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FCF NEWS
February 1, 2008
UFC 81 PREVIEW UFC 81 Preview By Dustin Lee DePue Las Vegas, NV—Former champions collide Saturday February 2nd at the Mandalay Bay Events Center as former UFC champion Tim Sylvia takes on former Pride champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira for the interim UFC heavyweight championship. Tim Sylvia (26-3) vs Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (29-4-1)
Sylvia’s obvious advantages are his size and strength. He was able to bully the dangerous and explosive Brandon Vera, stifling much of his devastating striking game by pinning him to the fence while using short elbows to score points. It wasn’t a balls to the wall display, it rarely is with Sylvia, but it was a smart, well disciplined performance that ended with a notch in the win column. Look for him to use his reach to keep Nogueira off balance, while Nogueira is no slouch on the feet but against such a reach disadvantage it will be much harder for him to find a rhythm. If he finds himself on the losing end in the stand up he then has the unenviable task of trying to take the big man down. If he can get Sylvia down and keep him down his submission game should keep Sylvia on the defensive. The intangibles here are Sylvia’s mindset heading into the fight, whether he respects Nogueira’s stand-up game enough, Couture showed that if Sylvia can get caught off-guard he can be beaten mentally. For Nogueira you have to consider the large amount of punishment he has shown he can overcome. If Sylvia hurts him, will he be aggressive enough to open up and go for the finish? Nogueira is relentless and if he can take the best of what Sylvia throws, he may be able to break Sylvia. The flip side of that coin is that, despite only being 32, Nogueira has taken a lot of punishment in his career and one has to wonder when the cumulative effects will begin to catch up to him. Brock Lesnar (1-0) vs Frank Mir (10-3) Former WWE superstar and two-time NCAA wrestling All-American Brock Lesnar makes his UFC debut against former UFC champion Frank Mir. Its a big bite to take for someone with only one previous MMA fight under his belt (a gimme win over the underwhelming Min Soo Kim), but Lesnar has been preparing with Greg Neslon and Sean Sherk up in Minnesota for the last eighteen months and he appears confident. Mir has struggled since returning from a potentially career threatening motorcycle accident. He looked sluggish in TKO losses to Brandon Vera and Marcio Cruz, although he is coming off of a quick submission victory over Antoni Hardonk. The biggest question mark will be how long his cardio will hold up. No doubt Lesnar sees this as a crucial weakness that he can exploit. It’s no secret that Lesnar needs to be on top of Mir to win this fight, but at the same time it’s the most dangerous place for him to be. Sounds like the final confrontation in a bad MMA screenplay. Coping with Mir’s excellent submission game is going to be a serious challenge for Lesnar early in the fight. It is unlikely that he has trained with anyone as big as Mir who is as good at jiu-jitsu, particularly from the guard. Lesnar has said in interviews that he will mindful of the position of his limbs while trying to score with ground and pound. Easier said than done, but if he can survive through the round while keeping Mir active and maybe dishing out some punishment along the way, his odds improve drastically come rounds two through five. Mir just needs to latch onto something and finish whatever he starts. He’s far more experienced at this level of MMA competition. He should have the edge on the feet and if he gets taken down, look for him to attack aggressively with submissions. The caveat on the ground is that he has to be careful not to fall into the familiar trap where he gets tagged on the ground and starts groping for hail-mary submissions, giving up position and in the process eating more punches. Jeremy Horn (79-16-5) vs Nate Marquardt (25-7-2) Jeremy Horn brings his wealth of experience back to the UFC to take on former King of Pancrase Nate Marquardt. Horn last competed in the UFC in 2006 when he submitted Chael Sonnen at UFC 60. He has since gone 2-2 including a loss Matt Lindland in the IFL. Marquardt is looking to bounce back from a loss to middleweight champion Anderson Silva. This match-up seems to favor Marquardt. He’s physically stronger, a better wrestler, a harder puncher and he’s good at nullifying strong jiu-jitsu fighters like Horn. Look at a list of Marquardt’s recent victories and you find excellent grapplers like Dean Lister, Joe Doerksen and Ivan Salaverry. Despite all of this, Horn always has a chance to win. He’s a crafty one: like Archie Moore in boxing, over a hundred fights have honed Horn’s ability to preserve himself and fight with his head more than his heart. He’s good everywhere, particularly on the ground, and he certainly has a chance to catch Marquardt in something, although the deck appears to be stacked against him. Ricardo Almeida (8-2) vs Rob Yundt (7-0) Stepping back into the Octagon after early retirement in 2004, the former King of Pancrase and Pride and UFC veteran Ricardo “Big Dog” Almeida returns to the UFC to take on relative unknown Rob Yundt. Filling in on short notice for the injured Alan Belcher, Yundt brings a spotless 7-0 record. Despite being an aggressive wrestler, Yundt may want to try to keep this one standing, testing Almeida’s ring rust in the area he’s most likely to have it, that is unless Yundt welcomes the challenge of spending time on the ground with Renzo Gracie’s prized pupil. Look for Almeida to go for the takedown and work the submission, where he’s sure to find one. It will be interesting to see how sharp Almeida is after such a long layoff. Gleison Tibau (27-3) vs. Tyson Griffin (10-1) This could be the fight of the night as the little guys in the UFC have been very impressive as of late, particularly Griffin, who has big wins over Clay Guida and Thiago Tavares in his last two fights and is looking to position himself for a title shot. Tibau is on a three fight win streak in the UFC and a win over Griffin would put him right in the mix with the other top lightweights. Griffin is an excellent wrestler and has competent stand-up. He’s a cardio machine and difficult to takedown much less keep down. Tibau is a great grappler but he will have his hands full against his stronger, more explosive opponent. Expect Griffin to keep Tibau off balance by changing levels, mixing in punches to set up takedowns and scoring points with ground and pound. If Griffin wants to stay on his feet, Tibau will have a hell of a time brining it to the ground. On the ground, Tibau has a chance of catching Griffin in a submission but most likely he will be too busy playing catch up. Full Card Tim Sylvia vs Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira Frank Mir vs Brock Lesnar Jeremy Horn vs Nathan Marquardt Ricardo Almeida vs Rob Yundt Tyson Griffin vs Gleison Tibau Terry Martin vs Marvin Eastman David Heath vs Tim Boetsch Chris Lytle vs Kyle Bradley Keita Nakamura vs Rob Emerson
February 2, 2008
HARDCORE CHAMPIONSHIP FIGHTING Nogueira Stops Gouwenberg, Day Defeats Loiseau By Kelsey Mowatt February 1st The Stampede Corral in Calgary, Alberta, hosted the latest offering from Hardcore Championship Fighting tonight, and despite the rather frigid winter conditions that encircled the city, several thousand fans came out for the card. Headlining “Destiny” was the HCF debut of Antonio Rogerio “Minotoro” Nogueira, who was competing for the first time since the highly regarded fighter was KO’ed by Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou at Pride 33 last February. Taking on Nogueira would be Revolution fighter, Todd Gouwenberg, who despite not having the international experience of the Brazilian, has entrenched his status across Canada as one of the country’s best 205lb. fighters. In round one it became apparent quickly that Nogueira was in for a considerable battle with the lesser known Canadian fighter, as Gouwenberg stood in the pocket, exchanging strikes with the Brazilian. After defending a few takedown attempts, Gouwenberg was finally taken to the mat, however, Nogueira was unable to inflict any significant damage. Round two saw much of the same, with Nogueira looking to get the noted striker to the mat. After Gouwenberg was once more able to get back to his feet, this time around, Nogueira began to land more telling blows to his opponent. After a series of knees to both Gouwenberg’s body and head, the referee was forced to halt the action at 4:34 of the second round, awarding Nogueira the TKO win. With the victory, Minotoro’s record now stands at 13-3 while Gouwenberg’s falls to 7-3.
Although not billed as the co-main event, UFC veteran David Loiseau’s bout with Lethbridge fighter, Jason Day, might have been the card’s most anticipated bout with the Corral crowd. On account of Day’s hometown proximity to Calgary, a large contingent was on hand to cheer the Canadian Martial Arts Center fighter, while Loiseau was also greeted with a raucous welcome. Day, like Gouwenberg, might not be as widely known as his more famous opponent, but the veteran middleweight proved to be a considerable challenge. Loiseau seemed tentative throughout the bout, throwing very few of the highlight reel strikes he demonstrated often earlier in his career, and although he took Day continually to the mat, Loiseau offered very few of his famous elbows. Of course, Day deserves a lot of credit for this, as he outworked Loiseau when the fight was in the clinch, and constantly looked for submissions when he was on his back. After the third round, where Loiseau took Day down several times, and clearly won the round, it appeared he had done just enough to earn the decision victory. In the end, Loiseau’s conservatism cost him, as Day was awarded the Split Decision victory, giving the Lethbridge fighter his 4th straight win, and quite possibly a ticket into the UFC. Gegard Mousasi was extremely impressive in his fight with Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos, promptly taking the Brazilian to the canvas with a nice throw after the bout’s initial striking exchange. From there, Mousasi crucifixed Santos and began pounding away on his opponent’s face for several moments, until the referee was forced to halt action at 3:42. Despite Santos’ protests that he was fine when the bout was stopped, it did not appear he was heading into a more favorable position anytime soon, when the referee jumped in. To the untrained eye of any non-MMA fans that might have been in attendance, Mike Pyle appeared to be the most popular fighter on the planet when he walked out to the HCF cage. Pyle’s considerable talents aside, the reason for the jubilant ovation was on account of the fighter’s cornerman, Randy Couture. Pyle lived up to the reputation of the lead man behind team Xtreme Couture, demonstrating fluid ground skills en route to a keylock submission victory over Damir Mirenic. In the card’s only title fight, Thomas Schulte defended his HFC Lightweight Championship by submitting Vancouver’s Garett Davis with a rear-naked-choke at 1:15 of the first round. Shulte had an enormous mouse under his left eye for his efforts however, as Davis blasted him in the eye with a hard straight right seconds into the bout. Despite the hard shot, Schulte recovered quickly, and soon had Davis’ back before submitting the Marcus Soares trained fighter. Final Results Juan Barrantes def. Fabian Cortez by Submission (Armbar) 2:20 Rd.1 Nabil Khatib def. Lucas Rota by Unanimous Decision Rd.3 Miodrag Petkovic def. Tim Hague by Spit Decision Rd.3 Ariel Sexton def. Myles Merola by Submission (Rear-naked-choke) 1:08 Rd.2 Andrew Buckland def. Dan Chambers by Submission (Kimura) 3:19 Rd.2 Mike Pyle def. Damir Mirenic by Submission (Keylock) 1:21 Rd.2 Derrick Noble def. Brendan Seguin by KO 4:34 Rd. 2 Jason Day def. David Loiseau by Split Decision Rd.3 Thomas Schulte def. Garett Davis by Submission (Rear-naked-choke) 1:15 Rd.1 Gegard Mousasi def. Evangelista Santos by TKO (Ref stoppage due to strikes) 3:42 Rd.1 Antonio Rogerio Nogueira def. Todd Gouwenberg by TKO (Ref stoppage due to strikes) 4:34 Rd.2
February 3, 2008
ACROSS THE POND: BRITISH MMA NEWS
Several fights saw the combatants happy to stand and trade on their feet. Azran Quasid (Team Obscene) and Rick Andrews (Elite Fighting System) threw wild shots at each other before Quasid timed a left that caught Andrews coming forwards and knocked him cold. Similarly, Edgelson Lue (DKK Fighters) and Matt Lane (Elite Fighting System) showed little interest in wrestling, preferring to exchange kickboxing techniques with Lue soon imposing his will and landing a rattling high kick that shook Lane. The finish came with a one-two that dropped Lane and forced referee Grant Waterman to jump in. Chris Greig (Elite Fighting System) surprised his opponent Kev Simms (Gorilla Academy) when Greig was trapped under Simms against the fence. Simms tried to secure a kimura but Grieg defended that and neatly slipped on a side choke from the bottom, getting the tap out. Francis Heagney (London Shootfighters) has already fought on the main Cage Rage show and had little trouble tonight against Italy’s Francesco Ligato (Suregrip Vale Tudo). Heagney outwrestled the Italian and then finished the fight pulling guard for the fifth and final guillotine of the evening. Heagney looked sharp and would fit well into the mix of welterweights on the big show but given the sheer number of people who came to see Popek Rak, don’t be surprised to see the heavily muscled Pole on the main Cage Rage bill before too long.
