MMA-URLS

The action was intense during today's (May 5, 2012) UFC on FOX 3: "Diaz vs. Miller" preliminary card. Both the FUEL TV and Facebook portions were littered with exciting fights, and the final bout featured winner of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) season 13 in Tony Ferguson against TUF 12 finalist Michael Johnson. Both men came out looking to stand and trade, but it was Johnson who drew first blood, landing a big left hand counter and dropping "El Cucuy" temporarily in a first round that was rather lacking in action until the final 10 seconds when Ferguson let loose with a big flurry. Throughout the second and third, Johnson consistently landed the better strikes, repeatedly scoring with his left hook flush to Ferguson's face. It was a frustrating night for Tony Ferguson fans as he continued to showcase some of the poor defense he showed in his last bout and was unable to land any really sustained offense. The judges agreed, awarding Johnson a unanimous decision with a 30-27 clean sweep across the boards, much to Ferguson's dismay, but he has no one to blame but himself. The rest of the undercard was littered with some very entertaining action as well. In the second to last fight of the undercard, flyweights John Dodson and Tim Elliot put on a hell of a show. Dodson was trying to land with more technique and power while Elliot fired back with crazy and wild attacks which included all kinds of flying and spinning offense. Dodson controlled much of the action early but he apparently hurt his left hand during the second round and from that point on, Elliot took over, landing a much sustained offensive attack and clearly was able to win the third round. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough as "The Magician" was awarded the first two rounds on all three judges' scorecards. Dodson was victorious, but he might be sidelined for a while after breaking his hand. Two talented young welterweights duked it out as British phenom John Hathaway had his way with previously undefeated German Pascal Krauss. Hathaway repeatedly scored some takedowns and utilized his slight reach advantage in the stand-up but the biggest factor for "The Hitman" were his knees. Hathaway dropped Krauss with a beautiful left knee in the first round and continued to land them throughout the event. Krauss was simply outclassed in just about all areas and was forced to play defense for extended periods. Hathaway bloodied him badly with a knee in the third round and easily was able to coast to a unanimous decision victory. in the first non-tournament flyweight fight in UFC history, 125 pounders Louis Gaudinot and John Lineker put on a massive show for the fans. Both men stood in the pocket and just threw bombs. Lineker was throwing more actively and effectively in the stand-up, keeping a tremendous pace and a long sustained offense but Gaudinot was able to secure takedowns to equalize. The second round was all Lineker at the beginning, hurting Gaudinot badly but the green-haired warrior scored another takedown. After some nice ground and pound, Gaudinot aggressively jumped for a guillotine choke as Lineker tried to get back to his feet. It was tight and Lineker refused to tap and was choked unsonscious with just six seconds remaining in the stanza. Lightweights Danny Castillo and John Cholish put on a slow-paced and rather grueling fight, just like Castillo wanted. Cholish was unable to get the fight to the ground and despite multiple tries. There wasn't much action but Castillo was able to do just enough in each frame, landing better strikes with a big right hand, even mixing in a few late takedowns to put stamps on the rounds to earn a unanimous decision. In featherweight action, The Ultimate Fighter season 14 finalist Dennis Bermudez put on a wrestling clinic against Pablo Garza. Garza was very active off his back, especially in the first round when he threatened with submissions and actually hurt Bermudez with his upkicks, but Bermudez was relentless, repeatedly slamming Garza to the ground and working his strikes. Bermudez wore Garza down as the fight wore on and the lanky 145-er put up increasingly less resistance, even giving up the mount in the end of the third round. Bermudez was awarded a dominant 30-27 unanimous decision on all three judges' scorecards. Perhaps the biggest highlight of the undercard was the incredible one-round bout between Nick Denis and Roland Delorme in the bantamweight division. Denis started incredibly strong, crushing Delorme with some heavy shots, knocking him down with a brutal knee and scoring some takedowns but he got too reckless, leaving his hands down and Delorme wasn't as hurt as he expected. Delorme recovered and started catching Denis clean, actually hurting him. When Denis got defensive, Delorme scored a big takedown and tapped him out with just one second remaining in the round with a rear naked choke. It was an incredible comeback and by far one of the most entertaining one-round fights of 2012. It will almost certainly make it onto the broadcast if any of the fights finish early. Opening up the Facebook portion was a middleweight bout between Mike Massenzio and Karlos Vemola. Vemola originally entered the UFC as a heavyweight and may have finally found his home. After a rough first round where Massenzio showcased better striking and overall wrestling, Vemola came out swinging in the second round, blasting Massenzio with ground and pound before sinking in a fight-ending rear naked choke without putting his hooks in. Here are the complete undercard results: Michael Johnson def. Tony Ferguson via unanimous decisionJohn Dodson def. Tim Elliot via unanimous decisionJohn Hathaway def. Pascal Krauss via unanimous decisionLouis Gaudino def. John Lineker via submission (guillotine) at 4:54 of round twoDanny Castillo def. John Cholish via unanimous decisionDennis Bermudez def. Pablo Garza via unanimous decisionRoland Delorme def. Nick Denis via submission (rear naked choke) at 4:59 of round oneKarlos Vemola def. Mike Massenzio via submission (rear naked choke) at 1:07 of round two That's it for the "Prelims" portion of the UFC on FOX 3 fight card. Be sure to hit up MMAmania.com's for up to the minute results and blow-by-blow coverage of the rest of the night's UFC on FOX main card action by clicking here.

Posted in: fight, round, ferguson, action, lineker

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Posted in: ufc, workout, action, easternamigo, easternamigo link

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Former heavyweight king Fedor Emelianenko will return to action this summer, but as most people should already know, it won't be in the UFC.

