Author: Sal DeRose

MMA Knockout of the Day: Charles Bennett Buries K.J. Noons

At EliteXC: Destiny, K.J. Noons was set to face-off against Charles Bennett.
Not many gave Bennett a chance, and the trash talking before hand brought out the anger in Noons. Both fighters were taking it to each other, a pretty normal first round.
But …

At EliteXC: Destiny, K.J. Noons was set to face-off against Charles Bennett.

Not many gave Bennett a chance, and the trash talking before hand brought out the anger in Noons. Both fighters were taking it to each other, a pretty normal first round.

But towards the end of the round, Bennett hit Noons and gave his head a little ringing. Noons quickly disengages and circles away. Bennett wanted the fight bad enough though and landed a sweet right handed punch to the dome of Noons as he was going down to his knee and knocked Noons out cold.

Bennett, after his win, goes around doing back flips off of every conceivable corner in the cage. Bennett then went out and circled the cage in front of the roaring crowd.

After that fight it was a good start for Bennett. Bennett won his next two fights, but then the trouble happened. After that two-fight win streak Bennett went 3-8, leaving him with a grand total of 5-8 after the Noons knockout.

Bennett’s last fight was on April 16 of this year, a loss to Jason Gybels by rear-naked choke.

Noons had a slightly different career afterwards. This knockout was Noons’ first loss in his MMA career and he sunk to 3-1. After that fight though, Noons went on to win the EliteXC lightweight title over none other then Nick Diaz. This was the only loss for Diaz after he left the UFC for the second time.

Noons went 6-1 after the knockout and has not fought since losing by unanimous decision to Nick Diaz for the Strikeforce welterweight championship.

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Anderson Silva vs. Michael Bisping: Does Bisping Deserve This Shot?

Many people not from the United Kingdom may have a disdain for Michael Bisping. In fact, most fighters do too.You can’t go and write any piece about Bisping and not get negative feedback. It ranges from the nice, negative commentary, to the vulgar. The…

Many people not from the United Kingdom may have a disdain for Michael Bisping. In fact, most fighters do too.

You can’t go and write any piece about Bisping and not get negative feedback. It ranges from the nice, negative commentary, to the vulgar. Then there are some of those Bisping fans who come out of the woodwork and get attacked by everyone in favor of cutting Bisping.

Well, one fighter says that Bisping versus Anderson Silva would be competitive.

“Bisping has gotten really effective at that transition and that happens to be Anderson Silva’s Achilles Heel, the takedown, so it could be a competitive fight,” said Rashad Evans to Fighters Only. “And another thing that Bisping does is, sometimes he just doesn’t care, you know? He just doesn’t care, he just goes for it. So for people to say it wouldn’t be a fight or it wouldn’t be close? I wouldn’t say that about someone like Michael Bisping.”

Evans would know best, holding a split decision victory over Bisping.

“And I am not like some huge Bisping fan, I just think he can scrap and he is very competitive. Put him in with anyone and he will give it a competitive fight,” said Evans. “But then Anderson is something else… put it this way, put Bisping in with Anderson and it would be interesting.”

So does Bisping deserve the title shot at pound-for-pound kingpin, Silva?

Let’s all face facts, Bisping is climbing up the middleweight ladder. But to give Bisping a title shot would be a pretty bad decision.

Bisping’s record speaks for itself; 21-3 with 13 wins by knockout. Sure, Bisping might be able to take down Silva, but might is the keyword there.

Silva’s got incredible striking and could pick apart Bisping. Silva is unmatched in the middleweight division. The only person who could beat him is Chael Sonnen. And last time I checked, Bisping is no Sonnen.

Bisping needs to fight a top five middleweight before making any claims to fight for the title. Maybe, just maybe, Bisping can beat Sonnen but, for right now, the thought of Bisping fighting Silva is a little out of grasp. 

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UFC 129 Results: Lyoto Machida’s Kick May Not Be From Steven Seagal

Last Saturday, when Lyoto Machida used a real life version of Mortal Kombat and the “Crane Kick” all rolled into one, actor Steven Seagal took little time to take credit for teaching Machida the move.
In actuality though, Machida didn’t meet up with Se…

Last Saturday, when Lyoto Machida used a real life version of Mortal Kombat and the “Crane Kick” all rolled into one, actor Steven Seagal took little time to take credit for teaching Machida the move.

In actuality though, Machida didn’t meet up with Seagal until the night of UFC 129, and in fact, learned the kick from his father, not Seagal.

“There is this kick in Karate, ‘Kanku Dai’. When I started preparing, soon after hernia surgery, my preparation was a bit limited, so my dad [Yoshizo] gave me some kicks to train and told me to use it in sparring at times, but always very carefully because this is a shot that hurts, it’s like a poke,” Machida told Tatame.

Machida told Tatame the news that he did not meet with Seagal until the night of the fight and Seagal was the person who told him it would work.

“When I came to Canada I met with Steven Seagal and he said ‘Machida, this kick will work.’ But I was not worried about doing it or not, only if a chance came up. I was relaxed… and dropped the kick into place. There was nothing ‘out of nothing,” said Machida.

The Internet yet again took storm after learning that Seagal had taught yet another fighter a knockout inducing, epic “Knockout of the Night” kick. Seagal takes credit for Anderson Silva‘s front kick to the face of Vitor Belfort at UFC 126.

Rumors have it that Seagal working with the members of Team Black House is a PR stunt and a marketing exercise.

Seagal though says that he is working with the members on some awesome—legal—kicks.

