight standing, train the takedown and to vary the most we can, do the ground game every chance we get. Of course that the game is to bring him to the ground, but be ready to fight wherever the fight takes place”, analyses Murilo.

The black belt also commented on the punishment imposed to Toquinho on his last fight on UFC. “I think the judge made a huge mistake… My orientation was the same as his, only to let it go when the referee interrupt the fight. The referee has to have a plenty view of the fight… He submits really quickly when he fit the position, the referee had to know better and get a better position… he was too far and took a while to interfere, but I think it won’t happen again”, concluded Bustamante.

Source: Tatame

Dan Lauzon's UFC 114 Camp in Chaos Following Brother Joe's Departure

Dan Lauzon was once considered a mixed martial arts prodigy. At 18 years, six months and 14 days old, he became the youngest fighter ever to compete in the UFC. He seemed to have the world in his hands.

Now, however, his MMA career has fallen into chaos.

In a recent interview with The Boston Herald, Lauzon revealed that his brother -- fellow UFC fighter Joe Lauzon -- as well as his usual cornermen Joe Pomfret and Steve Maze, are no longer working with him and have refused to corner him in his upcoming UFC 114 fight against Efrain Escudero.

"They're not going to be there to support me," he told the paper. "It (stinks). I don't really know what I did to deserve this. I wouldn't do that to anybody. I wouldn't do that to my brother, I wouldn't do that to anyone in my gym. It's not right."

While Dan Lauzon says that his training was going well up until the trio essentially cut ties with him, that group disagrees.

Writing on his blog, Joe Lauzon said it was a pattern of irresponsible, unfocused training that led to the split.

"When Dan was 14 to 17, he trained like a mad man. He was in the gym all the time, but he is 22 now and that fire he once had is long gone. When he is in the gym, he comes in and works hard. He does a great job helping guys with technical things and teaching more subtle things as well. Unfortunately, he is never in the gym. If he has a fight, he is in sparingly. If he doesn't have a fight he is an absolute ghost."

Joe Lauzon said that after questioning his brother about his work ethic and training schedule, he and the other two trainers essentially gave Dan an ultimatum requiring that he follow the schedule laid out for him, otherwise they would not corner him for his fight.

Joe wrote that while Dan upped his training a little, it still fell far short of where it needed to be.

"It's not fair that we all make time for him in Vegas when he can't do his job beforehand and train," Joe Lauzon wrote.

Joe Lauzon said he wrote his side of the story on his blog only after Dan spoke with the media, adding that he was "a little relieved" that he'd no longer have to lie when people asked how his brother's training was going.

With little time left in his camp, Dan Lauzon has reportedly continued his training at Lauzon MMA (which is owned by Joe), but not under his brother's eye. He said after this fight, he will likely move on. Adding to the pressure, Dan (12-3) is coming off a loss to Cole Miller, and a second straight loss would likely put him in danger of being cut.

"I was completely hurt by it, especially my brother Joe," Dan said. "I don't think anybody would ever do that to their brother. I can't think of anyone else that would ever do that to their brother and just tell them, 'Hey, you're on your own.'"

Source: MMA Fighting

5/18/10

BELLATOR OPEN TO PROMOTING ALVAREZ VS. MELENDEZ

Since Gilbert Melendez trumped Shinya Aoki on CBS a few weeks back, the Strikeforce lightweight champion has been vocal about how he'd like to fight Bellator Fighting Championships 155lb champion Eddie Alvarez.

Now Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney has listened and opened the door to Strikeforce president Scott Coker to see if they co-promote and make the fight happen.

“As an MMA fan, first and foremost, Alvarez versus Melendez is an awesome fight at 155 that deserves to be seen and needs to be made,” Rebney said. “Gilbert has the heart of a warrior, just like our champion Eddie. I will do everything I can to get Gilbert what he asked for. Gilbert wants the fight, Eddie wants the fight and I want the fight. All we have to do is get Scott Coker on board and together we can make this happen. Eddie wants to fight the best and Gilbert wants to fight the best and there is no reason why any promoter or network should stand in the way of that.”

When speaking with MMAWeekly Radio after his fight with Aoki in April, Melendez said that Alvarez would be a great match-up to have, and hopefully the organizations could work together to make it happen. He also believes that to get to the top you have to beat the best, and that's where he ranks Alvarez.

"I want to make a statement, I want to be No. 1," said Melendez. "I'm back on track, and I'm almost there, I want to prove it. I'd love to fight someone like Eddie Alvarez. Eddie Alvarez is a guy I'd really like to fight."

Bellator lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez, fresh off of a submission win over Josh Neer just last week, says he's more than happy to accept the challenge and hopes the fight happens as well.

“Gilbert is a great fighter who’s got a lot of momentum going right now,” Alvarez said. “This is the match-up that all the fans want to see and it’d be a shame if it didn’t happen. I want to do it, Bjorn wants to do it and it sounds like Gilbert wants to do it. If I could sum up my thoughts in four words, it’d be: ‘Let’s make it happen."

No doubt that Strikeforce president Scott Coker will be broached about the subject at the post fight press conference following tonight's event in St. Louis. Strikeforce has done co-promoted shows in the past with organizations like M-1 and Elite XC, but to date they have not worked with Bellator. A superfight between Melendez and Alvarez could be just the ticket to make it happen.

Source: MMA Weekly

COMMISSION CANCELS SHINE, BUT THEY'LL MOVE ON

Saturday may go down in history as the longest day ever for Shine Fights CEO Devin Price.

The promotion was set to put on their latest show in Fayetteville, N.C., on Saturday night, headlined by former world boxing champion turned mixed martial arts fighter Ricardo Mayorga taking on UFC veteran Din Thomas. An injunction filed by Mayorga's boxing promoter, Don King, was upheld early in the day in Broward County, Fla., and set the domino effect in motion.

Price spoke with MMAWeekly.com on Saturday evening to give his account of what exactly transpired. The Shine Fights CEO was still in Florida as of this evening due to being in court all afternoon dealing with the King injunction.

"I've been in court all day yesterday and all day today. I actually did not get out of court until about 4:30. So as you know the judge granted the injunction for Don King, and so the Ricardo Mayorga fight was off," said Price.

"However, we were ready to move forward with our show because we felt and we still feel like we have a great card. So we were ready to go put it on and fans were actually in the building from my understanding, and the commissioner ended up calling the fights for reasons I'm not entirely sure of. So I don't want to speak too much around that."

A source told MMAWeekly.com that fans were indeed in the building and it was the commission that announced the show had been cancelled. Fans were advised that refunds would be issued starting Monday for the cancelled show. Still baffled by the cancellation Price says it was the commission that made the call and he'll be in touch with them first thing Monday morning.

"The commissioner cancelled the show. I didn't know they could cancel the show," Price said. "The commission decided to cancel the show. I just want to get an understanding from their side of things why they decided to call the event. That's one of the first things I'm going to find out."

One thing that will remain up in the air at least for now is the injunction against Shine using Ricardo Mayorga. Price admitted that right now they're unsure if they will file an appeal or not. Now that he’s seen that side of boxing promoters, he knows it’s something he has no desire to be a part of.

"I'm not a boxing promoter, I do not want to be in the sport of boxing, and I got involved in mixed martial arts, and we're going to keep to our roots, so that's that," Price stated.

Price made sure to point out that the fighters scheduled for Saturday’s card would be paid, regardless of the fact that they didn't get to compete. He also said the company is absolutely moving forward and will be planning a new show in the next few months.

"The fighters will all be taken care of financially for this fight. This is not going to be a situation where we're going to say 'oh the fight's canceled, nobody's getting paid,’" said Price. "People will be paid, and we're going to look to put on a fight very soon. We're probably looking at June/July/August."

The fighters that were on the card will all be considered for future Shine Fights cards as well.

"We're definitely going to get them fights going forward, and make those good match-ups like what we had tonight," said Price.

The Shine Fights CEO will speak with the North Carolina Athletic Commission on Monday for clarification about the cancellation.

MMAWeekly.com will have more information on this story in the coming days.

Source: MMA Weekly

JACARE & FEIJAO SOLIDIFY THEIR CONTENDER STATUS

Strikeforce may have solidified two new top contenders at Heavy Artillery on Saturday night with Ronald "Jacare" De Souza and Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante getting wins, while also welcoming the newest member of a legendary family to the fold.

While the world and Strikeforce wait to see what middleweight champion Jake Shields' next move will be, Ronaldo "Jacare" De Souza made his case for the next shot at the 185lb title with a win over Joey Villasenor on Saturday night.

Known as one of the best grapplers in all of MMA, Jacare showed extremely strong wrestling by taking Villasenor down multiple times during the fight, while working for punches a few submissions. To Villasenor's credit he used his wealth of experience to get up from the bottom and stay out of any real trouble on the ground.

As the fight wore on, Villasenor gained confidence in his ability to land punches on the Brazilian, and he managed to open a cut and bust up Jacare's nose as well. The takedowns and ground work were simply too much in the end as Jacare kept pushing forward to get the fight on the mat, and he picked up a unanimous decision win for his efforts.

Now, Jacare will have to wait for Shields' decision and then the hunt for a middleweight title shot can begin for the Brazilian grappling wonder.

He made the family proud on Saturday night as Roger Gracie kept his perfect record in tact with a second round submission over Kevin Randleman.

There was no doubt looking at the first round of the fight that Gracie was still a project at work with his stand-up, but in the 2nd round he connected with a knee flush to Randleman's head.

As Randleman dropped, it was like Christmas morning for the former Abu Dhabi grappling champion as he quickly worked his ground game, transitioning positions and eventually sinking in a rear naked choke. Randleman had no choice but to tap out, and Gracie gets his third professional win. Having possibly the most legendary last name in all of MMA, Roger is happy to represent the first family of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

"Every Gracie that step in the ring, it means a lot for the family, we're here to represent them," said Gracie after the win.

It was a back and forth battle early, but eventually Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante put away Antwain Britt, and he put him away with a brutal knockout.

The fighters were both comfortable trading punches to open the fight, and Britt seemed to be getting the better of Feijao with a few stiff combinations. A training partner of UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva, Feijao obviously understands how to withstand pressure under fire and he fired back with some power of his own.

Catching Britt with a big right hook, Feijao followed up with a swarm of punches as his opponent eventually dropped to the canvas as the referee literally jumped into the fray for the save. Feijao now solidifies his place as a top contender in the light heavyweight division where "King Mo" Lawal wears the crown.

Source: MMA Weekly

SILVA HANDS ARLOVSKI 3RD LOSS IN A ROW

The heavyweight division is always looking for new contenders, and after suffering the first loss of his career in his last fight, Antonio Silva got back to winning form and became a player again in the division defeating former UFC champion Andrei Arlovski at Strikeforce: Heavy Artillery.

Going into the fight it appeared on paper that Arlovski would have the better boxing, but apparently Silva has some pretty good stand-up training at American Top Team as well. The big Brazilian tagged Arlovski several times in the fight, putting his fist right on the chin of his opponent and backing him down.

Arlovski tried to move forward but every time he would throw a punch, he seemed to forget his defense and immediately ate a shot just as quickly.

The fight wore on through the 2nd and 3rd rounds with a lot of clinch work against the cage with referee John McCarthy having to separate them after a lack of action. To Silva's credit he continued to punish Arlovski and it looked like he may have broken the Belarus native's nose during the bout.

The judges saw Silva's dominance and gave him a unanimous decision win, as he rebounded after a loss to Fabricio Werdum in his last fight. As for Andrei Arlovski, now after dropping three fights in a row, he may be fighting for relevancy in the division with his next bout as well as staying employed.
Source: MMA Weekly

Thiago Silva ‘loved to see’ Lyoto knocked out

Thiago Silva is hunger for fighting. After losing for the second time on his career, the guy from São Paulo wants to recover himself over Tim Boetsch, his opponent on UFC 117, on August 7. “It’s confirmed, but I haven’t signed the contract yet”, tells Thiago, in a chat with TATAME, showing his excitement for the duel. “I’m training hard and I’m ready, it’s about time. I’m 100% ready to make a good show, I’ll train hard to win”.

The Brazilian faces Tim Boetsch, athlete that is coming back to UFC after three wins in smaller events. On the previous UFC fights, Tim won only two. “I didn’t know him, but I watched some videos. He is a tough guy, comes forward and likes to fight. It’ll be good, both of us enjoy fighting. The fight will end before the third round”, bets Thiago, analyzing the division. “It’s all messy, man. There are a lot of good athletes, it’s hard for one guy to keep himself on the top of the division, and it often changes.

The last change on the top of the division was the trade of belt between Lyoto Machida and Maurício Shogun. Thiago reveals his happiness with the win of Shogun on UFC 113. “I thought it was amazing, I was really glad. Shogun is a guy I respect, he helped me a lot on Chute Boxe, also Dida… They have always been on my side, I’m very glad, independently he is part of my division. I loved to see his knockout over Lyoto, it made me even happier about it (laughs), tells Thiago.

With only two losses on his record, the athlete from American Top Team does not think about choosing his opponents in the future, but made it clear that he wants rematches against the former champions of Ultimate, Lyoto Machida and Rashad Evans. “I think these two losses are choked, but I don’t choose my opponents. I’m here to fight against the bests. But if UFC wants to make a rematch, I’m in (laughs)”, concluded Thiago.

Source: Tatame

Barão: “I want to leave my mark on WEC”

Renan Barão lost on his MMA debut and then never felt his bitter taste again. After 25 wins, the tough guy signed up a contract with WEC and his debut was scheduled for June 20, against Clint Godfrey. Barão is in Rio de Janeiro, training hard on Nova União, and took that time here to talk to TATAME. The athlete commented on the impact of losing his first fight on MMA, spoke about his future on WEC, explained why he decided to change for a lighter weight division, revealed the secret of athletes from Natal, among other issues, which you can check on the below interview.

How are the trainings on Nova União?

I’m training hard, a lot of Muay Thai and Wrestling, doing the trainings focused on the Jiu-Jitsu… If my fight was today, I’d be ready, so you can imagine how I’ll be like on June the 20th.

Which Nova União athletes are being your sparring?

A lot of people, there is Johnny Eduardo, Felipe Olivieri, Léo Santos... José Aldo still is on the United States, but is coming. I’m training with a lot of different guys so I can get there focused and make a good debut.

You debuted with a loss on MMA and later won 25 fights and never lost again. What impact did this loss had in your career, since it was on your debut?

I was very young and I have never entered on the octagon before, it’s a huge space, I had no timing and I was too nervous. I think I lost against my own self and then I started thinking about something a friend of mine said. He said that the true champion is not just the champion on the win, but also on the loss, and thank God I knew how to use it in my favor to conquest a lot of fights over this loss.

You will debut on WEC on June 20 against Clint Godfrey, who is coming from a loss for your friend Wagnney Fabiano. Did he give you some tip about Godfrey? How are you using it on your trainings?

Wagnney has not come back yet, he’s still in Canada, but Léo Santos, his brother, told me some things. He is a guy who likes to bring his opponent down and I’m trainings focused on that. I want to get there, do my job and impose my game over his and if God helps me, I’ll make a good fight. I’m studying his game… He likes to trade some blows, is a good submitter, a complete guy. I think it will be a good fight, Johnny Eduardo is sharpening my Muay Thai and I’m doing just fine.

Have you set a strategy upfront or will you wait to see what happens?

My strategy will be to impose my game and rhythm, but nothing’s settled, I’ll play my game and go forward.

Why did you decided to change you a lighter weight division?

I did it even because Junior (José Aldo) is the champion of the division and I couldn’t fight on that same division, so I decided to lose some weight and go to a lighter division… Let’s see what will happen.

What are your expectations for your future on WEC? Who do you think that may be the hardest ones you will have to fight?

I want to leave my Mark on WEC and I’m training hard for it. There are a lot of tough guys, Brian Bowles is one of them and he beat two friends of mine, Will Ribeiro and Marcos Lobo, he is a complete and prepared athlete. I think a fight against him would be a good thing.

Have you been up to the success of Patrício Pitbull?

I watched only his first fights, on which we fought pretty well thanks God and got a good result, submitted quickly. ON this last one (against Wilson Reis), I didn’t watch, but I know he fought well to and fought until the end, taking it to the judges round card decision.

What is the thing about athletes from Natal, a land of great talents?

The hard life, man… People come from the bottom and they really commit to their goals and when they get there, they don’t want to waste such an opportunity, they want to grab it with all their strength.

When will you go to the United States?

I’m train here in Rio de Janeiro and I may travel a week before the event.

What can we expect of your debut on WEC?

You can expect a great fight and I’ll give everything I’ve got up there, I’ll go forward, make my game work and, if God helps me, I’ll get a positive result.

Would you like to leave a message?

I’d like to thank God, Ricardo Sérgio from Platinum, also want to thank João from Rip Dorey, who is giving me a lot of support. A big hug for everyone in Kimura who has always helped me.


Source: Tatame

Roger: “The fight went as planned”

In his Strikeforce debut, last Saturday in St Louis, Roger Gracie was unimpressed by the greater experience of his opponent Kevin Randleman. He notched his third MMA win using the best of what the gentle art has to offer, finishing with a rear-naked choke 4:10 min into the second round.

Now his attention has turned back to competing in the gi, as the black belt will storm full steam on his way to an unprecedented third absolute world title in Jiu-Jitsu.

With the same serene demeanor he displays when facing opponents, Roger had a chat with GRACIEMAG.com. Check out what he had to say.

What’s your breakdown of your fight with Kevin Randleman, an opponent with 31 fights on his record?

I think I had a certain advantage because of my height and the fight went pretty much according to plan. I imagined he’d have a hard time hitting me because of my size, so I worked my jab and waited for the right time to take him down. I managed to catch him by surprise with that knee, something even I didn’t expect. It was spur of the moment and made the most of it by going after him.

You displayed calm while striking and managed a knockdown with a knee. How do you feel about your standup department?

So, so. My standup has improved a lot, but the way I use it will always depend on my opponent. I’ll always feel more confident on the ground, and that’s where I’ll try and take the fight. But a fight starts standing, and one has to always be prepared for that. It’ll depend on the opponent. Whenever I don’t feel confident, I’ll try to take it to the ground right away. That’s how it went with Kevin. I realized he was hard to take down, so I waited for the right moment and let the fight play out.

Did you feel any pressure in this fight because of Renzo and Rolles’ losses?

My head was in the perfect place for the fight. I faced it like any other fight I’ve had in Jiu-Jitsu or MMA. I went in calm, was aware, and I think that was most important. I was fine, and the pressure was the same as with any other fight.

Will we see you fight more regularly in MMA? Were you alright making weight?

I plan to fight more often and stay at this weight (93 kg, light heavyweight). I have an easy time making weight. It would be much tougher fighting someone heavier than someone my own weight. It wasn’t that big a sacrifice and it’s better than fighting someone 130 kg.

Randleman squirmed a lot on the ground. Was it hard to hold him there?

I realized he was kind of groggy when he landed. I leapt to mount and he nearly escaped. Perhaps I acted prematurely because I wanted to go straight for the katagatami (arm-and-neck choke). He nearly got up, but I managed to take his back. That’s when I went to work on getting his neck.

Are you really going to compete at the Jiu-Jitsu Worlds? Could training for this MMA fight hamper your Jiu-Jitsu?

Yes, I’ll be at the Worlds. I’ll be back on the mat shortly! I don’t feel this fight got in the way of anything. I’m going to put on my gi now and train specifically for Jiu-Jitsu, and not believe anything can get in my way.

What are your expectations going for a third absolute title?

My expectations are the same as always. I’m going in the same as I always do and we’ll see what happens.

Source: Gracie Magazine

Details from Brazilian Nationals 2010

The Brazilian National Jiu-Jitsu Championship, which ended this past weekend in Rio de Janeiro, featured some true warriors. Even before the finals, there was no lack of hotly-disputed matches on the mats of the Tijuca Tennis Club.

At featherweight, Bruno Malfacine (Alliance) plowed through his adversaries before managing three guard passes in the final against Felipe Costa (Brasa). Now Guilherme Mendes (Atos) submitted his first opponent with a triangle and defeated Bernardo Pitel with a guard pass and back mount to go on and beat Gabriel Moraes (Monteiro) in the light featherweight decider, where he got the back mount yet again.

At featherweight, champion Rafael Mendes (Atos) had a total of four matches. Before the final against Cobrinha, he finished his first one with a choke from behind, his second with an armbar and beat Theodoro Canal by 6 to 2. At lightweight, Gilbert Durinho (Atos) didn’t have it easy. Of the five matches he was in, he had to make it past hard-nosed competitors like Helder “Sponge Bob”, who he finished with a reverse omoplata hold, and Augusto Tanquinho in the semifinal by 3 to 1 in advantage points. In the final he faced Jonathan Torres (Lloyd Irvin) and, with the score tied at 2 to 2, he eked out the win by 3 to 1 in advantage points.

The party in the middleweight division was left to Barbosa’s duo Tiago Alves and Murilo Santana. Alves had four matches and defeated CheckMat’s Luis Gustavo “Guga” in the semifinal. Now Murilo had three matches. In the semifinal, he submitted the game Victor Bonfim (Gordo). In the medium heavyweight, not even the tooth he cracked in the absolute division the day before could hinder Tarsis Humphreys. The Alliance athlete had a total of four matches. In the semifinal he submitted a tough Rodrigo Fajardo with a choke. At the other end of the bracket was Nivaldo de Oliveira (CheckMat), who left in his wake such stalwarts as Eduardo Telles. In the final, Tarsis got the takedown, swept and scored another two points from a penalty to win 6 to 4.

The heavyweight division was a rocky one. Both absolute finalists fell along the way. Bernardo Faria was overcome by Alexandro Ceconi (Rilion Gracie) with a guard pass. Now Rafael Lovato lost to Léo Nogueira (Alliance) in the decider, after a 2-to-2 draw. In the final, Ceconi got the takedown and guard pass to capture the gold. Thiago Gaia (Nova União) had been just barely striking out but, this year, he managed to get his gold at a Brazilian Nationals. He submitted Paulo Tarcísio in the decider with a choke from north-south position. Now Rodrigo Cavaca submitted all three of his opponents to make it to the top of the ultra heavyweight podium, even the game Igor Silva (Brasa) who came off a 13-to-2 triumph over Antonio Peinado. In the final, Cavaca caught him in a foot lock.

After his campaign on Saturday (see here), Bernardo Augusto got top position and passed Rafael Lovato’s guard to win the absolute yet again, just like he did at the Jiu-Jitsu Pan.

Source: Gracie Magazine

5/17/10

STRIKEFORCE: HEAVY ARTILLERY LIVE RESULTS

For the first time in nearly three years, Alistair Overeem will return to Strikeforce to defend his heavyweight title. Stepping in to oppose him will be Minnesota fighter Brett Rogers, who looks to bounce back from the first loss of his career when he faced Fedor Emelianenko last November.

Also on the card will be a match-up of heavyweight contenders as former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski looks to move past two losses in a row when he squares off against American Top Team heavyweight Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva.

Strikeforce: Heavy Artillery airs live on Showtime at 10 p.m. EST/PST.

Refresh this page frequently for the latest results and play-by-play…

 

STRIKEFORCE: HEAVY ARTILLERY PLAY-BY-PLAY:

 

ALISTAIR OVEREEM VS. BRETT ROGERS

R1 – Both fighters spend the first minute searching for their range. Neither landing a lot of punches, but Overeem landing a few leg kicks and then tossing Rogers to the ground. He follows Rogers down, landing a couple punches on the way, and starts working from side control. Overeem keeps his weight on top of Rogers dropping elbows to the body and hammerfists to the head. Rogers scrambles, but Overeem maintains control, dropping a couple punches from standing before dropping back down to side control. Overeem gets up to his knees and starts pounding Rogers with ground and pound, unrelenting with his punches until referee John McCarthy stops it.

Alistair Overeem def. Brett Rogers by TKO (Strikes) at 3:40, R1

 

ANDREI ARLOVSKI VS. ANTONIO SILVA

R1 – Silva lands a couple early inside leg kicks. Both fighters test their range, searching for an opening with their boxing. Silva looks much more calm than Arlovski, both landing the jab. Both landing leg kicks, Arlovski misses with his punches and eats a couple counter rights from Silva, the second one rocked Arlovski. Silva clinches and presses Arlovski to the cage, landing knees to the legs with two minutes to go in the round. Silva backs out, lands a leg kick then follows with a couple punches that rock Arlovski before putting him on the mat. Silva starts ground and pounding from Arlovski’s full guard, but can’t do much with it before the end of the round.

MMAWeekly.com scores the round 10-9 for Silva

R2 – Silva doing a good job eluding Arlovski’s punches and countering with a big right hand. About a minute in, Silva landed a flurry and then pressed Arlovski into the cage. Arlovski reverses position, kneeing Silva in the legs. Good short uppercut from Arlovski, but Silva answers then they’re separated after the action slows. Arlovski clinches and they work along the fence before being separated. Arlovski lands good combination and then a jab to the body. Silva clinches and lands a solid knee to the body. Arlovski reverses position then trades punches with Silva on the break.

MMAWeekly.com scores the round 10-9 for Arlovski

R3 – Silva switching stances a lot now. Good inside kick-left jab combination from Silva. He then presses Arlovski into the fence landing a few short knees and punches before they get separated. They exchange in the center of the cage, Arlovski missing a lot, Silva getting the better of the exchange. They clinch on the fence, Silva landing a few short knees to the legs and body, but are quickly separated. Arlovski kicks, but Silva steps in with some effective counterpunching to nullify the kicks. Silva presses Arlovski on the cage and then scoops him up for a big double-leg takedown, immediately passing to half guard. Silva stands up in Arlovski’s guard and drops a couple really big shots down before moving back into full guard. Arlovski gets back to his feet and they’re quickly separated, but no real offense before the bell sounds.

MMAWeekly.com scores the round 10-9 and the fight 29-28 for Silva

Antonio Silva def. Andre Arlovski by Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28), R3

 

RONALDO "JACARE" DE SOUZA VS. JOEY VILLASENOR

R1 – Jacare shoots right away, but Villasenor sprawls out and they end up clinched on the fence. Jacare drops down, lands a takedown, and starts ground and pounding from half guard. Jacare moves to full mount, pounding away on Villasenor’s face. Villasenor bucks and rolls out from under Jacare, getting back to his feet. They clinch, Villasenor’s back to the fence. Jacare takes Villasenor to mat again, landing some heavy ground and pound punches from full guard before passing to half guard. Villasenor escapes and gets back to his feet, only to immediately return to his back. Jacare starts working for a Kimura from half guard, but Villasenor escapes to survive the round.

MMAWeekly.com scores the round 10-9 for Jacare

R2 – Jacare goes right back to the double-leg takedown and puts Villasenor on his back, landing in half guard. But again, Villasenor regains his feet. Jacare returns the favor by taking Villasenor down again, working from half guard. Villasenor escapes and returns to his feet once more and immediately starts headhunting with two minutes left in the round. Jacare lands a solid short left hook, shoots and takes Villasenor down again, starting up another ground and pound attack from full guard. Villasenor escapes to his feet again, defending another takedown as the bell sounds.

MMAWeekly.com scores the round 10-9 for Jacare

R3 – Villasenor storms in right away with a strong boxing combination, Jacare bleeding from the nose and mouth. Villasenor stops Jacare’s takedown attempt. Villasenor lands another right hand then sprawls out on another takedown attempt. Jacare comes back with a big overhand right and follows with a double-leg, putting Villasenor on his back for the first time this round with half the round to go. Jacare works a grinding ground and pound from half guard, not mounting a lot of offense, but keeping Villasenor on the defensive. The referee stands them up with one minute left even though Jacare was still punching from half guard. Jacare goes right back to the takedown, putting Villasenor on his back for the remainder of the fight.

MMAWeekly.com scores the round 10-9 and the fight 30-27 for Jacare

Ronaldo “Jacare” de Souza def. Joey Villasenor by Unanimous Decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28), R3

 

ROGER GRACIE VS. KEVIN RANDLEMAN

R1 – Both fighters are leery to engage early, each trying to find his range. Gracie tries to get his jab going, but is having trouble landing it. Randleman is looking for the takedown, but having a difficult time with Gracie’s six foot four inch frame. He moves in and Gracie puts on a half-hearted guillotine attempt. Randleman presses Gracie to the cage. Gracie drags Randleman down with the guillotine, but they immediately scramble out and back to their feet.

MMAWeekly.com scores the round 10-9 for Gracie

R2 – Randleman immediately lands a hard body shot. Gracie starts picking up his pace, pawing at Randleman, and landing his jab and the straight right. Randleman presses Gracie, who maintains the clinch and catches Randleman with successive knees to the chin, the second of which dropped the former Pride fighter. Gracie follows him down and takes full mount, nearly landing a side choke. Randleman escapes and Gracie takes his back, locking on a figure-four body lock. Randleman is able to defend the rear naked choke for a bit, but eventually succumbs and taps out.

Roger Gracie def. Kevin Randleman by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) at 4:10, R2

 

ANTWAIN BRITT VS. RAFAEL “FAJAO” CAVALCANTE

R1 – Britt lands a couple of strong left hooks early, but Fajao quickly clinches. They separate and Britt is getting the better of the stand-up with his boxing. Fajao gets a couple shots in, but Britt is landing more frequently and with more power. Fajao clinches again, but Britt lands a couple hard uppercuts. They separate briefly, but clinch again, this time Fajao lands some knees before the action slows. They restart and Fajao clips Britt with a right hand then follows up with a flurry that puts Britt down and has the referee stepping in to stop the fight.

Fajao gets a big hug from his coach, UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva.

Rafael Cavalcante def. Antwain Britt by TKO (Strikes) at 3:45, R1

STRIKEFORCE: HEAVY ARTILLERY RESULTS:

MAIN CARD (ON SHOWTIME):
-Alistair Overeem def. Brett Rogers by TKO (Strikes) at 3:40, R1
-Antonio Silva def. Andre Arlovski by Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28), R3
-Ronaldo “Jacare” de Souza def. Joey Villasenor by Unanimous Decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28), R3
-Roger Gracie def. Kevin Randleman by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) at 4:10, R2
-Rafael Cavalcante def. Antwain Britt by TKO (Strikes) at 3:45, R1

PRELIMINARY CARD (NON-TELEVISED):
-Jesse Finney def. Justin DeMoney by Submission (Guillotine Choke) at 3:22, R1
-Lyle Beerbohm def. Vitor "Shaolin" Ribeiro by Split Decision (30-27, 28-29, 30-27), R3
-Darryl Cobb def. Booker DeRousse by Split Decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-29), R3
-Mike Chandler def. Sal Woods by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) at 0:59, R1
-Fransisco "Kiko" France def. Lee Brousseau by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) at 1:27, R1
-Tom Aaron def. Erik Steenberg by Submission (Guillotine Choke) at 0:56, R1
-Matt Ricehouse def. Greg Wilson by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) at 0:45, R3

Source: MMA Weekly

Overeem on cusp of something big

ST. LOUIS – Brett Rogers may be 6-foot-4 and 265 pounds, but Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem made light work of him Saturday night with a first round ground and pound victory.

