Get Loaded at Lunch, the Weekend Starts NOW

What up Nation, it’s your boy ReX and the weekend is almost upon us. I’m going to assume that you’ve already given up doing any actual work for the rest of the day, so let’s grab some lunch and talk about our plans.

I don’t mean plans like your girlfriend wants to make, like going out for tapas and enjoying Crazy, Stupid, Love either. Although, i will sort of be asking all you bastards for a date night…

Inside: i want to play a game, judo news, my god this Rousey, and a couple of quick previews for the Zuffa shows this weekend. Come on in and let’s get loaded.

What up Nation, it’s your boy ReX and the weekend is almost upon us.  I’m going to assume that you’ve already given up doing any actual work for the rest of the day, so let’s grab some lunch and talk about our plans.

I don’t mean plans like your girlfriend wants to make, like going out for tapas and enjoying Crazy, Stupid, Love either.  Although, i will sort of be asking all you bastards for a date night…

Inside:  i want to play a game, judo news, my god this Rousey, and a couple of quick previews for the Zuffa shows this weekend.  Come on in and let’s get loaded.

 

Who’s That Octagon Girl?

 

This beauty made her Octagon debut in October, 2006 at UFC 64.  Name her.

 

Strikeforce Challengers 18 is on Showtime Tonight

The main event features two TUF alums with funnyman/gameplan master Jorge Gurgel against Joe Duarte.  Duarte is more of a kickboxer, and lost via submission to Phillipe Nover (though the loss doesn’t appear on his official record), so all Gurgel has to do is showe off a little of his BJJ. We predict that this will not happen.  Should be a fun, competitive fight.

Meanwhile, Pat Healy is fighting Eric Wisely, and after his upset victory over Lyle Beerbohm, he’s not really happy about fighting some dude making his promotional debut. He’s not happy with his workload either, so look for Healy to make a statement in this fight — things may not go well for Wisely.

The fight with the biggest buzz is actually the women’s division fight featuring “Rowdy” Ronda Rousey — her face and videos are all over the damn place. With only 2 pro fights, Rousey is getting a lot of hype and a lot of attention, and a spot on the main card gives her a chance to grab the spotlight. Not that Sarah “The Randleman” D’Alelio is going to make it easy on her, as she’s no slouch on the ground herself.  Expect boxing in the first round, and an armbar in the second.

Here’s the full card:

Jorge Gurgel vs Joe Duarte

Nate James vs Danillo Villefort

Pat Healy vs Eric Wisely

Sarah D’Alelio vs Ronda Rousey

Roy Jones vs Derrick Mehmen

Prelims:

Nah-Shon Burrell vs Lukasz Les

Keith Berry vs Gian Villante

Mike Bronzoulis vs Chad Leonhardt

Sterling Ford vs Milton Vieira

 

Did You See This?

Keiko Fukuda made news this weekend, when the 98 year old received her 10th dan in Judo, one of four people (and the only woman) to have received the highest degree of mastery in the gentle art.  Fukuda, born in 1913, started studying at 21 under Jiguro Kano.  Yes, that Jiguro Kano.

Props to DSTRYRSG for the video.  If you can’t get enough of technique videos, those guys got you covered.

 

UFC Live Versus on 5 on Sunday

We’ve already previewed this card a bit, but it’s worth mentioning again.  Hungry undercard guys on a free fight card usually do something fun to get noticed, and this is a very solid card from top to bottom.  Oh, and i’ll be liveblogging the fights Sunday night, for the first time ever.  It’s going to be awful.  Come early and bring your rotten tomatoes.