Posted in: ufc, action, fedor, king, emelianenko

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Resurrection Fighting Alliance (RFA) returned last night (March 30, 2012) with its second mixed martial arts (MMA) offering from the Viaero Event Center in Kearney, Nebraska. The show lived up to its name, as a few MMA veterans resurrected their careers with some spectacular finishes. The main event featured two former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) heavy hitters in the form of Gilbert Yvel taking on the local favorite, Houston Alexander. In a fight filled with striking expectations, the action was rather lackluster in the early going. But it only takes a split second for fans to get treated to one brutal knockout. Alexander opened up his attack very early, connecting repeatedly with some jabs and surprisingly came out with a very successful kicking game, peppering Yvel throughout the first few minutes of the opening frame, even dropping him with a very nice kick to the leg. Yvel, on the other hand, seemed hesitant to the pull the trigger. He consistently backed away, eating nice jabs from Houston in the process. However, in the final minute of the opening round, "The Hurricane" finally opened up and caught Alexander with a well placed left hook that stunned him and before Houston was able to recover, Yvel blasted the hometown favorite with a perfectly placed right hand that sent him crashing to the canvas. No follow up punches necessary. The win gave Gilbert his second in a row since dropping to Light Heavyweight after fighting with the big boys at Heavyweight throughout his career, including a three fight stint with the UFC in which he went three and out. The rest of the RFA 2 card featured the comeback of the 50 year old Maurice Smith, one of the pound-for-pound best female fighters in the world in Tara LaRosa and The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 15 reject, Dakota Cochrane. Check it out: In the co-main event of the evening, Dakota Cochrane looked to get back into the win column after failing to make it inside the TUF house. Unfortunately for Dakota, Cliff Wright Jr. wanted to make a name for himself, and he did just that by putting Cochrane to sleep with a rear-naked choke in the very first round. Cochrane was able to take Wright down early, but was quickly reversed once on the ground. Wright fought hard to get the choke in, and once he did, he did not let up. Herb Dean checked on Cochrane a few times to see if he was ok, but after there was not tap, Dean called a halt to the action once he realized Cochrane was already in dream land. Long time MMA veteran Maurice Smith returned to action after a four year layoff since losing to Hidehiko Yoshida in 2008 at Sengoku 3, to take on Jorge Cordoba. The 50 year-old didn't look a day over 30 in his performance, connecting repeatedly at will on his young counterpart. Throughout the fight, Cordoba was the aggressor, rushing in and swinging wildly at times, but catching air for the most part. While, Smith remained calmed and picked his shots carefully, battering Cordoba's face. With two minutes remaining the fight, it seemed Smith was well on his way to a unanimous decision victory, but that was not what the kick boxer had in mind. After separating from the clinch, Cordoba tried to make some distance between he and Smith, but did so with his hands down. That was all Smith needed to connect with a clean head kick that put the young fighter out for the count. In women's action, often considered one of the top female fighters in the world, Tara LaRosa returned after a year hiatus to take on Kelly Warren. The bout lacked some luster, as both women played it cautiously throughout, neither willing to take a chance in the first two rounds. In the final frame, the intensity picked up somewhat, as both realized they needed to do something special to sway the judges. After a scramble on the ground, LaRosa was able to catch Warren in a tight body triangle, looking for the rear-naked choke in the process. After failing to get the choke, LaRosa quickly transition into an armbar with only a few seconds remaining in the fight and caught Warren in a very secure armbar. Hanging on as much as she could, Warren eventually tapped with only one second remaining in the fight. How's that for drama? Perhaps a move to Strikeforce after packing on 10 more pounds should be in LaRosa's future. For complete RFA 2 results and detailed round-by-round play-by-play action, click here.

Posted in: fight, cochrane, action, smith, yvel

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"King" Mo Lawal was cut from Strikeforce yesterday . He received a suspension from the Nevada Athletic Commission for testing positive for a banned substance after his January win over Lorenz Larkin. Shortly after his hearing with the NAC, Lawal called a commissioner a racist b**** over Twitter. According to Strikeforce's Scott Coker, Lawal's reaction was to blame for the dismissal . Calling a woman the b-word is wrong, no matter the circumstances, which is exactly what I told Lawal yesterday. He's been a friend of mine since long before either of us were involved in MMA, so I told him what I would tell any friend of mine. If you don't want it said about your mother, you shouldn't say it about any woman. Though I don't know if I influenced his decision, he deleted the tweet not long after. What he tweeted was wrong, but he should not have lost his job, just like Miguel Torres should not have lost his job late last year. I didn't think Torres should have lost his job then , nor did I think Forrest Griffin should have lost his job over a tweet about rape , or Rashad Evans over his comment about child abuse , or Joe Rogan for calling me the c-word , or White f or calling MMA reporter Loretta Hunt the b-word. What every one of these cases called for is punitive action. Some combination of a reprimand, a fine that will benefit the aggrieved parties, a public apology, a suspension, and corrective action like sensitivity training would be more appropriate than being fired. The offender would be more likely to learn something from their offenses than if they suddenly have to look for a job, or if there had been little done about the offense. The problem, once again, is that Zuffa has no policy on fighter (and commentator) behavior. A fighter doesn't know if he's crossed the line until he's crossed it. Fighters can't even learn from each other's actions because there is no consistency on how incidents are treated. Considering how White called Hunt the same word that Lawal to describe the commissioner and then never apologized for it (he only apologized for using a slur against homosexuals ), how could Lawal know Zuffa would have a problem with it? The UFC usually holds their fighters' summit in June. It's the end of March. They have a few months to formulate a policy that is clear and fair to fighters.

Posted in: fighter, job, action, lawal, policy

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This post is here so that you can discuss all the happenings for the NCAA D-1 wrestling championships as they go down today. There is a lot of action with session 1 kicking off at 12 p.m. ET on ESPN 3 and session 2 getting underway at 7:30 p.m. We've covered the various ways you can watch the event as well as provided live audio to follow the action already today, and you can read that here. KJ Gould has also written a good preview of the tournament with names to watch which can be read here. Finally, KJ took a look at past NCAA champions who have found considerable success in the UFC. So, if you're planning on checking out today's action, hang out here and talk about it all as it goes down. You might even end up seeing a few future UFC champions in action at the height of their NCAA careers.

Posted in: today, action, ncaa, kj gould, todays action

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The NCAA Division 1 wrestling championships kick off today and you can watch all the action live streaming online in the United States via ESPN 3. The action gets going with four different streams of mats 1, 2, 3 and 4 at 12 p.m. ET for session one with session two kicking off with four more streams at 7:30 p.m. ET. Starting with tomorrow's (Friday) quarterfinals some of the action will be carried on ESPN U as well as continuing to stream on ESPN 3. For those of you looking to get information on the tournament, big names to watch and other information, our own KJ Gould did a great write-up that I suggest you read before the tournament gets underway. After the jump we have embedded live audio via Takedown Wrestling for those of you who aren't able to watch the event live but still want to follow the action. Live Audio: <other/> Streaming by Ustream

Posted in: espn, stream, action, championships kick, kj gould

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You are terribly mistaken if you thought Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) was letting up just a tad in its attempt to crack down on any and all Internet sites that offer free streaming of its live PPV events. In fact, the world's larget mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion is taking it one step further. It is turning up the heat in a major way, not just targeting the websites that host the illegal PPV streams, but now the registered individuals who signed up with the website to watch the premium fights without shelling out the $54.99 to watch them legally. The good news (if you're guilty of online piracy) is that for now the legal action is focused on just one site and its users, GreenFeedz.com, which unsurprisingly is no longer in service. The Wrestling Observer has the details, after the jump: As part of legal action against the web site GreenFeedz, which streamed UFC 130 to UFC 142 illegally and was threatened with legal action, Zuffa was able to obtain e-mail addresses, usernames and each individual event streamed, as well as IP addresses of everyone who watched an event through that web site. They will be legally going after the individual consumers for copyright violations. As avid supporters of the Stop Online Privacy Act (SOPA), the UFC brass is looking to pick up the intensity on any and all who have illegally streamed its product in the past, recently and in the future. Now, in an ongoing battle that seems to have no end in site, Zuffa -- the UFC parent company -- is not leaving any stone unturned, looking to take down all viewers who took advantage of the free streams that were hosted by GreenFeedz.com. Hindsight always being 20/20, it's safe to say that the $54.99 price tag does not seem as high, when compared to the possible repercussions that may come from the legal actions of Zuffa. Perhaps one day UFC PPVs will indeed be free and we can all just get along. Until then, watch your back. You've been warned.

