Sunday, November 30, 2008

Kimbo Slice to K-1, Possibly to Fight Badr Hari in Kickboxing Bout


This comes from Japanese MMA Blog Omasuki Fight, which was translated over at Bloody Elbow.

Japanese tabloid Tokyo Sports reported that Kimbo Slice will be making appearance at Dec 6 K-1 show in Yokohama Japan to say hi to Japanese fans, K-1 Event Producer Tanigawa confirmed. His K-1 debut match will be in March, vs. current K-1 heavyweight champ, Badr Hari.

K-1 is basically kickboxing without elbow and muay thai clinch. Good for Kimbo not have to worry about ground game.


OK let me get this straight, Kimbo will be signed by K-1 to fight in March and be subsequently destroyed by one of the greatest kickboxers walking the planet. If this is true, maybe Kimbo hasn't done any research on Hari, because he stands ZERO chance of beating Hari in a kickboxing bout. Of course we would even get to see this massacre on HDNET now, more power to him, but if I were his manager I would try to put him in a match where he would at least stand a chance. Bob Sapp, anyone?

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Jorge Gurgel Released from UFC, Signs Immediately with Strikeforce



This breaking news is being reported by PlopCulture.

Being Jorge's manager we are privy to this info before anyone else and wanted to break it on the Plop for you fight fans...Within minutes of getting released from the UFC today, Jorge signed on with Strikeforce and will be coming to CALI to fight for the next stage in his career. Today he had a very successful surgery on a recurring bone spur issue with his elbow and should be ready to begin training in a few weeks.


Good for Jorge, I hope he gets a fresh start in Strikeforce and performs at a high level. Say what you will about his game planning, but he always comes to fight and is usually in a war because he is damn near impossible to finish.

(Thanks to PlopCulture for the Tip!)

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Fedor Emelianenko Wants Brock Lesnar


MMAJunkie has released an official statement from M-1 Global's Vice President Jerry Millen.

M-1 would like to congratulate Brock Lesnar on his UFC heavyweight title victory as well as acknowledge Randy Couture's return to active competition after a layoff that lasted over a year.

Couture and WAMMA heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko had publicly acknowledged a desire to fight each other multiple times over the course of the past year. While M-1 and Fedor remain interested in a match against Couture, we would also like to publicly state for the record that we would welcome a superfight between Fedor and Lesnar that would be held as a co-promoted event between the UFC, M-1, and Affliction Entertainment.

We've invited the media to speak with us today to not only make it clear we would welcome a Fedor vs. Lesnar matchup but to act in a preemptive fashion to address the possibility that UFC officials will try and position Lesnar as the No. 1 heavyweight in the world, much like they have tried to use a marketing ploy to brand Anderson Silfva as the number one pound-for-pound fighter in the world.

In the past, UFC president Dana White and Zuffa, LLC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta have tried to claim that Fedor was "overrated" and that his "record was irrelevant." They make these claims in spite of the fact that Fedor holds career victories over UFC champions past and present. While we have tremendous respect for the contributions Mr. Fertitta and Dana have made to this sport, we do not believe they are sincere in their statements.

It is the position of M-1 that the UFC has adopted an anti-Fedor policy because multiple attempts to sign him have not been fruitful. For a company that has tried to market itself as the number one promotion in the world, they are unable to accept the fact that the number one fighter in the world does not reside on its roster of contracted fighters.

We believe that the UFC has determined that it's much more inexpensive for them to use their marketing resources to use smoke and mirrors to brand a fighter as the pound-for-pound best as opposed to actually paying the pound-for-pound best what he is truly worth on the open market.

While Brock Lesnar is an accomplished athlete and a talented fighter, we do not consider him to be the number one heavyweight in the world. Until someone beats him, we strongly believe that Fedor should continue to be recognized as the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world. In a match between Fedor and Lesnar, we do not feel that at this stage Lesnar would be able to make it out of the first round.

