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The 1980 Miracle on Ice still gets more recognition, but Rulon Gardner’s legendary Greco-Roman triumph over Alexander Karelin at the 2000 Summer Olympics was just as unlikely. One of the most intimidating figures i…
The 1980 Miracle on Ice still gets more recognition, but Rulon Gardner‘s legendary Greco-Roman triumph over Alexander Karelin at the 2000 Summer Olympics was just as unlikely. One of the most intimidating figures in sports history, Karelin had been undefeated for 13 years, and hadn’t even given up a point in six when he met Gardner in Sydney. The American managed to shake loose a point from the Russian Experiment while shutting down Karelin’s offense, and went home with a gold medal. It was just one of many brushes with death that the former farm-boy managed to survive.
Gardener retired from wrestling four years later after taking a bronze medal in Athens, but he wasn’t done competing. On New Year’s Eve 2004, Gardner competed in his first and only MMA match at PRIDE Shockwave 2004, where he won a unanimous decision against 1992 Judo gold-medalist (and PRIDE/Sengoku veteran) Hidehiko Yoshida. The second round of that fight is above. Gardner never competed in another MMA match.
Somehow, Rulon has managed to gain 200 pounds since then. That’s the bad news. The good news is, he can currently be seen as a contestant on the eleventh season of The Biggest Loser, which premiered last night on NBC. Hey, if it worked for Fat Gina Carano, why not an Olympic legend? After the jump: A video feature on the historic Gardner vs. Karelin match, and Gardner’s intro package from TBL…
Current Strikeforce Diaz vs. Santos Odds – Live on Saturday, January 29, 2011 The HP Pavilion in San Jose, California will host Strikeforce 30. The Main Event brings us the Stockton Bad Boy Nick Diaz (23-7-0-1) up against Brazilian slugger Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos (18-13). Diaz will look to defend his Strikeforce Welterweight tile for a second time […]
Current Strikeforce Diaz vs. Santos Odds – Live on Saturday, January 29, 2011 The HP Pavilion in San Jose, California will host Strikeforce 30. The Main Event brings us the Stockton Bad Boy Nick Diaz (23-7-0-1) up against Brazilian slugger Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos (18-13). Diaz will look to defend his Strikeforce Welterweight tile for a second time and extend his win streak to nine straight. Cyborg is currently on a two fight win streak with his most recent bout being a TKO victory over Marius Zaromskis. There is no doubt Santos will give Diaz a run for his money and in return give the fans a good fight.
Strikeforce Diaz vs. Cyborg Odds and more fights will be announced soon.
The Co-main event brings us another title fight between current Strikeforce Middleweight champion Jacare Souza (13-2-1) against number one contender “Ruthless” Robbie Lawler (20-6-1). Also the return of Herschel Walker (1-0) taking on Scott Carson (4-1). And Heavyweight jiu jitsu Wiz Roger Gracie (3-0) up against MMA Vet Trevor Prangley (23-6-1).
Check back with us closer to fight night as I will have updated Strikeforce Diaz vs. Santos Odds plus Fight Predictions. And if you want to add a little excitement to your Strikeforce 30 fight night, you can bet on this fight atSportsbook.com.
Filed under: UFC, StrikeforceThere’s no such thing as “the heavyweight champion of the world” in mixed martial arts. That’s a title that various promoters can bestow on their fighters, but the reality is that the promotions have their own heavyweight c…
There’s no such thing as “the heavyweight champion of the world” in mixed martial arts. That’s a title that various promoters can bestow on their fighters, but the reality is that the promotions have their own heavyweight champions. If those champions won’t fight each other, then we never really know, for sure, who the champ is.
But there is usually a consensus opinion among MMA fans and the MMA media about who the top heavyweight is. For years, the top heavyweight was Fedor Emelianenko, which meant that the No. 1 heavyweight resided outside the UFC. The combination of Fedor’s loss to Fabricio Werdum and Cain Velasquez‘s victory over Brock Lesnar, however, solidified Velasquez, in the eyes of most observers, as the No. 1 heavyweight.
None of the fighters participating in Strikeforce’s eight-man heavyweight tournament will get the opportunity to wrest control of the mythical heavyweight crown away from Velasquez inside the cage. But the tournament will give the winner a lot of ammunition for an argument that he is, in fact, the best. And the tournament gives Strikeforce its best chance of making a legitimate case that its champion — and not the UFC’s — is the best heavyweight.