Full Results Contenders 8 Held February, 2 2008 The Troxy - London, England 1. Uvais Namiev def. Jody Cottham by TKO (ref stoppage – strikes) 1:27 R1 2. Richard Griffin def. Paddy Moore by Guillotine 1:44 R1 3. Azran Quasid def. Rick Andrews by KO 3:00 R1 4. Steven Dossett def. Robert Powell by Guillotine 3:39 R1 5. Tony Pasos def. Mamarizaev Jahongir by Rear Naked Choke 1:24 R1 6. Jack Mason def. Kym Farid by Guillotine 4:03 R1 7. Chris Greig def. Kev Simms by Side Choke 2:08 R1 8. Edgelson Lue def. Matt Lane by TKO (ref stoppage) 2:12 R1 9. Sami Berik def. Mark Smith by KO 0:09 R1 10. Marius Sukys def. Danny Fletcher by Guillotine 2:17 R1 11. Dean Bray def. Mark Tucker by TKO (ref stoppage – strikes) 4:12 R2 12. Scott Jansen def. Jason Barret by TKO (Barret didn’t come out for R2) 13. Popek Rak def. Glen Reid by TKO (Towel thrown in) 1:56 R2 14. Francis Heagney def. Francesco Ligato by Guillotine 1:07 R1
February 3, 2008
UFC 81 RESULTS
February 4, 2008
ULTIMATE FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP UPDATE UFC Confirms Canadian Debut, GSP vs. Serra 2 By FCF Staff The Ultimate Fighting Championship officially announced today that the promotion’s first Canadian event will take place, April 19th, at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec. As expected, and widely reported for sometime now, UFC 83 will be headlined with the rematch between current interim welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre, and current UFC Welterweight Champion, Matt Serra.
In what is well documented history, Serra (9-4) shocked the MMA world last April, when he stopped St.Pierre (15-2) in the first round at UFC 69 to take the UFC 170lb. belt. The highly regarded jiu-jitsu practitioner was scheduled to defend his title against Matt Hughes in December; however a back injury prevented the champion from competing. St.Pierre replaced Serra at UFC 79, and defeated Matt Hughes for a second time to become the promotion’s interim champion. Georges St.Pierre vs. Matt Serra
February 4, 2008
WORLD VICTORY ROAD UPDATE Barnett vs. Yoshida Confirmed for March 5th
February 4, 2008
INTERNATIONAL FIGHT LEAGUE Kennedy Out, McGivern in to Fight Horwich
The IFL’s first event of 2008 will take place on February 29th at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Final Card Preliminary Bout 145- Ian Loveland (8-7) vs. Dennis Davis (13-6) Team Xtreme Couture vs. MMA Top Team (Mario Sperry) 145- Santino DeFranco (10-3) vs. Raphael Dias (8-3-1) 185- Benji Radach (17-4) vs. Leopoldo Serao (11-6) 205- Lew Polley (6-0) vs. Alexandre Ferreira (15-5) Team Quest (Matt Lindland) vs. Lions Den (Ken Shamrock) 170- Jake Ellenberger (16-3) vs. Pat Healey (18-12) *155- Ryan Schultz ** (18-9-1) vs. John Gunderson (15-5) *265- Fabiano Scherner (7-5) vs. Roy Nelson ** (11-2) Middleweight Title Fight 185- Matt Horwich ** (22-9-1) vs. Ryan McGivern (11-5) *-Championship Fight **-Champion
February 5, 2008
NEW EPISODE OF FCF RADIO: CHRIS LYTLE AND TIM BOETSCH
In this edition of FCF Radio, we talk with Chris Lytle, who defeated Kyle Bradley last weekend at UFC 81, and UFC newcomer Tim Boetsch, who also was victorious at Saturday's event, stopping David Heath in the first round.
February 5, 2008
THE NORTHERN TOUCH News and Notes from Canadian MMA
“Big Daddy” Goodridge Signs With MFC The Maximum Fighting Championship has announced that it has signed Canadian MMA pioneer, “Big Daddy” Gary Goodridge to a multi-fight contract. The UFC and Pride veteran will make his MFC debut on May 9th, at the promotion’s “Anger Management” event, which will take place at the River Cree Resort and Casino in Enoch, Alberta. Goodridge (23-15-1) will head to MFC 16 having won his last 2 MMA fights. Most recently the Ontario native stopped Jan Nortje in the first round at K-1 Hero’s event last March. Although Goodridge has competed in MMA only sparingly over the last few years; fighting just 5 times under MMA rules since 2003, the 42 year-old- fighter has had some considerable success during that stint competing for K-1. Up first for the MFC, on February 22nd the River Cree Resort and Casino will host “Rags to Riches”, which will be headlined by a welterweight fight between the up-and-coming Ryan Ford and UFC veteran Pete Spratt.
February 6, 2008
ULTIMATE FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP UPDATE Leben vs. Sakara Added to UFC 82 Card By FCF Staff The Ultimate Fighting Championship has added a bout between Chris Leben and Alessio Sakara to the promotion’s upcoming UFC 82 card. “Pride of a Champion” will take place on March 1st at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, and will be headlined by a middleweight unification title bout between UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva, and Pride’s 185lb. belt holder, Dan Henderson.
Sakara (16-6) should have no problem preparing for the upcoming fight, as the American Top Team fighter just recently stopped light-heavyweight James Lee in the first round at UFC 81 on January 19th. After the win, Sakara announced he would be heading down to the middleweight division, and will do so, on March 1st. Sakara has gone 3-3 thus far in UFC competition (with 1 No-Contest), prior to his win over Lee, he was stopped by Houston Alexander at UFC 75 in September. Leben (12-5) is coming off an impressive KO win over Terry Martin at an Ultimate Fight Night event in September. Leben had lost 3 of his last 4 bouts heading into the fight with Martin, a stretch that included losses to Anderson Silva, Jason MacDonald, and Kalib Starnes, with the win, a KO victory, coming against Jorge Santiago. The former Team Quest member won his first five official bouts in the UFC, after competing on the inaugural season of “The Ultimate Fighter.” UFC 82 Full Card Anderson Silva vs. Dan Henderson Heath Herring vs. Cheick Kongo Alessio Sakara vs. Chris Leben Yushin Okami vs. Evan Tanner Chris Wilson vs. Jon Fitch Jake O’Brien vs. Andrei Arlovski Luke Cummo vs. Luigi Fioravanti Josh Koscheck vs. Dustin Hazelett Diego Sanchez vs. David Bielkheden John Halverson vs. Jorge Gurgel
February 6, 2008
ULTIMATE FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP UPDATE UFC Confirms More Bouts for April 2nd Fight Night
February 7, 2008
NEW EPISODE OF FCF RADIO: TYSON GRIFFIN AND LEW POLLEY
In this edition of FCF Radio, we talk with Tyson Griffin, who is coming off a victory over Gleison Tibau at UFC 81, and Lew Polley, who will represent team Xtreme Couture against Mario Sperry's World Class Fight Center team's Alexandre Ferreira, at the Feb. 29th IFL event.
February 7, 2008
STRIKEFORCE AT THE DOME UPDATE Masvidal vs. Healy, Blackburn vs. Perales Added to Feb. 23rd Strikeforce In the other bout confirmed today, IFL veteran Brad Blackburn (10-9-1) will take on Ray Perales (9-13). Blackburn is 2-2 with one No-Contest in his last five fights, and holds wins over notable fighters in Jay Hieron and Chris Wilson during that stretch.
February 7, 2008
ULTIMATE FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP UPDATE UFC 81 "Breaking Point" Salaries By FCF Staff Full Contact Fighter has obtained from the Nevada State Athletic Commission the salaries for last weekend’s UFC 81 card, which was held at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. The event was headlined by two heavyweight features, which saw former professional wrestling star Brock Lesnar lose by submission to former UFC champion Frank Mir, and former Pride Heavyweight Champion, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, add the interim UFC belt to his collection by tapping out another former UFC champ in Tim Sylvia.
The fighter’s purses are a matter of public record and are required by law to be submitted to the appropriate state athletic commission. The figures below are the salaries disclosed to the NSAC by the Ultimate Fighting Championship and do not include any undisclosed bonuses (pay-per-view bonus, fight of the night etc) that might be coming to a fighter. Winning bonuses, if applicable, are included in these figures. Tyson Griffin went home with $36,000 (including win bonus $18,000) after defeating Gleison Tibau who was paid $11,000.
February 8, 2008
ULTIMATE FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP UPDATE Report: UFC 83 Sells Out In Record Time By FCF Staff According to a report on the official Ultimate Fighting Championship website, the promotion’s upcoming UFC 83 event has sold out in record time. Serra vs. St.Pierre 2, which will take place at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, on April 19th, will have a crowd of over 21,000 people in attendance. According to statements made by UFC President Dana White, all the remaining tickets that were available for the event after UFC Fight Club pre-sales earlier this week, were “gone within one minute of the public on-sale today.”
UFC 83 marks the first time the UFC will hold an event in Canada. The Bell Centre is the home of the National Hockey League's Montreal Canadiens, and is also the frequent location for TKO events, a Canadian MMA promotion.
