Author: Michael David Smith

Jon Fitch vs. Thiago Alves: Great Fight Lost in the Shuffle

Filed under: UFCJon Fitch and Thiago Alves are universally recognized as the second-best and third-best welterweights in mixed martial arts, so when they meet in the Octagon Saturday night at UFC 117, it will be a truly special fight. From a pure sport…

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Jon Fitch and Thiago Alves are universally recognized as the second-best and third-best welterweights in mixed martial arts, so when they meet in the Octagon Saturday night at UFC 117, it will be a truly special fight. From a pure sporting standpoint, in terms of the quality of the competition, Fitch-Alves is a better fight than a lot of pay-per-view main events, and one of the 10 best fights in MMA so far this year.

And yet Fitch vs. Alves has been somewhat lost in the shuffle in the run-up to UFC 117. Chael Sonnen’s relentless trash talk toward Anderson Silva has swallowed up most of the pre-UFC 117 fight, and I’m even hearing from more fans who care about Matt Hughes vs. Ricardo Almeida and Roy Nelson vs. Junior dos Santos than I am for fans who are fired up about seeing Fitch fight Alves.

So why is a fight between two of the top three fighters in their weight class in the world not getting more attention?

Chael Sonnen: Lance Armstrong Used Drugs, Gave Himself Cancer

Filed under: UFCTo hype his UFC middleweight title fight with Anderson Silva, Chael Sonnen has employed a simple strategy: Say as many outrageous things about Silva as he can think of.

But as Saturday night’s fight draws closer, Sonnen isn’t satisfied…

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Chael SonnenTo hype his UFC middleweight title fight with Anderson Silva, Chael Sonnen has employed a simple strategy: Say as many outrageous things about Silva as he can think of.

But as Saturday night’s fight draws closer, Sonnen isn’t satisfied with just taking on Silva. He has now decided to verbally attack Lance Armstrong, suggesting in an interview that Armstrong’s cancer was caused by the use of performance-enhancing drugs, and that Armstrong’s support of cancer research has been nothing more than an elaborate fraud.

Dan Hornbuckle vs. Brad Blackburn Added to Strong Bellator 25 Card

Filed under: BellatorA welterweight bout between Dan Hornbuckle and Brad Blackburn has been added to the August 19 Bellator 25 card in Chicago, which is shaping up as a very strong night of fights for the second show of the upstart promotion’s third se…

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A welterweight bout between Dan Hornbuckle and Brad Blackburn has been added to the August 19 Bellator 25 card in Chicago, which is shaping up as a very strong night of fights for the second show of the upstart promotion’s third season.

Hornbuckle was generally recognized as the favorite to win Bellator’s Season 2 welterweight tournament, but he was upset in the final against Ben Askren. He’ll fight for the first time since that loss when he takes on Blackburn, a UFC veteran with a 3-2 record inside the Octagon and a 15-11 record overall.

Greg Jackson Doesn’t Want Jon Jones Limited by Game Plans

Filed under: UFCFighters who work with Greg Jackson frequently comment on Jackson’s ability to formulate the perfect game plan for any opponent. But Jackson says that with one of his pupils, Jon Jones, the challenge is to avoid constrain him with any p…

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Fighters who work with Greg Jackson frequently comment on Jackson’s ability to formulate the perfect game plan for any opponent. But Jackson says that with one of his pupils, Jon Jones, the challenge is to avoid constrain him with any particular game plan.

“What we want to do with Jon is keep him really creative, but work solid foundation basics at the same time,” Jackson said in an interview with Fight Magazine. “Work his timing, work his rhythm, but also work just jab-cross so he’s got a good balance of both and just let him create. It’s important for an artist like Jon not to be limited by a certain game plan, to a certain thing, but to just let his timing flow and get him in situations where he can show his creativity.”

Takanori Gomi KOs Tyson Griffin

Filed under: UFC, NewsFor one night at least, the legendary Takanori Gomi is back.

Gomi, the former Pride lightweight champion, knocked out Tyson Griffin Sunday night with a vicious right hand that sent Griffin face first into the canvas, the kind of …

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Takanori GomiFor one night at least, the legendary Takanori Gomi is back.

Gomi, the former Pride lightweight champion, knocked out Tyson Griffin Sunday night with a vicious right hand that sent Griffin face first into the canvas, the kind of brutal knockout that made Gomi a legend in Japan, and the kind of brutal knockout that the UFC hoped Gomi would provide when it brought him stateside this year.

Jake Ellenberger Batters John Howard’s Eye, Wins By TKO

Filed under: UFCJake Ellenberger used a hard elbow to turn John Howard’s eye into a swollen mess in their UFC on Versus fight Sunday night, leaving Howard unable to see and leaving the ringside doctor no choice but to call the fight to a stop in the th…

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Jake Ellenberger used a hard elbow to turn John Howard‘s eye into a swollen mess in their UFC on Versus fight Sunday night, leaving Howard unable to see and leaving the ringside doctor no choice but to call the fight to a stop in the third round, giving Ellenberger a TKO victory.

“That’s what I expected,” Ellenberger said afterward. “He rocked me a few times but I got some good elbows on him.”