Nate Marquardt Booked Against Yoshiyuki Yoshida at BAMMA 9 in February


(“…so yeah, I’d say I’ve been pretty smart with my money.” Photo via CombatLifestyle)

After a December meeting with Paul Daley failed to come together, former UFC contender Nate Marquardt has been re-booked at BAMMA 9 (February 11th, LG Arena; Birmingham, England) against welterweight Yoshiyuki Yoshida. The promotion confirmed the news today. Said BAMMA CEO David Green:

We are very excited to announce what we believe to be a great headline fight for the fans at BAMMA 9 for the World Welterweight Title. Yoshiyuki Yoshida is a UFC, Bellator, and One FC veteran who comes with notable wins over the likes of Dan Hardy, War Machine and Phil Baroni. Both Yoshiyuki and Nate are very excited about fighting at BAMMA 9 and although we had planned for Nate’s first fight to be in December, we believe it is worth waiting a further 8 weeks for such a great match up.”


(“…so yeah, I’d say I’ve been pretty smart with my money.” Photo via CombatLifestyle)

After a December meeting with Paul Daley failed to come together, former UFC contender Nate Marquardt has been re-booked at BAMMA 9 (February 11th, LG Arena; Birmingham, England) against welterweight Yoshiyuki Yoshida. The promotion confirmed the news today. Said BAMMA CEO David Green:

We are very excited to announce what we believe to be a great headline fight for the fans at BAMMA 9 for the World Welterweight Title. Yoshiyuki Yoshida is a UFC, Bellator, and One FC veteran who comes with notable wins over the likes of Dan Hardy, War Machine and Phil Baroni. Both Yoshiyuki and Nate are very excited about fighting at BAMMA 9 and although we had planned for Nate’s first fight to be in December, we believe it is worth waiting a further 8 weeks for such a great match up.”

The title fight will be Marquardt’s official debut at welterweight, and his first cage-appearance since being pulled off the UFC on Versus 4 main event and fired due to his testosterone levels being too high before the fight. Yoshida has been victorious in his last two fights against Phil Baroni and Ferrid Khedor, which snapped a three-fight losing streak in the UFC and Bellator. He will also be making his promotional debut at BAMMA 9.

And yes, Paul Daley should really be the reigning welterweight champion of BAMMA right now, but he missed weight for a title match against Yuya Shirai in February (blame the sauna), then missed weight again by a full six pounds in his follow-up BAMMA appearance against Jordan Radev in September (blame the BBQ pig ice cream).

Nate Marquardt Booked Against Yoshiyuki Yoshida at BAMMA 9 in February


(“…so yeah, I’d say I’ve been pretty smart with my money.” Photo via CombatLifestyle)

After a December meeting with Paul Daley failed to come together, former UFC contender Nate Marquardt has been re-booked at BAMMA 9 (February 11th, LG Arena; Birmingham, England) against welterweight Yoshiyuki Yoshida. The promotion confirmed the news today. Said BAMMA CEO David Green:

We are very excited to announce what we believe to be a great headline fight for the fans at BAMMA 9 for the World Welterweight Title. Yoshiyuki Yoshida is a UFC, Bellator, and One FC veteran who comes with notable wins over the likes of Dan Hardy, War Machine and Phil Baroni. Both Yoshiyuki and Nate are very excited about fighting at BAMMA 9 and although we had planned for Nate’s first fight to be in December, we believe it is worth waiting a further 8 weeks for such a great match up.”


(“…so yeah, I’d say I’ve been pretty smart with my money.” Photo via CombatLifestyle)

After a December meeting with Paul Daley failed to come together, former UFC contender Nate Marquardt has been re-booked at BAMMA 9 (February 11th, LG Arena; Birmingham, England) against welterweight Yoshiyuki Yoshida. The promotion confirmed the news today. Said BAMMA CEO David Green:

We are very excited to announce what we believe to be a great headline fight for the fans at BAMMA 9 for the World Welterweight Title. Yoshiyuki Yoshida is a UFC, Bellator, and One FC veteran who comes with notable wins over the likes of Dan Hardy, War Machine and Phil Baroni. Both Yoshiyuki and Nate are very excited about fighting at BAMMA 9 and although we had planned for Nate’s first fight to be in December, we believe it is worth waiting a further 8 weeks for such a great match up.”