February 8, 2008
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP FIGHTING PREVIEW Cavallaro Adds UFC Flavor to WCF's Second Event
Scheduled match-ups: Dan Lauzon (159.5) vs. Frank LaTina (157) Jason Bennett (140.5) vs. Henrique Bicalho (140.5) Nate Kittredge (186) vs. Ronnie Wuest (183) Travis Lerchen (171) vs. Nuri Shakir (170.5) John Benoit (167.5) vs. Justin Hammerstrom (171.5) Dan Duarte (144) vs. Ken Stone (147) - - - Intermission - - - Nate LaMotte (170.5) vs. Stephen Stengel (170.5) Justin Homsey (144) vs. John Franchi (145) *Ryan Hackney (179.5) vs. Reid Homer (as of 7 p.m. had not weighed-in) Dan Bonnell (146) vs. Mark Giove (144) Greg Croteau (154.5) vs. Aaron Chidester (153.5) Luke Czekalski (147) vs. Larry Kerrigan (148) Sean Radcliffe (153.5) vs. Jose Lopez (155) *Fight may be scratched from the card
February 8, 2008
HDNET FIGHTS UPDATE HDNet Fights Announces Partnership with Strikeforce
Up next for HDNet Fights is the live broadcast of MFC 15 “Rags to Riches”, which will take place at the River Cree Resort and Casino in Enoch, Alberta on February 22nd. The card will be headlined by a welterweight bout between Edmonton prospect Ryan Ford and “Ultimate Fighter” veteran Pete Spratt. MFC 15 “Rags to Riches” Full Card WW- Pete Spratt (19-10) vs. Ryan Ford (4-0) MW- Jesse Forbes (5-2) vs. Chris Camozzi (5-0) LW-Mike Maestas (4-1-1) vs. Ryan Heck (5-0) LHW- Craig Zellner, (4-2) vs. Ryan Jimmo (4-1) LHW-Steve Steinbeiss (3-1) vs. Dwayne Lewis (3-3) WW- Jason Zorthian (2-1) vs. Ryan McGillivray, (5-2) LHW- Allan Hope (Pro Debut) vs. Jason Kuchera (2-0) WW- Josh Groves (2-0) vs. Gavin Neil (1-0)
February 9, 2008
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February 9, 2008
CARLOS CONDIT Carlos Condit: Removing the Distractions to Success By Steven Marrocco It started back in high school for World Extreme Cagefighting welterweight champ Carlos Condit. His wrestling coach turned him on to the first UFC’s. He would go to the video store, rent the videos and study them. Around the time when Mark Coleman was smashing everyone in sight, Condit got convinced that wrestlers had a future in the sport. He looked through the phone book for a school. Back then, there probably wasn’t a heading for mixed martial arts, much less ultimate fighting. Somehow, he found Fit NHB, and still trains there to this day. After his senior year in high school, Condit had his first fight in Juarez, New Mexico. Dan Severn, Diego Sanchez, and Dan Christison fought on the card alongside him; Sanchez and Christison would go on to reality stardom on the Ultimate Fighter. Condit won his fight by submission in the first round. “I had a blast,” Condit says of the experience. Condit began making regular appearances in small shows around the west. He went undefeated in his first eight fights, but he admits he wasn’t giving the sport his all. “I was kind of hit or miss,” Condit says. “Sometimes I’d train, sometimes I wouldn’t. It kind of depended on how I was feeling with my personal life, which at the time was unstable, and I wasn’t really focused on fighting.” Around that time Condit faced off with a fighter named Carlo Prater in his hometown of Albuquerque. Going into the fight, he knew he hadn’t trained enough, and he knew that Prater was the real deal. “I rushed the pace and tried to finish the fight, because I didn’t think I’d have the endurance to go the distance, so I just tried to finish it fast and I made a mistake,” Condit says. That mistake landed him in a triangle choke in the first round. It was his first defeat, and opened his eyes for the first time. He would have to re-evaluate his priorities. “I just used to go on talent, and I figured that would carry me,” Condit says. “I found out the hard way that wasn’t the case.” It wouldn’t be the last time he would lose, but after that, he would never take the sport as lightly. Condit gained traction as a fighter at Rumble on the Rock’s 2006 tournament. His victories over Renato Verissimo and Frank Trigg caught the attention of Pancrase, where he fought next. Undefeated in three appearances, the re-vamped WEC came calling for his services.
“I doubt that a better offer will come along,” Condit says. “I know that the WEC is taking care of me really well. They’re my home.” It’s fitting that Prater will be the man standing across from him next Wednesday at WEC 32. Condit will be defending his belt for a second time after winning the strap against John Alessio at WEC 26. So far, Condit’s performances have been dominating, however, the WEC hasn’t been shy about importing tough fighters from at home and overseas. Prater is a well-rounded fighter who’s sliced through most of his competition—some very well known UFC vets are his victims. He’s well rounded much like Condit is, and just as happy to throw hard kicks on his feet as he is to work submissions from the ground. Prater has the psychological advantage of having already beaten him. “The stakes are as high as they can be, my belt’s on the line in my hometown,” Condit says of the pressure. “I’m going to be more cautious and more mindful of his skills.” Condit says conditioning will make the biggest difference going into this fight. As the champ, Condit has a full camp behind him and makes fighting his profession. There’s no doubt anymore about his priorities. It also means that a lot is expected of him, something he tries not to think about. “I’ve just got to remember that I fight for myself,” he says. Save for an import from another organization, Prater probably represents the last serious challenger in his division. This time, Condit will be over-prepared for the fight. Carlos Condit faces Carlo Prater for the WEC Welterweight title on Wednesday, February 13th at the Santa Ana Star Center in New Mexico. The fight will be broadcast live on the Versus Channel at 6pm Pacific Standard Time.
February 9, 2008
FURTHER ACROSS THE POND: SCANDINAVIAN MMA NEWS
Enson Inoue took questions at the press conference for The Zone FC, talking about MMA in Japan, his retirement and the three fighters who could tempt him back to the ring. What are you up to at the moment? “I’m semi-retired, I might come back for one more fight. I have gyms in Saipan, Thailand, Japan, Guam. I’m just training fighters now.” Who would be your dream opponent for your final fight? “There are three that would bring me out of retirement – Wanderlei Silva, Randy Couture and Frank Shamrock. They would be fights that wouldn’t go the distance. I don’t care about losing as long as it’s a good fight, good for the fans. Actually a short fight, even if it’s a knockout, is actually a safer fight. With Wanderlei I don’t anticipate a win or a loss, I just anticipate a war. Randy I fought and beat him before. He’s on a pedestal now, I’d like to fight in Vegas. Frank Shamrock, we had a war, it happened to end up the person who caught who first, so I’d like another shot at that. Those are the three opponents who would bring me the motivation to train, to drop everything I’m doing for three months and get ready for a fight. Other than that I’m not interested.” This will be the first regulated MMA event in Sweden, is it important to educate people about the reality of the sport? “What Sweden is actually going through right now is what we went through at one point years ago in the United States and in Japan it occurred many years ago, they had an objection to Mixed Martial Arts. I think it’s basically a lack of understanding. It looks brutal but it’s not brutal. We train everyday. When I was fighting in Pride with the stomps, the football kicks, it looks really brutal so it’s a good idea to take it out because if the normal person who sits in an office eight hours a day sees someone stomping someone in the head, it wouldn’t look good, even though we are trained to defend that and it’s not a brutal thing to us because we do that everyday. It’s just a lack of understanding. Get to know the fighters, they are human beings, the same as everyone who works a nine-to-five job. The elbows being taken out is a good thing too because the cuts bring blood and skin is only paper thick, it’s very thin and if you get a little cut it will bleed. People relate blood to violence and big injuries, which isn’t really true all the time so it’s a good idea to take out elbows.” What benefit do you think MMA brings to society? “MMA is a really good sport because for me, when I opened my gyms in Guam I had classes at the time when kids would get out of school and be on the streets looking for things to do, so we took all these kids out of the streets into training and actually learning discipline in a different way. I think MMA is good because it’s a sport that takes up a lot of time, you have to master the striking of kickboxing, you have to master the takedowns and takedown defence of wrestling, and the submissions of jujitsu or sambo, so it’s very time consuming. If you get serious and want to go in the ring and put your physical body on the line, it takes a lot of intense training. For me, it helped me a lot in Hawaii because I was going down the wrong road with a lot of fights in the street and when I started training it took a lot of my time and I wasn’t interested in fighting in the streets. Even now when there’s a confrontation, I get paid six figures to fight in the ring, I’m not going to fight for free!” What are your thoughts on women competing in MMA? “I think men and women have two arms, two legs, we’re the same. If men can do it, women can do it, especially if women are fighting women so I think it will get popular. I personally see a nice girl go in the ring and get hit, it doesn’t sit well with me but basically these girls are the same as us, they train everyday for it, they are professional about it. It’s really a hard, not a brutal, sport. The word violence is used with Mixed Martial Arts but violence is involuntary, you are violated when you have violence done unto you. We’re getting in the ring on our own, we’re accepting what we’re doing. You can always tap out, there are doctors that will stop the fight if there’s a bad injury, there are corner-men that will throw in the towel, it’s a really safe sport.” Do you have a lot of women at your schools? “Yes, I have eight in my gym in Saitama, four in my Tokyo gym, two in my Osaka gym and in Japan there’s Smack Girl, it’s really big. I don’t think women are not supposed to be fighting Mixed Martial Arts, it’s good for the women that are interested in it.” What impact has the end of Pride had on MMA in Japan? “It depends where you are looking. If you are standing in the USA it’s a good thing because all the Pride fighters went to the UFC. If you’re in Japan, it’s a bad thing because it almost killed Mixed Martial Arts in Japan. What’s happening now in Japan is K-1 is taking over the whole martial arts scene. Hero’s is going to be changed to another name, the Pride staff are going to take over and Mixed Martial Arts is still going to be alive, there will be big purses, everything will be the same. Because of the name change and the so-called death of Pride, the underworld problems that they had are now buried so they’ll still have the same staff and it will be run under K-1, just the president Sakakibara is out. He’s now racing cars or something.” You are famous for your warrior spirit, should all fighters have that spirit? “I don’t think all fighters should be like me, I don’t always agree with how I handled myself in fights. I cringe when I watch my fight with Igor Vovchanchyn, thinking that I should have tapped. When you’re in the fight you’re concentrated, you’ve got your job to do, you’ve got to take him out before he takes you out. I was so focused on that. If you saw the fight I was screaming in the corner when the judge came to check me, because we had two minutes between rounds and I couldn’t walk to the corner because my ear drum was popped but I just felt like, I have two minutes, give me two minutes. Don’t check me now, give me two minutes. I couldn’t walk for the next three days so I actually needed three days. It just shows how focused I was, I was so into the fight, so into opening that cut up more. If my brother was in the ring I wouldn’t necessarily have allowed him to fight that far, I probably would have thrown in the towel. For these fighters, it’s very important to have good corner-men who know what they can do, what they can get out of and how much they can take. The association should have good doctors that will stop fights when they need to be stopped. I think the fighters can fight like me and not worry about getting hurt. As you saw long ago in boxing when they had twenty rounds and they allowed twenty knockdowns, now it’s three knockdowns and the fight is stopped, there are only twelve rounds. I think now in MMA everything has changed, they’ve gotten more intelligent about when to stop fights. I don’t think there would ever be a fight like me and Igor where they let the fight continue that long and hopefully there’s not a fighter that’s so into the fight they let themselves do that. I think MMA has grown, there’re better doctors, more intelligent corner-men and fighters can fight hard and it will be stopped at the right time. I come here to Sweden and I’ve never really been here. The most understanding I’ve ever had of Sweden was The Benny Hill Show where they had Swedish girls come out, “This is Olga from Sweden.” The other thing I’ve heard about Sweden is in the World’s Strongest Man Competition, the Swedish guys are some of the best. I’m looking forward to the Swedish people making a big bang in the MMA world.”
