As much as her 0-2 record against Rousey might stand in the way of securing another title shot, the 28-year-old Tate has just as much riding in her favor should she beat Eye. She has a long-standing rivalry with Rousey, which has somehow remained stron…
As much as her 0-2 record against Rousey might stand in the way of securing another title shot, the 28-year-old Tate has just as much riding in her favor should she beat Eye. She has a long-standing rivalry with Rousey, which has somehow remained strong despite them already sharing a cage twice. She is the only Rousey opponent to ever make it out of the first round, which, considering Rousey’s knack for sub-minute finishes, is a potential selling point in itself.
Tate has won three in a row herself since the last time she encountered Rousey, defeating McMann, Rin Nakai and Liz Carmouche. She’ll go for a fourth successive win on Saturday at the United Center in Chicago in the co-main event of a UFC card to…
Tate has won three in a row herself since the last time she encountered Rousey, defeating McMann, Rin Nakai and Liz Carmouche. She’ll go for a fourth successive win on Saturday at the United Center in Chicago in the co-main event of a UFC card to be televised on Fox when she meets No. 5 Jessica Eye.
UFC on Fox 16 is a solid card of interesting action within the mixed martial arts world. At the top of the docket, T.J. Dillashaw will defend his bantamweight title against the man he defeated in Renan Barao. While this is a rematch of a huge upset fro…
UFC on Fox 16 is a solid card of interesting action within the mixed martial arts world. At the top of the docket, T.J. Dillashaw will defend his bantamweight title against the man he defeated in Renan Barao. While this is a rematch of a huge upset from 2014, there is another bout that may capture the attention of hardcore and mainstream fans alike. Joe Lauzon versus Takanori Gomi may not be for a belt, but it can be a highly exciting contest that leaves people cheering once it is over.
Lauzon versus Gomi features two men who are currently unranked in the UFC Top 15 for the lightweight division. Both men have suffered through some struggles in their career recently.
Lauzon is 2-3 in his last five fights and was finished by Al Iaquinta at UFC 183. Gomi is 1-2 in his last three, and he was finished by Myles Jury in his last outing at UFC Fight Night 52. A victory for either man will not launch them into consideration for big-name fights within the division.
Even though this fight isn’t a main event, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have the potential to excite fans with the action that will take place.
On one side of the cage is Lauzon, a fighter who has earned multiple UFC bonuses. According to Cage Potato, the Massachusetts native leads all UFC fighters with a record 13 post-fight bonuses. Of his 24 career victories, 23 have ended in a finish. Eighteen of those finishes were by some form of submission. Lauzon embodies aggression in such a way that can be to his detriment and his advantage at the same time.
Gomi is also familiar with the violent nature of mixed martial arts. In his career, he has ended 13 of his 35 victories via knockout and another six by submission. At 36 years old, he may not have the same knockout power that earned him the nickname “The Fireball Kid,” but that hasn’t stopped him from earning Fight of the Night honors twice in his five-year UFC career.
Pairing Gomi and Lauzon is a fight that pits two very active, but very hittable opponents against each other. According to the Fight Metric matchup report, both men are prone to being hit often during contests. Gomi absorbs 3.44 strikes per minute while landing 3.91 strikes of his own per minute. Lauzon absorbs 4.67 strikes per minute while landing only 2.44 during the same time period. These stats, along with their defensive percentages at 60 and 58 percent, respectively, show that both of these fighters are prone to taking a lot of damage during their fights.
Gomi and Lauzon are two skilled competitors in every aspect of the MMA world. They both have shown the ability to mix things up on the feet and in the grappling realm. Mix in their aggressive and sometimes dangerous fighting styles, and it’s easy to see why they have won so many fight bonuses between them. Even though they aren’t fighting for a spot in the top of the division, Gomi versus Lauzon has a clear shot to steal the show at UFC on Fox 16.
Paul Felder figures he was about 16 years old when he first became a performer. Whether it be dressing up like Pee Wee Herman and Superman or creating illustrations, Felder was very much in touch with his artistic side, which wasn’t too prev…
Paul Felder figures he was about 16 years old when he first became a performer. Whether it be dressing up like Pee Wee Herman and Superman or creating illustrations, Felder was very much in touch with his artistic side, which wasn’t too prevalent an attribute among kids in tough South Philadelphia.
Felder went to the University of the Arts for acting and started working for theater groups across the city. Soon enough, he was starring in plays and gaining critical acclaim from newspapers like the Philadelphia Inquirer for his work.
Much like most other young actors in theater, Felder dreamed of one day moving to Hollywood and making it big in movies. Plenty of people thought he could do it, too.
One day, though, Felder dropped acting and decided to focus on his other profession: getting punched in the face for a living.
Felder grew up training in traditional martial arts like taekwondo and karate. He picked up MMA when he was older and began training feverishly. It didn’t make for a good look on sets.
