Author: Dwight Wakabayashi

UFC 149: Big Nog vs Cheick Kongo Set for UFC 149

As reported on MMAWeekly.com this morning, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Cheick Kongo have been added to the UFC 149 fight card that will take place in Calgary on July 21.The Calgary Sun cited anonymous sources in announcing the news, but the fight was …

As reported on MMAWeekly.com this morning, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Cheick Kongo have been added to the UFC 149 fight card that will take place in Calgary on July 21.

The Calgary Sun cited anonymous sources in announcing the news, but the fight was verified via the UFC Canada Official Twitter feed. The announcement came on the same day that UFC President Dana White hinted that Brazilian featherweight Champion Jose Aldo would most likely be pulled form that same card.

Aldo was originally announced as the headliner for the debut Calgary event with a challenger to be named later. The UFC announced via press conference yesterday that the Silva-Sonnen rematch that was tentatively set for UFC 147 in Brazil will now take place at UFC 148 in Las Vegas. This move leaves a big hole on the Brazil card, and many feel it will be filled by Aldo.

Nogueira (33-7-1) is currently recovering from a broken humorous he suffered after refusing to tap to a kimura lock in his last fight with Frank Mir at UFC 140 in December of 2011. Nogueira has had a tough time in the UFC with a 4-3 record.

Kongo (17-7-2) is also coming off a loss via TKO to Mark Hunt at UFC 144 in Japan.

If the Aldo fight is indeed moved off the Calgary card, the Canadian fans could be in for a very nice replacement as White has already mentioned that Jon Jones vs. Dan Henderson is the leading candidate to fill that slot.

UFC 149 Fight card To Date: (Subject to Change)

Thiago Alves vs Yoshihiro Akiyama – welterweight

George Roop vs *Antonio Carvalho – featherweight

*Nick Ring vs Court McGee – middleweight

Bryan Caraway vs *Mitch Gagnon – featherweight

*Mitch Clarke vs Anton Kuivanen – lightweight

Cheick Kongo vs Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira

* Canadian Fighter

Dwight Wakabayashi is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report MMA, MMA Editor at CKSN.ca and guest blogger for Sportsnet.ca.

Catch him on Facebook and Twitter at wakafightermma.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC 145 Bones vs. Suga: The Complete Breakdown

The long-awaited and over-hyped feud fight between two former friends is finally a couple days away. I absolutely love the pre-fight buildup, but even I have to admit that I don’t want to hear another word out of either one of the c…

The long-awaited and over-hyped feud fight between two former friends is finally a couple days away. I absolutely love the pre-fight buildup, but even I have to admit that I don’t want to hear another word out of either one of the combatants.

It’s time to put the words, insults and taunts to bed and find out which one of these Greg Jackson-bred fighters is the alpha dog that he says he is.

All beef and hype aside, there is no disputing that these two men are the undisputed best of the division and a very intriguing and exciting war will take place on Saturday night.

The following is a complete breakdown of the key elements in the fight and who has the edge going in.

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UFC 145: Canadian Lightweight Title on the Line This Weekend

There are many small mixed martial arts promotions in Canada who claim to carry different Canadian titles and promotional champions. Fans north of the border, however, are well aware that despite the names fighting hard and holding belts in some of the…

There are many small mixed martial arts promotions in Canada who claim to carry different Canadian titles and promotional champions. Fans north of the border, however, are well aware that despite the names fighting hard and holding belts in some of these smaller shows, the best fighters in our country are all under the UFC banner.

With the incredible growth of the UFC in recent years, more of Canada’s best fighters are gaining the opportunity to strut their stuff in the world’s top promotion.  

UFC 145 in Atlanta will hold one of, if not the biggest and most relevant Canadian vs Canadian fight that the promotion has ever had in Mark Bocek vs John Alessio. Bocek has long been considered the best lightweight in Canada and Alessio was signed on as a late replacement only a few weeks ago. The veteran fighter has recently moved down from the 170-pound division and many feel that he and not Bocek is the new Canadian lightweight No. 1.

With all due respect and apologies to other Canadian UFC lightweight’s Sam Stout and TJ Grant, the Bocek-Alessio fight will virtually crown an undisputed Canadian lightweight champion for the first time in the sport’s history. Not a paper champion. No real belt is up for grabs, but fans north of the border know exactly what is at stake in this fight.

The growth of the UFC is leaning towards opportunities for more of these types of nationally relevant fights. Canada has enough top level talent under the UFC banner to make these exciting fights happen and sort out the landscape that has long been debated up here.

Next up in 2013, Georges St-Pierre vs Rory MacDonald for the Canadian and World welterweight title. This one is quite a long shot as I know these two fighters are team and training mates, but it seems inevitable that the debate on who is the better of the two is in the very near future.

