(Harrison [top] grapples with Gemma Gibbons of Great Britain during the gold medal match earlier today. Photo props: SFGate)
Without throwing around too many spoilers, it’s been a monster of a day for American women at the 2012 Olympics. And for martial arts fans, it’s a historic one, as women’s 78kg competitor Kayla Harrison became the first American athlete ever to win a gold medal in judo. She’s just the second American woman to medal at the Olympics, following Strikeforce champ Ronda Rousey (her former training partner), who took bronze in 2008. Women’s 57kg competitor Marti Malloy also won a bronze on Monday, making the 2012 London games the first Olympics since 1998 in which the USA has earned two medals in judo.
Harrison, who entered this year’s competition ranked fourth in the world, reached the finals by defeating Vera Moskalyuk (Russia), Abigel Joo (Hungary), and world-ranked #1 Mayra Aguiar (Brazil), all by ippon. She faced Great Britain’s Gemma Gibbons in the gold-medal match, and won 2-0 on a pair of yukos. In your face, world.
After the jump: A Boston Globe video-profile on Harrison’s life and training, and a TV-shot video of the end of her finals match against Gibbons.
(Harrison [top] grapples with Gemma Gibbons of Great Britain during the gold medal match earlier today. Photo props: SFGate)
Without throwing around too many spoilers, it’s been a monster of a day for American women at the 2012 Olympics. And for martial arts fans, it’s a historic one, as women’s 78kg competitor Kayla Harrison became the first American athlete ever to win a gold medal in judo. She’s just the second American woman to medal at the Olympics, following Strikeforce champ Ronda Rousey (her former training partner), who took bronze in 2008. Women’s 57kg competitor Marti Malloy also won a bronze on Monday, making the 2012 London games the first Olympics since 1998 in which the USA has earned two medals in judo.
Harrison, who entered this year’s competition ranked fourth in the world, reached the finals by defeating Vera Moskalyuk (Russia), Abigel Joo (Hungary), and world-ranked #1 Mayra Aguiar (Brazil), all by ippon. She faced Great Britain’s Gemma Gibbons in the gold-medal match, and won 2-0 on a pair of yukos. In your face, world.
After the jump: A Boston Globe video-profile on Harrison’s life and training, and a TV-shot video of the end of her finals match against Gibbons.
(If you must ask, Dana, I believe my hype train was headed in that general direction. Then again, it’s been so long since I’ve seen it…)
If you’re anything like us, you’ve more than likely spent your weekend drinking either Budweiser or Miller High Life cans in front of your television whilst watching various Olympic events and screaming “America!” on loop until your Canadian or Russian neighbors got jealous and called the police, who in turn tried to claim that you are somehow at fault if you like to watch TV in the nude and can’t afford curtains. And indeed, the Olympics have successfully managed to captivate and connect its viewing audience as it always does, uniting entire communities over a common passion. Except, oddly enough, in the case of this year’s host country, wherein failure apparently opens you up to disturbingly hateful critiques from your own countrymen.
Switching gears, it seems that one thing we can all agree on, regardless of our cultural divisions, is the inherent ridiculousness in the possibility that Brandon Vera could somehow receive a title shot if he is able to defeat Mauricio Rua in impressive fashion, or vice versa. We know we’ve been a little hard on him today — it’s not like it was his decision to overhype a fight by implying title implications only to be reamed out by fans for doing so shortly thereafter, that was Dana White — but on the short list of contenders currently in the Light Heavyweight Division, Vera is just a step above Mostapha al-Turk, whom you may recall is a retired heavyweight who was released from the UFC over two years ago. And he’s fighting Shogun f*cking Rua, aka the man who ended The Machida Era. Arguably twice.
Spoiler: There is no way in hell that Vera is beating Shogun this Saturday, and we’d be willing to wager a bottle of ipecac on it, if you know what we mean. So in honor of what has been a highly competitive Olympic games thus far, and what will surely be a one sided ass whooping at UFC on FOX 4, here are 10 things, ranked in no particular order, we will more than likely see happen at this year’s Olympics than “The Truth” beating “Shogun” on Saturday.
