Heavy hitting Ron Sparks showed he has a good ground game as he submits Vince Lucero in the first round.In the first bout of the televised portion of Bellator 43, Vince Lucero (20-18) of Casa Grande, AZ took on up-and-coming Ron Sparks (6-0) of Louisvi…
Heavy hitting Ron Sparks showed he has a good ground game as he submits Vince Lucero in the first round.
In the first bout of the televised portion of Bellator 43, Vince Lucero (20-18) of Casa Grande, AZ took on up-and-coming Ron Sparks (6-0) of Louisville, KY in a heavyweight bout.
Before the fight, Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney told BleacherReport.com/MMA that he was afraid this was going to be the biggest mismatch on the card.
The first round began with both fighters exchanging punches in the middle of the cage. It was very clear on the on-start that Sparks was the more polished striker, as he landed the better of the punches and kicks.
Less than two minutes in to the opening round, Sparks landed a kick and punch that dropped Lucero. from there, Sparks got side control, and locked in a key lock that forced Lucero to tap.
From the outcome, it looks like Rebney’s prediction was correct. Don’t be surprised if we see Sparks in Bellator’s next heavyweight tournament.
Official Result—Ron Sparks defeated Vince Lucero via submission (key lock) at 2:18 of the first round.
Ron Sparks runs his perfect record up to 7-0, while Vince Lucero drops to 20-19.
Add Ken Shamrock to the list of those who would like to see Royce Gracie fight at UFC 134 in Rio.The rub is that Shamrock feels he would be the ideal opponent to face off against the Brazilian MMA legend.“That fight, Royce Gracie (versus) Ken Sh…
Add Ken Shamrock to the list of those who would like to see Royce Gracie fight at UFC 134 in Rio.
The rub is that Shamrock feels he would be the ideal opponent to face off against the Brazilian MMA legend.
“That fight, Royce Gracie (versus) Ken Shamrock, should happen,” Shamrock recently told Fight Network. “The fans want it, I want it, Royce wants it, Brazil wants it.”
Shamrock then went on, ripping the promotion that could make the fight happen, saying “the only problem with that is you have a bunch of people who have big egos who believe that the UFC created this whole thing when they absolutely did not. People like myself and Royce Gracie and (Mark) Coleman and many, many other people created this UFC phenomenon, so that they can sit there and control it which is what they’re doing today, trying to control it for themselves. So they’re not gonna let that fight happen.”
If the two UFC Hall of Famers were to meet, Shamrock thinks their presence on the UFC 134 fight card would result in big pay-per-view numbers for the promotion.
“There’s no doubt in my mind, and anyone else will tell you, that if this fight was to happen, this would be the biggest pay-per-view to date, but they will not let that happen,” Shamrock said. “(The UFC) would have to swallow their egos for that to happen, and these guys have too big of egos to let that happen.”
Shamrock’s vitriol most likely stems from the loss of a lawsuit he filed against the UFC’s parent company, Zuffa, LLC. In the suit, Shamrock alleged that the promotion had violated the terms of his contract when they released him with one fight remaining on that contract. The judge in the case found in favor of Zuffa, however, and Shamrock was subsequently ordered to pay Zuffa’s attorney fees and other costs, totaling $175,000.
Shamrock and Gracie have battled twice before, with Gracie winning their first fight at UFC 1 via rear-naked choke submission. The second time they met, in a “superfight” at UFC 5, the fight was declared a draw after 36 minutes of action.
UFC 134 will take place August 27 at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The fight card will be headlined by a middleweight title bout between champion Anderson Silva and the last man to gain a victory over him, Yushin Okami.
Sherdog.com is reporting that former WEC Lightweight champion Jamie Varner is in talks to face Dream Lightweight champion Shinya Aoki at Dream 17.Aoki was set to face Brazilian fighter Williamy Freire, but visa problems are preventing the 23-…
Sherdog.com is reporting that former WEC Lightweight champion Jamie Varner is in talks to face Dream Lightweight champion Shinya Aoki at Dream 17.
Aoki was set to face Brazilian fighter Williamy Freire, but visa problems are preventing the 23-year-old from fighting on the card.
The Dream champion is riding a four-fight win streak, with his latest victory coming via a first-round neck crank submission against Lyle Beerbohm. That was Aoki’s first victory under the Strikeforce banner and his first win in the United States.
Varner has been on a bit of a skid as of late, having been dropped from the Zuffa organization after going 0-3-1 in his last four fights—his latest defeats include a title loss to Ben Henderson at WEC 46 and a submission loss to Shane Roller at the WEC’s last event before the merger with the UFC last December.
The former WEC champion is set to face Tyler Combs at XFO 39 next Friday, only a few weeks before the proposed bout with Aoki.
MFC lightweight champion Antonio McKee was in discussions to replace Freire, but the 41-year-old appears to be off the card.
Dream 17 is scheduled for May 29th and includes the promotion’s first ever tournament at bantamweight. This is also the first event after the devastating earthquake and tsunami that hit the country only a few months ago.
Strikeforce middleweight, Tim Kennedy, must be having a good week. Kennedy, a former special forces sniper and green beret, spent time in Afghanistan looking for Osama bin Laden. Kennedy is happy justice has been served shown by his MMA-fight?urn=mma-w…
Strikeforce middleweight, Tim Kennedy, must be having a good week. Kennedy, a former special forces sniper and green beret, spent time in Afghanistan looking for Osama bin Laden. Kennedy is happy justice has been served shown by his MMA-fight?urn=mma-wp1998″>interview with Steve Cofield on ESPN Radio.
