Undefeated Heavyweight and Bellator veteran Blagoi Ivanov is reportedly clinging to life in a Bulgarian hospital after being stabbed in the heart early Sunday morning. The former Sambo champion was attending the after party of a boxing tournament when he and his two friends were attacked by a group of eight men carrying guns and knives. The reasoning behind this altercation has yet to be determined, but police have already made several arrests of those believed to be involved in the incident.
Although his friends were able to walk away from the incident with minor injuries, Ivanov was immediately rushed to a nearby hospital following the incident when it was determined that the knife blade, which entered through his armpit, had penetrated his heart. The six hour surgery that followed was successful, but the next 48 hours are critical in determining the fate of the 25 year old, according to inside sources.
Undefeated Heavyweight and Bellator veteran Blagoi Ivanov is reportedly clinging to life in a Bulgarian hospital after being stabbed in the heart early Sunday morning. The former Sambo champion was attending the after party of a boxing tournament when he and his two friends were attacked by a group of eight men carrying guns and knives. The reasoning behind this altercation has yet to be determined, but police have already made several arrests of those believed to be involved in the incident.
Although his friends were able to walk away from the incident with minor injuries, Ivanov was immediately rushed to a nearby hospital following the incident when it was determined that the knife blade, which entered through his armpit, had penetrated his heart. The six hour surgery that followed was successful, but the next 48 hours are critical in determining the fate of the 25 year old, according to inside sources.
Ivanov is perhaps best known for winning the 2008 World Sambo Championships, and specifically, beating none other than four time champ and former PRIDE heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko in the semis along the way. The Bulgarian made the transition to MMA shortly thereafter, and has gone 6-0 with 1 no contest in his MMA career thus far. Aside from scoring two victories inside the Bellator ring, TKO’ing William Penn in just under three minutes at Bellator 38 and choking out TUF 10 alum Zak Jensen back in October, Ivanov most recently dispatched former UFC Heavyweight Champion Ricco Rodriguez by way of TKO due to retirement on Christmas Eve.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to Ivanov and his family.
Before dropping a unanimous decision to Nate Diaz at UFC 141, Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone had arguably the best 2011 of any fighter out there, scoring victories over Paul Kelly, Vagner Rocha, Charles Oliveira, and Dennis Siver, three of which came by way of stoppage. And although he ended the year on a loss, Cerrone will be looking to start off 2012 with a big win when he takes on 60 fight veteran Yves Edwards at UFC on FX 3, which goes down at the Patriot Center in Fairfax, Virginia on May 15th.
After suffering one of the most brutal knockout losses of 2011 at the hands of Sam Stout, Edwards has gone 1-1 in the UFC, picking up a second round TKO over Rafaello Oliveira at UFC Live 6 before being outpointed by TUF 13 winner Tony Ferguson at the TUF 14 Finale in December. Edwards will likely be a considerable underdog going into this one, so Yves, for the sake of the Thugjitsu nation, lay off the KC Masterpiece.
Before dropping a unanimous decision to Nate Diaz at UFC 141, Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone had arguably the best 2011 of any fighter out there, scoring victories over Paul Kelly, Vagner Rocha, Charles Oliveira, and Dennis Siver, three of which came by way of stoppage. And although he ended the year on a loss, Cerrone will be looking to start off 2012 with a big win when he takes on 60 fight veteran Yves Edwards at UFC on FX 3, which goes down at the Patriot Center in Fairfax, Virginia on May 15th.
After suffering one of the most brutal knockout losses of 2011 at the hands of Sam Stout, Edwards has gone 1-1 in the UFC, picking up a second round TKO over Rafaello Oliveira at UFC Live 6 before being outpointed by TUF 13 winner Tony Ferguson at the TUF 14 Finale in December. Edwards will likely be a considerable underdog going into this one, so Yves, for the sake of the Thugjitsu nation, lay off the KC Masterpiece.
Let’s switch gears from the UFC on FX, to the UFC on Fox, shall we?
Coming off a brilliant second round TKO of his own over Mitch Clark in his UFC debut back at UFC 140, Jersey native John Cholish has agreed to face Danny Castillo in a lightweight clash of rising contenders. “Last Call” has racked up two in a row over Shamar Bailey and Anthony Njokuani since being out wrestled by the Carlos Mencia of comedy, Jacob Volkmann, at UFC Live 5. Yes, the Carlos Mencia of comedy.
