Author: Michael David Smith

Impact FC Results: Barnett, Sokoudjou, Parisyan, Monson Win

Filed under: MMA GossipDream 15 wasn’t the only mixed martial arts event to take place half a world away while most American MMA fans were still sleeping early Saturday morning: Impact Fighting Championships held its inaugural event in Brisbane, Austra…

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Dream 15 wasn’t the only mixed martial arts event to take place half a world away while most American MMA fans were still sleeping early Saturday morning: Impact Fighting Championships held its inaugural event in Brisbane, Australia, and the winning fighters included UFC veterans Josh Barnett, Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou, Karo Parisyan and Jeff Monson.

Full results are below.

Ref Josh Rosenthal Explains Why He Didn’t Stop Lesnar-Carwin

Filed under: UFCIn the days since Brock Lesnar came back from being absolutely brutalized in the first round of his fight with Shane Carwin to winning the fight in the second, some have questioned whether referee Josh Rosenthal should have ever permitt…

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In the days since Brock Lesnar came back from being absolutely brutalized in the first round of his fight with Shane Carwin to winning the fight in the second, some have questioned whether referee Josh Rosenthal should have ever permitted the fight to get out of the first round, or whether Rosenthal should have stopped the fight and given Carwin a first-round technical knockout win.

I think Rosenthal made the right call, and his explanation of his own work in the fight pretty well demonstrates that he did what referees are supposed to do in such situations: He made sure the fighter was intelligently defending himself and allowed the fight to continue.

Ken Shamrock Apologizes for Suggesting Fans Want Steroids

Filed under: MMA Rumors

UFC Hall of Famer Ken Shamrock said last month that he has used steroids in part because the fans want to see bigger, stronger, faster fighters. But now Shamrock has apologized for suggesting that the fans are to blame for ster…

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UFC Hall of Famer Ken Shamrock said last month that he has used steroids in part because the fans want to see bigger, stronger, faster fighters. But now Shamrock has apologized for suggesting that the fans are to blame for steroid use, saying it’s ultimately up to athletes to make the right decisions about what they put into their bodies.

Strikeforce Champion’s Clause an Issue in Fedor Talks

Filed under: Strikeforce, M-1 GlobalDespite M-1 Global’s claims that there’s nothing left to negotiate before the third and final fight on Fedor Emelianenko’s contract with Strikeforce, Strikeforce says at least one issue does need to be negotiated: A …

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Despite M-1 Global’s claims that there’s nothing left to negotiate before the third and final fight on Fedor Emelianenko‘s contract with Strikeforce, Strikeforce says at least one issue does need to be negotiated: A champion’s clause in the contract that would prevent Fedor from leaving to fight in another promotion if he becomes the Strikeforce champion.

M-1 Global says it wants Fedor’s next fight to be a rematch with Fabricio Werdum, who beat Fedor on June 26. But Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker has said that his preferred option for Fedor’s next fight is a bout with Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem, and Strikeforce spokesman Mike Afromowitz told MMAFighting.com that a champion’s clause is going to be negotiated.

Insane Lashley-Lesnar Comparisons Must End

Filed under: UFC, StrikeforceOn the surface, you can see how someone could make a comparison between Bobby Lashley and Brock Lesnar: Both were college wrestlers who became WWE wrestlers and then became mixed martial artists. But if you scratch the surf…

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On the surface, you can see how someone could make a comparison between Bobby Lashley and Brock Lesnar: Both were college wrestlers who became WWE wrestlers and then became mixed martial artists. But if you scratch the surface at all, you realize that these comparisons aren’t even close to being valid.

You’d think that would be obvious to anyone who has seen Lashley and Lesnar fight, but it’s worth addressing again after recent comments from Strikeforce lightweight Josh Thomson, who in talking up his training partner and future Lesnar opponent, Cain Velasquez, made a rather bizarre comparison between Lashley and Lesnar.

M-1 Claims ‘Restructuring’ After Fedor Loss Was Coincidence

Filed under: M-1 GlobalHours after I wrote that M-1 Global was closing its Netherlands office and that officials with the organization were panicking in the wake of Fedor Emelianenko’s loss, I spoke with M-1 Global Director of Operations Evgeni Kogan, …

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Hours after I wrote that M-1 Global was closing its Netherlands office and that officials with the organization were panicking in the wake of Fedor Emelianenko‘s loss, I spoke with M-1 Global Director of Operations Evgeni Kogan, who said the story was not true.

Kogan acknowledged that four employees of the promotion’s Netherlands office have been “made redundant” in a “restructuring” of the company that took place over the last 10 days, but Kogan claims it’s pure coincidence that M-1 chose to restructure after Emelianenko’s loss. He said he himself is still at the Netherlands office, but he refused to name any other employees who remain there.

Despite Kogan’s denials, one of the original sources has reiterated that in the days following Fedor’s loss, Kogan told multiple employees of M-1’s Netherlands office that they are losing their jobs because the office is closing. Told that Kogan had denied the original story, the source said Kogan was “lying.”