The title fight will be Marquardt’s official debut at welterweight, and his first cage-appearance since being pulled off the UFC on Versus 4 main event and fired due to his testosterone levels being too high before the fight. Yoshida has been victorious in his last two fights against Phil Baroni and Ferrid Khedor, which snapped a three-fight losing streak in the UFC and Bellator. He will also be making his promotional debut at BAMMA 9.

And yes, Paul Daley should really be the reigning welterweight champion of BAMMA right now, but he missed weight for a title match against Yuya Shirai in February (blame the sauna), then missed weight again by a full six pounds in his follow-up BAMMA appearance against Jordan Radev in September (blame the BBQ pig ice cream).

ONE FC: Champion vs Champion — Impressions From the First Event

Guess who didn’t get the “Bring your big gold belt” memo.    PicProps: onefc.com

OK, first:  if you didn’t manage to wrangle your ass out of bed this morning to log on and watch ONE FC’s inaugural event, you can still catch all the fights for free at Sherdog:

Eduard Folayang vs A Sol Kwon
Yoshiyuki Yoshida vs Phil Baroni
Mitch Chilson vs Eric Kelly
Gregor Gracie vs Seok Mo Kim
Andy Wang vs Zorobabel Moreira

Under card

Eddie Ng vs Yuan Chun Bo
Radeem Rahman vs Susovan Ghosh
Vuyisile Colossa vs Ma Xing Yu
Daniel Mashamaite vs Yodsanan Sityodong
Soo Chul Kim vs Leandro Issa

Watch em, then come in and we’ll talk.  Or you can just come in and we’ll tell you about it.

Guess who didn’t get the “Bring your big gold belt” memo.    PicProps: onefc.com

OK, first:  if you didn’t manage to wrangle your ass out of bed this morning to log on and watch ONE FC’s inaugural event, you can still catch all the fights for free at Sherdog:

Eduard Folayang vs A Sol Kwon
Yoshiyuki Yoshida vs Phil Baroni
Mitch Chilson vs Eric Kelly
Gregor Gracie vs Seok Mo Kim
Andy Wang vs Zorobabel Moreira

Under card

Eddie Ng vs Yuan Chun Bo
Radeem Rahman vs Susovan Ghosh
Vuyisile Colossa vs Ma Xing Yu
Daniel Mashamaite vs Yodsanan Sityodong
Soo Chul Kim vs Leandro Issa

 

Watch em, then come in and we’ll talk.  Or you can just come in and we’ll tell you about it.

Much the excitement for the event came from the comparisons to PRIDE.  According to ONE’s website, they utilize “a combination rule set of global MMA best practices, blending Asian and non-Asian rules”, meaning no restriction to elbow, knee, or kicking attacks on a grounded opponent.  We didn’t see any at the first event, and I’m still not entirely clear on how the fighters were instructed.

They didn’t get Lenne Hardt (AKA The Crazy Screaming PRIDE Lady), but they did get Yuji Shimada (AKA “I don’t care, kill him.  Do you want to win?”) in to referee.

It does seem that ONE is shooting for high production values as PRIDE did, but there were no grand displays.  No elaborate entrances, although there was an amusingly eclectic mix of music chosen for walkouts, which led to the revelation that Bas Rutten digs Lady Gaga and Johnny Cash.  The crowd was relatively sparse in the 12,000 capacity stadium, but they were an enthusiastic bunch.

And with good reason:  the card was full of good action throughout.

For the grappling fans:  Kelly vs Chilson, BJJ aces vs South Koreans named “Kim”.  Both Gregor Gracie and Leandro Issa outpointed Kims, and there was jits popping out all over the place.  Gracie’s opponent Seok Mo Kim had outstanding submission defense, escaping a triangle and surviving multiple arm triangle chokes from Gracie, who is going to be catching hell from family for failing to finish a fight in which he scored and maintained mount for minutes at a time. Kelly took home a $5K bonus for sub of the night for sleeping Chilson with a standing RNC.

