In MMA, as in life, you never want to leave it in the hands of the judges. The same rule applies for the absurd parody of a combat sport known as XARM. Up until now, we’ve just thought that XARM involved two guys swinging wild haymakers at each other with their hands tied together, but it turns out that you actually can win or lose by pin — just like in real arm-wrestling. And James Irvin recently learned that the hard way during his depressing promotional debut against XARM veteran Fred “Big Cat” Steen.
Steen successfully pins Irvin’s arm in rounds one and two, meaning that Irvin needs a knockout in round three to win the match. And while the Sandman lands some good shots in that final frame, Steen spends much of the third round hanging back (literally), stalling his way to a decision win. Honestly, these goddamned point-fighters are ruining the sport.
I’d update the James Irvin “Why Me?” timeline, but who even cares at this point. For further viewing, watch this XARM profile of James Irvin, where Irvin explains that he works full-time at the UFC Gym (possibly alongside another legendary UFC striker), incorrectly claims that he still holds the UFC’s fastest knockout record, and bitches about his damn taxes.
In MMA, as in life, you never want to leave it in the hands of the judges. The same rule applies for the absurd parody of a combat sport known as XARM. Up until now, we’ve just thought that XARM involved two guys swinging wild haymakers at each other with their hands tied together, but it turns out that you actually can win or lose by pin — just like in real arm-wrestling. And James Irvin recently learned that the hard way during his depressing promotional debut against XARM veteran Fred “Big Cat” Steen.
Steen successfully pins Irvin’s arm in rounds one and two, meaning that Irvin needs a knockout in round three to win the match. And while the Sandman lands some good shots in that final frame, Steen spends much of the third round hanging back (literally), stalling his way to a decision win. Honestly, these goddamned point-fighters are ruining the sport.
I’d update the James Irvin “Why Me?” timeline, but who even cares at this point. For further viewing, watch this XARM profile of James Irvin, where Irvin explains that he works full-time at the UFC Gym (possibly alongside another legendary UFC striker), incorrectly claims that he still holds the UFC’s fastest knockout record, and bitches about his damn taxes.
British lightweight Paul Taylor is undoubtedly one of the most entertaining fighters in the UFC…when he actually manages to make it into the cage. His ability to do so has become less and less frequent over the past few years, and it’s truly a shame for fans of a good old fashioned throwdown. Taylor was scheduled to return to action for the first time in over a year against Anthony Njokuani at UFC on FUEL 4, which goes down from the HP Pavillion in San Jose on July 11th, but word just broke that he has been forced to withdraw from the bout yet again, and will be replaced by Rafael Dos Anjos.
Although Taylor is an unspectacular 4-5 thus far in his UFC career, his victories include a most recent trouncing of Gabe Ruediger at 126, as well as entertaining victories over Peter Sobatta, Jess Liaudin, and Edilberto de Oliveira. Oddly enough, Taylor has earned his reputation and “Relentless” moniker by managing to be even more captivating in defeat, with his high-profile losses to Marcus Davis, Paul Kelly, and Chris Lytle all earning him Fight of the Night bonuses at UFC 75, 80, and 89, respectively.
But ever since dropping to lightweight, Taylor has spent so much time nursing various injuries that even James Irvin is beginning to look like the picture of health in comparison. OK, that might be an exaggeration, but if you were to peruse over Taylor’s Wikipedia page, you would find that the phrase “was expected to face” appears more times than the phrase “won by.” Sad but true, folks.
Check out the full history of Taylor’s troubles after the jump.
(At least we’ll always have the memories…)
British lightweight Paul Taylor is undoubtedly one of the most entertaining fighters in the UFC…when he actually manages to make it into the cage. His ability to do so has become less and less frequent over the past few years, and it’s truly a shame for fans of a good old fashioned throwdown. Taylor was scheduled to return to action for the first time in over a year against Anthony Njokuani at UFC on FUEL 4, which goes down from the HP Pavillion in San Jose on July 11th, but word just broke that he has been forced to withdraw from the bout yet again, and will be replaced by Rafael Dos Anjos.
