MMA-URLS

Watching this week's episode of UFC The Ultimate Fighter Live, I was struck by an unfortunate realization - I'm kind of burnt out on this season. It's not anything that happened this episode. While this week's pair of fights lacked the drama of last week's two underdog wins, these were both entertaining fights. Vinc Pichel vs. Chris Saunders was a fun scrap, while Al Iaquinta scored a brutal KO win over Andy Ogle. Two live, free fights and one step closer to the finals should leave me with nothing to complain about. And I hate being negative. But... Here in week 11, it just feels a bit like going through the motions, and watching the show felt too much like a chore this week. Because once you've seen everyone fight once in the opening round, what you end up with tends to be fights with great heart, but not always superb technique. I don't always demand flawless fighters, and many times its a fighter's flaws that make him intriguing, but that intrigue is hard to sustain over the course of 3 months. And it looks like I'm not alone in this view, as this week's episode dropped down to 821,000 viewers - a 13% drop from last week's already low ratings. That makes this episode the lowest rated episode of TUF in its 15 season run. Ouch. On an episode of Mauro Ranallo's MMA Show podcast last week, there was discussion of how this season hasn't succeeded in producing any emerging stars. And to a large degree, I think that's true. Michael Chiesa and Andy Ogle have brought out their personalities and have won me over in the process, but is there a real break-out star in the mix? At the moment, I don't see it. Which is unfortunate, as I do think this is a talented group. And if you're talking talent, you need to bring up Al Iaquinta. With his 1st round KO of Ogle, he now stands tall as the favorite to claim the season. He's got good stand-up, nice power, and strong determination. He also has a total lack of personality, but perhaps that non-personality can become his persona if he keeps winning. He's definitely the one I am most interested to watch in the UFC right now, and the one I find most UFC-ready. As for Pichel, he put in another nice performance, showcasing his relentless attack. That combo midway through round 2 was intense. He needs a bit more seasoning overall, but he's a tough fighter. His showdown with Iaquinta next week could be pretty great. Other thoughts: Interesting set-up for the semi-finals. By pairing James Vick and Michael Chiesa, they insure that the finals will be an underdog story. That's not a bad move by any means, though it does make next week's fights seem a bit lopsided. I like the idea of revealing Renan Barao as Urijah Faber's opponent on the live episode. In theory. In practice, it came off kind of awkward and weird. Round 1 of Pichel vs. Saunders was super tough to score, and I could see it going to either man. A good case there for a 10-10 if you ask me. Why on earth would Faber wait until the day before the fight to pick Ogle and Iaquinta's coaches? That makes no sense. The fighters walking past the taped up giant photos of Faber and Cruz reminded me that this ended up being a pretty tame season as far as reality TV shenanigans go. Even the potential trainwreck of Chris Tickle has been silent. No Keith Kizer this week. Sorry fans. Though we did get a few shots of Cecil Peoples lounging on his stool to make up for it. See you next week for our final episode of the season.

Posted in: fight, fighter, season, week, episode

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A complete list of significant new fights reported in the past week.

Posted in: fight, week, list, weekinreview list, ufc strikeforce

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Daniel Cormier's grand-prix championship, GIlbert Melendez's narrow win over Josh Thomson, and Jon Jones' DUI arrest were all popular topics in this week's edition of The Sunday Junkie. In the latest installment of our weekly reader-feedback feature, MMAjunkie.com readers discuss all aspects of those storylines. But this week's winner, Ottawa's "GraveConern," instead focused on MMA's often-unsung (but frequently criticized) referees, specifically Bellator 69's Jason Herzog.<

Posted in: week, sunday junkie, weeks edition, josh thomson, mmas oftenunsung

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This week on UFC Central: Jon Jones wreaks his Bentley, a possible Koscheck-Penn fight, and Jason MacDonald demonstrates the D'arce choke.

Posted in: ufc, week, jason, jason macdonald, koscheckpenn fight

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Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) was back on cable television last night (Fri., May 11, 2012) with episode 11 of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 15 "Live" on FX. And this time they had one hell of a hook to get viewers to tune in. Indeed, with the series moving to a live format this season, that provided the promotion an opportunity for something unprecedented. When Dominick Cruz blew his knee out, it left a gaping hole in the UFC 148 fight card set for July 7, 2012, in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was decided he would continue coaching throughout the remainder of the season but his previously scheduled opponent and rival coach, Urijah Faber, would need a new foe for the Independence Day weekend extravaganza. So the UFC used the situation to tease fans into watching last night's episode in wait for the big reveal of who Faber's opponent would be, though word had been circulating through mixed martial arts (MMA) circles throughout the past week. As it turned out, the rumors were true and Renan Barao revealed himself to be the lucky man to fill the void left by Cruz. He and Faber will battle for the interim bantamweight championship in less than two months. Yippie! As for the rest of episode 11, it was fairly uneventful, despite another show featuring two fights and very little fluff. In fact, we were treated to maybe 15 minutes worth of training montages and back story. By now, that's a welcome change. Unfortunately, last week's stellar episode cast a long shadow over this week's proceedings. Vinc Pichel and Chris Saunders engaged in a plodding two round affair that saw the former take his coach's advice to heart en route to grinding out a majority decision. Blah. The second bout saw a far more thrilling conclusion, as the cold and calculated Al Iaquinta blasted Andy Ogle into next week with one of the prettiest standing elbow strike knockouts in recent memory. It was somewhat bittersweet, considering Ogle was one of the few fighters in the TUF house who showed real emotion that allowed fans to feel somewhat invested in his progress. He overcame his demons to win his elimination fight but was felled here. At least he'll likely end up fighting on the Finale card. Speaking of which, we're down to the final four and the semifinals will play out next week in the form of Michael Chiesa vs. James Vick and Vinc Pichel vs. Al Iaquinta. The winners will meet on June 1 in Las Vegas for the coveted glass trophy and six-figure contract with the UFC. It's almost over, Maniacs. Hang in there. You know I am. For complete results and the running live blog of TUF 15, episode 11 click here.

Posted in: ufc, week, tuf, episode, faber

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In our knockout video of the week, UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo finished Chad Mendes with one second left in the first round at UFC 142 in Brazil.

Posted in: ufc, week, chad mendes, ko video, knockout video

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With a little more than a week remaining before UFC 146 unfolds from Las Vegas the UFC has been forced to make a last-second change to the show, inserting heavy-handed slugger Lavar Johnson into a recently available spot against Stefan Struve formerly held by fan-favorite Mark Hunt. Though no specifics are available on his condition, Hunt was apparently injured while training for the May 26 match-up and will be out for an undetermined period of time. News of the change was confirmed by the UFC. “Struve is a great fighter,” said Johnson when asked about his recently announced adversary. “He’s a skilled guy with a lot of heart but I am not worried about his size. His reach is 83 inches and mine is 82, and he doesn’t use his height. He always gets the crap beat out of him, he refuses to quit, then his opponent gasses or has to let up and Struve comes back to win. I am a fan of his actually, and I’ve cheered for him because of his heart. The only way to beat him is to put him out cold. That’s what I have to do next week and I will do it.” The fight will mark the second for Johnson in May after knockout out Pat Barry a few weeks back. “I took one week off after the Pat Barry fight and then went back to the gym,” explained Johnson. “I used to have some drinks, gets some BBQ in my belly, and get a little out of shape right after a fight. But I feel that I am now at a level where I need to be in shape all the time, so I stayed in shape and I can now seize this chance.” A Closer Look at Johnson’s Win Over Barry Johnson holds an overall record of 17-5 with seventeen stoppages including fifteen knockouts. Comparably, Struve is 23-5 and has finished 21 of the opponents he’s beaten. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC Tweet

Posted in: ufc, week, johnson, stefan struve, struve

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Fans can attend fighter workouts, the official pre-fight news conference and weigh-ins for UFC 146 next week at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Posted in: ufc, week, vs, fan, fighter workouts

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Get geared up for next week's big – literally – UFC 146 pay-per-view by watching Stefan Struve take out Sean McCorkle. Struve fights Mark Hunt on next week's show.

Posted in: ufc, week, stefan struve, struve, sean mccorkle

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Chris Lytle lost his first election last week, but he’s not giving up the fight.

Posted in: week, chri, lytle, chris lytle, politic

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Today I'm thinking back to the good old days of mid week MMA brought to us via Bellator and old TUF episodes on Spike TV. Yes way back about 24 months ago-those sure were the days. There was nothing like a little mid week sanctioned violence to break up a stagnant week of horrible Vh1 and MTV reality show reruns. I'm feeling so nostalgic I  feel a karaoke rendition of Pete Rock and CL Smooth's "Reminisce" getting ready to go down from my office chair. Normally I wouldnt put my coworkers through such torture but last week one of those jerks drank all of my coffee creamer and left the empty bottle in the breakroom fridge. In my world that's enough for me to call up my boy Pedro and ask him for the secret Puerto Rican voodoo curse that induces gangrene of the gentials upon this creamer robbing scoundrel. Luckily for this guy, Pedro's phone is 'temporarily disconnected' and I'm not in such a bad mood anymore thanks to the UFC delivering some mid week MMA just in time to save this guy's package from its early demise. Thanks to the UFC on FUEL 3 card that begins at 5:30 EST today, my coworker's junk is safe and now they will only have to listen to a bout two more hours of my off key rapping "When they reminisce over you". Once the six FREE fights start streaming on facebook, I'll not only stop sounding like nails on a chalkboard throughout the office I might also forget about the coffee creamer thievery. Here's what you get to see if you go and 'Like' UFC on facebook before the event starts: Rafael Dos Anjos vs Kamal Shalorus TJ Grant vs Carlos Prater Cody McKenzie vs Marcus LeVesseur Brad Tavares vs Dongi Yang Tom Lawler vs Jason MacDonald Igor Pakrajac vs Fabio Maldonado    

Posted in: ufc, week, vs, week mma, breakroom fridge

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It's Aldo vs. Koch at UFC 149 in Calgary, Nick Diaz makes headlines and UFC heads to Fairfax.

Posted in: ufc, week, head, aldo, ufc heads

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Fight week, blog week! Well, not really. Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) President Dana White, who frequently takes to YouTube.com to virally promote his mixed martial arts (MMA) events, switched things up this week in advance of UFC on FUEL TV 3: "Korean Zombie vs. Poirier." White starts off his latest vlog talking about the upcoming show from the Patriot Center in Fairfax, Va., tomorrow night (May 15, 2012), but then one minute into his address he reveals that he has a more important message that he wants to deliver to fight fans: Ratings. Check out his intro: "This isn't really a video blog, this is just something I was pissed off about this week. It was supposed to be the presidential address on Fuel, but their dark this week so I'm just putting it out there in a video for you guys. It's about the ratings from the last FOX show [UFC on FOX 3]. You get these reporters who go out there and say all this shit about the ratings without knowing all the facts. Well, I'm going to layout the facts for all you guys who don't know a lot about television ratings." White is talking about the 2.4 million viewers who tuned into watch the Nate Diaz vs. Jim Miller -led event that took place from the IZOD Center in East Rutherford, N.J., on May 5, 2012. From an entertainment perspective, it was far and away the most impressive show to date for the world's leading MMA promotion. In fact, White referred to it as a "perfect night." But, then the ratings came in, indicating that UFC on FOX 3 experienced a 50 percent drop-off in key demographics from the UFC on FOX 2: "Evans vs. Davis" event earlier this year in Chicago, which placed it sixth out of the eight programs that ran in the same time slot. UFC co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta quickly addressed the not-so-serious situation, unfurling several reasons not to be discouraged. That apparently was not enough. Or, White simply felt compelled to reinforce what Fertitta had already explained ... without throwing the recently-released Yahoo!Sports reporter, Dave Meltzer, under the bus. And the reversing. Repeatedly.

Posted in: ufc, week, fox, blog, rating

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This week’s episode starts with the heated argument between Vitor and Wanderlei that took place last week, but it’s time to look forward. It’s time for the fight announcement, and Wanderlei finally gets to make his first pick, but not before Wanderlei gets some jabs in and explains why he thinks it’s ridiculous for friends [...]

Posted in: time, fight announcement, week, wanderlei, episode

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The UFC's lighter-weight classes underwent a shuffle this past week with bantamweight champ Dominick Cruz's ACL injury and featherweight champion Jose Aldo's apparent inability to find opponents. In our latest installment of The Sunday Junkie - our weekly reader-feedback feature - MMAjunkie.com readers weigh in on those topics, as well as Nick Diaz's latest saga. But this week's winner, Chicago's John Burkhardt, instead focused on the UFC's interim titles and how the organization needs to put more pressure on interim champions to defend their belts.

Posted in: week, sunday junkie, sunday, junkie, nick diazs

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It's Aldo vs. Koch at UFC 149 in Calgary, Nick Diaz makes headlines and UFC heads to Fairfax.

Posted in: ufc, week, head, aldo, ufc heads

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UFC president Dana White made an announcement Friday night during The Ultimate Fighter: Live, but it wasn’t quite the one everyone was hoping for. White announced that Urijah Faber’s new opponent for UFC 148 would be named next week on TUF: Live, leaving those to ponder another seven days who it might be. UFC bantamweight [...]

Posted in: ufc, week, opponent, tuf, urijah

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Well, for the first time all season, two fights will comprise the hour-long episode of The Ultimate Fighter: Live. However, I have a feeling more will be tuning in to find out anything new concerning Dominick Cruz. As all of you know by now, the UFC bantamweight champion suffered a torn ACL last week in [...]

Posted in: week, anything, episode, dominick cruz, acl

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Hear about a busy week in MMA that included a UFC 149 press conference, an exciting Bellator 67 event and much more on The Showdown.

Posted in: ufc, bellator, week, conference, showdown

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While preparing for his UFC fight vs. Tom Lawlor next week, it was nice to hear some flattering words from one of his bosses.

Posted in: week, submission, athlete, word, athletes submissions

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Next week, we finally get the culmination of the Strikeforce heavyweight tournament. Take a look back at how we got to the finals between Josh Barnett and Daniel Cormier.

Posted in: strikeforce, week, heavyweight, josh barnett, prix recap

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Despite his eagerness to get back into the cage and compete, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) flyweight contender John Dodson is taking a little vacation. Not by choice, mind you. "The Magician" pulled a broken hand out of his hat during his UFC on FOX 3 victory over Tim Elliott last Saturday night (May 5, 2012) at the IZOD Center in East Rutherford, NJ. As Dodson explains to MMA Weekly, the result is a six to seven week medical timeout. "It happened in the first round. I re-watched it. It happened at like two minutes, 24 seconds into the fight, and I hit him with that overhand left and I tried to double up on it with two punches. I couldn’t make a fist anymore. I was trying to make a fist in my glove and it wasn’t working out too well. I even told Greg (Jackson) after the first, ‘I think I broke my hand.’ He goes, ‘punch him with it,’ and I was like 'cool.' I was trying to throw it, but it was a very sharp reminder, a very sharp painful reminder not to throw it. I already saw the doctor. They said I’m out for about six or seven weeks and I’ll be good." Dodson (13-5) claimed The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 14 "six-figure contract," laying waste to Brandon Merkt, John Albert and Johnny Bedford. That set up a showdown against T.J. Dillashaw in last December's live finale, which he won in devastating fashion. Now that he's claimed his first victory at 125 pounds, how long before he's knocking on the door of a title shot?

Posted in: ufc, week, john, dodson, tim elliott

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And now the good stuff begins. Week 9 of UFC The Ultimate Fighter Live brought us to the end of the opening round, and with three weeks to go before the finale, we're ready to go with our quarter-finals. We'll talk more about those in a minute, but first - the coaches' challenge. Which was, in all honesty, not bad at all. The super slo-mo walk through at the beginning was a bit much, but I liked that this was actually a tough physical challenge as opposed to the air hockey and ping pong of seasons past. Introducing that physical aspect was also very telling when Dominick Cruz absolutely smoked Urijah Faber on the pure physical sections, only to be undone by poor marksmanship. Interesting and dramatic, and surprisingly enjoyable. With that challenge taking up a lot of time, we didn't get to see much of the quarter-final deliberation, which is a shame, as I like that vibe between Cruz and Faber. Still, some good bits in there, such as Cruz pickling Lawrence and Pichel as his top two (agreed) and Faber picking Iaquinta and Proctor as his (agreed again). When Dana announced the first two quarter-finals - James Vick vs. Joe Proctor and Justin Lawrence vs. Michael Chiesa - the strategy became clear. These quarter-finals will pair one of the top dogs up with one of the lower level fighters. Meaning we'll either get a stacked semi-final or we'll see a big upset or two in the next two weeks, because on paper, none of these quarter-finals seem like they'll be too tough to pick. Speaking of picks, I got my first TUF pick wrong this week (plus some terrible Fox picks - was a bad week for my prognostication) as Andy Ogle surprised me by taking out Mike Rio. Big surprise there, but while I enjoy Ogle, I still am skeptical about his chances of making it farther in the competition. Other thoughts: No Faber shoulder rub this week. Poor Ogle. Rio hopes to give fans the Fight of the Night. Since there's only 1 fight, I'd say that's a very achievable goal. I kind of loved Ogle running out of the cage and embracing Ross Pearson. Which Team Faber fighters will have to square off? I'm guessing Iaquinta and Ogle, while Saunders faces Pichel. I'm interested to see the structure of next week with two live fights scheduled. Should be a fun show. Mike Rio vs. Andy Ogle: As I said above, I like Ogle, so am happy to see him win, and I thought he looked much better than expected. He was beating Rio on the feet, and managed to escape both a takedown and back control, both of which are key parts of Rio's game. Good showing, but enough to take out someone like Iaquinta? Not sure about that. As for Rio, I was surprised to see him finished off here. He was definitely losing the stand-up battle (and, while losing, seemed more focused on adjusting his hair, which was annoying), but I thought when it went to the mat he would take it. Didn't happen. For my money, I think Ogle broke Rio. After he escaped the takedown and the back mount, Rio seemed mentally defeated. He barely fought to escape Ogle's back mount or the choke and just seemed resigned to defeat. Quarterfinals: Because he was in week 1, James Vick is the one quarter-finalist I haven't really studied. I have a tough time seeing him defeating Proctor, though his reach will be a factor. Lawrence vs. Chiesa is meant as a gimme for Lawrence, but I keep replaying Rio controlling Lawrence on the mat and wondering if this is a bad match-up for Justin. More analysis on these two fights later this week.

Posted in: week, rio, quarterfinal, lawrence, ogle

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A complete list of significant new fights reported in the past week.

Posted in: fight, week, list, weekinreview list, ufc strikeforce

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I had a tough training camp, the last two weeks I was battling some mean stuff.... I had bronchitis and then mono [laughs]. Two great ones to have three weeks right before a fight, right? No [I did not consider pulling out of the fight]. Man, I was sitting there, coughing up junk and then I talked to Mark and was like, 'If you're coughing up stuff that means you're getting better. I started coughing up and then all of a sudden my wife comes homes and she's like, 'Ah!' So, I had to go back to the doctor. It was just a hectic week. Like I said, I prayed to God, he helped me so much and I just thank God for him, you know? -- It's not exactly Tito Ortiz "broken skull" level post-fight excuse but Johny Hendricks tells FUEL TV he was battling some nasty sickness in the weeks leading up to his UFC on Fox 3: "Diaz vs. Miller" co-main event fight against Josh Koscheck last night (Sat., May 5, 2012) in East Rutherford, New Jersey. On top of dealing with bronchitis, Hendricks says he contracted mono but never once considered leaving the UFC stranded by pulling out of the fight. It's a good thing he toughed it out, too, considering he managed to pull out a split decision victory and may have earned himself a shot at the welterweight title whenever Carlos Condit and Georges St. Pierre settle up inside the Octagon. He says he's inclined to rest up and get healthy, which makes sense considering the indefinite medical suspension he was handed down by the New Jersey Athletic Control Board. Anyone think he should be given the next shot at the 170-pound strap? Or should he be fighting the winner of the upcoming Jake Ellenberger vs. Martin Kampmann fight at The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 15 Finale? Opinions, please.

Posted in: fight, week, carlos condit, johny hendricks, hendrick

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Been away on a sort of vacation for the last week, but I had enough time to throw together my picks for tonight’s UFC on FOX 3 card. The preliminary card goes down at 4pm ET on Facebook, and 5pm ET on FX. -Karlos Vemola vs. Mike Massenzio Opening the night’s precedings is this awkward [...]

Posted in: ufc, week, fox, pm, card

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Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) kept the good times rolling, as The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 15 episode nine took place last night (May 4, 2012). In the episode, the preliminary match up round concluded with a bout between "Team Cruz's" Mike Rio and "Team Faber's" Andy Ogle. The match up pitted two of the lesser known fighters on the show, as well as the two gentlemen who have toiled at or near the bottom of our power rankings all season long. Based on the rankings and some of the behavior we've witnessed from both fighters this season, the viewers may have been justified in assuming that this fight would leave something to be desired as far as fireworks. That prediction would be incorrect, however, as Ogle proved that he's more than just the cast member most likely to be mistaken for a hobbit or a melancholy leprechaun. He's got some real power in his hands, and now Rio can testify to that first hand. After the jump, we'll talk more about episode nine, as well as the up-to-date TUF 15 power rankings: In this week's episode, fans got to witness the seasonal "Coaches Challenge," as coaches Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber went toe-to-toe in an obstacle course that included some fitness challenges, as well as the firing of explosive weapons. After getting out to an early lead, Cruz got hung up on the grenade launcher leg of the race, when he had quite a bit of trouble hitting his second target. The slip up was all Faber needed to take the lead and never look back. The victory gave Faber and his team the opportunity to not just enjoy a few extra bucks, but also to rub it in and celebrate as ungraciously as possible. Par for the course, really. After nine wild episodes of TUF 15, we're finally down to the final eight. Here's how I have the fighters currently ranked: (Note: The numbers in parenthesis indicate each fighter's ranking from the previous week.) 1) Justin Lawrence (1)2) Al Iaquinta (2)3) Joe Proctor (3)4) James Vick (4)5) Michael Chiesa (5)6) Vinc Pichel (6)7) Chris Saunders (7)8) Andy Ogle (9) Mike Rio (RIP) The first two quarterfinal match ups were announced, as UFC President Dana White that the following bouts would be taking place next week in episode 10: Joe Proctor vs. James Vick Justin Lawrence vs. Michael Chiesa It should make for a very interesting night of fights as the competition continues to build to a crescendo of violence. Make sure to tune in next week and catch MMAmania.com's LIVE coverage of TUF 15 episode 10. If you weren't able to catch all the LIVE action, no worries. Read a complete recap of TUF 15: "Live" Episode 9 right here.

Posted in: fighter, week, tuf, episode, ranking

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We start off with the typical locker rooms of both the winner – Chris Saunders of Team Urijah Faber – and loser – Sam Sicilia of Team Dominick Cruz – from the week before. This week is the final opening round fight, with Mike Rio taking on Andy Ogle. It also features the Coaches Challenge, [...]

Posted in: week, team, locker rooms, mike rio, andy ogle

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Last week using the power of democracy we witnessed Tim Kennedy dancing around his backyard as the Black Swan - and it was glorious. The best part? It was all because you voted for it. One lucky voter even received a Ranger Up Prize Pack of Power™ for their voting efforts. Which is exactly the kind of questionable business model we roll with: we reward you for entertaining you. And it's time to do it all over again. This week we have 66% of the leftovers from last week's outing; The Secret of Tim Kennedy's Training Regime (which garnered an impressive 31% of the votes last week) is crouched in the shadows, waiting to be unleashed on the world. The next short is Tim Kennedy's Masterpiece Theatre: Hamlet, which gained 18% of the votes last week and is up against equally stiff competition. The newcomer is Tim Kennedy's take on the 1986 comedy Crocodile Dundee. Will Dundee put a damper on Tim Kennedy's rendition of Hamlet and the Training Regime? Will we finally know what song the ponytailed acoustic guitar player is strumming? Will Hamlet have his tragedy witnessed? Vote now in the comment section! 1) The Secret of Tim Kennedy's Training Regime 2) Tim Kennedy Masterpiece Theatre: Hamlet 3) Tim Kennedy Masterpiece Theatre: Crocodile Dundee Just like last week, a random winner of a Ranger Up Prize Pack of Power™ will be plucked from the winning video's voters and be given T-shirts.

Posted in: week, tim, kennedy, prize pack, power ™

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How a week makes a difference... the future of AB2100, as proposed last week, is entirely different now.

Posted in: week, heavyweight, difference, ab, politician

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submitted by MattyBlayze [link] [comment]

Posted in: week, promo, mattyblayze, mattyblayze link, throwdown

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Earlier this week Strikeforce put out a HWGP Final promo featuring Josh Barnett titled "I Am A Fighter". His opponent Daniel Cormier gets the treatment this time around, and his story is inspiring. Check it.

Posted in: week, josh barnett, promo, week strikeforce, hwgp

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It was an extraordinarily busy week in the world of mixed martial arts and UFC CENTRAL breaks down all the action.

Posted in: ufc, week, art, saga, silvasonnen saga

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Tickets for UFC 148, one of the most anticipated pay-per-views in UFC history, go on sale this week. The card, featuring a pair of title fight grudge matches between Anderson Silva-Chael Sonnen and...

Posted in: ufc, week, sonnen, ufc history, week tickets

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Fight week, blog week! UFC president Dana White released the first installment of video blogs chronicling the lead-up to and aftermath from the impending UFC on Fox 3: Diaz vs. Miller fight card. In this week’s episode, Uncle Dana switches things up, explaining that the standard vlog format you’ve all come to know and love will return later this week. For now though, we get an extended look at Urijah Faber getting his flex on in front of reflective glass while White and company film him clandestinely. UFC on Fox 3 goes down this Saturday, May 5, at the IZOD Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The main event will see lightweight contenders Nate Diaz and Jim Miller square off for a possible title shot. MMAFrenzy.com

Posted in: ufc, week, fox, dana, vlog format

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Ronda Rousey is the Panty Dropper of The Week at Gal's Guide to MMA. Photo by Greg Bartram-US PRESSWIRE

Posted in: week, panty dropper, ronda rousey, mma photo, gals guide

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A complete list of significant new fights reported in the past week.

Posted in: fight, week, list, weekinreview list, ufc strikeforce

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We recap one of the busiest weeks in mixed martial arts starting with the much anticipated rematch between Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen.

Posted in: week, anderson silva, showdown joe, chael, monday ufc

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It's getting down to the nitty gritty for Ultimate Fighting Championship's (UFC) reality series, The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 15. After last night's episode there's only one more fight until we've whittled it down to the final eight competitors. This week's episode saw coaches Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber continue their juvenile bickering, but in episode eight, there was a girl involved, thus upping the ante. Everyone's favorite armbar queen, Ronda Rousey, appeared as a special guest coach for "Team Cruz." Her presence seemed to fuel the collective testosterone of both coaches, yet, disappointingly, the fellas in the TUF house had no idea what to do with the opportunity when "Rowdy" visited to watch UFC 145 with them in their den. In the LIVE fight, Sam Sicilia and Chris Saunders put on one of the better fights in recent TUF history, but Saunders was able to do enough in the judges' eyes to secure a decision victory after two gutsy rounds. After the jump, we'll take a look at the TUF 15 episode 8 post-fight power rankings: There were a couple slight changes in the rankings this week. In addition to Sicilia being knocked out of the competition and, consequently, out of the rankings, Saunders catapulted over Mike Rio with his episode eight win. It was a combination of Saunders' impressive win and how irritating Rio and his recurring knee problems are. Andy Ogle and Rio will battle it out next week, which is a good news-bad news scenario: The good news -- One of the two most annoying cast members will lose. The bad news -- One of the two most annoying cast members will win. I'll tell you what's not annoying, and that's the power rankings for TUF 15 after eight complete episodes: (Note: The numbers in parenthesis indicate each fighter's ranking from the previous week.) 1) Justin Lawrence (1)2) Al Iaquinta (2)3) Joe Proctor (4)4) James Vick (5)5) Michael Chiesa (6)6) Vinc Pichel (7)7) Chris Saunders (9)8) Mike Rio (8)9) Andy Ogle (10) Sam Sicilia (RIP) After next week, the pairings for the quarterfinals of TUF 15 will be set. It's been an action-packed season with one of the most talented collections of fighters we've seen in the history of the show. What this season has lacked in pranks and fecal matter, it's certainly made up for with head-jarring striking and wars inside the Octagon. Make sure you tune in next week to see which fighter will advance and who will be eliminated. One thing is for sure, with Rio and Ogle involved, tears will be shed. You can take that to the bank. If you weren't able to catch all the LIVE action, no worries. Read a complete recap of TUF 15: "Live" Episode 8 right here.

Posted in: week, rio, tuf, episode, saunder

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With no Bellator this week, UFC has Friday all to its lonesome, airing the eighth episode of The Ultimate Fighter: Live with a fight that will break the deadlock between Urijah Faber and Dominick Cruz's teams. The fight this week features Sam Sicilia (Cruz) vs. Chris Saunders (Faber), made after Vinc Pichel defeated John Cofer by third round submission last week to get back control for Cruz. Sicilia was Cruz's second overall pick and admitted last week he was feeling a lot of pressure because of it. The fights between the two coaches are tied 3-3. Sicilia was 10-0 before getting into the house with nine finishes while Saunders (9-2) had a seven fight win streak snapped by Chris Horodecki before joining the TUF cast. Also on this week's show, Strikeforce 135-pound champion Ronda Rousey will make an appearance. Follow along with the episode here on Bloody Elbow and join the conversation in our comments section. The action kicks off 10 PM EST on FX.