For those who feel our statements in regards to Fedor are self-serving, we'd like to refer you to a video interview on the website RawVegas.tv in which at his UFC 91 after-party Couture himself acknowledges that "Fedor would probably tear Brock up at this point."

Jerry Millen, M-1 Vice President


I really hope this prompts a response from the UFC and Dana White(probably won't), very interested in what they would have to say after reading all the bashing that's in this statement.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Fedor Emelianenko Loses...In Sambo!


Fight Linker Reports

It wasn't a good weekend for MMA fanboys. Wrestling fanboys yes, MMA fanboys no. Not only did Brock Lesnar knock out Randy Couture, but Fedor has lost as well this weekend. No, it wasn't in an MMA match, but still. Fedor was competing at the World Sambo Championships and lost to some Bulgarian dude in an apparently decisive fashion. He still clinched the bronze medal. This is all original reporting care of our bud Matthew Polly, so expect more info soon.
This may not be as shocking as hearing Fedor lost an MMA bout, but its certainly suprising. Considering how dominant Fedor has been in Combat Sambo over the years. I have got to see video of this, please if anyone finds the video of this, post it in the comments.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

UFC 91 Predictions: Natural Selection


Lets take a look at the rest of the card before we get to the big fight of the night.

Non-Televised Bouts

Ryan Thomas vs. Matt Brown
I gotta go with Thomas in this fight, he is an up and comer with alot of talent. I think he can control this fight with his wrestling and overall ground game. Brown has a significant advantage standing, but I don't think he can avoid this fight going to the floor.- Thomas by decision.

Alvin Robinson vs. Mark Bocek
Love this fight, it has the potential to be the fight of the night, but I see Robinson as having better overall skills. He should be able to control the stand-up and avoid Bocek's take downs and submission attempts.- Robinson by TKO.

Jorge Gurgel vs. Aaron Riley
We all hear in every Gurgel fight how fantastic his Jiu-Jitsu is, but we rarely ever get to see it. Gurgel is the type of fighter that wants to put on a good show and actually winning the fight takes a back seat. This should be a brawl as both fighters have great chins and like to press the action, but if Gurgel decides to stand with Riley(I think he will) he will be in trouble as Riley has some heavy hands. I just can't pick Gurgel because he's showed many times that he will fight away from his own strengths.- Riley by Decision

Jeremy Stephens vs. Rafael dos Anjos
If Anjos can't get this fight to the mat, he's gettin knocked out. Stephens is a phenomenal striker and I think he gets the stoppage after avoiding some early take down attempts.- Stephens by KO


Televised Card

Dustin Hazelett vs. Tamdan McCrory
Another fight that should be extremely entertaining. Hazelett has the type of potential that could make him a champion one day, but McCrory has that same potential. I think this fight is a toss-up, but ultimately I like Hazelett to pull off another entertaining submission.- Hazelett by Submission

Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Josh Hendricks
Hendricks makes his UFC debut and Gonzaga is coming off a win against Justin McCully. I don't know much about Hendricks, but I do know that if he has the cardio to take Gonzaga into the third round he has a chance. Gonzaga has shown suspect cardio in his losses against Couture and Werdum. That being said, I'm still picking Gonzaga to finish this fight early.- Gonzaga by TKO

Demian Maia vs. Nathan Quarry

Maia's Jiu-Jitsu is on another level compared to most fighters in the world, on the other hand his stand-up is sub-par to say the least. Quarry ran a track meet in his last fight with Kalib Starnes, so his cardio should be tremendous! Anyways, I think Quarry stays out of the sub and uses the Dan Henderson vs. Rousimar Palhares strategy.- Quarry by Decision

Kenny Florian vs. Joe Stevenson
Ken-Flo is one of those fighters that gets better every time we see him. The only real advantage I can see for Stevenson in this fight is maybe he's a little better wrestler than Florian. Other than that I see Florian dominating this fight from start to finish with superior striking and even better Jiu-Jitsu than the recently anointed black belt, Stevenson. edit.- Florian by TKO

