Author: kmowatt

(this seems like as good a time as any to post a pic of Rachelle Leah)

Want to be on NBC, Telemundo or Fox Sports? Do you like blowing kisses into cameras fifty times a night? Or perhaps you’re a beautiful woman who enjoys being propositioned by drunk dudes wearing enough cologne to repel a pack of starving wolves? Well if so, you will be happy to know, that Bellator Fighting Championships has announced that it is having a spokesmodel / round card girl search for its upcoming 2010 campaign.

Selected Bellator Girls will have the opportunity to travel around the country with Bellator Fighting Championships and will appear on the promotion’s nationally televised events, at various appearances for the brand and at various Bellator event related activities. 

Now, aside from the thrill of being hooted and hollered at incessantly, it should be noted that some ring girls have launched into pretty sweet careers; both the beautiful Rachelle Leah and gorgeous Arianny Celeste are certainly well known figures (pun intended?).

Now of course, their careers launched from the UFC, so as a result, they’ve gotten more television exposure than probably all of the other ring girls in N.A. combined. But Bellator is a damn fine product, and its expanding after having a great inaugural season. So if you’re interested ladies you can apply on the official Bellator site here.

It’s hard to believe that Stephan Bonnar, the dude that with the pugilistic help of Forrest Griffin, helped put the UFC on the mainstream map, could be facing the axe if he loses to Krzysztof Soszynski this Saturday night.

Now, don’t get us wrong, no one here wants to see a UFC without Bonnar, a guy that not only has a ton of heart, but is also capable of throwing out the occasional sarcastic zinger. The reality is, however, that Bonnar has dropped back-to-back bouts to Jon Jones and Mark Coleman, with his last win coming over Eric Schafer in 2007. Despite all this, Bonnar has told Sherdog, that he’s approaching this Saturday’s bout with Soszynski the same as always.

“It’s just as important as my last fight and probably just as important as all the ones that are yet to come,” Bonnar said. “It’s do-or-die. That’s how it feels, but that’s how it feels every time I go out there.”

Alrighty, but to be fair, when Bonnar rolled into his 2006 bout with Rashad Evans while riding a three fight winning streak, it’s unlikely that many people were associating the words ‘do or die’ with the bout’s result. But we understand where Bonnar’s coming from.  All this talk could be for not, however, Soszynski’s a bad ass dude, and frankly, the scariest looking fighter we’ve ever seen, but he’s not known for his wrestling like Coleman or ‘WTF was that’ moves like Jones. Bonnar could end the losing skid.

To bet on UFC 110 head here.

Surfing the net it continues to seem like this Saturday’s tilt between Michael Bisping and Wanderlei Silva is dominating pre-fight coverage, despite the fact that UFC 110 will also feature a bout between two of the promotion’s best heavies, in Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Cain Velasquez (which should be fantastic).

Bisping has already gone on record stating that he sees holes in Silva’s game (like his tendency to throw punches from the farthest left field as possible) and that he believes his more precise striking will rule the day. Talking with MMA Weekly, it sounds like Bisping is expecting Wanderlei to come out full on “Axe Murderer” style, and that surviving Silva’s early onslaught is the key to winning the fight.

“The hardest part about this fight’s going to be the opening bell. Wanderlei’s going to come out, and he’s going to try to push me. I think he’s going to try to do what he did to Keith Jardine,” Bisping stated. “I’m prepared for that. I haven’t put in all the work, I’ve busted my ass since the New Year, just to get taken out in a minute. Weather the early storm, and then it’s my turn to do it to him.”

Yes, it’s probably safe to say that Silva would love to duplicate Saturday what he did to Jardine, namely knock Bisping down and then send his consciousness to Big Ben and back with punches from above. But will Silva come out ‘axes blazing’ Saturday as Bisping thinks? Will Mike Goldberg say ‘dynamic?’

To bet on UFC 110 head here.