Posted in: fight, week, episode, cruz, sicilia

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Welcome back to my online diary documenting my very amateur experience training in Muay Thai. If you missed the previous entries on Bloody Elbow, read them here. It's been almost a year and a half since I started this journey, and this week marked for me a bit of a personal milestone. For the first time, I really felt like I was not "the new guy." Things clicked, everything worked as I wanted it to, and I thought to myself "I'm not terrible at this!" Which is a pretty great feeling. That's not to say I'm some sort of fantastic fighter at this point - far from it. But I felt truly comfortable in a way I haven't yet, which was quite welcome. This comfort came in sparring this week. Had an excellent sparring session where I was able to, at times, stop thinking and just let myself fight. Walking away from it, I can see how fighters become addicted to the feeling. Of course, I have no desire to just sit around and pat myself on the back. That gets nothing done in the long run. So I got a few pointers from my instructors, thought through things myself, and came up with this checklist of things to focus on next time I spar: Use my reach. This has always been a goal of mine, and I am using it somewhat, but still need to do more. Jabs and teeps, and a lot of them. Don't be predictable, but use that reach to keep my opponent outside always. Keep the hands up when I kick. I wasn't even realizing I was doing this until I got hit a few times. When working pads, I am careful to keep my hands up on the kick, but apparently in the moment of sparring, they drop down, leaving me wide open. No good, and needs to be fixed. My plan here is just to drill kicks, and a lot of them. Be more confident. That's the biggest advice my instructor left me with. And I get what he means completely. One of my issues right now is not delivering my strikes with power when sparring. I'm still not sure how hard to throw a punch to the head or a teep to the body when sparring. I want to establish control with those strikes, but also don't want to be the jerk in sparring who is going too hard. It's a fine balance, and at the moment, I'm being overly cautious and light. Need to work on stepping that up, but not so far. There are other things, but those are the big three. Many thanks to those I worked with who helped me focus on these - it can't be overstated how helpful it is to work with the right group in sparring and training, and the team at Conviction is great. Question for the week: When sparring, how do you best judge the level to go at? Video of the week: I'm adding a new little feature here, highlighting the fantastic "Muay Thai Minute" YouTube series. It's a great series of quick clips highlighting proper Muay Thai techniques, just 1 minute(ish) each. Very cool stuff, and every week I'll feature one. This week, a simple but great teep fake that I am absolutely stealing for next time. Watch the video in the full entry. I train Muay Thai under Andre Madiz at Conviction Martial Arts, 4430 N. Western Ave., Chicago, IL. www.convictionfitness.com. If you are in the Chicago area, come join us, and be sure to say hello.

Posted in: time, week, muay, thai, im

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Heavyweight Lavar Johnson survived tragedy to take Strikeforce by storm, and now the UFC. He faces Pat Barry on the main card of UFC on Fox next week in New Jersey.

Posted in: ufc, week, heavyweight, johnson, lavar

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Bellator Fighting Championships is in the middle of a week off from live events, but the company returns to action next Friday, May 4, with Bellator 67. While the evening's MTV2-broadcast main card has been official for several weeks, the Spike.com-streamed preliminary card is still coming together. MMAjunkie.com today confirmed current plans include an appearance by Canadian prospect Nordine Taleb, who meets an opponent yet to be named, as well as the return of kickboxing star Cosmo Alexander against undefeated lightweight Lowrant-T Nelson.

Posted in: bellator, week, mmajunkiecom today, nordine, company returns

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Bellator Fighting Championships takes its customary "off week" this week, and instead of a live show airs a "Road to the Championship" highlights special. The half-hour-long special airs Friday at 8 p.m. ET on MTV2 (and in HD on Epix2). It recaps the organization's quartet of season-six tournaments, all of which conclude in the next few weeks.

Posted in: week, championship, air, airs friday, show airs

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We're getting near the end of round 1 on UFC The Ultimate Fighter Live, and I have to say, I'm mighty happy about this week. After complaining about last week's overly staged "rivalry" dialogue between Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber, this week we got some actual antagonism. Their confrontation in the hallways after the Tickle vs. Proctor fight felt authentic and not TV inspired. Cruz was frustrated and, to a degree, taking it out on his fighter, while Faber wanted to give Tickle a proverbial pat on the back. Things escalated from there. A nice example of two pros getting frustrated at the way the other one does business. That conflict was one of the big points this week, and I'm a bit on the fence how I feel about it. I agree with Cruz that Tickle needs to understand why he lost and needs to know the importance of listening to your corner if you want to win. But Chiesa also summed up my feelings by saying why not wait until the next day to have that conversation. While Cruz had Tickle's interests in mind, he also seemed clearly driven by his own loss there, and taking that frustration out. Lots of other moments worth noting this week, including Sam Sicilia and Andy Ogle breaking down a bit, and Dana White giving them the traditional mid-season pep talk. Luckily, this season it focused on the need to stay tough, not the "stop partying and being idiots" talk we often get. I think that's a testament to the generally higher level of focus we've seen from fighters this season. And I'm glad Ogle seemed to get his focus back - he's been one of the more enjoyable personalities to develop so far and his breakdown this week was rough. Other thoughts: It was a very small moment, but I loved the kick to the midsection Chris Saunders delivered during practice. In case you missed it, his partner was regaining his feet after a takedown, and Saunders hit him with a nice body kick as he kneeled. Great move that I would like to see more of in the UFC to get around the downed opponent rules. Faber said Pichel had "terrible" takedown defense, which I found odd, as I just don't see that. Great? No. But terrible? Looking over the schedule, we have 5 weeks left of regular shows before the finale. That means Sicilia vs. Saunders this week, Rio vs. Ogle next, then 2 quarter-finals, another 2 quarter-finals, and the semi-finals. Those last three weeks are going to be interesting, as the finalists will have to fight 3 times in a 3-4 week span including the finale. Certainly opens the door up for injury if guys aren't careful. Interesting that Cruz chose Sicilia vs. Saunders this week, by default choosing Rio vs. Ogle next week. A possible sign that he has more faith in Sicilia and wants him to have more rest before the next round? John Cofer vs. Vinc Pichel: It took Pichel a bit longer than expected, but he came out heavy to start round 3, capitalized on having more in the tank than Cofer, and finished him off. I said before that the guy is a finisher, and he showed it again. That said, I was surprised at how much success Cofer had standing. Gives me a bit of pause on where to put him in the overall standings. Cofer didn't really use his wrestling, which I thought would be death for him, but wasn't. He remains rather green, but there's some decent talent there to be shaped into a better fighter. A UFC level fighter? Not right at the moment I don't think. Very good fight overall, with a lot of fun action. Probably my favorite fight of the season to date. Sam Sicilia vs. Chris Saunders: Obviously, Sicilia is the easy pick, as he has that huge KO while Saunders's prelim fight was lackluster. But Saunders has some big experience, and like I said, his stand-up looked nice in training. I'm looking forward to digging into his career a bit more this week.

Posted in: fighter, week, vs, saunder, sicilia

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A complete list of significant new fights reported in the past week.

Posted in: fight, week, list, weekinreview list, ufc strikeforce

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Go behind the scenes for a look at Fight Week with UFC 145 main event light heavyweight title challenger Rashad Evans through the eyes of James Law and Ryan Loco.

Posted in: fight, week, evan, james law, fight week

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That's according to Ed Soares, manager for UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva. "The Spider" was expected to defend his 185-pound strap against Chael Sonnen (again) in the main event of UFC 147, tentatively scheduled for the Joao Havelange Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on June 23, 2012. There's only one catch. You can travel to "Rio," you just can't spend the night. That's because a United Nations conference is also in town that weekend and expected to gobble up the remaining hotel rooms in the area, leaving the UFC 147 combatants with no place to sleep except the floor of Lorenzo's private jet. Soares explains the logistical problems to "The MMA Show with Mauro Ranallo" and when he expects a final decision to be made, after the jump. "As of right now we have nothing confirmed (about a date and venue switch). Dana White says he’s trying to work out details in Brazil. A United Nations conference is going on the week of the fight. Originally it was in Sao Paulo so it wouldn’t affect it, but now that it’s in Rio they have to make the logistical adjustments. We don’t know if it will be moved. There’s a problem with getting enough hotels, and there’s possibly a problem with security. They’re trying to see if there’s hotels in the surrounding areas. They’re working out those details now and hopefully (we’ll know) by the end of this week, beginning of next week." Have rematch, will travel. A recent report suggests that UFC 148 could become the new destination for the headlining title fight; however, that still leaves a bevy of contracted bouts without a home. To see who else would be affected by the move check out our UFC 147: "Silva vs. Sonnen II" fight card and rumors right here. For more on the promotion's scheduling conflict click here and here.

Posted in: ufc, week, janeiro brazil, nations conference, areas theyrsquore

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When UFC welterweight Johny Hendricks (12-1) steps into the Octagon it’s easy to forget he’s a former national champion wrestler twice over. The 28-year old has knocked out seven of the twelve opponents he’s beaten and fights like a boxer more than a mat-based technician. Nonetheless, Hendricks was indeed the last man standing at his weight-class in two of his collegiate seasons and a finalist in a third (not to mention a couple All-American nods along the way). When Hendricks faces Josh Koscheck (17-5) in a few weeks at UFC on FOX 3 he’ll need both skill-sets to come away with the victory given Koscheck’s own ability as a striker/grappler. Though he’s not tipping his hand as to the exact area he’s focusing on more than the other, Hendricks definitely seems confident when it comes to which of the two is superior when it comes to one phase of the game. Hendricks: “The bigger the fight the better I come out.” “I definitely believe that I’ve got the better wrestling. I wasn’t a one-time (champion) – I was a two-time and I lost my senior year match in the finals so I had a chance to be a three-time national champion. Plus, not only that, but I only live four hours away from Stillwater so I get to go to Stillwater every three weeks and spend a week up there,” said Hendricks in an interview with Rebellion MMA Radio. “Nothing’s better than getting a week of college wrestling in. Whenever I come back from that I feel like I’m in so much better shape.” Hendricks added his ability to go back to Oklahoma State, where he wrestled collegiately, is unlike any training he gets in a MMA gym based on the work-rate and added effort each athlete puts in towards hoping to say they one-upped a UFC fighter (not to mention award-winning wrestler). Hendricks-Koscheck will be part of an all-star card on May 5 headlined by lightweights Jim Miller and Nate Diaz dueling for divisional contendership. Other featured fights include Pat Barry-Lavar Johnson and Alan Belcher-Rousimar Palhares. Check out the full episode of Rebellion MMA Radio’s debut including an interview with UFC lightweight Efrain Escudero who fights Mac Danzig this weekend at UFC 145: (Hendricks material starts at approximately 57:00) PHOTO CREDIT – UFC Tweet

Posted in: ufc, fight, week, josh koscheck, hendrick

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When Brent Weedman steps into the cage this Friday night (April 20, 2012) for Bellator 66 against Brazilian striker Thiago Michel, he'll be fighting for more than one. There's a very special someone who's due to arrive just two days after his bout in the Bellator season six lightweight semifinals, someone he "can't mate to wheat!" That special someone is his son, Will. His wife, Emily, has been about to burst for about two weeks now and according to Weedman, she's been handling the pregnancy like a trooper. Now more motivated than ever, the Carl Sagan and Neil DeGrasse Tyson fanatic is gearing up to do some serious damage in the semifinals of this Bellator lightweight tournament. Besides, there's no better way to prepare for a child's college education than bringing home that prestigious $100,000 grand prize. Weedman spoke about his upcoming fight and his upcoming baby during a guest appearance on Bloody Elbow Radio last week and much, much more. Check it out: Matt Bishop: First thing I've got to ask you is, how's your wife? Brent Weedman: She is incredibly pregnant. Yeah, my wife is 5'1 and we had an ultrasound a week and a half ago and the baby was 8 pounds 11 ounces so for those of you that have had kids or know anything with two weeks to go, that's pretty massive. He's going to be pushing 10 pounds so she's kind of miserable. Matt Bishop: What's that been like for you juggling what she's going through and what you're going through preparing for a big fight? Brent Weedman: Well we had the fight 3 1/2 weeks ago and as soon as we got back, the whole mantra of the whole house was, "Alright buddy, you can arrive any time know. It would be great if you can show up early," and then these last couple days, we've crossed over and we're back to, "Stay in, stay in buddy." His due date is Sunday, so two days after the fight so I'm really, really hoping he decides to stay in and will give me a chance to see him be born because that would be pretty rough. She's gonna go full term which is scary for her for any number of reasons. I don't if you guys know this but at the later stages, the baby grows anywhere from a half pound to a pound a week. He was already a large baby so now we're working on gargantuan. Matt Bishop: So I'm sure you "Can't mate to wheat your son," right? Brent Weedman: Absolutely in fact we just had a new batch of Weedman nation shirts which on the back say, "I cant' mate to weet you." I'm just throwing that out there in case anyone wants any Weedman Nation swag, we can hook you up. I get punched in the head a lot and as you guys saw in the last fight, I was pretty emotional afterwards. It's a big deal, my son coming and he's the sole motivator for everything I do now. I wanted to say, and in fact I said it correctly the first time but I made the mistake of saying it twice. I meant to say, "I can't wait to meet you," and the second time I said, "I can't mate to wheat you," and of course the internet message boards started heating up and I started getting text messages. It was a bit of dyslexia I suppose so everyone said it was a cute moment. I'm putting it on the shirt to be a good sport about it. Brian Hemminger (MMAmania.com): Can you tell me Brent, now that you've had the experience, how comfortable did you feel fighting at 155 for the first time? Brent Weedman: Oh man, I felt great. I felt really, really good. I felt light on my feet, no pun intended because I actually was lighter. I felt spry. I felt quick. I almost wish I would have had a chance to kickbox more just so everyone gets a chance to see the improvements I've been making but trust me, the guys at the gym see it, my sparring partners see it. I feel really good. My cardio is through the roof. What's kind of scary is, I feel my cardio has improved since the J.J. Ambrose fight. I know that sounds ridiculous but my speed and conditioning is really, really great because I got to step right back in to a full camp and it was like I never left. I feel really great about this new weight and I'd be lying if I said the extra motivation from my son didn't help. In the last semifinals when I was rolling in to fight Jay Hieron, I was really starting to get banged up from constant training for months and months and months. It was really starting to drain on me but I don't feel like that this time. I didn't get hurt at all in that last fight at all which was a big bonus. Brian Hemminger (MMAmania.com): You pulled off a pretty rare submission. Now you've said you've done the Von Flue choke many times in practice. How long has that been one of your go-to moves for you in that position on the ground? Brent Weedman: It's a little technical, but long story short, I do use the Von Flue quite a bit. The Von Flue and a few other moves from that position you could say that I end up in all the time. A lot of it is the style of side control that I like to play. Bloody Elbow's breakdown of that was the best that I've seen so far. There was a quote in there that I was forcing him to make bad decisions. Do you want to get kneed in the body or do you want to give up submissions and I though that hit the nail on the head. That's my philosophy. The Von Flue, I may have shocked the commentators there and the people in the crowd but everyone was laughing about it at the gym back home.

Posted in: fight, time, week, brent, weedman

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The Ultimate Fighter: Live, opening to an audience of 1.3 million viewers on FX and now six weeks in, has struggled all season long to gain its footing.

Posted in: fighter, week, rating, tv ratings, opening

Read the full article at MMA Weekly

Week 6 of UFC The Ultimate Fighter Live was, as anticipated, very Tickle-heavy. But somewhat unexpectedly, that wasn't entirely a bad thing. As he prepared for his fight with Joe Proctor, Chris Tickle was relatively focused and on task, leaving behind most of the pranks and obnoxiousness from weeks past. We also got to know him a bit more, and I have to admit, the scene with him quietly preparing an Easter turkey (Easter turkey?), then eating alone at the table while the voiceover discussed his family? Yeah, it mellowed me on him a bit. Add in the shot of him dejectedly sitting in the locker room post-fight with his head down, and I did indeed feel for the guy. Of course, my big fear remains - that with his shot at the TUF finale finished, he'll use this time to amp up the irritating behavior. But that's for another week. For now, Tickle gets my grudging appreciation. All that said, the Tickle story wasn't what most grabbed my interest this week. That distinction belongs to the brief sparring spat between Justin Lawrence and Mike Rio, which was fascinating. If you missed it, Dominick Cruz told Lawrence no spinning strikes when sparring to avoid the risk of injury, Lawrence threw a spin kick at Rio, Rio got pissed, words were exchanged. Now, here's where things got interesting. After the kick, a fired up Rio came hard at Lawrence, took him down, controlled him on the ground, and tapped him with an armbar. From the looks of things, Rio had a lot of success controlling Lawrence, who became incredibly frustrated. From day one I've been high on Lawrence as a possible champion this season, but this gave me concerns. On a technical level, Rio's ability to win the ground battle was a bad sign. But the mental level was what really concerns me. We saw how Lawrence deals with frustration here, and it's not good. If he goes up against a tough fighter who won't break like Al Iaquinta, will that frustration be Lawrence's undoing? It's definitely a point to watch. Other thoughts: I miss the Urijah Faber / Dominick Cruz dynamic from the premiere. You know, when they were just two opposing coaches? Their "fights" at weigh-ins and outside the gym (a short contest? really Cruz?) just seem so forced and reek of reality show producer influence. They're fast becoming my least favorite aspect of the season. Slip and slide day looked very enjoyable. On the whole, this seems like a good group of guys, which is kind of nice to see. I am 4-0 so far on my predictions, and feeling good. Which surely means I am going to fall apart from this point forward. Joe Proctor vs. Chris Tickle: Proctor played this one as I thought he would, and he did a good job. He patiently waited out the opening flurry, then found his opportunity and seized it. He's definitely in the Joe Lauzon mode of grab a submission and crank it until you get the tap, and it's working well so far. I'm excited to see him next round. Tickle's personality pretty much guarantees him a shot in the UFC, and I think he has the talent to make a go of it. He just needs to get more focused and precise. He threw a lot into the opening, and as the round wore down, his output really dropped, allowing Proctor to get inside. If he joins a real camp, he could have future in the UFC. Vinc Pichel vs. John Cofer: We're getting late in round 1 here, so here are two fighters you don't yet know much about. But Pichel? He's really good. Seriously. Off the cuff, I think Team Cruz evens it up 3-3 here. Check back later this week for more on both men.

Posted in: week, rio, proctor, lawrence, tickle

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Big week for Brian Stann. First he KO's Alessio Sakara at UFC on Fuel TV 2 and now he's the Pantydropper of the Week at Gal's Guide to MMA.

Posted in: ufc, week, tv, brian stann, gals guide

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A complete list of significant new fights reported in the past week.

Posted in: fight, week, list, weekinreview list, ufc strikeforce

Read the full article at Sherdog

On UFC Central this week we will recap the action from Stockholm, preview Jones-Evans, and learn the proper technique for landing elbows.

Posted in: ufc, week, technique, story, elbow

Read the full article at sportsnet.ca

"I'm just trying to lift a lot of weights, eating a lot, gaining a little weight. I'm putting a few pounds on, just gotta make sure it's the right kind of weight. I imagine within the next week or two I'll have a for sure answer (on a possible move to middleweight)." Just last month it was announced on UFC Tonight on FUEL TV that former welterweight title contender Jake Shields would be moving back up to the middleweight division, where he once ruled the roost over in Strikeforce. But apparently that announcement was a bit rushed, as Shields reveals just last night that he's not quite sure on whether or not he will compete at 170 or 185-pounds his next time out. He did say he expects to know for sure within the next week or two. Which division would you rather see him in, Maniacs? Welterweight or middleweight?

Posted in: shield, week, middleweight, weight, fuel tv

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submitted by MattyBlayze [link] [1 comment]

Posted in: lombard, week, hector lombard, bellator title, car crash

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This week's episode of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 15 saw Chris Tickle finally have to face the music and represent "Team Cruz" inside the cage, as he took on "Team Faber's" Joe Proctor in the sixth episode of the season last night (April 13, 2012) on FX. For the majority of the season, Tickle has appeared to be the weak link on his team and a constant sore spot for his coaches. After another standard, awkward verbal sparring session between coaches Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber, Tickle and Proctor hit the scales, made weight, stared each other down (while smelling each other's breath) and got ready for battle. When the dust settled, it was Proctor who emerged with his hand raised, after sinking in a deep rear-naked choke and forcing Tickle to tap his UFC dreams away. We can expect the drama to escalate rapidly now as "Team Faber" has taken the lead in the competition. Hopefully. After the jump, we'll look at the TUF 15 episode six post-fight power rankings: Again, most things are the same, outside of the two fighters who competed this week, as there was not a lot of external drama or excitement. With that said, I have to dock Mike Rio one spot for his continued and constant whining. I have a hard time knocking him down any farther than that, but there has to be some residuals for him being a little bit of a "drama queen." (Note: The numbers in parenthesis indicate each fighter's ranking from the previous week.) 1) Justin Lawrence (1)2) Al Iaquinta (2)3) Sam Sicilia (3)4) Joe Proctor (4)5) James Vick (5)6) Michael Chiesa (6)7) Vinc Pinchel (8)8) Mike Rio (7)9) John Cofer (9)10) Chris Saunders (11)11) Andy Ogle (12) Chris Tickle (RIP) Next week, John Cofer will step inside the cage to represent "Team Faber" against Vinc Pinchel as he attempts to get a win for "Team Cruz" to once again even the score. Things just keep ramping up and the action continues to mount as TUF 15 rolls on through another week of MMA fury. If you weren't able to catch all the LIVE action, no worries. Read a complete recap of TUF 15: "Live" Episode five right here.

Posted in: week, team, tuf, episode, tickle

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42 days. It's the length of time between the last Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) event and tomorrow's (April 14, 2012) UFC on Fuel TV 2: "Gustafsson vs. Silva" card. Since the first weekend of March, fans have had nothing but Bellator Fighting Championships (BFC) and The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) to hold them over. That's more than 1,000 hours for those counting at home. It seems like such a distant memory now. I have vague recollections of Thiago Alves beating the tar out of Martin Kampmann, only to have the Dane submit "The Pitbull" in the last minute of the third round. It's the kind of comeback victory mixed martial arts (MMA) fans love and use as proof this is the most exciting sport in the world. I have hazy memories of four men -- weighing 125 pounds each, if you can believe that -- putting on two excellent, albeit strikingly different, fights. Joseph Benavidez dominated his opponent, Yasuhiro Urushitani, for five minutes before lighting him up and knocking him out mere seconds into the next round. The other two flyweights, Ian McCall and Demetrious Johnson, battled back and forth for 15 minutes in what would eventually be ruled a draw. A fun night of fights, but it was so long ago. I find myself wondering if it actually ever happened. After all, seven weeks is a long time to wait for Octagon action for both fans and for the UFC itself. Maybe I'm spoiled nowadays when it seems there's either a pay-per-view (PPV), an FX or Fuel card or one of the handful of events being broadcast on Fox this year airing week in and week out. After tomorrow night / tonight, we only have to wait a week before UFC 145: "Jones vs. Evans" beams into our television, satisfying our bloodlust. And then only two more weeks until the next UFC on Fox event following that. In fact, as I peer into my crystal ball, I notice a three week period is the longest gap between UFC events all the way through the end of the summer. It's safe to assume Dana White and company were hoping the latest season of TUF -- which premiered during this seven week lull on March 9 -- would compensate for the lack of proper events but it's been a poor facsimile at best and downright ignored at worst. The reality show program hasn't produced a fighter who is thought of as championship caliber since the 155 pound-centric fifth season. A win over Jim Miller presumably puts Nate Diaz, the TUF 5 winner, one fight away from a title shot. The talent pool has been diluted and the format is tired and trite. Ratings have responded appropriately. But that's a different article altogether. It should serve as a notice to UFC. Fans want higher level fights than what TUF affords them. And they want them in greater frequency. Seven weeks is far too long for the number one fight promotion in the world to stay out of the limelight. In a time where they are trying to grow and expand, 42 days is a lifetime in terms of exposure. Sure, other professional sports have off-seasons, effectively putting them on the backburner for months at a time but UFC doesn't have the brand recognition Major League Baseball (MLB) or the National Football League (NFL) have. Hell, people want to talk and read about the NFL so much, ESPN and other sports outlets covered Peyton Manning's signing to the Denver Broncos and Tim Tebow's subsequent departure to the New York Jets like CNN would cover the US going into war. Every angle, no matter how ridiculous, was covered. UFC doesn't have that luxury. It needs to produce events on a consistent basis to ensure its name stays in conversation. I'm not saying a show every weekend -- although that would be fantastic, wouldn't it? -- is the answer, but it seems the company dropped the ball when scheduling the first quarter of 2012. Going into mid-year, only a couple of weeks pass in between events which is exactly where UFC needs to be right now. MMA fans live in a bubble. We basically eat, sleep and breathe the sport. But the truth is, for many casual fans, UFC isn't something they seek out every day. Out of sight, out of mind, after all.

Posted in: ufc, fight, week, event, fan

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After a rocky first few weeks, Urijah Faber's team is getting things going a bit over the last few weeks. Michael Chiesa pulled off the big win last week for Team Faber and now Urijah looks to bump off season "bad boy" Chris Tickle of Team Cruz when he matches him up with Joe Proctor. Tickle has been shown as having "attitude problems" toward the other team, his own teammates and even coach Dominick Cruz. He'll be looking to prove he's more than just talk tonight against Proctor. Proctor is the taller and younger man as well as sporting a better record. All stuff touched on in Fraser Coffeen's great preview of tonight's fight. Make sure to come back and check out all of tonight's action with us here at Bloody Elbow and stick around through the announcement of next week's fight at the end of the episode. As usual, we'll share live thoughts on the show in the comments section but will provide blow-by-blow action of the actual fight right here in the main body of the post.

Posted in: fight, week, team, cruz, proctor

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It turns out Brock Lesnar hasn’t brought in knockout ratings, at least not on his first officially advertised WWE show. RAW on Monday night pulled in a 3.10 rating after last week’s 3.43 the day after Wrestlemania, a show  featuring The Rock in the aftermath of his match with John Cena the previous night. Despite all the badassery of his beatdown on Cena during his surprise return at the end of RAW last week, some 700,000 fewer viewers tuned in this Monday to watch Lesnar deliver not only another F-5 but a crotch shot and a legit bloody lip. Things weren’t much better for the live “Blast from the Past” Tuesday edition of Smackdown, which scored an average 1.5 rating down from a 1.9 for the last episode in its usual Friday spot – a drop of about 500,000 viewers. The switch to Tuesday this week is probably responsible for most of that. A Backstage Look at the Fallout from Lesnar-Cena Brawl Both figures were first reported by PWTorch. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC Tweet

Posted in: week, brock lesnar, monday night, rating, crotch shot

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Tuesday’s live “Blast from the Past” Smackdown featured a few minutes of fun matches, a few more minutes of less fun ones, and, lord, so many large old dudes. I’m pro-nostalgia and pro-cameos by your occasional Roddy Pipers and Ricky Steamboats, and hells yeah I am always down to watch “Mean” Gene Okerlund and Howard Finkel enunciate things. But it hasn’t been that long since we’ve seen most of those very special tonight-only guests on WWE TV. Wasn’t Jim Duggan tagging with Santino Marella, like, yesterday? Besides bringing their vets out for their latest comeback tour, WWE’s agenda for the night was another attempt at taking care of the Daniel Bryan problem – you know, the chants and the signs they themselves are responsible for after Wrestlemania booking worthy of the Hall of Fame of Crappiness. Given the choice to go with that flow or trying to shut his popularity down while they can, they’ve done the latter. It’s frustrating as hell for a Bryan fan, I know. But, they are doing kind of a good job at it. Piper was compelling enough, as usual, that, as usual, I’m more forgiving of the little things that drive me crazy about him (“little lady,” ugh). This wasn’t as memorable as Piper’s Pit with John Cena was a couple years ago, but he brought out the jerk within Bryan well while cracking down on the hated “YES!” chants on live TV. AJ has the tough-to-watch victim act down (though I’m hoping one day she gets to be as funny on TV as she is on Twitter). And Bryan got to slap someone then run away which he should be doing every week.  So, I hope his fans don’t lose hope, and I really really hope that WWE doesn’t f*** this up. The Okerlund/Sheamus vs. Bryan/Alberto Del Rio main event, while pretty spectacularly stupid overall, adequately highlighted the jerkitude of the heels…well at least before the distinguished heroic WWE legends ganged up on two smaller guys and hugged it out. Mark Henry vs. Randy Orton, itself a blast from the past if six or seven months ago counts, wasn’t really anything new. It was clear a clean finish wasn’t going to happen, but that’s because Henry is a friggin’ beast again and that is dandy. In the back, Orton tried to knock down the wrong door before finding his dad laid out (I appreciated keeping “Cowboy” Bob Orton‘s hat in that shot just so it was totally clear who that guy on the ground was) inside an adjacent wide-open room in which Kane was waiting in ambush, obviously. It strikes me that Randy and/or any of the voices in his head may not be very bright. The Antique Rhodes Show! Cody Rhodes and Dusty Rhodes were in the middle of basically the same father-son argument they had last year when noted dick Big Show interrupted. Rather than inputting another video inside a video inside a video, this time Show replayed one of Cody’s grooming tips from back in his “Dashing” days. Though they were not only just a year and change ago they, shut up, were hysterical. I was waiting and wishing for a Goldust appearance (hey, happy birthday to him, by the way) but instead at some point it occurred to Dusty to dance to his theme song and Cody just grumped off with a picture-perfect geez god just let me die look, which hit straight home because my dad likes to sing ABBA in public sometimes. This could’ve been so much better, but Cody is in his own league right now. The biggest chunk of the show this week fell under “other,” I guess, and here’s all that. Despite being a star and apologizing genuinely for bullying a ref last week, Sheamus got fined a million bajillion dollars by GM Johnny Laurinaitis. The Ryback Formerly Known as Skip Sheffield also beat a jobber down while wearing ring gear in part resumbling a very elegant evening gown. A cool little Heath Slater/Tyson Kidd vs. Usos tag match guest starring Jimmy Hart and his megaphone was overshadowed by fellow legend Mick Foley doing more or less the same damn thing he does whatever he shows up every couple months. “Hacksaw” Duggan encouraged the crowd to chant “USA” at a Mexican wrestler; classy as always, WWE. A dude in the crowd may have thought Sgt. Slaughter was an actual military officer. A blink-and-you-missed-it six-person mixed tag finally gave Drew McIntyre something to do (he walked out) and which, I’m pleased to say, marked the first time in a few months that Natalya has been onscreen for more than a few seconds without farting. Maybe that whole story is… behind us? Hey, I will put my lame butt jokes up against Vince McMahon‘s anytime! Finally, who can forget Damien Sandow used a bunch of SAT words but actually seemed to know what they mean and a something, something horny Mae Young? That’s my Smackdown recap this week. Hit me up next week for RAW, for which I’ve got a list of lines about Brock Lesnar’s phallic chest tattoo as long as Brock Lesnar’s phallic chest tattoo. Yes, that was one of the lines. PHOTO CREDIT – WWE Tweet

Posted in: week, ’t, wwe, wasn, cody

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A complete list of significant new fights reported in the past week.

Posted in: fight, week, list, weekinreview list, ufc strikeforce

Read the full article at Sherdog

Mark Hunt isn't just gunning for a title shot at UFC 146, he's also the Pantydropper of the Week at Gal's Guide to MMA.

