Machida ends Couture’s career with real-life ‘Karate Kid’ move

By Steve Cofield

Randy Couture showed some guts taking on a scary fighter in his final MMA tilt. It didn't work out for the 47-year-old legend, but he got to walk out of the Octagon to a huge ovation from the crowd in Toronto and with his head held high. There may never be another fighter like Couture.

Couture took on MMA's great riddle in karate master Lyoto Machida. For six minutes, Machida confused Couture with his movement and counter-striking, then he pulled off an amazing front kick to put the former UFC light heavyweight and heavyweight champion on his back. Couture was out and referee Yves Lavigne jumped on top to save him at 1:05 of the second at UFC 129.

Machida essentially pulled off the crane kick from "The Karate Kid" and, in doing so, knocked out one of Couture's teeth.

"I think I had all my teeth the last time we had this discussion," joked Couture with UFC analyst Joe Rogan. "I felt like I was standing still out there. He's a tremendous athlete."

Couture (19-11, 14-8 UFC) confirmed that he is done. He's made a pretty successful transition to acting. He was a cast member in Sylvester Stallone's blockbuster "The Expendables" and is part of the mix when "The Expendables 2" begins filming in September.

His impact on mixed martial arts is beyond description. After a decorated amateur wrestling career, he decided to transition to MMA when it was still very much an outlaw sport back in 1997. He was 34 at the time. During the growth years, Couture was a winner in and out of the Octagon. Along with winning five titles fights at light heavyweight and heavyweight, he did much of the media work necessary to spread the word about the legitimacy of the sport after it was purchased by Zuffa in 2001.

Machida, nearly overcome by emotion, thanked Couture for the opportunity to fight him.

"It was an honor [to fight him]. It was a dream when I was a child, I would like to fight this guy," Machida said. "He is a hero. This is the hero. Thank you so much."

Machida's amazing boot was the second front-kick knockout in the history of the UFC. The first came less than three months ago at UFC 126 when Machida's teammate Anderson Silva used a similar move to knock out Vitor Belfort.

Machida's kick was a variation of what Silva did. He faked a left kick and leapt into a right kick. Couture never saw it coming. After the fight, Machida thanked both his father and Steven Seagal for teaching him the kick. Silva also thanked the movie star following his fight. Seagal, an 80's and 90's action film star, has been working with some of the fighters from Blackhouse MMA based in Southern California. Many in and out of the game mocked on Seagal for accepting credit following Silva's win, maybe the kidding needs to subside.

UFC legend Couture aims for big-stage exit

By Dave Meltzer, Yahoo! Sports

In many ways, April 30 should make a fitting end for Randy Couture’s career.

Couture, one of the great competitors in the sport’s history, has said his final fight will be at the biggest live event the company has ever produced, UFC 129 at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.

Couture will be in the familiar position of being a heavy underdog against a much-younger opponent when he faces former light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida before a sellout crowd of 55,000 fans.

The five-time former UFC champion insists the ability to retire on such a big stage was didn’t affect his decision to hang up the gloves.

“It really plays no factor in the decision I’ve made,” said Couture, who turns 48 in June. “It’s one that’s been coming for a while. I realize I’ve pushed it a lot further than anybody is going to push it and I just feel like I want to go out on my terms, and not after one or two or three losses and everybody else telling you that you should be retiring. I kind of want to do it when I want to do it. I think now is that time.”

Machida, the Brazilian-Japanese son of a karate master possesses a style that is almost impossible to figure out.

“They offered me a couple of other guys and I turned them down,” said Couture. “I’ve watched Lyoto for a couple of years now and am very appreciative of the way he competes. He just has such a unique style as an athlete. And I like that. Those are the kinds of fights that are intriguing and interesting for me.”

Couture (19-10) takes a three-fight winning streak into the bout against arguably the most all-around skilled opponent he’s faced. Machida (16-2) is a 13-to-4 favorite on the Las Vegas books and is 15 years younger than Couture.

But Machida has lost two straight and is coming off three consecutive lackluster performances, and is far from his unbeatable reputation of two years ago, when he won the light heavyweight title.

There are some who feel Machida, or at least the version of Machida that burst on the scene a few years ago, because of his unique style, would be the toughest opponent for current champion Jon Jones. But a loss here would likely mean it would be years, if ever, before he’d be challenging for a title.

Machida’s game is being difficult to catch. It’s based on quick movements forward and backward, quick and usually accurate strikes, and then getting out of trouble. But his controversial decision win over Mauricio “Shogun” Rua at UFC 104 ended his aura of invincibility. Then he was knocked out quickly in their rematch last year. His style again failed him against Quinton Jackson in his last fight. Machida was clearly the better fighter, but lost due to not being aggressive enough in the first two rounds, enabling Jackson to steal two of the three rounds on the scorecards.

Couture’s style is built on an aggressive clinch game. If Machida takes too long to find an opening, he could find himself on the wrong end of a decision. The key for Couture is whether he can close the distance, tie up Machida, and keep him in his world. But a perfect game plan will only work if Couture is also close to his physical peak.

Machida is the only fighter at UFC 129 who has competed in front of such a large crowd. His pro debut in 2003 was at the Tokyo Dome before 38,000 fans.

“He doesn’t feel that it’s an advantage,” said Machida through interpreter Ed Soares. “Because in the events that he fought in Japan that had 55-60,000 people, it’s a different type of crowd. They’re not as rowdy and as emotional as some of the American and Canadian fans are. So he doesn’t feel that will serve as any sort of advantage. I mean, this is an experience to walk into a stadium with 55,000 fans screaming. It’s going to be the same type of experience for him that it is for everybody else.”

Couture already had a storybook ending all but written for him with his Aug. 28 win over James Toney. To the crowd, he represented UFC against boxing in what was more of a freak-show match than a serious competition.

But Couture’s three-fight win streak isn’t all that impressive when you size them up with Machida. Couture’s win over Brandon Vera, where Vera played his game, was one in which the decision still could have gone either way. And Vera is not at Machida’s level as a fighter. Couture ran through Mark Coleman, a fighter from his own generation, but one not nearly as well-preserved. And Toney, a boxing champion who showed up far from his best, only possessed one threat, which was landing a big punch before the almost-inevitable takedown, and that didn’t happen.

But Couture said it’s not about going out with a “W.”

“Win, lose or draw, it doesn’t really factor into the equation,” he said. “It’s about where I’m at in my life. I’ve been doing this for a long time. It’s about the journey. It’s about the performance. As long as I go in there and have a good performance, I will be satisfied.”

Couture had avoided specific retirement announcements while giving hints almost every time asked, because he retired once in 2006, returned, and won the heavyweight title the following year.

He said he doesn’t want to be like Brett Favre, who continually retired and returned. But Couture noted this is a very different decision from the first time around.

“Lots of different circumstances regarded me stepping out back out there coming off of a divorce, just a lot of things stacked up and I needed the break. I needed to kind of let the dust settle, to get back to feeling like me, and get back to training and all of those other things back then. A lot of different circumstances now. I’m perfectly content and happy in my life. Things are going fantastic. In fact, they couldn’t be going any better.”

Couture’s career has spanned several different eras in a rapidly changing sport. And unlike most single-disciplined athletes who came into it with the mentality of proving their style was superior, Couture developed into learning every style. While his core game is still wrestling, he was susceptible to submissions when he started. But he hasn’t been caught in a submission in a decade. And remarkably, he probably peaked as a fighter at 43, when he outboxed heavy-hitter Gabriel Gonzaga and 6-feet-8 striker Tim Sylvia in his final title reign.

Couture was recruited into UFC in 1997 as what was believed to have been a slightly past-his–prime Greco-Roman wrestling specialist in the days of style vs. style. Since then, Couture set a slew of company records including most championship reigns (five) and most championship fights (15), and has been one of the building blocks of the promotion. He started out right as the company was facing political pressures that took it from its first peak levels in 1995-96, to its darkest days. After he won his first heavyweight title in 1997, there were few places MMA was even allowed to be held, and now it’s staged in major arenas around the world.

“Well, it’s certainly exciting to be involved in a card like this with the guys that are on this card and have it be before a crowd of 55,000 or more and kind of set a new attendance record,” he said. “The first fight in the province of Ontario, and there’s a lot of firsts here. So it’s certainly fun for me to be part of that whole thing and part of that historical event.”

 

Davis outlasts Nogueira to win UFN 24 main event

By Maggie Hendricks

Jones steamrolls Rua, becomes youngest UFC champ

By Kevin Iole, Yahoo! Sports

NEWARK, N.J. – Jon Jones has been the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s most hyped prospect since B.J. Penn entered the promotion more than a decade ago. And Jones more than lived up to the hype Saturday, demolishing highly regarded light heavyweight champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and stopping him in the third round to become the UFC’s youngest champion in the main event of UFC 128 at the Prudential Center.

Jones landed a series of kicks, elbows, punches and just about anything else he wanted to land. It was a complete blowout as Rua, the fourth-ranked fighter in Yahoo! Sports’ rankings, had next-to-no offense.

Rua’s face was a mess when the fight ended, with his eyes closed and swollen and blood coming from his nose and mouth and welts covering his body.

Jones, now 14-1 overall, blistered the Brazilian throughout and never let Rua get on track. Jones came out hard with a flying knee early in the bout and then a pair of kicks.

“He was better than me tonight,” Rua said. “He’s a very tough guy. He showed good ground work. He had very good Muay Thai. He’s a great champion.”

After the fight, the UFC brought former champion Rashad Evans into the cage and announced he will fight Jones in Jones’ first defense. Jones and Evans have been teammates and long said they would never fight.

But Jones said Saturday he would take the fight and Evans said, “I guess you should never say never.”

Former World Extreme Cagefighting featherweight champion Urijah Faber had a difficult challenge in his UFC debut, but he rallied to win the final two rounds to pull out a unanimous decision victory over Eddie Wineland.

The win may set up a rematch with UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz, who watched the fight from Octagonside and stood for most of the bout.

Wineland took the first round, using superior takedown defense and landing the harder strikes. But Faber’s speed took over in the final two rounds. He managed to land a clear number of strikes and, in the second round, pounded Wineland with a series of hard elbows.

Faber’s hand speed was a difference in the third too, as he was consistently beat Wineland to the punch.

“Going in, you don’t know how fast someone is, or how powerful they are, until they’re right in front of you,” Faber said. “I was gauging that [in the first].”

Jim Miller won his seventh consecutive UFC fight and put himself near the top of the lightweight division, stopping Kamal Shalorus in the third round.

Miller had controlled the action in each of the first two rounds and had Shalorus’ back in the second. He worked for a rear naked choke, though Shalorus successfully fought that off.

But Miller, who is now 20-2 overall, used his hands and his knee to end the fight at 2:15 of the third. Miller raked Shalorus with an uppercut that staggered him and sent him back to the cage.

Miller charged and landed a knee to the face that put Shalorus down. Miller ended it with a quick ground-and-pound finish.

Afterward, he was thinking about fighting for the title.

“That’s seven in a row,” Miller said. “I’m ready. I’m ready for it [the title shot].”

His brother, Dan Miller, wasn’t so fortunate. Earlier on the card, Dan had no defense for a right hand and so Nate Marquardt kept throwing it. The result was that it cut Miller by the left eye, swelled it shut and helped Marquardt to pull out a unanimous decision. All three judges scored it 30-27 for Marquardt, who hopes to fight his way back into contention in the middleweight division.

He had to fight off two guillotine chokes by Miller, one in each of the first two rounds, but Miller mustered very little offense other than that. Marquardt pummeled him with the right hand, raked him with elbows on the ground and controlled the fight virtually all the way.

Brendan Schaub is a young up-and-coming heavyweight star, but he had his hands full with veteran Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic before ending it in the third round with a right hand to the temple.

Filipovic was preparing to fire one of his legendary kicks, but Schaub was quicker and his overhand right got to the target first. Filipovic went down immediately. Schaub landed a power fist on the ground before referee Herb Dean stopped it at 3:44 of the third.

Schaub is one of the heaviest-handed fighters in the UFC, but he used a lot of wrestling on Saturday. He took Filipovic down several times as a way to avoid getting into a slugfest with the powerful Filipovic.

“I keep getting more and more experience,” Schaub said. “I showcased my wrestling because Mirko is so dangerous [on his feet].”

Luiz Cane made short work of Elliot Marshall, landing a punch that knocked Marshall down and finishing him with a barrage of punches on the ground. Referee Dan Miragliotta stopped it at 2:15 of the first.

Marshall may have been poked in the eye in the sequence that knocked him down. When he hit the mat, he covered up and did very little. Cane fired punch after punch and, while many of them did not land, they did enough to force Miragliotta to step in and halt the fight.

The best match on the preliminary card was a lightweight battle between Edson Barboza and Anthony Njokuani, a fight which featured spinning kicks and elbows and plenty of powerful strikes.

Barboza connected with a spinning kick to the head at the bell in the third round, punctuating a late rally that enabled him to claim the unanimous decision. All three judges gave Barboza the third for a 29-28 victory.

Mike Pyle won a very closely contested fight with black belt Ricardo Almeida, managing to avoid bad positions on the ground en route to a unanimous decision. All three judges had it 29-28 for Pyle.

Gleison Tibau disappointed a large hometown contingent that came out to root for Kurt Pellegrino, rallying in the final round to claim a split decision in a welterweight match. Judges Cardo Urso and Doug Crosby each had it 29-28 for Tibau while Anthony Tamburrino saw it 29-28 for Pellegrino.

Pellegrino knocked Tibau down in the second and did some damage on the ground, but Tibau controlled the third. He took Pellegrino down late and did some damage in the latter part of the round to give him the victory.

Ian Loveland’s length and strikes were posing problems early for Joseph Benavidez, but Benavidez kept pressing the action and pulled out a unanimous decision in a bantamweight bout. Scores were 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28.

Nick Catone used his wrestling skills to take Costantinos Philippou down and control him on the ground en route to a unanimous decision in a catch-weight bout. All three judges had it 30-27 for Catone, who used some hard elbows in the third round to close Philippou’s eye.

Philippou managed to keep the fight on his feet for most of the first round, but Catone took him down frequently over the last two and, in the third, kept him on his back for long stretches.

Erik Koch opened the night with a spectacular knockout, catching Raphael Assuncao with a right hook to end the fight at 2:32 of the first round.

The fight was slow and neither man did much in the opening minutes of the bout, much to the crowd’s consternation. But as the boos began to pick up, Koch landed a counter right on the chin to knock Assuncao down. He tried to follow Assuncao to the ground, but Kevin Mulhall quickly jumped in to halt it.

 

Grounded Jones on brink of superstardom

By Kevin Iole, Yahoo! Sports

NEW YORK – When his teammates or his opponents find out Arthur Jones’ “secret,” the scene is almost always the same. The Baltimore Ravens’ defensive tackle is the older brother of budding UFC superstar Jon Jones. When other players learn that Jon is Arthur’s brother, they, to use Arthur’s words, “kind of go crazy.”

Veteran or rookie, superstar like Ray Lewis or up-and-comer like Ray Rice, it doesn’t matter. The reaction is the same nearly every time.

“I don’t go around telling everyone, ‘Hey, Jon Jones is my brother and he’s fighting in the UFC,’ ” Arthur Jones said. “But it comes up. When one of my coaches brings it up or someone just finds out, they go, ‘That guy is your brother? I love Jon Jones!’ And they all get so excited and want to talk about it and what he’s doing.”

Jon Jones seems to have that kind of impact upon people. He’s only 23 but is poised to become the youngest champion in UFC history (excluding tournaments) if he can defeat the formidable Mauricio “Shogun” Rua on Saturday at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., in the main event of UFC 128.

He has the ability to do for mixed martial arts what Tiger Woods did for golf when he turned professional in 1996. Few remember, or care, that Woods made his professional debut at the Greater Milwaukee Open. What they do remember is that within three months, he’d won the Las Vegas Invitational and that within eight, he’d won the Masters.

And before long, television ratings skyrocketed, purses soared, minorities took up the game and interest in golf climbed to all-time highs.

A quiet, humble guy who rarely speaks much above a whisper and is so concerned about his image that he routinely pleads with reporters to portray him properly, Jones seems an unlikely choice to be the industry-changing personality, but for whatever reason, he is.

His manager, Malki Kawa, said he’s got an “Ali-esque” way about him, referring to legendary boxing champion Muhammad Ali. And though UFC president Dana White can’t recall a thing about Jones’ 2008 debut, he is fully aware of the kind of impact Jones may have upon his business.

White said Jones has the kind of widespread appeal a young Mike Tyson once did.

“He has that ‘it’ factor and it’s not this ferocious, mean, it’s smooth, slick,” White said. “He’s good looking. He speaks well. But when he gets in there and fights, man, he’s another guy. He’s a finisher.”

He’s 12-1 overall and 6-1 in the UFC, and his only loss was by disqualification to Matt Hamill in a fight he was winning going away. Jones landed an illegal elbow and was disqualified near the end of the first round.

In Rua, he’s facing a consummate professional who, like Jones, was once the young prodigy but now is a grizzled veteran with wins over the likes of Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Lyoto Machida, Alistair Overeem, Chuck Liddell and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira.

Jones, though, seems completely unfazed. He’s already signing autographs with the tagline, “Champ 2011,” and speaks of impacting the world much more than he does winning fights.

“In order to be a great champion, and I’m not a champion yet, but I’m speaking as if I was because I believe I will be, but part of being a great champion is not being known for your tactics,” Jones said following a news conference at Radio City Music Hall. “Part of being a great champion is changing the world in a way. One impact I’m going to have in trying to play that role is to help people with cancer.”

Jones’ older sister, Carmen, died in 2000 of brain cancer and he’s trying to use his platform to help combat the disease. After the card Saturday, he’ll host an after party in a night club, as many fighters do. They’re given an appearance fee by the clubs, an easy way to make extra money.

Jones is donating what he makes from his after party to a charity designed to combat children’s cancers.

“The demands on him have been insane and he’s been getting pushed and pulled in so many directions, but look at how he’s handled himself,” Kawa said. “He’s fighting one of the great fighters out there and this is his first title shot, but he’s very composed and he’s gone above and beyond in trying to promote this fight.

“And how many guys his age, with what he has going on, would be thinking of doing something to raise money for cancer [research]? Come on. All they’d be thinking is ‘Train, train, train,’ and ‘Fight, fight, fight.’ Fighting for a UFC title is a huge thing for anybody, let alone a guy his age. But he’s not consumed by it.”

That’s why, Kawa said, the real A-list sponsors are lining up to get a piece of him. Kawa said he believes that Jones will someday “easily” be on the level of NBA stars Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan and LeBron James in terms of pop culture significance and recognition.

Fortune 100 companies like American Express, Visa, Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola will be interested in signing him to sponsorship deals, Kawa predicted.

It’s a huge rise for a guy whom his NFL-playing brother says was a “skinny runt” when he was a boy.

Jon, Arthur Jones said, was never a particularly gifted athlete. Arthur and his other brother, Chandler, a football player at Syracuse, were more natural athletes. Jon wasn’t blessed with the physical skills his brothers were and had to work for everything.

“He’s got two left feet on the basketball court,” Arthur Jones said of his brother. “When he dribbles, I think he’s in trouble unless he dribbles with two hands. In football, he couldn’t catch a cold. Jon wasn’t really a natural athlete. He had to work hard for everything. He didn’t become a great football player, but he worked and worked and worked and in his senior year, he was voted the most improved player on his [high school] team.

“He was into wrestling and he set a goal of winning the state title and he really went out and busted his butt to make it happen.”

If Jon Jones manages to defeat Rua – and he’s currently around a 2-1 favorite – his life will change dramatically, White predicts. How he handles that will be the determining factor in how big a star he becomes.

Jones said he’s already being besieged by women who want to be with him, but White said it’s going to be far beyond women.

“If he wins that title on Saturday night, his life is going to change so dramatically,” White said. “I don’t know if you saw on Twitter [on Tuesday], but he’s got 50 Cent with him now and 50 Cent is tweeting me going, ‘Where’s the love for Jon Jones and his style and his this and his that?’ But that’s how it starts. You win that title and it’s a roller coaster ride after that.

