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We were able to catch up with Bas Rutten immediately following the last fight to get his thoughts on the night, the quality of the athletes, and the future of Invicta FC.
Rutten provided color commentary alongside Julie Kedzie and Muhammad ‘King Mo’ Lawal during the Invicta FC 4 broadcast.
Click here to view the embedded video.
We were able to catch up with Bas Rutten immediately following the last fight to get his thoughts on the night, the quality of the athletes, and the future of Invicta FC.
Rutten provided color commentary alongside Julie Kedzie and Muhammad ‘King Mo’ Lawal during the Invicta FC 4 broadcast.
Tyson Fury, a 20-0 British heavyweight boxer, made waves last week when he called out brand new heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez. After being largely met with smirks and chuckles, Fury is now setting his sights lower. Much lower. Much, much lower. T…
Tyson Fury, a 20-0 British heavyweight boxer, made waves last week when he called out brand new heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez. After being largely met with smirks and chuckles, Fury is now setting his sights lower. Much lower. Much, much lower.
Tyson Fury is now talking to Bob Sapp. From Twitter:
@bobsappmma @tom_hkr hey bob let’s dance I remember when u called out mike Tyson’ try calling out Tyson fury& c wat happens!!
— Tyson Fury (@Tyson_Fury) January 6, 2013
Bob Sapp is an old fan favorite, courtesy of his days fighting for the now-defunct Pride FC. There, at the legendary Pride Shockwave event, he fought Pride heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and used his mammoth strength to literally throw around the 6’3″, 240-pound Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu specialist.
He would lose the fight via second-round armbar, but remained one of the most popular heavyweights in the promotion.
In the years since, however, he has become something of a running joke among MMA fans.
After starting his career 10-3-1, he has since gone 1-13, good for a woefully bad 11-16-1 record. He is currently riding a 10-fight losing streak with nine of those fights ending in the first round. Most fans view him as a fighter who puts no effort into training or preparation and is content in simply receiving a check to show up.
Regardless, this turn of events may mean that Fury is more serious about a move to MMA than initially intended.
Nobody, not even Fury himself, could realistically believe a fight between him and Velasquez was a serious possibility. Sapp, however, is a journeyman super-heavyweight who has been fighting actively throughout Europe in recent years. Such a bout could be made and happen overseas with little difficulty.
Still, don’t get too excited for a Fury MMA debut. His sights likely remain fixed on a fight with one of the Klitschko brothers, and this could all be a publicity play.
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After a year filled with injuries, the UFC put on some great weeks of fighting to close out the year in Dec. 2012. Bellator added some eye-opening moments, and even DREAM gave us an eye-opener on New Year’s Eve.Indeed, Dec. 2012 was a great way to send…
After a year filled with injuries, the UFC put on some great weeks of fighting to close out the year in Dec. 2012. Bellator added some eye-opening moments, and even DREAM gave us an eye-opener on New Year’s Eve.
Indeed, Dec. 2012 was a great way to send MMA off in style after a tumultuous year, particularly in the UFC. The promotion was hampered by injuries at every turn in 2012 and had its fair share of controversy. Yet with their last show of 2012, UFC 155, the promotion capped off the year in style with a pair of shocking bouts (for totally different reasons).
Dec. 2012 saw titles change hands, a few shocking knockouts, and a lot of blood as two men gave every inch of their hearts and souls in the Octagon.
If he had a choice, Jose Aldo would likely love to compete in his native Brazil for every fight. His home country has been the scene of some of his greatest triumphs, including his first-round TKO of Chad Mendes at UFC 142 in Rio de Janeiro. But for hi…
If he had a choice, Jose Aldo would likely love to compete in his native Brazil for every fight. His home country has been the scene of some of his greatest triumphs, including his first-round TKO of Chad Mendes at UFC 142 in Rio de Janeiro.
But for his upcoming superfight against the Rocky Balboa of MMA, Frankie Edgar, he’s returning to another familiar territory—Las Vegas, Nevada:
“I would have liked it to be in Brazil because of the fan factor. Everybody rooting for us is a very important factor,” Aldo told MMA Junkie. “But Las Vegas is going to be great. I know there’s going to be a very large fanbase, and of course I grew up watching all the boxing fights in Las Vegas. It has a special charm in it for me.”
Edgar, who relinquished his 155-pound title to Benson Henderson in a closely-fought contest in February last year, is dropping down to featherweight for the first time. Both he and Aldo are, in their own rights, considered two of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world, and their meeting is being promoted as a superfight.
The fact that it’s taking place over Super Bowl weekend in early February holds special significance for the Brazilian.
“The Super Bowl is a very important championship,” Aldo said. “The whole world is tuned in. For me to be able to fight on that weekend is absolutely amazing.”
Still, he is unlikely to meet the same kind of rapturous and overwhelming support in the stadium in Vegas as he did in his fight against Mendes last year. In that fight, after finishing his opponent, the jubilant Aldo ran into the arms of a 12-thousand strong crowd in an unprecedented scene, marking his 21st career victory.
The UFC was, initially, eager to revisit that site for the Edgar fight, having lined up Rio de Janeiro once again for their contest at UFC 153 this past October. But a motorcycle injury in September left Aldo sidelined for months, and the new venue of Las Vegas, where Aldo captured the WEC featherweight title in 2009, had been booked.
There is no doubt that, despite the travelling Brazilian fans, Vegas will be more hostile territory. Edgar is a fan favourite, and he will likely be carried through the night by a partisan crowd.
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UFC lightweight Jamie Varner is looking at four men in the division he thinks can get him closer to the title, and prime among them is Brazilian Rafael Dos Anjos. Varner recently defeated Melvin Guillard at UFC 155 in Las Vegas and has put his UFC care…
UFC lightweight Jamie Varner is looking at four men in the division he thinks can get him closer to the title, and prime among them is Brazilian Rafael Dos Anjos.
Varner recently defeated Melvin Guillard at UFC 155 in Las Vegas and has put his UFC career back on track following a submission loss to Joe Lauzon in August.
The former WEC champ spoke to MMAJunkie.com Radio, saying, “I think Dos Anjos is on a streak, so he may be on my radar more so than anyone else.”
Varner, 28, has been fighting professionally since 2003, but he only made his UFC debut last year when he upset the odds and beat top contender Edson Barboza via TKO in the first round. Barboza was undefeated in his 10 fight career until he was stopped by Varner—an outcome that catapulted the latter into the upper echelons of the stacked 155-pound division.
Just how stacked and unpredictable that division truly is came into sharp view when Varner failed to get passed Joe Lauzon in his next match. Varner, however, isn’t dwelling on the past and has his eyes firmly set on a future title shot.
“I’m not going to try to mess with the UFC and tell them that I want a certain matchup,” he said. “I definitely want that [Lauzon] fight back. But I want to fight every guy that I lost to, and I’m hoping that I get a shot at all of them.”
He told MMAJunkie.com Radio that in his next fight, he’s looking for an opponent who will get him one step closer to the No. 1 contender’s spot. That could be Dos Anjos, who recently defeated Mark Bocek to cap three wins in a row; or TJ Grant, who recently beat Evan Dunham at UFC 152; or handsome Matt Wiman, who is coming off a win against Paul Sass in September; or even British lightweight Ross Pearson, who defeated George Sotiropoulos at the final of the TUF: Smashes TV series.
For now, however, Varner will have to wait as he nurses a thumb injury he picked up during the Guillard fight. He isn’t expected to return to the Octagon until April.
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