Posted in: ufc, ppv, action, site, ppv streams

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There is an interesting bit of news over at the Wrestling Observer where they are reporting that the UFC intends to go after individuals who watch illegal streams of events, not just the websites that host the streams. This is unusual for pay-per-view event copyright cases, which almost always focus on the hosting site. Here's the info from the Wrestling Observer: As part of legal action against the web site www.greenfeedz.com, which streamed UFC 130 to 142 illegally and was threatened with legal action, Zuffa was able to obtain e-mail addresses, user names, and each individual event streamed as well as IP addresses of everyone who watched an event through that web site and will be legally going after the individual consumers for copyright violations. So basically, if you were registered on that site and watched an event, the UFC now has your information and will be looking to take legal action against you. I'd be lying if I said I had much insight into what exact damages the UFC could go after in these cases, but this is clearly going to serve as a major deterrent to individuals to look for streams online going forward. Honestly, this is a much more appropriate response for them in terms of action against piracy than ideas like supporting SOPA and will be a story that we'll have to keep our eyes on in the future.

Posted in: ufc, event, stream, action, site

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If you happened to watch illegal streams of UFC 130 or UFC 142 on a site called GreenFeedz.com, you may want to start looking for an attorney because according to a report from The Wrestling Observer, the UFC has obtained the IP addresses of the individuals who watched those streams and is planning to take legal action against them. As part of legal action against the web site GreenFeedz, which streamed UFC 130 to UFC 142 illegally and was threatened with legal action, Zuffa was able to obtain e-mail addresses, usernames and each individual event streamed, as well as IP addresses of everyone who watched an event through that web site. They will be legally going after the individual consumers for copyright violations. The UFC warned that they would go after individual consumers who watched pirated streams of their events, but up until this point they’ve only targeted website and bar owners. I honestly didn’t think they would make good on those threats, but apparently I was wrong. All I know is I’d hate to be ones who watched the stream. Those individuals are going to wind up paying a whole heck of a lot more than $50 for those pay-per-views once the UFC gets done with them.

Posted in: ufc, stream, action, ip addresses, consumer

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The Strikeforce: "Tate vs. Rousey" event blew the roof off the Nationwide Arena tonight (March 3, 2012) in Columbus, Ohio, but before Miesha Tate put her Bantamweight title on the line against Ronda Rousey on Showtime, there was plenty of preliminary action going down over on Showtime Extreme. Alexa Davis and Sarah Kaufman put on quite a show for the Ohio crowd, in what was a potential number one contender's bout to earn the right to battle against the winner of tonight's main event, while the son of a mixed martial arts (MMA) legend also looked to make his own star shine brighter in Ryan Couture. Lightweights Caros Fodor and Pat Healy looked to climb the 155-pound division while Welterweights Roger Bowling and promotion newcomer Brandon Saling looked to make statements of their own. There was plenty of action to warm you up for the star studded main card later tonight. Make the jump for a complete recap of the under card action for Strikeforce: "Tate vs. Rousey." Ryan Couture looked to restart his win streak after his perfect MMA record was ruined by Matt Ricehouse last June. Conor Heun was standing in his way as he was trying to make a little bit of noise himself in a very shallow Strikeforce lightweight division, where a fighter is one impressive win away from possible title shot contention. After two rounds of back and forth action that was mostly dominated by Couture, Ryan picked up his intensity in the final frame as he looked to be the fresher of the two fighters heading into the third round. Couture used his grappling skills to take the fight to the ground and once it hit the mat, it was all she wrote for Huen as Ryan landed punch after punch that had no answer in return from Heun. The referee stepped in and put a halt to the bout, giving Couture a very impressive victory. Caros Fodor entered his lightweight clash against Pat Healy on a five win streak under the Strikeforce banner, while Healy was coming off of an impressive rear-naked choke victory over Maximo Blanco and a three fight win streak of his own. Fodor stormed out of the gates early looking for a quick finish, but Healy was able to fend of the early attack and make it a competitive fight. The two 155-pound fighters exchanged strikes and takedowns in what was a pretty even fight heading into the third round. However, Healy made sure this one wasn't going to the judges as he trapped on a tight arm triangle after a failed submission attempt from Fodor which forced the tap late in the third and final frame. Outstanding work from Healy, who ended Caro's five fight win streak and put himself in the lightweight map. Welterweights Roger Bowling and Strikeforce newcomer Brandon Saling took center stage next looking to put on a show. Both men came out swinging in the first round, rocking one another with powerful strikes. Bowling controlled the exciting first round, but newcomer Saling was not backing down one bit and proved to be a game opponent. Unfortunately for Saling, he left all of his energy in the opening frame as Bowling took advantage of an exhausted opponent and trapped him in a crucifix position and proceeded to land a series of right hand that gave the official no choice but to put a halt and save Brandon from taking anymore unnecessary punishment. Tate and Rousey aren't the only women looking to show off their fighting skills tonight at a possible number one contenders Bantamweight bout capped the undercard action between two of the best as Sarah Kaufman and Alexa Davis battled it out. And show of their skills they did. Both women came out swinging from the get-go with Kaufman cutting the eyed of Davis early with some clean shots, but Kaufman returns the favor with a nice elbow of her own. Both fighters continued their steady pace of exchanging combinations and by the end of the first round, both were covered in their own blood, in what was a very exciting first round. Round two was no different, both ladies picked off where they left off, exchanging kicks and strikes, though both were visibly winded from the furious opening frame. Heading into the third round, Davis was down on the scorecards and need a finish to pull out the victory and nearly mounted a what would have been a nice comeback, as she took Kaufman down and inflicted some ground and pound, but unfortunately for Davis, it was a too little too late. The judges awarded the unanimous decision victory to Sarah Kaufman in what was truly an exciting fight. Tate and Rousey will have to put on a great performance in order to top these two. That's a wrap for all the under card action, for full results and play-by-play action of the main card. Click here. Full preliminary cards results: 135 lbs.: Sarah Kaufman def. Alexis Davis via majority decision.170 lbs.: Roger Bowling def. Brandon Saling via TKO at 1:15 of round 2155 lbs.: Pat Healy def. Caros Fodor via submission (arm triangle) at 3:35 of round 3155 lbs.: Ryan Couture def. Conor Heun via TKO at 2:52 of round 3

