Author: kmowatt

Tito Ortiz Hoping to Return in October for UFC 121

Remember that 90’s television show “Sliders”(no one would be terribly shocked if you don’t), where Jerry O’Connell and his crew used wormholes to slide between parallel universes and alternate histories? Extreme nerdiness aside, it was kind of cool, you know- what if the Soviet Union had conquered the U.S. etc? What if the Allies had […]

ortiz

Remember that 90’s television show “Sliders”(no one would be terribly shocked if you don’t), where Jerry O’Connell and his crew used wormholes to slide between parallel universes and alternate histories? Extreme nerdiness aside, it was kind of cool, you know- what if the Soviet Union had conquered the U.S. etc? What if the Allies had lost WW II? That kind of ‘yeah I wonder’ stuff.

So where in the unholy hell are we going with this? Well, remember earlier this year when the internet was ablaze with speculation regarding the health of Tito Ortiz, and yadda, yadda, yadda, he was booted from TUF and didn’t fight Chuck Liddell? Well, what if that fight had happened in June? Would Chuck have handed Tito another ass whooping instead of being KTFO by Rich Franklin? Would Tito’s latest UFC stint already be on the ropes? Would people be talking about Chuck making another run instead of how he should retire? Alas, we’ll never know….(if you’re thinking about writing some sort of alternate MMA history script slowly move away from the keyboard now).

While Liddell still has yet to make a final decision as to whether or not he’s going to finally hang up the gloves, Ortiz has announced on his Twitter account, that it looks like his back could be ready for a return sometime this fall.

“Can I be ready by Oct 28th UFC at the Honda center? We will know in 10days!”

It’s going to be interesting to see who “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” will meet up with next. Would you be willing to bet the house it won’t be Liddell?

Ronaldo “Jacare” Expecting Tim Kennedy to Look for Takedown

Although a lot of people may have been excited about the prospect of Strikeforce holding a tournament to fill its vacant middleweight championship (cue footage of Jake Shields walking into the sunset), any big fan has to be stoked about the promotion’s decision to roll with Ronado “Jacare” Souza vs. Tim Kennedy on August 21st […]

jacare

Although a lot of people may have been excited about the prospect of Strikeforce holding a tournament to fill its vacant middleweight championship (cue footage of Jake Shields walking into the sunset), any big fan has to be stoked about the promotion’s decision to roll with Ronado “Jacare” Souza vs. Tim Kennedy on August 21st instead. Of Strikeforce’s commodities, both Kennedy and Jacare rank right up there, so it makes sense to have one of them as the 185lb. champ (especially with Dan Henderson’s decision to return to 205).

Jacare has continued to impress since the BJJ god decided to transition into MMA (we say an ADCC championship and 5 world titles grants him deity status), and aside from his ‘WTF just happened?’ up kick loss at the feet of Gegard Mousasi, the Brazilian has pretty much cruised through his opponents recently. Of course, Kennedy has also continued to rise up the middleweight ranks, and has wins over notable names like Trevor Prangley and Nick Thompson since signing with Strikeforce.

In a recent interview with Tatame.com, Jacare was asked for his thoughts on Kennedy, and it sounds like the Brazilian isn’t expecting his opponent to stay away from the ground game.

“For sure. I believe he’ll keep doing his game, he’ll try to bring me down, but I’ll be prepared to defend myself while standing and bring him down in order to use my Jiu-Jitsu to try to submit him.”

Jacare was also asked for his thoughts on the upcoming bout between Anderson Silva (his teammate) and Chael Sonnen; guess who he’s picking? To check out the entire interview head here.

Vladimir Matyushenko Has “Surprise” In Store for Jon Jones

When Vladimir Matyushenko was confirmed as Jon Jones’ next opponent for the August 1st, UFC on Versus card, it’s likely many fans had one of two responses- for post TUF fans their first reaction may have been ‘who the hell is Matyushenko?’, while old school observers might have had the words ‘sacrificial lamb’ run through […]

matyushenko

When Vladimir Matyushenko was confirmed as Jon Jones’ next opponent for the August 1st, UFC on Versus card, it’s likely many fans had one of two responses- for post TUF fans their first reaction may have been ‘who the hell is Matyushenko?’, while old school observers might have had the words ‘sacrificial lamb’ run through their minds. After all, Jones has dominated everyone he has faced in the Octagon to date, and when you leave dudes like Brandon Vera and Matt Hamill broken and beaten, people are going to start talking. And talking they are.

Of course, Matyushenko is no slouch, and when you consider that the decorated wrestler has lost just once since 2003 (and that was to Antonio Rogerio Nogueira) one can understand why the UFC matched “The Janitor” up with Jones (that’s still a badass nickname). So, having said that, what are the betting lines showing? Well, the odds point to Matyushenko getting tossed big time; for example, BETUS has the fight at -600 for Jones and +400 for the decade plus vet (as does Bodog). In an interview with MMA Bay, however, Matyushenko isn’t buying into all this underdog talk, stating:

“I believe at the highest level of MMA there is no such thing as an underdog. I know I have all the tools to do my job and win any fight if I train properly for it.”… ‘My strategy will be a surprise for everyone.”

Huh. It will be interesting to see what the “surprise” is; if Matyushenko wins, someone with a ton of insight, expendable cash and possibly prophetic abilities, is going to get rich. To bet on the bout head here.

