Tag: Jon Olav Einemo

GIF Party: ‘UFC on FOX 2: Evans vs. Davis’ edition


Swanson vs. Roop provided an early candidate for Side-Punchface of the Year. Props: UFC.com

Remember how last night, you invited your non-MMA fan friends over to introduce them to our sport? You spent the past week talking about how Chael Sonnen is one of the best trash talkers in professional sports, and how technical and talented these fighters were. You figured that after three fights that were guaranteed to be exceptional, your friends would be won over to MMA fandom. Then you’d continue to drink and be merry all night, and we’d all meet up here today for our traditional post-UFC event GIF party where we all high five over how awesome the fights were.

Well, it didn’t quite work out that way. Instead, you found yourself doing damage control as you watched three fights worth of sloppy brawling, wall and stall and Chael Sonnen’s blatant swaggerjacking of homage to “Superstar” Billy Graham. You tried to convince them that the fights are usually nothing like this, and that these guys gassing out and the end of the first round are world class athletes. Eventually, one of your friends said “I bet Pacquiao would destroy ANY of these guys” as the rest of your friends grabbed their coats and said they’d call you next time they wanted to watch the fights.

Okay, so last night sucked. But we’ve been planning this party all week, and we’ll be damned if we cancel it at this point. So grab an alcoholic beverage, put on your gaudiest Affliction shirt and join us for our traditional post-UFC event GIF Party.

As always, praise be to Zombie Prophet at IronForgesIron.com for the GIFS.


Swanson vs. Roop provided an early candidate for Side-Punchface of the Year. Props: UFC.com

Remember how last night, you invited your non-MMA fan friends over to introduce them to our sport? You spent the past week talking about how Chael Sonnen is one of the best trash talkers in professional sports, and how technical and talented these fighters were. You figured that after three fights that were guaranteed to be exceptional, your friends would be won over to MMA fandom. Then you’d continue to drink and be merry all night, and we’d all meet up here today for our traditional post-UFC event GIF party where we all high five over how awesome the fights were. 

Well, it didn’t quite work out that way. Instead, you found yourself doing damage control as you watched three fights worth of sloppy brawling, wall and stall and Chael Sonnen’s blatant swaggerjacking of homage to “Superstar” Billy Graham. You tried to convince them that the fights are usually nothing like this, and that these fighters gassing out and the end of the first round are world class athletes. Eventually, one of your friends said “I bet Pacquiao would destroy ANY of these guys” as the rest of your friends grabbed their coats and promised they’d call you next time they wanted to watch the fights.

Okay, so last night sucked. But we’ve been planning this party all week, and we’ll be damned if we cancel it at this point. So grab an alcoholic beverage, put on your gaudiest Affliction shirt and join us for our traditional post-UFC event GIF Party.

As always, praise be to Zombie Prophet at IronForgesIron.com for the GIFS.  

Joey Beltran vs. Lavar Johnson

Michael Johnson vs. Shane Roller

Charles Oliveira vs. Eric Wisely

 

Report: Rashad Evans vs. Phil Davis to Headline ‘UFC on FOX 2? on Jan. 28


(Let’s just hope this fight doesn’t affect their friendship.)

Sources have confirmed to ESPN.com that a light-heavyweight meeting between former champion Rashad Evans and undefeated contender Phil Davis is slated to headline the UFC’s return to FOX, which will take place January 28th at the United Center in Chicago. The two fighters were originally supposed to meet at UFC 133 in August, but Davis was forced to withdraw due to a knee injury.

Evans is currently riding a three-fight win streak, including decisions over Thiago Silva and Quinton Jackson, and a second-round TKO of Tito Ortiz, who came in as Davis’s short-notice injury replacement. Davis has gone 5-0 in the Octagon, most recently out-pointing Antonio Rogerio Nogueira in March. You’d have to assume that if Evans manages to deal “Mr. Wonderful” his first loss, he’ll be awarded a title shot against the winner of Jones vs. Machida — but considering Suga’s run of bad luck when it comes to that sort of thing, anything’s possible.

In other UFC on FOX 2 booking news…


(Let’s just hope this fight doesn’t affect their friendship.)

Sources have confirmed to ESPN.com that a light-heavyweight meeting between former champion Rashad Evans and undefeated contender Phil Davis is slated to headline the UFC’s return to FOX, which will take place January 28th at the United Center in Chicago. The two fighters were originally supposed to meet at UFC 133 in August, but Davis was forced to withdraw due to a knee injury.

Evans is currently riding a three-fight win streak, including decisions over Thiago Silva and Quinton Jackson, and a second-round TKO of Tito Ortiz, who came in as Davis’s short-notice injury replacement. Davis has gone 5-0 in the Octagon, most recently out-pointing Antonio Rogerio Nogueira in March. You’d have to assume that if Evans manages to deal “Mr. Wonderful” his first loss, he’ll be awarded a title shot against the winner of Jones vs. Machida — but considering Suga’s run of bad luck when it comes to that sort of thing, anything’s possible.

