(Duffee vs. Overeem at Dynamite!! 2010. Match starts around the 5:15 mark. Props: sidiro55)
Bulky UFC vet Todd Duffee has been a ghost since getting stormed by Alistair Overeem last New Year’s Eve in Saitama. But he finally has his next fight booked, and once again it’ll be in front of a Japanese audience. According to Nightmare of Battle, Duffee will compete on the Dream.17 card against undefeated KOTC standout Nick “Afrozilla” Gaston, who had to have been signed at least partly for his nickname.
(For those of you who were just struck by a weird feeling of deja-vu, let us clarify: Dream.17 is the event coming up on July 16th at the Ariake Coliseum in Tokyo. The Dream event that happened on May 29th was known alternately as “Fight for Japan!” and “Japan GP – 2011 Bantamweight Japan Tournament,” even though many people, including ourselves, referred to it as Dream.17. Anyway, we’re back to the numbers now, which are always easier to deal with.)
(Duffee vs. Overeem at Dynamite!! 2010. Match starts around the 5:15 mark. Props: sidiro55)
Bulky UFC vet Todd Duffee has been a ghost since getting stormed by Alistair Overeem last New Year’s Eve in Saitama. But he finally has his next fight booked, and once again it’ll be in front of a Japanese audience. According to Nightmare of Battle, Duffee will compete on the Dream.17 card against undefeated KOTC standout Nick “Afrozilla” Gaston, who had to have been signed at least partly for his nickname.
(For those of you who were just struck by a weird feeling of deja-vu, let us clarify: Dream.17 is the event coming up on July 16th at the Ariake Coliseum in Tokyo. The Dream event that happened on May 29th was known alternately as “Fight for Japan!” and “Japan GP – 2011 Bantamweight Japan Tournament,” even though many people, including ourselves, referred to it as Dream.17. Anyway, we’re back to the numbers now, which are always easier to deal with.)
So what do we know about Gaston? Well, he’s 5-0 (with 1 no-contest), and has spent his entire pro career fighting under the King of the Cage banner. Four of his wins came by stoppage in the first two rounds; one of those wins was a second-round TKO against Darrill “TUF Titties” Schoonover, and he most recently dispatched 2-11 sad-case Jerry Burns at an event in April. Before he started fighting, Gaston wrestled at Ohio State University. In 2009, he appeared on an episode of Bully Beatdown, where he made his bully-victim tap out five times in 96 seconds, then quit before the striking portion of the show.
Afrozilla may not be Ubereem, but he’s certainly legit, and if Duffee wants to snap his two-fight losing streak he’ll have to work for it. Dream.17 is also slated to feature the bantamweight tournament final between Masakazu Imanari and Hideo Tokoro, and Gegard Mousasi’s light-heavyweight title defense against Hiroshi Izumi.
(You know, there probably is a dude out there whose ‘ultimate fantasy’ involves Arianny Celeste and a few thousand limes, and when he sees this video he’s going to absolutely lose his shit. Props: officialbudlight)
Some selected highlights from our friends around the MMA blogosphere. E-mail [email protected] for details on how your site can join the MMA Link Club…
– Alistair Overeem and Fabricio Werdum Head to Head: Who Will Win This Saturday? (LowKick)
– TUF 12 Winner Jonathan Brookins Returns to Featherweight This September Against Eric Koch (Five Ounces of Pain)
– Shane Carwin: “I Can’t Recall Much of the Fight” (5thRound)
– UFC May Enlist Retired NBA Superstar Shaquille O’Neal as Ambassador (MMA Fighting)
– Brendan Schaub: ‘A Win Over Nogueira Puts Me Right In The Number One Contender’s Spot’ (MMA Convert)
– Shane Del Rosario Discusses His Injury, Recovery, and the ‘Supremacy MMA’ Video Game (TheFightNerd)
– Is the Lightweight Division Really the Toughest in MMA? (MMA Mania)
– The 25 Greatest “Changing of the Guard” Fights in MMA History (BleacherReport.com/MMA)
– Jorge Masvidal Talks to Us About Streetfighting, Machetes and Making KJ Noons Shoot on Him (MiddleEasy)
(You know, there probably is a dude out there whose ‘ultimate fantasy’ involves Arianny Celeste and a few thousand limes, and when he sees this video he’s going to absolutely lose his shit. Props: officialbudlight)
Some selected highlights from our friends around the MMA blogosphere. E-mail [email protected] for details on how your site can join the MMA Link Club…
– Alistair Overeem and Fabricio Werdum Head to Head: Who Will Win This Saturday? (LowKick)
– TUF 12 Winner Jonathan Brookins Returns to Featherweight This September Against Eric Koch (Five Ounces of Pain)
– Shane Carwin: “I Can’t Recall Much of the Fight” (5thRound)
Quote of the day, from this MMAthletics video profile of Strikeforce ring girl Kelli Hutcherson: “Strikeforce was kind of one of the things that I always wanted to do, but you had to have something to be a Strikeforce ring girl, and I didn’t have that. And I got fake boobs, finally, and my boss hired me.”
