(Pat Promrangka savagely knocks out Mitch Heron at FightWorld Cup 9, Saturday night in Queensland, Australia. Props: Doombringer002)
Some selected highlights from our friends around the MMA blogosphere. E-mail [email protected] for details on how your site can join the MMA Link Club…
– What’s Next for UFC 133 Winners and Losers? (NBC Sports MMA)
– Chael Sonnen Takes Unique Approach to Selling Brian Stann Fight (5thRound)
– Dana White Talks Shaquille O’Neal, GSP vs. Nick Diaz and ‘TUF 14’ (MMA Fighting)
– ONE FC: Phil Baroni Has Been Put on This Earth to Do Two Things…Chew Bubble Gum and Kick Ass (MMA Mania)
– Jon Jones Insists the “Jealous Snake” Rashad Evans Never Was His Friend (LowKick)
– Jens Pulver Returns to Action Against Ox Wheeler at “MMA Fight Pit: Genesis” (TheFightNerd)
– Check Out This Hi-Res Panel From the First Full-Length MMA Comic Book, ‘Joe Palooka’ (MiddleEasy)
– Randy Couture’s Next Movie: ‘Setup’ Trailer (MMA Convert)
– Thiago Alves: “I’ll Try to Knock Him Out or Submit All Opponents From Now On.” (Five Ounces of Pain)
– Dana White: “I Really Love to Stick It to the Fedor Fans Because They’re Such Lunatics” (FightOpinion)
– ESPN Reports Fox As New Front-Runner For UFC TV Deal (MMAPayout)
(Pat Promrangka savagely knocks out Mitch Heron at FightWorld Cup 9, Saturday night in Queensland, Australia. Props: Doombringer002)
Some selected highlights from our friends around the MMA blogosphere. E-mail [email protected] for details on how your site can join the MMA Link Club…
– What’s Next for UFC 133 Winners and Losers? (NBC Sports MMA)
– Chael Sonnen Takes Unique Approach to Selling Brian Stann Fight (5thRound)
– Dana White Talks Shaquille O’Neal, GSP vs. Nick Diaz and ‘TUF 14′ (MMA Fighting)
(Wanderlei Silva: You couldn’t last five minutes in this man’s world.)
UFC 132: Cruz vs. Faber goes down Saturday night in Las Vegas, and in case you’re feeling some MMA fatigue after five consecutive weeks of events, let us remind you — this card has the potential to be a real son-of-a-bitch. Familiarize yourself with the lineup here, and get your juices flowing again by watching some career highlights from the fighters on the card. Enjoy…
(Ryan Bader vs. Keith Jardine, UFC 110, 2/21/10)
(Melvin Guillard vs. Dennis Siver, UFC 86, 7/5/08)
(Wanderlei Silva: You couldn’t last five minutes in this man’s world.)
UFC 132: Cruz vs. Faber goes down Saturday night in Las Vegas, and in case you’re feeling some MMA fatigue after five consecutive weeks of events, let us remind you — this card has the potential to be a real son-of-a-bitch. Familiarize yourself with the lineup here, and get your juices flowing again by watching some career highlights from the fighters on the card. Enjoy…
(Ryan Bader vs. Keith Jardine, UFC 110, 2/21/10)
(Melvin Guillard vs. Dennis Siver, UFC 86, 7/5/08)
(Wanderlei Silva vs. Kazushi Sakuraba, PRIDE Total Elimination 2003, 8/10/03)
(Tito Ortiz vs. Ken Shamrock 2, UFC 61, 7/8/06; fight starts at the 10:18 mark)
(Carlos Condit vs. Renato “Charuto” Verissimo, Rumble on the Rock 8, 1/20/06)
(Urijah Faber vs. Dominick Cruz, WEC 26, 3/24/07; click image to go to video)
(Shane Roller vs. Thiago Tavares, UFC Live: Sanchez vs. Kampmann, 3/3/11)
(Chris Leben vs. Terry Martin, UFC Fight Night 11, 9/19/07)
(Anthony Njokuani vs. Chris Horodecki, WEC 45, 12/19/09)
(Barnett has his throat-slash. Roy Nelson has his belly-rub. Lorenz Larkin just stands there and poops in his diaper. Props: Strikeforce)
Tomorrow night, Strikeforce returns to the ShoWare Center in Kent, Washington for one of the most compelling ‘Challengers’ events in recent memory. “Fodor vs. Terry” kicks off on Showtime at 11 p.m. ET, and features a pack of exciting prospects. Here’s a quick rundown of the five-fight main card, plus videos of some of their recent performances…
Caros Fodor (10-3) vs. James Terry (10-2)
Fodor is a Washington native who trains under Matt Hume at AMC Pankration. Eight of his ten victories have come by way of submission, but he was able to score his first stoppage-via-strikes in his last fight, battering a worn-out David Douglas until he earned a standing TKO in the third frame. He’s a perfect 3-0 in the Strikeforce organization, and will be looking to move another rung up the lightweight ladder against Cung Le protege James Terry, who has won his last three fights, two by first-round knockout.