“If somebody hurt my family, I wouldn’t want to sit there and watch that guy executed. I would just want to know that justice was done,” Kennedy said.
On top of letting out his feelings towards bin Laden in the interview, Kennedy also talked about who his next opponent will be.
TK: “It’s not 100 percent yet, but it looks like it’s going to be at the end of July on the Dan Henderson/Fedor card, and I’m already gettin’ in my training camp, gettin’ ready to go, so for me, I’m fighting at the end of July. I just have to get somebody to say yes to fight me.”
SC: “Any clue who the candidates are?”
TK: “I’m hoping for Robbie Lawler, that’s who I asked for at the end of my last fight with Manhoef. He’s the number two guy in Strikeforce behind Jacare, and if I’m not fighting for the title, give me Robbie Lawler. Let me fight that guy.”
If Kennedy and Lawler were to be added to the July card, they would be added with a lot of good names on the card.
The card features former Strikeforce light heavyweight champ Muhammad Lawal versus Reoger Gracie. It also features the other former light heavyweight champ, Rafael Cavalcante versus Ovince St. Preux.
Of course though, the big fight on the card is a bout between Fedor Emelianenko and Dan Henderson.
“Korean Zombie would be an awesome fight!”—Mark Hominick via Twitter May 6, 2011 “People have been asking about Korean Zombie. It would be a great fight and would love to do it if it was offered.”—Mark Hominic…
“Korean Zombie would be an awesome fight!”—Mark Hominick via Twitter May 6, 2011
“People have been asking about Korean Zombie. It would be a great fight and would love to do it if it was offered.”—Mark Hominick via Twitter May 7, 2011
[Goose bumps]
In front of his home crowd last weekend at UFC 129 in Toronto, Mark “the Machine” Hominick managed to “wow” over 55,000 fans who were all live in attendance at the Rogers Centre, by nearly defeating current UFC Featherweight Champion, Jose Aldo, in what was an intense back-and-forth battle between two amazing warriors.
Despite the fact that Hominick sustained a massive hematoma (imagine a huge bump on his head about the size of your fist) that nearly ended the bout prematurely, the ringside doctor did a fantastic job in ensuring the safety of Hominick, and by doing so, allowing the action to continue.
And continue it did.
Fireworks exploded as Hominick battled Aldo into the deep waters of the championship rounds, winning the stand-up war throughout most of the fight, particularly in the fifth and final round.
Give credit to Aldo however, for doing an excellent job in taking this fight down to the mat and controlling Hominick from the top position throughout most of the earlier rounds.
This was a battle that many experts had predicted would become the “Fight of the Night,” and without question, it didn’t disappoint.
And speaking of “Fight of the Night,” guess who else had previously won that honour (not to mention, “Fight of the Year”)?
You guessed it…the “Korean Zombie,” Jung Chan-Sung.
In fact, quite recently, Chan-Sung also managed to pick up the honour of “Submission of the Night” by defeating Leonard Garcia (re-match from their “Fight of the Year”) by using a twister (spinal lock) submission in his UFC debut at UFC Fight Night: Nogueira vs Davis, back in March of this year.
Very impressive!
Both Hominick and Chan-Sung bring incredibly entertaining and exciting styles of fighting into the Octagon, and the thought of this potential match-up has me considerably more excited than just about any other fight that the UFC currently has scheduled on the horizon.
Now, obviously Hominick loves the idea of this fight, and I’m pretty sure that all of the fans would love to see it as well, but I can’t help but to wonder just how the “Korean Zombie” would feel about taking on the “Machine?”
“I want Mark Hominick.”—Jung Chan-Sung via Twitter
There you go, fight fans.
I’m not one to beg, but please, please, please Dana White…make this fight happen as soon as possible!
Thank you.
These are my opinions. If you don’t like them…I have others. Check them out at www.mrjamesryan.com
Tonight, starting at 7:30 EST, Bleacher Report MMA will be live on the scene at the First Council Casino in Newkirk, Oklahoma to provide live results and reaction from Bellator 43.In the main event, Jay Hieron will be squaring off against judo speciali…
Tonight, starting at 7:30 EST, Bleacher Report MMA will be live on the scene at the First Council Casino in Newkirk, Oklahoma to provide live results and reaction from Bellator 43.
In the main event, Jay Hieron will be squaring off against judo specialist Rick Hawn in the finals of Bellator’s season four welterweight tournament to determine who will get the $100,000 grand prize and a title shot against reigning Bellator welterweight champion Ben Askren.
Also on the card, the inspirational Bellator veteran Bryan Baker will be taking on the rough and rugged Joe Riggs in a middleweight showdown.
Also on the main card, Jose Vega will be taking on Chase Bebbe in a bantamweight feature, and Vince Lucero will be up against Ron Sparks in a heavyweight feature attraction.
In undercard action, local fighters Mike Schatz will be taking on Michael Osborn in a lightweight tilt, and Rich Bouphanouvong will be facing David Rickles in a catchweight bout.
Be sure to check back often as results will be posted in real time, and follow all the action on Twitter @BR_MMA.