“Hopefully, he’s mature enough and smart enough and grounded enough to be able to deal with it. Let me tell you what: I’ve seen it happy to everybody. Your whole life changes. I call them the ‘Cling-ons,’ and they come out of the woodwork. He’ll have more ‘Cling-ons’ than he knows what to do with.”

White said the younger stars, such as Jones, are particularly vulnerable.

“They get in there and they tell [the fighter], ‘Oh, they’re [expletive] you,’ ” White said. “They go, ‘I can do this and I’m going to get you movie roles and I can do that for you.’ They promise all this [expletive] that they never deliver and guys lose focus on who they really are. They have to remember, they’re fighters. They’re not actors. They’re not supermodels or any of that stuff.

“The girls are a big part of it, too. You can walk into any night club in front of the line. You don’t wait for things any more. Everything changes and it is a lot to deal with.”

It’s a lot to deal with for anyone, let alone a 23-year-old from a small town in upstate New York. But Jones, who says “happiness is a decision,” said there is nothing wrong with dreaming big.

And so, he works toward not only winning fights and collecting championships but of becoming a seminal figure in his sport and a force for good in the world. The guy who used YouTube to learn some of the moves in the cage now wants to use it to promote his outlook on life.

Muhammad Ali made rhymes, and Jones uses “think positive” Tweets.

“I don’t have much and I don’t have the finances to change the world,” Jones said. “I don’t have the following of 50 Cent, but I have my little 50,000 followers on Twitter. If I could just tweet positive things, happy things, and just play a little role [in changing] the world. I know there is some 12-year-old out there somewhere reading my tweets and I can do my thing that way.

“And if you noticed, I’ve never sworn on Twitter and I’ve never put anyone down on Twitter. My Twitter is my sanctuary and if I could just give anybody the feeling that, ‘I want to be like Jon Jones. I want to be happy all the time. I want to be nice to people. I want to be confident.’ That’s what I want to give to someone. That means more to me than winning a belt. That is having a belt.”

 

Schaub ready to let loose at UFC 128

By Kevin Iole, Yahoo! Sports

Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic will, as he usually does, walk to the cage on Saturday at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., to the strains of Duran Duran’s “Wild Boys.”

Which, in an odd sort of way, is appropriate, since when the bell rings to signal the start of his heavyweight match at UFC 128, he’ll have a wild boy in front of him.

Have little doubt that Brendan Schaub will race out of his corner at the bell and that it won’t be long before he’s firing haymakers at the legendary Croatian. Schaub, who is quickly becoming one of the UFC’s more entertaining heavyweights, isn’t the type for a long feel-out process.

He likes to get in and get swinging.

“Fans love knockouts and there’s nothing I love more than giving them what they want,” said the former fullback at Colorado University, who is 7-1 overall and 3-1 in the UFC.

Schaub was a finalist on Season 10 of “The Ultimate Fighter,” the UFC’s reality show, a season that was dominated by the presence of former street fighter Kimbo Slice. Schaub was easily the most impressive fighter on the show until the finale, when he made a mistake and was knocked out by veteran Roy Nelson.

Though he seemed to come out of nowhere, his success on the show was no surprise to Shane Carwin, an ex-UFC interim heavyweight champion. Carwin is a long-time training partner of Schaub’s and has learned first-hand how good, and how powerful, Schaub truly is.

“Until you’re in there with him, you don’t really notice how athletic he really is,” Carwin said. “It’s obvious by watching his fights that he can punch. Believe me, I understand the power in his punches as well as anyone, because I’ve gone toe-to-toe with him and been on the wrong end of them more than once.

“He’s a well-rounded guy, but the thing that sets him apart is the power that he has and the fact that he’s so hungry and wants to knock people out.”

A knockout of the veteran Croatian would vault Schaub into stardom. And though he’s still not among the UFC’s best-known fighters – that’s impossible on a roster that includes the likes of Anderson Silva, Georges St. Pierre, Randy Couture and Brock Lesnar – his success was somewhat predictable given his desire and tremendous athleticism.

He’s one of those guys the rest of us hate. Pretty much anything he does, he’s good at it and makes it look easy.

“I believe I could have competed professionally in football, lacrosse or mixed martial arts,” said Schaub, who turns 28 on Friday. “But you can’t spread yourself too thin. So for me, in college, it was football and I went at it hard. I was spent by the time I was through, though. Even in college, I started to get the wheels in motion to fight in MMA.

“I was training boxing and jiu-jitsu while I was in college. It’s all I would think about. At night, I couldn’t go to sleep. To this day, I’m still like that. It’s a great passion of mine. I had some of my football buddies train with me, but they didn’t have the same passion for it I did. When we’d go to football practice, I almost preferred to stay at the boxing gym.”

It shows in his fights. Schaub isn’t reckless, but it’s also plenty clear he’s not in the cage to dance. Three of his four UFC fights ended in first-round knockouts, though he was on the losing end of one of them.

He was stopped by veteran Roy Nelson at 3:45 of the first round at the TUF 10 finale when Nelson, a former International Fight League heavyweight champion, threw a counter right over a Schaub jab and knocked him down.

Nelson quickly finished the fight and ended Schaub’s dream.

“I was impatient and I think I got a little too overexcited,” Schaub said. “The fight was kind of moving back and forth early and then I threw a jab. It was really lazy, and that’s unlike me. And after the jab, I turned my head. And believe me when I tell you, I never turn my head after I throw a jab. Never. But for whatever reason, that one time, I did it and Roy capitalized on it.”

But Schaub didn’t let the loss hold him back. He blew out Chase Gormley in 47 seconds at UFC on Versus 1 on March 21, 2010, then stopped Chris Tuchscherer in just 1 minute, 7 seconds at UFC 116.

He scored a convincing victory over Gabriel Gonzaga at UFC 121 but was glum at the postfight news conference.

“When heavyweights go to a decision, that’s a fail on both of their parts,” Schaub said. “I’m out there to finish people. I see that as my job and I didn’t do it that night.”

That kind of attitude will quickly endear him to UFC president Dana White, who has often said he’d much rather see a guy lose a shootout rather than win a dull, slow-paced affair.

If he can get back to the finishing ways against Filipovic, one of the great heavyweights in the sport’s brief history, he’ll move into the upper echelon in the same rarefied air that Carwin, his training partner, occupies.

And while Schaub is far less experienced, Carwin laughed at the notion that Schaub might freeze on the big stage.

“His nickname is ‘The Hybrid,’ now, but when I got to know him, we dubbed him ‘Showtime,’ because he loves the spotlight so much,” Carwin said. “The bright lights, the fame, the fortune, the expectations, he relishes that. He wants to be in those situations. I think it’s going to bring the best out of him.”

If he puts on a show against Filipovic, the UFC will have yet another star on its hands. But to Schaub, it’s all in a day’s work.

“We’re supposed to go in there and be exciting and knock people out,” he said. “That’s what we’re paid to do, particularly as heavyweights. When I don’t finish, I’m not happy. And I didn’t get a finish in my last fight. It’s awesome for me now, fighting in this situation against a guy like Mirko. I just want to go out and take advantage of the opportunity.”

 

Wineland feels heat against biggest foe yet

By Kevin Iole, Yahoo! Sports

For all Eddie Wineland had achieved in World Extreme Cagefighting – and he is quite accomplished – the Indiana firefighter will be forever known for his final move on the promotion’s last night of existence.

For that was the night Wineland, a former WEC bantamweight champion, out-Rampaged Rampage.

Ultimate Fighting Championship star Quinton “Rampage” Jackson is one of mixed martial arts’ most popular and colorful figures, as well as one of its fiercest fighters. Jackson’s reputation as a can’t-miss fighter was burnished forever on June 20, 2004, when he slammed Ricardo Arona so violently that he nearly drove him through the canvas.

Arona was on his back, working for a triangle choke and an arm bar, when Jackson lifted him into a vertical position and then drove him down to the mat with frightening force. Videos of the slam on YouTube have generated more than 3 million views.

The move stood as the standard for a slam knockout for more than six years, or at least until Wineland met Ken Stone at WEC 53 on Dec. 10. Stone went for a standing guillotine choke on Wineland and wrapped his legs around Wineland’s back. As Wineland’s corner shouted instructions to him, Wineland’s mind briefly drifted back to 2004.

“I knew I was going to slam him, but right before I did, I started thinking about the Rampage-Arona slam and I said to myself, ‘How cool would it be to do something like that?’ ” Wineland recalled.

In an instant, Wineland slammed Stone cold, adding his name among MMA’s all-time greats.

The sound of the slam was like a sonic boom. WEC general manager Reed Harris, seated cageside, looked panicked as Stone lay motionless. Harris raced into the cage to check on Stone as Wineland celebrated the fight-ending move. Only later did Wineland realize that Stone was injured and would need a stretcher to leave the cage.

It turned out that Stone was fine and Wineland, 26, had taken a major leap in the eyes of the Zuffa brass. WEC 53 was the organization’s final card before it merged with the UFC, and Wineland put himself into prime position by winning Knockout of the Night in his second consecutive fight.

“We have big plans for Mr. Wineland,” a beaming Harris said at the postfight news conference.

Harris wasn’t kidding. For a bantamweight mixed martial artist, it doesn’t get much more significant than a fight with Urijah Faber, the WEC’s most popular fighter.

That the fight is the co-main event of a major UFC show only adds to the excitement for Wineland. The two will meet on March 19 at UFC 128 at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., with a bout against highly regarded champion Dominick Cruz hanging in the balance.

“It’s not a make-it-or-break-it fight for me,” said Wineland, a full-time firefighter in La Porte, Ind. “But, obviously, with the title shot out there, and fighting in the UFC and fighting Urijah, it’s a pretty huge deal to me.”

Despite his record, Wineland has a fairly low profile in the WEC, being overshadowed by stars such as Faber, Miguel Torres and Cruz.

But Wineland, the WEC’s first bantamweight champion, is building a record to rival any of his more renowned competitors. He’s won four in a row and five of his past six. He’s 18-6-1 overall, 5-2 in the WEC and has won 15 of his past 17 matches – yet he’s still only the 13th ranked bantamweight in the world in the February USA Today/Bloody Elbow ratings.

Wineland is hardly bothered because he knows he’ll zoom up that list should he win his next two fights.

“As a fighter, you want these kinds of opportunities against guys like Urijah because you can open a lot of eyes with a win,” he said.

Faber is one of the UFC’s most engaging personalities and rarely has a bad word to say about his foes. He wasn’t exactly trash-talking Wineland, but in a UFC promotional video Faber said Wineland is good in just one area.

“His style is exciting – and when it comes down to matchups, that’s what I like to see,” Faber said. “I feel like as a threat, he’s a threat in one area: He’s a dangerous stand-up guy but he’s facing a guy who is good at everything.”

Faber’s words provided an extra bit of motivation for Wineland.

Wineland’s 18 MMA victories include nine by knockout, and most of his fights are spent standing. However, that isn’t because Wineland doesn’t have diverse skills. With Faber being one of MMA’s best wrestlers, Wineland may finally have the opportunity to display another aspect of his game.

“Faber is obviously in very great shape and he’s just a great athlete,” Wineland said. “He’s very, very strong, very powerful, very explosive. He’s a very dangerous fighter. He’s good at all aspects. Word on the street is, he feels I’m only good at one aspect.”

“I may not be the best wrestler but I can wrestle with just about anybody,” Wineland said. “Wrestling is my main base. I grew up wrestling from the time I was just 6 years old. But I just so happened to adapt real well to striking. I’ve got that style of stuffing, the takedown and keeping it on the feet.

“Not a lot of people have seen my ground game because of my movements. It’s hard for people to get at my legs. It’s hard to find me. I’ve brought in a bunch of wrestlers – collegiate wrestlers, national champs, all kinds of champs. I’m not worried about if it becomes a wrestling match.”

Wineland knows that Faber often wrestles to set up a submission, with his signature win being the rear naked choke. Wineland’s confident, however, that he’ll be able to force Faber to adjust rather than the other way around.

“He’s a scrambler,” Wineland said of Faber. “He creates the scramble, and that’s where he gets his guillotines and his rear nakeds from – in the middle of the scramble – because he’s fast. He’s a very fast person. But if you’ve seen me fight, I’m a very fast person as well. I’m going to match his speed and I think I’ll match his power.”

Wineland may never match Faber’s fame or popularity, but his Rampage moment in December didn’t hurt. And if he could duplicate that on the world’s biggest stage against one of its most popular fighters, who knows what may happen?

Wineland, though, isn’t ready to look too far ahead.

As a fireman, he said he remains cool under pressure because of the intense training he’s undergone and his faith in the wisdom of his captain. As a fighter, it’s not much different. He needs to believe he can win and needs to keep his composure.

Getting caught up in fighting a big-time star won’t help.

“You know what? I don’t want to put pressure on myself thinking about the title shot or anything else because Urijah is more than enough for me to worry about now,” Wineland said. “It’s all about just going out there and doing what I know I can do. If I fight my fight and perform, all the attention and all the stuff that goes along with it will occur naturally. “That’s part of it,” Wineland added. “My whole thing is just working as hard as I can to be the best I can be – and after that, it’s just a matter of performing.”

 

Strikeforce: Feijao vs. Henderson post-fight press conference notes

By Maggie Hendricks

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- After the fights were over, the fighters from Strikeforce: Feijao vs. Henderson had plenty to say.

-- "Beating the opponent was the most important thing, and the belt was the cherry on top. But I do like cherries," Dan Henderson said after winning the championship with a knockout of Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante. Though the Strikeforce light heavyweight belt has not yet been successfully defended, Henderson insists he's not supersitious.

He also said that Cavalcante's strength advantage was not a problem.

"All throughout my career in wrestling and MMA, I've learned that it's about technique and position. I've never felt weak against big and strong guys because of that. I'm big on the inside," Henderson said. 

"Henderson is a tough guy. He does what he does well," Cavalcante said.

-- Liz Carmouche impressed the MMA world even in loss, as she took her fight with champion Marloes Coenen on two-weeks notice and still took two rounds from her. Carmouche says that she can't wait to  return to the gym. She also said that she did not tap from the second-round guillotine.

"It was tight, but I wasn't tapping for sure," Carmouche said.

After the fight, Coenen said that she believes that Carmouche will be the champion. Carmouche was touched by the idea.

"I felt like I won for a second. I can't express what that did for me."

-- Marloes Coenen said that she was appreciative of having a referee who let the fight continue, because she felt her bout against Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos was stopped too quickly. When asked if Carmouche's strength was a factor, Coenen answered, "Did you look at her?" 

She also had a short answer on if she'd like another shot at Cyborg. "Definitely."

-- Tim Kennedy called out Robbie Lawler for his next possible opponent, but said that he would like another shot at the Strikeforce middleweight belt, currently held by Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza. 

"Of course I want the title, but I want to fight the best. Strikeforce has the best heavyweights in the world, but we're contenders in the middleweights, with the athlete we have." 

-- Strikeforce announced that Beijing gold medalist in judo Satoshi Ishii has signed with Strikeforce and will fight Apr. 1 on a Strikeforce: Challengers Card.

Sanchez shows amazing guts in taking controversial decision from Kampmann

By Steve Cofield

Fitch, Penn battle to majority draw

By Brian Knapp
Sherdog.com

Fifteen minutes were not enough to decide the showdown between former two-division champion B.J. Penn and perennial welterweight contender Jon Fitch on Sunday at the Acer Arena in Sydney, Australia.

The UFC 127 headliner ended in a disappointing but just majority draw after three highly competitive rounds. Two of the three cageside judges ruled it a 28-28 deadlock. A third scored it 29-28 for Fitch, who dominated Penn with top control and heavy ground-and-pound in the third round.

"I thought [I deserved the win]," Fitch said. "I gave some positioning in the first two rounds, but I came back and did enough to at least win a split decision."

Penn surprised the American Kickboxing Academy standout with his game planning. The gifted Hawaiian scored with takedowns in each of the first two rounds and secured back control on Fitch, threatening him with chokes from behind. Fitch defended successfully and turned into Penn's guard on both occasions.

"My cardio was through the roof. It just threw me off. I didn't train for B.J. shooting takedowns," Fitch said. "I wasn't expecting that at all. It took me until the second round to really find my groove."

Fitch came out firing in the third, as he unleashed a crisp overhand right and transitioned immediately to a takedown inside the first 10 seconds. Penn fought back to his feet, only to be taken down again with 3:44 left in the fight. He never again returned to an upright position. From there, Fitch tore into Penn with elbows, punches and hammerfists from the top. It was the most decisive part of the 15-minute encounter.

"I think I got some dominant positions in the first and second, but he kicked my butt in the third," Penn said. "If I lost this fight, I wasn't sure what I was going to do with my career, but since the gods were nice to me and gave me a draw, if he wants to do it again, I'll do it again."

Fitch -- who entered the Octagon with wins in 21 of his last 22 fights -- restated his desire to challenge for the welterweight title again, though he seemed resigned to the fact that a rematch with Penn might be forthcoming.

"I want the title more than anything, but at the end of the day, we don't make the decisions," Fitch said. "The guys in the suits do and the fans do. Whatever -- I'm here to fight. I'm here to fight the best. If my 13 wins in the UFC aren't enough to put me in there for a title shot, then I'm willing to prove myself some more."

 

Bisping flurry stops Rivera in second

The world-ranked Michael Bisping buried Jorge Rivera under a barrage of punches and knees, forcing a second-round stoppage in the co-main event. The blows put Rivera on one knee and left the referee no choice but to intervene 1:54 into Round 2.

The two middleweights exchanged heated words before briefly embracing.

"Jorge's camp talked a lot of s--- coming into this fight," Bisping said. "I apologize for getting a little worked up there. I respect Jorge as an opponent. I didn't understand it. I never said anything bad about him. I felt they were going a little below the belt."

It appeared as though the match might end prematurely in the first round, when Bisping connected with an illegal knee to Rivera's head. After several tense moments, the fight resumed. Bisping controlled Rivera with jabs and takedowns, minimizing the impact of the point deduction.

A straight right hand from Bisping marked the beginning of the end for Rivera in the second round. The Brit flurried on him against the cage, utilizing his hands and knees. Rivera covered up in an attempt to recuperate, but Bisping left him no room to breathe much less recover. A final combination drove Rivera to the canvas and brought a decisive end to their middleweight bout.

Bisping has won seven of his past nine fights, including three in a row.

"I worked really hard on [my conditioning]," he said. "I can't understand why guys come in here and can't fight hard for three rounds. I love my job. I'm just trying to achieve my goals."

Siver severs Sotiropoulos' streak

Russian-born German kickboxer Dennis Siver threw a monkey wrench into the lightweight division, as he upended the surging George Sotiropoulos by unanimous decision. The judges scored it 29-28, 30-28 and 30-27 for Siver, who has won seven times in his last eight appearances.

"It was a hard fight," Siver said, "but I could do my game plan, and that's why I won."

Siver set the tone with two crackling left hooks in the first round, both of which left Sotiropoulos on the seat of his pants. The Aussie survived, though he was clearly wobbled and weakened between rounds. Sotiropoulos sprang back in Round 2 with sharp straight power punches, jabs and kicks. However, the Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt never managed to bring the fight to the ground, where his superior grappling skills could have come into play.

"We trained so hard for that, because we knew that George would try to put me on the ground," Siver said. "That's why we trained it every day, and it worked."

Clearly frustrated, Sotiropoulos was forced to stand with a superior striker. In the third round, Siver worked kicks to the legs and head, put together powerful combinations and kept himself upright. The defeat, Sotiropoulos' first in UFC competition, snapped the Aussie's eight-fight winning streak.

"He was very strong, and he threw some heavy shots," Sotiropoulos said. "I tried to work for the takedown, but he defended well. It was hard to take him down."

Ebersole upsets Lytle in UFC debut

Seasoned 62-fight veteran Brian Ebersole fought brilliantly in his first Octagon appearance, as he upset the resurgent Chris Lytle by unanimous decision in a welterweight showcase. All three judges scored it for the Australia-based American: 30-27, 29-28 and 29-28.