“There are some real different entrances that I’m working on with the guys. There are some other things that I don’t want to talk about that you guys just haven’t seen at all yet. You haven’t seen it, but it’s legal,” Seagal said.

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UFC 129 Results: Could Mark Hominick Get Another Title Shot with a Couple Wins?

At UFC 129, Mark Hominick gave Jose Aldo a run for his money even with a hematoma on his head. Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough to grasp the UFC featherweight title from Aldo.Hominick though, may get another crack at the featherweight title with a cou…

At UFC 129, Mark Hominick gave Jose Aldo a run for his money even with a hematoma on his head. Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough to grasp the UFC featherweight title from Aldo.

Hominick though, may get another crack at the featherweight title with a couple more wins under his belt after he impressed the UFC with his UFC 129 performance.

“Oh, they were thrilled. They were like, ‘Heal up and we want you back as soon as you can. In another two fights you will get another crack at the title,’” Hominick told The Fan 590 Radio on Monday. “I know some of the things I have to work on to take him out. I don’t think he would be lining up to fight me to tell you the honest truth.”

Hominick took the fight to Aldo and in the fifth round made an impressive comeback to try and sway the judges in his favor. Hominick though lost to Aldo by unanimous decision and is now out for a little bit while he heals.

Hominick’s performance took place at home in Canada in front of 50,000 at Roger Centre in Toronto.

“It was just a constant stream [of cheering], that’s what I was hearing. It just made me try that much harder. I think I proved there is no quit in me,” Hominick said. “I know I was supposed to go in there and I wasn’t supposed to make it out of the first round, but I was just trying to finish him. I wanted that belt so bad.”

Now, though, Hominick must move on from his great performance last Saturday night and find a new opponent.

“[I’m going to] just take [on] a guy who’s maybe coming off of a win because I’m still in contention. I don’t think that fight puts me on the bottom of the pile. I’m still up there with the performance I put in,” Hominick said. “Jose Aldo hasn’t lost in five years. He’s never been in any type of trouble in any of his fights and I almost finished him. I took him to his limits. People know that I’m for real and I just have to go out there and prove it again. 

“Honestly, I think 30 seconds more and I could have finished the fight. I wasn’t stopping and he was fading. But again, the bell rang and he won, so I have to go back to the drawing board and come back stronger.”


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UFC 129 Results: Farewell to Randy Couture

Randy Couture left Saturday’s night fight a loser by one of the best knockouts so far this year. A “Crane Kick” from the Karate Kid himself, Lyoto Machida, sent him into early retirement and left many with a bad image of Couture in his final fight. For…

Randy Couture left Saturday’s night fight a loser by one of the best knockouts so far this year. A “Crane Kick” from the Karate Kid himself, Lyoto Machida, sent him into early retirement and left many with a bad image of Couture in his final fight.

For anyone who saw Couture for the first time on Saturday night, you have missed out on one of the most storied careers in MMA history. Couture stands as a symbol for longevity in the sport of MMA. He proved that, no matter the age, you could still contend for a title and beat big name fighters.

Couture defied Father Time and led a great career until he was 47 years old (almost 48 as his birthday is in June). Couture even started his career at a time when most fighters today start thinking about retirement.

Couture started at age 34 at UFC 13. Since then, he has brought forth some of the best moments in UFC.

First, there’s Couture’s huge upset over Tim Sylvia who out-sized Couture and was battling for the UFC heavyweight crown.

Of course Captain America pulled off the huge upset over Sylvia. Couture came out and beat Sylvia all over with his striking. Not to mention, this was Couture’s first fight at heavyweight in almost five years. On top of that, he was returning from a yearlong retirement.

Couture defied the odds throughout his entire career. He had numerous upsets, displays of toughness and just flat out brilliant performances that just seemed to make everyone love him and want to watch the great Randy Couture even more.

Even more recently, in a fight against Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Couture was able to survive and escape a choke from Big Nog and give him everything he could muster to make Big Nog’s victory only that more well earned. Even in this unanimous decision loss, Couture proved you can’t count him out no matter what—even at the age of 46.

Couture will now be walking out of the Octagon as one of the most beloved fighters in UFC history. One of two fighters to ever hold a belt in two different weight classes in the UFC. The man who showed James Toney that MMA is a tough sport like boxing.

The man, the myth, the legend walks away from the UFC as one of the all-time legends for the promotion. 

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MMA Knockout of the Day: Russell Brewer and the 5 Second Superman Punch KO

It was just Russell Brewer’s first bout in his professional MMA career. His first impression on MMA fans was a superman punch and knee combo to knock out his opponent in five seconds.The knockout occurred for 24/7 Entertainment Professional Cage F…

It was just Russell Brewer’s first bout in his professional MMA career. His first impression on MMA fans was a superman punch and knee combo to knock out his opponent in five seconds.

The knockout occurred for 24/7 Entertainment Professional Cage Fighting in Midland, Texas. Just a little under a month ago, Brewer faced Christopher Golden. On this card for 24/7 Entertainment, only two fights lasted more then two minutes and 49 seconds. None beat the five seconds it took Brewer, though, to superman punch/knee Golden.

The middleweight bout for this small promotion proved the best.

Like it was said before it was Brewer’s first fight in his young career. The 27-year-old middleweight is from Mesquite, Texas.

Golden, though, is now 0-4 in his professional career. Golden has fought since 2009 and the rest of his losses come via submission. Ironically, all three submission losses are by rear-naked choke. None of his fights have lasted longer then midway through the second round.

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