Tag: Tim Kennedy

Gracie, Mousasi, Marquardt Among Strikeforce Fighters Headed to the UFC


(Oh yeah, this guy is headed over as well. Thank God for that.)

As we reported yesterday, Jorge Gurgel’s claim that the fighters who came up short at Strikeforce: Marquardt vs. Saffiedine would find themselves out of a UFC contract was not exactly truthful. KJ Noons, Kurt Holobaugh, and Anthony Smith, for example, all suffered defeats at the event and were ironically the first names to be mentioned in the Strikeforce/UFC…migration, I guess?

On last night’s edition of UFC Tonight, the full list of Strikeforce fighters who would be making the transition to the big leagues was announced, and suffice it to say, there were a couple rather puzzling omissions and inclusions. After the jump is that full list, along with our thoughts on who some of these gentlemen should face in their UFC debuts.

HEAVYWEIGHT 
-Daniel Cormier (11-0 MMA, 8-0 SF)

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT 
-Gegard Mousasi (33-3-2 MMA, 4-1-1 SF)
-Gian Villante (10-3 MMA, 3-2 SF)


(Oh yeah, this guy is headed over as well. Thank God for that.)

As we reported yesterday, Jorge Gurgel’s claim that the fighters who came up short at Strikeforce: Marquardt vs. Saffiedine would find themselves out of a UFC contract was not exactly truthful. KJ Noons, Kurt Holobaugh, and Anthony Smith, for example, all suffered defeats at the event and were ironically the first names to be mentioned in the Strikeforce/UFC…migration, I guess?

On last night’s edition of UFC Tonight, the full list of Strikeforce fighters who would be making the transition to the big leagues was announced, and suffice it to say, there were a couple rather puzzling omissions and inclusions. After the jump is that full list, along with our thoughts on who some of these gentlemen should face in their UFC debuts.

HEAVYWEIGHT 
-Daniel Cormier (11-0 MMA, 8-0 SF)

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT 
-Gegard Mousasi (33-3-2 MMA, 4-1-1 SF)
-Gian Villante (10-3 MMA, 3-2 SF)

MIDDLEWEIGHT
-Luke Rockhold (10-1 MMA, 9-0 SF)
-Roger Gracie (6-1 MMA, 4-1 SF)
-Tim Kennedy (15-4 MMA, 6-2 SF)
-Lorenz Larkin (13-0 MMA, 4-0 SF)
-Ronaldo Souza (17-3 MMA, 7-1 SF)

WELTERWEIGHT
-Tarec Saffiedine (14-3 MMA, 6-1 SF)
-Nate Marquardt (32-11-2 MMA, 1-1 SF, 10-4 UFC)
-Jason High (16-3 MMA, 3-0 SF, 0-1 UFC)
-Bobby Voelker (24-8 MMA, 4-1 SF)
-Roger Bowling (11-3 MMA, 4-3 SF)

LIGHTWEIGHT
-Gilbert Melendez (21-2 MMA, 11-1 SF)
-Ryan Couture (6-1 MMA, 6-1 SF)
-Pat Healy (29-16 MMA, 7-1 SF, 0-1 UFC)
-K.J. Noons (11-6 MMA, 3-4 SF)
-Josh Thompson (19-5 MMA, 10-3 SF, 2-1 UFC)
-Adriano Martins (24-6 MMA, 1-0 SF)
-Kurt Holobaugh (8-1 MMA, 0-1 SF)

We know what you’re thinking, “WHERE’S BRANDON SALING?!”

Also notably absent from this list is that of Josh Barnett, who dispatched notable can Nandor Guelmino on the main card, and Estevan Payan, the famously dispatched Bellator veteran who also scored a win last Saturday and currently holds a 2-0 record in SF. Also heading over to the UFC but not included on this list is that of Bobby Green, who is already scheduled to face Jacob Volkmann at UFC 156.

Now, for the matchups.

Gegard Mousasi – An incredible striker with ever-improving grappling, we think a good first fight for Mousasi would be against an Igor Pokrajac-level fighter. Pokrajac has fought 9 times in the UFC, and recently suffered a loss to Joey Beltran that was overturned to a NC after Beltran tested positive for Nandrolone.

Luke Rockhold – He’s been scheduled to face Lorenz Larkin for what feels like years now, and if he can stay healthy long enough to actually fight under his new promotion, we say the UFC kills two birds with one stone with that matchup.

Tim Kennedy: It’s sink or swim time for everybody’s favorite drag queen Army Ranger, who has shown an ability to control most of his opponents on the mat while continuously appearing out of his element on the feet. A matchup against the similarly grappling-based but heavy handed Mark Munoz, who should finally be recovered from his various injuries in the near future, seems like a perfect test for both men.

