Tim Kennedy Believes Speed Key to Win Over Trevor Prangley

With the MMA world still abuzz with speculation as to whether or not Chuck Liddell will finally call it quits, not to mention the daily drama / intrigue that always accompanies the UFC (perhaps you’re following Chael Sonnen’s recent memory lapses regarding his Twitter account), tomorrow’s Strikeforce card seems to have really been lost in […]

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With the MMA world still abuzz with speculation as to whether or not Chuck Liddell will finally call it quits, not to mention the daily drama / intrigue that always accompanies the UFC (perhaps you’re following Chael Sonnen’s recent memory lapses regarding his Twitter account), tomorrow’s Strikeforce card seems to have really been lost in the shuffle. Perhaps, just mentioning it has caused you to say ‘oh shit that’s right, there’s a Strikeforce Wednesday.’

Now granted, you may not weep uncontrollably if you don’t have Showtime and can’t catch the card, but the headliner between Renato “Babalu” Sobral and Robbie Lawler definitely has the potential to be damn exciting, as does the Tim Kennedy vs. Trevor Prangley tilt. Prangley is a UFC vet that could give a lot of top middleweights a run for their money, while Kennedy continues to impress, with his only loss since 2001 coming against “Mayhem” Miller. In a recent interview with Fight Hype, the Army Ranger had this to say about facing Prangley tomorrow:

“He’s a great wrestler and he’s hard to take down and he has a great chin as well, but he’s slow. He’s slow on his feet and his footwork is not that great. I would like to pick him apart a whole bunch on the feet and finish him with an exciting knockout, like all the fans want to see.”

To read more about Kennedy’s thoughts on the bout head here. To wager a little casholla, head here.

“Rampage” Jackson Says He Wants Rematch With Forrest Griffin Next

Since “Rampage” Jackson lost by UD to arch nemesis Rashad Evans at UFC 114 last month, there’s been a lot of speculation as what’s next for B.A. Baracus 2.0 (yes we’re aware that the Mr.T version graced the TV screen well before the internet ravaged the world). During Jackson’s ‘he said what now?’ tiff with […]

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Since “Rampage” Jackson lost by UD to arch nemesis Rashad Evans at UFC 114 last month, there’s been a lot of speculation as what’s next for B.A. Baracus 2.0 (yes we’re aware that the Mr.T version graced the TV screen well before the internet ravaged the world). During Jackson’s ‘he said what now?’ tiff with Dana White, the former light-heavyweight champ maintained that he had always wanted a crack at Lyoto Machida, rather than coach TUF (and then fight Evans). This, coupled with the fact that White was recently quoted saying that Machida may fight Jackson next, led many of us to conclude that indeed, “Rampage” and “The Dragon” would soon throw down.

Well, you might want to hold on just a second there folks, as in a recent interview with the U.K.’s MMA Bay, Jackson had this to say when asked about who he wants to fight next:

“I want to rematch Forrest; you know what I’m saying? Forrest is a good fight; he has good strategy. It’s a fighter’s fight, stand-up and stuff like that. So I want to get a fight with Forrest. I heard that he would be available and everything, so I would like to go fight Forrest.”

“The main reason I want Forrest is not just because he beat me, but how he acted, like he really thought he won.”

If you recall, Griffin worked his way to a UD win over Jackson at UFC 86, in what was a pretty damn close fight. Jackson clearly didn’t agree with the decision, or apparently, how Griffin “acted” afterwards. To hear more from Rampage on the subject, check out the full interview here.

Dana White Says James Toney vs. Randy Couture Set

Last week, before a one armed Rich Franklin (for all intensive and dramatic purposes) crushed the hopes of “Iceman” fans everywhere, we passed along word that said James Toney was taking his sweet ass time to sign the bout agreement for his UFC 118 (which prompted several Fix staffers to go into hysterics). Of course, […]

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Last week, before a one armed Rich Franklin (for all intensive and dramatic purposes) crushed the hopes of “Iceman” fans everywhere, we passed along word that said James Toney was taking his sweet ass time to sign the bout agreement for his UFC 118 (which prompted several Fix staffers to go into hysterics). Of course, if you’ve even turned on your computer over the last few weeks, you’re more than aware that the charismatic boxer / soon to be MMA fighter, is supposed to fight Randy Couture at the August 28th event in Boston.

Well according to Dana White this past weekend, all this speculation about Toney possibly waffling is grade A bs, as the UFC boss man not only confirmed the fight to MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani, MMA Junkie is also reporting that the fight is set. If you’re a huge or old school MMA fan, who’s grown desperately tired of debating with boxing purists that MMA fighter’s aren’t legit, let the Mr. Burns saying ‘excellent’ impersonations fly.

