ONE Fighting Championship held a press conference yesterday at the Discovery Hotel in Pasig City, Metro Manila, Philippines for its ONE FC: Pride of a Nation, presenting internationally renowned fighters Shinya Aoki, Andrei Arlovski, Bibiano Fernandes,…
ONE Fighting Championship held a press conference yesterday at the Discovery Hotel in Pasig City, Metro Manila, Philippines for its ONE FC: Pride of a Nation, presenting internationally renowned fighters Shinya Aoki, Andrei Arlovski, Bibiano Fernandes, Gustavo Falciroli, Eduard “The Landslide” Folayang and Eric “The Natural” Kelly.
ONE FC CEO and owner Victor Cui—who shared to the media that his parents are Filipinos from the Southern province of Cebu—proclaimed that for the Singapore-based MMA company’s Philippine debut,
We have put together the greatest card in ONE FC history for our Manila event. When you put Shinya Aoki and Bibiano Fernandes on the same card, one can expect nothing less than an epic night of world-class MMA action like Manila has never seen before…We are beyond excited to hold this incredible card in such a passionate and pride driven city.
For the Filipino fight fans, the main event of “Asia’s largest MMA organization” pits DREAM Bantamweight Champion Bibiano Fernandes against CFC Australia Champion Gustavo Falciroli, with the venue being the historic SMART Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City. (The Araneta Coliseum also hosted the legendary boxing event “Thrilla in Manila” between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier in 1975, among other important sporting and non-sporting events in the nation’s history.)
In the other matches, former UFC heavyweight champion Arlovski will face Soa Palelei of Australia. Another past UFC champion, Jens “Lil Evil” Pulver, will face undefeated Filipino fighter Eric Kelly.
Aoki and popular hometown fighter Folayang so far have unnamed opponents, which Cui said will be announced soon.
Clearly still the most world-famous fighters in the card, Aoki, Pulver and Arlovski aim to impress the Filipino fans with emphatic wins in their debut in Manny Pacquiao’s home country.
DREAM Lightweight Champion Aoki looks to rebound from his TKO loss in his last fight, against Eddie Alvarez in Bellator 66 last April. (Negotiations are still ongoing for a possible fight between Aoki and Kazushi Sakuraba, according to the Tobikan Judan’s interpreter.)
Little Evil Pulver wants to make it a two-fight winning streak, after winning his last match, at flyweight, last April.
Arlovski is currently running high on two consecutive knockout wins versus Ray Lopez and Travis Fulton, respectively, both in ProElite fights.
The Pit Bull commits not to repeat his folly versus legend Fedor Emelianenko, who knocked him out three years ago during their Affliction main event after he attempted an ill-timed flying knee. He vows,
I’m not going to jump again like I did to Fedor. I lost a lot of money. I learned from those fights.
Note: The ONE FC organizers advise MMA fans who plan to watch One FC: Pride of a Nation live to purchase tickets at TicketNet Philippines as early as possible to avoid the precedent in Indonesia, when there were fans who were not able to get inside the jam-packed fight venue of its Battle of Heroes event, after the tickets were sold out.
This upcoming event will be shown via live stream at www.onefc.com, at delayed telecast on ESPN Star Sports and local Philippine TV’s Channel 13 AKTV, which will run a series of build-up episodes beginning August 19.
In honor of Urijah Faber‘s interim bantamweight title bid at UFC 149, we thought it would be a good time to give the California Kid some love, through the magical medium of MMA GIFs. Check ’em out some of our favorite Faber moments after the jump, and let us know if you think he’ll be picking up a new belt this weekend — or if he’ll go out in a blaze of glory.
In honor of Urijah Faber‘s interim bantamweight title bid at UFC 149, we thought it would be a good time to give the California Kid some love, through the magical medium of MMA GIFs. Check ‘em out some of our favorite Faber moments after the jump, and let us know if you think he’ll be picking up a new belt this weekend — or if he’ll go out in a blaze of glory.
(You mean to tell me that the guy lying face down in a pool of his own blood WAS ALIVE THE ENTIRE TIME?! No. F’ing. Way.)
