Filed under: WEC
GLENDALE, Ariz. -- This is the WEC 53 live blog for Ben Henderson vs. Anthony Pettis, the main event of tonight's WEC on Versus event from the Jobing.com Arena.Source: http://www.mmafighting.com/2010/12/16/wec-53-live-blog-ben-henderson-vs-anthony-pettis-updates/
Source: http://www.prana.com/blog/2010/12/14/portia-menlove-sends-beefcakev10-beefy-geckov11/
Filed under: WEC
After the fighters step out of the cage Thursday night at WEC 53, the action isn't over. Select fighters will meet the media for the WEC 53 post-fight press conference, and we'll carry the video live right here at MMAFighting.com.Source: http://www.mmafighting.com/2010/12/17/wec-53-post-fight-press-conference-video/
All the fighters participating on the WEC 53 card will step on the scale for the WEC 53 weigh-in Wednesday, and if you can't be there in Glendale, Ariz., you can watch the live stream right here at MMAFighting.com.
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Source: http://www.mmafighting.com/2010/12/15/wec-53-weigh-in-video/
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Mac Danzig made quick work of Joe Stevenson at UFC 124 in Montreal, knocking Joe "Daddy" out midway through the first round.
The two were still feeling each other out in the first round when Stevenson charged in to punch Danzig with an uppercut, but Danzig caught him on the jaw with a left hook. Stevenson stiffened and fell straight to the ground. Danzig pounced on Stevenson but referee Dan Miragliotta jumped in quickly, stopping the bout at 1:54 in the first round.
Both men are "The Ultimate Fighter" winners, and this bout was thought to be a "win-or-go-home" bout. This is Stevenson's second loss in a row, as he lost to another TUF alum, George Sotiropoulos, in February. Danzig has had a rough run, battling both losses and injuries to get to this bout. Before this fight, he was 3-4 in the UFC, and one of his wins was in the TUF final.
Lib Tech's Ethan Strahan went to Japan last winter and got deep in the Japowder--bowls, trees, bluebird and greybird, this is part 1 of his journey...
Source: http://www.frqncy.com/news/2010/12/16/japan-with-ethan-strahan-part-1
Source: http://www.prana.com/blog/2010/12/13/the-crash-pad-an-uncommon-hostel/
MMAFighting.com has K-1 World Grand Prix 2010 results of the single-night, eight-man tournament on Saturday, Dec. 11 at the Ariake Coliseum in Tokyo, Japan.
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Source: http://www.mmafighting.com/2010/12/11/k-1-world-grand-prix-2010-finals-results/
Tonight is the last event for World Extreme Cagefighting as after tonight, they will be absorbed by the UFC. They are going out with a bang, with two title fights live on Versus. Ben Henderson will try to defend his lightweight belt against Anthony Pettis, and the winner will challenge the winner of Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard for the UFC lightweight belt.
Meanwhile, the winner of Scott Jorgensen vs. Dominick Cruz will leave Glendale, Ariz. with two belts: the final WEC bantamweight championship as well as the first UFC bantamweight belt.
But before looking forward, we look back to our all-time favorite fights from the WEC. In no particular order:
WEC 48: Jose Aldo vs. Urijah Faber -- This fight was huge before the two fighters even stepped in the cage, as it was the WEC's first foray into pay-per-view. As the two biggest stars in the WEC, big expectations loomed for Faber and Aldo, and they delivered. Aldo put on a five-round beating, while Faber showed that he is one of the toughest fighters in MMA.
WEC 36: Mike Brown vs. Urijah Faber I -- It's important to remember that in November of 2008, Faber seemed invincible. He was the face of the WEC and on a 14-fight win streak. But the power of Mike Brown ended that with a first-round TKO.
WEC 48: Leonard Garcia vs. Chan Sung Jung -- Was this fight, shown live on Spike as a lead-in to the PPV, technically proficient? No. Was it fun to watch? Absolutely. Garcia and "The Korean Zombie" didn't let up for one second of the three-round decision for Garcia.
WEC 43: Benson Henderson vs. Donald Cerrone -- In this five-round interim title bout, Cerrone looked on the verge of submitting Henderson several time but Henderson's superhuman flexibility kept him from tapping, earning him the decision and the belt. Though the result was disputed, Henderson has proven with subsequent wins over Cerrone and Jamie Varner that he's a deserving champ.
