Tag: Maximo Blanco

Hump Day Headlines with Stephanie Ann Cook

Dana White tweets: GSP vs. Nick Diaz is on for UFC 137. UFC 133 fight card to include: Rashad Evans vs. Phil Davis, Vitor Belfort vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama, and Rich Franklin vs. Antonio “Lil’ Nog”.


Dana White tweets: GSP vs. Nick Diaz is on for UFC 137.

UFC 133 fight card to include: Rashad Evans vs. Phil Davis, Vitor Belfort vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama, and Rich Franklin vs. Antonio “Lil’ Nog” Rogerio Nogueira set for August 6th.

Jon Fitch doesn’t want fight with Rick Story and will wait for either BJ Penn or Georges St. Pierre.

Brian Foster cleared by doctor to fight again after brain hemmorrhage.

Brock Lesnar‘s surgery goes well, plans 2012 comeback.

Josh Thomson back in action against Maximo Blanco for Strikeforce in September.

Roy Nelson claims he had “walking pneumonia” going into his UFC 130 bout/loss against Frank Mir.

Maximo Blanco Signs With Strikeforce

Filed under: Strikeforce, NewsExciting lightweight Maximo Blanco has signed a four-fight contract with Strikeforce, an official from SuckerPunch Entertainment, Blanco’s management team, confirmed with MMA Fighting.

Sherdog.com first reported the news …

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Exciting lightweight Maximo Blanco has signed a four-fight contract with Strikeforce, an official from SuckerPunch Entertainment, Blanco’s management team, confirmed with MMA Fighting.

Sherdog.com first reported the news Tuesday morning. No word just yet on when he will debut for the organization.

The former lightweight King of Pancrase most recently fought for Sengoku Raiden Championships in December, defeating Won Sik Park via unanimous decision, which helped extend the Venezuelan-born Blanco’s winning streak to six. Prior to that decision win, the 27-year-old had knocked out his last five opponents.

Blanco won a bronze medal in freestyle wrestling at the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janiero, Brazil.

The 8-2-1 (1 no contest) fighter moved to Japan in high school and later trained under the tutelage of Olympic judo gold medalist Hidehiko Yoshida. He made his MMA debut in August 2008.

 

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The Other Japanese New Year’s Show: Sengoku ‘Soul of Fight’ Lineup and Rundown

(Marlon Sandro shows off a kick he’s been working on called the ‘Flying Photoshop Material.’ Props: Sherdog)
Tomorrow’s year-ending Sengoku event in Tokyo may be short on gross mismatches, public executions, gender/rule-bending stunt fights, …

Marlon Sandro Sengoku MMA Japan
(Marlon Sandro shows off a kick he’s been working on called the ‘Flying Photoshop Material.’ Props: Sherdog)

Tomorrow’s year-ending Sengoku event in Tokyo may be short on gross mismatches, public executions, gender/rule-bending stunt fights, and Bob Sapp, but the card makes up for it in matches that are actually competitive and relevant. "Soul of Fight" will present a staggering 28 bouts of MMA and kickboxing; you can check out the full lineup at the end of this post. HDNet will be airing the bouts in a two-part series on January 14th and 21st, but we’ll try to post videos of the best fights as soon as we can. Here’s a few you might be seeing…  

Marlon Sandro vs. Hatsu Hioki (for Sengoku Featherweight Championship)
Soul of Fight’s main event is easily the most important featherweight bout possible outside of the WEC. Since debuting in Sengoku last March, reigning champion Marlon Sandro has become one of the most vicious knockout artists in all of MMA, dispatching his last three opponents in a combined fight time of 3:20. In his last fight, the Nova Uniao standout starched Masanori Kanehara in 38 seconds to win World Victory Road’s featherweight strap. Hioki, who is the reigning 143-pound champ of Shooto, might be the last elite-level challenge that Sandro will find in Japan, and brings an Aoki-esque grappling style that’s as creative as it is aggressive.

