Author: Ray Hui

Potential UFC, Strikeforce Signees Now Subject to PED Testing

Filed under: UFC, NewsFighters from now on will be screened for performance-enhancing drugs prior to signing with the UFC or Strikeforce, Zuffa announced Tuesday.

This announcement comes off the heels of two straight Strikeforce events with drug test …

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Fighters from now on will be screened for performance-enhancing drugs prior to signing with the UFC or Strikeforce, Zuffa announced Tuesday.

This announcement comes off the heels of two straight Strikeforce events with drug test failures from major Strikeforce players. In the last 11 days, athletic commissions have named both former women’s 145-lb. champ Cris Cyborg and former 205-lb. champ Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal in positive steroid tests.

“The health and safety of our athletes is our top priority,” UFC president Dana White said in a press release. “We’ve seen the issues performance-enhancing drugs have caused in other sports and we’re going to do everything we can to keep them out of the UFC and Strikeforce. Our athletes are already held to the highest testing standards in all sports by athletic commissions. Our new testing policy for performance-enhancing drugs only further shows how important it is to us to have our athletes competing on a level playing field.”

Current UFC and Strikeforce fighters will continue to be drug tested before and after fights as well as randomly in accordance with respective athletic commissions.

The policy of screening potential signees for PEDs officially came into effect Jan. 1.

 

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GSP Prefers to Fight Nick Diaz Over Carlos Condit

Filed under: UFC, NewsUFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre could be considered a Nick Diaz fan, at least for the next several weeks.

St-Pierre, who is currently rehabbing his right knee, says he prefers to see Diaz capture the interim title aga…

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UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre could be considered a Nick Diaz fan, at least for the next several weeks.

St-Pierre, who is currently rehabbing his right knee, says he prefers to see Diaz capture the interim title against Carlos Condit at UFC 143 on Feb. 4.

“The reason why I wish Nick Diaz to win that fight is because I want to fight Nick Diaz,” St-Pierre said Monday during a live studio appearance on HDNet’s Inside MMA. “I don’t want to fight Carlos Condit. I want to fight Nick Diaz. But in another way, I just hope the best man will win. But if the best man is Nick Diaz I will appreciate it more because it would be a better build up for the fight.”

St-Pierre’s absolutely correct. From a marketing perspective, a St-Pierre showdown against Diaz would be an easy sell. First, there’s the backstory of St-Pierre being the UFC champion and Diaz being the former Strikeforce welterweight titleholder. And there’s even more anticipation now that the fight has fallen through twice.

“That’s the fight that had to happen in the beginning. It didn’t happen,” St- Pierre said. “At first he didn’t show up for the promotion and after I got hurt and this whole thing happened. That’s really the fight that I want to do.”

They’ve never trained together, but St-Pierre has closer ties to Condit, having called Greg Jackson’s gym his team before making the full-time move to the TriStar gym. And although St-Pierre thinks highly of Condit, St-Pierre’s preference to see Diaz emerge the victor is strictly professional.

“Even though I like Carlos Condit better as a person,” St-Pierre says. “I would rather fight Nick Diaz.”

St-Pierre also believes he’ll be in exceptional form for a fight against the trash-talking Diaz.

“I’m at my best when there’s pressure on my shoulders,” St-Pierre said. “I’m at my best when someone is picking on me.”

St-Pierre underwent successful knee surgery in December and said Monday he is planning to return to hard training in July. St-Pierre told Inside MMA he’s eyeing late October, early November for his return. Or at least one fight by the end of the year.

“I hope so, please,” said St-Pierre, holding his hands in a prayer position. “Give it to me.”

 

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UFC 142 Bonuses: Edson Barboza Wins Knockout, Fight of the Night

Filed under: UFC, NewsBrazilian lightweight Edson Barboza outdid himself Saturday at UFC 142 in Brazil, not only claiming his third straight Fight of the Night, but also the Knockout of the Night honor as well.

With each UFC 142 post-fight bonus worth…

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Brazilian lightweight Edson Barboza outdid himself Saturday at UFC 142 in Brazil, not only claiming his third straight Fight of the Night, but also the Knockout of the Night honor as well.

With each UFC 142 post-fight bonus worth $65,000, Barboza pocketed $130,000 in addition to his fight purse.

Barboza and Terry Etim shared the Fight of the Night honor for their pay-per-view opener, the only fight on the main card to go past the first round. And Barboza’s spectacular finish set the tone for what turned out to be a wild night of fights.

After controlling most of the fight with leg kicks, Barboza landed a wheel kick to knock Etim out cold at two minutes and two seconds of the third round. In executing the first wheel kick knockout in the UFC, Barboza won his fourth straight UFC fight and advanced his MMA record to 10-0 overall.

