MMA-URLS

When not searching for his first win inside the Octagon, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Bantamweight Norifumi Yamamoto is saving lives in his native Japan. According to a report from Yahoo! Japan (via MMA Fighting), "Kid" ran to the rescue of an elderly man who has lying unconscious on a railroad track at Gotanda Station. After being unable to lift the man on his own, other bystanders assisted the 135-pound Yamamoto in carrying the man to safety before the next train pulled up for boarding. The man, who was also found bleeding from his head upon arrival, is said to now be in stable condition. Well done "Kid," well done. With his latest heroics, Yamamoto's star in Japan will undoubtedly shine a little brighter. Yamamoto, once regarded as the top-ranked fighter in his division not too long ago, is currently winless (0-3) during his recent tenure with the UFC. His is most recent loss came at the hands of Vaughan Lee at UFC 144 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, losing via submission (armbar) in the very first round. On the bright side, "Kid" has yet to be handed his walking papers following his three consecutive defeats and will likely get another chance to prove himself inside the Octagon; however, he doesn't have a fight lined up at the moment.

Posted in: ufc, kid, japan, man, yamamoto

Read the full article at MMA Mania

Take a look back at one of Pride's top names in its heyday... Takanori Gomi, aka "The Fireball Kid"

Posted in: gomi, name, kid, fireball, pride –

Read the full article at MMA Weekly

This kid might know more about the UFC than you do.

Posted in: ufc, kid, parenting

Read the full article at Fightlinker

Whether you celebrate today as Easter or it is just another Sunday in your world, you can still appreciate the spirit of community and giving demonstrated by Jose Aldo and Pedro Rizzo earlier this week in Brazil. The pair donned some fuzzy bunny ears and passed out candy to over 400 kids in Rio De Janeiro. They even stuck around all day and signed autographs and took pics with the kids. That's a better Easter than I ever had. Most years I had to dress up in some really ugly pastel clothes and take pictures in a giant fan back wicker chair with a creepy bunny that looked like at any minute it would go full carnivorous zombierabbit on me. Every year I feared the coming of Easter thanks to those scary rabbit costume wearing people. I'm scarred for life and I've never made my child take a picture with one of those evil giant bunnies. Let's not think about human flesh eating rabbits anymore, instead take a look at a couple of pics of much happier bunnies passing out candy to some very happy kids. [source]

Posted in: pedro rizzo, kid, jose aldo, easter, bunny

Read the full article at Middle Easy

لقد كان ما يقرب من عامين منذ UFC زار أبو ظبي وكان أنعم علينا من قبل وجود اندرسون سيلفا. في هذه الأثناء أصبحت UFC إيران غير موجودة، ولكن هذا لا يعني أن إيران سوف تترك وراءها في فنون الدفاع عن النفس. تحقق من هذه الصغيران تدريب اللاعبين صعبة في سن مبكرة جدا. يبدو حتى مع قفازات والحشو كامل لديهم فكرة عن ما يجب القيام به على أرض الواقع، وأنهم يلقون الضربات لائق. نأمل أن هذه الرياضة المتنامية تعود إلى أبو ظبي على الأقل ... مجلس العمل المتحد الإيراني ينمو قوي. [مصدر]

Posted in: ufc, mma, kid, iranian mma, iranian

Read the full article at Middle Easy

Seven years after its debut in the United States, in 2005, the first international edition of the famed reality TV show The Ultimate Fighter® begins in Brazil.  Co-produced by Brazilian production company Floresta, the inaugural Brazilian version of the show is the first time a TUF series was filmed outside of the United States.The Ultimate Fighter - Brasil® features UFC legends Wanderlei Silva and Vitor Belfort as the coaches of the first season, which features both the featherweight (145 lbs) and middleweight (185 lbs) divisions. As is standard on this series, the coaches will face-off in a highly anticipated live rematch in June for the grand finale.The Premiere episode will showcase elimination bouts, narrowing down the initial group of 32 fighters to the final 16 who will move into the TUF house. From there, they will be split between “Team Vitor” and “Team Wanderlei” and face weekly eliminations until the finale, where a winner from both weight classes will be declared The Ultimate Fighter® and win an international UFC contract.The highly anticipated Premiere is scheduled to air Sunday night, March 25, on Rede Globo in Brazil after the Big Brother finale. All 13 episodes will first air on Rede Globo in Brazil Sunday nights and then on en.TUF.tv globally (not available in Brazil, India or Canada) at midnight ET / 9:00 p.m. PT.The initial 32 contestants, in  both the featherweight and middleweight divisions, hail from 15 of the 26 states inBrazil and represent a diverse cross-section of the country including São Paulo (8), Paraná (4), Rio de Janeiro (3), Amapá (2), Santa Catarina (2), Ceará (2), Brasília (2), Rio Grande do Norte (2). Also, the states of Minas Gerais, Roraima, Bahia, Mato Grosso do Sul, Espírito Santo, Amazonas and Paraíba have one representative each.Although many of the details will be kept under wraps until the Premiere, it has been revealed that a few famous personalities visited the house and training center during the taping. There are special appearances by UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva, UFC Heavyweight Champion Junior Dos Santos, UFC Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo, former UFC Light Heavyweight Champions Lyoto Machida and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua.The series is one of the most successful sports reality shows in the US, having discovered some of the most talented fighters in the UFC. It has also helped leverage the promotion’s popularity amongst American audiences. The first edition, which had UFC legends Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture as coaches, featured big names such as Diego Sanchez (middleweight winner of that season), Forrest Griffin (light heavyweight winner), Josh Koscheck, Stephan Bonnar and Kenny Florian.A part last season’s featherweight winner, Diego Brandão, the first Brazilian to ever win the show, other Brazilian fighters have appeared on previous editions. Heavyweight icons Rodrigo “Minotauro” and Dos Santos have been coaches. Minotauro appeared on the eighth edition, which aired in 2008, against former UFC Heavyweight Champion FrankMir. Both winners from that season, light heavyweight Ryan Bader and lightweight Efrain Escudero, were members of “Team Nogueira”. Brazilian fighter Vinicius “Pezão” Magalhães was one of the finalists from that edition, but lost the title to Bader. Dos Santos competed against former champion Brock Lesnar on the 13th season. The Brazilian TUF pioneer was Jorge Gurgel, eliminated on the eighth episode of the second season.This season’s contenders include:FlyweightName: Alexandre RamosNickname: SangueAge: 23 years oldRecord: 5-0Fighting out of: Curitiba (PR)Features: Single, no kids, Sangue built his career on Brazilian events, like Brave FC, where he made his debut, and also on Brazilian Fight League. Aside from his win via decision over Marcos Bicudo, all his bouts were finished in the first round by submission or knockout.Name: Rony Mariano BezerraNickname: JasonAge: 27 years oldRecord: 10-3Fighting out of: Mossoró (RN)Features: Single dad with two kids, “Jason” won seven of his fights via submission. One of them, over Felipe Sertanejo who now fights in the UFC, via triangle choke. Bezerra also fought Renan Barão, in2006, with a loss via split decision.Name: Godofredo PepeyNickname: NoneAge: 24 years oldRecord: 8-0Fighting out of: Fortaleza (CE)Features: Single, no kids, Pepey teaches Jiu Jitsu and Muay Thai, showcasing his versatility. Six of his wins were by submission and the other two by knockouts.Name: Marcos Vinicius Borges PanciniNickname: VinaAge: 31 years oldRecord: 19-3-1Fighting out of: Curitiba (PR)Features: Single, no kids, Vina’s record shows he’s good both standing and on the ground. Six wins by knockout and 13 by submission. None of his wins were decided by the judges.Name: Anistávio MedeirosNickname: GasparzinhoAge: 23 years oldRecord: 12-7Fighting out of: Natal (RN)Features:  Single, no kids, Anistávio has plenty experience for a 23 year old. Of his 19 bouts, he has two losses over big names like Renan Barão and Willamy Freire.Name: Johnny GonçalvesNickname: CabeçaAge: 22 years oldRecord: 4-0Fighting out of: Taubaté (SP)Features:  Single, no kids, the student is a specialist in Muay Thai, which he also teaches. Two of his four wins were by knockout. The other ones were by decision.Name: Hugo VianaNickname: WolverineAge: 29 years oldRecord: 5-0Fighting out of: Salvador (BA)Features: Single, no kids, the physiotherapist Wolverine in undefeated in MMA, but yet, as never submitted or knocked out an opponent. All his wins are by decision.Name: Fernando Duarte GuerraNickname: NoneAge: 28 years oldRecord: 10 -1Fighting out of: Dourados (MS)Features: Married, with no kids. Fernando is a physical education teacher. Fighting MMA professionally since 2009, most of his wins (six) were earned by decision.Name: Rodrigo DammNickname: NoneAge: 31 years oldRecord: 9-5Fighting out of: Vila Velha (ES)Features: Married and father of three kids, Damm is the most experienced flyweight on the show. He fought in big international events, such as Bodog Fight, Sengoku and Strikeforce.Name: John TeixeiraNickname: John MacapáAge: 25 years oldRecord: 12-0-1Fighting out of: Macapa (AP)Features: Single, no kids, Teixeira began his career with four wins by armbar. He has managed eight victories by submission, two by knockout and three by decision.Name: Rafael BuenoNickname: NoneAge: 24 years oldRecord: 7-1Fighting out of: Bragança Paulista (SP)Features: Single no kids, Rafael is a fighter, but also makes a living as a coach. In his career, he has fought eight bouts, won seven and lost only the last one. He finished five of his fights and knocked out two opponents.Name: Wagner CamposNickname: GaletoAge: 30 years oldRecord: 11-3Fighting out of: Pinhais (PR)Features: Married with two kids, Galeto is a pro in MMA since 2006. He likes to fight standing up and has won six fights by knockout. One of his losses was to Jonn Lineker, the Brazilian who recently signed with the UFC.Name: Peter NobleNickname: NoneAge: 25 years oldRecord: 10-0-1Fighting out of: Rio de Janeiro (RJ)Features: Single no kids, Peter Noble is one of the great promises of the famous Brazilian Top Team gym. He has finished all of his fights – with seven knockouts and three submissions.Name: Fabricio GuerreroNickname:Age: 21 years oldRecord: 10-0-1Fighting out of: Santana (AP)Features: Single father with a son Fabricio is the youngest fighter in the show. Although he's just 21 he's been here for quite some time and proved to be tough in the ring, undefeated, he won ten matches and had one draw.Name: Lim DilenoNickname: NoneAge: 27 years oldRecord: 7-0Fighting out of: Manaus (AM)Features: Single no kids, the fighter and master of Jiu-Jitsu Dileno Lopes honors the tradition of the soft art. Seven of his victories came by submission, showing variations between guillotine (four), rear naked choke (two) and armbar.Name: Giovanni da Silva Santos JrNickname: SoldadoAge: 24 years oldRecord: 10 - 1Fighting out of: João Pessoa (PB)Features: Married, with kids, Soldado made his debut in MMA with a loss in 2006. Later he recovered and started a 10 consecutive winning streak, five by knockout, a submission and four by decision.MiddleweightName: Sergio MoraesNickname: NoneAge: 29 years oldRecord: 6- 1Fighting out of: Sao Paulo (SP)Features: Single father of two kids, Moraes is a four-time Jiu-Jitsu world champion. Of his six career wins, five have been by submission and one by decision. His only loss was to Brett Cooper by knockout, at Jungle Fight 16 in 2009.Name: Cezar FerreiraNickname: MutanteAge: 26 years oldRecord: 4 - 2Fighting out of: Belo Horizonte (MG)Features: Married, has a son, Mutante’s last two fights were in the US, with a win over Chaun Sims, and a loss to Elvis Mutapcic. Strong standing up, three of his four wins came by knockout.Name: Leonardo MafraNickname: MacarrãoAge: 22 years oldRecord: 5-0Fighting out of: Balneário Camboriú (SC)Features: With an MMA career in southern Brazil, Macarrão has three wins by knockout - all in the first round - and two by decision. Aggressive in his standup game, the Chute Boxe Academy fighter bets on his punch power to win in the Octagon.Name: Daniel SarafianNickname: NoneAge: 29 years oldRecord: 7 - 2Fighting out of: Sao Paulo (SP)Features: Strong in the ground game, with six of his seven victories won by submission, Sarafian shows a wide range of moves, including guillotine, armbar, and triangle choke. Of his two losses, one was by knockout.Name: Gustavo SampaioNickname: LabaredaAge: 35 years oldRecord: 5 - 1Fighting out of: Brasília (DF)Features: Specialist in kickboxing, Labareda is also strong on the ground, getting three of his five wins by submission. He has some international experience, with two wins in two tournaments in Spain.Name: Fabio Luiz Vital CoastNickname: BolinhoAge: 28 years oldRecord: 9-0-1Fighting out of: Natal (RN)Features: Undefeated in 10 MMA fights, Bolinho won eight of his 10 fights by decision. Of those, only one was a split decision. He also won by TKO against Nilton Santos, at Platinum Fight in 2009, where he last fought.Name: Richardson MoreiraNickname: MonstrãoAge: 27 years oldRecord: 3 - 0Fighting out of: Campinas (SP)Features: With three wins in three fights, Monstrão has yet to be pushed past the first round. Adding up the time of his three fights, this Team Nogueira athlete has only fought a total of 4 min. 56 sec. Outside the ring, Monstrão is a graduate in Engineering.Name: Renee StrongNickname: NoneAge: 24 years oldRecord: 7 - 1Fighting out of: Fortaleza (CE)Features: With two victories by knockout, two by submission and three by decision, Forte has a good career in MMA. His only loss was by knockout, against Mario Sartori, in IFC, in August 2011. Fighting professionally since 2006.Name: Joao Paulo de SouzaNickname: TubaAge: 28 years oldRecord: 8 - 4Fighting out of: Curitiba (PR)Features: With 12 fights on his record, including one at Wembley Stadium in London, Tuba has good experience in MMA. His last five fights went to the judges' decision, and he lost only the last one to Valentino Petrescu.Name: Francisco DrinaldoNickname: MassarandubaAge: 33 years oldRecord: 10 - 1Fighting out of: Brasília (DF)Features: Fighter hired by Jungle Fight, Massaranduba is undefeated in his last four fights. With four knockouts, three submissions and three wins by decision, he only lost to the experienced Yuri Marajó in Jungle Fight 22 in September of 2010.Name: Thiago RelaNickname: NoneAge: 22 years oldRecord: 3 - 1Fighting out of: Itatiba (SP)Features: With his three victories by submission, his only loss in 2010 came when he was submitted by Alvaro Head in a Campinas Fight. His specialty is the rear naked choke, which has won him three bouts.Name: Charles MaiconNickname: NoneAge: 33 years oldRecord: 8 - 1Fighting out of: Sorocaba (SP)Features: Undefeated in his last eight fights, his only loss came in his fighting debut, losing by knockout to Sergio Junior in 2007. After that, he built an eight-win streak by knockout, and all in the first round. His nine fights in the Octagon lasted only 6 min. and 26 sec.Name: Gilberto GalvãoNickname: GibaAge: 28 years oldRecord: 17 4 -1Fighting out of: Balneário Camboriú (SC)Features: With 11 of his 17 victories by submission, Giba shows he is an expert on the ground. He is strong and also relies on his "ground and pound" to halt his opponents.Name: Thiago de Oliveira PerpetualNickname: BodãoAge: 24 years oldRecord: 8 - 1 -1Fighting out of: Santo André (SP)Features: Coming off four consecutive wins, Bodão last six of eight wins have come by knockout. His last - and only - loss was in 2009, to Danilo Pereira, in Full Fight 2 via submission by a rear naked choke.Name: Samuel TrindadeNickname: NoneAge: 25 years oldRecord: 6- 1Fighting out of: Boa Vista (RR)Features: With his career built in MMA in Northern Brazil, Trindade had been undefeated in his last six fights, following a loss to Ronys Torres in 2009. He won three fights by submission, one by knockout and two by unanimous decision.Name: Delson HelenoNickname: Pé de ChumboAge: 34 years oldRecord: 23 - 6Fighting out of: Teresópolis (RJ)Features: The veteran Pé de Chumbo is an expert in the ground game winning 12 of his fights by submission. The Jiu Jitsu World Champion had his last fight in November 2011, in the MMA contra a dengue event in Rio de Janeiro.