UFC on Fox 3 is set to transpire on May 5th in East Rutherford, NJ, and is headlined by a lightweight battle between Jim Miller and Nate Diaz.
(Aoki/Alvarez 1, from K1 Dynamite 2008. THIS is how men fight.)
A lot has happened in the four years since Eddie Alvarez was heel-hooked by Shinya Aoki in the first round of their inaugural lightweight championship match back in December of 2008. Aoki has fought a remarkable 13 times since then, picking up notable wins over Marcus Aurelio and Rich Clementi as well as evening the score with DREAM rival Joachim Hansen. He has only gone 1-1 in the States, however, dropping a humiliating unanimous decision to current Strikeforce lightweight champ Gilbert Melendez and notching a quick neck crank submission over Lyle Beerbohm.
Alvarez, on the other hand, went on to become the Bellator lightweight champion after defeating Toby Imada at Bellator 12 in June of ’09, but defended the belt only once in the five fights that succeeded it. We last saw the Philadelphia Fight Factory standout lose said title via fourth round submission in an absolute war with Michael Chandler at Bellator 58 that was my personal pick for 2011’s Fight of the Year.
Well now it seems that these two are destined to collide ONCE AGAIN, in what will surely be…an absolute war (isn’t it funny how you can impersonate Mike Goldberg without even talking?).
(Aoki/Alvarez 1, from K1 Dynamite 2008. THIS is how men fight.)
A lot has happened in the four years since Eddie Alvarez was heel-hooked by Shinya Aoki in the first round of their inaugural lightweight championship match back in December of 2008. Aoki has fought a remarkable 13 times since then, picking up notable wins over Marcus Aurelio and Rich Clementi as well as evening the score with DREAM rival Joachim Hansen. He has only gone 1-1 in the States, however, dropping a humiliating unanimous decision to current Strikeforce lightweight champ Gilbert Melendez and notching a quick neck crank submission over Lyle Beerbohm.
Alvarez, on the other hand, went on to become the Bellator lightweight champion after defeating Toby Imada at Bellator 12 in June of ’09, but defended the belt only once in the five fights that succeeded it. We last saw the Philadelphia Fight Factory standout lose said title via fourth round submission in an absolute war with Michael Chandler at Bellator 58 that was my personal pick for 2011′s Fight of the Year.
Well now it seems that these two are destined to collide ONCE AGAIN, in what will surely be…an absolute war (isn’t it funny how you can impersonate Mike Goldberg without even talking?). Bellator officials have hinted that the long awaited rematch “should be happening soon,” and considering Alvarez’s name is noticeably absent from the season six lightweight tournament, the likelihood of this rematch happening in the near future is all the more evident. Let’s just hope Aoki doesn’t go entering himself in one of those wacky mixed rule bouts that are supposed to be squash matches anytime soon, and this one should be a lock, ladies and gentlemen.
I went ahead and posted the Alvarez/Chandler fight below. If you’ve got an extra 20 minutes to spare (and let’s be honest, you do), check out one of the most entertaining fights in recent memory.
(You see? People were doing this WAY before MMA was ever popular.)
*facepalm*
Yes, you read that correctly. Apparently a former MMA fighter named Harold Finger III (seriously) viciously assaulted a woman before setting himself on fire, nearly taking a six year old child with him in the process. This bizarre story comes to us courtesy of KTUU.com out of Anchorage, Alaska, whose “report” is so shockingly inept that we feel the need to post it verbatim:
A former mixed martial arts fighter set himself on fire on Tuesday night and faces assault charges for striking a woman, according to Anchorage Police.
Police said 28-year-old Harold Finger III lit himself on fire during a disturbance around 8:33 p.m. Tuesday. Officers found him badly burned at an apartment on the 200 block of N. Klevin Street.
According to witnesses, APD said Finger became angry while speaking on the phone with an acquaintance after getting out of jail for one week.
Police allege Finger then punched and kicked a 34-year-old woman in the face and head while wearing leather gloves with hard plastic knuckles. The victim and two other women living at the apartment took refuge in a bedroom with one of the women holding her 6-year-old son.
Finger said he was not going back to jail and took a can of Prestone starting fluid and doused the door frame and his upper body and then grabbed the child. The women were able to free the boy before Finger used a lighter to ignite himself, bursting into flames. One of the women extinguished the flames with a jacket.