Not too long ago, it was announced that former UFC champions Andrei Arlovski and Jens Pulver had signed with Singapore-based upstart promotion OneFC, and were scheduled to compete on the August 31st scheduled ‘Pride of a Nation’ card against opponents that had yet to be named. Given the pair’s name power, not to mention their hard runs of luck as of late, it was assumed by most that they would likely be featured in a pair of squash matches to help build up their name (also, confidence) within the promotion. It now appears that we have severely underestimated the fellas at OneFC. Or overestimated, we’re not sure.
In either case, Arlovski has been booked to take on fellow UFC castaway and dangerous striker Soa Palelei, who is coming off a 12 second…we guess you’d call it beating, of Bob “Bitch Tits” Sapp at CFC 21 in May. And although just a few years ago, a guy like Palelei would never even be mentioned in the same breath as “The Pit Bull”, we may very likely see him listed as the favorite heading into this matchup as it stands today. Palelei packs a wallop of a punch and Arlvoski’s off switch is easier to find than a dwarf among midgets, so expect “The Hulk” to let his fists go early and often in this one and Arlovski to crumble violently to the mat shortly thereafter. Let’s just hope that Arlovski has finally undergone that Tango and Cash jaw replacement surgery he always wanted, or he is going to get royally FUBAR’d in this one.
(You mean to tell me that the guy lying face down in a pool of his own blood WAS ALIVE THE ENTIRE TIME?! No. F’ing. Way.)
Not too long ago, it was announced that former UFC champions Andrei Arlovski and Jens Pulver had signed with Singapore-based upstart promotion OneFC, and were scheduled to compete on the August 31st scheduled ‘Pride of a Nation’ card against opponents that had yet to be named. Given the pair’s name power, not to mention their hard runs of luck as of late, it was assumed by most that they would likely be featured in a pair of squash matches to help build up their name (also, confidence) within the promotion. It now appears that we have severely underestimated the fellas at OneFC. Or overestimated, we’re not sure.
In either case, Arlovski has been booked to take on fellow UFC castaway and dangerous striker Soa Palelei, who is coming off a 12 second…we guess you’d call it beating, of Bob “Bitch Tits” Sapp at CFC 21 in May. And although just a few years ago, a guy like Palelei would never even be mentioned in the same breath as “The Pit Bull”, we may very likely see him listed as the favorite heading into this matchup as it stands today. Palelei packs a wallop of a punch and Arlvoski’s off switch is easier to find than a dwarf among midgets, so expect “The Hulk” to let his fists go early and often in this one and Arlovski to crumble violently to the mat shortly thereafter. Let’s just hope that Arlovski has finally undergone that Tango and Cash jaw replacement surgery he always wanted, or else he is going to get royally FUBAR’d in this one.
Since dropping three straight in Strikeforce (two by way of KO), Arlovski has actually put together a two-fight win streak over 7-3 journeyman Ray Lopez and most recently 247-49 (!!!!) journeyman Travis Fulton, whom Arlovski scored a vicious head kick finish over in the very last second of their otherwise snoozer of a scrap at the abysmal ProElite 2: Big Guns event last year. Palelei has not lost since succumbing to a first round submission via strikes at the hands Daniel Cormier at an XMMA event back in 2010. Though we can’t confirm this, we imagine Cormier likely broke at least one of his hands during that performance as well. Seriously, it’s like those things are comprised of equal parts boron and tinsel.
Former UFC lightweight champion Jens Pulver appears to have booked himself into the exact opposite conundrum, as he is scheduled to square off with undefeated submission specialist Eric Kelly at the same event. Pulver has been able to slightly turn things around as of late, collecting five wins in his past seven contests, but prior to that, he suffered five straight losses, including three straight by way of submission, to round out his WEC career. Pulver most recently picked up a win over 3-4 Jesse Thorton in a flyweight contest in April.