Posted in: fight, submission, year, kid, oldrecord

Read the full article at UFC

As part of their hugely successful expansion into Brazil, the UFC is partnering with Brazilian charity Instituto Reação to help young Brazilians from disadvantaged backgrounds participate in sports and educational activities. Since returning to Brazil for the first time in a decade at UFC 134, the promotion has looked to engage with the Brazilian people in a proactive manner that goes beyond selling tickets and drawing television ratings. Despite almost a hundred years of Vale Tudo fighting in Brazil, it's only recently with the success of the UFC that the sport of Mixed Martial Arts has begun to establish any mainstream credibility. In the past individual fighters, mostly members of the Gracie family, have risen above the sport to achieve a level of celebrity in Brazil, but the sport itself has been seen as more of a spectacle with a dangerous underbelly. The emergence of UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva as a major star in Brazil and the high ratings for his UFC 126 bout with Vitor Belfort and his UFC 134 return to Rio de Janeiro raised the UFC in the public consciousness. Featherweight champ Jose Aldo began to emerge as a star in his native land after UFC 142. Now he's helping the UFC help poor Brazilian kids, from UFC.com: Located in Rocinha, south of Rio de Janeiro, the Instituto Reação (Institute of Reaction), which was created by former Olympic judo fighter Flavio Canto, is the first NGO (non-governmental organization) to receive funds from the biggest MMA event in the world in favor of supporting the social inclusion of young people from poor communities through artistic and educational activities and sports. Present for last week's ceremony were three stars of the UFC who came from humble origins: featherweight champion Jose Aldo, middleweight contender Rousimar Palhares, and bantamweight standout Renan Barao, as well as the UFC's Director of International Development Marshall Zelaznik, and actress and presenter Fiorella Mattheis, who acted as master of ceremonies. ... "Obviously we are looking at other projects, however we are 100% focused on the initiative that Flavio and his team have here in Rocinha," said Zelaznik. "What makes the Institute Reação unique is the opportunity to train not only athletes, but the future citizens who can become great professionals. We're talking about education for a lot of young people." The Institute has been in operation for over 12 years and the UFC's efforts will 400 children and 50 athletes. UFC heavyweight Brendan Schaub has also been active with charitable work in Brazil. More on that and Dana White's comments on helping Brazilian kids after the jump. Schaub, who lost to Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at UFC 134, was touched by the sight of young Brazilian kids who were aspiring MMA fighters but lacked even the most basic equipement to train, per MMA Junkie: "You go there, and these kids have nothing," the heavyweight said today at a pre-event press conference for UFC 134, which takes place Saturday at HSBC Arena in Rio. "Literally, nothing, and they're as happy as can be. "They have heroes like (Antonio Rodrigo) 'Minotauro' (Nogueira), Junior Dos Santos, Royce Gracie, Vitor (Belfort). So they're training in mixed martial arts - jiu-jitsu, boxing, kickboxing - but they don't have the necessary equipment. "For me, it was a rude awakening. It's stuff I'm not used to in Denver, Colorado - my little bubble - so I got all my sponsors together (to collect) donated gear." UFC president Dana White also commented: "When you have these underprivileged areas and they can get involved in a combat sport, it releases aggression - it changes kids' lives," White said. "It changes adults' lives, let alone kids. "We know this for a fact. I've been doing this since I was 19 years old, and that's really where I came from. It's easy for us to slide into some of these neighborhoods and parts of town that need it and give them some help. "What a lot of these places do down here is they hand out a few soccer balls, and kids play soccer. You do the same thing. You build an octagon and you give kids some equipment, and you'll have some world champions coming out of here." There is a long and noble combat sports tradition of reaching out to the poorest kids and providing a lifeline of opportunity and aspiration to children otherwise shut out of society. It's great to see the UFC continuing that tradition in the homeland of MMA.

Posted in: ufc, sport, brazil, kid, brazilian

Read the full article at Bloody Elbow

submitted by phazshifter11 [link] [comment]

Posted in: eddie bravo, phazshifter, bravo, eddie, kid

Read the full article at Reddit

The New York Times Fashion and Style section this week had a feature entitled, “The Fight Club Generation.”  The article details the fascination of MMA with youths to young adults. The article which reports at a regional MMA card in Atlantic City focuses on youth interest in mixed martial arts. The article refers to the movie “Fight Club” which starred Brad Pitt and Ed Norton as the inspiration for many fans of MMA today. Not sure if this is actually true of most young MMA fans as that movie was filmed in 1999.  The mainstream popularity has only occurred in the past few years.  The article later devolves with comparisons to the XFL and “The Godfather.” But, it also identifies, that in general, most people 35 years of age and older are not fans of the sport. In fact, the NY Times states that horse racing and figure skating are more popular than MMA in this segment. Payout Perspective: Getting past some of the minutiae in the article, one of the interesting takeaways coming from it is looking at how young fans get interested in the sport. TapouT and Cage Hero are  just a couple brands that have marketed MMA toward kids.  Last October, Cage Hero rebranded itself with an eye toward kids.  Having just attended a Jiu Jitsu tournament today and seeing so many kids under 10 in the sport one can see that grappling, and to a greater degree, MMA is a growing sport.   With MMA taking off, it will be interesting to see if the UFC begins to reach out, with more targeted campaigns, to the under 18 demographic.

Posted in: mma, sport, fan, kid, article

Read the full article at MMA Payout

submitted by Fyuryus [link] [2 comments]

Posted in: kid, faber, fyuryu, haha, kid haha

Read the full article at Reddit

As a youngster growing up on a healthy diet of Bruce Lee and MMA the PRIDE Fighting Championship, to me, was the greatest show on earth. To my mind the UFC, Strikeforce and DREAM have yet to produce anything close to the quality and spectacle of the best PRIDE shows. Wanderlei Silva's undefeated streak of half a decade, that Fedor guy's emergence from some backwater mining town in Russia to make Nogueira look like an amateur not once but three times, Chuck Liddell and Quinton Jackson's tear up for a chance at the Middleweight crown. There were so many wonderful moments in PRIDE and the Japanese culture and love of spectacle simply made the show even more beautiful. These weren't "gladiators" going in there to "war" or "bang", these were superstars on the biggest MMA stage in the world. When Cro Cop wept after finally winning a belt in the 2006 Open Weight Grand Prix you'll be hard pressed to find a PRIDE fan who didn't choke up too, and when Hidehiko Yoshida, an ageing Judoka with little striking experience, stood in front of Wanderlei Silva for two matches and made the champion respect his punch not as a technical striker but as a man, we all understood the meaning of "Bushido" - the warrior way. But two men exemplified the ideal of bushido and the golden age of Japanese MMA for me, and both fought at UFC 144 looking like shadows of their former selves. Kid Yamamoto and Takanori Gomi. Kid Yamamoto: The Meaning of Pound for Pound Kid Yamamoto spent his entire career up to 2007 fighting at lightweight despite being able to limbo under the 135lbs bar with ease. He fought at 155lbs because he wanted a belt and respect, and he damn sure got it. Despite giving up 10 - 20lbs to his opponents who cut weight to make 155, Yamamoto stopped Royler Gracie and Caol Uno in one night, then went on to be the first and only MMA fighter to stop Japanese MMA legend, Genki Sudo - whose list of submissions includes Mike Thomas Brown and Nate Marquadt. Kid was my idol, and when I finally got out of school I went to Japan with high hopes of meeting him. Being at his gym through his first legitimate MMA loss and and watching the man the Japanese called 'Son of God' clearly return to action without the abilites that he had carried through 18 MMA fights up to that point was heart-breaking. I was only in my late teens at the time and I truly believed that Kid could return from repeated torn ACLs and two years out of action to beat any man DREAM placed him against. When he drew a match with Joe Warren I remember thinking that Warren would be stretchered out of the arena, but he took Kid down like no-one had in Kid's prime. Kid Yamamoto had stuffed Josh Thompson and out grappled Caol Uno and Jeff Curran but he was being laid on by Joe Warren. I wrote the loss off, like many other fans did, as ring rust. Kid immediately took a K-1 match against a relative nobody, Jae Hee Cheon. The night before the fight Kid, his pad holder "Mr P" and myself were the only ones left in the gym and I hopped up on the ring apron to ask my idol in mangled Japanese "Which hand will you knock him out with?". He said "maybe this one" and raised his right fist. That right hook which had stopped so many men - in my heart I knew Kid would destroy this unknown Korean and get back on track. When Kid was knocked out while repeatedly swinging that right hook, I felt disappointment and confusion, but at eighteen years old I had been blinded from the obvious facts of a two year layoff and repeated knee injuries by my idolization of Yamamoto. Misconceptions Three years on, I can objectively look at Kid's fights and I never expect him to win anymore, his chin is shot, his right hook is still volatile but his stand up isn't as rounded as in his prime, and his knee injuries have taken their toll on his formerly world class wrestling. The one thing that I cannot tolerate though is people not giving him the place in MMA history that he has earned. I occasionally hear "yeah... then he came to the UFC and started losing" as if it were a step up in competition that began his downfall, but this is just flat out stupidity. Kid was 1-2 in his MMA career since his return before the UFC signed him and the win came over an irrelevant fighter brought in to get knocked out. To deny Yamamoto his place in MMA history as arguably the best featherweight who ever lived - having fought as one at lightweight and beating the best - is just ridiculous. While I will always remain a fan and enjoy watching his old fights often, I think it is time for people to seperate the pre-2007 Yamamoto and today's Yamamoto. To pretend that they are the same is to discredit the brilliance of Yamamoto's 18 MMA matches and 3 K-1 performances before his injuries forced a hiatus the length of which few fighters have come back from. Objectively the Kid Yamamoto of 2006 could have beaten many of the top 10 fighters from bantamweight to lightweight in the world today and at least given the toughest challenge to the ones who could beat him. Takanori Gomi: The Most Accomplished Lightweight in MMA History Kid was a great fighter and I dreamed of having the strength which he carried in his prime, but the man I sought to emulate when I sparred was not Yamamoto, but Takanori Gomi. The Fireball Kid burst on to the main stage when Pride founded their Bushido event for lighter weight classes, going undefeated in his first ten fights with the biggest promotion in the world. Gomi had begun in Shooto as a one-dimensional ground and pounder. After destroying Japanese legend Rumina Sato he hit a brick wall when he suffered his first two career defeats against Joachim Hansen and BJ Penn. Despite Gomi's one dimensional nature at this stage, both matches were competitive and he even swept Penn from his back three times in the course of their fight - no small feet. Gomi's real renaissance came after Penn exposed his inaccurate stand up. While Gomi remained pretty much a ground and pounder through his first three fights under the PRIDE banner, his stand up was improving all the time. When he was matched against lightweight striking expert and the only man to beat Penn at lightweight, Jens Pulver, he took him on in a pure striking match and won. A right handed southpaw who could switch stances with ease Gomi threw every punch in the book. Long, smashing jabs hurt Pulver from a distance and twice Gomi threw a doubled up left hook, first to the body then immediately to the head of the wincing Pulver. Gomi's footwork, power and combinations looked incredible as he moved around Pulver with ease and landed the bigger, cleaner shots before putting Pulver away with a three punch combination. From here on in Gomi had confidence in his stand up and began demolishing every man in the division with it. Despite BJ Penn's brilliance he never had the string of victories at lightweight that Gomi achieved during this time. Gomi almost entirely cleared out the lightweight division's top ten from 2004 - 2006, a feat which no-one in any division has replicated. Misconceptions The most common misconception about Gomi is the same as Yamamoto - that a step up in competition saw him begin his decline. This is clearly untrue - coming in fat and unprepared for Nick Diaz, Gomi lost to the Stockton native then went on a 4 - 3 slide against average competition BEFORE coming to the UFC. Just as was the case with Yamamoto - the UFC picked him up not for his accomplishments, but simply to stop a Japanese promotion such as Dream from using him to sell tickets, which is why Gomi and Kid are now on huge contracts but relegated to the undercard. The second misconception about Gomi is that his power somehow "compensated" for a lack of skills in other areas. This is a myth which has been helped along by Joe Rogan basically saying it in the heat of the moment at UFC 144. Rogan did an excellent job that night, even giving props to Fedor which is a ballsy thing to do, but he was flat out wrong about Gomi. Takanori Gomi was recognized for 2 years as having the finest boxing in MMA for a reason - take a look at any of his PRIDE striking performances, he pressures opponents, works the body and utilizes straights even more than the looping bombs that have come to be seen as his style. A look at his fight at UFC 144 will show you how far he has fallen and why. While Gomi always fought out of a crouch, he was one of the most mobile fighters at lightweight - cutting off the ring expertly - but now stands with his weight so far over his front foot that he cannot move freely. By leaning over his front foot his reach is also reduced. Against Griffin and Ishida this style worked because Gomi needed to be quick to sprawl and their striking is inadequate, but against Forian, Nate Diaz and even Guida, his inability to move and having his face well forward of his waist cost Gomi big. What's more - though Gomi threw looping punches in his prime, they were never the laughably wide haymakers of today. He was a clinical boxer who threw power punches into holes. Both Gomi and Yamamoto seem destined to live out their days as also rans in the UFC, but the feats they achieved in their prime should not be overlooked. If we can recognize the rapid improvement of Mark Hunt and the decline of BJ Penn, lets not pretend that Yamamoto and Gomi are the same men they were when they set the world ablaze 6 years ago. Jack Slack breaks down striking strategy and technique at his website www.fightsgoneby.com He can also be found on Twitter @JackSlackMMA

Posted in: ufc, mma, gomi, kid, yamamoto

Read the full article at Head Kick Legend

"The Fireball Kid," Takanori Gomi, snapped a two-fight skid on the UFC 144 prelims on Saturday. But Kid Yamamoto dropped his third straight in the UFC.

Posted in: ufc, kid, kid yamamoto, yamamoto, twofight skid

Read the full article at Heavy MMA

Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto is snake bitten or maybe it's simply that the divison has caught and passed him by. The Japanese legend was shocked by Vaughn Lee via submission at 4:29 of thew first round in the fourth fight of … Continue reading →

Posted in: japanese, kid, yamamoto, vaughn lee, japanese legend

Read the full article at Yahoo! Sports

Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto is one of the most popular fighters in the history of Japanese mixed martial arts, but at UFC 144 he was beaten in his homeland by Vaughan Lee. It was a sensational fight that lasted just four minutes, 29 seconds: Yamamoto looked like the Kid of old at times, throwing hard power punches and moving around the Octagon quickly. But Lee did a great job of blocking most of Yamamoto's bombs, and once the fight went to the ground it was Lee's time to shine. Lee initially tried to submit Yamamoto with a triangle choke, but when he couldn't lock that up, he beautifully transitioned into an arm bar that forced Yamamoto to tap. More Coverage: UFC 144 Results | Lee vs. Yamamoto Live Blog "It's a dream come true," Lee said. "Being in the UFC is a dream come true. Fighting in Japan, fighting one of my favorite fighters of all time, Kid Yamamoto, a legend, I'm just the happiest person in the world right now." The win improves Lee's record to 12-7-1. Yamamoto falls to 18-7-1, and he has now lost five of his last six. Yamamoto is one of the all-time greats, but he may be just about done. "All I can say is I am disappointed," Yamamoto said. "I really, really wanted to win in Japan."

Posted in: ufc, time, kid, yamamoto, lee

Read the full article at AOL Fanhouse

SAITAMA, Japan - The slide of "Kid" continues. After a promising start against fellow featherweight Vaughn Lee, Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto found himself the victim of a first-round submission. The preliminary-card bout was part of UFC 144 and aired on FX. It preceded the pay-per-view main card at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.