(Caros Fodor’s TKO of David Douglas, 4/1/11)
(James Terry’s KO of Josh Thornburg, 4/1/11)
(Barnett has his throat-slash. Roy Nelson has his belly-rub. Lorenz Larkin just stands there and poops in his diaper. Props: Strikeforce)
Tomorrow night, Strikeforce returns to the ShoWare Center in Kent, Washington for one of the most compelling ‘Challengers’ events in recent memory. “Fodor vs. Terry” kicks off on Showtime at 11 p.m. ET, and features a pack of exciting prospects. Here’s a quick rundown of the five-fight main card, plus videos of some of their recent performances…
Caros Fodor (10-3) vs. James Terry (10-2)
Fodor is a Washington native who trains under Matt Hume at AMC Pankration. Eight of his ten victories have come by way of submission, but he was able to score his first stoppage-via-strikes in his last fight, battering a worn-out David Douglas until he earned a standing TKO in the third frame. He’s a perfect 3-0 in the Strikeforce organization, and will be looking to move another rung up the lightweight ladder against Cung Le protege James Terry, who has won his last three fights, two by first-round knockout.
(Caros Fodor’s TKO of David Douglas, 4/1/11)
(James Terry’s KO of Josh Thornburg, 4/1/11)
Ryan Couture (2-0) vs. Matt Ricehouse (4-0)
Usually, you have to be a former WWE star to have your first two MMA fights broadcast on national television. Ryan Couture has been granted that honor due to his lineage in the sport, but he’s taken the opportunity and ran with it. After a successful stint as an amateur, Randy’s son has shown off his formidable grappling skills in Strikeforce, ending his first two bouts by choke — then doing post-fight interviews in which everybody marvels at how much he sounds like his dad. His next opponent has more experience, but far less acclaim. Ricehouse is a Missouri-based lightweight prospect who’s already tasted victory on two Strikeforce undercards. He’s also tall for the lightweight class (just like Ryan), and a proficient grappler (again, just like Ryan). There can only be room for one of them.
(Ryan Couture’s rear-naked choke submission of Lee Higgins, 2/18/11)
Lorenz Larkin (10-0) vs. Gian Villante (7-2)
With a combat background that includes boxing, BJJ, and kung fu, Larkin is becoming known as a knockout machine, ending eight of his ten fights with his heavy hands and feet. His Strikeforce debut was a second-round demolition of Scott Lighty in April, in which he came in on a week’s notice to replace Satoshi Ishii. With momentum behind him, the California native is the favorite in his fight against Gian Villante, who returns to the cage after losing a wild slugfest to Chad Griggs in February. Villante, a former heavyweight champ of the New Jersey-based Ring of Combat promotion, drops back down to 205 for this one.