In other UFC on FOX 2 booking news…

A heavyweight bout between Mike Russow and Jon Olav Einemo has been added to the card. Russow carries a spotless 3-0 record in the UFC — most recently defeating Jon Madesen by doctor’s stoppage TKO — and is riding a ten-fight win streak overall. He was supposed to return against Dave Herman at UFC 136, until Herman popped positive for marijuana.

Coincidentally, Einemo lost his UFC debut to Herman in June, and his only win in the last five years came at a show in Bosnia that’s not even recognized by MMA databases. In other words, Russow vs. Einemo is a bit of a squash match; if Russow was hoping for a step up in competition for his next outing, this ain’t it.

John Olav Einemo Back in UFC, Likely to Face Mike Russow at UFC on FOX 2

Filed under: UFC, MMA Fighting Exclusive, NewsShortly after losing in his UFC debut in a bout that won Fight of the Night at UFC 131, John Olav Einemo was surprisingly cut from the UFC. As it turned out, Einemo was part of the fallout from an ongoing b…

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Shortly after losing in his UFC debut in a bout that won Fight of the Night at UFC 131, John Olav Einemo was surprisingly cut from the UFC. As it turned out, Einemo was part of the fallout from an ongoing business issue between his Golden Glory management team and the UFC.

Now, it appears a resolution has been struck, as Einemo is back with the promotion and will take on Mike Russow as part of the upcoming UFC on FOX 2 card on January 28, MMA Fighting has learned.

Sources confirmed that both sides have verbally agreed to the bout.

Einemo (6-2) faced Dave Herman at UFC 131, and engaged in a hard-fought battle before falling in a second-round TKO. The fight had been his first MMA bout in over four years. But even after the spirited scrap, he was one of several Golden Glory fighters — including Alistair Overeem and Marloes Coenen to be dropped by Zuffa.

UFC president Dana White later said the issue stemmed from Golden Glory’s management practice of having promoters pay them directly instead of the fighters.

“We don’t work that way,” White said then. “It’s not the way we do business. It’s not how it works in the United States with the athletic commissions. You don’t pay the managers and the managers pay the fighters. You pay the fighters and the fighters pay the managers.”

It remains unclear how the issue was resolved, and whether Einemo — like Overeem — parted ways with Golden Glory or found a way to work within the UFC framework.

Meanwhile, Russow (14-1, 1 no contest) will be hoping to extend his impressive 10-fight win streak. In his most recent fight, Russow stopped Jon Madsen by TKO in the second round of their March 2011 encounter.

UFC on FOX 2 will take place from the United Center in Chicago. Four fights are expected to air on the network television broadcast, but the UFC has so far been mum on matchups.

 

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Dana White Won’t Rule Out Move to UFC for Alistair Overeem, Says ‘We’re Talking’

Filed under: UFC, NewsRIO DE JANEIRO — The bridge between UFC president Dana White and former Strikeforce heavyweight champ Alistair Overeem may have been scorched a bit in recent weeks, but it apparently never caught fire and burned.

Even after Zuf…

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RIO DE JANEIRO — The bridge between UFC president Dana White and former Strikeforce heavyweight champ Alistair Overeem may have been scorched a bit in recent weeks, but it apparently never caught fire and burned.

Even after Zuffa removed Overeem from the Strikeforce heavyweight Grand Prix and released him from his contract, citing problems with his Golden Glory management team, the two sides are discussing a potential future together, White confirmed following the UFC 134 post-fight press conference.

“We’re talking,” White said. “You guys know how that whole thing went down. Golden Glory was in this position where we couldn’t do business and they changed their position, which I respect. Now we can do business.”

That position, of course, was an insistence on having all fighter purses funneled through Golden Glory rather than paid directly to the fighters themselves, according to White.

That was an arrangement that Zuffa simply couldn’t work with, the UFC president said, and disagreements over it brought about the release of Overeem, as well as fellow Golden Glory fighters Marloes Coenen and Jon Olav Einemo.

“We’re never going to be in a situation where we pay managers and not fighters,” White said. “We pay fighters, and fighters pay managers. We’re never going to be in that situation. I don’t care who the guy is.”

Then again, it didn’t seem to help matters that Overeem had refused to fight on the September 10 date set for the semifinal round of the Grand Prix, insisting he wouldn’t be ready until October.

But now that Golden Glory has softened their stance on payment issues, according to White, there’s once again dialogue between the two sides regarding the Dutch heavyweight.

