Many die hard MMA fans have not fully adjusted to the post-Fedor-Can-Lose world, a place where up is down, nights is day, and fantastic tales on an unbeatable Russian fighter, are no longer fired at newcomers to the sport. You remember: ‘You think Anderson Silva is good? Dude, there’s this guy named Fedor Emelianenko who […]
Many die hard MMA fans have not fully adjusted to the post-Fedor-Can-Lose world, a place where up is down, nights is day, and fantastic tales on an unbeatable Russian fighter, are no longer fired at newcomers to the sport. You remember: ‘You think Anderson Silva is good? Dude, there’s this guy named Fedor Emelianenko who doesn’t even fight for the UFC, and…’
Of course after Fedor’s shocking loss to Fabricio Werdum, UFC boss man Dana Whitedeclared that the promotion was no longer interested in acquiring the services of “The Last Emperor.” A stark reversal after the company reportedly tried their damndest (short of co-promoting with M-1) to sign Fedor when he was a free agent. Was Dana being serious? Or was he being more tactical? You don’t have to have taken Marketing 101 to know Fedor’s bargaining power isn’t what it used to be.
Well, in keeping with speculation as to whether or not Fedor will in fact ever step foot in the Octagon, UFC UK President Marshall Zelaznik recently told British ESPN the following:
“Up until now there hasn’t been a possibility of it. I don’t know what his contract situation is, but these things don’t come down to money. Yes defeat to Fabricio Werdum has probably lowered his stock, but I don’t think we’ve ever decided not to sign a fighter due to money.”…”You never say never, and Emelianenko is a good fighter so it wouldn’t surprise me if Dana and Lorenzo [Fertitta] tried to work something out.”
Maybe Fedor had to lose to make a UFC deal workable?
UFC Live On Versus will have a long awaited matchup between British fighter Paul Kelly and Jacob Volkmann that many fans think could have fight of the night potential. The two have no love lost between them, with Volkmann calling Kelly a “stupid Brit” and insulting his punching power. Adding fuel to the […]
UFC Live On Versus will have a long awaited matchup between British fighter Paul Kelly and Jacob Volkmann that many fans think could have fight of the night potential. The two have no love lost between them, with Volkmann calling Kelly a “stupid Brit” and insulting his punching power. Adding fuel to the fire, the matchup was originally delayed from UFC 116 so you know these two are itching to get it on. Volkmann’s not the only one jawing about the upcoming bout, as Kelly recently talked about his opponent to Fighters Only:
I never question another fighter’s ability, never put anyone’s talent down. We’re in the UFC, there are no mugs here. To question my ability and power, he’s going to have egg on his face after it. I’m going to KO him, and put him out cold. If I KO him out cold, he’s going to look stupid and leave himself open to getting cut. He’s got to man up and prove himself on the night now, after disrespecting me the way he has. He’s got to back up his words.
I know what I’m going to do, there’s no question about that. I want to break a hole in his face, dead centre in the middle of his forehead, so he wakes up and thinks about me every single day. I’m going to leave a nice big scar down the middle of his head.
The part of the conversation where Penn talks about current UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar starts around the 6 minute mark. UFC 118 will feature Penn attempting to retake the title that many thought he had a complete chokehold on for a long time to come. Edgar may be the champ, but he […]
The part of the conversation where Penn talks about current UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar starts around the 6 minute mark. UFC 118 will feature Penn attempting to retake the title that many thought he had a complete chokehold on for a long time to come. Edgar may be the champ, but he will be the underdog in many MMA fans and insiders eyes.
This video was shot before Machida learned that he would be facing Quinton Jackson, but it seems that he was more than hopeful to face the former light heavyweight champion. Props to Sherdog.
This video was shot before Machida learned that he would be facing Quinton Jackson, but it seems that he was more than hopeful to face the former light heavyweight champion. Props to Sherdog.
MMA legend Bas Rutten has scored a gig as a host of the upcoming “Ultimate Women Challenge” which basically sounds like TUF but with women. What’s interesting is that the show will air on NBC, though there’s no scheduled time or date.
Here’s the info, as per the show’s website:
The Ultimate Women Challenge on […]
MMA legend Bas Rutten has scored a gig as a host of the upcoming “Ultimate Women Challenge” which basically sounds like TUF but with women. What’s interesting is that the show will air on NBC, though there’s no scheduled time or date.
The Ultimate Women Challenge on NBC marks the ascent of the “fairer sex” in this emerging world of sport. In a reality elimination show format hosted by actress & model Joanna Krupa (“Dancing with the Stars”) and former MMA Heavyweight Champion Bas Rutten, sixteen women will be given the chance to take off their make-up and put on their gloves in a historic competition. These contestants will leave the security of their homes to board planes bound for an undisclosed location, and compete against the best and brightest the sport has to offer.
