See, this is why we can’t have nice things. On Saturday night, Flint Fight Fest hosted an unscheduled battle royale, when spectators began pouring over the top of the cage to join a brawl that was already in progress. The Flint Police Department was forced to step in and restore order. If you happened to be there and could provide us some insight on what led to the little in-cage disagreement in the first place, please let us know in the comments section.
See, this is why we can’t have nice things. On Saturday night, Flint Fight Fest hosted an unscheduled battle royale, when spectators began pouring over the top of the cage to join a brawl that was already in progress. The Flint Police Department was forced to step in and restore order. If you happened to be there and could provide us some insight on what led to the little in-cage disagreement in the first place, please let us know in the comments section.
(Call it a hunch, but somehow we don’t think ‘The Biebs’ has ever been in a fight.)
Anderson Silva lived out the fantasy of millions of pre-pubescent teen girls around the world last night when he spent some alone time with Justin Bieber before the teen pop star’s concert in Rio de Janeiro.
(Call it a hunch, but somehow we don’t think ‘The Biebs’ has ever been in a fight.)
Anderson Silva lived out the fantasy of millions of pre-pubescent teen girls around the world last night when he spent some alone time with Justin Bieber before the teen pop star’s concert in Rio de Janeiro.
Bieber tweeted the photo above and wrote:
Unfortunately he just got all of our hopes up. Anderson won’t be kicking his teeth in any time soon since the “fight” was actually just a dance-off.
(Video courtesy of YouTube/jaylegaci)
“The Spider” seemed pretty into the moment and has been tweeting about his cameo at the concert today on Twitter. One thing’s for sure is that Silva really knows how to cross-promote between demographics.
Hopefully we can get Chael Sonnen’s take on the odd pairing.
Over the past two decades, Mixed Martial Arts has evolved from a no-holds-barred freak show to a heavily regulated, network television ready enterprise that is accepted by a large slice of the general public. But even with the sport’s modern improvements and safeguards, there are still detractors who contend that MMA is nothing more than low-bred street-fighting operating under the guise of an organized competition.
In honor of the upcoming DVD release of Arena — a truly insane modern-gladiator flick starring Samuel L. Jackson and Kellan Lutz — we thought we’d give the MMA critics some perspective by presenting a list of the most brutal and dangerous combat “sports” ever invented. From shock-fighting to bear-baiting, they defy logic, celebrate gratuitous violence, and remind us just how far the human race has come…
(Two brave athletes battle for the X-FENCE welterweight title, previously vacated by Ash Williams.)
Over the past two decades, Mixed Martial Arts has evolved from a no-holds-barred freak show to a heavily regulated, network television ready enterprise that is accepted by a large slice of the general public. But even with the sport’s modern improvements and safeguards, there are still detractors who contend that MMA is nothing more than low-bred street-fighting operating under the guise of an organized competition.
In honor of the upcoming DVD release of Arena — a truly insane modern-gladiator flick starring Samuel L. Jackson and Kellan Lutz — we thought we’d give the MMA critics some perspective by presenting a list of the most brutal and dangerous combat “sports” ever invented. From shock-fighting to bear-baiting, they defy logic, celebrate gratuitous violence, and remind us just how far the human race has come…
Irish Bare-Knuckle Boxing
(Tip of the day: Don’t ever fight pick a fight with anyone who requires subtitles in their own language.)
Irish/Gypsy/Traveller/pikey bare-knuckle fighting, or whatever you choose to call it, is the missing link between a pub brawl and the Marquess of Queensberry rules. Bare-knuckle fighting is unregulated and implicitly raw. While boxing is often described as “beautifully brutal,” bare-knuckle boxing is just brutal. There is no designated area in which a Gypsy fight occurs. Boxing has a square-ring, MMA has a cage — gypsy boxing simply has an abstract “space” that can include barn-doors, tractors, livestock, and fellow gypsies. And the sound of raw knuckle against skull is something that few people can get used to.
This style of underground street-fighting was most recently popularized by Internet sensation Kimbo Slice. Kevin Ferguson’s version of backyard brawling is a direct descendant of Irish bare-knuckle boxing, and the underlying concept has remained identical, right down to the lack of medical professionals on hand. The only discernible difference is that Kimbo staged some of his throw-downs in a boat-yard, thereby enabling himself to take his buddies out on the water after the ‘bows had been thrown.
Georges St-Pierre might want to re-examine his choice of training partners for his upcoming UFC 137 bout with Carlos Condit on October 29. You would think he would be picking the brain of his friend and teammate Rory MacDonald, who was seven seconds away from upsetting the former WEC welterweight champ at UFC 115 before getting TKO’d by “The Natural Born Killer.” Instead, “Rush” is thinking outside the box and has brought in Dan Hardy, who hasn’t won a fight since 2009, to help him prepare for the only guy to have knocked “The Outlaw” out. Makes sense, right?
Georges St-Pierre might want to re-examine his choice of training partners for his upcoming UFC 137 bout with Carlos Condit on October 29. You would think he would be picking the brain of his friend and teammate Rory MacDonald, who was seven seconds away from upsetting the former WEC welterweight champ at UFC 115 before getting TKO’d by “The Natural Born Killer.” Instead, “Rush” is thinking outside the box and has brought in Dan Hardy, who hasn’t won a fight since 2009, to help him prepare for the only guy to have knocked “The Outlaw” out. Makes sense, right?