Although Taylor is an unspectacular 4-5 thus far in his UFC career, his victories include a most recent trouncing of Gabe Ruediger at 126, as well as entertaining victories over Peter Sobatta, Jess Liaudin, and Edilberto de Oliveira. Oddly enough, Taylor has earned his reputation and “Relentless” moniker by managing to be even more captivating in defeat, with his high-profile losses to Marcus Davis, Paul Kelly, and Chris Lytle all earning him Fight of the Night bonuses at UFC 75, 80, and 89, respectively.
But ever since dropping to lightweight, Taylor has spent so much time nursing various injuries that even James Irvin is beginning to look like the picture of health in comparison. OK, that might be an exaggeration, but if you were to peruse over Taylor’s Wikipedia page, you would find that the phrase “was expected to face” appears more times than the phrase “won by.” Sad but true, folks.
Just check out his injury-ridden history:
-Taylor “was expected to face” John Gunderson at UFC 112, but was deemed medically unfit to fight after he came down with intense migraines as a result of his weight cut.
-He was next scheduled to face John Makdessi at UFC on Versus 5 in August of 2011, but both he and Makdessi were forced out of the bout with injuries (Talyor’s being a broken foot) and were replaced by Donald Cerrone and Charles Oliviera, respectively.
As we mentioned, Taylor has already been replaced by Rafael Dos Anjos, who is fresh off a first round shellacking of Kamal Shalorus on the undercard of UFC on FUEL 3. After blistering “The Prince of Persia” with a head kick, Dos Anjos finished off Shalorus with a rear-naked choke that quickly erased most fans memories of his split decision loss to Gleison Tibau back at UFC 139.
Njokuani has also split his last two contests, most recently rebounding from a split decision loss to Danny Castillo at UFC 141 with an impressive unanimous decision nod over John Makdessi at UFC 145.
Who do you got for this one, Potato Nation? And more importantly, when the hell do you think we’ll ever see Taylor back in the octagon?
Irvin won a pair of fights for Gladiator Challenge earlier this year, both by first-round stoppage. In fact, the Sandman hasn’t seen the second round of a fight in five-and-a-half years, making him an ideal fit for XARM’s “Roughest 3 Minutes In Sports” mentality. But there’s no way he’s getting out of this thing unscathed. It’s James Irvin, for God’s sake. Shattering his wrist or orbital bone would be a best-case scenario. Something freaky is going to happen, I just know it. Damn. Am I going to have to watch this fucking thing now?
XARM’s next event will be filled out by the participants of an upcoming reality show that will air on the Machinima network, in which XARM hopefuls are put through a three-day training boot camp. The promotion is still looking to fill nine spots for the show, and is accepting fighters ranging from 145 to 265 pounds, including female fighters. If this sounds like a good use of your time, hit up Tedd Williams at [email protected]. Please, no point-fighters or game-planners.
(BowCap: It’s “armbar” in tard-speak. / Video courtesy of Hamwin12)
Irvin won a pair of fights for Gladiator Challenge earlier this year, both by first-round stoppage. In fact, the Sandman hasn’t seen the second round of a fight in five-and-a-half years, making him an ideal fit for XARM’s “Roughest 3 Minutes In Sports” mentality. But there’s no way he’s getting out of this thing unscathed. It’s James Irvin, for God’s sake. Shattering his wrist or orbital bone would be a best-case scenario. Something freaky is going to happen, I just know it. Damn. Am I going to have to watch this fucking thing now?
XARM’s next event will be filled out by the participants of an upcoming reality show that will air on the Machinima network, in which XARM hopefuls are put through a three-day training boot camp. The promotion is still looking to fill nine spots for the show, and is accepting fighters ranging from 145 to 265 pounds, including female fighters. If this sounds like a good use of your time, hit up Tedd Williams at [email protected]. Please, no point-fighters or game-planners.
(Phil Davis: The UFC’s leading producer of new middleweights.)
By Ben Goldstein
“When in doubt, drop a weight class” — that’s been the mantra for many MMA fighters who have hit rough patches in their careers. Of course, shaving 10-20 pounds off your body is no guarantee of future success, and it occasionally leaves fighters worse off than when they started. Following a week that saw Demian Maia, Dan Miller, and Nik Lentz all decide to seek their fortunes against smaller opponents, we decided to round up a few notable fighters who revitalized themselves at a lighter weight, and a few that became cautionary tales for weight-dropping. Read on, and let us know which UFC fighters should consider taking the weight-class plunge…
After racking up a 9-0 record — not to mention belts at lightweight and featherweight for the Total Combat promotion — Dominick Cruz challenged Urijah Faber for the WEC featherweight title in March 2007. Unfortunately, Cruz fell into a guillotine choke and tapped at the 1:38 mark of round 1. Cruz addressed the setback by dropping to bantamweight the following year, and has since gone on another 9-0 run at 135, collected the WEC and UFC bantamweight belts, and exacted revenge against his arch-nemesis, the California Kid. We’ll see if he can make it two in a row against Faber in June, but for now, it seems that dropping to bantamweight was the best move of Dominick’s career.