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Maximo Blanco vs. Won Sik Park Added to Soul of Fight

Filed under: Sengoku, News, JapanSengoku Raiden Championship promoter World Victory Road added four more fights on Friday to its “Soul of Fight” end of year event, bringing the total to 27 fights.

Sengoku’s brightest prospect Maximo Blanco will face …

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Sengoku Raiden Championship promoter World Victory Road added four more fights on Friday to its “Soul of Fight” end of year event, bringing the total to 27 fights.

Sengoku’s brightest prospect Maximo Blanco will face one of the toughest tests of his young career as he takes on the underrated Won Sik “Parky” Park. Blanco was originally set for a lightweight title fight but as his planned opponent, Kazunori Yokota, was unable to get past Brian Cobb at SRC 15 in October ended those plans. Park has been the victim of unfortunate circumstances over they past year as his debut against Kuniyoshi Hironaka at DREAM 12 in October 2009 was spoiled by an eye poke and his tune-up fight in Deep against Ryuki Ueyama was ruled a no contest after a disputed referee stoppage.

Former SRC featherweight champion Masanori Kanehara will return to action to take on DREAM representative Yoshiro Maeda. Maeda is coming off a solid but narrow victory over former DEEP featherweight champ Takafumi Otsuka while Kanehara will be looking for his first win since losing his belt to Marlon Sandro.

Sengoku 15: Hiroshi Izumi Wins a Robbery; Cobb and Blanco Victorious

Filed under: SengokuA Sengoku 15 fight card that was short on big names and short on fireworks and probably would have been quickly forgotten will instead be remembered for the Japanese judges giving an absolutely ridiculous decision to a Japanese figh…

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A Sengoku 15 fight card that was short on big names and short on fireworks and probably would have been quickly forgotten will instead be remembered for the Japanese judges giving an absolutely ridiculous decision to a Japanese fighter in the main event.

That main event featured Englishman James Zikic opening a cut over Hiroshi Izumi‘s right eye early in the fight and controlling the bout standing up most of the rest of the way, and it appeared that Zikic would win an easy unanimous decision. Instead, when the judges’ scorecards were announced, Izumi had won a split decision.

Sengoku has tried hard to push Izumi, who has a great background, but the truth is he’s just not that good. Zikic beat him handily, and it’s absurd that the judges handed Izumi the victory.

Video Evidence: Maximo Blanco Zombifies Kiumu Kunioku at Sengoku 15

(The whole fight is worth watching, but if you’re in a hurry just go ahead and start at 6:30 for the good stuff. VidProps: MegaVideo)
When you have a name as epic as Maximo Blanco I guess you really have no choice but to be the kind of fighter …

(The whole fight is worth watching, but if you’re in a hurry just go ahead and start at 6:30 for the good stuff. VidProps: MegaVideo)

When you have a name as epic as Maximo Blanco I guess you really have no choice but to be the kind of fighter who throws hands with reckless abandon and racks up highlight reel knockouts like they’re going out of style. If you fight primarily in Japan, it’s also OK to have your nickname be “Maxi” and your fighting exploits described as “Maxi Time!” despite what we in the west might see as the uncomfortably close proximity of that name to a certain brand of feminine hygiene products. Regardless, Blanco’s blockbuster knockout of Kiumu Kunioku from Sengoku 15 over the weekend is definitely a worth a watch.

The fight moves along at a pretty good clip for the first six-and-a-half minutes, until Blanco abruptly decides that it’s fuckin’ MAXI TIME. The current lightweight King of Pancrase drops Kunioku with a punch and follows it with a soccer kick that causes the Japanese veteran to snatch desperately for a single leg. Blanco spins free of it (doing sort of an atomic butt drop on Kunioku in the process) and then absolutely crushes him with an uppercut as he tries to stand. You know the rest: Strikes on the ground until the ref stops it while Michael Schiavello yells, “He almost decapitated him! It’s good night freaking Irene!” For once, the play-by-play shouter’s histrionics seem to fit the situation nicely.

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