Posted in: ufc, title shot, week, shot, gals guide

Read the full article at Bloody Elbow

Here in week 5 of UFC's The Ultimate Fighter Live, we seem to have settled into a groove with the show, for both good and bad. Episodes have been focused primarily on the actual fight and fight planning (good), interspersed with the occasional obnoxious reality TV nonsense tossed in courtesy of Chris Tickle (bad). But the heavy emphasis remains on the fights, and so I remain happy. That's not to say there isn't some bad. This week, there were two potentially irritating storylines at play. First, Dominick Cruz tried to get Sam Sicilia to help him and Jeremy Larsen strategize for the Michael Chiesa fight. And Sicilia refused. Cruz pushed him a bit, but gave up and it became sort of a non issue. For my money, I'm with Sicilia here. Cruz was arguing that to make it to the top, you have to fight friends sometimes. And I get that. But this wasn't about Sicilia fighting Chiesa, it was about him helping some guy he met a few weeks ago and has artificially been put on a team with figure out how to beat his best friend. Why do that? It felt like Cruz and Sicilia were talking apples to oranges here, and I'm glad it ended up not becoming much of a thing. The other annoyance was, of course, Tickle. I'm hesitant to talk much about him simply because he seems like a guy who feeds off attention, so why give it to him, you know? But it has to be mentioned, especially since he's fighting next week. The impression I get of him is that he is mentally weak. Oh sure, he would go berserk if you said that, and probably threaten to beat me up, but in my experience, the people who talk the most about their mental toughness are the ones that most lack it. He approaches everything like a man with something to prove, but when push comes to shove, his actions tell the story. And those actions don't say he's a mentally tough fighter to me. Now, there is of course some reality TV editing work at play here, so take his actions with a bit of a grain of salt, but at the same time, they are not creating this persona out of thin air. We'll see next week how well he backs it up. Also, Tickle wins the award for worst staredown ever. Seriously, EVER. Other random points: I'm not horribly anti-Urijah Faber, but he seems kind of... I don't know, weird? The whole Cruz shoe thing was odd, and the man uses a lot of unnecessary words when making fight picks. No mention of how Rio's injury is going, which is probably a good thing for him. A random thought I had this week - when are Cruz and Faber training for their fight? Normally there is a big gap between the end of filming and the finale, but with this year's live format, their fight is coming up in July and they will be focused on this show often between now and then. Mike Chiesa vs. Jeremy Larsen: Chiesa was paired with Larsen because of his wrestling, and I was impressed by the takedowns the Team Faber fighter showed. He was tenacious and resourceful with them; I liked how he would switch from a double to a single to a trip until he got the fight down. But as impressed with his takedowns as I was, I was equally unimpressed with his stand-up, which was sloppy and rudimentary. I like Chiesa's personality, but I would pick any of the other 4 quarter finalists over him at this point. Larsen is tough and has heart, but he's just too sloppy to make it in the UFC I think. I've seen some complaints about the 1 point deduction for the illegal knee, but I thought it was the right call. It was an illegal blow and it's on fighters to show the needed control in order to follow the rules. That said, Faber didn't help Chiesa there, calling repeatedly for the knee, but then not clearly telling Chiesa when Larsen grounded himself. If you're going to be very vocal in calling for the knee (which, as a coach, is a good thing), you need to be equally vocal to tell your fighter NOT to throw it when that time comes. Joe Proctor vs. Chris Tickle: This feels like a pretty big fight, as both Tickle and Proctor impressed in their opening fights. The clear downside is it means a very Tickle-heavy show next week. Luckily, there's good footage available from both men's pre-TUF careers, so check back later this week for an in-depth preview.

Posted in: fight, fighter, week, cruz, chiesa

Read the full article at Bloody Elbow

HeavyMMA's mixed martial arts rankings are back this week with a look at the light heavyweight division, which sees its top two fighters finally going head-to-head in less than two weeks at UFC 145.

Posted in: week, division, ranking, arts rankings, heavymma rankings

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Get a sneak peak into this week's UFC Central, hosted by "Showdown" Joe Ferraro, including Dana White's reaction to the Overeem drug test.

Posted in: ufc, week, showdown, joe, weeks ufc

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Following this past week's (perhaps) shocking announcement that Alistair Overeem tested positive for elevated levels of testosterone, it's no surprise that submissions on that topic were aplenty in this week's edition of The Sunday Junkie. However, Bellator welterweight champ Ben Askren's latest victory also earned quite a bit of buzz, both positive and negative. But this week's winner, Pennsylvania's Joe Ranieri, took a different approach to his look at Overeem's plight. Joe wonders aloud if fans should even concern themselves with what "The Reem" or anyone else puts in their body.

Posted in: week, alistair overeem, edition, sunday junkie, weeks edition

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One of the most emotionally stirring moments in TUF history occurred earlier this season when contestant Michael Chiesa learned his father had died within hours of him qualifying for a spot in the house with an elimination round win. After being given an opportunity to go home for a day to mourn with his family, Chiesa came back with a new sense of purpose and exhibited such last night by taking out Jeremy Larsen by way of decision. Chiesa’s success on the scorecards came as the result of his wrestling, a key aspect of coach Urijah Faber’s thought process when making the match-up last week. Chiesa was able to take Larsen down and control him throughout the bulk of their two-round tilt with the only real moment of suspense coming when he landed an illegal knee costing him a point. Faber Discusses How Good Beating Cruz as a Coach Feels “This is dedicated to my mom, Teresa Chiesa,” said the Spokane-area fighter after his win. “It definitely wasn’t my best performance but I know what things I need to change and do better. Most importantly, I need to manage my weight better and be more confident in all my skills. I promise I’ll be putting someone to sleep next time.” Next week’s fight will feature Chris Tickle (Team Cruz) against Joe Proctor (Team Faber). “I knew that that was the match-up they would make and I feel very confident in the match-up and will be victorious. For the last four weeks, Dom and the staff busted our ass to get us in shape and I feel 100% confident in my coaches and my cardio for this fight,” said Tickle of Dominick Cruz and company. “I’m ready to bang and get a W. I’m 100% healthy and injury free and can’t wait for next week.” The statement from Tickle is particularly interesting, as this week’s episode featured him expressing concern over gout-like symptoms on his toe and ducking out of training while claiming to need to use the restroom. TUF 15 Season Summary: Cruz’s Team: Justin Lawrence, Sam Sicilia, Myles Jury, Mike Rio, James Vick, Vinc Pichel, Chris Tickle, Jeremy Larsen Faber’s Team: Al Iaquinta, Cristiano Marcello, Daron Cruickshank, Joe Proctor, Michael Chiesa, John Cofer, Andy Ogle, Chris Saunders Team Records: Cruz 2, Faber 2 Advancing to Semifinal: James Vick, Justin Lawrence, Al Iaquinta, Michael Chiesa Eliminated: Daron Cruickshank, Cristiano Marcello, Myles Jury, Jeremy Larsen Next Week’s Fight: Chris Tickle vs. Joe Proctor Tweet

Posted in: chiesa, week, tickle, cruz, faber

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MMA referees have just milliseconds to determine whether a combatant is intelligently defending himself after taking punishment in the cage, which makes the possibility of an early or late stoppage very real. Last week, I took a look at some of the most outrageous early stoppages...

Posted in: week, ufc history, stoppage, week i, millisecond

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Just three weeks after his father's death Team Faber's Michael Chiesa picked up an emotional win over Team Cruz's Jeremy Larsen on TUF Live.

Posted in: week, team, tuf, chiesa, recap chiesa

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In episode 5 of The Ultimate Fighter: Live, another fighter advanced to the quarterfinals, a coach grows impatient with one of his fighters, and an illegal knee causes controversy and next week's match up was revealed.

Posted in: fighter, week, coach, episode, knee

Read the full article at MMA Weekly

The Ultimate Fighter Live: Cruz vs. Faber continues this week as Team Faber’s Mike Chiesa takes on Team Cruz’s Jeremy Larsen. The show kicks off at 10pm ET/PT on FX. Stay tuned to MMAFrenzy for a recap of tonight’s fight and the participants for next week’s fight.

Posted in: fight, week, vs, larsen, fx  stay

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I once spent an entire week of my life watching all six seasons of 24 back-to-back.  By the time I was finished, my irrational fear of terrorists had me sticking to well-lit areas and meals exclusively from street vendors.  Whole Foods was off the radar because I was certain someone was ready to detonate a sticky bomb in the dairy isle.  The fallout would launch cottage cheese and Greek yogurt in all directions, potentially causing paralysis, or worse, lactose intolerance.  It would surely lead to another straight week of being locked indoors having to do my laundry and wash my hair repeatedly to get the bacteria out.  I can never get that week of my life back, and neither can NickTheFace after he just completed this Overeem vs. Dos Santos hype reel despite a recent elevated testosterone test result that has put the fight in jeopardy.  I maintain hope that this is all just one big mistake, or that Jack Bauer can come out of retirement to fix it.

Posted in: week, cottage cheese, lactose intolerance  , hype reel, dairy isle  

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I once spent an entire week of my life watching all six seasons of 24 back-to-back.  By the time I was finished, my irrational fear of terrorists had me sticking to well-lit areas and meals exclusively from street vendors.  Whole Foods was off the radar because I was certain someone was ready to detonate a sticky bomb in the dairy isle.  The fallout would launch cottage cheese and Greek yogurt in all directions, potentially causing paralysis, or worse, lactose intolerance.  It would surely lead to another straight week of being locked indoors having to do my laundry and wash my hair repeatedly to get the bacteria out.  I can never get that week of my life back, and neither can NickTheFace after he just completed this Overeem vs. Dos Santos hype reel despite a recent elevated testosterone test result that has put the fight in jeopardy.  I maintain hope that this is all just one big mistake, or that Jack Bauer can come out of retirement to fix it.

Posted in: week, cottage cheese, lactose intolerance  , hype reel, dairy isle  

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This week on the UFC's The Ultimate Fighter Live, Urijah Faber is once again in control as he chooses his #5 pick Michael Chiesa to face Dominick Cruz #8 Jeremy Larsen. We've been a bit spoiled by big fights the past few weeks, so this one, while definitely containing some intrigue in the stylistic match-up, is a bit lackluster. On paper at least. In the cage? We'll have to see just what these two deliver. Once again, here we'll break down the match-up, including video of each contestant to get you ready. The Ultimate Fighter airs live on FX Friday night at 10 p.m. ET / 8 p.m. PT. After Al Iaquinta defeated Myles Jury last week, Team Faber regained control of the fight picks, setting up this contest. This choice stands as a sharp contrast to Cruz's style from the past two weeks. Where Cruz was trying to push his guys with tough match-ups and take out Faber's legs, Faber is favoring a more conservative matchmaking style built around pairing guys who match up advantageously for his side. At least, that's the hope. Last time he tried that, Daron Cruickshank ended up knocked out. One last quick note - unlike previous weeks, there is not much footage from either man available, so my analysis is based primarily on their TUF fights. That's not much to draw from, but it's the best we can do. MICHAEL CHIESA (7-0)6'1" | 24 years old | 76" reachTUF record: def.Johnavan Vistante (Sub, R1) Chiesa is, sadly, best known at the moment for the passing of his father in the first week. It's a sad story, and one that really shows you just how much these guys are human beings, dealing with all the same issues of family and responsibility as the rest of us. It's also a heavy mental burden to carry. Now, Chiesa fights for his dad - which could either be a great motivator, or provide too much pressure. Chiesa fights out of the Pacific Northwest. He's undefeated at 7-0 with 5 submission wins, though he has not faced any particularly noteworthy competition. When picking the fight, Faber described Chiesa as a wrestler, and while that is true, Chiesa uses his wrestling in a different way. He's quick to shoot and get inside, then drag the fight to the mat. Once there, he focuses his attack on submissions instead of just maintaining control or ground and pound as many wrestlers do. He has long limbs and uses them to tie up his opponent, never releasing his grip. He's very active with those submissions, transitioning between attempts. I'd say his submission style is based strongly on that Gracie model of position, then submission, meaning he establishes a controlling position, then attacks for the sub. It's a good style that he employs well. On the feet, there is very little to judge, but what I've seen looks pretty sloppy and only serves to set up the takedown. Against Larsen, I expect Chiesa to close the distance quickly, take the mat, and start working his submission game. Hopefully, he's spending some time this week working with Cristiano Marcello, who has a very similar grappling style. JEREMY LARSEN (8-2)5' 8" | 21 years old | 67" reachTUF record: def. Jeff Smith (Dec) At this point in the show, Larsen is pretty much a total unknown - I couldn't even remember anything about him before I started looking into him this week. He's from the Arizona area, but previously spent some time in California where he trained with his TUF coach Dominick Cruz. The fact that he has trained with Cruz and Cruz picked him last does not fill me with confidence. Nor does Cruz's statement that he struggles against wrestlers (which Faber rather brilliantly brought up at the fight announcement last week). However, he has faced some of the best competition of anyone in the house. His two losses come against TUF champion Efrain Escudero and UFC veteran Edgar Garcia. The Smith fight, and Cruz's comments during that fight, are all I have to go on here. Larsen describes himself as a boxer who wants to trade, but he also looked comfortable on the ground (and Cruz said he was indeed comfortable grappling). He has decent submission defense, and did a good job regaining position against Smith. On the feet, he didn't show good cage control in that fight, allowing Smith to close the distance quickly and secure the clinch. His striking style looks to be from the Chris Leben mode - a swinging brawler looking for the KO. For the Chiesa fight, he'll need to control that distance and keep Chiesa away. If Larsen keeps the fight standing, he'll be playing to his strengths and his opponent's weakness. Prediction: Mike Chiesa by submission Larsen is resilient, and I suspect he'll put up a fight on the ground. But I don't see him keeping this standing against Chiesa, and I also think Chiesa's relentless submission attacks will eventually get through. Fight footage in the full entry. Like I said, not a lot of footage from either man this week. Sorry. Michael Chiesa vs. ???No details on this fight, and it's not even complete, but it's all I've got to share. Also, you like slams? Chiesa (in green) throws a beauty here.

Posted in: fight, week, submission, cruz, chiesa

Read the full article at Bloody Elbow

Tickets for Strikeforce's next event go on sale this week. "Strikeforce: Heavyweight Grand Prix Final," which features a tournament finale between Josh Barnett and Daniel Cormier, takes place May 19 at HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif. Tickets for the show, which range from $45 to $175, go on sale later this week.

Posted in: strikeforce, week, sale, ticket, josh barnett

Read the full article at MMA Junkie

From failing a drug test to Twitter trouble, it has not been a good week for Muhammed (King Mo) Lawal.

Posted in: week, drug test, king, muhammed, twitter trouble

Read the full article at sportsnet.ca

The Ultimate Fighter Live on FX have continued to post steady ratings, but are they the ratings that the UFC and the cable network were hoping for?

Posted in: fighter, week, rating, network, cable network

Read the full article at MMA Weekly

Spike TV's magazine style show MMA Uncensored Live has continued to post strong ratings into their sixth week on air.

Posted in: mma, week, rating, tv, spike

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French Canadian UFC vet Patrick Cote is the Pantydropper of the Week at Gal's Guide to MMA. And don't miss Lorenzo Fertitta's turn in the spotlight from a couple weeks back. Ever wonder if Gals dig handsome billionaire playboys? Wonder no more.

Posted in: week, couple weeks, gal, gals guide, lorenzo fertittas

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A complete list of significant new fights reported in the past week.

Posted in: fight, week, list, weekinreview list, ufc strikeforce

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After last week's Justin Lawrence vs. Cristiano Marcello episode of UFC's Ultimate Fighter Live, I had some worries about the season. With pranks and personalities both spotlighted, it seemed we were heading further down that reality TV show slide that caused me to lose interest in TUF years ago. This week, we got back to basics with a focus on fighting and training in an episode that showcased what can make this show great. Al Iaquinta vs. Myles Jury was a very even match-up, and while it didn't have me quite as pumped as Lawrence vs. Marcello, I was on the fence on who would win, and very interested to see more of each fighter. And for the vast majority of this episode, the focus remained on those two. We saw both men train, heard some strategy from each... essentially, the show delivered on exactly what I always want it to be, an up close look inside the training camps of two fighters preparing to do battle. I love that aspect of the show, and it was on full display here. One of my concerns heading into the fight was that Urijah Faber would not provide Iaquinta with as winning a strategy as Dominick Cruz would for Jury. And after watching, I have to wonder if that was on Iaquinta's mind as well. The scene where he approached Faber and explained that he wasn't interested in just working defense, but on being offensive instead was very telling. That's the exact mistake they made with Marcello, and it cost them. Nice to see Iaquinta learn from it. And a quick aside, how classy did Marcello come across this week? No complaining, just saying Lawrence was the better man, and now he's here to help train. That's a pro right there. As for the fight itself - I have to say it played out much as I expected. Jury was able to win the striking battle at first, primarily through a nice counterstriking game, but the deeper the fight went, the more comfortable Iaquinta became. I thought he clearly took round 3 and showed a lot of grit and determination in there. Post-fight, Faber used an awful lot of unnecessary words to make the fight pick, but I loved his mind games against Larsen. Telling him that his own coach doubts his skills against a fighter like Chiesa? That's kind of mean, but also awesome. I'm sure Faber will never own up to using a nasty move like that, but I loved it. Other quick thoughts: Dana White was clearly annoyed at the lag between rounds 2 and 3, but I feel like that is inevitable when you need to check judges' scores first. I wonder if it was much longer than it had been in previous seasons. Mike Rio injured himself and managed to keep that a secret. But of course, that secret only lasted a week, because now that the episode has aired, everyone knows. Another unplanned impact of the new format. Andy Ogle emerged as an interesting character. I am intrigued by his sort of gruff philosopher persona, and want to see more. Chris Tickle only did one thing this week, yet still managed to be annoying. Al Iaquinta vs. Myles Jury: Iaquinta impressed me here, more for his focus and ability to get through tough spots than anything else. He stayed in there, and improved as the fight progressed. He had good defensive movement at times, but also let his hands drop too much for my liking. Also not sure why he repeatedly backed Jury up against the cage, then let him circle out. You've got him trapped, attack. Overall, a solid showing that gives me high hopes for Iaquinta in this competition. As I said in the preview, Jury just hasn't faced a hard enough level of competition that has really pushed him yet, and it showed. But I liked a lot of his striking here. I think he has a very bright future ahead of him, and this is one of those fights that will really help him. In the long run, I'll predict right now that he has a more successful UFC career than Iaquinta. Though it slowed in round 3, this was one hell of a fight. Round 2 in particular was terrific. Mike Chiesa vs. Jeremy Larsen: Though they haven't focused on it in the past two weeks Chiesa is one of the big stories this season due to the sad passing of his father. For that alone, he's made a mark, whereas Larsen is one of those guys who I don't really recall anything about at this point. I've been looking forward to seeing Chiesa back in there, as his first fight was good. Off the top of my head, I think he takes this. Check back later in the week for a more in-depth preview.

Posted in: fight, fighter, week, jury, iaquinta

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Are you ready for some title fights? Hopefully you said "yes" because Bellator is going to be bringing them in bunches in the next few weeks. On top of the two planned championship fights taking place this week and next week with the welterweight and bantamweight divisions, Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney announced during MMA Uncensored Live that the heavyweight title was going to be defended on April 13th at Bellator 65 in Atlantic City. The bout, which will feature Bellator heavyweight champion Cole Konrad and the season five tournament winner Eric Prindle, will be the second title fight that evening as the Bellator bantamweight championship will be fought for with Zach Makovsky and Eduardo Dantas. There will be a remarkably short amount of preparation time for both men, but that doesn't seem to bother them. Prindle was just crowned the Bellator season five tournament winner last week when his original opponent Thiago Santos failed to make the 265 weight limit despite having three months and even an extra week to prepare. Konrad was raring to go and expecting a short tournament finale so Bjorn Rebney announced that the fight would likely happen in the next four weeks. Crazy as that sounded, it was even wilder to hear that the fight would happen this soon. Cole Konrad doesn't want to wait. He's spent enough time waiting. He only fought once in 2011 after the first seven fights of his career all took place in 2010. "The Polar Bear" likes to fight often and he's getting his wish. So what do you think, Maniacs? Will Prindle be able to become the Bellator heavyweight champion with only two weeks to prepare for the bout? Do you think Konrad's gamble will pay off? Sound off!

Posted in: fight, bellator, week, heavyweight, konrad

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From failing a drug test to Twitter trouble, it has not been a good week for Muhammed (King Mo) Lawal.

Posted in: week, drug test, king, lawal, twitter trouble

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One of the most anticipated fights in UFC history is now less than three weeks away. Take a look at what light heavyweight champ Jon Jones and bitter rival Rashad Evans have been saying in the weeks...

Posted in: ufc, week, rashad evans, evan, ufc history

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It had to happen eventually! For a while there, it looked as though "Team Cruz" was going to run straight through "Team Faber" in consecutive fashion and set an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) precedent by being the first team on The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) to win each bout. Luckily, Matt Serra-trained fighter Al Iaquinta was able to give Urijah Faber something to smile about, squeeking out a very close split decision win over Myles Jury. It certainly was not the most exciting mixed martial arts (MMA) contest you'll ever see, but a win is a win. The loss puts Dominick Cruz in a new and uncomfortable position, since he and his team have never had to put themselves back together after a loss this season (since they were undefeated up to this point). So, with another episode in the books, it's time for me to close my eyes and throw darts at a wall to bring you the updated power rankings. I'm kidding. Sort of. This week's rankings saw a little bit more juggling than we did after the third episode. Why, you ask? It's simple. The shenanigans are starting to mount up. It could be the way the shows are being edited. It might be that the longer the fighter's stay in this house with a bunch of dudes and no TV, their inner qualities are becoming more and more apparent. Either way, there were three guys, in particular, who stood out to me this week. Mike Rio hurt his knee. That sucks. I've hurt both knees on multiple occasions. Feeling one of them buckle beneath you is a sickening feeling. I can't imagine having to fight or train to fight with that in the back of my head. That said, Rio never shut up about it. I'm not trying to hate on the guy. He fights for a living (to an extent). I don't. I get that. But, after a while, if you keep telling the camera that your injury isn't bothering you...your injury is bothering you (and probably most of the viewers too). Andy Ogle got to unleash his sensitive side during this week's episode. Apparently, he likes to write poetry and deep thoughts and waxing philosophical in one-on-one sessions in front of the camera. I'm probably being a closed-minded jerk, but I just don't see this dude having the killer instincts it takes to win a competition like this. Chris Tickle didn't go anywhere in the rankings, and that's not a good thing. He was at the bottom before; he's at the bottom again. I don't know a nicer way to say it other than to say that Tickle just comes off like a real prick. He seems to think he's got it all figured it out, which leaves me wondering why he's even on this show. If he's so awesome, shouldn't we have heard of him before now? I just see this guy being someone who will end up flipping over trailers and getting into mischief in a weird country with Junie Browning at some point in the not-too-distant future. Am I all by myself on that one? ::crickets:: Anyway. Here are the rankings. Enjoy. (Note: The numbers in parenthesis indicate each fighter's ranking from the previous week.) 1) Justin Lawrence: (1)2) Al Iaquinta : (2)3) Sam Sicilia (3)4) Joe Proctor (6)5) James Vick (7)6) Michael Chiesa (8)7) Mike Rio (5)8) Vinc Pichel (9)9) John Cofer (10)10) Jeremy Larsen (12)11) Chris Saunders (13)12) Andy Ogle (11)13) Chris Tickle (14) Myles Jury (RIP) Next week, "Team Faber" will be represented by Michael Chiesa, who will be squaring off against "Team Cruz's" Jeremy Larsen. On paper, it would appear as though Chiesa should be favored in this one, but, as we all know, they don't fight the fights on paper -- they fight them in the Octagon. If you weren't able to catch all the LIVE action, no worries. Read a complete recap of TUF 15: "Live" Episode 4 right here.

Posted in: fight, week, team, episode, ranking

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Welcome, Maniacs, to the weekly series where we help you catch up on some of the original reporting done by other sites in the vast MMA landscape. Like Junior dos Santos, Lyoto Machida, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, Jose Aldo, Muhammed Lawal and Anderson Silva pictured above, we can all "get along." Teaming up with MMA sites like Low Kick, Cage Potato, Fight Opinion and The Fight Nerd, we'll provide an opportunity for all MMA fans to read some fresh and original voices in the sport. This week, Bleacher Report speaks with Bellator welterweight Ben Saunders, Lowkick interviews Thiago Silva and Middle Easy catches up with Rafael Cordeiro. The full list of links is after the jump. - Interview with Thiago Silva (LowKick) "My prediction is that I will fight hard like a true warrior. Everybody knows my style. When I step in the Octagon, I go to kill or die, and I will do the same on April 14th, and I will be ten times more aggressive because this fight is very important for me." - Hot Potato: Seven photos with Kendra Perez (Cage Potato) Sigh...we just can't help lovin' Kenda Perez. Egotastic.com has released an exclusive photo-set of the foxy Best of PRIDE hostess, and we cherry-picked the best shots for your viewing pleasure. Check ‘em out in the gallery after the jump, along with two bonus shots from her 2012 calendar. - Rafael Cordeiro talks TUF Brazil and Shogun Rua (MiddleEasy) LayzieTheSavage visited Kings MMA last week in sunny California and successfully interviewed Rafael Cordeiro on the subject of his famous pupils, including his take on Wand/Vitor after TUF: Brasil wraps, and Shogun's journey back to the top of the light heavyweight foodchain. - Amateur show uses legal loophole to hold event in New York (The Fight Nerd) While the state of New York still does not sanction, and in fact explicitly prohibits, the sport of mixed martial arts, a loophole in the Empire State's wholesale ban on combat sports does allow for sanctioned amateur MMA, which a promotion and sanctioning body will be taking advantage of for the first time in ten years. - Nevada amends complaint against Nick Diaz, shifts strategy (Fight Opinion) After Team Diaz filed their response to Nevada's complaint, Keith Kizer telegraphed (in the media) what the response would be. Rather than confront what Goodman & Tweedale are arguing regarding WADA standards & Nevada law, Keith Kizer & company are now shifting to what I call "the Al Capone" strategy. Kizer's side is now going after Team Diaz over the way the medical questionnaire was answered regarding Nick Diaz & his medical marijuana usage. - UFC Facebook streams draw up to 140,000 viewers (MMA Payout) Facebook streams of UFC fights have received as many as 140,000 viewers on its web page. This information comes from Dana White after the UFC 146 press conference this week. - Interview with Bellator welterweight Ben Saunders (BleacherReport.com/MMA) "I have a certain style that I bring to the cage, a certain aggressiveness, I come to fight. I can't be thinking what if I do this or what if I do that and that injures me for the next round. I'm going to go out on my shield, there is no tournament to me, for me there is no point to even think of anything beyond what's in front of me." - Shogun seeks to be on next Brazil fight card (MMA Convert) - Dan Hardy weighs in on Nick Diaz (Fightline) - Demetrious Johnson - Ian McCall rematch will remain three rounds (Five Ounces of Pain) - Dana White says Nick Diaz would be insane to retire (5thRound)

Posted in: fight, diaz, mma, week, fight nerd

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Trying to fight his way back into the UFC, Canadian Patrick Cote takes on Gustavo Machado on an Amazon Forest Combat card this week.

Posted in: ufc, week, brazil, cote, gustavo machado

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Patrick (The Predator) Cote's road back to the UFC has taken him to Brazil this week.

Posted in: ufc, week, brazil, canadian, cote

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Like the title says, my first fight is this weekend and I've been sleeping like shit since last week. I know I'm prepared and will do fine and compete well, but I've always been an anxious competitor. I don't want to start taking sleeping medicine this close to the fight because I don't know how my body will react. Its weird because despite sleeping 2-4 hours a night for the last two weeks, I still feel great and my body recovered well after hard training last week. Anyone who's done this dance before have any tips on how to cope with the nerves and adrenaline? I'm sure I'll be in adrenaline black out during the first round too. submitted by warner62 [link] [30 comments]

Posted in: fight, week, im, i dont, adrenaline

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Bellator Fighting Championships rebounded from a season-low 108,000 viewers last week, earning an average of 175,000 observers for Friday’s Bellator 62 on MTV2.

Posted in: bellator, week, championship, viewer, mtv

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In what has become an obsessive exercise for some wishing to point to weekly ratings as a litmus test for organizational health, the ratings came out for week three of The Ultimate Fighter Live on FX and were slightly up. Week three garnered 1.2 million viewers, a smidge up from week 2's 1.1 million and a smidge down from the 1.3 that the two hour premiere brought in. This is the UFC's first season bringing their flagship reality show to an outlet other than Spike TV. This season features one live fight every week with supporting footage filmed the prior week, giving the show more of an unpredictable feel. The next week's fight is also selected at the end of every show, giving fans and media a chance to research, debate and talk about what could happen. Week three featured Justin Lawrence earning a second round KO win over Cristiano Marcello, picking up the second straight win for coach Dominick Cruz's team. Next week, Cruz team member Myles Jury faces Urijah Faber charge Al Iaquinta.

Posted in: show, week, hour premiere, cristiano marcello, justin lawrence

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Reuben Duran shares his road back to the Octagon in this exclusive video blog for MMAWeekly.com. This week, Reuben gets promoted to purple belt and does a seminar for the military...

Posted in: week, video blog, octagon, reuben, week reuben

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Week 3 of the UFC's Ultimate Fighter Live managed to showcase both the good and the bad about this show. I'll start with the bad so that we can get that out of the way. This week featured the launch of not just one, but two of my most despised TUF traditions. First, "The Leben." Named in honor of the first man to play this role, "The Leben" is that guy who just has to be the center of attention and who decides that there's no reason to treat anyone with, you know, decency. You may also call this "The Browning" if you prefer. Clearly that man is Chris Tickle, who is everything I dislike about TUF rolled into one package. I hope he actually makes it to the semi-finals, simply because I imagine his presence in the house when there is no fight looming will become even worse. Second, "The Leben: Part II." Again, named in honor of the man who started it, this one is the dawn of the stupid pranks. It pains me to see these guys acting like 12 year olds, but here it is. And once again, that honor goes to Tickle (which, frankly, is often the case). Ugh. These vestiges of the old reality show based format are no fun, and it was a bummer to see them both featured so prominently. That said, for the 2nd week in a row, the Live format came through to save the day. While nothing in Justin Lawrence vs. Cristiano Marcello was nearly as dramatic as the James Vick KO last week, for me at least, the anticipation of Lawrence vs. Marcello coming soon was palpable all show. I've been very excited about this fight all week, and the idea that it would be happening soon, and live, really drove me through the show. The fight itself wasn't a barn-burner, but it was an interesting affair. Marcello (and, in turn, Urijah Faber and his team) displayed some really bad strategic planning. I get the idea that you should use Lawrence's assumption that Marcello will go to the ground against him, but to make it a stand-up battle ignores the strengths and weaknesses of your fighter. Marcello has bad striking defense - I said it last week, and Faber said it all fight. Having him trade on the feet with Lawrence made the KO almost inevitable. It felt like Team Faber was not accurately assessing Marcello, and that cost them. Meanwhile, Dominick Cruz continued looking like one talented coach, and continued to go for the jugular with his fight picks, calling out Team Faber's #1 for next week. It worked once - will it work again? Thoughts on Justin Lawrence vs. Cristiano Marcello: On the one hand, I would have liked to see Lawrence swarm and get another violent stoppage. But you can't win every fight that way, and the fact that he stayed calm and composed, took the fight to Marcello, and eventually got the KO shows much more about him as a fighter. A patient, smart performance that only cemented his spot as the show's top dog. Marcello asking Dana White for a shot in the UFC was touching to me, and I hope he gets it. He's got too big a striking gap to make a real mark in the UFC, but everyone loves a submission specialist, and I think he does deserve another fight or two. Thoughts on Al Iaquinta vs. Myles Jury: Many fans were high on both of these guys after the first episode, though I admit neither one made a huge impression on me. Rewatching those first fights, I came around. These are both very well rounded, smart fighters, and I'm looking forward to scouting each man more this week. Check back later in the week for a more in-depth preview.