Posted in: kid, japan, saitama, yamamoto, preliminarycard bout

Read the full article at MMA Junkie

Vaughan Lee defeats Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto by submission due to armbar. The stoppage came at 4:29 in the first round. The first minute of the fight is spent with both fighters circling and wiating for the other to attack. It is Norifumi Yamamoto who got off first but Lee quickly responded. Yamamoto clinched up and on the break threw a high kick. Lee was able to close the distance but was unable to complete the takedown. Yamamoto landed a right hook that took Lee's legs out momentarily and Yamamoto pushed forward trying to finish the fight. Lee did well defending and survived Kid's onslaught. Lee landed a big flying knee and it was only Kid's wrestling that kept him in the fight. Right hook landed for Lee. Lee wobbled Yamamoto with body shots and a hook to the head. Yamamoto took the fight to the ground and Lee threw his legs up quickly and switched from the triangle to armbar. Kid Yamamoto tried to defend but was forced to tap out. Kid Yamamoto is now 0-3 in the UFC. It is unlikely that he'll receive another shot in the promotion. SBN coverage of UFC 144: Edgar vs. Henderson

Posted in: fight, kid, kid yamamoto, yamamoto, lee

Read the full article at Bloody Elbow

At UFC 144: Edgar vs. Henderson, Norifumi Yamamoto (18-5, 1 NC; 0-2 UFC), better known to fans as Kid Yamamoto, faces Vaughan Lee (11-7-1; 0-1 UFC). This Bantamweight contest is the third of four fights on the prelims live on FX. Prelims begin this Saturday, February 25 at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT, with the PPV card beginning at 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT. Neither Kid nor Lee are currently ranked in the USA TODAY / MMA Nation Consensus MMA Rankings. This fight is on the card for one reason - to showcase the Japanese legend in front of his home country. With neither man even holding a win in the UFC, this is clearly not a battle with a tremendous amount of relevance to the Bantamweight division. But for fans who have watched Kid over the years, and have watched him struggle in the UFC, it's definitely a big deal - a chance to see this legend get one last shot at glory. If he does, expect a hero's welcome from the Japanese crowd. If Lee pulls off the upset, it will be a sad scene. How do these two stack up? Yamamoto: 34 years old | 5'4" | 66" reachLee: 29 years old | 5'5" What have these two done recently? Yamamoto: L - Darren Uyenoyama (UD) | L - Demetrious Johnson (UD) | W - Kiko Lopez (TKO)Lee: L - Chris Cariaso (SD) | W - Mark Jones (TKO) | W - Ian Cox (Sub) How did these two get here? Kid Yamamoto was, at one time, considered among the pound for pound elite in all of MMA. Using his combination of wrestling and steadily improving boxing, he dominated the lower weight class Japanese scene throughout the mid-2000's, putting together a powerful 17-1 record. In 2007, Kid announced his plans to step away from MMA to train for the Olympics. An injury in training ended those plans, and Kid came back to MMA, but some of his momentum was lost. Then, in 2008, he suffered a series of injuries that kept him out of action for over a year, and he's never been the same since. He returned in 2009, and is just 1-5 since that year layoff. It's been clear for awhile now that the career of Kid Yamamoto is at its end; the only question now is when will we see his final fight? Vaughan Lee came up through the English MMA scene, training at the Ultimate Training Centre and fighting primarily in organizations like Cage Rage and Cage Gladiators. He put together an 11-6-1 record that includes a loss to Brad Pickett before getting the call up to the UFC. He made his Octagon debut at UFC 138, losing a split decision to Chris Cariaso. This will be his first fight outside of England. It's definitely a major step up for Lee, but a win will put him on the map. Why should you care? He may not have too much to offer these days, but come on, it's Kid Yamamoto fighting in Japan. And there aren't many more times you're going to see that. For a more in-depth look at Yamamoto vs. Lee, be sure to read Dallas Winston's always excellent Dissection. More UFC 144 preview coverage from Bloody Elbow after the jump. SBN coverage of UFC 144: Edgar vs. Henderson UFC 144 Judo Chop: The Striking Defense of Mark Hunt - Fraser Coffeen UFC 144: Rampage Jackson Misses Weight By Five Pounds, Loses 20% Of Purse While Fight Goes On - Brent Brookhouse UFC 144 Weigh-In Video And Coverage - Tim Burke UFC 144: Anthony Pettis Vs. Joe Lauzon Dissection - Dallas Winston UFC 144: The Bloody Elbow Judo Chops Of Frankie Edgar Vs. Ben Henderson - Fraser Coffeen UFC 144: Edgar Vs. Henderson Staff Predictions - Tim Burke UFC 144: Jake Shields Wants UFC To Make Sure Yoshihiro Akiyama Doesn't Cheat - Brent Brookhouse UFC 144: Yushin Okami Vs. Tim Boetsch Dissection - Dallas Winston UFC 144 Video: Dana White Video Blog Episode 2 - Kid Nate UFC 144: Rampage Jackson On The Streets Of Tokyo - Kid Nate UFC 144: Dana White Wants You To Know The UFC Didn't Kill PRIDE - Brent Brookhouse UFC 144: The Epic Drama Of Yoshihiro Akiyama - Fraser Coffeen UFC 144: Is Frankie Edgar Being Underrated Against Ben Henderson? - Fraser Coffeen UFC 144: Hatsu Hioki Vs. Bart Palaszewski Dissection - Dallas Winston UFC 144 Roundtable: Can The UFC Succeed In Japan? - Tim Burke UFC 144 Predictions: Pros Slightly Favor Frankie Edgar To Beat Ben Henderson - Brent Brookhouse UFC 144: Takanori Gomi Vs. Eiji Mitsuoka Dissection - Dallas Winston UFC 144 Judo Chop: Benson Henderson And The Miracle of Survival Part 2 of 2 - Ben Thapa UFC 144 Video: Under PRIDE Rules, Rampage Jackson Dominates Fight Against Ryan Bader - Anton Tabuena UFC 144 Video: Frankie Edgar vs. Ben Henderson Fight Simulation And Prediction - Anton Tabuena UFC 144 Pre-Fight Press Conference Video - Tim Burke UFC 144: Yoshihiro Akiyama Leads The UFC Back To Japan - Kid Nate UFC 144: Should The Winner Of Joe Lauzon Vs. Anthony Pettis Get The Next Title Shot? - Brent Brookhouse UFC 144: Norifumi 'Kid' Yamamoto Vs. Vaughan Lee Dissection - Dallas Winston UFC 144: Riki Fukuda Vs. Steve Cantwell Dissection - Dallas Winston UFC 144 Judo Chop: Benson Henderson And The Miracle Of Survival Part 1 of 2 - Ben Thapa UFC 144: Edgar Vs. Henderson Countdown Show Full Video - Anton Tabuena UFC 144: Edgar Vs. Henderson Betting Lines - Tim Burke UFC 144: Rampage Jackson Is A Death Sentence For Ryan Bader According To Michael Bisping - Brent Brookhouse UFC 144 Manga-Style Promo Video - Kid Nate UFC 144: Takeya Mizugaki Vs. Chris Cariaso Dissection - Dallas Winston UFC 144: Tiequan Zhang Vs. Issei Tamura Dissection - Dallas Winston

Posted in: ufc, vs, henderson, kid, yamamoto

Read the full article at Bloody Elbow

I’m thoroughly convinced Roxanne Modefferi cheats at Scramble. How she is consistently able to beat me by 10-15 points in three closely contested rounds of word searching is unbelievable. It makes me question her ethics, her choices in life, and why I lost my voice cheering for her against Tara Larosa at Moosin. Just kidding, I love Roxy. I respect her for moving out to Japan and becoming a teacher out there. Even Rampage wants to follow in her footsteps and head out there for a year, but mainly so he can talk understand what his Japanese kids are saying about him, and to natively fire insults back in their direction.

Posted in: japanese, kid, tara larosa, japanese kids, roxanne modefferi

Read the full article at Middle Easy

When last the UFC set foot upon the shores of the Land of the Rising Sun, the year was 2000, Matt Hughes had yet to win a UFC championship belt, Kazushi Sakuraba was the bane of anyone with the last name “Gracie”, and a company named Zuffa LLC was forming to purchase the UFC from its original owners, the Semaphore Entertainment Group.  To put it plainly, that was a LONG time ago.  So here we are, in the year 2012, and the biggest, most popular MMA organization in the world is returning to the place where combat sports aren’t considered so much athletic endeavors as they are ways of life.  Do you think the UFC’s latest event – UFC 144 on Saturday night – is going to be as much of a stinker as UFC 29 was back in the day?  Well, since UFC 29 was an extremely large pile of suck, the bar has been set pretty low.  But given that UFC 144 features lightweight champ Frankie Edgar defending his belt against someone not named BJ Penn and Gray Maynard, and there are a whopping seven moderately- to very interesting bouts scheduled for the pay-per-view broadcast, I’d say the UFC’s return to Japan could be a pretty good one.  As the prelims are going to air on the FX network, and I sure as heck get FX as part of my cable plan, here’s a preview of those four preliminary bouts.  The preview of the main card will come tomorrow. -Takanori Gomi vs. Eiji Mitsuoka – Gomi’s entrance into the UFC came about four years too late for us to witness firsthand his full fury, and thus far, other than watching him plaster Tyson Griffin, what we’ve seen from the “Fireball Kid” has been pretty lackluster.  But somewhere in that aging lightweight frame is a spark of explosiveness, ready to ignite on an equally-aged opponent’s jaw – and guess what?  UFC 144 foe Mitsuoka fits that “aged” description perfectly.  Mitsuoka is the epitome of “grappling stalwart”, and has been in the game almost as long as Gomi (fun fact: I was there when Mitsuoka drew with Betiss Mansouri at a King of the Cage on the Soboba Indian Reservation).  He never reached the same heights, though, and when it comes down to throwing down, the former Shooto and PRIDE champ should have more than enough left to scorch the KOTC vet.  Watch for Gomi to TKO him early. -Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto vs. Vaughan Lee – Kid once knocked an opponent out in four seconds with a flying knee.  However, you wouldn’t know he was capable of being exciting based on his two Octagon performances, which were basically grappling clinics with Yamamoto playing the role of grappling dummy.  So what do you do if you’re UFC matchmaker Joe Silva and you’ve got to have the Japanese fighters on your roster shine when your organization comes to Japan?  Feed him a tomato can, of course.  And make no mistake, Brit bantamweight Lee is a tomato can who has neither defeated anyone of consequence nor faced anyone of consequence.  While Lee does seem to know how to apply a submission or two, this one is going to be all about Kid finally showing US fans that he can deliver the whammy when necessary.  Kid via TKO. -Steve Cantwell vs. Riki Fukuda – A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, Cantwell once won a WEC light-heavyweight belt.  But those days are gone, and now the well-rounded but generally overmatched dude is riding a four-fight losing streak that just reeks of impending unemployment.  On the flipside, Japanese wrestler (yes, there is such a thing) Fukuda looked pretty solid against Nick Ring before getting shafted on a bad decision, so this one should be a somewhat straightforward case of “American gets roughed up by Japanese guy both on the feet and on the ground”.  The only X-factor here is the fact that Fukuda is coming off a knee injury.  Will that impede him from putting Cantwell out of a job?  I don’t think so.  Fukuda by decision. -Takeya Mizugaki vs. Chris Cariaso – Almost three years ago, Mizugaki was the top contender for the WEC’s bantamweight belt.  Since then, every top fighter he’s faced (Urijah Faber, Scott Jorgensen, Brian Bowles) has trounced him.  But hey, here comes Cariaso, who may be scrappy, but is the farthest thing from a top fighter.  I’m picking Mizugaki to outlast Cariaso and take the decision, mostly because I see this matchup as another case of Joe Silva tossing a Japanese fighter a softball on their home field.

Posted in: ufc, vs, kid, fukuda, mitsuoka

Read the full article at MMA Convert

With the power of the Japanese people behind him, Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto believes that he's finally back on track to get his first victory in the Octagon.

Posted in: kid, kid yamamoto, yamamoto, track, japanese people

Read the full article at MMA Weekly

If asked to rank the ten biggest stars from PRIDE FC there’s no doubt UFC lightweight Takanori Gomi would be towards the top of the list. Gomi went 13-1 while flying the famed promotion’s flag including wins over some of the sport’s best including Jens Pulver, Mitsuhiro Ishida, Tatsuya Kawajiri, and Hayato Sakurai. However, as great as Gomi looked during his glory days, “The Fireball Kid” has been far from hot as of late, losing three of four since joining the UFC’s roster with the trio of defeats all involving a submission stoppage. Gomi will have a chance at redemption this weekend when he faces newcomer Eiji Mitsuoka at UFC 144: Edgar vs. Henderson where, he assures fans, he’ll return to form. “I am really happy to have a chance to fight in UFC Japan. I never thought it was going to happen this early, and I’m glad that I continued my career this long,” said Gomi in an interview with the UFC’s website. “It’s been a while, so I am looking forward to fighting in front of the Japanese crowd. I want to be my true self and show them a great fight.” Though Gomi has struggled against mat-based adversaries, as Mitsuoka is, this time around he feels he’s prepared to the point where it won’t be an issue. “I think I lacked stamina and ground techniques. I want to make an improvement on that, so I’ve reviewed the training regimen that I’ve done and trained even harder,” explained Gomi. “I am proud of myself for being one of the Japan-born UFC fighters and I think Japanese fighters have this fighting spirit of not giving up until it’s really over.” “The Fireball Kid is coming back. Please keep an eye on me,” he concluded. Tweet

Posted in: ufc, gomi, i ’ve, kid, fireball

Read the full article at Fighters.com

In the penultimate UFC 144: Edgar vs. Henderson match slated for the four-fight preliminary card, which kicks off at 8:30 p.m. ET on the FX channel, Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto faces Vaughan Lee in a bantamweight bout. How the mighty have fallen. At the turn of the millennium, when the acronym No Holds Barred (NHB) was giving way to MMA and Pride FC and the UFC were like warring mafia dons, there was a sharp contrast between American fights and those overseas. The Pride shows took place in a pristine white ring and were steeped in tradition, with a heavy emphasis on honor and "budo", and the way one "could hear a pin drop" was an oft-observed distinction of the respectfully silent audience. Here in the states, there was a greater focus on wrestling and the fighters snarled their way toward the ominous black cage amidst the raucous thumping of heavy metal while the "Just Bleed Guy" flexed in the background. Kid Yamamoto (18-5) was Japanese MMA's first bad boy because he embodied the primal virility that was associated more with America's culture. Sporting a mohawk, sprinkled with tattoos and beaming a devilishly confident sneer, Kid was the incarnation of pure violence by any standards of combat. Yamamoto was unique in that he was a dominant wrestler, but even more so because he plied that ability as a means to savagely maul his opponents on the feet. Before his hiatus to pursue Olympic wrestling, Kid had firmly cemented a reputation as a cold-blooded killer and was a staple on the list of top pound-for-pound candidates. He'd lost one match due to a cut-stoppage and had one No Contest for a low blow against Josh Thomson, and the rest were highlight-reel-worthy beatdowns of epic proportions. His exorbitant knockout power was dealt in fan-friendly fashion that ranged from flying knees and soccer kicks to vicious boxing and ground-and-pound, resulting in fourteen stoppages (12 by TKO, 2 by sub) and three decisions in his first nineteen outings. He tore through the Shooto promotion and then graduated to K-1 Hero's, where he amplified his expanding body count with reputable names like Royler Gracie, Caol Uno, Genki Sudo, Kazuyuki Miyata (record four-second KO) and Rani Yahya, all of whom were ruthlessly throttled by Kid's kickboxing. Yamamoto's killer instinct was unparalleled, he was a complete fighter and also noticeably under-sized for a lightweight, so it was widely assumed that he'd thrive in the stateside environment. When Kid announced in 2007 that he was putting his MMA career on hold to follow in his father's footsteps and pursue Olympic wrestling, unbeknownst to him, the decision would trigger an unfortunate series of events: He dislocated his elbow in his second wrestling match at the Emperor's Cup, his Olympic dreams were dashed and he begrudgingly returned to MMA. Yamamoto dropped four of his next five, all by decision -- two in DREAM and two in the UFC -- with one measly win over Federico Lopez. Gifs and analysis in the full entry. SBN coverage of UFC 144: Edgar vs. Henderson At UFC 144, Yamamoto is on the brink of extinction against relative newcomer Vaughan Lee (11-7). Lee first made a splash at the TUF 14 tryouts for breaking the record for submissions, but still didn't make the final cut. He's an English fighter out of the Ultimate Training Center facility in Birmingham who's finished ten of his eleven wins with six submissions and four TKOs. Lee's career began with three straight losses, but he rebounded with six in a row, five of which were first-round stoppages. He was then defeated in three of his next four, with two-time UFC fighter David Lee and WEC/UFC staple Brad Pickett accounting for two. Lee went on to notch first-round stoppages in four of his next five with one draw before emerging in the Octagon, where he was narrowly edged out by Chris Cariaso in a split-decision at UFC 138. The visual to the right is more of a mini-highlight of devastation from "the old Kid." Not only does this lend an accurate portrayal of his wicked animosity but, considering his precarious situation, it's the volatile, risk-taking, clobbering-machine I hope to see on Saturday. Kid has been significantly more complacent and hesitant in his two UFC stints; given, he was tackling sharp opposition (Demetrious Johnson, Darren Uyenoyama) with treacherous footwork and wrestling prowess. At this pivotal point, it'd be better for Kid to throw caution to the wind and wow the hometown crowd with a nostalgic display of demolition. Unfortunately, moments worth revisiting have been scarce in the Octagon. The style of fighter he was up against caused him to be a little gun-shy and reserved on the feet for fear of being taken down. While his steep wrestling is still intact, the drop in weight has evened out the monumental quickness advantage he enjoyed at lightweight and actualized as a crucial part of his downfall. Compared to Johnson and Uyenoyama, Lee has comparable submission skills but shouldn't be able to match their footwork and takedown aptitude. Lee did show a serviceable sprawl and strong clinch work against Cariaso. He peppered with strikes and was careful not to over-commit, which allowed him to dig underhooks or control the head from the front headlock position to avoid being put on his back. The sequence below depicts some solid offensive wrestling from Lee, who nails a nice outside trip in the clinch with underhooks. This surely portrayed a more favorable outlook with the judges from a scoring standpoint. On the feet, Lee has been pretty average; not necessarily threatening, but not really weak either. He would be a sitting duck for the relentlessly aggressive Yamamoto of old but even the increasingly hesitant version should have a handy striking advantage. In fact, Kid should have the edge everywhere save offensive submission hunting, but this is an Olympic wrestling hopeful who was taken down consistently by Johnson and Uyenoyama and the latter passed his guard and took his back like clockwork, so it's tough to envision how things might unfold. From both a logical and sentimental point of view, this should be Yamamoto's fight to win. In addition to the standing deficit, Kid has a bulletproof chin so Lee will have to frequently score takedowns and contain him on the floor, which should be a steep challenge. If he does succeed, his knowledgeable grasp of position and passing could spell big trouble for the veteran. My Prediction: Kid Yamamoto by TKO. Yamamoto HL gif via GifSoup.com All others via Zombie Prophet of IronForgesIron.com Poll Kid Yamamoto vs. Vaughan Lee Kid Lee   23 votes | Results

Posted in: ufc, fighter, kid, yamamoto, lee

Read the full article at Bloody Elbow

TOKYO -- Norifumi 'Kid' Yamamoto discusses his elation to be fighting for the UFC in Japan, preparing for his UFC 144 opponent Vaughan Lee, and why he believes he's had disappointing performances thus far in his UFC career in this exclusive interview.

