Author: SethF

Daley Wins, Trigg Falls at BAMMA 7

Amidst the rubble left behind in the MMA world this weekend, one event that might have flown under the radar was that of BAMMA 7, which went down yesterday at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, England. Featuring the likes of former UFC title contenders Frank Trigg, Paul Daley, and TUF 9 finalist Andre Winner, the card certainly had its fair share of fireworks.

The headliner saw Trigg’s two fight win streak since leaving the UFC snapped by journeyman “Judo” Jim Wallhead, who was able to repeatedly wobble Trigg on the feet en route to a split decision win. The win was particularly heartbreaking for “Twinkle Toes”, whose most recent wins showcased a newfound revitalization since his consecutive KO losses to Josh Koscheck and Matt Serra.

Elsewhere on the card, Paul Daley scored his own decision win over fellow UFC castaway Jordan Radev. The bout saw Daley easily handle Radev in the striking department but unable to finish the resilient Bulgarian, who was similarly frustrated after taking Daley’s back in the third frame and failing to secure a submission. The bout ended Daley’s two fight skid but continued to showcase his inability to make weight, which has become so notorious that even the hometown crowd was unusually silent during his entrance.

Amidst the rubble left behind in the MMA world this weekend, one event that might have flown under the radar was that of BAMMA 7, which went down yesterday at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, England. Featuring the likes of former UFC title contenders Frank Trigg, Paul Daley, and TUF 9 finalist Andre Winner, the card certainly had its fair share of fireworks.

The headliner saw Trigg’s two fight win streak since leaving the UFC snapped by journeyman “Judo” Jim Wallhead, who was able to repeatedly wobble Trigg on the feet en route to a split decision win. The win was particularly heartbreaking for “Twinkle Toes”, whose most recent wins showcased a newfound revitalization since his consecutive KO losses to Josh Koscheck and Matt Serra.

Elsewhere on the card, Paul Daley scored his own decision win over fellow UFC castaway Jordan Radev. The bout saw Daley easily handle Radev in the striking department but unable to finish the resilient Bulgarian, who was similarly frustrated after taking Daley’s back in the third frame and failing to secure a submission. The bout ended Daley’s two fight skid but continued to showcase his inability to make weight, which has become so notorious that even the hometown crowd was unusually silent during his entrance.

Ultimate Fighter 9 finalist Andre Winner also snapped a losing streak and showcased the effectiveness of Muay Thai against boxing en route to an entertaining decision win over Jason Ball. Though all but refusing to unleash the combinations his corner was screaming for, Winner’s diverse attack was simply too much for the boxing based Ball, resulting in 30-27 scores across the board for the TUF finalist.

BAMMA champions went 1-1 on the night, with lightweight king Rob Sinclair unleashing a vicious uppercut to end the night of late replacement Diego Vital in the third round. Middleweight champion Carl Noon, however, saw a dominant first round wiped away as undefeated prospect Jack Marshall rallied back from the early beating throughout the second and secured a TKO finish in the third.

Full results:

Jim Wallhead def. Frank Trigg by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 30-27)
Paul Daley def. Jordan Radev by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
Rob Sinclair def. Diego Vital by knockout (strikes) Rd 3 (3:00)
Jack Marshman def. Carl Noon by TKO (strikes) Rd 3
Andre Winner def. Jason Ball by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Chris Fishgold def. Jeremy Petley by submission (rear-naked choke) Rd 1 (4:33)
Erik Perez def. James Brum by submission (rear-naked choke) Rd 1 (3:31)
Eugene Fadiora def. Robert Devanne by submission (rear-naked choke) Rd 1 (4:35)
Pindi Madahar def. Danny Compton by TKO (strikes) Rd 2 (1:06)
Dale Hardiman def. Scott Jansen by submission (rear-naked choke) Rd 2 (1:16)
Tom Breese def. Lee Taylor by submission (rear-naked choke) Rd 1 (2:26)
Dean Amasinger def. Shah Hussein by unanimous decision
Fraser Opie def. Robert Krecicki by TKO (strikes) Rd 1 (3:19)

‘Strikeforce: Barnett vs. Kharitonov’ Aftermath: UFC Auditions, Sans Mansion

King Mo, during the UFC application process post-fight interview. Props: Showtime Sports

Last night, the real story behind “Barnet vs. Kharitonov had nothing to do with the heavyweight grand prix. It had nothing to do with the middleweight championship of a sinking organization. Last night, as with every other Strikeforce show since the promotion was purchased by Zuffa, was little more than an audition. It was about who will get a UFC contract when Strikeforce goes under, and who will have to go through TUF. The fans knew it, the announcers knew it, going as far as confirming the Belfort vs. Le rumor, and the fighters definitely knew it.