Posted in: fight, round, action, healy, kaufman

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FUEL TV was home to tonight's (Mar 2. 2012) UFC on FX 2 preliminary card action from the Allphones Arena in the "Land Down Under," Sydney, Australia. In an action filled undercard, fans who tuned in to catch the early action were not disappointed. Opening up the under card action was heavyweight newcomers Oli Thompson and Shawn Jordan, who provided fans with an all-out striking brawl, while the preliminary card was capped by 205-pound clash between Jame Te Huna and Aaron Rosa. In between, there was plenty of action from lighting fast featherweight Daniel Pineda, who displayed his impressive submission skills against Mackens Semerzier, and T.J. Waldburger wasn't too far behind with his show of jiu-jitsu skills, as he ended Jake Hecht's night early. From submissions to knockouts, FUEL TV was filled with exciting action to gear you up for the main card later on tonight on FX which features an exiting welterweight main event tilt between Thiago Alves and Martin Kampmann. Make the jump for a full recap of tonight's preliminary action of UFC on FX 2: 'Alves vs. Kampmann': Making their Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) debuts, Oli Thompson and Shawn Jordan kicked off the preliminary action on the Facebook portion of the event, and the big boys came out swinging. The two exchanged blows early and often, but it was Jordan that was getting the better of the exchanges as he dropped Thompson early in the first round with a nice punch/knee combination that had Oli tasting canvas and seeing stars out of his badly swollen eye. After an exciting first round, the two heavyweights picked up where they left off, swinging heavy leather, but at a much slower pace. Taking advantage of his deeper gas tank, Jordan connected some well placed uppercuts and a perfectly timed knee to Thompson's chin that dropped him yet again. This time, Jordan went in and got the finish, delivering some unanswered strikes that forced the referee to stop the action. Great Octagon debut for "The Savage!" A couple of featherweights took center stage next as Daniel Pineda looked to keep his winning streak alive and extend it to seven as he took on "The Menace" Mackens Semerzier. Mission accomplished. After exchanging a few kicks and punches early on, "The Pit" got the better of the exchanges on the feet and dropped Semerzier. He quickly displayed his impressive jiu-jitsu skills, too, as he trapped Mackens in a very deep and tight triangle choke that had him gasping for air. He was eventually forced to tap after Pineda transitioned smoothly into an armbar. Pineda remains undefeated inside the Octagon. Mackens, on the other hand, has now dropped four of his last six bouts. Both welterweights Jake Hecht and T.J Waldburger entered their fight tonight coming off impressive victories in their last outings and looked to keep their momentum rolling. If you blinked, you may have missed the action as this one was over fast, folks. After a brief exchange on the feet, Waldburger landed a takedown on Hecht and quickly snatched his right arm in an armbar that forced the tap in the opening minute of the fight. Great performance by Waldburger who made it two consecutive submission wins and put a halt to the "Hitman's" five-fight win streak. Andrew Craig entered his UFC debut undefeated (6-0) as he took on the four time UFC vet Kyle Noke in a middleweight clash. And fortunately for the American, he will go home that way as he bested the hometown Aussie after three rounds of action. Craig displayed great composure for a newcomer, peppering Noke often on the feet and displaying some nice ground-and-pound. After attempts to keep the fight on the ground, Noke simply didn't have an answer for Craig once the bout was back on the feet. Showing aggressiveness and confidence, Andrew controlled the majority of the fight and all three judges saw it the same to award him the unanimous decision victory. Craig looked impressive in his debut while Noke has now dropped two in a row. After a heated exchanged at the weigh-ins, Cole Miller and Steven Siler couldn't wait to step inside the cage and have the doors locked behind them. In a mostly stand up affair, the two Featherweights battled for 15 minutes in a back and forth affair that saw Siler be the aggressor. Unsurprisingly, the ground specialist Miller decided to cooperate and play the stand battle with Siler in what turned out to be a bad decision by "Magrinho" as Siler clearly got the better of the striking department. In the closing moments, Miller was able to get the fight to the ground, but did not have enough time to work and Siler walked away with a unanimous decision victory sending the American Top Team (ATT) trained fighter back to the drawing board. Anthony Perosh looked to please the hometown crowd as he took on promotion newcomer Nick Penner in a heavyweight bout. "The Hippo" looked for the takedown early and scored a couple after damaging Penner's right eye. After his second successful takedown, Perosh unleashed flurry of punches that forced the official to step in and save Penner with only one second remaining in the opening round. The "Aussie" crowd loves it and Perosh ups his streak to three consecutive wins. The final fight of the under card featured yet another Australian as James Te Huna took on Aaron Rosa in a Light Heavyweight scrap. Te Huna simply was too much for Rosa as he wailed away, connecting time after time on Rosa with hard punches, leaving him a bloody mess. With simply no answer from Rosa, referee Leon Roberts had seen enough and put a halt to the bout at just over two minutes of the opening round. James looked vicious and mean! That's it for the action packed preliminary action, here are the complete UFC on FX 2: "Alves vs. Kampmann" under card results: 205 lbs.: James Te Huna def. Aaron Rosa via TKO at 2:02 of round 1205 lbs.: Anthony Perosh def. Nick Penner via TKO at 4:59 of round 1145 lbs.: Steven Siler def. Cole Miller via unanimous decision185 lbs.: Andrew Craig def. Kyle Noke via unanimous decision170 lbs.: T.J. Waldburger def. Jake Hecht via submission (armbar) at 0:55 of round 1145 lbs.: Daniel Pineda def. Mackens Semerzier via submisison (triangle armbar) at 2:05 of round 1265 lbs.: Shawn Jordan def. Oli Thompson via TKO at 3:53 of round 2 Make sure to stay tuned to MMAmania.com for up to the minute results and blow-by-blow coverage of the rest of the night's UFC on FX 2: "Alves vs. Kampmann" event by clicking here.

Posted in: ufc, round, lb, card, action

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[div class="notice" class2="icon"]The following is from an article on LiverKick.com, part of the MiddleEasy Network.[/div] Although the big time promotions are absent this month, there's still a lot of great action going on around the world. There's a number of strong, quality events taking place that feature some great talent. 2012 is already turning out to be a great year in kickfighting, with or without K-1. With smaller shows showcasing great talent popping up often, we don't have to wait very long to catch some good fights. Click "Read More" to check out the upcoming action for this week. W5 Fighter - Moscow, Russia - February 24 W5 is kicking off 2012 with a new "W5 Fighter" series that will be holding four tournaments using the weight classes of 60kg, 65kg, 70kg and 75kg. With 16 fighters in each weight class, they're holding ten events this year. The first event is on Friday and has 12 fights including six tournament matches. The main event is a really good fight between Alexander Surzkho and Edgar Arutyunyan at 75kg. Russia and Ukraine are producing a lot of good fighters nowadays and Surzkho and Arutyunyan are some of the top fighters they have in that weight category. The fight has all the makings to be action packed. It'll be on Russian TV so videos will definitely get out. Full fight card. Read More...