Proving once again that you can accomplish anything you want in life if you work hard and get implants. (Take that lesson to heart, ladies.) Anyway, we appreciate Kelli’s candor, and it’s kind of refreshing to hear a professional hot chick admit that she’s not quite all-natural.
I also liked this quote: “My best friends would describe me as the loud one, and the crazy one, and the outspoken one.” Damn, forget about Kelli, I want to meet these quiet, sane, painfully shy chicks she rolls with!
Quote of the day, from this MMAthletics video profile of Strikeforce ring girl Kelli Hutcherson: “Strikeforce was kind of one of the things that I always wanted to do, but you had to have something to be a Strikeforce ring girl, and I didn’t have that. And I got fake boobs, finally, and my boss hired me.”
Proving once again that you can accomplish anything you want in life if you work hard and get implants. (Take that lesson to heart, ladies.) Anyway, we appreciate Kelli’s candor, and it’s kind of refreshing to hear a professional hot chick admit that she’s not quite all-natural.
I also liked this quote: “My best friends would describe me as the loud one, and the crazy one, and the outspoken one.” Damn, forget about Kelli, I want to meet these quiet, sane, painfully shy chicks she rolls with!
Quote of the day, from this MMAthletics video profile of Strikeforce ring girl Kelli Hutcherson: “Strikeforce was kind of one of the things that I always wanted to do, but you had to have something to be a Strikeforce ring girl, and I didn’t have that. And I got fake boobs, finally, and my boss hired me.”
Proving once again that you can accomplish anything you want in life if you work hard and get implants. (Take that lesson to heart, ladies.) Anyway, we appreciate Kelli’s candor, and it’s kind of refreshing to hear a professional hot chick admit that she’s not quite all-natural.
I also liked this quote: “My best friends would describe me as the loud one, and the crazy one, and the outspoken one.” Damn, forget about Kelli, I want to meet these quiet, sane, painfully shy chicks she rolls with!
Quote of the day, from this MMAthletics video profile of Strikeforce ring girl Kelli Hutcherson: “Strikeforce was kind of one of the things that I always wanted to do, but you had to have something to be a Strikeforce ring girl, and I didn’t have that. And I got fake boobs, finally, and my boss hired me.”
Proving once again that you can accomplish anything you want in life if you work hard and get implants. (Take that lesson to heart, ladies.) Anyway, we appreciate Kelli’s candor, and it’s kind of refreshing to hear a professional hot chick admit that she’s not quite all-natural.
I also liked this quote: “My best friends would describe me as the loud one, and the crazy one, and the outspoken one.” Damn, forget about Kelli, I want to meet these quiet, sane, painfully shy chicks she rolls with!
Last week, we expressed some concern that Josh Barnett‘s application for a license in Texas was still incomplete, just ten days before he was scheduled to throw down against Brett Rogers at “Strikeforce: Overeem vs. Werdum” in Dallas. But it turned out there was a logical explanation for Barnett’s licensing status that involved pre-fight medicals, and the Babyface Assassin was actually among several other fighters on the card whose applications were incomplete as of last week.
And now it’s official. As MMAJunkie reports, the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation has issued Barnett a license to fight this Saturday:
Barnett’s license is good for one year…As earlier reported, Barnett was required to provide the TDLR with a clean drug test in addition to the usual pre-fight paperwork as a condition of his licensure. Strikeforce is conducting independent drug testing at the event…
Last week, we expressed some concern that Josh Barnett‘s application for a license in Texas was still incomplete, just ten days before he was scheduled to throw down against Brett Rogers at “Strikeforce: Overeem vs. Werdum” in Dallas. But it turned out there was a logical explanation for Barnett’s licensing status that involved pre-fight medicals, and the Babyface Assassin was actually among several other fighters on the card whose applications were incomplete as of last week.
