Author: Dale De Souza

Strikeforce Dallas: Fabricio Werdum to Alistair Overeem, ‘June Is My Month’

If there was ever a great day to be named Fabricio Werdum, this is that day, without question.He’s facing off against the Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion Alistair Overeem in a rematch of their 2006 bout in PRIDE, he has the momentum of a decisive win …

If there was ever a great day to be named Fabricio Werdum, this is that day, without question.

He’s facing off against the Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion Alistair Overeem in a rematch of their 2006 bout in PRIDE, he has the momentum of a decisive win against Fedor Emelienenko on his shoulders, and he’s got a chance to cement his status as one of the top two pound-for-pound best Heavyweights in the world in front of a packed madhouse in Dallas, Texas—my stomping grounds.

He also likes the idea of what the purchase of Strikeforce means for his future, as well as the potential behind his rematch with one Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva and rings being used instead of cages, but when it comes to his rematch with the champ next weekend in the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix quarterfinals as part of Strikeforce’s inaugural outing in Dallas, the rest of the discussions are obsolete.

The only thing on Fabricio Werdum’s mind other than his fight with Alistair Overeem is finishing his fight with Alistair Overeem.

When it comes to the UFC-Strikeforce deal and with Georges St-Pierre set to fight Nick Diaz at UFC 137 this, Werdum admits, “I like that I might fight Junior [Dos Santos] again.”

He knows that when you remove his PRIDE Shockwave 2006 win over Overeem and his “Upset of the Century”-level victory by Triangle-Armbar over Fedor Emelienenko—an upset that will be officially one year to the day when June 26th rolls around—the one memory of Werdum that fans easily remember is his knockout loss to the UFC 131 headliner by right uppercut at UFC 90—the last fight Werdum ever had under the Zuffa banner until now.

He is aware of that, and while he would like to fight Dos Santos again and then unify the Strikeforce and UFC Heavyweight titles, he knows it’s not going to happen unless he goes 2-0 against Overeem next weekend.

What gives him the confidence that he will do so?

Simple, it’s June, and that’s his month.

“June is my month because I beat Fedor (Emelianenko) too…and I’m excited for this fight. I’m training a lot. Just you wait for this fight.”

Actually, the win over Fedor was not the only time that Werdum has risen to the occasion on a day that happened to be in the month of June.

His UFC 85 TKO win over Brandon Vera and his MMA debut win over Tengiz Tedoradze at Millenium Brawl 7 happened in the month of June–the win over Tedoradze happened on June 16th, 2002, while the UFC 85 card, complete with Werdum’s win, happened on June 7th, 2008.

If Werdum can implement his ability against Overeem once again, it will be the fourth time in Werdum’s career that he has been successful in the month of June, and then Werdum might really be able to say that June is his month.

 

Source: MMAJunkie.com

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Igor Pokrajac Out, Mike Massenzio in Against Krzysztof Soszynski at UFC 131

We are officially less than four days away from UFC 131 in Vancouver, and yet even the heavily stacked card is not immune to losing a potentially monumental clash either it seems.While the details are unknown, MMA Weekly reports that a UFC 131 prelimin…

We are officially less than four days away from UFC 131 in Vancouver, and yet even the heavily stacked card is not immune to losing a potentially monumental clash either it seems.

While the details are unknown, MMA Weekly reports that a UFC 131 preliminary bout in the light heavyweight division will be put on hold, as Igor Pokrajac has been forced to withdraw from his bout against Krzysztof Soszynski.

Again, the details are unknown, although possible visa issues are rumored to be the most likely candidate for a form of logic behind the scratching of Pokrajac from the fight.

In any event, in for Pokrajac is the returning Mike Massenzio, who has posted up an April win over Nate Kittredge prior to his return to the Octagon, where he went 1-2-0 as a middleweight.

Massenzio has returned with hopes of creating a successful stint at light heavyweight, but to do so, he’ll have to take on the unenviable task of taking on The Ultimate Fighter 8 veteran on roughly four days notice.

Likewise, Soszynski will go from facing a tough Croatian in Pokrajac to taking on a triple-threat—a wrestler, Brazilian jiu-jitsu brown belt and Muay Thai expert in the otherwise unknown Massenzio—in order to capitalize on the success he had against one Goran Reljic at UFC 122.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC 130 Results: Can Jose Aldo Teammate Renan Barao Become a Bantamweight Force?

This past Saturday, the man I once called “the most lethal and most promising bantamweight you’ve never heard of,” Renan “Barão” Pegado, did what I anticipated he would and put his skills—namely his striking, ground control, and slams&mdas…

This past Saturday, the man I once called “the most lethal and most promising bantamweight you’ve never heard of,” Renan “Barão” Pegado, did what I anticipated he would and put his skills—namely his striking, ground control, and slams—to effective utilization against inaugural WEC Featherweight Champion Cole Escovedo.

One judge felt that Escovedo earned himself a round, but if you watched the fight on Facebook, you might have been able to see how Barão earned himself all three rounds with the abilities he did show.