Report: Kimbo Slice vs. Mariusz Pudzianowski Possible for Moosin 2

If after watching Kimbo Slice get dominated by Matt Mitrione at UFC 113 in May, you thought the former Youtube star’s days in MMA were numbered, you probably could use some lessons in economics. If you said to yourself ‘there’s still some decent money to be made with Kimbo, especially if he takes on another dude who’s also […]

kimbo

If after watching Kimbo Slice get dominated by Matt Mitrione at UFC 113 in May, you thought the former Youtube star’s days in MMA were numbered, you probably could use some lessons in economics. If you said to yourself ‘there’s still some decent money to be made with Kimbo, especially if he takes on another dude who’s also more famous for his achievements outside the cage than in it,’ we’re guessing you got a C or higher in Marketing 101.

According to a report from MMA Fighting, the Moosin promotion is looking at pitting Kimbo against five time “World’s Strongest Man” Mariusz Pudzianowski, October 9th in Chicago. The 33 year-old fighter has gone 2-1 thus far in MMA, and like Slice, due to successes in his previous vocation, Pudzianowski hasn’t exactly had to fight for lunch money upon transitioning into MMA. You may recall that the former truck puller / log lifter is coming off a stoppage loss to Tim Sylvia in the main event of Moosin’s first card in May.

In other words, Moosin knows that people will tune in to see Slice vs. Pudzianowski, even though both men aren’t exactly regarded as ‘world class’ fighters…(we’d watch). The MMA Fighting story also includes a quote from Moosin promoter Corey Fischer, who despite their interest in putting together the Slice / Pudzianowski fight, stated it “is the furthest from being finished.”

“King Mo” Lawal Says James Toney “Cool as Hell”

Since James Toney launched and then successfully completed his public campaign to sign with the UFC, it’s probably safe to say that the rather ‘talkative’ fighter has ruffled a few feathers amongst MMA fans. After all, from declaring ‘heads will go into orbit,’ fake dialling 911 for upcoming opponent Randy Couture, and stating that ‘MMA […]

james-toney

Since James Toney launched and then successfully completed his public campaign to sign with the UFC, it’s probably safe to say that the rather ‘talkative’ fighter has ruffled a few feathers amongst MMA fans. After all, from declaring ‘heads will go into orbit,’ fake dialling 911 for upcoming opponent Randy Couture, and stating that ‘MMA ain’t no different than boxing,’ Toney has been pretty, shall we say, ‘confident’ for a dude that’s still learning how to do deal with something other than a punch.

Of course, there have been reports that Toney is taking his upcoming UFC debut pretty serious, case in point, bringing in Strikeforce Light-Heavyweight Champion “King Mo” Lawal to be one of his training partners (guess you could do worse…). In a recent Fight Hype interview with the rising fighter / champ, Lawal had this to say about Toney’s personality and his MMA game.

“Ah, he cool as hell man. Him and Dave cool as hell. I see all of these zombies want to talk shit about him, but before you say he’s this or he’s that, walk up to him and meet him. If you see him, go and have a conversation with him to see what kind of dude he is. James is good people, man, and he’s great with his fans. James is working hard man and I said it before, he’s going to surprise a lot of people.”

We’ll leave it up to you to determine whether ‘surprise’ means 1) Toney shocks the MMA world by lasting more than 2 minutes with Couture, or 2) he actually beats “The Natural”. There’s kind of a big difference there.

Anderson Silva Says Chael Sonnen “Disrespecting” His Previous Opponents

Anyone who’s been following Chael Sonnen’s pre-fight, smack talking fest as he heads into his August 7th bout with Anderson Silva, shouldn’t be surprised to find out that the champion seems to be getting a little tired of Sonnen’s verbal assault. We’ve gone on plenty a time about Sonnen’s gift for controversial gab, and as the […]

silva franklin

Anyone who’s been following Chael Sonnen’s pre-fight, smack talking fest as he heads into his August 7th bout with Anderson Silva, shouldn’t be surprised to find out that the champion seems to be getting a little tired of Sonnen’s verbal assault. We’ve gone on plenty a time about Sonnen’s gift for controversial gab, and as the fight draws nearer, his trash talking seems to be getting more attention (belittling one of, if not the world’s best fighter tends to get noticed…)

What’s the latest newsworthy ‘Sonnen’ from Sonnen? Well in a clip from the upcoming UFC 117 preview, the punishing wrestler once again let the insults fly in Silva’s direction, stating, amongst other things:

“He fought a one-legged Canadian, he fought a math teacher from Ohio and he fought a bunch of guys who weren’t even good enough to hold their spot in the company…His running is done, his 15 minutes of fame are up and I’m gonna bring it to an abrupt halt.”

Pssst; Patrick Cote and Rich Franklin, we think he’s talking about you….And far as Silva’s opinion on having his resume criticized, one that most observers seem to think has entrenched Silva in the world’s best P4P position? Speaking to Tatame.com recently the middleweight champ said this:

“What he’s saying is disrespecting me; he’s disrespecting me and all opponents I’ve faced. Dan Henderson, in my opinion, is the best Wrestler that there is out there on MMA”.

August 7th here we come. To bet on the fight head here.