Ebersole featured a quirky standup attack and outstanding submission defense. Lytle landed heavy punches to the head and body, often one at a time, in the first round and threatened with a guillotine choke. Still, he never seemed to find himself in the match. Ebersole leveled him with a brutal knee against the cage in Round 2 and tried to finish it with a tight brabo choke.

"I thought I was going to be able to sink that choke, but being up against the cage kind of made it hard," Ebersole said. "He's not some guy who loses his awareness. He's a very tough guy, and he was there with me the whole time."

Lytle faded in the third round, perhaps impacted by the after effects of the knee. He again turned to the guillotine choke, but Ebersole was never in danger. Ultimately, he freed his neck, postured inside Lytle's guard and dropped a wicked elbow that opened a deep gash on the left side of the Indianapolis native's forehead. With that, Ebersole punctuated the most significant win of his 11-year career.

"Overcome with emotion," he said. "I brought a lot of emotion in here from the people in my life tonight."

 

Noke chokes out Camozzi

They barely broke a sweat.

Kyle Noke grounded fellow "The Ultimate Fighter" Season 11 cast member Chris Camozzi and coaxed a tapout with a rear-naked choke in a featured middleweight tilt. Camozzi submitted to the hold just 95 seconds into Round 1.

The two traded strikes for roughly a minute before Noke secured the takedown into full mount and dropped punches from the top. He took Camozzi's back in a scramble, locked in the choke and finished it in a hurry. Noke, who once served as a bodyguard for the late Steve "The Crocodile Hunter" Irwin, has rattled off five consecutive victories, three of them in the UFC.

"I was expecting a standup war from Chris," Noke said, "but when we went to the ground, I was happy to get the submission."

 

Gustafsson choke forces tap from Te Huna

Swedish import Alexander Gustafsson weathered an early blitz from James Te Huna and submitted the 2009 Cage Fighting Championships light heavyweight grand prix winner with a rear-naked choke in the final minute of the first round. He finished it at 4 minutes, 27 seconds.

Te Huna secured a takedown inside the first 30 seconds and swarmed Gustafsson from the top. The Swede kept his wits, survived the attack and later scored with a takedown of his own. The 24-year-old took Te Huna's back during a scramble, weakened him with punches from the mount and cinched the choke for the submission.

Gustafsson improved to 3-1 in the UFC. The defeat snapped Te Huna's six-fight winning streak.

TUF 9 winner Pearson outduels Fisher

"The Ultimate Fighter" Season 9 winner Ross Pearson took a unanimous decision from UFC mainstay Spencer Fisher in a lightweight firefight. All three cage-side judges scored it for Pearson: 30-27, 29-28 and 29-28.

Fisher found a home for a straight left hand, mixed in leg kicks and scored with a takedown in the first round, but the momentum was short-lived. The Cashiers, N.C., native stayed on the offensive for much of the match, but Pearson loosened up as the 155-pound battle deepened. The Team Rough House representative put together crisp combinations, often punctuating them with kicks to the legs and body.

Pearson removed all doubt in Round 3, as he secured three takedowns and racked up the standup points. The 26-year-old has won five of his past six fights.

Ring tops Fukuda in controversial decision

"The Ultimate Fighter" Season 11 quarterfinalist Nick Ring took a controversial unanimous decision from Deep middleweight champion Riki Fukuda on the undercard. All three judges scored it 29-28 for Ring, who is unbeaten in 11 professional appearances.

Fukuda appeared to control much of the 15-minute fight with superior grappling and wrestling, as he secured takedowns in all three rounds. Ring attacked effectively with leg kicks and occasional punches, but Fukuda's strikes landed with more steam.

The Japanese middleweight dominated the third round, as he delivered a pair of takedowns and kept Ring on his back. Still, Fukuda's work went for naught in the eyes of the judges. The defeat snapped his seven-fight winning streak.

Hunt snaps skid, stops Tuchscherer

Former K-1 World Grand Prix winner Mark Hunt notched his first MMA victory in nearly five years, as he stopped Chris Tuchscherer on second-round strikes in a preliminary heavyweight duel. The end came 1 minute, 41 seconds into Round 2.

Hunt drew blood with heavy punches in the first round, escaped some potential trouble on the ground and never looked back. The 36-year-old New Zealand native, who entered the cage on a six-fight losing streak, sealed it in the second, as he followed a stiff jab with a ringing right uppercut that put away Tuchscherer.

Brian Knapp is a contributor to Sherdog.com.

 

Vegetarianism all the rage in MMA

By Dave Meltzer, Yahoo! Sports

SAN JOSE, Calif. – When Jon Fitch signed his first contract with the Ultimate Fighting Championship in 2005, the former Purdue University wrestling captain could suddenly afford to eat whatever he wanted.

That meant meat. Lots of it.

“I would eat three meals a day with meat, and meat was the main part of every meal,” said Fitch, who is preparing for his biggest fight in years on Feb. 26 in Sydney, Australia against B.J. Penn in UFC 127. “I’d eat two steaks for dinner almost every night.”

Fitch, considered by most either the No. 2 or No. 3 welterweight in the world, grew up in the meat-and-potatoes Midwest in Fort Wayne, Ind. When he went to college, meat became an even bigger dietary staple.

“My mother would make meat and sides, but in college, I was always in a hurry, so cooking meat was quick and easy, and there were a lot less sides,” he said. “I lived off the George Foreman Grill.”

But after college and before signing with the UFC, meat became a luxury. As a small-show fighter living in expensive San Jose, he had to survive on a budget of $800 a month, which didn’t get him very far.

Ramen noodles were in. High-priced animal flesh was out.

But in his training for the Penn fight, Fitch has come full circle. The top welterweight has joined a growing number of MMA stars who have committed to a vegetarian diet.

The list includes the next challenger for Georges St. Pierre’s welterweight title, Jake Shields, Strikeforce welterweight champion Nick Diaz, and two former Ultimate Fighter winners, Nate Diaz and Mac Danzig.

Shields, whose parents are vegetarians, grew up on a meatless diet, never wavered, and is in large part the catalyst for the trend.

He influenced training partner Nick Diaz. Nate Diaz, Nick’s younger brother, followed in Nick’s footsteps. Fitch, based in San Jose, and Shields, who lives nearby in San Francisco, have trained together in the past.

“I’ve been this way all my life,” said Shields, 32, who faces St. Pierre on April 30 in Toronto on a show that has already sold out the 55,000-seat Rogers Centre. “I’ve got nothing to compare it to. The only thing is, nobody can train as hard or as long as me and Nick Diaz, so that seems to indicate something.”

Diaz, 27, turned to a vegetarian diet as a teenager. Unlike Shields and Fitch, who live in the upscale Bay Area, Diaz lives in working-class Stockton, Calif. This means his diet require a substantial commitment, as he noted he has to load up on groceries when he goes to train with the likes of Shields in San Francisco, an hour away from his home.

Frequent shopping and constant eating are a necessity in balancing the vegetarian lifestyle and high-level professional fighting, because foods with no preservatives spoil quickly, and maintaining weight and strength are necessary.

“I try to keep my diet all organic,” said Diaz. “It’s healthier. You recover faster. Nobody trains as hard as we do.” With plenty of vegetarian restaurants in San Francisco, Shields eats out several times per week.

Shields noted the only time his diet became difficult was when he was in Strikeforce and bounced back and forth between welterweight and the 185-pound welterweight class. When he competed at the higher weight class, he sometimes had to force himself to eat seven or eight times a day to add the extra weight.

At the top level of MMA, particularly for main-event caliber UFC fighters, a good deal of travel is required, which can be a particular challenge to those with vegetarian needs.

Fitch went to Sydney several weeks ago for a media tour to promote UFC 127, and will leave more than a week in advance of his fight to get acclimated to the substantial time change.

“Eating there won’t be a problem,” Fitch said. “I was there in December and scouted out places for the week of the fight.”

Shields spent last week in Toronto in promotion of his fight. He’s fought all over the world and noted having problems finding good places to eat on fight week in some cities.

Early in his career, Shields fought frequently in Japan, which was a struggle, because so much of the Japanese diet is fish-based, and he didn’t speak the language. Shields said at times he didn’t eat as well as he would have liked in the days leading to a fight, and didn’t feel his best. Even with the challenge, Shields only lost one fight while competing in Japan.

Husband-and-wife team

Fitch’s transformation to vegetarianism came about in large part to the influence of his wife Michele. He noted that Shields, who has won 15 consecutive fights, helped sway his decision.

And he couldn’t be happier with the changes.

“In every kind of testing to see where I’m at, strength, speed, conditioning, I’m either right at or well ahead of the best marks I’ve ever had at this stage of training,” Fitch said. “A few weeks ago, we were concerned I was peaking too fast. I’d kick the [expletive] out of myself at the same stage of training for any of my previous fights.”

Fitch, who turns 33 on Feb. 24, is now about 183 pounds. As a welterweight fighter, his weigh-in weight is 170. Most modern welterweights range from 185 pounds as their regular weight before cutting down, to as much as 210 pounds for somebody like Anthony “Rumble” Johnson. Fitch was on the upper end of that scale for years. But two weeks before the Penn fight, he was about five pounds lighter at the same stage as he would have been for his last few fights.

“The biggest thing is better recuperation from training,” Fitch said. “I don’t have the days where I came in flat. It’s made for the best training camp of my career.”

If anything seems like a negative with Fitch in regard to his change, it’s that he has to constantly eat or he will lose too much weight.

Both Fitch and Shields augment their diets with frequent protein shakes. Fitch has limited his supplementation to plant-based protein of late, and is also using amino acids as a supplement. Shields uses supplements supplied by his sponsor, usually soy- or whey-based, but sometimes milk-based protein.

Neither fighter is vegan. Fitch said during his Penn camp he has been eating fish about once a week, although he went three straight weeks at one point with no animal products. Besides his milk-based protein powder, Shields regularly eats eggs.

“I used to get pressured to eat meat when I was younger by [amateur wrestling] coaches,” said Shields. “But I was successful in sports, so they started leaving me alone.”

Fitch’s transformation was gradual, stemming from when Michele read “Skinny Bitch,” a diet book by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin that advocated a vegan lifestyle and focused on unhealthy aspects of eating meat.

“Before UFC 100, she went on a vegan diet and started feeling better,” said Fitch. “Prior to my fight with Paulo Thiago [during the summer of 2009], I went to a more organic diet. I cut back to eating meat three times a week, limited to an eight-ounce steak or poultry, and started eating more fruits and vegetables. In two weeks, I noticed a big difference in training. I had a much easier weight cut and recovered from it better. So I kept it up.”

Fitch read “Skinny Bastard,” the male counterpart to” Skinny Bitch,” by the same authors, as well as “The China Study,” a research project collaboration among Cornell University, Oxford University and the Chinese Academy of Preventive Medicine, which examined diseases and lifestyles in rural China. The study showed people who ate the most animal-based protein had more chronic illnesses, and people who ate mostly plant-based foods were the healthiest and lived the longest.

Fitch credits his wife for his ability to pull off his dietary experiment because she handles the shopping and food preparation.

“We’re a real team,” he said. “With all the food I have to eat to maintain weight on this diet, she is constantly cooking and preparing things.”

“He eats nonstop,” said Michele Fitch. “Particularly at night. I wake up in the morning and the snack tray is empty.”

Fitch gets home most nights from his evening workout at about 9:30 p.m. and eats dinner at 10. He will eat another light meal before going to bed around midnight.

“After his evening workout, he has a spinach noodle dish with spinach, zucchini, garlic, onions, olive oil and sometimes mushrooms – his Popeye meal,” she said. “All meals contain a variety of fruits.”

The Fitches don’t measure portions, but Michele Fitch said the goal for Jon is a three-to-one ratio between fruits and protein, with the goal of getting 90 grams of protein daily.

“The average person needs 60 grams, but with all the intense training, I have to keep my strength up,” he said.

For Danzig, a matter of principle

Danzig, 31, the Season 6 winner of “The Ultimate Fighter” as a welterweight, even though he normally fights at lightweight, turned vegetarian full-time in 2004.

With his stint on the reality show and public advocacy for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, he’s more vocal about the vegetarian lifestyle than other fighters.

Danzig ponders about peoople with pets who know of the often inhumane conditions animals raised for food are subjected to.

“I don’t understand how anyone can have an animal in their life and know what is going on and contribute to it,” Danzig said. “You don’t need any kind of animal products to be an athlete in this day and age.”

Danzig came upon the vegetarian diet differently from Fitch and the Diaz brothers, who did it for their sport. He cites being on a farm at 13 and seeing a truck taking pigs to slaughter, making eye contact with a pig on the way to its death, and the moment having a profound effect on him.

Danzig worked at an animal sanctuary in Pennsylvania at the age of 20 and met people who felt strongly about not eating meat. He was a vegan for a year, but gave it up when he started training as a full-time fighter, believing he would need animal protein to have enough strength to compete at the top level. But after reading up on the subject, he felt he could go without any animal products and be successful, so he reverted back to veganism.

Fitch raves about the health and performance benefits of his new lifestyle. But he doesn’t consider it a moral matter. He noted after his fight with Penn, he’s planning on eating a steak.

“The thing is, steak tastes great.”

 

Matt Hughes Helped BJ Penn Train For UFC 127 Bout With Jon Fitch

Adversity makes strange bedfellows… or is it politcs?

Nevertheless, mixed martial arts competition seems to make for odd alliances as well.

Case in point, who would have thought that after a three-fight series that saw B.J. Penn win twice and Matt Hughes once, that the two former UFC welterweight champions would be training together?

That’s what happened recently when the Hawaiian fighting legend invited the UFC Hall of Famer to Hawaii to help Penn train for his UFC 127 main event bout with Jon Fitch. Hughes gladly accepted.

“B.J. Penn had texted me a couple of weeks ago to see if I had some time to come out and train and get him ready for Fitch. After that initial call, I checked my schedule, said I could come, and had him send me Fitch’s last five fights,” Hughes wrote in his official blog on Monday.

It seems a little odd on the surface, seeing as how the two have had a rivalry that lasted nearly seven years. Training with Hughes in preparation for Fitch makes perfect sense for Penn, however. Fitch is an accomplished wrestler with a decent stand-up game and a few submissions that he’s really good at. Hughes is also an accomplished wrestler with a decent stand-up game and a few submissions that he’s really good at.

The magic number in MMA rivalries appears to be three. So it’s unlikely that the two will set foot in the Octagon together any time soon, especially with Hughes nearing the end of his storied career, making it the right time for their careers to converge.

“I think we got some good training in,” wrote Hughes. “I’d love to sit here and tell you what we worked on, but I just can’t.

“It was a great experience for me. First off, I got to train with BJ; I think we would both say that we’re a lot alike. And number two, I got to spend some quality time with my daughter. I’m on the road a lot and usually my family is at home. This time I was gone for nine days and got to take my four-and-a-half-year-old daughter with me.”

For all the latest MMA news, go to MMAWeekly.com

 

Breaking down the Strikeforce Grand Prix

By Dave Meltzer, Yahoo! Sports

For years, Fedor Emelianenko of Stary Oskol, Russia, was regarded as the best fighter in mixed martial arts. It was a title that he earned during the heyday of the PRIDE Fighting Championship, when he reigned as heavyweight champ for four years until the company folded. Back then, PRIDE unquestionably housed the best heavyweight fighters in the world.

The most ambitious undertaking in the heavyweight division since Emelianenko’s and PRIDE’s prime kicks off this Saturday when Strikeforce’s year-long tournament begins at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, N.J.

Emelianenko, retuning after his first legitimate loss in nearly a decade, is on Saturday’s card, which features the first two of four single-elimination quarterfinal matches.

Emelianenko (32-2, 1 no contest) vs. former Elite XC champion Antonio Silva (15-2) and former UFC champion Andrei Arlovski (15-8) vs. Sergei Kharitonov (17-4) make up the all-heavyweight Showtime event, along with a pair of alternate matches in Shane Del Rosario (10-0) vs. Lavar “Big” Johnson (15-3) and Ray Sefo (2-0) vs. Valentijn Overeem (28-25).

The two other first-round matches – former UFC champion Josh Barnett (26-5) vs. Brett Rogers (11-2) and Alistair Overeem (34-11, 1 no contest) vs. Fabricio Werdum (14-4-1) – will take place April 9 on Showtime. The location is still to be determined. Recent industry talk points to Tokyo. If all goes well, the semifinals would be held over the summer and the championship match in the fall.

Here’s a look at the tournament’s eight fighters:

Bracket A

Fedor Emelianenko: Long considered the best heavyweight in the sport, Emelianenko is still ranked No. 8 in the Yahoo! Sports poll even though his last win was in November 2009 vs. Rogers. Perhaps this will show if Emelianenko’s June 29 loss to Werdum via triangle armbar in 69 seconds was a mental lapse or a sign that the 34-year-old Russian has finally started to slip. Emelianenko is an experienced tournament hand, winning two in the Japanese RINGS promotion in 2001 and 2002, a PRIDE tournament in 2004, as well as 12 other national and international competitions in his original sport of sambo. Although he’s the smallest man in the tournament – he’s listed as 6 feet tall and is probably slightly shorter than that, usually fighting at around 235 pounds – he possesses the most high-level experience and has the best reflexes. While unorthodox in style, he has devastating knockout power and few weaknesses. One thing that should be noted is that because of how hard he punches, Emelianenko has broken his hand on multiple occasions, which could be key in a tournament where you must survive three fights in a year.

Antonio Silva: Known as “Bigfoot,” Silva possesses unique looks due to the effects of acromegaly, a chronic disease of adults marked by enlargement of the bones of the extremities, face and jaw that is caused by an overactive pituitary gland. The condition is most associated with the legendary pro-wrestler Andre the Giant. Silva, 31, is 6-foot-4, but his hands, feet and head are gigantic, and he’s got long arms as well. Silva cuts weight to make 265 and likely will have 30-40 pounds on Emelianenko in the cage. He’s very strong, and when he gets an opponent down, he’s very good at keeping him there. But he does not have the reflexes of most of his opponents, and certainly not that of Emelianenko.

Silva was knocked down and almost finished by light heavyweight Mike Kyle in his last fight on Dec. 4, although he did come back to win.

Alistair Overeem: At 30, Overeem is the most physically impressive fighter of the bunch. With his aggressive attacks or punches and devastating knees, Overeem has been blowing people out in two sports. His cardio stamina, long a question, held up in December’s K-1 Grand Prix. He’s proven himself a finisher, with 14 knockouts and 19 submissions in his 34 wins, and went to the second round only once in his last 10 fights. But he was just 25-11 three and a half years ago, before gaining 35 pounds of pure muscle. Although he’s never failed a steroid test – something that can’t be said about everyone in the tournament – Overeem has been the most-accused man in the tournament, including frequent insinuations made by the Emelianenko camp. Overeem was tested for steroids after running through Rogers last year, his lone U.S. fight of the past three years, and will be tested throughout the tournament.

Fabricio Werdum: Coming off the most shocking and monumental moment of 2010 when he submitted Emelianenko, 33-year-old Werdum has the best ground game in the tournament. The two-time world champion in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and a two-time Abu Dhabi world submission champion has MMA wins over three men in the tournament: Silva, Emelianenko and Overeem, the latter two by submission. Overeem specifically asked to fight Werdum first in hopes of avenging his 2006 loss, making it the most-anticipated match of the first round. Werdum has to get his fights to the ground because he does not have the striking ability of the big boys here.

Bracket B

Josh Barnett: Barnett was the UFC heavyweight champion at 24 in 2002 – still the youngest ever to hold that title – but hasn’t been in with top-level competition since a New Year’s Eve 2006 decision loss to Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. The 6-foot-3, 250-pounder’s fiercest opponent in recent years has been the California State Athletic Commission after testing positive for steroids in the summer of 2009, right before his scheduled showdown with Emelianenko. He’s still not licensed in the state, and unless he takes care of that problem, his matches will be limited to non-commission jurisdictions. The 2009 test was his third failed steroid test. The second came after his UFC title win over Randy Couture, and he was subsequently stripped of the title. He’s fought six times in four years against second- and third-tier fighters, while also performing as a pro wrestler in Japan. Clearly a top-level heavyweight in the mid-’00s, it’s complete conjecture as to where Barnett stands today. Barnett is good at every aspect, particularly a submission game that comes from old-school wrestling “hook” submissions as opposed to jiu-jitsu. And he can take a good punch. Barnett also is on the easy side of the brackets and thus comes in as a favorite to reach the finals.