For the KO junkie:  Sityodong vs Mashamaite, Ng vs Bo, Colossa vs Yu, Rahman vs Ghosh. Both Ng and Bo are generally favorites of livebloggers everywhere.  Beats the hell out of Magomed Sultanakhmedov, Georgi Karakhanyan, and Jadamba Narantungalag, is all I’m saying.

For the “PRIDE mismatch to make the home team look like a ninja” fan: Rahman vs Ghosh. Raheem Rahman picked up the $5K knockout of the night bonus after plowing through his opponent in the first.

For the sadist: Moreira vs Wang. Not a gory fight, but painful nonetheless. Yuji Shimada has seen some world-class ass whoopings in his lifetime, so don’t expect him to stop a fight unless someone’s ear falls off. If a fighter wants to continue to soak up punishment in the second round, Shimada is willing let him. And the fighter does. So Shimada does.

Fight of the night: Folayang vs Kwon. Supposedly a mismatch on paper, this was a fast-paced, even contested fight with lots of fun kick technique and some wild exchanges. Go watch it.

Notes to Victor Cui (ONE CEO):  Can you hook up with HDNET?  That would be great, then we can watch these in high def, and rewind when Folayang and Kwon are moving to damn fast for us to follow.  Also, a little pyrotechnics never hurt nobody.*

All in all a fun event, albeit short of rivaling PRIDE’s inaugural event or UFC’s current dominance. If the first broadcast is any indication, ONE FC will be the leader in MMA in the eastern hemisphere in short order. I know I’ll tune in again.

[RX]

 

*Not intended to be a factual statement.

ONE FC Results: Kwon vs. Folayang, Baroni vs. Yoshida, More

Filed under: Results, ONE FCMMA Fighting has ONE FC results of A Sol Kwon vs. Eduard Folayang, Phil Baroni vs. Yoshiyuki Yoshida and the rest of the inaugural ONE FC event on Sept. 3 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium in Singapore.

In the main event, lig…

Filed under: ,

MMA Fighting has ONE FC results of A Sol Kwon vs. Eduard Folayang, Phil Baroni vs. Yoshiyuki Yoshida and the rest of the inaugural ONE FC event on Sept. 3 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium in Singapore.

In the main event, lightweight Kwon aims for his seventh straight win against the Martial Combat veteran Folayang.

For live round-by-round updates, click here.


ONE FC results are below.

Eduard Folayang def. A Sol Kwon via unanimous decision (
live blog)
Yoshiyuki Yoshida def. Phil Baroni via unanimous decision (
live blog)
Eric Kelly def. Mitch Chilson via Technical Sub (Rear-Naked Choke) – Round 1, 3.10
Gregor Gracie def. Seok Mo Kim via Unanimous Decision
Zorobabel Moreira def.
Andy Wang via TKO (Knees) – Round 2, 1.49
Eddie Ng def. Yuan Chun Bo via KO (Punches) – Round 1, 0.45
Radeem Rahman def. Susovan Ghosh by TKO (Punches) – Round 1, 3.18
Vuyisile Colossa def. Ma Xing Yu by KO (Punch) – Round 1, 0.49
Yodsanan Sor Nanthachai def. Daniel Mashamaite via TKO (Knee) – Round 2, 0.14
Leandro Issa def. Soo Chul Kim via Unanimous Decision

 

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Phil Baroni Insists He Has More Left in Tank

Filed under: NewsHeading into his 28th pro fight, and just one win over the .500 mark, Phil Baroni admits he’s given serious thought to hanging up the gloves.

But the famed “New York Bad Ass” said just when he thinks he’s ready to be out of the sport…

Filed under:

Heading into his 28th pro fight, and just one win over the .500 mark, Phil Baroni admits he’s given serious thought to hanging up the gloves.

But the famed “New York Bad Ass” said just when he thinks he’s ready to be out of the sport, it pulls him back in.

Baroni told host Ariel Helwani on Monday’s edition of “The MMA Hour” that ahead of his fight against Yoshiyuki Yoshida at One FC next month in Singapore, he’s excited again.

“Every time I start camp and I’m out of shape, I think I’m done,” Baroni said. “I want to get the hell out of here. Once I start getting in shape and my body starts feeling good, I want to do it as long as I can. When you see guys like (Dan) Henderson – it’s motivating to see guys at 40 looking as good as he looks.”