February 10, 2008
WORLD EXTREME CAGEFIGHTING UPDATE And In the Red Corner…Carlo Prater
After signing with agent Ken Pavia in late 2006, things started to turn around. Prater fought for the Art of War promotion twice in 2007, defeating Anthony Lapsley and veteran Keith Wisniewski. “It was one of the better things I did in my career, to get a serious competent management team behind me,” he says of Pavia. Now he faces Condit, whom he defeated in 2004, but the stakes are much different. In the last two years, Condit has built some serious momentum behind his career. Prater is smart enough to know that this fight may bear no resemblance to their past meeting. “He’s a smart guy and his trainers are competent trainers,” Prater says. “It was so long ago. He’s improved a lot and so have I. You can’t take too much from that.” At the same time, Prater thinks the burden is on Condit. Their first meeting ended just inside three minutes. It wasn’t competitive--Prater ran through him. They key for the Brazilia-Texan is making sure he can shut down Condit’s sharp striking game. He expects a frenzied pace from the bell. “Every second is a new second,” he says. “We’re going to see where each other’s at very quickly. I’ve done it once, I can do it again.” Career-wise, it’s a game of catch-up for Prater, and he doesn’t want to squander the opportunity. Prater has brought in veteran coach Sal Soliz and longtime training partner Yves Edwards to help him prepare. “It’s been intense. I’ve been taking this extremely seriously,” Prater says. “This is not about the person I’m fighting. This is about me getting my shot. There’s no pressure. It’s a happy moment in my life.” This Wednesday, at the Santa Ana Star Center in Condit’s hometown of Albuquerque, New Mexico, Prater will attempt to begin a new chapter in his career.
February 10, 2008
PRO ELITE UPDATE Lawler Stripped of Icon Belt, Baroni vs. Hose Confirmed for Title By FCF Staff Pro Elite has announced that UFC and Pride veteran, Phil Baroni, has signed a multi-fight contract with its Elite XC fight division. It won’t take long for the middleweight to take center stage within the organization, as Baroni will compete in a title fight for Icon Sport, March 15th. According to a report by the Honolulu Advertiser, Icon Sport President, T.Jay Thompson, announced yesterday at a press conference that the promotion has stripped Robbie Lawler of his middleweight title due to “failing to adequately defend.” According to statements attributed to Thompson in the Advertiser report, Lawler was forced to withdraw from 3 Icon events in 2007 due to various injuries and illnesses.
The Pro Elite owned, Hawaii based promotion, went on to announce that the newly signed Baroni will fight Kala Kolohe Hose for the vacant Icon Sport Middleweight belt, March 15th. The fight will mark the first time Baroni (10-8) will return to action since last summer, after completing a six month suspension from the California State Athletic Commission, for testing positive for steroids after his loss to Frank Shamrock on June 22nd. Prior to that, the New Yorker’s last fight was in October 2006, when Baroni submitted Yosuke Nishijima at Pride 32. “I’m looking forward to returning to the cage and kicking (butt),’’ Baroni was quoted as saying in the Elite XC news release announcing his signing. “Everybody knows I got hurt early and couldn’t do everything I wanted to do against Shamrock. But I’m 100 percent now, ready for anybody. I pity the guy I fight next, or the one after that. Trust me, everybody is going to pay from here on out.’’ Hose (5-1) has not lost a fight since 2005, when while making his professional debut, he lost by Unanimous Decision to Andy Reese at Super Brawl 39. Since then the Hawaiian has won 5 straight, most recently Hose knocked out Frederic Belleton in the first round at the January 25th, ShoXC. No specific details regarding Baroni’s new Elite XC contract were released, however, the Elite XC announcement did state that the middleweight fighter will still be able to compete for the Strikeforce promotion.
February 10, 2008
FURTHER ACROSS THE POND: SCANDINAVIAN MMA NEWS The Zone FC Results By David West (Solnahallen, Solna, Sweden – Saturday February, 9th 2008) With one fight cancelled two days before the show and one fighter, Joar Palm from Stockholm Shoot, failing his pre-fight medical due to a high pulse rate, the final line up of The Zone FC’s first show stood at eight bouts. Seven ended in the first round but the 1500 fans at the Solnahallen gave vocal support throughout the evening and seemed a well educated bunch in the details of MMA – reversals, escapes and even good takedown defence earned applause. In the headline match, August Wallen (Gladius MMA, Sweden) took the back of Sergei Bal (Red Devil Sport Club, Russia) early in round one and then put Bal on the defensive, hunting for chokes. Wallen took a break from submissions to move to the mount where he landed some hard punches before returning to the rear mount and finally getting the choke at 4:40 of round one. Wallen many not have many pro fights on his record, but he’s been in with Vernon White and Yuki Kondo and the quality, rather than quantity, of ring experience showed tonight.
Bruno Carvalho (Team Carvalho, Brazil) had a tough fight with Sergej Maslobojev (Titanikas, Lithuania) that went back and forth and was the only fight to make it past the opening round. Carvalho had mount in round one and worked his strikes but couldn’t get the stoppage. Maslobojev started to frustrate Carvalho’s takedown attempts in round two and hurt him with heavy punches and low kicks, but lost a point for holding the fence. In the final round, Maslobojev unloaded a hurtful flurry of big shots that dropped Carvalho against the fence, but followed up with a kick to the head as Carvalho was down, earning an immediate disqualification when he was on the brink of winning the fight. In another striker versus grappler match up, BJJ purple belt Farbod Fadami (OC Fight Team, Germany) was unable to get heavy hitting Alexander Gustavsson (Stockholm Shoot, Sweden) to the canvas and after eating leather on his feet, Fadami opted to pull guard. He tried for an arm bar from the bottom, but Gustavsson shook him off then blasted Fadami with a series of bone-rattling punches that left Fadami curled up on the floor as the referee leapt in to save the German fighter.
Full Results: Nicolas Musoke def. Fredrik Klingsell by rear-naked choke 1:16 R1 Srdjan Sekulic def. Martin Lavin by TKO (doctor stoppage – cut) 2:17 R1 Johan Antonsson def. Nathan Schouteren by front choke 1:51 R1 Tor Troeng def. Fatih Balci by TKO (doctor stoppage – cut) 3:19 R1 Klas Akesson def. Jakob Lovstad by tap out to strikes 4:00 R1 Alexander Gustavsson def. Farbod Fadami by TKO (ref stoppage – strikes) 2:31 R1 Bruno Carvalho def. Sergej Maslobojev by disqualification (illegal kick) 1:30 R3 August Wallen def. Sergei Bal by rear-naked choke 4:40 R1
February 10, 2008
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP FIGHTING D-Lau and Two Nates Highligh Impressive Event for WCF By Derek Constable February 8th, Wilmington, Ma. -- If you loved mixed martial arts and were from Massachusetts there was no better place to be then the Shriners’ Auditorium on Friday night. Some of the area’s most exciting fighters were either working in the ring or sitting front row, after an illustrious autograph session, which included Ultimate Fighting Championship veterans Jorge Rivera, Kenny Florian, Marcus Davis and Murilo Rua. Even UFC President Dan White was there to take pictures and sign autographs as he took in 11 fights from the front row. Dan Lauzon was originally supposed to fight Andrew Calandrelli in the main event after some bad blood that included a challenge from Lauzon to put up both fighters’ purses to the winner. The promoter said he wouldn’t encourage such a challenge as he’s legally obligated to pay both participants, but what the fighters did with their money after being paid was of course their own decision. According to Lauzon, Calandrelli accepted the challenge, but was injured while preparing for the fight and instead replaced at the last minute by the undefeated Frank Latina. It’s rough finding anyone in the area to compete with “The Upgrade” at 155, but Latina is about as a tough as they come and made for a respectable replacement. Lauzon began the fight stalking Latina with his arms looking everywhere but in a cocked position. One second they’d be stretched out from left to right like a bird and the next they’d be straight up in the air like he was defending a jump-shot, but no matter where his fists resided in the air -- a devastating jab was only a fraction of a second away. Latina had some bright spots in the fight, walking Lauzon along the ropes for a moment in the clinch, scoring a takedown at one point and fighting off a rear-naked choke, but in the end Lauzon was too much for him. Standing it was no contest and the one time Latina did take him down, Lauzon was able to reverse position and get on top. The fight ended by triangle at 3:01 of the first round. Nate Kittredge and Nate LaMotte, two wrestlers-turned-fighters out of the Vermont-N.H. area, both had thrilling fights that didn’t escape the first round. The intensities of these two fighters is unreal and watching them stare down their opponents before fights, the crowd can just feel two trains about to collide. In the welterweight division, LaMotte was fighting another late replacement fighter in Stephen Stengal, and while it was LaMotte’s face on the event poster -- Stengal was clearly the bigger man. Stengal ran clear across the ring to LaMotte at the top of the action and connected with a leg kick and what looked like a tight forearm, but LaMotte was unfazed and lifted Stengal high up for a serious slam. Once on the ground, he worked his position, took Stengals back and put him away by rear-naked choke at 39 seconds of the first round. Kittredge, the middleweight Nate, entered this fight with a 5-0 record but unfortunately left the fight with an asterisk next to it. He dominated the action from the beginning to the end of the match, but was disqualified after throwing a downward elbow from side-control which quite possibly broke Wuest’s rib. Kittredge took Wuest down early in the round and took control of the fight after connecting with a mean uppercut, which he threw from behind Wuest and underneath his right arm. He stood-up and tried to finish Wuest off with a flurry of sound strikes, but when he noticed his opponent was refusing to go to sleep, took it back to the ground and resumed the fight from side control. This is where Kittredge ended the fight after throwing a devastating elbow on Wuest’s far ribcage. The referee sent Kittredge to a neutral corner and after Wuest refused to continue, Kittredge was disqualified at 1:50 of Round One. “I definitely wasn’t trying to throw an illegal strike,” Kittredge said after the fight. “You just get into fight mode and he wasn’t going out … it was me or him, you know?” The hardest hits of the night had to be the opening punch from undefeated bantamweight (145) fighter John Franchi in his fight against Justin Homsey. Franchi is one of the newest strikers out of the Bombsqaud camp but has excellent ground game to back it up. He scored a flash-knockout on Homsey with his very first punch, but Homsey woke up like nothing happened and the ref let the action continue. “I threw a job and then a cross and kind of hid my head on the second punch and when I turned around he was just gone,” Franchi said. “I thought I made him disappear.” From there it was a back-and-forth fight, with both opponents landing some good strikes, but each time Franchi landed a punch -- Homsey showed signs of going back to sleep. While each time Homsey hit his opponent -- Franchi would come back hitting even harder. Homsey tried to finish the fight a few times with an excellent head kick, but got blocked repeatedly by Franchi who simply ate the kick with his right arm and shook his head “No” in Homsey’s direction. The fight saw two rounds and ended by KO after Franchi put one to Homsey’s chin from the sprawl-position, but the ref didn’t see Homsey’s face and let five or six more punches get through before calling the fight. Homsey’s corner even threw clothes in the ring to grab his attention. WCF grew leaps and bounds from its first to second event. There was UFC-talent both in and out of the ring, thanks to a main event featuring Massachusetts’ own Dan Lauzon, and fight fans probably got a chance to see some future UFC fighters in LaMotte and Kittredge. It was a professionally run show with a lot of talented fighters, good match-ups and lots of action. Joe Cavallaro’s WCF has become a great addition to the Northeast fight scene. Final results Dan Lauzon def. Frank Latina by Submission (triangle choke) 3:01 R1. Henrique Bicalho def. Jason Bennett by Submission (armbar) 2:15 R1. Ronnie Wuest declared winner by DQ following an illegal elbow from Nate Kittredge at 1:50 R1. Nuri Shakir def. Travis Lerchen by KO 2:42 R1. John Benoit def. Justin Hammerstrom by Submission (armbar) 0:45 R2. Ken Stone def. Dan Duarte by Submission (rear-naked-choke) 1:46 R1. Nate LaMotte def. Stephen Stengel by Submission (rear-naked-choke) 0:39 R1. John Franchi def. Justin Homsey by KO 1:27 R2. Dan Bonnell def. Mark Giove by Submission (guillotine) 2:45 R1. Greg Croteau def. Aaron Chidester by Unanimous Decision [20-18, 20-18, 20-18]. Larry Kerrigan def. Luke Czekalski by Submission (guillotine) 3:32 R1. Jose Lopez def. Sean Radcliffe by Unanimous Decision.