“I was training throughout shows and I was kind of getting in trouble for it, because I was showing up with busted noses and black eyes and stuff,” Felder told MMAFighting.com. “I started getting cauliflower ear and people were like, ‘When are you gonna stop doing that bullsh*t, dude?'”
Those words and others like them set Felder off. Acting was his career and he enjoyed it. But, in his heart, he was a martial artist.
“I was like, we’re gonna stop right there, because being a martial artist to me is far more important than that,” Felder said. “If I get back into acting because of my fame in fighting, awesome. But I’m not gonna give up fighting. There’s no other feeling than stepping into that cage.”
Felder dropped acting and took on MMA full-time. Now, almost two years later, the decision looks brilliant. Felder is 2-0 in the UFC and pulled off a highlight-reel spinning backfist knockout against Danny Castillo at UFC 182 on Jan. 3 that is a candidate for Knockout of the Year. On Saturday at UFC on FOX 16 in Chicago, Felder has a chance to crack the top 15 — or higher — against ranked lightweight Edson Barboza.
The transition was not an easy one. “The Irish Dragon” had to convince the people in his life all over again that this unorthodox profession was going to be the one he’ll make it big in.
“It was tough on my mom more than anybody,” Felder said. “I went to this school and I finally got people believing that I could do that [acting] stuff and out of nowhere her son is signing up to get punched in the face for free in an amateur fight. She’s like, ‘What are you doing? Are you out of your mind? What if you get hurt?'”
Felder, 29, hasn’t gotten hurt often. He’s a perfect 10-0 and against Castillo he looked like a serious prospect in the UFC’s 155-pound division. The stage was a big one, too. Felder starched the longtime UFC and WEC veteran on the FOX Sports 1 prelims of UFC 182, one of the UFC’s biggest events of the last few years. More than 1 million people watched the prelims and saw Felder’s KO.
There was no acting involved, but Felder’s comfort in front of an audience, especially against someone with far more experience than himself in MMA, was evident.
“It is a different thing, but it’s still crowds,” Felder said. “It’s still cameras, it’s still attention, it’s still cheers, it’s still boos and all that stuff that comes with it. Since I’ve been 16, I’ve kind of enjoyed and purposely put myself in front of crowds. I think it does help.”
As for the spinning back fist, it was hardly just a Hail Mary. This is something Felder has become known for training at Renzo Gracie Academy in Philadelphia with coach Daniel Gracie.
“You can ask the guys in the gym. If you hit me with a good leg kick or body kick that kind of turns me, I just spin. I spin through it. It’s something I’ve always done with my taekwondo background. You use that momentum and surprise your opponent. I’ve hit people accidentally really hard with spinning back kicks and spinning back fists when I’m not trying to hit them in the gym, but the momentum is so strong if you walk into it, it’s devastating. And that’s exactly what happened.”
Felder did part of his training camp for the Castillo fight at Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone’s ranch in New Mexico. Some of his striking looks a bit like Cerrone’s, but Felder said that was more about emulating him from being a fan than training with him for a few weeks. The work he got out there was huge, he said. And “Cowboy” has quickly become a good friend.
“He’s got his persona and that’s all true — he’s a bad ass that will fight anybody,” Felder said. “But if you’re on his good side, he’s a great guy to have on your side.”
A ranch in the shadows of Albuquerque isn’t exactly the bright lights of the Sunset Strip, but Felder is happy. Maybe he would have made it big in acting had he stuck with it. But right now all he wants to do is be a star in the UFC. His breakout performance against Castillo has opened the curtain, err, door.
“I would say it would be like a young, up-and-coming guy off Broadway getting picked out of the crowd by a producer for a role in Hollywood,” Felder said. “It would be kind of like that. Where it’s like, ‘Oh, you got your chance.’ It doesn’t mean you fully made it yet, but people are going to know who you are for a little bit. Now it’s up to you to decide on how you take that opportunity. I feel like I’ve been giving an opportunity now to take this little bit of attention and show them that it’s not a one-night fluke, it’s who I really am and that I belong.”
Tyson, a former heavyweight champion, once dominated boxing in much the same way Rousey dominates mixed martial arts, overwhelming every opponent in their paths with a mix of prefight intimidation, hard-earned skill and unstoppable force.
Read…
Tyson, a former heavyweight champion, once dominated boxing in much the same way Rousey dominates mixed martial arts, overwhelming every opponent in their paths with a mix of prefight intimidation, hard-earned skill and unstoppable force.
The amount of domestic violence arrests involving MMA fighters is more than double the average national rate, according to a study conducted by HBO Real Sports.
Public records research done by the show found that, per 100,000 U.S. men, there…
The amount of domestic violence arrests involving MMA fighters is more than double the average national rate, according to a study conducted by HBO Real Sports.
Public records research done by the show found that, per 100,000 U.S. men, there was a domestic violence arrest rate of 360. In that same sample, HBO Real Sports found 750 MMA fighters and 210 NFL players. There was no comparison listed between UFC fighters and NFL players, however.