With Overeem’s win, he and Strikeforce came one step closer to their desired potential biggest match in company history: a heavyweight showdown with champion Overeem and Fedor Emelianenko, generally ranked as the top heavyweight in the world and best in the sport’s history.

Overeem (33-11, 1 no contest) is a Dutch native who spent most of his career in Japan and can hardly match Emelianenko’s record (32-1, 1 no contest), but in three years he has gone from a light heavyweight with several holes in his game to a monster at heavyweight. The win over Rogers (10-2) was his eighth in his last nine fights and seventh to end in the first round.

His only blemish under MMA rules since his 2007 win over Paul Buentello was a fight he was dominating against Mirko Cro Cop. That fight was stopped and ruled a no-contest when Cro Cop couldn’t continue after a low blow.

“From 2007, I’m different in every way,” said Overeem, 29, who is four years younger than Emelianenko. “I changed a lot of things, a lot of personal things. I changed trainers [moving to legendary Dutch trainer Cor Hemmers]. I went up in weight. I changed the way I work out. I was being more creative with my team.

“Two thousand six was a bad year. I had three consecutive losses. When you have three consecutive losses, it makes you think. I’m a fighter by nature. I always want to win. There was some personal stuff, some stuff in training wasn’t right. I looked at everything in detail. I redesigned everything in detail. It’s still changing every day, every week, every month, you reevaluate everything.”

Overeem looked considerably more impressive against Rogers, the opponent he and Emelianenko have in common. In the Emelianenko-Rogers fight Nov. 7 in Chicago, the Russian was hurt in the first round and on the verge of a stoppage late as Rogers was on top of him, hammering him with punches.

Emelianenko escaped the predicament and came back to win via second-round knockout.

Overeem’s win Saturday, before 8,136 fans at the Scottrade Center, was short. Overeem threw Rogers to the ground in a move he described as a secret. Once Rogers was on his back, Overeem softened him up with elbows and knees to the body. Then he started firing away with punches on the ground, and once he saw Rogers was hurt, put on the full-court press. After 14 straight punches, referee John McCarthy called it a night for the big Minnesotan at the 3:40 mark.

“It’s a secret weapon,” he said about the throw. “Don’t ask me about it. I don’t think you will ever find any of my training stuff on YouTube. I like to keep coming up with surprises.”

As he did before the fight, and as he has done in Japan for more than a year, Overeem verbally took aim at Emelianenko after the win. Emelianenko faces Fabricio Werdum on June 26 in San Jose, Calif., and if he wins, it would at least make sense for a match that would have potential to be as strong a match for Strikeforce’s move to pay-per-view as would seem on the horizon this year.

“Well, Fedor’s a legend,” said Overeem. “If you want to become a legend, you have to beat a legend. I was hoping he would want to fight me and become the champion, since he’s not the champion in Strikeforce. I was thinking he’d like to have that fight. But his management declined. I don’t know. Maybe it will all work out for the better. They gave me some cage experience [he had been fighting in a ring and not a cage in Japan] so maybe it’s for the better. Maybe it’s meant to be like that.”

Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker felt it was premature to talk about that potential fight until after June 26.

“To be very honest, the situation is Fedor’s fighting on June 26,” Coker said. “Alistair has told me he’d love to fight Fedor. But that’s going to be something, if he wins, that we sit down with M-1 Global [Emelianenko’s team] after June 26. You can’t count Fabricio out. The timing could be right for him.”

Overeem came in at a muscular 253 pounds on his 6-5 frame. He wasn’t quite as large as in his recent fights in Japan, for which he was between 259 and 261 pounds, particularly noticeable in the back and traps. But he was still plenty big.

His physique, the most impressive in the heavyweight division with the possible exception of Bobby Lashley’s, had been the subject of much speculation by many, Rogers included, leading to the fight. He was 229 pounds the last time he fought in the United States, two and a half years ago when he won the championship from Paul Buentello in San Jose. For most of the decade, he fought at 205 pounds, although he was starving himself at times to make that weight, and it showed as he had a reputation for coming out strong, but tiring.

“I think there are some individuals that are responsible for these allegations,” Overeem said after the fight. “All these individuals, some opponents I beat, and some people who dislike me, and it just stacked up and the rumors were spreading. It was people who don’t like me. It’s just a matter of time. I’m going to defend my title with success and I’m going to take drug tests just like everybody else and that will clear everything up.”

Overeem said he decided in 2009 to make his Strikeforce championship a priority, but a hand injury and a lucrative offer late in the year from K-1, a kickboxing promoter in Japan, kept him from returning to the United States until now.

He said he would like to fight once or twice more in the U.S. this year. Coker said Overeem was expected to fight again late in the year in K-1, likely in either their Grand Prix tournament in September and December or the New Year’s Eve event.

“I watched Alistair fight back with Pride [earlier in the decade], he was so athletic, so talented, and then he started fighting in K-1,” Coker said.

“K-1 has the best strikers in the world. They don’t do MMA, just stand-up fighting. He started New Year’s Eve [2008], he started beating K-1 strikers in their own game. We’re really proud of him. I hope the fans felt the wait was worth it. When you look at the skill level, he was so calm in the cage. It was total domination.”

Overeem has been critical in the past of Emelianenko’s management, because they’ve declined his challenges, but not of Emelianenko himself. At one point Vadim Finkelchtein, Emelianenko’s manager, said they had no interest in a fight with Overeem because Emelianenko was above any championship, and dismissed him as a steroid user. That comment was ironic, as Finkelchtein then asked for a fight with Josh Barnett, who has failed three steroid tests during his career.

Overeem also made it clear that his domination of Rogers, whom he outlanded in total strikes 54-1 in the short fight, does not give him any psychological edge against Emelianenko, who struggled vs. Rogers.

“It’s a different fight,” he said. “When Fedor fights me, he’s going to be really sharp. He’s clever. I think he’s too sober. He’s not going to be mentally scared because I beat Brett in three minutes.”

Source: Yahoo Sports

LASHLEY VS. SPARKS, ZAROMSKIS VS. CYBORG SIGNED

Two more fights have been confirmed for the upcoming Strikeforce show in Los Angeles set for June 16. Former WWE superstar Bobby Lashley will face Ron Sparks in a heavyweight bout, while Dream fighter Marius Zaromskis returns to action to square off against Chute Boxe fighter Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos.

Strikeforce official Mike Afromowitz confirmed the bouts to MMAWeekly.com on Saturday.

MMAWeekly.com first reported the possibility of the fight between Lashley and Sparks on Friday following the Strikeforce weigh-ins, and now the bout has been made official. Both fighters come into the June fight with 5-0 records. With Lashley pushing six feet three inches and 265 pounds, and Sparks at six feet five inches and 285 pounds, it truly will be a battle of the big men.

The other fight confirmed for the California card will see the return of Dream welterweight champion Marius Zaromskis, who hopes to have better results than the last time he was on U.S. soil when he lost a bid for the Strikeforce welterweight title against Nick Diaz.

Zaromskis hasn't fought since that loss. Opposing him will be longtime Chute Boxe fighter Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos, who last fought in Strikeforce in June 2009 in a loss to Joey Villasenor.

Santos picked up a win outside of Strikeforce when he beat Daniel Zarate in December 2009, and will try to make it two in a row.

More fights for the upcoming Strikeforce card in Los Angeles will be announced over the coming weeks.

Source: MMA Weekly

KID YAMAMOTO BOUT MOVED TO DREAM 14

A bout between former top ranked fighter Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto and Federico Lopez, originally planned for Saturday night’s Strikeforce: Heavy Artillery card in St. Louis, has been rescheduled for Dream 14 on May 29 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.

Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker said changes to the Dream show, which included the cancelation of their light heavyweight tournament, resulted in the fight being moved.

"We had received a request from Dream to put Kid on the (St. Louis) fight card, and at that time we felt we should oblige, but I think they had some changes in Japan with the format for May 29," Coker said recently.

Saturday night’s Showtime card includes five televised fights, including Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem’s first title defense. He faces Brett Rogers, who enters the bout coming off of a loss to Fedor Emelianenko.

Dream 14 features Strikeforce welterweight champion Nick Diaz facing Hayato “Mach” Sakurai, as well as Japanese legend Kazushi Sakuraba facing Ralek Gracie. The 24-year-old Ralek will be the fifth Gracie that the 40-year-old Sakuraba has faced in his storied career.

Source: MMA Weekly

REPORT: MAYORGA OUT, SHINE FIGHTS CANCELLED

Saturday turned into a day of drama surrounding the mixed martial arts debut of former world champion boxer Ricardo Mayorga against UFC veteran Din Thomas at Shine Fights: Worlds Collide. It was off, then on, and finally off again.

Mayorga has a promotional contract with boxing promoter Don King, who, early Saturday afternoon, was awarded an injunction to block Mayorga’s participation in the mixed martial arts bout.

Shine Fights promoters initially told MMAWeekly.com that they were moving forward, the injunction be damned. Late Saturday afternoon, however, reporter Karen Bryant posted on her website that Mayorga is out and Murilo “Ninja” Rua vs. David Heath will now headline the Worlds Collide pay-per-view Saturday night.

Less than an hour later, Bryant, who was scheduled to be part of the Shine Fights broadcast team, tweeted that the North Carolina commission overseeing the event in Fayetteville allegedly pulled the plug on the entire event.

Shine Promotion officials were unavailable at the time of publication to verify the change, but MMAWeekly.com has verified with fighter's camps at the event that fighters are now being told of the cancellation.

(UPDATED at 4:25 p.m. PT on May 15 to note that MMAWeekly.com verified cancellation with fighter's camps.

UPDATED at 4:10 p.m. PT on May 15 to note reported cancellation of the entire event.)

Source: MMA Weekly

Lyoto: “I wanted to end the fight quickly”

UFC’s former champion, Lyoto Machida talked to TATAME on his come back to Brazil. Regretting the loss for Maurício Shogun on UFC 113, the karate fighter commented the knockout he suffered on the first round, the feeling of the first loss on his career and promised to improve even more for his next appointment. On the chat, Lyoto countered the critics and guaranteed: “It can taste bad, bitter and hard to swallow, but for sure it will be constructive on the future”, said. Click here to read the exclusive interview with Machida.

Lyoto Machida

UFC’s former champion, Lyoto Machida talked to TATAME on his come back to Brazil. Regretting the loss for Maurício Shogun on UFC 113, the karate fighter commented the knockout he suffered on the first round, the feeling of the first loss on his career and promised to improve even more for his next appointment. On the chat, Lyoto countered the critics and guaranteed: “It can taste bad, bitter and hard to swallow, but for sure it will be constructive on the future”, said.

What do you think went wrong with your strategy?

I think Shogun’s strategy fit just fine for that moment, but I was well trained. People sometimes try to find a reason, but for me there’s no excuse. I was well trained, focused, dedicated myself for months to do this fight and unfortunately it didn’t come out the way wanted to. There’s no excuse, it was his day, he was better than me on that night.

Do you think your mistake was that you went forward and maybe you should have played on the counterattack?

No... I’ve watched the fight a few times and I can say I followed my strategy, but Shogun came forward and maybe he tried it harder than me, since he was the challenger. I also wanted to end the fight quickly. I did never expose myself on an ungracious way, but it’s a fight and his punch got me. On that moment he was better, but it’s ok. The most important thing is how I’m feeling now, prepared, motivated and band new for new challenges.

One of the critics that came up after your loss was the lack of remarkable sparring...

People speak too much and they try to help sometimes, but who was beside me saw all of my dedication and difficulty… maybe if I punched him first people would be saying exactly the opposite, that my trainings were good, but that’s a personal issue for my team to analyze, even because we had great results on important fights. It’s not because one thing went wrong that everyone is not trying it hard enough. We have to correct ourselves, always keep improving.

Talking about the division, Shogun’s next opponent should be the winner between Quinton Jackson and Rashad Evans on UFC 114. How do you think this fight will be?

It’s a tough fight, they have similar styles, both like to do the boxing game and take the opposite down, so it’s hard to bet. Maybe Rampage experience will be a decisive factor...

How do you think it would be like, today, a rematch of Shogun and Rampage?

I think Rampage will be a very hard opponent to Shogun, it will be a tough rematch, for sure, but I can’t tell. Even because Rampage got off the trainings due to some appointments he had on the movies, so let’s see how he behaves on this fight and then we can do some thinking about it.

Fell free to leave a message to your fans…

I’d like to thanks all my friends from Pará, a very warming people. I was supported when I got to the airport, there were a lot of people waiting for me and screaming my name, independently of my loss. I want to remind people it’s a sport and losses are also a part of the process, the important thing is the recovery. To win or lose is normal, but the thing is how I’m going to recover myself now, against the challenges that will come… It can taste bad, bitter and hard to swallow, but for sure it will be constructive on the future.

Source: Tatame

Nogueira: “I’d love a rematch against Mir”

Former champion of Pride and UFC, Rodrigo Minotauro Nogueira suffered the first knockout of his career on the fight against Frank Mir and, a little bit further from the UFC’s heavyweight belt, he dreams about redemption.

On the chat with TATAME Magazine on its May edition, Minotauro reveals his interest on a rematch against Frank Mir, who also is far from the top of the division when he lost to Shane Carwin. “I’d love a rematch against Mir, it is a fight I would like to do again. It would be a good fight, he is a high level athlete. I want it, for sure”, Nogueira.

Without thinking about retirement, Rodrigo spoke openly about the knockout he suffered against Cain Velasquez, the death of his Muay Thai coach, Luiz Alves, the pressure of being within the ten best fighter in the division for more than eight years and the growth of Junior Cigano dos Santos in the UFC heavyweight division

Source: Tatame

Bráulio comments on frustration: “At least Roger and Jacaré saved the evening”

No sooner had Shine Fights 3 been canceled, due to an injunction from promoter Don King, who didn’t want his athlete Ricardo Mayorga to face Din Thomas, than GRACIEMAG.com contacted Jiu-Jitsu world champion Bráulio “Carcará” Estima, who would have made his MMA debut this Saturday against Rick Hawn in North Carolina.

In his first statement, he spat out almost everything he was feeling:

“I’m really frustrated. I feel like throwing up just thinking about all I had to give up for the fight, and now it ends this way,” he says.

“I trained like mad. I went through complicated situations in getting here. I missed my son’s first birthday, spent just two nights at home these last two months. In a nutshell, I invested a lot in my training, and I’m not talking financially. I abdicated training in the gi as well, and the World Pro went the way it did. And now there’s the Jiu-Jitsu World Championship, in California this June, which I may have put at risk for nothing. I’m really bummed. At least Roger [Gracie] and Jacaré did well and saved the evening.”

Estima further commented on the mood after the show was canceled at the last minute.

“The mood here is one of confusion; no one knows how or when the next step will be taken. Things started coming up little by little. Rock by rock, until the mountain crumbled.

“The promoters said the athletes would get paid in the gymnasium. Then they said the lobby of the hotel, and Devin, the promoter, would show up at 9:30 at night.

“Now they’re saying he’ll get here at 3am, on a chartered jet from Miami, where Don King’s ruling was made. So the mood is one of disgust and confusion. And nobody knows how it all will end. The promoters say it will all be ok tomorrow and that Shine Fights will continue, with the next show in July.”

Bráulio tried to reschedule his fight for an event in England, but unsuccessfully.

“I tried to reschedule this fight for an event to take place this weekend in Birmingham, England, just so all this suffering, all this work, won’t go to waste. You have no idea how much I wanted to fight, how much I suffered for this,” he said in frustration.

Source: Gracie Magazine

5/15/10

Doubling Up On The News

We are doubling up on the news since we will be in Kauai for the next couple of days and our Clear wireless connection doesn't work there. Enjoy!

MMA RETURNS TO HAWAII AS X-1 EVENTS PRESENTS “SHOWDOWN AT WAIPAHU II”
TODAY!

Fight veterans and future stars featured on huge card

Honolulu, HI (USA): X-1 World Events, the top entertainment company in Hawaii, is proud to announce that on Saturday, May 15th, 2010, they will be bringing MMA back to the island as they present “Showdown at Waipahu II,” featuring some of Hawaii’s top professional and amateur MMA fighters and kickboxers.

On the main card is well-known Hawaiian MMA veteran Kolo Koka (13-12) taking on Chicago’s own Quinton McCottrell (4-5), who won his last fight following more than a year layoff from the sport. Koka is coming into this bout on a two-fight losing streak and will be looking to turn the tide and get back to his winning ways. McCottrell, for his part, is known for his heavy hands, and will be looking to end the fight early utilizing his knockout power. Also on the main card will be Thomas Sedeno (0-0) and Brent Schermerhorn (2-0), who will be going to battle in the 170 lbs. division. Sedeno will be facing a tough task in his professional debut as Schermerhorn has displayed his unrelenting standup skills in his first two professional fights by winning via TKO in the first round.

In another 170 lb. bout, Taylor Cochron (0-0) of the United States Army will be making his professional debut against Walter Hao (4-4), who has made the drop in weight classes from 185 lbs. for this fight. Additionally, also making their professional debuts are Justin Babbs, Falo Faaloto, Justin Wong, and Brandon Piper. Fans can expect to see fireworks when each fighter steps into the ring to do battle with his opponent, as each warrior has great striking and submission skills, and is capable of ending the fight at any time.

The undercard will feature some talented rising stars the Islands. There will be five amateur title fights to determine who the best in their division is. Exciting young fighters Toby Misech, Bronson Mohika, Kevin Soong, Maki Pitolo, and others will showcase to the Islands what the Hawaii fighting spirit is all about.

“This event is going to highlight the talent level of Hawaii’s top amateurs and professionals,” said Mike Miller, Owner/Promoter of X-1 World Events. “MMA fans are going to be in for a treat with the abundance of fights and vast disciplines which will be showcased throughout the fights.

Main Card

Pro MMA (3/3 minute rounds): Kolo Koka vs. Quinton McCotrell - 170 lbs.

Pro MMA (3/3 minute rounds): Thomas Sedeno vs. Brent Schermerhorn - 170 lbs.
Pro MMA (3/3 minute rounds): Justin Babbs vs. Falo Faaloloto - 170 lbs.

Pro MMA (3/3 minute rounds): Taylor Cochron vs. Walter Hao - 170lbs.

Pro MMA (3/3 minute rounds): Justin Wong vs. Brandon Piper - 145 lbs.

Amateur Title Fights
Amateur MMA Title Fight (3/3 minute rounds): Tyrone O’Neil vs. Kevin Soong - 155 lbs.

Amateur MMA Title Fight (3/3 minute rounds): Joie Yeampierre vs Toby Misech – 145 lbs.

Amateur MMA Title Fight (3/3 minute rounds): Joie Hernandez vs. Bronson Mohika - 135 lbs.

Amateur MMA Title Fight (3/3 minute rounds): Micah Paulo vs. Maki Pitolo - 185 lbs.
Amateur MMA Title Fight (3/3 minute rounds): Paea Paongo vs. Sasae Paogofie – Heavyweight

Amateur Non-Title Fights
Amateur MMA (3/3 minute rounds): John Joao vs. Ron Verdadero - 185 lbs.

Amateur MMA (3/3 minute rounds): TBA vs. Peni Taufaao - 145 lbs.

Kickboxing
Kickboxing exhibition (3/2 minute rounds): Nainoa Dung vs. Shawn Desantos, Jr.
Kickboxing (3/2 minute rounds): Sheldon Crawford vs. Ioane Kim - 145 lbs.

Kickboxing (3/½ minute rounds): Sai Crawford vs. Kasey Farinas - 85 lbs.

Kickboxing (3/1½ minute rounds): Cristien Raquedan vs. Alika Agustin- 90 lbs.

Kickboxing (3/1½ minute rounds): Raymond Raquedan vs. Charles Naone- 85 lbs.

Kickboxing (3/1 minute rounds): Sedric Crawford vs. Kaena Desantos- 65 lbs.

Amateur MMA

MMA Match (3/3 minute rounds): Loyed Trueman vs. Brad Orsbone- 185 lbs.

MMA Match (3/3 minute rounds): Koa Ramelb vs Randy Kamaiopili- 155 lbs.

MMA Match (3/3 minute rounds): James Ekener vs. Anthony Kinoshita- 185 lbs.

MMA Match (3/3 minute rounds): Manny vs. Jan Quimoyog- 125 lbs.

MMA Match (3/3 minute rounds): Philip Akui vs. Micah Ige- 175 lbs.

MMA Match (3/3 minute rounds): Kawika Young vs. Steven Beal- Heavyweights

MMA Match (3/3 minute rounds): Dale Laymeyer vs. Joseph Ena Ena- 165 lbs.

MMA Match (3/3 minute rounds): John Shepard vs. Derrick Galindo- 185 lbs.

MMA Match (3/3 minute rounds): Vince Alama vs. Timothy Cation- 205 lbs.

MMA Match (3/3 minute rounds): Derrick Galindo vs John Shepard- 185 lbs.

MMA Match (3/3 minute rounds): Aloune Diop vs Ka’eo Kawa’a- 185 lbs.

MMA Match (3/3 minute rounds): Daymon Carr vs Dale Lahmeyer- 185 lbs.

MMA Match (3/3 minute rounds): Jacob Pyfer vs. Evic Liftee- 170 lbs.

MMA Match (3/3 minute rounds): Jarrett Questel vs. Adam Trueman- 170 lbs.

MMA Match (3/3 minute rounds): Chad Puha vs Joseph Ena Ena

About X-1 World Events

Founded in 2004 by Mike Miller, X-1 World Events is a world-class mixed martial arts (MMA) promotional company based in Honolulu, HI. Locally-owned and operated, X-1 delivers exciting live arena-based entertainment events to fight fans all over the islands. The events feature some of the MMA world’s most talented fighters, including UFC, Pride, and Abu-Dhabi veterans such as former UFC champions Dan “The Beast” Severn and Ricco Rodriguez, UFC veterans Jeff Monson, Kimo Leopoldo, Chad “The Grinder” Reiner, “Sugar” Shane Nelson, Brandon Wolff, Wes “The Project” Sims, Ronald “The Machine Gun” Juhn, Wesley “Cabbage” Correira, and Falaniko Vitale, as well as Pride veterans Chris Brennan and Ron “H2O-Man” Waterman. X-1 World Events can be found online at http://www.x1events.com/

About Fight of Your Life Communications
Fight of Your Life is the only company that focuses exclusively on communications within the sport of MMA. Through utilization of media relationships, sponsorship contacts, writing skills, and public relations experience, Fight of Your Life raises the profile of its clients, which increases awareness, draws revenue, and helps establish long-term viability. Current Fight of Your Life clients include fight promotions such as Gladiator Challenge, Jeff Curran’s XFO, X-1 World Events, MMA Big Show, and Shine Fights. In addition, Fight of Your Life handles management for rising StrikeForce lightweight title contender Lyle “Fancy Pants” Beerbohm. Also, Fight of Your Life owner Phil Lanides covers MMA for Examiner.com, and writes for FightSport Magazine, and CACombatSports.com. For additional information on Fight of Your Life Communications, please visit http://www.fightofyourlife.com/

For additional information on Fight of Your Life Communications, please visit http://www.fightofyourlife.com/

Source: Event Promoter

Scrappla Fest 2 TODAY!
Kauai's Scrappla Fest 2
Gi & No Gi Tournament
May 15, 2010
Island School
3-1875 Kaumualii Hwy
Lihue, HI 96766-9597

$50 entry fee

Tentative times:
Kids Rules 930am.
Kids Gi Start 10am.
Kids No Gi Start 11am.

Adult Rules 12:30pm.
Adults Gi Start 1pm.
Adults No Gi Start 3:45pm.

We will be running 4-6 matches at the same time to keep the tournament running smoothly. More info to come about weights and weigh ins.

kids ages-weight divisions will be made on sight

5-below
6-7
8-9
10-11
12-13
14-15
16-17

women
125-below
126-140
141-above

menbeginner white , blue
131-below
132-145
146-159
160-173
174-187
188-201
202-215
216-above

men advanced, purple and above
159-below
160-180
181-201
202-above

Thank you,

Pono Pananganan
Kauai Technical Institute
ktirelson_gracie@hotmail.com


MAD SKILLS TODAY

MAD SKILLS
SATURDAY MAY 15
WAIPAHU FILCOM CENTER
DOORS OPEN AT 6:00

JUMAR ESCOSIO 155 JUSTIN BURGESS

JOJO KELLY 175 BARACK HOLT

RICKY PLUNKETT 145 RYNE YOSHIMURA

JESSIE PURGANON 160 JESSIE HURST

ALLEN AUSTRIA 145 JOSEPH CARTER

ISRAEL ALVAREZ 120 RICKY FAJARDO

JUSTIN KAI IWASAKI 145 MARK YARCIA

JADA PERRERA 100 KAMA DA BEBE ASSASIN BANTILAN

RACHEL OSTOVICH 125 LENA BOOM BOOM COOK

BRYSHANE BAYUDAN 160 MIKEY WABINGA

FRED RAMAYLA 140 MARK WILSON

CHEVY DECASTRO 125 VEE VICKERS

JOE MOLINA SHW PETE SEFO

EDDIE LANI 140 JAYAR DUMAOAL

HANS LEE HW JARREN KAWALU

STEVE 200 JEREMY

MATT STONE 225 DUSTIN CULLASTRO

DANTE BOY 110 BRENNAN WAIALAE

DAN CERA 110 BRENTON WAIALAE

KAWIKA KUPUKAA SHW MANNY

CARLOS MASUNGSON 125 REX MANUEL

PAUL AUSTRIA 130 DANIEL ASUNCION

YVONNE WILLIAMS 100 GIGI

All matches and participants are subject to change

Strikeforce ‘Heavy Artillery’ Preview
by Tomas Rios

The importance of Strikeforce “Heavy Artillery” this Saturday, as it relates to the overall health of the promotion, cannot be overstated. In wake of its second appearance on CBS, which included a post-fight melee on national television, Strikeforce could use some good news from the Scottrade Center in St. Louis.

Luckily, this show has the potential to make people forget what went down in the Music City, as the main event features Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem defending his strap against Clubber Lang lookalike Brett Rogers. Backing up that slugfest, former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski meets Antonio Silva in a fight likely to test the support system in the cage.

Plenty more violence will be discussed in the analysis that follows.

Strikeforce Heavyweight Championship
Alistair Overeem vs. Brett Rogers

The Breakdown: Overeem has been the Strikeforce heavyweight titleholder for two and a half years and will now get around to the hard part of being a champion -- defending the shiny gold strap around his waist. Rogers, the long overdue challenger, enters on the strength of perhaps the most advantageous loss in sports history -- a spirited showing against heavyweight demigod Fedor Emelianenko that ended with everyone’s favorite dead-eyed Russian hitting the knockout blow.

Rogers will face a similar disadvantage against Overeem, who is a mask and some dreadlocks shy of becoming an official Predator. An undeniably talented kickboxer with nasty front headlock skills and cringe-inducing ground-and-pound, Overeem has proven one of the most offensively versatile fighters in the heavyweight class. Rogers may not be some brainless brawler, but he lacks Overeem’s technical acumen and relies heavily on overwhelming opponents with power punches.

In heavyweight MMA, cinderblock fists, a stout chin and cool haircut will win you a lot of fights, but Rogers has started to run into the sort of competition capable of exposing his limitations. Overeem looks to have Rogers beat in close, thanks to his “Street Fighter”-style tiger knee, and from afar, the fight favors his telephone pole jab and diverse techniques. Even if Rogers can find a home for his powerful overhand, he needs to put Overeem down and out before the champion decides to change levels.

Overeem’s spectacular top control game hangs over Rogers’ head in this fight. Standing, Rogers may find himself at a disadvantage, but at least he has the tools to give Overeem pause; on the mat, it’s a different story.

The Bottom Line: Rogers held his own against Emelianenko, thanks, at least in part, to a size advantage that allowed him to bully the world’s top-ranked heavyweight for a time. No such edge exists for Rogers in this fight. As long as Overeem has the steam to go a few hard minutes, expect him to turn in a dominating performance that will start up a fresh round of illogical “Emelianeko vs. Ubereem: Who wins?” forum threads.

Andrei Arlovski vs. Antonio Silva

The Breakdown: MMA’s heavyweight hype machine can be a fickle beast, and Arlovski and Silva are familiar with the unforgiving nature of great expectations. The story of Arlovski’s career revolves around his all-universe talent and questionable chin. Silva’s ginormous frame has, to this point, dwarfed his actual skills.

Silva has proven far from an imposing shell devoid of talent, and his size requires a great deal more athleticism and coordination to execute even basic techniques. Arlovski, on the other hand, moves like a fluid middleweight and retains all the power of a heavily bearded Belarusian. The ability to move around and rip off quick combinations will be Arlovski’s greatest advantage in this fight, as Silva’s game works best from inside the pocket.

However, Arlovski often makes the mistake of standing his ground and getting into exchanges his chin cannot survive. Taking advantage of those moments, as well as pressing Arlovski against the cage and scoring takedowns, needs to be the backbone of Silva’s game plan. Expecting him to adopt a more nuanced approach after years of dependence on his hulking frame and straightforward style might prove overly optimistic.

The Bottom Line: As with every Arlovski fight, the analysis and conjecture goes out the window the second he gets hit clean. Of course, all the doomsday prophecies about Arlovski’s anti-chin ignore the fact that he has proven himself a better all-around fighter than Silva. Leg kicks and one-twos will be the story of this fight, as Arlovski field dresses his giant quarry en route to a second-round technical knockout.

Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza vs. Joey Villasenor

The Breakdown: Villasenor has been a solid middleweight fighter for some time, and it’s good to see him making some bank in a quality promotion.

One of the best middleweight prospects in the sport, Souza may prove beyond Villasenor’s capabilities as a fighter. A grappling virtuoso who has the takedowns to ground most anyone, Souza’s ability on the mat cannot be overstated. His rapidly improving striking further complicates matters for Villasenor.

No longer the green power windmill machine he was at the nexus of his MMA career, Souza has grasped the fundamentals and still shows the cage generalship to rely primarily on his grappling. Ideally, Villasenor would get inside on Souza and cut loose with punches, but being anywhere near the clinch with “Jacare” has proven a self-mailed invitation to getting Judo tossed. Once Souza starts making Villasenor defy gravity, it will only be a matter of time before he gets the human origami treatment.

The Bottom Line: Undoubtedly a showcase fight for the man likely to take over for Jake Shields once he puts pen to paper with the UFC, expect Souza to cement his status as Strikeforce’s middleweight alpha male at Villasenor’s expense.

Roger Gracie vs. Kevin Randleman

The Breakdown: The golden child of MMA’s first family, Gracie makes his Strikeforce debut against Randleman, a longtime Hammer House disciple and staph magnet, in a bout to which Brazilian jiu-jitsu acolytes the world over are counting down. A former UFC heavyweight champion, Randleman has advanced well beyond his prime, and his submission defense leaves a lot to be desired.

