Wait, What?: Matt Lindland Is Fighting Tomorrow in Poland, I Guess

Matt Lindland Strikeforce Robbie Lawler knockout MMA photos
(“Hey man, look on the bright side — if you had won, it would have ruined my parlay bet.”)

Talk about flying under the radar. Not sure how this slipped past us until just now, but apparently MMA veteran Matt Lindland will be facing Mamed Khalidov in the co-main event of KSW 16, tomorrow in Gdansk, Poland. (Remember when it was mentioned at Chael Sonnen’s appeals hearing that Lindland couldn’t be at the proceedings because he was in Poland? Yeah, that’s why.)

Lindland, who has suffered first-round stoppage losses in three of his last four fights, is coming off a brain-melting knockout loss to Robbie Lawler last December. Khalidov is on a two-fight win streak, and is returning to action after his quick, predictable submission of James Irvin at KSW’s last event in March.

KSW’s main event will be a heavyweight wheeze-off between strongman-turned-fighter Mariusz Pudzianowski — who’s coming off his submission-via-punches win over Butterbean — and James Thompson, who has secured just one victory in his last ten fights. I appreciated this bit from Sherdog’s weigh-in report:

Matt Lindland Strikeforce Robbie Lawler knockout MMA photos
(“Hey man, look on the bright side — if you had won, it would have ruined my parlay bet.”)

Talk about flying under the radar. Not sure how this slipped past us until just now, but apparently MMA veteran Matt Lindland will be facing Mamed Khalidov in the co-main event of KSW 16, tomorrow in Gdansk, Poland. (Remember when it was mentioned at Chael Sonnen’s appeals hearing that Lindland couldn’t be at the proceedings because he was in Poland? Yeah, that’s why.)

Lindland, who has suffered first-round stoppage losses in three of his last four fights, is coming off a brain-melting knockout loss to Robbie Lawler last December. Khalidov is on a two-fight win streak, and is returning to action after his quick, predictable submission of James Irvin at KSW’s last event in March.

KSW’s main event will be a heavyweight wheeze-off between strongman-turned-fighter Mariusz Pudzianowski — who’s coming off his submission-via-punches win over Butterbean — and James Thompson, who has secured just one victory in his last ten fights. I appreciated this bit from Sherdog’s weigh-in report:

Both fighters were in good spirits during the weigh-in. In a recent interview, Thompson called the Pole “an extremely ugly creature.” In response, Pudzianowski brought him a mirror so, as he put it, the Brit could realize his own ugliness. Thompson was to quick respond. “Mariusz invents his own jokes,” Thompson said. “You’re actually an attractive — but slightly retarded — man.”

Delightful! Speaking of which, the Nazi-tatted Toni Valtonnen will also be on the card. The Finnish hate-machine will be looking for his fourth-straight win against Jan Blachowicz

Ranger Up Caption Contest: The Winners!

Mike Goldberg Matt Lindland UFC photos MMA funny
(Off camera, Mike Goldberg is just another golden-voiced hobo.)

This week’s caption contest brought in 235 entries — or about 140, if you take out all the spam comments and painfully obvious references to Menace II Society. After careful consideration, we’ve chosen three winners, who will be scoring new t-shirts from Ranger Up. But first, some honorable mentions…

Horror Fighter: With his camouflage coat, Goldberg was confident that he could steal Matt’s beer unseen.

FightZen: “Matt ‘The Law’ Lindland, is, unquestionably, the most accomplished beer drinker in the middleweight division.”

DangadaDang: One thing that’s amazing about Guinness beer is that its hoppiness is so…hoppy.

RWilsonR: “Hey Matt, want to see what’s on a meteoric rise right now? I’ll give you a hint… it’s in my pants.”

Naked Rear Poke: MG: Now, try not to look too shocked because I know he’s a LOT shorter in real life, but he’s a huge fan of yours. Matt, meet Eminem!
Naked Rear Poke (again): MG: Hey Matt, do you think this necklace makes me look less like someone with the surname ‘Goldberg’?

And now, your winners…

Mike Goldberg Matt Lindland UFC photos MMA funny
(Off camera, Mike Goldberg is just another golden-voiced hobo.)

This week’s caption contest brought in 235 entries — or about 140, if you take out all the spam comments and painfully obvious references to Menace II Society. After careful consideration, we’ve chosen three winners, who will be scoring new t-shirts from Ranger Up. But first, some honorable mentions…

Horror Fighter: With his camouflage coat, Goldberg was confident that he could steal Matt’s beer unseen.

FightZen: “Matt ‘The Law’ Lindland, is, unquestionably, the most accomplished beer drinker in the middleweight division.”

DangadaDang: One thing that’s amazing about Guinness beer is that its hoppiness is so…hoppy.

RWilsonR: “Hey Matt, want to see what’s on a meteoric rise right now? I’ll give you a hint… it’s in my pants.”