Their coaches will be top ranked and world-renowned fighters themselves who know what it takes to make it in the hard-hitting world of MMA. They will settle for nothing less than perfection as they train their fighters to compete against each other and go for the glory. But, along the way, each episode of the series will feature entertaining and informative challenges that organically fuse elements of MMA with educational take-away information all for the benefit of charity. Through these challenges and a fly-on-the-wall perspective of the contestants as they go about their daily lives together, favorites will emerge because of their heart and spirit, their hard work & respect for the sport, and their touching personal stories. When the final bell rings, viewers will have plenty to root for as all of the women of Ultimate Women Challenge live together, train together, and compete together for the ultimate prize – a chance to reign supreme and take home the title of Ultimate Women Challenge Champion
SAN JOSE, Calif. (July 22, 2010) – Four women, three fights, one night!
With a world title shot on the line, STRIKEFORCE Women’s welterweight prospects Miesha “Takedown” Tate, Carina “Beauty But The Beast” Damm, Hitomi “Girlfight Monster” Akano and Maiju Kujala will compete in the first-ever STRIKEFORCE Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) women’s single-elimination tournament at STRIKEFORCE […]
SAN JOSE, Calif. (July 22, 2010) – Four women, three fights, one night!
With a world title shot on the line, STRIKEFORCE Women’s welterweight prospects Miesha “Takedown” Tate, Carina “Beauty But The Beast” Damm, Hitomi “Girlfight Monster” Akano and Maiju Kujala will compete in the first-ever STRIKEFORCE Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) women’s single-elimination tournament at STRIKEFORCE Challengers on Friday, Aug. 13, from Dodge Theatre in Phoenix, Ariz., live on SHOWTIME®.
The draw to determine the semi-final matchups for the two-round tournament will take place at the Official Weigh-In on Thursday, Aug. 12. A complete list of tournament rules will be provided in the coming days.
The SHOWTIME telecast (live at 11p.m. ET/PT, delayed on the west coast) will begin with the two semi-final bouts. The winners of each bout will compete in the tournament final later that night, just before the main event matchup of Joe Riggs vs. Louis Taylor. Each of the three tournament fights are scheduled for three, 3-minute rounds.
“We are going to fast-track these four talented prospects in a quest to determine the best in this deep women’s division,” STRIKEFORCE CEO Scott Coker said. “Having all four women square off on one night with the chance to separate themselves from the pack is what STRIKEFORCE Challengers is all about.”
The tournament winner will become the official No. 2 contender in the competitive STRIKEFORCE women’s welterweight division. This Friday, July 23, live on SHOWTIME (11 p.m. ET/PT, delayed on the west coast), current world champion Sarah Kaufman will risk her 135-pound crown against top-ranked challenger Roxanne Modafferi. The winner of that title fight will face Marloes Coenen next. The tournament winner will be the next in line.
“Marloes has made the move down to welterweight and she will get the next title fight,” Coker said. “She has proven that she belongs in the cage with our champion. So, after the tournament, we’ll have another legitimate contender to challenge for the title.
“We will have some terrific women’s matchups at 135 pounds in the next several months. It all starts this Friday with Kaufman and Modafferi, which is an excellent fight.”
The 23-year-old, 5-foot-7 Tate (9-2), of Olympia, Wash., is known for her superior skills, athleticism and determination. She notched her eighth professional victory on March 26, 2010, by submitting previously unbeaten Zoila “The Warrior Princess” Frausto with a textbook armbar in the second round (4:09) of a hard-fought bout during a STRIKEFORCE Challengers event on SHOWTIME at Save Mart Center in Fresno, Calif.
As a teenager, Tate joined her high school boys’ wrestling team in order to compete in a fast-paced, aggressive sport. She was introduced to MMA by a friend in college and, soon thereafter, her desire to challenge herself led to the birth of a professional career.
Recently, Tate began using her MMA skills for a noble cause – rape prevention. Last month, she began production on a DVD in which she and MMA legend Frank Shamrock thoroughly demonstrate MMA techniques that can be used by women to effectively defend themselves against attackers.
Damm (15-3), a 31-year-old resident of Brazil and sister of STRIKEFORCE veteran Rodrigo Damm, has been dubbed “Barbie Girl” by the Brazilian media because of her striking appearance. While competing in Japan in 2006, the 5-foot-4 Damm gained widespread public notoriety and was featured in a clothed pictorial for the Japanese edition of Playboy magazine.