Other possible Canadian title match ups in the UFC:

Bantamweight: #1 Ivan Menjivar vs. #2 Yves Jabouin (#3 Nick Denis, #4 Mitch Gagnon)

Featherweight: #1 Mark Hominick vs #2 Antonio Carvalho

Middleweight: #1 Nick Ring vs #2 Jason MacDonald (#3 Patrick Cote)

Light Heavyweight: #1 Krzysztof Soszynski vs #2 Ryan Jimmo

 

Dwight Wakabayashi is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report MMA, MMA Editor at CKSN.ca and guest blogger for Sportsnet.ca.

 

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC 145: Keys to Victory for the Preliminary Card Fighters

The UFC 145 Jones vs. Evans preliminary card offers up a nice variety of big, small, and perfectly in-between fighters and fights on April 21st from Atlanta, Georgia. All fights will be available to fans as they happen, with Brimage vs. Blanc…

The UFC 145 Jones vs. Evans preliminary card offers up a nice variety of big, small, and perfectly in-between fighters and fights on April 21st from Atlanta, Georgia.

All fights will be available to fans as they happen, with Brimage vs. Blanco and Wisniewski vs. Clements being streamed live on Facebook. The remaining four fights will be shown live on FX TV.

The televised bouts will feature some popular TUF Alumni, as Mac Danzig will battle Efrain Escudero, and Matt Brown will face Stephen Thompson. The preliminary card will be concluded with a colossal heavyweight clash between two young, hungry beasts, as Travis Browne will clash head-on with Chad Griggs.

It is poised to be an electrifying night of fights before it even hits the main card.

Here are the keys to victory for each preliminary card fighter.

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UFC 145: A Lot at Stake for Canadian Fighters

UFC 145 is set to get down next weekend in Atlanta, Georgia, with the much-anticipated light heavyweight title fight between Jon Jones and Rashad Evans headlining the show. The fight card was originally announced for the end of March in Montr…

UFC 145 is set to get down next weekend in Atlanta, Georgia, with the much-anticipated light heavyweight title fight between Jon Jones and Rashad Evans headlining the show.

The fight card was originally announced for the end of March in Montreal, and because of that many of the UFC’s Canadian fighters were booked to fight prior to the card being switched to Atlanta due to scheduling issues.

Six Canadian fighters will step in to the Octagon at UFC 146, with each fighter having a lot at stake when the lock clangs on the cage door.

Jobs, rankings and national bragging rights are all on the line in each of the fights on April 21st.

Here is a complete look at what is at stake for each Canadian fighter.

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Bellator 64 Winner Chad Laprise Reflects on His Debut

Canadian fighter Chad Laprise (5-0) made a memorable debut with the Bellator Fighting Championships last Friday night in Windsor, with a beautiful triangle submission-win over Josh Taveirne.  Laprise got the tap at 2:48 of the first round, le…

Canadian fighter Chad Laprise (5-0) made a memorable debut with the Bellator Fighting Championships last Friday night in Windsor, with a beautiful triangle submission-win over Josh Taveirne.  Laprise got the tap at 2:48 of the first round, leaving his perfect record of five wins and five finishes intact.

I spoke with Laprise today as he got ready to head off to British Columbia to corner Adrenaline Training Center mate Jesse Ronson in his title fight in Trail on Saturday night.

Laprise’s other teammate and friend Chris Horodecki was knocked out in his fight right before Laprise went out for his.

I wondered what type of an effect that had on Chad as he made his way out:

I didn’t actually see it, but I kinda heard it on TV. I saw the guys’ faces when they came back to get me for my fight. But it just makes you want to go out and do it even harder for him. Chris is not just a teammate he’s a friend, so you want pick it up for him.

Laprise sure did pick it up, getting his submission win in the first round with a beautiful display of ground fighting that we haven’t seen from the knockout artist.

He was a lot bigger than me. He came in on fight night about 20-pounds on me but I had trained off my back for months for this fight. I drilled getting to the cage and wall walking up so that’s exactly what I did in the fight.

Laprise then went into how he got the choke:

He’s a good wrestler and he can take you down but he had a tendency to leave his head down and lay on you a bit, so I knew if he got me to my back that I was going to go for that choke and it was right there so.

I was lucky because it’s a lot easier to get a guy early because he isn’t as slippery as the later rounds. It was there early so I took it. I had to work it a bit, but I knew I had it right away and I knew that if he didn’t tap he would go out and he pretty much did just as the ref came in.

It was a pivotal win for Laprise, as it gives him his first win in Bellator and sets him up nicely for what’s to come in the year ahead.

Luckily because of my win, I am talking to a few places right now and I would like to fight for Bellator again. They treated me just unbelievably first-class so I hope I can fight for them again. I am pretty much 100-percent healthy after that fight so I could fight in a month in Rama if the opponent was right.

I asked him who that opponent would be but he wouldn’t bite.

“I just want to build my record this year with good fighters and fights. That’s what I am looking to do. I would love for it to be for Bellator, I don’t care if I have to travel around to fight.”

Laprise is now off to British Columbia, but only for a couple of days. He is a hard man to keep out of the gym.

 

Dwight Wakabayashi is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report MMA, MMA Editor at CKSN.ca and guest blogger for Sportsnet.ca.

Catch him on Facebook and Twitter at wakafightermma.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com