The expectations for any Gracie have to be tempered a bit by the fact that almost any of them can make a healthy living doing private seminars, and this one, given his lofty status in the grappling world, could cash checks on his name for a long time. That convenient cash flow makes pursuing an MMA career seem less than tempting and remains a big reason why the Gracie clan has become all but absent from the modern MMA landscape. That does not mean much in this fight, however, as Gracie will not need a particularly intense training camp to snatch hold of whatever submission opportunity Randleman dangles in front of him.

The otherworldly athleticism Randleman once used to compensate for his obvious technical deficiencies has all but disappeared. In its stead sits an old-school converted wrestler with little in the way of secondary skills and an injury history that belongs in the New England Journal of Medicine. Gracie may be just as one-dimensional as Randleman, but he will enter the cage in his physical prime, and submissions win a lot more matches than takedowns.

The Bottom Line: Get your buddies together and add some interest to this fight by setting up a pool on what submission Gracie hits on Randleman.

Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante vs. Antwain Britt

The Breakdown: The dearth of light heavyweight competition outside the UFC has left the freshly minted Strikeforce light heavyweight champion, Muhammed Lawal, without a clear challenger to his crown. Strikeforce hopes either Cavalcante or Britt can stamp his ticket to a title shot by doing something -- anything -- that will capture the imagination of fan and analyst alike.

If nothing else, Britt and Cavalcante will make for an exciting fight. Neither man has much in the way of back down in him. Plus, they both make their money on the feet. A straight-up slugfest definitely favors Britt, as he has the faster, more accurate punches, as well as the power to make Cavalcante pay every time he steps forward. That’s the approach Cavalcante needs to take since he will not beat Britt from range and his best shot at victory lies inside the clinch.

Controlling Britt and wearing him down with knees and anything else he can connect on from in close sounds like a good plan, but Cavalcante lacks the lockdown clinch technique it will take to stifle his opponent. That leaves Britt open to blitz with the kind of punching salvos for which Cavalcante lacks the defense and counter-punching skills. There are not many light heavyweights who can stand up to Britt’s power, but Cavalcante will have no choice but to try.

The Bottom Line: This will be the fight that introduces Britt to the lay fan. Some crackling early exchanges will turn more and more one-sided until Britt finishes Cavalcante midway through the first round.

Lyle Beerbohm vs. Vitor Ribeiro

The Breakdown: The pearl of the prelim slate pits longtime stalwart of the Japanese lightweight MMA scene Vitor “Shaolin” Ribeiro against the dazzling pantaloons of Lyle “Fancy Pants” Beerbohm. This fight has taken an unfortunate turn in recent days ever since Beerbohm went to the Internet in search of lawyers who could help extricate him from his Strikeforce contract. Considering Ribeiro has been under contract with Strikeforce since September and is just now making his promotional debut, I’m half expecting him to turn this into a class-action lawsuit.

As for the fight itself, Ribeiro is one of the best grapplers in the division and is nothing short of stultifying from top control. Making matters worse for Beerbohm is Ribeiro’s underrated wrestling skills, which make him one of the most dominating grapplers around. Beerbohm is still coming into his own as a fighter. While he has shown great grappling acumen for a relative neophyte, he doesn’t have the game to survive in Ribeiro’s world.

A striking match may be a different story, but Beerbohm doesn’t have the wrestling to keep this fight upright and Ribeiro isn’t about to repeat the disastrous striking strategy he used so feebly against Shinya Aoki.

The Bottom Line: It’s hard to imagine what must be going through Beerbohm’s head entering this fight. That is reason enough to pick against him, and Ribeiro’s obvious advantage on the mat only makes this an easier pick.

Source: Sherdog

Randy Couture says fight with James Toney will bring in new followers from the boxing world
By Zach Arnold

Quotes from an interview he did with MMAFighting.com on Saturday night in Montreal, Quebec, Canada at UFC 113:

Couture: “It’s not official yet, but we’re getting real close to signing it. James Toney, UFC 118 in Boston.”

Question: “What do you think of that match-up? Because I know when James Toney, when they first announced him coming to the UFC, you were on Twitter and you were asking for it.”

Couture: “Yeah, absolutely. He’s been running his mouth saying he’s going to knock everybody out. I’d be happy to welcome him to MMA. I think it’s a great crossover fight. You know, since I’ve been in this sport for 13 years, everybody’s been comparing us to boxers so to have a world-class boxer to finally step up and sign on the dotted line is a big deal.”

Question: “Do you think a guy like him deserves to be fighting in the Octagon?”

Couture: “Deserves? I mean, who says? He’s a four-time world champion in boxing, he wants to try his hand in MMA, he thinks he can knock everybody out. Why not?”

Question: “But, let me explain. There are guys who work years and years to get here and has never fought in an MMA match. You know, does he just get the right to go in?”

Couture: “I worked years and years in wrestling and walked right into Mixed Martial Arts. My very first fight was a UFC.”

Question: “But that was a different time, though.”

Couture: “Like I say, it doesn’t matter. Combative sports are combative sports. He’s going to be a formidable opponent because he’s a very good striker. They don’t call him Lights Out for nothing. I obviously have a wrestling background. How does that match-up? That’s an interesting match-up in my opinion. It crosses over and we’re going to draw a bunch of boxers in to watch our sport for the first time ever. It’s good.”

Question: “A lot of people say that if you think to stand with him for one second, you’d be making a big mistake just based on your wrestling skills. Will you try to stand and bang with him?”

Couture: “I’m not going to stand and bang with him, that would be stupid. But one second? C’mon, give me a break. I can stand with him as long as I need to stand with him to put him where I need to put him, to beat him up, to beat his ass.”

Question: “When you go in there, will you feel as though you are representing this sport?”

Couture: “Absolutely, that’s the whole point of the fight. It’s a cross-over fight, boxing versus MMA, and I will gladly represent Mixed Martial Arts.”

Question: “And is the point of this fight maybe to never have him fight in the UFC again, to say you know what, you should stick to your sport?”

Couture: “No, I don’t think that’s true. I think he wants to transition into Mixed Martial Arts. Unfortunately he’s jumping right in. I think in a matter of time with his background he could be a very, very good Mixed Martial Artist. How much is he going to learn between now and the end of August, that’s the question.”

Question: “And finally, a victory over James Toney, does that still put you in line for a future Light Heavyweight title shot? Do you think that’s you know does what you need to do?”

Couture: “I don’t think it has anything to do with that. I don’t think that puts me into title contention. I don’t think it’s a title contending fight. … I think I’m already made my statement in the Light Heavyweight division as one of the #1 contenders. There’s a lot of tough guys in the Light Heavyweight division. I hope to get the nod and fight the winner of [the main event at UFC 113 -- which was Shogun], but James Toney doesn’t help me get there. It’s just an interesting crossover fight.”

Source: Fight Opinion

'Rampage' Jackson Calls Rashad Evans Fight a Warm-Up for Title Shot
By Ben Fowlkes

For a fight that has proved unusually difficult to put together, "Rampage" Jackson doesn't seem as though he's expecting his main event showdown with Rashad Evans at UFC 114 to be all that competitive.

In a recent interview with Fighters Only Jackson referred to the bout with his longtime rival as "a step backwards," indicating that he's more interested in a rematch with new UFC light heavyweight champ "Shogun" Rua, who scored a TKO victory over him in Pride back in 2005.

According to Jackson, fighting Evans is little more than a tune-up for the title shot that UFC president Dana White has promised to the winner of the Jackson/Evans bout.

"I feel like fighting Rashad is a step backwards, because he doesn't have the belt anymore. But if things go right, this will be a nice warm-up fight for Shogun. If everything works out it will be nice. Everybody knows I took time off; it would be stupid to go right into a title fight with Shogun so this will be a good test for me. If I lose to Rashad I don't even deserve to get my belt back!"

Not that any of us should have expected Jackson to be overly pessimistic about his chances against Evans, but it's hard to believe that even he regards this as nothing more than a "warm-up fight."

At the moment, oddsmakers favor Jackson very slightly, but the line is very close to even on many internet sportsbooks. By all accounts Jackson has gotten back in shape after a long absence from the gym during the filming of "The A-Team," but he hasn't fought since March of 2009, when he beat Keith Jardine via decision.

Getting back in shape is one thing, but getting your timing back after so long away from the cage could be another matter.

Jackson might want to talk to Lennox Lewis about what happens to fighters who return from movie roles looking for tune-up bouts. The former boxing heavyweight champ found out the hard way against Hasim Rahman that an acting gig and a pro fighting career aren't always compatible pursuits.

Especially once those four-ounce gloves start flying, it's all too easy for a warm-up to turn into a knockout.

Source: MMA Fighting

OVEREEM NOT WORRIED BY ROGERS, WANTS FEDOR
by Damon Martin

Alistair Overeem has a hit list and after he puts away Brett Rogers, he has his sights set on only one fighter: Fedor Emelianenko.

With Overeem just days away from his first title defense of the Strikeforce heavyweight belt, the Dutch fighter respects the opponent he's about to face on May 15, but doesn't see much struggle in getting past him.

Once he is past him, Overeem says Fedor and his management team have no excuses left and must face him and settle it in the cage once and for all.

As for Brett Rogers getting a shot at his title, he simply says they pay me to fight, and that's what I'm going to do.

"I am a pro fighter. I have signed several contracts through my management with different promoters and I fight if the price is right. I would have wanted to fight against Fedor, but I guess his management has other ‘priorities’ for him," said Overeem in an interview with MMAWeekly.com "So I will prove to the world after I win against Rogers that Fedor must accept the fight with me."

What is the ultimate hold-up in Overeem facing Fedor? Is it Strikeforce? Is it Fedor himself? Overeem chalks it up to one word.

"Politics," Overeem answered. "I am the current champion, but the management of Fedor said no."

Overeem went on to explain the backtalk and harsh words that came from Fedor's manager, Vadim Finkelstein, and that when he beats Rogers they will have no choice but to sign for the fight that he's been requesting for over a year.

"This Vadim guy apologized to me. First Vadim said he did not say those things he said about me then some reporter from sports.ru taped the conversation and brought the tape out in the open," Overeem revealed. "It made him look like a fool and he apologized.

"It says something about the level of management. Fedor proved himself as the best, but he has not been really fighting a lot in the last years because of bad management. I have fighting rhythm and got stronger and competed also in the best stand-up league in the world and got a third place at the WGP K-1 finals in 2009, something Fedor never did."

After the fight with Rogers, Overeem hopes to compete in Strikeforce at least two more times this year, but will also fight for K-1 at the end of September and December in their tournament.

And while the Dutch wrecking machine understands that Rogers does pose danger to him, like any fighter in MMA, he also knows that he has the perfect weapons to dispose of Fedor Emelianenko and that's his final goal.

"He is big and has a strong punch, but I have fought way better and stronger opponents than him. I do not see much problems for me in this fight," Overeem said about Rogers. "(Fedor) is the name to beat and I am the chosen one who can do this."

Source: MMA Weekly

After Ultimatum, Arlovski Turned to Greg Jackson, AKA
by Joe Myers

Sometimes you have to take a step back in order to take two steps forward.

Andrei “The Pitbull” Arlovski hopes that's the case as he prepares to face Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva on the Strikeforce “Heavy Artillery” card in St. Louis this Saturday.

Coming off first-round knockout losses to Fedor Emelianenko and Brett Rogers, the 31-year-old Arlovski (15-7) and his management decided a change of scenery was in order.

"After my loss to (Rogers), I talked to my trainers and they sort of gave me an ultimatum," Arlovski said in a recent conference call. "They told me that I needed to look for different trainers. Now I have become more disciplined. In my fight against Rogers, I didn't stick with my game plan. I didn't take Rogers seriously, and he knocked me out."

The discussion with his camp led to a two-week stint with Greg Jackson in November 2009 before he returned to Chicago to train with his primary team, Team Pitbull. Then, in March, Arlovski traveled to San Jose, Calif., the home of American Kickboxing Academy, for another two-week stint. While he was there, Arlovski worked with Cain Velasquez and Mike Kyle among others.

"My manager spoke with Bob Cook and they set up a camp for me at AKA," said Arlovski. "I was very excited about that. I had a chance to train with all of the guys from AKA before I came back to Chicago. I'm very excited about what I learned. I got a lot of experience from (Jackson) and San Jose. I hope now I'm a better fighter. I hope I'm a different fighter. I can say I'm more disciplined and will stick with my game plan. No more going straight back and putting my hands down like how it was against Rogers."

Along with going to different training camps, Arlovski changed things up outside of the cage as well.

"It's embarrassing to say, but I worked with a sports psychologist (after the Rogers loss) and changed a lot of things in my life," said Arlovski. "Now I'm just focusing on my MMA career, training hard, eating and sleeping. I'm just focused on my MMA career. My mind was on pro boxing when I fought Rogers, but now my focus is on MMA."

Arlovski has had nine months to dwell on his loss to Rogers and said he wants nothing more than to beat Silva and put the past behind him.

"Those two losses cost me a lot, so I have to climb back to the top," said Arlovski. "Everybody was like, 'Wow!' when (Rogers) beat me in 20 seconds. I didn't take the fight seriously and now I've been on the bench nine months. I've been miserable. I need to stick with my game plan and be more disciplined. I just have to go out, do what works well and stick with my game plan."

One thing is for sure, though. Arlovski will be going back to AKA to train again for his next fight.

"Everybody at AKA was very friendly," said Arlovski. "I remember Bob Cook really pushing me through some of their conditioning workouts. It was a great experience for me, a great camp and I definitely will go again."

Silva (13-2) is coming off a decision loss to Fabricio Werdum on Strikeforce's November 2009 card and he said he'll be ready for a revamped Arlovski.

"(Arlovski) seems like he's completely renovated," Silva said through a translator during the conference call. "I'm also like that due to my hard training camp. I think the public will gain from this fight because I don't think it will go the distance. Since I started training with my old coach again, I've focused on my striking and I'm going to be looking for his head.

"I hope it stays standing. He's been knocked out in his last two fights, so I hope to exploit that."

Source: Sherdog

SENGOKU RAIDEN CHAMPIONSHIP UPDATE
Kikuto vs. Enomoto, Irie vs. Kawamura Added to Sengoku 13
By FCF Staff

Sengoku Raiden Championship has confirmed two more bouts for the promotion’s upcoming June 20th event in Tokyo, Japan, as Sanae Kikuta will take on Yasubey Enomoto and Ryo Kawamura will fight Hidetada Irie.

Sengoku 13 will be headlined by a featherweight bout between champion Masanori Kanehara and challenger Marlon Sandro.

Kikuta (28-6-3) will head into the bout having won 6 straight. The veteran hasn’t fought since last January, when he earned a Split Decision victory over Hidehiko Yoshida at Sengoku’s No Ran 2009 event.

Enomoto (3-1) is coming off his first professional loss; last June, Bellator welterweight Tyler Stinson stopped him in the third round at an Art of Fighting event.

Kawamura (11-5-2) hasn’t fought since December, when he worked his way to a Majority Decision victory over Shunsuke Inoue at a Pancrase event. Kawamura is 3-2 in his last five fights, with the losses coming against notable opposition in Fabio Silva and Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal.

Irie (7-3-2), who is riding a 4 fight undefeated streak, hasn’t lost since April, 2006, when he was stopped by Gegard Mousasi at Deep 24. Irie made his Sengoku debut in January, 2009, and stopped Minoru Kato.

Source: Full Contact Fighter

DREAM 5/29 Saitama Super Arena
By Zach Arnold

Start time – 16:00 (4 PM JST)

¦Catch Weight (88 kg): Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Ralek Gracie
¦Welterweights: Hayato Sakurai vs. Nick Diaz
¦Featherweights: Yoshiro Maeda vs. Kenji Osawa
¦Featherweights: Hiroyuki Takaya vs. Joachim Hansen
¦Featherweights: Hideo Tokoro vs. Akiyo “Wicky” Nishiura
¦Featherweights: Kazuyuki Miyata vs. Takafumi Otsuka
The media spin so far on this match announcement is that if Sakurai loses, this could be his final match. Sakurai is promising a career revival. DREAM relayed comments from Nick Diaz about the fight and Diaz said that he was completely confident that he would beat Sakurai in the same manner in which he beat Marius Zaromski.

Source: Fight Opinion

Mayorga vs. Thomas Remains in Jeopardy Over Term 'Bout'
By Ben Fowlkes

In the court battle over whether boxer Ricardo Mayorga is contractually free to pursue his MMA debut against former UFC fighter Din Thomas at this Saturday's Shine Fights event in North Carolina, a lot may depend on what the definition of the word "bout" is.

Last week, Don King Productions filed a motion in a Florida court for preliminary injunctive relief to stop Mayorga's participation in the Shine Fights 3 pay-per-view event, alleging that Mayorga is violating his exclusive promotional contract with DKP by engaging in the MMA bout.

According to copies of the motion and the separate complaint obtained by MMA Fighting, Don King Productions claims that its contract with Mayorga prevents the fighter from participating in any bouts not promoted by DKP.

At issue, it seems, is whether that contract extends beyond Mayorga's boxing efforts and into his would-be MMA endeavors.

"That's what we're basically trying to defend against, is this claim that we're the boxing promoter and Shine Fights is the MMA promoter," said Alejandro Brito, an attorney for Don King Productions. "The way that we view this contract, especially with regards to Mr. Mayorga, who does not have any experience as a mixed martial artist, is that the language in the contract refers to any bout."

Where things get tricky is when the contract distinguishes bouts from Bouts.

In one section of the promotional agreement signed by Mayorga, the term Bouts is defined as "all professional boxing bouts." Another section states that Mayorga "shall not participate in any bouts other than the Bouts promoted or co-promoted by [Don King Productions]..."

The inclusion of the word bouts, with a lower-case b, is what precludes Mayorga from taking the fight against Thomas, said Brito. That Shine Fights has promoted Mayorga's participation by pointing to his skills as a boxer, he added, only further solidifies the case.

"The statements that have been made by Shine Fights represented an attempt to draw upon Mr. Mayorga's background as a boxer in order to promote this event," said Brito. "He obviously has no background in MMA, so he's going to be utilizing his boxing skills, which is what Don King Productions has been trying to cultivate.

"He's going to use those skills in an MMA bout, but I don't think there's anyone who's going to be fooled into thinking that Mr. Mayorga is going to get down on the ground and grapple and participate in any real, full-fledged mixed martial arts. ...This isn't someone who can really crossover and hold themselves up as a real MMA participant. He's not; he's a boxer."

One of the issues brought up in the complaint is the likelihood that Mayorga will be injured or "perform poorly" in the fight with Thomas, which would then harm DKP's attempts to promote him as a boxer in the future.

The motion points out that Thomas is "an experienced and successful" MMA fighter, while Mayorga has never participated in an MMA bout, which "substantially increases the chances that he will be injured in this MMA event and will result in Mayorga being unable to perform his contractual obligations to DKP."

Potential injury is of particular concern since the motion states that DKP has arranged for a bout between Mayorga and WBA middleweight champ Felix Sturm in August or September. Brito said that though contracts haven't been signed for that fight, Mayorga "was aware that this is something that's potentially being sacrificed as a result of him participating in this event."

A Broward County judge is scheduled to hear the case this Friday at 1:30PM ET.

Shine Fights officials failed to respond to requests for comment.

SHINE SAYS KING CAN'T STOP MAYORGA'S MMA DEBUT
by Damon Martin

It appears despite all of the efforts of boxing promoter Don King to stop the upcoming MMA debut of Ricardo Mayorga, his fight with Din Thomas will still happen this Saturday night in North Carolina.

Mayorga arrived in Fayetteville, NC earlier today and along with Shine Fights president Devin Price, they laughed off King's claims of having exclusive rights to promote the former boxing champion.

“MMA fans are going to see an electrifying evening of fighting. I have faith in the American justice system, and I believe justice will prevail. When one operates within the rules and regulations, one has nothing to worry about. As far as King goes, it is just his usual smoke-and-mirrors. He shoots his mouth off about an injunction to try and sway the media's perception, and then waits until the last minute to file in hopes of affecting the success of the promotion," said Price.

"I know the difference between MMA and boxing and so does Don King. The members of the media, and both MMA and boxing fans, can clearly see that Don King is up to his ‘trickerations.’ This is a wonderful and exciting promotion Shine Fights has put together for both MMA and boxing fans, and I look forward to Saturday, May 15th."

King filed the injunction after sending two separate cease and desist orders to the promotion trying to stop their bout with Mayorga, who he claims to have exclusive rights to under a previous contract. Price has stood by the fact that they have Mayorga under contract for his MMA career, while King owns the rights to Mayorga's boxing contract.

The fighter also spoke out about King's tactics, and Mayorga has every intention of stepping into the ring with Din Thomas in just a few short days.

"Don King cannot stop this fight because I have only signed contracts with Don having to do with my boxing career," said Mayorga. "This is ridiculous, because Don knows he has not fought me in 18 months and a fighter makes his living and supports his family based on fighting.

I love MMA, and this is a wonderful opportunity for me and my family. He does not give me fights and now wants to try to stop me from fighting, that’s a shame. I have not had any other means to make a living other than fighting. No one can live on air alone. I have been fortunate to have enjoyed being a world champion in boxing, and now have a great opportunity in MMA. Aside from my passion for MMA, I support my family, my children, my mother."

The fight between Mayorga and Thomas is the main event for the third Shine Fights show, which will be on pay-per-view this Saturday night, and they will match-up in a catchweight bout of 160lbs.

Source: MMA Weekly

Roger Gracie Turns Focus to MMA for Randleman Bout
by John Chandler

Widely considered the top prospect of his family’s next generation, multiple-time Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu world champion Roger Gracie will return to active MMA competition when he challenges former UFC champion Kevin Randleman in a light heavyweight attraction at Strikeforce “Heavy Artillery” on May 15 at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Mo.

Although such inactivity was never planned, the 28-year-old Gracie has only fought under MMA rules twice in the past four years, submitting UFC veteran Ron Waterman in December 2006 and longtime Pancrase star Yuki Kondo in May 2008.

“I never planned to be away for so long,” Gracie said during a teleconference call touting the May 15 event. “I tried to come back twice before but I was injured. I’ve been away from the ring for years now but I’ve never stopped training. The plan now is to compete maybe two or three times a year. I used to compete in BJJ competitions four to five times a year, but now we’ve cut that back to two in order to concentrate on my MMA career. I think I can do both.”

For Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker, bringing Gracie into fold was a no-brainer. The last time the promotion utilized the Gracie name was Strikeforce’s inaugural foray into MMA back in March 2006. Frank Shamrock’s first-round KO of Cesar Gracie drew a then-U.S. record of 18, 265 fans at an MMA event.

“We started talking to (Roger) a while back and we had debated different ways of bringing him into the organization,” Coker said. “All of my indicators out there said, ‘Hey, this is a guy that could carry on the (Gracie) name. That doesn’t mean that there isn’t anyone else out there that could, but based on Roger’s jiu-jitsu accomplishments, we had to take a strong look at him.

Roger Gracie will face a very experienced Kevin Randleman.“Roger came out for a visit last year and we talked for a while. Then it was a matter of placing him onto a Challengers show or putting him right into the big show. We feel that the Gracie name has worked well in the past. Is this a marketing gimmick? Absolutely not. We feel that Roger is a great fighter and will be able to move up the ranks.”

As expected, having the burden of carrying the Gracie name can come with its fair share of pressure. Looking to capitalize on the recent UFC setbacks of his relatives, Renzo and Rolles, Roger is determined to use the surname as motivation.

“Of course there’s a lot of weight behind the name,” said Gracie. “Many fighters carried the name around for many years. In the same way it gives me a lot of pressure, it pushes me forward a lot. I feel like I have to train that much harder and perform that much better because I have the name. It’s as almost as if it gives you extra strength.”

Looking to add the first blemish to Gracie’s record is Randleman, who despite having dropped seven out of his last ten fights, remains a dangerous opponent to anyone due to his wrestling prowess and explosive athletic ability.

Compelled to add skills other than grappling to his arsenal, Gracie has spent the last eight weeks improving his boxing and wrestling in hopes of leaving no stone unturned when it comes to facing the threat that Randleman presents.

“I came to New York at the beginning of the week to finish my training with my cousin Renzo and Ricardo Almeida,” Gracie said. “They have a lot of good guys to train with. I’ve been doing a lot of boxing with my coach and we’ve been bringing some guys in to wrestle as well. I feel like a pretty complete fighter. Just with my jiu-jitsu alone, I feel pretty safe.

“My boxing isn’t on a high level. I have decent hands, but my jiu-jitsu is what I’m going to use. My other skills will never be on par with my grappling, so I have to do what I have to do. I believe I’m prepared for whatever happens. I think it makes it harder to win because everyone is going to try their best to get away from the ground (against me). Again, I think that it’s my strength. If I can use it, I’ll be fine, but of course, it’s going to be hard. I’m excited for the fight. Kevin is going to be my toughest opponent yet.”

Despite only having two professional bouts under his belt, a win over Randleman could end up placing Gracie on the fast track to challenging newly crowned Strikeforce light heavyweight champ Muhammed Lawal in the near future.

“Usually, that’s a scenario where we would talk about it when the time comes,” Coker said of a future title shot for Gracie. “But you have to remember that even though Roger doesn’t have that many MMA fights, he’s had probably near a thousand jiu-jitsu matches. We’ll keep an eye on the winner of the Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante vs. Antwain Britt fight and that could be a good next opponent if Roger gets by Kevin.”

Source: Sherdog

Is Din Thomas Planning to Trade Strikes With Ricardo Mayorga?
By Mike Chiappetta

He said it with conviction, so maybe we should believe him, but is Din Thomas really planning to stand with Ricardo Mayorga at their Shine Fights main event this weekend? Thomas recently spoke with Sherdog.com about the fight and indicated that he had no qualms about engaging Mayorga on their feet. (The video is after the jump.)

Thomas, who is a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, is 25-8 in his career, with 14 wins coming by way of submission. If he wanted to, he could probably take Mayorga down within a few seconds of the opening bell and tap him out inside of one minute. But the American Top Team product says that he's interested in the test that Mayorga provides, and that test will only take place when they are standing upright and trading leather.

"Oh yeah, without a doubt," he said when asked if he was truly going to throw blows with Mayorga. "Honestly, I kind of want to. I want to challenge myself. I do want to stand with him. Obviously, I want to kick, too. He got to at least let me kick. Kick, knee and elbow. I definitely want to stand with him. I don't want to just go out there. I want to put on a good show and really test myself."

The 36-year-old Mayorga is 28-7-1 in his boxing career with 22 KO's. He holds notable wins over Vernon Forrest and Fernando Vargas in his career, but hasn't fought in the boxing ring since a 12th round knockout at the hands of Shane Mosley in Sept. 2008.

Shine Fights: Worlds Collide will take place at Crown Coliseum in Fayetteville, N.C., and air on pay-per-view.

Source: MMA Fighting

DAVIS AND DIAZ VERBALLY AGREED FOR UFC 118
by Damon Martin

The "Irish Hand Grenade" will get to fight in Boston.

Marcus Davis, who has long trained and spent time in the Boston area, will get to fight in his adoptive hometown as he's set to square off against former "Ultimate Fighter" winner Nate Diaz on the UFC 118 card in August.

The bout has been verbally agreed to by the fighters, but no bout agreements have been issued at this point, according to sources speaking with MMAWeekly.com on Wednesday. The fight was first reported by MMAJunkie on Wednesday.

The condition of the fight may still be pending due to the upcoming hearing within the Tennessee Athletic Commission regarding Nate Diaz's involvement in the post fight brawl that broke out following his teammate, Jake Shields, and the altercation with Jason "Mayhem" Miller.

There's no guarantee that anything will happen to Diaz, but if he does face a suspension that goes beyond the Aug 28 date, the UFC is expected to honor that penalty and a replacement would be found to face Davis.

Marcus Davis is coming off of a 2nd round knockout over Jonathan Goulet this past weekend at UFC 113 in Montreal. As for Diaz, his test at welterweight will continue after a dominant win over Rory Markham in his 170lb debut at UFC 111 in March.

More information about the fight between Davis and Diaz will be available after the hearing is held with the Tennessee Athletic Commission later this month.

Source: MMA Weekly

From New Zealand, Comprido bets on Roger vs Xande, and Brock Lesnar
by Luca Atalla

Who’s going to be the first three-time absolute world champion? That’s what GRACIEMAG.com has been asking readers ever since Xande Ribeiro confirmed on Twitter that he’ll be at the toughest championship in the world.

Xande? Current champion Roger? Ronaldo Jacaré and Pé de Pano, who are now MMA fighters?

We passed the question on to our special reader, himself a two-time champion (1999/2000), Rodrigo “Comprido” Medeiros. Could he be up to the task?

Rodrigo backtracks, and places his bets, indicating that, should he participate, he’ll just be sticking to his motto, “what’s important is to compete.”

“I’m here in New Zealand to inaugurate Brasa NZ, headed by a student of ours from BJJ Camp, Keatha Banan,” begins Comprido, via email.

Xande wins by success rate, Roger by consistency. And I win the dispute of who is the most handsome” Rodrigo Comprido

“Aside from that, I’m working hard with my students in Florida who are going to the Worlds, and with both Brock and Mike Rusow, who faces Todd Duffee at UFC 114,” he says.

“I’m sending a bunch to the Worlds in June, and there are about three I have faith will win, aside from Felipe Costa, my old black belt who is always at the head of the pack,” he wagers.

I ask what chance he feels Felipe has to overcome the current roosterweight champion, Bruno Malfacine.

“I’ve known Bruno’s game a long time, since he and Felipe have fought on four occasions in the past, and it’s tied at 2 to 2. Malfacine has also beaten Caio Terra, who is also my student. He’s a tough kid with a lot of competition trickery, a quick game and he positions himself well. I helped Felipe put together a strategy to stifle his game, and I have faith in Felipe winning.”

Nice, nice. And what will the absolute in the Long Beach Pyramid be like?

“Roger constantly makes it to the final. But there are several tough guys besides Xande. Romulo, Braga Neto, Braulio, Demente, Cavaca, Telles… I feel this year we’ll have some great surprises at the Worlds, but not in the absolute; my money’s on Xande vs Roger,” he says, later adding:

“Obviously, the one who’s better on the day takes it. It’s hard to predict. Roger is always a favorite, but Xande always has a strategy for the final. If the criteria is consistency and number of finals, Roger takes it; if it’s success rate, it’ll be Xande. But if it’s who is the handsomest, I win hands down! (Laughs),” he jokes.

Comprido says he can’t comment on Brock Lesnar’s Jiu-Jitsu training in his preparations for UFC 116, on July 3, but he didn’t skirt giving his analysis of the giant champion’s opponent, challenger Shane Carwin.

“All I can say about Brock is that he’s in great shape and will have a good showing. I think Carwin is a great fighter, who is used to winning his fights quickly. He’s beaten good really good Jiu-Jitsu guys and is held in high regard. He’ll certainly be a tough opponent, but even so I can see some weaknesses in his game. It’ll be a battle that can’t be missed, two of the heaviest hands in the UFC, and that’s not marketing. One is undefeated, the other doesn’t even consider the possibility of losing his belt. I think it will be one of the greatest battles in the UFC,” he concludes, in grand style.