Posted in: fight, fighter, week, marcello, lawrence

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The Ultimate Fighter: Live, the 15th season of the UFC’s venerable reality series, is now three episodes in and the television ratings to this point haven’t been what officials surely hoped for. TUF: Live week three drew an average audience of 1.2 million viewers, which is dead-on for the season 15 average. Week one pulled in 1.3 million viewers, while week two drew 1.1 million viewers . More was expected from the series with the move over to the Fox family of networks on FX, coupled with a new jive-live format that features a live fight at the...

Posted in: week, tv ratings, reality series, fox family, jivelive format

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Less than a week following the UFC stating a major commitment to Canada over the next three years, the promotion’s next show in the Great White North, UFC 149, drew its first official bout on Monday.

Posted in: ufc, bout, week, promotion ’s, official bout

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HeavyMMA's rankings have been resurrected, and we start this week with the always-controversial pound-for-pound list. The top four fighters in the world are fairly universal – Silva, St-Pierre, Aldo...

Posted in: fighter, week, silva, ranking, poundforpound

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A complete list of significant new fights reported in the past week.

Posted in: fight, week, list, weekinreview list, ufc strikeforce

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Just a couple of weeks removed from UFC 145, JMH Films is back with another great promo, this time featuring #1 contender Rashad Evans.

Posted in: ufc, week, rashad, promo, evan

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Just a couple of weeks removed from UFC 145, JMH Films is back with another great promo, this time featuring #1 contender Rashad Evans.

Posted in: ufc, week, rashad, promo, evan

Read the full article at MMA Convert

This week, UFC CENTRAL goes 1-on-1 with Georges St-Pierre, takes a look at UFC's Canadian announcement and chats with president Dana White.

Posted in: ufc, week, georges stpierre, week ufc, president dana

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We know it’s tough to stay on top of everything, so we’re bringing you UFC/MMA News Central to give you a jumping off point to catch you up on some of the week's top stories and fight announcements.

Posted in: week, news, mma news, roundup, ufcmma news

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The third episode of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 15: "Live" ended up being a lot more of the same things viewers have been privy to in the previous weeks, as "Team Cruz" continued its dominance over "Team Faber" in the Octagon. Honestly, it wasn't what I expected. From the get-go, I thought Cruz looked a bit awkward and would be the guy coming off uncomfortable in his own skin. I have to say, after three weeks of watching, I'm flipping. "The Dominator" has done a better job communicating with his guys, creating an effective training environment and he's even gotten the better of Faber in most of the verbal exchanges -- a feat I'd have never expected in a million years. In the LIVE match up for episode three, number one pick Justin Lawrence was matched up against Brazilian jiu-jitsu specialist Cristiano Marcello. It was obvious from the opening horn that Marcello was leery of Lawrence's power. He looked hesitant and was doing a very poor job of covering up. Marcello's fears proved justified when, in the second round, Lawrence finally landed the big left hook that coach Urijah Faber warned his fighter to be on the lookout for. Marcello was out almost immediately and it was alllllll over! So, which fighters currently have the upper hand? Here's what the TUF 15 power rankings look like after three action-packed episodes: Most everything stayed the same, with two exceptions. Marcello got knocked the eff out, so he's obviously done in the power rankings. I also went ahead and bumped Chris Tickle down to the bottom. Maybe I'm being judgmental. Maybe it's the cut of his jib that I do not care for. I just thought he showed bad form in this episode. Tickle was, at best, aloof during the "Team Cruz" training session, forgetting to take out his earring (which caused him to have to step out and remedy the issue), then realizing he "had diarrhea" and needed to hit the head, right in the middle of a grappling session. Afterward, Cruz did his best to patiently pull Tickle aside and tell him to get his head right. Tickle wasn't entirely disrespectful, but it was clear that he didn't like being corrected. I just can't like the chances of a dude who refuses to listen to world champions and gets random diarrhea fits during grappling sessions. Let's check out the rankings as they currently stand after three episodes: (Note: The numbers in parenthesis indicate each fighter's ranking from the previous week.) 1) Justin Lawrence: (1)2) Al Laquinta: (2)3) Sam Sicilia (3)4) Myles Jury (5)5) Mike Rio (6)6) Joe Proctor (7)7) James Vick (8)8) Michael Chiesa (9)9) Vinc Pichel (10)10) John Cofer (11)11) Andy Ogle (13)12) Jeremy Larsen (14)13) Chris Saunders (15)14) Chris Tickle (12) Cristiano Marcello (RIP) The tension continues to mount as "Team Cruz" continues to hold control of the fight selection. The morale on "Team Faber" does not seem to be at a very high level, and who could blame them? Next week, the number-two ranked Al Laquinta will do his best to get control back for "Team Faber," taking on the fourth ranked Myles Jury (who will be doing his best to make Brian Hemminger look like a genius). Got any early predictions (or 15) for next week's fight? Bring it! If you weren't able to catch all the LIVE action, no worries. Read a complete recap of TUF 15: "Live" Episode 3 right here.

Posted in: fighter, week, team, episode, marcello

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Bellator Fighting Championship CEO Bjorn Rebney may not make the same waves across social media sites as UFC president Dana White, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have the same hands-on approach as White. On Thursday, Rebney was forced to cancel the planned Bellator season five heavyweight tournament final between Eric Prindle and Thiago Santos for a second time. However, instead of cutting Santos and moving on, Rebney plans on trying to get the heavyweight the proper nutrition he needs to compete and make the limit for the weight class, as he told MMA Junkie’s John Morgan during a recent interview. We’re upset, and it is unprofessional. But he’s got unlimited potential. He’s young as can be. He comes from a really poor, really underdeveloped area. He’s not an American wrestler; he doesn’t have any kind of history of cutting weight regularly. Just having talked to the kid and his folks last week, he knows nothing about diet – like an inadequacy of knowledge on diet that was just shocking to me for a professional athlete. Prindle and Santos were set to conclude the tournament earlier, but the bout was ruled a no-contest after an accidental groin strike to Prindle ended it. Last week, they were slated for the main event of Bellator 61, but the fight was pushed to this week’s Bellator 62 card due to Prindle having flu-like symptoms. Reports, however, have stated that Santos was well-over the limit for heavyweights (265 pounds) last week, as well. I was looking at him, and he’s a nice kid. He’s kind of a big teddy bear of a guy, but you looked at him, and he was talking about eating things like mashed potatoes. I was like, ‘What? Wait. No. You’re still 20 pounds over. You should be eating grade-A sashimi and some dry broccoli. Why are we talking about mashed potatoes? Really? Prindle was awarded the tournament title and shot at Bellator heavyweight champion Cole Konrad. Santos, however, is very skilled and could get a look down the road if he can improve his health and stay closer to the heavyweight limit.

Posted in: bellator, week, heavyweight, rebney, prindle

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After a confusing bit of nonsense last week before their Bellator 61 rematch, tomorrow's scheduled heavyweight tournament final between Eric Prindle and Thiago Santos now appears to be off. The bout was a rematch of the season 5 bout that ended when Santos landed a hard kick to the groin that left Prindle unable to continue and the bout a no contest. Mauro Ranallo's Twitter was the first place I saw the bout canceled: @mauroranalloMauro Ranallo Just learned Thiago Santos is out of the Bellator Heavyweight tournament final against Eric Prindle.Trying to find out what now? Mar 23 via Twitter for Android Favorite Retweet Reply The two were supposed to fight last week but the fight was postponed a week when Bellator said Prindle was ill. Prindle went on The MMA Show and said that he was fine but that Santos was way over weight. It then was re-confirmed that Prindle was in fact ill and Bjorn Rebney said that Santos was only slightly overweight and could have made the weight. Word is that Santos is 11 pounds over and won't be able to hit the 265 pound limit forcing a cancellation. So was Prindle actually sick last week? Everyone seems to confirm that he was, but his story about Santos seems to carry a bit more weight (pun intended) in light of this week's nonsense. Now it appears Bellator will be forced to name Prindle the tournament champion, despite not winning a finals bout, just to give Cole Konrad a fight. Meanwhile, Bellator couldn't put together a rematch between Eddie Alvarez and Michael Chandler because title shots have to be earned through the title format? Yikes.

Posted in: bellator, bout, week, weight, prindle

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Eric Prindle just wants to fight, though lately that seems easier said than done. In just five months, Prindle has seen two match-ups with Thiago Santos self-destruct in utterly bizarre fashion, the first ending in a 'no-contest' after a misplaced soccer kick found its way into his groin at Bellator's Season 5 heavyweight finale, and the second being cancelled before it could even take place last week. Various reports have mentioned both Prindle and Santos as the latest culprit, the former from flu-like symptoms and the latter from a challenging weight cut. Each side is partly true according to Prindle, though the decision was ultimately not his to make. "What happened was, I was sick Tuesday, and I was feeling a little bit better Wednesday," Prindle revealed to MMAFighting.com. "Santos cut a lot of weight, and I guess he was still a little heavy, so they decided, since I was sick and Santos cut a lot of weight -- I don't know if he wouldn't have made it or if he would have -- but it being a (big) fight, they just gave us another week." The extra seven days to prepare would be fine elsewhere. But mixed martial arts, more so than only other sport, is about peaking at the right time. Training camps are specifically engineered to ensure a fighter enters the cage at the crescendo of his abilities, and to guide an innately unhealthy experience like weight-cutting as smoothly as possible. In that condensed timeline, a week can become a lifetime. "At the time I wasn't happy about it," Prindle thickly admitted. "You come to fight. That's what you prepare for. So now I'm having to cut weight for basically two weeks, and my body is trying to shoot back up and it's not the (most fun) thing." While he was undeniably sick on Tuesday, Prindle believes he would have ready for action on fight night. "Friday I ran for an hour straight and did weight training stuff," he explained. "I was fine." In the end, the whole commotion provided another odd moment in a heavyweight match-up that already has more twists and turns than anyone could have anticipated. Though, if you gave him the choice, Prindle would surely accept last week's setback over the wince-inducing groin shot that sent him to the hospital and left him on the shelf for three months. After such a personal injury, it's a credit to the 35-year-old's character that he holds no ill will towards Santos. "I think he was just in fight mode," Prindle explained. "He comes from a Vale Tudo background, so it's kind of like anything goes. He had his eyes on the prize and he was going for it. I have respect for that." Now that all the madness has hopefully past, Prindle is more than ready to put everything behind him. After all, there's a fight to be had, and the winner not only nets a cool $100,000, but also a guaranteed stab at Bellator's undefeated heavyweight champion, Cole Konrad. With a prize that large looming over the horizon, all the troubles, interviews and doctor's visits shrink in comparison. "I'm just going out there to have the best fight I can, and try to win as much as possible," Prindle concluded, a wide grin flashing across his face. "The fallout from whatever happens, it's going to happen no matter what. So I'm just along for the ride. And hopefully it's going to be a good fun ride."

Posted in: fight, week, weight, prindle, tuesday prindle

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The knockout of the week goes back to 2007, when Rashad Evans was still a rising prospect. His game was still so raw that he hadn't shown much in the kicking department. Unfortunately for Sean Salmon, Evans pulled out a … Continue reading →

Posted in: week, rashad evans, game, knockout, evan

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A complete list of significant new fights reported in the past week.

Posted in: fight, week, list, weekinreview list, ufc strikeforce

Read the full article at Sherdog

After last week's episode of UFC's The Ultimate Fighter Live, I said that I really enjoyed the new sports-centric approach that the live format gave the show, but that I was curious to see if the old TUF format would return. This week, for about 40 minutes, we were treated to a mostly typical episode of The Ultimate Fighter. The fight was made, the fighters trained, the coaches bickered (just a little) and all seemed normal. Then the show went live, and the results were tremendous. To put it simply, that live segment was everything great about The Ultimate Fighter, and further proof that the UFC made the right choice in changing formats this year. Let's start with the fight. After his impressive showing in the premiere, I named Daron Cruickshank as one of my four fighters to watch this season, while James Vick left virtually no impression on me. So when this week's fight was announced, I was one of the many people who thought it was a done deal. Unfortunately, so did Daron Cruickshank. He overestimated his advantage, got sloppy (and at one point was cautioned by Urijah Faber for getting too loose), shot in with a careless takedown attempt, and was knocked cold. Just a beautiful display of the "anything can happen in MMA" idea. What made it even better was the live component. Reality TV producers, no matter how hard they try, almost always telegraph the endings. They can't help it. Watch any reality show and you'll see an inordinate amount of focus on that week's eliminated contestant. Since they did not know who would be going home, they didn't edit accordingly, and that made a huge difference. But the fun didn't end there. Post-fight, Dominick Cruz pulled the bizarre move of letting Faber choose who would fight Justin Lawrence next. And no one stepped up. Seeing Lawrence standing tall while Team Faber sat with their heads down was amazing. With Faber and his team struck mute, Cruz went right for the money fight - Lawrence vs. Cristiano Marcello. That's a HUGE fight, and one I thought could be the finals. The only question is - are Cruz and Lawrence repeating the same mistake Cruickshank made? Are they being too confident? Once again, I can't wait to find out. Thoughts on James Vick vs. Daron Cruickshank: I'm still not entirely sold on Vick, who wasn't using his reach well before the KO. Tall fighters who barely use kicks baffle me, and I think the general assessment that he's too reliant on his boxing is accurate. Still, that was an impressive win, and we'll see where he goes from here. I'm not writing Cruickshank off by any means. He got caught due to his own error, but hopefully he'll learn from that. He's a fighter I could still see sticking around the UFC if his traditional TUF Finale fight goes well. Thoughts on Justin Lawrence vs. Cristiano Marcello: Like I said, this was one of my early picks for the final fight, and it's crazy to see it already. It also means that after next week, 2 of my 4 favorites will be gone. I'm torn on this one. Lawrence is more well-rounded and more aggressive, but Marcello's calm, focused attack may win him the day. If Lawrence fights smart, he takes it, but if he gets pulled into a grappling match, he's done.

Posted in: fight, fighter, week, lawrence, cruickshank

Read the full article at Bloody Elbow

Taking a look at Nick Diaz's appeal, Rampage's uncertain future and why Dominick Cruz should be a household name.

Posted in: rampage, week, name, dominick cruz, march

Read the full article at sportsnet.ca

After the first week in the house the fighters are divided up, and start their quest to out last their counterparts.

Posted in: week, episode, house, counterpart, quest

Read the full article at Low Kick

Welcome back to my online diary documenting my very amateur experience training in Muay Thai. If you missed the previous entries on Bloody Elbow, read them here. Last time here, I talked about a rough day of sparring and working on some issues of predictability. As always, the community here was full of helpful tips, many of which I applied this week when I stepped back into the ring to spar, and I have to say - it helped. The #1 lesson I have taken away from these last two weeks is that I need to do a better job incorporating kicks into my combos. I have a tough time flowing from punches to kicks within a combo, and I think it's that issue more than anything else that is leading to my predictability. As I continue to work on my range, kicks just aren't nearly as natural to me. I'm also not perfect on my balance, so feel somewhat exposed when kicking. But I can complain and make excuses all I want - they key is to fix it. This week, I started really focusing on punch/kick combos in both bag work and shadowboxing, and plan to keep that my primary focus when doing drills. I think it will make a real positive impact. Also this week, I had a chance to spend a big chunk of time with just my sparring partner and one of the trainers, and it was tremendously helpful. A few of his miscellaneous tips that I walk away with: For a leg kick, a great set-up is a quick hop to the outside, lining my lead foot up with my opponent's lead foot. End a combo with either a jab or a kick - one of your strikes with the longest range so as to allow yourself to avoid the counter. Move. Keep circling. If I stand dead center and trade, I don't yet have the power to keep up, and I'll lose. Use my movement to create angles and utilize my reach. Keep the lead left hand forward and active and use it more to block incoming shots. When jabbing, use my left arm and right hand to help protect my chin. Seriously, circle a LOT more. Relatively simple tips all, but very, very helpful. True, it's more material to keep in my head, but as I did bagwork afterwards, I had a moment of feeling all of these things coming together without thinking. I got out of my head, let the combos flow, and trusted in my technique. And it felt great. Yes, it only lasted briefly, but it was a helpful glimpse of where I am headed, and was a good reminder of how far I've come. Question: What's the one tip you most love to give to someone sparring, or the one tip that best helped you when sparring? I train Muay Thai under Andre Madiz at Conviction Martial Arts, 4430 N. Western Ave., Chicago, IL. www.convictionfitness.com. If you are in the Chicago area, come join us, and be sure to say hello.

Posted in: week, leg kick, combo, tip, week i

Read the full article at Bloody Elbow

After campaigning for his release from the promotion this past week, Quinton Jackson will apparently take one more ride with the UFC.

Posted in: ufc, rampage, jackson, week, champion

Read the full article at Sherdog

Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar reunite for a sitdown on this week's UFC Ultimate Insider on Fuel TV. Here's a preview.

Posted in: week, forrest griffin, stephan bonnar, griffin, weeks ufc

Read the full article at Bloody Elbow

After wondering what Tiger Woods' status would be for the Masters, the 14-time major winner confirmed on Monday evening via Twitter that he's going to be good to go for the first major of the year. "Got good news from doc tonight. Only mild strain of left Achilles. Can resume hitting balls late in week and hopeful for next week," Woods tweeted . Based on Woods' positive outlook, it would appear the early doom and gloom reports were exaggerated just a bit. The even better news is that if Woods resumes hitting balls next weeks, there's still an outside shot he could be ready for Bay Hill, which was supposed to be his final tuneup before the Masters.

Posted in: week, ball, monday evening, wood, tiger woods

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The Rockets announced Sunday that Kyle Lowry will miss between two and four weeks with a bacterial infection. Goran Dragic will post big numbers for however long Lowry is out, and he could help push h2h owners into their league's finals if Lowry is out the full four weeks. Dragic totaled 43 points, eight threes, and 16 assists over the past two games, pushing his averages in 12 career starts to 14.2 points on 49-percent shooting, 1.8 threes, 5.3 boards, 7.5 assists, and 1.3 steals. The usual terms and conditions apply here when it comes to handling Lowry. If he needs only two weeks of recovery, then he'll return at the start of the default h2h playoffs and with five weeks remaining in the NBA regular season, so that represents plenty of time to impact fantasy fortunes. If you are in danger of missing the playoffs and your league's trade deadline with this past Thursday, then you don't have many options outside of cutting Lowry for an active player (preferably Dragic). Otherwise, you have to weigh the potential risk/reward for making a move with what is still a fairly wide-open timetable for his return to the Rockets' active roster. • A torn left ACL ended Ricky Rubio's stellar rookie season. It's a huge loss for fantasy owners, T-Wolves fans, and NBA fans in general. Minnesota will move forward with Luke Ridnour at the point, and he now warrants universal ownership (43 minutes, 14 points, 10 assists on Saturday). J.J. Barea has been sidelined by an ankle injury but is expected to return on either Monday or Thursday and, if/when healthy, will see a very steady 25-plus minutes. Martell Webster joined the T-Wolves' starting five on Saturday but did little with his minutes (24 minutes, 1-5 FG, 0-2 3PT, 7 boards). Webster has some deep-league relevance based on the starting gig, but his ups-and-downs and the team's wing rotation limits any potential upside. The Timberwolves continue to show interest in Jamal Crawford - they have even more need for another guard now that Rubio is out, but now they can't deal Ridnour, as the trade was originally constructed. Speculation here is that a three-team trade could be consummated that gets Crawford to Minnesota, and he'd see serious run at shooting guard if the move goes down.

Posted in: week, point, minute, lowry, kyle lowry

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The best part of my day, so far, was learning that Buakaw is safe and sound in Thailand. It’s a relief that after over a week of being missing from his gym and his family, that he has turned up at a nightclub with a drink in one hand and a couple of women in the other. While I’m upset he made K-1 fans around the world nervous, I’m glad he’s OK. With that alone, we started off this week on a high note. In fact, this week is bound to be full of win from start to finish. After finding out Buakaw isn't locked in a basement somewhere; that he's actually out living 'la vida loca' - then we found out that Bob Reilly, the four-term democratic assemblyman who has been the loudest vocal opponent against the legalization of MMA in New York is stepping down from office. “I believe a limited term of service is integral to the concept of a citizen legislator. I do not want to morp into a professional politician.” Never mind that this week is going to end with the first ever Muay Thai show in Madison Square Garden, but with Bob Reilly stepping out of the picture, we can expect MMA to sail through the assembly without vocal opposition and finally be legal in New York. This just proves that politicians are sillier than missing K-1 Champions. Both of them need to spend more time getting drunk with various young ladies while paparazzi keep us informed about their well-being. When they don't we assume they're up to no-good and/or dead. Copious amounts of alcohol in public is the only way anything ever gets done from a daily news & well-being standpoint. [Source]

Posted in: week, i ’m, bob reilly, vida loca, mma opposition

Read the full article at Middle Easy

Over its seven year history, The Ultimate Fighter has progressed from the savior of the UFC as we know it to a stale, recycled formula. And I know I am not alone in saying that, over the course of those years, I tuned out. But now, with the promise of the new Live on FX Ultimate Fighter, for the first time since Kimbo Slice stepped into the house, my interest has been piqued. And so I tuned in Friday night with high hopes. Would this in fact be the dawn of a much-needed new era of The Ultimate Fighter? As it turned out, the answer was not so cut and dry. Despite the live aspect, on the surface, this had many of the standard TUF elements. The gathering of the fighters, the Dana White speech, the pre-show fights in the UFC training center, the Dana White speech part 2... all was there. And yet it can't be denied - this TUF felt different. How? Simple: it felt like a sport. This episode seemed to get back to the basics of the show and focus heavily on scouting the best unsigned talent in the regional scene. Gone were the huge audacious personalities, gone was the 3rd grade level trash talk between coaches. Instead, the focus was squarely on the fights themselves. Now, a part of that is surely due to this being an action packed, 16 fight filled opener, but there were little touches too that kept this focused on the sport aspect. Jon Anik's interviews with winners, Faber and Cruz's insightful commentary, the emphasis on fighter records - add it all up and what do you have? A sport, which is exactly what the show should be. More Bloody Elbow coverage of The Ultimate Fighter Five Thoughts From UFC's Ultimate Fighter Live: Quick Fights, Fun Format Stand Out Ultimate Fighter Live Results: 16 Winners Move 'Into The House' The question now: once we have more time to focus on training and living together, will we still keep up this focus? Or as I type this is one contestant busy peeing on another's head in a drunken rampage? I ceratinly hope it's the former, as this week's show was a breath of fresh air. And for the first time in ages, I look forward to tuning in next week to find out. Every week, I'll keep this up and include some thoughts on the week's fight. With 16 fights this week, that's a bit much, so here are my 4 fighters that have left an early impression: Cristiano Marcello - I was excited about the idea of a Rickson Gracie blackbelt being included, and I wasn't let down. His fight was Gracie Jiu Jitsu to perfection - takedown to mount to submission. Beautifully simple, and very hard to stop. I'm interested to see more of his stand-up, because he is a strong early favorite in my eyes. Justin Lawrence - Just a whirlwind of beautiful destruction from Lawrence, with some very nice kicks thrown in. If he keeps that up, he doesn't need the TUF contract to have a healthy future in the UFC. Daron Cruickshank - Again, anyone with flashy kicks gets my appreciation, and I enjoyed Cruickshank's Tae Kwon Do stylings. He ran out of steam as the fight progressed, but still impressed me. Sam Sicilia - Hard to know much from a fight that was literally once punch, but what a punch it was. Sicilia clearly has heavy power, and I liked his attitude as well. Check back next week for more Ultimate Fighter Live thoughts.

Posted in: ufc, fight, fighter, week, focus

Read the full article at Bloody Elbow

It's a new season, and that means a new year of Power Rankings. Each week throughout the season, we'll size up who's rising and who's falling, based on current standings, behind-the-scenes changes, expected staying power, recent history and general gut feelings. It is not scientific, nor is it meant to be. And remember, whoever your favorite driver is, we're biased against him and like someone else better. So let's begin with a guy we haven't seen around here lately ... 1.Greg Biffle: In the first three races, Greg Biffle has finished third, third and third. That's halfway to the apocalypse! If Biffle keeps this pace up over the whole season, he'll finish ... well, he'd probably win the championship. Which would be weird if he did that never finishing higher than third. But we'll have to deal with it when the time comes, won't we? Last week: 3. 2. Denny Hamlin: You know that Hamlin was loving it when Darian Grubb notched a win before Tony Stewart did. So what does Stewart do? Comes back and wins the next week! Dammit! Stewart has to be like the guy who says he can do anything better than you, and then goes out and does it. Those people stink. Last week: 1. 3 . Tony Stewart . If you had to pick one driver to win a race for you because your life depended on it ... well, you'd probably be trapped in some weird old '80s movie where strange plot contrivances like that were a way of life. But if you did, I'd go with Stewart, and I'd up the ante by saying that nobody respects him and everybody's counting him out and all that business. The guy gets motivated by that kind of talk. Which is good when your life is on the line. Last week: 7. 4. Dale Earnhardt Jr.: I have to admit, one of the great pleasures of this business is watching when people who are rabidly, completely unhinged in favor of (or against) one driver see that driver's fortunes running in the opposite direction than they want. What do you think the haters were thinking when Junior was ticking off laps three seconds ahead of the field? Of course, they got their satisfaction a few laps later, but still ... nothing like seeing a little comeuppance. Last week: 5. 5. Kevin Harvick: A friend of mine who's not a NASCAR fan decided to go for Harvick this year because he's got a baby on the way. Extra motivation and all that. I beg to differ; if you're a parent, you'll do ANYTHING YOU CAN to avoid the messiness of taking care of an infant. So when lil' Cupcake arrives, expect to see Harvick willing to drive the car even if it's on fire to avoid taking it to the garage. The more time on the track, the less time spent changing diapers. Just saying. Last week: 4. 6. Matt Kenseth: We have an early nominee for "most striking paint scheme of 2012" with Kenseth's Zest ride on Sunday. I thought it looked like mouthwash; others compared it to toothpaste. Bottom line: that's a blue you don't find in nature. Still, the wall at Vegas is now Zestfully clean after that end-of-the-race rub. Last week: 2. 7. Jimmie Johnson: There was a time when Johnson would have run down Stewart like a leopard on a baby gazelle in one of those nature videos. But now, Stewart is the master. It's like "Star Wars," which would make Stewart Vader's son, except that Stewart is older and has already won ... you know what, I've tortured enough metaphors this entry. Punching out and moving on. Last week: 10. 8. Carl Edwards: It's now been over a year since Carl Edwards' last win. O-for-36! What a failure! He's got nothing left! Though if history is any guide, Edwards will grab wins in bunches ... even if they come too late to do him any good in a given season. And he can always go back to Nationwide and beat up on the kids if he needs to get some flips out. Last week: 9. 9. Kyle Busch: Did you catch Busch's coldblooded murder of the orange cone late in the race? We couldn't believe they kept showing that in such graphic detail. Absolutely no regard for the victim's family there. Fox Sports: heartless. Also, isn't it about time we started mandating safety equipment for cones? Last week: 6. 10. Martin Truex Jr.: You gotta feel a bit sorry for MTJ. After all, he's by no means the most famous Junior in NASCAR, so we can't call him that. And Mark Martin is the first "Martin" everybody thinks of. Which leaves Truex, which sounds like an antifungal cream, and one that would be sponsoring Carl Edwards if it even existed. So we need a nickname for this guy, pronto. Get on it, people. Last week: 8. 11. Mark Martin: OK, everybody admit it. We all love Mark Martin. Everybody does. Seriously. No ill will for the guy at all. But haven't you wanted to ram a slow elderly driver in the rear bumper the way Junior did? Bet that felt goooood. I tried it this morning and all I got was a ticket and a lawsuit from this old woman. "Whiplash" my eye. She wasn't even going fast enough to crack a whip. Save me, Junior! Last week: 11. 1 2. Joey Logano . The yellow Dollar General ride confused a few people Sunday, but not as many as the position in which Logano ran early in the race. Sure, he faded to around the 20s fairly fast, but it's been a decent enough season so far for Sliced Bread. Not decent enough to get him a better nickname, but still. Last week : NR. Lucky Dog: Jamie McMurray. Zoolander returns! Time again for everybody's favorite frosted-tip/Ricky Bobby bird victim driver to return to the spotlight. A good solid run Sunday was anything but pathetic, and McMurray will need much more of that to hang onto his seat at Ganassi after this year. DNF: Kurt Busch. Another week, another wrecked Phoenix Motorsports car. Kurt's certainly creating enough ashes for this phoenix to rise from, that's for sure. Next up: Bristol! Fighter jets in a toilet bowl! Skittles in a gymnasium! Something like that. Anyway, send your co mments to us via Twitter at @jaybusbee , via email by clicking here , and via Facebook . Go!

Posted in: time, week, everybody, driver, stewart

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  MMAFrenzy.com presents its latest podcast, where host Steve “bsbiz” Barnes is joined by writers Chris Leslie and Bryan Robison providing analysis of this week’s MMA news and recaps of recent events.   This week we take a look at the aftermath of the UFC on FX 2, Strikeforce: Tate vs. Rousey, and more. Right-click and “save as” to download Podcast 3_9 Be sure to check us out on iTunes and follow us on twitter @mmafrenzycast, @cleslie15, @ohsnapbryan.

