Old school UFC fans should be pretty stoked to hear that according to a report from MMA Weekly this afternoon, long time veteran Yves Edwards will return to the Octagon for the first time in over four years, when he faces John Gunderson at UFC Fight Night on September 15th.
What’s the big deal newbie, ‘I […]
Old school UFC fans should be pretty stoked to hear that according to a report from MMA Weekly this afternoon, long time veteran Yves Edwards will return to the Octagon for the first time in over four years, when he faces John Gunderson at UFC Fight Night on September 15th.
What’s the big deal newbie, ‘I watch just the UFC’ fans, may be asking? Well aside from the fact that Edwards is the master of the self-titled Thug-Jitsu, which is completely awesome in of itself, the 33 year-old-fighter is one of the most experienced and entertaining lightweights in the world. Want proof? If you haven’t seen his flying head kick KO of Josh Thomson at UFC 48—immediately seek out footage. His flying knee KO of Edson Berto, at an Elite XC event in February, 2008, was also pretty damn sweet.
Edwards, who at one time was widely viewed as one of the world’s elite lightweights, has had some ups and downs over the last few years, but the American Top Team fighter has gone 4-1 in his last five fights. At Bellator’s 24th event last week, Edwards worked his way to a Unanimous Decision over Luis Palomino, to run his record to 38-16-1. Guess that warrants another crack in the UFC no?
James Toney continues to hype his upcoming fight against Randy Couture at UFC 118, this time attacking Joe Rogan as well. Toney certainly isn’t endearing himself to MMA fans, but you can bet he’s gonna put butts in the seats as well as selling a load of pay per view buys.
James Toney continues to hype his upcoming fight against Randy Couture at UFC 118, this time attacking Joe Rogan as well. Toney certainly isn’t endearing himself to MMA fans, but you can bet he’s gonna put butts in the seats as well as selling a load of pay per view buys.
CHICAGO, Ill. (August 17, 2010) — Bellator Fighting Championships today announced that Bellator Season 2 featherweight semi-finalist Georgi Karakhanyan (13-2-1) will take on UFC Veteran and submission specialist Alvin Robinson (10-5) at Bellator 28 in New Orleans on Sept. 9th. Karakhanyan is coming off of a loss to current Season 2 Featherweight Tournament Champion […]
CHICAGO, Ill. (August 17, 2010) — Bellator Fighting Championships today announced that Bellator Season 2 featherweight semi-finalist Georgi Karakhanyan (13-2-1) will take on UFC Veteran and submission specialist Alvin Robinson (10-5) at Bellator 28 in New Orleans on Sept. 9th. Karakhanyan is coming off of a loss to current Season 2 Featherweight Tournament Champion Joe Warren at Bellator 18 last May. Prior to that defeat, Karakhanyan was on a nine fight win streak that dated back to May of 2008, including a first-round highlight reel KO of Bao Quach at Bellator 13.
California-native Alvin Robinson will make his Bellator debut at the Bellator 28 event. Robinson is a dangerous submission fighter holding a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under the legendary Royce Gracie. Robinson brings an impressive 10-5 professional record to his Bellator debut, with nine of those wins coming via submission. In his last outing, Robinson secured a second round rear-naked choke victory over Brandon Girtz. The 28 year-old-fighter currently fights out of Denver, Colorado for the Gracie Grudge Fight Team.
“Stylistically, Georgi and Alvin match-up really well. Both have world-class submission skills so there’s great potential for an explosive, entertaining fight for the fans,” said Bellator Chairman and CEO Bjorn Rebney. “This fight is a great addition to what is already a great night of fights to the Mahalia Jackson Theater in New Orleans on Sept. 9th.
Born in Moscow, Russia, to Armenian parents, Karakhanyan was introduced to martial arts at the age of six by his father, a karate black-belt. Soon, though, he fell in love with soccer and went on to play at the amateur and professional levels in Russia, Spain and the U.S. While playing for the San Diego Sockers of the Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL), Karakhanyan also began studying Jiu-Jitsu as part of his conditioning regimen. When the team folded, he decided to take up fighting full-time.
When asked about his loss to Warren, Karakhanyan is understandably animated.
“I don’t like to lose, period,” said Karakhanyan. “Coming off of a loss, I’m hungry; I’m training harder than I ever have before. Alvin is a great fighter, he’s a black belt, but I won’t be afraid to take him down.”
Robinson, who actually trains with Joe Warren, says that he is preparing for it all.
“I’m excited to be back in the big leagues and I’m not taking this for granted. Georgi is a very well-rounded fighter so I’m getting ready for anything. If it goes to the ground I’m going to be ready with my jiu-jitsu, or if he wants to stand and bang, I’m ready,” said Robinson.
Tickets for the event – which will also be broadcast LIVE nationwide on FOX Sports Net along with action-packed highlight shows that will air on NBC Saturday nights – are on sale now at ticketmaster.com
For more information, visit Bellator.com, follow Bellator on Twitter @BellatorMMA or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/Bellator.
About Bellator Fighting Championships
Bellator Fighting Championships is a Mixed Martial Arts promotional company headquartered in Chicago. Bellator’s founder/CEO, Bjorn Rebney, is an experienced fighting sports and entertainment professional with a deep commitment to the purity and integrity of the sport of MMA and its athletes. Bellator Fighting Championships’ executive team is comprised of top industry professionals in the areas of live event production, television production, fighter relations, venue procurement, sponsorship creation/development, international licensing, marketing, advertising, publicity and commission relations.