February 11, 2008
ULTIMATE FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP UPDATE Cote Injures Right Knee, Out of UFC 83
“It’s not a show of disrespect for Belcher,” Patry said. “Belcher lost to Kendall Grove in the UFC, sure he’s won two fights in a row, but I think Patrick is at a level right now where he should fight guys like Franklin, Tanner, Okami, guys like that. I see Jason MacDonald fought Okami, he lost to Okami, I mean Patrick beat MacDonald before, so I think he’s at a level right now where he should fight top ten guys.” Since losing by first round submission to Travis Lutter in the middleweight finals of the "The Ultimate Fighter" Season 4 Finale in November, 2006, Cote (12-4) has won three straight bouts in the UFC, defeating Scott Smith, Kendall Grove, and most recently, Drew McFedries. Reports have recently surfaced stating that another Canadian middleweight, Jason Day, will make his UFC debut against Belcher at UFC 83. Day could not confirm the fight when FCF reached him today. The Lethbridge fighter is coming off a recent Split Decision victory over David Loiseau at Hardcore Championship Fighting’s February 1st event, which was his fourth win a row. Day also holds wins over UFC veterans in Jonathan Goulet and Ron Faircloth during that stretch. Prior to his current winning streak, Day's last loss came at TKO 29 last June, when he was stopped by Cote in the first round with strikes.
February 12, 2008
NEW EPISODE OF FCF RADIO: ROY NELSON AND STEPHANE PATRY
In this edition of FCF Radio we talk with IFL Heavyweight Champion Roy Nelson, who will look to defend his title Feb.29th against Fabiano Scherner, and TKO promoter Stephane Patry, who is also the manager of UFC middleweight, Patrick Cote.
February 12, 2008
INTERNATIONAL FIGHT LEAGUE UPDATE Haynes Replaces Injured Radach
Radach fought for the first time in over two and a half years last February, due to a series of injuries that kept the veteran fighter out of action from June, 2004. After returning to competition with the IFL in 2007, Radach won 5 straight fights, before losing to Matt Horwich in the league's middleweight championship bout in December.
February 12, 2008
ULTIMATE FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP UPDATE Bonnar Out of April 2nd UFC Fight Night The Ultimate Fighting Championship has confirmed that Stephan Bonnar has been injured and as a result, will not be able to fight Matt Hamill at the upcoming April 2nd UFC Fight Night as scheduled. The report on the UFC site today did not disclose any specifics regarding Bonnar’s injury; however, according to a story by Yahoo’s Kevin Iole, Bonnar has torn ligaments in his left knee and will be out for at least 6 months. Bonnar (11-4) has won two straight fights since losing to Forrest Griffin by Unanimous Decision for a second time in August, 2006. In 2007, Bonnar submitted Mike Nickels in the first round at UFC 73 and most recently, stopped Eric Schafer in the second round for the TKO victory at UFC 77 in October. No replacement has yet been announced for Hamill. The upcoming UFC Fight Night will take place at the Broomfield Event Center in Broomfield, Colorado, and will be headlined by a lightweight clash between Kenny Florian and Joe Lauzon. Other more notable bouts scheduled for the card include Thiago Alves vs. Karo Parisyan, Marcus Aurelio vs. Spencer Fisher and Josh Neer vs. Din Thomas.
February 13, 2008
WORLD VICTORY ROAD UPDATE Gomi vs. Ludwig Confirmed for “Sengoku”
February 13, 2008
WORLD EXTREME CAGEFIGHTING WEC 32 Preview By Steven Marrocco Today, World Extreme Cagefighting ventures away from its new home in Las Vegas for a stacked card at the Santa Ana Star Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Strategically it’s a sound move--main event welterweight Carlos Condit is a local boy who’s made good—but Condit is just one of the highlights of the card. Nearly from top to bottom, all of the fights promise to be competitive. It’s the type of fight card that puts an organization a rung above others—provided they continue to deliver these types of match ups. Carlos Condit vs. Carlo Prater It’s been almost four years since these two danced in the cage, and it wasn’t a good night for Condit. Less than three minutes into their fight at Fight World 2, Condit was tapping from a triangle. Of course, both fighters have evolved since then. Condit, 21-4, has been on a hot streak as of late, anointed a poster boy of the Zuffa-owned WEC, running through his last three opponents. Prater, 21-5-1, has won his last two fights in the Art of War promotion, both by decision. According to him, poor management has led him down a rocky road, but his inability to finish his last two opponents, Anthony Lapsley and Keith Wisniewski, is telling. If he’s had trouble finishing them, he’s going to be in a world of pain with Condit. In his recent career, Condit has finished several upper level fighters, including Frank Trigg, John Alessio, and Brock Larson. His Muay Thai skills have sharpened immeasurably, and his submissions have remained excellent. Unless he’s allowed his loss to Prater affect him, he should slowly, but expediently, wear Prater down in the first. Prater’s best chance for taking the fight is to take control of the fight early. Condit is very much a momentum fighter; if you break his stride early in the fight, and show up in later rounds, he is more apt to fold. Jamie Varner vs. Rob McCullough Lightweight Varner, 13-2, challenges for the title after a successful debut in the WEC last August. McCullough, 15-3, is the two-time lightweight champion, another poster boy of the new promotion. The not-so-interesting buzz about this fight is the same story line that follows “Razor” wherever he goes. Can his opponent take him down? Whatever he does to shake off that image, never sticks. To fans and pundits, McCullough will always be a striker. To opponents, the key in beating him will always be to take him down.
Varner is anxious to prove he can stand with McCullough. In all of his pre-fight interviews, he’s promised to use his hands generously. Still, his hands are but a passageway to the mat, where he believes the champ is weakest. Varner is a cut above McCullough in wrestling, and can win the fight from top position. Whatever happens, it’s going to be very entertaining. McCullough long ago decided to let opponents think what they wanted about him; either way, they were going to get their head knocked off, shooting in or standing within striking range. If Varner can execute his game plan, i.e., set up his strikes for takedowns, the bout will be competitive. No one has kept McCullough on the bottom for nearly six years. Strikeforce mainstay Josh Thomson was the last to do so; he truly capitalized on McCullough’s discomfort. But if Varner sticks around too long on his feet, he might have to bring his sleeping bag. Miguel Torres vs. Chase Beebe The third title fight of the night, bantamweight Miguel Torres challenges wrestler Chase Beebe for his bantamweight belt. Torres carries an ironman record of 42 wins with only one loss. A student of Carlson Gracie, Sr., Torres has won the majority of his fights by submission. His long and lanky frame serve him well in locking up the joints of his opponents, and for this fight, he’ll need every bit of length he can get. It’s no secret that the true battle of this fight will be whether Torres can submit Beebe from the bottom. Beebe, 11-1, is a takedown artist second to none; he can stand and slug on his feet, but it’s almost always a precursor to a takedown. Like Beebe, Torres’ stand up skills are decent, but a power puncher he isn’t. If Torres can take advantage of a scramble for position on the way to the ground, he could force a quick submission early on. The longer the fight progresses, the more it favors Beebe. If Beebe keeps his elbows in and plays a conservative ground and pound game, Torres will have a hard time creating any space for a submission. Torres needs an early stroke of luck to take this one. Manny Tapia vs. Antonio Banuelos Another bantamweight bout, and this one promises fireworks. Both fighters love to storm their opponents. Both love to throw leather. Unless one of them is willing to buck convention, it’s likely someone will get knocked out. Banuelos comes out of The Pit, Chuck Liddell’s camp, with a record of 14-4, but he’s not the technical striker that Tapia is. Tapia, 9-0-1, fighting out of Millenia Jiu-Jitsu in Rancho Cucamonga, California, manhandled Brandon Foxworth in his last outing in the WEC. Banuelos fought Justin Robbins to a unanimous decision at WEC 29. The outcome of this fight will be determined early by who can score the first significant blow. Hiroyuki Takaya vs. Leonard Garcia Hiroyuki Takaya, 9-4-1, is just coming off a career-high victory against top-ranked Antonio Carvalho at Shooto’s Back to Our Roots 6. Takaya carries a strong kickboxing game into the mix, and that’s where promoters hope he keeps it with Garcia. Garcia, 10-3, is best known for his slugfest with Roger Huerta at UFC 69, but has amassed most of his victories by submission. Garcia trains with renowned trainer Greg Jackson in Albuquerque at the Jackson Submission Academy. A loss to Cole Miller at Ultimate Fight Night 11 made him re-evaluate the decision to fight above his natural weight class, so today he makes his first appearance as a featherweight. Takaya is already ahead of him, having fought his last two fights at 145, both successful outings. With any luck, the two will slug it out. Takaya has a tendency to drop his arms and leave his head up as he swings, something that could get him in trouble with Garcia. Garcia likes to throw hard, looping hooks, and could catch Takaya if they stand and trade. Garcia also has a strong submission game; with plenty of options, this might be his time to shine. Takaya does have a big right hand; his best case scenario is to use punches in bunches to take Garcia out. WEC 32 Full Card: Carlo Prater vs. Carlos Condit Jamie Varner vs. Rob McCullough Miguel Torres vs. Chase Beebe Manny Tapia vs. Antonio Banuelos Hiroyuki Takaya vs. Leonard Garcia Josh Grispi vs. Mark Hominick Del Hawkins vs. Ox Wheeler Charlie Valencia vs. Yoshiro Maeda Micah Miller vs. Chance Farrar Scott Jorgensen vs. Damacio Page
February 13, 2008
TOTAL FIGHT CHALLENGE 11 Wineland Wins TFC Belt, Eyes Return to WEC As for Wineland’s future, his sights are set squarely on the WEC.
Charles Wilson’s ever expanding submission game helped him overcome the wrestling gap between him and his opponent DeRay Johnson. After throwing several front kicks, a staple of his stand-up game, Wilson was overcome by Johnson’s aggressive takedowns, getting scooped and dumped like a fistful of straws. A referee stand-up gave Wilson a moment to flash a high-altitude axe kick but it was proceeded by another scoop and slam by Johnson, who easily took the first round with takedowns and ground control.