Posted in: week, vs, tate, bryan robison, events nbsp

Read the full article at MMA Frenzy

The past few weeks have been one of the more memorable periods for UFC light heavyweight Quinton Jackson, just not for the right reasons. The popular fighter’s strange run began in late February when he came in overweight for a bout against Ryan Bader at UFC 144. Not only did Jackson end up coming up short on the scorecards in the match-up but admittedly afterwards he’d opted to use testosterone injections as a means of helping him heal from an injured knee. Were that not enough, Jackson came out last week to express his extreme frustration with the UFC, stating he felt he was underpaid and that the company as a whole was a negative environment. “Rampage” even went so far as to say his next fight inside the Octagon would be his final appearance inside the infamous eight-sided cage. Jackson was back at it again last night on Twitter, this time seeking his immediate release rather than returning to compete under the promotion’s banner one more time. “I’m hoping the UFC just lets me go so I can do my thang. They took my love of fighting after the Forrest fight,” an animated Jackson wrote on the social networking site. “The UFC makes billions off us all over the world and pay us chump change! Boxers are boring but making buckets of money. THINK!” For the record, Jackson earned $250,000 in base salary for his loss to Jon Jones at UFC 135 with a similar tag likely attached to his services against Bader (though no figures have been released for the event). The 33-year old did not elaborate further on what had happened after his 2008 defeat to Forrest Griffin to taint his “love of fighting”. Less than two weeks after the match-up Jackson was arrested for a series of felonies stemming from a hit-and-run filled tear in California said to be the result of delirium brought on by a lack of sleep combined with energy drinks. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Posted in: ufc, jackson, week, “ love, matchup jackson

Read the full article at Five Ounces of Pain

Two weeks after being stabbed in the chest at a bar in Sofia, Bulgaria, Blagoi Ivanov has been downgraded from critical to serious condition. However, Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney today told MMAjunkie.com Radio that the heavyweight remains vulnerable. "The doctors were still pretty tepid in their willingness to say to us that he was out of the woods," said Rebney, who received an update earlier this week. "He was stabbed in the heart, so he is in a difficult state."

Posted in: week, heavyweight, rebney, bellator ceo, mmajunkiecom radio

Read the full article at MMA Junkie

It ain't easy being number two. Just ask Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney who's launching the latest season of his fight promotion right into the jaws of a packed Friday night schedule. Bellator will be airing on MTV2 directly up against the UFC's The Ultimate Fighter Live reality show on FX and WWE's Smackdown on Syfy. Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer (subscription required) thinks that will be a painful experience for the promotion and the network: The Friday night wars that officially kick off on 3/9 already give the indication of a few things. The first is that WWE Smackdown has little to worry about. The other is that MTV 2 and Viacom may have made a big mistake with Bellator....Bellator will be going head-to-head with Smackdown every week for the next few months, airing 8-10 p.m. on MTV 2. Ultimate Fighter will start at 9 p.m. on 3/9, but 10 p.m. every other week, meaning there is only a UFC vs. WWE head-to-head next week, and not again until the TUF finals on 6/1. In theory this also means Bellator won't be airing against Ultimate Fighter. However, due to being live, Bellator frequently goes well over its two hour allotment, meaning its biggest fights, the main events many weeks, will go against the start of TUF....An Observer poll for week one, where from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m., all four shows will be going head-to-head, when asking which show you are watching live, had 45% saying Smackdown, 27% saying Ultimate Fighter, while 4% said they would be watching Spike's Best of Ultimate Fighter and only 3% said they would watch Bellator live. The long odds facing Rebney on MTV2 on Fridays are a good reason he's looking ahead to next year when the promotion will finally debut on Spike TV. Rebney talked to Mike Chiappetta at MMA Fighting: "The announcement of the transition to Spike, it felt a long time away, but now you look around the corner and it's like nine months until the premiere," he said during an interview with MMA Fighting. "It's an exciting time. There's a lot going on, but it's exciting." Rebney has Spike's full support behind him because of the recent deal with the cable channel's parent company, Viacom, which bought a majority stake in the promotion last October. While he remains in charge of the company's day-to-day business, the new ownership group provided him with a deep and experienced support system that's fully invested in Bellator's success. As a result, there are plans to launch Bellator into its new home right at the start of 2013 in a kind of grand re-opening that will trumpet its move. But it's not simply about the live fights. According to Rebney, in the works are a potential reality series, a "best of" show and other ancillary programming that will make Bellator a major presence on Spike. When that channel first launched UFC programming back in 2005, it was something of a happy accident that had to be built upon. This time around, the foundation has already been poured and the house will be ready when the new tenant moves in. "It will probably premiere and kickoff on January 1," he said. "The specificity of when things hit hasn't been set up, but I know we'll get a great push from our partners at Spike coming out of the box. My assumption is that it will start super-quickly, and all the talk is about starting it super-quickly as well."

Posted in: bellator, week, pm, rebney, spike

Read the full article at Bloody Elbow

In this week's edition of point-counterpoint, we debate the controversial scoring in the Demetrious Johnson vs. Ian McCall bout Down Under.

Posted in: week, johnson, weeks edition, ian, pointcounterpoint

Read the full article at sportsnet.ca

No matter how passionate you are about something, there comes a time when you need a break. As the saying goes, absence makes the heart grow fonder -- a phrase not associated with MMA these days with an event nearly every single weekend. Those who strictly follow the UFC will get a break from shows for the next six weeks, the longest consecutive gap since a five week stretch from the July 2nd UFC 132 to the August 6th UFC 133 last year. Sure, we'll have The Ultimate Fighter on Friday nights but when it comes to what brings in the money, it's vacation time. Say what you will about UFC president Dana White, but even the most anti-White zealot would be hard pressed to call him lazy. Seemingly traveling way more than he's actually home in Las Vegas, White is on a mission powered by energy drinks, fanfare and all that comes with being a celebrity in pro sports. But a lot can get done in the next six weeks that will make the following 30 weeks even better. To save the big guy some time from making a to-do list, I went ahead and came up with four things I want to see him to do. Take a week off from everything While this is as realistic as Tim Sylvia fighting Brock Lesnar in a UFC main event, White should grab the family, board the jet and go on a vacation where no one can reach them. The business needs him at his freshest and if that means a week off Twitter and dealing with the day-to-day of the UFC, he should do it. I don't care who it is: the grind of this schedule and pace will get everyone at some point. He's done remarkably well so far, but there have been a few signs of cracking, notably not coming out for the UFC On Fox 2 post-event presser because he didn't want to deal with criticism of the fights. Like him or hate him, MMA is better with Dana White at 100%. Take a break, boss man. Lorenzo and the rest of the all-star team has got your back. Figure out what's going on with one Henderson... After fighting in an instant classic against Mauricio Rua last November, we've been asking the same question: what's next for Dan Henderson? The answer seems obvious: a UFC light heavyweight title shot. However, there hasn't been a ton of movement in any direction. Hendo wants big fights and it makes sense to have him fight the winner of April's Jon Jones vs. Rashad Evans clash in Atlanta. Here's hoping White can confirm that prior to the event, so we immediately have another big fight to look forward to this summer. What two other things did I add to Dana's list? One might surprise you, but it's something I bet you'll agree with. Find out after the jump. ...and then decide what's going on with the other Henderson. Was White's enhanced interest in Frankie Edgar dropping to 145 pounds to help make his No. 1 contender decision that much easier? Not likely, but it certainly would help. New UFC Lightweight Champion Benson Henderson has two great options in front of him: a rematch with the surging Anthony Pettis or a rematch with Edgar. Either way, it's a great fight. Either way, someone's left out in the cold for now. I am flipping back and forth on this, but am leaning toward Bendo/Pettis II on a Fox show later this summer as the smart move. I get why Edgar doesn't want to move down to 145, but a title match against Jose Aldo would be a hell of a lot of fun, wouldn't it? It's a good problem to have, but White needs to figure this one out so all of us can start talking about it. Fix UFC Countdown This is a personal gripe of mine and now that White is done worrying about Strikeforce, I'm making a personal plea to blow up and rebuild the approach to the Countdown specials. Designed to get people hyped to buy the pay-per-views, they are ridiculously formulaic. They use the same music, always feature the challenger first, have plenty of Bruce Buffer announcing names, Joe Rogan being emotionless explaining things, a trainer saying, "He's in the best shape of his life," etc. I think I could predict the layout before I even see each show. Fight promotions live on hype and these shows are dreadful at doing their job. I'd actually be fine with them giving the production to Fox and treating them as real sports shows. Talk about guys losing and be honest. Fans get into the reality of situations rather than having smoke blown up their butts by pretending fighters are what they aren't. Create drama and create emotion filled hours that make you feel dumb if you don't hit 'Buy'. What else should Dana work on during the next six weeks? Comment below and let's grow his list.

Posted in: ufc, fight, week, dana, henderson

Read the full article at Bloody Elbow

Roy Nelson is finally considering a move to light heavyweight. It’s a move that fans, media and most importantly, Dana White, have been calling for years. Nelson refused to listen for the longest time, however after falling short against Junior dos Santos, Frank Mir and Fabricio Werdum, it looks like Nelson is finally ready to give 205 a shot. There’s a catch though. He’ll only do it if he gets another 100,000 “likes” on his Facebook page over the next two weeks. Oddly enough, Nelson explained that the idea came when he was debating with a friend whether Facebook or Twitter was the better social media platform. Via BE: The reason is my friend and I had a discussion about what was better? I think twitter just because of use and for fans interaction, but Facebook is 20x bigger. So we decided to bet. I said if it so easy and great I should be able add 100K fans in 2 weeks because I have that on twitter. Facebook is bigger and better so this should be easy. Right? Bet is I will try to get to 205 if I can add 100k to Facebook.com/RoyNelsonUFC in two weeks. I love to win bets. Plus he will have to give me a part in his next movie. It’s a pretty clever idea on Nelson’s part and it seems to be working. He started out with 32,000 likes meaning it has to get to 132,000 likes for him to attempt to drop to light heavyweight. It’s not there yet, but at the time of this writing he has already added almost 30,000 likes and it’s only the first day. At this rate, he could reach 132k by the end of the week. Image via Dave Mandel for Sherdog

Posted in: week, facebook, light, light heavyweight, nelson

Read the full article at MMA Convert

A complete list of significant new fights reported in the past week.

Posted in: fight, week, list, weekinreview list, ufc strikeforce

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This week on UFC Central"Showdown" Joe Ferraro recaps the UFC's 200th show this week as the organization returned to Sydney, Australia.

Posted in: ufc, week, australia, sydney, flyweight fiasco

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Listening to UFC president Dana White speak this week, it seems clear what the best option is for Frankie Edgar and Benson Henderson.

Posted in: ufc, week, brydon, frankie edgar, option

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It's a quick turnaround for the UFC this week, and another early rise for its fighters as UFC on FX 2 takes place this weekend in Australia.

Posted in: ufc, fighter, week, brydon, rise

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The coaches and the fighters are in place -- now a little more than a week remains until it’s officially time to get down to business.

Posted in: business, time, fighter, fx, week

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A complete list of significant new fights reported in the past week.

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These days, between signings and media obligations, you'll find Kyle Noke at Jackson / Winkeljohn MMA in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  There, he trains with some of the best fighters in the world under the guidance of coaches Mike Winklejohn and Greg Jackson, a pair with a reputation for being among the most cerebral in the game. But there was once a simpler time in the fighting life of Noke, who takes on Andrew Craig at UFC on FX 2 this Friday night (US time)."When I first started out it was just something I was doing, I didn't even think about it," said Noke. "Then a few years after I started fighting and I got the opportunity to meet Greg Jackson and started coming to the States, that's when I realized that's what I wanted to do, and I pursued it from there."The training was certainly less intense back in the pre-New Mexico days."I think about four weeks before I had my first fight and about two weeks after I first started training the guy asked me to have a fight and then two weeks after that I had my first fight; the whole process was about 4 weeks," Noke said. "But when I started fighting that was the fight I was least nervous for; it was fun for me and I wasn't nervous and I just got in there and had a go and then after each fight I got more and more nervous before the fight."Fighting may not be a carefree whim anymore, but Australia's Noke, who introduced himself to UFC fans through season 11 of The Ultimate Fighter, has embraced the higher stakes and stress."Everyone gets nervous; if they say they're not nervous they're lying, but it's not bad, you know," said Noke, who was once Steve Irwin's bodyguard. "I've learned to deal with nerves now and it's just part of the competition. Once you're in there, the nerves completely go anyway and once that cage door shuts there's no issue at all."With Noke's original opponent, Jared Hamman, out with an injury, the Aussie has had to make some adjustments for the fight in Sydney."I changed up a bit,” said Noke. “Jared Hamman was a different fighter; he was taller, he was the kind of guy that was gonna be in my face the whole time no matter what I did because he can take a big shot, so we had to change up a little bit. He (Craig) is about the same height as me, so he's got different skill levels; I wouldn't say he's better or worse, but it's just a different opponent for me and different skills, so we had to change up a little bit."It's the second time in as many fights that his original opponent has been replaced, but Noke maintains that it hasn't stopped him from being ready."In my last fight I was supposed to fight Tom Lawlor and then it switched around to Ed Herman, but lucky enough both times there's been enough time to prepare for a new opponent so it's not too bad."Noke enters this fight after a loss that ended an impressive five fight win streak. Submitted via heel hook by Herman, he says he knows exactly where he went wrong."I didn't really think he had it on and I didn't think it was that tight and I tried to spin the wrong way out of it," said Noke. "Again, if I thought it was tight I would have taken it more seriously, but he had a really good hold of it and I just spun the wrong way."The loss serves as more than a footnote on escaping ankle locks. It's motivation."I think every loss motivates you more so I take it as motivation for the next fight. I don't wanna lose again, so it makes me train harder and try and get better for the next fight."A single loss seems insignificant when compared with what Noke had to overcome to make it to the Octagon in the first place. There's no easy journey to the UFC, but the road from Dubbo was particularly long, making Noke’s desire to stay here and represent his home country well even stronger."That's why I've gotta make sure I don't lose this one and go out there and put on a good show,” said Noke. “Especially coming from Australia I think a lot of people don't take us as serious. They think Brazil are big contenders for the UFC and they rank other countries over us so the guys that are in the UFC from Australia, we have to really put on a good show and fight hard to prove we're capable of competing with everyone else."And this week in Sydney, Australia, he'll be fighting in front of thousands who support that mission."Any opportunity to come back home and then fight in Australia for the UFC is just phenomenal; I can't wait to get back there."

Posted in: ufc, fight, week, australia, noke

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Fuel TV saw its ratings reach new records across the board thanks to a free preview week anchored by last week's UFC Fight Night between Diego Sanchez and Jake Ellenberger.

Posted in: week, diego sanchez, ratings standards, board thanks, preview week

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Earlier this week, undefeated judoka Ronda Rousey admitted a good deal of the perceived animosity between her and Strikeforce bantamweight champ Miesha Tate was manufactured as a means of selling their March 3 match-up. However, based on some recent statements Tate made questioning Rousey’s fortitude while labeling her as “carefully matched,” “pampered,” and “protected,” that may have changed. “Rowdy” Ronda responded to the comments in what appears wholeheartedly genuine blog of her own and is anything but complimentary of her upcoming adversary. “I read recently on Miesha’s blog that she thinks that she has the heart of a champion because in her first MMA bout was getting punched till she got a bloody nose, was losing a match and then came back to win. She then stated that I’ve been pampered and protected for my whole career,” Rousey wrote. “Let me give you a little insight into my pampered upbringing,” she continued before listing off a plethora of adverse situations she’d dealt with in her life. In summation: Age 11 – “I broke my big toe doing judo. To an 11 year old this is a very big deal, so I stopped fighting and started to cry. My mother then made me run laps around the mat for the rest for the night. I thought she was just being cruel at the time but she told me, ‘Sometimes you have to fight when you’re injured. You need to know you’re capable of that.’” Age 15 – “ (I) broke three bones in my foot (jumping over a fence, during my first and only attempt to try and ditch class) That weekend my mom sent me up to northern California to fight in two divisions in a tournament that was hosted by the club of one of my biggest rivals at the time. I was sent with no coach and injured, fought eight matches in front of a bias crowd that were cheering against me. When I asked my mom why she would do something so mean she said, ‘You won’t always have a coach, the crowd won’t always like you, and you won’t always be healthy when you fight. You need to know you can win anyway.’” Age 16 – “I tore my ACL during practice. My mom made me finish training that night as well as the following morning before I got another coach to look at my knee. They sent me in for an MRI and found that my ACL was totally missing. A month or so later I got surgery. Two weeks after surgery I was already back on the mat doing push-ups and sit-ups, whatever I could do without using my knee. A week later I was drilling ne-waza (ground techniques) and continued to only focus on my ground game till I could fight standing again.” Age 18 – “I fought in the German open. My first match was against Finland. I was winning until the last 45 seconds when I tried a risky throw which unfortunately set myself up for an armbar. Before I could believe it, she already dislocated my elbow. I remember thinking: “Well…its already out, tapping won’t make it better, I only have 45 seconds…” I didn’t tap, I kept fighting and my elbow snapped back into place, she popped it out again before I finally escaped the hold and was able to relocate my elbow a second time. I stood up, continued fighting, and won. Age 20 – “I tore the meniscus in my knee almost in half. One half flipped over and it jammed my knee into place. I couldn’t bend or straighten it and needed surgery immediately. Unfortunately the Pan American championships were a week away and it was an extremely crucial competition when it came to qualifying the 70kg category for the USA in the 2008 Olympics. Her MMA Debut – Less than a year ago my first pro fight was against Ediene Gomes, a 6-1 Brazilian from American Top Team. Three days before the fight I incurred a brutal pitbull bite that required nine stitches, the wound went down to the bone and the doctor said I was lucky the teeth just barely missed my tendons. I needed this fight, and refused to withdrawal. I asked the doctor if I would permanently injure myself if I fought. He said no, but I would be in a world of pain and the stitches would burst open by the end of the first round. I made myself go through weigh-ins without limping. I stripped naked on the scale (though my opponent was four lbs heavy) so the towels would cover my foot (there were no socks allowed). When it came time to fight, I won in 26 seconds. I didn’t have another option. In closing, Rousey summed things up succinctly, stating, “I don’t know what Miesha thinks being ‘Pampered and Protected’ means, but I suggest she invests in a dictionary.” Fans can catch the two talented women settle their score on Showtime with other highlighted bouts including K.J. Noons vs. Josh Thomson and Paul Daley vs. Kazuo Misaki. PHOTO CREDIT – STRIKEFORCE

Posted in: fight, week, age, miesha, rousey

Read the full article at Five Ounces of Pain

Ronda Rousey is the Pantydropper of the Week over at Gal's Guide to MMA.

Posted in: week, gal, ronda rousey, ronda, gals guide

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UFC Tonight is like a weekly UFC variety show designed to try and draw some attention for FuelTV. This week on said variety show, Dana White gives a 'Presidential Address' on the subject of ... Floyd Mayweather and Jeremy Lin? Yep, as the Baldfather's power continues to grow he is stretching his tentacles out past the combat sports dimension into basketball. I don't blame him ... what would he talk about that was MMA related? It's been kind of a slow news week. I look forward to next week when he breaks down the NHL playoffs.

Posted in: show, week, floyd mayweather, variety, baldfathers power

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Superior Cage Combat middleweight champion Bristol Marunde has agreed to step in and take on Ronaldo (Jacare) Souza next week.

Posted in: week, jacare, marunde, face jacare, strikeforce marunde

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The UFC returns to the Land of the Rising Sun for the first time in 11 years this week, and Sportsnet provides you with plenty of coverage.

Posted in: ufc, week, sportsnet, ufc returns, sportsnet home

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UFC fighter Reuben Duran continues his weekly blog for MMAWeekly.com where he documents his recovery from surgery and his road back to the Octagon

Posted in: week, octagon, duran, road, reuben

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A complete list of significant new fights reported in the past week.

Posted in: fight, week, list, weekinreview list, ufc strikeforce

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submitted by LittleHoss [link] [1 comment]

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Diego Sanchez overcame a severe ankle sprain just three weeks prior to UFC on Fuel TV 1, but says there was no way he was backing out.

Posted in: week, diego sanchez, diego, sanchez, ankle sprain

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Less than one week before the biggest fight of his budding career, featherweight prospect Doo Ho Choi has reportedly gone missing.

Posted in: week, prospect, featherweight, choi, doo

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Fuel TV will bring more than 100 hours of UFC content to subscribers and non-subscribers alike this week with a free preview week.

Posted in: hour, week, tv, fuel tv, ufc content

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A complete list of significant new fights reported in the past week.

Posted in: fight, week, list, weekinreview list, ufc strikeforce

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FUEL TV (www.fuel.tv), FOX Sports Media Group’s dynamic sports network for males, offers a special free preview February 13-19, making it possible for millions of mixed martial arts fans to watch FUEL TV’s first-ever live main card event of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, “UFC ON FUEL TV: SANCHEZ VS. ELLENBERGER,” on February 15 at 8:00 PM ET. On Fight Night, the network will be airing five straight hours of LIVE fight programming, including a one-hour live Prefight Show (7:00 PM ET), three hours of live fighting, and a one-hour live Postfight show (11:00 PM ET). In addition, the network presents an entire Fight Week featuring all the best UFC programming including signature shows like “UFC Tonight,” “UFC Ultimate Insider,” “Best of Pride,” “UFC Champions Roundtable” and more. “As a salute to UFC fans, FUEL TV will telecast an unprecedented amount of UFC programming - more than 100 hours’ worth - this week,” says George Greenberg, Executive Vice President and General Manager, FUEL TV. "If you’re a UFC fan, this is a must-see week highlighted by an amazing must-watch live fight on Wednesday night. Fans should check with their local television provider to see if the special preview is available so they can take advantage FUEL TV’s Fight Week upgrade opportunity.” FUEL TV leads up to the February 15 live main card fight featuring welterweight Diego Sanchez taking on hometown favorite Jake Ellenberger in Omaha, Nebraska with a live weigh-in show on February 14 at 5:00 PM ET. During Fight Week, fans can also tune-in to programs including “UFC Tonight,” the official weekly news and information show of the UFC and “UFC Ultimate Insider,” which delivers unprecedented access, including in-depth profiles of the UFC’s biggest stars, tell-all features, and compelling backstage footage. In 2012, FUEL TV telecasts more than 2,000 hours of UFC programming, with more than 100 hours of live fights, weigh-ins, preliminary bouts, and prefight and postfight shows. FUEL TV offers more UFC programming than any network has ever offered. Multiple distributors in select areas are participating in the FUEL TV special Free Preview. From February 13 - 19, consumers can check directly with their local provider or go to www.fuel.tv/getfueltv to see who is participating. For a complete listing of FUEL TV shows, go to: http://www.fuel.tv/schedule/. For more information, go to www.fuel.tv, www.fuel.tv/ufc, on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/fueltv and on Twitter: @FUELTV, #UFConFUELTV To find out FUEL TV on your television, go to www.fuel.tv/getfueltv, or call 877-4 FUEL-TV. 

Posted in: ufc, fight, week, tv, fuel

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MMA Junkie reports Fuel TV will have a free preview week which coincides with Fuel TV’s first UFC event this week. The network hopes that the additional exposure will equate to more subscriptions. This week’s free preview will give 43 million homes the opportunity to see Fuel TV programming. This includes this week’s UFC on Fuel 1 event Wednesday. Fuel TV execs hope that the preview will increase awareness of the network. Since the UFC-Fuel relationship began on New Year’s day, execs for the network have been pleased with the numbers. Via MMA Junkie: “Percentage-wise in primetime, we’re actually killing it,” said George Greenberg, FUEL TV’s executive vice president and general manager. “Our target audience of men 18-49 since January, it’s up over 80 percent. Our primetime viewers are up almost 230 percent.” From the outset of the new deal, FX and FUEL TV have been targeted as the major beneficiaries of UFC programming. FUEL TV is set to offer 2000 hours of programming this year including six live events and pre- and post-event shows, and Greenberg said his hope is to have more. Payout Perspective: The hope is that major TV carriers will pick up Fuel as a network when the network is set to renegotiate this fall. As Dana White points out in the article, its the hope that the Fuel TV ratings, fueled (pun intended) by UFC programming, will attract carriers to pick up the network. Although the Fuel ratings are lower than Spike TV, it looks like the UFC-Fuel relationship has impacted the network in a positive way. This week’s preview should help garner more interest in the channel.

Posted in: week, tv, preview, network, fuel

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MMAFrenzy.com presents its latest podcast, where host Steve “bsbiz” Barnes is joined by writers Chris Leslie and Bryan Robison providing analysis of this week’s MMA news and recaps of recent events. This week we break down the aftermath of UFC 143 and discuss UFC on Fuel 1. Right Click and Save As to download Podcast 2_10 Be sure to suscribe to us on iTunes.

Posted in: ufc, week, podcast, bryan robison, fuel

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UFC fighter Reuben Duran continues his weekly blog for MMAWeekly.com where he documents his recovery from surgery and his road back to the Octagon

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Welcome back to my online diary documenting my very amateur experience training in Muay Thai. If you missed the previous entries on Bloody Elbow, read them here. My ongoing battle with kicks continued this week, though with positive results. Our main focus was leg kicks, which is something I have addressed in recent entries. They continue to not quite come naturally to me, but I felt better this time around. But after that, we moved on to a favorite of mine - the push kick. In last week's comments, reader the jewish conquistador mentioned that he is not a fan of the push kick, which I find so surprising. I find this to be a great kick that is not utilized nearly enough in MMA. Since the famous Anderson Silva vs. Vitor Belfort KO, there has been no shortage of front kicks, but the push kick, or teep, remains rather elusive. To clarify, what Silva threw was a front kick where the force moved upwards in an arch. Think of it as the kicking equivalent of an uppercut. You see a lot of these now, with MMA fighters looking to replicate Silva's highlight reel KO. The push kick is different as the momentum goes straight into and through your opponent's body - the kick equivalent of a jab to the body. And you don't see them as much in MMA. Josh Thomson has long had a solid push kick, as has Carlos Condit, and other fighters use them at times, but it is not that common. The complaint I guess I can see about this kick is that it is not always a high impact kick, and is more used to create distance. But like a jab, that's only as true as you want it to be. If you commit to the push kick and dig it in, there's no reason you can't do real damage. In our drills we worked a nice double push kick combo - starting in orthodox, through a left push kick with your lead leg. When it lands, use that forward momentum to step in and throw a second kick with your right leg. By taking a good step on the left and adding a bit of extra hop to my right, I was able to solidly connect with that second kick and drive it into my opponent's belly. The end result is a kick that both gets my opponent out of range, while also working his body and taking away his energy. Is it an instant KO? No. And maybe that's the problem - much of MMA striking is focused on the big KO so a long-term strategy like working the body with punches and push kicks doesn't get used as much. With fans angry that Carlos Condit dared try and use strategy against Nick Diaz instead of go all out for the KO, is this a problem with MMA striking. Is it too KO-focused? Perhaps a good question for next week... Question of the week: In your opinion, how effective are push kicks? I train Muay Thai under Andre Madiz at Conviction Martial Arts, 4430 N. Western Ave., Chicago, IL. www.convictionfitness.com. If you are in the Chicago area, come join us, and be sure to say hello.

Posted in: mma, ko, week, body, kick

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A complete list of significant new fights reported in the past week.

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UFC bantamweight Reuben Duran was successful in his last bout in the Octagon, defeating Francisco Rivera by rear naked choke in June, but now faces an even tougher battle.

Posted in: week, octagon, duran, francisco rivera, reuben

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There will be a Georges St-Pierre sighting in Las Vegas this week.

Posted in: week, gsp, brydon, las vegas, la

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One week into the new Chinese calendar, two flourishing Asia-Pacific fight promotions have revealed separate television partnerships which could help them prosper in the Year of the Dragon.

Posted in: week, espn, chinese calendar, television partnerships, broadcast deals

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A complete list of significant new fights reported in the past week.

Posted in: fight, week, list, weekinreview list, ufc strikeforce

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Recapping all the fights from Saturday night and looking forward to UFC 143 in Las Vegas.

Posted in: ufc, saturday night, week, city, recapping

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MMAFrenzy’s podcast returns this week as host Steve “bsbiz” Barnes and writers Chris Leslie and Bryan Robison break down the week’s events in MMA. This week’s podcast breaks down the aftermath of UFC on FX 1, Dan Henderson, and more. Right click and “save as” to download. MP3 version - Podcast 1_23 MP3 enhanced iTunes version - Podcast 1_23

Posted in: week, podcast, right click, bryan robison, version

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Team Quest striking coach Daniel Woirin shows the MMAWeekly/Clinch Gear MMA technique of the week, demonstrating clinch defense.

Posted in: week, technique, defense, gear, week –

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Showdown Joe recaps this past week's events, previews the big card on Saturday night, and has Canadian Rory Macdonald in studio.

Posted in: ufc, saturday night, week, showdown, chicago

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Welcome back to my online diary documenting my very amateur experience training in Muay Thai. If you missed the previous entries on Bloody Elbow, read them here. This week, I am proud to say I reached a new milestone in my training. For the first time, I sparred in an actual ring. The ring is a new addition to our facility, and it's pretty nice, providing a very different experience in the sparring. We still weren't having full on sparring matches, as there would be two pairs sparring in the ring at a time, but I was surprised at the way the ring did have an impact on my game. First up, the grip is very different from our normal mats. The canvas on the ring just feels better on the foot, making me feel more comfortable on my feet. I found that pivoting on my lead leg while throwing a kick was a lot easier. Second, there's using the ring to your advantage. Perhaps it comes from just having watched an awful lot of Muay Thai and MMA, but this was something I immediately identified as a key difference. Many times I was able to trap my partner in the corner and connect on him, while at the same time keeping myself out of the corner and away from the ropes. But it wasn't perfect. I realized afterwards that my big mistake was in my movement, as I tended to move in and out in straight lines - forward and backward. My goal for this week is to work on coming in from the side, and to circle away from my opponent's power hand. Against an opponent in orthodox stance, that will take me to my right, and that's going to be a tough change. My tendency is to start a lot of combos with the jab, which means stepping in with my left. I also stay light on the left foot, lifting the left leg to check often. Both of those moves cause me to drift left, into the power side. So it will be a tough change, but I think will benefit me in both making my combos a bit less predictable, while also protecting me from power shots. Hopefully we will spar tonight and I'll be able to report back how that went. Last thing to work on - stop dropping my hand to catch leg kicks. When I first started sparring, this was a bad habit. I worked past it, but when sparring with my coach last time, I kept bringing the hand down instead of checking the kicks. No good at all, and not sure why that came back after I thought it was out of my system. This week's question: anyone else out there a taller fighter? I'm 6'4", and try to use my height and reach to my advantage. It generally works, but causes trouble when working drills where I duck and slip a hook. Still a good skill to develop, or as a tall fighter, is this just a bad way for me to avoid hooks?