Posted in: fight, fighter, event, kg, action

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So I’m going to take a wild guess that Gina Carano doesn’t return to MMA and Strikeforce anytime soon. Reason being she just landed another leading role in an action film. The Hollywood Reporter broke the story late tonight. After making her breakthrough with the action vehicle Haywire, the MMA fighter-turned-actress is coming on board to star in In the Blood, an action thriller being directed by John Stockwell (Into the Blue, Blue Crush). Described as being in the vein of Taken, Blood is set in motion when a husband disappears while vacationing in the Caribbean with his wife, to be played by Carano. The grieving wife passionately and recklessly pursues the men whom she believes kidnapped and killed him. Bennett Yellin and James Robert Johnston wrote the script. “This role will showcase not only Gina’s fighting skills, but also her acting abilities as her character struggles to reign in her violent past,” Stockwell tells The Hollywood Reporter. The movie is scheduled to start shooting in late spring/early summer so it’s pretty much a given that she wouldn’t fight again until well after the movie wraps, if she ever fights again period. She didn’t close the door on returning to MMA in her recent round of interviews, but it certainly sounded like acting is the priority in her life now. I’d love to see her fight again, but hey if acting is where her heart is now and she can make a career out of it, then good for her. Either way, we still get to see her kick butt. Image via Esther Lin for Strikeforce/Showtime

Posted in: mma, action, gina, hollywood reporter, action thriller

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Before the big boys hit the pay-per-view airwaves for the UFC 143: "Diaz vs. Condit" event tonight (Sat., Feb. 4, 2012) at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, there was a complete undercard available for viewing on both Facebook and FX. And it featured plenty of compelling action. The "main event" of the preliminary card featured a featherweight fracas with Dustin Poirier putting his four fight winning streak on the line against the debuting Max Holloway, who only has that many fights total in his career. In fact, the Hawaiian became the youngest active fighter to compete in the UFC once the bell sounded and they got underway in "Sin City." The matchmakers certainly didn't make it easy on him. Poirier and Holloway came out banging, throwing shots and trading punches much to the delight of the Las Vegas faithful. Once the fight hit the floor, though, Holloway's inexperience became clear and "The Diamond" took advantage by turning a simple armbar into a triangle into a combination of the two that forced a tap inside the first round. A valiant effort from the rookie and he's got plenty of room to grow. Thankfully, he's got plenty of time to do it. Oh and can we get that Poirier vs. Erik Koch match booked again please? They weren't the only ones in action, though, as the UFC offered a complete slate of fights featuring plenty of up-and-down action from all sides. Here's how it all went down. The bantamweights always bring the heat and that's what they did when Alex Caceres met Edwin Figueroa in the center of the cage to exchange pleasantries. And by "exchange pleasantries" I mean Caceres viciously kicking Figueroa right in his twig and two berries. Not once, which looked bad enough to make one think that might be the end of the fight, but twice, the second time so bad, referee Herb Dean took two points away from "Bruce Leeroy." Well deserved. It was also the deciding factor in the fight, as Figueroa took a split decision thanks to scores of the rarely seen 28-27, 27-28 and 28-27. His nuts may not operate properly for the rest of the month but at least he's getting a win bonus out of the deal. Despite the fact that he's just 1-4 in his last five bouts, Matt Brown was back tonight to take on Ultimate Fighter (TUF) veteran Chris Cope. Now he's 2-4 in his last six. That's because Brown landed one big punch that had Cope rolling down Rocked Lane, then another that put him on Queer Street then one more that had him sleeping nice and tightly tucked into the mat at the Mandalay Bay. When he wakes up, a pink slip may very well be waiting for him. Welterweights Matt Riddle and Henry Martinez got busy in a 170-pound showcase in what was billed as a potential "Fight of the Night" candidate. That's because Riddle was involved and he typically brings the hot fire. That and his consecutive losses coming in, which would seemingly give him every reason to go all out to keep his job. His opponent was Henry Martinez, who was stepping in on short notice to make his UFC debut after accumulating an 8-1 record on the regional scene fighting at weights as low as 145-pounds. The result? A somewhat plodding, somewhat wild slugfest that saw Riddle look mostly terrible against a much smaller opponent. He used kicks (that were mostly timed perfectly and countered beautifully), winging punches (that seemed to miss damn near every time) and a takedown or two to earn a split decision victory. Job saved, especially considering UFC President Dana White tweeted during the bout that "this is a great fight." Brazilian jiu-jitsu ace Rafael Natal was back in action tonight against Michael Kuiper, a 22-year-old pup with an 11-0 record looking to make a name for himself with the world's largest fight promotion. If you didn't know better, you would think Kuiper was a world renowned mixed martial artist by listening to Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan on commentary, as they lauded the young man for his various skills and abilities. Interesting because he was largely getting his ass handed to him. Not for lack of effort, of course. Kuiper worked hard to stay on his feet (though he couldn't, at least not early) and avoided any and all submission attempts from Natal in the opening round. His gas tank held up far better, too, and that played a factor in the fight as it dragged into deeper waters. Natal, obviously the more tired of the two heading into the final frame, nearly found himself on the business end of a TKO but battled through it to earn the unanimous decision win. It wasn't pretty, though. The night's action opened with the highly-anticipated (by a few) debut of Stephen Thompson. Why? Because this man has accrued a combat sports record of 57-0 before making his way to MMA, mainly via kickboxing. He came in 5-0 for his Octagon debut. His opponent was the unheralded Dan Stittgen, a submission specialist. That's right, folks. Style clash! As it were, Stittgen decided to stand and trade with his unorthodox foe and he was viciously knocked out in the first round for his troubles. Vicious might not be the best descriptor. "Oh my f*cking god did you just see that, that kick was crazy insane, I think that dude's dead" might be better. Thompson snuck a roundhouse head kick around the corner and put it just above Stittgen's shoulder on the sweet spot, resulting in the beloved one hitter quitter. It was a lovely start to the evening. Don't forget to check out our complete results and blow-by-blow coverage of all the main card action, which is just about to kick off on pay-per-view right now. Click here for all the coverage you need of the UFC 143 event.

Posted in: ufc, fight, action, he, henry martinez

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How real can it get? Three dimensional (3-D) real! If you can't make it to Las Vegas, Nevada, this weekend (Feb. 4, 2012) for UFC 143, which is headlined by an the interim welterweight title fight between Nick Diaz and Carlos Condit, perhaps you may want to upgrade your viewing experience right in your own home. That's because, for the first time in Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) history, the promotion will offer a pay-per-view (PPV) event in 3-D. For only $10 more HD subscribers -- and $20 extra smackers more for those who don't prefer HD -- mixed martial arts (MMA) fans can take their UFC experiences to the next level for a $64.99 price tag. For the virtual-impaired among us, a 3-D upgrade will allow you to view the images on your screen with a high perception of depth, giving you the feeling of being right in the middle of the action. This from In Demand senior vice president of programming Mark Boccardi: "This is a milestone for the industry irrespective of the buys and performance. This is more about us making a statement to the industry that we're bringing 3D PPV as a new potential source of revenue to the cable industry going forward." Of course, to be able to enjoy the event in all of its third dimension glory, you will have to have a 3D-ready teelvision set and a compatible HD set-top box. The package also includes a stream to all of the under card action on Facebook/FX, as well as the three-hour UFC 143 "Countdown" show, which also includes weigh in coverage and behind the scenes action. UFC 143 in 3-D will also be available in movie theaters nationwide -- for information on which theaters will carry the event in their respective regions click here. Anyone ready to pony up the extra coin to experience UFC 143 in 3-D? If so, kick your feet up on that coffee table and get ready to put those hands up and duck, just in case it gets a little too intense. And yes, Octagon girls Arianny Celeste, Brittany Palmer and Chandella Powell will be in 3-D, too.