Tarec Saffiedine: Throw the newly crowned welterweight champ the winner of the Rory MacDonald/Carlos Condit rematch if you’d really like to see how far his technical counter-striking game can take him. Of course, if you think he’s earned a warm up fight, give him Mike Pierce, a perennial top contender who has now collected three straight in the octagon.

Nate Marquardt: When he can walk on his own power again, we say give him Thiago Alves, who is literally one of the only upper-level guys in the welterweight division without a currently scheduled fight. If anything, it will show us whether or not Marquardt can learn to check a leg kick.

Ryan Couture: Tony Ferguson. I don’t know why, but something about where these two currently sit in the lightweight division just makes sense.

So, Potato Nation, do you like these potential matchups, and who would you suggest the remaining Strikeforce fighters square off against first?

–J. Jones

Saffiedine, Kennedy and Mousasi Among Strikeforce Fighters Heading to the UFC

After the demise of Strikeforce on Saturday, fight fans were left to sit and wonder which fighters (aside from the champions) would make their way to the UFC. As Yahoo! Sports reported, UFC on FOX 7 in April will feature Gilbert Melendez vs. Benso…

After the demise of Strikeforce on Saturday, fight fans were left to sit and wonder which fighters (aside from the champions) would make their way to the UFC. 

As Yahoo! Sports reported, UFC on FOX 7 in April will feature Gilbert Melendez vs. Benson Henderson for the UFC lightweight title and Frank Mir against Daniel Cormier in a high-profile heavyweight clash. 

Melendez and Cormier are two of the most recognizable names in Strikeforce, being the last reigning lightweight champion and heavyweight grand prix winner, respectively. 

On Tuesday night’s edition of UFC Tonight, a comprehensive list of all the fighters making it to the big time were announced. MMA Weekly transcribed the report.

The lightweight division, a UFC weight class already rich in talent, will import seven Strikeforce fighters.

The new 155-pounders, counting Melendez, are Josh Thompson, Ryan Couture, KJ Noons, Pat Healy, Adriano Martins and Kurt Holobaugh. 

After suffering his first career loss to Healy at the Strikeforce finale Saturday, Holobaugh has announced he will be dropping to featherweight. 

In another pretty expected move, the final Strikeforce welterweight champion, Tarec Saffiedine, earned a UFC contract with his victory over Nate Marquardt. 

Marquardt, a former UFC middleweight title challenger, will get a second chance inside the Octagon despite his loss to Saffiedine. Roger Bowling, Jason High and Bobby Voelker also join the welterweight ranks. 

The handful of former Strikeforce middleweights signed all have a chance to crack the division’s top 10, with last reigning champion Luke Rockhold, Ronaldo Souza, Tim Kennedy, Roger Gracie and Lorenz Larkin joining the big show. 

Finally, the light heavyweight division will welcome the arrival of an instant contender in the form of Gegard Mousasi. Gian Villante will also be added to the UFC’s 205-pound division.

One competitor conspicuously absent from the list is former UFC heavyweight champion Josh Barnett, but the report notes that this list is not final and more fighters could be signed at any time. 

Which Strikeforce fighters deserve the chance to shine inside the Octagon, and which fighters just lucked out?

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Strikeforce Results: What We Learned from Tim Kennedy vs. Trevor Smith

Two big middleweights met on the final Strikeforce card when former title challenger Tim Kennedy met Trevor Smith. They used to train together, which made this fight familiar to both men.Although Kennedy was a heavy favorite, Smith gave him a fight. In…

Two big middleweights met on the final Strikeforce card when former title challenger Tim Kennedy met Trevor Smith. They used to train together, which made this fight familiar to both men.

Although Kennedy was a heavy favorite, Smith gave him a fight. In a close affair, Kennedy prevailed via submission to earn his way into the UFC. 

Here is what we learned from the fight between Kennedy and Smith.

 

What We’ll Remember About This Fight

The fight was so-so, but the finish was magnificent. It came out of nowhere and looked extremely violent.

Joe Rogan loves the “power guillotine,” and that there was a power guillotine. Kennedy’s squeeze was comparable to that of an anaconda. 

You could definitely tell these guys used to train with one another because not much looked to surprise either man. 

 

What We Learned About Trevor Smith

Smith is actually a very tough fighter with a well-rounded skill set. It looked like he gassed in the third round, but he was giving Kennedy all he could handle in the first two rounds. 

He is a big, lengthy middleweight who will likely give many 185ers trouble.

 

What We Learned About Tim Kennedy

You don’t want to expose your neck around Kennedy. The guy has a nasty squeeze, as exemplified by his beautiful choke-out of Smith.