Despite Strikeforce’s best efforts to hype Josh Barnett vs. Sergei Kharitonov as a potentially close fight, we all knew what to expect: A repeat of Kharitonov vs. Monson, except with a far superior version of Jeff Monson. Because of this, it’s hard to be impressed with anything that Josh Barnett does at this point. The tournament’s biggest names and most intriguing matchups for Barnett- Fedor, Werdum and Overeem- were all removed well before last night. Barnett has become such an overwhelming favorite to win that when he wins, he’s simply living up to expectations. He was paired up against an opponent with weak grappling credentials, knew he would dominate the fight once Kharitonov was on the ground, and fought accordingly. At least the tournament was set up so that he would get to face a competent grappler in the finals.


King Mo, during the UFC application process post-fight interview. Props: Showtime Sports

Last night, the real story behind “Barnet vs. Kharitonov” had nothing to do with the heavyweight grand prix. It had nothing to do with the middleweight championship of a sinking organization. Last night, as with every other Strikeforce show since the promotion was purchased by Zuffa, was little more than an audition. It was about who will get a UFC contract when Strikeforce goes under, and who will have to go through TUF. The fans knew it, the announcers knew it, going as far as confirming the Belfort vs. Le rumor, and the fighters definitely knew it.

Despite Strikeforce’s best efforts to hype Josh Barnett vs. Sergei Kharitonov as a potentially close fight, we all knew what to expect: A repeat of Kharitonov vs. Monson, except with a far superior version of Jeff Monson. Because of this, it’s hard to be impressed with anything that Josh Barnett does at this point. The tournament’s biggest names and most intriguing matchups for Barnett- Fedor, Werdum and Overeem- were all removed well before last night. Barnett has become such an overwhelming favorite to win that when he wins, he’s simply living up to expectations. He was paired up against an opponent with weak grappling credentials, knew he would dominate the fight once Kharitonov was on the ground, and fought accordingly. At least the tournament was set up so that he would get to face a competent grappler in the finals.

Oh, about that: Looks like the answer to overcoming Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva’s sheer size and strength lies in exploiting that glass chin. Much like he did in his fight with Jeff Monson, Cormier kept the one dimensional grappler standing as often as possible. Although he showed off his wrestling credentials with an occasional takedown, Cormier refused to fight Silva in his comfort zone by forcing the fight to be stood up every time Silva was on his back. That strategy will work against Antonio Silva, but is his striking good enough to do that against Josh Barnett? For that matter, is Josh Barnett’s grappling going to prove too much for Cormier at this point in his career? We’ll have to wait until Cormier recovers from the hand injury he suffered, which will more than likely be early 2012. Assuming that Strikeforce is around at this time, of course.

If there’s one fighter who didn’t seem to realize that last night was an audition, it was “Jacare” Souza. Souza seemed to buy into the nonsense that some people were spewing about how Jacare vs. Anderson Silva would be a fight worth watching, and seemed to believe that as long as he could go the distance against Luke Rockhold, the judges would give him the fight. Yes, it was far closer than the 50-45 fight that some people seemed to believe it was. Yes, Jacare probably should have lost by split decision instead of unanimous decision. But does it really matter? A losing effort, no matter how close, is still a losing effort. Still, give Luke Rockhold the credit that he deserves for his performance last night. After shaking off the cobwebs that come with over a year and a half away from competition during the first round, Luke Rockhold fought like someone who saw the fight for the audition that it was. It’ll be interesting to see who he gets to defend the title against (again, assuming Strikeforce is around long enough for him to do so).

Other than that, King Mo showed that having “good striking for a Gracie” is like being “a good fighter for a professional reporter”, shutting out Roger Gracie’s lights early. Do we even bother angling for a fight against Dan Henderson, or do we just assume that both guys will be in the UFC before the next Strikeforce card? That isn’t rhetorical, comments section. Also, Pat Healy managed to survive Maximo Blanco’s wild strikes- some of which illegal- long enough to spoil Blanco’s hype. Healy sure has a habit of killing the hype for Strikeforce prospects. Let’s see if that translates into a step up in competition for him.