There’s no question about whether Barão did impress against Escovedo–Barão definitely did impress against Escovedo, he did prove that the hype was certainly justified in his debut, and he did finally jump-start his UFC war-path to the peak of Mount Bantamweight where Dominick Cruz hopes to stay atop after his UFC 132 clash with heated rival Urijah Faber.

Barão trains with the likes of Bibiano Fernandes, Marlon Sandro, and Jose Aldo, so his success against Escovedo should have been expected, even by fans who winged their predictions for the Facebook card and chose Barão on a limb, but with the clear win over Escovedo comes a question:

Can a few more victories Barão transform “The Baron” from a hidden treasure in the Bantamweight division to the man destined to fulfill his claim of the seat of power in the UFC’s Bantamweight class?

A few more victories for any other Bantamweight can transform them from a relative unknown with promise and potential into the guy that can beat Cruz or Faber, but Barão is a different issue.

To directly answer this question, not only can he be a Bantamweight force, and not only WILL he be able to become a Bantamweight force, but someday before we even know it, Renan Barão will rule the roost as UFC Bantamweight Champion and possibly even the pound-for-pound best Bantamweight in Mixed Martial Arts..

See, he’s proven to be a well-rounded fighter that can grapple, strike, slam, and maintain a pretty good top game on anyone that gives him the shot to do so.

He’s a guy that isn’t afraid to mix it up with any other fighter, no matter how overmatched he may seem compared to the Michael McDonalds, the Chris Cariasos, the Brad Picketts, Scott Jorgensens, and Nick Paces of the sport.

The training at the Nova Uniao Jiu-Jitsu Academy with Scarface, Flash and The Monster of Rio, among the other promising fighters associated with the Team Nogueira/Black House syndications of the sport, will only cause Barão to further evolve as a fighter, so much so that he may be the spitting image of a complete 135er, especially with the potential he’s shown so far in his career.

Barão’s hype-train just picked up some good steam, and it’s only going to start picking up more and more steam until it’s traveling at such a supersonic speed that it’ll be tough for future prospects to keep up.

He and Michael McDonald unquestionably are a part of the future of MMA‘s Bantamweight class along with staples of Japanese MMA such as Hiroyuki Takaya and Hatsu Hioki and many other young names in the sport, but Takaya and Hioki are already forces in DREAM and Sengoku, and McDonald’s not too far away from becoming a force after his split decision win over Cariaso at UFC 130.

Now the question is, can Barão capitalize on the success garnered by his win over Escovedo and earn the same reputation?

Not only can he, but if you ask this guy, it’s more than saying “he will be” that translates out to a “yes.”

As a matter of fact, when we look at Barão, we might just be looking at the next UFC Bantamweight Champion—regardless of whether Cruz, Faber, Joseph Benavidez, or any other UFC Bantamweight wants to say anything about or not.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC 130 Results: Miguel Torres and Demetrious Johnson Put on an Absolute Show

People often knock the ground aspect of mixed martial arts, but there have been some rather outstanding collisions in our sport that have led to phenomenal clinics on the ground.The fans may have preferred the fight to stay standing, but there have bee…

People often knock the ground aspect of mixed martial arts, but there have been some rather outstanding collisions in our sport that have led to phenomenal clinics on the ground.

The fans may have preferred the fight to stay standing, but there have been times when the crowd saw a Fight of the Night contender in a bout that spent more time on the ground that it did in the heat of a slugfest.

Miguel Angel Torres did not defeat Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson at UFC 130, but the now 39-4 former WEC bantamweight king and the now 10-1 perennial favorite for an inaugural top five of a potential UFC flyweight division were both involved in one of of the best 15-minute ground clinics in the most recent historical archives of mainstream mixed martial arts.

Those who predicted this to be a “Fight of the Night” candidate were not disappointed.

They were the ones that knew from the onset that despite the obvious takedown advantage Johnson had, a ground-based fight did not translate 100 percent into a one-sided fight in Johnson’s favor, just as they knew that Torres would not be at a full advantage against the ever-improving Mighty Mouse if the fight remained vertical and saw an exchange of fisticuffs.

Fans wrapped themselves up in the fact of Torres’ two losses in the WEC—to Brian Bowles and Joseph Benavidez—that they chose to conveniently forget about how sound the submission arsenal of the lanky Torres is, especially when Torres is on his back.

Torres did take some serious ground and pound from Johnson, but the story of the fight was only partially the improvements in Johnson’s striking and the always dominating wrestling game which, to Johnson’s credit, was effective inside Torres’ guard.

The other part of the story behind this bout was the Jiu-Jitsu exhibition that Torres put on this past Saturday, attempting submission attempt after submission attempt on Johnson and staying completely active from any and every position he was put in.

If you watch the fight again, Torres’ performance is the reason why many label this as a “controversial” unanimous decision win for Johnson, as the performance hardly justified the argument for Johnson’s win being “unanimous.”

If anything, the win should have been a split decision as the fight was one that argued as much a case for Torres as it did for Johnson.