Randy Couture vs. Brock Lesnar
I hear many, many people talking about how great an athlete Brock Lesnar is. I'm sorry, but I disagree strongly with anyone that anoints Lesnar as a "great athlete". He has done nothing to earn a title like that. If you watched "UFC 91 Countdown" you no doubt saw the story about Lesnar's quest to play for the Minnesota Vikings. In the piece his trainers say that he had better numbers in the 40 and bench(not a suprise) than Houston Texans' number one overall choice Mario Williams. His trainers also go on to say that he has the talent to play in the NFL, even though the Vikings cut him. Forgive me for being highly skeptical of that whole situation and I don't know the whole story, but if he truly had the talent to play in the NFL that's where he would be(its not like the NFL is picky about who they let in.) and to insinuate that he is as good an athlete as Mario Williams is, is absolutely ridiculous.

He moves fast for a big man and he's a great wrestler and that gives him a chance in this fight, but I just have a problem with calling the guy a great athlete. When you think of a great athlete in terms of an MMA fighter, among other things, you have to think of overall skill set, heart, chin and endurance. Three things that we have no idea of when it comes to Brock Lesnar. You know who is a great athlete? Randy Couture.

Couture has been the underdog many times and he has risen to the occasion to prove all the critics wrong in the past. I think he pulls it off again here against an inexperienced fighter. Couture will pull out all the old MMA tricks to consistently frustrate the big man. I think dirty boxing will be a huge factor in this fight for Couture in the stand-up. Of course in the highly likely scenario that Couture does end up on his back, I suspect he has a few suprises for Brock either scrambling or submission attempts. I'm picking Couture to end this fight late in the third round after Lesnar realizes that he is outgunned in skill set and fighting intelligence.- Couture by TKO Late in the Third Round.

Official Poster for UFC 94: St. Pierre vs. Penn 2

penns

UFC 94: JANUARY 31, 2009
venue: Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada

Welterweight Bout:
Georges St. Pierre (#1 Welterweight in the World)* vs. B.J. Penn (#1 Lightweight in the World)*

-Lyoto Machida (#4 Light Heavyweight in the World)* vs. Thiago Silva (#10 Light Heavyweight in the World)*
-Karo Parisyan (#10 Welterweight in the World)* vs. Dong Hyun Kim
-Jake O'Brien vs. Christian Wellisch
-Manny Gamburyan vs. Thiago Tavares
-Stephan Bonnar vs. Jon Jones
-Dan Cramer vs. Matt Arroyo

I honestly can't wait for this. Click the picture for up to date fight card and rumors from MMA Weekly.

Monday, November 10, 2008

10 Shooto Fights You Need to Watch, with Videos


Shooto is considered to be the oldest MMA organization on the planet. Started in 1985, there are so many great fights, that its impossible to boil it down to 10, but these are some of the best I've ever seen.

Takanori Gomi vs Joachim Hansen- Shooto- 8/10/03 in Yokohama Cultural Gymnasium


Caol Uno vs Tatsuya Kawajiri- Shooto- 3/22/04 in Korakuen Hall


Kenji Osawa vs Takeya Mizugaki- Shooto 2006- 11/10 in Korakuen Hall


Lion Takeshi vs Hiroyuki Abe- Shooto Back to Our Roots 1


Norifumi 'Kid' Yamamoto vs Tetsuo Katsuta- Shooto- Treasure Hunt 10- 2002


Antonio Carvalho vs Rumina Sato- Shooto: The Victory of the Truth 2006


Tatsuya Kawajiri vs Takumi Nakayama- Shooto- Shooter's Dream 2 2003


Caol Uno vs Rumina Sato 1- Shooto- 10th Anniversary 1999
2 Parts



Jake Shields vs Akira Kikuchi- Shooto- 8/10/03 in Yokohama Cultural Gymnasium


Shinya Aoki vs Akira Kikuchi 2- Shooto: Back to Our Roots 1 2007

Gina Carano and Tonya Evinger Wasted and Getting Close(Pics)









(Props Cage Potato and MMA Fight Girls)

I don't know the story behind these pics, but remember Evinger is the fighter that announced at the pre-fight presser that she wanted to make out with Gina before fighting her.