Posted in: ufc, ufc career, kid, performance, yamamoto

Read the full article at AOL Fanhouse

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) could have used a little Lenne Hardt this weekend in Saitama, Japan, but ring announcer Bruce Buffer will do just fine. For the first time since UFC 29, when Pat Miletich and Tito Ortiz defended their respective titles, the mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion will return to Japan this weekend (Sat., Feb. 25, 2012) with one impressive fight card. UFC 144, which will take place at the Saitama Super Arena, will featured Lightweight Champion Frankie Edgar, defending his 155-pound title for the fourth time in the main event against former World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) champion Ben Henderson. Another lightweight match up slated for the pay-per-view (PPV) main card -- Joe Lauzon vs. Anthony Pettis -- will square off in a bout that may determine the next man to challenge for the belt. Plus, Pride FC legends Quinton Jackson, Takanori Gomi and Mark Hunt, among others, will return to the land that made them famous and the crowds that made them heroes. And that's not even mentioning the "Prelims" card, which will be shown in its entirety on Facebook/FX. We took a deep dive into the first few UFC 144 "Prelims" bouts yesterday right here. Now join us after the jump for breakdowns of the top two fights on FX: 155 lbs.: Takanori Gomi vs. Eiji Mitsuoka Few fighters were more feared than Takanori Gomi (32-8) in his heyday. From the beginning of 2004 to the end of 2005, "The Fireball Kid" was arguably the most dominant champion anywhere in mixed martial arts (MMA). He won 10 straight with eight finishes, including knockouts of welterweight great Hayato Sakurai and former UFC champion Jens Pulver. Unfortunately, things just haven’t been the same since his submission loss to Marcus Aurelio -- Gomi has found himself submitted in three of his lst four bouts with only a hellacious knockout of Tyson Griffin to remind fans of the good old days. Gomi absolutely needs a win Saturday to remain relevant. And while Mitsuoka doesn’t have the name value of original opponent George Sotiropoulos, Gomi cannot look past him. A submission specialist with wins over the likes of Gleison Tibau, Brian Cobb and Gomi-conqueror Sergei Golyaev, Eijii Mitsuoka (18-7-2) replaces Sotiropoulos on short notice on the heels of two straight victories. Most recently, he decisioned highly-touted Brazilian striker Bruno Carvalho under the DREAM banner, his second fight after a year-long sabbatical. Should he upset the former Pride FC superstar, his stock would undoubtedly shoot through the roof. I’m man enough to admit that I was horrendously wrong about Gomi’s fight with Diaz and accept that we will probably never again see the inhuman monster that ruled PRIDE with an iron fist again. Even this Gomi, though, should be enough to beat Mitsuoka. The latter has the sort of grappling abilities that have proven Gomi’s downfall in the past, but he doesn’t have the wrestling necessary to bring them to bear against "The Fireball Kid." Further, unlike Clay Guida or Kenny Florian, he doesn’t set up his shots with a solid striking arsenal or wacky head movement, making it even more likely that Gomi shrugs off his inevitable takedown efforts. Eiji is incredibly tough, so I think he’ll make it to a decision, but he just doesn’t have the wrestling chops to take advantage of Gomi’s poor submission defense, and he’ll find himself battered left and right across the Octagon for 15 painful minutes. Prediction: Gomi via unanimous decision 135 lbs.: Norifumi Yamamoto vs. Vaughan Lee Back before Jose Aldo turned the lower weight classes into his personal feeding grounds, there were exactly two names that defined them: Urijah Faber and "KID" Yamamoto (18-5). After an early cut stoppage loss to Stephen Palling, Yamamoto took the lightweight and featherweight divisions by storm, winning 14 straight fights despite often fighting well above his natural weight. An ill-advised trip to K-1 and an elbow injury suffered in training for a crack at Olympic wrestling later, though, and KID finds himself struggling to remain a factor in the modern MMA scene, having lost four of his last five. Though he entered the UFC as one of the most celebrated signings in recent memory, he is very likely fighting for his job against his British foe. Vaughan Lee (11-7-1), he had tried out for The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) and impressed while doing so, looked on the verge of making an instant jump into the bantamweight division’s upper echelon against Chris Cariaso, dominating the veteran with grappling in the first round. Once Cariaso got his own takedown game going, however, Lee found himself controlled for the bout’s remainder and lost the resultant split decision. The well-rounded Lee has made a habit of ending things quickly and decisively, with nine first-round finishes to his name, and should he become the first man in almost a decade to stop Yamamoto, could find himself one of the new faces of British MMA. I’m also willing to admit that this isn’t the KID Yamamoto who was one of the greatest pound-for-pound fighters alive. I don’t know what’s happened to his wrestling, which used to be practically Olympic-caliber, or whether he can deal with people as fast as him. But, once again, there’s enough KID left here. Vaughan has feasted lately on inferior competition, ending overmatched fighters’ nights inside the first round. He’s a pretty good striker with a solid ground game, but Yamamoto still has a right hand that can knockout anyone below 170 pounds. And while Vaughan might have some success taking KID down early, that right hand will find him sooner or later. KID’s is a story of immense talent brought down by poor decision-making (whose bright idea was it to have him fight Mike Zambidis, one of the hardest punchers in K-1 MAX history who also outweighs KID by 20 pounds?) and ill fortune. I’m sad we’ll never see the monstrous KID of yore again, but we’ll catch a little glimpse of him Saturday, just enough to keep optimistic fools like me hopeful. Prediction: Yamamoto via second-round knockout Get your Hokuto Shinken sharpened up, park your EVAs in the appropriate spot, and prepare to get Spirited Away to a solid night of fighting. See you Saturday, Maniacs! Remember, too, that MMAmania.com will provide LIVE blow-by-blow, round-by-round coverage of UFC 144, beginning with the "Prelims" bout on Facebook scheduled for around 7:30 p.m. ET. In addition, we will also provide LIVE, real-time results of the main card action as it happens throughout the evening this upcoming weekend.

Posted in: ufc, fight, gomi, kid, yamamoto

Read the full article at MMA Mania

UFC President Dana White takes the wife and kids backstage to chill with the Jabbawockeez at the Monte Carlo Resort & Casino last Saturday night (Feb. 18, 2012) in Las Vegas, Nevada. Props: Las Vegas Sun

Posted in: ufc, president, kid, la, jabbawockeez

Read the full article at MMA Mania

Pressure in the fight game is always relative. When someone is trying to punch you in the face or make you submit, that’s pretty rough in and of itself. So when you add in the ideas of trying to break a string where you were 1-4 in your last five fights, along with fighting in your home country for the first time in nearly two years, are those factors more pressure-laden than avoiding a punch in the face? For Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto, fighting has been his life professionally for almost 11 years, so that part of the pressure equation isn’t a big deal. As for his 1-4 record since returning from a year and a half injury-induced layoff in 2009, a stretch that includes an 0-2 slate in the UFC, he simply says he’s been “a little bit frustrated, so I committed myself to train longer and harder to prepare for the fights.”But what about this Saturday’s UFC 144 bout in Saitama, Japan against Vaughan Lee, the Kanagawa’s native fighting return to home shores? Is there pressure for him to be the “Kid” once again in front of his loyal fanbase?“No,” said Yamamoto through manager / translator Fumihiko Ishii.It’s as blunt as an assessment as you will get from any fighter on any topic, and that’s Yamamoto’s personality when it comes to his day job. He’s to the point with little embellishment, something that translated into his prime performances, where every punch, knee, or kick was designed to get his opponent out of there. From his four second flying knee finish of Kazuyuki Miyata in 2006 to the soccer kicks that ended Rani Yahya’s night in 2007, Yamamoto was rightly considered one of the lighter weight classes’ elite competitors, and his name regularly came up in discussions about fights with stateside standouts Urijah Faber and Miguel Angel Torres.So when Yamamoto arrived in the UFC’s bantamweight division in 2011, expectations were high, but results underwhelmed, as he lost back-to-back decisions to Demetrious Johnson and Darren Uyenoyama. When asked what has gone wrong in the UFC thus far, Yamamoto replies, “a lack of training due to injury,” and he claims that when it comes to adjusting to the long travel schedule from Japan to the United States and fighting in the Octagon, he had had “no issues at all.”Which brings us to Saturday night and England’s Vaughan Lee. A scrappy ground ace who isn’t afraid of standing and trading, Lee - like many of his peers - is an admitted fan of Yamamoto, but that’s not going to stop him from trying to hand one of his favorite fighters a crushing defeat. Yamamoto (18-5, 1 NC), whose only stoppage loss came via cuts to Stephen Palling in his fifth pro fight in 2002, isn’t overly concerned with Lee’s submission skills.“I have been fighting top notch submission fighters and nobody submitted me,” he said. “So I do have enough confidence to face him.”Aiding in this confidence is that Yamamoto is healthy, and he’s also far removed from any possible distractions at home due to the relocation of his training camp to Mecha MMA in Toronto, Canada.“My sister suggested and arranged for me to train at Mecha MMA,” said Yamamoto. “(They bring) New technique and good conditioning.” As for getting away from Japan and all the pre-fight hype for this camp, he says, “I came here for training, which is the same anywhere.”That’s typical “Kid” Yamamoto. No nonsense to the core. But his hard edge softens a bit when asked about what this fight means, not just to him, but to his loyal fans at home and abroad who would like nothing more than to see a return to form on Saturday night.“It is really important to win the fight not only for myself but also for all of those fans,” he said. “I also want all of my fans to get excited about not just winning, but the fight.”Any last minute instructions to those fans?“SCREAM!”

Posted in: fight, fan, “ i, kid, yamamoto

Read the full article at UFC

It was 1992 and I was sin 3rd grade art class which took place in my school's dimmed cafeteria between lunch hours. I want to say it was November, but it could've been earlier, maybe even later in the year. Regardless, the conversation of what me and my tiny friends wanted for Christmas came up. In retrospect, discussing with other kids what you wanted for Christmas or your birthday was the kid equivalent of small talk about the weather or whatever the local sports team is doing in town. Then Ryan Letszeizer, a spitting image for the kid in A Christmas Story, nonchalantly walked up to our table and matter-of-factly stated 'Santa's not real fellas'. Then pushed up his glasses and walked away. That moment really sucked. UFC Undisputed may make us feel otherwise, but Pride is dead. Dead as Whitney Houston, and all of our hopes and dreams of something 'special' happening at next week's UFC 144 event at the Saitama Super Arena have officially been Ryan Letszeizer'd by Dana White. Here's the proof from MMAJunkie: "Do I think this is going to be a PRIDE event and 100,000 people are going to show up, and it's going to be like that?" UFC President Dana White asked. "No, I don't think that. But I think that there is a fanbase there for the UFC. "People keep asking me, 'Oh, will you play the PRIDE music? Will you do?' No, this isn't PRIDE. It's the UFC. The UFC is coming to Japan, and what the people in Japan are going to see is what they see on television, if they're UFC fans." "We're going to slowly try to build that market back up, and we'll see what happens. There's no pro wrestlers, and you're not going to see some 400-pound dude fighting a 100-pound dude. None of that stuff's going to happen. The UFC is going to go in there, and we have fans there already. Those fans are going to show up." "The one thing I know is that whether we put on a FUEL TV fight on Omaha, Neb., in front of 7,000 people or we do a 56,000-seat arena in Toronto, we put on one of the best live shows there is in sports. We're going to go in and hit that market like we do every other market, and people are going to leave that arena that night, and they're going to have seen a great show." All I wanted was Lenne Hardt and Bruce Buffer (I'm not greedy, both!), maybe a white cage, a ramp, fireworks and Sakuraba in the crowd smiling at me with half an ear falling off. Oh well, 144 is still going to be awesome, just not Pride Santa soccer kicking awesome. [Source]