Full results, courtesy of MMAJunkie:

OFFICIAL MAIN CARD RESULTS

Josh Barnett def. Sergei Kharitonov via submission (head-arm triangle choke) – Round 1, 4:28
Daniel Cormier def. Antonio Silva via knockout (strikes) – Round 1, 3:56
Luke Rockhold def. Ronaldo Souza via unanimous decision (50-45, 48-47, 48-47)
Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal def. Roger Gracie via KO (punch) – Round 1, 4:33
Pat Healy def. Maximo Blanco via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 4:24

OFFICIAL PRELIMINARY CARD RESULTS

Mike Kyle def. Marcos Rogerio de Lima via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante def. Yoel Romero via KO (strikes) – Round 2, 4:51
Jordan Mein def. Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos via TKO (strikes) – Round 3, 3:18
Alexis Davis def. Amanda Nunes via TKO (punches) – Round 2, 4:53
Dominique Steele def. Chris Mierzwiak via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-27, 29-27)

Rumor of the Day: Vitor Belfort vs. Cung Le Set for UFC 139 *UPDATE*


An “expect a knockout, bro” joke may be cliche, but would you rather us put “Business as usual, You Guys” in the headline?

Sometimes, it’s hard to remember that we’re supposed to be pretending that Strikeforce isn’t a dead company, and is by no means being absorbed by the UFC. Cincinnati is practically dead, despite the fact that the Strikeforce Grand Prix resumes there tonight. Strikeforce fighters are beginning to speak out about the lack of promotion that the UFC gives Strikeforce events. Strikeforce’s own champions have their next fights booked with the UFC. So today’s rumored fight isn’t so much of a surprise in the sense that another top Strikeforce fighter has reportedly been absorbed into the UFC, but rather, in the sense that we’re still going along with this “Strikeforce will continue to operate as a separate organization” thing.

In a statement released via his personal website, Vitor Belfort announced that he will be fighting Cung Le at UFC 139 in San Jose. The UFC has yet to confirm the signing of Cung Le, yet alone the announcement of this fight. Still, it appears that Vitor Belfort is already training for Le as his next opponent, as he has brought in Ray Sefo to help him train. Vitor tells fans to “Prepare to see the same dedication he takes to creating his fists the fastest in MMA to his powerful trunks.” I’m not quite sure what that means, but it sounds awesome.


An “expect a knockout, bro” joke may be cliche, but would you rather us put “Business as usual, You Guys” in the headline?

Sometimes, it’s hard to remember that we’re supposed to be pretending that Strikeforce isn’t a dead company, and is by no means being absorbed by the UFC. Cincinnati is practically dead, despite the fact that the Strikeforce Grand Prix resumes there tonight. Strikeforce fighters are beginning to speak out about the lack of promotion that the UFC gives Strikeforce events. Strikeforce’s own champions have their next fights booked with the UFC. So today’s rumored fight isn’t so much of a surprise in the sense that another top Strikeforce fighter has reportedly been absorbed into the UFC, but rather, in the sense that we’re still going along with this “Strikeforce will continue to operate as a separate organization” thing.

In a statement released via his personal website, Vitor Belfort announced that he will be fighting Cung Le at UFC 139 in San Jose. The UFC has yet to confirm the signing of Cung Le, yet alone the announcement of this fight. Still, it appears that Vitor Belfort is already training for Le as his next opponent, as he has brought in Ray Sefo to help him train. Vitor tells fans to “Prepare to see the same dedication he takes to creating his fists the fastest in MMA to his powerful trunks.” I’m not quite sure what that means, but it sounds awesome.

Cung Le is 7-1 in MMA. His last fight, a second round knockout against Scott Smith, occurred at Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Werdum in June 2010. The victory avenged his only career defeat. Likewise, Vitor Belfort is coming off of a first round knockout over Yoshihiro Akiyama at UFC 133.

*UPDATE* Cung Le has confirmed this on his website. It’s either true, or an exceptional troll job by both men.

Tito Ortiz vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira Added to UFC 140


You’re telling me that Ortiz found a hat that fits him? Nice try, photoshop.

The UFC has announced that a light-heavyweight fight between Tito Ortiz and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira has been added to UFC 140. This marks the second time that the two have agreed to fight each other. Originally, the two were supposed to meet in the main event of March’s UFC Fight Night. However, Tito Ortiz withdrew from the fight due to a concussion, and was replaced by Phil Davis.

