UFC Welterweights: B.J. Penn Calls out Jake Shields on Twitter

“The Prodigy” B.J. Penn’s return to the welterweight division was glorious with a vicious knockout of rival Matt Hughes in their rubber fight in November of 2010.Twenty-one seconds into the first round, Penn’s hand was raised in victory as Hughes laid …

“The Prodigy” B.J. Penn’s return to the welterweight division was glorious with a vicious knockout of rival Matt Hughes in their rubber fight in November of 2010.

Twenty-one seconds into the first round, Penn’s hand was raised in victory as Hughes laid unconscious on the Octagon floor as B.J. earned Knockout of the Night honors.

Following this stunning defeat, “The Prodigy” earned a disappointing draw at UFC 127 in Australia against Jon Fitch.

Neither fighter able to capitalize on their opponent’s mistakes, this lackluster affair came to an end under a banner of disappointment for Penn.

Alternatively, Jake Shields was riding a seven-year winning streak when he entered the UFC cage against the current welterweight champion, Georges St-Pierre, at UFC 129.

Delivering an inconsistent offense with moments of brilliance overshadowed by a hesitant drive for victory, Shields suffered a unanimous decision defeat to St-Pierre.

Currently rehabilitating from shoulder surgery, Jon Fitch is unable to compete in the rematch against Penn.

Anxious to compete prior to Fitch’s full recovery, Penn has taken it upon himself to call out the former Elite XC champion Jake Shields.

Commenting via Twitter, Penn tweeted, “I would never challenge one of Cesar Gracie’s guys, but you’ve been calling me out for years. Let’s do it! I’ll contact Dana.”

Responding without hesitation, Shields replied, “I’m a BJ fan but let’s get it on. Make the call. Let’s go!”

Additionally, upping the ante, Shields tweeted, “Even better, let’s make it the first 5 round non-title fight.”

Both Penn and Shields are phenomenally talented Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioners.

With the possibility of the ground game nullified by both fighter’s jiu-jitsu wizardry, this welterweight clash may come down to stand-up striking ability and cardiovascular conditioning.

A fight of this magnitude between two of the sport’s best welterweight fighters should be epic and a tremendous crowd-pleasing affair.

No word as of yet if this matchup is scheduled to take place. Stay tuned for details as they unfold.

I welcome your comments.

Todd Seyler

“Like” me on Facebook.

Follow me on Twitter @magnus06.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

The 30 Most Impressive Unbeaten Streaks in MMA History

It is much less common in MMA for fighters to accrue tremendous winning streaks than it is in boxing.That is what makes these unbeaten streaks all the more impressive.With there being so many different styles and ways to end fights, even top fighters u…

It is much less common in MMA for fighters to accrue tremendous winning streaks than it is in boxing.

That is what makes these unbeaten streaks all the more impressive.

With there being so many different styles and ways to end fights, even top fighters usually do not go on winning streaks of more than four or five in a row.

The mental toughness is takes to keep an edge over a perpetual conveyor belt of masters of different styles is mind boggling.

Just when a fighter thinks he can beat anyone in the world is when his next opponent usually finds a way to win.

Some fighters “pad” their records with mediocre fighters (“cans”), but keeping a streak alive is still a monumental task when competing against professionals.

Out of all the streaks, these are the most impressive in history.

Qualifications: Must be at least 10 victories in the streak, and since this is for “unbeaten” streaks, only an official loss ends a streak.

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UFC 131 Fight Card: Breaking Down Shane Carwin vs. Junior Dos Santos

After the recent announcement of Brock Lesnar being forced out of his bout at UFC 131, UFC heavyweight Shane Carwin will be Lesnar’s replacement, as he will square off against Junior dos Santos.This will be Carwin’s first appearance inside the Octagon …

After the recent announcement of Brock Lesnar being forced out of his bout at UFC 131, UFC heavyweight Shane Carwin will be Lesnar’s replacement, as he will square off against Junior dos Santos.

This will be Carwin’s first appearance inside the Octagon since his loss to Lesnar last year at UFC 116, since then Carwin has spent a substantial amount of time recovering from backs surgery. 

Dos Santos has been on an impressive run since his debut in the UFC, recently defeating Roy Nelson at UFC 117.

The Brazilian has made his tenure in the heavyweight division look easy so far, picking up wins over some of the prominent fighters, including Fabricio Werdum, Gabriel Gonzaga and Mirko Cro Cop. 

Both men hold some notable victories over some the division’s top stars, and a win for either Carwin or dos Santos will guarantee a title shot against Cain Velasquez later this year. 

Here is a breakdown of Shane Carwin vs. Junior dos Santos

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MMA Live 1: Parisyan Is Ready to Start His Climb Back, and Will Start with Ford

Karo Parisyan has been to hell and back over the past few years, and will look to his fight this Thursday vs. Canadian Ryan Ford at MMA 1 Live: London to get his career back on track. He spoke about his mental state, battling his demons, his training p…

Karo Parisyan has been to hell and back over the past few years, and will look to his fight this Thursday vs. Canadian Ryan Ford at MMA 1 Live: London to get his career back on track.

He spoke about his mental state, battling his demons, his training progress, and his upcoming opponent in an exclusive interview with hyefighters.com and posted on MMACanada.net.

Here are some of the highlights of the interview, which give a good look at Karo’s frame of mind going into fight week.

How are you feeling Karo, what’s going on?

“Back to square one again,” he stated with a large sigh. “I struggled with demons for three years. A lot of bad stuff, personal stuff. Thank God I am overcoming stuff.”

So, are all the demons behind you now?