Earlier in the week we commented on the fact that hardcore MMA fans will be spending hours in front of the ‘boob tube’ over the next 10 days or so; throw in a little video game action for good measure, and prepare for some serious retina wear. Starting tonight there’s WEC 50, Strikeforce goes Saturday, […]
Earlier in the week we commented on the fact that hardcore MMA fans will be spending hours in front of the ‘boob tube’ over the next 10 days or so; throw in a little video game action for good measure, and prepare for some serious retina wear. Starting tonight there’s WEC 50, Strikeforce goes Saturday, Sengoku rolls in the early hours of Sunday, and then of course next Saturday is UFC 118. The MMA gods are smiling on us friends.
As always, there are several great bouts scheduled for WEC 50 and thankfully one of the scheduled competitors is Anthony Njokuani. If you’re struggling to recall who he is think ‘dude kicking Chris Horodecki in the head as he runs away’; that might jog your memory (as may have the pic above).
Njokuani had been building quite a reputation for being a highlight reel striker, earning three TKO wins in a row, before getting tapped out by Shane Roller at WEC 48 in April. As a result of the loss, in a recent appearance on MMA Junkie Radio, Njokuani announced he’s made jiu-jitsu a priority heading into his fight with Maciej Jewtuszko.
“I really do want to get better at that because I know that’s where I’m lacking right now,”… “I’m trying to be a world-class guillotine guy,” he said of his favorite submission. “I don’t want to throw all my surprises out there, but I’ve been working on that a lot.”
According to the report Njokuani’s been honing his grappling abilities at Segrio Penha’s jiu-jitsu academy in Las Vegas; a well rounded Njokuani could be bad news for a lot of dudes. To bet on tonight’s card head here.
Over the last couple of days we’ve been trying to determine Mirko “Cro Cop’s” thought process, in agreeing to fight Frank Mir on short notice, September 25th, at UFC 119. If you listen very carefully…you can still hear the disappointed cries of hardcore “Minotauro” Nogueira fans; sh-t’s rough. As we’ve said since the news of […]
Over the last couple of days we’ve been trying to determine Mirko “Cro Cop’s” thought process, in agreeing to fight Frank Mir on short notice, September 25th, at UFC 119. If you listen very carefully…you can still hear the disappointed cries of hardcore “Minotauro” Nogueira fans; sh-t’s rough. As we’ve said since the news of Nog’s unfortunate injury was announced, we’re happy Cro Cop has agreed to step up, but it was kind of surprising considering he was supposedly thinking about hanging them up.
Well, in a report today from MMA Bay, we’re getting some possible insights into Cro Cop’s decision. Now we have a hard time translating U.K. English into American English, much less any other language, so we’ll have to take MMA Bay’s ‘word’ on the following comments. According to a report from Index.hr, here is some of what the Croatian bomber had to say about his upcoming bout with Mir.
“It is certain that I will not be able to go full force. I was left with only five weeks to prepare. I would not agree to the madness of this fight if Lorenzo Fertitta didn’t beg me to step in. They were in a difficult situation because Minotauro could not fight, and this is my way to repay [the UFC].”…”This all, of course, does not mean that I am looking for an excuse, but I certainly will not be ready. However, it still means I can lay out Frank Mir in the first round.”
There’s some ‘straight shooting’ for you (Mirko was a Special Forces officer after all). The short notice is something to consider though if you’re considering betting. Should be interesting.
The weigh-ins for the next World Extreme Cagefighting event, “WEC 50: Cruz vs. Benavidez” went down tonight at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, which will also host Wednesday’s festivities.
All twenty competitors made weight for their perspective bouts with headliners WEC bantamweight champ Dominick Cruz and opponent Joseph Benavidez weighing in at 134 pounds […]
The weigh-ins for the next World Extreme Cagefighting event, “WEC 50: Cruz vs. Benavidez” went down tonight at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, which will also host Wednesday’s festivities.
All twenty competitors made weight for their perspective bouts with headliners WEC bantamweight champ Dominick Cruz and opponent Joseph Benavidez weighing in at 134 pounds each.
Tomorrow night’s main card will be broadcast live on the Versus network.
Here are the full weigh-in results for WEC 50
Main Card
Bantamweight: Dominick Cruz (134) vs. Joseph Benavidez (134) Title bout
Lightweight: Shane Roller (156) vs. Anthony Pettis (155)
Featherweight: Cub Swanson (146) vs. Chad Mendes (145)
Bantamweight: Scott Jorgensen (135) vs. Brad Pickett (136)
Lightweight: Bart Palaszewski (156) vs. Zack Micklewright (156)
Preliminary Card
Lightweight: Anthony Njokuani (154) vs. Maciej Jewtuszko (155)
Featherweight: Javier Vazquez (145) vs. Mackens Semerzier (146)
Lightweight: Ricardo Lamas (155) vs. Dave Jansen (156)
Featherweight: Fredson Paixao (145) vs. Bryan Caraway (145)
Lightweight: Danny Castillo (156) vs. Dustin Poirier (156)