Pulver’s submission game (or lack thereof) will truly be put to the test against a guy like Kelly, who has scored all but one of his professional wins by way of submission. Kelly is 2-0 under the OneFC banner, and last scored a UD win over Bae Young Kwon at OneFC 4: Destiny of Warriors last month. If you recall, this was the same event that saw Roger Huerta nearly decapitated by a soccer kick that instantaneously gave thousands of PRIDE fanboys a full on nerdgasm upon witnessing. For those of you who fell into this demographic (raises hand), don’t worry: It’s not gay if someone almost dies.
Pulver has been flirting with retirement for what feels like ages, but do you think he can pull off what will easily be his biggest win in years come August 18th?
With tomorrow night’s UFC 145 main event slated as a 4-1 squash match, the CP gang is talking upsets for today’s installment of the CagePotato Roundtable. If you have a topic-suggestion for a future Roundtable column, please send it to [email protected], and share your own MMA-upset testimonials in the comments section…
While I normally disagree with that crazy fanboy (hey Sodak) explaining to me how Fedor is an intelligent machine, sent back in time to destroy craniums and assassinate Andrei Arlovski, I completely wrote off Werdum here. Like, no way a guy who hung out in Minotauro Nogueira’s guard for six days is going to get tapped by a dude who calls himself “Go Horse” and smiles like this, right? So yeah, I gave him no chance of pulling out a victory. I could be on tape somewhere saying that he had no chance, in an obnoxiously opinionated manner. I may also be credited with one of the worst predictions in CP history.
With tomorrow night’s UFC 145 main event slated as a 4-1 squash match, the CP gang is talking upsets for today’s installment of the CagePotato Roundtable. If you have a topic-suggestion for a future Roundtable column, please send it to [email protected], and share your own MMA-upset testimonials in the comments section…
While I normally disagree with that crazy fanboy (hey Sodak) explaining to me how Fedor is an intelligent machine, sent back in time to destroy craniums and assassinate Andrei Arlovski, I completely wrote off Werdum here. Like, no way a guy who hung out in Minotauro Nogueira’s guard for six days is going to get tapped by a dude who calls himself “Go Horse” and smiles like this, right? So yeah, I gave him no chance of pulling out a victory. I could be on tape somewhere saying that he had no chance, in an obnoxiously opinionated manner. I may also be credited with one of the worst predictions in CP history.
“Colemon, get the fuck over here, now!” It’s not every day that a phone call changes your little world, but it happens. It was 1995, I was in high school [yeah, I’m old], and though I didn’t know it yet, I was about to see something beautiful.
Upon entering my friend’s home I found him and another pal huddled in front of a paused TV-VCR combo, a half-naked giant frozen on the screen. “These two guys are about to fight. Who do you think is going to win?” The behemoth’s name, I would soon learn, was “Emmanuel Yarborough…Yarborough.” The placard held by the hooker circling the cage read “Sumo,” and I had no trouble believing it.
Though obviously in shape, the relatively tiny Keith Hackney inspired little confidence in me, tiger claw stance be damned, and so I chose the giant. Before hitting play, my friends, the lying bastards, confirmed that Yarborough did indeed beat the little guy into paste. Imagine my surprise when the fight ended two minutes (and one broken gate) later with Hackney clubbing the world’s largest professional athlete into submission.
I doubt there were any casinos taking action for that scrap, and on paper Hackney may have even had the advantage, but none of that mattered to a guy seeing those two stand side by side. There are far greater examples of an underdog getting the win in our sport’s history, but this one matters most to me. That one crazy fight was all it took — David beat Goliath, and I was hooked.
The point is, Chuck was more than a 2-1 favorite over Rashad coming into the fight. He appeared to be reborn with his fantastic win against Wanderlei Silva the previous December, and the general consensus was that Rashad wasn’t quite ready to face a legend. Before the fight, Rashad might have even agreed with that assessment.
Liddell landed more shots than Evans in the first round of the match, and most likely took it 10-9 on the judges scorecards. But heading into round 2, you could see Rashad’s confidence swell. He had settled in. He had tasted Chuck’s power, but hadn’t wilted. He kept an eye out for the infamous Chuck-face that Keith Jardine had described to him in training, and when he saw it coming, he hit the Iceman with the most savage overhand right I’d ever seen.