He is going to be an asset to the UFC middleweight division.

 

What’s Next for Smith

It’s likely that Smith will find himself without a UFC contract. However, he would be a great addition to either Bellator or World Series of Fighting.

If the UFC brass liked what they saw and decide to give him a chance, they could have him fight the American zombie that is Jared Hamman. The winner of that fight would stay on the UFC roster.

 

What’s Next for Kennedy

Kennedy is a great marketing tool due to his military background and high-level skills. I think he will get a top middleweight in his first UFC bout. 

That said, a showdown with returning Mark Munoz would be a great test for both men that would catapult one of them into the top 10.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Tim Kennedy Calls Other Fighters ‘Little Vaginas’ & Discusses Reverse Sexism


(Takes one to know one?)

In a recent interview with our home girl Steph Daniels over at Bloody Elbow, Strikeforce middleweight Tim Kennedy expressed his displeasure with any number of items, ranging from gun control to fighters using steroids in both intentionally and unintentionally hilarious ways. An intentional example being when he tells fighters who use banned performance enhancing drugs to “stop injecting horse cum into your eye.” An unintentionally hilarious example being his weird rant about gun control and how the only way he can prevent his wife from being raped and killed in their home is if the federal ban on assault rifles is not reinstated by the U.S. Congress.

Our favorite awkward holier than thou moments in this excellent interview with Kennedy, however,  came when the fighter criticized other Strikeforce fighters who have pulled out of the organization’s last few scheduled events due to injuries and when he claimed that Ronda Rousey has it easier in MMA because she’s a woman.

“Maybe [the injuries are real], maybe they aren’t,” Kennedy told Bloody Elbow.

“It’s pathetic and convenient for every single marquee fighter in all of Strikeforce, that we all know to be going over to the UFC, are pulling out of their fights, two weeks before the final card. It’s like, are you guys fighters, or are you just a bunch of little vaginas?”

On that subject, Kennedy also apparently has a problem with Strikeforce 135 pound women’s champ Ronda Rousey being made the first UFC 135 women’s champion.


(Takes one to know one?)

In a recent interview with our home girl Steph Daniels over at Bloody Elbow, Strikeforce middleweight Tim Kennedy expressed his displeasure with any number of items, ranging from gun control to fighters using steroids in both intentionally and unintentionally hilarious ways. An intentional example being when he tells fighters who use banned performance enhancing drugs to “stop injecting horse cum into your eye.” An unintentionally hilarious example being his weird rant about gun control and how the only way he can prevent his wife from being raped and killed in their home is if the federal ban on assault rifles is not reinstated by the U.S. Congress.

Our favorite awkward holier than thou moments in this excellent interview with Kennedy, however,  came when the fighter criticized other Strikeforce fighters who have pulled out of the organization’s last few scheduled events due to injuries and when he claimed that Ronda Rousey has it easier in MMA because she’s a woman.

“Maybe [the injuries are real], maybe they aren’t,” Kennedy told Bloody Elbow.

“It’s pathetic and convenient for every single marquee fighter in all of Strikeforce, that we all know to be going over to the UFC, are pulling out of their fights, two weeks before the final card. It’s like, are you guys fighters, or are you just a bunch of little vaginas?”

On that subject, Kennedy also apparently has a problem with Strikeforce 135 pound women’s champ Ronda Rousey being made the first UFC 135 women’s champion.

“It’s kind of sexist that a girl that has six professional fights, gets a double standard her very first fight in the UFC. She gets to fight for the title,” Kennedy said, presumably with a straight face, somehow.

“Guys like Luke Rockhold and Nate Marquardt are going to have to come over and fight a contender, then they’ll be allowed to fight for a title if they win. She, of course, can come over, and her first fight is defending her UFC title.”

Yeah, it will be, Tim. The same way it was for Jose Aldo after the UFC merged the WEC into itself. Ronda, like Aldo before her, was the champion of a division that did not previously exist in the UFC. Of course she’s automatically the champion of the division once it has been merged into the UFC.

Rockhold and Marquardt, on the other hand, are coming into organization divisions that already exist and have champions. But please tell us more about how easy it is for women to break into the high levels of professional fighting and how they get preferential treatment over men, Tim.

We can’t blame Kennedy for being so mad, though. He’s in the middle of a no doubt grueling training camp for a fight, he hasn’t gotten to fight very often a midst Strikeforce’s mess, and President Obama wants to take all his guns away so that his wife and family can be killed by a talkative home invader.

Even though he whines, like all the time and about everything, we still love Tim Kennedy because he’s a hell of a fighter and one funny dude. Hopefully he takes care of business on January 12th and gets brought into the UFC where he belongs.