Posted in: time, week, ring, time i, muay thai

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MMAFrenzy’s podcast returns this week as host Steve “bsbiz” Barnes and writers Chris Leslie and Pete Sumulong break down the week’s events in MMA. This week’s podcast breaks down the aftermath of UFC 142, weight cutting, upcoming UFC events, and the ESPN “Outside the Lines” piece on UFC fighter pay. Right click and “save as” to download. MP3 version - Podcast 1_16 (MP3) enhanced iTunes version - Podcast 1_16

Posted in: ufc, week, ufc events, podcast, right click

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A complete list of significant new fights reported in the past week.

Posted in: fight, week, list, weekinreview list, ufc strikeforce

Read the full article at Sherdog

Showdown Joe recaps this past week's events, previews the big card on Saturday night, and has Canadian Rory Macdonald in studio.

Posted in: saturday night, week, showdown, canadian, studio

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submitted by MattyBlayze [link] [comment]

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Not only did UFC officials lose Mark Munoz to injury for the UFC on Fox 2 event next week, but they also had to reschedule their planned trip to Montreal.

Posted in: ufc, week, ufc officials, mark munoz, montreal

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UFC bantamweight Reuben Duran was successful in his last bout in the Octagon, defeating Francisco Rivera by rear naked choke in June, but now faces an even tougher battle.

Posted in: week, octagon, duran, francisco rivera, reuben

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Mopping the Mats is a weekly Monday feature meant to breakdown the weekend that was in Mixed Martial Arts. Last weekend featured the first UFC card of 2012, nnumber 142 in Rio, Brazil. 2012 will be the 11th year of business for the UFC since Zuffa took the reigns. For all the criticism they receive for an issue such as fighter pay, they have never failed to give fighters more opportunities to fight (and on bigger stages at that) with each passing year. For a little perspective on how far they've come, check out the numbered events that kicked off each of the last 10 years: 2012 - UFC 1422011 - UFC 1252010 - UFC 1082009 - UFC 932008 - UFC 802007 - UFC 672006 - UFC 572005 - UFC 512004 - UFC 462003 - UFC 412002 - UFC 352001 - UFC 30 Among other changes to the status quo that I want to see, I'd like fighters to get paid a little more. I also think it would do everyone some good to sit back and look at just how far the sport we love has come since the Ultimate Fighting Championship came under the direction of the Fertitta brothers and Dana White. THE EVENT: UFC 142 Going into this weekend, a friend of mine told me he wasn't planning on ordering the card due to the lack of exciting match-ups on it. This is a guy who does not miss an event for anything, he's easily the biggest MMA fan I know. We've watched every event together for as long as I can remember and for him to say he wasn't interested was a big indicator of just how lacklustre the event appeared, even to the most die hard of fans. In the end some other friends wanted to watch the event so we all got together and bought the fights. It's a good thing we did too, as the event reinforced the notion that the UFC itself is the star, not any one particular fighter. The card was filled with jump off the couch moments and was capped off by the coolest thing I've ever seen in MMA, Jose Aldo leaving the cage to celebrate with his countrymen following his first round knockout of Chad Mendes. Dana White has stated many times that you can't judge a card on paper and he's been proven right many times. 142 was no different. In a way it was the perfect card to follow UFC 141, which featured the retirement of the biggest draw in company history, Brock Lesnar. There were no individual pay per view stars to watch at 142 yet if you didn't see the card, you missed out on some special moments, which is exactly what the UFC wants to convey to it's fans: No matter who is fighting, something spectacular could happen and you don't want to miss it. The results and the takeaways are after the jump. THE RESULTS: Aldo, Barboza awe with spectacular knockouts. Anthony Johnson packs his bags. The last Brazilian card, UFC 134, saw the home country fighters dominate their opponents, with Stanislav Nedkov being the only man to defeat a Brazilian. They duplicated that feat at 142, with Ricardo Funch being the lone Brazilian to suffer a loss, a first round TKO at the hands of Mike Pyle. This comes as no surprise; Pyle has become rather good at playing the spoiler, with his last three victories coming over home town guys. The best moments of the undercard were watching Gabriel Gonzaga showcase his Brazilian Jiu Jitsu top game in a dominant submission victory over newcomer Edinaldo Oliveira and the first round of Yuri Alcantra vs Michihiro Omigawa. The round had so many interesting moments that I'll be breaking it down in detail later this week, but if you haven't seen the fight yet, you should. As for the main card, Edson Barboza started the show by knocking out Terry Etim with a wheel kick. The technique is one of my favorite strikes (I might be a little more partial to flying knees and superman punches) and along with the Barboza knockout it has lead to one of the most brutal knockouts in combat sports history, in a K-1 Grand Prix kickboxing match. Just months after Stefan Leko knocked him out with a wheel kick to the body, Badr Hari one upped him in their instant rematch, landing the kick to Leko's head, breaking his jaw and knocking him out cold. UFC color commentator Joe Rogan has an impressive tutorial on the kick that can be found on this video (Fast forward to 7:00 for the start of the tutorial). Barboza is one of the finest strikers in the company but he has yet to face a grappler who can put him on his back. I hope he gets that test soon. Another young Brazilian quickly becoming a star is Erick Silva, who destroyed Carlo Prater in the first round of their fight on Saturday. The win was short lived though; Mario Yamasaki disqualified Silva for striking Prater to the back of the head. The blows were less egregious than many other back of the head strikes that we've seen allowed in the Octagon in the past and it's disappointing to see Silva lose the fight due to a borderline call. At the same time though, fans and media alike have been expressing concern over blows to the back of the head for a few years now; if this is the start of a crackdown on them, we should be glad, not mad at Yamasaki. Rousimar Palhares won by heel hook in the first minute of his fight with Mike Massenzio. I'm not going to make any jokes, only offer condolences to Massenzio, was in bad shape following the stoppage. When Palhares went for his leg, it seemed to me that Massenzio panicked a little, turning away and trying to pull free of the grasp of "Toqinho". In doing so he fell right into the lock. I'm just a lowly white belt, (two stripes, I'm getting there) but I felt that Massenzio would have been better off getting his weight over top of Palhares and keeping everything in tight. Then again, what do I know? Maybe the best defense is simply not getting in the cage with a monster like Palhares. In the final two fights of the night, Vitor Belfort dispatched Anthony Johnson via first round rear naked choke before Jose Aldo provided a spectacular cap to the evening, a spinning knee knockout of Mendes and the first crowd surf in UFC history. Mendes was expected to give Aldo his stiffest challenge to date but instead it looked like the champion, or perhaps the moment, got to him. He stood well out of take down range and traded leg kicks with Aldo, clearly a losing proposition, until finally closing the distance and securing a body lock on the the champion in the final minute of the round. As Mendes tried desperately to get the fight to the ground, Aldo worked to free himself, finally doing so with seconds remaining on the clock. Instead of resetting and allowing the round to expire, Mendes instinctually shot forward at Aldo's hips. Aldo was also working on instinct and as he spun around to face Mendes he threw a picture perfect left knee, connecting solidly with Mendes' head, dazing the challenger and sending him to the mat. A few punches later and Aldo had retained his title. As incredible as the finish was, Aldo's celebration was the real show-stopper. The champion burst out of the cage, sprinted down the Octagon stairs, flew across the space reserved for the commission, the UFC brass and the media before leaping into the crowd to share his triumph with his countrymen. As I watched the moment unfold I couldn't stop smiling. One of the unexpected things the UFC has given me is the opportunity to observe and learn about other cultures and as such, I have developed an appreciation for people and places that I didn't have before. In North America, professional athletes almost never go into the stands. When they do, it isn't to celebrate. Most distance themselves from the public, always wary of the crazed fan who might want to take away their livelyhood. Watching Aldo shrug off the potential danger of entering the stands because of his love for his country was thrilling and a reminder that sportsmen shouldn't take themselves too seriously. THE TAKEAWAYS: Aldo is the "new GSP", while the UFC needs to revisit weight cutting. On the eve of UFC 142, Fraser Coffeen wrote a story for Bloody Elbow that described Aldo as the new GSP. He suggested that was a bad thing, focusing on the recent theme that GSP fights boring and Aldo too was no longer fighting with a crowd pleasing style. While most people might chuckle at the article now, I'm going to give Fraser props for getting it right. Jose Aldo is the new GSP: He's young and dynamic, he stands head and shoulders above the rest of the fighters in his division and he's a huge star in his native country. GSP was instrumental in the UFC's North American growth and Aldo will be the man who takes the organization to great heights in South America. So really, what's not to like about the comparison? The other big story coming out of the event was the complete disaster that was Anthony Johnson's middleweight debut. Johnson, who had missed weight twice during his time at welterweight, weighed in at a shocking 197 pounds on the eve of the card, a disturbing 12 pounds heavier than the agreed upon 185. This led to a stipulation that he be no more than 205 pounds on the day of the fight. For those who are still unsure of how Rumble could have possibly missed weight by such a large amount, King Mo had a very insightful take on the situation that everyone should read. Lawal describes in detail the havoc cutting large amounts of weight on a regular basis can play on your body and sure enough, Johnson stated that he was losing feeling in his legs on the morning of the weigh-ins. If fighters are intent on putting themselves in serious physical danger in an effort to drop weight rapidly perhaps the UFC and commissions need to institute rules to protect these men from themselves. My suggestion would be two weigh-ins, one a week out, and one the night before the fight. There would be a cap for how much you could weigh in your week out weigh-in and if you come in over that cap, you don't fight.I'm not a medical professional, so I'm just using rough estimates here. By all reports, Johnson was attempting to cut from around 215, about 15% of his bodyweight. Instituting a rule that states fight week cuts are to be no more than 10% of total body weight sounds about right. For each weight class the maximum cut allowed would be: Flyweights (125) must start fight week at 137.5 pounds or less Bantamweights (135) must start fight week at 148.5 pounds or less Featherweights (145) must start fight week at 159.5 pounds or less Lightweights (155) must start fight week at 170.5 pounds or less Welterweights (170) must start fight week at 187 pounds or less Middleweights (185) must start fight week at 203.5 pounds or less Light Heavyweights (205) must start fight week at 225.5 pounds or less Heavyweights (265) must start fight week at 291.5 pounds or less To me this doesn't seem too outrageous and it would go a long way towards fighter safety. As for Rumble? He really should have known better. Trying to cut upwards of 50 pounds in order to have a big size advantage over his opponents is already kind of lame. Failing to actually make the weight cut on multiple occasions is just ridiculous, if it's not outright cheating. If Johnson is going to continue his career in mixed martial arts, I hope he does so in the light heavyweight division. He's been doing MMA long enough now that he should test himself against men his size. Unfortunately I think this is the last we've seen of Rumble and it's too bad. He has a lot of talent and if he had ever committed himself to the lifestyle of an elite fighter he could have realized that talent. Instead, it seems he'll just end up a cautionary tale to young fighters about the dangers of cutting weight. As always, thanks for reading! Comments are welcome.

Posted in: ufc, fight, pound, week, aldo

Read the full article at Head Kick Legend

A complete list of significant new fights reported in the past week.

Posted in: fight, week, list, weekinreview list, ufc strikeforce

Read the full article at Sherdog

This week on UFC CENTRAL "Showdown" recaps all the action from UFC 142, all you need to know about Melvin Guillard and Bocek's thoughts.

Posted in: ufc, week, melvin guillard, recap, showdown recaps

Read the full article at sportsnet.ca

Next week’s UFC on FX 1: Guillard vs. Miller fight card is undergoing some last minute changes.

Posted in: ufc, fx, week, vs, card

Read the full article at MMA Weekly

MMAFrenzy’s podcast returns this week as host Steve “bsbiz” Barnes and writers Chris Leslie and Bryan Robison break down the week’s events in MMA. This week, we break down the aftermath of UFC 141, preview UFC 142, and review Zuffa’s handling of PED issues. Right click and “save as” to download. MP3 version - 01 Podcast (1_13) MP3 Version enhanced iTunes version - Podcast (1_13)

Posted in: ufc, week, podcast, bryan robison, version

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There may not be a lot of changes to the World Top 10 MMA Rankings this week, but there sure is a big one with former No. 1 women's fighter Cris "Cyborg" Santos suspended.

Posted in: mma, week, ranking, cyborg, cri

Read the full article at MMA Weekly

It's hard to imagine a more emotional day than the one new UFC lightweight C.J. Keith had just over a week ago.

Posted in: week, day, keith, cj, cj keith

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A complete list of significant new fights reported in the past week.

Posted in: fight, week, list, weekinreview list, ufc strikeforce

Read the full article at Sherdog

Welcome back to my online diary documenting my very amateur experience training in Muay Thai. If you missed the first entry on Bloody Elbow, read it here. I have always thought of myself as not a particularly graceful person. I'm not some giant oaf or horribly clumsy, but, despite being on the wrestling and tennis teams in high school, athletics don't come naturally to me and require a bit of work. That was one of my goals in starting Muay Thai training - to increase my overall athletic ability. And, to my pleasant surprise, I have found over the past year that I am much more comfortable in these areas than I give myself credit for. But I still have some places where I struggle, like balance, and this week, those difficulties caught up with me. This week's focus: leg kicks. Which I've actually gotten quite good at in the past year if you ask me. But this time we were working a different style of kick; emphasizing the entire movement on the rotation of the hips, we threw the leg kick much closer to our partner than normal, and instead of fully extending the leg, kept the leg partially bent at the knee when making contact. Picture almost a cross between a knee strike and a leg kick. It's a nice kick to use when fighting close inside and unable to get the full extension on your kick (while also drilling you on hip rotation), but it caused me all kinds of troubles. Finding my range has always been a bit of an issue for me, and an area I focus on. I'm a tall guy, and want to use that height and reach to my advantage, so make it a point to really extend the jab, the push kick, and the leg kick. But it's hard to find that proper range always. I think that's partly a result of me still being unsure where exactly my ideal range can be found, and partly from working with different partners holding the bag. Many times, I find my partner getting closer to me, so that when I step in to kick and extend, I'm connecting more with the knee than the shin - which is no good. Something to keep working on, and one of my main areas of focus for the past couple months. Back to this week - the combination of working kicks at a different range, plus a kick that necessitated strong balance threw me for a loop. Throw the kick by itself and I was fine. Add a pair of punches, or block a kick before it, and I could not find my target accurately. The end result? A week marked by frustration. Ah well. Not every week will be perfect, and I learn from what I do wrong. I'd grown comfortable with a lot of the techniques in my bag, so adding a new one that I am not comfortable with provides a definite challenge - and where would the fun in training be without those challenges? I walked out frustrated and annoyed at myself this week, but also eager to get back in there next week and get that kick down. I'll see how it goes, and report back next time. My question of the week for everyone: I think I broke my big toe a few weeks ago, or if not broke it, jammed the hell out of it. It is mostly recovered now, but at least once a week I still catch it wrong and jam it again, which hurts quite a lot. Anything to do other than tape that thing up and try to be more careful?

Posted in: week, leg, training, kick, leg kick

Read the full article at Bloody Elbow

Ken Reid tees up UFC 142 and breaks down all the action from a busy week in mixed martial arts.

Posted in: ufc, week, ken, tee, sizing

Read the full article at sportsnet.ca

Ken Reid tees up UFC 142 and breaks down all the action from a busy week in mixed martial arts.

Posted in: ufc, week, art, ken, tee

Read the full article at sportsnet.ca

UFC bantamweight Reuben Duran video blogs exclusively for MMAWeekly.com during his surgery and road back to the Octagon.

Posted in: week, octagon, duran, road, reuben

Read the full article at MMA Weekly

The UFC has officially announced their first card for Fuel TV set to go down Feb 15 from Omaha, Neb. with tickets on sale for the event this week.

Posted in: ufc, week, sale, fuel tv, omaha neb

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The UFC held a conference call on Wednesday ahead of next week’s UFC 142 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, its second trip to the city.

Posted in: ufc, week, brazil, janeiro, janeiro brazil

Read the full article at sportsnet.ca

Team Quest boxing coach Gustavo Pugliese shows the MMAWeekly/Clinch Gear MMA technique of the week, a a boxing drill angling off the right hand.

Posted in: week, technique, boxing, gear, boxing drill

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Unless you crawled under a rock for the past week, it's no surprise that Sweden has been in the UFC's plans for an event this spring. UFC officials on Wednesday, however, confirmed it.

Posted in: ufc, week, event, sweden, ufcs plans

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Former UFC lightweight champion Sean Sherk displays variations off of his special “penetration step” in this edition of Sherdog.com's Technique of the Week at Paragon Jiu-Jitsu in Austin, Texas.

Posted in: week, technique, sherdogcoms technique, paragon jiujitsu, paragon

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It’s UFC 141 fight week for Alistair Overeem in this ninth episode of THE REEM II.

Posted in: ufc, fight, week, alistair overeem, episode

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Dana White wants you to shut up when it comes to any criticism about rehiring Miguel Torres three weeks after firing him.

Posted in: week, dana, torre, criticism, ” dana

Read the full article at Fight Opinion

UFC bantamweight Reuben Duran video blogs exclusively for MMAWeekly.com during his surgery and road back to the Octagon.

Posted in: week, octagon, duran, road, reuben

Read the full article at MMA Weekly

It might be safe to say that the last few weeks have been the worst of Miguel Torres' life.

Posted in: week, life, miguel torres, torre, miguel

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submitted by MattyBlayze [link] [1 comment]

Posted in: week, mattyblayze, entrance, mgm

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With it being a major UFC pay-per-view week, and the final one of the year at that, UFC President Dana White has promised his fans that he will do an entire week of video blogs leading up to Friday night’s main event between Brock Lesnar and Alistair Overeem at UFC 141. White has been hit-and-miss in recent months in regards to his video blogs, which include behind-the-scenes footage and fighter interviews following their matches. The early portions of the vlogs show what goes into getting a UFC PPV ready to air. “You guys have been (expletive) about me not popping out blogs. I swear to God, I mean it this time, I will be popping out blogs all week,” says White in the beginning of the first edition. “Fight week, blog week!” His first submission is ripe with interesting moments including some very revealing footage from UFC 140: Jones vs. Machida showing the winners/losers immediately after action concludes. Check out the video below:

Posted in: ufc, week, video, blog, video blogs

Read the full article at Five Ounces of Pain

Dana White gets UFC 141 fight week kicked off in style with the first episode of his video blog.

Posted in: ufc, week, video, dana, blog

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"You guys have been bitching about me not popping out blogs. I swear to God, I mean it this time, I will be popping out blogs all week. Fight week, blog week!" Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) President is back with his fight week promotional video series, this time for UFC 141: "Lesnar vs. Overeem," which takes place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Dec. 30, 2011. The first episode, as usual, goes behind the scenes of the promotion's most recent event, UFC 140, with never-before-scene footage of the fighters immediately before and after their respective fights. UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones' entrance, as well as his backstage introduction to "The Situation" of the "Jersey Shore" franchise is interesting to say the least. To check out the latest UFC 141 news and notes be sure to check out our comprehensive event archive right here.

Posted in: ufc, week, blog, fight week, garden arena

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Kicking off UFC 141 "fight week, blog week," UFC president Dana White is back with his first video blog for this week's big showdown between Brock Lesnar and Alistair Overeem.

Posted in: ufc, week, brock lesnar, video blog, blog

Read the full article at MMA Weekly

Friday, Friday, there's a big fight going down on Friday. If there's one area the UFC really needs to focus their marketing and promotion on this week for their end of the year Pay Per View show featuring the Mega-Headline bout that is Brock Lesnar vs Alistair Overeem, it's making sure everyone knows it'll air on a day of the week that's not the norm. But even if Zuffa goes all out and creates something like a 'UFC on Friday' logo with Dana White wearing a t-shirt and starting every Youtube vlog this week with the 'Friday' message, the UFC still has an uphill battle with casual fans that are used to Saturday shows. Even if the UFC opt for a Rebecca Black viral video remix for the purpose of getting an irritating mantra stuck inside people's heads, the UFC could still lose out on hundreds of thousands in potential PPV purchases. The Wrestling Observer's Dave Meltzer expressed his concern for the Friday event at the beginning of December when he was a guest on the FightFans Radio podcast (transcription by me): Of all the things, the Friday night concerns me the most. It's a big enough fight to where I think it'll do over half a million (buys) no matter what, but I just think there's going to be a lot of people who on that Friday night are thinking "Yeah, tomorrow night is the Lesnar fight", and then they're going to wake up on Saturday and see the results and go "Oh my god, I missed the fight!". Because we're so intuned as creatures of habit, I mean I never think on Friday night of UFC, OK? Ever ... but when I wake up Saturday morning it's like "There's probably a UFC fight". So I think that Friday is going to hurt, especially with this fight. I know why they did it ... it'd be hard to book hotels, and that's true. In Vegas to get people in ... they didn't want to compete with New Year's Eve entertainment. But I think with this fight, if it had been on New Year's Eve it would have been just gigantic on Pay Per View, and I'm worried a little on the Friday aspect. It'll still do well though, but I just think there's going to be ... a hundred, two-hundred thousand people that would have bought that show, on Saturday morning are going to go "Oh my god, the show was last night!?". Even with the awareness of the show coming up, just because it's Friday and ... they just don't think about it (being) on Friday. ... if this was like an Edgar / Maynard show on December 30th, I mean I think it would have done, like, horrible! Now because it's Lesnar I think there's going to be a lot of awareness the week (of), and a lot of people are going to figure it out. But ... the one thing that always hits me is when WWF [sic] does their 3 hour RAWs, and like 20% of the audience still tunes in at 9 o'clock. And this is with them going on TV usually for 2 weeks, "We've got a 3 hour RAW in 2 weeks, we've got a 3 hour RAW next week ..." over and over, "Don't forget we're on an hour early, don't forget we're on an hour early ...", and still 20% of the audience doesn't get that message, and I'm afraid that like that's what's probably going to happen here, that 20% of the audience is going to go "Yeah I know, Lesnar's fighting this week" and not think about it until Saturday morning; "Oh yeah, lets get together and watch the Lesnar fight", you know, with their friends. I just feel like it's going to be 20%... maybe it'll be more, maybe it'll be less, but I think a pretty darn significant percentage is going to miss that fight because of it being on Friday. UFC 141 top to bottom is a very solid card with Nate Diaz vs Donald Cerrone almost guaranteed to excite, and for a few people the return of Jon Fitch against the rising NCAA Champion Johny Hendricks is intriguing in its own right. With Brock Lesnar and Alistair Overeem closing the show, the strength of the card can not be faulted. But as Meltzer mentions, we tend to be creatures of habit that get used to a routine, and Friday night is bound to catch a lot of people out who would have otherwise caught the fights live. For a year plagued with injuries, the fallout from the bitter separation of Spike TV and the UFC, and not a single PPV card that has cracked the 1 million mark this year, 2011 has to be considered one of the worst PPV years in the post-TUF boom era. Short of a Mayan apocalypse, let's hope 2012 fairs better.

Posted in: ufc, fight, show, week, friday

Read the full article at Bloody Elbow

Former UFC lightweight champion Sean Sherk displays his special “penetration step” in this edition of Sherdog.com's Technique of the Week at Paragon Jiu-Jitsu in Austin, Texas.

Posted in: week, technique, step, sherdogcoms technique, paragon jiujitsu

Read the full article at Sherdog

submitted by inspectorhotdog [link] [1 comment]

Posted in: week, zombie, inspectorhotdog, lee, rex

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UFC bantamweight Reuben Duran video blogs exclusively for MMAWeekly.com during his surgery and road back to the Octagon.

Posted in: week, octagon, duran, road, reuben

Read the full article at MMA Weekly

Despite impressive performances by Gilbert Melendez and Cris "Cyborg" Santos, this week's Top 10 rankings stand pat.

Posted in: week, ranking, gilbert melendez, cris cyborg, ’t result

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Overeem is ready to go!!! Lesnar vs Overeem is on!about 1 hour ago via Twitter for iPhoneReplyRetweetFavorite@danawhiteDana White Alistair Overeem vs. Brock Lesnar is one drug test closer to actually happening next week. Dana White hinted that Overeem passed the first urine test mandated by the NSAC last week in the tweet seen above. Bloody Elbow’s Brent Brookhouse confirmed it shortly thereafter. Overeem will still have to take another test when he arrives in the US for the fight next week, but it’s my understanding that it will be the same test he just took in the UK late last week. So unless he takes something between now and then, which is extremely unlikely considering he knows the test is coming, there shouldn’t be any reason why he won’t pass that one too.

Posted in: overeem, week, test, drug test, week dana

Read the full article at MMA Convert

The last few weeks of Alistair Overeem's life have been pretty crazy, and a lot of it had nothing to do with his preparation for Brock Lesnar at UFC 141.

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

Read the full article at MMA Weekly

A complete list of significant new fights reported in the past week.

Posted in: fight, week, list, weekinreview list, ufc strikeforce

Read the full article at Sherdog

Nate Diaz locks in a killer triangle choke, then seals it with his signature Stockton salute.

Posted in: diaz, week, ufc submission, killer triangle, killer

Read the full article at MMA Weekly

In his latest Yahoo! Sports blog, Alistair Overeem catches fans up on his thoughts after an eventful week in the headlines

Posted in: overeem, week, yahoo, thought, overeem thoughts

Read the full article at Yahoo! Sports

The injury bug has bitten down hard on the UFC 142 card in Brazil with three fighters falling out this week.

Posted in: ufc, fighter, week, brazil, injury bug

Read the full article at MMA Weekly

UFC bantamweight Reuben Duran video blogs exclusively for MMAWeekly.com during his surgery and road back to the Octagon.

Posted in: week, octagon, duran, road, reuben

Read the full article at MMA Weekly

Just this past weekend, UFC President Dana White came right out and said Strikeforce, the promotion Zuffa bought back in March and mined for a lot of its top talent over the following months, will live on and its remaining roster of fighters will be staying put. Scott Coker, the CEO and General Manager of said promotion, was a guest on Inside MMA and talked about the future. He is, as he has been all along, optimistic: "Well, you know, nothing's signed yet. So that's the fact. I am optimistic and I think that hopefully by the end of this week or sometime early next week we'll have a big announcement to make. I think both sides look at this as something they want to do (and) have worked diligently to make this happen. I think it's great programming for Showtime, to have all these great fights and to keep Strikeforce going. Personally, it makes me very happy because, you know, I feel like, you give birth to this league and being a founder of the name Strikeforce and the founder of the Strikeforce mixed martial arts league. So I'm happy and I think that it will continue but for right now, we'll have to wait and see and hopefully by the end of the week we'll have something else. I'm feeling very warm right now. I'm feeling warm and fuzzy. But you never know." The more we know, the more we don't know, you know? Strikeforce's current schedule is rather thin, considering it has just two events planned over the coming months. The first, "Melendez vs. Masvidal," takes place this Sat., Dec. 17, 2011, in San Diego, and the second, "Rockhold vs. Jardine," which is set for Jan. 7, 2012, in Las Vegas. After that, it's a deep, dark abyss with an awful lot of fighters left with no dates and an uncertain fighting future. All this is without even mentioning the heavyweight grand prix tournament, which still has yet to reach its conclusion. If Strikeforce is, indeed, sticking around, the fight announcements are going to come fast and furious over the coming weeks, so stay tuned for that. In the meantime, Coker talks about losing a few champions to the UFC and more after the jump.

Posted in: strikeforce, week, scott coker, im, im feeling

Read the full article at MMA Mania

A complete list of significant new fights reported in the past week.

Posted in: fight, week, list, weekinreview list, ufc strikeforce

Read the full article at Sherdog

Fresh off his successful return to mixed martial arts, Savant Young displays a beautiful “catch and go” in this edition of Sherdog.com's Technique of the Week, which was filmed at Young's Fight Academy in Pasadena, Calif.

Posted in: week, technique, sherdogcom, sherdogcoms technique, arts savant

Read the full article at Sherdog

Fresh off his successful return to mixed martial arts, Savant Young displays a beautiful “catch and go” in this edition of Sherdog.com's Technique of the Week, which was filmed at Young's Fight Academy in Pasadena, Calif.

Posted in: week, technique, sherdogcom, sherdogcoms technique, arts savant

Read the full article at Sherdog

I expect some trying times this week without my mentor Shawn Tompkins but I just want to continue to carry on his legacy at UFC 140.

Posted in: ufc, week, tompkin, legacy, hominick blog

Read the full article at sportsnet.ca

I expect some trying times this week without my mentor Shawn Tompkins but I just want to continue to carry on his legacy at UFC 140.

Posted in: ufc, week, tompkin, legacy, hominick blog

Read the full article at sportsnet.ca

After spending weeks scouting out places to live and train in America, Alistair Overeem is back in Holland to take care of his sick mother. I am now training for Lesnar in Holland. I flew back about a week ago. I don’t want to go too deep into personal matters, but what happened was my mother is recoveringå from cancer and needs my support. She needs me in Holland over the next couple of weeks and I came back for her.What I can say is that going back to Holland to be with my mother won’t be a distraction; it is actually stopping me from getting distracted. If I stayed in Las Vegas for this camp I would be constantly worried about her and my focus would have been compromised. Now I can train 100 percent, and know she’s just across town. First the lawsuit with Golden Glory, now this illness. All Alistair needs now is for someone to whack him in the knee with a steel baton and it'll officially be the best training camp ever!

Posted in: week, training camp, mother, holland, herwhat i

Read the full article at Fightlinker

If you missed this one, be sure and click as you'll see one of the strangest submissions to ever go down inside the Octagon. If you did see it, you know you want to watch it again!

Posted in: ufc, week, submission, jung, ufc submission

Read the full article at Heavy MMA

submitted by MattyBlayze [link] [3 comments]

Posted in: ufc, week, event, mattyblayze

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Eight months ago the UFC packed 55,000 fans into the Rogers Centre to watch Georges St. Pierre defend his welterweight title against Jake Shields. The atmosphere was electric and the Canadian fans showed up in droves to support the national hero. This week there is a completely different story. Instead of an enormous sold out crowd, Jon Jones and Lyoto Machida may do battle in front of a partially filled Air Canada Centre. The Toronto Sun was the first to report on the ticketing troubles surrounding the event. When the UFC rolled into town for UFC 129, the city was abuzz with excitement and expectations. The first event was a huge success with local media doing their part in building up the supercard. For UFC 140, it would appear that they just haven't gotten on board with the promotion. The city is all but dead with the event just a week away. From the Toronto Sun: Despite the great line-up, there's been little hoopla over the city's second ever UFC event, which still has tickets available. In reality, with so many cities around the world clamouring to host the UFC these days, Toronto should be counting its blessings. Only Montreal in 2010 and Las Vegas, where the UFC is headquartered, have ever held two events in the same year, Wright said. The UFC will likely come to town at least once a year from now on, he said, adding the ACC show is more in line with a typical UFC event. As with most UFC events, they usually do a major marketing push the week of the fights so come Saturday the expectation is that the Air Canada Centre will be full. However, the fact that one of the last major cards of 2011 is not yet sold out may reflect on the general feeling that the UFC's schedule is having adverse affects on their revenue stream. It may also be asking too much for the local audience to get excited for MMA for a second time in the same year after such a huge first event. SBN coverage of UFC 140: Jones vs. Machida

Posted in: ufc, week, event, city, ufc event

Read the full article at Bloody Elbow

Strikeforce middleweight champion Luke Rockhold demonstrates a reverse triangle choke from the side mount in this edition of Sherdog.com’s Technique of the Week, which is brought to you by Trojan.