Posted in: ufc, nick diaz, event, action, movie theaters

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Despite all the claims to the contrary, mostly by pro-boxing pundits and union workers with an ax to grind against Station Casinos, it appears as though Zuffa, the parent company of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), is not a monopoly after all. Perhaps that ESPN "Outside the Lines" video expose was all smoke and no fire? The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) last Wednesday (Jan. 25, 2012) informed the law firm of Axinn, Veltrop, and Harkrider, retained by Zuffa to represent them during the inquiry, that it was closing its investigation into the world's largest fight promotion and that "no further action is warranted by the commission." At least for now. See an excerpt from that letter, after the jump. The Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Competition has been conducting a nonpublic investigation to determine whether Zuffa, LLC’s acquisition of Explosion Entertainment, LLC may violate Section 7 of the Clayton Act or Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act. Upon further review of this matter, it now appears that no further action is warranted by the Commission at this time. Accordingly, the investigation has been closed. This action is not to be construed as a determination that a violation may not have occurred, just as the pendency of an investigation should not be construed as a determination that a violation has occurred. The Commission reserves the right to take such further action as the public interest may require. A full copy of the letter is available on the FTC website here. The UFC has long been a target of monopoly theorists as it gobbled up smaller, rival promotions, like the Strikeforce mixed martial arts (MMA) organization, formerly based in San Jose, in early 2011. Still, there are plenty of places for combat sports athletes to fight, such as Maximum Fighting Championship (MFC), DREAM, ONE FC, BAMMA and of course, Bellator. Anyone think this issue will be put to rest? Or is this merely a temporary reprieve?

Posted in: zuffa, action, commission, investigation, trade

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Before the big boys hit the network TV airwaves for the UFC on Fox 2: "Evans vs. Davis" event at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois, there was a complete undercard available for viewing on FUEL TV. And it featured plenty of compelling action. The preliminary card was "headlined" by a lightweight scrap pitting two fighters who have a ton of potential but have struggled in recent outings. Evan Dunham came in having snapped a two-fight skid in his last bout, a unanimous decision win over Shamar Bailey. Nik Lentz, meanwhile, was looking for his first victory in three fights. Count this one for Dunham, who brutally battered Lentz to the point that a monster cut and huge swelling on "The Carny's" eye forced the doctors to step in and call a stop to the action. Even though he lost, Lentz has to feel good about the fact that this was likely the most exciting fight he's been a part of since making his way to the UFC. In fact, barring an amazing bout on the main card, these two are likely in line to earn "Fight of the Night" honors. And they deserve it. They weren't the only ones in action, though, as the UFC offered a complete slate of fights featuring plenty of up-and-down action from all sides. Here's how it all went down. The heavyweights were in action in the "Windy City," as Mike Russow, a Chicago police officer, took on Jon Olav Einemo. Russow was the subject of many a chant, the most prevalent of which was the audience shouting "CPD." You know, because he works for the Chicago Police Department. It's still not clear whether the fans were chanting that for support of Russow or simply to entertain themselves while they watched a plodding heavyweight fight between two guys who looked gassed by the time the second round was over. The long and short of it is that Russow used his considerable girth to lay on top of Einemo and wear him out until the final horn sounded. He was awarded the unanimous decision victory, keeping his perfect record in the UFC alive at 4-0. Yippee. Cub Swanson was back again on another FOX card, which is where both of hi UFC fights have taken place. His first outing saw him drop a disappointing submission to Ricardo Lamas but this time he was prepared for the stand-up stylings of George Roop, who just loves to stand and bang. Much to his detriminet. The two traded shots until Swanson exploded with a right hand that folded up Roop like a cheap lawn chair. The follow up punches were probably unnecessary but you finish the job when the opportunity presents itself. And the win one, lose one pattern continues. Remember Charles Oliveira and the funky Brazilian jiu-jitsu he first brought to the table when he debuted with the UFC? Yeah, that was on full display tonight as he utilized a submission that had never caused a tap inside the Octagon before tonight. About halfway through the opening frame, Oliveria dropped down to execute a heel hook on his opponent, Eric Wisely. He nearly had it locked in but before he could complete the submission, Wisely escaped and attempted to get back to his feet. In the ensuing shuffle, "Do Bronx" wrapped his legs around Wisely's and forced the tap. Because it's so rarely seen, no one knew how to react to the fact that Oliveria had become the first fighter in UFC history to win a fight with a calf slicer submission. Insanity. A fascinating lightweight showdown took place on the undercard, as Michael Johnson came out with a vengeance trying to lay Shane Roller down to sleep. Flying knees and winging punches were distributed without prejudice, some of which found their mark with deadly accuracy. In fact, Johnson, who had previously been so disappointing in his short Octagon career, showed an improved game that featured solid wrestling, striking and takedown defense. It was like he was an entirely different fighter. Until the third round, that is. It was then that Roller took his back, flattened him out an started unloading with punches. Johnson's response to this was to attempt to put his head into position so Roller was hitting him with illegal strikes. It worked, too. The referee, Herb Dean, didn't stop the fight and disqualify anyone, though. He simply gave the proper warnings and backed Roller off enough so as to allow Johnson to escape from the precarious position he was in. Once he did, he coasted to the scorecards and took a unanimous decision by scores of 29-28 across the board. He played the game well and he won the fight. That's the double whammy, folks. He even tried to get cute in the post-match interview by telling Dana White he "never gets paid in gum" like he wants to. Sorry, Michael, but the Trident folks do it better. Swing and a miss. Lavar Johnson made a successful switch from the Strikeforce heavyweight division by disposing of UFC veteran Joey Beltran inside the first round. As color commentator Joe Rogan so eloquently noted, it was the first time "The Mexicutioner" was stopped inside the Octagon. How Johnson did it was rather impressive. He worked a jab early but got Beltran pressed against the fence before landing a big shot on the temple. He followed that up with a series of brutally nasty uppercuts, some of which actually served to keep Beltran on his feet when his natural reaction was to fall to the mat like a sack of potatoes. "Big" timer. The first fight of the night actually wasn't televised. Indeed, in this day and age of fights being shown on Facebook, FUEL TV, FX, FOX, the moon, all that, there was a UFC bout that didn't make the air in any capacity. Not that it mattered. The opener was a lightweight scrap pitting Chris Camozzi against Dustin Jacoby. It was clear from jump street that the former was far superior to the latter and it showed. By the time all was said and done, Camozzi had earned himself a third round guillotine choke submission victory. Welcome back. Don't forget to check out our complete results and blow-by-blow coverage of all the main card action, which is just about to kick off on FOX right now. Click here for all the coverage you need of the UFC on FOX 2 event.