(“Don’t do this, Georges.”)
(“Or this, Georges.”)
(“But if you do, make sure you don’t do this, Georges.”)
Maybe he’s using some kind of new age reverse psychology or maybe the concept of employing mind games (like when Hardy went to train with Matt Serra for his UFC 111 bout with St-Pierre) is somehow lost in translation with the UFC welterweight champ. Whatever the reason for bringing him into his camp, St-Pierre seems to think it will help, so who are we to judge? We hear Jon Jones is bringing in Brandon Vera to help him get ready for Rashad.
Fresh off his angelic Burger King commercial, UFC Middleweight Champ Anderson Silva recently appeared on Brazilian talk show Agora e’ Tarde to sing a duet with comedian and the show’s co-host Danilo Gentili. Apparently after dominating every possible contender in the middleweight division, “The Spider” must have his eyes set on the Grammy’s. Though the performance was less than stellar, the good news is that Anderson can still consult long time hero Steven Seagal for advice in this department as well.
Join us after the jump for a study in Jon Jones’ superhuman abilities and the most unexpected knockout that you may ever see.
Fresh off his angelic Burger King commercial, UFC Middleweight Champ Anderson Silva recently appeared on Brazilian talk show Agora e’ Tarde to sing a duet with comedian/co-host Danilo Gentili. Apparently after dominating every possible contender in the middleweight division, “The Spider” must have his eyes set on the Grammy’s these days. Though the performance was less than stellar, the good news is that Anderson can still consult long time hero Steven Seagal for advice in this department as well.
Join us after the jump for a study in Jon Jones’ superhuman abilities and the most unexpected knockout that you may ever see.
ESPN’s Sports Science recently devoted a segment to current UFC Light Heavyweight Champ Jon Jones and boy, did they pull the rug out from underneath us. Turns out, Jon Jones is a near inhuman force who redefines the term “Superman Punch”. Who would’ve guessed? Host/human porcupine John Brenkus informs us that “Bones” has the wingspan of your average prehistoric bird of prey, and can throw spinning elbows strikes at faster speeds than an Apache helicopter can spin its blades. But if The A-Team taught us anything, it’s that Rampage Jackson is more than versed in helicopter warfare.
Props to our buddies over at IronForgesIron for our last video, which features 44 year old BJJ ace Jorg “Marshmallow” Lothmann making his MMA debut against 11-1 Jeffrey Waltmanns. A video that truly shows you cannot judge a book by its cover, the much older Lothmann delivers a beautiful placed kick to end his opponents night early, despite having the physique of Fedor Emelianenko if he was trapped in an ice cream factory for the 11 month span that is Russia’s winter. Are we witnessing the next Randy Couture?
If Strikeforce gave out performance bonuses like their big brothers at the UFC, the “Barnett vs. Kharitonov” prelim match between Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos and rising Canadian star Jordan Mein would be a front-runner for Fight of the Night. After two entertaining rounds of stand-up, Mein ended the match in the third frame with the nastiest display of standing elbows in MMA history. Seriously, that’s not an exaggeration. Skip to about the 1:45 mark and tell me I’m wrong — this might even give Anderson Silva vs. Tony Fryklund a run for its money. To see the first two rounds of the fight (and everything else from the prelims), swing by IronForgesIron.
Mein’s victory upped his career record to 23-7, and lengthened a win streak that includes victories over Joe Riggs, Josh Burkman, and Marius Zaromskis. He’s been fighting professionally since 2006, and he’s 21 years old. You do the math on that one.
After the jump: Another highly satisfying knockout from the Strikeforce prelims, this one involving former light-heavyweight champ Rafael Cavalcante and Olympic freestyle wrestling silver medalist (and Strikeforce first-timer) Yoel Romero. We set up the video to skip past the first ten minutes of Romero avoiding the fight and taunting Feijao at every opportunity; trust us, we’re doing you a favor. When Cavalcante finally catches up with his dick-headed opponent, it is so, so good.
If Strikeforce gave out performance bonuses like their big brothers at the UFC, the “Barnett vs. Kharitonov“ prelim match between Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos and rising Canadian star Jordan Mein would be a front-runner for Fight of the Night. After two entertaining rounds of stand-up, Mein ended the match in the third frame with the nastiest display of standing elbows in MMA history. Seriously, that’s not an exaggeration. Skip to about the 1:45 mark and tell me I’m wrong — this might even give Anderson Silva vs. Tony Fryklund a run for its money. To see the first two rounds of the fight (and everything else from the prelims), swing by IronForgesIron.
Mein’s victory upped his career record to 23-7, and lengthened a win streak that includes victories over Joe Riggs, Josh Burkman, and Marius Zaromskis. He’s been fighting professionally since 2006, and he’s 21 years old. You do the math on that one.
After the jump: Another highly satisfying knockout from the Strikeforce prelims, this one involving former light-heavyweight champ Rafael Cavalcante and Olympic freestyle wrestling silver medalist (and Strikeforce first-timer) Yoel Romero. We set up the video to skip past the first ten minutes of Romero avoiding the fight and taunting Feijao at every opportunity; trust us, we’re doing you a favor. When Cavalcante finally catches up with his dick-headed opponent, it is so, so good.