Baroni (14-13) returned to the UFC in late 2009 for the first time since UFC 51 in February 2005. He lost to Amir Sadollah in his first fight back. And after some time at Tiger Muay Thai in Thailand, and a decision to return to middleweight, he booked a fight with Brad Tavares at UFC 125 in January. But Taveres landed a big knee in the first round and finished Baroni with strikes, giving the New Yorker a three-fight skid and an exit from the UFC with a 13-13 career record.

It didn’t take Baroni long to get back on the horse, though. At a March Titan FC show in Kansas City, Baroni grinded out a decision win over Nick Nolte – a fight he said was hard on him because of injuries.

“Going into that fight, I was a little beat up,” Baroni said. “The fight was rough. I had some broken ribs, and I just had to get through that fight. it wasn’t so much a great win. It was a relief to get a W. I didn’t win that fight with an exclamation point. It wasn’t a good fight. No one said, ‘Let’s sign this guy up.'”

But though Baroni said he had considered retirement, it might have been an easier choice had he lost to Nolte – especially because no major promotion would have been clamoring to put him on a card.

“You’re done when you give up,” Baroni said. “I would’ve been a really bad position for me (if I lost). I was really hurting in there, but I did what I had to do to get the win.”

Baroni has never put together an MMA winning streak longer than three fights, but he’s had three losing streaks of three fights or more. He won his UFC debut at UFC 30 against Curtis Stout, then lost to Matt Lindland at UFC 34. But after consecutive UFC wins over Amar Suloev and Dave Menne, he dropped four straight in the promotion to Lindland, Evan Tanner twice and Pete Sell, Baroni was cut from the promotion.

Baroni regrouped in Pride, going 4-2 in Japan before returning to the United States to fight Frank Shamrock for the Strikeforce middleweight belt. But a he was choked out by Shamrock, setting off a three-fight skid.

With a return to Asia for the Yoshida fight, Baroni said his first fight outside the U.S. in more than three years, as well as One FC’s use of a combination of unified MMA and Pride rules, bodes well for him.

“I’m a road warrior – I’m excited to go overseas and fight,” Baroni said. “There’s a big diff between Singapore and Japan, but I wanted to fight in the show. I’m in no man’s land right now (in my career). Pride rules … knees on the ground … (no holds barred) – I think it’s good. It’s my style.”

Baroni has regrouped with the American Kickboxing Academy team in San Jose, Calif., for the bulk of his training for Yoshida. He said AKA’s style of hard sparring three times a week helps him be prepared for a fighter the likes of Yoshida (12-6), who also recently snapped a three-fight skid with a win in France after going a combined 2-4 in the UFC and Bellator between 2008-2010.

“His deal in UFC, he choked out War Machine (Jon Koppenhaver), which is no easy task,” Baroni said. “He got knocked out by (Josh) Koscheck, and Koscheck is top five in the world. He’s going to come to fight and try to prove everyone wrong, and that’s going to be his demise – I’m going to knock him out.”

Baroni and Yoshida fight at One FC: Champion vs. Champion on Sept. 3.

 

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Bellator XXXI: Oh Yeah? Well, We Got Girls Fighting

(Bellator: the only place where chicks who like to bang are respected.)
By ReX “Dude, Big Ups to the 90s” Richardson
Chances are very good that you missed at least one good fight card last night. If you neglected to tune in to Versus for WE…


(Bellator: the only place where chicks who like to bang are respected.)

By ReX “Dude, Big Ups to the 90s” Richardson

Chances are very good that you missed at least one good fight card last night. If you neglected to tune in to Versus for WEC 51, you are likely still kicking yourself in the balls for not watching a card that was ludicrously stacked (and lived up to expectations). If you forgot about the Bellator Fighting Championships in all the excitement, you passed on some pretty fun stuff there, too: of eight fights, only one went to decision. The women’s division was on showcase last night with two semifinal bouts, seasoned with a double handful of the kind of hungry fighters who tend to knock the piss out of one another.

Follow me past the jump, because let’s face it, at this time of day you’re just killing time until the weekend anyway. I’ll let you know where I stand on the judges’ controversy. **dramatic music**

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