The segment, which aired Tuesday, featured interviews with several prominent names in MMA and the first on-camera interview conducted with Christy Mack, who was allegedly beaten nearly to death by her ex-boyfriend, former UFC and Bellator fighter War Machine, last year.
Mack, a well-known adult-film actress, said the first time War Machine, whose birth name was Jonathan Koppenhaver, abused her was just four months into their relationship.
“I knew I should have left from the very beginning,” Mack said. “But I don’t always do the right thing.”
That first alleged assault set off a pattern of behavior. Mack said Koppenhaver also raped her and then bragged about it on Twitter. She said that she could tell when he was on steroids and when he was not. When he was on them, Mack claimed, Koppenhaver had a higher sex drive and got more agitated. She said she witnessed him use steroids on multiple occasions.
Kendra Schnell, another ex-girlfriend of Koppenhaver, said he abused her as well. Schnell and Mack both said Koppenhaver used chokeholds on them on several occasions. Schnell said she didn’t believe MMA promotions did enough to deter domestic abuse.
“They like characters,” Schnell said. “They like interesting fighters and they like the controversial character. Like with Jon, his character was him. That’s who he was outside the ring and inside the ring.”
Bellator actually signed Koppenhaver while he was in jail on a felony assault charge in 2012. After his alleged attempted murder of Mack in August 2014, Bellator released him.
“Bellator MMA has a zero tolerance policy for domestic abuse,” Bellator said in a statement. “As an example in the case of War Machine, his contract was terminated swiftly.”
Mack retold the story of the alleged attack, recalling the first blow and an alleged kick to the side that ruptured her liver.
“I couldn’t breathe,” she said. “I couldn’t catch my breath. I started convulsing. At that point it felt like I was going to die.”
Koppenhaver, 33, is currently facing life in jail on 32 felony charges, including assault charges from an alleged beatdown of Corey Thomas, the man who Koppenhaver found with Mack that night. Koppenhaver wrote in a note to Real Sports from prison that he denied the charges and that he had been “ambushed.”
The report also brought up allegations and convictions against other MMA fighters, including ones currently in the UFC. Kyacey Uscola, a The Ultimate Fighter alum, was found guilty last year and sentenced to 10 years on domestic abuse charges. Josh Grispi, a UFC and WEC alum, was arrested last year for allegedly siccing his dog on his wife, among other allegations.
Thiago Silva, who was with the UFC at the time, was arrested after a standoff with police for allegedly menacing his ex-wife with a gun. Anthony Johnson, who fought for the UFC light heavyweight title in May, was suspended last year by the UFC last year after domestic abuse allegations and has been accused of it three times by three different women, including a no contest plea.
UFC president Dana White has said that fighters “never bounce back from” charges of hitting women, yet Abel Trujillo, a UFC lightweight, has been convicted twice of domestic abuse and Anthony Lapsley, who fought for the UFC in May 2014, has three separate convictions.
“The prevention of domestic violence and the education of the athletes is of the utmost important to the organization,” the UFC said in a statement. “UFC holds its athletes to the highest standard and will continue to take appropriate action if and when warranted.
“UFC requires all athletes to act in an ethical and responsible matter, as mandated by the UFC Fighter Conduct Policy. The organization will not tolerate domestic violence, sexual assault, or any other violation of the policy. Every athlete is deserving of due process and all official allegations will be duly reviewed and thoroughly investigated by an independent party.”
Most recently, UFC heavyweight Travis Browne was removed from UFC International Fight Week events earlier this month following assault accusations from his wife. Browne has denied the accusations through his manager. Browne did not make the HBO Real Sports report.
Rener Gracie, a decorated Brazilian jiu-jitsu instructor and member of the famous Gracie clan, believes there is a domestic violence problem in MMA because of the people who have started to take up the sport, including those who were bullied and people who grew up fighting on the streets.
“You look at the potential of MMA and say, ‘Holy cow I can make money fighting people and I can be famous and I can win a gold belt and be recognized and respected around the world for being one of the best for fighting? Where do I sign up?'” Gracie said.
Jason Miller, who has also been arrested on domestic violence charges, told Real Sports that MMA promotions still hired him to fight despite knowledge of his past arrests.
“There’s no requirement, really,” Miller said. “You don’t get vetted. ‘Hey, are you willing to fight, can you pass this CAT scan? Do you have AIDS or hepatitis?’ No? OK, you’re in.'”
Miller also doesn’t think there should be a stringent process to compete in MMA.
“I’m not a f*cking librarian,” Miller said. “I fight men in a cage.”
The report noted that the rate of performance-enhancing drug abuse and head trauma in MMA could also play a factor in the disturbing trend.
Gracie finds the whole thing frightening.
“If they hit a switch and they get aggressive, get ready because the damage is going to be exponentially worse than the untrained counterpart,” he said.