Source: Gracie Magazine

Eddie Goldman corners Scott Coker on drug-testing issue in Mixed Martial Arts
By Zach Arnold

Last Wednesday, Eddie Goldman did a great interview with Scott Coker of Strikeforce. It was one of the more news-worthy interviews that I’ve heard so far this year and there were some very revealing answers from Mr. Coker on a significant amount of issues regarding his company and his thoughts on the sport in general.

You can listen to the entire interview here.

I did a transcript of many of the major quotes, so let’s go over some of what Scott said.

The upcoming main event of Brett Rogers vs. Alistair Overeem in St. Louis this Saturday was brought up and you can tell that Scott is very excited about having Overeem fighting for him again.

“I tell you this guy is an amazing athlete, talented MMA fighter. MMA is, you know, his passion and then he started fighting in K-1, in the stand-up league, which you know and I know the best stand-up fighters in the world fight in K-1 and so he goes in there and he did very well. I mean, he beat Badr Hari one time, he lost to Badr Hari one time. … So, for him to be able to compete on that level just standing up it says a lot about how much he’s worked on his stand-up. Alistair’s going to be a dangerous fighter both in submissions and the stand-up.”

Eddie asked Scott if the MMA media had blown the Fedor “will he or won’t he fight for Strikeforce?” story out of proportion.

“No, the way I look at it is you know we have a relationship with M-1 Global and you know they wanted to change some things so you know it took time to work it out and you know like any other relationship that has to be tweaked from time to time, we worked it out and now we’re moving forward, so to me this is just a hiccup in the overall picture, the overall landscape and you know really Fedor wants to fight and M-1 wants Fedor to fight so we’re happy to have them here, especially in our hometown where we’ve had so many great match-ups at the HP Pavilion. We’re happy to have them here and we’re happy to bring him to the fans who have been loyal to us for such a long time.”

The a big note I took away from the interview was when Eddie asked Scott about whether or not he planned on booking the winner of the Fedor/Werdum fight against the winner of the Overeem/Rogers fight. (Besides asking the question, it’s curious that Fedor is being positioned as a challenger while Overeem is the champion.) Coker’s answer is very revealing here.

“You know, I talked to M-1 about that and their position was look, let Alistair fight, let Fedor fight, and then after their fight let’s sit down and let’s discuss the next steps but they didn’t want to have a premature conversation and I don’t blame them because a lot could happen. I mean, a lot of people think you know Brett Rogers is just a walk-through opponent but this guy’s got some heavy hands as we’ve seen in the past and you know in MMA with those little gloves you’re never going to know what’s going to happen.”

When asked if he was going to recruit more heavyweights into Strikeforce, Mr. Coker said that he would bring in a couple of new faces but that recruitment is happening in all their different weight classes on three different levels.

“You know, we talked about bringing in a couple of Europeans, a couple of Americans in the league and I would say that what you’re seeing on May 15th with those two heavyweight fights and the Fedor fight against Fabricio Werdum, I mean I think that’s a very impressive line-up of heavyweights and you know the beauty of all of this is we get to watch it for free on Showtime. So, you know that’s the beauty of it is you can sit back and watch it on TV and not have to pay a PPV fee and see you know some of the best heavyweight fighters in the world. But you know not just the heavyweight division, Eddie, but I think all of the divisions and the weight classes we have we’re going to be looking to improve our fighter base and you know our roster and we’re going to do 3 ways – we’re going to either borrow them, what I mean by borrow them is you know the deal we have with DREAM or maybe we’ll borrow some of their fighters or share some of the fighters is probably a better word. We’re going to build them which is what we’re doing in the challenger series, which I think you know Tyrone Woodley and Luke Rockhold and some of the guys coming out of there are And Tim Kennedy who’s coming out of our Challenger Series and you know they’re doing fatalistic over there and you’ll see them in the big show pretty soon. And you know from there you’ll see those guys move up. And then last when there’s a free agent out there that’s available we’ll be talking to them.”

It was mentioned during the interview that a lot of Strikeforce’s shows will be airing on Showtime and not on PPV. Take a listen to this sales pitch.

“And then you got a hot MMA brand out there on Showtime and you know so it’s a great value. Yeah, it is, for the dollar it’s an amazing value.”

Maybe Strikeforce is a hot brand on Showtime, but it sure isn’t a hot brand on CBS — especially after the Nashville event this past April.

“I can start off by saying, Eddie, it’s unfortunate what happened and I don’t want to give excuses for you know how it went down or this or that. I’ve been in the fight business for 25 years, it’s the first time anything like this has ever happened to me on one of my shows and you know it’s something that we’ve taken measures to fix and it’s not going to happen again. And with saying that, you know I feel bad for the fighters that fought that night because you know this thing overshadowed their efforts and their talent and you know technical ability because I think you saw three real technical fights that night. We didn’t have that barn-burner fight like Gilbert (Melendez) vs. Josh (Thomson) or Fedor/Rogers, but it was three amazing and great fights and you know the situation at the end just took away from that so I feel bad for the fighters who fought that night and really right now we should be talking about that, the fighters instead of the situation after. So you know I feel bad for the fighters. Am I happy about it? Of course not. I do understand that this happens in all sports. I mean, you know, whether it’s football, basketball, boxing, I mean it’s just you know it’s just a situation that will occur from time to time.”

When Mr. Coker mentioned boxing, this gave Eddie a wide opening to ask the question about whether or not Strikeforce would support more stringent drug testing of fighters. Eddie brought up the question in regards to the recent Floyd Mayweather/Shane Mosley bout and how Mayweather demanded USADA-level drug testing with Mosley and both fighters did it going in and out of their fight. Instead of answering the drug question directly (initially), Coker focused on Mayweather. Eddie had asked him if he would support stricter drug testing (including random blood drug testing) for both MMA and kickboxing.

“Well, here’s what I feel. Mayweather, go fight Pacquiao, just go do it. You know, stop the excuses. I sound like a promoter. But you know to me, that’s the fight that I would love to see. and you know to me you’re not the athletic commission. Let the athletic commission do what they do and you know the fighter, go fight and if you feel like you can go beat this guy, go beat him. I mean, you know pound for pound, he’s supposed to be the greatest fighter in the world, so go do it. To me, leave the sanctioning, leave the testing, leave all the administrative stuff to the athletic commissions and that’s what they’re there for. Athletic commissions, Eddie, were created to protect the consumer, the fighter, and the promoter from each other basically, right? So, you know, if there’s an issue with the testing in California, California and Nevada adopt a new program, well you know what? Then that’s what Strikeforce will use. And if they have a national testing procedure that’s implemented in the states we’re promoting in, then that’s what will do. But until that happens, I mean you go to Nevada, I mean you know they run every test in the book and you know maybe the Olympic testing or the cycling testing might be a little bit more stringent but you know that’s not really my expertise and we’ve always been governed by the state athletic commissions and you know when that changes, Eddie, we’ll do it. But right now we’re governed by the commissions.”

Reading the text of this quote does not do justice to the way Mr. Coker sounded while giving this answer. In my opinion, he sounded like he wanted to anywhere else in the world at that time when the question was this. Even though the answer was corporate and milquetoast, it sounded like Scott wanted to run away from answering this as fast as he possibly could.

Eddie asked again in a different manner, this time bringing up how Mayweather asked for Mosley to be tested due to Mosley’s role with BALCO and the issue of EPO. He pointed out that Nevada does urine test but not advanced, significant drug testing to catch up with drug cheats who are 8-10 years ahead of where the state athletic commissions are currently at.

“Well I can say this, Eddie. Do I want top fighters to be on performance-enhancing stimulants and drugs? Of course not. No one wants that. We want the playing field to be fair. You know, that’s our goal as well. But you know when you have different restrictions in different territories and every commission is different, you know it’s sometimes exactly what are they testing for and then what do we test, I mean you know right now I think that maybe there should be a national testing procedure for boxing and MMA across the country and not just regulated by each state and that would I think you know make all the fears and all the you know on a national level go away for each fighter to worry about, ‘Is this guy is on this or is this guy on that?’ And you know Eddie, I’m sure in not just you know in boxing but in all sports I’m sure that you know people are always trying to get that edge to compete at the higher level. It’s been throughout history. Look at Ben Johnson and look at you know some of the great Olympians who have had to return their medals. So, it’s everywhere, even the Tour de France, I mean they’re always accusing Lance (Armstrong) of doing it. But I mean, to me, how do you really know unless they prove through his testing that he’s guilty, how do you really know? I’m not a doctor, I’m not a scientist, I have no idea.”

“I think that’s an issue that the state commissions or a national commission have to take care of and that’s what they’re there for.”

It was a lackluster answer to two direct questions on a very important issue in the sport right now. Eddie deserves praise for asking it in the manner in which he did.

Eddie asked Scott if he was satisfied with the current direction of Strikeforce and where the company stands nationally. Also, Mr. Coker was asked if he is happy the way the MMA media has covered Strikeforce so far?

“We’ve been really a national product for what, a year now? And we’ve put on some amazing fights and done some I think big, big events and I think that you know the media has been fair. I think they have been giving us a lot of coverage and writing a lot of fair statements. Sometimes the statements are you know like in any fight you know like after the big fights we’ve had with Fedor or Gina and you know we’ve had great stories and then after Nashville people are focused on the situations and you know sometimes it’s not always going to be great, right Eddie, in the media. We do the best we can. And let me just tell you from my position how I look at it is. We’re just going to keep doing great fights and just keep moving forward and you know judge us by the fights in the cage that night and you know we’ll just move forward.”

When asked about the Nashville fights that aired on CBS, Mr. Coker dropped this amazing line.

“I think that you know they were definitely technical fights and sometimes, you know, that’s the fight that you have and you know sometimes they’re going to be KOs, sometimes they’re going to be submissions, it just ended up being, I would have never thought that we had three 5-rounders go the distance if you were to ask me before the fight.”

Finally, Eddie asked Scott about the prospects of keeping Jake Shields under the Strikeforce banner. Shields totally disrespected Strikeforce by appearing a week after his fight at the Zuffa PPV on 4/24 in Sacramento with Dana White at cage side.

“I think that we’re going to reach out again maybe in the next couple of days but you know we’re in our negotiation period and we’re going to negotiate, so, we’ll see what happens.”

Trying to put on a happy face, Mr. Coker closed out the interview this way.

“You know what Eddie? Things always work out the way they’re supposed to.”

Source: Fight Opinion

Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker Talks Heavyweights, Post-Fight Brawl
By Michael David Smith

Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker would like to move past the post-fight brawl that marred his promotion's last show, and on Saturday night in St. Louis, he'll promote a fight card that should go a long way toward doing that. The Heavy Artillery card, which will be televised on Showtime, features the long-awaited return of Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem (defending his belt against Brett Rogers) as well as a co-main event with heavyweights Andrei Arlovski and Antonio Silva.

With two heavyweight fights in the top two spots, Coker said in an interview with MMAFighting.com that he thinks the heavyweight division is the premier division in Strikeforce. He also talked about the upcoming return of Fedor Emelianenko, and why that brawl on CBS disappointed him. The full interview is below.

Michael David Smith In May Alistair Overeem will fight Brett Rogers for the Strikeforce heavyweight title, in June Fedor Emelianenko will fight Fabricio Werdum and in July Brock Lesnar will fight Shane Carwin for the UFC heavyweight title. Which of those three fights do you think MMA fans will recognize as the sport's true heavyweight championship fight?
Scott Coker: Well, Alistair vs. Brett is for our title, I think Brett is definitely worthy of a title shot, we've been trying to put Alistair in a fight for the last 10 months, and to me, that's for the Strikeforce heavyweight belt and that's the fight that gets my vote. But I think the MMA community looks as Fedor as the No. 1 fighter in the world -- which he is -- and the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the history of MMA, so I would think Fedor is MMA fans' choice if they had a poll.

Is it bad for the sport that we don't have a generally recognized heavyweight champion of MMA? Isn't that one of the problems boxing has faced?
Boxing has the WBA, WBC, WBO champions, but in boxing the promoters are all willing to work together -- Golden Boy Promotions will work with Bob Arum or Gary Shaw, they all work together and hopefully you'll see those different champions fight. In our sport, unfortunately, that doesn't happen. Hopefully that will change and the big promotions will work together and these big fights will happen.

Do you think fans get the fights they want more in boxing or more in MMA?
Well, if Floyd Mayweather fights Manny Pacquiao I can answer that better, but in boxing, you do get to see the fights. In MMA right now we don't have that. Think about the matchups we could make if the UFC had an open-door policy. We could have Gilbert Melendez fighting B.J. Penn or Frankie Edgar. We could have Nick Diaz fighting Georges St. Pierre. We could have Jake Shields or Jacare fight Anderson Silva. We could have Gegard Mousasi or King Mo fight Lyoto Machida or Shogun Rua. At heavyweight, you could have Fedor or Alistair fight Brock Lesnar or Shane Carwin. Those are fights I'm sure the fans would like.

It's an outstanding relationship. We've had some hiccups, but we're moving forward.
-- Scott Coker on M-1 GlobalOvereem thinks Fedor is ducking him. Do you agree with that?
Well, I haven't heard everything that Alistair's management and Fedor's management have said to each other, but Fedor -- I'm sure -- will fight anybody. So if Alistair wins against Brett, and if Fedor wins against Fabricio, I'm sure M-1 and Strikeforce will have a dialogue about that.

What have Fedor and his people at M-1 been like to work with?
It's an outstanding relationship. We've had some hiccups, but we're moving forward. We're back on the same page and moving forward.

With a few weeks now to reflect on it, how do you assess your last CBS show?
The disappointing thing to me with the situation after the fight was that it took away from three great championship fights. Gilbert Melendez beat Shinya Aoki, the best jiu jitsu fighter to come out of Japan in years, and King Mo beat Gegard Mousasi. Were they barn-burner fights? No, but they were technically good fights that fans enjoy. So we had three championship fights and then we had that unfortunate incident after the fight. So we're working with the Tennessee Athletic Commission and those fighters will be suspended and fined.

Who do you blame for the brawl?
I don't want to point fingers. It's just an unfortunate situation. In all my years of promoting, it's never happened and it shouldn't happen again.

What's next for Dan Henderson?
More fights. Dan's a great fighter. I could see Dan going against Robbie Lawler, I think that would be a great fight. Jacare or Joey Villasenor would be great fights. If Nick Diaz wants to fight at 185 again, that would be a great fight. Dan is on vacation right now and then we'll have that conversation.

Is Jake Shields going to the UFC?
We're having a dialogue right now, and we'll see. We inherited his contract from ProElite, and we'll know probably in the next two or three months if we do another contract with him.

Where do Gegard Mousasi and King Mo go from here? There's not a lot of depth in the light heavyweight division outside the UFC.
I think our fight on May 15 between Feijao [Rafael Cavalcante] and Antwain Britt is going to be great, and we also have Roger Gracie fighting Kevin Randleman, so we have some good light heavyweights. But the fight King Mo really wants is he wants to fight Fedor. King Mo could fight at heavyweight and that would be an interesting fight. Dan Henderson vs. King Mo could also be interesting.

Would you say that you're making a concerted effort to build up the heavyweight division? You mention your light heavyweight champion possibly moving up to heavyweight, you've got four heavyweight fights on Saturday, you've got Fedor, you've got guys like Bobby Lashley and Shane Del Rosario. Is that division of particular importance to Strikeforce?
Yes. Everybody likes the heavyweights, and that's probably our premier division, but I wouldn't say it's more important than all the rest. Our heavyweight division is strong, and when you have a guy like Fedor, you want to get great fighters in the cage with him.

Is Lashley ducking Del Rosario?
Lashley and Del Rosario will probably both fight on our June 16 card and maybe we'll have the winners of their two fights fight each other after that.

Do you know who Lashley's next opponent is?
We've submitted a couple names for commission approval but without athletic commission approval we can't move forward.

Who's next for Gilbert Melendez?
I think he could fight a rematch with Tatsuya Kawajiri [Melendez beat Kawajiri by unanimous decision in 2006], I think he could fight JZ Cavalcante, maybe Vitor Ribeiro. I think maybe after another year he'll probably have a trilogy fight with Josh Thomson, and I think those are four good guys he could look forward to fighting.
In all my years of promoting, it's never happened and it shouldn't happen again.
-- Scott Coker on 'Mayhem'-Shields Brawl
Could Gilbert's next fight be in Japan?
That would be up to Gilbert and Dream. We're planning on him fighting for Strikeforce.

Will you add weight classes? Why not have bantamweight and featherweight champions?
Right now probably not because I like the way the divisions are shaping up, but that doesn't mean we wouldn't do a fight in those classes. Probably not a whole division right now though.

Strikeforce is the leader in women's MMA, but are you having trouble putting together big women's fights? We still haven't heard what's next for your top female fighter, Cris Cyborg.
She will be fighting in June and we should know her opponent soon.

Will it be Erin Toughill?
No. She let us know she will not be ready to fight until after July.

Do you think Gina Carano will ever fight again?
I think she will. I know she's a fighter at heart, and she'll want to come back at some point.

One last thing I want to ask you about: There's a Fake Scott Coker on Twitter. What do you make of that?
I saw that, and I thought it was pretty funny. For someone to take the time out of their day to tweet stuff as a fake Scott Coker, I think that's funny.

Source: MMA Fighting

Alan Belcher: There’s harder guys for me to beat than Anderson Silva
By Zach Arnold

Some interesting quotes from this interview he did right after his win over Patrick Cote with MMAFighting.com on Saturday night.

“I’m tickled to death. I felt like I still haven’t really hit my potential, but that’s what peaking’s all about, you know. Whenever I’m in the driver’s seat for that title shot, that’s when you’re going to see my best performance.”

Later on in the interview…

“You feel as thought you’re getting a lot more respect now?”

“Yeah, man, that’s what I want, more respect, and you know I’m going to get respect after tonight, after winning 6 out of 7 fights you know besides the Akiyama fight which was close, you know, what can I do man? I don’t know, I can’t look any different, you know, I wear the best shorts and I think I got the flashiest style and the most slickest style and I’m a very well-rounded fighter. So I mean, what else can I do man? Just keep trying and you know I’m a lifer in this man. I’ve been doing MMA since I was a kid, starting martial arts when I was 8 years old, Muay Thai and jiu-jitsu when I was 14, so I mean I’ve been doing this a lot longer than everybody even though I’m young and you know, dude, I’m in it for the long haul, I’m going to make a statement in this. This is my life quest so, you know, I’m just going to keep doing what I’m doing, bro.”

“You called out Anderson Silva after the fight. Are you ready to face top competition in the Middleweight division?”

“Absolutely, man. He’s just a human like anybody else. I mean, what would you do if you were me? What’s Anderson going to do to me… that like if I fight a wrestler or something, they’re going to try to take me down. I mean, he’s going to try to box me and stuff and all I got to do is, you know, watch his punches, don’t get punched, land bigger, heavier shots, I can kick harder than him, and I think there’s harder guys to beat for me than Anderson. He’s an awesome fighter, you know I’m not trying to put him, I’m just saying I’m ready for the big fights whenever they may be.”

“That said, he has a date against Chael Sonnen coming up in August. So who would you like to fight?”

“I’d like to fight Anderson Silva next.”

“So you’re just hoping for Chael to get injured or something?”

“No, I mean, I don’t care, whoever, the top guys all lost, I don’t think I have to fight a loser at this point, I will if they ask me to you know rankings-wise I don’t think I have to fight a Nate Marquardt or somebody coming off of a loss to prove myself right there. Let me fight somebody that’s top, on a winning streak, you know. You know, yeah, if Chael gets hurt, I’m going to step in there. If Anderson don’t fight, I’m going to step in there, you know, whatever the UFC wants.”

In other UFC news, Paul Daley is apologizing and TJ Grant is headed to Cuba.

And the “new” Google News sucks in terms of how much the news engine is getting spammed with Bleacher Report, Examiner.com, MNDC, and God knows whatever other spam blogs there are out there. It’s ridiculous and it’s become harder and harder to filter for mainstream news items on UFC and MMA in general. Guess I’ll have to start figuring out a way to configure a good Google News RSS feed, filter out the crap, and post a link on the site for everyone to use. Count me out as a fan of the “new” Google News layout.

Source: Fight Opinion

5/14/10

MMA RETURNS TO HAWAII AS X-1 EVENTS PRESENTS “SHOWDOWN AT WAIPAHU II”
Tomorrow

Fight veterans and future stars featured on huge card

Honolulu, HI (USA): X-1 World Events, the top entertainment company in Hawaii, is proud to announce that on Saturday, May 15th, 2010, they will be bringing MMA back to the island as they present “Showdown at Waipahu II,” featuring some of Hawaii’s top professional and amateur MMA fighters and kickboxers.

On the main card is well-known Hawaiian MMA veteran Kolo Koka (13-12) taking on Chicago’s own Quinton McCottrell (4-5), who won his last fight following more than a year layoff from the sport. Koka is coming into this bout on a two-fight losing streak and will be looking to turn the tide and get back to his winning ways. McCottrell, for his part, is known for his heavy hands, and will be looking to end the fight early utilizing his knockout power. Also on the main card will be Thomas Sedeno (0-0) and Brent Schermerhorn (2-0), who will be going to battle in the 170 lbs. division. Sedeno will be facing a tough task in his professional debut as Schermerhorn has displayed his unrelenting standup skills in his first two professional fights by winning via TKO in the first round.

In another 170 lb. bout, Taylor Cochron (0-0) of the United States Army will be making his professional debut against Walter Hao (4-4), who has made the drop in weight classes from 185 lbs. for this fight. Additionally, also making their professional debuts are Justin Babbs, Falo Faaloto, Justin Wong, and Brandon Piper. Fans can expect to see fireworks when each fighter steps into the ring to do battle with his opponent, as each warrior has great striking and submission skills, and is capable of ending the fight at any time.

The undercard will feature some talented rising stars the Islands. There will be five amateur title fights to determine who the best in their division is. Exciting young fighters Toby Misech, Bronson Mohika, Kevin Soong, Maki Pitolo, and others will showcase to the Islands what the Hawaii fighting spirit is all about.

“This event is going to highlight the talent level of Hawaii’s top amateurs and professionals,” said Mike Miller, Owner/Promoter of X-1 World Events. “MMA fans are going to be in for a treat with the abundance of fights and vast disciplines which will be showcased throughout the fights.

Main Card

Pro MMA (3/3 minute rounds): Kolo Koka vs. Quinton McCotrell - 170 lbs.

Pro MMA (3/3 minute rounds): Thomas Sedeno vs. Brent Schermerhorn - 170 lbs.
Pro MMA (3/3 minute rounds): Justin Babbs vs. Falo Faaloloto - 170 lbs.

Pro MMA (3/3 minute rounds): Taylor Cochron vs. Walter Hao - 170lbs.

Pro MMA (3/3 minute rounds): Justin Wong vs. Brandon Piper - 145 lbs.

Amateur Title Fights
Amateur MMA Title Fight (3/3 minute rounds): Tyrone O’Neil vs. Kevin Soong - 155 lbs.

Amateur MMA Title Fight (3/3 minute rounds): Joie Yeampierre vs Toby Misech – 145 lbs.

Amateur MMA Title Fight (3/3 minute rounds): Joie Hernandez vs. Bronson Mohika - 135 lbs.

Amateur MMA Title Fight (3/3 minute rounds): Micah Paulo vs. Maki Pitolo - 185 lbs.
Amateur MMA Title Fight (3/3 minute rounds): Paea Paongo vs. Sasae Paogofie – Heavyweight

Amateur Non-Title Fights
Amateur MMA (3/3 minute rounds): John Joao vs. Ron Verdadero - 185 lbs.

Amateur MMA (3/3 minute rounds): TBA vs. Peni Taufaao - 145 lbs.

Kickboxing
Kickboxing exhibition (3/2 minute rounds): Nainoa Dung vs. Shawn Desantos, Jr.
Kickboxing (3/2 minute rounds): Sheldon Crawford vs. Ioane Kim - 145 lbs.

Kickboxing (3/½ minute rounds): Sai Crawford vs. Kasey Farinas - 85 lbs.

Kickboxing (3/1½ minute rounds): Cristien Raquedan vs. Alika Agustin- 90 lbs.

Kickboxing (3/1½ minute rounds): Raymond Raquedan vs. Charles Naone- 85 lbs.

Kickboxing (3/1 minute rounds): Sedric Crawford vs. Kaena Desantos- 65 lbs.

Amateur MMA

MMA Match (3/3 minute rounds): Loyed Trueman vs. Brad Orsbone- 185 lbs.

MMA Match (3/3 minute rounds): Koa Ramelb vs Randy Kamaiopili- 155 lbs.

MMA Match (3/3 minute rounds): James Ekener vs. Anthony Kinoshita- 185 lbs.

MMA Match (3/3 minute rounds): Manny vs. Jan Quimoyog- 125 lbs.

MMA Match (3/3 minute rounds): Philip Akui vs. Micah Ige- 175 lbs.

MMA Match (3/3 minute rounds): Kawika Young vs. Steven Beal- Heavyweights

MMA Match (3/3 minute rounds): Dale Laymeyer vs. Joseph Ena Ena- 165 lbs.

MMA Match (3/3 minute rounds): John Shepard vs. Derrick Galindo- 185 lbs.

MMA Match (3/3 minute rounds): Vince Alama vs. Timothy Cation- 205 lbs.

MMA Match (3/3 minute rounds): Derrick Galindo vs John Shepard- 185 lbs.

MMA Match (3/3 minute rounds): Aloune Diop vs Ka’eo Kawa’a- 185 lbs.

MMA Match (3/3 minute rounds): Daymon Carr vs Dale Lahmeyer- 185 lbs.

MMA Match (3/3 minute rounds): Jacob Pyfer vs. Evic Liftee- 170 lbs.

MMA Match (3/3 minute rounds): Jarrett Questel vs. Adam Trueman- 170 lbs.

MMA Match (3/3 minute rounds): Chad Puha vs Joseph Ena Ena

About X-1 World Events

Founded in 2004 by Mike Miller, X-1 World Events is a world-class mixed martial arts (MMA) promotional company based in Honolulu, HI. Locally-owned and operated, X-1 delivers exciting live arena-based entertainment events to fight fans all over the islands. The events feature some of the MMA world’s most talented fighters, including UFC, Pride, and Abu-Dhabi veterans such as former UFC champions Dan “The Beast” Severn and Ricco Rodriguez, UFC veterans Jeff Monson, Kimo Leopoldo, Chad “The Grinder” Reiner, “Sugar” Shane Nelson, Brandon Wolff, Wes “The Project” Sims, Ronald “The Machine Gun” Juhn, Wesley “Cabbage” Correira, and Falaniko Vitale, as well as Pride veterans Chris Brennan and Ron “H2O-Man” Waterman. X-1 World Events can be found online at http://www.x1events.com/

About Fight of Your Life Communications
Fight of Your Life is the only company that focuses exclusively on communications within the sport of MMA. Through utilization of media relationships, sponsorship contacts, writing skills, and public relations experience, Fight of Your Life raises the profile of its clients, which increases awareness, draws revenue, and helps establish long-term viability. Current Fight of Your Life clients include fight promotions such as Gladiator Challenge, Jeff Curran’s XFO, X-1 World Events, MMA Big Show, and Shine Fights. In addition, Fight of Your Life handles management for rising StrikeForce lightweight title contender Lyle “Fancy Pants” Beerbohm. Also, Fight of Your Life owner Phil Lanides covers MMA for Examiner.com, and writes for FightSport Magazine, and CACombatSports.com. For additional information on Fight of Your Life Communications, please visit http://www.fightofyourlife.com/

For additional information on Fight of Your Life Communications, please visit http://www.fightofyourlife.com/

Source: Event Promoter

Scrappla Fest 2 Tomorrow
Kauai's Scrappla Fest 2
Gi & No Gi Tournament
May 15, 2010
Island School
3-1875 Kaumualii Hwy
Lihue, HI 96766-9597

$50 entry fee

Tentative times:
Kids Rules 930am.
Kids Gi Start 10am.
Kids No Gi Start 11am.

Adult Rules 12:30pm.
Adults Gi Start 1pm.
Adults No Gi Start 3:45pm.

We will be running 4-6 matches at the same time to keep the tournament running smoothly. More info to come about weights and weigh ins.

kids ages-weight divisions will be made on sight

5-below
6-7
8-9
10-11
12-13
14-15
16-17

women
125-below
126-140
141-above

menbeginner white , blue
131-below
132-145
146-159
160-173
174-187
188-201
202-215
216-above

men advanced, purple and above
159-below
160-180
181-201
202-above

Thank you,

Pono Pananganan
Kauai Technical Institute
ktirelson_gracie@hotmail.com


MAD SKILLS Tomorrow

WEIGH IN
FRIDAY MAY 14
5:30
24 HR FITNESS PEARL HIGHLANDS ABOVE SAM’S CLUB
18 AND OVER PHOTO ID REQUIRED
17 AND UNDER MUST BE ACCOMPANIED BY THEIR PARENT
AND BIRTH CERTIFICATE

MAD SKILLS
SATURDAY MAY 15
WAIPAHU FILCOM CENTER
DOORS OPEN AT 6:00

JUMAR ESCOSIO 155 JUSTIN BURGESS

JOJO KELLY 175 BARACK HOLT

RICKY PLUNKETT 145 RYNE YOSHIMURA

JESSIE PURGANON 160 JESSIE HURST

ALLEN AUSTRIA 145 JOSEPH CARTER

ISRAEL ALVAREZ 120 RICKY FAJARDO

JUSTIN KAI IWASAKI 145 MARK YARCIA

JADA PERRERA 100 KAMA DA BEBE ASSASIN BANTILAN

RACHEL OSTOVICH 125 LENA BOOM BOOM COOK

BRYSHANE BAYUDAN 160 MIKEY WABINGA

FRED RAMAYLA 140 MARK WILSON

CHEVY DECASTRO 125 VEE VICKERS

JOE MOLINA SHW PETE SEFO

EDDIE LANI 140 JAYAR DUMAOAL

HANS LEE HW JARREN KAWALU

STEVE 200 JEREMY

MATT STONE 225 DUSTIN CULLASTRO

DANTE BOY 110 BRENNAN WAIALAE

DAN CERA 110 BRENTON WAIALAE

KAWIKA KUPUKAA SHW MANNY

CARLOS MASUNGSON 125 REX MANUEL

PAUL AUSTRIA 130 DANIEL ASUNCION

YVONNE WILLIAMS 100 GIGI

All matches and participants are subject to change

Full interview transcript: Scott Coker talks about Strikeforce matchmaking, this Saturday’s St. Louis event, the problems with M-1, booking UFC castoffs, re-signing Jake Shields, and Kimbo Slice
By Zach Arnold

Editor’s note: I would highly advise any rational person against transcribing a 24 minute radio interview unless you are getting paid a lot of money. However, this is my job and this interview that Scott Coker did with Sherdog radio was very newsworthy in a lot of respects. I hope you find some informational value in this transcript. If you really love what we’re doing, give us a donation for the web site. Thank you.

Comparing the Paul Daley situation in Montreal to what happened at the Strikeforce show in Nashville.