WEC 40: Miguel Torres vs. Takeya Mizugaki -- This fight was special for me, as it was the first title-fight I had ever covered, but Torres and Mizugaki made it special for everyone who watched it. Torres' stamina was impressive as he won a five-round decision, but Mizugaki was just as impressive in his WEC debut, refusing to stop despite the hard shots Torres was delivering.
WEC 41: Jose Aldo vs. Cub Swanson -- With one flying double-knee, the legend of Jose Aldo Jr. was born. He took just eight seconds to take out Swanson and earn a shot at the featherweight title.
WEC 37: Miguel Torres vs. Manny Tapia -- Front roll axe kick is really all that needs to be said about this fight. Torres TKOed Tapia in the second round of this bout that Torres used to debut several unconventional moves, including a front roll axe kick.
WEC 38: Donald Cerrone vs. Jamie Varner I -- This fight is memorable not just for the fight and its oddball result, but for the feud it set up between Varner and Cerrone that still continues today. The two fought a back and forth battle, but the fight was stopped after Cerrone threw a still-disputed illegal knee. Varner won the decision on the judges' cards, and a hate was born.
WEC 34: Urijah Faber vs. Jens Pulver I -- Just like at WEC 48, Faber, as the face of the WEC, was expected to deliver. The WEC and Versus marketed the bout to the hilt; you couldn't drive one city block without seeing a poster of Faber and Jens Pulver, the UFC pioneer. They came through, with a non-stop five-round bout.
WEC 31: Paulo Filho vs. Chael Sonnen I -- You can pretty much guarantee that some weirdness will happen when Paulo Filho and Chael Sonnen get in a cage. At the end of the second round, Filho had Sonnen in an armbar, and Sonnen yelled out. The referee took that as a verbal submission and stopped the fight. Sonnen said that he hadn't submitted. The two then fought again at WEC 36, and Sonnen won the bizarre decision that featured Filho refusing to engage, asking Sonnen to "rest" during the match and not making weight.
Now that you've read through ours, what were your favorite WEC bouts?
Tony Larson has a preview with some of the art up for auction at this Saturday's Maturday Nights event.
Source: http://theskateboardmag.com/blogs/templeton-elliott/2010/12/15/maturday-nights-art-auction-preview/
Bellator has signed a three-year deal with MTV2 to air the promotions' fights live, starting with the fourth season in March 2011. The tournament-based promotion, with champions like Ben Askren, will air on MTV2, a station once known for music programming but has grown to air sports-ish programming like "Bully Beatdown," a show hosted by Strikeforce's Jason "Mayhem" Miller, and "Rob Dyrdek's Fantasy Factory," which follows professional skateboarder Rob Dyrdek.
From the Bellator press release:
MTV2, which features the highest concentration of M12-24 and M12-34 in television, will telecast two of these LIVE tournaments per year, plus a collection of special feature events. The first tournament will premiere in March 2011.
"MTV2 is the perfect home for the intense mixed martial arts action of Bellator," Eric Conte, SVP, Programming and Production, MTV2. "MMA is at the top of our audience's wish list, and partnering with Bellator to bring live events and specials to MTV2 made complete sense since our viewers are so hungry to see more MMA on-air."
The key word in that is live. Bellator was with Fox Sports Net for their last two seasons, and they were often pre-empted by other local programming. In Chicago, Bellator's hometown, the fights rarely aired live, and sometimes were started after midnight. By the time the fights aired, the results were widely known.
Bellator recognized that and made a change. They also appear to be going after a younger demographic, as most MMA promotions covet the 18-49 year-old male demographic.
Source: http://www.hikingcamping.com/blog/2010/09/akamina-ridge-waterton-lakes-national-park/
These two can't stand each other, going back to April, when Miller jumped in the cage after Diaz's teammate, Jake Shields, won the Strikeforce middleweight belt. A melee ensued, and the two also reportedly almost came to blows after Diaz's June bout with K.J. Noons.
What's the hold-up? Weight. Diaz is Strikeforce's welterweight champ, but has fought at higher catchweights. Miller is a middleweight. The lowest he will go is 183 lbs., while the highest Diaz will go is 178 lbs.
Miller can make all the videos and websites in the world, but until the two can get past a five-pound difference, the fight's not going to happen.
Peter Aerts has won three K-1 titles (1994, 1995 and 1998) and now he's got a chance at another at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2010 in Japan. The veteran of 17 straight K-1 WGP's pulled the big upset on 6-foot-11 Semmy Schilt.
