Author: Ben Fowlkes

Alistair Overeem Explains Dream Absence, Hints at K-1 Return

Filed under: Strikeforce, K1, NewsDuring a conversation with Ariel Helwani on Monday’s episode of “The MMA Hour,” Alistair Overeem did his best to clear up the confusion surrounding his decision not to participate in a bout against Ricco Rodriguez at D…

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During a conversation with Ariel Helwani on Monday’s episode of “The MMA Hour,” Alistair Overeem did his best to clear up the confusion surrounding his decision not to participate in a bout against Ricco Rodriguez at Dream.15.

To hear Overeem tell it, it wasn’t simply a case of him not wanting to take the risk, as Rodriguez suggested. Instead, miscommunication about whether the scrap would be a title fight was mostly to blame, he said. That, combined with fatigue from a busy year for the Strikeforce heavyweight champ and some flagging motivation at the thought of facing an unranked opponent with no hardware at stake, prompted him to pull out of the fight well in advance.

Falling Action: Best and Worst of the Weekend That Was in MMA

I should have known it was going to be a rough night. Not more than a few minutes into the Impact FC broadcast, ring announcer James White made the first and most obvious of several noticeable blunders, drawing a blank in the middle of his opening addr…

I should have known it was going to be a rough night. Not more than a few minutes into the Impact FC broadcast, ring announcer James White made the first and most obvious of several noticeable blunders, drawing a blank in the middle of his opening address.

It got a laugh and few jeers from the Australian audience, but it was also a sign of things to come for the pay-per-view broadcast. White, like Impact FC itself, served as a useful reminder that this MMA promotion stuff is harder than it looks.

There are two ways of looking at this: 1) Impact FC is still pretty new at broadcasting MMA events, and whatever gives fans more fights to watch and fighters more chances to get paid is always a good thing, or 2) What makes these jokers think they deserve $30 for a show that looks like something you’d see on late-night public access TV?

UFC’s Marshall Zelaznik Talks UFC 120, Global Expansion and More

Filed under: UFCIt’s already been a busy year for Marshall Zelaznik, the UFC U.K. President and Managing Director of International Development, and the fall isn’t looking any easier. In October the UFC returns to England for the first time in nearly a …

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It’s already been a busy year for Marshall Zelaznik, the UFC U.K. President and Managing Director of International Development, and the fall isn’t looking any easier. In October the UFC returns to England for the first time in nearly a year with UFC 120, and then later this year the UFC will once again turn its focus toward Germany.

MMA Fighting recently spoke with Zelaznik about the pressures of international expansion, the UFC’s future plans for Asia, Afghanistan, and the rest of the world, and how he deals with the sometimes maddeningly misinformed resistance in new countries.

Midseason MMA Awards: The GDP Award

Filed under: UFCSome people say money can’t buy happiness. Those people are broke losers who live with their moms and take the bus to work at Cinnabon. Forget those people. For the rest of us – the ones who don’t want to take all our meals in shopping …

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Some people say money can’t buy happiness. Those people are broke losers who live with their moms and take the bus to work at Cinnabon. Forget those people. For the rest of us – the ones who don’t want to take all our meals in shopping mall food courts – it’s important to have a little cash in our pockets.

There are two ways you can accomplish that as a pro fighter: 1) Be a main-eventin’, cut-of-the-pay-per-view-gettin’, mainstream-sponsor-havin’, first-class-flyin’, son of a gun, or 2) Fight every single chance you get.

The first option is more glamorous, but the simple fact is that it’s not realistic for 99% of MMA fighters. They can’t all be the best in the world. Some of them sweat and bleed for every penny. They have to make as much as they can, while they can. They have to keep getting in the cage and keep getting paid.

So far in 2010, one man stands head and shoulder above the rest when it comes to putting on the gloves and stacking that paper, and that man is Chris Leben.

Pedro Rizzo Leg Kicks His Way to Victory Over Ken Shamrock at Impact FC

Filed under: NewsIf Pedro Rizzo’s performance against Ken Shamrock at Impact FC proved anything, it’s that even when the other skills start to atrophy, leg kicks are the last to go.

The 36-year-old Brazilian spent the first few minutes feeling his opp…

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If Pedro Rizzo‘s performance against Ken Shamrock at Impact FC proved anything, it’s that even when the other skills start to atrophy, leg kicks are the last to go.

The 36-year-old Brazilian spent the first few minutes feeling his opponent out with his jab, then used his heavy right leg to batter Shamrock’s thigh in the opening round of their main event fight in Sydney, Australia.

While it usually takes time for the damage from leg kicks to accumulate, it only took a few of Rizzo’s slicing shots before Shamrock was left hobbled and helpless, forcing referee “Big” John McCarthy to stop the bout at 3:33 of the first round after the wounded Shamrock offered no response to a few perfunctory punches from a reluctant Rizzo.

Paul Daley’s Punishment for Sucker Punch? You’re Looking at It

At some point this weekend, Paul Daley is going to have to look around at the company he’s keeping in Australia and ask himself some tough questions.

Who knows, maybe he already has.

Maybe when he sat down for the pre-fight press conference and loo…

At some point this weekend, Paul Daley is going to have to look around at the company he’s keeping in Australia and ask himself some tough questions.

Who knows, maybe he already has.

Maybe when he sat down for the pre-fight press conference and looked around to see himself surrounded by aging ex-champions and noted MMA misfits of every stripe, perhaps that’s when it started to sink in that he had found himself in a sort of MMA purgatory.

Daley already knows why he’s on the Impact FC card in Sydney this Saturday and not in the UFC. We all do. After losing a decision to Josh Koscheck at UFC 113, he threw what may have been the most notorious and yet least damaging punch in UFC history. Least damaging to the recipient, anyway.