Posted in: week, technique, triangle, side, trojan

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A complete list of significant new fights reported in the past week.

Posted in: fight, week, list, weekinreview list, ufc strikeforce

Read the full article at Sherdog

Strikeforce middleweight champion Luke Rockhold demonstrates two amazing moves from the leg-ride position in this edition of Sherdog.com’s Technique of the Week, which is brought to you by Trojan.

Posted in: week, technique, move, trojan, legride position

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That's all. Well, maybe, is there one this week? submitted by nestle_raisinets [link] [1 comment]

Posted in: fighter, week, that, week thats, nestleraisinet

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Another week of fights, another controversial decision. While this holiday week's MMA schedule was relatively tame in comparison to the rest of an extremely busy month, Bellator Fighting Championships did on Saturday night host its final season-five event, Marcin Held was awarded a hotly contested split-decision win on the evening's main card. Our readers focused on a number of topics in this week's edition of The Sunday Junkie. But the winner of our weekly reader-feedback feature, Maryland's Bruce Hales, contends there should be no question as to why Held was given the win.

Posted in: week, edition, sunday junkie, weeks edition, month bellator

Read the full article at MMA Junkie

Tickets go on sale next week for the UFC's first foray onto the FX network.

Posted in: ufc, fx, week, sale, ticket

Read the full article at Heavy MMA

As usual, the guru Dave Meltzer is the first person to throw out a number in regards to the UFC 139 buyrate. And while no one was really expecting a huge number and this is just an early indicator of the final tally - this isn't good. Here's what he had to say in this week's Wrestling Observer (subscription required): Very early estimates indicate the PPV numbers are going to fall very slightly less than UFC 138, so a first estimate would be around 270,000, although more accurate numbers won’t be available for two weeks. The key thing here is the last bit - this is not the final number. But let's be honest. The number isn't likely to double in the next two weeks, so this event will be another in a long line of disappointing PPV buyrates that stretches back all the way to UFC 130. With the exception of UFC 135 (which did about 475k), every card has done under 350k. And the last three have all been under 280k, if this number holds steady. There are many things that can be used to justify the low buyrates - injuries to major stars like Georges St. Pierre and Brock Lesnar, the Fox deal taking away a PPV windfall fight, etc. With only two PPV's left in 2011, the UFC is guaranteed to be way down in PPV revenue and buys compared to 2010, even if they drew a gigantic number for UFC 141. Sure, UFC on Fox was a huge success and a big positive for the sport. But in terms of PPV, which Dana says will continue to be the core of their business model -is there cause for concern yet?

Posted in: ufc, ppv, week, number, buyrate

Read the full article at Bloody Elbow

Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson has got what he wants.He will be appearing on the UFC Japan card after all, despite earlier this week posting a heartfelt...

Posted in: ufc, jackson, week, card, japan

Read the full article at Fighters Only

Bellator Fighting Championships 58 earned an average of 269,000 viewers with its Saturday night broadcast on MTV2, more than doubling the previous week’s total of 129,000 viewers.

Posted in: bellator, week, viewer, mtv, week ’s

Read the full article at Sherdog

A complete list of significant new fights reported in the past week.

Posted in: fight, week, list, weekinreview list, ufc strikeforce

Read the full article at Sherdog

With just weeks remaining till UFC 140 in Toronto, we sit down five-time UFC Light Heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz.

Posted in: ufc, toronto, week, champion, fivetime

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Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua’s long-time manager Eduardo Alonso says he will be revealing something later this week that will change people’s...

Posted in: week, manager, lsquoshogunrsquo, ruarsquo, shogun manager

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The UFC cleaned blood off the cage mat before going on air last week for its debut broadcast on Fox.

Posted in: ufc, week, fox, cage mat, debut broadcast

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Injuries are a big part of the MMA game and the severity of some of the surgeries is no laughing matter.

Posted in: week, shane carwin, mma game, surgery, surgery injuries

Read the full article at Fight Opinion

Undefeated Bellator lightweight Michael Chandler has his sites set on the Eddie Alvarez's 155-pound title. The Xtreme Couture product steamrolled through the Bellator season four lightweight tournament, defeating top prospects Marcin Held, Lloyd Woodard and Patricky Freire to earn a title shot and his wrestling was his bread and butter. A former NCAA Division I All-American, Chandler was among a strong crop of Missouri wrestlers who transitioned to mixed martial arts that included Bellator welterweight champion Ben Askren and top Strikeforce contender Tyron Woodley. All three are undefeated and Chandler will be looking to keep that streak alive. After a brief one month delay, the Missouri native will battle Eddie Alvarez in the main event of Bellator 58  this Saturday night (November 19, 2011) in Hollywood, Florida. Chandler spoke with both myself and Matt Bishop during an appearance on Bloody Elbow Radio about his improvements as a fighter, preparing for a five round fight and how he feels he'll be successful against Alvarez where everyone else has failed. Matt Bishop: Mike, this is six months between fights for you and you mentioned it has given you a lot of time to hone your game. What's been the biggest thing that you've learned or picked up, maybe something that you didn't know in this timespan? Michael Chandler: Not really anything specific, but just continuing to work my boxing with Gil Martinez multiple times per week, continuing to work my grappling ground game with Neil Melanson and just being able to get those precious sparring sessions in a couple times a week, those precious grappling practices a couple days a week. Just taking every single opportunity that I can to train and be like a sponge and soak everything up. I'm in a great situation out here with tons of great training partners, guys who have been there and are veterans of the sport. Everybody knows the number of guys that are out here as well as the great coaches that I'm working with so more than anything, just the experience. Brian Hemminger (MMAmania.com): About that 25 potential minutes, I know you mentioned you sparred extra rounds and I read your blog where you talked about putting in more road work and you're working that cardio. Can you tell me about the confidence you have to go in there for five rounds for the first time in your career? Michael Chandler: Yeah, it's one of those things where I know that's what has to happen. It's a constant in the sport. Everybody who wants to win a world title has to fight potentially for 25 minutes so I have put the extra work in, talking about the road work, I got on my bike a couple times a week, doing some extra runs, extra conditioning, extra lift, just being smart about my training making sure I'm not going too hard for too long without recovery and really just sparring and making sure I'm sparring five, six, seven rounds each time we spar and just really going with guys that are gonna push me and making sure I'm using my sparring partners right, the guys who are going to simulate the fight as much as possible. Really, I showed it in my last two fights that have gone the distance. In the third round, I'm still pouring it on. While my opponents were going downhill, I was still on the uphill just laying it on them and I feel like if these fights go into the fourth and fifth round, I'm still gonna have a ton of gas. If I have to fight 25 minutes, I know I'm gonna be prepared and that's just what I'm ready for. Hopefully I can end the fight before the 25 minutes to make it be a dominant performance. Brian Hemminger (MMAmania.com): This fight was delayed a month when Alvarez had an unspecified injury. Do you feel like that gave you an advantage, like more time to improve, more time to prepare yourself? Michael Chandler: Yeah, absolutely. An extra 4-5 weeks to train is awesome for me. I'm a guy who's young and healthy and I can go harder than most people and I really just love this sport and I have a great time every single day training two times a day seven days a week so it's just fun for me. Obviously, I don't want to be in camp for real, real long. I want to get this show on the road, I want to get to that fight and that opportunity but once it got delayed, it was one of those deals where I just kinda had to take a step back. I stayed out of the gym for a week because I had already been training for 4-5 weeks prior to the injury being announced so if I had continued to go another eight weeks, you're looking at a 12 week camp and if you're going that hard for that long, your body is bound to get run down. I pretty much just pulled back for a week, week and a half and I just kinda came in a couple times, hit mitts with Gil. Other than that, I stayed out of the pro practices, stayed out of the hard sparring sessions and that kind of stuff and really just let my body recover for a little bit and then jumped right back into the last six weeks basically. All it did was give me extra time to prepare and that does nothing but help me so it didn't set me back at all and I feel I'm a better fighter on November 19th than I would have been on October 15th. It was a blessing. Matt Bishop: What quality to you feel you have that will make you successful against Eddie Alvarez where so many others have failed? Michael Chandler: I think it's the ability to match his intensity and even go beyond his intensity. I really think Eddie's a great fighter. I say it all the time. I'm not afraid to talk good about my opponent. He's a great fighter, he's a great champion. He puts on exciting fights, he's a fighter that fans love to see because he pushes the pace. He keeps a high pace, he throws his hands. He's kind of reckless at times and it's afraid. He's not timid, he's not afraid to lose his belt. He wants to go out there and beat people up and that's kind of what he's done this whole time he's been with Bellator. Nobody has really challenged him in the department of actually just stepping across the cage with him and not taking any backwards steps. His last fight with Pat Curran, Pat just let him have his way with him for 25 minutes. Pat Curran showed a couple flashes but other than that, Eddie's always moving forward, always on people and getting in their face and I'm the type of guy that I'm not gonna sit back. I'm always gonna be pressing forward, always gonna be in his face and I'm not gonna let him breathe at all for as long as the fight goes on whether it be five minutes or 25 minutes. I'm pretty much gonna bring the pressure the whole fight and I don't think that's something that he has had ever in his career. He's never fought a guy that's gonna be able to push the pace like I am and is as dangerous as I am in any part of the fight so that's just what I bring, it's just a wrestler mentality. We'll see how he reacts. Brian Hemminger (MMAmania.com): In your last fight to win the tournament, you actually stood with Patricky Pitbull for the first round and really had him second guessing everything and you were successful. Did that give you a lot of confidence because the stand-up department is Eddie Alvarez's strongsuit? Michael Chandler: Yeah, every single day that I get to work out with Gil Martinez, it's like my boxing game is my new little toy. The grappling is so similar to wrestling, it's not really, really new but the boxing aspect of it is something that really excites me and it's entertaining for myself. It's not like I'm going out there and working out and hating my life. I'm going there and running stuff and just listening to what Gil says and really just picking up all these pointers, all this boxing stuff that's just going on and I really had no idea about any of it before transitioning to fighting. I wasn't a boxing fan, I never really watched boxing but now I find myself jumping on YouTube, the Pacquiao-Marquez 24/7 on HBO. The boxing part of MMA, I'm really coming to love it and it's fun and exciting. I just work on it a ton and just going out there and standing with a guy who's really dangerous like Patricky and not taking much damage until later in the fight and then getting the takedown and finishing the last two rounds out, that gave me confidence going in there. Eddie's a great boxer and I don't plan on wrestling with him the whole fight. You're gonna see some hands. Brian Hemminger (MMAmania.com): I know your pure wrestling is better than Eddie Alvarez's, you were an Division I All-American at Missouri, but do you feel like with his experience in MMA that your MMA wrestling is better when you throw in all the kicks, clinches and how you have to specifically set things up in the cage? Michael Chandler: Yeah, absolutely. I think people give him a lot of credit with his wrestling because he fought a lot in Japan and they don't know how to wrestle over there. His last couple fights, everybody he's fought, he hasn't really fought a really good wrestler. In his last two fights he actually got taken down. He got taken down by Roger Huerta and he got taken down by Pat Curran so that definitely shows you that his wrestling might not be as good as everybody thinks it is and I don't know if you want to call it pure wrestling or MMA wrestling but no matter what, in the wrestling I am head and shoulders above him. That's what I bring to the table as well as every part of my game. There's no way I think he'll be able to stop any takedowns if I want to get them. Brian Hemminger (MMAmania.com): Now Gray Maynard is a big training partner of yours and your upcoming opponent Eddie Alvarez is actually a close sparring partner of UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar. Do you see those parallels with you and Eddie fighting for the Bellator lightweight title with Frankie and Gray's fight for the UFC title? Michael Chandler: Yeah, I know it's really crazy. We knew it was gonna happen because we knew that Gray and Frankie were gonna fight again and right after I won the tournament, I knew that I was gonna fight Eddie and it was pretty cool, just knowing that we had two wrestlers over here that were similar and then two guys over there. Frankie's a great wrestler and his boxing is up there so it's pretty cool knowing that two different sets of training partners were training for each other. That fight already happened and now mine and Eddie's is coming up so it was pretty interesting for the MMA world at least. Matt Bishop: Alright Michael, Eddie Alvarez coming up, November 19th, Bellator 58, how do you see the fight going in your mind? Michael Chandler: I will definitely be bringing [the Bellator lightweight title] home. I can't tell you how it's gonna happen. All I know is I'm going out there to finish the fight, keep pushing the pace and put pressure on him and it's gonna be an exciting show. Everybody tune in. Best case scenario, I go out there and I'm beating him up so bad that he gives up a submission or a TKO. That's my bold prediction. I just know it's gonna be a good show so everybody tune in. So what do you think, Maniacs? Does Chandler have what it takes to dethrone Eddie Alvarez on Saturday night? Will his wrestling be the deciding factor? Sound off!

Posted in: fight, time, week, eddie, im

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Shane Carwin is going back under the knife.He announced this week that he will be undergoing back surgery on Tuesday (today) to correct a long-term problem...

Posted in: week, carwin, shane, tuesday today, knifehe

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A complete list of significant new fights reported in the past week.

Posted in: fight, week, list, weekinreview list, ufc strikeforce

Read the full article at Sherdog

Recapping the UFC on Fox event in Anaheim and getting ready for UFC 139 in San Jose.

Posted in: ufc, week, recapping, fox event, anaheim

Read the full article at sportsnet.ca

Strikeforce middleweight champion Luke Rockhold demonstrates a slick reverse triangle from the single-leg position in this edition of Sherdog.com’s Technique of the Week, which is brought to you by Trojan.

Posted in: week, technique, triangle, singleleg position, trojan

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For weeks, UFC President Dana White has said that the first ever main event for their debut on Fox could go '10 seconds or 25 minutes'.

Posted in: ufc, week, fox, dana, fox dana

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Hey fight fans! We’re back this week with a bigger and better MMA Giveaway. First, I’d like to congratulate Fighters.com reader Jerome Taylor who walked away with the Chris Leben prize pack last week as the only person who predicted a Mark Munoz TKO. Don’t forget to send us pictures of your Kool-Aid hair! For this weekend’s monumental UFC on FOX: Velasquez vs. Dos Santos card, we’ve got multiple TWO giveaways. It’s your chance to win one of the following: -A 2011 Topps Finest UFC Dustin Poirier 1st Autograph (Finest is the first set to have his autographs in it) OR -A 2010 Leaf MMA Clay Guida autograph This week will have two winners for one entry! To enter the contest, please do the following: 1) Follow Fighters.com (@FightersMMA) and follow me (@paliontology) on Twitter. Those links will take you to our respective profiles. 2) Tweet me your predicted winner of the main event, along with the way you think he’ll win. This week’s tiebreaker is a bit more fun, though. Tweet me the local broadcast time in which the fight will end. As a rule of thumb, the event begins at 9:00 PM EST. Confused as to what I’m looking for? Here’s a sample tweet Sample Tweet: @paliontology: Cain Velasquez via KO. Fight ends at 6:42 PM Pacific Time. Winners will be determined by whom is able to pick the time closest to the fight end. The person closest will get to choose the autograph they want, while the second winner will get the other. In the event of any unsuccessful entries, remaining prizes will go back into the Prize Vault for a future giveaway. Entries will be accepted up until 9:00 PM EST Saturday evening. Good luck in advance to all of you entering. Don’t forget you can watch Guida and Poirier fight live through a streaming feed on Facebook starting at 4:45 PM EST. See you cageside! Tweet

Posted in: fight, week, winner, autograph, tweet

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Hey fight fans! We’re back this week with a bigger and better MMA Giveaway. First, I’d like to congratulate Fighters.com reader Jerome Taylor who walked away with the Chris Leben prize pack last week as the only person who predicted a Mark Munoz TKO. Don’t forget to send us pictures of your Kool-Aid hair! For this weekend’s monumental UFC on FOX: Velasquez vs. Dos Santos card, we’ve got multiple TWO giveaways. It’s your chance to win one of the following: -A 2011 Topps Finest UFC Dustin Poirier 1st Autograph (Finest is the first set to have his autographs in it) OR -A 2010 Leaf MMA Clay Guida autograph This week will have two winners for one entry! To enter the contest, please do the following: 1) Follow Fighters.com (@FightersMMA) and follow me (@paliontology) on Twitter. Those links will take you to our respective profiles. 2) Tweet me your predicted winner of the main event, along with the way you think he’ll win. This week’s tiebreaker is a bit more fun, though. Tweet me the local broadcast time in which the fight will end. As a rule of thumb, the event begins at 9:00 PM EST. Confused as to what I’m looking for? Here’s a sample tweet Sample Tweet: @paliontology: Cain Velasquez via KO. Fight ends at 6:42 PM Pacific Time. Winners will be determined by whom is able to pick the time closest to the fight end. The person closest will get to choose the autograph they want, while the second winner will get the other. In the event of any unsuccessful entries, remaining prizes will go back into the Prize Vault for a future giveaway. Entries will be accepted up until 9:00 PM EST Saturday evening. Good luck in advance to all of you entering. Don’t forget you can watch Guida and Poirier fight live through a streaming feed on Facebook starting at 4:45 PM EST. See you cageside! Tweet

Posted in: fight, week, winner, autograph, tweet

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Alistair Overeem launched a lawsuit against his managers this week, claiming that they have withheld monies from him and not acted in his best interests.In...

Posted in: overeem, week, glory, manager, lawsuit

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Season of The Ultimate Fighter on Spike TV has held fairly steady all season long, but are down ever-so-slightly at the season's midway point.

Posted in: season, week, spike tv, rating, tv

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Several new matches were reported this week for upcoming UFC events.Canadian welterweight Rory MacDonald has pulled out of UFC 140 with an undisclosed...

Posted in: ufc, week, welterweight, macdonald, eventscanadian

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Georges St. Pierre makes between $4 and $5 million per fight.Those are the figures he gave to Agence France-Presse last week in a quick interview during...

Posted in: figure, week, gsp, agence francepresse, francepresse

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It’s that time again. Yup, “fight week, blog week.”  UFC on FOX 1 is just days away and as Dana White says in his first video blog of the week, that the presentation of the show it will “work out perfect for fight fans,” with the UFC card ending at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT and the Manny Pacquiao versus Juan Manuel Marquez fight starting an hour later. This blog starts with post-fight scenes from UFC 137 including a moment of levity from Quinton “Rampage” Jackson

Posted in: ufc, fight, week, blog, “ work

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A complete list of significant new fights reported in the past week.

Posted in: fight, week, list, weekinreview list, ufc strikeforce

Read the full article at Sherdog

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

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

Read the full article at sportsnet.ca

Thanks to all you fight-fans for participating in last week’s first ever MMA Giveaway from Fighters.com . Reader Jesse Reynoso walked away with the Donald Cerrone Topps Finest Autograph, a perfect prize to cap off Cerrone’s “Submission of the Night” win at UFC 137 and continued run towards the title. For this weekend’s event, UFC 138, we’ve got multiple pieces from one of this weekend’s co-headliner. First, we’ll be giving away a Chris Leben two-pack of cards the winner of this week’s contest with one of these pieces coming courtesy of Fighters.com Twitter follower Jon Tam (@12buckmafia) – Thanks Jon! Here’s what the winner will receive the following two cards, one of which is featured in this article’s headline image.   2011 Topps Finest Fighter Threads Gold Parallel (Serial numbered to just 88 copies available – This one is 13/88) 2011 Topps Finest Fighter Jumbo Threads As a special Leben-inspired bonus, I’ll include a package of Cherry Kool-Aid. Use it to dye your hair like the Crippler…or chicken out and just use it to quench your thirst. Last week, we asked you to string together your entire main card picks, with the tiebreaker being the method of victory. This week’s easier. To enter the contest, please do the following: Follow Fighters.com (@FightersMMA) and me (@paliontology) on Twitter. Those links will take you to our respective profiles. Tweet me your predicted winner of the main event, along with the way you think he’ll win, and at what time of the fight. Sample Tweet: @paliontology: Mark Munoz via KO 3:24 2nd Round or @paliontology: Chris Leben via Decision The winner will be the time predicted style (closest without going over.) In the event of a tie there, we’ll revert to a random draw to pick the winner. If there are no winners, the cards will go into the prize pool for a future giveaway. See you cageside! Tweet

Posted in: week, card, winner, topp, prize pool

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What once seemed like a happy marriage now resembles that of a messy, bitter and public divorce. For the UFC and Spike TV, the latest casualty of the finality of their relationship is taking place in front of our very eyes this week. The "kids" that are suffering from all the vitriol between the two mainstream MMA parents are the fighters competing on Saturday's UFC 138. You remember UFC 138, don't you? That's the event on Spike featuring Chris Leben and Mark Munoz in the main event. Remember Thiago Alves? He's on the card too! That fancy British bantamweight with the cool hat...what's his name? Oh, Brad Pickett! He's taking on someone in Renan Barao who hasn't been defeated in 27 straight fights! These and more stories have been waiting to be told, but in case you haven't noticed, there's been zero attention placed on UFC 138 all week. Sure, we're right at the halfway point of four events in four weeks, but every show is an important one, right? Well, apparently not if it airs on Spike TV these days. The Card That Didn't Exist Here's a few things that stuck out this week about the non-promotion: - On Wednesday's The Ultimate Fighter, there wasn't a single mention/ad for Saturday's event. There were two promos for UFC 139: Henderson vs. Shogun, two deceptive spots for the Cain Velasquez/Junior dos Santos 11/12 Spike marathon, a UFC Best of 2011 DVD set ad and a promo for Ultimate Knockouts 2. To repeat, the show is on Spike TV THIS SATURDAY and there was nothing done on a UFC show aired on Spike to promote it.- There was no UFC 138 media conference call this week or even last week. I can't remember the last time that happened in recent memory. I realize the fighters are in London and there's a time difference, but that hasn't stopped these from happening before.  - Dana White took most of the week off Twitter. There was no 'FIIIIIGHT WEEEEEEEK!' tweet to get people excited and no activity at all until Thursday. White, Twitter and fight promotion go together like the Kardashians, paparazzi and dumb people caring. He lives and breathes UFC especially in a fight week and suddenly he goes silent on his favorite social media platform? That doesn't compute. A scan of UFC.com Thursday night tells the user all they need to know: the November 12th UFC on Fox date is all that matters. Between the ads running to three of the top six lead story slots devoted to Cain Velasquez, UFC 138 is already an afterthought before it even begins. It's obvious that since the Fox deal was announced (and really even before that), things have gotten increasingly ugly from both sides. Recent glaring examples are Spike's decision to run the aforementioned Velasquez/dos Santos marathon against the Fox show and the decision to air Bellator prelim fights on Spike.com. The UFC countered by not listing Spike as a place to watch events, directing people to UFC.tv instead.Just think of that for a minute. When's the last time you heard of a broadcasting relationship where an entity didn't list on their website where to watch the event on TV for free? How this bodes for the TUF finale in early-December is anyone's guess. Do It For The Kids While the pissing match between the two is a sad end to a once-fruitful relationship, the ones getting punished are the "kids" -- aka the fighters competing Saturday. Leben and Munoz didn't ask to be flown to London to main event a star-lacking show. Pickett didn't ask the promotion to run four straight Saturdays of shows when he's co-main eventing in the biggest fight of his career in front of his countrymen. The near-sellout crowd at Birmingham, England's LG Arena that has already set an arena record for revenue didn't ask for any of this. They want a great show and want to feel like they're seeing a great show. If the UFC doesn't seem to care, why should they? Even if this card is viewed as a dog, there are still 20 men competing that deserve the UFC and Spike's best effort in telling people they should watch this show. This is one of two final live events both sides have to co-produce and then, they can go their separate ways (minus the footage Spike can air throughout 2012). Things may be difficult, but the fighters and the fans shouldn't be the ones that suffer the brunt of the punishment as a result. As long as those three letters are on the marquee, it's in both parties' best interests to swallow some pride and represent like any other show. SBN coverage of UFC 138: Leben vs. Munoz

Posted in: ufc, show, week, event, spike

Read the full article at Bloody Elbow

Thanks to all you fight-fans for participating in last week’s first ever MMA Giveaway from Fighters.com . Reader Jesse Reynoso walked away with the Donald Cerrone Topps Finest Autograph, a perfect prize to cap off Cerrone’s “Submission of the Night” win at UFC 137 and continued run towards the title. For this weekend’s event, UFC 138, we’ve got multiple pieces from one of this weekend’s co-headliner. First, we’ll be giving away a Chris Leben two-pack of cards the winner of this week’s contest with one of these pieces coming courtesy of Fighters.com Twitter follower Jon Tam (@12buckmafia) – Thanks Jon! Here’s what the winner will receive the following two cards, one of which is featured in this article’s headline image.   2011 Topps Finest Fighter Threads Gold Parallel (Serial numbered to just 88 copies available – This one is 13/88) 2011 Topps Finest Fighter Jumbo Threads As a special Leben-inspired bonus, I’ll include a package of Cherry Kool-Aid. Use it to dye your hair like the Crippler…or chicken out and just use it to quench your thirst. Last week, we asked you to string together your entire main card picks, with the tiebreaker being the method of victory. This week’s easier. To enter the contest, please do the following: Follow Fighters.com (@FightersMMA) and me (@paliontology) on Twitter. Those links will take you to our respective profiles. Tweet me your predicted winner of the main event, along with the way you think he’ll win, and at what time of the fight. Sample Tweet: @paliontology: Mark Munoz via KO 3:24 2nd Round or @paliontology: Chris Leben via Decision The winner will be the time predicted style (closest without going over.) In the event of a tie there, we’ll revert to a random draw to pick the winner. If there are no winners, the cards will go into the prize pool for a future giveaway. See you cageside! Tweet

Posted in: week, card, winner, topp, prize pool

Read the full article at Fighters.com

"I talk to my manager like three times a week. You know I rather spank an American striker. Maybe Quinton Jackson. Despite coming from a loss, he fought the champion. If I could, I’d fight him or Dan Henderson. I can knock them out, I’m sure of it. If I could pick someone... But I can’t. If you wanna be a UFC champ, you can’t pick your opponents. You gotta fight whoever crosses your way. I’ll work so I win. I want to hurt, smash the Americans. In two weeks I believe Alex (Davis) tells me my next opponent ... Maybe I can fight Rich Frankin, who knows? That guy (Stanislav Nedkov) who defeated (Luis) Cane. I can fight anyone. I fight with five, six weeks in advance. I’m ready. If I fight in Brazil, it’s even better." U mad? Brazilian light heavyweight boxer-turned-cagefighter Fabio Maldonado tells Tatame.com that he wants to kick some American ass in his next fight for the UFC. He also claims he's got the hands to knockout Dan Henderson and Quinton Jackson, two of the best 205-pounders in the game today. Anyone think he's trying the Chael Sonnen method of matchmaking? Or is he just bitter from his June 4 loss to Kyle Kingsbury, who trains at (wait for it ...) AMERICAN Kickboxing Academy?

Posted in: ufc, fight, week, quinton jackson, american

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UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez busted up his right shoulder pretty badly in his fight with Brock Lesnar at UFC 121 last October. He ended up tearing his labrum and rotator cuff, and has dealt with almost a year's worth of recovery time. Velasquez discussed the injury on today's UFC on Fox conference call, and Luke Thomas of MMA Nation transcribed what Cain had to say. He started with what led up to getting surgery and how long he was off: "Right after the Brock fight, six weeks after, in between the six weeks, the doctors said that maybe with just rehabbing it without surgery, it would probably get better so that's what we did," Velasquez told the media today on a UFC on Fox  conference call. "We rehabbed it for six weeks, hoping that it would heal itself from there and once we got back after six weeks, we checked it out again and it was still torn and the doctor said, 'We needed surgery now. This would be the fastest thing.'" ... "We ended up getting surgery in January," said Velasquez, "and it was up until July when we got the green light to go ahead and start training 100 percent." Velasquez also admitted that the rehab was hard on him, but says he has made a full recovery: "It was definitely frustrating there at times," a candid Velasquez acknowledged. "I'm a guy that likes to stay active. I like to be at the gym. I like to train and getting that taken away from you is definitely tough, but I just tried to keep my head in other things at that moment. I would try to do stuff for the UFC, signings, just something to keep me busy." ... "It just took time for it to get better, but I'm happy that I listened to my doctor. I'm happy that I went through it and didn't rush it because now it feels 100 percent." Returning from an injury is always a trying experience, and Velasquez will have the added pressure of doing it on a huge stage - the UFC's first fight on network TV.  You can catch the the full audio from the conference call, which includes Velasquez and his opponent Junior dos Santos discussing a variety of things, over at MMA Nation. More SBN coverage of UFC on Fox 1

Posted in: ufc, mma nation, week, velasquez, surgery

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Who does everybody think/hope will win? I'm pulling for Dos Santos since he is a very good boxer and he trained with Big Nog so he also learned BJJ from an amazing teacher so I think his jits will help him out with Cain's wrestling. What do you all think? submitted by Laughin_Grass [link] [23 comments]

Posted in: week, do, jit, everybody thinkhope, laughingras

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A complete list of significant new fights reported in the past week.

Posted in: fight, week, list, weekinreview list, ufc strikeforce

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This week on UFC Central we look at why Nick Diaz called out Georges St-Pierre at UFC 137 and whether he deserves a title shot.

Posted in: ufc, nick diaz, week, shot, georges stpierre

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Former 'Ultimate Fighter' runner-up C.B. Dollaway is itching to get back into action, but will have to wait a few more months to do it.

Posted in: week, head, cb, dollaway, runnerup

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http://twitter.com/#!/danawhite submitted by ImaG [link] [3 comments]

Posted in: week, end, hell, news, nyc

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With UFC 137 taking place in Las Vegas and countless MMA notables in town this week, MMAjunkie.com Radio has announced the addition of two "Primetime" shows to this week's usual lineup. The additional shows take place Wednesday and Friday at 8 p.m. ET (5 p.m. PT). Notables already booked for the shows include UFC 137's Dustin Jacoby, MMA trainer Marc Fiore, ProElite 2's Reagan Penn and comedian Joey "Coco" Diaz, all of whom are in studio.