Putting together the eight-man Strikeforce World Grand Prix tournament was likely a monumental undertaking when dealing with so many fighter personalities and issues. For instance finishing negotiations with Fedor Emelianenko and his management, getting him signed on is a big plus for the tournament. Other issues like fighter injuries in order to time […]
Putting together the eight-man Strikeforce World Grand Prix tournament was likely a monumental undertaking when dealing with so many fighter personalities and issues. For instance finishing negotiations with Fedor Emelianenko and his management, getting him signed on is a big plus for the tournament. Other issues like fighter injuries in order to time the tournament so a fighter like Fabricio Werdum would be healthy enough to participate. And ensuring all of the participants are licensed, such as Josh Barnett who is currently un-licensed.
These are just a few of the issues that Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker had to deal with to bring this tournament together. All the while receiving criticism from fans for not putting the promotions heavyweights into the cage. Well it seems Coker has the last laugh on that one.
Mike Chiappetta of MMAFighting.com spoke to the Strikeforce CEO about the tournament and the ambitious undertaking to make it happen. Here are a few quotes from that interview.
A tournament like this is ambitious and quite challenging. Why did you decide to do it? Scott Coker: When we were in the process of collecting all these heavyweights, and signing these top 10 guys, the only fighter we really had to extend was Fedor, which as you know took a long time. I went to Showtime with this plan about 3 months ago. I saw what they did with the Super Six tournament in boxing. I thought it was a great format and definitely made some more stars in the boxing world. They definitely created more hype and more stars in that sport. I thought it’d be a good way for USA fans to get to know some of these top heavyweights that we have fighting, like [Sergei] Kharitonov, like having Josh [Barnett] back in America. It’s a great way to unveil it and roll it out.
Why include your champion in the tournament, instead of having a fight with him as the final. Would it be him sitting too long, or is there another reason? Scott Coker:We originally thought he could fight the tournament winner, or fight a superfight. But when I talked to [Overeem’s management] Golden Glory, they said he wanted to fight in the tournament. And then when I talked to Alistair and Bas Boon, his manager, over the weekend when I was in Japan, Alistair came to me and said, ‘I want to fight Fabricio Werdum. You have to give me that fight.’ And I said, ‘Let’s do it.’ It’s something he wanted to do. He wanted to avenge that loss from three or four years ago, so it’s good for everybody.
You spoke of Werdum-Overeem, but how did you decide the other pairings? Scott Coker:The pairings were done on some timing. Fabricio is coming off surgery of his arm, so he was not available until March anyway. And those two wanted to fight each other. Fedor wanted to fight Jan. 29, or even Jan. 7. He’s ready to go. He’s itching to get back in there. We felt Bigfoot [Antonio Silva] was the perfect opponent for the first round. You never know what’ll happen in MMA when you have two buys guys. As far as Kharitonov, he’s coming off a win in Japan. And [Andrei] Arlovski is ready to go. These guys are ready, so let’s put them in a cage and let them go.
This is really a great interview with Scott Coker as he talks about many other aspects of the tournament and it’s participants. He addresses the issue of Josh Barnett’s licensing, matching Fedor Emelianenko with Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva, who the No. 1 alternate is if a fighter gets injured, plus a whole lot more. So be sure to check out the interview, just click the link above.
Featherweights Pablo Garza and Yves Jabouin are expected to meet at UFC 129.
MMAjunkie.com confirmed the news today from multiple
sources close to the event, who said verbal agreements are in place
with contracts on the way.
UFC 129 takes place April…
Featherweights Pablo Garza and Yves Jabouin are expected to meet at UFC 129.
MMAjunkie.com confirmed the news today from multiple
sources close to the event, who said verbal agreements are in place
with contracts on the way.
UFC 129 takes place April 30 at the Rogers Centre in Toronto, Cananda,
and will feature a welterweight title match between champ Georges
St-Pierre and Jake Shields.
There’s no such thing as “the heavyweight champion of the world” in mixed martial arts. That’s a title that various promoters can bestow on their fighters, but the reality is that the promotions have their own heavyweight champions. If those champions won’t fight each other, then we never really know, for sure, who the champ is.
Featherweights Pablo Garza and Yves Jabouin are expected to meet at UFC 129.