“Well here’s the situation is that you know and this is probably the first call that I received about it and you referenced back to Nashville, I think that people have kind of already moved on. So that’s been the overall consensus and unfortunately, you know, the situation that happened, I had heard about it, someone had texted me about it, but I was on a flight so I missed the show and I didn’t see exactly what happened but I heard that there was like a sucker punch, you know, way way after the bell and you know that’s not good for the sport and you know we got to get past that with these athletes because it’s just unsuccessful.”

Was UFC cutting Paul Daley the right move? Why didn’t that happen in Strikeforce? Was Daley getting the axe due to what happened on CBS?

“You know, that’s a good question and you know, I mean, you know, who really knows. I think that there’s probably some influence, but you know, I’m not the UFC and you know they run their business the way they run it and you know I have no idea what thought process went into it but I’m sure it had some influence on what happened you know the week before or two weeks before.”

Isn’t there a double standard in UFC in that they fired Daley but they are pro-actively wanting to sign Jake Shields, someone who was involved in the Nashville brawl?

“Nate (Diaz) was over there doing his thing too and there’s no penalty for Nate. But you know I’m sure when cooler heads prevail you know they’ll be able to work something out with Paul but I’m sure if Paul will be on some type of heavy suspension from the commission up in Canada. I don’t’ imagine Paul being able to fight any time soon.”

Would Strikeforce be interested in bringing in Paul Daley?

“You know I tell you, you know, I’m sure we’ll get a call and you know but let’s see what happens, I mean I think you who knows, he’s going to be on suspension for I bet you 4 to 6 months, he’s going to be, he’s not going to be able to fight. I just think that, and again I didn’t see the tape guys, so I really don’t know, but everything that I’m hearing and what my friends are telling me that it was a you know, a blatant serious offense and I don’t think the temperature for that action, for that type of you know reaction from a fighter or that kind of behavior from a fighter is going to be accepted, it’s just not acceptable.”

Is there an update on what the Tennessee athletic commission will do for fighter punishment after the Nashville brawl?

“You know what, they have had you know they sent out the letters to all the people that they’re basically going to have issues with and you know they’re going to have a hearing, I think it’s this week coming up and they’re going to decide some suspensions and some fines and they’re going to go out and they’re going to go levy them and the fighters will have an opportunity to appeal it and try to go before a commission hearing so they’re going to have you know their opportunity to say or you know to be heard, but from what I hear it’s still going to be another 30-to-45 day process.

This weekend’s big show in St. Louis, Missouri with Alistair Overeem vs. Brett Rogers for the Strikeforce Heavyweight title.

Why does the Alistair Overeem vs. Brett Rogers fight booking make sense?

“I tell you, you know what, Alistair being gone was an issue of scheduling because as you know he fights for K-1 as well, he fights for DREAM, and when we signed him to a contract because we have a direct relationship with Alistair and before we were just borrowing him from PRIDE when PRIDE was in still business, so we were borrowing him from DREAM, but now we have a direct relationship. He was scheduled to fight, he got injured, and so it didn’t work out but you know last year after Brett Rogers fought Andrei Arlovski in St. Louis last June and he had knocked out Andrei Arlovski, the fight we were trying to put together back then was Brett Rogers to fight Alistair Overeem and that was a title fight, everybody was for it, and all the fans were for this. This is a great, here’s a guy who is 10-0 and he should fight your champion now, and it was acceptable then. So Alistair gets hurt, he’s out, we put Brett Rogers in to fight Fedor and you know he lasted longer than anybody that I’ve seen probably in the last five years, last with Fedor, and then you know he loses and I think that’s you know to me we have no problems putting that fight together. Here’s a guy that was 10-0, on his way to fight Alistair, Alistair gets hurt, he fights Fedor, so why should he be penalized because you know Alistair got hurt, he fights Fedor, and it didn’t work out? I mean I was sitting right there at cage side watching Fedor’s head bounce off that canvas going, ‘I think Brett Roger’s going to knock this guy out,’ I mean I thought he was really close to finishing that fight. Definitely won the first round, in my opinion, and then he got caught. To me, we’re bringing the fight back you know to when after he beat Andrei Arlovski and we’re going to put the fight together back then, so you know we feel good about it and I think Brett deserves that shot and you know it’s nice to have Alistair back. Here’s a guy that’s you know a threat especially when you look at Mixed Martial Arts, he’s got it all. He’s got the stand-up, he’s the ground, and you know let’s check this guy out. I’m telling you, he’s going to be impressive and I’m looking forward for the US fans to finally get to see Alistair fight.”

Will Fedor fight for a Strikeforce title or is he on a per-fight basis?

“Let’s talk about that because you know it’s just a matter of timing because while we’re going through the M-1 negotiaton, I couldn’t just wait and wait and wait and not have Alistair fight and not have Brett fight, you know, it wouldn’t be fair to them. So that fight was put together before we all got back on the same page with M-1. If we would have gotten back on the same page with M-1, maybe it would have been a different fight. Maybe Alistair would have waited until June to fight and Fabricio could have fought Brett Rogers. But you know keep in mind Fabricio Werdum is a guy that beat Alistair in the past so you know he’s got a great career and we’re happy with that fight as well, but the timing of these two guys getting together fighting each other is because of you know of the hiccups and little you know the bumps we had with M-1 trying to get back on the same page so it’s more of a timing issue but I can tell you this — I know Fedor’s afraid to fight no man on this planet and you know he will fight anybody and you know when you talk about Alistair fighting Fedor, if those two guys end up winning and I think if Alistair keeps his aggressive style of wanting to fight Fedor, I think eventually M-1 and I will sit down and try to put that fight together. Can I guarantee it will happen? No, but I tell you what, we’ll do our best to bring that to the fans because that’s a fight I think fans would want to see.”

How is the relationship between Strikeforce and M-1 and was it on a difficult road due to crazy demands? What was the problem and how was it resolved?

“Well you know what, I can’t get into the details obviously because you know of the contractual you know non-disclosure and things like that, but you know we did the fight in November and you know they weren’t happy with some of the things that went down and so you know we worked towards fixing that to where it was equitable on both sides, I think we finally got to that point and then shortly thereafter we announced the Fedor fight, but you know, I don’t want to get into the details. I’m just glad, my position is that I’m just glad that we got through it and you know Fedor’s back fighting and I think that’s the important thing. You know here’s a fighter that’s the greatest fighter in Mixed Martial Arts history, you know, being able to fight and you know back in the cage, back fighting on a co-promotion with M-1 Global and Strikeforce and fighting Fabricio Werdum in San Jose, you know, that’s what’s should be happening and you know all the other stuff and all the politics and all the business arrangements and all the hiccups of business I mean, you know, to me at the end of the day you know we want to see him fight and that’s where we’re at so I’m happy.”

Jacare Souza is your big upcoming star in the Middleweight division. Why is he going to be an important part of the company’s future?

“Boy I tell you, you know we had the opportunity to see him fight live, I saw his fights in DREAM and I heard about him and I saw him fight in DREAM and I was like, wow, this guy is really good because it’s not just the type of jiu-jitsu where it’s like a lay-and-pray, try to control, he’s trying to surf you, trying to you know get the you know the boring victory by just riding a guy out, you know, and you know you see that a lot with you know not just jiu-jitsu but sometimes wrestlers who do that, who just try to control you. But to me here’s a guy that has decent stand-up now and I heard he’s even better than he was in December and now and when you look at his jiu-jitsu style it’s a style to me that’s a little different in the sense that he’s always advancing, trying to advance his position and going for the submission and aggressively trying to improve his position and aggressively trying to submit, so you know it’s a very exciting style that he’s bringing to the table and you know to fight Joey (Villasenor) who is an amazing striker and has been around for a long time and you know knows all the tricks in the book you know I think it’s going to be a fantastic fight.”

How do you find the balance between bringing in free agents, developing talent, and making sure that people don’t see your league as one that just brings in UFC castoffs?

“Well, I can tell you this — we’re not trying to piggyback on anybody’s you know party here, but when you look at our roster I think we’ve built a good roster of fighters that don’t fight in UFC or have never fought in UFC and what I mean by that is look at not just Jacare, Gegard Mousasi, King Mo, when you look at the new guys coming up like the Luke Rockholds, the Tyrone Woodleys, and the UFC doesn’t have a female division but we’ve had the popularity of Gina and Cris(tina) Cyborg, I mean we’ve had a lot of fighters, Alistair Overeem is another one that hasn’t fought in the UFC, so we have a lot of fighters, a lot more than people you know would think that have never fought in the UFC and I can tell you this, Dan Henderson when he was available of course you’re going to go for a guy like Dan, but let’s be real — Dan didn’t come from UFC, Dan has been fighting in RINGS way before PRIDE, went to PRIDE, you know, PRIDE got bought by UFC and ended up in UFC and now you know he’s fighting for us, so you know to be fair those guys like Wanderlei Silva, Mirko Cro Cop, Shogun, and etc. they didn’t start in the UFC, they started with PRIDE and so you know there were leagues you know that had great fighters and not just the UFC.”

You mentioned the concept of ‘trading’ talent back and forth between organizations in the future. What did you mean by that?

“Well what I mean by trading is you know every league can only carry so many athletes and now that you know the fighters know that there’s going to be an alternative for them, you know to go shop their wares you know they’re going to you know to me it’s like free agency in football. When a fighter becomes a free agent then he’s going to want to come to us and have a conversation and you know hope that a bidding war kind of goes back and forth and you know I think we’ve proven you know especially with Fedor that, look, the fighters you know that our important to develop our league and grow in importance to Showtime and CBS you know we’re going to keep those fighters and we’ve proven that we can you know stay in the game at the highest level with these athletes because believe me Fedor is not a cheap fighter.”

“Dan’s worth it, I mean here’s a guy who’s done it all and like I said even before UFC when he was with PRIDE, one of the most exciting fights that I’ve seen with Dan it wasn’t the Bisping fight, which I thought was fantastic, but it was the fight where he fought Wanderlei Silva in PRIDE in the second PRIDE in Las Vegas or the first PRIDE in Vegas, to me that was an amazing fight and you know I’ve seen Dan in some great wars and you know when we had the opportunity to grab him you know we did and you know and it didn’t work out with Jake, I mean he lost to Jake Shields and you know it is what it is but you know we still have a lot of hopes for Dan.”

What do you do with Jake Shields? Can you re-sign him? What do you think the outcome will be? Is he talking with UFC?

(Coker laughing in background) “Well, are you really saying that they’re actually talking, you think? Hahahaha. You know guys, you know Jake’s a free agent you know in the sense that he doesn’t have any more fights with us, he has an exclusive negotiation period and you know let’s just see where it goes. I mean, you know, it’s going to be interesting and you know for us this is a situation that is not part of our normal course of business because we’ve bought Pro Elite, what a year ago a year and a couple of months ago, it was February of 09, and we inherited Jake’s contract and that’s how Jake’s contract was written, so that’s just what it is. So we have not should put him in high-profile fights and really tested him and give him those fight? No, I’m glad we did, no matter what happens and to me it’s you know let’s just see what happens because you know there’s the negotiation period, there’s a matching right period, and you know we’re going to have some you know we’ll probably have some say in what happens in the future but let’s just see how the next two weeks unfolds.”

What are your expectations going in and coming out of this weekend’s St. Louis event?

“I tell you, I mean, you always hope for the big number (for viewership), right? I mean last year I think we had 8(000) or 9,000 people in the building and you know I think that it would be probably relatively something similar but I mean if we have 8(000) to 10,000 I think that’s kind of where our goals are right now and you know I hope that it’s a big television broadcast on Showtime because when you look at this fight card, starting with the first fight of the night between Antwain Britt and Feijao, I think that’s going to be a heck of a fight leading into the Kevin Randleman fight with Roger Gracie, you know, here’s arguably the best Heavyweight jiu-jitsu you know master coming in to fight Kevin Randleman the seasoned veteran I mean it’s going to be interesting and we got the two Heavyweight fights that you know I think the shows the depth of our Heavyweight division and then look at Jacare vs. Joey, I mean there’s not one fight on this card that I’m not going to want to watch personally and we’re very proud to host it and guys, you can watch it all for free on Showtime, I mean that’s the beauty of it. The value of the product is you know as far as to me you get to watch some amazing fights, some of the best fighters in the world, and you know it’s not on PPV.”

What did you take away from the ratings information on the last CBS event?

“You know I’m going to put it in perspective. Any time you know we have a CBS broadcast date I mean it’s a very special occasion and when you look at the Fedor number, you know it was bigger, I think that one of the things that we need to improve on is improve on painting the picture better about the future fights and one of the ways that they did that Fedor piece that ran on it was called the Fight Camp 360 and they spent a lot of money and they did an amazing piece, Showtime spent the money and it ran on all the CBS affiliates and aired those the Friday and Saturday leading up to the fight and I think that you know when you look at those 24/7’s that HBO does for boxing and the Fight Camp 360 does for Showtime, they’re able to paint the picture that’s really attractive and I think that’s the one thing we’ll definitely do next time is to try to create the awareness and try to create the buzz and basically paint the picture better about the upcoming event because the hardcore fans all tuned in and you know when was the last time we had Mixed Martial Arts have 2.9 million people watch it? 2.9 million households watch the show, I mean it’s still a large number for our young sport and you know would we like to improve it next time? Sure, and you know the benchmark is set with some of the earlier fights on Elite XC but you know I think that there’s things we can improve and hopefully we’ll get a chance to improve it and move forward.”

Kimbo Slice is still a big ratings draw and he put up big numbers for both Elite XC and UFC. What about booking him versus Herschel Walker in Strikeforce?

“You know I tell you, you are probably the fifth or sixth person that’s contacted me and said, ‘Hey, you got to put Herschel Walker against Kimbo Slice,’ but you know the thing is with Kimbo, you’re right, he was successful in the ratings for Elite XC but you know when we had the purchase of Pro Elite the deal at that time was too, we felt it was too rich for you know is there a long-term viability with this fighter, you know is he something we can build for six-eight years with you as a fighter as you can with a Gegard or King Mo or Jacare, can you have a long history I mean a long career, and that time we evaluated that we should maybe just pass and that’s what we did and you know we haven’t revisited it internally yet so you know as of right now I think we’re going to stick with our course which is you know putting on the best fighters in the world and putting together with the best match-ups and get aggressive with the match-ups and put the fights that people want to see and that’s what we’re going to do.”

Kevin Randleman said that he got a staph infection. Is he medically cleared to fight and ready to go against Roger Gracie?

“Well I tell you, Kevin and I had a conversation last week and I said, Kevin, you need to go get cleared by a doctor and you need to do it today because you know if you’re hurt or you’re injured or you’re sick you know then we need to know and we need to move on because it’s not fair to Roger and Kevin you know said look, if I can’t fight you know, you know can I fight in June? I said of course we’ll find something else for you but you know he went to the doctor, came back, and I guess said you know the doctor cleared him to participate so you know I think Kevin will be fine and he’s good to go, so, that’s as much detail as I have of the situation.”

Source: Fight Opinion

Dan Miragliotta Gives Referee's Viewpoint on Daley-Koscheck Mess
By Mike Chiappetta

There are more than two sides to a story. Just ask Dan Miragliotta, the third man in the cage during last Saturday's UFC 113 co-main event between Paul Daley and Josh Koscheck.

Just moments after the final horn, Daley sucker-punched Koscheck, drawing himself a lifetime ban from the UFC in the process. The fight also featured a phantom illegal knee. Needless to say, Miragliotta had his hands full.

The 6-foot-4, 295-pound ref, who has been officiating MMA fights since 1996, took some time out of his day to discuss one of the most notorious finishes in UFC history, and how he took control of the situation.

Mike Chiappetta: With all the trash-talking that led up to the fight, were you specifically on the lookout for things more than you otherwise would be for a regular fight?
Dan Miragliotta: Basically we treat every fight the same. There's no difference. We're always looking for the same fouls and the same things whether there's trash-talking or not. That doesn't really change anything. We try to be on our toes at all times.

You've been refereeing for over a decade. Have you ever seen a competitor hit another after the bell like that before?
Never. That was the first time ever. I've seen it in boxing, but not in MMA.

What was your reaction to it?
I was shocked. I thought [Daley] was going to hug him. I thought it was over with. You've seen it before where guys hated each other, spoken poorly about each other, but when the fight is over, they still get up and give each other a hug and it's over with. Because of the trash talk, I was trying to be on my toes during the touching of the gloves and after the final bell. I tried to stay close to him. When Daley reached for him, I thought he was going to hug him. I was wrong. He caught me off-guard.

For a second, it looked like you were getting between them.
Yeah, when Daley first got up, I got between them because of the trash talk, just to play it safe. But then it felt like there was no tension. Daley was grabbing for his arm. It seemed like everything was done with and he was going to say, 'Hey Josh, good fight.' I was wrong. I was shocked.

Everyone was shocked. Koscheck afterward said that he said something to egg Daley on. Did you hear what he said to him?
Koscheck the last minute or so, had his head to Daley's side. He must have said something because I heard Daley say something back to him. With mouthpieces on and I'm standing a few feet away, I didn't hear what either one of them said. You can't hear them when they're that close to each other. They weren't yelling at each other.

In the Kimbo Slice-Matt Mitrione fight, Kimbo had apologized for putting his fingers close to Mitrione's eyes during the fight. And Mitrione goes, 'Don't worry about it, bro.' That was during the fight and that one I heard because they were standing up. I didn't hear a word [Koscheck and Daley] said.

Did you see any anger in Daley's face those last few seconds?
I saw frustration. He couldn't stop Josh from taking him down and controlling him on the ground. From what I heard of the pre-fight interviews, they both said they were going to make this a standup battle, and it wasn't that way. Josh played his cards right and did what he had to do to win the fight. Daley was frustrated that it didn't go his way. He's a great fighter. Dana said many times the kid had such good potential. And honestly he's always been respectful to me. I've met him a couple times and he's always been nice and respectful. I was very shocked.

Had you ever refereed a Daley fight before?
No, I didn't. But I'd met him before. I've been to UK events around five times with the UFC.

What did you say to Daley when you pulled him away from Koscheck after the punch, and what did he respond to you?
I said, 'What are you doing? You're a pro fighter. What are you thinking?' He didn't answer me, so I said it again. I was restraining him. He said, 'I didn't hear the bell.' That was it. That's all he said. Everybody else heard the bell.

I'm sure there will be fallout for Daley from the Quebec athletic commission. Did anyone from the commission ask you for your version of events?
No, when the fight was over, there was no post-fight meeting. They got up and took care of business. I haven't been contacted about it at all.

Do you read or watch pre-fight interviews to get an idea of the tension level of a matchup you're going to officiate?
No. I don't do too much online stuff. If they bring me in a day early, I go to weigh-ins and can kind of feel that vibe. You can watch and see what's going on. For this event I flew in Saturday and flew out Sunday. But I heard there was a lot of trash talk. They're competitive guys and their pride is a big part of their competitiveness.

As a keeper of the rules, do you think the punishment (getting cut from the UFC) fit the crime?
Dana White is the promoter, so he gets final say. I don't have anything to do with it. I heard Dana say on your site, he'll never be back, that he's done, and even if he becomes the pound-for-pound best fighter, he wouldn't be back. I'm only the referee. You could see in Dana's interview he was very upset.

Can you touch on the illegal knee in the fight? It was hard to tell if it really hit Koscheck, though he said it did. At first it looked like you took away a point but then we found out you didn't. Can you explain what happened?
There was definitely confusion there because I never took a point away. I thought the knee missed him at first. But when Josh reacted the way he did, I thought, 'I guess I missed it.' We're not perfect, we're human. But I really thought it missed him. So Josh looked at me, held his head and said, 'The knee, the knee.'

I stopped the fight real quick and decided to bring the doctor in. They don't really get a break for that. It was intentional, because he was on the ground and [Daley] threw it right at his head, but if it didn't make contact, no points could be taken away. When the doctor came in and looked at it, it gave me time to watch the replay on the monitors in the arena. It clearly showed on every angle it didn't hit him, it didn't brush him. It maybe hit his hair. I finally watched the fight again yesterday and Joe Rogan said, 'He got hit with an illegal knee. Dan Miragliotta has to take a point away.' He was adamant about it. But then he saw it on instant replay and said, 'Oh no, that never hit him.'

I really didn't think it hit him. His head didn't move. When you get hit with a knee, your head's going to go back. His head didn't budge. When I saw the replay, I told the doctor to please leave the ring, I told Josh to get up, and I said there was no contact and no point was taken away. Between rounds Joe Rogan asked Mike Goldberg to clarify it with me, and I told him there was never a point deduction. Then they cleared it up on the air.

If it was an Illegal blow like that, not only do I have to take a point away, I could take up to two points if it creates damage, and it could be a disqualification if the fighter couldn't continue. But we got it sorted out.

Why do you always seem to be involved in these crazy things, Dan?
[Laughing] I told [Counsel to the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board] Nick Lembo he's got the hex on me. I get some crazy things. I got big shoulders, I can take the abuse. But that's why I don't go on the internet. Everybody's got a comment to make. Hopefully this time it's good comments.

Source: MMA Fighting

STRIKEFORCE SIGNS SHOOTO CHAMP BAHADURZADA
by Al Yu

Siyar Bahadurzada has his eyes set on a U.S. debut. The Sengoku and Shooto veteran recently signed a four-fight exclusive contract with Strikeforce.

“My management and Strikeforce have a good business relationship. First Alistair Overeem, then Marloes Coenen, and now I have joined Strikeforce,” said Siyar. “There will definitely be some other Golden Glory fighters joining Strikeforce in the future too.

“Strikeforce is a great professional organization and I'm looking forward to competing at their shows.”

The Golden Glory fighter successfully defended his Shooto 183-pound title against Leandro Silva and defeated Pawel Nastula training mate Robert Jocz last year. He hopes to have a breakout year in 2010. No opponent has been named for Bahadurzada’s first fight in Strikeforce, but he anticipates his debut will be soon.

“Hopefully early this summer. I am looking forward to fighting for the fans, but also for the hundreds of thousands of Afghans out there in the U.S. They have been waiting to see me fight in the U.S. for a long time and now the time has come,” stated an excited Bahadurzada. “I will also introduce some new ‘Dutch’ Muay Thai techniques to the MMA fans in the cage. I'm anxious to fight for the U.S. fans and I’m sure the they will like my fighting style.”

Having competed as a middleweight for most of his career, he will now test the waters of Strikeforce’s 170-pound division.

“I have competed in the 170-pound division before. In fact, I’m a natural 170-pound fighter and I feel faster, stronger and more athletic and explosive when I’m 170 pounds. I will have no problems transitioning to my natural weight; the only ones who will have a problem are the ones who will be facing me in this weight division.

“I will face anyone that Strikeforce thinks will make a great fight against me. Down the road I’m really looking forward to being matched with fighters like Marius Zaromskis and Nick Diaz. They are both great fights for me, stylistically. When I fight in the U.S., it will not only be about winning, I will fight to entertain the fans give them their money’s worth.”

Bahadurzada recently visited the states to train. He enlisted the help of some talented fighters to help him improve his wrestling and ground game.

“I was out in California for six weeks. I trained there mostly with Strikeforce light heavyweight champion Muhammed ‘King Mo’ Lawal and Jason ‘Mayhem’ Miller. But I also trained regularly with Fabricio Werdum, Babalu (Renato Sobral), Mark Munoz, and many other great fighters; the last couple days with Rashad Evans.

“The trainings in States were really great and everybody out there wanted to help each other. I really liked the mentality of the fighters in the U.S.,” he commented. “They are willing to exchange knowledge, which is really great for MMA, fighters, and the fans. This is really important in the evolution of a fighter. I will be training with these guys more often in the future and my wrestling and ground game is getting better and better.”

Siyar Bahadurzada has come a long way from the dangerous environment growing up in Afghanistan. He prides himself on his drive and motivation. The Dutch-Afghan fighter looks to the States as his new home and hopes to make an impact in the welterweight division.

“I would like to thank the MMA fans for supporting the sport and especially the fans who support me when I'm fighting. I am really looking forward to fighting in the U.S. and putting on some exciting fights. To the fans who do not know me yet, watch my fights and I will entertain you. For updates regarding my upcoming fights come follow me on twitter @SiyarTheGreat and on facebook ‘Siyar Bahadurzada’.”

Source: MMA Weekly

Shogun awaits Rashad or Rampage: “Either one will be a great fight”
by Mohamad Jehad

After beating Lyoto Machida at UFC 113, securing the light heavyweight belt, Maurício Shogun is the most-talked-about MMA fighter right now. Stars like UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture, who faces James Toney at UFC 118, despite having praise for the Brazilian, is already eying the Curitiba native’s belt.

“Great performance from Rua. I’d love to get a shot at him after Toney, in August. Maybe in October, UFC 120,” tweeted Couture.

The next one’s already been confirmed, though. Two ex-champions, just like Couture, will go toe to toe for a shot at Shogun. The next challenger will come from the bout between Rashad Evans and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, at UFC 114.

“Dana White already said it would be between those two. It’ll be a tough fight against either of them, that’s for sure. Both are top-tier fighters, and it’ll be a great fight against either of them,” Shogun told GRACIEMAG.com.

The current champion has already beaten Jackson in the past, at the Pride GP of 2005, which he went on to win. Even so, he doesn’t prefer a fight with one or the other.

“Truth is, I have no preference. I can’t think about opponents I want to fight. Whoever it may be, I’ll be happy. I just can’t be left without an opponent! I’ll be stoked to fight either of the two; they’re great fighters and it will be a good fight,” he says in finishing.

Source: Gracie Magazine

Five takeaways from UFC 113
By Zach Arnold

1. Despite many Canadian fighters losing at UFC 113, UFC’s power in Canada is growing and growing.

The Montreal crowd was hotter than I expected. Montreal has turned into a great market for UFC. “But it’s not Toronto.” Soon enough, UFC will be in Toronto and Ottawa and Canada will become as big of a market for UFC as it used to be for WWE in the 1980s and 1990s. WWE’s power in Canada has diminished significantly and UFC’s power is growing in the country. Canada is a wonderful country for sports fans and their passion is simply unrivaled.

I understand that there were many concerns in the past about the Canadian Dollar/US Dollar exchange rate, but now the exchange rate is basically even and given the amount of debt that America is in I think it’s going to be a while before the Loonie goes back to being the US Dollar’s little brother. Because the exchange rate is what it is, it makes running Canada much more attractive if you’re an American entertainment or sports operation. UFC must be absolutely thrilled.

2. The end of the Kimbo Slice experiment.

Did UFC get the most bang for their buck with him? He popped them great ratings on The Ultimate Fighter, then he had a horrible fight against Houston Alexander (not totally his fault), and the end of his run likely … is to elevate a 1-0 now 2-0 fighter named Matt Mitrione. If Mitrione turns out to be a legitimate heavyweight in UFC, it’s a great deal. But as we’ve seen with UFC booking time in and time out, it’s going to be hard to see how the matchmakers will have patience with Mitrione and how succeptible they probably will be in throwing him to the wolves sooner rather than later.

All in all, I think the verdict on the Kimbo/UFC experiment is that it was good, but not great, and maybe they didn’t maximize the value they could have with him, but they were cautious and had every reason to be.

And after the event, Kimbo was cut.

3. What did UFC expect out of Paul Daley?

They put him on TV saying he’s going to “kill that motherfucker,” then he’s making gay slurs against Koscheck on a UFC conference call, he’s constantly running his mouth on hype videos and is doing photoshop contests on The Underground Forum with someone doing a picture of Koscheck and Tito Ortiz kissing. To top it off, there was actually a chance that he could have been a coach on The Ultimate Fighter. With his skill set? Seriously? On top of that, Daley went into this fight telling ESPN UK that he had no singular loyalty to UFC and that he wanted to fight in multiple MMA organizations and win multiple MMA titles. So, when he fought the way he did and he takes a cheap shot at Josh Koscheck after the fight, why is anyone surprised? Why is Dana White mad? You knew what you were getting with Daley. It’s like the fable about the Scorpion and the Frog.

I understand why White is mad. He along with the rest of UFC management viewed this Montreal show as their big selling point heading into the political season in Ontario to get MMA legislation passed. Yes, Daley is a punk and what he did was a punk move. There’s no defense for his actions. I can understand why he has major heat on him for what he did, given the fact that it gives the critics some ammunition. However, if you wanted to avoid those antics, you should have never booked Daley in the first place and fostered his behavior the way it was.

On MMA Live, it was announced that Dana White cut Paul Daley from UFC and that he is not welcome to fight for Zuffa again. “Well, I think I won twice,” responded Josh Koscheck.

4. The comparison between Josh Koscheck and Ken Patera is accurate.

For those who don’t remember Ken Patera, Ken Patera was a great heel who made his name in the late 70s and early 80s on Strongest Man competitions on CBS. Who else could pull off some of those feats while wearing the kind of glasses he did? He was an intelligent heel. He knew how to piss off people and he was great at what he did. He was good at practically everything. Patera, while doing Strongest Man, was a professional wrestler. He was the Missouri state champion in the St. Louis wrestling territory. He feuded with the top guys for the NWA World Heavyweight title. Patera never was “the man” but he was always in the mix and a dangerous heel.

Which, in a sense, describes Josh Koscheck in the UFC. He is credible, he is a masterful promo, he’s a great personality, and absolutely brilliant at what he does. He gets knocked out from time to time and it only adds to the heat he draws from fans who get so incensed at him that they will pay to see him get his comeuppance.

I only wish his fight against Georges St. Pierre was in Montreal or Toronto.

5. The revenge of PRIDE and how PRIDE is playing a big part in keeping UFC’s top of the cards going.

Here’s another pro-wrestling analogy for you. (The old-school wrestling fans will love this and the pure MMA fans probably already hate me at this point.)

Watching Shogun win the UFC Light Heavyweight title reminded me so much of when Ric Flair won the WWF title in the early 90s. Flair came into the WWF from the NWA and he was billed as “the real world’s heavyweight champion” and his fans loved him because of where he came from. He wasn’t a product of Vince McMahon. So, when he finally won McMahon’s title, Flair’s fans felt like their league was “major.”

With Shogun winning tonight, it is clear that PRIDE’s stars are now the ones keeping UFC’s title pictures interesting to watch. The question is what will happen when the PRIDE stars eventually fade into the sunset and UFC has to make new stars to replace them. Rampage is a PRIDE guy, Shogun a PRIDE guy, and Machida was Antonio Inoki’s “child.” Rashad Evans is the one true UFC creation in that mix. It would be fitting to see Rampage vs. Shogun in the near future.

The irony of the PRIDE guys taking over in UFC is that for years PRIDE was a dirty word in UFC circles. Now, you hear fighters go on a UFC microphone and be like, “Yeah man, I watched PRIDE for years, it was so great and the fighters were so wonderful.” And PRIDE taped shows being re-mixed on Spike are drawing big ratings, something Dana is taking credit for.

What a funny world.