Finger was taken to a local hospital for severe burns on his upper torso, face, and head. He faces charges of assault in the first and second degree and reckless endangerment with a no-bail warrant.
Anchorage Police said Finger will be served when he is physically able to be taken into custody.
(You see? People were doing this WAY before MMA was ever popular.)
*facepalm*
Yes, you read that correctly. Apparently a former MMA fighter named Harold Finger III (seriously) viciously assaulted a woman before setting himself on fire, nearly taking a six year old child with him in the process. This bizarre story comes to us courtesy of KTUU.com out of Anchorage, Alaska, whose “report” is so shockingly inept that we feel the need to post it verbatim:
A former mixed martial arts fighter set himself on fire on Tuesday night and faces assault charges for striking a woman, according to Anchorage Police.
Police said 28-year-old Harold Finger III lit himself on fire during a disturbance around 8:33 p.m. Tuesday. Officers found him badly burned at an apartment on the 200 block of N. Klevin Street.
According to witnesses, APD said Finger became angry while speaking on the phone with an acquaintance after getting out of jail for one week.
Police allege Finger then punched and kicked a 34-year-old woman in the face and head while wearing leather gloves with hard plastic knuckles. The victim and two other women living at the apartment took refuge in a bedroom with one of the women holding her 6-year-old son.
Finger said he was not going back to jail and took a can of Prestone starting fluid and doused the door frame and his upper body and then grabbed the child. The women were able to free the boy before Finger used a lighter to ignite himself, bursting into flames. One of the women extinguished the flames with a jacket.
Finger was taken to a local hospital for severe burns on his upper torso, face, and head. He faces charges of assault in the first and second degree and reckless endangerment with a no-bail warrant.
Anchorage Police said Finger will be served when he is physically able to be taken into custody.
First off, we haven’t been able to find one scrap of evidence that indicates Mr. Finger was ever any sort of MMA fighter, so why is he listed as such in this report, and in the HEADLINE nonetheless? Secondly, if a man is as unstable as Finger clearly was/is, what does his occupation have to do with the events that took place, especially considering that there is nothing to support the seemingly anonymous claim that he was a fighter of any kind, let alone an MMA fighter? This isn’t a story about a postman laying waste to his co-workers, this is a story of a kook trying to harm innocent lives that will now be used in anti-MMA arguments by the likes of Bob Reilly in the future. We may come under a bit of fire here at CP for our biases, but this story is nothing more than a ridiculous attempt to stir up controversy and deface a sport that had nothing to do with the actual incident being reported.
The frustration with such an obvious witch-hunt is seriously inhibiting my ability to formulate any sort of coherent argument, so I’ll let you do the talking for once, Potato Nation. What kind of bullshit is this?
As we all know, inspirational icon Tito Ortiz plans to call it a career after his next fight, or so he has claimed. He has also stated a desire for his final fight to take place on 4th of July weekend, and against either Forrest Griffin or Chuck Liddell. Talk about specific. And while Liddell can’t compete for obvious reasons (specifically, Jackrack commercials), Griffin has already come out in favor of a rubbermatch, and it seems the trilogy’s completion is all but inevitable at this point. On a recent episode of “Inside MMA,” Griffin received a surprise, but pre-recorded (for even more obvious reasons) video call-out from “The People’s Champ,” who all but begged Griffin for another rematch, as if FoGriff was somehow in charge of making those kinds of decisions:
Forrest, you know I deserve it, man. Step up. Let’s do this. It’s an awesome fight for you. I lost my last one. You lost your last one. Let’s do this — unless you’re scared!
Well, not to get technical Tito, but you’ve actually lost your last two, and six of your last eight. Join us after the jump for Forrest’s response.
As we all know, inspirational icon Tito Ortiz plans to call it a career after his next fight, or so he has claimed. He has also stated a desire for his final fight to take place on 4th of July weekend, and against either Forrest Griffin or Chuck Liddell. Talk about specific. And while Liddell can’t compete for obvious reasons (specifically, Jackrack commercials), Griffin has already come out in favor of a rubbermatch, and it seems the trilogy’s completion is all but inevitable at this point. On a recent episode of “Inside MMA,” Griffin received a surprise, but pre-recorded (for even more obvious reasons) video call-out from “The People’s Champ,” who all but begged Griffin for another rematch, as if FoGriff was somehow in charge of making those kinds of decisions:
Forrest, you know I deserve it, man. Step up. Let’s do this. It’s an awesome fight for you. I lost my last one. You lost your last one. Let’s do this — unless you’re scared!