Posted in: ufc, fight, fox, johnson, action

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I love mixed martial arts. It's competition that's free of metaphor. The guy that loses is the guy on the ground, bloodied, beaten, and who might look like this when all is said and done. But I like fiction too. And so the question on my mind is not simply ‘when is Gina Carano coming back to MMA?', but also ‘when is the action film coming back?' To answer the former, we have to refer back to Gina Carano's non-answers. In speaking with Sergio Non, she's incredibly vague. But you understand where she's coming from. When asked what reasons she has for returning (or not): I know that there's so much that you can do in a lifetime with acting and there's only a certain amount of time you can fight. I'm keeping all these things in mind. I'll definitely know a lot more in a couple of months. Carano is juggling two careers, and both are primarily interested in youth. Especially for a woman in acting, unless your name is Meryl Streep or Helen Mirren. Gina's 29, so she doesn't have to worry about finding herself in Oscar-bait biopics. There's another reason she'll never have to worry about that and we'll get to that in a second. So what has happened to the action film? Is Haywire the movie to breathe new life into it? It's strange to think that Steven Soderbergh, the director of films like Traffic, Ocean's Eleven, Solaris, and Out of Sight, is the man to potentially revive it. The film's score by David Holmes seems to be aware of this question with its old school vibe. I'd say it comes close. Not with its sum, but with its parts. Elements of the film work on their own, like the aforementioned score. Soderbergh's film, most of which is shot on location, is also visually stunning. And the action is some of the best you've seen in years. In particular, Gina's fight with Michael Fassbender's character (known to casual moviegoers as ‘Megneto' from X-Men, and as the officer that gets shot one too many times in the balls in Quentin Tarantino's Inglorious Bastards) is one of the best fight scenes I've ever seen. It's brutal, graphic, and never once does the camera shake around epileptically (?) to hide the stunt doubles posing for the cast. If there's a weak link it's in the plot, which I should probably outline. Gina Carano plays Mallory Kane, an ex-covert ops specialist that as action movie mechanics would have it "gets double crossed". It's the plot of basically every movie starring Jason Statham. It's an espionage film and a revenge film all at once, but never manages to explore what makes either compelling, and we end up with a watered down version of each. So while the director makes it visually interesting, there's never any real substance. All the great actors exist mostly in the background. It's Carano's movie, so how does she fare? Luckily Carano doesn't have much to do except look attractive and kick ass. Thankfully, she excels at both. And Soderbergh is intelligent enough to keep her dialogue minimal, since well, she's not a good actress. But it's her first time, against some real heavyweights, and she's nothing if not charismatic. It helps that we first meet her character in a truly fantastic fight scene against Channing Tatum (of all people) at a diner. So we're rooting for her from the get go despite the AVR mess with her voice (her voice was tinkered with in the editing room, and it sticks out like a sore larynx). MMA fans, always the insular bunch, have been pretty harsh on her acting, but the critics seem to be buying what she's selling. Sitting at a comfortable 82% on rotten tomatoes, Haywire has been given the thumbs up by proper critics like Roger Ebert, and respected 'counter culture' online critics like Devin Faraci, and Matt Goldberg. It's a film worth watching, although I wouldn't consider it a great film. As Tim Kelly of Chud notes, "it's not a smart film, but it's a smartly crafted film". More importantly, it's a smartly crafted action film. I don't know when the action film died but I miss the John McTiernan that gave us Predator, and Die Hard instead of Rollerball and Basic. I miss the days when Renny Harlin's crowning achievement was Cliffhanger (best trailer for a big Hollywood action film ever).* I especially miss the days when action films were written by Shane Black. In short, I want my action films back. I suspect Soderbergh does too, which is why Haywire is so well made despite being a middling film. The film clocks in at approximately 90 minutes, but I'd recommend the film as a rental if nothing else. With 145 in limbo thanks to the champ, 'Cyborg' Santos testing positive, it's unlikely we'll see Carano back in the cage. Not only does she fight in a division that is a veritable wasteland ruled by a now-disgraced champ who barely even has estrogen, but Hollywood will reward Carano with more offers. She'd be wise to take them while the female MMA landscape is experiencing nuclear winter. As for Haywire, like I said, it's an unspectacular film with some spectacular moments. 6 Stanozolol injections out of 10. *I hear The Raid is pretty good. Poll Would you prefer to see Gina Carano back as a martial artist, or as an aspiring actress? Fighter: with Cyborg gone she can go back to being an MMA superstar. Actress: female MMA is dead.   1 votes | Results

Posted in: mma, action, carano, gina, film

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Being a referee is one of the toughest jobs in mixed martial arts (MMA). When it's done correctly, hardly anyone notices, and over a long enough timeline, even the best officials will make mistakes. It's inevitable. What defined UFC 142: "Aldo vs. Mendes," however, was inconsistent refereeing, and as an event, it was marred by actions that wouldn't have been a surprise in a podunk location with inexperienced referees. We're used to seeing it whenever a big-time show happens in one of those out-of-the way locales, and you almost come to expect incompetency and murky application of standards and rules we otherwise expect with shows in Nevada and California. However, because Saturday's calls involved two experienced refs in Mario Yamasaki and Dan Miragliotta, it makes you wonder how they happened in the first place. The biggest gaffe of the night was Yamasaki's for failing to take charge during Erick Silva's finishing assault of Carlo Prater. In what initially seemed a ground-and-pound quick knockout for Silva, Yamasaki ultimately disqualified Silva for what he said were illegal blows to the back of the head during the barrage, as Prater was turtled up and in a purely defensive mode. The replay showed an illegal blow or, perhaps, along with several legal ones, but breakdown in officiating occurred when Yamasaki didn't stop the action before Prater eventually went out for good, instead disqualifying Silva for blows that may or may not have been the finishing ones (we'll never know). A referee faces a tough call in this situation, but it's also within his power to stop the fight, and give a warning. There's also the flip side of intervening during a potential finishing sequence and catching heat there for interrupting the action, but if Silva can lose by disqualification for something like this, Prater shouldn't also be given a win simply because he seemed unable to continue. Since Brazil didn't have an MMA commissionUltimately, it's an official's job to control the fight, especially when rule infractions occur, particularly blatant ones. During Matt Hughes' second bout with Frank Trigg, Trigg won the welterweight title after a brutal knee to the groin rendered Hughes breathless and helpless, tottering like a newborn foal. Trigg was issued a verbal warning, but ignored it -- precisely because he wasn't told to stop -- and proceeded to unload bombs on a helpless Hughes, whose survival and ensuing comeback to win by rear naked chokes in the round constituted one of the great title-fight comebacks in the history of the sport. Yamasaki was the ref there, too, and it makes you wonder if someone might hip him to the fact that it's okay to stop the action if a foul has occurs. Hughes' title didn't change hands that night, but Yamasaki's inability to control that action was overshadowed by the bout's ending. If Hughes had lost, Yamasaki wouldn't have gotten a pass for dropping the ball entirely.In the main event, Yamasaki refereed the featherweight title bout between Jose Aldo and Chad Mendes. When Aldo was obviously about to be slammed to the mat, he blatantly grabbed the fence, once again getting a verbal warning from Yamasaki. The problem with fence grabbing is that almost everyone gets a freebie, with a verbal, prior to points being deducted. The rules should be changed to allow the other fighter to start on the mat in mount, that way fighters are incentivized to not grab the fence. The fault here lies with the rules, not Yamasaki, who in my opinion would have been within his rights to deduct a point. It was academic in the end, with a still-upright Aldo delivering a fight-ending knee to knockout Mendes moments later. The second issue with the refereeing was Dan Miragliotta's quick trigger in the Anthony Johnson vs. Vitor Belfort fight. Issuing quick stand ups twice when Johnson was on top in each instance, as well a super-quick separation while the two were apparently not working enough on the fence. It makes you wonder what the criterion for "active" is in Miragliotta's book. Johnson isn't going to get lot of sympathy from people for these, but he deserves the same protection and application of standards as every other fighter. What constitutes the need for a stand up is a virtual ink blot to be interpreted by every different referee. These stand ups, simply put, were too hasty. And in front of a Brazilian crowd cheering for Belfort, they were a reminder of the old adage that the appearance of a conflict of interest is the same thing as an actual one. It looks bad for the sport when Johnson loses top position because the ref isn't happy, when 95 percent of every other takedown that lasts as long isn't stood up at that point.MMA refereeing is an ever-evolving craft, and its practitioners continue to improve. Miragliotta and Yamasaki are among the elite and have had good showings. Saturday wasn't one of them for either man.Jason Probst can be reached at www.twitter.com/jasonprobst