Posted in: ufc, pride, people, kid, kid equivalent

Read the full article at Middle Easy

Trainers and coaches make for the best interviews in combat sports. They have no personal battle to cut weight, usually have far less interviews to get bored and irritated with and the nature of their job makes communication skills a higher priority and more practiced than for a fighter. Add in the generally high level of analytic ability and the love of technique and we have walking encyclopedias ready to give mini-lectures on almost any topic in their realm of experience. Besides being a two time Victory Belt grappling manual author, Dave Camarillo is one of the best of this generation of MMA trainers and grappling coaches and his students have been wildly successful at the highest levels of combat sports. On the evening before he would appear at UFC 143 as a cornerman for Josh Koscheck, Dave Camarillo appeared on the radio show I host alongside MMA Mania's Brian Hemminger and Gerry Rodriguez. We were expecting a quick promo appearance for his new Victory Belt book, Submit Everyone: The Classified Field Manual For Becoming A Submission-focused Fighter, but Dave spent a full hour with us answering questions with aplomb about his approach to grappling and teaching. In the first post in this three-parter, we saw Dan and Dave Camarillo face off as purple belts in a friendly, but high-spirited competition. Now I give you the definitive rematch: Part One of An Hour with Dave Camarillo The audio of the interview can be found at roughly the one hour mark of the Verbal Submission's 72nd episode, which features interviews with Diego Sanchez and Sheldon Westcott as well. Hit the jump for the second of three parts. Brian sends it over to Ben Thapa BT: Hi Dave, I wanted to ask about one of your earlier matches that's up on YouTube - specifically, the match with a six year old named Kyle. BT: It's one of my favorite matches. How long were you working with Kyle before he was ready to make that demonstration? DC: Kyle is one of my students, yes. This was early in his career. I'll be honest. He at first was super shy and didn't want to be doing this, he didn't want to come in and we encouraged him over time. Now you can't get him off the mats. We kinda just went at it and he adapted, learned his positions. We worked on the basic positioning and he's now excited about it. Also, when you're excited, the body takes over, the techniques take over and we got a great match out of it. BT: Now, Kyle is one of many students amongst your academy. You directly teach at two schools and have at least five schools associated with you. Is that right? DC: Yes, there are the two main schools in Pleasanton and San Jose, California and I have more than five schools both within California and outside California. BT: Who are the youngsters that are worth watching as we have some big tournaments coming up soon? Who should we be paying attention to from your schools? DC: I've got a lot of good guys. We've got guys from One World, it's one of the affiliates, Bukki, Kyle Lehane, those guys are really good. My black belt who's the main instructor in San Jose, Matt Darcy, he's gonna be competing here soon in the San Francisco tournament, he's phenomenal. Very good instructor as well. We got a lotta good guys, lotta young guys. I don't wanna mention too many names so the competition has someone to look out for but I've got a kid, he's 18 years old, good wrestling, good jiu-jitsu, good guard, the guy's getting good everywhere and he doesn't miss practice and that's the key to anything. Anyone who is that dedicated is gonna be good. We've got some guys in the woodwork that are coming out and winning tournaments. BT: Alright, I ask that question because you're probably more famous for students who have come to you a bit later in their lives after having had wrestling careers or fighting careers like Fitch, Koscheck and Swick. I was wondering - not necessarily that one is better than another - but is there a difference between teaching these guys and teaching these grapplers that you're building from the ground up? DC: I've been teaching for a long time, but it's true that my academies are kind of new and more famous for the MMA guys. My Pleasanton school is only two years old. There are schools out there that have been around for 15 or 20 years now and it takes a long time to establish a place where the competition level training is really high. In the two years we've been doing this, the response has been amazing. These kids are so malleable and learning even faster. It's definitely an adjustment [from teaching MMA mostly to teaching mostly at these schools]. In the end, the most important things in my life are my wife, my family and my students. I'm a passionate instructor and I'm putting everything into these kids, training them from 3 years old and up about armlocks, trips and wrestling and that's why I have so much energy for this. BT: You mentioned that it takes time to build a high level competition school. Why does it take so much time to build a high level gym? Isn't it as simple as whipping these kids into great shape? DC: Mmmm, no. If you look at 1995 - I've been in jiu jitsu since 1997 - the level of a blue belt back then is much lower than it is now and the reason is that there's been so much experience learned, the technique is tighter, there's more bodies and there's more people coming out with jiu jitsu systems. There's all kinds of reasons why the level has jumped. It takes time to have 30 blue belts, 20 purple belts, 10 brown belts and 10 black belts at each school. That takes time. It takes seven to ten years to get a black belt. My school is only two years old. My white belts are the best white belts I've ever seen in my career. I'm not saying that I have the best white belts out there, but the level is higher now. The constant drilling and training has an effect. I'm very analytical when training and the message that I'm putting out there is slowly being instilled in them. I'm grappling all the time. That's not enough. It's getting experienced people around me that can question what I do and why I do it that makes things better. My black belt instructor, Matt Darcy, is constantly coming up with all kinds of things and getting people excited. If you put all that together, you'll see a higher level and a quicker learning atmosphere, which leads into the competition level. BT: Interesting that you say this as you came from a different background. I don't mean your judo background, but that when you started your jiu jitsu career, you came up amongst a Golden Generation of sorts over at Ralph Gracie's with Kurt Osiander, Luke Stewart, B.J. Penn and the others. I'm wondering if that was a fluke or can that happen in the right situation again and again where a ton of people all turn out to be fantastic grapplers? A photo of a few of the famous grapplers from Ralph's via Darren Uyenoyama's blog at darrenbcu.files.wordpress.com DC: I see what you're saying. I gotta give props to Ralph Gracie. There's a lotta good teams out there, but he had the best team out there. It's so hard to have the best team. You have Checkmat, Alliance and all the other teams and so on. Back then, I would say that we were the best team in the United States. We had so much talent and it was a combination of two things. It was not a fluke, but how do you find B.J. Penn and everyone else out there? I'm not trying to be cocky, but I got my blue belt in like ten practices and my judo really carried me in my competitions. B.J. was so good, he is one of the best armlock guys I've ever seen, as is my brother. We had Cameron Earle, Mikyo Riggs, Luke is incredible and Kurt Osiander too. How do you have that many people at one time? I don't quite know. We were all out there smashing each other and learning on those crazy nights. But the second thing is Ralph Gracie. He was one of the toughest, best coaches you could have. He was hard on us. He pushed us and he was hardcore and it was the perfect environment coming from a judo background, it fit for me and I pushed myself. I couldn't have been happier at the time and it made sense. Those practices were battles. We'd go to other gyms and we'd smash them. That was a fact, and I remember blue belts tapping black belts as we were mixing judo with the Ralph Gracie go-go-go mentality and it was crazy. You know, going back to my book, that's what I'm trying to bring back, the finish everyone mentality and aggressiveness. BT: You've mentioned the judo and your brother's comparable skill also. Where did the interest in the military and the systematic approach develop? Did it start back then or is that a more recent development? DC: You know, in judo, I was always an aggressive kid. I didn't have great technique. It took me several trips to Japan and living there to develop proper technique and more effective judo. My father was a great instructor, but I was a scrappy kid already. When you have a 19 year old scrappy kid who's been in a million battles in Japan getting thrown a million times and getting back up. When I came to Ralph Gracie's, he noticed that and combining the two approaches, I ended up being a crazy, angry submissions guy. It was a combination of the two and I'm a better submission grappler because of it. BT: What changed from the hungry, high-flying submissions kid to the man presenting this book? DC: Yeah, I have to laugh. It took me time. I had to mature. I had to be a better person. I had to check my ego. I had to realize that not everybody in my schools or that I'm teaching has that background. Not everybody has a father that pushes them that far. I didn't realize that not everyone had that. I was teaching like this or like that and it wasn't clicking. You gotta learn these things and that takes time. It took me years to mature and at the same time that high flying approach was there for a while and I always will have that, but I had to grow up and develop a better approach. BT: You've mentioned again and again that it takes time to change, to mature and to push these kids get good. I'm wondering how much time does it take? All these five, six, seven year olds at your schools, are they going to be high level BJJ or MMA guys in ten years? Or will that take more or less time? DC: I have some kids that have been training with us for a long time and are orange belts. They're going to be way better than me. That's the bottom line. They're in the right place for the philosophy and the physicality of grappling. They're phenomenal. They do wrestling and the local judo tournaments. One of my instructors, Dave Williams, helps me coordinate and coach these kids. He's training them and I'm training them and they're competing in multiple sports and winning. That's the process that you want. You don't want just a wrestler or just a judoka. You want kids competing in all these sports and they're going to be monsters. They're getting to be really driven and it's amazing to see the kids come up. BT: Your father pushed you and your whole family was supportive and established a great support system. Collectively they motivated you and your brother to do better and better. Is there something that jiu jitsu here need to change in order to be less of the soccer-mom/rambling around mentality or is that a good atmosphere for developing talented grapplers? DC: I think there is a spectrum. You can push kids too much or not enough. My opinion is that for the most part, we as a society is getting lazier in pushing the kids and letting them do whatever they want, which isn't good. A lot of is the parents. I'm speaking from my experience living in a home where my father is an instructor. That's a rare privilege and that's the environment I grew up in. That's the house I grew up in. That's sort of a life crapshoot right there and not a decision that I made, but my parents were tough and they pushed us. My brother and I grew up competing against each other and learning from my family. My father was hardcore and tough on us. I responded well to that and it worked for me. At times, I did want a normal household, but a normal household generally speaking doesn't make martial artists that are confident and that can prepare themselves and can deal with any situation and can become champions. It doesn't push kids into competition well. The competitions are what gives kids confidence and the drive to improve. That's what my father pushed for and that's what we did. There was fighting, but every family goes through that. I call my dad and tell him "I love you" and I can't thank him enough for what he did and the environment. Not every family has that and that's where I come in. I have to encourage these kids in the right ways and a good instructor has been through it all and a good instructor knows which kids to put pressure on and which kids to back off on. I'm the kind of instructor that wants kids to reach their full potential and put a smile on their face at the same time and that's the tough balance there that I'm navigating. BT: In grappling, there's an interesting goal of being a champion. In MMA, we've recently had Ronda Rousey make a big splash after being in the judo competitive scene for years and being unable to make a full time living there; on the flip side, we have the rare few like John Danaher, who have never competed or won championships, but can make a living. Where do you fall in the debate between competing versus not competing and what do you think of Danaher himself? DC: Like I've said before, I think Danaher is the best jiu jitsu instructor on the planet. He's been on the scene at Renzo Gracie's in New York and he's been exposed to a great group of black belts from various places that are like a family and traveled all over and shared techniques. He's in an amazing place to grow and grapple and on top of that he's extremely intelligent. I consider him one of my mentors, even if I only see him twice a year, it's always great because I value everything that comes from him. I think when you become an instructor, you have be a different person. A good instructor doesn't mean having big titles or spend all his time fighting. If you're fighting all the time, you're probably not a good instructor because you're spending all your time fighting and vice versa. Danaher is the best instructor because he doesn't have to compete. He spends all his time analyzing and he doesn't have to compete. I don't think you need to be a high level competitor to have a good gym. You need to make sure you have a strong, smart message and to get it out. That and being a passionate instructor is more important. End of Part 2 Part One of An Hour with Dave Camarillo Stay tuned to Bloody Elbow for Part Three, which dig into Dave's philosophy of teaching, discussions of speed versus tactics, the key to Anderson Silva's success and the mentality he brings as a cornerman to the fighters he trains.

Posted in: time, belt, kid, im, instructor

Read the full article at Bloody Elbow

Since the conclusion of first season of The Ultimate Fighter, every subsequent live UFC event has featured his fight with Stephen Bonnar on the Jumbo-Tron at arenas around the world while Baba O’Riley pumps the crowd up for the main card. I usually take this opportunity to run to the nearest concession stand as fast as possible and juggle my nachos and fountain soda back to my seat. Sometimes I make it back in time to watch the end of the montage, other times I spill my soda over my nachos and I’m forced to eat the soggiest plate of processed cheese & tortillas I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. It’s an unfortunate reality of every MMA fan, and if you haven’t experienced it yet, I tip my sombrero to you. Unfortunately, Forrest is back in the hot seat with some more controversial tweets, this time about kids with Cancer. Forrest Griffin’s past rape jokes on Twitter were misunderstood. In fact, most of his jokes are misunderstood. While he may not be able to verbalize or tweet (twat?) his exact thoughts in 140 characters or less, people are quick to assume he’s an insensitive person who should be banned from the UFC and twitter alike. We like Forrest Griffin. We like watching his fights, reading his books, and we really like that he spends a whole lot of time with sick kids and donates money to local rape crisis & child hunger organizations in Las Vegas, despite his inability to effectively communicate on Twitter. Thanks to FightLinker for the find. While he tries to explain what he meant in follow-up tweets, it appears that the twittersphere has resumed being critical of his choice of words and it has prompted all sorts of replies like these… …to which Forrest responded like this: While I can’t defend what someone else puts out on Twitter, I can say that I admire Forrest for his body of work inside the Octagon and amongst his community. Dana White does too. Perhaps a second look at his tweets make the whole miscommunication a bit clearer, or maybe they infuriated you further, but regardless of how you feel about his tweeting (twatting?), you have to admit that the man does more with his discretionary income than most other UFC fighters, and he does it on his own accord. If more professional athletes were like him, kids with serious illnesses would strive that much harder to push through their ailments and live fulfilling lives. We hope Forrest continues doing what he’s doing regardless of his inability to effectively joke about it on twitter.

Posted in: time, kid, twitter, tweet, forrest

Read the full article at Middle Easy

Seemingly bored after his rape tweet apology-and-donation tour, it seems that Forrest Griffin has taken to calling kids with cancer "dumbasses" on twitter. He followed this up by deleting only the first tweet in the series and explaining the obvious: by calling this kid a dumbass, he was simply “trying to help [the kid] find his happiness in life”. No word yet on whether he will have to visit more cancer patients to atone for this, but that probably wouldn’t be the best idea in the world. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I am quite satisfied with Griffin’s twitter logic. Want to make a profound observation about the pervasiveness of sex crimes in society? Call rape “the new missionary”. Think a kid with cancer should be an inspiration to us all? Call him a stupid dumbass. Then say that Oprah would be proud of you. Brilliant! Many would say that based on this, Griffin’s twitter escapades have completely jumped the shark and that he should quit tweeting before he gets lynched by every dishevelled, afflicted population on Earth. However, being a glutton for inappropriateness, I think he should- nay, needs- to keep it up.

Posted in: forrest griffin, kid, cancer, griffin, cancer patients

Read the full article at Fightlinker

Last week the MMA world operated under the supervision of JoshTheGod, Anonymous and S3rver.exe. It was as if we all inhabited some heavily visited EfNet IRC chatroom with mods that had complete control over our lives. Don't worry, I won't make fun of you for not understanding some nerd-injected reference. In fact, if you're confused then I applaud your lack of understanding. It shows that you actually had a childhood when you were a kid. Back in high school, my Saturday nights heavily revolved around the amount of warez I could download from anonymous bots across IRC. I even dipped out of my senior prom just so that I could watch a Star Trek: Next Generation marathon with my pops while I combed the web for HERF blueprints. Look, I never was laid in high school. My time was spent building macros for Ultima Online and attempting to hack websites. In a sense, I aspired to be like S3rver.exe, the 13-year-old that successfully hacked UFC upon Dana White's request. Softpedia interviewed the teenage hacker to see what inspired him to deface UFC.com among a slew of other sites. I started hacking when I was 11. Botnets and Rats inspired me and then a friend introduced me to SQL injection and other hacking stuff. Basically, I started hacking because I saw many videos and news around the world about hacking and then I also wanted to learn. I made heaps of Internet friends and they taught me some tricks. And I guess hacking is my type because I really like computers and I want to get a job in computing. I have breached the Administrator of usa.gov yesterday. That was fun. I went through the directories and stuff. Me and my friend Sterlok breached the security. Then I did a live deface on UFC.com and UFC.tv. The live deface was on Tinychat. I was sharing my screen and people were watching me deface. Now I have XSS'ed OPOA, which is the Oakland Police website. I am going to release their stuff soon. So those were really important to me. The kid in the banner is actually a member of LulzSec, another hacker group that was responsible for hacking into multiple government websites along with that rather massive Sony PS3 security breach that happened last year. Can't wait for Morpheus to give this kid the red pill. He deserves it.

Posted in: stuff, kid, friend, ufccom, deface

Read the full article at Middle Easy

I want to meet the one kid who used a 'number one' pencil instead of a 'number two' pencil on a school exam and made the Scantron machine ignite in a roaring blazing of mathematical glory. You know he's out there, alone in his number one pencil solitude. That kid is a rebel. When it comes to writing utensils, he's a revolutionary. He could lead a rebel alliance of number one pencil users and take over a small Scantron factory off the coast of North Carolina. Damn the number two pencil. That should be on a shirt. One can only assume Jeff Monson was the kid that bucked the entire system by refusing to listen to his teacher's writer utensil advice. Last year we interviewed Jeff Monson and he actually encouraged every American to drop their political affiliation and be an anarchist. Now in this RTV interview with The Snowman, he's now stating that anarchy is the only solution for America. [Source]

Posted in: kid, jeff monson, number, monson, pencil

Read the full article at Middle Easy

UFC 141 is headlined by a returning Brock Lesnar taking on a debuting Alistair Overeem. To hype fans for the fight, the UFC has adopted a guerrilla marketing campaign utilizing the GI Joe clips that so many of us know and love. As a child who grew up watching GI Joe I appreciate the use of these clips. The first clip uses Brock Lesnar's famous post-fight interview after he beat up Frank Mir. Kids: Brock Lesnar! Brock Lesnar: Can you see me now? Kids: Yes. Brock Lesnar: CAN YOU SEE ME NOW!? Kids: Yesss. Brock Lesnar: Frank Mir had a horseshoe up his ass. I pulled that sumbitch out and beat him over the head with it....WOOOOOOOO!!!! The Overeem interview uses Alistair's discussion on how he put on muscle mass with a horse meat diet. Kid: Overeem. Overeem! Alistair Overeem: The best protein is horse meat. Kid: Horse meat? Alistair Overeem: Horse meat. I eat at 9 o'clock in the morning. 10 o'clock in the morning. Then immediately after training I eat big and then I eat before I go to bed. Then when I wake up I eat again. But it's not only horse meat. It's also toilet paper. Kid: Toilet paper? Alistair Overeem: Toilet paper. Here's to hoping that the UFC continues to use guerrilla marketing campaigns to promote fights. Bonus points to you if you can name the GI Joe characters and episodes that these clips were taken from. SBN coverage of UFC 141: Lesnar vs. Overeem

Posted in: overeem, alistair, lesnar, kid, brock

Read the full article at Bloody Elbow

MMA Heat's Karyn Bryant had the chance to sit down for a long talk with Tito Ortiz and get his thoughts on a variety of topics, from his UFC 140 bout with Antonio Rogerio Nogueira to his contract situation and a possible retirement in the very near future. Here's the video (retirement talk starts around 20:00): Quote (transcribed by USA Today's Sergio Non): Maybe it's time. I don't know. I guess when I leave on my own terms -- and I look at it as, when I don't have fun coming in the gym anymore, sparring and pushing myself and running every day, maybe it is time. I'm not overstaying my welcome. ... I don't know. But you never know. You never know if Dana and Lorenzo come to me with some numbers that make sense to me. I'm healthy. ... Is it worth it not being able to run with my kids or wrestle with my kids or throw a football with my kids when they get older? A million dollars ain't worth it. SBN coverage of UFC 140: Jones vs. Machida