A potential barn-burner was reduced to smoldering rubble when Mike Cannon’s accidental knee to the head of his downed opponent, Laquine Swift, sent Swift into a rage that ended in a no-contest. It was a feverish wrestling match early, with Cannon using punch combinations to set up takedown attempts. Swift was able to fend off several of the takedowns. When he was finally brought down the fighters engaged in series of scrambles that had the packed house in a fury. It was moments into the second that Cannon delivered the illegal blow. “I’m not a cheap-ass,” said Cannon afterwards, “It was an unintentional knee. I knew what I did and I backed off.” Indeed, Cannon took a step back and the ref moved in to announce the foul. Enraged by the foul, Swift made a move for Cannon and had to be restrained. Sadly, he couldn’t regain his composure, and after taking another run at Cannon, who remained calm and collected throughout, the fight was called off and declared a no-contest. Asked if he wanted a rematch, Cannon was emphatic, “Hell yeah! I’m ready to fight him right now.” Full Results Pro Fights TFC 135lb Title Fight 5x5 minute rounds Eddie Wineland def Jason Tabor by KO at 4:42 rd 2 3x5 minute rounds Charles Wilson def DeRay Johnson by armbar 4:23 rd 2 Juan De Dios Magana def Quinton MC Cottrell by Unanimous Decision Leo Perez def Kevin King by armbar 4:14 rd 1 Amateur Fights 2x5 minute rounds Kevin Nowaczyk def Jeremia Craft by rear-naked choke 0:44 rd 1 Jason Norvelle def Joe Melendez by TKO (ref stoppage due to strikes) 1:24 rd 1 Will Codo def Mark Sinclair by guillotine choke 1:01 rd 1 Marco Estrada def Mike Bodziak by TKO (ref stoppage due to strikes) 1:04 rd 1 Mike Cannon vs Laquine Swift No Contest Dan New def Phons Attanaphone by DQ (no show) Tom Ciezki def Seth Racky by TKO (ref stoppage due to strikes) 2:20 rd 1 Jose Maldanado def Jim Peterson by Unanimous Decision Barry Coker def Shawn Terrance by verbal submission 4:32 rd 2 Brandon Pylipow def Phil Mattio by triangle choke 1:20 rd 1 Chad Buckley def Miguel Gamez by triangle choke 0:41 rd 1
February 14, 2008
NEW EPISODE OF FCF RADIO: LUKE CUMMO
In this edition of FCF Radio we talk with former "Ultimate Fighter" competitor, Luke Cummo, who will take on Luigi Fioravanti at UFC 83 on March 1st. Also in today's show, hosts Kelsey Mowatt and Brendan Leier discuss last night's WEC card and other MMA news from this week.
February 14, 2008
INTERNATIONAL FIGHT LEAGUE UPDATE IFL Announces Match-Ups For April 4th Card
February 14, 2008
WORLD EXTREME CAGEFIGHTING WEC 32: Only Condit Keeps His Belt By Steven Marocco Josh Grispi def. Mark Hominick at 2:55 of Rd. 1 by Submission (Rear Naked Choke)
February 15, 2008
THE NORTHERN TOUCH News and Notes from Canadian MMA By Kelsey Mowatt Kang Confirms Participation for April 29th Dream Card According to veteran fighter Denis Kang, he will be competing in the opening round of Dream’s upcoming April 29th, middleweight tourney, in Saitama, Japan. Kang informed FCF of his participation in the event this afternoon, which will be the new promotion’s second, following Dream’s lightweight tournament scheduled for March 15th. Although no opponent has yet been announced, Kang (29-9-1) believes there are several notable fighters in Dream’s 84 kilogram division.
“Well definitely Melvin Manhoef, Yoon Dong Sik has put some wins together, and yeah, you can’t forget about Akiyama,” said Kang, who lost to Yoshiro Akiyama in his last bout on October 28th.
February 15, 2008
ELITE XC UPDATE “Street Certified”: Fighters Sound Off for Saturday's Elite XC
Saturday’s card includes another interesting heavyweight match-up between Antonio “Big Foot” Silva (9-1) and former UFC heavyweight champ, Ricco Rodriguez (27-7). Silva is coming off a first round submission victory over Jonathan Wiezorek in November, while Rodriguez stopped Kevin Filal in the first round at Plainum Fighting Productions event in December. “I have prepared for Ricco at his best and I expect him to be in his best physical shape,” said Silva. “I watch his last fight against Ben Rothwell every night. I think I have better mat work than Rothwell.” “Win or lose, six months from now Antonio and I will be fighting again, probably for a title,” Rodriquez was quoted saying in the release. “We are the two best fighters in this organization right now. Tank and Kimbo are just tomato cans. We are the two real fighters.” UFC and Pride veteran, Yves Edwards (32-13-1) will take on Florida’s Edson Berto (13-4-1) in Elite XC’s 160lb. division. Both fighters head into the bout having won 2 straight, Edwards most recently submitted Alonzo Martinez at HDNet Fight’s December card, and Berto worked his way to a Unanimous Decision over Josh Odom at a Real Fighting Championships event in November. “It doesn’t matter where the fight goes. I feel that I am more skilled than he is,” Edwards said. “He is going to fail at a lot of his takedown attempts. I am a better stand up fighter than him and if it goes to the ground, I will prove that I am better at Jiu-Jitsu than him.” “It doesn’t matter how the fight goes, I can take it all,” said Berto while analyzing the fight. “We’re going to stand up and bang. I probably have better hands than him. He may try to take it to the ground, but I’m ready.” Other bouts scheduled for the Showtime broadcast include, James Thompson (16-7) vs. Brett Rogers (7-0) and Kyle Noke (14-3-1) vs. Scott Smith (14-4).
February 16, 2008
RING OF COMBAT UPDATE From the event's promoters;
HDNet Fights Announces Continued Partnership with Ring of Combat. HDNet Fights Presents: Ring of Combat XVIII - live on March 7
February 16, 2008
ELITE XC UPDATE Fighters Make Weight for “Street Certified”
February 17, 2008
ELITE XC “Street Certified": Slice KO's Abbott Four out of five televised fights ended by KO tonight at EliteXC’s first pay-per-view show of ’08, including the main event of Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson vs. David “Tank” Abbott, a good turn of events considering the mixed reaction to the card itself. On the one hand the show lacked a belt fight to start off the year and the headline event was between one fighter with only one pro fight and the other was 1-6 for the past five years. On the other hand that same main event was what the fans were clamoring for on the internet for months. UFC may still have most of the best fighters but EliteXC know how to sell what they can get.
The non-KO fight of the night featured up-and-comer Antonio Silva conquering former UFC and Abu Dhabi Worlds Champion Ricco Rodriguez by Split Decision. Although Ricco came in looking like he spent more time on Celebrity Rehab than in the gym, he showed, unlike Tank, he still may have some of his old talent, enough to go the distance with a better conditioned and physically larger ATT-trained fellow ground specialist. The other two pay-per-view fights were meant to be building fights for UFC vet Scott Smith and Pride vet James Thompson. After a slow start to round 1 Smith exploded in round 2 to get the KO over Kyle Noke in just 0:07, while Thompson continued his mixed record ways, and was KO’d by Brett Rogers halfway through the fist round. On the undercard Dave Herman stood out, making ATT’s Mario Rinaldi look bad in front of literally dozens of ATT staff and fighters whose main academy is just forty minutes by car. Mario's supposed to be the heir apparent to Jeff Monson’s position on the team but it was the relatively unknown Herman who seemed to fill that role this night. In the first round, Mario would not give up on a single leg takedown attempt despite Herman repeatedly hammering him with punches to the face, as he hopped around on his free leg to stay standing. While taking some good knees to the face and seemingly getting gassed in the second round, Mario just couldn’t get his gameplan going against the Indiana-based Herman, who seemed to be the only fighter fighting the third round when he found his TKO in 0:33.
February 17, 2008
GLADIATOR CHALLENGE Evolution Results With both sides of the floor audience nearly swarming the cage, the two met again in round two, and it looked like Awad might finish what he started in the first. But this time, Phan struck gold with an upward hook that looped from an awkward angle to catch Awad. Phan capitalized quickly, tossing Awad to the mat and following with punches and elbows until ref Herb Dean intervened. Russ Miura nearly took Aaron Miller out in the first round of their clash, snaking his way towards a rear naked choke. Miller managed to defend until the end of the round, but got caught in the second round. Miura climbed up his torso, cinched a guillotine, and rode out a power slam to get the tapout. Gladiator Challenge: Evolution Full Results: Nam Phan def. Saad Awad at :52 of Rd. 2 by TKO (Ref Stoppage from Strikes)
February 18, 2008
HARDCORE CHAMPIONSHIP FIGHTING UPDATE HCF Confirms Loiseau vs. Santos for "Crow's Nest" By FCF Staff
Loiseau (15-8) is coming off a Split Decision loss to Jason Day at HCF’s February 1st “Destiny” event in Calgary, Alberta. Due to the fact that the three round fight was a tightly contested affair, there had been recent speculation that perhaps an immediate rematch between Day and Loiseau might be scheduled for March 29th. But on account of recent reports stating that Day will make his UFC debut against Alan Belcher on April 19th in Montreal, Quebec, it looks as though the Lethbridge fighter might not be available for the upcoming HCF card. When FCF spoke with Day (15-7) this afternoon, the Canadian Martial Arts Center fighter stated that he could not confirm the bout with Belcher, or that he has signed a contract yet with the UFC. Since exiting from the UFC in the fall of 2006, Loiseau has gone 1-2, losing to Joey Villasenor, and the aforementioned Day, with his one victory coming against Freddie Espiricueta at Art of War 2 last May. Before Santos can take on Loiseau, he will have to get by Makoto Takimoto unscathed at World Victory Road’s “Sengoku” event on March 5th. Santos (15-11) also competed at HCF’s February 1st card, and was stopped in the first round by Gegard Mousasi with strikes.
February 19, 2008
RENATO SOBRAL "Babalu" Looking Forward to HCF Debut By Kelsey Mowatt Former UFC light-heavyweight contender, Renato “Babalu” Sobral, will make his debut for Hardcore Championship Fighting at the promotion’s event on May 10th. The Brazilian fighter is looking forward to competing once again, after his fight with Vernon White was cancelled last month. Sobral had been scheduled to fight the veteran White at a World Cagefighting Organization event in San Diego, however, the card was cancelled by the California State Athletic Commission due to funding related issues.
