Author: Ben Fowlkes

Eric Larkin Impresses, Carey Vanier Gets Away with One at Bellator 28

Filed under: BellatorFour-time All-American wrestler and NCAA Division I champ Eric Larkin wrapped up his third straight MMA victory in as many tries at Bellator 28 in New Orleans on Thursday night.

Larkin got off to a quick start, dropping Marcus An…

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Four-time All-American wrestler and NCAA Division I champ Eric Larkin wrapped up his third straight MMA victory in as many tries at Bellator 28 in New Orleans on Thursday night.

Larkin got off to a quick start, dropping Marcus Andrusia with a surprise head kick in the opening seconds, then adding some vicious ground-and-pound as Andrusia struggled to regain his bearings. After taking a beating in the half-guard, Andrusia attempted to sit up and got caught in a tight guillotine choke from Larkin, forcing Andrusia to submit at 2:46 of round 1.

“I actually had a coach text me today and say, ‘Hey, you should throw the head kick. He’ll never expect it.’ And I landed it,” Larkin said after the victory.

On Fighters and Luck

Shortly after his heartbreaking loss to Anderson Silva via fifth-round submission, a dejected Chael Sonnen sat down at the post-fight press conference and made a simple proclamation to everyone who was eager to chalk the loss up to a lucky finish for t…

Shortly after his heartbreaking loss to Anderson Silva via fifth-round submission, a dejected Chael Sonnen sat down at the post-fight press conference and made a simple proclamation to everyone who was eager to chalk the loss up to a lucky finish for the champ: “The better man always wins.”

At the time, it seemed like a magnanimous statement from the walking insult generator. Even though he won 22 minutes of the 23-minute fight, and even though he’d taken all four rounds on every judge’s scorecard, it didn’t matter in Sonnen’s eyes. Silva won, and that’s the only metric that matters when it comes to determining who the superior fighter is. So he said.

But as much as we hear about how anything can happen in MMA, how the four-ounce gloves are known to conjure a certain type of magic in the cage, aren’t there times when you just get lucky and win one you shouldn’t? Does the better man really always win?

Kenny Florian Opts to Improve, While Dan Hardy Would Rather Complain

Filed under: UFCJust because two men are looking at the same problem, it doesn’t mean they’re going to come up with the same answer. It’s an obvious lesson, but one we learned again this week thanks to Dan Hardy and Kenny Florian.

The (perceived) pro…

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Just because two men are looking at the same problem, it doesn’t mean they’re going to come up with the same answer. It’s an obvious lesson, but one we learned again this week thanks to Dan Hardy and Kenny Florian.

The (perceived) problem? All these knuckleheaded wrestlers are coming into MMA, taking people down, and then just holding them there until time runs out and the judges declare them the winner.

The solution? According to Hardy we need to make some rule changes, maybe give the referees more authority to put a stop to these grapple-happy shenanigans. But according to Florian, who this week told Sherdog.com that he’s hired Boston University assistant wrestling coach Sean Gray to help him in training, the answer is to add more arrows to your own quiver rather than trying to take them out of someone else’s.

I think we already know which strategy will prove more successful.

Dan Hardy Thinks There’s Too Much Wrestling in MMA, Wants Rule Changes

Filed under: UFCI love the fact that Dan Hardy writes a column for his local media outlet, This Is Nottingham. I wish more fighters would sit down at a computer and give us a look inside their mind, though, as Hardy demonstrated with his latest effort,…

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I love the fact that Dan Hardy writes a column for his local media outlet, This Is Nottingham. I wish more fighters would sit down at a computer and give us a look inside their mind, though, as Hardy demonstrated with his latest effort, sometimes it doesn’t work the way you think it’s going to.

The title of today’s piece is “Lentz went into hiding for the big fight.” It ostensibly deals with Nik Lentz‘s grappling-centric win over Andre Winner in a slow-paced fight at UFC 118, but a more accurate description of the column might have been: “Too much wrestling in MMA, says guy whose friends keep losing to superior wrestlers.”

Hardy’s thesis, more or less, is that there are too many wrestlers in the UFC who just want to take opponents down and hold them there, and this is a problem the sport needs to address via rule changes. As Hardy writes in his attempt to preemptively counter the argument that he and many of his fellow Brits simply need to become better wrestlers:

Yves Lavigne Talks Controversy Over Comments: ‘Those Are Not My Quotes’

Filed under: UFCMMA referee Yves Lavigne said he wanted to clear the air regarding some inflammatory quotes attributed to him in a Canoe.com story by Vincent Morin recently, so he put it as plainly as he possibly could.

“I did not give him an intervie…

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MMA referee Yves Lavigne said he wanted to clear the air regarding some inflammatory quotes attributed to him in a Canoe.com story by Vincent Morin recently, so he put it as plainly as he possibly could.

“I did not give him an interview on or off record,” Lavigne told Ariel Helwani during Tuesday’s episode of “The MMA Hour.” “Those are not my quotes. This is not me. Is that enough?”

Lavigne found himself at the center of the controversy after the story quoted him as saying that UFC welterweight champ Georges St. Pierre will dominate Josh Koscheck in their rematch at UFC 124 in Montreal this December, and that Koscheck was scared to exchange punches with Paul Daley in his last fight in Montreal.

But Lavigne, who’s a regular at UFC events and may have likely been slated to work the main event bout in his home province of Quebec, insisted that he never spoke with Morin, nor does he have any idea where the quotes came from.

How Ricardo Romero Turned a Terrible UFC Start into a Triumphant Ending

Filed under: UFC, FanHouse ExclusiveMoments after his Octagon debut at UFC 116, Ricardo Romero was back in the locker room of the MGM Grand washing the blood off his body and doing a little damage assessment.

He couldn’t close his jaw all the way, s…

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Moments after his Octagon debut at UFC 116, Ricardo Romero was back in the locker room of the MGM Grand washing the blood off his body and doing a little damage assessment.

He couldn’t close his jaw all the way, so he was pretty sure that was broken. When he tried to lift his arm a sharp pain shot through his chest, indicating that something was probably damaged in there. His knee was also starting to stiffen up, making even the act of standing in the shower seem increasingly dicey.

“I was just thinking, this is going to be a really fun trip back home,” Romero recalled with a chuckle.

Romero would leave Las Vegas after his first UFC fight with a broken jaw, torn pectoral muscle, and sprained knee. He also left a winner, which might be the most amazing part, especially considering what a horrible start he got off to against MMA veteran Seth Petruzelli that night.