Naked Rear Poke: MG: Now, try not to look too shocked because I know he’s a LOT shorter in real life, but he’s a huge fan of yours. Matt, meet Eminem!
Naked Rear Poke (again): MG: Hey Matt, do you think this necklace makes me look less like someone with the surname ‘Goldberg’?

And now, your winners…

Vera: ‘Ok so I do feel a small lump over to the left but everything else seems virtually identical’

Horror Fighter: Faced with the moral conundrum of whether to finish his beer or help a stroke victim, Matt Lindland made the obvious choice.

grinch_20: Pssst, I hear you know a good money launderer?

Oh yeah! If your name has been called, please e-mail [email protected] with your name, address, shirt size, and preference of the three designs pictured below. Thanks everybody…

Waldo Osama Bin Laden Ranger Up t-shirt
(Waldo Bin Laden t-shirt)

Navy SEAL Osama Bin Laden t-shirt Ranger Up
(Navy SEAL Osama Bin Laden t-shirt)

5/1/11 We Will Not Fail Ranger Up t-shirt Osama bin Laden
(We Will Not Fail t-shirt)

Falling Action: Best and Worst of UFC & Strikeforce’s Dueling Events

Filed under: UFC, StrikeforceNow that we’ve all caught our breath, gotten a little sleep, and prepared ourselves to approach Saturday night’s dueling MMA events like calm, rational individuals, let’s dig through the results and get worked up all over a…

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Now that we’ve all caught our breath, gotten a little sleep, and prepared ourselves to approach Saturday night’s dueling MMA events like calm, rational individuals, let’s dig through the results and get worked up all over again.

Without further delay, here are the big winners, losers, and everything in between after the TUF 12 Finale and Strikeforce: Henderson vs. Babalu.

Biggest Winner: Dan Henderson
A blind man would have known this fight was over once he heard the sound of Hendo’s right hand thumping against “Babalu” Sobral’s skull. But because Sobral managed to keep his eyes open even as they rolled around in his head, it wasn’t stopped until after Henderson had landed several more memory-busters, just for completely unnecessary good measure. The impressive brutality of the win goes a long way towards erasing Henderson’s loss to Shields in the minds of fans, but we should probably reserve judgment until we see him in a fight with an opponent who’s still in his prime. An opponent like, say, light heavyweight champion “Feijao” Cavalcante.

The Science Behind the Knockout

(Video courtesy BREAK/SportScience)
If you watched Strikeforce: Henderson vs. Babalu this weekend and read any of the ensuing commentary on MMA websites and messageboards, by now you have digested a lot of talk about the weak chins of fighters like R…

(Video courtesy BREAK/SportScience)

If you watched Strikeforce: Henderson vs. Babalu this weekend and read any of the ensuing commentary on MMA websites and messageboards, by now you have digested a lot of talk about the weak chins of fighters like Renato "Babalu" Sobral, Scott Smith, Mike Kyle and Matt Lindland.

Some writers and posters even went so far as to call for their retirement, as if they have any say in the matter.

If a fighter’s health is at risk, either long or short-term, then I’m all for them hanging up the gloves, but it isn’t up to anyone but them to decide when that time is.

As far as the uninformed opinions that a fighter’s "KO button" is easier to push or that his chin is weaker as a compound result of multiple knockouts incurred over the span of his career, both are fundamentally incorrect.

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Strikeforce Live Blog: Robbie Lawler vs. Matt Lindland Updates

Filed under: StrikeforceThis is the Strikeforce live blog for Robbie Lawler vs. Matt Lindland, a middleweight bout on tonight’s Strikeforce on Showtime card from the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Mo.

Lawler, a former EliteXC middleweight champion, i…

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This is the Strikeforce live blog for Robbie Lawler vs. Matt Lindland, a middleweight bout on tonight’s Strikeforce on Showtime card from the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Mo.

Lawler, a former EliteXC middleweight champion, is coming off a loss to Renato “Babalu” Sobral in June. Earlier in January, Lawler scored a beautiful knockout over Melvin Manhoef to pick up a come-from-behind win.

Lindland in May ended a two-fight losing streak with a TKO win over Kevin Casey in the main event of Strikeforce Challengers 8.

The live blog is below.

Strikeforce: Robbie Lawler KOs Matt Lindland

Filed under: Strikeforce, NewsIn a vicious display of striking in a fight that lasted less than a minute, Robbie Lawler brutally knocked out Matt Lindland on Saturday night’s Strikeforce card.

It was the classic striker vs. grappler matchup, and Lawle…

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In a vicious display of striking in a fight that lasted less than a minute, Robbie Lawler brutally knocked out Matt Lindland on Saturday night’s Strikeforce card.

It was the classic striker vs. grappler matchup, and Lawler’s striking was far too much for Lindland, who never even got a chance to use his grappling. Lawler just came out swinging and landed a huge punch that knocked Lindland down, and Lawler then came down with one more hard punch on the ground that knocked Lindland unconscious.