Another week, another collection of valuable information put together to help all the new fans out there acquaint themselves with the names they vaguely recall hearing in that sport they kind of like. Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the Casual Fan…
Another week, another collection of valuable information put together to help all the new fans out there acquaint themselves with the names they vaguely recall hearing in that sport they kind of like. Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the Casual Fan’s Guide to the Bantamweight Division. Here, you will learn about the past, present and […]
It’s an indisputable fact that Strikeforce women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey is MMA’s newest star of the moment. In the five months since defeating Miesha Tate for the championship, she’s modeled in ESPN The Magazine…
It’s an indisputable fact that Strikeforce women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey is MMA’s newest star of the moment. In the five months since defeating Miesha Tate for the championship, she’s modeled in ESPN The Magazine’s “Body Issue,” appeared on Conan O’Brien’s TBS talk show and had her own Showtime All Access special. She’s also become […]
(Frankie Edgar vs. Dominick Cruz for the UFC bantamweight title, with special guest referee Michael Vick. Dare we dream? | Photo via the best communications director in MMA)
For years, everyone from UFC President Dana White to fans of former lightweight champion Frankie Edgar have called for “The Answer” to drop down to a more natural competition weight of 145 pounds because he’s so much smaller than just about everyone he’s faced in the Octagon. To this point, Edgar has only seemed to be annoyed at the suggestion — after all, he clearly has no problem competing with the relative behemoths at lightweight — but now even his team seems to be saying he should drop down…to bantamweight.
You read that correctly (or maybe you didn’t, we really can’t vouch for either your vision or literacy, so get off our back, ok?): Edgar’s boxing coach and The World’s Strongest Man Mark Henry says that he’d like to see Edgar, who he says walks around at just 157-159 pounds, instead campaign at 135 pounds:
“Me personally, I’d like to see Frankie for like a year to take a rest on his back and his body to fight people at 135 to do what everybody in the whole MMA community is [doing] and suck him down to nothing, looking like their death the day of the weigh-in and fight people that weigh as much as him,” Henry said while a guest on the SiriusXM Fight Club radio show Monday.
(Frankie Edgar vs. Dominick Cruz for the UFC bantamweight title, with special guest referee Michael Vick. Dare we dream? | Photo via the best communications director in MMA)
For years, everyone from UFC President Dana White to fans of former lightweight champion Frankie Edgar have called for “The Answer” to drop down to a more natural competition weight of 145 pounds because he’s so much smaller than just about everyone he’s faced in the Octagon. To this point, Edgar has only seemed to be annoyed at the suggestion — after all, he clearly has no problem competing with the relative behemoths at lightweight — but now even his team seems to be saying he should drop down…to bantamweight.
You read that correctly (or maybe you didn’t, we really can’t vouch for either your vision or literacy, so get off our back, ok?): Edgar’s boxing coach and The World’s Strongest Man Mark Henry says that he’d like to see Edgar, who he says walks around at just 157-159 pounds, instead campaign at 135 pounds:
“Me personally, I’d like to see Frankie for like a year to take a rest on his back and his body to fight people at 135 to do what everybody in the whole MMA community is [doing] and suck him down to nothing, looking like their death the day of the weigh-in and fight people that weigh as much as him,” Henry said while a guest on the SiriusXM Fight Club radio show Monday.
“What he’s doing now I don’t think he gets enough credit for,” Henry continued. “You’re talking about guys that weigh 155-160 — what he walks around at — even when he isn’t training. Who’s doing that? That would be like Ben [Henderson] fighting Anderson Silva. He walks around and he’s 157. He comes back from Disneyland after his last fight or two fights ago and he’s 157, 158 or 159. I don’t think Frankie gets enough credit for what he’s accomplishing and doing in MMA.”
If Edgar truly walks around that light, that must be why he looks like he looked liked he was fighting his uncle in his matches with Gray Maynard and Benson Henderson. What do you say, Nation? Now that he’s lost two fights in row to Henderson, should Edgar do what most other fighters do and diet and cut down from about twenty pounds above their contracted weights for fights? Or would Frankie be better off keeping his speed and energy advantage at lightweight?