For Submission of the Night, Rousimar Palhares made another bid towards becoming the most dangerous leglock specialist in the UFC, needing just 63 seconds to force Mike Massenzio to submit. The heel hook was Palhares’ third in the UFC and his fourth leglock finish in the UFC.

The UFC 142 bonuses set at $65,000 is just $10,000 short of the performance bonuses handed out at UFC 141 in Las Vegas.

 

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UFC 142 Live Blog: Jose Aldo vs. Chad Mendes Updates

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Jose Aldo faces Chad Mendes at UFC 142 in Brazil.This is the UFC 142 live blog for Jose Aldo vs. Chad Mendes, the main event of tonight’s UFC pay-per-view from the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Aldo (20-1) aims to make his third successful UFC featherweight title defense, having already defeated Mark Hominick and Kenny Florian last year via decisions. Mendes (11-0) is a wrestler out of Urijah Faber‘s team Alpha Male who holds UFC wins over Michihiro Omigawa and Rani Yahya.

The live blog is below.


Mendes is all smiles as he makes his way to the cage to “Paradise City” by Guns N’ Roses. A focused Aldo walks out to what has become his entrance song “Run This Town” by Jay-Z.

Mario Yamasaki will referee this UFC featherweight title fight.

Round 1: Mendes initiates with several inside leg kicks. Mendes lands a leg kick that throws Aldo off. Aldo returns fire with a powerful leg kick. Mendes attempts his first takedown at 3:51 and Aldo stuffs it. Aldo walks forward and lands a jab. Aldo scores on a crushing leg kick. Mendes shoots again and Aldo stops it. Mendes has always overwhelmed his opponents with takedowns but so far his attempts have not been close whatsoever. Mendes misses on his third takedown attempt. Mendes catches Aldo coming in and controls Aldo’s back. Mendes tries to dump Aldo, and would have gotten the take down, but Aldo grabs the fence. Mendes tries again and Aldo is able to stay on his feet. Aldo spins out and follows with a knee that drops Mendes. Aldo adds three more right punches and knocks out Mendes. Aldo then runs into the crowd and it’s quite the scene. A fitting scene to cap off a wild UFC in Brazil.

Aldo wins via KO – Round 1, 4:59

 

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Jose Aldo faces Chad Mendes at UFC 142 in Brazil.This is the UFC 142 live blog for Jose Aldo vs. Chad Mendes, the main event of tonight’s UFC pay-per-view from the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Aldo (20-1) aims to make his third successful UFC featherweight title defense, having already defeated Mark Hominick and Kenny Florian last year via decisions. Mendes (11-0) is a wrestler out of Urijah Faber‘s team Alpha Male who holds UFC wins over Michihiro Omigawa and Rani Yahya.

The live blog is below.


Mendes is all smiles as he makes his way to the cage to “Paradise City” by Guns N’ Roses. A focused Aldo walks out to what has become his entrance song “Run This Town” by Jay-Z.

Mario Yamasaki will referee this UFC featherweight title fight.

Round 1: Mendes initiates with several inside leg kicks. Mendes lands a leg kick that throws Aldo off. Aldo returns fire with a powerful leg kick. Mendes attempts his first takedown at 3:51 and Aldo stuffs it. Aldo walks forward and lands a jab. Aldo scores on a crushing leg kick. Mendes shoots again and Aldo stops it. Mendes has always overwhelmed his opponents with takedowns but so far his attempts have not been close whatsoever. Mendes misses on his third takedown attempt. Mendes catches Aldo coming in and controls Aldo’s back. Mendes tries to dump Aldo, and would have gotten the take down, but Aldo grabs the fence. Mendes tries again and Aldo is able to stay on his feet. Aldo spins out and follows with a knee that drops Mendes. Aldo adds three more right punches and knocks out Mendes. Aldo then runs into the crowd and it’s quite the scene. A fitting scene to cap off a wild UFC in Brazil.

Aldo wins via KO – Round 1, 4:59

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UFC 142 Live Blog: Vitor Belfort vs. Anthony Johnson Updates

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Vitor Belfort faces Anthony Johnson at UFC 142 in Brazil.This is the UFC 142 live blog for Vitor Belfort vs. Anthony Johnson, a middleweight bout on tonight’s UFC pay-per-view from the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Belfort (20-9) failed to capture the UFC middleweight title in February 2011, but bounced back with a first-round TKO over Yoshihiro Akiyama in August. Johnson (10-3) is a knockout artist coming off a head kick finish against Charlie Brenneman at last August’s UFC on Versus.

The live blog is below.


According to UFC president Dana White, Belfort and Johnson weighed-in two hours ago at 205.6 and 211, respectively.

Dan Miragliotta is the referee.