In comparison to Georges St. Pierres’ last couple of bouts against the hulking Thiago Alves or the planet’s best 155lb. fighter BJ Penn, the hype surrounding the champ’s next bout against Dan Hardy, hasn’t been exactly dominating this world wide web thingy (not even impending apocalypse by asteroid could surpass the talk re: Penn vs. GSP II). Why? Well because let’s face it, most people are expecting GSP to cruise through Hardy like we go through beer on an average weekend.

Naturally, it would be a mistake for GSP or his legions of fans not to be wary of Hardy’s punching power (see Serra vs. St.Pierre I to demonstrate the perils of underestimating anybody), and in a recent interview with Fight Hype, it sounds like the Brit is more than certain that GSP will be looking for the takedown. When asked whether or not he feels GSP poses a threat standing, Hardy responded with:

“Yeah, he has good takedowns.”

Oh snap (or in British slang you might say ‘cheeky’). Hardy has always been skilled in the verbal arts, and plus, it’s a good way to get mainstream fans remembering his name rather than saying ‘you know, that British dude, the guy with the mohawk?’ Now is GSP scared sh-tless by Hardy’s stand-up? Extremely doubtful, but it’s probably a safe bet that we’ll see whether Hardy’s wrestling has evolved or not, come March 27^th.

There’s no question that there’s a whole hell of a lot riding on this coming weekend’s middleweight tilt between Michael Bisping and Wanderlei Silva. For Bisping, he needs another win over an established vet to prove that he’s in fact the ‘real deal’, while Silva, well, God bless his stomping legacy, but another loss could bring on a whole new wave of retirement talk.

Recently Silva spoke to MMA Weekly and said some interesting things regarding the strategy he’s looking to employ against “The Count.” According to Silva, not only is he in great shape heading into the fight (more snorkel training no doubt), he’s been working with “King Mo” Lawal to  help round out his wrestling in case Bisping looks to take it to the mat (See Bisping’s ‘turn the table’ victory over Denis Kang). Silva also added a little something, something, about trying to copy Dan Henderson’s gameplan come Saturday night; yup, the one that he used to KO Bisping six ways from Sunday last summer.

“Henderson gave me the way to beat him,” Silva commented.  “I’m going to try to copy Henderson. I know the way to beat Bisping. I have a good game plan.”

The word “beat” might be an understatement; one should probably insert ‘victimize,’ ‘brutalize,’ or ‘f—ked up’ to really convey Hendo’s win. Wonder if Bisping has been studying footage of Silva’s ‘look out for the lef…never mind’ KTFO loss to Henderson? Could we have Henderson vs. Henderson ‘in gameplan’ Saturday night?

To bet on the bout head here.

On Friday we speculated that Chael Sonnen would not be able to step in for the injured Vitor Belfort at UFC 112; we proceeded to waver on that opinion (yes waffles are one of our favorite breakfast foods), only to receive news that Demian Maia will now face Anderson Silva. Funny how the magical world of the UFC works huh? Silva bombs out Marquardt, Maia works Sonnen, Marquardt bombs out Maia, Sonnen works Marquardt, Silva bombs out…well, we’re getting ahead of ourselves here.

In an interesting story from MMA Junkie, Silva’s manager Ed Soares conceded that the champion was willing to move up to light-heavyweight if need be, in wake of Belfort’s injury; seems like “The Spider” just wants to fight (Nice). Soares also apparently denied having any influence in the UFC’s decision to roll with Maia, after the outspoken manager recently stated that they felt Sonnen should have to avenge his UFC 95 loss to Maia, before getting a title shot (Comments that included the word’s “beat up” and “easily”…). At any rate, according to Soares, Anderson had the following reaction to the news Maia was willing to take the fight:

“I had a message from Lorenzo and from (UFC matchmaker) Joe Silva,” Soares said. “I called them both back, and actually I got hold of Joe Silva first. Joe told me that Demian Maia stepped up and was willing to take the fight. I said, ‘Great.’

“I finally got hold of Anderson and I called them back immediately and said, ‘Hey. Anderson said it’s no problem.’”

Cool beans gentlemen. Let’s do this.