Source: Full Contact Fighter

The words of the champion in his return to the top
by Mohamad Jehad

Maurício Shogun knocked Lyoto Machida out in the first round at UFC 113 this Saturday, and again he has found his place at the top of the MMA world, like during the days of Pride FC. After the show, in Canada, Shogun was all joy:

“I’m so happy! This belt is my dream, my life. I trained hard every day for this!”

In the octagon, the Curitiba native stated that one of his strategies for beating Lyoto was to brush up on his striking. At the press conference, he said what else he had done differently.

“In the first fight I trained a lot based on Lyoto’s game, which is different. This time I looked to take more risks, expose myself more and finish the fight quickly. Thank God, I managed to impose my tactics and get the knockout,” explained the fighter, who again remarked on the result from the first fight against Lyoto.

“For this fight, I didn’t even think about the first one. There was a lot of controversy the last time, but it just served as motivation for me. It served to make me train hard and get this win.”

The knockout came at 3:35 minutes of the first round. The new champion commented on the moment.

“I saw he was dazed by the first punch, so I mounted and kept hitting till the ref intervened. Truth is, I stopped hitting before the ref broke it up. When we see the opportunity to get the knockout, we try not to miss it. But he was already stunned by the first punch.

After having made it to the top of the world MMA ranking, having won a thorny GP at Pride FC, Shogun dealt with injuries and underperformed. Back at the top, with the UFC title, he again takes his place among the best in the world.

“I always believed I could make it to where I am today. I always had confidence in myself and pursued my dream of being the UFC champion of the world.”

In finishing, as he had already told GRACIEMAG.com previously, Shogun stressed that he is a professional fighter and the only one he wouldn’t face is his friend Wanderlei Silva. Or in other words, if the UFC puts him against Anderson Silva, the door is wide open

Source: Gracie Magazine

VILLASENOR: FORGOTTEN CONTENDER IS BACK
by Damon Martin

Of all the top middleweights that could be in line for a title shot in the next year, one name that has dropped under the radar is Greg Jackson fighter Joey Villasenor.

Sure, the former King of the Cage champion has won four fights in a row, and seems poised for a run at the 185-pound title, but several months off due to contract negotiations and then waiting for Strikeforce to give him a fight, and Villasenor has become the forgotten contender.

The New Mexico based fighter understands the business side of the sport, and how politics get involved in who gets up front status when it comes to marketing, but at the end of the day he's a fighter and he just wants to fight.

"Overly frustrated," Villasenor told MMAWeekly Radio about his mood lately. "It's the business part of the sport. Elite went down then all that melee for six months, then Strikeforce buys the contracts out and I fight for them, and then after a few delays, and now it's been 11 months since my last fight. We had contract negotiations, and then it took five months to finally get a fight solidified. Even then it wasn't confirmed until like a week and a half ago."

A fighter's shelf life can be long or short depending on how things go, and for Villasenor it's been two years of healthy activity in the prime of his career that he's missed due to the business side of MMA.

"Two years of being healthy and ready to fight, and just two years of unfortunate circumstances. Frustration is probably the key word. I've been really frustrated, but I've overcame it, preparing to fight, ready to fight, and actually going in there and fighting is going to be such a relief," Villasenor said. "That's my job, just saying that I'm going back to work it feels good."

Finally scheduled to fight, Villasenor will fight grappling guru Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza in his return bout this weekend. Jacare has been mentioned as a top contender to Jake Shields' middleweight title, but somehow Villasenor's name hasn't gotten the same kind of billing.

He knows that ultimately if he puts in the work and does away with Jacare, Strikeforce and everyone else will recognize the body of work he's strung together and Villasenor will become the top contender in the division.

"I really don't mind that they're not talking about me," said Villasenor. "I don't mind being the snake in the grass. I was the No. 1 contender when Elite folded, and now I'm in the position to be the No. 1 contender again, and nobody's really talking about me. I know it's inactivity, and my face isn't plastered all over. I don't have my own TV show. I really don't mind it."

Winning changes everything and while Jacare may be poised for a title shot, it's Villasenor that can snatch it away by beating him this weekend and that's exactly what he intends on doing.

"If I win this fight that puts me at No. 1 contender, no doubt about it," Villasenor stated. "I know Jacare's going to be favored going into this fight, and I don't mind that. It takes all the stress and the pressure off me. I get to go into this fight being the underdog, and I get to go into this fight with a lot of people not believing in what I'm capable of doing."

What he's capable of doing is beating Jacare and then calling for a title shot as the promotion's top contender at 185 pounds. Villasenor squares off with Jacare Saturday night in St. Louis.

Source: MMA Weekly

Popovitch: Paris triumph good sign for MMA debut
by Marcelo Dunlop

ADCC 2009 winner Pablo Popovitch once again left his gi and old black belt at the gym in Florida and set about winning a no-gi championship, this time in Paris, France, on May 1.

The 30-year-old today spoke up about his winning the VIC tournament, in a chat with GRACIEMAG.com, explaining why he and buddy Jeff Monson didn’t face off in the absolute final, opting to split the 1,500-Euro prize money.

“I had eight matches and won most of them by submission, taking the under-84kg title and the absolute, closing out with Jeff in the open weight division. Shoot, we’ve been training partners and friends for over ten years; there’s no way we could fight each other,” he explains.

Pablo has a date for his MMA debut marked on the calendar. On June 4 he’ll be in a co-main event at Rock and Rumble 3, to take place at the Hard Rock Café in Florida. And his eight fights were good prep work for the challenge.

“This championship served as preparation for my coming fights. My MMA debut is coming up June 4 as a co-main event at Rock and Rumble 3, in Florida. But I’m also going to compete at the Grapplers Quest 32-Man tourney in July, which will be high level. But I’m training a lot and I hope to have a great MMA debut,” he says in closing.

The Grapplers Quest challenge with 32 big names in no-gi grappling takes place on the 10th and 11th of July, with a 10-thousand-dollar payout for the winner. Among the names aired by the promoters, Xande Ribeiro, Josh Barnett, Jeff Monson, Roberto “Cyborg” Abreu, Daniel Moraes, Bill “The Grill” Cooper, Vinicius Magalhães, Chris Moriarty, and other should be there.

Source: Gracie Magazine

'Cyborg' Santos vs. Marius Zaromskis Planned for Strikeforce: Los Angeles
By Ariel Helwani

A welterweight bout between Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos (17-13) and Marius Zaromskis (13-4) has been penciled in for June 16's Strikeforce: Los Angeles event at the Nokia Theatre, MMA Fighting has learned from sources close to the fight.

Santos, the husband of Strikeforce's 145-pound champion Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos, dropped a split decision to Joey Villasenor in his Strikeforce debut last June. That fight was contested at 185 pounds. Since then, he knocked out Daniel Zarate at Samurai Fight Combat 2 in December.

Meanwhile, Zaromskis, the current DREAM welterweight champion, lost a Strikeforce 170-pound bout to Nick Diaz in January. That loss snapped an impressive five-fight winning streak for "The Whitemare."

Zaromski's DREAM title will not be on the line in this particular fight.

Strikeforce: Los Angeles will mark the organization's first-ever midweek show. It will air on Showtime from the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles in conjunction with the E3 Expo, a popular video game convention. Strikeforce is expected to have a large presence at the convention due its involvement in the upcoming EA Sports MMA video game, which will be released later this year.

Robbie Lawler vs. "Babalu" Sobral will headline the event. Bobby Lashley and KJ Noons have also been officially announced for the card , but their opponents are not known at this time.

Source: MMA Fighting

Chael Sonnen reveals how he almost became a professional wrestler and what Paulo Filho said to him during their second fight in WEC
By Zach Arnold

I had put this on the backburner due to everything that went down at UFC 113 in Montreal, but there was a really great interview that Chael Sonnen did with Bryan Alvarez & Dave Meltzer last Wednesday that I think everyone should go out of there to listen to.

Down below, I’ve quoted parts of the interview that I thought were intriguing or newsworthy, but I didn’t quote everything he said during the interview. You can listen to that interview by clicking here.

There was talk about a press release from Anderson Silva in which he stated seven reasons as to why he should/shouldn’t have to face you. Has he acknowledged you as an opponent?

“Yeah, that’s true, I’ve put my finger in this guy’s chest for four years challenging him, he’s fought everybody in the world that isn’t named Chael Sonnen and you know the only and one time he even acknowledges the challenge is to state seven reasons why he [didn't want] to do it. All the while he doesn’t mind fighting one-legged Canadians from Canada and other guys who can’t even hold their spot within the company. But the only time he ever acknowledged my presence was to say why he didn’t have to fight me.”

What did you take away from his UFC 112 Abu Dhabi fight against Demian Maia?

“Well, I learned that he’s really good. He went out there and did some mannerisms and behaviors that were new and odd to me and he was never once in trouble against one of the top guys out there.”

Mentally, do you think something is going on with Anderson when he fights? Any funny business?

“No, sure not. You know again I don’t know. If he likes to fight in a weird style, you know go ahead, that’s up to the guys who put him on TV if they decide if they want to continue to do that. If it’s not pleasing to watch, they won’t do that. But it is effective, you can’t deny that it works. He’s acted a fool in other matches, he acted a fool in the Forrest Griffin match and scored a really quick knockout and looked like a big hero when it was done. So, this time he didn’t land those shots, it didn’t end well, so the antics carried on for 25 minutes and so a lot of people are disappointed with him but you know as a guy that’s getting ready to compete with him you know I’m just looking at the stuff that he did right and how to try to defend myself for that.”

Are there any weaknesses that he has that you can take advantage of or anything you can expose if you take him down?

“Well, you know a fight is like the most unsophisticated thing on the face of the planet. People try to break down all the different ways like what you’re going to do and you got these guys sitting around with their 8th grade education and their gold teeth trying to act as though if they’re some sort of fight expert. Who cares. Walk out there, put your hands up, and get in a fight. And if you hit him more times than he hits you, they’ll raise your hand at the end of 25 minutes.”

Anderson Silva has tremendous speed and elusiveness. Is there any other fighter that you can compare him to?

“I think he’s a different cat. You know I think it’s one of the problems, let’s use Machida as an example. I think it’s one of the problems that the guys have with Machida, you never get a feel that style because he’s so unique until you get into the ring with him. You know so you’re out there, you did your best to prepare, but it’s kind of a crap shoot, it’s a whole new world and I feel like Anderson’s the same way. You know his strikes are pretty good, I don’t know if he’s a great striker, they’re pretty good but he’s a great set-up guy, he’s a great fake-you-out guy, so his strikes land so effectively because his fakes and juking and jiving before hand gets your guard down. So, that’s new, I mean I don’t have anybody in the gym like that, I don’t know if I’ve ever even come across anybody as athletic as him that can quite move and flow and have the rhythm as him anywhere in my life. So, yeah, it’ll be new, there’s not like somebody that I can call on to bring in. He’s kind of a one-of-a-kind.”

Do you know if Anderson has signed the fight contract to face you in August?

“I’ve haven’t heard that he has sent his in yet. He has to though, it’s not as though he has options, it’s not as though he’s a hot commodity that people want. He’s got one avenue, it’s the UFC and even they’re growing a little cold on him, so he’s definitely be there on August 7th.”

Did you consider becoming a professional wrestler?

“Yeah, when I was in college, I didn’t graduate college until 2001, I became an All-American in 1998 and right after that I went out to the WCW, what they had at that time was called a Power Plant and there was a try out, it was an extremely difficult tryout, it was three days and boy it was hard, only two of us made it, me and a gentleman from Jamaica. And we got invited to comeback and I said, “Well, look, I’m going to go finish college,” and they said, “Well, you only have to do tryout, once you get invited the invite’s good for life essentially.’ So, I was going to return after I graduated in 2001, well by then they had shut down, the WCW had folded up and no longer was in existence.”

After that failed, did you consider WWE or was MMA the thing you focused on?

“Well, you know, I always wanted to do MMA. I was going to do MMA, you know even if I was going to a wrestling route, I was going to do MMA.”

“I was 20 years old and wrestling seemed like a fun thing to do but I didn’t get any more serious about wrestling than just going to a 3-day tryout. That’s where my career started and stopped.”

Is your conversational style during interviews influenced at all by watching pro-wrestling?

“Yeah, I did watch pro-wrestling growing up, I’ve heard that about myself but I don’t think that I have a pro-wrestling style. You know, pro wrestling, you don’t have to touch on realms of reality. You can just say whatever you want. I’ve never done an interview where I didn’t just answer questions in an honest fashion, I’ve never created anything. So, every now and then I hear that about myself, ‘Ah, you sound like a pro-wrestler,’ and I don’t know if that’s a compliment or an insult, I never know how to take it.”

What was it like to be in that strange fight against Paulo Filho?

“Yeah, you know it was a different deal, for sure. I mean I got it. As soon as he started doing it, I understood what was going on. I understood, ‘oh, okay, he’s checking out and this is his way of doing it.’ He had asked me at one point in the fight to go to the ground with him and I said ‘No, I can’t do that’ and he said, “no, no submission attempts, just rest, come to the ground, let’s rest’ and I just said again, ‘I can’t’ and just went back to fighting.”

“The company, Zuffa, was very unpleased with it. And I got it, I’m like, yeah that was a weird match but man I did my part, I don’t know what to do, it takes two to tango, there’s only one of us out there.”

When you were told that your weight class in WEC was being folded up and you were heading to UFC, what did you think of it?

“MMA isn’t popular. A lot of people like to say it is, it’s not. If you go to an MMA show, it’s a ghost town in there unless it’s a UFC. That is now extending to the WEC (with Zuffa giving the organization a push). At that time, that was right in the growing phase. The UFC was selling out arenas and the WEC was still struggling to get their name out there, so ego-wise it was neat to be part of the UFC, I was glad to get picked up that’s for sure, they didn’t have to take me over so I was happy that they did.”

Source: Fight Opinion

5/13/10

X-1’s “Showdown at Waipahu II”

X-1’s “Showdown at Waipahu II” event will be held this Saturday, May 15, live from the Waipahu High School gym in Waipahu, Hawaii. The event will consist of 33 bouts with a main card of six professional fights. “Showdown” will feature both up-and-coming fighters looking to make an impact on the MMA scene, as well as veterans looking to make a run in their respected division.

If you are interested in covering this fight or interviewing any of the fighters, please let me know. For additional information on “Showdown,” please visit http://www.x1events.com/

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 27, 2010

MMA RETURNS TO HAWAII AS X-1 EVENTS PRESENTS “SHOWDOWN AT WAIPAHU II”

Fight veterans and future stars featured on huge card

Honolulu, HI (USA): X-1 World Events, the top entertainment company in Hawaii, is proud to announce that on Saturday, May 15th, 2010, they will be bringing MMA back to the island as they present “Showdown at Waipahu II,” featuring some of Hawaii’s top professional and amateur MMA fighters and kickboxers.

On the main card is well-known Hawaiian MMA veteran Kolo Koka (13-12) taking on Chicago’s own Quinton McCottrell (4-5), who won his last fight following more than a year layoff from the sport. Koka is coming into this bout on a two-fight losing streak and will be looking to turn the tide and get back to his winning ways. McCottrell, for his part, is known for his heavy hands, and will be looking to end the fight early utilizing his knockout power. Also on the main card will be Thomas Sedeno (0-0) and Brent Schermerhorn (2-0), who will be going to battle in the 170 lbs. division. Sedeno will be facing a tough task in his professional debut as Schermerhorn has displayed his unrelenting standup skills in his first two professional fights by winning via TKO in the first round.

In another 170 lb. bout, Taylor Cochron (0-0) of the United States Army will be making his professional debut against Walter Hao (4-4), who has made the drop in weight classes from 185 lbs. for this fight. Additionally, also making their professional debuts are Justin Babbs, Falo Faaloto, Justin Wong, and Brandon Piper. Fans can expect to see fireworks when each fighter steps into the ring to do battle with his opponent, as each warrior has great striking and submission skills, and is capable of ending the fight at any time.

The undercard will feature some talented rising stars the Islands. There will be five amateur title fights to determine who the best in their division is. Exciting young fighters Toby Misech, Bronson Mohika, Kevin Soong, Maki Pitolo, and others will showcase to the Islands what the Hawaii fighting spirit is all about.

“This event is going to highlight the talent level of Hawaii’s top amateurs and professionals,” said Mike Miller, Owner/Promoter of X-1 World Events. “MMA fans are going to be in for a treat with the abundance of fights and vast disciplines which will be showcased throughout the fights.

Main Card

Pro MMA (3/3 minute rounds): Kolo Koka vs. Quinton McCotrell - 170 lbs.

Pro MMA (3/3 minute rounds): Thomas Sedeno vs. Brent Schermerhorn - 170 lbs.

Pro MMA (3/3 minute rounds): Justin Babbs vs. Falo Faaloloto - 170 lbs.

Pro MMA (3/3 minute rounds): Taylor Cochron vs. Walter Hao - 170lbs.

Pro MMA (3/3 minute rounds): Justin Wong vs. Brandon Piper - 145 lbs.

Amateur Title Fights

Amateur MMA Title Fight (3/3 minute rounds): Tyrone O’Neil vs. Kevin Soong - 155 lbs.

Amateur MMA Title Fight (3/3 minute rounds): Joie Yeampierre vs Toby Misech – 145 lbs.

Amateur MMA Title Fight (3/3 minute rounds): Joie Hernandez vs. Bronson Mohika - 135 lbs.

Amateur MMA Title Fight (3/3 minute rounds): Micah Paulo vs. Maki Pitolo - 185 lbs.

Amateur MMA Title Fight (3/3 minute rounds): Paea Paongo vs. Sasae Paogofie – Heavyweight

Amateur Non-Title Fights
Amateur MMA (3/3 minute rounds): John Joao vs. Ron Verdadero - 185 lbs.

Amateur MMA (3/3 minute rounds): TBA vs. Peni Taufaao - 145 lbs.

Kickboxing
Kickboxing exhibition (3/2 minute rounds): Nainoa Dung vs. Shawn Desantos, Jr.

Kickboxing (3/2 minute rounds): Sheldon Crawford vs. Ioane Kim - 145 lbs.

Kickboxing (3/½ minute rounds): Sai Crawford vs. Kasey Farinas - 85 lbs.

Kickboxing (3/1½ minute rounds): Cristien Raquedan vs. Alika Agustin- 90 lbs.

Kickboxing (3/1½ minute rounds): Raymond Raquedan vs. Charles Naone- 85 lbs.

Kickboxing (3/1 minute rounds): Sedric Crawford vs. Kaena Desantos- 65 lbs.

Amateur MMA

MMA Match (3/3 minute rounds): Loyed Trueman vs. Brad Orsbone- 185 lbs.

MMA Match (3/3 minute rounds): Koa Ramelb vs Randy Kamaiopili- 155 lbs.

MMA Match (3/3 minute rounds): James Ekener vs. Anthony Kinoshita- 185 lbs.

MMA Match (3/3 minute rounds): Manny vs. Jan Quimoyog- 125 lbs.

MMA Match (3/3 minute rounds): Philip Akui vs. Micah Ige- 175 lbs.

MMA Match (3/3 minute rounds): Kawika Young vs. Steven Beal- Heavyweights

MMA Match (3/3 minute rounds): Dale Laymeyer vs. Joseph Ena Ena- 165 lbs.

MMA Match (3/3 minute rounds): John Shepard vs. Derrick Galindo- 185 lbs.

MMA Match (3/3 minute rounds): Vince Alama vs. Timothy Cation- 205 lbs.

MMA Match (3/3 minute rounds): Derrick Galindo vs John Shepard- 185 lbs.

MMA Match (3/3 minute rounds): Aloune Diop vs Ka’eo Kawa’a- 185 lbs.

MMA Match (3/3 minute rounds): Daymon Carr vs Dale Lahmeyer- 185 lbs.

MMA Match (3/3 minute rounds): Jacob Pyfer vs. Evic Liftee- 170 lbs.

MMA Match (3/3 minute rounds): Jarrett Questel vs. Adam Trueman- 170 lbs.

MMA Match (3/3 minute rounds): Chad Puha vs Joseph Ena Ena

About X-1 World Events

Founded in 2004 by Mike Miller, X-1 World Events is a world-class mixed martial arts (MMA) promotional company based in Honolulu, HI. Locally-owned and operated, X-1 delivers exciting live arena-based entertainment events to fight fans all over the islands. The events feature some of the MMA world’s most talented fighters, including UFC, Pride, and Abu-Dhabi veterans such as former UFC champions Dan “The Beast” Severn and Ricco Rodriguez, UFC veterans Jeff Monson, Kimo Leopoldo, Chad “The Grinder” Reiner, “Sugar” Shane Nelson, Brandon Wolff, Wes “The Project” Sims, Ronald “The Machine Gun” Juhn, Wesley “Cabbage” Correira, and Falaniko Vitale, as well as Pride veterans Chris Brennan and Ron “H2O-Man” Waterman. X-1 World Events can be found online at http://www.x1events.com/

Source: X-1 World Events

Scrappla Fest 2
Kauai's Scrappla Fest 2
Gi & No Gi Tournament
May 15, 2010

Tournament will be held at:
Island School
3-1875 Kaumualii Hwy
Lihue, HI 96766-9597

$50 entry fee

Tentative times:
Kids Rules 930am.
Kids Gi Start 10am.
Kids No Gi Start 11am.

Adult Rules 12:30pm.
Adults Gi Start 1pm.
Adults No Gi Start 3:45pm.

We will be running 4-6 matches at the same time to keep the tournament running smoothly. More info to come about weights and weigh ins.

kids ages-weight divisions will be made on sight

5-below
6-7
8-9
10-11
12-13
14-15
16-17

women
125-below
126-140
141-above

menbeginner white , blue
131-below
132-145
146-159
160-173
174-187
188-201
202-215
216-above

men advanced, purple and above
159-below
160-180
181-201
202-above

Thank you,

Pono Pananganan
Kauai Technical Institute
ktirelson_gracie@hotmail.com

Boxing Smoker on May 15th

The next boxing show will be on May 15th at 6 p.m. at the Evolution Training Center in Waipio Industrial Court #110, address is 94-547 Ukee St., Waipahu, HI., 96797.

Boxers from Oahu and Kauai will be competing.

For more info. contact Chanelle Valdez at
cvaldez7@hawaii.rr.com

Source: Bruce Kawano

MAD SKILLS

SATURDAY MAY 15, 2010
WAIPAHU FILCOM CENTER
DOORS OPEN AT 6:00

JUMAR ESCOSIO 155 JUSTIN BURGESS

JOJO KELLY 175 BARACK HOLT

RICKY PLUNKETT 145 RYNE YOSHIMURA

JESSIE PURGANON 160 JESSIE HURST

ALLEN AUSTRIA 145 JOSEPH CARTER

ISRAEL ALVAREZ 120 RICKY FAJARDO

JUSTIN KAI IWASAKI 145 MARK YARCIA

JADA PERRERA 100 KAMA DA BEBE ASSASIN BANTILAN

RACHEL OSTOVICH 125 LENA BOOM BOOM COOK

BRYSHANE BAYUDAN 160 MIKEY WABINGA

FRED RAMAYLA 140 MARK WILSON

CHEVY DECASTRO 125 VEE VICKERS

JOE MOLINA SHW PETE SEFO

EDDIE LANI 140 JAYAR DUMAOAL

HANS LEE SHW JARREN KAWALU

DIESEL VISTANTE 145 FREDERICK WALLER JR

STEVE 200 JEREMY

MATT STONE 225 DUSTIN CULLASTRO

DANTE BOY 110 BRENNAN WAIALAE

DAN CERA 110 BRENTON WAIALAE

TYLER KOBAYASHI 140 JONAH VISTANTE

KAWIKA KUPUKAA SHW MANNY

CARLOS MASUNGSON 125 REX MANUEL

PAUL AUSTRIA 130 DANIEL ASUNCION

YVONNE WILLIAMS 100 GIGI

All matches and participants are subject to change

PAUL DALEY APOLOGIZES TO KOSCHECK, UFC, AND FANS

Paul Daley thought he had the biggest battle of his career in the Octagon on Saturday night against Josh Koscheck – little did he know that a moment of hot-headedness and frustration would ultimately lead to his very public dismissal from the UFC by President Dana White.

The biggest battle of his career starts now.

Having left for England some five hours after the fight, Daley knew things were bad, but he spent 10 hours languishing at his own actions. He has since put out a statement via the Telegraph Website:

“I’ve had a long flight home to consider my actions and regret the mistake I made on Saturday. I would like to apologize to the UFC and the Athletic Commission for what I’ve done as well as all the fans and sponsors that support me.”

“I would also like to offer my sincerest apologies to Josh Koscheck who did not deserve the cheap shot I threw. He did what he needed to do in order to win the fight and get the job done, and I foolishly reacted to the situation.”

“There is no excuse for my actions and I know what I did was very unprofessional. I was immensely frustrated by a collection of things that took place throughout the fight as well as leading up to it, but I’m certainly not trying to condone or excuse my actions.”

“Josh implemented his game plan perfectly taking me down and staying on top of me for the majority of the fight. I was also frustrated about him claiming (and acting like) I knee’d him in the head on the ground when it was clear for all to see in the video replay that I didn’t connect at all with the knee I threw.”

“Then finally, the verbal abuse Josh hit me with in the final 30 seconds of the fight simply pushed me over the edge and my frustrations came out as I knew I’d lost the fight, was unhappy with my own performance and had then been ridiculed by my opponent to top things off.”

“This is certainly no excuse for my actions; I fully deserve to be punished for what I did and hope that everyone I have disappointed can forgive my rash decision. I feel very disappointed in myself for losing my cool and hope that I am able to address my temperament and bounce back from this low point in my career.”

“I feel ashamed and embarrassed by what I did and hope that together my team and I can get through this issue. It will be a long road back from where I am now to earning the trust and respect of the UFC and the MMA fans that have supported me for so long, I know I’ve let you all down but I’m determined to make it up to you all.”

Where Daley goes from here is an unknown journey, but admitting fault is a first step, the athletic commissions may also wade in on the situation, but until then, Daley will have to deal with the consequences coming forward from this situation.

The biggest battle of his career.

Source: MMA Weekly

‘Shogun’ handles Machida to cap resurgence

MONTREAL – Less than a year ago, Lyoto Machida looked virtually unbeatable and appeared to be on the start of a long and dominant reign as the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s light heavyweight champion.
Mauricio "Shogun" Rua knocked out Lyoto Machida to win the light heavyweight title at UFC 113.
(Richard Wolowicz/Getty Images)

He had a seemingly impregnable defense and was adding powerful striking and a varied offense to it with each passing day.

At the same time, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua was still a man with a lot to prove. He was coming off a devastating first-round knockout of Chuck Liddell at UFC 97, but he didn’t receive a lot of credit for it because most assumed that the then-39-year-old Liddell had reached the end of the line.

Rua even had to take criticism for his win before that, a Fight of the Night victory over Mark Coleman at UFC 93 when he lost his conditioning in the final round.

But now, it is Machida searching for answers and Rua who sits atop the UFC’s most talented division.

Rua knocked out Machida to win light heavyweight title in their heavily hyped rematch Saturday in front of 17,647 boisterous fans at the Bell Centre, ending the controversy that began after their first fight in October.

The challenger hit Machida with an overhand right to start the finishing sequence, but the telling blow was a hammering right from the top position on a prone Machida that immediately closed Machida’s eye and ended his title reign.

Rua knew Machida had had enough and quit punching seconds before referee Yves Lavigne jumped in to stop the fight at 3:35 of the first round.

“He made my job a lot easier,” Lavigne said.

The win came on the heels of a highly controversial loss to Machida at UFC 104 in October, a bout in which UFC president Dana White, most of the media and a large percentage of the sport’s fans felt Rua had won. The three judges, though, gave the decision to Machida.

But Rua made an adjustment after watching tape of the first fight, noticing that Machida would drop his hands while being kicked.

“In my first fight against Machida, I tried to exploit the kicks a lot,” Rua said. “I noticed that every time he would try to attack by timing my kicks, he was attacking but without his guard in the proper place. He attacked with his face exposed.

“This time, I worked a lot not only on the kicks, but also on a high overhand right punch to surprise him as he was trying to move in from my kicks.”

Rua had every reason to gloat after the win, but he was humble and classy. He was heavily criticized since entering the UFC for not living up to the high expectations that had been placed upon him.

He had earned a reputation in the PRIDE Fighting Championship, where he had beaten the likes of Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Alistair Overeem, as one of the elite 205-pounders in the world.

But he gassed in a match against Forrest Griffin at UFC 76 in 2007 and was submitted, then he stumbled around the ring against the veteran Coleman at UFC 93. He still won against Coleman, but that was hardly a stirring performance.

Rua, though, had a legitimate excuse. He tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left leg during his training camp with Griffin but went through with the fight anyway. He then tore the same ligament again in 2008 while training for a fight in London against Liddell.

He underwent a second surgery and had a cadaver’s ligament inserted in his knee. Rua took a beating in the media, but was classy and never lashed out.

“The toughest times that a fighter can face are the injury times,” Rua said. “Injuries are the worst thing that can happen to a fighter’s career, so the worst times of my life were after those knee surgeries … because it was very tough and people were criticizing me a lot.

“I work so hard, and when I was going through that criticism, I tried to think that someone had to pay the bill. Someone had to pay for what I was going through and I tried to do that in my fights and pay it back when I’m fighting.”

His win opened a whole series of delicious possibilities, though White was not of a mind to discuss them Saturday.

White ruled out a title fight, at least immediately, against middleweight champion Anderson Silva. He said Silva has to face Chael Sonnen next and, if he wins, Vitor Belfort. At that point, White said, he’d consider allowing Silva to move to light heavyweight.

“I’m still unhappy with Anderson” for his strange performance at UFC 112, White said. “The way that Shogun performed, that’s what people are paying for. If you bought a ticket or you bought the pay-per-view, that’s what people are paying to see.”

Two former light heavyweight champions, Jackson and Rashad Evans, meet later in the month at UFC 114, but White wouldn’t concede that either of them would get the next shot. And there’s always the prospect of a rubber match with Machida, who suffered his first defeat after 16 wins on Saturday.

Rua, who debunked an ESPN report that was broadcast prior to the fight that he had injured his left knee again as “completely not true,” said he never gave up on achieving his dream despite the hard time.

“Shogun” said he turned the corner when he bought an octagon for his gym in Brazil. The punching angles change from a ring, which was used in PRIDE, to a cage, which is used in the UFC.

Healthy and trained properly, a calm and motivated Rua was magnificent. But he didn’t feel pressure to perform as if the bout was a last-chance opportunity.

“Every time I am about to fight, people say to me, ‘How come you are so relaxed? It seems like you are going to a chess match instead of a fight,’ ” Rua said. “But I never put pressure on myself to win. I put pressure on myself only to do my best. This is my obligation.”

It was an obligation he handled well. His best was plenty good and left a guy who was almost never hit by anyone else battered, swollen and decisively beaten.

“Shogun proved that the first time maybe everybody was right with the scoring,” White said. “To go out and KO Lyoto Machida in the first round the way he did, to call that impressive is stupid. It was incredible, unbelievable.”

It was incredible, unbelievable and impressive.

And you know what else?

It was well-deserved.

