UFC 131 is in the books and the Dallas Mavericks have just won the NBA championship, but the MMA community and city of Dallas will be shifting its attention to the next huge Zuffa event, this Saturday night at Strikeforce: Overeem vs. Werdum.Bleacher R…
UFC 131 is in the books and the Dallas Mavericks have just won the NBA championship, but the MMA community and city of Dallas will be shifting its attention to the next huge Zuffa event, this Saturday night at Strikeforce: Overeem vs. Werdum.
Bleacher Report is here with information and predictions for each of the 10 fights on this important Strikeforce card.
Though some of the fighters on this big event are not as well known to the casual fan, the highly anticipated Heavyweight Grand Prix tournament will be continuing in both the main event and semi-main event.
Alistair Overeem vs. Fabricio Werdum and Brett Rogers vs. Josh Barnett will be competing in quarterfinals fights.
Also making his Strikeforce debut in Dallas will be veteran fighter and former UFC No. 1 contender, Jeff “The Snowman” Monson as he faces up-and-comer Daniel Cormier.
So without further ado, let’s take a look at the Strikeforce: Overeem vs. Werdum fight card!
UFC 131 was perhaps the best pay-per-view event we’ve seen this year. The main event between Junior dos Santos and Shane Carwin will get the majority of the publicity, but there were other great fights on the card, too, including Mark Munoz defea…
UFC 131 was perhaps the best pay-per-view event we’ve seen this year. The main event between Junior dos Santos and Shane Carwin will get the majority of the publicity, but there were other great fights on the card, too, including Mark Munoz defeating Demian Maia by unanimous decision.
The stylistic clash between the former NCAA Division I National Champion, Munoz, and a second-degree Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt, Maia, was expected to be a battle between the two techniques. It didn’t disappoint.
We saw some heavily improved standup skills from Maia, who cracked Munoz numerous times in the first round. One left hand behind the ear even looked like it might be good enough to spell the beginning of the end of the fight. But Munoz escaped and made it out of the round.
After the fight, Munoz admitted that he was surprised by Maia’s vastly improved standup skills. The Filipino Wrecking Machine hadn’t been in many fights where he was being picked apart on the feet, and he certainly wasn’t expecting it from a Jiu-Jitsu expert.
But things turned around in the second round when Munoz fired back with his own standup skills, landing numerous combinations and backing Maia up before taking him to the ground. Once the fight was there, Munoz implemented his ground-and-pound to control the fight while neutralizing Maia’s submissions.
The third round was very close with Maia scoring two takedowns, but Maia threatened from the crucifix position. As we watched the fight, it was hard to tell exactly how it would be scored. But if the earlier fights in the night taught us anything, we should have known that there would be at least one judge who made us say, “What?”
All three judges scored the bout for Munoz in a unanimous decision. Two scored it 29-28, but one confused everyone in attendance by giving it to him by a score of 30-37. This means that even the first round, which nearly saw Maia end the fight by knockout, was scored for Munoz.
Wow.
But it was each of the second and third rounds which have to be most concerning for jiu-jitsu practitioners. Though Maia should have been scoring points off of his back based on the rules, as well as nearly taking the Filipino’s back, all three judges scored both the second and third rounds for Munoz and his wrestling over Maia and his Jiu-Jitsu.
And this wasn’t the first time it has happened this year. In fact, the main event at The Ultimate Fighter 13 Finale earlier this month saw perhaps an even worse example of the anti-jiu-jitsu agenda from judges. Clay Guida used his wrestling and top positioning on the ground to essentially lay on Pettis for three rounds while Anthony Pettis worked his butt off on his back, attempting submissions and even landing strikes.
It’s unfortunate because there are some fighters who are perfectly fine with being on their backs. Their defense keeps them from taking much damage, even against some of the best ground-and-pound fighters in the world.
As we saw at the end of the Maia vs. Munoz fight, Maia hadn’t really taken much damage despite being on his back for the better part of two rounds. Meanwhile, he landed big shots of his own early in the fight and had Munoz nearly in a crucifix. But he still lost a unanimous decision.
Jiu-Jitsu still has its place in fights, as we saw when Anderson Silva submitted Chael Sonnen after being beaten down for four-and-a-half rounds last year.
Unfortunately, we’ve seen that judges just don’t care about fighters who work from their back, attempt submissions and land strikes… And what’s even worse is that more fights seem to be going to decisions than ever before.
Either the judges need to be taught about Jiu-Jitsu—and good luck with that—or fighters need to come to the realization that they’re not going to win judges’ decisions off their back.
If you’re looking to stream UFC 131 live tonight on your computer, you can stop your search and look no further. For starters, let’s check out the official UFC 131 fight card:Junior dos Santos vs. Shane Carwin (Heavyweight bout)Kenny Floria…
If you’re looking to stream UFC 131 live tonight on your computer, you can stop your search and look no further. For starters, let’s check out the official UFC 131 fight card:
Junior dos Santos vs. Shane Carwin (Heavyweight bout)
Kenny Florian vs. Diego Nunes (Featherweight bout)
Jon Olav Einemo vs. Dave Herman (Heavyweight bout)
Demian Maia vs. Mark Munoz (Middleweight bout)
Donald Cerrone vs. Vagner Rocha (Lightweight bout)
Sam Stout vs. Yves Edwards (Lightweight bout)
Jesse Bongfeldt vs. Chris Weidman (Middleweight bout)
Krzysztof Soszynski vs. Mike Massenzio (Light Heavyweight bout)
Nick Ring vs. James Head (Middleweight bout)
Dustin Poirier vs. Jason Young (Featherweight bout)
Joey Beltran vs. Aaron Rosa (Heavyweight bout)
Michihiro Omigawa vs. Darren Elkins (Featherweight bout)
With the addition of the preliminary fights on Facebook and Spike TV, tonight’s big event will join UFC 128, 129 and 130 as one of the most easily accessible for fans in the organization’s history.