Round 1: Johnson opens with a front kick. Johnson catches a high kick and tosses Belfort to the floor. Johnson works from inside Belfort’s guard. Belfort turns his hips for an armbar and Johnson quickly stands up. Johnson dives back in with a right punch and goes back to work inside Belfort’s close guard. Miragliotta stands them up. Johnson shoots and switches to a single-leg with Belfort defending against the fence. Johnson throws a looping punch and Belfort avoids it to stun Johnson with punches of his own. Belfort tries for a choke but ends up sliding into guard. Johnson attempts to work from inside Belfort’s guard. The referee stands them up again with 1:45 remaining. While Johnson wasn’t exactly very active inside Belfort’s guard, the two standups have been rather quick. Kinda strange if you ask me. Johnson drops down for the takedown but Belfort makes him pay for it. Belfort punishes Johnson with punches and takes his back. Belfort swoops his own right arm under Johnson’s neck and finishes the rear-naked choke. Johnson taps.

Official Result: Belfort wins via submission – Round 1, 4:49

 

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Vitor Belfort faces Anthony Johnson at UFC 142 in Brazil.This is the UFC 142 live blog for Vitor Belfort vs. Anthony Johnson, a middleweight bout on tonight’s UFC pay-per-view from the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Belfort (20-9) failed to capture the UFC middleweight title in February 2011, but bounced back with a first-round TKO over Yoshihiro Akiyama in August. Johnson (10-3) is a knockout artist coming off a head kick finish against Charlie Brenneman at last August’s UFC on Versus.

The live blog is below.


According to UFC president Dana White, Belfort and Johnson weighed-in two hours ago at 205.6 and 211, respectively.

Dan Miragliotta is the referee.

Round 1: Johnson opens with a front kick. Johnson catches a high kick and tosses Belfort to the floor. Johnson works from inside Belfort’s guard. Belfort turns his hips for an armbar and Johnson quickly stands up. Johnson dives back in with a right punch and goes back to work inside Belfort’s close guard. Miragliotta stands them up. Johnson shoots and switches to a single-leg with Belfort defending against the fence. Johnson throws a looping punch and Belfort avoids it to stun Johnson with punches of his own. Belfort tries for a choke but ends up sliding into guard. Johnson attempts to work from inside Belfort’s guard. The referee stands them up again with 1:45 remaining. While Johnson wasn’t exactly very active inside Belfort’s guard, the two standups have been rather quick. Kinda strange if you ask me. Johnson drops down for the takedown but Belfort makes him pay for it. Belfort punishes Johnson with punches and takes his back. Belfort swoops his own right arm under Johnson’s neck and finishes the rear-naked choke. Johnson taps.

Official Result: Belfort wins via submission – Round 1, 4:49

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UFC 142 Live Blog: Rousimar Palhares vs. Mike Massenzio Updates

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Rousimar Palhares will face Mike Massenzio at UFC 142.This is the UFC 142 live blog for Rousimar Palhares vs. Mike Massenzio, a middleweight bout on tonight’s UFC pay-per-view from the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Palhares (13-3) won both his fights in 2011, beating Dave Branch and Dan Miller. Massenzio (13-5) made his return to middleweight last October and scored a win over Steve Cantwell.

The live blog is below.


Leon Roberts is the referee.

Round 1: Palhares lands inside leg kicks without a sign of resistance. Another inside leg kick is low and Massenzio takes a break to recover. With the fight restarted, Palhares shoots for the takedown, but Massenzio stuffs it. Palhares shoots again but this time pulls guard while holding onto Massenzio’s right leg to work the heel hook. Massenzio taps.

Official Result: Palhares wins via submission – Round 1, 1:03

In case you’re wondering, Palhares released the submission hold as soon as the referee stepped in.

 

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Filed under:

Rousimar Palhares will face Mike Massenzio at UFC 142.This is the UFC 142 live blog for Rousimar Palhares vs. Mike Massenzio, a middleweight bout on tonight’s UFC pay-per-view from the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Palhares (13-3) won both his fights in 2011, beating Dave Branch and Dan Miller. Massenzio (13-5) made his return to middleweight last October and scored a win over Steve Cantwell.

The live blog is below.


Leon Roberts is the referee.

Round 1: Palhares lands inside leg kicks without a sign of resistance. Another inside leg kick is low and Massenzio takes a break to recover. With the fight restarted, Palhares shoots for the takedown, but Massenzio stuffs it. Palhares shoots again but this time pulls guard while holding onto Massenzio’s right leg to work the heel hook. Massenzio taps.

Official Result: Palhares wins via submission – Round 1, 1:03

In case you’re wondering, Palhares released the submission hold as soon as the referee stepped in.

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