Dan Hardy vs Chris Lytle

Ben Henderson vs Jim Miller

Donald Cerrone vs Charles Oliveira

Duane Ludwig vs Amir Sadollah

Facebook Fights:

C.B. Dollaway vs Jared Hamman

Joseph Benavidez vs Eddie Wineland

Ed Herman vs Kyle Noke

Ronny Markes vs Karlos Vemola

Alex Caceres vs Jim Hettes

Cole Miller vs T.J. O’Brien

Danny Castillo vs Jacob Volkmann

Edwin Figueroa vs Jason Reinhardt

 

Ronda Rousey Makes Me Feel Kinda Funny

Note:  i’m no journalist, and i don’t pretend to be objective all the time.  i think Eddie Alvarez is way underrated, PRIDE was awesome, and this Rousey chick is really cool.  She Tweeted some pics yesterday, and i hope my wife isn’t reading this.

i’m just saying, she needs to stop flirting with me is all.

 

Who’s That Octagon Girl?

It’s Anne Rivera.  We’ve seen Octagon Girls come and go, but isn’t it nice to look back every once in a while?

Kick off your weekend now, and let’s start talking about fights.  And don’t let that captcha get you down.  Fuck that captcha.  Comment twice as much and show that stupid captcha who’s boss.

ProTip:  To make an omega symbol: hold down Alt on your keyboard, punch in “234″, and let go of Alt.  Boom.  Now you don’t have to throw your laptop in rage.  Or you could just refresh the captcha.  Whatever works.

[RX]

Video: Is Ronda Rousey the New ‘New Face of Women’s MMA’?

(Props: mmasavvy)

As a competitive judoka, Cali-bred Ronda Rousey earned a bronze medal at the 2008 Olympics and a gold medal at the 2007 Pan Am Games. As a budding MMA fighter, she has won all five of her fights (2 pro, 3 amateur) by submission, all in less than a minute. Now training with Team Hayastan in Santa Monica, Rousey makes her Strikeforce debut tomorrow night at Strikeforce Challengers: Gurgel vs. Duarte in Las Vegas, where she’ll face Sarah D’Alelio. So yeah, it’s time for you to start paying attention to this woman.

As she explains in the above video, women’s MMA needs another visible competitor to fill the vacuum left by Gina Carano. (Uh, hello?) Even though people haven’t seen her standup yet, she feels she’s better than D’Alelio on the feet, and if their fight lasts more than a minute, hey, that’s cool too. Is another women’s MMA star about to be born? After the jump, a glimpse of the kind of ferocious ground-work that Ronda could be showing off tomorrow…


(Props: mmasavvy)

As a competitive judoka, Cali-bred Ronda Rousey earned a bronze medal at the 2008 Olympics and a gold medal at the 2007 Pan Am Games. As a budding MMA fighter, she has won all five of her fights (2 pro, 3 amateur) by submission, all in less than a minute. Now training with Team Hayastan in Santa Monica, Rousey makes her Strikeforce debut tomorrow night at Strikeforce Challengers: Gurgel vs. Duarte in Las Vegas, where she’ll face Sarah D’Alelio. So yeah, it’s time for you to start paying attention to this woman.

As she explains in the above video, women’s MMA needs another visible competitor to fill the vacuum left by Gina Carano. (Uh, hello?) Even though people haven’t seen her standup yet, she feels she’s better than D’Alelio on the feet, and if their fight lasts more than a minute, hey, that’s cool too. Is another women’s MMA star about to be born? After the jump, a glimpse of the kind of ferocious ground-work that Ronda could be showing off tomorrow…


(Ronda Rousey vs. Taylor Stratford, 1/7/11)

Hump Day Headlines with Stephanie Ann Cook

It’s no coincidence that Chael Sonnen‘s suspension and Lindsay Lohan‘s house arrest were both lifted today. Learning Lesson: if you’re going to f*ck up in life, do it in California. BJ Penn took to his.

It’s no coincidence that Chael Sonnen‘s suspension and Lindsay Lohan‘s house arrest were both lifted today. Learning Lesson: if you’re going to f*ck up in life, do it in California.

BJ Penn took to his Twitter to blast Testosterone Replacement Therapy and calls PED use a cancer in the sport.