So, there you have it, and with the rematch between BJ Penn and newly minted lightweight champ Frankie Edgar scheduled as the headliner, Boston’s made out pretty good on this thing huh?

We’re Not Really Supposed to Believe James Toney is Working on His Ground Game, Are We?

(“Go ahead and strap that black belt on right here, Deano.”)
Amid concerns this week that James Toney may not yet have signed his formal bout agreement to face Randy Couture at UFC 118, reports surfaced that the former boxing champion had t…


(“Go ahead and strap that black belt on right here, Deano.”)

Amid concerns this week that James Toney may not yet have signed his formal bout agreement to face Randy Couture at UFC 118, reports surfaced that the former boxing champion had tabbed one-time Xtreme Couture affiliate Dean Lister and Strikeforce light heavyweight champion Muhammed Lawal to help shore up his ground game. To this, I say: Bullshit. Toney might be rolling with Lister and Lawal a bit just to keep up appearances, but there’s no way he’s making an honest effort to learn to grapple.

Look, in his day James Toney was nothing short of an unmitigated badass. He was a guy who took on all-comers in numerous weight classes and more often than not came out on top. Even at his advanced age he can still hit very, very hard. But Toney has never, especially in recent years, been overly committed to training. The idea that he would suddenly attempt to augment his skill-set three months before his MMA debut is far-fetched. The notion that – even if he did – he could close the grappling gap on Couture in that short amount of time is, well, ludicrous.

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Lyoto Machida Says he’s Learning from First Loss

While a lot of people thought that Lyoto Machida really lost for the first time in his career when he was awarded a controversial Unanimous Decision victory over “Shogun” Rua last October, it was understandable that he and his family / training partners, didn’t really see it that way. It was a close bout, and […]

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While a lot of people thought that Lyoto Machida really lost for the first time in his career when he was awarded a controversial Unanimous Decision victory over “Shogun” Rua last October, it was understandable that he and his family / training partners, didn’t really see it that way. It was a close bout, and after all, Machida’s their boy; so heading into the rematch with Shogun they defended the judge’s previous decision. Things have changed dramatically since then, clearly, as Rua ruined Machida’s unblemished victory KTFO style in May.

So it will be interesting to see where Machida goes from here and how he handles the loss. The fact that we’re discussing Machida’s first loss, after fighting professionally since 2003 and facing dudes like Rashad Evans, Thiago Silva and Tito Ortiz in his last five fights, is pretty damn amazing. Well, in a recent interview with the Brazilian publication Tatame, it sounds like Machida is already on the rebound.

“Everything is a learning experience for me, a challenge. I’m trying to learn the most I can from this event. My father taught me that a true samurai loses seven challenges on his life, so this was only the first one. Many times we can only learn from the pain.”

Wow. He even got the samurai bit in there and everything. If that speech doesn’t belong in some martial arts epic what does? See, they don’t call him “The Dragon” because he’s really into Harry Potter. Your thoughts Mr. “Rampage” and hopefully next opponent Jackson?

Report: Dean Lister Coaching James Toney in Jiu-Jitsu

As James Toney continues to prepare for his expected, August 28th, UFC debut against Randy Couture, the boxer’s training camp continues to receive a lot of scrutinizing attention. Guess when you declare publicly that, despite having little to no experience in mixed-martial-arts heads of fighters may go “into orbit”, people are going to be real […]

james toney

As James Toney continues to prepare for his expected, August 28th, UFC debut against Randy Couture, the boxer’s training camp continues to receive a lot of scrutinizing attention. Guess when you declare publicly that, despite having little to no experience in mixed-martial-arts heads of fighters may go “into orbit”, people are going to be real curious as to whether or not you’ll back that sh-t up.

Well, recently it was revealed that not only is Toney training with Strikeforce champ “King Mo” Lawal, but reports surfaced that Toney may have actually tapped out the accomplished wrestler (could it have been a deliberately leaked bit of ‘counter intelligence? Dum, dum, dum, dum). Now in a recent story from MMA Fighting, the outlet is reporting that Toney has hired Dean Lister to help him out with his ground game; yeah, we’d say a former ADCC champ would probably do the trick. Although the story cited anonymous sources for the report and that Lister did not respond to MMA Fighting’s inquiries, the article points out that Lister is also Lawal’s BJJ coach. Connect the dots now….

On the flip side of all the Toney hype, it was reported in the latest episode of MMA Live, that the UFC newcomer is reportedly “dragging his feet over the bout agreement signing with Randy Couture.” Temporary hiccup or…?