“Yes, yes,” Sobral told FCF when asked about his upcoming HCF debut . “I know I’m fighting, but I don’t know who against. I’ll be happy to fight for Hardcore, by that time it will be like six months or something since I fought. I was supposed to fight in January, but I didn’t, so I’ve been recovering my body, took a rest, now I’m training again.” HCF CEO Keith Crawford confirmed to FCF this afternoon that Sobral would be making his debut for the promotion, May 10th, at the Stampede Corral, in Calgary, Alberta. No opponent has yet been confirmed. Sobral’s last fight took place on December 9th at Platinum Fighting Productions Ring of Fire event in the Philippines city of Manila, where Babalu submitted Rodney Faverus for his 29th career victory. “He’s from Golden Glory,” said Sobral while discussing his last fight. “So he’s a striker pretty much, really good on his feet. I just put him into my game, took him down a couple of times, and finished the fight with a kata-gatame. (arm-triangle-choke). I’ve fought in Japan before but never in Southeast Asia. The people really like to watch the fights, it was pretty cool.” Sobral is hoping to compete four times in 2008, stating he feels that is the ideal amount of fights for him. After the fighter’s controversial departure from the UFC last September, it was announced at Strikeforce’s Playboy Mansion event in October, that Sobral would be fighting for the organization in the future. According to Sobral, he is still uncertain as to when he might end up making his debut with the promotion. “Nobody has talked to me yet from Strikeforce,” Sobral told FCF today. “So I can’t really say anything about Strikeforce. I’ve signed a letter that I promise to fight but we haven’t signed any contract yet.” Sobral continues to be one of the world’s most notable 205lb. fighters not currently under contract with the UFC, and he is confident that he will be able to compete against other more highly regarded fighters in the future. “There are lots of good fighters outside the UFC,” Sobral said. “Because the UFC bought Pride means they have a lot of fighters locked up, everybody who signs with them has to lock up, but I think in the future it should be more like a free agent contract, a non-exclusive contract, so we can see who the best fighters are.”
February 20, 2008
NEW EPISODE OF FCF RADIO: BART PALASZEWSKI, JOSH RUSSELL AND TJ GRANT
In this edition of FCF Radio, we talk with IFL lightweight Bart Palaszewski, who will fight Deividas Taurosevicius for the second time April 4th, Gracie Barra Calgary's Professor Josh Russell, who is also Jason MacDonald's jiu-jitsu instructor, and TJ Grant, who will challenge Jesse Bongfeldt for his TKO welterweight belt, February 28th.
February 20, 2008
ELITE XC UPDATE Edwards to Face Noons April 26th
February 21, 2008
XTREME FIGHTING LEAGUE UPDATE HDNet Fights to Broadcast Mar.15th Xtreme Fighting League "Dale always has a strong regional show and we're excited about partnering with him," stated HDNet Fights President Guy Mezger. "He can continue to grow his shows and we'll have high quality mixed martial arts programming for HDNet."
February 21, 2008
THE NORTHERN TOUCH News and Notes from Canadian MMA By Kelsey Mowatt Valimaki vs. Nelson Confirmed for Brawl at the Mall 3 KOTC Canada has announced this week several bouts for the promotion’s upcoming, April 4th, Brawl at the Mall 3 card, which will take place at the Edmonton Events Centre in West Edmonton Mall. UFC veteran and former Maximum Fighting Championship light-heavyweight champ, Victor Valimaki (9-5), will make his debut for the promotion against North Dakota’s Bruce Nelson (15-23-1). Valimaki has not competed since last August, when he was stopped by Roger Hollett at MFC 13, prior to that; the Edmonton fighter dropped a TKO loss to Alessio Sakara at UFC 70 last April. Nelson has lost 4 straight, and most recently was submitted by Travis McCollugh at a Max Fights event in September.
In what should be an intriguing match-up, undefeated KOTC Canada Light-heavyweight Champion Nick Hinchliffe (8-0) will take on former champion Travis Galbraith (11-5) in an immediate rematch. Hinchliffe stopped Galbraith in the first round at the promotion’s “November Rain” card to lay claim to the Canadian 205lb. title. Since losing to Kazuhiro Nakamura at Pride 32 in October, 2006, Galbraith has only competed twice, defeating Craig Brown at Freedom Fight’s January, 2007 event, and then losing to the aforementioned Hinchliffe. KOTC Canada’s Heavyweight Champion, Tim Hague (5-1), will look to defend his title against Canadian Martial Arts Center fighter, Jared Kilkenny (7-3). The two have also fought before, in November, 2006, Hague stopped Kilkenny in the second round at KOTC “Amplified” to hand the Lethbridge fighter his first professional defeat. Hague is coming off a Split Decision loss to Miodrag Petkovic at Hardcore Championship Fighting’s recent “Destiny” card, while Kilkenny is coming off a TKO loss at the hands of Martin Desilet, at Rumble in the Cage’s New Year’s Eve event. Up first for Kilkenny however, he will take on Chris Peak (11-16) at KOTC’s “Gold Rush” card on March 7th. In the other bout confirmed for Brawl at the Mall 3, Nick Denis (4-0) will take on Josh Gallant (3-0) for the KOTC Canada bantamweight title. Velek Out, Bruce In for KOTC “Gold Rush” King of the Cage Canada promoter, Ken Kupsch, confirmed to FCF this afternoon that Team Revolution fighter, Rob Velek, will not be able to challenge welterweight champion Gary Wright as scheduled, due to illness. Stepping in to fight Wright on the March 7th, “Gold Rush” card will be Aaron Bruce (5-3). Most recently, Bruce earned a TKO win over Jay Jenkins at Honour Championship Fighting on February 16th; prior to that, Bruce was stopped by Velek in the first round at a KOTC’s “November Rain.” Wright and Bruce have fought once before, while making his professional debut at KOTC “Insurrection,” in October, 2006, Bruce dropped a Unanimous Decision loss to the Team Toshido fighter. Wright has won 6 straight to begin his MMA career, most recently, he worked his way to a Unanimous Decision victory over TJ Grant to secure the KOTC Canada title last April. Gold Rush will take place on March 7th, at the CN Center in Prince George, British Columbia. When FCF caught up with Team Toshido’s head instructor, David Lea, earlier this week to discuss Wright’s upcoming title defense, they were unsure as to just who Wright was going to fight. Lea provided an update on another of the team’s more notable fighters, Rory MacDonald (6-0), who apparently is going to take some time off to work and save some money, with the hope that he will be offered a big name fight by summer, or an opportunity to defend his KOTC Canada lightweight belt at that time. Lea also informed FCF that the team has some fighters set to make their debuts in the coming months, including a 19 year-old lightweight Jake MacDonald (no relation to Rory) who Lea say’s “will be a huge force in the lightweight division.” Goodridge to Make MFC Debut May 9th The Maximum Fighting Championship has announced that Gary Goodridge will make his debut for the promotion, May 9th, at MFC 16, “Anger Management.” The card will take place on that date at the River Cree Resort and Casino in Enoch, Alberta. No opponent has yet been announced.
Other fighters scheduled to compete include, Jake Hattan, Ryan Heck, Ryan Ford and Jason Kuchera. Up next for the MFC, the promotion will host “Rags to Riches” tomorrow night, an event which will be broadcast on HDNet Fights. The card will be headlined by Edmonton’s Ryan Ford taking on UFC veteran, Pete Spratt. Penner vs. Kalmakoff to Headline TFC 2 The Fight Club has confirmed that heavyweight Nick Penner (2-0) will take on Bobby Kalmakoff in the main event of the promotion’s upcoming, March 7th card, “Feel the Pain”, which will be held at the Edmonton Events Centre in West Edmonton Mall. Penner is coming off a TKO stoppage of Eric “Butterbean” Esch at TFC “First Blood”, while Kalmakoff will be making his MMA debut. Other bouts scheduled for the fight include, Phil Wark vs. Tony Bibby, James McCutcheon vs. Cody Graber and Markhaile Wedderburn vs. Neil Berry.
February 22, 2008
MAXIMUM FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP UPDATE Ford Submits Spratt at MFC 15: Rags to Riches
February 22, 2008
NEW EPISODE OF FCF RADIO: CHRIS WILSON AND RYAN MCGIVERN
In this edition of FCF Radio, we talk with Chris Wilson, who will make his UFC debut against Jon Fitch on March 1st, and Ryan McGivern, who will challenge IFL Middleweight Champion Matt Horwich for his belt on February 29th.
February 22, 2008
HARDCORE CHAMPIONSHIP FIGHTING UPDATE Santos Terminated from HCF Contract
February 23, 2008
STRIKEFORCE “Strikeforce At The Dome” Preview
Roufus is making his MMA debut, transitioning from a successful boxing and kickboxing career. He was initially scheduled to begin his MMA career against Mark Kerr at the WCO debacle in January, but was denied a license to fight by the California State Athletic Commission due to his inexperience. As a kickboxer, he carries a 57-7 record. Ironically, Smith ran afoul with the CSAC last year, but because his MMA experience didn’t nullify his age. So, like former IFL commissioner Kurt Otto promised he would do, Strikeforce moved the whole affair to a more compassionate state, like Washington. Which, also ironically, happened to be Smith’s home state. Roufus’ inexperience may cancel out Smith’s ring rust and age, but it’s unknown how seriously both are taking the fight. Roufus’ MMA training is likely minimal at best, and Smith could easily take him to the ground. But Smith is just brash enough to want to stand and bang it out. Look for Smith to get a feel of where Roufus is on his feet, and take the bout south if he doesn’t like what he sees. Steve Berger vs. Eddy Ellis Berger, 18-17-2, is a longtime veteran of MMA, having fought around the world in Shooto, Bodog, and the UFC. He had a mixed 2007, losing to Diego Gonzalez by Decision at BodogFight Vancouver, and beating Piotr Jakaczynski by Split Decision at BodogFight Costa Rica. He was originally slated to face Duane Ludwig, but Ludwig dropped the bout after being offered a fight against Takanori Gomi at World Victory Road in March. Berger now faces Eddy Ellis, another Washington native. Ellis, 13-14, has a similarly uninspiring record, fighting a journeyman’s road through an eight-year career in MMA. Eillis recently defeated Mike Gates by armbar at Elite Warrior Championship last month. Jorge Masvidal vs. Ryan Healy BodogFight import Jorge Masvidal, 12-2, has been on a tear as of late, stopping his last six opponents over a two-year period. After moving to American Top team, Masvidal began to step up his game markedly, integrating a solid ground game into his well-honed striking skills. Masvidal faces Ryan Healy, another longtime veteran of the sport who’s recently taken up residence at Team Quest. More of a puncher than his brother, Pat, Healy went 2-0 in 2006, defeating Ryan Bixler at Ringside Ticket and Robbie Shamrock by TKO at Elite Warriors Championship. Masvidal is a significant step up in the caliber of competition he’s faced, and he’ll need every ounce of Team Quest wisdom he can muster. On his feet, he’ll be at an extreme disadvantage against Masvidal. His best hope is to play like his brother would, closing the distance fast and working ground and pound. If Masvidal gets any space to let his hands go, Healy will not fare well. Brad Blackburn vs. Ray Perales
February 24, 2008
WAR IN THE WOODS RESULTS
USFL: War in the Woods II Main Event Andrew Caron def. Roberto Concepcion by TKO 2:12 R3. Dan Conway def. Sean Cahill by triangle 2:54 R2. Joe West def. John Naples by verbal submission 3:24 R3. Julio Feleciano def. Tony Marshall by 0:17 KO R1. Ryan Quinn def. Chris Santacroce by rear-naked choke 1:29 R1. Zach Mayo def. Giovanni Macchia by guillotine 0:35 R1. Mike McDonough def. John Auth by arm triangle 2:05 R2. Breenan Ward def. Mike Manna by ref stoppage due to strikes 2:15 R1 Thaddeus Huey def. Issac Salgado by guillotine choke 1:43 R2. Grappling Exhibition Matches Gabriel Santos def. Josh Hesser by Achilles’ lock 4:55 R1. Chris Simmons def. Zi Com Fome by guillotine 0:41 R2. Fabio Serrao def. Will Kerr 2-0.