Source: Yahoo Sports

Koscheck earns title shot, Daley shown door

MONTREAL – There was irony in Josh Koscheck’s UFC 113 win over Paul Daley on Saturday night at the Bell Centre, one that set up Koscheck for a title shot and cost Daley his job.

Koscheck was booed by the crowd of 17,647 fans, who wanted to see a grudge match end with wild punches and a knockout. Instead, they got what was almost a duplicate of the March 27 fight in Newark, N.J., where welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre won a decision over England’s Dan Hardy by using an effective but not particularly exciting style of ground control.
Josh Koscheck earned a title shot by holding down Paul Daley for a 30-27 decision at UFC 113.

Like St. Pierre against Hardy, Koscheck (17-4) took Daley (23-9-2), perhaps the most explosive welterweight striker, down to the ground and controlled him for most of three straight rounds, winning a straight 30-27 decision. The win was by far the biggest of Koscheck’s career.

The fight was to not only determine who would coach against St. Pierre on the next season of “The Ultimate Fighter” reality show, which starts filming in a few weeks, but also who would get the next crack at St. Pierre’s title in December.

The irony was that the longer the fight went, the more the pro-Daley crowd was upset, even though it was held before a Canadian fan base and with Koscheck using the style that has led to St. Pierre becoming one of the country’s most popular athletes.

The coincidence wasn’t lost on Koscheck.

“I executed the game plan to a T,” said Koscheck, who had told people he would going to stand with Daley only to shoot and take him down at the first opportunity. “I was doing my coaches’ game plan: that was to be a wrestler and win the match with wrestling.”

Even more frustrated than the crowd, though, was Daley. Koscheck admitted trash talking in Daley’s ear late in the fight, but he wouldn’t divulge the details. Whatever it was, it made the British fighter even more furious.

After the fight was over, Daley started jawing back and then hit Koscheck with a postfight sucker punch, the likes of which haven’t been seen in the UFC cage in recent memory.

Koscheck said that Daley, unable to get off the bottom position, also tried gouging his eyes late in the fight.

The result was that Daley (23-9-2) became only the second person fired by UFC president Dana White for poor sportsmanship inside the cage. In 2007, Renato “Babalu” Sobral was cut after a win over David Heath because he wouldn’t release a choke hold after Heath had passed out.

“He’s done,” White said of Daley. “He will never be back. I don’t care if he goes all over the world, goes on a winning streak, becomes the best 170-pound fighter in the world or even the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, he’s never fighting in the UFC again.”

Referee Dan Miragliotta had to grab Daley and hold him against the cage because he still wanted to go after Koscheck. White then entered the cage and started yelling at Daley. White said he fired Daley for the sucker punch, but he was clearly even more annoyed when he asked Daley why he did it. White felt Daley insulted his intelligence with his answer.

“He said he didn’t know the fight was over,” said White. The fight’s various controversies started in the first round. After Koscheck controlled Daley on the ground for several minutes, Daley finally got to his feet and went for a kick to Koscheck when he was down, which is illegal.

Well, if the kick landed it would have been illegal. Koscheck grabbed his left eye writhing in pain like he had been injured by the blow, although replays showed that it was hard to see exactly what landed.

“I think it was a knee in the eye,” said Koscheck, who had a cut next to the eye. “I don’t know if it was a knee or a punch [which would have been legal].”

The crowd, believing Koscheck may have played up the injury for more than it was worth, resulting in a timeout and respite, started chanting obscenities after the replay was shown in the arena. The chants got louder and more obscene as the fight went on.

During the second round, after Koscheck scored his first takedown, he kept Daley grounded the entire round. Having clearly won the first two rounds, early in the third round Koscheck danced backward and put the fight into almost a stall defense as Daley came forward before shooting in and taking him to the ground. Koscheck kept Daley there, staying just busy enough with punches to prevent a standup.

The win means Koscheck’s career has come full circle.

Five years ago, a few weeks into the first season of “The Ultimate Fighter,” Koscheck sprayed a hose on Chris Leben, which led to a Leben meltdown. Their match a week later drew 2.5 million viewers, putting the show – and the UFC itself – on the pop-culture map. The Koscheck-Leben match held the record for the highest-rated episode in the history of the show until Kimbo Slice showed up in 2009.

The incident established Koscheck as the company’s biggest villain, a role he didn’t particularly want. But when it was thrust on him, it’s a role he hasn’t exactly run away from.

After Saturday’s fight was over, Koscheck, booed as much as any UFC fighter in recent years with the exception of heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar, told the crowd that the Pittsburgh Penguins would be beating the Montreal Canadiens in their NHL playoff series and that Montreal would lose twice since he was going to beat St. Pierre.

Koscheck, who grew up in Pennsylvania and was the 2001 NCAA Division I wrestling champion at Edinboro College, going 43-0-1, said the interview was done in response for the crowd’s reaction to him. He said he was not aware at the time that the Penguins had won the game that ended earlier that evening. He joked that he didn’t want the title fight in Montreal, but said he wanted it in Pittsburgh.

St. Pierre and Koscheck have fought once before, on Aug. 25, 2007, in Las Vegas, between St. Pierre’s two championship reigns.

St Pierre won by unanimous decision, but Koscheck won the first round, making him the last fighter to win a round against the current champion.

“I think I underestimated Georges’ wrestling,” said Koscheck about the first fight. “This time, I’m going to be prepared when it comes to wrestling. I’ll be bringing in Olympic wrestlers to camp. I’ll be ready this time.”

Source: Yahoo Sports

BELCHER SPOILS COTE'S HOMECOMING, CALLS OUT SILVA

Alan Belcher played spoiler on Saturday night as he ruined the homecoming and the comeback of Patrick Cote when the Mississippi native finished off the Canadian with a rear naked choke in the 2nd round of their fight.

Coming out strong early, Belcher blasted at Cote's midsection with some severe body kicks that left the Canadian's ribs red and welted after the first round.

Cote almost caught Belcher with a submission in the first round after getting a takedown, he transitioned beautifully to a kimura and had it locked on strong enough to make Belcher wince in pain. Staying patient and remembering his training, Belcher fought out of the hold and made it to the second round.

In the second after a slugfest on the feet, Belcher picked up Cote from the clinch and dropped him face first on the canvas. He followed up quickly to sink his hooks in and clutch a rear naked choke that Cote couldn't work his way out of, and he was forced to tap.

Belcher admitted that the biggest difference for him lately is that he's no longer playing around, he's taking the fight seriously and that's brought on a whole new fighter.

"I'm happy that I finally started fighting to my potential, and stop coming in here, trying to goof off, and just brawl with guys," said Belcher after the win. "I know if I take a step back and breathe, I can pick everybody apart."

Following the win, Belcher possibly put the cart in front of the horse just a little bit as he called out UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva, but the sometimes the best way to get a fight is to simply ask for it.

"I'm talking about Anderson Silva, everybody knows who can take it to him. Everybody knows who can stand with Anderson, I'm on my way there," said Belcher.

Source: MMA Weekly

MITRIONE DOMINATES KIMBO WITH 2ND ROUND TKO

Before their fight at UFC 113 ever started, Matt Mitrione warned Kimbo Slice that he wasn't Houston Alexander. He said wouldn't be intimidated by the former street fighting legend, and Mitrione showed that as he dominated his fellow "Ultimate Fighter" housemate, winning by TKO in the 2nd round.

Mitrione came out and immediately started head hunting with a couple of left high kicks that soon led Kimbo to shoot for a takedown. The Florida based fighter got the fight to the mat, but soon found himself on the bad end of a triangle choke from Mitrione.

While the fighter known as "Meathead" didn't finish the triangle choke, he did simply wear Kimbo down, and when the fighters got back to the feet, Mitrione did his best Jose Aldo impression as he pummeled his opponent's lead leg.

As the fight wore on, Mitrione continued to punish Kimbo's leg and the YouTube sensation simply crumbled from the pressure. Mitrione poured it on, took the mount and punched away at a defenseless Kimbo, and the fight was stopped giving the former NFL pro his second win in the UFC.

Training with Duke Roufus and his camp in Wisconsin showed with the tremendous improvement by Mitrione, who looked like the seasoned and definitely the more conditioned fighter on Saturday night.

"Not to be typical, but whatever the UFC (wants me to) go do, I'm going to go do," Mitrione answered when asked what he wanted to do next.

With more time to train and improve, Mitrione could prove to be a tough test for any fighter in the heavyweight division. As for Kimbo Slice, he unfortunately was just not on par with his opponent, and it's back to the drawing board for him.

Source: MMA Weekly

KOSCHECK BEATS DALEY, EARNS TITLE SHOT & TUF JOB

Here comes the bad guy.

Like the great villains in cinema, Josh Koscheck has no problem being the fighter that gets the win, no matter the cost, no matter the way, and he did that once again at UFC 113, dispatching of Paul Daley while also earning a job as TUF 12 coach and a fight against Georges St. Pierre for the welterweight title.

Everyone wondered which Josh Koscheck would show up on Saturday night after saying numerous times that he would stand and trade with Paul Daley, but had vastly more experience over Paul Daley on the ground.

Koscheck showed up with a perfect strategy as he took Daley down at will, punishing him on the ground and almost sinking in a choke several times.

The first round brought about a very odd moment when the fighters separated from the ground and Daley threw a knee strike while his opponent was still clearly on the mat. Koscheck fell back in pain from what looked like a knee strike, and the action was paused for a moment.

The replay showed a phantom knee that didn't land, and the boos for Koscheck started immediately. The American Kickboxing Academy fighter did continue, but obviously didn't pick up many fans with the antics.

The rest of the fight looked much like a carbon copy of the first few minutes, with Koscheck landing takedown after takedown and just overwhelming Daley on the ground. As the fight ended, Koscheck threw his hands up in celebration and then the night was marred by one of the most cowardly acts in UFC history.

Daley walked over to an undefended Josh Koscheck and proceeded to punch him in the face. Referee Dan Miragliotta immediately pulled Daley away and UFC president Dana White got in the fighter's face soon after, undoubtedly berating him for the action.

While he could have milked the action for some sympathy from the crowd, Koscheck was more than happy to play public enemy No 1 as he let the Montreal crowd have it with his post fight speech.

"Don't worry, Pittsburgh Penguins are going to kick your ass next week, baby!" Koscheck yelled to the Montreal crowd. "And then I'm going to beat St. Pierre, so you guys are going to lose twice, how bout that? Yeah, that's right Montreal."

The crowd rained down on Koscheck as he left the Octagon, but even if he is the ultimate bad guy in MMA, he's also the next fighter that will face Georges St. Pierre for the welterweight title, and the coach of the "Ultimate Fighter" season 12.

Source: MMA Weekly

Gesias Cavalcante

Two times Hero’s GP champion, the lightweight Gesias Cavalcante accepted the invitation and answered the questions sent by TATAME’s subscribers, explaining his trainings, his goals, the influence of religion on his life, he also revealed that he dreams of fighting a UFC event in Rio de Janeiro and a lot more. Check below the chat that you did with Gesias Cavalcante.

What are your current goals for MMA? (Rafael de Moraes Nascimento)

To fight... My main goal is to fight, it doesn’t matter who I will have to face. I want to fight, at least, three more times this year, to recover my rhythm. That is what I’m focused on, to achieve three victories to make this year worth, to star to climb up the mountain.

How is the perfect preparation to become a champion? How many hours, days and your daily schedule of training? (Sandro Lacerda)

That’s not an easy question, it’s not a recipe for a cake. There a lot of different training which can work for some and don’t work for others. In fact, one thing is for sure: the only recipe is to work hard. If you have hard training, I believe you’re in the right way. In life in general, you have to believe in everything you do and keep your faith in God. That’s the perfect combination. You have to be determinate and dedicated... It won’t work if you are just confident, have faith and expect that thing will come easily for you. You have to set a schedule of trainings according to whom you will fight against, have good coaches… You must pay attention to every sort of detail.

After you knee surgery, how is your excitement to come back to the fights? Will you be back to the rings soon? (Sandro Lacerda)

I want to fight in the next Dream, in May. No one has confirmed me anything, but I’m already feeling well, training hard. I’m back, I just want to fight. My hunger is ever bigger. I’m just doing my job, no hurries. I’m not desperate, I’m in a phase and I want to fight, I need this to live, but I’m not hurrying things up.

What kind of exercises do you thing helps you on your explosion during the fights? (Humberto Newton Ferreira)

Explosion work is done with Olympic impulse, ground, an old school thing, they say. This work, on my opinion, is what better improves my explosion.

What do you think about an UFC Brazil and what city do you think would host it more appropriately? (Reinaldo dos Santos)

A dream, for me, would be an Ultimate in Rio on which I could fight (laughs). I’ve never fought in Brazil professionally. If I had the opportunity, in any big event in Brazil, would be like a dream come true. But seriously, I think São Paulo is bigger, it would be more viable than Rio. But it’s all a matter of working on it, knowing to promote and show all of it. Rio has a big audience, you can make a big event there.

What was, in your opinion, the best fight of 2009? (Marcos Aurélio Sances do Prado)

There were a lot of good fights, but the most chocking was that one of Anderson and Forrest.

For you, fighting is “to build a legacy” or is it just a job on which you can make money enough for you and your family? (Marcos Aurélio Sances do Prado)

Both, man. Every time I step on the ring my intention is to do what I like and pass a good energy for whoever is watching. It’s the modern samurai, to be a fighter involves a lot of stuff. That’s the mission in every job you have in your life, you have to want it and have discipline to do anything. Beat your fears and overcome your boundaries. You make your own legacy. It’s not about having followers, but you can transfer what you like and help people. Everybody is capable of anything.

You have a degree in Jiu-Jitsu. Besides having a great ground game, I think you are a great striker too. In what a young Jiu-Jitsu’s purple belt athele has to focus if he wants to join MMA and become a striker? (Leonardo Lopes Salviano)

I come from MMA. Just after that I went to ATT and learned Jiu-Jitsu, but it was on MMA I started fighting. In fact, on MMA you have to focus on everything. There’s a thing Babalu told me a long time ago, which is “if you want to be good at something, you have to live inside that world”. Train boxing and then you can adapt the good thing you have learned to MMA. I kept on doing this and it works for me. I went to Netherlands, trained there, and trained boxing in the U.S…. I like to live that specific world for a while and then bring what I learned to MMA.

What are your idols in the world of martial arts? (Eduardo Tadeu Lobo Teixeira)

There are a lot of guy in whom I search for inspiration, everyone has your own heyday. When Paulão was on the peak of his career, I’ve always admired Denis Kang… Nowadays there is Jorge Santiago, Bibiano… If I start pointing out names, I wouldn’t stop.. There is Anderson, Minotauro… It’s so much people, even more when you know the trajectory of the person, his personality, I become a bigger fan. I like Cachorrão, and he came back after being a while off. It depends on the style… I admired several fighters, each on because of their specific characteristic.

On your opinion, what would it be the result in a fight between Vitor Belfort and Anderson Silva? What are the most outstanding technique of each one of them? (Eduardo Tadeu Lobo Teixeira)

It’s a tough choice, but I think Anderson has a better timing, even more when there is a belt being disputed. I think Anderson is the favorite, he could keep the fight in a comfort area. He has a great legs game. Vitor is fast, but I don’t know if he could beat Anderson because of his versatility. Anderson exchange of blows is fantastic, he does it all and adapts easily. Vitor has a good boxing game, is fast and precise. When he manages to keep it in a short distance, it’s a good thing for him, but I think Anderson has the advantage of his versatility.

What is your religion? Do you think it is a problem for a Christian to practice Jiu-Jitsu and KickBozing? (Eduardo Tadeu Lobo Teixeira)

Actually, my religion is God. I’m baptized in the Catholic Church, but I enjoy studying religion stuff, I read the study Bible, which is very directed and explained… You can read it as a normal book. I think that religion is a personal thing, God is there for everybody. We are born pure, we can become distant in our routine, but the important thing is to do things from your heart. I think the religion don’t stop people from fighting, through the sport you can even make a stronger connection with God, you have an extra power. You can see a bunch of athletes involved with religion, the sport gives you a little bit of it.

Source: Tatame

Shooto Brazil champion ready to shock WEC

Renan Barão lost in his MMA’s debut, five years ago. But, since then, the tough guy does not know what it is like to enter the ring without getting off there with a victory. With twenty wins on his record, showing he has got the energy to do six fights a year, Barão finally will have his chance to fight in the international’s rings. Precisely, on WEC.

“For me it’s like my dream is starting to come true and I think it came in the right time, because nowadays I feel much more mature and experienced”, said the young athlete to TATAME. WEC’s debut is on June, against Clint Godfrey and Renan knows what he will have to face. “I’m studying his fights every day, in fact I watched it today with my father (Netinho Pegado), who is my boxing coach since I was a child. We noticed he is left handed and likes to fight in the midway and at a short distance, he also does a good ground game, where he managed to win a lot of his fights”, explain Renan.

But nothing seems to be a barrier for the guy from Natal, who was elected by TATAME’s subscribers as the best current Brazilian fighter, leaving for behind names as Sérgio Moraes, Dudu Dantas and Carlos Índio. But whoever thinks Barão only fights MMA is completely wrong. “Besides my MMA fights, I’ve been fighting in a lot of Jiu-Jitsu events, Submission and Kickboxing too… In fact, I was state champion in the brown feather weight division on the last weekend, and that competition rhythm along with my trainings makes me even more confident for the battles which will come”, guarantees.

FOLLOWING JOSÉ ALDO

Used to fight in the featherweight division, the athlete decided to change his category in order not to fight José Aldo, WEC’s champion and team partner in Brazil. The comparison between the two of them was inevitable for the American press, but that does not bother Renan. “I don’t feel pressured by it, but I would like to make a performance as good as his”, tells Renan, without expecting much problems with the weight cut, once he has already fought on the bantamweight division in Brazil.

“I may lose a bit of my punch due to the loss of lean muscle, but the absorption of a guy who fights on the bantamweight division is different from the one that a featherweight division handles, that’s why I think my blows will have a good impact on this category”, believes the tough guy, who won five of his fights by knockout and nine by submission, leaving only six of his fights to be decided by the judges round card. Watching his friend José Aldo on the top of WEC, Renan also dreams about the international acclaim, but knows he has to work hard for it.

“I would like to fight the bests, and if I have the opportunity to fight for the belt, I’ll grab it with all my power, but for now my focus is on Clint, who is also a tough opponent”, guarantees the fighter, analyzing his division on WEC. “I’ve been watching this division for a while and I could tell there are a lot of great fighters in it, but Dedé (Pederneiras) signed a contract of six fights, what will give me enough time to grow from fight to fight on the event. That’s why it is so important for me to make a good debut”, said.

Even without thinking about the title, Barão predicts how it would be like his fight against Miguel Torres, who once reigned on the featherweight division, and was quoted to fight Aldo in the past. “For sure I’ll exchange a lot of punches and kicks, because he’s game is about the hands and knee. But, as most of my fights, I would test him both standing and on the ground, in the search of a weak spot”, explains Renan.

“Hiding” from the featherweights so he would not have to face Aldo, Renan may have to fight Wagnney Fabiano, another Nova União’s athlete on WEC, who changed his division for the same reason. “I’ve been asked this about 20 times(laughs)”, jokes the athlete. “I wouldn’t like to fight him, because we are team partners, but that’s up to Dedé, Jair and WEC. I’m just an employee of the event and that part is not up to me to decide”, explains.

Before he says goodbye, Barão asked something: “may I thank a few people? (laughs)”. Permission granted, Renan. “I would like to thank, at this moment of my life, my professors Jair Lourenço, Neto Pegado and Dedé, my physical trainer Adriano Coringa, to Platinum group, Ricardo Farias, the restaurant Talher, Rip Dorey and everyone from Kimura and Nova União”, concluded.

Source: Tatame

5/12/10

Maui Jiu-Jitsu Open Set!
July 17, 2010
Maui War Memorial

For more info: http://www.mauijiujitsu.com.

Source: Luis Heredia

UFC 113 FIGHTER BONUSES; $65,000 CHECKS

The Ultimate Fighting Championship handed out $65,000 bonus checks for “UFC 113: Machida vs. Shogun II” performances in the Octagon with Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, Alan Belcher, Jeremy Stephens and Sam Stout taking home the bonus cash.

Knockout of the Night went to the new UFC light heavyweight titleholder Mauricio “Shogun” Rua for his knockout win of Lyoto Machida in the night’s main event.

Avenging the controversial decision loss to Machida at UFC 104, Rua was more aggressive with his punches and eventually landed an overhand right that sent Machida to the canvas where Rua finished with punches rendering the former champion unconscious.

Submission of the Night honors were granted to Alan Belcher for his rear naked choke win over Canadian Patrick Cote in the first televised fight of the UFC 113 pay-per-view broadcast. Belcher picked Cote up and slammed him on his face and immediately took his opponent’s back and sunk in a rear naked choke forcing Cote to tap.

Fight of the Night bonus money went to Jeremy Stephens and Sam Stout who put on a three round war with Stephens landing the power shots and Stout continuously moving forward and pressing the pace. Stephens pulled out a split decision victory.

The total bonus money handed out at UFC 113 was $260,000.

Source: MMA Weekly

Kimbo's UFC run is done

UFC president Dana White laid down the challenge to Internet phenom Kimbo Slice and the street fighter accepted it. Kimbo made it through his stint on Season 10 of "The Ultimate Fighter" and got two more fights with the promotion.

Slice went 1-1 in the UFC after the reality show, including a bad loss Saturday night at UFC 113 against Matt Mitrione. The fight was so one-sided, the UFC president decided to give Kimbo, 36, his pink slip.

"That's probably Kimbo's last fight in the UFC," White said. "Listen, Kimbo made it farther than I thought he would."

As White was exiting the press conference for a postfight television interview, he was asked one more time about Kimbo's future. A reporter pushed him on the "probably" in his original Kimbo quote. White then confirmed definitively that Slice was gone.

Unlike some cases where other high-profile fighters were sent packing, White sounded genuinely disappointed to fire him.

"I didn't know Kimbo, I just knew what I saw," White said of his previous pro MMA fights and his work on YouTube. "The first time I ever met him I said, 'This is going to be an interesting meeting with the [expletive] I've said about him over the years.'"

When Slice was the centerpiece of CBS's EliteXC promotion, his status drove White nuts. He slammed and bad-mouthed Kimbo, saying the only way he'd make it to the UFC was to take part in the UFC's prospect show on Spike. That was a bitter pill to swallow for a guy who had earned between $250,000-$500,000 in each of four EliteXC fights.

Slice and his handlers were not combative. They just wanted the fighter to get a chance at legitimacy.

"He came in. He couldn't be a nicer guy. He took things serious, trained and went after it," White said. "His first fight wasn't the YouTube fights you saw. He won that fight [against Houston Alexander on the TUF 10 finale]. He deserved another fight in the UFC and he lost. Got nothing but respect for Kimbo and I like him as a person. And I think he's carried himself really well."

Source: Yahoo Sports

MMA Moms, Part I: The women behind the fighters

MMA fans are used to seeing fighters beaten up and bloodied. Though we were all shocked by the sight of Urijah Faber's leg after it was brutalized by Jose Aldo, we also moved onto the next set of fights.

That isn't so easy if you are the woman who raised that fighter. The moms of MMA feel every punch their sons and daughters take.

"I always ask him before the fight, 'Don't let these guys hit you in the face.' Sometimes that just doesn't go my way," said Debbie Guida, the mother of Clay and Jason. "The first time I saw Clay fight and he started to bleed, I was literally on the floor. It made me very upset. When somebody hits one of your own, you feel a gutwrench."

Lorraine Shin, mother of former UFC lightweight champ BJ Penn, said that the toughest part is seeing her son disappointed when the fight doesn't go his way.

"I feel for him. I realize that in his own mind, after he lost, he's thinking, what happened? What could I have done? When I went into the back room in Abu Dhabi, I knew that he was very emotionally hard on himself. I cry to myself because I'm feeling my son's frustration."

After supporting her son through a long and successful wrestling career, Michelle Askren said that she wasn't ready to see her son Ben striking.

"I'm just getting used to seeing him in the standup game. The standup is really tough since it's so different from wrestling. His first fights have been somewhat easy to watch. I'm not really battle-worn yet."

When former UFC light-heavyweight champion Rashad Evans started fighting, his mother questioned why he would want to try the sport.

"When he first told me, I said, Rashad, you went to school for that? You want to go on national TV and get your [expletive] beat?" Shirley Ann Evans said. But she softened when she saw how much her son loved the sport.

"It's nerve-wracking because it's a brutal sport, but he says he enjoys it. So I support him on it. He says it helps his adrenaline. Every time he's losing or the fight is tough, I think this is what he likes."

Debbie Lauzon, the mother of UFC fighters Joe and Dany, had a similar reaction when Joe first started fighting.

"I knew he loved it. I said to my husband, 'Are we crazy letting him do this?' and then we realized. It's not that we're letting him. He's going to do it anyway. He wanted our blessing, but he wasn't asking for permission."

But that does not mean that the mothers don't want their sons to quit. Shin said that when taking into account the injuries that can happen, she will tell Penn to quit.

"Yes! All the time. I had never realized that when he started fighting professionally, where it would take him. I always look at it as, my son can get hurt, but he has such a passion for it. I support him."

Lauzon said she did once keep Joe from competing, and she regretted it.

"The only time we stopped Joey was in a grappling tournament that was in New Jersey. He wanted to go, but my husband and I discussed it and told him he couldn't go. He was devastated. The tournament was on Saturday, and late Friday afternoon I went into his room and he was crying. He said, 'You don't understand how important this was to me.' It was too late to go to this one, but my husband and I decided, we'll never do that to him again. He never complains, always does the right thing, and we devastated him by telling him not to go. That stuck with us."

Guida says that there are times she has wanted to tell Clay and Jason to quit, but she kept it to herself.

"I think that's kind of selfish. This is what they like to do. What I want them to do and what they picked are two different things. Whatever makes them happy. When they smile, I feel good."

MMA Moms, Part II: All in a mom's days work

As with most mothers, MMA moms wear several hats. They've served as managers, coaches and motivational forces. Consider what Shirley Ann Evans told her son Rashad about his fights.

"The last fight with Machida, the one he lost? I had warned him. I said, 'Rashad, Machida feels that if he has your mind he can win the fight.' Rashad thought that was so funny. I said he feels like he can conquer your spirit, and Rashad thought that was funny. I said it's a mental fight, and he thought I was so funny, and then he lost. And I look up, and he's telling someone on national TV, my mother warned me about the fight."

With that in mind, Shirley also offered words of wisdom for Rashad's next bout, a scrap with Quinton "Rampage" Jackson at UFC 114.

"I told him, Rashad, he's coming to knock you the hell out. He's not playing with you. Look for every opportunity you can to give that to him. He wasn't laughing this time!"

BJ Penn's mother, Lorraine Shin, drew criticism for writing the Nevada State Athletic Commission about the greasing allegations that were made against Georges St. Pierre in the bout against her son. But to Shin, writing the letter was the correct thing to do because of her experience working with fighters in shows in Hawaii.

"I have been involved with producing shows in Hawaii for years," Shin said. "My viewpoint, as BJ Penn's mother, was from the producer side and being involved with fighters. I have never said or felt that my son would have won the fight. It just wasn't fair."

Still, most mothers know that there are times they must keep their distance. Shin said though she and BJ are close and he lives just two doors away from her, she tries not to disrupt him while he is in training camp.

"When he is training, I just go and peek in. I am very careful not to disrupt any of the training. We don't want to distract him. They need that time to focus and train."

But the distance doesn't keep mothers from the advice-giving role. For Debbie Guida, the mom of Clay and Jason, she offered career advice early to all of her children, and is happy that they took it.

"I tell all three of my kids to pick a profession that you like because then you'll get up in the morning and give it your all. I know that all three of my kids have picked a profession that they want to be in."

Shirley Evans also gave her son career advice. She told him how to deal with the many times he's been booed.

"Don't worry about the boos. All you have to do is win. You have to honestly know that everyone who is booing you, you don't know those people! You got to be good, stay good, and if they boo you, they boo you. They won't boo you when you do bad, they boo you when you do good, so which boo are you going to take?"

A very Happy Mother's Day and thank you to all of the mothers who took part in this post. To my own mother, thanks for putting up with me as a daughter and Happy Mother's Day.

Source: Yahoo Sports

Love or hate him, White passionate about product

Dana White was all the way over in Abu Dhabi last month. It was a big day for the Ultimate Fighting Championship and its president, his mixed martial arts promotion making its first live appearance in the Middle East.

A big crowd had shown up. There were all sorts of curious media. The buzz was palpable. Then in the main event, UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva started acting, as White put it, ”like an [expletive].”

Silva wouldn’t attack opponent Demian Maia even though Silva, arguably the best fighter in the world, could’ve knocked him out with ease. Instead Silva, danced and pranced and made silly faces and made a mockery of the sport.

All the while White sat by the Octagon and fumed. Soon enough he did what he always does during every UFC pay-per-view card: check his Twitter account on his cell phone to get the pulse of the public. The messages rolled in from outraged fans around the world. They’d paid about $45 to watch a fight. Instead they got a clown show.

”I always check my Twitter, although I didn’t need to during that fight,” White said this week. ”I knew how bad it was even before I saw all the comments coming in.”

The UFC returns to pay-per-view Saturday with a card in Montreal featuring a light heavyweight (205-pound) championship rematch between Lyoto Machida and Mauricio ”Shogun” Rua.

White is doing his usual work promoting it, although the memory of Dhabi has left him a bit humbled and perhaps even a little gun shy. Those are two descriptions rarely used with the bombastic promoter who helped build his company from a fledgling enterprise to a global, billion-dollar entity in less than a decade.

Perhaps White’s most endearing quality is that as his personal wealth has grown, as his power and influence has soared and as the need to defend the UFC brand has become paramount, he’s never lost touch with those fans that put down their hard-earned money to watch his fighters fight.

He still feels their pain when the UFC, for whatever reason, doesn’t deliver. He can’t forget feeling the same feeling when he’d bought boxing shows as a kid. So there’s no sugar-coating things. There are no carefully crafted press releases. When the card goes bad, White’s the first to acknowledge it and react to it.

White walked out of the Silva debacle, refusing to put the belt on his champion in a public show of disgust. He then delivered the following opening statement to the media:

”I’ll answer the questions about what a disgrace the main event was and what an embarrassment it is,” White said. ”I don’t think I’ve ever been more embarrassed in 10 years of being in this business.”

Later he threatened to cut Silva from the promotion if there’s another similar performance.

”At the end of the day, I’m a fight fan,” White said. ”I’m very proud of the product we have built here. I’m proud that I know we deliver and when fans put down $45 they are going to get a good product.

”I think of myself being the guy at home. And sometimes it isn’t even the 45 bucks. You may have a bunch of guys over chipping in five dollars. It’s about wasting an evening of your life.

”We all work. We are all busy. We all have families. There are a lot of options on a night off. To spend it on something that sucks, I can’t stand that.”

Many fans love Dana White. Others don’t. No one can say he doesn’t care though.