A student of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu since the age of 15 and a professional mixed martial artist since 2004, Damm enters the tournament on a stellar 10-fight win streak. Her last victory, a first-round TKO (punches) over Aline Serio, came last Feb. 27 in Brazil. The Aug. 13 tournament will mark Damm’s third start in The United States. On April 3, 2008, she submitted (armbar) Sophie Bagherdai in the second round (1:52) in Los Angeles. One month later, she crushed Lashonda Knox with a knee strike in just 11 seconds in Racine, Wisc.
Akano, a 35-year-old who fights out of Tokyo, Japan, is a former champion of the Japanese women’s promotion Smackgirl and is an expert in submission holds. Fifteen of her 22 career victories have come by way of submission.
In her professional MMA debut in Tokyo on Nov. 26, 2004, the 5-foot-4 Akano lost a unanimous decision to Megumi Yabushita, but bounced back and reeled off seven straight wins, the last of which was a unanimous decision over American star Debi Purcell in Smackgirl on Feb. 15, 2006.
On April 11, 2009, Akano made her STRIKEFORCE debut when she moved up in weight to challenge the No. 1 female fighter in the world, Cris Cyborg. Despite giving up size to the naturally bigger 5-foot-7, 145-pound Cyborg, Akano fought valiantly and took the hard-hitting Brazilian into the third and final round before being stopped via strikes.
Three months after the loss to Cyborg, Akano rebounded and forced Miki Morifuji to tap out from an armbar in the second round (4:17) in Tokyo.
A woman of many talents, Akano is known for using “Between the Sky,” a song she wrote, as her entrance music.
Kujala (4-1), a native of Imatra, Finland, has already been victorious in tournament competition, winning a single-elimination tournament in The Netherlands on March 27. In the semifinal round of the event, Kujala submitted Akvile Vitkauskaite with a rear-naked choke in the second stanza (4:12) and, in the championship bout, she earned a unanimous decision over Titiana van Polanen after 10 minutes of battle.
Kujala brings a three-fight winning streak to the STRIKEFORCE Challengers cage. Her sole loss came to Aisling Daly via unanimous decision on Nov. 7, 2009.
Tickets for the STRIKEFORCE Challengers event are on sale at the Dodge Theatre Box Office, all Ticketmaster outlets, by phone at (800) 745-3000, and online at www.livenation.com and www.STRIKEFORCE.com.
In the main event, Phoenix native and MMA star Joe “Diesel” Riggs (32-12) will square off with knockout artist Louis Taylor (6-1) at a catch weight of 182 pounds.
A former super heavyweight who once competed at over 300 pounds, the 27-year-old Riggs is now a dangerous threat in multiple STRIKEFORCE divisions. He holds the rare distinction of having competed at heavyweight, light heavyweight, middleweight and welterweight during the course of an eight-year career.
Taylor, of Chicago, has rattled off two consecutive knockout wins since the STRIKEFORCE and M-1 GLOBAL: Fedor vs. Rogers event in Chicago, Ill. on Nov. 7, 2009. The 5-foot-11 Taylor has scored knockouts in four of his six victories and has only gone to the judges’ scorecards once in his pro career.
Dodge Theatre doors will open at 5:15 p.m. MT for the STRIKEFORCE Challengers event. The first preliminary bout will begin at 6 p.m. and the first main card bout will begin at 8 p.m.
The SHOWTIME telecast will begin at 11 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the West Coast.)
STRIKEFORCE Challengers, where tomorrow’s champions are born, is a proving ground for up-and-coming MMA fighters. The series is designed to provide today’s top prospects with the opportunity to step-up their level of competition and demonstrate their ability in a nationally televised event.
About STRIKEFORCE
STRIKEFORCE (www.strikeforce.com) is a world-class mixed martial arts cage fight promotion which, on Friday, March 10, 2006, made history with its “Shamrock vs. Gracie” event, the first sanctioned mixed martial arts fight card in California state history. The star-studded extravaganza, which pitted legendary champion Frank Shamrock against Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Cesar Gracie at San Jose’s HP Pavilion, played host to a sold-out, record crowd of 18,265. Since 1995, STRIKEFORCE, sanctioned by ISKA, has been the exclusive provider of martial arts programming for ESPN and, after 12 years of success as a leading, world championship kickboxing promotion, the company unveiled its mixed martial arts (MMA) series with “Shamrock vs. Gracie.” In May 2008, West Coast Productions, the parent company of STRIKEFORCE, partnered with Silicon Valley Sports & Entertainment (SVS&E), an entity created in 2000 to oversee all business operation aspects of the San Jose Sharks and HP Pavilion at San Jose. In March 2009, STRIKEFORCE signed a multi-year agreement with SHOWTIME® to stage live events on the premium cable television network. The promotion has since also produced two live, primetime events on the CBS Television Network.
