Tag: MMA

Gilbert Melendez Believes Accomplishments Greater Than Edgar’s and Maynard’s

Ok, so last night turned out to be yet another epic night for the Cesar Gracie lads, as both Nick Diaz and Gilbert Melendez defended their belts with first round, stoppage wins. While things looked a little dicey for Nick on a couple of occasions, after getting ‘invited’ to the mat by Paul Daley’s fists, […]

Gilbert Melendez

Ok, so last night turned out to be yet another epic night for the Cesar Gracie lads, as both Nick Diaz and Gilbert Melendez defended their belts with first round, stoppage wins. While things looked a little dicey for Nick on a couple of occasions, after getting ‘invited’ to the mat by Paul Daley’s fists, the welterweight pulled out the win in ‘this is effin awesome’ fashion. Gilbert’s performance? Well, it was a little bit more, shall we say, flawless, as he hardly worked up a sweat while viciously beating down Tatsuya Kawajiri.

Understandably, the lightweight champ was pretty amped up after the win, which lets remember, came over a guy in Kawajiri who dominated Josh Thomson this past December. Melendez has always maintained that he can hang with the UFC’s best, and certainly last night’s win only furthered his point. Speaking after his 19th career victory last night, Melendez continued on this theme (thanks to MMA Junkie for the quote) saying:

“I know I’m not the UFC champion, but I’ve been around this sport a lot longer than Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard,” Melendez said. “If you look at the past and what I’ve accomplished, I’ve accomplished more.”…”Not to take anything away from those guys. They’re great fighters. I’m just trying represent my organization and my team.”

Melendez has been fighting since 2002 while Edgar and Maynard transitioned into 2005 and 2006 respectively, and “El Nino” was throwing down in Pride when most MMA fans hadn’t even heard of the current UFC stars. So, does this mean Melendez can beat either guy? Guess someone will just have to get them together and find out….

Carlos Condit Gets Fight With Dong Hyun Kim

Recently we gave Carlos Condit a cyberspace, double thumbs up for quickly doing the ‘pick, pick me’ when word came down that Jon Fitch was bowing out of his rematch with BJ Penn due to an injury. Nothing came out of it immediately, leading us to speculate that fight wasn’t happening, and now Penn has […]

Dong Hyun Kim

Recently we gave Carlos Condit a cyberspace, double thumbs up for quickly doing the ‘pick, pick me’ when word came down that Jon Fitch was bowing out of his rematch with BJ Penn due to an injury. Nothing came out of it immediately, leading us to speculate that fight wasn’t happening, and now Penn has announced that he too is injured.

Who is Condit going to fight? Today the UFC has announced that the former WEC champ will take on Dong Hyun Kim on July 2nd…yup, not exactly a guy that’s been blowing dudes out of the water in the first round, but still a reedonkously tough fighter nonetheless. Big, strong, judo black belts just seem to have a way of taking the fight right out of you; just ask Matt Brown, TJ Grant, Amir Sadollah and Nate Diaz.

So, while this fight may not produce the kind of fireworks that a Condit, Penn match-up would have, it’s still an intriguing bout. A win for either guy will say a lot about where they stand in the welterweight division, just as UFC boss man Dana White stated in the official announcement:

 “A win over Condit would break Kim into the top ten and a win over Kim would bring Condit another step closer to a world title shot,” said UFC President Dana White.

Anyone else thinking Condit needs to keep this fight standing and then some? UFC 132’s shaping up nicely; Dominick Cruz vs. Urijah Faber, Chris Leben vs. Wanderlei Silva, Evan Dunham vs. George Sotiroupolus and more.

Tatsuya Kawajiri Focused on Title Fight Despite Disasters in Japan

Yes, we’ve spent some time lately waxing on about how compelling this Saturday’s Strikeforce is looking, as not only is the card looking pretty sweet, there’s also some very interesting storylines behind the event. Unless you’ve been wandering the wild aimlessly for weeks searching for ‘Big Foot’ (no, not the dude that beat down Fedor), […]

kawajiri

Yes, we’ve spent some time lately waxing on about how compelling this Saturday’s Strikeforce is looking, as not only is the card looking pretty sweet, there’s also some very interesting storylines behind the event. Unless you’ve been wandering the wild aimlessly for weeks searching for ‘Big Foot’ (no, not the dude that beat down Fedor), you’re probably aware of the recent tragedies that occurred in Japan.

This Saturday, three of Japan’s more noteworthy fighters in Shinya Aoki, Hiroyuki Takaya and Tatsuya Kawajiri will be fighting on the Strikeforce card, with the latter taking on Gilbert Melendez for the promotion’s lightweight championship. So yeah, there’s no question that a few victories, or even some badass performances from any of the three, could lift some spirits back home. When asked about how the recent disasters affected Kawajiri’s training camp, the powerful lightweight told MMA Fighting:

“In the beginning I lost my concentration a little bit, but I had friends who helped me train and work out,” Kawajiri said, via a translator. “We’re still getting light earthquakes, and water’s cut off. We’re lacking gasoline, and for a while food was hard to get. Things have gotten better day by day. I have friends who helped me train and workout, and now I am in the best shape. Now I’m concentrated on the fight.”