But if it’s the pay-per-view card featuring the main event of Dos Santos vs. Carwin that you’re wanting to watch on your computer, then you should strongly consider checking out the UFC’s various live streaming partners.
Yes, there may be some horrible quality free streams elsewhere, but they can often be unreliable and there is always a strong chance of viruses and malware with any illegal stream.
So why not put all of that concern to rest and invest in an online stream that will actually work, won’t mess up your computer and won’t leave you wondering if the cops are going to come knocking on your door?
For $44.99, you can watch the UFC 131 pay-per-view from three different locations:
UFC.tv, the organization’s own online streaming service.
Yahoo Sports, one of the world’s largest sports websites.
Or perhaps the most viewed online streaming service, UStream.tv.
Whichever option you choose, however, will provide you an excellent quality live stream of tonight’s UFC 131 pay-per-view, which starts at 9 p.m. EDT, 6 p.m. PDT.
Don’t be fooled by other websites that claim they are offering a free live streaming of the event.
Support the sport you love and order the event in high quality. You won’t regret it.
UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon “Bones” Jones took some time out of his busy schedule to deliver the UFC fans some very important information. Specifically, Jones wanted to discuss the suddenly controversial “motorboating&rdquo…
UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon “Bones” Jones took some time out of his busy schedule to deliver the UFC fans some very important information. Specifically, Jones wanted to discuss the suddenly controversial “motorboating” phenomenon sparked by Quinton “Rampage” Jackson’s post-UFC 130 interview with MMA Heat’s Karyn Bryant.
Jackson is known for his often inappropriate and sometimes borderline offensive interactions with reporters, but he took it in a direction that was weird even for him that night when he tried to replicate a Vince Vaughn line from the movie Wedding Crashers.
Various members of the media have called for Jackson to be suspended, fined or even released by the UFC, but that has not happened, nor is it likely to happen.
For those wondering, Karyn Bryant, the woman on the receiving end of the controversial video, expressed that she thought it was funny and that she was not offended.
But the freshly crowned UFC light heavyweight champion was not so quick to let his potential next opponent off the hook. Jones responded to the Jackson video with this video of his own, where he explains the intricacies of the motorboat: where it is appropriate, where it is not and where exactly it was that Rampage went wrong.
“Come on, son,” Jones repeated twice in the video.
The “Korean Zombie Jung Chan-Sung made history at UFC Fight Night 24 in March when he defeated Leonard Garcia with the “Twister,” one of the most rare and painful submission in MMA.The submission, which became a huge hit on YouTube as…
The “Korean Zombie Jung Chan-Sung made history at UFC Fight Night 24 in March when he defeated Leonard Garcia with the “Twister,” one of the most rare and painful submission in MMA.
The submission, which became a huge hit on YouTube as well as message boards throughout the internet, is a difficult yet highly effective maneuver which exploded into popularity as it was the first time it was used in a UFC fight.
Though he admits that he learned the move from watching legendary jiu-jitsu expert Eddie Bravo on YouTube, the Korean Zombie has released his own instructional video in which he explains his own twist on how to apply the twister submission.
The training victim in the video is fellow South Korean fighter, Jang Yong “The Beast” Kim.
You will see one video attached here, but if you would like to see part two, which explains more on the submission, you can view it here.
Strikeforce’s Overeem vs. Werdum event next weekend took a hit this week as we learned that the world’s most popular female fighter, Gina Carano, would be pulling out of her scheduled bout with Sarah D’Alelio.According to MMA Junkie, …
Strikeforce’s Overeem vs. Werdum event next weekend took a hit this week as we learned that the world’s most popular female fighter, Gina Carano, would be pulling out of her scheduled bout with Sarah D’Alelio.
According to MMA Junkie, Carano had submitted all required paperwork and was officially cleared to fight by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. The paperwork included a physical, blood-test and an ophthalmologic exam.
While we still don’t know what the exact reason for her dropping out of the fight is, Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker said today that the doctor had revoked her medical clearance and that, “The timetable for Gina’s return will be determined after further testing conducted this week.”
Carano released a simple statement which Coker echoed.
“I’m seriously disappointed not to be fighting June 18,” Carano’s statement read. “I’d like to thank Greg Jackson and Team Jackson for such an amazing camp. I hope this is only a brief setback.”
Of course, speculation will continue from now until we find out what the official reason for the setback is, but we should all keep in mind that we should be giving a tremendous amount of respect to Carano. She is one of the true pioneers in popularizing female mixed martial arts and for that, she will always be remembered.
Bleacher Report wishes her the a speedy and full recovery.