Still, if you missed the Torres-Johnson bout in any way, shape or form, you may have missed what may be considered among the best pure examples of an electrifying ground clinic in mixed martial arts.

The bout just further proved what we all knew when the UFC and WEC merged:

When it comes to the lighter weights, there’s no such thing as a boring fight.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC 130 Fight Card: What Matt Hamill Must Do to Beat Rampage Jackson

Matt Hamill’s road to UFC 130 is inspirational, considering the fact that he is the only deaf pro fighter in MMA, and his uncle’s motivation to not let the disability come before anything else, including being the best he can be in whatever he chose to…

Matt Hamill’s road to UFC 130 is inspirational, considering the fact that he is the only deaf pro fighter in MMA, and his uncle’s motivation to not let the disability come before anything else, including being the best he can be in whatever he chose to do.

That motivation has led him to the new main event of UFC 130, pitting him against the PRIDE legend, former UFC light heavyweight champion and MMA icon Quinton “Rampage” Jackson in a bout that became tomorrow night’s main event when injuries prevented the Frankie Edgar-Gray Maynard rematch from happening.

Hamill has said various things about Rampage during the build up to the fight, among which were the most notable items were that he was going to break Rampage’s will and that Rampage IS the same guy he’s always been. In other words, Hamill feels that Rampage has not evolved as a fighter throughout his career, and if he want to move up in the ranks, Hamill needs to expose that.

He needs to showcase his diverse striking, he needs to avoid that right hook, he needs to work outside the range of Rampage and not stand and trade inside the pocket until he knows he has Rampage in a position where all Rampage can do is eat his shots and respond to Joe Rogan by saying, “Hamill whooped my A–!”

As far as wrestling, he’ll need to make sure he’s prepared for the takedowns and slams of Rampage, and we know Rampage nearly pulled out the slam when Lyoto Machida had Rampage in an attempted Triangle Choke at UFC 123 just as well as we know Hamill brutalized Keith Jardine at around this time last year.

Defensive wrestling to set up offensive wrestling—that’s how Hamill needs to work with the Wrestling issue that Rampage could present, and he probably knows well that he might have to use his stand-up just to set up takedowns in this bout.

Again, though, he’s said that Rampage is the same Rampage he was when Rampage fought Jardine, he’s the same Rampage that ended Chuck Liddell’s last UFC light heavyweight title run and he’s the same guy that Wanderlei Silva defeated twice in PRIDE.

Hamill needs to show the world that Rampage has not changed at all tomorrow night if he really wants to prove himself as a legitimate threat at 205.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC 130 Fight Card: What Jorge Santiago’s UFC Return Will Tell Us

One minute, Jorge Santiago was just another dude on the records of Chris Leben and Alan Belcher.The next minute, he was racking up victories over the likes of Jeremy Horn, Andrei Semenov, Kazuo Misaki, Trevor Prangley and Siyar Bahadurzada.The minute a…

One minute, Jorge Santiago was just another dude on the records of Chris Leben and Alan Belcher.

The next minute, he was racking up victories over the likes of Jeremy Horn, Andrei Semenov, Kazuo Misaki, Trevor Prangley and Siyar Bahadurzada.

The minute after that, he lost—and subsequently avenged his loss to—Mamed Khalidov and went on to rematch Misaki in the fight that some, including B/R Featured Columnist Jason Schielke, have considered “the greatest fight in MMA history“

You’re probably asking yourself, “Well, what does that have to do with Santiago’s return at UFC 130 this Saturday against Brian “All American” Stann?” So here’s how it breaks down.

If UFC 130 is your first time watching MMA—or if you know for a fact that you were only watching it for Quinton “Rampage” Jackson vs. Matt Hamill—then Santiago’s return could be “just another fight,” or it could mean that a technically new face is coming in for a guy like Stann to easily dispose of in the first round.

However, there’s a difference between what one thinks Santiago’s return will tell us, and what it will really tell us.

It could tell us that this is just another fight, it could tell us that Stann is looking to be the next big name in the UFC Middleweight division and needs a few notables on his resume before Dana White & Co. attempt to persuade us that Stann is a future middleweight champion, or it could result in us once again seeing what happens when a top name from a Japanese MMA promotion like Sengoku travels to the States and faces a “legit fighter,” as some people call UFC fighters.

It could tell us all of those things, but what this fight will really tell us is the story of how Santiago has evolved from a young up-and-comer who could not hit his mark against mid-tier UFC Middleweights to a man responsible for what some have considered to be the perfect example of what a Mixed Martial Arts contest should be.

If you’ve never seen Santiago in action and believe that Stann will win this bout with no problem apart from perspiration, you’re giving the former Sengoku Middleweight Champion a lot less respect than you should.

Remember, the consensus said that Stann’s had little to no shot of beating Leben at UFC 125 unless the three ringside judges were all people that Leben bullied in high school, and what happened then?

Leben got knocked out in the same way that I thought Leben was going to knock out Stann.

What makes it a certainty that Stann will cause Santiago to fall just as easily as Leben did when this Saturday rolls around.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com