Maybe he can challenge Ronda Rousey for her paper title…

– Elias Cepeda

Friday Link Dump: Sonnen vs. Jones TUF Trailer, Tim Kennedy Disses Strikeforce Fighters, BJJ Gets Sexy in New Commercial + More

(“Jon Jones can count on three things: Death, taxes, and Chael Sonnen whippin’ your ass.”/ Video via YouTube.com/UFC)

– Tim Kennedy Takes Shot At Fighters Who Pulled Out Of Strikeforce Bouts (Fightline)

– Dana White on Gay Fighter Liz Carmouche: ‘I Love What She Did’ (MMAFighting)

– Mata Leon’s Sexy New BJJ Kimono Ad (BloodyElbow)

– MMA’s Top 10 ‘Holy S#!t’ Moments of 2012 (BleacherReport)

– Check Out the 20-Second Fight That Almost Ended in a Double KO (MiddleEasy)

– Video: Reshat Mati, 13 Year Old MMA and Boxing Prodigy (FightDay)

– 5 Other Apocalypses That Didn’t Happen (Besides the 2012 Mayan Apocalypse) (EgoTV)

– The Quentin Tarantino Soundboard (Complex)

– 6 Supplements You Shouldn’t Be Skipping (MensFitness)

– The 50 Best Viral Videos of 2012 (WorldWideInterweb)

– RAW COMMENTARY: ‘Muppet Christmas Carol’ (ScreenJunkies)

– Adorable. (Facebook.com/CagePotato)


(“Jon Jones can count on three things: Death, taxes, and Chael Sonnen whippin’ your ass.”/ Video via YouTube.com/UFC)

– Tim Kennedy Takes Shot At Fighters Who Pulled Out Of Strikeforce Bouts (Fightline)

– Dana White on Gay Fighter Liz Carmouche: ‘I Love What She Did’ (MMAFighting)

– Mata Leon’s Sexy New BJJ Kimono Ad (BloodyElbow)

– MMA’s Top 10 ‘Holy S#!t’ Moments of 2012 (BleacherReport)

– Check Out the 20-Second Fight That Almost Ended in a Double KO (MiddleEasy)

– Video: Reshat Mati, 13 Year Old MMA and Boxing Prodigy (FightDay)

– 5 Other Apocalypses That Didn’t Happen (Besides the 2012 Mayan Apocalypse) (EgoTV)

– The Quentin Tarantino Soundboard (Complex)

– 6 Supplements You Shouldn’t Be Skipping (MensFitness)

– The 50 Best Viral Videos of 2012 (WorldWideInterweb)

– RAW COMMENTARY: ‘Muppet Christmas Carol’ (ScreenJunkies)

– Adorable. (Facebook.com/CagePotato)

WTF?! Video of the Day: When You Don’t Vote, You End Up in a Kumite Deathmatch With Tim Kennedy

The Ranger Up crew are known for two things: making hilarious/awesome t-shirts and making hilarious/awesome/creepy videos starring either Tim Kennedy or Jorge Rivera. They’ve parodied everything from Monty Python to Katy Perry, but more often than not, their videos amount to little more than a dose of anti-Michael Bisping propganda. We would be quick to declare these videos an undeniable success had they not severely backfired on Bisping’s opponents in each instance, but they were at least moderately entertaining in failure nonetheless.

And today, Kennedy and the gang have decided to shift their focus from that of public humiliation to that of social responsibility. We’re talking about voting, people. It kicks ass. And regardless of your stance on the candidates at hand, the economy, gay rights, abortion, or having binders full of women, you should probably vote, because if you don’t, you could end up like the poor gentlemen above.

The Ranger Up crew are known for two things: making hilarious/awesome t-shirts and making hilarious/awesome/creepy videos starring either Tim Kennedy or Jorge Rivera. They’ve parodied everything from Monty Python to Katy Perry, but more often than not, their videos amount to little more than a dose of anti-Michael Bisping propganda. We would be quick to declare these videos an undeniable success had they not severely backfired on Bisping’s opponents in each instance, but they were at least moderately entertaining in failure nonetheless.

And today, Kennedy and the gang have decided to shift their focus from that of public humiliation to that of social responsibility. We’re talking about voting, people. It kicks ass. And regardless of your stance on the candidates at hand, the economy, gay rights, abortion, or having binders full of women, you should probably vote, because if you don’t, you could end up like the poor gentlemen above.

Personally, I will be penciling in my vote for Al Donnelly this year, because I’ve been told that since both voting and Al Donnelly kick ass, when you put the two together, you’ve got yourself some kick ass shit. That’s all the motivation I could ever really need.

–J. Jones