As I recall, I grabbed the arm of Jesse Holland from MMA Mania, and shouted “SANFORD AND SON! THAT MOTHERFUCKER IS DOING THE REDD FOXX FAKE-HEART-ATTACK-THING FROM FUCKING SANFORD AND SON!”
+1200. Heading into his UFC 63 fight with inaugural UFC lightweight champion Jens Pulver, Joe Lauzon was listed at +1200 by nearly all of the Vegas bookies. As the Etrade baby will tell you, those odds are the same as the likelihood of being mauled by a polar bear and a normal bear in the same day. But the man with possibly the worst nickname in MMA (next to Ron “H20” Waterman) managed to pull out the victory. And not only did Lauzon score the upset, he walked right through Pulver like he was the aforementioned Etrade baby.
This fight will always be a personal favorite of mine, if only because it is a prime example of the unpredictability of MMA. Pulver was making his return to the UFC for the first time since his classic title-defending war with B.J. Penn at UFC 35. Having gone 9-4 against names like Takanori Gomi, Hayato Sakurai, Duane Ludwig, and Cole Escovedo, the UFC was basically setting up one of their most marketable lightweights with an easy victory. When determining Pulver’s opponent, I imagine Joe Silva asked himself the following:
1. Does he look like your average Best Buy employee with just as impressive a physique? 2. Is his nickname derived from a pop star, kid’s cereal, or amusement park ride? 3. Is his record impressive enough at face value to sway the CSAC into allowing this massacre to be carried out?
He must have thought he hit the proverbial jackpot when he came across Joe freaking Lauzon. But Silva, having never seen Revenge of the Nerds or Dirty Dancing before, made a classic mistake; he put baby in a corner. Lauzon came out swinging like he was fighting for the right to visit Skywalker Ranch, following up a couple close knees that would have surely decapitated “Lil Eagle” with a left hook that nearly did. And in a mere 47 seconds, Pulver’s glorious UFC aspirations came crumbling down around him.
Perhaps even funnier than the fight itself would be the following season of The Ultimate Fighter, which featured Baby Jay and Jens as coaches, and none other than Joe “Excelsior” Lauzon as a participant. He wasn’t chosen by Pulver, go figure, but when he finally had his preliminary matchup on episode 6, he quickly proved that his win over Pulver was no fluke, rag-dolling Brian Geraghty for a little over a minute before sinking in a rear-naked choke victory.
When reviewing the fight in an interview afterward, I remember Pulver’s assessment like it was yesterday. “At least I didn’t lose to some bitch,” he said. Indeed you did not, Jens. Indeed you did not.
For me, the greatest upset in MMA history has nothing to do with a “lucky” haymaker or an improbable arm-bar. However, there was an invincible favorite and an underdog that had no chance in hell of coming out on top. The two combatants waged an unlikely war and when the dust settled, the undisputed champion was left bloodied and beaten. This fight didn’t last 15 minutes or five championship rounds. No, this fight had been raging since November 12, 1993. That was the date of UFC 1, and it was the very beginning of the moral majority claiming that MMA competition was not fit for human consumption. Whether for sport or for entertainment, “society” assessed that MMA was profane, and the judge, jury and executioner were coming. It was literally “us” versus “them,” and if you have found your way to www.cagepotato.com, you are part of “us.”
I already know that a lot of people who are reading this were in diapers or grade school in 1993, but I wasn’t. I am not one of these poseurs that will tell you I actually saw UFC 1 live but you can bet your bottom dollar that I did give my old man $25 to order UFC 2 on PPV. That is when I saw Pat Smith vs. Scott Morris in the opening televised bout and that shit changed my life. I have only used the “love at first sight” proverb with my wife and kids, but looking back now, those few seconds also fit the analogy. Yes, it was brutal and yes it was unorthodox but it was the modern day Coliseum for me from that point forward.