Both fighters are in serious need of a victory if they want to stay relevant in the UFC. While Ortiz managed to pull off an upset victory over Ryan Bader at UFC 132, he went on to get thoroughly dominated by Rashad Evans (save for a guillotine attempt in the second round) at UFC 133. Tito Ortiz is now 1-5-1 in his last seven fights. Likewise, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira is riding a two fight losing streak of his own. After losing to Ryan Bader at UFC 119, Nogueira was outclassed by Phil Davis during March’s UFC Fight Night. If we’re not counting his controversial victory over Jason Brilz at UFC 114, Nogueira hasn’t won since punching out Luiz Cane at UFC 106 in November 2009.

Fight card for UFC 140 after the jump.

 
You’re telling me that Ortiz found a hat that fits him? Nice try, photoshop.

The UFC has announced that a light-heavyweight fight between Tito Ortiz and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira has been added to UFC 140. This marks the second time that the two have agreed to fight each other. Originally, the two were supposed to meet in the main event of March’s UFC Fight Night. However, Tito Ortiz withdrew from the fight due to a concussion, and was replaced by Phil Davis.

Both fighters are in serious need of a victory if they want to stay relevant in the UFC. While Ortiz managed to pull off an upset victory over Ryan Bader at UFC 132, he went on to get thoroughly dominated by Rashad Evans (save for a guillotine attempt in the second round) at UFC 133. Tito Ortiz is now 1-5-1 in his last seven fights. Likewise, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira is riding a two fight losing streak of his own. After losing to Ryan Bader at UFC 119, Nogueira was outclassed by Phil Davis during March’s UFC Fight Night. If we’re not counting his controversial victory over Jason Brilz at UFC 114, Nogueira hasn’t won since punching out Luiz Cane at UFC 106 in November 2009.

Fight card for UFC 140 after the jump.

Frank Mir vs. Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira
Tito Ortiz vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
Mark Hominick vs. Jung Chan-Sung
Rory MacDonald vs. Brian Ebersole
Dennis Hallman vs. John Makdessi
Rich Attonito vs. Claude Patrick
John Cholish vs. Mitch Clarke

Swanson vs. Lamas Booked for UFC Debut on Fox


“It’s cool, bro. The UFC offers accident insurance now.”

Sometimes, we like to pretend that our articles actually influence the UFC’s decision making. The other day, when we gave the UFC some friendly advice concerning their debut on Fox, we suggested that the UFC should probably schedule more than one fight. Having the support of a network like Fox and only displaying one fight, no matter how epic, is like buying a hooker just to hold hands with during Shark Night 3D. So when the UFC announced the addition of Cub Swanson vs. Ricardo Lamas to this card, our first thought was “The UFC was simply doing what they always do by announcing the main event before they announce supporting fights”. But we still feel pretty good about ourselves.

The fight potentially marks Cub Swanson’s UFC debut. As you may remember, Cub Swanson was set to make his UFC debut against Erik Koch twice, but was injured both times and forced to withdraw. Cub Swanson also holds the distinction of being the first fighter to utilize the UFC’s accident-insurance, after a knee to the face during a sparring session resulted in a broken jaw, as well as orbital, nasal and cheek fractures. Swanson’s last fight was a FOTN winning split decision over Mackens Semerzier at WEC 52. Meanwhile, Lamas is coming off of a TKO victory over Matt Grice at UFC Live on Versus: Kongo vs. Barry. His fight against Grice also marked his featherweight debut.


“It’s cool, bro. The UFC offers accident insurance now.”

Sometimes, we like to pretend that our articles actually influence the UFC’s decision making. The other day, when we gave the UFC some friendly advice concerning their debut on Fox, we suggested that the UFC should probably schedule more than one fight. Having the support of a network like Fox and only displaying one fight, no matter how epic, is like buying a hooker just to hold hands with during Shark Night 3D. So when the UFC announced the addition of Cub Swanson vs. Ricardo Lamas to this card, our first thought was “The UFC was simply doing what they always do by announcing the main event before they announce supporting fights”. But we still feel pretty good about ourselves.

The fight potentially marks Cub Swanson’s UFC debut. As you may remember, Cub Swanson was set to make his UFC debut against Erik Koch twice, but was injured both times and forced to withdraw. Cub Swanson also holds the distinction of being the first fighter to utilize the UFC’s accident-insurance, after a knee to the face during a sparring session resulted in a broken jaw, as well as orbital, nasal and cheek fractures. Swanson’s last fight was a FOTN winning split decision over Mackens Semerzier at WEC 52. Meanwhile, Lamas is coming off of a TKO victory over Matt Grice at UFC Live on Versus: Kongo vs. Barry. His fight against Grice also marked his featherweight debut.