Andrei Arlovski: Another former UFC champion, Arlovski comes into this fight having lost three in a row, all to people in the tournament: knockouts to Emelianenko and Rogers, and a decision to Silva. Now 31, the Belarus native has the best boxing technique in the tournament, very good takedown defense, a solid ground game, and great movement and agility for a man who is 6-4 and 240 pounds. He’s never been submitted, but he’s got the single most glaring weakness of anyone in the tournament: his chin. Six of his eight losses have been from knockouts, and there is some question as to where he is from a confidence standpoint after showing little fight against Silva. Aside from a 2008 win over Ben Rothwell, Arlovski hasn’t looked like the fighter many remember him to be since 2005, when he was running roughshod over the then-weak UFC heavyweight competition.

Brett Rogers: The youngest and least experienced fighter in the tournament, Rogers is best known for his fight with Emelianenko, where at one point in the first round he had the Russian on the ground and hurt. At 6-4 and 265, a weight he needs to cut to make, the 29-year-old is only a couple of years removed from working as a tire-changer at Sam’s Club in his native Minnesota. In terms of pure skill, he does not match up well with the rest of the tournament, but he’s got a hard punch, as shown by a 22-second knockout of Arlovski. But his last fight on Oct. 23 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, was a split-decision against the lightly regarded Ruben Villareal – not a good sign coming into a tournament against this level of competition.

Sergei Kharitonov: The 30-year-old Russian was another star of the PRIDE era. He’s the last person to beat Overeem (a first-round knockout in 2007), and also holds a 2005 decision win over Werdum. But he’s only fought three times in MMA over the last three years, and once was a quick submission loss to Jeff Monson. He’s also 1-2 in kickboxing over that period. With a background in sambo and boxing, Kharitonov is a finisher. Of his 17 wins, eight have been by submission and eight by knockout. Being on the easy side of the bracket makes him a possibility to make the finals.

 

"Rampage" Jackson cites poor timing, weight for UFC 128 title-fight decline

Rutten buries Seagal for taking credit for Silva's amazing kick

By Steve Cofield

Steven Seagal is a funny guy and he doesn't even know it.

The former action film star has got plenty of run recently from his stops in to "work" with fighters from Blackhouse MMA. When Anderson Silva pulled another amazing move from his bag of tricks, Seagal was quick to jump on board and take credit. Silva was fine with it. He helped out Seagal by giving him a few pops during the UFC 126 postfight press conference.

Bas Rutten was watching Silva's win over Vitor Belfort and marveled on Twitter at the boot to the face delivered by the UFC middleweight champ.

When Rutten, a former UFC heavyweight champ, saw the postfight comments and Seagal trying to steal the spotlight, the legendary "real" fighter went off.

Check out some of the fine work put in by Seagal with Silva. Sure Seagal is 58 and slightly overweight, but you can see the athleticism and flexibility he still possesses.

If Silva's cool with Seagal, I guess we have to be too. 

 

Silva front kick KOs Belfort at UFC 126

By Brian Knapp
Sherdog.com

Anderson Silva makes weight

By Brett Okamoto
ESPN.com

It felt as if the MMA world's collective jaw hit the floor all at once.

Middleweight champion Anderson Silva retained his crown in spectacular fashion, as he knocked out Vitor Belfort with a front kick to the face in the UFC 126 main event Saturday at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. Two punches on the crumpled Belfort polished off "The Phenom" 3:25 into Round 1.

 

"I want to start by thanking all my trainers who have helped me with all the different disciplines," Silva said. "Thanks to my coach for teaching me that kick. Everybody should respect Vitor. Before I even started fighting, he was a champion, so he deserves your respect."

Silva, staking his claim as the greatest fighter of all time, has won 14 consecutive fights, a record 13 of them inside the Octagon, where he has dominated like no other man in history.

A lengthy feeling-out process between the two middleweights ended with a pair of leg kicks and a right-left combination from Belfort. It was but a small victory for the former light heavyweight king. With the two men standing face to face, Silva fired the front kick up through his defenses and dropped him where he stood. Belfort looked like he had been cut down by a sniper. A right and a left, as Silva passed his foe's foggy guard, finished it.

"That's just one of the strikes I was working on," Silva said. "I was focusing on many different types of strikes and attacks."

Belfort entered the cage on a five-fight winning streak. He left it humbled and beaten. Never before in his 14-year career had Belfort been finished so quickly.

"Anderson is a very good fighter," Belfort said. "I was waiting and doing my thing, but I got caught. That's why [he's a champion]. He faked to the body and kicked to the head. He's a great fighter. I promise I will be back, and I will bring the fire again."

Griffin outpoints Franklin in co-headliner

In his first appearance in more than a year, former light heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin outstruck, outwrestled and out-grappled Rich Franklin en route to a unanimous decision in the co-main event. All three judges scored it 29-28 for Griffin, a winner in five of his past seven bouts.

"[I felt] rusty," Griffin said. "It's great to be back, obviously. I wanted to win, and I was so nervous. My camp didn't go right, but I feel good now."

Griffin set the tone with a strong first round, as he took down Franklin inside the first 30 seconds and kept the one-time middleweight king on his back the entire round. The Xtreme Couture Mixed Martial Arts representative delivered another takedown in Round 2 and wobbled Franklin with a looping left hand.

Ahead on the scorecards, Griffin took a more conservative approach in the third round, content to trade blows with Franklin from the outside. Franklin -- taken down twice in the final 90 seconds -- scored with crisp kicks to the body and occasional punches, but the sporadic strikes were not enough to sway the judges to his side.

"It's hard to come back after a year without people going game speed, let alone [against] a southpaw who's quicker than me," Griffin said. "Fortunately, I was able to get him down in the first round and grind him down a little bit, so I felt like I had built up a little lead."

Jones guillotine taps Bader, earns title shot

Jon Jones submitted "The Ultimate Fighter" Season 8 winner Ryan Bader with a second-round guillotine choke, as he passed the most significant test of his career. The tapout came 4 minutes, 20 seconds into Round 2.

The victory, Jones' third in as many appearances, earned the fast-rising superstar a shot at light heavyweight champion Mauricio "Shogun" Rua in the UFC 128 main event in March. Jones will step in for injured teammate Rashad Evans.

Jones had no trouble with Bader, as he scored with a takedown in the first round and set up briefly for a North-South choke. The previously unbeaten Bader looked baffled throughout the one-sided encounter, short-circuited by his foe's otherworldly athleticism and 10.5-inch reach advantage. The decorated collegiate wrestler pulled guard in the second round but did not improve his luck from his back. Jones worked first for the brabo choke and then transitioned to the guillotine for the finish.

"I feel so confident every time I get in here," Jones said, who improved to 5-1 in the UFC. "I feel it's my time, and I'm hungry. I'm going for it."

Ellenberger survives Rocha, takes split nod

Rising contender Jake Ellenberger survived a serious scare against previously unbeaten Carlos Eduardo Rocha, as he carried a split decision in their welterweight showcase. Two of three cage-side judges scored it 29-28 for Ellenberger; a third saw it 30-27 for Rocha.

Ellenberger clipped the Brazilian submission specialist with a quick left hand to start and took it to the ground. There, Rocha went to work, as he scrambled into side control from the bottom, took his opponent's back and moved to mount. Ellenberger eventually escaped, only to be nearly submitted with a kimura later in Round 1.

Over the final 10 minutes, Ellenberger elected to keep the fight standing, and it worked to his benefit. The Omaha, Neb., native scored with strategic takedowns at the end of Rounds 2 and 3, escaping with his third straight victory.

Torres jab breaks own Banuelos

Former World Extreme Cagefighting bantamweight champion Miguel Torres followed his game plan to near perfection in his promotional debut, as he cruised to a unanimous decision over Antonio Banuelos in a featured matchup at 135 pounds. All three judges scored it 30-27 for Torres.

Torres lit up Banuelos with a stiff left jab and popped the inside and outside of his lead leg with kicks throughout the three-round encounter. A longtime training partner of UFC hall of famer Chuck Liddell, Banuelos never got inside the Torres reach advantage, measured at a ridiculous 13 inches.

"I did what my coach wanted me to do," Torres said. "Antonio is dangerous on the inside, so I wanted to fight him on the outside."

The 30-year-old Torres, now training under Firas Zahabi in Montreal, picked up his pace in Round 3, as he kept his textbook jab in Banuelos' bloodied face and scored with well-timed combinations from the outside. He has won 19 of his last 21 bouts.

"He's real tough," Torres said. "He took a lot of punches. I knew I broke his nose. I heard it crunch a couple of times."

Cerrone chokes out Kelly

Donald Cerrone earned a hard fought, come-from-behind victory in his promotional debut, as he submitted Paul Kelly in the second round of their preliminary lightweight scrap.

As Cerrone tried to touch gloves to start the bout, Kelly landed an overhand right before "Cowboy" took the fight to the floor. Though Cerrone briefly secured the mount, the Brit escaped and proceeded to light up the Greg Jackson protégé on the feet. In the waning minutes, however, Cerrone took the fight to the floor once again, this time slicing Kelly over the right eye with an elbow.

Cerrone stormed back in the second stanza, using his length to score with leg kicks before putting Kelly on his back and passing to mount for the second time. There would be no escape for the Brit this time, as the former WEC title challenger took his back and cinched a fight-ending rear-naked choke at 3 minute, 48 seconds of Round 2.

"I'm glad to be here. I'm glad to show the WEC guys deserve to be here," said Cerrone. "That's Greg Jackson jiu-jitsu. My training partners are the best in the world."

Mendes outpoints Omigawa, stays unbeaten

Chad Mendes outpointed world-ranked Michihiro Omigawa in a featherweight tilt, earning a unanimous decision and spoiling the Japanese standout's return to the UFC. All three judges scored it 30-27.

Mendes looked sharp early, targeting Omigawa's lead leg with kicks while coming over the top with a heavy right hand. Though Omigawa's takedown defense was impressive through the first half of the round, the Team Alpha Male ace finally put the judoka on his back with 90 seconds to go in the round. Omigawa dictated the pace from the guard, however, threatening to submit Mendes with a straight arm lock.

Mendes crumpled his foe with a beautiful right hand just seconds into Round 2, but he could not finish the durable Yoshida Dojo representative. After surviving the onslaught, Omigawa recovered to make the remainder of the round competitive, though he suffered a nasty laceration over his left eye late in the round.

The third frame also belonged to Mendes, who escaped a guillotine attempt in the opening seconds of the round to once again gain top position. Though Omigawa was busy from the guard, "Money" continued to rain down ground-and-pound attacks. After Omigawa escaped to his feet, the Japanese fighter pressed the action, only to be taken down and bloodied up as the bout came to a close.

Speedy Johnson derails 'Kid'

Demetrious Johnson derailed the debut of Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto, using superior speed to take home a clear-cut unanimous decision win. Scores were 29-28, 30-27 and 30-27, all for Johnson.

Though both men looked sharp standing, it was Johnson who won the wrestling battle in Round 1. Using excellent technique and blinding quickness, "Mighty Mouse" scored three separate takedowns in the opening frame. The second round was strikingly similar, as Johnson continually frustrated "Kid" with his speed and put him on his back several more times. Round 3 also belonged to Johnson, as the lightning-fast American wobbled Yamamoto with a left and again took the fight to the floor as time expired.

"Me and him both have good footwork. That's why I [kept my distance]. If I overextend, I'm going to get knocked out, just like everyone else, by that right hook," said Johnson. "He was a very tough opponent. He hits really hard, and he's a really tough guy."

Taylor kick finishes 'Godzilla'

Paul Taylor earned his second consecutive Octagon victory in his sophomore lightweight effort, besting "The Ultimate Fighter" Season 5 alum Gabe Ruediger by technical knockout 1 minute, 42 seconds into Round 2.

In the first frame, Taylor got the better of the exchanges, using his wrestling in reverse to keep the fight standing. Though Ruediger attempted multiple takedowns, the Brit's defense held strong and Taylor continually landed shots to the head of the former WEC champion. Round 2 brought more of the same, with Taylor finding his range in the stand-up and making his foe pay. With his back against the fence, Taylor put together a fight-ending combination, hurting the American with a one-two before sealing the deal with a head kick.

 

Kingsbury steamrolls Romero in 21 seconds

A light heavyweight affair between Kyle Kingsbury and Ricardo Romero was almost over before it started, as Kingsbury earned the technical knockout just 21 seconds into the fight.

After pressing the former Ring of Combat champion against the fence, Kingsbury landed knees from the clinch to soften up his foe. As Romero attempted to escape the position, "The Ultimate Fighter" Season 8 veteran dropped him with a left hand and went for the kill, as referee Steve Mazzagatti saved a turtled Romero from further punishment.

Kingsbury, who trains out of the American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, Calif., has rattled off three consecutive victories.

Mike Whitman and Brian Knapp are contributors to Sherdog.com.

 

 

The matchup they are calling the 'Fight of the Century' in Brazil is nearly here.

UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva (27-4) and No. 1 contender Vitor Belfort (19-8) each weighed 185 pounds during the UFC 126 weigh-in Friday.

All week, the two have downplayed any notion the fight is personal. But if Friday's interaction was any indication of their true feelings, it appears they lied.

After weighing in, Silva put on a white mask for the traditional staredown, referencing a quote Belfort had used earlier in the week. Before UFC president Dana White eventually stepped in, Silva removed the mask and the two exchanged words.

Shortly after, color commentator Joe Rogan asked the two fighters what was said.

"There's no secret what I said," Silva responded. "You guys came here to watch a show. You're going to see a show."

Belfort said the exchange was Silva's last ploy to gain a psychological advantage over him.

"He wears a mask," Belfort said. "He's a good man, but in the fight he tries to impress people and make fighters afraid of him. I'm going to bring the fight to him tomorrow. He's a good guy, he has a good heart -- but tomorrow's a fight."

All but one of the 22 fighters set to compete at UFC 126 came in at weight. Only welterweight Mike Pierce (11-3) missed the mark, coming in at 172. He was given extra time to lose the necessary pound.

Fan favorites Rich Franklin (28-5) and Forrest Griffin (17-6) both made weight for their co-main event bout.

Much has been made of the size advantage Griffin will enjoy in the fight, and it was already visible Friday. Franklin weighed-in at 203 pounds. Griffin came in at 205.

There also appeared to be no love lost between light heavyweight prospects Jon Jones (11-1) and Ryan Bader (13-0).

Jones refused to look Bader in the eye during the staredown, and the two did not shake hands after. Jones came in at 206 pounds, with Bader at 205.

The UFC 126 event will take place at Mandalay Bay Events Center and is sold out.

Brett Okamoto covers MMA for ESPN.com. Follow him on Twitter at bokamotoESPN.

Herschel Walker wins second pro fight via TKO

By Steve Cofield

Guillard, Hominick turn in impressive KOs

By Kevin Iole,

On a night when Mark Hominick punched his way to a title shot, Melvin Guillard made sure he wasn’t overlooked by putting on a scintillating performance against Evan Dunham on Saturday at UFC Fight for the Troops 2 at Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas.

Hominick needed to defeat George Roop on the nationally televised Ultimate Fighting Championship card Saturday in order to earn a shot at the featherweight title, currently held by Jose Aldo, at UFC 129 in April.

Hominick came through with a dominant performance, pummeling George Roop and stopping him at 1:28 of the first round.

But two fights later, Guillard edged himself into lightweight title contention with arguably the best performance of his career, a first-round stoppage of the highly regarded Dunham.

Guillard knocked Dunham down with a big right hand behind a jab, then finished him with a series of knees while Dunham was helpless against the cage. Referee Mario Yamasaki jumped in to halt the carnage at 2:58 of the first.

After the bout, Guillard demanded a shot at the lightweight championship. Judging by the way he looked against Dunham, who entered the bout with an 11-1 record and a lot of momentum, it’s not unreasonable for UFC president Dana White and matchmaker Joe Silva to start considering him in the mix.

Guillard, 27-8-2, has long been one of the UFC’s more physically gifted fighters, but he often wasn’t focused or properly prepared. He got into trouble outside of the cage and was an example of wasted talent.

But ever since hooking up with Greg Jackson’s camp last year, Guillard has been a different fighter, which he proved Saturday against Dunham.

“Coach Jackson has helped me so much, but it’s mostly been the mental game,” Guillard told Yahoo! Sports after the fight. “Coach Greg and Coach Wink [Mike Winkeljohn] realize that I always had the talent, but they’ve helped me to channel that talent and to put it to use in the cage. I have to conduct myself as a respectable man away from the cage and commit myself to being the best every day. It’s working.”

Guillard said he wanted to make a statement and he clearly did. Dunham was coming off a highly controversial loss to former champion Sean Sherk at UFC 119, and White said he still considered Dunham undefeated.

But he was no match for the quick and explosive Guillard, who showed tremendous balance while stuffing Dunham’s takedown attempts.

Guillard wants a championship shot, but champion Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard are going to rematch for the belt at UFC 129. The winner is supposed to fight Anthony “Showtime” Pettis if Pettis defeats Clay Guida.

Guillard, though, seems to have fought his way into the mix, though the division is deep with contenders.

“I want a title shot, but I’m not going to sit around and wait,” he said. “I’ve never been like that. Whoever they put in front of me, I’ll fight. I’m trying to get on the Super Bowl card [at UFC 126 on Feb. 5]. I think I’m the best lightweight in the world, but I ain’t going to sit around to prove it. I want to keep fighting. Whoever the best they can find is who I want to fight.”

Hominick’s impressive victory gives him the shot at Aldo, a prize some regard as a booby prize. Aldo is ranked third in the Yahoo! Sports pound-for-pound rankings and is widely regarded as one of the most devastating fighters in the world.

Hominick said he believes Aldo is No. 1, but he believes his striking will be the difference.

“I really believe he’s the best, but he’s never faced a standup fighter like myself,” Hominick said after improving to 20-8 with his fifth consecutive win. “I’m a stronger striker than he is and I have the titles to prove that. He hasn’t faced an opponent who can pressure him on his feet like I’ll be able to do.”

Certainly, Roop was no match. Hominick’s punching was fast and precise and he landed left hooks almost at will. The two had trained together previously and Hominick knew Roop’s tendencies.

He allowed Roop to circle to the left and took advantage by continually landing left hands.

“George has a long body and I wanted to hit him to the body so he’d lift his chin,” Hominick said. “After I hit him in the body, I was able to come over the top.”

Heavyweight Matt Mitrione was impressive in his fight against Tim Hague, scoring a first-round knockout at 2:59 to win his fourth in a row. It should also vault him up the ladder and into a higher level of competition.

Mitrione, a teammate of Super Bowl XLIV MVP Drew Brees at Purdue, injured his left hand when he connected on top of Hague’s head early in the fight. Yet, he still decked Hague with the same left hand later in the round before going in for the finish.

“The first left I landed, he still had his wits about him,” Mitrione said. “The second one, the lights were on but no one was home. I knew I needed to get down there and finish him off. My job is to keep punching and attacking until they go to sleep.”

Mitrione said he hopes that UFC officials put him in with a better level of opponent the next time out in order to challenge him and aid his development. He’s clearly got a long way to go, but he’s a talented guy and is making tremendous strides.

He incorporated more movement into his game, he said, after watching UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz.

“I’m probably the most athletic heavyweight around,” said Mitrione, who played briefly in the NFL for the New York Giants and Minnesota Vikings. “I haven’t been fully utilizing my talents. I have the ability to move and I thought I might as well take advantage of it.”

 

 

Lesnar-Dos Santos keeps UFC growth on track

By Dave Meltzer,

The announcement that Brock Lesnar and Junior Dos Santos will be the coaches for the 13th season of “The Ultimate Fighter” likely surprised some folks, particularly since Lesnar, by his own admission, is still in the early stages of learning the mixed martial arts game.