Posted in: ufc, retirement, kid, i dont, contract situation

Read the full article at Bloody Elbow

It's becoming more and more apparent that the creatives in Hollywood have run out of ideas. 2012 is set to be the biggest year yet in terms of remakes and 'reimaginings' of popular franchises of yesteryear: Dune, The Crow, Honey I Shrunk the Kids, Robocop, Teen Wolf, TMNT and countless more classics are being recreated for some reason and no one can really explain why. Is this what a generation of screenwriters are relegated to? Rewriting the classic line from Monster Squad of 'Wolfman has nards!' for the Call of Duty generation? Luckily for the world, UG member BushidoAristotle7 has recreated not only a past favorite in the Karate Kid, but also cleverly predicted the upcoming light heavyweight title fight between Jon Jones and Machida. It's everything a respectable homage/reimagining should have: references to the original source material, attention to detail, and it can be enjoyed by all audiences. Watch this masterpiece now. [Source]

Posted in: jon jones, kid, karate kid, duty generation, monster squad

Read the full article at Middle Easy

In a preliminary fight to the UFC on Fox card, Darren "Bone Crusher" Uyenoyama out-grappled the favored Kid Yamamoto to win a rather exciting decision. In this Judo Chop, I examine the Ralph Gracie black belt’s inventive ways to reach the rear mount position and secure that position. Kid Yamamoto came into this bout as a heavy favorite due to his background as a higher level freestyle wrestler and several explosive knockouts in Japan. Kid has had a high profile for years in MMA and even reached a level of stardom that few people in sports enjoy in Japan. Unfortunately, due to a combination of significant injuries, sub-par outings against tough opponents and perhaps an unwillingness to adjust his training methods, he hit a rough patch in his fighting career in the last couple years. His recent loss to DJ Johnson showed a game and powerful bantamweight who experienced problems with a smaller, faster wrestling-based attack and this bout with Uyenoyama would test his improvements. Darren Uyenoyama is a Japanese-American from San Francisco and a Ralph Gracie black belt. He started training Brazilian jiu-jitsu in 1999 with the Bay Area crew that belonged to various Ralph Gracie gyms. That crowd at one time or another has included the likes of Kurt Osiander, Dave Camarillo, Luke Stewart and BJ Penn and is still churning out great grapplers known for their top game. In efforts to improve his grappling proficiency, he wrestled for years with the Skyline juco wrestling team. An uneven streak saw Uyenoyama win three Strikeforce fights and put on some good, but non-winning performances in Japan. He bounced back with a win in Shooto by knockout in late 2010 and then waited until the time was ripe to take the UFC bout with Kid Yamamoto on November 12, 2011. In this fight, we see Uyenoyama, the smaller grappling specialist, drag the fight to his comfort zone and dominate Yamamoto, the larger wrestler. Join me after the jump for many gifs and breakdowns of how Uyenoyama managed to do that and come out with the win. All gifs are courtesy of Grappo and I thank him enormously for swiftly dealing with this week's demands. The fight did not go Uyenoyama's way at first. Kid had one of the cooler tosses seen in an octagon yet, with this modified harai goshi. It’s reminiscent of Karo’s early days and lands him in a perfect side control position. The tie-up that Uyenoyama is attempting and his forwards momentum make this a fantastic time for Kid to switch hips, pull up and get below Darren. Bam! Watch Uyenoyama’s legs after the through – he is already scrambling to improve his position to half guard, which is a hint of things to come. In the first round, Uyenoyama had one of the strangest back takes I have ever seen. Kid is trying to finish a single leg and score points, while leaving an opening for him to throw punches or moveinto side control. Darren has his arms wrapped around Yamamoto’s body in a classic wrestling takedown defense position. Sensing the weight distribution of Uyenoyama, Kid decides to go for the pass into side control and kicks his left leg out and back to bring his hips around. Darren shifts his grip, as Yamamoto moves, to the seat belt position (with his right hand angling down from Yamamoto’s right shoulder and his left hand angling up from the left ribcage area). Both hands meet below Yamamoto’s chin and lock in an s-grip. Kid realizes that he’s moved himself into a danger zone and bases the arm out to prevent Uyenoyama from tossing him to his back and attempt to achieve mount or side control. Kid wants to roll to his right and work his way out of the danger zone, so he goes for it. However, Darren has the over-under grip, a hook in and Yamamoto’s right arm is stuck on the other side of Darren’s body. When Kid rolls, Darren stays glued to his back and now the space for the left hook to be placed is wide open. After some maneuvering to keep the position, Uyenoyama ends up with the classic rear mount body lock position. His left leg is placed horizontally across Kid’s belly and the back of the right leg is placed across his left leg’s shin to complete the body lock in a triangle-like fashion. This is usually not a submission in and of itself, but it compresses the abdomen in such a way that is uncomfortable and energy-draining. After being so swiftly maneuvered from a position of advantage to a sinking pit of danger, Kid needs to get out of this as soon as he can manufacture an escape. Unfortunately, Yamamoto would not construct a real mount escape during this bout. With 31 seconds left in the round, Darren decides to try and punch Kid in the face, looking both to deal damage and to annoy/bait Kid into yielding a submission opportunity. Note that the body lock is on Kid’s right side and he rolls towards that side. Uyenoyama wants to keep the body lock, but Kid manages to create a situation where it is better for Uyenoyama to let it go and move to a more conventional rear mount position. Now is the best time for Kid to escape. However, he does not block Uyenoyama from regripping the seatbelt position and even opens himself up to a short choke attempt; instead of trying for the classic mata leo choke, Uyenoyama decides to gable grip the hand across the neck and pulls backwards. Anderson Silva finished Dan Henderson with this style of rear naked choke back at UFC 82. Yamamoto is lucky that time is short and rides out the round without tapping. At 3:31 of the second round, Uyenoyama has worked a double leg takedown successfully. The years of juco wrestling and the legendary Ralph-style top game show themselves here and he is now in top half guard. Kid does not want to be here and decides to link his arms behind Uyenoyama’s back and explode to his right. In the world of MMA, this escape might work a decent chunk of the time, but Uyenoyama is able to base his left foot just as Kid explodes – which allows him to slide his hips to Kid’s back, while keeping one hook in. As Kid finishes the explosion, Darren abandons the head grip and gets his center of mass low enough on Kid’s back that the single hook stays in. As Kid turns to finish the escape, Uyenoyama is already behind him, centered on his back and gets the body lock again. Note that Darren slides his right leg in behind Kid’s right leg – this helps him control Kid further. The exploding escape attempt was a good impulse, but the specific technique of it was very open to be exploited by Uyenoyama. Kid should have realized that Darren was already adapting to his technique and looked to come back the other way in an x-guard or pushoff scramble position. 3:25 From 2:51 to 2:45,  you can see Kid defending his neck against rear naked chokes and potentially his arm against an armbar. However, he has completely failed to deal with the body lock at all – which only helps Darren control him and tire him out. The defenses to the body lock are varied, but most rely upon the breaking of the triangle. The Gracies love teaching the footlock counter, which relies upon having the flexibility to put a sneaky footlock on the body-locking opponent – which forces a "leggo or I’ll break your foot" choice upon them. Cesar Gracie demonstrates the technique in this video: This is a nice technique because it leaves both hands free to defend from chokes and Darren’s foot placement seems to encourage this specific counter. However, Kid has to know this particular counter and execute it correctly – which is hard to do. In MMA, where chokes from the back are harder (due to gloves, poorer technique and general slipperiness), simply breaking the body lock with a one handed shove may be a better idea. It should be possible for Kid to roll over to the side of the body lock (to Kid’s right) and use his hand or elbow to shove Darren’s right knee down and out. If done right, this can loosen or break the body lock and allow for more opportunities to escape. Once broken free of the body lock, a shrimp outwards and turning into the opponent with a butterfly hook at the ready keeps the opponent from mounting you immediately and dealing further damage. Often times a scramble ensues and since Kid is a wrestler, he'll usually end up in a decent position. The above image shows the kind of position is what Kid should be striving for. Kid’s right leg is underneath Darren’s foot and his right arm can shoot down and dislodge the knee. However, he has let his left arm drift upwards and cannot defend against the choke quite right – which distracts him from breaking the body triangle. Granted, it is easier to break a body lock that is hinging upon the opponent’s foot, rather than the shin, but to never try is to doom yourself to a very long and uncomfortable round. And this could happen, too. Another workable back take defense is to slump. I do not mean to simply give up and let the opponent work you over, I mean to physically slouch your body downwards and look to escape out the back door. As Cane Prevost, a black belt over at SBGi Portland demonstrates, you want to be slumping way low, protecting your neck and preventing the seatbelt grip. via caneprevost.files.wordpress.com Uyenoyama did his non-stop best to continue dealing damage and work for the finish, yet Yamamoto did a passable job of protecting his neck for most of the bout. It can be hard to submit tough opponents from the back within MMA rounds and rules. Both fighters should be credited for their willing spirit and great energy. And Kid should get some credit for some really fly fight shorts. Those things are super-awesome - and likely super-pricey too. Although his submission defense remains good, Yamamoto needs to refine the techniques of his escapes from the bottom and get back to his feet in order to drag the fight into the Liddell-style wrestlebox style that gave him so much success in Japan. As for Uyenoyama, I look forwards to seeing him against the higher echelon bantamweights in the division and how he acquits himself against this particular sharkpit. Judo Chops are some of my favorite things here on Bloody Elbow and I am truly glad I can contribute my own knowledge here in this way. Hope you readers like it and as always, you can follow me on Twitter for my random musings and updates on the grappling world, or leave comments here.