(If you must ask, Dana, I believe my hype train was headed in that general direction. Then again, it’s been so long since I’ve seen it…)
If you’re anything like us, you’ve more than likely spent your weekend drinking either Budweiser or Miller High Life cans in front of your television whilst watching various Olympic events and screaming “America!” on loop until your Canadian or Russian neighbors got jealous and called the police, who in turn tried to claim that you are somehow at fault if you like to watch TV in the nude and can’t afford curtains. And indeed, the Olympics have successfully managed to captivate and connect its viewing audience as it always does, uniting entire communities over a common passion. Except, oddly enough, in the case of this year’s host country, wherein failure apparently opens you up to disturbingly hateful critiques from your own countrymen.
Switching gears, it seems that one thing we can all agree on, regardless of our cultural divisions, is the inherent ridiculousness in the possibility that Brandon Vera could somehow receive a title shot if he is able to defeat Mauricio Rua in impressive fashion, or vice versa. We know we’ve been a little hard on him today – it’s not like it was his decision to overhype a fight by implying title implications only to be reamed out by fans for doing so shortly thereafter, that was Dana White — but on the short list of contenders currently in the Light Heavyweight Division, Vera is just a step above Mostapha al-Turk, whom you may recall is a retired heavyweight who was released from the UFC over two years ago. And he’s fighting Shogun f*cking Rua, aka the man who ended The Machida Era. Arguably twice.
Spoiler: There is no way in hell that Vera is beating Shogun this Saturday, and we’d be willing to wager a bottle of ipecac on it, if you know what we mean. So in honor of what has been a highly competitive Olympic games thus far, and what will surely be a one sided ass whooping at UFC on FOX 4, here are 10 things, ranked in no particular order, we will more than likely see happen at this year’s Olympics than “The Truth” beating “Shogun” on Saturday.
1. The United States Basketball Team Losing to Tunisia
2. Trampoline Being Taken Seriously
3. Micheal Phelps Drowning in the Mens 4×200 Relay
4. Anybody Giving a Fuck About Race Walking
5. Michelle Jenneke accepting my back-massage offer. (I GIVE THE BEST ONES!)
Before Dana White joined Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta in acquiring the organization in January 2001, the UFC and MMA as a whole was looked upon as a freak show of sorts. The sport was illegal in many states and was nearing the point of complete failure. …
Before Dana White joined Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta in acquiring the organization in January 2001, the UFC and MMA as a whole was looked upon as a freak show of sorts. The sport was illegal in many states and was nearing the point of complete failure. At that point in time, White would have been […]
Chael Sonnen and Ronda Rousey are two mixed martial artists that had successful amateur sports backgrounds. While Sonnen was never able to achieve his Olympic dreams, Rousey became the first American female to medal in Judo since the sport was added in…
Chael Sonnen and Ronda Rousey are two mixed martial artists that had successful amateur sports backgrounds. While Sonnen was never able to achieve his Olympic dreams, Rousey became the first American female to medal in Judo since the sport was added in 1992 when she captured the bronze in Beijing. Many know Sonnen for his […]
While not an Olympic sport, mixed martial arts has a surprisingly long history with the games.Many of MMA’s most prestigious athletes are former Olympic athletes such as Strikeforce heavyweight champ Daniel Cormier, Strikeforce women’s bantamweight cha…
While not an Olympic sport, mixed martial arts has a surprisingly long history with the games.
Many of MMA’s most prestigious athletes are former Olympic athletes such as Strikeforce heavyweight champ Daniel Cormier, Strikeforce women’s bantamweight champ Ronda Rousey and former Strikeforce and Pride champ Dan Henderson, just to name a few.
With the 2012 Games now upon us, there are a host of top level athletes who could make the transition to MMA.
Here are seven Olympians we’d like to see enter the cage.
MMA fighters carry themselves with such a great deal of pride that one would think most of them would jump at the chance to represent their country in the Olympics. Think of the captivating scene as Jon Jones enters the cage with his USA shorts. Standi…
MMA fighters carry themselves with such a great deal of pride that one would think most of them would jump at the chance to represent their country in the Olympics. Think of the captivating scene as Jon Jones enters the cage with his USA shorts. Standing across from Jones with the flag of the Netherlands […]