Will the third time be a charm for Cub Swanson? If not, then who do you think should be a replacement? Does this fight make the televised portion of the card? Have at it in the comments section.

Lombard Submits Taylor at AFC 2, Vows to “Take Anderson Silva’s Head Off”

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We know Hector, Anderson’s voice is nothing short of heavenly.

For all the crap the UFC has gotten for their purchase of Strikeforce back in March, this week’s events have surely helped prove that a small, upstart promotion, though unable to compete with the UFC, can still put on a successful show. On Saturday, the second installment of the Australian Fighting Championships went down. Despite the fact that that the card was full of relatively unknown fighters, it managed to be incredibly entertaining none the less.

The main event featured a couple of familiar faces in Bellator middleweight champion Hector Lombard and TUF 7 finalist Jesse Taylor. Though the fight did not end via Lombard’s typically brutal KO, it saw the Cuban-born Aussie fend off most of “JT Money’s” takedowns in the first round and answer with a brutal onslaught of elbows. The end came shortly into the second round. On a reversal of a Taylor single leg, Lombard secured a heel hook, forcing the TUF alum to tap and halting his five fight win streak. When asked the inevitable question regarding Anderson Silva in his post fight interview, Lombard was rather frank about how the fight would go down. “I wouldn’t be frightened of him,” he stated, “I would go in there to take the head off.” Reports have yet to confirm whether or not Lombard has been spending time at the Frank Mir School of Trash Talk.

But Lombard’s finish was not even the most impressive heel hook of the night, which went to Polish up and comer Marcin Held. Held managed to pull off a spinning inside heel hook on Hawaiian Kaleo Kwan within the opening minute of the fight. Also on the card, former UFC and Pride heavyweight Soa Palelei scored a quick knockout of Son Hai Suk just 28 seconds into the bout. Palelei is perhaps best known for his epic brawl with Eddie Sanches back at UFC 79, which he has gone 4-1 since.

Full results–and a video from the fight–are after the jump.

 


We know Hector, Anderson’s voice is nothing short of heavenly.

For all the crap the UFC has gotten for their purchase of Strikeforce back in March, this week’s events have surely helped prove that a small, upstart promotion, though unable to compete with the UFC, can still put on a successful show. On Saturday, the second installment of the Australian Fighting Championships went down. Despite the fact that that the card was full of relatively unknown fighters, it managed to be incredibly entertaining none the less.

The main event featured a couple of familiar faces in Bellator middleweight champion Hector Lombard and TUF 7 finalist Jesse Taylor. Though the fight did not end via Lombard’s typically brutal KO, it saw the Cuban-born Aussie fend off most of “JT Money’s” takedowns in the first round and answer with a brutal onslaught of elbows. The end came shortly into the second round. On a reversal of a Taylor single leg, Lombard secured a heel hook, forcing the TUF alum to tap and halting his five fight win streak. When asked the inevitable question regarding Anderson Silva in his post fight interview, Lombard was rather frank about how the fight would go down. “I wouldn’t be frightened of him,” he stated, “I would go in there to take the head off.” Reports have yet to confirm whether or not Lombard has been spending time at the Frank Mir School of Trash Talk.

But Lombard’s finish was not even the most impressive heel hook of the night, which went to Polish up and comer Marcin Held. Held managed to pull off a spinning inside heel hook on Hawaiian Kaleo Kwan within the opening minute of the fight. Also on the card, former UFC and Pride heavyweight Soa Palelei scored a quick knockout of Son Hai Suk just 28 seconds into the bout. Palelei is perhaps best known for his epic brawl with Eddie Sanches back at UFC 79, which he has gone 4-1 since.

Full Results:

Hector Lombard def. Jesse Taylor via submission (heel hook) rd 2
Dillan Andrews def. Ross Dallow via TKO rd 1
Marcin Held def. Kaleo Kwan via submission (heel hook) rd 1
Soa Palelei def. Son Hai Suk via TKO rd 1
Nick Patterson def. James Fairman via TKO rd 1
Rusty McBride def. Richard Burmann via TKO rd 1
Daniel Hooker def. Yuma Ishizuka via majority decision
Jack Becker def. Ben Hansen via sub rd 1
Troy Williams def. Sam Summers via armbar rd 1