And while we’re on the subject, DREAM released a really cool promotional vid about this weekend’s bouts featuring Kawajiri, Aoki and Takaya. You can check it out here. To wager a little money on this Saturday’s action head here.

Gegard Mousasi Talks Keith Jardine, Strikeforce Belt and Jon “Bones” Jones

We were looking forward to the Gegard Mousasi, Mike Kyle tilt at this Saturday’s Strikeforce, but when Kyle went down with an injury and Keith Jardine was named as the replacement, cheers abounded throughout the Fix office (ok, maybe not exactly). After all, despite Jardine’s struggles over the last couple of years, we are talking […]

Gegard Mousasi

We were looking forward to the Gegard Mousasi, Mike Kyle tilt at this Saturday’s Strikeforce, but when Kyle went down with an injury and Keith Jardine was named as the replacement, cheers abounded throughout the Fix office (ok, maybe not exactly). After all, despite Jardine’s struggles over the last couple of years, we are talking about a dude that took out Forrest Griffin, Chuck Liddell and Brandon Vera.

Now it wasn’t long ago that many people were calling Mousasi the next big thing, until he was tossed around by “King Mo” Lawal last April and lost his Strikeforce belt. Despite the fact it was his first defeat in 15 fights and that the 25 year-old has won two more times since then, it’s been kind of quiet on the “Gegard’s the man’ front. Of course, all is far from lost for Mousasi and he knows it. While speaking to MMA Weekly, Mousasi talked about getting a win over Jardine, getting back the Strikeforce belt, and then, just maybe, taking on a certain Jon “Bones” Jones.

“Right now Jon Jones is considered the best, and if I win my fights, maybe it could build up a good match against him,” stated Mousasi. “I think it would be such a great fight, so I would like to test myself against him….“I need to win my fights first in Strikeforce, and then there’s a possibility to fight in the UFC or have the Strikeforce champion versus the UFC champion. But I’ve got to win my fights before thinking about that possibility.”

Mousasi vs. Jones huh? We’d watch. To bet on Mousasi and Jardine, or any of the other bouts scheduled for Saturday, head here.

Chris Leben vs. Wanderlei Silva Set; Carlos Condit Waiting to Hear on BJ Penn

Any regular reader of MMA Fix knows that we’ve been on board the Wanderlei Silva vs. Chris Leben train for some time, so now that the UFC has officially confirmed the bout for July 2nd, we’re pretty stoked. Yes, yes, a rematch between Vitor Belfort and Wandy would be amazing, but it seems pretty clear […]

wanderleisilva450

Any regular reader of MMA Fix knows that we’ve been on board the Wanderlei Silva vs. Chris Leben train for some time, so now that the UFC has officially confirmed the bout for July 2nd, we’re pretty stoked. Yes, yes, a rematch between Vitor Belfort and Wandy would be amazing, but it seems pretty clear that because Silva’s coming off a lengthy layoff due to knee surgery, he’d like to fight once before facing his Brazilian foe. Not sure if fighting a guy like Leben constitutes as a warm-up though, considering his left hand could double as a sledgehammer when he’s doing odd and ends around the yard.

Last week we credited Carlos Condit for stepping up to the plate and offering to fight BJ Penn, in response to the news that Jon Fitch is injured and will no longer face Penn as scheduled. It was a ballsy move by Condit, and although most fans should be down with that fight, questions remain as to whether BJ is interested. Condit’s manager Malki Kawa informed MMA Weekly that they’ve formally approached the UFC about the fight, however, they’re still waiting to hear back.

“I’m not really sure what’s holding it up right now. Hopefully Condit’s the guy they call to do it,” Kawa stated. “I don’t know if there’s a better fight than Condit for him, but we’re excited about the opportunity and hopefully, if Joe Silva, B.J. Penn, and the UFC feel like it’s something they want to do, Carlos is itching. He texts me every day ‘any word on B.J.?’ I’m hoping that’s what happens for him.”

Maybe the delay on this means it’s a no go….

Joe “Daddy” Stevenson to 145; Fighting Javier Vazquez in June

Joe “Daddy” Stevenson fans can rest easy, as although the former TUF winner has dropped three straight in the Octaogn, the UFC has announced today that he is dropping to featherweight and will fight Javier Vazquez in June. The tilt will take place at the UFC on Versus 4 card, which hasn’t officially been assigned […]

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Joe “Daddy” Stevenson fans can rest easy, as although the former TUF winner has dropped three straight in the Octaogn, the UFC has announced today that he is dropping to featherweight and will fight Javier Vazquez in June. The tilt will take place at the UFC on Versus 4 card, which hasn’t officially been assigned a date as of yet.

Well, if you’re going to give a struggling fighter another go in the UFC, why not Joe right? Should be interesting to see how he looks at 145.