And now it’s official. As MMAJunkie reports, the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation has issued Barnett a license to fight this Saturday:
Barnett’s license is good for one year…As earlier reported, Barnett was required to provide the TDLR with a clean drug test in addition to the usual pre-fight paperwork as a condition of his licensure. Strikeforce is conducting independent drug testing at the event…
[TDLR Public Information Officer Susan] Stanford said earlier that Barnett’s history in California is not a factor in his application for licensure in Texas because the fighter is not currently under administrative suspension on a registry of fighters maintained by the Association of Boxing Commissions.
So that’s that. You can all kiss Josh’s ass now.
Related: For the remaining fights in the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix, a “sudden death” fourth round will be added in case a fight is ruled a draw after three rounds. (On Saturday, this would hypothetically apply to Barnett vs. Rogers and Alistair Overeem vs. Fabricio Werdum.) The good news is, we won’t have to worry about a sketchy fourth judge showing up to advance one of the fighters; that idea has been thankfully nixed.
Now that we’re halfway through a six-week stretch featuring a UFC or Strikeforce event every weekend, it might be time to take a deep breath, drag out a semi-retired recurring feature, and assign some totally meaningless scores to some of the notable trends and fighters we’ve seen lately. Who’s up, who’s down, and by how much? Well…
The UFC heavyweight division+113
Some have already labeled Shane Carwin’s loss at UFC 131 the “end of an era” for gargantuan heavyweights. (Didn’t last long, did it?) At the top of the division, we’re left with two guys who are smaller, faster, and better-conditioned than their predecessors; Velasquez vs. Dos Santos could be an all-time classic. Meanwhile, prospects like Travis Browne and Dave Herman continue to add depth at 265.
Cageside monitors-98
Nope, the judging in this sport still sucks, and the problem doesn’t appear to be technological. When you have shit for brains, every angle is a bad angle.
Now that we’re halfway through a six-week stretch featuring a UFC or Strikeforce event every weekend, it might be time to take a deep breath, drag out a semi-retired recurring feature, and assign some totally meaningless scores to some of the notable trends and fighters we’ve seen lately. Who’s up, who’s down, and by how much? Well…
The UFC heavyweight division+113
Some have already labeled Shane Carwin’s loss at UFC 131 the “end of an era” for gargantuan heavyweights. (Didn’t last long, did it?) At the top of the division, we’re left with two guys who are smaller, faster, and better-conditioned than their predecessors; Velasquez vs. Dos Santos could be an all-time classic. Meanwhile, prospects like Travis Browne and Dave Herman continue to add depth at 265.
Cageside monitors-98
Nope, the judging in this sport still sucks, and the problem doesn’t appear to be technological. When you have shit for brains, every angle is a bad angle.
Demian Maia-184
Ugh. Bro, nobody wants to see you kickbox your way to another decision. Submitting people used to be Demian’s gimmick — and it was a great one. But he hasn’t been able to do that since UFC events were still numbered in the double-digits. Maia is officially a stepping stone in the middleweight division, and it’s a shame to see it.
Sam Stout+250
Meanwhile, Hands of Stone scored the first stoppage victory of his five-year, 11-fight UFC career at “Dos Santos vs. Carwin,” snapped a seven-fight decision streak in the process, and gobbled up his sixth performance bonus, like a boss.
Meaningless rumors-322
That’s the last time you fool us, Internet. THE LAST TIME.
Michihiro Omigawa-62
Yeah, he got his win bonus, but officially he’s 0-4 in the Octagon now. You know who else went 0-4 in the Octagon? Tiki Ghosn. You’re in good company, Michi.
The Ultimate Fighter+138
Season 13 might have been a drag, but with the booking of Bisping vs. Mayhem in the coaching slots and the debut of bantamweights and featherweights on the show, we’ll actually have a reason to watch this thing again.
Trying to win a fight off your back-241
Miguel Torres couldn’t do it against Demetrious Johnson, and Anthony Pettis couldn’t do it against Clay Guida. Top-game rules in this sport. Resistance is futile.
Joe Rogan+300/-300
…depending on your feelings about the word “cunty.”
Quinton Jackson+276
Beats up Matt Hamill, earns a title shot, and mock-motorboats Karyn Bryant without getting pepper-sprayed. Alpha.
Brian Stann+437
An American hero who’s now a legit threat at middleweight. Stann TKO’d former Top-10 fighter Jorge Santiago on Memorial Day, picking up his second Fight of the Night bonus in his last three fights.
Guys who get ranked in the Top 10 by dominating local talent in Japan, then get squashed the first time they fight in (or return to) the Octagon-602
See above.