Deadspin Shows Even More Stupidity About Lloyd Irvin


I recently wrote a fanpost on Bloody Elbow about this whole Deadspin.com vs. Lloyd Irvin situation. For those who don't know the whole situation, click here for the entire story from Bloody Elbow. Lloyd Irvin released a chilling 911 call made by his wife and asked the editors of Deadspin.com to delete the blog post in which they basically accuse him of making up the whole home invasion story to get more business for his academy. Here's the post I made over at Bloody Elbow.


On the front page of Deadspin is a new response to the ongoing Lloyd Irvin and Bloody Elbow vs. Rick Chandler saga. This time from DAULERIO. In typical Deadspin fashion, he decides to pick out some of the worst emails they received from Bloody Elbow readers and then he had this to say.

For the record, Rick will not be fired, he's not guilty of libel, and he will not be hung or shot or killed (by me, at least). But it should be noted (again) that our initial report on this was skeptical based on the facts that were available and then was quickly rectified. Also, in case there is still any skepticism about what Lloyd Irvin and his family went through last night, you can listen to the horrifying 911 call right here.

We wish Mr. Irvin and his family the best in getting through this traumatic time and also in his future business endeavors. The post has not been removed, but has been updated with these links. Hopefully, that makes Mr. Irvin happy and prevents Rick from being pummeled to death by angry Bloody Elbow readers on his way to the grocery store. As you were.


Is it really that hard to delete a blog post? The answer is of course no, I'm a blogger and I do it all the time. These Deadspin writers are just too arrogant and they think everything they say is golden. Get real. Lloyd Irvin probably saved his family's life and he has every right in the world to ask for a stupid blog post to be deleted. Rick Chandler and all the writers at Deadspin are inconsiderate pricks and they know it. So just stay out of our wonderful MMA community and stick to making fun of Terrell Owens!


I say again, what the hell is the big deal about deleting a blog post?

Monday, November 3, 2008

Chris Leben Tests Positive for Steroids, Suspended Nine Months


"The Crippler" has tested positive for the banned substance and anabolic agent stanozolol. Leben will be suspended nine months from fighting and have to forfeit one-third of his UFC 89 purse according to UFC.com.

“I’ve really done everything I can to turn my life around, and this is a huge setback for me, but it is something I will have to deal with. During my time off from fighting, I want to speak to kids about the dangers of using performance enhancing agents and let them know it just doesn’t get you ahead in life. Of course this is a hard hit for me monetarily, but more so this is embarrassing for me and for all of my fans. I apologize to the UFC and everyone who supported me in my fight in England. I hope to work through this and get back to fighting soon.”


Obviously some terrible news for everyone involved, but hey if you cheat you should pay the price. Anytime this happens, especially in the premier MMA organization on the planet, its a black mark on the sport.

Denis Kang Signs Four Fight Deal with the UFC


One of my favorite fighters has finally made the jump to the UFC.

From American Top Team's website.


American Top Team fighter Denis Kang just signed a 4 fight deal with the UFC!

Denis made a big name for himself in Japan and Korea fighting in the PRIDE and SpiritMC organizations, where he developed a huge following.

Denis will now be able to showcase his skills to a whole new audience who hasn;t had the chance to see this exciting fighter in action. Denis has always expressed a desire to fight in the UFC and we are pleased we were able to help him get this deal done. Denis will bring a lot of excitement to the 185# division! Congrats Denis!

Some fantstic news, good for Denis and the UFC!