But from a business standpoint, having the two fighters as opposing coaches and making them opponents in a June pay-per-view main event makes sense on a number of levels.

The UFC’s biggest potential fight of 2011 is a rematch between Lesnar (5-2) and the man who took his heavyweight title in October, Cain Velasquez (9-0). If such as a fight takes place, it has a good shot at being the second richest PPV event in company history.

But if Dos Santos (12-1), who doesn’t have Lesnar’s name recognition, beats the former pro wrestling star in their TUF showdown, his drawing power for subsequent fight with Velasquez would increase by leaps and bounds.

Lesnar and Dos Santos are dangerous as opponents because each has major skill advantages over the other. But the winner would be seen by the public as the legitimate top contender for Velasquez’s title.

Getting Lesnar to do TUF was a challenge, as he hates traveling and leaving his Minnesota home. The show requires him to spend from Jan. 24 through the first week of March in Las Vegas filming the show, where a crew of neophyte welterweight fighters will be divided into two teams and battle for a UFC contract.

The show debuts March 30 on Spike TV on and will air on Wednesday nights, with the finale currently scheduled for June 1.

While White did not specifically say the Lesnar-Dos Santos fight would be held June 11 at the Rogers Centre in Vancouver, B.C., he did announce the matchup would be in the first PPV event following the TUF season and that it would be in early June. White noted that Vancouver was not official yet, but when asked about the site later in a media call, he hinted there was a strong chance of it being there.

“It was [difficult putting the deal together],” said White, who actually closed the deal about a week and half ago, noting it was the obvious move once it became clear Velasquez needs surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff that will keep him out of action until late 2011. “I’m already prepared that this is going to be a tough season. I deal with Brock in very short spurts. He fights two or three times per year. It’s always tough.”

White said the company would not be creating an interim title with Velasquez on the shelf for so long.

“No interim title,” said White. “These two coach. They’ll fight. The winner fights Cain.”

The big winners in this announcement are Spike TV and the show itself. The UFC is in its contract year with the network that put it on the map, so ratings are even more critical this year and strong numbers will help the promotion in negotiations. Season 12, featuring Georges St. Pierre and Josh Koscheck as coaches, was the fourth-highest rated season in the history of the show.

With Lesnar, the company’s biggest draw virtually since the day he started in 2008, ratings for this season are likely to be even higher. Replays of Lesnar’s PPV fights on Spike have been consistently higher rated than any other replayed fights on television.

“With Brock’s personality and the way that he is, this is going to be an interesting season in many ways,” said White.

It’s also a career-maker for Dos Santos, as being a TUF coach raises the profile of every fighter put in the position. Some of the UFC’s biggest PPV events in history, including Tito Ortiz vs. Ken Shamrock, Quinton Jackson vs. Rashad Evans and Josh Koscheck vs. Georges St. Pierre, were built off the show.

White bristled at talk that putting Lesnar in as coach would hurt the show based on the notion that Lesnar is probably going to be less experienced and well-rounded than some of the fighters he’ll be coaching. But White noted Lesnar’s status as a former UFC heavyweight champion.

Lesnar has been a successful fighter largely due to his size and power, combined with freakish speed and freestyle wrestling skills. However, Lesnar’s camp, which includes physical conditioning expert Marty Morgan, Erik Paulsen, one of the most respected coaches in the sport, and judo black belt Rodrigo “Comprido” Medeiros, molded him to a win over Randy Couture just 17 months into his MMA career.

Dos Santos is the best pure boxer among top-ranked heavyweights in the UFC. Lesnar, on the other hand, is the best pure wrestler. Dos Santos has never been taken down in his six straight UFC wins, starting with his debut Oct. 25, 2008, in Chicago when he took just 80 seconds to knock out Fabricio Werdum in what was considered an upset at the time.

He works extensively with former NCAA wrestling champion Mark Munoz on takedown defense. Roy Nelson, Dos Santos’ last opponent, could never get the fight to the ground in three rounds, but Nelson isn’t the level of wrestler Lesnar is, and Nelson did go into the fight with a bad knee.

Lesnar has taken down every opponent he’s faced, even taking down Velasquez twice, but it was Velasquez’s ability to pop up to his feet that made the difference in their fight. Lesnar’s defense against strikers was shown to be his weakness in recent fights with Shane Carwin and Velasquez, and the odds would be greatly against him vs. Dos Santos if he can’t get the fight down.

On the ground, Dos Santos is unknown, since he’s never been put there in UFC competition. Based on his camp, one would think he’s got something off his back. He was submitted in a 2007 fight, his only loss, but Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, one of the best jiu-jitsu heavyweights ever, has been coaching him for years on the ground game.

While part of the deal to get Lesnar to do “The Ultimate Fighter” included guarantee of a title match with a win over Dos Santos, White said that the deal does not include allowing Lesnar to do WrestleMania for World Wrestling Entertainment, a long-simmering item in the MMA rumor mill.

White and Lorenzo Fertitta have insisted that they don’t want one of their fighters to participate in pro wrestling exhibitions, feeling the line between sports and entertainment need to stay divided. In 2006, negotiations by White to bring 1996 Olympic gold medalist and later pro wrestling star Kurt Angle to UFC fell through when White made it clear he would only use Angle if he gave up pro wrestling.

“There was no wheeling and dealing,” said White. “I think everyone knows he’s under contract to me.”

White also announced that if Mark Hominick was to beat George Roop on the Jan. 22 “Fight for the Troops” show in Fort Hood, Texas, and comes out uninjured, then Hominick would get a featherweight title fight with Jose Aldo Jr. The Aldo Jr.-Hominick title fight is right now slated for April 30 at Rogers Centre in Toronto.

 

 

Heavyweight picture comes into focus

By Dave Meltzer,

Just days into the new year, the framework of the heavyweight division in both the Ultimate Fighting Championship and Strikeforce for the year 2011 has already been determined.

For the UFC, the heavyweight title looks to be in limbo until the latter stages of the year due to a torn rotator cuff suffered by champion Cain Velasquez in his title win over Brock Lesnar on Oct. 23 in Anaheim, Calif.

Velasquez will undergo surgery next week in Las Vegas under Dr. Steven Sanders, who handles many surgeries for UFC fighters. Velasquez will have what is expected to be a six-to-eight month recuperation period before he can start the necessary hard training camp needed to defend the championship.

“Hopefully it will be less, as Cain’s a fast healer, and he can start training in four months” said Velasquez’s trainer, Javier Mendes. “But that’s just me talking.”

At this point Mendes said you can’t pinpoint a return, saying his first fight back could be anywhere from August to as late as December.

Mendes said that they still don’t know at what point in the fight the injury actually took place, as Velasquez didn’t feel any problems with his shoulder until the next day.

Velasquez’s camp alerted UFC and got a first MRI, which showed a partially torn rotator cuff that they hoped they could repair through rehab. But after six weeks of rehab ended, the shoulder wasn’t responding and the second MRI showed more extensive damage. He was sent to Dr. Allan Richberg of San Diego, who after consulting with other San Diego sports doctors, who saw the MRI, said the shoulder would need surgery. He also suggested getting another opinion. After Sanders looked at the MRI, he concurred that surgery was necessary. The champion’s absence leaves top contender Junior Dos Santos with the choice of waiting for what could be 12-16 months between fights or risking his title shot. Dos Santos last fought on Aug. 7, beating Roy Nelson via decision, to earn the next available championship match after Lesnar-Velasquez fight.

Dos Santos has been vocal this week that he wants to fight rather than wait for his guaranteed shot.

“Junior definitely wants to fight,” said manager Ed Soares. “He deserves getting a chance to fight for the belt, but we understand the situation. But we only want big fights, Frank Mir, Brock Lesnar, who else is there?”

“He’s already beaten Stefan Struve, knocked him out in the first round. I’ve heard people bring up Brendan Schaub, and good for him that people bring up his name, but Brendan Schaub hasn’t done what Junior has done. Shane Carwin is injured.”

Soares said nothing has been suggested to them yet, but said, “I think UFC has something up its sleeve.”

Lesnar vs. Dos Santos would be the biggest possible match, since Lesnar is the sport’s biggest pay-per-view draw. As of a few weeks ago, Lesnar and Dana White had not spoken since Lesnar lost the title. White noted in a text message to Yahoo! Sports on Tuesday that nothing has changed regarding Lesnar’s situation.

The former champion has an autobiography coming out on April 19 and would most likely be out promoting the book throughout the month. That means if he doesn’t fight on a March 19 show that is already almost full, he may also not be available until July at the earliest.

“I’d love to see Dos Santos fight Lesnar,” said Mendes. “I hope that happens.”

A win by Dos Santos over Lesnar will make him come across as to the public as a bigger threat to Velasquez, meaning stronger pay-per-view numbers. A win by Lesnar would be in a sense a best case possible scenario for Velasquez. Lesnar challenging Velasquez for the title would likely be the second biggest pay-per-view event in UFC history.

But if the timing doesn’t work out, Mir would be the best available option.

Neither Lesnar nor Mir are scheduled for an upcoming fight. Mir, who hasn’t fought since September, at one point had been linked to a match with Schaub. But Schaub is currently scheduled against Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic on March 19 in Newark, N.J.

On the other side of the fence, Strikeforce officially confirmed on Tuesday what had been rumored for weeks, that the company will conduct an eight-man single-elimination tournament this year somewhat based on the style of the famous PRIDE tournaments of years past. It will be easily the biggest tournament of its kind ever in North America.

The tournament was finalized in recent days when Fedor Emelianenko and M-1 Global came to an agreement for a new multi-year contract with the organization, and his management agreed to fight whoever would be put in front of him.

Strikeforce and Showtime announced the tournament will start on Feb. 12 at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, N.J. Russian Emelianenko (32-2, 1 no contest), who was generally regarded as the best heavyweight in MMA from 2003 until his loss to Fabricio Werdum in June, in his first match since the loss faces Brazilian Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva (15-2).

The other first round match on that show pits Russian Sergei Kharitonov (17-4) against former UFC champion Andrei Arlovski (15-8), a Belarus native currently living in Chicago.

Kharitonov has split two fights with Overeem and has a 2005 win over Werdum.

The other first round matches, which according to Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker, will take place at a date and place to be determined in late March or early April, feature triple champion (Strikeforce, Dream and K-1) Alistair Overeem (34-11) of The Netherlands facing Brazilian Werdum (14-4-1), and a battle of Americans between Brett Rogers (11-2) against Josh Barnett (29-5).

The most interesting pairing is Overeem and Werdum, who on paper should be considered the top two seeds, meeting in the first round. is because Coker said that when he talked with Overeem on New Year’s Eve in Japan, he specifically asked for Werdum as his first round opponent. The current plan is to hold the semifinals in July and the finals in October, dates that may be changed based on any injury situations with the winners. There are going to be several alternates in case of injuries to winners, but Coker noted they want to use them only as a last-ditch scenario.

The primarily alternates match will also be on Feb. 12, pitting Lavar Johnson (15-3) against Shane Del Rosario (10-0). Others set up as potential alternates are two-time wrestling Olympian Daniel Cormier (6-0), provided he beats Devin Cole on a Strikeforce show on Jan. 7 in Nashville, and the winner of another Feb. 12 match featuring Valentijn Overeem (25-23), Alistair’s older brother, against transplanted kickboxing star Ray Sefo (2-0).

There are still questions to be determined, such as the bracketing after the first round, and the status of Overeem’s heavyweight championship. Coker said a decision will be made shortly, on whether the title will be on the line throughout the tournament.

Coker came up with the idea of a heavyweight tournament in October, modeled both on what Japan has done in the past, and his own background in doing karate and taekwondo tournaments growing up.

“I went to Showtime in October and said, `This is what I’d like to do,’”said Coker. “Ken Hershman (Executive Vice President of Showtime Sports) said, `Let’s do it.’”

Coker said it’s been a major headache putting all the pieces together with eight different fighters.

“But in the end, it’s all going to be worth it,” he said.

 

 

 

UFC 125 Postfight Awards Are Clear-Cut for $60,000 Fighter Bonuses

Ultimate Fighting Championship officials on Saturday night handed out their traditional post-fight awards and bonuses, and while there were plenty of options to choose from at UFC 125, the award winners couldn’t be argued.

The main event came down to a draw, but outside of the decision, no one would argue that it wasn’t the UFC 125 Fight of the Night.

Gray Maynard had UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar defeated six ways to Sunday in the opening round, but somehow, Edgar found something deep within himself and survived to fight on.

And fight on he did, through the full five rounds of the fight. Each fighter had his moments where he took control, nearly finishing the other, but in the end, the three judges split it 48-46 for Maynard, 48-46 for Edgar, and 47-47, for a draw.

Both Edgar and Maynard walked away with an extra $60,000 for their efforts, though neither was likely happy with a draw.

Clay Guida, who gave all the respect in the world to his opponent, wouldn’t give Takanori Gomi the fight. Guida wants to make a run at Edgar’s UFC lightweight title and he’s on his way with three-straight victories, capped with his Submission of the Night performance against “The Fireball Kid.”

Guida finished Gomi with a deep rear naked choke in the waning moments of the second round, earning a $60,000 bonus check.

The Knockout of the Night could also have fallen into the Comeback Kid category. Marcus Davis bested Jeremy Stephens for the better part of two and a half rounds, but couldn’t close him out. Instead, in desperation mode, Stephens pressed the action in round three and ended up clipping Davis on the chin, laying him out cold, and leaving him flat on his back.

The crushing KO scored Stephens a $60,000 bonus check.

For all the latest MMA news, go to MMAWeekly.com

 

Ask the Fight Doc: Should Anthony Pettis’ wall-walk kick be legal in MMA?

Dr. Johnny Benjamin, MMAjunkie.com

This past week at WEC 53, Anthony Pettis created one of the biggest highlights in MMA history with a wall-walking head-kick knockdown that set up a championship victory over Benson Henderson.

As amazing as the kick was, should such gravity-defying blows remain legal in the sport?

That's a question a reader posed to MMAjunkie.com medical columnist Dr. Johnny Benjamin, who tackles the topic in his latest "Ask the Fight Doc" installment.

Dr. B - Do you think that Anthony Pettis' phenomenal, wall-walking kick at WEC 53 should be banned? - Smart Enough Not To Give My Real Name

Sir or madam, very insightful question and equally thoughtful screen name. Much respect.

After I stopped screaming, harnessed my inner fan, and assured my suddenly awakened and startled family that everything was alright and to go back to bed, I asked myself a very similar question after Pettis' kick. (Watch Pettis' kick.)

As MMA techniques and athleticism continue to grow and evolve, how do we properly regulate use of the cage?

It's a very tricky proposition because on one hand we must respect the safety of both participants. And on the other, rules should not stifle technical creativity and growth of the game. It's an important balancing act that - when done correctly - helps to support the long-term viability of the sport.

Let's be clear. Use of the cage is currently regulated. Under the Unified Rules, it is illegal to hold or grasp the fence/ring ropes. Cage walking from an inferior position to reverse or stand is permitted. Pressing an opponent to the cage to work a position or technique also is permissible.

Let's look at the other end of the spectrum: jumping off the top of the structure. Honestly, right now, it is not specifically addressed in the Unified Rules; therefore, good judgment must prevail until it is.

In my opinion (which probably counts since I am a vocal member of the Association of Boxing Commissions' MMA subcommittee), allowing a combatant to leap from the top of the structure clearly is illegal. I think it also could qualify as "grabbing the cage" (since you'd need to grasp it in order to get up there) or "leaving the cage" (since you're no longer on the mat), which both are fouls. Still, it's not entirely clear with the way the rules currently are worded.

Regardless, the potential for unnecessary injury to both athletes is unacceptable. The potential risks outweigh the potential benefits, which include falling out of the cage, delivering a catastrophic blow that could permanently injure or kill either athlete, and/or merely landing awkwardly from a significant height (minimum allowable cage height is 58 inches, and the UFC octagon is 66 to 68 inches tall without the pads).

Also, leaping from the top of the cage potentially gives the leaper an unfair advantage.

Obviously, Pettis' gravity-defying kick executed during WEC 53 falls somewhere in between.

Do I believe that wall-walking maneuvers similar to Pettis' WEC 53 technique should be considered legal or illegal? Definitely legal.

Do I believe that it will become more than a novelty technique? Nope - not any time soon.

I think fighters will try it because it looks so cool when it lands. But landing it is not a piece of cake.

It's similar to an acrobatic dunk in the NBA. It looks great when you tear the rim down, but when you miss it - get ready! Plan to be on ESPN SportsCenter's "Not-so Top 10"' and e-mailed millions of times around the Internet as a YouTube boob. I'm already laughing! You've been warned.

As the sport evolves, so must the rules and regulations. If not, MMA may find itself playing a dangerous game of catch-up not unlike what the NFL currently is experiencing with concussions.

Dr. Johnny Benjamin is MMAjunkie.com's medical columnist and consultant and a noted combat-sports specialist. He is also a member of the Association of Boxing Commissions' MMA Medical Subcommittee. Dr. Benjamin writes an "Ask the Doc" column every two weeks for MMAjunkie.com. To submit a question for a future column, email him at askthedoc [AT] mmajunkie.com, or share your questions and thoughts in the comments section below. You can find Dr. Benjamin online at www.drjohnnybenjamin.com, and you can read his other sports-related articles at blog.drjohnnybenjamin.com.

Check out more UFC News at MMAjunkie.com. This story originally appeared on MMAjunkie.com and is syndicated on Yahoo! Sports as part of a content-partnership deal between the two sites.

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MMA in 2010: Changing of the guard

By Dave Meltzer,

Mixed martial arts in 2010 was a year for the changing of the guard.

In the three major North American promotions, the Ultimate Fighting Championship, the soon-to-be-extinct World Extreme Cagefighting, also and Strikeforce, most of the fighters at the top of the heap fell.

If you go back 12 months, only five champions remain – Anderson Silva as UFC middleweight champion, Georges St. Pierre as welterweight champion, Jose Aldo Jr. as WEC and now UFC featherweight champion, Alistair Overeem as Strikeforce heavyweight champ and Cris “Cyborg” Santos as Strikeforce women’s middleweight champ. And Overeem has only made one title defense in the last three years.

Those who stumbled along the way ranged from the consensus greatest in the sport’s history, Fedor Emelianenko losing for the first time in a decade, to the sport’s biggest drawing card, Brock Lesnar. And a person thought to be almost unbeatable in his weight class, B.J. Penn, lost twice to Frankie Edgar, an 8-to-1 underdog in their first fight.

It also appears to be near, if not quite the end of the line for the two biggest stars from when MMA made its television debut in 2005, Randy Couture and Chuck Liddell. As the top light heavyweights in UFC and coaches on the first season of The Ultimate Fighter, the two became two of the most popular fighters in the sport’s short history.

Liddell’s career is almost surely over, after being knocked out by Rich Franklin on June 12 in Vancouver, B.C. Couture, 47, has not said he’s retired, but he’s got a couple of movie roles scheduled for the next several months and has had no fights scheduled since his win over boxer James Toney on Aug. 28 in Boston.

But there are, of course, plenty of rising new starts ready to take their turn in the spotlight. Perhaps the most talked about is light heavyweight Jon Jones, who spent barely five minutes in the Octagon in two televised main event wins over Brandon Vera and Vladimir Matyushenko. Jones, a former national junior college champion, heads a list of strongly credentialed wrestlers who moved up the ladder in the UFC including Ryan Bader, Jones’ next opponent, Phil Davis, a 2008 NCAA champion, and soon-to-be UFC debuting Chad Mendes, a 2008 runner-up who is already a top featherweight contender.

Even more former wrestling champions have emerged on top in the young Bellator promotion. Two former NCAA champions, Cole Konrad at heavyweight and Ben Askren at welterweight, captured Bellator titles. Former world Greco-Roman champion, Joe Warren, also won its featherweight title.

The top ten stories of 2010:

10. End of the line for Chuck Liddell: The biggest and most recognizable star of the UFC’s rise to prominance, the Mohawk-topped Chuck Liddell’s career appears to be over. White had announced Liddell’s retirement for him after a 2009 loss to Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, but Liddell wanted back. He had to promise White to give up his legendary partying lifestyle, change up his training and get into shape.