(Phil Davis: The UFC’s leading producer of new middleweights.)
By Ben Goldstein
“When in doubt, drop a weight class” — that’s been the mantra for many MMA fighters who have hit rough patches in their careers. Of course, shaving 10-20 pounds off your body is no guarantee of future success, and it occasionally leaves fighters worse off than when they started. Following a week that saw Demian Maia, Dan Miller, and Nik Lentz all decide to seek their fortunes against smaller opponents, we decided to round up a few notable fighters who revitalized themselves at a lighter weight, and a few that became cautionary tales for weight-dropping. Read on, and let us know which UFC fighters should consider taking the weight-class plunge…
After racking up a 9-0 record — not to mention belts at lightweight and featherweight for the Total Combat promotion — Dominick Cruz challenged Urijah Faber for the WEC featherweight title in March 2007. Unfortunately, Cruz fell into a guillotine choke and tapped at the 1:38 mark of round 1. Cruz addressed the setback by dropping to bantamweight the following year, and has since gone on another 9-0 run at 135, collected the WEC and UFC bantamweight belts, and exacted revenge against his arch-nemesis, the California Kid. We’ll see if he can make it two in a row against Faber in June, but for now, it seems that dropping to bantamweight was the best move of Dominick’s career.
As physically imposing as Tim Boetsch looked at light-heavyweight, the powerful wrestlers at the top of the division (see: Matt Hamill, Jason Brilz, Phil Davis) always foiled his momentum up the UFC ranks. Last year, the Barbarian made the decision to drop to 185, and hasn’t sacrificed an ounce of his power in the process. Decision wins over Kendall Grove and Nick Ring proved that he belonged in the middleweight mix, and his extraordinary comeback win over Yushin Okami at UFC 144 earned him a high-profile match against Michael Bisping — another fighter who found greater success dropping from light-heavyweight to middleweight.
You don’t have to agree with his politics or sense of humor, but you can’t argue with success. Volkmann was thrown into the deep end when he arrived to the UFC as a welterweight, suffering defeats against Paulo Thiago and Martin Kampmann. Tired of being manhandled by larger men, Volkmann dropped to 155 and has since gone on a 5-0 run, with wins over Efrain Escudero, Danny Castillo, and Antonio McKee.
Mark Munoz’s head-kick loss to Matt Hamill was the first defeat of his career, but like Dominick Cruz, Munoz took it as an immediate sign to test the waters further down the scale. As a middleweight, he has compiled an impressive 7-1 record, most recently stopping Chris Leben in the main event of UFC 138. Though an injury pulled Munoz from a fight against Chael Sonnen at UFC on FOX 2, his next fight could have him knocking on the door of a title shot.
Filed under: Fighting, NewsFormer UFC fighter James Irvin has had his fighter’s license suspended by the California state athletic commission after a positive test for a banned substance.
A statement released by the CSAC on Wednesday said Irvin tested…
Former UFC fighter James Irvin has had his fighter’s license suspended by the California state athletic commission after a positive test for a banned substance.
A statement released by the CSAC on Wednesday said Irvin tested positive for epitrenbolone metabolite of trenbolone, an anabolic steroid. The test came from a Dec. 2, 2010 Tachi Palace Fights event in Leemore, California. In his bout, Irvin lost via submission.
it’s the second time Irvin has failed a drug test. In 2008 after a fight with UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva in Nevada, Irvin tested positive for painkillers methadone and oxymorphone and served a nine-month suspension.
Houston Alexander revealed Thursday on Twitter that he will face James Irvin at Shark Fights 14 on March 11 in Lubbock, Texas.
The light heavyweight fight will be a rematch from UFC Fight Night 13 in April 2008 where Irvin knocked out Alexander with Superman punch in just eight seconds.
Former UFC fighter 