Shortly thereafter, just like many of “us”, Senator John McCain saw a video-tape (pretty sure it wasn’t BETA-MAX) of a UFC event. He was outraged and he did his best to get MMA banned. The UFC was late-night news fodder and got kicked around like Jared Jones in the comment section of CP. McCain even said, “UFC is a brutal exhibition of machismo with no place in the modern world. It’s gory, and bloodthirsty and no better than watching a car wreck as it happens. It brings out the worst in its audience and should be banned for encouraging violence.”
Little did McCain know that he was doing all of “us” a great favor by enlightening the masses about the “human cock-fighting.” I will admit that the “open-weight and no-holds-barred” approach was pretty much . . . . . how do I put this . . . . . HUMAN FUCKING COCK-FIGHTING, but without McCain’s involvement there would never have been the Unified Rules of MMA that were adopted in 2000. The “them” intended to eradicate the sport but instead, they launched “us” towards respectability.
A lot has happened since the first “sanctioned” UFC took place back on November 17, 2000. And the biggest Johnny Cash middle finger came on August 18, 2011, when the UFC signed a multi-year contract with FOX. I felt vindicated knowing that I was a supporter all along and the irony was so fitting. The same channel that I can watch a potentially fatal car crash happen during a NASCAR race live on network television is the same channel I can now watch supreme athletes test themselves in the modern day Coliseum.
I was going to write about how Randy Couture vs. Tim Sylvia was the upset that wasn’t, and therefore my favorite.
But since we’ve pissed off enough people this week, I’ll work on getting back in Gus Johnson‘s good graces and agree that Kimbo Slice vs. Seth Petruzelli was, in fact, the greatest upset in MMA history. Yep. No punchline to be made here.
(Damn, graphic design has come a long way in 11 years.)
On this day in MMA history 11 years ago, Zuffa LLC, the Las Vegas-based owners of the UFC took its newly-purchased traveling spectacle on the road for the first time to Atlantic City for UFC 30: Battle on the Boardwalk. The card featured five of the promotion’s present and future titleholders and was one of the better events in recent UFC history (at the time).
The main event of the night featured a middleweight (which would be later named the light-heavyweight division) championship bout between then-champ Tito Ortiz and the late Evan Tanner. Unfortunately for fans who were expecting a drag-out war between the pair, the fighter formerly known as “The Huntington Beach Badboy” had other plans. After a brief feeling out process, Ortiz scooped Tanner up, slamming the Team Quest fighter on his back and knocking him unconscious, adding a couple of stiff punches on the ground for good measure. The knockout would stand as the only one of Ortiz’s career.
(Damn, graphic design has come a long way in 11 years.)
On this day in MMA history 11 years ago, Zuffa LLC, the Las Vegas-based owners of the UFC took its newly-purchased traveling spectacle on the road for the first time to Atlantic City for UFC 30: Battle on the Boardwalk. The card featured five of the promotion’s present and future titleholders and was one of the better events in recent UFC history (at the time).
The main event of the night featured a middleweight (which would be later named the light-heavyweight division) championship bout between then-champ Tito Ortiz and the late Evan Tanner. Unfortunately for fans who were expecting a drag-out war between the pair, the fighter formerly known as “The Huntington Beach Badboy” had other plans. After a brief feeling out process, Ortiz scooped Tanner up, slamming the Team Quest fighter on his back and knocking him unconscious, adding a couple of stiff punches on the ground for good measure. The knockout would stand as the only one of Ortiz’s career.
(Video courtesy of YouTube/NeilJunz)
This video also featured the only known footage of Frank Shamrock being humble and complimenting Tito.
The co-main event saw Jens Pulver in a five-round fight for the first time in his career. Pulver, who had needed just 15 seconds to dispose of John Lewis in his first UFC bout at UFC 28 three months prior, went the distance with highly-ranked Japanese fighter Caol Uno and came out on top with a majority decision and the UFC bantamweight (145-pound) strap after 25 minutes.
(Video courtesy of VK/Andrey Slavin)
Also on the card, Sean Sherk defeated future Mr. Arianny Celeste, Tiki Ghosn, Phil Baroni decisioned Curtis Stout, Pedro Rizzo knocked out Josh Barnett and Elvis Sinosic tapped Jeremy Horn.