He did all he was asked, but there was no way he could get back his chin. That was the key attribute that made his style of throwing looping counterpunches while walking through opponents’ blows work. At 40, and looking like he was in his best condition in years, Liddell came on strong against Rich Franklin on June 12 in Vancouver. He varied up what had been too predictable of a style, and even broke Franklin’s arm. But he was caught with a shot late in the first round and knocked out, his fifth loss, four by knockout, in his last six fights.

9. Emergence of great athletes and celebrity fighters: A number of top athletes tried their hand at MMA over the past year on major shows, none bigger than Herschel Walker, one of the greatest college football players in history. Walker wanted to be more than just a novelty, and spent months training at the American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, alongside future UFC champion Cain Velasquez, before debuting as a 47-year-old rookie with a stoppage of unknown Greg Nagy on Jan, 30 in Miami.

The presence of Walker and former pro wrestler Bobby Lashley led to the highest-rated Showtime MMA event of the year. Lashley’s year didn’t end well, as his five-fight win streak ended getting a beating from journeyman Chad Griggs on Aug. 21 in Houston, and, now a free agent, hasn’t signed for a new fight since.

Also debuting were Satoshi Ishii, a celebrity in Japan for winning the gold medal in judo in the 2008 Olympics, winner in three out of four fights, and boxer Toney, who brought a lot of hype but was submitted in short order by Couture.

8. MMA sanctioned in Ontario, New York still in limbo: Getting MMA legal and regulated throughout the world has been one of UFC’s prime goals since Zuffa LLC purchased the company in 2001. It’s been a slow process, but going into 2010, the last two holdouts among major North American cities were New York and Toronto. Legislation, thought to be all but done at one point, stalled in New York. In Ontario, MMA was legalized and a first event is expected to take place in the second quarter of next year at the 60,000-plus seat Rogers Centre, which would be expected to set the North American attendance mark for the sport.

Ontario wasn’t the only new ground, as the company debuted in Vancouver, B.C., returned to the Detroit area for the first time during the regulated era, and debuted in Boston.

New York wasn’t the only problem area, as the UFC was banned from television in Germany during the year, and faced heavy media criticism, but still ran a live event in Oberhausen on Nov. 13.

7. Zuffa sells part of company to Middle Eastern investors: On Jan. 11, Dana White announced after eight months of negotiations, the company had sold a 10 percent stake to Flash Entertainment, an arm of the Abu Dhabi government. The purchase price was not revealed but was believed to be well in excess of $100 million. White claimed the sale made sense because it would enable the company to speed up its efforts at international expansion, although at present there has been nothing announced yet in that regard directly related to that deal. Others noted the majority owner Feritta brothers’ other main business, Station Casinos, was in bankruptcy and the family needed to put up significant cash to regain control, although Lorenzo Fertitta denied one had anything to do with the other. Currently, Zuffa is owned 41 percent each by Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta, 10 percent by Flash and 9 percent by White.

6. Brawl, and bad ratings mire Strikeforce CBS card: The April 17 Strikeforce event from Nashville was probably the most important show of 2010 because of the exposure it would give the promotion. A three-championship fight card that on paper looked to be can’t miss, somehow did. The show had three straight largely dull five-round decisions, followed by an in-ring postfight brawl that led to three-month suspensions for Jake Shields, Jason “Mayhem” Miller and Nick Diaz.

Prior to the card, there was talk of quarterly prime-time network specials for Strikeforce. But disappointing ratings (1.76 rating and 2.86 million viewers in a prime-time slot) and the brawl led to CBS staying away from MMA for the rest of the year. Shields, in the last fight of his contract, upset Dan Henderson to keep his middleweight title, but by the end of the year had signed with UFC. But the worst news of all was the, unacceptable as prime time numbers.

5. Chael Sonnen becomes a major star, nearly beats Anderson Silva, tests positive for steroids: Sonnen spent 13 years in the sport before becoming an “overnight sensation.” The former WEC contender beat Nate Marquardt in a top contenders match to earn a fight with Silva, a fight few gave him a shot at winning. But Sonnen did the single greatest job in UFC history of one-man promotion of a fight, which ended up being the most successful Silva title defense on pay-per-view, doing about 600,000 buys.

The fight turned out to be a one-sided shellacking, not unexpected. But it was the heavy underdog, Sonnen, who came in with a 25-10-1 record, who won the first four rounds on Aug. 7 in Oakland, Calif., handily. But Silva caught Sonnen with a triangle armbar at 3:10 of the fifth round to save his championship. Even though he lost, many saw the performance as evidence that Sonnen almost backed up his talk, and he was already announced as getting a rematch.

But his steroid test taken before the fight came up positive, and he was suspended for six months and fined $2,500 by the California State Athletic Commission. Sonnen will be eligible to fight again in March, but he lost his penciled-in rematch with Silva, as Vitor Belfort will get the title shot in February instead.

4. WEC merged into UFC: In a move most saw as inevitable, it was announced on Oct. 28 that the WEC would no longer exist as a separate promotion after its announced Dec. 16 event in Glendale, Ariz. The move meant the featherweight (145 pounds) and bantamweight (135 pounds) weight classes WEC focused on would be moved to the UFC starting with the new year.

The reason the two groups were kept separate over the past several years had to do with UFC’s formerly exclusive television contract with Spike. Once it was worked out for UFC to run live events on Versus, there was no point in using the WEC name, a brand which meant far less to the public than the UFC. Even though the WEC garnered a reputation for putting on the best consistent fight events in the sport, its TV numbers declined for most of the year.

Dominick Cruz was awarded the first-ever UFC bantamweight title on Dec. 16 after defeating Scott Jorgensen in his final WEC title defense. Jose Aldo Jr. was announced as the first UFC featherweight champion. And The final WEC champ, Anthony Pettis, who made his name with his incredible head kick off the cage in his win over Ben Henderson, is expected to get the next UFC lightweight title shot against the winner of the Jan. 1 Edgar-Maynard fight.

3. Lesnar and Penn lose championships: Two of UFC’s three best-drawing champions, Brock Lesnar and B.J. Penn (the third being Georges St. Pierre), dropped their titles in significant upsets. Lesnar was stopped in 4:12 by Cain Velasquez on Oct. 23 in Anaheim, Calif., as he was unable to recover from a multitude of punches on the ground. Lesnar went in as the favorite to the public, but most inside the industry considered Velasquez as the one who would come out on top.

Penn lost the lightweight championship in a close five-round decision on April 10 in Abu Dhabi to Frankie Edgar in one of the bigger title upsets in history. Edgar showed it was no fluke, winning a second decision, this one not nearly as close, on Aug. 28 in Boston. Penn already bounced back, moving up to welterweight with a 21-second knockout over long-time rival Matt Hughes, and faces Jon Fitch next. Lesnar’s future is a lot less clear, as there are no hints as to when he will fight again.

2. Emelianenko loses: With a nearly ten-year unbeaten streak, Fedor Emelianenko took his 32-1 (1 no-contest) record into a battle with Fabricio Werdum on June 26 in San Jose, Calif. It figured to be another Emelianenko win to build for an Emelianenko vs. Overeem title fight on pay-per-view. Instead, Emelianenko threw a punch and Werdum went down, like he was hurt.

But it was really a trap. As Emelianenko went into Werdum’s guard to try and pound him out, he was attacking Werdum at his strongest point. Werdum locked on a triangle choke and armbar combination, and in the time standing still moment of the year, the mythical Russian tapped.

The loss raised the questions of whether Emelianenko was no longer the fighter he once was, how he would compete with the new generation of fighters, or if the loss was simply a fluke. It also raised questions about Werdum, who was knocked out by Junior Dos Santos in the UFC and then cut. There have been no answers. Emelianenko hasn’t fought since, nor does he have another fight lined up. Werdum had elbow surgery, and also has no future match announced.

1. UFC breaks its own pay-per-view record: For the second year in a row, the Ultimate Fighting Championship broke its own record for most sports pay-per-view buys in a given year. With one event left on Dec. 11, headlined by Georges St. Pierre vs. Josh Koscheck, an expected blockbuster, UFC could hit the nine-million mark for the year. They have already become the first promotion in history to crack 1 million on three occasions in a single year – for the May 29 Quinton Jackson vs. Rashad Evans fight, and for Lesnar’s fights with Shane Carwin and Velasquez.

Fighter of the year: This is a tough choice because so many top candidates went 2-0 this year. Of major champions, Frankie Edgar, Anderson Silva, Jose Aldo Jr., Dominick Cruz, Jake Shields, Cris “Cyborg” Santos and Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza all fit into this category. Nick Diaz went 3-0, but his victims, K.J. Noons, a past-his-prime Hayato Sakurai and Marius Zaromskis don’t others’ resumes.

Edgar’s wins over B.J. Penn are most impressive from a caliber-of-competition standpoint, were the most impressive, but they were both by decision. Aldo Jr. looked as talented as anyone in dominating Urijah Faber and Manvel Gamburyan.

In the end, UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez, with two first round TKO finishes, over Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Lesnar, the latter in one of the year’s biggest fights, gets the slight nod.

Fight of the year: There were a number of great fights this year across all organizations, including Eddie Alvarez vs. Roger Huerta (Bellator, Oct. 21), Joe Warren vs. Joe Soto (Bellator, Sept. 2), Lesnar vs. Shane Carwin (UFC, July 11) and Jorge Santiago vs. Kazuo Misaki (Sengoku, June 22).

But the standout fights were Leonard Garcia vs. Chan Sung Jung (WEC, April 24), Silva vs. Sonnen, Anthony Pettis vs. Ben Henderson (WEC, December 16) and Chris Leben vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama (UFC, July 11). Garcia vs. Jung was a crazy brawl. Silva vs. Sonnen was more an intense roller-coaster ride of a match where you couldn’t believe what you were seeing, then you thought you were seeing history, just to have the fight finish with a dramatic twist. Henderson vs. Pettis was similar but different, a back-and-forth match where the outcome was always in doubt, right down to the past minute, ending with the most spectacular move of the year, the “Showtime kick,” where Pettis jumped, kicked off the fence and landed a kick that nearly knocked Henderson out. Leben vs. Akiyama was like a combination of the two, complete with the shocking ending of Leben getting the submission with a triangle. The post-fight steroid controversy takes something away from Silva vs. Sonnen. I was going to go with Jung vs. Garcia, but the last-minute Henderson vs. Pettis bout takes it, both because it was a great fight, the spectacular finish, and has the added bonus of it being a fight with long-term historical value, as everyone watching will always instantly recall the final match in WEC history.

 

 

Title fights send WEC out in style

By Kevin Iole, Yahoo! Sports

GLENDALE, Ariz. – One of the most sensational mixed martial arts fight cards ever concluded Thursday with a mind-blowing move by Anthony Pettis that earned him a championship in the final bout of the storied history of World Extreme Cagefighting.

Locked in a taut, tense battle with reigning WEC lightweight champion Benson Henderson at Jobing.com Arena, the 22-year-old Pettis leaped up, quickly climbed the cage, spun off it and delivered a shocking kick to the side of Henderson’s head.

The force of the strike, delivered late in the fifth and final round, sent Henderson thudding backward. Though Henderson said he was alert the entire time, the powerful blow that Pettis dubbed “The Showtime Kick,” was the difference in the fight. Pettis won a unanimous decision, by scores of 48-47, 49-46 and 48-47, to earn the WEC title.

The card was the final in the WEC’s nine-plus year history, as it will merge with the Ultimate Fighting Championship, and ended with a series of sensational fights. In addition to Pettis’ win, which earned him a bout against the winner of the UFC lightweight title match at UFC 125 on Jan. 1 in Las Vegas between champion Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard, Dominick Cruz retained his WEC bantamweight title by throttling Scott Jorgensen and winning a unanimous decision. That made Cruz, who is rated sixth in the current Yahoo! Sports rankings, the first UFC bantamweight champion.

On a night of wild finishes, though, Pettis’ Spiderman-like move off the cage to wrap up the title was the capper.

When Pettis returned to his corner after the fourth round, he didn’t realize what round it was. When he was told the final round was upcoming, he wanted to do something dramatic to lay claim to the championship.

“I thought we were going into the fourth round,” Pettis said. “I asked my corner, ‘We have two more rounds?’ And they said, ‘No, this is the last one.’ I was like, ‘Man, I got to give it everything I’ve got in this last one.’ I came with some crazy stuff and it paid off.”

Henderson, who had survived a Kimura attempt earlier in the round, barely knew what had happened. It’s not a move one usually works on learning how to defend in practice.

“I saw it in Mortal Kombat once,” Henderson said, jokingly, in reference to the popular video game.

This, though, was mortal combat at the highest level and it was so very real. The bout, which earned each man a $10,000 bonus for putting on Fight of the Night, was a back-and-forth affair from the start.

Henderson’s wrestling gave him the first round, but Pettis’ quickness led to him capturing the second and third rounds.

“He was quicker to the punch than me,” Henderson said disconsolately.

He still had an opportunity to retain his belt after 24 minutes. He had survived a Kimura attempt that left referee Herb Dean, a former fighter himself, shaking his head. Pettis pushed Henderson’s arm up so far on his back, Dean was anticipating the finish.

Henderson is so flexible, though, he was able to withstand the pain and Pettis moved on, releasing the hold.

“I’ll just tell you this, that if someone put my arm in that position, I would have been in the hospital,” Dean said.

That led to “The Showtime Kick,” that Pettis learned at Duke Roufus’ gym in Milwaukee, Wisc. Roufus said it’s “an old school Muay Thai move.” He said fighters are taught in “battlefield Muay Thai” to climb an opponent’s leg and then kick.

“We have a cage and I thought, ‘You know, why not use it?’ You have to be creative and adapt,” Roufus said. “We work on that a lot and Anthony pulled it off at the right time.”

Cruz needed no such dramatics in his bout with top contender Jorgensen, improving his record to 17-1 after putting on a clinic that was reminiscent of many of UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre’s recent efforts.

Jorgensen was a high-level collegiate wrestler at Boise State, but Cruz repeatedly took him down, several times using the knee-tap takedown. Cruz’s striking was precise and his movement befuddled Jorgensen and seemed to freeze him at times.

All in all, it was a performance worthy of his lofty pound-for-pound ranking.

“I put in a 10-week training camp and everything I do is just balls to the wall,” Cruz said. “I put my heart and soul into every training session I’ve got. When I’m in camp, I train, then go home and sleep. The reason why I’m sleeping is so that in my second practice, I can give 110 percent of myself to every single training session I have for 10 weeks. I eat, sleep, drink, breathe nothing but MMA for my entire camp so that when I go in there, I’m not missing anything.”

He wasn’t missing much on Thursday as he outclassed Jorgensen. He’s now a UFC champion and, if he has his way, he’ll make the first defense of his belt in Sacramento, Calif., against the only man to have beaten him, former WEC featherweight champion Urijah Faber.

Faber defeated Cruz at WEC 25 on March 24, 2007, and Cruz hasn’t forgotten about it. He’s vastly improved since that time and wants the opportunity to prove that to the world. Whether it’s coaching opposite Faber in the upcoming season of “The Ultimate Fighter,” or taking a fight in Sacramento, Faber’s home town, Cruz has taken dead aim on “The California Kid.”

“It’s a different fight, completely,” Cruz said. “I have no excuses. He beat me fair and square. He was a better fighter than me that day. But it’s been more than three years and that was my very first training camp I’d had with my coach, Eric Del Fierro. I was still working a full-time job.

“Now, I can devote every ounce of energy into fighting to become the best fighter I can. I just know I’m a completely different fighter than I was then. My ground game’s better. My wrestler’s better. My stand-up’s better. I have weapons everywhere. I just know I’m on another level than him.”

 

 

Give credit to St. Pierre, Miller, Alves

By Dave Doyle, Yahoo! Sports

MONTREAL – An octagon’s worth of observations after the UFC closed 2010 with an eventful UFC 124:

1. The Streak: For those arguing that Anderson Silva is better than Georges St. Pierre: Get back to me when Silva wins 30 consecutive rounds, a statistic that will one day be looked back at as the mixed martial arts equivalent to Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak. Since losing the first round of his first fight against Josh Koscheck in 2007, St. Pierre has swept Matt Hughes, Matt Serra, Jon Fitch, Thiago Alves, B.J. Penn, Dan Hardy, and Koscheck in the rematch. Silva has not consistently faced the same level of opposition and has had to rally in several fights. St. Pierre has rarely even had a close round during his stretch and has also gotten at least one 10-8 score in eight rounds out of the 30. All this adds up to a level of dominance that more than offsets the lack of spectacular knockouts along the way.

2. Back it up: Talking trash can be the quickest way to drum up attention and make yourself a bigger star – just ask Chael Sonnen. But it only works in the long run if you can back it up when the cage door is locked. Heavyweight Sean McCorkle unleashed a stream of over-the-top sound bites heading into his semi-main event match Saturday against Stefan Struve. And then he went out and looked like a fighter not yet ready for prime time. McCorkle got off to a fast start and scored a takedown, but couldn’t do anything with it, and as soon as Struve found an escape, it didn’t take long for him to finish McCorkle. An off-television fight or two, minus the yapping, would serve McCorkle well.

3. Pit Bull with bite: It has been difficult watching Thiago Alves’ travails over the past couple years. Alves seemed on the cusp of greatness after shutting down Koscheck at UFC 90 in October 2008. But he’s since had one issue after another, from a one-sided loss in his title shot against St. Pierre, to needing minor brain surgery, to ongoing issues with weight cutting. But Alves changed up his dietary approach and training methods and looked like a man possessed in his win over John Howard on Saturday. Alves’ trademark Muay Thai looked sharp, he added takedowns to his offensive arsenal, and he never appeared to tire while going toe-to-toe with the hard-hitting Howard for 15 minutes. Alves is going to have to show he can make 170 pounds consistently before he’s entirely off the hook, but UFC 124 was a solid step in the right direction.

4. Miller’s time: Lightweight Jim Miller has made it clear that he’s a little sick of being overlooked in the 155-pound picture. And I’ll be the first to raise my hand and admit to being one of those who did so. Miller’s impressive first-round submission victory over much-hyped hotshot Charles Oliveira on Saturday night raised his UFC record to 8-1, and his only two career losses are to the two guys fighting for the UFC lightweight title on Jan. 1, champion Frank Edgar and Gray Maynard. So yes, Jim, you were right, and I and others like me were wrong. You’re one of the UFC’s elite lightweights.

5. Don’t count him out: In the fast-moving MMA world, yesterday’s next big thing becomes today’s has-been in the blink of an eye. But let’s not write off Oliveira just yet. Oliveira is barely 21 – St. Pierre was fighting on local shows in Quebec at that age – and his seeming lack of urgency when Miller caught him in what turned into the fight-ending kneebar seemed borne of overconfidence. If Oliveira learns the right lessons from such a preventable loss, Saturday night’s setback could turn out to be the best thing that ever happened to his career.

6. Stepping up I feel like every time I write about Mark Bocek, I say something to the effect of “I’d love to see him get a chance to step up in competition.” So be it. Bocek’s victory over Dustin Hazelett featured some of the sweetest jiu-jitsu you’ll see in an MMA setting, particularly the triangle that finished Hazelett. Bocek has won four of five, with the only loss in that span a decision loss to Miller. The Toronto native has earned a crack at a top-name lightweight and there would seem to be no better date for this than the big April 30 card in his hometown.

7. End of the line?: Only two “Ultimate Fighter” champions have ever been cut from the UFC: Travis Lutter and Efrain Escudero. Is Season 2 winner Joe Stevenson next? It can’t be easy to cut a guy who gives his all every time he steps into the cage, but Stevenson has struggled since losing to B.J. Penn in a lightweight title fight three years ago. Stevenson was knocked cold by a backpedaling Mac Danzig on Saturday. If you’re UFC president Dana White, where do you go with Stevenson? He’s had ample chance against the top of the lightweight division and has lost four of his past six fights. White wouldn’t say for sure whether Stevenson will be cut, but bringing him back would only seem to postpone the inevitable.