Pennsylvania Athletic Commision overturns Charles Oliveira vs. Nik Lentz to a No Contest due to Oliveira’s accidental kick to Lentz who was on the ground.

Kimbo Slice to make pro boxing debut on August 13th in a show produced by Gary Shaw Productions and Tony Holden Promotions.

Ricco Rodriguez vs. Seth Petruzelli is set for Bellator 48 on August 20th.

Strikeforce Challengers 18 headlined by Jorge Gurgel vs. Joe Duarte at the Palms in Las Vegas. Tickets on sale to the public this Saturday.

USA Today releases latest MMA Fighter rankings for June 2011.

Strikeforce Booking Alert: Mousasi vs. Kyle, Gurgel vs. Duarte

MMA photos Gegard Mousasi Keith Jardine
(Careful, Gegard. If he bites you, you become one of them. Photo courtesy of Esther Lin/Strikeforce)

According to a new report, former Strikeforce light-heavyweight champion Gegard Mousasi could meet Mike Kyle at the promotion’s September 10th card (venue TBA).

The two fighters were originally scheduled to meet at the ‘Diaz vs. Daley’ card in April, but Kyle was forced to withdraw due to a broken hand; Mousasi wound up fighting to a disappointing draw against late-replacement Keith Jardine. The “Armenian Assassin” is already slated to defend his DREAM light-heavyweight belt against Hiroshi Izumi in Tokyo on July 16th.

MMA photos Gegard Mousasi Keith Jardine
(Careful, Gegard. If he bites you, you become one of them. Photo courtesy of Esther Lin/Strikeforce)

According to a new report, former Strikeforce light-heavyweight champion Gegard Mousasi could meet Mike Kyle at the promotion’s September 10th card (venue TBA).

The two fighters were originally scheduled to meet at the ‘Diaz vs. Daley’ card in April, but Kyle was forced to withdraw due to a broken hand; Mousasi wound up fighting to a disappointing draw against late-replacement Keith Jardine. The “Armenian Assassin” is already slated to defend his DREAM light-heavyweight belt against Hiroshi Izumi in Tokyo on July 16th.

As for Kyle, the American Kickboxing Academy moneyweight vet most recently suffered a TKO loss against Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva — after stepping in as an injury replacement for Valentijn Overeem last December — but he’s 2-0 as a light-heavyweight under the Strikeforce banner, with stoppage wins over Rafael Cavalcante and Ron “Abongo” Humphrey. In other booking news…

Jorge Gurgel has confirmed that he will face Joe Duarte in the main event of Strikeforce Challengers 18 (August 12th; Palms Casino Resort, Las Vegas). In March, Zoila’s husband snapped a two-fight Strikeforce losing streak by choking out journeyman Billy Vaughn in 44 seconds. Duarte, who you may vaguely remember from TUF 8, is on a four-fight win streak, most recently submitting Saad Awad in April.

Hump Day Headlines with Stephanie Ann Cook

Chris Leben admits he’s scared to fight Wanderlei Silva at UFC 132. Someone at CagePotato was horny and bored and put together the top 11 Greatest MMA Ring Girl Videos of All Time and two.

Chris Leben admits he’s scared to fight Wanderlei Silva at UFC 132.

Someone at CagePotato was horny and bored and put together the top 11 Greatest MMA Ring Girl Videos of All Time and two of them (featuring Amber Nichole and Natasha Wicks) I produced! It’s nice to see all that time I spend studying porn pays off. Thanks CP!

TJ Grant gets sick; his fight against Charlie Brenneman removed from UFC on Versus 4 card this Sunday.

Strikeforce Challengers 18 features Jorge Gurgel vs. Joe Duarte.

Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Hendo card to include sexy Julie Kedzie vs. Alexis Davis.

UFC 137 featuring Georges St. Pierre vs. Nick Diaz expected to take place in Las Vegas, October 29th.