February 24, 2008
CHECK OUT WHAT'S IN THE CURRENT ISSUE OF FCF
February 24, 2008
STRIKEFORCE AT THE DOME Sapp Gets Sapped: Nortje Wins In 55 Seconds
Joe Riggs tapped out shortly after his bout began with Cory Devela. Devela reversed a takedown attempt from Riggs, perfectly executing a hip toss that deposited the Arizona fighter flat on his back. Riggs winced in pain and tapped, signaling that he had hurt his back. Moments later, he was escorted out of the cage by an EMT crew. The extent of his injuries is not known. Maurice Smith easily dispatched former kickboxer Rick Roufus in the first round. With coach Frank Shamrock standing in his corner, Smith made him proud as he took Roufus down after a brief feeling out period. Smith transitioned from side mount to mount, and locked in a kimura. Roufus, looking like he was tapping more out of frustration than actual danger, succumbed just inside two minutes of the frame.
Local favorite Eddy Ellis dispatched longtime vet Steve Berger in a plodding three round battle. Ellis was crisper on his feet, landing generous blows to Berger’s midsection. Berger often charged in with flurries of punches, but rarely landed anything significant. When the fight hit the mat, Ellis excelled there as well. Ellis almost submitted Berger on two different occasions, particularly in the third round, where he held Berger’s back for the majority of the five minutes. Ellis’ efforts, gave him a unanimous nod from the judges. Ryan Healy threw everything he had at Jorge Masvidal, and Masvidal took it. Fighting at a catch weight of 160lbs, Masvidal was too quick on his feet for Healy, but that didn’t stop Healy from charging in with punches and several flying knees. One punch knee combo cracked Masvidal squarely on the jaw, sending him to the mat. When Masvidal recovered, he quickly took control of the fight, out striking and out grappling the Team Quest fighter. The Unanimous Decision was well deserved for Masvidal, who resolved never to take a fighter likely again. “We’re going to get a rematch, and this time I’m going to knock his ass out,” Masvidal said. Mychal Clark and Josh Bennett put the dirty in dirty boxing, punching themselves to the brink of exhaustion in the clinch. Clark had more gas in his tank, and made his combinations count, opening a nasty cut on Bennett’s left eye. Between the second and third rounds, the ref called a stop to the bout on the advice of the ringside doctor. Lyle Beerbohm dominated Ray Perales on the ground before locking in a guillotine choke in the third round.
Mike Kovacs and Matt Hayes also slugged it out for three rounds, but Hayes came out ahead in almost every exchange. Kovacs tried to assert himself on the ground, but couldn’t do enough damage to make up for points lost on his feet. Hayes took a Unanimous Decision victory. Scott Shaffer took Zach Skinner apart on the feet, but Skinner ruled on the ground. Evading Shaffer’s attack with a good shot, Skinner rode out a Unanimous Decision for his control. Nathan Coy knocked out Dave Courchaine with a hook as he passed by with a flurry of punches, sending Courchaine face first to the mat. Strikeforce at the Dome Full Results: Jan Nortje def. Bob Sapp at 0:55 of Rd. 1 by TKO (Strikes) Cory Devela def. Joe Riggs at 1:22 of Rd. 1 by Submission (Tapout) Maurice Smith def. Rick Roufus at 1:53 of Rd. 1 by Submission (Kimura) Eddy Ellis def. Steve Berger by Unanimous Decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28) Jorge Masvidal def. Ryan Healy by Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) Mychal Clark def. Josh Bennett at 5:00 of Rd. 2 by TKO (Doctor Stoppage Due to Cut) Lyle Beerbohm def. Ray Perales at 1:19 of Rd. 3 by Submission (Guillotine Choke) Mike Hayes def. Matt Kovacs by Unanimous Decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27) Zach Skinner def. Scott Shaffer Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) Nathan Coy def. Dave Courchaine at 1:46 of Rd. 1 by KO.
February 26, 2008
YAMMA PIT FIGHTING UPDATE YAMMA Pit Fighting Announces Bouts for April 11th Card By FCF Staff YAMMA Pit Fighting has confirmed several bouts for the promotion’s upcoming debut card, which will take place April 11th at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, New Jersey. In keeping with the organization’s connection to the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s earliest days, via former UFC promoter and YAMMA founder, Bob Meyrowtiz, Oleg Taktarov will take on Don Frye in a heavyweight clash. The bout will be the first in a series of “Master Superfights” from YAMMA, which according to the promotion’s news release today, will feature bouts between “legendary fighters.”
Taktarov (15-5-2) recently returned to MMA competition for the first time since 2001, and submitted John Marsh with a kneebar at BodogFight’s USA vs. Russia event in November. The Russian fighter made his debut with the UFC in 1995, and competed against the likes of David Abbott, Ken Shamrock and Marcos Ruas throughout his stint with the promotion. “Don Frye needs to do only two things: fly to Russia and stay there for ten years to study Sambo. Then, maybe he’ll be ready,” Taktarov was quoted saying in today’s release. Frye (19-6-1) recently got back on the winning track by knocking out Bryan Pardoe at a No Limit Fighting event in Dallas, Texas. Prior to that, the veteran fighter was stopped by James Thompson at Pride 34 last April, his first loss since 2004. Frye made his UFC debut in 1996, and competed against the likes of Abbott, Mark Coleman and Gary Goodridge throughout his time with the organization. YAMMA has also announced that the upcoming April 11th card will feature an 8 man, heavyweight tournament. Marcelo “Pato” Pereira, Sherman Pendergarst, Rex Richards, Tony Sylvester, Chris Tuscherer and Travis “The Diesel” Wiuff have been confirmed as participants.
February 26, 2008
HARDCORE CHAMPIONSHIP FIGHTING UPDATE Hector Ramirez Signs Deal with HCF
February 27, 2008
THE NORTHERN TOUCH News and Notes from Canadian MMA
TKO 28 Goes Tomorrow
February 27, 2008
MMA SANCTIONING Report: Maryland Takes Step Forward in Sanctioning MMA By FCF Staff According to a report on the Baltimore Sun.com, a Maryland senate committee voiced no opposition to a proposed bill yesterday which would see MMA sanctioned within the state. The bill, which would see the state’s athletic commission take regulatory control of the sport, will likely be voted on by the committee by Friday, to see if it proceeds to the State Senate and then Maryland’s Governor, Martin O’Malley, for final approval. The story, which was written by the Sun’s Child’s Walker, furthered that Executive Director of the Maryland Athletic Commission, Patrick Pannella, is in favor of seeing MMA sanctioned within the state, as is Baltimore Democrat, Senator Joan Carter Conway, who cited the economic benefits of legalizing the sport. According to the report, the committee’s only questions in relation to the bill and MMA were regarding safety regulations. Some of the other speakers in attendance voicing their approval for MMA sanctioning within Maryland included; Michael Mersch (UFC Attorney), Dr. Frank M. Reid III (Pastor, Baltimore’s Bethel AME Church), Dr. Michael Kelly (NJSACB ringside physician), Nick Lembo (NJSACB Counsel), and John Rallo (Ground Control Academy.)
February 27, 2008
STRIKEFORCE UPDATE Strikeforce Receives Warm Welcome from Washington State
February 28, 2008
ADVERTISEMENT: RING OF COMBAT 18
February 28, 2008
NEW EPISODE OF FCF RADIO: JOHN HARTNETT
In this edition of FCF Radio, we talk with American Top Team representative John Hartnett, whose team has several fighters competing in upcoming UFC, IFL and Dream events. Also in today's show, hosts Kelsey Mowatt and Brendan Leier make their picks for Saturday's UFC 82 card.
February 28, 2008
PROELITE UPDATE Elite XC Signs Deal With CBS
The deal will not alter Elite XC’s pre-existing broadcast arrangement with CBS’s Showtime Cable Network. Today’s announcement brings to conclusion months of speculation as to whether or not CBS would bring MMA programming to the television network. It was widely reported that the Ultimate Fighting Championship had also been in negotiations with the network; however, a deal could not be brokered due to alleged disagreements over production control. In any case, the CBS signing for Elite XC is yet another boost for the relatively new MMA promotion, coming off the heels of its recent Showtime ratings success, “Street Certified”, which featured Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson stopping David “Tank” Abbott in the first round. No details were given today regarding the length of the new broadcasting arrangement or when CBS will air its first Elite XC event.
February 28, 2008
ULTIMATE FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP Penn vs. Sherk Confirmed for UFC 84 Ortiz vs. Machida, Jardine vs. Silva, Scheduled As Well By FCF Staff The Ultimate Fighting Championship has confirmed 3 bouts for the promotion’s upcoming, UFC 84, “Ill Will” card, which is scheduled for May 24th , at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, in Las Vegas, Nevada. In the main event, UFC Lightweight Champion, BJ Penn (12-4-1), will look to defend his title against the belts’ former owner, Sean Sherk (31-2-1). Penn heads in to the bout having won two straight fights since returning to the 155lb. division, and recently submitted Joe Stevenson in the second round at UFC 80 in January, to lay claim to the vacant title. Sherk has of course not competed since he worked his way to a Unanimous Decision over Hermes Franca last July at UFC 73, due to his well documented positive test for Nandrolone and subsequent suspension. The veteran fighter has won 3 straight bouts, including his championship victory over Kenny Florian at UFC 64.
Former light-heavyweight champ, Tito Ortiz (16-5-1), will take on the undefeated Lyoto Machida (12-0). Ortiz has not competed since UFC 73, when he fought to a draw with Rashad Evans. Prior to that, the “Ultimate Fighter” Season 3 coach was stopped by Chuck Liddell for a second time at UFC 66 in December, 2006. Machida continues to baffle opponents and rack up wins since coming to the UFC in July, 2006, and has now won 5 straight bouts with the promotion. Most recently he submitted the highly touted Thierry Sokoudjou in the second round at UFC 79 in December. And in another light-heavyweight title, Keith Jardine (13-4-1) will look to entrench a future title shot when he goes up against former Pride 205lb. champion, Wanderlei Silva (31-8-1). Jardine is coming off a tightly contested Split Decision win over the former champ, Liddell, at UFC 76 last September. The Greg Jackson trained fighter also holds wins over Forrest Griffin, Wilson Gouveia and Mike Whitehead since February, 2006, with his losses during that stretch coming against Stephan Bonnar and Houston Alexander. Silva is in desperate need of a win, having dropped 3 fights in a row. Although they have all come against notable opposition in Mirko Filipovic, Dan Henderson and most recently, Liddell, the former number one ranked light-heavyweight, needs to defeat Jardine, if he hopes to remain in the contenders circle.
February 29, 2008
ULTIMATE FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP UPDATE Fighters Make Weight for “Pride of a Champion” UFC 82 Official Weigh-In Results
February 29, 2008
JOSH BARNETT INTERVIEW Josh Barnett Talks Yoshida By Steven Marrocco
On March 5th, Josh Barnett is scheduled to face Hidehiko Yoshida at World Victory Road's inaugural event, "Sengoku," at Yoyogi National Gymnasium No. 1 in Tokyo, Japan. |
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