Aerts' face got torn apart in the first two rounds, but the judges scored it 20-20, 20-20 and 20-19 going to the third.
Even with his right eye cut and swelling badly, Aerts turned it on in the final round. Schilt gassed and ate dozens of big punches.
Aerts, 40, will meet Alistair Overeem in the final. Overeem's power striking was amazing against Gohkan Saki. The hulking Dutchman landed two unbelievable body kicks that changed the fight.
The first stopped Saki in his tracks and essentially turned off his offense. The second one, a left kick to the body, left Saki doubled over. The kick landed on both his right elbow and side. It almost appeared that the arm was broken. When the referee finished his 10 count, Saki said he couldn't go any longer giving the first round win to Overeem.
Saki, the much smaller fighter at just 218 pounds, was flashing excellent speed early. His combinations were dynamite but the 261-pound Overeem walked through most of them.
Saki did get Overeem to the ground when he nailed the 6-foot-5 monster with a spinning kick just 16 seconds into the fight.
Unfortunately for Saki, he had the toughest fight in the quarterfinals. He battled another giant in Daniel Ghita. That fight went the full three rounds and then they needed an extra round to determine a winner.
Ghita's body and leg kicks were nasty throughout. Saki may have been a little softened up by the time he faced Overeem.
Update - HDNet's Michael Schiavello reported that Saki suffered a broken right elbow and broken right hand.
Quarterfinal results:
Aerts def. Mighty Mo via KO 1st round
Saki def. Ghita via split decision
Schilt def. Kyotara via unanimous decision
Overeem def. Tyrone Spong via unanimous decision
ST. LOUIS -- Despite a strong start, Mike Kyle was TKOed by Antonio Silva at Strikeforce on Saturday night.
Kyle knocked down Silva early with a right hand in the first round and continued to throw punch after punch. Silva tried to default to grappling, but Kyle kept it up. However, no matter how many shots he landed, he couldn't finish off the much-larger Silva.
Silva recovered, as he started the second round by taking down Kyle, and striking him until he could get Kyle in an arm triangle. Kyle escaped, but then Silva got full mount and landed huge, damaging strikes until the fight was stopped at 2:49 in the second round.
Kyle took the fight on short notice after Valentijn Overeem was injured and left Silva with no opponent. Silva also had a huge size advantage, weighing in at 263 lbs. to Kyle's 219.
A little bit of everything in this Euro montage called Chromatic 5.1.
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/cotw/~3/oZw__ZbrLFg/interview-artist-heather-brown.html
-- For the first time, the UFC allowed the fans to vote for the Fight of the Night, and that $100,000 bonus was given to Georges St. Pierre and Josh Koscheck by the fans. Mark Bocek and Jim Miller split the Submission of the Night bonus, each taking home an extra $50,000. Bocek's was for a triangle choke of Dustin Hazelett, while Miller won his bonus for slapping a kneebar on Charles Oliveira. Mac Danzig was awarded the $100,000 Knockout of the Night bonus for his quick KO of Joe Stevenson.
-- Dana White said he believed it was the Pierson/Riddle fight should have won the fight of the night, and the UFC will take care of those fighters. He also said that the fans blew their chance by voting in GSP/Koscheck, so they won't get another chance to vote in FOTN. Later, White told GSP that he owed Pierson, his training partner, $100,000 dollars.
-- Montreal delivered again, with 23,152 fans packing into the Bell Centre, bringing in one of the largest North American gates ever of $4.58 million. This was the fourth UFC event in Montreal.
-- The biggest winner of the night may have been Mike Dolce, the man behind the Dolce Diet, for helping Thiago Alves move past his weight problems. Alves said that getting on the Dolce Diet was not just a change in his diet, but a change in lifestyle, and that made the difference in how he fought against John Howard.
-- When asked about a possible GSP-Anderson Silva super fight, White was non-committal, saying "We'll see what happens." GSP said that he needs to check it out, because if he were to move up, he needs to gain muscle and stay up at middleweight. He pointed out how the weight class movement affected the timing of Roy Jones, Jr., and he doesn't want to move back and forth between weight classes.
-- GSP seemed open to fighting Jake Shields. "I like watching him fight, he's very meticulous, he beat up everyone at 170 and 185, I think he's amazing," GSP said about Shields. "He's probably the number one contender right now for my title."
-- GSP spoke about his post-fight embrace with Koscheck, saying that Kos apologized and said the trash was to hype up a fight. GSP thanked him for coming and fighting in Montreal. "In the end, we need a good guy, we need a bad guy, and it's a business," GSP said.