The question is, are they talking about bringing him back to Strikeforce, or injecting him into the UFC’s heavyweight division, which could certainly use the infusion of big name talent right about now? After all, Golden Glory has expressed interest in signing a new contract with the UFC, so could that be Overeem’s new home sooner rather than later?

“We’ll see what happens,” White said with a shrug.

In other words, nothing is out of the question at this point.

 

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UFC 131 Aftermath: It’s Just Like Hockey, without Canadians


If you’ve ever wondered how Cage Potato sneaks into UFC events, let’s just say it involves matching black baseball hats. Props: MMAConnected.com

Look, I get it. Vancouver fans are extremely excited about their Canucks winning 1-0 at home on Friday, putting the team one win away from taking the Stanley Cup. I’m more than willing to forgive those in attendance for being less than excited about UFC 131, an MMA event absent of title fights, or even some fellow Canadians on the main card. I’ll forgive the chants of “Go Canucks Go” and “We Want The Cup” that broke out throughout the evening. I’ll even forgive them for being won over by Jon Olav Einemo’s Canucks flag. But not watching the fights you’re supposed to be judging? That’s unacceptable.

There were some downright awful decisions made by the judges last night, causing some to wonder if they even watched the fights. Fortunately for Junior Dos Santos, his beating of Shane Carwin was too lopsided to possibly mess up. No doubt, Dos Santos looked impressive against Shane Carwin. Not only did he survive some of Shane’s hardest punches, but he also displayed some improved wrestling. He even managed to make Carwin look gun-shy, which seemed unthinkable. There were numerous times throughout the fight where it seemed crazy that Junior Dos Santos was fighting the same guy that almost dethroned Brock Lesnar. Before we get too excited though, remember that Shane Carwin managed to survive all three rounds, despite being a late replacement coming off of surgery. Time will tell how Dos Santos holds up against Cain Valesquez.


If you’ve ever wondered how Cage Potato sneaks into UFC events, let’s just say it involves matching black baseball hats. Props: MMAConnected.com

Look, I get it. Vancouver fans are extremely excited about their Canucks winning 1-0 at home on Friday, putting the team one win away from taking the Stanley Cup. I’m more than willing to forgive those in attendance for being less than excited about UFC 131, an MMA event absent of title fights, or even some fellow Canadians on the main card. I’ll forgive the chants of “Go Canucks Go” and “We Want The Cup” that broke out throughout the evening.  I’ll even forgive them for being won over by Jon Olav Einemo’s Canucks flag. But not watching the fights you’re supposed to be judging? That’s unacceptable.

There were some downright awful decisions made by the judges last night, causing some to wonder if they even watched the fights.  Fortunately for Junior Dos Santos, his beating of Shane Carwin was too lopsided to possibly mess up. No doubt, Dos Santos looked impressive against Shane Carwin. Not only did he survive some of Shane’s hardest punches, but he also displayed some improved wrestling. He even managed to make Carwin look gun-shy, which seemed unthinkable. There were numerous times throughout the fight where it seemed crazy that Junior Dos Santos was fighting the same guy that almost dethroned Brock Lesnar.  Before we get too excited though, remember that Shane Carwin managed to survive all three rounds, despite being a late replacement coming off of surgery. Time will tell how Dos Santos holds up against Cain Valesquez.

Perhaps our expectations of Kenny Florian were a bit too high for a guy who once fought at middleweight making his featherweight debut. Florian, who began his cut to featherweight weighing 180 pounds, coasted to a decision victory against Diego Nunes.  Even though his cardio was still as good as ever, Florian looked too slow against Nunes to be a threat to the top featherweights. In all fairness to Florian, however, he may have been slow simply because this was his first fight at featherweight.  Even though he is more than likely next in line for a title shot, he should probably be given one more fight at featherweight to adjust his weight cut before being offered up to Jose Aldo.

With his victory against Demian Maia, Mark Munoz becomes a contender at middleweight. He looked impressive last night by avoiding submissions from Demian Maia on his way to a unanimous decision victory.  However, he also managed to get rocked on numerous occasions by the mediocre kickboxer.  Munoz will need to spend more time on his striking in order to survive the deep end of the middleweight division.

Speaking of spending more time on striking, Vagner Rocha and Jon Olav Einemo should probably do that as well.  Rocha was never given a chance to utilize his jiu jitsu against Donald Cerrone.  Cerrone, who leg kicked his way to the victory, was never in any real danger of being caught by Rocha’s desperate haymakers.  Then again, perhaps it is a bit unfair to be so hard on Jon Olav Einemo. Despite the time spent at Golden Glory, Einemo was coming off of a five year layoff against a dangerous striker, Dave Herman. What else were we to expect? If anything, it’s an accomplishment that he had Herman in trouble a few times during the fight, which is no easy task.  Another fight in the UFC will see whether or not Einemo can still be a competitor in today’s MMA scene.  Just not against Shane Carwin.