Posted in: week, mmajunkiecom radio, mma notables, place wednesday, starstudded primetime

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To kick off fight week for UFC 137, UFC President Dana White goes back two weeks to the UFC 136 card in Houston in one of the most emotional behind the scenes videos posted.

Posted in: ufc, week, scene, fight week, scenes videos

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 Fight week, blog week!

Posted in: ufc, week, video, blog, nbspfight

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There's a long list of fan activities for UFC 137: Penn vs. Diaz this week in Las Vegas. Check out the list!

Posted in: ufc, week, vs, list, fan activities

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Since the people at HDNet have decided to make Inside MMA a live show going forward and since last week's discussion post was so enjoyable, we've decided to make it a weekly thing. Yes, some of you will be tuning into Monday Night Football, hoping that your Fantasy Football team can make one last push to come back and win this week. However, for those that don't watch football, we're here for you with a post to discuss the show as it happens live. If you were here last week, you'll know that there were some small difficulties such as the delay while trying to interview Roy Nelson and Frank Mir. I'm hoping these are things that will get ironed out in the coming weeks. For now, let's just sit back and enjoy the fact that Inside MMA is live and we don't know what Ron Kruck and Bas Rutten will do. The show starts at 8:00 p.m. ET and will have Josh Barnett, Daniel Cormier, and Strikeforce "CEO" Scott Coker in studio. They will also be joined by Cesar Gracie who will be interviewed live remotely to discuss this week's fight between Nick Diaz and B.J. Penn. You know how to watch it at this point but I'll repeat it it...It's ONLY ON HDNET, YOUR HOME FOR MIXED MARTIAL ARTS.

Posted in: week, post, weeks fight, mir im, week youll

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UFC 137 is just days away and that means, in the words of UFC President Dana White, it’s “fight week, blog week.” White, the loser of a bet a few weeks back, kicks off the first vlog for UFC 137 sporting a Buffalo Bills jersey.  The vlog focuses entirely on behind the scenes footage from UFC 136.  Even if you are not normally a fan of White’s vlogs, this one is a must see, a very telling look at how fighters handle different situations in the moments after they have

Posted in: ufc, week, vlog, scenes footage, ’s vlogs

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A complete list of significant new fights reported in the past week.

Posted in: fight, week, list, weekinreview list, ufc strikeforce

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UFC featherweight Nam Phan demonstrates a slick toe hold in this edition of Sherdog.com’s Technique of the Week, which was filmed at Phan’s Ma Du Academy in Garden Grove, Calif.

Posted in: week, technique, du academy, phan ’s, week toe

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In this week's edition of UFC Central, welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre talks about withdrawing from UFC 137.

Posted in: ufc, week, welterweight, champion, weeks edition

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Consider it the calm before the storm. With an upcoming onslaught of events from the UFC, Strikeforce and Bellator Fighting Championships on the horizon, this past week was relatively quiet on the news front, and our submissions to this week's edition of "The Sunday Junkie" looked at a number of items from the past several weeks. But this week's winner of our weekly reader-feedback feature, Northern Ireland's Michael Audley, was inspired by Saturday night's Bellator 55 event and says that fight promotion has an immediate need for change.

Posted in: week, weeks winner, weeks edition, readerfeedback feature, news front

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MMAFrenzy.com presents its latest podcast, where host Steve “bsbiz” Barnes is joined by writers Chris Leslie and Bryan Robison providing analysis of this week’s MMA news and recaps of recent events. This week’s topics include post-UFC 136 musings, the inherent risks of the sport, George Roop’s recent comments on Chad Mendes, the debut of our “Lytle List,” and waffles. Click the link to play or right-click and “save as” to download. 04 Episode 4 [10_23]

Posted in: chad mendes, bryan robison, waffles click, sport, week

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[div class="notice" class2="icon"]The following is from an article on LiverKick.com, part of the MiddleEasy Network.[/div] After all of last week's deluge of K-1 news it was clear that a lot of shuffling was going on backstage within K-1. The company's financial woes are documented, but it was clear that there were people looking to "bail out" K-1 and begin working to rebuild the company's reputation with fighters and fans alike. Everyone involved understands this will take time and work, so it looks like the Final 16 might be called off. Initially there were rumors of the show being pushed back, then cancelled. Last night Mike Kogan made a remark on Twitter about hearing the Final 16 is potentially pushed back a few weeks, but he did not seem overly confident in it happening. All throughout this there have been talks of K-1 still looking to put on an event in December, and it appears that it is not only true, but could be the Final 8. According to Anil Dubar, he was told to keep himself and Daniel Ghita in good shape as there will be a K-1 announcement by the end of this week, also that there will be a focus on the Final 8 due to time constraints. "They are not dead yet," he states, going on to talk about payments and a future for K-1, which includes still crowning a World Grand Prix Champion in 2011. Daniel Ghita looks to be invited right into the Final 8. Read More...

Posted in: week, liverkickcom part, daniel ghita, companys reputation, weeks deluge

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Georges St. Pierre has predicted a February return to action.The welterweight champion pulled out of UFC 137 this week after suffering a knee injury in...

Posted in: week, return, february, knee injury, february return

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In other words, thanks for the offer Mr. Koscheck, but no thanks. UFC welterweight mercenary Josh Koscheck, who earlier this week said he wants big money fights, offered his services to Carlos Condit for the UFC 137 main event set to go down a week from Saturday (Oct. 29, 2011) in Las Vegas, Nevada. That's because reigning welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre was felled by a knee injury and forced to withdraw from the "Sin City" headliner. He is not expected to return to action any sooner than 2012. The "Natural Born Killer," who contemplated staying on the re-worked fight card, eventually gave way to "logic" and will opt for a temporary layoff while "Rush" gets his affairs in order. Condit explains to ESPN.com: "I want to fight next week. It's in my heart to fight, but logically, I need to be patient. No matter who the opponent was -- right now, a fight against anyone other than Georges wouldn't make sense. I have some small -- I wouldn't even call them injuries -- that come from training day in and day out, so I guess I have time to heal now. But I would rather have just fought through it. I was ready to fight. The layoff isn't huge, but, you know, it's kind of a crappy situation all around." Crappy indeed. With both Condit and St. Pierre off the card, the co-main event between B.J. Penn and Nick Diaz has been promoted to headliner. Taking their place is the titanic tilt that pits Matt Mitrione vs. Cheick Kongo and Brad Tavares vs. Dustin Jacoby will climb a few rungs to round out the pay-per-view broadcast. Anyone out there disagree with Condit's decision to wait? For all the changes to the UFC 137: "Penn vs. Diaz" fight card -- and there are aplenty -- click here.

Posted in: fight, week, vs, condit, carlos condit

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TITLE OF SHOW: Red vs. Blue FORMAT OF SHOW: Reality Series LOGLINE: The Ultimate Fighter meets White Collar Boxing meets Glenn Beck fights John Stewart. Self proclaimed Democrats and Republicans, who have no previous professional fighting experience, are selected to be trained and coached in Mixed Martial Arts for 10-12 weeks and live in a house together. They get to settle their political differences with their fists in the ring/cage. SYNOPSIS: Ron Profitt, Rand Paul supporter, head stomps a democrat party member at a political rally. Democrats are furious, but they can’t do anything to him. Profitt goes so far as in saying he wants an apology from the woman he stomped on. This past election (2008) has shown that Democrats and Republicans have moved beyond the point of disagreeing on ideology. The talking heads sit and verbally attack each other on news channels 24-hours a day, but it’s always just talk, no one ever concedes and no one ever wins. Let’s let them fight. Democrats and Republicans fight to prove who the toughest political party is in America. 14 people are selected to represent two teams in a team MMA fight. Of the 14 people, 7 will be self proclaimed Republicans and the other 7 self proclaimed Democrats (Red vs. Blue). They will all weigh between 150-220 lbs. They will live together in a large house, but train separately with their teams. Trainers from different disciplines of MMA (Kickboxing, boxing, wrestling, Brazilian jujitsu, etc.) will come and train the teams for their upcoming fights. The participants will be from all walks of life and include many professionals as well as blue collar workers. The common thread for each team is their passionate political stance. All participants must have a minimal knowledge of current politics and their liberal or conservatives views must be reflected in that knowledge. After initial training the fighters will participate in a one on one fight with a fighter from the opposing team and the winner will win a point for their political ideology. In the end, we will see if the Democrats or Republicans win the fight for America, or at least who’s tougher. The participants live together in a large house and must deal with living together as well as potentially facing each other in a future fight. The tensions will rise as they get annoyed with each other’s idiosyncrasies as well as the conflicts in political ideology. They will be participating in daily training routines taught by professional trainers to learn different aspects of mixed martial arts. The rules can be from any organization, but as UFC is the most popular MMA organization, UFC rules would be the best. The training sessions will be extremely intense and some participants will want to quit and they will have to push each other as a team to win. The matches will pit fighters of comparable weight against each other for two 3-minute rounds. If it is a tie at the end of the two rounds they will go to a third tie-breaking round. Scoring will be based on UFC(Or whatever organization we choose) rules. A fighter can win by knockout, technical knockout, submission or decision. The winner of each fight will earn himself a cash prize of which half will go to the fighter, and the other half go towards a political candidate or organization of the fighter’s choosing as a political contribution. The winning team will win another contribution to either the Democratic National Convention or the Republican National Convention and title of toughest political party in America. OUTLINE: Get to know the fighters before they move into the house, family background, career, etc. Show clips of the fighters where they have participated in political rallies as well as previous athletic backgrounds. The fighters can explain why they wanted to be on a show like ours and why they want to fight a member of the opposing political party. Describe process of show to fighters and audience. After initial day’s introductions we ask fighters, by secret ballot, to select the top 3 fighters on the opposing team they would like to fight based on first impression. Then we choose the best match and announce first fight for next week’s episode along with weigh-in results. The fighters meet their trainers and spend a few days training for their upcoming fights. The tensions in the house start to boil over as participants butt heads over political ideology. Trash talking ensues. Each participant is again asked to list the name of the top 2 other people on the opposing side that they would like to fight after spending time watching each other train as well as interacting in the house. Fighters who want to fight each other will put on a better show and better television. Choose match up for next fight based on fighter requests. Show first fight from selection of last week. Announce the next week’s fight and have a weigh-in at the end of the episode Follow the fighters scheduled for this week’s fight. Have more in-depth profiles about these participants as well as show their families and what has inspired and shaped their current political ideology. Follow antics in the house as more trash talking ensues. New twist to the fight selection this week. Participants have a contest this week where the winning team gets to select the next fight. Participants make calls to campaign contributors and try to raise money for their political party. The team that raises the most money gets to select the next fight. The participant who raises the most money on his team gets to select if he wants to fight next week and if so, who he wants to fight. If he opts not to fight, democratic vote by team to select fighters. More training, then show scheduled fight. The winner of the campaign contest stands up and selects who he wants to fight, or who the selected fighters are if he opts not to fight, they weigh in. Teams design political slogan t-shirts with help from political activists and clothing designers. Teams head out to a college campus to sell t-shirts and meet college students. Team that sells most t-shirts wins the event. Wining team gets taken out to get suits made. Winning team comes home in suits and shows off to other team. Gloating and trash talk in the house. More training, fighter background and then fight for the week. After the fight the teams get together. We are a democracy so each team gets to choose its representative for the next fight. Fighters are announced and weighed in. Teams put on new suits and now go door to door to rally voter support. The twist is that they must enter a district that heavily favors the opposing political party. Using their persuasive skills Team Democrats must convince citizens living in a Republican dominated district to sign a petition in support of climate protection or gay marriage and Team Republicans must convince Democrats to oppose Obamacare or support harsher immigration restrictions(AZ law). The team that collects the most signatures wins. Winning team goes to fancy dinner, wearing new suits, with a political candidate for the upcoming 2012 election. Show training, fighter background and fight for the week. The winner of the fight’s team gets to select the next week’s fighters, they will vote within the team. Announce fighters and show weigh-ins. Again follow the fighters who are going to fight on this episode. Then have host enter the house with a new team challenge. Both teams are sent to a location, probably a shopping mall or some other place that has many people, and set up a booth to register voters. Teams are competing to see who can register the most voters with whatever creative antics they can come up with. Winning team wins a (prize). Show training and the fight from this week. Describe the importance of voting and getting people out to vote. Demonstrate this importance by announcing the winners of the contest not only get the prize, but the ability to select the last two fights. Follow last four fighters and profile them, showing them train and finally their fight. Then tell teams there is another twist to competition. Intelligence and knowing the issues is also important to successful political discourse. Teams will compete in intellectual competition involving political trivia as well as questions about the Constitution, American Government, etc. Winning team gets to choose final wildcard match up, which allows them to select any fighter on their own team versus any fighter on the opposing team. The winner of the fight’s team wins a (prize). Show fighters prepare for their elected champions for the last and final fight of the event. After fight there is a celebration BBQ and the fighters reconcile. They have learned to respect each other after fighting each other and though they still disagree, they are willing to respect the opposing point of view (hopefully). All participants win a prize(Hopefully a sponsor steps up here) for raising political awareness amongst young people and money for the political process. Show ends with one political party named the toughest party in America. TL;DR Ultimate Fighter style competition but based on political ideology. Think Bisping vs. Hendo season, but instead of USA vs. Britain. Democrats v. Republicans submitted by hagen0 [link] [3 comments]

Posted in: fight, show, fighter, week, team

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A complete list of significant new fights reported in the past week.

Posted in: fight, week, list, weekinreview list, ufc strikeforce

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The Ultimate Fighting Championship officially announced UFC 140 in Toronto and we sat down those involved to discuss the main event.

Posted in: ufc, toronto, week, event, championship

Read the full article at sportsnet.ca

It looks like the dreams of a 2011 K-1 World Grand Prix may finally be dead. Reports are beginning to surface that the Final 16 of the Grand Prix, scheduled for October 29 in Nanjing, China, has been cancelled, though there is still no official word from K-1. The most credible report comes from Anil Dubar, manager to K-1 fighter Daniel Ghita, who announced on a Dutch blog that the Final 16 event was cancelled. This news is not much of a surprise, as it comes at the end of a week full of last minute scrambling on K-1's part. As we reported last week, Tyrone Spong confirmed that, as of one week ago, he had not been paid for past K-1 fights and was unlikely to participate in this year's tournament. We've known for quite some time that many fighters were still waiting for payments, which could potentially cripple the 2011 tournament. Then, earlier this week, news came out that K-1 was working to take care of this problem, but in a rather odd way. LiverKick.com reports that K-1 did indeed offer some of this year's Final 16 fighters a contract for the Final 16 event, but that by signing the contract those fighters would have to forfeit their rights to half of the money due to them from previous fights. It's unknown exactly who was offered this deal, or if anyone signed it. One thing we do know - fighters represented by It's Showtime (the European organization who is helping promote the Grand Prix and manages many of the fighters involved) were not given this offer. It's Showtime President Simon Rutz has been very vocal about his fighters' lack of pay and the fact that if this was not sorted out, his fighters would not take part. He gave K-1 a deadline of this past Friday to receive payment. Again, LiverKick.com reports that as of Sunday, there is no word of that payment. Finally, there is no mention of the event on the website for the Nanjing Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium (the alleged site of the show) nor any information on how to purchase tickets.  With only two weeks until the show, tickets not on sale, fighters and managers publicly saying that they are off the show, and K-1's biggest partner gearing up to pull their fighters, it certainly seems like this is a done deal. I would expect K-1 will keep trying to pull it together and will resist officially cancelling until the last minute. Given their track record, don't be surprised if they actually cancel the Final 16, but still say a Final 8 will happen in December. But at this point, it's time to accept facts. The best kickboxing tournament in the world is over. Rest in Peace K-1 Grand Prix.

Posted in: fighter, week, tournament, prix, deal i

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Bellator's Bryan Baker is The Pantydropper of the Week at Gal's Guide to MMA.

Posted in: bryan baker, week, bryan, baker, gal

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Welcome, Maniacs, to the weekly series where we help you catch up on some of the original reporting done by other sites in the vast MMA landscape. Like Frank Mir and Roy Nelson pictured above, we can all "get along." Teaming up with MMA sites like MiddleEasy, Cage Potato, Fight Opinion and Five Ounces of Pain, we'll provide an opportunity for all MMA fans to read some fresh and original voices in the sport. This week, Bleacher Report catches up with Strikeforce lightweight title challenger Jorge Masvidal, Fight Opinion shares thoughts on UFC start time experiment and MMA Fighting's Ben Fowlkes gets Rich Franklin to open up about his first fight. The full list of links is after the jump. - B.J. "The Prodigy" Penn - Road to UFC 137 (video) (LowKick) Multi-time UFC Champion BJ "The Prodigy" Penn takes us behind the scenes of his preparations for UFC 137 bout with the Strikeforce Welterweight Champion Nick Diaz. Penn will look to cement his status as #1 contender for the UFC Welterweight title, which will be defended at UFC 137 by George St. Pierre against Prodigy's original opponent - Carlos Condit. - What's Next?: UFC 136 edition (NBC Sports MMA) Another week, another UFC event in the books. That means it's time to once again play fantasy matchmaker and predict who's next for UFC 136's big winners and losers. - Exclusive: Identity of Joe Son's alleged murder victim revealed (Cage Potato) The Kern County Sheriff's Office Coroner today released the name of the deceased and the details surrounding the death of Joe Son's cellmate in Wasco State Prison this week. - Grappling with Issues - 10/12/11 (Five Ounces of Pain) Was Frankie Edgar‘s win over Gray Maynard at UFC 136 the best performance by a UFC champion so far this year? Do Chael Sonnen‘s antics rub you the wrong way? Will Rashad Evans get his elusive title-shot in 2012? What's next for Kenny Florian? - My First Fight: Rich Franklin (MMA Fighting) By the time most fight fans so much as heard his name, Rich Franklin was already somebody. He had a successful UFC debut with a first-round TKO of Evan Tanner, then went on to shine at the very first Ultimate Fighter Finale, where he knocked out Ken Shamrock on Spike TV before claiming the UFC middleweight title in his next fight. - Jon Jones won't train with GSP, Machida will prepare with Anderson Silva (5thRound) One of the most important aspects of a fighter's camp is who they are able to recruit as training partners. While UFC light heavyweight kingpin Jon Jones has access to a stable of studs over at Jackson's Mixed Martial Arts, Jones will stand clear of the team's biggest welterweight stars. - Former K-1 fighter Hong Man Choi booked for assaulting a woman in Korea (MiddleEasy) Former K-1 and DREAM fighter Hong Man Choi (Choi Hong-Man in Korea) has apparently found himself in some legal trouble this week after a report came out that he purportedly assaulted her in his bar on October 8th while arguing over a bill. - WWE Superstar Vladimir Kozlov trains MMA - Video (TheFightNerd) Training at Zealous Nation MMA with head coach Oleg Savitsky, Vladimir Kozlov comes through to his old friend's gym to keep his Sambo skills up to par by hitting some mitts and practicing some submissions. Is a transition into the world of MMA in the future for Kozlov? Sounds like it, as both he and Savitsky voice their interest in competing in the sport! - Takeaways from UFC shifting PPV start times back to 10 PM (Fight Opinion) There seems to be mass panic right now about the low rating the UFC 136 prelims on Spike drew for ratings last weekend, given the two fights on the card that hardcores were interested in. It's just proof that what excites the hardcores and the announcing team isn't always what draws. (Ask Bellator all about that phenomena.) - Payout analysis: The Strikeforce death knell? (MMA Payout) Zuffa created a subsidiary called Forza LLC to control Strikeforce who was taken over from Silicon Valley Sports and Entertainment in March of this year. Since then, there's been much debate as too whether Zuffa/Forza will continue to operate the promotion or just kill it off. - Interview with Jorge Masvidal on his upcoming fight with Gilbert Melendez (BleacherReport.com/MMA) "Most of the time when I enter a fight, I'm not looking to stop a guy, but rather win a solid decision, but in this fight, I'm going for the stoppage. I'm going to put the pressure on him and make him break. I don't want to leave it in the judges hands, especially with all the f*cked up decisions these days. This is my title shot and I have to take full advantage. I don't know if I'll ever get another one. Who knows what's gonna happen in life?"

Posted in: ufc, fight, mma, time, week

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As the fourteenth installment of The Ultimate Fighter enters into the meat of the season, the show’s TV ratings seem to be finding level ground.

Posted in: fighter, week, rating, tv, level ground

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"More fights, less drama" is the mantra from this week's Ultimate Fighter blog by Akira Corassani at MMA Nation.

Posted in: mma nation, week, blog, fighter blog, akira corassani

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Enjoy the current two week break in the action because the final ten weeks of 2011 are loaded with must-see match-ups.

Posted in: ufc, week, home stretch, must-see match-ups, stretch

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Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez would like some recognition.In an appearance on The MMA Hour this week he discussed his recent talk of...

Posted in: mma hour, week, champion, melendez, ufc-level recognition

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Tickets go on sale this week for the UFC 140 fight between light-heavyweight champion Jon Jones and his challenger Lyoto Machida.Former champion Machida...

Posted in: ufc, week, champion, sale, ticket

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Week one highlights of Wanderlei Silva’s UFC 139 training camp.

Posted in: ufc, week, silva, training, camp

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THE WEEK IN CHAEL "Anderson Silva, you absolutely suck." - Chael Sonnen, talking to Joe Rogan after submitting Brian Stann at UFC 136. (UFC 136 telecast) "Super Bowl weekend, the biggest rematch in the history of the business, I'm calling you out Silva, but we're upping the stakes." - Sonnen, before brandishing a brand new middleweight WAMMA belt. "I beat you, you leave the division. You beat me, I will leave the UFC forever." - Sonnen. I love that there are people questioning whether Sonnen would really leave the UFC. Have you never watched pro wrestling? Loser-leaves-town stipulations NEVER stick. "I do not like Anderson Silva. But I do not wish anything bad in life for him. I want to beat him, I want to do everything I can to him in the ring but I hope he has a great life." - Sonnen NOTE: THE WEEK IN QUOTES IS SATIRE. MY TRIP TO LAS VEGAS IS NOT. ENJOY BLOODY BROOKHOUSE THIS WEEK. NEVERENDING STORY "It’s hard to say that it exists (a punishment by the UFC). Maybe so, maybe not, perhaps they’re keeping me on the sidelines, but I don’t believe that." - Lyoto Machida, on whether the UFC is holding out on him after asking for "Anderson Silva money." Meanwhile, back in Albuquerque... (Bloody Elbow) "So in reality, he's kind of the one who's ducking the fight. I feel like he's ducking the fight." - Jon Jones. After tentative plans to fight Rashad Evans at UFC 140, Jones will instead fight the aforementioned Machida. (MMA Fighting) "[Twenty-four] hours ago, my physician removed the pins. At that time, I learned that it would require another three weeks of rehabilitation before engaging in any exercise or training that would require the use of my hand." - Evans, who injured his hand in his victory over Tito Ortiz at UFC 133. (MMA Torch) "We play a similar game. He kicks, I kick, he punches and goes to the ground, I can defend myself and take him down too." - Machida (Tatame) WHITE NOISE "He's actually quite pleasant on the phone. I can have a conversation with him forever on the phone now." - UFC President Dana White, on Brock Lesnar. The two anxiously await All My Children's move to the Online Network.(MMA Junkie) "I always thought he was the biggest waste of talent and he really turned that around and I’m happy to see it." - White, on his cousin's Walt's friend, Jesse Pinkman. (5thRound.com) "Nothing sucks worse than a draw, I hate it." - White (MMA Torch) "I have to run my business so if I have to yank him over here then I'll do it." - White (MMA Nation) "He's like the Arturo Gatti of MMA." - White, on Frankie Edgar. Do all the Arturo Gatti's of MMA receive power rings too? (MMA Mania) "He's the number two pound-for-pound fighter in the world, period." - White, again on Frankie Edgar. Six straight title defenses just don't mean what they used to. "I'm going to continue making moves that are stupid and will never work." - White (Houston Chronicle) PARTING SHOTS "I stay out of their beef, and I keep myself neutral to everything." - Melvin Guillard, a one-man Hamsterdam. (Sherdog) "A lot of it is really there to put a pace on you, put pressure on you and really distract you from what is coming, which is a world-class double-leg takedown that nobody seems to be able to stop." - Brian Stann, on Chael Sonnen. (USA Today) "If I go out and lay a turd..." - Joey Beltran, on his stool. (Heavy.com) "I do really good on improv." - Jon Jones. Yes, and?

Posted in: ufc, mma, ."&nbsp, week, sonnen

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A complete list of significant new fights reported in the past week.

Posted in: ufc, fight, strikeforce, week, list

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UFC featherweight Nam Phan demonstrates a sick ankle lock in this edition of Sherdog.com’s Technique of the Week, which was filmed at Phan’s Ma Du Academy in Garden Grove, Calif.

Posted in: week, technique, du academy, garden grove, phan ’s

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Tickets for December's UFC 140 event go on sale next week, and fans are invited to a Wednesday press conference in Toronto to promote the event. As UFC president Dana White announced this past week, UFC 140 takes place Dec. 10 and features a championship headliner between UFC light-heavyweight champion Jon Jones and Lyoto Machida. Both the event and presser take place at Toronto's Air Canada Centre.

Posted in: ufc, toronto, week, event, championship headliner

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MMA Junkie reports that Bellator 52 received its second highest ratings ever on MTV2 with an average of 269,000 viewers. The numbers show an increase of 70 percent from last week’s performance. Via MMA Junkie: The Bellator 52 broadcast peaked between 9:30 and 9:45 p.m. ET with 345,000 viewers. Additionally, an immediate replay of the event scored 196,000 viewers, marking a combined audience of 465,000 viewers for the first two airings of Bellator 52. Bellator 52 featured the quarterfinals of its Heavyweight tournament. Payout Perspective: The numbers are promising considering the show went up against a live and free UFC event on Versus, college football as well as HBO Boxing (although I believe MMA ended before boxing began). At this point, Bellator is likely hoping for consistency with its ratings. As you may recall just two weeks ago it scored an all-time MTV2 low of just 114,000 viewers. Of course, that occurred the same night as Mayweather-Ortiz. Notwithstanding this past weekend’s ratings, it seems that Bellator is not destination television. Looking at the last three shows, there’s a huge swing in viewership. Obviously, its been going up against stiff competition the past couple weeks (Mayweather and Jon Jones). So, perhaps 52 is a turning point for the organization.

Posted in: bellator, week, viewer, couple weeks, college football

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Team Quest boxing coach Gustavo Pugliese shows the MMAWeekly/Clinch Gear MMA technique of the week, demonstrating the check hook.

Posted in: week, technique, hook, check hook, gear

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Tickets for December's "Ultimate Fighter 14 Finale" go on sale this week.

Posted in: fighter, week, sale, ticket, finale

Read the full article at Heavy MMA

A complete list of significant new fights reported in the past week.

Posted in: ufc, fight, strikeforce, week, list

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MMAjunkie.com Radio is gearing up for a big week of guests. We have an early guest list for the week, and additional names will be added throughout the week. As it stands, this week's shows include notables such as MMA trainer Duke Roufus, Mike Swick, Jorge Masvidal, Evan Dunham (in studio), Paul Daley, Dennis Bermudez, Phil Baroni and others.

Posted in: week, jorge masvidal, mmajunkie.com radio, guest list, evan dunham

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Follow UFC lightweight Michael Johnson all week as he prepares for tonight's fight with Paul Sass.

Posted in: ufc, week, johnson, michael johnson, paul sass

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The second episode of The Ultimate Fighter 14 attracted a slightly larger audience than the first episode last week, which is a good sign. The show earned a 1.22 household rating and averaged 1.6 million viewers, up from 1.5 million last week.

Posted in: show, fighter, week, episode, audience

Read the full article at Bloody Elbow

The Ultimate Fighter's Akira Corassani blogs about his experiences on week 2 of the show at MMA Nation.

Posted in: mma nation, fighter, week, mma ...., corassani

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A complete list of significant new fights reported in the past week.

Posted in: ufc, fight, strikeforce, week, list

Read the full article at Sherdog

Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt Igor Gracie displays a nasty kimura in this edition of Sherdog.com's Technique of the Week.

Posted in: week, technique, igor, roll-over kimura, kimura

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We look back at UFC 135 from Denver, Colorado where light heavyweight champion Jon (Bones) Jones dominated former champion Quinton (Rampage) Jackson.

Posted in: ufc, jackson, week, champion, champion quinton

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We look back at UFC 135 from Denver, Colorado where light heavyweight champion Jon (Bones) Jones dominated former champion Quinton (Rampage) Jackson.

Posted in: ufc, jackson, week, champion, champion quinton

Read the full article at sportsnet.ca

Ryan Couture steps out of his dad's shadow and he is the Panty Dropper of the Week at Gal's Guide to MMA.

Posted in: week, ryan, panty dropper, dad, dropper

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submitted by iamwarrendale [link] [1 comment]

Posted in: saturday night, rampage, week, coach, spy

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With a temporary absence from fighting likely to follow next week's bout with Dean Reilly at Cage Warriors 44, Steve O'Keeffe is eager to impress.O’Keeffe...

Posted in: week, warrior, dean reilly, cagewarriors bosses, impress.o

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Strikeforce light heavyweight prospect Lorenz Larkin won't lie. Getting a new opponent a week before fight time is a big deal. Most would say the opposite. Nothing fazes them. Everything stays the same. Not so for Larkin. "As a fighter those type of things are big," Larkin recently told MMAjunkie.com. "Not that big if it happens weeks down the road, not too far into camp. But a week notice is a big thing. It's a big curveball. So yeah, it plays a big effect."

Posted in: week, lorenz larkin, larkin, fight time, week notice

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Having not fought since November of last year, Neil Seery says he’s looking forward to returning to the cage at the HMV Forum next week when he’ll...

Posted in: week, &rsquo, hmv forum, neil seery, seery

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UFC Ultimate Collector Series 7 drops this week with more Round 5 MMA action figures scheduled for release later this year. To see the complete line-up and more click here.

Posted in: figure, mma, week, .... ufc, series

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Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt Igor Gracie displays a nasty arm-triangle choke setup from the seat-belt position in this edition of Sherdog.com's Technique of the Week.

Posted in: arm triangle, seat-belt position, week, technique, arm-triangle

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This week on UFC Connected, hosted by Showdown Joe.

Posted in: ufc, week, showdown joe, showdown, joe

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