Posted in: right, body, kid, uyenoyama, position

Read the full article at Bloody Elbow

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- The first kid begins to cry less than an hour into practice. Everyone can see it coming. That trembling lower lip, that frustrated stomp of the feet. When the tears finally start, twisting his face into a little ball of anguish, no one seems particularly surprised. "No crying today," says his coach, Daniel Cormier. Is there even a hint of sympathy in his voice? There is not. Neither is there anger nor impatience. There is only a sense that this what we are doing because this is what must be done, and crying never won a single wrestling match. The kid, who is maybe ten or eleven years old, does his best to stay strong. He sniffs hard, trying to suck all the tears and snot and shame back into his face, but there's little time to compose himself. Already Cormier is signaling for his next tormentor to step to the center of the mat and resume the storm of takedowns that has brought him to this point. The kid can't take much more of this. The kid is losing it. "No crying," Cormier reminds him before turning his attention to the new opponent who's just joined the fray, fresh and eager. "Now," he says to the new boy, motioning him toward his blubbering, red-faced teammate, "Break him!" And where are the parents? The parents are there. They're leaning over the back wall of what was once a racquetball court, watching their boys learn to play rough. They knew what they were signing their kids up for. This isn't Little League. It's not one of those youth soccer leagues, all orange wedges at halftime and equal playing time for everyone. This is Tuesday night youth wrestling practice at the American Kickboxing Academy's sprawling two-story gym in the South Bay, and it's serious business. This particular drill -- one kid in the middle, with fresh opponents cycling in every minute until he can barely stand -- is not so much about improving technique as it is about learning how to take your ass-whipping like a man. And who better to teach it than Cormier, a former U.S. Olympic wrestling team captain and current top-ten ranked, undefeated professional MMA fighter, who sees no apparent contradiction between imploring one kid to keep it together and, in the very next breath, instructing the other to take him apart? "Okay, okay," he says once the exhausted crying kid has been planted on his back yet again. "Let him up. Let him up, but stay on him." This is one part of the drill all the boys have down by now. As they climb off their foe and watch him stagger to his feet, they shove him away with all the gusto of kids being finally encouraged to do something that's forbidden everywhere else in their lives. No pushing? In the lunch line at school, maybe. Not here. Here they shove. Here they grab him by the head and fling him around. His fatigue has rendered him almost completely helpless, and they're loving it. Until it's their turn, anyway. And everybody's turn is coming, as Cormier reminds them when they're fighting back tears of frustration and exhaustion near the end of the round. Revenge is just around the corner. All you have to do is hold on and wait. All you have to do is not break, even as your 250-pound wrestling coach is standing there, shouting at the other kid to break you. "That was a huge step forward," Cormier tells me later, once the exhausted, sweat-soaked ten-year-olds have limped out of the room and into their parents' waiting minivans outside. "Just getting them not to cry, that's a huge step." The way Cormier sees it, that's as much a part of what he's doing with the kids' wrestling practices as anything else. The techniques they can learn anywhere. But learning that peculiar joy that wrestlers take in breaking an opponent and refusing to be broken themselves? That's something that the 32-year-old Cormier may be uniquely qualified to teach them. ***** The temptation in stories like these is to look for the 'Rosebud' moment, some defining experience that will explain everything that comes after. More often than not, there isn't one. For most people, there are several. One piles up on top of another and another and another. Take Thanksgiving Day, 1986. Cormier is a seven year-old kid growing up in Lafayette, Louisiana, when his father, long since split from Cormier's mother, is shot and killed by the father of his second wife. You can almost imagine the way this story goes. Thanksgiving dinner with the in-laws, an argument ensues, things get out of hand. Then bang. You've got a tragedy in your living room. "And the guy walked free," Cormier says now, relating the story now like it happened to somebody else. "I'm sure she was thinking, well, I've already lost my husband. I don't want to lose my father too. Plus, it was his house. You know, self-defense." On paper, that seems like the kind of event that would immediately change everything about your life. But really, Cormier says, it was his older brother, who was 19 at the time, who took the brunt of that one, at least for the time being. "I think I was young enough that I didn't really know enough to really understand what happened. Then I got older and realized, hey, my dad got murdered. But I was lucky. My parents were divorced, and my stepdad had been there for me since I was about three. He was my father, really. My dad was my dad, but he was my father. He raised me to be the man that I am today." As a kid, Cormier was a gifted athlete. Football, basketball -- he even won the regional version of the pass, dribble, and shoot competition when he was nine. It was shortly after that when he first discovered wrestling, the sport that would change his life. Back then, however, it was just one of several sports that he excelled at. Not only was Cormier a three-time state champion wrestler in high school, but he was also a standout linebacker on his high school football team. And in Louisiana, football was a religion. "Our team was terrible, though," Cormier says. "We'd fight all the time. We were like the Bad News Bears." The problem wasn't so much a lack of talent as a lack of discipline, according to Cormier. Their coach would call one defense and the guys on the defensive line would decide to play another. Everyone led and no one followed. "I think that left a sour taste in my mouth about football. It was like, man, I have to depend on all these other dudes? Forget this. I've never done another team sport after that." In wrestling, he didn't have that problem. He might have been dependent on his teammates in training, but when he walked out on the mats to compete, he was the only one he had to trust. That suited him, and he would end up turning down scholarship offers for football in order to pursue wrestling at Colby Junior College in Kansas. Soon the awards and the medals began to pile up. He went from a high school state champion to a junior college national champion to an All-American at Oklahoma State. It was more or less a given that he'd wrestle for the U.S. on the international stage, and everything seemed to be going according to plan. But just as he was gearing up to make the Olympic freestyle squad for the 2004 Athens games, tragedy found its way into his life again. On June 14, 2003, Cormier's three-month old daughter, Kaedyn, was killed in a car accident after an 18-wheeler slammed into the back of a friend's car. Kaedyn was strapped into a car seat inside, but it couldn't save her life during the violent collision that left two others injured. Cormier was 23 years old at the time. He'd only just gotten a taste of fatherhood, but he loved it. He thought about all the times he'd tried to soothe his crying infant daughter by driving her around the neighborhood, trying to locate a song on the radio that would act as a fitting lullaby. He finally settled on Heather Hedley's R&B balled "I Wish I Wasn't." "I don't know why, maybe the lady's voice was soothing, but she loved it," he says. "I'd put it on, drive her around Stillwater, [Oklahoma,] and she'd stop crying, go to sleep." After the accident that killed his daughter, Cormier had no choice put to pull it together and get back on the mat. USA Wrestling arranged a special wrestle-off for its world team trials in order to let Cormier grieve. He won it and earned his first spot on the big stage, and again his wrestling career seemed to be the one dependable constant in his life, even as he continued to struggle with the loss of his daughter. "When she died, I thought, this is the worst thing that can possibly happen," he says. "Then, the Olympics." ***** The people who know Cormier, they know exactly what he means when he refers to 'The Olympics.' Even though he was on two U.S. Olympic wrestling teams, and even though his fourth-place finish in the 2004 games seemed like a heartbreaker at the time, it was nothing compared to 2008 in Beijing. The important thing to know about what happened in Beijing, Cormier will tell you even now, is that he made the weight. Somehow this gets lost in the telling and re-telling of it, so much so that it still gets brought up by teammates who want to needle him over his diet or physique. But the fact is that when it came time to step on the scales in Beijing, Cormier made the 211-pound limit. It was what came after that derailed his Olympic dreams. "I made the weight, and afterwards my body just went insane," he says. "I was vomiting, cramping. I couldn't walk. I didn't know what the hell was going on." Cormier collapsed and was taken to the makeshift hospital inside the Olympic village, where doctors put him on IVs all night to treat him for what appeared to be kidney failure. As they explained, it was likely the result of cutting weight the wrong way for so many years, and he was simply unlucky enough to have it catch up with him at the worst possible time. Of course, that explanation didn't sit well with Cormier. "I took [the IVs] out and said, 'I'm going to wrestle.' It was about eight o'clock. The competition started at nine or ten. The lady from the [United States Olympic Committee] said, 'Listen, they are not going to let you wrestle. You've been on IVs all night. What do you think you're doing?' I was all broken up. I was crying. I was a mess. My mom was sitting there crying. My ex[-wife] was crying. Everybody was crying. Everybody was freaking out, because I was just going insane." AS U.S. wrestling coach Kevin Jackson remembers it, the devastation struck them all at once as they watched Cormier come to grips with the situation. "I was in the room when they told him he would not be able to wrestle, and the emotions that hit him were overwhelming," Jackson says. "You know, I teared up. It's the Olympic Games. Those opportunities don't come along very often, and he'd had two." As Jackson saw it, Cormier had had "a very good chance to wrestle for a gold medal" that year, and now he wouldn't even make it onto the mat. It was a disappointment not just for Cormier, but for the entire U.S. wrestling community, which wasn't entirely sympathetic when he returned home. "It didn't seem like I got the most support from everybody," says Cormier. "The USA wrestling people were really mad at me. Kevin Jackson stood by me. He was kind of the only one. He actually lost his job behind all that." Jackson resigned his position as head coach after the 2008 games, he says, and the Cormier situation was only part of the reason for it. "The people he was closest to, who he thought loved and supported him the most, they turned their back on him a little bit," Jackson says. "They didn't look at how it affected him; they looked at how it affected them and their program." The way they saw it, Cormier had torpedoed their medal hopes with an irresponsible weight-cut. As Jackson puts it: "The doctor said that eventually it would have happened, and unfortunately it happened at the worst time. It was a consequence of not only losing weight the wrong way, but doing so when he was aware of the right way to do it. That's the only place I really fault Daniel in this whole situation. He was a professional athlete, an Olympic athlete being paid to wrestle, and he was responsible for being at his best, and this was a part of that. I had been communicating with him about that since 2006, talking about...different things we needed to do, weight-wise. Unfortunately, it came back to haunt us." Once he got home, Cormier fell into a deep depression. A few weeks earlier he'd been an Olympic hopeful -- one his country's best wrestlers. Now the nation's wrestling apparatus wanted nothing to do with him, and his life suddenly seemed empty and devoid of purpose. "I felt so alone. It was just me and my family. I had so many breakdowns. My ex would be at work and she'd call me and I'd be crying, so she'd rush home to make sure I didn't do anything to myself. It was that bad. I just walked around like a zombie. I was taking sleeping pills, pain pills. I just wanted anything to take the pain away. I felt like I'd let everybody down." Even now, all you have to do is mention the Olympics to Cormier and you can watch his face fall. At dinner in a hotel a couple nights before his Strikeforce bout against Antonio Silva, AKA teammate Luke Rockhold brought it up to make a point about the futility of Cormier even considering a potential bout at light heavyweight, and that was all it took to get Cormier practically jumping out of his chair. "It sticks with me to this day," he says. "I think about it all the time. I mean, the Olympics? I can't not think about it. And the guys, we can make fun of each other all the time, but when they bring that up, it just kills me. It drains me." Cormier tried to lead a regular life after that. He had a job selling advertising space at a TV station in Oklahoma. He hated it, because "I felt like a telemarketer," but it was something. He coached on the side. He thought he would do what every wrestler did, which was hang around and wait his turn to get a head coaching spot for some college team. He even tried playing in an adult softball league, just to satisfy the competitive urges. It was no good. Again he was dependent on other people. "I was dying," he says. "I was drinking every night after work. I didn't even leave for lunch anymore. I just stayed in my office and slept." Meanwhile, his old wrestling buddy Mo Lawal was in his ear about this MMA stuff, all the money that an elite wrestler could make at it once he learned the basics of the other arts. "It was crazy. Mo had so much money. He was sending me money. He's like my little brother, and he's sending me money. He was fighting every month, and they paid him $48,000 a fight in Japan when he was first starting out." Better still, Lawal was getting to compete. He wasn't dying slowly in an office somewhere. He wasn't depressed every day, dreading the alarm clock going off the next morning. Dreading tomorrow, next week, next year. Whatever was doing that for him, Cormier had to get a piece. Something had to change. "You go through so many things, and it's like one cloudy day after another," he says. "You think, eventually the sun's got to shine. A better day has to come. Who deserves to just get beat down into the ground, one bad thing after another?" ***** You see Cormier these days, and it's hard to imagine a happier, more well-adjusted person. Not only is he an undefeated heavyweight on the verge of what should be the biggest fight of his career against Josh Barnett in the Strikeforce Grand Prix finals, he's also AKA's go-to man when it comes to MMA-specific wrestling -- a role he relishes. Ask AKA head coach Javier Mendez what Cormier changed about the team's wrestling program, and he'll tell you: "Everything." And though on any given day the training room at AKA includes famous pro fighters who were themselves standout college wrestlers, they all answer to coach Cormier during wrestling practice. As he takes them through warm-ups just a few days after teammate Cain Velasquez lost his UFC heavyweight title, he's quick to let everyone know that he's watching them. "Why are you walking?" he demands of one teammate who's strolling from one drill to the next. He might as well be talking to one of his ten-year-olds, but the man isn't about to argue with Cormier. It goes on like this all afternoon. Why is Josh Koscheck not doing push-ups with the rest of the team? Why is Todd Duffee taking his time about starting the next round? And Gray Maynard, you can't really be tired already, can you? If you're on the mats at AKA, you're subject to Cormier's critical eye. And if you have the misfortune to be even close to his weight class, as one unfortunate sparring partner is, you're about to find out how much he enjoys breaking people even in training. At first, the guy's a game opponent. They vie for takedowns and control in the clinch, and he holds his own against Cormier. He even comes close to getting a takedown of his own, which is a sight so rare everyone looks up in brief confusion, as if the symphony just hit a bad note. Then the grind starts to get to him. One round after another, this unceasing assault, and you can see it in the way he slowly shuffles over to Cormier to start a new round. "Stop wasting time," Cormier shouts before slamming him to the mat. There's still several minutes on the clock, but this guy is done. He can barely get on his feet long enough to get taken down again, and by the end of practice he's flat on his back, looking up at Cormier, who's barely breathing hard. "I love that," he says later. "That's something your wrestling coaches put in you, and you learn that there's nothing more satisfying than a guy laying on the mat, just done. I'm tired, but when I see him like that, I get a second wind." Second winds are coming in many forms for Cormier these days. His MMA career couldn't be going better, even as he rehabs a broken hand and spends a lot of days sparring with one good hand, "getting blasted" as he learns to make do with a jab and some kicks. He and his girlfriend had a son in February, and he's now old enough to walk to the door to meet his father when he returns home from practice. They've even got another on the way -- "Irish twins," he says with a grin -- and even the pain and fear that lingered after his daughter's death has begun to dissipate, though it hasn't been easy. When he first drove his son home from the hospital, it hit him harder than he expected. "I was [expletive] terrified," he says. "I didn't want to go anywhere with him in the car. My girl was in the backseat with him, but I was just so scared. I was driving slow in the rain, people passing me. But guess what song comes on the radio?" Heather Hedley's "I Wish I Wasn't," of course. The same one that used to put his daughter to sleep. The one you almost never hear on the radio in 2011. "It seemed like it was my daughter saying, 'It's going to be okay. I'm going to watch over my little brother.' That's when I was like, I think I'm going to do alright by this one. I think it's going to be okay this time. I'm catching my break." And maybe that's what you learn after all those years in suffocating wrestling rooms, one long grind after another. Besides the double-legs and the duck unders, maybe you really learn the value of simply refusing to be broken. You find out that even when you're in a terrible position with no clear way out, all you have to do is not give up. You take it. You try and give some back. You keep pushing and you don't quit, and before you know it you're on top. You're winning. The clouds are gone and the sun is shining and the dead are alive again, waving you on and telling you to keep going, keep going. Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Posted in: time, day, kid, cormier, olympic

Read the full article at AOL Fanhouse

Kid Nate opines that Urijah Faber resurrected the California Kid last night in front of a California Crowd. Read it at MMA Nation. Photo by Esther Lin for MMA Fighting.

Posted in: kid, esther lin, kid nate, urijah faber, california kid

Read the full article at Bloody Elbow

Kid Nate writes up "Kid Yamamoto's Last Stand" -- a farewell to JMMA's lost glory days at MMA Nation.

Posted in: glory, kid, kid nate, glory days, kid yamamotos

Read the full article at Bloody Elbow

This weekend, Kid Yamamoto will take the stage against Darren Uyenoyama for the UFC on FOX. And MMA fans will likely wonder "what happened to Kid?" It's a fair question. Yamamoto just might be the most hyped up Japanese prospect to ever live. A lot of fans mock Kid's hype, but for a time, it was well deserved. For one, he had all the chops to be considered a prospect.  With his father having represented Japan in the 72' Olympics, Kid would look to duplicate his father's efforts when he took part in the 2007 Emperor's Cup to qualify for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. An arm injury against a former Bronze Medalist forced him out of the tournament, and essentially back into MMA. But before Kid tried his hand at Olympic level wrestling, he tried his hand at K-1 level kickboxing. That last sentence reads like a punchline now. But it would be unfair to mock K-1 in the context Kid competed in. The MAX tournaments contained the world's elite, and unlike at HW, there was no room for the neophytes. Certainly not against the K-1 star, and legend, Masato. I'm not the right person to make proper comparisons, or help you understand what a big deal Masato was. But if I were to make any kind of approximation, I would compare him to De La Hoya. Imagine B.J. Penn against Oscar with only one professional boxing match to his name, and that's what you had when Kid fought Masato in 2004 at K-1 Premium Dynamite. It should have been a massacre, right? The fight started out interestingly enough. Kid wasn't reluctant and got right in Masato's face. In fact, he scored a knockdown early in the first round off a brilliant straight left between Masato's guard.The crowd went nuts. Speaking of nuts, when the action resumed, Yamamoto took one of the hardest kicks to the balls you'll ever see. To give you an idea, when Kid Yamamoto dislocated his elbow at the Emperor's Cup, he merely grimaced. This was the same injury that had Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua crying in agony when Mark Coleman toppled over him. But when Masato kicked him in his spermatic wheelhouse, destroying hundreds of tadpole shaped future Einsteins, 'Kid' was reduced to tears. Fanboys of the Sherdog and Underground forums, of which Kid had many at the time, would argue the kick altered the fight. It's a stretch, and Kid's K-1 record of 1-3 would reveal as much, but to say it didn't have an effect on Kid would be mistaken. Yamamoto fought valiantly. But the fight would also reveal Kid's underrated chin, as he took a hard right high kick directly to the kisser, and merely crumpled to the canvas instead of violently flatlining like a normal person (he would make up for this against Zambidis). Time hasn't been kind to Yamamoto. Now a symbol of what's wrong with Japanese MMA, it's difficult to understand who Kid was. Most fans know K-1 as a dying organization, and therefore can't imagine a time when K-1 level meant K-1 level. Nor can they imagine a time when Kid was considered one of the world's best. For my part, I never considered Kid a part of any P4P list. His competition was lacking even back then. People make a big deal of his Hero's tournament win, and while the tournament was respectable, it was a far cry from the brilliance of Pride's Bushido series. However, it's unfortunate that Kid is on the wrong side of 34 (still fighting above his weight class no less). He was never the best, no matter what his fans tell you, no matter what context they're speaking in. But his performances were savage, and at times magical. It would be unfair to think of him as a failed Japanese import when time has simply passed him by. People will use the narrative, but Kid is not a symbol for the death of JMMA. He's a symbol for the death of youth, and the inability to adapt to the ever evolving landscape of MMA. Watch the three part video of his K-1 match with Masato after the jump... K-1 Premium DYNAMITE! 2004 - Masato 魔裟斗 vs. Norifumi 'KID' Yamamoto 山本 KID 徳郁 - Part 1 (via YouCantKillMrGOATSE) K-1 Premium DYNAMITE! 2004 - Masato 魔裟斗 vs. Norifumi 'KID' Yamamoto 山本 KID 徳郁 - Part 2 (via YouCantKillMrGOATSE) K-1 Premium DYNAMITE! 2004 - Masato 魔裟斗 vs. Norifumi 'KID' Yamamoto 山本 KID 徳郁 - Part 3 (via YouCantKillMrGOATSE)