-- Jim Miller is often not regarded as one of the UFC's best lightweights, despite the fact that's he only lost to Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard, two men fighting for the lightweight title. He said it does bother him, because he believes he is the No. 3 guy.
"It does eat at me a little bit. It does bother me," he said. He hopes to get another chance at Edgar and Maynard. "I want revenge. I want to beat those guys. Even though Frankie and I are friends, it was fun when we fought the last time. It will be fun the second time."
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/cotw/~3/ZqrPehat41Y/enlightenment-at-red-bull-illume.html
-- For the first time, the UFC allowed the fans to vote for the Fight of the Night, and that $100,000 bonus was given to Georges St. Pierre and Josh Koscheck by the fans. Mark Bocek and Jim Miller split the Submission of the Night bonus, each taking home an extra $50,000. Bocek's was for a triangle choke of Dustin Hazelett, while Miller won his bonus for slapping a kneebar on Charles Oliveira. Mac Danzig was awarded the $100,000 Knockout of the Night bonus for his quick KO of Joe Stevenson.
-- Dana White said he believed it was the Pierson/Riddle fight should have won the fight of the night, and the UFC will take care of those fighters. He also said that the fans blew their chance by voting in GSP/Koscheck, so they won't get another chance to vote in FOTN. Later, White told GSP that he owed Pierson, his training partner, $100,000 dollars.
-- Montreal delivered again, with 23,152 fans packing into the Bell Centre, bringing in one of the largest North American gates ever of $4.58 million. This was the fourth UFC event in Montreal.
-- The biggest winner of the night may have been Mike Dolce, the man behind the Dolce Diet, for helping Thiago Alves move past his weight problems. Alves said that getting on the Dolce Diet was not just a change in his diet, but a change in lifestyle, and that made the difference in how he fought against John Howard.
-- When asked about a possible GSP-Anderson Silva super fight, White was non-committal, saying "We'll see what happens." GSP said that he needs to check it out, because if he were to move up, he needs to gain muscle and stay up at middleweight. He pointed out how the weight class movement affected the timing of Roy Jones, Jr., and he doesn't want to move back and forth between weight classes.
-- GSP seemed open to fighting Jake Shields. "I like watching him fight, he's very meticulous, he beat up everyone at 170 and 185, I think he's amazing," GSP said about Shields. "He's probably the number one contender right now for my title."
-- GSP spoke about his post-fight embrace with Koscheck, saying that Kos apologized and said the trash was to hype up a fight. GSP thanked him for coming and fighting in Montreal. "In the end, we need a good guy, we need a bad guy, and it's a business," GSP said.
-- Jim Miller is often not regarded as one of the UFC's best lightweights, despite the fact that's he only lost to Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard, two men fighting for the lightweight title. He said it does bother him, because he believes he is the No. 3 guy.
"It does eat at me a little bit. It does bother me," he said. He hopes to get another chance at Edgar and Maynard. "I want revenge. I want to beat those guys. Even though Frankie and I are friends, it was fun when we fought the last time. It will be fun the second time."
Source: http://www.ireneskayakingblog.com/paddle-trips/video-whitewater-kayak-pin-on-icicle-creek/
Thiago Alves used to be one of the most feared strikers in the world at 170 pounds. Somewhere along the way he lost control of his diet and that constant struggle to make weight has sapped his energy in too many big fights. The 5-foot-8 powerhouse, kicking machine is on the verge of having to change weight classes.
He's facing three opponents this weekend at UFC 124 - John Howard, the scale and Dana White.
The UFC president blew his top after Alves looked listless in his UFC 117 loss to Jon Fitch.
"We were just texting a few minutes ago and he said, 'Hey, I’m sorry about that. I’ll come back stronger,'" White said during the UFC 117 postfight presser. "I said, 'Yeah, at 185 you will.' He said, 'No, I want to stay at 170.'"
"He looked lethargic tonight. He looked slow. He doesn’t belong at 170. He belongs at 185 pounds."
White's anger sharks were swimming since Alves had missed weight for the second time in his last four fights.
"It’s bull[expletive] to have guys make weight and have guys not make weight, especially at this level," White said. "When you’re in the UFC, your job is to make weight."
Alves got the message and brought in former fighter and diet guru Mike Dolce.