“sort of yeah, I’m looking back and they still want to wave at me so I’m flipping them off.” he laughs. “At the time being I’m training, I feel healthier, I look healthier. Today, I was not too happy with my training. I did not get pushed around or anything, I was still throwing guys in the clinch but when I walk in there, I want to be the MAN.”

“I want the other guys to think you clinch with me you are going on a roller coaster ride. I’m not feeling that exact confidence yet but I will.”

When asked if he was all done with the drug addiction that people were accusing him of in the online chat world Karo said that he was not addicted to drugs or pain killers specifically, and went on to state that those pain killers that he was taking for injury were a downward spiral that caused a lot of his anxiety leading up to his fights. 

How is the anxiety?

It’s done. Gone. I’m good, I’m fine. I don’t have it.

He then continued on a bit of a rant saying that when you have a little bit of a name in life people like to take a piece of a hamburger and make it into a whole cow, no doubt referring to how people can blow things out of proportion when a little bit of the story gets out.

The focus then turned to his upcoming fight, when he was asked,

Do you know much about Ford?

“I’ve met him in Canada. Big black guy, strong, I thought he was a light-heavyweight. They offered ten to twelve guys in Canada the fight and no one would take it. He took the fight and I want say thank you to him for that.”

“I want to show people that I’m back fighting, I’m back performing. It’s not that Karo that people say, ‘look at him, he doesn’t look right, he doesn’t do this do that. I want people to say dude, he’s back, he’s fighting.'”

He also gave a pretty clear sign of what he thinks Ford’s chances are in this fight.

“God forbid I get hit by lightning and the fight doesn’t go my way, people will still say that’s the Karo we saw fighting Diaz or Serra or Lytle.”

Finally, he was asked if he had anything to prove to himself in his comeback bid?

“First and foremost I want this for myself. It got to the point with me where the smallest things turned into the biggest things and the next thing you know I’m pulling out of fights. I want to get that confidence up there, I’m 29 years old and have at least five more years in me to go out there and bang!

“I’m in a deep hole, but I am crawling out.”

Here’s hoping that crawl fight with Ford can turn into walking fights and then running fights for “The Heat” in his return.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Why I Don’t Watch The Ultimate Fighter 13

I used to be a big fan of UFC’s The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) reality TV show. The first few seasons were captivating and interesting. The TUF series made stars out of fighters such as Forrest Griffin, Michael Bisping, Rashad Evans, Josh Koscheck and …

I used to be a big fan of UFC’s The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) reality TV show. The first few seasons were captivating and interesting. The TUF series made stars out of fighters such as Forrest Griffin, Michael Bisping, Rashad Evans, Josh Koscheck and Chris Leben.

Unfortunately, the show has gone stale and there is no reason to watch it anymore. TUF 13, which is on SPIKE TV every Wednesday night, has had very low ratings.

Fans are tired of seeing boring fighters and fights on the show and the coaches this season (Brock Lesnar and Junior Dos Santos) are not creating enough drama to warrant viewership.

The UFC thought that having Lesnar on TUF 13 would spike up the ratings, but this hasn’t been the case.

Maybe it is because Lesnar isn’t the heavyweight champion anymore or maybe it is because Lesnar is calmer and more mellow than before.

Casual MMA fans don’t know who Dos Santos is, even though he is one of the best heavyweights in the world. Lesnar and Dos Santos have been cordial to each other in the episodes, and there is no tension between them.

Fans used to flock to their TV sets to watch Ken Shamrock and Tito Ortiz go at each other verbally every week on TUF 3. Rashad Evans and Quinton Jackson as coaches on TUF 10 helped ratings too, as well as having street fighter Kimbo Slice on the show.

The smart fans are sick and tired of the UFC and SPIKE TV hyping up the episodes and not delivering. Who can forget the weekly previews that implied Kimbo would fight again on TUF 10 even though he lost and was out of the competition already?

How about the time when Dana White kept on saying that one of the fighters on the show (Phillipe Nover) was going to be the next Anderson Silva? Nover isn’t even in the UFC anymore after getting cut.

I can’t even name one of the fighters on TUF 13. I do know who Lew Polley is since I saw an episode where Polley (Dos Santos’ wrestling coach) was riding the guys too hard in practice.

None of the fighters stand out, and I don’t think there is a future UFC champion on TUF 13.

WWE’s Tough Enough reality show is way more interesting than TUF 13 thanks to the charismatic Stone Cold Steve Austin. Austin has more charisma than all the TUF 13 coaches and fighters combined.

It doesn’t really matter who the coaches will be on TUF 14 because the show is getting old and boring. The best option might be to have Evans and Jon Jones as coaches and bring in better fighters and personalities to compete.

If Evans and Jones are not available, I think I would rather see Miesha Tate and Gina Carano as coaches than any of the male fighters on the Zuffa roster.

SPIKE TV and the UFC need to revamp the show quickly and change it up if they want more viewers.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Official Bleacher Report MMA Rankings May 2011: Top 10 Lightweights in MMA

Here is the first installment of the Bleacher Report MMA Rankings. Each month on the first and 15th of the month we will publish divisional rankings. On the first of each month we will post our pound-for-pound rankings.The rankings were voted on by num…

Here is the first installment of the Bleacher Report MMA Rankings. Each month on the first and 15th of the month we will publish divisional rankings. On the first of each month we will post our pound-for-pound rankings.

The rankings were voted on by numerous writers on Bleacher Report and do not reflect any of their rankings personally. The rankings are an average of each writer’s vote for each weight class.

Special thanks to those who contributed:

Jason Schielke

Nick Caron

Nick Colon

J.P. Smith

Dale De Souza

Blake Dreisbach

Andrew Mahlmann

Michael Evans

Sean Smith

Sal DeRose

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