(Lorenz Larkin’s TKO of Scott Lighty, 4/1/11)
(Gian Villante’s TKO loss to Chad Griggs, 2/12/11)
Hit the “next page” link to learn about the Kansas City Bandit vs. Campamocha, and the first women’s match in Zuffa history…
(Duffee vs. Overeem at Dynamite!! 2010. Match starts around the 5:15 mark. Props: sidiro55)
Bulky UFC vet Todd Duffee has been a ghost since getting stormed by Alistair Overeem last New Year’s Eve in Saitama. But he finally has his next fight booked, and once again it’ll be in front of a Japanese audience. According to Nightmare of Battle, Duffee will compete on the Dream.17 card against undefeated KOTC standout Nick “Afrozilla” Gaston, who had to have been signed at least partly for his nickname.
(For those of you who were just struck by a weird feeling of deja-vu, let us clarify: Dream.17 is the event coming up on July 16th at the Ariake Coliseum in Tokyo. The Dream event that happened on May 29th was known alternately as “Fight for Japan!” and “Japan GP – 2011 Bantamweight Japan Tournament,” even though many people, including ourselves, referred to it as Dream.17. Anyway, we’re back to the numbers now, which are always easier to deal with.)
(Duffee vs. Overeem at Dynamite!! 2010. Match starts around the 5:15 mark. Props: sidiro55)
Bulky UFC vet Todd Duffee has been a ghost since getting stormed by Alistair Overeem last New Year’s Eve in Saitama. But he finally has his next fight booked, and once again it’ll be in front of a Japanese audience. According to Nightmare of Battle, Duffee will compete on the Dream.17 card against undefeated KOTC standout Nick “Afrozilla” Gaston, who had to have been signed at least partly for his nickname.
(For those of you who were just struck by a weird feeling of deja-vu, let us clarify: Dream.17 is the event coming up on July 16th at the Ariake Coliseum in Tokyo. The Dream event that happened on May 29th was known alternately as “Fight for Japan!” and “Japan GP – 2011 Bantamweight Japan Tournament,” even though many people, including ourselves, referred to it as Dream.17. Anyway, we’re back to the numbers now, which are always easier to deal with.)
So what do we know about Gaston? Well, he’s 5-0 (with 1 no-contest), and has spent his entire pro career fighting under the King of the Cage banner. Four of his wins came by stoppage in the first two rounds; one of those wins was a second-round TKO against Darrill “TUF Titties” Schoonover, and he most recently dispatched 2-11 sad-case Jerry Burns at an event in April. Before he started fighting, Gaston wrestled at Ohio State University. In 2009, he appeared on an episode of Bully Beatdown, where he made his bully-victim tap out five times in 96 seconds, then quit before the striking portion of the show.
Afrozilla may not be Ubereem, but he’s certainly legit, and if Duffee wants to snap his two-fight losing streak he’ll have to work for it. Dream.17 is also slated to feature the bantamweight tournament final between Masakazu Imanari and Hideo Tokoro, and Gegard Mousasi’s light-heavyweight title defense against Hiroshi Izumi.
The last event of Bellator’s fourth season went down last night in Lake Charles, Louisiana, featuring the finals of the light-heavyweight and featherweight tournaments. Christian M’Pumbu earned his way to the LHW finals by knocking out Chris Davis and Tim Carpenter, and it was business as usual against co-finalist Richard Hale. M’Pumbu dropped Hale once in the first round, but was unable to finish him with a D’arce choke. The Congolese-French standout didn’t make the same mistake twice; after scoring another knockdown in the third, M’Pumbu threw down leather until the ref was forced to stop the fight, picking up a $100,000 check and the title of Bellator’s first-ever light-heavyweight champion.