Posted in: time, part, kid, yamamoto, masato

Read the full article at Head Kick Legend

Did someone say "mainstream?" This Saturday (Nov. 12, 2011), Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) will make one of the biggest moves in the organization’s history, presenting its first event via the FOX network from the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. It doesn’t sound like that big of a deal at first blush. After all, we’re only getting one fight. And we’ve seen plenty of "free" cards on Spike TV before, right? Well, that would be true if the headliners weren’t UFC Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos. In addition to what promises to be the most entertaining heavyweight showdown in years, the promotion is offering a bevy of undercard bouts to be viewed on Facebook, featuring the likes of Japanese dynamo Norifumi "KID" Yamamoto, rising prospects Dustin Poirier and Pablo Garza, and lightweight contenders Ben Henderson and Clay Guida. Follow me after the jump for a look at the first handful of Facebook skirmishes: 135 lbs.: Norifumi Yamamoto vs. Darren Uyenoyama Ouch. It seems like just yesterday that Japan’s Norifumi Yamamoto (18-4) was the most feared man below lightweight. Possessing hellacious power despite being undersized and a dangerous freestyle wrestling game, "KID" dominated the Japanese scene, knocking out the likes of Rani Yahya and Genki Sudo. Then came 2007, a failed bid for the Olympics, a dislocated elbow, a bad divorce, and upset losses to Joe Warren, Jae Hee Cheon and Masanori Kanehara. Finally, a breakout performance from Demetrious Johnson. With his back against the wall, the former featherweight demigod will need a big win to remain employed. Grappling expert Darren Uyenoyama (6-3), perhaps the first American in UFC history to have more syllables in his last name than his Japanese opponent, has also cut his teeth on the Japanese circuit, most recently knocking out Shooto titleholder Shuichiro Katsumura in a bout that saw him escape some scary leglocks before hammerfisting Katsumura into oblivion. Despite debuting in 2002 with a win over Muay Thai monster Rambaa "M-16" Somdet, the "Bone Crusher" will compete for just the tenth time as he attempts to bring down the Japanese juggernaut. Faded though his star may be, taking out Yamamoto would give Darren a serious jump to make up for lost time. There’s a whole lot you can question about KID: His heart, chin post-Zambidis, attitude, the decisions he’s made, etc. One thing you can’t question, however, is the fact that he hits really freaking hard. Despite walking around near the bantamweight limit, Kid has 13 knockouts and pretty much all of them have come against lightweights and featherweights. At one point, he scored seven consecutive knockouts, including a mind-blowing four-second flying knee on Kazuyuki Miyata. With that said, I’m pretty sure that KID Yamamoto is gone. While Johnson was the only one to really dominate him, he’s still lost three of four, and he doesn’t seem anywhere near the killer he used to be. Still, if there’s even a fraction of the former KID left, Uyenoyama is going to sleep. "BC" is 2-2 in his last four, and while Katsumura was technically the champ at the time, he’s not the most durable sort. KID has faced and obliterated bigger and stronger, and Uyenoyama doesn’t possess the skills that let Kanehara, Warren and Johnson smother the Japanese dynamo. KID’s counter right is one of the nastiest weapons in MMA ... and Uyenoyama’s going to learn that the hard way. And then he’s going to forget it because he got hit really hard. Prediction: Yamamoto via first-round knockout 145 lbs.: Mackens Semerzier vs. Robert Peralta There’s always a spot at the table for you if you make sure to bring it. Making his WEC debut at a measly 4-0 against dreaded submissions specialist Wagnney Fabiano, Semerzier (6-3) was given slightly less than a snowball’s chance in hell, as his opponent was expected to challenge for the title if teammate Jose Aldo failed. Dumbfounding everyone involved, however, "Mack da Menace" locked up a triangle choke just over two minutes in and tapped the highly-regarded black belt, sending him scurrying down to the bantamweight division. While he lost three straight before the WEC merged with the UFC, his high-octane style was enough to convince Dana to bring him along for the ride. With a rear-naked choke over Alex Caceres in the books, Semerzier has his sights on making another moment to remember come Saturday night. Power-punching Robert Peralta (15-3), who actually replaced Semerzier against Mike Lullo at UFC Fight Night 25, was slated to be cannon fodder for the DREAM champion Hiroyuki Takaya at Strikeforce: Diaz vs. Daley. After dropping the murderous power-puncher and surviving a wrestling onslaught en route to a decision victory, Peralta was tapped to join the UFC against Mike Lullo and made the most of it, battering the submissions specialist over the course of three rounds. With 11 knockouts to his name, Peralta has begun his ascent up the division ladder. And becoming the first man to stop Semerzier certainly wouldn’t slow him down. I’m a big fan of Mack. His fight with Cub Swanson was absolutely crazy and his offense in general is always a treat. However, Peralta is the more experienced of the two and packs more power. Basically, if you’re sufficiently dangerous on the feet such that Hiroyuki Takaya -- a man who could probably knock out a medium-sized buffalo --doesn’t want to stand with you, you’re doing something right. Semerzier isn’t a technician in any sense of the word. And, exciting as he is, I get the feeling he’s going to run head-first into something painful. I’m going by the same logic I used for the Mills fight, picking the guy who beat someone I, logically or not, consider really, really good. Takaya was far more dangerous than Semerzier. And sad as it’ll be, I think Mack is going to sleep. Prediction: Peralta via second round technical knockout 135 lbs.: Alex Caceres vs. Cole Escovedo My father once told me: Never have an alligator’s mouth if you’ve got a parakeet’s ass. The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 12 showman Alex Caceres (5-4) talked a big game and packed a good submissions game to back it up, but he was unceremoniously smothered by eventual finalist Michael Johnson. His luck failed to improve in his first official UFC bout, as he was dominated and choked out by Mackens Semerzier. Now, dropping to 135 pounds after being choked out yet again by Jim Hettes, Caceres might want to start walking the walk. The sailing has not been smooth on the good ship Escovedo (17-8). After three consecutive losses and a life-threatening bout of staph kept him out of commission throughout all of 2007 and 2008, the inaugural WEC featherweight champ went on a tear, winning five straight. Unfortunately, things quickly went south once again, as he was knocked out by former victim Michael McDonald, submitted for the first time in his career by Michihiro Omigawa, dully controlled by Renan Barao, and knocked flat by Takeya Mizugaki. With only one win in his last five, Escovedo is nearing the limit of where his legacy can take him. And an afro’d sacrifice will be needed to keep him afloat. I will be completely and utterly baffled if this isn’t absolute domination by Escovedo. I don’t think Caceres has won a single minute since he joined the UFC, and dropping to bantamweight isn’t going to change that. Sure, Escovedo hasn’t exactly been setting the world on fire lately, but considering he lost to guys like Renan Barao, Takeya Mizugaki and Michihiro Omigawa (why yes, I WILL continue ramming Omigawa down your throats at every opportunity), that’s still a far more impressive resume than anything Caceres has done. Prediction: Escovedo via first-round submission 185 lbs.: Mike Pierce vs. Paul Bradley Chael Sonnen protégé Mike Pierce (12-4) looked to be building up a good head of steam at welterweight; after putting Jon Fitch into more trouble than anyone besides GSP had in the UFC in a losing effort, he racked up three quick wins before being matched up against Johny Hendricks. Despite his best efforts, Pierce lost a split decision and, in an intriguing reversal of normality, decided to move up in weight and test the waters at 185. Now, slated to fight Paul Bradley for the second time, he’ll be out to make a statement in his middleweight debut. Well-travelled and well-rounded veteran Paul Bradley (18-3, 1 NC) made his UFC debut on short notice, replacing the upgraded Constantos Philippou against Rafael Natal at UFC 133. While he got himself a shot at the big time and plenty of goodwill from Dana and co, he was unable to overcome the size and grappling of the Brazilian, falling via decision. Bradley, who has a nicely symmetrical six knockouts/six submissions/six decisions record, will be gunning for revenge and validation Saturday night, and won’t be satisfied with anything less than a stoppage of Pierce. Looking at their records, it’s clear that they generally only lose to people who are better wrestlers than they are --Pierce’s only recent losses are Fitch and Hendricks, while Bradley’s are to Pierce, Strikeforce champ Luke Rockhold, and the much bigger Rafael Natal. I have concerns about Pierce moving up in weight considering how close the fight with Hendricks was, but since he’s fighting someone who also generally fights at 170 and who he already holds a win over, he shouldn’t run into any issues. Pierce is a very, very good fighter. Bradley, I’m not convinced. With the trouble Paul had with Natal, I don’t have much confidence that he’ll be able to stay off his back against Pierce; look for a classic Team Quest 30-27 for the Fitch-Slayer-who-Almost-Was. Prediction: Pierce via unanimous decision 205 lbs.: Aaron Rosa vs. Matt Lucas San Antonio fighter Aaron Rosa (16-4) got his biggest opportunity yet when he was called upon to replace Dave Herman against Joey Beltran at UFC 131. Unfortunately, someone forgot to tell his waistline, and a bloated Rosa was beaten down by Joey Beltran over the course of ten minutes. Returning to 205 after a series of ungainly heavyweight bouts, Rosa, who was originally scheduled to fight Fabio Maldonado on the "Cruz vs. Johnson" undercard, will need one heck of a win to erase the memory of his last effort. Southpaw banger Matt Lucas (14-2), following consecutive submission losses to Bellator veterans Richard Hale and Givanildo "The Arm Collector" Santana, rolled back his sleeves and got to work, securing five consecutive wins in the past two years, four by knockout. Most recently, he pasted Shawn Frye for the second time, knocking him cold in a grand total of forty-two seconds. In the shark tank that is the light-heavyweight division, he’ll need some encore performances, and Rosa is a great place to start. I understand that letting yourself go between training camps is a pretty common occurrence, but my word, Rosa looked awful against Beltran. Even though he’s definitely better suited at 205 pounds, the fact that he hasn’t made the cut in a long time and the fact that he was around 240 last time out doesn’t fill me with confidence. Lucas’ impressive record is, like a lot of guys’, built on weak competition, but he seems to have solid takedowns and decent power in his hands. No matter how much I want to stick to my tradition of picking guys who are proven against at least decent opposition, I can’t get Rosa’s last fight out of my head. Prediction: Lucas via second round technical knockout The two best heavyweights on the planet duking it out and we get to see it for free. It doesn’t get any better than this, Maniacs. Remember, MMAmania.com will deliver up-to-the minute, blow-by-blow coverage of all the fights on Facebook, which will also be available on FoxSports.com. The online portion will also feature several other intriguing match ups, including a potential number one lightweight contender eliminator match between Clay Guida vs. Ben Henderson. For all the UFC on FOX 1 fight card updates, news and notes check out our complete event archive right here.

Posted in: ufc, fight, time, kid, semerzier

Read the full article at MMA Mania

MMA Payout had the opportunity to speak with the owners of CageHero, Mark Mastrandrea and Ian Parker as it recently re-branded itself focusing its business to target kids. Once a sponsor of fighters in the octagon, it has a new web site, a new clothing line and its CageHero Kids Team. “We feel we can be the brand that really brings that innocent image to MMA- help it go mainstream,” said Mastrandrea, “We are re-branding to further target the kids. We feel there is a real need for a new generations Superhero.” MP: When did Cagehero decide to target kids? What was the basis of your decision? Did you do any market research or look at trends to target a younger demographic? CH: With the characters we have developed, we knew kids were always the ultimate destination. We felt the need to educate the decision maker first. The 18-34 Male demo is the target everyone looks too, but we knew the increase in women’s interest-both as participants, and consumers in MMA was important too.  Both parents- the mother and father buy the kids their clothing.  When we looked at the numbers, we also found that the Youth Apparel Market is actually bigger then the Men’s Apparel Market. MP: How did you find the kids to be in the commercial? CH: It started with Stevo- the mohawked wrestling YouTube sensation.  When we saw his video on YouTube, it made both of us smile, laugh and really remember the days of Youth Sports. Days later we traveled to see him at a tournament to meet him, and his parents-the family were great people.  We then thought of the concept of the Cagehero Kids Team-  a compilation of the world’s best youth athletes across the world promoting there respective youth combat sports.    We checked out some kids in Vegas, California and then received some help from our friends over at Youth1.com.  In the past 2 days we have received almost 100 emails of new kids applying for the team. MP: Are you still sponsoring MMA fighters? If so, who. Are they mostly in Bellator? I see that Ben Askren was in the commercial. Is he still sponsored? CH: As far as the stereotypical MMA Marketing, walking out wearing our logo- Ben Askren is the only fighter in either Bellator/UFC that we will be marketing.  Ben is a great guy who really embodies our brand.  He also deals directly with kids, owning the Askren Brothers Wrestling Academy.  We do some outside signings/appearances with UFC guys, but for the time being we only “sponsor” in Bellator. MP: How have/will the marketing efforts change as a result of the re-branding? CH: We will continue to market in MMA-Bellator for now.  We have begun a stronger push with the Kids Marketing with Videos and a number of strategic partnerships with Youth-focused companies.  We are also starting to focus more on a grassroots level with a presence at Youth Wrestling Tournaments and BJJ Competitions. MP: Are there any concerns that kids may be too young for MMA? CH: When we started this company, we knew we were investing in the sport of MMA.  We’re passionate about it, and believe that one day it will be the largest sport in the world with acceptance by people of all cultures/ages.  With the UFC on Fox Deal, the recent Bellator-Viacom deal and the constant penetration of new markets- we think it’s only a matter of time.  Like Dana always says “Fighting is our DNA- we get it, we like it.”  Our brand will always have MMA roots.  It directly ties in with our characters as well. Our Theory: -In the 80′s the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles took over, representing the fictional art of “Ninjitsu” -In the 90s- the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, with martial arts/Gymnastics. We are the new Superhero, with ties to Mixed Martial Arts- the new martial art. MP: How will you try to bring MMA mainstream? CH: We are trying to bring MMA Mainstream through the Kid’s Team, the characters and the message.  Some people, even if educated, are ignorant to the sport.  When you align it with Kids, Superheroes and a message like “The Hero Comes From Within”- it definitely puts the sport in a more innocent light. Our full length script and artwork with our finalized characters is also completed.  We are currently taking it to market and attaching the proper people. MP: What are the future plans for the brand? CH:  The future plans for the brand is to further develop the Cagehero Kid’s Team with athletes throughout the world.  We are doing our first Youth Combine with Youth1, Ben Askren and some surprise UFC guests in the upcoming months.  Keeping the same comic book aesthetic.  As far as the Adults, we will continue to market in Bellator, and always keep our eyes open if the opportunity is right to go to the UFC. Our new adult line is more geared towards inspirational lifestyle apparel.  The Big Picture remains the same:  A comic book, a movie.  Become this generations Superhero. Payout Perspective: CageHero is a unique brand and based on its designs, it was poised to make an easy transition from the young male target demographic to the kids demographic. This is partly due to the comic book designs and partly due to its positive messaging. Certainly, the way the brand is positioning itself in the market, it seems like the most kid-friendly, parent approved brand to wear as opposed to the more adult-themed shirts from other brands. The Strikeforce merger with UFC may have muted a portion of its fighters due to the UFC sponsor fee. Although it says that it may make a return, the brand has found another way to market itself within the MMA industry. Through outreach and visibility at youth wrestling and grappling tournaments and continutng its sponsorship of Ben Askren, it is making all the right moves in targeting youth with its new campaign. CageHero also is participating in a campaign benefiting Clothes4Soul, an organization that facilitates the donations of new clothing to those in need. When you buy one shirt, it will donate one to the organization. Participating in this program helps the CageHero brand in showing that it truly is making a positive impression in the MMA community. CageHero’s new info: New Website:  www.cagehero.net Facebook:   http://www.facebook.com/CAGEHERO Twitter:  @cagehero

Posted in: mma, kid, brand, youth, cagehero

Read the full article at MMA Payout

A new SUPERHERO has emerged: Mixed martials arts-branded, CageHero. This unique superhero brand started has re-released its brand as a whole: A new line, a new website (www.cagehero.net) and the release of there CageHero Kids Team. The team is a compilation of the world's best youth athletes. The inaugural team features kid's from all over the United States; most notably the mohawked YouTube wrestling phenom, "Stevo," who took the world by storm with more than million Youtube hits earlier in the year. The nine-year-old New York state wrestling champion has over 250 win's in his career. Stevo will be joined on the CageHero Kids Team by other phenoms such as: Keegan -- Two-time NAGA Champion Expert Division/Vermont Wrestling State Champion  Hale -- JIBJJ five-time Naga Champion  Skylar- 2008/2009/2010 United States Breaking Association/World Breaking Association Junior Female Competitor of the Year Tyler -- NorthEast Open/NAFMA Champion  CageHero recently released a new commercial of its kids team in action, which features cameos from some familiar faces in MMA as well: Bellator Champion Ben Askren, UFC Standout Chris Weidman and ROC champ Al Iaquinta To watch the CageHero Kids Team commercial right now click here. The owners of CageHero traveled nationwide in search of finding these youth athletes that embodied the true meaning of CageHero: Desire. Dedication. Devotion. Teamwork. Passion. Inner-Strength. Self-Reliance. Inspiration. Leaders in Athletics, Academics and Community Service. Cagehero is dedicated to the idea that inner-strength, self-reliance and a healthy competitive attitude is what makes dreams come true. The goal is simple: Inspire all generations to "Follow your passion"™ and remember that "The Hero comes from Within"™. Again. to check out the video for the CageHero Kids Team click here. To "Like" for the CageHero on Facebook and support the movement click here. And to check out the latest CageHero product line -- EVERYTHING IS ON SALE RIGHT NOW -- click here. 

Posted in: team, kid, state, cagehero, youth athletes

Read the full article at MMA Mania

Diaz bros-2 Gomi-0. Nate Diaz just put on what Joe Rogan called the performance of his career, dominating the former Pride champion Takanori Gomi all over the Octagon and submitting The Fireball Kid in the first round. Now I think MMA-Japan's Michael Hackler has to do some sort of demeaning act for LayzietheSavage, I'm not sure what, but there was a bet floating around out there, that much I do know. From the outset Nate boxed up Gomi in typical 209 fashion: stiff jabs with high volume and devastating accuracy. Gomi couldn't get anything going at all, constantly being forced to the outside with Diaz's sharp and quick strikes. Gomi attempted to do what he does best and land that one big strike but he whiffs on multiple occasions. Diaz continues to pick The Fireball Kid apart and it goes to the ground where Nate attempts a triangle (he totally had the opportunity to sink in the gogo) then he switches over to the armbar and Gomi taps quickly.

Posted in: diaz, gomi, nate, kid, fireball kid

Read the full article at Middle Easy

Cage fighting kids? You can find them at the Greenlands Labour Club in Preston, United Kingdom, as young as eight, complete with buxom ring girls and 250+ adult spectators. As always, I see a story like this and instinctively cringe. This time was no different. However, as always, once I started reading the details, it's never quite as bad as I thought. Rosie Carter, from the Safechild children’s charity (via Telegraph.co.uk), does not agree: "This is sick, absolutely disgraceful and I would call on social services to step in. I can't believe the parents are allowing their young children to participate in this barbarity." Appalled doctors and child safety campaigners said the lack of headguards could cause brain injury or death and called for the ‘sick and disturbing' practice to be banned. A spokesman for Lancashire Police said the force had "looked into this matter fully and there are no issues for us to pursue" Once again, I for one, do not have a problem with kids training or even competing in some manner of MMA. Most of us fans know all the obvious responses to stories like these. My only question would be in the judgement of the venue, and if it makes sense to include children in an event that is designed for adults. Video highlights of the controversial event, after the jump. Whether these stories have any affect on the general public is debatable, but it still aggravates me when people are using terms such as "barbarity" in describing our sport. Your thoughts?

Posted in: british media, kids training, kids video, story, kid

Read the full article at MMA Mania