Dolce, a cast member from Season 7 of "the Ultimate Fighter," has worked well with Wolfslair Fighters like Paul Kelly and Quinton Jackson. Diet and stamina is a huge part of the fight game and Dolce says too many guys are missing the mark.
"It hurts my soul to see these guys work so hard in the gym their whole damn lives, get to the UFC, the biggest stage for MMA in the world, and have it all go to [expletive] the couple days before the weigh-in just because they haven't learned the right information or they're listening to the wrong people," said Dolce.
"They work so hard to make what money they do ... But these guys are losing hundreds of thousands of dollars over time in bonuses, incentives, sponsorships, and purse upgrades, simply by not doing this the right way."
Dolce and Alves joined forces shortly after UFC 117. The nutrition expert says Alves is still a huge dude, walking around in the 190-pound range, but now he's healthy.
"He looks amazing," Dolce told UltimateFighter.com just before Thanksgiving. "Anything he eats or drinks goes by me first, just as with any other athlete. He's a phenomenal athlete - we all know that -and he's a great guy, a cool guy, so it makes my life so much easier. He woke up at 190 this morning. He showed up for the last fight at 193 before the weigh-in. Now, here we are, two and a half weeks away, and he's 190, and he's fully fed, fully hydrated. He can't believe how good he feels at this weight right now."
Dolce's so confident in his system that he allowed Alves to have a normal Thanksgiving dinner. A healthier Alves means the Brazilian won't have to destroy himself over the next couple of days in the sauna
"The sauna to me is like an oven. Most saunas are 180 degrees. You're actually cooking, roasting your organs," Dolce said. "You're bringing them into a detrimental state on the eve of the most important event of your life."
The Howard fight will serve as a crossroads for Alves. If he struggles to make weight or doesn't look explosive, who knows what White's reaction will be?
Hopefully Dolce's work will return Alves to the form that allowed to walkover Matt Hughes and Josh Koscheck.
In watching Alves' excellent documentary, you forget how athletic Alves can be when he's at his best.
Dana White, media members, fellow fighters and fans all used the word humble to describe Jonathan Brookins in recent days. The kid is very talented but refuses to come off as cocky, jerk. After tonight's "Ultimate Fighter 12 Finale" it's time to add tough, granite chin and resilient to his bio. Brookins got crushed in the standup game in the opening round but bounced back to run roughshod on Michael Johnson in the next two rounds to take the TUF 12 lightweight title via unanimous decision, 29-28, 29-27 and 29-28, in Las Vegas.
"My game still has a lot to improve on," Brookins told UFC analyst Joe Rogan. "I just want invite everybody to come along for the ride with me because I got a lot of improvements to do. If they're willing, I love for you guys to watch it."
Beyond that, Brookins only wanted to speak about his opponent.
"It was no surprise," Brookins said of the early beating he took in the first round. "Even in the house, he was the best athlete, hands down on the whole season. He's going to have a long career."
Johnson, 24, has great potential but it was his one weakness during the show, a lack of stamina, that did him in.
Brookins made Johnson look like a brilliant striker in the opening round. The Orlando-based fighter uses very little head movement, so Johnson teed off on the stationary target. Just over 90 seconds into the fight, he dropped Brookins with a left hook. He continued to batter Brookins on the feet but he couldn't take him out. The kid has a ridiculous chin.
"Man, I was stunned. I was like 'oh man, here comes Michael Johnson.' Typical Michael Johnson. Just beatin up on people. He's an incredible competitor. My hat's off to him," said Brookins.
Brookins, 25, took UFC featherweight champ Jose Aldo, widely regarded a top 10 pound-for-pound fighter, into the third round during a fight in late 2008. He showed an awesome chin in that one and it was no different tonight.
Johnson exhibited good takedown defense in the opening round, but that changed in the second. Brookins, a ground specialist, was relentless. He scored a takedown early in the second. Johnson couldn't rise to his feet for over three minutes and when he did, he got lifted in the air and slammed down again. Brookins did a lot of damage during the round by grinding his elbow into Johnson's face and landing some big shots.
At the start of the third, Johnson's right eye was swelling and he had bruising around the left. Brookins scored another takedown just 45 seconds into the round. Johnson's mouth was open. He was taking deep breaths. Brookins didn't do a ton of damage this time around and Johnson actually got back to his feet with two and half minutes left in the fight. He still had a chance. Unfortunately the exhausted Johnson tried a sloppy shot for a takedown and got thrown by Brookins, who finished the fight with top control.