Strikeforce bantamweight champ Ronda Rousey has seemingly changed her stance on Playboy quite a bit recently. Believe it or not, Rousey recently sparred with the May 1996 Playboy playmate, Carmen Electra. TitoCouture.com has the exclusive photos….
Strikeforce bantamweight champ Ronda Rousey has seemingly changed her stance on Playboy quite a bit recently. Believe it or not, Rousey recently sparred with the May 1996 Playboy playmate, Carmen Electra. TitoCouture.com has the exclusive photos. Back in February, the former Olympic judoka bronze medalist ripped “ring girls” for posing nude in Playboy magazine. Octagon girls […]
After suffering an injury in her most recent fight, former Strikeforce women’s bantamweight champion Miesha Tate finally got back in the gym recently and is already preparing for her next fight. According to Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker, Tat…
After suffering an injury in her most recent fight, former Strikeforce women’s bantamweight champion Miesha Tate finally got back in the gym recently and is already preparing for her next fight. According to Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker, Tate could be back in the coming months. “We don’t have anything to announce officially, but I believe […]
If you are one of those conspiracy theorists out there who believe that Ronda Rousey sold her soul to the devil for the Ultimate Armbar of Absolute Victory (perhaps we’re naming that a little soon), then it’s time for a wake up call. Aside from Ronda’s extensive judo background, her ability to maim and disfigure her female counterparts is equal parts experience and genetics. Because believe it or not, her mother, Dr. Ann Maria Rousey DeMars, was the first American woman to ever win a World Judo Championship. How’d she do it, you ask? Mainly through the help of her friends; Harai Goshi, Uchi Mata, and Mr. Armbar.
Well Taters, it seems that Ronda’s mom has taken some time out of her busy schedule to bestow some knowledge upon us all, via her personal blog. Today’s lesson is titled “How to do a Perfect Armbar.” Enjoy:
If you are one of those conspiracy theorists out there who believe that Ronda Rousey sold her soul to the devil for the Ultimate Armbar of Absolute Victory (perhaps we’re naming that a little soon), then it’s time for a wake up call. Aside from Ronda’s extensive judo background, her ability to maim and disfigure her female counterparts is equal parts experience and genetics. Because believe it or not, her mother, Dr. Ann Maria Rousey DeMars, was the first American woman to ever win a World Judo Championship. How’d she do it, you ask? Mainly through the help of her friends; Harai Goshi, Uchi Mata, and Mr. Armbar.
Well Taters, it seems that Ronda’s mom has taken some time out of her busy schedule to bestow some knowledge upon us all, via her personal blog. Today’s lesson is titled “How to do a Perfect Armbar.” Enjoy:
Random arm bar notes: I. How to do a perfect arm bar
Let’s suppose you are in a tournament, or even practice, and you have the great good fortune to have an opponent beneath you and you get hold of your opponent’s arm. I am going to assume that your opponent is not an idiot and having grasped the severity of the situation will grab on to his own arm for dear life. How to do a perfect arm bar, according to me.
1. Have both hands at your opponent’s wrist, locking the forearm against your body.
2. Have both of your legs across the opponent’s body, one on either side of said arm (I learned to refer to things as “said” from reading too many contracts)
3. Rotate toward the opponent’s head to break the arm free
4. Rotate back toward the opponent’s hips so you are now at a perfect 270 degree angle from the opponent’s body (for non-math majors, a 270 degree angle is shown below. This is nothing if not a full-service blog)
5. Legs are squeezed together holding the opponent tight at the shoulder, with your thighs
6. Pinch knees tight together, touching, allowing no space for the opponent to pull his arm through if he did by some miracle manage to pull his wrist free,
7. Legs are bent, curling his body back toward you with your feet. (If you’ve ever done the leg curl at the gym, it’s that motion. If you’ve never done a leg curl, what the heck is wrong with you?)
8. Arch your hips to apply the arm bar. If you have ever had a boyfriend, yeah, it’s that motion. (Unless you’re a gay male in which case I am not sure.)
As you can see, Ronda has not only inherited her death-like vice grip from Ann, but a good deal of her wit as well. But you heard her, ladies! Get out there and start practicing armbar “techniques” on your boyfriends, husbands, or any random mixed martial arts bloggers that you catch eyes with from across the room/bar. Seriously, DO IT.