You aren’t going to find another commissioner in sports reading through Twitter comments during a boring game and then immediately blasting the participants, let alone a star of the level of Anderson Silva.

It’s rare the suits do anything but try to spin the bad into good. It’s rare they even admit a substandard product or acknowledge any deficiency.

Not White. He takes it to another level.

”It was borderline crazy,” White said of Silva. ”He needed a psychological evaluation after the fight.”

White sighed. The memory kills him. His company puts on dozens of events annually, produces hours and hours of television programming and handles hundreds of fighters. Yet one horrible event grinds him.

”There’s nothing I can do about that,” he said. ”It was our first time in the Middle East. The first event [many people in attendance] had even seen. They’re [saying], ‘OK, I’ve heard all this hype about the UFC, let’s go.’ And then they get that?

”There’s no doubt whatsoever we lost some people.”

White’s plan with Silva is two more fights at middleweight (against Chael Sonnen in Oakland this August and then, if victorious, Vitor Belfort). If Silva wins those, White said he wants him to move up in weight class permanently. Fights against big, dangerous guys such as Rashad Evans, Rampage Jackson or even Brock Lesnar will force Silva to compete.

In the meantime, White is back trying to sell another card of fights.

”My job is to get out there and get back on the horse. I’ll do everything in my power to make sure this is a great card. I’ll do that every time.”

There’s no way to ever predict what will or won’t happen inside the Octagon – the fighters are in control once the cage door is locked. Saturday’s title bout could be legendary. It could fall well short. It’s the same with the rest of the good, solid card.

The only guarantee fans get is that Dana White will check his Twitter account to read what you think. And he’ll actually care.

Source: Yahoo Sports

PAUL DALEY EXILED FROM UFC AFTER UFC 113

Paul Daley not only lost a shot at the UFC welterweight title and a coaching position on the "Ultimate Fighter", but he lost his job and will never be invited to fight in the Octagon again.

Pulling no punches after the event, UFC president Dana White stated emphatically that they will not stand for the type of behavior displayed by Daley when he sucker punched Josh Koscheck following their fight on Saturday night.

"He's done. I don't give a (expletive) if he's the best 170lber in the world. He'll never come back here again. He'll never come back."

According to White, Daley's excuse for the action was that he didn't know the fight was over and didn't hear the horn. Obviously the UFC president didn't fall for the explanation and Daley was cut from the UFC permanently.

"I'm probably the most lenient guy in sports and this is probably one of the most lenient organizations, and we're all human, we all make mistakes, things happen…there's no excuse for that," said White. "These guys are professional athletes, you don't ever hit a guy after the bell like that. Frustrated or not. It was probably one of the dumbest things I've ever seen because he is a talented guy, and he is one of the best 170lbers in the world, and I was actually impressed with his takedown defense."

Koscheck also said after the fight that Daley was shoving his fingers in his eyes on the ground, and White once again said that kind of behavior is completely uncalled for and will not be tolerated in the UFC.

"The stuff like the eye gouging, the hit after the bell, all that stuff, that will not ever be tolerated and he's done. I don't care if he fights in every show all over the world and becomes the best, and everybody thinks he's the best pound-for-pound in the world, he will never fight in the UFC, ever again," White stated.

White's final word for Paul Daley after UFC 113.

"Done."

Source: MMA Weekly

5/11/10

Xande wants weight and absolute on Worlds

Out of 2009’s World, due to na injury, Xande Ribeiro is in the search of his third absolute title this year. In his official site, the black belt announced his presence on the biggest Jiu-Jitsu tournament of the world. “It is very glad that I’ll compere on World 2010. My goals are the absolute and the heavyweight division”, warns the athlete, who wrote about his willingness to fight MMA and a lot more. Check below the text Xande has published:

“It is with great happiness and joy that i am competing at the 2010 worlds.

Through this year I had great plans for MMA. But my Japanese organization fell thru, negotiations weren’t the best for me … training was going great… conditioning was tight and boxing was coming along…. and I had decided that I was only do MMA this year. But in this business ways never go how we wanted.

Im the type of guy that is motivated by challenges and this year will be a challenge. Among the old tough guys that we all know, there are a few new names in the scene, and I got really pumped.

Training has started… I’m in shape… but there are couple things. MMA hands are soft… so my fingers are already hurting so… fight grip, rope. Fight grip, pull up with the gis….. :) The skin is hard but soft…. I have to deal with scratches and bruises…. and being heavy in the bottom and light in the top…. No way. 4 weeks of hard training… the troops are ready to do this and I’m excited to lead my Army one more time.

Go Ribeiro Jiu-Jitsu, go Gracie Humaita… time to take care of business.

Goals for this….. Absolute and Heavyweight Division…. I’ll be there to do my best and my best I’ll do… That’s all that I am going to do…. fight hard, fight smart and FIGHT HAPPY.

OSS”.

Source: Tatame

DANA WHITE: GSP AN IMPORTANT FIGURE IN SPORTS

UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre may not only be the most popular athlete in the sport today, he may be the person to help bridge the gap between mixed martial arts and the sports' regulation in his home country of Canada.

The enigmatic and popular fighter made a trip to Ottawa this week where he spoke to members of the Canadian Parliament, and was received well by all those in attendance. St-Pierre has twice been voted Canadian Athlete of the Year over the likes of hockey star Sidney Crosby, and he's becoming an important spokesperson for MMA everywhere.

UFC president Dana White recognizes the popularity surrounding St-Pierre, and also how he carries himself as a major influence on why he's able to do the things he does.

"He was doing PR and he was out there talking to government officials for us," White said about St-Pierre's visit to Parliament. "Georges St-Pierre has become a very important figure in sports, not only here in Canada, but around the world."

Featured in ads for Gatorade and now one of the faces of Under Armour as well, St-Pierre is a crossover star for taking MMA into the mainstream advertising world. White believes that he's an ambassador for the sport, and someone all Canadians can be proud of.

"I say this every time I'm up here and every time I talk about Georges St-Pierre, I don't know how the (expletive) this guy isn't sponsored by every Canadian company in Canada. He's a great champion, he's one of the classiest guys you'll ever meet, such a great representative for his country, our belt, and the sport," said White.

St-Pierre will be in attendance at UFC 113 at the Bell Centre, where he re-captured the UFC welterweight title two years ago. He has not relinquished the belt since that time.

Source: MMA Weekly

Rafael dos Anjos vs. Clay Guida on UFC 117

The Brazilian Rafael dos Anjos, who won US$75.000 for the best submission on UFC 112, against Terry Etim, will be back to the American octagon on UFC 117, event that will happen on August 7. With three consecutive wins, Rafael will face one of the most aggressive lightweights of UFC, Clay Guida, who recently submitted Shannon Gugerty on UFC on Versus and also got the award for best submission of the event. TATAME.com was able to confirm the bout with sources close to the situation.

Source: Tatame

FORMER UFC CHAMP MENNE 'NOT DEAD YET'

After nearly 13 years in the sport, former UFC middleweight champion Dave “The Warrior” Menne is still far from calling it quits.

Coming back to fighting after nearly a year off, Menne defeated Adrian Miles at the recent Mayhem in Minneapolis event, once again putting to rest any rumors of his demise.

“No, I’m not dead yet,” Menne told MMAWeekly.com with his usual dry sense of humor. “I’m still breathing and kicking and running.

“I’m just getting back into it, feeling how my body and seeing how things worked, and it seemed like things they worked well. I went in there and took care of business.”

In an interesting twist, Menne fought under the co-promotion of Brock Larson, a fighter whom he has promoted numerous times under the Extreme Challenge banner.

“Everything, as far as I know, went off out without a hitch,” said Menne of Larson’s production. “It’s good to not have to be the one in phone calls all the time and be running around. It all worked out well and had a fun time.”

Menne’s victory comes after a yet another period of time where it seems anything that could have gone wrong with his health did go wrong. Murphy’s Law aside, the time off ended up being beneficial to him in the grander scheme of things.

“My body just feels better,” stated Menne. “There’s little things here and there as far as nagging issues, and various other things. Still, even up to this, I have things I wasn’t doing for four or five years because of one thing or another.

“It’s nice to start to feel your body move the way it should and be able to do the things that you know you can.”

Menne remains optimistic that he can continue to add to his game and contribute to the sport over a decade after his debut.

“Hopefully you’ll see some new stuff,” he commented. “I’m always working; trying to build bigger and better things.”

Feeling as good as he has in a long time, Menne is more than willing to prove he still has got what it takes to be a worthy competitor in the modern MMA game.

“I want to thank all my sponsors, Aqua Night Club, Tiger Muay Thai and all the fans who have stayed with me,” he concluded. “To the fans, get out there and make some noise, so they can let promoters know that they want me on the card.

“Get the word out, every little bit helps. If I get the call for something, I’m going to take it.”

Source: MMA Weekly

DOERKSEN GETS CANADA A WIN ON UFC 113 PRELIMS

MONTREAL – Before the UFC 113 main card kicked off on pay-per-view, the preliminary fighters lit up a roaring crowd at the Bell Centre.

Canadian Joe Doerksen and American bad boy Tom Lawlor gave the fans a thriller before the main card started. Lawlor looked good in the first round, matching everything Doerksen threw at him and more, outworking the Canadian with his boxing.

But Doerksen wasn’t going to waste in return trip to the UFC, and especially not in front of his countrymen. He mixed in an assortment of kicks that took Lawlor out of his rhythm in round two, and ultimately ended his night. Lawlor caught one of the kicks, but on the way to the mat Doerksen switched position, took Lawlor’s back and finished him with a rear naked choke.

“Hat’s off to Tom, he’s a great fighter,” said Doerksen. “He could be standing here the same as me.”

Jonathan Goulet looked to be doing well against Marcus Davis. After escaping an early guillotine attempt, he was able to take Davis down several times and take away much of Davis’ stand-up game.

Davis didn’t give him the chance in round two though. He quickly dropped Goulet and followed him down with a ground and pound attack. Goulet managed to survive and get back to his feet, but that’s just where Davis wanted him. He cracked Goulet again, dropping him with a left hand to the chin, causing the referee to dive in and stop the fight.

Davis ended a two-fight losing skid with the TKO stoppage.

Two-time NCAA Division I wrestling champion Johny Hendricks kept his unblemished MMA record intact Saturday night, but it wasn’t without a lot of effort.

He had trouble early taking T.J. Grant to the mat and had to survive numerous hard shots from the Canadian. His wrestling, however, showed up strong in round two and especially in round three, nearly driving Grant through the mat in the final stanza.

It was a grinder of a fight, the two going toe-to-toe at points, but Hendricks’ wrestling pedigree served him well, as did Grant losing a point for two low blows. Hendricks took the majority decision from the judges.

In a battle of heavyweights, “The Mexicutioner,” Joey Beltran, bested Canadian Tim Hague on all three judges’ scorecards. That’s not too surprising, but one judge scoring it 30-26 was a little surprising.

Beltran was swinging for the fences all the way, using a lot of foot movement to keep Hague off guard and punishing him with a strong jab. It looked like it was going to be Beltran all the way when Hague couldn’t secure any early takedowns, and it mostly was for rounds one and two. But Hague came on strong in round three, finally finding the takedown, but it was too little too late as Beltran took the nod.

“I thought I did enough to get the win,” said Beltran after the fight. “I definitely won the first two rounds. He got on top of me in the third, but I outboxed him.”

It took Mike “The Joker” Guymon 10 years and a trip to Montreal to get to his first UFC victory, but it was only that much more sweet for the former TapouT Crew member.

Over the course of their 15-minute battle, Guymon took Japanese fighter Yoshiyuki Yoshida down several times, brutalizing him with forearms and elbows. Yoshida searched and searched, locking on a couple choke attempts during the bout, but he was never able to mount much threatening offense to Guymon, who tearfully accepted the victory as the judges’ scorecards were read unanimously in his favor.

“There are no words that can describe this feeling,” said Guymon. “I’m overwhelmed with emotion.

“I went through a very tough time in my life and Joe Silva called and gave me words of encouragement and four months later here I am. I want to thank him for that.”

The night continued with an unfortunate ending for Canadian Jason MacDonald. Just after he landed a kick to John Salter’s head, he was taken down. But the unfortunate part was that MacDonald’s left leg tangled up underneath him as he fell, apparently breaking his leg just above the ankle.

Salter celebrated the win afterwards, but it was a down moment for MacDonald, who left the Octagon with a brace on his leg, his cornermen escorting him to the dressing room.

“Everyone’s dream is to fight in the UFC,” said Salter. “I hate getting the win this way. I hope he recovers quickly and we can do it again.”

Source: MMA Weekly

The words of the champion in his return to the top

This time Shogun worked even harder on his striking.

Maurício Shogun knocked Lyoto Machida out in the first round at UFC 113 this Saturday, and again he has found his place at the top of the MMA world, like during the days of Pride FC. After the show, in Canada, Shogun was all joy:

“I’m so happy! This belt is my dream, my life. I trained hard every day for this!”

In the octagon, the Curitiba native stated that one of his strategies for beating Lyoto was to brush up on his striking. At the press conference, he said what else he had done differently.

“In the first fight I trained a lot based on Lyoto’s game, which is different. This time I looked to take more risks, expose myself more and finish the fight quickly. Thank God, I managed to impose my tactics and get the knockout,” explained the fighter, who again remarked on the result from the first fight against Lyoto.

“For this fight, I didn’t even think about the first one. There was a lot of controversy the last time, but it just served as motivation for me. It served to make me train hard and get this win.”

The knockout came at 3:35 minutes of the first round. The new champion commented on the moment.

“I saw he was dazed by the first punch, so I mounted and kept hitting till the ref intervened. Truth is, I stopped hitting before the ref broke it up. When we see the opportunity to get the knockout, we try not to miss it. But he was already stunned by the first punch.

After having made it to the top of the world MMA ranking, having won a thorny GP at Pride FC, Shogun dealt with injuries and underperformed. Back at the top, with the UFC title, he again takes his place among the best in the world.

“I always believed I could make it to where I am today. I always had confidence in myself and pursued my dream of being the UFC champion of the world.”

In finishing, as he had already told GRACIEMAG.com previously, Shogun stressed that he is a professional fighter and the only one he wouldn’t face is his friend Wanderlei Silva. Or in other words, if the UFC puts him against Anderson Silva, the door is wide open.

Source: Gracie Magazine

Revenge: ‘Shogun’ Stops Machida in First Round

This time, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua made sure the judges were not involved.

Rua knocked out the previously unbeaten Lyoto Machida 3:35 into the first round to capture the light heavyweight championship at UFC 113 “Machida vs. Shogun 2” on Saturday at the Bell Centre in Montreal. At 28, Rua again sits atop the 205-pound heap.

For many, it will be remembered as a night when justice was served. Machida took a controversial unanimous decision from Rua at UFC 104 in October. Shogun, who battered the Shotokan karate savant with kicks to the leg and body the first time the two met, waited seven months for his shot at redemption, and he made the most of it.

Rua ate some knees to the body and succumbed to a pair of takedowns early in round one. However, the 2005 Pride Fighting Championships middleweight grand prix winner dropped Machida with a right hand to the side of the head in a close-quarters stand-up exchange, followed him to the ground and moved immediately to mount on the dazed defending champion. A series of unanswered punches from the top left Machida limp, as Rua rose victoriously from his fallen foe, his arms raised skyward.

“Lyoto is a great fighter. He’s very good,” Rua said. “This time, instead of working and focusing so much on my kicks, I worked a lot on my hands so I could surprise him. I was happy with my new strategy.”

Koscheck Outpoints Daley, Clinches Title Shot

In a showdown between world-ranked welterweights, Josh Koscheck cruised to a unanimous decision against Paul Daley in the co-headliner, which was marred by a post-fight cheap shot from the disgruntled loser. Scores were 30-27 across the board for Koscheck, who will coach opposite UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre on Season 12 of “The Ultimate Fighter” and then challenge him for the belt later this year.

Koscheck neutralized Daley’s feared strikes, scored with takedowns in all three rounds and nearly submitted the Team Rough House thoroughbred with a rear-naked choke in the opening period. Daley reversed into top position and unleashed an illegal knee as he backed out. The blow grazed the top of Koscheck’s head and brought the match to a standstill, though the American Kickboxing Academy standout appeared to exaggerate the damage the knee caused.

One of the sport’s most decorated amateur wrestlers, Koscheck punctuated the win with a strong third round, as he scored with a takedown and moved into full mount with 2:11 left. He finished in top position, ignoring Daley’s taunts. After the horn sounded, Daley approached Koscheck from behind and blindsided him with a left hook to the face. Referee Dan Miragliotta quickly intervened and prevented the situation from escalating.

Stephens Outduels Stout in Shootout

Jeremy Stephens leaned on his powerful hands and eked out a split decision against Sam Stout in a featured lightweight matchup. Two of the three judges sided with Stephens by 30-27 and 29-28 counts; a third scored it 29-28 for Stout.

Stephens knocked down the durable Canadian with a straight right hand 2:08 into the first round and delivered a knee to Stout’s face as he stood and backed away. Stout seemed to turn the tide in round two, as he attacked his opponent with leg kicks and left hooks to the body. Stephens answered with wild, winging punches, some of which landed, some of which split the Montreal air.

Stout nearly finished it in the third, when he doubled over Stephens with a body shot, swarmed the wounded Iowan and attacked with elbows on the ground. Stephens -- who earlier in the period scored with jabs and knees from the clinch -- answered with a takedown in the final 15 seconds.

“I just felt I was more powerful,” Stephens said. “He has great combinations, mixes it up. That body shot really hurt me, but I’m a warrior, man.”

Mitrione Dominates Slice

Matt Mitrione battered reformed street-fighter Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson with a steady diet of leg kicks before forcing a second-round stoppage from the mount. Slice met his demise 4:24 into round two, as he tasted defeat for the second time in his polarizing professional mixed martial arts career.

The 36-year-old Slice delivered a pair of takedowns in the first round but failed to capitalize on them. The Bahamian-born brawler found himself outgunned standing, where Mitrione landed the cleaner shots and smiled at Slice as he did so. Ultimately, the former NFL defensive lineman chopped down Slice with thudding kicks to the inside and outside of his lead leg; Mitrione’s training under former world kickboxing champion Duke Roufus paid immediate dividends. He mounted a defenseless Slice midway through round two, threatened with a keylock, dropped punches from the top and forced the stoppage.

Mitrione paused to savor the moment afterward.

“Whatever the UFC tells me to do,” he said, “I’m going to do.”

Belcher Submits Cote

Alan Belcher spoiled the long-awaited return of former middleweight title contender Patrick Cote, as he submitted the Canadian with a second-round rear-naked choke. The end came quickly and decisively 3:25 into round two.

Belcher survived a kimura attempt in the opening period and kept the former two-division TKO champion at bay with powerful kicks to the body and leg. Cote started to put combinations together in the second round and tagged his foe with a number of heavy shots. However, as Cote tried for a double-leg takedown against the cage, Belcher secured a body lock from the top, hoisted him in the air and dropped him on his face. Belcher then transitioned beautifully to his opponent’s back, secured the hooks and cinched the fight-ending choke.

A victor in four of his last five fights, Belcher called for a shot at UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva following the submission.

“I’m happy that I finally starting fighting to my potential,” he said. “I stopped coming in here, trying to goof off and just brawl with guys. I know if I take a step back and breathe, I can pick everybody apart.”

Source: Sherdog

Demente goes in at weight and open weight: “I want that ticket for the Worlds!"

Always a contender for the title, Ricardo “Demente” Abreu told GRACIEMAG.com he’s confirmed for the Brazilian Nationals. The competition kicked off this Saturday at Rio de Janeiro’s Tijuca Tennis Club, but the black belts will only see action next week.

“I’ll be there, barring unforeseen circumstances. I’m going to sign up this Monday. These last few days I had the flu and was stuck in bed. But I spoke to my coach, Rogério Camões, and we decided I should fight. The Brazilian Nationals, besides being a big event, is included in our planned preparations for the Worlds,” he says.

“I’m going to fight in my weight division and the absolute. I want that ticket for the Worlds!” he adds.

This week, a tough nut to crack confirmed he’ll be at the Worlds: Xande Ribeiro. Demente, who could throw a wrench in Xande or Roger Gracie’s plans to win a third absolute, heaped praise on Ribeiro for entering the dispute.

“I think it’s great and I’m happy there will be a lot of good fights, high-level opponents. That stimulates us to train more and more and, the tougher the opponent, the greater the victory. But I don’t have any specific opponent in mind; my focus is the competition, if just because there are so many tough athletes in there. But, if I cross pass with one of them, it will be a phenomenal match and I’ll give it my all. Xande being in there just boosts the value of the event. This Worlds will be a great show for anyone watching,” he says in finishing.

Source: Gracie Magazine

Scrappla Fest 2
Kauai's Scrappla Fest 2
Gi & No Gi Tournament
May 15, 2010

Tournament will be held at:
Island School
3-1875 Kaumualii Hwy
Lihue, HI 96766-9597

$50 entry fee

Tentative times:
Kids Rules 930am.
Kids Gi Start 10am.
Kids No Gi Start 11am.

Adult Rules 12:30pm.
Adults Gi Start 1pm.
Adults No Gi Start 3:45pm.

We will be running 4-6 matches at the same time to keep the tournament running smoothly. More info to come about weights and weigh ins.

kids ages-weight divisions will be made on sight

5-below
6-7
8-9
10-11
12-13
14-15
16-17

women
125-below
126-140
141-above

menbeginner white , blue
131-below
132-145
146-159
160-173
174-187
188-201
202-215
216-above

men advanced, purple and above
159-below
160-180
181-201
202-above

Thank you,

Pono Pananganan
Kauai Technical Institute
ktirelson_gracie@hotmail.com

Boxing Smoker on May 15th

The next boxing show will be on May 15th at 6 p.m. at the Evolution Training Center in Waipio Industrial Court #110, address is 94-547 Ukee St., Waipahu, HI., 96797.

Boxers from Oahu and Kauai will be competing.

For more info. contact Chanelle Valdez at
cvaldez7@hawaii.rr.com

Source: Bruce Kawano

MAD SKILLS

SATURDAY MAY 15, 2010
WAIPAHU FILCOM CENTER
DOORS OPEN AT 6:00

JUMAR ESCOSIO 155 JUSTIN BURGESS

JOJO KELLY 175 BARACK HOLT

RICKY PLUNKETT 145 RYNE YOSHIMURA

JESSIE PURGANON 160 JESSIE HURST

ALLEN AUSTRIA 145 JOSEPH CARTER

ISRAEL ALVAREZ 120 RICKY FAJARDO

JUSTIN KAI IWASAKI 145 MARK YARCIA

JADA PERRERA 100 KAMA DA BEBE ASSASIN BANTILAN

RACHEL OSTOVICH 125 LENA BOOM BOOM COOK

BRYSHANE BAYUDAN 160 MIKEY WABINGA

FRED RAMAYLA 140 MARK WILSON

CHEVY DECASTRO 125 VEE VICKERS

JOE MOLINA SHW PETE SEFO

EDDIE LANI 140 JAYAR DUMAOAL

HANS LEE SHW JARREN KAWALU

DIESEL VISTANTE 145 FREDERICK WALLER JR

STEVE 200 JEREMY

MATT STONE 225 DUSTIN CULLASTRO

DANTE BOY 110 BRENNAN WAIALAE

DAN CERA 110 BRENTON WAIALAE

TYLER KOBAYASHI 140 JONAH VISTANTE

KAWIKA KUPUKAA SHW MANNY

CARLOS MASUNGSON 125 REX MANUEL

PAUL AUSTRIA 130 DANIEL ASUNCION

YVONNE WILLIAMS 100 GIGI

All matches and participants are subject to change

Destiny Featuring Kaleo Kwan Defending His State Title
Waipahu Filcom
Doors open 5:30 pm. Fights start at 6:00 pm
$25 presale, $35 at the door!


Main Event:
-155ls (state title match)
Kaleo "Lights Out" Kwan (O2 Martial Arts Academy) vs Tim "Majik" Moon

-145lbs (interim amateur title)
Max "Lil Evil" Holloway (Gods Army) vs Travis Beyer (808 FF)

-155lbs
Ben "Da King" Santiago (Gods Army) vs Tyler Pavao (freelance)

-185lbs
Jon Lucius (freelance) vs Charles Hazlewood (Combat 50)

-Heavyweights
Nalu Lavela (UCS) vs Terrance Taanoa (High Intensity)

-145lbs
Daniel Bachman (Boars Nest) vs Jason Racamara (UCS)

-170lbs
Jason Morinaga (freelance) vs Jon "4real" Ferrell (Hawaiian MMA, Hilo)

-165lbs
Kenney Dewey (Pain Train) vs Zackory Lavarias-Dumlao (freelance)

-145lbs
Randy Rivera (HMC) vs Treven Mukai (Hawaiian MMA, Hilo)

-Heavyweights
Isaac Uaisele (Kurrupt Ambitionz) vs Joe Noa (All Nu)

-210lbs
Mo (Pain Train) vs Christian Dayondun (All Nu)

-170lbs
Daniel Manpusian (freelance) vs Justin Torres (All Nu)

-140lbs
AJ Pang (HMC) vs Larson Tokeshi (Hawaiian MMA, Hilo)

-125lbs
Josh Kolii (C-Side Soljahz) vs Westly Mossan (freelance)

-150lbs
Aaron Terry (HMC Wahiawa) vs Mikey Wabinga (Team Stand Alone)

-185lbs
Kala Sapla (freelance) vs Joe Enaena(All Nu)

-160lbs
Dean Ramiro (Team Equal Knockz) vs David Carter (freelance)

-160lbs
Ethan Rista (Kurrupt Ambitionz) vs Nick Pait (freelance)

-155lbs
Sebastion Mariconda (HMC) vs Steven Garcia (All Nu)

-145lbs
Zach Close (Boars Nest) vs Charles Matias (freelance)

-170lbs
Lawrence Kaeo (Papakolea BJJ) vs Kalani Ramos (All Nu)

-155lbs
Ryan Clay (HMC) vs Bradley Arakaki(freelance)

-165lbs
Eddie Manu (High Intensity) vs Peda Delacruz (All Nu)

-135lbs
Kelii Palencia (HMC) vs Lawrence Lucius (freelance)

-185lbs
Ernest "Irie Warrior" Mercado (freelance) vs Tyrone Stovall (All Nu)

-170lbs
Lawrence Matias (freelance) vs Tony Irvin (High Intensity)

-Heavyweights
Olo (freelance) vs Lester Figueroa (All Nu)

-145lbs (pankration)
Robert Aguirre (freelance)vs Mikela Texeira (All Nu)

-170lbs
Kalau Awong (C-Side Soljahz) vs George Felix (freelance)

-Super Heavyweight
Keoni Kalepa (freelance) vs Andrew Miram (High Intensity)

-180lbs
Dwayne Uyeda (Team Outlaw) vs Micah Ige (freelance)

-135lbs (pankration)
Joeseph Eiman (Team Hardheads) vs Thomas Burkett (High Intensity)

-145lbs
Shawn Burroughs (CJ's Gym) vs TBA

X-1: Nations Collide
Blaisdell Arena, Honolulu, Hawaii
June 4, 2010
7:30PM
www.x1events.com
(808) 591-2211

170lbs X-1 World Championship Bout
Brandon Wolff (Champion) vs. Dylan Clay (#1 Contender)

8-Man Heavyweight Tournament

Bracket A
Maui Wolfgram (Hawaii) vs. Ricky Shivers (Alaska)
Adam Akau (Hawaii) vs. Hae Joon Yang (Korea)

Bracket B

Poai Suganuma (Hawaii) vs. Vitaly Shemetov (Russia)
Tasi Edwards (Samoa) vs. Daniel Madrid

3rd Annual Pacific Submission Championships
June 11th & 12th (Friday & Saturday)
Blaisdell Exhibition Hall
MMA Hawaii Expo

People have been asking so we've locked in the dates. It will be during the MMA Hawaii Expo (this expo is not the same as the past 2 years - MMA Hawaii is producing this event).

Registration will soon be available online at www.grapplingtournaments.com

I've spoken with Mad Tiger about the failure to produce posted results; apologies and I will not let this happen as we will be working on posting live results as the brackets are completed.

Any feedback from the past two tournaments I welcome as we will work on it now to assure these problems can be corrected.

This is a 2-day tournament with Gi and No-Gi divisions for kids, teens, women, and men. We don't feed brackets but will try our best to accommodate schools so students from the same academy are not matched in the first round. Due to the kids, this is inevitable and we will try our best to make sure the kids receive equal opportunities.

Registration:
Kids (7-12) - $40/$70 (Gi & No-Gi)
Teens (13-14/15-17)- $50/70 (Gi & No-Gi)
Adults (18+) - $50/70 (Gi & No-Gi)

Any questions please check out:

www.grapplingtournaments.com

or email: info@pjjf.net

Source: Event Promoter

The Quest for Champions 2010 Martial Arts Tournament
Saturday, July 24th, 2010
St. Louis High School Gym

Featuring: Sport-Pankration, Submission Grappling and Continuous Sparring

For more info please contact Kempo Unlimted HI (
kunltd@hotmail.com)

Source: Tommy Lam

Garden Island Cage Match 9:
Mayhem at the Mansion


Kilohana Carriage House
June 26th 2010

Tickets go on sale next week!

Since this venue is a little smaller than the Stadium the tickets will sell out twice as fast so be sure to get on board quickly! This an exclusive venue for us and very please to have acquired this merger.

Sponsorship packages now available! Please contact me for further information!

Mahalo!
Vance Pascua
808-634-0404

Source: Event Promoter

In October 2010, Eternal Fight Wear proudly presents...
ETERNAL SUBMISSIONS! 1st Annual BJJ GI/NO-GI tournament on Kauai


Kauai Beach Resort, Kauai

This will be a 3 Day Event.
Friday, October 15th. beginning at 5pm will be weigh-ins with Live local entertainment, Exhibitions, Door Prizes & more.

Saturday Oct. 16th we will host the GI portion of the event starting with kids at 10am.

Sunday we will finish off our tournament with the NO-GI portion.

Outer island competitors will be allowed to weigh in on Saturday.
Kauai residents must weigh in on Friday.
NO same day registrations will be allowed.

Cut of for pre-registration is October 7th (for free tshirt) all other registrations must be in by October 13th (if mailing registration, it must be postmarked by the 11th) We have locked in the dates and will be offering special discounted rates at the hotel. There will be food/beg. for sale at the event. We will be having superfights as well (TBA). All pre-reg competitiors will receive a free competitor tshirt. There will be door prizes each day too! Winners of the matches will receive very nice medals, we will be awarding team trophies and best -of awards. Absolute and Superfights winners will be awarded championship belts.

We will be hosted a first ever in Hawaii 'kids absolute' and as well!!!!

This will be an event Hawaii does not want to miss!!!!

Pre-Reg is be up shortly and we will be notifying you as soon as it is or updated info add us on facebook: ETERNAL FIGHT WEAR

Any questions you can call me (Shauna) at 808.652.6849 or email me shauna@hawaiilink.net

Source: Event Promoter

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