———-
UFC 130 February, 23, 2001 Trump Taj Mahal Atlantic City, New Jersey
We’re going to accept some of the blame for this one, fellas. After taking a clear stance on the former UFC champion hanging up his gloves, we celebrated a couple of relativelyunimpressive victories and practically encouraged Jens along. Well, no more.
Last night Pulver looked to get back on the winning track at regional start-up Resurrection Fighting Alliance against the 6-2-1 Tim Elliott. “Little Eagle Evil” got dropped halfway through the first round, but survived the ensuing torrent of punches which left both men visibly tired. Neither fighter looked recovered from the break as they headed into round two. Elliott backed a weary Pulver against the cage with a combination before reaching for a thai clinch. As Jens shot in, a well-timed knee put him down and out.
Pulver is a grown man and the decision to call it quits belongs to him alone, certainly not to an MMA website, and certainly not to a moderately irresponsible one. That being said, when you see an aging fighter get laid out like that and then see him admit that he didn’t train seriously for the fight, you’ve got to question his decision making ability.
After the jump, a beautiful 26-second head kick KO from last night’s event.
We’re going to accept some of the blame for this one, fellas. After taking a clear stance on the former UFC champion hanging up his gloves, we celebrated a couple of relativelyunimpressive victories and practically encouraged Jens along. Well, no more.
Last night Pulver looked to get back on the winning track at regional start-up Resurrection Fighting Alliance against the 6-2-1 Tim Elliott. “Little Eagle Evil” got dropped halfway through the first round, but survived the ensuing torrent of punches which left both men visibly tired. Neither fighter looked recovered from the break as they headed into round two. Elliott backed a weary Pulver against the cage with a combination before reaching for a thai clinch. As Jens shot in, a well-timed knee put him down and out.
Pulver is a grown man and the decision to call it quits belongs to him alone, certainly not to an MMA website, and certainly not to a moderately irresponsible one. That being said, when you see an aging fighter get laid out like that and then see him admit that he didn’t train seriously for the fight, you’ve got to question his decision making ability.
After the jump, a beautiful 26-second head kick KO from last night’s event.
(Video props: YouTube/Vadge99)
Ok, so James Krause needed a few follow-up punches to complete the knock out, but he still made quick work of last minute substitution Mark Korzenowski. This fight is basically a carbon copy of his 41-second knock out victory at Titan FC earlier this year.
Also worth mentioning, “The Hurricane” picked up a win in his first post-UFC fight and his MMA debut as a light-heavyweight.
Timothy Elliot defeats Jens Pulver via KO/TKO, Knee–Round 2 of 3 Ramico Blackmon defeats Dakota Cochrane via Decision, Unanimous–3 Rounds, 15:00 Total Justin McCully defeats Justin Grizzard via KO/TKO, Punches–Round 1 of 3 Gilbert Yvel defeats Damian Dantibo via KO/TKO, Punches–Round 1 of 3 Jared Downing defeats Eric Marriott via Decision, Unanimous–3 Rounds, 15:00 Total Aaron Elydefeats Angelo Antuna via Choke Out (damn late stoppage)–Round 1 of 3 Mark Dickman defeats Ted Worthington via KO/TKO, Punches–Round 2 of 3 James Krause defeats Mark Korzenowski via KO/TKO, Head Kick–Round 1 of 3 Alonzo Martinez defeats Mario Ramos via Submission, Verbal Submission–Round 1 of 3 Tyler Perry defeats Anthony Simants via KO/TKO, Punches–Round 1 of 3 Enrique Torres defeats Derek Williams via Submission, Kimura–Round 1 of 3
ONE Fighting Championship held a press conference yesterday at the Discovery Hotel in Pasig City, Metro Manila, Philippines for its ONE FC: Pride of a Nation, presenting internationally renowned fighters Shinya Aoki, Andrei Arlovski, Bibiano Fernandes, Gustavo Falciroli, Eduard “The Landslide” Folayang and Eric “The Natural” Kelly.