In the featherweight final, Patricio Freire edged out Daniel Straus to a unanimous decision, earning a rematch with champion Joe Warren, who he lost a split decision to last June. Full Bellator 45 results are after the jump…
The last event of Bellator’s fourth season went down last night in Lake Charles, Louisiana, featuring the finals of the light-heavyweight and featherweight tournaments. Christian M’Pumbu earned his way to the LHW finals by knocking out Chris Davis and Tim Carpenter, and it was business as usual against co-finalist Richard Hale. M’Pumbu dropped Hale once in the first round, but was unable to finish him with a D’arce choke. The Congolese-French standout didn’t make the same mistake twice; after scoring another knockdown in the third, M’Pumbu threw down leather until the ref was forced to stop the fight, picking up a $100,000 check and the title of Bellator’s first-ever light-heavyweight champion.
In the featherweight final, Patricio Freire edged out Daniel Straus to a unanimous decision, earning a rematch with champion Joe Warren, who he lost a split decision to last June. Full Bellator 45 results are after the jump…
MAIN CARD RESULTS
– Christian M’Pumbu def. Richard Hale via TKO, 4:17 of round 3
– Patricio Freire def. Daniel Straus via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27 x 2)
– Sam Alvey def. Karl Amoussou via split decision (29-28 x 2, 28-29)
PRELIMINARY CARD RESULTS
– Shawn Jordan def. John Hill via TKO, 1:56 of round 1
– Luis “Sapo” Santos def. Nicolae Cury via unanimous decision (30-27 x 3)
– Tim Ruberg def. Mike Fleniken via unanimous decision (30-27 x 3)
– Rene Nazare def. Kelvin Hackney via submission (rear-naked choke), 4:46 of round 1
– Joseph Abercrombie def. Ben Parpart via submission (rear-naked choke), 1:11 of round 1
(The UFC Fighter Summit has a storybook ending. Congrats, Janitor.)
Some selected highlights from our friends around the MMA blogosphere. E-mail [email protected] for details on how your site can join the MMA Link Club…
– BJ Penn and Jake Shields Want to Fight Each Other (LowKick)
– Shane Carwin’s Cardio Under Microscope at UFC 131 (NBC Sports MMA)
– Rashad Evans Explains His Nightclub Altercation With Jon Jones; Insists ‘Bones’ Ducked Him (MMA Mania)
– Mac Danzig Out of Next Month’s Anticipated Clash With Donald Cerrone, Vagner Rocha to Replace (Five Ounces of Pain)
– Matt Mitrione: If Ortiz Is Still Upset After Confrontation, ‘Then We Can Scrap’ (MMA Fighting)
– Your Favorite Hooters Girl to Serve Ring Cards at ‘UFC 132: Cruz vs. Faber II’ (5thRound)
– This Will Be the Strangest Seven-Second Knockout You Will See This Year (MiddleEasy)
– Mark Coleman ‘Would Drop Everything’ To Fight Herschel Walker (MMA Convert)
– Video: Hector Lombard Gets Pissed at Reporter After Bellator 44 (TheFightNerd)
(The UFC Fighter Summit has a storybook ending. Congrats, Janitor.)
Some selected highlights from our friends around the MMA blogosphere. E-mail [email protected] for details on how your site can join the MMA Link Club…
– BJ Penn and Jake Shields Want to Fight Each Other (LowKick)
– Shane Carwin’s Cardio Under Microscope at UFC 131 (NBC Sports MMA)
– Rashad Evans Explains His Nightclub Altercation With Jon Jones; Insists ‘Bones’ Ducked Him (MMA Mania)
– Mac Danzig Out of Next Month’s Anticipated Clash With Donald Cerrone, Vagner Rocha to Replace (Five Ounces of Pain)
– Matt Mitrione: If Ortiz Is Still Upset After Confrontation, ‘Then We Can Scrap’ (MMA Fighting)
– Your Favorite Hooters Girl to Serve Ring Cards at ‘UFC 132: Cruz vs. Faber II’ (5thRound)
– This Will Be the Strangest Seven-Second Knockout You Will See This Year (MiddleEasy)
– Mark Coleman ‘Would Drop Everything’ To Fight Herschel Walker (MMA Convert)
– Video: Hector Lombard Gets Pissed at Reporter After Bellator 44 (TheFightNerd)