Full Results, courtesy of MMAMania.com:

Junior Dos Santos defeats Shane Carwin via Unanimous Decision
Donald Cerrone defeats Vagner Rocha via Unanimous Decision
Dave Herman defeats Jon Olav Einemo via TKO (Strikes) Round 2
Mark Munoz defeats Demian Maia via Unanimous Decision
Kenny Florian defeats Diego Nunes via Unanimous Decision
Sam Stout defeats Yves Edwards via TKO (Strikes) Round 1
Chris Weidman defeats Jesse Bongfeldt via Submission (Standing Guillotine Choke) Round 1
Krzysztof Soszynski def. Mike Massenzio via unanimous decision
Nick Ring def. James Head via submission (rear-naked choke) in round 3
Darren Elkins def. Michihiro Omigawa via unanimous decision
Dustin Poirier def. Jason Young via unanimous decision
Joey Beltran def. Aaron Rosa via technical knockout in round 3

UFC 131 “Dos Santos vs. Carwin” Bonuses Announced

“Hands of Stone”? Yup, that sounds about right. (Pic: UFC.com)

There is so much to love about the UFC’s Fight Night Bonuses. Often times one of these rewards can double, triple, or even quadruple a fighter’s take home pay for the evening. They also serve as bounties for action, encouraging the knockouts, submissions, and exciting fights that we all enjoy. But I love them best for another reason altogether. They give Dana White the opportunity to do what he does best: wield his godlike power with impunity. That sword has two edges of course, one of which has cut us frequently, but when dolling out these bonuses we get to see the best of Dana White. There’s Dana the Vindictive, who snubbed Mir’s poor performance against Cro Cop by denying the night’s only KO a bonus; Dana the Fight Fan, who loves action packed bouts so much that sometimes he can’t bring himself to award only one “Fight of the Night” bonus; and Dana the Merciful, who sets right the grave injustices cast down from the judges table. It was this last Dana who reared his head last night, giving an “unofficial” bonus to Michihiro Omigawa, who lost a unanimous decision to Darren Elkins in the prelims. White felt that Omigawa clearly deserved the victory and awarded him his win bonus for his performance. This fight, particularly one judge scoring it 30-27 for Elkins, is sure to add more fuel to the firestorm that is MMA judging. And now, on to the $70k bonuses…

“Hands of Stone”? Yup, that sounds about right.  (Pic: UFC.com)

There is so much to love about the UFC’s Fight Night Bonuses. Often times one of these rewards can double, triple, or even quadruple a fighter’s take home pay for the evening. They also serve as bounties for action, encouraging the knockouts, submissions, and exciting fights that we all enjoy. But I love them best for another reason altogether. They give Dana White the opportunity to do what he does best: wield his godlike power with impunity. That sword has two edges of course, one of which has cut us frequently, but when dolling out these bonuses we get to see the best of Dana White. There’s Dana the Vindictive, who snubbed Mir’s poor performance against Cro Cop by denying the night’s only KO a bonus; Dana the Fight Fan, who loves action packed bouts so much that sometimes he can’t bring himself to award only one “Fight of the Night” bonus; and Dana the Merciful, who sets right the grave injustices cast down from the judges table. It was this last Dana who reared his head last night, giving an “unofficial” bonus to Michihiro Omigawa, who lost a unanimous decision to Darren Elkins in the prelims. White felt that Omigawa clearly deserved the victory and awarded him his win bonus for his performance. This fight, particularly one judge scoring it 30-27 for Elkins, is sure to add more fuel to the firestorm that is MMA judging. And now, on to the $70k bonuses…

Knock Out of the Night: Sam Stout picked up some spending cash and a highlight clip for the ages with his first-round knock out of Yves Edwards. The end came with both men exchanging punches; Edwards connected first with a decent right hook, but Stout landed a big left to the jaw that folded Yves forwarded as he slowly careened to the canvas. No follow up was needed, as the Thug Jitsu master was out cold.

Submission of the Night: Matt Serra student Chris Weidman extended his record to a perfect 6-0 with his first round submission over Jesse Bongfeldt. Weidman looked fluid on the ground as he transitioned around Bongfeldt with great control, but the end would come via the rare standing guillotine with only six seconds left in the first round.

Fight of the Night: Dave Herman and Jon Olav Einemo paired up in a back-and-forth heavyweight tilt that saw both men in trouble on more than one occasion. Herman battered Einemo with knees to drop him late in the second round and draw the TKO stoppage. The five years spent at Golden Glory didn’t show in Einemo’s stand-up. It was good news for him, though, as he would have lost to Carwin much faster and not picked up the additional $70k.