Posted On Saturday, May 7th, 2011 By admin
Demetrious Johnson, who UFC President Dana White calls ‘the fastest man in the division,’ was named as Pickett’s replacement in the fight, which could determine the No. 1 contender for the bantamweight title, after Brad Pickett had to pull out of his scheduled fight with Miguel Torres at UFC 130 in Las Vegas May 28. For this fight, UFC 130 odds will be available closer to May 28. Torres is a former WEC bantamweight champion, who is 39-3 with nine wins by knockout and 23 by submission. Torres also features a Muay Thai striking style, who is a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. By beating Antonio Banuelos by unanimous decision, Torres made his UFC debut at UFC 126 in February of this year. Many expect Torres to show off the full skill set that made him one of the best submission bantamweights in the WEC in his second UFC performance as he didn’t show off his full arsenal in the fight, largely playing it safe. By defeating Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto by decision after three rounds, Johnson also won on the UFC 126 card. With two knockouts and five submissions Johnson is 9-1 in his career. He’s known for his Continue Reading
Posted On Tuesday, April 12th, 2011 By admin
On April 30 in Toronto, more than 40,000 fans expected to attend at the Rogers Center. UFC 129 will smash the promotion’s attendance record. You’ve been anticipating this fight for a solid five years if you’re a longtime MMA fan. Over the last half decade, no two guys have been more dominant at 170 pounds than Georges St-Pierre and Jake Shields. Four years ago the UFC champ GSP hasn’t lost a round since his upset loss to Matt Serra; Shields has won 15 straight fights. It presents a new challenge for each fighter, what makes this bout particularly interesting. Shields will be the most dangerous submission artist St-Pierre has ever faced, as one of the world’s very best Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioners. Meanwhile, Shields has fought at 185 pounds before and even manhandled Dan Henderson, who usually fights at 205 pounds. St-Pierre will be the strongest pure wrestler Shields has ever faced, on the reverse. Generally, Shields dominates a fight once he takes it to the ground; he could have trouble doing so against the freakishly strong GSP. GSP studies his opponents eternally and shows up for every bout ready to fight them wherever they’re weakest. Shields’s clear weakness is in Continue Reading
Posted On Friday, March 25th, 2011 By admin
At a Strikeforce event planned for July, Fedor Emelianenko is supposed to fight an as-yet-unnamed challenger. The co-promotional stamp of Strikeforce partner M-1 Global will bear the event. Following the sale of Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker’s California-based promotion to the UFC, he is yet to talk with company officials. According Coker, Emelianenko is improbable to fight current Strikeforce light-heavyweight winner Dan Henderson. Since the challenger is yet to be pronounced, the betting odds for the Strikeforce event planned for July has not yet released. After knocking out Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante, Henderson got his hands on the light-heavyweight belt. Strikeforce chief Coker feels Henderson might be “a little bit small” to face the heavyweight, although he has made frequent calls to take on Emelianenko. In the last fight Antonio Silva, Emelianenko weighed in at 230 pounds, while Henderson cuts hardly any weight to make his 205-pound divisional limit. At “Strikeforce and M-1 Global: Fedor vs. Silva”, Emelianenko (31-3 MMA, 1-2 SF) most recently competed this past month and endured the second true loss of his virtually unblemished career. He was ruled out to fight a third round with Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva by the doctors. At “Strikeforce and M-1 Global: Fedor vs. Continue Reading
Posted On Tuesday, March 8th, 2011 By admin
Shinya Aoki faces Lyle Beerbohm in a lightweight match-up on the San Diego card. This marks the return of Aoki to Strikeforce on April 9. On Monday, Strikeforce officials confirmed the match-up. In Strikeforce, Aoki last fought in April when he lost to lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez in a lopsided decision. Since that time, in MMA competition Aoki has gone 3-0, which includes a win over Tatsuya Kawajiri. In December, Aoki lost a fight to kick boxer Yuichiro Nagashima. It was a mixed-rules bout hence the fight does not appear on the mixed martial arts record. In the first round, K-1 kickboxing rules were followed, while in the second round Dream MMA rules were put into use. At the start of the second round, Aoki was defeated when Nagashima knocked him out with a knee strike to the face. This past April, Aoki made his promotional debut at the CBS-televised and faced champion Gilbert Melendez. The Cesar Gracie protege en route controlled him to a unanimous decision loss, in a one-sided and largely dull affair. Aoki’s last trip inside the ring was disastrous, although he had success in MMA. Aoki was knocked cold by a knee just four ticks into Continue Reading
Posted On Wednesday, February 16th, 2011 By admin
In the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s 170-pound title, Jon Fitch or BJ Penn will get another shot. UFC President Dana White said that at welterweight, the winner of a Feb. 26 bout between Fitch and Penn would be named the No. 1 contender. In 2008, Fitch unsuccessfully challenged champion Georges St. Pierre and in 2009, Penn did the same. Both will fight in the main event of UFC 127 inside the Acer Arena, Sydney, Australia. Fitch is an American Kickboxing Academy product, who has rattled off a five-fight winnibg streak since his loss to Georges St. Pierre in August of 2008. In his 14-fight stint inside the octagon, the “Fight of the Night” performance Jon turned in remains his only blemish, which includes victories over Diego Sanchez, Paulo Thiago, and Thiago Alves (twice). Since losing to St. Pierre, Fitch has won five consecutive bouts. For welterweights, the USA TODAY/SB Nation consensus rankings list Fitch at No. 2. Fitch finally appears poised for another chance at a title. He is currently riding a five-fight win streak. Since returning to the division with a vengeance, Penn meanwhile has reasserted himself into the 170-pound title picture. Penn moved up to the welterweight class for Continue Reading