8. Fight of the night: The UFC’s Fight of the Night, Submission of the Night and Knockout of the Night bonuses are used as motivators to help ensure fighters give the fans the best fights possible for their money. So taking that idea one step further and giving the fans themselves the chance to vote on the UFC 124 Fight of the Night winner, along with the $100,000 per fighter that went with it, seemed like a thought worth exploring. Unfortunately, an idea that sounded good on paper didn’t work out so well in practice. Fans overwhelmingly voted for St. Pierre’s one-sided win over Koscheck. The consensus among reporters and UFC staffers was that the honor belonged to the back-and-forth undercard slugfest between Sean Pierson and Matt Riddle, two guys who can use the extra dough more than the guys at the top. The ballot result shows that the vote is likely to simply become a popularity contest, so the UFC is right to put a halt to the experiment.

 

Sat Dec 11 10:47pm EST

Trim and energetic Alves whips Howard at UFC 124

By Steve Cofield

Thiago Alves hasn't been at his best in a long time. Tonight in Montreal, the vicious striker was in tip-top shape. It paid off. He put on a striking clinic against John Howard to pick up a unanimous decision, 30-27 on all cards in the first fight on the pay-per-view portion of UFC 124.

Alves (18-7, 10-4 UFC) is one of the top strikers in the UFC's welterweight division from a  technical standpoint, but his career stalled in 2009 and 2010 because he couldn't maintain his weight. The stocky Brazilian missed weight in two of his last four fights. As a result, Alves was listless in his last fight, a one-sided loss to Jon Fitch. An angry Dana White said he was fed up and Alves would have to go middleweight.

Alves got one more chance to stay at the lower weight by changing his lifestyle. He brought in diet expert Mike Dolce. Dolce's plan clearly paid dividends. Alves was fresh for all 15 minutes. His leg kicks were devastasting.

Howard (14-6, 4-2 UFC) tried to go on the offense throughout, but Alves was too smooth for him. Alves had him timed early in the fight and Howard took a beating.

Alves also showed a decent ground game by scoring two takedowns, including a big slam in the second round. He also floored Howard in the third. Alves timed a Howard leg kick and popped him with right, straight down the pipe. 

Howard has lost two straight after beginning his UFC career with four wins.

Brock Lesnar’s Return Date Undetermined, Won’t Appear In WWE

High-profile loss spurred Brookins to success

By Kevin Iole, Yahoo! Sports

LAS VEGAS – Jonathan Brookins’ biggest claim to fame before he joined the cast of Season 12 on “The Ultimate Fighter” was losing a fight in 2008 to Jose Aldo.

Aldo is a sensational fighter, among the three or four best in the world, and losing to him is hardly a shame. Brookins may never put Aldo completely behind him, but after grinding out a unanimous-decision victory Saturday over Michael Johnson at the Palms Casino, Brookins may be known for something other than a loss.

He won the TUF championship by surviving a first-round onslaught and then methodically using his wrestling to wear down his good buddy, claiming a 29-28 decision on all three cards.

“Not many days go by without someone bringing that up. I’m still the guy who fought Jose Aldo,” Brookins said after completing his unlikely journey to the TUF title. “It’s an honor, I guess, but I don’t even know what to say about it. He’s got to be tired of hearing that. He’s got to be saying to himself, ‘I already beat that kid down. How is he still around?’ ”

Johnson had to be asking how Brookins was still around after the first round. Johnson’s standup was the difference in the fight in the first round, and at times in the opening five minutes, it seemed like he was outclassing Brookins. He landed a counter left early that dropped Brookins and had the potential to end the fight.

Johnson hesitated in going for the kill for a split second, and it may have wound up costing him the title. He lamented the fact afterward, knowing he’d given away his best opportunity.

“I hit him with some big shots and I looked up and I noticed I dropped him a little bit late,” Johnson said. “I said, ‘I guess I lost my time to finish.’ He did a great job of recovering. I just made a mistake and took a back step just a little too much. I let him recover from that knockdown. I really don’t know what happened between the first and second round.”

What happened was that Brookins remembered his game plan and stuck to it religiously after the first. Even though his heroes are legendary boxers Jack Johnson, Joe Louis and “Sugar” Ray Robinson, he’s not going to outslug anyone, particularly someone with fast hands like Johnson. Brookins needed to get the fight to the ground and begin to maul Johnson, the way he did to Ran Weathers, Sevak Magakian, Sako Chivitchian and Kyle Watson during the filming of the reality series.

Brookins took Johnson down repeatedly over the final two rounds and held Johnson down for long stretches. He never again got the idea of standing and trading blows with Johnson.

He felt the power of Johnson, who calls his fighting alter ego “The Menace,” and knew he wasn’t going to get anywhere by slugging with a slugger.

“He’s definitely done a lot of improving since the last time we’ve sparred,” Brookins said of Johnson. “I remember him saying, ‘When you get in the cage with ‘The Menace,’ it’s a different story.’ I wondered what ‘The Menace’ was like in the cage because I only knew Michael. I didn’t know ‘The Menace,’ but ‘The Menace’ is legit, man. It was serious. It was a lot of fun.

“I just think it was the same game plan. I kept on sticking to it. I knew I was having trouble getting the takedowns in the first round, but I knew the ground area was more my game. He had done more improving in the standup than I did during our time in the house. I still have a lot of improving to do in that area. I just tried to maintain focus and get it to my area, where I felt more comfortable.”

Johnson seemed like he was unprepared for what Brookins might attempt, appearing as if he didn’t have an answer when the fight would go to the ground.

But appearances can be deceiving. Johnson was plenty ready for Brookins’ ground game. Brookins was just better than he thought.

“From here on out, it’s jiu-jitsu, day in and day out,” Johnson said. “I have to get better off my back. That’s the weak part of my game.”

And it’s why Brookins, and not Johnson, is the TUF 12 champion. And now Brookins has a talking point whenever anyone brings up his Aldo fight.

But their business is probably not over. Brookins said he’s interested in going back to fight again at featherweight and, perhaps, getting another shot at Aldo.

“It’s been a goal of mine since I lost that fight [to fight him again],” Brookins said. “I made the decision not too long after I lost that fight to make the best of it. It only took a couple of hours and I realized it was a great learning experience and I needed to go forward and make it a positive.

“It’s turned out to be a positive. I wouldn’t even have made it on the show if it wasn’t for people saying, ‘Hey, that’s the kid who fought Jose Aldo.’ It’s ironic how things work. It’s been an interesting chain of events. I’m happy that I haven’t shaken that stigma yet, because he is such a great fighter. I don’t go into many fights without thinking of that learning lesson. He taught me so many lessons. I thought I was the best fighter in the world. I thought there wasn’t a 145-er who could touch me and he humbled me. I learned so many lessons from him.”

He applied those lessons Saturday in his fight with Johnson.

The kid who lost to Jose Aldo proved by winning the TUF championship that not all losses are the same. That was a defeat that changed a man’s life.

 

 

Vastly improved Brookins set for TUF Finale

By Kevin Iole,

LAS VEGAS – Dana White has learned his lesson. The outspoken Ultimate Fighting Championship president once famously said he thought he’d found “the next Anderson Silva” when he saw Philippe Nover, a contestant on Season 8 of “The Ultimate Fighter.”

Nover had plenty of technical skills but never came close to putting them together and was unceremoniously cut after three consecutive losses in the UFC – all without reminding anyone too much of the uber-talented middleweight champion. It turned out that the fighter with star quality on that season of the show was light heavyweight Ryan Bader.

So White has begun taking a more conservative approach toward talent evaluation on the UFC’s highly popular reality series. Yet, week after week, he couldn’t help but pay more and more attention to a guy he hadn’t thought much of when the filming for Season 12 unfolded.

“Jonathan Brookins wasn’t a guy who stood out to me right away,” White said. “After we got them together, I thought that Michael Johnson and Bruce Leroy [Alex Caceres] were the two I liked. Every time I’d see Brookins, he was better than he was the day before.”

And now, Brookins is a little better than a 2-1 favorite to defeat Johnson in the Season 12 finale on Saturday at the Palms Resort & Casino – and to win the six-bout UFC contract that goes with it.

In many ways, Brookins was like Georges St. Pierre, the UFC welterweight champion who was his coach on the show. Brookins didn’t have a lot to say and avoided the hijinks which have derailed so many others who have lived in the TUF house. Brookins made like St. Pierre by keeping a low profile and trying to be the hardest worker on his team every day.

Both Brookins and Johnson fought for St. Pierre’s team and benefited from coaching by the likes of Greg Jackson, Firas Zahabi, Phil Nurse, Freddie Roach and John Danaher, among others.

Most of all, though, they benefited by training every day alongside St. Pierre.

“The biggest thing is, Georges was actually training with us and we got a chance to see what he did and how he worked,” Johnson said. “Obviously, we knew what a great fighter he was before we came to the show. But when we got here and saw him every day, the way he prepared, that leaves an impression upon you.”

It also left an impression on Brookins, who submitted Sevak Magakian and Sako Chivitchian before winning a wide decision over Kyle Watson to make it to the finale. He was better in each fight than he was in the previous one, picking up on one of St. Pierre’s primary lessons.

The soft-spoken champion emphasized to his team the importance of being open-minded and continuing to learn. Brookins, who calls himself “an avid seeker,” said it was just what he needed.

“I haven’t always done things the right way,” said Brookins, who was stopped in the third round of a 2008 fight with current UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo. “But life is a journey and it’s important to take the lessons you’ve learned and apply them to your life. It was important to me to come in and take advantage of this opportunity. To me, that meant keeping my mouth shut and listening.

“Georges brought these great coaches in and it would have been a waste to have not taken advantage of the chance to learn from them. After six weeks, I wasn’t going to have that chance again, so I wanted to make the most of every minute I was there.”

The result, as even Johnson conceded, was immense improvement from beginning to end. Anyone who can hang for three rounds with Aldo, the third-ranked pound-for-pound fighter in the world, has to be pretty good in the first place. But Brookins managed to bump his game up a few notches during his time in the house.

So, too, did Johnson, who was St. Pierre’s first pick and the second pick overall. Fighting four times in six weeks exacts a toll on a person, physically and mentally. Johnson, who said he is on a quest to silence the doubters in his hometown of Springfield, Mo., took it as a challenge.

He defeated Pablo Garza to get into the house, then reeled off wins over Aaron Wilkinson, Caceres and Nam Phan to make it to the finals. And he isn’t at all surprised that he’ll be standing across the cage from Brookins on Saturday.

“We built a very strong relationship because we trained together so much,” Johnson said of Brookins. “I have a lot of respect for him and what he’s done. There are no secrets between us. I know what he brings and he knows what I bring. It’s about execution.”

Johnson had plenty of talent when he arrived in Las Vegas for the filming, but he hadn’t quite figured out how to put it all together properly. But watching St. Pierre daily and listening to the champion speak changed that.

St. Pierre helped him meld his individual skills together to become a complete mixed martial artist.

“I had pretty good wrestling, but Georges worked with me and helped me to make my wrestling more effective,” Johnson said. “I learned how to use my striking to set up my wrestling. Pretty much every day, Georges would say something or show me something that made me a little bit better.”

The result of that learning at the University of St. Pierre, if you will, will be on display on Saturday, when Johnson fights Brookins for that UFC contract. Given the improvements they’ve made, both figure to become mainstays.

“The great thing about ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ is that you can see guys like Johnson and Brookins mature and develop and really turn into pretty impressive fighters,” White said. “We give them an opportunity and it’s up to them what they do with it. This might not be the final I would have predicted at the start, but if you were there every day and seeing them, it’s no surprise they’re here.”

 

 

The Ultimate Fighter 12 Finale fight card set, five bouts slated for Spike TV

The fight card for Saturday's The Ultimate Fighter 12 Finale officially is set.

Overnight MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) reported new additions to the card, including the Michael Johnson vs. Jonathan Brookins "TUF 12" championship fight and a Leonard Garcia vs. Nam Phan featherweight bout.

The event takes place at The Pearl at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, and the main card airs on Spike TV.

Rounding out the TV lineup is a headliner with light heavyweight Stephan Bonnar vs. Igor Pokrajac, as well as middleweights Kendall Grove vs. Demian Maia and welterweights Rick Story vs. Johny Hendricks.

Some fights from the six-fight preliminary card may make the broadcast if time permits. The fights include "TUF 12" cast members Kyle Watson, Sako Chivitchian, Cody McKenzie and Aaron Wilkinson.

One notable from "TUF 12" not on the finale is Alex "Bruce Leeroy" Caceres. A source close to the event told MMAjunkie.com he initially was slated to fight Phan at the event but recently was forced off the card with an injury. However, he's expected to get a fight on a future UFC card once healed.

The full lineup includes:

MAIN CARD

• Stephan Bonnar vs. Igor Pokrajac
• Jonathan Brookins vs. Michael Johnson ("TUF 12" championship)
• Kendall Grove vs. Demian Maia
• Rick Story vs. Johny Hendricks
• Leonard Garcia vs. Nam Phan

PRELIMINARY CARD

• Rich Attonito vs. Dave Branch
• Pablo Garza vs. Fredson Paixao
• Will Campuzano vs. Nick Pace
• Kyle Watson vs. Sako Chivitchian
• Ian Loveland vs. Tyler Toner
• Cody McKenzie vs. Aaron Wilkinson

As always MMAjunkie.com will be on scene with complete pre-event, fight-night and post-show coverage. For the latest on The Ultimate Fighter 12 Finale, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of MMAjunkie.com.

Rankings: Fitch finds a way

By Dave Doyle, Yahoo! Sports

Workmanlike. Determined. Dependable. Come up with any blue-collar adjective you can find, and it probably applies to Jon Fitch.

Fitch has stepped into the UFC Octagon 14 times since 2005. Thirteen times he’s emerged a winner. The only time his hand wasn’t raised was when he fought Georges St. Pierre, a loss that should hardly cause one to feel shame.

Mixed martial arts is a business, one in which a fighter’s ability to hype fights and sell tickets seems to be prized nearly as much as their skills in the cage. But Fitch is as concrete of a reminder as any that MMA is, in fact, a sport.

Fitch doesn’t fill notebooks with outrageous quotes or make attention-seeking boasts and threats. He simply goes out, fights hard, and wins. And if you win often enough, eventually you’ll get your due.

After spending most of the past year just on the outside of the Top 10 looking in, Fitch debuts this month at No. 10. He finished one point ahead of B.J. Penn, who Fitch will meet in the main event of UFC 127 in Australia in February. If Fitch emerges from that fight a winner, the UFC will have run out of reasons to deny him a welterweight title shot.

Fitch isn’t the only fighter who debuts in this month’s poll. Undefeated Cain Velasquez made short work of Brock Lesnar and debuts at No. 7. Both Lesnar and Lyoto Machida, after a hard-luck, split-decision loss to Quinton Jackson, dropped out of the top 10.

---

This month’s voting panel: Denny Burkholder, CBSSports.com; Elias Cepeda, Inside Fighting; Mike Chiappetta MMAFighting.com and Fight! Magazine; Steve Cofield, Cagewriter and ESPN Radio 1100 Las Vegas; Neil Davidson The Canadian Press; Dave Doyle Yahoo! Sports; Ben Fowlkes, SportsIllustrated.com and MMAFighting.com; Josh Gross, ESPN.com; Ariel Helwani, Versus.com and MMAFighting.com; Kevin Iole, Yahoo! Sports; Damon Martin, MMAWeekly.com; Todd Martin, freelance; John Morgan, MMAjunkie.com; Franklin McNeil, ESPN.com; Brad McCray, freelance; Dave Meltzer, Yahoo! Sports; and The Wrestling Observer; Brett Okamoto, The Las Vegas Sun; Ken Pishna, MMAWeekly.com; Michael David Smith, MMAFighting.com; Dann Stupp, MMAjunkie.com; and The Dayton Daily News.

Scoring: Ten points for a first-place vote, nine points for second, etc., down to one point for a 10th-place vote. Fighters who are under suspension for usage of performance-enhancing substances or drugs of abuse are ineligible to be considered for the duration of their suspensions (including Chael Sonnen, who appeals his test results in front of the California State Athletic Commission on Dec. 2); fighters who have been inactive for more than 12 months are ineligible for consideration until after the completion of their next fight.

10. Jon Fitch
Points: 23
Affiliation: UFC
Weight class:Welterweight
Hometown: San Jose, Calif.
Record: 23-3, 1 no-contest (won past five)
Last month’s ranking: unranked
Most recent result: Def. Thiago Alves, unanimous decision, Aug. 7
Analysis:Would a finish here and there instead of one decision win after another help perception of Fitch? Sure. But there’s no denying his results.

9. Jake Shields
Points: 35
Affiliation: UFC
Weight class: Welterweight (never lost Strikeforce middleweight title)
Hometown: San Francisco
Record: 26-4-1 (has won past 15)
Last month’s ranking: 9
Most recent result: Def. Martin Kampmann, split decision, Oct. 23
Analysis: Didn’t help himself with a listless performance in his UFC debut.

8. Fedor Emelianenko
Points: 51
Affiliation: Strikeforce/M-1
Weight class: Heavyweight
Hometown: Stary Oskol, Russia
Record: 31-2, one no-contest (lost last one)
Last month’s ranking: T-6
Most recent result: Lost to Fabricio Werdum, R1 submission, June 26
Analysis: Emelianenko is a year removed from his most recent victory and has no next fight in sight.

7. Cain Velasquez
Points: 64
Affiliation: UFC
Weight class: Heavyweight (UFC heavyweight champion)
Hometown: Salinas, Calif.
Record: 9-0 (won past nine)
Last month’s ranking: unranked
Most recent result: def. Brock Lesnar, R1 TKO, Oct. 23
Analysis: Has passed every test with flying colors. Next up: Junior dos Santos and his nasty striking.

6. Dominick Cruz
Points: 73
Affiliation: WEC
Weight class: Bantamweight (WEC bantamweight champion)
Hometown: San Diego
Record: 16-1 (has won past seven)
Last month’s ranking: T-6
Most recent result: Def. Joseph Benavidez, split decision, Aug. 18
Analysis:Has to get past the underrated Scott Jorgensen on Dec. 16 before he can officially become the first UFC 135-pound champ.

5. Frank Edgar
Points: 111
Affiliation: UFC
Weight class: Lightweight (UFC lightweight champion)
Hometown: Toms River, N.J.
Record: 13-1 (has won past five)
Last month’s ranking: 5
Most recent result: Def. B.J. Penn, unanimous decision, Aug. 28
Analysis: Has the chance to avenge the only blemish on his record when he meets Gray Maynard on New Year’s evening.

4. Mauricio Rua
Points: 118
Affiliation: UFC
Weight class: Light heavyweight (UFC light heavyweight champion)
Hometown: Curitiba, Brazil
Record: 19-4 (won previous fight)
Last month’s ranking: 4
Most recent result: Def. Lyoto Machida, R1 TKO, May 8
Analysis: Most recent rumors have his return from knee surgery pegged for a Match Abu Dhabi date with Rashad Evans.

3. Jose Aldo
Points: 156
Affiliation: WEC
Weight class: Featherweight (WEC featherweight champion)
Hometown: Rio de Janeiro
Record: 17-1 (has won past 10)
Last month’s ranking: 3
Most recent result: Def. Manny Gamburyan, R2 TKO, Sept. 20
Analysis:Had to pull out of Jan. 1 fight with Josh Grispi due to a compressed vertebrae.

2. Anderson Silva
Points: 186 (9 first-place votes)
Affiliation: UFC
Weight class: Middleweight (UFC middleweight champion)
Hometown: Curitiba, Brazil
Record: 27-4 (has won past 12)
Last month’s ranking: 2
Most recent result: Def. Chael Sonnen, R5 submission, Aug. 7
Analysis:Super Bowl weekend showdown with Vitor Belfort looms.

1. Georges St. Pierre
Points: 191 (11 first-place votes)
Affiliation: UFC
Weight class: Welterweight (UFC welterweight champion)
Hometown: Saint-Isidore, Quebec
Record: 20-2 (has won past seven)
Last month’s ranking: 1
Most recent result: Def. Dan Hardy, unanimous decision, March 27
Analysis: Some fighters look to avenge losses. St. Pierre’s bar is set so high, he’ll be looking to avenge the guy who last won a round against him three years ago in Josh Koscheck.