Posted in: hughe, action, aldo, refereeing, yamasaki

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Not only will Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) stage a major pay-per-view (PPV) event on a Friday (Dec. 30, 2011), but it will also revert back to a 10 p.m. ET start time for the televised main card. As we passed along back in October, UFC 141: "Lesnar vs. Overeem" will be pushed back one hour because the 9 p.m. ET slot, which was changed earlier this year for UFC 129, didn't have the expected positive impact on fight night sales. The switch back to 10 p.m. concludes an eight-month experiment that will likely be well received by west coast fans, while those on the east coast won't be too thrilled about staying up until at least 1 a.m. ET until all the action concludes. It will remain the same into 2012 and beyond. That means that the Facebook "Prelims" fights will now begin around 7 p.m. ET, while the two bouts on the Spike TV "Prelims" -- Ross Pearson vs. Junior Assuncao and Anthony Njokuani vs. Danny Castillo -- will begin at 9 p.m. ET. UFC 141 will mark the return of former heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar, back from intestinal surgery, to welcome ex-Strikeforce and K-1 Champion Alistair Overeem to the Octagon. In lightweight action, Donald Cerrone will try to continue his rise to the top of the division against the dangerous Nate Diaz. MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE blow-by-blow results of all the action on Facebook, Spike TV and PPV on fight nght right here. Be sure to join us on Friday for the promotion's annual year-end event, which has all the ingredients to close out an exciting year of mixed martial arts (MMA) action with a bang.

Posted in: ufc, vs, pm, action, blowbyblow results

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Antonio 'Bigfoot' Silva is looking to get back in action in the first part of 2012, and he's hopeful it's in the UFC.

Posted in: ufc, silva, action, bigfoot, antonio

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Find out what to expect on when UFC launches its app on Dec 20th and brings MMA action to Xbox Live.

Posted in: ufc, action, xbox, mma action, app

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The Facebook portion of tonight's (Dec. 10, 2011) UFC 140: "Jones vs. Machida" preliminary card is in the books. Kicking of the night's action was John Cholish taking on Mitch Clarke. It was a battle of who had the better grappling skills in the first round, with the majority of the action taking place on the floor; however, the action definitely picked up in the second frame, as Cholish looked polished on his feet, connecting repeatedly with solid punches. Cholish was able to score a takedown on a visibly exhausted Clark in the second stanza and eventually unleashed a barrage of punches to force the ref to put an end to the bout. That is now eight straight wins for Cholish, who was making his UFC debut, including seven consecutive finishes. Rich Attonito vs. Jake Hecht provided fans with an action packed fight, as the two exchanged strikes for the duration of the contest. Though Attonito got the better of Hecht in the first round, Hecht came out swinging for the fences at the start of round two. Hecht was able to connect with a vicious elbow that cut and rocked Attonito early. Smelling blood, Hecht instinctively went in and got the finish. Twas a very impressive comeback from Hecht, who used what he learned from his loss to Che Mills. In the final fight of the Facebook portion of the card, Canada's own Mark Bocek took on Nik Lentz who was riding a four fight win streak. Bocek was clearly looking to take it to the ground from the get-go and eventually he did just that. Most of the fight played out on the mat, as Bocek repeatedly scored takedown after takedown. While looking for submissions, Bocek never stayed idle on the ground and displayed improved striking on the feet. He controlled the pace of the fight and by the time it was over, all three judges agreed on a unanimous decision victory for Bocek, putting him back in the win column and sending Lent to his first defeat in 15 fights. Here are the complete Facebook "Prelims" results: Mark Bocek def. Nik Lentz via unanimous decisionJake Hecht def. Rich Attonito via TKO (strikes) at 1:10 of round twoJohn Cholish def. Mitch Clarke via TKO (strikes) at 4:36 of round two That's it for the preliminary card portion of the card. Be sure to hit up MMAmania.com's for up to the minute results and blow-by-blow coverage of the rest of the night's action by clicking here.

Posted in: fight, action, bocek, hecht, cholish

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This week on UFC Central, Showdown Joe recaps all the action from Saturday's UFC 138.

Posted in: ufc, week, showdown, recap, action

Read the full article at sportsnet.ca

Last weekend was a hectic couple of days of combat sports action. If you were one of the fortunate few who peeped DREAM 17 overnight, It's Showtime on Saturday afternoon, and rode the wave right into the evening with UFC 135 and Bellator 51, I salute you. This coming weekend won't be as jam-packed full of action, but we've done our best to provide our readers with an excuse to blow an entire Saturday afternoon and evening viewing some of the best mixed martial arts' action around. Our solution? Cage Warriors 44. The event will air live right here at BloodyElbow.com from the HMV Forum in London, England on Saturday, October 1st at 4 PM ET. The main card will feature co-headlining bouts as undefeated prospect Joseph Duffy (10-0) and Swiss-born fighter Ivan Musardo (17-6-1) tangle for the vacant lightweight title. UFC veteran Brian Foster (15-5), who has been given clearance by the UFC to take a fight outside the organization, will battle Jack Mason (17-8) in the second headlining bout of the evening. The rest of the card is shaping up as follows: Joseph Duffy (10-0) vs. Ivan Musardo (17-6-1)Brian Foster (15-5) vs. Jack Mason (17-8)Ashleigh Grimshaw (10-7-1) vs. Graham Turner (17-6)Kevin Donnelly (6-3) vs. Brad Wheeler (6-5)Niko Gjoka (5-6) vs. Neil Seery (8-8)Steve O'Keeffe (4-1) vs. Dean Reilly (5-2)David Howell (2-1) vs. Kieran Malone (2-4) Ian Entwistle (4-1) vs. Charlie Leary (2-3)

Posted in: ufc, vs, saturday, action, saturday afternoon

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Josh Koscheck brutally knocks out Matt Hughes with just one second remaining in the first round of their welterweight war last night (Sept. 24, 2011) in Denver, Colorado. After the bout, Hughes wouldn't say he was retiring but, with tears in his eyes, told fans at the Pepsi Center that he would ask the UFC to put him on the shelf for now. The outcome is less gloomy for Koscheck, who emphatically made his return to action after a broken orbital had him out of action for eight months. He wanted to make a statement to both his employers and the fans that he's still got plenty of fight left in him and did he ever. For a more comprehensive breakdown of this fight click here and for complete UFC 135 results and blow-by-blow coverage of all the night's action click here.

Posted in: ufc, fight, matt hughes, hughe, action

Read the full article at MMA Mania