Well, not to get technical Tito, but you’ve actually lost your last two, and six of your last eight. Anyway, join us after the jump for Forrest’s response.
(Skip to :30 to see….wait, what is Laura Prepon doing there?)
Other highlights from FoGriff include:
On making the Ortiz fight happen: “Do you wanna know how fights get done now? If enough people get on Twitter, it’ll happen.” [As sad as it is true.]
On his Inside MMA stats: “Now, I’m looking at your ranking, let’s be honest. Speed…I’m a slow son of a bitch. I am so slow.”
On fears: “I’m scared of a lot of things. But, you know, no offense, [Tito’s] not one of them.”
So, is anyone as stoked for this one as Donna Pinciotti, or stoked at all for that matter?
Today is truly a sad day for the MMA world, one that no amount of Office Space parodies or Korean television can resolve. For today, a great man has died, and therefore has taken a piece of us all with him. We’re talking, of course, about none other than the unacknowledged gladiator who’s trials and tribulations were once synonymous with the beginning of every UFC event. We’re talking about the nameless, faceless warrior who could grind sand into…well, sand, in the palm of his hand whilst an epic chorus sang in the background. Though we never knew what lied beyond the blinding white he so courageously stepped into night after night, it seems now that the mysterious abyss was in fact the UFC vault. The Underground was the first to break the story:
Tonight, UFC President Dana White revealed exclusively to the Underground that the opening sequence for its PPV broadcast has been redone and the new introduction will be revealed this Saturday for UFC 143. The event will feature Nick Diaz fighting Carlos Condit for the interim welterweight championship in the main event.
The opening sequence, which has shown a Roman gladiator preparing for battle has often been critiqued by fans and although the sequence hasn’t been used by the UFC on its FOX and Fuel TV broadcasts, it had been present as most recent as this past UFC 142.
To quote the UFC President directly: “He’s been cut.”
We know what you’re thinking, what does this mean for Stemm?
Today is truly a sad day for the MMA world, one that no amount of Office Space parodies or Korean television can resolve. For today, a great man has died, and therefore has taken a piece of us all with him. We’re talking, of course, about none other than the unacknowledged gladiator who’s trials and tribulations were once synonymous with the beginning of every UFC event. We’re talking about the nameless, faceless warrior who could grind sand into…well, sand, in the palm of his hand whilst an epic chorus sang in the background. Though we never knew what lied beyond the blinding white he so courageously stepped into night after night, it seems now that the mysterious abyss was in fact the UFC vault. The Underground was the first to break the story:
Tonight, UFC President Dana White revealed exclusively to the Underground that the opening sequence for its PPV broadcast has been redone and the new introduction will be revealed this Saturday for UFC 143. The event will feature Nick Diaz fighting Carlos Condit for the interim welterweight championship in the main event.
The opening sequence, which has shown a Roman gladiator preparing for battle has often been critiqued by fans and although the sequence hasn’t been used by the UFC on its FOX and Fuel TV broadcasts, it had been present as most recent as this past UFC 142.
To quote the UFC President directly: “He’s been cut.”
We know what you’re thinking, what does this mean for Stemm? Well, we simply can’t answer that at the moment, but as long as “Face the Pain” isn’t replaced by one of those terrible Bee Gees/50 Cent mash-ups we are forced to sit through in between fights at actual UFC events, we imagine it will be fine. [Author’s note: I actually saw Stemm open for Chimaira back in ’04, unaware that they were the band behind the UFC theme song at the time. They put on a hell of a show, believe it or not. If you’re a fan of metal, check out one of their better songs IMO here.] It does appear, however, that Canadian trainer Hovig Tchaderian will be taking the place of “gladiator guy” in the new sequence, which will apparently consist of a hand wrapping scene and a glorified entrance. Thrilling stuff.
Now, whether or not you were a fan of the gladiator sequence (and really, who was?), you have to admit that all these changes the UFC has been undergoing is getting a little foreboding. Don’t follow? Perhaps you are familiar with the tale of how Utah came to be, as told by Stumpy. Be careful what you wish for, Potato Nation; our Papa Muntz statue has just been hauled off the figurative mountain.