More

• Votes for others: B.J. Penn 22; Rashad Evans 17; Gilbert Melendez 13; Lyoto Machida 8; Jon Jones 7; Joe Benavidez, Gray Maynard 3; Urijah Faber 2.

• Upcoming matches for top 10 fighters: No. 1 Georges St. Pierre vs. Josh Koscheck, Dec. 11; No. 6 Dominick Cruz vs. Scott Jorgensen, Dec. 16

• Last month’s rankings

• MMAWeekly’s divisional rankings

 

 

$80,000 bonuses for UFC 123 winners

By Ken Pishna/MMAWeekly.com

 

B.J. Penn had a tremendous night at UFC 123: Rampage vs. Machida in Detroit.

Not only did he get his career back on track, staving off the first three-fight losing streak of his career, but he also earned the Knockout of the Night bonus.

In 21 seconds, Penn’s career did a complete 360-degree turn. He pressed Hughes from the bell, immediately landing a straight right that floored the former UFC welterweight champion. Penn walked away with an $80,000 bonus for his efforts.

Phil Davis earned the Submission of the Night honors, going home with his own $80,000 bonus, and a submission named after him. He finished Tim Boetsch with a one-armed Kimura. UFC broadcaster Joe Rogan said after the fight that he had never seen such a finish in the Octagon before and dubbed it “The Mr. Wonderful,” after Davis’ nickname.

Joe Lauzon stormed the opening fight of the main card, looking like he might be headed for a knockout bonus, but the tide turned in round two. His opponent, George Sotiropoulos, secured a Kimura midway through the second stanza for the win. Both fighters, however, went home with bonus money for earning Fight of the Night honors.

 

‘Rampage’ takes split decision at UFC 123

By Dan Wetzel,

 

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. – Quinton “Rampage” Jackson couldn’t solve the defensive wizardry of Lyoto Machida and deliver the knockout he wanted in the main event of UFC 123 on Saturday night, but he did enough to secure a split decision in a battle so close that Jackson said Machida deserved an immediate rematch.

“Machida whipped (me) tonight,” Jackson said. “I’m so ashamed of myself tonight. He did a great job. I didn’t get to do what I wanted. I say the fight was so close, even though I don’t want to, I have to give him a rematch.”

The unusual concession came after three rounds of, at times, awkward fighting in what was billed as a clash of styles here at the Palace of Auburn Hills.

Jackson, of Memphis, comes from an old-school brawling, wrestling background. He starred in last summer’s “The A-Team” as B.A. Baracus. Machida, of Brazil, is a karate-based counter attacker from Brazil. Both are former UFC light heavyweight champions.

Jackson chased Machida for most of the fight but only occasionally landed a heavy punch. Machida countered with some strong kicks and controlled Jackson on the ground during the third round, but it wasn’t enough. The judges seemed impressed with Rampage’s aggressiveness.

“I think it’s the only thing,” Jackson (31-8) said. “Machida is hard to hit. Machida is a man, y’all.”

Machida (16-2) said he’d like to fight again as soon as possible.

“I did the best I could tonight, but if the judges say Quinton won, then Quinton won,” he said through an interpreter. “I’d like an immediate rematch also. We’ll see what the UFC has to say.”

The fight was tense but hardly exciting, leaving the sellout crowd screaming for action. Sometimes contrasting fight styles make for an exciting fight. This was different, as neither fighter was able to display his typical offensive power.

Rampage delivered on his vow to push the action during the first round, but breaking through the puzzling karate defense of Machida wasn’t easy. Neither fighter landed many significant blows.

The second round was more of the same, at times an awkward stand-off even though each fighter landed some powerful shots – Machida with kicks and knees, Jackson with uppercuts and right hooks.

In the co-main event, B.J. Penn jumpstarted his career with a devastating 21-second victory over Matt Hughes in the trilogy fight of their rivalry.

Penn dropped Hughes with a powerful right in an early exchange and then pounced, delivering a number of shots until referee Dan Miragliotta stopped the fight due to strikes.

The Hawaiian was so hyped about his performance he immediately ran from the Octagon, looking like a man possessed trying to head to the locker room. His corner and arena security chased him down and brought him back, where he was greeted with a huge ovation by the crowd.

“I’m pumped up,” he said.

Penn (16-7-1) had been one of the UFC’s most dominant champions until losing consecutive fights and his lightweight title to Frankie Edgar. His career at a crossroads, he needed an impressive performance and delivered it over the 37-year-old Hall of Famer. The two had split their previous two fights but hadn’t met since 2006. They met in the welterweight (170-pound) division.

In the run-up to this fight, Penn had expressed concern over the direction of his career and appeared extremely focused on taking out Hughes, who he routinely called “his idol.” This was “The Prodigy” of old – exciting, motivated and dangerous.

Hughes (46-8) was bitterly disappointed in the quick defeat.

“He hit me hard,” Hughes said.

Hughes expressed concern about where his career was headed. He’s branched out into other pursuits – including his own televised hunting show – and retirement isn’t out of the question, though UFC president Dana White will welcome him in the promotion process for many fights to come.

In the preliminary fights on the pay-per-view telecast, Maiquel Falcao made a semi-impressive debut in the UFC by defeating Gerald Harris by unanimous decision in the light heavyweight division. The Brazilian is a veteran fighter (26-3) that is physical, aggressive and, quite simply, mean. He held a choke on Davis long after the first bell rang and roughed his opponent up every way possible for two rounds.

Falcao is nicknamed “Big Rig.”

“The nickname comes due to the way I fight, like a big truck without brakes,” Falcao told UFC.com. “It’s better not to stay in front of it. It’s not healthy.”

The problem was the third round, where Falcao sat back and nursed a clear lead. That led the crowd to boo loudly and break out in “Let’s go Red Wings” chants. Falcao won but lost a crowd he should’ve owned. This could’ve been a breakout effort, but instead it will be remembered for its low points.

Phil Davis, the exciting light heavyweight out of Harrisburg, Penn., ran his record to 8-0 with a domination of Maine native Tim Boetsch. Davis beat Boetsch (12-4) up via strikes in the first round and then finished the fight in the second with a creative kimura that he instantly dubbed “The Mr. Wonderful” after Davis’ nickname.

“I kind of make it up as I go,” Davis said. “I think I just invented it. It’s called ‘The Mr. Wonderful.’ In wrestling we call it a chicken wing, but that’s when the person is on their stomach.”

Davis is still young to the sport, but he is quickly rising through in the ranks of the UFC by delivering impressive victory over impressive victory.

Australian George Sotiropoulos (14-2) defeated Joe Lauzon (18-6), of Bridgewater, Mass., in a lightweight fight via kimura submission. Lauzon dominated the first round but the promising Sotiropoulos gained control on the canvas in the second and finished the fight quickly.

The UFC returned to the state of Michigan for the first time since UFC 9 was held in Detroit. This card was held in a northern suburb of the city and played to a near-capacity crowd that included Richard Hamilton and a number of Detroit Pistons players, who normally call the Palace home.

 

 

 

Penn’s legacy could hinge on Hughes trilogy

By Dave Meltzer,

It’s amazing how a few months can change the perception of an entire career.

Earlier this year, B.J. Penn was considered not only the best lightweight fighter in the world by most, but also the consensus greatest 155-pounder in the short history of the sport.

Entering 2010, Penn had some losses when facing bigger men, a key factor going in Saturday night’s fight vs. Matt Hughes when he moves up to welterweight.

But going into his first fight vs. Frankie Edgar in April, Penn was 11-1-1 in his natural weight class, with his most recent blemish coming in 2003.

Outside what should be his best weight class, he’s 4-4. You can argue that’s kind of a misleading stat since his losses were all to much larger world champion-caliber fighters, two to Georges St. Pierre, one to Hughes and one to Lyoto Machida. And that record includes a welterweight title win in 2004 over Hughes at a time when Hughes was among the more dominant champions in history.

Now, though, Penn is coming off two straight losses to a smaller opponent in Edgar. The first loss to Edgar was considered one of the biggest title upsets in history. After losing by decision the first time, Penn was a heavy favorite going into the rematch, but he came up short again.

He’s trying to rebound by moving to a new weight class in which he is very much undersized. He’s also fighting for a legacy that will either leave him viewed as one of the sport’s all-time greats or someone with top-notch skills, who had a very good career but was ultimately an underachiever.

Penn (15-7-1) is out of any title picture for the first time in his UFC career when he faces a resurgent legend in 37-year-old Hughes (46-7), who’s won his last three fights. The battle of two-time world champions is one of two major fights in UFC 123, the company’s debut at the Palace in Auburn Hills, Mich., along with a light heavyweight match-up of former champions Quinton Jackson and Machida.

Two key issues between Penn and Hughes are size and youth. On Saturday, Penn said he weighed 165 pounds, the weight at which he expects to enter the cage. While some fighters go up and down between lightweight and welterweight, they are generally larger men who cut from 175 or 180 lbs. to make 155, but would be more comfortable at 170. Penn noted he was coming under scrutiny because adding three to five more pounds would only slow him down. This is a different strategy for Penn, who used to bulk up (sometimes to as much as 191) when facing bigger opponents.

Penn’s belief, learned through his Brazilian jiu-jitsu background, is that skill trumps size, even though his fight ledger shows size is an important key. In 2007, he had to be talked into fighting at lightweight. But when Andrei Arlovski was UFC’s top heavyweight, he pushed for a match with him. In 2005, he fought Machida when Machida was an unbeaten heavyweight at 224 pounds – and fought the future world champion to a close decision loss.

But today, the welterweight division includes mostly fighters who are mostly 185-195 pounds who cut down to the 170-pound limit. In the highest-profile fight of Penn’s career, a fight vs. St. Pierre on Jan. 31, 2009, it was clear that the size difference was an obstacle too big to overcome.

“I think if I feel good and everything goes well, yeah, maybe I’ll fight a few more fighters [at welterweight],” he said. “Whatever, 155, 170, you know, a lot of people are doing it. I’m not the only guy. I don’t think that [fighting in both weight classes] is out of the question.”

Hughes will likely weigh-in around 170 on Friday, but by fight time should be in the 180- to 185-pound range. Penn, who turns 32 in two weeks, is a little more than five years younger. The two have split their two previous fights, and Penn goes in as an 8-to-5 favorite to what will likely be their final meeting.

“B.J. beat me kind of so easy the first time (in 2004), and the second match was really a tough match for both of us,” said Hughes. “He was whooping me early in the fight, and I ended up finishing late in the fight.”

Penn’s made some minor changes in training, leaving his home in Hilo on the big island of Hawaii, where he had his camps for his last several fights. Instead he trained in Honolulu, to get away from outside influences. He’s also taken to having acupuncture treatments for the first time in his career.

“As far as changing my camp, yeah, I think I trained harder,” said Penn. “I started running again and doing roadwork and trying to push my different energy systems and do a lot of things. But that’s not the only reason why the [second Edgar] fight went the way it did. You know, you’ve got to improve everything with your boxing and your takedowns and your wrestling.”

In hindsight, the problem was an inability to deal with the speed of Edgar, highlighted by Edgar’s great conditioning. It threw off Penn’s entire game. Fightmetric.com recently pointed out two notable Penn statistics, both of which worked against him in his last two fights: When Penn’s opponents can’t take him down, they won’t beat him standing. He’s 10-0 in fights where his opponent never landed a takedown. When the opponents can take him down, he’s a 5-7-1 fighter.

When Penn’s opponents can make him miss standing, they frustrate him and that is what leads to the takedowns. In the two Edgar fights, Penn connected on 27 percent and 25 percent of his strikes respectively. The last few years, the only other times he’s connected on less than 50 percent of his strikes were his two losses to St. Pierre and the loss in fight No. 2 to Hughes. They also are the only fights he’s lost since his 2006 UFC return.

“I think what went wrong in those [two bouts with Edgar] was that I didn’t win those fights, and I felt very disappointed but besides that I don’t know,” said Penn. “All I can really do is step back and say that Edgar did a great job, and he’s a champion right now. And I want to get back to the top of the lightweight division, and I want to be champion again.”

 

 

Sat Oct 30 02:45pm PDT

UFC return comes early for WEC's Garcia, TUF 12 Finale adds the brawler

By Steve Cofield

What’s next for UFC 121 winner Matt Hamill? Dana White says “top-10 opponent”

at Oct 23 08:49pm PDT

UFC 121 rebirth for Sanchez; Diego's pace does in Thiago

By Steve Cofield

Ask the Fight Doc: Any truth to Ortiz's belief that deaf fighters are easier to KO?

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Mon Sep 27 06:01am PDT

UFC 119's Three Stars: Dollaway, Tavares and Lytle

By Maggie Hendricks

Though the popular opinion about UFC 119 is that it was an awful event, there were plenty of good performances on the card. Unfortunately for the fans at home, much of the best was on the undercard. 

No. 1 star -- C.B. Dollaway: The former Arizona State wrestler showed what a good base can do for a fighter. He rolled Joe Doerksen into a guillotine at the start of the fight. When it was clear that the submission wasn't going to happen in that position, he Granby rolled to better his position. Doerksen had no choice but to tap.

No. 2 star -- Thiago Tavares: It's a shame that Tavares' win was on the same night as Dollaway's submission, because he lit Conseco Fieldhouse up with his standing guillotine choke of Pat Audinwood. His first-round submission shouldn't be overlooked. 

No. 3 star -- Chris Lytle: The firefighter came through on the promise he made to his city. As 15,000 people chanted his name, Lytle put on a striking show for his hometown, beating Matt Serra and his iron chin in a unanimous decision.  

Honorable mention -- Evan Dunham: It seems that the only people who thought that Dunham lost were the judges. However, Dunham was classy in defeat, pointing out the things he should have done differently in the bout. 

Dishonorable mention -- Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic: Along with Frank Mir, Cro Cop put on one of the most boring main events of the year. Mir is only spared the dishonorable mention because he was able to end the fight with a killer knee.

Sean Sherk routinely, repeatedly, refers to Evan Dunham in his interviews as “the kid.” The former Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight champion said when he was offered a bout against the unbeaten Dunham at UFC 119, he accepted, even though he said he did not who Dunham was.

It’s a none-too-subtle reminder of where Sherk has been, of the mountains he has climbed and of the wide gulf that exists on the résumés of the 37-year-old Minnesota muscle man and his unbeaten 28-year-old opponent.

To be honest, when they offered me the fight with Dunham, I didn’t know who he was and I just said ‘OK, sounds good,’ ” Sherk told the Canadian Press. “I didn’t even look into it. I just wanted to fight and I accepted the fight not knowing who he was.”

Sherk has been off for 16 months because of injuries that scuttled three fights. But he’s 32-4-1 in a career that doesn’t gain enough respect. His only losses have been to UFC welterweight champion George St. Pierre, UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar, former welterweight champion Matt Hughes and former welterweight and lightweight champion B.J. Penn.

It’s an exclusive list. Other than those four, Sherk has beaten just about anyone who has been anyone in his weight classes in the last decade, with victories over the likes of Kenny Florian, Tyson Griffin, Nick Diaz and Karo Parisyan.

So perhaps Sherk has reason to not be aware of Dunham, who only a couple of years ago was working for a company called DenTech International, installing computers and software in dentists’ offices.

But bet on the fact that Sherk will know Dunham quite well by the time their scheduled three-round lightweight fight on Saturday at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis has ended.

Dunham is 11-0 and one of the UFC’s quickly rising stars, yet he understands the significance of the task ahead of him.

“I have nothing but respect for Sean Sherk and everything he has accomplished in his career,” Dunham said. “Who wouldn’t want to have a career like he’s had? He’s a former world champion. He’s done a lot, beaten a lot of good guys. There aren’t a lot of guys who have the kind of record he has.

“It’s a great thing to get the opportunity to fight him. He’s a great guy, a great champion, a real good athlete. I don’t know him personally, but from everything I can tell, he’s got a really great work ethic and, obviously, he’s very talented.”

Don’t, however, mistake Dunham’s admiration for Sherk’s record for intimidation. Dunham is convinced he’ll be able to handle whatever Sherk throws at him and win.

He’s hardly lacking in the confidence department and believes that if his previous UFC victories over Per Eklund, Marcus Aurelio, Efrain Escudero and Griffin haven’t been evidence of his talent, a victory over Sherk certainly will.

A victory would raise Dunham’s record to 12-0 and be his fifth consecutive in the UFC. Very long winning streaks are rare in mixed martial arts, particularly at the highest level, because there are so many variables that could decide a fight.

Of the men in the top 10 of the current Yahoo! Sports MMA rankings, only No. 2 Anderson Silva (13) and No. 9 Jake Shields (14) have won more consecutive bouts than Dunham’s 11.

He’s extremely adaptable and has the ability to win on his feet or off his back. That’s a good thing, given that Sherk for years was renowned for taking opponents down and working them over on the ground. Recently, his boxing skills have improved greatly, though he could do little with either Penn or Edgar while standing.

Dunham isn’t concerned about which approach Sherk takes.

“Sherk’s either going to try to box me, the way he’s done in his last couple of fights, or he’ll revert to what has worked so well for so long for him and he’ll try to take me down and grind it out with his wrestling,” Dunham said. “I’ve honestly prepared for both. I have a game plan for both. It really doesn’t matter what he tries to do, because I’m ready for whatever.

“I’m a three-dimensional fighter and wherever the fight goes, I’ll be ready.”

Sherk, though, didn’t become one of the world’s elite fighters by not doing his homework. And though he concedes he hadn’t heard of Dunham when UFC matchmaker Joe Silva suggested him as an opponent, Sherk has spent plenty of time over the past three months familiarizing himself with Dunham.

 

Urijah Faber vs. Takeya Mizugaki set as WEC 52 headliner on Nov. 11

Sun Sep 19 09:00am PDT

Reports emerge that Sonnen failed his UFC 117 drug test

By Steve Cofield

Chael Sonnen had a career-defining performance in his challenge for the middleweight title at UFC 117 on Aug. 7 in Oakland, Calif. He came within two minutes of pulling off one of the biggest upsets in mixed martial arts history against Anderson Silva, winning the first four rounds until being submitted at 3:10 of the fifth at Oracle Arena.

That feel-good story may be just about all wiped out by the news that Sonnen failed his post-fight drug test, according to a report on Sherdog.com. George Dodd, executive officer of the California State Athletic Commission, told Sherdog's Greg Savage on Saturday that Sonnen had failed his post-fight urinalysis.

"(Sonnen) received his notice yesterday," Dodd told Sherdog.com shortly after the Shane Mosley-Sergio Mora boxing match ended Saturday night in Los Angeles.

Dodd didn't specify what substance Sonnen had tested positive for, but he said that all fighters on the card passed the tests for drugs of abuse, such as cocaine and marijuana, so the assumption is that Sonnen's failed test involves a performance-enhancing drug. Dodd told Savage the rest of the UFC 117 fighters tested were cleared.

[Related: Key MMA fight ends in disappointment all around]

MMA Junkie.com pointed out that there had been some message board chatter about Sonnen's appearance at UFC 117. For the Silva fight (weigh-in photo) and his fight at UFC 109 (weigh-in photo) against Nate Marquardt, Sonnen had an unusual amount of back acne. The scarring wasn't present in his previous fight at UFC 104 against Yushin Okami (weigh-in photo). "Backne" is one of the numerous side effects of steroid usage, though Dr. Johnny Benjamin, a medical consultant for MMA Junkie, also pointed out that there are other causes of the acne issue.

Sonnen was tentatively scheduled to face Silva in a rematch in early 2011. If the report is true, expect at least a nine-month suspension to be handed down by California. If Sonnen accepts the penalty and doesn't appeal, he could be back in the Octagon by June.

That means someone will get a chance to stand-in for a title shot against Silva. Nate Marquardt beat Rousimar Palhares this week to put himself back in the mix. With a win over Okami at UFC 122 in November, Vitor Belfort, scheduled on several occasions to face Silva in the past, could also be a candidate.

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