Posted On Tuesday, February 1st, 2011 By admin
Josh Koscheck will be out of action from UFC for at least six months as he recovers from surgery that repaired a broken orbital suffered in his Dec. 11. In that UFC 124 bout, he lost to welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre. Since losing to Georges St. Pierre in a unanimous decision at UFC 124, Josh Koscheck made his first public appearance. He said that he was beaten by Georges fair and square, although he thinks that he was unlucky in the match as he broke his eye, when he received the first punch, making the fight an uphill climb from the very start. He recovers from a broken orbital bone suffered in the loss to St. Pierre. If that was not the case, he definitely thinks that the fight would have been a lot different. On Dec. 20, he underwent surgery in Boston and he has been told by doctors to limit his physical activity to walking. During the 25-minute title affair, the American Kickboxing Academy product ate jab-after-jab and now it looks like Josh will be shelved for the better part of 2011. He said that he would build his way up to being the No. 1 contender; he Continue Reading
Posted On Friday, January 21st, 2011 By admin
On February 5 in Fukuoka, Japan, street fighting legend turned mixed martial artist Kimbo Slice is scheduled to make his professional wrestling debut. Against disgraced Sumo wrestler Shinichi Suzukawa, Slice’s professional wrestling debut will be in the Inoki Genome Federation’s upcoming eight-man tournament at Genome 14. He has already quit boxing as well as he couldn’t cut it as a mixed martial artist. Kimbo Slice had left boxing promoter Gary Shaw after filming the latest installment of “The Scorpion King” and decided that boxing wasn’t for him which was reported earlier this week. He was a hard hitting street fighter even though he was not a proficient mixed martial artist. Boxing requires entirely too much discipline and Kimbo just doesn’t have it. But the world of professional wrestling doesn’t require the multiple talents of MMA or the ridiculous skill set of boxing. It’s just what Kimbo Slice wishes to flourish in a different career. The fact that Kimbo Slice is a character to most is another reason why a career in the world of professional wrestling makes total sense. He has an image that fans immediately notice as well as he is marketable. It was quite sure that WWE and Continue Reading
Posted On Thursday, January 6th, 2011 By admin
For UFC 129 in Toronto, a featherweight bout between Pablo Garza and Yves Jabouin is on deck. For the fight, both men have verbally agreed to it, with contracts set to be distributed by the promotion in the coming days. Dana White said that Canadians love the UFC and they have shown their love for the game repeatedly. Come April 30 and this will go down in the history books. Fans in Ontario have patiently waited for the bouts. He added that Toronto is going to host the biggest-mixed martial-arts event ever in North America. After a 1-2 stint in the WEC, the bout will be Jabouin’s UFC debut. At WEC 49, Jabouin was finished by Mark Hominick in a “Fight of the Year” contender, after losing his debut in a split decision to Rafael Assuncao. For Jabouin, it is a fight on home soil. Under the tutelage of St-Pierre trainer and strategist Firas Zahabi, he works out of Montreal’s Tristar Gym. With the now-defunct WEC, the Port-au-Price, Haiti, native ended a three-fight stint on a winning note when he took out Brandon Visher via decision at WEC 52. In the opening round of The Ultimate Fighter season 12, Garza Continue Reading
Posted On Thursday, December 23rd, 2010 By admin
The Ultimate Fighting Championship is returning to its Brazilian roots, although it has been more than 12 years since its last event. At the Rio de Janeiro City Hall, the UFC held a press conference to announce UFC Rio is set for Aug. 27, 2011, at the HSBC Arena. UFC president Dana White declared another historic day for the UFC. Brazil will be witnessing a lot of events namely Olympics, the World Cup and now the UFC. The declaration was made along with UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta and Rio de Janeiro mayor Eduardo Paes too. Throughout the promotion, the announcement that the UFC was heading back to Brazil made many fighters extremely happy, but none more so than the dozens of Brazilian fighters that fills out the ranks. Under the ownership of Zuffa, the UFC has not been to Brazil and the promotion as a whole has not been there since Oct. 16, 1998. After over a decade of waiting game, the country is sure to be buzzing. Highlighted by current light heavyweight champion Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua, middleweight champion Anderson Silva and featherweight champ Jose Aldo; there are several fighters from Brazil in the UFC. For the card, no matchups Continue Reading
Posted On Friday, December 10th, 2010 By admin
Sean McCorkle and Stefan Struve will square off soon in a mixed martial arts fight at the upcoming UFC 124 event. This event will be the last UFC event of the year and will close out the 2010 season of the UFC.UFC betting lines odds have not yet been posted for this fight. These two fighters will square off in matchup that should be entertaining just from watching the physical differences between these two fighters. The main difference that everyone will notice is the 6 foot 11 inch frame of Stefan Struve. He has used his height and length well in his fights to this point, compiling a stellar record of 23-4 in his career. The amazing thing about Struve is that he has managed to win all of these fights in such a short time. He is only 22 years old, yet he has fought 27 career MMA fights. His experience should be a big factor in his fight against McCorkle. He has won 4 of this last 5 fights and he will enter this match with a good deal of momentum from those recent victories. While McCorkle is not nearly 7 feet tall, he has something that Struve Continue Reading